With one's face in the wind you were almost burned with a shower of Firedrops. A selection from Pepys' startlingly vivid and candid diary, including his famous account of the Great Fire. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703). The Diary of Samuel Pepys: A Selection is available in Penguin Classics.

Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) began his diary on 1 Jan 1660, immediately prior to the Restoration of Charles II to the throne and the subsequent loosening of the rigid and social code enforced during the Puritan Commonwealth. As variously, Clerk to the Council, a Member of Parliament, a prisoner in the Tower of London, twice Secretary to the Admiralty and President of the Royal Society, Pepys was in a unique position to observe and record the details of a ten-year period of English history which included not only the Restoration, but the Great Plague of 1665 and the Fire of London of the following year. However, it was not only for affairs of state which took up the great diarist's interest, for he was a regular attendant at the King's Theatre, was a hearty eater and drinker and delighted in recording his fondness of women, especially his own and his friends' young servant girls.