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Title: Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1667
Transcribed From The Shorthand Manuscript In The Pepysian
Library Magdalene College Cambridge By The Rev. Mynors
Bright
Author: Samuel Pepys
Commentator: Lord Braybrooke
Editor: Henry B. Wheatley
Release Date: October 12, 2006 [EBook #4184]
Posting Date: March 22, 2009
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, 1667 ***
Produced by David Widger
THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS M.A. F.R.S.
CLERK OF THE ACTS AND SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY
TRANSCRIBED FROM THE SHORTHAND MANUSCRIPT IN THE PEPYSIAN LIBRARY
MAGDALENE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE BY THE REV. MYNORS BRIGHT M.A. LATE FELLOW
AND PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE
(Unabridged)
WITH LORD BRAYBROOKE'S NOTES
1967
By Samuel Pepys
Edited With Additions By
Henry B. Wheatley F.S.A.
LONDON
GEORGE BELL & SONS YORK ST. COVENT GARDEN
CAMBRIDGE DEIGHTON BELL & CO.
1893
JANUARY 1666-1667
January 1st. Lay long, being a bitter, cold, frosty day, the frost being
now grown old, and the Thames covered with ice. Up, and to the office,
where all the morning busy. At noon to the 'Change a little, where Mr.
James Houblon and I walked a good while speaking of our ill condition in
not being able to set out a fleet (we doubt) this year, and the certain
ill effect that must bring, which is lamentable. Home to dinner, where
the best powdered goose that ever I eat. Then to the office again, and
to Sir W. Batten's to examine the Commission going down to Portsmouth to
examine witnesses about our prizes, of which God give a good issue!
and then to the office again, where late, and so home, my eyes sore. To
supper and to bed.
2nd. Up, I, and walked to White Hall to attend the Duke of York, as
usual. My wife up, and with Mrs. Pen to walk in the fields to frost-bite
themselves. I find the Court full of great apprehensions of the French,
who have certainly shipped landsmen, great numbers, at Brest; and most
of our people here guess his design for Ireland. We have orders to send
all the ships we can possible to the Downes. God have mercy on us! for
we can send forth no ships without men, nor will men go without money,
every day bringing us news of new mutinies among the seamen; so that our
condition is like to be very miserable. Thence to Westminster Hall,
and there met all the Houblons, who do laugh at this discourse of the
French, and say they are verily of opinion it is nothing but to send to
their plantation in the West Indys, and that we at Court do blow up a
design of invading us, only to make the Parliament make more haste in
the money matters, and perhaps it may be so, but I do not believe we
have any such plot in our heads. After them, I, with several people,
among others Mr. George Montagu, whom I have not seen long, he mighty
kind. He tells me all is like to go ill, the King displeasing the House
of Commons by evading their Bill for examining Accounts, and putting it
into a Commission, though therein he hath left out Coventry and I and
named all the rest the Parliament named, and all country Lords, not
one Courtier: this do not please them. He tells me he finds the
enmity almost over for my Lord Sandwich, and that now all is upon the
Vice-Chamberlain, who bears up well and stands upon his vindication,
which he seems to like well, and the others do construe well also.
Thence up to the Painted Chamber, and there heard a conference between
the House of Lords and Commons about the Wine Patent; which I
was exceeding glad to be at, because of my hearing exceeding good
discourses, but especially from the Commons; among others, Mr.
Swinfen, and a young man, one Sir Thomas Meres: and do outdo the Lords
infinitely. So down to the Hall and to the Rose Taverne, while Doll Lane
come to me, and we did 'biber a good deal de vino, et je did give elle
twelve soldis para comprare elle some gans' for a new anno's gift ....
Thence to the Hall again, and with Sir W. Pen by coach to the Temple,
and there 'light and eat a bit at an ordinary by, and then alone to the
King's House, and there saw "The Custome of the Country," the second
time of its being acted, wherein Knipp does the Widow well; but, of all
the plays that ever I did see, the worst-having neither plot, language,
nor anything in the earth that is acceptable; only Knipp sings a little
song admirably. But fully the worst play that ever I saw or I believe
shall see. So away home, much displeased for the loss of so much time,
and disobliging my wife by being there without her. So, by link,
walked home, it being mighty cold but dry, yet bad walking because very
slippery with the frost and treading. Home and to my chamber to set down
my journal, and then to thinking upon establishing my vows against the
next year, and so to supper and to bed.
3rd. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning. At noon by
invitation to dinner to Sir W. Pen's, where my Lord Bruncker, Sir W.
Batten, and his lady, myself, and wife, Sir J. Minnes, and Mr. Turner
and his wife. Indifferent merry, to which I contributed the most, but
a mean dinner, and in a mean manner. In the evening a little to the
office, and then to them, where I found them at cards, myself very ill
with a cold (the frost continuing hard), so eat but little at supper,
but very merry, and late home to bed, not much pleased with the manner
of our entertainment, though to myself more civil than to any. This day,
I hear, hath been a conference between the two Houses about the Bill
for examining Accounts, wherein the House of Lords their proceedings in
petitioning the King for doing it by Commission is, in great heat,
voted by the Commons, after the conference, unparliamentary. The issue
whereof, God knows.
4th. Up, and seeing things put in order for a dinner at my house to-day,
I to the office awhile, and about noon home, and there saw all things
in good order. Anon comes our company; my Lord Bruncker, Sir W. Pen,
his lady, and Pegg, and her servant, Mr. Lowther, my Lady Batten (Sir W.
Batten being forced to dine at Sir K. Ford's, being invited), Mr. Turner
and his wife. Here I had good room for ten, and no more would my table
have held well, had Sir J. Minnes, who was fallen lame, and his sister,
and niece, and Sir W. Batten come, which was a great content to me to be
without them. I did make them all gaze to see themselves served so nobly
in plate, and a neat dinner, indeed, though but of seven dishes. Mighty
merry I was and made them all, and they mightily pleased. My Lord
Bruncker went away after dinner to the ticket-office, the rest staid,
only my Lady Batten home, her ague-fit coming on her at table. The rest
merry, and to cards, and then to sing and talk, and at night to sup, and
then to cards; and, last of all, to have a flaggon of ale and apples,
drunk out of a wood cupp,
[A mazer or drinking-bowl turned out of some kind of wood, by
preference of maple, and especially the spotted or speckled variety
called "bird's-eye maple" (see W. H. St. John Hope's paper, "On the
English Mediaeval Drinking-bowls called Mazers," "Archaeologia,"
vol. 50, pp. 129,93).]
as a Christmas draught, made all merry; and they full of admiration at
my plate, particularly my flaggons (which, indeed, are noble), and so
late home, all with great mirth and satisfaction to them, as I thought,
and to myself to see all I have and do so much outdo for neatness and
plenty anything done by any of them. They gone, I to bed, much pleased,
and do observe Mr. Lowther to be a pretty gentleman, and, I think, too
good for Peg; and, by the way, Peg Pen seems mightily to be kind to
me, and I believe by her father's advice, who is also himself so; but I
believe not a little troubled to see my plenty, and was much troubled to
hear the song I sung, "The New Droll"--it touching him home. So to bed.
5th. At the office all the morning, thinking at noon to have been taken
home, and my wife (according to appointment yesterday), by my Lord
Bruncker, to dinner and then to a play, but he had forgot it, at which I
was glad, being glad of avoyding the occasion of inviting him again,
and being forced to invite his doxy, Mrs. Williams. So home, and took a
small snap of victuals, and away, with my wife, to the Duke's house, and
there saw "Mustapha," a most excellent play for words and design as ever
I did see. I had seen it before but forgot it, so it was wholly new
to me, which is the pleasure of my not committing these things to my
memory. Home, and a little to the office, and then to bed, where I lay
with much pain in my head most of the night, and very unquiet, partly by
my drinking before I went out too great a draught of sack, and partly my
eyes being still very sore.
6th (Lord's day). Up pretty well in the morning, and then to church,
where a dull doctor, a stranger, made a dull sermon. Then home, and
Betty Michell and her husband come by invitation to dine with us, and,
she I find the same as ever (which I was afraid of the contrary)... Here
come also Mr. Howe to dine with me, and we had a good dinner and good
merry discourse with much pleasure, I enjoying myself mightily to have
friends at my table. After dinner young Michell and I, it being an
excellent frosty day to walk, did walk out, he showing me the baker's
house in Pudding Lane, where the late great fire begun; and thence
all along Thames Street, where I did view several places, and so up by
London Wall, by Blackfriars, to Ludgate; and thence to Bridewell, which
I find to have been heretofore an extraordinary good house, and a fine
coming to it, before the house by the bridge was built; and so to look
about St. Bride's church and my father's house, and so walked home,
and there supped together, and then Michell and Betty home, and I to my
closet, there to read and agree upon my vows for next year, and so to
bed and slept mighty well.
7th. Lay long in bed. Then up and to the office, where busy all the
morning. At noon (my wife being gone to Westminster) I with my Lord
Bruncker by coach as far as the Temple, in the way he telling me that my
Lady Denham is at last dead. Some suspect her poisoned, but it will
be best known when her body is opened, which will be to-day, she dying
yesterday morning. The Duke of York is troubled for her; but hath
declared he will never have another public mistress again; which I shall
be glad of, and would the King would do the like. He tells me how the
Parliament is grown so jealous of the King's being unfayre to them in
the business of the Bill for examining Accounts, Irish Bill, and the
business of the Papists, that they will not pass the business for money
till they see themselves secure that those Bills will pass; which they
do observe the Court to keep off till all the Bills come together, that
the King may accept what he pleases, and what he pleases to reject,
which will undo all our business and the kingdom too. He tells me how
Mr. Henry Howard, of Norfolke, hath given our Royal Society all his
grandfather's library: which noble gift they value at L1000; and gives
them accommodation to meet in at his house, Arundell House, they being
now disturbed at Gresham College. Thence 'lighting at the Temple to the
ordinary hard by and eat a bit of meat, and then by coach to fetch
my wife from her brother's, and thence to the Duke's house, and saw
"Macbeth," which, though I saw it lately, yet appears a most excellent
play in all respects, but especially in divertisement, though it be a
deep tragedy; which is a strange perfection in a tragedy, it being most
proper here, and suitable. So home, it being the last play now I am to
see till a fortnight hence, I being from the last night entered into my
vowes for the year coming on. Here I met with the good newes of Hogg's
bringing in two prizes more to Plymouth, which if they prove but any
part of them, I hope, at least, we shall be no losers by them. So home
from the office, to write over fair my vowes for this year, and then
to supper, and to bed. In great peace of mind having now done it, and
brought myself into order again and a resolution of keeping it, and
having entered my journall to this night, so to bed, my eyes failing me
with writing.
8th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning. At noon home
to dinner, where my uncle Thomas with me to receive his quarterage. He
tells me his son Thomas is set up in Smithfield, where he hath a shop--I
suppose, a booth. Presently after dinner to the office, and there set
close to my business and did a great deal before night, and am resolved
to stand to it, having been a truant too long. At night to Sir W.
Batten's to consider some things about our prizes, and then to other
talk, and among other things he tells me that he hears for certain that
Sir W. Coventry hath resigned to the King his place of Commissioner of
the Navy, the thing he bath often told me that he had a mind to do, but
I am surprised to think that he hath done it, and am full of thoughts
all this evening after I heard it what may be the consequences of it to
me. So home and to supper, and then saw the catalogue of my books, which
my brother had wrote out, now perfectly alphabeticall, and so to bed.
Sir Richard Ford did this evening at Sir W. Batten's tell us that upon
opening the body of my Lady Denham it is said that they found a vessel
about her matrix which had never been broke by her husband, that caused
all pains in her body. Which if true is excellent invention to clear
both the Duchesse from poison or the Duke from lying with her.
9th. Up, and with Sir W. Batten and Sir W. Pen in a hackney-coach to
White Hall, the way being most horribly bad upon the breaking up of the
frost, so as not to be passed almost. There did our usual [business]
with the Duke of York, and here I do hear, by my Lord Bruncker, that for
certain Sir W. Coventry hath resigned his place of Commissioner; which I
believe he hath done upon good grounds of security to himself, from all
the blame which must attend our office this next year; but I fear the
King will suffer by it. Thence to Westminster Hall, and there to the
conference of the Houses about the word "Nuisance,"
[In the "Bill against importing Cattle from Ireland and other parts
beyond the Seas," the Lords proposed to insert "Detriment and
Mischief" in place of "Nuisance," but the Commons stood to their
word, and gained their way. The Lords finally consented that
"Nuisance" should stand in the Bill.]
which the Commons would have, and the Lords will not, in the Irish Bill.
The Commons do it professedly to prevent the King's dispensing with it;
which Sir Robert Howard and others did expressly repeat often: viz.,
"the King nor any King ever could do any thing which was hurtful to
their people." Now the Lords did argue, that it was an ill precedent,
and that which will ever hereafter be used as a way of preventing the
King's dispensation with acts; and therefore rather advise to pass the
Bill without that word, and let it go, accompanied with a petition, to
the King, that he will not dispense with it; this being a more civil way
to the King. They answered well, that this do imply that the King should
pass their Bill, and yet with design to dispense with it; which is
to suppose the King guilty of abusing them. And more, they produce
precedents for it; namely, that against new buildings and about leather,
wherein the word "Nuisance" is used to the purpose: and further, that
they do not rob the King of any right he ever had, for he never had a
power to do hurt to his people, nor would exercise it; and therefore
there is no danger, in the passing this Bill, of imposing on his
prerogative; and concluded, that they think they ought to do this, so
as the people may really have the benefit of it when it is passed, for
never any people could expect so reasonably to be indulged something
from a King, they having already given him so much money, and are likely
to give more. Thus they broke up, both adhering to their opinions; but
the Commons seemed much more full of judgment and reason than the Lords.
Then the Commons made their Report to the Lords of their vote, that
their Lordships' proceedings in the Bill for examining Accounts were
unparliamentary; they having, while a Bill was sent up to them from the
Commons about the business, petitioned his Majesty that he would do the
same thing by his Commission. They did give their reasons: viz., that
it had no precedent; that the King ought not to be informed of anything
passing in the Houses till it comes to a Bill; that it will wholly break
off all correspondence between the two Houses, and in the issue wholly
infringe the very use and being of Parliaments. Having left their
arguments with the Lords they all broke up, and I by coach to the
ordinary by the Temple, and there dined alone on a rabbit, and read
a book I brought home from Mrs. Michell's, of the proceedings of the
Parliament in the 3rd and 4th year of the late King, a very good book
for speeches and for arguments of law. Thence to Faythorne, and bought
a head or two; one of them my Lord of Ormond's, the best I ever saw,
and then to Arundell House, where first the Royall Society meet, by
the favour of Mr. Harry Howard, who was there, and has given us his
grandfather's library, a noble gift, and a noble favour and undertaking
it is for him to make his house the seat for this college. Here was an
experiment shown about improving the use of powder for creating of force
in winding up of springs and other uses of great worth. And here was
a great meeting of worthy noble persons; but my Lord Bruncker, who
pretended to make a congratulatory speech upon their coming hither, and
in thanks to Mr. Howard, do it in the worst manner in the world, being
the worst speaker, so as I do wonder at his parts and the unhappiness of
his speaking. Thence home by coach and to the office, and then home to
supper, Mercer and her sister there, and to cards, and then to bed. Mr.
Cowling did this day in the House-lobby tell me of the many complaints
among people against Mr. Townsend in the Wardrobe, and advises me to
think of my Lord Sandwich's concernment there under his care. He did
also tell me upon my demanding it, that he do believe there are some
things on foot for a peace between France and us, but that we shall be
foiled in it.
10th. Up, and at the office all the morning. At noon home and, there
being business to do in the afternoon, took my Lord Bruncker home with
me, who dined with me. His discourse and mine about the bad performances
of the Controller's and Surveyor's places by the hands they are now in,
and the shame to the service and loss the King suffers by it. Then after
dinner to the office, where we and some of the chief of the Trinity
House met to examine the occasion of the loss of The Prince Royall, the
master and mates being examined, which I took and keep, and so broke up,
and I to my letters by the post, and so home and to supper with my mind
at pretty good ease, being entered upon minding my business, and so
to bed. This noon Mrs. Burroughs come to me about business, whom I did
baiser....
11th. Up, being troubled at my being found abed a-days by all sorts
of people, I having got a trick of sitting up later than I need, never
supping, or very seldom, before 12 at night. Then to the office, there
busy all the morning, and among other things comes Sir W. Warren and
walked with me awhile, whose discourse I love, he being a very wise man
and full of good counsel, and his own practices for wisdom much to be
observed, and among other things he tells me how he is fallen in with
my Lord Bruncker, who has promised him most particular inward friendship
and yet not to appear at the board to do so, and he tells me how my Lord
Bruncker should take notice of the two flaggons he saw at my house at
dinner, at my late feast, and merrily, yet I know enviously, said, I
could not come honestly by them. This I am glad to hear, though vexed
to see his ignoble soul, but I shall beware of him, and yet it is fit
he should see I am no mean fellow, but can live in the world, and have
something. At noon home to dinner, and then to the office with my people
and very busy, and did dispatch to my great satisfaction abundance of
business, and do resolve, by the grace of God, to stick to it till I
have cleared my heart of most things wherein I am in arrear in public
and private matters. At night, home to supper and to bed. This day ill
news of my father's being very ill of his old grief the rupture, which
troubles me.
12th. Up, still lying long in bed; then to the office, where sat very
long. Then home to dinner, and so to the office again, mighty busy, and
did to the joy of my soul dispatch much business, which do make my heart
light, and will enable me to recover all the ground I have lost (if I
have by my late minding my pleasures lost any) and assert myself. So
home to supper, and then to read a little in Moore's "Antidote against
Atheisme," a pretty book, and so to bed.
13th (Lord's day). Up, and to church, where young Lowther come to church
with Sir W. Pen and his Lady and daughter, and my wife tells me that
either they are married or the match is quite perfected, which I am apt
to believe, because all the peoples' eyes in the church were much fixed
upon them. At noon sent for Mercer, who dined with us, and very merry,
and so I, after dinner, walked to the Old Swan, thinking to have got
a boat to White Hall, but could not, nor was there anybody at home at
Michell's, where I thought to have sat with her.... So home, to church,
a dull sermon, and then home at my chamber all the evening. So to supper
and to bed.
14th. Up, and to the office, where busy getting beforehand with my
business as fast as I can. At noon home to dinner, and presently
afterward at my office again. I understand my father is pretty well
again, blessed be God! and would have my Br[other] John comedown to him
for a little while. Busy till night, pleasing myself mightily to see
what a deal of business goes off of a man's hands when he stays by it,
and then, at night, before it was late (yet much business done) home to
supper, discourse with my wife, and to bed. Sir W. Batten tells me the
Lords do agree at last with the Commons about the word "Nuisance" in the
Irish Bill, and do desire a good correspondence between the two Houses;
and that the King do intend to prorogue them the last of this month.
15th. Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning. Here my Lord
Bruncker would have made me promise to go with him to a play this
afternoon, where Knipp acts Mrs. Weaver's great part in "The Indian
Emperour," and he says is coming on to be a great actor. But I am so
fell to my business, that I, though against my inclination, will not go.
At noon, dined with my wife and were pleasant, and then to the
office, where I got Mrs. Burroughs 'sola cum ego, and did toucher ses
mamailles'... She gone, I to my business and did much, and among other
things to-night we were all mightily troubled how to prevent the sale of
a great deal of hemp, and timber-deals, and other good goods to-morrow
at the candle by the Prize Office, where it will be sold for little,
and we shall be found to want the same goods and buy at extraordinary
prices, and perhaps the very same goods now sold, which is a most horrid
evil and a shame. At night home to supper and to bed with my mind mighty
light to see the fruits of my diligence in having my business go off my
hand so merrily.
16th. Up, and by coach to White Hall, and there to the Duke of York as
usual. Here Sir W. Coventry come to me aside in the Duke's chamber, to
tell that he had not answered part of a late letter of mine, because
'littera scripta manet'. About his leaving the office, he tells me, [it
is] because he finds that his business at Court will not permit him to
attend it; and then he confesses that he seldom of late could come from
it with satisfaction, and therefore would not take the King's money for
nothing. I professed my sorrow for it, and prayed the continuance of his
favour; which he promised. I do believe he hath [done] like a very wise
man in reference to himself; but I doubt it will prove ill for the King,
and for the office. Prince Rupert, I hear to-day, is very ill; yesterday
given over, but better to-day. This day, before the Duke of York, the
business of the Muster-Masters was reported, and Balty found the best of
the whole number, so as the Duke enquired who he was, and whether he was
a stranger by his two names, both strange, and offered that he and one
more, who hath done next best, should have not only their owne, but part
of the others' salary, but that I having said he was my brother-in-law,
he did stop, but they two are ordered their pay, which I am glad of, and
some of the rest will lose their pay, and others be laid by the heels.
I was very glad of this being ended so well. I did also, this morning,
move in a business wherein Mr. Hater hath concerned me, about getting a
ship, laden with salt from France, permitted to unload, coming in after
the King's declaration was out, which I have hopes by some dexterity
to get done. Then with the Duke of York to the King, to receive his
commands for stopping the sale this day of some prize-goods at the
Prize-Office, goods fit for the Navy; and received the King's commands,
and carried them to the Lords' House, to my Lord Ashly, who was angry
much thereat, and I am sorry it fell to me to carry the order, but I
cannot help it. So, against his will, he signed a note I writ to the
Commissioners of Prizes, which I carried and delivered to Kingdone, at
their new office in Aldersgate Streete. Thence a little to the Exchange,
where it was hot that the Prince was dead, but I did rectify it. So
home to dinner, and found Balty, told him the good news, and then after
dinner away, I presently to White Hall, and did give the Duke of York a
memorial of the salt business, against the Council, and did wait all
the Council for answer, walking a good while with Sir Stephen Fox, who,
among other things, told me his whole mystery in the business of the
interest he pays as Treasurer for the Army. They give him 12d. per
pound quite through the Army, with condition to be paid weekly. This he
undertakes upon his own private credit, and to be paid by the King at
the end of every four months. If the King pay him not at the end of the
four months, then, for all the time he stays longer, my Lord Treasurer,
by agreement, allows him eight per cent. per annum for the forbearance.
So that, in fine, he hath about twelve per cent. from the King and the
Army, for fifteen or sixteen months' interest; out of which he gains
soundly, his expense being about L130,000 per annum; and hath no trouble
in it, compared, as I told him, to the trouble I must have to bring in
an account of interest. I was, however, glad of being thus enlightened,
and so away to the other council door, and there got in and hear a piece
of a cause, heard before the King, about a ship deserted by her fellows
(who were bound mutually to defend each other), in their way to
Virginy, and taken by the enemy, but it was but meanly pleaded. Then all
withdrew, and by and by the Council rose, and I spoke with the Duke of
York, and he told me my business was done, which I found accordingly in
Sir Edward Walker's books. And so away, mightily satisfied, to Arundell
House, and there heard a little good discourse, and so home, and there
to Sir W. Batten, where I heard the examinations in two of our prizes,
which do make but little for us, so that I do begin to doubt their
proving prize, which troubled me. So home to supper with my wife, and
after supper my wife told me how she had moved to W. Hewer the
business of my sister for a wife to him, which he received with mighty
acknowledgements, as she says, above anything; but says he hath no
intention to alter his condition: so that I am in some measure sorry she
ever moved it; but I hope he will think it only come from her. So after
supper a little to the office, to enter my journall, and then home to
bed. Talk there is of a letter to come from Holland, desiring a place of
treaty; but I do doubt it. This day I observe still, in many places, the
smoking remains of the late fire: the ways mighty bad and dirty. This
night Sir R. Ford told me how this day, at Christ Church Hospital,
they have given a living over L200 per annum to Mr. Sanchy, my old
acquaintance, which I wonder at, he commending him mightily; but am glad
of it. He tells me, too, how the famous Stillingfleete was a Bluecoat
boy. The children at this day are provided for in the country by the
House, which I am glad also to hear.
17th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning sitting. At noon home
to dinner, and then to the office busy also till very late, my heart
joyed with the effects of my following my business, by easing my head of
cares, and so home to supper and to bed.
18th. Up, and most of the morning finishing my entry of my journall
during the late fire out of loose papers into this book, which did
please me mightily when done, I, writing till my eyes were almost blind
therewith to make an end of it. Then all the rest of the morning, and,
after a mouthful of dinner, all the afternoon in my closet till night,
sorting all my papers, which have lain unsorted for all the time we were
at Greenwich during the plague, which did please me also, I drawing
on to put my office into a good posture, though much is behind. This
morning come Captain. Cocke to me, and tells me that the King comes to
the House this day to pass the poll Bill and the Irish Bill; he tells me
too that, though the Faction is very froward in the House, yet all will
end well there. But he says that one had got a Bill ready to present in
the House against Sir W. Coventry, for selling of places, and says he is
certain of it, and how he was withheld from doing it. He says, that the
Vice-chamberlaine is now one of the greatest men in England again, and
was he that did prevail with the King to let the Irish Bill go with
the word "Nuisance." He told me, that Sir G. Carteret's declaration of
giving double to any man that will prove that any of his people have
demanded or taken any thing for forwarding the payment of the wages of
any man (of which he sent us a copy yesterday, which we approved of) is
set up, among other places, upon the House of Lords' door. I do not know
how wisely this is done. This morning, also, there come to the office a
letter from the Duke of York, commanding our payment of no wages to
any of the muster-masters of the fleete the last year, but only two, my
brother Balty, taking notice that he had taken pains therein, and one
Ward, who, though he had not taken so much as the other, yet had done
more than the rest. This I was exceeding glad of for my own sake and
his. At night I, by appointment, home, where W. Batelier and his sister
Mary, and the two Mercers, to play at cards and sup, and did cut our
great cake lately given us by Russell: a very good one. Here very merry
late. Sir W. Pen told me this night how the King did make them a very
sharp speech in the House of Lords to-day, saying that he did expect to
have had more Bills;
[On this day "An Act for raising Money by a Poll and otherwise
towards the maintenance of the present War," and "An Act prohibiting
the Importation of Cattle from Ireland and other parts beyond the
Sea, and Fish taken by Foreigners," were passed. The king.
complained of the insufficient supply, and said, "'Tis high time for
you to make good your promises, and 'tis high time for you to be in
the country" ("Journals of the House of Lords," vol xii., p. 81).]
that he purposes to prorogue them on Monday come se'nnight; that whereas
they have unjustly conceived some jealousys of his making a peace, he
declares he knows of no such thing or treaty: and so left them. But
with so little effect, that as soon as he come into the House, Sir
W. Coventry moved, that now the King hath declared his intention of
proroguing them, it would be loss of time to go on with the thing they
were upon, when they were called to the King, which was the calling over
the defaults of Members appearing in the House; for that, before any
person could now come or be brought to town, the House would be up. Yet
the Faction did desire to delay time, and contend so as to come to a
division of the House; where, however, it was carried, by a few voices,
that the debate should be laid by. But this shews that they are not
pleased, or that they have not any awe over them from the King's
displeasure. The company being gone, to bed.
19th. Up, and at the office all the morning. Sir W. Batten tells me to
my wonder that at his coming to my Lord Ashly, yesterday morning, to
tell him what prize-goods he would have saved for the Navy, and not
sold, according to the King's order on the 17th, he fell quite out with
him in high terms; and he says, too, that they did go on to the sale
yesterday, even of the very hempe, and other things, at which I am
astonished, and will never wonder at the ruine of the King's affairs, if
this be suffered. At noon dined, and Mr. Pierce come to see me, he newly
come from keeping his Christmas in the country. So to the office, where
very busy, but with great pleasure till late at night, and then home to
supper and to bed.
20th (Lord's day). Up betimes and down to the Old Swan, there called on
Michell and his wife, which in her night linen appeared as pretty almost
as ever to my thinking I saw woman. Here I drank some burnt brandy. They
shewed me their house, which, poor people, they have built, and is very
pretty. I invited them to dine with me, and so away to White Hall to Sir
W. Coventry, with whom I have not been alone a good while, and very kind
he is, and tells me how the business is now ordered by order of council
for my Lord Bruncker to assist Sir J. Minnes in all matters of accounts
relating to the Treasurer, and Sir W. Pen in all matters relating to
the victuallers' and pursers' accounts, which I am very glad of, and
the more for that I think it will not do me any hurt at all. Other
discourse, much especially about the heat the House was in yesterday
about the ill management of the Navy, which I was sorry to hear; though
I think they were well answered, both by Sir G. Carteret and [Sir] W.
Coventry, as he informs me the substance of their speeches. Having done
with him, home mightily satisfied with my being with him, and coming
home I to church, and there, beyond expectation, find our seat, and all
the church crammed, by twice as many people as used to be: and to my
great joy find Mr. Frampton in the pulpit; so to my great joy I hear him
preach, and I think the best sermon, for goodness and oratory, without
affectation or study, that ever I heard in my life. The truth is, he
preaches the most like an apostle that ever I heard man; and it was
much the best time that ever I spent in my life at church. His text,
Ecclesiastes xi., verse 8th--the words, "But if a man live many years,
and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for
they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity." He done, I home, and
there Michell and his wife, and we dined and mighty merry, I mightily
taken more and more with her. After dinner I with my brother away by
water to White Hall, and there walked in the Parke, and a little to my
Lord Chancellor's, where the King and Cabinet met, and there met Mr.
Brisband, with whom good discourse, to White Hall towards night, and
there he did lend me "The Third Advice to a Paynter," a bitter satyre
upon the service of the Duke of Albemarle the last year. I took it
home with me, and will copy it, having the former, being also mightily
pleased with it. So after reading it, I to Sir W. Pen to discourse a
little with him about the business of our prizes, and so home to supper
and to bed.
21st. Up betimes, and with, Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, [Sir] R. Ford,
by coach to the Swede's Resident's in the Piatza, to discourse with him
about two of our prizes, wherein he puts in his concernment as for his
countrymen. We had no satisfaction, nor did give him any, but I find
him a cunning fellow. He lives in one of the great houses there, but
ill-furnished; and come to us out of bed in his furred mittens and
furred cap. Thence to Exeter House to the Doctors Commons, and there
with our Proctors to Dr. Walker, who was not very well, but, however,
did hear our matters, and after a dull seeming hearing of them read,
did discourse most understandingly of them, as well as ever I heard man,
telling us all our grounds of pretence to the prize would do no good,
and made it appear but thus, and thus, it may be, but yet did give us
but little reason to expect it would prove, which troubled us, but I
was mightily taken to hear his manner of discourse. Thence with them to
Westminster Hall, they setting me down at White Hall, where I missed of
finding Sir G. Carteret, up to the Lords' House, and there come mighty
seasonably to hear the Solicitor about my Lord Buckingham's pretence to
the title of Lord Rosse. Mr. Atturny Montagu is also a good man, and
so is old Sir P. Ball; but the Solicitor and Scroggs after him are
excellent men. Here spoke with my Lord Bellasses about getting some
money for Tangier, which he doubts we shall not be able to do out of the
Poll Bill, it being so strictly tied for the Navy. He tells me the Lords
have passed the Bill for the accounts with some little amendments. So
down to the Hall, and thence with our company to Exeter House, and then
did the business I have said before, we doing nothing the first time of
going, it being too early. At home find Lovett, to whom I did give my
Lady Castlemayne's head to do. He is talking of going into Spayne to get
money by his art, but I doubt he will do no good, he being a man of an
unsettled head. Thence by water down to Deptford, the first time I have
been by water a great while, and there did some little business and
walked home, and there come into my company three drunken seamen, but
one especially, who told me such stories, calling me Captain, as made me
mighty merry, and they would leap and skip, and kiss what mayds they met
all the way. I did at first give them money to drink, lest they should
know who I was, and so become troublesome to me. Parted at Redriffe, and
there home and to the office, where did much business, and then to
Sir W. Batten's, where [Sir] W. Pen, [Sir] R. Ford, and I to hear
a proposition [Sir] R. Ford was to acquaint us with from the Swedes
Embassador, in manner of saying, that for money he might be got to our
side and relinquish the trouble he may give us. Sir W. Pen did make a
long simple declaration of his resolution to give nothing to deceive any
poor man of what was his right by law, but ended in doing whatever any
body else would, and we did commission Sir R. Ford to give promise of
not beyond L350 to him and his Secretary, in case they did not oppose
us in the Phoenix (the net profits of which, as [Sir] R. Ford cast up
before us, the Admiral's tenths, and ship's thirds, and other charges
all cleared, will amount to L3,000) and that we did gain her. [Sir] R.
Ford did pray for a curse upon his family, if he was privy to anything
more than he told us (which I believe he is a knave in), yet we all
concluded him the most fit man for it and very honest, and so left it
wholly to him to manage as he pleased. Thence to the office a little
while longer, and so home, where W. Hewer's mother was, and Mrs. Turner,
our neighbour, and supped with us. His mother a well-favoured old little
woman, and a good woman, I believe. After we had supped, and merry, we
parted late, Mrs. Turner having staid behind to talk a little about her
lodgings, which now my Lord Bruncker upon Sir W. Coventry's surrendering
do claim, but I cannot think he will come to live in them so as to need
to put them out. She gone, we to bed all. This night, at supper, comes
from Sir W. Coventry the Order of Councill for my Lord Bruncker to do
all the Comptroller's part relating to the Treasurer's accounts, and Sir
W. Pen, all relating to the Victualler's, and Sir J. Minnes to do the
rest. This, I hope, will do much better for the King than now, and, I
think, will give neither of them ground to over-top me, as I feared they
would; which pleases me mightily. This evening, Mr. Wren and Captain
Cocke called upon me at the office, and there told me how the House was
in better temper to-day, and hath passed the Bill for the remainder of
the money, but not to be passed finally till they have done some other
things which they will have passed with it; wherein they are very open,
what their meaning is, which was but doubted before, for they do in all
respects doubt the King's pleasing them.
22nd. Up, and there come to me Darnell the fiddler, one of the Duke's
house, and brought me a set of lessons, all three parts, I heard them
play to the Duke of York after Christmas at his lodgings, and bid him
get me them. I did give him a crowne for them, and did enquire after
the musique of the "Siege of Rhodes," which, he tells me, he can get me,
which I am mighty glad of. So to the office, where among other things
I read the Councill's order about my Lord Bruncker and Sir W. Pen to
be assistants to the Comptroller, which quietly went down with Sir J.
Minnes, poor man, seeming a little as if he would be thought to have
desired it, but yet apparently to his discontent; and, I fear, as the
order runs, it will hardly do much good. At noon to dinner, and there
comes a letter from Mrs. Pierce, telling me she will come and dine with
us on Thursday next, with some of the players, Knipp, &c., which I was
glad of, but my wife vexed, which vexed me; but I seemed merry, but know
not how to order the matter, whether they shall come or no. After
dinner to the office, and there late doing much business, and so home to
supper, and to bed.
23rd. Up, and with Sir W. Batten and Sir W. Pen to White Hall, and there
to the Duke of York, and did our usual business. Having done there, I to
St. James's, to see the organ Mrs. Turner told me of the other night, of
my late Lord Aubigney's; and I took my Lord Bruncker with me, he being
acquainted with my present Lord Almoner, Mr. Howard, brother to the Duke
of Norfolke; so he and I thither and did see the organ, but I do not
like it, it being but a bauble, with a virginal! joining to it: so I
shall not meddle with it. Here we sat and talked with him a good while,
and he seems a good-natured gentleman: here I observed the deske which
he hath, [made] to remove, and is fastened to one of the armes of his
chayre. I do also observe the counterfeit windows there was, in the form
of doors with looking-glasses instead of windows, which makes the room
seem both bigger and lighter, I think; and I have some thoughts to have
the like in one of my rooms. He discoursed much of the goodness of the
musique in Rome, but could not tell me how long musique had been in any
perfection in that church, which I would be glad to know. He speaks much
of the great buildings that this Pope,
[Fabio Chigi, of Siena, succeeded Innocent X. in 1655 as Alexander
VII. He died May, 1667, and was succeeded by Clement IX.]
whom, in mirth to us, he calls Antichrist, hath done in his time. Having
done with the discourse, we away, and my Lord and I walking into the
Park back again, I did observe the new buildings: and my Lord, seeing
I had a desire to see them, they being the place for the priests and
fryers, he took me back to my Lord Almoner; and he took us quite through
the whole house and chapel, and the new monastery, showing me most
excellent pieces in wax-worke: a crucifix given by a Pope to Mary Queen
of Scotts, where a piece of the Cross is;
[Pieces of "the Cross" were formerly held in such veneration, and
were so common, that it has been often said enough existed to build
a ship. Most readers will remember the distinction which Sir W.
Scott represents Louis XI. (with great appreciation of that
monarch's character), as drawing between an oath taken on a false
piece and one taken on a piece of the true cross. Sir Thomas More,
a very devout believer in relics, says ("Works," p. 119), that
Luther wished, in a sermon of his, that he had in his hand all the
pieces of the Holy Cross; and said that if he so had, he would throw
them there as never sun should shine on them:--and for what
worshipful reason would the wretch do such villainy to the cross of
Christ? Because, as he saith, that there is so much gold now
bestowed about the garnishing of the pieces of the Cross, that there
is none left for poore folke. Is not this a high reason? As though
all the gold that is now bestowed about the pieces of the Holy Cross
would not have failed to have been given to poor men, if they had
not been bestowed about the garnishing of the Cross! and as though
there were nothing lost, but what is bestowed about Christ's Cross!"
"Wolsey, says Cavendish, on his fall, gave to Norris, who brought
him a ring of gold as a token of good will from Henry, "a little
chaine of gold, made like a bottle chain, with a cross of gold,
wherein was a piece of the Holy Cross, which he continually wore
about his neck, next his body; and said, furthermore, 'Master
Norris, I assure you, when I was in prosperity, although it seem but
small in value, yet I would not gladly have departed with the same
for a thousand pounds.'" Life, ed. 1852, p. 167. Evelyn mentions,
"Diary," November 17th, 1664, that he saw in one of the chapels in
St. Peter's a crucifix with a piece of the true cross in it.
Amongst the jewels of Mary Queen of Scots was a cross of gold, which
had been pledged to Hume of Blackadder for L1000 (Chalmers's "Life,"
vol. i., p. 31 ).--B.]
two bits set in the manner of a cross in the foot of the crucifix:
several fine pictures, but especially very good prints of holy pictures.
I saw the dortoire--[dormitory]--and the cells of the priests, and
we went into one; a very pretty little room, very clean, hung with
pictures, set with books. The Priest was in his cell, with his hair
clothes to his skin, bare-legged, with a sandal! only on, and his little
bed without sheets, and no feather bed; but yet, I thought, soft enough.
His cord about his middle; but in so good company, living with ease, I
thought it a very good life. A pretty library they have. And I was in
the refectoire, where every man his napkin, knife, cup of earth, and
basin of the same; and a place for one to sit and read while the rest
are at meals. And into the kitchen I went, where a good neck of mutton
at the fire, and other victuals boiling. I do not think they fared very
hard. Their windows all looking into a fine garden and the Park; and
mighty pretty rooms all. I wished myself one of the Capuchins. Having
seen what we could here, and all with mighty pleasure, so away with
the Almoner in his coach, talking merrily about the difference in our
religions, to White Hall, and there we left him. I in my Lord Bruncker's
coach, he carried me to the Savoy, and there we parted. I to the Castle
Tavern, where was and did come all our company, Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W.
Pen, [Sir] R. Ford, and our Counsel Sir Ellis Layton, Walt Walker, Dr.
Budd, Mr. Holder, and several others, and here we had a bad dinner
of our preparing, and did discourse something of our business of our
prizes, which was the work of the day. I staid till dinner was over, and
there being no use of me I away after dinner without taking leave, and
to the New Exchange, there to take up my wife and Mercer, and to Temple
Bar to the Ordinary, and had a dish of meat for them, they having not
dined, and thence to the King's house, and there saw "The Numerous
Lieutenant," a silly play, I think; only the Spirit in it that grows
very tall, and then sinks again to nothing, having two heads breeding
upon one, and then Knipp's singing, did please us. Here, in a box above,
we spied Mrs. Pierce; and, going out, they called us, and so we staid
for them; and Knipp took us all in, and brought to us Nelly; a most
pretty woman, who acted the great part of Coelia to-day very fine,
and did it pretty well: I kissed her, and so did my wife; and a mighty
pretty soul she is. We also saw Mrs. Halls which is my little Roman-nose
black girl, that is mighty pretty: she is usually called Betty. Knipp
made us stay in a box and see the dancing preparatory to to-morrow for
"The Goblins," a play of Suckling's, not acted these twenty-five years;
which was pretty; and so away thence, pleased with this sight also, and
specially kissing of Nell. We away, Mr. Pierce and I, on foot to his
house, the women by coach. In our way we find the Guards of horse in
the street, and hear the occasion to be news that the seamen are in
a mutiny, which put me into a great fright; so away with my wife and
Mercer home preparing against to-morrow night to have Mrs. Pierce and
Knipp and a great deal more company to dance; and, when I come home,
hear of no disturbance there of the seamen, but that one of them, being
arrested to-day, others do go and rescue him. So to the office a little,
and then home to supper, and to my chamber awhile, and then to bed.
24th. Up, and to the office, full of thoughts how to order the business
of our merry meeting to-night. So to the office, where busy all the
morning. [While we were sitting in the morning at the office, we were
frighted with news of fire at Sir W. Batten's by a chimney taking fire,
and it put me into much fear and trouble, but with a great many hands
and pains it was soon stopped.] At noon home to dinner, and presently to
the office to despatch my business, and also we sat all the afternoon to
examine the loss of The Bredagh, which was done by as plain negligence
as ever ship was. We being rose, I entering my letters and getting the
office swept and a good fire made and abundance of candles lighted, I
home, where most of my company come of this end of the town-Mercer and
her sister, Mr. Batelier and Pembleton (my Lady Pen, and Pegg, and Mr.
Lowther, but did not stay long, and I believe it was by Sir W. Pen's
order; for they had a great mind to have staid), and also Captain Rolt.
And, anon, at about seven or eight o'clock, comes Mr. Harris, of the
Duke's playhouse, and brings Mrs. Pierce with him, and also one dressed
like a country-mayde with a straw hat on; which, at first, I could not
tell who it was, though I expected Knipp: but it was she coming off the
stage just as she acted this day in "The Goblins;" a merry jade. Now my
house is full, and four fiddlers that play well. Harris I first took to
my closet; and I find him a very curious and understanding person in
all pictures and other things, and a man of fine conversation; and so is
Rolt. So away with all my company down to the office, and there fell
to dancing, and continued at it an hour or two, there coming Mrs. Anne
Jones, a merchant's daughter hard by, who dances well, and all in mighty
good humour, and danced with great pleasure; and then sung and then
danced, and then sung many things of three voices--both Harris and Rolt
singing their parts excellently. Among other things, Harris sung his
Irish song--the strangest in itself, and the prettiest sung by him, that
ever I heard. Then to supper in the office, a cold, good supper, and
wondrous merry. Here was Mrs. Turner also, but the poor woman sad
about her lodgings, and Mrs. Markham: after supper to dancing again and
singing, and so continued till almost three in the morning, and then,
with extraordinary pleasure, broke up only towards morning, Knipp fell
a little ill, and so my wife home with her to put her to bed, and we
continued dancing and singing; and, among other things, our Mercer
unexpectedly did happen to sing an Italian song I know not, of which
they two sung the other two parts to, that did almost ravish me, and
made me in love with her more than ever with her singing. As late as it
was, yet Rolt and Harris would go home to-night, and walked it, though
I had a bed for them; and it proved dark, and a misly night, and very
windy. The company being all gone to their homes, I up with Mrs. Pierce
to Knipp, who was in bed; and we waked her, and there I handled her
breasts and did 'baiser la', and sing a song, lying by her on the bed,
and then left my wife to see Mrs. Pierce in bed to her, in our best
chamber, and so to bed myself, my mind mightily satisfied with all this
evening's work, and thinking it to be one of the merriest enjoyment I
must look for in the world, and did content myself therefore with the
thoughts of it, and so to bed; only the musique did not please me, they
not being contented with less than 30s.
25th. Lay pretty long, then to the office, where Lord Bruncker and Sir
J. Minnes and I did meet, and sat private all the morning about dividing
the Controller's work according to the late order of Council, between
them two and Sir W. Pen, and it troubled me to see the poor honest man,
Sir J. Minnes, troubled at it, and yet the King's work cannot be done
without it. It was at last friendlily ended, and so up and home to
dinner with my wife. This afternoon I saw the Poll Bill, now printed;
wherein I do fear I shall be very deeply concerned, being to be taxed
for all my offices, and then for my money that I have, and my title,
as well as my head. It is a very great tax; but yet I do think it is so
perplexed, it will hardly ever be collected duly. The late invention
of Sir G. Downing's is continued of bringing all the money into the
Exchequer; and Sir G. Carteret's three pence is turned for all the money
of this act into but a penny per pound, which I am sorry for. After
dinner to the office again, where Lord Bruncker, [Sir] W. Batten, and
[Sir] W. Pen and I met to talk again about the Controller's office, and
there [Sir] W. Pen would have a piece of the great office cut out to
make an office for him, which I opposed to the making him very angry,
but I think I shall carry it against him, and then I care not. So a
little troubled at this fray, I away by coach with my wife, and left
her at the New Exchange, and I to my Lord Chancellor's, and then back,
taking up my wife to my Lord Bellasses, and there spoke with Mr. Moone,
who tells me that the peace between us and Spayne is, as he hears,
concluded on, which I should be glad of, and so home, and after a little
at my office, home to finish my journall for yesterday and to-day, and
then a little supper and to bed. This day the House hath passed the Bill
for the Assessment, which I am glad of; and also our little Bill, for
giving any one of us in the office the power of justice of peace, is
done as I would have it.
26th. Up, and at the office. Sat all the morning, where among other
things I did the first unkind [thing] that ever I did design to Sir
W. Warren, but I did it now to some purpose, to make him sensible
how little any man's friendship shall avail him if he wants money. I
perceive he do nowadays court much my Lord Bruncker's favour, who never
did any man much courtesy at the board, nor ever will be able, at
least so much as myself. Besides, my Lord would do him a kindness in
concurrence with me, but he would have the danger of the thing to be
done lie upon me, if there be any danger in it (in drawing up a letter
to Sir W. Warren's advantage), which I do not like, nor will endure. I
was, I confess, very angry, and will venture the loss of Sir W. Warren's
kindnesses rather than he shall have any man's friendship in greater
esteem than mine. At noon home to dinner, and after dinner to the office
again, and there all the afternoon, and at night poor Mrs. Turner
come and walked in the garden for my advice about her husband and her
relating to my Lord Bruncker's late proceedings with them. I do give her
the best I can, but yet can lay aside some ends of my own in what advice
I do give her. So she being gone I to make an end of my letters, and so
home to supper and to bed, Balty lodging here with my brother, he being
newly returned from mustering in the river.
27th (Lord's day). Up betimes, and leaving my wife to go by coach to
hear Mr. Frampton preach, which I had a mighty desire she should, I down
to the Old Swan, and there to Michell and staid while he and she dressed
themselves, and here had a 'baiser' or two of her, whom I love
mightily; and then took them in a sculler (being by some means or
other disappointed of my own boat) to White Hall, and so with them to
Westminster, Sir W. Coventry, Bruncker and I all the morning together
discoursing of the office business, and glad of the Controller's
business being likely to be put into better order than formerly, and did
discourse of many good things, but especially of having something done
to bringing the Surveyor's matters into order also. Thence I up to
the King's closet, and there heard a good Anthem, and discoursed with
several people here about business, among others with Lord Bellasses,
and so from one to another after sermon till the King had almost dined,
and then home with Sir G. Carteret and dined with him, being mightily
ashamed of my not having seen my Lady Jemimah so long, and my wife not
at all yet since she come, but she shall soon do it. I thence to Sir
Philip Warwicke, by appointment, to meet Lord Bellasses, and up to his
chamber, but find him unwilling to discourse of business on Sundays; so
did not enlarge, but took leave, and went down and sat in a low room,
reading Erasmus "de scribendis epistolis," a very good book, especially
one letter of advice to a courtier most true and good, which made me
once resolve to tear out the two leaves that it was writ in, but I
forebore it. By and by comes Lord Bellasses, and then he and I up again
to Sir P. Warwicke and had much discourse of our Tangier business, but
no hopes of getting any money. Thence I through the garden into the
Park, and there met with Roger Pepys, and he and I to walk in the Pell
Mell. I find by him that the House of Parliament continues full of ill
humours, and he seems to dislike those that are troublesome more than
needs, and do say how, in their late Poll Bill, which cost so much time,
the yeomanry, and indeed two-thirds of the nation, are left out to be
taxed, that there is not effectual provision enough made for collecting
of the money; and then, that after a man his goods are distrained
and sold, and the overplus returned, I am to have ten days to make my
complaints of being over-rated if there be cause, when my goods are
sold, and that is too late. These things they are resolved to look into
again, and mend them before they rise, which they expect at furthest
on Thursday next. Here we met with Mr. May, and he and we to talk of
several things, of building, and such like matters; and so walked to
White Hall, and there I skewed my cozen Roger the Duchesse of York
sitting in state, while her own mother stands by her; he had a desire,
and I shewed him my Lady Castlemayne, whom he approves to be very
handsome, and wonders that she cannot be as good within as she is fair
without. Her little black boy came by him; and, a dog being in his way,
the little boy called to the dog: "Pox of this dog!"--"Now," says he,
blessing himself, "would I whip this child till the blood come, if it
were my child!" and I believe he would. But he do by no means like the
liberty of the Court, and did come with expectation of finding them
playing at cards to-night, though Sunday; for such stories he is told,
but how true I know not.
[There is little reason to doubt that it was such as Evelyn
describes it at a later time. "I can never forget the inexpressible
luxury and prophaneness, gaming, and all dissoluteness, and, as it
were, total forgetfulness of God (it being Sunday evening) which
this day se'nnight I was witness of; the King sitting and toying
with his concubines, Portsmouth, Cleveland, Mazarin, &c. A French
boy singing love songs in that glorious gallery, whilst about twenty
of the great courtiers and other dissolute persons were at basset
round a large table, a bank of at least L2,000 in gold before them;
upon which two gentlemen who were with me made reflexions with
astonishment. Six days after was all in the dust."--Diary,
February, 1685.--B.]
After walking up and down the Court with him, it being now dark and past
six at night, I walked to the Swan in the Palace yard and there with
much ado did get a waterman, and so I sent for the Michells, and they
come, and their father Howlett and his wife with them, and there we
drank, and so into the boat, poor Betty's head aching. We home by water,
a fine moonshine and warm night, it having been also a very summer's
day for warmth. I did get her hand to me under my cloak.... So there
we parted at their house, and he walked almost home with me, and then
I home and to supper, and to read a little and to bed. My wife tells
me Mr. Frampton is gone to sea, and so she lost her labour to-day in
thinking to hear him preach, which I am sorry for.
28th. Up, and down to the Old Swan, and there drank at Michell's and saw
Betty, and so took boat and to the Temple, and thence to my tailor's and
other places about business in my way to Westminster, where I spent the
morning at the Lords' House door, to hear the conference between the
two Houses about my Lord Mordaunt, of which there was great expectation,
many hundreds of people coming to hear it. But, when they come, the
Lords did insist upon my Lord Mordaunt's having leave to sit upon a
stool uncovered within their burr, and that he should have counsel,
which the Commons would not suffer, but desired leave to report their
Lordships' resolution to the House of Commons; and so parted for this
day, which troubled me, I having by this means lost the whole day. Here
I hear from Mr. Hayes that Prince Rupert is very bad still, and so bad,
that he do now yield to be trepanned. It seems, as Dr. Clerke also tells
me, it is a clap of the pox which he got about twelve years ago, and
hath eaten to his head and come through his scull, so his scull must be
opened, and there is great fear of him. Much work I find there is to do
in the two Houses in a little time, and much difference there is between
the two Houses in many things to be reconciled; as in the Bill for
examining our accounts; Lord Mordaunt's Bill for building the City, and
several others. A little before noon I went to the Swan and eat a bit
of meat, thinking I should have had occasion to have stayed long at the
house, but I did not, but so home by coach, calling at Broad Street and
taking the goldsmith home with me, and paid him L15 15s. for my silver
standish. He tells me gold holds up its price still, and did desire me
to let him have what old 20s. pieces I have, and he would give me 3s.
2d. change for each. He gone, I to the office, where business all
the afternoon, and at night comes Mr. Gawden at my desire to me, and
to-morrow I shall pay him some money, and shall see what present he will
make me, the hopes of which do make me to part with my money out of my
chest, which I should not otherwise do, but lest this alteration in
the Controller's office should occasion my losing my concernment in the
Victualling, and so he have no more need of me. He gone, I to the office
again, having come thence home with him to talk, and so after a little
more business I to supper. I then sent for Mercer, and began to teach
her "It is decreed," which will please me well, and so after supper
and reading a little, and my wife's cutting off my hair short, which
is grown too long upon my crown of my head, I to bed. I met this day in
Westminster Hall Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen, and the latter since
our falling out the other day do look mighty reservedly upon me, and
still he shall do so for me, for I will be hanged before I seek to him,
unless I see I need it.
29th. Up to the office all the morning, where Sir W. Pen and I look
much askewe one upon another, though afterward business made us speak
friendly enough, but yet we hate one another. At noon home to dinner,
and then to the office, where all the afternoon expecting Mr. Gawden to
come for some money I am to pay him, but he comes not, which makes me
think he is considering whether it be necessary to make the present he
hath promised, it being possible this alteration in the Controller's
duty may make my place in the Victualling unnecessary, so that I am a
little troubled at it. Busy till late at night at the office, and Sir
W. Batten come to me, and tells me that there is newes upon the Exchange
to-day, that my Lord Sandwich's coach and the French Embassador's
at Madrid, meeting and contending for the way, they shot my Lord's
postilion and another man dead; and that we have killed 25 of theirs,
and that my Lord is well. How true this is I cannot tell, there being
no newes of it at all at Court, as I am told late by one come thence, so
that I hope it is not so. By and by comes Mrs. Turner to me, to make her
complaint of her sad usage she receives from my Lord Bruncker, that he
thinks much she hath not already got another house, though he himself
hath employed her night and day ever since his first mention of the
matter, to make part of her house ready for him, as he ordered, and
promised she should stay till she had fitted herself; by which and what
discourse I do remember he had of the business before Sir W. Coventry on
Sunday last I perceive he is a rotten-hearted, false man as any else I
know, even as Sir W. Pen himself, and, therefore, I must beware of him
accordingly, and I hope I shall. I did pity the woman with all my
heart, and gave her the best council I could; and so, falling to other
discourse, I made her laugh and merry, as sad as she came to me; so that
I perceive no passion in a woman can be lasting long; and so parted
and I home, and there teaching my girle Barker part of my song "It is
decreed," which she will sing prettily, and so after supper to bed.
30th. Fast-day for the King's death. I all the morning at my chamber
making up my month's accounts, which I did before dinner to my thorough
content, and find myself but a small gainer this month, having no manner
of profits, but just my salary, but, blessed be God! that I am able to
save out of that, living as I do. So to dinner, then to my chamber all
the afternoon, and in the evening my wife and I and Mercer and Barker
to little Michell's, walked, with some neats' tongues and cake and wine,
and there sat with the little couple with great pleasure, and talked and
eat and drank, and saw their little house, which is very pretty; and
I much pleased therewith, and so walked home, about eight at night, it
being a little moonshine and fair weather, and so into the garden, and,
with Mercer, sang till my wife put me in mind of its being a fast day;
and so I was sorry for it, and stopped, and home to cards awhile, and
had opportunity 'para baiser' Mercer several times, and so to bed.
31st. Up, and to the office, where we met and sat all the morning. At
noon home to dinner, and by and by Mr. Osborne comes from Mr. Gawden,
and takes money and notes for L4000, and leaves me acknowledgment for
L4000 and odd; implying as if D. Gawden would give the L800 between Povy
and myself, but how he will divide it I know-not, till I speak with him,
so that my content is not yet full in the business. In the evening stept
out to Sir Robert Viner's to get the money ready upon my notes to D.
Gawden, and there hear that Mr. Temple is very ill. I met on the 'Change
with Captain Cocke, who tells me that he hears new certainty of the
business of Madrid, how our Embassador and the French met, and says
that two or three of my Lord's men, and twenty one of the French men
are killed, but nothing at Court of it. He fears the next year's service
through the badness of our counsels at White Hall, but that if they were
wise, and the King would mind his business, he might do what he would
yet. The Parliament is not yet up, being finishing some bills. So home
and to the office, and late home to supper, and to talk with my wife,
with pleasure, and to bed. I met this evening at Sir R. Viner's our Mr.
Turner, who I find in a melancholy condition about his being removed out
of his house, but I find him so silly and so false that I dare not tell
how to trust any advice to him, and therefore did speak only generally
to him, but I doubt his condition is very miserable, and do pity his
family. Thus the month ends: myself in very good health and content of
mind in my family. All our heads full in the office at this dividing of
the Comptroller's duty, so that I am in some doubt how it may prove to
intrench upon my benefits, but it cannot be much. The Parliament, upon
breaking up, having given the King money with much ado, and great heats,
and neither side pleased, neither King nor them. The imperfection of the
Poll Bill, which must be mended before they rise, there being several
horrible oversights to the prejudice of the King, is a certain sign of
the care anybody hath of the King's business. Prince Rupert very ill,
and to be trepanned on Saturday next. Nobody knows who commands the
fleete next year, or, indeed, whether we shall have a fleete or no.
Great preparations in Holland and France, and the French have lately
taken Antego
[Antigua, one of the West India Islands (Leeward Islands),
discovered by Columbus in 1493, who is said to have named it after a
church at Seville called Santa Maria la Antigua. It was first
settled by a few English families in 1632, and in 1663 another
settlement was made under Lord Willoughby, to whom the entire island
was granted by Charles II. In 1666 it was invaded by a French
force, which laid waste all the settlement. It was reconquered by
the English, and formally restored to them by the treaty of Breda.]
from us, which vexes us. I am in a little care through my at last
putting a great deal of money out of my hands again into the King's upon
tallies for Tangier, but the interest which I wholly lost while in my
trunk is a temptation while things look safe, as they do in some measure
for six months, I think, and I would venture but little longer.
FEBRUARY 1666-1667
February 1st. Up, and to the office, where I was all the morning doing
business, at noon home to dinner, and after dinner down by water,
though it was a thick misty and rainy day, and walked to Deptford from
Redriffe, and there to Bagwell's by appointment, where the 'mulier etoit
within expecting me venir.... By and by 'su marido' come in, and there
without any notice taken by him we discoursed of our business of getting
him the new ship building by Mr. Deane, which I shall do for him. Thence
by and by after a little talk I to the yard, and spoke with some of
the officers, but staid but little, and the new clerk of the 'Chequer,
Fownes, did walk to Redriffe back with me. I perceive he is a very
child, and is led by the nose by Cowly and his kinsman that was
his clerk, but I did make him understand his duty, and put both
understanding and spirit into him, so that I hope he will do well.
[Much surprised to hear this day at Deptford that Mrs. Batters is going
already to be married to him, that is now the Captain of her husband's
ship. She seemed the most passionate mourner in the world. But I believe
it cannot be true.]--(The passage between brackets is written in the
margin of the MS.)--Thence by water to Billingsgate; thence to the Old
Swan, and there took boat, it being now night, to Westminster Hall,
there to the Hall, and find Doll Lane, and 'con elle' I went to the Bell
Taverne, and 'ibi je' did do what I would 'con elle' as well as I could,
she 'sedendo sobre' thus far and making some little resistance. But
all with much content, and 'je tenai' much pleasure 'cum ista'. There
parted, and I by coach home, and to the office, where pretty late doing
business, and then home, and merry with my wife, and to supper. My
brother and I did play with the base, and I upon my viallin, which I
have not seen out of the case now I think these three years, or more,
having lost the key, and now forced to find an expedient to open it.
Then to bed.
2nd. Up, and to the office. This day I hear that Prince Rupert is to be
trepanned. God give good issue to it. Sir W. Pen looks upon me, and I on
him, and speak about business together at the table well enough, but no
friendship or intimacy since our late difference about his closet, nor
do I desire to have any. At noon dined well, and my brother and I to
write over once more with my own hand my catalogue of books, while he
reads to me. After something of that done, and dined, I to the office,
where all the afternoon till night busy. At night, having done all my
office matters, I home, and my brother and I to go on with my catalogue,
and so to supper. Mrs. Turner come to me this night again to condole her
condition and the ill usage she receives from my Lord Bruncker, which
I could never have expected from him, and shall be a good caution to me
while I live. She gone, I to supper, and then to read a little, and to
bed. This night comes home my new silver snuffe-dish, which I do give
myself for my closet, which is all I purpose to bestow in plate of
myself, or shall need, many a day, if I can keep what I have. So to bed.
I am very well pleased this night with reading a poem I brought home
with me last night from Westminster Hall, of Dryden's' upon the present
war; a very good poem.
3rd (Lord's day). Up, and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen to White
Hall, and there to Sir W. Coventry's chamber, and there staid till
he was ready, talking, and among other things of the Prince's being
trepanned, which was in doing just as we passed through the Stone
Gallery, we asking at the door of his lodgings, and were told so. We are
all full of wishes for the good success; though I dare say but few do
really concern ourselves for him in our hearts. Up to the Duke of York,
and with him did our business we come about, and among other things
resolve upon a meeting at the office to-morrow morning, Sir W. Coventry
to be there to determine of all things necessary for the setting of Sir
W. Pen to work in his Victualling business. This did awake in me some
thoughts of what might in discourse fall out touching my imployment, and
did give me some apprehension of trouble. Having done here, and after
our laying our necessities for money open to the Duke of York, but
nothing obtained concerning it, we parted, and I with others into the
House, and there hear that the work is done to the Prince in a few
minutes without any pain at all to him, he not knowing when it was done.
It was performed by Moulins. Having cut the outward table, as they call
corrupted, so as it come out without any force; and their fear is, that
the whole inside of his head is corrupted like that, which do yet make
them afeard of him; but no ill accident appeared in the doing of the
thing, but all with all imaginable success, as Sir Alexander Frazier did
tell me himself, I asking him, who is very kind to me. I to the Chapel a
little, but hearing nothing did take a turn into the Park, and then back
to Chapel and heard a very good Anthem to my heart's delight, and then
to Sir G. Carteret's to dinner, and before dinner did walk with him
alone a good while, and from him hear our case likely for all these acts
to be bad for money, which troubles me, the year speeding so fast, and
he tells me that he believes the Duke of York will go to sea with the
fleete, which I am sorry for in respect to his person, but yet there is
no person in condition to command the fleete, now the Captains are
grown so great, but him, it being impossible for anybody else but him to
command any order or discipline among them. He tells me there is nothing
at all in the late discourse about my Lord Sandwich and the French
Embassador meeting and contending for the way, which I wonder at, to see
the confidence of report without any ground. By and by to dinner, where
very good company. Among other discourse, we talked much of Nostradamus
[Michael Nostradamus, a physician and astrologer, born in the
diocese of Avignon, 1503. Amongst other predictions, one was
interpreted as foreshowing the singular death of Hen. II. of France,
by which his reputation was increased.]
his prophecy of these times, and the burning of the City of London, some
of whose verses are put into Booker's' Almanack this year; and Sir G.
Carteret did tell a story, how at his death he did make the town swear
that he should never be dug up, or his tomb opened, after he was buried;
but they did after sixty years do it, and upon his breast they found a
plate of brasse, saying what a wicked and unfaithful people the people
of that place were, who after so many vows should disturb and open him
such a day and year and hour; which, if true, is very strange. Then we
fell to talking of the burning of the City; and my Lady Carteret herself
did tell us how abundance of pieces of burnt papers were cast by the
wind as far as Cranborne; and among others she took up one, or had
one brought her to see, which was a little bit of paper that had been
printed, whereon there remained no more nor less than these words: "Time
is, it is done." After dinner I went and took a turn into the Park, and
then took boat and away home, and there to my chamber and to read, but
did receive some letters from Sir W. Coventry, touching the want of
victuals to Kempthorne's' fleete going to the Streights and now in the
Downes: which did trouble me, he saying that this disappointment might
prove fatal; and the more, because Sir W. Coventry do intend to come to
the office upon business to-morrow morning, and I shall not know what
answer to give him. This did mightily trouble my mind; however, I fell
to read a little in Hakewill's Apology, and did satisfy myself mighty
fair in the truth of the saying that the world do not grow old at all,
but is in as good condition in all respects as ever it was as to nature.
I continued reading this book with great pleasure till supper, and
then to bed sooner than ordinary, for rising betimes in the morning
to-morrow. So after reading my usual vows to bed, my mind full of
trouble against to-morrow, and did not sleep any good time of the night
for thoughts of to-morrow morning's trouble.
4th. I up, with my head troubled to think of the issue of this morning,
so made ready and to the office, where Mr. Gawden comes, and he and I
discoursed the business well, and thinks I shall get off well enough;
but I do by Sir W. Coventry's silence conclude that he is not satisfied
in my management of my place and the charge it puts the King to, which
I confess I am not in present condition through my late laziness to give
any good answer to. But here do D. Gawden give me a good cordiall this
morning, by telling me that he do give me five of the eight hundred
pounds on his account remaining in my hands to myself, for the service
I do him in my victualling business, and L100 for my particular share of
the profits of my Tangier imployment as Treasurer. This do begin to
make my heart glad, and I did dissemble it the better, so when Sir W.
Coventry did come, and the rest met, I did appear unconcerned, and did
give him answer pretty satisfactory what he asked me; so that I did get
off this meeting without any ground lost, but rather a great deal gained
by interposing that which did belong to my duty to do, and neither [Sir]
W. Coventry nor (Sir) W. Yen did oppose anything thereunto, which did
make my heart very glad. All the morning at this work, Sir W. Pen
making a great deal of do for the fitting him in his setting out in his
employment, and I do yield to any trouble that he gives me without any
contradiction. Sir W. Coventry being gone, we at noon to dinner to Sir
W. Pen's, he inviting me and my wife, and there a pretty good dinner,
intended indeed for Sir W. Coventry, but he would not stay. So here I
was mighty merry and all our differences seemingly blown over, though he
knows, if he be not a fool, that I love him not, and I do the like that
he hates me. Soon as dined, my wife and I out to the Duke's playhouse,
and there saw "Heraclius," an excellent play, to my extraordinary
content; and the more from the house being very full, and great company;
among others, Mrs. Steward, very fine, with her locks done up with
puffes, as my wife calls them: and several other great ladies had their
hair so, though I do not like it; but my wife do mightily--but it is
only because she sees it is the fashion. Here I saw my Lord Rochester
and his lady, Mrs. Mallet, who hath after all this ado married him; and,
as I hear some say in the pit, it is a great act of charity, for he hath
no estate. But it was pleasant to see how every body rose up when my
Lord John Butler, the Duke of Ormond's son, come into the pit towards
the end of the play, who was a servant--[lover]--to Mrs. Mallet, and now
smiled upon her, and she on him. I had sitting next to me a woman, the
likest my Lady Castlemayne that ever I saw anybody like another; but she
is a whore, I believe, for she is acquainted with every fine fellow,
and called them by their name, Jacke, and Tom, and before the end of the
play frisked to another place. Mightily pleased with the play, we home
by coach, and there a little to the office, and then to my chamber,
and there finished my Catalogue of my books with my own hand, and so to
supper and to bed, and had a good night's rest, the last night's being
troublesome, but now my heart light and full of resolution of standing
close to my business.
5th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning doing business, and
then home to dinner. Heard this morning that the Prince is much better,
and hath good rest. All the talk is that my Lord Sandwich hath perfected
the peace with Spayne, which is very good, if true. Sir H. Cholmly was
with me this morning, and told me of my Lord Bellasses's base dealings
with him by getting him to give him great gratuities to near L2000
for his friendship in the business of the Mole, and hath been lately
underhand endeavouring to bring another man into his place as Governor,
so as to receive his money of Sir H. Cholmly for nothing. Dined at home,
and after dinner come Mrs. Daniel and her sister and staid and talked a
little, and then I to the office, and after setting my things in order
at the office I abroad with my wife and little Betty Michell, and took
them against my vowes, but I will make good my forfeit, to the King's
house, to show them a play, "The Chances." A good play I find it, and
the actors most good in it; and pretty to hear Knipp sing in the play
very properly, "All night I weepe;" and sung it admirably. The
whole play pleases me well: and most of all, the sight of many fine
ladies--among others, my Lady Castlemayne and Mrs. Middleton: the latter
of the two hath also a very excellent face and body, I think. Thence
by coach to the New Exchange, and there laid out money, and I did give
Betty Michell two pair of gloves and a dressing-box; and so home in the
dark, over the ruins, with a link. I was troubled with my pain, having
got a bruise on my right testicle, I know not how. But this I did make
good use of to make my wife shift sides with me, and I did come to sit
'avec' Betty Michell, and there had her 'main', which 'elle' did give me
very frankly now, and did hazer whatever I 'voudrais avec la', which did
'plaisir' me 'grandement', and so set her at home with my mind mighty
glad of what I have prevailed for so far; and so home, and to the
office, and did my business there, and then home to supper, and after to
set some things right in my chamber, and so to bed. This morning,
before I went to the office, there come to me Mr. Young and Whistler,
flaggmakers, and with mighty earnestness did present me with, and press
me to take a box, wherein I could not guess there was less than L100 in
gold: but I do wholly refuse it, and did not at last take it. The truth
is, not thinking them safe men to receive such a gratuity from, nor
knowing any considerable courtesy that ever I did do them, but desirous
to keep myself free from their reports, and to have it in my power to
say I had refused their offer.
6th. Up, lying a little long in bed, and by water to White Hall, and
there find the Duke of York gone out, he being in haste to go to the
Parliament, and so all my Brethren were gone to the office too. So I to
Sir Ph. Warwicke's about my Tangier business, and then to Westminster
Hall, and walked up and down, and hear that the Prince do still rest
well by day and night, and out of pain; so as great hopes are conceived
of him: though I did meet Dr. Clerke and Mr. Pierce, and they do say
they believe he will not recover it, they supposing that his whole head
within is eaten by this corruption, which appeared in this piece of the
inner table. Up to the Parliament door, and there discoursed with Roger
Pepys, who goes out of town this week, the Parliament rising this week
also. So down to the Hall and there spied Betty Michell, and so I sent
for burnt wine to Mrs. Michell's, and there did drink with the two
mothers, and by that means with Betty, poor girle, whom I love with all
my heart. And God forgive me, it did make me stay longer and hover all
the morning up and down the Hall to 'busquer occasions para ambulare con
elle. But ego ne pouvoir'. So home by water and to dinner, and then to
the office, where we sat upon Denis Gawden's accounts, and before night
I rose and by water to White Hall, to attend the Council; but they sat
not to-day. So to Sir W. Coventry's chamber, and find him within, and
with a letter from the Downes in his hands, telling the loss of the St.
Patricke coming from Harwich in her way to Portsmouth; and would needs
chase two ships (she having the Malago fire-ship in company) which
from English colours put up Dutch, and he would clap on board the
Vice-Admirall; and after long dispute the Admirall comes on the other
side of him, and both together took him. Our fire-ship (Seely) not
coming in to fire all three, but come away, leaving her in their
possession, and carried away by them: a ship built at Bristoll the last
year, of fifty guns and upwards, and a most excellent good ship. This
made him very melancholy. I to talk of our wants of money, but I do find
that he is not pleased with that discourse, but grieves to hear it, and
do seem to think that Sir G. Carteret do not mind the getting of money
with the same good cheer that he did heretofore, nor do I think he
hath the same reason. Thence to Westminster Hall, thinking to see Betty
Michell, she staying there all night, and had hopes to get her out
alone, but missed, and so away by coach home, and to Sir W. Batten's, to
tell him my bad news, and then to the office, and home to supper, where
Mrs. Hewer was, and after supper and she gone, W. Hewer talking with me
very late of the ill manner of Sir G. Carteret's accounts being kept,
and in what a sad condition he would be if either Fenn or Wayth should
break or die, and am resolved to take some time to tell Sir G. Carteret
or my Lady of it, I do love them so well and their family. So to bed, my
pain pretty well gone.
7th. Lay long with pleasure with my wife, and then up and to the office,
where all the morning, and then home to dinner, and before dinner I
went into my green dining room, and there talking with my brother upon
matters relating to his journey to Brampton to-morrow, and giving him
good counsel about spending the time when he shall stay in the country
with my father, I looking another way heard him fall down, and turned my
head, and he was fallen down all along upon the ground dead, which
did put me into a great fright; and, to see my brotherly love! I did
presently lift him up from the ground, he being as pale as death; and,
being upon his legs, he did presently come to himself, and said he had
something come into his stomach very hot. He knew not what it was, nor
ever had such a fit before. I never was so frighted but once, when my
wife was ill at Ware upon the road, and I did continue trembling a
good while and ready to weepe to see him, he continuing mighty pale
all dinner and melancholy, that I was loth to let him take his journey
tomorrow; but he began to be pretty well, and after dinner my wife and
Barker fell to singing, which pleased me pretty well, my wife taking
mighty pains and proud that she shall come to trill, and indeed I think
she will. So to the office, and there all the afternoon late doing
business, and then home, and find my brother pretty well. So to write a
letter to my Lady Sandwich for him to carry, I having not writ to her
a great while. Then to supper and so to bed. I did this night give him
20s. for books, and as much for his pocket, and 15s. to carry him down,
and so to bed. Poor fellow! he is so melancholy, and withal, my wife
says, harmless, that I begin to love him, and would be loth he should
not do well.
8th. This morning my brother John come up to my bedside, and took his
leave of us, going this day to Brampton. My wife loves him mightily
as one that is pretty harmless, and I do begin to fancy him from
yesterday's accident, it troubling me to think I should be left without
a brother or sister, which is the first time that ever I had thoughts
of that kind in my life. He gone, I up, and to the office, where we sat
upon the Victuallers' accounts all the morning. At noon Lord Bruncker,
Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, and myself to the Swan in Leadenhall Street
to dinner, where an exceedingly good dinner and good discourse. Sir W.
Batten come this morning from the House, where the King hath prorogued
this Parliament to October next. I am glad they are up. The Bill for
Accounts was not offered, the party being willing to let it fall;
but the King did tell them he expected it. They are parted with
great heartburnings, one party against the other. Pray God bring them
hereafter together in better temper! It is said that the King do intend
himself in this interval to take away Lord Mordaunt's government, so as
to do something to appease the House against they come together, and let
them see he will do that of his own accord which is fit, without their
forcing him; and that he will have his Commission for Accounts go on
which will be good things. At dinner we talked much of Cromwell; all
saying he was a brave fellow, and did owe his crowne he got to himself
as much as any man that ever got one. Thence to the office, and there
begun the account which Sir W. Pen by his late employment hath examined,
but begun to examine it in the old manner, a clerk to read the Petty
warrants, my Lord Bruncker upon very good ground did except against it,
and would not suffer him to go on. This being Sir W. Pen's clerk he took
it in snuff, and so hot they grew upon it that my Lord Bruncker left the
office. He gone (Sir) W. Pen ranted like a devil, saying that nothing
but ignorance could do this. I was pleased at heart all this while. At
last moved to have Lord Bruncker desired to return, which he did, and I
read the petty warrants all the day till late at night, that I was very
weary, and troubled to have my private business of my office stopped to
attend this, but mightily pleased at this falling out, and the truth is
[Sir] W. Pen do make so much noise in this business of his, and do it
so little and so ill, that I think the King will be little the better by
changing the hand. So up and to my office a little, but being at it all
day I could not do much there. So home and to supper, to teach Barker to
sing another piece of my song, and then to bed.
9th. To the office, where we sat all the morning busy. At noon home to
dinner, and then to my office again, where also busy, very busy late,
and then went home and read a piece of a play, "Every Man in his
Humour,"--[Ben Jonson's well-known play.]--wherein is the greatest
propriety of speech that ever I read in my life: and so to bed. This
noon come my wife's watchmaker, and received L12 of me for her watch;
but Captain Rolt coming to speak with me about a little business, he did
judge of the work to be very good work, and so I am well contented, and
he hath made very good, that I knew, to Sir W. Pen and Lady Batten.
10th (Lord's day). Up and with my wife to church, where Mr. Mills made
an unnecessary sermon upon Original Sin, neither understood by himself
nor the people. Home, where Michell and his wife, and also there come
Mr. Carter, my old acquaintance of Magdalene College, who hath not been
here of many years. He hath spent his time in the North with the
Bishop of Carlisle much. He is grown a very comely person, and of good
discourse, and one that I like very much. We had much talk of our old
acquaintance of the College, concerning their various fortunes; wherein,
to my joy, I met not with any that have sped better than myself. After
dinner he went away, and awhile after them Michell and his wife, whom
I love mightily, and then I to my chamber there to my Tangier accounts,
which I had let run a little behind hand, but did settle them very well
to my satisfaction, but it cost me sitting up till two in the morning,
and the longer by reason that our neighbour, Mrs. Turner, poor woman,
did come to take her leave of us, she being to quit her house to-morrow
to my Lord Bruncker, who hath used her very unhandsomely. She is going
to lodgings, and do tell me very odde stories how Mrs. Williams do
receive the applications of people, and hath presents, and she is the
hand that receives all, while my Lord Bruncker do the business, which
will shortly come to be loud talk if she continues here, I do foresee,
and bring my Lord no great credit. So having done all my business, to
bed.
11th. Up, and by water to the Temple, and thence to Sir Ph. Warwicke's
about my Tangier warrant for tallies, and there met my Lord Bellasses
and Creed, and discoursed about our business of money, but we are
defeated as to any hopes of getting [any] thing upon the Poll Bill,
which I seem but not much troubled at, it not concerning me much. Thence
with Creed to Westminster Hall, and there up and down, and heard that
Prince Rupert is still better and better; and that he did tell Dr.
Troutbecke expressly that my Lord Sandwich is ordered home. I hear, too,
that Prince Rupert hath begged the having of all the stolen prize-goods
which he can find, and that he is looking out anew after them, which at
first troubled me; but I do see it cannot come to anything, but is done
by Hayes, or some of his little people about him. Here, among other
newes, I bought the King's speech at proroguing the House the other day,
wherein are some words which cannot but import some prospect of a peace,
which God send us! After walking a good while in the Hall, it being
Term time, I home by water, calling at Michell's and giving him a fair
occasion to send his wife to the New Exchange to meet my wife and me
this afternoon. So home to dinner, and after dinner by coach to Lord
Bellasses, and with him to Povy's house, whom we find with Auditor Beale
and Vernatty about their accounts still, which is never likely to have
end. Our business was to speak with Vernatty, who is certainly a most
cunning knave as ever was born. Having done what we had to do there, my
Lord carried me and set me down at the New Exchange, where I staid at
Pottle's shop till Betty Michell come, which she did about five o'clock,
and was surprised not to 'trouver my muger' I there; but I did make an
excuse good enough, and so I took 'elle' down, and over the water to the
cabinet-maker's, and there bought a dressing-box for her for 20s., but
would require an hour's time to make fit. This I was glad of, thinking
to have got 'elle' to enter to a 'casa de biber', but 'elle' would not,
so I did not much press it, but suffered 'elle' to enter 'a la casa de
uno de sus hermanos', and so I past my time walking up and down, and
among other places, to one Drumbleby, a maker of flageolets, the best in
towne. He not within, my design to bespeak a pair of flageolets of the
same tune, ordered him to come to me in a day or two, and so I back to
the cabinet-maker's and there staid; and by and by Betty comes, and
here we staid in the shop and above seeing the workmen work, which was
pretty, and some exceeding good work, and very pleasant to see them do
it, till it was late quite dark, and the mistresse of the shop took us
into the kitchen and there talked and used us very prettily, and took
her for my wife, which I owned and her big belly, and there very merry,
till my thing done, and then took coach and home ... But now comes our
trouble, I did begin to fear that 'su marido' might go to my house
to 'enquire pour elle', and there, 'trouvant' my 'muger'--[wife in
Spanish.]--at home, would not only think himself, but give my 'femme'
occasion to think strange things. This did trouble me mightily, so
though 'elle' would not seem to have me trouble myself about it, yet did
agree to the stopping the coach at the streete's end, and 'je allois con
elle' home, and there presently hear by him that he had newly sent 'su
mayde' to my house to see for her mistresse. This do much perplex me,
and I did go presently home Betty whispering me behind the 'tergo de her
mari', that if I would say that we did come home by water, 'elle' could
make up 'la cose well satis', and there in a sweat did walk in the entry
ante my door, thinking what I should say a my 'femme', and as God would
have it, while I was in this case (the worst in reference a my 'femme'
that ever I was in in my life), a little woman comes stumbling to the
entry steps in the dark; whom asking who she was, she enquired for my
house. So knowing her voice, and telling her 'su donna' is come home
she went away. But, Lord! in what a trouble was I, when she was gone,
to recollect whether this was not the second time of her coming, but at
last concluding that she had not been here before, I did bless myself
in my good fortune in getting home before her, and do verily believe she
had loitered some time by the way, which was my great good fortune, and
so I in a-doors and there find all well. So my heart full of joy, I to
the office awhile, and then home, and after supper and doing a little
business in my chamber I to bed, after teaching Barker a little of my
song.
12th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning, with several
things (among others) discoursed relating to our two new assistant
controllers, but especially Sir W. Pen, who is mighty troublesome in it.
At noon home to dinner, and then to the office again, and there did much
business, and by and by comes Mr. Moore, who in discourse did almost
convince me that it is necessary for my Lord Sandwich to come home end
take his command at sea this year, for that a peace is like to be. Many
considerations he did give me hereupon, which were very good both in
reference to the publick and his private condition. By and by with Lord
Bruncker by coach to his house, there to hear some Italian musique: and
here we met Tom Killigrew, Sir Robert Murray, and the Italian Signor
Baptista, who hath composed a play in Italian for the Opera, which T.
Killigrew do intend to have up; and here he did sing one of the acts. He
himself is the poet as well as the musician; which is very much, and did
sing the whole from the words without any musique prickt, and played
all along upon a harpsicon most admirably, and the composition most
excellent. The words I did not understand, and so know not how they are
fitted, but believe very well, and all in the recitativo very fine. But
I perceive there is a proper accent in every country's discourse, and
that do reach in their setting of notes to words, which, therefore,
cannot be natural to any body else but them; so that I am not so much
smitten with it as, it may be, I should be, if I were acquainted with
their accent. But the whole composition is certainly most excellent; and
the poetry, T. Killigrew and Sir R. Murray, who understood the words,
did say was excellent. I confess I was mightily pleased with the
musique. He pretends not to voice, though it be good, but not excellent.
This done, T. Killigrew and I to talk: and he tells me how the audience
at his house is not above half so much as it used to be before the late
fire. That Knipp is like to make the best actor that ever come upon the
stage, she understanding so well: that they are going to give her L30
a-year more. That the stage is now by his pains a thousand times better
and more glorious than ever heretofore. Now, wax-candles, and many
of them; then, not above 3 lbs. of tallow: now, all things civil,
no rudeness anywhere; then, as in a bear-garden then, two or three
fiddlers; now, nine or ten of the best then, nothing but rushes upon
the ground, and every thing else mean; and now, all otherwise: then, the
Queen seldom and the King never would come; now, not the King only for
state, but all civil people do think they may come as well as any. He
tells me that he hath gone several times, eight or ten times, he tells
me, hence to Rome to hear good musique; so much he loves it, though he
never did sing or play a note. That he hath ever endeavoured in the late
King's time, and in this, to introduce good musique, but he never could
do it, there never having been any musique here better than ballads.
Nay, says, "Hermitt poore" and "Chevy Chese"
["Like hermit poor in pensive place obscure" is found in "The
Phoenix Nest," 1593, and in Harl. MS. No. 6910, written soon after
1596. It was set to music by Alfonso Ferrabosco, and published in
his "Ayres," 1609. The song was a favourite with Izaak Walton, and
is alluded to in "Hudibras" (Part I., canto ii., line 1169). See
Rimbault's "Little Book of Songs and Ballads," 1851, p. 98. Both
versions of the famous ballad of "Chevy Chase" are printed in
Percy's "Reliques."]
was all the musique we had; and yet no ordinary fiddlers get so much
money as ours do here, which speaks our rudenesse still. That he hath
gathered our Italians from several Courts in Christendome, to come to
make a concert for the King, which he do give L200 a-year a-piece to:
but badly paid, and do come in the room of keeping four ridiculous
gundilows,
[The gondolas mentioned before, as sent by the Doge of Venice. See
September 12th, 1661]
he having got, the King to put them away, and lay out money this way;
and indeed I do commend him for it, for I think it is a very noble
undertaking. He do intend to have some times of the year these operas to
be performed at the two present theatres, since he is defeated in what
he intended in Moorefields on purpose for it; and he tells me plainly
that the City audience was as good as the Court, but now they are most
gone. Baptista tells me that Giacomo Charissimi is still alive at Rome,
who was master to Vinnecotio, who is one of the Italians that the King
hath here, and the chief composer of them. My great wonder is, how this
man do to keep in memory so perfectly the musique of the whole act, both
for the voice and the instrument too. I confess I do admire it: but in
recitativo the sense much helps him, for there is but one proper way of
discoursing and giving the accents. Having done our discourse, we all
took coaches, my Lord's and T. Killigrew's, and to Mrs. Knipp's chamber,
where this Italian is to teach her to sing her part. And so we all
thither, and there she did sing an Italian song or two very fine, while
he played the bass upon a harpsicon there; and exceedingly taken I am
with her singing, and believe that she will do miracles at that and
acting. Her little girl is mighty pretty and witty. After being there
an hour, and I mightily pleased with this evening's work, we all parted,
and I took coach and home, where late at my office, and then home
to enter my last three days' Journall; and so to supper and to bed,
troubled at nothing, but that these pleasures do hinder me in my
business, and the more by reason of our being to dine abroad to-morrow,
and then Saturday next is appointed to meet again at my Lord Bruncker's
lodgings, and there to have the whole quire of Italians; but then I do
consider that this is all the pleasure I live for in the world, and the
greatest I can ever expect in the best of my life, and one thing more,
that by hearing this man to-night, and I think Captain Cooke to-morrow,
and the quire of Italians on Saturday, I shall be truly able to
distinguish which of them pleases me truly best, which I do much desire
to know and have good reason and fresh occasion of judging.
13th. Up, and by water to White Hall, where to the Duke of York, and
there did our usual business; but troubled to see that, at this time,
after our declaring a debt to the Parliament of L900,000, and nothing
paid since, but the debt increased, and now the fleete to set out; to
hear that the King hath ordered but L35,000 for the setting out of the
fleete, out of the Poll Bill, to buy all provisions, when five times
as much had been little enough to have done any thing to purpose. They
have, indeed, ordered more for paying off of seamen and the Yards
to some time, but not enough for that neither. Another thing is, the
acquainting the Duke of York with the case of Mr. Lanyon, our agent
at Plymouth, who has trusted us to L8000 out of purse; we are not in
condition, after so many promises, to obtain him a farthing, nor though
a message was carried by Sir G. Carteret and Sir W. Coventry to the
Commissioners for Prizes, that he might have L3000 out of L20,000 worth
of prizes to be shortly sold there, that he might buy at the candle and
pay for the goods out of bills, and all would [not] do any thing, but
that money must go all another way, while the King's service is undone,
and those that trust him perish. These things grieve me to the heart.
The Prince, I hear, is every day better and better. So away by water
home, stopping at Michell's, where Mrs. Martin was, and I there drank
with them and whispered with Betty, who tells me all is well, but was
prevented in something she would have said, her 'marido venant' just
then, a news which did trouble me, and so drank and parted and home, and
there took up my wife by coach, and to Mrs. Pierce's, there to take her
up, and with them to Dr. Clerke's, by invitation, where we have not
been a great while, nor had any mind to go now, but that the Dr., whom
I love, would have us choose a day. Here was his wife, painted, and her
sister Worshipp, a widow now and mighty pretty in her mourning. Here was
also Mr. Pierce and Mr. Floyd, Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of
Prizes, and Captain Cooke, to dinner, an ill and little mean one, with
foul cloth and dishes, and everything poor. Discoursed most about
plays and the Opera, where, among other vanities, Captain Cooke had
the arrogance to say that he was fain to direct Sir W. Davenant in the
breaking of his verses into such and such lengths, according as would
be fit for musick, and how he used to swear at Davenant, and command him
that way, when W. Davenant would be angry, and find fault with this
or that note--but a vain coxcomb I perceive he is, though he sings and
composes so well. But what I wondered at, Dr. Clerke did say that Sir
W. Davenant is no good judge of a dramatick poem, finding fault with his
choice of Henry the 5th, and others, for the stage, when I do think,
and he confesses, "The Siege of Rhodes" as good as ever was writ. After
dinner Captain Cooke and two of his boys to sing, but it was indeed
both in performance and composition most plainly below what I heard last
night, which I could not have believed. Besides overlooking the words
which he sung, I find them not at all humoured as they ought to be, and
as I believed he had done all he had sett. Though he himself do indeed
sing in a manner as to voice and manner the best I ever heard yet, and
a strange mastery he hath in making of extraordinary surprising closes,
that are mighty pretty, but his bragging that he do understand tones and
sounds as well as any man in the world, and better than Sir W. Davenant
or any body else, I do not like by no means, but was sick of it and of
him for it. He gone, Dr. Clerke fell to reading a new play, newly writ,
of a friend's of his; but, by his discourse and confession afterwards,
it was his own. Some things, but very few, moderately good; but
infinitely far from the conceit, wit, design, and language of very many
plays that I know; so that, but for compliment, I was quite tired with
hearing it. It being done, and commending the play, but against my
judgment, only the prologue magnifying the happiness of our former poets
when such sorry things did please the world as was then acted, was very
good. So set Mrs. Pierce at home, and away ourselves home, and there
to my office, and then my chamber till my eyes were sore at writing and
making ready my letter and accounts for the Commissioners of Tangier
to-morrow, which being done, to bed, hearing that there was a very great
disorder this day at the Ticket Office, to the beating and bruising of
the face of Carcasse very much. A foul evening this was to-night, and
I mightily troubled to get a coach home; and, which is now my common
practice, going over the ruins in the night, I rid with my sword drawn
in the coach.
14th. Up and to the office, where Carcasse comes with his plaistered
face, and called himself Sir W. Batten's martyr, which made W. Batten
mad almost, and mighty quarrelling there was. We spent the morning
almost wholly upon considering some way of keeping the peace at the
Ticket Office; but it is plain that the care of that office is nobody's
work, and that is it that makes it stand in the ill condition it do. At
noon home to dinner, and after dinner by coach to my Lord Chancellor's,
and there a meeting: the Duke of York, Duke of Albemarle, and several
other Lords of the Commission of Tangier. And there I did present a
state of my accounts, and managed them well; and my Lord Chancellor did
say, though he was, in other things, in an ill humour, that no man in
England was of more method, nor made himself better understood than
myself. But going, after the business of money was over, to other
businesses, of settling the garrison, he did fling out, and so did the
Duke of York, two or three severe words touching my Lord Bellasses:
that he would have no Governor come away from thence in less than three
years; no, though his lady were with child. "And," says the Duke of
York, "there should be no Governor continue so, longer than three
years." "Nor," says Lord Arlington, "when our rules are once set,
and upon good judgment declared, no Governor should offer to alter
them."--"We must correct the many things that are amiss there; for,"
says the Lord Chancellor, "you must think we do hear of more things
amisse than we are willing to speak before our friends' faces." My Lord
Bellasses would not take notice of their reflecting on him, and did
wisely, but there were also many reflections on him. Thence away by
coach to Sir H. Cholmly and Fitzgerald and Creed, setting down the two
latter at the New Exchange. And Sir H. Cholmly and I to the Temple, and
there walked in the dark in the walks talking of newes; and he surprises
me with the certain newes that the King did last night in Council
declare his being in treaty with the Dutch: that they had sent him
a very civil letter, declaring that, if nobody but themselves were
concerned, they would not dispute the place of treaty, but leave it to
his choice; but that, being obliged to satisfy therein a Prince of equal
quality with himself, they must except any place in England or Spayne.
And so the King hath chosen the Hague, and thither hath chose my Lord
Hollis and Harry Coventry to go Embassadors to treat; which is so mean
a thing, as all the world will believe, that we do go to beg a peace of
them, whatever we pretend. And it seems all our Court are mightily for
a peace, taking this to be the time to make one, while the King hath
money, that he may save something of what the Parliament hath given
him to put him out of debt, so as he may need the help of no more
Parliaments, as to the point of money: but our debt is so great, and
expence daily so encreased, that I believe little of the money will
be saved between this and the making of the peace up. But that which
troubles me most is, that we have chosen a son of Secretary Morris,
a boy never used to any business, to go Embassador [Secretary] to the
Embassy, which shows how, little we are sensible of the weight of the
business upon us. God therefore give a good end to it, for I doubt it,
and yet do much more doubt the issue of our continuing the war, for we
are in no wise fit for it, and yet it troubles me to think what Sir H.
Cholmly says, that he believes they will not give us any reparation for
what we have suffered by the war, nor put us into any better condition
than what we were in before the war, for that will be shamefull for
us. Thence parted with him and home through the dark over the ruins
by coach, with my sword drawn, to the office, where dispatched some
business; and so home to my chamber and to supper and to bed. This
morning come up to my wife's bedside, I being up dressing myself, little
Will Mercer to be her Valentine; and brought her name writ upon blue
paper in gold letters, done by himself, very pretty; and we were both
well pleased with it. But I am also this year my wife's Valentine, and
it will cost me L5; but that I must have laid out if we had not been
Valentines. So to bed.
15th. Up and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] J. Minnes by coach to White
Hall, where we attended upon the Duke of York to complain of the
disorders the other day among the seamen at the Pay at the Ticket
Office, and that it arises from lack of money, and that we desire,
unless better provided for with money, to have nothing more to do with
the payment of tickets, it being not our duty; and the Duke of York and
[Sir] W. Coventry did agree to it, so that I hope we shall be rid of
that trouble. This done, I moved for allowance for a house for Mr.
Turner, and got it granted. Then away to Westminster Hall, and there to
the Exchequer about my tallies, and so back to White Hall, and so with
Lord Bellasses to the Excise Office, where met by Sir H. Cholmly to
consider about our business of money there, and that done, home and to
dinner, where I hear Pegg Pen is married this day privately; no friends,
but two or three relations on his side and hers. Borrowed many things of
my kitchen for dressing their dinner. So after dinner to the office, and
there busy and did much business, and late at it. Mrs. Turner come to me
to hear how matters went; I told her of our getting rent for a house for
her. She did give me account of this wedding to-day, its being private
being imputed to its being just before Lent, and so in vain to make new
clothes till Easter, that they might see the fashions as they are like
to be this summer; which is reason good enough. Mrs. Turner tells me she
hears [Sir W. Pen] gives L4500 or 4000 with her. They are gone to bed,
so I wish them much sport, and home to supper and to bed. They own the
treaty for a peace publickly at Court, and the Commissioners providing
themselves to go over as soon as a passe comes for them.
16th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. Among other
things great heat we were all in on one side or other in the examining
witnesses against Mr. Carcasse about his buying of tickets, and a
cunning knave I do believe he is, and will appear, though I have
thought otherwise heretofore. At noon home to dinner, and there find Mr.
Andrews, and Pierce and Hollyard, and they dined with us and merry,
but we did rise soon for saving of my wife's seeing a new play this
afternoon, and so away by coach, and left her at Mrs. Pierces, myself
to the Excise Office about business, and thence to the Temple to walk
a little only, and then to Westminster to pass away time till anon, and
here I went to Mrs. Martin's to thank her for her oysters.... Thence
away to my Lord Bruncker's, and there was Sir Robert Murray, whom I
never understood so well as now by this opportunity of discourse with
him, a most excellent man of reason and learning, and understands the
doctrine of musique, and everything else I could discourse of, very
finely. Here come Mr. Hooke, Sir George Ent, Dr. Wren, and many others;
and by and by the musique, that is to say, Signor Vincentio, who is the
master-composer, and six more, whereof two eunuches, so tall, that Sir
T. Harvey said well that he believes they do grow large by being gelt
as our oxen do, and one woman very well dressed and handsome enough, but
would not be kissed, as Mr. Killigrew, who brought the company in,
did acquaint us. They sent two harpsicons before; and by and by, after
tuning them, they begun; and, I confess, very good musique they made;
that is, the composition exceeding good, but yet not at all more
pleasing to me than what I have heard in English by Mrs. Knipp, Captain
Cooke, and others. Nor do I dote on the eunuches; they sing, indeed,
pretty high, and have a mellow kind of sound, but yet I have been as
well satisfied with several women's voices and men also, as Crispe of
the Wardrobe. The women sung well, but that which distinguishes all is
this, that in singing, the words are to be considered, and how they are
fitted with notes, and then the common accent of the country is to be
known and understood by the hearer, or he will never be a good judge of
the vocal musique of another country. So that I was not taken with this
at all, neither understanding the first, nor by practice reconciled to
the latter, so that their motions, and risings and fallings, though it
may be pleasing to an Italian, or one that understands the tongue, yet
to me it did not, but do from my heart believe that I could set words
in English, and make musique of them more agreeable to any Englishman's
eare (the most judicious) than any Italian musique set for the voice,
and performed before the same man, unless he be acquainted with the
Italian accent of speech. The composition as to the musique part was
exceeding good, and their justness in keeping time by practice much
before any that we have, unless it be a good band of practised fiddlers.
So away, here being Captain Cocke, who is stole away, leaving them at
it, in his coach, and to Mrs. Pierce's, where I took up my wife, and
there I find Mrs. Pierce's little girl is my Valentine, she having drawn
me; which I was not sorry for, it easing me of something more that I
must have given to others. But here I do first observe the fashion of
drawing of mottos as well as names; so that Pierce, who drew my wife,
did draw also a motto, and this girl drew another for me. What mine was
I have forgot; but my wife's was, "Most virtuous and most fair;" which,
as it may be used, or an anagram made upon each name, might be very
pretty. Thence with Cocke and my wife, set him at home, and then we
home. To the office, and there did a little business, troubled that I
have so much been hindered by matters of pleasure from my business, but
I shall recover it I hope in a little time. So home and to supper, not
at all smitten with the musique to-night, which I did expect should have
been so extraordinary, Tom Killigrew crying it up, and so all the world,
above all things in the world, and so to bed. One wonder I observed
to-day, that there was no musique in the morning to call up our
new-married people, which is very mean, methinks, and is as if they had
married like dog and bitch.
17th (Lord's day). Up, and called at Michell's, and took him and his
wife and carried them to Westminster, I landing at White Hall, and
having no pleasure in the way 'con elle'; and so to the Duke's, where
we all met and had a hot encounter before the Duke of York about the
business of our payments at the Ticket Office, where we urged that
we had nothing to do to be troubled with the pay, having examined the
tickets. Besides, we are neglected, having not money sent us in time,
but to see the baseness of my brethren, not a man almost put in a word
but Sir W. Coventry, though at the office like very devils in this
point. But I did plainly declare that, without money, no fleete could be
expected, and desired the Duke of York to take notice of it, and notice
was taken of it, but I doubt will do no good. But I desire to remember
it as a most prodigious thing that to this day my Lord Treasurer hath
not consulted counsel, which Sir W. Coventry and I and others do think
is necessary, about the late Poll act, enough to put the same into such
order as that any body dare lend money upon it, though we have from
this office under our hands related the necessity thereof to the Duke of
York, nor is like to be determined in, for ought I see, a good while
had not Sir W. Coventry plainly said that he did believe it would be a
better work for the King than going to church this morning, to send for
the Atturney Generall to meet at the Lord Treasurer's this afternoon and
to bring the thing to an issue, saying that himself, were he going to
the Sacrament, would not think he should offend God to leave it and
go to the ending this work, so much it is of moment to the King and
Kingdom. Hereupon the Duke of York said he would presently speak to the
King, and cause it to be done this afternoon. Having done here we broke
up; having done nothing almost though for all this, and by and by I met
Sir G. Carteret, and he is stark mad at what has passed this morning,
and I believe is heartily vexed with me: I said little, but I am sure
the King will suffer if some better care be not taken than he takes to
look after this business of money. So parted, and I by water home and to
dinner, W. Hewer with us, a good dinner and-very merry, my wife and I,
and after dinner to my chamber, to fit some things against: the Council
anon, and that being done away to White Hall by water, and thence to my
Lord Chancellor's, where I met with, and had much pretty discourse with,
one of the Progers's that knows me; and it was pretty to hear him tell
me, of his own accord, as a matter of no shame, that in Spayne he had
a pretty woman, his mistress, whom, when money grew scarce with him, he
was forced to leave, and afterwards heard how she and her husband lived
well, she being kept by an old fryer who used her as his whore; but
this, says he, is better than as our ministers do, who have wives that
lay up their estates, and do no good nor relieve any poor--no, not our
greatest prelates, and I think he is in the right for my part. Staid
till the Council was up, and attended the King and Duke of York round
the Park, and was asked several questions by both; but I was in pain,
lest they should ask me what I could not answer; as the Duke of York did
the value of the hull of the St. Patrick lately lost, which I told him I
could not presently answer; though I might have easily furnished myself
to answer all those questions. They stood a good while to see the
ganders and geese tread one another in the water, the goose being all
the while kept for a great while: quite under water, which was new to
me, but they did make mighty sport of it, saying (as the King did often)
"Now you shall see a marriage, between this and that," which did not
please me. They gone, by coach to my Lord Treasurer's, as the Duke of
York told me, to settle the business of money for the navy, I walked
into the Court to and again till night, and there met Colonell
Reames, and he and I walked together a great while complaining of the
ill-management of things, whereof he is as full as I am. We ran over
many persons and things, and see nothing done like men like to do well
while the King minds his pleasures so much. We did bemoan it that nobody
would or had authority enough with the King to tell him how all things
go to rack and will be lost. Then he and I parted, and I to Westminster
to the Swan, and there staid till Michell and his wife come. Old Michell
and his wife come to see me, and there we drank and laughed a little,
and then the young ones and I took boat, it being fine moonshine. I did
to my trouble see all the way that 'elle' did get as close 'a su marido'
as 'elle' could, and turn her 'mains' away 'quand je' did endeavour to
take one.... So that I had no pleasure at all 'con elle ce' night. When
we landed I did take occasion to send him back a the bateau while I
did get a 'baiser' or two, and would have taken 'la' by 'la' hand,
but 'elle' did turn away, and 'quand' I said shall I not 'toucher' to
answered 'ego' no love touching, in a slight mood. I seemed not to take
notice of it, but parted kindly; 'su marido' did alter with me almost
a my case, and there we parted, and so I home troubled at this, but I
think I shall make good use of it and mind my business more. At home,
by appointment, comes Captain Cocke to me, to talk of State matters, and
about the peace; who told me that the whole business is managed between
Kevet, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, and my Lord Arlington, who hath, by the
interest of his wife there, some interest. We have proposed the Hague,
but know not yet whether the Dutch will like it; or; if they do, whether
the French will. We think we shall have the help of the information
of their affairs and state, and the helps of the Prince of Orange his
faction; but above all, that De Witt, who hath all this while said he
cannot get peace, his mouth will now be stopped, so that he will be
forced to offer fit terms for fear of the people; and, lastly, if France
or Spayne do not please us, we are in a way presently to clap up a peace
with the Dutch, and secure them. But we are also in treaty with France,
as he says: but it must be to the excluding our alliance with the King
of Spayne or House of Austria; which we do not know presently what will
be determined in. He tells me the Vice-Chamberlaine is so great with the
King, that, let the Duke of York, and Sir W. Coventry, and this office,
do or say what they will, while the King lives, Sir G. Carteret will
do what he will; and advises me to be often with him, and eat and drink
with him.; and tells me that he doubts he is jealous of me, and was
mighty mad to-day at our discourse to him before the Duke of York. But
I did give him my reasons that the office is concerned to declare that,
without money, the King's work cannot go on. From that discourse we ran
to others, and among the others he assures me that Henry Bruncker is one
of the shrewdest fellows for parts in England, and a dangerous man; that
if ever the Parliament comes again Sir W. Coventry cannot stand, but in
this I believe him not; that, while we want money so much in the Navy,
the Officers of the Ordnance have at this day L300,000 good in tallys,
which they can command money upon, got by their over-estimating their
charge in getting it reckoned as a fifth part of the expense of the
Navy; that Harry Coventry, who is to go upon this treaty with Lord
Hollis (who he confesses to be a very wise man) into Holland, is a
mighty quick, ready man, but not so weighty as he should be, he knowing
him so well in his drink as he do; that, unless the King do do something
against my Lord Mordaunt and the Patent for the Canary Company, before
the Parliament next meets, he do believe there will be a civil war
before there will be any more money given, unless it may be at their
perfect disposal; and that all things are now ordered to the provoking
of the Parliament against they come next, and the spending the King's
money, so as to put him into a necessity of having it at the time it is
prorogued for, or sooner. Having discoursed all this and much more, he
away, and I to supper and to read my vows, and to bed. My mind troubled
about Betty Michell, 'pour sa carriage' this night 'envers moy', but do
hope it will put me upon doing my business. This evening, going to the
Queen's side to see the ladies, I did find the Queene, the Duchesse of
York, and another or two, at cards, with the room full of great ladies
and men; which I was amazed at to see on a Sunday, having not believed
it; but, contrarily, flatly denied the same a little while since to my
cozen Roger Pepys? I did this day, going by water, read the answer to
"The Apology for Papists," which did like me mightily, it being a thing
as well writ as I think most things that ever I read in my life, and
glad I am that I read it.
18th. Up, and to my bookbinder's, and there mightily pleased to see some
papers of the account we did give the Parliament of the expense of
the Navy sewed together, which I could not have conceived before how
prettily it was done. Then by coach to the Exchequer about some
tallies, and thence back again home, by the way meeting Mr. Weaver, of
Huntingdon, and did discourse our business of law together, which did
ease my mind, for I was afeard I have omitted doing what I in prudence
ought to have done. So home and to dinner, and after dinner to the
office, where je had Mrs. Burrows all sola a my closet, and did there
'baiser and toucher ses mamelles'.... Thence away, and with my wife by
coach to the Duke of York's play-house, expecting a new play, and so
stayed not no more than other people, but to the King's house, to "The
Mayd's Tragedy;" but vexed all the while with two talking ladies and
Sir Charles Sedley; yet pleased to hear their discourse, he being a
stranger. And one of the ladies would, and did sit with her mask on,
all the play, and, being exceeding witty as ever I heard woman, did talk
most pleasantly with him; but was, I believe, a virtuous woman, and of
quality. He would fain know who she was, but she would not tell; yet
did give him many pleasant hints of her knowledge of him, by that means
setting his brains at work to find, out who she was, and did give him
leave to use all means to find out who she was, but pulling off her
mask. He was mighty witty, and she also making sport with him very
inoffensively, that a more pleasant 'rencontre' I never heard. But by
that means lost the pleasure of the play wholly, to which now and then
Sir Charles Sedley's exceptions against both words and pronouncing were
very pretty. So home and to the office, did much business, then home, to
supper, and to bed.
19th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning doing little
business, our want of money being so infinite great. At noon home, and
there find old Mr. Michell and Howlett come to desire mine and my wife's
company to dinner to their son's, and so away by coach with them, it
being Betty's wedding-day a year, as also Shrove Tuesday. Here I made
myself mighty merry, the two old women being there also, and a mighty
pretty dinner we had in this little house, to my exceeding great
content, and my wife's, and my heart pleased to see Betty. But I have
not been so merry a very great while as with them, every thing pleasing
me there as much as among so mean company I could be pleased. After
dinner I fell to read the Acts about the building of the City again;
[Burnet wrote ("History of his Own Time," book ii.): "An act passed
in this session for rebuilding the city of London, which gave Lord
Chief Justice Hale a great reputation, for it was drawn with so true
a judgment, and so great foresight, that the whole city was raised
out of its ashes without any suits of law."]
and indeed the laws seem to be very good, and I pray God I may live to
see it built in that manner! Anon with much content home, walking with
my wife and her woman, and there to my office, where late doing much
business, and then home to supper and to bed. This morning I hear that
our discourse of peace is all in the dirt; for the Dutch will not like
of the place, or at least the French will not agree to it; so that I do
wonder what we shall do, for carry on the war we cannot. I long to hear
the truth of it to-morrow at Court.
20th. Up, with Sir W. Batten and Sir W. Pen by coach to White Hall, by
the way observing Sir W. Pen's carrying a favour to Sir W. Coventry, for
his daughter's wedding, and saying that there was others for us, when we
will fetch them, which vexed me, and I am resolved not to wear it
when he orders me one. His wedding hath been so poorly kept, that I am
ashamed of it; for a fellow that makes such a flutter as he do. When
we come to the Duke of York here, I heard discourse how Harris of his
play-house is sick, and everybody commends him, and, above all
things, for acting the Cardinall. Here they talk also how the King's
viallin,--[violin]-- Bannister, is mad that the King hath a Frenchman
come to be chief of some part of the King's musique, at which the
Duke of York made great mirth. Then withdrew to his closett, all our
business, lack of money and prospect of the effects of it, such as made
Sir W. Coventry say publickly before us all, that he do heartily wish
that his Royal Highness had nothing to do in the Navy, whatever
become of him; so much dishonour, he says, is likely to fall under the
management of it. The Duke of York was angry, as much as he could be, or
ever I saw him, with Sir G. Carteret, for not paying the masters of some
ships on Monday last, according to his promise, and I do think Sir G.
Carteret will make himself unhappy by not taking some course either
to borrow more money or wholly lay aside his pretence to the charge
of raising money, when he hath nothing to do to trouble himself with.
Thence to the Exchequer, and there find the people in readiness to
dispatch my tallies to-day, though Ash Wednesday. So I back by coach to
London to Sir Robt. Viner's and there got L100, and come away with it
and pay my fees round, and so away with the 'Chequer men to the Leg in
King Street, and there had wine for them; and here was one in company
with them, that was the man that got the vessel to carry over the King
from Bredhemson, who hath a pension of 200 per annum, but ill paid,
and the man is looking after getting of a prizeship to live by; but the
trouble is, that this poor man, who hath received no part of his money
these four years, and is ready to starve almost, must yet pay to the
Poll Bill for this pension. He told me several particulars of the King's
coming thither, which was mighty pleasant, and shews how mean a thing
a king is, how subject to fall, and how like other men he is in his
afflictions. Thence with my tallies home, and a little dinner, and
then with my wife by coach to Lincoln's Inn Fields, sent her to her
brother's, and I with Lord Bellasses to the Lord Chancellor's. Lord
Bellasses tells me how the King of France hath caused the stop to be
made to our proposition of treating in The Hague; that he being greater
than they, we may better come and treat at Paris: so that God knows what
will become of the peace! He tells me, too, as a grand secret, that he
do believe the peace offensive and defensive between Spayne and us is
quite finished, but must not be known, to prevent the King of France's
present falling upon Flanders. He do believe the Duke of York will be
made General of the Spanish armies there, and Governor of Flanders, if
the French should come against it, and we assist the Spaniard: that we
have done the Spaniard abundance of mischief in the West Indys, by our
privateers at Jamaica, which they lament mightily, and I am sorry for it
to have it done at this time. By and by, come to my Lord Chancellor, who
heard mighty quietly my complaints for lack of money, and spoke mighty
kind to me, but little hopes of help therein, only his good word. He do
prettily cry upon Povy's account with sometimes seeming friendship and
pity, and this day quite the contrary. He do confess our streights here
and every where else arise from our outspending our revenue. I mean
that the King do do so. Thence away, took up my wife; who tells me her
brother hath laid out much money upon himself and wife for clothes,
which I am sorry to hear, it requiring great expense. So home and to the
office a while, and then home to supper, where Mrs. Turner come to us,
and sat and talked. Poor woman, I pity her, but she is very cunning.
