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This etext was produced by John Hill.

THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, ESQ., F.R.S.

FROM 1659 TO 1669

WITH MEMOIR

Edited by LORD BRAYBROOKE

Notes about the etext:

There are over a thousand footnotes in the printed text that were
added by the editor. Most of these are very short biographical
and similar notes, and have been inserted into the etext in square
brackets close to the point where they were originally referred
to by a suffix. A few of the longer notes have been given a
separate paragraph which has also been placed in square brackets.

Text that was in italics in the printed book has been written in
capitals in the etext. Accents etc. have been omitted.

Where sums of money are referred to, the abreviations 'l.', 's.'
and 'd.' are used to designate 'Pounds', 'Shillings', and
'Pence'.

In the printed text, the year was printed at the top of each page.
As this was not possible in the etext, years have been added to
the first entry for each month to make it easier for readers to
keep track of the year. Because the old-style calendar
was in use at the time the diary was written, in which the New
Year began on March 25th, the year has been given a dual number
in January, February and March, as has been done elsewhere in the
diary, (eg. 1662-63 during the first months of 1663).

Pepys' spelling and punctuation have been left as they were in
the printed text.

The copy from which this etext was taken was published in 1879
by Frederick Warne and Co. (London and New York), in a series
called "Chandos Classics."

PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

The Celebrated work here presented to the public under peculiar
advantages may require a few introductory remarks.

By the publication, during the last half century, of
autobiographies, Diaries, and Records of Personal Character; this
class of literature has been largely enriched, not only with
works calculated for the benefit of the student, but for that
larger class of readers--the people, who in the byeways of
History and Biography which these works present, gather much of
the national life at many periods, and pictures of manners and
customs, habits and amusements, such as are not so readily to be
found in more elaborate works.

The Diary and Correspondence of John Evelyn, published in the
year 1817, is the first of the class of books to which special
reference is here made. This was followed by the publication, in
1825, of the Diary and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, a work of
a more entertaining character than that of Evelyn. There is,
moreover, another distinction between the two: the Diary of
Pepys was written "at the end of each succeeding day;" whereas
the Diary of Evelyn is more the result of leisure and after-
thought, and partakes more of the character of history.

Pepys's account of the Great Fire of London in 1666 is full as
minute as that of Evelyn, but it is mingled with a greater number
of personal and official circumstances, of popular interest: the
scene of dismay and confusion which it exhibits is almost beyond
parallel. "It is observed and is true in the late Fire of
London," says Pepys, "that the fire burned just as many parish
churches as there were hours from the beginning to the end of the
fire; and next, that there were just as many churches left
standing in the rest of the city that was not burned, being, I
think, thirteen in all of each; which is pretty to observe."
Again, Pepys was at this time clerk of the Acts of the Navy; his
house and office were in Seething-lane, Crutched Friars; he was
called up at three in the morning, Sept. 2, by his maid Jane, and
so rose and slipped on his nightgown, and went to her window; but
thought the fire far enough off, and so went to bed again, and to
sleep. Next morning, Jane told him that she heard above 300
houses had been burnt down by the fire they saw, and that it was
then burning down all Fish-street, by London Bridge. "So," Pepys
writes, "I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower,
and there got upon one of the high places, and saw the houses at
that end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire at
the other end of the bridge." On Sept. 5, he notes, "About two
in the morning my wife calls me up, and tells me of new cries of
fire, it being come to Barking Church, which is at the bottom of
our lane." The fire was, however, stopped, "as well at Mark-lane
end as ours; it having only burned the dyall of Barking Church,
and part of the porch, and there was quenched." This narrative
has all the advantage of being written at the time of the event,
which kind of record has been pronounced preferable to "a cart-
load of pencillings." Of this very attractive particularity is
the Diary of Pepys, which is here submitted to the reader in the
most elegant and economical as well as complete form.

Of the origin of this work, details are given the accompanying
Preface, by the noble Editor--Lord Braybrooke. The diarist--Mr.
Secretary Pepys--was a great virtuoso in collections of English
history, both by land and sea, much relating to the admiralty and
maritime affairs. He gathered very much from records in the
Tower, had many fine models, and new inventions of ships, and
historical paintings of them; had many books of mathematics and
other sciences; many very costly curiosities relating to the City
of London, as views, maps, palaces, churches, coronations,
funerals, mayoralties, habits, heads of all our famous men, drawn
as well as painted, the most complete collection of anything of
its kind. He was a man whose free and generous spirit appeared
in his pen, and his ingenious fancy at his finger's end.

