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
1968
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 1667-1668
January 1st. Up, and all the morning in my chamber making up some
accounts against this beginning of the new year, and so about noon
abroad with my wife, who was to dine with W. Hewer and Willet at Mrs.
Pierces, but I had no mind to be with them, for I do clearly find that
my wife is troubled at my friendship with her and Knepp, and so dined
with my Lord Crew, with whom was Mr. Browne, Clerk of the House of
Lords, and Mr. John Crew. Here was mighty good discourse, as there is
always: and among other things my Lord Crew did turn to a place in
the Life of Sir Philip Sidney, wrote by Sir Fulke Greville, which do
foretell the present condition of this nation, in relation to the
Dutch, to the very degree of a prophecy; and is so remarkable that I
am resolved to buy one of them, it being, quite throughout, a good
discourse. Here they did talk much of the present cheapness of corne,
even to a miracle; so as their farmers can pay no rent, but do fling
up their lands; and would pay in corne: but, which I did observe to my
Lord, and he liked well of it, our gentry are grown so ignorant in every
thing of good husbandry, that they know not how to bestow this corne:
which, did they understand but a little trade, they would be able to
joyne together, and know what markets there are abroad, and send it
thither, and thereby ease their tenants and be able to pay themselves.
They did talk much of the disgrace the Archbishop is fallen under with
the King, and the rest of the Bishops also. Thence I after dinner to the
Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "Sir Martin Mar-all;" which I
have seen so often, and yet am mightily pleased with it, and think it
mighty witty, and the fullest of proper matter for mirth that ever was
writ; and I do clearly see that they do improve in their acting of it.
Here a mighty company of citizens, 'prentices, and others; and it makes
me observe, that when I begun first to be able to bestow a play on
myself, I do not remember that I saw so many by half of the ordinary
'prentices and mean people in the pit at 2s. 6d. a-piece as now; I going
for several years no higher than the 12d. and then the 18d. places,
though, I strained hard to go in then when I did: so much the vanity and
prodigality of the age is to be observed in this particular. Thence I to
White Hall, and there walked up and down the house a while, and do
hear nothing of anything done further in this business of the change of
Privy-counsellors: only I hear that Sir G. Savile, one of the Parliament
Committee of nine, for examining the Accounts, is by the King made a
Lord, the Lord Halifax; which, I believe, will displease the Parliament.
By and by I met with Mr. Brisband; and having it in my mind this
Christmas to (do what I never can remember that I did) go to see the
manner of the gaming at the Groome-Porter's, I having in my coming from
the playhouse stepped into the two Temple-halls, and there saw the dirty
'prentices and idle people playing; wherein I was mistaken, in thinking
to have seen gentlemen of quality playing there, as I think it was when
I was a little child, that one of my father's servants, John Bassum, I
think, carried me in his arms thither. I did tell Brisband of it, and he
did lead me thither, where, after staying an hour, they begun to play
at about eight at night, where to see how differently one man took
his losing from another, one cursing and swearing, and another only
muttering and grumbling to himself, a third without any apparent
discontent at all: to see how the dice will run good luck in one hand,
for half an hour together, and another have no good luck at all: to see
how easily here, where they play nothing but guinnys, a L100 is won or
lost: to see two or three gentlemen come in there drunk, and putting
their stock of gold together, one 22 pieces, the second 4, and the third
5 pieces; and these to play one with another, and forget how much each
of them brought, but he that brought the 22 thinks that he brought no
more than the rest: to see the different humours of gamesters to change
their luck, when it is bad, how ceremonious they are as to call for new
dice, to shift their places, to alter their manner of throwing, and that
with great industry, as if there was anything in it: to see how some old
gamesters, that have no money now to spend as formerly, do come and sit
and look on, as among others, Sir Lewis Dives, who was here, and hath
been a great gamester in his time: to hear their cursing and damning to
no purpose, as one man being to throw a seven if he could, and, failing
to do it after a great many throws, cried he would be damned if ever
he flung seven more while he lived, his despair of throwing it being so
great, while others did it as their luck served almost every throw:
to see how persons of the best quality do here sit down, and play with
people of any, though meaner; and to see how people in ordinary clothes
shall come hither, and play away 100, or 2 or 300 guinnys, without
any kind of difficulty: and lastly, to see the formality of the
groome-porter, who is their judge of all disputes in play and all
quarrels that may arise therein, and how his under-officers are there
to observe true play at each table, and to give new dice, is a
consideration I never could have thought had been in the world, had I
not now seen it. And mighty glad I am that I did see it, and it may be
will find another evening, before Christmas be over, to see it again,
when I may stay later, for their heat of play begins not till about
eleven or twelve o'clock; which did give me another pretty observation
of a man, that did win mighty fast when I was there. I think he won L100
at single pieces in a little time. While all the rest envied him his
good fortune, he cursed it, saying, "A pox on it, that it should come so
early upon me, for this fortune two hours hence would be worth something
to me, but then, God damn me, I shall have no such luck." This kind
of prophane, mad entertainment they give themselves. And so I, having
enough for once, refusing to venture, though Brisband pressed me hard,
and tempted me with saying that no man was ever known to lose the first
time, the devil being too cunning to discourage a gamester; and he
offered me also to lend me ten pieces to venture; but I did refuse, and
so went away, and took coach and home about 9 or to at night, where not
finding my wife come home, I took the same coach again, and leaving my
watch behind me for fear of robbing, I did go back and to Mrs. Pierces,
thinking they might not have broken up yet, but there I find my wife
newly gone, and not going out of my coach spoke only to Mr. Pierce in
his nightgown in the street, and so away back again home, and there to
supper with my wife and to talk about their dancing and doings at Mrs.
Pierces to-day, and so to bed.
2nd. Up, and with Sir J. Minnes by coach to White Hall, and there
attended the King and the Duke of York in the Duke of York's lodgings,
with the rest of the Officers and many of the Commanders of the fleete,
and some of our master shipwrights, to discourse the business of having
the topmasts of ships made to lower abaft of the mainmast; a business
I understand not, and so can give no good account; but I do see that by
how much greater the Council, and the number of Counsellors is, the more
confused the issue is of their councils; so that little was said to the
purpose regularly, and but little use was made of it, they coming to
a very broken conclusion upon it, to make trial in a ship or two. From
this they fell to other talk about the fleete's fighting this late war,
and how the King's ships have been shattered; though the King said that
the world would not have it that about ten or twenty ships in any fight
did do any service, and that this hath been told so to him himself, by
ignorant people. The Prince, who was there, was mightily surprised
at it, and seemed troubled: but the King told him that it was only
discourse of the world. But Mr. Wren whispered me in the eare, and said
that the Duke of Albemarle had put it into his Narrative for the House,
that not above twenty-five ships fought in the engagement wherein he
was, but that he was advised to leave it out; but this he did write
from sea, I am sure, or words to that effect: and did displease many
commanders, among others, Captain Batts, who the Duke of York said was
a very stout man, all the world knew; and that another was brought into
his ship that had been turned out of his place when he was a boatswain,
not long before, for being a drunkard. This the Prince took notice of,
and would have been angry, I think, but they let their discourse fall:
but the Duke of York was earnest in it. And the Prince said to me,
standing by me, "God damn me, if they will turn out every man that will
be drunk, they must turn out all the commanders in the fleete. What is
the matter if he be drunk, so when he comes to fight he do his work? At
least, let him be punished for his drunkenness, and not put out of his
command presently." This he spoke, very much concerned for this idle
fellow, one Greene. After this the King began to tell stories of the
cowardice of the Spaniards in Flanders, when he was there, at the siege
of Mardike and Dunkirke; which was very pretty, though he tells them but
meanly. This being done I to Westminster Hall, and there staid a little:
and then home, and by the way did find with difficulty the Life of Sir
Philip Sidney (the book I mentioned yesterday). And the bookseller told
me that he had sold four, within this week or two, which is more than
ever he sold in all his life of them; and he could not imagine what
should be the reason of it: but I suppose it is from the same reason of
people's observing of this part therein, touching his prophesying our
present condition here in England in relation to the Dutch, which is
very remarkable. So home to dinner, where Balty's wife is come to town;
she come last night and lay at my house, but being weary was gone to bed
before I come home, and so I saw her not before. After dinner I took
my wife and her girl out to the New Exchange, and there my wife bought
herself a lace for a handkercher, which I do give her, of about L3, for
a new year's gift, and I did buy also a lace for a band for myself, and
so home, and there to the office busy late, and so home to my chamber,
where busy on some accounts, and then to supper and to bed. This day my
wife shows me a locket of dyamonds worth about L40, which W. Hewer
do press her to accept, and hath done for a good while, out of his
gratitude for my kindness and hers to him. But I do not like that she
should receive it, it not being honourable for me to do it; and so do
desire her to force him to take it back again, he leaving it against her
will yesterday with her. And she did this evening force him to take it
back, at which she says he is troubled; but, however, it becomes me more
to refuse it, than to let her accept of it. And so I am well pleased
with her returning it him. It is generally believed that France is
endeavouring a firmer league with us than the former, in order to his
going on with his business against Spayne the next year; which I am, and
so everybody else is, I think, very glad of, for all our fear is, of
his invading us. This day, at White Hall, I overheard Sir W. Coventry
propose to the King his ordering of some particular thing in the
Wardrobe, which was of no great value; but yet, as much as it was, it
was of profit to the King and saving to his purse. The King answered
to it with great indifferency, as a thing that it was no great matter
whether it was done or no. Sir W. Coventry answered: "I see your Majesty
do not remember the old English proverb, 'He that will not stoop for a
pin, will never be worth a pound.'" And so they parted, the King bidding
him do as he would; which, methought, was an answer not like a King that
did intend ever to do well.
3rd. At the office all the morning with Mr. Willson and my clerks,
consulting again about a new contract with the Victualler of the Navy,
and at noon home to dinner, and then to the office again, where busy
all the afternoon preparing something for the Council about Tangier this
evening. So about five o'clock away with it to the Council, and there do
find that the Council hath altered its times of sitting to the mornings,
and so I lost my labour, and back again by coach presently round by the
city wall, it being dark, and so home, and there to the office, where
till midnight with Mr. Willson and my people to go through with the
Victualler's contract and the considerations about the new one, and so
home to supper and to bed, thinking my time very well spent.
4th. Up, and there to the office, where we sat all the morning; at noon
home to dinner, where my clerks and Mr. Clerke the sollicitor with me,
and dinner being done I to the office again, where all the afternoon
till late busy, and then home with my mind pleased at the pleasure of
despatching my business, and so to supper and to bed, my thoughts full,
how to order our design of having some dancing at our house on Monday
next, being Twelfth-day. It seems worth remembering that this day I did
hear my Lord Anglesey at the table, speaking touching this new Act
for Accounts, say that the House of Lords did pass it because it was a
senseless, impracticable, ineffectual, and foolish Act; and that my Lord
Ashly having shown this that it was so to the House of Lords, the Duke
of Buckingham did stand up and told the Lords that they were beholden
to my Lord Ashly, that having first commended them for a most grave and
honourable assembly, he thought it fit for the House to pass this Act
for Accounts because it was a foolish and simple Act: and it seems it
was passed with but a few in the House, when it was intended to have met
in a grand Committee upon it. And it seems that in itself it is not to
be practiced till after this session of Parliament, by the very words of
the Act, which nobody regarded, and therefore cannot come in force yet,
unless the next meeting they do make a new Act for the bringing it
into force sooner; which is a strange omission. But I perceive my Lord
Anglesey do make a mere laughing-stock of this Act, as a thing that can
do nothing considerable, for all its great noise.
5th (Lord's day). Up, and being ready, and disappointed of a coach, it
breaking a wheel just as it was coming for me, I walked as far as the
Temple, it being dirty, and as I went out of my doors my cozen Anthony
Joyce met me, and so walked part of the way with me, and it was to see
what I would do upon what his wife a little while since did desire,
which was to supply him L350 to enable him to go to build his house
again. I (who in my nature am mighty unready to answer no to anything,
and thereby wonder that I have suffered no more in my life by my
easiness in that kind than I have) answered him that I would do it, and
so I will, he offering me good security, and so it being left for me to
consider the manner of doing it we parted. Taking coach as I said before
at the Temple, I to Charing Cross, and there went into Unthanke's to
have my shoes wiped, dirty with walking, and so to White Hall, where
I visited the Vice-Chamberlain, who tells me, and so I find by others,
that the business of putting out of some of the Privy-council is over,
the King being at last advised to forbear it; for whereas he did design
it to make room for some of the House of Commons that are against him,
thereby to gratify them, it is believed that it will but so much the
more fret the rest that are not provided for, and raise a new stock of
enemies by them that are displeased, and so all they think is over: and
it goes for a pretty saying of my Lord Anglesey's up and down the Court,
that he should lately say to one of them that are the great promoters
of this putting him and others out of the Council, "Well," says he, "and
what are we to look for when we are outed? Will all things be set right
in the nation?" The other said that he did believe that many things
would be mended: "But," says my Lord, "will you and the rest of you be
contented to be hanged, if you do not redeem all our misfortunes and
set all right, if the power be put into your hands?" The other answered,
"No, I would not undertake that:"--"Why, then," says my Lord, "I and the
rest of us that you are labouring to put out, will be contented to be
hanged, if we do not recover all that is past, if the King will put the
power into our hands, and adhere wholly to our advice;" which saying as
it was severe, so generally people have so little opinion of those
that are likely to be uppermost that they do mightily commend my Lord
Anglesey for this saying. From the Vice-Chamberlain up and down the
house till Chapel done, and then did speak with several that I had a
mind to, and so intending to go home, my Lady Carteret saw and called me
out of her window, and so would have me home with her to Lincoln's Inn
Fields to dinner, and there we met with my Lord Brereton, and several
other strangers, to dine there; and I find him a very sober and serious,
able man, and was in discourse too hard for the Bishop of Chester,
who dined there; and who, above all books lately wrote, commending the
matter and style of a late book, called "The Causes of the Decay of
Piety," I do resolve at his great commendation to buy it. Here dined
also Sir Philip Howard, a Barkeshire Howard, whom I did once hear swear
publickly and loud in the matted gallery that he had not been at a wench
in so long a time. He did take occasion to tell me at the table that I
have got great ground in the Parliament, by my ready answers to all that
was asked me there about the business of Chatham, and they would never
let me be out of employment, of which I made little; but was glad to
hear him, as well as others, say it. And he did say also, relating to
Commissioner Pett, that he did not think that he was guilty of anything
like a fault, that he was either able or concerned to amend, but only
the not carrying up of the ships higher, he meant; but he said, three or
four miles lower down, to Rochester Bridge, which is a strange piece of
ignorance in a Member of Parliament at such a time as this, and after so
many examinations in the house of this business; and did boldly declare
that he did think the fault to lie in my Lord Middleton, who had the
power of the place, to secure the boats that were made ready by Pett,
and to do anything that he thought fit, and was much, though not
altogether in the right, for Spragg, that commanded the river, ought
rather to be charged with the want of the boats and the placing of them.
After dinner, my Lord Brereton very gentilely went to the organ, and
played a verse very handsomely. Thence after dinner away with Sir
G. Carteret to White Hall, setting down my Lord Brereton at my Lord
Brouncker's, and there up and down the house, and on the Queen's side,
to see the ladies, and there saw the Duchesse of York, whom few pay the
respect they used, I think, to her; but she bears all out, with a very
great deal of greatness; that is the truth of it. And so, it growing
night, I away home by coach, and there set my wife to read, and then
comes Pelling, and he and I to sing a little, and then sup and so to
bed.
6th. Up, leaving my wife to get her ready, and the maids to get a supper
ready against night for our company; and I by coach to White Hall, and
there up and down the house, and among others met with Mr. Pierce,
by whom I find, as I was afeard from the folly of my wife, that he
understood that he and his wife was to dine at my house to-day, whereas
it was to sup; and therefore I, having done my business at court, did go
home to dinner, and there find Mr. Harris, by the like mistake, come
to dine with me. However, we did get a pretty dinner ready for him; and
there he and I to discourse of many things, and I do find him a very
excellent person, such as in my whole [acquaintances] I do not know
another better qualified for converse, whether in things of his own
trade, or of other kinds, a man of great understanding and observation,
and very agreeable in the manner of his discourse, and civil as far as
is possible. I was mightily pleased with his company; and after dinner
did take coach with him, and my wife and girl, to go to a play, and to
carry him thither to his own house. But I 'light by the way to return
home, thinking to have spoke with Mrs. Bagwell, who I did see to-day in
our entry, come from Harwich, whom I have not seen these twelve months,
I think, and more, and voudrai avoir hazer alcun with her, sed she was
gone, and so I took coach and away to my wife at the Duke of York's
house, in the pit, and so left her; and to Mrs. Pierce, and took her and
her cozen Corbet, Knepp and little James, and brought them to the Duke's
house; and, the house being full, was forced to carry them to a box,
which did cost me 20s., besides oranges, which troubled me, though their
company did please me. Thence, after the play, stayed till Harris was
undressed, there being acted "The Tempest," and so he withall, all by
coach, home, where we find my house with good fires and candles
ready, and our Office the like, and the two Mercers, and Betty Turner,
Pendleton, and W. Batelier. And so with much pleasure we into the house,
and there fell to dancing, having extraordinary Musick, two viollins,
and a base viollin, and theorbo, four hands, the Duke of Buckingham's
musique, the best in towne, sent me by Greeting, and there we set in to
dancing. By and by to my house, to a very good supper, and mighty merry,
and good musick playing; and after supper to dancing and singing till
about twelve at night; and then we had a good sack posset for them, and
an excellent cake, cost me near 20s., of our Jane's making, which was
cut into twenty pieces, there being by this time so many of our company,
by the coming in of young Goodyer and some others of our neighbours,
young men that could dance, hearing of our dancing; and anon comes in
Mrs. Turner, the mother, and brings with her Mrs. Hollworthy, which
pleased me mightily. And so to dancing again, and singing, with
extraordinary great pleasure, till about two in the morning, and then
broke up; and Mrs. Pierce and her family, and Harris and Knepp by
coach home, as late as it was. And they gone, I took Mrs. Turner and
Hollworthy home to my house, and there gave wine and sweetmeats; but I
find Mrs. Hollworthy but a mean woman, I think, for understanding, only
a little conceited, and proud, and talking, but nothing extraordinary in
person, or discourse, or understanding. However, I was mightily pleased
with her being there, I having long longed for to know her, and they
being gone, I paid the fiddlers L3 among the four, and so away to bed,
weary and mightily pleased, and have the happiness to reflect upon it
as I do sometimes on other things, as going to a play or the like, to be
the greatest real comfort that I am to expect in the world, and that
it is that that we do really labour in the hopes of; and so I do really
enjoy myself, and understand that if I do not do it now I shall not
hereafter, it may be, be able to pay for it, or have health to take
pleasure in it, and so fill myself with vain expectation of pleasure and
go without it.
