Customer Reviews

The Diary of Samuel Pepys (Modern Library)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Pepys' secret diary, kept in cryptic shorthand to shield it from prying eyes, covers the years 1660 to 1669, starting with the return of Charles II from exile and ending when the writer's failing eyesight made writing difficult. He was 27 years old when he began this work, and quite impecunious. Through the patronage of his kin, Edward Montagu (later Earl of Sandwich) he rose from humble beginnings to a respected position (Clerk of the Acts in the navy office). Educated at Cambridge, he was ill prepared for the job: while he read Latin and French, he did not know the multiplication tables and had to be taught basic mechanics. However, he seems to have applied himself to his work with diligence and persistence. During the naval war with Holland (1665-67) he was surveyor of victualling. In this capacity, he gained the confidence of the lord high admiral, the Duke of York (later King James II). After the war, he defended the navy office in Parliament against charges of mismanagement with a speech that seems to have been the high point of his career.

His eyewitness accounts of the Plague (1665) and the Great Fire (1666) in London are riveting. But it is the description of quotidian events that sheds light on how the people lived. Moving easily among different social classes, he recorded their moods and diversions. He attended public executions of regicides (complete with display of heads and organs to a cheering crowd), and noted when initial enthusiasm for the restoration of the monarchy gave way to disillusionment; when anger at the King's debauchery and neglect of state business bred nostalgia for the reign of Oliver Cromwell.

While critical of the King's and the Court's incessant "gambling and whoring", Pepys himself was no paragon of virtue. His dalliances with maidservants and accommodating ladies of his acquaintance caused bitter quarrels with his wife. He seems to have lusted after every pretty girl who crossed his path. Repeated vows to mend his ways generally came to naught. Some of the racier passages in his diary are written in fractured French or Latin.

Pepys was an avid theater-goer: he loved Macbeth and Henry IV, but thought Midsummer Night's Dream silly and inane. There was a lot of music in his life: he played the lute, the flageolet, and the violin, and missed no opportunity to join in singing, dancing, drinking and merry-making. He carefully noted, however, how much these diversions cost him. He also conscientiously recorded the bribes and kickbacks paid him by suppliers. Forever curious, he attended lectures and observed experiments, read voraciously and enjoyed a good discourse.

If he often appears vain and foolish, it is because he portrays himself as vain and foolish. His naive enjoyment of even the most mundane things ("this pleased me mightily" is an oft-repeated phrase) cannot fail to strike a sympathetic chord in the reader. He comments on fashion trends (powdered wigs, beauty spots, wearing of masks and male riding habit by court ladies, etc.). When he yielded to fashion and had a periwig made for himself, it was delivered full of nits. New servants had to be deloused and fitted with clean garments, but once domesticated, they were part of the household; they received music lessons and, in some cases, lessons in Latin and Greek. When they misbehaved, he beat them until his arm hurt.

The parallel career of his wife deserves some reflection: the "poor wretch" who, early in their marriage, used to wash his dirty clothes by hand, graduated to lace gowns, powdered wigs and a coach of her own; but discontent increased in proportion to luxury. "I have to find her something to do", mused Sam. Dancing and painting lessons, theater visits and parties filled the void. The couple had no children.

The Modern Library Edition is, of course, a greatly abridged version of the six-volume original. One may quibble with the selection or deplore the lack of notes; but the hefty original is available to all who want to know more.

The posted reviews giving this a high rating are NOT OF THIS KINDLE EDITION, but are of the printed Latham-Matthews edition. That is a wonderful edition, but this one is the first, 19th-century bowdlerized version, which in particular glosses over Pepys's entertaining sexeual escapades. A modern reader should wait for something better to come along.

