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The Diary of Samuel Pepys #7
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1666 N.S: An Intimate Glimpse into 17th Century England Through a Witty Diarist's Eyes
"Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1666 N.S" by Samuel Pepys (translated by Mynors Bright). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 3, 2006
30 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Pepys
1,010 books75 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 25, 2015
"...and God forgive me, I do still see that my nature is not to be quite conquered, but will esteem pleasure above all things;
though, yet in the middle of it, it hath reluctantly after my business, which is neglected by my fallowing pleasure. However, music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is."
- Samuel Pepys, Diary, 9 March 1966
In the seventh volume (1666, with 151,000 words), Pepys, having survived and reported on the Great Plague of 1665, shows his luck and resilience by also surviving the Great Fire of London in 1666. Ironically, the biggest struggle facing England was not the Plague or the Fire, but the sad, vicious, and negligent Court. The dysfunction of government in England makes Pepys and others afraid that within a year they could see the ruin of the Kingdom. Pepys' own fortunes, however, continue to grow, as does his aggressive groping of women (ça change, plus c'est la même chose).
Here are my other Pepys diary reviews:
Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words
Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words
Vol 3: 1662, 105,000 words
Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 words
Vol 5: 1664, 132,000 words
Vol 6: 1665, 121,000 words
Vol 8: 1667, 201,000 words
Vol 9: 1668, 128,000 words; 1669, 52,500 words
though, yet in the middle of it, it hath reluctantly after my business, which is neglected by my fallowing pleasure. However, music and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is."
- Samuel Pepys, Diary, 9 March 1966
In the seventh volume (1666, with 151,000 words), Pepys, having survived and reported on the Great Plague of 1665, shows his luck and resilience by also surviving the Great Fire of London in 1666. Ironically, the biggest struggle facing England was not the Plague or the Fire, but the sad, vicious, and negligent Court. The dysfunction of government in England makes Pepys and others afraid that within a year they could see the ruin of the Kingdom. Pepys' own fortunes, however, continue to grow, as does his aggressive groping of women (ça change, plus c'est la même chose).
Here are my other Pepys diary reviews:
Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words
Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words
Vol 3: 1662, 105,000 words
Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 words
Vol 5: 1664, 132,000 words
Vol 6: 1665, 121,000 words
Vol 8: 1667, 201,000 words
Vol 9: 1668, 128,000 words; 1669, 52,500 words
December 10, 2019
Sam was a busy man in the year 1666. He starts off unable to account for a £50 discrepancy in his net worth, which confounds him for some time. Nevertheless, his government position proving quite lucrative, he amassed wealth, ending the year with over £6,000, quite a tidy sum for that era. He joyfully invests early in the year in individual portraits of Elizabeth, his wife, himself and his father. He helps his brother-in-law, Balty, find a position supplying the fleet.
There are a few naval skirmishes with the Dutch, a small uprising in Scotland and discontent among a large contingent of English sailors, all of which Sam dutifully records. There are complaints registered by senior commanders involving the victualing of the fleet, which uncomfortably implicate Sam. There are also intrusive inquiries by parliament into the finances associated with the naval actions against the Dutch, which also have Sam on the hot seat; isn’t it really for the best if these questions pass without further scrutiny?
Of course, 1666 is the year of the Great Fire of London. While Sam is unaffected by the conflagration, many of his acquaintances are impacted greatly. Sam goes to some lengths to preserve his possessions given the potential threat, even burying his “Parmazan” cheese, which I think we all agree classifies as a cherished possession. Following the fire, Sam notes the customary conspiracy theories floating about town.
Despite Sam’s earnest and most solemn prior oaths, in 1666 he’s back to visiting the plays, even while shielding himself from public view, and to carousing with the ladies, too many to count. Will Sam ever pay for his licentiousness?
There are a few naval skirmishes with the Dutch, a small uprising in Scotland and discontent among a large contingent of English sailors, all of which Sam dutifully records. There are complaints registered by senior commanders involving the victualing of the fleet, which uncomfortably implicate Sam. There are also intrusive inquiries by parliament into the finances associated with the naval actions against the Dutch, which also have Sam on the hot seat; isn’t it really for the best if these questions pass without further scrutiny?
Of course, 1666 is the year of the Great Fire of London. While Sam is unaffected by the conflagration, many of his acquaintances are impacted greatly. Sam goes to some lengths to preserve his possessions given the potential threat, even burying his “Parmazan” cheese, which I think we all agree classifies as a cherished possession. Following the fire, Sam notes the customary conspiracy theories floating about town.
