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116-561: The Privy Garden of the Palace of Whitehall was a large enclosed space in Westminster , London , that was originally a pleasure garden used by the late Tudor and Stuart monarchs of England. It was created under Henry VIII and was expanded and improved under his successors, but lost its royal patronage after the Palace of Whitehall was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1698. From

232-467: A coffee house or tavern , only to discover that the person whom he was seeking was not there. These occasions were a constant source of frustration to Pepys. Pepys' diary provides a first-hand account of the Restoration , and includes detailed accounts of several major events of the 1660s, along with the lesser known diary of John Evelyn . In particular, it is an invaluable source for the study of

348-573: A community of Benedictine monks on the site. Between 1042 and 1052, King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style. The building was completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he

464-448: A condition from which his mother and brother John also later suffered. He was almost never without pain, as well as other symptoms, including "blood in the urine" ( haematuria ). By the time of his marriage, the condition was very severe. In 1657, Pepys decided to undergo surgery; not an easy option, as the operation was known to be especially painful and hazardous. Nevertheless, Pepys consulted surgeon Thomas Hollier and, on 26 March 1658,

580-582: A decade. Though he had no maritime experience, Pepys rose to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and King James II through patronage , diligence, and his talent for administration. His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy. The detailed private diary that Pepys kept from 1660 until 1669

696-515: A fisherman himself, coming to the island to consecrate the newly built church, which later developed into Westminster Abbey . He rewarded Edric with a bountiful catch when he next dropped his nets. Edric was instructed to present the king and St. Mellitus, Bishop of London , with a salmon and various proofs that the consecration had already occurred. Every year on 29 June, St Peter's Day, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers presents

812-406: A giant candelabrum with tiered, branching arms ending in crystal globes", which showed not only the hours of the day but "many things also belonging to geography, astrology, and astronomy, by the sun's shadow made visible to the eye." The King was fascinated by astronomy; his personal association with the science was illustrated by the fact that the sundial was not only his personal pride and joy but

928-692: A holiday to France and the Low Countries in June–October 1669; on their return, Elisabeth fell ill and died on 10 November 1669. Pepys erected a monument to her in the church of St Olave's, Hart Street, London. Pepys never remarried, but he did have a long-term housekeeper named Mary Skinner who was assumed by many of his contemporaries to be his mistress and sometimes referred to as Mrs. Pepys. In his will, he left her an annuity of £200 and many of his possessions. In 1672, he became an Elder Brother of Trinity House and served in this capacity until 1689; he

1044-536: A major public school which grew out of the abbey, and the University of Westminster , attended by over 20,000 students. Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys FRS ( / p iː p s / ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator . He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament , but is most remembered today for the diary he kept for almost

1160-540: A maze of "fifty narrow passages, formed by sheds, blank walls, the residences of the nobility, and the workshops of the tradesmen." A house in Privy Gardens was occupied by Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Portland . She died on 17 February 1785. Upon her death the contents of the Portland Museum were sold off starting on 24 April 1786 and continued over a 37 day period. This museum is not to be confused with

1276-615: A million words long and is often regarded as Britain's most celebrated diary. Pepys has been called the greatest diarist of all time due to his frankness in writing concerning his own weaknesses and the accuracy with which he records events of daily British life and major events in the 17th century. Pepys wrote about the contemporary court and theatre (including his amorous affairs with the actresses), his household, and major political and social occurrences. Historians have used his diary to gain greater insight and understanding of life in London in

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1392-523: A new King's Sun Dial was erected for Charles II, designed by Father Francis Hall , a Jesuit priest. It was an extremely elaborate construction that Hall detailed in a book, Explication of the Diall , that he published in 1673 to explain how it operated. It stood 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and was constructed of stone, brass and wood, with gilded ironwork and painted glass panels to accompany its 270 component dials. It resembled "a fountain of glass spheres, or

1508-560: A practice which would reveal the details to any casual reader. He did intend for future generations to see the diary, as evidenced by its inclusion in his library and its catalogue before his death along with the shorthand guide he used and the elaborate planning by which he ensured his library survived intact after his death. The women he pursued, his friends, and his dealings are all laid out. His diary reveals his jealousies, insecurities, trivial concerns, and his fractious relationship with his wife. It has been an important account of London in

1624-460: A private tutor and used models of ships to make up for his lack of first-hand nautical experience, and ultimately came to play a significant role in the board's activities. In September 1660, he was made a Justice of the Peace ; on 15 February 1662, Pepys was admitted as a Younger Brother of Trinity House ; and on 30 April, he received the freedom of Portsmouth . Through Sandwich, he was involved in