She concurs with me in the falseness of Sir W. Pen's friendship, and she
tells pretty storms of my Lord Bruncker since he come to our end of the
town, of people's applications to Mrs. Williams. So, she gone, I back to
my accounts of Tangier, which I am settling, having my new tallies from
the Exchequer this day, and having set all right as I could wish, then
to bed.
21st. Up, and to the Office, where sat all the morning, and there a most
furious conflict between Sir W. Pen and I, in few words, and on a
sudden occasion, of no great moment, but very bitter, and stared on
one another, and so broke off; and to our business, my heart as full of
spite as it could hold, for which God forgive me and him! At the end
of the day come witnesses on behalf of Mr. Carcasse; but, instead of
clearing him, I find they were brought to recriminate Sir W. Batten, and
did it by oath very highly, that made the old man mad, and, I confess,
me ashamed, so that I caused all but ourselves to withdraw; being sorry
to have such things declared in the open office, before 100 people. But
it was done home, and I do believe true, though (Sir) W. Batten denies
all, but is cruel mad, and swore one of them, he or Carcasse, should not
continue in the Office, which is said like a fool. He gone, for he would
not stay, and [Sir] W. Pen gone a good while before, Lord Bruncker, Sir
T. Harvy, and I, staid and examined the witnesses, though amounting to
little more than a reproaching of Sir W. Batten. I home, my head and
mind vexed about the conflict between Sir W. Pen and I, though I have
got, nor lost any ground by it. At home was Mr. Daniel and wife
and sister, and dined with us, and I disturbed at dinner, Colonell
Fitzgerald coming to me about tallies, which I did go and give him, and
then to the office, where did much business and walked an hour or two
with Lord Bruncker, who is mightily concerned in this business for
Carcasse and against Sir W. Batten, and I do hope it will come to a good
height, for I think it will be good for the King as well as for me, that
they two do not agree, though I do, for ought I see yet, think that my
Lord is for the most part in the right. He gone, I to the office again
to dispatch business, and late at night comes in Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W.
Pen, and [Sir] J. Minnes to the office, and what was it but to examine
one Jones, a young merchant, who was said to have spoke the worst
against Sir W. Batten, but he do deny it wholly, yet I do believe
Carcasse will go near to prove all that was sworn in the morning, and so
it be true I wish it may. That done, I to end my letters, and then home
to supper, and set right some accounts of Tangier, and then to bed.
22nd. Up, and to the office, where I awhile, and then home with Sir
H. Cholmly to give him some tallies upon the business of the Mole at
Tangier, and then out with him by coach to the Excise Office, there to
enter them, and so back again with him to the Exchange, and there I took
another coach, and home to the office, and to my business till dinner,
the rest of our officers having been this morning upon the Victuallers'
accounts. At dinner all of us, that is to say, Lord Bruncker, [Sir] J.
Minnes, [Sir] W. Batten, [Sir] T. Harvy, and myself, to Sir W. Pen's
house, where some other company. It is instead of a wedding dinner for
his daughter, whom I saw in palterly clothes, nothing new but a bracelet
that her servant had given her, and ugly she is, as heart can wish. A
sorry dinner, not any thing handsome or clean, but some silver plates
they borrowed of me. My wife was here too. So a great deal of talk, and
I seemingly merry, but took no pleasure at all. We had favours given us
all, and we put them in our hats, I against my will, but that my Lord
and the rest did, I being displeased that he did carry Sir W. Coventry's
himself several days ago, and the people up and down the town long
since, and we must have them but to-day. After dinner to talk a little,
and then I away to my office, to draw up a letter of the state of the
Office and Navy for the Duke of York against Sunday next, and at it
late, and then home to supper and to bed, talking with my wife of the
poorness and meanness of all that Sir W. Pen and the people about us do,
compared with what we do.
23rd. This day I am, by the blessing of God, 34 years old, in very
good health and mind's content, and in condition of estate much beyond
whatever my friends could expect of a child of theirs, this day 34
years. The Lord's name be praised! and may I be ever thankful for it.
Up betimes to the office, in order to my letter to the Duke of York
to-morrow, and then the office met and spent the greatest part about
this letter. At noon home to dinner, and then to the office again very
close at it all the day till midnight, making an end and writing fair
this great letter and other things to my full content, it abundantly
providing for the vindication of this office, whatever the success be of
our wants of money. This evening Sir W. Batten come to me to the office
on purpose, out of spleen (of which he is full to Carcasse!), to tell
me that he is now informed of many double tickets now found of Carcasses
making which quite overthrows him. It is strange to see how, though I
do believe this fellow to be a rogue, and could be contented to have
him removed, yet to see him persecuted by Sir W. Batten, who is as bad
himself, and that with so much rancour, I am almost the fellow's friend.
But this good I shall have from it, that the differences between Sir W.
Batten and my Lord Bruncker will do me no hurt.
24th (Lord's day). Up, and with [Sir] W. Batten, by coach; he set me
down at my Lord Bruncker's (his feud there not suffering him to 'light
himself), and I with my Lord by and by when ready to White Hall, and by
and by up to the Duke of York, and there presented our great letter and
other papers, and among the rest my report of the victualling, which is
good, I think, and will continue my pretence to the place, which I
am still afeard Sir W. Coventry's employment may extinguish. We have
discharged ourselves in this letter fully from blame in the bad success
of the Navy, if money do not come soon to us, and so my heart is at
pretty good rest in this point. Having done here, Sir W. Batten and I
home by coach, and though the sermon at our church was begun, yet he
would 'light to go home and eat a slice of roast beef off the spit, and
did, and then he and I to church in the middle of the sermon. My Lady
Pen there saluted me with great content to tell me that her daughter
and husband are still in bed, as if the silly woman thought it a great
matter of honour, and did, going out of the church, ask me whether we
did not make a great show at Court today, with all our favours in our
hats. After sermon home, and alone with my wife dined. Among other
things my wife told me how ill a report our Mercer hath got by her
keeping of company, so that she will not send for her to dine with us
or be with us as heretofore; and, what is more strange, tells me that
little Mis. Tooker hath got a clap as young as she is, being brought up
loosely by her mother.... In the afternoon away to White Hall by water,
and took a turn or two in the Park, and then back to White Hall, and
there meeting my Lord Arlington, he, by I know not what kindness,
offered to carry me along with him to my Lord Treasurer's, whither, I
told him, I was going. I believe he had a mind to discourse of some Navy
businesses, but Sir Thomas Clifford coming into the coach to us, we
were prevented; which I was sorry for, for I had a mind to begin
an acquaintance with him. He speaks well, and hath pretty slight
superficial parts, I believe. He, in our going, talked much of the plain
habit of the Spaniards; how the King and Lords themselves wear but a
cloak of Colchester bayze, and the ladies mantles, in cold weather, of
white flannell: and that the endeavours frequently of setting up the
manufacture of making these stuffs there have only been prevented by the
Inquisition: the English and Dutchmen that have been sent for to work,
being taken with a Psalmbook or Testament, and so clapped up, and the
house pulled down by the Inquisitors; and the greatest Lord in
Spayne dare not say a word against it, if the word Inquisition be but
mentioned. At my Lord Treasurer's 'light and parted with them, they
going into Council, and I walked with Captain Cocke, who takes mighty
notice of the differences growing in our office between Lord Bruncker
and [Sir] W. Batten, and among others also, and I fear it may do us
hurt, but I will keep out of them. By and by comes Sir S. Fox, and he
and I walked and talked together on many things, but chiefly want of
money, and the straits the King brings himself and affairs into for want
of it. Captain Cocke did tell me what I must not forget: that the answer
of the Dutch, refusing The Hague for a place of treaty, and proposing
the Boysse, Bredah, Bergen-op-Zoome, or Mastricht, was seemingly stopped
by the Swede's Embassador (though he did show it to the King, but the
King would take no notice of it, nor does not) from being delivered to
the King; and he hath wrote to desire them to consider better of it: so
that, though we know their refusal of the place, yet they know not that
we know it, nor is the King obliged to show his sense of the affront.
That the Dutch are in very great straits, so as to be said to be not
able to set out their fleete this year. By and by comes Sir Robert Viner
and my Lord Mayor to ask the King's directions about measuring out the
streets according to the new Act for building of the City, wherein the
King is to be pleased.
[See Sir Christopher Wren's "Proposals for rebuilding the City of
London after the great fire, with an engraved Plan of the principal
Streets and Public Buildings," in Elmes's "Memoirs of Sir
Christopher Wren," Appendix, p.61. The originals are in All Souls'
College Library, Oxford.--B.]
But he says that the way proposed in Parliament, by Colonel Birch, would
have been the best, to have chosen some persons in trust, and sold the
whole ground, and let it be sold again by them, with preference to the
old owner, which would have certainly caused the City to be built where
these Trustees pleased; whereas now, great differences will be, and the
streets built by fits, and not entire till all differences be decided.
This, as he tells it, I think would have been the best way. I enquired
about the Frenchman
["One Hubert, a French papist, was seized in Essex, as he was
getting out of the way in great confusion. He confessed he had
begun the fire, and persisted in his confession to his death, for he
was hanged upon no other evidence but that of his own confession.
It is true he gave so broken an account of the whole matter that he
was thought mad. Yet he was blindfolded, and carried to several
places of the city, and then his eyes being opened, he was asked if
that was the place, and he being carried to wrong places, after he
looked round about for some time, he said that was not the place,
but when he was brought to the place where it first broke out, he
affirmed that was the true place. "Burnet's Own Time," book ii.
Archbishop Tillotson, according to Burnet, believed that London was
burnt by design.]
that was said to fire the City, and was hanged for it, by his own
confession, that he was hired for it by a Frenchman of Roane, and that
he did with a stick reach in a fire-ball in at a window of the house:
whereas the master of the house, who is the King's baker, and his son,
and daughter, do all swear there was no such window, and that the fire
did not begin thereabouts. Yet the fellow, who, though a mopish besotted
fellow, did not speak like a madman, did swear that he did fire it: and
did not this like a madman; for, being tried on purpose, and landed with
his keeper at the Tower Wharf, he could carry the keeper to the very
house. Asking Sir R. Viner what he thought was the cause of the fire, he
tells me, that the baker, son, and his daughter, did all swear again and
again, that their oven was drawn by ten o'clock at night; that, having
occasion to light a candle about twelve, there was not so much fire in
the bakehouse as to light a match for a candle, so that they were fain
to go into another place to light it; that about two in the morning they
felt themselves almost choked with smoke, and rising, did find the fire
coming upstairs; so they rose to save themselves; but that, at that
time, the bavins--[brushwood, or faggots used for lighting fires]--were
not on fire in the yard. So that they are, as they swear, in absolute
ignorance how this fire should come; which is a strange thing, that so
horrid an effect should have so mean and uncertain a beginning. By and
by called in to the King and Cabinet, and there had a few insipid words
about money for Tangier, but to no purpose. Thence away walked to my
boat at White Hall, and so home and to supper, and then to talk with W.
Hewer about business of the differences at present among the people of
our office, and so to my journall and to bed. This night going through
bridge by water, my waterman told me how the mistress of the Beare
tavern, at the bridge-foot, did lately fling herself into the Thames,
and drowned herself; which did trouble me the more, when they tell me
it was she that did live at the White Horse tavern in Lumbard Streete,
which was a most beautiful woman, as most I have seen. It seems she hath
had long melancholy upon her, and hath endeavoured to make away with
herself often.
25th. Lay long in bed, talking with pleasure with my poor wife, how she
used to make coal fires, and wash my foul clothes with her own hand for
me, poor wretch! in our little room at my Lord Sandwich's; for which I
ought for ever to love and admire her, and do; and persuade myself she
would do the same thing again, if God should reduce us to it. So up and
by coach abroad to the Duke of Albemarle's about sending soldiers down
to some ships, and so home, calling at a belt-maker's to mend my belt,
and so home and to dinner, where pleasant with my wife, and then to the
office, where mighty busy all the day, saving going forth to the 'Change
to pay for some things, and on other occasions, and at my goldsmith's
did observe the King's new medall, where, in little, there is Mrs.
Steward's face as well done as ever I saw anything in my whole life,
I think: and a pretty thing it is, that he should choose her face
to represent Britannia by. So at the office late very busy and much
business with great joy dispatched, and so home to supper and to bed.
26th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. And here did receive
another reference from Sir W. Coventry about the business of some of the
Muster-Masters, concerning whom I had returned their small performances,
which do give me a little more trouble for fear [Sir] W. Coventry should
think I had a design to favour my brother Balty, and to that end to
disparage all the rest. But I shall clear all very well, only it do
exercise my thoughts more than I am at leisure for. At home find Balty
and his wife very fine, which I did not like, for fear he do spend too
much of his money that way, and lay [not] up anything. After dinner to
the office again, where by and by Lord Bruncker, [Sir] W. Batten, [Sir]
J. Minnes and I met about receiving Carcasses answers to the depositions
against him. Wherein I did see so much favour from my Lord to him that
I do again begin to see that my Lord is not right at the bottom, and
did make me the more earnest against him, though said little. My Lord
rising, declaring his judgement in his behalf, and going away, I did
hinder our arguing it by ourselves, and so broke up the meeting, and
myself went full of trouble to my office, there to write over the
deposition and his answers side by side, and then home to supper and to
bed with some trouble of mind to think of the issue of this, how it will
breed ill blood among us here.
27th. Up by candle-light, about six o'clock, it being bitter cold
weather again, after all our warm weather, and by water down to Woolwich
rope-yard, I being this day at a leisure, the King and Duke of York
being gone down to Sheerenesse this morning to lay out the design for
a fortification there to the river Medway; and so we do not attend the
Duke of York as we should otherwise have done, and there to the Dock
Yard to enquire of the state of things, and went into Mr. Pett's; and
there, beyond expectation, he did present me with a Japan cane, with a
silver head, and his wife sent me by him a ring, with a Woolwich stone;
[Woolwich stones, still collected in that locality, are simply
waterworn pebbles of flint, which, when broken with a hammer,
exhibit on the smooth surface some resemblance to the human face;
and their possessors are thus enabled to trace likenesses of
friends, or eminent public characters. The late Mr. Tennant, the
geologist, of the Strand, had a collection of such stones. In the
British Museum is a nodule of globular or Egyptian jasper, which, in
its fracture, bears a striking resemblance to the well-known
portrait of Chaucer. It is engraved in Rymsdyk's "Museum
Britannicum," tab. xxviii. A flint, showing Mr. Pitt's face, used
once to be exhibited at the meetings of the Pitt Club.--B.]
now much in request; which I accepted, the values not being great, and
knowing that I had done them courtesies, which he did own in very
high terms; and then, at my asking, did give me an old draught of an
ancient-built ship, given him by his father, of the Beare, in Queen
Elizabeth's time. This did much please me, it being a thing I much
desired to have, to shew the difference in the build of ships now and
heretofore. Being much taken with this kindness, I away to Blackwall and
Deptford, to satisfy myself there about the King's business, and then
walked to Redriffe, and so home about noon; there find Mr. Hunt, newly
come out of the country, who tells me the country is much impoverished
by the greatness of taxes: the farmers do break every day almost, and
L1000 a-year become not worth L500. He dined with us, and we had good
discourse of the general ill state of things, and, by the way, he told
me some ridiculous pieces of thrift of Sir G. Downing's, who is his
countryman, in inviting some poor people, at Christmas last, to charm
the country people's mouths; but did give them nothing but beef,
porridge, pudding, and pork, and nothing said all dinner, but only his
mother would say, "It's good broth, son." He would answer, "Yes, it is
good broth." Then, says his lady, Confirm all, and say, "Yes, very good
broth." By and by she would begin and say, "Good pork:"--"Yes," says the
mother, "good pork." Then he cries, "Yes, very good pork." And so they
said of all things; to which nobody made any answer, they going there
not out of love or esteem of them, but to eat his victuals, knowing him
to be a niggardly fellow; and with this he is jeered now all over the
country. This day just before dinner comes Captain Story, of Cambridge,
to me to the office, about a bill for prest money,
[Money paid to men who enlist into the public service; press money.
So called because those who receive it are to be prest or ready when
called on ("Encyclopaedic Dictionary ").]
for men sent out of the country and the countries about him to the
fleete the last year; but, Lord! to see the natures of men; how this
man, hearing of my name, did ask me of my country, and told me of my
cozen Roger, that he was not so wise a man as his father; for that he
do not agree in Parliament with his fellow burgesses and knights of
the shire, whereas I know very well the reason; for he is not so high a
flyer as Mr. Chichley and others, but loves the King better than any of
them, and to better purpose. But yet, he says that he is a very honest
gentleman, and thence runs into a hundred stories of his own services to
the King, and how he at this day brings in the taxes before anybody here
thinks they are collected: discourse very absurd to entertain a stranger
with. He being gone, and I glad of it, I home then to dinner. After
dinner with my wife by coach abroad, andset Mr. Hunt down at the Temple
and her at her brother's, and I to White Hall to meet [Sir] W. Coventry,
but found him not, but met Mr. Cooling, who tells me of my Lord Duke of
Buckingham's being sent for last night, by a Serjeant at Armes, to the
Tower, for treasonable practices, and that the King is infinitely angry
with him, and declared him no longer one of his Council. I know not the
reason of it, or occasion. To Westminster Hall, and there paid what I
owed for books, and so by coach, took up my wife to the Exchange, and
there bought things for Mrs. Pierces little daughter, my Valentine, and
so to their house, where we find Knipp, who also challengeth me for her
Valentine. She looks well, sang well, and very merry we were for half
an hour. Tells me Harris is well again, having been very ill, and so we
home, and I to the office; then, at night, to Sir W. Pen's, and sat with
my Lady, and the young couple (Sir William out of town) talking merrily;
but they make a very sorry couple, methinks, though rich. So late home
and to bed.
28th. Up, and there comes to me Drumbleby with a flageolet, made to suit
with my former and brings me one Greeting, a master, to teach my wife.
I agree by the whole with him to teach her to take out any lesson of
herself for L4. She was not ready to begin to-day, but do to-morrow. So
I to the office, where my Lord Bruncker and I only all the morning,
and did business. At noon to the Exchange and to Sir Rob. Viner's
about settling my accounts there. So back home and to dinner, where Mr.
Holliard dined with us, and pleasant company he is. I love his company,
and he secures me against ever having the stone again. He gives it me,
as his opinion, that the City will never be built again together, as is
expected, while any restraint is laid upon them. He hath been a great
loser, and would be a builder again, but, he says, he knows not what
restrictions there will be, so as it is unsafe for him to begin. He
gone, I to the office, and there busy till night doing much business,
then home and to my accounts, wherein, beyond expectation, I succeeded
so well as to settle them very clear and plain, though by borrowing of
monies this month to pay D. Gawden, and chopping and changing with my
Tangier money, they were become somewhat intricate, and, blessed be God;
upon the evening my accounts, I do appear L6800 creditor: This done,
I to supper about 12 at night, and so to bed. The weather for three or
four days being come to be exceeding cold again as any time this year. I
did within these six days see smoke still remaining of the late fire
in the City; and it is strange to think how, to this very day, I cannot
sleep at night without great terrors of fire, and this very night I
could not sleep till almost two in the morning through thoughts of fire.
Thus this month is ended with great content of mind to me, thriving in
my estate, and the affairs in my offices going pretty well as to myself.
This afternoon Mr. Gawden was with me and tells me more than I knew
before--that he hath orders to get all the victuals he can to Plymouth,
and the Western ports, and other outports, and some to Scotland, so that
we do intend to keep but a flying fleete this year; which, it may be,
may preserve us a year longer, but the end of it must be ruin. Sir J.
Minnes this night tells me, that he hears for certain, that ballads are
made of us in Holland for begging of a peace; which I expected, but am
vexed at. So ends this month, with nothing of weight upon my mind, but
for my father and mother, who are both very ill, and have been so for
some weeks: whom God help! but I do fear my poor father will hardly be
ever thoroughly well again.
MARCH 1666-1667
March 1st. Up, it being very cold weather again after a good deal of
warm summer weather, and to the office, where I settled to do much
business to-day. By and by sent for to Sir G. Carteret to discourse of
the business of the Navy, and our wants, and the best way of bestowing
the little money we have, which is about L30,000, but, God knows, we
have need of ten times as much, which do make my life uncomfortable,
I confess, on the King's behalf, though it is well enough as to my own
particular, but the King's service is undone by it. Having done with
him, back again to the office, and in the streets, in Mark Lane, I do
observe, it being St. David's day, the picture of a man dressed like a
Welchman, hanging by the neck upon one of the poles that stand out at
the top of one of the merchants' houses, in full proportion, and very
handsomely done; which is one of the oddest sights I have seen a good
while, for it was so like a man that one would have thought it was
indeed a man.
[From "Poor Robin's Almanack" for 1757 it appears that, in former
times in England, a Welshman was burnt in effigy on this
anniversary. Mr. W. C. Hazlitt, in his edition of Brand's "Popular
Antiquities," adds "The practice to which Pepys refers... was
very common at one time; and till very lately bakers made
gingerbread Welshmen, called taffies, on St. David's day, which were
made to represent a man skewered" (vol. i., pp. 60,61).]
Being returned home, I find Greeting, the flageolet-master, come, and
teaching my wife; and I do think my wife will take pleasure in it, and
it will be easy for her, and pleasant. So I, as I am well content with
the charge it will occasion me. So to the office till dinner-time, and
then home to dinner, and before dinner making my wife to sing. Poor
wretch! her ear is so bad that it made me angry, till the poor wretch
cried to see me so vexed at her, that I think I shall not discourage her
so much again, but will endeavour to make her understand sounds, and do
her good that way; for she hath a great mind to learn, only to please
me; and, therefore, I am mighty unjust to her in discouraging her so
much, but we were good friends, and to dinner, and had she not been ill
with those and that it were not Friday (on which in Lent there are no
plays) I had carried her to a play, but she not being fit to go abroad,
I to the office, where all the afternoon close examining the collection
of my papers of the accounts of the Navy since this war to my great
content, and so at night home to talk and sing with my-wife, and then to
supper and so to bed with great pleasure. But I cannot but remember that
just before dinner one of my people come up to me, and told me a man
come from Huntingdon would speak with me, how my heart come into my
mouth doubting that my father, who has been long sicke, was dead. It put
me into a trembling, but, blessed be [God]! it was no such thing, but a
countryman come about ordinary business to me, to receive L50 paid to my
father in the country for the Perkins's for their legacy, upon the death
of their mother, by my uncle's will. So though I get nothing at present,
at least by the estate, I am fain to pay this money rather than rob my
father, and much good may it do them that I may have no more further
trouble from them. I hear to-day that Tom Woodall, the known chyrurgeon,
is killed at Somerset House by a Frenchman, but the occasion Sir W.
Batten could not tell me.
2nd. Up, and to the office, where sitting all the morning, and among
other things did agree upon a distribution of L30,000 and odd, which is
the only sum we hear of like to come out of all the Poll Bill for the
use of this office for buying of goods. I did herein some few courtesies
for particular friends I wished well to, and for the King's service
also, and was therefore well pleased with what was done. Sir W. Pen this
day did bring an order from the Duke of York for our receiving from him
a small vessel for a fireship, and taking away a better of the King's
for it, it being expressed for his great service to the King. This I am
glad of, not for his sake, but that it will give me a better ground, I
believe, to ask something for myself of this kind, which I was fearful
to begin. This do make Sir W. Pen the most kind to me that can be. I
suppose it is this, lest it should find any opposition from me, but
I will not oppose, but promote it. After dinner, with my wife, to
the King's house to see "The Mayden Queene," a new play of Dryden's,
mightily commended for the regularity of it, and the strain and wit;
and, the truth is, there is a comical part done by Nell,
["Her skill increasing with her years, other poets sought to obtain
recommendations of her wit and beauty to the success of their
writings. I have said that Dryden was one of the principal
supporters of the King's house, and ere long in one of his new plays
a principal character was set apart for the popular comedian. The
drama was a tragi-comedy called 'Secret Love, or the Maiden Queen,'
and an additional interest was attached to its production from the
king having suggested the plot to its author, and calling it 'his
play.'"--Cunningham's Story of Nell Gwyn, ed: 1892, pp. 38,39.]
which is Florimell, that I never can hope ever to see the like done
again, by man or woman. The King and Duke of York were at the play.
But so great performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the
world before as Nell do this, both as a mad girle, then most and best
of all when she comes in like a young gallant; and hath the notions and
carriage of a spark the most that ever I saw any man have. It makes
me, I confess, admire her. Thence home and to the office, where busy a
while, and then home to read the lives of Henry 5th and 6th, very fine,
in Speede, and to bed. This day I did pay a bill of L50 from my father,
being so much out of my own purse gone to pay my uncle Robert's legacy
to my aunt Perkins's child.
3rd (Lord's day). Lay long, merrily talking with my wife, and then up
and to church, where a dull sermon of Mr. Mills touching Original Sin,
and then home, and there find little Michell and his wife, whom I love
mightily. Mightily contented I was in their company, for I love her
much; and so after dinner I left them and by water from the Old Swan to
White Hall, where, walking in the galleries, I in the first place met
Mr. Pierce, who tells me the story of Tom Woodall, the surgeon, killed
in a drunken quarrel, and how the Duke of York hath a mind to get him
[Pierce] one of his places in St. Thomas's Hospitall. Then comes Mr.
Hayward, the Duke of York's servant, and tells us that the Swede's
Embassador hath been here to-day with news that it is believed that the
Dutch will yield to have the treaty at London or Dover, neither of which
will get our King any credit, we having already consented to have it at
The Hague; which, it seems, De Witt opposed, as a thing wherein the King
of England must needs have some profound design, which in my conscience
he hath not. They do also tell me that newes is this day come to the
King, that the King of France is come with his army to the frontiers of
Flanders, demanding leave to pass through their country towards Poland,
but is denied, and thereupon that he is gone into the country. How true
this is I dare not believe till I hear more. From them I walked into the
Parke, it being a fine but very cold day; and there took two or three
turns the length of the Pell Mell: and there I met Serjeant Bearcroft,
who was sent for the Duke of Buckingham, to have brought him prisoner
to the Tower. He come to towne this day, and brings word that, being
overtaken and outrid by the Duchesse of Buckingham within a few miles
of the Duke's house of Westhorp, he believes she got thither about a
quarter of an hour before him, and so had time to consider; so that,
when he come, the doors were kept shut against him. The next day, coming
with officers of the neighbour market-town to force open the doors, they
were open for him, but the Duke gone; so he took horse presently, and
heard upon the road that the Duke of Buckingham was gone before him for
London: so that he believes he is this day also come to towne before
him; but no newes is yet heard of him. This is all he brings. Thence to
my Lord Chancellor's, and there, meeting Sir H. Cholmly, he and I walked
in my Lord's garden, and talked; among other things, of the treaty: and
he says there will certainly be a peace, but I cannot believe it. He
tells me that the Duke of Buckingham his crimes, as far as he knows, are
his being of a caball with some discontented persons of the late House
of Commons, and opposing the desires of the King in all his matters in
that House; and endeavouring to become popular, and advising how the
Commons' House should proceed, and how he would order the House of
Lords. And that he hath been endeavouring to have the King's nativity
calculated; which was done, and the fellow now in the Tower about it;
which itself hath heretofore, as he says, been held treason, and people
died for it; but by the Statute of Treasons, in Queen Mary's times and
since, it hath been left out. He tells me that this silly Lord hath
provoked, by his ill-carriage, the Duke of York, my Lord Chancellor, and
all the great persons; and therefore, most likely, will die. He tells
me, too, many practices of treachery against this King; as betraying
him in Scotland, and giving Oliver an account of the King's private
councils; which the King knows very well, and hath yet pardoned him.
[Two of our greatest poets have drawn the character of the Duke of
Buckingham in brilliant verse, and both have condemned him to
infamy. There is enough in Pepys's reports to corroborate the main
features of Dryden's magnificent portrait of Zimri in "Absolom and
Achitophel":
"In the first rank of these did Zimri stand;
A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome;
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
Was everything by starts, and nothing long,
But, in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon;
Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking,
Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking,
* * * * * * *
He laughed himself from Court, then sought relief
By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief."
Pope's facts are not correct, and hence the effect of his picture is
impaired. In spite of the duke's constant visits to the Tower,
Charles II. still continued his friend; but on the death of the
king, expecting little from James, he retired to his estate at
Helmsley, in Yorkshire, to nurse his property and to restore his
constitution. He died on April 16th, 1687, at Kirkby Moorside,
after a few days' illness, caused by sitting on the damp grass when
heated from a fox chase. The scene of his death was the house of a
tenant, not "the worst inn's worst room" ("Moral Essays," epist.
iii.). He was buried in Westminster Abbey.]
Here I passed away a little time more talking with him and Creed, whom I
met there, and so away, Creed walking with me to White Hall, and there
I took water and stayed at Michell's to drink. I home, and there to read
very good things in Fuller's "Church History," and "Worthies," and so
to supper, and after supper had much good discourse with W. Hewer, who
supped with us, about the ticket office and the knaveries and extortions
every day used there, and particularly of the business of Mr. Carcasse,
whom I fear I shall find a very rogue. So parted with him, and then to
bed.
4th. Up, and with Sir J. Minnes and [Sir] W. Batten by barge to Deptford
by eight in the morning, where to the King's yard a little to look
after business there, and then to a private storehouse to look upon some
cordage of Sir W. Batten's, and there being a hole formerly made for
a drain for tarr to run into, wherein the barrel stood still, full of
stinking water, Sir W. Batten did fall with one leg into it, which might
have been very bad to him by breaking a leg or other hurt, but, thanks
be to God, he only sprained his foot a little. So after his shifting his
stockings at a strong water shop close by, we took barge again, and so
to Woolwich, where our business was chiefly to look upon the ballast
wharfe there, which is offered us for the King's use to hire, but we do
not think it worth the laying out much money upon, unless we could buy
the fee-simple of it, which cannot be sold us, so we wholly flung it
off: So to the Dockyard, and there staid a while talking about business
of the yard, and thence to the Rope-yard, and so to the White Hart and
there dined, and Captain Cocke with us, whom we found at the Rope-yard,
and very merry at dinner, and many pretty tales of Sir J. Minnes, which
I have entered in my tale book. But by this time Sir W. Batten was come
to be in much pain in his foot, so as he was forced to be carried down
in a chair to the barge again, and so away to Deptford, and there I
a little in the yard, and then to Bagwell's, where I find his wife
washing, and also I did 'hazer tout que je voudrais con' her, and then
sent for her husband, and discoursed of his going to Harwich this week
to his charge of the new ship building there, which I have got him, and
so away, walked to Redriffe, and there took boat and away home, and upon
Tower Hill, near the ticket office, meeting with my old acquaintance Mr.
Chaplin, the cheesemonger, and there fell to talk of news, and he tells
me that for certain the King of France is denied passage with his army
through Flanders, and that he hears that the Dutch do stand upon high
terms with us, and will have a promise of not being obliged to strike
the flag to us before they will treat with us, and other high things,
which I am ashamed of and do hope will never be yielded to. That they do
make all imaginable preparations, but that he believes they will be in
mighty want of men; that the King of France do court us mightily. He
tells me too that our Lord-Treasurer is going to lay down, and that Lord
Arlington is to be Lord Treasurer, but I believe nothing of it, for he
is not yet of estate visible enough to have the charge I suppose upon
him. So being parted from him I home to the office, and after having
done business there I home to supper, and there mightily pleased with my
wife's beginning the flagellette, believing that she will come to very
well thereon. This day in the barge I took Berckenshaw's translation of
Alsted his Templum, but the most ridiculous book, as he has translated
it, that ever I saw in my life, I declaring that I understood not three
lines together from one end of the book to the other.
5th. Up, and to the office, where met and sat all the morning, doing
little for want of money, but only bear the countenance of an office.
At noon home to dinner, and then to the office again, and there comes
Martin my purser, and I walked with him awhile in the garden, I giving
him good advice to beware of coming any more with high demands for
supernumeraries or other things, for now Sir W. Pen is come to mind the
business, the passing of his accounts will not be so easy as the last.
He tells me he will never need it again, it being as easy, and to as
much purpose to do the same thing otherwise, and how he do keep his
Captain's table, and by that means hath the command of his Captains,
and do not fear in a 5th-rate ship constantly employed to get a L1000 in
five years time, and this year, besides all his spendings, which are I
fear high, he hath got at this day clear above L150 in a voyage of about
five or six months, which is a brave trade. He gone I to the office, and
there all the afternoon late doing much business, and then to see Sir W.
Batten, whose leg is all but better than it was, and like to do well. I
by discourse do perceive he and his Lady are to their hearts out with
my Lord Bruncker and Mrs. Williams, to which I added something, but, I
think, did not venture too far with them. But, Lord! to see to what a
poor content any acquaintance among these people, or the people of the
world, as they now-adays go, is worth; for my part I and my wife will
keep to one another and let the world go hang, for there is nothing but
falseness in it. So home to supper and hear my wife and girle sing a
little, and then to bed with much content of mind.
6th. Up, and with [Sir] W. Pen to White Hall by coach, and by the way
agreed to acquaint [Sir] W. Coventry with the business of Mr. Carcasse,
and he and I spoke to Sir W. Coventry that we might move it to the Duke
of York, which I did in a very indifferent, that is, impartial manner,
but vexed I believe Lord Bruncker. Here the Duke of York did acquaint
us, and the King did the like also, afterwards coming in, with his
resolution of altering the manner of the war this year; that is, we
shall keep what fleete we have abroad in several squadrons: so that
now all is come out; but we are to keep it as close as we can, without
hindering the work that is to be done in preparation to this. Great
preparations there are to fortify Sheernesse and the yard at Portsmouth,
and forces are drawing down to both those places, and elsewhere by the
seaside; so that we have some fear of an invasion; and the Duke of York
himself did declare his expectation of the enemy's blocking us up here
in the River, and therefore directed that we should send away all the
ships that we have to fit out hence. Sir W. Pen told me, going with me
this morning to White Hall, that for certain the Duke of Buckingham
is brought into the Tower, and that he hath had an hour's private
conference with the King before he was sent thither. To Westminster
Hall. There bought some news books, and, as every where else, hear every
body complain of the dearness of coals, being at L4 per chaldron, the
weather, too, being become most bitter cold, the King saying to-day that
it was the coldest day he ever knew in England. Thence by coach to my
Lord Crew's, where very welcome. Here I find they are in doubt where
the Duke of Buckingham is; which makes me mightily reflect on the
uncertainty of all history, when, in a business of this moment, and
of this day's growth, we cannot tell the truth. Here dined my old
acquaintance, Mr. Borfett, that was my Lord Sandwich's chaplain, and
my Lady Wright and Dr. Boreman, who is preacher at St. Gyles's in the
Fields, who, after dinner, did give my Lord an account of two papist
women lately converted, whereof one wrote her recantation, which he
shewed under her own hand mighty well drawn, so as my Lord desired a
copy of it, after he had satisfied himself from the Doctor, that to his
knowledge she was not a woman under any necessity. Thence by coach home
and staid a very little, and then by water to Redriffe, and walked
to Bagwell's, where 'la moher' was 'defro, sed' would not have me
'demeurer' there 'parce que' Mrs. Batters and one of my 'ancillas',
I believe Jane (for she was gone abroad to-day), was in the town, and
coming thither; so I away presently, esteeming it a great escape. So to
the yard and spoke a word or two, and then by water home, wondrous cold,
and reading a ridiculous ballad made in praise of the Duke of Albemarle,
to the tune of St. George, the tune being printed, too; and I observe
that people have some great encouragement to make ballads of him of
this kind. There are so many, that hereafter he will sound like Guy of
Warwicke. Then abroad with my wife, leaving her at the 'Change, while I
to Sir H. Cholmly's, a pretty house, and a fine, worthy, well-disposed
gentleman he is. He and I to Sir Ph. Warwicke's, about money for
Tangier, but to little purpose. H. Cholmley tells me, among other
things, that he hears of little hopes of a peace, their demands being
so high as we shall never grant, and could tell me that we shall keep
no fleete abroad this year, but only squadrons. And, among other things,
that my Lord Bellasses, he believes, will lose his command of Tangier by
his corrupt covetous ways of.endeavouring to sell his command, which I
am glad [of], for he is a man of no worth in the world but compliment.
So to the 'Change, and there bought 32s. worth of things for Mrs. Knipp,
my Valentine, which is pretty to see how my wife is come to convention
with me, that, whatever I do give to anybody else, I shall give her as
much, which I am not much displeased with. So home and to the office
and Sir W. Batten, to tell him what I had done to-day about Carcasse's
business, and God forgive me I am not without design to give a blow
to Sir W. Batten by it. So home, where Mr. Batelier supped with us and
talked away the evening pretty late, and so he gone and we to bed.
7th. So up, and to the office, my head full of Carcasse's business; then
hearing that Knipp is at my house, I home, and it was about a ticket for
a friend of hers. I do love the humour of the jade very well. So to
the office again, not being able to stay, and there about noon my Lord
Bruncker did begin to talk of Carcasse's business. Only Commissioner
Pett, my Lord, and I there, and it was pretty to see how Pett hugged the
occasion of having anything against Sir W. Batten, which I am not much
troubled at, for I love him not neither. Though I did really endeavour
to quash it all I could, because I would prevent their malice taking
effect. My Lord I see is fully resolved to vindicate Carcasse, though
to the undoing of Sir W. Batten, but I believe he will find himself in a
mistake, and do himself no good, and that I shall be glad of, for though
I love the treason I hate the traitor. But he is vexed at my moving it
to the Duke of York yesterday, which I answered well, so as I think
he could not answer. But, Lord! it is pretty to see how Pett hugs this
business, and how he favours my Lord Bruncker; who to my knowledge hates
him, and has said more to his disadvantage, in my presence, to the King
and Duke of York than any man in England, and so let them thrive one
with another by cheating one another, for that is all I observe among
them. Thence home late, and find my wife hath dined, and she and Mrs.
Hewer going to a play. Here was Creed, and he and I to Devonshire House,
to a burial of a kinsman of Sir R. Viner's; and there I received a ring,
and so away presently to Creed, who staid for me at an alehouse hard by,
and thence to the Duke's playhouse, where he parted, and I in and find
my wife and Mrs. Hewer, and sat by them and saw "The English Princesse,
or Richard the Third;" a most sad, melancholy play, and pretty good; but
nothing eminent in it, as some tragedys are; only little Mis. Davis did
dance a jig after the end of the play, and there telling the next day's
play; so that it come in by force only to please the company to see
her dance in boy's 'clothes; and, the truth is, there is no comparison
between Nell's dancing the other day at the King's house in boy's
clothes and this, this being infinitely beyond the other. Mere was Mr.
Clerke and Pierce, to whom one word only of "How do you," and so
away home, Mrs. Hewer with us, and I to the office and so to [Sir] W.
Batten's, and there talked privately with him and [Sir] W. Pen about
business of Carcasse against tomorrow, wherein I think I did give them
proof enough of my ability as well as friendship to [Sir] W. Batten, and
the honour of the office, in my sense of the rogue's business. So back
to finish my office business, and then home to supper, and to bed. This
day, Commissioner Taylor come to me for advice, and would force me to
take ten pieces in gold of him, which I had no mind to, he being become
one of our number at the Board. This day was reckoned by all people the
coldest day that ever was remembered in England; and, God knows! coals
at a very great price.
8th. Up, and to the Old Swan, where drank at Michell's, but not seeing
her whom I love I by water to White Hall, and there acquainted Sir G.
Carteret betimes what I had to say this day before the Duke of York in
the business of Carcasse, which he likes well of, being a great enemy to
him, and then I being too early here to go to Sir W. Coventry's chamber,
having nothing to say to him, and being able to give him but a bad
account of the business of the office (which is a shame to me, and that
which I shall rue if I do not recover), to the Exchequer about getting a
certificate of Mr. Lanyon's entered at Sir R. Longs office, and strange
it is to see what horrid delays there are at this day in the business
of money, there being nothing yet come from my Lord Treasurer to set
the business of money in action since the Parliament broke off,
notwithstanding the greatness and number of the King's occasions for
it. So to the Swan, and there had three or four baisers of the little
ancilla there, and so to Westminster Hall, where I saw Mr. Martin, the
purser, come through with a picture in his hand, which he had bought,
and observed how all the people of the Hall did fleer and laugh upon
him, crying, "There is plenty grown upon a sudden;" and, the truth is, I
was a little troubled that my favour should fall on so vain a fellow as
he, and the more because, methought, the people do gaze upon me as the
man that had raised him, and as if they guessed whence my kindness to
him springs. So thence to White Hall, where I find all met at the Duke
of York's chamber; and, by and by, the Duke of York comes, and Carcasse
is called in, and I read the depositions and his answers, and he added
with great confidence and good words, even almost to persuasion, what to
say; and my Lord Bruncker, like a very silly solicitor, argued against
me and us all for him; and, being asked first by the Duke of York
his opinion, did give it for his being excused. I next did answer the
contrary very plainly, and had, in this dispute, which vexed and will
never be forgot by my Lord, many occasions of speaking severely, and
did, against his bad practices. Commissioner Pett, like a fawning rogue,
sided with my Lord, but to no purpose; and [Sir] W. Pen, like a cunning
rogue, spoke mighty indifferently, and said nothing in all the fray,
like a knave as he is. But [Sir] W. Batten spoke out, and did come off
himself by the Duke's kindness very well; and then Sir G. Carteret, and
Sir W. Coventry, and the Duke of York himself, flatly as I said; and
so he was declared unfit to continue in, and therefore to be presently
discharged the office; which, among other good effects, I hope, will
make my Lord Bruncker not 'alloquer' so high, when he shall consider he
hath had such a publick foyle as this is. So home with [Sir] W. Batten,
and [Sir] W. Pen, by coach, and there met at the office, and my Lord
Bruncker presently after us, and there did give order to Mr. Stevens for
securing the tickets in Carcasses hands, which my Lord against his will
could not refuse to sign, and then home to dinner, and so away with my
wife by coach, she to Mrs. Pierce's and I to my Lord Bellasses, and
with him to [my] Lord Treasurer's, where by agreement we met with Sir
H. Cholmly, and there sat and talked all the afternoon almost about one
thing or other, expecting Sir Philip Warwicke's coming, but he come not,
so we away towards night, Sir H. Cholmly and I to the Temple, and there
parted, telling me of my Lord Bellasses's want of generosity, and that
he [Bellasses] will certainly be turned out of his government, and
he thinks himself stands fair for it. So home, and there found, as I
expected, Mrs. Pierce and Mr. Batelier; he went for Mrs. Jones, but
no Mrs. Knipp come, which vexed me, nor any other company. So with one
fidler we danced away the evening, but I was not well contented with the
littleness of the room, and my wife's want of preparing things ready, as
they should be, for supper, and bad. So not very merry, though very well
pleased. So after supper to bed, my wife and Mrs. Pierce, and her boy
James and I. Yesterday I began to make this mark (V) stand instead of
three pricks, which therefore I must observe every where, it being a
mark more easy to make.
9th. Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning busy. At noon home
to dinner, where Mrs. Pierce did continue with us and her boy (who I
still find every day more and more witty beyond his age), and did dine
with us, and by and by comes in her husband and a brother-in-law of his,
a parson, one of the tallest biggest men that ever I saw in my life. So
to the office, where a meeting extraordinary about settling the number
and wages of my Lord Bruncker's clerks for his new work upon the
Treasurer's accounts, but this did put us upon running into the business
of yesterday about Carcasse, wherein I perceive he is most dissatisfied
with me, and I am not sorry for it, having all the world but him of my
side therein, for it will let him know another time that he is not
to expect our submitting to him in every thing, as I think he did
heretofore expect. He did speak many severe words to me, and I returned
as many to him, so that I do think there cannot for a great while, be,
any right peace between us, and I care not a fart for it; but however,
I must look about me and mind my business, for I perceive by his threats
and enquiries he is and will endeavour to find out something against
me or mine. Breaking up here somewhat brokenly I home, and carried Mrs.
Pierce and wife to the New Exchange, and there did give her and myself
a pair of gloves, and then set her down at home, and so back again
straight home and thereto do business, and then to Sir W. Batten's,
where [Sir] W. Pen and others, and mighty merry, only I have got a great
cold, and the scolding this day at the office with my Lord Bruncker hath
made it worse, that I am not able to speak. But, Lord! to see how kind
Sir W. Batten and his Lady are to me upon this business of my standing
by [Sir] W. Batten against Carcasse, and I am glad of it. Captain Cocke,
who was here to-night, did tell us that he is certain that yesterday a
proclamation was voted at the Council, touching the proclaiming of my
Lord Duke of Buckingham a traytor, and that it will be out on Monday. So
home late, and drank some buttered ale, and so to bed and to sleep. This
cold did most certainly come by my staying a little too long bare-legged
yesterday morning when I rose while I looked out fresh socks and thread
stockings, yesterday's having in the night, lying near the window, been
covered with snow within the window, which made me I durst not put them
on.
10th (Lord's day). Having my cold still grown more upon me, so as I am
not able to speak, I lay in bed till noon, and then up and to my chamber
with a good fire, and there spent an hour on Morly's Introduction to
Musique, a very good but unmethodical book. Then to dinner, my wife and
I, and then all the afternoon alone in my chamber preparing a letter for
Commissioner Taylor to the City about getting his accounts for The Loyal
London,
[The "Loyal London" was the ship given to the king by the City. It
was launched at Deptford on June 10th, 1666]
by him built for them, stated and discharged, they owing him still about
L4000. Towards the evening comes Mr. Spong to see me, whose discourse
about several things I proposed to him was very good, better than I have
had with any body a good while. He gone, I to my business again, and
anon comes my Lady Pen and her son-in law and daughter, and there we
talked all the evening away, and then to supper; and after supper comes
Sir W. Pen, and there we talked together, and then broke up, and so to
bed. He tells me that our Mr. Turner has seen the proclamation against
the Duke of Buckingham, and that therefore it is true what we heard
last night. Yesterday and to-day I have been troubled with a hoarseness
through cold that I could not almost speak.
11th. Up, and with my cold still upon me and hoarseness, but I was
forced to rise and to the office, where all the morning busy, and among
other things Sir W. Warren come to me, to whom of late I have been very
strange, partly from my indifference how more than heretofore to get
money, but most from my finding that he is become great with my Lord
Bruncker, and so I dare not trust him as I used to do, for I will not be
inward with him that is open to another. By and by comes Sir H. Cholmly
to me about Tangier business, and then talking of news he tells me how
yesterday the King did publiquely talk of the King of France's dealing
with all the Princes of Christendome. As to the States of Holland, he
[the King of France] hath advised them, on good grounds, to refuse to
treat with us at the Hague, because of having opportunity of spies, by
reason of our interest in the House of Orange; and then, it being a town
in one particular province, it would not be fit to have it, but in a
town wherein the provinces have equal interest, as at Mastricht, and
other places named. That he advises them to offer no terms, nor accept
of any, without his privity and consent, according to agreement; and
tells them, if not so, he hath in his power to be even with them, the
King of England being come to offer him any terms he pleases; and that
my Lord St. Albans is now at Paris, Plenipotentiary, to make what peace
he pleases; and so he can make it, and exclude them, the Dutch, if he
sees fit. A copy of this letter of the King of France's the Spanish
Ambassador here gets, and comes and tells all to our King; which our
King denies, and says the King of France only uses his power of saying
anything. At the same time, the King of France writes to the Emperor,
that he is resolved to do all things to express affection to the
Emperor, having it now in his power to make what peace he pleases
between the King of England and him, and the States of the United
Provinces; and, therefore, that he would not have him to concern himself
in a friendship with us; and assures him that, on that regard, he will
not offer anything to his disturbance, in his interest in Flanders, or
elsewhere. He writes, at the same time, to Spayne, to tell him that he
wonders to hear of a league almost ended between the Crown of Spayne and
England, by my Lord Sandwich, and all without his privity, while he was
making a peace upon what terms he pleased with England: that he is a
great lover of the Crown of Spayne, and would take the King and his
affairs, during his minority, into his protection, nor would offer
to set his foot in Flanders, or any where else, to disturb him; and,
therefore, would not have him to trouble himself to make peace with any
body; only he hath a desire to offer an exchange, which he thinks may be
of moment to both sides: that is, that he [France] will enstate the King
of Spayne in the kingdom of Portugall, and he and the Dutch will put him
into possession of Lisbon; and, that being done, he [France] may have
Flanders: and this, they say; do mightily take in Spayne, which is
sensible of the fruitless expence Flanders, so far off, gives them; and
how much better it would be for them to be master of Portugall; and the
King of France offers, for security herein, that the King of England
shall be bond for him, and that he will countersecure the King of
England with Amsterdam; and, it seems, hath assured our King, that if
he will make a league with him, he will make a peace exclusive to the
Hollander. These things are almost romantique, but yet true, as Sir H.
Cholmly tells me the King himself did relate it all yesterday; and it
seems as if the King of France did think other princes fit for nothing
but to make sport for him: but simple princes they are, that are forced
to suffer this from him. So at noon with Sir W. Pen by coach to the
Sun in Leadenhall Streete, where Sir R. Ford, Sir W. Batten, and
Commissioner Taylor (whose feast it was) were, and we dined and had a
very good dinner. Among other discourses Sir R. Ford did tell me that he
do verily believe that the city will in few years be built again in all
the greatest streets, and answered the objections I did give to it.
Here we had the proclamation this day come out against the Duke of
Buckingham, commanding him to come in to one of the Secretaries, or to
the Lieutenant of the Tower. A silly, vain man to bring himself to this:
and there be many hard circumstances in the proclamation of the causes
of this proceeding of the King's, which speak great displeasure of the
King's, and crimes of his. Then to discourse of the business of the day,
that is, to see Commissioner Taylor's accounts for his ship he built,
The Loyall London, and it is pretty to see how dully this old fellow
makes his demands, and yet plaguy wise sayings will come from the man
sometimes, and also how Sir R. Ford and [Sir] W. Batten did with seeming
reliance advise him what to do, and how to come prepared to answer
objections to the Common Council. Thence away to the office, where late
busy, and then home to supper, mightily pleased with my wife's trill,
and so to bed. This night Mr. Carcasse did come to me again to desire
favour, and that I would mediate that he might be restored, but I did
give him no kind answer at all, but was very angry, and I confess a good
deal of it from my Lord Bruncker's simplicity and passion.
12th. Up, and to the office, where all-the morning, and my Lord Bruncker
mighty quiet, and no words all day, which I wonder at, expecting that he
would have fallen again upon the business of Carcasse, and the more for
that here happened that Perkins, who was the greatest witness of all
against him, was brought in by Sir W. Batten to prove that he did really
belong to The Prince, but being examined was found rather a fool than
anything, as not being able to give any account when he come in nor when
he come out of her, more than that he was taken by the Dutch in her,
but did agree in earnest to Sir W. Pen's saying that she lay up all, the
winter before at Lambeth. This I confess did make me begin to doubt the
truth of his evidence, but not to doubt the faults of Carcasse, for
he was condemned by, many other better evidences than his, besides the
whole world's report. At noon home, and there find Mr. Goodgroome, whose
teaching of my wife only by singing over and over again to her, and
letting her sing with him, not by herself, to correct her faults, I do
not like at all, but was angry at it; but have this content, that I do
think she will come to sing pretty well, and to trill in time, which
pleases me well. He dined with us, and then to the office, when we had a
sorry meeting to little purpose, and then broke up, and I to my office,
and busy late to good purpose, and so home to supper and to bed. This
day a poor seaman, almost starved for want of food, lay in our yard
a-dying. I sent him half-a-crown, and we ordered his ticket to be paid.
13th. Up, and with [Sir] W. Batten to the Duke of York to our usual
attendance, where I did fear my Lord Bruncker might move something in
revenge that might trouble me, but he did not, but contrarily had the
content to hear Sir G. Carteret fall foul on him in the Duke of York's
bed chamber for his directing people with tickets and petitions to him,
bidding him mind his Controller's place and not his, for if he did he
should be too hard for him, and made high words, which I was glad
of. Having done our usual business with the Duke of York, I away; and
meeting Mr. D. Gawden in the presence-chamber, he and I to talk; and
among other things he tells me, and I do find every where else, also,
that our masters do begin not to like of their councils in fitting out
no fleete, but only squadrons, and are finding out excuses for it; and,
among others, he tells me a Privy-Councillor did tell him that it was
said in Council that a fleete could not be set out this year, for want
of victuals, which gives him and me a great alarme, but me especially
for had it been so, I ought to have represented it; and therefore it
puts me in policy presently to prepare myself to answer this objection,
if ever it should come about, by drawing up a state of the Victualler's
stores, which I will presently do. So to Westminster Hall, and there
staid and talked, and then to Sir G. Carteret's, where I dined with the
ladies, he not at home, and very well used I am among them, so that I am
heartily ashamed that my wife hath not been there to see them; but she
shall very shortly. So home by water, and stepped into Michell's, and
there did baiser my Betty, 'que aegrotat' a little. At home find Mr.
Holliard, and made him eat a bit of victuals. Here I find Mr. Greeten,
who teaches my wife on the flageolet, and I think she will come to
something on it. Mr. Holliard advises me to have my father come up to
town, for he doubts else in the country he will never find ease, for,
poor man, his grief is now grown so great upon him that he is never at
ease, so I will have him up at Easter. By and by by coach, set down Mr.
Holliard near his house at Hatton Garden and myself to Lord Treasurer's,
and sent my wife to the New Exchange. I staid not here, but to
Westminster Hall, and thence to Martin's, where he and she both within,
and with them the little widow that was once there with her when I was
there, that dissembled so well to be grieved at hearing a tune that her,
late husband liked, but there being so much company, I had no pleasure
here, and so away to the Hall again, and there met Doll Lane coming out,
and 'par contrat did hazer bargain para aller to the cabaret de vin',
called the Rose, and 'ibi' I staid two hours, 'sed' she did not 'venir',
'lequel' troubled me, and so away by coach and took up my wife, and away
home, and so to Sir W. Batten's, where I am told that it is intended by
Mr. Carcasse to pray me to be godfather with Lord Bruncker to-morrow to
his child, which I suppose they tell me in mirth, but if he should
ask me I know not whether I should refuse it or no. Late at my office
preparing a speech against to-morrow morning, before the King, at my
Lord Treasurer's, and the truth is it run in my head all night. So home
to supper and to bed. The Duke of Buckingham is concluded gone over sea,
and, it is thought, to France.
14th. Up, and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen to my Lord
Treasurer's, where we met with my Lord Bruncker an hour before the King
come, and had time to talk a little of our business. Then come much
company, among others Sir H. Cholmly, who tells me that undoubtedly my
Lord Bellasses will go no more as Governor to Tangier, and that he do
put in fair for it, and believes he shall have it, and proposes how it
may conduce to his account and mine in the business of money. Here we
fell into talk with Sir Stephen Fox, and, among other things, of the
Spanish manner of walking, when three together, and shewed me how, which
was pretty, to prevent differences. By and by comes the King and Duke
of York, and presently the officers of the Ordnance were called; my Lord
Berkeley, Sir John Duncomb, and Mr. Chichly; then we, my Lord Bruncker,
[Sir] W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, and myself; where we find only the King
and Duke of York, and my Lord Treasurer, and Sir G. Carteret; where I
only did speak, laying down the state of our wants, which the King
and Duke of York seemed very well pleased with, and we did get what we
asked, L500,000, assigned upon the eleven months' tax: but that is
not so much ready money, or what will raise L40,000 per week, which
we desired, and the business will want. Yet are we fain to come away
answered, when, God knows, it will undo the King's business to have
matters of this moment put off in this manner. The King did prevent my
offering anything by and by as Treasurer for Tangier, telling me that
he had ordered us L30,000 on the same tax; but that is not what we would
have to bring our payments to come within a year. So we gone out, in
went others; viz., one after another, Sir Stephen Fox for the army,
Captain Cocke for sick and wounded, Mr. Ashburnham for the household.
Thence [Sir] W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, and I, back again; I mightily
pleased with what I had said and done, and the success thereof. But, it
being a fine clear day, I did, 'en gayete de coeur', propose going to
Bow for ayre sake, and dine there, which they embraced, and so [Sir] W.
Batten and I (setting [Sir] W. Pen down at Mark Lane end) straight to
Bow, to the Queen's Head, and there bespoke our dinner, carrying meat
with us from London; and anon comes [Sir] W. Pen with my wife and Lady
Batten, and then Mr. Lowder with his mother and wife. While [Sir] W.
Batten and I were alone, we had much friendly discourse, though I will
never trust him far; but we do propose getting "The Flying Greyhound,"
our privateer, to us and [Sir] W. Pen at the end of the year when we
call her home, by begging her of the King, and I do not think we shall
be denied her. They being come, we to oysters and so to talk, very
pleasant I was all day, and anon to dinner, and I made very good
company. Here till the evening, so as it was dark almost before we got
home (back again in the same method, I think, we went), and spent the
night talking at Sir W. Batten's, only a little at my office, to look
over the Victualler's contract, and draw up some arguments for him to
plead for his charges in transportation of goods beyond the ports which
the letter of one article in his contract do lay upon him. This done
I home to supper and to bed. Troubled a little at my fear that my Lord
Bruncker should tell Sir W. Coventry of our neglecting the office this
afternoon (which was intended) to look after our pleasures, but nothing
will fall upon me alone about this.
15th. Up, and pleased at Tom's teaching of Barker something to sing a
3rd part to a song, which will please mightily. So I to the office all
the morning, and at noon to the 'Change, where I do hear that letters
this day come to Court do tell us that we are likely not to agree, the
Dutch demanding high terms, and the King of France the like, in a most
braving manner. The merchants do give themselves over for lost, no man
knowing what to do, whether to sell or buy, not knowing whether peace
or war to expect, and I am told that could that be now known a man might
get L20,000 in a week's time by buying up of goods in case there should
be war. Thence home and dined well, and then with my wife, set her at
Unthanke's and I to Sir G. Carteret, where talked with the ladies a
while, and my Lady Carteret talks nothing but sorrow and afflictions
coming on us, and indeed I do fear the same. So away and met Dr. Fuller,
Bishop of Limricke, and walked an hour with him in the Court talking of
newes only, and he do think that matters will be bad with us. Then to
Westminster Hall, and there spent an hour or two walking up and down,
thinking 'para avoir' got out Doll Lane, 'sed je ne' could do it, having
no opportunity 'de hazer le, ainsi lost the tota' afternoon, and so away
and called my wife and home, where a little at the office, and then home
to my closet to enter my journalls, and so to supper and to bed. This
noon come little Mis. Tooker, who is grown a little woman; ego had
opportunity 'para baiser her.... This morning I was called up by Sir
John Winter, poor man! come in his sedan from the other end of the town,
before I was up, and merely about the King's business, which is a worthy
thing of him, and I believe him to be a worthy good man, and I will
do him the right to tell the Duke of it, who did speak well of him the
other day. It was about helping the King in the business of bringing
down his timber to the sea-side, in the Forest of Deane.
16th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning; at noon home to
dinner, and then to the office again in the afternoon, and there all
day very busy till night, and then, having done much business, home to
supper, and so to bed. This afternoon come home Sir J. Minnes, who has
been down, but with little purpose, to pay the ships below at the Nore.
This evening, having done my letters, I did write out the heads of
what I had prepared to speak to the King the other day at my Lord
Treasurer's, which I do think convenient to keep by me for future
use. The weather is now grown warm again, after much cold; and it is
observable that within these eight days I did see smoke remaining,
coming out of some cellars, from the late great fire, now above six
months since. There was this day at the office (as he is most days) Sir
W. Warren, against whom I did manifestly plead, and heartily too, God
forgive me! But the reason is because I do find that he do now wholly
rely almost upon my Lord Bruncker, though I confess I have no greater
ground of my leaving him than the confidence which I perceive he hath
got in my Lord Bruncker, whose seeming favours only do obtain of him as
much compensation as, I believe (for he do know well the way of using
his bounties), as mine more real. Besides, my Lord and I being become
antagonistic, I do not think it safe for me to trust myself in the hands
of one whom I know to be a knave, and using all means to become gracious
there.
17th (Lord's day). Up betime with my wife, and by coach with Sir W. Pen
and Sir Thomas Allen to White Hall, there my wife and I the first time
that ever we went to my Lady Jemimah's chamber at Sir Edward Carteret's
lodgings. I confess I have been much to blame and much ashamed of our
not visiting her sooner, but better now than never. Here we took her
before she was up, which I was sorry for, so only saw her, and away to
chapel, leaving further visit till after sermon. I put my wife into the
pew below, but it was pretty to see, myself being but in a plain band,
and every way else ordinary, how the verger took me for her man,
I think, and I was fain to tell him she was a kinswoman of my Lord
Sandwich's, he saying that none under knights-baronets' ladies are to
go into that pew. So she being there, I to the Duke of York's lodging,
where in his dressing-chamber he talking of his journey to-morrow or
next day to Harwich, to prepare some fortifications there; so that
we are wholly upon the defensive part this year, only we have some
expectations that we may by our squadrons annoy them in their trade by
the North of Scotland and to the Westward. Here Sir W. Pen did show the
Duke of York a letter of Hogg's about a prize he drove in within the
Sound at Plymouth, where the Vice-Admiral claims her. Sir W. Pen would
have me speak to the latter, which I did, and I think without any
offence, but afterwards I was sorry for it, and Sir W. Pen did plainly
say that he had no mind to speak to the Duke of York about it, so that
he put me upon it, but it shall be, the last time that I will do such
another thing, though I think no manner of hurt done by it to me at
all. That done I to walk in the Parke, where to the Queene's Chapel,
and there heard a fryer preach with his cord about his middle, in
Portuguese, something I could understand, showing that God did respect
the meek and humble, as well as the high and rich. He was full of
action, but very decent and good, I thought, and his manner of delivery
very good. Then I went back to White Hall, and there up to the closet,
and spoke with several people till sermon was ended, which was preached
by the Bishop of Hereford, an old good man, that they say made an
excellent sermon. He was by birth a Catholique, and a great gallant,
having L1500 per annum, patrimony, and is a Knight Barronet; was turned
from his persuasion by the late Archbishop Laud. He and the Bishop of
Exeter, Dr. Ward, are the two Bishops that the King do say he cannot
have bad sermons from. Here I met with Sir H. Cholmly, who tells me,
that undoubtedly my Lord Bellasses do go no more to Tangier, and that he
do believe he do stand in a likely way to go Governor; though he says,
and showed me, a young silly Lord, one Lord Allington, who hath offered
a great sum of money to go, and will put hard for it, he having a fine
lady, and a great man would be glad to have him out of the way. After
Chapel I down and took out my wife from the pew, where she was talking
with a lady whom I knew not till I was gone. It was Mrs. Ashfield of
Brampton, who had with much civility been, it seems, at our house to see
her. I am sorry I did not show her any more respect. With my wife to
Sir G. Carteret's, where we dined and mightily made of, and most
extraordinary people they are to continue friendship with for goodness,
virtue, and nobleness and interest. After dinner he and I alone awhile
and did joy ourselves in my Lord Sandwich's being out of the way all
this time. He concurs that we are in a way of ruin by thus being forced
to keep only small squadrons out, but do tell me that it was not choice,
but only force, that we could not keep out the whole fleete. He tells me
that the King is very kind to my Lord Sandwich, and did himself observe
to him (Sir G. Carteret), how those very people, meaning the Prince and
Duke of Albemarle, are punished in the same kind as they did seek to
abuse my Lord Sandwich. Thence away, and got a hackney coach and carried
my wife home, and there only drank, and myself back again to my Lord
Treasurer's, where the King, Duke of York, and Sir G. Carteret and Lord
Arlington were and none else, so I staid not, but to White Hall, and
there meeting nobody I would speak with, walked into the Park and took
two or three turns all alone, and then took coach and home, where I find
Mercer, who I was glad to see, but durst [not] shew so, my wife being
displeased with her, and indeed I fear she is grown a very gossip. I
to my chamber, and there fitted my arguments which I had promised Mr.
Gawden in his behalf in some pretences to allowance of the King, and
then to supper, and so to my chamber a little again, and then to bed.
Duke of Buckingham not heard of yet.
18th. Up betimes, and to the office to write fair my paper for D. Gawden
against anon, and then to other business, where all the morning. D.
Gawden by and by comes, and I did read over and give him the paper,
which I think I have much obliged him in. A little before noon comes
my old good friend, Mr. Richard Cumberland,--[Richard Cumberland,
afterwards Bishop of Peterborough]--to see me, being newly come to town,
whom I have not seen almost, if not quite, these seven years. In his
plain country-parson's dress. I could not spend much time with him,
but prayed him come with his brother, who was with him, to dine with me
to-day; which he did do and I had a great deal of his good company; and
a most excellent person he is as any I know, and one that I am sorry
should be lost and buried in a little country town, and would be glad to
remove him thence; and the truth is, if he would accept of my sister's
fortune, I should give L100 more with him than to a man able to settle
her four times as much as, I fear, he is able to do; and I will think
of it, and a way how to move it, he having in discourse said he was not
against marrying, nor yet engaged. I shewed him my closet, and did give
him some very good musique, Mr. Caesar being here upon his lute. They
gone I to the office, where all the afternoon very busy, and among
other things comes Captain Jenifer to me, a great servant of my Lord
Sandwich's, who tells me that he do hear for certain, though I do not
yet believe it, that Sir W. Coventry is to be Secretary of State, and my
Lord Arlington Lord Treasurer. I only wish that the latter were as fit
for the latter office as the former is for the former, and more fit
than my Lord Arlington. Anon Sir W. Pen come and talked with me in the
garden, and tells me that for certain the Duke of Richmond is to marry
Mrs. Stewart, he having this day brought in an account of his estate
and debts to the King on that account. At night home to supper and so
to bed. My father's letter this day do tell me of his own continued
illness, and that my mother grows so much worse, that he fears she
cannot long continue, which troubles me very much. This day, Mr.
Caesar told me a pretty experiment of his, of angling with a minikin, a
gut-string varnished over, which keeps it from swelling, and is beyond
any hair for strength and smallness. The secret I like mightily.
19th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning. At noon dined
at home very pleasantly with my wife, and after dinner with a great deal
of pleasure had her sing, which she begins to do with some pleasure
to me, more than I expected. Then to the office again, where all the
afternoon close, and at night home to supper and to bed. It comes in my
mind this night to set down how a house was the other day in Bishopsgate
Street blowed up with powder; a house that was untenanted, and between a
flax shop and a-----------, both bad for fire; but, thanks be to God, it
did no more hurt; and all do conclude it a plot. I would also remember
to my shame how I was pleased yesterday, to find the righteous maid of
Magister Griffin sweeping of 'nostra' office, 'elle con the Roman nariz
and bonne' body which I did heretofore like, and do still refresh me to
think 'que elle' is come to us, that I may 'voir her aliquando'. This
afternoon I am told again that the town do talk of my Lord Arlington's
being to be Lord Treasurer, and Sir W. Coventry to be Secretary of
State; and that for certain the match is concluded between the Duke of
Richmond and Mrs. Stewart, which I am well enough pleased with; and it
is pretty to consider how his quality will allay people's talk; whereas,
had a meaner person married her, he would for certain have been reckoned
a cuckold at first-dash.
20th. Up pretty betimes, and to the Old Swan, and there drank at
Michell's, but his wife is not there, but gone to her mother's, who is
ill, and so hath staid there since Sunday. Thence to Westminster Hall
and drank at the Swan, and 'baiserais the petite misse'; and so to Mrs.
Martin's.... I sent for some burnt wine, and drank and then away, not
pleased with my folly, and so to the Hall again, and there staid a
little, and so home by water again, where, after speaking with my wife,
I with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] J. Minnes to our church to the vestry, to
be assessed by the late Poll Bill, where I am rated as an Esquire, and
for my office, all will come to about L50. But not more than I expected,
nor so much by a great deal as I ought to be, for all my offices. So
shall be glad to escape so. Thence by water again to White Hall, and
there up into the house, and do hear that newes is come now that the
enemy do incline again to a peace, but could hear no particulars, so do
not believe it. I had a great mind to have spoke with the King, about a
business proper enough for me, about the French prize man-of-war, how he
would have her altered, only out of a desire to show myself mindful of
business, but my linen was so dirty and my clothes mean, that I neither
thought it fit to do that, nor go to other persons at the Court, with
whom I had business, which did vex me, and I must remedy [it]. Here
I hear that the Duke of Richmond and Mrs. Stewart were betrothed last
night. Thence to Westminster Hall again, and there saw Betty Michell,
and bought a pair of gloves of her, she being fain to keep shop there,
her mother being sick, and her father gathering of the tax. I 'aimais
her de toute my corazon'. Thence, my mind wandering all this day upon
'mauvaises amours' which I be merry for. So home by water again, where
I find my wife gone abroad, so I to Sir W. Batten to dinner, and had a
good dinner of ling and herring pie, very good meat, best of the kind
that ever I had. Having dined, I by coach to the Temple, and there did
buy a little book or two, and it is strange how "Rycaut's Discourse of
Turky," which before the fire I was asked but 8s. for, there being
all but twenty-two or thereabouts burned, I did now offer 20s., and he
demands 50s., and I think I shall give it him, though it be only as a
monument of the fire. So to the New Exchange, where I find my wife, and
so took her to Unthanke's, and left her there, and I to White Hall,
and thence to Westminster, only out of idleness, and to get some little
pleasure to my 'mauvais flammes', but sped not, so back and took up
my wife; and to Polichinelli at Charing Crosse, which is prettier
and prettier, and so full of variety that it is extraordinary good
entertainment. Thence by coach home, that is, my wife home, and I to the
Exchange, and there met with Fenn, who tells me they have yet no orders
out of the Exchequer for money upon the Acts, which is a thing not to
be borne by any Prince of understanding or care, for no money can be got
advanced upon the Acts only from the weight of orders in form out of
the Exchequer so long time after the passing of the Acts. So home to
the office a little, where I met with a sad letter from my brother, who
tells me my mother is declared by the doctors to be past recovery, and
that my father is also very ill every hour: so that I fear we shall see
a sudden change there. God fit them and us for it! So to Sir W. Pen's,
where my wife was, and supped with a little, but yet little mirth, and
a bad, nasty supper, which makes me not love the family, they do all
things so meanly, to make a little bad show upon their backs. Thence
home and to bed, very much troubled about my father's and my mother's
illness.
21st. Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, and had some melancholy discourse with my wife about my mother's
being so ill and my father, and after dinner to cheer myself, I having
the opportunity of Sir W. Coventry and the Duke of York's being out
of town, I alone out and to the Duke of York's play-house, where
unexpectedly I come to see only the young men and women of the house
act; they having liberty to act for their own profit on Wednesdays and
Fridays this Lent: and the play they did yesterday, being Wednesday, was
so well-taken, that they thought fit to venture it publickly to-day;
a play of my Lord Falkland's' called "The Wedding Night," a kind of
a tragedy, and some things very good in it, but the whole together, I
thought, not so. I confess I was well enough pleased with my seeing
it: and the people did do better, without the great actors, than I did
expect, but yet far short of what they do when they are there, which I
was glad to find the difference of. Thence to rights home, and there
to the office to my business hard, being sorry to have made this scape
without my wife, but I have a good salvo to my oath in doing it. By and
by, in the evening, comes Sir W. Batten's Mingo to me to pray me to come
to his master and Sir Richard Ford, who have very ill news to tell me.
I knew what it was, it was about our trial for a good prize to-day, "The
Phoenix,"
[There are references to the "Phoenix," a Dutch ship taken as a
prize, among the State Papers (see "Calendar," 1666-67, p. 404).
Pepys appears to have got into trouble at a later date in respect to
this same ship, for among the Rawlinson MSS. (A. 170) are "Papers
relating to the charge brought against him in the House of Commons
in 1689 with reference to the ship Phoenix and the East India
Company in 1681-86."]
a worth two or L3000. I went to them, where they told me with much
trouble how they had sped, being cast and sentenced to make great
reparation for what we had embezzled, and they did it so well that I was
much troubled at it, when by and by Sir W. Batten asked me whether I
was mortified enough, and told me we had got the day, which was mighty
welcome news to me and us all. But it is pretty to see what money will
do. Yesterday, Walker was mighty cold on our behalf, till Sir W. Batten
promised him, if we sped in this business of the goods, a coach; and
if at the next trial we sped for the ship, we would give him a pair
of horses. And he hath strove for us today like a prince, though the
Swedes' Agent was there with all the vehemence he could to save the
goods, but yet we carried it against him. This put me in mighty good
heart, and then we go to Sir W. Pen, who is come back to-night from
Chatham, and did put him into the same condition, and then comforted
him. So back to my office, and wrote an affectionate and sad letter to
my father about his and my mother's illness, and so home to supper and
to bed late.
22nd. Up and by coach to Sir Ph. Warwicke about business for Tangier
about money, and then to Sir Stephen Fox to give him account of a little
service I have done him about money coming to him from our office, and
then to Lovett's and saw a few baubling things of their doing which are
very pretty, but the quality of the people, living only by shifts, do
not please me, that it makes me I do no more care for them, nor shall
have more acquaintance with them after I have got my Lady Castlemayne's
picture home. So to White Hall, where the King at Chapel, and I would
not stay, but to Westminster to Howlett's, and there, he being not well,
I sent for a quart of claret and burnt it and drank, and had a 'basado'
or three or four of Sarah, whom 'je trouve ici', and so by coach to Sir
Robt. Viner's about my accounts with him, and so to the 'Change, where I
hear for certain that we are going on with our treaty of peace, and that
we are to treat at Bredah. But this our condescension people do think
will undo us, and I do much fear it. So home to dinner, where my wife
having dressed herself in a silly dress of a blue petticoat uppermost,
and a white satin waistcoat and whitehood, though I think she did it
because her gown is gone to the tailor's, did, together with my being
hungry, which always makes me peevish, make me angry, but when my
belly was full were friends again, and dined and then by water down to
Greenwich and thence walked to Woolwich, all the way reading Playford's
"Introduction to Musique," wherein are some things very pretty. At
Woolwich I did much business, taking an account of the state of the
ships there under hand, thence to Blackwall, and did the like for two
ships we have repairing there, and then to Deptford and did the like
there, and so home. Captain Perriman with me from Deptford, telling me
many particulars how the King's business is ill ordered, and indeed so
they are, God knows! So home and to the office, where did business, and
so home to my chamber, and then to supper and to bed. Landing at the
Tower to-night I met on Tower Hill with Captain Cocke and spent half
an hour walking in the dusk of the evening with him, talking of the
sorrowful condition we are in, that we must be ruined if the Parliament
do not come and chastize us, that we are resolved to make a peace
whatever it cost, that the King is disobliging the Parliament in this
interval all that may be, yet his money is gone and he must have more,
and they likely not to give it, without a great deal of do. God knows
what the issue of it will be. But the considering that the Duke of York,
instead of being at sea as Admirall, is now going from port to port,
as he is at this day at Harwich, and was the other day with the King at
Sheernesse, and hath ordered at Portsmouth how fortifications shall be
made to oppose the enemy, in case of invasion, [which] is to us a sad
consideration, and as shameful to the nation, especially after so many
proud vaunts as we have made against the Dutch, and all from the folly
of the Duke of Albemarle, who made nothing of beating them, and Sir
John Lawson he always declared that we never did fail to beat them with
lesser numbers than theirs, which did so prevail with the King as to
throw us into this war.
23rd. At the office all the morning, where Sir W. Pen come, being
returned from Chatham, from considering the means of fortifying the
river Medway, by a chain at the stakes, and ships laid there with guns
to keep the enemy from coming up to burn our ships; all our care now
being to fortify ourselves against their invading us. At noon home to
dinner, and then to the office all the afternoon again, where Mr. Moore
come, who tells me that there is now no doubt made of a peace being
agreed on, the King having declared this week in Council that they would
treat at Bredagh. He gone I to my office, where busy late, and so to
supper and to bed. Vexed with our mayde Luce, our cook-mayde, who is a
good drudging servant in everything else, and pleases us, but that she
will be drunk, and hath been so last night and all this day, that she
could not make clean the house. My fear is only fire.
24th (Lord's day). With Sir W. Batten to White Hall, and there I to Sir
G. Carteret, who is mighty cheerful, which makes me think and by some
discourse that there is expectation of a peace, but I did not ask [him].
Here was Sir J. Minnes also: and they did talk of my Lord Bruncker,
whose father, it seems, did give Mr. Ashburnham and the present Lord
Digby L1200 to be made an Irish lord, and swore the same day that he had
not 12d. left to pay for his dinner: they make great mirth at this, my
Lord Bruncker having lately given great matter of offence both to them
and us all, that we are at present mightily displeased with him. By and
by to the Duke of York, where we all met, and there was the King also;
and all our discourse was about fortifying of the Medway and Harwich,
which is to be entrenched quite round, and Portsmouth: and here they
advised with Sir Godfry Lloyd and Sir Bernard de Gum, the two great
engineers, and had the plates drawn before them; and indeed all their
care they now take is to fortify themselves, and are not ashamed of it:
for when by and by my Lord Arlington come in with letters, and seeing
the King and Duke of York give us and the officers of the Ordnance
directions in this matter, he did move that we might do it as privately
as we could, that it might not come into the Dutch Gazette presently,
as the King's and Duke of York's going down the other day to Sheerenesse
was, the week after, in the Harlem Gazette. The King and Duke of York
both laughed at it, and made no matter, but said, "Let us be safe, and
let them talk, for there is nothing will trouble them more, nor
will prevent their coming more, than to hear that we are fortifying
ourselves." And the Duke of York said further, "What said Marshal
Turenne, when some in vanity said that the enemies were afraid, for they
entrenched themselves? 'Well,' says he, 'I would they were not afraid,
for then they would not entrench themselves, and so we could deal with
them the better.'" Away thence, and met with Sir H. Cholmly, who tells
me that he do believe the government of Tangier is bought by my Lord
Allington for a sum of money to my Lord Arlington, and something to
Lord Bellasses, who (he did tell me particularly how) is as very a false
villain as ever was born, having received money of him here upon promise
and confidence of his return, forcing him to pay it by advance here, and
promising to ask no more there, when at the same time he was treating
with my Lord Allington to sell his command to him, and yet told Sir
H. Cholmly nothing of it, but when Sir H. Cholmly told him what he had
heard, he confessed that my Lord Allington had spoken to him of it, but
that he was a vain man to look after it, for he was nothing fit for it,
and then goes presently to my Lord Allington and drives on the bargain,
yet tells Lord Allington what he himself had said of him, as [though]
Sir H. Cholmly had said them. I am glad I am informed hereof, and shall
know him for a Lord, &c. Sir H. Cholmly tells me further that he is
confident there will be a peace, and that a great man did tell him that
my Lord Albemarle did tell him the other day at White Hall as a secret
that we should have a peace if any thing the King of France can ask and
our King can give will gain it, which he is it seems mad at. Thence back
with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen home, and heard a piece of sermon,
and so home to dinner, where Balty come, very fine, and dined with us,
and after dinner with me by water to White Hall, and there he and I did
walk round the Park, I giving him my thoughts about the difficulty of
getting employment for him this year, but advised him how to employ
himself, and I would do what I could. So he and I parted, and I to
Martin's, where I find her within, and 'su hermano' and 'la veuve'
Burroughs. Here I did 'demeurer toda' the afternoon.... By and by come
up the mistress of the house, Crags, a pleasant jolly woman. I staid all
but a little, and away home by water through bridge, a brave evening,
and so home to read, and anon to supper, W. Hewer with us, and then to
read myself to sleep again, and then to bed, and mightily troubled the
most of the night with fears of fire, which I cannot get out of my
head to this day since the last great fire. I did this night give the
waterman who uses to carry me 10s. at his request, for the painting of
his new boat, on which shall be my arms.
25th. (Ladyday.) Up, and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen by coach to
Exeter House to our lawyers to have consulted about our trial to-morrow,
but missed them, so parted, and [Sir] W. Pen and I to Mr. Povy's about a
little business of [Sir] W. Pen's, where we went over Mr. Povy's
house, which lies in the same good condition as ever, which is most
extraordinary fine, and he was now at work with a cabinet-maker, making
of a new inlaid table. Having seen his house, we away, having in our way
thither called at Mr. Lilly's, who was working; and indeed his pictures
are without doubt much beyond Mr. Hales's, I think I may say I am
convinced: but a mighty proud man he is, and full of state. So home, and
to the office, and by and by to dinner, a poor dinner, my wife and I, at
Sir W. Pen's, and then he and I before to Exeter House, where I do not
stay, but to the King's playhouse; and by and by comes Mr. Lowther
and his wife and mine, and into a box, forsooth, neither of them being
dressed, which I was almost ashamed of. Sir W. Pen and I in the pit, and
here saw "The Mayden Queene" again; which indeed the more I see the more
I like, and is an excellent play, and so done by Nell, her merry part,
as cannot be better done in nature, I think. Thence home, and there I
find letters from my brother, which tell me that yesterday when he wrote
my mother did rattle in the throat so as they did expect every moment
her death, which though I have a good while expected did much surprise
me, yet was obliged to sup at Sir W. Pen's and my wife, and there
counterfeited some little mirth, but my heart was sad, and so home after
supper and to bed, and much troubled in my sleep of my being crying by
my mother's bedside, laying my head over hers and crying, she almost
dead and dying, and so waked, but what is strange, methought she had
hair over her face, and not the same kind of face as my mother really
hath, but yet did not consider that, but did weep over her as my mother,
whose soul God have mercy of.
26th. Up with a sad heart in reference to my mother, of whose death I
undoubtedly expect to hear the next post, if not of my father's also,
who by his pain as well as his grief for her is very ill, but on my own
behalf I have cause to be joyful this day, it being my usual feast day,
for my being cut of the stone this day nine years, and through God's
blessing am at this day and have long been in as good condition of
health as ever I was in my life or any man in England is, God make me
thankful for it! But the condition I am in, in reference to my mother,
makes it unfit for me to keep my usual feast. Unless it shall please
God to send her well (which I despair wholly of), and then I will make
amends for it by observing another day in its room. So to the office,
and at the office all the morning, where I had an opportunity to speak
to Sir John Harman about my desire to have my brother Balty go again
with him to sea as he did the last year, which he do seem not only
contented but pleased with, which I was glad of. So at noon home to
dinner, where I find Creed, who dined with us, but I had not any time
to talk with him, my head being busy, and before I had dined was called
away by Sir W. Batten, and both of us in his coach (which I observe his
coachman do always go now from hence towards White Hall through Tower
Street, and it is the best way) to Exeter House, where the judge was
sitting, and after several little causes comes on ours, and while the
several depositions and papers were at large reading (which they call
the preparatory), and being cold by being forced to sit with my hat off
close to a window in the Hall, Sir W. Pen and I to the Castle Tavern
hard by and got a lobster, and he and I staid and eat it, and drank good
wine; I only burnt wine, as my whole custom of late hath been, as an
evasion, God knows, for my drinking of wine (but it is an evasion which
will not serve me now hot weather is coming, that I cannot pretend, as
indeed I really have done, that I drank it for cold), but I will leave
it off, and it is but seldom, as when I am in women's company, that I
must call for wine, for I must be forced to drink to them. Having done
here then we back again to the Court, and there heard our cause pleaded;
Sir [Edward] Turner, Sir W. Walker, and Sir Ellis Layton being our
counsel against only Sir Robert Wiseman on the other. The second of our
three counsel was the best, and indeed did speak admirably, and is a
very shrewd man. Nevertheless, as good as he did make our case, and the
rest, yet when Wiseman come to argue (nay, and though he did begin so
sillily that we laughed in scorn in our sleeves at him), yet he did so
state the case, that the judge did not think fit to decide the cause
to-night, but took to to-morrow, and did stagger us in our hopes, so as
to make us despair of the success. I am mightily pleased with the judge,
who seems a very rational, learned, and uncorrupt man, and much good
reading and reason there is heard in hearing of this law argued, so that
the thing pleased me, though our success doth shake me. Thence Sir W.
Pen and I home and to write letters, among others a sad one to my father
upon fear of my mother's death, and so home to supper and to bed.
27th. [Sir] W. Pen and I to White Hall, and in the coach did begin our
discourse again about Balty, and he promises me to move it this very
day. He and I met my Lord Bruncker at Sir G. Carteret's by appointment,
there to discourse a little business, all being likely to go to rack for
lack of money still. Thence to the Duke of York's lodgings, and did our
usual business, and Sir W. Pen telling me that he had this morning spoke
of Balty to Sir W. Coventry, and that the thing was done, I did take
notice of it also to [Sir] W. Coventry, who told me that he had both
the thing and the person in his head before to have done it, which is a
double pleasure to me. Our business with the Duke being done, [Sir] W.
Pen and I towards the Exchequer, and in our way met Sir G. Downing going
to chapel, but we stopped, and he would go with us back to the Exchequer
and showed us in his office his chests full and ground and shelves full
of money, and says that there is L50,000 at this day in his office of
people's money, who may demand it this day, and might have had it away
several weeks ago upon the late Act, but do rather choose to have
it continue there than to put it into the Banker's hands, and I must
confess it is more than I should have believed had I not seen it, and
more than ever I could have expected would have arisen for this new Act
in so short a time, and if it do so now already what would it do if
the money was collected upon the Act and returned into the Exchequer so
timely as it ought to be. But it comes into my mind here to observe what
I have heard from Sir John Bankes, though I cannot fully conceive the
reason of it, that it will be impossible to make the Exchequer ever
a true bank to all intents, unless the Exchequer stood nearer the
Exchange, where merchants might with ease, while they are going about
their business, at all hours, and without trouble or loss of time, have
their satisfaction, which they cannot have now without much trouble, and
loss of half a day, and no certainty of having the offices open. By this
he means a bank for common practise and use of merchants, and therein I
do agree with him. Being parted from Sir W. Pen and [Sir] G. Downing, I
to Westminster Hall and there met Balty, whom I had sent for, and there
did break the business of my getting him the place of going again as
Muster-Master with Harman this voyage to the West Indys, which indeed
I do owe to Sir W. Pen. He is mighty glad of it, and earnest to fit
himself for it, but I do find, poor man, that he is troubled how to
dispose of his wife, and apparently it is out of fear of her, and his
honour, and I believe he hath received some cause of this his jealousy
and care, and I do pity him in it, and will endeavour to find out some
way to do, it for him. Having put him in a way of preparing himself
for the voyage, I did go to the Swan, and there sent for Jervas, my old
periwig maker, and he did bring me a periwig, but it was full of nits,
so as I was troubled to see it (it being his old fault), and did send
him to make it clean, and in the mean time, having staid for him a good
while, did go away by water to the Castle Taverne, by Exeter House, and
there met Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, and several others, among the
rest Sir Ellis Layton, who do apply himself to discourse with me, and
I think by his discourse, out of his opinion of my interest in Sir W.
Coventry, the man I find a wonderful witty, ready man for sudden answers
and little tales, and sayings very extraordinary witty, but in the
bottom I doubt he is not so. Yet he pretends to have studied men, and
the truth is in several that I do know he did give me a very inward
account of them. But above all things he did give me a full account,
upon my demand, of this judge of the Admiralty, Judge Jenkins; who, he
says, is a man never practised in this Court, but taken merely for his
merit and ability's sake from Trinity Hall, where he had always lived;
only by accident the business of the want of a Judge being proposed to
the present Archbishop of Canterbury that now is, he did think of this
man and sent for him up: and here he is, against the 'gre' and content
of the old Doctors, made judge, but is a very excellent man both for
judgment and temper, yet majesty enough, and by all men's report, not to
be corrupted. After dinner to the Court, where Sir Ellis Layton did make
a very silly motion in our behalf, but did neither hurt nor good. After
him Walker and Wiseman; and then the judge did pronounce his sentence;
for some part of the goods and ship, and the freight of the whole, to
be free, and returned and paid by us; and the remaining, which was the
greater part, to be ours. The loss of so much troubles us, but we have
got a pretty good part, thanks be to God! So we are not displeased nor
yet have cause to triumph, as we did once expect. Having seen the end
of this, I being desirous to be at home to see the issue of any country
letters about my mother, which I expect shall give me tidings of her
death, I directly home and there to the office, where I find no letter
from my father or brother, but by and by the boy tells me that his
mistress sends me word that she hath opened my letter, and that she is
loth to send me any more news. So I home, and there up to my wife in
our chamber, and there received from my brother the newes of my mother's
dying on Monday, about five or six o'clock in the afternoon, and that
the last time she spoke of her children was on Friday last, and her
last words were, "God bless my poor Sam!" The reading hereof did set me
a-weeping heartily, and so weeping to myself awhile, and my wife also to
herself, I then spoke to my wife respecting myself, and indeed, having
some thoughts how much better both for her and us it is than it
might have been had she outlived my father and me or my happy present
condition in the world, she being helpless, I was the sooner at ease in
my mind, and then found it necessary to go abroad with my wife to look
after the providing mourning to send into the country, some to-morrow,
and more against Sunday, for my family, being resolved to put myself
and wife, and Barker and Jane, W. Hewer and Tom, in mourning, and my
two under-mayds, to give them hoods and scarfs and gloves. So to my
tailor's, and up and down, and then home and to my office a little,
and then to supper and to bed, my heart sad and afflicted, though my
judgment at ease.
28th. My tailor come to me betimes this morning, and having given him
directions, I to the office and there all the morning. At noon dined
well. Balty, who is mighty thoughtful how to dispose of his wife, and
would fain have me provide a place for her, which the thoughts of what
I should do with her if he should miscarry at sea makes me avoid the
offering him that she should be at my house. I find he is plainly
jealous of her being in any place where she may have ill company, and
I do pity him for it, and would be glad to help him, and will if I can.
Having dined, I down by water with Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen,
and [Sir] R. Ford to our prize, part of whose goods were condemned
yesterday--"The Lindeboome"--and there we did drink some of her wine,
very good. But it did grate my heart to see the poor master come on
board, and look about into every corner, and find fault that she was not
so clean as she used to be, though methought she was very clean; and
to see his new masters come in, that had nothing to do with her, did
trouble me to see him. Thence to Blackwall and there to Mr. Johnson's,
to see how some works upon some of our repaired ships go on, and at his
house eat and drank and mighty extraordinary merry (too merry for me
whose mother died so lately, but they know it not, so cannot reproach
me therein, though I reproach myself), and in going home had many good
stories of Sir W. Batten and one of Sir W. Pen, the most tedious and
silly and troublesome (he forcing us to hear him) that ever I heard
in my life. So to the office awhile, troubled with Sir W. Pen's
impertinences, he being half foxed at Johnson's, and so to bed.
29th. Lay long talking with my wife about Balty, whom I do wish very
well to, and would be glad to advise him, for he is very sober and
willing to take all pains. Up and to Sir W. Batten, who I find has had
some words with Sir W. Pen about the employing of a cooper about our
prize wines, [Sir] W. Batten standing and indeed imposing upon us Mr.
Morrice, which I like not, nor do [Sir] W. Pen, and I confess the very
thoughts of what our goods will come to when we have them do discourage
me in going any further in the adventure. Then to the office till noon,
doing business, and then to the Exchange, and thence to the Sun Taverne
and dined with [Sir] W. Batten, [Sir] R. Ford, and the Swede's Agent to
discourse of a composition about our prizes that are condemned, but did
do little, he standing upon high terms and we doing the like. I home,
and there find Balty and his wife got thither both by my wife for me to
give them good advice, for her to be with his father and mother all this
time of absence, for saving of money, and did plainly and like a friend
tell them my mind of the necessity of saving money, and that if I did
not find they did endeavour it, I should not think fit to trouble myself
for them, but I see she is utterly against being with his father and
mother, and he is fond of her, and I perceive the differences between
the old people and them are too great to be presently forgot, and so
he do propose that it will be cheaper for him to put her to board at
a place he is offered at Lee, and I, seeing that I am not like to be
troubled with the finding a place, and having given him so much
good advice, do leave them to stand and fall as they please, having
discharged myself as a friend, and not likely to be accountable for
her nor be troubled with her, if he should miscarry I mean, as to her
lodging, and so broke up. Then he and I to make a visit to [Sir] W. Pen,
who hath thought fit to show kindness to Balty in this business, indeed
though he be a false rogue, but it was he knew a thing easy to do.
Thence together to my shoemaker's, cutler's, tailor's, and up and down
about my mourning, and in my way do observe the great streets in the
city are marked out with piles drove into the ground; and if ever it be
built in that form with so fair streets, it will be a noble sight. So to
the Council chamber, but staid not there, but to a periwigg-maker's of
his acquaintance, and there bought two periwiggs, mighty fine; indeed,
too fine, I thought, for me; but he persuaded me, and I did buy them for
L4 10s. the two. Then to the Exchange and bought gloves, and so to the
Bull-Head Taverne, whither he brought my French gun; and one Truelocke,
the famous gunsmith, that is a mighty ingenious man, and he did take my
gun in pieces, and made me understand the secrets thereof and upon the
whole I do find it a very good piece of work, and truly wrought; but
for certain not a thing to be used much with safety: and he do find that
this very gun was never yet shot off: I was mighty satisfied with it and
him, and the sight of so much curiosity of this kind. Here he brought
also a haberdasher at my desire, and I bought a hat of him, and so away
and called away my wife from his house, and so home and to read, and
then to supper and to bed, my head full in behalf of Balty, who tells me
strange stories of his mother. Among others, how she, in his absence in
Ireland, did pawne all the things that he had got in his service under
Oliver, and run of her own accord, without her husband's leave, into
Flanders, and that his purse, and 4s. a week which his father receives
of the French church, is all the subsistence his father and mother have,
and that about L20 a year maintains them; which, if it please God, I
will find one way or other to provide for them, to remove that scandal
away.
30th. Up, and the French periwigg maker of whom I bought two yesterday
comes with them, and I am very well pleased with them. So to the office,
where all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and thence with my
wife's knowledge and leave did by coach go see the silly play of my Lady
Newcastle's, called "The Humourous Lovers;" the most silly thing that
ever come upon a stage. I was sick to see it, but yet would not but have
seen it, that I might the better understand her. Here I spied Knipp and
Betty, of the King's house, and sent Knipp oranges, but, having little
money about me, did not offer to carry them abroad, which otherwise I
had, I fear, been tempted to. So with [Sir] W. Pen home (he being at the
play also), a most summer evening, and to my office, where, among other
things, a most extraordinary letter to the Duke of York touching the
want of money and the sad state of the King's service thereby, and so to
supper and to bed.
31st (Lord's day). Up, and my tailor's boy brings my mourning clothes
home, and my wife hers and Barker's, but they go not to church this
morning. I to church, and with my mourning, very handsome, and new
periwigg, make a great shew. After church home to dinner, and there
come Betty Michell and her husband. I do and shall love her, but, poor
wretch, she is now almost ready to lie down. After dinner Balty (who
dined also with us) and I with Sir J. Minnes in his coach to White Hall,
but did nothing, but by water to Strand Bridge and thence walked to my
Lord Treasurer's, where the King, Duke of York, and the Caball, and much
company without; and a fine day. Anon come out from the Caball my Lord
Hollis and Mr. H. Coventry, who, it is conceived, have received their
instructions from the King this day; they being to begin their journey
towards their treaty at Bredagh speedily, their passes being come.
Here I saw the Lady Northumberland and her daughter-in-law, my Lord
Treasurer's daughter, my Lady Piercy, a beautiful lady indeed. So away
back by water, and left Balty at White Hall and I to Mrs. Martin.... and
so by coach home, and there to my chamber, and then to supper and bed,
having not had time to make up my accounts of this month at this very
day, but will in a day or two, and pay my forfeit for not doing it,
though business hath most hindered me. The month shuts up only with
great desires of peace in all of us, and a belief that we shall have a
peace, in most people, if a peace can be had on any terms, for there is
a necessity of it; for we cannot go on with the war, and our masters are
afraid to come to depend upon the good will of the Parliament any more,
as I do hear.
APRIL 1667
April 1st. Up, and with Sir J. Minnes in his coach, set him down at the
Treasurer's Office in Broad-streete, and I in his coach to White Hall,
and there had the good fortune to walk with Sir W. Coventry into the
garden, and there read our melancholy letter to the Duke of York, which
he likes. And so to talk: and he flatly owns that we must have a peace,
for we cannot set out a fleete; and, to use his own words, he fears that
we shall soon have enough of fighting in this new way, which we have
thought on for this year. He bemoans the want of money, and discovers
himself jealous that Sir G. Carteret do not look after, or concern
himself for getting, money as he used to do, and did say it is true if
Sir G. Carteret would only do his work, and my Lord Treasurer would do
his own, Sir G. Carteret hath nothing to do to look after money, but
if he will undertake my Lord Treasurer's work to raise money of the
Bankers, then people must expect that he will do it, and did further
say, that he [Carteret] and my Lord Chancellor do at this very day
labour all they can to villify this new way of raising money, and making
it payable, as it now is, into the Exchequer; and expressly said that
in pursuance hereof, my Lord Chancellor hath prevailed with the King, in
the close of his last speech to the House, to say, that he did hope
to see them come to give money as it used to be given, without so many
provisos, meaning, as Sir W. Coventry says, this new method of the Act.
While we were talking, there come Sir Thomas Allen with two ladies; one
of which was Mrs. Rebecca Allen, that I knew heretofore, the clerk of
the rope-yard's daughter at Chatham, who, poor heart! come to desire
favour for her husband, who is clapt up, being a Lieutenant [Jowles],
for sending a challenge to his Captain, in the most saucy, base language
that could be writ. I perceive [Sir] W. Coventry is wholly resolved
to bring him to punishment; for, "bear with this," says he, "and no
discipline shall ever be expected." She in this sad condition took no
notice of me, nor I of her. So away we to the Duke of York, and there in
his closett [Sir] W. Coventry and I delivered the letter, which the Duke
of York made not much of, I thought, as to laying it to heart, as the
matter deserved, but did promise to look after the getting of money for
us, and I believe Sir W. Coventry will add what force he can to it. I
did speak to [Sir] W. Coventry about Balty's warrant, which is ready,
and about being Deputy Treasurer, which he very readily and friendlily
agreed to, at which I was glad, and so away and by coach back to
Broad-streete to Sir G. Carteret's, and there found my brother passing
his accounts, which I helped till dinner, and dined there, and many good
stories at dinner, among others about discoveries of murder, and Sir J.
Minnes did tell of the discovery of his own great-grandfather's murder,
fifteen years after he was murdered. Thence, after dinner, home and by
water to Redriffe, and walked (fine weather) to Deptford, and there did
business and so back again, walked, and pleased with a jolly femme that
I saw going and coming in the way, which je could avoir been contented
pour avoir staid with if I could have gained acquaintance con elle, but
at such times as these I am at a great loss, having not confidence, no
alcune ready wit. So home and to the office, where late, and then home
to supper and bed. This evening Mrs. Turner come to my office, and did
walk an hour with me in the garden, telling me stories how Sir
Edward Spragge hath lately made love to our neighbour, a widow, Mrs.
Hollworthy, who is a woman of estate, and wit and spirit, and do contemn
him the most, and sent him away with the greatest scorn in the world;
she tells me also odd stories how the parish talks of Sir W. Pen's
family, how poorly they clothe their daughter so soon after marriage,
and do say that Mr. Lowther was married once before, and some such
thing there hath been, whatever the bottom of it is. But to think of the
clatter they make with his coach, and his owne fine cloathes, and yet
how meanly they live within doors, and nastily, and borrowing everything
of neighbours is a most shitten thing.
2nd. Up, and to the office, where all the morning sitting, and much
troubled, but little business done for want of money, which makes me
mighty melancholy. At noon home to dinner, and Mr. Deane with me, who
hath promised me a very fine draught of the Rupert, which he will make
purposely for me with great perfection, which I will make one of the
beautifullest things that ever was seen of the kind in the world, she
being a ship that will deserve it. Then to the office, where all the
afternoon very busy, and in the evening weary home and there to sing,
but vexed with the unreadiness of the girle's voice to learn the latter
part of my song, though I confess it is very hard, half notes. So to
supper and to bed.
3rd. Up, and with Sir W. Batten to White Hall to Sir W. Coventry's
chamber, and there did receive the Duke's order for Balty's receiving of
the contingent money to be paymaster of it, and it pleases me the more
for that it is but L1500, which will be but a little sum for to try his
ability and honesty in the disposing of, and so I am the willinger to
trust and pass my word for him therein. By and by up to the Duke of
York, where our usual business, and among other things I read two most
dismal letters of the straits we are in (from Collonell Middleton and
Commissioner Taylor) that ever were writ in the world, so as the Duke
of York would have them to shew the King, and to every demand of money,
whereof we proposed many and very pressing ones, Sir G. Carteret could
make no answer but no money, which I confess made me almost ready to cry
for sorrow and vexation, but that which was the most considerable was
when Sir G. Carteret did say that he had no funds to raise money on; and
being asked by Sir W. Coventry whether the eleven months' tax was not a
fund, and he answered, "No, that the bankers would not lend money upon
it." Then Sir W. Coventry burst out and said he did supplicate his Royal
Highness, and would do the same to the King, that he would remember who
they were that did persuade the King from parting with the Chimney-money
to the Parliament, and taking that in lieu which they would certainly
have given, and which would have raised infallibly ready money; meaning
the bankers and the farmers of the Chimney-money, whereof Sir, G.
Carteret, I think, is one; saying plainly, that whoever did advise the
King to that, did, as much as in them lay, cut the King's throat,
and did wholly betray him; to which the Duke of York did assent; and
remembered that the King did say again and again at the time, that he
was assured, and did fully believe, the money would be raised presently
upon a land-tax. This put as all into a stound; and Sir W. Coventry went
on to declare, that he was glad he was come to have so lately concern in
the Navy as he hath, for he cannot now give any good account of the
Navy business; and that all his work now was to be able to provide such
orders as would justify his Royal Highness in the business, when it
shall be called to account; and that he do do, not concerning himself
whether they are or can be performed, or no; and that when it comes to
be examined, and falls on my Lord Treasurer, he cannot help it, whatever
the issue of it shall be. Hereupon Sir W. Batten did pray him to keep
also by him all our letters that come from the office that may justify
us, which he says he do do, and, God knows, it is an ill sign when
we are once to come to study how to excuse ourselves. It is a sad
consideration, and therewith we broke up, all in a sad posture, the most
that ever I saw in my life. One thing more Sir W. Coventry did say
to the Duke of York, when I moved again, that of about L9000 debt to
Lanyon, at Plymouth, he might pay L3700 worth of prize-goods, that he
bought lately at the candle, out of this debt due to him from the King;
and the Duke of York, and Sir G: Carteret, and Lord Barkeley, saying,
all of them, that my Lord Ashly would not be got to yield to it, who
is Treasurer of the Prizes, Sir W. Coventry did plainly desire that it
might be declared whether the proceeds of the prizes were to go to the
helping on of the war, or no; and, if it were, how then could this be
denied? which put them all into another stound; and it is true, God
forgive us! Thence to the chappell, and there, by chance, hear that Dr.
Crew is to preach; and so into the organ-loft, where I met Mr. Carteret,
and my Lady Jemimah, and Sir Thomas Crew's two daughters, and Dr. Childe
played; and Dr. Crew did make a very pretty, neat, sober, honest sermon;
and delivered it very readily, decently, and gravely, beyond his years:
so as I was exceedingly taken with it, and I believe the whole
chappell, he being but young; but his manner of his delivery I do like
exceedingly. His text was, "But seeke ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Thence
with my Lady to Sir G. Carteret's lodgings, and so up into the house,
and there do hear that the Dutch letters are come, and say that the
Dutch have ordered a passe to be sent for our Commissioners, and that it
is now upon the way, coming with a trumpeter blinded, as is usual. But I
perceive every body begins to doubt the success of the treaty, all their
hopes being only that if it can be had on any terms, the Chancellor will
have it; for he dare not come before a Parliament, nor a great many more
of the courtiers, and the King himself do declare he do not desire it,
nor intend it but on a strait; which God defend him from! Here I hear
how the King is not so well pleased of this marriage between the Duke
of Richmond and Mrs. Stewart, as is talked; and that he [the Duke] by a
wile did fetch her to the Beare, at the Bridge-foot, where a coach was
ready, and they are stole away into Kent, without the King's leave; and
that the King hath said he will never see her more; but people do think
that it is only a trick. This day I saw Prince Rupert abroad in the
Vane-room, pretty well as he used to be, and looks as well, only
something appears to be under his periwigg on the crown of his head. So
home by water, and there find my wife gone abroad to her tailor's, and I
dined alone with W. Hewer, and then to the office to draw up a memorial
for the Duke of York this afternoon at the Council about Lanyon's
business. By and by we met by appointment at the office upon a reference
to Carcasses business to us again from the Duke of York, but a very
confident cunning rogue we have found him at length. He carried himself
very uncivilly to Sir W. Batten this afternoon, as heretofore, and his
silly Lord [Bruncker] pleaded for him, but all will not nor shall not do
for ought he shall give, though I love the man as a man of great parts
and ability. Thence to White Hall by water (only asking Betty Michell
by the way how she did), and there come too late to do any thing at the
Council. So by coach to my periwigg maker's and tailor's, and so home,
where I find my wife with her flageolet master, which I wish she would
practise, and so to the office, and then to Sir W. Batten's, and then to
Sir W. Pen's, talking and spending time in vain a little while, and
then home up to my chamber, and so to supper and to bed, vexed at two or
three things, viz. that my wife's watch proves so bad as it do; the
ill state of the office; and Kingdom's business; at the charge which my
mother's death for mourning will bring me when all paid.
4th. Up, and going down found Jervas the barber with a periwigg which I
had the other day cheapened at Westminster, but it being full of nits,
as heretofore his work used to be, I did now refuse it, having bought
elsewhere. So to the office till noon, busy, and then (which I think I
have not done three times in my life) left the board upon occasion of a
letter of Sir W. Coventry, and meeting Balty at my house I took him with
me by water, and to the Duke of Albemarle to give him an account of the
business, which was the escaping of some soldiers for the manning of a
few ships now going out with Harman to the West Indies, which is a
sad consideration that at the very beginning of the year and few ships
abroad we should be in such want of men that they do hide themselves,
and swear they will not go to be killed and have no pay. I find the Duke
of Albemarle at dinner with sorry company, some of his officers of the
Army; dirty dishes, and a nasty wife at table, and bad meat, of which I
made but an ill dinner. Pretty to hear how she talked against Captain
Du Tell, the Frenchman, that the Prince and her husband put out the last
year; and how, says she, the Duke of York hath made him, for his good
services, his Cupbearer; yet he fired more shot into the Prince's ship,
and others of the King's ships, than of the enemy. And the Duke of
Albemarle did confirm it, and that somebody in the fight did cry out
that a little Dutchman, by his ship, did plague him more than any other;
upon which they were going to order him to be sunk, when they looked
and found it was Du Tell, who, as the Duke of Albemarle says, had killed
several men in several of our ships. He said, but for his interest,
which he knew he had at Court, he had hanged him at the yard's-arm,
without staying for a Court-martiall. One Colonel Howard, at the table,
magnified the Duke of Albemarle's fight in June last, as being a greater
action than ever was done by Caesar. The Duke of Albemarle, did say it
had been no great action, had all his number fought, as they should have
done, to have beat the Dutch; but of his 55 ships, not above 25 fought.
He did give an account that it was a fight he was forced to: the Dutch
being come in his way, and he being ordered to the buoy of the Nore, he
could not pass by them without fighting, nor avoid them without great
disadvantage and dishonour; and this Sir G. Carteret, I afterwards
giving him an account of what he said, says that it is true, that he
was ordered up to the Nore. But I remember he said, had all his captains
fought, he would no more have doubted to have beat the Dutch, with all
their number, than to eat the apple that lay on his trencher. My Lady
Duchesse, among other things, discoursed of the wisdom of dividing the
fleete; which the General said nothing to, though he knows well that
it come from themselves in the fleete, and was brought up hither by Sir
Edward Spragge. Colonel Howard, asking how the prince did, the Duke of
Albemarle answering, "Pretty well;" the other replied, "But not so well
as to go to sea again."--"How!" says the Duchess, "what should he go
for, if he were well, for there are no ships for him to command? And so
you have brought your hogs to a fair market," said she. [It was pretty
to hear the Duke of Albemarle himself to wish that they would come on
our ground, meaning the French, for that he would pay them, so as to
make them glad to go back to France again; which was like a general, but
not like an admiral.] One at the table told an odd passage in this late
plague: that at Petersfield, I think, he said, one side of the street
had every house almost infected through the town, and the other, not one
shut up. Dinner being done, I brought Balty to the Duke of Albemarle to
kiss his hand and thank him far his kindness the last year to him, and
take leave of him, and then Balty and I to walk in the Park, and, out
of pity to his father, told him what I had in my thoughts to do for him
about the money--that is, to make him Deputy Treasurer of the fleete,
which I have done by getting Sir G. Carteret's consent, and an order
from the Duke of York for L1500 to be paid to him. He promises the whole
profit to be paid to my wife, for to be disposed of as she sees fit, for
her father and mother's relief. So mightily pleased with our walk, it
being mighty pleasant weather, I back to Sir G. Carteret's, and there he
had newly dined, and talked, and find that he do give every thing over
for lost, declaring no money to be raised, and let Sir W. Coventry name
the man that persuaded the King to take the Land Tax on promise, of
raising present money upon it. He will, he says, be able to clear
himself enough of it. I made him merry, with telling him how many
land-admirals we are to have this year: Allen at Plymouth, Holmes
at Portsmouth, Spragge for Medway, Teddiman at Dover, Smith to the
Northward, and Harman to the Southward. He did defend to me Sir W.
Coventry as not guilty of the dividing of the fleete the last year, and
blesses God, as I do, for my Lord Sandwich's absence, and tells me
how the King did lately observe to him how they have been particularly
punished that were enemies to my Lord Sandwich. Mightily pleased I am
with his family, and my Lady Carteret was on the bed to-day, having been
let blood, and tells me of my Lady Jemimah's being big-bellied. Thence
with him to my Lord Treasurer's, and there walked during Council sitting
with Sir Stephen Fox, talking of the sad condition of the King's purse,
and affairs thereby; and how sad the King's life must be, to pass by
his officers every hour, that are four years behind-hand unpaid. My Lord
Barkeley [of Stratton] I met with there, and fell into talk with him on
the same thing, wishing to God that it might be remedied, to which he
answered, with an oath, that it was as easy to remedy it as anything in
the world; saying, that there is himself and three more would venture
their carcasses upon it to pay all the King's debts in three years, had
they the managing his revenue, and putting L300,000 in his purse, as a
stock. But, Lord! what a thing is this to me, that do know how likely
a man my Lord Barkeley of all the world is, to do such a thing as this.
