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 unexpected success. On the 5th March, 1667-68, he made the
great speech of his life, and spoke for three hours, with the effect that
he so far removed the prejudice against the officers of the Navy Board,
that no further proceedings were taken in parliament on the subject. He
was highly praised for his speech, and he was naturally much elated at his
brilliant success.

About the year 1664 we first hear of a defect in Pepys's eyesight. He
consulted the celebrated Cocker, and began to wear green spectacles, but
gradually this defect became more pronounced, and on the 31st of May,
1669, he wrote the last words in his Diary:

"And thus ends all that I doubt I shall ever be able to do with my
own eyes in the keeping of my journal, I being not able to do it any
longer, having done now as long as to undo my eyes almost every time
that I take a pen in my hand."