Diary And Correspondence Of Samuel Pepys V4

The Diary of Samuel Pepys #4

by Samuel Pepys

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Diary, Autobiography

510 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2003

About the author

Samuel 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').

Reviews

[Darwin8u · Rating 5 out of 5]

"but yet, when the rogue is gone, I do not fear but the wench will do well."



The third volume (1663, with 159,000 words) will be remembered by me as the year Sam Pepys really struggled with farts, finance, fidelity, and family. I would say I digress, but no, really. Those were big things for Sam in 1663. Seriously, one of the greatest 10 pages of literature devoted to a man's flatulence and stool MUST be Oct 5 - 13, 1663 in Samuel Pepys diary. I might have only given 1663/Vol 4 four stars, but Sam EARNED that last star. Pushed it right out. Also, there was a pretty good go Sam had with Mrs. Lane on July 18: "By and by Mrs. Lane comes; and my bands not being done, she and I parted and met at the Crowne in the palace-yard, where we eat (a chicken I sent for) and drank and were mighty merry, and I had my full liberty of tossing her and doing what I would but the last thing of all; for I felt as much as I would and made her feel my thing also, and put the end of it to her breast and by and by to her very belly -- of which I am heartily ashamed. But I do resolve never to do more so." Nobody believes you Sam, you dog.

I'll write more tomorrow. It is late and I'm obviously, not focusing on matters of state or the Navy in 1663.

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 5: 1664, 132,000 words
Vol 6: 1665, 121,000 words
Vol 7: 1666, 151,000 words
Vol 8: 1667, 201,000 words
Vol 9: 1668, 128,000 words; 1669, 52,500 words

[Hon Lady Selene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never not be appalled by the sheer terrorism that used to be (is?) the concept of hiring and keeping a maid. The Pepys household suffers from this issue almost on a monthly basis: from a maid who gets a job with Samuel’s least favourite work colleague and badmouths the Pepys family to them to a more sane-seeming maid with plenty of musical talents who ends up in a slapping contest with his wife in the countryside, the situation is absolutely wrought with terror and I am glad not to be part of it.

Our friend Samuel here, methinks dear reader, is nothing but a cad. This year I have been rather upset and appalled by his Psychosis over his wife’s dance lessons with Pembleton, a man who would occupy Samuel’s mind for the rest of the year but instead of dealing with the situation head-on, he becomes the pride and joy of his future Victorian generations who refused point blank to discuss any matter with a whiff of awkwardness to it and instead would ship their issues, or in this case- wife, to the countryside in order to keep her under a manly thumb, as God forbid one “loses command over one’s wife” and allows her the freedom of mind she deserves as a human being as then “her mind is taken up by her business and finds other sweets besides pleasing me and so makes her that she begins not at all to study to please me” .

No, Samuel instead churns the stomach with his remark on how he would strike Elizabeth if she’d ever dare to utter the word ‘hell’ again but doesn’t turn his moral eye upon himself whilst frolicking with Mrs. Lane in some dirty pub near Deptford.

Alas reader, did Elizabeth really have an affair with Pembleton, the dancing master?
I sure as HELL hope so.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the last year in the first audible ‘book’ of Pepys diaries that I finished recently. While I made comments on a couple of individual years, this will address two of the topics that run through several volumes.

1. Politics. The diaries open at a fascinating point. Cromwell has been executed, the Rump Parliament has been shut down, Lambert is about to march out to meet Monck. Pepys’s fortune is tied to his patron, the Earl of Sandwich (to be). Debate: continue a Commonwealth or bring back Charles II from exile? Men scramble to balance on the fence, or come down solidly on one side or the other in hopes of reward and patronage. Luckily for Pepys, his patron plumped for Charles II. Eventually the two of them set sail for the continent to load up Charles and bring him back. From then on they are part of the scramble for positions, and they do pretty well. In fact, you can hold two or more lovely places, and hire another guy at a discount to actually perform the tasks, the way Victorian ministers paid their assistants to do all the real work. Of course, you might have to give a pretty nice gift to the guys who appoint you to these multiple spots.