Here I spoke with Sir W. Coventry, who tells me plainly that to all
future complaints of lack of money he will answer but with the shrug of
his shoulder; which methought did come to my heart, to see him to begin
to abandon the King's affairs, and let them sink or swim, so he do his
owne part, which I confess I believe he do beyond any officer the King
hath, but unless he do endeavour to make others do theirs, nothing will
be done. The consideration here do make me go away very sad, and so home
by coach, and there took up my wife and Mercer, who had been to-day at
White Hall to the Maundy,
[The practice of giving alms on Maundy Thursday to poor men and
women equal in number to the years of the sovereign's age is a
curious survival in an altered form of an old custom. The original
custom was for the king to wash the feet of twelve poor persons, and
to give them a supper in imitation of Christ's last supper and his
washing of the Apostles' feet. James II. was the last sovereign to
perform the ceremony in person, but it was performed by deputy so
late as 1731. The Archbishop of York was the king's deputy on that
occasion. The institution has passed through the various stages of
feet washing with a supper, the discontinuance of the feet washing,
the substitution of a gift of provisions for the supper, and finally
the substitution of a gift of money for the provisions. The
ceremony took place at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall; but it is now
held at Westminster Abbey. Maundy is derived from the Latin word
'maudatum', which commences the original anthem sung during the
ceremony, in reference to Christ's command]
it being Maundy Thursday; but the King did not wash the poor people's
feet himself, but the Bishop of London did it for him, but I did not see
it, and with them took up Mrs. Anne Jones at her mother's door, and so
to take the ayre to Hackney, where good neat's tongue, and things to eat
and drink, and very merry, the weather being mighty pleasant; and here
I was told that at their church they have a fair pair of organs, which
play while the people sing, which I am mighty glad of, wishing the
like at our church at London, and would give L50 towards it. So very
pleasant, and hugging of Mercer in our going home, we home, and then to
the office to do a little business, and so to supper at home and to bed.
5th. Up, and troubled with Mr. Carcasse's coming to speak with me,
which made me give him occasion to fall into a heat, and he began to be
ill-mannered to me, which made me angry. He gone, I to Sir W. Pen about
the business of Mrs. Turner's son to keep his ship in employment, but
so false a fellow as Sir W. Pen is I never did nor hope shall ever know
again. So to the office, and there did business, till dinnertime, and
then home to dinner, wife and I alone, and then down to the Old Swan,
and drank with Betty and her husband, but no opportunity para baiser la.
So to White Hall to the Council chamber, where I find no Council held
till after the holidays. So to Westminster Hall, and there bought a pair
of snuffers, and saw Mrs. Howlett after her sickness come to the Hall
again. So by coach to the New Exchange and Mercer's and other places to
take up bills for what I owe them, and to Mrs. Pierce, to invite her to
dinner with us on Monday, but staid not with her. In the street met with
Mr. Sanchy, my old acquaintance at Cambridge, reckoned a great minister
here in the City; and by Sir Richard Ford particularly, which I wonder
at; for methinks, in his talk, he is but a mean man. I set him down in
Holborne, and I to the Old Exchange, and there to Sir Robert Viner's,
and made up my accounts there, to my great content; but I find they do
not keep them so regularly as, to be able to do it easily, and truly,
and readily, nor would it have been easily stated by any body on my
behalf but myself, several things being to be recalled to memory, which
nobody else could have done, and therefore it is fully necessary for me
to even accounts with these people as often as I can. So to the 'Change,
and there met with Mr. James Houblon, but no hopes, as he sees, of peace
whatever we pretend, but we shall be abused by the King of France. Then
home to the office, and busy late, and then to Sir W. Batten's, where
Mr. Young was talking about the building of the City again; and he told
me that those few churches that are to be new built are plainly not
chosen with regard to the convenience of the City; they stand a great
many in a cluster about Cornhill; but that all of them are either in the
gift of the Lord Archbishop, or Bishop of London, or Lord Chancellor, or
gift of the City. Thus all things, even to the building of churches, are
done in this world! And then he says, which I wonder at, that I should
not in all this time see, that Moorefields have houses two stories high
in them, and paved streets, the City having let leases for seven years,
which he do conclude will be very much to the hindering the building of
the City; but it was considered that the streets cannot be passable in
London till a whole street be built; and several that had got ground of
the City for charity, to build sheds on, had got the trick presently
to sell that for L60, which did not cost them L20 to put up; and so the
City, being very poor in stock, thought it as good to do it themselves,
and therefore let leases for seven years of the ground in Moorefields;
and a good deal of this money, thus advanced, hath been employed for
the enabling them to find some money for Commissioner Taylor, and Sir
W. Batten, towards the charge of "The Loyall London," or else, it is
feared, it had never been paid. And Taylor having a bill to pay wherein
Alderman Hooker was concerned it was his invention to find out this
way of raising money, or else this had not been thought on. So home
to supper and to bed. This morning come to me the Collectors for my
Pollmoney; for which I paid for my title as Esquire and place of Clerk
of Acts, and my head and wife's, and servants' and their wages, L40 17s;
and though this be a great deal, yet it is a shame I should pay no more;
that is, that I should not be assessed for my pay, as in the Victualling
business and Tangier; and for my money, which, of my own accord, I had
determined to charge myself with L1000 money, till coming to the Vestry,
and seeing nobody of our ablest merchants, as Sir Andrew Rickard, to
do it, I thought it not decent for me to do it, nor would it be thought
wisdom to do it unnecessarily, but vain glory.
6th. Up, and betimes in the morning down to the Tower wharfe, there to
attend the shipping of soldiers, to go down to man some ships going out,
and pretty to see how merrily some, and most go, and how sad others--the
leave they take of their friends, and the terms that some wives, and
other wenches asked to part with them: a pretty mixture. So to the
office, having staid as long as I could, and there sat all the morning,
and then home at noon to dinner, and then abroad, Balty with me, and to
White Hall, by water, to Sir G. Carteret, about Balty's L1500 contingent
money for the fleete to the West Indys, and so away with him to the
Exchange, and mercers and drapers, up and down, to pay all my scores
occasioned by this mourning for my mother; and emptied a L50 bag, and it
was a joy to me to see that I am able to part with such a sum, without
much inconvenience; at least, without any trouble of mind. So to Captain
Cocke's to meet Fenn, to talk about this money for Balty, and there
Cocke tells me that he is confident there will be a peace, whatever
terms be asked us, and he confides that it will take because the French
and Dutch will be jealous one of another which shall give the best
terms, lest the other should make the peace with us alone, to the ruin
of the third, which is our best defence, this jealousy, for ought I at
present see. So home and there very late, very busy, and then home to
supper and to bed, the people having got their house very clean against
Monday's dinner.
7th (Easter day). Up, and when dressed with my wife (in mourning for my
mother) to church both, where Mr. Mills, a lazy sermon. Home to dinner,
wife and I and W. Hewer, and after dinner I by water to White Hall to
Sir G. Carteret's, there to talk about Balty's money, and did present
Balty to him to kiss his hand, and then to walk in the Parke, and heard
the Italian musique at the Queen's chapel, whose composition is fine,
but yet the voices of eunuchs I do not like like our women, nor am more
pleased with it at all than with English voices, but that they do
jump most excellently with themselves and their instrument, which is
wonderful pleasant; but I am convinced more and more, that, as every
nation has a particular accent and tone in discourse, so as the tone of
one not to agree with or please the other, no more can the fashion of
singing to words, for that the better the words are set, the more they
take in of the ordinary tone of the country whose language the song
speaks, so that a song well composed by an Englishman must be better to
an Englishman than it can be to a stranger, or than if set by a stranger
in foreign words. Thence back to White Hall, and there saw the King come
out of chapel after prayers in the afternoon, which he is never at but
after having received the Sacrament: and the Court, I perceive, is quite
out of mourning; and some very fine; among others, my Lord Gerard, in
a very rich vest and coat. Here I met with my Lord Bellasses: and it is
pretty to see what a formal story he tells me of his leaving, his place
upon the death of my Lord Cleveland, by which he is become Captain of
the Pensioners; and that the King did leave it to him to keep the other
or take this; whereas, I know the contrary, that they had a mind to have
him away from Tangier. He tells me he is commanded by the King to go
down to the Northward to satisfy the Deputy Lieutenants of Yorkshire,
who have desired to lay down their commissions upon pretence of having
no profit by their places but charge, but indeed is upon the Duke of
Buckingham's being under a cloud (of whom there is yet nothing heard),
so that the King is apprehensive of their discontent, and sends him to
pacify them, and I think he is as good a dissembler as any man else, and
a fine person he is for person, and proper to lead the Pensioners, but
a man of no honour nor faith I doubt. So to Sir G. Carteret's again
to talk with him about Balty's money, and wrote a letter to Portsmouth
about part of it, and then in his coach, with his little daughter Porpot
(as he used to nickname her), and saw her at home, and her maid, and
another little gentlewoman, and so I walked into Moore Fields, and, as
is said, did find houses built two stories high, and like to stand; and
it must become a place of great trade, till the City be built; and
the street is already paved as London streets used to be, which is a
strange, and to mean unpleasing sight. So home and to my chamber about
sending an express to Portsmouth about Balty's money, and then comes
Mrs. Turner to enquire after her son's business, which goes but bad,
which led me to show her how false Sir W. Pen is to her, whereupon she
told me his obligations to her, and promises to her, and how a while
since he did show himself dissatisfied in her son's coming to the table
and applying himself to me, which is a good nut, and a nut I will make
use of. She gone I to other business in my chamber, and then to supper
and to bed. The Swede's Embassadors and our Commissioners are making all
the haste they can over to the treaty for peace, and I find at Court,
and particularly Lord Bellasses, says there will be a peace, and it is
worth remembering what Sir W. Coventry did tell me (as a secret though)
that whereas we are afeard Harman's fleete to the West Indys will not
be got out before the Dutch come and block us up, we shall have a happy
pretext to get out our ships under pretence of attending the Embassadors
and Commissioners, which is a very good, but yet a poor shift.
8th. Up, and having dressed myself, to the office a little, and out,
expecting to have seen the pretty daughter of the Ship taverne at the
hither end of Billiter Lane (whom I never yet have opportunity to speak
to). I in there to drink my morning draught of half a pint of Rhenish
wine; but a ma doleur elle and their family are going away thence, and
a new man come to the house. So I away to the Temple, to my new.
bookseller's; and there I did agree for Rycaut's late History of the
Turkish Policy, which costs me 55s.; whereas it was sold plain before
the late fire for 8s., and bound and coloured as this is for 20s.; for
I have bought it finely bound and truly coloured, all the figures, of
which there was but six books done so, whereof the King and Duke of
York, and Duke of Monmouth, and Lord Arlington, had four. The fifth was
sold, and I have bought the sixth. So to enquire out Mrs. Knipp's new
lodging, but could not, but do hear of her at the Playhouse, where she
was practising, and I sent for her out by a porter, and the jade come
to me all undressed, so cannot go home to my house to dinner, as I had
invited her, which I was not much troubled at, because I think there is
a distance between her and Mrs. Pierce, and so our company would not be
so pleasant. So home, and there find all things in good readiness for
a good dinner, and here unexpectedly I find little Mis. Tooker, whom my
wife loves not from the report of her being already naught; however, I
do shew her countenance, and by and by come my guests, Dr. Clerke and
his wife, and Mrs. Worshipp, and her daughter; and then Mr. Pierce and
his wife, and boy, and Betty; and then I sent for Mercer; so that we
had, with my wife and I, twelve at table, and very good and pleasant
company, and a most neat and excellent, but dear dinner; but, Lord! to
see with what envy they looked upon all my fine plate was pleasant;
for I made the best shew I could, to let them understand me and my
condition, to take down the pride of Mrs. Clerke, who thinks herself
very great. We sat long, and very merry, and all things agreeable; and,
after dinner, went out by coaches, thinking to have seen a play, but
come too late to both houses, and then they had thoughts of going
abroad somewhere; but I thought all the charge ought not to be mine, and
therefore I endeavoured to part the company, and so ordered it to set
them all down at Mrs. Pierces; and there my wife and I and Mercer left
them in good humour, and we three to the King's house, and saw the
latter end of the "Surprisall," a wherein was no great matter, I
thought, by what I saw there. Thence away to Polichinello, and there
had three times more sport than at the play, and so home, and there the
first night we have been this year in the garden late, we three and our
Barker singing very well, and then home to supper, and so broke up, and
to bed mightily pleased with this day's pleasure.
9th. Up. and to the office a while, none of my fellow officers coming to
sit, it being holiday, and so towards noon I to the Exchange, and there
do hear mighty cries for peace, and that otherwise we shall be undone;
and yet I do suspect the badness of the peace we shall make. Several do
complain of abundance of land flung up by tenants out of their hands
for want of ability to pay their rents; and by name, that the Duke of
Buckingham hath L6000 so flung up. And my father writes, that Jasper
Trice, upon this pretence of his tenants' dealing with him, is broke
up housekeeping, and gone to board with his brother, Naylor, at Offord;
which is very sad. So home to dinner, and after dinner I took coach and
to the King's house, and by and by comes after me my wife with W. Hewer
and his mother and Barker, and there we saw "The Tameing of a Shrew,"
which hath some very good pieces in it, but generally is but a mean
play; and the best part, "Sawny,"
[This play was entitled "Sawney the Scot, or the Taming of a Shrew,"
and consisted of an alteration of Shakespeare's play by John Lacy.
Although it had long been popular it was not printed until 1698. In
the old "Taming of a Shrew" (1594), reprinted by Thomas Amyot for
the Shakespeare Society in 1844, the hero's servant is named Sander,
and this seems to have given the hint to Lacy, when altering
Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," to foist a 'Scotsman into the
action. Sawney was one of Lacy's favourite characters, and occupies
a prominent position in Michael Wright's picture at Hampton Court.
Evelyn, on October 3rd, 1662, "visited Mr. Wright, a Scotsman, who
had liv'd long at Rome, and was esteem'd a good painter," and he
singles out as his best picture, "Lacy, the famous Roscius, or
comedian, whom he has painted in three dresses, as a gallant, a
Presbyterian minister, and a Scotch Highlander in his plaid."
Langbaine and Aubrey both make the mistake of ascribing the third
figure to Teague in "The Committee;" and in spite of Evelyn's clear
statement, his editor in a note follows them in their blunder.
Planche has reproduced the picture in his "History of Costume"
(Vol. ii., p. 243).]
done by Lacy, hath not half its life, by reason of the words, I suppose,
not being understood, at least by me. After the play was done, as I come
so I went away alone, and had a mind to have taken out Knipp to have
taken the ayre with her, and to that end sent a porter in to her that
she should take a coach and come to me to the Piatza in Covent Garden,
where I waited for her, but was doubtful I might have done ill in doing
it if we should be visti ensemble, sed elle was gone out, and so I was
eased of my care, and therefore away to Westminster to the Swan, and
there did baiser la little missa.... and drank, and then by water to the
Old Swan, and there found Betty Michell sitting at the door, it being
darkish. I staid and talked a little with her, but no once baiser la,
though she was to my thinking at this time une de plus pretty mohers
that ever I did voir in my vida, and God forgive me my mind did run
sobre elle all the vespre and night and la day suivante. So home and to
the office a little, and then to Sir W. Batten's, where he tells me how
he hath found his lady's jewels again, which have been so long lost, and
a servant imprisoned and arraigned, and they were in her closet under a
china cup, where he hath servants will swear they did look in searching
the house; but Mrs. Turner and I, and others, do believe that they were
only disposed of by my Lady, in case she had died, to some friends of
hers, and now laid there again. So home to supper, and to read the book
I bought yesterday of the Turkish policy, which is a good book, well
writ, and so owned by Dr. Clerke yesterday to me, commending it mightily
to me for my reading as the only book of the subject that ever was writ,
yet so designedly. So to bed.
10th. Up, and to my office a little, and then, in the garden, find Sir
W. Pen; and he and I to Sir W. Batten, where he tells us news of the new
disorders of Hogg and his men in taking out of 30 tons of wine out of a
prize of ours, which makes us mad; and that, added to the unwillingness
of the men to go longer abroad without money, do lead us to conclude
not to keep her abroad any longer, of which I am very glad, for I do not
like our doings with what we have already got, Sir W. Batten ordering
the disposal of our wines and goods, and he leaves it to Morrice the
cooper, who I take to be a cunning proud knave, so that I am very
desirous to adventure no further. So away by water from the Old Swan to
White Hall, and there to Sir W. Coventry's, with whom I staid a great
while longer than I have done these many months, and had opportunity of
talking with him, and he do declare himself troubled that he hath any
thing left him to do in the Navy, and would be glad to part with his
whole profits and concernments in it, his pains and care being wholly
ineffectual during this lack of money; the expense growing infinite, the
service not to be done, and discipline and order not to be kept, only
from want of money. I begun to discourse with him the business of
Tangier, which by the removal of my Lord Bellasses, is now to have a
new Governor; and did move him, that at this season all the business
of reforming the garrison might be considered, while nobody was to be
offended; and I told him it is plain that we do overspend our revenue:
that the place is of no more profit to the King than it was the first
day, nor in itself of better credit; no more people of condition willing
to live there, nor any thing like a place likely to turn his Majesty to
account: that it hath been hitherto, and, for aught I see, likely only
to be used as a job to do a kindness to some Lord, or he that can get to
be Governor. Sir W. Coventry agreed with me, so as to say, that unless
the King hath the wealth of the Mogul, he would be a beggar to have his
businesses ordered in the manner they now are: that his garrisons must
be made places only of convenience to particular persons that he hath
moved the Duke of York in it; and that it was resolved to send no
Governor thither till there had been Commissioners sent to put the
garrison in order, so as that he that goes may go with limitations and
rules to follow, and not to do as he please, as the rest have hitherto
done. That he is not afeard to speak his mind, though to the displeasure
of any man; and that I know well enough; but that, when it is come, as
it is now, that to speak the truth in behalf of the King plainly do no
good, but all things bore down by other measures than by what is best
for the King, he hath no temptation to be perpetually fighting of
battles, it being more easy to him do those terms to suffer things to go
on without giving any man offence, than to have the same thing done, and
he contract the displeasure of all the world, as he must do, that will
be for the King. I did offer him to draw up my thoughts in this matter
to present to the Duke of York, which he approved of, and I do think
to do it. So away, and by coach going home saw Sir G. Carteret going
towards White Hall. So 'light and by water met him, and with him to the
King's little chapel; and afterwards to see the King heal the King's
Evil, wherein no pleasure, I having seen it before; and then to see him
and the Queene and Duke of York and his wife, at dinner in the Queene's
lodgings; and so with Sir G. Carteret to his lodgings to dinner; where
very good company; and after dinner he and I to talk alone how things
are managed, and to what ruin we must come if we have not a peace. He
did tell me one occasion, how Sir Thomas Allen, which I took for a man
of known courage and service on the King's side, was tried for his
life in Prince Rupert's fleete, in the late times, for cowardice,
and condemned to be hanged, and fled to Jersey; where Sir G. Carteret
received him, not knowing the reason of his coming thither: and that
thereupon Prince Rupert wrote to the Queen-Mother his dislike of Sir
G. Carteret's receiving a person that stood condemned; and so Sir G.
Carteret was forced to bid him betake himself to some other place. This
was strange to me. Our Commissioners are preparing to go to Bredah to
the treaty, and do design to be going the next week. So away by coach
home, where there should have been a meeting about Carcasse's business,
but only my Lord and I met, and so broke up, Carcasse having only read
his answer to his charge, which is well writ, but I think will not prove
to his advantage, for I believe him to be a very rogue. So home, and
Balty and I to look Mr. Fenn at Sir G. Carteret's office in Broad
Streete, and there missing him and at the banker's hard by, we home, and
I down by water to Deptford Dockyard, and there did a little business,
and so home back again all the way reading a little piece I lately
bought, called "The Virtuoso, or the Stoicke," proposing many things
paradoxical to our common opinions, wherein in some places he speaks
well, but generally is but a sorry man. So home and to my chamber to
enter my two last days' journall, and this, and then to supper and to
bed. Blessed be God! I hear that my father is better and better, and
will, I hope, live to enjoy some cheerful days more; but it is strange
what he writes me, that Mr. Weaver, of Huntingdon, who was a lusty,
likely, and but a youngish man, should be dead.
11th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and (which is
now rare, he having not been with us twice I think these six months) Sir
G. Carteret come to us upon some particular business of his office, and
went away again. At noon I to the 'Change, and there hear by Mr. Hublon
of the loss of a little East Indiaman, valued at about L20,000, coming
home alone, and safe to within ten leagues of Scilly, and there snapt
by a French Caper. Our merchants do much pray for peace; and he tells me
that letters are come that the Dutch have stopped the fitting of their
great ships, and the coming out of a fleete of theirs of 50 sayle, that
was ready to come out; but I doubt the truth of it yet. Thence to Sir G.
Carteret, by his invitation to his office, where my Lady was, and dined
with him, and very merry and good people they are, when pleased, as any
I know. After dinner I to the office, where busy till evening, and
then with Balty to Sir G. Carteret's office, and there with Mr.
Fenn despatched the business of Balty's L1500 he received for the
contingencies of the fleete, whereof he received about L253 in pieces
of eight at a goldsmith's there hard by, which did puzzle me and him to
tell; for I could not tell the difference by sight, only by bigness,
and that is not always discernible, between a whole and half-piece and
quarterpiece. Having received this money I home with Balty and it, and
then abroad by coach with my wife and set her down at her father's, and
I to White Hall, thinking there to have seen the Duchess of Newcastle's
coming this night to Court, to make a visit to the Queene, the King
having been with her yesterday, to make her a visit since her coming
to town. The whole story of this lady is a romance, and all she do is
romantick. Her footmen in velvet coats, and herself in an antique dress,
as they say; and was the other day at her own play, "The Humourous
Lovers;" the most ridiculous thing that ever was wrote, but yet she
and her Lord mightily pleased with it; and she, at the end, made her
respects to the players from her box, and did give them thanks. There is
as much expectation of her coming to Court, that so people may come to
see her, as if it were the Queen of Sheba; but I lost my labour, for she
did not come this night. So, meeting Mr. Brisband, he took me up to my
Lady Jemimah's chamber, who is let blood to-day, and so there we sat and
talked an hour, I think, very merry and one odd thing or other, and so
away, and I took up my wife at her tailor's (whose wife is brought to
bed, and my wife must be godmother), and so with much ado got a coach to
carry us home, it being late, and so to my chamber, having little left
to do at my office, my eyes being a little sore by reason of my reading
a small printed book the other day after it was dark, and so to supper
and to bed. It comes in my head to set down that there have been two
fires in the City, as I am told for certain, and it is so, within this
week.
12th. Up, and when ready, and to my office, to do a little business,
and, coming homeward again, saw my door and hatch open, left so by Luce,
our cookmayde, which so vexed me, that I did give her a kick in our
entry, and offered a blow at her, and was seen doing so by Sir W.
Pen's footboy, which did vex me to the heart, because I know he will
be telling their family of it; though I did put on presently a very
pleasant face to the boy, and spoke kindly to him, as one without
passion, so as it may be he might not think I was angry, but yet I was
troubled at it. So away by water to White Hall, and there did our usual
business before the Duke of York; but it fell out that, discoursing
of matters of money, it rose to a mighty heat, very high words arising
between Sir G. Carteret and [Sir] W. Coventry, the former in his passion
saying that the other should have helped things if they were so bad; and
the other answered, so he would, and things should have been better had
he been Treasurer of the Navy. I was mightily troubled at this heat, and
it will breed ill blood, I fear; but things are in that bad condition
that I do daily expect when we shall all fly in one another's faces,
when we shall be reduced, every one, to answer for himself. We broke up;
and I soon after to Sir G. Carteret's chamber, where I find the poor man
telling his lady privately, and she weeping. I went into them, and did
seem, as indeed I was, troubled for this; and did give the best advice
I could, which, I think, did please them: and they do apprehend me their
friend, as indeed I am, for I do take the Vice-chamberlain for a most
honest man. He did assure me that he was not, all expences and things
paid, clear in estate L15,000 better than he was when the King come in;
and that the King and Lord Chancellor did know that he was worth, with
the debt the King owed him, L50,000, I think, he said, when the King
come into England. I did pacify all I could, and then away by water
home, there to write letters and things for the dispatch of Balty away
this day to sea; and after dinner he did go, I having given him much
good counsell; and I have great hopes that he will make good use of it,
and be a good man, for I find him willing to take pains and very sober.
He being gone, I close at my office all the afternoon getting off of
hand my papers, which, by the late holidays and my laziness, were grown
too many upon my hands, to my great trouble, and therefore at it as
late as my eyes would give me leave, and then by water down to Redriffe,
meaning to meet my wife, who is gone with Mercer, Barker, and the boy
(it being most sweet weather) to walk, and I did meet with them, and
walked back, and then by the time we got home it was dark, and we
staid singing in the garden till supper was ready, and there with great
pleasure. But I tried my girles Mercer and Barker singly one after
another, a single song, "At dead low ebb," etc., and I do clearly find
that as to manner of singing the latter do much the better, the other
thinking herself as I do myself above taking pains for a manner of
singing, contenting ourselves with the judgment and goodness of eare. So
to supper, and then parted and to bed.
13th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and strange
how the false fellow Commissioner. Pett was eager to have had Carcasses
business brought on to-day that he might give my Lord Bruncker (who
hates him, I am sure, and hath spoke as much against him to the King
in my hearing as any man) a cast of his office in pleading for his man
Carcasse, but I did prevent its being brought on to-day, and so broke
up, and I home to dinner, and after dinner with a little singing with
some pleasure alone with my poor wife, and then to the office, where
sat all the afternoon till late at night, and then home to supper and to
bed, my eyes troubling me still after candle-light, which troubles me.
Wrote to my father, who, I am glad to hear, is at some ease again, and I
long to have him in town, that I may see what can be done for him
here; for I would fain do all I can that I may have him live, and take
pleasure in my doing well in the world. This afternoon come Mrs. Lowther
to me to the office, and there je did toker ses mammailles and did
baiser them and su bocca, which she took fort willingly....
14th (Lord's day). Up, and to read a little in my new History of Turkey,
and so with my wife to church, and then home, where is little Michell
and my pretty Betty and also Mercer, and very merry. A good dinner of
roast beef. After dinner I away to take water at the Tower, and thence
to Westminster, where Mrs. Martin was not at home. So to White Hall,
and there walked up and down, and among other things visited Sir G.
Carteret, and much talk with him, who is discontented, as he hath
reason, to see how things are like to come all to naught, and it is very
much that this resolution of having of country Admirals should not come
to his eares till I told him the other day, so that I doubt who manages
things. From him to Margaret's Church, and there spied Martin, and home
with her..... but fell out to see her expensefullness, having bought
Turkey work, chairs, &c. By and by away home, and there took out my
wife, and the two Mercers, and two of our mayds, Barker and Jane, and
over the water to the Jamaica House, where I never was before, and there
the girls did run for wagers over the bowling-green; and there, with
much pleasure, spent little, and so home, and they home, and I to read
with satisfaction in my book of Turkey, and so to bed.
15th. Lay long in bed, and by and by called up by Sir H. Cholmly,
who tells me that my Lord Middleton is for certain chosen Governor of
Tangier; a man of moderate understanding, not covetous, but a soldier of
fortune, and poor. Here comes Mr. Sanchy with an impertinent business
to me of a ticket, which I put off. But by and by comes Dr. Childe by
appointment, and sat with me all the morning making me bases and inward
parts to several songs that I desired of him, to my great content. Then
dined, and then abroad by coach, and I set him down at Hatton Garden,
and I to the King's house by chance, where a new play: so full as I
never saw it; I forced to stand all the while close to the very door
till I took cold, and many people went away for want of room. The King,
and Queene, and Duke of York and Duchesse there, and all the Court, and
Sir W. Coventry. The play called "The Change of Crownes;" a play of Ned
Howard's, the best that ever I saw at that house, being a great play and
serious; only Lacy did act the country-gentleman come up to Court,
who do abuse the Court with all the imaginable wit and plainness about
selling of places, and doing every thing for money. The play took
very much. Thence I to my new bookseller's, and there bought "Hooker's
Polity," the new edition, and "Dugdale's History of the Inns of Court,"
of which there was but a few saved out of the fire, and Playford's new
Catch-book, that hath a great many new fooleries in it. Then home, a
little at the office, and then to supper and to bed, mightily pleased
with the new play.
16th. Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning, at noon home to
dinner, and thence in haste to carry my wife to see the new play I saw
yesterday, she not knowing it. But there, contrary to expectation, find
"The Silent Woman." However, in; and there Knipp come into the pit. I
took her by me, and here we met with Mrs. Horsley, the pretty woman--an
acquaintance of Mercer's, whose house is burnt. Knipp tells me the King
was so angry at the liberty taken by Lacy's, part to abuse him to his
face, that he commanded they should act no more, till Moone went and got
leave for them to act again, but not this play. The King mighty angry;
and it was bitter indeed, but very true and witty. I never was more
taken with a play than I am with this "Silent Woman," as old as it is,
and as often as I have seen it. There is more wit in it than goes to ten
new plays. Thence with my wife and Knipp to Mrs. Pierce's, and saw
her closet again, and liked her picture. Thence took them all to the
Cake-house, in Southampton Market-place, where Pierce told us the story
how, in good earnest, [the King] is offended with the Duke of Richmond's
marrying, and Mrs. Stewart's sending the King his jewels again. As she
tells it, it is the noblest romance and example of a brave lady that
ever I read in my life. Pretty to hear them talk of yesterday's play,
and I durst not own to my wife to have seen it. Thence home and to [Sir]
W. Batten!'s, where we have made a bargain for the ending of some of the
trouble about some of our prizes for L1400. So home to look on my new
books that I have lately bought, and then to supper and to bed.
17th. Up, and with the two Sir Williams by coach to the Duke of York,
who is come to St. James's, the first time we have attended him there
this year. In our way, in Tower Street, we saw Desbrough walking on
foot: who is now no more a prisoner, and looks well, and just as he used
to do heretofore. When we come to the Duke of York's I was spoke to
by Mr. Bruncker on behalf of Carcasse. Thence by coach to Sir G.
Carteret's, in London, there to pass some accounts of his, and at it
till dinner, and then to work again a little, and then go away, and my
wife being sent for by me to the New Exchange I took her up, and there
to the King's playhouse (at the door met with W. Joyce in the street,
who come to our coach side, but we in haste took no notice of him, for
which I was sorry afterwards, though I love not the fellow, yet for his
wife's sake), and saw a piece of "Rollo," a play I like not much, but
much good acting in it: the house very empty. So away home, and I a
little to the office, and then to Sir Robert Viner's, and so back,
and find my wife gone down by water to take a little ayre, and I to
my chamber and there spent the night in reading my new book, "Origines
Juridiciales," which pleases me. So to supper and to bed.
18th. Up, and to read more in the "Origines," and then to the office,
where the news is strong that not only the Dutch cannot set out a fleete
this year, but that the French will not, and that he hath given the
answer to the Dutch Embassador, saying that he is for the King of
England's, having an honourable peace, which, if true, is the best
news we have had a good while. At the office all the morning, and there
pleased with the little pretty Deptford woman I have wished for long,
and she hath occasion given her to come again to me. After office I to
the 'Change a little, and then home and to dinner, and then by coach
with my wife to the Duke of York's house, and there saw "The Wits," a
play I formerly loved, and is now corrected and enlarged: but, though I
like the acting, yet I like not much in the play now. The Duke of York
and [Sir] W. Coventry gone to Portsmouth, makes me thus to go to
plays. So home, and to the office a little and then home, where I find
Goodgroome, and he and I did sing several things over, and tried two or
three grace parts in Playford's new book, my wife pleasing me in singing
her part of the things she knew, which is a comfort to my very heart. So
he being gone we to supper and to bed.
19th. Up, and to the office all the morning, doing a great deal of
business. At noon to dinner betimes, and then my wife and I by coach
to the Duke's house, calling at Lovett's, where I find my Lady
Castlemayne's picture not yet done, which has lain so many months there,
which vexes me, but I mean not to trouble them more after this is done.
So to the playhouse, not much company come, which I impute to the heat
of the weather, it being very hot. Here we saw "Macbeth,"
[See November 5th, 1664. Downes wrote: "The Tragedy of Macbeth,
alter'd by Sir William Davenant; being drest in all it's finery, as
new cloaths, new scenes, machines as flyings for the Witches; with
all the singing and dancing in it. The first compos'd by Mr. Lock,
the other by Mr. Channell and Mr. Joseph Preist; it being all
excellently perform'd, being in the nature of an opera, it
recompenc'd double the expence; it proves still a lasting play."]
which, though I have seen it often, yet is it one of the best plays for
a stage, and variety of dancing and musique, that ever I saw. So being
very much pleased, thence home by coach with young Goodyer and his own
sister, who offered us to go in their coach. A good-natured youth I
believe he is, but I fear will mind his pleasures too much. She is
pretty, and a modest, brown girle. Set us down, so my wife and I into
the garden, a fine moonshine evening, and there talking, and among other
things she tells me that she finds by W. Hewer that my people do observe
my minding my pleasure more than usual, which I confess, and am ashamed
of, and so from this day take upon me to leave it till Whit-Sunday.
While we were sitting in the garden comes Mrs. Turner to advise about
her son, the Captain, when I did give her the best advice I could, to
look out for some land employment for him, a peace being at hand, when
few ships will be employed and very many, and these old Captains, to be
provided for. Then to other talk, and among the rest about Sir W. Pen's
being to buy Wansted House of Sir Robert Brookes, but has put him off
again, and left him the other day to pay for a dinner at a tavern,
which she says our parishioner, Mrs. Hollworthy, talks of; and I dare be
hanged if ever he could mean to buy that great house, that knows not how
to furnish one that is not the tenth part so big. Thence I to my chamber
to write a little, and then to bed, having got a mighty cold in my right
eare and side of my throat, and in much trouble with it almost all the
night.
20th. Up, with much pain in my eare and palate. To the office out of
humour all the morning. At noon dined, and with my wife to the King's
house, but there found the bill torn down and no play acted, and so
being in the humour to see one, went to the Duke of York's house, and
there saw "The Witts" again, which likes me better than it did the other
day, having much wit in it. Here met with Mr. Rolt, who tells me
the reason of no play to-day at the King's house. That Lacy had been
committed to the porter's lodge for his acting his part in the late new
play, and that being thence released he come to the King's house,
there met with Ned Howard, the poet of the play, who congratulated his
release; upon which Lacy cursed him as that it was the fault of his
nonsensical play that was the cause of his ill usage. Mr. Howard did
give him some reply; to which Lacy [answered] him, that he was more a
fool than a poet; upon which Howard did give him a blow on the face with
his glove; on which Lacy, having a cane in his hand, did give him a blow
over the pate. Here Rolt and others that discoursed of it in the pit
this afternoon did wonder that Howard did not run him through, he being
too mean a fellow to fight with. But Howard did not do any thing but
complain to the King of it; so the whole house is silenced, and the
gentry seem to rejoice much at it, the house being become too insolent.
Here were many fine ladies this afternoon at this house as I have at any
time seen, and so after the play home and there wrote to my father, and
then to walk in the garden with my wife, resolving by the grace of God
to see no more plays till Whitsuntide, I having now seen a play every
day this week till I have neglected my business, and that I am ashamed
of, being found so much absent; the Duke of York and Sir W. Coventry
having been out of town at Portsmouth did the more embolden me thereto.
So home, and having brought home with me from Fenchurch Street a hundred
of sparrowgrass,--[A form once so commonly used for asparagus that
it has found its way into dictionaries.]--cost 18d. We had them and
a little bit of salmon, which my wife had a mind to, cost 3s. So to
supper, and my pain being somewhat better in my throat, we to bed.
21st (Lord's day). Up, and John, a hackney coachman whom of late I have
much used, as being formerly Sir W. Pen's coachman, coming to me by my
direction to see whether I would use him to-day or no, I took him to our
backgate to look upon the ground which is to be let there, where I have
a mind to buy enough to build a coach-house and stable; for I have had
it much in my thoughts lately that it is not too much for me now,
in degree or cost, to keep a coach, but contrarily, that I am almost
ashamed to be seen in a hackney, and therefore if I can have the
conveniency, I will secure the ground at least till peace comes, that I
do receive encouragement to keep a coach, or else that I may part with
the ground again. The place I like very well, being close to my owne
house, and so resolve to go about it, and so home and with my wife to
church, and then to dinner, Mercer with us, with design to go to Hackney
to church in the afternoon. So after dinner she and I sung "Suo Moro,"
which is one of the best pieces of musique to my thinking that ever I
did hear in my life; then took coach and to Hackney church, where very
full, and found much difficulty to get pews, I offering the sexton
money, and he could not help me. So my wife and Mercer ventured into
a pew, and I into another. A knight and his lady very civil to me when
they come, and the like to my wife in hers, being Sir G. Viner and his
lady--rich in jewells, but most in beauty--almost the finest woman that
ever I saw. That which we went chiefly to see was the young ladies
of the schools,--[Hackney was long famous for its boarding
schools.]--whereof there is great store, very pretty; and also the
organ, which is handsome, and tunes the psalm, and plays with the
people; which is mighty pretty, and makes me mighty earnest to have a
pair at our church, I having almost a mind to give them a pair, if they
would settle a maintenance on them for it. I am mightily taken with
them. So, church done, we to coach and away to Kingsland and Islington,
and there eat and drank at the Old House, and so back, it raining a
little, which is mighty welcome, it having not rained in many weeks, so
that they say it makes the fields just now mighty sweet. So with great
pleasure home by night. Set down Mercer, and I to my chamber, and there
read a great deal in Rycaut's Turkey book with great pleasure, and so
eat and to bed. My sore throat still troubling me, but not so much. This
night I do come to full resolution of diligence for a good while, and I
hope God will give me the grace and wisdom to perform it.
22nd. Up pretty betimes, my throat better, and so drest me, and to White
Hall to see Sir W. Coventry, returned from Portsmouth, whom I am almost
ashamed to see for fear he should have been told how often I have been
at plays, but it is better to see him at first than afterward. So walked
to the Old Swan and drank at Michell's, and then to White Hall and over
the Park to St. James's to [Sir] W. Coventry, where well received, and
good discourse. He seems to be sure of a peace; that the King of France
do not intend to set out a fleete, for that he do design Flanders.
Our Embassadors set out this week. Thence I over the Park to Sir G.
Carteret, and after him by coach to the Lord Chancellor's house, the
first time I have been therein; and it is very noble, and brave pictures
of the ancient and present nobility, never saw better. Thence with him
to London, mighty merry in the way. Thence home, and find the boy out of
the house and office, and by and by comes in and hath been to Mercer's.
I did pay his coat for him. Then to my chamber, my wife comes home with
linen she hath been buying of. I then to dinner, and then down the river
to Greenwich, and the watermen would go no further. So I turned them
off, giving them nothing, and walked to Woolwich; there did some
business, and met with Captain Cocke and back with him. He tells me our
peace is agreed on; we are not to assist the Spanyard against the French
for this year, and no restitution, and we are likely to lose Poleroone.
[Among the State Papers is a document dated July 8th, 1667, in which
we read: "At Breda, the business is so far advanced that the English
have relinquished their pretensions to the ships Henry Bonaventure
and Good Hope. The matter sticks only at Poleron; the States have
resolved not to part with it, though the English should have a right
to it" ("Calendar," 1667, p. 278).]
I know not whether this be true or no, but I am for peace on any terms.
He tells me how the King was vexed the other day for having no paper
laid him at the Council-table, as was usual; and Sir Richard Browne did
tell his Majesty he would call the person whose work it was to provide
it: who being come, did tell his Majesty that he was but a poor man, and
was out L400 or L500 for it, which was as much as he is worth; and that
he cannot provide it any longer without money, having not received
a penny since the King's coming in. So the King spoke to my Lord
Chamberlain; and many such mementos the King do now-a-days meet withall,
enough to make an ingenuous man mad. I to Deptford, and there scolded
with a master for his ship's not being gone, and so home to the office
and did business till my eyes are sore again, and so home to sing, and
then to bed, my eyes failing me mightily:
23rd (St. George's-day). The feast being kept at White Hall, out of
design, as it is thought, to make the best countenance we can to the
Swede's Embassadors, before their leaving us to go to the treaty abroad,
to shew some jollity. We sat at the office all the morning. Word is
brought me that young Michell is come to call my wife to his wife's
labour, and she went, and I at the office full of expectation what
to hear from poor Betty Michell. This morning much to do with Sir
W. Warren, all whose applications now are to Lord Bruncker, and I am
against him now, not professedly, but apparently in discourse, and will
be. At noon home to dinner, where alone, and after dinner to my musique
papers, and by and by comes in my wife, who gives me the good news that
the midwife and she alone have delivered poor Betty of a pretty girl,
which I am mighty glad of, and she in good condition, my wife as well as
I mightily pleased with it. Then to the office to do things towards the
post, and then my wife and I set down at her mother's, and I up and down
to do business, but did little; and so to Mrs. Martin's, and there
did hazer what I would con her, and then called my wife and to little
Michell's, where we saw the little child, which I like mightily, being
I allow very pretty, and asked her how she did, being mighty glad of her
doing well, and so home to the office, and then to my chamber, and so to
bed.
24th. Up, and with [Sir] W. Pen to St. James's, and there the Duke of
York was preparing to go to some further ceremonies about the Garter,
that he could give us no audience. Thence to Westminster Hall, the first
day of the Term, and there joyed Mrs. Michell, who is mightily pleased
with my wife's work yesterday, and so away to my barber's about my
periwigg, and then to the Exchange, there to meet Fenn about some money
to be borrowed of the office of the Ordnance to answer a great pinch. So
home to dinner, and in the afternoon met by agreement (being put on it
by Harry Bruncker's frighting us into a despatch of Carcasse's business)
[Lord] Bruncker, T. Harvey, [Sir] J. Minnes, [Sir] W. Batten, and I (Sir
W. Pen keeping out of the way still), where a great many high words from
Bruncker, and as many from me and others to him, and to better purpose,
for I think we have fortified ourselves to overthrow his man Carcasse,
and to do no honour to him. We rose with little done but great heat,
not to be reconciled I doubt, and I care not, for I will be on the right
side, and that shall keep me: Thence by coach to Sir John Duncomb's'
lodging in the Pell Mell,--[See November 8th, 1664]--in order to the
money spoken of in the morning; and there awhile sat and discoursed.:
and I find him that he is a very proper man for business, being very
resolute and proud, and industrious. He told me what reformation they
had made in the office of the Ordnance, taking away Legg's fees:
[William Legge, eldest son of Edward Legge, sometime Vice-President
of Munster, born 1609(?). He served under Maurice of Nassau and
Gustavus Adolphus, and held the rank of colonel in the Royalist
army. He closely attached himself to Prince Rupert, and was an
active agent in affecting the reconciliation between that prince and
his uncle Charles I. Colonel Legge distinguished himself in several
actions, and was wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of
Worcester; it was said that he would have "been executed if his wife
had not contrived his escape from Coventry gaol in her own clothes."
He was Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles I., and also to Charles
II.; he held the offices of Master of the Armories and Lieutenant-
General of the Ordnance. He refused honours (a knighthood from
Charles I. and an earldom from Charles II.), but his eldest son
George was created Baron Dartmouth in 1682. He died October 13th,
1672, at his house in the Minories, and was buried in]
and have got an order that no Treasurer after him shall ever sit at the
Board; and it is a good one: that no master of the Ordnance here shall
ever sell a place. He tells me they have not paid any increase of price
for any thing during this war, but in most have paid less; and at this
day have greater stores than they know where to lay, if there should be
peace, and than ever was any time this war. That they pay every man in
course, and have notice of the disposal of every farthing. Every man
that they owe money to has his share of every sum they receive; never
borrowed all this war but L30,000 by the King's express command, but do
usually stay till their assignments become payable in their own course,
which is the whole mystery, that they have had assignments for a fifth
part of whatever was assigned to the Navy. They have power of putting
out and in of all officers; are going upon a building that will cost
them L12,000; that they out of their stock of tallies have been forced
to help the Treasurer of the Navy at this great pinch. Then to talk of
newes: that he thinks the want of money hath undone the King, for the
Parliament will never give the King more money without calling all
people to account, nor, as he believes, will ever make war again, but
they will manage it themselves: unless, which I proposed, he would
visibly become a severer inspector into his own business and accounts,
and that would gain upon the Parliament yet: which he confesses and
confirms as the only lift to set him upon his legs, but says that it
is not in his nature ever to do. He says that he believes but four men
(such as he could name) would do the business of both offices, his and
ours, and if ever the war were to be again it should be so, he believes.
He told me to my face that I was a very good clerk, and did understand
the business and do it very well, and that he would never desire a
better. He do believe that the Parliament, if ever they meet, will
offer some alterations to the King, and will turn some of us out, and I
protest I think he is in the right that either they or the King will be
advised to some regulations, and therefore I ought to beware, as it
is easy for me to keep myself up if I will. He thinks that much of our
misfortune hath been for want of an active Lord Treasurer, and that such
a man as Sir W. Coventry would do the business thoroughly. This talk
being over, comes his boy and tells us [Sir] W. Coventry is come in, and
so he and I to him, and there told the difficulty of getting this money,
and they did play hard upon Sir G. Carteret as a man moped and stunned,
not knowing which way to turn himself. Sir W. Coventry cried that he
was disheartened, and I do think that there is much in it, but Sir
J. Duncomb do charge him with mighty neglect in the pursuing of his
business, and that he do not look after it himself, but leaves it to
Fenn, so that I do perceive that they are resolved to scheme at bringing
the business into a better way of execution, and I think it needs, that
is the truth of it. So I away to Sir G. Carteret's lodgings about this
money, and contrary to expectation I find he hath prevailed with Legg
on his own bond to lend him L2000, which I am glad of, but, poor man, he
little sees what observations people do make upon his management, and
he is not a man fit to be told what one hears. Thence by water at 10 at
night from Westminster Bridge, having kissed little Frank, and so to the
Old Swan, and walked home by moonshine, and there to my chamber a while,
and supper and to bed.
25th. Received a writ from the Exchequer this morning of distrain for
L70,000, which troubled me, though it be but, matter of form. To the
office, where sat all the morning. At noon my wife being to Unthanke's
christening, I to Sir W. Batten's to dinner, where merry, and the rather
because we are like to come to some good end in another of our prizes.
Thence by coach to my Lord Treasurer's, and there being come too soon
to the New Exchange, but did nothing, and back again, and there found
my Lord Bruncker and T. Harvy, and walked in a room very merrily
discoursing. By and by comes my Lord Ashly and tells us my Lord
Treasurer is ill and cannot speak with us now. Thence away, Sir W. Pen
and I and Mr. Lewes, who come hither after us, and Mr. Gawden in the
last man's coach. Set me down by the Poultry, and I to Sir Robert
Viner's, and there had my account stated and took it home to review. So
home to the office, and there late writing out something, having been
a little at Sir W. Batten's to talk, and there vexed to see them give
order for Hogg's further abroad, and so home and to bed.
26th. Up, and by coach with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen to White
Hall, and there saw the Duke of Albemarle, who is not well, and do grow
crazy. Thence I to St. James's, to meet Sir G. Carteret, and did, and
Lord Berkely, to get them (as we would have done the Duke of Albemarle)
to the meeting of the Lords of Appeale in the business of one of our
prizes. With them to the meeting of the Guinny Company, and there staid,
and went with Lord Berkely. While I was waiting for him in the Matted
Gallery, a young man was most finely working in Indian inke the great
picture of the King and Queen sitting,--[Charles I. and Henrietta
Maria.]--by Van Dyke; and did it very finely. Thence to Westminster Hall
to hear our cause, but [it] did not come before them to-day, so went
down and walked below in the Hall, and there met with Ned Pickering,
who tells me the ill newes of his nephew Gilbert, who is turned a very
rogue, and then I took a turn with Mr. Evelyn, with whom I walked two
hours, till almost one of the clock: talking of the badness of the
Government, where nothing but wickedness, and wicked men and women
command the King: that it is not in his nature to gainsay any thing that
relates to his pleasures; that much of it arises from the sickliness of
our Ministers of State, who cannot be about him as the idle companions
are, and therefore he gives way to the young rogues; and then, from the
negligence of the Clergy, that a Bishop shall never be seen about him,
as the King of France hath always: that the King would fain have some
of the same gang to be Lord Treasurer, which would be yet worse, for now
some delays are put to the getting gifts of the King, as that whore my
Lady Byron,
[Eleanor, daughter of Robert Needham, Viscount Kilmurrey, and widow
of Peter Warburton, became in 1644 the second wife of John Byron,
first Lord Byron. Died 1663.--B.]
who had been, as he called it, the King's seventeenth whore abroad, did
not leave him till she had got him to give her an order for L4000 worth
of plate to be made for her; but by delays, thanks be to God! she died
before she had it. He tells me mighty stories of the King of France, how
great a prince he is. He hath made a code to shorten the law; he
hath put out all the ancient commanders of castles that were become
hereditary; he hath made all the fryers subject to the bishops,
which before were only subject to Rome, and so were hardly the King's
subjects, and that none shall become 'religieux' but at such an age,
which he thinks will in a few, years ruin the Pope, and bring France
into a patriarchate. He confirmed to me the business of the want of
paper at the Council-table the other day, which I have observed; Wooly
being to have found it, and did, being called, tell the King to his face
the reason of it; and Mr. Evelyn tells me several of the menial servants
of the Court lacking bread, that have not received a farthing wages
since the King's coming in. He tells me the King of France hath his
mistresses, but laughs at the foolery of our King, that makes his
bastards princes,
[Louis made his own bastards dukes and princes, and legitimatized
them as much as he could, connecting them also by marriage with the
real blood-royal.--B.]
and loses his revenue upon them, and makes his mistresses his masters
and the King of France did never grant Lavalliere
[Louise Francoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Valliere had four
children by Louis XIV., of whom only two survived-Marie Anne
Bourbon, called Mademoiselle de Blois, born in 1666, afterwards
married to the Prince de Conti, and the Comte de Vermandois, born in
1667. In that year (the very year in which Evelyn was giving this
account to Pepys), the Duchy of Vaujour and two baronies were
created in favour of La Valliere, and her daughter, who, in the deed
of creation, was legitimatized, and styled princess.--B.]
any thing to bestow on others, and gives a little subsistence, but no
more, to his bastards. He told me the whole story of Mrs. Stewart's
going away from Court, he knowing her well; and believes her, up to her
leaving the Court, to be as virtuous as any woman in the world: and told
me, from a Lord that she told it to but yesterday, with her own mouth,
and a sober man, that when the Duke of Richmond did make love to her,
she did ask the King, and he did the like also; and that the King did
not deny it, and [she] told this Lord that she was come to that pass as
to resolve to have married any gentleman of L1500 a-year that would
have had her in honour; for it was come to that pass, that she could not
longer continue at Court without prostituting herself to the King,
[Even at a much later time Mrs. Godolphin well resolved "not to talk
foolishly to men, more especially THE KING,"--"be sure never to
talk to THE KING" ("Life," by Evelyn). These expressions speak
volumes as to Charles's character.--B.]
whom she had so long kept off, though he had liberty more than any other
had, or he ought to have, as to dalliance.
[Evelyn evidently believed the Duchess of Richmond to be innocent;
and his testimony, coupled with her own declaration, ought to weigh
down all the scandal which Pepys reports from other sources.--B.]
She told this Lord that she had reflected upon the occasion she had
given the world to think her a bad woman, and that she had no way but
to marry and leave the Court, rather in this way of discontent than
otherwise, that the world might see that she sought not any thing but
her honour; and that she will never come to live at Court more than when
she comes to town to come to kiss the Queene her Mistress's hand: and
hopes, though she hath little reason to hope, she can please her Lord so
as to reclaim him, that they may yet live comfortably in the country on
his estate. She told this Lord that all the jewells she ever had given
her at Court, or any other presents, more than the King's allowance of
L700 per annum out of the Privypurse for her clothes, were, at her first
coming the King did give her a necklace of pearl of about L1100 and
afterwards, about seven months since, when the King had hopes to have
obtained some courtesy of her, the King did give her some jewells, I
have forgot what, and I think a pair of pendants. The Duke of York,
being once her Valentine, did give her a jewell of about L800; and my
Lord Mandeville, her Valentine this year, a ring of about L300; and the
King of France would have had her mother, who, he says, is one of the
most cunning women in the world, to have let her stay in France, saying
that he loved her not as a mistress, but as one that he could marry as
well as any lady in France; and that, if she might stay, for the honour
of his Court he would take care she should not repent. But her mother,
by command of the Queen-mother, thought rather to bring her into
England; and the King of France did give her a jewell: so that Mr.
Evelyn believes she may be worth in jewells about L6000, and that that
is all that she hath in the world: and a worthy woman; and in this hath
done as great an act of honour as ever was done by woman. That now the
Countesse Castlemayne do carry all before her: and among other arguments
to prove Mrs. Stewart to have been honest to the last, he says that
the King's keeping in still with my Lady Castlemayne do show it; for he
never was known to keep two mistresses in his life, and would never have
kept to her had he prevailed any thing with Mrs. Stewart. She is gone
yesterday with her Lord to Cobham. He did tell me of the ridiculous
humour of our King and Knights of the Garter the other day, who, whereas
heretofore their robes were only to be worn during their ceremonies
and service, these, as proud of their coats, did wear them all day till
night, and then rode into the Parke with them on. Nay, and he tells me
he did see my Lord Oxford and the Duke of Monmouth in a hackney-coach
with two footmen in the Parke, with their robes on; which is a most
scandalous thing, so as all gravity may be said to be lost among us. By
and by we discoursed of Sir Thomas Clifford, whom I took for a very rich
and learned man, and of the great family of that name. He tells me he is
only a man of about seven-score pounds a-year, of little learning more
than the law of a justice of peace, which he knows well: a parson's son,
got to be burgess in a little borough in the West, and here fell into
the acquaintance of my Lord Arlington, whose creature he is, and never
from him; a man of virtue, and comely, and good parts enough; and hath
come into his place with a great grace, though with a great skip over
the heads of a great many, as Chichly and Duncum, and some Lords that
did expect it. By the way, he tells me, that of all the great men of
England there is none that endeavours more to raise those that he takes
into favour than my Lord Arlington; and that, on that score, he is much
more to be made one's patron than my Lord Chancellor, who never did,
nor never will do, any thing, but for money! After having this long
discourse we parted, about one of the clock, and so away by water home,
calling upon Michell, whose wife and girle are pretty well, and I home
to dinner, and after dinner with Sir W. Batten to White Hall, there to
attend the Duke of York before council, where we all met at his closet
and did the little business we had, and here he did tell us how the King
of France is intent upon his design against Flanders, and hath drawn up
a remonstrance of the cause of the war, and appointed the 20th of the
next month for his rendezvous, and himself to prepare for the campaign
the 30th, so that this, we are in hopes, will keep him in employment.
Turenne is to be his general. Here was Carcasses business unexpectedly
moved by him, but what was done therein appears in my account of his
case in writing by itself. Certain newes of the Dutch being abroad on
our coast with twenty-four great ships. This done Sir W. Batten and I
back again to London, and in the way met my Lady Newcastle going with
her coaches and footmen all in velvet: herself, whom I never saw before,
as I have heard her often described, for all the town-talk is now-a-days
of her extravagancies, with her velvetcap, her hair about her ears; many
black patches, because of pimples about her mouth; naked-necked, without
any thing about it, and a black just-au-corps. She seemed to me a
very comely woman: but I hope to see more of her on Mayday. My mind
is mightily of late upon a coach. At home, to the office, where late
spending all the evening upon entering in long hand our late passages
with Carcasse for memory sake, and so home in great pain in my back by
the uneasiness of Sir W. Batten's coach driving hard this afternoon over
the stones to prevent coming too late. So at night to supper in great
pain, and to bed, where lay in great pain, not able to turn myself all
night.
27th. Up with much pain, and to the office, where all the morning. At
noon home to dinner, W. Hewer with us. This noon I got in some coals at
23s. per chaldron, a good hearing, I thank God-having not been put to
buy a coal all this dear time, that during this war poor people have
been forced to give 45s. and 50s., and L3. In the afternoon (my wife and
people busy these late days, and will be for some time, making of shirts
and smocks) to the office, where late, and then home, after letters,
and so to supper and to bed, with much pleasure of mind, after having
dispatched business. This afternoon I spent some time walking with
Mr. Moore, in the garden, among other things discoursing of my Lord
Sandwich's family, which he tells me is in a very bad condition, for
want of money and management, my Lord's charging them with bills, and
nobody, nor any thing provided to answer them. He did discourse of his
hopes of being supplied with L1900 against a present bill from me, but
I took no notice of it, nor will do it. It seems Mr. Sheply doubts his
accounts are ill kept, and every thing else in the family out of order,
which I am grieved to hear of.
28th (Lord's day). Lay long, my pain in my back being still great,
though not so great as it was. However, up and to church, where a lazy
sermon, and then home and to dinner, my wife and I alone and Barker.
After dinner, by water--the day being mighty pleasant, and the tide
serving finely, I up (reading in Boyle's book of colours), as high as
Barne Elmes, and there took one turn alone, and then back to Putney
Church, where I saw the girls of the schools, few of which pretty; and
there I come into a pew, and met with little James Pierce, which I was
much pleased at, the little rogue being very glad to see me: his master,
Reader to the Church. Here was a good sermon and much company, but I
sleepy, and a little out of order, for my hat falling down through a
hole underneath the pulpit, which, however, after sermon, by a stick,
and the helpe of the clerke, I got up again, and then walked out of the
church with the boy, and then left him, promising him to get him a play
another time. And so by water, the tide being with me again, down to
Deptford, and there I walked down the Yard, Shish and Cox with me,
and discoursed about cleaning of the wet docke, and heard, which I had
before, how, when the docke was made, a ship of near 500 tons was there
found; a ship supposed of Queene Elizabeth's time, and well wrought,
with a great deal of stoneshot in her, of eighteen inches diameter,
which was shot then in use: and afterwards meeting with Captain Perriman
and Mr. Castle at Half-way Tree, they tell me of stoneshot of thirty-six
inches diameter, which they shot out of mortarpieces. Thence walked
to Half-way Tree, and there stopt and talk with Mr. Castle and Captain
Perriman, and so to Redriffe and took boat again, and so home, and there
to write down my Journall, and so to supper and to read, and so to bed,
mightily pleased with my reading of Boyle's book of colours to-day, only
troubled that some part of it, indeed the greatest part, I am not able
to understand for want of study. My wife this night troubled at my
leaving her alone so much and keeping her within doors, which indeed I
do not well nor wisely in.
29th. Up, being visited very early by Creed newly come from
Hinchingbrooke, who went thither without my knowledge, and I believe
only to save his being taxed by the Poll Bill. I did give him no very
good countenance nor welcome, but took occasion to go forth and walked
(he with me) to St. Dunstan's, and thence I to Sir W. Coventry's, where
a good while with him, and I think he pretty kind, but that the nature
of our present condition affords not matter for either of us to be
pleased with any thing. We discoursed of Carcasse, whose Lord, he tells
me, do make complaints that his clerk should be singled out, and my Lord
Berkeley do take his part. So he advises we would sum up all we have
against him and lay it before the Duke of York; he condemned my Lord
Bruncker. Thence to Sir G. Carteret, and there talked a little while
about office business, and thence by coach home, in several places
paying my debts in order to my evening my accounts this month, and
thence by and by to White Hall again to Sir G. Carteret to dinner, where
very good company and discourse, and I think it my part to keep in there
now more than ordinary because of the probability of my Lord's coming
soon home. Our Commissioners for the treaty set out this morning betimes
down the river. Here I hear that the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of
York's son, is very sick; and my Lord Treasurer very bad of the stone,
and hath been so some days. After dinner Sir G. Carteret and I alone in
his closet an hour or more talking of my Lord Sandwich's coming home,
which, the peace being likely to be made here, he expects, both for my
Lord's sake and his own (whose interest he wants) it will be best for
him to be at home, where he will be well received by the King; he is
sure of his service well accepted, though the business of Spain do fall
by this peace. He tells me my Lord Arlington hath done like a gentleman
by him in all things. He says, if my Lord [Sandwich] were here, he
were the fittest man to be Lord Treasurer of any man in England; and he
thinks it might be compassed; for he confesses that the King's matters
do suffer through the inability of this man, who is likely to die, and
he will propound him to the King. It will remove him from his place at
sea, and the King will have a good place to bestow. He says to me, that
he could wish, when my Lord comes, that he would think fit to forbear
playing, as a thing below him, and which will lessen him, as it do my
Lord St. Albans, in the King's esteem: and as a great secret tells me
that he hath made a match for my Lord Hinchingbroke to a daughter of my
Lord Burlington's, where there is a great alliance, L10,000 portion; a
civil family, and relation to my Lord Chancellor, whose son hath married
one of the daughters; and that my Lord Chancellor do take it with
very great kindness, so that he do hold himself obliged by it. My Lord
Sandwich hath referred it to my Lord Crew, Sir G. Carteret, and Mr.
Montagu, to end it. My Lord Hinchingbroke and the lady know nothing yet
of it. It will, I think, be very happy. Very glad of this discourse, I
away mightily pleased with the confidence I have in this family, and
so away, took up my wife, who was at her mother's, and so home, where I
settled to my chamber about my accounts, both Tangier and private, and
up at it till twelve at night, with good success, when news is brought
me that there is a great fire in Southwarke: so we up to the leads, and
then I and the boy down to the end of our, lane, and there saw it, it
seeming pretty great, but nothing to the fire of London, that it made me
think little of it. We could at that distance see an engine play--that
is, the water go out, it being moonlight. By and by, it begun to
slacken, and then I home and to bed.
30th. Up, and Mr. Madden come to speak with me, whom my people not
knowing have made to wait long without doors, which vexed me. Then comes
Sir John Winter to discourse with me about the forest of Deane, and then
about my Lord Treasurer, and asking me whether, as he had heard, I had
not been cut for the stone, I took him to my closet, and there shewed
it to him, of which he took the dimensions and had some discourse of
it, and I believe will shew my Lord Treasurer it. Thence to the office,
where we sat all the morning, but little to do, and then to the 'Change,
where for certain I hear, and the News book declares, a peace between
France and Portugal. Met here with Mr. Pierce, and he tells me the Duke
of Cambridge is very ill and full of spots about his body, that Dr.
Frazier knows not what to think of it. Then home and to dinner, and then
to the office, where all the afternoon; we met about Sir W. Warren's
business and accounts, wherein I do rather oppose than forward him, but
not in declared terms, for I will not be at, enmity with him, but I will
not have him find any friendship so good as mine. By and by rose and by
water to White Hall, and then called my wife at Unthanke's. So home and
to my chamber, to my accounts, and finished them to my heart's wishes
and admiration, they being grown very intricate, being let alone for
two months, but I brought them together all naturally, within a few
shillings, but to my sorrow the Poll money I paid this month and
mourning have made me L80 a worse man than at my last balance, so that I
am worth now but L6700, which is yet an infinite mercy to me, for which
God make me thankful. So late to supper, with a glad heart for the
evening of my accounts so well, and so to bed.
MAY 1667
May 1st. Up, it being a fine day, and after doing a little business in
my chamber I left my wife to go abroad with W. Hewer and his mother in a
Hackney coach incognito to the Park, while I abroad to the Excise Office
first, and there met the Cofferer and Sir Stephen Fox about our money
matters there, wherein we agreed, and so to discourse of my Lord
Treasurer, who is a little better than he was of the stone, having
rested a little this night. I there did acquaint them of my knowledge of
that disease, which I believe will be told my Lord Treasurer. Thence to
Westminster; in the way meeting many milk-maids with their garlands upon
their pails, dancing with a fiddler before them;
[On the 1st of May milkmaids used to borrow silver cups, tankards,
&c., to hang them round their milkpails, with the addition of
flowers and ribbons, which they carried upon their heads,
accompanied by a bagpipe or fiddle, and went from door to door,
dancing before the houses of their customers, in order to obtain a
small gratuity from each of them.
"In London thirty years ago,
When pretty milkmaids went about,
It was a goodly sight to see
Their May-day pageant all drawn out.
"Such scenes and sounds once blest my eyes
And charm'd my ears; but all have vanish'd,
On May-day now no garlands go,
For milkmaids and their dance are banish'd."
Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. i., pp. 569, 570.]
and saw pretty Nelly standing at her lodgings' door in Drury-lane in her
smock sleeves and bodice, looking upon one: she seemed a mighty pretty
creature. To the Hall and there walked a while, it being term. I thence
home to the Rose, and then had Doll Lane venir para me.... To my Lord
Crew's, where I found them at dinner, and among others. Mrs. Bocket,
which I have not seen a long time, and two little dirty children, and
she as idle a prating and impertinent woman as ever she was. After
dinner my Lord took me alone and walked with me, giving me an account
of the meeting of the Commissioners for Accounts, whereof he is one. How
some of the gentlemen, Garraway, Littleton, and others, did scruple at
their first coming there, being called thither to act, as Members
of Parliament, which they could not do by any authority but that of
Parliament, and therefore desired the King's direction in it, which was
sent for by my Lord Bridgewater, who brought answer, very short, that
the King expected they should obey his Commission. Then they went on,
and observed a power to be given them of administering and framing
an oath, which they thought they could not do by any power but Act of
Parliament; and the whole Commission did think fit to have the judges'
opinion in it; and so, drawing up their scruples in writing, they all
attended the King, who told them he would send to the judges to be
answered, and did so; who have, my Lord tells me, met three times about
it, not knowing what answer to give to it; and they have met this week,
doing nothing but expecting the solution of the judges in this point. My
Lord tells me he do believe this Commission will do more hurt than good;
it may undo some accounts, if these men shall think fit; but it can
never clear an account, for he must come into the Exchequer for all
this. Besides, it is a kind of inquisition that hath seldom ever been
granted in England; and he believes it will never, besides, give any
satisfaction to the People or Parliament, but be looked upon as a
forced, packed business of the King, especially if these Parliament-men
that are of it shall not concur with them: which he doubts they will
not, and, therefore, wishes much that the King would lay hold of this
fit occasion, and let the Commission fall. Then to talk of my Lord
Sandwich, whom my Lord Crew hath a great desire might get to be Lord
Treasurer if the present Lord should die, as it is believed he will,
in a little time; and thinks he can have no competitor but my Lord
Arlington, who, it is given out, desires it: but my Lord thinks it is
not so, for that the being Secretary do keep him a greater interest with
the King than the other would do at least, do believe, that if my Lord
would surrender him his Wardrobe place, it would be a temptation to
Arlington to assist my Lord in getting the Treasurer's. I did object
to my Lord [Crew] that it would be no place of content, nor safety, nor
honour for my Lord, the State being so indigent as it is, and the [King]
so irregular, and those about him, that my Lord must be forced to part
with anything to answer his warrants; and that, therefore, I do believe
the King had rather have a man that may be one of his vicious caball,
than a sober man that will mind the publick, that so they may sit at
cards and dispose of the revenue of the kingdom. This my Lord was moved
at, and said he did not indeed know how to answer it, and bid me think
of it; and so said he himself would also do. He do mightily cry out of
the bad management of our monies, the King having had so much given him;
and yet, when the Parliament do find that the King should have L900,000
in his purse by the best account of issues they have yet seen, yet we
should report in the Navy a debt due from the King of L900,000; which, I
did confess, I doubted was true in the first, and knew to be true in
the last, and did believe that there was some great miscarriages in it:
which he owned to believe also, saying, that at this rate it is not in
the power of the kingdom to make a war, nor answer the King's wants.
Thence away to the King's playhouse, by agreement met Sir W. Pen, and
saw "Love in a Maze" but a sorry play: only Lacy's clowne's part, which
he did most admirably indeed; and I am glad to find the rogue at liberty
again. Here was but little, and that ordinary, company. We sat at the
upper bench next the boxes; and I find it do pretty well, and have the
advantage of seeing and hearing the great people, which may be pleasant
when there is good store. Now was only Prince Rupert and my Lord
Lauderdale, and my Lord, the naming of whom puts me in mind of my
seeing, at Sir Robert Viner's, two or three great silver flagons, made
with inscriptions as gifts of the King to such and such persons of
quality as did stay in town the late great plague, for the keeping
things in order in the town, which is a handsome thing. But here was
neither Hart, Nell, nor Knipp; therefore, the play was not likely to
please me. Thence Sir W. Pen and I in his coach, Tiburne way, into the
Park, where a horrid dust, and number of coaches, without pleasure
or order. That which we, and almost all went for, was to see my Lady
Newcastle; which we could not, she being followed and crowded upon by
coaches all the way she went, that nobody could come near her; only I
could see she was in a large black coach, adorned with silver instead
of gold, and so white curtains, and every thing black and white, and
herself in her cap, but other parts I could not make [out]. But that
which I did see, and wonder at with reason, was to find Pegg Pen in a
new coach, with only her husband's pretty sister with her, both patched
and very fine, and in much the finest coach in the park, and I think
that ever I did see one or other, for neatness and richness in gold,
and everything that is noble. My Lady Castlemayne, the King, my Lord
St. Albans, nor Mr. Jermyn, have so neat a coach, that ever I saw. And,
Lord! to have them have this, and nothing else that is correspondent, is
to me one of the most ridiculous sights that ever I did see, though her
present dress was well enough; but to live in the condition they do at
home, and be abroad in this coach, astonishes me. When we had spent
half an hour in the Park, we went out again, weary of the dust, and
despairing of seeing my Lady Newcastle; and so back the same way, and to
St. James's, thinking to have met my Lady Newcastle before she got home,
but we staying by the way to drink, she got home a little before us: so
we lost our labours, and then home; where we find the two young ladies
come home, and their patches off, I suppose Sir W. Pen do not allow
of them in his sight, and going out of town to-night, though late, to
Walthamstow. So to talk a little at Sir W. Batten's, and then home to
supper, where I find Mrs. Hewer and her son, who have been abroad with
my wife in the Park, and so after supper to read and then to bed. Sir
W. Pen did give me an account this afternoon of his design of buying Sir
Robert Brooke's fine house at Wansted; which I so wondered at, and did
give him reasons against it, which he allowed of: and told me that he
did intend to pull down the house and build a less, and that he should
get L1500 by the old house, and I know not what fooleries. But I
will never believe he ever intended to buy it, for my part; though he
troubled Mr. Gawden to go and look upon it, and advise him in it.
2nd. To the office, where all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and
then abroad to my Lord Treasurer's, who continues so ill as not to be
troubled with business. So Mr. Gawden and I to my Lord Ashly's and spoke
with him, and then straight home, and there I did much business at the
office, and then to my own chamber and did the like there, to my great
content, but to the pain of my eyes, and then to supper and to bed,
having a song with my wife with great pleasure, she doing it well.
3rd. Up, and with Sir J. Minnes, [Sir] W. Batten, and [Sir] W. Pen in
the last man's coach to St. James's, and thence up to the Duke of York's
chamber, which, as it is now fretted at the top, and the chimney-piece
made handsome, is one of the noblest and best-proportioned rooms that
ever, I think, I saw in my life, and when ready, into his closet and
did our business, where, among other things, we had a proposition of
Mr. Pierces, for being continued in pay, or something done for him, in
reward of his pains as Chyrurgeon-Generall; forasmuch as Troutbecke,
that was never a doctor before, hath got L200 a year settled on him for
nothing but that one voyage with the Duke of Albemarle. The Duke of York
and the whole company did shew most particular kindness to Mr. Pierce,
every body moving for him, and the Duke himself most, that he is likely
to be a very great man, I believe. Here also we had another mention of
Carcasses business, and we directed to bring in a report of our opinion
of his case, which vexes us that such a rogue shall make us so much
trouble. Thence I presently to the Excise Office, and there met the
Cofferer and [Sir] Stephen Fox by agreement, and agreed upon a method
for our future payments, and then we three to my Lord Treasurer, who
continues still very ill. I had taken my stone with me on purpose,
and Sir Philip Warwicke carried it in to him to see, but was not in
a condition to talk with me about it, poor man. So I with them to
Westminster by coach; the Cofferer telling us odd stories how he was
dealt with by the men of the Church at Westminster in taking a lease of
them at the King's coming in, and particularly the devilish covetousness
of Dr. Busby. Sir Stephen Fox, in discourse, told him how he is selling
some land he hath, which yields him not above three per cent., if so
much, and turning it into money, which he can put out at ten per cent.;
and, as times go, if they be like to continue, it is the best way for
me to keep money going so, for aught I see. I to Westminster Hall, and
there took a turn with my old acquaintance Mr. Pechell, whose red nose
makes me ashamed to be seen with him, though otherwise a good-natured
man. So away, I not finding of Mr. Moore, with whom I should have met
and spoke about a letter I this day received from him from my Lord
Hinchingbroke, wherein he desires me to help him to L1900 to pay a bill
of exchange of his father's, which troubles me much, but I will
find some way, if I can do it, but not to bring myself in bonds or
disbursements for it, whatever comes of it. So home to dinner, where my
wife hath 'ceux la' upon her and is very ill with them, and so forced
to go to bed, and I sat by her a good while, then down to my chamber and
made an end of Rycaut's History of the Turks, which is a very good book.
Then to the office, and did some business, and then my wife being pretty
well, by coach to little Michell's, and there saw my poor Betty and
her little child, which slept so soundly we could hardly wake it in an
hour's time without hurting it, and they tell me what I did not know,
that a child (as this do) will hunt and hunt up and down with its mouth
if you touch the cheek of it with your finger's end for a nipple, and
fit its mouth for sucking, but this hath not sucked yet, she having
no nipples. Here sat a while, and then my wife and I, it being a most
curious clear evening, after some rain to-day, took a most excellent
tour by coach to Bow, and there drank and back again, and so a little
at the office, and home to read a little, and to supper and bed mightily
refreshed with this evening's tour, but troubled that it hath hindered
my doing some business which I would have done at the office. This day
the newes is come that the fleete of the Dutch, of about 20 ships, which
come upon our coasts upon design to have intercepted our colliers, but
by good luck failed, is gone to the Frith,--[Frith of Forth. See 5th of
this month.]--and there lies, perhaps to trouble the Scotch privateers,
which have galled them of late very much, it may be more than all our
last year's fleete.
4th. Up and to the office, where sat all the morning, among other things
a great conflict I had with Sir W. Warren, he bringing a letter to the
Board, flatly in words charging them with their delays in passing his
accounts, which have been with them these two years, part of which I
said was not true, and the other undecent. The whole Board was concerned
to take notice of it, as well as myself, but none of them had the honour
to do it, but suffered me to do it alone, only Sir W. Batten, who did
what he did out of common spite to him. So I writ in the margin of the
letter, "Returned as untrue," and, by consent of the Board, did give it
him again, and so parted. Home to dinner, and there came a woman whose
husband I sent for, one Fisher, about the business of Perkins and
Carcasse, and I do think by her I shall find the business as bad as ever
it was, and that we shall find Commissioner Pett a rogue, using foul
play on behalf of Carcasse. After dinner to the office again, and there
late all the afternoon, doing much business, and with great content home
to supper and to bed.
5th (Lord's day). Up, and going down to the water side, I met Sir John
Robinson, and so with him by coach to White Hall, still a vain, prating,
boasting man as any I know, as if the whole City and Kingdom had all
its work done by him. He tells me he hath now got a street ordered to
be continued, forty feet broad, from Paul's through Cannon Street to the
Tower, which will be very fine. He and others this day, where I was in
the afternoon, do tell me of at least six or eight fires within these
few days; and continually stirs of fires, and real fires there have
been, in one place or other, almost ever since the late great fire, as
if there was a fate sent people for fire. I walked over the Park to
Sir W. Coventry's. Among other things to tell him what I hear of people
being forced to sell their bills before September for 35 and 40 per
cent. loss, and what is worst, that there are some courtiers that have
made a knot to buy them, in hopes of some ways to get money of the
King to pay them, which Sir W. Coventry is amazed at, and says we are a
people made up for destruction, and will do what he can to prevent all
this by getting the King to provide wherewith to pay them. We talked
of Tangier, of which he is ashamed; also that it should put the King to
this charge for no good in the world: and now a man going over that is a
good soldier, but a debauched man, which the place need not to have.
And so used these words: "That this place was to the King as my Lord
Carnarvon says of wood, that it is an excrescence of the earth provided
by God for the payment of debts." Thence away to Sir G. Carteret, whom
I find taking physic. I staid talking with him but a little, and so home
to church, and heard a dull sermon, and most of the best women of our
parish gone into the country, or at least not at church. So home, and
find my boy not there, nor was at church, which vexed me, and when he
come home I enquired, he tells me he went to see his mother. I send him
back to her to send me some token that he was with her. So there come
a man with him back of good fashion. He says he saw him with her,
which pacified me, but I did soundly threaten him before him, and so to
dinner, and then had a little scolding with my wife for not being fine
enough to go to the christening to-day, which she excused by being ill,
as she was indeed, and cried, but I was in an ill humour and ashamed,
indeed, that she should not go dressed. However, friends by and by, and
we went by water to Michell's, and there his little house full of his
father and mothers and the kindred, hardly any else, and mighty merry
in this innocent company, and Betty mighty pretty in bed, but, her head
akeing, not very merry, but the company mighty merry, and I with them,
and so the child was christened; my wife, his father, and her mother,
the witnesses, and the child's name Elizabeth. So we had gloves and wine
and wafers, very pretty, and talked and tattled, and so we away by water
and up with the tide, she and I and Barker, as high as Barne Eimes, it
being a fine evening, and back again to pass the bridges at standing
water between 9 and 10 at might, and then home and to supper, and then
to bed with much pleasure. This day Sir W. Coventry tells me the Dutch
fleete shot some shot, four or five hundred, into Burnt-Island in the
Frith, but without any hurt; and so are gone.
6th. Up and angry with my mayds for letting in watermen, and I know not
who, anybody that they are acquainted with, into my kitchen to talk and
prate with them, which I will not endure. Then out and by coach to
my Lord Treasurer's, who continues still very ill, then to Sir Ph.
Warwicke's house, and there did a little business about my Tangier
tallies, and so to Westminster Hall, and there to the Exchequer to
consult about some way of getting our poor Creditors of the Navy (who
served in their goods before the late Session of Parliament) paid out
of the 11 months tax, which seems to relate only for goods to be then
served in, and I think I have found out a way to bring them into the
Act, which, if it do, I shall think a good service done. Thence by coach
home with Captain Cocke, in our way talking of my Lord Bruncker and his
Lady, who are mighty angry with us all of the office, about Carcasse's
business, but especially with me, and in great confidence he bids me
have a care of him, for he hath said that he would wound me with
the person where my greatest interest is. I suppose he means Sir W.
Coventry, and therefore I will beware of him, and am glad, though vexed
to hear it. So home to dinner, where Creed come, whom I vexed devilishly
with telling him a wise man, and good friend of his and mine, did say
that he lately went into the country to Hinchingbroke; and, at his
coming to town again, hath shifted his lodgings, only to avoid paying to
the Poll Bill, which is so true that he blushed, and could not in words
deny it, but the fellow did think to have not had it discovered. He is
so devilish a subtle false rogue, that I am really weary and afeard of
his company, and therefore after dinner left him in the house, and to my
office, where busy all the afternoon despatching much business, and in
the evening to Sir R. Viner's to adjust accounts there, and so home,
where some of our old Navy creditors come to me by my direction to
consider of what I have invented for their help as I have said in the
morning, and like it mighty well, and so I to the office, where busy
late, then home to supper and sing with my wife, who do begin to give me
real pleasure with her singing, and so to bed.
7th. Up betimes, and by coach to St. James's; but there find Sir W.
Coventry gone out betimes this morning, on horseback, with the King and
Duke of York, to Putney-heath,--to run some horses, and so back again to
the office, where some witnesses from Chatham which I sent for are come
up, and do give shrewd testimonies against Carcasse, which put my Lord
into a new flame, and he and I to high words, and so broke up. Then home
to dinner, where W. Hewer dined with us, and he and I after dinner to
discourse of Carcasses business, wherein I apparently now do manage
it wholly against my Lord Bruncker, Sir W. Pen, like a false rogue,
shrinking out of the collar, Sir J. Minnes, afoot, being easily led
either way, and Sir W. Batten, a malicious fellow that is not able to
defend any thing, so that the whole odium must fall on me, which I will
therefore beware how I manage that I may not get enemies to no purpose.
It vexes me to see with what a company I am mixed, but then it pleases
me to see that I am reckoned the chief mover among them, as they do,
confess and esteem me in every thing. Thence to the office, and did
business, and then by coach to St. James's again, but [Sir] W. Coventry
not within, so I wrote something to him, and then straight back again
and to Sir W. Batten's, and there talked with him and [Sir] J. Minnes,
who are mighty hot in Carcasses business, but their judgment's not to
be trusted. However, I will go through with it, or otherwise we shall be
all slaves to my Lord Bruncker and his man's impudence. So to the office
a little, and then home to supper and to bed, after hearing my wife
sing, who is manifestly come to be more musical in her eare than ever I
thought she could have been made, which rejoices me to the heart, for I
take great delight now to hear her sing.
8th. Up pretty betimes and out of doors, and in Fen Church street
met Mr. Lovett going with a picture to me, but I could not stand to
discourse or see it, but on to the next hackney coach and so to Sir W.
Coventry, where he and I alone a while discoursing of some businesses
of the office, and then up to the Duke of York to his chamber with my
fellow brethren who are come, and so did our usual weekly business,
which was but little to-day, and I was glad that the business of
Carcasse was not mentioned because our report was not ready, but I am
resolved it shall against the next coming to the Duke of York. Here was
discourse about a way of paying our old creditors which did please me,
there being hopes of getting them comprehended within the 11 months Tax,
and this did give occasion for Sir G. Carteret's and my going to Sir
Robert Long to discourse it, who do agree that now the King's Council
do say that they may be included in the Act, which do make me very glad,
not so much for the sake of the poor men as for the King, for it would
have been a ruin to him and his service not to have had a way to have
paid the debt. There parted with Sir G. Carteret and into Westminster
Hall, where I met with Sir H. Cholmly, and he and I to Sir Ph.
Warwicke's to speak a little about our Tangier business, but to little
purpose, my Lord Treasurer being so ill that no business can be done.
Thence with Sir H. Cholmly to find out Creed from one lodging to
another, which he hath changed so often that there is no finding him,
but at last do come to his lodging that he is entering into this day,
and do find his goods unlading at the door, by Scotland Yard, and there
I set down Sir H. Cholmly, and I away to the 'Change, where spoke about
several things, and then going home did meet Mr. Andrews our neighbour,
and did speak with him to enquire about the ground behind our house, of
which I have a mind to buy enough to make a stable and coach-house; for
I do see that my condition do require it, as well as that it is more
charge to my purse to live as I do than to keep one, and therefore I
am resolved before winter to have one, unless some extraordinary thing
happens to hinder me. He promises me to look after it for me, and so I
home to dinner, where I find my wife's flageolette master, and I am
so pleased with her proceeding, though she hath lost time by not
practising, that I am resolved for the encouragement of the man to
learn myself a little for a month or so, for I do foresee if God send my
wife and I to live, she will become very good company for me. He gone,
comes Lovett with my little print of my dear Lady Castlemayne varnished,
and the frame prettily done like gold, which pleases me well. He dined
with me, but by his discourse I do still see that he is a man of good
wit but most strange experience, and acquaintance with all manner of
subtleties and tricks, that I do think him not fit for me to keep any
acquaintance with him, lest he some time or other shew me a slippery
trick. After dinner, he gone, I to the office, where all the afternoon
very busy, and so in the evening to Sir R. Viner's, thinking to finish
my accounts there, but am prevented, and so back again home, and late at
my office at business, and so home to supper and sing a little with my
dear wife, and so to bed.
9th. Up, and to the office, and at noon home to dinner, and then with my
wife and Barker by coach, and left them at Charing Cross, and I to St.
James's, and there found Sir W. Coventry alone in his chamber, and
sat and talked with him more than I have done a great while of several
things of the Navy, how our debts and wants do unfit us for doing any
thing. He tells me he hears stories of Commissioner Pett, of selling
timber to the Navy under other names, which I told him I believe is
true, and did give him an instance. He told me also how his clerk
Floyd he hath put away for his common idlenesse and ill company, and
particularly that yesterday he was found not able to come and attend
him, by being run into the arme in a squabble, though he pretends it was
done in the streets by strangers, at nine at night, by the Maypole in
the Strand. Sir W. Coventry did write to me this morning to recommend
him another, which I could find in my heart to do W. Hewer for his good;
but do believe he will not part with me, nor have I any mind to let him
go. I would my brother were fit for it, I would adventure him there.
He insists upon an unmarried man, that can write well, and hath French
enough to transcribe it only from a copy, and may write shorthand, if it
may be. Thence with him to my Lord Chancellor at Clarendon House, to a
Committee for Tangier, where several things spoke of and proceeded on,
and particularly sending Commissioners thither before the new Governor
goes, which I think will signify as much good as any thing else that
hath been done about the place, which is none at all. I did again tell
them the badness of their credit by the time their tallies took before
they become payable, and their spending more than their fund. They seem
well satisfied with what I said, and I am glad that I may be remembered
that I do tell them the case plain; but it troubled me that I see them
hot upon it, that the Governor shall not be paymaster, which will
force me either to the providing one there to do it (which I will never
undertake), or leave the employment, which I had rather do. Mightily
pleased with the noblenesse of this house, and the brave furniture and
pictures, which indeed is very noble, and, being broke up, I with Sir G.
Carteret in his coach into Hide Park, to discourse of things, and
spent an hour in this manner with great pleasure, telling me all his
concernments, and how he is gone through with the purchase for my Lady
Jemimah and her husband; how the Treasury is like to come into the
hands of a Committee; but that not that, nor anything else, will do our
business, unless the King himself will mind his business, and how his
servants do execute their parts; he do fear an utter ruin in the state,
and that in a little time, if the King do not mind his business soon;
that the King is very kind to him, and to my Lord Sandwich, and that he
doubts not but at his coming home, which he expects about Michaelmas, he
will be very well received. But it is pretty strange how he began again
the business of the intention of a marriage of my Lord Hinchingbroke to
a daughter of my Lord Burlington's to my Lord Chancellor, which he now
tells me as a great secret, when he told it me the last Sunday but one;
but it may be the poor man hath forgot, and I do believe he do make it
a secret, he telling me that he has not told it to any but myself, end
this day to his daughter my Lady Jemimah, who looks to lie down about
two months hence. After all this discourse we turned back and to White
Hall, where we parted, and I took up my wife at Unthanke's, and so
home, and in our street, at the Three Tuns' Tavern' door, I find a great
hubbub; and what was it but two brothers have fallen out, and one killed
the other. And who should they be but the two Fieldings; one whereof,
Bazill, was page to my Lady Sandwich; and he hath killed the other,
himself being very drunk, and so is sent to Newgate. I to the office and
did as much business as my eyes would let me, and so home to supper and
to bed.
10th. Up and to the office, where a meeting about the Victuallers'
accounts all the morning, and at noon all of us to Kent's, at the Three
Tuns' Tavern, and there dined well at Mr. Gawden's charge; and, there
the constable of the parish did show us the picklocks and dice that were
found in the dead man's pocket, and but 18d. in money; and a table-book,
wherein were entered the names of several places where he was to go; and
among others Kent's house, where he was to dine, and did dine yesterday:
and after dinner went into the church, and there saw his corpse with
the wound in his left breast; a sad spectacle, and a broad wound, which
makes my hand now shake to write of it. His brother intending, it seems,
to kill the coachman, who did not please him, this fellow stepped in,
and took away his sword; who thereupon took out his knife, which was of
the fashion, with a falchion blade, and a little cross at the hilt like
a dagger; and with that stabbed him. So to the office again, very busy,
and in the evening to Sir Robert Viner's, and there took up all my notes
and evened our balance to the 7th of this month, and saw it entered in
their ledger, and took a receipt for the remainder of my money as the
balance of an account then adjusted. Then to my Lord Treasurer's, but
missed Sir Ph. Warwicke, and so back again, and drove hard towards
Clerkenwell,
[At Newcastle House, Clerkenwell Close, the duke and duchess lived
in great state. The house was divided, and let in tenements in the
eighteenth century.]
thinking to have overtaken my Lady Newcastle, whom I saw before us in
her coach, with 100 boys and girls running looking upon her but I could
not: and so she got home before I could come up to her. But I will get
a time to see her. So to the office and did more business, and then home
and sang with pleasure with my wife, and to supper and so to bed.
11th. Up, and being called on by Mr. Commander, he and I out to the
ground behind Sir W. Pen's, where I am resolved to take a lease of some
of it for a stable and coach [house], and so to keep a coach, unless
some change come before I can do it, for I do see it is a greater charge
to me now in hackneys, and I am a little dishonoured by going in them.
We spoke with him that hath the letting it, and I do believe when I can
tell how much it will be fit for me to have we shall go near to agree.
So home, and there found my door open, which makes me very angry with
Nell, and do think to put her away for it, though it do so go against
me to part with a servant that it troubles me more than anything in the
world. So to the office, where all the morning. At noon home to dinner,
where Mr. Goodgroome and Creed, and I have great hopes that my wife
will come to sing to my mind. After dinner my wife and Creed and I being
entered a hackney coach to go to the other end of the town, we espied
The. Turner coming in her coach to see us, which we were surprised at,
and so 'light and took her and another young lady home, and there sat
and talked with The., she being lately come out of the North after two
or three years absence. She is come to put out her sister and brothers
to school at Putney. After a little talk, I over Tower Hill with them to
a lady's they go to visit, and so away with my wife, whose being dressed
this day in fair hair did make me so mad, that I spoke not one word to
her in our going, though I was ready to burst with anger. So to White
Hall to the Committee of Tangier, where they were discoursing about laws
for the civil government of the place, but so dull and so little to the
purpose that I fell to slumber, when the fear of being seen by Sir W.
Coventry did trouble me much afterwards, but I hope he did not. After
that broke up. Creed and I into the Park, and walked, a most pleasant
evening, and so took coach, and took up my wife, and in my way home
discovered my trouble to my wife for her white locks,
[Randle Holmes says the ladies wore "false locks set on wyres, to
make them stand at a distance from the head," and accompanies the
information with the figure of a lady "with a pair of locks and
curls which were in great fashion in 1670" (Planche's "Cyclopaedia
of Costume;" Vol. i., p. 248).]
swearing by God, several times, which I pray God forgive me for, and
bending my fist, that I would not endure it. She, poor wretch,
[A new light is thrown upon this favourite expression of Pepys's
when speaking of his wife by the following quotation from a Midland
wordbook: "Wretch, n., often used as an expression of endearment or
sympathy. Old Woman to Young Master: 'An''ow is the missis to-day,
door wretch?' Of a boy going to school a considerable distance off
'I met 'im with a bit o' bread in 'is bag, door wretch'" ("A
Glossary of Words and Phrases used in S.E. Worcestershire," by Jesse
Salisbury. Published by the English Dialect Society, 1894).]
was surprized with it, and made me no answer all the way home; but there
we parted, and I to the office late, and then home, and without supper
to bed, vexed.
12th (Lord's day). Up, and to my chamber, to settle some accounts there,
and by and by down comes my wife to me in her night-gown, and we begun
calmly, that upon having money to lace her gown for second mourning, she
would promise to wear white locks no more in my sight, which I, like a
severe fool, thinking not enough, begun to except against, and made her
fly out to very high terms and cry, and in her heat told me of keeping
company with Mrs. Knipp, saying, that if I would promise never to see
her more--of whom she hath more reason to suspect than I had heretofore
of Pembleton--she would never wear white locks more. This vexed me, but
I restrained myself from saying anything, but do think never to see this
woman--at least, to have her here more, but by and by I did give her
money to buy lace, and she promised to wear no more white locks while I
lived, and so all very good friends as ever, and I to my business, and
she to dress herself. Against noon we had a coach ready for us, and she
and I to White Hall, where I went to see whether Sir G. Carteret was at
dinner or no, our design being to make a visit there, and I found them
set down, which troubled me, for I would not then go up, but back to the
coach to my wife, and she and I homeward again, and in our way bethought
ourselves of going alone, she and I, to go to a French house to dinner,
and so enquired out Monsieur Robins, my perriwigg-maker, who keeps an
ordinary, and in an ugly street in Covent Garden, did find him at the
door, and so we in; and in a moment almost had the table covered, and
clean glasses, and all in the French manner, and a mess of potage
first, and then a couple of pigeons a la esterve, and then a piece of
boeuf-a-la-mode, all exceeding well seasoned, and to our great liking;
at least it would have been anywhere else but in this bad street, and in
a perriwigg-maker's house; but to see the pleasant and ready attendance
that we had, and all things so desirous to please, and ingenious in the
people, did take me mightily. Our dinner cost us 6s., and so my wife
and I away to Islington, it being a fine day, and thence to Sir G.
Whitmore's house, where we 'light, and walked over the fields to
Kingsland, and back again; a walk, I think, I have not taken these
twenty years; but puts me in mind of my boy's time, when I boarded at
Kingsland, and used to shoot with my bow and arrows in these fields. A
very pretty place it is; and little did any of my friends think I should
come to walk in these fields in this condition and state that I am. Then
took coach again, and home through Shoreditch; and at home my wife finds
Barker to have been abroad, and telling her so many lies about it, that
she struck her, and the wench said she would not stay with her: so I
examined the wench, and found her in so many lies myself, that I was
glad to be rid of her, and so resolved having her go away to-morrow. So
my wife and W. Hewer and I to supper, and then he and I to my chamber to
begin the draught of the report from this office to the Duke of York in
the case of Mr. Carcasse, which I sat up till midnight to do, and then
to bed, believing it necessary to have it done, and to do it plainly,
for it is not to be endured the trouble that this rascal hath put us to,
and the disgrace he hath brought upon this office.
13th. Up, and when ready, to the office (my wife rising to send away
Barker, according to our resolution last night, and she did do it with
more clothes than have cost us L10, and 20s. in her purse, which I did
for the respect I bear Mr. Falconbridge, otherwise she had not deserved
half of it, but I am the more willing to do it to be rid of one that
made work and trouble in the house, and had not qualities of any honour
or pleasure to me or my family, but what is a strange thing did always
declare to her mistress and others that she had rather be put
to drudgery and to wash the house than to live as she did like a
gentlewoman), and there I and Gibson all the morning making an end of my
report against Carcasse, which I think will do our business, but it is
a horrid shame such a rogue should give me and all of us this trouble.
This morning come Sir H. Cholmly to me for a tally or two; and tells me
that he hears that we are by agreement to give the King of France Nova
Scotia, which he do not like: but I do not know the importance of it.
[Nova Scotia and the adjoining countries were called by the French
Acadie. Pepys is not the only official personage whose ignorance of
Nova Scotia is on record. A story is current of a prime minister
(Duke of Newcastle) who was surprised at hearing Cape Breton was an
island. "Egad, I'll go tell the King Cape Breton is an island!"
Of the same it is said, that when told Annapolis was in danger, and
ought to be defended: "Oh! certainly Annapolis must be defended,--
where is Annapolis?"--B.]
Then abroad with my wife to my Lord Treasurer's, and she to her
tailor's. I find Sir Philip Warwicke, who I perceive do give over my
Lord Treasurer for a man of this world, his pain being grown great again
upon him, and all the rest he hath is by narcotiques, and now Sir Philip
Warwicke do please himself, like a good man, to tell some of the good
ejaculations of my Lord Treasurer concerning the little worth of this
world, to buy it with so much pain, and other things fit for a dying
man. So finding no business likely to be done here for Tangier, I having
a warrant for tallies to be signed, I away to the New Exchange, and
there staid a little, and then to a looking-glass shop to consult about
covering the wall in my closet over my chimney, which is darkish, with
looking-glasses, and then to my wife's tailor's, but find her not ready
to go home, but got to buy things, and so I away home to look after
my business and finish my report of Carcasse, and then did get Sir W.
Batten, Sir J. Minnes, and [Sir] W. Pen together, and read it over with
all the many papers relating to the business, which they do wonder at,
and the trouble I have taken about it, and like the report, so as that
they do unanimously resolve to sign it, and stand by it, and after a
great deal of discourse of the strange deportment of my Lord Bruncker in
this business to withstand the whole board in behalf of such an impudent
rogue as this is, I parted, and home to my wife, and supped and talked
with her, and then to bed, resolving to rise betimes to-morrow to write
fair the report.
14th. Up by 5 o'clock, and when ready down to my chamber, and there with
Mr. Fist, Sir W. Batten's clerk, who writes mighty well, writing over
our report in Mr. Carcasses business, in which we continued till 9
o'clock, that the office met, and then to the office, where all the
morning, and so at noon home to dinner, where Mr. Holliard come and eat
with us, who among other things do give me good hopes that we shall give
my father some ease as to his rupture when he comes to town, which I
expect to-morrow. After dinner comes Fist, and he and I to our report
again till 9 o'clock, and then by coach to my Lord Chancellor's, where I
met Mr. Povy, expecting the coming of the rest of the Commissioners for
Tangier. Here I understand how the two Dukes, both the only sons of the
Duke of York, are sick even to danger, and that on Sunday last they
were both so ill, as that the poor Duchess was in doubt which would die
first: the Duke of Cambridge of some general disease; the other little
Duke, whose title I know not, of the convulsion fits, of which he had
four this morning. Fear that either of them might be dead, did make us
think that it was the occasion that the Duke of York and others were not
come to the meeting of the Commission which was designed, and my Lord
Chancellor did expect. And it was pretty to observe how, when my Lord
sent down to St. James's to see why the Duke of York come not, and Mr.
Povy, who went, returned, my Lord (Chancellor) did ask, not how the
Princes or the Dukes do, as other people do, but "How do the children?"
which methought was mighty great, and like a great man and grandfather.
I find every body mightily concerned for these children, as a matter
wherein the State is much concerned that they should live. At last it
was found that the meeting did fail from no known occasion, at which my
Lord Chancellor was angry, and did cry out against Creed that he should
give him no notice. So Povy and I went forth, and staid at the gate of
the house by the streete, and there stopped to talk about the business
of the Treasury of Tangier, which by the badness of our credit, and the
resolution that the Governor shall not be paymaster, will force me to
provide one there to be my paymaster, which I will never do, but rather
lose my place, for I will not venture my fortune to a fellow to be
employed so far off, and in that wicked place. Thence home, and with
Fist presently to the finishing the writing fair of our report. And by
and by to Sir W. Batten's, and there he and I and [Sir] J. Minnes and
[Sir] W. Pen did read and sign it with great good liking, and so away
to the office again to look over and correct it, and then home to supper
and to bed, my mind being pretty well settled, having this report done,
and so to supper and to bed.
15th. [This morning my wife had some things brought home by a new woman
of the New Exchange, one Mrs. Smith, which she would have me see for her
fine hand, and indeed it is a fine hand, and the woman I have observed
is a mighty pretty looked woman.] Up, and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir]
J. Minnes to St. James's, and stopt at Temple Bar for Sir J. Minnes to
go into the Devil's Taverne to shit, he having drunk whey, and his belly
wrought. Being come, we up to the Duke of York's chamber, who, when
ready, we to our usual business, and being very glad, we all that signed
it, that is, Sir J. Minnes, W. Batten, W. Pen, and myself, and then
Sir G. Carteret and [Sir] W. Coventry, Bruncker, and T. Harvy, and the
officers of the Ordnance, Sir J. Duncombe, and Mr. Cholmely presented
our report about Carcasse, and did afterwards read it with that success
that the Duke of York was for punishing him, not only with turning him
out of the office, but with what other punishment he could, which nobody
did forward, and so he escaped, only with giving security to secure the
King against double tickets of his and other things that he might have
wronged the King or subject in before his dismission. Yet, Lord! to
see how our silly Lord Bruncker would have stood to have justified this
rogue, though to the reproach of all us who have signed, which I shall
never forget to have been a most malicious or a most silly act, and I do
think it is as much the latter as the other, for none but a fool could
have done as this silly Lord hath done in this business. So the Duke of
York did like our report, and ordered his being secured till he did give
his security, which did fully content me, and will I hope vindicate the
office. It happened that my Lord Arlington coming in by chance was at
the hearing of all this, which I was not sorry for, for he did move or
did second the Duke of York that this roguery of his might be put in the
News-book that it might be made publique to satisfy for the wrong the
credit of this office hath received by this rogue's occasion. So with
utmost content I away with Sir G. Carteret to London, talking all the
way; and he do tell me that the business of my Lord Hinchingbroke his
marriage with my Lord Burlington's daughter is concluded on by all
friends; and that my Lady is now told of it, and do mightily please
herself with it; which I am mighty glad of. So home, and there I find
that my wife hath been at my desire at the Inne, thinking that my father
might be come up with the coach, but he is not come this week, poor
man, but will be here the next. At noon to dinner, and then to Sir
W. Batten's, where I hear the news how our Embassadors were but ill
received at Flushing, nor at Bredah itself, there being only a house and
no furniture provided for them, though it be said that they have as much
as the French. Here we staid talking a little, and then I to the office
about my business, and thence to the office, where busy about my own
papers of my office, and by and by comes the office full to examine Sir
W. Warren's account, which I do appear mighty fierce in against him, and
indeed am, for his accounts are so perplexed that I am sure he cannot
but expect to get many a L1000 in it before it passes our hands, but I
will not favour him, but save what I can to the King. At his accounts,
wherein I very high against him, till late, and then we broke up with
little done, and so broke up, and I to my office, where late doing of
business, and then home to supper and to bed. News still that my Lord
Treasurer is so ill as not to be any man of this world; and it is said
that the Treasury shall be managed by Commission. I would to God Sir G.
Carteret, or my Lord Sandwich, be in it! But the latter is the more fit
for it. This day going to White Hall, Sir W. Batten did tell me strange
stories of Sir W. Pen, how he is already ashamed of the fine coach which
his son-in-law and daughter have made, and indeed it is one of the most
ridiculous things for people of their low, mean fashion to make such
a coach that ever I saw. He tells me how his people come as they do to
mine every day to borrow one thing or other, and that his Lady hath been
forced to sell some coals (in the late dear time) only to enable her
to pay money that she hath borrowed of Griffin to defray her family
expense, which is a strange story for a rogue that spends so much money
on clothes and other occasions himself as he do, but that which is most
strange, he tells me that Sir W. Pen do not give L6000, as is usually
[supposed], with his daughter to him, and that Mr. Lowder is come to use
the tubb, that is to bathe and sweat himself, and that his lady is come
to use the tubb too, which he takes to be that he hath, and hath given
her the pox, but I hope it is not so, but, says Sir W. Batten, this is
a fair joynture, that he hath made her, meaning by that the costs the
having of a bath.
16th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and, among
other things, comes in Mr. Carcasse, and after many arguings against
it, did offer security as was desired, but who should this be but Mr.
Powell, that is one other of my Lord Bruncker's clerks; and I hope
good use will be made of it. But then he began to fall foul upon the
injustice of the Board, which when I heard I threatened him with being
laid by the heels, which my Lord Bruncker took up as a thing that I
could not do upon the occasion he had given, but yet did own that it was
ill said of him. I made not many words of it, but have let him see that
I can say what I will without fear of him, and so we broke off, leaving
the bond to be drawn by me, which I will do in the best manner I can. At
noon, this being Holy Thursday, that is, Ascension Day, when the boys go
on procession round the parish, we were to go to the Three Tuns' Tavern,
to dine with the rest of the parish; where all the parish almost was,
Sir Andrew Rickard and others; and of our house, J. Minnes, W. Batten,
W. Pen, and myself; and Mr. Mills did sit uppermost at the table. Here
we were informed that the report of our Embassadors being ill received
in their way to Bredah is not true, but that they are received with very
great civility, which I am glad to hear. But that that did vex me was
that among all us there should come in Mr. Carcasse to be a guest for
his money (5s. a piece) as well as any of us. This did vex me, and I
would have gone, and did go to my house, thinking to dine at home, but
I was called away from them, and so we sat down, and to dinner. Among
other things Sir John Fredericke and Sir R. Ford did talk of Paul's
School, which, they tell me, must be taken away; and then I fear it will
be long before another place, as they say is promised, is found; but
they do say that the honour of their company is concerned in the doing
of it, and that it is a thing that they are obliged to do. Thence home,
and to my office, where busy; anon at 7 at night I and my wife and Sir
W. Pen in his coach to Unthanke's, my wife's tailor, for her to speak
one word, and then we to my Lord Treasurer's, where I find the porter
crying, and suspected it was that my Lord is dead; and, poor Lord! we
did find that he was dead just now; and the crying of the fellow did so
trouble me, that considering I was not likely to trouble him any more,
nor have occasion to give any more anything, I did give him 3s.; but it
may be, poor man, he hath lost a considerable hope by the death of his
Lord, whose house will be no more frequented as before, and perhaps I
may never come thither again about any business. There is a good man
gone: and I pray God that the Treasury may not be worse managed by
the hand or hands it shall now be put into; though, for certain, the
slowness, though he was of great integrity, of this man, and remissness,
have gone as far to undo the nation, as anything else that hath
happened; and yet, if I knew all the difficulties that he hath lain
under, and his instrument Sir Philip Warwicke, I might be brought to
another mind. Thence we to Islington, to the Old House, and there eat
and drank, and then it being late and a pleasant evening, we home, and
there to my chamber, and to bed. It is remarkable that this afternoon
Mr. Moore come to me, and there, among other things, did tell me how Mr.
Moyer, the merchant, having procured an order from the King and Duke
of York and Council, with the consent of my Lord Chancellor, and by
assistance of Lord Arlington, for the releasing out of prison his
brother, Samuel Moyer, who was a great man in the late times in
Haberdashers'-hall, and was engaged under hand and seal to give the man
that obtained it so much in behalf of my Lord Chancellor; but it seems
my Lady Duchess of Albemarle had before undertaken it for so much money,
but hath not done it. The Duke of Albemarle did the next day send for
this Moyer, to tell him, that notwithstanding this order of the King and
Council's being passed for release of his brother, yet, if he did not
consider the pains of some friends of his, he would stop that order.
This Moyer being an honest, bold man, told him that he was engaged to
the hand that had done the thing to give him a reward; and more he would
not give, nor could own any kindness done by his Grace's interest; and
so parted. The next day Sir Edward Savage did take the said Moyer in tax
about it, giving ill words of this Moyer and his brother; which he
not being able to bear, told him he would give to the person that had
engaged him what he promised, and not any thing to any body else; and
that both he and his brother were as honest men as himself, or any man
else; and so sent him going, and bid him do his worst. It is one of the
most extraordinary cases that ever I saw or understood; but it is true.
This day Mr. Sheply is come to town and to see me, and he tells me my
father is very well only for his pain, so that he is not able to stir;
but is in great pain. I would to God that he were in town that I might
have what help can be got for him, for it troubles me to have him live
in that condition of misery if I can help it.
17th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning upon some accounts
of Mr. Gawden's, and at noon to the Three Tuns to dinner with Lord
Bruncker, Sir J. Minnes, W. Batten, W. Pen, and T. Harvy, where very
merry, and my Lord Bruncker in appearance as good friends as ever,
though I know he has a hatred to me in heart. After dinner to my house,
where Mr. Sheply dined, and we drank and talked together. He, poor man,
hath had his arm broke the late frost, slipping in going over Huntingdon
Bridge. He tells me that jasper Trice and Lewes Phillips and Mr.
Ashfield are gone from Brampton, and he thinks chiefly from the height
of Sir J. Bernard's carriage, who carries all things before him there,
which they cannot bear with, and so leave the town, and this is a great
instance of the advantage a man of the law hath over all other people,
which would make a man to study it a little. Sheply being gone, there
come the flageolet master, who having had a bad bargain of teaching my
wife by the year, she not practising so much as she should do, I did
think that the man did deserve some more consideration, and so will give
him an opportunity of 20s. a month more, and he shall teach me, and this
afternoon I begun, and I think it will be a few shillings well spent.
Then to Sir R. Viner's with 600 pieces of gold to turn into silver, for
the enabling me to answer Sir G. Carteret's L3000; which he now draws
all out of my hand towards the paying for a purchase he hath made for
his son and my Lady Jemimah, in Northamptonshire, of Sir Samuel Luke,
in a good place; a good house, and near all her friends; which is a
very happy thing. Thence to St. James's, and there spoke with Sir W.
Coventry, and give him some account of some things, but had little
discourse with him, there being company with him, and so directly home
again and then to my office, doing some business, and so to my house,
and with my wife to practice on the flageolet a little, and with great
pleasure I see she can readily hit her notes, but only want of practice
makes her she cannot go through a whole tune readily. So to supper and
to bed.
18th. Up, and all the morning at the office, and then to dinner, and
after dinner to the office to dictate some letters, and then with my
wife to Sir W. Turner's to visit The., but she being abroad we back
again home, and then I to the office, finished my letters, and then to
walk an hour in the garden talking with my wife, whose growth in musique
do begin to please me mightily, and by and by home and there find our
Luce drunk, and when her mistress told her of it would be gone, and so
put up some of her things and did go away of her accord, nobody pressing
her to it, and the truth is, though she be the dirtiest, homeliest
servant that ever I kept, yet I was sorry to have her go, partly through
my love to my servants, and partly because she was a very drudging,
working wench, only she would be drunk. But that which did a little
trouble me was that I did hear her tell her mistress that she would tell
her master something before she was aware of her that she would be
sorry to have him know; but did it in such a silly, drunken manner,
that though it trouble me a little, yet not knowing what to suspect she
should know, and not knowing well whether she said it to her mistress or
Jane, I did not much think of it. So she gone, we to supper and to bed,
my study being made finely clean.
19th (Lord's day). Up, and to my chamber to set some papers in order,
and then, to church, where my old acquaintance, that dull fellow,
Meriton, made a good sermon, and hath a strange knack of a grave,
serious delivery, which is very agreeable. After church to White Hall,
and there find Sir G. Carteret just set down to dinner, and I dined with
them, as I intended, and good company, the best people and family in
the world I think. Here was great talk of the good end that my Lord
Treasurer made; closing his owne eyes and setting his mouth, and bidding
adieu with the greatest content and freedom in the world; and is said
to die with the cleanest hands that ever any Lord Treasurer did. After
dinner Sir G. Carteret and I alone, and there, among other discourse, he
did declare that he would be content to part with his place of Treasurer
of the Navy upon good terms. I did propose my Lord Belasses as a man
likely to buy it, which he listened to, and I did fully concur and
promote his design of parting with it, for though I would have my father
live, I would not have him die Treasurer of the Navy, because of the
accounts which must be uncleared at his death, besides many other
circumstances making it advisable for him to let it go. He tells me that
he fears all will come to naught in the nation soon if the King do not
mind his business, which he do not seem likely to do. He says that the
Treasury will be managed for a while by a Commission, whereof he thinks
my Lord Chancellor for the honour of it, and my Lord Ashly, and the two
Secretaries will be, and some others he knows not. I took leave of him,
and directly by water home, and there to read the life of Mr. Hooker,
which pleases me as much as any thing I have read a great while, and by
and by comes Mr. Howe to see us, and after him a little Mr. Sheply, and
so we all to talk, and, Mercer being there, we some of us to sing, and
so to supper, a great deal of silly talk. Among other things, W. Howe
told us how the Barristers and Students of Gray's Inne rose in rebellion
against the Benchers the other day, who outlawed them, and a great deal
of do; but now they are at peace again. They being gone, I to my book
again, and made an end of Mr. Hooker's Life, and so to bed.
