About Wednesday 31 October 1660

Bryan M on 30 Jan 2024  •  Link

Just to clarify, if Elizabeth Pepys kept a diary it did not survive.
The Diary of Elizabeth Pepys by Dale Spender is a work of fiction from a feminist perspective.

About Sunday 2 November 1662

Bryan M on 15 Jan 2024  •  Link

"Is there any evidence that Elizabeth actually spoke French?"
Yes there is evidence. Pauline quotes from Claire Tomalin's Samuel Pepys: The Unequaled Self.
"Elizabeth and her brother Balthasar were both likely born in Devon. The family's fortunes and bad luck were such that in 1652 Madame de St. Michel was alone in Paris with her two children. She was persuaded to hand them over to Catholic friends, who placed Elizabeth in an Ursuline convent and Balthasar as page to the papal nuncio, ... The children were rescued by their indignant father, who carried the whole family off to London; this was shortly before Elizabeth met Pepys." https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…

If Elizabeth was in Paris when she was 11 or 12 (1652) and married Samuel (December 1655) within 12 months of meeting him, Wheatley's claim that Elizabeth was only in the convent for 12 days is doubtful.

BTW, it was Elizabeth's mother, Dorothea, who was the daughter of Sir Francis Kingsmill. Samuel's mother was born Margaret Kight (Kite).