The Diary by Samuel Pepys (children's ebooks online TXT) π
Description
Pepysβ Diary is an incredibly frank decade-long snapshot of the life of an up and coming naval administrator in mid-17th century London. In it he describes everything from battles against the Dutch and the intrigues of court, down to the plays he saw, his marital infidelities, and the quality of the meat provided for his supper. His observations have proved invaluable in establishing an accurate record of the daily life of the people of London of that period.
Pepys eventually stopped writing his diary due to progressively worse eyesight, a condition he feared. He did consider employing an amanuensis to transcribe future entries for him, but worried that the content he wanted written would be too personal. Luckily for Pepys, his eyesight difficulties never progressed to blindness and he was able to go on to become both a Member of Parliament and the President of the Royal Society.
After Pepysβ death he left his large library of books and manuscripts first to his nephew, which was then passed on to Magdalene College, Cambridge, where it survives to this day. The diary, originally written in a shorthand, was included in this trove and was eventually deciphered in the early 19th century, and published by Lord Baybrooke in 1825. This early release censored large amounts of the text, and it was only in the 1970s that an uncensored version was published. Presented here is the 1893 edition, which restores the majority of the originally censored content but omits βa few passages which cannot possibly be printed.β The rich collection of endnotes serve to further illustrate the lives of the people Pepys meets and the state of Englandβs internal politics and international relations at the time.
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- Author: Samuel Pepys
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Lord Braybrooke noted that off-square is evidently a mistake in the shorthand MS. for half-square, which is explained in W. Leybournβs Complete Surveyor, third edition, London, 1674, folio, and he then quoted a series of calculations which, as they do not throw much light on the text, are omitted. Lord Braybrooke adds: βIt is to be hoped that Pepys carried out his intention of putting an end to the nefarious practice of cheating the King in the purchase of timber. He speaks of it in good faith, and his term, mystery, simply implies his ignorance of the art of measuring. With regard to Sir William Warren, the case was probably different: he made large presents to Pepys, and confesses that he perjured himself before the Committee of the House of Commons, in concealing the fact. Frauds in the supply of timber for the use of the Navy have been common subjects of complaint at a much later period.β β©
Henry Jermyn, younger nephew of the Earl of St. Albans. He was created Baron Jermyn of Dover, 1685, and died in 1708, s. p.; his elder brother, Thomas, became second Baron Jermyn of Bury St. Edmundβs, on the death of his uncle, the Earl of St. Albans, in 1683, and died unmarried in 1703. Thomas Jermyn was Governor of Jersey. β©
See July 30th, 1662, ante. β©
βAug. 18, 1662. Capt. Thomas Howard, the Earl of Carlisleβs brother, and the Lord Dillonβs son, a Colonel, met with Mr. Giles Rawlings, privy purse to the D. of York, and Mr. Jermyn, the Earl of St. Albanβs nephew.β ββ β¦ There had been a slight quarrel betwixt them, and as they, Rawlings and Jermyn, came from tennis, these two drew at them, and then Col. Dillon killed this Mr. Rawlings dead upon the spot. Mr. Jermyn was left for dead. This Captain Howard was unfortunate since the return of his Majy, in killing a horse-courser man in St. Giles, Mr. Rawlings was much lamented; he lived in a very handsome state, six horses in his coach, three footmen, etc. Oct. Capt. Thomas Howard, and Lord Dillonβs son, both of them fled about the killing of Mr. Giles Rawlings; but after a quarter of a year they came into England, and were acquitted by law.β
Ruggeβs DiurnalThomas Howard, fourth son of Sir William Howard, was afterwards a colonel in the army, and third husband of Mary, Duchess of Richmond (see ante, April 21st, 1662). β©
Colonel Cary Dillon, youngest son of Robert, second Earl of Roscommon (then Lord Dillon), who is previously referred to as the suitor of the beautiful Frances Boteler (or Butler), and not, as stated in former editions of the Diary, Charles, eldest son of James, fourth Viscount Dillon. Cary Dillon succeeded his nephew the poet, in 1684, as fifth Earl of Roscommon. He married Katharine, daughter of John Werden of Chester, and died November 25th, 1689. β©
Hamilton gives the following account of the duel, which arose from rivalry between Howard and Jermyn about Lady Shrewsbury:
βJermyn prit pour second, Giles Rawlings, homme de bonne fortune, et gros joueur. Howard se servit de Dillon, adroit et brave, fort honnΓͺte homme, et par malheur intime ami de Rawlings. Dans ce combat, la fortune ne fut point pour les favoris de lβamour. Le pauvre Rawlings y fut tuΓ© tout roide, et Jermyn, percΓ© de trois coups dβΓ©pΓ©e, fut portΓ© chez son oncle, avec fort peu de signes de vie.β
MΓ©m. de Grammontββ B. β©
The old Pall Mall represents the present street, which was so called when the Mall was made in St. Jamesβs Park. β©
A Moorish usurper, who had put himself at the head of an army for the purpose of attacking Tangier. ββ B. β©
Sir Heneage Finch, Bart., was Solicitor-General from 1660 to 1670, in which latter year he became Attorney-General. He was created Earl of Nottingham in 1681. β©
This must be some friend of Pepys who is unknown to fame. In former
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