Despite Sam’s earnest and most solemn prior oaths, in 1666 he’s back to visiting the plays, even while shielding himself from public view, and to carousing with the ladies, too many to count. Will Sam ever pay for his licentiousness?
February 10, 2021
Ah, the infamous 1666.
Striking to see how the plague was still ravaging the lands, especially Greenwich and Deptford where infected people were congregating, whilst the usual population of the towns were slowly moving towards London.
This would only make things worse, when the Great Fire started.
Amidst all the chaos and all the hard work Samuel put into the situation, I cannot help but sit here and laugh at the endearing image of Samuel burying his 'Parmasan' cheese in the garden to preserve it from the flames.
I feel a new, strange fondness for Samuel, after reading his entries on the fire days. The mention of the doves is powerful, but it seems only natural that a man like him would be touched by it...
... even if his frolicking reaches absurd levels this year!
Really, Sam?
Two in one diary entry?
Someone fetch my smelling salts.
Striking to see how the plague was still ravaging the lands, especially Greenwich and Deptford where infected people were congregating, whilst the usual population of the towns were slowly moving towards London.
This would only make things worse, when the Great Fire started.
Amidst all the chaos and all the hard work Samuel put into the situation, I cannot help but sit here and laugh at the endearing image of Samuel burying his 'Parmasan' cheese in the garden to preserve it from the flames.
I feel a new, strange fondness for Samuel, after reading his entries on the fire days. The mention of the doves is powerful, but it seems only natural that a man like him would be touched by it...
... even if his frolicking reaches absurd levels this year!
Really, Sam?
Two in one diary entry?
Someone fetch my smelling salts.
October 13, 2016
This is post originally on Vivian's Book Pavilion Literature Page
This…is going to be a short review…since I only read a few pages about this. The main part I read in 1666’s diary is about the great fire in London, how Pepys described it all. It’s an interesting thing, since his tone for diary is definitely different from our ages. “Dear Diary…” No, his diary is more like a list, how everything happened. A special note about this 1666 diary is that he didn’t really mentioned how the fire affected the people, rather he wrote the dove flew away from the fire in detail. However, personally, I think it somehow emphasis how terrible the fire is. From the movement of a tiny animal, how they left in a rush. That I think is a funny part of Samuel Pepys diary. He was not like other authors who purposely left his diary to be seen, but he wrote them down with his original idea about them.
This…is going to be a short review…since I only read a few pages about this. The main part I read in 1666’s diary is about the great fire in London, how Pepys described it all. It’s an interesting thing, since his tone for diary is definitely different from our ages. “Dear Diary…” No, his diary is more like a list, how everything happened. A special note about this 1666 diary is that he didn’t really mentioned how the fire affected the people, rather he wrote the dove flew away from the fire in detail. However, personally, I think it somehow emphasis how terrible the fire is. From the movement of a tiny animal, how they left in a rush. That I think is a funny part of Samuel Pepys diary. He was not like other authors who purposely left his diary to be seen, but he wrote them down with his original idea about them.
November 11, 2016
This volume includes the author's eyewitness account of the Great Fire, so it is very important if only for that. I didn't know, for instance, that the fires went on smouldering in cellars for months and broke out again every now and then despite the wet autumn; and the little details are very interesting (the traffic problems caused by people trying to move their belongings out of London, the fact that the plague was still claiming victims and in fact was worse in some places in 1666 than 1665, Samuel Pepys mentioning recurring dreams about fire and collapsing houses in the weeks after the event, and the very upsetting level of lost books due to the concentration of booksellers around St. Paul's). Other eyebrow-raising things: the womanising, the level of husband-and-father sanctioned groping which seemed to go on when people wanted naval contracts or wanted to avoid going to sea (bring your wife or daughter to be groped by Samuel Pepys); court gossip and politics; the undesirability of being a servant, generally, especially a female one. Also interesting to note how much time was spent travelling by river, and how different that makes the experience of London, even though some of it is still just about recognisable as the same place today.
October 16, 2016
Only a few more volumes to go! What will I do when there's no more Sam to remind me that even 350 years ago there was still crap going on in the world of politics!!! And that our aches and pains still and always will loom larger sometimes in our thoughts, or who we're going to ask over for a slap-up dinner! I know he had his character-defects, but I'm fond of him... Once I'm done I guess I'll have to move on to Richard Burton's diary!
October 30, 2021
The Plague still appears persistently up to the Great Fire. An excellent volume showing change in Pepys' life. More concentrated passages on his work, and also the lamentable state of England in this period with the war with the Dutch and the Exchequer out of money. An enjoyable read as ever.
December 29, 2021
The Year of the Great Fire (following the plague). "Thus ends this year of public wonder and mischief to this nation - and therefore generally wished by all people to have an end."