1740-635: A short interruption during the Glorious Revolution ). It now occupies a spot in Trafalgar Square outside the National Gallery . A large sundial, set up on the orders of James I , stood in the middle of the garden from 1624. The dial was designed by Edmund Gunter , professor of astronomy at Gresham College . It consisted of a large stone pedestal with four dials at the four corners and "the great horizontal concave" in

1856-570: A solemn oath about abstaining from plays and wine…" The following months reveal his lapses to the reader; by 17 February, it is recorded, "Here I drank wine upon necessity, being ill for the want of it." Pepys was one of the most important civil servants of his age, and was also a widely cultivated man, taking an interest in books, music, the theatre, and science. Aside from English, he was fluent in French and read many texts in Latin . His favourite author

1972-529: 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

2088-520: Is a typical Central London property distinction within the area which is very acute, epitomised by grandiose 21st-century developments, architectural high-point listed buildings and nearby social housing (mostly non- council housing ) buildings of the Peabody Trust founded by philanthropist George Peabody . Given the focus on Westminster in English and British public life over centuries,

2204-633: Is much evil in it, for whilst the crosses and altars of the idols remained untaken away in Jerusalem, the wrath of God continued against Israel." One man took more direct action; it was recorded in 1659 that "about this time there was a cook that lived by the Palace Gate, Westminster, that in Sermon time went into Whitehall Garden, and with him carried a smith's great hammer; he broke there those goodly statue of brass and marble, which report said they were

2320-467: Is no direct evidence for this, as he was childless before the operation. In mid-1658 Pepys moved to Axe Yard, near the modern Downing Street . He worked as a teller in the Exchequer under George Downing . On 1 January 1660 ("1 January 1659/1660" in contemporary terms ), Pepys began to keep a diary . He recorded his daily life for almost 10 years. This record of a decade of Pepys' life is more than

2436-550: Is not yet come in to the Parliament; nor is it expected that he will, without being forced to it. The entries from the first few months were filled with news of General George Monck's march on London. In April and May of that year, he encountered problems with his wife, and he accompanied Montagu's fleet to the Netherlands to bring Charles II back from exile. Montagu was made Earl of Sandwich on 18 June, and Pepys secured

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2552-526: Is now the Banqueting House . An orchard, which was part of the estate, adjoined it to the south. When Henry VIII seized York Place, he bought more land to the south of the orchard to expand the estate. The old privy garden was cobbled over and later became known as the Pebble Court, while the orchard was converted into a new and much larger Privy Garden, known at first as the "great garden". At

2668-503: Is people, not literary effects, that matter." 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. At the outset, he proposed a centralised approach to supplying

2784-451: The City and Liberty of Westminster , Middlesex . The exceptions to this were St Clement Danes , St Mary le Strand and possibly some other small areas. The ancient parish was St Margaret ; after 1727 this became the civil parish of 'St Margaret and St John', the latter a new church required for the increasing population. The area around Westminster Abbey formed the extra-parochial Close of

2900-646: The City of London (until the English Reformation there was also an Eastminster , near the Tower of London , in the East End of London ). The abbey's origins date from between the 7th and 10th centuries, but it rose to national prominence when rebuilt by Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. Westminster has been the home of England's government since about 1200, and from 1707 the Government of

3016-620: The Georgian period became connected through urban ribbon development with the City along the Strand. Henry VIII 's Reformation in the early 16th century abolished the abbey and established a cathedral – thus the parish ranked as a "City", although it was only a fraction of the size of the City of London and the Borough of Southwark at that time. Indeed, the cathedral and diocesan status of

3132-583: The River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster , Buckingham Palace , Westminster Abbey , Westminster Cathedral , Trafalgar Square and much of the West End cultural centre including the entertainment precinct of West End Theatre . The name ( Old English : Westmynstre ) originated from the informal description of the abbey church and royal peculiar of St Peter's (Westminster Abbey), west of

3248-471: The Royal Courts of Justice in the late-19th century. The settlement grew up around the palace and abbey, as a service area for them. The parish church, St Margaret's Westminster served the wider community of the parish; the servants of the palace and abbey as well as the rural population and those associated with the high status homes developing on the road from the city. The area became larger and in

3364-824: The Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–7, the 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." 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

