Editing Samuel Pepys (section)

===Major events===
Pepys' diary provides a first-hand account of the [[English Restoration|Restoration]], and includes detailed accounts of several major events of the 1660s, along with the lesser known [[John Evelyn's Diary|diary of John Evelyn]]. In particular, it is an invaluable source for the study of the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War]] of 1665–7, the [[Great Plague of London|Great Plague]] of 1665, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. In relation to the Plague and Fire, C. S. Knighton has written: "From its reporting of these two disasters to the metropolis in which he thrived, Pepys's diary has become a national monument."{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} [[Robert Latham (editor)|Robert Latham]], editor of the definitive edition of the diary, remarks concerning the Plague and Fire: "His descriptions of both—agonisingly vivid—achieve their effect by being something more than superlative reporting; they are written with compassion. As always with Pepys it is people, not literary effects, that matter."<ref>{{Cite web
 |title       = Short biography [of] Pepys
 |url         = http://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys/latham.html
 |publisher   = Pepys Library website
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090207113128/http://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/pepys/latham.html
 |archive-date = 7 February 2009
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

====Second Anglo-Dutch War====

[[File:Dutch Attack on the Medway, June 1667 van Soest RMG BHC0295.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''[[Dutch Attack on the Medway]], June 1667'' by [[Pieter Cornelisz van Soest]], painted {{circa|1667}}. The captured English ship [[HMS Royal Charles (1650)|''Royal Charles'']] is right of centre.]]

In early 1665, the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War placed great pressure on Pepys. His colleagues were either engaged elsewhere or incompetent, and Pepys had to conduct a great deal of business himself. He excelled under the pressure, which was extreme due to the complexity and underfunding of the Royal Navy.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} At the outset, he proposed a centralised approach to supplying the fleet. His idea was accepted, and he was made surveyor-general of [[Food|victualling]] in October 1665. The position brought a further £300 a year.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

Pepys wrote about the Second Anglo-Dutch War: "In all things, in wisdom, courage, force and success, the Dutch have the best of us and do end the war with victory on their side". And King Charles II said: "Don't fight the Dutch, imitate them".

In 1667, with the war lost, Pepys helped to discharge the navy.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} The Dutch had defeated England on open water and now began to threaten English soil itself. In June 1667, they conducted their [[Raid on the Medway]], broke the defensive chain at [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]], and towed away the {{HMS|Royal Charles|1660|2}}, one of the Royal Navy's most important ships. As he had done during the Fire and the Plague, Pepys again removed his wife and his gold from London.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

The Dutch raid was a major concern in itself, but Pepys was personally placed under a different kind of pressure: the Navy Board and his role as Clerk of the Acts came under scrutiny from the public and from Parliament. The war ended in August and, on 17 October, the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] created a committee of "miscarriages".{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} On 20 October, a list was demanded from Pepys of ships and commanders at the time of the division of the fleet in 1666.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} However, these demands were actually quite desirable for him, as tactical and strategic mistakes were not the responsibility of the Navy Board.

The Board did face some allegations regarding the Medway raid, but they could exploit the criticism already attracted by Commissioner of [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]] [[Peter Pett (shipwright, died 1672)|Peter Pett]] to deflect criticism from themselves.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} The committee accepted this tactic when they reported in February 1668. The Board was, however, criticised for its use of tickets to pay seamen. These tickets could only be exchanged for cash at the Navy's treasury in London.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} Pepys made a long speech at the bar of the Commons on 5 March 1668 defending this practice. It was, in the words of C. S. Knighton, a "virtuoso performance".{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

The commission was followed by an investigation led by a more powerful authority, the commissioners of accounts. They met at Brooke House, [[Holborn]] and spent two years scrutinising how the war had been financed. In 1669, Pepys had to prepare detailed answers to the committee's eight "Observations" on the Navy Board's conduct. In 1670, he was forced to defend his own role. A seaman's ticket with Pepys' name on it was produced as incontrovertible evidence of his corrupt dealings but, thanks to the intervention of the king, Pepys emerged from the sustained investigation relatively unscathed.{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}}

====Great Plague====
{{Further|Great Plague of London}}
Outbreaks of plague were not unusual events in London; major epidemics had occurred in 1592, 1603, 1625 and 1636.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=167}} Furthermore, Pepys was not among the group of people who were most at risk. He did not live in cramped housing, he did not routinely mix with the poor, and he was not required to keep his family in London in the event of a crisis.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=168}} It was not until June 1665 that the unusual seriousness of the plague became apparent, so Pepys' activities in the first five months of 1665 were not significantly affected by it.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=168}} [[Claire Tomalin]] wrote that 1665 was, to Pepys, one of the happiest years of his life. He worked very hard that year, and the outcome was that he quadrupled his fortune.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=168}} In his annual summary on 31 December, he wrote, "I have never lived so merrily (besides that I never got so much) as I have done this plague time".<ref>{{ws |[[s:Diary of Samuel Pepys/1665/December#31st (Lord's day)|''Diary of Samuel Pepys'', Sunday, 31 December 1665]]}}</ref>

Nonetheless, Pepys was certainly concerned about the plague. On 16 August he wrote:
{{blockquote|But, Lord! how sad a sight it is to see the streets empty of people, and very few upon the 'Change. Jealous of every door that one sees shut up, lest it should be the plague; and about us two shops in three, if not more, generally shut up.| {{ws |[[s:Diary of Samuel Pepys/1665/August#16th|''Diary of Samuel Pepys'', Wednesday, 16 August 1665]]}}}}