January 23, 2023
1666 is another event-filled year for Pepys.
There’s the war against the Dutch, launched without any real preparation, carried out by spoiled posh boys with no real experience and not fully funded - the last being his particular problem. Fear of plague lingers and everyone has an eye on the figures. Pepys’s own successes mean he is sufficiently in the public eye to be noticed by powerful enemies, while his patron’s disgrace leaves him without protection - oh, and London burns down.
Things are generally uneasy in Pepys’s world. For a start, the year includes the number ‘666’ and he’s reading books with warnings of the year ahead. Lord Sandwich, who has been his protection all his adult career, has suffered a downfall and he has to negotiate how damaging it is to him and how loyal he can afford to be. There’s a nervous eye on the lingering plague and serious questions levied at all the doctors and clergymen who escaped the city. The war against the Dutch is revealing the deep insecurities in the navy’s command and provisioning structures. Things are so bad that he feels he may soon lose his place, desperately turning his credit into silver plate and gold in case of any quick getaway. Sometimes he daydreams how nice being retired in the country may be.
Pepys himself is feeling uneasy. He’s got into such libidinous ways during the plague year that he finds himself distracted from work, finding himself not being on top of details as he usually his and even delaying his monthly accounts numerous times. As he says in this volume, “music and women, I cannot but give way to” but there’s a sense he is getting seriously worried about it. Though he is, of course, not worried about it morally, he never actually reflects on how his affairs effect his relationship with his wife (or the relationship the women he gropes have with their husbands).
There’s a really interesting development in his relationship with Penn. He has always hated the man, especially the way he is “against everything and remedy nothing” but he starts to have a grudging respect for the man. Penn does know his ships and he understands the navy. He might be a rude, obstreperous character who dumps his cesspit outside Pepys’s window but he knows Penn is a useful man and that he ‘must keep in with him’.
There’s also some touching elements of Pepys’s relationship with his father. Pepys pays for expensive portraits of himself, Elizabeth and his father. When his father leaves after his trip to London, Pepys admits that he ‘cried to myself’, a rare admittance, especially from a man writing without filter.
The fire is a tremendous set piece, with the details of the pigeons singeing themselves on the flames and fires in basements flaring up months later. It really hits how the city that is burning is the one Pepys was born in, that he knows every street and so many of the people affected. For months afterwards he has nightmares of the fire, yet business returns to normal for him. His house was saved (which is especially lucky for him because he’d just invented the purpose-built bookcase and got his office just as he liked). Westminster still stands, where most of the people he does business with live. It’s just he has to cross a wasteland to get between the two. (Throughout all the Pepys diaries, there’s a real sense of how everyone was just zipping all around the metropolis to meet each other, often arriving at the empty door of someone who has zipped to their house. Imagine that every email has to be a meeting.)
Another great set piece is a day of partying. It starts with him, his wife and some friends going to the bull-baiting, something he hadn’t been to in a while and was not sure if he enjoyed. The party then got drunk and threw fireworks around, blacked up with ash and candle grease, the cross-dressed and sang and danced until four in the morning. He wakes up at eight the next day and declares himself ‘mighty sleepy’.
Pepys is not a good person and he does things that make a reader squirm but he is a great reporter, relaying a texture that make London in 1666 feel as real as London today - and possible more vital.
There’s the war against the Dutch, launched without any real preparation, carried out by spoiled posh boys with no real experience and not fully funded - the last being his particular problem. Fear of plague lingers and everyone has an eye on the figures. Pepys’s own successes mean he is sufficiently in the public eye to be noticed by powerful enemies, while his patron’s disgrace leaves him without protection - oh, and London burns down.
Things are generally uneasy in Pepys’s world. For a start, the year includes the number ‘666’ and he’s reading books with warnings of the year ahead. Lord Sandwich, who has been his protection all his adult career, has suffered a downfall and he has to negotiate how damaging it is to him and how loyal he can afford to be. There’s a nervous eye on the lingering plague and serious questions levied at all the doctors and clergymen who escaped the city. The war against the Dutch is revealing the deep insecurities in the navy’s command and provisioning structures. Things are so bad that he feels he may soon lose his place, desperately turning his credit into silver plate and gold in case of any quick getaway. Sometimes he daydreams how nice being retired in the country may be.
Pepys himself is feeling uneasy. He’s got into such libidinous ways during the plague year that he finds himself distracted from work, finding himself not being on top of details as he usually his and even delaying his monthly accounts numerous times. As he says in this volume, “music and women, I cannot but give way to” but there’s a sense he is getting seriously worried about it. Though he is, of course, not worried about it morally, he never actually reflects on how his affairs effect his relationship with his wife (or the relationship the women he gropes have with their husbands).
