The Stuart writer and gardener John Evelyn (1620–1706), whose two-volume Sylva is also reissued in this series, kept a diary from the age of eleven, and in the 1680s began to compile this memoir from his records. It was first published in 1818 in an edition by the antiquarian William Bray; this three-volume version of 1906 was edited by Austin Dobson (1840–1921), the author and poet who also wrote the volume on Henry Fielding in the 'English Men of Letters' series, among many other literary biographies. In an extensive preface, Dobson explains his reasons for revisiting a work which had already received much editorial attention, and his introduction gives a short biography of its author. Volume 2 covers the period 1647–76, beginning with Evelyn still in self-exile in Europe; it records his return to England, the Interregnum and Restoration, as well as the Plague and the Fire of London.