“And thus ends all that I doubt I shall ever be able to do with my own eyes in the keeping of my journal, I being not able to do it any longer, having done now so long as to undo my eyes almost every time that I take a pen in my hand;” wrote Samuel Pepys on the last page of his diary. [1]
When Samuel Pepys began his diary on 1 January 1660, his goal was simple: to chronicle his life and times with unflinching honesty. As a rising civil servant in the Navy Office, he was keen to document both his personal aspirations and the extraordinary events unfolding around him during the Restoration era. Alongside the grand events of his time, he also recorded the intimate details of his daily life and opinions. For privacy, he usually wrote up his diary late at night, in a form of shorthand that would have baffled prying eyes.
The diary is an extraordinary blend of public history and private musings. Pepys’ accounts of the Great Plague and the Great Fire are striking for their immediacy, while his reflections on music, food, and friendships lend warmth and humanity to his writing. Through nine years of meticulous entries, he achieved something rare: a work that is both a personal confessional and an invaluable historical document, creating a vivid portrait of 17th-century England.
Pepys stopped writing on 31 May 1669, compelled by the fear that his worsening eyesight might lead to blindness. Writing by candlelight had taken its toll, and his growing responsibilities left little room for risking his vision. In his final entry, Pepys expressed regret and sorrow for having to cease an activity that had become such a vital part of his life, describing it as “almost as much as to see myself go into my grave.”
Pepys carefully preserved his diary. When he died in 1703, he left his entire collection of books, including the diary, which is in six volumes and was not then transcribed or known, to his old university, Magdalene College. The diary remained hidden away for over a century before being rediscovered and published in the 19th century.
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