_John Evelyn_, 1620-1705. Among the unintentional historians of England, none are of more value than those who have left detailed and gossiping diaries of the times in which they lived: among these Evelyn occupies a prominent place. He was a gentleman of education and position, who, after the study of law, travelled extensively, and resided several years in France. He had varied accomplishments. His _Sylva_ is a discourse on forest trees and on the propagation of timber in his majesty's dominions. To this he afterwards added _Pomona_, or a treatise on fruit trees. He was also the author of an essay on _A Parallel of the Ancient Architecture with the Modern_. But the work by which he is now best known is his _Diary_ from 1641 to 1705; it is a necessary companion to the study of the history of that period; and has been largely consulted by modern writers in making up the historic record of the time. _Samuel Pepys_, 1637-1703. This famous diarist was the son of a London tailor. He received a collegiate education, and became a connoisseur in literature and art. Of a prying disposition, he saw all that he could of the varied political, literary, and social life of England; and has recorded what he saw in a diary so quaint, simple, and amusing, that it has retained its popularity to the present day, and has greatly aided the historian both in facts and philosophy. He held an official position as secretary in the admiralty, the duties of which he discharged with great system and skill. In addition to this _Diary_, we have also his _Correspondence_, published after his death, which is historically of great importance. In both diary and correspondence he has the charm of great _naïveté_,--as of a curious and gossiping observer, who never dreamed that his writings would be made public. Men and women of social station are painted in pre-Raphaelite style, and figure before us with great truth and vividness. _Elias Ashmole_, 1617-1693. This antiquarian and virtuoso is principally known as the founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. He studied law, chemistry, and natural philosophy. Besides an edition of the manuscript works of certain English chemists, he wrote _Bennevennu_,--the description of a Roman road mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus,--and a _History of the Order of the Garter_. His _Diary_ was published nearly a century after his death, but is by no means equal in value to those of Evelyn and Pepys.