The entry opens with him preoccupied by fashion: His entry on 3 September 1665 reflects his competing concerns.

His fortune increased significantly and he continued to enjoy various sexual dalliances with young ladies. The Great Plague took hold in London in 1665: despite this, 1665 proved to be a remarkably good year for Pepys. Not only was most of the city engulfed by what soon became known as The Great Fire of London in September 1666, but months before the most infamous outbreak of disease in British history occurred: the Great Plague. Pepys’ diary is particularly well known for its vivid descriptions of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.ġ665-1666 was not a good time for the people of London. Only my Lord Lambert is not yet come in to the Parliament nor is it expected that he will, without being forced to it. Lawson lies still in the River and Monke is with his army in Scotland. The officers of the army all forced to yield. the Rump, after being disturbed by my Lord Lambert, was lately returned to sit again.

My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again. I lived in Axe yard, having my wife and servant Jane, and no more in family than us three. This first entry sets the tone for the diary as a whole, combining intimate personal detail with discussion of the current political situation less than two years after the death of Oliver Cromwell:īlessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain but upon taking of cold. Her extensive research offers significant insights into the man, his world and the far-reaching literary and cultural developments of the 17th century. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into Pepys’s life and wide-ranging interests with Dr.

The great diarist Samuel Pepys was an avid collector of books, news and gossip, and reading was a major part of his life and the lives of his contemporaries.

The diary of samuel pepys