Harassed with anxieties of this sort, he frequently went 'to ye Royal Society to refreshe among ye philosophers' where he found solace in serving along with Dryden, Waller, and others on a Committee for the improvement of the English language.
In the following year the dreadful plague broke out, when he and one other Commissioner were left to deal with the task of providing for the sick and wounded prisoners.

From 1,000 deaths in a week in the middle of July, the mortality increased to near 10,000 by the beginning of September, so he sent his wife and family to his brother at Wotton, and remained at work, 'being resolved to stay at my house myselfe; and to looke after my charge, trusting in the providence and goodnesse of God.' Prisoners poured in in larger numbers than he could receive and guard in fit places, and he was continually forced to importune for money lest the prisoners should starve.

It was then, perhaps, that Evelyn was thrown most in contact with his intimate friend Pepys, for both of them remained steadfast when others had fled.

And they had their reward in coming safely through their trial of faithfulness to official duty.

'Now blessed be God,' he writes on 31 Dec.