Samuel Pepys frustration to Pepys. Pepys' diary provides a first-hand account of the Restoration, and it is also notable for its detailed accounts of several major events of the 1660s, along with the lesser known diary of John Evelyn. In particular, it is an invaluable source for the study of the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–7, the Great Plague of 1665, and the Great Fire of London in 1666. In relation to the Plague and Fire, C. S. Knighton has written: "From its reporting of these two disasters to the metropolis in which he thrived, Pepys's diary has become a national monument."
John Evelyn's Diary John Evelyn's Diary The Diary of John Evelyn, a gentlemanly Royalist and "virtuoso" of the seventeenth century, was first published in 1818 (2nd edition, 1819) under the title "Memoirs Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn", in an edition by William Bray. Bray was assisted by William Upcott, who had access to the Evelyn family archives. The diary of Evelyn's contemporary Samuel Pepys was first published in 1825, and became more celebrated; but the publication of Evelyn's work in part prompted the attention given to Pepys's. Evelyn's diary has entries running from 1640, when the author was a