7th. Up, weary, about 9 o'clock, and then out by coach to White Hall to
attend the Lords of the Treasury about Tangier with Sir Stephen Fox,
and having done with them I away back again home by coach time enough
to dispatch some business, and after dinner with Sir W. Pen's coach (he
being gone before with Sir D. Gawden) to White Hall to wait on the Duke
of York, but I finding him not there, nor the Duke of York within, I
away by coach to the Nursery, where I never was yet, and there to meet
my wife and Mercer and Willet as they promised; but the house did not
act to-day; and so I was at a loss for them, and therefore to the other
two playhouses into the pit, to gaze up and down, to look for them,
and there did by this means, for nothing, see an act in "The Schoole of
Compliments" at the Duke of York's house, and "Henry the Fourth" at the
King's house; but, not finding them, nor liking either of the plays, I
took my coach again, and home, and there to my office to do business,
and by and by they come home, and had been at the King's House, and
saw me, but I could [not] see them, and there I walked with them in the
garden awhile, and to sing with Mercer there a little, and so home with
her, and taught her a little of my "It is decreed," which I have a mind
to have her learn to sing, and she will do it well, and so after supper
she went away, and we to bed, and there made amends by sleep for what I
wanted last night.
8th. Up, and it being dirty, I by coach (which I was forced to go to
the charge for) to White Hall, and there did deliver the Duke of York a
memorial for the Council about the case of Tangiers want of money; and
I was called in there and my paper was read. I did not think fit to say
much, but left them to make what use they pleased of my paper; and so
went out and waited without all the morning, and at noon hear that there
is something ordered towards our help, and so I away by coach home,
taking up Mr. Prin at the Court-gate, it raining, and setting him down
at the Temple: and by the way did ask him about the manner of holding of
Parliaments, and whether the number of Knights and Burgesses were always
the same? And he says that the latter were not; but that, for aught
he can find, they were sent up at the discretion, at first, of the
Sheriffes, to whom the writs are sent, to send up generally the
Burgesses and citizens of their county: and he do find that heretofore
the Parliament-men being paid by the country, several burroughs have
complained of the Sheriffes putting them to the charge of sending up
Burgesses; which is a very extraordinary thing to me, that knew not
this, but thought that the number had been known, and always the
same. Thence home to the office, and so with my Lord Brouncker and his
mistress, Williams, to Captain Cocke's to dinner, where was Temple
and Mr. Porter, and a very good dinner, and merry. Thence with Lord
Brouncker to White Hall to the Commissioners of the Treasury at their
sending for us to discourse about the paying of tickets, and so away,
and I by coach to the 'Change, and there took up my wife and Mercer and
the girl by agreement, and so home, and there with Mercer to teach
her more of "It is decreed," and to sing other songs and talk all the
evening, and so after supper I to even my journall since Saturday
last, and so to bed. Yesterday Mr. Gibson, upon his discovering by my
discourse to him that I had a willingness, or rather desire, to have him
stay with me, than go, as he designed, on Sir W. Warren's account, to
sea, he resolved to let go the design and wait his fortune with me,
though I laboured hard to make him understand the uncertainty of my
condition or service, but however he will hazard it, which I take mighty
kindly of him, though troubled lest he may come to be a loser by it, but
it will not be for want of my telling him what he was to think on and
expect. However, I am well pleased with it, with regard to myself, who
find him mighty understanding and acquainted with all things in the
Navy, that I should, if I continue in the Navy, make great use of him.
9th. Up, and to the office, having first been visited by my cozen
Anthony Joyce about the L350 which he desires me to lend him, and which
I have a mind enough to do, but would have it in my power to call it out
again in a little time, and so do take a little further time to consider
it. So to the office, where all the morning busy, and so home at noon to
dinner with my people, where Mr. Hollier come and dined with me, and
it is still mighty pleasant to hear him talk of Rome and the Pope, with
what hearty zeal and hatred he talks against him. After dinner to the
office again, where busy till night, very busy, and among other things
wrote to my father about lending Anthony Joyce the money he desires; and
I declare that I would do it as part of Pall's portion, and that Pall
should have the use of the money till she be married, but I do propose
to him to think of Mr. Cumberland rather than this Jackson that he is
upon; and I confess I have a mighty mind to have a relation so able a
man, and honest, and so old an acquaintance as Mr. Cumberland. I shall
hear his answer by the next [post]. At night home and to cards with my
wife and girle, and to supper late, and so to bed.
10th. Up, and with Sir Denis Gawden, who called me, to White Hall, and
there to wait on the Duke of York with the rest of my brethren, which we
did a little in the King's Greenroom, while the King was in Council: and
in this room we found my Lord Bristoll walking alone; which, wondering
at, while the Council was sitting, I was answered that, as being a
Catholique, he could not be of the Council, which I did not consider
before. After broke up and walked a turn or two with Lord Brouncker
talking about the times, and he tells me that he thinks, and so do every
body else, that the great business of putting out some of the Council to
make room for some of the Parliament men to gratify and wheedle them is
over, thinking that it might do more hurt than good, and not obtain much
upon the Parliament either. This morning there was a Persian in that
country dress, with a turban, waiting to kiss the King's hand in the
Vane-room, against he come out: it was a comely man as to features, and
his dress, methinks, very comely. Thence in Sir W. Pen's coach alone (he
going with Sir D. Gawden) to my new bookseller's, Martin's; and there
did meet with Fournier,
[George Fournier, a Jesuit, born at Caen in 1569, was the author of
several nautical works. His chief one, "L'Hydrographie," was
published at Paris in folio in 1663. A second edition appeared in
1667.]
the Frenchman, that hath wrote of the Sea and Navigation, and I could
not but buy him, and also bespoke an excellent book, which I met with
there, of China. The truth is, I have bought a great many books lately
to a great value; but I think to buy no more till Christmas next, and
those that I have will so fill my two presses that I must be forced to
give away some to make room for them, it being my design to have no more
at any time for my proper library than to fill them. Thence home and
to the Exchange, there to do a little business, where I find everybody
concerned whether we shall have out a fleete this next year or no, they
talking of a peace concluded between France and Spayne, so that the King
of France will have nothing to do with his army unless he comes to us;
but I do not see in the world how we shall be able to set out a fleete
for want of money to buy stores and pay men, for neither of which we
shall be any more trusted. So home to dinner, and then with my wife
and Deb. to the King's house, to see "Aglaura," which hath been always
mightily cried up; and so I went with mighty expectation, but do find
nothing extraordinary in it at all, and but hardly good in any degree.
So home, and thither comes to us W. Batelier and sat with us all the
evening, and to cards and supper, passing the evening pretty pleasantly,
and so late at night parted, and so to bed. I find him mightily troubled
at the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury opposing him in the business
he hath a patent for about the business of Impost on wine, but I do see
that the Lords have reason for it, it being a matter wherein money might
be saved to his Majesty, and I am satisfied that they do let nothing
pass that may save money, and so God bless them! So he being gone we to
bed. This day I received a letter from my father, and another from my
cozen Roger Pepys, who have had a view of Jackson's evidences of his
estate, and do mightily like of the man, and his condition and estate,
and do advise me to accept of the match for my sister, and to finish it
as soon as I can; and he do it so as, I confess, I am contented to have
it done, and so give her her portion; and so I shall be eased of one
care how to provide for her, and do in many respects think that it may
be a match proper enough to have her married there, and to one that may
look after my concernments if my father should die and I continue where
I am, and there[fore] I am well pleased with it, and so to bed.
11th. Lay some time, talking with my wife in bed about Pall's business,
and she do conclude to have her married here, and to be merry at it;
and to have W. Hewer, and Batelier, and Mercer, and Willet bridemen and
bridemaids, and to be very merry; and so I am glad of it, and do resolve
to let it be done as soon as I can. So up, and to the office, where
all the morning busy, and thence home to dinner, and from dinner with
Mercer, who dined with us, and wife and Deb. to the King's house, there
to see "The Wild-goose Chase," which I never saw, but have long longed
to see it, being a famous play, but as it was yesterday I do find that
where I expect most I find least satisfaction, for in this play I met
with nothing extraordinary at all, but very dull inventions and designs.
Knepp come and sat by us, and her talk pleased me a little, she telling
me how Mis Davis is for certain going away from the Duke's house,
the King being in love with her; and a house is taken for her, and
furnishing; and she hath a ring given her already worth L600: that the
King did send several times for Nelly, and she was with him, but what he
did she knows not; this was a good while ago, and she says that the King
first spoiled Mrs. Weaver, which is very mean, methinks, in a prince,
and I am sorry for it, and can hope for no good to the State from having
a Prince so devoted to his pleasure. She told me also of a play shortly
coming upon the stage, of Sir Charles Sidly's, which, she thinks, will
be called "The Wandering Ladys," a comedy that, she thinks, will be most
pleasant; and also another play, called "The Duke of Lerma;" besides
"Catelin," which she thinks, for want of the clothes which the King
promised them, will not be acted for a good while. Thence home, and
there to the office and did some business, and so with my wife for half
an hour walking in the moonlight, and it being cold, frosty weather,
walking in the garden, and then home to supper, and so by the fireside
to have my head combed, as I do now often do, by Deb., whom I love
should be fiddling about me, and so to bed.
12th (Lord's day). Up, and to dress myself, and then called into my
wife's chamber, and there she without any occasion fell to discourse
of my father's coming to live with us when my sister marries. This, she
being afeard of declaring an absolute hatred to him since his falling
out with her about Coleman's being with her, she declares against his
coming hither, which I not presently agreeing to, she declared, if he
come, she would not live with me, but would shame me all over the city
and court, which I made slight of, and so we fell very foul; and I do
find she do keep very bad remembrances of my former unkindness to her,
and do mightily complain of her want of money and liberty, which I will
rather hear and bear the complaint of than grant the contrary, and so we
had very hot work a great while: but at last I did declare as I intend,
that my father shall not come, and that he do not desire and intend it;
and so we parted with pretty good quiet, and so away, and being ready
went to church, where first I saw Alderman Backewell and his lady come
to our church, they living in Mark Lane; and I could find in my heart to
invite her to sit with us, she being a fine lady. I come in while they
were singing the 19th Psalm, while the sexton was gathering to his box,
to which I did give 5s., and so after sermon home, my wife, Deb., and I
all alone and very kind, full of good discourses, and after dinner I to
my chamber, ordering my Tangier accounts to give to the Auditor in a day
or two, which should have been long ago with him. At them to my great
content all the afternoon till supper, and after supper with my wife, W.
Hewer and Deb. pretty merry till 12 at night, and then to bed.
13th. Up, and Mr. Gibbs comes to me, and I give him instructions about
the writing fair my Tangier accounts against to-morrow. So I abroad with
Sir W. Pen to White Hall, and there did with the rest attend the Duke of
York, where nothing extraordinary; only I perceive there is nothing
yet declared for the next, year, what fleete shall be abroad. Thence
homeward by coach and stopped at Martin's, my bookseller, where I saw
the French book which I did think to have had for my wife to translate,
called "L'escholle des filles,"
["L'Escole des Filles," by Helot, was burnt at the foot of the
gallows in 1672, and the author himself was burnt in effigy.]
but when I come to look in it, it is the most bawdy, lewd book that
ever I saw, rather worse than "Putana errante," so that I was ashamed of
reading in it, and so away home, and there to the 'Change to discourse
with Sir H. Cholmly, and so home to dinner, and in the evening, having
done some business, I with my wife and girl out, and left them at
Unthanke's, while I to White Hall to the Treasury Chamber for an order
for Tangier, and so back, took up my wife, and home, and there busy
about my Tangier accounts against tomorrow, which I do get ready in good
condition, and so with great content to bed.
14th. At the office all the morning, and at noon home to dinner, and
after dinner with Mr. Clerke and Gibson to the Temple (my wife and
girle going further by coach), and there at the Auditor's did begin the
examining my Tangier accounts, and did make a great entry into it and
with great satisfaction, and I am glad I am so far eased. So appointing
another day for further part of my accounts, I with Gibson to my
bookseller, Martin, and there did receive my book I expected of China,
a most excellent book with rare cuts; and there fell into discourse
with him about the burning of Paul's when the City was burned; his house
being in the church-yard. And he tells me that it took fire first upon
the end of a board that, among others, was laid upon the roof instead
of lead, the lead being broke off, and thence down lower and lower: but
that the burning of the goods under St. Fayth's arose from the goods
taking fire in the church-yard, and so got into St. Fayth's Church; and
that they first took fire from the Draper's side, by some timber of
the houses that were burned falling into the church. He says that one
warehouse of books was saved under Paul's; and he says that there were
several dogs found burned among the goods in the church-yard, and but
one man, which was an old man, that said he would go and save a blanket
which he had in the church, and, being a weak old man, the fire overcome
him, and was burned. He says that most of the booksellers do design
to fall a-building again the next year; but he says that the Bishop of
London do use them most basely, worse than any other landlords, and says
he will be paid to this day the rent, or else he will not come to treat
with them for the time to come; and will not, on that condition either,
promise them any thing how he will use them; and, the Parliament
sitting, he claims his privilege, and will not be cited before the Lord
Chief justice, as others are there, to be forced to a fair dealing.
Thence by coach to Mrs. Pierce's, where my wife and Deb. is; and there
they fell to discourse of the last night's work at Court, where the
ladies and Duke of Monmouth and others acted "The Indian Emperour;"
wherein they told me these things most remark able: that not any woman
but the Duchesse of Monmouth and Mrs. Cornwallis did any thing but like
fools and stocks, but that these two did do most extraordinary well:
that not any man did any thing well but Captain O'Bryan, who spoke and
did well, but, above all things, did dance most incomparably. That she
did sit near the players of the Duke's house; among the rest, Mis Davis,
who is the most impertinent slut, she says, in the world; and the more,
now the King do show her countenance; and is reckoned his mistress, even
to the scorne of the whole world; the King gazing on her, and my Lady
Castlemayne being melancholy and out of humour, all the play, not
smiling once. The King, it seems, hath given her a ring of L700, which
she shews to every body, and owns that the King did give it her; and he
hath furnished a house for her in Suffolke Street most richly, which is
a most infinite shame. It seems she is a bastard of Colonell Howard, my
Lord Berkshire, and that he do pimp to her for the King, and hath got
her for him; but Pierce says that she is a most homely jade as ever she
saw, though she dances beyond any thing in the world. She tells me that
the Duchesse of Richmond do not yet come to the Court, nor hath seen
the King, nor will not, nor do he own his desire of seeing her; but hath
used means to get her to Court, but they do not take. Thence home, and
there I to my chamber, having a great many books brought me home from my
bookbinder's, and so I to the new setting of my books against the next
year, which costs me more trouble than I expected, and at it till two
o'clock in the morning, and then to bed, the business not being yet done
to my mind. This evening come Mr. Mills and his wife to see and sit and
talk with us, which they did till 9 o'clock at night, and then parted,
and I to my books.
15th. Up, and to the Office, where all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, and then to the Office again, where we met about some business
of D. Gawden's till candle-light; and then, as late as it was, I down to
Redriffe, and so walked by moonlight to Deptford, where I have not been
a great while, and my business I did there was only to walk up and down
above la casa of Bagwell, but could not see her, it being my intent to
have spent a little time con her, she being newly come from her husband;
but I did lose my labour, and so walked back again, but with pleasure
by the walk, and I had the sport to see two boys swear, and stamp, and
fret, for not being able to get their horse over a stile and ditch,
one of them swearing and cursing most bitterly; and I would fain, in
revenge, have persuaded him to have drove his horse through the ditch,
by which I believe he would have stuck there. But the horse would not
be drove, and so they were forced to go back again, and so I walked
away homeward, and there reading all the evening, and so to bed. This
afternoon my Lord Anglesey tells us that it is voted in Council to have
a fleete of 50 ships out; but it is only a disguise for the Parliament
to get some money by; but it will not take, I believe, and if it did,
I do not think it will be such as he will get any of, nor such as will
enable us to set out such a fleete.
16th. Up, after talking with my wife with pleasure, about her learning
on the flageolet a month or two again this winter, and all the rest of
the year her painting, which I do love, and so to the office, where sat
all the morning, and here Lord Anglesey tells us again that a fleete is
to be set out; and that it is generally, he hears, said, that it is but
a Spanish rhodomontado; and that he saying so just now to the Duke of
Albemarle, who come to town last night, after the thing was ordered, he
told him a story of two seamen: one wished all the guns of the ship were
his, and that they were silver; and says the other, "You are a
fool, for, if you can have it for wishing, why do you not wish them
gold?"--"So," says he, "if a rhodomontado will do any good, why do you
not say 100 ships?" And it is true; for the Dutch and French are said
to make such preparations as 50 sail will do no good. At noon home to
dinner with my gang of clerks, in whose society I am mightily pleased,
and mightily with Mr. Gibson's talking;
[Richard Gibson, so frequently noticed by Pepys, was a clerk in the
Navy Office. His collection of papers relating to the navy of
England A.D. 1650-1702, compiled, as he states, from the Admiralty
books in the Navy Office, are in the British Museum.--B.]
he telling me so many good stories relating to the warr and practices
of commanders, which I will find a time to recollect; and he will be an
admirable help to my writing a history of the Navy, if ever I do. So to
the office, where busy all the afternoon and evening, and then home.
My work this night with my clerks till midnight at the office was to
examine my list of ships I am making for myself and their dimensions,
and to see how it agrees or differs from other lists, and I do find so
great a difference between them all that I am at a loss which to take,
and therefore think mine to be as much depended upon as any I can make
out of them all. So little care there has been to this day to know or
keep any history of the Navy.
17th. Up, and by coach to White Hall to attend the Council there, and
here I met first by Mr. Castle the shipwright, whom I met there, and
then from the whole house the discourse of the duell yesterday between
the Duke of Buckingham, Holmes, and one Jenkins, on one side, and my
Lord of Shrewsbury, Sir John Talbot, and one Bernard Howard, on the
other side: and all about my Lady Shrewsbury,
[Anna Maria, daughter of Robert Brudenel, second Earl of Cardigan.