The original MS. of the Diary, which gives so vivid a picture of
manners in the reign of Charles II., is preserved in Magdalene
College, Cambridge; it is in six volumes, containing upwards of
3000 pages, closely written in Rich's system of shorthand, which
Pepys doubtless adopted from the possibility of his journal
falling into unfriendly hands during his life, or being rashly
communicated to the public after his death. The original
spelling of every word in the Diary, it is believed, has been
carefully preserved by the gentleman who deciphered it; and
although Pepys's grammar has been objected to, it is thought that
the entries derive additional interest from the quaint terms in
which they are expressed.

The period of the Diary was one of the most interesting and
eventful decades in our history. We have here the joyous
pictures of the Restoration, as well as much about "the merry
monarch," his gaieties and his intrigues. The Plague of 1665,
with the appalling episodes of this national calamity, is
followed by the life-like record of the Great Fire, and the
rebuilding of London. Then, what an attractive period is that of
the history of the London theatres, dating from the Restoration,
with piquant sketches of the actors and actresses of that day.
Pepys, in his love of wit and admiration of beauty, finds room to
love and admire Nell Gwyn, whose name still carries an odd
fascination with it after so many generations. In those busy
times coffee-houses were new, and we find Pepys dropping in at
Will's, where he never was before, and where he saw Dryden and
all the wits of the town. The Diarist records sending for "a cup
of tea, a China drink he had not before tasted." Here we find
the earliest account of a Lord Mayor's dinner in the Guildhall;
and Wood's, Pepys's "old house for clubbing, in Pell Mell,"--all
pictures in little of social life, with innumerable traits of
statesmen, politicians, wits and poets, authors, artists, and
actors, and men, and women of wit and pleasure, such as the town,
court, and city have scarcely presented at any other period.

Shortly after the publication of the Diary, there appeared in the
Quarterly Review, No. 66, a charming paper from the accomplished
pen of Sir Walter Scott, upon this very curious contribution to
our reminiscent literature. Sir Walter's parallel of Pepys and
Evelyn is very nicely drawn. "Early necessity made Pepys
laborious, studious, and careful. But his natural propensities
were those of a man of pleasure. He appears to have been ardent
in quest of amusement, especially where anything odd or uncommon
was to be witnessed. To this thirst after novelty, the
consequence of which has given great and varied interest to his
Diary, Pepys added a love of public amusements, which he himself
seems to have considered as excessive." "Our diarist must not be
too severely judged. He lived in a time when the worst examples
abounded, a time of court intrigue and state revolution, when
nothing was certain for a moment, and when all who were possessed
of any opportunity to make profit, used it with the most
shameless avidity, lest the golden minutes should pass away
unimproved.

"In quitting the broad path of history," says Sir Walter, "we
seek for minute information concerning ancient manners and
customs, the progress of arts and sciences, and the various
branches of antiquity. We have never seen a mine so rich as the
volumes before us. The variety of Pepys's tastes and pursuits
led him into almost every department of life. He was a man of
business, a man of information if not of learning; a man of
taste; a man of whim; and to a certain degree a man of pleasure.
He was a statesman, a BEL ESPRIT, a virtuoso, and a connoisseur.
His curiosity made him an unwearied as well as an universal
learner, and whatever he saw found its way into his tables.
Thus, his Diary absolutely resembles the genial cauldrons at the
wedding of Camacho, a souse into which was sure to bring forth at
once abundance and variety of whatever could gratify the most
eccentric appetite.

"If the curious, affect dramatic antiquities--a line which has
special charms for the present age--no book published in our time
has thrown so much light upon plays, playwrights, and play-
actors.

"Then those who desire to be aware of the earliest discoveries,
as well in sciences, as in the useful arts, may read in Pepys's
Memoirs, how a slice of roast mutton was converted into pure
blood; and of those philosophical glass crackers, which explode
when the tail is broken off (Rupert's Drops) of AURUM FULMINANS,
applied to the purpose of blowing ships out of the water; and of
a newly contrived gun, which was to change the whole system of
the art of war; but which has left it pretty much upon the old
footing. A lover of antique scandal which taketh away the
character, and committeth SCANDALUM MAGNATUM against the nobility
of the seventeenth century, will find in this work an untouched
treasure of curious anecdote for the accomplishment of his
purpose."

PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION.

