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Diary of Samuel Pepys: Selected Passages
The diary of Samuel Pepys is like no other book in the world. One reason is that its writer had no idea of making a book at all. He never dreamed of human eyes falling upon his blessedly frank and naked page. The record was a secret between himself and his own soul. To those who love humanity and vivid, unconscious writing, it is infinitely delightful and precious.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2003
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About the author
Samuel Pepys
985 books73 followersSamuel Pepys was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under King James II. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalization of the Royal Navy.
The detailed private diary he kept during 1660–1669 was first published in the nineteenth century, and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.
His surname is usually pronounced /'pi:ps/ ('peeps').
The detailed private diary he kept during 1660–1669 was first published in the nineteenth century, and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.
His surname is usually pronounced /'pi:ps/ ('peeps').
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 7, 2022
3.5 stars. An interesting historical record written by Samuel Pepys, from 1660 to 1669, when Pepys was between 26 and 36 years of age. The diary notes cover his experiences during the Great Plague of London, the second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London in 1666. He also comments on plays he saw, women he admired, his famously received four hour speech in Parliament, his fights and arguments with his wife and his expenses and savings. Interesting from an historical perspective but note that there is not much plot momentum.
Pepys was a naval administrator, married to Elisabeth for fourteen years. Pepys had many affairs and writes about his dalliances with a variety of women. Pepys went on to amass a fortune, but had no children of his own to leave his wealth to.
Pepys stopped writing diary notes due to having eyesight problems.
Samuel Pepys diary was first published in 1825. Samuel Pepys was born in 1633 and died in 1703. He was married once. His wife died in 1669, six months after the last diary entry.
Pepys was a naval administrator, married to Elisabeth for fourteen years. Pepys had many affairs and writes about his dalliances with a variety of women. Pepys went on to amass a fortune, but had no children of his own to leave his wealth to.
Pepys stopped writing diary notes due to having eyesight problems.
Samuel Pepys diary was first published in 1825. Samuel Pepys was born in 1633 and died in 1703. He was married once. His wife died in 1669, six months after the last diary entry.
December 3, 2017
I'm torn about this book.
Part of me wants to give it five stars for timeliness and perspective on the present day, given the recent revelations of men behaving badly. If Bill Clinton or Harvey Weinstein had kept a diary much of it would read just like that of Pepys. The man rarely encountered a servant class bosom he was reluctant to fondle, nor a comely maiden, married woman or lady of the evening he was reluctant to pursue, even stalk. Then too, none of the political grifters we observe in the present day have anything on Pepys in their view that public service is all about private profit. His notion of honest public service is that he never accepts a bribe before he performs the service of diverting public contracts toward those who will reliably pay in gold for the favor.
But on the other hand it was someone of a hard slog to get through even this 290 page selection from Pepys' 1000 page long private diary covering the ten years before his eyesight became too poor to continue. So I've settled on four stars.
This is a book worth keeping by your bedside for reading five or six pages at a time. During those pages you will encounter something that will make you laugh, shake your head at the seemingly helpless antics of the man, or toss the book across the room in disgust.
Part of me wants to give it five stars for timeliness and perspective on the present day, given the recent revelations of men behaving badly. If Bill Clinton or Harvey Weinstein had kept a diary much of it would read just like that of Pepys. The man rarely encountered a servant class bosom he was reluctant to fondle, nor a comely maiden, married woman or lady of the evening he was reluctant to pursue, even stalk. Then too, none of the political grifters we observe in the present day have anything on Pepys in their view that public service is all about private profit. His notion of honest public service is that he never accepts a bribe before he performs the service of diverting public contracts toward those who will reliably pay in gold for the favor.
But on the other hand it was someone of a hard slog to get through even this 290 page selection from Pepys' 1000 page long private diary covering the ten years before his eyesight became too poor to continue. So I've settled on four stars.
