Pepys, SAMUEL, the celebrated diarist, son of John and Margaret Pepys, was born on February 23, 1632-33. He was a member of a junior branch of an old and widely-spread family in the eastern counties, but there was little property in the possession of this branch, and Samuel's father for a time followed the business of a tailor in the city of London. It is not known whether the diarist was born at Brampton, a village near Huntingdon, where there was a small property belonging to his father's family, or in London. We do know, however, that he went to school at Huntingdon before entering St Paul's School, and that he remained at the latter until he was seventeen years of age. On March 5, 1650-51, he first put on his gown as a scholar at Magdalene College, Cambridge. On the 1st December 1655, very soon after leaving college, he was married to Elizabeth St Michel, a beautiful but portionless girl of fifteen. Sir Edward Montagu (afterwards Earl of Sandwich), whose mother was a Pepys, gave a helping hand to the imprudent couple, and allowed them to live in his house. As Samuel does not appear to have owed much to his father, it seems probable that Montagu acted as a patron at a still earlier period of his life. At all events his true start was entirely due to this patron, for whom Pepys always expressed the most unbounded attachment. Pepys's real life begins for us on the 1st January 1659-60, when the Diary was commenced. His appointment to the clerkship of the Acts of the Navy in 1660 was distinctly a job, for he knew nothing of the work of the navy when he undertook the office, but it was a job that amply justified itself, for his intelligence and industry were so great that he soon became master of the work of his office, and as Clerk of the Acts, and subsequently as Secretary to the Admiralty, he was one of the most distinguished officials in naval affairs that England has ever possessed. At the Revolution his career was closed, but until the end of his life he was still looked upon as the Nestor of navy affairs, to be consulted upon matters of particular importance, and his name is still held in honour at the Admiralty. It is not, however, as an official that the fame of Pepys still lives, but as the writer of a Diary which is unique in the literature of the world. This work has thrown the most unexpected light upon the history and manners of his day, while at the same time it presents a most remarkable psychological study. Never before had man written down his inmost feelings with so little disguise. Hence Pepys's character has suffered while his fame has spread. Passing thoughts which had but little real influence upon his actions were set down by him, and they have given a wrong impression of the man to numerous readers.
Pepys's life was prosperous, for he made money and held high offices. He was twice Master of the Trinity House, first in 1676 and a second time in 1685, Master of the Clothworkers Company in 1677, and President of the Royal Society (1684-86). But he was not without his troubles. At the period of the supposed Popish Plot in 1679 he was committed to the Tower, and in 1690 he was placed in Gatehouse at Westminster for a few days; and at his death the crown was indebted to him to the extent of £28,000, a sum which was never paid. Early in life Pepys was successfully cut for the stone, and for many years he enjoyed good health, but before his death, on the 26th May 1703, the wound broke out afresh. The Diary was discontinued on 29th May 1669, and we must ever regret that it was not continued to a later period. The shorthand MS. was deciphered by the Rev. J. Smith and first published in 1825 under the editorship of Lord Braybrooke. Although much original matter has been added to various editions, particularly in that of the Rev. Mynors Bright (1875), the Diary had never been printed in its entirety up to 1891, when a new edition of the whole was in preparation. Besides the Diary Pepys wrote nothing of importance but his Memoirs relating to the State of the Royal Navy, published in 1690. Pepys was essentially a collector, and he never saw a curious or uncommon object without wishing to possess it. His library, bequeathed to Magdalene College, Cambridge, still remains in the exact condition in which he left it. In the room containing that library and among his books and papers we the better understand that method, diligence, and general intelligence which is exhibited in the Diary, and which, united with the power of carrying out his views, helped to consolidate the British navy.
See Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq., Comprising his Diary from 1659 to 1669, edited by Lord Braybrooke (2 vols. 1825); Diary and Correspondence, by Rev. Mynors Bright (6 vols. 1875); Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys, by Rev. John Smith (2 vols. 1841); and Samuel Pepys and the World he lived in (1880) and the edition of the Diary (8 vols. 1893-96), by the present writer.