Walpole says she held the Duke of Buckingham's horse, in the habit
of a page, while he was fighting the duel with her husband. She
married, secondly, George Rodney Bridges, son of Sir Thomas Bridges
of Keynsham, Somerset, Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles IL, and
died April 20th, 1702. A portrait of the Countess of Shrewsbury, as
Minerva, by Lely.]
who is a whore, and is at this time, and hath for a great while been, a
whore to the Duke of Buckingham. And so her husband challenged him, and
they met yesterday in a close near Barne-Elmes, and there fought: and my
Lord Shrewsbury is run through the body, from the right breast through
the shoulder: and Sir John Talbot all along up one of his armes; and
Jenkins killed upon the place, and the rest all, in a little measure,
wounded. This will make the world think that the King hath good
councillors about him, when the Duke of Buckingham, the greatest man
about him, is a fellow of no more sobriety than to fight about a whore.
And this may prove a very bad accident to the Duke of Buckingham, but
that my Lady Castlemayne do rule all at this time as much as ever she
did, and she will, it is believed, keep all matters well with the
Duke of Buckingham: though this is a time that the King will be very
backward, I suppose, to appear in such a business. And it is pretty to
hear how the King had some notice of this challenge a week or two
ago, and did give it to my Lord Generall to confine the Duke, or take
security that he should not do any such thing as fight: and the Generall
trusted to the King that he, sending for him, would do it, and the King
trusted to the Generall; and so, between both, as everything else of the
greatest moment do, do fall between two stools. The whole House full
of nothing but the talk of this business; and it is said that my Lord
Shrewsbury's case is to be feared, that he may die too; and that may
make it much the worse for the Duke of Buckingham: and I shall not be
much sorry for it, that we may have some sober man come in his room
to assist in the Government. Here I waited till the Council rose, and
talked the while, with Creed, who tells me of Mr. Harry Howard's'
giving the Royal Society a piece of ground next to his house, to build
a College on, which is a most generous act. And he tells me he is a
very fine person, and understands and speaks well; and no rigid Papist
neither, but one that would not have a Protestant servant leave his
religion, which he was going to do, thinking to recommend himself to his
master by it; saying that he had rather have an honest Protestant than
a knavish Catholique. I was not called into the Council; and, therefore,
home, first informing myself that my Lord Hinchingbroke hath been
married this week to my Lord Burlington's daughter; so that that great
business is over; and I mighty glad of it, though I am not satisfied
that I have not a Favour sent me, as I see Attorney Montagu and the
Vice-Chamberlain have. But I am mighty glad that the thing is done. So
home, and there alone with my wife and Deb. to dinner, and after dinner
comes Betty Turner, and I carried them to the New Exchange, and thence
I to White Hall and did a little business at the Treasury, and so called
them there, and so home and to cards and supper, and her mother come
and sat at cards with us till past 12 at night, and then broke up and to
bed, after entering my journall, which made it one before I went to bed.
18th. At the office all the morning busy sitting. At noon home to
dinner, where Betty Turner dined with us, and after dinner carried my
wife, her and Deb. to the 'Change, where they bought some things, while
I bought "The Mayden Queene," a play newly printed, which I like at the
King's house so well, of Mr. Dryden's, which he himself, in his preface,
seems to brag of, and indeed is a good play. So home again, and I late
at the office and did much business, and then home to supper and to bed.
19th (Lord's day). My wife the last night very ill of those, and waked
me early, and hereupon I up and to church, where a dull sermon by our
lecturer, and so home to dinner in my wife's chamber, which she is a
little better. Then after dinner with Captain Perryman down to Redriffe,
and so walked to Deptford, where I sent for Mr. Shish out of the Church
to advise about my vessel, "The Maybolt," and I do resolve to sell,
presently, for any thing rather than keep her longer, having already
lost L100 in her value, which I was once offered and refused, and
the ship left without any body to look to her, which vexes me. Thence
Perryman and I back again, talking of the great miscarriages in the
Navy, and among the principal that of having gentlemen commanders. I
shall hereafter make use of his and others' help to reckon up and put
down in writing what is fit to be mended in the Navy after all our sad
experience therein. So home, and there sat with my wife all the evening,
and Mr. Pelting awhile talking with us, who tells me that my Lord
Shrewsbury is likely to do well, after his great wound in the late
dwell. He gone, comes W. Hewer and supped with me, and so to talk
of things, and he tells me that Mr. Jessop is made Secretary to the
Commissions of Parliament for Accounts, and I am glad, and it is pretty
to see that all the Cavalier party were not able to find the Parliament
nine Commissioners, or one Secretary, fit for the business. So he gone,
I to read a little in my chamber, and so to bed.
20th. Up, and all the morning at the office very busy, and at noon
by coach to Westminster, to the 'Chequer, about a warrant for Tangier
money. In my way both coming and going I did stop at Drumbleby's, the
pipe-maker, there to advise about the making of a flageolet to go low
and soft; and he do shew me a way which do do, and also a fashion of
having two pipes of the same note fastened together, so as I can play on
one, and then echo it upon the other, which is mighty pretty. So to my
Lord Crew's to dinner, where we hear all the good news of our making a
league now with Holland against the French power coming over them, or us
which is the first good act that hath been done a great while, and done
secretly, and with great seeming wisdom; and is certainly good for us
at this time, while we are in no condition to resist the French, if they
should come over hither; and then a little time of peace will give us
time to lay up something, which these Commissioners of the Treasury are
doing; and the world do begin to see that they will do the King's work
for him, if he will let them. Here dined Mr. Case, the minister, who,
Lord! do talk just as I remember he used to preach, and did tell a
pretty story of a religious lady, Queen of Navarre;
[Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I. of
France. The "pretty story" was doubtless from her "Heptameron," a
work imitating in title and matter the "Decameron" of Boccaccio.
She is said to be the heroine of some of the adventures. It is fair
to add that she wrote also the "Miroir dune Ame Pecheresse,"
translated into English by Queen Elizabeth, the title of whose book
was "A Godly Medytacyon of the Christian Soules," published by John
Bale in 1548.--B.]
and my Lord also told a good story of Mr. Newman, the Minister in New
England, who wrote the Concordance, of his foretelling his death and
preaching a funeral sermon, and did at last bid the angels do their
office, and died. It seems there is great presumption that there will be
a Toleration granted: so that the Presbyterians do hold up their heads;
but they will hardly trust the King or the Parliament what to yield
them, though most of the sober party be for some kind of allowance to be
given them. Thence and home, and then to the 'Change in the evening,
and there Mr. Cade told me how my Lord Gerard is likely to meet with
trouble, the next sitting of Parliament, about [Carr] being set in the
pillory; and I am glad of it; and it is mighty acceptable to the world
to hear, that, among other reductions, the King do reduce his Guards,
which do please mightily. So to my bookbinder's with my boy, and there
did stay late to see two or three things done that I had a mind to see
done, and among others my Tangier papers of accounts, and so home to
supper and to bed.
21st. Up, and while at the office comes news from Kate Joyce that if I
would see her husband alive, I must come presently. So, after the office
was up, I to him, and W. Hewer with me, and find him in his sick bed (I
never was at their house, this Inne, before) very sensible in discourse
and thankful for my kindness to him, and his breath rattled in his
throate, and they did lay pigeons to his feet while I was in the house,
and all despair of him, and with good reason. But the story is that
it seems on Thursday last he went sober and quiet out of doors in the
morning to Islington, and behind one of the inns, the White Lion, did
fling himself into a pond, was spied by a poor woman and got out by some
people binding up hay in a barn there, and set on his head and got to
life, and known by a woman coming that way; and so his wife and friends
sent for. He confessed his doing the thing, being led by the Devil; and
do declare his reason to be, his trouble that he found in having forgot
to serve God as he ought, since he come to this new employment: and I
believe that, and the sense of his great loss by the fire, did bring him
to it, and so everybody concludes. He stayed there all that night, and
come home by coach next morning, and there grew sick, and worse and
worse to this day. I stayed awhile among the friends that were there,
and they being now in fear that the goods and estate would be seized
on, though he lived all this while, because of his endeavouring to drown
himself, my cozen did endeavour to remove what she could of plate out of
the house, and desired me to take my flagons; which I was glad of, and
did take them away with me in great fear all the way of being seized;
though there was no reason for it, he not being dead, but yet so fearful
I was. So home, and there eat my dinner, and busy all the afternoon, and
troubled at this business. In the evening with Sir D. Gawden, to Guild
Hall, to advise with the Towne-Clerke about the practice of the City and
nation in this case: and he thinks that it cannot be found self-murder;
but if it be, it will fall, all the estate, to the King. So we parted,
and I to my cozens again; where I no sooner come but news was brought
down from his chamber that he was departed. So, at their entreaty, I
presently took coach to White Hall, and there find Sir W. Coventry; and
he carried me to the King, the Duke of York being with him, and there
told my story which I had told him:
[This was not the only time that Pepys took trouble to save the
estate of a friend who had committed suicide. In the "Caveat Book"
in the Record Office, p. 42 of the volume for 1677, is the following
entry: "That no grant pass of the Estate of Francis Gurney of Maldon
in Essex, who drowned himself in his own well on Tuesday night ye
12th of this instant August, at the desire of Samuel Pepys, Esquire,
August 20, 1677."]
and the King, without more ado, granted that, if it was found, the
estate should be to the widow and children. I presently to each
Secretary's office, and there left caveats, and so away back again to my
cozens, leaving a chimney on fire at White Hall, in the King's closet;
but no danger. And so, when I come thither, I find her all in sorrow,
but she and the rest mightily pleased with my doing this for them; and,
indeed, it was a very great courtesy, for people are looking out for the
estate, and the coroner will be sent to, and a jury called to examine
his death. This being well done to my and their great joy, I home, and
there to my office, and so to supper and to bed.
22nd. Up, mightily busy all the morning at the office. At noon with
Lord Brouncker to Sir D. Gawden's, at the Victualling-Office, to dinner,
where I have not dined since he was Sheriff: He expected us; and a good
dinner, and much good company; and a fine house, and especially two
rooms, very fine, he hath built there. His lady a good lady; but my Lord
led himself and me to a great absurdity in kissing all the ladies, but
the finest of all the company, leaving her out, I know not how; and I
was loath to do it, since he omitted it. Here little Chaplin dined, who
is like to be Sheriff the next year; and a pretty humoured little man
he is. I met here with Mr. Talents, the younger, of Magdalene College,
Chaplain here to the Sheriff; which I was glad to see, though not
much acquainted with him. This day come the first demand from the
Commissioners of Accounts to us, and it contains more than we shall ever
be able to answer while we live, and I do foresee we shall be put to
much trouble and some shame, at least some of us. Thence stole away
after dinner to my cozen Kate's, and there find the Crowner's jury
sitting, but they could not end it, but put off the business to Shrove
Tuesday next, and so do give way to the burying of him, and that is all;
but they all incline to find it a natural death, though there are mighty
busy people to have it go otherwise, thinking to get his estate, but are
mistaken. Thence, after sitting with her and company a while, comforting
her: though I can find she can, as all other women, cry, and yet talk of
other things all in a breath. So home, and thereto cards with my wife,
Deb., and Betty Turner, and Batelier, and after supper late to sing.
But, Lord! how did I please myself to make Betty Turner sing, to see
what a beast she is as to singing, not knowing how to sing one note in
tune; but, only for the experiment, I would not for 40s. hear her sing
a tune: worse than my wife a thousand times, so that it do a little
reconcile me to her. So late to bed.
23rd. At the Office all the morning; and at noon find the Bishop of
Lincolne come to dine with us; and after him comes Mr. Brisband;
and there mighty good company. But the Bishop a very extraordinary
good-natured man, and one that is mightily pleased, as well as I am,
that I live so near Bugden, the seat of his bishopricke, where he is
like to reside: and, indeed, I am glad of it. In discourse, we think
ourselves safe for this year, by this league with Holland, which pleases
every body, and, they say, vexes France; insomuch that D'Estrades; the
French Embassador in Holland, when he heard it, told the States that
he would have them not forget that his master is at the head of 100,000
men, and is but 28 years old; which was a great speech. The Bishop
tells me he thinks that the great business of Toleration will not,
notwithstanding this talk, be carried this Parliament; nor for the
King's taking away the Deans' and Chapters' lands to supply his wants,
they signifying little to him, if he had them, for his present service.
He gone, I mightily pleased with his kindness, I to the office, where
busy till night, and then to Mrs. Turner's, where my wife, and Deb., and
I, and Batelier spent the night, and supped, and played at cards, and
very merry, and so I home to bed. She is either a very prodigal woman,
or richer than she would be thought, by her buying of the best things,
and laying out much money in new-fashioned pewter; and, among other
things, a new-fashioned case for a pair of snuffers, which is very
pretty; but I could never have guessed what it was for, had I not seen
the snuffers in it.
24th. Up before day to my Tangier accounts, and then out and to a
Committee of Tangier, where little done but discourse about reduction
of the charge of the garrison, and thence to Westminster about orders
at the Exchequer, and at the Swan I drank, and there met with a pretty
ingenious young Doctor of physic, by chance, and talked with him, and
so home to dinner, and after dinner carried my wife to the Temple, and
thence she to a play, and I to St. Andrew's church, in Holburne, at the
'Quest House, where the company meets to the burial of my cozen Joyce;
and here I staid with a very great rabble of four or five hundred people
of mean condition, and I staid in the room with the kindred till ready
to go to church, where there is to be a sermon of Dr. Stillingfleete,
and thence they carried him to St. Sepulchre's. But it being late,
and, indeed, not having a black cloak to lead her [Kate Joyce] with, or
follow the corps, I away, and saw, indeed, a very great press of people
follow the corps. I to the King's playhouse, to fetch my wife, and there
saw the best part of "The Mayden Queene," which, the more I see,
the more I love, and think one of the best plays I ever saw, and
is certainly the best acted of any thing ever the House did, and
particularly Becke Marshall, to admiration. Found my wife and Deb., and
saw many fine ladies, and sat by Colonell Reames, who understands and
loves a play as well as I, and I love him for it. And so thence home;
and, after being at the Office, I home to supper, and to bed, my eyes
being very bad again with overworking with them.
25th. Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning, and then at
noon to the 'Change with Mr. Hater, and there he and I to a tavern to
meet Captain Minors, which we did, and dined; and there happened to be
Mr. Prichard, a ropemaker of his acquaintance, and whom I know also,
and did once mistake for a fiddler, which sung well, and I asked him
for such a song that I had heard him sing, and after dinner did fall to
discourse about the business of the old contract between the King and
the East India Company for the ships of the King that went thither, and
about this did beat my brains all the afternoon, and then home and made
an end of the accounts to my great content, and so late home tired and
my eyes sore, to supper and to bed.
26th (Lord's day). Up, and with my wife to Church, and at noon home to
dinner. No strangers there; and all the afternoon and evening very late
doing serious business of my Tangier accounts, and examining my East
India accounts, with Mr. Poynter, whom I employed all this day, to
transcribe it fair; and so to supper, W. Hewer with us, and so the girl
to comb my head till I slept, and then to bed.
27th. It being weather like the beginning of a frost and the ground dry,
I walked as far as the Temple, and there took coach and to White Hall,
but the Committee not being met I to Westminster, and there I do hear
of the letter that is in the pamphlet this day of the King of France,
declaring his design to go on against Flanders, and the grounds of
it, which do set us mightily at rest. So to White Hall, and there a
committee of Tangier, but little done there, only I did get two or three
little jobs done to the perfecting two or three papers about my Tangier
accounts. Here Mr. Povy do tell me how he is like to lose his L400
a-year pension of the Duke of York, which he took in consideration of
his place which was taken from him. He tells me the Duchesse is a devil
against him, and do now come like Queen Elizabeth, and sits with the
Duke of York's Council, and sees what they do; and she crosses out this
man's wages and prices, as she sees fit, for saving money; but yet, he
tells me, she reserves L5000 a-year for her own spending; and my Lady
Peterborough, by and by, tells me that the Duchesse do lay up, mightily,
jewells. Thence to my Lady Peterborough's, she desiring to speak with
me. She loves to be taken dressing herself, as I always find her; and
there, after a little talk, to please her, about her husband's pension,
which I do not think he will ever get again, I away thence home, and all
the afternoon mighty busy at the office, and late, preparing a letter to
the Commissioners of Accounts, our first letter to them, and so home to
supper, where Betty Turner was (whose brother Frank did set out toward
the East Indies this day, his father and mother gone down with him to
Gravesend), and there was her little brother Moses, whom I examined, and
he is a pretty good scholar for a child, and so after supper to talk and
laugh, and to bed.
28th. Up, and to the office, and there with W. Griffin talking about
getting the place to build a coach-house, or to hire one, which I now do
resolve to have, and do now declare it; for it is plainly for my benefit
for saving money. By and by the office sat, and there we concluded on
our letter to the Commissioners of Accounts and to the several officers
of ours about the work they are to do to answer their late great
demands. At noon home to dinner, and after dinner set my wife and girl
down at the Exchange, and I to White Hall; and, by and by, the Duke of
York comes, and we had a little meeting, Anglesey, W. Pen, and I there,
and none else: and, among other things, did discourse of the want of
discipline in the fleete, which the Duke' of York confessed, and yet
said that he, while he was there, did keep it in a good measure, but
that it was now lost when he was absent; but he will endeavour to have
it again. That he did tell the Prince and Duke of Albemarle they would
lose all order by making such and such men commanders, which they would,
because they were stout men: he told them that it was a reproach to the
nation, as if there were no sober men among us, that were stout, to be
had. That they did put out some men for cowards that the Duke of York
had put in, but little before, for stout men; and would now, were he to
go to sea again, entertain them in his own division, to choose: and
did put in an idle fellow, Greene, who was hardly thought fit for
a boatswain by him: they did put him from being a lieutenant to a
captain's place of a second-rate ship; as idle a drunken fellow, he
said, as any was in the fleete. That he will now desire the King to let
him be what he is, that is, Admirall; and he will put in none but those
that he hath great reason to think well of; and particularly says, that;
though he likes Colonell Legg well, yet his son that was, he knows not
how, made a captain after he had been but one voyage at sea, he should
go to sea another apprenticeship, before ever he gives him a command. We
did tell him of the many defects and disorders among the captains, and
I prayed we might do it in writing to him, which he liked; and I am glad
of an opportunity of doing it. Thence away, and took up wife and girl,
and home, and to the office, busy late, and so to supper and to bed. My
wife this day hears from her father and mother: they are in France, at
Paris; he, poor good man! I think he is, gives her good counsel still,
which I always observed of him, and thankful for my small charities to
him. I could be willing to do something for them, were I sure not to
bring them over again hither. Coming home, my wife and I went and saw
Kate Joyce, who is still in mighty sorrow, and the more from something
that Dr. Stillingfleete should simply say in his sermon, of her
husband's manner of dying, as killing himself.
