The Diary of Samuel Pepys

“Every body now drinks the King’s health without any fear, whereas before it was very private that man dare do it.”

King Charles II’s return from exile causes general rejoicing among the English people. This shows that they secretly wanted the king to return and were not content with the Puritan Commonwealth under which they lived for 11 years from 1649 to 1660. The quote implies that sympathy for the king and monarchy was not encouraged under the republican Cromwell regime and that certain repressive measures were in force.

“But among all the beauties there my wife was thought the greatest.”

At a fancy wedding with noble guests, Elizabeth shines as the most beautiful. Pepys frequently expresses his admiration of his wife’s beauty and reports other people remarking on the same. Although Pepys lives in a socially stratified society, it is typical of him to elevate the common to the same level as the noble. The quote also bears witness to his deep-down love for his wife, despite some of his actions.

“Thus it was my chance to see the King beheaded at White Hall, and to see the first blood shed in revenge for the blood of the King at Charing Cross.”

Pepys reflects on the fact that, as a schoolboy, he witnessed King Charles I’s beheading in 1649, and over 10 years later, he witnesses justice being done to the king’s prosecutors. There is a sense of history coming full circle as the death of Charles I is requited, and his successor returns to the throne. Pepys is living at a pivotal time in English political history when there is widespread questioning of the rights of the king versus those of Parliament.

“I took occasion to be angry with my wife before I rose about her putting up of half a crown of mine in a paper box, which she had forgot where she had lain it. But we were friends again as we are always.”

This passage is emblematic of the somewhat rocky but fundamentally loving relationship between Pepys and his wife. They frequently quarrel over domestic or monetary matters, sometimes leading Pepys to act out his anger in a physical way; yet soon afterward their anger is assuaged, and they are at peace again. This dynamic allows the Pepys marriage to endure despite obstacles.

“The memory of the wicked shall rot.”

Pepys recalls that he said this as a schoolboy in reference to the execution of King Charles I. At that age Pepys was decidedly on the side of the Roundheads, or the supporters of Parliament during the English Civil War who wanted to see the king executed for his perceived injustices. However, with the change in political climate in 1660 Pepys feels his words coming back to haunt him, and he is afraid that Mr. Christmas, an old school friend of his, will remember his having said this 10 years ago.

“Myself in constant good heath, and in a most handsome and thriving condition. Blessed be Almighty God for it.”

Pepys periodically takes stock of his situation in life and, usually finding himself contented with it, thanks God for his blessings. This shows the religious basis of Pepys’s society, in which he instinctively ascribes his good fortune to divine blessing. It also shows Pepys’s fundamentally upbeat and happy nature; he is able to see the good in whatever circumstances life presents to him.

“This day I first begun to go forth in my coat and sword, as the manner now among gentlemen is.”

This quote shows Pepys steadily rising up in society due to his advancement in his career. In Pepys’s society, such social advancement is signaled by the clothes one wears, with the most costly and opulent outfits being worn by the upper classes. Indeed, the elegant costumes of the 17th century play a notable role in many of the descriptions found throughout the Diary, and at one point Pepys remarks that “clothes, I perceive more and more every day, is a great matter” (233).

“I find myself lately too much given to seeing of plays, and expense, and pleasure, which makes me forget my business, which I must labour to amend.”

Throughout the book Pepys speaks of his need to curb his frivolous spending, live more frugally, and concentrate on his work. This may reflect a Puritan attitude Pepys absorbed growing up. The conflict between the duties of serving the government and the many luxuries and pleasures London society offers is central to the Diary.

“At Court things are in very ill condition, there being so much emulacion, poverty, and the vices of drinking, swearing, and loose amours, that I know not what will be the end of it, but confusion.”

When King Charles II returns to power, he leads a court noted for its frivolity, debauchery, and financial mismanagement. This causes much discontent among the English people and leads to the Anglo-Dutch War. Charles himself was known for his keeping many mistresses and for fathering several illegitimate children; Pepys speaks of the king’s nighttime visits to Lady Castlemaine and of his “bastard son” James Crofts.

“But, though I am much against too much spending, yet I do think it best to enjoy some degree of pleasure now that we have health, money, and opportunity, rather than to leave pleasures to old age or poverty, when we cannot have them so properly.”

Pepys tempers his earlier comments in favor of frugality by admitting his fondness for the pleasures of life. It might be viewed as a frugal prudent attitude also on the part of Pepys to make use of pleasures while one has the opportunity. This comment is occasioned by Pepys and his wife attending the opera and eating and drinking at an inn, which Pepys considers typical of their “very pleasant life” (113).

“But it is impossible for the King to have things done as cheap as other men.”

What occasions this remark is the king’s ordering more workmen than necessary to help bring a ship to dock. The remark typifies the profligate spending for which Charles II’s court became notorious. Pepys shows his tendency to consider England’s royals on the same level as other human beings.