There’s a really interesting development in his relationship with Penn. He has always hated the man, especially the way he is “against everything and remedy nothing” but he starts to have a grudging respect for the man. Penn does know his ships and he understands the navy. He might be a rude, obstreperous character who dumps his cesspit outside Pepys’s window but he knows Penn is a useful man and that he ‘must keep in with him’.
There’s also some touching elements of Pepys’s relationship with his father. Pepys pays for expensive portraits of himself, Elizabeth and his father. When his father leaves after his trip to London, Pepys admits that he ‘cried to myself’, a rare admittance, especially from a man writing without filter.
The fire is a tremendous set piece, with the details of the pigeons singeing themselves on the flames and fires in basements flaring up months later. It really hits how the city that is burning is the one Pepys was born in, that he knows every street and so many of the people affected. For months afterwards he has nightmares of the fire, yet business returns to normal for him. His house was saved (which is especially lucky for him because he’d just invented the purpose-built bookcase and got his office just as he liked). Westminster still stands, where most of the people he does business with live. It’s just he has to cross a wasteland to get between the two. (Throughout all the Pepys diaries, there’s a real sense of how everyone was just zipping all around the metropolis to meet each other, often arriving at the empty door of someone who has zipped to their house. Imagine that every email has to be a meeting.)
Another great set piece is a day of partying. It starts with him, his wife and some friends going to the bull-baiting, something he hadn’t been to in a while and was not sure if he enjoyed. The party then got drunk and threw fireworks around, blacked up with ash and candle grease, the cross-dressed and sang and danced until four in the morning. He wakes up at eight the next day and declares himself ‘mighty sleepy’.
Pepys is not a good person and he does things that make a reader squirm but he is a great reporter, relaying a texture that make London in 1666 feel as real as London today - and possible more vital.
November 17, 2015
What an insight into the year 1666!! I had had this on my list for many years, and it did not disappoint. It is his diary, so it is full of insignificant happenings along with important entries. He mentions a book he wrote 20 years earlier about the year because of the "666" and it is easy to see how he felt confirmation in the apocalyptic events.
1) the weather - beginning on Jan. 24--"...so strong the wind that in the fields we many times...were driven backwards. ...bricks and tiles falling from houses...whole houses...blowed down. ...the pales on London-bridge on both sides were blown away, so that we were fain to stoop very low for fear of blowing off..." and a description of a large boat blown over, keel up, masts in the water.
2) the plague - details about those he knew who had died, and counts of reported deaths in the countrysides
3) economic unrest and the wars at sea against the Dutch and on land versus the Scots so that he was trading a lot of his worth to stockpile gold, and then in a worry about how to keep the gold safe from thieves
4) the Great Fire of London and the immense destruction/panic, his efforts to save important things as he fled the oncoming fire, and that months later houses were still being torn down and bodies found, and in the debris, skeletons from burials 200+ years earlier were exposed, and then displayed. Small fires continued to flare up around the city for an extended period of time.
He had a fascination for fine things--books, paper, art pieces, painted portraits, silver plates, and even did a modern-sounding remodeling of parts of his house. His sightseeing caught my attention, including St. George's Chappell where there were place settings for Knights and the burial sites of Henry VIII and Lady Jane Seymour, and the King's house "the most romantique castle that is in the world." He is a strong critic of people's singing voices, instrument playing, the songs themselves, plays and actors, all throughout the diary. He experiences "optickes" [telescope, microscope, a lantern "with pictures in glasse, to make strange things appear on the wall"], improved paper, globes.
There was great difficulty in getting news--rumors abounded regarding the noblemen, the king and his ladies, the poor use of money by the government, the disgrace of some who by crook or inaptitude lost their own money or that of their governmental office, the success or failure of the war at sea by ships and their captains, attempted poisonings of the king. He felt England was seeing her last days. "God fit us for the worst."
1) the weather - beginning on Jan. 24--"...so strong the wind that in the fields we many times...were driven backwards. ...bricks and tiles falling from houses...whole houses...blowed down. ...the pales on London-bridge on both sides were blown away, so that we were fain to stoop very low for fear of blowing off..." and a description of a large boat blown over, keel up, masts in the water.
2) the plague - details about those he knew who had died, and counts of reported deaths in the countrysides
3) economic unrest and the wars at sea against the Dutch and on land versus the Scots so that he was trading a lot of his worth to stockpile gold, and then in a worry about how to keep the gold safe from thieves
4) the Great Fire of London and the immense destruction/panic, his efforts to save important things as he fled the oncoming fire, and that months later houses were still being torn down and bodies found, and in the debris, skeletons from burials 200+ years earlier were exposed, and then displayed. Small fires continued to flare up around the city for an extended period of time.