In submitting the following pages to the Public, I feel that it
is incumbent upon me to explain by what circumstances the
materials from which the Work has been compiled were placed at my
disposal. The original Diary, comprehending six volumes, closely
written in short-hand by Mr. Pepys himself, belonged to the
valuable collection of books and prints, bequeathed by him to
Magdalene College, Cambridge, and had remained there unexamined,
till the appointment of my Brother, the present Master, under
whose auspices the MS. was deciphered by Mr. John Smith, with a
view to its publication.

My Brother's time, however, being too much engrossed by more
important duties to admit of his editing the work, the task of
preparing it for the press was undertaken by me at his request.

The Diary commences January 1st, 1659-60 and after being
regularly kept for ten years, it is brought to a sudden
conclusion, owing to the weak state of Mr. Pepys's eyes, which
precluded him from continuing or resuming the occupation. As he
was in the habit of recording the most trifling occurrences of
his life, it became absolutely necessary to curtail the MS.
materially, and in many instances to condense the matter; but the
greatest care has been taken to preserve the original meaning,
without making a single addition, excepting where, from the
short-hand being defective, some alteration appeared absolutely
necessary. It may be objected by those who are not aware how
little is known from authentic sources of the History of the
Stage about the period of the Restoration, that the notices of
theatrical performances occur too frequently; but as many of the
incidents recorded, connected with this subject, are not to be
met with elsewhere, I thought myself justified in retaining them,
at the risk of fatiguing those readers who have no taste for the
concerns of the Drama. The general details may also, in some
instances, even in their abridged form, be considered as too
minute; nor is it an easy task, in an undertaking of this sort,
to please everybody's taste: my principal study in making the
selection, however, has been to omit nothing of public interest;
and to introduce at the same time a great variety of other
topics, less important, perhaps, put tending in some degree to
illustrate the manners and habits of the age.

In justice to Mr. Pepys's literary reputation, the reader is
forewarned that he is not to expect to find in the Diary accuracy
of style or finished composition. We should rather consider the
Work as a collection of reminiscences hastily thrown together at
the end of each succeeding day, for the exclusive perusal of the
Author.

The Journal contains the most unquestionable evidences of
veracity; and, as the writer made no scruple of committing his
most secret thoughts to paper, encouraged no doubt by the
confidence which he derived from the use of short-hand, perhaps
there never was a publication more implicitly to be relied upon
for the authenticity of its statements and the exactness with
which every fact is detailed. Upon this point, I can venture to
speak with the less hesitation, having, in preparing the sheets
for the press, had occasion to compare many parts of the Diary
with different accounts of the same transactions recorded
elsewhere; and in no instance could I detect any material error
or wilful misrepresentation.

The Notes at the bottom of the pages were introduced to elucidate
obscure passages; and I have been tempted occasionally to insert
short Biographical Sketches of the principal persons who are
named, accompanied by such references as will enable the curious
reader to inform himself more fully respecting them. In some
instances I experienced considerable difficulty in identifying
the individuals; but I trust that the notices will be found, on
the whole, sufficiently correct to answer the object intended.

In justice to the Reverend John Smith, (with whom I am not
personally acquainted,) it may be added, that he appears to have
performed the task allotted to him, of deciphering the short-hand
Diary, with diligence and fidelity, and to have spared neither
time nor trouble in the undertaking.

The best account of Mr. Pepys occurs in the Supplement to
Collier's Historical Dictionary, published soon after his death,
and written, as I have reason to believe, by his relative Roger
Gale. Some particulars may also be obtained from Knight's Life
of Dean Colet; Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary; Cole's MSS. in
the British Museum: the MSS in the Bodleian and Pepysian
Libraries, and the Cockerell Papers.

BRAYBROOKE. Audley End, May 14th, 1825

MEMOIR OF SAMUEL PEPYS.

