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The Diary of Samuel Pepys #3
Diary of Samuel Pepys - Complete 1662 N.S. by Samuel Pepys
The third volume of the complete Diary of Samuel Pepys in its most authoritative and acclaimed edition. This complete edition of the Diary of Samuel Pepys comprises eleven volumes -- nine volumes of text and footnotes (with an introduction of 120 pages in Volume I), a tenth volume of commentary (The Companion) and an eleventh volume of Index. Each of the first eight volumes contains one whole calendar year of the diary, from January to December. The ninth volume runs from January 1668 to May 1669. The Diary was first published in abbreviated form in 1825. A succession of new editions, re-issues and selections, published in the Victorian era, made the Diary one of the best-known books, and Pepys one of the best-known figures, of English history. But in none of these versions -- not even in the Wheatley, which for long stood as the standard edition -- was there a reliable, still less a full text, and in none of them was there a commentary with any claim to completeness. This edition was in preparation for many years, and remains the first in which the entire Diary is printed and in which an attempt has been made at systematic comment on it. The primary aim of the principal editors wa
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First published October 4, 2009
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About the author
Samuel Pepys
986 books73 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 24, 2016
Pepys takes an oath to give up theater and wine and buckle down to work. What a concept in Restoration England. He is a bit startled but very pleased that it pays off so handsomely in learning the business of the navy and gaining esteem. He starts to make a real study of Navy business, from the seemingly frivolous matter of foreign nation flag etiquette to experiments with the quality of hemp lines and the price of masts. He seems to become more independent of 'my lord'. The new queen arrives from Portugal, with her much-needed money, but the king blatantly continues his relationship with Lady Castlemain. People are becoming disillusioned with the dissolute court.
What an inveterate home renovation enthusiast--incessant dust and workmen. Still a warm relationship with his wife although they bicker over how to get more companionship for her. The extended family complications are illuminating generally if legally dense to a modern American reader: wrangling over the will of an uncle who died with less than everyone expected, and family negotiations over a wife for his brother. The latter episode ends in losing a woman the brother was fond of because she wouldn't bring enough money to the brother's business that Pepys could be sure to keep his brother independent. He's already worried he'll end up supporting his father and senile mother, which would infringe on his increasingly pleasant life.
Servant troubles, and insights into how dependent people of his class were on their servants. During the addition of another story to his house his servant and Pepys are sometimes sleeping outside the house in two different places, and Pepys can't even go out in the morning until his servant comes to get him ready. Servants treated dreadfully, beaten and sent out in terrible conditions with messages that conditions are too bad for Pepys himself to go out. Assigned to sleep in ever-changing and one assumes tiny, dirty places.
Why does one keep listening to this 'up betimes and to the office, then to dine with Sir William Batten, where they say that the king doth...'? For the teeming detail of a time on the cusp of Shakespeare's England and early modernity--we see it in the making.
What an inveterate home renovation enthusiast--incessant dust and workmen. Still a warm relationship with his wife although they bicker over how to get more companionship for her. The extended family complications are illuminating generally if legally dense to a modern American reader: wrangling over the will of an uncle who died with less than everyone expected, and family negotiations over a wife for his brother. The latter episode ends in losing a woman the brother was fond of because she wouldn't bring enough money to the brother's business that Pepys could be sure to keep his brother independent. He's already worried he'll end up supporting his father and senile mother, which would infringe on his increasingly pleasant life.
Servant troubles, and insights into how dependent people of his class were on their servants. During the addition of another story to his house his servant and Pepys are sometimes sleeping outside the house in two different places, and Pepys can't even go out in the morning until his servant comes to get him ready. Servants treated dreadfully, beaten and sent out in terrible conditions with messages that conditions are too bad for Pepys himself to go out. Assigned to sleep in ever-changing and one assumes tiny, dirty places.
Why does one keep listening to this 'up betimes and to the office, then to dine with Sir William Batten, where they say that the king doth...'? For the teeming detail of a time on the cusp of Shakespeare's England and early modernity--we see it in the making.
December 25, 2015
"God forgive me, I was sorry to hear that Sir W Pens maid Betty was gone away yesterday, for I was in hopes to have a bout with her before she had gone, she being very pretty. I have also a mind to my own wench, but I dare not, for fear she should prove honest and reuse and then tell my wife."
-- Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol 3, August 1, 1662
The third volume (1662, with 105,000 words) show evidence that 1662 has been a pretty successful year for Pepys. He is rising in the esteem of both the Duke of York and Lord Sandwich. He is constantly working to better himself at his job and knowledge. He has hustle and is innovative. This year he has taken an oath to only dream two cups of wine a day and limit his times at the theatre and it appears to be helping him be more productive. His major stresses are his Uncle's estate and the lawsuit involved with it, his brother Tom's need for a wife with sufficient money, his wife and maid Sarah's constant fighting, the politics at work with Sir William Pen and Sir J. Mennes, two coworkers who he is in disputes with about their co-lodgings. He is learning like Epicetus' rule says, "Some things are in our power; others are not".
