Diary of Samuel Pepys — Volume 70: December 1668 — Story, Setting & Ideas

Coach, Playhouse, and Public Display

Pepys's new coach is more than transport; it is a stage for social visibility. On the 2nd, he and his wife ride to the King's Playhouse to see 'The Usurper,' deliberately avoiding a box where Knepp might be seen. The coach then carries them to White Hall, where Pepys ascends to the Duchess's and Queen's side, hears the king tell a story about Lord Rochester's stolen clothes, and speaks with the Duke of York about victualling a fleet. The coach reappears on the 21st, when Pepys uses it to collect Talbot Pepys and visit a bearded woman in Holborn—a 'strange sight' that 'pleased me mightily.' That evening, at the Duke's Playhouse for 'Macbeth,' Pepys sits near the king and court, noting that his wife 'appeared, I think, as pretty as any of them.' The coach thus links private pride with public spectacle, moving Pepys between office, theatre, and court.

The King's Circle and Courtly Gossip

Pepys repeatedly places himself within earshot of the king and his intimates. On the 2nd, he hears Charles II tell a bawdy anecdote about Rochester's clothes being stolen by a wench. Later, at the Duke of York's supper, he learns of French naval threats: the Duke reports that Turenne, now Catholic, may outmanoeuvre Colbert, and that the French king has declared his captains must strike to him, not to the English or Dutch. Pepys notes this as 'a great thing if he do it.' At 'Macbeth' on the 21st, he observes Moll Davis in a box above the king, exchanging glances, and Lady Castlemayne's jealous reaction—'she looked like fire.' These moments show Pepys as a keen observer of court dynamics, recording both policy and personal intrigue without explicit commentary.

Office Routine and Naval Administration

The diary's structure is anchored by the office: 'Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning' is a near-daily refrain. On the 1st, Pepys works 'very busy till night'; on the 2nd, he deals with accounts of Sir D. Gawden; on the 3rd, he goes by water to White Hall to speak with Mr. Wren about a favour for Will's uncle. The naval business is specific: on the 2nd, he discusses sending victuals to Sir Thomas Allen's fleet at Cadiz. Even when the diary shifts to social outings, the office remains a constant backdrop. On the 21st, after the play, he returns 'to work at the office late.' This alternation between public duty and private pleasure gives the month a rhythmic structure, with the office as a steady counterpoint to the coach rides and theatre visits.

Recurring Fascinations: Wilkins's 'Real Character' and Curiosities

Pepys's intellectual curiosity surfaces repeatedly. On the 1st and 2nd, he has his boy read Wilkins's 'Real Character,' a work on a universal language that 'do please me infinitely' and which he calls 'a most worthy labour.' This interest in systematic knowledge contrasts with the month's other recurring motif: public curiosities. On the 21st, he visits a bearded woman, Ursula Dyan, and describes her appearance in detail—'a beard as much as any man I ever saw, black almost, and grizly'—and notes that she refused to show further to men but offered to his wife. The juxtaposition of Wilkins's rational scheme and the bearded woman's freak-show appeal highlights Pepys's wide-ranging attention, from the abstract to the grotesque, both recorded with the same diaristic precision.

Movement Between Scenes

The entries are structured by rapid shifts in location. A typical day: up, to the office, home for dinner, then abroad by coach or water to White Hall, a playhouse, or a private house, then back to the office or home for supper and reading. On the 2nd, Pepys moves from office to W. Hewer's errand, home, then to the King's Playhouse, then to White Hall, then home again. On the 21st, the sequence is coach to Temple, hackney to White Hall, coach home, then out again to Holborn, then to the Duke's Playhouse, then home to the office. These movements are not merely logistical; they create a layered portrait of Restoration London, where administrative business, court gossip, theatrical entertainment, and personal curiosity coexist within a single day's entries.

Readers attentive to Pepys's recurring motifs—the coach, the playhouse, the office, the king's circle—will find December 1668 a compact illustration of his diaristic method. The month's entries are not a continuous narrative but a series of discrete scenes, each anchored by a specific location and activity. Pepys rarely reflects on the connections between them; instead, he lets the juxtapositions speak. This volume rewards a slow reading that tracks the movement between public and private, duty and pleasure, and the steady rhythm of a life recorded day by day.

There’s something touching about Pepys counting his coach rides and theater nights in December 1668—all that careful record-keeping of small pleasures. It reminds me of how quietly we learn to notice what sustains us, the way that lovely companion volume, Adventures in Contentment — Reading Companion, lingers on similar ordinary gratitudes. I find myself returning to both on gray afternoons, remembering that attention itself can feel like home.