I have to strongly disagree. It can be difficult to determine the reasons why someone has written a diary but there is no proof that Pepys didn't want anyone else to read them. Pepys is obviously writing his diaries with an eye for them to be read by someone else (even if only subconsciously.) The gossip and tittle tattle are for a much wider audience. On the other hand, they were written in a coded shorthand (the first person to publish them didn't realise that the key to the shorthand was in a book upon the same shelf in the library at Cambridge, and therefore took years longer than necessary.) However, I don't think Pepys thought the shorthand was difficult to decode, precisely because the key was published, and in a readily accessible book.
People also usually write diaries for a short period. Often it is while they are unhappy in life. Thomas Turner's diaries are during the period of his first unhappy marriage in which he criticises his wife, reflects upon his love of excess in alcohol and gambling, and moans constantly about not getting paid on time by customers. I will accept that Pepys is not unhappy and that he writes for his own benefit.
Pepys writes for only a decade between the Reformation (though he does write about earlier events like seeing Charles I beheaded) and the death of his wife when he also thought (mistakenly) that he was going blind. However, his diaries are filled with his experiences and new discoveries and his passions, such as the theatre.
You also need to compare Pepys with John Evelyn who wrote diaries right from his teenage years up until the final weeks before his death. His diaries are, in my view, a much more complete record of the time. Evelyn doesn't get quite as "hands on" during the Fire of London. Pepys is more personally involved since his childhood home is burnt down and his present house and office are threatened. I think it is because of his better descriptions of Fire of London that we hold up Pepys' diaries and not Evelyn's. Evelyn writes much more dispassionately, almost like an outsider looking down on events with fewer personal feelings.
If you are interested in Pepys then there is an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich that started yesterday (Friday). It is well worth going to and runs for the next few months.
