The fact that Samuel Pepys owned at least two enslaved people in 17th-century London is no secret. In some of his personal letters he was unashamedly open about this. In September 1688, he told a ship's captain that neither "whipping or fetters" had reformed a "mischievous" slave in his household. H e asked the captain to feed the man on "hard meat, till you can dispose of him in some plantation as a rogue." ...read more read less