Pepys

Pepys, Samuel (1633-1703), author of the famous Diary, was descended from an old family which had sunk so far in the social scale that his father had become a tailor in London. He received his education in the town of Huntingdon, near which his uncle owned some property, and afterwards at St. Paul's School, whence he proceeded to Cambridge in 1650, entering Magdalen College in October of that year. In 1655 he imprudently married a beautiful girl of fifteen, but the young couple were rescued from poverty by Pepys' relative, Sir Edward Montagu (afterwards Earl of Sandwich), who received them into his house. In 1660 his patron's influence secured him the office of Clerk of the Acts of the Navy, and twelve years later he was raised to the secretaryship of the Admiralty. The intelligence and zeal with which he discharged his duties made him a valuable public servant, and he earned a great reputation as an authority on matters connected with the navy. At the Revolution he lost his appointment, but the authorities continued to seek his advice on naval affairs. In 1679-SO he was confined in the Tower for nearly a year on the charge of promoting the Popish Plot, and he was again imprisoned for a short time in 1692. The Diary, giving in cipher an account of events from 1660 to 1669, remained in MS. till 1825, when it was published by Lord Braybrooke; but the whole of it was not given to the world till 1891. It is written with the utmost simplicity and candour, and is interesting both for its graphic picture of the court of Charles II. and the social life of the time, and for the study it affords of Pepys' own curiously complex character. Pepys was also author of Memoirs relating to the State of the Royal Nary (1690).