He had a fascination for fine things--books, paper, art pieces, painted portraits, silver plates, and even did a modern-sounding remodeling of parts of his house. His sightseeing caught my attention, including St. George's Chappell where there were place settings for Knights and the burial sites of Henry VIII and Lady Jane Seymour, and the King's house "the most romantique castle that is in the world." He is a strong critic of people's singing voices, instrument playing, the songs themselves, plays and actors, all throughout the diary. He experiences "optickes" [telescope, microscope, a lantern "with pictures in glasse, to make strange things appear on the wall"], improved paper, globes.
There was great difficulty in getting news--rumors abounded regarding the noblemen, the king and his ladies, the poor use of money by the government, the disgrace of some who by crook or inaptitude lost their own money or that of their governmental office, the success or failure of the war at sea by ships and their captains, attempted poisonings of the king. He felt England was seeing her last days. "God fit us for the worst."
August 28, 2013
The most turbulent year in the series of diaries so far, war is breaking out with France declaring war and disastrous Dutch sea battles with the English.
Add to that the state of the navy coffers is well nigh depleted and there is no more money to send ships out to sea in the coming year and still some uncertainty as to the spread of the plague.
Also the biggest and most harrowing event of this year is the Great fire of London, over 13,000 homes are destroyed and London is so decimated that only a fifth is left standing.
The eye witness accounts by Pepys is like a glimpse into history with its immediacy, you are transported back in time and are virtually walking the streets with him as he describes the fear of the people and animals trying to avoid the blaze.
A theory is put forward that this is a plot by the French to take Britain, this is a very bold statement and i do not know how much truth there is to that or if this is just Pepys and other people wildly theorising to try and make sense of the disaster.
Strangely enough maybe due to the stresses with his naval work and the state of the country in general and the great fire he seems to be slipping back to his old habits of the earlier diaries with a lot more romantic encounters, sometimes more than one in a single diary entry and also his play going is increasing though he is aware of this and self imposes fines and punishments due to his weakness for the theatre and feels shame in case anyone sees him and recognises him.
All in all a big year for Pepys and also historically as there is such a sense of unrest at this moment in time.
Add to that the state of the navy coffers is well nigh depleted and there is no more money to send ships out to sea in the coming year and still some uncertainty as to the spread of the plague.
Also the biggest and most harrowing event of this year is the Great fire of London, over 13,000 homes are destroyed and London is so decimated that only a fifth is left standing.
The eye witness accounts by Pepys is like a glimpse into history with its immediacy, you are transported back in time and are virtually walking the streets with him as he describes the fear of the people and animals trying to avoid the blaze.
A theory is put forward that this is a plot by the French to take Britain, this is a very bold statement and i do not know how much truth there is to that or if this is just Pepys and other people wildly theorising to try and make sense of the disaster.
Strangely enough maybe due to the stresses with his naval work and the state of the country in general and the great fire he seems to be slipping back to his old habits of the earlier diaries with a lot more romantic encounters, sometimes more than one in a single diary entry and also his play going is increasing though he is aware of this and self imposes fines and punishments due to his weakness for the theatre and feels shame in case anyone sees him and recognises him.
All in all a big year for Pepys and also historically as there is such a sense of unrest at this moment in time.
May 29, 2015
The year starts with the plague still around although less than 1665 and hopes that the cold will stop it. As we proceed through the year the war with the Dutch escalates with two major sea battles in the summer that are disasters for England. There is much talk about the ineptitude of the leaders and the fact that the men are disgruntled as they aren't being paid. Then disaster strikes as most of London burns in September. This is an excellent section of the diary as Pepys first hand account describes in detail the terror of this time. Pepys meanwhile continues his womanizing ways and I keep wondering two things, if his wife is doing the same with married men and what these women think. Unfortunately sexual assault clearly wasn't a thing then, but I can't imagine getting groped was that much fun for these women. The year ends with a dismal feel about the war, the troops, the city's very slow rebuild and Pepys' accounts being lower (he's a little obsessed).
May 10, 2013
From BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama:
Hattie Naylor's dramatisation of the 17th-century diaries. With Kris Marshall
Hattie Naylor's dramatisation of the 17th-century diaries. With Kris Marshall
September 11, 2008
I am a Samuel Pepys freak and I just love 1666- it includes the Great Fire of London and lots of running around by Mr Pepys. A really great glimpse of the 17th century!
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