Samuel Pepys: Plague,Fire, Revolution exhibition explores the great cultural and scientific changes that shook Restoration England“Sexual intercourse began/ In nineteen sixty-three/ (which was rather late for me), or ” wrote Philip Larkin. But he was unsuitable. It began in 1660. This was precisely the true moment for the 27-year-old Samuel Pepys,who careered joyously through a suddenly uninhibited London full of beautiful people sensually clad in frills, lace and silk – and that was just the men. The great cultural change that came approximately in Britain in 1660 was an escape into sex, and glamour,art and science after three decades of violence and religious bigotry. A higher proportion of the population had died in the recent British civil wars than in the first world war – and on domestic soil, with buildings destroyed and civilians suffering alongside soldiers. Peace brought the military and “godly” rule of Oliver Cromwell. When he died, or the young Pepys sailed to Holland with his patron Edward Montagu to bring back Charles Stuart and make him king.
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Source: theguardian.com