20th. Up betimes, and comes my flagelette master to set me a new tune,
which I played presently, and shall in a month do as much as I desire
at it. He being gone, I to several businesses in my chamber, and then
by coach to the Commissioners of Excise, and so to Westminster Hall,
and there spoke with several persons I had to do with. Here among other
news, I hear that the Commissioners for the Treasury were named by the
King yesterday; but who they are nobody could tell: but the persons are
the Lord Chancellor, the two Secretaries, Lord Ashly, and others say
Sir W. Coventry and Sir John Duncomb, but all conclude the Duke of
Albemarle; but reports do differ, but will be known in a day or two.
Having done my business, I then homeward, and overtook Mr. Commander; so
took him into a coach with me, and he and I into Lincoln's Inne Fields,
there to look upon the coach-houses to see what ground is necessary for
coach-house and horses, because of that that I am going about to do, and
having satisfied myself in this he and I to Mr. Hide's to look upon the
ground again behind our house, and concluded upon his going along with
us to-morrow to see some stables, he thinking that we demand more than
is necessary. So away home, and then, I, it being a broken day, and had
power by my vows, did walk abroad, first through the Minorys, the first
time I have been over the Hill to the postern-gate, and seen the place,
since the houses were pulled down about that side of the Tower, since
the fire, to find where my young mercer with my pretty little woman to
his wife lives, who lived in Lumbard streete, and I did espy them, but
took no notice now of them, but may do hereafter. Thence down to the
Old Swan, and there saw Betty Michell, whom I have not seen since her
christening. But, Lord! how pretty she is, and looks as well as ever I
saw her, and her child (which I am fain to seem very fond of) is pretty
also, I think, and will be. Thence by water to Westminster Hall, and
there walked a while talking at random with Sir W. Doyly, and so away to
Mrs. Martin's lodging, who was gone before, expecting me, and there je
hazer what je vellem cum her and drank, and so by coach home (but I have
forgot that I did in the morning go to the Swan, and there tumbling of
la little fille, son uncle did trouver her cum su neckcloth off, which
I was ashamed of, but made no great matter of it, but let it pass with
a laugh), and there spent the evening with my wife at our flagelets, and
so to supper, and after a little reading to bed. My wife still troubled
with her cold. I find it everywhere now to be a thing doubted whether
we shall have peace or no, and the captain of one of our ships that went
with the Embassadors do say, that the seamen of Holland to his hearing
did defy us, and called us English dogs, and cried out against peace,
and that the great people there do oppose peace, though he says the
common people do wish it.
21st. Up and to the office, where sat all the morning. At noon dined at
home with my wife and find a new girle, a good big girle come to us, got
by Payne to be our girle; and his daughter Nell we make our cook. This
wench's name is Mary, and seems a good likely maid. After dinner I with
Mr. Commander and Mr. Hide's brother to Lincolne's Inne Fields, and
there viewed several coach-houses, and satisfied ourselves now fully in
it, and then there parted, leaving the rest to future discourse between
us. Thence I home; but, Lord! how it went against my heart to go away
from the very door of the Duke's play-house, and my Lady Castlemayne's
coach, and many great coaches there, to see "The Siege of Rhodes." I was
very near making a forfeit, but I did command myself, and so home to my
office, and there did much business to my good content, much better
than going to a play, and then home to my wife, who is not well with
her cold, and sat and read a piece of Grand Cyrus in English by her,
and then to my chamber and to supper, and so to bed. This morning the
Captain come from Holland did tell us at the board what I have said
he reported yesterday. This evening after I come from the office Mrs.
Turner come to see my wife and me, and sit and talk with us, and so, my
wife not being well and going to bed, Mrs. Turner and I sat up till 12
at night talking alone in my chamber, and most of our discourse was of
our neighbours. As to my Lord Bruncker, she says how Mrs. Griffin,
our housekeeper's wife, hath it from his maid, that comes to her house
often, that they are very poor; that the other day Mrs. Williams was
fain to send a jewell to pawn; that their maid hath said herself that
she hath got L50 since she come thither, and L17 by the payment of one
bill; that they have a most lewd and nasty family here in the office,
but Mrs. Turner do tell me that my Lord hath put the King to infinite
charge since his coming thither in alterations, and particularly that
Mr. Harper at Deptford did himself tell her that my Lord hath had of
Foly, the ironmonger, L50 worth in locks and keys for his house, and
that it is from the fineness of them, having some of L4 and L5 a lock,
such as is in the Duke's closet; that he hath several of these; that he
do keep many of her things from her of her own goods, and would have her
bring a bill into the office for them; that Mrs. Griffin do say that
he do not keep Mrs. Williams now for love, but need, he having another
whore that he keeps in Covent Garden; that they do owe money everywhere
almost for every thing, even Mrs. Shipman for her butter and cheese
about L3, and after many demands cannot get it. Mrs. Turner says she do
believe their coming here is only out of a belief of getting purchase by
it, and that their servants (which was wittily said of her touching
his clerks) do act only as privateers, no purchase, no pay. And in my
conscience she is in the right. Then we fell to talk of Sir W. Pen,
and his family and rise. She [Mrs. Turner] says that he was a pityfull
[fellow] when she first knew them; that his lady was one of the sourest,
dirty women, that ever she saw; that they took two chambers, one over
another, for themselves and child, in Tower Hill; that for many years
together they eat more meals at her house than at their own; did call
brothers and sisters the husbands and wives; that her husband was
godfather to one, and she godmother to another (this Margaret) of their
children, by the same token that she was fain to write with her own hand
a letter to Captain Twiddy, to stand for a godfather for her; that
she brought my Lady, who then was a dirty slattern, with her stockings
hanging about her heels, so that afterwards the people of the whole Hill
did say that Mrs. Turner had made Mrs. Pen a gentlewoman, first to the
knowledge of my Lady Vane, Sir Henry's lady, and him to the knowledge of
most of the great people that then he sought to, and that in short his
rise hath been his giving of large bribes, wherein, and she agrees with
my opinion and knowledge before therein, he is very profuse. This made
him General; this got him out of the Tower when he was in; and hath
brought him into what he is now, since the King's coming in: that long
ago, indeed, he would drink the King's health privately with Mr. Turner;
but that when he saw it fit to turn Roundhead, and was offered by Mr.
Turner to drink the King's health, he answered "No;" he was changed, and
now, he that would make him drink the King's health, or any health but
the Protector's and the State's, or to that purpose, he would be the
first man should sheath his sword in his guts. That at the King's coming
in, he did send for her husband, and told him what a great man Sir W.
Coventry was like to be, and that he having all the records in his hands
of the Navy, if he would transcribe what was of most present use of the
practice of the Navy, and give them him to give Sir W. Coventry from
him, it would undoubtedly do his business of getting him a principal
officer's place; that her husband was at L5 charge to get these
presently writ; that Sir W. Pen did give them Sir W. Coventry as from
himself, which did set him up with W. Coventry, and made him what he is,
and never owned any thing of Mr. Turner in them; by which he left him
in the lurch, though he did promise the Duke of Albemarle to do all
that was possible, and made no question of Mr. Turner's being what he
desired; and when afterwards, too, did propose to him the getting of
the Purveyor's place for him, he did tell Mr. Turner it was necessary to
present Sir W. Coventry 100 pieces, which he did, and W. Coventry took
80 of them: so that he was W. Coventry's mere broker, as Sir W. Batten
and my Lady did once tell my Lady Duchess of Albemarle, in the case of
Mr. Falconer, whom W. Pen made to give W. Coventry L200 for his place
of Clerk of the Rope Yard of Woolwich, and to settle L80 a year upon his
daughter Pegg, after the death of his wife, and a gold watch presently
to his wife. Mrs. Turner do tell me that my Lady and Pegg have
themselves owned to her that Sir W. Coventry and Sir W. Pen had private
marks to write to one another by, that when they in appearance writ a
fair letter in behalf of anybody, that they had a little mark to
show they meant it only in shew: this, these silly people did confess
themselves of him. She says that their son, Mr. William Pen, did tell
her that his father did observe the commanders did make their addresses
to me and applications, but they should know that his father should
be the chief of the office, and that she hath observed that Sir W. Pen
never had a kindness to her son, since W. Pen told her son that he had
applied himself to me. That his rise hath been by her and her husband's
means, and that it is a most inconceivable thing how this man can have
the face to use her and her family with the neglect that he do them.
That he was in the late war a most devilish plunderer, and that got him
his estate, which he hath in Ireland, and nothing else, and that he hath
always been a very liberal man in his bribes, that upon his coming into
this part of the Controller's business wherein he is, he did send for T.
Willson and told him how against his knowledge he was put in, and had so
little wit as to say to him, "This will make the pot boyle, will it not,
Mr. Willson? will it not make the pot boyle?" and do offer him to
come in and do his business for him, and he would reward him. This Mr.
Willson did come and tell her presently, he having been their servant,
and to this day is very faithful to them. That her husband's not being
forward to make him a bill for Rere Admirall's pay and Generall's pay
both at the same time after he was first made Generall did first give
him occasion of keeping a distance from him, since which they have
never been great friends, Pen having by degrees been continually growing
higher and higher, till now that he do wholly slight them and use them
only as servants. Upon the whole, she told me stories enough to confirm
me that he is the most false fellow that ever was born of woman, and
that so she thinks and knows him to be.
22nd. Up, and by water to White Hall to Sir G. Carteret, who tells me
now for certain how the Commission for the Treasury is disposed of:
viz., to Duke of Albemarle, Lord Ashly, Sir W. Coventry, Sir John
Duncomb, and Sir Thomas Clifford: at which, he says, all the whole Court
is disturbed; it having been once concluded otherwise into the other
hands formerly mentioned in yesterday's notes, but all of a sudden the
King's choice was changed, and these are to be the men; the first of
which is only for a puppet to give honour to the rest. He do presage
that these men will make it their business to find faults in the
management of the late Lord Treasurer, and in discouraging the bankers:
but I am, whatever I in compliance do say to him, of another mind, and
my heart is very glad of it, for I do expect they will do much good, and
that it is the happiest thing that hath appeared to me for the good of
the nation since the King come in. Thence to St. James's, and up to the
Duke of York; and there in his chamber Sir W. Coventry did of himself
take notice of this business of the Treasury, wherein he is in the
Commission, and desired that I would be thinking of any thing fit for
him to be acquainted with for the lessening of charge and bettering of
our credit, and what our expence bath been since the King's coming home,
which he believes will be one of the first things they shall enquire
into: which I promised him, and from time to time, which he desires,
will give him an account of what I can think of worthy his knowledge. I
am mighty glad of this opportunity of professing my joy to him in what
choice the King hath made, and the hopes I have that it will save the
kingdom from perishing and how it do encourage me to take pains again,
after my having through despair neglected it! which he told me of
himself that it was so with him, that he had given himself up to more
ease than ever he expected, and that his opinion of matters was so bad,
that there was no publick employment in the kingdom should have been
accepted by him but this which the King hath now given him; and therein
he is glad, in hopes of the service he may do therein; and in my
conscience he will. So into the Duke of York's closet; and there, among
other things, Sir W. Coventry did take notice of what he told me the
other day, about a report of Commissioner Pett's dealing for timber
in the Navy, and selling it to us in other names; and, besides his own
proof, did produce a paper I had given him this morning about it, in the
case of Widow Murford and Morecocke, which was so handled, that the Duke
of York grew very angry, and commanded us presently to fall into the
examination of it, saying that he would not trust a man for his sake
that lifts up the whites of his eyes. And it was declared that if he be
found to have done so, he should be reckoned unfit to serve the Navy;
and I do believe he will be turned out; and it was, methought, a worthy
saying of Sir W. Coventry to the Duke of York, "Sir," says he, "I do
not make this complaint out of any disrespect to Commissioner Pett, but
because I do love to do these things fairly and openly." Thence I to
Westminster Hall with Sir G. Carteret to the Chequer Chamber to hear our
cause of the Lindeboome prize there before the Lords of Appeal, where
was Lord Ashly, Arlington, Barkely, and Sir G. Carteret, but the latter
three signified nothing, the former only either minding or understanding
what was said. Here was good pleading of Sir Walter Walker's and worth
hearing, but little done in our business. Thence by coach to the Red
Lyon, thinking to meet my father, but I come too soon, but my wife is
gone out of town to meet him. I am in great pain, poor man, for him,
lest he should come up in pain to town. So I staid not, but to the
'Change, and there staid a little, where most of the newes is that the
Swedes are likely to fall out with the Dutch, which we wish, but how
true I know not. Here I met my uncle Wight, the second day he hath been
abroad, having been sick these two months even to death, but having
never sent to me even in the greatest of his danger. I do think my Aunt
had no mind I should come, and so I never went to see him, but neither
he took notice of it to me, nor I made any excuse for it to him, but
past two or three How do you's, and so parted and so home, and by and
by comes my poor father, much better than I expected, being at ease by
fits, according as his truss sits, and at another time in as much pain.
I am mighty glad to see him come well to town. So to dinner, where Creed
comes. After dinner my wife and father abroad, and Creed and I also
by water, and parted at the Temple stairs, where I landed, and to the
King's house, where I did give 18d., and saw the two last acts of "The
Goblins," a play I could not make any thing of by these two acts, but
here Knipp spied me out of the tiring-room, and come to the pit door,
and I out to her, and kissed her, she only coming to see me, being in a
country-dress, she, and others having, it seemed, had a country-dance in
the play, but she no other part: so we parted, and I into the pit again
till it was done. The house full, but I had no mind to be seen, but
thence to.my cutler's, and two or three other places on small, errands,
and so home, where my father and wife come home, and pretty well my
father, who to supper and betimes to bed at his country hours. I to
Sir W. Batten's, and there got some more part of my dividend of the
prize-money. So home and to set down in writing the state of the
account, and then to supper, and my wife to her flageolet, wherein
she did make out a tune so prettily of herself, that I was infinitely
pleased beyond whatever I expected from her, and so to bed. This day
coming from Westminster with W. Batten, we saw at White Hall stairs a
fisher-boat, with a sturgeon that he had newly catched in the River;
which I saw, but it was but a little one; but big enough to prevent my
mistake of that for a colt, if ever I become Mayor of Huntingdon!
[During a very high flood in the meadows between Huntingdon and
Godmanchester, something was seen floating, which the Godmanchester
people thought was a black pig, and the Huntingdon folk declared it
was a sturgeon; when rescued from the waters, it proved to be a
young donkey. This mistake led to the one party being styled
"Godmanchester black pigs," and the other "Huntingdon sturgeons,"
terms not altogether forgotten at this day. Pepys's colt must be
taken to be the colt of an ass.--B.]
23rd. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning. At noon
home, and with my father dined, and, poor man! he hath put off his
travelling-clothes to-day, and is mighty spruce, and I love to see him
cheerful. After dinner I to my chamber, and my wife and I to talk, and
by and by they tell Mrs. Daniel would speak with me, so I down to the
parlour to her, and sat down together and talked about getting her
husband a place .... I do promise, and mean to do what kindness I can to
her husband. After having been there hasti je was ashamed de peur that
my people pensait.... de it, or lest they might espy us through some
trees, we parted and I to the office, and presently back home again, and
there was asked by my wife, I know not whether simply or with design,
how I come to look as I did, car ego was in much chaleur et de body and
of animi, which I put off with the heat of the season, and so to
other business, but I had some fear hung upon me lest alcuno had sidi
decouvert. So to the office, and then to Sir R. Viner's about some
part of my accounts now going on with him, and then home and ended my
letters, and then to supper and my chamber to settle many things
there, and then to bed. This noon I was on the 'Change, where I to my
astonishment hear, and it is in the Gazette, that Sir John Duncomb is
sworn yesterday a Privy-councillor. This day I hear also that last night
the Duke of Kendall, second son of the Duke of York, did die; and that
the other, Duke of Cambridge, continues very ill still. This afternoon
I had opportunity para jouer with Mrs. Pen, tokendo her mammailles
and baisando elle, being sola in the casa of her pater, and she fort
willing.
24th. Up, and to the office, where, by and by, by appointment, we met
upon Sir W. Warren's accounts, wherein I do appear in every thing as
much as I can his enemy, though not so far but upon good conditions from
him I may return to be his friend, but I do think it necessary to do
what I do at present. We broke off at noon without doing much, and then
home, where my wife not well, but yet engaged by invitation to go with
Sir W. Pen. I got her to go with him by coach to Islington to the old
house, where his lady and Madam Lowther, with her exceeding fine coach
and mean horses, and her mother-in-law, did meet us, and two of Mr.
Lowther's brothers, and here dined upon nothing but pigeon-pyes, which
was such a thing for him to invite all the company to, that I was
ashamed of it. But after dinner was all our sport, when there come in a
juggler, who, indeed, did shew us so good tricks as I have never seen
in my life, I think, of legerdemaine, and such as my wife hath since
seriously said that she would not believe but that he did them by the
help of the devil. Here, after a bad dinner, and but ordinary company,
saving that I discern good parts in one of the sons, who, methought, did
take me up very prettily in one or two things that I said, and I was so
sensible of it as to be a caution to me hereafter how I do venture to
speak more than is necessary in any company, though, as I did now, I
do think them incapable to censure me. We broke up, they back to
Walthamstow, and only my wife and I and Sir W. Pen to the King's
playhouse, and there saw "The Mayden Queene," which, though I have often
seen, yet pleases me infinitely, it being impossible, I think, ever to
have the Queen's part, which is very good and passionate, and Florimel's
part, which is the most comicall that ever was made for woman, ever
done better than they two are by young Marshall and Nelly. Home, where
I spent the evening with my father and wife, and late at night some
flagillette with my wife, and then to supper and to bed.
25th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon dined at
home, and there come Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, and dined with me, telling
me that the Duke of Cambridge continues very ill, so as they do despair
of his living. So to the office again, where all the afternoon. About
4 o'clock comes Mrs. Pierce to see my wife, and I into them, and there
find Pierce very fine, and in her own hair, which do become her, and so
says my wife, ten times better than lighter hair, her complexion being
mighty good. With them talked a little, and was invited by her to come
with my wife on Wednesday next in the evening, to be merry there, which
we shall do. Then to the office again, where dispatched a great deal of
business till late at night, to my great content, and then home and with
my wife to our flageolets a little, and so to supper and to bed, after
having my chamber a little wiped up.
26th (Lord's day). Up sooner than usual on Sundays, and to walk, it
being exceeding hot all night (so as this night I begun to leave off my
waistcoat this year) and this morning, and so to walk in the garden
till toward church time, when my wife and I to church, where several
strangers of good condition come to our pew, where the pew was full.
At noon dined at home, where little Michell come and his wife, who
continues mighty pretty. After dinner I by water alone to Westminster,
where, not finding Mrs. Martin within, did go towards the parish church,
and in the way did overtake her, who resolved to go into the church with
her that she was going with (Mrs. Hargrave, the little crooked woman,
the vintner's wife of the Dog) and then go out again, and so I to the
church, and seeing her return did go out again myself, but met with Mr.
Howlett, who, offering me a pew in the gallery, I had no excuse but up
with him I must go, and then much against my will staid out the whole
church in pain while she expected me at home, but I did entertain myself
with my perspective glass up and down the church, by which I had the
great pleasure of seeing and gazing at a great many very fine women;
and what with that, and sleeping, I passed away the time till sermon was
done, and then to Mrs. Martin, and there staid with her an hour or two,
and there did what I would with her, and after been here so long I
away to my boat, and up with it as far as Barne Elmes, reading of Mr.
Evelyn's late new book against Solitude, in which I do not find much
excess of good matter, though it be pretty for a bye discourse. I walked
the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw some gallant ladies
and people come with their bottles, and basket, and chairs, and form, to
sup under the trees, by the waterside, which was mighty pleasant. I to
boat again and to my book, and having done that I took another book, Mr.
Boyle's of Colours, and there read, where I laughed, finding many fine
things worthy observation, and so landed at the Old Swan, and so home,
where I find my poor father newly come out of an unexpected fit of his
pain, that they feared he would have died. They had sent for me to White
Hall and all up and down, and for Mr. Holliard also, who did come, but
W. Hewer being here did I think do the business in getting my father's
bowel, that was fallen down, into his body again, and that which made me
more sensible of it was that he this morning did show me the place where
his bowel did use to fall down and swell, which did trouble me to see.
But above all things the poor man's patience under it, and his good
heart and humour, as soon as he was out of it, did so work upon me, that
my heart was sad to think upon his condition, but do hope that a way
will be found by a steel truss to relieve him. By and by to supper,
all our discourse about Brampton, and my intentions to build there if I
could be free of my engagement to my Uncle Thomas and his son, that they
may not have what I have built, against my will, to them whether I will
or no, in case of me and my brothers being without heirs male; which
is the true reason why I am against laying out money upon that
place, together with my fear of some inconvenience by being so near
Hinchingbroke; being obliged to be a servant to that family, and subject
to what expence they shall cost me; and to have all that I shall buy,
or do, esteemed as got by the death of my uncle, when indeed what I have
from him is not worth naming. After supper to read and then to bed.
27th. Up, and there comes Greeting my flagelette master, and I practised
with him. There come also Richardson, the bookbinder, with one of
Ogilby's Bibles in quires for me to see and buy, it being Mr. Cade's,
my stationer's; but it is like to be so big that I shall not use it, it
being too great to stir up and down without much trouble, which I shall
not like nor do intend it for. So by water to White Hall, and there find
Sir G. Carteret at home, and talked with him a while, and find that the
new Commissioners of the Treasury did meet this morning. So I to find
out Sir W. Coventry, but missed, only I do hear that they have chosen
Sir G. Downing for their Secretary; and I think in my conscience they
have done a great thing in it; for he is a business active man, and
values himself upon having of things do well under his hand; so that I
am mightily pleased in their choice. Here I met Mr. Pierce, who tells me
that he lately met Mr. Carcasse, who do mightily inveigh against me, for
that all that has been done against him he lays on me, and I think he is
in the right and I do own it, only I find what I suspected, that he do
report that Sir W. Batten and I, who never agreed before, do now, and
since this business agree even more, which I did fear would be thought,
and therefore will find occasion to undeceive the world in that
particular by promoting something shortly against [Sir] W. Batten. So
home, and there to sing with my wife before dinner, and then to dinner,
and after dinner comes Carcasse to speak with me, but I would not give
him way to enlarge on anything, but he would have begun to have made a
noise how I have undone him and used all the wit I could in the drawing
up of his report, wherein he told me I had taken a great deal of pains
to undo him. To which I did not think fit to enter into any answer, but
dismissed him, and so I again up to my chamber, vexed at the impudence
of this rogue, but I think I shall be wary enough for him: So to my
chamber, and there did some little business, and then abroad, and
stopped at the Bear-garden-stairs, there to see a prize fought. But the
house so full there was no getting in there, so forced to go through an
alehouse into the pit, where the bears are baited; and upon a stool did
see them fight, which they did very furiously, a butcher and a waterman.
The former had the better all along, till by and by the latter dropped
his sword out of his hand, and the butcher, whether not seeing his sword
dropped I know not, but did give him a cut over the wrist, so as he
was disabled to fight any longer. But, Lord! to see how in a minute
the whole stage was full of watermen to revenge the foul play, and the
butchers to defend their fellow, though most blamed him; and there they
all fell to it to knocking down and cutting many on each side. It was
pleasant to see, but that I stood in the pit, and feared that in the
tumult I might get some hurt. At last the rabble broke up, and so I away
to White Hall and so to St. James's, but I found not Sir W. Coventry, so
into the Park and took a turn or two, it being a most sweet day, and
so by water home, and with my father and wife walked in the garden, and
then anon to supper and to bed. The Duke of Cambridge very ill still.
28th. Up, and by coach to St. James's, where I find Sir W. Coventry, and
he desirous to have spoke with me. It was to read over a draught of a
letter which he hath made for his brother Commissioners and him to sign
to us, demanding an account of the whole business of the Navy accounts;
and I perceive, by the way he goes about it, that they will do admirable
things. He tells me they have chosen Sir G. Downing their Secretary, who
will be as fit a man as any in the world; and said, by the by, speaking
of the bankers being fearful of Sir G. Downing's being Secretary,
he being their enemy, that they did not intend to be ruled by their
Secretary, but do the business themselves. My heart is glad to see so
great hopes of good to the nation as will be by these men; and it do me
good to see Sir W. Coventry so cheerfull as he now is on the same score.
Thence home, and there fell to seeing my office and closet there made
soundly clean, and the windows cleaned. At which all the morning, and so
at noon to dinner. After dinner my wife away down with Jane and W. Hewer
to Woolwich, in order to a little ayre and to lie there to-night, and so
to gather May-dew to-morrow morning,
[If we are to credit the following paragraph, extracted from the
"Morning Post" of May 2nd, 1791, the virtues of May dew were then
still held in some estimation; for it records that "on the day
preceding, according to annual and superstitious custom, a number of
persons went into the fields, and bathed their faces with the dew on
the grass, under the idea that it would render them beautiful"
(Hone's "Every Day Book," vol. ii., p. 611). Aubrey speaks of May
dew as "a great dissolvent" ("Miscellanies," p. 183).--B.]
which Mrs. Turner hath taught her as the only thing in the world to wash
her face with; and I am contented with it. Presently comes Creed, and he
and I by water to Fox-hall, and there walked in Spring Garden. A great
deal of company, and the weather and garden pleasant: that it is very
pleasant and cheap going thither, for a man may go to spend what he
will, or nothing, all is one. But to hear the nightingale and other
birds, and here fiddles, and there a harp, and here a Jew's trump, and
here laughing, and there fine people walking, is mighty divertising.
Among others, there were two pretty women alone, that walked a great
while, which being discovered by some idle gentlemen, they would needs
take them up; but to see the poor ladies how they were put to it to run
from them, and they after them, and sometimes the ladies put themselves
along with other company, then the other drew back; at last, the last
did get off out of the house, and took boat and away. I was troubled to
see them abused so; and could have found in my heart, as little desire
of fighting as I have, to have protected the ladies. So by water, set
Creed down at White Hall, and I to the Old Swan, and so home. My father
gone to bed, and wife abroad at Woolwich, I to Sir W. Pen, where he and
his Lady and Pegg and pretty Mrs. Lowther her sister-in-law at supper,
where I sat and talked, and Sir W. Pen, half drunk, did talk like a fool
and vex his wife, that I was half pleased and half vexed to see so much
folly and rudeness from him, and so late home to bed.
29th. Up, and by coach to St. James's, where by and by up to the Duke
of York, where, among other things, our parson Mills having the offer of
another benefice by Sir Robert Brookes, who was his pupil, he by my
Lord Barkeley [of Stratton] is made one of the Duke's Chaplains, which
qualifies him for two livings. But to see how slightly such things are
done, the Duke of York only taking my Lord Barkeley's word upon saying,
that we the officers of the Navy do say he is a good man and minister of
our parish, and the Duke of York admits him to kiss his hand, but speaks
not one word to him; but so a warrant will be drawn from the Duke of
York to qualify him, and there's an end of it. So we into the Duke's
closett, where little to do, but complaint for want of money and a
motion of Sir W. Coventry's that we should all now bethink ourselves
of lessening charge to the King, which he said was the only way he saw
likely to put the King out of debt, and this puts me upon thinking to
offer something presently myself to prevent its being done in a worse
manner without me relating to the Victualling business, which, as I may
order it, I think may be done and save myself something. Thence home,
and there settle to some accounts of mine in my chamber I all the
morning till dinner. My wife comes home from Woolwich, but did not dine
with me, going to dress herself against night, to go to Mrs. Pierce's to
be merry, where we are to have Knepp and Harris and other good people.
I at my accounts all the afternoon, being a little lost in them as
to reckoning interest. Anon comes down my wife, dressed in her second
mourning, with her black moyre waistcoat, and short petticoat, laced
with silver lace so basely that I could not endure to see her, and with
laced lining, which is too soon, so that I was horrid angry, and went
out of doors to the office and there staid, and would not go to our
intended meeting, which vexed me to the blood, and my wife sent twice
or thrice to me, to direct her any way to dress her, but to put on her
cloth gown, which she would not venture, which made me mad: and so in
the evening to my chamber, vexed, and to my accounts, which I ended to
my great content, and did make amends for the loss of our mirth this
night, by getting this done, which otherwise I fear I should not have
done a good while else. So to bed.
30th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon dined at
home, being without any words friends with my wife, though last night
I was very angry, and do think I did give her as much cause to be angry
with me. After dinner I walked to Arundell House, the way very dusty,
the day of meeting of the Society being changed from Wednesday
to Thursday, which I knew not before, because the Wednesday is a
Council-day, and several of the Council are of the Society, and would
come but for their attending the King at Council; where I find much
company, indeed very much company, in expectation of the Duchesse of
Newcastle, who had desired to be invited to the Society; and was, after
much debate, pro and con., it seems many being against it; and we do
believe the town will be full of ballads of it. Anon comes the Duchesse
with her women attending her; among others, the Ferabosco,2 of whom
so much talk is that her lady would bid her show her face and kill the
gallants. She is indeed black, and hath good black little eyes, but
otherwise but a very ordinary woman I do think, but they say sings well.
The Duchesse hath been a good, comely woman; but her dress so antick,
and her deportment so ordinary, that I do not like her at all, nor did I
hear her say any thing that was worth hearing, but that she was full of
admiration, all admiration. Several fine experiments were shown her of
colours, loadstones, microscopes, and of liquors among others, of one
that did, while she was there, turn a piece of roasted mutton into pure
blood, which was very rare. Here was Mrs. Moore of Cambridge, whom I had
not seen before, and I was glad to see her; as also a very pretty black
boy that run up and down the room, somebody's child in Arundell House.
After they had shown her many experiments, and she cried still she was
full of admiration, she departed, being led out and in by several Lords
that were there; among others Lord George Barkeley and Earl of Carlisle,
and a very pretty young man, the Duke of Somerset. She gone, I by coach
home, and there busy at my letters till night, and then with my wife in
the evening singing with her in the garden with great pleasure, and so
home to supper and to bed.
31st. Up, and there came young Mrs. Daniel in the morning as I expected
about business of her husband's. I took her into the office to discourse
with her about getting some employment for him.... By water to White
Hall to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, the first time I ever
was there and I think the second that they have met at the Treasury
chamber there. Here I saw Duncomb look as big, and take as much state on
him, as if he had been born a lord. I was in with him about Tangier, and
at present received but little answer from them, they being in a cloud
of business yet, but I doubt not but all will go well under them. Here
I met with Sir H. Cholmly, who tells me that he is told this day by
Secretary Morris that he believes we are, and shall be, only fooled by
the French; and that the Dutch are very high and insolent, and do look
upon us as come over only to beg a peace; which troubles me very much,
and I do fear it is true. Thence to Sir G. Carteret at his lodgings;
who, I perceive, is mightily displeased with this new Treasury; and he
hath reason, for it will eclipse him; and he tells me that my Lord Ashly
says they understand nothing; and he says he believes the King do not
intend they shall sit long. But I believe no such thing, but that the
King will find such benefit by them as he will desire to have them
continue, as we see he hath done, in the late new Act that was so much
decried about the King; but yet the King hath since permitted it, and
found good by it. He says, and I believe, that a great many persons at
Court are angry at the rise of this Duncomb, whose father, he tells me,
was a long-Parliamentman, and a great Committee-man; and this fellow
used to carry his papers to Committees after him: he was a kind of an
atturny: but for all this, I believe this man will be a great man, in
spite of all. Thence I away to Holborne to Mr. Gawden, whom I met at
Bernard's Inn gate, and straight we together to the Navy Office, where
we did all meet about some victualling business, and so home to dinner
and to the office, where the weather so hot now-a-days that I cannot but
sleep before I do any business, and in the evening home, and there, to
my unexpected satisfaction, did get my intricate accounts of interest,
which have been of late much perplexed by mixing of some moneys of Sir
G. Carteret's with mine, evened and set right: and so late to supper,
and with great quiet to bed; finding by the balance of my account that I
am creditor L6900, for which the Lord of Heaven be praised!
JUNE 1667
June 1st. Up; and there comes to me Mr. Commander, whom I employ about
hiring of some ground behind the office, for the building of me a stable
and coach-house: for I do find it necessary for me, both in respect to
honour and the profit of it also, my expense in hackney-coaches being
now so great, to keep a coach, and therefore will do it. Having given
him some instructions about it, I to the office, where we sat all the
morning; where we have news that our peace with Spayne, as to trade, is
wholly concluded, and we are to furnish him with some men for Flanders
against the French. How that will agree with the French, I know not; but
they say that he also hath liberty, to get what men he pleases out
of England. But for the Spaniard, I hear that my Lord Castlehaven
is raising a regiment of 4000 men, which he is to command there; and
several young gentlemen are going over in commands with him: and they
say the Duke of Monmouth is going over only as a traveller, not to
engage on either side, but only to see the campagne, which will be
becoming him much more than to live whoreing and rogueing, as he now
do. After dinner to the office, where, after a little nap, I fell to
business, and did very much with infinite joy to myself, as it always is
to me when I have dispatched much business, and therefore it troubles me
to see how hard it is for me to settle to it sometimes when my mind is
upon pleasure. So home late to supper and to bed.
2nd (Lord's day). Up betimes, and down to my chamber without trimming
myself, or putting on clean linen, thinking only to keep to my chamber
and do business to-day, but when I come there I find that without being
shaved I am not fully awake, nor ready to settle to business, and so
was fain to go up again and dress myself, which I did, and so down to
my chamber, and fell roundly to business, and did to my satisfaction by
dinner go far in the drawing up a state of my accounts of Tangier for
the new Lords Commissioners. So to dinner, and then to my business again
all the afternoon close, when Creed come to visit me, but I did put him
off, and to my business, till anon I did make an end, and wrote it fair
with a letter to the Lords to accompany my accounts, which I think will
be so much satisfaction and so soon done (their order for my doing it
being dated but May 30) as they will not find from any hand else. Being
weary and almost blind with writing and reading so much to-day, I took
boat at the Old Swan, and there up the river all alone as high as Putney
almost, and then back again, all the way reading, and finishing Mr.
Boyle's book of Colours, which is so chymical, that I can understand but
little of it, but understand enough to see that he is a most excellent
man. So back and home, and there to supper, and so to bed.
3rd. Up, and by coach to St. James's, and with Sir W. Coventry a great
while talking about several businesses, but especially about accounts,
and how backward our Treasurer is in giving them satisfaction, and the
truth is I do doubt he cannot do better, but it is strange to say that
being conscious of our doing little at this day, nor for some time past
in our office for want of money, I do hang my head to him, and cannot
be so free with him as I used to be, nor can be free with him, though of
all men, I think, I have the least cause to be so, having taken so much
more pains, while I could do anything, than the rest of my fellows.
Parted with him, and so going through the Park met Mr. Mills, our
parson, whom I went back with to bring him to [Sir] W. Coventry, to
give him the form of a qualification for the Duke of York to sign to,
to enable him to have two livings: which was a service I did, but much
against my will, for a lazy, fat priest. Thence to Westminster Hall, and
there walked a turn or two with Sir William Doyly, who did lay a wager
with me, the Treasurership would be in one hand, notwithstanding this
present Commission, before Christmas: on which we did lay a poll of
ling, a brace of carps, and a pottle of wine; and Sir W. Pen and Mr.
Scowen to be at the eating of them. Thence down by water to Deptford, it
being Trinity Monday, when the Master is chosen, and there, finding them
all at church, and thinking they dined, as usual, at Stepny, I turned
back, having a good book in my hand, the Life of Cardinal Wolsey, wrote
by his own servant, and to Ratcliffe; and so walked to Stepny, and
spent, my time in the churchyard, looking over the gravestones,
expecting when the company would come by. Finding no company stirring,
I sent to the house to see; and, it seems, they dine not there, but
at Deptford: so I back again to Deptford, and there find them just sat
down. And so I down with them; and we had a good dinner of plain meat,
and good company at our table: among others, my good Mr. Evelyn, with
whom, after dinner, I stepped aside, and talked upon the present posture
of our affairs; which is, that the Dutch are known to be abroad with
eighty sail of ships of war, and twenty fire-ships; and the French come
into the Channell with twenty sail of men-of-war, and five fireships,
while we have not a ship at sea to do them any hurt with; but are
calling in all we can, while our Embassadors are treating at Bredah; and
the Dutch look upon them as come to beg peace, and use them accordingly;
and all this through the negligence of our Prince, who hath power, if he
would, to master all these with the money and men that he hath had the
command of, and may now have, if he would mind his business. But,
for aught we see, the Kingdom is likely to be lost, as well as the
reputation of it is, for ever; notwithstanding so much reputation got
and preserved by a rebel that went before him. This discourse of ours
ended with sorrowful reflections upon our condition, and so broke up,
and Creed and I got out of the room, and away by water to White Hall,
and there he and I waited in the Treasury-chamber an hour or two, where
we saw the Country Receivers and Accountants for money come to attend;
and one of them, a brisk young fellow, with his hat cocked like a fool
behind, as the present fashion among the blades is, committed to the
Serjeant. By and by, I, upon desire, was called in, and delivered in my
report of my Accounts. Present, Lord Ashly, Clifford, and Duncomb, who,
being busy, did not read it; but committed it to Sir George Downing, and
so I was dismissed; but, Lord! to see how Duncomb do take upon him is
an eyesore, though I think he deserves great honour, but only the
suddenness of his rise, and his pride. But I do like the way of these
lords, that they admit nobody to use many words, nor do they spend many
words themselves, but in great state do hear what they see necessary,
and say little themselves, but bid withdraw. Thence Creed and I by
water up to Fox Hall, and over against it stopped, thinking to see some
Cock-fighting; but it was just being done, and, therefore, back again to
the other side, and to Spring Garden, and there eat and drank a little,
and then to walk up and down the garden, reflecting upon the bad
management of things now, compared with what it was in the late
rebellious times, when men, some for fear, and some for religion, minded
their business, which none now do, by being void of both. Much talk of
this and, other kinds, very pleasant, and so when it was almost night
we home, setting him in at White Hall, and I to the Old Swan, and thence
home, where to supper, and then to read a little, and so to bed.
4th. Up, and to the office, and there busy all the morning putting
in order the answering the great letter sent to the office by the new
Commissioners of the Treasury, who demand an account from the King's
coming in to this day, which we shall do in the best manner we can.
At noon home to dinner, and after dinner comes Mr. Commander to me and
tells me, after all, that I cannot have a lease of the ground for my
coach-house and stable, till a suit in law be ended, about the end of
the old stable now standing, which they and I would have pulled down
to make a better way for a coach. I am a little sorry that I cannot
presently have it, because I am pretty full in my mind of keeping a
coach; but yet, when I think on it again, the Dutch and French both
at sea, and we poor, and still out of order, I know not yet what turns
there may be, and besides, I am in danger of parting with one of my
places, which relates to the Victualling, that brings me by accident
in L800 a year, that is, L300 from the King and L500 from D. Gawden.
I ought to be well contented to forbear awhile, and therefore I am
contented. To the office all the afternoon, where I dispatched much
business to my great content, and then home in the evening, and there
to sing and pipe with my wife, and that being done, she fell all of a
sudden to discourse about her clothes and my humours in not suffering
her to wear them as she pleases, and grew to high words between us, but
I fell to read a book (Boyle's Hydrostatiques)
["Hydrostatical Paradoxes made out by New Experiments" was
published by the Hon. Robert Boyle in 1666 (Oxford).]
aloud in my chamber and let her talk, till she was tired and vexed that
I would not hear her, and so become friends, and to bed together the
first night after 4 or 5 that she hath lain from me by reason of a great
cold she had got.
5th. Up, and with Mr. Kenasteri by coach to White Hall to the
Commissioners of the Treasury about getting money for Tangier, and did
come to, after long waiting, speak with them, and there I find them all
sat; and, among the rest, Duncomb lolling, with his heels upon another
chair, by that, that he sat upon, and had an answer good enough, and
then away home, and (it being a most windy day, and hath been so all
night, South West, and we have great hopes that it may have done the
Dutch or French fleets some hurt) having got some papers in order, I
back to St. James's, where we all met at Sir W. Coventry's chamber, and
dined and talked of our business, he being a most excellent man, and
indeed, with all his business, hath more of his employed upon the good
of the service of the Navy, than all of us, that makes me ashamed of
it. This noon Captain Perriman brings us word how the Happy Returne's'
[crew] below in the Hope, ordered to carry the Portugal Embassador to
Holland (and the Embassador, I think, on board), refuse to go till paid;
and by their example two or three more ships are in a mutiny: which is
a sad consideration, while so many of the enemy's ships are at this
day triumphing in the sea. Here a very good and neat dinner, after the
French manner, and good discourse, and then up after dinner to the
Duke of York and did our usual business, and are put in hopes by Sir W.
Coventry that we shall have money, and so away, Sir G. Carteret and I
to my Lord Crew to advise about Sir G. Carteret's carrying his accounts
to-morrow to the Commissioners appointed to examine them and all other
accounts since the war, who at last by the King's calling them to him
yesterday and chiding them will sit, but Littleton and Garraway much
against their wills. The truth of it is, it is a ridiculous thing, for
it will come to nothing, nor do the King nor kingdom good in any manner,
I think. Here they talked of my Lord Hinchingbroke's match with Lord
Burlington's daughter, which is now gone a pretty way forward, and to
great content, which I am infinitely glad of. So from hence to White
Hall, and in the streete Sir G. Carteret showed me a gentleman coming by
in his coach, who hath been sent for up out of Lincolneshire, I think he
says he is a justice of peace there, that the Council have laid by the
heels here, and here lies in a messenger's hands, for saying that a man
and his wife are but one person, and so ought to pay but 12d. for both
to the Poll Bill; by which others were led to do the like: and so here
he lies prisoner. To White Hall, and there I attended to speak with Sir
W. Coventry about Lanyon's business, to get him some money out of the
Prize Office from my Lord Ashly, and so home, and there to the office
a little, and thence to my chamber to read, and supper, and to bed. My
father, blessed be God! finds great ease by his new steel trusse, which
he put on yesterday. So to bed. The Duke of Cambridge past hopes of
living still.
6th. Up, and to the office all the morning, where (which he hath not
done a great while) Sir G. Carteret come to advise with us for the
disposing of L10,000, which is the first sum the new Lords Treasurers
have provided us; but, unless we have more, this will not enable us to
cut off any of the growing charge which they seem to give it us for, and
expect we should discharge several ships quite off with it. So home and
with my father and wife to Sir W. Pen's to dinner, which they invited us
to out of their respect to my father, as a stranger; though I know them
as false as the devil himself, and that it is only that they think it
fit to oblige me; wherein I am a happy man, that all my fellow-officers
are desirous of my friendship. Here as merry as in so false a place, and
where I must dissemble my hatred, I could be, and after dinner my father
and wife to a play, and I to my office, and there busy all the afternoon
till late at night, and then my wife and I sang a song or two in the
garden, and so home to supper and to bed. This afternoon comes Mr.
Pierce to me about some business, and tells me that the Duke of
Cambridge is yet living, but every minute expected to die, and is given
over by all people, which indeed is a sad loss.
7th. Up, and after with my flageolet and Mr. Townsend, whom I sent for
to come to me to discourse about my Lord Sandwich's business; for whom I
am in some pain, lest the Accounts of the Wardrobe may not be in so good
order as may please the new Lords Treasurers, who are quick-sighted, and
under obligations of recommending themselves to the King and the world,
by their finding and mending of faults, and are, most of them, not the
best friends to my Lord, and to the office, and there all the morning.
At noon home to dinner, my father, wife, and I, and a good dinner, and
then to the office again, where busy all the afternoon, also I have a
desire to dispatch all business that hath lain long on my hands, and so
to it till the evening, and then home to sing and pipe with my wife, and
then to supper and to bed, my head full of thoughts how to keep if I can
some part of my wages as Surveyor of the Victualling, which I see
must now come to be taken away among the other places that have been
occasioned by this war, and the rather because I have of late an
inclination to keep a coach. Ever since my drinking, two days ago, some
very Goole drink at Sir W. Coventry's table I have been full of wind
and with some pain, and I was afraid last night that it would amount to
much, but, blessed be God! I find that the worst is past, so that I do
clearly see that all the indisposition I am liable to-day as to
sickness is only the Colique. This day I read (shown me by Mr. Gibson)
a discourse newly come forth of the King of France, his pretence to
Flanders, which is a very fine discourse, and the truth is, hath so
much of the Civil Law in it, that I am not a fit judge of it, but, as it
appears to me, he hath a good pretence to it by right of his Queene. So
to bed.
8th. Up, and to the office, where all the news this morning is, that the
Dutch are come with a fleete of eighty sail to Harwich, and that
guns were heard plain by Sir W. Rider's people at Bednallgreene, all
yesterday even. So to the office, we all sat all the morning, and then
home to dinner, where our dinner a ham of French bacon, boiled with
pigeons, an excellent dish. Here dined with us only W. Hewer and his
mother. After dinner to the office again, where busy till night, and
then home and to read a little and then to bed. The news is confirmed
that the Dutch are off of Harwich, but had done nothing last night. The
King hath sent down my Lord of Oxford to raise the countries there; and
all the Westerne barges are taken up to make a bridge over the River,
about the Hope, for horse to cross the River, if there be occasion.
9th (Lord's day). Up, and by water to White Hall, and so walked to St.
James's, where I hear that the Duke of Cambridge, who was given over
long since by the Doctors, is now likely to recover; for which God be
praised! To Sir W. Coventry, and there talked with him a great while;
and mighty glad I was of my good fortune to visit him, for it keeps in
my acquaintance with him, and the world sees it, and reckons my interest
accordingly. In comes my Lord Barkeley, who is going down to Harwich
also to look after the militia there: and there is also the Duke
of Monmouth, and with him a great many young Hectors, the Lord
Chesterfield, my Lord Mandeville, and others: but to little purpose,
I fear, but to debauch the country women thereabouts. My Lord Barkeley
wanting some maps, and Sir W. Coventry recommending the six maps of
England that are bound up for the pocket, I did offer to present my Lord
with them, which he accepted: and so I will send them him. Thence to
White Hall, and there to the Chapel, where I met Creed, and he and I
staid to hear who preached, which was a man who begun dully, and so we
away by water and landed in Southwarke, and to a church in the street
where we take water beyond the bridge, which was so full and the weather
hot that we could not stand there. So to my house, where we find my
father and wife at dinner, and after dinner Creed and I by water to
White Hall, and there we parted, and I to Sir G. Carteret's, where,
he busy, I up into the house, and there met with a gentleman, Captain
Aldrige, that belongs to my Lord Barkeley, and I did give him the book
of maps for my Lord, and so I to Westminster Church and there staid
a good while, and saw Betty Michell there. So away thence, and after
church time to Mrs. Martin's, and then hazer what I would with her, and
then took boat and up, all alone, a most excellent evening, as high as
Barne Elmes, and there took a turn; and then to my boat again, and home,
reading and making an end of the book I lately bought a merry satyr
called "The Visions," translated from Spanish by L'Estrange, wherein
there are many very pretty things; but the translation is, as to the
rendering it into English expression, the best that ever I saw, it being
impossible almost to conceive that it should be a translation. Being
come home I find an order come for the getting some fire-ships presently
to annoy the Dutch, who are in the King's Channel, and expected up
higher. So [Sir] W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen being come this evening from
their country houses to town we did issue orders about it, and then home
to supper and, to bed,
10th. Up; and news brought us that, the Dutch are come up as high as the
Nore; and more pressing orders for fireships. W. Batten, W. Pen, and
I to St. James's; where the Duke of York gone this morning betimes, to
send away some men down to Chatham. So we three to White Hall, and met
Sir W. Coventry, who presses all that is possible for fire-ships. So
we three to the office presently; and thither comes Sir Fretcheville
Hollis, who is to command them all in some exploits he is to do with
them on the enemy in the River. So we all down to Deptford, and pitched
upon ships and set men at work: but, Lord! to see how backwardly things
move at this pinch, notwithstanding that, by the enemy's being now come
up as high as almost the Hope, Sir J. Minnes, who has gone down to pay
some ships there, hath sent up the money; and so we are possessed of
money to do what we will with. Yet partly ourselves, being used to
be idle and in despair, and partly people that have been used to be
deceived by us as to money, won't believe us; and we know not, though
we have it, how almost to promise it; and our wants such, and men out
of the way, that it is an admirable thing to consider how much the King
suffers, and how necessary it is in a State to keep the King's service
always in a good posture and credit. Here I eat a bit, and then in the
afternoon took boat and down to Greenwich, where I find the stairs full
of people, there being a great riding
[It was an ancient custom in Berkshire, when a man had beaten his
wife, for the neighbours to parade in front of his house, for the
purpose of serenading him with kettles, and horns and hand-bells,
and every species of "rough music," by which name the ceremony was
designated. Perhaps the riding mentioned by Pepys was a punishment
somewhat similar. Malcolm ("Manners of London") quotes from the
"Protestant Mercury," that a porter's lady, who resided near Strand
Lane, beat her husband with so much violence and perseverance, that
the poor man was compelled to leap out of the window to escape her
fury. Exasperated at this virago, the neighbours made a "riding,"
i.e. a pedestrian procession, headed by a drum, and accompanied by a
chemise, displayed for a banner. The manual musician sounded the
tune of "You round-headed cuckolds, come dig, come dig!" and nearly
seventy coalheavers, carmen, and porters, adorned with large horns
fastened to their heads, followed. The public seemed highly pleased
with the nature of the punishment, and gave liberally to the
vindicators of injured manhood.--B.]
there to-day for a man, the constable of the town, whose wife beat him.
Here I was with much ado fain to press two watermen to make me a galley,
and so to Woolwich to give order for the dispatch of a ship I have taken
under my care to see dispatched, and orders being so given, I, under
pretence to fetch up the ship, which lay at Grays (the Golden Hand),
[The "Golden Hand" was to have been used for the conveyance of the
Swedish Ambassadors' horses and goods to Holland. In August, 1667,
Frances, widow of Captain Douglas and daughter of Lord Grey,
petitioned the king "for a gift of the prize ship Golden Hand, now
employed in weighing the ships sunk at Chatham, where her husband
lost his life in defence of the ships against the Dutch" ("Calendar
of State Papers," 1667, p. 430)]
did do that in my way, and went down to Gravesend, where I find the Duke
of Albemarle just come, with a great many idle lords and gentlemen, with
their pistols and fooleries; and the bulwarke not able to have stood
half an hour had they come up; but the Dutch are fallen down from the
Hope and Shell-haven as low as Sheernesse, and we do plainly at this
time hear the guns play. Yet I do not find the Duke of Albemarle intends
to go thither, but stays here to-night, and hath, though the Dutch
are gone, ordered our frigates to be brought to a line between the two
blockhouses; which I took then to be a ridiculous thing. So I away into
the town and took a captain or two of our ships (who did give me an
account of the proceedings of the Dutch fleete in the river) to the
taverne, and there eat and drank, and I find the townsmen had removed
most of their goods out of the town, for fear of the Dutch coming up to
them; and from Sir John Griffen, that last night there was not twelve
men to be got in the town to defend it: which the master of the house
tells me is not true, but that the men of the town did intend to stay,
though they did indeed, and so had he, at the Ship, removed their goods.
Thence went off to an Ostend man-of-war, just now come up, who met the
Dutch fleete, who took three ships that he come convoying hither from
him says they are as low as the Nore, or thereabouts. So I homeward, as
long as it was light reading Mr. Boyle's book of Hydrostatics, which
is a most excellent book as ever I read, and I will take much pains to
understand him through if I can, the doctrine being very useful. When
it grew too dark to read I lay down and took a nap, it being a most
excellent fine evening, and about one o'clock got home, and after having
wrote to Sir W. Coventry an account of what I had done and seen (which
is entered in my letter-book), I to bed.
11th. Up, and more letters still from Sir W. Coventry about more
fire-ships, and so Sir W. Batten and I to the office, where Bruncker
come to us, who is just now going to Chatham upon a desire of
Commissioner Pett's, who is in a very fearful stink for fear of the
Dutch, and desires help for God and the King and kingdom's sake. So
Bruncker goes down, and Sir J. Minnes also, from Gravesend. This morning
Pett writes us word that Sheernesse is lost last night, after two or
three hours' dispute. The enemy hath possessed himself of that place;
which is very sad, and puts us into great fears of Chatham. Sir W.
Batten and I down by water to Deptford, and there Sir W. Pen and we did
consider of several matters relating to the dispatch of the fire-ships,
and so [Sir] W. Batten and I home again, and there to dinner, my wife
and father having dined, and after dinner, by W. Hewer's lucky advice,
went to Mr. Fenn, and did get him to pay me above L400 of my wages, and
W. Hewer received it for me, and brought it home this night. Thence I
meeting Mr. Moore went toward the other end of the town by coach,
and spying Mercer in the street, I took leave of Moore and 'light and
followed her, and at Paul's overtook her and walked with her through the
dusty street almost to home, and there in Lombard Street met The. Turner
in coach, who had been at my house to see us, being to go out of town
to-morrow to the Northward, and so I promised to see her tomorrow,
and then home, and there to our business, hiring some fire-ships, and
receiving every hour almost letters from Sir W. Coventry, calling for
more fire-ships; and an order from Council to enable us to take any
man's ships; and Sir W. Coventry, in his letter to us, says he do not
doubt but at this time, under an invasion, as he owns it to be, the King
may, by law, take any man's goods. At this business late, and then home;
where a great deal of serious talk with my wife about the sad state we
are in, and especially from the beating up of drums this night for the
trainbands upon pain of death to appear in arms to-morrow morning with
bullet and powder, and money to supply themselves with victuals for
a fortnight; which, considering the soldiers drawn out to Chatham and
elsewhere, looks as if they had a design to ruin the City and give it
up to be undone; which, I hear, makes the sober citizens to think very
sadly of things. So to bed after supper, ill in my mind. This afternoon
Mrs. Williams sent to me to speak with her, which I did, only about
news. I had not spoke with her many a day before by reason of Carcasses
business.
12th. Up very betimes to our business at the office, there hiring of
more fire-ships; and at it close all the morning. At noon home, and Sir
W. Pen dined with us. By and by, after dinner, my wife out by coach to
see her mother; and I in another, being afraid, at this busy time, to be
seen with a woman in a coach, as if I were idle, towards The. Turner's;
but met Sir W. Coventry's boy; and there in his letter find that the
Dutch had made no motion since their taking Sheernesse; and the Duke
of Albemarle writes that all is safe as to the great ships against any
assault, the boom and chaine being so fortified; which put my heart into
great joy.
[There had been correspondence with Pett respecting this chain in
April and May. On the 10th May Pett wrote to the Navy
Commissioners, "The chain is promised to be dispatched to-morrow,
and all things are ready for fixing it." On the 11th June the Dutch
"got twenty or twenty-two ships over the narrow part of the river at
Chatham, where ships had been sunk; after two and a half hours'
fighting one guard-ship after another was fired and blown up, and
the enemy master of the chain" ("Calendar of State Papers," 1667,
pp. 58, 87, 215).]
When I come to Sir W: Coventry's chamber, I find him abroad; but his
clerk, Powell, do tell me that ill newes is come to Court of the Dutch
breaking the Chaine at Chatham; which struck me to the heart. And to
White Hall to hear the truth of it; and there, going up the back-stairs,
I did hear some lacquies speaking of sad newes come to Court, saying,
that hardly anybody in the Court but do look as if he cried, and would
not go into the house for fear of being seen, but slunk out and got
into a coach, and to The. Turner's to Sir W. Turner's, where I met Roger
Pepys, newly come out of the country. He and I talked aside a little,
he offering a match for Pall, one Barnes, of whom we shall talk more the
next time. His father married a Pepys; in discourse, he told me further
that his grandfather, my great grandfather, had L800 per annum, in
Queen Elizabeth's time, in the very town of Cottenham; and that we did
certainly come out of Scotland with the Abbot of Crowland. More talk I
had, and shall have more with him, but my mind is so sad and head full
of this ill news that I cannot now set it down. A short visit here, my
wife coming to me, and took leave of The., and so home, where all our
hearts do now ake; for the newes is true, that the Dutch have broke the
chaine and burned our ships, and particularly "The Royal Charles,"
[Vandervelde's drawings of the conflagration of the English fleet,
made by him on the spot, are in the British Museum.--B.]
other particulars I know not, but most sad to be sure. And, the truth
is, I do fear so much that the whole kingdom is undone, that I do this
night resolve to study with my father and wife what to do with the
little that I have in money by me, for I give [up] all the rest that I
have in the King's hands, for Tangier, for lost. So God help us! and God
knows what disorders we may fall into, and whether any violence on this
office, or perhaps some severity on our persons, as being reckoned by
the silly people, or perhaps may, by policy of State, be thought fit
to be condemned by the King and Duke of York, and so put to trouble;
though, God knows! I have, in my own person, done my full duty, I am
sure. So having with much ado finished my business at the office, I home
to consider with my father and wife of things, and then to supper and
to bed with a heavy heart. The manner of my advising this night with my
father was, I took him and my wife up to her chamber, and shut the door;
and there told them the sad state of the times how we are like to be
all undone; that I do fear some violence will be offered to this
office, where all I have in the world is; and resolved upon sending it
away--sometimes into the country--sometimes my father to lie in town,
and have the gold with him at Sarah Giles's, and with that resolution
went to bed full of fear and fright, hardly slept all night.
13th. No sooner up but hear the sad newes confirmed of the Royall
Charles being taken by them, and now in fitting by them--which Pett
should have carried up higher by our several orders, and deserves,
therefore, to be hanged for not doing it--and turning several others;
and that another fleete is come up into the Hope. Upon which newes the
King and Duke of York have been below--[Below London Bridge.]--since
four o'clock in the morning, to command the sinking of ships at
Barking-Creeke, and other places, to stop their coming up higher: which
put me into such a fear, that I presently resolved of my father's and
wife's going into the country; and, at two hours' warning, they did go
by the coach this day, with about L1300 in gold in their night-bag.
Pray God give them good passage, and good care to hide it when they come
home! but my heart is full of fear: They gone, I continued in fright and
fear what to do with the rest. W. Hewer hath been at the banker's, and
hath got L500 out of Backewell's hands of his own money; but they are
so called upon that they will be all broke, hundreds coming to them for
money: and their answer is, "It is payable at twenty days--when the days
are out, we will pay you;" and those that are not so, they make tell
over their money, and make their bags false, on purpose to give cause to
retell it, and so spend time. I cannot have my 200 pieces of gold again
for silver, all being bought up last night that were to be had, and
sold for 24 and 25s. a-piece. So I must keep the silver by me, which
sometimes I think to fling into the house of office, and then again know
not how I shall come by it, if we be made to leave the office. Every
minute some one or other calls for this or that order; and so I forced
to be at the office, most of the day, about the fire-ships which are
to be suddenly fitted out: and it's a most strange thing that we hear
nothing from any of my brethren at Chatham; so that we are wholly in the
dark, various being the reports of what is done there; insomuch that
I sent Mr. Clapham express thither to see how matters go: I did, about
noon, resolve to send Mr. Gibson away after my wife with another 1000
pieces, under colour of an express to Sir Jeremy Smith; who is, as I
hear, with some ships at Newcastle; which I did really send to him, and
may, possibly, prove of good use to the King; for it is possible, in the
hurry of business, they may not think of it at Court, and the charge of
an express is not considerable to the King. So though I intend Gibson no
further than to Huntingdon I direct him to send the packet forward. My
business the most of the afternoon is listening to every body that comes
to the office, what news? which is variously related, some better, some
worse, but nothing certain. The King and Duke of York up and down all
the day here and there: some time on Tower Hill, where the City militia
was; where the King did make a speech to them, that they should venture
themselves no further than he would himself. I also sent, my mind being
in pain, Saunders after my wife and father, to overtake them at their
night's lodgings, to see how matters go with them. In the evening, I
sent for my cousin Sarah [Gyles] and her husband, who come; and I did
deliver them my chest of writings about Brampton, and my brother Tom's
papers, and my journalls, which I value much; and did send my two
silver flaggons to Kate Joyce's: that so, being scattered what I have,
something might be saved. I have also made a girdle, by which, with some
trouble, I do carry about me L300 in gold about my body, that I may not
be without something in case I should be surprised: for I think, in
any nation but our's, people that appear (for we are not indeed so) so
faulty as we, would have their throats cut. In the evening comes Mr.
Pelling, and several others, to the office, and tell me that never were
people so dejected as they are in the City all over at this day; and do
talk most loudly, even treason; as, that we are bought and sold--that
we are betrayed by the Papists, and others, about the King; cry out that
the office of the Ordnance hath been so backward as no powder to have
been at Chatham nor Upnor Castle till such a time, and the carriages all
broken; that Legg is a Papist; that Upnor, the old good castle built by
Queen Elizabeth, should be lately slighted; that the ships at Chatham
should not be carried up higher. They look upon us as lost, and remove
their families and rich goods in the City; and do think verily that the
French, being come down with his army to Dunkirke, it is to invade us,
and that we shall be invaded. Mr. Clerke, the solicitor, comes to me
about business, and tells me that he hears that the King hath chosen
Mr. Pierpont and Vaughan of the West, Privy-councillors; that my Lord
Chancellor was affronted in the Hall this day, by people telling him
of his Dunkirke house; and that there are regiments ordered to be got
together, whereof to be commanders my Lord Fairfax, Ingoldsby, Bethell,
Norton, and Birch, and other Presbyterians; and that Dr. Bates will have
liberty to preach. Now, whether this be true or not, I know not; but do
think that nothing but this will unite us together. Late at night comes
Mr. Hudson, the cooper, my neighbour, and tells me that he come from
Chatham this evening at five o'clock, and saw this afternoon "The Royal
James," "Oake," and "London," burnt by the enemy with their fire-ships:
that two or three men-of-war come up with them, and made no more of
Upnor Castle's shooting, than of a fly; that those ships lay below Upnor
Castle, but therein, I conceive, he is in an error; that the Dutch are
fitting out "The Royall Charles;" that we shot so far as from the Yard
thither, so that the shot did no good, for the bullets grazed on the
water; that Upnor played hard with their guns at first, but slowly
afterwards, either from the men being beat off, or their powder spent.
But we hear that the fleete in the Hope is not come up any higher the
last flood; and Sir W. Batten tells me that ships are provided to sink
in the River, about Woolwich, that will prevent their coming up higher
if they should attempt it. I made my will also this day, and did give
all I had equally between my father and wife, and left copies of it in
each of Mr. Hater and W. Hewer's hands, who both witnessed the will,
and so to supper and then to bed, and slept pretty well, but yet often
waking.
14th. Up, and to the office; where Mr. Fryer comes and tells me that
there are several Frenchmen and Flemish ships in the River, with passes
from the Duke of York for carrying of prisoners, that ought to be parted
from the rest of the ships, and their powder taken, lest they do fire
themselves when the enemy comes, and so spoil us; which is good advice,
and I think I will give notice of it; and did so. But it is pretty odd
to see how every body, even at this high time of danger, puts business
off of their own hands! He says that he told this to the Lieutenant of
the Tower, to whom I, for the same reason, was directing him to go; and
the Lieutenant of the Tower bade him come to us, for he had nothing to
do with it; and yesterday comes Captain Crew, of one of the fireships,
and told me that the officers of the Ordnance would deliver his gunner's
materials, but not compound them,
[Meaning, apparently, that the Ordnance would deliver the charcoal,
sulphur, and saltpetre separately, but not mix them as gunpowder.]
[The want of ammunition when the Dutch burnt the fleet, and the
revenge of the deserter sailors, are well described by Marvell
"Our Seamen, whom no danger's shape could fright,
Unpaid, refuse to mount their ships, for spite
Or to their fellows swim, on board the Dutch,
Who show the tempting metal in their clutch.]
but that we must do it; whereupon I was forced to write to them about
it; and one that like a great many come to me this morning by and by
comes--Mr. Wilson, and by direction of his, a man of Mr. Gawden's; who
come from Chatham last night, and saw the three ships burnt, they lying
all dry, and boats going from the men-of-war and fire them. But that,
that he tells me of worst consequence is, that he himself, I think he
said, did hear many Englishmen on board the Dutch ships speaking to one
another in English; and that they did cry and say, "We did heretofore
fight for tickets; now we fight for dollars!" and did ask how such and
such a one did, and would commend themselves to them: which is a sad
consideration. And Mr. Lewes, who was present at this fellow's discourse
to me, did tell me, that he is told that when they took "The Royall
Charles," they said that they had their tickets signed, and showed
some, and that now they come to have them paid, and would have them paid
before they parted. And several seamen come this morning to me, to tell
me that, if I would get their tickets paid, they would go and do all
they could against the Dutch; but otherwise they would not venture being
killed, and lose all they have already fought for: so that I was forced
to try what I could do to get them paid. This man tells me that the
ships burnt last night did lie above Upnor Castle, over against the
Docke; and the boats come from the ships of war and burnt them all which
is very sad. And masters of ships, that we are now taking up, do keep
from their ships all their stores, or as much as they can, so that we
can despatch them, having not time to appraise them nor secure their
payment; only some little money we have, which we are fain to pay the
men we have with, every night, or they will not work. And indeed the
hearts as well as affections of the seamen are turned away; and in
the open streets in Wapping, and up and down, the wives have cried
publickly, "This comes of your not paying our husbands; and now your
work is undone, or done by hands that understand it not." And Sir W.
Batten told me that he was himself affronted with a woman, in language
of this kind, on Tower Hill publickly yesterday; and we are fain to bear
it, and to keep one at the office door to let no idle people in, for
fear of firing of the office and doing us mischief. The City is troubled
at their being put upon duty: summoned one hour, and discharged two
hours after; and then again summoned two hours after that; to their
great charge as well as trouble. And Pelling, the Potticary, tells me
the world says all over, that less charge than what the kingdom is put
to, of one kind or other, by this business, would have set out all
our great ships. It is said they did in open streets yesterday, at
Westminster, cry, "A Parliament! a Parliament!" and I do believe it will
cost blood to answer for these miscarriages. We do not hear that the
Dutch are come to Gravesend; which is a wonder. But a wonderful thing
it is that to this day we have not one word yet from Bruncker, or Peter
Pett, or J. Minnes, of any thing at Chatham. The people that come hither
to hear how things go, make me ashamed to be found unable to answer
them: for I am left alone here at the office; and the truth is, I am
glad my station is to be here, near my own home and out of danger, yet
in a place of doing the King good service. I have this morning good news
from Gibson; three letters from three several stages, that he was safe
last night as far as Royston, at between nine and ten at night. The
dismay that is upon us all, in the business of the kingdom and Navy at
this day, is not to be expressed otherwise than by the condition the
citizens were in when the City was on fire, nobody knowing which way
to turn themselves, while every thing concurred to greaten the fire; as
here the easterly gale and spring-tides for coming up both rivers, and
enabling them to break the chaine. D. Gawden did tell me yesterday, that
the day before at the Council they were ready to fall together by the
ears at the Council-table, arraigning one another of being guilty of
the counsel that brought us into this misery, by laying up all the great
ships. Mr. Hater tells me at noon that some rude people have been, as
he hears, at my Lord Chancellor's, where they have cut down the trees
before his house and broke his windows; and a gibbet either set up
before or painted upon his gate, and these three words writ: "Three
sights to be seen; Dunkirke, Tangier, and a barren Queene."
["Pride, Lust, Ambition, and the People's Hate,
The kingdom's broker, ruin of the State,
Dunkirk's sad loss, divider of the fleet,
Tangier's compounder for a barren sheet
This shrub of gentry, married to the crown,
His daughter to the heir, is tumbled down."
Poems on State Affairs, vol. i., p. 253.--B.]
It gives great matter of talk that it is said there is at this hour, in
the Exchequer, as much money as is ready to break down the floor. This
arises, I believe, from Sir G. Downing's late talk of the greatness of
the sum lying there of people's money, that they would not fetch away,
which he shewed me and a great many others. Most people that I speak
with are in doubt how we shall do to secure our seamen from running over
to the Dutch; which is a sad but very true consideration at this day.
At noon I am told that my Lord Duke of Albemarle is made Lord High
Constable; the meaning whereof at this time I know not, nor whether it,
be true or no. Dined, and Mr. Hater and W. Hewer with me; where they do
speak very sorrowfully of the posture of the times, and how people do
cry out in the streets of their being bought and sold; and both they,
and every body that come to me, do tell me that people make nothing of
talking treason in the streets openly: as, that we are bought and sold,
and governed by Papists, and that we are betrayed by people about the
King, and shall be delivered up to the French, and I know not what.
At dinner we discoursed of Tom of the Wood, a fellow that lives like a
hermit near Woolwich, who, as they say, and Mr. Bodham, they tell me,
affirms that he was by at the justice's when some did accuse him there
for it, did foretell the burning of the City, and now says that a
greater desolation is at hand. Thence we read and laughed at Lilly's
prophecies this month, in his Almanack this year! So to the office after
dinner; and thither comes Mr. Pierce, who tells me his condition, how he
cannot get his money, about L500, which, he says, is a very great part
of what he hath for his family and children, out of Viner's hand: and
indeed it is to be feared that this will wholly undo the bankers. He
says he knows nothing of the late affronts to my Lord Chancellor's
house, as is said, nor hears of the Duke of Albemarle's being made High
Constable; but says that they are in great distraction at White Hall,
and that every where people do speak high against Sir W. Coventry: but
he agrees with me, that he is the best Minister of State the King hath,
and so from my heart I believe. At night come home Sir W. Batten and
W. Pen, who only can tell me that they have placed guns at Woolwich and
Deptford, and sunk some ships below Woolwich and Blackewall, and are
in hopes that they will stop the enemy's coming up. But strange our
confusion! that among them that are sunk they have gone and sunk without
consideration "The Franakin,"' one of the King's ships, with stores to
a very considerable value, that hath been long loaden for supply of the
ships; and the new ship at Bristoll, and much wanted there; and nobody
will own that they directed it, but do lay it on Sir W. Rider. They
speak also of another ship, loaden to the value of L80,000, sunk with
the goods in her, or at least was mightily contended for by him, and a
foreign ship, that had the faith of the nation for her security: this
Sir R. Ford tells us: And it is too plain a truth, that both here and
at Chatham the ships that we have sunk have many, and the first of them,
been ships completely fitted for fire-ships at great charge. But most
strange the backwardness and disorder of all people, especially the
King's people in pay, to do any work, Sir W. Pen tells me, all crying
out for money; and it was so at Chatham, that this night comes an order
from Sir W. Coventry to stop the pay of the wages of that Yard; the Duke
of Albemarle having related, that not above three of 1100 in pay there
did attend to do any work there. This evening having sent a messenger to
Chatham on purpose, we have received a dull letter from my Lord Bruncker
and Peter Pett, how matters have gone there this week; but not so much,
or so particularly, as we knew it by common talk before, and as true. I
doubt they will be found to have been but slow men in this business;
and they say the Duke of Albemarle did tell my Lord Bruncker to his face
that his discharging of the great ships there was the cause of all this;
and I am told that it is become common talk against my Lord Bruncker.
But in that he is to be justified, for he did it by verbal order from
Sir W. Coventry, and with good intent; and it was to good purpose,
whatever the success be, for the men would have but spent the King so
much the more in wages, and yet not attended on board to have done the
King any service; and as an evidence of that, just now, being the 15th
day in the morning that I am writing yesterday's passages, one is with
me, Jacob Bryan, Purser of "The Princesse," who confesses to me that he
hath about 180 men borne at this day in victuals and wages on that ship
lying at Chatham, being lately brought in thither; of which 180 there
was not above five appeared to do the King any service at this late
business. And this morning also, some of the Cambridge's men come up
from Portsmouth, by order from Sir Fretcheville Hollis, who boasted to
us the other day that he had sent for 50, and would be hanged if 100 did
not come up that would do as much as twice the number of other men: I
say some of them, instead of being at work at Deptford, where they were
intended, do come to the office this morning to demand the payment of
their tickets; for otherwise they would, they said, do no more work; and
are, as I understand from every body that has to do with them, the most
debauched, damning, swearing rogues that ever were in the Navy, just
like their prophane commander. So to Sir W. Batten's to sit and talk
a little, and then home to my flageolet, my heart being at pretty good
ease by a letter from my wife, brought by Saunders, that my father and
wife got well last night to their Inne and out again this morning, and
Gibson's being got safe to Caxton at twelve last night. So to supper,
and then to bed. No news to-day of any motion of the enemy either
upwards towards Chatham or this way.
15th. All the morning at the office. No newes more than last night; only
Purser Tyler comes and tells me that he being at all the passages in
this business at Chatham, he says there have been horrible miscarriages,
such as we shall shortly hear of: that the want of boats hath undone us;
and it is commonly said, and Sir J. Minnes under his hand tells us, that
they were employed by the men of the Yard to carry away their goods; and
I hear that Commissioner Pett will be found the first man that began
to remove; he is much spoken against, and Bruncker is complained of and
reproached for discharging the men of the great ships heretofore. At
noon Mr. Hater dined with me; and tells me he believes that it will
hardly be the want of money alone that will excuse to the Parliament the
neglect of not setting out a fleete, it having never been done in our
greatest straits, but however unlikely it appeared, yet when it was gone
about, the State or King did compass it; and there is something in it.
In like manner all the afternoon busy, vexed to see how slowly things go
on for want of money. At night comes, unexpectedly so soon, Mr. Gibson,
who left my wife well, and all got down well with them, but not with
himself, which I was afeard of, and cannot blame him, but must myself
be wiser against another time. He had one of his bags broke, through his
breeches, and some pieces dropped out, not many, he thinks, but two, for
he 'light, and took them up, and went back and could find no more. But
I am not able to tell how many, which troubles me, but the joy of having
the greatest part safe there makes me bear with it, so as not to afflict
myself for it. This afternoon poor Betty Michell, whom I love, sent to
tell my wife her child was dying, which I am troubled for, poor girle!
At night home and to my flageolet. Played with pleasure, but with a
heavy heart, only it pleased me to think how it may please God I may
live to spend my time in the country with plainness and pleasure, though
but with little glory. So to supper and to bed.
16th (Lord's day). Up, and called on by several on business of the
office. Then to the office to look out several of my old letters to Sir
W. Coventry in order to the preparing for justifying this office in our
frequent foretelling the want of money. By and by comes Roger Pepys and
his son Talbot, whom he had brought to town to settle at the Temple,
but, by reason of our present stirs, will carry him back again with him
this week. He seems to be but a silly lad. I sent them to church this
morning, I staying at home at the office, busy. At noon home to dinner,
and much good discourse with him, he being mighty sensible of our misery
and mal-administration. Talking of these straits we are in, he tells me
that my Lord Arlington did the last week take up L12,000 in gold,
which is very likely, for all was taken up that could be. Discoursing
afterwards with him of our family he told me, that when I come to his
house he will show me a decree in Chancery, wherein there was twenty-six
men all housekeepers in the town of Cottenham, in Queene Elizabeth's
time, of our name. He to church again in the afternoon, I staid at home
busy, and did show some dalliance to my maid Nell, speaking to her of
her sweetheart which she had, silly girle. After sermon Roger Pepys
comes again. I spent the evening with him much troubled with the
thoughts of the evils of our time, whereon we discoursed. By and by
occasion offered for my writing to Sir W. Coventry a plain bold letter
touching lack of money; which, when it was gone, I was afeard might give
offence: but upon two or three readings over again the copy of it, I was
satisfied it was a good letter; only Sir W. Batten signed it with me,
which I could wish I had done alone. Roger Pepys gone, I to the garden,
and there dallied a while all alone with Mrs. Markham, and then home to
my chamber and to read and write, and then to supper and to bed.
17th. Up, and to my office, where busy all the morning, particularly
setting my people to work in transcribing pieces of letters publique
and private, which I do collect against a black day to defend the office
with and myself. At noon dined at home, Mr. Hater with me alone, who
do seem to be confident that this nation will be undone, and with good
reason: Wishes himself at Hambrough, as a great many more, he says, he
believes do, but nothing but the reconciling of the Presbyterian party
will save us, and I am of his mind. At the office all the afternoon,
where every moment business of one kind or other about the fire-ships
and other businesses, most of them vexatious for want of money, the
commanders all complaining that, if they miss to pay their men a night,
they run away; seamen demanding money of them by way of advance, and
some of Sir Fretcheville Hollis's men, that he so bragged of, demanding
their tickets to be paid, or they would not work: this Hollis, Sir W.
Batten and W. Pen say, proves a very..., as Sir W. B. terms him, and the
other called him a conceited, idle, prating, lying fellow. But it was
pleasant this morning to hear Hollis give me the account what, he says,
he told the King in Commissioner Pett's presence, whence it was that his
ship was fit sooner than others, telling the King how he dealt with the
several Commissioners and agents of the Ports where he comes, offering
Lanyon to carry him a Ton or two of goods to the streights, giving
Middleton an hour or two's hearing of his stories of Barbadoes, going
to prayer with Taylor, and standing bare and calling, "If it please your
Honour," to Pett, but Sir W. Pen says that he tells this story to every
body, and believes it to be a very lie. At night comes Captain Cocke to
see me, and he and I an hour in the garden together. He tells me there
have been great endeavours of bringing in the Presbyterian interest, but
that it will not do. He named to me several of the insipid lords that
are to command the armies that are to be raised. He says the King and
Court are all troubled, and the gates of the Court were shut up upon the
first coming of the Dutch to us, but they do mind the business no more
than ever: that the bankers, he fears, are broke as to ready-money,
though Viner had L100,000 by him when our trouble begun: that he and
the Duke of Albemarle have received into their own hands, of Viner, the
former L10,000, and the latter L12,000, in tallies or assignments, to
secure what was in his hands of theirs; and many other great men of our.
masters have done the like; which is no good sign, when they begin
to fear the main. He and every body cries out of the office of
the Ordnance, for their neglects, both at Gravesend and Upnor, and
everywhere else. He gone, I to my business again, and then home to
supper and to bed. I have lately played the fool much with our Nell, in
playing with her breasts. This night, late, comes a porter with a letter
from Monsieur Pratt, to borrow L100 for my Lord Hinchingbroke, to enable
him to go out with his troop in the country, as he is commanded; but I
did find an excuse to decline it. Among other reasons to myself, this
is one, to teach him the necessity of being a good husband, and keeping
money or credit by him.
18th. Up, and did this morning dally with Nell... which I was afterward
troubled for. To the office, and there all the morning. Peg Pen come
to see me, and I was glad of it, and did resolve to have tried her this
afternoon, but that there was company with elle at my home, whither I
got her. Dined at home, W. Hewer with me, and then to the office, and
to my Lady Pen's, and did find occasion for Peg to go home with me to my
chamber, but there being an idle gentleman with them, he went with us,
and I lost my hope. So to the office, and by and by word was brought me
that Commissioner Pett is brought to the Tower, and there laid up close
prisoner; which puts me into a fright, lest they may do the same with us
as they do with him. This puts me upon hastening what I am doing with
my people, and collecting out of my papers our defence. Myself got Fist,
Sir W. Batten's clerk, and busy with him writing letters late, and then
home to supper and to read myself asleep, after piping, and so to bed.
Great newes to-night of the blowing up of one of the Dutch greatest
ships, while a Council of War was on board: the latter part, I doubt,
is not so, it not being confirmed since; but the former, that they had a
ship blown up, is said to be true. This evening comes Sir G. Carteret
to the office, to talk of business at Sir W. Batten's; where all to be
undone for want of money, there being none to pay the Chest at their
publique pay the 24th of this month, which will make us a scorn to the
world. After he had done there, he and I into the garden, and walked;
and the greatest of our discourse is, his sense of the requisiteness of
his parting with his being Treasurer of the Navy, if he can, on any
good terms. He do harp upon getting my Lord Bruncker to take it on half
profit, but that he is not able to secure him in paying him so much.
But the thing I do advise him to do by all means, and he resolves on it,
being but the same counsel which I intend to take myself. My Lady Jem
goes down to Hinchingbroke to lie down, because of the troubles of the
times here. He tells me he is not sure that the King of France will not
annoy us this year, but that the Court seems [to] reckon upon it as a
thing certain, for that is all that I and most people are afeard of this
year. He tells me now the great question is, whether a Parliament or
no Parliament; and says the Parliament itself cannot be thought able at
present to raise money, and therefore it will be to no purpose to call
one. I hear this day poor Michell's child is dead.
19th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning busy with Fist again,
beginning early to overtake my business in my letters, which for a post
or two have by the late and present troubles been interrupted. At noon
comes Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen, and we to [Sir] W. Pen's house,
and there discoursed of business an hour, and by and by comes an
order from Sir R. Browne, commanding me this afternoon to attend the
Council-board, with all my books and papers touching the Medway. I
was ready [to fear] some mischief to myself, though it appears most
reasonable that it is to inform them about Commissioner Pett. I eat
a little bit in haste at Sir W. Batten's, without much comfort, being
fearful, though I shew it not, and to my office and get up some papers,
and found out the most material letters and orders in our books, and so
took coach and to the Council-chamber lobby, where I met Mr. Evelyn, who
do miserably decry our follies that bring all this misery upon us. While
we were discoursing over our publique misfortunes, I am called in to a
large Committee of the Council: present the Duke of Albemarle, Anglesey,
Arlington, Ashly, Carteret, Duncomb, Coventry, Ingram, Clifford,
Lauderdale, Morrice, Manchester, Craven, Carlisle, Bridgewater. And
after Sir W. Coventry's telling them what orders His Royal Highness had
made for the safety of the Medway, I told them to their full content
what we had done, and showed them our letters. Then was Peter Pett
called in, with the Lieutenant of the Tower. He is in his old clothes,
and looked most sillily. His charge was chiefly the not carrying up of
the great ships, and the using of the boats in carrying away his goods;
to which he answered very sillily, though his faults to me seem only
great omissions. Lord Arlington and Coventry very severe against him;
the former saying that, if he was not guilty, the world would think them
all guilty.
[Pett was made a scapegoat. This is confirmed by Marvel:
"After this loss, to relish discontent,
Some one must be accused by Parliament;
All our miscarriages on Pett must fall,
His name alone seems fit to answer all.
Whose counsel first did this mad war beget?
Who all commands sold through the Navy? Pett.
Who would not follow when the Dutch were beat?
Who treated out the time at Bergen? Pett.
Who the Dutch fleet with storms disabled met,
And, rifling prizes, them neglected? Pett.
Who with false news prevented the Gazette,
The fleet divided, writ for Ruhert? Pett.
Who all our seamen cheated of their debt?
And all our prizes who did swallow? Pett.
Who did advise no navy out to set?
And who the forts left unprepared? Pett.
Who to supply with powder did forget
Languard, Sheerness, Gravesend, and Upnor? Pett.
Who all our ships exposed in Chatham net?
Who should it be but the fanatick Pett?
Pett, the sea-architect, in making ships,
Was the first cause of all these naval slips.
Had he not built, none of these faults had been;
If no creation, there had been no sin
But his great crime, one boat away he sent,
That lost our fleet, and did our flight prevent."
Instructions to a Painter.--B]
The latter urged, that there must be some faults, and that the Admiral
must be found to have done his part. I did say an unhappy word, which
I was sorry for, when he complained of want of oares for the boats:
and there was, it seems, enough, and good enough, to carry away all the
boats with from the King's occasions. He said he used never a boat till
they were all gone but one; and that was to carry away things of great
value, and these were his models of ships; which, when the Council, some
of them, had said they wished that the Dutch had had them instead of the
King's ships, he answered, he did believe the Dutch would have made more
advantage of the models than of the ships, and that the King had had
greater loss thereby; this they all laughed at. After having heard him
for an hour or more, they bid him withdraw. I all this while showing him
no respect, but rather against him, for which God forgive me! for I
mean no hurt to him, but only find that these Lords are upon their own
purgation, and it is necessary I should be so in behalf of the office.
He being gone, they caused Sir Richard Browne to read over his minutes;
and then my Lord Arlington moved that they might be put into my hands to
put into form, I being more acquainted with such business; and they were
so. So I away back with my books and papers; and when I got into the
Court it was pretty to see how people gazed upon me, that I thought
myself obliged to salute people and to smile, lest they should think I
was a prisoner too; but afterwards I found that most did take me to
be there to bear evidence against P. Pett; but my fear was such, at my
going in, of the success of the day, that at my going in I did think fit
to give T. Hater, whom I took with me, to wait the event, my closet-key
and directions where to find L500 and more in silver and gold, and my
tallys, to remove, in case of any misfortune to me. Thence to Sir
G. Carteret's to take my leave of my Lady Jem, who is going into the
country tomorrow; but she being now at prayers with my Lady and family,
and hearing here by Yorke, the carrier, that my wife is coming to towne,
I did make haste home to see her, that she might not find me abroad,
it being the first minute I have been abroad since yesterday was
se'ennight. It is pretty to see how strange it is to be abroad to see
people, as it used to be after a month or two's absence, and I have
brought myself so to it, that I have no great mind to be abroad, which
I could not have believed of myself. I got home, and after being there
a little, she come, and two of her fellow-travellers with her, with whom
we drunk: a couple of merchant-like men, I think, but have friends in
our country. They being gone, I and my wife to talk, who did give me
so bad an account of her and my father's method in burying of our gold,
that made me mad: and she herself is not pleased with it, she believing
that my sister knows of it. My father and she did it on Sunday, when
they were gone to church, in open daylight, in the midst of the garden;
where, for aught they knew, many eyes might see them: which put me into
such trouble, that I was almost mad about it, and presently cast about,
how to have it back again to secure it here, the times being a little
better now; at least at White Hall they seem as if they were, but one
way or other I am resolved to free them from the place if I can get
them. Such was my trouble at this, that I fell out with my wife, that
though new come to towne, I did not sup with her, nor speak to her
tonight, but to bed and sleep.
20th. Up, without any respect to my wife, only answering her a question
or two, without any anger though, and so to the office, where all the
morning busy, and among other things Mr. Barber come to me (one of the
clerks of the Ticket office) to get me to sign some tickets, and told me
that all the discourse yesterday, about that part of the town where he
was, was that Mr. Pett and I were in the Tower; and I did hear the
same before. At noon, home to dinner, and there my wife and I very good
friends; the care of my gold being somewhat over, considering it was in
their hands that have as much cause to secure it as myself almost, and
so if they will be mad, let them. But yet I do intend to, send for it
away. Here dined Mercer with us, and after dinner she cut my hair, and
then I into my closet and there slept a little, as I do now almost every
day after dinner; and then, after dallying a little with Nell, which I
am ashamed to think of, away to the office. Busy all the afternoon; in
the evening did treat with, and in the end agree; but by some kind of
compulsion, with the owners of six merchant ships, to serve the King as
men-of-war. But, Lord! to see how against the hair it is with these men
and every body to trust us and the King; and how unreasonable it is to
expect they should be willing to lend their ships, and lay out 2 or L300
a man to fit their ships for new voyages, when we have not paid them
half of what we owe them for their old services! I did write so to Sir
W. Coventry this night. At night my wife and I to walk and talk
again about our gold, which I am not quiet in my mind to be safe, and
therefore will think of some way to remove it, it troubling me very
much. So home with my wife to supper and to bed, miserable hot weather
all night it was.
21st. Up and by water to White Hall, there to discourse with [Sir] G.
Carteret and Mr. Fenn about office business. I found them all aground,
and no money to do anything with. Thence homewards, calling at my
Tailor's to bespeak some coloured clothes, and thence to Hercules
Pillars, all alone, and there spent 6d. on myself, and so home and
busy all the morning. At noon to dinner, home, where my wife shows me a
letter from her father, who is going over sea, and this afternoon would
take his leave of her. I sent him by her three Jacobuses in gold,
having real pity for him and her. So I to my office, and there all the
afternoon. This day comes news from Harwich that the Dutch fleete are
all in sight, near 100 sail great and small, they think, coming towards
them; where, they think, they shall be able to oppose them; but do cry
out of the falling back of the seamen, few standing by them, and those
with much faintness. The like they write from Portsmouth, and their
letters this post are worth reading. Sir H. Cholmly come to me this day,
and tells me the Court is as mad as ever; and that the night the Dutch
burned our ships the King did sup with my Lady Castlemayne, at the
Duchess of Monmouth's, and there were all mad in hunting of a poor moth.
All the Court afraid of a Parliament; but he thinks nothing can save us
but the King's giving up all to a Parliament. Busy at the office all
the afternoon, and did much business to my great content. In the evening
sent for home, and there I find my Lady Pen and Mrs. Lowther, and Mrs.
Turner and my wife eating some victuals, and there I sat and laughed
with them a little, and so to the office again, and in the evening
walked with my wife in the garden, and did give Sir W. Pen at his
lodgings (being just come from Deptford from attending the dispatch of
the fire-ships there) an account of what passed the other day at Council
touching Commissioner Pett, and so home to supper and to bed.
22nd. Up, and to my office, where busy, and there comes Mrs. Daniel...
At the office I all the morning busy. At noon home to dinner, where Mr.
Lewes Phillips, by invitation of my wife, comes, he coming up to town
with her in the coach this week, and she expected another gentleman, a
fellow-traveller, and I perceive the feast was for him, though she do
not say it, but by some mistake he come not, so there was a good dinner
lost. Here we had the two Mercers, and pretty merry. Much talk with Mr.
Phillips about country business, among others that there is no way for
me to purchase any severall lands in Brampton, or making any severall
that is not so, without much trouble and cost, and, it may be, not do
it neither, so that there is no more ground to be laid to our Brampton
house. After dinner I left them, and to the office, and thence to Sir W.
Pen's, there to talk with Mrs. Lowther, and by and by we hearing Mercer
and my boy singing at my house, making exceeding good musique, to the
joy of my heart, that I should be the master of it, I took her to my
office and there merry a while, and then I left them, and at the office
busy all the afternoon, and sleepy after a great dinner. In the evening
come Captain Hart and Haywood to me about the six merchant-ships now
taken up for men-of-war; and in talk they told me about the taking of
"The Royal Charles;" that nothing but carelessness lost the ship, for
they might have saved her the very tide that the Dutch come up, if they
would have but used means and had had but boats: and that the want of
boats plainly lost all the other ships. That the Dutch did take her with
a boat of nine men, who found not a man on board her, and her laying so
near them was a main temptation to them to come on; and presently a man
went up and struck her flag and jacke, and a trumpeter sounded upon her
"Joan's placket is torn," that they did carry her down at a time,
both for tides and wind, when the best pilot in Chatham would not have
undertaken it, they heeling her on one side to make her draw little
water: and so carried her away safe. They being gone, by and by comes
Sir W. Pen home, and he and I together talking. He hath been at Court;
and in the first place, I hear the Duke of Cambridge is dead; a which is
a great loss to the nation, having, I think, never an heyre male now of
the King's or Duke's to succeed to the Crown. He tells me that they do
begin already to damn the Dutch, and call them cowards at White Hall,
and think of them and their business no better than they used to do;
which is very sad. The King did tell him himself, which is so, I was
told, here in the City, that the City, hath lent him L10,000, to be laid
out towards securing of the River of Thames; which, methinks, is a very
poor thing, that we should be induced to borrow by such mean sums.
He tells me that it is most manifest that one great thing making it
impossible for us to have set out a fleete this year, if we could have
done it for money or stores, was the liberty given the beginning of the
year for the setting out of merchant-men, which did take up, as is
said, above ten, if not fifteen thousand seamen: and this the other day
Captain Cocke tells me appears in the council-books, that is the number
of seamen required to man the merchant ships that had passes to go
abroad. By and by, my wife being here, they sat down and eat a bit of
their nasty victuals, and so parted and we to bed.
23rd (Lord's day). Up to my chamber, and there all the morning reading
in my Lord Coke's Pleas of the Crowne, very fine noble reading. After
church time comes my wife and Sir W. Pen his lady and daughter; and Mrs.
Markham and Captain Harrison (who come to dine with them), by invitation
end dined with me, they as good as inviting themselves. I confess I hate
their company and tricks, and so had no great pleasure in [it], but a
good dinner lost. After dinner they all to church, and I by water alone
to Woolwich, and there called on Mr. Bodham: and he and I to see the
batterys newly raised; which, indeed, are good works to command the
River below the ships that are sunk, but not above them. Here I met with
Captain Cocke and Matt. Wren, Fenn, and Charles Porter, and Temple and
his wife. Here I fell in with these, and to Bodham's with them, and
there we sat and laughed and drank in his arbour, Wren making much and
kissing all the day of Temple's wife. It is a sad sight to see so many
good ships there sunk in the River, while we would be thought to be
masters of the sea. Cocke says the bankers cannot, till peace returns,
ever hope to have credit again; so that they can pay no more money, but
people must be contented to take publick security such as they can give
them; and if so, and they do live to receive the money thereupon, the
bankers will be happy men. Fenn read me an order of council passed the
17th instant, directing all the Treasurers of any part of the King's
revenue to make no payments but such as shall be approved by the present
Lords Commissioners; which will, I think, spoil the credit of all his
Majesty's service, when people cannot depend upon payment any where.
But the King's declaration in behalf of the bankers, to make good their
assignments for money, is very good, and will, I hope, secure me. Cocke
says, that he hears it is come to it now, that the King will try what
he can soon do for a peace; and if he cannot, that then he will cast all
upon the Parliament to do as they see fit: and in doing so, perhaps, he
may save us all. The King of France, it is believed, is engaged for this
year;
[Louis XIV. was at this time in Flanders, with his queen, his
mistresses, and all his Court. Turenne commanded under him. Whilst
Charles was hunting moths at Lady Castlemaine's, and the English
fleet was burning, Louis was carrying on the campaign with vigour.
Armentieres was taken on the 28th May; Charleroi on the 2nd June,
St. Winox on the 6th, Fumes on the 12th, Ath on the 16th, Toumay on
the 24th; the Escarpe on the 6th July, Courtray on the 18th,
Audenarde on the 31st; and Lisle on the 27th August.--B.]
so that we shall be safe as to him. The great misery the City and
kingdom is like to suffer for want of coals in a little time is very
visible, and, is feared, will breed a mutiny; for we are not in any
prospect to command the sea for our colliers to come, but rather, it is
feared, the Dutch may go and burn all our colliers at Newcastle; though
others do say that they lie safe enough there. No news at all of late
from Bredagh what our Treaters do. By and by, all by water in three
boats to Greenwich, there to Cocke's, where we supped well, and then
late, Wren, Fenn, and I home by water, set me in at the Tower, and they
to White Hall, and so I home, and after a little talk with my wife to
bed.
24th. Up, and to the office, where much business upon me by the coming
of people of all sorts about the dispatch of one business or other of
the fire-ships, or other ships to be set out now. This morning Greeting
come, and I with him at my flageolet. At noon dined at home with my wife
alone, and then in the afternoon all the day at my office. Troubled a
little at a letter from my father, which tells me of an idle companion,
one Coleman, who went down with him and my wife in the coach, and come
up again with my wife, a pensioner of the King's Guard, and one that
my wife, indeed, made the feast for on Saturday last, though he did
not come; but if he knows nothing of our money I will prevent any other
inconvenience. In the evening comes Mr. Povy about business; and he and
I to walk in the garden an hour or two, and to talk of State matters.
He tells me his opinion that it is out of possibility for us to escape
being undone, there being nothing in our power to do that is necessary
for the saving us: a lazy Prince, no Council, no money, no reputation at
home or abroad. He says that to this day the King do follow the women as
much as ever he did; that the Duke of York hath not got Mrs. Middleton,
as I was told the other day: but says that he wants not her, for he hath
others, and hath always had, and that he [Povy] hath known them brought
through the Matted Gallery at White Hall into his [the Duke's] closet;
nay, he hath come out of his wife's bed, and gone to others laid in
bed for him: that Mr. Bruncker is not the only pimp, but that the whole
family is of the same strain, and will do anything to please him: that,
besides the death of the two Princes lately, the family is in horrible
disorder by being in debt by spending above L60,000 per. annum, when he
hath not L40,000: that the Duchesse is not only the proudest woman
in the world, but the most expensefull; and that the Duke of York's
marriage with her hath undone the kingdom, by making the Chancellor so
great above reach, who otherwise would have been but an ordinary man, to
have been dealt with by other people; and he would have been careful of
managing things well, for fear of being called to account; whereas, now
he is secure, and hath let things run to rack, as they now appear. That
at a certain time Mr. Povy did carry him an account of the state of the
Duke of York's estate, showing in faithfullness how he spent more than
his estate would bear, by above L20,000 per annum, and asked my Lord's
opinion of it; to which he answered that no man that loved the King or
kingdom durst own the writing of that paper; at which Povy was startled,
and reckoned himself undone for this good service, and found it
necessary then to show it to the Duke of York's Commissioners; who read,
examined, and approved of it, so as to cause it to be put into form, and
signed it, and gave it the Duke. Now the end of the Chancellor was, for
fear that his daughter's ill housewifery should be condemned. He [Povy]
tells me that the other day, upon this ill newes of the Dutch being upon
us, White Hall was shut up, and the Council called and sat close; and,
by the way, he do assure me, from the mouth of some Privy-councillors,
that at this day the Privy-council in general do know no more what the
state of the kingdom as to peace and war is, than he or I; nor knows who
manages it, nor upon whom it depends; and there my Lord Chancellor did
make a speech to them, saying that they knew well that he was no friend
to the war from the beginning, and therefore had concerned himself
little in, nor could say much to it; and a great deal of that kind, to
discharge himself of the fault of the war. Upon which my Lord Anglesey
rose up and told his Majesty that he thought their coming now together
was not to enquire who was, or was not, the cause of the war, but to
enquire what was, or could be, done in the business of making a peace,
and in whose hands that was, and where it was stopped or forwarded; and
went on very highly to have all made open to them: and, by the way, I
remember that Captain Cocke did the other day tell me that this Lord
Anglesey hath said, within few days, that he would willingly give
L10,000 of his estate that he was well secured of the rest, such
apprehensions he hath of the sequel of things, as giving all over for
lost. He tells me, speaking of the horrid effeminacy of the King, that
the King hath taken ten times more care and pains in making friends
between my Lady Castlemayne and Mrs. Stewart, when they have fallen out,
than ever he did to save his kingdom; nay, that upon any falling out
between my Lady Castlemayne's nurse and her woman, my Lady hath often
said she would make the King to make them friends, and they would be
friends and be quiet; which the King hath been fain to do: that the King
is, at this day, every night in Hyde Park with the Duchesse of Monmouth,
or with my Lady Castlemaine: that he [Povy] is concerned of late by my
Lord Arlington in the looking after some buildings that he is about in
Norfolke, where my Lord is laying out a great deal of money; and that
he, Mr. Povy, considering the unsafeness of laying out money at such a
time as this, and, besides, the enviousness of the particular county,
as well as all the kingdom, to find him building and employing workmen,
while all the ordinary people of the country are carried down to the
seasides for securing the land, he thought it becoming him to go to my
Lord Arlington (Sir Thomas Clifford by), and give it as his advice to
hold his hands a little; but my Lord would not, but would have him go
on, and so Sir Thomas Clifford advised also, which one would think, if
he were a statesman worth a fart should be a sign of his foreseeing that
all shall do well. But I do forbear concluding any such thing from them.
He tells me that there is not so great confidence between any two men
of power in the nation at this day, that he knows of, as between my Lord
Arlington and Sir Thomas Clifford; and that it arises by accident only,
there being no relation nor acquaintance between them, but only Sir
Thomas Clifford's coming to him, and applying himself to him for
favours, when he come first up to town to be a Parliament-man. He tells
me that he do not think there is anything in the world for us possibly
to be saved by but the King of France's generousnesse to stand by us
against the Dutch, and getting us a tolerable peace, it may be, upon our
giving him Tangier and the islands he hath taken, and other things
he shall please to ask. He confirms me in the several grounds I have
conceived of fearing that we shall shortly fall into mutinys and
outrages among ourselves, and that therefore he, as a Treasurer, and
therefore much more myself, I say, as being not only a Treasurer but an
officer of the Navy, on whom, for all the world knows, the faults of all
our evils are to be laid, do fear to be seized on by some rude hands as
having money to answer for, which will make me the more desirous to get
off of this Treasurership as soon as I can, as I had before in my mind
resolved. Having done all this discourse, and concluded the kingdom in
a desperate condition, we parted; and I to my wife, with whom was Mercer
and Betty Michell, poor woman, come with her husband to see us after
the death of her little girle. We sat in the garden together a while,
it being night, and then Mercer and I a song or two, and then in (the
Michell's home), my wife, Mercer, and I to supper, and then parted and
to bed.
25th. Up, and with Sir W. Pen in his new chariot (which indeed is plain,
but pretty and more fashionable in shape than any coach he hath, and yet
do not cost him, harness and all, above L32) to White Hall; where staid
a very little: and thence to St. James's to [Sir] W. Coventry, whom I
have not seen since before the coming of the Dutch into the river, nor
did indeed know how well to go see him, for shame either to him or me,
or both of us, to find ourselves in so much misery. I find that he and
his fellow-Treasurers are in the utmost want of money, and do find fault
with Sir G. Carteret, that, having kept the mystery of borrowing money
to himself so long, to the ruin of the nation, as [Sir] W. Coventry said
in words to [Sir] W. Pen and me, he should now lay it aside and come to
them for money for every penny he hath, declaring that he can raise no
more: which, I confess, do appear to me the most like ill-will of any
thing that I have observed of [Sir] W. Coventry, when he himself did
tell us, on another occasion at the same time, that the bankers who used
to furnish them money are not able to lend a farthing, and he knows well
enough that that was all the mystery [Sir] G. Carteret did use, that is,
only his credit with them. He told us the masters and owners of the
two ships that I had complained of, for not readily setting forth their
ships, which we had taken up to make men-of-war, had been yesterday with
the King and Council, and had made their case so well understood, that
the King did owe them for what they had earned the last year, that they
could not set them out again without some money or stores out of the
King's Yards; the latter of which [Sir] W. Coventry said must be done,
for that they were not able to raise money for them, though it was but
L200 a ship: which do skew us our condition to be so bad, that I am in
a total despair of ever having the nation do well. After talking awhile,
and all out of heart with stories of want of seamen, and seamen's
running away, and their demanding a month's advance, and our being
forced to give seamen 3s. a-day to go hence to work at Chatham, and
other things that show nothing but destruction upon us; for it is
certain that, as it now is, the seamen of England, in my conscience,
would, if they could, go over and serve the King of France or Holland
rather than us. Up to the Duke of York to his chamber, where he seems to
be pretty easy, and now and then merry; but yet one may perceive in
all their minds there is something of trouble and care, and with good
reason. Thence to White Hall, and with Sir W. Pen, by chariot; and there
in the Court met with my Lord Anglesey: and he to talk with [Sir]
W. Pen, and told him of the masters of ships being with the Council
yesterday, and that we were not in condition, though the men were
willing, to furnish them with L200 of money, already due to them as
earned by them the last year, to enable them to set out their ships
again this year for the King: which he is amazed at; and when I told
him, "My Lord, this is a sad instance of the condition we are in," he
answered, that it was so indeed, and sighed: and so parted: and he up to
the Council-chamber, where I perceive they sit every morning, and I to
Westminster Hall, where it is Term time. I met with none I knew, nor
did desire it, but only past through the-Hall and so back again, and
by coach home to dinner, being weary indeed of seeing the world, and
thinking it high time for me to provide against the foul weather that is
certainly coming upon us. So to the office, and there [Sir] W. Pen and
I did some business, and then home to dinner, where my wife pleases
me mightily with what she can do upon the flageolet, and then I to the
office again, and busy all the afternoon, and it is worth noting that
the King and Council, in their order of the 23rd instant, for unloading
three merchant-ships taken up for the King's service for men-of-war, do
call the late coming of the Dutch "an invasion." I was told, yesterday,
that Mr. Oldenburg, our Secretary at Gresham College, is put into
the Tower, for writing newes to a virtuoso in France, with whom he
constantly corresponds in philosophical matters; which makes it very
unsafe at this time to write, or almost do any thing. Several captains
come to the office yesterday and to-day, complaining that their men come
and go when they will, and will not be commanded, though they are paid
every night, or may be. Nay, this afternoon comes Harry Russell from
Gravesend, telling us that the money carried down yesterday for the
Chest at Chatham had like to have been seized upon yesterday, in the
barge there, by seamen, who did beat our watermen: and what men should
these be but the boat's crew of Sir Fretcheville Hollis, who used to
brag so much of the goodness and order of his men, and his command over
them. Busy all the afternoon at the office. Towards night I with Mr.
Kinaston to White Hall about a Tangier order, but lost our labour, only
met Sir H. Cholmly there, and he tells me great newes; that this day
in Council the King hath declared that he will call his Parliament in
thirty days: which is the best newes I have heard a great while, and
will, if any thing, save the kingdom. How the King come to be advised to
this, I know not; but he tells me that it was against the Duke of
York's mind flatly, who did rather advise the King to raise money as
he pleased; and against the Chancellor's, who told the King that Queen
Elizabeth did do all her business in eighty-eight without calling a
Parliament, and so might he do, for anything he saw. But, blessed be
God! it is done; and pray God it may hold, though some of us must surely
go to the pot, for all must be flung up to them, or nothing will be
done. So back home, and my wife down by water, I sent her, with Mrs.
Hewer and her son, W. Hewer, to see the sunk ships, while I staid at the
office, and in the evening was visited by Mr. Roberts the merchant by us
about the getting him a ship cleared from serving the King as a man of
war, which I will endeavour to do. So home to supper and to bed.
26th. Up, and in dressing myself in my dressing chamber comes up Nell,
and I did play with her.... So being ready I to White Hall by water, and
there to the Lords Treasurers' chamber, and there wait, and here it is
every body's discourse that the Parliament is ordered to meet the 25th
of July, being, as they say, St. James's day; which every creature is
glad of. But it is pretty to consider how, walking to the Old Swan
from my house, I met Sir Thomas Harvy, whom, asking the newes of the
Parliament's meeting, he told me it was true, and they would certainly
make a great rout among us. I answered, I did not care for my part,
though I was ruined, so that the Commonwealth might escape ruin by it.
He answered, that is a good one, in faith; for you know yourself to be
secure, in being necessary to the office; but for my part, says he, I
must look to be removed; but then, says he, I doubt not but I shall have
amends made me; for all the world knows upon what terms I come in; which
is a saying that a wise man would not unnecessarily have said, I
think, to any body, meaning his buying his place of my Lord Barkely
[of Stratton]. So we parted, and I to White Hall, as I said before, and
there met with Sir Stephen Fox and Mr. Scawen, who both confirm the news
of the Parliament's meeting. Here I staid for an order for my Tangier
money, L30,000, upon the 11 months' tax, and so away to my Lord
Arlington's office, and there spoke to him about Mr. Lanyon's business,
and received a good answer, and thence to Westminster Hall and there
walked a little, and there met with Colonell Reames, who tells me of a
letter come last night, or the day before, from my Lord St. Albans, out
of France, wherein he says, that the King of France did lately fall out
with him, giving him ill names, saying that he had belied him to our
King, by saying that he had promised to assist our King, and to forward
the peace; saying that indeed he had offered to forward the peace at
such a time, but it was not accepted of, and so he thinks himself not
obliged, and would do what was fit for him; and so made him to go out
of his sight in great displeasure: and he hath given this account to the
King, which, Colonell Reymes tells me, puts them into new melancholy
at Court, and he believes hath forwarded the resolution of calling the
Parliament. Wherewith for all this I am very well contented, and so
parted and to the Exchequer, but Mr. Burgess was not in his office; so
alone to the Swan, and thither come Mr. Kinaston to me, and he and I
into a room and there drank and discoursed, and I am mightily pleased
with him for a most diligent and methodical man in all his business.
By and by to Burgess, and did as much as we could with him about our
Tangier order, though we met with unexpected delays in it, but such as
are not to be avoided by reason of the form of the Act and the disorders
which the King's necessities do put upon it, and therefore away by
coach, and at White Hall spied Mr. Povy, who tells me, as a great
secret, which none knows but himself, that Sir G. Carteret hath
parted with his place of Treasurer of the Navy, by consent, to my Lord
Anglesey, and is to be Treasurer of Ireland in his stead; but upon what
terms it is I know not, but Mr. Povy tells it is so, and that it is in
his power to bring me to as great a friendship and confidence in my Lord
Anglesey as ever I was with [Sir] W. Coventry, which I am glad of, and
so parted, and I to my tailor's about turning my old silk suit and cloak
into a suit and vest, and thence with Mr. Kinaston (whom I had set down
in the Strand and took up again at the Temple gate) home, and there to
dinner, mightily pleased with my wife's playing on the flageolet, and so
after dinner to the office. Such is the want already of coals, and the
despair of having any supply, by reason of the enemy's being abroad, and
no fleete of ours to secure, that they are come, as Mr. Kinaston tells
me, at this day to L5 10s. per chaldron. All the afternoon busy at
the office. In the evening with my wife and Mercer took coach and to
Islington to the Old House, and there eat and drank and sang with great
pleasure, and then round by Hackney home with great pleasure, and when
come home to bed, my stomach not being well pleased with the cream we
had to-night.
27th. Wakened this morning, about three o'clock, by Mr. Griffin with a
letter from Sir W. Coventry to W. Pen, which W. Pen sent me to see,
that the Dutch are come up to the Nore again, and he knows not whether
further or no, and would have, therefore, several things done: ships
sunk, and I know not what--which Sir W. Pen (who it seems is very ill
this night, or would be thought so) hath directed Griffin to carry to
the Trinity House; so he went away with the letter, and I tried and with
much ado did get a little sleep more, and so up about six o'clock, full
of thought what to do with the little money I have left and my plate,
wishing with all my heart that that was all secured. So to the office,
where much business all the morning, and the more by my brethren being
all out of the way; Sir W. Pen this night taken so ill cannot stir;
[Sir] W. Batten ill at Walthamstow; Sir J. Minnes the like at Chatham,
and my Lord Bruncker there also upon business. Horrible trouble with the
backwardness of the merchants to let us have their ships, and seamen's
running away, and not to be got or kept without money. It is worth
turning to our letters this day to Sir W. Coventry about these matters.
At noon to dinner, having a haunch of venison boiled; and all my clerks
at dinner with me; and mightily taken with Mr. Gibson's discourse of the
faults of this war in its management compared [with] that in the last
war, which I will get him to put into writing. Thence, after dinner, to
the office again, and there I saw the proclamations come out this day
for the Parliament to meet the 25th of next month; for which God be
praised! and another to invite seamen to bring in their complaints, of
their being ill-used in the getting their tickets and money, there being
a Committee of the Council appointed to receive their complaints. This
noon W. Hewer and T. Hater both tell me that it is all over the town,
and Mr. Pierce tells me also, this afternoon coming to me, that for
certain Sir G. Carteret hath parted with his Treasurer's place, and that
my Lord Anglesey is in it upon agreement and change of places, though
the latter part I do not think. This Povy told me yesterday, and I think
it is a wise act of [Sir] G. Carteret. Pierce tells me that he hears for
certain fresh at Court, that France and we shall agree; and more, that
yesterday was damned at the Council, the Canary Company; and also that
my Lord Mordaunt hath laid down his Commission, both good things to
please the Parliament, which I hope will do good. Pierce tells me that
all the town do cry out of our office, for a pack of fools and knaves;
but says that everybody speaks either well, or at least the best of me,
which is my great comfort, and think I do deserve it, and shall shew I
have; but yet do think, and he also, that the Parliament will send us
all going; and I shall be well contented with it, God knows! But he
tells me how Matt. Wren should say that he was told that I should say
that W. Coventry was guilty of the miscarriage at Chatham, though I
myself, as he confesses, did tell him otherwise, and that it was wholly
Pett's fault. This do trouble me, not only as untrue, but as a design
in some [one] or other to do me hurt; for, as the thing is false, so it
never entered into my mouth or thought, nor ever shall. He says that he
hath rectified Wren in his belief of this, and so all is well. He gone,
I to business till the evening, and then by chance home, and find the
fellow that come up with my wife, Coleman, last from Brampton, a silly
rogue, but one that would seem a gentleman; but I did not stay with him.
So to the office, where late, busy, and then to walk a little in the
garden, and so home to supper and to bed. News this tide, that about 80
sail of the Dutch, great and small were seen coming up the river this
morning; and this tide some of them to the upper end of the Hope.
28th. Up, and hear Sir W. Batten is come to town: I to see him; he is
very ill of his fever, and come to town only for advice. Sir J. Minnes,
I hear also, is very ill all this night, worse than before. Thence I
going out met at the gate Sir H. Cholmly coming to me, and I to him
in the coach, and both of us presently to St. James's, by the way
discoursing of some Tangier business about money, which the want of I
see will certainly bring the place into a bad condition. We find the
Duke of York and [Sir] W. Coventry gone this morning, by two o'clock, to
Chatham, to come home to-night: and it is fine to observe how both the
King and Duke of York have, in their several late journeys to and again,
done them in the night for coolnesse. Thence with him to the Treasury
Chamber, and then to the Exchequer to inform ourselves a little about
our warrant for L30,000 for Tangier, which vexes us that it is so far
off in time of payment. Having walked two or three turns with him in the
Hall we parted, and I home by coach, and did business at the office till
noon, and then by water to White Hall to dinner to Sir G. Carteret,
but he not at home, but I dined with my Lady and good company, and good
dinner. My Lady and the family in very good humour upon this business
of his parting with his place of Treasurer of the Navy, which I perceive
they do own, and we did talk of it with satisfaction. They do here tell
me that the Duke of Buckingham hath surrendered himself to Secretary
Morrice, and is going to the Tower. Mr. Fenn, at the table, says that he
hath been taken by the watch two or three times of late, at unseasonable
hours, but so disguised that they could not know him: and when I come
home, by and by, Mr. Lowther tells me that the Duke of Buckingham do
dine publickly this day at Wadlow's, at the Sun Tavern; and is mighty
merry, and sent word to the Lieutenant of the Tower, that he would come
to him as soon as he had dined. Now, how sad a thing it is, when we
come to make sport of proclaiming men traitors, and banishing them, and
putting them out of their offices, and Privy Council, and of sending to
and going to the Tower: God have mercy on us! At table, my Lady and Sir
Philip Carteret have great and good discourse of the greatness of the
present King of France--what great things he hath done, that a man may
pass, at any hour in the night, all over that wild city [Paris], with a
purse in his hand and no danger: that there is not a beggar to be seen
in it, nor dirt lying in it; that he hath married two of Colbert's
daughters to two of the greatest princes of France, and given them
portions--bought the greatest dukedom in France, and given it to
Colbert;
[The Carterets appear to have mystified Pepys, who eagerly believed
all that was told him. At this time Paris was notoriously unsafe,
infested with robbers and beggars, and abominably unclean. Colbert
had three daughters, of whom the eldest was just married when Pepys
wrote, viz., Jean Marie Therese, to the Duc de Chevreuse, on the 3rd
February, 1667. The second daughter, Henriette Louise, was not
married to the Duc de St. Aignan till January 21st, 1671; and the
third, Marie Anne, to the Duc de Mortemart, February 14th, 1679.
Colbert himself was never made a duke. His highest title was
Marquis de Seignelay.--B.]
and ne'er a prince in France dare whisper against it, whereas here our
King cannot do any such thing, but everybody's mouth is open against
him for it, and the man that hath the favour also. That to several
commanders that had not money to set them out to the present campagne,
he did of his own accord--send them L1000 sterling a-piece, to
equip themselves. But then they did enlarge upon the slavery of the
people--that they are taxed more than the real estates they have; nay,
it is an ordinary thing for people to desire to give the King all their
land that they have, and themselves become only his tenants, and pay him
rent to the full value of it: so they may have but their earnings, But
this will not be granted; but he shall give the value of his rent,
and part of his labour too. That there is not a petty governor of a
province--nay, of a town, but he will take the daughter from the richest
man in the town under him, that hath got anything, and give her to his
footman for a wife if he pleases, and the King of France will do the
like to the best man in his kingdom--take his daughter from him, and
give her to his footman, or whom he pleases. It is said that he do make
a sport of us now; and says, that he knows no reason why his cozen, the
King of England, should not be as willing to let him have his kingdom,
as that the Dutch should take it from him, which is a most wretched
thing that ever we should live to be in this most contemptible
condition. After dinner Sir G. Carteret come in, and I to him and my
Lady, and there he did tell me that the business was done between him
and my Lord Anglesey; that himself is to have the other's place of
Deputy Treasurer of Ireland, which is a place of honour and great
profit, being far better, I know not for what reason, but a reason there
is, than the Treasurer's, my Lord of Corke's, and to give the other his,
of Treasurer of the Navy; that the King, at his earnest entreaty, did,
with much unwillingness, but with owning of great obligations to
him, for his faithfulness and long service to him and his father, and
therefore was willing to grant his desire. That the Duke of York hath
given him the same kind words, so that it is done with all the good
manner that could be, and he I perceive do look upon it, and so do I,
I confess, as a great good fortune to him to meet with one of my Lord
Anglesey's quality willing to receive it at this time. Sir W. Coventry
he hath not yet made acquainted with it, nor do intend it, it being done
purely to ease himself of the many troubles and plagues which he thinks
the perverseness and unkindness of Sir W. Coventry and others by
his means have and is likely every day to bring upon him, and the
Parliament's envy, and lastly to put himself into a condition of making
up his accounts, which he is, he says, afeard he shall never otherwise
be. My Lord Chancellor, I perceive, is his friend in it. I remember I
did in the morning tell Sir H. Cholmly of this business: and he answered
me, he was sorry for it; for, whatever Sir G. Carteret was, he is
confident my Lord Anglesey is one of the greatest knaves in the world,
which is news to me, but I shall make my use of it. Having done this
discourse with Sir G. Carteret, and signified my great satisfaction in
it, which they seem to look upon as something, I went away and by coach
home, and there find my wife making of tea, a drink which Mr. Pelling,
the Potticary, tells her is good for her cold and defluxions. I to the
office (whither come Mr. Carcasse to me to sue for my favour to him),
and Sir W. Pen's, where I find Mr. Lowther come to town after the
journey, and after a small visit to him, I to the office to do much
business, and then in the evening to Sir W. Batten's, to see how he did;
and he is better than he was. He told me how Mrs. Lowther had her train
held up yesterday by her page, at his house in the country; which is so
ridiculous a piece of pride as I am ashamed of. He told me also how he
hears by somebody that my Lord Bruncker's maid hath told that her
lady Mrs. Williams had sold her jewels and clothes to raise money for
something or other; and indeed the last night a letter was sent from her
to me, to send to my Lord, with about five pieces of gold in it, which
methought at the time was but a poor supply. I then to Sir W. Pen, who
continues a little ill, or dissembles it, the latter of which I am apt
to believe. Here I staid but little, not meaning much kindness in it;
and so to the office, and dispatched more business; and then home
at night, and to supper with my wife, and who should come in but Mr.
Pelling, and supped with us, and told us the news of the town; how the
officers of the Navy are cried out upon, and a great many greater
men; but do think that I shall do well enough; and I think, if I have
justice, I shall. He tells me of my Lord Duke of Buckingham, his dining
to-day at the Sun, and that he was mighty merry; and, what is strange,
tells me that really he is at this day a very popular man, the world
reckoning him to suffer upon no other account than that he did propound
in Parliament to have all the questions that had to do with the receipt
of the taxes and prizes; but they must be very silly that do think
he can do any thing out of good intention. After a great deal of
tittle-tattle with this honest man, he gone we to bed. We hear that the
Dutch are gone down again; and thanks be to God! the trouble they give
us this second time is not very considerable.
29th. Up, having had many ugly dreams to-night of my father and my
sister and mother's coming to us, and meeting my wife and me at the gate
of the office going out, they all in laced suits, and come, they told
me, to be with me this May day. My mother told me she lacked a pair of
gloves, and I remembered a pair of my wife's in my chamber, and resolved
she should have them, but then recollected how my mother come to be here
when I was in mourning for her, and so thinking it to be a mistake in
our thinking her all this while dead, I did contrive that it should
be said to any that enquired that it was my mother-in-law, my wife's
mother, that was dead, and we in mourning for. This dream troubled me
and I waked.... These dreams did trouble me mightily all night. Up, and
by coach to St. James's, and there find Sir W. Coventry and Sir W. Pen
above stairs, and then we to discourse about making up our accounts
against the Parliament; and Sir W. Coventry did give us the best advice
he could for us to provide for our own justification, believing, as
everybody do, that they will fall heavily upon us all, though he lay all
upon want of money, only a little, he says (if the Parliament be in any
temper), may be laid upon themselves for not providing money sooner,
they being expressly and industriously warned thereof by him, he says,
even to the troubling them, that some of them did afterwards tell him
that he had frighted them. He says he do prepare to justify himself,
and that he hears that my Lord Chancellor, my Lord Arlington, the Vice
Chamberlain and himself are reported all up and down the Coffee houses
to be the four sacrifices that must be made to atone the people. Then we
to talk of the loss of all affection and obedience, now in the seamen,
so that all power is lost. He told us that he do concur in thinking that
want of money do do the most of it, but that that is not all, but the
having of gentlemen Captains, who discourage all Tarpaulins, and have
given out that they would in a little time bring it to that pass that a
Tarpaulin should not dare to aspire to more than to be a Boatswain or
a gunner. That this makes the Sea Captains to lose their own good
affections to the service, and to instil it into the seamen also, and
that the seamen do see it themselves and resent it; and tells us that
it is notorious, even to his bearing of great ill will at Court, that he
hath been the opposer of gentlemen Captains; and Sir W. Pen did put in,
and said that he was esteemed to have been the man that did instil it
into Sir W. Coventry, which Sir W. Coventry did owne also, and says that
he hath always told the Gentlemen Captains his opinion of them, and
that himself who had now served to the business of the sea 6 or 7 years
should know a little, and as much as them that had never almost been at
sea, and that yet he found himself fitter to be a Bishop or Pope than
to be a Sea-Commander, and so indeed he is. I begun to tell him of the
experience I had of the great brags made by Sir F. Hollis the other day,
and the little proof either of the command or interest he had in his
men, which Sir W. Pen seconded by saying Sir Fr. Hollis had told him
that there was not a pilot to be got the other day for his fire-ships,
and so was forced to carry them down himself, which Sir W. Coventry
says, in my conscience, he knows no more to do and understand the River
no more than he do Tiber or Ganges. Thence I away with Sir W. Pen to
White Hall, to the Treasury Chamber, but to no purpose, and so by coach
home, and there to my office to business, and then home to dinner,
and to pipe with my wife, and so to the office again, having taken a
resolution to take a turn to Chatham to-morrow, indeed to do business of
the King's, but also to give myself the satisfaction of seeing the place
after the Dutch have been here. I have sent to and got Creed to go with
me by coach betimes to-morrow morning. After having done my business at
the office I home, and there I found Coleman come again to my house,
and with my wife in our great chamber, which vexed me, there being a bed
therein. I staid there awhile, and then to my study vexed, showing no
civility to the man. But he comes on a compliment to receive my wife's
commands into the country, whither he is going, and it being Saturday
my wife told me there was no other room for her to bring him in, and so
much is truth. But I staid vexed in my closet till by and by my cozen
Thomas Pepys, of Hatcham, come to see me, and he up to my closet, and
there sat talking an hour or two of the sad state of the times, whereof
we did talk very freely, and he thinks nothing but a union of religious
interests will ever settle us; and I do think that, and the Parliament's
taking the whole management of things into their hands, and severe
inquisitions into our miscarriages; will help us. After we had bewailed
ourselves and the kingdom very freely one to another (wherein I do blame
myself for my freedom of speech to anybody), he gone, and Coleman gone
also before, I to the office, whither Creed come by my desire, and
he and I to my wife, to whom I now propose the going to Chatham, who,
mightily pleased with it, sent for Mercer to go with her, but she could
not go, having friends at home, which vexed my wife and me; and the poor
wretch would have had anybody else to have gone, but I would like nobody
else, so was contented to stay at home, on condition to go to Ispsum
next Sunday, which I will do, and so I to the office to dispatch my
business, and then home to supper with Creed, and then Creed and I
together to bed, very pleasant in discourse. This day talking with Sir
W. Batten, he did give me an account how ill the King and Duke of York
was advised to send orders for our frigates and fire-ships to come from
Gravesend, soon as ever news come of the Dutch being returned into the
river, wherein no seamen, he believes, was advised with; for, says he,
we might have done just as Warwicke did, when he, W. Batten; come with
the King and the like fleete, in the late wars, into the river: for
Warwicke did not run away from them, but sailed before them when they
sailed, and come to anchor when they come to anchor, and always kept in
a small distance from them: so as to be able to take any opportunity
of any of their ships running aground, or change of wind, or any thing
else, to his advantage. So might we have done with our fire-ships, and
we have lost an opportunity of taking or burning a good ship of their's,
which was run aground about Holehaven, I think he said, with the wind
so as their ships could not get her away; but we might have done what we
would with her, and, it may be, done them mischief, too, with the wind.
This seems very probable, and I believe was not considered.
30th (Lord's day). Up about three o'clock, and Creed and I got ourselves
ready, and took coach at our gate, it being very fine weather, and the
cool of the morning, and with much pleasure, without any stop, got to
Rochester about ten of the clock, all the way having mighty pleasant
talk of the fate that is over all we do, that it seems as if we were
designed in every thing, by land by sea, to undo ourselves. At the foot
of Rochester bridge, at the landing-place, I met my Lord Bruncker and my
Lord Douglas, and all the officers of the soldiers in the town, waiting
there for the Duke of York, whom they heard was coming thither this day;
by and by comes my Lord Middleton, the first time I remember to have
seen him, well mounted, who had been to meet him, but come back without
him; he seems a fine soldier, and so every body says he is; and a
man, like my Lord Teviott, and indeed most of the Scotch gentry, as I
observe, of few words. After staying here by the water-side and seeing
the boats come up from Chatham, with them that rowed with bandeleeres
about their shoulders, and muskets in their boats, they being the
workmen of the Yard, who have promised to redeem their credit, lost by
their deserting the service when the Dutch were there, my Lord Bruncker
went with Lord Middleton to his inne, the Crowne, to dinner, which I
took unkindly, but he was slightly invited. So I and Creed down by boat
to Chatham-yard (our watermen having their bandeleeres about them all
the way), and to Commissioner Pett's house, where my Lord Bruncker told
me that I should meet with his dinner two dishes of meat, but did not,
but however by the help of Mr. Wiles had some beer and ale brought me,
and a good piece of roast beef from somebody's table, and eat well at
two, and after dinner into the garden to shew Creed, and I must confess
it must needs be thought a sorrowful thing for a man that hath taken so
much pains to make a place neat to lose it as Commissioner Pett must now
this. Thence to see the batteries made; which, indeed, are very fine,
and guns placed so as one would think the River should be very secure.
I was glad, as also it was new to me, to see so many fortifications as I
have of late seen, and so up to the top of the Hill, there to look, and
could see towards Sheerenesse, to spy the Dutch fleete, but could make
[out] none but one vessel, they being all gone. But here I was told,
that, in all the late attempt, there was but one man that they knew
killed on shore: and that was a man that had laid himself upon his
belly upon one of the hills, on the other side of the River, to see the
action; and a bullet come, took the ground away just under his belly,
and ripped up his belly, and so was killed. Thence back to the docke,
and in my way saw how they are fain to take the deals of the rope-house
to supply other occasions, and how sillily the country troopers look,
that stand upon the passes there; and, methinks, as if they were more
willing to run away than to fight, and it is said that the country
soldiers did first run at Sheerenesse, but that then my Lord Douglas's
men did run also; but it is excused that there was no defence for them
towards the sea, that so the very beach did fly in their faces as the
bullets come, and annoyed them, they having, after all this preparation
of the officers of the ordnance, only done something towards the land,
and nothing at all towards the sea. The people here everywhere do speak
very badly of Sir Edward Spragge, as not behaving himself as he should
have done in that business, going away with the first, and that old
Captain Pyne, who, I am here told, and no sooner, is Master-Gunner of
England, was the last that staid there. Thence by barge, it raining
hard, down to the chaine; and in our way did see the sad wrackes of the
poor "Royall Oake," "James," and "London;"
["The bottom of the 'Royal James' is got afloat, and those of the
'Loyal London' and 'Royal Oak' soon will be so. Many men are at work
to put Sheerness in a posture of defence, and a boom is being fitted
over the river by Upnor Castle, which with the good fortifications
will leave nothing to fear."--Calendar of State Papers, 1667, p.
285.]
and several other of our ships by us sunk, and several of the enemy's,
whereof three men-of-war that they could not get off, and so burned. We
did also see several dead bodies lie by the side of the water. I do not
see that Upnor Castle hath received any hurt by them, though they played
long against it; and they themselves shot till they had hardly a gun
left upon the carriages, so badly provided they were: they have now
made two batteries on that side, which will be very good, and do good
service. So to the chaine, and there saw it fast at the end on Upnor
side of the River; very fast, and borne up upon the several stages
across the River; and where it is broke nobody can tell me. I went on
shore on Upnor side to look upon the end of the chaine; and caused
the link to be measured, and it was six inches and one-fourth in
circumference. They have burned the Crane House that was to hawl it
taught. It seems very remarkable to me, and of great honour to the
Dutch, that those of them that did go on shore to Gillingham, though
they went in fear of their lives, and were some of them killed; and,
notwithstanding their provocation at Schelling, yet killed none of our
people nor plundered their houses, but did take some things of easy
carriage, and left the rest, and not a house burned; and, which is to
our eternal disgrace, that what my Lord Douglas's men, who come after
them, found there, they plundered and took all away; and the watermen
that carried us did further tell us, that our own soldiers are far more
terrible to those people of the country-towns than the Dutch themselves.
We were told at the batteries, upon my seeing of the field-guns that
were there, that, had they come a day sooner, they had been able to have
saved all; but they had no orders, and lay lingering upon the way, and
did not come forward for want of direction. Commissioner Pett's house
was all unfurnished, he having carried away all his goods. I met with no
satisfaction whereabouts the chaine was broke, but do confess I met with
nobody that I could well expect to have satisfaction [from], it being
Sunday; and the officers of the Yard most of them abroad, or at the Hill
house, at the pay of the Chest, which they did make use of to day to do
part in. Several complaints, I hear, of the Monmouth's coming away too
soon from the chaine, where she was placed with the two guard-ships to
secure it; and Captain Robert Clerke, my friend, is blamed for so
doing there, but I hear nothing of him at London about it; but Captain
Brookes's running aground with the "Sancta Maria," which was one of the
three ships that were ordered to be sunk to have dammed up the River
at the chaine, is mightily cried against, and with reason, he being the
chief man to approve of the abilities of other men, and the other two
slips did get safe thither and he run aground; but yet I do hear that
though he be blameable, yet if she had been there, she nor two more to
them three would have been able to have commanded the river all over. I
find that here, as it hath been in our river, fire-ships, when fitted,
have been sunk afterwards, and particularly those here at the Mussle,
where they did no good at all. Our great ships that were run aground
and sunk are all well raised but the "Vanguard," which they go about to
raise to-morrow. "The Henery," being let loose to drive up the river of
herself, did run up as high as the bridge, and broke down some of the
rails of the bridge, and so back again with the tide, and up again, and
then berthed himself so well as no pilot could ever have done better;
and Punnet says he would not, for his life, have undertaken to have done
it, with all his skill. I find it is true that the Dutch did heele "The
Charles" to get her down, and yet run aground twice or thrice, and yet
got her safe away, and have her, with a great many good guns in
her, which none of our pilots would ever have undertaken. It is very
considerable the quantity of goods, which the making of these platforms
and batterys do take out of the King's stores: so that we shall have
little left there, and, God knows! no credit to buy any; besides, the
taking away and spending of (it is possible) several goods that would
have been either rejected or abatement made for them before used. It
is a strange thing to see that, while my Lords Douglas and Middleton do
ride up and down upon single horses, my Lord Bruncker do go up and down
with his hackney-coach and six horses at the King's charge, which will
do, for all this time, and the time that he is likely to stay, must
amount to a great deal. But I do not see that he hath any command over
the seamen, he being affronted by three or four seamen before my very
face, which he took sillily, methought; and is not able to do so much
good as a good boatswain in this business. My Lord Bruncker, I perceive,
do endeavour to speak well of Commissioner Pett, saying that he did
exercise great care and pains while he was there, but do not undertake
to answer for his not carrying up of the great ships. Back again to
Rochester, and there walked to the Cathedral as they were beginning of
the service, but would not be seen to stay to church there, besides had
no mind, but rather to go to our inne, the White Hart, where we drank
and were fain (the towne being so full of soldiers) to have a bed corded
for us to lie in, I being unwilling to lie at the Hill house for one
night, being desirous to be near our coach to be gone betimes to-morrow
morning. Here in the streets, I did hear the Scotch march beat by the
drums before the soldiers, which is very odde. Thence to the Castle, and
viewed it with Creed, and had good satisfaction from him that showed it
us touching the history of it. Then into the fields, a fine walk, and
there saw Sir Francis Clerke's house, which is a pretty seat, and then
back to our inne and bespoke supper, and so back to the fields and into
the Cherry garden, where we had them fresh gathered, and here met with a
young, plain, silly shopkeeper, and his wife, a pretty young woman, the
man's name Hawkins, and I did kiss her, and we talked (and the woman of
the house is a very talking bawdy jade), and eat cherries together, and
then to walk in the fields till it was late, and did kiss her, and I
believe had I had a fit time and place I might have done what I would
with her. Walked back and left them at their house near our inne, and
then to our inne, where, I hear, my Lord Bruncker hath sent for me to
speak with me before I go: so I took his coach, which stands there with
two horses, and to him and to his bedside, where he was in bed, and
hath a watchman with a halbert at his door; and to him, and did talk a
little, and find him a very weak man for this business that he is upon;
and do pity the King's service, that is no better handled, and his folly
to call away Pett before we could have found a better man to have staid
in his stead; so took leave of him, and with Creed back again, it being
now about 10 at night, and to our inne to supper, and then to bed,
being both sleepy, but could get no sheets to our bed, only linen to our
mouths, and so to sleep, merrily talking of Hawkins and his wife, and
troubled that Creed did see so much of my dalliance, though very little.
JULY 1667
July 1st. Up betimes, about 9 o'clock, waked by a damned noise between
a sow gelder and a cow and a dog, nobody after we were up being able to
tell us what it was. After being ready we took coach, and, being very
sleepy, droused most part of the way to Gravesend, and there 'light, and
down to the new batterys, which are like to be very fine, and there did
hear a plain fellow cry out upon the folly of the King's officers above,
to spend so much money in works at Woolwich and Deptford, and sinking of
good ships loaden with goods, when, if half the charge had been laid out
here, it would have secured all that, and this place too, before now.
And I think it is not only true in this, but that the best of the
actions of us all are so silly, that the meanest people begin to see
through them, and contemn them. Besides, says he, they spoil the river
by it. Then informed ourselves where we might have some creame, and they
guided us to one Goody Best's, a little out of the towne towards London
road, and thither we went with the coach, and find it a mighty clean,
plain house, and had a dish of very good creame to our liking, and so
away presently very merry, and fell to reading of the several Advices
to a Painter, which made us good sport, and indeed are very witty, and
Creed did also repeat to me some of the substance of letters of old
Burleigh in Queen Elizabeth's time, which he hath of late read in the
printed Cabbala, which is a very fine style at this day and fit to
be imitated. With this, and talking and laughing at the folly of our
masters in the management of things at this day, we got home by noon,
where all well, and then to dinner, and after dinner both of us laid
down upon the couch and chairs and to sleep, which I did for an hour or
two, and then to the office, where I am sorry to hear that Sir J. Minnes
is likely to die this night, or to-morrow, I forgot to set down that we
met this morning upon the road with Mrs. Williams going down to my Lord
Bruncker; we bowed without speaking one to another, but I am ashamed at
the folly of the man to have her down at this serious busy time, when
the town and country is full of people and full of censure, and against
him particularly. At Sir W. Batten's my Lady tells me that she hears for
certain that my Lord's maid of his lodging here do give out that Mrs.
Williams hath been fain of late to sell her best clothes and jewels to
get a little money upon, which is a sad condition. Thence to the office,
and did write to my Lord Bruncker to give me a little satisfaction about
the certainty of the chain's being broke, which I begin to doubt, and
the more from Sir W. Pen's discourse. It is worth while to read my
letter to him entered in my letter book. Home in the evening to supper,
and so pretty betimes, about 10 o'clock, to bed, and slept well. This
day letters are come that my sister is very ill.
2nd. Up, and put on my new silke camelott suit, made of my cloak, and
suit now made into a vest. So to the office, where W. Pen and myself,
and Sir T. Harvy met, the first time we have had a meeting since the
coming of the Dutch upon this coast. Our only business (for we have
little else to do, nobody being willing to trust us for anything) was
to speak with the owners of six merchantmen which we have been taking
up this fortnight, and are yet in no readiness, they not fitting their
ships without money advanced to them, we owing them for what their ships
have earned the last year. So every thing stands still for money, while
we want money to pay for some of the most necessary things that we
promised ready money for in the height of our wants, as grapnells, &c.
At noon home to dinner, and after dinner my wife and Jane (mighty fine
the girle) to go to see Jane's old mistress, who was to see her, and did
see my wife the other day, and it is pleasant to hear with what kindness
her old mistress speaks of this girle, and how she would still have her,
and how the wench cried when she told her that she must come to her old
mistress my wife. They gone, I to my chamber, and there dallied a little
with my maid Nell.... and so to the office where busy till night, and
then comes Mrs. Turner, and walks with me in the garden to talk with me
about her husband's business, and to tell me how she hears at the other
end of the town how bad our office is spoken of by the King and Prince
and Duke of Albemarle, and that there is not a good word said of any of
us but of me; and me they all do speak mightily of, which, whether true
or no, I am mighty glad to hear, but from all put together that I hear
from other people, I am likely to pass as well as anybody. So, she gone,
comes my wife and to walk in the garden, Sir J. Minnes being still ill
and so keeping us from singing, and by and by Sir W. Pen come and walked
with us and gave us a bottle of Syder, and so we home to supper and to
bed. This day I am told that poor Tooker is dead, a very painfull poor
man as ever I knew.
3rd. Up, and within most of the morning, my tailor's boy coming to alter
something in my new suit I put on yesterday. Then to the office and did
business, and then (my wife being a little ill of those in bed) I to Sir
W. Batten's and dined, and there comes in Sir Richard Ford, tells us how
he hath been at the Sessions-house, and there it is plain that there is
a combination of rogues in the town, that do make it their business
to set houses on fire, and that one house they did set on fire in
Aldersgate Streete last Easter; and that this is proved by two young
men, whom one of them debauched by degrees to steal their fathers' plate
and clothes, and at last to be of their company; and they had their
places to take up what goods were flung into the streets out of the
windows, when the houses were on fire; and this is like to be proved to
a great number of rogues, whereof five are already found, and some found
guilty this day. One of these boys is the son of a Montagu, of my Lord
Manchester's family; but whose son he could not tell me. This is a
strange thing methinks, but I am glad that it is proved so true and
discovered. So home, and to enter my Journall of my late journey to this
hour, and then to the office, where to do a little business, and then by
water to White Hall (calling at Michell's in my way, but the rogue would
not invite me in, I having a mind para voir his wife), and there to the
Council-chamber, to deliver a letter to their Lordships about the state
of the six merchantmen which we have been so long fitting out. When
I come, the King and the whole table full of Lords were hearing of a
pitifull cause of a complaint of an old man, with a great grey beard,
against his son, for not allowing him something to live on; and at last
come to the ordering the son to allow his father L10 a year. This cause
lasted them near two hours; which, methinks, at this time to be the work
of the Council-board of England, is a scandalous thing, and methought
Sir W. Coventry to me did own as much. Here I find all the newes is the
enemy's landing 3,000 men near Harwich,
[Richard Browne, writing to Williamson from Aldeburgh, on July 2nd,
says: "The Dutch fleet of 80 sail has anchored in the bay; they were
expected to land, but they tacked about, and stood first northward
and then southward, close by Orford lighthouse, and have now passed
the Ness towards Harwich; they have fired no guns, but made false
fires" ("Calendar of State Papers," 1667, p. 258).]
and attacking Landguard Fort, and being beat off thence with our great
guns, killing some of their men, and they leaving their ladders behind
them; but we had no Horse in the way on Suffolk side, otherwise we might
have galled their Foot. The Duke of York is gone down thither this day,
while the General sat sleeping this afternoon at the Council-table. The
news so much talked of this Exchange, of a peace, I find by Sir Richard
Browne arises from a letter the Swedes' agent hath received from Bredah
and shewed at Court to-day, that they are come very near it, but I
do not find anybody here relying upon it. This cause being over, the
Trinity House men, whom I did not expect to meet, were called in, and
there Sir W. Pen made a formal speech in answer to a question of the
King's, whether the lying of the sunk ships in the river would spoil
the river. But, Lord! how gingerly he answered it, and with a deal of
do that he did not know whether it would be safe as to the enemy to have
them taken up, but that doubtless it would be better for the river to
have them taken up. Methought the Council found them answer like fools,
and it ended in bidding them think more of it, and bring their answer
in writing. Thence I to Westminster Hall, and there hear how they talk
against the present management of things, and against Sir W. Coventry
for his bringing in of new commanders and casting out the old seamen,
which I did endeavour to rectify Mrs. Michell and them in, letting
them know that he hath opposed it all his life the most of any man in
England. After a deal of this tittle tattle, I to Mrs. Martin's,
and there she was gone in before, but when I come, contrary to my
expectation, I find her all in trouble, and what was it for but that I
have got her with child.... and is in exceeding grief, and swears that
the child is mine, which I do not believe, but yet do comfort her that
either it cannot be so, or if it be that I will take care to send for
her husband, though I do hardly see how I can be sure of that, the ship
being at sea, and as far as Scotland, but however I must do it, and
shall find some way or other of doing it, though it do trouble me not a
little. Thence, not pleased, away to White Hall to Mr. Williamson,
and by and by my Lord Arlington about Mr. Lanyon's business, and it is
pretty to see how Mr. Williamson did altogether excuse himself that my
business was not done when I come to my Lord and told him my business;
"Why," says my Lord, "it hath been done, and the King signed it several
days ago," and so it was and was in Mr. Williamson's hands, which made
us both laugh, and I in innocent mirth, I remember, said, it is pretty
to see in what a condition we are that all our matters now-a-days are
undone, we know not how, and done we know not when. He laughed at it,
but I have since reflected on it, and find it a severe speech as it
might be taken by a chief minister of state, as indeed Mr. Williamson
is, for he is indeed the Secretary. But we fell to other pleasant talk,
and a fine gentleman he is, and so gave him L5 for his fee, and away
home, and to Sir W. Batten's to talk a little, and then to the office to
do a little business, and so home to supper and read myself asleep, and
then to bed.
4th. Up, and, in vain expecting Sir R. Ford's calling on me, I took
coach and to the Sessions-house, where I have a mind to hear Bazill
Fielding's case--[See May 9th, 1667]--tried; and so got up to the
Bench, my Lord Chief-Justice Keeling being Judge. Here I stood bare, not
challenging, though I might well enough, to be covered. But here were
several fine trials; among others, several brought in for making it
their trade to set houses on fire merely to get plunder; and all proved
by the two little boys spoken of yesterday by Sir R. Ford, who did give
so good account of particulars that I never heard children in my life.
And I confess, though I was unsatisfied with the force given to such
little boys, to take away men's lives, yet, when I was told that my Lord
Chief-Justice did declare that there was no law against taking the oath
of children above twelve years old, and then heard from Sir R. Ford the
good account which the boys had given of their understanding the nature
and consequence of an oath, and now my own observation of the sobriety
and readiness of their answers, further than of any man of any rank that
come to give witness this day, though some men of years and learning, I
was a little amazed, and fully satisfied that they ought to have as
much credit as the rest. They proved against several, their consulting
several times at a bawdy-house in Moore-Fields, called the Russia House,
among many other rogueries, of setting houses on fire, that they might
gather the goods that were flung into the streets; and it is worth
considering how unsafe it is to have children play up and down this lewd
town. For these two boys, one is my Lady Montagu's (I know not what
Lady Montagu) son, and the other of good condition, were playing in
Moore-Fields, and one rogue, Gabriel Holmes, did come to them and
teach them to drink, and then to bring him plate and clothes from their
fathers' houses, and carry him into their houses, and leaving open the
doors for him, and at last were made of their conspiracy, and were at
the very burning of this house in Aldersgate Street, on Easter Sunday
at night last, and did gather up goods, as they had resolved before and
this Gabriel Holmes did advise to have had two houses set on fire, one
after another, that, while they were quenching of one, they might be
burning another. And it is pretty that G. Holmes did tell his fellows,
and these boys swore it, that he did set fire to a box of linen in the
Sheriffe, Sir Joseph Shelden's' house, while he was attending the fire
in Aldersgate Street, and the Sheriffe himself said that there was
a fire in his house, in a box of linen, at the same time, but cannot
conceive how this fellow should do it. The boys did swear against one
of them, that he had made it his part to pull the plug out of the engine
while it was a-playing; and it really was so. And goods they did carry
away, and the manner of the setting the house on fire was, that Holmes
did get to a cockpit; where, it seems, there was a publick cockpit,
and set fire to the straw in it, and hath a fire-ball at the end of the
straw, which did take fire, and so it prevailed, and burned the house;
and, among other things they carried away, he took six of the cocks that
were at the cockpit; and afterwards the boys told us how they had one
dressed, by the same token it was so hard they could not eat it. But
that which was most remarkable was the impudence of this Holmes, who
hath been arraigned often, and still got away; and on this business was
taken and broke loose just at Newgate Gate; and was last night luckily
taken about Bow, who got loose, and run into the river, and hid himself
in the rushes; and they pursued him with a dog, and the dog got him and
held him till he was taken. But the impudence of this fellow was such,
that he denied he ever saw the boys before, or ever knew the Russia
House, or that the people knew him; and by and by the mistress of the
Russia House was called in, being indicted, at the same time, about
another thing; and she denied that the fellow was of her acquaintance,
when it was pretty to see how the little boys did presently fall upon
her, and ask her how she durst say so, when she was always with them
when they met at her house, and particularly when she come in in her
smock before a dozen of them, at which the Court laughed, and put the
woman away. Well, this fellow Holmes was found guilty of the act of
burning the house, and other things, that he stood indicted for. And
then there were other good cases, as of a woman that come to serve a
gentlewoman, and in three days run away, betimes in the morning, with a
great deal of plate and rings, and other good things. It was time very
well spent to be here. Here I saw how favourable the judge was to a
young gentleman that struck one of the officers, for not making him
room: told him he had endangered the loss of his hand, but that he hoped
he had not struck him, and would suppose that he had not struck him.
About that the Court rose, and I to dinner with my Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs; where a good dinner and good discourse; the judge being there.
There was also tried this morning Fielding, which I thought had been
Bazilll--but it proved the other, and Bazill was killed; that killed
his brother, who was found guilty of murder, and nobody pitied him.
The judge seems to be a worthy man, and able: and do intend, for these
rogues that burned this house to be hung in some conspicuous place in
the town, for an example. After dinner to the Court again, where I heard
some more causes, but with so much trouble because of the hot weather
that I had no pleasure in it. Anon the Court rose, and I walked to Fleet
streete for my belt at the beltmaker's, and so home and to the office,
wrote some letters, and then home to supper and to bed.
5th. Up, and to the office, where Sir W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, [Sir]
T. Harvy and I met upon Mr. Gawden's accounts, and was at it all the
morning. This morning Sir G. Carteret did come to us, and walked in the
garden. It was to talk with me about some thing of my Lord Sandwich's,
but here he told us that the great seale is passed to my Lord Annesly
[Anglesey] for Treasurer of the Navy: so that now he do no more belong
to us: and I confess, for his sake, I am glad of it, and do believe the
other will have little content in it. At noon I home to dinner with my
wife, and after dinner to sing, and then to the office a little and Sir
W. Batten's, where I am vexed to hear that Nan Wright, now Mrs. Markham,
Sir W. Pen's mayde and whore, is come to sit in our pew at church, and
did so while my Lady Batten was there. I confess I am very much vexed at
it and ashamed. By and by out with [Sir] W. Pen to White Hall, where
I staid not, but to the New Exchange to buy gloves and other little
errands, and so home and to my office busy till night, and then walked
in the garden with my wife, and then to supper and to sing, and so to
bed. No news, but that the Dutch are gone clear from Harwich northward,
and have given out they are going to Yarmouth.
6th. Up, and to the office, where some of us sat busy all the morning.
At noon home to dinner, whither Creed come to dine with us and brings
the first word I hear of the news of a peace, the King having letters
come to him this noon signifying that it is concluded on, and that Mr.
Coventry is upon his way coming over for the King's satisfaction. The
news was so good and sudden that I went with great joy to [Sir] W.
Batten and then to [Sir] W. Pen to tell it them, and so home to
dinner, mighty merry, and light at my heart only on this ground, that a
continuing of the war must undo us, and so though peace may do the like
if we do not make good use of it to reform ourselves and get up money,
yet there is an opportunity for us to save ourselves. At least, for my
own particular, we shall continue well till I can get my money into
my hands, and then I will shift for myself. After dinner away, leaving
Creed there, by coach to Westminster, where to the Swan and drank, and
then to the Hall, and there talked a little with great joy of the peace,
and then to Mrs. Martin's, where I met with the good news que elle ne
est con child, the fear of which she did give me the other day, had
troubled me much. My joy in this made me send for wine, and thither
come her sister and Mrs. Cragg, and I staid a good while there. But here
happened the best instance of a woman's falseness in the world, that her
sister Doll, who went for a bottle of wine, did come home all blubbering
and swearing against one Captain Vandener, a Dutchman of the Rhenish
Wine House, that pulled her into a stable by the Dog tavern, and there
did tumble her and toss her, calling him all the rogues and toads in the
world, when she knows that elle hath suffered me to do any thing with
her a hundred times. Thence with joyful heart to White Hall to ask Mr.
Williamson the news, who told me that Mr. Coventry is coming over with
a project of a peace; which, if the States agree to, and our King, when
their Ministers on both sides have shewed it them, we shall agree, and
that is all: but the King, I hear, do give it out plain that the peace
is concluded. Thence by coach home, and there wrote a few letters, and
then to consult with my wife about going to Epsum to-morrow, sometimes
designing to go and then again not; and at last it grew late and I
bethought myself of business to employ me at home tomorrow, and so I
did not go. This afternoon I met with Mr. Rolt, who tells me that he is
going Cornett under Collonel Ingoldsby, being his old acquaintance,
and Ingoldsby hath a troop now from under the King, and I think it is a
handsome way for him, but it was an ominous thing, methought, just as he
was bidding me his last adieu, his nose fell a-bleeding, which ran in my
mind a pretty while after. This afternoon Sir Alexander Frazier, who
was of council for Sir J. Minnes, and had given him over for a dead man,
said to me at White Hall:--"What," says he, "Sir J. Minnes is dead." I
told him, "No! but that there is hopes of his life." Methought he looked
very sillily after it, and went his way. Late home to supper, a
little troubled at my not going to Epsum to-morrow, as I had resolved,
especially having the Duke of York and [Sir] W. Coventry out of town,
but it was my own fault and at last my judgment to stay, and so to
supper and to bed. This day, with great satisfaction, I hear that my
Lady Jemimah is brought to bed, at Hinchingbroke, of a boy.
7th (Lord's day). Up, and to my chamber, there to settle some papers,
and thither comes Mr. Moore to me and talked till church time of the
news of the times about the peace and the bad consequences of it if it
be not improved to good purpose of fitting ourselves for another war. He
tells me he heard that the discontented Parliament-men are fearful that
the next sitting the King will put for a general excise, by which to
raise him money, and then to fling off the Parliament, and raise a
land-army and keep them all down like slaves; and it is gotten among
them, that Bab. May, the Privy-purse, hath been heard to say that L300
a-year is enough for any country gentleman; which makes them mad, and
they do talk of 6 or L800,000 gone into the Privy-purse this war, when
in King James's time it arose but to L5,000, and in King Charles's but
L10,000 in a year. He tells me that a goldsmith in town told him that,
being with some plate with my Lady Castlemayne lately, she directed her
woman (the great beauty), "Wilson," says she, "make a note for this, and
for that, to the Privy-purse for money." He tells me a little more of
the baseness of the courses taken at Court in the case of Mr. Moyer, who
is at liberty, and is to give L500 for his liberty; but now the great
ones are divided, who shall have the money, the Duke of Albemarle on one
hand, and another Lord on the other; and that it is fain to be decided
by having the person's name put into the King's warrant for his liberty,
at whose intercession the King shall own that he is set at liberty;
which is a most lamentable thing, that we do professedly own that we do
these things, not for right and justice sake, but only to gratify this
or that person about the King. God forgive us all! Busy till noon, and
then home to dinner, and Mr. Moore come and dined with us, and much more
discourse at and after dinner of the same kind, and then, he gone, I to
my office busy till the evening, and then with my wife and Jane over to
Half-way house, a very good walk; and there drank, and in the cool of
the evening back again, and sang with pleasure upon the water, and were
mightily pleased in hearing a boatfull of Spaniards sing, and so home to
supper and to bed. Jane of late mighty fine, by reason of a laced whiske
her mistress hath given her, which makes her a very gracefull servant.
But, above all, my wife and I were the most surprised in the beauty of a
plain girle, which we met in the little lane going from Redriffe-stairs
into the fields, one of the prettiest faces that we think we ever saw in
our lives.
8th. Up, and to my chamber, and by and by comes Greeting, and to my
flageolett with him with a pretty deal of pleasure, and then to the
office, where [Sir] W. Batten, [Sir] W. Pen and I met about putting
men to work for the weighing of the ships in the River sunk. Then home
again, and there heard Mr. Caesar play some very good things on the lute
together with myself on the violl and Greeting on the viallin. Then with
my wife abroad by coach, she to her tailor's, I to Westminster to Burges
about my Tangier business, and thence to White Hall, where I spoke with
Sir John Nicholas, who tells me that Mr. Coventry is come from Bredah,
as was expected; but, contrary to expectation, brings with him two or
three articles which do not please the King: as, to retrench the Act of
Navigation, and then to ascertain what are contraband goods; and
then that those exiled persons, who are or shall take refuge in their
country, may be secure from any further prosecution. Whether these will
be enough to break the peace upon, or no, he cannot tell; but I perceive
the certainty of peace is blown over. So called on my wife and met Creed
by the way, and they two and I to Charing Cross, there to see the great
boy and girle that are lately come out of Ireland, the latter eight, the
former but four years old, of most prodigious bigness for their age. I
tried to weigh them in my arms, and find them twice as heavy as people
almost twice their age; and yet I am apt to believe they are very young.
Their father a little sorry fellow, and their mother an old Irish
woman. They have had four children of this bigness, and four of ordinary
growth, whereof two of each are dead. If, as my Lord Ormond certifies,
it be true that they are no older, it is very monstrous. So home and to
dinner with my wife and to pipe, and then I to the office, where busy
all the afternoon till the evening, and then with my wife by coach
abroad to Bow and Stratford, it being so dusty weather that there
was little pleasure in it, and so home and to walk in the garden, and
thither comes Pelling to us to talk, and so in and to supper, and then
to bed. All the world being as I hear very much damped that their hopes
of peace is become uncertain again.
9th. Up pretty betimes and to the office, where busy till office time,
and then we sat, but nothing to do but receive clamours about money.
This day my Lord Anglesey, our new Treasurer, come the first time to the
Board, and there sat with us till noon; and I do perceive he is a
very notable man, and understanding, and will do things regular, and
understand them himself, not trust Fenn, as Sir G. Carteret did, and
will solicit soundly for money, which I do fear was Sir G. Carteret's
fault, that he did not do that enough, considering the age we live in,
that nothing will do but by solicitation, though never so good for the
King or Kingdom, and a bad business well solicited shall, for peace
sake, speed when a good one shall not. But I do confess that I do think
it a very bold act of him to take upon himself the place of Treasurer
of the Navy at this time, but when I consider that a regular accountant
never ought to fear any thing nor have reason I then do cease to wonder.
At noon home to dinner and to play on the flageolet with my wife, and
then to the office, where very busy close at my office till late at
night. At night walked and sang with my wife in the garden, and so home
to supper and to bed. This evening news comes for certain that the Dutch
are with their fleete before Dover, and that it is expected they will
attempt something there. The business of the peace is quite dashed
again, so as now it is doubtful whether the King will condescend to what
the Dutch demand, it being so near the Parliament, it being a thing that
will, it may be, recommend him to them when they shall find that the
not having of a peace lies on his side by denying some of their demands.
This morning Captain Clerke (Robin Clerke) was at the table, now
commands the Monmouth, and did when the enemy passed the chaine at
Chatham the other day, who said publickly at the table that he did
admire at the order when it was brought him for sinking of the Monmouth
(to the endangering of the ship, and spoiling of all her provisions)
when her number of men were upon her that he could have carried her up
the River whither he pleased, and have-been a guard to the rest, and
could have sunk her at any time. He did carry some 100 barrels of powder
out of the ship to save it after the orders come for the sinking her.
He knew no reason at all, he declares, that could lead them to order the
sinking her, nor the rest of the great ships that were sunk, but above
all admires they would burn them on shore and sink them there, when it
had been better to have sunk them long way in the middle of the River,
for then they would not have burned them so low as now they did.
10th. Up, and to the office betimes, and there all the morning very
busy causing papers to be entered and sorted to put the office in order
against the Parliament. At noon home to dinner, and then to the office
again close all the afternoon upon the same occasion with great pleasure
till late, and then with my wife and Mercer in the garden and sung, and
then home and sung, and to supper with great content, and so to bed. The
Duke of York is come back last night from Harwich, the news he brings
I know not, nor hear anything to-day from Dover, whether the enemy have
made any attempt there as was expected. This day our girle Mary, whom
Payne helped us to, to be under his daughter, when she come to be our
cook-mayde, did go away declaring that she must be where she might earn
something one day, and spend it and play away the next. But a good civil
wench, and one neither wife nor I did ever give angry word to, but she
has this silly vanity that she must play.
11th. Up betimes and to my office, and there busy till the office (which
was only Sir T. Harvy and myself) met, and did little business and
then broke up. He tells me that the Council last night did sit close to
determine of the King's answer about the peace, and that though he do
not certainly know, yet by all discourse yesterday he do believe it is
peace, and that the King had said it should be peace, and had bidden
Alderman Baclewell to declare [it] upon the 'Change. It is high time for
us to have peace that the King and Council may get up their credits and
have time to do it, for that indeed is the bottom of all our misery,
that nobody have any so good opinion of the King and his Council and
their advice as to lend money or venture their persons, or estates, or
pains upon people that they know cannot thrive with all that we can do,
but either by their corruption or negligence must be undone. This indeed
is the very bottom of every man's thought, and the certain ground that
we must be ruined unless the King change his course, or the Parliament
come and alter it. At noon dined alone with my wife. All the afternoon
close at the office, very hard at gathering papers and putting things in
order against the Parliament, and at night home with my wife to supper,
and then to bed, in hopes to have all things in my office in good
condition in a little time for any body to examine, which I am sure none
else will.
12th. Up betimes and to my chamber, there doing business, and by and by
comes Greeting and begun a new month with him, and now to learn to set
anything from the notes upon the flageolet, but, Lord! to see how like a
fool he goes about to give me direction would make a man mad. I then
out and by coach to White Hall and to the Treasury chamber, where did
a little business, and thence to the Exchequer to Burges, about Tangier
business, and so back again, stepping into the Hall a little, and then
homeward by coach, and met at White Hall with Sir H. Cholmly, and so
into his coach, and he with me to the Excise Office, there to do a
little business also, in the way he telling me that undoubtedly the
peace is concluded; for he did stand yesterday where he did hear part
of the discourse at the Council table, and there did hear the King argue
for it. Among other things, that the spirits of the seamen were down,
and the forces of our enemies are grown too great and many for us, and
he would not have his subjects overpressed; for he knew an Englishman
would do as much as any man upon hopeful terms; but where he sees he is
overpressed, he despairs soon as any other; and, besides that, they have
already such a load of dejection upon them, that they will not be in
temper a good while again. He heard my Lord Chancellor say to the King,
"Sir," says he, "the whole world do complain publickly of treachery,
that things have been managed falsely by some of his great
ministers."--"Sir," says he, "I am for your Majesty's falling into a
speedy enquiry into the truth of it, and, where you meet with it, punish
it. But, at the same time, consider what you have to do, and make use of
your time for having a peace; for more money will not be given without
much trouble, nor is it, I fear, to be had of the people, nor will a
little do it to put us into condition of doing our business." But Sir
H. Cholmly tells me he [the] Chancellors did say the other day at his
table, "Treachery!" says he; "I could wish we could prove there
was anything of that in it; for that would imply some wit and
thoughtfulness; but we are ruined merely by folly and neglect." And
so Sir H. Cholmly tells me they did all argue for peace, and so he
do believe that the King hath agreed to the three points Mr. Coventry
brought over, which I have mentioned before, and is gone with them back.
He tells me further that the Duke of Buckingham was before the Council
the other day, and there did carry it very submissively and pleasingly
to the King; but to my Lord Arlington, who do prosecute the business,
he was most bitter and sharp, and very slighting. As to the letter about
his employing a man to cast the King's nativity, says he to the King,
"Sir," says he, "this is none of my hand, and I refer it to your Majesty
whether you do not know this hand." The King answered, that it was
indeed none of his, and that he knew whose it was, but could not recall
it presently. "Why," says he, "it is my sister of Richmond's, some
frolick or other of hers of some certain person; and there is nothing of
the King's name in it, but it is only said to be his by supposition, as
is said." The King, it seems, seemed not very much displeased with
what the Duke had said; but, however, he is still in the Tower, and no
discourse of his being out in haste, though my Lady Castlemayne hath
so far solicited for him that the King and she are quite fallen out: he
comes not to her, nor hath for some three or four days; and parted with
very foul words, the King calling her a whore, and a jade that meddled
with things she had nothing to do with at all: and she calling him fool;
and told him if he was not a fool, he would not suffer his businesses
to be carried on by fellows that did not understand them, and cause
his best subjects, and those best able to serve him, to be imprisoned;
meaning the Duke of Buckingham. And it seems she was not only for his
liberty, but to be restored to all his places; which, it is thought, he
will never be. While we were at the Excise office talking with Mr. Ball,
it was computed that the Parliament had given the King for this war
only, besides all prizes, and besides the L200,000 which he was to spend
of his own revenue, to guard the sea above L5,000,000 and odd L100,000;
which is a most prodigious sum. Sir H. Cholmly, as a true English
gentleman, do decry the King's expenses of his Privy-purse, which
in King James's time did not rise to above L5000 a year, and in King
Charles's to L10,000, do now cost us above L100,000, besides the great
charge of the monarchy, as the Duke of York L100,000 of it, and other
limbs of the Royal family, and the guards, which, for his part, says he,
"I would have all disbanded, for the King is not the better by them, and
would be as safe without them; for we have had no rebellions to make him
fear anything." But, contrarily, he is now raising of a land-army, which
this Parliament and kingdom will never bear; besides, the commanders
they put over them are such as will never be able to raise or command
them; but the design is, and the Duke of York, he says, is hot for it,
to have a land-army, and so to make the government like that of France,
but our princes have not brains, or at least care and forecast enough to
do that. It is strange how he and every body do now-a-days reflect upon
Oliver, and commend him, what brave things he did, and made all the
neighbour princes fear him; while here a prince, come in with all the
love and prayers and good liking of his people, who have given greater
signs of loyalty and willingness to serve him with their estates than
ever was done by any people, hath lost all so soon, that it is a miracle
what way a man could devise to lose so much in so little time. Thence he
set me down at my Lord Crew's and away, and I up to my Lord, where Sir
Thomas Crew was, and by and by comes Mr. Caesar, who teaches my Lady's
page upon the lute, and here Mr. Caesar did play some very fine things
indeed, to my great liking. Here was my Lord Hinchingbroke also, newly
come from Hinchingbroke, where all well, but methinks I knowing in what
case he stands for money by his demands to me and the report Mr. Moore
gives of the management of the family, makes me, God forgive me! to
contemn him, though I do really honour and pity them, though they
deserve it not, that have so good an estate and will live beyond it.
To dinner, and very good discourse with my Lord. And after dinner Sir
Thomas Crew and I alone, and he tells me how I am mightily in esteem
with the Parliament; there being harangues made in the House to the
Speaker, of Mr. Pepys's readiness and civility to show them every thing,
which I am at this time very glad of. He tells me the news of the King
and my Lady Castlemayne which I have wrote already this day, and the
design of the Parliament to look into things very well before they give
any more money, and I pray God they may. Thence, after dinner, to St.
James's, but missed Sir W. Coventry, and so home, and there find my wife
in a dogged humour for my not dining at home, and I did give her a pull
by the nose and some ill words, which she provoked me to by something
she spoke, that we fell extraordinarily out, insomuch, that I going to
the office to avoid further anger, she followed me in a devilish manner
thither, and with much ado I got her into the garden out of hearing, to
prevent shame, and so home, and by degrees I found it necessary to calme
her, and did, and then to the office, where pretty late, and then to
walk with her in the garden, and so to supper, and pretty good friends,
and so to bed with my mind very quiet.
13th. Up pretty betimes, it being mighty hot weather, I lying this
night, which I have not done, I believe, since a boy, I am sure not
since I had the stone before, with only a rugg and a sheet upon me. To
my chamber, and my wife up to do something, and by chance we fell out
again, but I to the office, and there we did at the board much business,
though the most was the dividing of L5000 which the Lords Commissioners
have with great difficulty found upon our letter to them this week that
would have required L50,000 among a great many occasions. After rising,
my Lord Anglesey, this being the second time of his being with us, did
take me aside and asked me where I lived, because he would be glad to
have some discourse with me. This I liked well enough, and told him I
would wait upon him, which I will do, and so all broke up, and I home to
dinner, where Mr. Pierce dined with us, who tells us what troubles me,
that my Lord Buckhurst hath got Nell away from the King's house, lies
with her, and gives her L100 a year, so as she hath sent her parts to
the house, and will act no more.
[Lord Buckhurst and Nell Gwyn, with the help of Sir Charles Sedley,
kept "merry house" at Epsom next door to the King's Head Inn (see
Cunningham's "Story of Nell Gwyn," ed. 1892, p. 57)]
And yesterday Sir Thomas Crew told me that Lacy lies a-dying of the pox,
and yet hath his whore by him, whom he will have to look on, he says,
though he can do no more; nor would receive any ghostly advice from a
Bishop, an old acquaintance of his, that went to see him. He says there
is a strangeness between the King and my Lady Castlemayne, as I was told
yesterday. After dinner my wife and I to the New Exchange, to pretty
maid Mrs. Smith's shop, where I left my wife, and I to Sir W. Coventry,
and there had the opportunity of talk with him, who I perceive do not
like our business of the change of the Treasurer's hand, and he tells me
that he is entered the lists with this new Treasurer before the King in
taking away the business of the Victualling money from his hand, and
the Regiment, and declaring that he hath no right to the 3d. per by
his patent, for that it was always heretofore given by particular Privy
Seal, and that the King and Council just upon his coming in had declared
L2000 a year sufficient. This makes him angry, but Sir W. Coventry I
perceive cares not, but do every day hold up his head higher and higher,
and this day I have received an order from the Commissioners of the
Treasury to pay no more pensions for Tangier, which I am glad of, and
he tells me they do make bold with all things of that kind. Thence I to
White Hall, and in the street I spied Mrs. Borroughs, and took a means
to meet and salute her and talk a little, and then parted, and I home
by coach, taking up my wife at the Exchange, and there I am mightily
pleased with this Mrs. Smith, being a very pleasant woman. So home,
and resolved upon going to Epsum tomorrow, only for ayre, and got Mrs.
Turner to go with us, and so home and to supper (after having been at
the office) and to bed. It is an odd and sad thing to say, that though
this be a peace worse than we had before, yet every body's fear almost
is, that the Dutch will not stand by their promise, now the King hath
consented to all they would have. And yet no wise man that I meet with,
when he comes to think of it, but wishes, with all his heart, a war; but
that the King is not a man to be trusted with the management of it. It
was pleasantly said by a man in this City, a stranger, to one that
told him that the peace was concluded, "Well," says he, "and have you
a peace?"--"Yes," says the other.--"Why, then," says he, "hold your
peace!" partly reproaching us with the disgracefulness of it, that it
is not fit to be mentioned; and next, that we are not able to make
the Dutch keep it, when they have a mind to break it. Sir Thomas Crew
yesterday, speaking of the King of France, how great a man he is, why,
says he, all the world thought that when the last Pope died, there would
have been such bandying between the Crowns of France and Spain, whereas,
when he was asked what he would have his ministers at Rome do, why, says
he, let them choose who they will; if the Pope will do what is fit, the
Pope and I will be friends. If he will not, I will take a course with
him: therefore, I will not trouble myself; and thereupon the election
was despatched in a little time--I think in a day, and all ended.
[Of Clement IX., Giulio Rispogliosi, elected June 20th, 1667, N.S.
He was succeeded by Clement X. in 1670.]
14th (Lord's day). Up, and my wife, a little before four, and to make us
ready; and by and by Mrs. Turner come to us, by agreement, and she and I
staid talking below, while my wife dressed herself, which vexed me that
she was so long about it keeping us till past five o'clock before she
was ready. She ready; and, taking some bottles of wine, and beer, and
some cold fowle with us into the coach, we took coach and four horses,
which I had provided last night, and so away. A very fine day, and so
towards Epsum, talking all the way pleasantly, and particularly of the
pride and ignorance of Mrs. Lowther, in having of her train carried up?
The country very fine, only the way very dusty. We got to Epsum by eight
o'clock, to the well; where much company, and there we 'light, and I
drank the water: they did not, but do go about and walk a little among
the women, but I did drink four pints, and had some very good stools by
it. Here I met with divers of our town, among others with several of the
tradesmen of our office, but did talk but little with them, it growing
hot in the sun, and so we took coach again and to the towne, to the
King's Head, where our coachman carried us, and there had an ill room
for us to go into, but the best in the house that was not taken up. Here
we called for drink, and bespoke dinner; and hear that my Lord Buckhurst
and Nelly are lodged at the next house, and Sir Charles Sidly with them
and keep a merry house. Poor girl! I pity her; but more the loss of her
at the King's house. Here I saw Gilsthrop, Sir W. Batten's clerk that
hath been long sick, he looks like a dying man, with a consumption
got, as is believed, by the pox, but God knows that the man is in a sad
condition, though he finds himself much better since his coming thither,
he says. W. Hewer rode with us, and I left him and the women, and myself
walked to church, where few people, contrary to what I expected, and
none I knew, but all the Houblons, brothers, and them after sermon I did
salute, and walk with towards my inne, which was in their way to their
lodgings. They come last night to see their elder brother, who stays
here at the waters, and away to-morrow. James did tell me that I was the
only happy man of the Navy, of whom, he says, during all this freedom
the people have taken of speaking treason, he hath not heard one bad
word of me, which is a great joy to me; for I hear the same of others,
but do know that I have deserved as well as most. We parted to meet
anon, and I to my women into a better room, which the people of the
house borrowed for us, and there to dinner, a good dinner, and were
merry, and Pendleton come to us, who happened to be in the house, and
there talked and were merry. After dinner, he gone, we all lay down
after dinner (the day being wonderful hot) to sleep, and each of us took
a good nap, and then rose; and Tom Wilson come to see me, and sat and
talked an hour; and I perceive he hath been much acquainted with Dr.
Fuller (Tom) and Dr. Pierson, and several of the great cavalier parsons
during the late troubles; and I was glad to hear him talk of them, which
he did very ingeniously, and very much of Dr. Fuller's art of memory,
which he did tell me several instances of. By and by he parted, and we
took coach and to take the ayre, there being a fine breeze abroad; and
I went and carried them to the well, and there filled some bottles of
water to carry home with me; and there talked with the two women that
farm the well, at L12 per annum, of the lord of the manor, Mr. Evelyn
(who with his lady, and also my Lord George Barkeley's lady, and their
fine daughter, that the King of France liked so well, and did dance so
rich in jewells before the King at the Ball I was at, at our Court, last
winter, and also their son, a Knight of the Bath, were at church this
morning). Here W. Hewer's horse broke loose, and we had the sport to see
him taken again. Then I carried them to see my cozen Pepys's house,
and 'light, and walked round about it, and they like it, as indeed it
deserves, very well, and is a pretty place; and then I walked them to
the wood hard by, and there got them in the thickets till they had lost
themselves, and I could not find the way into any of the walks in the
wood, which indeed are very pleasant, if I could have found them. At
last got out of the wood again; and I, by leaping down the little bank,
coming out of the wood, did sprain my right foot, which brought me great
present pain, but presently, with walking, it went away for the present,
and so the women and W. Hewer and I walked upon the Downes, where a
flock of sheep was; and the most pleasant and innocent sight that ever I
saw in my life--we find a shepherd and his little boy reading, far from
any houses or sight of people, the Bible to him; so I made the boy read
to me, which he did, with the forced tone that children do usually read,
that was mighty pretty, and then I did give him something, and went to
the father, and talked with him; and I find he had been a servant in my
cozen Pepys's house, and told me what was become of their old servants.
He did content himself mightily in my liking his boy's reading, and did
bless God for him, the most like one of the old patriarchs that ever
I saw in my life, and it brought those thoughts of the old age of the
world in my mind for two or three days after. We took notice of his
woolen knit stockings of two colours mixed, and of his shoes shod with
iron shoes, both at the toe and heels, and with great nails in the soles
of his feet, which was mighty pretty: and, taking notice of them, "Why,"
says the poor man, "the downes, you see, are full of stones, and we are
faine to shoe ourselves thus; and these," says he, "will make the stones
fly till they sing before me." I did give the poor man something, for
which he was mighty thankful, and I tried to cast stones with his horne
crooke. He values his dog mightily, that would turn a sheep any way
which he would have him, when he goes to fold them: told me there
was about eighteen scoare sheep in his flock, and that he hath four
shillings a week the year round for keeping of them: so we posted thence
with mighty pleasure in the discourse we had with this poor man, and
Mrs. Turner, in the common fields here, did gather one of the prettiest
nosegays that ever I saw in my life. So to our coach, and through Mr.
Minnes's wood, and looked upon Mr. Evelyn's house; and so over the
common, and through Epsum towne to our inne, in the way stopping a poor
woman with her milk-pail, and in one of my gilt tumblers did drink our
bellyfulls of milk, better than any creame; and so to our inne, and
there had a dish of creame, but it was sour, and so had no pleasure in
it; and so paid our reckoning, and took coach, it being about seven
at night, and passed and saw the people walking with their wives and
children to take the ayre, and we set out for home, the sun by and by
going down, and we in the cool of the evening all the way with much
pleasure home, talking and pleasing ourselves with the pleasure of this
day's work, Mrs. Turner mightily pleased with my resolution, which, I
tell her, is never to keep a country-house, but to keep a coach, and
with my wife on the Saturday to go sometimes for a day to this place,
and then quit to another place; and there is more variety and as little
charge, and no trouble, as there is in a country-house. Anon it
grew dark, and as it grew dark we had the pleasure to see several
glow-wormes, which was mighty pretty, but my foot begins more and more
to pain me, which Mrs. Turner, by keeping her warm hand upon it, did
much ease; but so that when we come home, which was just at eleven at
night, I was not able to walk from the lane's end to my house without
being helped, which did trouble me, and therefore to bed presently, but,
thanks be to God, found that I had not been missed, nor any business
happened in my absence. So to bed, and there had a cerecloth laid to my
foot and leg alone, but in great pain all night long.
15th. So as I was not able to go to-day to wait on the Duke of York with
my fellows, but was forced in bed to write the particulars for their
discourse there, and kept my bed all day, and anon comes Mrs. Turner,
and new-dressed my foot, and did it so, that I was at much ease
presently, and so continued all day, so as I slept much and well in the
daytime, and in the evening rose and eat something, where our poor Jane
very sad for the death of her poor brother, who hath left a wife and two
small children. I did give her 20s. in money, and what wine she needed,
for the burying him. This evening come to see me Pelling, and we did
sing together, and he sings well indeed, and after supper I was willing
to go to bed to ease my foot again, which I did, and slept well all
night.
16th. In the morning I was able to put on a wide shoe on the foot, and
to the office without much pain, and there sat all the morning. At noon
home to dinner, where Creed to discourse of our Tangier business, which
stands very bad in the business of money, and therefore we expect to
have a committee called soon, and to acquaint them among other things
with the order come to me for the not paying of any more pensions. We
dined together, and after dinner I to the office, and there very late,
very busy, doing much business indeed, and so with great comfort home to
supper, and so to bed to ease my foot, which toward night began to ake.
17th. Up, and to my chamber to set down my Journall of Sunday last with
much pleasure, and my foot being pretty well, but yet I am forced to
limp. Then by coach, set my wife down at the New Exchange, and I to
White Hall to the Treasury chamber, but to little purpose. So to Mr.
Burges to as little. There to the Hall and talked with Mrs. Michell, who
begins to tire me about doing something for her elder son, which I am
willing to do, but know not what. Thence to White Hall again, and thence
away, and took up my wife at Unthanke's, and left her at the 'Change,
and so I to Bennet's to take up a bill for the last silk I had for my
vest and coat, which I owe them for, and so to the Excise Office,
and there did a little business, and so to Temple Bar and staid at my
bookseller's till my wife calls me, and so home, where I am saluted with
the news of Hogg's bringing a rich Canary prize to Hull:
[Thomas Pointer to Samuel Pepys (Hull, July 15th): "Capt. Hogg has
brought in a great prize laden with Canary wine; also Capt. Reeves
of the 'Panther,' and the 'Fanfan,' whose commander is slain, have
come in with their prizes" ("Calendar of State Papers," 1667,
p. 298).]
and Sir W. Batten do offer me L1000 down for my particular share, beside
Sir Richard Ford's part, which do tempt me; but yet I would not take it,
but will stand and fall with the company. He and two more, the Panther
and Fanfan, did enter into consortship; and so they have all brought
in each a prize, though ours worth as much as both theirs, and more.
However, it will be well worth having, God be thanked for it! This news
makes us all very glad. I at Sir W. Batten's did hear the particulars of
it; and there for joy he did give the company that were there a bottle
or two of his own last year's wine, growing at Walthamstow, than which
the whole company said they never drank better foreign wine in their
lives. Home, and to dinner, and by and by comes Mr. Pierce, who is
interested in the Panther, for some advice, and then comes Creed, and he
and I spent the whole afternoon till eight at night walking and talking
of sundry things public and private in the garden, but most of all of
the unhappy state of this nation at this time by the negligence of
the King and his Council. The Duke of Buckingham is, it seems, set at
liberty, without any further charge against him or other clearing of
him, but let to go out; which is one of the strangest instances of the
fool's play with which all publick things are done in this age, that is
to be apprehended. And it is said that when he was charged with
making himself popular--as indeed he is, for many of the discontented
Parliament, Sir Robert Howard and Sir Thomas Meres, and others, did
attend at the Council-chamber when he was examined--he should answer,
that whoever was committed to prison by my Lord Chancellor or my Lord
Arlington, could not want being popular. But it is worth considering
the ill state a Minister of State is in, under such a Prince as ours
is; for, undoubtedly, neither of those two great men would have been
so fierce against the Duke of Buckingham at the Council-table the
other day, had they [not] been assured of the King's good liking, and
supporting them therein: whereas, perhaps at the desire of my Lady
Castlemayne, who, I suppose, hath at last overcome the King, the Duke of
Buckingham is well received again, and now these men delivered up to the
interest he can make for his revenge. He told me over the story of Mrs.
Stewart, much after the manner which I was told it long since, and
have entered it in this book, told me by Mr. Evelyn; only he says it is
verily believed that the King did never intend to marry her to any but
himself, and that the Duke of York and Lord Chancellor were jealous
of it; and that Mrs. Stewart might be got with child by the King, or
somebody else, and the King own a marriage before his contract, for it
is but a contract, as he tells me, to this day, with the Queene, and so
wipe their noses of the Crown; and that, therefore, the Duke of York and
Chancellor did do all they could to forward the match with my Lord Duke
of Richmond, that she might be married out of the way; but, above all,
it is a worthy part that this good lady hath acted. Thus we talked till
night and then parted, and so I to my office and did business, and so
home to supper, and there find my sister Michell
[The wife of Balthazar St. Michel, Mrs. Pepys's brother.--B. Leigh,
opposite to Sheerness.--R.]
come from Lee to see us; but do tattle so much of the late business
of the Dutch coming thither that I was weary of it. Yet it is worth
remembering what she says: that she hath heard both seamen and soldiers
swear they would rather serve the Dutch than the King, for they should
be better used.
[Reference has already been made to Andrew Marvell's "Instructions
to a Painter", in which the unpaid English sailors are described as
swimming to the Dutch ships, where they received the money which was
withheld from them on their own ships.]
She saw "The Royal Charles" brought into the river by them; and how
they shot off their great guns for joy, when they got her out of Chatham
River. I would not forget that this very day when we had nothing to do
almost but five merchantmen to man in the River, which have now been
about it some weeks, I was asked at Westminster, what the matter was
that there was such ado kept in pressing of men, as it seems there is
thereabouts at this day. So after supper we all to bed, my foot very
well again, I thank God.
18th. Up and to the office, where busy all the morning, and most of our
time taken up with Carcasse upon some complaints brought in against him,
and many other petitions about tickets lost, which spends most of our
time. Home to dinner, and then to the office again, where very well
employed at the office till evening; and then being weary, took out my
wife and Will Batelier by coach to Islington, but no pleasure in our
going, the way being so dusty that one durst not breathe. Drank at the
old house, and so home, and then to the office a little, and so home to
supper and to bed.
19th. Up and comes the flageolet master, and brings me two new great
Ivory pipes which cost me 32s., and so to play, and he being done, and
Balty's wife taking her leave of me, she going back to Lee to-day, I to
Westminster and there did receive L15,000 orders out of the Exchequer
in part of a bigger sum upon the eleven months tax for Tangier, part of
which I presently delivered to Sir H. Cholmly, who was there, and thence
with Mr. Gawden to Auditor Woods and Beales to examine some precedents
in his business of the Victualling on his behalf, and so home, and in my
way by coach down Marke Lane, mightily pleased and smitten to see, as I
thought, in passing, the pretty woman, the line-maker's wife that lived
in Fenchurch Streete, and I had great mind to have gone back to have
seen, but yet would correct my nature and would not. So to dinner with
my wife, and then to sing, and so to the office, where busy all the
afternoon late, and to Sir W. Batten's and to Sir R. Ford's, we all
to consider about our great prize at Hull, being troubled at our being
likely to be troubled with Prince Rupert, by reason of Hogg's consorting
himself with two privateers of the Prince's, and so we study how to ease
or secure ourselves. So to walk in the garden with my wife, and then to
supper and to bed. One tells me that, by letter from Holland, the people
there are made to believe that our condition in England is such as they
may have whatever they will ask; and that so they are mighty high, and
despise us, or a peace with us; and there is too much reason for them
to do so. The Dutch fleete are in great squadrons everywhere still about
Harwich, and were lately at Portsmouth; and the last letters say at
Plymouth, and now gone to Dartmouth to destroy our Streights' fleete
lately got in thither; but God knows whether they can do it any hurt,
or no, but it was pretty news come the other day so fast, of the Dutch
fleets being in so many places, that Sir W. Batten at table cried, "By
God," says he, "I think the Devil shits Dutchmen."
20th. Up and to the office, where all the morning, and then towards the
'Change, at noon, in my way observing my mistake yesterday in Mark Lane,
that the woman I saw was not the pretty woman I meant, the line-maker's
wife, but a new-married woman, very pretty, a strong-water seller: and
in going by, to my content, I find that the very pretty daughter at the
Ship tavern, at the end of Billiter Lane, is there still, and in the
bar: and, I believe, is married to him that is new come, and hath new
trimmed the house. Home to dinner, and then to the office, we having
dispatched away Mr. Oviatt to Hull, about our prizes there; and I have
wrote a letter of thanks by him to Lord Bellasses, who had writ to me to
offer all his service for my interest there, but I dare not trust him.
In the evening late walking in the garden with my wife, and then to bed.
21st (Lord's day). Up betimes, and all the morning, and then to dinner
with my wife alone, and then all the afternoon in like manner, in my
chamber, making up my Tangier accounts and drawing a letter, which
I have done at last to my full content, to present to the Lords
Commissioners for Tangier tomorrow; and about seven at night, when
finished my letter and weary, I and my wife and Mercer up by water to
Barne Elmes, where we walked by moonshine, and called at Lambeth, and
drank and had cold meat in the boat, and did eat, and sang, and down
home, by almost twelve at night, very fine and pleasant, only could not
sing ordinary songs with the freedom that otherwise I would. Here Mercer
tells me that the pretty maid of the Ship tavern I spoke of yesterday is
married there, which I am glad of. So having spent this night, with much
serious pleasure to consider that I am in a condition to fling away an
angell
[The angel coin was so called from the figure of the Archangel
Michael in conflict with the dragon on the obverse. On the reverse
was a representation of a ship with a large cross as a mast. The
last angel coined was in Charles I.'s reign, and the value varied
from 6s. 8d. to 10s.]
in such a refreshment to myself and family, we home and to bed, leaving
Mercer, by the way, at her own door.
22nd. Up, and with Sir W. Batten and [Sir] J. Minnes to St. James's,
where the first time I have been there since the enemy's being with us,
where little business but lack of money, which now is so professed by
Sir W. Coventry as nothing is more, and the King's whole business owned
to be at a stand for want of it. So up to my Lord Chancellor's, where
was a Committee of Tangier in my Lord's roome, where he is to hear
causes, where all the judges' pictures hang up, very fine. Here I read
my letter to them, which was well received, and they did fall seriously
to discourse the want of money and other particulars, and to some pretty
good purpose. But to see how Sir W. Coventry did oppose both my
Lord Chancellor and the Duke of York himself, about the Order of the
Commissioners of the Treasury to me for not paying of pensions, and with
so much reason, and eloquence so natural, was admirable. And another
thing, about his pressing for the reduction of the charge of Tangier,
which they would have put off to another time; "But," says he, "the King
suffers so much by the putting off of the consideration of reductions
of charge, that he is undone; and therefore I do pray you, sir, to his
Royal Highness, that when any thing offers of the kind, you will not let
it escape you." Here was a great bundle of letters brought hither, sent
up from sea, from a vessel of ours that hath taken them after they had
been flung over by a Dutchman; wherein, among others, the Duke of York
did read the superscription of one to De Witt, thus "To the most wise,
foreseeing and discreet, These, &c.;" which, I thought with myself, I
could have been glad might have been duly directed to any one of them
at the table, though the greatest men in this kingdom. The Duke of
York, the Lord Chancellor, my Lord Duke of Albemarle, Arlington, Ashley,
Peterborough, and Coventry (the best of them all for parts), I perceive
they do all profess their expectation of a peace, and that suddenly, and
do advise of things accordingly, and do all speak of it (and expressly,
I remember, the Duke of Albemarle), saying that they hoped for it.
Letters were read at the table from Tangier that Guiland is wholly
lost, and that he do offer Arzill to us to deliver it to us. But Sir W.
Coventry did declare his opinion that we should have nothing to do
with it, and said that if Tangier were offered us now, as the King's
condition is, he would advise against the taking it; saying, that the
King's charge is too great, and must be brought down, it being, like the
fire of this City, never to be mastered till you have brought it under
you; and that these places abroad are but so much charge to the King,
and we do rather hitherto strive to greaten them than lessen them; and
then the King is forced to part with them, "as," says he, "he did with
Dunkirke," by my Lord Tiviott's making it so chargeable to the King as
he did that, and would have done Tangier, if he had lived: I perceive he
is the only man that do seek the King's profit, and is bold to deliver
what he thinks on every occasion. Having broke up here, I away with Mr.
Gawden in his coach to the 'Change, and there a little, and then home
and dined, and then to the office, and by and by with my wife to White
Hall (she to Unthanke's), and there met Creed and did a little business
at the Treasury chamber, and then to walk in Westminster Hall an hour
or two, with much pleasure reflecting upon our discourse to-day at the
Tangier meeting, and crying up the worth of Sir W. Coventry. Creed tells
me of the fray between the Duke of Buckingham at the Duke's playhouse
the last Saturday (and it is the first day I have heard that they have
acted at either the King's or Duke's houses this month or six weeks) and
Henry Killigrew, whom the Duke of Buckingham did soundly beat and take
away his sword, and make a fool of, till the fellow prayed him to spare
his life; and I am glad of it; for it seems in this business the Duke of
Buckingham did carry himself very innocently and well, and I wish he had
paid this fellow's coat well. I heard something of this at the 'Change
to-day: and it is pretty to hear how people do speak kindly of the Duke
of Buckingham, as one that will enquire into faults; and therefore they
do mightily favour him. And it puts me in mind that, this afternoon,
Billing, the Quaker, meeting me in the Hall, come to me, and after a
little discourse did say, "Well," says he, "now you will be all called
to an account;" meaning the Parliament is drawing near. This done I took
coach and took up my wife, and so home, and after a little at the office
I home to my chamber a while, and then to supper and to bed.
23rd: Up betimes and to the office, doing something towards our great
account to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and anon the office
sat, and all the morning doing business. At noon home to dinner, and
then close to my business all the afternoon. In the evening Sir R. Ford
is come back from the Prince and tells Sir W. Batten and me how basely
Sir W. Pen received our letter we sent him about the prizes at Hull, and
slily answered him about the Prince's leaving all his concerns to him,
but the Prince did it afterward by letter brought by Sir R. Ford to us,
which Sir W. Pen knows not of, but a very rogue he is. By and by comes
sudden news to me by letter from the Clerke of the Cheque at Gravesend,
that there were thirty sail of Dutch men-of-war coming up into the Hope
this last tide: which I told Sir W. Pen of; but he would not believe it,
but laughed, and said it was a fleete of Billanders,
["Bilander. A small merchant vessel with two masts, particularly
distinguished from other vessels with two masts by the form of her
mainsail, which is bent to the whole length of her yard, hanging
fore and aft, and inclined to the horizon at an angle of about 45
deg. Few vessels are now rigged in this manner, and the name is
rather indiscriminately used."--Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book.]
and that the guns that were heard was the salutation of the Swede's
Ambassador that comes over with them. But within half an hour comes
another letter from Captain Proud, that eight of them were come into
the Hope, and thirty more following them, at ten this morning. By and
by comes an order from White Hall to send down one of our number to
Chatham, fearing that, as they did before, they may make a show first up
hither, but then go to Chatham: so my Lord Bruncker do go, and we here
are ordered to give notice to the merchant men-of-war, gone below the
barricado at Woolwich, to come up again. So with much trouble to supper,
home and to bed.
24th. Betimes this morning comes a letter from the Clerke of the Cheque
at Gravesend to me, to tell me that the Dutch fleete did come all into
the Hope yesterday noon, and held a fight with our ships from thence
till seven at night; that they had burned twelve fire-ships, and we took
one of their's, and burned five of our fire-ships. But then rising and
going to Sir W. Batten, he tells me that we have burned one of their
men-of-war, and another of theirs is blown up: but how true this is, I
know not. But these fellows are mighty bold, and have had the fortune of
the wind easterly this time to bring them up, and prevent our troubling
them with our fire-ships; and, indeed, have had the winds at their
command from the beginning, and now do take the beginning of the spring,
as if they had some great design to do. I to my office, and there hard
at work all the morning, to my great content, abstracting the contract
book into my abstract book, which I have by reason of the war omitted
for above two years, but now am endeavouring to have all my books ready
and perfect against the Parliament comes, that upon examination I may
be in condition to value myself upon my perfect doing of my own duty.
At noon home to dinner, where my wife mighty musty,--[Dull, heavy,
spiritless]--but I took no notice of it, but after dinner to the office,
and there with Mr. Harper did another good piece of work about my late
collection of the accounts of the Navy presented to the Parliament at
their last session, which was left unfinished, and now I have done it
which sets my mind at my ease, and so, having tired myself, I took a
pair of oares about five o'clock, which I made a gally at Redriffe,
and so with very much pleasure down to Gravesend, all the way with
extraordinary content reading of Boyle's Hydrostatickes, which the more
I read and understand, the more I admire, as a most excellent piece of
philosophy; as we come nearer Gravesend, we hear the Dutch fleete and
ours a-firing their guns most distinctly and loud. But before we got to
Gravesend they ceased, and it grew darkish, and so I landed only (and
the flood being come) and went up to the Ship and discoursed with the
landlord of the house, who undeceives me in what I heard this morning
about the Dutch having lost two men-of-war, for it is not so, but
several of their fire-ships. He do say, that this afternoon they did
force our ships to retreat, but that now they are gone down as far as
Shield-haven: but what the event hath been of this evening's guns they
know not, but suppose not much, for they have all this while shot at
good distance one from another. They seem confident of the security of
this town and the River above it, if the enemy should come up so high;
their fortifications being so good, and guns many. But he do say
that people do complain of Sir Edward Spragg, that he hath not done
extraordinary; and more of Sir W. Jenings, that he come up with his
tamkins
[Tamkin, or tampion, the wooden stopper of a cannon placed in the
muzzle to exclude water or dust.]
in his guns. Having discoursed this a little with him, and eat a bit
of cold venison and drank, I away, took boat, and homeward again, with
great pleasure, the moon shining, and it being a fine pleasant cool
evening, and got home by half-past twelve at night, and so to bed.
25th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning. At noon home
to dinner, and there sang with much pleasure with my wife, and so to the
office again, and busy all the afternoon. At night Sir W. Batten, [Sir]
W. Pen, and myself, and Sir R. Ford, did meet in the garden to discourse
about our prizes at Hull. It appears that Hogg is the eeriest rogue, the
most observable embezzler, that ever was known. This vexes us, and made
us very free and plain with Sir W. Pen, who hath been his great patron,
and as very a rogue as he. But he do now seem to own that his opinion
is changed of him, and that he will joyne with us in our strictest
inquiries, and did sign to the letters we had drawn, which he had
refused before, and so seemingly parted good friends, and then I
demanded of Sir R. Ford and the rest, what passed to-day at the meeting
of the Parliament: who told me that, contrary to all expectation by the
King that there would be but a thin meeting, there met above 300 this
first day, and all the discontented party; and, indeed, the whole House
seems to be no other almost. The Speaker told them, as soon as they were
sat, that he was ordered by the King to let them know he was hindered
by some important business to come to them and speak to them, as he
intended; and, therefore, ordered him to move that they would adjourn
themselves till Monday next, it being very plain to all the House that
he expects to hear by that time of the sealing of the peace, which by
letters, it seems, from my Lord Holis, was to be sealed the last Sunday.
[The peace was signed on the 31st. See August 9th.--B.]
But before they would come to the question whether they would adjourn,
Sir Thomas Tomkins steps up and tells them, that all the country
is grieved at this new raised standing army; and that they thought
themselves safe enough in their trayn-bands; and that, therefore, he
desired the King might be moved to disband them. Then rises Garraway and
seconds him, only with this explanation, which he said he believed the
other meant; that, as soon as peace should be concluded, they might be
disbanded. Then rose Sir W. Coventry, and told them that he did approve
of what the last gentleman said; but also, that at the same time he did
no more than what, he durst be bold to say, he knew to be the King's
mind, that as soon as peace was concluded he would do it of himself.
Then rose Sir Thomas Littleton, and did give several reasons for the
uncertainty of their meeting again but to adjourne, in case news comes
of the peace being ended before Monday next, and the possibility of the
King's having some about him that may endeavour to alter his own,
and the good part of his Council's advice, for the keeping up of the
land-army; and, therefore, it was fit that they did present it to
the King as their desire, that, as soon as peace was concluded, the
land-army might be laid down, and that this their request might be
carried to the King by them of their House that were Privy-councillors;
which was put to the vote, and carried 'nemine contradicente'. So after
this vote passed, they adjourned: but it is plain what the effects of
this Parliament will be, if they be suffered to sit, that they will
fall foul upon the faults of the Government; and I pray God they may
be permitted to do it, for nothing else, I fear, will save the King and
kingdom than the doing it betimes. They gone, I to walk with my wife in
the garden, and then home to supper and to bed.
26th. Up, and betimes to the office, where Mr. Hater and I together all
the morning about the perfecting of my abstract book of contracts and
other things to my great content. At noon home to dinner, and then to
the office again all the afternoon doing of other good things there,
and being tired, I then abroad with my wife and left her at the New
Exchange, while I by water thence to Westminster to the Hall, but shops
were shut up, and so to White Hall by water, and thence took up my wife
at Unthanke's, and so home, mightily tired with the dust in riding in a
coach, it being mighty troublesome. So home and to my office, and there
busy very late, and then to walk a little with my wife, and then to
supper and to bed. No news at all this day what we have done to the
enemy, but that the enemy is fallen down, and we after them, but to
little purpose.
27th. Up and to the office, where I hear that Sir John Coventry is come
over from Bredah, a nephew, I think, of Sir W. Coventry's: but what
message he brings I know not. This morning news is come that Sir Jos.
Jordan is come from Harwich, with sixteen fire-ships and four other
little ships of war: and did attempt to do some execution upon the
enemy, but did it without discretion, as most do say, so as that they
have been able to do no good, but have lost four of their fire ships.
They attempted [this], it seems, when the wind was too strong, that our
grapplings could not hold: others say we come to leeward of them, but
all condemn it as a foolish management. They are come to Sir Edward
Spragg about Lee, and the Dutch are below at the Nore. At the office all
the morning; and at noon to the 'Change, where I met Fenn; and he tells
me that Sir John Coventry do bring the confirmation of the peace; but
I do not find the 'Change at all glad of it, but rather the worse, they
looking upon it as a peace made only to preserve the King for a time in
his lusts and ease, and to sacrifice trade and his kingdoms only to his
own pleasures: so that the hearts of merchants are quite down. He tells
me that the King and my Lady Castlemayne are quite broke off, and she is
gone away, and is with child, and swears the King shall own it; and she
will have it christened in the Chapel at White Hall so, and owned for
the King's, as other Kings have done; or she will bring it into White
Hall gallery, and dash the brains of it out before the King's face.
[Charles owned only four children by Lady Castlemaine-Anne, Countess
of Sussex, and the Dukes of Southampton, Grafton, and
Northumberland. The last of these was born in 1665. The paternity
of all her other children was certainly doubtful. See pp. 50,52.]
He tells me that the King and Court were never in the world so bad as
they are now for gaming, swearing, whoring, and drinking, and the most
abominable vices that ever were in the world; so that all must come to
nought. He told me that Sir G. Carteret was at this end of the town; so
I went to visit him in Broad Street; and there he and I together: and he
is mightily pleased with my Lady Jem's having a son; and a mighty glad
man he is. He [Sir George Carteret] tells me, as to news, that the
peace is now confirmed, and all that over. He says it was a very unhappy
motion in the House the other day about the land-army; for, whether the
King hath a mind of his own to do the thing desired or no, his doing it
will be looked upon as a thing done only in fear of the Parliament. He
says that the Duke of York is suspected to be the great man that is for
raising of this army, and bringing things to be commanded by an army;
but he believes that he is wronged, and says that he do know that he is
wronged therein. He do say that the Court is in a way to ruin all for
their pleasures; and says that he himself hath once taken the liberty to
tell the King the necessity of having, at least, a show of religion in
the Government, and sobriety; and that it was that, that did set up and
keep up Oliver, though he was the greatest rogue in the world, and that
it is so fixed in the nature of the common Englishman that it will not
out of him. He tells me that while all should be labouring to settle the
kingdom, they are at Court all in factions, some for and others against
my Lord Chancellor, and another for and against another man, and the
King adheres to no man, but this day delivers himself up to this, and
the next to that, to the ruin of himself and business; that he is at
the command of any woman like a slave, though he be the best man to the
Queene in the world, with so much respect, and never lies a night from
her: but yet cannot command himself in the presence of a woman he likes.
Having had this discourse, I parted, and home to dinner, and thence to
the office all the afternoon to my great content very busy. It raining
this day all day to our great joy, it having not rained, I think, this
month before, so as the ground was everywhere so burned and dry as could
be; and no travelling in the road or streets in London, for dust. At
night late home to supper and to bed.
28th (Lord's day). Up and to my chamber, where all the morning close,
to draw up a letter to Sir W. Coventry upon the tidings of peace, taking
occasion, before I am forced to it, to resign up to his Royall Highness
my place of the Victualling, and to recommend myself to him by promise
of doing my utmost to improve this peace in the best manner we may, to
save the kingdom from ruin. By noon I had done this to my good content,
and then with my wife all alone to dinner, and so to my chamber all the
afternoon to write my letter fair, and sent it away, and then to talk
with my wife, and read, and so by daylight (the only time I think I have
done it this year) to supper, and then to my chamber to read and so to
bed, my mind very much eased after what I have done to-day.
29th. Up, and with Sir W. Batten to St. James's, to Sir W. Coventry's
chamber; where, among other things, he come to me, and told me that he
had received my yesterday's letters, and that we concurred very well in
our notions; and that, as to my place which I had offered to resign of
the Victualling, he had drawn up a letter at the same time for the Duke
of York's signing for the like places in general raised during this war;
and that he had done me right to the Duke of York, to let him know that
I had, of my own accord, offered to resign mine. The letter do bid us to
do all things, particularizing several, for the laying up of the ships,
and easing the King of charge; so that the war is now professedly over.
By and by up to the Duke of York's chamber; and there all the talk was
about Jordan's coming with so much indiscretion, with his four little
frigates and sixteen fire-ships from Harwich, to annoy the enemy. His
failures were of several sorts, I know not which the truest: that he
come with so strong a gale of wind, that his grapplings would not hold;
that he did come by their lee; whereas if he had come athwart their
hawse, they would have held; that they did not stop a tide, and come up
with a windward tide, and then they would not have come so fast. Now,
there happened to be Captain Jenifer by, who commanded the Lily in this
business, and thus says that, finding the Dutch not so many as they
expected, they did not know but that there were more of them above, and
so were not so earnest to the setting upon these; that they did do what
they could to make the fire-ships fall in among the enemy; and, for
their lives, neither Sir J. Jordan nor others could, by shooting several
times at them, make them go in; and it seems they were commanded by some
idle fellows, such as they could of a sudden gather up at Harwich; which
is a sad consideration that, at such a time as this, where the saving
the reputation of the whole nation lay at stake, and after so long a
war, the King had not credit to gather a few able men to command these
vessels. He says, that if they had come up slower, the enemy would, with
their boats and their great sloops, which they have to row with a great
many men, they would, and did, come and cut up several of our fireships,
and would certainly have taken most of them, for they do come with a
great provision of these boats on purpose, and to save their men, which
is bravely done of them, though they did, on this very occasion, shew
great fear, as they say, by some men leaping overboard out of a great
ship, as these were all of them of sixty and seventy guns a-piece, which
one of our fireships laid on board, though the fire did not take. But
yet it is brave to see what care they do take to encourage their men to
provide great stores of boats to save them, while we have not credit
to find one boat for a ship. And, further, he told us that this new
way used by Deane, and this Sir W. Coventry observed several times, of
preparing of fire-ships, do not do the work; for the fire, not being
strong and quick enough to flame up, so as to take the rigging and
sails, lies smothering a great while, half an hour before it flames, in
which time they can get her off safely, though, which is uncertain, and
did fail in one or two this bout, it do serve to burn our own ships.
But what a shame it is to consider how two of our ships' companies did
desert their ships for fear of being taken by their boats, our little
frigates being forced to leave them, being chased by their greater!
And one more company did set their ship on fire, and leave her; which
afterwards a Feversham fisherman come up to, and put out the fire, and
carried safe into Feversham, where she now is, which was observed by
the Duke of York, and all the company with him, that it was only want of
courage, and a general dismay and abjectness of spirit upon all our men;
and others did observe our ill management, and God Almighty's curse
upon all that we have in hand, for never such an opportunity was of
destroying so many good ships of theirs as we now had. But to see how
negligent we were in this business, that our fleete of Jordan's should
not have any notice where Spragg was, nor Spragg of Jordan's, so as
to be able to meet and join in the business, and help one another; but
Jordan, when he saw Spragg's fleete above, did think them to be another
part of the enemy's fleete! While, on the other side, notwithstanding
our people at Court made such a secret of Jordan's design that nobody
must know it, and even this Office itself must not know it; nor for my
part I did not, though Sir W. Batten says by others' discourse to him
he had heard something of it; yet De Ruyter, or he that commanded this
fleete, had notice of it, and told it to a fisherman of ours that he
took and released on Thursday last, which was the day before our fleete
came to him. But then, that, that seems most to our disgrace, and which
the Duke of York did take special and vehement notice of, is, that when
the Dutch saw so many fire-ships provided for them, themselves lying,
I think, about the Nore, they did with all their great ships, with a
North-east wind, as I take it they said, but whatever it was, it was
a wind that we should not have done it with, turn down to the
Middle-ground; which the Duke of York observed, never was nor would have
been undertaken by ourselves. And whereas some of the company answered,
it was their great fear, not their choice that made them do it, the Duke
of York answered, that it was, it may be, their fear and wisdom that
made them do it; but yet their fear did not make them mistake, as we
should have done, when we have had no fear upon us, and have run our
ships on ground. And this brought it into my mind, that they managed
their retreat down this difficult passage, with all their fear, better
than we could do ourselves in the main sea, when the Duke of Albemarle
run away from the Dutch, when the Prince was lost, and the Royal Charles
and the other great ships come on ground upon the Galloper. Thus, in
all things, in wisdom, courage, force, knowledge of our own streams, and
success, the Dutch have the best of us, and do end the war with victory
on their side. The Duke of York being ready, we into his closet, but,
being in haste to go to the Parliament House, he could not stay. So we
parted, and to Westminster Hall, where the Hall full of people to see
the issue of the day, the King being come to speak to the House to-day.
One thing extraordinary was, this day a man, a Quaker, came naked
through the Hall, only very civilly tied about the privities to avoid
scandal, and with a chafing-dish of fire and brimstone burning upon his
head, did pass through the Hall, crying, "Repent! repent!" I up to
the Painted Chamber, thinking to have got in to have heard the King's
speech, but upon second thoughts did not think it would be worth the
crowd, and so went down again into the Hall and there walked with
several, among others my Lord Rutherford, who is come out of Scotland,
and I hope I may get some advantage by it in reference to the business
of the interest of the great sum of money I paid him long since without
interest. But I did not now move him in it. But presently comes down the
House of Commons, the King having made then a very short and no pleasing
speech to them at all, not at all giving them thanks for their readiness
to come up to town at this busy time; but told them that he did think
he should have had occasion for them, but had none, and therefore did
dismiss them to look after their own occasions till October; and that he
did wonder any should offer to bring in a suspicion that he intended
to rule by an army, or otherwise than by the laws of the land, which he
promised them he would do; and so bade them go home and settle the minds
of the country in that particular; and only added, that he had made a
peace which he did believe they would find reasonable, and a good
peace, but did give them none of the particulars thereof. Thus they are
dismissed again to their general great distaste, I believe the greatest
that ever Parliament was, to see themselves so fooled, and the nation in
certain condition of ruin, while the King, they see, is only governed by
his lust, and women, and rogues about him. The Speaker, they found, was
kept from coming in the morning to the House on purpose, till after
the King was come to the House of Lords, for fear they should be doing
anything in the House of Commons to the further dissatisfaction of the
King and his courtiers. They do all give up the kingdom for lost that I
speak to; and do hear what the King says, how he and the Duke of York
do do what they can to get up an army, that they may need no more
Parliaments: and how my Lady Castlemayne hath, before the late breach
between her and the King, said to the King that he must rule by an army,
or all would be lost, and that Bab. May hath given the like advice to
the King, to crush the English gentlemen, saying that L300 a-year was
enough for any man but them that lived at Court. I am told that many
petitions were provided for the Parliament, complaining of the wrongs
they have received from the Court and courtiers, in city and country,
if the Parliament had but sat: and I do perceive they all do resolve to
have a good account of the money spent before ever they give a farthing
more: and the whole kingdom is everywhere sensible of their being
abused, insomuch that they forced their Parliament-men to come up
to sit; and my cozen Roger told me that (but that was in mirth) he
believed, if he had not come up, he should have had his house burned.
The kingdom never in so troubled a condition in this world as now;
nobody pleased with the peace, and yet nobody daring to wish for the
continuance of the war, it being plain that nothing do nor can thrive
under us. Here I saw old good Mr. Vaughan, and several of the great men
of the Commons, and some of them old men, that are come 200 miles,
and more, to attend this session-of Parliament; and have been at great
charge and disappointments in their other private business; and now all
to no purpose, neither to serve their country, content themselves, nor
receive any thanks from the King. It is verily expected by many of them
that the King will continue the prorogation in October, so as, if it be
possible, never to have [this] Parliament more. My Lord Bristoll took
his place in the House of Lords this day, but not in his robes; and when
the King come in, he withdrew but my Lord of Buckingham was there as
brisk as ever, and sat in his robes; which is a monstrous thing, that
a man proclaimed against, and put in the Tower, and all, and released
without any trial, and yet not restored to his places: But, above all, I
saw my Lord Mordaunt as merry as the best, that it seems hath done such
further indignities to Mr. Taylor' since the last sitting of Parliament
as would hang [him], if there were nothing else, would the King do what
were fit for him; but nothing of that is now likely to be. After having
spent an hour or two in the hall, my cozen Roger and I and Creed to
the Old Exchange, where I find all the merchants sad at this peace and
breaking up of the Parliament, as men despairing of any good to the
nation, which is a grievous consideration; and so home, and there cozen
Roger and Creed to dinner with me, and very merry:--but among other
things they told me of the strange, bold sermon of Dr. Creeton
yesterday, before the King; how he preached against the sins of the
Court, and particularly against adultery, over and over instancing how
for that single sin in David, the whole nation was undone; and of our
negligence in having our castles without ammunition and powder when the
Dutch come upon us; and how we have no courage now a-days, but let our
ships be taken out of our harbour. Here Creed did tell us the story of
the dwell last night, in Coventgarden, between Sir H. Bellasses and Tom
Porter. It is worth remembering the silliness of the quarrell, and is
a kind of emblem of the general complexion of this whole kingdom at
present. They two it seems dined yesterday at Sir Robert Carr's, where
it seems people do drink high, all that come. It happened that these
two, the greatest friends in the world, were talking together: and Sir
H. Bellasses talked a little louder than ordinary to Tom Porter, giving
of him some advice. Some of the company standing by said, "What! are
they quarrelling, that they talk so high?" Sir H. Bellasses hearing it,
said, "No!" says he: "I would have you know that I never quarrel, but
I strike; and take that as a rule of mine!"--"How?" says Tom Porter,
"strike! I would I could see the man in England that durst give me a
blow!" with that Sir H. Bellasses did give him a box of the eare; and
so they were going to fight there, but were hindered. And by and by Tom
Porter went out; and meeting Dryden the poet, told him of the business,
and that he was resolved to fight Sir H. Bellasses presently; for he
knew, if he did not, they should be made friends to-morrow, and then the
blow would rest upon him; which he would prevent, and desired Dryden
to let him have his boy to bring him notice which way Sir H. Bellasses
goes. By and by he is informed that Sir H. Bellasses's coach was coming:
so Tom Porter went down out of the Coffee-house where he stayed for
the tidings, and stopped the coach, and bade Sir H. Bellasses come
out. "Why," says H. Bellasses, "you will not hurt me coming out, will
you?"--"No," says Tom Porter. So out he went, and both drew: and H.
Bellasses having drawn and flung away his scabbard, Tom Porter asked
him whether he was ready? The other answering him he was, they fell to
fight, some of their acquaintance by. They wounded one another, and H.
Bellasses so much that it is feared he will die: and finding himself
severely wounded, he called to Tom Porter, and kissed him, and bade him
shift for himself; "for," says he, "Tom, thou hast hurt me; but I will
make shift to stand upon my legs till thou mayest withdraw, and the
world not take notice of you, for I would not have thee troubled for
what thou hast done." And so whether he did fly or no I cannot tell:
but Tom Porter shewed H. Bellasses that he was wounded too: and they are
both ill, but H. Bellasses to fear of life. And this is a fine
example; and H. Bellasses a Parliament-man too, and both of them most
extraordinary friends! Among other discourse, my cozen Roger told us a
thing certain, that the Archbishop of Canterbury; that now is, do keep a
wench, and that he is as very a wencher as can be; and tells us it is
a thing publickly known that Sir Charles Sidley had got away one of the
Archbishop's wenches from him, and the Archbishop sent to him to let him
know that she was his kinswoman, and did wonder that he would offer any
dishonour to one related to him. To which Sir Charles Sidley is said
to answer, "A pox take his Grace! pray tell his Grace that I believe he
finds himself too old, and is afraid that I should outdo him among his
girls, and spoil his trade." But he makes no more of doubt to say that
the Archbishop is a wencher, and known to be so, which is one of the
most astonishing things that I have heard of, unless it be, what for
certain he says is true, that my Lady Castlemayne hath made a Bishop
lately, namely,--her uncle, Dr. Glenham, who, I think they say, is
Bishop of Carlisle; a drunken, swearing rascal, and a scandal to the
Church; and do now pretend to be Bishop of Lincoln, in competition with
Dr. Raynbow, who is reckoned as worthy a man as most in the Church for
piety and learning: which are things so scandalous to consider, that
no man can doubt but we must be undone that hears of them. After dinner
comes W. How and a son of Mr. Pagett's to see me, with whom I drank, but
could not stay, and so by coach with cozen Roger (who before his going
did acquaint me in private with an offer made of his marrying of Mrs.
Elizabeth Wiles, whom I know; a kinswoman of Mr. Honiwood's, an ugly old
maid, but a good housewife; and is said to have L2500 to her portion;
but if I can find that she hath but L2000, which he prays me to examine,
he says he will have her, she being one he hath long known intimately,
and a good housewife, and discreet woman; though I am against it in
my heart, she being not handsome at all) and it hath been the very bad
fortune of the Pepyses that ever I knew, never to marry an handsome
woman, excepting Ned Pepys and Creed, set the former down at the Temple
resolving to go to Cambridge to-morrow, and Creed and I to White Hall
to the Treasury chamber there to attend, but in vain, only here, looking
out of the window into the garden, I saw the King (whom I have not
had any desire to see since the Dutch come upon the coast first to
Sheerness, for shame that I should see him, or he me, methinks, after
such a dishonour) come upon the garden; with him two or three idle
Lords; and instantly after him, in another walk, my Lady Castlemayne,
led by Bab. May: at which I was surprised, having but newly heard the
stories of the King and her being parted for ever. So I took Mr. Povy,
who was there, aside, and he told me all, how imperious this woman is,
and hectors the King to whatever she will. It seems she is with child,
and the King says he did not get it: with that she made a slighting
"puh" with her mouth, and went out of the house, and never come in again
till the King went to Sir Daniel Harvy's to pray her; and so she is
come to-day, when one would think his mind should be full of some other
cares, having but this morning broken up such a Parliament, with so much
discontent, and so many wants upon him, and but yesterday heard such
a sermon against adultery. But it seems she hath told the King, that
whoever did get it, he should own it; and the bottom of the quarrel is
this:--She is fallen in love with young Jermin who hath of late lain
with her oftener than the King, and is now going to marry my Lady
Falmouth; the King he is mad at her entertaining Jermin, and she is mad
at Jermin's going to marry from her: so they are all mad; and thus
the kingdom is governed! and they say it is labouring to make breaches
between the Duke of Richmond and his lady that the King may get her to
him. But he tells me for certain that nothing is more sure than that the
King, and Duke of York, and the Chancellor, are desirous and labouring
all they can to get an army, whatever the King says to the Parliament;
and he believes that they are at last resolved to stand and fall all
three together: so that he says match of the Duke of York with the
Chancellor's daughter hath undone the nation. He tells me also that the
King hath not greater enemies in the world than those of his own family;
for there is not an officer in the house almost but curses him for
letting them starve, and there is not a farthing of money to be raised
for the buying them bread. Having done talking with him I to Westminster
Hall, and there talked and wandered up and down till the evening to no
purpose, there and to the Swan, and so till the evening, and so home,
and there to walk in the garden with my wife, telling her of my losing
L300 a year by my place that I am to part with, which do a little
trouble me, but we must live with somewhat more thrift, and so home to
supper and to play on the flageolet, which do do very prettily, and so
to bed. Many guns were heard this afternoon, it seems, at White Hall
and in the Temple garden very plain; but what it should be nobody knows,
unless the Dutch be driving our ships up the river. To-morrow we shall
know.
30th. Up and to the office, where we sat busy all the morning. At noon
home to dinner, where Daniel and his wife with us, come to see whether
I could get him any employment. But I am so far from it, that I have the
trouble upon my mind how to dispose of Mr. Gibson and one or two more
I am concerned for in the Victualling business, which are to be now
discharged. After dinner by coach to White Hall, calling on two or
three tradesmen and paying their bills, and so to White Hall, to the
Treasury-chamber, where I did speak with the Lords, and did my business
about getting them to assent to 10 per cent. interest on the 11 months
tax, but find them mightily put to it for money. Here I do hear that
there are three Lords more to be added to them; my Lord Bridgewater, my
Lord Anglesey, and my Lord Chamberlaine. Having done my business, I to
Creed's chamber, and thence out with Creed to White Hall with him; in
our way, meeting with Mr. Cooling, my Lord Chamberlain's secretary, on
horseback, who stopped to speak with us, and he proved very drunk, and
did talk, and would have talked all night with us, I not being able to
break loose from him, he holding me so by the hand. But, Lord! to see
his present humour, how he swears at every word, and talks of the King
and my Lady Castlemayne in the plainest words in the world. And from him
I gather that the story I learned yesterday is true--that the King hath
declared that he did not get the child of which she is conceived at this
time, he having not as he says lain with her this half year. But she
told him, "God damn me, but you shall own it!" It seems, he is jealous
of Jermin, and she loves him so, that the thoughts of his marrying of my
Lady Falmouth puts her into fits of the mother; and he, it seems, hath
lain with her from time to time, continually, for a good while; and
once, as this Cooling says, the King had like to have taken him
a-bed with her, but that he was fain to creep under the bed into her
closet.... But it is a pretty thing he told us how the King, once
speaking of the Duke of York's being mastered by his wife, said to some
of the company by, that he would go no more abroad with this Tom Otter
(meaning the Duke of York) and his wife. Tom Killigrew, being by,
answered, "Sir," says he, "pray which is the best for a man, to be a Tom
Otter to his wife or to his mistress?" meaning the King's being so to
my Lady Castlemayne. Thus he went on; and speaking then of my Lord
Sandwich, whom he professed to love exceedingly, says Creed, "I know not
what, but he is a man, methinks, that I could love for himself, without
other regards."... He talked very lewdly; and then took notice of my
kindness to him on shipboard seven years ago, when the King was coming
over, and how much he was obliged to me; but says, pray look upon this
acknowledgement of a kindness in me to be a miracle; for, says he, "it
is against the law at Court for a man that borrows money of me, even
to buy his place with, to own it the next Sunday;" and then told us his
horse was a bribe, and his boots a bribe; and told us he was made up of
bribes, as an Oxford scholar is set out with other men's goods when he
goes out of town, and that he makes every sort of tradesman to bribe
him; and invited me home to his house, to taste of his bribe wine. I
never heard so much vanity from a man in my life; so, being now weary of
him, we parted, and I took coach, and carried Creed to the Temple. There
set him down, and to my office, where busy late till my eyes begun to
ake, and then home to supper: a pullet, with good sauce, to my liking,
and then to play on the flageolet with my wife, which she now does very
prettily, and so to bed.
31st. Up, and after some time with Greeting upon my flageolet I to
my office, and there all the morning busy. Among other things, Sir W.
Batten, [Sir] W. Pen, and myself did examine a fellow of our private
man-of-war, who we have found come up from Hull, with near L500 worth of
pieces of eight, though he will confess but 100 pieces. But it appears
that there have been fine doings there. At noon dined at home, and then
to the office, where busy again till the evening, when Major Halsey and
Kinaston to adjust matters about Mrs. Rumbald's bill of exchange, and
here Major Halsey, speaking much of my doing business, and understanding
business, told me how my Lord Generall do say that I am worth them
all, but I have heard that Halsey hath said the same behind my back to
others. Then abroad with my wife by coach to Marrowbone, where my Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, it seem, dined to-day: and were just now going away,
methought, in a disconsolate condition, compared with their splendour
they formerly had, when the City was standing. Here my wife and I drank
at the gate, not 'lighting, and then home with much pleasure, and so to
my chamber, and my wife and I to pipe, and so to supper and to bed.
AUGUST 1667
August 1st. Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon my wife and
I dined at Sir W. Pen's, only with Mrs. Turner and her husband, on a
damned venison pasty, that stunk like a devil. However, I did not know
it till dinner was done. We had nothing but only this, and a leg of
mutton, and a pullet or two. Mrs. Markham was here, with her great
belly. I was very merry, and after dinner, upon a motion of the women,
I was got to go to the play with them-the first I have seen since before
the Dutch coming upon our coast, and so to the King's house, to see "The
Custome of the Country." The house mighty empty--more than ever I saw
it--and an ill play. After the play, we into the house, and spoke with
Knipp, who went abroad with us by coach to the Neat Houses in the way to
Chelsy; and there, in a box in a tree, we sat and sang, and talked and
eat; my wife out of humour, as she always is, when this woman is by.
So, after it was dark, we home. Set Knepp down at home, who told us the
story how Nell is gone from the King's house, and is kept by my Lord
Buckhurst. Then we home, the gates of the City shut, it being so late:
and at Newgate we find them in trouble, some thieves having this night
broke open prison. So we through, and home; and our coachman was fain to
drive hard from two or three fellows, which he said were rogues, that
he met at the end of Blow-bladder Street, next Cheapside. So set Mrs.
Turner home, and then we home, and I to the Office a little; and so home
and to bed, my wife in an ill humour still.
