h Lord Sandwich's influence Pepys was made
one of these.

The time was now arriving when Pepys's general ability and devotion to
business brought him prominently into notice. During the Dutch war the
unreadiness of the ships, more particularly in respect to victualling,
was the cause of great trouble. The Clerk of the Acts did his utmost
to set things right, and he was appointed Surveyor-General of the
Victualling Office. The kind way in which Mr. Coventry proposed him
as "the fittest man in England" for the office, and the Duke of York's
expressed approval, greatly pleased him.

During the fearful period when the Plague was raging, Pepys stuck to his
business, and the chief management of naval affairs devolved upon him,
for the meetings at the Navy Office were but thinly attended. In a
letter to Coventry he wrote:--

"The sickness in general thickens round us, and particularly upon
our neighbourhood. You, sir, took your turn of the sword; I must
not, therefore, grudge to take mine of the pestilence."

At this time his wife was living at Woolwich, and he himself with his
clerks at Greenwich; one maid only remained in the house in London.

Pepys rendered special service at the time of the Fire of London. He
communicated the king's wishes to the Lord Mayor, and he saved the Navy
Office by having up workmen from Woolwich and Deptford Dockyards to pull
down the houses around, and so prevent the spread of the flames.

When peace was at length concluded with the Dutch, and people had
time to think over the disgrace which the country had suffered by the
presence of De Ruyter's fleet in the Medway, it was natural that a
public inquiry into the management of the war should be undertaken. A
Parliamentary Committee was appointed in October, 1667, to inquire into
the matter. Pepys made a statement which satisfied the committee, but
for months afterwards he was continually being summoned to answer some
charge, so that he confesses himself as mad to "become the hackney of
this office in perpetual trouble and vexation that need it least."

At last a storm broke out in the House of Commons against the principal
officers of the navy, and some members demanded that they should be put
out of their places. In the end they were ordered to be heard in their
own defence at the bar of the House. The whole labour of the defence
fell upon Pepys, but having made out his case with great skill, he was
rewarded by a most unexp