Samuel Pepys' Blog

Started reading the diary of Samuel Pepys, an introduction to contemporary life during the English Restoration. It provides a fascinating combination of personal revelation and eyewitness accounts of great events, such as the Great Plague of London, the Second Dutch War and the Great Fire of London.

Samuel Pepys (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under King James II. His influence was important in the early development of the British Civil Service.

Also details his rather gruesome operation:

The procedure, described by Pepys as being "cut of the stone", was conducted without the use of anaesthetics or antiseptics, and involved restraining the patient with ropes and four strong men; the surgeon then made an incision along the perineum, about three inches long and deep enough to cut into the bladder. The stone was removed through this opening with pincers, which came from below, and which were assisted, from above, by a tool that had been inserted into the bladder through the penis.