“To the King’s Theatre, where we saw ‘Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,’ which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life.”

Just a couple of generations removed from Shakespeare, Pepys tends to regard him in the same light as other playwrights, without the reverent attitude later attached to his work. Some of Pepys’s negative or lukewarm reactions to Shakespeare’s plays are likely to seem humorous and surprising today. His comments about other playwrights are also frequently sharp and to the point. Pepys’s literary comments illustrate the central place that literature and drama had in English culture at this time.

“This is my devilish jealousy, which I pray God may be false; but it makes a very hell in my mind, which the God of heaven remove or I shall be very unhappy.”

Pepys is jealous because of his wife’s taking dancing lessons with Mr. Pembleton; he suspects they are having an affair. Pepys records in almost novelistic detail his thought processes as he is filled with suspicion yet feels the need to keep his feelings to himself. This episode of marital jealousy is one of the points of tension in Pepys’s and Elizabeth’s marriage, which is marked by periods of jealousy on both sides.

“Up and to church alone, and so home to dinner with my wife, very pleasant and pleased with one another’s company, and in our general enjoyment one of another better we think than most other couples do.”

This quote bears witness to the fundamental happiness Pepys and Elizabeth have in one another despite their quarrels and disagreements. In fact, shortly before the beginning of the Diary Pepys and Elizabeth split for several months but then reunite. Since none of Elizabeth’s letters survive, her life is seen solely through the eyes of Pepys.

“[…] such open flattery is beastly.”

As King Charles II plays tennis, the courtiers praise his playing effusively and excessively. Pepys is repelled by such fawning behavior, which reflects his generally level-headed estimation of the king and royals. Pepys’s attitude might be seen to illustrate more egalitarian sympathies typical of a former Roundhead.

“[I]t is a sad consideration how the Pepys decay, and nobody almost that I know in a present way of increasing them.”

Of all of Pepys’s siblings, only one had children. Pepys and Elizabeth had no children, with the lack of fertility possibly due to an operation Pepys’s underwent in 1658. Pepys’s quote reflects melancholy at the decline of his family at a time when inheritance and tradition were very important to maintaining the continuity of society. What occasions the remark is the death and burial of his cousin Judith Scott. Many of Pepys’s relatives were prominent in government in England and Ireland.

“And strange to see how we are all divided that were bred so long at school together, and what various fortunes we have run, some good, some bad.”

Several times throughout the Diary Pepys meets with former school friends, on one occasion “talking of old school stories” and comparing school life now to what it was in his day. The importance of schools and colleges and their distinctive social culture was notable in London at that time as it would continue to be to the present day.

“But I do condemn myself mightily for my pride and contempt of my aunt and kindred that are not so high as myself, that I have not seen, nor invited her all this while.”

As Pepys rises in the world, he finds himself becoming proud and vain in his attitude toward his relatives and others who now seem “beneath” him. It is notable for Pepys to recognize and point out an ethnical fault in himself, such as pride or vanity, a self-awareness that appears throughout the Diary.

“[I]t is a strange slavery that I stand in to beauty, that I value nothing near it.”

Pepys is strongly attracted to feminine beauty and charm throughout the Diary and has no qualms about kissing women whom he has just met and to whom he has taken a fancy. These temptations will cause severe trouble for his marriage with Elizabeth. Here again, Pepys’s honesty about a potentially embarrassing fault is notable.

“This day, much against my will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and ‘Lord have mercy upon us’ writ there; which was a sad sight to me [...]”

This foreboding sight signals the presence of the plague. Although Pepys and his family remain safe, he hears about many of his friends and acquaintances taking ill or dying of the disease. The plague disrupts life in London, shutting down businesses and government and taking the lives of one fourth of the city’s population. Several comments by Pepys bear witness to a general understanding of germs and contagion during this period.

“No faith, no truth, no love, nor any agreement between man and wife, nor friends.”

The assessment of Pepys’s colleague Mr. Povy about life at Charles II’s court, a place where falsehood prevails and where the people in charge of governing the country live immoral and trivial lifestyles, is a contrast to the severity of the former Puritan government. Povy sums up that “if there be hell, it is here” (316).

“[…] for my part I and my wife will keep to one another and let the world go hang, for there is nothing but falseness in it.”

Building on the previous quote, Pepys expresses his own indifference and dismay at the corruption of the royal court and a contrasting sense of solidarity with his wife and their home life together. The quote shows the conflict between the public and private spheres and Pepys’s preference for the latter.

“So to bed, my eyes being very bad; and I know not how in the world to abstain from reading.”

This is one of Pepys comments on his deteriorating eyesight, caused both by overwork in poor light and by the writing of the Diary. The quote brings out a sad irony: A man in Pepys’s profession needs to use his eyesight for reading and cannot bear the loss of this faculty. As it happens, Pepys was able to salvage his eyesight for the future. For the time being, Pepys’s eye strain brings about the conclusion of the Diary in a melancholy mood.