2nd. Up, but before I rose my wife fell into angry discourse of my
kindness yesterday to Mrs. Knipp, and leading her, and sitting in the
coach hand in hand, and my arm about her middle, and in some bad words
reproached me with it. I was troubled, but having much business in my
head and desirous of peace rose and did not provoke her. So she up and
come to me and added more, and spoke basely of my father, who I perceive
did do something in the country, at her last being there, that did not
like her, but I would not enquire into anything, but let her talk, and
when ready away to the Office I went, where all the morning I was,
only Mr. Gawden come to me, and he and I home to my chamber, and there
reckoned, and there I received my profits for Tangier of him, and L250
on my victualling score. He is a most noble-minded man as ever I met
with, and seems to own himself much obliged to me, which I will labour
to make him; for he is a good man also: we talked on many good things
relating to the King's service, and, in fine, I had much matter of joy
by this morning's work, receiving above L400 of him, on one account or
other; and a promise that, though I lay down my victualling place, yet,
as long as he continues victualler, I shall be the better by him. To the
office again, and there evened all our business with Mr. Kinaston about
Colonel Norwood's Bill of Exchange from Tangier, and I am glad of it,
for though he be a good man, yet his importunity tries me. So home to
dinner, where Mr. Hater with me and W. Hewer, because of their being in
the way after dinner, and so to the office after dinner, where and with
my Lord Bruneker at his lodgings all the afternoon and evening making up
our great account for the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, but not
so as pleased me yet. So at 12 at night home to supper and to bed, my
wife being gone in an ill humour to bed before me. This noon my wife
comes to me alone, and tells me she had those upon her and bid me
remember it. I asked her why, and she said she had a reason. I do think
by something too she said to-day, that she took notice that I had not
lain with her this half-year, that she thinks that I have some doubt
that she might be with child by somebody else. Which God knows never
entered into my head, or whether my father observed any thing at
Brampton with Coleman I know not. But I do not do well to let these
beginnings of discontents take so much root between us.
3rd. Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning. Then at noon to
dinner, and to the office again, there to enable myself, by finishing
our great account, to give it to the Lords Commissioners of the
Treasury; which I did, and there was called in to them, to tell them
only the total of our debt of the Navy on the 25th of May last, which
is above L950,000. Here I find them mighty hot in their answer to the
Council-board about our Treasurer's threepences of the Victualling, and
also against the present farm of the Customes, which they do most highly
inveigh against. So home again by coach, and there hard to work till
very late and my eyes began to fail me, which now upon very little
overworking them they do, which grieves me much. Late home, to supper,
and to bed.
4th (Lord's day). Busy at my Office from morning till night, in writing
with my own hand fair our large general account of the expence and debt
of the Navy, which lasted me till night to do, that I was almost blind,
and Mr. Gibson with me all day long, and dined with me, and excellent
discourse I had with him, he understanding all the business of the Navy
most admirably. To walk a little with my wife at night in the garden, it
being very hot weather again, and so to supper and to bed.
5th. Up, and with Sir W. Batten in the morning to St. James's, where we
did our ordinary business with the Duke of York, where I perceive they
have taken the highest resolution in the world to become good husbands,
and to retrench all charge; and to that end we are commanded to give him
an account of the establishment in the seventh year of the late King's
reign, and how offices and salaries have been increased since; and I
hope it will end in the taking away some of our Commissioners, though
it may be to the lessening of some of our salaries also. After done
with the Duke of York, and coming out through his dressing-room, I there
spied Signor Francisco tuning his gittar, and Monsieur de Puy with him,
who did make him play to me, which he did most admirably--so well as I
was mightily troubled that all that pains should have been taken upon so
bad an instrument. Walked over the Park with Mr. Gawden, end with him by
coach home, and to the Exchange, where I hear the ill news of our loss
lately of four rich ships, two from Guinea, one from Gallipoly, all with
rich oyles; and the other from Barbadoes, worth, as is guessed, L80,000.
But here is strong talk, as if Harman had taken some of the Dutch
East India ships, but I dare not yet believe it, and brought them into
Lisbon.
["Sept. 6, 1667. John Clarke to James Hickes. A vessel arrived
from Harwich brings news that the English lost 600 to 700 men in the
attempt on St. Christopher; that Sir John Harman was not then there,
but going with 11 ships, and left a ketch at Barbadoes to bring more
soldiers after him; that the ketch met a French sloop with a packet
from St. Christopher to their fleet at Martinico, and took her,
whereupon Sir John Harman sailed there and fell upon their fleet of
27 sail, 25 of which he sank, and burnt the others, save two which
escaped; also that he left three of his fleet there, and went with
the rest to Nevis, to make another attempt on St. Christopher.
"Calendar of State Payers, 1667, p. 447]
Home, and dined with my wife at Sir W. Pen's, where a very good pasty
of venison, better than we expected, the last stinking basely, and after
dinner he and my wife and I to the Duke of York's house, and there saw
"Love Trickes, or the School of Compliments;" a silly play, only Miss
[Davis's] dancing in a shepherd's clothes did please us mightily. Thence
without much pleasure home and to my Office, so home, to supper, and to
bed. My wife mighty angry with Nell, who is turned a very gossip, and
gads abroad as soon as our backs are turned, and will put her away
tomorrow, which I am not sorry for.
6th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning very full of business.
A full Board. Here, talking of news, my Lord Anglesey did tell us that
the Dutch do make a further bogle with us about two or three things,
which they will be satisfied in, he says, by us easily; but only in one,
it seems, they do demand that we shall not interrupt their East Indiamen
coming home, and of which they are in some fear; and we are full of
hopes that we have 'light upon some of them, and carried them into
Lisbon, by Harman; which God send! But they, which do shew the low
esteem they have of us, have the confidence to demand that we shall
have a cessation on our parts, and yet they at liberty to take what they
will; which is such an affront, as another cannot be devised greater. At
noon home to dinner, where I find Mrs. Wood, formerly Bab. Shelden, and
our Mercer, who is dressed to-day in a paysan dress, that looks mighty
pretty. We dined and sang and laughed mighty merry, and then I to the
Office, only met at the door with Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Burroughs, who
I took in and drank with, but was afraid my wife should see them, they
being, especially the first, a prattling gossip, and so after drinking
with them parted, and I to the Office, busy as long as my poor eyes
would endure, which troubles me mightily and then into the garden with
my wife, and to Sir W. Batten's with [Sir] W. Pen and [Sir] J. Minnes,
and there eat a melon and talked, and so home to supper and to bed.
My wife, as she said last night, hath put away Nell to-day, for her
gossiping abroad and telling of stories. Sir W. Batten did tell
me to-night that the Council have ordered a hearing before them of
Carcasses business, which do vex me mightily, that we should be troubled
so much by an idle rogue, a servant of our own, and all my thoughts
to-night have been how to manage the matter before the Council.
7th. Up, and at the office very busy, and did much business all the
morning. My wife abroad with her maid Jane and Tom all the afternoon,
being gone forth to eat some pasties at "The Bottle of Hay," in St.
John's Street, as you go to Islington, of which she is mighty fond, and
I dined at home alone, and at the office close all the afternoon,
doing much business to my great content. This afternoon Mr. Pierce, the
surgeon, comes to me about business, and tells me that though the King
and my Lady Castlemayne are friends again, she is not at White Hall, but
at Sir D. Harvy's, whither the King goes to her; and he says she made
him ask her forgiveness upon his knees, and promised to offend her no
more so: that, indeed, she did threaten to bring all his bastards to
his closet-door, and hath nearly hectored him out of his wits. I at my
office till night, and then home to my pipe, my wife not coming home,
which vexed me. I then into the garden, and there walked alone in the
garden till 10 at night, when she come home, having been upon the water
and could not get home sooner. So to supper, and to bed.
8th. Up, and all the morning at the office, where busy, and at noon
home to dinner, where Creed dined with us, who tells me that Sir Henry
Bellasses is dead of the duell he fought about ten days ago, with Tom
Porter; and it is pretty to see how the world talk of them as a couple
of fools, that killed one another out of love. After dinner to the
office a while, and then with my wife to the Temple, where I light and
sent her to her tailor's. I to my bookseller's; where, by and by, I met
Mr. Evelyn, and talked of several things, but particularly of the times:
and he tells me that wise men do prepare to remove abroad what they
have, for that we must be ruined, our case being past relief, the
kingdom so much in debt, and the King minding nothing but his lust,
going two days a-week to see my Lady Castlemayne at Sir D. Harvy's. He
gone, I met with Mr. Moore, who tells me that my Lord Hinchingbroke is
now with his mistress, but not that he is married, as W. Howe come and
told us the other day. So by coach to White Hall, and there staid a
little, thinking to see Sir G. Carteret, but missed him, and so by coach
took up my wife, and so home, and as far as Bow, where we staid and
drank, and there, passing by Mr. Lowther and his lady, they stopped and
we talked a little with them, they being in their gilt coach, and so
parted; and presently come to us Mr. Andrews, whom I had not seen a good
while, who, as other merchants do, do all give over any hopes of things
doing well, and so he spends his time here most, playing at bowles.
After dining together at the coach-side, we with great pleasure home,
and so to the office, where I despatched my business, and home to
supper, and to bed.
9th. Up, and betimes with Sir H. Cholmly upon some accounts of Tangier,
and then he and I to Westminster, to Mr. Burges, and then walked in the
Hall, and he and I talked, and he do really declare that he expects that
of necessity this kingdom will fall back again to a commonwealth, and
other wise men are of the same mind: this family doing all that silly
men can do, to make themselves unable to support their kingdom,
minding their lust and their pleasure, and making their government so
chargeable, that people do well remember better things were done, and
better managed, and with much less charge under a commonwealth than they
have been by this King, and do seem to resolve to wind up his businesses
and get money in his hand against the turn do come. After some talk I by
coach and there dined, and with us Mr. Batelier by chance coming in to
speak with me, and when I come home, and find Mr. Goodgroome, my wife's
singing-master, there I did soundly rattle him for neglecting her so
much as he hath done--she not having learned three songs these three
months and more. After dinner my wife abroad with Mrs. Turner, and I to
the office, where busy all the afternoon, and in the evening by coach to
St. James's, and there met Sir W. Coventry; and he and I walked in the
Park an hour. And then to his chamber, where he read to me the heads of
the late great dispute between him and the rest of the Commissioners
of the Treasury, and our new Treasurer of the Navy where they have
overthrown him the last Wednesday, in the great dispute touching his
having the payment of the Victualler, which is now settled by Council
that he is not to have it and, indeed, they have been most just, as well
as most severe and bold, in the doing this against a man of his quality;
but I perceive he do really make no difference between any man. He tells
me this day it is supposed the peace is ratified at Bredah, and all that
matter over. We did talk of many retrenchments of charge of the Navy
which he will put in practice, and every where else; though, he tells
me, he despairs of being able to do what ought to be done for the saving
of the kingdom, which I tell him, as indeed all the world is almost in
hopes of, upon the proceeding of these gentlemen for the regulating of
the Treasury, it being so late, and our poverty grown so great, that
they want where to set their feet, to begin to do any thing. He tells me
how weary he hath for this year and a half been of the war; and how in
the Duke of York's bedchamber, at Christ Church, at Oxford, when the
Court was there, he did labour to persuade the Duke to fling off the
care of the Navy, and get it committed to other hands; which, if he had
done, would have been much to his honour, being just come home with so
much honour from sea as he did. I took notice of the sharp letter he
wrote, which he sent us to read yesterday, to Sir Edward Spragg, where
he is very plain about his leaving his charge of the ships at Gravesend,
when the enemy come last up, and several other things: a copy whereof
I have kept. But it is done like a most worthy man; and he says it is
good, now and then, to tell these gentlemen their duties, for they need
it. And it seems, as he tells me, all our Knights are fallen out one
with another, he, and Jenings, and Hollis, and (his words were) they
are disputing which is the coward among them; and yet men that take the
greatest liberty of censuring others! Here, with him, very late, till I
could hardly get a coach or link willing to go through the ruines; but I
do, but will not do it again, being, indeed, very dangerous. So home
and to supper, and bed, my head most full of an answer I have drawn
this noon to the Committee of the Council to whom Carcasses business is
referred to be examined again.
10th. Up, and to the Office, and there finished the letter about
Carcasse, and sent it away, I think well writ, though it troubles me we
should be put to trouble by this rogue so much. At the office all the
morning, and at noon home to dinner, where I sang and piped with my
wife with great pleasure, and did hire a coach to carry us to Barnett
to-morrow. After dinner I to the office, and there wrote as long as my
eyes would give me leave, and then abroad and to the New Exchange,
to the bookseller's there, where I hear of several new books coming
out--Mr. Spratt's History of the Royal Society, and Mrs. Phillips's'
poems. Sir John Denham's poems are going to be all printed together;
and, among others, some new things; and among them he showed me a copy
of verses of his upon Sir John Minnes's going heretofore to Bullogne to
eat a pig.
[The collected edition of Denham's poems is dated 1668. The verses
referred to are inscribed "To Sir John Mennis being invited from
Calice to Bologne to eat a pig," and two of the lines run
"Little Admiral John
To Bologne is gone."]
Cowley, he tells me, is dead; who, it seems, was a mighty civil, serious
man; which I did not know before. Several good plays are likely to
be abroad soon, as Mustapha and Henry the 5th. Here having staid and
divertised myself a good while, I home again and to finish my letters by
the post, and so home, and betimes to bed with my wife because of rising
betimes to-morrow.
11th (Lord's day). Up by four o'clock, and ready with Mrs. Turner to
take coach before five; which we did, and set on our journey, and got
to the Wells at Barnett by seven o'clock, and there found many people
a-drinking; but the morning is a very cold morning, so as we were very
cold all the way in the coach. Here we met Joseph Batelier, and I talked
with him, and here was W. Hewer also, and his uncle Steventon: so,
after drinking three glasses and the women nothing, we back by coach to
Barnett, where to the Red Lyon, where we 'light, and went up into the
great Room, and there drank, and eat some of the best cheese-cakes
that ever I eat in my life, and so took coach again, and W. Hewer
on horseback with us, and so to Hatfield, to the inn, next my Lord
Salisbury's house, and there rested ourselves, and drank, and bespoke
dinner; and so to church, it being just church-time, and there we find
my Lord and my Lady Sands and several fine ladies of the family, and a
great many handsome faces and genteel persons more in the church, and
did hear a most excellent good sermon, which pleased me mightily, and
very devout; it being upon, the signs of saving grace, where it is in
a man, and one sign, which held him all this day, was, that where that
grace was, there is also the grace of prayer, which he did handle very
finely. In this church lies the former Lord of Salisbury, Cecil, buried
in a noble tomb. So the church being done, we to our inn, and there
dined very well, and mighty merry; and as soon as we had dined we walked
out into the Park through the fine walk of trees, and to the Vineyard,
and there shewed them that, which is in good order, and indeed a place
of great delight; which, together with our fine walk through the Park,
was of as much pleasure as could be desired in the world for country
pleasure and good ayre. Being come back, and weary with the walk, for
as I made it, it was pretty long, being come back to our inne, there the
women had pleasure in putting on some straw hats, which are much worn in
this country, and did become them mightily, but especially my wife. So,
after resting awhile, we took coach again, and back to Barnett, where
W. Hewer took us into his lodging, which is very handsome, and there
did treat us very highly with cheesecakes, cream, tarts, and other good
things; and then walked into the garden, which was pretty, and there
filled my pockets full of filberts, and so with much pleasure. Among
other things, I met in this house with a printed book of the Life of O.
Cromwell, to his honour as a soldier and politician, though as a rebell,
the first of that kind that ever I saw, and it is well done. Took coach
again, and got home with great content, just at day shutting in, and
so as soon as home eat a little and then to bed, with exceeding great
content at our day's work.
12th. My wife waked betimes to call up her maids to washing, and so to
bed again, whom I then hugged, it being cold now in the mornings.... Up
by and by, and with Mr. Gawden by coach to St. James's, where we find
the Duke gone a-hunting with the King, but found Sir W. Coventry within,
with whom we discoursed, and he did largely discourse with us about our
speedy falling upon considering of retrenchments in the expense of the
Navy, which I will put forward as much as I can. So having done there I
to Westminster Hall to Burges, and then walked to the New Exchange, and
there to my bookseller's, and did buy Scott's Discourse of Witches; and
do hear Mr. Cowley mightily lamented his death, by Dr. Ward, the Bishop
of Winchester, and Dr. Bates, who were standing there, as the best poet
of our nation, and as good a man. Thence I to the printseller's, over
against the Exchange towards Covent Garden, and there bought a few more
prints of cittys, and so home with them, and my wife and maids being
gone over the water to the whitster's
[A bleacher of linen. "The whitsters of Datchet Mead" are referred
to by Mrs. Ford ("Merry Wives of Windsor," act iii., sc. 3).]
with their clothes, this being the first time of her trying this way
of washing her linen, I dined at Sir W. Batten's, and after dinner, all
alone to the King's playhouse, and there did happen to sit just before
Mrs. Pierce, and Mrs. Knepp, who pulled me by the hair; and so I
addressed myself to them, and talked to them all the intervals of the
play, and did give them fruit. The play is "Brenoralt," which I do find
but little in, for my part. Here was many fine ladies-among others, the
German Baron, with his lady, who is envoye from the Emperour, and their
fine daughter, which hath travelled all Europe over with them, it seems;
and is accordingly accomplished, and indeed, is a wonderful pretty
woman. Here Sir Philip Frowde, who sat next to me, did tell me how Sir
H. Belasses is dead, and that the quarrel between him and Tom Porter,
who is fled, did arise in the ridiculous fashion that I was first told
it, which is a strange thing between two so good friends. The play being
done, I took the women, and Mrs. Corbett, who was with them, by coach,
it raining, to Mrs. Manuel's, the Jew's wife, formerly a player, who
we heard sing with one of the Italians that was there; and, indeed, she
sings mightily well; and just after the Italian manner, but yet do not
please me like one of Mrs. Knepp's songs, to a good English tune, the
manner of their ayre not pleasing me so well as the fashion of our own,
nor so natural. Here I sat a little and then left them, and then by
coach home, and my wife not come home, so the office a little and then
home, and my wife come; and so, saying nothing where I had been, we to
supper and pipe, and so to bed.
13th. Up, and to the office, where we sat busy all the morning. At noon
home to dinner all alone, my wife being again at the whitster's. After
dinner with Sir W. Pen to St. James's, where the rest come and attended
the Duke of York, with our usual business; who, upon occasion, told us
that he did expect this night or to-morrow to hear from Breda of the
consummation of the peace. Thence Sir W. Pen and I to the King's house,
and there saw "The Committee," which I went to with some prejudice, not
liking it before, but I do now find it a very good play, and a great
deal of good invention in it; but Lacy's part is so well performed that
it would set off anything. The play being done, we with great pleasure
home, and there I to the office to finish my letters, and then home to
my chamber to sing and pipe till my wife comes home from her washing,
which was nine at night, and a dark and rainy night, that I was troubled
at her staying out so long. But she come well home, and so to supper and
to bed.
14th. Up, and to the office, where we held a meeting extraordinary upon
some particular business, and there sat all the morning. At noon, my
wife being gone to the whitster's again to her clothes, I to dinner to
Sir W. Batten's, where much of our discourse concerning Carcasse, who it
seems do find success before the Council, and do everywhere threaten us
with what he will prove against us, which do vex us to see that we must
be subjected to such a rogue of our own servants as this is. By and
by to talk of our prize at Hull, and Sir W. Batten offering, again and
again, seriously how he would sell his part for L1000 and I considering
the knavery of Hogg and his company, and the trouble we may have with
the Prince Rupert about the consort ship, and how we are linked with Sir
R. Ford, whose son-in-law too is got thither, and there we intrust him
with all our concern, who I doubt not is of the same trade with his
father-in-law for a knave, and then the danger of the sea, if it shall
be brought about, or bad debts contracted in the sale, but chiefly to be
eased of my fears about all or any of this, I did offer my part to
him for L700. With a little beating the bargain, we come to a perfect
agreement for L666 13s. 4d., which is two-thirds of L1000, which is
my proportion of the prize. I went to my office full of doubts and joy
concerning what I had done; but, however, did put into writing the heads
of our agreement, and returned to Sir W. Batten, and we both signed
them; and Sir R. Ford, being come thither since, witnessed them. So
having put it past further dispute I away, satisfied, and took coach and
to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Country Captain," which is
a very ordinary play. Methinks I had no pleasure therein at all, and
so home again and to my business hard till my wife come home from her
clothes, and so with her to supper and to bed. No news yet come of the
ratification of the peace which we have expected now every hour since
yesterday.
15th. Up, and to the office betimes, where busy, and sat all the
morning, vexed with more news of Carcasses proceedings at the Council,
insomuch as we four, [Sir] J. Minnes, [Sir] W. Batten, (Sir) W. Pen, and
myself, did make an appointment to dine with Sir W. Coventry to-day
to discourse it with him, which we did by going thither as soon as the
office was up, and there dined, and very merry, and many good stories,
and after dinner to our discourse about Carcasse, and how much we are
troubled that we should be brought, as they say we shall, to defend our
report before the Council-board with him, and to have a clerk imposed on
us. He tells us in short that there is no intention in the Lords for the
latter, but wholly the contrary. That they do not desire neither to do
anything in disrespect to the Board, and he will endeavour to prevent,
as he hath done, our coming to plead at the table with our clerk, and
do believe the whole will amount to nothing at the Council, only what
he shall declare in behalf of the King against the office, if he
offers anything, will and ought to be received, to which we all shew a
readiness, though I confess even that (though I think I am as clear as
the clearest of them), yet I am troubled to think what trouble a rogue
may without cause give a man, though it be only by bespattering a man,
and therefore could wish that over, though I fear nothing to be proved.
Thence with much satisfaction, and Sir W. Pen and I to the Duke's house,
where a new play. The King and Court there: the house full, and an act
begun. And so went to the King's, and there saw "The Merry Wives of
Windsor:" which did not please me at all, in no part of it, and so after
the play done we to the Duke's house, where my wife was by appointment
in Sir W. Pen's coach, and she home, and we home, and I to my office,
where busy till letters done, and then home to supper and to bed.
16th. Up, and at the office all the morning, and so at noon to dinner,
and after dinner my wife and I to the Duke's playhouse, where we saw the
new play acted yesterday, "The Feign Innocence, or Sir Martin Marr-all;"
a play made by my Lord Duke of Newcastle, but, as every body says,
corrected by Dryden. It is the most entire piece of mirth, a complete
farce from one end to the other, that certainly was ever writ. I never
laughed so in all my life. I laughed till my head [ached] all the
evening and night with the laughing; and at very good wit therein, not
fooling. The house full, and in all things of mighty content to me.
Thence to the New Exchange with my wife, where, at my bookseller's, I
saw "The History of the Royall Society," which, I believe, is a fine
book, and have bespoke one in quires. So home, and I to the office a
little, and so to my chamber, and read the history of 88--[See 10th of
this month.]--in Speede, in order to my seeing the play thereof acted
to-morrow at the King's house. So to supper in some pain by the sudden
change of the weather cold and my drinking of cold drink, which I must I
fear begin to leave off, though I shall try it as long as I can without
much pain. But I find myself to be full of wind, and my anus to be knit
together as it is always with cold. Every body wonders that we have no
news from Bredah of the ratification of the peace; and do suspect that
there is some stop in it. So to bed.
17th. Up, and all the morning at the office, where we sat, and my head
was full of the business of Carcasse, who hath a hearing this morning
before the Council and hath summonsed at least thirty persons, and which
is wondrous, a great many of them, I hear, do declare more against him
than for him, and yet he summonses people without distinction. Sure he
is distracted. At noon home to dinner, and presently my wife and I and
Sir W. Pen to the King's playhouse, where the house extraordinary full;
and there was the King and Duke of York to see the new play, "Queen
Elizabeth's Troubles and the History of Eighty Eight." I confess I have
sucked in so much of the sad story of Queen Elizabeth, from my cradle,
that I was ready to weep for her sometimes; but the play is the most
ridiculous that sure ever come upon the stage; and, indeed, is merely a
shew, only shews the true garbe of the Queen in those days, just as we
see Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth painted; but the play is merely a
puppet play, acted by living puppets. Neither the design nor language
better; and one stands by and tells us the meaning of things: only I was
pleased to see Knipp dance among the milkmaids, and to hear her sing a
song to Queen Elizabeth; and to see her come out in her night-gowne with
no lockes on, but her bare face and hair only tied up in a knot behind;
which is the comeliest dress that ever I saw her in to her advantage.
Thence home and went as far as Mile End with Sir W. Pen, whose coach
took him up there for his country-house; and after having drunk there,
at the Rose and Crowne, a good house for Alderman Bides ale,--[John
Bide, brewer, Sheriff of London in 1647.--B.]--we parted, and we home,
and there I finished my letters, and then home to supper and to bed.
18th (Lord's day). Up, and being ready, walked up and down to Cree
Church, to see it how it is; but I find no alteration there, as they say
there was, for my Lord Mayor and Aldermen to come to sermon, as they do
every Sunday, as they did formerly to Paul's. Walk back home and to our
own church, where a dull sermon and our church empty of the best sort of
people, they being at their country houses, and so home, and there dined
with me Mr. Turner and his daughter Betty.
[Betty Turner, who is frequently mentioned after this date, appears
to have been a daughter of Serjeant John Turner and his wife Jane,
and younger sister of Theophila Turner (see January 4th, 6th,
1668-69).]
Her mother should, but they were invited to Sir J. Minnes, where she
dined and the others here with me. Betty is grown a fine lady as to
carriage and discourse. I and my wife are mightily pleased with her. We
had a good haunch of venison, powdered and boiled, and a good dinner and
merry. After dinner comes Mr. Pelling the Potticary, whom I had sent for
to dine with me, but he was engaged. After sitting an hour to talk we
broke up, all leaving Pelling to talk with my wife, and I walked towards
White Hall, but, being wearied, turned into St. Dunstan's Church, where
I heard an able sermon of the minister of the place; and stood by a
pretty, modest maid, whom I did labour to take by the hand and the body;
but she would not, but got further and further from me; and, at last,
I could perceive her to take pins out of her pocket to prick me if I
should touch her again--which seeing I did forbear, and was glad I did
spy her design. And then I fell to gaze upon another pretty maid in a
pew close to me, and she on me; and I did go about to take her by the
hand, which she suffered a little and then withdrew. So the sermon
ended, and the church broke up, and my amours ended also, and so took
coach and home, and there took up my wife, and to Islington with
her, our old road, but before we got to Islington, between that and
Kingsland, there happened an odd adventure: one of our coach-horses fell
sick of the staggers, so as he was ready to fall down. The coachman was
fain to 'light, and hold him up, and cut his tongue to make him bleed,
and his tail. The horse continued shaking every part of him, as if he
had been in an ague, a good while, and his blood settled in his tongue,
and the coachman thought and believed he would presently drop down dead;
then he blew some tobacco in his nose, upon which the horse sneezed,
and, by and by, grows well, and draws us the rest of our way, as well
as ever he did; which was one of the strangest things of a horse I ever
observed, but he says it is usual. It is the staggers. Staid and eat and
drank at Islington, at the old house, and so home, and to my chamber to
read, and then to supper and to bed.
19th. Up, and at the office all the morning very busy. Towards noon I to
Westminster about some tallies at the Exchequer, and then straight home
again and dined, and then to sing with my wife with great content, and
then I to the office again, where busy, and then out and took coach
and to the Duke of York's house, all alone, and there saw "Sir Martin
Marr-all" again, though I saw him but two days since, and do find it the
most comical play that ever I saw in my life. Soon as the play done I
home, and there busy till night, and then comes Mr. Moore to me only to
discourse with me about some general things touching the badness of the
times, how ill they look, and he do agree with most people that I meet
with, that we shall fall into a commonwealth in a few years, whether we
will or no; for the charge of a monarchy is such as the kingdom cannot
be brought to bear willingly, nor are things managed so well nowadays
under it, as heretofore. He says every body do think that there is
something extraordinary that keeps us so long from the news of the peace
being ratified, which the King and the Duke of York have expected these
six days. He gone, my wife and I and Mrs. Turner walked in the garden a
good while till 9 at night, and then parted, and I home to supper and to
read a little (which I cannot refrain, though I have all the reason in
the world to favour my eyes, which every day grow worse and worse by
over-using them), and then to bed.
20th. Up, and to my chamber to set down my journall for the last three
days, and then to the office, where busy all the morning. At noon home
to dinner, and then with my wife abroad, set her down at the Exchange,
and I to St. James's, where find Sir W. Coventry alone, and fell to
discourse of retrenchments; and thereon he tells how he hath already
propounded to the Lords Committee of the Councils how he would have the
Treasurer of the Navy a less man, that might not sit at the Board, but
be subject to the Board. He would have two Controllers to do his work
and two Surveyors, whereof one of each to take it by turns to reside at
Portsmouth and Chatham by a kind of rotation; he would have but only one
Clerk of the Acts. He do tell me he hath propounded how the charge of
the Navy in peace shall come within L200,000, by keeping out twenty-four
ships in summer, and ten in the winter. And several other particulars
we went over of retrenchment: and I find I must provide some things to
offer that I may be found studious to lessen the King's charge. By and
by comes my Lord Bruncker, and then we up to the Duke of York, and there
had a hearing of our usual business, but no money to be heard of--no,
not L100 upon the most pressing service that can be imagined of bringing
in the King's timber from Whittlewood, while we have the utmost want of
it, and no credit to provide it elsewhere, and as soon as we had done
with the Duke of York, Sir W. Coventry did single [out] Sir W. Pen and
me, and desired us to lend the King some money, out of the prizes we
have taken by Hogg. He did not much press it, and we made but a merry
answer thereto; but I perceive he did ask it seriously, and did tell us
that there never was so much need of it in the world as now, we being
brought to the lowest straits that can be in the world. This troubled me
much. By and by Sir W. Batten told me that he heard how Carcasse do now
give out that he will hang me, among the rest of his threats of him
and Pen, which is the first word I ever heard of the kind from him
concerning me. It do trouble me a little, though I know nothing he can
possibly find to fasten on me. Thence, with my Lord Bruncker to the
Duke's Playhouse (telling my wife so at the 'Change, where I left her),
and there saw "Sir Martin Marr-all" again, which I have now seen three
times, and it hath been acted but four times, and still find it a very
ingenious play, and full of variety. So home, and to the office, where
my eyes would not suffer me to do any thing by candlelight, and so
called my wife and walked in the garden. She mighty pressing for a new
pair of cuffs, which I am against the laying out of money upon yet,
which makes her angry. So home to supper and to bed.
21st. Up, and my wife and I fell out about the pair of cuffs, which she
hath a mind to have to go to see the ladies dancing to-morrow at Betty
Turner's school; and do vex me so that I am resolved to deny them
her. However, by-and-by a way was found that she had them, and I well
satisfied, being unwilling to let our difference grow higher upon so
small an occasion and frowardness of mine. Then to the office, my Lord
Bruncker and I all the morning answering petitions, which now by a new
Council's order we are commanded to set a day in a week apart for,
and we resolve to do it by turn, my Lord and I one week and two others
another. At noon home to dinner, and then my wife and I mighty pleasant
abroad, she to the New Exchange and I to the Commissioners of the
Treasury, who do sit very close, and are bringing the King's charges as
low as they can; but Sir W. Coventry did here again tell me that he is
very serious in what he said to Sir W. Pen and me yesterday about our
lending of money to the King; and says that people do talk that we had
had the King's ships at his cost to take prizes, and that we ought
to lend the King money more than other people. I did tell him I will
consider it, and so parted; and do find I cannot avoid it. So to
Westminster Hall and there staid a while, and thence to Mrs. Martin's,
and there did take a little pleasure both with her and her sister. Here
sat and talked, and it is a strange thing to see the impudence of the
woman, that desires by all means to have her mari come home, only that
she might beat liberty to have me para toker her, which is a thing I do
not so much desire. Thence by coach, took up my wife, and home and out
to Mile End, and there drank, and so home, and after some little reading
in my chamber, to supper and to bed. This day I sent my cozen Roger a
tierce of claret, which I give him. This morning come two of Captain
Cooke's boys, whose voices are broke, and are gone from the Chapel, but
have extraordinary skill; and they and my boy, with his broken voice,
did sing three parts; their names were Blaewl and Loggings; but,
notwithstanding their skill, yet to hear them sing with their broken
voices, which they could not command to keep in tune, would make a man
mad--so bad it was.
22nd. Up, and to the office; whence Lord Bruncker, J. Minnes, W. Pen,
and I, went to examine some men that are put in there, for rescuing of
men that were pressed into the service: and we do plainly see that the
desperate condition that we put men into for want of their pay, makes
them mad, they being as good men as ever were in the world, and would
as readily serve the King again, were they but paid. Two men leapt
overboard, among others, into the Thames, out of the vessel into which
they were pressed, and were shot by the soldiers placed there to keep
them, two days since; so much people do avoid the King's service! And
then these men are pressed without money, and so we cannot punish them
for any thing, so that we are forced only to make a show of severity by
keeping them in prison, but are unable to punish them. Returning to the
office, did ask whether we might visit Commissioner Pett, to which, I
confess, I have no great mind; and it was answered that he was close
prisoner, and we could not; but the Lieutenant of the Tower would send
for him to his lodgings, if we would: so we put it off to another time.
Returned to the office, where we sat all the morning, and at noon to
Captain Cocke's to dinner; where Lord Bruncker and his Lady, Matt. Wren,
and Bulteale, and Sir Allen Apsly; the last of whom did make good sport,
he being already fallen under the retrenchments of the new Committee, as
he is Master Falconer;
[The post of Master Falconer was afterwards granted to Charles's son
by Nell Gwyn, and it is still held by the Duke of St. Albans, as an
hereditary office.--B.]
which makes him mad, and swears that we are doing that the Parliament
would have done--that is, that we are now endeavouring to destroy one
another. But it was well observed by some at the table, that they do not
think this retrenching of the King's charge will be so acceptable to the
Parliament, they having given the King a revenue of so many L100,000's
a-year more than his predecessors had, that he might live in pomp,
like a king. After dinner with my Lord Bruncker and his mistress to the
King's playhouse, and there saw "The Indian Emperour;" where I find Nell
come again, which I am glad of; but was most infinitely displeased
with her being put to act the Emperour's daughter; which is a great and
serious part, which she do most basely. The rest of the play, though
pretty good, was not well acted by most of them, methought; so that I
took no great content in it. But that, that troubled me most was, that
Knipp sent by Moll' to desire to speak to me after the play; and she
beckoned to me at the end of the play, and I promised to come; but it
was so late, and I forced to step to Mrs. Williams's lodgings with my
Lord Bruncker and her, where I did not stay, however, for fear of her
shewing me her closet, and thereby forcing me to give her something; and
it was so late, that for fear of my wife's coming home before me, I was
forced to go straight home, which troubled me. Home and to the office a
little, and then home and to my chamber to read, and anon, late, comes
home my wife, with Mr. Turner and Mrs. Turner, with whom she supped,
having been with Mrs. Turner to-day at her daughter's school, to see her
daughters dancing, and the rest, which she says is fine. They gone, I
to supper and to bed. My wife very fine to-day, in her new suit of laced
cuffs and perquisites. This evening Pelling comes to me, and tells
me that this night the Dutch letters are come, and that the peace was
proclaimed there the 19th inst., and that all is finished; which, for
my life, I know not whether to be glad or sorry for, a peace being so
necessary, and yet the peace is so bad in its terms.
23rd. Up, and Greeting comes, who brings me a tune for two flageolets,
which we played, and is a tune played at the King's playhouse, which
goes so well, that I will have more of them, and it will be a mighty
pleasure for me to have my wife able to play a part with me, which she
will easily, I find, do. Then abroad to White Hall in a hackney-coach
with Sir W. Pen: and in our way, in the narrow street near Paul's, going
the backway by Tower Street, and the coach being forced to put back,
he was turning himself into a cellar,--[So much of London was yet in
ruins.--B]--which made people cry out to us, and so we were forced to
leap out--he out of one, and I out of the other boote;
[The "boot" was originally a projection on each side of the coach,
where the passengers sat with their backs to the carriage. Such a
"boot" is seen in the carriage containing the attendants of Queen
Elizabeth, in Hoefnagel's well-known picture of Nonsuch Palace,
dated 1582. Taylor, the Water Poet, the inveterate opponent of the
introduction of coaches, thus satirizes the one in which he was
forced to take his place as a passenger: "It wears two boots and no
spurs, sometimes having two pairs of legs in one boot; and
oftentimes against nature most preposterously it makes fair ladies
wear the boot. Moreover, it makes people imitate sea-crabs, in
being drawn sideways, as they are when they sit in the boot of the
coach." In course of time these projections were abolished, and the
coach then consisted of three parts, viz., the body, the boot (on
the top of which the coachman sat), and the baskets at the back.]
Query, whether a glass-coach would have permitted us to have made the
escape?--[See note on introduction of glass coaches, September 23rd,
1667.]--neither of us getting any hurt; nor could the coach have got
much hurt had we been in it; but, however, there was cause enough for us
to do what we could to save ourselves. So being all dusty, we put into
the Castle tavern, by the Savoy, and there brushed ourselves, and then
to White Hall with our fellows to attend the Council, by order upon some
proposition of my Lord Anglesey, we were called in. The King there: and
it was about considering how the fleete might be discharged at their
coming in shortly (the peace being now ratified, and it takes place on
Monday next, which Sir W. Coventry said would make some clashing between
some of us twenty to one, for want of more warning, but the wind has
kept the boats from coming over), whether by money or tickets, and cries
out against tickets, but the matter was referred for us to provide
an answer to, which we must do in a few days. So we parted, and I to
Westminster to the Exchequer, to see what sums of money other people
lend upon the Act; and find of all sizes from L1000 to L100 nay, to L50,
nay, to L20, nay, to L5: for I find that one Dr. Reade, Doctor of Law,
gives no more, and others of them L20; which is a poor thing, methinks,
that we should stoop so low as to borrow such sums. Upon the whole, I
do think to lend, since I must lend, L300, though, God knows! it is much
against my will to lend any, unless things were in better condition, and
likely to continue so. Thence home and there to dinner, and after dinner
by coach out again, setting my wife down at Unthanke's, and I to the
Treasury-chamber, where I waited, talking with Sir G. Downing, till the
Lords met. He tells me how he will make all the Exchequer officers, of
one side and t'other, to lend the King money upon the Act; and that the
least clerk shall lend money, and he believes the least will L100: but
this I do not believe. He made me almost ashamed that we of the Navy had
not in all this time lent any; so that I find it necessary I should, and
so will speedily do it, before any of my fellows begin, and lead me to a
bigger sum. By and by the Lords come; and I perceive Sir W. Coventry is
the man, and nothing done till he comes. Among other things, I hear him
observe, looking over a paper, that Sir John Shaw is a miracle of a man,
for he thinks he executes more places than any man in England; for there
he finds him a Surveyor of some of the King's woods, and so reckoned up
many other places, the most inconsistent in the world. Their business
with me was to consider how to assigne such of our commanders as will
take assignements upon the Act for their wages; and the consideration
thereof was referred to me to give them an answer the next sitting:
which is a horrid poor thing: but they scruple at nothing of honour in
the case. So away hence, and called my wife, and to the King's house,
and saw "The Mayden Queene," which pleases us mightily; and then away,
and took up Mrs. Turner at her door, and so to Mile End, and there
drank, and so back to her house, it being a fine evening, and there
supped. The first time I ever was there since they lived there; and she
hath all things so neat and well done, that I am mightily pleased with
her, and all she do. So here very merry, and then home and to bed, my
eyes being very bad. I find most people pleased with their being at
ease, and safe of a peace, that they may know no more charge or hazard
of an ill-managed war: but nobody speaking of the peace with any content
or pleasure, but are silent in it, as of a thing they are ashamed of;
no, not at Court, much less in the City.
24th (St. Bartholomew's day). This morning was proclaimed the peace
between us and the States of the United Provinces, and also of the King
of France and Denmarke; and in the afternoon the Proclamations were
printed and come out; and at night the bells rung, but no bonfires that
I hear of any where, partly from the dearness of firing, but principally
from the little content most people have in the peace. All the morning
at the office. At noon dined, and Creed with me, at home. After dinner
we to a play, and there saw "The Cardinall" at the King's house,
wherewith I am mightily pleased; but, above all, with Becke Marshall.
But it is pretty to observe how I look up and down for, and did spy
Knipp; but durst not own it to my wife that I see her, for fear of
angering her, who do not like my kindness to her, and so I was forced
not to take notice of her, and so homeward, leaving Creed at the Temple:
and my belly now full with plays, that I do intend to bind myself to see
no more till Michaelmas. So with my wife to Mile End, and there drank
of Bides ale, and so home. Most of our discourse is about our keeping a
coach the next year, which pleases my wife mightily; and if I continue
as able as now, it will save us money. This day comes a letter from the
Duke of York to the Board to invite us, which is as much as to fright
us, into the lending the King money; which is a poor thing, and most
dishonourable, and shows in what a case we are at the end of the war
to our neighbours. And the King do now declare publickly to give 10 per
cent. to all lenders; which makes some think that the Dutch themselves
will send over money, and lend it upon our publick faith, the Act of
Parliament. So home and to my office, wrote a little, and then home to
supper and to bed.
25th (Lord's day). Up, and to church, and thence home; and Pelling comes
by invitation to dine with me, and much pleasant discourse with him.
After dinner, away by water to White Hall, where I landed Pelling, who
is going to his wife, where she is in the country, at Parson's Greene:
and myself to Westminster, and there at the Swan I did baiser Frank,
and to the parish church, thinking to see Betty Michell; and did stay
an hour in the crowd, thinking, by the end of a nose that I saw, that
it had been her; but at last the head turned towards me, and it was her
mother, which vexed me, and so I back to my boat, which had broke one
of her oars in rowing, and had now fastened it again; and so I up to
Putney, and there stepped into the church, to look upon the fine people
there, whereof there is great store, and the young ladies; and so
walked to Barne-Elmes, whither I sent Russel, reading of Boyle's
Hydrostatickes, which are of infinite delight. I walked in the Elmes a
good while, and then to my boat, and leisurely home, with great pleasure
to myself; and there supped, and W. Hewer with us, with whom a great
deal of good talk touching the Office, and so to bed.
26th. Up, and Greeting come, and I reckoned with him for his teaching
of my wife and me upon the flageolet to this day, and so paid him for
having as much as he can teach us. Then to the Office, where we sat upon
a particular business all the morning: and my Lord Anglesey with us:
who, and my Lord Bruncker, do bring us news how my Lord Chancellor's
seal is to be taken away from him to-day. The thing is so great and
sudden to me, that it put me into a very great admiration what should be
the meaning of it; and they do not own that they know what it should be:
but this is certain, that the King did resolve it on Saturday, and did
yesterday send the Duke of Albemarle, the only man fit for those works,
to him for his purse: to which the Chancellor answered, that he received
it from the King, and would deliver it to the King's own hand, and so
civilly returned the Duke of Albemarle without it; and this morning
my Lord Chancellor is to be with the King, to come to an end in the
business. After sitting, we rose, and my wife being gone abroad
with Mrs. Turner to her washing at the whitster's, I dined at Sir W.
Batten's, where Mr. Boreman was, who come from White Hall; who tells us
that he saw my Lord Chancellor come in his coach with some of his men,
without his Seal, to White Hall to his chamber; and thither the King and
Duke of York come and staid together alone, an hour or more: and it is
said that the King do say that he will have the Parliament meet, and
that it will prevent much trouble by having of him out of their enmity,
by his place being taken away; for that all their enmity will be at him.
It is said also that my Lord Chancellor answers, that he desires he may
be brought to his trial, if he have done any thing to lose his office;
and that he will be willing, and is most desirous, to lose that, and
his head both together. Upon what terms they parted nobody knows but the
Chancellor looked sad, he says. Then in comes Sir Richard Ford, and says
he hears that there is nobody more presses to reconcile the King and
Chancellor than the Duke of Albemarle and Duke of Buckingham: the latter
of which is very strange, not only that he who was so lately his enemy
should do it, but that this man, that but the other day was in danger of
losing his own head, should so soon come to be a mediator for others: it
shows a wise Government. They all say that he [Clarendon] is but a poor
man, not worth above L3000 a-year in land; but this I cannot believe:
and all do blame him for having built so great a house, till he had got
a better estate. Having dined, Sir J. Minnes and I to White Hall, where
we could be informed in no more than we were told before, nobody knowing
the result of the meeting, but that the matter is suspended. So I
walked to the King's playhouse, there to meet Sir W. Pen, and saw "The
Surprizall," a very mean play, I thought: or else it was because I was
out of humour, and but very little company in the house. But there Sir
W. Pen and I had a great deal of discourse with Moll; who tells us that
Nell is already left by my Lord Buckhurst, and that he makes sport of
her, and swears she hath had all she could get of him; and Hart,
[Charles Hart, great-nephew of Shakespeare, a favourite actor. He
is credited with being Nell Gwyn's first lover (or Charles I., as
the wits put it), and with having brought her on the stage. He died
of stone, and was buried at Stanmore Magna, Middlesex, where he had
a country house.]
her great admirer, now hates her; and that she is very poor, and hath
lost my Lady Castlemayne, who was her great friend also but she is come
to the House, but is neglected by them all.
[Lord Buckhurst's liaison with Nell Gwyn probably came to an end
about this time. We learn from Pepys that in January, 1667-68, the
king sent several times for Nelly (see January 11th, 1667-68).
Nell's eldest son by Charles II., Charles Beauclerc, was not born
till May 8th, 1670. He was created Earl of Burford in 1676 and Duke
of St. Albans in 1684.]
Thence with Sir W. Pen home, and I to the office, where late about
business, and then home to supper, and so to bed.
27th. Up, and am invited betimes to be godfather tomorrow to Captain
Poole's child with my Lady Pen and Lady Batten, which I accepted out
of complaisance to them, and so to the office, where we sat all the
morning. At noon dined at home, and then my wife and I, with Sir W. Pen,
to the New Exchange, set her down, and he and I to St. James's, where
Sir J. Minnes, [Sir] W. Batten, and we waited upon the Duke of York,
but did little business, and he, I perceive, his head full of other
business, and of late hath not been very ready to be troubled with any
of our business. Having done with him, Sir J. Minnes, [Sir] W. Batten
and I to White Hall, and there hear how it is like to go well enough
with my Lord Chancellor; that he is like to keep his Seal, desiring that
he may stand his trial in Parliament, if they will accuse him of any
thing. Here Sir J. Minnes and I looking upon the pictures; and Mr.
Chevins, being by, did take us, of his own accord, into the King's
closet, to shew us some pictures, which, indeed, is a very noble place,
and exceeding great variety of brave pictures, and the best hands.
I could have spent three or four hours there well, and we had great
liberty to look and Chevins seemed to take pleasure to shew us, and
commend the pictures. Having done here, I to the Exchange, and there
find my wife gone with Sir W. Pen. So I to visit Colonel Fitzgerald, who
hath been long sick at Woolwich, where most of the officers and soldiers
quartered there, since the Dutch being in the river, have died or been
sick, and he among the rest; and, by the growth of his beard and gray
[hairs], I did not know him. His desire to speak with me was about the
late command for my paying no more pensions for Tangier. Thence home,
and there did business, and so in the evening home to supper and to bed.
This day Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, was with me; and tells me how this
business of my Lord Chancellor's was certainly designed in my Lady
Castlemayne's chamber; and that, when he went from the King on Monday
morning, she was in bed, though about twelve o'clock, and ran out in her
smock into her aviary looking into White Hall garden; and thither her
woman brought her her nightgown; and stood joying herself at the old
man's going away: and several of the gallants of White Hall, of which
there were many staying to see the Chancellor return, did talk to her in
her birdcage; among others, Blancford, telling her she was the bird of
paradise.
[Clarendon refers to this scene in the continuation of his Life (ed.
1827, vol. iii., p. 291), and Lister writes: "Lady Castlemaine rose
hastily from her noontide bed, and came out into her aviary, anxious
to read in the saddened air of her distinguished enemy some presage
of his fall" ("Life of Clarendon," vol. ii., p. 412).]
28th. Up; and staid undressed till my tailor's boy did mend my vest, in
order to my going to the christening anon. Then out and to White Hall,
to attend the Council, by their order, with an answer to their demands
touching our advice for the paying off of the seamen, when the ships
shall come in, which answer is worth seeing, shewing the badness of our
condition. There, when I come, I was forced to stay till past twelve
o'clock, in a crowd of people in the lobby, expecting the hearing of the
great cause of Alderman Barker against my Lord Deputy of Ireland, for
his ill usage in his business of land there; but the King and Council
sat so long, as they neither heard them nor me. So when they rose, I
into the House, and saw the King and Queen at dinner, and heard a little
of their viallins' musick, and so home, and there to dinner, and in the
afternoon with my Lady Batten, Pen, and her daughter, and my wife, to
Mrs. Poole's, where I mighty merry among the women, and christened the
child, a girl, Elizabeth, which, though a girl, yet my Lady Batten would
have me to give the name. After christening comes Sir W. Batten, [Sir]
W. Pen, and Mr. Lowther, and mighty merry there, and I forfeited for
not kissing the two godmothers presently after the christening, before I
kissed the mother, which made good mirth; and so anon away, and my wife
and I took coach and went twice round Bartholomew fayre; which I was
glad to see again, after two years missing it by the plague, and so home
and to my chamber a little, and so to supper and to bed.
29th. Up, and Mr. Moore comes to me, and among other things tells me
that my Lord Crew and his friends take it very ill of me that my Lord
Sandwich's sea-fee should be retrenched, and so reported from this
Office, and I give them no notice of it. The thing, though I know to be
false--at least, that nothing went from our office towards it--yet it
troubled me, and therefore after the office rose I went and dined with
my Lord Crew, and before dinner I did enter into that discourse, and
laboured to satisfy him; but found, though he said little, yet that he
was not yet satisfied; but after dinner did pray me to go and see how
it was, whether true or no. Did tell me if I was not their friend, they
could trust to nobody, and that he did not forget my service and love to
my Lord, and adventures for him in dangerous times, and therefore would
not willingly doubt me now; but yet asked my pardon if, upon this news,
he did begin to fear it. This did mightily trouble me: so I away thence
to White Hall, but could do nothing. So home, and there wrote all my
letters, and then, in the evening, to White Hall again, and there
met Sir Richard Browne, Clerk to the Committee for retrenchments, who
assures me no one word was ever yet mentioned about my Lord's salary.
This pleased me, and I to Sir G. Carteret, who I find in the same doubt
about it, and assured me he saw it in our original report, my Lord's
name with a discharge against it. This, though I know to be false, or
that it must be a mistake in my clerk, I went back to Sir R. Browne and
got a sight of their paper, and find how the mistake arose, by the ill
copying of it out for the Council from our paper sent to the Duke of
York, which I took away with me and shewed Sir G. Carteret, and thence
to my Lord Crew, and the mistake ended very merrily, and to all our
contents, particularly my own, and so home, and to the office, and
then to my chamber late, and so to supper and to bed. I find at Sir G.
Carteret's that they do mightily joy themselves in the hopes of my Lord
Chancellor's getting over this trouble; and I make them believe, and so,
indeed, I do believe he will, that my Lord Chancellor is become popular
by it. I find by all hands that the Court is at this day all to pieces,
every man of a faction of one sort or other, so as it is to be feared
what it will come to. But that, that pleases me is, I hear to-night that
Mr. Bruncker is turned away yesterday by the Duke of York, for some bold
words he was heard by Colonel Werden to say in the garden, the day
the Chancellor was with the King--that he believed the King would be
hectored out of everything. For this the Duke of York, who all say hath
been very strong for his father-in-law at this trial, hath turned him
away: and every body, I think, is glad of it; for he was a pestilent
rogue, an atheist, that would have sold his King and country for 6d.
almost, so covetous and wicked a rogue he is, by all men's report. But
one observed to me, that there never was the occasion of men's holding
their tongues at Court and everywhere else as there is at this day, for
nobody knows which side will be uppermost.
30th. Up, and to White Hall, where at the Council Chamber I hear
Barker's business is like to come to a hearing to-day, having failed
the last day. I therefore to Westminster to see what I could do in
my 'Chequer business about Tangier, and finding nothing to be done,
returned, and in the Lobby staid till almost noon expecting to hear
Barker's business, but it was not called, so I come away. Here I met
with Sir G. Downing, who tells me of Sir W. Pen's offering to lend
L500; and I tell him of my L300, which he would have me to lend upon the
credit of the latter part of the Act; saying, that by that means my 10
per cent. will continue to me the longer. But I understand better, and
will do it upon the L380,000, which will come to be paid the sooner;
there being no delight in lending money now, to be paid by the King
two years hence. But here he and Sir William Doyly were attending the
Council as Commissioners for sick and wounded, and prisoners: and they
told me their business, which was to know how we shall do to release our
prisoners; for it seems the Dutch have got us to agree in the treaty, as
they fool us in anything, that the dyet of the prisoners on both sides
shall be paid for, before they be released; which they have done,
knowing ours to run high, they having more prisoners of ours than we
have of theirs; so that they are able and most ready to discharge the
debt of theirs, but we are neither able nor willing to do that for ours,
the debt of those in Zealand only, amounting to above L5000 for men
taken in the King's own ships, besides others taken in merchantmen,
which expect, as is usual, that the King should redeem them; but I think
he will not, by what Sir G. Downing says. This our prisoners complain
of there; and say in their letters, which Sir G. Downing shewed me, that
they have made a good feat that they should be taken in the service of
the King, and the King not pay for their victuals while prisoners for
him. But so far they are from doing thus with their men, as we do to
discourage ours, that I find in the letters of some of our prisoners
there, which he shewed me, that they have with money got our men, that
they took, to work and carry their ships home for them; and they have
been well rewarded, and released when they come into Holland: which is
done like a noble, brave, and wise people. Having staid out my time that
I thought fit for me to return home, I home and there took coach and
with my wife to Walthamstow; to Sir W. Pen's, by invitation, the first
time I have been there, and there find him and all their guests (of
our office only) at dinner, which was a very bad dinner, and everything
suitable, that I never knew people in my life that make their flutter,
that do things so meanly. I was sick to see it, but was merry at some
ridiculous humours of my Lady Batten, who, as being an ill-bred woman,
would take exceptions at anything any body said, and I made good sport
at it. After dinner into the garden and wilderness, which is like the
rest of the house, nothing in order, nor looked after. By and by comes
newes that my Lady Viner was come to see Mrs. Lowther, which I was glad
of, and all the pleasure I had here was to see her, which I did, and
saluted her, and find she is pretty, though not so eminently so as
people talked of her, and of very pretty carriage and discourse. I sat
with them and her an hour talking and pleasant, and then slunk away
alone without taking leave, leaving my wife there to come home with
them, and I to Bartholomew fayre, to walk up and down; and there,
among other things, find my Lady Castlemayne at a puppet-play, "Patient
Grizill,"
[The well-known story, first told by Boccaccio, then by Petrarca,
afterwards by Chaucer, and which has since become proverbial. Tom
Warton, writing about 1770, says, "I need not mention that it is to
this day represented in England, on a stage of the lowest species,
and of the highest antiquity: I mean at a puppet show" ("Hist. of
English Poetry," sect. xv.).--B.]
and the street full of people expecting her coming out. I confess I did
wonder at her courage to come abroad, thinking the people would abuse
her; but they, silly people! do not know her work she makes, and
therefore suffered her with great respect to take coach, and she away,
without any trouble at all, which I wondered at, I confess. I only
walked up and down, and, among others, saw Tom Pepys, the turner, who
hath a shop, and I think lives in the fair when the fair is not. I
only asked how he did as he stood in the street, and so up and down
sauntering till late and then home, and there discoursed with my wife of
our bad entertainment to-day, and so to bed. I met Captain Cocke to-day
at the Council Chamber and took him with me to Westminster, who tells
me that there is yet expectation that the Chancellor will lose the Seal,
and that he is sure that the King hath said it to him who told it him,
and he fears we shall be soon broke in pieces, and assures me that there
have been high words between the Duke of York and Sir W. Coventry, for
his being so high against the Chancellor; so as the Duke of York would
not sign some papers that he brought, saying that he could not endure
the sight of him: and that Sir W. Coventry answered, that what he did
was in obedience to the King's commands; and that he did not think any
man fit to serve a Prince, that did not know how to retire and live a
country life. This is all I hear.
31st. At the office all the morning; where, by Sir W. Pen, I do hear
that the Seal was fetched away to the King yesterday from the Lord
Chancellor by Secretary Morrice; which puts me into a great horror, to
have it done after so much debate and confidence that it would not be
done at last. When we arose I took a turn with Lord Bruncker in the
garden, and he tells me that he hath of late discoursed about this
business with Sir W. Coventry, who he finds is the great man in the
doing this business of the Chancellor's, and that he do persevere in
it, though against the Duke of York's opinion, to which he says that
the Duke of York was once of the same mind, and if he hath thought fit
since, for any reason, to alter his mind, he hath not found any to alter
his own, and so desires to be excused, for it is for the King's and
kingdom's good. And it seems that the Duke of York himself was the first
man that did speak to the King of this, though he hath since altered his
mind; and that W. Coventry did tell the Duke of York that he was not fit
to serve a Prince that did not know how to retire, and live a private
life; and that he was ready for that, if it be his and the King's
pleasure. After having wrote my letters at the office in the afternoon,
I in the evening to White Hall to see how matters go, and there I met
with Mr. Ball, of the Excise-office, and he tells me that the Seal is
delivered to Sir Orlando Bridgeman; the man of the whole nation that
is the best spoken of, and will please most people; and therefore I am
mighty glad of it. He was then at my Lord Arlington's, whither I went,
expecting to see him come out; but staid so long, and Sir W. Coventry
coming thither, whom I had not a mind should see me there idle upon a
post-night, I went home without seeing him; but he is there with his
Seal in his hand. So I home, took up my wife, whom I left at Unthanke's,
and so home, and after signing my letters to bed. This day, being
dissatisfied with my wife's learning so few songs of Goodgroome, I did
come to a new bargain with him to teach her songs at so much, viz.; 10s.
a song, which he accepts of, and will teach her.
SEPTEMBER 1667
September 1st (Lord's day). Up, and betimes by water from the Tower,
and called at the Old Swan for a glass of strong water, and sent word to
have little Michell and his wife come and dine with us to-day; and so,
taking in a gentleman and his lady that wanted a boat, I to Westminster.
Setting them on shore at Charing Cross, I to Mrs. Martin's, where I
had two pair of cuffs which I bespoke, and there did sit and talk with
her.... and here I did see her little girle my goddaughter, which will
be pretty, and there having staid a little I away to Creed's chamber,
and when he was ready away to White Hall, where I met with several
people and had my fill of talk. Our new Lord-keeper, Bridgeman, did this
day, the first time, attend the King to chapel with his Seal. Sir H.
Cholmly tells me there are hopes that the women will also have a rout,
and particularly that my Lady Castlemayne is coming to a composition
with the King to be gone; but how true this is, I know not. Blancfort is
made Privy-purse to the Duke of York; the Attorney-general is made Chief
justice, in the room of my Lord Bridgeman; the Solicitor-general is made
Attorney-general; and Sir Edward Turner made Solicitor-general. It is
pretty to see how strange every body looks, nobody knowing whence this
arises; whether from my Lady Castlemayne, Bab. May, and their faction;
or from the Duke of York, notwithstanding his great appearance of
defence of the Chancellor; or from Sir William Coventry, and some few
with him. But greater changes are yet expected. So home and by water to
dinner, where comes Pelting and young Michell and his wife, whom I have
not seen a great while, poor girle, and then comes Mr. Howe, and all
dined with me very merry, and spent all the afternoon, Pelting, Howe,
and I, and my boy, singing of Lock's response to the Ten Commandments,
which he hath set very finely, and was a good while since sung before
the King, and spoiled in the performance, which occasioned his printing
them for his vindication, and are excellent good. They parted, in the
evening my wife and I to walk in the garden and there scolded a little,
I being doubtful that she had received a couple of fine pinners (one of
point de Gesne), which I feared she hath from some [one] or other of a
present; but, on the contrary, I find she hath bought them for me to pay
for them, without my knowledge. This do displease me much; but yet do so
much please me better than if she had received them the other way, that
I was not much angry, but fell to other discourse, and so to my chamber,
and got her to read to me for saving of my eyes, and then, having got a
great cold, I know not how, I to bed and lay ill at ease all the night.
2nd. This day is kept in the City as a publick fast for the fire this
day twelve months: but I was not at church, being commanded, with the
rest, to attend the Duke of York; and, therefore, with Sir J. Minnes
to St. James's, where we had much business before the Duke of York,
and observed all things to be very kind between the Duke of York and W.
Coventry, which did mightily joy me. When we had done, Sir W. Coventry
called me down with him to his chamber, and there told me that he is
leaving the Duke of York's service, which I was amazed at. But he tells
me that it is not with the least unkindness on the Duke of York's
side, though he expects, and I told him he was in the right, it will be
interpreted otherwise, because done just at this time; "but," says he,
"I did desire it a good while since, and the Duke of York did, with much
entreaty, grant it, desiring that I would say nothing of it, that he
might have time and liberty to choose his successor, without being
importuned for others whom he should not like:" and that he hath chosen
Mr. Wren, which I am glad of, he being a very ingenious man; and so Sir
W. Coventry says of him, though he knows him little; but particularly
commends him for the book he writ in answer to "Harrington's Oceana,"
which, for that reason, I intend to buy. He tells me the true reason is,
that he, being a man not willing to undertake more business than he can
go through, and being desirous to have his whole time to spend upon the
business of the Treasury, and a little for his own ease, he did desire
this of the Duke of York. He assures me that the kindness with which he
goes away from the Duke of York is one of the greatest joys that ever
he had in the world. I used some freedom with him, telling him how the
world hath discoursed of his having offended the Duke of York, about
the late business of the Chancellor. He do not deny it, but says that
perhaps the Duke of York might have some reason for it, he opposing him
in a thing wherein he was so earnest but tells me, that, notwithstanding
all that, the Duke of York does not now, nor can blame him; for he tells
me that he was the man that did propose the removal of the Chancellor;
and that he did still persist in it, and at this day publickly owns it,
and is glad of it; but that the Duke of York knows that he did first
speak of it to the Duke of York, before he spoke to any mortal creature
besides, which was fair dealing: and the Duke of York was then of the
same mind with him, and did speak of it to the King; though since, for
reasons best known to himself, he was afterwards altered. I did then
desire to know what was the great matter that grounded his desire of the
Chancellor's removal? He told me many things not fit to be spoken, and
yet not any thing of his being unfaithful to the King; but, 'instar
omnium', he told me, that while he was so great at the Council-board,
and in the administration of matters, there was no room for any body to
propose any remedy to what was amiss, or to compass any thing, though
never so good for the kingdom, unless approved of by the Chancellor, he
managing all things with that greatness which now will be removed, that
the King may have the benefit of others' advice. I then told him that
the world hath an opinion that he hath joined himself with my Lady
Castlemayne's faction in this business; he told me, he cannot help it,
but says they are in an errour: but for first he will never, while he
lives, truckle under any body or any faction, but do just as his own
reason and judgment directs; and, when he cannot use that freedom, he
will have nothing to do in public affairs but then he added, that he
never was the man that ever had any discourse with my Lady Castlemayne,
or with others from her, about this or any public business, or ever made
her a visit, or at least not this twelvemonth, or been in her lodgings
but when called on any business to attend the King there, nor hath had
any thing to do in knowing her mind in this business. He ended all with
telling me that he knows that he that serves a Prince must expect, and
be contented to stand, all fortunes, and be provided to retreat, and
that that he is most willing to do whenever the King shall please. And
so we parted, he setting me down out of his coach at Charing Cross, and
desired me to tell Sir W. Pen what he had told me of his leaving the
Duke of York's service, that his friends might not be the last that know
it. I took a coach and went homewards; but then turned again, and to
White Hall, where I met with many people; and, among other things, do
learn that there is some fear that Mr. Bruncker is got into the King's
favour, and will be cherished there; which will breed ill will between
the King and Duke of York, he lodging at this time in White Hall since
he was put away from the Duke of York: and he is great with Bab. May, my
Lady Castlemayne, and that wicked crew. But I find this denied by Sir
G. Carteret, who tells me that he is sure he hath no kindness from the
King; that the King at first, indeed, did endeavour to persuade the Duke
of York from putting him away; but when, besides this business of his
ill words concerning his Majesty in the business of the Chancellor, he
told him that he hath had, a long time, a mind to put him away for his
ill offices, done between him and his wife, the King held his peace, and
said no more, but wished him to do what he pleased with him; which was
very noble. I met with Fenn; and he tells me, as I do hear from some
others, that the business of the Chancellor's had proceeded from
something of a mistake, for the Duke of York did first tell the King
that the Chancellor had a desire to be eased of his great trouble; and
that the King, when the Chancellor come to him, did wonder to hear him
deny it, and the Duke of York was forced to deny to the King that ever
he did tell him so in those terms: but the King did answer that he was
sure that he did say some such thing to him; but, however, since it had
gone so far, did desire him to be contented with it, as a thing very
convenient for him as well as for himself (the King), and so matters
proceeded, as we find. Now it is likely the Chancellor might, some time
or other, in a compliment or vanity, say to the Duke of York, that he
was weary of this burden, and I know not what; and this comes of it.
Some people, and myself among them, are of good hope from this change
that things are reforming; but there are others that do think but that
it is a hit of chance, as all other our greatest matters are, and that
there is no general plot or contrivance in any number of people what to
do next, though, I believe, Sir W. Coventry may in himself have further
designs; and so that, though other changes may come, yet they shall be
accidental and laid upon [not] good principles of doing good. Mr. May
shewed me the King's new buildings, in order to their having of some old
sails for the closing of the windows this winter. I dined with Sir G.
Carteret, with whom dined Mr. Jack Ashburnham and Dr. Creeton, who
I observe to be a most good man and scholar. In discourse at dinner
concerning the change of men's humours and fashions touching meats, Mr.
Ashburnham told us, that he remembers since the only fruit in request,
and eaten by the King and Queen at table as the best fruit, was the
Katharine payre, though they knew at the time other fruits of France
and our own country. After dinner comes in Mr. Townsend; and there I was
witness of a horrid rateing, which Mr. Ashburnham, as one of the Grooms
of the King's Bedchamber, did give him for want of linen for the King's
person; which he swore was not to be endured, and that the King would
not endure it, and that the King his father, would have hanged his
Wardrobe-man should he have been served so the King having at this day
no handkerchers, and but three bands to his neck, he swore. Mr. Townsend
answered want of money, and the owing of the linen-draper L5000; and
that he hath of late got many rich things made--beds, and sheets, and
saddles, and all without money, and he can go no further but still this
old man, indeed, like an old loving servant, did cry out for the King's
person to be neglected. But, when he was gone, Townsend told me that
it is the grooms taking away the King's linen at the quarter's end, as
their fees, which makes this great want: for, whether the King can get
it or no, they will run away at the quarter's end with what he hath had,
let the King get more as he can. All the company gone, Sir G. Carteret
and I to talk: and it is pretty to observe how already he says that
he did always look upon the Chancellor indeed as his friend, though he
never did do him any service at all, nor ever got any thing by him, nor
was he a man apt, and that, I think, is true, to do any man any kindness
of his own nature; though I do know that he was believed by all the
world to be the greatest support of Sir G. Carteret with the King of
any man in England: but so little is now made of it! He observes that
my Lord Sandwich will lose a great friend in him; and I think so too, my
Lord Hinchingbroke being about a match calculated purely out of respect
to my Lord Chancellor's family. By and by Sir G. Carteret, and Townsend,
and I, to consider of an answer to the Commissioners of the Treasury
about my Lord Sandwich's profits in the Wardrobe; which seem, as we make
them, to be very small, not L1000 a-year; but only the difference in
measure at which he buys and delivers out to the King, and then 6d. in
the pound from the tradesmen for what money he receives for him; but
this, it is believed, these Commissioners will endeavour to take away.
From him I went to see a great match at tennis, between Prince Rupert
and one Captain Cooke, against Bab. May and the elder Chichly; where the
King was, and Court; and it seems are the best players at tennis in the
nation. But this puts me in mind of what I observed in the morning, that
the King, playing at tennis, had a steele-yard carried to him, and I
was told it was to weigh him after he had done playing; and at noon
Mr. Ashburnham told me that it is only the King's curiosity, which he
usually hath of weighing himself before and after his play, to see how
much he loses in weight by playing: and this day he lost 4 lbs. Thence
home and took my wife out to Mile End Green, and there I drank, and so
home, having a very fine evening. Then home, and I to Sir W. Batten and
[Sir] W. Pen, and there discoursed of Sir W. Coventry's leaving the Duke
of York, and Mr. Wren's succeeding him. They told me both seriously,
that they had long cut me out for Secretary to the Duke of York, if ever
[Sir] W. Coventry left him; which, agreeing with what I have heard from
other hands heretofore, do make me not only think that something of that
kind hath been thought on, but do comfort me to see that the world hath
such an esteem of my qualities as to think me fit for any such thing.
Though I am glad, with all my heart, that I am not so; for it would
never please me to be forced to the attendance that that would require,
and leave my wife and family to themselves, as I must do in such a case;
thinking myself now in the best place that ever man was in to please his
own mind in, and, therefore, I will take care to preserve it. So to bed,
my cold remaining though not so much upon me. This day Nell, an old tall
maid, come to live with us, a cook maid recommended by Mr. Batelier.
3rd. All the morning, business at the office, dined at home, then in the
afternoon set my wife down at the Exchange, and I to St. James's, and
there attended the Duke of York about the list of ships that we propose
to sell: and here there attended Mr. Wren the first time, who hath not
yet, I think, received the Duke of York's seal and papers. At our coming
hither, we found the Duke and Duchesse all alone at dinner, methought
melancholy; or else I thought so, from the late occasion of the
Chancellor's fall, who, they say, however, takes it very contentedly.
Thence I to White Hall a little, and so took up my wife at the 'Change,
and so home, and at the office late, and so home to supper and to bed,
our boy ill.
4th. By coach to White Hall to the Council-chamber; and there met with
Sir W. Coventry going in, who took me aside, and told me that he was
just come from delivering up his seal and papers to Mr. Wren; and told
me he must now take his leave of me as a naval man, but that he shall
always bear respect to his friends there, and particularly to myself,
with great kindness; which I returned to him with thanks, and so, with
much kindness parted: and he into, the Council. I met with Sir Samuel
Morland, who chewed me two orders upon the Exchequer, one of L600, and
another of L400, for money assigned to him, which he would have me lend
him money upon, and he would allow 12 per cent. I would not meddle with
them, though they are very good; and would, had I not so much money out
already on public credit. But I see by this his condition all trade will
be bad. I staid and heard Alderman Barker's case of his being abused by
the Council of Ireland, touching his lands there: all I observed there
is the silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while, and
not minding the business,
[Lord Rochester wrote
"His very dog at council board
Sits grave and wise as any lord."
Poems, 1697; p. 150.--The king's dogs were constantly stolen from
him, and he advertised for their return. Some of these amusing
advertisements are printed in "Notes and Queries" (seventh series,
vol. vii., p. 26).]
and what he said was mighty weak; but my Lord Keeper I observe to be a
mighty able man. The business broke off without any end to it, and so
I home, and thence with my wife and W. Hewer to Bartholomew fayre, and
there Polichinelli, where we saw Mrs. Clerke and all her crew; and so
to a private house, and sent for a side of pig, and eat it at an
acquaintance of W. Hewer's, where there was some learned physic and
chymical books, and among others, a natural "Herball" very fine. Here
we staid not, but to the Duke of York's play house, and there saw
"Mustapha," which, the more I see, the more I like; and is a most
admirable poem, and bravely acted; only both Betterton and Harris could
not contain from laughing in the midst of a most serious part from the
ridiculous mistake of one of the men upon the stage; which I did not
like. Thence home, where Batelier and his sister Mary come to us and sat
and talked, and so, they gone, we to supper and to bed.
5th. Up, and all the morning at the office, where we sat till noon, and
then I home to dinner, where Mary Batelier and her brother dined
with us, who grows troublesome in his talking so much of his going to
Marseilles, and what commissions he hath to execute as a factor, and a
deal of do of which I am weary. After dinner, with Sir W. Pen, my
wife, and Mary Batelier to the Duke of York's house, and there saw
"Heraclius," which is a good play; but they did so spoil it with their
laughing, and being all of them out, and with the noise they made within
the theatre, that I was ashamed of it, and resolve not to come thither
again a good while, believing that this negligence, which I never
observed before, proceeds only from their want of company in the pit,
that they have no care how they act. My wife was ill, and so I was
forced to go out of the house with her to Lincoln's Inn walks, and there
in a corner she did her business, and was by and by well, and so into
the house again, but sick of their ill acting. So home and to the
office, where busy late, then home to supper and to bed. This morning
was told by Sir W. Batten, that he do hear from Mr. Grey, who hath good
intelligence, that our Queen is to go into a nunnery, there to spend her
days; and that my Lady Castlemayne is going into France, and is to have
a pension of L4000 a-year. This latter I do more believe than the other,
it being very wise in her to do it, and save all she hath, besides
easing the King and kingdom of a burden and reproach.
6th. Up, and to Westminster to the Exchequer, and then into the Hall,
and there bought "Guillim's Heraldry" for my wife, and so to the Swan,
and thither come Doll Lane, and je did toucher her, and drank, and so
away, I took coach and home, where I find my wife gone to Walthamstow by
invitation with Sir W. Batten, and so I followed, taking up Mrs. Turner,
and she and I much discourse all the way touching the baseness of Sir
W. Pen and sluttishness of his family, and how the world do suspect that
his son Lowther, who is sick of a sore mouth, has got the pox. So we
come to Sir W. Batten's, where Sir W. Pen and his Lady, and we and Mrs.
Shipman, and here we walked and had an indifferent good dinner, the
victuals very good and cleanly dressed and good linen, but no fine meat
at all. After dinner we went up and down the house, and I do like it
very well, being furnished with a great deal of very good goods. And
here we staid, I tired with the company, till almost evening, and then
took leave, Turner and I together again, and my wife with [Sir] W. Pen.
At Aldgate I took my wife into our coach, and so to Bartholomew fair,
and there, it being very dirty, and now night, we saw a poor fellow,
whose legs were tied behind his back, dance upon his hands with his arse
above his head, and also dance upon his crutches, without any legs upon
the ground to help him, which he did with that pain that I was sorry to
see it, and did pity him and give him money after he had done. Then we
to see a piece of clocke-work made by an Englishman--indeed, very good,
wherein all the several states of man's age, to 100 years old, is shewn
very pretty and solemne; and several other things more cheerful, and so
we ended, and took a link, the women resolving to be dirty, and walked
up and down to get a coach; and my wife, being a little before me, had
been like to be taken up by one, whom we saw to be Sam Hartlib. My wife
had her wizard on: yet we cannot say that he meant any hurt; for it was
as she was just by a coach-side, which he had, or had a mind to take up;
and he asked her, "Madam, do you go in this coach?" but, soon as he
saw a man come to her (I know not whether he knew me) he departed away
apace. By and by did get a coach, and so away home, and there to supper,
and to bed.
7th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, where Goodgroome was teaching my wife, and dined with us, and
I did tell him of my intention to learn to trill, which he will not
promise I shall obtain, but he will do what can be done, and I am
resolved to learn. All the afternoon at the office, and towards night
out by coach with my wife, she to the 'Change, and I to see the price of
a copper cisterne for the table, which is very pretty, and they demand
L6 or L7 for one; but I will have one. Then called my wife at the
'Change, and bought a nightgown for my wife: cost but 24s., and so out
to Mile End to drink, and so home to the office to end my letters, and
so home to supper and to bed.
8th (Lord's day). Up, and walked to St. James's; but there I find Sir W.
Coventry gone from his chamber, and Mr. Wren not yet come thither. But
I up to the Duke of York, and there, after being ready, my Lord Bruncker
and I had an audience, and thence with my Lord Bruncker to White Hall,
and he told me, in discourse, how that, though it is true that Sir W.
Coventry did long since propose to the Duke of York the leaving his
service, as being unable to fulfill it, as he should do, now he hath
so much public business, and that the Duke of York did bid him to say
nothing of it, but that he would take time to please himself in another
to come in his place; yet the Duke's doing it at this time, declaring
that he hath found out another, and this one of the Chancellor's
servants, he cannot but think was done with some displeasure, and that
it could not well be otherwise, that the Duke of York should keep one
in that place, that had so eminently opposed him in the defence of his
father-in-law, nor could the Duchesse ever endure the sight of him,
to be sure. But he thinks that the Duke of York and he are parted
upon clear terms of friendship. He tells me he do believe that my Lady
Castlemayne is compounding with the King for a pension, and to leave the
Court; but that her demands are mighty high: but he believes the King is
resolved, and so do every body else I speak with, to do all possible to
please the Parliament; and he do declare that he will deliver every body
up to them to give an account of their actions: and that last Friday,
it seems, there was an Act of Council passed, to put out all Papists in
office, and to keep out any from coming in. I went to the King's Chapel
to the closet, and there I hear Cresset sing a tenor part along with the
Church musick very handsomely, but so loud that people did laugh at him,
as a thing done for ostentation. Here I met Sir G. Downing, who would
speak with me, and first to inquire what I paid for my kid's leather
gloves I had on my hand, and shewed me others on his, as handsome, as
good in all points, cost him but 12d. a pair, and mine me 2s. He told
me he had been seven years finding out a man that could dress English
sheepskin as it should be--and, indeed, it is now as good, in all
respects, as kid, and he says will save L100,000 a-year, that goes out
to France for kid's skins. Thus he labours very worthily to advance our
own trade, but do it with mighty vanity and talking. But then he told me
of our base condition, in the treaty with Holland and France, about our
prisoners, that whereas before we did clear one another's prisoners, man
for man, and we upon the publication of the peace did release all our's,
300 at Leith, and others in other places for nothing, the Dutch do
keep theirs, and will not discharge them with[out] paying their debts
according to the Treaty. That his instruments in Holland, writing to
our Embassadors about this to Bredagh, they answer them that they do not
know of any thing that they have done therein, but left it just as
it was before. To which, when they answer, that by the treaty their
Lordships had [not] bound our countrymen to pay their debts in prison,
they answer they cannot help it, and we must get them off as cheap as
we can. On this score, they demand L1100 for Sir G. Ascue, and L5000 for
the one province of Zealand, for the prisoners that we have therein. He
says that this is a piece of shame that never any nation committed, and
that our very Lords here of the Council, when he related this matter to
them, did not remember that they had agreed to this article; and swears
that all their articles are alike, as the giving away Polleroon, and
Surinam, and Nova Scotia, which hath a river 300 miles up the country,
with copper mines more than Swedeland, and Newcastle coals, the only
place in America that hath coals that we know of; and that Cromwell did
value those places, and would for ever have made much of them; but
we have given them away for nothing, besides a debt to the King of
Denmarke. But, which is most of all, they have discharged those very
particular demands of merchants of the Guinny Company and others, which
he, when he was there, had adjusted with the Dutch, and come to an
agreement in writing, and they undertaken to satisfy, and that this was
done in black and white under their hands; and yet we have forgiven all
these, and not so much as sent to Sir G. Downing to know what he had
done, or to confer with him about any one point of the treaty, but
signed to what they would have, and we here signed to whatever in grosse
was brought over by Mr. Coventry. And [Sir G. Downing] tells me, just in
these words, "My Lord Chancellor had a mind to keep himself from being
questioned by clapping up a peace upon any terms." When I answered that
there was other privy-councillors to be advised with besides him, and
that, therefore, this whole peace could not be laid to his charge,
he answered that nobody durst say any thing at the council-table but
himself, and that the King was as much afeard of saying any thing there
as the meanest privy-councillor; and says more, that at this day the
King, in familiar talk, do call the Chancellor "the insolent man," and
says that he would not let him speak himself in Council: which is very
high, and do shew that the Chancellor is like to be in a bad state,
unless he can defend himself better than people think. And yet Creed
tells me that he do hear that my Lord Cornbury do say that his father do
long for the coming of the Parliament, in order to his own vindication,
more than any one of his enemies. And here it comes into my head to set
down what Mr. Rawlinson, whom I met in Fenchurch Street on Friday last,
looking over his ruines there, told me, that he was told by one of my
Lord Chancellor's gentlemen lately (--------byname), that a grant coming
to him to be sealed, wherein the King hath given her [Lady Castlemaine],
or somebody by her means, a place which he did not like well of, he did
stop the grant; saying, that he thought this woman would sell everything
shortly: which she hearing of, she sent to let him know that she had
disposed of this place, and did not doubt, in a little time, to dispose
of his. This Rawlinson do tell me my Lord Chancellor's own gentleman did
tell him himself. Thence, meeting Creed, I with him to the Parke,
there to walk a little, and to the Queen's Chapel and there hear their
musique, which I liked in itself pretty well as to the composition,
but their voices are very harsh and rough that I thought it was some
instruments they had that made them sound so. So to White Hall, and saw
the King and Queen at dinner; and observed (which I never did before),
the formality, but it is but a formality, of putting a bit of bread
wiped upon each dish into the mouth of every man that brings a dish; but
it should be in the sauce. Here were some Russes come to see the King
at dinner: among others, the interpreter, a comely Englishman, in the
Envoy's own clothes; which the Envoy, it seems, in vanity did send to
show his fine clothes upon this man's back, which is one, it seems, of
a comelier presence than himself: and yet it is said that none of their
clothes are their own, but taken out of the King's own Wardrobe; and
which they dare not bring back dirty or spotted, but clean, or are
in danger of being beaten, as they say: insomuch that, Sir Charles
Cotterell says, when they are to have an audience they never venture to
put on their clothes till he appears to come to fetch them; and, as soon
as ever they come home, put them off again. I to Sir G. Carteret's
to dinner; where Mr. Cofferer Ashburnham; who told a good story of a
prisoner's being condemned at Salisbury for a small matter. While he was
on the bench with his father-in-law, judge Richardson, and while they
were considering to transport him to save his life, the fellow flung
a great stone at the judge, that missed him, but broke through the
wainscoat. Upon this, he had his hand cut off, and was hanged presently!
Here was a gentleman, one Sheres, one come lately from my Lord Sandwich,
with an express; but, Lord! I was almost ashamed to see him, lest he
should know that I have not yet wrote one letter to my Lord since his
going. I had no discourse with him, but after dinner Sir G. Carteret and
I to talk about some business of his, and so I to Mrs. Martin, where was
Mrs. Burroughs, and also fine Mrs. Noble, my partner in the christening
of Martin's child, did come to see it, and there we sat and talked an
hour, and then all broke up and I by coach home, and there find Mr.
Pelling and Howe, and we to sing and good musique till late, and then to
supper, and Howe lay at my house, and so after supper to bed with much
content, only my mind a little troubled at my late breach of vowes,
which however I will pay my forfeits, though the badness of my eyes,
making me unfit to read or write long, is my excuse, and do put me
upon other pleasures and employment which I should refrain from in
observation of my vowes.
9th. Up; and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon comes
Creed to dine with me. After dinner, he and I and my wife to the
Bear-Garden, to see a prize fought there. But, coming too soon, I left
them there and went on to White Hall, and there did some business with
the Lords of the Treasury; and here do hear, by Tom Killigrew and
Mr. Progers, that for certain news is come of Harman's having spoiled
nineteen of twenty-two French ships, somewhere about the Barbadoes,
I think they said; but wherever it is, it is a good service, and very
welcome. Here I fell in talk with Tom Killigrew about musick, and he
tells me that he will bring me to the best musick in England (of which,
indeed, he is master), and that is two Italians and Mrs. Yates, who, he
says, is come to sing the Italian manner as well as ever he heard any:
says that Knepp won't take pains enough, but that she understands her
part so well upon the stage, that no man or woman in the House do the
like. Thence I by water to the Bear-Garden, where now the yard was full
of people, and those most of them seamen, striving by force to get in,
that I was afeard to be seen among them, but got into the ale-house, and
so by a back-way was put into the bull-house, where I stood a good while
all alone among the bulls, and was afeard I was among the bears, too;
but by and by the door opened, and I got into the common pit; and there,
with my cloak about my face, I stood and saw the prize fought, till one
of them, a shoemaker, was so cut in both his wrists that he could not
fight any longer, and then they broke off: his enemy was a butcher. The
sport very good, and various humours to be seen among the rabble that is
there. Thence carried Creed to White Hall, and there my wife and I took
coach and home, and both of us to Sir W. Batten's, to invite them to
dinner on Wednesday next, having a whole buck come from Hampton Court,
by the warrant which Sir Stephen Fox did give me. And so home to supper
and to bed, after a little playing on the flageolet with my wife, who do
outdo therein whatever I expected of her.
10th. Up, and all the morning at the Office, where little to do but
bemoan ourselves under the want of money; and indeed little is, or can
be done, for want of money, we having not now received one penny for any
service in many weeks, and none in view to receive, saving for paying of
some seamen's wages. At noon sent to by my Lord Bruncker to speak with
him, and it was to dine with him and his Lady Williams (which I have not
now done in many months at their own table) and Mr. Wren, who is come
to dine with them, the first time he hath been at the office since his
being the Duke of York's Secretary. Here we sat and eat and talked and
of some matters of the office, but his discourse is as yet but weak in
that matter, and no wonder, he being new in it, but I fear he will not
go about understanding with the impatience that Sir W. Coventry did.
Having dined, I away, and with my wife and Mercer, set my wife down at
the 'Change, and the other at White Hall, and I to St. James's, where we
all met, and did our usual weekly business with the Duke of York. But,
Lord! methinks both he and we are mighty flat and dull over what we
used to be, when Sir W. Coventry was among us. Thence I into St. James's
Park, and there met Mr. Povy; and he and I to walk an hour or more in
the Pell Mell, talking of the times. He tells me, among other things,
that this business of the Chancellor do breed a kind of inward distance
between the King and the Duke of York, and that it cannot be avoided;
for though the latter did at first move it through his folly, yet he is
made to see that he is wounded by it, and is become much a less man than
he was, and so will be: but he tells me that they are, and have always
been, great dissemblers one towards another; and that their parting
heretofore in France is never to be thoroughly reconciled between them.
He tells me that he believes there is no such thing like to be, as a
composition with my Lady Castlemayne, and that she shall be got out of
the way before the Parliament comes; for he says she is as high as ever
she was, though he believes the King is as weary of her as is possible,
and would give any thing to remove her, but he is so weak in his passion
that he dare not do it; that he do believe that my Lord Chancellor will
be doing some acts in the Parliament which shall render him popular;
and that there are many people now do speak kindly of him that did not
before; but that, if he do do this, it must provoke the King, and that
party that removed him. He seems to doubt what the King of France will
do, in case an accommodation shall be made between Spain and him for
Flanders, for then he will have nothing more easy to do with his army
than to subdue us. Parted with him at White Hall, and, there I took
coach and took up my wife and Mercer, and so home and I to the office,
where ended my letters, and then to my chamber with my boy to lay up
some papers and things that lay out of order against to-morrow, to make
it clear against the feast that I am to have. Here Mr. Pelling come to
sit with us, and talked of musique and the musicians of the town, and so
to bed, after supper.
11th. Up, and with Mr. Gawden to the Exchequer. By the way, he tells me
this day he is to be answered whether he must hold Sheriffe or no; for
he would not hold unless he may keep it at his office, which is out of
the city (and so my Lord Mayor must come with his sword down, whenever
he comes thither), which he do, because he cannot get a house fit for
him in the city, or else he will fine for it. Among others that they
have in nomination for Sheriffe, one is little Chaplin, who was his
servant, and a very young man to undergo that place; but as the city
is now, there is no great honour nor joy to be had, in being a public
officer. At the Exchequer I looked after my business, and when done went
home to the 'Change, and there bought a case of knives for dinner, and a
dish of fruit for 5s., and bespoke other things, and then home, and here
I find all things in good order, and a good dinner towards. Anon comes
Sir W. Batten and his lady, and Mr. Griffith, their ward, and Sir W. Pen
and his lady, and Mrs. Lowther, who is grown, either through pride or
want of manners, a fool, having not a word to say almost all dinner;
and, as a further mark of a beggarly, proud fool, hath a bracelet of
diamonds and rubies about her wrist, and a sixpenny necklace about
her neck, and not one good rag of clothes upon her back; and Sir John
Chichly in their company, and Mrs. Turner. Here I had an extraordinary
good and handsome dinner for them, better than any of them deserve or
understand, saving Sir John Chichly and Mrs. Turner, and not much mirth,
only what I by discourse made, and that against my genius. After dinner
I took occasion to break up the company soon as I could, and all parted,
Sir W. Batten and I by water to White Hall, there to speak with the
Commissioners of the Treasury, who are mighty earnest for our hastening
all that may be the paying off of the Seamen, now there is money, and
are considering many other thins for easing of charge, which I am glad
of, but vexed to see that J. Duncomb should be so pressing in it as if
none of us had like care with him. Having done there, I by coach to
the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw part of "The Ungratefull
Lovers;" and sat by Beck Marshall, who is very handsome near hand. Here
I met Mrs. Turner and my wife as we agreed, and together home, and there
my wife and I part of the night at the flageolet, which she plays now
any thing upon almost at first sight and in good time. But here come Mr.
Moore, and sat and discoursed with me of publique matters: the sum of
which is, that he do doubt that there is more at the bottom than the
removal of the Chancellor; that is, he do verily believe that the King
do resolve to declare the Duke of Monmouth legitimate, and that we shall
soon see it. This I do not think the Duke of York will endure without
blows; but his poverty, and being lessened by having the Chancellor
fallen and [Sir] W. Coventry gone from him, will disable him from being
able to do any thing almost, he being himself almost lost in the esteem
of people; and will be more and more, unless my Lord Chancellor, who is
already begun to be pitied by some people, and to be better thought of
than was expected, do recover himself in Parliament. He would seem to
fear that this difference about the Crowne (if there be nothing
else) will undo us. He do say that, that is very true; that my Lord
[Chancellor] did lately make some stop of some grants of L2000 a-year
to my Lord Grandison, which was only in his name, for the use of my Lady
Castlemaine's children; and that this did incense her, and she did speak
very scornful words, and sent a scornful message to him about it. He
gone, after supper, I to bed, being mightily pleased with my wife's
playing so well upon the flageolet, and I am resolved she shall learn
to play upon some instrument, for though her eare be bad, yet I see she
will attain any thing to be done by her hand.
12th. Up, and at the office all the morning till almost noon, and then
I rode from the office (which I have not done five times I think since
I come thither) and to the Exchequer for some tallies for Tangier; and
that being done, to the Dog taverne, and there I spent half a piece upon
the clerks, and so away, and I to Mrs. Martin's, but she not at home,
but staid and drunk with her sister and landlady, and by that time it
was time to go to a play, which I did at the Duke's house, where "Tu
Quoque" was the first time acted, with some alterations of Sir W.
Davenant's; but the play is a very silly play, methinks; for I, and
others that sat by me, Mr. Povy and Mr. Progers, were weary of it; but
it will please the citizens. My wife also was there, I having sent for
her to meet me there, and W. Hewer. After the play we home, and there
I to the office and despatched my business, and then home, and mightily
pleased with my wife's playing on the flageolet, she taking out any
tune almost at first sight, and keeping time to it, which pleases me
mightily. So to supper and to bed.
13th. Called up by people come to deliver in ten chaldron of coals,
brought in one of our prizes from Newcastle. The rest we intend to sell,
we having above ten chaldron between us. They sell at about 28s. or 29s.
per chaldron; but Sir W. Batten hath sworn that he was a cuckold that
sells under 30s., and that makes us lay up all but what we have for our
own spending, which is very pleasant; for I believe we shall be glad to
sell them for less. To the office, and there despatched business till
ten o'clock, and then with Sir W. Batten and my wife and Mrs. Turner by
hackney-coach to Walthamstow, to Mr. Shipman's to dinner, where Sir W.
Pen and my Lady and Mrs. Lowther (the latter of which hath got a sore
nose, given her, I believe, from her husband, which made me I could not
look upon her with any pleasure), and here a very good and plentifull
wholesome dinner, and, above all thing, such plenty of milk meats, she
keeping a great dairy, and so good as I never met with. The afternoon
proved very foul weather, the morning fair. We staid talking till
evening, and then home, and there to my flageolet with my wife, and so
to bed without any supper, my belly being full and dinner not digested.
It vexed me to hear how Sir W. Pen, who come alone from London, being to
send his coachman for his wife and daughter, and bidding his coachman in
much anger to go for them (he being vexed, like a rogue, to do anything
to please his wife), his coachman Tom was heard to say a pox, or God rot
her, can she walk hither? These words do so mad me that I could find in
my heart to give him or my Lady notice of them.
14th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning busy. At noon comes
Mr. Pierce and dined with me to advise about several matters of his
relating to the office and his purse, and here he told me that the King
and Duke of York and the whole Court is mighty joyful at the Duchesse of
York's being brought to bed this day, or yesterday, of a son; which will
settle men's minds mightily. And he tells me that he do think that what
the King do, of giving the Duke of Monmouth the command of his
Guards, and giving my Lord Gerard L12,000 for it, is merely to find an
employment for him upon which he may live, and not out of any design to
bring him into any title to the Crowne; which Mr. Moore did the other
day put me into great fear of. After dinner, he gone, my wife to the
King's play-house to see "The Northerne Castle," which I think I never
did see before. Knipp acted in it, and did her part very extraordinary
well; but the play is but a mean, sorry play; but the house very full of
gallants. It seems, it hath not been acted a good while. Thence to the
Exchange for something for my wife, and then home and to the office, and
then home to our flageolet, and so to bed, being mightily troubled in
mind at the liberty I give myself of going to plays upon pretence of the
weakness of my eyes, that cannot continue so long together at work at my
office, but I must remedy it.
15th (Lord's day). Up to my chamber, there to set some papers to rights.
By and by to church, where I stood, in continual fear of Mrs. Markham's
coming to church, and offering to come into our pew, to prevent which,
soon as ever I heard the great door open, I did step back, and clap my
breech to our pew-door, that she might be forced to shove me to come
in; but as God would have it, she did not come. Mr. Mills preached, and
after sermon, by invitation, he and his wife come to dine with me, which
is the first time they have been in my house; I think, these five years,
I thinking it not amiss, because of their acquaintance in our country,
to shew them some respect. Mr. Turner and his wife, and their son the
Captain, dined with me, and I had a very good dinner for them, and very
merry, and after dinner, he [Mr. Mills] was forced to go, though it
rained, to Stepney, to preach. We also to church, and then home, and
there comes Mr. Pelling, with two men, by promise, one Wallington and
Piggott, the former whereof, being a very little fellow, did sing a most
excellent bass, and yet a poor fellow, a working goldsmith, that goes
without gloves to his hands. Here we sung several good things, but I am
more and more confirmed that singing with many voices is not singing,
but a sort of instrumental musique, the sense of the words being lost
by not being heard, and especially as they set them with Fuges of words,
one after another, whereas singing properly, I think, should be but with
one or two voices at most and the counterpoint. They supped with me, and
so broke, up, and then my wife and I to my chamber, where, through the
badness of my eyes, she was forced to read to me, which she do very
well, and was Mr. Boyle's discourse upon the style of the Scripture,'
which is a very fine piece, and so to bed.
16th. Up, and several come to me, among others Mr. Yeabsly of Plymouth,
to discourse about their matters touching Tangier, and by and by Sir
H. Cholmly, who was with me a good while; who tells me that the Duke
of York's child is christened, the Duke of Albemarle and the Marquis
of Worcester' godfathers, and my Lady Suffolke godmother; and they have
named it Edgar, which is a brave name. But it seems they are more joyful
in the Chancellor's family, at the birth of this Prince, than in wisdom
they should, for fear it should give the King cause of jealousy. Sir
H. Cholmly do not seem to think there is any such thing can be in the
King's intention as that of raising the Duke of Monmouth to the Crowne,
though he thinks there may possibly be some persons that would, and
others that would be glad to have the Queen removed to some monastery,
or somewhere or other, to make room for a new wife; for they will all
be unsafe under the Duke of York. He says the King and Parliament will
agree; that is, that the King will do any thing that they will have him.
We together to the Exchequer about our Tangier orders, and so parted at
the New Exchange, where I staid reading Mrs. Phillips's poems till my
wife and Mercer called me to Mrs. Pierces, by invitation to dinner,
where I find her painted, which makes me loathe her, and the nastiest
poor dinner that made me sick, only here I met with a Fourth Advice to
the Painter upon the coming in of the Dutch to the River and end of the
war, that made my heart ake to read, it being too sharp, and so true.
Here I also saw a printed account of the examinations taken, touching
the burning of the City of London, shewing the plot of the Papists
therein; which, it seems, hath been ordered and to have been burnt by
the hands of the hangman, in Westminster Palace. I will try to get one
of them. After dinner she showed us her closet, which is pretty, with
her James's picture done by Hales, but with a mighty bad hand, which is
his great fault that he do do negligently, and the drapery also not
very good. Being tired of being here, and sick of their damned sluttish
dinner, my wife and Mercer and I away to the King's play-house, to see
the "Scornfull Lady;" but it being now three o'clock there was not one
soul in the pit; whereupon, for shame, we would not go in, but, against
our wills, went all to see "Tu Quoque" again, where there is a pretty
store of company, and going with a prejudice the play appeared better
to us. Here we saw Madam Morland, who is grown mighty fat, but is very
comely. But one of the best arts of our sport was a mighty pretty lady
that sat behind, that did laugh so heartily and constantly, that it did
me good to hear her. Thence to the King's house, upon a wager of mine
with my wife, that there would be no acting there today, there being
no company: so I went in and found a pretty good company there, and saw
their dance at the end of he play, and so to the coach again, and to the
Cock ale house, and there drank in our coach, and so home, and my wife
read to me as last night, and so to bed vexed with our dinner to-day,
and myself more with being convinced that Mrs. Pierce paints, so that
henceforth to be sure I shall loathe her.
17th. Up, and at the office all the morning, where Mr. Wren come to us
and sat with us, only to learn, and do intend to come once or twice a
week and sit with us. In the afternoon walked to the Old Swan, the way
mighty dirty, and there called at Michell's, and there had opportunity
para kiss su moher, but elle did receive it with a great deal of seeming
regret, which did vex me. But however I do not doubt overcoming her as
I did the moher of the monsieur at Deptford. So thence by water to
Westminster, to Burgess, and there did receive my orders for L1500 more
for Tangier. Thence to the Hall, and there talked a little with Mrs.
Michell, and so to Mrs. Martin's to pay for my cuffs and drink with
her.... And by and by away by coach and met with Sir H. Cholmly, and
with him to the Temple, and there in Playford's shop did give him some
of my Exchequer orders and took his receipts, and so parted and home,
and there to my business hard at the office, and then home, my wife
being at Mrs. Turner's, who and her husband come home with her, and here
staid and talked and staid late, and then went away and we to bed. But
that which vexed me much this evening is that Captain Cocke and Sir W.
Batten did come to me, and sat, and drank a bottle of wine, and told me
how Sir W. Pen hath got an order for the "Flying Greyhound" for himself,
which is so false a thing, and the part of a knave, as nothing almost
can be more. This vexed me; but I resolve to bring it before the Duke,
and try a pull for it.
18th. Up betimes and to Captain Cocke, in his coach which he sent for
me, and he not being ready I walked in the Exchange, which is now made
pretty, by having windows and doors before all their shops, to keep
out the cold. By and by to him, and he being ready, he and I out in his
coach to my Lord Chancellor's; there to Mr. Wren's chamber, who did tell
us the whole of Sir W. Pen's having the order for this ship of ours,
and we went with him to St. James's, and there I did see the copy of it,
which is built upon a suggestion of his having given the King a ship
of his, "The Prosperous," wherein is such a cheat as I have the best
advantage in the world over him, and will make him do reason, or lay him
on his back. This I was very glad of, and having done as far as I could
in it we returned, and I home, and there at the office all the morning,
and at noon with my Lord Bruncker to the Treasurer's office to look over
the clerks who are there making up the books, but in such a manner as it
is a shame to see. Then home to dinner, and after dinner, my mind mighty
full of this business of Sir W. Pen's, to the office, and there busy all
the afternoon. This evening Sir W. Batten and [Sir] W. Pen and I met at
[Sir] W. Batten's house, and there I took an opportunity to break the
business, at which [Sir] W. Pen is much disturbed, and would excuse it
the most he can, but do it so basely, that though he do offer to let go
his pretence to her, and resign up his order for her, and come in only
to ask his share of her (which do very well please me, and give me
present satisfaction), yet I shall remember him for a knave while I
live. But thus my mind is quieted for the present more than I thought
I should be, and am glad that I shall have no need of bidding him open
defiance, which I would otherwise have done, and made a perpetual war
between us. So to the office, and there busy pretty late, and so home
and to supper with my wife, and so to bed.
19th. Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon home to dinner, W.
Hewer and I and my wife, when comes my cozen, Kate Joyce, and an aunt of
ours, Lettice, formerly Haynes, and now Howlett, come to town to see her
friends, and also Sarah Kite, with her little boy in her armes, a very
pretty little boy. The child I like very well, and could wish it my own.
My wife being all unready, did not appear. I made as much of them as
I could such ordinary company; and yet my heart was glad to see them,
though their condition was a little below my present state, to be
familiar with. She tells me how the lifeguard, which we thought a little
while since was sent down into the country about some insurrection,
was sent to Winchcombe, to spoil the tobacco there, which it seems the
people there do plant contrary to law, and have always done, and still
been under force and danger of having it spoiled, as it hath been
oftentimes, and yet they will continue to plant it.
[Winchcombe St. Peter, a market-town in Gloucestershire. Tobacco
was first cultivated in this parish, after its introduction into
England, in 1583, and it proved, a considerable source of profit to
the inhabitants, till the trade was placed under restrictions. The
cultivation was first prohibited during the Commonwealth, and
various acts were passed in the reign of Charles II. for the same
purpose. Among the king's pamphlets in the British Museum is a
tract entitled "Harry Hangman's Honour, or Glostershire Hangman's
Request to the Smokers and Tobacconists of London," dated June 11th,
1655. The author writes: "The very planting of tobacco hath proved
the decay of my trade, for since it hath been planted in
Glostershire, especially at Winchcomb, my trade hath proved nothing
worth." He adds: "Then 'twas a merry world with me, for indeed
before tobacco was there planted, there being no kind of trade to
employ men, and very small tillage, necessity compelled poor men to
stand my friends by stealing of sheep and other cattel, breaking of
hedges, robbing of orchards, and what not."]
The place, she says, is a miserable poor place. They gone, I to the
office, where all the afternoon very busy, and at night, when my eyes
were weary of the light, I and my wife to walk in the garden, and then
home to supper and pipe, and then to bed.
20th. At the office doing business all the morning. At noon expected
Creed to have come to dine with me and brought Mr. Sheres (the gentleman
lately come from my Lord Sandwich) with him; but they come not, so
there was a good dinner lost. After dinner my wife and Jane about some
business of hers abroad, and then I to the office, where, having done
my business, I out to pay some debts: among others to the taverne at the
end of Billiter Lane, where my design was to see the pretty mistress of
the house, which I did, and indeed is, as I always thought, one of the
modestest, prettiest, plain women that ever I saw. Thence was met in the
street by Sir W. Pen, and he and I by coach to the King's playhouse, and
there saw "The Mad Couple," which I do not remember that I have seen; it
is a pretty pleasant play. Thence home, and my wife and I to walk in the
garden, she having been at the same play with Jane, in the 18d. seat, to
shew Jane the play, and so home to supper and to bed.
21st. All the morning at the office, dined at home, and expected Sheres
again, but he did not come, so another dinner lost by the folly of
Creed. After having done some business at the office, I out with my
wife to Sheres's lodging and left an invitation for him to dine with
me tomorrow, and so back and took up my wife at the Exchange, and then
kissed Mrs. Smith's pretty hand, and so with my wife by coach to take
some ayre (but the way very dirty) as far as Bow, and so drinking (as
usual) at Mile End of Byde's ale, we home and there busy at my letters
till late, and so to walk by moonshine with my wife, and so to bed. The
King, Duke of York, and the men of the Court, have been these four or
five days a-hunting at Bagshot.
22nd (Lord's day). At my chamber all the morning making up some
accounts, to my great content. At noon comes Mr. Sheres, whom I find a
good, ingenious man, but do talk a little too much of his travels. He
left my Lord Sandwich well, but in pain to be at home for want of money,
which comes very hardly. Most of the afternoon talking of Spain, and
informing him against his return how things are here, and so spent most
of the afternoon, and then he parted, and then to my chamber busy till
my eyes were almost blind with writing and reading, and I was fain to
get the boy to come and write for me, and then to supper, and Pelling
come to me at supper, and then to sing a Psalm with him, and so parted
and to bed, after my wife had read some thing to me (to save my eyes)
in a good book. This night I did even my accounts of the house, which
I have to my great shame omitted now above two months or more, and
therefore am content to take my wife's and mayd's accounts as they give
them, being not able to correct them, which vexes me; but the fault
being my own, contrary to my wife's frequent desires, I cannot find
fault, but am resolved never to let them come to that pass again. The
truth is, I have indulged myself more in pleasure for these last two
months than ever I did in my life before, since I come to be a person
concerned in business; and I doubt, when I come to make up my accounts,
I shall find it so by the expence.
23rd. Up, and walked to the Exchange, there to get a coach but failed,
and so was forced to walk a most dirty walk to the Old Swan, and there
took boat, and so to the Exchange, and there took coach to St. James's
and did our usual business with the Duke of York. Thence I walked over
the Park to White Hall and took water to Westminster, and there, among
other things, bought the examinations of the business about the Fire of
London, which is a book that Mrs. Pierce tells me hath been commanded to
be burnt. The examinations indeed are very plain. Thence to the Excise
office, and so to the Exchange, and did a little business, and so home
and took up my wife, and so carried her to the other end, where I 'light
at my Lord Ashly's, by invitation, to dine there, which I did, and
Sir H. Cholmly, Creed, and Yeabsly, upon occasion of the business of
Yeabsly, who, God knows, do bribe him very well for it; and it is pretty
to see how this great man do condescend to these things, and do all he
can in his examining of his business to favour him, and yet with great
cunning not to be discovered but by me that am privy to it. At table it
is worth remembering that my Lord tells us that the House of Lords is
the last appeal that a man can make, upon a poynt of interpretation of
the law, and that therein they are above the judges; and that he did
assert this in the Lords' House upon the late occasion of the quarrel
between my Lord Bristoll and the Chancellor, when the former did accuse
the latter of treason, and the judges did bring it in not to be treason:
my Lord Ashly did declare that the judgment of the judges was nothing
in the presence of their Lordships, but only as far as they were the
properest men to bring precedents; but not to interpret the law to their
Lordships, but only the inducements of their persuasions: and this the
Lords did concur in. Another pretty thing was my Lady Ashly's speaking
of the bad qualities of glass-coaches; among others, the flying open
of the doors upon any great shake: but another was, that my Lady
Peterborough being in her glass-coach, with the glass up, and seeing a
lady pass by in a coach whom she would salute, the glass was so clear,
that she thought it had been open, and so ran her head through the
glass, and cut all her forehead! After dinner, before we fell to the
examination of Yeabsly's business, we were put into my Lord's room
before he could come to us, and there had opportunity to look over his
state of his accounts of the prizes; and there saw how bountiful the
King hath been to several people and hardly any man almost, Commander of
the Navy of any note, but hath had some reward or other out of it; and
many sums to the Privy-purse, but not so many, I see, as I thought
there had been: but we could not look quite through it. But several
Bedchamber-men and people about the Court had good sums; and, among
others, Sir John Minnes and Lord Bruncker have L200 a-piece for looking
to the East India prizes, while I did their work for them. By and by my
Lord come, and we did look over Yeabsly's business a little; and I find
how prettily this cunning Lord can be partial and dissemble it in this
case, being privy to the bribe he is to receive. This done; we away, and
with Sir H. Cholmly to Westminster; who by the way told me how merry
the king and Duke of York and Court were the other day, when they were
abroad a-hunting. They come to Sir G. Carteret's house at Cranbourne,
and there were entertained, and all made drunk; and that all being
drunk, Armerer did come to the King, and swore to him, "By God, Sir,"
says he, "you are not so kind to the Duke of York of late as you used
to be."--"Not I?" says the King. "Why so?"--"Why," says he, "if you are,
let us drink his health."--"Why, let us," says the King. Then he fell
on his knees, and drank it; and having done, the King began to drink it.
"Nay, Sir," says Armerer, "by God you must do it on your knees!" So he
did, and then all the company: and having done it, all fell a-crying
for joy, being all maudlin and kissing one another, the King the Duke
of York, and the Duke of York the King: and in such a maudlin pickle as
never people were: and so passed the day. But Sir H. Cholmly tells me,
that the King hath this good luck, that the next day he hates to have
any body mention what he had done the day before, nor will suffer any
body to gain upon him that way; which is a good quality. Parted with Sir
H. Cholmly at White Hall, and there I took coach and took up my wife at
Unthanke's, and so out for ayre, it being a mighty pleasant day, as far
as Bow, and so drank by the way, and home, and there to my chamber till
by and by comes Captain Cocke about business; who tells me that Mr.
Bruncker is lost for ever, notwithstanding my Lord Bruncker hath advised
with him, Cocke, how he might make a peace with the Duke of York and
Chancellor, upon promise of serving him in the Parliament but Cocke says
that is base to offer, and will have no success neither. He says
that Mr. Wren hath refused a present of Tom Wilson's for his place of
Store-keeper of Chatham, and is resolved never to take any thing; which
is both wise in him, and good to the King's service. He stayed with me
very late, here being Mrs. Turner and W. Batelier drinking and laughing,
and then to bed.
24th. Up, and to the Office, where all the morning very busy. At noon
home, where there dined with me Anthony Joyce and his wife, and Will
and his wife, and my aunt Lucett, that was here the other day, and Sarah
Kite, and I had a good dinner for them, and were as merry as I could
be in that company where W. Joyce is, who is still the same impertinent
fellow that ever he was. After dinner I away to St. James's, where we
had an audience of the Duke of York of many things of weight, as the
confirming an establishment of the numbers of men on ships in peace and
other things of weight, about which we stayed till past candle-light,
and so Sir W. Batten and W. Pen and I fain to go all in a hackney-coach
round by London Wall, for fear of cellars, this being the first time I
have been forced to go that way this year, though now I shall begin to
use it. We tired one coach upon Holborne-Conduit Hill, and got another,
and made it a long journey home. Where to the office and then home, and
at my business till twelve at night, writing in short hand the draught
of a report to make to the King and Council to-morrow, about the reason
of not having the book of the Treasurer made up. This I did finish
to-night to the spoiling of my eyes, I fear. This done, then to bed.
This evening my wife tells me that W. Batelier hath been here to-day,
and brought with him the pretty girl he speaks of, to come to serve
my wife as a woman, out of the school at Bow. My wife says she is
extraordinary handsome, and inclines to have her, and I am glad of
it--at least, that if we must have one, she should be handsome. But I
shall leave it wholly to my wife, to do what she will therein.