29th. Up betimes, and by coach to Sir W. Coventry, whom I found in his
chamber, and there stayed an hour and talked with him about several
things of the Navy, and our want of money, which they indeed do supply
us with a little, but in no degree likely to enable us to go on with the
King's service. He is at a stand where to have more, and is in mighty
pain for it, declaring that he believes there never was a kingdom
so governed as this was in the time of the late Chancellor and the
Treasurer, nobody minding or understanding any thing how things went or
what the King had in his Treasury, or was to have, nothing in the
world of it minded. He tells me that there are still people desirous
to overthrow him; he resolving to stick at nothing nor no person that
stands in his way against bringing the King out of debt, be it to
retrench any man's place or profit, and that he cares not, for rather
than be employed under the King, and have the King continue in this
condition of indigence, he desires to be put out from among them,
thinking it no honour to be a minister in such a government. He tells
me he hath no friends in the whole Court but my Lord Keeper and Sir
John Duncomb. He tells me they have reduced the charges of Ireland
above L70,000 a-year, and thereby cut off good profits from my Lord
Lieutenant; which will make a new enemy, but he cares not. He tells me
that Townsend, of the Wardrobe, is the eeriest knave and bufflehead that
ever he saw in his life, and wonders how my Lord Sandwich come to trust
such a fellow, and that now Reames and--------are put in to be overseers
there, and do great things, and have already saved a great deal of money
in the King's liverys, and buy linnen so cheap, that he will have them
buy the next cloth he hath, for shirts. But then this is with ready
money, which answers all. He do not approve of my letter I drew and the
office signed yesterday to the Commissioners of Accounts, saying that
it is a little too submissive, and grants a little too much and too soon
our bad managements, though we lay on want of money, yet that it will be
time enough to plead it when they object it. Which was the opinion of
my Lord Anglesey also; so I was ready to alter it, and did so presently,
going from him home, and there transcribed it fresh as he would have it,
and got it signed, and to White Hall presently and shewed it him, and so
home, and there to dinner, and after dinner all the afternoon and till
12 o'clock at night with Mr. Gibson at home upon my Tangier accounts,
and did end them fit to be given the last of them to the Auditor
to-morrow, to my great content. This evening come Betty Turner and the
two Mercers, and W. Batelier, and they had fiddlers, and danced, and
kept a quarter,--[A term for making a noise or disturbance.]--which
pleased me, though it disturbed me; but I could not be with them at all.
Mr. Gibson lay at my house all night, it was so late.
30th. Up, it being fast day for the King's death, and so I and Mr.
Gibson by water to the Temple, and there all the morning with Auditor
Wood, and I did deliver in the whole of my accounts and run them over in
three hours with full satisfaction, and so with great content thence,
he and I, and our clerks, and Mr. Clerke, the solicitor, to a little
ordinary in Hercules-pillars Ally--the Crowne, a poor, sorry place,
where a fellow, in twelve years, hath gained an estate of, as he says,
L600 a-year, which is very strange, and there dined, and had a good
dinner, and very good discourse between them, old men belonging to the
law, and here I first heard that my cozen Pepys, of Salisbury Court, was
Marshal to my Lord Cooke when he was Lord Chief justice; which beginning
of his I did not know to be so low: but so it was, it seems. After
dinner I home, calling at my bookbinder's, but he not within. When come
home, I find Kate Joyce hath been there, with sad news that her house
stands not in the King's liberty, but the Dean of Paul's; and so, if her
estate be forfeited, it will not be in the King's power to do her any
good. So I took coach and to her, and there found her in trouble, as I
cannot blame her. But I do believe this arises from somebody that hath a
mind to fright her into a composition for her estate, which I advise her
against; and, indeed, I do desire heartily to be able to do her service,
she being, methinks, a piece of care I ought to take upon me, for our
fathers' and friends' sake, she being left alone, and no friend so near
as me, or so able to help her. After having given her my advice, I home,
and there to my office and did business, and hear how the Committee for
Accounts are mighty active and likely to examine every thing, but let
them do their worst I am to be before them with our contract books
to-morrow. So home from the office, to supper, and to bed.
31st. Up; and by coach, with W. Griffin with me, and our Contract-books,
to Durham Yard, to the Commissioners for Accounts; the first time I ever
was there; and staid awhile before I was admitted to them. I did observe
a great many people attending about complaints of seamen concerning
tickets, and, among others, Mr. Carcasse, and Mr. Martin, my purser.
And I observe a fellow, one Collins, is there, who is employed by these
Commissioners particularly to hold an office in Bishopsgate Street,
or somewhere thereabouts, to receive complaints of all people about
tickets: and I believe he will have work enough. Presently I was called
in, where I found the whole number of Commissioners, and was there
received with great respect and kindness; and did give them great
satisfaction, making it my endeavour to inform them what it was they
were to expect from me, and what was the duty of other people; this
being my only way to preserve myself, after all my pains and trouble.
They did ask many questions, and demanded other books of me, which I did
give them very ready and acceptable answers to; and, upon the whole, I
observe they do go about their business like men resolved to go through
with it, and in a very good method; like men of understanding. They have
Mr. Jessop, their secretary: and it is pretty to see that they are fain
to find out an old-fashioned man of Cromwell's to do their business for
them, as well as the Parliament to pitch upon such, for the most
part, in the list of people that were brought into the House,
for Commissioners. I went away, with giving and receiving great
satisfaction; and so away to White Hall to the Commissioners of the
Treasury; where, waiting some time, I there met with Colonel Birch; and
he and I fell into discourse; and I did give him thanks for his kindness
to me in the Parliament-house, both before my face and behind my back.
He told me that he knew me to be a man of the old way for taking pains,
and did always endeavour to do me right, and prevent any thing that was
moved that might tend to my injury; which I was obliged to him for, and
thanked him. Thence to talk of other things, and the want of money and
he told me of the general want of money in the country; that land sold
for nothing, and the many pennyworths he knows of lands and houses upon
them, with good titles in his country, at 16 years' purchase: "and,"
says he, "though I am in debt, yet I have a mind to one thing, and that
is a Bishop's lease;" but said, "I will yet choose such a lease before
any other, yes," says he, plainly, "because I know they cannot stand,
and then it will fall into the King's hands, and I in possession shall
have an advantage by it." "And," says he, "I know they must fall, and
they are now near it, taking all the ways they can to undo themselves,
and showing us the way;" and thereupon told the a story of the present
quarrel between the Bishop and Deane of Coventry and Lichfield;
the former of which did excommunicate the latter, and caused his
excommunication to be read in the Church while he was there; and, after
it was read, the Deane made the service be gone through with, though
himself, an excommunicate, was present, which is contrary to the Canon,
and said he would justify the quire therein against the Bishop; and so
they are at law in the Arches about it; which is a very pretty story. He
tells me that the King is for Toleration, though the Bishops be against
it: and that he do not doubt but it will be carried in Parliament; but
that he fears some will stand for the tolerating of Papists with the
rest; and that he knows not what to say, but rather thinks that the
sober party will be without it, rather than have it upon those terms;
and I do believe so. Here we broke off, and I home to dinner, and after
dinner set down my wife and Deb. at the 'Change, and I to make a visit
to Mr. Godolphin
[William Godolphin, descended from a younger branch of that family,
which was afterwards ennobled in the person of Sidney, Earl
Godolphin, Lord Treasurer. William Godolphin was of Christ Church,
Oxford, and graduated M.A., January 14th, 1660-61. He was
afterwards secretary to Sir H. Bennet (Lord Arlington), and M.P. for
Camelford. He was a great favourite at Court, and was knighted on
August 28th, 1668. In the spring of 1669 he returned to Spain as
Envoy Extraordinary, and in 1671 he became Ambassador. On July
11th, 1696, he died at Madrid, having been for some years a Roman
Catholic.]
at his lodgings, who is lately come from Spain from my Lord Sandwich,
and did, the other day, meeting me in White Hall, compliment me
mightily, and so I did offer him this visit, but missed him, and so
back and took up my wife and set her at Mrs. Turner's, and I to my
bookbinder's, and there, till late at night, binding up my second part
of my Tangier accounts, and I all the while observing his working, and
his manner of gilding of books with great pleasure, and so home, and
there busy late, and then to bed. This day Griffin did, in discourse in
the coach, put me in the head of the little house by our garden, where
old goodman Taylor puts his brooms and dirt, to make me a stable of,
which I shall improve, so as, I think, to be able to get me a stable
without much charge, which do please me mightily. He did also in
discourse tell me that it is observed, and is true, in the late fire of
London, that the fire burned just as many Parish-Churches as there were
hours from the beginning to the end of the fire; and, next, that there
were just as many Churches left standing as there were taverns left
standing in the rest of the City that was not burned, being, I think he
told me, thirteen in all of each: which is pretty to observe.
FEBRUARY 1667-1668
February 1st. Up, and to the office pretty betimes, and the Board
not meeting as soon as I wished, I was forced to go to White Hall in
expectation of a Committee for Tangier, but when I come it was put off,
and so home again to the office, and sat till past two o'clock; where at
the Board some high words passed between Sir W. Pen and I, begun by me,
and yielded to by him, I being in the right in finding fault with him
for his neglect of duty. At noon home to dinner, and after dinner out
with my wife, thinking to have gone to the Duke of York's playhouse,
but was, to my great content in the saving my vow, hindered by coming a
little too late; and so, it being a fine day, we out to Islington, and
there to the old house and eat cheese-cakes and drank and talked, and so
home in the evening, the ways being mighty bad, so as we had no pleasure
in being abroad at all almost, but only the variety of it, and so to
the office, where busy late, and then home to supper and to bed, my head
mighty full of business now on my hands: viz., of finishing my Tangier
Accounts; of auditing my last year's Accounts; of preparing answers to
the Commissioners of Accounts; of drawing up several important letters
to the Duke of York and the Commissioners of the Treasury; the marrying
of my sister; the building of a coach and stables against summer, and
the setting many things in the Office right; and the drawing up a new
form of Contract with the Victualler of the Navy, and several other
things, which pains, however, will go through with, among others the
taking care of Kate Joyce in that now she is in at present for saving
her estate.
2nd (Lord's day). Wife took physick this day, I all day at home, and all
the morning setting my books in order in my presses, for the following
year, their number being much increased since the last, so as I am fain
to lay by several books to make room for better, being resolved to keep
no more than just my presses will contain. At noon to dinner, my wife
coming down to me, and a very good dinner we had, of a powdered leg of
pork and a loin of lamb roasted, and with much content she and I and
Deb. After dinner, my head combed an hour, and then to work again, and
at it, doing many things towards the setting my accounts and papers in
order, and so in the evening Mr. Pelling supping with us, and to supper,
and so to bed.
3rd. Up, and to the office, where with my clerks all the morning very
busy about several things there wherein I was behindhand. At noon home
to dinner, and thence after dinner to the Duke of York's house, to the
play, "The Tempest," which we have often seen, but yet I was pleased
again, and shall be again to see it, it is so full of variety, and
particularly this day I took pleasure to learn the tune of the seaman's
dance, which I have much desired to be perfect in, and have made myself
so. So home with my wife and Deb., and there at the office met to
my trouble with a warrant from the Commissioners of Accounts for my
attending them and Cocke two days hence, which I apprehend by Captain
Cocke's being to go also, to be about the prizes. But, however, there is
nothing of crime can be laid to my charge, and the worst that can be is
to refund my L500 profit, and who can help it. So I resolve not to be
troubled at it, though I fear I cannot bear it so, my spirit being very
poor and mean as to the bearing with trouble that I do find of myself.
So home, and there to my chamber and did some business,--and thence to
supper and to bed.
4th. Up, and to the office, where a full Board sat all the morning, busy
among other things concerning a solemn letter we intend to write to
the Duke of York about the state of the things of the Navy, for want
of money, though I doubt it will be to little purpose. After dinner I
abroad by coach to Kate Joyce's, where the jury did sit where they
did before, about her husband's death, and their verdict put off for
fourteen days longer, at the suit of somebody, under pretence of the
King; but it is only to get money out of her to compound the matter. But
the truth is, something they will make out of Stillingfleete's sermon,
which may trouble us, he declaring, like a fool, in his pulpit, that he
did confess that his losses in the world did make him do what he did.
This do vex me to see how foolish our Protestant Divines are, while the
Papists do make it the duty of Confessor to be secret, or else nobody
would confess their sins to them. All being put off for to-day, I took
my leave of Kate, who is mightily troubled at it for her estate sake,
not for her husband; for her sorrow for that, I perceive, is all over. I
home, and, there to my office busy till the evening, and then home, and
there my wife and Deb. and I and Betty Turner, I employed in the putting
new titles to my books, which we proceeded on till midnight, and then
being weary and late to bed.
5th. Up, and I to Captain Cocke's, where he and I did discourse of our
business that we are to go about to the Commissioners of Accounts about
our prizes, and having resolved to conceal nothing but to confess the
truth, the truth being likely to do us most good, we parted, and I to
White Hall, where missing of the Commissioners of the Treasury, I to the
Commissioners of Accounts, where I was forced to stay two hours before I
was called in, and when come in did take an oath to declare the truth to
what they should ask me, which is a great power; I doubt more than the
Act do, or as some say can, give them, to force a man to swear against
himself; and so they fell to enquire about the business of prize-goods,
wherein I did answer them as well as I could, answer them in everything
the just truth, keeping myself to that. I do perceive at last, that,
that they did lay most like a fault to me was, that I did buy goods upon
my Lord Sandwich's declaring that it was with the King's allowance, and
my believing it, without seeing the King's allowance, which is a thing
I will own, and doubt not to justify myself in. That that vexed me most
was, their having some watermen by, to witness my saying that they were
rogues that they had betrayed my goods, which was upon some discontent
with one of the watermen that I employed at Greenwich, who I did think
did discover the goods sent from Rochester to the Custom-House officer;
but this can do me no great harm. They were inquisitive into the
minutest particulars, and the evening great information; but I think
that they can do me no hurt, at the worst, more than to make me refund,
if it must be known, what profit I did make of my agreement with Captain
Cocke; and yet, though this be all, I do find so poor a spirit within
me, that it makes me almost out of my wits, and puts me to so much pain,
that I cannot think of anything, nor do anything but vex and fret, and
imagine myself undone, so that I am ashamed of myself to myself, and do
fear what would become of me if any real affliction should come upon
me. After they had done with me, they called in Captain Cocke, with whom
they were shorter; and I do fear he may answer foolishly, for he did
speak to me foolishly before he went in; but I hope to preserve myself,
and let him shift for himself as well as he can. So I away, walked to
my flageolet maker in the Strand, and there staid for Captain Cocke, who
took me up and carried me home, and there coming home and finding dinner
done, and Mr. Cooke, who come for my Lady Sandwich's plate, which I must
part with, and so endanger the losing of my money, which I lent upon my
thoughts of securing myself by that plate. But it is no great sum--but
L60: and if it must be lost, better that, than a greater sum. I away
back again, to find a dinner anywhere else, and so I, first, to the Ship
Tavern, thereby to get a sight of the pretty mistress of the house, with
whom I am not yet acquainted at all, and I do always find her scolding,
and do believe she is an ill-natured devil, that I have no great desire
to speak to her. Here I drank, and away by coach to the Strand, there
to find out Mr. Moore, and did find him at the Bell Inn, and there
acquainted him with what passed between me and the Commissioners to-day
about the prize goods, in order to the considering what to do about my
Lord Sandwich, and did conclude to own the thing to them as done by the
King's allowance, and since confirmed. Thence to other discourse, among
others, he mightily commends my Lord Hinchingbroke's match and Lady,
though he buys her L10,000 dear, by the jointure and settlement his
father makes her; and says that the Duke of York and Duchess of York
did come to see them in bed together, on their wedding-night, and how my
Lord had fifty pieces of gold taken out of his pocket that night, after
he was in bed. He tells me that an Act of Comprehension is likely to
pass this Parliament, for admitting of all persuasions in religion
to the public observation of their particular worship, but in certain
places, and the persons therein concerned to be listed of this, or that
Church; which, it is thought, will do them more hurt than good, and
make them not own, their persuasion. He tells me that there is a pardon
passed to the Duke of Buckingham, my Lord of Shrewsbury, and the rest,
for the late duell and murder;
[The royal pardon was thus announced in the "Gazette" of February
24th, 1668: "This day his Majesty was pleased to declare at the
Board, that whereas, in contemplation of the eminent services
heretofore done to his Majesty by most of the persons who were
engaged in the late duel, or rencounter, wherein William Jenkins was
killed, he Both graciously pardon the said offence: nevertheless, He
is resolved from henceforth that on no pretence whatsoever any
pardon shall be hereafter granted to any person whatsoever for
killing of any man, in any duel or rencounter, but that the course
of law shall wholly take place in all such cases." The warrant for
a pardon to George, Duke of Buckingham, is dated January 27th, 1668;
and on the following day was issued, "Warrant for a grant to
Francis, Earl of Shrewsbury, of pardon for killing William Jenkins,
and for all duels, assaults, or batteries on George, Duke of
Buckingham, Sir John Talbot, Sir Robert Holmes, or any other,
whether indicted or not for the same, with restitution of lands,
goods, &c." ("Calendar of State Papers," 1667-68, pp. 192,193).]
which he thinks a worse fault than any ill use my late Lord Chancellor
ever put the Great Seal to, and will be so thought by the Parliament,
for them to be pardoned without bringing them to any trial: and that my
Lord Privy-Seal therefore would not have it pass his hand, but made it
go by immediate warrant; or at least they knew that he would not pass
it, and so did direct it to go by immediate warrant, that it might not
come to him. He tells me what a character my Lord Sandwich hath sent
over of Mr. Godolphin, as the worthiest man, and such a friend to him
as he may be trusted in any thing relating to him in the world; as one
whom, he says, he hath infallible assurances that he will remaine his
friend which is very high, but indeed they say the gentleman is a fine
man. Thence, after eating a lobster for my dinner, having eat nothing
to-day, we broke up, here coming to us Mr. Townsend of the Wardrobe, who
complains of the Commissioners of the Treasury as very severe against my
Lord Sandwich, but not so much as they complain of him for a fool and
a knave, and so I let him alone, and home, carrying Mr. Moore as far as
Fenchurch Street, and I home, and there being vexed in my mind about my
prize businesses I to my chamber, where my wife and I had much talk of
W. Hewer, she telling me that he is mightily concerned for my not being
pleased with him, and is herself mightily concerned, but I have
much reason to blame him for his little assistance he gives me in
my business, not being able to copy out a letter with sense or true
spelling that makes me mad, and indeed he is in that regard of as little
use to me as the boy, which troubles me, and I would have him know
it,--and she will let him know it. By and by to supper, and so to bed,
and slept but ill all night, my mind running like a fool on my prize
business, which according to my reason ought not to trouble me at all.
