Although the Diary of Samuel Pepys has been in the hands of the publicfor nearly seventy years, it has not hitherto appeared in its entirety.In the original edition of 1825 scarcely half of the manuscript wasprinted. Lord Braybrooke added some passages as the various editionswere published, but in the preface to his last edition he wrote: "thereappeared indeed no necessity to amplify or in any way to alter the textof the Diary beyond the correction of a few verbal errors and corruptpassages hitherto overlooked."
The public knew nothing as to what was left unprinted, and there wastherefore a general feeling of gratification when it was announced someeighteen years ago that a new edition was to be published by the Rev.Mynors Bright, with the addition of new matter equal to a third of thewhole. It was understood that at last the Diary was to appear inits entirety, but there was a passage in Mr. Bright's preface whichsuggested a doubt respecting the necessary completeness. He wrote: "Itwould have been tedious to the reader if I had copied from the Diary theaccount of his daily work at the office."
As a matter of fact, Mr. Bright left roughly speaking about one-fifth ofthe whole Diary still unprinted, although he transcribed the whole, andbequeathed his transcript to Magdalene College.
It has now been decided that the who