Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 48: December 1666
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 48: December 1666
Translated by Mynors Bright
December 1666. Three months have passed since the Great Fire consumed London, and Samuel Pepys walks the still-smoldering streets, watching his city begin to rebuild from the ashes. In this intimate volume, the Admiralty clerk records the bitter winter's political machinations, the ruinous cost of war with the Dutch, and the endless maneuvering of court life. But what makes Pepys immortal is not merely his front-row seat to history, it is his ferocious honesty about himself. We see his anxieties about money, his restless ambition, his complicated marriage, his pleasures (the theater, the women, the fine clothes), and his moments of unexpected tenderness. This is not a history textbook. It is a man trying to make sense of his world, writing in code by candlelight, never imagining strangers would be reading his secrets three and a half centuries later. The diary survives as a miracle of candor: messy, selfish, frightened, sometimes ridiculous, always alive.
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“Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody.””
— Samuel Pepys
“The truth is, I do indulge myself a little the more in pleasure, knowing that this is the proper age of my life to do it; and, out of my observation that most men that do thrive in the world do forget to take pleasure during the time that they are getting their estate, but reserve that till they have got one, and then it is too late for them to enjoy it.””
— Samuel Pepys
“He that will not stoop for a pin will never be worth a pound.””
— Samuel Pepys
“And so to bed.””
— Samuel Pepys
“Great talk among people how some of the Fanatiques do say that the end of the world is at hand, and that next Tuesday is to be the day. Against which, whenever it shall be, good God fit us all!””
— Samuel Pepys
“I find it a hard matter to settle to business after so much leisure and pleasure.””
— Samuel Pepys
“Now public business takes up so much of my time that I must get time a Sundays or a nights to look after my own matters.””
— Samuel Pepys
“neighbour of ours, Mr. Hollworthy, a very able man, is also dead by a fall in the country from his horse, his foot hanging in the stirrup, and his brains beat out.””
— Samuel Pepys
“I saw the girl of the house, being very pretty, go into a chamber, and I went in after her and kissed her.””
— Samuel Pepys
