A List Of Recent Victims

[Samuel Pepys's Diary: September 14, 1665] To see a person sick of the sores, carried close by me by Grace-church in a hackney coach. My finding the Angell tavern at the lower end of Tower-hill, shut up, and more than that, the person was then dying of the plague when I was last there, a little while ago, at night, to write a short letter there, and I overheard the mistresse of the house sadly saying to her husband somebody was very ill, but did not think it was the plague. To hear that poor Payne, my waiter, hath buried a child, and is dying himself. To hear that a labourer I sent but the other day to Dagenham's, to know how they did there, is dead of the plague; and that one of my own watermen, that carried me daily, fell sick as soon as he had landed me on Friday moring last, when I had been all night upon the water (and I believe he did get his infection that day at brainford), and is now dead of the plague. To hear that Captain Lambert and Cuttle are killed in the taking these ships; and that Mr. Sidney Montague is sick of a desperate fever at my Lady Carteret's, at Scott's-hall. To hear that Mr. Lewes hath another daughter sick. And, lastly, that both my servants, W. Hewer and Tom Edwards, have lost their fathers, both in St. Sepulchre's parish, of the plague this week, do put me into great apprehensions of melancholy, and with good reason. But I put off the thoughts of sadness as much as I can, and the rather to keep my wife in good heart and family also.     source

Isaac Newton used when writing. In addition, Pepys wrote in English and 3 other languages (what were they? Presumably Latin, Greek, and French?). Because of his position as an up-and-coming young civil servant, he was in a position to record a number of historical events with an insider's view.
His diary, donated to Magdalene College, was `discovered' in 1818. A small selection was published in 1825, and very popular simplified editions of the complete `translated' diary were published in 1848 and 1875. The complete diary (some 10 volumes, in English) was published for the first time by the University of California Press in 1970 (by which time, presumably, some of the R-rated material was no longer objectionable).
Edward Mountagu, a relative (how close a relative?) hired Pepys as his secretary in 1654, when Mountagu had become Councilor of State and Treasury Commissioner in the Cromwellian Protectorate. In 1660, Mountagu made Pepys treasurer to the fleet; in 1665 he was a leading member of the Navy Board; in 1665 he was treasurer of the committee overseeing the government of Tangier (a British possession at the time); in 1673 he became Secretary of the Admiralty; he was thus in charge (US Secretary of the Navy) of the Navy during the Dutch War of 1674-1674; he established the basis for professional naval service for the first time in English history, introduced officer half-pay, and initiated the largest shipbuilding program to that time; in 1679 imprisoned in the Tower for 6 weeks accused of being involved in the Popish Plot; in 1684 made Secretary for Admiralty Affairs, a position made explicitly for him and never occupied by anyone else; left public service in 1689.
The last 34 years of his life are not recorded in the diary. He stopped because of his duties and his worry

The first great modern bureaucrat, a founder of the professional navy, a famous `accidental' historian.
Pepys became secretary to his cousin, Admiral Edward Mountagu, in 1660. His massive `secret' diary has become one of the largest sources of information on the Restoration. A brief excerpt, from a visit to Stonehenge
`[10-June-1668 (Wednesday)]
So came to Hungerford... A bad mean town. ... to Salisbury , by night; but before came to the town, I saw a great fortification, and there light, and to it and in it; and find it prodigious, so as to fright me to be in it all alone, it being dark. I understand it since to be that that is called Old Sarum . Came to the town...
[11-June-1668 (Thursday)]
... our guide, and I single to Stonehenge, over the plain and some prodigious great hills... Came thither, and find them as prodigious as any tales I ever heard of them, and worth going this journey to see. God knows what their use was. They are hard to tell, but yet may be told. ... So back... to the church, ... and I did go in, and saw very many fine tombs, and among the rest some very ancient, of the Montagus.' (Pepys).
Samuel Pepys maintained for 10 years his detailed daily diary, covering 1659 to 1669. This extensive diary has become perhaps the most extensive source of information on this critical period of English history (the Restoration). Pepys never considered that his diary would be read by others. The original diary consisted of 6 volumes written in Shelton shorthand, which he had learned as an undergraduate on scholarship at Magdalene College, Cambridge . This shorthand was introduced in 1626, and was the same system