My review is finished, and so to bed.
Here are my other Pepys diary reviews:
Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words
Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words
Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 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
-- Diary of Samuel Pepys, Vol 3, August 1, 1662
The third volume (1662, with 105,000 words) show evidence that 1662 has been a pretty successful year for Pepys. He is rising in the esteem of both the Duke of York and Lord Sandwich. He is constantly working to better himself at his job and knowledge. He has hustle and is innovative. This year he has taken an oath to only dream two cups of wine a day and limit his times at the theatre and it appears to be helping him be more productive. His major stresses are his Uncle's estate and the lawsuit involved with it, his brother Tom's need for a wife with sufficient money, his wife and maid Sarah's constant fighting, the politics at work with Sir William Pen and Sir J. Mennes, two coworkers who he is in disputes with about their co-lodgings. He is learning like Epicetus' rule says, "Some things are in our power; others are not".
My review is finished, and so to bed.
Here are my other Pepys diary reviews:
Vol 1: 1660, 117,000 words
Vol 2: 1661, 84,000 words
Vol 4: 1663, 159,000 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
June 30, 2020
January, 1st: “Waking this morning out of my sleep on a sudden, I did with my elbow hit my wife a great blow over her face and nose, which waked her with pain, at which I was sorry, and to sleep again.”
Things are looking up for Samuel, he barely has a drink all year, he has a gardener, a new back door he is pleased with and a new construction project to enlarge the house by one floor, taking up most of his year, with the usual drama (ceilings spoiled by rain, wife evacuated to the countryside until it’s over).
We discover Samuel’s long term plans to be worth £2000 in order to become a knight and have his own coach. He aims higher and higher and is raised in rank by his Lord Sandwich to supervisor to the production of the King’s fleet at the new Deptford dock, a position which offers him a clearer understanding of governmental affairs, new skills in all aspects of the ship building industry (he is pleased when he finds himself more informed than his colleagues) and more freedom of operating, as he even conducts a shady business with a large order of 500 tons of hemp, for rope making, which is to be done ‘off the records’. He is also put on the next commission for Tangier, a prospect I am very much looking forward to.
Two famous outings to the theatre take place this year: the premiere of Romeo and Juliet, which he calls the worst play he ever saw in his life and the premiere of Midsummer Night’s Dream, which he calls the most insipid and ridiculous.
On a state level, the situation is not good: war is brewing with the Dutch and the country cannot afford a fleet, due to the excessive spendings of the Crown.
Much drama is also brewing in court, as the newly married King already has a bastard by the Lady Castlemaine (Sam being her number 1 fan*), a lady of political intrigue, playing a dangerous game who, by the end of the year, shamelessly leaves her husband for the King and has more power than the Queen, who has to put up with her as a lady in waiting.
Samuel notes the people are restless, there is fear of plague due to excessively warm weather, Parliament voted a tax of 2 shillings per annum for every chimney in London**, and the bishops are in power again, ordering that no boats would work on Sundays (Sam is exempt, because of his position in government).
After spending a couple of days digging through the cellars of the Tower, tasked by the King and Lord Sandwich to find a rumoured treasure , Sam ends the year being worth £650 ( £68,363 today) and staying for a few days in White Hall. Not too shabby for the young man who started the diary eating only mushy peas for dinner!
* Same entry: “but how strange it is that for her beauty I am willing to construe all this to the best and pity her wherein it is to her hurt though I know well enough she is a whore.”
**Same entry: “In Parliament, when asked whether women ought pay, somebody rose and said women were not occupiers but occupied.”
Fun fact: Charleston and South Carolina were named in honour of King Charles II.
Things are looking up for Samuel, he barely has a drink all year, he has a gardener, a new back door he is pleased with and a new construction project to enlarge the house by one floor, taking up most of his year, with the usual drama (ceilings spoiled by rain, wife evacuated to the countryside until it’s over).
We discover Samuel’s long term plans to be worth £2000 in order to become a knight and have his own coach. He aims higher and higher and is raised in rank by his Lord Sandwich to supervisor to the production of the King’s fleet at the new Deptford dock, a position which offers him a clearer understanding of governmental affairs, new skills in all aspects of the ship building industry (he is pleased when he finds himself more informed than his colleagues) and more freedom of operating, as he even conducts a shady business with a large order of 500 tons of hemp, for rope making, which is to be done ‘off the records’. He is also put on the next commission for Tangier, a prospect I am very much looking forward to.