3480-671: The execution of Charles I in 1649. In 1650, he went to the University of Cambridge , having received two exhibitions from St Paul's School (perhaps owing to the influence of George Downing , who was chairman of the judges and for whom he later worked at the Exchequer) and a grant from the Mercers' Company . In October, he was admitted as a sizar to Magdalene College ; he moved there in March 1651 and took his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1654. Later in 1654 or early in 1655, he entered

3596-516: The natural ford which is thought to have carried Watling Street over the Thames in the vicinity. The wider district became known as Westminster in reference to the church. The legendary origin is that in the early 7th century, a local fisherman named Edric (or Aldrich) ferried a stranger in tattered foreign clothing over the Thames to Thorney Island . It was a miraculous appearance of St Peter ,

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3712-400: The old Roman road from the City to western England, which is now locally called Oxford Street . {{{annotations}}} Thorney Island lay between the arms of the former River Tyburn at its confluence with the Thames, while the western boundary with Chelsea was formed by the similarly lost River Westbourne . The line of the river still forms (with very slight revisions) the boundaries of

3828-572: 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. 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. Meanwhile, Elisabeth Pepys

3944-463: The 1650s but became the target of Puritan zealotry during the Interregnum, due to the perception that they were biblically prohibited "graven images". A woman named Mary Netherway wrote to Oliver Cromwell to demand that they be taken down, demanding that he "demolish those monsters which are set up as ornaments in [the] privy garden, for whilst they stand, though you see no evil in them, yet there

4060-537: The 1660s. The juxtaposition of his commentary on politics and national events, alongside the very personal, can be seen from the beginning. His opening paragraphs, written in January 1660, begin: Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain but upon taking of cold. I lived in Axe yard, having my wife and servant Jane, and no more in family than us three. My wife, after

4176-399: The 17th century. Pepys wrote consistently on subjects such as personal finances, the time he got up in the morning, the weather, and what he ate. He wrote at length about his new watch which he was very proud of (and which had an alarm, a new accessory at the time), a country visitor who did not enjoy his time in London because he felt that it was too crowded, and his cat waking him up at one in

4292-563: The Abbey with a salmon in memory of this event. A charter of 785, possibly a forgery, grants land to the needy people of God in Thorney, in the dreadful spot which is called Westminster . The text suggests a pre-existing monastic community who chose to live in a very challenging location. The recorded origins of the Abbey (rather than a less important religious site) date to the 960s or early 970s, when Saint Dunstan and King Edgar installed

4408-562: The Collegiate Church of St Peter . Like many large parishes, Westminster was divided into smaller units called Hamlets (meaning a territorial sub-division, rather than a small village). These would later become independent daughter parishes. Until 1900 the local authority was the combined vestry of St Margaret and St John (also known as the Westminster District Board of Works from 1855 to 1887), which

4524-815: The Commissioners of Accounts at that period. He also kept a diary for a few months in 1683 when he was sent to Tangier as the most senior civil servant in the Navy, during the English evacuation . The diary mostly covers work-related matters. On the Navy Board, Pepys proved to be a more able and efficient worker than colleagues in higher positions. This often annoyed Pepys and provoked much harsh criticism in his diary. Among his colleagues were Admiral Sir William Penn , Sir George Carteret , Sir John Mennes , and Sir William Batten . Pepys learned arithmetic from

4640-510: The Navy's treasury in London. 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". 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

4756-537: The Palace of Westminster and in Government ministries. The area has a substantial residential population. By the 20th century Westminster saw rising numbers of residential apartments with wealthy inhabitants. Hotels, large Victorian homes and barracks exist near to Buckingham Palace . Westminster hosts the High Commissions of many Commonwealth countries: Within the area is Westminster School ,

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4872-753: The Privy Garden became the site of a new street. In 1808 a row of houses called Whitehall Gardens was constructed on the site. Behind each house, long grassy gardens planted with rows of trees led directly down to the river, until they were cut off by the construction of the Victoria Embankment along the river bank between 1865 and 1870. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli lived in one of the houses between 1873 and 1875, while Sir Robert Peel lived in another (and died there in 1850 after falling from his horse on Constitution Hill ). The trees outside

4988-555: The Privy Garden behind walls and buildings on all sides. A high wall to the west separated it from The Street, the main thoroughfare at the south end of Whitehall that bisected the palace in a north-south direction. To the north, a range of buildings occupied by high-ranking courtiers separated it from the Pebble Court that lay behind the Banqueting House, while to the east the Stone Gallery and state apartments, used by

