Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire, Revolution

Fascinating exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at the life and times of Samuel Pepys.

I hadn’t realised what a short period the famous diary covers, just nine years from 1660 to 1669 but what a period to cover. From the plague in 1665, through the fire in 166 and a Dutch invasion which got as far up the Thames at Chatham in 1667! His diary covers a lot of his everyday life too, not just great events, and I loved the section on the theatre of the time with a wonderful shadow show combing his words and play texts of the time.

I liked the fact the show looked at his whole life not just the period covered by the diary. I had not realised he was part of the party which collected Charles II from the continent at the Restoration although his main memory of this seems to have been escorting the kings dog in a rowing boat and the dog peeing in the boat! I like the fact that in great event he sees the ordinary.

There was an interesting section on science at the time as Pepys became the President of the Royal Society in 1684. It ended by looking at the Glorious Revolution which was interesting as in Amsterdam I’d seen a lot on the Dutch take on this whereas in England we try to forget about it!

Closes 28 March 2016.

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