Pepys
SAMUEL, an English author, secretary to the admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II.; born in Brampton, Huntingdonshire, in 1632, and educated at Cambridge. He early acquired the patronage of Sir Edward Montagu, afterward Earl of Sandwich, who employed him as secretary in the expedition for bringing Charles II. from Holland. On his return he was appointed one of the principal officers of the navy. In 1673, when the king took the admiralty into his own hands, Pepys was appointed secretary to that office, and performed duties and performed his duties with great the protection of Great Britain since credit. During the excitement of the Popish Plot he was committed to the Tower, but was after some time discharged without a trial, and reinstated in his office at the admiralty, which he held till the abdication of James II. He was president of the Royal Society for two years; but his title to fame rests upon his "Diary" (1659-1669), which is a most entertaining work, revealing the PERÆA, a term applied to many districts beyond a river or sea; most frequently to great part of Palestine beyond the Jordan.