5104-669: The Restoration. A terrace also separated the Privy Garden from the Bowling Green, but this was removed in 1673–4 and part of the Bowling Green was added to the garden. The Privy Garden was originally created as a private royal pleasure garden and continued to serve a similar purpose during the Interregnum (1649–1660) , when the English Council of State put considerable effort and money into repairing and improving

5220-521: The United Kingdom . In 1539, it became a city. Westminster is often used as a metonym to refer to the Parliament of the United Kingdom , which sits in the Palace of Westminster . The City and Liberty of Westminster and other historical Westminster administrative units (except the broader modern City of Westminster , a London Borough created in 1965) extended from the River Thames to

5336-568: The United Kingdom and for those other nations, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations and for other parts of the former British Empire that adopted it. The term "Westminster Village", sometimes used in the context of British politics, does not refer to a geographical area at all; employed especially in the phrase "Westminster Village gossip", it denotes a supposedly close social circle of members of parliament, political journalists, so-called spin-doctors and others connected to events in

5452-626: The absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again. The condition of the State was thus. Viz. the Rump , after being disturbed by my Lord Lambert , was lately returned to sit again. The officers of the army all forced to yield. Lawson lie[s] still in the River and Monke is with his army in Scotland. Only my Lord Lambert

5568-670: The administration of the short-lived English colony at Tangier . He joined the Tangier committee in August 1662 when the colony was first founded and became its treasurer in 1665. In 1663, he independently negotiated a £3,000 contract for Norwegian masts, demonstrating the freedom of action that his superior abilities allowed. He was appointed to a commission of the royal fishery on 8 April 1664. Pepys' job required him to meet many people to dispense money and make contracts. He often laments how he "lost his labour" having gone to some appointment at

5684-466: The bodies of girls and women. Kate Loveman of Cambridge University describes this belief: "[In his diary] Pepys's sexual language of being ‘kind’, ‘touching’, and ‘tumbling’ emphasized his indulgence and playfulness, while masking coercion and violence; meanwhile, [his victim] Lane's claims of assault he regarded as exemplifying a woman's ‘falseness’, not because he thought there had been no violence, but because she had no moral right to protest." The diary

5800-521: The centre, with east, west, north and south dials at the sides. It was subsequently vandalised, allegedly by an intoxicated courtier, and fell into ruin in Charles II's reign. Andrew Marvell lamented that This place for a dial was too insecure Since a guard and a garden could not it defend; For so near to the Court they will never endure Any witness to show how their time they misspend. In 1669

5916-513: The church lasted only from 1539 to 1556, but the "city" status remained for a mere parish within Middlesex. As such it is first known to have had two Members of Parliament in 1545 as a new Parliamentary Borough , centuries after the City of London and Southwark were enfranchised. The growing Elizabethan city had a High Constable, Bailiff, Town Clerk, and a keeper of the ponds. Charles Booth 's poverty map showing Westminster in 1889 recorded

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6032-470: 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. Outbreaks of plague were not unusual events in London; major epidemics had occurred in 1592, 1603, 1625 and 1636. Furthermore, Pepys

6148-743: The construction of the new offices of the Board of Trade and Air Ministry . The interior decorations of four of Pembroke House's rooms were saved after its demolition and were reinstalled in the new government offices, now the Ministry of Defence Main Building. Westminster Westminster is a cathedral city and the main settlement of the London Borough of the City of Westminster in Central London , England. It extends from

6264-592: The current Portland Museum, Dorset , this one was in Bulstrode Park and featured the art collection of the Duke and Duchess. The auction was conducted by Mr Skinner and Co, of Aldersgate Street. Lot number 4155 was the Portland Vase . The area was ripe for redevelopment by the landholding elite, who wished to have suitably grand townhouses to occupy while attending Parliament and the court. The vestiges of

6380-452: The dancing master). Pepys was an investor in the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa , which held the Royal monopoly on trading along the west coast of Africa in gold , silver , ivory , and slaves . Propriety did not prevent him from engaging in a number of extramarital liaisons with various women that were chronicled in his diary, often in some detail when relating the intimate details. The most dramatic of these encounters

6496-414: The demise of the Privy Gallery, the Privy Garden was extended north to include the Pebble Court behind the Banqueting House. The garden remained in Crown ownership but it became neglected and filthy with the departure of the monarchy from Whitehall. In 1733 the Duke of Richmond and other residents of the surviving properties adjoining the garden petitioned that they be allowed to lease the "void ground" of

