Samuel Pepys in the Diary

Its author knows his Pepys and his period well, and imparts to the reader some of his enjoyment of the Diary.

The main effect is to send the reader back to the diary itself. . . . But several of the chapters have a value of their own, for example that on Pepys and William Penn. . . . Another interesting chapter is that on Queen Catherine of Braganza. . . . But perhaps the most useful chapter deals with the irrepressible Sire William Davenant and the performances which he contrived to stage at the height of the Commonwealth.

A delightful and helpful introduction to Pepys's Diary. The author discusses (with a wealth of quotation) the many interests that made Pepys so revealing a diarist. The chapters range in subject from Pepys's concern with the cost of living to his relationship with his wife, from the nature of his official duties to his experience during the Plague.

We are in Mr. Hunt's debt for sharpening our picture of Pepys's character and of the way he lived.