He also chewed [[tobacco]] as a protection against infection, and worried that [[wig-makers]] might be using hair from the corpses as a raw material. Furthermore, it was Pepys who suggested that the Navy Office should evacuate to [[Greenwich]], although he did offer to remain in town himself. He later took great pride in his stoicism.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|pp=174–175}} Meanwhile, Elisabeth Pepys was sent to [[Woolwich]].{{sfnp|Knighton|2004}} She did not return to Seething Lane until January 1666 and was shocked by the sight of [[St Olave Hart Street|St Olave]]'s churchyard, where 300 people had been buried.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|pp=177–178}}

====Great Fire of London====
{{Further|Great Fire of London}}

[[File:Great fire of london map.png|thumb|Map of London after the [[Great Fire of London|Great Fire]] in 1666, showing Pepys' home]]

In the early hours of 2 September 1666, Pepys was awakened by Jane the maid, his servant, who had spotted a fire in the [[Billingsgate]] area. He decided that the fire was not particularly serious and returned to bed. Shortly after waking, his servant returned and reported that 300 houses had been destroyed and that [[London Bridge]] was threatened. Pepys went to the [[Tower of London]] to get a better view. Without returning home, he took a boat and observed the fire for over an hour. In his diary, Pepys recorded his observations as follows:

{{blockquote|I down to the water-side, and there got a boat and through bridge, and there saw a lamentable fire. Poor Michell's house, as far as the Old Swan, already burned that way, and the fire running further, that in a very little time it got as far as the Steeleyard, while I was there. Everybody endeavouring to remove their goods, and flinging into the river or bringing them into lighters that layoff; poor people staying in their houses as long as till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats, or clambering from one pair of stairs by the water-side to another. And among other things, the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their houses, but hovered about the windows and balconys till they were, some of them burned, their wings, and fell down. Having staid, and in an hour's time seen the fire: rage every way, and nobody, to my sight, endeavouring to quench it, but to remove their goods, and leave all to the fire, and having seen it get as far as the Steele-yard, and the wind mighty high and driving it into the City; and every thing, after so long a drought, proving combustible, even the very stones of churches, and among other things the poor steeple by which pretty Mrs.———— lives, and whereof my old school-fellow Elborough is parson, taken fire in the very top, and there burned till it fell down...| {{ws |[[s:Diary of Samuel Pepys/1666/September#2nd (Lord's day)|''Diary of Samuel Pepys'', Sunday, 2 September 1666]]}}}}

The wind was driving the fire westward, so he ordered the boat to go to [[Palace of Whitehall|Whitehall]] and became the first person to inform the king of the fire. According to his entry of 2 September 1666, Pepys recommended to the king that homes be pulled down in the path of the fire in order to stem its progress. Accepting this advice, the king told him to go to [[Lord Mayor of the City of London|Lord Mayor]] [[Thomas Bloodworth]] and tell him to start pulling down houses. Pepys took a coach back as far as [[Old St Paul's Cathedral|St Paul's Cathedral]] before setting off on foot through the burning city. He found the Lord Mayor, who said, "Lord! what can I do? I am spent: people will not obey me. I have been pulling down houses; but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it." At noon, he returned home and "had an extraordinary good dinner, and as merry, as at this time we could be", before returning to watch the fire in the city once more. Later, he returned to Whitehall, then met his wife in [[St James's Park]]. In the evening, they watched the fire from the safety of [[Bankside]]. Pepys writes that "it made me weep to see it". Returning home, Pepys met his clerk Tom Hayter who had lost everything. Hearing news that the fire was advancing, he started to pack up his possessions by moonlight.

[[File:Old.St.Pauls.Ruins.1666.png|thumb|The ruins of the [[old St Paul's Cathedral]], by [[Thomas Wyck]], as it looked roughly seven years after the fire]]

A cart arrived at 4 a.m. on 3 September and Pepys spent much of the day arranging the removal of his possessions. Many of his valuables, including his diary, were sent to a friend from the Navy Office at [[Bethnal Green]].{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=230}} At night, he "fed upon the remains of yesterday's dinner, having no fire nor dishes, nor any opportunity of dressing any thing." The next day, Pepys continued to arrange the removal of his possessions. By then, he believed that Seething Lane was in grave danger, so he suggested calling men from [[Deptford]] to help pull down houses and defend the king's property.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=230}} He described the chaos in the city and his curious attempt at saving his own goods:

{{blockquote|Sir W. Pen and I to Tower-streete, and there met the fire burning three or four doors beyond Mr. Howell's, whose goods, poor man, his trayes, and dishes, shovells, &c., were flung all along Tower-street in the kennels, and people working therewith from one end to the other; the fire coming on in that narrow streete, on both sides, with infinite fury. Sir W. Batten not knowing how to remove his wine, did dig a pit in the garden, and laid it in there; and I took the opportunity of laying all the papers of my office that I could not otherwise dispose of. And in the evening Sir W. Pen and I did dig another, and put our wine in it; and I my Parmazan cheese, as well as my wine and some other things.| {{Ws |[[s:Diary of Samuel Pepys/1666/September#4th|''Diary of Samuel Pepys'', Tuesday, 4 September 1666]]}}}}

Pepys had taken to sleeping on his office floor; on Wednesday, 5 September, he was awakened by his wife at 2 a.m. She told him that the fire had almost reached [[All Hallows-by-the-Tower]] and that it was at the foot of Seething Lane. He decided to send her and his gold — about £2,350 — to Woolwich. In the following days, Pepys witnessed looting, disorder, and disruption. On 7 September, he went to Paul's Wharf and saw the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral, of his old school, of his father's house, and of the house in which he had had his bladder stone removed.{{sfnp|Tomalin|2002|p=232}} Despite all this destruction, Pepys' house, office, and diary were saved.