6th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning,, and among other
things Sir H. Cholmly comes to me about a little business, and there
tells me how the Parliament, which is to meet again to-day, are likely
to fall heavy on the business of the Duke of Buckingham's pardon; and I
shall be glad of it: and that the King hath put out of the Court the two
Hides, my Lord Chancellor's two sons, and also the Bishops of Rochester
and Winchester, the latter of whom should have preached before him
yesterday, being Ash Wednesday, and had his sermon ready, but was put
by; which is great news: He gone, we sat at the office all the morning,
and at noon home to dinner, and my wife being gone before, I to the Duke
of York's playhouse; where a new play of Etherige's, called "She Would
if she Could;" and though I was there by two o'clock, there was 1000
people put back that could not have room in the pit: and I at last,
because my wife was there, made shift to get into the 18d. box, and
there saw; but, Lord! how full was the house, and how silly the play,
there being nothing in the world good in it, and few people pleased in
it. The King was there; but I sat mightily behind, and could see but
little, and hear not all. The play being done, I into the pit to look
(for) my wife, and it being dark and raining, I to look my wife out, but
could not find her; and so staid going between the two doors and through
the pit an hour and half, I think, after the play was done; the people
staying there till the rain was over, and to talk with one another. And,
among the rest, here was the Duke of Buckingham to-day openly sat in
the pit; and there I found him with my Lord Buckhurst, and Sidly, and
Etherige, the poet; the last of whom I did hear mightily find fault
with the actors, that they were out of humour, and had not their parts
perfect, and that Harris did do nothing, nor could so much as sing
a ketch in it; and so was mightily concerned while all the rest did,
through the whole pit, blame the play as a silly, dull thing, though
there was something very roguish and witty; but the design of the play,
and end, mighty insipid. At last I did find my wife staying for me in
the entry; and with her was Betty Turner, Mercer, and Deb. So I got a
coach, and a humour took us, and I carried them to Hercules Pillars, and
there did give them a kind of a supper of about 7s., and very merry, and
home round the town, not through the ruines; and it was pretty how the
coachman by mistake drives us into the ruines from London-wall into
Coleman Street: and would persuade me that I lived there. And the truth
is, I did think that he and the linkman had contrived some roguery; but
it proved only a mistake of the coachman; but it was a cunning place to
have done us a mischief in, as any I know, to drive us out of the road
into the ruines, and there stop, while nobody could be called to help
us. But we come safe home, and there, the girls being gone home, I to
the office, where a while busy, my head not being wholly free of my
trouble about my prize business, I home to bed. This evening coming home
I did put my hand under the coats of Mercer and did touch her thigh, but
then she did put by my hand and no hurt done, but talked and sang and
was merry.
7th. Up, and to the office, to the getting of my books in order, to
carry to the Commissioners of Accounts this morning. This being done, I
away first to Westminster Hall, and there met my cozen, Roger Pepys, by
his desire, the first time I have seen him since his coming to town, the
Parliament meeting yesterday and adjourned to Monday next; and here he
tells me that Mr. Jackson, my sister's servant, is come to town, and
hath this day suffered a recovery on his estate, in order to the making
her a settlement. The young man is gone out of the Hall, so I could not
now see him, but here I walked a good while with my cozen, and among
other things do hear that there is a great triall between my Lord Gerard
and Carr to-day, who is indicted for his life at the King's Bench, for
running from his colours; but all do say that my Lord Gerard, though he
designs the ruining of this man, will not get any thing by it. Thence
to the Commissioners of Accounts, and there presented my books, and was
made to sit down, and used with much respect, otherwise than the other
day, when I come to them as a criminal about the business of the prizes.
I sat here with them a great while, while my books were inventoried.
And here do hear from them by discourse that they are like to undo the
Treasurer's instruments of the Navy by making it a rule that they
shall repay all money paid to wrong parties, which is a thing not to be
supported by these poor creatures the Treasurer's instruments, as it
is also hard for seamen to be ruined by their paying money to whom they
please. I know not what will be the issue of it. I find these gentlemen
to sit all day, and only eat a bit of bread at noon, and a glass of
wine; and are resolved to go through their business with great severity
and method. Thence I, about two o'clock, to Westminster Hall, by
appointment, and there met my cozen Roger again, and Mr. Jackson, who
is a plain young man, handsome enough for Pall, one of no education
nor discourse, but of few words, and one altogether that, I think, will
please me well enough. My cozen had got me to give the odd sixth L100
presently, which I intended to keep to the birth of the first child: and
let it go--I shall be eased of the care, and so, after little talk,
we parted, resolving to dine together at my house tomorrow. So there
parted, my mind pretty well satisfied with this plain fellow for my
sister, though I shall, I see, have no pleasure nor content in him, as
if he had been a man of reading and parts, like Cumberland, and to the
Swan, and there sent for a bit of meat and eat and drank, and so to
White Hall to the Duke of York's chamber, where I find him and my
fellows at their usual meeting, discoursing about securing the Medway
this year, which is to shut the door after the horse is stole. However,
it is good. Having done here, my Lord Brouncker, and W. Pen, and I, and
with us Sir Arnold Breames, to the King's playhouse, and there saw a
piece of "Love in a Maze," a dull, silly play, I think; and after the
play, home with W. Pen and his son Lowther, whom we met there, and then
home and sat most of the evening with my wife and Mr. Pelting, talking,
my head being full of business of one kind or other, and most such as do
not please me, and so to supper and to bed.
8th. Up, and to the office, where sat all day, and at noon home, and
there find cozen Roger and Jackson by appointment come to dine with me,
and Creed, and very merry, only Jackson hath few words, and I like him
never the worse for it. The great talk is of Carr's coming off in all
his trials, to the disgrace of my Lord Gerard, to that degree, and the
ripping up of so many notorious rogueries and cheats of my Lord's, that
my Lord, it is thought, will be ruined; and, above all things, do skew
the madness of the House of Commons, who rejected the petition of this
poor man by a combination of a few in the House; and, much more, the
base proceedings (just the epitome of all our publick managements in
this age), of the House of Lords, that ordered him to stand in the
pillory for those very things, without hearing and examining what he
hath now, by the seeking of my Lord Gerard himself, cleared himself of,
in open Court, to the gaining himself the pity of all the world, and
shame for ever to my Lord Gerard. We had a great deal of good discourse
at table, and after dinner we four men took coach, and they set me down
at the Old Exchange, and they home, having discoursed nothing today with
cozen or Jackson about our business. I to Captain Cocke's, and there
discoursed over our business of prizes, and I think I shall go near to
state the matter so as to secure myself without wrong to him, doing nor
saying anything but the very truth. Thence away to the Strand, to my
bookseller's, and there staid an hour, and bought the idle, rogueish
book, "L'escholle des filles;" which I have bought in plain binding,
avoiding the buying of it better bound, because I resolve, as soon as
I have read it, to burn it, that it may not stand in the list of books,
nor among them, to disgrace them if it should be found. Thence home,
and busy late at the office, and then home to supper and to bed. My wife
well pleased with my sister's match, and designing how to be merry at
their marriage. And I am well at ease in my mind to think that that care
will be over. This night calling at the Temple, at the Auditor's, his
man told me that he heard that my account must be brought to the view
of the Commissioners of Tangier before it can be passed, which though I
know no hurt in it, yet it troubled me lest there should be any or any
designed by them who put this into the head of the Auditor, I suppose
Auditor Beale, or Creed, because they saw me carrying my account another
way than by them.
9th (Lord's day). Up, and at my chamber all the morning and the office
doing business, and also reading a little of "L'escholle des filles,"
which is a mighty lewd book, but yet not amiss for a sober man once to
read over to inform himself in the villainy of the world. At noon home
to dinner, where by appointment Mr. Pelting come and with him three
friends, Wallington, that sings the good base, and one Rogers, and a
gentleman, a young man, his name Tempest, who sings very well indeed,
and understands anything in the world at first sight. After dinner we
into our dining-room, and there to singing all the afternoon. (By the
way, I must remember that Pegg Pen was brought to bed yesterday of a
girl; and, among other things, if I have not already set it down, that
hardly ever was remembered such a season for the smallpox as these last
two months have been, people being seen all up and down the streets,
newly come out after the smallpox.) But though they sang fine things,
yet I must confess that I did take no pleasure in it, or very little,
because I understood not the words, and with the rests that the words
are set, there is no sense nor understanding in them though they be
English, which makes me weary of singing in that manner, it being but a
worse sort of instrumental musick. We sang until almost night, and drank
mighty good store of wine, and then they parted, and I to my chamber,
where I did read through "L'escholle des filles," a lewd book, but what
do no wrong once to read for information sake.... And after I had done
it I burned it, that it might not be among my books to my shame, and so
at night to supper and to bed.
10th. Up, and by coach to Westminster, and there made a visit to Mr.
Godolphin, at his chamber; and I do find him a very pretty and able
person, a man of very fine parts, and of infinite zeal to my Lord
Sandwich; and one that says he is, he believes, as wise and able a
person as any prince in the world hath. He tells me that he meets with
unmannerly usage by Sir Robert Southwell, in Portugall, who would sign
with him in his negociations there, being a forward young man: but that
my Lord mastered him in that point, it being ruled for my Lord here,
at a hearing of a Committee of the Council. He says that if my Lord can
compass a peace between Spain and Portugall, and hath the doing of it
and the honour himself, it will be a thing of more honour than ever any
man had, and of as much advantage. Thence to Westminster Hall, where
the Hall mighty full: and, among other things, the House begins to sit
to-day, and the King come. But, before the King's coming, the House of
Commons met; and upon information given them of a Bill intended to be
brought in, as common report said, for Comprehension, they did mightily
and generally inveigh against it, and did vote that the King should be
desired by the House (and the message delivered by the Privy-counsellers
of the House) that the laws against breakers of the Act of Uniformity
should be put in execution: and it was moved in the House that, if any
people had a mind to bring any new laws into the House, about religion,
they might come, as a proposer of new laws did in Athens, with ropes
about their necks. By and by the King comes to the Lords' House, and
there tells them of his league with Holland, and the necessity of a
fleete, and his debts; and, therefore, want of money; and his desire
that they would think of some way to bring in all his Protestant
subjects to a right understanding and peace one with another; meaning
the Bill of Comprehension. The Commons coming to their House, it was
moved that the vote passed this morning might be suspended, because of
the King's speech, till the House was full and called over, two days
hence: but it was denied, so furious they are against this Bill: and
thereby a great blow either given to the King or Presbyters, or, which
is the rather of the two, to the House itself, by denying a thing
desired by the King, and so much desired by much the greater part of the
nation. Whatever the consequence be, if the King be a man of any stomach
and heat, all do believe that he will resent this vote. Thence with
Creed home to my house to dinner, where I met with Mr. Jackson, and find
my wife angry with Deb., which vexes me. After dinner by coach away to
Westminster; taking up a friend of Mr. Jackson's, a young lawyer, and
parting with Creed at White Hall. They and I to Westminster Hall, and
there met Roger Pepys, and with him to his chamber, and there read over
and agreed upon the Deed of Settlement to our minds: my sister to have
L600 presently, and she to be joyntured in L60 per annum; wherein I
am very well satisfied. Thence I to the Temple to Charles Porter's
lodgings, where Captain Cocke met me, and after long waiting, on
Pemberton,
[Francis Pemberton, afterwards knighted, and made Lord Chief Justice
of the King's Bench in 1679. His career was a most singular one, he
having been twice removed from the Bench, and twice imprisoned by
the House of Commons. He twice returned to the bar, and after his
second return he practised with great success as a serjeant for the
next fourteen years till his death, June 10th, 1697. Evelyn says,
"He was held to be the most learned of the judges and an honest man"
("Diary," October 4th, 1683).]
an able lawyer, about the business of our prizes, and left the matter
with him to think of against to-morrow, this being a matter that do much
trouble my mind, though there be no fault in it that I need fear the
owning that I know of. Thence with Cocke home to his house and there
left him, and I home, and there got my wife to read a book I bought
to-day, and come out to-day licensed by Joseph Williamson for Lord
Arlington, shewing the state of England's affairs relating to France at
this time, and the whole body of the book very good and solid, after
a very foolish introduction as ever I read, and do give a very good
account of the advantage of our league with Holland at this time. So,
vexed in my mind with the variety of cares I have upon me, and so to
bed.
11th. At the office all the morning, where comes a damned summons to
attend the Committee of Miscarriages to-day, which makes me mad, that
I should by my place become the hackney of this Office, in perpetual
trouble and vexation, that need it least. At noon home to dinner, where
little pleasure, my head being split almost with the variety of
troubles upon me at this time, and cares, and after dinner by coach to
Westminster Hall, and sent my wife and Deb. to see "Mustapha"
acted. Here I brought a book to the Committee, and do find them; and
particularly Sir Thomas Clarges, mighty hot in the business of tickets,
which makes me mad to see them bite at the stone, and not at the hand
that flings it, and here my Lord Brouncker unnecessarily orders it that
he is called in to give opportunity to present his report of the state
of the business of paying by ticket, which I do not think will do him
any right, though he was made believe that it did operate mightily, and
that Sir Fresh. Hollis did make a mighty harangue and to much purpose in
his defence, but I believe no such effects of it, for going in afterward
I did hear them speak with prejudice of it, and that his pleading of the
Admiral's warrant for it now was only an evasion, if not an aspersion
upon the Admirall, and therefore they would not admit of this his
report, but go on with their report as they had resolved before. The
orders they sent for this day was the first order that I have yet met
with about this business, and was of my own single hand warranting,
but I do think it will do me no harm, and therefore do not much trouble
myself with it, more than to see how much trouble I am brought to who
have best deported myself in all the King's business. Thence with Lord
Brouncker, and set him down at Bow Streete, and so to the Duke of York's
playhouse, and there saw the last act for nothing, where I never saw
such good acting of any creature as Smith's part of Zanger; and I do
also, though it was excellently acted by---------, do yet want Betterton
mightily. Thence to the Temple, to Porter's chamber, where Cocke met me,
and after a stay there some time, they two and I to Pemberton's chamber,
and there did read over the Act of calling people to account, and did
discourse all our business of the prizes; and, upon the whole, he
do make it plainly appear, that there is no avoiding to give these
Commissioners satisfaction in everything they will ask; and that
there is fear lest they may find reason to make us refund for all the
extraordinary profit made by those bargains; and do make me resolve
rather to declare plainly, and, once for all, the truth of the whole,
and what my profit hath been, than be forced at last to do it, and in
the meantime live in gain, as I must always do: and with this resolution
on my part I departed, with some more satisfaction of mind, though with
less hopes of profit than I expected. It was pretty here to see the
heaps of money upon this lawyer's table; and more to see how he had
not since last night spent any time upon our business, but begun with
telling us that we were not at all concerned in that Act; which was a
total mistake, by his not having read over the Act at all. Thence to
Porter's chamber, where Captain Cocke had fetched my wife out of
the coach, and there we staid and talked and drank, he being a very
generous, good-humoured man, and so away by coach, setting Cocke at his
house, and we with his coach home, and there I to the office, and there
till past one in the morning, and so home to supper and to bed, my mind
at pretty good ease, though full of care and fear of loss. This morning
my wife in bed told me the story of our Tom and Jane:--how the rogue did
first demand her consent to love and marry him, and then, with pretence
of displeasing me, did slight her; but both he and she have confessed
the matter to her, and she hath charged him to go on with his love to
her, and be true to her, and so I think the business will go on, which,
for my love to her, because she is in love with him, I am pleased with;
but otherwise I think she will have no good bargain of it, at least if
I should not do well in my place. But if I do stand, I do intend to give
her L50 in money, and do them all the good I can in my way.
12th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning drawing up
my narrative of my proceedings and concernments in the buying of
prize-goods, which I am to present to the Committee for Accounts; and
being come to a resolution to conceal nothing from them, I was at great
ease how to draw it up without any inventions or practise to put me to
future pain or thoughts how to carry on, and now I only discover what my
profit was, and at worst I suppose I can be made but to refund my profit
and so let it go. At noon home to dinner, where Mr. Jackson dined with
me, and after dinner I (calling at the Excise Office, and setting my
wife and Deb. at her tailor's) did with Mr. Jackson go to find my cozen
Roger Pepys, which I did in the Parliament House, where I met him and
Sir Thomas Crew and Mr. George Montagu, who are mighty busy how to save
my Lord's name from being in the Report for anything which the Committee
is commanded to report to the House of the miscarriages of the late war.
I find they drive furiously still in the business of tickets, which is
nonsense in itself and cannot come to any thing. Thence with cozen Roger
to his lodgings, and there sealed the writings with Jackson, about my
sister's marriage: and here my cozen Roger told me the pleasant passage
of a fellow's bringing a bag of letters to-day, into the lobby of the
House, and left them, and withdrew himself without observation. The bag
being opened, the letters were found all of one size, and directed with
one hand: a letter to most of the Members of the House. The House was
acquainted with it, and voted they should be brought in, and one opened
by the Speaker; wherein if he found any thing unfit to communicate, to
propose a Committee to be chosen for it. The Speaker opening one, found
it only a case with a libell in it, printed: a satire most sober and
bitter as ever I read; and every letter was the same. So the House fell
a-scrambling for them like boys: and my cozen Roger had one directed to
him, which he lent me to read. So away, and took up my wife, and setting
Jackson down at Fetter Lane end, I to the old Exchange to look Mr.
Houblon, but, not finding him, did go home, and there late writing a
letter to my Lord Sandwich, and to give passage to a letter of great
moment from Mr. Godolphin to him, which I did get speedy passage for
by the help of Mr. Houblon, who come late to me, and there directed the
letter to Lisbon under cover of his, and here we talked of the times,
which look very sad and distracted, and made good mirth at this day's
passage in the House, and so parted; and going to the gate with him, I
found his lady and another fine lady sitting an hour together, late at
night, in their coach, while he was with me, which is so like my wife,
that I was mighty taken with it, though troubled for it. So home to
supper and to bed. This day Captain Cocke was with the Commissioners of
Accounts to ask more time for his bringing in his answer about the prize
goods, and they would not give him 14 days as he asks, but would give
only two days, which was very hard, I think, and did trouble me for fear
of their severity, though I have prepared my matter so as to defy it.