25th. Up as soon as I could see and to the office to write over fair
with Mr. Hater my last night's work, which I did by nine o'clock, and
got it signed, and so with Sir H. Cholmly, who come to me about his
business, to White Hall: and thither come also my Lord Bruncker: and we
by and by called in, and our paper read; and much discourse thereon by
Sir G. Carteret, my Lord Anglesey, Sir W. Coventry, and my Lord Ashly,
and myself: but I could easily discern that they none of them understood
the business; and the King at last ended it with saying lazily, "Why,"
says he, "after all this discourse, I now come to understand it; and
that is, that there can nothing be done in this more than is possible,"
which was so silly as I never heard: "and therefore," says he, "I would
have these gentlemen to do as much as possible to hasten the Treasurer's
accounts; and that is all." And so we broke up: and I confess I went
away ashamed, to see how slightly things are advised upon there. Here
I saw the Duke of Buckingham sit in Council again, where he was
re-admitted, it seems, the last Council-day: and it is wonderful to
see how this man is come again to his places, all of them, after the
reproach and disgrace done him: so that things are done in a most
foolish manner quite through. The Duke of Buckingham did second Sir W.
Coventry in the advising the King that he would not concern himself in
the owning or not owning any man's accounts, or any thing else, wherein
he had not the same satisfaction that would satisfy the Parliament;
saying, that nothing would displease the Parliament more than to find
him defending any thing that is not right, nor justifiable to the utmost
degree but methought he spoke it but very poorly. After this, I walked
up and down the Gallery till noon; and here I met with Bishop Fuller,
who, to my great joy, is made, which I did not hear before, Bishop
of Lincoln. At noon I took coach, and to Sir G. Carteret's, in
Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, to the house that is my Lord's, which my Lord lets
him have: and this is the first day of dining there. And there dined
with him and his lady my Lord Privy-seale, who is indeed a very sober
man; who, among other talk, did mightily wonder at the reason of the
growth of the credit of banquiers, since it is so ordinary a thing for
citizens to break, out of knavery. Upon this we had much discourse; and
I observed therein, to the honour of this City, that I have not heard of
one citizen of London broke in all this war, this plague, this fire,
and this coming up of the enemy among us; which he owned to be very
considerable.
[This remarkable fact is confirmed by Evelyn, in a letter to Sir
Samuel Tuke, September 27th, 1666. See "Correspondence," vol.
iii., p. 345, edit. 1879.]
After dinner I to the King's playhouse, my eyes being so bad since last
night's straining of them, that I am hardly able to see, besides the
pain which I have in them. The play was a new play; and infinitely full:
the King and all the Court almost there. It is "The Storme," a play
of Fletcher's;' which is but so-so, methinks; only there is a most
admirable dance at the end, of the ladies, in a military manner, which
indeed did please me mightily. So, it being a mighty wet day and night,
I with much ado got a coach, and, with twenty stops which he made, I got
him to carry me quite through, and paid dear for it, and so home, and
there comes my wife home from the Duke of York's playhouse, where she
hath been with my aunt and Kate Joyce, and so to supper, and betimes to
bed, to make amends for my last night's work and want of sleep.
26th. Up, and to my chamber, whither Jonas Moore comes, and, among other
things, after our business done, discoursing of matters of the office,
I shewed him my varnished things, which he says he can outdo much, and
tells me the mighty use of Napier's bones;
[John Napier or Neper (1550-1617), laird of Merchiston (now
swallowed up in the enlarged Edinburgh of to-day, although the old
castle still stands), and the inventor of logarithms. He published
his "Rabdologiae seu numerationis per virgulas libri duo" in 1617,
and the work was reprinted and translated into Italian (1623) and
Dutch (1626). In 1667 William Leybourn published "The Art of
Numbering by Speaking Rods, vulgarly termed Napier's Bones."]
so that I will have a pair presently. To the office, where busy all
the morning sitting, and at noon home to dinner, and then with my wife
abroad to the King's playhouse, to shew her yesterday's new play, which
I like as I did yesterday, the principal thing extraordinary being the
dance, which is very good. So to Charing Cross by coach, about my wife's
business, and then home round by London Wall, it being very dark and
dirty, and so to supper, and, for the ease of my eyes, to bed, having
first ended all my letters at the office.
27th. Up, and to the office, where very busy all the morning. While I
was busy at the Office, my wife sends for me to come home, and what was
it but to see the pretty girl which she is taking to wait upon her: and
though she seems not altogether so great a beauty as she had before told
me, yet indeed she is mighty pretty; and so pretty, that I find I shall
be too much pleased with it, and therefore could be contented as to my
judgement, though not to my passion, that she might not come, lest I may
be found too much minding her, to the discontent of my wife. She is
to come next week. She seems, by her discourse, to be grave beyond her
bigness and age, and exceeding well bred as to her deportment, having
been a scholar in a school at Bow these seven or eight years. To the
office again, my head running on this pretty girl, and there till noon,
when Creed and Sheres come and dined with me; and we had a great deal
of pretty discourse of the ceremoniousness of the Spaniards, whose
ceremonies are so many and so known, that, Sheres tells me, upon all
occasions of joy or sorrow in a Grandee's family, my Lord Embassador is
fain to send one with an 'en hora buena', if it be upon a marriage, or
birth of a child, or a 'pesa me', if it be upon the death of a child,
or so. And these ceremonies are so set, and the words of the compliment,
that he hath been sent from my Lord, when he hath done no more than send
in word to the Grandee that one was there from the Embassador; and he
knowing what was his errand, that hath been enough, and he never spoken
with him: nay, several Grandees having been to marry a daughter, have
wrote letters to my Lord to give him notice, and out of the greatness of
his wisdom to desire his advice, though people he never saw; and then my
Lord he answers by commending the greatness of his discretion in making
so good an alliance, &c., and so ends. He says that it is so far from
dishonour to a man to give private revenge for an affront, that the
contrary is a disgrace; they holding that he that receives an affront
is not fit to appear in the sight of the world till he hath revenged
himself; and therefore, that a gentleman there that receives an affront
oftentimes never appears again in the world till he hath, by some
private way or other, revenged himself: and that, on this account,
several have followed their enemies privately to the Indys, thence to
Italy, thence to France and back again, watching for an opportunity to
be revenged. He says my Lord was fain to keep a letter from the Duke of
York to the Queen of Spain a great while in his hands, before he could
think fit to deliver it, till he had learnt whether the Queen would
receive it, it being directed to his cozen. He says that many ladies in
Spain, after they are found to be with child, do never stir out of their
beds or chambers till they are brought to bed: so ceremonious they are
in that point also. He tells me of their wooing by serenades at the
window, and that their friends do always make the match; but yet that
they have opportunities to meet at masse at church, and there they make
love: that the Court there hath no dancing, nor visits at night to see
the King or Queen, but is always just like a cloyster, nobody stirring
in it: that my Lord Sandwich wears a beard now, turned up in the Spanish
manner. But that which pleases me most indeed is, that the peace which
he hath made with Spain is now printed here, and is acknowledged by all
the merchants to be the best peace that ever England had with them: and
it appears that the King thinks it so, for this is printed before the
ratification is gone over; whereas that with France and Holland was
not in a good while after, till copys come over of it in English out of
Holland and France, that it was a reproach not to have it printed here.
This I am mighty glad of; and is the first and only piece of good news,
or thing fit to be owned, that this nation hath done several years.
After dinner I to the office, and they gone, anon comes Pelling, and he
and I to Gray's Inne Fields, thinking to have heard Mrs. Knight sing at
her lodgings, by a friend's means of his;
[Mrs. Knight, a celebrated singer and mistress of Charles II. There
is in Waller's "Poems" a song sung by her to the queen on her
birthday. In her portrait, engraved by Faber, after Kneller, she is
represented in mourning, and in a devout posture before a crucifix.
Evelyn refers to her singing as incomparable, and adds that she had
"the greatest reach of any English woman; she had been lately
roaming in Italy, and was much improv'd in that quality" ("Diary,"
December 2nd, 1674).]
but we come too late; so must try another time. So lost our labour, and
I by coach home, and there to my chamber, and did a great deal of good
business about my Tangier accounts, and so with pleasure discoursing
with my wife of our journey shortly to Brampton, and of this little
girle, which indeed runs in my head, and pleases me mightily, though I
dare not own it, and so to supper and to bed.
28th. Up, having slept not so much to-night as I used to do, for my
thoughts being so full of this pretty little girle that is coming to
live with us, which pleases me mightily. All the morning at the Office,
busy upon an Order of Council, wherein they are mightily at a loss what
to advise about our discharging of seamen by ticket, there being no
money to pay their wages before January, only there is money to pay
them since January, provided by the Parliament, which will be a horrid
disgrace to the King and Crowne of England that no man shall reckon
himself safe, but where the Parliament takes care. And this did move Mr.
Wren at the table to-day to say, that he did believe if ever there be
occasion more to raise money, it will become here, as it is in Poland,
that there are two treasurers--one for the King, and the other for the
kingdom. At noon dined at home, and Mr. Hater with me, and Mr. Pierce,
the surgeon, dropped in, who I feared did come to bespeak me to be
godfather to his son, which I am unwilling now to be, having ended my
liking to his wife, since I find she paints. After dinner comes Sir Fr.
Hollis to me about business; and I with him by coach to the Temple, and
there I 'light; all the way he telling me romantic lies of himself and
his family, how they have been Parliamentmen for Grimsby, he and his
forefathers, this 140 years; and his father is now: and himself, at
this day, stands for to be, with his father, by the death of his
fellow-burgess; and that he believes it will cost him as much as it did
his predecessor, which was L300 in ale, and L52 in buttered ale; which
I believe is one of his devilish lies. Here I 'light and to the Duke of
York's playhouse, and there saw a piece of "Sir Martin Marrall," with
great delight, though I have seen it so often, and so home, and there
busy late, and so home to my supper and bed.
29th (Lord's day). Up, and put off first my summer's silk suit, and put
on a cloth one. Then to church, and so home to dinner, my wife and I
alone to a good dinner. All the afternoon talking in my chamber with my
wife, about my keeping a coach the next year, and doing some things to
my house, which will cost money--that is, furnish our best chamber
with tapestry, and other rooms with pictures. In the evening read
good books--my wife to me; and I did even my kitchen accounts. Then to
supper, and so to bed.
30th. By water to White Hall, there to a committee of Tangier, but they
not met yet, I went to St. James's, there thinking to have opportunity
to speak to the Duke of York about the petition I have to make to him
for something in reward for my service this war, but I did waive it.
Thence to White Hall, and there a Committee met, where little was done,
and thence to the Duke of York to Council, where we the officers of the
Navy did attend about the business of discharging the seamen by tickets,
where several of the Lords spoke and of our number none but myself,
which I did in such manner as pleased the King and Council. Speaking
concerning the difficulty of pleasing of seamen and giving them
assurance to their satisfaction that they should be paid their arrears
of wages, my Lord Ashly did move that an assignment for money on the
Act might be put into the hands of the East India Company, or City of
London, which he thought the seamen would believe. But this my Lord
Anglesey did very handsomely oppose, and I think did carry it that it
will not be: and it is indeed a mean thing that the King should so far
own his own want of credit as to borrow theirs in this manner. My Lord
Anglesey told him that this was the way indeed to teach the Parliament
to trust the King no more for the time to come, but to have a kingdom's
Treasurer distinct from the King's. Home at noon to dinner, where I
expected to have had our new girle, my wife's woman, but she is not yet
come. I abroad after dinner to White Hall, and there among other things
do hear that there will be musique to-morrow night before the King. So
to Westminster, where to the Swan.... and drank and away to the Hall,
and thence to Mrs. Martin's, to bespeak some linen, and there je did
avoir all with her, and drank, and away, having first promised my
goddaughter a new coat-her first coat. So by coach home, and there find
our pretty girl Willet come, brought by Mr. Batelier, and she is very
pretty, and so grave as I never saw a little thing in my life. Indeed
I think her a little too good for my family, and so well carriaged as I
hardly ever saw. I wish my wife may use her well. Now I begin to be
full of thought for my journey the next week, if I can get leave, to
Brampton. Tonight come and sat with me Mr. Turner and his wife and tell
me of a design of sending their son Franke to the East Indy Company's
service if they can get him entertainment, which they are promised by
Sir Andr. Rickard, which I do very well like of. So the company broke up
and to bed.
OCTOBER 1667
October 1st. All the morning busy at the office, pleased mightily with
my girle that we have got to wait on my wife. At noon dined with Sir G.
Carteret and the rest of our officers at his house in Broad Street, they
being there upon his accounts. After dinner took coach and to my wife,
who was gone before into the Strand, there to buy a nightgown, where
I found her in a shop with her pretty girle, and having bought it away
home, and I thence to Sir G. Carteret's again, and so took coach
alone, it now being almost night, to White Hall, and there in the
Boarded-gallery did hear the musick with which the King is presented
this night by Monsieur Grebus, the master of his musick; both
instrumentall--I think twenty-four violins--and vocall; an English song
upon Peace. But, God forgive me! I never was so little pleased with
a concert of musick in my life. The manner of setting of words and
repeating them out of order, and that with a number of voices, makes
me sick, the whole design of vocall musick being lost by it. Here was a
great press of people; but I did not see many pleased with it, only the
instrumental musick he had brought by practice to play very just. So
thence late in the dark round by the wall home by coach, and there to
sing and sup with my wife, and look upon our pretty girle, and so to
bed.
2nd. Up, and very busy all the morning, upon my accounts of Tangier, to
present to the Commissioners of the Treasury in the afternoon, and the
like upon the accounts of the office. This morning come to me Mr. Gawden
about business, with his gold chain about his neck, as being Sheriffe
of the City this year. At noon to the Treasury Office again, and there
dined and did business, and then by coach to the New Exchange, and there
met my wife and girl, and took them to the King's house to see "The
Traytour," which still I like as a very good play; and thence, round by
the wall, home, having drunk at the Cock ale-house, as I of late have
used to do, and so home and to my chamber to read, and so to supper and
to bed.
3rd. Up, and going out of doors, I understand that Sir W. Batten is
gone to bed on a sudden again this morning, being struck very ill, and
I confess I have observed him for these last two months to look very ill
and to look worse and worse. I to St. James's (though it be a sitting
day) to the Duke of York, about the Tangier Committee, which met this
morning, and he come to us, and the Charter for the City of Tangier was
read and the form of the Court Merchant. That being done Sir W. Coventry
took me into the gallery, and walked with me an hour, discoursing of
Navy business, and with much kindness to, and confidence in, me still;
which I must endeavour to preserve, and will do; and, good man! all his
care how to get the Navy paid off, and that all other things therein may
go well. He gone, I thence to my Lady Peterborough, who sent for me; and
with her an hour talking about her husband's pension, and how she hath
got an order for its being paid again; though, I believe, for all that
order, it will hardly be; but of that I said nothing; but her design is
to get it paid again: and how to raise money upon it, to clear it from
the engagement which lies upon it to some citizens, who lent her husband
money, without her knowledge, upon it, to vast loss. She intends to
force them to take their money again, and release her husband of those
hard terms. The woman is a very wise woman, and is very plain in telling
me how her plate and jewels are at pawne for money, and how they are
forced to live beyond their estate, and do get nothing by his being a
courtier. The lady I pity, and her family. Having done with her, and
drunk two glasses of her meade, which she did give me, and so to the
Treasurer's Office, and there find my Lord Bruncker and [Sir] W. Pen at
dinner with Sir G. Carteret about his accounts, where I dined and talked
and settled some business, and then home, and there took out my wife and
Willet, thinking to have gone to a play, but both houses were begun, and
so we to the 'Change, and thence to my tailor's, and there, the coachman
desiring to go home to change his horses, we went with him into a nasty
end of all St. Giles's, and there went into a nasty room, a chamber of
his, where he hath a wife and child, and there staid, it growing dark
too, and I angry thereat, till he shifted his horses, and then home
apace, and there I to business late, and so home, to supper, and walk
in the garden with my wife and girle, with whom we are mightily pleased,
and after talking and supping, to bed. This noon, going home, I did call
on Will Lincolne and agree with him to carry me to Brampton.
4th. Up, and to White Hall to attend the Council about Commissioner
Pett's business, along with my Lord Bruncker and Sir W. Pen, and in the
Robe-chamber the Duke of York come to us, the officers of the Navy, and
there did meet together about Navy business, where Sir W. Coventry was
with us, and among other things did recommend his Royal Highness, now
the prizes were disposing, to remember Sir John Harman to the King, for
some bounty, and also for my Lady Minnes, which was very nobly done of
him. Thence all of us to attend the Council, where we were anon called
on, and there was a long hearing of Commissioner Pett, who was there,
and there were the two Masters Attendant of Chatham called in, who do
deny their having any order from Commissioner Pett about bringing up
the great ships, which gives the lie to what he says; but, in general,
I find him to be but a weak, silly man, and that is guilty of horrid
neglect in this business all along. Here broke off without coming to an
issue, but that there should be another hearing on Monday next. So the
Council rose, and I staid walking up and down the galleries till the
King went to dinner, and then I to my Lord Crew's to dinner; but he
having dined, I took a very short leave, confessing I had not dined; and
so to an ordinary hard by the Temple-gate, where I have heretofore been,
and there dined--cost me 10d. And so to my Lord Ashly's, where after
dinner Sir H. Cholmly, Creed and I, with his Lordship, about Mr.
Yeabsly's business, where having come to agreement with him abating
him L1000 of what he demands for ships lost, I to Westminster, to
Mrs. Martin's lodging, whither I sent for her, and there hear that her
husband is come from sea, which is sooner than I expected; and here I
staid and drank, and so did toucher elle and away, and so by coach to my
tailor's, and thence to my Lord Crew's, and there did stay with him
an hour till almost night, discoursing about the ill state of my Lord
Sandwich, that he can neither be got to be called home, nor money got to
maintain him there; which will ruin his family. And the truth is, he do
almost deserve it, for by all relation he hath, in a little more than a
year and a half, spent L20,000 of the King's money, and the best part of
L10,000 of his own; which is a most prodigious expence, more than
ever Embassador spent there, and more than these Commissioners of the
Treasury will or do allow. And they demand an account before they will
give him any more money; which puts all his friends to a loss what to
answer. But more money we must get him, or to be called home. I offer
to speak to Sir W. Coventry about it; but my Lord will not advise to
it, without consent of Sir G. Carteret. So home, and there to see Sir
W. Batten, who fell sick yesterday morning: He is asleep: and so I could
not see him; but in an hour after, word is brought me that he is so ill,
that it is believed he cannot live till to-morrow, which troubles me and
my wife mightily, partly out of kindness, he being a good neighbour and
partly because of the money he owes me, upon our bargain of the late
prize. So home and to supper and to bed.
5th. Up, and to the Office; and there all the morning; none but my Lord
Anglesey and myself; but much surprized with the news of the death of
Sir W. Batten, who died this morning, having been but two days sick. Sir
W. Pen and I did dispatch a letter this morning to Sir W. Coventry,
to recommend Colonel Middleton, who we think a most honest and
understanding man, and fit for that place. Sir G. Carteret did also come
this morning, and walked with me in the garden; and concluded not to
concern [himself] or have any advice made to Sir W. Coventry, in behalf
of my Lord Sandwich's business; so I do rest satisfied, though I do
think they are all mad, that they will judge Sir W. Coventry an enemy,
when he is indeed no such man to any body, but is severe and just, as he
ought to be, where he sees things ill done. At noon home, and by coach
to Temple Bar to a India shop, and there bought a gown and sash, which
cost me 26s., and so she [Mrs. Pepys] and Willet away to the 'Change,
and I to my Lord Crew, and there met my Lord Hinchingbroke and Lady
Jemimah, and there dined with them and my Lord, where pretty merry, and
after dinner my Lord Crew and Hinchingbroke and myself went aside to
discourse about my Lord Sandwich's business, which is in a very ill
state for want of money, and so parted, and I to my tailor's, and there
took up my wife and Willet, who staid there for me, and to the Duke
of York's playhouse, but the house so full, it being a new play, "The
Coffee House," that we could not get in, and so to the King's house:
and there, going in, met with Knepp, and she took us up into the
tireing-rooms: and to the women's shift, where Nell was dressing
herself, and was all unready, and is very pretty, prettier than I
thought. And so walked all up and down the house above, and then below
into the scene-room, and there sat down, and she gave us fruit and here
I read the questions to Knepp, while she answered me, through all her
part of "Flora's Figary's," which was acted to-day. But, Lord! to see
how they were both painted would make a man mad, and did make me loath
them; and what base company of men comes among them, and how lewdly they
talk! and how poor the men are in clothes, and yet what a shew they make
on the stage by candle-light, is very observable. But to see how Nell
cursed, for having so few people in the pit, was pretty; the other house
carrying away all the people at the new play, and is said, now-a-days,
to have generally most company, as being better players. By and by into
the pit, and there saw the play, which is pretty good, but my belly was
full of what I had seen in the house, and so, after the play done, away
home, and there to the writing my letters, and so home to supper and to
bed.
6th (Lord's day). Up, and dressed myself, and so walked out with the boy
to Smithfield to Cow Lane, to Lincolne's, and there spoke with him, and
agreed upon the hour to-morrow, to set out towards Brampton; but vexed
that he is not likely to go himself, but sends another for him. Here I
took a hackney coach, and to White Hall, and there met Sir W. Coventry,
and discoursed with him, and then with my Lord Bruncker, and many
others, to end my matters in order to my going into the country
to-morrow for five or six days, which I have not done for above three
years. Walked with Creed into the Park a little, and at last went into
the Queen's side, and there saw the King and Queen, and saw the ladies,
in order to my hearing any news stirring to carry into the country, but
met with none, and so away home by coach, and there dined, and W. How
come to see me, and after dinner parted, and I to my writing to my Lord
Sandwich, which is the greatest business I have to do before my going
into the country, and in the evening to my office to set matters to
rights there, and being in the garden Sir W. Pen did come to me, and
fell to discourse about the business of "The Flying Greyhound," wherein
I was plain to him and he to me, and at last concluded upon my writing
a petition to the Duke of York for a certain ship, The Maybolt Gallyott,
and he offers to give me L300 for my success, which, however, I would
not oblige him to, but will see the issue of it by fair play, and so
I did presently draw a petition, which he undertakes to proffer to the
Duke of York, and solicit for me, and will not seem to doubt of his
success. So I wrote, and did give it him, and left it with him, and so
home to supper, where Pelling comes and sits with me, and there tells us
how old Mr. Batelier is dead this last night in the night, going to
bed well, which I am mightily troubled for, he being a good man. Supper
done, and he gone, I to my chamber to write my journal to this night,
and so to bed.
7th. Up betimes, and did do several things towards the settling all
matters both of house and office in order for my journey this day, and
did leave my chief care, and the key of my closet, with Mr. Hater, with
directions what papers to secure, in case of fire or other accident; and
so, about nine o'clock, I, and my wife, and Willet, set out in a coach
I have hired, with four horses; and W. Hewer and Murford rode by us on
horseback; and so my wife and she in their morning gowns, very handsome
and pretty, and to my great liking. We set out, and so out at Allgate,
and so to the Green Man, and so on to Enfield, in our way seeing Mr.
Lowther and his lady in a coach, going to Walthamstow; and he told us
that he would overtake us at night, he being to go that way. So we
to Enfield, and there bayted, it being but a foul, bad day, and there
Lowther and Mr. Burford, an acquaintance of his, did overtake us, and
there drank and eat together; and, by and by, we parted, we going before
them, and very merry, my wife and girle and I talking, and telling
tales, and singing, and before night come to Bishop Stafford, where
Lowther and his friend did meet us again, and carried us to the
Raynedeere, where Mrs. Aynsworth,
[Elizabeth Aynsworth, here mentioned, was a noted procurerss at
Cambridge, banished from that town by the university authorities for
her evil courses. She subsequently kept the Rein Deer Inn at
Bishops Stortford, at which the Vice-Chancellor, and some of the
heads of colleges, had occasion to sleep, in their way to London,
and were nobly entertained, their supper being served off plate.
The next morning their hostess refused to make any charge, saying,
that she was still indebted to the Vice-Chancellor, who, by driving
her out of Cambridge, had made her fortune. No tradition of this
woman has been preserved at Bishops Stortford; but it appears, from
the register of that parish, that she was buried there 26th of
March, 1686. It is recorded in the "History of Essex," vol. iii.,
(p. 130) 8vo., 1770, and in a pamphlet in the British Museum,
entitled, "Boteler's Case," that she was implicated in the murder of
Captain Wood, a Hertfordshire gentleman, at Manuden, in Essex, and
for which offence a person named Boteler was executed at Chelmsford,
September 10th, 1667, and that Mrs. Aynsworth, tried at the same
time as an accessory before the fact, was acquitted for want of
evidence; though in her way to the jail she endeavoured to throw
herself into the river, but was prevented. See Postea, May 25th,
1668.--B.]
who lived heretofore at Cambridge, and whom I knew better than they
think for, do live. It was the woman that, among other things, was great
with my cozen Barnston, of Cottenham, and did use to sing to him, and
did teach me "Full forty times over," a very lewd song: a woman they are
very well acquainted with, and is here what she was at Cambridge, and
all the good fellows of the country come hither. Lowther and his friend
stayed and drank, and then went further this night; but here we stayed,
and supped, and lodged. But, as soon as they were gone, and my supper
getting ready, I fell to write my letter to my Lord Sandwich, which I
could not finish before my coming from London; so did finish it to my
good content, and a good letter, telling him the present state of all
matters, and did get a man to promise to carry it to-morrow morning,
to be there, at my house, by noon, and I paid him well for it; so, that
being done, and my mind at ease, we to supper, and so to bed, my wife
and I in one bed, and the girl in another, in the same room, and lay
very well, but there was so much tearing company in the house, that we
could not see my landlady; so I had no opportunity of renewing my old
acquaintance with her, but here we slept very well.
8th. Up pretty betimes, though not so soon as we intended, by reason of
Murford's not rising, and then not knowing how to open our door, which,
and some other pleasant simplicities of the fellow, did give occasion
to us to call him. Sir Martin Marrall, and W. Hewer being his helper
and counsellor, we did call him, all this journey, Mr. Warner, which did
give us good occasion of mirth now and then. At last, rose, and up, and
broke our fast, and then took coach, and away, and at Newport did call
on Mr. Lowther, and he and his friend, and the master of the house,
their friend, where they were, a gentleman, did presently get
a-horseback and overtook us, and went with us to Audley-End, and did go
along with us all over the house and garden: and mighty merry we
were. The house indeed do appear very fine, but not so fine as it hath
heretofore to me; particularly the ceilings are not so good as I always
took them to be, being nothing so well wrought as my Lord Chancellor's
are; and though the figure of the house without be very extraordinary
good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding poor; and a great many pictures,
and not one good one in the house but one of Harry the Eighth, done by
Holben; and not one good suit of hangings in all the house, but all most
ancient things, such as I would not give the hanging-up of in my house;
and the other furniture, beds and other things, accordingly.
[Mr. George T. Robinson, F.S.A., in a paper on "Decorative Plaster
Work," read before the Society of Arts in April, 1891, refers to the
ceilings at Audley End as presenting an excellent idea of the state
of the stuccoer's art in the middle of James I.'s reign, and adds,
"Few houses in England can show so fine a series of the same date
... The great hall has medallions in the square portions of the
ceiling formed by its dividing timber beams. The large saloon on
the principal floor-a room about 66 feet long by 30 feet wide-has a
very remarkable ceiling of the pendentive type, which presents many
peculiarities, the most notable of which, that these not only depend
from the ceiling, but the outside ones spring from the walls in a
natural and structural manner. This is a most unusual circumstance
in the stucco work of the time, the reason for the omission of this
reasonable treatment evidently being the unwillingness of the
stuccoer to omit his elaborate frieze in which he took such delight"
("Journal Soc. of Arts," vol. xxxix., p. 449)]
Only the gallery is good, and, above all things, the cellars, where
we went down and drank of much good liquor; and indeed the cellars are
fine: and here my wife and I did sing to my great content. And then to
the garden, and there eat many grapes, and took some with us and so away
thence, exceeding well satisfied, though not to that degree that, by
my old esteem of the house, I ought and did expect to have done, the
situation of it not pleasing me. Here we parted with Lowther and his
friends, and away to Cambridge, it being foul, rainy weather, and there
did take up at the Rose, for the sake of Mrs. Dorothy Drawwater,
the vintner's daughter, which is mentioned in the play of Sir Martin
Marrall. Here we had a good chamber, and bespoke a good supper; and then
I took my wife, and W. Hewer, and Willet, it holding up a little, and
shewed them Trinity College and St. John's Library, and went to King's
College Chapel, to see the outside of it only; and so to our inne, and
with much pleasure did this, they walking in their pretty morning gowns,
very handsome, and I proud to find myself in condition to do this; and
so home to our lodging, and there by and by, to supper, with much good
sport, talking with the Drawers concerning matters of the town, and
persons whom I remember, and so, after supper, to cards; and then to
bed, lying, I in one bed, and my wife and girl in another, in the same
room, and very merry talking together, and mightily pleased both of us
with the girl. Saunders, the only violin in my time, is, I hear, dead of
the plague in the late plague there.
9th. Up, and got ready, and eat our breakfast; and then took coach:
and the poor, as they did yesterday, did stand at the coach to have
something given them, as they do to all great persons; and I did give
them something: and the town musique did also come and play: but, Lord!
what sad music they made! However, I was pleased with them, being all
of us in very good humour, and so through the town, and observed at
our College of Magdalene the posts new painted, and understand that the
Vice-Chancellor' is there this year. And so away for Huntingdon mightily
pleased all along the road to remember old stories; and come to Brampton
at about noon, and there find my father and sister and brother all well
and here laid up our things, and up and down to see the garden with my
father, and the house, and do altogether find it very pretty; especially
the little parlour and the summerhouses in the garden, only the wall do
want greens upon it, and the house is too low-roofed; but that is only
because of my coming from a house with higher ceilings. But altogether
is very pretty; and I bless God that I am like to have such a pretty
place to retire to: and I did walk with my father without doors, and do
find a very convenient way of laying out money there in building, which
will make a very good seat, and the place deserves it, I think,
very well. By and by to dinner, and after dinner I walked up to
Hinchingbroke, where my Lady expected me; and there spent all the
afternoon with her: the same most excellent, good, discreet lady that
ever she was; and, among other things, is mightily pleased with the lady
that is like to be her son Hinchingbroke's wife, which I am mightily
glad of. By and by my wife comes with Willet, my wife in her velvett
vest, which is mighty fine, and becomes her exceedingly. I am pleased
with my Lady Paulina and Anne, who both are grown very proper ladies,
and handsome enough. But a thousand questions my Lady asked me, till she
could think of no more almost, but walked up and down the house, with
me. But I do find, by her, that they are reduced to great straits for
money, having been forced to sell her plate, 8 or L900 worth; and she is
now going to sell a suit of her best hangings, of which I could almost
wish to buy a piece or two, if the pieces will be broke. But the house
is most excellently furnished, and brave rooms and good pictures, so
that it do please me infinitely beyond Audley End. Here we staid till
night walking and talking and drinking, and with mighty satisfaction my
Lady with me alone most of the day talking of my Lord's bad condition
to be kept in Spayne without money and at a great expense, which (as
we will save the family) we must labour to remove. Night being come,
we took leave with all possible kindness, and so home, and there Mr.
Shepley staid with us and sapped, and full of good country discourse,
and when supper done took his leave, and we all to bed, only I a little
troubled that my father tells me that he is troubled that my wife shows
my sister no countenance, and, him but very little, but is as a stranger
in the house; and I do observe she do carry herself very high; but I
perceive there was some great falling out when she was here last, but
the reason I have no mind to enquire after, for vexing myself, being
desirous to pass my time with as much mirth as I can while I am abroad.
So all to bed. My wife and I in the high bed in our chamber, and Willet
in the trundle bed, which she desired to lie in, by us.
10th. Waked in the morning with great pain of the collique, by cold
taken yesterday, I believe, with going up and down in my shirt, but with
rubbing my belly, keeping of it warm, I did at last come to some ease,
and rose, and up to walk up and down the garden with my father, to talk
of all our concernments: about a husband for my sister, whereof there is
at present no appearance; but we must endeavour to find her one now, for
she grows old and ugly: then for my brother; and resolve he shall stay
here this winter, and then I will either send him to Cambridge for a
year, till I get him some church promotion, or send him to sea as a
chaplain, where he may study, and earn his living. Then walked round
about our Greene, to see whether, in case I cannot buy out my uncle
Thomas and his son's right in this house, that I can buy another place
as good thereabouts to build on, and I do not see that I can. But this,
with new building, may be made an excellent pretty thing, and I resolve
to look after it as soon as I can, and Goody Gorum dies. By this time it
was almost noon, and then my father and I and wife and Willet abroad, by
coach round the towne of Brampton, to observe any other place as good
as ours, and find none; and so back with great pleasure; and thence
went all of us, my sister and brother, and W. Hewer, to dinner to
Hinchingbroke, where we had a good plain country dinner, but most kindly
used; and here dined the Minister of Brampton and his wife, who is
reported a very good, but poor man. Here I spent alone with my Lady,
after dinner, the most of the afternoon, and anon the two twins were
sent for from schoole, at Mr. Taylor's, to come to see me, and I took
them into the garden, and there, in one of the summer-houses, did
examine them, and do find them so well advanced in their learning,
that I was amazed at it: they repeating a whole ode without book out of
Horace, and did give me a very good account of any thing almost, and did
make me very readily very good Latin, and did give me good account of
their Greek grammar, beyond all possible expectation; and so grave and
manly as I never saw, I confess, nor could have believed; so that they
will be fit to go to Cambridge in two years at most. They are both
little, but very like one another, and well-looked children. Then in to
my Lady again, and staid till it was almost night again, and then took
leave for a great while again, but with extraordinary kindness from
my Lady, who looks upon me like one of her own family and interest. So
thence, my wife and people by the highway, and I walked over the park
with Mr. Shepley, and through the grove, which is mighty pretty, as is
imaginable, and so over their drawbridge to Nun's Bridge, and so to my
father's, and there sat and drank, and talked a little, and then parted.
And he being gone, and what company there was, my father and I, with
a dark lantern; it being now night, into the garden with my wife, and
there went about our great work to dig up my gold. But, Lord! what a
tosse I was for some time in, that they could not justly tell where it
was; that I begun heartily to sweat, and be angry, that they should not
agree better upon the place, and at last to fear that it was gone but by
and by poking with a spit, we found it, and then begun with a spudd to
lift up the ground. But, good God! to see how sillily they did it, not
half a foot under ground, and in the sight of the world from a hundred
places, if any body by accident were near hand, and within sight of
a neighbour's window, and their hearing also, being close by: only my
father says that he saw them all gone to church before he begun the
work, when he laid the money, but that do not excuse it to me. But I was
out of my wits almost, and the more from that, upon my lifting up the
earth with the spudd, I did discern that I had scattered the pieces of
gold round about the ground among the grass and loose earth; and taking
up the iron head-pieces wherein they were put, I perceive the earth was
got among the gold, and wet, so that the bags were all rotten, and all
the notes, that I could not tell what in the world to say to it, not
knowing how to judge what was wanting, or what had been lost by Gibson
in his coming down: which, all put together, did make me mad; and at
last was forced to take up the head-pieces, dirt and all, and as many
of the scattered pieces as I could with the dirt discern by the
candlelight, and carry them up into my brother's chamber, and there
locke them up till I had eat a little supper: and then, all people going
to bed, W. Hewer and I did all alone, with several pails of water and
basins, at last wash the dirt off of the pieces, and parted the pieces
and the dirt, and then begun to tell [them]; and by a note which I had
of the value of the whole in my pocket, do find that there was short
above a hundred pieces, which did make me mad; and considering that the
neighbour's house was so near that we could not suppose we could speak
one to another in the garden at the place where the gold lay--especially
my father being deaf--but they must know what we had been doing on,
I feared that they might in the night come and gather some pieces and
prevent us the next morning; so W. Hewer and I out again about midnight,
for it was now grown so late, and there by candlelight did make shift
to gather forty-five pieces more. And so in, and to cleanse them: and
by this time it was past two in the morning; and so to bed, with my mind
pretty quiet to think that I have recovered so many. And then to bed,
and I lay in the trundle-bed, the girl being gone to bed to my wife, and
there lay in some disquiet all night, telling of the clock till it was
daylight.
11th. And then rose and called W. Hewer, and he and I, with pails and
a sieve, did lock ourselves into the garden, and there gather all the
earth about the place into pails, and then sift those pails in one of
the summer-houses, just as they do for dyamonds in other parts of the
world; and there, to our great content, did with much trouble by nine
o'clock (and by the time we emptied several pails and could not find
one), we did make the last night's forty-five up seventy-nine: so that
we are come to about twenty or thirty of what I think the true number
should be; and perhaps within less; and of them I may reasonably think
that Mr. Gibson might lose some: so that I am pretty well satisfied that
my loss is not great, and do bless God that it is so well,
[About the year 1842, in removing the foundation of an old wall,
adjoining a mansion at Brampton, always considered the quondam
residence of the Pepys family, an iron pot, full of silver coins,
was discovered, and taken to the Earl of Sandwich, the owner of the
house, in whose possession they still remain. The pot was so much
corroded, that a small piece of it only could be preserved. The
coins were chiefly half-crowns of Elizabeth and the two elder
Stuarts, and all of a date anterior to the Restoration. Although
Pepys states that the treasure which he caused to be buried was gold
exclusively, it is very probable that, in the confusion, a pot full
of silver money was packed up with the rest; but, at all events, the
coincidence appeared too singular to pass over without notice.--B.]
and do leave my father to make a second examination of the dirt, which
he promises he will do, and, poor man, is mightily troubled for this
accident, but I declared myself very well satisfied, and so indeed I am;
and my mind at rest in it, being but an accident, which is unusual; and
so gives me some kind of content to remember how painful it is sometimes
to keep money, as well as to get it, and how doubtful I was how to keep
it all night, and how to secure it to London: and so got all my gold put
up in bags. And so having the last night wrote to my Lady Sandwich to
lend me John Bowles to go along with me my journey, not telling her the
reason, that it was only to secure my gold, we to breakfast, and then
about ten o'clock took coach, my wife and I, and Willet, and W. Hewer,
and Murford and Bowles (whom my Lady lent me), and my brother John on
horseback; and with these four I thought myself pretty safe. But, before
we went out, the Huntingdon musick come to me and played, and it was
better than that of Cambridge. Here I took leave of my father, and did
give my sister 20s. She cried at my going; but whether it was at her
unwillingness for my going, or any unkindness of my wife's, or no,
I know not; but, God forgive me! I take her to be so cunning and
ill-natured, that I have no great love for her; but only [she] is my
sister, and must be provided for. My gold I put into a basket, and set
under one of the seats; and so my work every quarter of an hour was to
look to see whether all was well; and I did ride in great fear all
the day, but it was a pleasant day, and good company, and I mightily
contented. Mr. Shepley saw me beyond St. Neots, and there parted, and we
straight to Stevenage, through Bald Lanes, which are already very bad;
and at Stevenage we come well before night, and all sat, and there with
great care I got the gold up to the chamber, my wife carrying one bag,
and the girl another, and W. Hewer the rest in the basket, and set it
all under a bed in our chamber; and then sat down to talk, and were very
pleasant, satisfying myself, among other things, from John Bowles, in
some terms of hunting, and about deere, bucks, and does. And so anon to
supper, and very merry we were, and a good supper, and after supper to
bed. Brecocke alive still, and the best host I know almost.
12th. Up, and eat our breakfast, and set out about nine o'clock, and so
to Barnett, where we staid and baited, the weather very good all day and
yesterday, and by five o'clock got home, where I find all well; and did
bring my gold, to my heart's content, very safe home, having not this
day carried it in a basket, but in our hands: the girl took care of one,
and my wife another bag, and I the rest, I being afraid of the bottom
of the coach, lest it should break, and therefore was at more ease in my
mind than I was yesterday. At home we find that Sir W. Batten's burial
was to-day carried from hence, with a hundred or two of coaches, to
Walthamstow, and there buried. Here I hear by Mr. Pierce the surgeon;
and then by Mr. Lewes, and also by Mr. Hater, that the Parliament hath
met on Thursday last, and adjourned to Monday next. The King did make
them a very kind speech, promising them to leave all to them to do,
and call to account what and whom they pleased; and declared by my Lord
Keeper how many, thirty-six, actes he had done since he saw them; among
others, disbanding the army, and putting all Papists out of employment,
and displacing persons that had managed their business ill, that the
Parliament is mightily pleased with the King's speech, and voted giving
him thanks for what he said and hath done; and, among things, would by
name thank him for displacing my Lord Chancellor, for which a great many
did speak in the House, but it was opposed by some, and particularly
Harry Coventry, who got that it should be put to a Committee to consider
what particulars to mention in their thanks to the King, saying that
it was too soon to give thanks for the displacing of a man, before they
knew or had examined what was the cause of his displacing. And so it
rested; but this do shew that they are and will be very high; and Mr.
Pierce do tell me that he fears, and do hear, that it hath been said
among them, that they will move for the calling my Lord Sandwich home,
to bring him to account; which do trouble me mightily; but I trust it
will not be so. Anon comes home Sir W. Pen from the burial, and he and
I to walk in the garden, where he did confirm the most of this news, and
so to talk of our particular concernments, and among the rest he says
that Lady Batten and her children-in-law are all broke in pieces, and
that there is but L800 found in the world, of money; and is in great
doubt what we shall do towards the doing ourselves right with them,
about the prize-money. This troubles me, but we will fall to work upon
that next week close. Then he tells me he did deliver my petition into
the hands of Sir W. Coventry, who did take it with great kindness and
promised to present it to the Duke of York, and that himself has since
seen the Duke of York, but it was in haste, and thinks the Duke of York
did tell him that the thing was done, but he is confident that it either
is or will be done. This do please me mightily. So after a little talk
more I away home to supper with John Bowles and brother and wife (who, I
perceive, is already a little jealous of my being fond of Willet, but
I will avoid giving her any cause to continue in that mind, as much as
possible), and before that did go with Sir W. Pen to my Lady Batten,
whom I had not seen since she was a widow, which she took unkindly, but
I did excuse it; and the house being full of company, and of several
factions, she against the children, and they against one another and
her, I away, and home to supper, and after supper to bed.
13th (Lord's day). Up, and by water to White Hall, and thence walked to
Sir W. Coventry's lodgings, but he was gone out, so I to St. James's,
and there to the Duke of York's chamber: and there he was dressing; and
many Lords and Parliament-men come to kiss his hands, they being newly
come to town. And there the Duke of York did of himself call me to him,
and tell me that he had spoke to the King, and that the King had granted
me the ship I asked for; and did, moreover, say that he was mightily
satisfied with my service, and that he would be willing to do anything
that was in his power for me: which he said with mighty kindness; which
I did return him thanks for, and departed with mighty joy, more than I
did expect. And so walked over the Park to White Hall, and there met
Sir H. Cholmly, who walked with me, and told me most of the news I heard
last night of the Parliament; and thinks they will do all things very
well, only they will be revenged of my Lord Chancellor; and says,
however, that he thinks there will be but two things proved on him; and
that one is, that he may have said to the King, and to others, words
to breed in the King an ill opinion of the Parliament--that they were
factious, and that it was better to dissolve them: and this, he thinks,
they will be able to prove; but what this will amount to, he knows not.
And next, that he hath taken money for several bargains that have been
made with the Crown; and did instance one that is already complained
of: but there are so many more involved in it, that, should they unravel
things of this sort, every body almost will be more or less concerned.
But these are the two great points which he thinks they will insist
on, and prove against him. Thence I to the Chapel, and there heard the
sermon and a pretty good anthem, and so home by water to dinner, where
Bowies and brother, and a good dinner, and in the afternoon to make good
my journal to this day, and so by water again to White Hall, and thence
only walked to Mrs. Martin's, and there sat with her and her sister
and Borroughs... and there drank and talked and away by water home, and
there walked with Sir W. Pen, and told him what the Duke of York told
me to-day about the ship I begged; and he was knave enough, of his own
accord, but, to be sure, in order to his own advantage, to offer me to
send for the master of the vessel, "The Maybolt Galliott," and bid him
to get her furnished as for a long voyage, and I to take no notice of
it, that she might be the more worth to me: so that here he is a very
knave to the King, and I doubt not his being the same to me on occasion.
So in a doors and supped with my wife and brother, W. Hewer, and
Willett, and so evened with W. Hewer for my expenses upon the road this
last journey, and do think that the whole journey will cost me little
less than L18 or L20, one way or other; but I am well pleased with it,
and so after supper to bed.
14th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and thence walked to St. James's,
and there to Mr. Wren's; and he told me that my business was done about
my warrant on the Maybolt Galliott; which I did see, and though it was
not so full in the reciting of my services as the other was in that of
Sir W. Pen's, yet I was well pleased with it, and do intend to fetch it
away anon. Thence with Sir Thomas Allen, in a little sorry coach which
he hath set up of late, and Sir Jeremy Smith, to White Hall, and there
I took water and went to Westminster Hall, and there hear that the House
is this day again upon the business of giving the King the thanks of the
House for his speech, and, among other things, for laying aside of my
Lord Chancellor. Thence I to Mrs. Martin's, where by appointment comes
to me Mrs. Howlett, which I was afraid was to have told me something of
my freedom with her daughter, but it was not so, but only to complain
to me of her son-in-law, how he abuses and makes a slave of her, and his
mother is one that encourages him in it, so that they are at this time
upon very bad terms one with another, and desires that I would take a
time to advise him and tell him what it becomes him to do, which office
I am very glad of, for some ends of my own also con sa fille, and there
drank and parted, I mightily satisfied with this business, and so home
by water with Sir W. Warren, who happened to be at Westminster, and
there I pretty strange to him, and little discourse, and there at the
office Lord Bruncker, W. Pen, T. Hater and I did some business, and so
home to dinner, and thence I out to visit Sir G. Carteret and ladies
there; and from him do understand that the King himself (but this
he told me as a great secret) is satisfied that this thanks which he
expects from the House, for the laying aside of my Lord Chancellor, is
a thing irregular; but, since it is come into the House, he do think it
necessary to carry it on, and will have it, and hath made his mind known
to be so, to some of the House. But Sir G. Carteret do say he knows
nothing of what my Lord Bruncker told us to-day, that the King was angry
with the Duke of York yesterday, and advised him not to hinder what he
had a mind to have done, touching this business; which is news very bad,
if true. Here I visited my Lady Carteret, who hath been sick some time,
but now pretty well, but laid on her bed. Thence to my Lord Crew, to see
him after my coming out of the country, and he seems satisfied with some
steps they have made in my absence towards my Lord Sandwich's relief for
money: and so I have no more to do, nor will trouble myself more about
it till they send for me. He tells me also that the King will have the
thanks of the House go on: and commends my Lord Keeper's speech for all
but what he was forced to say, about the reason of the King's sending
away the House so soon the last time, when they were met, but this he
was forced to do. Thence to Westminster Hall, and there walked with Mr.
Scowen, who tells me that it is at last carried in the House that the
thanks shall be given to the King--among other things, particularly for
the removal of my Lord Chancellor; but he tells me it is a strange act,
and that which he thinks would never have been, but that the King did
insist upon it, that, since it come into the House, it might not be let
fall. After walking there awhile I took coach and to the Duke of York's
House, and there went in for nothing into the pit, at the last act, to
see Sir Martin Marrall, and met my wife, who was there, and my brother,
and W. Hewer and Willett, and carried them home, still being pleased
with the humour of the play, almost above all that ever I saw. Home, and
there do find that John Bowles is not yet come thither. I suppose he is
playing the good fellow in the town. So to the office a while, and then
home to supper and to bed.
15th. Up, and to the office, where, Sir W. Pen being ill of the gout, we
all of us met there in his parlour and did the business of the office,
our greatest business now being to manage the pay of the ships in
order and with speed to satisfy the Commissioners of the Treasury. This
morning my brother set out for Brampton again, and is gone. At noon home
to dinner, and thence my wife and I and Willet to the Duke of York's
house, where, after long stay, the King and Duke of York come, and there
saw "The Coffee-house," the most ridiculous, insipid play that ever I
saw in my life, and glad we were that Betterton had no part in it. But
here, before the play begun, my wife begun to complain to me of Willet's
confidence in sitting cheek by jowl by us, which was a poor thing; but
I perceive she is already jealous of my kindness to her, so that I begin
to fear this girle is not likely to stay long with us. The play done,
we home by coach, it being moonlight, and got well home, and I to my
chamber to settle some papers, and so to supper and to bed.
16th. Up, and at home most of the morning with Sir H. Cholmly, about
some accounts of his; and for news he tells me that the Commons and
Lords have concurred, and delivered the King their thanks, among other
things, for his removal of the Chancellor; who took their thanks very
well, and, among other things, promised them, in these words, never,
in any degree, to entertain the Chancellor any employment again. And he
tells me that it is very true, he hath it from one that was by, that the
King did, give the Duke of York a sound reprimand; told him that he had
lived with him with more kindness than ever any brother King lived with
a brother, and that he lived as much like a monarch as himself, but
advised him not to cross him in his designs about the Chancellor; in
which the Duke of York do very wisely acquiesce, and will be quiet as
the King bade him, but presently commands all his friends to be silent
in the business of the Chancellor, and they were so: but that the
Chancellor hath done all that is possible to provoke the King, and to
bring himself to lose his head by enraging of people. He gone, I to the
office, busy all the morning. At noon to Broad Street to Sir G. Carteret
and Lord Bruncker, and there dined with them, and thence after dinner
with Bruncker to White Hall, where the Duke of York is now newly come
for this winter, and there did our usual business, which is but little,
and so I away to the Duke of York's house, thinking as we appointed, to
meet my wife there, but she was not; and more, I was vexed to see Young
(who is but a bad actor at best) act Macbeth in the room of Betterton,
who, poor man! is sick: but, Lord! what a prejudice it wrought in me
against the whole play, and everybody else agreed in disliking this
fellow. Thence home, and there find my wife gone home; because of this
fellow's acting of the part, she went out of the house again. There busy
at my chamber with Mr. Yeabsly, and then with Mr. Lewes, about public
business late, and so to supper and to bed.
17th. Up, and being sent for by my Lady Batten, I to her, and there
she found fault with my not seeing her since her being a widow, which
I excused as well as I could, though it is a fault, but it is my nature
not to be forward in visits. But here she told me her condition, which
is good enough, being sole executrix, to the disappointment of all her
husband's children, and prayed my friendship about the accounts of the
prizes, which I promised her. And here do see what creatures widows are
in weeping for their husbands, and then presently leaving off; but I
cannot wonder at it, the cares of the world taking place of all other
passions. Thence to the office, where all the morning busy, and at noon
home to dinner, where Mr. John Andrews and his wife come and dined with
me, and pretty merry we were, only I out of humour the greatest part
of the dinner, by reason that my people had forgot to get wine ready,
I having none in my house, which I cannot say now these almost three
years, I think, without having two or three sorts, by which we were fain
to stay a great while, while some could be fetched. When it come I begun
to be merry, and merry we were, but it was an odd, strange thing to
observe of Mr. Andrews what a fancy he hath to raw meat, that he eats it
with no pleasure unless the blood run about his chops, which it did now
by a leg of mutton that was not above half boiled; but, it seems, at
home all his meat is dressed so, and beef and all, and [he] eats it so
at nights also. Here most of our discourse is of the business of the
Parliament, who run on mighty furiously, having yesterday been almost
all the morning complaining against some high proceedings of my Lord
Chief Justice Keeling, that the gentlemen of the country did complain
against him in the House, and run very high. It is the man that did fall
out with my cozen Roger Pepys, once, at the Assizes there, and would
have laid him by the heels; but, it seems, a very able lawyer. After
dinner I to the office, where we all met with intent to proceed to
the publique sale of several prize ships, but upon discourse my Lord
Anglesey did discover (which troubled me that he that is a stranger
almost should do more than we ourselves could) that the appraisements
made by our officers were not above half of what he had been offered
for one of them, and did make it good by bringing a gentleman to give us
L700 for the Wildboare, which they valued but at L276, which made us
all startle and stop the sale, and I did propose to acquaint the Duke of
York with it, and accordingly we did agree on it, and I wrote a severe
letter about it, and we are to attend him with it to-morrow about it.
This afternoon my Lord Anglesey tells us that the House of Commons
have this morning run into the inquiry in many things; as, the sale of
Dunkirke, the dividing of the fleete the last year, the business of the
prizes with my Lord Sandwich, and many other things; so that now they
begin to fall close upon it, and God knows what will be the end of it,
but a Committee they have chosen to inquire into the miscarriages of
the war. Having done, and being a little tired, Sir W. Pen and I in his
coach out to Mile End Green, and there drank a cup of Byde's ale, and so
talking about the proceedings of Parliament, and how little a thing
the King is become to be forced to suffer it, though I declare my being
satisfied that things should be enquired into, we back again home, and I
to my office to my letters, and so home to supper and to bed.
18th. Up, and by coach with Sir W. Pen to White Hall, and there attended
the Duke of York; but first we find him to spend above an hour in
private in his closet with Sir W. Coventry; which I was glad to see,
that there is so much confidence between them. By and by we were called
in and did our usual business, and complained of the business yesterday
discovered of our officers abusing the King in the appraisement of the
prizes. Here it was worth observing that the Duke of York, considering
what third rate ships to keep abroad, the Rupert was thought on, but
then it was said that Captain Hubbert was Commander of her and that the
King had a mind for Spragg to command the ship, which would not be well
to be by turning out Hubbert, who is a good man, but one the Duke of
York said he did not know whether he did so well conforme, as at this
lime to please the people and Parliament. Sir W. Coventry answered, and
the Duke of York merrily agreed to it, that it was very hard to know
what it was that the Parliament would call conformity at this time, and
so it stopped, which I only observe to see how the Parliament's present
temper do amuse them all. Thence to several places to buy a hat, and
books, and neckcloths, and several errands I did before I got home, and,
among others, bought me two new pair of spectacles of Turlington, who,
it seems, is famous for them; and his daughter, he being out of the way,
do advise me two very young sights, as that that will help me most, and
promises me great ease from them, and I will try them. At the Exchange I
met Creed, and took him home with me, and dined, and among other things
he tells me that Sir Robert Brookes is the man that did mention the
business in Parliament yesterday about my Lord Sandwich, but that it was
seconded by nobody, but the matter will fall before the Committee for
miscarriages. Thence, after dinner, my wife and he, and I, and Willet to
the King's house, and saw "Brenoralt," which is a good tragedy, that I
like well, and parted after the play, and so home, and there a little
at my office, and so to my chamber, and spent this night late in telling
over all my gold, and putting it into proper bags and my iron chest,
being glad with my heart to see so much of it here again, but cannot
yet tell certainly how much I have lost by Gibson in his journey, and my
father's burying of it in the dirt. At this late, but did it to my mind,
and so to supper and to bed.
19th. At the office all the morning, where very busy, and at noon home
to a short dinner, being full of my desire of seeing my Lord Orrery's
new play this afternoon at the King's house, "The Black Prince," the
first time it is acted; where, though we come by two o'clock, yet there
was no room in the pit, but we were forced to go into one of the upper
boxes, at 4s. a piece, which is the first time I ever sat in a box in my
life. And in the same box come, by and by, behind me, my Lord Barkeley
[of Stratton] and his lady; but I did not turn my face to them to be
known, so that I was excused from giving them my seat; and this pleasure
I had, that from this place the scenes do appear very fine indeed, and
much better than in the pit. The house infinite full, and the King and
Duke of York was there. By and by the play begun, and in it nothing
particular but a very fine dance for variety of figures, but a little
too long. But, as to the contrivance, and all that was witty (which,
indeed, was much, and very witty), was almost the same that had been
in his two former plays of "Henry the 5th" and "Mustapha," and the
same points and turns of wit in both, and in this very same play often
repeated, but in excellent language, and were so excellent that the
whole house was mightily pleased with it all along till towards the end
he comes to discover the chief of the plot of the play by the reading
of along letter, which was so long and some things (the people being set
already to think too long) so unnecessary that they frequently begun to
laugh, and to hiss twenty times, that, had it not been for the King's
being there, they had certainly hissed it off the stage. But I must
confess that, as my Lord Barkeley says behind me, the having of that
long letter was a thing so absurd, that he could not imagine how a man
of his parts could possibly fall into it; or, if he did, if he had but
let any friend read it, the friend would have told him of it; and, I
must confess, it is one of the most remarkable instances that ever I did
or expect to meet with in my life of a wise man's not being wise at
all times, and in all things, for nothing could be more ridiculous than
this, though the letter of itself at another time would be thought an
excellent letter, and indeed an excellent Romance, but at the end of the
play, when every body was weary of sitting, and were already possessed
with the effect of the whole letter; to trouble them with a letter a
quarter of an hour long, was a most absurd thing. After the play done,
and nothing pleasing them from the time of the letter to the end of the
play, people being put into a bad humour of disliking (which is another
thing worth the noting), I home by coach, and could not forbear laughing
almost all the way home, and all the evening to my going to bed, at the
ridiculousness of the letter, and the more because my wife was angry
with me, and the world, for laughing, because the King was there,
though she cannot defend the length of the letter. So after having done
business at the office, I home to supper and to bed.
20th (Lord's day). Up, and put on my new tunique of velvett; which is
very plain, but good. This morning is brought to me an order for the
presenting the Committee of Parliament to-morrow with a list of the
commanders and ships' names of all the fleetes set out since the war,
and particularly of those ships which were divided from the fleete with
Prince Rupert;
[This question of the division of the fleet in May, 1666, was one
over which endless controversy as to responsibility was raised.
When Prince Rupert, with twenty ships, was detached to prevent the
junction of the French squadron with the Dutch, the Duke of
Albemarle was left with fifty-four ships against eighty belonging to
the Dutch. Albemarle's tactics are praised by Captain Mahan.]
which gives me occasion to see that they are busy after that business,
and I am glad of it. So I alone to church, and then home, and there
Mr. Deane comes and dines with me by invitation, and both at and after
dinner he and I spent all the day till it was dark in discourse of
business of the Navy and the ground of the many miscarriages, wherein he
do inform me in many more than I knew, and I had desired him to put
them in writing, and many indeed they are and good ones; and also
we discoursed of the business of shipping, and he hath promised me a
draught of the ship he is now building, wherein I am mightily pleased.
This afternoon comes to me Captain O'Bryan, about a ship that the King
hath given him; and he and I to talk of the Parliament; and he tells
me that the business of the Duke of York's slackening sail in the first
fight, at the beginning of the war, is brought into question, and Sir W.
Pen and Captain Cox are to appear to-morrow about it; and it is thought
will at last be laid upon Mr. Bruncker's giving orders from the Duke of
York (which the Duke of York do not own) to Captain Cox to do it; but it
seems they do resent this very highly, and are mad in going through all
business, where they can lay any fault. I am glad to hear, that in the
world I am as kindly spoke of as any body; for, for aught I see, there
is bloody work like to be, Sir W. Coventry having been forced to produce
a letter in Parliament wherein the Duke of Albemarle did from Sheernesse
write in what good posture all things were at Chatham, and that the
chain was so well placed that he feared no attempt of the enemy: so
that, among other things, I see every body is upon his own defence, and
spares not to blame another to defend himself, and the same course I
shall take. But God knows where it will end! He gone, and Deane, I to
my chamber for a while, and then comes Pelling the apothecary to see
us, and sat and supped with me (my wife being gone to bed sick of the
cholique), and then I to bed, after supper. Pelting tells me that my
Lady Duchesse Albemarle was at Mrs. Turner's this afternoon, she being
ill, and did there publickly talk of business, and of our Office; and
that she believed that I was safe, and had done well; and so, I thank
God! I hear every body speaks of me; and indeed, I think, without
vanity, I may expect to be profited rather than injured by this inquiry,
which the Parliament makes into business.
21st. Up, and betimes got a coach at the Exchange, and thence to St.
James's, where I had forgot that the Duke of York and family were gone
to White Hall, and thence to Westminster Hall and there walked a little,
finding the Parliament likely to be busy all this morning about the
business of Mr. Bruncker for advising Cox and Harman to shorten sail
when they were in pursuit of the Dutch after the first great victory.
I went away to Mr. Creed's chamber, there to meet Sir H. Cholmly, about
business of Mr. Yeabsly, where I was delivered of a great fear that they
would question some of the orders for payment of money which I had got
them signed at the time of the plague, when I was here alone, but all
did pass. Thence to Westminster again, and up to the lobby, where many
commanders of the fleete were, and Captain Cox, and Mr. Pierce, the
Surgeon; the last of whom hath been in the House, and declared that he
heard Bruncker advise; and give arguments to, Cox, for the safety of the
Duke of York's person, to shorten sail, that they might not be in the
middle of the enemy in the morning alone; and Cox denying to observe his
advice, having received the Duke of York's commands over night to keep
within cannon-shot (as they then were) of the enemy, Bruncker did go to
Harman, and used the same arguments, and told him that he was sure it
would be well pleasing to the King that care should be taken of not
endangering the Duke of York; and, after much persuasion, Harman was
heard to say, "Why, if it must be, then lower the topsail." And so
did shorten sail, to the loss, as the Parliament will have it, of the
greatest victory that ever was, and which would have saved all the
expence of blood, and money, and honour, that followed; and this they do
resent, so as to put it to the question, whether Bruncker should not be
carried to the Tower: who do confess that, out of kindness to the Duke
of York's safety, he did advise that they should do so, but did not
use the Duke of York's name therein; and so it was only his error in
advising it, but the greatest theirs in taking it, contrary to order. At
last, it ended that it should be suspended till Harman comes home; and
then the Parliament-men do all tell me that it will fall heavy, and,
they think, be fatal to Bruncker or him. Sir W. Pen tells me he was gone
to bed, having been all day labouring, and then not able to stand, of
the goute, and did give order for the keeping the sails standing, as
they then were, all night. But, which I wonder at, he tells me that he
did not know the next day that they had shortened sail, nor ever
did enquire into it till about ten days ago, that this begun to be
mentioned; and, indeed, it is charged privately as a fault on the Duke
of York, that he did not presently examine the reason of the breach of
his orders, and punish it. But Cox tells me that he did finally refuse
it; and what prevailed with Harman he knows not, and do think that we
might have done considerable service on the enemy the next day, if this
had not been done. Thus this business ended to-day, having kept them
till almost two o'clock; and then I by coach with Sir W. Pen as far as
St. Clement's, talking of this matter, and there set down; and I
walked to Sir G. Carteret's, and there dined with him and several
Parliament-men, who, I perceive, do all look upon it as a thing certain
that the Parliament will enquire into every thing, and will be very
severe where they can find any fault. Sir W. Coventry, I hear, did this
day make a speech, in apology for his reading the letter of the Duke of
Albemarle, concerning the good condition which Chatham was in before
the enemy come thither: declaring his simple intention therein, without
prejudice to my Lord. And I am told that he was also with the Duke of
Albemarle yesterday to excuse it; but this day I do hear, by some of Sir
W. Coventry's friends, that they think he hath done himself much injury
by making this man, and his interest, so much his enemy. After dinner, I
away to Westminster, and up to the Parliament-house, and there did
wait with great patience, till seven at night, to be called in to
the Committee, who sat all this afternoon, examining the business
of Chatham; and at last was called in, and told, that the least they
expected from us Mr. Wren had promised them, and only bade me to bring
all my fellow-officers thitherto attend them tomorrow, afternoon.
Sir Robert Brookes in the chair: methinks a sorry fellow to be there,
because a young man; and yet he seems to speak very well. I gone thence,
my cozen Pepys comes out to me, and walks in the Hall with me, and
bids me prepare to answer to every thing; for they do seem to lodge the
business of Chatham upon the Commissioners of the Navy, and they are
resolved to lay the fault heavy somewhere, and to punish it: and
prays me to prepare to save myself, and gives me hints what to prepare
against; which I am obliged to him for, and do begin to mistrust lest
some unhappy slip or other after all my diligence and pains may not be
found (which I can [not] foresee) that may prove as fatal to a man as
the constant course of negligence and unfaithfulness of other men. Here
we parted, and I to White Hall to Mr. Wren's chamber, thereto advise
with him about the list of ships and commanders which he is to present
to the Parliament, and took coach (little Michell being with me, whom
I took with me from Westminster Hall), and setting him down in Gracious
street home myself, where I find my wife and the two Mercers and Willett
and W. Batelier have been dancing, but without a fidler. I had a little
pleasure in talking with these, but my head and heart full of thoughts
between hope and fear and doubts what will become of us and me
particularly against a furious Parliament. Then broke up and to bed,
and there slept pretty well till about four o'clock, and from that time
could not, but my thoughts running on speeches to the Parliament to
excuse myself from the blame which by other men's negligence will
'light, it may be, upon the office. This day I did get a list of the
fourteen particular miscarriages which are already before the Committee
to be examined; wherein, besides two or three that will concern this
Office much, there are those of the prizes, and that of Bergen, and not
following the Dutch ships, against my Lord Sandwich; that, I fear,
will ruine him, unless he hath very good luck, or they may be in better
temper before he can come to be charged: but my heart is full of fear
for him and his family. I hear that they do prosecute the business
against my Lord Chief Justice Keeling with great severity.
22nd. Slept but ill all the last part of the night, for fear of this
day's success in Parliament: therefore up, and all of us all the morning
close, till almost two o'clock, collecting all we had to say and had
done from the beginning, touching the safety of the River Medway and
Chatham. And, having done this, and put it into order, we away, I not
having time to eat my dinner; and so all in my Lord Bruncker's coach,
that is to say, Bruncker, W. Pen, T. Harvy, and myself, talking of the
other great matter with which they charge us, that is, of discharging
men by ticket, in order to our defence in case that should be asked. We
come to the Parliament-door, and there, after a little waiting till the
Committee was sat, we were, the House being very full, called in: Sir W.
Pen went in and sat as a Member; and my Lord Bruncker would not at first
go in, expecting to have a chair set for him, and his brother had bid
him not go in, till he was called for; but, after a few words, I had
occasion to mention him, and so he was called in, but without any more
chair or respect paid him than myself: and so Bruncker, and T. Harvy,
and I, were there to answer: and I had a chair brought me to lean my
books upon: and so did give them such an account, in a series of the
whole business that had passed the Office touching the matter, and so
answered all questions given me about it, that I did not perceive but
they were fully satisfied with me and the business as to our Office: and
then Commissioner Pett (who was by at all my discourse, and this held
till within an hour after candlelight, for I had candles brought in
to read my papers by) was to answer for himself, we having lodged all
matters with him for execution. But, Lord! what a tumultuous thing this
Committee is, for all the reputation they have of a great council, is
a strange consideration; there being as impertinent questions, and as
disorderly proposed, as any man could make. But Commissioner Pett, of
all men living, did make the weakest defence for himself: nothing to the
purpose, nor to satisfaction, nor certain; but sometimes one thing and
sometimes another, sometimes for himself and sometimes against him; and
his greatest failure was, that I observed, from his [not] considering
whether the question propounded was his part to answer or no, and the
thing to be done was his work to do: the want of which distinction
will overthrow him; for he concerns himself in giving an account of the
disposal of the boats, which he had no reason at all to do, or take any
blame upon him for them. He charged the not carrying up of "The Charles"
upon the Tuesday, to the Duke of Albemarle; but I see the House is
mighty favourable to the Duke of Albemarle, and would give little weight
to it. And something of want of armes he spoke, which Sir J. Duncomb
answered with great imperiousness and earnestness; but, for all that, I
do see the House is resolved to be better satisfied in the business of
the unreadiness of Sherenesse, and want of armes and ammunition there
and every where: and all their officers were here to-day attending, but
only one called in, about armes for boats, to answer Commissioner Pett.
None of my brethren said anything but me there, but only two or three
silly words my Lord Bruncker gave, in answer to one question about the
number of men there were in the King's Yard at the time. At last, the
House dismissed us, and shortly after did adjourne the debate till
Friday next: and my cozen Pepys did come out and joy me in my acquitting
myself so well, and so did several others, and my fellow-officers all
very brisk to see themselves so well acquitted; which makes me a little
proud, but yet not secure but we may yet meet with a back-blow which we
see not. So, with our hearts very light, Sir W. Pen and I in his coach
home, it being now near eight o'clock, and so to the office, and did a
little business by the post, and so home, hungry, and eat a good supper,
and so, with my mind well at ease, to bed. My wife not very well of
those.
23rd. Up, and Sir W. Pen and I in his coach to White Hall, there to
attend the Duke of York; but come a little too late, and so missed it:
only spoke with him, and heard him correct my Lord Barkeley, who fell
foul on Sir Edward Spragg, who, it seems, said yesterday to the House,
that if the Officers of the Ordnance had done as much work at Shereness
in ten weeks as "The Prince" did in ten days, he could have defended the
place against the Dutch: but the Duke of York told him that every body
must have liberty, at this time, to make their own defence, though it
be to the charging of the fault upon any other, so it be true; so I
perceive the whole world is at work in blaming one another. Thence
Sir W. Pen and I back into London; and there saw the King, with his
kettle-drums and trumpets, going to the Exchange, to lay the first stone
of the first pillar of the new building of the Exchange; which, the
gates being shut, I could not get in to see: but, with Sir W. Pen, to
Captain Cocke's to drink a dram of brandy, and so he to the Treasury
office about Sir G. Carteret's accounts, and I took coach and back again
toward Westminster; but in my way stopped at the Exchange, and got in,
the King being newly gone; and there find the bottom of the first pillar
laid. And here was a shed set up, and hung with tapestry, and a canopy
of state, and some good victuals and wine, for the King, who, it seems,
did it; and so a great many people, as Tom Killigrew, and others of the
Court there, and there I did eat a mouthful and drink a little, and do
find Mr. Gawden in his gowne as Sheriffe, and understand that the King
hath this morning knighted him upon the place, which I am mightily
pleased with; and I think the other Sheriffe, who is Davis, the little
fellow, my schoolfellow,--the bookseller, who was one of Audley's'
Executors, and now become Sheriffe; which is a strange turn, methinks.
Here mighty merry (there being a good deal of good company) for a
quarter of an hour, and so I away and to Westminster Hall, where I
come just as the House rose; and there, in the Hall, met with Sir W.
Coventry, who is in pain to defend himself in the business of tickets,
it being said that the paying of the ships at Chatham by ticket was by
his direction, and he hath wrote to me to find his letters, and shew
them him, but I find none; but did there argue the case with him, and I
think no great blame can be laid on us for that matter, only I see he is
fearfull. And he tells me his mistake in the House the other day,
which occasions him much trouble, in shewing of the House the Duke of
Albemarle's letter about the good condition of Chatham, which he is
sorry for, and, owns as a mistake, the thing not being necessary to have
been done; and confesses that nobody can escape from such error, some
times or other. He says the House was well satisfied with my Report
yesterday; and so several others told me in the Hall that my Report was
very good and satisfactory, and that I have got advantage by it in
the House: I pray God it may prove so! And here, after the Hall pretty
empty, I did walk a few turns with Commissioner Pett, and did give the
poor weak man some advice for his advantage how to better his pleading
for himself, which I think he will if he can remember and practise,
for I would not have the man suffer what he do not deserve, there being
enough of what he do deserve to lie upon him. Thence to Mrs. Martin's,
and there staid till two o'clock, and drank and talked, and did give her
L3 to buy my goddaughter her first new gowne.... and so away homeward,
and in my way met Sir W. Pen in Cheapside, and went into his coach, and
back again and to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Black Prince"
again: which is now mightily bettered by that long letter being printed,
and so delivered to every body at their going in, and some short
reference made to it in heart in the play, which do mighty well; but,
when all is done, I think it the worst play of my Lord Orrery's. But
here, to my great satisfaction, I did see my Lord Hinchingbroke and his
mistress, with her father and mother; and I am mightily pleased with the
young lady, being handsome enough--and, indeed, to my great liking, as
I would have her. I could not but look upon them all the play; being
exceeding pleased with my good hap to see them, God bring them together!
and they are now already mighty kind to one another, and he is as it
were one of their family. The play done I home, and to the office a
while, and then home to supper, very hungry, and then to my chamber, to
read the true story, in Speed, of the Black Prince, and so to bed. This
day, it was moved in the House that a day might be appointed to bring
in an impeachment against the Chancellor, but it was decried as being
irregular; but that, if there was ground for complaint, it might be
brought to the Committee for miscarriages, and, if they thought good, to
present it to the House; and so it was carried. They did also vote this
day thanks to be given to the Prince and Duke of Albemarle, for their
care and conduct in the last year's war, which is a strange act; but,
I know not how, the blockhead Albemarle hath strange luck to be loved,
though he be, and every man must know it, the heaviest man in the world,
but stout and honest to his country. This evening late, Mr. Moore come
to me to prepare matters for my Lord Sandwich's defence; wherein I can
little assist, but will do all I can; and am in great fear of nothing
but the damned business of the prizes, but I fear my Lord will receive a
cursed deal of trouble by it.
24th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning very busy, and at
noon took Mr. Hater home with me to dinner, and instantly back again to
write what letters I had to write, that I might go abroad with my wife,
who was not well, only to jumble her, and so to the Duke of York's
playhouse; but there Betterton not being yet well, we would not stay,
though since I hear that Smith do act his part in "The Villaine," which
was then acted, as well or better than he, which I do not believe; but
to Charing Cross, there to see Polichinelli. But, it being begun, we in
to see a Frenchman, at the house, where my wife's father last lodged,
one Monsieur Prin, play on the trump-marine,
[The trumpet marine is a stringed instrument having a triangular-
shaped body or chest and a long neck, a single string raised on a
bridge and running along the body and neck. It was played with a
bow.]
which he do beyond belief; and, the truth is, it do so far outdo a
trumpet as nothing more, and he do play anything very true, and it is
most admirable and at first was a mystery to me that I should hear a
whole concert of chords together at the end of a pause, but he showed me
that it was only when the last notes were 5ths or 3rds, one to another,
and then their sounds like an Echo did last so as they seemed to sound
all together. The instrument is open at the end, I discovered; but he
would not let me look into it, but I was mightily pleased with it, and
he did take great pains to shew me all he could do on it, which was very
much, and would make an excellent concert, two or three of them, better
than trumpets can ever do, because of their want of compass. Here we
also saw again the two fat children come out of Ireland, and a brother
and sister of theirs now come, which are of little ordinary growth, like
other people. But, Lord! how strange it is to observe the difference
between the same children, come out of the same little woman's belly!
Thence to Mile-End Greene, and there drank, and so home bringing home
night with us, and so to the office a little, and then to bed.
25th. Up, and all the morning close till two o'clock, till I had not
time to eat my dinner, to make our answer ready for the Parliament this
afternoon, to shew how Commissioner Pett was singly concerned in the
executing of all orders from Chatham, and that we did properly lodge all
orders with him. Thence with Sir W. Pen to the Parliament Committee, and
there we all met, and did shew, my Lord Bruncker and I, our commissions
under the Great Seal in behalf of all the rest, to shew them our duties,
and there I had no more matters asked me, but were bid to withdraw, and
did there wait, I all the afternoon till eight at, night, while
they were examining several about the business of Chatham again, and
particularly my Lord Bruncker did meet with two or three blurs that he
did not think of. One from Spragg, who says that "The Unity" was ordered
up contrary to his order, by my Lord Bruncker and Commissioner Pett.
Another by Crispin, the waterman, who said he was upon "The Charles;"
and spoke to Lord Bruncker coming by in his boat, to know whether they
should carry up "The Charles," they being a great many naked men without
armes, and he told them she was well as she was. Both these have little
in them indeed, but yet both did stick close against him; and he is the
weakest man in the world to make his defence, and so is like to have
much fault laid on him therefrom. Spragg was in with them all the
afternoon, and hath much fault laid on him for a man that minded his
pleasure, and little else of his whole charge. I walked in the lobby,
and there do hear from Mr. Chichly that they were (the Commissioners
of the Ordnance) shrewdly put to it yesterday, being examined with all
severity and were hardly used by them, much otherwise than we, and did
go away with mighty blame; and I am told by every body that it is likely
to stick mighty hard upon them: at which every body is glad, because
of Duncomb's pride, and their expecting to have the thanks of the House
whereas they have deserved, as the Parliament apprehends, as bad as bad
can be. Here is great talk of an impeachment brought in against my Lord
Mordaunt, and that another will be brought in against my Lord Chancellor
in a few days. Here I understand for certain that they have ordered
that my Lord Arlington's letters, and Secretary Morrice's letters of
intelligence, be consulted, about the business of the Dutch fleete's
coming abroad, which is a very high point, but this they have done, but
in what particular manner I cannot justly say, whether it was not with
the King's leave first asked. Here late, as I have said, and at last
they broke up, and we had our commissions again, and I do hear how
Birch is the high man that do examine and trouble every body with his
questions, and they say that he do labour all he can to clear Pett, but
it seems a witness has come in tonight, C. Millett, who do declare that
he did deliver a message from the Duke of Albemarle time enough for him
to carry up "The Charles," and he neglected it, which will stick very
hard, it seems, on him. So Sir W. Pen and I in his coach home, and there
to supper, a good supper, and so weary, and my eyes spent, to bed.
26th. Up, and we met all this morning at Sir W. Pen's roome, the office
being fowle with the altering of our garden door. There very busy,
and at noon home, where Mrs. Pierce and her daughter's husband and Mr.
Corbet dined with me. I had a good dinner for them, and mighty merry.
Pierce and I very glad at the fate of the officers of Ordnance, that
they are like to have so much blame on them. Here Mrs. Pierce tells me
that the two Marshalls at the King's house are Stephen Marshall's,
the great Presbyterian's daughters: and that Nelly and Beck Marshall,
falling out the other day, the latter called the other my Lord
Buckhurst's whore. Nell answered then, "I was but one man's whore,
though I was brought up in a bawdy-house to fill strong waters to the
guests; and you are a whore to three or four, though a Presbyter's
praying daughter!" which was very pretty. Mrs. Pierce is still very
pretty, but paints red on her face, which makes me hate her, that I
thank God I take no pleasure in her at all more. After much mirth and
good company at dinner, I to the office and left them, and Pendleton
also, who come in to see my wife and talk of dancing, and there I at the
office all the afternoon very busy, and did much business, with my great
content to see it go off of hand, and so home, my eyes spent, to supper
and to bed.
27th (Lord's day). Up, and to my office, there, with W. Hewer, to
dictate a long letter to the Duke of York, about the bad state of the
office, it being a work I do think fit for the office to do, though it
be to no purpose but for their vindication in these bad times; for I
do now learn many things tending to our safety which I did not wholly
forget before, but do find the fruits of, and would I had practised them
more, as, among other things, to be sure to let our answers to orders
bear date presently after their date, that we may be found quick in our
execution. This did us great good the other day before the Parliament.
All the morning at this, at noon home to dinner, with my own family
alone. After dinner, I down to Deptford, the first time that I went to
look upon "The Maybolt," which the King hath given me, and there she
is; and I did meet with Mr. Uthwayte, who do tell me that there are new
sails ordered to be delivered her, and a cable, which I did not speak of
at all to him. So, thereupon, I told him I would not be my own hindrance
so much as to take her into my custody before she had them, which was
all I said to him, but desired him to take a strict inventory of her,
that I might not be cheated by the master nor the company, when they
come to understand that the vessel is gone away, which he hath promised
me, and so away back again home, reading all the way the book of the
collection of oaths in the several offices of this nation, which is
worth a man's reading, and so away home, and there my boy and I to sing,
and at it all the evening, and to supper, and so to bed. This evening
come Sir J. Minnes to me, to let me know that a Parliament-man hath
been with him, to tell him that the Parliament intend to examine him
particularly about Sir W. Coventry's selling of places, and about my
Lord Bruncker's discharging the ships at Chatham by ticket: for the
former of which I am more particularly sorry that that business of [Sir]
W. Coventry should come up again; though this old man tells me, and, I
believe, that he can say nothing to it.
28th. Up, and by water to White Hall (calling at Michell's and drank a
dram of strong water, but it being early I did not see his wife), and
thence walked to Sir W. Coventry's lodging, but he was gone out, and so
going towards St. James's I find him at his house which is fitting
for him; and there I to him, and was with him above an hour alone,
discoursing of the matters of the nation, and our Office, and himself.
He owns that he is, at this day, the chief person aymed at by the
Parliament--that is, by the friends of my Lord Chancellor, and also by
the Duke of Albemarle, by reason of his unhappy shewing of the Duke of
Albemarle's letter, the other day, in the House; but that he thinks that
he is not liable to any hurt they can fasten on him for anything, he
is so well armed to justify himself in every thing, unless in the old
business of selling places, when he says every body did; and he will now
not be forward to tell his own story, as he hath been; but tells me he
is grown wiser, and will put them to prove any thing, and he will defend
himself: besides that, he will dispute the statute, thinking that it
will not be found to reach him. We did talk many things, which, as they
come into my mind now, I shall set down without order: that he is weary
of public employment; and neither ever designed, nor will ever, if his
commission were brought to him wrapt in gold, would he accept of any
single place in the State, as particularly Secretary of State; which, he
says, the world discourses Morrice is willing to resign, and he thinks
the King might have thought of him, but he would not, by any means, now
take it, if given him, nor anything, but in commission with others, who
may bear part of the blame; for now he observes well, that whoever did
do anything singly are now in danger, however honest and painful
they were, saying that he himself was the only man, he thinks, at the
council-board that spoke his mind clearly, as he thought, to the good of
the King; and the rest, who sat silent, have nothing said to them,
nor are taken notice of. That the first time the King did take him
so closely into his confidence and ministry of affairs was upon the
business of Chatham, when all the disturbances were there, and in the
kingdom; and then, while everybody was fancying for himself, the King
did find him to persuade him to call for the Parliament, declaring that
it was against his own proper interest, forasmuch as [it was] likely
they would find faults with him, as well as with others, but that he
would prefer the service of the King before his own: and, thereupon, the
King did take him into his special notice, and, from that time to this,
hath received him so; and that then he did see the folly and mistakes
of the Chancellor in the management of things, and saw that matters were
never likely to be done well in that sort of conduct, and did persuade
the King to think fit of the taking away the seals from the Chancellor,
which, when it was done, he told me that he himself, in his own
particular, was sorry for it; for, while he stood, there was he and my
Lord Arlington to stand between him and harm: whereas now there is only
my Lord Arlington, and he is now down, so that all their fury is placed
upon him but that he did tell the King, when he first moved it, that,
if he thought the laying of him, W. Coventry, aside, would at all
facilitate the removing of the Chancellor, he would most willingly
submit to it, whereupon the King did command him to try the Duke of York
about it, and persuade him to it, which he did, by the King's command,
undertake, and compass, and the Duke of York did own his consent to
the King, but afterwards was brought to be of another mind for the
Chancellor, and now is displeased with him, and [so is] the Duchesse, so
that she will not see him; but he tells me the Duke of York seems pretty
kind, and hath said that he do believe that W. Coventry did mean
well, and do it only out of judgment. He tells me that he never was an
intriguer in his life, nor will be, nor of any combination of persons
to set up this, or fling down that, nor hath, in his own business, this
Parliament, spoke to three members to say any thing for him, but will
stand upon his own defence, and will stay by it, and thinks that he
is armed against all they can [say], but the old business of selling
places, and in that thinks they cannot hurt him. However, I do find him
mighty willing to have his name used as little as he can, and he was
glad when I did deliver him up a letter of his to me, which did give
countenance to the discharging of men by ticket at Chatham, which is now
coming in question; and wherein, I confess, I am sorry to find him so
tender of appearing, it being a thing not only good and fit, all that
was done in it, but promoted and advised by him. But he thinks the House
is set upon wresting anything to his prejudice that they can pick up. He
tells me he did never, as a great many have, call the Chancellor rogue
and knave, and I know not what; but all that he hath said, and will
stand by, is, that his counsels were not good, nor the manner of his
managing of things. I suppose he means suffering the King to run in
debt; for by and by the King walking in the parke, with a great crowd
of his idle people about him, I took occasion to say that it was a
sorry thing to be a poor King, and to have others to come to correct
the faults of his own servants, and that this was it that brought us all
into this condition. He answered that he would never be a poor King, and
then the other would mend of itself. "No," says he, "I would eat bread
and drink water first, and this day discharge all the idle company about
me, and walk only with two footmen; and this I have told the King, and
this must do it at last." I asked him how long the King would suffer
this. He told me the King must suffer it yet longer, that he would not
advise the King to do otherwise; for it would break out again worse, if
he should break them up before the core be come up. After this, we fell
to other talk, of my waiting upon him hereafter, it may be, to read
a chapter in Seneca, in this new house, which he hath bought, and is
making very fine, when we may be out of employment, which he seems to
wish more than to fear, and I do believe him heartily. Thence home, and
met news from Mr. Townsend of the Wardrobe that old Young, the yeoman
taylor, whose place my Lord Sandwich promised my father, is dead. Upon
which, resolving presently that my father shall not be troubled with it,
but I hope I shall be able to enable him to end his days where he is,
in quiet, I went forth thinking to tell Mrs. Ferrers (Captain Ferrers's
wife), who do expect it after my father, that she may look after it, but
upon second thoughts forbore it, and so back again home, calling at the
New Exchange, and there buying "The Indian Emperour," newly printed, and
so home to dinner, where I had Mr. Clerke, the sollicitor, and one
of the Auditor's clerks to discourse about the form of making up my
accounts for the Exchequer, which did give me good satisfaction, and so
after dinner, my wife, and Mercer, who grows fat, and Willett, and I, to
the King's house, and there saw "The Committee," a play I like well,
and so at night home and to the office, and so to my chamber about my
accounts, and then to Sir W. Pen's to speak with Sir John Chichly, who
desired my advice about a prize which he hath begged of the King, and
there had a great deal of his foolish talk of ladies and love and I know
not what, and so home to supper and to bed.
29th. Up, and at the office, my Lord Bruncker and I close together
till almost 3 after noon, never stirring, making up a report for the
Committee this afternoon about the business of discharging men by
ticket, which it seems the House is mighty earnest in, but is a foolery
in itself, yet gives me a great deal of trouble to draw up a defence for
the Board, as if it was a crime; but I think I have done it to very good
purpose. Then to my Lady Williams's, with her and my Lord, and there did
eat a snapp of good victuals, and so to Westminster Hall, where we find
the House not up, but sitting all this day about the method of bringing
in the charge against my Lord Chancellor; and at last resolved for a
Committee to draw up the heads, and so rose, and no Committee to sit
tonight. Here Sir W. Coventry and Lord Bruncker and I did in the Hall
(between the two Courts at the top of the Hall) discourse about a letter
of [Sir] W. Coventry's to Bruncker, whereon Bruncker did justify his
discharging men by ticket, and insists on one word which Sir W.
Coventry would not seem very earnest to have left out, but I did see him
concerned, and did after labour to suppress the whole letter, the thing
being in itself really impertinent, but yet so it is that [Sir] W.
Coventry do not desire to have his name used in this business, and I
have prevailed with Bruncker for it. Thence Bruncker and I to the King's
House, thinking to have gone into a box above, for fear of being seen,
the King being there, but the play being 3 acts done we would not give
4s., and so away and parted, and I home, and there after a little supper
to bed, my eyes ill, and head full of thoughts of the trouble this
Parliament gives us.
30th. All the morning till past noon preparing over again our report
this afternoon to the Committee of Parliament about tickets, and then
home to eat a bit, and then with Sir W. Pen to White Hall, where we did
a very little business with the Duke of York at our usual meeting, only
I perceive that he do leave all of us, as the King do those about him,
to stand and fall by ourselves, and I think is not without some cares
himself what the Parliament may do in matters wherein his honour is
concerned. Thence to the Parliament-house; where, after the Committee
was sat, I was called in; and the first thing was upon the complaint of
a dirty slut that was there, about a ticket which she had lost, and
had applied herself to me for another.... I did give them a short and
satisfactory answer to that; and so they sent her away, and were ashamed
of their foolery, in giving occasion to 500 seamen and seamen's wives to
come before them, as there was this afternoon. But then they fell to the
business of tickets, and I did give them the best answer I could, but
had not scope to do it in the methodical manner which I had prepared
myself for, but they did ask a great many broken rude questions about
it, and were mightily hot whether my Lord Bruncker had any order
to discharge whole ships by ticket, and because my answer was with
distinction, and not direct, I did perceive they were not so fully
satisfied therewith as I could wish they were. So my Lord Bruncker was
called in, and they could fasten nothing on him that I could see, nor
indeed was there any proper matter for blame, but I do see, and it was
said publicly in the House by Sir T. Clerges that Sir W. Batten had
designed the business of discharging men by ticket and an order after
the thing was done to justify my Lord Bruncker for having done it. But
this I did not owne at all, nor was it just so, though he did indeed do
something like it, yet had contributed as much to it as any man of the
board by sending down of tickets to do it. But, Lord! to see that we
should be brought to justify ourselves in a thing of necessity and
profit to the King, and of no profit or convenience to us, but the
contrary. We being withdrawn, we heard no more of it, but there staid
late and do hear no more, only my cozen Pepys do tell me that he did
hear one or two whisper as if they thought that I do bogle at the
business of my Lord Bruncker, which is a thing I neither did or have
reason to do in his favour, but I do not think it fit to make him suffer
for a thing that deserves well. But this do trouble me a little that
anything should stick to my prejudice in any of them, and did trouble
me so much that all the way home with Sir W. Pen I was not at good ease,
nor all night, though when I come home I did find my wife, and Betty
Turner, the two Mercers, and Mrs. Parker, an ugly lass, but yet dances
well, and speaks the best of them, and W. Batelier, and Pembleton
dancing; and here I danced with them, and had a good supper, and as
merry as I could be, and so they being gone we to bed.
31st. Up, and all the morning at the office, and at noon Mr. Creed and
Yeabsly dined with me (my wife gone to dine with Mrs. Pierce and see
a play with her), and after dinner in comes Mr. Turner, of Eynsbury,
lately come to town, and also after him Captain Hill of the "Coventry,"
who lost her at Barbadoes, and is come out of France, where he hath
been long prisoner. After a great deal of mixed discourse, and then Mr.
Turner and I alone a little in my closet, talking about my Lord Sandwich
(who I hear is now ordered by the King to come home again), we all
parted, and I by water, calling at Michell's, and saw and once kissed
su wife, but I do think that he is jealous of her, and so she dares not
stand out of his sight; so could not do more, but away by water to the
Temple, and there, after spending a little time in my bookseller's shop,
I to Westminster; and there at the lobby do hear by Commissioner Pett,
to my great amazement, that he is in worse condition than before, by
the coming in of the Duke of Albemarle's and Prince Rupert's Narratives'
this day; wherein the former do most severely lay matters upon him, so
as the House this day have, I think, ordered him to the Tower again, or
something like it; so that the poor man is likely to be overthrown, I
doubt, right or wrong, so infinite fond they are of any thing the Duke
of Albemarle says or writes to them! I did then go down, and there met
with Colonel Reames and cozen Roger Pepys; and there they do tell me how
the Duke of Albemarle and the Prince have laid blame on a great many,
and particularly on our Office in general; and particularly for want of
provision, wherein I shall come to be questioned again in that business
myself; which do trouble me. But my cozen Pepys and I had much discourse
alone: and he do bewail the constitution of this House, and says there
is a direct caball and faction, as much as is possible between those for
and those against the Chancellor, and so in other factions, that there
is nothing almost done honestly and with integrity; only some few, he
says, there are, that do keep out of all plots and combinations, and
when their time comes will speak and see right done, if possible; and
that he himself is looked upon to be a man that will be of no faction,
and so they do shun to make him; and I am glad of it. He tells me that
he thanks God he never knew what it was to be tempted to be a knave in
his life; till he did come into the House of Commons, where there is
nothing done but by passion, and faction, and private interest.
Reames did tell me of a fellow last night (one Kelsy, a commander of a
fire-ship, who complained for want of his money paid him) did say
that he did see one of the Commissioners of the Navy bring in three
waggon-loads of prize-goods into Greenwich one night; but that the House
did take no notice of it, nor enquire; but this is me, and I must expect
to be called to account, and answer what I did as well as I can. So
thence away home, and in Holborne, going round, it being dark, I espied
Sir D. Gawden's coach, and so went out of mine into his; and there
had opportunity to talk of the business of victuals, which the Duke of
Albemarle and Prince did complain that they were in want of the last
year: but we do conclude we shall be able to show quite the contrary of
that; only it troubles me that we must come to contend with these great
persons, which will overrun us. So with some disquiet in my mind on this
account I home, and there comes Mr. Yeabsly, and he and I to even some
accounts, wherein I shall be a gainer about L200, which is a seasonable
profit, for I have got nothing a great while; and he being gone, I to
bed.
NOVEMBER 1667
November 1st. Up betimes, and down to the waterside (calling and
drinking a dram of the bottle at Michell's, but saw not Betty), and
thence to White Hall and to Sir W. Coventry's lodging, where he and
I alone a good while, where he gives me the full of the Duke of
Albemarle's and Prince's narratives, given yesterday by the House,
wherein they fall foul of him and Sir G. Carteret in something about
the dividing of the fleete, and the Prince particularly charging the
Commissioners of the Navy with negligence, he says the Commissioners of
the Navy whereof Sir W. Coventry is one. He tells me that he is prepared
to answer any particular most thoroughly, but the quality of the persons
do make it difficult for him, and so I do see is in great pain, poor
man, though he deserves better than twenty such as either of them, for
his abilities and true service to the King and kingdom. He says there is
incoherences, he believes, to be found between their two reports,
which will be pretty work to consider. The Duke of Albemarle charges W.
Coventry that he should tell him, when he come down to the fleete with
Sir G. Carteret, to consult about dividing the fleete, that the Dutch
would not be out in six weeks, which W. Coventry says is as false as is
possible, and he can prove the contrary by the Duke of Albemarle's own
letters. The Duke of Albemarle says that he did upon sight of the Dutch
call a council of officers, and they did conclude they could not avoid
fighting the Dutch; and yet we did go to the enemy, and found them at
anchor, which is a pretty contradiction. And he tells me that Spragg did
the other day say in the House, that the Prince, at his going from the
Duke of Albemarle with his fleete, did tell him that if the Dutch should
come on, the Duke was to follow him, the Prince, with his fleete, and
not fight the Dutch. Out of all this a great deal of good might well be
picked. But it is a sad consideration that all this picking of holes in
one another's coats--nay, and the thanks of the House to the Prince
and the Duke of Albemarle, and all this envy and design to ruin Sir W.
Coventry--did arise from Sir W. Coventry's unfortunate mistake the other
day, in producing of a letter from the Duke of Albemarle, touching the
good condition of all things at Chatham just before the Dutch come up,
and did us that fatal mischiefe; for upon this they are resolved to undo
him, and I pray God they do not. He tells me upon my demanding it that
he thinks the King do not like this their bringing these narratives, and
that they give out that they would have said more but that the King hath
hindered them, that I suppose is about my Lord Sandwich. He is getting
a copy of the Narratives, which I shall then have, and so I parted
from him and away to White Hall, where I met Mr. Creed and Yeabsly, and
discoursed a little about Mr. Yeabsly's business and accounts, and so
I to chapel and there staid, it being All-Hallows day, and heard a fine
anthem, made by Pelham (who is come over) in France, of which there was
great expectation, and indeed is a very good piece of musique, but still
I cannot call the Anthem anything but instrumentall musique with the
voice, for nothing is made of the words at all. I this morning before
chapel visited Sir G. Carteret, who is vexed to see how things are
likely to go, but cannot help it, and yet seems to think himself mighty
safe. I also visited my Lord Hinchingbroke, at his chamber at White
Hall, where I found Mr. Turner, Moore, and Creed, talking of my Lord
Sandwich, whose case I doubt is but bad, and, I fear, will not escape
being worse, though some of the company did say otherwise. But I am
mightily pleased with my Lord Hinchingbroke's sobriety and few words.
After chapel I with Creed to the Exchange, and after much talk he and I
there about securing of some money either by land or goods to be always
at our command, which we think a thing advisable in this critical time,
we parted, and I to the Sun Taverne with Sir W. Warren (with whom I have
not drank many a day, having for some time been strange to him), and
there did put it to him to advise me how to dispose of my prize, which
he will think of and do to my best advantage. We talked of several
other things relating to his service, wherein I promise assistance,
but coldly, thinking it policy to do so, and so, after eating a short
dinner, I away home, and there took out my wife, and she and I alone to
the King's playhouse, and there saw a silly play and an old one, "The
Taming of a Shrew," and so home and I to my office a little, and then
home to supper and to bed.
2nd. Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning; at noon home,
and after dinner my wife and Willett and I to the King's playhouse, and
there saw "Henry the Fourth:" and contrary to expectation, was pleased
in nothing more than in Cartwright's speaking of Falstaffe's speech
about "What is Honour?" The house full of Parliament-men, it being
holyday with them: and it was observable how a gentleman of good habit,
sitting just before us, eating of some fruit in the midst of the play,
did drop down as dead, being choked; but with much ado Orange Moll did
thrust her finger down his throat, and brought him to life again. After
the play, we home, and I busy at the office late, and then home to
supper and to bed.
3rd (Lord's day). Up, and with my wife to church, and thither comes
Roger Pepys to our pew, and thence home to dinner, whither comes by
invitation Mr. Turner, the minister, and my cozen Roger brought with him
Jeffrys, the apothecary at Westminster, who is our kinsman, and we had
much discourse of Cottenhamshire, and other things with great pleasure.
My cozen Roger did tell me of a bargain which I may now have in
Norfolke, that my she-cozen, Nan Pepys, is going to sell, the title
whereof is very good, and the pennyworth is also good enough; but it is
out of the way so of my life, that I shall never enjoy it, nor, it may
be, see it, and so I shall have nothing to do with it. After dinner to
talk, and I find by discourse Mr. Turner to be a man mighty well read in
the Roman history, which is very pleasant. By and by Roger went, and
Mr. Turner spent an hour talking over my Lord Sandwich's condition as
to this Parliament, which we fear may be bad, and the condition of
his family, which can be no better, and then having little to comfort
ourselves but that this humour will not last always in the Parliament,
and that [it] may well have a great many more as great men as he
enquired into, and so we parted, and I to my chamber, and there busy all
the evening, and then my wife and I to supper, and so to bed, with much
discourse and pleasure one with another.
4th. Up betimes, and by water with Sir R. Ford (who is going to
Parliament) to Westminster; and there landing at the New Exchange
stairs, I to Sir W. Coventry: and there he read over to me the Prince's
and the Duke of Albemarle's Narratives; wherein they are very severe
against him and our Office. But [Sir] W. Coventry do contemn them; only
that their persons and qualities are great, and so I do perceive [he] is
afeard of them, though he will not confess it. But he do say that, if he
can get out of these briars, he will never trouble himself with Princes
nor Dukes again. He finds several things in their Narratives, which are
both inconsistent and foolish, as well as untrue, especially as to what
the Duke of Albemarle avers of his knowing of the enemy's being abroad
sooner than he says it, which [Sir] W. Coventry will shew him his own
letter against him, for I confess I do see so much, that, were I but
well possessed of what I should have in the world, I think I could
willingly retreat, and trouble myself no more with it. Thence home, and
there met Sir H. Cholmly, and he and I to the Excise Office to see what
tallies are paying, and thence back to the Old Exchange, by the way
talking of news, and he owning Sir W. Coventry, in his opinion, to be
one of the worthiest men in the nation, as I do really think he is. He
tells me he do think really that they will cut off my Lord Chancellor's
head, the Chancellor at this day showing as much pride as is possible to
those few that venture their fortunes by coming to see him; and that the
Duke of York is troubled much, knowing that those that fling down the
Chancellor cannot stop there, but will do something to him, to prevent
his having it in his power hereafter to avenge himself and father-in-law
upon them. And this Sir H. Cholmly fears may be by divorcing the Queen
and getting another, or declaring the Duke of Monmouth legitimate; which
God forbid! He tells me he do verily believe that there will come in
an impeachment of High Treason against my Lord of Ormond; among other
things, for ordering the quartering of soldiers in Ireland on free
quarters; which, it seems, is High Treason in that country, and was one
of the things that lost the Lord Strafford his head, and the law is not
yet repealed; which, he says, was a mighty oversight of him not to
have it repealed, which he might with ease have done, or have justified
himself by an Act. From the Exchange I took a coach, and went to
Turlington, the great spectacle-maker, for advice, who dissuades me from
using old spectacles, but rather young ones, and do tell me that nothing
can wrong my eyes more than for me to use reading-glasses, which do
magnify much. Thence home, and there dined, and then abroad and left
my wife and Willett at her tailor's, and I to White Hall, where the
Commissioners of the Treasury do not sit, and therefore I to Westminster
to the Hall, and there meeting with Col. Reames I did very cheaply by
him get copies of the Prince's and Duke of Albemarle's Narratives, which
they did deliver the other day to the House, of which I am mighty glad,
both for my present information and for my future satisfaction. So back
by coach, and took up my wife, and away home, and there in my chamber
all the evening among my papers and my accounts of Tangier to my great
satisfaction, and so to supper and to bed.
5th. Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon home to dinner, and
thence out with my wife and girle, and left them at her tailor's, and
I to the Treasury, and there did a little business for Tangier, and so
took them up again, and home, and when I had done at the office, being
post night, I to my chamber, and there did something more, and so to
supper and to bed.
6th. Up, and to Westminster, where to the Parliament door, and there
spoke with Sir G. Downing, to see what was done yesterday at the
Treasury for Tangier, and it proved as good as nothing, so that I do see
we shall be brought to great straits for money there. He tells me here
that he is passing a Bill to make the Excise and every other part of the
King's Revenue assignable on the Exchequer, which indeed will be a very
good thing. This he says with great glee as an act of his, and how poor
a thing this was in the beginning, and with what envy he carried it on,
and how my Lord Chancellor could never endure him for it since he first
begun it. He tells me that the thing the House is just now upon is
that of taking away the charter from the Company of Woodmongers, whose
frauds, it seems, have been mightily laid before them. He tells me that
they are like to fly very high against my Lord Chancellor. Thence I
to the House of Lords, and there first saw Dr. Fuller, as Bishop of
Lincoln, to sit among the Lords. Here I spoke with the Duke of York and
the Duke of Albemarle about Tangier; but methinks both of them do look
very coldly one upon another, and their discourse mighty cold, and
little to the purpose about our want of money. Thence homeward, and
called at Allestry's, the bookseller, who is bookseller to the Royal
Society, and there did buy three or four books, and find great variety
of French and foreign books. And so home and to dinner, and after dinner
with my wife to a play, and the girl--"Macbeth," which we still like
mightily, though mighty short of the content we used to have when
Betterton acted, who is still sick. So home, troubled with the way
and to get a coach, and so to supper and to bed. This day, in the
Paynted-chamber, I met and walked with Mr. George Montagu, who thinks
it may go hard with my Lord Sandwich, but he says the House is offended
with Sir W. Coventry much, and that he do endeavour to gain them again
in the most precarious manner in all things that is possible.
7th. Up, and at the office hard all the morning, and at noon resolved
with Sir W. Pen to go see "The Tempest," an old play of Shakespeare's,
acted, I hear, the first day; and so my wife, and girl, and W. Hewer by
themselves, and Sir W. Pen and I afterwards by ourselves; and forced
to sit in the side balcone over against the musique-room at the Duke's
house, close by my Lady Dorset and a great many great ones. The house
mighty full; the King and Court there and the most innocent play that
ever I saw; and a curious piece of musique in an echo of half sentences,
the echo repeating the former half, while the man goes on to the latter;
which is mighty pretty. The play [has] no great wit, but yet good, above
ordinary plays. Thence home with [Sir] W. Pen, and there all mightily
pleased with the play; and so to supper and to bed, after having done at
the office.
8th. Called up betimes by Sir H. Cholmly, and he and I to good purpose
most of the morning--I in my dressing-gown with him, on our Tangier
accounts, and stated them well; and here he tells me that he believes it
will go hard with my Lord Chancellor. Thence I to the office, where met
on some special, business; and here I hear that the Duke of York is
very ill; and by and by word brought us that we shall not need to attend
to-day the Duke of York, for he is not well, which is bad news. They
being gone, I to my workmen, who this day come to alter my office, by
beating down the wall, and making me a fayre window both there, and
increasing the window of my closet, which do give me some present
trouble; but will be mighty pleasant. So all the whole day among them
to very late, and so home weary, to supper, and to bed, troubled for the
Duke of York his being sick.
9th. Up and to my workmen, who are at work close again, and I at the
office all the morning, and there do hear by a messenger that Roger
Pepys would speak with me, so before the office up I to Westminster, and
there find the House very busy, and like to be so all day, about my Lord
Chancellor's impeachment, whether treason or not, where every body is
mighty busy. I spoke with my cozen Roger, whose business was only to
give me notice that Carcasse hath been before the Committee; and to warn
me of it, which is a great courtesy in him to do, and I desire him to
continue to do so. This business of this fellow, though it may be a
foolish thing, yet it troubles me, and I do plainly see my weakness
that I am not a man able to go through trouble, as other men, but that
I should be a miserable man if I should meet with adversity, which God
keep me from! He desirous to get back into the House, he having his
notes in his hand, the lawyers being now speaking to the point of
whether treason or not treason, the article of advising the King to
break up the Parliament, and to govern by the sword. Thence I down to
the Hall, and there met Mr. King, the Parliament-man for Harwich, and
there he did shew, and let me take a copy of, all the articles against
my Lord Chancellor, and what members they were that undertook to bring
witnesses to make them good, of which I was mighty glad, and so away
home, and to dinner and to my workmen, and in the afternoon out to get
Simpson the joyner to come to work at my office, and so back home and to
my letters by the post to-night, and there, by W. Pen, do hear that this
article was overvoted in the House not to be a ground of impeachment of
treason, at which I was glad, being willing to have no blood spilt, if
I could help it. So home to supper, and glad that the dirty bricklayers'
work of my office is done, and home to supper and to bed.
10th (Lord's day). Mighty cold, and with my wife to church, where a lazy
sermon. Here was my Lady Batten in her mourning at church, but I took no
notice of her. At noon comes Michell and his wife to dine with us, and
pretty merry. I glad to see her still. After dinner Sir W. Pen and I
to White Hall, to speak with Sir W. Coventry; and there, beyond all we
looked for, do hear that the Duke of York hath got, and is full of, the
small-pox; and so we to his lodgings; and there find most of the family
going to St. James's, and the gallery doors locked up, that nobody might
pass to nor fro and a sad house, I am sure. I am sad to consider the
effects of his death, if he should miscarry; but Dr. Frazier tells
me that he is in as good condition as a man can be in his case. The
eruption appeared last night; it seems he was let blood on Friday.
Thence, not finding [Sir] W. Coventry, and going back again home, we met
him coming with the Lord Keeper, and so returned and spoke with him in
White Hall Garden, two or three turns, advising with him what we
should do about Carcasse's bringing his letter into the Committee of
Parliament, and he told us that the counsel he hath too late learned
is, to spring nothing in the House, nor offer anything, but just what
is drawn out of a man: that this is the best way of dealing with a
Parliament, and that he hath paid dear, and knows not how much more he
may pay, for not knowing it sooner, when he did unnecessarily produce
the Duke of Albemarle's letter about Chatham, which if demanded would
have come out with all the advantages in the world to Sir W. Coventry,
but, as he brought it out himself, hath drawn much evil upon him. After
some talk of this kind, we back home, and there I to my chamber busy all
the evening, and then to supper and to bed, my head running all night
upon our businesses in Parliament and what examinations we are likely to
go under before they have done with us, which troubles me more than it
should a wise man and a man the best able to defend himself, I believe,
of our own whole office, or any other, I am apt to think.
11th. Up, and to Simpson at work in my office, and thence with Sir
G. Carteret (who come to talk with me) to Broad Streete, where great
crowding of people for money, at which he blamed himself. Thence with
him and Lord Bruncker to Captain Cocke's (he out of doors), and there
drank their morning draught, and thence [Sir] G. Carteret and I toward
the Temple in coach together; and there he did tell me how the King do
all he can in the world to overthrow my Lord Chancellor, and that notice
is taken of every man about the King that is not seen to promote the
ruine of the Chancellor; and that this being another great day in
his business, he dares not but be there. He tells me that as soon as
Secretary Morrice brought the Great Seale from my Lord Chancellor, Bab.
May fell upon his knees, and catched the King about the legs, and joyed
him, and said that this was the first time that ever he could call
him King of England, being freed from this great man: which was a most
ridiculous saying. And he told me that, when first my Lord Gerard, a
great while ago, come to the King, and told him that the Chancellor did
say openly that the King was a lazy person and not fit to govern,
which is now made one of the things in the people's mouths against the
Chancellor, "Why," says the King, "that is no news, for he hath told me
so twenty times, and but the other day he told me so;" and made matter
of mirth at it: but yet this light discourse is likely to prove bad to
him. I 'light at the Temple, and went to my tailor's and mercer's about
a cloake, to choose the stuff, and so to my bookseller's and bought some
books, and so home to dinner, and Simpson my joyner with me, and after
dinner, my wife, and I, and Willett, to the King's play-house, and there
saw "The Indian Emperour," a good play, but not so good as people cry it
up, I think, though above all things Nell's ill speaking of a great part
made me mad. Thence with great trouble and charge getting a coach (it
being now and having been all this day a most cold and foggy, dark,
thick day), we home, and there I to my office, and saw it made clean
from top to bottom, till I feared I took cold in walking in a damp room
while it is in washing, and so home to supper and to bed. This day I had
a whole doe sent me by Mr. Hozier, which is a fine present, and I had
the umbles of it for dinner. This day I hear Kirton, my bookseller, poor
man, is dead, I believe, of grief for his losses by the fire.
12th. Up, and to the Office, where sat all the morning; and there hear
the Duke of York do yet do very well with his smallpox: pray God he may
continue to do so! This morning also, to my astonishment, I hear that
yesterday my Lord Chancellor, to another of his Articles, that of
betraying the King's councils to his enemies, is voted to have matter
against him for an impeachment of High Treason, and that this day the
impeachment is to be carried up to the House of Lords which is very
high, and I am troubled at it; for God knows what will follow, since
they that do this must do more to secure themselves against any that
will revenge this, if it ever come in their power! At noon home to
dinner, and then to my office, and there saw every thing finished, so as
my papers are all in order again and my office twice as pleasant as ever
it was, having a noble window in my closet and another in my office, to
my great content, and so did business late, and then home to supper and
to bed.
13th. Up, and down to the Old Swan, and so to Westminster; where I find
the House sitting, and in a mighty heat about Commissioner Pett, that
they would have him impeached, though the Committee have yet brought in
but part of their Report: and this heat of the House is much heightened
by Sir Thomas Clifford telling them, that he was the man that did, out
of his own purse, employ people at the out-ports to prevent the King of
Scots to escape after the battle of Worcester. The House was in a great
heat all this day about it; and at last it was carried, however, that it
should be referred back to the Committee to make further enquiry. I here
spoke with Roger Pepys, who sent for me, and it was to tell me that
the Committee is mighty full of the business of buying and selling of
tickets, and to caution me against such an enquiry (wherein I am very
safe), and that they have already found out Sir Richard Ford's son to
have had a hand in it, which they take to be the same as if the
father had done it, and I do believe the father may be as likely to be
concerned in it as his son. But I perceive by him they are resolved to
find out the bottom of the business if it be possible. By and by I
met with Mr. Wren, who tells me that the Duke of York is in as good
condition as is possible for a man, in his condition of the smallpox.
