The Diary of Samuel Pepys: 1664

That wild and crazy guy of the 17th century - Samuel Pepys - continues his escapades in London and environs. In this volume: a death in the family, war and rumors of war, the curious case of the wealthy Widow Gold, building up a small fortune, trouble with the King's mistress, court gossip, and general carousing! Much too scandalous to be published in its own time, this first person account sheds an entirely different light on Pepys' times. The year begins with gossip: "I went to the Coffee-house, sending my wife by Will, and there staid talking an hour with Coll. Middleton, and others, and among other things about a very rich widow, young and handsome, of one Sir Nicholas Gold's, a merchant, lately fallen, and of great courtiers that already look after her: her husband not dead a week yet. She is reckoned worth L80,000."