Tag: Great Plague
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Samuel Pepys: Stones and groans
I polished up that handle so carefullyThat now I am the ruler of the Queen’s Navy– HMS Pinafore, Gilbert and Sullivan Introduction Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) did not polish doorknobs to rise in the world. He was well-connected and soon after graduation from Cambridge University entered the employment of his powerful cousin, Edward Montagu. This cousin…
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“Troubled in my eyes”: the risks of reading and writing
Katherine HarveyLondon, England, United Kingdom On January 1, 1660, a young Londoner named Samuel Pepys began to keep a diary. Over the next nine and a half years, he recorded both events of national significance—the Restoration of King Charles II, the Great Plague, and the Great Fire—as well as the minutiae of his private life,…
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COVID-19 and 1665: Learning from Daniel Defoe
Brian BirchSouthampton, Hampshire, UK Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year is an account of the 1665 Great Plague of London. Based on eyewitness experience, the undersigned initials “H. F.” suggest the author’s uncle, Henry Foe, as its primary source. Published in 1722, it stands as the most reliable and comprehensive account of the…