6612-508: The early years of the Restoration , such as the coronation of Charles II, the Great Plague , the Great Fire of London , and the Anglo–Dutch Wars . Pepys did not plan on his contemporaries ever seeing his diary, which is evident from the fact that he wrote in shorthand and sometimes in a "code" of various Spanish , French , and Italian words (especially when describing his illicit affairs). However, Pepys often juxtaposed profanities in his native English amidst his "code" of foreign words,

6728-494: 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

6844-469: The fire was advancing, he started to pack up his possessions by moonlight. 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 . 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

6960-559: The fleet in 1666. 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 Peter Pett to deflect criticism from themselves. 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

7076-407: The fleet. His idea was accepted, and he was made surveyor-general of victualling in October 1665. The position brought a further £300 a year. 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

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7192-465: The front entrance to Whitehall Gardens were the last survivors of the original Privy Garden, and stood until as recently as the late 1930s. Among the houses in Whitehall Gardens were Montagu House and Pembroke House , a Palladian riverside villa with elaborate interiors. The houses were demolished along with the rest of Whitehall Gardens in 1938, in what the architectural historian John Harris described as "a monstrous act of vandalism", to make way for

7308-452: The full range of income- and capital-brackets living in adjacent streets within the area; its central western area had become (by 1850) (the) Devil's Acre in the southern flood-channel ravine of the River Tyburn , yet Victoria Street and other small streets and squares had the highest colouring of social class in London: yellow/gold. Westminster has shed the abject poverty with the clearance of this slum and with drainage improvement, but there

7424-433: The garden were "thirty-four high columns, covered with various fine paintings; also different animals carved in wood, with their horns gilt, are set on the top of the columns, together with flags bearing the queen's arms. In the middle of the garden is a nice fountain with a remarkable sun-dial, showing the time in thirty different ways. Between the spaces that are planted in the garden there are fine walks grown with grass, and

7540-406: The garden. Parliament Street was driven through the western side of the garden in 1750 to connect Whitehall to the Palace of Westminster . At the start of the 19th century the garden's "decayed wall, long fringed by pamphlets, ballads, and ragged advertisements" was removed and replaced by an iron railing and newly planted trees. Its north side remained "most confused and unpleasant", terminating in

7656-413: The garden. The Crown agreed, and in 1734 most of the garden was leased to the Dukes of Richmond and Montagu , the Earl of Loudon and Sir Conyers Darcy . When Canaletto painted a view of the garden looking north from the Duke of Richmond's dining room in Richmond House in 1747, it was a last view of a prospect that was soon to disappear with the demolition of the old palace's Holbein Gate adjoining

7772-404: The garden. They appear to have reserved it exclusively for their own use, with their own individual keys for access. By Samuel Pepys ' time, after the Stuart Restoration , it had become "a through-passage, and common." The wall that enclosed the garden was often used by ballad-sellers to display their wares to passers-by, and courtiers used it to air their laundry. Pepys recorded his titillation at

7888-408: The government buildings nearby. The last remnants of the Privy Garden were destroyed in 1938 during the construction of government offices on the site of the present Ministry of Defence Main Building . The Privy Garden originated in the 16th century as part of the estate of York Place; Cardinal Wolsey 's London residence. The estate already had a privy, or private, garden that was located behind what

8004-439: The happiest years of his life. He worked very hard that year, and the outcome was that he quadrupled his fortune. 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". Nonetheless, Pepys was certainly concerned about the plague. On 16 August he wrote: But, Lord! how sad a sight it is to see the streets empty of people, and very few upon

8120-592: The house in which he had had his bladder stone removed. Despite all this destruction, Pepys' house, office, and diary were saved. The diary gives a detailed account of Pepys' personal life. He was fond of wine , plays, and the company of other people. He also spent time evaluating his fortune and his place in the world. He was always curious and often acted on that curiosity, as he acted upon almost all his impulses. Periodically, he would resolve to devote more time to hard work instead of leisure. For example, in his entry for New Year's Eve, 1661, he writes: "I have newly taken

8236-447: The household of one of his father's cousins, Sir Edward Montagu , who was later created the 1st Earl of Sandwich . When he was 22, Pepys married 14-year-old Elisabeth de St Michel , a descendant of French Huguenot immigrants, first in a religious ceremony on 10 October 1655 and later in a civil ceremony on 1 December 1655 at St Margaret's, Westminster . From a young age, Pepys suffered from bladder stones in his urinary tract —

8352-576: 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. Pepys had taken to sleeping on his office floor; on Wednesday, 5 September, he

8468-514: 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 Thomas Bloodworth and tell him to start pulling down houses. Pepys took a coach back as far as 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

