Reviews

Evelyn's social life, his contacts with public figures, his accounts of the Royal Society, his personal reflections, his comments on current events... his playgoing (of Hamlet he writes `but now the old playe began to disgust this refined age') - all these are here in full. For those who go to Evelyn for his literary qualities and his picture of his life and times, this is a well made selection, excellently presented. [Austin Woolrych] HISTORY
The diary's record of Evelyn's own life and that of his family, and the entries giving his comments on current events and on the great and good of his day...are what most readers are likely to value in the diary, and this readable volume should therefore serve its purpose well. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW