Plot Against Pepys [Hardcover]

It is obvious that if he had not written his diary, we would know little about Samuel Pepys. The enormous, twelve volume work documents an early part of his life, and gives details about the Great Fire of London and the everyday life of the court of Charles II. It is his candor throughout, though, that gives the famous work its charm, and his descriptions of sexual dalliances show that he was able to be candid because he was writing for himself. He would have been shocked to find that his work had turned into a classic. But Pepys was an important figure within his time. He rose from humble beginnings to become secretary of the Admiralty Board, and he was simply brilliant as a bureaucrat, loving order, efficiency, and facts. No one could achieve such a position without making enemies, but some enemies assaulted Pepys in a bigoted and fantastic way. Pepys wound up accused of treason and was thrown into the Tower of London in 1679. _The Plot against Pepys: The Untold Story of Espionage and Intrigue in the Tower of London_ (Overlook Press) by father and son team James Long and Ben Long has with amazing detail examined this important part of Pepys's life which, since it occurred after the diary years, has not gotten the attention paid to other parts. It is an often gripping tale with the good guy eventually winning, but only because of the sort of hard work of amassing facts he was used to in his admiralty career, and because of a good deal of luck.

There was a real and dangerous plot against Pepys, and it was part of the larger Popish Plot. Britain had yet to gain the stability of the Church of England. There was a wide distrust of Catholics and warnings that they were going to kill Charles II so that his Catholic brother the Duke of York might take the throne. Pepys ordered investigation of a suspect in a supposedly pro-Catholic murder, and thus earned the resentment of the suspect, Colonel John Scott. Scott was one of the great rogues of history; although he was not guilty of this murder, he was guilty of at least one other. He had an international career as swindler, embezzler, spy, and forger, and was a coward in the army to boot. No one should have listened to this consummate rascal when he accused Pepys of selling secrets to Catholic France (which actually Scott himself had attempted to do), but the courts were themselves fretting over Catholic plotting and had condemned unfairly and executed "plotters" before Pepys had his turn. It was inherently difficult to fight a charge of treason, and the charges against Pepys were so broad that no alibi could pertain. Pepys also had to fight the charge of being a Catholic.

Pepys was able to demonstrate his innocence, and the case started to unravel even before it could come to trial, as Scott murdered a cab driver who wanted to be paid. Scott deftly skipped punishment for this offense, and somehow returned to the Caribbean and became Speaker of the Montserrat Assembly. Pepys's career and reputation revived, but he did not have the satisfaction of seeing Scott prosecuted for perjury, and never knew how Scott had actually been treasonably working for the French. This astonishing, almost epic, story of the sort of witch-hunting that is more familiar to us in other times and places is masterfully told. The father in the Long's authorship team has written historical novels, and the book conveys excitement, reading often like a convoluted spy novel (though no author could have invented Colonel Scott; he is too fantastic). Anyone familiar with the Pepys of the diaries, or with Restoration history, or with the hold that conspiracy theories can have upon a public and upon a government, will find this bizarre story fascinating.

Superb production. Could not put it down. Only had one beef: I wish that the authors had included (as a colophon) what became of Titus Oates. Cheers to the authors and I wish I knew if you were distant relatives!

Bonnie Long
Phoenix, Arizona

This book is very good narrative history; in parts, it is truly excellent.

The period of English history from the Restoration of the Stuarts in the person of Charles II, 1660, to the Glorious Revolution, the overthrow of James II, younger brother of Charles in 1688, is a fascinating one, and the events of this book take place during a portion of that period.

The immediate background to these events includes the English Civil War and the rise and fall of the Cromwells. It is a time marked by an extreme turmoil over religion, Protestant versus Catholic, in the affairs of state. Ironically, the period covered was also one of considerable and fairly open decadence in English society, showing once again how little religion has to do with morals.

This book has as chief characters Samuel Pepys and one of the lesser-known nasty pieces of work in modern history, John Scott. With a cast like that, you almost cannot miss.

Pepys, famous for a diary, which is a fact-filled look at part of the period's society and a somewhat salacious record of its morals, was an able and conscientious (at least after the Restoration) civil servant who rose to high rank. The important part of his career was associated with the Royal navy, going from Clerk of the Acts to the Navy to Secretary to the Admiralty Board and finally to Secretary for the Affairs of the Admiralty.

Scott was a lifelong fraudster, murderer, and opportunist who rose up and fell down several times in several countries. With "the gift of the gab," a talent for forgery, and great energy in his schemes, Scott was almost certainly a psychopathic personality. He crossed paths - and as it happens, swords - with Pepys virtually by accident. His unquenchable hatred of Pepys apparently was sparked by a random event in which Pepys, just doing his official duty, thwarted one of Scott's high-flown schemes for gaining fame and fortune. His intense hatred was then harnessed by those interested in the overthrow of Charles II, especially Lord Shaftsbury, himself a considerably larger-than-life and rather grotesque figure.

Pepys was charged with being a secret Catholic and being part of a plot to kill the King and see a Catholic Monarchy installed. The main accuser was the psychopathic John Scott. A modern reader might think that this seems such a simple matter to clear up - especially the part about being a Catholic, which Pepys was not - but there was an atmosphere thickly charged with paranoia and suspicion in England at the time, and it was being actively added to by people like Shaftsbury, himself interested in turning over the existing monarchy.

Because this period was also one of a rapidly changing balance of power between Parliament and the Crown, the King and his brother - the future James II - were not in a position to simply lift a loyal public servant from extreme danger. Pepys spent a long and exhausting period fighting charges that already had seen notable prisoners hung, cut down alive, castrated, disemboweled, and drawn-and-quartered - the contemporary penalty for treason, a penalty which itself tells us something of the frenzied paranoia of the time. He was in and out of prison, had many court dates, and spent a small fortune collecting evidence and trying to understand the precise nature of the plot against him, although he had understood immediately that it was part of some unknown larger effort to get at the Stuarts.

Ultimately he was victorious, but only because he was smart, had considerable resources to employ, and enjoyed a few lucky brakes with past associate or victims of Scott's coming forward from various countries, and, most importantly, the King finally felt comfortable enough reaching down with limited but indispensable help.

The first part of this book reads like a rip-roaring crime novel, but it may be enjoyed on several levels. The English paranoia of the time and the dark operations of the courts in matters of treason remind one very much of the insane swirl of events in America following 9/11. Pepys could almost be an American secret prisoner under the deliberately misnamed Patriot Act. The almost unbelievable career of John Scott reminds one of the way career killers and abusers are so rarely caught even today before they have done immense damage to others. The meek definitely do not inherit the earth still.