But eventually the corruption begins to stink and by 1663 there is a different scramble. Now folks have to disavow any such gifts, or find documentation that they were allowed, or at least the long-standing custom.

2. Jealousy. Pepys comes down hard with this bug, but the fascinating thing is to watch how he analyzes himself under its effect. Early on, he says that since he has a roving eye and would probably take any advantage he could of a pretty woman, his wife can hardly be criticized for the same behavior. That’s pretty remarkable. But soon he is in an agony of suspicion about the dancing master. Each time he thinks his wife is up to no good, it seems that he can find no proof, but no matter how many times she is absolved he can’t get free of the agony. He knows this is ridiculous, but can’t help it. An interesting study.

All in all, a continuing good read, as the court corruption and politics unfold and Pepys home life has its ups and downs.

[Louise Culmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

1663 and the Pepys household is in its usual restless state, with servants coming and going at rapid rate, one maid isn’t giving satisfaction, another leaves in a huff, a boy is coming or going, and I am not sure what is wrong with Ashwell. There’s a good deal of eating and drinking, with a particularly handsome dinner party on 4th April - “We had a Fricassee of rabbits and chicken, - a leg of mutton boiled - three carps in a dish - a great dish of a side of lamb - a dish of roast pigeons. - a dish of four lobsters - three tarts - a Lamprey pie, a most rare pie - a dish of anchovies - good wine of several sorts, and all things mighty noble to my great content.” I should think so. Poor Mrs Pepys was robbed on 27th January of her new Fernandinho waistcoat, but fortunately Pepys agreed to let her have another one made. But when she wants to learn dancing it is a different t matter - Pepys is tormented by jealousy of the dancing master, and evidently suspects Mrs Pepys of being interested in the master more than the dancing. and then later he decides to teach Mrs Pepys Arithmetic, and she is apparently delighted with this (I will take Pepys’s word for this). The most poignant passage in the diary comes in October,when Queen Catherine falls ill of a fever, and in her delirium imagines she has had a child:
‘That this morning she talked mightily that she was brought to bed, and that she wondered that she should be delivered without pain and without souring or being slick and that she was troubled that her boy was but an ugly boy. But the King being by said “No, it is a very pretty boy:” “Nay” says she “if it be like you, it is a fine boy endeed, and would be very well pleased with it.” ‘ Poor Queen Catherine.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite anecdote: Pepys's Great Letter of Rebuke, wherein he diplomatically and respectfully tells his former patron Lord Sandwich that everyone is gossiping about him behind his back, and then Sandwich gets mad at *him*. No good deed goes unpunished. (But they seem to be patching things up.)

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This year sees a lot of domestic and political troubles with rumours of war in the air.
On the homefront this year sees Pepys troubled by "the Scot" preaching in the church and also by the presence of Pembleton his dancing master at the same church who he is in mortal fear of making a play for his wife.
This is a very lusty year for Pepys with many dalliances with ladies or servants mentioned.
The Theatre Royal opens which mightily taxes his vow to cut down on the amount of plays he attends due to his preoccupation with business and money.
On the war front England and Portugal beats Spain at the battle of Amegical and an Austrian fort surrenders to the Turks which is apparently a very worrying item of news and which Pepys frequently mentions.
Overall though this diary is more concerned with war, politics, business and the devious machinations of his colleagues pitting themselves against one another in business and privately.
But as always little touches of humour and interest with his domestic affairs intersperse what is quite a gloomy year for Pepys.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama:
1663 gets off to an unpromising start when Sam and Elizabeth have a furious row, culminating in him burning all her old love letters in the fire. Then Elizabeth is robbed in the street, and Sam has a writ issued against him on a false charge. He avoids arrest, until he can prove his innocence, by hiding next door at Sir William's house.