This is a book worth keeping by your bedside for reading five or six pages at a time. During those pages you will encounter something that will make you laugh, shake your head at the seemingly helpless antics of the man, or toss the book across the room in disgust.
July 30, 2024
What an insight into the period! I’m tempted to read the rest of his diaries. This selection includes the most incredible moments, such as when he unwittingly joins a plot to fetch James II / VII from exile and sail him back to seize the English and Scottish crown.
His honesty is admirable… he puts to pen some quite audacious affairs, and even describes being caught mid-act by his wife. He’s a complete sex pest (pushy is putting it mildly), and as a naval administrator he sort of fucks away the 2nd Dutch war with the wives of sea-stuck sailors. There’s some frankly absurd encounters (try googling “the coach incidents” if you’re game).
Even as London burns - and he runs around to inform the King, advise the navy, save his home, bury his gold (and parmesan cheese!), and get his wife to safety - he finds time to make off with his mistresses around town. The Catholic court of James II, with his 13 (known) bastards, seems to be begging for Victorian propriety to step in and save society. I’m just beginning to buy-in to Puritanism, with their disgust at the Jacobite court. Or I might just head to an Anglican service on Sunday.
His honesty is admirable… he puts to pen some quite audacious affairs, and even describes being caught mid-act by his wife. He’s a complete sex pest (pushy is putting it mildly), and as a naval administrator he sort of fucks away the 2nd Dutch war with the wives of sea-stuck sailors. There’s some frankly absurd encounters (try googling “the coach incidents” if you’re game).
Even as London burns - and he runs around to inform the King, advise the navy, save his home, bury his gold (and parmesan cheese!), and get his wife to safety - he finds time to make off with his mistresses around town. The Catholic court of James II, with his 13 (known) bastards, seems to be begging for Victorian propriety to step in and save society. I’m just beginning to buy-in to Puritanism, with their disgust at the Jacobite court. Or I might just head to an Anglican service on Sunday.
December 1, 2022
Audio book and abridged. He certainly lived in momentus times. My only quibble with this text was the compilers went to the trouble to translate Pepys's short hand back to text but failed to translate the portions written in French or Spanish to English. I don't have command enough of those languages for those passages to be meaningful. Just put it all in English! On the other hand my suspicion is most of those passages were relating to his dalliances with women other than his wife so ... probably best to miss it anyway.
January 24, 2022
He certainly lived in interesting times, return of the King from over the water (soon regretted), fire, plague, shagging, Lady Castlemaine, Nell Gwynne (best at the comic and mad roles) Buckingham and the Cabal and the navy. The Dutch war, lots of maids he groped and £50 for a new coach and £50 more for a pair of black horses. The diary is nine eventful years but by 36 he was nearly blind and had to pack it in as he could no longer write in his secret shorthand.
September 14, 2018
I want to shake Pepys. I wanted 1600's man to be wholly different than he.
It's an interesting diary that includes accounts of the great fire and the plague, as well as his dalliances, and much humor, such as buying a lewd book, in a plain cover, to read, then burn, so it will not ruin his bookshelves. Worth the read.
It's an interesting diary that includes accounts of the great fire and the plague, as well as his dalliances, and much humor, such as buying a lewd book, in a plain cover, to read, then burn, so it will not ruin his bookshelves. Worth the read.
September 13, 2019
Glad I finally read it, after hearing about it in college 40 years ago. Pepys serves as an occasionally amusing and often engaging witness to great historical events as well as to his daily bourgeois life. Unless you are a scholar of the period, the Selected Passages suffices. I read an Illustrated version, which also livened it up.
December 15, 2008
I really liked this one. Fascinating window into the time period. There's just something wonderfully sacrilicious about reading about Pepys's dalliances in a style usually reserved for the King James Bible. Great selections from what is normally a multi-volume, impossible read.
December 19, 2024
Loved it when he described hiding his Parmesan cheese during the Great Fire of London. Priorities. 🧀
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews