Publisher's Synopsis
Gillian Darley provides a rounded portrait of Evelyn's eighty-five years--his family life, his exile in Paris, his interests, and his preoccupations. Evelyn lived through some of England's most tumultuous history, through five reigns, the Civil War, the Restoration, and the Revolution of 1688. He was author or translator of countless publications, tackling an enormous variety of contemporary issues. Both a religious man and a key figure in the Royal Society, he viewed Christianity and the new science as wholly compatible. Evelyn remained endlessly curious and engaged into very old age, and this absorbing biography demonstrates the liveliness of his hugely busy mind.