13th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, and thence with my wife and Deb. to White Hall, setting, them at
her tailor's, and I to the Commissioners of the Treasury, where myself
alone did argue the business of the East India Company against their
whole Company on behalf of the King before the Lords Commissioners, and
to very good effect, I think, and with reputation. That business being
over, the Lords and I had other things to talk about, and among the
rest, about our making more assignments on the Exchequer since they bid
us hold, whereat they were extraordinary angry with us, which troubled
me a little, though I am not concerned in it at all. Waiting here some
time without, I did meet with several people, among others Mr. Brisband,
who tells me in discourse that Tom Killigrew hath a fee out of the
Wardrobe for cap and bells,
[The Lord Chamberlain's Records contain a copy of a warrant dated
July 12th, 1661, "to deliver to Mr. Killegrew thirty yards of
velvett, three dozen of fringe, and sixteene yards of Damaske for
the year 1661." The heading of this entry is "Livery for ye jester"
(Lowe's "Betterton," p. 70).]
under the title of the King's Foole or jester; and may with privilege
revile or jeere any body, the greatest person, without offence, by the
privilege of his place. Thence took up my wife, and home, and there busy
late at the office writing letters, and so home to supper and to bed.
The House was called over to-day. This morning Sir G. Carteret come to
the Office to see and talk with me: and he assures me that to this day
the King is the most kind man to my Lord Sandwich in the whole world;
that he himself do not now mind any publick business, but suffers things
to go on at Court as they will, he seeing all likely to come to ruin:
that this morning the Duke of York sent to him to come to make up one
of a Committee of the Council for Navy Affairs; where, when he come, he
told the Duke of York that he was none of them: which shews how things
are now-a-days ordered, that there should be a Committee for the
Navy; and the Lord Admiral not know the persons of it! And that Sir G.
Carteret and my Lord Anglesey should be left out of it, and men wholly
improper put into it. I do hear of all hands that there is a great
difference at this day between my Lord Arlington and Sir W. Coventry,
which I am sorry for.
14th (Valentine's day). Up, being called up by Mercer, who come to be my
Valentine, and so I rose and my wife, and were merry a little, I staying
to talk, and did give her a guinny in gold for her Valentine's gift.
There comes also my cozen Roger Pepys betimes, and comes to my wife, for
her to be his Valentine, whose Valentine I was also, by agreement to be
so to her every year; and this year I find it is likely to cost L4 or L5
in a ring for her, which she desires. Cozen Roger did come also to speak
with Sir W. Pen, who was quoted, it seems, yesterday by Sir Fr. Hollis
to have said that if my Lord Sandwich had done so and so, we might have
taken all the Dutch prizes at the time when he staid and let them go.
But Sir W. Pen did tell us he should say nothing in it but what would do
my Lord honour, and he is a knave I am able to prove if he do otherwise.
He gone, I to my Office, to perfect my Narrative about prize-goods; and
did carry it to the Commissioners of Accounts, who did receive it with
great kindness, and express great value of, and respect to me: and
my heart is at rest that it is lodged there, in so full truth and
plainness, though it may hereafter prove some loss to me. But here I
do see they are entered into many enquiries about prizes, by the great
attendance of commanders and others before them, which is a work I am
not sorry for. Thence I away, with my head busy, but my heart at pretty
good ease, to the Old Exchange, and there met Mr. Houblon. I prayed him
to discourse with some of the merchants that are of the Committee
for Accounts, to see how they do resent my paper, and in general my
particular in the relation to the business of the Navy, which he hath
promised to do carefully for me and tell me. Here it was a mighty pretty
sight to see old Mr. Houblon, whom I never saw before, and all his
sons about him, all good merchants. Thence home to dinner, and had much
discourse with W. Hewer about my going to visit Colonel Thomson, one of
the Committee of Accounts, who, among the rest, is mighty kind to me,
and is likely to mind our business more than any; and I would be glad to
have a good understanding with him. Thence after dinner to White
Hall, to attend the Duke of York, where I did let him know, too, the
troublesome life we lead, and particularly myself, by being obliged to
such attendances every day as I am, on one Committee or another. And
I do find the Duke of York himself troubled, and willing not to be
troubled with occasions of having his name used among the Parliament,
though he himself do declare that he did give directions to Lord
Brouncker to discharge the men at Chatham by ticket, and will own it,
if the House call for it, but not else. Thence I attended the King and
Council, and some of the rest of us, in a business to be heard about the
value of a ship of one Dorrington's:--and it was pretty to observe how
Sir W. Pen making use of this argument against the validity of an oath,
against the King, being made by the master's mate of the ship, who was
but a fellow of about 23 years of age--the master of the ship, against
whom we pleaded, did say that he did think himself at that age capable
of being master's mate of any ship; and do know that he, himself, Sir W:
Pen, was so himself, and in no better degree at that age himself: which
word did strike Sir W. Pen dumb, and made him open his mouth no more;
and I saw the King and Duke of York wink at one another at it. This
done, we into the gallery; and there I walked with several people, and
among others my Lord Brouncker, who I do find under much trouble still
about the business of the tickets, his very case being brought in; as
is said, this day in the Report of the Miscarriages. And he seems to
lay much of it on me, which I did clear and satisfy him in; and would
be glad with all my heart to serve him in, and have done it more than
he hath done for himself, he not deserving the least blame, but
commendations, for this. I met with my cozen Roger Pepys and Creed;
and from them understand that the Report was read to-day of the
Miscarriages, wherein my Lord Sandwich is [named] about the business
I mentioned this morning; but I will be at rest, for it can do him no
hurt. Our business of tickets is soundly up, and many others: so they
went over them again, and spent all the morning on the first, which is
the dividing of the fleete; wherein hot work was, and that among great
men, Privy-Councillors, and, they say, Sir W. Coventry; but I do not
much fear it, but do hope that it will shew a little, of the Duke of
Albemarle and the Prince to have been advisers in it: but whereas they
ordered that the King's Speech should be considered today, they took
no notice of it at all, but are really come to despise the King in all
possible ways of chewing it. And it was the other day a strange saying,
as I am told by my cozen Roger Pepys, in the House, when it was moved
that the King's speech should be considered, that though the first part
of the Speech, meaning the league that is there talked of, be the only
good publick thing that hath been done since the King come into England,
yet it might bear with being put off to consider, till Friday next,
which was this day. Secretary Morrice did this day in the House, when
they talked of intelligence, say that he was allowed but L70 a-year for
intelligence,--[Secret service money]--whereas, in Cromwell's time, he
[Cromwell] did allow L70,000 a-year for it; and was confirmed therein by
Colonel Birch, who said that thereby Cromwell carried the secrets of
all the princes of Europe at his girdle. The House is in a most broken
condition; nobody adhering to any thing, but reviling and finding fault:
and now quite mad at the Undertakers, as they are commonly called,
Littleton, Lord Vaughan, Sir R. Howard, and others that are brought over
to the Court, and did undertake to get the King money; but they despise,
and would not hear them in the House; and the Court do do as much,
seeing that they cannot be useful to them, as was expected. In short,
it is plain that the King will never be able to do any thing with this
Parliament; and that the only likely way to do better, for it cannot do
worse, is to break this and call another Parliament; and some do think
that it is intended. I was told to-night that my Lady Castlemayne is so
great a gamester as to have won L5000 in one night, and lost L25,000
in another night, at play, and hath played L1000 and L1500 at a cast.
Thence to the Temple, where at Porter's chamber I met Captain Cocke,
but lost our labour, our Counsellor not being within, Pemberton, and
therefore home and late at my office, and so home to supper and to bed.
15th. Up betimes, and with Captain Cocke my coach to the Temple to his
Counsel again about the prize goods in order to the drawing up of his
answer to them, where little done but a confirmation that our best
interest is for him to tell the whole truth, and so parted, and I home
to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home to dinner, and
after dinner all the afternoon and evening till midnight almost, and
till I had tired my own backe, and my wife's, and Deb.'s, in titleing
of my books for the present year, and in setting them in order, which
is now done to my very good satisfaction, though not altogether so
completely as I think they were the last year, when my mind was more at
leisure to mind it. So about midnight to bed, where my wife taking some
physic overnight it wrought with her, and those coming upon her with
great gripes, she was in mighty pain all night long, yet, God forgive
me! I did find that I was most desirous to take my rest than to ease
her, but there was nothing I could do to do her any good with.
16th (Lord's day). Up, and to my chamber, where all the morning making a
catalogue of my books, which did find me work, but with great pleasure,
my chamber and books being now set in very good order, and my chamber
washed and cleaned, which it had not been in some months before, my
business and trouble having been so much. At noon Mr. Holliard put
in, and dined with my wife and me, who was a little better to-day. His
company very good. His story of his love and fortune, which hath been
very good and very bad in the world, well worth hearing. Much discourse
also about the bad state of the Church, and how the Clergy are come
to be men of no worth in the world; and, as the world do now generally
discourse, they must be reformed; and I believe the Hierarchy will in a
little time be shaken, whether they will or no; the King being offended
with them, and set upon it, as I hear. He gone, after dinner to have my
head combed, and then to my chamber and read most of the evening till
pretty late, when, my wife not being well, I did lie below stairs in our
great chamber, where I slept well.
17th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning till noon getting
some things more ready against the afternoon for the Committee of
Accounts, which did give me great trouble, to see how I am forced to
dance after them in one place, and to answer Committees of Parliament
in another. At noon thence toward the Committee, but meeting with Sir W.
Warren in Fleet Street he and I to the Ordinary by Temple Bar and there
dined together, and to talk, where he do seem to be very high now in
defiance of the Board, now he says that the worst is come upon him
to have his accounts brought to the Committee of Accounts, and he do
reflect upon my late coldness to him, but upon the whole I do find that
he is still a cunning fellow, and will find it necessary to be fair
to me, and what hath passed between us of coldness to hold his tongue,
which do please me very well. Thence to the Committee, where I did
deliver the several things they expected from me, with great respect and
show of satisfaction, and my mind thereby eased of some care. But thence
I to Westminster Hall, and there spent till late at night walking to and
again with many people, and there in general I hear of the great high
words that were in the House on Saturday last, upon the first part of
the Committee's Report about the dividing of the fleete; wherein some
would have the counsels of the King to be declared, and the reasons of
them, and who did give them; where Sir W. Coventry laid open to them the
consequences of doing that, that the King would never have any honest
and wise men ever to be of his Council. They did here in the House talk
boldly of the King's bad counsellors, and how they must be all turned
out, and many of them, and better; brought in: and the proceedings of
the Long-Parliament in the beginning of the war were called to memory:
and the King's bad intelligence was mentioned, wherein they were bitter
against my Lord Arlington, saying, among other things, that whatever
Morrice's was, who declared he had but L750 a-year allowed him for
intelligence, the King paid too dear for my Lord Arlington's, in giving
him L10,000 and a barony for it. Sir W. Coventry did here come to his
defence, in the business of the letter that was sent to call back Prince
Rupert, after he was divided from the fleete, wherein great delay was
objected; but he did show that he sent it at one in the morning, when
the Duke of York did give him the instructions after supper that night,
and did clear himself well of it: only it was laid as a fault, which
I know not how he removes, of not sending it by an express, but by
the ordinary post; but I think I have heard he did send it to my Lord
Arlington's; and that there it lay for some hours; it coming not to Sir
Philip Honiwood's hand at Portsmouth till four in the afternoon that
day, being about fifteen or sixteen hours in going; and about this,
I think, I have heard of a falling out between my Lord Arlington,
heretofore, and W. Coventry. Some mutterings I did hear of a design of
dissolving the Parliament; but I think there is no ground for it
yet, though Oliver would have dissolved them for half the trouble and
contempt these have put upon the King and his councils. The dividing
of the fleete, however, is, I hear, voted a miscarriage, and the not
building a fortification at Sheernesse: and I have reason every hour to
expect that they will vote the like of our paying men off by ticket; and
what the consequence of that will be I know not, but I am put thereby
into great trouble of mind. I did spend a little time at the Swan, and
there did kiss the maid, Sarah. At noon home, and there up to my wife,
who is still ill, and supped with her, my mind being mighty full of
trouble for the office and my concernments therein, and so to supper
and talking with W. Hewer in her chamber about business of the office,
wherein he do well understand himself and our case, and it do me
advantage to talk with him and the rest of my people. I to bed below as
I did last night.
18th. Up by break of day, and walked down to the old Swan, where I find
little Michell building, his booth being taken down, and a foundation
laid for a new house, so that that street is like to be a very fine
place. I drank, but did not see Betty, and so to Charing Cross stairs,
and thence walked to Sir W. Coventry's,
[Sir William Coventry's love of money is said by Sir John Denham to
have influenced him in promoting naval officers, who paid him for
their commissions.
"Then Painter! draw cerulian Coventry
Keeper, or rather Chancellor o' th' sea
And more exactly to express his hue,
Use nothing but ultra-mariuish blue.
To pay his fees, the silver trumpet spends,
And boatswain's whistle for his place depends.
Pilots in vain repeat their compass o'er,
Until of him they learn that one point more
The constant magnet to the pole doth hold,
Steel to the magnet, Coventry to gold.
Muscovy sells us pitch, and hemp, and tar;
Iron and copper, Sweden; Munster, war;
Ashley, prize; Warwick, custom;
Cart'ret, pay;
But Coventry doth sell the fleet away."--B.]
and talked with him, who tells me how he hath been persecuted, and how
he is yet well come off in the business of the dividing of the fleete,
and the sending of the letter. He expects next to be troubled about the
business of bad officers in the fleete, wherein he will bid them name
whom they call bad, and he will justify himself, having never disposed
of any but by the Admiral's liking. And he is able to give an account of
all them, how they come recommended, and more will be found to have
been placed by the Prince and Duke of Albemarle than by the Duke of York
during the war, and as no bad instance of the badness of officers he
and I did look over the list of commanders, and found that we could
presently recollect thirty-seven commanders that have been killed in
actuall service this war. He tells me that Sir Fr. Hollis is the main
man that hath persecuted him hitherto, in the business of dividing the
fleete, saying vainly that the want of that letter to the Prince hath
given him that, that he shall remember it by to his grave, meaning the
loss of his arme; when, God knows! he is as idle and insignificant a
fellow as ever come into the fleete. He tells me that in discourse on
Saturday he did repeat Sir Rob. Howard's words about rowling out of
counsellors, that for his part he neither cared who they rowled in, nor
who they rowled out, by which the word is become a word of use in the
House, the rowling out of officers. I will remember what, in mirth, he
said to me this morning, when upon this discourse he said, if ever there
was another Dutch war, they should not find a Secretary; "Nor," said I,
"a Clerk of the Acts, for I see the reward of it; and, thanked God! I
have enough of my own to buy me a good book and a good fiddle, and I
have a good wife;"--"Why," says he, "I have enough to buy me a good
book, and shall not need a fiddle, because I have never a one of your
good wives." I understand by him that we are likely to have our business
of tickets voted a miscarriage, but [he] cannot tell me what that will
signify more than that he thinks they will report them to the King and
there leave them, but I doubt they will do more. Thence walked over St.
James's Park to White Hall, and thence to Westminster Hall, and there
walked all the morning, and did speak with several Parliament-men-among
others, Birch, who is very kind to me, and calls me, with great respect
and kindness, a man of business, and he thinks honest, and so long
will stand by me, and every such man, to the death. My business was
to instruct them to keep the House from falling into any mistaken vote
about the business of tickets, before they were better informed. I
walked in the Hall all the morning with my Lord Brouncker, who was in
great pain there, and, the truth is, his business is, without reason, so
ill resented by the generality of the House, that I was almost troubled
to be seen to walk with him, and yet am able to justify him in all, that
he is under so much scandal for. Here I did get a copy of the report
itself, about our paying off men by tickets; and am mightily glad to see
it, now knowing the state of our case, and what we have to answer to,
and the more for that the House is like to be kept by other business
to-day and to-morrow, so that, against Thursday, I shall be able to draw
up some defence to put into some Member's hands, to inform them, and I
think we may [make] a very good one, and therefore my mind is mightily
at ease about it. This morning they are upon a Bill, brought in to-day
by Sir Richard Temple, for obliging the King to call Parliaments every
three years; or, if he fail, for others to be obliged to do it, and to
keep him from a power of dissolving any Parliament in less than forty
days after their first day of sitting, which is such a Bill as do speak
very high proceedings, to the lessening of the King; and this they will
carry, and whatever else they desire, before they will give any money;
and the King must have money, whatever it cost him. I stepped to the
Dog Tavern, and thither come to me Doll Lane, and there we did drink
together, and she tells me she is my valentine.... Thence, she being
gone, and having spoke with Mr. Spicer here, whom I sent for hither to
discourse about the security of the late Act of 11 months' tax on which
I have secured part of my money lent to Tangier. I to the Hall, and
there met Sir W. Pen, and he and I to the Beare, in Drury Lane, an
excellent ordinary, after the French manner, but of Englishmen; and
there had a good fricassee, our dinner coming to 8s., which was mighty
pretty, to my great content; and thence, he and I to the King's house,
and there, in one of the upper boxes, saw "Flora's Vagarys," which is
a very silly play; and the more, I being out of humour, being at a play
without my wife, and she ill at home, and having no desire also to be
seen, and, therefore, could not look about me. Thence to the Temple,
and there we parted, and I to see Kate Joyce, where I find her and her
friends in great ease of mind, the jury having this day given in their
verdict that her husband died of a feaver. Some opposition there was,
the foreman pressing them to declare the cause of the feaver, thinking
thereby to obstruct it: but they did adhere to their verdict, and would
give no reason; so all trouble is now over, and she safe in her estate,
which I am mighty glad of, and so took leave, and home, and up to my
wife, not owning my being at a play, and there she shews me her ring of
a Turky-stone set with little sparks of dyamonds,
[The turquoise. This stone was sometimes referred to simply as the
turkey, and Broderip ("Zoological Recreations") conjectured that the
bird (turkey) took its name from the blue or turquoise colour of the
skin about its head.]
which I am to give her, as my Valentine, and I am not much troubled at
it. It will cost me near L5--she costing me but little compared with
other wives, and I have not many occasions to spend on her. So to my
office, where late, and to think upon my observations to-morrow, upon
the report of the Committee to the Parliament about the business of
tickets, whereof my head is full, and so home to supper and to bed.
19th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning drawing up an answer
to the Report of the Committee for miscarriages to the Parliament
touching our paying men by tickets, which I did do in a very good manner
I think. Dined with my clerks at home, where much good discourse of
our business of the Navy, and the trouble now upon us, more than we
expected. After dinner my wife out with Deb., to buy some things against
my sister's wedding, and I to the office to write fair my business I did
in the morning, and in the evening to White Hall, where I find Sir W.
Coventry all alone, a great while with the Duke of York, in the King's
drawing-room, they two talking together all alone, which did mightily
please me. Then I did get Sir W. Coventry (the Duke of York being gone)
aside, and there read over my paper, which he liked and corrected, and
tells me it will be hard to escape, though the thing be never so fair,
to have it voted a miscarriage; but did advise me and my Lord Brouncker,
who coming by did join with us, to prepare some members in it, which we
shall do. Here I do hear how La Roche, a French captain, who was once
prisoner here, being with his ship at Plymouth, hath played some freakes
there, for which his men being beat out of the town, he hath put up his
flag of defiance, and also, somewhere thereabout, did land with his men,
and go a mile into the country, and did some pranks, which sounds pretty
odd, to our disgrace, but we are in condition now to bear any thing.