Samuel Pepys, the author of the Diary here presented to the
reader was descended from the family of Pepys originally seated
at Diss, in Norfolk, and who settled at Cottenham, in
Cambridgeshire, early in the sixteenth century. His father, John
Pepys, followed for some time the trade of a tailor; and the
reader may hereafter notice the influence which this genealogy
seems to have exercised over the style and sentiments of his
son's Diary. The father retired to Brampton, in Huntingdonshire,
where he ended his days in 1680. His wife, Margaret, died in
1666-7, having had a family of six sons and five daughters.
Samuel was born February 23, 1632, most probably in London, but
by some it is thought at Brampton; he certainly passed his boyish
days in the Metropolis, and was educated regularly at St. Paul's
School; and afterwards at the University of Cambridge, and
probably went through his studies with success. But little is
known of him as an undergraduate. One record, however, remains
which proves that in his early life, as in later years, he was a
BON VIVANT. The following appears in the register book of the
college respecting his pranks when there:--"October 21, 1653.
Mem. That Peapys and Hind were solemnly admonished by myself and
Mr. Hill for having been scandalously over-served with drink ye
night before. This was done in the presence of all the fellows
then resident, in Mr. Hill's chamber (Signed) John Wood,
Registrar." Early in life, Pepys took one of those decided steps
which tend, according to circumstances, to a man's marring or
making. He appears to have married Elizabeth St. Michel, a
beautiful girl of fifteen, when he himself was only about twenty-
three. She was of good family her mother being descended from
the Cliffords of Cumberland, and her daughter had only just
quitted the convent in which she was educated. She brought her
husband no fortune; but the patronage of Pepys's relation, Sir
Edward Montagu, afterwards first Earl of Sandwich, prevented the
ill consequences with such a step might naturally have been
attended, and young Pepys's aptitude for business soon came to
render him useful. The distresses of the young couple at this
period were subjects of pleasant reflexion during their
prosperity--as recorded in the Diary, 25th February, 1667.

But better times were approaching Mr. Pepys: he accompanied Sir
Edward Montagu upon his Expedition to the Sound, in March, 1658,
and upon his return obtained a clerkship in the Exchequer.
Through the interest of the Earl of Sandwich, Mr. Pepys was
nominated Clerk of the Acts: this was the commencement of his
connexion with a great national establishment, to which in the
sequel his diligence and acuteness were of the highest service.
From his Papers, still extant (says Lord Braybrooke), we gather
that he never lost sight of the public good; that he spared no
pains to check the rapacity of contractors, by whom the naval
stores were then supplied; that he studied order and economy in
the dockyards, advocated the promotion of old-established
officers in the Navy; and resisted to the utmost the infamous
system of selling places, then most unblushingly practised. His
zeal and industry acquired for him the esteem of the Duke of
York, with whom, as Lord High Admiral, he had almost daily
intercourse. At the time of his entering upon this employment,
he resided in Seething-lane, Crutched Friars. He continued in
this office till 1673; and during those great events, the Plague,
the Fire of London, and the Dutch War, the care of the Navy in a
great measure rested upon Pepys alone. He behaved with calm and
deliberate courage and integrity. Nevertheless, he had the
misfortune to experience some part of the calumnies of the time
of "the Popish Plot." The Earl of Shaftesbury, the foster-father
of this most wicked delusion, showed a great desire to implicate
Pepys in a charge of Catholicism, and went so far as to spread a
report that the Clerk of the Acts had in his house an altar and a
crucifix. The absence not only of evidence, but even of ground
of suspicion, did not prevent Pepys being committed to the Tower
on the charge of being an aider and abettor of the plot, and he
was, for a time, removed from the Navy Board. He was afterwards
allowed, with Sir Anthony Deane, who had been committed with him,
to find security in 30,000l.; and upon the withdrawal of the
deposition against him, he was discharged. He was soon, by the
special command of Charles II., replaced in a situation where his
skill and experience could not be well dispensed with; and rose
afterwards to be Secretary of the Admiralty, which office he
retained till the Revolution. It is remarkable that James II.
was sitting to Sir Godfrey Kneller for a portrait designed as a
present to Pepys, when the news of the landing of the Prince of
Orange was brought to that unhappy monarch. The King commanded
the painter to proceed, and finish the portrait, that his good
friend might not be disappointed.

Pepys had been too much personally connected with the King, (who
had been so long at the Admiralty,) to retain his situation upon
the accession of William and Mary; and he retired into private
life' accordingly, but without being followed thither, either by
persecution or ill will.

The Diary, as already explained, comprehends ten years of Mr.
Pepys official life, extending from January, 1659-60, to May,
1669. It is highly necessary to keep in mind that Mr. Pepys was
only thirty-seven years of age when he closed his Diary in 1669,
and that of the remainder of his life we have no regular account;
although the materials for it which exist have encouraged the
hope that this portion of the Life may yet be written. After the
death of Cromwell, Pepys seems to have consorted much with
Harrington, Hazelrigge, and other leading Republicans; but when
the Restoration took place, he became--as, perhaps was natural--a
courtier; still, it is said of him that "were the eulogy of
Cromwell now to be written, abounding particulars and material
for the purpose might be found in and drawn from Pepys' Diary."

