On 31 May 1669, Samuel Pepys wrote the final entry in his diary. He stopped because he feared that continuing to write was damaging his eyesight.

The reason was practical and personal. Pepys was not bringing a public work to a planned end. He had kept a private record, written in shorthand, for nearly ten years. It began in 1660, the year of the Restoration, and followed his life through the first decade of Charles II’s restored monarchy.

The diary’s value comes from its range. Pepys wrote about his work in naval administration, court life, money, illness, marriage, theatre, food, fear, ambition and ordinary London business. He also recorded events that became part of the history of Restoration England, including the plague and the Great Fire of London.

The final entry did not end Pepys’s career. He lived for many years afterwards and remained active in public life. What ended was the daily private record that made him unusually useful to later historians.

By the time Pepys stopped, the diary had already recorded nearly ten years of Restoration England, not as formal history, but as daily private writing.