Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1911 — PEPYS, THE DIARIST. [ARTICLE]

PEPYS, THE DIARIST.

Pronouncing tho Nome of tho Garrulous Old Gossip. Lovers of Pepys often dispute over the correct pronunciation of his name. The form ’eeps is the one that has chief authority on its side, and it Is according i<> analogy in other like spellings, su' h as Wemyss, pronounced Weems. Peeps still bolds good at Cambridge and dates from its bearer's own t}me. It Is also retained by the representatives of Samuel's sister, the Pepys Cockerell family, who are heirs to his fame and some of his property. The late Rev. J. W. Ebsworth, an indefatigable collector and editor of ballads, adopts tbls pronunciation in his pleasing stansas on “A Gossip at Deptford."

For Instance: Tbs stats has no servant of all whom she keeps Like my squab little friend, who no labor does shirk. Tbs pattern of quIU driving clerks, Sam Pepya

A disturbing element In the discussion is tbat the branch of the family represented by the Earl of (Tottenham pronounce the name I'eppls. No bearer of the name has ever been known us Peps, though Ashby Sterry, a respected member of the Pepys club, follows this common but erroneous pronunciation in this excellent epigram, published In the London Graphic November. 1891: There ere people, I'm told—some say there ere heaps— Who speak of the talkative Samuel as Peeps. And some, so precise and pedantic their step Is. Who call the delightful old diarist Pepys, But those I think right, and 1 follow their steps. Ever mention the garrulous'gosslp as Pepsi