But, blessed be God! all the Court is full of the good news of my Lord
Sandwich's having made a peace between Spain and Portugall, which is
mighty great news, and, above all, to my Lord's honour, more than any
thing he ever did; and yet I do fear it will not prevail to secure him
in Parliament against incivilities there. Thence, took up my wife at
Unthanke's, and so home, and there my mind being full of preparing my
paper against to-morrow for the House, with an address from the office
to the House, I to the office, very late, and then home to supper and to
bed.
20th. Up, and to the office a while, and thence to White Hall by coach
with Mr. Batelier with me, whom I took up in the street. I thence by
water to Westminster Hall, and there with Lord Brouncker, Sir T. Harvy,
Sir J. Minnes, did wait all the morning to speak to members about our
business, thinking our business of tickets would come before the House
to-day, but we did alter our minds about the petition to the House,
sending in the paper to them. But the truth is we were in a great hurry,
but it fell out that they were most of the morning upon the business
of not prosecuting the first victory; which they have voted one of the
greatest miscarriages of the whole war, though they cannot lay the fault
anywhere yet, because Harman is not come home. This kept them all the
morning, which I was glad of. So down to the Hall, where my wife by
agreement stayed for me at Mrs. Michell's, and there was Mercer and the
girl, and I took them to Wilkinson's the cook's in King Street (where
I find the master of the house hath been dead for some time), and there
dined, and thence by one o'clock to the King's house: a new play, "The
Duke of Lerma," of Sir Robert Howard's: where the King and Court was;
and Knepp and Nell spoke the prologue most excellently, especially
Knepp, who spoke beyond any creature I ever, heard. The play designed to
reproach our King with his mistresses, that I was troubled for it, and
expected it should be interrupted; but it ended all well, which salved
all. The play a well-writ and good play, only its design I did not like
of reproaching the King, but altogether a very good and most serious
play. Thence home, and there a little to the office, and so home to
supper, where Mercer with us, and sang, and then to bed.
21st. At the office all the morning to get a little business done, I
having, and so the whole office, been put out of doing any business
there for this week by our trouble in attending the Parliament. Hither
comes to me young Captain Beckford, the slopseller, and there presents
me a little purse with gold in it, it being, as he told me, for his
present to me, at the end of the last year. I told him I had not done
him any service I knew of. He persisted, and I refused, but did at
several denials; and telling him that it was not an age to take presents
in, he told me he had reason to present me with something, and desired
me to accept of it, which, at his so urging me, I did, and so fell to
talk of his business, and so parted. I do not know of any manner of
kindness I have done him this last year, nor did expect any thing. It
was therefore very welcome to me, but yet I was not fully satisfied in
my taking it, because of my submitting myself to the having it objected
against me hereafter, and the rather because this morning Jacke Fen come
and shewed me an order from the Commissioners of Accounts, wherein they
demand of him an account upon oath of all the sums of money that have
been by him defalked or taken from any man since their time, of enquiry
upon any payments, and if this should, as it is to be feared, come to
be done to us, I know not what I shall then do, but I shall take
counsel upon it. At noon by coach towards Westminster, and met my Lord
Brouncker, and W. Pen, and Sir T. Harvey, in King's Street, coming away
from the Parliament House; and so I to them, and to the French ordinary,
at the Blue Bells, in Lincolne's Inn Fields, and there dined and talked.
And, among other things, they tell me how the House this day is still
as backward for giving any money as ever, and do declare they will
first have an account of the disposals of the last Poll-bill, and eleven
months' tax: and it is pretty odde that the very first sum mentioned
in the account brought in by Sir Robert Long, of the disposal of the
Poll-bill money, is L5000 to my Lord Arlington for intelligence; which
was mighty unseasonable, so soon after they had so much cried out
against his want of intelligence. The King do also own but L250,000,
or thereabouts, yet paid on the Poll-bill, and that he hath charged
L350,000 upon it. This makes them mad; for that the former Poll-bill,
that was so much less in its extent than the last, which took in all
sexes and qualities, did come to L350,000. Upon the whole, I perceive
they are like to do nothing in this matter to please the King, or
relieve the State, be the case never so pressing; and, therefore, it
is thought by a great many that the King cannot be worse if he should
dissolve them: but there is nobody dares advise it, nor do he consider
any thing himself. Thence, having dined for 20s., we to the Duke of York
at White Hall, and there had our usual audience, and did little but talk
of the proceedings of the Parliament, wherein he is as much troubled as
we; for he is not without fears that they do ayme at doing him hurt;
but yet he declares that he will never deny to owne what orders he hath
given to any man to justify him, notwithstanding their having sent to
him to desire his being tender to take upon him the doing any thing of
that kind. Thence with Brouncker and T. Harvey to Westminster Hall, and
there met with Colonel Birch and Sir John Lowther, and did there in the
lobby read over what I have drawn up for our defence, wherein they own
themselves mightily satisfied; and Birch, like a particular friend, do
take it upon him to defend us, and do mightily do me right in all
his discourse. Here walked in the Hall with him a great while, and
discoursed with several members, to prepare them in our business against
to-morrow, and meeting my cozen Roger Pepys, he showed me Granger's
written confession,
[Pepys here refers to the extraordinary proceedings which occurred
between Charles, Lord Gerard, and Alexander Fitton, of which a
narrative was published at the Hague in 1665. Granger was a witness
in the cause, and was afterwards said to be conscience-stricken from
his perjury. Some notice of this case will be found in North's
"Examen," p. 558; but the copious and interesting note in Ormerod's
"History of Cheshire," Vol. iii., p. 291, will best satisfy the
reader, who will not fail to be struck by the paragraph with which
it is closed-viz., "It is not improbable that Alexander Fitton, who,
in the first instance, gained rightful possession of Gawsworth under
an acknowledged settlement, was driven headlong into unpremeditated
guilt by the production of a revocation by will which Lord Gerard
had so long concealed. Having lost his own fortune in the
prosecution of his claims, he remained in gaol till taken out by
James II. to be made Chancellor of Ireland (under which character
Hume first notices him), was knighted, and subsequently created Lord
Gawsworth after the abdication of James, sat in his parliament in
Dublin in 1689, and then is supposed to have accompanied his fallen
master to France. Whether the conduct of Fitton was met, as he
alleges, by similar guilt on the part of Lord Gerard, God only can
judge; but his hand fell heavily on the representatives of that
noble house. In less than half a century the husbands of its two
co-heiresses, James, Duke of Hamilton, and Charles, Lord Mohun, were
slain by each other's hands in a murderous duel arising out of a
dispute relative to the partition of the Fitton estates, and
Gawsworth itself passed to an unlineal hand, by a series of
alienations complicated beyond example in the annals of this
country."--B.]
of his being forced by imprisonment, &c., by my Lord Gerard, most
barbarously to confess his forging of a deed in behalf of Fitton, in the
great case between him [Fitton] and my Lord Gerard; which business is
under examination, and is the foulest against my Lord Gerard that ever
any thing in the world was, and will, all do believe, ruine him; and I
shall be glad of it. Thence with Lord Brouncker and T. Harvey as far as
the New Exchange, and there at a draper's shop drawing up a short note
of what they are to desire of the House for our having a hearing before
they determine any thing against us, which paper is for them to show to
what friends they meet against to-morrow, I away home to the office, and
there busy pretty late, and here comes my wife to me, who hath been at
Pegg Pen's christening, which, she says, hath made a flutter and noise;
but was as mean as could be, and but little company, just like all the
rest that that family do. So home to supper and to bed, with my head
full of a defence before the Parliament tomorrow, and therein content
myself very well, and with what I have done in preparing some of the
members thereof in order thereto.
22nd. Up, and by coach through Ducke Lane, and there did buy Kircher's
Musurgia, cost me 35s., a book I am mighty glad of, expecting to find
great satisfaction in it. Thence to Westminster Hall and the lobby, and
up and down there all the morning, and to the Lords' House, and heard
the Solicitor-General plead very finely, as he always do; and this was
in defence of the East India Company against a man that complains of
wrong from them, and thus up and down till noon in expectation of our
business coming on in the House of Commons about tickets, but they being
busy about my Lord Gerard's business I did give over the thoughts of
ours coming on, and so with my wife, and Mercer, and Deb., who come to
the Hall to me, I away to the Beare, in Drury Lane, and there bespoke a
dish of meat; and, in the mean time, sat and sung with Mercer; and, by
and by, dined with mighty pleasure, and excellent meat, one little dish
enough for us all, and good wine, and all for 8s., and thence to the
Duke's playhouse, and there saw "Albumazar," an old play, this the
second time of acting. It is said to have been the ground of B. Jonson's
"Alchymist;" but, saving the ridicuiousnesse of Angell's part, which
is called Trinkilo, I do not see any thing extraordinary in it, but was
indeed weary of it before it was done. The King here, and, indeed, all
of us, pretty merry at the mimique tricks of Trinkilo. So home, calling
in Ducke Lane for the book I bought this morning, and so home, and wrote
my letters at the office, and then home to supper and to bed.
23rd (Lord's day). Up, and, being desired by a messenger from Sir G.
Carteret, I by water over to Southwarke, and so walked to the Falkon, on
the Bank-side, and there got another boat, and so to Westminster, where
I would have gone into the Swan; but the door was locked; and the girl
could not let me in, and so to Wilkinson's in King Street, and there
wiped my shoes, and so to Court, where sermon not yet done I met with
Brisband; and he tells me, first, that our business of tickets did come
to debate yesterday, it seems, after I was gone away, and was voted
a miscarriage in general. He tells me in general that there is great
looking after places, upon a presumption of a great many vacancies;
and he did shew me a fellow at Court, a brother of my Lord Fanshaw's, a
witty but rascally fellow, without a penny in his purse, that was asking
him what places there were in the Navy fit for him, and Brisband tells
me, in mirth, he told him the Clerke of the Acts, and I wish he had it,
so I were well and quietly rid of it; for I am weary of this kind of
trouble, having, I think, enough whereon to support myself. By and by,
chapel done, I met with Sir W. Coventry, and he and I walked awhile
together in the Matted Gallery; and there he told me all the proceedings
yesterday: that the matter is found, in general, a miscarriage, but no
persons named; and so there is no great matter to our prejudice yet,
till, if ever, they come to particular persons. He told me Birch was
very industrious to do what he could, and did, like a friend; but they
were resolved to find the thing, in general, a miscarriage; and says,
that when we shall think fit to desire its being heard, as to our own
defence, it will be granted. He tells me how he hath, with advantage,
cleared himself in what concerns himself therein, by his servant
Robson, which I am glad of. He tells me that there is a letter sent by
conspiracy to some of the House, which he hath seen, about the matter of
selling of places, which he do believe he shall be called upon to-morrow
for: and thinks himself well prepared to defend himself in it; and
then neither he, nor his friends for him, are afeard of anything to
his prejudice. Thence by coach, with Brisband, to Sir G. Carteret's, in
Lincoln's Inn Fields, and there dined: a good dinner and good company;
and after dinner he and I alone, discoursing of my Lord Sandwich's
matters; who hath, in the first business before the House, been very
kindly used beyond expectation, the matter being laid by, till his
coming home and old Mr. Vaughan did speak for my Lord, which I am mighty
glad of. The business of the prizes is the worst that can be said, and
therein I do fear something may lie hard upon him; but, against this, we
must prepare the best we can for his defence. Thence with G. Carteret to
White Hall, where I, finding a meeting of the Committee of the Council
for the Navy, his Royal Highness there, and Sir W. Pen, and, some of the
Brethren of the Trinity House to attend, I did go in with them; and it
was to be informed of the practice heretofore, for all foreign nations,
at enmity one with another, to forbear any acts of hostility to one
another, in the presence of any of the King of England's ships, of
which several instances were given: and it is referred to their further
enquiry, in order to the giving instructions accordingly to our ships
now, during the war between Spain and France. Would to God we were in
the same condition as heretofore, to challenge and maintain this our
dominion! Thence with W. Pen homeward, and quite through to Mile End,
for a little ayre; the days being now pretty long, but the ways mighty
dirty, and here we drank at the Rose, the old house, and so back again,
talking of the Parliament and our trouble with them and what passed
yesterday. Going back again, Sir R. Brookes overtook us coming to town;
who hath played the jacke with us all, and is a fellow that I must trust
no more, he quoting me for all he hath said in this business of tickets;
though I have told him nothing that either is not true, or I afeard to
own. But here talking, he did discourse in this stile: "We,"--and "We"
all along,--"will not give any money, be the pretence never so great,
nay, though the enemy was in the River of Thames again, till we know
what is become of the last money given;" and I do believe he do speak
the mind of his fellows, and so let them, if the King will suffer it. He
gone, we home, and there I to read, and my belly being full of my dinner
to-day, I anon to bed, and there, as I have for many days, slept not an
hour quietly, but full of dreams of our defence to the Parliament and
giving an account of our doings. This evening, my wife did with great
pleasure shew me her stock of jewells, encreased by the ring she hath
made lately as my Valentine's gift this year, a Turky stone' set with
diamonds: and, with this and what she had, she reckons that she hath
above L150 worth of jewells, of one kind or other; and I am glad of it,
for it is fit the wretch should have something to content herself with.
24th. Up, and to my office, where most of the morning, entering my
journal for the three days past. Thence about noon with my wife to the
New Exchange, by the way stopping at my bookseller's, and there leaving
my Kircher's Musurgia to be bound, and did buy "L'illustre Bassa," in
four volumes, for my wife. Thence to the Exchange and left her; while
meeting Dr. Gibbons there, he and I to see an organ at the Dean of
Westminster's lodgings at the Abby, the Bishop of Rochester's; where
he lives like a great prelate, his lodgings being very good; though at
present under great disgrace at Court, being put by his Clerk of the
Closet's place. I saw his lady, of whom the 'Terrae Filius' of Oxford
was once so merry;
[A scholar appointed to make a satirical and jesting speech at an
Act in the University of Oxford. Mr. Christopher Wordsworth gives,
in his "Social Life at the English Universities in the Eighteenth
Century," 1874, a list of terra-filii from 1591 to 1713 (pp. 296-
298, 680). The 'terrae filius' was sometimes expelled the
university on account of the licence of his speech. The practice
was discontinued early in the eighteenth century.]
and two children, whereof one a very pretty little boy, like him, so fat
and black. Here I saw the organ; but it is too big for my house, and the
fashion do not please me enough; and therefore will not have it. Thence
to the 'Change back again, leaving him, and took my wife and Deb.
home, and there to dinner alone, and after dinner I took them to the
Nursery,--[Theatre company of young actors in training.]--where none of
us ever were before; where the house is better and the musique better
than we looked for, and the acting not much worse, because I expected as
bad as could be: and I was not much mistaken, for it was so. However,
I was pleased well to see it once, it being worth a man's seeing to
discover the different ability and understanding of people, and the
different growth of people's abilities by practise. Their play was a
bad one, called "Jeronimo is Mad Again," a tragedy. Here was some good
company by us, who did make mighty sport at the folly of their acting,
which I could not neither refrain from sometimes, though I was sorry for
it. So away hence home, where to the office to do business a while, and
then home to supper and to read, and then to bed. I was prettily served
this day at the playhouse-door, where, giving six shillings into the
fellow's hand for us three, the fellow by legerdemain did convey one
away, and with so much grace faced me down that I did give him but five,
that, though I knew the contrary, yet I was overpowered by his so grave
and serious demanding the other shilling, that I could not deny him,
but was forced by myself to give it him. After I come home this evening
comes a letter to me from Captain Allen, formerly Clerk of the Ropeyard
at Chatham, and whom I was kind to in those days, who in recompense of
my favour to him then do give me notice that he hears of an accusation
likely to be exhibited against me of my receiving L50 of Mason, the
timber merchant, and that his wife hath spoke it. I am mightily beholden
to Captain Allen for this, though the thing is to the best of my memory
utterly false, and I do believe it to be wholly so, but yet it troubles
me to have my name mentioned in this business, and more to consider how
I may be liable to be accused where I have indeed taken presents,
and therefore puts me on an enquiry, into my actings in this kind and
prepare against a day of accusation.
25th. Up, having lain the last night the first night that I have lain
with my wife since she was last ill, which is about eight days. To the
office, where busy all the morning. At noon comes W. Howe to me, to
advise what answer to give to the business of the prizes, wherein I did
give him the best advice I could; but am sorry to see so many things,
wherein I doubt it will not be prevented but Sir Roger Cuttance and
Mr. Pierce will be found very much concerned in goods beyond the
distribution, and I doubt my Lord Sandwich too, which troubles me
mightily. He gone I to dinner, and thence set my wife at the New
Exchange, and I to Mr. Clerke, my solicitor, to the Treasury chamber,
but the Lords did not sit, so I by water with him to the New Exchange,
and there we parted, and I took my wife and Deb. up, and to the Nursery,
where I was yesterday, and there saw them act a comedy, a pastorall,
"The Faythful Shepherd," having the curiosity to see whether they did a
comedy better than a tragedy; but they do it both alike, in the meanest
manner, that I was sick of it, but only for to satisfy myself once in
seeing the manner of it, but I shall see them no more, I believe. Thence
to the New Exchange, to take some things home that my wife hath bought,
a dressing-box, and other things for her chamber and table, that cost me
above L4, and so home, and there to the office, and tell W. Hewer of the
letter from Captain Allen last night, to give him caution if any thing
should be discovered of his dealings with anybody, which I should for
his sake as well, or more than for my own, be sorry for; and with great
joy I do find, looking over my memorandum books, which are now of great
use to me, and do fully reward me for all my care in keeping them, that
I am not likely to be troubled for any thing of the kind but what I
shall either be able beforehand to prevent, or if discovered, be able to
justify myself in, and I do perceive, by Sir W. Warren's discourse, that
they [the House] do all they can possibly to get out of him and others,
what presents they have made to the Officers of the Navy; but he tells
me that he hath denied all, though he knows that he is forsworn as to
what relates to me. So home to supper and to bed.
26th. Up, and by water to Charing Cross stairs, and thence to W.
Coventry to discourse concerning the state of matters in the Navy, where
he particularly acquainted me with the trouble he is like to meet with
about the selling of places, all carried on by Sir Fr. Hollis, but
he seems not to value it, being able to justify it to be lawful and
constant practice, and never by him used in the least degree since he
upon his own motion did obtain a salary of L500 in lieu thereof. Thence
to the Treasury Chamber about a little business, and so home by coach,
and in my way did meet W. Howe going to the Commissioners of Accounts.
