The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2)
The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2)
Here is history not as it's taught, but as it's lived. John Evelyn's diary resumes in January 1665, and what unfolds is the most intimate portrait we have of English society collapsing into plague, war, and fire. Evelyn moves through this chaos as a man of contradictions: friend to Charles II, founder of the Royal Society, commissioner for sick seamen, and a father still grieving children who did not survive him. He records the Great Plague sweeping through London with the detached precision of a naturalist, then watches the Great Fire consume the city he loves. Yet amid catastrophe, Evelyn notices everything: the quality of the air, the rebuilding of St. Paul's, the books he reads, the trees he plants. This is Restoration England not from textbooks but from a thoughtful man who happened to be present at the creation of the modern world. For anyone who has read Pepys and wanted more, Evelyn offers a gentler, more reflective voice on the same vertiginous era.
Editions
X-Ray
“This day came in his Majestie Charles the 2d to London after a sad, & long Exile, and Calamitous Suffering both of the King & Church: being 17 yeares: This was also his Birthday, and with a Triumph of above 20000 horse & foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with unexpressable joy: The wayes straw’d with flowers, the bells ringing, the streets hung with Tapissry, fountaines running with wine: The Major, Aldermen, all the Companies in their liver[ie]s, Chaines of Gold, banners; Lords & nobles, Cloth of Silver, gold & vellvet every body clad in, the windos & balconies all set with Ladys, Trumpets, Musick, & [myriads] of people flocking the streetes & was as far as Rochester, so as they were 7 houres in passing the Citty, even from 2 in the afternoon 'til nine at night: I stood in the strand, & beheld it, & blessed God: And all this without one drop of bloud, & by that very army, which rebell'd against him: but it was the Lords doing, et mirabile in oculis nostris: for such a Restauration was never seene in the mention of any history, antient or modern, since the returne of the Babylonian Captivity, nor so joyfull a day, & so bright, ever seene in this nation: this hapning when to expect or effect it, was past all humane policy.””
— John Evelyn
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2) by John Evelyn free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2) by John Evelyn free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99Cite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2). Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99.Evelyn, J. (n.d.). The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2). Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn (volume 2 of 2). Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-diary-of-john-evelyn-volume-2-of-2-507c9438-0590-4681-bfb2-43f2efdc1d99.
