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The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Volume II: 1664 - 1666

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The Diary of Samuel Pepys

By: Samuel Pepys
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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About this listen

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is one of the most entertaining documents in English history. Written between 1660 and 1669, as Pepys was establishing himself as a key administrator in the naval office, it is an intimate portrait of life in seventeenth-century England, covering his professional and personal activities, including, famously, his love of music, theatre, food, and wine and his peccadilloes. This Naxos AudioBooks production is the world premiere recording of the diary in its entirety. It has been divided into three volumes. Volume II covers some of the most famous passages in the diary. Pepys was there, in London, during the terrible plague of 1665. And he was there during the Great Fire of London the following year, playing an active role in the actual event and the aftermath.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©1983 Robert Latham and the Executors of William Matthews (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks
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Enjoyed the book but somewhat spoiled by the lack of translation in foreign language sections.

Fascinating listening, language a problem

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Brilliantly read this diary transports you back and immerses you in the London of 400 years ago. Where day to day issues were so uncomfortably familiar. Worries about weather, finance, health, work, quality or otherwise of food drink and plays. Temptations of the flesh. Imagined jealousies about men with his wife. All peppered with existential threats: the Dutch wars (the naval battles we repeatedly lost which we don’t get taught about at school), the plague, the fire, a corrupt ruling class. Plus ca change. A few hours in and the listener drifts into character. Becoming Pepys himself. Finally it’s worth listening to just for the historical detail and descriptions of court life. The language is a delight, Plus life was more sophisticated than you might think. Fine clothes. Quality musical instruments. Pocket watches. Many books. Coach and 4 travel. Hackney cabs and river transport. Fine wines and good dining. Country houses. Some understanding of medicine. Church services. Double entry book keeping. Coals from Newcastle and each frigate required 2,000 trees some from Scotland.

My best listen out of 71 audio books so far.

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Samuel Pepys was definitely a complicated man. His diaries are a fascinating insight into his time, with first hand accounts of people and events of the period of hid diaries. It's also interesting to see his behaviour, which was probably not that unusual for the time. Definitely misogynistic and appallingly perverted. He seemed obsessed with his own physical pleasure and didn't seem above using his position to get away with getting sexual favours from servants. If he were around now I could imagine him being called out in the #MeToo movement.

Fascinating and shocking

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Proof that nothing has really changed in the nearly 360 years since Pepys wrote this volume of the diaries.

War, having scapegoats for the things that happen, disease, and double standards.

And oh how Pepys has double standards… deciding because he can’t keep his hands off other women his wife must be having affairs with her dancing teacher and later her art teacher.

Each diary entry reads like a social media post as he comments on his work, his family, what’s happening in the world, his attendance at church and the theatre, and his dalliances with other women.

He tells proudly about the assaults he makes on other women including married women and then accuses his wife of allowing the dance and art teachers he pays for to take liberties and cuckold him as he cuckolds others.

He’s actually quite a gross person.

However it is interesting to have an eyewitness account of the time. And certainly learn that the halls of power change according to the whims of the king with peers gaining and losing favour. The end of this volume also shows how the court follows the king in fashion.

Pepys is the classic social media posts.

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I have become so attached to this vain, selfish but so clever, erudite and charming man.....the stories delight me and I fall asleep to the dulcet tones of the orator.....don't want it to end. What an insight to the private lives and times of London people in the 1600s......and what a naughty boy....didn't read those bits out at school!

2nd time of reading!

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