8584-488: The king's closest courtiers, blocked it off from the River Thames . The royal apartments were off the Stone Gallery and had a view of the Privy Garden, with a screen in place to prevent passers-by from seeing the naked king in his 7 by 7 feet (2.1 by 2.1 m) bathtub. A row of trees on the south side screened it from the Bowling Green, which had been an orchard in Henry VIII's time but was converted for leisure use after

8700-435: The king's fury. The fate of the ruined dial is unknown; it was last recorded standing at Buckingham House (later Buckingham Palace ) in 1710. After the destruction by fire of the Palace of Whitehall in 1698, the surroundings of the Privy Garden changed dramatically. Most of the palace buildings had been burned down in the 1698 fire; others were torn down as the last vestiges of the old Tudor and Stuart Palace were removed. With

8816-540: The local government of Westminster was further reformed in 1900, when the court of burgesses and the parish vestries were abolished and replaced by the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster . The borough was given city status at the same time, allowing it to be known as the City of Westminster and its council as Westminster City Council . The City and Liberty of Westminster and the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster were very similar in extent, covering

8932-468: The loose pages bound into six volumes, catalogued them in his library with all his other books, and is likely to have suspected that eventually someone would find them interesting. This tree summarizes, in a more compact form and with a few additional details, trees published elsewhere in a box-like form. It is meant to help the reader of the Diary and also integrates some biographical information found in

9048-603: The mistress of Pepys"—or at least "she granted him a share of her favours". Scholars disagree on the full extent of the Pepys/Knep relationship, but much of later generations' knowledge of Knep comes from the diary. Pepys first met Knep on 6 December 1665. He described her as "pretty enough, but the most excellent, mad-humoured thing, and sings the noblest that I ever heard in my life." He called her husband "an ill, melancholy, jealous-looking fellow" and suspected him of abusing his wife. Knep provided Pepys with backstage access and

9164-747: The modern borough with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . Further north, away from the river mouth, Westminster included land on both sides of the Westbourne, notably Knightsbridge (including the parts of Hyde Park west of the Serpentine lake (originally formed by damming the river) and most of Kensington Gardens). Westminster includes the sub-districts of Soho , St James , Mayfair , Covent Garden , Pimlico , Victoria , Belgravia and Knightsbridge (shared with neighbouring Kensington ). The former City of Westminster merged with

9280-611: The monastic dormitory, an extension of the south transept, survive in the Norman Undercroft of the Great School, including a door said to come from the previous Saxon abbey. Increased endowments supported a community that increased from a dozen monks in Dunstan's original foundation, up to a maximum of about eighty monks. Most of the parishes of Westminster originated as daughter parishes of St Margaret's parish , in

9396-403: The morning. Pepys' diary is one of a very few sources which provides such length in details of everyday life of an upper-middle-class man during the 17th century. The descriptions of the lives of his servants like Jane Birch provide a valuable detailed insight into their lives. Aside from day-to-day activities, Pepys also commented on the significant and turbulent events of his nation. England

9512-485: The name "Westminster" is casually used as a metonym for the UK Parliament and for the political community of the United Kingdom generally. (The civil service is similarly referred to using the name of the northern sub-neighbourhood which it inhabits, " Whitehall ".) "Westminster" is consequently also used in reference to the Westminster system , the parliamentary model of democratic government that has evolved in

9628-465: The neatest made and the best workmanship in Europe, in half an hour's time [he] did above £500 worth of hurt." The statues were eventually taken down when Charles II came to the throne and were either repaired or replaced. The bronze statue of James II by Peter van Dievoet , depicting the king wearing the robes of a Roman emperor, stood just outside the garden in the Pebble Court from 1686 to 1898 (with

9744-472: The neighbouring boroughs of Paddington and Marylebone in 1965 to form a larger modern borough. These neighbouring areas (except for a small area of Paddington in part of Kensington Gardens), lie north of Oxford Street and its westward continuation, Bayswater Road. The district's open spaces include: The development of the area began with the establishment of Westminster Abbey on a site then called Thorney Island . The site may have been chosen because of

9860-465: The operation took place in a bedroom in the house of Pepys' cousin Jane Turner. Pepys' stone was successfully removed and he resolved to hold a celebration on every anniversary of the operation, which he did for several years. However, there were long-term effects from the operation. The incision on his bladder broke open again late in his life. The procedure may have left him sterile, though there

