Summary
Summary of Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.
Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S. at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 8 h 45 min7 h fast, 10 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 125,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1825by Samuel Pepys
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
A clerk counts his small comforts
Samuel Pepys begins the year by taking stock: good health, a wife, a servant and an uncertain job with a small salary. His home in Axe Yard is cold, and when the coal runs out, the household must eat at his father's. Borrowing money and counting his worth are practical necessities.
His daily rounds mix office work, music and supper with rumors of an army approaching London. Private worries and public uncertainty already share the same page.
Key idea 2
Political change fills the streets
General Monk brings his army into London, where the Rump Parliament faces open mockery.
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Key idea 3
A cousin opens a new path
Sir Edward Montagu, Pepys's influential cousin, asks him to go to sea as his secretary.
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Key idea 4
Work and trust grow at sea
At sea, Pepys learns through daily work: writing orders, handling Montagu's papers and picking up naval terms.
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Key idea 5
Public cheers follow private decisions
A letter from the King reaches the fleet, offering pardon to most men and leaving questions of land and religion to Parliament.
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Key idea 6
The King becomes a living presence
The journey to fetch the King takes Pepys to Holland and into the court at The Hague.
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Key idea 7
A promised office needs securing
Back from the fleet, Pepys wants a settled position on the Navy Board.
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Key idea 8
Home reveals affection and faults
With Elizabeth, Pepys shares music, reading and gifts, but also quarrels and sudden anger.
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Key idea 9
History shares space with ordinary concerns
Across the year, Pepys follows the return of the monarchy while pursuing work, security and growing savings.
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Go deeper: the whole of Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.
About 9 h 10 min to read.Start freeWho it’s for
Readers drawn to eyewitness history and a frank, funny voice will love this diary of a clerk's daily encounters with city and court.
What this book is
What does a young man write down when his country is about to change its king and nobody yet knows it? On the first day of 1660, Samuel Pepys sits in an attic in Axe Yard, Westminster, and records that he is in good health. He has a wife, one maid, a small salary and a job that may not last.
This is the diary he kept for that single year, written in shorthand for his own eyes. Pepys is twenty-six, a clerk paid fifty pounds a year. Within twelve months he sails to bring Charles II home and wins a post on the Navy Board. You get the news as London gets it, in taverns and by bonfire light.
In this summary
- 1A clerk counts his small comfortsFree
- 2Political change fills the streets
- 3A cousin opens a new path
- 4Work and trust grow at sea
- 5Public cheers follow private decisions
- 6The King becomes a living presence
- 7A promised office needs securing
- 8Home reveals affection and faults
- 9History shares space with ordinary concerns
A modest clerk begins his diary in an attic
The diary opens on the first day of 1660 with a short list of what Pepys has. He is in good health, he lives in Axe Yard with his wife and one servant, and he works as a clerk to Mr. Downing of the Exchequer. His pay is small and his place is uncertain.
The household is cold and cramped. Frost covers the streets, and soon they have no coal in the house at all and must eat at his father's. He borrows ten pounds, and on the twenty-ninth he adds everything up and finds he is worth forty pounds or more, which surprises him.
His days follow a pattern. He goes to the office, walks in Westminster Hall for news, plays his viol or flute, and ends with supper and bed. Rumors that General Lambert is marching toward London sit on the same page as his supper. Pepys does not yet know how the crisis will end.
Pepys begins as a careful clerk counting his coins while a country holds its breath.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
How does Pepys mainly record the political upheaval around him?
Right. “He follows the mood of the crowd.”Not quite. “He follows the mood of the crowd.”
Who gives Pepys the opportunity to go to sea as a secretary?
Right. “In early March Montagu asks him to go to sea as his secretary.”Not quite. “In early March Montagu asks him to go to sea as his secretary.”
What gives Pepys's account its personal view of history?
Right. “Pepys cares about the price of dinner as much as the fall of a government.”Not quite. “Pepys cares about the price of dinner as much as the fall of a government.”
Go deeper: the whole of Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.
About 9 h 10 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 125,400 words
- Reading timeAbout 8 h 45 min
Questions about Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.
What is the Diary of Samuel Pepys about?
It is a true daily journal by a London clerk, written in the 1660s. This part covers 1660, when Pepys follows the return of Charles II, joins a naval voyage to Holland and wins a post in the Navy Office.
Who was Samuel Pepys?
He was an English civil servant born in 1633 who became Clerk of the Acts and later Secretary of the Admiralty. He also served as President of the Royal Society and left his library to Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Who was Lord Montagu in the diary?
Sir Edward Montagu, later Earl of Sandwich, was Pepys's cousin and patron. He took Pepys to sea as his secretary in 1660, helped bring Charles II home and used his influence to secure Pepys the post of Clerk of the Acts.
Is the Diary of Samuel Pepys easy to read?
It is made of short daily entries in a plain, chatty voice, so you can open it anywhere. Each day stands alone, with food, music, weather and gossip alongside the news, which keeps the pages lively.
Cite this edition
Pepys, Samuel. Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/diary-of-samuel-pepys-complete-1660-n-s.
Pepys, S. (2026). Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/diary-of-samuel-pepys-complete-1660-n-s (Original work published 1825)
Pepys, Samuel. Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/diary-of-samuel-pepys-complete-1660-n-s.
@book{pepys2026diary,
author = {Pepys, Samuel},
title = {Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete 1660 N.S.},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/diary-of-samuel-pepys-complete-1660-n-s},
note = {First published 1825}
}
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