xxxviii INTRODUCTION 



1,000 a week. The Savoy Hospital was filled with them, 

 and a privy seal grant of 20,000 was made to carry on the 

 work ; but the expenses increasing reached 7,000 a week, 

 and Evelyn had hard work to get money from the treasury. 

 Harassed with anxieties of this sort, he frequently went c to 

 ye Royal Society to refreshe among ye philosophers ' where 

 he found solace in serving along with Dryden, Waller, and 

 others on a Committee for the improvement of the English 

 language. 



In the following year the dreadful plague broke out, 

 when he and one other Commissioner were left to deal with 

 the task of providing for the sick and wounded prisoners. 

 From 1,000 deaths in a week in the middle of July, the 

 mortality increased to near 10,000 by the beginning of 

 September, so he sent his wife and family to his brother at 

 Wotton, and remained at work, ' being resolved to stay at 

 my house myselfe ; and to looke after my charge, trusting 

 in the providence and goodnesse of God. ' Prisoners poured 

 in in larger numbers than he could receive and guard in fit 

 places, and he was continually forced to importune for money 

 lest the prisoners should starve. It was then, perhaps, that 

 Evelyn was thrown most in contact with his intimate friend 

 Pepys, for both of them remained steadfast when others had 

 fled. And they had their reward in coming safely through 

 their trial of faithfulness to official duty. l Now blessed be 

 God,' he writes on 31 Dec. 1665, c for his extraordinary 

 mercies and preservation of me this yeare, when thousands 

 and ten thousands perish'd and were swept away on each side 

 of me. ' 



This hard work was a source of loss to Evelyn, as from 

 time to time he advanced monies of his own to supply 

 provisions for the needy committed to his care : and sub- 

 sequent petitions for reinbursement were only partially 

 successful. But he was rewarded by the sunny warmth of 

 that royal favour which cost nothing, because when the King 

 returned from Oxford to Hampton Court and Evelyn went 

 to wait upon his Majesty there at the end of January, 1666, 

 he duly records how * he ran towards me, and in a most 

 gracious manner gave me his hand to kisse, with many thanks 

 for my care and faithfulnesse in his service in a time of such 



