Samuel Pepys, public servant and diarist, b. 1633. Had he been born in the twentieth century, Pepys might have been a blogger. Then again, maybe not. He kept his famous diary from January 1, 1660 until May 1669 when he was forced to give up his journal because of fears that he was losing his eyesight. He wrote in a code or shorthand, so the very public nature of blogging might not have interested him. Pepys witnessed the coronation of Charles II (1661), the Plague of 1665, and The Great Fire of London (1666). He also mentioned famous people of the time such as Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Christopher Wren, and John Dryden, the playwright and poet.

If you would like to read Pepys Diary, one entry per day, on the internet, it has been made into a blog:

This site is a presentation of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, the renowned 17th century diarist who lived in London, England. A new entry written by Pepys will be published each day; 1 January 1660 was published on 1 January 2003. This site is run by Phil Gyford (who is far from an expert on Pepys) and questions and comments are more than welcome at phil-pepys@gyford.com.