The Diary of John Evelyn
by John Evelyn
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The Stuart writer and gardener John Evelyn (1620-1706), whose two-volume Sylva is also reissued in this series, kept a diary from the age of eleven, and in the 1680s began to compile this memoir from his records. It was first published in 1818 in an edition by the antiquarian William Bray; this three-volume version of 1906 was edited by Austin Dobson (1840-1921), the author and poet who also wrote the volume on Henry Fielding in the 'English Men of Letters' series, among many other literary show more biographies. In an extensive preface, Dobson explains his reasons for revisiting a work which had already received much editorial attention, and his introduction gives a short biography of its author. The work begins with Evelyn's own memoir of his early life: regular entries commence in 1637, when he was a student at Oxford, and conclude a few weeks before his death in 1706. show lessTags
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I read Evelyn's Diary after having read Pepys' and Boswell's. The first quarter of Evelyn's Diary about his voyages in France and Italy is really dull. This is a mere description of monuments, with only very few anecdotes. The diary written during the Restoration is much more interesting. I found the description of the damage caused by the Great Fire much better than what Pepys wrote himself. It's also funny to remark that, although Pepys and Evelyn knew each other quite well and frequented the same persons, they had different affinities with the royals. For instance, Evelyn almost never mention the Duke of York, while Pepys does a lot. This is perhaps due to the Duke being a Catholic while Evelyn was a Protestant not willing to show more compromise with Papists... show less
Old library books, two volumes from 1901
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- Canonical title
- The Diary of John Evelyn
- Original title
- The Diary of John Evelyn with an Introduction and Notes
- People/Characters
- John Evelyn
- Quotations
- 20 November 1692. A signal Robbery of the Tax mony brought out of the North Country towards Lond; set upon by severall desperate persons, who dismounted and stopt all Travellers on the Rode, and guarding them in a field, when... (show all) the exploit was don, and The Treasure taken, killed all the Horses of those they had stay'd, to hinder the pursuit of them: 16 Horses they stabbed and then dismis'd those that they had dismounted etc: This done in Hartfordshire.
1643 March the 11th I went to see my L: of Salisbury's Palace at Hatfield; where the most considerable rarity besides the house, (inferior to few for its Architecture then in England) was the Garden and Vineyard rarely well... (show all) water'd and planted: They also shewd us the Picture of Secretary Cicil in Mosaique-worke very well don by some Italian hand.
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Home & Garden, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 942.06092 — History & geography History of Europe England and Wales England 1603–1714, House of Stuart and Commonwealth periods
- LCC
- DA447 .E9 .A3325 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Great Britain History of Great Britain England History By period Modern, 1485- Later Stuarts
- BISAC
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- Members
- 321
- Popularity
- 98,930
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.94)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 19
- ASINs
- 30
