Samuel Pepys, born in 1633, was a supporter of the Royal house before, during and after the Commonwealth Period. He is well-known for his literary work called “The Diary,” which includes a detailed account of The Great Fire which took place in London in the year 1666. The year 1666 was within the years of the Restoration Period in which King Charles II, who was in exile, was restored to the throne, the Commonwealth had ended, and the Parliament and the King were in power together. It was during this period in which the social and literary background of London changed radically. Promiscuity, licentiousness, and hypocrisy within the society were very much spread. The rich were rich enough to lead lives which seemed virtuous but was pretentious. This fictitious way of life had also divided into the literary works of great writers. Some authors wrote great satires, which criticised the government and society, others wrote plays and dramas which presented the pretentious way of life. It was during this period that Samuel Pepys wrote his great book in a new genre, and included a detailed and vivid description of London in the late 17th century.
The Great Fire is a part of Samuel Pepys’s literary book The Diary. Pepys uses a very detailed and sincere language in describing how the fire took place, how the people reacted, and what happened afterward. Pepys relates the nights of the light as though it were a story and he a character in the story; so we can see what Pepys was doing. This gives us a concrete insight to the circumstances of those days and thus allows us to evaluate the late 17th century not only by looking at literary works and official documents but also by looking into a diary which is relating a historical event through the eyes of a Londoner. Because Pepys had no commercial objective in writing his book The Diary, he has written in a frank and unbiased language. This proves the objectivity of Samuel Pepys in both the Monarch and the Parliament side; therefore it can be used as a primary source by historians to have a reference to what happened during The Great Fire of London. Another vital aspect of Pepys’s diary is the reaction of the people to the fire. In the text, Pepys quotes from his Lord Mayor, who is talking to the King who has ordered for the wooden houses to be pulled down to prevent the spreading of the fire; “Lord, what can I do?… I have been pulling down houses. But the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it.” This sentence shows us that during the fire, people reacted not according to the side they supported, but in a rational manner. This allowed the people of London, after a long time, to think and react similarly to a public calamity.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys can be accounted as a historical, subjective, and an illusionary reference to understand and compare the lives and attitudes of the Restoration Society to the Contemporary Society. It allows us to see what happened during a big catastrophe in London, how the parliament and the Monarchy came together to overcome the chaos, and how London was rebuilt afterward.