The Diary · Chapter
August 1666 explained
Pepys settles his accounts and finds himself worth £5,700, then attends to naval business amid tensions with the Generals.
What happens
Pepys settles his accounts and finds himself worth £5,700, then attends to naval business amid tensions with the Generals. He enjoys a day of flirtation and innocent pleasures with several women, later visits the Bear Garden for bull-baiting, and ends the month with a fireworks party and cross-dressing revelry. News arrives of the burning of 160 enemy ships at the Fly, and Pepys deals with a sharp letter from the Generals criticizing the Navy Office's accounts.
Themes in this chapter
Naval Administration and Corruption
Pepys deals with naval accounts, victualling issues, and a scathing letter from the Generals criticizing the office's management.
Money, Debt, and Economy
Pepys records his net worth of £5,700, the highest ever, and handles Tangier accounts and bills of exchange.
Daily Life and Domesticity
Describes domestic pleasures: wife's drawing, fireworks party, dancing, cross-dressing, and a wedding feast.
Characters to notice
- Samuel Pepys
Settles accounts, attends Duke of York, flirts with women, enjoys fireworks and dancing, deals with naval correspondence.
- Elizabeth Pepys
Drawing pictures, joins in fireworks and dancing, wears a periwig during the revels.
- Sir William Coventry
Discusses naval management with Pepys, displeased with the Generals; later reads a critical letter from the Generals to Pepys.
- Sir William Penn
Detains Pepys with public business, accompanies him to Lord Bellasses, and shares news about the King's house reopening.
- Mr. Creed
Walks with Pepys, accompanies him to the victualling office and to see Lord Brouncker.
- Captain Cocke
Travels with Pepys by coach, discusses his hemp business and seeks Pepys's assistance.
- Sir William Batten
Angry with Pepys after being told he spoke an untruth at the office.
- Lord Brouncker
Receives Pepys coldly when he visits, making Pepys regret his officiousness.
Key passages
“Up betimes to the settling of my last month’s accounts, and I bless God I find them very clear, and that I am worth £5,700, the most that ever my book did yet make out.”
Pepys rises early to balance his monthly accounts and is pleased to discover he is worth £5,700, the highest total he has ever recorded.
Highlights Pepys's financial prosperity and meticulous record-keeping.
“I left him going to Chapel, it being the common fast day, and the Duke of York at Chapel. And I to Mrs. Martin’s, but she abroad, so I sauntered to or again to the Abbey, and then to the parish church, fearful of being seen to do so, and so after the parish church was ended, I to the Swan and there dined upon a rabbit, and after dinner to Mrs. Martin’s, and there find Mrs. Burroughs, and by and by comes a pretty widow, one Mrs. Eastwood, and one Mrs. Fenton, a maid; and here merry kissing and looking on their breasts, and all the innocent pleasure in the world.”
Pepys attends church on the fast day but soon leaves to visit Mrs. Martin, eventually dining at the Swan and then spending a merry afternoon with several women, engaging in flirtatious behavior.
Illustrates Pepys's conflicted piety and his pursuit of sensual pleasures.
“Mighty sleepy; slept till past eight of the clock, and was called up by a letter from Sir W. Coventry, which, among other things, tells me how we have burned one hundred and sixty ships of the enemy within the Fly.”
Pepys is woken late by a letter from Sir William Coventry reporting that the English have burned 160 enemy ships at the Fly.
Conveys the excitement and strategic impact of the naval victory.