He, I perceive, is mightily concerned in the business of my Lord
Chancellor, the impeachment against whom is gone up to the House of
Lords; and great differences there are in the Lords' House about it, and
the Lords are very high one against another. Thence home to dinner, and
as soon as dinner done I and my wife and Willet to the Duke of York's,
house, and there saw the Tempest again, which is very pleasant, and full
of so good variety that I cannot be more pleased almost in a comedy,
only the seamen's part a little too tedious. Thence home, and there to
my chamber, and do begin anew to bind myself to keep my old vows, and
among the rest not to see a play till Christmas but once in every other
week, and have laid aside L10, which is to be lost to the poor, if I do.
This I hope in God will bind me, for I do find myself mightily wronged
in my reputation, and indeed in my purse and business, by my late
following of my pleasure for so long time as I have done. So to supper
and then to bed. This day Mr. Chichly told me, with a seeming trouble,
that the House have stopped his son Jack (Sir John) his going to France,
that he may be a witness against my Lord Sandwich: which do trouble me,
though he can, I think, say little.
14th. At the office close all the morning. At noon, all my clerks with
me to dinner, to a venison pasty; and there comes Creed, and dined with
me, and he tells me how high the Lords were in the Lords' House about
the business of the Chancellor, and that they are not yet agreed to
impeach him. After dinner, he and I, and my wife and girl, the latter
two to their tailor's, and he and I to the Committee of the Treasury,
where I had a hearing, but can get but L6000 for the pay of the
garrison, in lieu of above L16,000; and this Alderman Backewell gets
remitted there, and I am glad of it. Thence by coach took up my wife and
girl, and so home, and set down Creed at Arundell House, going to the
Royal Society, whither I would be glad to go, but cannot. Thence home,
and to the Office, where about my letters, and so home to supper, and to
bed, my eyes being bad again; and by this means, the nights, now-a-days,
do become very long to me, longer than I can sleep out.
15th. Up, and to Alderman Backewell's
[Edward Backwell, goldsmith and alderman of the City of London. He
was a man of considerable wealth during the Commonwealth. After the
Restoration he negotiated Charles II.'s principal money
transactions. He was M.P. for Wendover in the parliament of 1679,
and in the Oxford parliament of 1680. According to the writer of
the life in the "Diet. of Nat. Biog. "his heirs did not ultimately
suffer any pecuniary loss by the closure of the Exchequer. Mr.
Hilton Price stated that Backwell removed to Holland in 1676, and
died therein 1679; but this is disproved by the pedigree in
Lipscomb's "Hist. of Bucks," where the date of his death is given
as 1683, as well as by the fact that he sat for Wendover in 1679 and
1680, as stated above.]
and there discoursed with him about the remitting of this L6000 to
Tangier, which he hath promised to do by the first post, and that will
be by Monday next, the 18th, and he and I agreed that I would take
notice of it that so he may be found to have done his best upon the
desire of the Lords Commissioners. From this we went to discourse of
his condition, and he with some vain glory told me that the business
of Sheernesse did make him quite mad, and indeed might well have undone
him; but yet that he did the very next day pay here and got bills to
answer his promise to the King for the Swedes Embassadors (who were then
doing our business at the treaty at Breda) L7000, and did promise the
Bankers there, that if they would draw upon him all that he had of
theirs and L10,000 more, he would answer it. He told me that Serjeant
Maynard come to him for a sum of money that he had in his hands of his,
and so did many others, and his answer was, What countrymen are you? And
when they told him, why then, says he, here is a tally upon the Receiver
of your country for so [much], and to yours for so much, and did offer
to lay by tallies to the full value of all that he owed in the world,
and L40,000 more for the security thereof, and not to touch a penny of
his own till the full of what he owed was paid, which so pleased every
body that he hath mastered all, so that he hath lent the Commissioners
of the Treasury above L40,000 in money since that business, and did this
morning offer to a lady who come to give him notice that she should need
her money L3000, in twenty days, he bid her if she pleased send for it
to-day and she should have it. Which is a very great thing, and will
make them greater than ever they were, I am apt to think, in some time.
Thence to Westminster, and there I walked with several, and do hear that
there is to be a conference between the two Houses today; so I stayed:
and it was only to tell the Commons that the Lords cannot agree to the
confining or sequestring of the Earle of Clarendon from the Parliament,
forasmuch as they do not specify any particular crime which they lay
upon him and call Treason. This the House did receive, and so parted: at
which, I hear, the Commons are like to grow very high, and will insist
upon their privileges, and the Lords will own theirs, though the Duke
of Buckingham, Bristoll, and others, have been very high in the House
of Lords to have had him committed. This is likely to breed ill blood.
Thence I away home, calling at my mercer's and tailor's, and there find,
as I expected, Mr. Caesar and little Pelham Humphreys, lately returned
from France, and is an absolute Monsieur, as full of form, and
confidence, and vanity, and disparages everything, and everybody's skill
but his own. The truth is, every body says he is very able, but to hear
how he laughs at all the King's musick here, as Blagrave and others,
that they cannot keep time nor tune, nor understand anything; and
that Grebus, the Frenchman, the King's master of the musick, how he
understands nothing, nor can play on any instrument, and so cannot
compose: and that he will give him a lift out of his place; and that
he and the King are mighty great! and that he hath already spoke to the
King of Grebus would make a man piss. I had a good dinner for them, as
a venison pasty and some fowl, and after dinner we did play, he on the
theorbo. Mr. Caesar on his French lute, and I on the viol, but made but
mean musique, nor do I see that this Frenchman do so much wonders on the
theorbo, but without question he is a good musician, but his vanity do
offend me. They gone, towards night, I to the office awhile, and then
home and to my chamber, where busy till by and by comes Mr. Moore, and
he staid and supped and talked with me about many things, and tells me
his great fear that all things will go to ruin among us, for that the
King hath, as he says Sir Thomas Crew told him, been heard to say that
the quarrel is not between my Lord Chancellor and him, but his brother
and him; which will make sad work among us if that be once promoted, as
to be sure it will, Buckingham and Bristoll being now the only counsel
the King follows, so as Arlington and Coventry are come to signify
little. He tells me they are likely to fall upon my Lord Sandwich; but,
for my part, sometimes I am apt to think they cannot do him much harm,
he telling me that there is no great fear of the business of Resumption!
By and by, I got him to read part of my Lord Cooke's chapter of treason,
which is mighty well worth reading, and do inform me in many things, and
for aught I see it is useful now to know what these crimes are. And then
to supper, and after supper he went away, and so I got the girl to comb
my head, and then to bed, my eyes bad. This day, Poundy, the waterman,
was with me, to let me know that he was summonsed to bear witness
against me to Prince Rupert's people (who have a commission to look
after the business of prize-goods) about the business of the prize-goods
I was concerned in: but I did desire him to speak all he knew, and not
to spare me, nor did promise nor give him any thing, but sent him away
with good words, to bid him say all he knew to be true. This do not
trouble me much.
16th. At the office all the morning, and at noon took my Lord Bruncker
into the garden, and there told him of his man Carcasses proceedings
against the Office in the House of Commons. I did [not] desire nor
advise him anything, but in general, that the end of this might be ruin
to the Office, but that we shall be brought to fencing for ourselves,
and that will be no profit to the office, but let it light where it
would I thought I should be as well as any body. This I told him, and so
he seeming to be ignorant of it, and not pleased with it, we broke off
by Sir Thos. Harvy's coming to us from the Pay Office, whither we had
sent a smart letter we had writ to him this morning about keeping the
clerks at work at the making up the books, which I did to place the
fault somewhere, and now I let him defend himself. He was mighty angry,
and particularly with me, but I do not care, but do rather desire it,
for I will not spare him, that we shall bear the blame, and such an idle
fellow as he have L500 a year for nothing. So we broke off, and I home
to dinner, and then to the office, and having spent the afternoon on
letters, I took coach in the evening, and to White Hall, where there is
to be a performance of musique of Pelham's before the King. The company
not come; but I did go into the musique-room, where Captain Cocke and
many others; and here I did hear the best and the smallest organ go that
ever I saw in my life, and such a one as, by the grace of God, I will
have the next year, if I continue in this condition, whatever it cost
me. I never was so pleased in my life. Thence, it being too soon, I
to Westminster Hall, it being now about 7 at night, and there met Mr.
Gregory, my old acquaintance, an understanding gentleman; and he and I
walked an hour together, talking of the bad prospect of the times; and
the sum of what I learn from him is this: That the King is the most
concerned in the world against the Chancellor, and all people that do
not appear against him, and therefore is angry with the Bishops, having
said that he had one Bishop on his side (Crofts ), and but one: that
Buckingham and Bristoll are now his only Cabinet Council;
[The term Cabinet Council, as stated by Clarendon, originated thus,
in 1640: "The bulk and burden of the state affairs lay principally
upon the shoulders of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of
Strafford, and the Lord Cottington; some others being joined to
them, as the Earl of Northumberland for ornament, the Bishop of
London for his place, the two Secretaries, Sir H. Vane and Sir
Francis Windebank, for service and communication of intelligence:
only the Marquis of Hamilton, indeed, by his skill and interest,
bore as great a part as he had a mind to do, and had the skill to
meddle no further than he had a mind. These persons made up the
committee of state, which was reproachfully after called the junto,
and enviously then in the Court the Cabinet Council" ("History of
the Rebellion," vol. i., p. 211, edit. 1849).]
and that, before the Duke of York fell sick, Buckingham was admitted to
the King of his Cabinet, and there stayed with him several hours,
and the Duke of York shut out. That it is plain that there is dislike
between the King and Duke of York, and that it is to be feared that the
House will go so far against the Chancellor, that they must do something
to undo the Duke of York, or will not think themselves safe. That this
Lord Vaughan, that is so great against the Chancellor, is one of the
lewdest fellows of the age, worse than Sir Charles Sidly; and that
he was heard to swear, God damn him, he would do my Lord Clarendon's
business. That he do find that my Lord Clarendon hath more friends in
both Houses than he believes he would have, by reason that they do see
what are the hands that pull him down; which they do not like. That
Harry Coventry was scolded at by the King severely the other day; and
that his answer was that, if he must not speak what he thought in this
business in Parliament, he must not come thither. And he says that by
this very business Harry Coventry hath got more fame and common esteem
than any gentleman in England hath at this day, and is an excellent and
able person. That the King, who not long ago did say of Bristoll, that
he was a man able in three years to get himself a fortune in any kingdom
in the world, and lose all again in three months, do now hug him, and
commend his parts every where, above all the world. How fickle is
this man [the King], and how unhappy we like to be! That he fears some
furious courses will be taken against the Duke of York; and that he hath
heard that it was designed, if they cannot carry matters against the
Chancellor, to impeach the Duke of York himself, which God forbid! That
Sir Edward Nicholas, whom he served while Secretary, is one of the best
men in the world, but hated by the Queen-Mother, for a service he did
the old King against her mind and her favourites; and that she and my
Lady Castlemayne did make the King to lay him aside: but this man says
that he is one of the most perfect heavenly and charitable men in
the whole world. That the House of Commons resolve to stand by their
proceedings, and have chosen a Committee to draw up the reasons thereof
to carry to the Lords; which is likely to breed great heat between
them. That the Parliament, after all this, is likely to give the King
no money; and, therefore, that it is to be wondered what makes the King
give way to so great extravagancies, which do all tend to the making him
less than he is, and so will, every day more and more: and by this means
every creature is divided against the other, that there never was so
great an uncertainty in England, of what would, be the event of things,
as at this day; nobody being at ease, or safe. Being full of his
discourse, and glad of the rencontre, I to White Hall; and there got
into the theater-room, and there heard both the vocall and instrumentall
musick, where the little fellow' stood keeping time; but for my part,
I see no great matter, but quite the contrary in both sorts of musique.
The composition I believe is very good, but no more of delightfulness to
the eare or understanding but what is very ordinary. Here was the King
and Queen, and some of the ladies; among whom none more jolly than my
Lady Buckingham, her Lord being once more a great man. Thence by coach
home and to my office, ended my letters, and then home to supper, and,
my eyes being bad, to bed.
17th (Lord's day). Up, and to church with my wife. A dull sermon of Mr.
Mills, and then home, without strangers to dinner, and then my wife to
read, and I to the office, enter my journall to this day, and so home
with great content that it is done, but with sorrow to my eyes. Then
home, and got my wife to read to me out of Fuller's Church History, when
by and by comes Captain Cocke, who sat with me all the evening, talking,
and I find by him, as by all others, that we are like to expect great
confusions, and most of our discourse was the same, and did agree with
that the last night, particularly that about the difference between the
King and the Duke of York which is like to be. He tells me that he hears
that Sir W. Coventry was, a little before the Duke of York fell sick,
with the Duke of York in his closet, and fell on his knees, and begged
his pardon for what he hath done to my Lord Chancellor; but this I dare
not soon believe. But he tells me another thing, which he says he had
from the person himself who spoke with the Duke of Buckingham, who, he
says, is a very sober and worthy man, that he did lately speak with
the Duke of Buckingham about his greatness now with the King, and told
him-"But, sir, these things that the King do now, in suffering the
Parliament to do all this, you know are not fit for the King to suffer,
and you know how often you have said to me that the King was a weak man,
and unable to govern, but to be governed, and that you could command him
as you listed; why do you suffer him to go on in these things?"--"Why,"
says the Duke of Buckingham, "I do suffer him to do this, that I may
hereafter the better command him." This he swears to me the person
himself to whom the Duke of Buckingham said this did tell it him, and is
a man of worth, understanding, and credit. He told me one odd passage
by the Duke of Albemarle, speaking how hasty a man he is, and how for
certain he would have killed Sir W. Coventry, had he met him in a
little time after his shewing his letter in the House. He told me that
a certain lady, whom he knows, did tell him that, she being certainly
informed that some of the Duke of Albemarle's family did say that the
Earl of Torrington was a bastard, [she] did think herself concerned to
tell the Duke of Albemarle of it, and did first tell the Duchesse, and
was going to tell the old man, when the Duchesse pulled her back by the
sleeve, and hindered her, swearing to her that if he should hear it, he
would certainly kill the servant that should be found to have said it,
and therefore prayed her to hold her peace. One thing more he told me,
which is, that Garraway is come to town, and is thinking how to bring
the House to mind the public state of the nation and to put off these
particular piques against man and man, and that he propounding this to
Sir W. Coventry, Sir W. Coventry did give no encouragement to it: which
he says is that by their running after other men he may escape. But I do
believe this is not true neither. But however I am glad that Garraway is
here, and that he do begin to think of the public condition in reference
to our neighbours that we are in, and in reference to ourselves, whereof
I am mightily afeard of trouble. So to supper, and he gone and we to
bed.
18th. Up, and all the morning at my office till 3 after noon with Mr.
Hater about perfecting my little pocket market book of the office, till
my eyes were ready to fall out of my head, and then home to dinner,
glad that I had done so much, and so abroad to White Hall, to the
Commissioners of the Treasury, and there did a little business with
them, and so home, leaving multitudes of solicitors at their door, of
one sort or other, complaining for want of such despatch as they had in
my Lord Treasurer's time, when I believe more business was despatched,
but it was in his manner to the King's wrong. Among others here was
Gresham College coming about getting a grant of Chelsey College for
their Society, which the King, it seems, hath given them his right in;
but they met with some other pretences, I think; to it, besides the
King's. Thence took up my wife, whom I had left at her tailor's, and
home, and there, to save my eyes, got my wife at home to read again,
as last night, in the same book, till W. Batelier come and spent the
evening talking with us, and supped with us, and so to bed.
19th. To the office, and thence before noon I, by the Board's direction,
to the Parliament House to speak with Sir R. Brookes about the meaning
of an order come to us this day to bring all the books of the office to
the Committee. I find by him that it is only about the business of an
order of ours for paying off the ships by ticket, which they think I on
behalf of my Lord Bruncker do suppress, which vexes me, and more at its
occasioning the bringing them our books. So home and to dinner, where
Mr. Shepley with me, newly come out of the country, but I was at little
liberty to talk to him, but after dinner with two contracts to the
Committee, with Lord Bruncker and Sir T. Harvy, and there did deliver
them, and promised at their command more, but much against my will.
And here Sir R. Brookes did take me alone, and pray me to prevent their
trouble, by discovering the order he would have. I told him I would
suppress none, nor could, but this did not satisfy him, and so we
parted, I vexed that I should bring on myself this suspicion. Here I
did stand by unseen, and did hear their impertinent yet malicious
examinations of some rogues about the business of Bergen, wherein they
would wind in something against my Lord Sandwich (it was plain by their
manner of examining, as Sir Thomas Crew did afterwards observe to me,
who was there), but all amounted to little I think. But here Sir Thomas
Crew and W. Hewer, who was there also, did tell me that they did hear
Captain Downing give a cruel testimony against my Lord Bruncker, for his
neglect, and doing nothing, in the time of straits at Chatham, when he
was spoke to, and did tell the Committee that he, Downing, did presently
after, in Lord Bruncker's hearing, tell the Duke of Albemarle, that if
he might advise the King, he should hang both my Lord Bruncker and Pett.
This is very hard. Thence with W. Hewer and our messenger, Marlow, home
by coach, and so late at letters, and then home to supper, and my wife
to read and then to bed. This night I wrote to my father, in answer to
a new match which is proposed (the executor of Ensum, my sister's former
servant) for my sister, that I will continue my mind of giving her L500,
if he likes of the match. My father did also this week, by Shepley,
return me up a 'guinny, which, it seems, upon searching the ground, they
have found since I was there. I was told this day that Lory Hide,
[Laurence Hyde, second son of Lord Chancellor Clarendon (1614-1711).
He held many important offices, and was First Lord of the Treasury,
1679-84; created Earl of Rochester in 1681, and K.G. 1685.]
second son of my Lord Chancellor, did some time since in the House say,
that if he thought his father was guilty but of one of the things then
said against him, he would be the first that should call for judgement
against him: which Mr. Waller, the poet, did say was spoke like the old
Roman, like Brutus, for its greatness and worthiness.
20th. Up, and all the morning at my office shut up with Mr. Gibson,
I walking and he reading to me the order books of the office from the
beginning of the war, for preventing the Parliament's having them in
their hands before I have looked them over and seen the utmost that can
be said against us from any of our orders, and to my great content all
the morning I find none. So at noon home to dinner with my clerks, who
have of late dined frequently with me, and I do purpose to have them
so still, by that means I having opportunity to talk with them about
business, and I love their company very well. All the morning Mr. Hater
and the boy did shut up themselves at my house doing something towards
the finishing the abstract book of our contracts for my pocket, which
I shall now want very much. After dinner I stayed at home all the
afternoon, and Gibson with me; he and I shut up till about ten at night.
We went through all our orders, and towards the end I do meet with two
or three orders for our discharging of two or three little vessels
by ticket without money, which do plunge me; but, however, I have the
advantage by this means to study an answer and to prepare a defence, at
least for myself. So he gone I to supper, my mind busy thinking after
our defence in this matter, but with vexation to think that a thing of
this kind, which in itself brings nothing but trouble and shame to us,
should happen before all others to become a charge against us. This
afternoon Mr. Mills come and visited me, and stayed a little with me (my
wife being to be godmother to his child to-morrow), and among other talk
he told me how fully satisfactory my first Report was to the House in
the business of Chatham: which I am glad to hear; and the more, for that
I know that he is a great creature of Sir R. Brookes's.
21st. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home,
where my wife not very well, but is to go to Mr. Mills's child's
christening, where she is godmother, Sir J. Minnes and Sir R. Brookes
her companions. I left her after dinner (my clerks dining with me) to
go with Sir J. Minnes, and I to the office, where did much business till
after candlelight, and then my eyes beginning to fail me, I out and took
coach to Arundell House, where the meeting of Gresham College was broke
up; but there meeting Creed, I with him to the taverne in St. Clement's
Churchyard, where was Deane Wilkins, Dr. Whistler, Dr. Floyd, a divine
admitted, I perceive, this day, and other brave men; and there, among
other things of news, I do hear, that upon the reading of the House of
Commons's Reasons of the manner of their proceedings in the business
of my Lord Chancellor, the Reasons were so bad, that my Lord Bristoll
himself did declare that he would not stand to what he had, and did
still, advise the Lords to concur to, upon any of the Reasons of the
House of Commons; but if it was put to the question whether it should be
done on their Reasons, he would be against them; and indeed it seems the
Reasons--however they come to escape the House of Commons, which shews
how slightly the greatest matters are done in this world, and even in
Parliaments were none of them of strength, but the principle of them
untrue; they saying, that where any man is brought before a judge,
accused of Treason in general, without specifying the particular, the
judge do there constantly and is obliged to commit him. Whereas the
question being put by the Lords to my Lord Keeper, he said that quite
the contrary was true: and then, in the Sixth Article (I will get a copy
of them if I can) there are two or three things strangely asserted to
the diminishing of the King's power, as is said, at least things that
heretofore would not have been heard of. But then the question being put
among the Lords, as my Lord Bristoll advised, whether, upon the whole
matter and Reasons that had been laid before them, they would commit my
Lord Clarendon, it was carried five to one against it; there being but
three Bishops against him, of whom Cosens and Dr. Reynolds were two,
and I know not the third. This made the opposite Lords, as Bristoll
and Buckingham, so mad, that they declared and protested against it,
speaking very broad that there was mutiny and rebellion in the hearts of
the Lords, and that they desired they might enter their dissents,
which they did do, in great fury. So that upon the Lords sending to
the Commons, as I am told, to have a conference for them to give
their answer to the Commons's Reasons, the Commons did desire a free
conference: but the Lords do deny it; and the reason is, that they hold
not the Commons any Court, but that themselves only are a Court, and the
Chief Court of judicature, and therefore are not to dispute the laws
and method of their own Court with them that are none, and so will not
submit so much as to have their power disputed. And it is conceived that
much of this eagerness among the Lords do arise from the fear some of
them have, that they may be dealt with in the same manner themselves,
and therefore do stand upon it now. It seems my Lord Clarendon hath, as
is said and believed, had his horses several times in his coach, ready
to carry him to the Tower, expecting a message to that purpose; but by
this means his case is like to be laid by. From this we fell to other
discourse, and very good; among the rest they discourse of a man that is
a little frantic, that hath been a kind of minister, Dr. Wilkins saying
that he hath read for him in his church, that is poor and a debauched
man, that the College' have hired for 20s. to have some of the blood of
a sheep let into his body; and it is to be done on Saturday next.
[This was Arthur Coga, who had studied at Cambridge, and was said to
be a bachelor of divinity. He was indigent, and "looked upon as a
very freakish and extravagant man." Dr. King, in a letter to the
Hon. Robert Boyle, remarks "that Mr. Coga was about thirty-two
years of age; that he spoke Latin well, when he was in company,
which he liked, but that his brain was sometimes a little too warm."
The experiment was performed on November 23rd, 1667, by Dr. King, at
Arundel House, in the presence of many spectators of quality, and
four or five physicians. Coga wrote a description of his own case
in Latin, and when asked why he had not the blood of some other
creature, instead of that of a sheep, transfused into him, answered,
"Sanguis ovis symbolicam quandam facultatem habet cum sanguine
Christi, quia Christus est agnus Dei" (Birch's "History of the Royal
Society," vol. ii., pp. 214-16). Coga was the first person in
England to be experimented upon; previous experiments were made by
the transfusion of the blood of one dog into another. See November
14th, 1666 (vol. vi., p. 64).]
They purpose to let in about twelve ounces; which, they compute, is what
will be let in in a minute's time by a watch. They differ in the opinion
they have of the effects of it; some think it may have a good effect
upon him as a frantic man by cooling his blood, others that it will not
have any effect at all. But the man is a healthy man, and by this means
will be able to give an account what alteration, if any, he do find in
himself, and so may be usefull. On this occasion, Dr. Whistler told a
pretty story related by Muffet, a good author, of Dr. Caius, that built
Keys College; that, being very old, and living only at that time upon
woman's milk, he, while he fed upon the milk of an angry, fretful woman,
was so himself; and then, being advised to take it of a good-natured,
patient woman, he did become so, beyond the common temper of his age.
Thus much nutriment, they observed, might do. Their discourse was very
fine; and if I should be put out of my office, I do take great content
in the liberty I shall be at of frequenting these gentlemen's company.
Broke up thence and home, and there to my wife in her chamber, who
is not well (of those), and there she tells me great stories of the
gossiping women of the parish--what this, and what that woman was; and,
among the rest, how Mrs. Hollworthy is the veriest confident bragging
gossip of them all, which I should not have believed; but that Sir R.
Brookes, her partner, was mighty civil to her, and taken with her, and
what not. My eyes being bad I spent the evening with her in her chamber
talking and inventing a cypher to put on a piece of plate, which I must
give, better than ordinary, to the Parson's child, and so to bed, and
through my wife's illness had a bad night of it, and she a worse, poor
wretch!
22nd. Up betimes, and drinking my morning draught of strong water with
Betty Michell, I had not opportunity para baiser la, I by water to White
Hall, and there met Creed, and thence with him to Westminster Hall,
where we talked long together of news, and there met with Cooling, my
Lord Chamberlain's Secretary, and from him learn the truth of all I
heard last night; and understand further, that this stiffness of the
Lords is in no manner of kindness to my Lord Chancellor, for he neither
hath, nor do, nor for the future likely can oblige any of them, but
rather the contrary; but that they do fear what the consequence may
be to themselves, should they yield in his case, as many of them have
reason. And more, he shewed me how this is rather to the wrong and
prejudice of my Lord Chancellor; for that it is better for him to come
to be tried before the Lords, where he can have right and make interest,
than, when the Parliament is up, be committed by the King, and tried by
a Court on purpose made by the King, of what Lords the King pleases, who
have a mind to have his head. So that my Lord [Cornbury] himself, his
son, he tells me, hath moved, that if they have Treason against my Lord
of Clarendon, that they would specify it and send it up to the Lords,
that he might come to his trial; so full of intrigues this business is!
Having now a mind to go on and to be rid of Creed, I could not, but
was forced to carry him with me to the Excise Office, and thence to the
Temple, and there walked a good while in the Temple church, observing
the plainness of Selden's tomb, and how much better one of his executors
hath, who is buried by him, and there I parted with him and took coach
and home, where to dinner.
23rd. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home to
dinner, and all the afternoon also busy till late preparing things to
fortify myself and fellows against the Parliament; and particularly
myself against what I fear is thought, that I have suppressed the Order
of the Board by which the discharging the great ships off at Chatham by
tickets was directed; whereas, indeed, there was no such Order. So home
at night to supper and to bed.
24th (Lord's day). In my chamber all the morning (having lain long in
bed) till Mr. Shepley come to dine with me, and there being to return
to Hinchinbroke speedily, I did give him as good account how matters go
here as I could. After dinner, he being gone, I to the office, and there
for want of other of my clerks, sent to Mr. Gibbs, whom I never used
till now, for the writing over of my little pocket Contract-book; and
there I laboured till nine at night with him, in drawing up the history
of all that hath passed concerning tickets, in order to the laying the
whole, and clearing myself and Office, before Sir R. Brookes; and in
this I took great pains, and then sent him away, and proceeded, and
had W. Hewer come to me, and he and I till past twelve at night in
the Office, and he, which was a good service, did so inform me in the
consequences of my writing this report, and that what I said would not
hold water, in denying this Board to have ever ordered the discharging
out of the service whole ships by ticket, that I did alter my whole
counsel, and fall to arme myself with good reasons to justify the Office
in so doing, which hath been but rare, and having done this, I went,
with great quiet in my mind, home, though vexed that so honest a
business should bring me so much trouble; but mightily was pleased to
find myself put out of my former design; and so, after supper, to bed.
25th. Up, and all the morning finishing my letter to Sir Robert Brookes,
which I did with great content, and yet at noon when I come home to
dinner I read it over again after it was sealed and delivered to the
messenger, and read it to my clerks who dined with me, and there I did
resolve upon some alteration, and caused it to be new writ, and so to
the office after dinner, and there all the afternoon mighty busy, and
at night did take coach thinking to have gone to Westminster, but it was
mighty dark and foul, and my business not great, only to keep my eyes
from reading by candle, being weary, but being gone part of my way I
turned back, and so home, and there to read, and my wife to read to me
out of Sir Robert Cotton's book about warr, which is very fine, showing
how the Kings of England have raised money by the people heretofore
upon the people, and how they have played upon the kings also. So after
supper I to bed. This morning Sir W. Pen tells me that the House was
very hot on Saturday last upon the business of liberty of speech in
the House, and damned the vote in the beginning of the Long Parliament
against it; I so that he fears that there may be some bad thing which
they have a mind to broach, which they dare not do without more security
than they now have. God keep us, for things look mighty ill!
26th. Up, all the morning at the office, and then home to dinner, where
dined Mr. Clerke, solicitor, with me, to discourse about my Tangier
accounts, which I would fain make up, but I have not time. After dinner,
by coach as far as the Temple, and there saw a new book, in folio, of
all that suffered for the King in the late times, which I will buy,
it seems well writ, and then back to the Old Exchange, and there at my
goldsmith's bought a basin for my wife to give the Parson's child, to
which the other day she was godmother. It cost me; L10 14s. besides
graving, which I do with the cypher of the name, Daniel Mills, and so
home to the office, and then home to supper and hear my wife read, and
then to bed. This afternoon, after dinner, come to me Mr. Warren, and
there did tell me that he come to pay his debt to me for the kindness I
did him in getting his last ship out, which I must also remember was
a service to the King, though I did not tell him so, as appeared by my
advising with the board, and there writing to Sir W. Coventry to get the
pass for the ship to go for it to Genoa. Now that which he had promised
me for the courtesy was I take it 100 pieces or more, I think more, and
also for the former courtesy I had done for the getting of his first
ship out for this hemp he did promise me a consideration upon the return
of the goods, but I never did to this day demand any thing of him, only
about a month ago he told me that now his ship was come, and he would
come out of my debt, but told me that whereas he did expect to have had
some profit by the voyage, it had proved of loss to him, by the loss of
some ships, or some accidents, I know not what, and so that he was not
able to do what he intended, but told me that he would present me with
sixty pieces in gold. I told him I would demand nothing of his promises,
though they were much greater, nor would have thus much, but if he could
afford to give me but fifty pieces, it should suffice me. So now he
brought something in a paper, which since proves to be fifty pieces. But
before I would take them I told him that I did not insist on anything,
and therefore prayed him to consult his ability before he did part with
them: and so I refused them once or twice till he did the third time
offer them, and then I took them, he saying that he would present me
with as many more if I would undertake to get him L500 paid on his
bills. I told him I would by no means have any promise of the kind, nor
would have any kindness from him for any such service, but that I should
do my utmost for nothing to do him that justice, and would endeavour to
do what I could for him, and so we parted, he owning himself mightily
engaged to me for my kind usage of him in accepting of so small a matter
in satisfaction of all that he owed me; which I enter at large for my
justification if anything of this should be hereafter enquired after.
This evening also comes to me to my closet at the Office Sir John
Chichly, of his own accord, to tell me what he shall answer to the
Committee, when, as he expects, he shall be examined about my Lord
Sandwich; which is so little as will not hurt my Lord at all, I know. He
do profess great generousness towards my Lord, and that this jealousy of
my Lord's of him is without ground, but do mightily inveigh against Sir
Roger Cuttance, and would never have my Lord to carry him to sea again,
as being a man that hath done my Lord more hurt than ever he can repair
by his ill advice, and disobliging every body. He will by no means seem
to crouch to my Lord, but says that he hath as good blood in his veins
as any man, though not so good a title, but that he will do nothing to
wrong or prejudice my Lord, and I hope he will not, nor I believe can;
but he tells me that Sir E. Spragg and Utber are the men that have done
my Lord the most wrong, and did bespatter him the most at Oxford, and
that my Lord was misled to believe that all that was there said was his,
which indeed it was not, and says that he did at that time complain
to his father of this his misfortune. This I confess is strange to me
touching these two men, but yet it may well enough as the world goes,
though I wonder I confess at the latter of the two, who always professes
great love to my Lord. Sir Roger Cuttance was with me in the morning,
and there gives me an account so clear about Bergen and the other
business against my Lord, as I do not see what can be laid to my Lord in
either, and tells me that Pen, however he now dissembles it, did on the
quarter deck of my Lord's ship, after he come on board, when my Lord
did fire a gun for the ships to leave pursuing the enemy, Pen did say,
before a great many, several times, that his heart did leap in his belly
for joy when he heard the gun, and that it was the best thing that could
be done for securing the fleet. He tells me also that Pen was the first
that did move and persuade my Lord to the breaking bulke, as a thing
that was now the time to do right to the commanders of the great ships,
who had no opportunity of getting anything by prizes, now his Lordship
might distribute to everyone something, and he himself did write down
before my Lord the proportions for each man. This I am glad of, though
it may be this dissembling fellow may, twenty to one, deny it.
27th. Up, and all the morning at my Lord Bruncker's lodgings with Sir J.
Minnes and [Sir] W. Pen about Sir W. Warren's accounts, wherein I do not
see that they are ever very likely to come to an understanding of them,
as Sir J. Minnes hath not yet handled them. Here till noon, and then
home to dinner, where Mr. Pierce comes to me, and there, in general,
tells me how the King is now fallen in and become a slave to the Duke of
Buckingham, led by none but him, whom he, Mr. Pierce, swears he knows do
hate the very person of the King, and would, as well as will, certainly
ruin him. He do say, and I think with right, that the King do in this do
the most ungrateful part of a master to a servant that ever was done,
in this carriage of his to my Lord Chancellor: that, it may be, the
Chancellor may have faults, but none such as these they speak of; that
he do now really fear that all is going to ruin, for he says he hears
that Sir W. Coventry hath been, just before his sickness, with the Duke
of York, to ask his forgiveness and peace for what he had done; for that
he never could foresee that what he meant so well, in the councilling to
lay by the Chancellor, should come to this. As soon as dined, I with my
boy Tom to my bookbinder's, where all the afternoon long till 8 or 9
at night seeing him binding up two or three collections of letters and
papers that I had of him, but above all things my little abstract pocket
book of contracts, which he will do very neatly. Then home to read, sup,
and to bed.
28th. Up, and at the office all this morning, and then home to dinner,
and then by coach sent my wife to the King's playhouse, and I to White
Hall, there intending, with Lord Bruncker, Sir J. Minnes, and Sir T.
Harvy to have seen the Duke of York, whom it seems the King and Queen
have visited, and so we may now well go to see him. But there was nobody
could speak with him, and so we parted, leaving a note in Mr. Wren's
chamber that we had been there, he being at the free conference of the
two Houses about this great business of my Lord Chancellor's, at which
they were at this hour, three in the afternoon, and there they say my
Lord Anglesey do his part admirablyably, and each of us taking a copy
of the Guinny Company's defence to a petition against them to the
Parliament the other day. So I away to the King's playhouse, and there
sat by my wife, and saw "The Mistaken Beauty," which I never, I think,
saw before, though an old play; and there is much in it that I like,
though the name is but improper to it--at least, that name, it being
also called "The Lyer," which is proper enough. Here I met with Sir.
Richard Browne, who wondered to find me there, telling the that I am a
man of so much business, which character, I thank God, I have ever got,
and have for a long time had and deserved, and yet am now come to be
censured in common with the office for a man of negligence. Thence home
and to the office to my letters, and then home to supper and to bed.
29th. Waked about seven o'clock this morning with a noise I supposed I
heard, near our chamber, of knocking, which, by and by, increased: and
I, more awake, could, distinguish it better. I then waked my wife,
and both of us wondered at it, and lay so a great while, while that
increased, and at last heard it plainer, knocking, as if it were
breaking down a window for people to get out; and then removing of
stools and chairs; and plainly, by and by, going up and down our stairs.
We lay, both of us, afeard; yet I would have rose, but my wife would not
let me. Besides, I could not do it without making noise; and we did both
conclude that thieves were in the house, but wondered what our people
did, whom we thought either killed, or afeard, as we were. Thus we lay
till the clock struck eight, and high day. At last, I removed my gown
and slippers safely to the other side of the bed over my wife: and there
safely rose, and put on my gown and breeches, and then, with a firebrand
in my hand, safely opened the door, and saw nor heard any thing. Then
(with fear, I confess) went to the maid's chamber-door, and all quiet
and safe. Called Jane up, and went down safely, and opened my chamber
door, where all well. Then more freely about, and to the kitchen, where
the cook-maid up, and all safe. So up again, and when Jane come, and we
demanded whether she heard no noise, she said, "yes, and was afeard,"
but rose with the other maid, and found nothing; but heard a noise in
the great stack of chimnies that goes from Sir J. Minnes through our
house; and so we sent, and their chimnies have been swept this morning,
and the noise was that, and nothing else. It is one of the most
extraordinary accidents in my life, and gives ground to think of Don
Quixote's adventures how people may be surprised, and the more from an
accident last night, that our young gibb-cat
[A male cat. "Gib" is a contraction of the Christian name Gilbert
(Old French), "Tibert".
"I am melancholy as a gib-cat"
Shakespeare, I Henry IV, act i., sc. 3.
Gib alone is also used, and a verb made from it--"to gib," or act
like a cat.]
did leap down our stairs from top to bottom, at two leaps, and frighted
us, that we could not tell well whether it was the cat or a spirit, and
do sometimes think this morning that the house might be haunted. Glad
to have this so well over, and indeed really glad in my mind, for I
was much afeard, I dressed myself and to the office both forenoon
and afternoon, mighty hard putting papers and things in order to my
extraordinary satisfaction, and consulting my clerks in many things,
who are infinite helps to my memory and reasons of things, and so being
weary, and my eyes akeing, having overwrought them to-day reading so
much shorthand, I home and there to supper, it being late, and to bed.
This morning Sir W. Pen and I did walk together a good while, and
he tells me that the Houses are not likely to agree after their free
conference yesterday, and he fears what may follow.
30th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and then by coach
to Arundel House, to the election of Officers for the next year; where I
was near being chosen of the Council, but am glad I was not, for I could
not have attended, though, above all things, I could wish it; and do
take it as a mighty respect to have been named there. The company
great, and the elections long, and then to Cary House, a house now of
entertainment, next my Lord Ashly's; and there, where I have heretofore
heard Common Prayer in the time of Dr. Mossum, we after two hours' stay,
sitting at the table with our napkins open, had our dinners brought,
but badly done. But here was good company. I choosing to sit next
Dr. Wilkins, Sir George Ent, and others whom I value, there talked
of several things. Among others Dr. Wilkins, talking of the universal
speech, of which he hath a book coming out, did first inform me how
man was certainly made for society, he being of all creatures the least
armed for defence, and of all creatures in the world the young ones are
not able to do anything to help themselves, nor can find the dug without
being put to it, but would die if the mother did not help it; and, he
says, were it not for speech man would be a very mean creature. Much of
this good discourse we had. But here, above all, I was pleased to see
the person who had his blood taken out. He speaks well, and did this
day give the Society a relation thereof in Latin, saying that he finds
himself much better since, and as a new man, but he is cracked a little
in his head, though he speaks very reasonably, and very well. He had but
20s. for his suffering it, and is to have the same again tried upon him:
the first sound man that ever had it tried on him in England, and
but one that we hear of in France, which was a porter hired by the
virtuosos. Here all the afternoon till within night. Then I took coach
and to the Exchange, where I was to meet my wife, but she was gone home,
and so I to Westminster Hall, and there took a turn or two, but meeting
with nobody to discourse with, returned to Cary House, and there stayed
and saw a pretty deception of the sight by a glass with water poured
into it, with a stick standing up with three balls of wax upon it, one
distant from the other. How these balls did seem double and disappear
one after another, mighty pretty! Here Mr. Carcasse did come to me, and
brought first Mr. Colwall, our Treasurer, and then Dr. Wilkins to engage
me to be his friend, and himself asking forgiveness and desiring my
friendship, saying that the Council have now ordered him to be free to
return to the Office to be employed. I promised him my friendship, and
am glad of this occasion, having desired it; for there is nobody's ill
tongue that I fear like his, being a malicious and cunning bold fellow.
Thence, paying our shot, 6s. apiece, I home, and there to the office
and wrote my letters, and then home, my eyes very sore with yesterday's
work, and so home and tried to make a piece by my eare and viall to "I
wonder what the grave," &c., and so to supper and to bed, where frighted
a good while and my wife again with noises, and my wife did rise twice,
but I think it was Sir John Minnes's people again late cleaning their
house, for it was past I o'clock in the morning before we could fall
to sleep, and so slept. But I perceive well what the care of money and
treasure in a man's house is to a man that fears to lose it. My Lord
Anglesey told me this day that he did believe the House of Commons
would, the next week, yield to the Lords; but, speaking with others
this day, they conclude they will not, but that rather the King will
accommodate it by committing my Lord Clarendon himself. I remember what
Mr. Evelyn said, that he did believe we should soon see ourselves fall
into a Commonwealth again. Joseph Williamson I find mighty kind still,
but close, not daring to say anything almost that touches upon news or
state of affairs.
DECEMBER 1667
December 1st (Lord's day). Up, and after entering my journal for 2 or 3
days, I to church, where Mr. Mills, a dull sermon: and in our pew there
sat a great lady, which I afterwards understood to be my Lady Carlisle,
that made her husband a cuckold in Scotland, a very fine woman indeed
in person. After sermon home, where W. Hewer dined with us, and after
dinner he and I all the afternoon to read over our office letters to see
what matters can be got for our advantage or disadvantage therein.
In the evening comes Mr. Pelling and the two men that were with him
formerly, the little man that sings so good a base (Wallington) and
another that understands well, one Pigott, and Betty Turner come and
sat and supped with us, and we spent the evening mighty well in good
musique, to my great content to see myself in condition to have these
and entertain them for my own pleasure only. So they gone, we to bed.
2nd. Up, and then abroad to Alderman Backewell's (who was sick of a cold
in bed), and then to the Excise Office, where I find Mr. Ball out of
humour in expectation of being put out of his office by the change of
the farm of the excise. There comes Sir H. Cholmly, and he and I to
Westminster, and there walked up and down till noon, where all the
business is that the Lords' answer is come down to the Commons, that
they are not satisfied in the Commons' Reasons: and so the Commons are
hot, and like to sit all day upon the business what to do herein, most
thinking that they will remonstrate against the Lords. Thence to Lord
Crew's, and there dined with him; where, after dinner, he took me aside,
and bewailed the condition of the nation, how the King and his brother
are at a distance about this business of the Chancellor, and the two
Houses differing. And he do believe that there are so many about the
King like to be concerned and troubled by the Parliament, that they will
get him to dissolve or prorogue the Parliament; and the rather, for that
the King is likely, by this good husbandry of the Treasury, to get out
of debt, and the Parliament is likely to give no money. Among other
things, my Lord Crew did tell me, with grief, that he hears that the
King of late hath not dined nor supped with the Queen, as he used of
late to do. After a little discourse, Mr. Caesar, he dining there, did
give us some musique on his lute (Mr. John Crew being there) to my great
content, and then away I, and Mr. Caesar followed me and told me that my
boy Tom hath this day declared to him that he cared not for the French
lute and would learn no more, which Caesar out of faithfulness tells me
that I might not spend any more money on him in vain. I shall take the
boy to task about it, though I am contented to save my money if the boy
knows not what is good for himself. So thanked him, and indeed he is a
very honest man I believe, and away home, there to get something ready
for the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and so took my wife and
girle and set them at Unthanke's, and I to White Hall, and there with
the Commissioners of the Treasury, who I find in mighty good condition
to go on in payment of the seamen off, and thence I to Westminster Hall,
where I met with my cozen Roger and walked a good while with him; he
tells me of the high vote of the Commons this afternoon, which I also
heard at White Hall, that the proceedings of the Lords in the case of
my Lord Clarendon are an obstruction to justice, and of ill precedent
to future times. This makes every body wonder what will be the effect of
it, most thinking that the King will try him by his own Commission. It
seems they were mighty high to have remonstrated, but some said that was
too great an appeale to the people. Roger is mighty full of fears of
the consequence of it, and wishes the King would dissolve them. So we
parted, and I bought some Scotch cakes at Wilkinson's in King Street,
and called my wife, and home, and there to supper, talk, and to bed.
Supped upon these cakes, of which I have eat none since we lived at
Westminster. This night our poor little dogg Fancy was in a strange fit,
through age, of which she has had five or six.
3rd. Up, by candlelight, the only time I think I have done so this
winter, and a coach being got over night, I to Sir W. Coventry's, the
first time I have seen him at his new house since he come to lodge
there. He tells me of the vote for none of the House to be of the
Commission for the Bill of Accounts; which he thinks is so great a
disappointment to Birch and others that expected to be of it, that he
thinks, could it have been [fore]seen, there would not have been any
Bill at all. We hope it will be the better for all that are to account;
it being likely that the men, being few, and not of the House, will
hear reason. The main business I went about was about. Gilsthrop, Sir
W. Batten's clerk; who, being upon his death-bed, and now dead, hath
offered to make discoveries of the disorders of the Navy and of L65,000
damage to the King: which made mighty noise in the Commons' House;
and members appointed to go to him, which they did; but nothing to the
purpose got from him, but complaints of false musters, and ships being
refitted with victuals and stores at Plymouth, after they come fitted
from other ports; but all this to no purpose, nor more than we know, and
will owne. But the best is, that this loggerhead should say this, that
understands nothing of the Navy, nor ever would; and hath particularly
blemished his master by name among us. I told Sir W. Coventry of my
letter to Sir R. Brookes, and his answer to me. He advises me, in what
I write to him, to be as short as I can, and obscure, saving in things
fully plain; for all that he do is to make mischief; and that the
greatest wisdom in dealing with the Parliament in the world is to say
little, and let them get out what they can by force: which I shall
observe. He declared to me much of his mind to be ruled by his own
measures, and not to go so far as many would have him to the ruin of
my Lord Chancellor, and for which they do endeavour to do what they can
against [Sir] W. Coventry. "But," says he, "I have done my do in helping
to get him out of the administration of things, for which he is not fit;
but for his life or estate I will have nothing to say to it: besides
that, my duty to my master the Duke of York is such, that I will perish
before I will do any thing to displease or disoblige him, where the very
necessity of the kingdom do not in my judgment call me." Thence I home
and to the office, where my Lord Anglesey, and all the discourse was
yesterday's vote in the Commons, wherein he told us that, should the
Lords yield to what the Commons would have in this matter, it were to
make them worse than any justice of Peace (whereas they are the highest
Court in the Kingdom) that they cannot be judges whether an offender be
to be committed or bailed, which every justice of Peace do do, and then
he showed me precedents plain in their defence. At noon home to
dinner, and busy all the afternoon, and at night home, and there met W.
Batelier, who tells me the first great news that my Lord Chancellor is
fled this day. By and by to Sir W. Pen's, where Sir R. Ford and he and
I met, with Mr. Young and Lewes, about our accounts with my Lady Batten,
which prove troublesome, and I doubt will prove to our loss. But here I
hear the whole that my Lord Chancellor is gone, and left a paper behind
him for the House of Lords, telling them the reason of him retiring,
complaining of a design for his ruin. But the paper I must get: only the
thing at present is great, and will put the King and Commons to some new
counsels certainly. So home to supper and to bed. Sir W. Pen I find
in much trouble this evening, having been called to the Committee this
afternoon, about the business of prizes. Sir Richard Ford told us this
evening an odd story of the basenesse of the late Lord Mayor, Sir W.
Bolton, in cheating the poor of the City, out of the collections made
for the people that were burned, of L1800; of which he can give no
account, and in which he hath forsworn himself plainly, so as the Court
of Aldermen have sequestered him from their Court till he do bring in an
account, which is the greatest piece of roguery that they say was ever
found in a Lord Mayor. He says also that this day hath been made appear
to them that the Keeper of Newgate, at this day, hath made his house the
only nursery of rogues, and whores, and pickpockets, and thieves in the
world; where they were bred and entertained, and the whole society met:
and that, for the sake of the Sheriffes, they durst not this day committ
him, for fear of making him let out the prisoners, but are fain to go by
artifice to deal with him. He tells me, also, speaking of the new street
that is to be made from Guild Hall down to Cheapside, that the ground
is already, most of it, bought. And tells me of one particular, of a man
that hath a piece of ground lieing in the very middle of the street
that must be; which, when the street is cut out of it, there will remain
ground enough, of each side, to build a house to front the street. He
demanded L700 for the ground, and to be excused paying any thing for
the melioration of the rest of his ground that he was to keep. The Court
consented to give him L700, only not to abate him the consideration:
which the man denied; but told them, and so they agreed, that he
would excuse the City the L700, that he might have the benefit of the
melioration without paying any thing for it. So much some will get by
having the City burned! But he told me that in other cases ground, by
this means, that was not 4d. a-foot before, will now, when houses are
built, be worth 15s. a-foot. But he tells me that the common standard
now reckoned on between man and man, in places where there is no
alteration of circumstances, but only the houses burnt, there the
ground, which, with a house on it, did yield L100 a-year, is now reputed
worth L33 6s. 8d.; and that this is the common market-price between one
man and another, made upon a good and moderate medium.
4th. At the office all the morning. At noon to dinner, and presently
with my wife abroad, whom and her girle I leave at Unthanke's, and so to
White Hall in expectation of waiting on the Duke of York to-day, but
was prevented therein, only at Mr. Wren's chamber there I hear that the
House of Lords did send down the paper which my Lord Chancellor left
behind him, directed to the Lords, to be seditious and scandalous; and
the Commons have voted that it be burned by the hands of the hangman,
and that the King be desired to agree to it. I do hear, also, that they
have desired the King to use means to stop his escape out of the nation.
Here I also heard Mr. Jermin, who was there in the chamber upon occasion
of Sir Thomas Harvy's telling him of his brother's having a child, and
thereby taking away his hopes (that is, Mr. Jermin's) of L2000 a year.
He swore, God damn him, he did not desire to have any more wealth than
he had in the world, which indeed is a great estate, having all his
uncle's, my Lord St. Alban's, and my Lord hath all the Queen-Mother's.
But when Sir Thos. Harvy told him that "hereafter you will wish
it more;"--"By God," answers he, "I won't promise what I shall do
hereafter." Thence into the House, and there spied a pretty woman with
spots on her face, well clad, who was enquiring for the guard chamber; I
followed her, and there she went up, and turned into the turning towards
the chapel, and I after her, and upon the stairs there met her coming up
again, and there kissed her twice, and her business was to enquire for
Sir Edward Bishop, one of the serjeants at armes. I believe she was a
woman of pleasure, but was shy enough to me, and so I saw her go out
afterwards, and I took a hackney coach, and away. I to Westminster Hall,
and there walked, and thence towards White Hall by coach, and spying
Mrs. Burroughs in a shop did stop and 'light and speak to her; and so
to White Hall, where I 'light and went and met her coming towards White
Hall, but was upon business, and I could not get her to go any whither
and so parted, and I home with my wife and girle (my wife not being very
well, of a great looseness day and night for these two days). So
home, my wife to read to me in Sir R. Cotton's book of warr, which is
excellent reading, and particularly I was mightily pleased this night in
what we read about the little profit or honour this kingdom ever gained
by the greatest of its conquests abroad in France. This evening come Mr.
Mills and sat with us a while, who is mighty kind and good company, and
so, he gone, I to supper and to bed. My wife an unquiet night. This day
Gilsthrop is buried, who hath made all the late discourse of the great
discovery of L65,000, of which the King bath been wronged.
5th. At the office all the morning, do hear that Will Pen, Sir W. Pen's
son, is come from Ireland, but I have not seen him yet. At noon to
the 'Change, where did little, but so home again and to dinner with my
clerks with me, and very good discourse and company they give me, and so
to the office all the afternoon till late, and so home to supper and to
bed. This day, not for want, but for good husbandry, I sent my father,
by his desire, six pair of my old shoes, which fit him, and are good;
yet, methought, it was a thing against my mind to have him wear my old
things.
6th. Up, and with Sir J. Minnes to the Duke of York, the first time that
I have seen him, or we waited on him, since his sickness; and, blessed
be God! he is not at all the worse for the smallpox, but is only a
little weak yet. We did much business with him, and so parted. My Lord
Anglesey told me how my Lord Northampton brought in a Bill into the
House of Lords yesterday, under the name of a Bill for the Honour and
Privilege of the House, and Mercy to my Lord Clarendon: which, he told
me, he opposed, saying that he was a man accused of treason by the House
of Commons; and mercy was not proper for him, having not been tried yet,
and so no mercy needful for him. However, the Duke of Buckingham and
others did desire that the Bill might be read; and it, was for banishing
my Lord Clarendon from all his Majesty's dominions, and that it should
be treason to have him found in any of them: the thing is only a thing
of vanity, and to insult over him, which is mighty poor I think, and so
do every body else, and ended in nothing, I think. By and by home with
Sir J. Minnes, who tells me that my Lord Clarendon did go away in
a Custom-house boat, and is now at Callis (Calais): and, I confess,
nothing seems to hang more heavy than his leaving of this unfortunate
paper behind him, that hath angered both Houses, and hath, I think,
reconciled them in that which otherwise would have broke them in pieces;
so that I do hence, and from Sir W. Coventry's late example and doctrine
to me, learn that on these sorts of occasions there is nothing like
silence; it being seldom any wrong to a man to say nothing, but, for
the most part, it is to say anything. This day, in coming home, Sir
J. Minnes told me a pretty story of Sir Lewes Dives, whom I saw this
morning speaking with him, that having escaped once out of prison
through a house of office, and another time in woman's apparel, and
leaping over a broad canal, a soldier swore, says he, this is a strange
jade.... He told me also a story of my Lord Cottington, who, wanting a
son, intended to make his nephew his heir, a country boy; but did
alter his mind upon the boy's being persuaded by another young heir,
in roguery, to crow like a cock at my Lord's table, much company being
there, and the boy having a great trick at doing that perfectly. My
Lord bade them take away that fool from the table, and so gave over the
thoughts of making him his heir, from this piece of folly. So home, and
there to dinner, and after dinner abroad with my wife and girle, set
them down at Unthanke's, and I to White Hall to the Council chamber,
where I was summoned about the business of paying of the seamen, where I
heard my Lord Anglesey put to it by Sir W. Coventry before the King for
altering the course set by the Council; which he like a wise man did
answer in few words, that he had already sent to alter it according to
the Council's method, and so stopped it, whereas many words would have
set the Commissioners of the Treasury on fire, who, I perceive, were
prepared for it. Here I heard Mr. Gawden speak to the King and Council
upon some business of his before them, but did it so well, in so good
words and to the purpose, that I could never have expected from a man of
no greater learning. So went away, and in the Lobby met Mr. Sawyer, my
old chamber fellow, and stayed and had an hour's discourse of old things
with him, and I perceive he do very well in the world, and is married
he tells me and hath a child. Then home and to the office, where Captain
Cocke come to me; and, among other discourse, tells me that he is told
that an impeachment against Sir W. Coventry will be brought in very
soon. He tells me, that even those that are against my Lord Chancellor
and the Court, in the House, do not trust nor agree one with another.
He tells me that my Lord Chancellor went away about ten at night, on
Saturday last; and took boat at Westminster, and thence by a vessel to
Callis, where he believes he now is: and that the Duke of York and Mr.
Wren knew of it, and that himself did know of it on Sunday morning: that
on Sunday his coach, and people about it, went to Twittenham, and the
world thought that he had been there: that nothing but this unhappy
paper hath undone him and that he doubts that this paper hath lost him
everywhere that his withdrawing do reconcile things so far as, he thinks
the heat of their fury will be over, and that all will be made well
between the two [royal] brothers: that Holland do endeavour to persuade
the King of France to break peace with us: that the Dutch will, without
doubt, have sixty sail of ships out the next year; so knows not what
will become of us, but hopes the Parliament will find money for us to
have a fleete. He gone, I home, and there my wife made an end to me of
Sir K. Cotton's discourse of warr, which is indeed a very fine book. So
to supper and to bed. Captain Cocke did this night tell me also, among
other discourses, that he did believe that there are jealousies in some
of the House at this day against the Commissioners of the Treasury, that
by their good husbandry they will bring the King to be out of debt and
to save money, and so will not be in need of the Parliament, and then do
what he please, which is a very good piece of news that there is such a
thing to be hoped, which they would be afeard of.
7th. All the morning at the office, and at noon home to dinner with my
clerks, and while we were at dinner comes Willet's aunt to see her and
my wife; she is a very fine widow and pretty handsome, but extraordinary
well carriaged and speaks very handsomely and with extraordinary
understanding, so as I spent the whole afternoon in her company with
my wife, she understanding all the things of note touching plays and
fashions and Court and everything and speaks rarely, which pleases me
mightily, and seems to love her niece very well, and was so glad (which
was pretty odde) that since she came hither her breasts begin to swell,
she being afeard before that she would have none, which was a pretty
kind of content she gave herself. She tells us that Catelin is likely to
be soon acted, which I am glad to hear, but it is at the King's House.
But the King's House is at present and hath for some days been silenced
upon some difference [between] Hart and Moone. She being gone I to the
office, and there late doing business, and so home to supper and to bed.
Only this evening I must remember that my Lady Batten sent for me, and
it was to speak to me before her overseers about my bargain with Sir W.
Batten about the prize, to which I would give no present answer, but am
well enough contented that they begin the discourse of it, and so away
to the office again, and then home to supper and to bed. Somebody told
me this, that they hear that Thomson, with the wooden leg, and Wildman,
the Fifth-Monarchy man, a great creature of the Duke of Buckingham's,
are in nomination to be Commissioners, among others, upon the Bill of
Accounts.
8th (Lord's day). All the morning at my chamber doing something towards
the settling of my papers and accounts, which have been out of order a
great while. At noon to dinner, where W. How with us, and after dinner,
he being gone, I to my chamber again till almost night, and then took
boat, the tide serving, and so to White Hall, where I saw the Duchesse
of York, in a fine dress of second mourning for her mother, being black,
edged with ermine, go to make her first visit to the Queene since the
Duke of York was sick; and by and by, she being returned, the Queene
come and visited her. But it was pretty to observe that Sir W. Coventry
and I, walking an hour and more together in the Matted Gallery, he
observed, and so did I, how the Duchesse, as soon as she spied him,
turned her head a one side. Here he and I walked thus long, which we
have not done a great while before. Our discourse was upon everything:
the unhappiness of having our matters examined by people that understand
them not; that it was better for us in the Navy to have men that do
understand the whole, and that are not passionate; that we that have
taken the most pains are called upon to answer for all crimes, while
those that, like Sir W. Batten and Sir J. Minnes, did sit and do
nothing, do lie still without any trouble; that, if it were to serve
the King and kingdom again in a war, neither of us could do more,
though upon this experience we might do better than we did; that the
commanders, the gentlemen that could never be brought to order, but
undid all, are now the men that find fault and abuse others; that it
had been much better for the King to have given Sir J. Minnes and Sir
W. Batten L1000 a-year to have sat still, than to have had them in his
business this war: that the serving a Prince that minds not his business
is most unhappy for them that serve him well, and an unhappiness so
great that he declares he will never have more to do with a war,
under him. That he hath papers which do flatly contradict the Duke of
Albemarle's Narrative; and that he hath been with the Duke of Albemarle
and shewed him them, to prevent his falling into another like fault:
that the Duke of Albemarle seems to be able to answer them; but he
thinks that the Duke of Albemarle and the Prince are contented to let
their Narratives sleep, they being not only contradictory in some things
(as he observed about the business of the Duke of Albemarle's being to
follow the Prince upon dividing the fleete, in case the enemy come out),
but neither of them to be maintained in others. That the business the
other night of my Lord Anglesey at the Council was happily got over
for my Lord, by his dexterous silencing it, and the rest, not urging it
further; forasmuch as, had the Duke of Buckingham come in time enough,
and had got it by the end, he, would have toused him in it; Sir W.
Coventry telling me that my Lord Anglesey did, with such impudence,
maintain the quarrel against the Commons and some of the Lords, in the
business of my Lord Clarendon, that he believes there are enough would
be glad but of this occasion to be revenged of him. He tells me that
he hears some of the Thomsons are like to be of the Commission for the
Accounts, and Wildman, which he much wonders at, as having been a false
fellow to every body, and in prison most of the time since the King's
coming in. But he do tell me that the House is in such a condition that
nobody can tell what to make of them, and, he thinks, they were never
in before; that every body leads, and nobody follows; and that he do
now think that, since a great many are defeated in their expectation
of being of the Commission, now they would put it into such hands as it
shall get no credit from: for, if they do look to the bottom and see
the King's case, they think they are then bound to give the King money;
whereas, they would be excused from that, and therefore endeavour to
make this business of the Accounts to signify little. I spoke with him
about my Lord Sandwich's business, in which he is very friendly, and do
say that the unhappy business of the prizes is it that hath brought
all this trouble upon him, and the only thing that made any thing else
mentioned, and it is true. So having discoursed with him, I spent some
time with Sir Stephen Fox about the business of our adjusting the new
method of the Excise between the Guards household and Tangier, the Lords
Commissioners of the Treasury being now resolved to bring all their
management into a course of payment by orders, and not by tallies, and
I am glad of it, and so by water home late, and very dark, and when come
home there I got my wife to read, and then come Captain Cocke to me; and
there he tells me, to my great satisfaction, that Sir Robert Brookes did
dine with him today; and that he told him, speaking of me, that he would
make me the darling of the House of Commons, so much he is satisfied
concerning me. And this Cocke did tell me that I might give him thanks
for it; and I do think it may do me good, for he do happen to be held a
considerable person, of a young man, both for sobriety and ability. Then
to discourse of business of his own about some hemp of his that is come
home to receive it into the King's stores, and then parted, and by and
by my wife and I to supper, she not being well, her flux being great
upon her, and so to bed.
9th. All the morning busy at the office, doing very considerable
business, and thither comes Sir G. Carteret to talk with me; who seems
to think himself safe as to his particular, but do doubt what will
become of the whole kingdom, things being so broke in pieces. He tells
me that the King himself did the other day very particularly tell the
whole story of my Lord Sandwich's not following the Dutch ships, with
which he is charged; and shews the reasons of it to be the only good
course he could have taken, and do discourse it very knowingly. This
I am glad of, though, as the King is now, his favour, for aught I see,
serves very little in stead at this day, but rather is an argument
against a man; and the King do not concern himself to relieve or justify
any body, but is wholly negligent of everybody's concernment. This
morning I was troubled with my Lord Hinchingbroke's sending to borrow
L200 of me; but I did answer that I had none, nor could borrow any; for
I am resolved I will not be undone for any body, though I would do much
for my Lord Sandwich--for it is to answer a bill of exchange of his, and
I perceive he hath made use of all other means in the world to do it,
but I am resolved to serve him, but not ruin myself, as it may be to
part with so much of the little I have by me to keep if I should by any
turn of times lose the rest. At noon I to the 'Change, and there did a
little business, and among other things called at Cade's, the stationer,
where he tells me how my Lord Gerard is troubled for several things in
the House of Commons, and in one wherein himself is concerned; and, it
seems, this Lord is a very proud and wicked man, and the Parliament
is likely to order him. Then home to dinner, and then a little abroad,
thinking to have gone to the other end of the town, but it being almost
night I would not, but home again, and there to my chamber, and all
alone did there draw up my answer to Sir Rob. Brookes's letter, and when
I had done it went down to my clerks at the office for their opinion
which at this time serves me to very good purpose, they having many
things in their heads which I had not in the businesses of the office
now in dispute. Having done with this, then I home and to supper very
late, and to bed. My [wife] being yet very ill of her looseness, by
which she is forced to lie from me to-night in the girl's chamber.
10th. Up, and all the morning at the office, and then home with my
people to dinner, and very merry, and then to my office again, where did
much business till night, that my eyes begun to be sore, and then forced
to leave off, and by coach set my wife at her tailor's and Willet, and I
to Westminster Hall, and there walked a good while till 8 at night, and
there hear to my great content that the King did send a message to
the House to-day that he would adjourne them on the 17th instant to
February; by which time, at least, I shall have more respite to prepare
things on my own behalf, and the Office, against their return. Here met
Mr. Hinxton, the organist, walking, and I walked with him; and, asking
him many questions, I do find that he can no more give an intelligible
answer to a man that is not a great master in his art, than another man.
And this confirms me that it is only want of an ingenious man that
is master in musique, to bring musique to a certainty, and ease in
composition. Having done this, I home, taking up my wife and girle, and
there to supper and to bed, having finished my letters, among which one
to Commissioner Middleton, who is now coming up to town from Portsmouth,
to enter upon his Surveyorship.
11th. By coach to White Hall, and there attended the Duke of York, as we
are wont, who is now grown pretty well, and goes up and down White Hall,
and this night will be at the Council, which I am glad of. Thence to
Westminster Hall, and there walked most of the morning, and among others
did there meet my cozen Roger Pepys, who intends to go to Impington on
this day s'ennight, the Parliament break up the night before. Here I met
Rolt and Sir John Chichly, and Harris, the player, and there we talked
of many things, and particularly of "Catiline," which is to be suddenly
acted at the King's house; and there all agree that it cannot be well
done at that house, there not being good actors enow: and Burt' acts
Cicero, which they all conclude he will not be able to do well. The
King gives them L500 for robes, there being, as they say, to be sixteen
scarlett robes. Thence home to dinner, and would have had Harris home
with me, but it was too late for him to get to the playhouse after it,
and so home to dinner, and spent the afternoon talking with my wife and
people at home till the evening, and then comes Sir W. Warren to talk
about some business of his and mine: and he, I find, would have me not
to think that the Parliament, in the mind they are in, and having so
many good offices in their view to dispose of, will leave any of the
King's officers in, but will rout all, though I am likely to escape as
well as any, if any can escape; and I think he is in the right, and I do
look for it accordingly. Then we fell to discourse of my little vessel,
"The Maybolt," and he thinks that it will be best for me to employ her
for a voyage to Newcastle for coles, they being now dear, and the voyage
not long, nor dangerous yet; and I think I shall go near to do so. Then,
talking of his business, I away to the office, where very busy, and
thither comes Sir W. Pen, and he and I walked together in the garden,
and there told me what passed to-day with him in the Committee, by my
Lord Sandwich's breaking bulk of the prizes; and he do seem to me that
he hath left it pretty well understood by them, he saying that what
my Lord did was done at the desire, and with the advice, of the chief
officers of the fleete, and that it was no more than admirals heretofore
have done in like cases, which, if it be true that he said it, is very
well, and did please me well. He being gone, I to my office again and
there late, and so weary home.
12th. Rose before day, and took coach, by daylight, and to Westminster
to Sir G. Downing's, and there met Sir Stephen Fox, and thence he and I
to Sir Robert Longs to discourse the business of our orders for money,
he for the guards, and I for Tangier, and were a little angry in our
concerns, one against the other, but yet parted good friends, and I
think I got ground by it. Thence straight to the office, and there sat
all the morning, and then home to dinner, and after dinner I all alone
to the Duke of York's house, and saw "The Tempest," which, as often as I
have seen it, I do like very well, and the house very full. But I could
take little pleasure more than the play, for not being able to look
about, for fear of being seen. Here only I saw a French lady in the
pit, with a tunique, just like one of ours, only a handkercher about her
neck; but this fashion for a woman did not look decent. Thence walked to
my bookseller's, and there he did give me a list of the twenty who were
nominated for the Commission in Parliament for the Accounts: and it is
strange that of the twenty the Parliament could not think fit to choose
their nine, but were fain to add three that were not in the list of the
twenty, they being many of them factious people and ringleaders in the
late troubles; so that Sir John Talbott did fly out and was very hot
in the business of Wildman's being named, and took notice how he was
entertained in the bosom of the Duke of Buckingham, a Privy-counsellor;
and that it was fit to be observed by the House, and punished. The men
that I know of the nine I like very well; that is, Mr. Pierrepont, Lord
Brereton, and Sir William Turner; and I do think the rest are so, too;
but such as will not be able to do this business as it ought to be, to
do any good with. Here I did also see their votes against my Lord Chiefe
Justice Keeling, that his proceedings were illegal, and that he was a
contemner of Magna Charta (the great preserver of our lives, freedoms,
and properties) and an introduction to arbitrary government; which is
very high language, and of the same sound with that in the year 1640. I
home, and there wrote my letters, and so to supper and to bed. This day
my Lord Chancellor's letter was burned at the 'Change.'
13th. Up, lying long all alone (my wife lying for these two or three
days of sickness alone), thinking of my several businesses in hand,
and then rose and to the office, being in some doubt of having my cozen
Roger and Lord Hinchinbroke and Sir Thos. Crew by my cozens invitation
at dinner to-day, and we wholly unprovided. So I away to Westminster, to
the Parliament-door, to speak with Roger: and here I saw my Lord Keeling
go into the House to the barr, to have his business heard by the whole
House to-day; and a great crowd of people to stare upon him. Here I hear
that the Lords' Bill for banishing and disabling my Lord Clarendon from
bearing any office, or being in the King's dominions, and its being made
felony for any to correspond with him but his own children, is brought
to the Commons: but they will not agree to it, being not satisfied with
that as sufficient, but will have a Bill of Attainder brought in against
him: but they make use of this against the Lords, that they, that would
not think there was cause enough to commit him without hearing, will
have him banished without hearing. By and by comes out my cozen Roger to
me, he being not willing to be in the House at the business of my Lord
Keeling, lest he should be called upon to complain against him for his
abusing him at Cambridge, very wrongfully and shamefully, but not to
his reproach, but to the Chief justice's in the end, when all the world
cried shame upon him for it. So he with me home, and Creed, whom I
took up by the way, going thither, and they to dine with me, and pretty
merry, and among other pieces of news, it is now fresh that the King
of Portugall is deposed, and his brother made King; and that my Lord
Sandwich is gone from Madrid with great honour to Lisbon, to make up, at
this juncture, a peace to the advantage, as the Spaniard would have it,
of Spain. I wish it may be for my Lord's honour, if it be so; but it
seems my Lord is in mighty estimation in Spain. After dinner comes Mr.
Moore, and he and I alone a while, he telling me my Lord Sandwich's
credit is like to be undone, if the bill of L200 my Lord Hinchingbroke
wrote to me about be not paid to-morrow, and that, if I do not help him
about it, they have no way but to let it be protested. So, finding that
Creed hath supplied them with L150 in their straits, and that this is no
bigger sum, I am very willing to serve my Lord, though not in this
kind; but yet I will endeavour to get this done for them, and the rather
because of some plate that was lodged the other day with me, by my
Lady's order, which may be in part of security for my money, as I may
order it, for, for ought I see, there is no other to be hoped for. This
do trouble me; but yet it is good luck that the sum is no bigger. He
gone, I with my cozen Roger to Westminster Hall; and there we met
the House rising: and they have voted my Lord Chief Justice Keeling's
proceedings illegal; but that, out of particular respect to him, and
the mediation of a great many, they have resolved to proceed no further
against him. After a turn or two with my cozen, I away with Sir W.
Warren, who met me here by my desire, and to Exeter House, and there to
counsel, to Sir William Turner, about the business of my bargain with my
Lady Batten; and he do give me good advice, and that I am safe, but
that there is a great many pretty considerations in it that makes it
necessary for me to be silent yet for a while till we see whether the
ship be safe or no; for she is drove to the coast of Holland, where she
now is in the Texell, so that it is not prudence for me yet to resolve
whether I will stand by the bargain or no, and so home, and Sir
W. Warren and I walked upon Tower Hill by moonlight a great while,
consulting business of the office and our present condition, which is
but bad, it being most likely that the Parliament will change all hands,
and so let them, so I may keep but what I have. Thence home, and there
spent the evening at home with my wife and entering my journal, and so
to supper and to bed, troubled with my parting with the L200, which I
must lend my Lord Sandwich to answer his bill of exchange.
14th. Up and to the office, where busy, and after dinner also to the
office again till night, when Mr. Moore come to me to discourse about
the L200 I must supply my Lord Hinchingbroke, and I promised him to do
it, though much against my will. So home, to supper and to bed.
15th (Lord's day). Up, and to church, where I heard a German preach, in
a tone hard to be understood, but yet an extraordinary good sermon, and
wholly to my great content. So home, and there all alone with wife and
girle to dinner, and then I busy at my chamber all the afternoon, and
looking over my plate, which indeed is a very fine quantity, God knows,
more than ever I expected to see of my own, and more than is fit for a
man of no better quality than I am. In the evening comes Mrs. Turner to
visit us, who hath been long sick, and she sat and supped with us, and
after supper, her son Francke being there, now upon the point of his
going to the East Indys, I did give him "Lex Mercatoria," and my wife my
old pair of tweezers, which are pretty, and my book an excellent one for
him. Most of our talk was of the great discourse the world hath against
my Lady Batten, for getting her husband to give her all, and disinherit
his eldest son; though the truth is, the son, as they say, did play
the knave with his father when time was, and the father no great matter
better with him, nor with other people also. So she gone, we to bed.
16th. Up, and to several places, to pay what I owed. Among others, to
my mercer, to pay for my fine camlott cloak, which costs me, the very
stuff, almost L6; and also a velvet coat-the outside cost me above
L8. And so to Westminster, where I find the House mighty busy upon a
petition against my Lord Gerard, which lays heavy things to his charge,
of his abusing the King in his Guards; and very hot the House is upon
it. I away home to dinner alone with wife and girle, and so to the
office, where mighty busy to my great content late, and then home to
supper, talk with my wife, and to bed. It was doubtful to-day whether
the House should be adjourned to-morrow or no.
17th. Up, and to the office, where very busy all the morning, and then
in the afternoon I with Sir W. Pen and Sir T. Harvy to White Hall to
attend the Duke of York, who is now as well as ever, and there we did
our usual business with him, and so away home with Sir W. Pen, and there
to the office, where pretty late doing business, my wife having been
abroad all day with Mrs. Turner buying of one thing or other. This day
I do hear at White Hall that the Duke of Monmouth is sick, and in danger
of the smallpox. So home to supper and to bed.
18th. Up, and to my goldsmith's in the morning, to look after the
providing of L60 for Mr. Moore, towards the answering of my Lord
Sandwich's bill of exchange, he being come to be contented with my
lending him L60 in part of it, which pleases me, I expecting to have
been forced to answer the whole bill; and this, which I do do, I hope
to secure out of the plate, which was delivered into my custody of my
Lord's the other day by Mr. Cooke, and which I did get Mr. Stokes,
the goldsmith, last night to weigh at my house, and there is enough to
secure L100. Thence home to the office, and there all the morning by
particular appointment with Sir W. Pen, Sir R. Ford, and those that are
concerned for my Lady Batten (Mr. Wood, Young, and Lewes), to even the
accounts of our prize business, and at noon broke up, and to dinner,
every man to his own home, and to it till late at night again, and
we did come to some end, and I am mightily put to it how to order
the business of my bargaine, but my industry is to keep it off from
discourse till the ship be brought home safe, and this I did do, and so
we broke up, she appearing in our debts about L1500, and so we parted,
and I to my business, and home to my wife, who is troubled with the
tooth ake, and there however I got her to read to me the History of
Algiers, which I find a very pretty book, and so to supper with much
pleasure talking, and to bed. The Parliament not adjourned yet.
19th. Up, and to the Office, where Commissioner Middleton first took
place at the Board as Surveyor of the Navy; and indeed I think will be
an excellent officer; I am sure much beyond what his predecessor was. At
noon, to avoid being forced to invite him to dinner, it being his first
day, and nobody inviting him, I did go to the 'Change with Sir W. Pen in
his coach, who first went to Guildhall, whither I went with him, he to
speak with Sheriff Gawden--I only for company; and did here look up and
down this place, where I have not been before since the fire; and I see
that the city are got a pace on in the rebuilding of Guildhall. Thence
to the 'Change, where I stayed very little, and so home to dinner, and
there find my wife mightily out of order with her teeth. At the office
all the afternoon, and at night by coach to Westminster, to the Hall,
where I met nobody, and do find that this evening the King by message
(which he never did before) hath passed several bills, among others
that for the Accounts, and for banishing my Lord Chancellor, and hath
adjourned the House to February; at which I am glad, hoping in this time
to get leisure to state my Tangier Accounts, and to prepare better for
the Parliament's enquiries. Here I hear how the House of Lords, with
great severity, if not tyranny, have ordered poor Carr, who only erred
in the manner of the presenting his petition against my Lord Gerard, it
being first printed before it was presented; which was, it, seems, by
Colonel Sands's going into the country, into whose hands he had put it:
the poor man is ordered to stand in the pillory two or three times, and
his eares cut, and be imprisoned I know not how long. But it is believed
that the Commons, when they meet, will not be well pleased with it; and
they have no reason, I think. Having only heard this from Mrs. Michell,
I away again home, and there to supper and to bed, my wife exceeding
ill in her face with the tooth ake, and now her face has become mightily
swelled that I am mightily troubled for it.
20th. Up, and all the morning at the office with Sir R. Ford and the
same company as on Wednesday about my Lady Batten's accounts. At noon
home to dinner, where my poor wife in bed in mighty pain, her left cheek
so swelled as that we feared it would break, and so were fain to send
for Mr. Hollier, who come, and seems doubtful of the defluxions of
humours that may spoil her face, if not timely cured. He laid a poultice
to it and other directions, and so away, and I to the office, where on
the same accounts very late, and did come pretty near a settlement. So
at night to Sir W. Pen's with Sir R. Ford, and there was Sir D. Gawden,
and there we only talked of sundry things; and I have found of late, by
discourse, that the present sort of government is looked upon as a sort
of government that we never had yet--that is to say, a King and House of
Commons against the House of Lords; for so indeed it is, though neither
of the two first care a fig for one another, nor the third for them
both, only the Bishops are afeard of losing ground, as I believe they
will. So home to my poor wife, who is in mighty pain, and her face
miserably swelled: so as I was frighted to see it, and I was forced to
lie below in the great chamber, where I have not lain many a day, and
having sat up with her, talking and reading and pitying her, I to bed.
21st. At the office all the morning, and at noon home to dinner with
my Clerks and Creed, who among other things all alone, after dinner,
talking of the times, he tells me that the Nonconformists are mighty
high, and their meetings frequented and connived at; and they do expect
to have their day now soon; for my Lord of Buckingham is a declared
friend to them, and even to the Quakers, who had very good words the
other day from the King himself: and, what is more, the Archbishop
of Canterbury is called no more to the Cabal, nor, by the way, Sir W.
Coventry; which I am sorry for, the Cabal at present being, as he
says, the King, and Duke of Buckingham, and Lord Keeper, the Duke of
Albemarle, and Privy Seale. The Bishops, differing from the King in the
late business in the House of Lords, having caused this and what is like
to follow, for every body is encouraged nowadays to speak, and even to
preach, as I have heard one of them, as bad things against them as ever
in the year 1640; which is a strange change. He gone, I to the office,
where busy till late at night, and then home to sit with my wife, who
is a little better, and her cheek asswaged. I read to her out of "The
History of Algiers," which is mighty pretty reading, and did discourse
alone about my sister Pall's match, which is now on foot with one
Jackson, another nephew of Mr. Phillips's, to whom he hath left his
estate.
22nd (Lord's day). Up, and my wife, poor wretch, still in pain, and
then to dress myself and down to my chamber to settle some papers, and
thither come to me Willet with an errand from her mistress, and this
time I first did give her a little kiss, she being a very pretty
humoured girle, and so one that I do love mightily. Thence to my office,
and there did a little business, and so to church, where a dull sermon,
and then home, and Cozen Kate Joyce come and dined with me and Mr.
Holliard; but by chance I offering occasion to him to discourse of
the Church of Rome, Lord! how he run on to discourse with the greatest
vehemence and importunity in the world, as the only thing in the world
that he is full of, and it was good sport to me to see him so earnest on
so little occasion. She come to see us and to tell me that her husband
is going to build his house again, and would borrow of me L300, which
I shall upon good security be willing to do, and so told her, being
willing to have some money out of my hands upon good security. After
dinner up to my wife again, who is in great pain still with her tooth,
and there, they gone, I spent the most of the afternoon and night
reading and talking to bear her company, and so to supper and to bed.
23rd. Up before day, and by coach to Sir W. Coventry's, and with him to
White Hall, and there walked a great while with him in the garden
till the Commissioners of the Treasury met, and there talked over many
businesses, and particularly he tells me that by my desire he hath moved
the Duke of York that Sir J. Minnes might be removed from the Navy, at
least the Controller's place, and his business put on my Lord Brouncker
and Sir W. Pen; that the Committee for Accounts are good sober men, and
such as he thinks we shall have fair play from; that he hopes that the
kingdom will escape ruin in general, notwithstanding all our fears, and
yet I find he do seem not very confident in it. So to the Commissioners
of the Treasury, and there I had a dispute before them with Sir Stephen
Fox about our orders for money, who is very angry, but I value it not.
But, Lord! to see with what folly my Lord Albemarle do speak in this
business would make a man wonder at the good fortune of such a fool.
Thence meeting there with Creed, he and I to the Exchange, and there I
saw Carr stand in the pillory for the business of my Lord Gerard, which
is supposed will make a hot business in the House of Commons, when
they shall come to sit again, the Lords having ordered this with great
injustice, as all people think, his only fault being the printing his
petition before, by accident, his petition be read in the House. Here
walked up and down the Exchange with Creed, and then home to dinner, and
there hear by Creed that the Bishops of Winchester and of Rochester, and
the Dean of the Chapel, and some other great prelates, are suspended:
and a cloud upon the Archbishop ever since the late business in the
House of Lords; and I believe it will be a heavy blow to the Clergy.
This noon I bought a sermon of Dr. Floyd's, which Creed read a great
part of to me and Mr. Hollier, who dined with me, but as well writ and
as good, against the Church of Rome, as ever I read; but, Lord! how
Hollier, poor man, was taken with it. They gone I to the office, and
there very late with Mr. Willson and my people about the making of a new
contract for the victualler, which do and will require a great deal of
pains of me, and so to supper and to bed, my wife being pretty well all
this day by reason of her imposthume being broke in her cheek into her
mouth. This day, at the 'Change, Creed shewed me Mr. Coleman, of whom
my wife hath so good an opinion, and says that he is as very a rogue for
women as any in the world; which did disquiet me, like a fool, and run
in my mind a great while.
24th. Up, and all the morning at the office, and at noon with my clerks
to dinner, and then to the office again, busy at the office till six at
night, and then by coach to St. James's, it being about six at night;
my design being to see the ceremonys, this night being the eve
of Christmas, at the Queen's chapel. But it being not begun I to
Westminster Hall, and there staid and walked, and then to the Swan, and
there drank and talked, and did banter a little Frank, and so to White
Hall, and sent my coach round, I through the Park to chapel, where I got
in up almost to the rail, and with a great deal of patience staid from
nine at night to two in the morning, in a very great crowd; and there
expected, but found nothing extraordinary, there being nothing but a
high masse. The Queen was there, and some ladies. But, Lord! what an
odde thing it was for me to be in a crowd of people, here a footman,
there a beggar, here a fine lady, there a zealous poor papist, and here
a Protestant, two or three together, come to see the shew. I was afeard
of my pocket being picked very much.... Their musique very good indeed,
but their service I confess too frivolous, that there can be no zeal go
along with it, and I do find by them themselves that they do run over
their beads with one hand, and point and play and talk and make signs
with the other in the midst of their masse. But all things very rich and
beautiful; and I see the papists have the wit, most of them, to bring
cushions to kneel on, which I wanted, and was mightily troubled to
kneel. All being done, and I sorry for my coming, missing of what I
expected; which was, to have had a child born and dressed there, and a
great deal of do: but we broke up, and nothing like it done: and there
I left people receiving the Sacrament: and the Queen gone, and ladies;
only my Lady Castlemayne, who looked prettily in her night-clothes, and
so took my coach, which waited, and away through Covent Garden, to set
down two gentlemen and a lady, who come thither to see also, and did
make mighty mirth in their talk of the folly of this religion. And so
I stopped, having set them down and drank some burnt wine at the Rose
Tavern door, while the constables come, and two or three Bellmen went
by,
25th. It being a fine, light, moonshine morning, and so home round the
city, and stopped and dropped money at five or six places, which I was
the willinger to do, it being Christmas-day, and so home, and there find
my wife in bed, and Jane and the maids making pyes, and so I to bed, and
slept well, and rose about nine, and to church, and there heard a dull
sermon of Mr. Mills, but a great many fine people at church; and so
home. Wife and girl and I alone at dinner--a good Christmas dinner, and
all the afternoon at home, my wife reading to me "The History of the
Drummer of Mr. Mompesson," which is a strange story of spies, and worth
reading indeed. In the evening comes Mr. Pelling, and he sat and supped
with us; and very good company, he reciting to us many copies of good
verses of Dr. Wilde, who writ "Iter Boreale," and so to bed, my boy
being gone with W. Hewer and Mr. Hater to Mr. Gibson's in the country to
dinner and lie there all night.
26th. Up and to Westminster, and there to the Swan, and by chance met
Mr. Spicer and another 'Chequer clerk, and there made them drink, and
there talked of the credit the 'Chequer is now come to and will in a
little time, and so away homeward, and called at my bookseller's, and
there bought Mr. Harrington's works, "Oceana," &c., and two other books,
which cost me L4, and so home, and there eat a bit, and then with my
wife to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Surprizall;" which did
not please me to-day, the actors not pleasing me; and especially Nell's
acting of a serious part, which she spoils. Here met with Sir W. Pen,
and sat by him, and home by coach with him, and there to my office a
while, and then home to supper and to bed. I hear this day that Mrs.
Stewart do at this day keep a great court at Somerset House, with her
husband the Duke of Richmond, she being visited for her beauty's sake by
people, as the Queen is, at nights; and they say also that she is likely
to go to Court again, and there put my Lady Castlemayne's nose out of
joynt. God knows that would make a great turn. This day I was invited to
have gone to my cozen Mary Pepys' burial, my uncle Thomas' daughter, but
could not.
27th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and there walked with Creed in the
Matted gallery till by and by a Committee for Tangier met: the Duke of
York there; and there I did discourse over to them their condition as to
money, which they were all mightily, as I could desire, satisfied with,
but the Duke of Albemarle, who takes the part of the Guards against
us in our supplies of money, which is an odd consideration for a dull,
heavy blockhead as he is, understanding no more of either than a goose:
but the ability and integrity of Sir W. Coventry, in all the King's
concernments, I do and must admire. After the Committee up, I and Sir
W. Coventry walked an hour in the gallery, talking over many businesses,
and he tells me that there are so many things concur to make him and
his Fellow Commissioners unable to go through the King's work that he
do despair of it, every body becoming an enemy to them in their
retrenchments, and the King unstable, the debts great and the King's
present occasions for money great and many and pressing, the bankers
broke and every body keeping in their money, while the times are
doubtful what will stand. But he says had they come in two years ago
they doubt not to have done what the King would by this time, or were
the King in the condition as heretofore, when the Chancellor was great,
to be able to have what sums of money they pleased of the Parliament,
and then the ill administration was such that instead of making good use
of this power and money he suffered all to go to ruin. But one such
sum now would put all upon their legs, and now the King would have the
Parliament give him money when they are in an ill humour and will not be
willing to give any, nor are very able, and besides every body distrusts
what they give the King will be lost; whereas six months hence, when
they see that the King can live without them, and is become steady,
and to manage what he has well, he doubts not but their doubts would be
removed, and would be much more free as well as more able to give him
money. He told me how some of his enemies at the Duke of York's had
got the Duke of York's commission for the Commissioners of his estate
changed, and he and Brouncker and Povy left out: that this they did do
to disgrace and impose upon him at this time; but that he, though he
values not the thing, did go and tell the Duke of York what he heard,
and that he did not think that he had given him any reason to do this,
out of his belief that he would not be as faithful and serviceable to
him as the best of those that have got him put out. Whereupon the Duke
of York did say that it arose only from his not knowing whether now he
would have time to regard his affairs; and that, if he should, he would
put him into the commission with his own hand, though the commission be
passed. He answered that he had been faithful to him, and done him good
service therein, so long as he could attend it; and if he had been able
to have attended it more, he would not have enriched himself with such
and such estates as my Lord Chancellor hath got, that did properly
belong to his Royal Highness, as being forfeited to the King, and so by
the King's gift given to the Duke of York. Hereupon the Duke of York did
call for the commission, and hath since put him in. This he tells me he
did only to show his enemies that he is not so low as to be trod on by
them, or the Duke hath any so bad opinion of him as they would think.
Here we parted, and I with Sir H. Cholmly went and took a turn into
the Park, and there talked of several things, and about Tangier
particularly, and of his management of his business, and among other
discourse about the method he will leave his accounts in if he should
suddenly die, he says there is nothing but what is easily understood,
but only a sum of L500 which he has entered given to E. E. S., which
in great confidence he do discover to me to be my Lord Sandwich, at the
beginning of their contract for the Mole, and I suppose the rest did the
like, which was L1500, which would appear a very odd thing for my Lord
to be a profiter by the getting of the contract made for them. But here
it puts me into thoughts how I shall own my receiving of L200 a year
from him, but it is his gift, I never asked of him, and which he did to
Mr. Povy, and so there is no great matter in it. Thence to other talk.
He tells me that the business of getting the Duchess of Richmond to
Court is broke off, the Duke not suffering it; and thereby great trouble
is brought among the people that endeavoured it, and thought they had
compassed it. And, Lord! to think that at this time the King should mind
no other cares but these! He tells me that my Lord of Canterbury is a
mighty stout man, and a man of a brave, high spirit, and cares not for
this disfavour that he is under at Court, knowing that the King cannot
take away his profits during his life, and therefore do not value it.
[This character of Archbishop Sheldon does not tally with the
scandal that Pepys previously reported of him. Burnet has some
passages of importance on this in his "Own Time," Book II. He
affirms that Charles's final decision to throw over Clarendon was
caused by the Chancellor's favouring Mrs. Stewart's marriage with
the Duke of Richmond. The king had a conference with Sheldon on the
removal of Clarendon, but could not convert the archbishop to his
view. Lauderdale told Burnet that he had an account of the
interview from the king. "The king and Sheldon had gone into such
expostulations upon it that from that day forward Sheldon could
never recover the king's confidence."]
Thence I home, and there to my office and wrote a letter to the Duke of
York from myself about my clerks extraordinary, which I have employed
this war, to prevent my being obliged to answer for what others do
without any reason demand allowance for, and so by this means I will be
accountable for none but my own, and they shall not have them but upon
the same terms that I have, which is a profession that with these helps
they will answer to their having performed their duties of their places.
So to dinner, and then away by coach to the Temple, and then for speed
by water thence to White Hall, and there to our usual attending the Duke
of York, and did attend him, where among other things I did present and
lodge my letter, and did speed in it as I could wish. Thence home with
Sir W. Pen and Comm. Middleton by coach, and there home and to cards
with my wife, W. Hewer, Mercer, and the girle, and mighty pleasant all
the evening, and so to bed with my wife, which I have not done since her
being ill for three weeks or thereabouts.
28th. Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning, at noon home,
and there to dinner with my clerks and Mr. Pelting, and had a very good
dinner, among others a haunch of venison boiled, and merry we were, and
I rose soon from dinner, and with my wife and girle to the King's house,
and there saw "The Mad Couple," which is but an ordinary play; but only
Nell's and Hart's mad parts are most excellently done, but especially
hers: which makes it a miracle to me to think how ill she do any serious
part, as, the other day, just like a fool or changeling; and, in a mad
part, do beyond all imitation almost. [It pleased us mightily to see
the natural affection of a poor woman, the mother of one of the children
brought on the stage: the child crying, she by force got upon the stage,
and took up her child and carried it away off of the stage from Hart.]
Many fine faces here to-day. Thence home, and there to the office late,
and then home to supper and to bed. I am told to-day, which troubles me,
that great complaint is made upon the 'Change, among our merchants, that
the very Ostend little pickaroon men-of-war do offer violence to our
merchant-men, and search them, beat our masters, and plunder them, upon
pretence of carrying Frenchmen's goods. Lord! what a condition are we
come to, and that so soon after a war!
29th (Lord's day). Up, and at my chamber all the day, both morning
and afternoon (only a little at dinner with my wife alone), upon the
settling of my Tangier accounts towards the evening of all reckonings
now against the new year, and here I do see the great folly of letting
things go long unevened, it being very hard for me and dangerous to
state after things are gone out of memory, and much more would be so
should I have died in this time and my accounts come to other hands, to
understand which would never be. At night comes Mrs. Turner to see us;
and there, among other talk, she tells me that Mr. William Pen, who
is lately come over from Ireland, is a Quaker again, or some very
melancholy thing; that he cares for no company, nor comes into any which
is a pleasant thing, after his being abroad so long, and his father such
a hypocritical rogue, and at this time an Atheist. She gone, I to my
very great content do find my accounts to come very even and naturally,
and so to supper and to bed.
30th. Up before day, and by coach to Westminster, and there first to
Sir H. Cholmly, and there I did to my great content deliver him up his
little several papers for sums of money paid him, and took his regular
receipts upon his orders, wherein I am safe. Thence to White Hall, and
there to visit Sir G. Carteret, and there was with him a great while,
and my Lady and they seem in very good humour, but by and by Sir G.
Carteret and I alone, and there we did talk of the ruinous condition we
are in, the King being going to put out of the Council so many able men;
such as my Lord Anglesey, Ashly, Hopis, Secretary Morrice (to bring in
Mr. Trevor), and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and my Lord Bridgewater.
He tells me that this is true, only the Duke of York do endeavour to
hinder it, and the Duke of York himself did tell him so: that the King
and the Duke of York do not in company disagree, but are friendly; but
that there is a core in their hearts, he doubts, which is not to be
easily removed; for these men do suffer only for their constancy to the
Chancellor, or at least from the King's ill-will against him: that
they do now all they can to vilify the clergy, and do accuse Rochester
[Dolben]... and so do raise scandals, all that is possible, against
other of the Bishops. He do suggest that something is intended for the
Duke of Monmouth, and it may be, against the Queene also: that we are
in no manner sure against an invasion the next year: that the Duke of
Buckingham do rule all now, and the Duke of York comes indeed to the
Caball, but signifies little there. That this new faction do not endure,
nor the King, Sir W. Coventry; but yet that he is so usefull that they
cannot be without him; but that he is not now called to the Caball.
That my Lord of Buckingham, Bristoll, and Arlington, do seem to agree
in these things; but that they do not in their hearts trust one another,
but do drive several ways, all of them. In short, he do bless himself
that he is no more concerned in matters now; and the hopes he hath
of being at liberty, when his accounts are over, to retire into the
country. That he do give over the kingdom for wholly lost. So after some
other little discourse, I away, meeting with Mr. Cooling. I with him
by coach to the Wardrobe, where I never was since the fire in Hatton
Garden, but did not 'light: and he tells me he fears that my Lord
Sandwich will suffer much by Mr. Townsend's being untrue to him, he
being now unable to give the Commissioners of the Treasury an account of
his money received by many thousands of pounds, which I am troubled
for. Thence to the Old Exchange together, he telling me that he believes
there will be no such turning out of great men as is talked of, but that
it is only to fright people, but I do fear there may be such a thing
doing. He do mightily inveigh against the folly of the King to bring his
matters to wrack thus, and that we must all be undone without help.
I met with Cooling at the Temple-gate, after I had been at both my
booksellers and there laid out several pounds in books now against the
new year. From the 'Change (where I met with Captain Cocke, who would
have borrowed money of me, but I had the grace to deny him, he would
have had 3 or L400) I with Cocke and Mr. Temple (whose wife was just now
brought to bed of a boy, but he seems not to be at all taken with it,
which is a strange consideration how others do rejoice to have a child
born), to Sir G. Carteret's, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and there did dine
together, there being there, among other company, Mr. Attorney Montagu,
and his fine lady, a fine woman. After dinner, I did understand from my
Lady Jemimah that her brother Hinchingbroke's business was to be ended
this day, as she thinks, towards his match, and they do talk here of
their intent to buy themselves some new clothes against the wedding,
which I am very glad of. After dinner I did even with Sir G. Carteret
the accounts of the interest of the money which I did so long put out
for him in Sir R. Viner's hands, and by it I think I shall be a gainer
about L28, which is a very good reward for the little trouble I have had
in it. Thence with Sir Philip Carteret to the King's playhouse, there to
see "Love's Cruelty," an old play, but which I have not seen before; and
in the first act Orange Moll come to me, with one of our porters by
my house, to tell me that Mrs. Pierce and Knepp did dine at my house
to-day, and that I was desired to come home. So I went out presently,
and by coach home, and they were just gone away so, after a very little
stay with my wife, I took coach again, and to the King's playhouse
again, and come in the fourth act; and it proves to me a very silly
play, and to everybody else, as far as I could judge. But the jest is,
that here telling Moll how I had lost my journey, she told me that Mrs.
Knepp was in the house, and so shews me to her, and I went to her, and
sat out the play, and then with her to Mrs. Manuel's, where Mrs. Pierce
was, and her boy and girl; and here I did hear Mrs. Manuel and one
of the Italians, her gallant, sing well. But yet I confess I am not
delighted so much with it, as to admire it: for, not understanding the
words, I lose the benefit of the vocalitys of the musick, and it proves
only instrumental; and therefore was more pleased to hear Knepp sing two
or three little English things that I understood, though the composition
of the other, and performance, was very fine. Thence, after sitting and
talking a pretty while, I took leave and left them there, and so to my
bookseller's, and paid for the books I had bought, and away home, where
I told my wife where I had been. But she was as mad as a devil, and
nothing but ill words between us all the evening while we sat at
cards--W. Hewer and the girl by--even to gross ill words, which I was
troubled for, but do see that I must use policy to keep her spirit down,
and to give her no offence by my being with Knepp and Pierce, of which,
though she will not own it, yet she is heartily jealous. At last it
ended in few words and my silence (which for fear of growing higher
between us I did forbear), and so to supper and to bed without one word
one to another. This day I did carry money out, and paid several debts.
Among others, my tailor, and shoemaker, and draper, Sir W. Turner, who
begun to talk of the Commission of accounts, wherein he is one; but
though they are the greatest people that ever were in the nation as to
power, and like to be our judges, yet I did never speak one word to him
of desiring favour, or bidding him joy in it, but did answer him to
what he said, and do resolve to stand or fall by my silent preparing to
answer whatever can be laid to me, and that will be my best proceeding,
I think. This day I got a little rent in my new fine camlett cloak with
the latch of Sir G. Carteret's door; but it is darned up at my tailor's,
that it will be no great blemish to it; but it troubled me. I could not
but observe that Sir Philip Carteret would fain have given me my going
into a play; but yet, when he come to the door, he had no money to pay
for himself, I having refused to accept of it for myself, but was fain;
and I perceive he is known there, and do run upon the score for plays,
which is a shame; but I perceive always he is in want of money.
[The practice of gallants attending the theatre without payment is
illustrated by Mr. Lowe in his "Betterton," from Shadwell's "True
Widow":
"1st Doorkeeper. Pray, sir, pay me: my masters will make me
pay it.
3d Man. Impudent rascal, do you ask me for money? Take that,
sirrah.
2nd Doorkeeper. Will you pay me, sir?
4th Man. No; I don't intend to stay.
2nd Doorkeeper. So you say every day, and see two or three
acts for nothing."]
In the pit I met with Sir Ch. North, formerly Mr. North, who was with my
Lord at sea; and he, of his own accord, was so silly as to tell me he
is married; and for her quality (being a Lord's daughter, my Lord Grey),
and person, and beauty, and years, and estate, and disposition, he is
the happiest man in the world. I am sure he is an ugly fellow; but
a good scholar and sober gentleman; and heir to his father, now Lord
North, the old Lord being dead.
31st. Up, without words to my wife, or few, and those not angry, and so
to White Hall, and there waited a long time, while the Duke of York
was with the King in the Caball, and there I and Creed stayed talking
without, in the Vane-Room, and I perceive all people's expectation is,
what will be the issue of this great business of putting these great
Lords out of the council and power, the quarrel, I perceive, being
only their standing against the will of the King in the business of the
Chancellor. Anon the Duke of York comes out, and then to a committee of
Tangier, where my Lord Middleton did come to-day, and seems to me but a
dull, heavy man; but he is a great soldier, and stout, and a needy Lord,
which will still keep that poor garrison from ever coming to be worth
anything to the King. Here, after a short meeting, we broke up, and I
home to the office, where they are sitting, and so I to them, and having
done our business rose, and I home to dinner with my people, and there
dined with me my uncle Thomas, with a mourning hat-band on, for his
daughter Mary, and here I and my people did discourse of the Act for the
accounts,
["An Act for taking the Accompts of the several sums of money therein
menconed, 19 and 20 Car. II., c. I. The commissioners were
empowered to call before them all Treasurers, Receivers,
Paymasters, Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy and
Ordnance respectively, Pursers, Mustermasters and Clerks of the
Cheque, Accomptants, and all Officers and Keepers of his Majesties
Stores and Provisions for Warr as well for Land as Sea, and all
other persons whatsoever imployed in the management of the said Warr
or requisite for the discovery of any frauds relating thereunto,"
&c., &c. ("Statutes of the Realm," vol. v., pp. 624,627).]
which do give the greatest power to these people, as they report that
have read it (I having not yet read it, and indeed its nature is such as
I have no mind to go about to read it, for fear of meeting matter in it
to trouble me), that ever was given to any subjects, and too much also.
After dinner with my wife and girl to Unthanke's, and there left her,
and I to Westminster, and there to Mrs. Martin's, and did hazer con elle
what I desired, and there did drink with her, and find fault with her
husband's wearing of too fine clothes, by which I perceive he will be a
beggar, and so after a little talking I away and took up my wife again,
and so home and to the office, where Captain Perryman did give me
an account, walking in the garden, how the seamen of England are
discouraged by want of money (or otherwise by being, as he says, but I
think without cause, by their being underrated) so far as that he thinks
the greatest part are gone abroad or going, and says that it is known
that there are Irish in the town, up and down, that do labour to entice
the seamen out of the nation by giving them L3 in hand, and promise
of 40s. per month, to go into the King of France's service, which is a
mighty shame, but yet I believe is true. I did advise with him about my
little vessel, "The Maybolt," which he says will be best for me to sell,
though my employing her to Newcastle this winter, and the next spring,
for coles, will be a gainful trade, but yet make me great trouble, but I
will think of it, and so to my office, ended my letters, and so home to
supper and to bed, good friends with my wife. Thus ends the year, with
great happiness to myself and family as to health and good condition in
the world, blessed be God for it! only with great trouble to my mind
in reference to the publick, there being little hopes left but that the
whole nation must in a very little time be lost, either by troubles at
home, the Parliament being dissatisfied, and the King led into unsettled
councils by some about him, himself considering little, and divisions
growing between the King and Duke of York; or else by foreign invasion,
to which we must submit if any, at this bad point of time, should come
upon us, which the King of France is well able to do. These thoughts,
and some cares upon me, concerning my standing in this Office when the
Committee of Parliament shall come to examine our Navy matters, which
they will now shortly do. I pray God they may do the kingdom service
therein, as they will have sufficient opportunity of doing it!
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, 1667 N.S., COMPLETE:
20s. in money, and what wine she needed, for the burying him
A gainful trade, but yet make me great trouble
Act of Council passed, to put out all Papists in office
Advantage a man of the law hath over all other people
And a deal of do of which I am weary
Angling with a minikin, a gut-string varnished over
Anthem anything but instrumentall musique with the voice
Archbishop is a wencher, and known to be so
As he called it, the King's seventeenth whore abroad
Baker's house in Pudding Lane, where the late great fire begun
Beginnings of discontents take so much root between us
Being taken with a Psalmbook or Testament
Better now than never
Bill against importing Cattle from Ireland
Bold to deliver what he thinks on every occasion
Bring me a periwig, but it was full of nits
But do it with mighty vanity and talking
But my wife vexed, which vexed me
Buying his place of my Lord Barkely
Buying up of goods in case there should be war
Cast stones with his horne crooke
Certainly Annapolis must be defended,--where is Annapolis?
Chief Court of judicature (House of Lords)
Clap of the pox which he got about twelve years ago
Come to us out of bed in his furred mittens and furred cap
Commons, where there is nothing done but by passion, and faction
Confidence, and vanity, and disparages everything
Consider that this is all the pleasure I live for in the world
Court full of great apprehensions of the French
Court is in a way to ruin all for their pleasures
Credit of this office hath received by this rogue's occasion
Dash the brains of it out before the King's face
Declared he will never have another public mistress again
Desk fastened to one of the armes of his chayre
Did take me up very prettily in one or two things that I said
Dinner, an ill and little mean one, with foul cloth and dishes
Disquiet all night, telling of the clock till it was daylight
Do outdo the Lords infinitely (debates in the Commons)
Dog, that would turn a sheep any way which
Dutch fleets being in so many places
Eat some of the best cheese-cakes that ever I eat in my life
Enough existed to build a ship (Pieces of the true Cross)
Enviously, said, I could not come honestly by them
Erasmus "de scribendis epistolis"
Every body leads, and nobody follows
Father, who to supper and betimes to bed at his country hours
Feared she hath from some [one] or other of a present
Fell a-crying for joy, being all maudlin and kissing one another
Fool's play with which all publick things are done
For I will not be inward with him that is open to another
For I will be hanged before I seek to him, unless I see I need
Found to be with child, do never stir out of their beds
Give the King of France Nova Scotia, which he do not like
Gold holds up its price still
Good purpose of fitting ourselves for another war (A Peace)
Had his hand cut off, and was hanged presently!
Had the umbles of it for dinner
Hates to have any body mention what he had done the day before
Hath given her the pox, but I hope it is not so
Have not any awe over them from the King's displeasure (Commons)
He was charged with making himself popular
He is not a man fit to be told what one hears
He will do no good, he being a man of an unsettled head
He is a man of no worth in the world but compliment
Heeling her on one side to make her draw little water
History of this day's growth, we cannot tell the truth
House of Lords is the last appeal that a man can make
How do the children?
Hugged, it being cold now in the mornings....
Hunt up and down with its mouth if you touch the cheek
I would not enquire into anything, but let her talk
I am not a man able to go through trouble, as other men
I having now seen a play every day this week
I perceive no passion in a woman can be lasting long
I did get her hand to me under my cloak
I love the treason I hate the traitor
I find her painted, which makes me loathe her (cosmetics)
If the word Inquisition be but mentioned
Ill-bred woman, would take exceptions at anything any body said
Ill sign when we are once to come to study how to excuse
Just set down to dinner, and I dined with them, as I intended
King do resolve to declare the Duke of Monmouth legitimate
King is at the command of any woman like a slave
King the necessity of having, at least, a show of religion
King is offended with the Duke of Richmond's marrying
King of France did think other princes fit for nothing
King governed by his lust, and women, and rogues about him
King's service is undone, and those that trust him perish
Kingdom will fall back again to a commonwealth
Know yourself to be secure, in being necessary to the office
Lady Castlemayne's nose out of joynt
Lady Castlemayne is compounding with the King for a pension
Liberty of speech in the House
Little content most people have in the peace
Little worth of this world, to buy it with so much pain
Looks to lie down about two months hence
Make a man wonder at the good fortune of such a fool
Mazer or drinking-bowl turned out of some kind of wood
Mean, methinks, and is as if they had married like dog and bitch
Mirrors which makes the room seem both bigger and lighter
Mr. William Pen a Quaker again
Mrs. Stewart's sending the King his jewels again
Much difficulty to get pews, I offering the sexton money
Musique in the morning to call up our new-married people
Must yet pay to the Poll Bill for this pension (unreceived)
My wife will keep to one another and let the world go hang
My intention to learn to trill
My people do observe my minding my pleasure more than usual
My wife this night troubled at my leaving her alone so much
Necessary, and yet the peace is so bad in its terms
Never laughed so in all my life. I laughed till my head ached
Never was known to keep two mistresses in his life (Charles II.)
Never, while he lives, truckle under any body or any faction
Never to keep a country-house, but to keep a coach
New medall, where, in little, there is Mrs. Steward's face
Night the Dutch burned our ships the King did sup with Castlemayne
No man knowing what to do, whether to sell or buy
Nobody knows which side will be uppermost
Nobody being willing to trust us for anything
Nor offer anything, but just what is drawn out of a man
Not more than I expected, nor so much by a great deal as I ought
Not thinking them safe men to receive such a gratuity
Now above six months since (smoke from the cellars)
Officers are four years behind-hand unpaid
Only because she sees it is the fashion (She likes it)
Outdo for neatness and plenty anything done by any of them
Painful to keep money, as well as to get it
Pit, where the bears are baited
Poll Bill
Pressing in it as if none of us had like care with him
Prince's being trepanned, which was in doing just as we passed
Proud that she shall come to trill
Receive the applications of people, and hath presents
Reparation for what we had embezzled
Run over their beads with one hand, and point and play and talk
Said to die with the cleanest hands that ever any Lord Treasurer
Saying, that for money he might be got to our side
Says of wood, that it is an excrescence of the earth
Seems she hath had long melancholy upon her
Sermon ended, and the church broke up, and my amours ended also
Sermon upon Original Sin, neither understood by himself
Sermon without affectation or study
Shame such a rogue should give me and all of us this trouble
She has this silly vanity that she must play
Sick of it and of him for it
Silence; it being seldom any wrong to a man to say nothing
Singing with many voices is not singing
So every thing stands still for money
Some ends of my own in what advice I do give her
Sorry thing to be a poor King
Spares not to blame another to defend himself
Sparrowgrass
Speaks rarely, which pleases me mightily
Spends his time here most, playing at bowles
Sport to me to see him so earnest on so little occasion
Street ordered to be continued, forty feet broad, from Paul's
Supper and to bed without one word one to another
Suspect the badness of the peace we shall make
Swear they will not go to be killed and have no pay
Take pins out of her pocket to prick me if I should touch her
The pleasure of my not committing these things to my memory
The world do not grow old at all
The gates of the City shut, it being so late
Their condition was a little below my present state
Then home, and merry with my wife
They are all mad; and thus the kingdom is governed!
They want where to set their feet, to begin to do any thing
Think never to see this woman--at least, to have her here more
Though he knows, if he be not a fool, that I love him not
Through my wife's illness had a bad night of it, and she a worse
To my joy, I met not with any that have sped better than myself
Troubled to think what trouble a rogue may without cause give
Uncertainty of all history
Used to make coal fires, and wash my foul clothes
Very great tax; but yet I do think it is so perplexed
Voyage to Newcastle for coles
We find the two young ladies come home, and their patches off
Weary of it; but it will please the citizens
Weigh him after he had done playing
What way a man could devise to lose so much in so little time
What I said would not hold water
Whatever I do give to anybody else, I shall give her
Where a piece of the Cross is
Which he left him in the lurch
Whip this child till the blood come, if it were my child!
Who continues so ill as not to be troubled with business
Whom, in mirth to us, he calls Antichrist
Whose red nose makes me ashamed to be seen with him
Wise man's not being wise at all times
Wise men do prepare to remove abroad what they have
Wonders that she cannot be as good within as she is fair without
Wretch, n., often used as an expression of endearment
Yet let him remember the days of darkness
Young fellow, with his hat cocked like a fool behind
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