9976-423: The palace housed the developing Parliament and England's law courts . Thus, London developed two focal points: the City of London (financial/economic) and Westminster (political and cultural). The monarchs moved their principal residence to the Palace of Whitehall (1530–1698), then to St James's Palace in 1698, and eventually to Buckingham Palace and other palaces after 1762. The main law courts moved to

10092-543: The parts of the wider modern City of Westminster south of the Oxford Street , and its continuations Hyde Park Place. The exception is that part of Kensington Gardens , south of that road, are part of Paddington . Westminster merged with St Marylebone and Paddington in 1965, but the combined area was allowed to keep the title City of Westminster . For a list of street name etymologies for Westminster see Street names of Westminster The former Thorney Island ,

10208-665: The position of Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board on 13 July. As secretary to the board, Pepys was entitled to a £350 annual salary plus the various gratuities and benefits that came with the job—including bribes. He rejected an offer of £1,000 for the position from a rival and soon afterward moved to official accommodation in Seething Lane in the City of London . Pepys stopped writing his diary in 1669. His eyesight began to trouble him and he feared that writing in dim light

10324-490: 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. He described the chaos in the city and his curious attempt at saving his own goods: 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

10440-442: The same sources. Pepys' health suffered from the long hours that he worked throughout the period of the diary. Specifically, he believed that his eyesight had been affected by his work. He reluctantly concluded in his last entry, dated 31 May 1669, that he should completely stop writing for the sake of his eyes, and only dictate to his clerks from then on, which meant that he could no longer keep his diary. Pepys and his wife took

10556-493: The sight of the underwear of Charles II 's mistress, Lady Castlemaine , hanging out to dry in the Privy Garden. A century later, James Boswell wrote in his diary that he had taken a prostitute into the garden and "indulged sensuality", but he was shocked to find when he got home that she had stolen his handkerchief. For a time, each of the grass squares in the garden had a statue in its centre, standing on its own pedestal. They were probably moved there from St James's Palace in

10672-435: The site of Westminster Abbey , formed the historic core of Westminster. The abbey became the traditional venue of the coronations of the kings and queens of England from that of Harold Godwinson (1066) onwards. From about 1200 the Palace of Westminster , near the abbey, became the principal royal residence, a transition marked by the transfer of royal treasury and financial records to Westminster from Winchester . Later

10788-572: The son of John Pepys (1601–1680), a tailor, and Margaret Pepys ( née Kite; died 1667), daughter of a Whitechapel butcher. His great uncle Talbot Pepys was Recorder and briefly Member of Parliament (MP) for Cambridge in 1625. His father's first cousin Sir Richard Pepys was elected MP for Sudbury in 1640, appointed Baron of the Exchequer on 30 May 1654, and appointed Lord Chief Justice of Ireland on 25 September 1655. Pepys

10904-408: The spaces are planted very artistically, surrounded by plants in the shape of seats." The earliest surviving depiction of the garden, from 1670, shows a very different layout. By this time the garden had been redesigned in a grid pattern with sixteen squares of grass separated by paths. The relentless expansion of the Palace of Whitehall, which was by now a sprawling jumble of structures, had hemmed in

11020-415: The start of the 18th century onwards, the garden went through major changes as it fell into neglect. It was painted in 1747 by Canaletto during a period of transition, as Westminster was being transformed by the construction of new buildings and roads. By the start of the 19th century it had been redeveloped as the site for a row of townhouses, some of which were occupied by prime ministers seeking homes near

11136-639: The time, Westminster was not heavily built up as it is now, and York Place – later renamed Whitehall Palace – lay within a suburban area dominated by parks and gardens. St. James's Park , across the other side of Whitehall, was a royal hunting ground. Henry's garden was very ornately decorated, as 16th-century visitors noted. The Spanish 3rd Duke of Nájera wrote of a visit in 1544 in which he saw "a very pleasant garden with great walks and avenues in all directions, containing many sculptures of men and women, children and birds and monsters, and other strange figures in low and high relief." Von Wedel recorded in 1584 that in

11252-430: 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... The wind was driving the fire westward, so he ordered the boat to go to Whitehall and became the first person to inform the king of the fire. According to his entry of 2 September 1666, Pepys recommended to

11368-611: The war lost, Pepys helped to discharge the navy. 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 , and towed away the Royal Charles , 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. The Dutch raid

