The Diary of Samuel Pepys

As the year begins, Pepys enjoys showing off his social status with fine meals and hosting at his house; he has many distinguished guests over for a fine dinner on January 4. Throughout the Diary we sense the importance of Social Status and Social Mobility and how this is expressed in material possessions. Pepys refers to the fineness of the family “plate” (chinaware) several times as a sign of his prosperity.

The Eighth Year is lengthy yet relatively uneventful. The most notable events are the death of Pepys’s mother on March 27 after an illness and the end of the Anglo-Dutch War with peace proclaimed on August 24. With the plague and the worst effects of the fire also concluded, this marks the end of the most trying times for England depicted in the Diary. On August 28, Pepys goes to St. Bartholomew’s Fair for the first time since before the plague and greatly enjoys it (418); this makes the reader aware that two years that have elapsed since the plague, with some pleasurable activities just starting to resume.

Pepys’s eyesight continues to worsen due to his extensive writing and reading by candlelight; on September 24 he stays late at his office writing a draft of a report for the king and fears the damage to his eyes.