Mr. Pepys sat in Parliament for Castle Rising, and subsequently
he represented the borough of Harwich, eventually rising to
wealth and eminence as clerk of the treasurer to the
Commissioners of the affairs of Tangier, and Surveyor-general of
the Victualling Department, "proving himself to be," it is
stated, "a very useful and energetic public servant."

In the year 1700, Mr. Pepys, whose constitution had been long
impaired by the stone, was persuaded by his physicians to quit
York Buildings, now Buckingham-street, (the last house on the
west side, looking on the Thames,) and retire, for change of air,
to the house of his old friend and servant, William Hewer, at
Clapham. Soon after, he was visited here by John Evelyn, who, in
his Diary, Sept. 22, 1700, records, "I went to visit Mr. Pepys,
at Clapham, where he has a very noble and wonderfully well-
furnished house, especially with India and Chinese curiosities.
The offices and gardens well accommodated for pleasure and
retirement." In this retreat, however, his health continued to
decline, and he died in May, 1703, a victim in part, to the
stone, which was hereditary in his constitution, and to the
increase of that malady in the course of a laborious and
sedentary life. In the LONDON JOURNAL of the above year is this
entry: "London, June 5. Yesterday in the evening were performed
the obsequies of Samuel Pepys, Esq., in Crutched Friars Church,
whither his corpse was brought in a very honourable and solemn
manner from Clapham, where he departed this life, the 26th day of
the last month.--POST BOY, June 5, 1703." The burial-service at
his funeral was read at 9 at night, by Dr. Hickes, author of the
THESAURUS which bears his name. There is no memorial to mark the
site of his interment in the church; but there is a monument in
the chancel to Mrs. Pepys, and Mr. Pepys is interred in a vault
of his own making, by the side of his wife and brother.

Pepys had an extensive knowledge of naval affairs. He thoroughly
understood and practised music; and he was a judge of painting,
sculpture, and architecture. In 1684, he was elected President
of the Royal Society, and held that honourable office two years.
He contributed no less than 60 plates to Willoughby's HISTORIA
PISCIUM.

To Magdalene College, Cambridge, he left an invaluable collection
of manuscript naval memoirs, of prints, and ancient English
poetry, which has often been consulted by critics and
commentators, and is, indeed, unrivalled of its kind. One of its
most singular curiosities is a collection of English ballads in
five large folio volumes, begun by Selden and carried down to the
year 1700. Percy's "Reliques" are for the most part, taken from
this collection. Pepys published "Memoirs relating to the State
of the Royal Navy in England for ten years, determined December,
1688," 8vo. London, 1690; and there is a small book in the
Pepysian Library, entitled "A Relation of the Troubles in the
Court of Portugal in 1667 and 1668," by S. P., 12mo., Lond.,
1677, which Watt ascribes to Pepys.

In the Supplement to Collier's Dictionary, published
contemporaneously, is this tribute to the character of Samuel
Pepys:--"It may be affirmed of this Gentleman, that he was,
without exception, the greatest and most useful Minister that
ever filled the same situations in England; the Acts and
Registers of the Admiralty proving this fact beyond
contradiction. The principal rules and establishments in present
use in those offices are well known to have been of his
introducing and most of the officers serving therein, since the
Restoration, of his bringing up. He was a most studious promoter
and strenuous assertor of order and discipline through all their
dependencies. Sobriety, diligence, capacity, loyalty, and
subjection to command, were essentials required in all whom he
advanced. Where any of these were found wanting, no interest or
authority were capable of moving him in favour of the highest
pretender; the Royal command only excepted, of which he was also
very watchful, to prevent any undue procurements. Discharging
his duty to his Prince and Country with a religious application
and perfect integrity, he feared no one, courted no one,
neglected his own fortune. Besides this, he was a person of
universal worth, and in great estimation among the Literati, for
his unbounded reading, his sound judgment, his great elocution,
his mastery in method, his singular curiosity, and his uncommon
munificence towards the advancement of learning, arts, and
industry, in all degrees: to which were joined the severest
morality of a philosopher, and all the polite accomplishments of
a gentleman, particularly those of music, languages,
conversation, and address. He assisted, as one of the Barons of
the Cinque Ports, at the Coronation of James II., and was a
standing Governor of all the principal houses of charity in and
about London, and sat at the head of many other honourable
bodies, in divers of which, as he deemed their constitution and
methods deserving, he left lasting monuments of his bounty and
patronage."