ABSTRACT
Evelyn however made sure of the beast’s knees on his own account, while he “most of all admired the dexterity and strength of its proboscis.” Evelyn landed at Dover on 12 October 1641, and found matters advanced. He was in London awhile in 1642, January to March, “studying a little but dancing and fooling more.” A glowing “Character of Mrs Evelyn “was written by her son’s tutor at Oxford, and some of her letters survive. Leaving his little wife in France, Evelyn crossed to England, where he stayed for some two years. Evelyn was a Royalist, but not an extremist; he had the English gift of common-sense, and the Royalist cause seemed hopeless. Evelyn was not pleased with things in England.
