The Diary of Samuel Pepys

The Sixth Year is overshadowed by the continuing war with Holland and the arrival of the plague.

On January 23 Pepys has another amorous encounter with Jane Bagwell, but afterward makes a vow to “laisser aller les femmes [let go of the women] for a month” (238) and concentrate on his job. As with Lord Montague, Pepys realizes that such behavior and neglect of his business will hurt his honor.

In March, Pepys becomes treasurer of the Tangier Committee after the disgraced former treasurer Mr. Povy steps down. This is a decided career advancement for Pepys, putting him in charge of the finances of a major trading venture.

On April 30, Pepys gives his first intimation of the arrival of the plague in England: “Great fears of the sicknesse here in the City, it being said that two or three houses are already shut up” (250). The bubonic plague broke out several times in Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries, the deadliest outbreak being the Black Death of 1348-49. The disease originated from fleas on rats that infested trading ships traveling to Western Europe from the Middle East and Africa. No cure was known, and once contracted the disease was almost always fatal (The Illustrated Pepys, 83). The outbreak described in the Diary lasted through 1666 and claimed some 100,000 people, or about one fourth of London’s population.

The plague intensifies in August: “A man cannot depend upon living two days to an end” (270). The mayor imposes a curfew, and Pepys draws up his will. Pepys’s office is moved to Greenwich for safety, and he and his wife also take up residence there. In Westminster Hall Pepys hears “sad stories” about people he knew—including entire families—who have died of the plague. At the end of the month Pepys estimates that 10,000 people have died of the disease in one week alone. After noting the intensified police vigilance in the city, Pepys observes that the plague has “[made] us cruel as dogs one to another” (274).

Amid such tragic news, Pepys is “overjoyed” to hear that Lord Montagu has achieved a victory at sea against the Dutch fleets (275). This happens in the wake of an earlier victory in June in which Pepys notes that “we have totally routed the Dutch” (256).

By October, however, the tide in the war has turned, and the Dutch have reached the coast of England ready to invade. Lord Montague is also in legal trouble, being accused of illegally appropriating goods from one of the captured Dutch ships for himself and his crew.

Too, London is feeling the effects of several months of plague: Sick people lie in the streets, and everybody recounts “sad stories” of their dead loved ones as Pepys passes; even many physicians have died (279).

By the beginning of December, however, the plague is beginning to abate; the Pepys’s return home to London, and Pepys goes back to work at his regular office. At the end of the year Pepys reflects on his loved ones and friends who have perished; nevertheless, he is heartened to see London gradually come to life again and the court return to serious matters: “Pray God continue the plague’s decrease!” (288). Meanwhile, the war with the Dutch drags on slowly “by reason of lack of money” (287). The Sixth Year ends on a more muted note than others in the Diary.