joyed intimate relations with the King and the royal family and was frequently employed upon business of weight. Charles and James esteemed him highly, and knew that they could always depend upon his integrity; but although they employed him for many public objects and attached salaries to the offices he held, he was little remunerated for his services, and rather was himself out of pocket. Being a younger son with a younger son's portion during the greater part of his life he was not a rich man. He was, however, in what are called "easy circumstances," and by careful housekeeping and judicious expenditure he was able to make a figure consistent with his rank.

In dealing with the circumstances of Evelyn's life it will be convenient to treat them under three divisions:

I. His early life and travels.

II. His settlement in England with his wife until the Restoration.

III. The period from the Restoration till his death.

I. HIS EARLY LIFE AND TRAVELS.

John Evelyn came of a good family, which had been settled in the county of Surrey for about a century before his birth, and is supposed to have come originally from Evelin in Normandy.1 The family of His grandfather, George Evelyn, carried on the manufacture of gunpowder at Long Ditton, and had three sons, who became heads of three distinct families of Evelyn, viz.,

Evelyn.

1 On the 26th May, 1670, Evelyn and his brother went to meet Monsieur Evelin, first physician to Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, at the Tower, and he adds in his Diary, "How this French family Ivelin of Evelin, Normandy, a very ancient and noble house, is grafted into our pedigree, see in the Collection brought from Paris, 1650," vol. ii. p. 245.