The Diary of Samuel Pepys

In the previous year England met with two catastrophes: the plague and the Dutch war. This year will be added a new disaster in the form of the Great London Fire.

Pepys starts out the year with a musical gathering in the company of Mrs. Knepp (or Knipp), a well-known actress and singer. Pepys will speak with Mrs. Knepp much in the Diary of his infatuation and will frequently seek out her company. Pepys’s wife at first does not know of her husband’s spending time in the company of other women since the meetings typically happen in the context of business socializing; however, later on she will come to suspect these meetings and raise objections. Knepp and Pepys exchange a series of letters signed “Barbary Allen” (after the Scottish song “Barbara Allen”) and “Dapper Dicky.”

When recounting his amorous encounters, Pepys typically writes in a sort of code in which he mixes English with French and Spanish words. An example is found on Page 471: “[W]e did send for a pair of old shoes for Mrs. Lowther, and there I did pull the others off and put them on, elle being peu shy, but do speak con mighty kindness to me that she would desire me pour su mari if it were to be done” (471). This code is a way of concealing the sensitive content of the text.

Pepys receives a remarkable honor when, during a council of the king and lords, the king thanks him personally for his service. This commendation from King Charles himself confirms Pepys’s steady ascent in his career.

The war continues. The Dutch are seen circling the English coast, and the English Navy sends ships to fight them. Pepys watches the soldiers “shipped off,” kissing their wives and sweethearts as they go (304). Several days later, on June 6, news arrives of an English victory against the Dutch; however, the next day a contrary report arrives that the English were solidly beaten by the Dutch, and this report turns out to be the correct one. The Navy officer Sir Christopher Mings has died in the fight, and after his funeral several of his men pledge to honor his memory by going off and fighting in their own ship (308-09). By the end of June, the French have joined up with the Dutch and are together preparing to invade England.

On July 10, Pepys goes to his office and finds women crowded outside clamoring for money for their husbands who have been taken captive in Holland. Pepys is unable to help except to give money to one poor woman. This is one of the tragic and visually memorable scenes of the Diary. 

Sunday, September 2 marks the start of a disastrous fire in London. Jane calls up Pepys and his wife at 3:00 in the morning to tell them that she and her fellow maids have seen a “great fire” in the city that is spreading fast. Pepys gets dressed and goes downtown, where he sees an “infinite great fire” (326) around the Tower of London and hundreds of houses burning. People are seen throwing their possessions out of their houses onto boats in the river or packing them onto carts and horses, then escaping themselves by these means. Pepys is frightened to see the sky orange with flame and the city all lit up with fire from a distance.

Pepys, still in his nightgown, gets his own things together and has them carted to Bethnal Green (a district in the East End of London). Then Pepys and his wife and servants take refuge in his office to stay and sleep. On the morning of September 5, Pepys takes his family on a boat to Woolwich (a district of southeast London) for safety; he keeps his gold locked up in the house where they are staying.

Back in downtown, Pepys hears rumors that the fire was a French plot. (It is now believed that the fire started in the shop of Thomas Farriner, a baker.) He is dismayed to see the damage the fire has done to the houses and churches along the river and in particular St. Paul’s. (After the fire St. Paul’s was rebuilt by the architect Sir Christopher Wren.) Pepys obtains the Duke of York’s permission to have houses blown up with gunpowder to stop the spread of the fire; workmen begin to do this with success. By September 7, the fire is mostly out.

Pepys’s chronicle of the Great Fire is generally regarded as one of the literary and emotional high points of the Diary and a key source of information about this great historical disaster. The breathless narrative is recounted nearly in real time, with Pepys recording his impressions and feelings in the moment. This section of the Diary gives modern readers a valuable sense of how 17th-century people reacted to a major catastrophe, in particular a fire in the days before modern firefighting techniques. In addition, we see how Pepys himself played a crucial role in helping stop the fire’s spread.

On September 13 the Pepyses return home, and business resumes amid the general ruin of the city. By the end of the year the life of London has returned to something like normal, but the fortunes of England are “in a most sad condition” (355). The country is still at danger of invasion; the seamen fighting in the war are underpaid and discontent; many Londoners have settled elsewhere because of the plague and the fire, hurting trade and business; and plans to rebuild the city seem to be getting nowhere. Pepys can only rejoice that he and his family are safe and sound and that he has £6000 and a set of silver plates.