Two famous outings to the theatre take place this year: the premiere of Romeo and Juliet, which he calls the worst play he ever saw in his life and the premiere of Midsummer Night’s Dream, which he calls the most insipid and ridiculous.
On a state level, the situation is not good: war is brewing with the Dutch and the country cannot afford a fleet, due to the excessive spendings of the Crown.
Much drama is also brewing in court, as the newly married King already has a bastard by the Lady Castlemaine (Sam being her number 1 fan*), a lady of political intrigue, playing a dangerous game who, by the end of the year, shamelessly leaves her husband for the King and has more power than the Queen, who has to put up with her as a lady in waiting.
Samuel notes the people are restless, there is fear of plague due to excessively warm weather, Parliament voted a tax of 2 shillings per annum for every chimney in London**, and the bishops are in power again, ordering that no boats would work on Sundays (Sam is exempt, because of his position in government).
After spending a couple of days digging through the cellars of the Tower, tasked by the King and Lord Sandwich to find a rumoured treasure , Sam ends the year being worth £650 ( £68,363 today) and staying for a few days in White Hall. Not too shabby for the young man who started the diary eating only mushy peas for dinner!
* Same entry: “but how strange it is that for her beauty I am willing to construe all this to the best and pity her wherein it is to her hurt though I know well enough she is a whore.”
**Same entry: “In Parliament, when asked whether women ought pay, somebody rose and said women were not occupiers but occupied.”
Fun fact: Charleston and South Carolina were named in honour of King Charles II.
August 31, 2014
From BBC Radio 4 - 15 Minute Drama:
Kris Marshall and Katherine Jakeways return as Mr and Mrs Pepys in Hattie Naylor's dramatisation of the diary for 1662 - a year which begins badly when Sam accidentally whacks Elizabeth in the eye with his elbow as he's waking up. On Twelfth Night they enjoy a feast, including eighteen mince pies, with their neighbours, Lord and Lady Batten, who are also celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary on that day. There's more entertainment on a night out at the theatre when they see Romeo and Juliet - but decide it's the worst play - and the worst acted - they've ever seen.
Kris Marshall and Katherine Jakeways return as Mr and Mrs Pepys in Hattie Naylor's dramatisation of the diary for 1662 - a year which begins badly when Sam accidentally whacks Elizabeth in the eye with his elbow as he's waking up. On Twelfth Night they enjoy a feast, including eighteen mince pies, with their neighbours, Lord and Lady Batten, who are also celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary on that day. There's more entertainment on a night out at the theatre when they see Romeo and Juliet - but decide it's the worst play - and the worst acted - they've ever seen.
May 22, 2025
Another year full of incident for Pepys, beginning on January 1st by him waking suddenly and hitting his wife with his elbow on the nose ‘at which I am sorry’ as he says. There are many occasions for jollification, at one party a Mrs Shipman fills a pie full of white wine “(it holding at least a pint and a half). And did drink it off for a health to Sir Wm and my a lady, it being the greatest draught that ever I saw a woman drink in my life”. Valentines Day is an occasion for avoiding Sir W. battens so he can avoid being lumbered with Sir W’a daughter as his Valentine ‘there being no great friendship between us as formerly’. There are many trips to the theatre, not always successful “to the King’s Theatre where we saw Midsummer nights dream which I have never seen before, nor shall ever see again, for it is the most inspired ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life.” There’s the occasional trip into the country as on October 13th when “with my father took a melancholy walk to Portholme, seeing the country maids milking their Cowes there (they being now at grassy) and to see with what mirth they come all home together in pomp with their milk, and sometimes thy have musique before them.” There’s some excitement digging for treasure in the cellars for some money that never turns up. And there’s observations of the goings on at court. Servants come and go so often I lose track of who is or is not employed by the Pepys’s at any given time. There’s never a dull moment with Pepys.
May 25, 2013
Another jam packed year for Samuel, Netherlands and England sign a peace treaty, the act of Uniformity causes unrest in the church when it is forced to accept the book of common prayer and Charles II sells Dunkirk to France.
On the homefront this year sees Pepys trying to curb his theatre going as apparently in 1661 he saw i think it was 79 plays as opposed to this year which ends with him seeing a grand total of just 22.
In consequence the money he is saving hard goes on improvements to the house and this mentioned quite often throughout 1662 as ongoing work is carried out and is completed just before year's end.
There is upheaval in the Pepys household with a few servants / workers coming and going.
We see more of Pepys "ogling" of the ladies and at one point is one step away from adultery.