When I started reading the diary, I expected it to be extremely boring and very old fashioned (seeing how it was written in the 1600's) - how wrong I was!!!
Samuel Pepys (pronounced 'peeps') is a human, funny, moody man who has his ups and downs like the rest of us. His narrative during the plague records his concern about neighbors, and his real sorrow when people he knows succumb to it. He also records his experiences during the great fire of London in 1666 and his first mention of it strikes me as entirely human - he says that his maids wake him as they have heard of the fire and as it is not near his doorstep he simply goes back to bed as he's tired. He has arguments with his wife, and has cast a lusty eye upon the kings mistress for years! He also has, what I call 'mini affairs' where he kisses and fondles women quite regularly, (including his own maids) and seems to have no guilt about this whatsoever. Most mornings he 'drinks' his breakfast and at one point is outraged that his new wig is teeming with nits! An historical and very human read. Makes me realise that after 450 years we are all no different at all........

This book is said to be "The Diary of Samuel Pepys" and true it is...however it is only part 2 of a 10 part diary but you wouldnt know that unless you bought it and saw that the book starts with the end of a sentence from the previous volume. very sad.

Reading Samuel Pepys diary is an extraordinary experience because it blends the intimate personal details of this very public man of the 17th century with some of the most dramatic moments in London history. Pepys moves back and forth in successive daily entries between recording his marital ups and downs , his personal struggles with temptations of the flesh and career successes and the tumultuous events that he witnessed first hand. His descriptions of the Plague of 1665 and the Great London fire of 1666 are unequaled. As an influential minister in the Royal Navy he had access to and was acquainted with much of the aristocracy in the England of his day and had direct knowledge and access to King Charles II during the restoration years. This edition of his diary is abridged and contains the years 1660 thru 1669. From the coronation and return to the monarchy through the Dutch-English war Pepys' perpective is enlightening and entertaining. I can't think of another book that I've read that places the reader in such intimate contact with a time and place so far removed. By the time you are finished with this you will have learned much and become acquainted with a pretty interesting and engaging character in Mr. Pepys. Highly recommended to anyone interested in this period and would enjoy an insiders view of restoration London.

There are on the Amazon site two excellent, informative reviews of the Pepys' diaries. They say far more than my own contribution.
I have read in and out of the Pepys' diary more than once. I did this in part because I have read many times that they are the ' best diaries' ever written. Without contending with that I found that they were not for me the most interesting. This probably shows more about my own shortcomings than it does about the work of Pepys.
Pepys' work is filled with description of the life of the time. It is rich in perception of the great city of London in Restoration times. It is filled with personal anecdote, gossip including that relating to his prodigious sexual appetite and activity. It is a busy, businesslike work. And it tells more about a world outside than a world in.
In the diaries I most love there is the quest of the soul to deeply understand itself and its relation to other people, and God. I find that the flurry of activity in the life of Pepys does not lead to this kind of reflectiveness. And thus for me the 'diary' is not a highly significant work personally.

Ever since I found a circa 1950's diary in an old attic rummage sale on a vacation in Maine when I was about 8, I've been fascinated by old diaries. It also helps that I'm fascinated by history in general. So bring together great historical periods (ie the Great Fire of London) with diaries (and such honest ones as this are rare) and you have a classic. The language was a bit challenging at first - but like reading Shakespeare, if you just get used to it, it suddenly seems normal (reading it out loud also helped me get in the 17th century zone). It was interesting to see so much history witnessed by a normal person (albeit one of the upper class). His personal life was quite "colorful" too, which added some flavor to it, too. Definitely worth the effort.

Very entertaining and enlightening. Pepys gives us a glimpse of what life was like in that period before the "Glorious Revolution" in England which was so important in the developement of democracy in England and the United States. Pepys was on the wrong side of that revolution - a loyalist to King Charles II, although he was never convicted of treason. Good thing, since there seemed to be a lot of beheadings, etc. in that era. Occasionally, it is not absolutely clear what Pepys is talking about, and sometimes the vocabulary is not easily understood,as language and customs have changed, but that is to be expected.

I purchased the audiobook read by Kenneth Branagh. He does a great job with the reading. The diary itself is very revealing. I learned a lot about the times in which Samuel Pepys lived.