Epilogue • 267years after the plague, Pepys more than doubled his assets to ten thousand
pounds, sported gold lace on his sleeves, and bought a coach with four
horses, to his own immense satisfaction and that of his wife. Then he
abruptly cut back on conspicuous consumption to avoid the jealousy of col-
leagues who felt he had overstepped the bounds of his social status. Just how
wealthy he became is unknown. He turned secretive about his income, and
his weakening eyesight put an end to his diary writing, with its monthly tal-
leys of his wealth. He was perhaps worth twenty thousand pounds at his
death, while the government still owed him close to thirty thousand pounds
more!^5
Having survived plague and fire, Pepys channeled more of his energy into
helping others than he had during the epidemic. His administrative ability
helped to transform the Royal Navy, an achievement recognized to this day.
Less well known is his imprint on a school for orphans and other poor chil-
dren at Christchurch Hospital near his cousin Kate’s inn. From the early
1670 s to the end of the century, he fought for improvements at the school,
eventually overcoming recalcitrant colleagues on the board of governors and
hostility at the Guildhall. Enrollment soared to eight hundred, teaching and
financing improved dramatically, and he realized his dream of establishing a
mathematics program geared to public and commercial navigation. A sketch
of a boy and girl at Christchurch Hospital can be seen in the Pepys Library,
Magdalene College, Cambridge.^6
Pepys’ support of scientific projects drew distinguished visitors to his
home, including a fellow plague survivor, Sir Isaac Newton. In the mid- 1680 s
Pepys reached the pinnacle of scientific success for someone who was a mere
observer of experimentation, presiding over the meetings of the Royal So-
ciety. His name adorned the title page of the most famous scientific work of
the age, Newton’s Principia,whose central concept of universal gravitation
first came to the great scientist while he waited out Cambridge’s plague in
1665 – 66 at his mother’s country home.
The Pepys and Evelyn households continued much as they had before.
Mary Evelyn gave birth to two more girls after the harrowing plaguetime ar-
rival of their seventh child and first girl.^7 John was not untrue to Mary as was
Samuel Pepys to his Elizabeth. The Evelyns’ strong bond of affection sus-
tained them through the sadness of losing most of their children by early
adulthood. The couple lived into old age in the next century, John dying first.
Elizabeth and Samuel Pepys continued their tortuous relationship of the
plague year into the aftermath of the fire. Pepys’ promiscuity became more
pronounced, in tandem with bad dreams of the fire, dreams that may have