The Diary of Samuel Pepys

Although Pepys’s Diary is one of the earliest such works commonly read today as literature, the diary as a written and literary form goes back to antiquity, with the English term deriving from the Latin diarium, from dies, meaning day. The Meditations of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius has diary-like aspects, as do a number of Christian mystical works from the Middle Ages describing religious experiences and visions. However, the diary form began to flower more extensively starting in the Renaissance, with its stronger emphasis on the individual. In addition to their insight into personality and character, diaries are also valued as primary historical documents, a trait they share with letters. In some cases, a diary functions as a principal source for historians about the period in which it was written. This is true of Pepys’s work, which is frequently quoted in historical texts for its information on the Restoration, the plague, and the Great Fire of London, among other topics.

One hallmark of diaries is that they are often private and intended only for the use of the author, thus ensuring greater honesty in reporting. To better ensure privacy (as well as to allow for faster composition) Pepys’s went so far as to write his diary in a special shorthand devised in 1626 by Thomas Shelton, which Pepys also used in his business documents. In contrast to the private nature of Pepys’s work, some diaries have been written with a reading public in mind. The diary of Pepys’s friend John Evelyn, for example, covers some of the same period as Pepys’s but crafts a more polished image of the author intended for posterity. Some later diaries, such as James Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, not only were intended for publication but combine the journal style with that of a travelogue.

Pepys never states why he decided to keep a diary in the first place, but some scholars believe it may have been influenced by religious tradition. Puritan writers and preachers “taught the value of a journal as a means of moral discipline” (The Illustrated Pepys, 9), and Pepys frequently comments on his own foibles or takes stock of his standing in life in his diary. The autobiographical and confessional nature of Pepys’s Diary has endeared it to generations of readers who see aspects of themselves in Pepys’s unvarnished self-portrait.