The whole sequence of diaries are a fascinating read as his character seems to keep changing with every year, the first diary was very political in its narration and concerned with current affairs of the time and the state of the country in general, 1661 showed more of his character and his worries over money, his bad habits etc and this theme is carried on into 1662 with Pepys trying to address his personal vices which gives the reader an insight into his character and morals as he seems pretty honest and does seem to tell of his bad points, if he is in a bad mood etc which adds an air or realism and honesty to the whole diaries.
Fascinating reading but as with every volume, NOT to be undertaken lightly and totally useless unless you plan on reading the whole series.
On the homefront this year sees Pepys trying to curb his theatre going as apparently in 1661 he saw i think it was 79 plays as opposed to this year which ends with him seeing a grand total of just 22.
In consequence the money he is saving hard goes on improvements to the house and this mentioned quite often throughout 1662 as ongoing work is carried out and is completed just before year's end.
There is upheaval in the Pepys household with a few servants / workers coming and going.
We see more of Pepys "ogling" of the ladies and at one point is one step away from adultery.
The whole sequence of diaries are a fascinating read as his character seems to keep changing with every year, the first diary was very political in its narration and concerned with current affairs of the time and the state of the country in general, 1661 showed more of his character and his worries over money, his bad habits etc and this theme is carried on into 1662 with Pepys trying to address his personal vices which gives the reader an insight into his character and morals as he seems pretty honest and does seem to tell of his bad points, if he is in a bad mood etc which adds an air or realism and honesty to the whole diaries.
Fascinating reading but as with every volume, NOT to be undertaken lightly and totally useless unless you plan on reading the whole series.
December 14, 2021
1662 was in many ways a good year for Pepys. He added a storey to his house (in Seething Lane, I think), he made serious vows (that he largely kept) not to drink wine or go to plays, he worked hard at his various jobs, and he became more sought after and competent in the Navy Office.
On the downside, it appears that home renovation then as today caused serious disruption of his life and took much longer than he thought it would. He is on record as noting that unless he keeps a close eye on them, his workmen do nothing all day. Also he complains constantly about how dirty his house is during the renovation. Worst of all, to add the storey, the carpenters first have to remove the roof of the house, and then of course it rains incessantly. Well, apparently in those days they don't put up temporary roofing to keep the house dry, because the house rapidly becomes wet and uninhabitable. And just as we see on modern home renovation shows, in the end Pepys is very happy with the modifications.
There's lots more I could describe but really, if Pepys interests you, you should just read the diary for 1662.
On the downside, it appears that home renovation then as today caused serious disruption of his life and took much longer than he thought it would. He is on record as noting that unless he keeps a close eye on them, his workmen do nothing all day. Also he complains constantly about how dirty his house is during the renovation. Worst of all, to add the storey, the carpenters first have to remove the roof of the house, and then of course it rains incessantly. Well, apparently in those days they don't put up temporary roofing to keep the house dry, because the house rapidly becomes wet and uninhabitable. And just as we see on modern home renovation shows, in the end Pepys is very happy with the modifications.
There's lots more I could describe but really, if Pepys interests you, you should just read the diary for 1662.
August 14, 2020
My man Pepys turns 29 and due to his New Year's resolution hardly drinks at all in 1662. Well done!
September 22, 2020
Sort of like Big Brother without most of the ride bits, but a lot more interesting.
May 2, 2023
sammy p nasty at it again
August 20, 2011
The third of nine volumes of diaries written during the 1660s by English public servant Samuel Pepys while he was in his late 20's and early 30's. During 1662 Pepys manages to control his wine drinking and visits to the theater, allowing himself to devote more of his time and energies to his work. He rises farther in the eyes of his fellow bureaucrats and manages to increase his total worth to a pleasing sum. I learned of this diary through a tribute to Pepys's birthday (23 February 1633) on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac.
July 31, 2016
Pepys is somehow very likeable in spite of his apparent bad temper and the way he eyes the female servants (all of which we only know because he tells us about it). The office politics and the complicated inheritance case take some working out, but the details of everyday life are brilliant (down to lost keys and coping with workmen in the house while an extention is being built). This is the year of the arrival of the Queen, the 1662 prayer book and the Puritan rejection of it and subsequent upheaval in the church.
December 2, 2013
I love reading these diaries - so human, so present - like having a friend on your bedside table to remind you that we all, down the ages, struggle at times, enjoy our family and friends, strive to do well, sometimes fail... We had some friends and family round for a meal last night, and we were very merry!
April 29, 2015
More of the same from Pepys, can't recall anything that interesting happening this year. The Queen returned to England and Pepys got along with his wife pretty well.
December 20, 2015
he's like a seventeenth century Mr Pooter, only successful. ends 1662 deep in the throes of his man-crush on Mr Coventry.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews