Other topics
attracted the earlier writers besides conjugal infidelity and the
frailty of virgins, which were the sole themes of Restoration comedy.
Massinger's heroes are not always gay seducers. His husbands are not
always fools. Pepys might quite consistently scorn the ribaldry of
Etherege and condone the obscenity of Fletcher. It was a question of
degree. Pepys was clear in his own mind that a line must be drawn
somewhere, though it would probably have taxed his logical power to
make the delimitation precise.
IV
There is, apparently, a crowning difficulty of far greater moment when
finally estimating Pepys's taste in dramatic literature. Despite his
admiration for the ancient drama, he acknowledged a very tempered
regard for the greatest of all the old dramatists--Shakespeare. He
lived and died in complacent unconsciousness of Shakespeare's supreme
excellence. Such innocence is attested by his conduct outside, as well
as inside, the theatre. He prided himself on his taste as a reader and
a book collector, and bought for his library many plays in quarto
which he diligently perused. Numerous separately issued pieces by
Shakespeare lay at his disposal in the bookshops.
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