11484-495: 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

11600-618: Was Virgil . He was passionately interested in music; he composed, sang, and played for pleasure, and even arranged music lessons for his servants. He played the lute , viol , violin , flageolet , recorder , and spinet to varying degrees of proficiency. He was also a keen singer, performing at home, in coffee houses, and even in Westminster Abbey . He and his wife took flageolet lessons from master Thomas Greeting . He also taught his wife to sing and paid for dancing lessons for her (although these stopped when he became jealous of

11716-715: Was a conduit for theatrical and social gossip. When they wrote notes to each other, Pepys signed himself "Dapper Dickey", while Knep was " Barbry Allen " (a popular song that was an item in her musical repertory). Pepys' reference to purchasing the pornographic book L'Escole des Filles appears to be the first English reference to pornography. He writes in his diary that it was a "mighty lewd book," and burned it after reading it. Much of Pepys' behavior towards women, which he cataloged himself in his diary, would today be considered sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape. Despite his kindness and emotional loyalty towards some women in his life, Pepys ultimately believed men were entitled to

11832-463: 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 created a committee of "miscarriages". On 20 October, a list was demanded from Pepys of ships and commanders at the time of the division of

11948-571: Was also designed to serve as a symbol of the Stuart family. It had glass portraits mounted on it, depicting Charles, Queen Catherine , the Duke of York, the Queen Mother and Prince Rupert . A watchman was posted to guard it against the kind of vandalism that had wrecked the earlier sundial, but in June 1675 it was severely damaged when it was attacked by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester , much to

12064-424: 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

12180-609: Was based at Westminster Town Hall in Caxton Street from 1883. The Liberty of Westminster, governed by the Westminster Court of Burgesses , also included St Martin in the Fields and several other parishes and places . Westminster had its own quarter sessions , but the Middlesex sessions also had jurisdiction. Under local government reforms in 1889, the area fell within the newly created County of London , and

12296-529: Was buried in the church; and, nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold II , was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster , is in the Bayeux Tapestry . Some of the lower parts of

12412-473: Was characteristically filled with remorse, but (equally characteristically) continued to pursue Willet after she had been dismissed from the Pepys household. Pepys also had a habit of fondling the breasts of his maid Mary Mercer while she dressed him in the morning. Pepys may also have dallied with a leading actress of the Restoration period, Mary Knep . "Mrs Knep was the wife of a Smithfield horsedealer, and

12528-417: Was damaging his eyes. He did imply in his last entries that he might have others write his diary for him , but doing so would result in a loss of privacy and it seems that he never went through with those plans. In the end, Pepys lived another 34 years without going blind, but he never took to writing his diary again. However, Pepys dictated a journal for two months in 1669–70 as a record of his dealings with

12644-663: Was first published in the 19th century and is one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. It provides a combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London , the Second Dutch War , and the Great Fire of London . Pepys was born in Salisbury Court, Fleet Street , London , on 23 February 1633,

12760-541: Was in disarray when he began writing his diary. Oliver Cromwell had died just a few years before, creating a period of civil unrest and a large power vacuum to be filled. Pepys had been a strong supporter of Cromwell, but he converted to the Royalist cause upon the Protector's death. He was on the ship that returned Charles II to England to take up his throne and gave first-hand accounts of other significant events from

12876-448: 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. 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. Claire Tomalin wrote that 1665 was, to Pepys, one of

12992-564: Was sent to Woolwich . She did not return to Seething Lane until January 1666 and was shocked by the sight of St Olave 's churchyard, where 300 people had been buried. 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

13108-455: Was the fifth of 11 children, but child mortality was high and he was soon the oldest survivor. He was baptised at St Bride's Church on 3 March 1633. Pepys did not spend all of his infancy in London; for a while, he was sent to live with nurse Goody Lawrence at Kingsland , just north of the city. In about 1644, Pepys attended Huntingdon Grammar School before being educated at St Paul's School , London, c.  1646 –1650. He attended

13224-477: 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: 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

13340-429: Was with Deborah Willet , a young woman engaged as a companion for Elisabeth Pepys. On 25 October 1668, Pepys was surprised by his wife as he embraced Deb Willet; he writes that his wife "coming up suddenly, did find me imbracing the girl con [with] my hand sub [under] su [her] coats; and endeed I was with my main [hand] in her cunny. I was at a wonderful loss upon it and the girl also...." Following this event, he

13456-422: Was written in one of the many standard forms of shorthand used in Pepys' time, in this case called tachygraphy , and devised by Thomas Shelton . It is clear from its content that it was written as a purely personal record of his life and not for publication, yet there are indications that Pepys took steps to preserve the bound manuscripts of his diary. He wrote it out in fair copy from rough notes, and he also had

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