Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) was an English naval administrator and member of Parliament, whose private diary, kept from 1660 to 1669, is one of the most vivid accounts of life in the seventeenth century. It records the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London and his own daily life.
Genres
letters and other genres
Works
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
A tailor's son
Samuel Pepys was born in London on 23 February 1633, the son of a tailor. He studied at St Paul's School and at Magdalene College, Cambridge. As a boy he watched the execution of Charles I in 1649.
He owed his career to a relative, Edward Montagu, later Earl of Sandwich, who took him on the voyage that brought Charles II back to England in 1660.
The Navy
In 1660 Pepys became Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board and, through hard work, one of the most important naval administrators of his time, later Secretary to the Admiralty. He reformed the supply and organisation of the Royal Navy.
He was twice imprisoned on suspicion of plots, in 1679 and after the revolution of 1688, which ended his career. He was president of the Royal Society from 1684 to 1686.
The Diary
From 1 January 1660 to 31 May 1669 Pepys kept a diary in shorthand, recording public events, gossip, music, plays, his money, his marriage to Elizabeth and his own infidelities with great frankness. He stopped for fear that writing was ruining his eyesight.
He left the six volumes, with his library, to Magdalene College, Cambridge. The diary was deciphered in the 1820s and first published, in part, in 1825.
Anecdotes
Burying the Parmesan
During the Great Fire of September 1666, Pepys buried his wine and a Parmesan cheese in his garden to save them from the flames.
Deciphered by a student
The diary was written in a shorthand system invented by Thomas Shelton. A student, John Smith, spent three years deciphering it, apparently without realising that the key to the system was in Pepys's own library.
Frequently asked questions
What does Pepys's diary describe?
Life in London from 1660 to 1669: the Restoration, the Great Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of 1666, the court, the theatre and his private life.
Why did Pepys stop writing his diary?
He believed that writing was damaging his eyesight, and stopped on 31 May 1669.
Where is the diary kept?
In the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, with the rest of his books.