Infidelity

Pepys's capacity for infidelity is almost legendary. Shortly after he begins ,em>The Diary of SamuelPepys,

Pepys displays an ever-increasing need for his extramarital affairs. On May 20, 1660, when he is in the Netherlands to help escort Charles II back to England, Pepys takes a break from his labors and drinks too much. He then goes to sleep in his room, "where in another bed there was a pretty Dutch woman in bed alone, but though I had a month's-mind I had not the boldness to go to her."

Although Pepys can not bring himself to cheat on his wife on this first voyage away from home, he is not shy for long. On August 12, 1660, he drinks wine with Mrs. Lane, then "I [Pepys] was exceedingly free in dallying with her, and she not unfree to take it." To add insult to injury, this first recorded transgression takes place...