Cast:
Samuel Pepys ..... Kris Marshall
Elizabeth Pepys ..... Katherine Jakeways
Captain Ferrers ..... Ewan Bailey
Mrs Sarah ..... Eiry Thomas
Man with writ ..... Lee Mengo
Lord Sandwich ..... Blake Ritson
Sir William Batten ..... Richard Mitchley

Theme music: Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, words by Robert Herrick and music by William Lawes, sung by Bethany Hughes. Lute, baroque guitar and theorbo played by David Miller. Violin and viol by Annika Gray, and recorders by Alice Baxter.

Historical consultant: Liza Picard
Sound by Nigel Lewis

Adapted by Hattie Naylor.

A BBC/Cymru Wales production, directed by Nigel Lewis and produced by Kate McAll.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

1663 was a good year for Pepys, although he began to understand how much graft was actually going on in the England of Charles II. He did well financially, settled most of his outstanding debts and upped his status in the Navy Office, largely by educating himself in the technicalities of Naval business. He was not a man to waste time in idleness. He literally worked from dawn to midnight on most days.

A few incidents stand out:
- Lord Sandwich engaged in a liaison with a "slut" (Pepys' term for her) and it became a scandal in London. Pepys took the unusual step of sending his Lord a letter recommending that he give up the girl and get back to work. (The letter is reproduced and appears in the diary; it's so flowery and obsequious it's not easy to find the embedded criticism, but Sandwich did find it and was quite angry with Pepys, who was chagrined thereby.) Sandwich took the rebuke to heart however, and did straighten up. By the end of the year he was speaking to Pepys again.)
- Pepys paid for dancing lessons for his wife, then became VERY jealous when he thought she might be attracted to the dancing instructor. A significant portion of the narrative is spent with Pepys running around trying to find out if they are consorting or not.
- Pepys heard the first news that the plague had found it's way to Amsterdam.
- Pepys also heard the news that the Dutch might be planning war with England.

On to 1664!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not into reality TV, but I suppose this is the literary equivalent. We read about all Samuel's quirks and failings, his financial dealings, his lusts, and at times it is easy to forget that this is a man who tries hard to better himself through reading and questioning others, but who is also quite a musician as well as being the man who did more than most to reorganise the Royal Navy from the corrupt mess it had fallen into. He makes accountancy seem interesting.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

1663: The year Sam struggles with jealousy and constipation. This year was a delightful read. William Penn... what a knave!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

1663. Continues to be a really interesting contemporary account of life in the 1660s. Rather a lot of lavatorial stuff in this volume! I don't think I have quite followed all the legal ins & outs, but I have certainly grasped that there was quite a lot of bribery for public contracts going on (some of it obvious and startling, such as a payment of £1500 for a contract, some a bit less so, such as gifts for Samuel's wife). The marriage of Samuel Pepys and his "poor" wife is rather odd, close but fraught. Again, he says a lot about some quite intimate things but nothing about some other aspects, e.g. doesn't explain the oddness of his never having any contact with her parents - there is even a strange episode where he sees his father-in-law in the distance at Westminster Hall, and sends a porter with an anonymous message for him (because his wife has gone to see him and he doesn't want her to have had a wasted journey), watches the reaction, but never reveals himself and presumably is not even recognised by him. The diary was written in shorthand, so Elisabeth (he never uses her name) probably couldn't have read it. Mix of everyday details (clothes, fashion, food) and intrigues of state (including gossip which was not always reliable). He and his wife seem either to have bad luck with servants or were not good at dealing with them: maids and boys stay hardly any time at all, and both of them seem to lose their tempers with them. All fascinating.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pepys busiest year and longest entry. This year brings some marital trouble with Pepys being jealous of the dancing instructor but ends on a high note. Health issues, he's constipated for much of the fall, yep really lots of talk about stools. Pepys get a slide rule that he's very fond of. He teaches his wife math, which is an indicator of the lack of education for women at this time. There is trouble on the continent and in Ireland. And there is foreboding as the plague is in Amsterdam.

[Noran Miss Pumkin]

bookstore find 8/08.