'[T]he thing of the world I love most' Samuel Pepys, the diary and domestic music-making in restoration England

Abstract

In those days, men's long silk garments were expensive. Prohibitively expensive, even for a high-ranking civil servant like Samuel Pepys. Having started off as a clerk in the Exchequer during the previous regime, in fact, Pepys had, since the restoration of the monarchy in England, held the important post of Clerk to the Acts to the Navy Board. Pepys had acquired this post through the patronage of an illustrious relative -his distant cousin Edward Montagu, Parliamentarian Sea captain turned monarchist, named Earl of Sandwich by a grateful Charles II. Pepys's excellent performance in his job, however – a performance which soon led him to be seen as an indispensable functionary in the Navy- was entirely due to his own intelligence, drive and assiduous work. His quick thinking and application brought him important financial rewards. Still, however, as he would wistfully admit to himself again and again in the pages of his famous Diary (1660-69), he was no aristocrat with a bottomless purse. For men like him, lavish, carefree spending - during the 1660s, at least - was a thing of dreams.