I stopped and spoke to him, and he seems well resolved what to answer
them, but he will find them very strict, and not easily put off: So home
and there to dinner, and after dinner comes W. Howe to tell me how he
sped, who says he was used civilly, and not so many questions asked as
he expected; but yet I do perceive enough to shew that they do intend
to know the bottom of things, and where to lay the great weight of the
disposal of these East India goods, and that they intend plainly to do
upon my Lord Sandwich. Thence with him by coach and set him down at
the Temple, and I to Westminster Hall, where, it being now about six
o'clock, I find the House just risen; and met with Sir W. Coventry and
the Lieutenant of the Tower, they having sat all day; and with great
difficulty have got a vote for giving the King L300,000, not to be
raised by any land-tax. The sum is much smaller than I expected,
and than the King needs; but is grounded upon Mr. Wren's reading our
estimates the other day of L270,000, to keep the fleete abroad, wherein
we demanded nothing for setting and fitting of them out, which will cost
almost L200,000, I do verily believe: and do believe that the King hath
no cause to thank Wren for this motion. I home to Sir W. Coventry's
lodgings, with him and the Lieutenant of the Tower, where also was Sir
John Coventry, and Sir John Duncomb, and Sir Job Charleton. And here
a great deal of good discourse: and they seem mighty glad to have this
vote pass, which I did wonder at, to see them so well satisfied with so
small a sum, Sir John Duncomb swearing, as I perceive he will freely
do, that it was as much as the nation could beare. Among other merry
discourse about spending of money, and how much more chargeable a man's
living is now more than it was heretofore, Duncomb did swear that
in France he did live of L100 a year with more plenty, and wine and
wenches, than he believes can be done now for L200, which was pretty
odd for him, being a Committee-man's son, to say. Having done here, and
supped, where I eat very little, we home in Sir John Robinson's coach,
and there to bed.
27th. All the morning at the office, and at noon home to dinner, and
thence with my wife and Deb. to the King's House, to see "The Virgin
Martyr," the first time it hath been acted a great while: and it is
mighty pleasant; not that the play is worth much, but it is finely acted
by Becke Marshall. But that which did please me beyond any thing in, the
whole world was the wind-musique when the angel comes down, which is so
sweet that it ravished me, and indeed, in a word, did wrap up my soul so
that it made me really sick, just as I have formerly been when in love
with my wife; that neither then, nor all the evening going home, and
at home, I was able to think of any thing, but remained all night
transported, so as I could not believe that ever any musick hath that
real command over the soul of a man as this did upon me: and makes me
resolve to practice wind-musique, and to make my wife do the like.
28th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning doing business, and
after dinner with Sir W. Pen to White Hall, where we and the rest of us
presented a great letter of the state of our want of money to his Royal
Highness. I did also present a demand of mine for consideration for my
travelling-charges of coach and boat-hire during the war, which, though
his Royal Highness and the company did all like of, yet, contrary to my
expectation, I find him so jealous now of doing any thing extraordinary,
that he desired the gentlemen that they would consider it, and report
their minds in it to him. This did unsettle my mind a great while, not
expecting this stop: but, however, I shall do as well, I know, though it
causes me a little stop. But that, that troubles me most is, that while
we were thus together with the Duke of York, comes in Mr. Wren from the
House, where, he tells us, another storm hath been all this day almost
against the Officers of the Navy upon this complaint,--that though they
have made good rules for payment of tickets, yet that they have not
observed them themselves, which was driven so high as to have it urged
that we should presently be put out of our places: and so they have at
last ordered that we shall be heard at the bar of the House upon this
business on Thursday next. This did mightily trouble me and us all; but
me particularly, who am least able to bear these troubles, though I have
the least cause to be concerned in it. Thence, therefore, to visit Sir
H. Cholmly, who hath for some time been ill of a cold; and thence walked
towards Westminster, and met Colonel Birch, who took me back to walk
with him, and did give me an account of this day's heat against the Navy
Officers, and an account of his speech on our behalf, which was very
good; and indeed we are much beholden to him, as I, after I parted with
him, did find by my cozen Roger, whom I went to: and he and I to his
lodgings. And there he did tell me the same over again; and how much
Birch did stand up in our defence; and that he do see that there are
many desirous to have us out of the Office; and the House is so furious
and passionate, that he thinks nobody can be secure, let him deserve
never so well. But now, he tells me, we shall have a fair hearing of the
House, and he hopes justice of them: but, upon the whole, he do agree
with me that I should hold my hand as to making any purchase of land,
which I had formerly discoursed with him about, till we see a little
further how matters go. He tells me that that made them so mad to-day
first was, several letters in the House about the Fanatickes, in several
places, coming in great bodies, and turning people out of the churches,
and there preaching themselves, and pulling the surplice over the
Parsons' heads: this was confirmed from several places; which makes them
stark mad, especially the hectors and bravadoes of the House, who shew
all the zeal on this occasion. Having done with him, I home vexed in
my mind, and so fit for no business, but sat talking with my wife and
supped with her; and Nan Mercer come and sat all the evening with us,
and much pretty discourse, which did a little ease me, and so to bed.
29th. Up, and walked to Captain Cocke's, where Sir G. Carteret promised
to meet me and did come to discourse about the prize-business of my Lord
Sandwich's, which I perceive is likely to be of great ill consequence to
my Lord, the House being mighty vehement in it. We could say little but
advise that his friends should labour to get it put off, till he comes.
We did here talk many things over, in lamentation of the present posture
of affairs, and the ill condition of all people that have had anything
to do under the King, wishing ourselves a great way off: Here they tell
me how Sir Thomas Allen hath taken the Englishmen out of "La Roche,"
and taken from him an Ostend prize which La Roche had fetched out of our
harbours; and at this day La Roche keeps upon our coasts; and had the
boldness to land some men and go a mile up into the country, and there
took some goods belonging to this prize out of a house there; which our
King resents, and, they say, hath wrote to the King of France about; and
everybody do think a war will follow; and then in what a case we shall
be for want of money, nobody knows. Thence to the office, where we sat
all the morning, and at noon home to dinner, and to the office again in
the afternoon, where we met to consider of an answer to the Parliament
about the not paying of tickets according to our own orders, to which I
hope we shall be able to give a satisfactory answer, but that the design
of the House being apparently to remove us, I do question whether the
best answer will prevail with them. This done I by coach with my wife
to Martin, my bookseller's, expecting to have had my Kercher's Musurgia,
but to my trouble and loss of trouble it was not done. So home again,
my head full of thoughts about our troubles in the office, and so to the
office. Wrote to my father this post, and sent him now Colvill's--[The
Goldsmith.]--note for L600 for my sister's portion, being glad that I
shall, I hope, have that business over before I am out of place, and I
trust I shall be able to save a little of what I have got, and so shall
not be troubled to be at ease; for I am weary of this life. So ends
this month, with a great deal of care and trouble in my head about the
answerings of the Parliament, and particularly in our payment of seamen
by tickets.
MARCH 1667-1668
March 1st (Lord's day). Up very betimes, and by coach to Sir W.
Coventry's; and there, largely carrying with me all my notes and papers,
did run over our whole defence in the business of tickets, in order to
the answering the House on Thursday next; and I do think, unless they be
set without reason to ruin us, we shall make a good defence. I find him
in great anxiety, though he will not discover it, in the business of the
proceedings of Parliament; and would as little as is possible have his
name mentioned in our discourse to them; and particularly the business
of selling places is now upon his hand to defend himself in; wherein I
did help him in his defence about the flag-maker's place, which is named
in the House. We did here do the like about the complaint of want of
victuals in the fleete in the year 1666, which will lie upon me to
defend also. So that my head is full of care and weariness in my
employment. Thence home, and there my mind being a little lightened by
my morning's work in the arguments I have now laid together in better
method for our defence to the Parliament, I to talk with my wife; and in
lieu of a coach this year, I have got my wife to be contented with her
closet being made up this summer, and going into the country this summer
for a month or two, to my father's, and there Mercer and Deb. and Jane
shall go with her, which I the rather do for the entertaining my wife,
and preventing of fallings out between her and my father or Deb., which
uses to be the fate of her going into the country. After dinner by coach
to Westminster, and there to St. Margaret's church, thinking to have
seen Betty Michell, but she was not there, but met her father and mother
and with them to her father's house, where I never was before, but was
mighty much made of, with some good strong waters, which they have
from their son Michell, and mighty good people they are. Thence to
Mrs. Martin's, where I have not been also a good while, and with great
difficulty, company being there, did get an opportunity to hazer what I
would con her, and here I was mightily taken with a starling which
she hath, that was the King's, which he kept in his bedchamber; and
do whistle and talk the most and best that ever I heard anything in my
life. Thence to visit Sir H. Cholmly, who continues still sick of his
cold, and thence calling, but in vain, to speak with Sir G. Carteret at
his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where I spoke with nobody, but home,
where spent the evening talking with W. Hewer about business of the
House, and declaring my expectation of all our being turned out. Hither
comes Carcasse to me about business, and there did confess to me of his
own accord his having heretofore discovered as a complaint against Sir
W. Batten, Sir W. Pen and me that we did prefer the paying of some men
to man "The Flying Greyhound" to others, by order under our hands. The
thing upon recollection I believe is true, and do hope no great matter
can be made of it, but yet I would be glad to have my name out of it,
which I shall labour to do; in the mean time it weighs as a new trouble
on my mind, and did trouble me all night. So without supper to bed, my
eyes being also a little overwrought of late that I could not stay up to
read.
2nd. Up and betimes to the office, where I did much business, and
several come to me, and among others I did prepare Mr. Warren, and by
and by Sir D. Gawden, about what presents I have had from them, that
they may not publish them, or if they do, that in truth I received none
on the account of the Navy but Tangier, and this is true to the former,
and in both that I never asked any thing of them. I must do the like
with the rest. Mr. Moore was with me, and he do tell me, and so W.
Hewer tells me, he hears this morning that all the town is full of the
discourse that the Officers of the Navy shall be all turned out, but
honest Sir John Minnes, who, God knows, is fitter to have been turned
out himself than any of us, doing the King more hurt by his dotage and
folly than all the rest can do by their knavery, if they had a mind to
it. At noon home to dinner, where was Mercer, and very merry as I could
be with my mind so full of business, and so with my wife, her and the
girl, to the King's house to see the "Virgin Martyr" again, which do
mightily please me, but above all the musique at the coming down of the
angel, which at this hearing the second time, do still commend me as
nothing ever did, and the other musique is nothing to it. Thence with
my wife to the 'Change, and so, calling at the Cocke ale house, we home,
and there I settle to business, and with my people preparing my great
answer to the Parliament for the office about tickets till past 1 a
o'clock at night, and then home to supper and to bed, keeping Mr. Gibson
all night with me. This day I have the news that my sister was married
on Thursday last to Mr. Jackson; so that work is, I hope, well over.
3rd. Up betimes to work again, and then met at the Office, where to
our great business of this answer to the Parliament; where to my great
vexation I find my Lord Brouncker prepared only to excuse himself, while
I, that have least reason to trouble myself, am preparing with great
pains to defend them all: and more, I perceive, he would lodge the
beginning of discharging ships by ticket upon me; but I care not, for
I believe I shall get more honour by it when the Parliament, against my
will, shall see how the whole business of the Office was done by me. At
noon rose and to dinner. My wife abroad with Mercer and Deb. buying of
things, but I with my clerks home to dinner, and thence presently down
with Lord Brouncker, W. Pen, T. Harvy, T. Middleton, and Mr. Tippets,
who first took his place this day at the table, as a Commissioner, in
the room of Commissioner Pett. Down by water to Deptford, where the
King, Queene, and Court are to see launched the new ship built by Mr.
Shish, called "The Charles." 2 God send her better luck than the former!
Here some of our brethren, who went in a boat a little before my boat,
did by appointment take opportunity of asking the King's leave that
we might make full use of the want of money, in our excuse to the
Parliament for the business of tickets, and other things they will lay
to our charge, all which arose from nothing else: and this the King did
readily agree to, and did give us leave to make our full use of it.
The ship being well launched, I back again by boat, setting [Sir] T.
Middleton and Mr. Tippets on shore at Ratcliffe, I home and there to my
chamber with Mr. Gibson, and late up till midnight preparing more things
against our defence on Thursday next to my content, though vexed that
all this trouble should be on me. So to supper and to bed.
4th. Up betimes and with Sir W. Pen in his coach to White Hall, there to
wait upon the Duke of York and the Commissioners of the Treasury, [Sir]
W. Coventry and Sir John Duncombe, who do declare that they cannot find
the money we demand, and we that less than what we demand will not set
out the fleet intended, and so broke up, with no other conclusion than
that they would let us have what they could get and we would improve
that as well as we could. So God bless us, and prepare us against the
consequences of these matters. Thence, it being a cold wet day, I
home with Sir J. Minnes in his coach, and called by the way at my
bookseller's and took home with me Kercher's Musurgia--very well bound,
but I had no comfort to look upon them, but as soon as I come home fell
to my work at the office, shutting the doors, that we, I and my clerks,
might not be interrupted, and so, only with room for a little dinner,
we very busy all the day till night that the officers met for me to
give them the heads of what I intended to say, which I did with great
discontent to see them all rely on me that have no reason at all to
trouble myself about it, nor have any thanks from them for my labour,
but contrarily Brouncker looked mighty dogged, as thinking that I did
not intend to do it so as to save him. This troubled me so much as,
together with the shortness of the time and muchness of the business,
did let me be at it till but about ten at night, and then quite weary,
and dull, and vexed, I could go no further, but resolved to leave the
rest to to-morrow morning, and so in full discontent and weariness did
give over and went home, with[out] supper vexed and sickish to bed,
and there slept about three hours, but then waked, and never in so much
trouble in all my life of mind, thinking of the task I have upon me, and
upon what dissatisfactory grounds, and what the issue of it may be to
me.
5th. With these thoughts I lay troubling myself till six o'clock,
restless, and at last getting my wife to talk to me to comfort me, which
she at last did, and made me resolve to quit my hands of this Office,
and endure the trouble of it no longer than till I can clear myself of
it. So with great trouble, but yet with some ease, from this discourse
with my wife, I up, and to my Office, whither come my clerks, and so I
did huddle the best I could some more notes for my discourse to-day, and
by nine o'clock was ready, and did go down to the Old Swan, and there
by boat, with T. H[ater] and W. H[ewer] with me, to Westminster, where I
found myself come time enough, and my brethren all ready. But I full
of thoughts and trouble touching the issue of this day; and, to comfort
myself, did go to the Dog and drink half-a-pint of mulled sack, and in
the Hall [Westminster] did drink a dram of brandy at Mrs. Hewlett's; and
with the warmth of this did find myself in better order as to courage,
truly. So we all up to the lobby; and between eleven and twelve o'clock,
were called in, with the mace before us, into the House, where a mighty
full House; and we stood at the bar, namely, Brouncker, Sir J. Minnes,
Sir T. Harvey, and myself, W. Pen being in the House, as a Member.
I perceive the whole House was full, and full of expectation of our
defence what it would be, and with great prejudice. After the Speaker
had told us the dissatisfaction of the House, and read the Report of
the Committee, I began our defence most acceptably and smoothly, and
continued at it without any hesitation or losse, but with full scope,
and all my reason free about me, as if it had been at my own table, from
that time till past three in the afternoon; and so ended, without
any interruption from the Speaker; but we withdrew. And there all
my Fellow-Officers, and all the world that was within hearing, did
congratulate me, and cry up my speech as the best thing they ever heard;
and my Fellow-Officers overjoyed in it; we were called in again by
and by to answer only one question, touching our paying tickets to
ticket-mongers; and so out; and we were in hopes to have had a vote
this day in our favour, and so the generality of the House was; but my
speech, being so long, many had gone out to dinner and come in again
half drunk; and then there are two or three that are professed enemies
to us and every body else; among others, Sir T. Littleton, Sir Thomas
Lee, Mr. Wiles, the coxcomb whom I saw heretofore at the cock-fighting,
and a few others; I say, these did rise up and speak against the coming
to a vote now, the House not being full, by reason of several being
at dinner, but most because that the House was to attend the King this
afternoon, about the business of religion, wherein they pray him to
put in force all the laws against Nonconformists and Papists; and this
prevented it, so that they put it off to to-morrow come se'nnight.
However, it is plain we have got great ground; and everybody says I have
got the most honour that any could have had opportunity of getting; and
so with our hearts mightily overjoyed at this success, we all to dinner
to Lord Brouncker's--that is to say, myself, T. Harvey, and W. Pen, and
there dined; and thence with Sir Anthony Morgan, who is an acquaintance
of Brouncker's, a very wise man, we after dinner to the King's house,
and there saw part of "The Discontented Colonel," but could take no
great pleasure in it, because of our coming in in the middle of it.
After the play, home with W. Pen, and there to my wife, whom W.
Hewer had told of my success, and she overjoyed, and I also as to my
particular; and, after talking awhile, I betimes to bed, having had no
quiet rest a good while.
6th. Up betimes, and with Sir D. Gawden to Sir W, Coventry's chamber:
where the first word he said to me was, "Good-morrow, Mr. Pepys, that
must be Speaker of the Parliament-house:" and did protest I had got
honour for ever in Parliament. He said that his brother, that sat by
him, admires me; and another gentleman said that I could not get
less than L1000 a-year if I would put on a gown and plead at the
Chancery-bar; but, what pleases me most, he tells me that the
Sollicitor-Generall did protest that he thought I spoke the best of any
man in England. After several talks with him alone, touching his own
businesses, he carried me to White Hall, and there parted; and I to the
Duke of York's lodgings, and find him going to the Park, it being a very
fine morning, and I after him; and, as soon as he saw me, he told me,
with great satisfaction, that I had converted a great many yesterday,
and did, with great praise of me, go on with the discourse with me. And,
by and by, overtaking the King, the King and Duke of York come to me
both; and he--[The King]--said, "Mr. Pepys, I am very glad of your
success yesterday;" and fell to talk of my well speaking; and many of
the Lords there. My Lord Barkeley did cry the up for what they had heard
of it; and others, Parliament-men there, about the King, did say that
they never heard such a speech in their lives delivered in that manner.
Progers, of the Bedchamber, swore to me afterwards before Brouncker, in
the afternoon, that he did tell the King that he thought I might teach
the Sollicitor-Generall. Every body that saw me almost come to me, as
Joseph Williamson and others, with such eulogys as cannot be expressed.
From thence I went to Westminster Hall, where I met Mr. G. Montagu,
who come to me and kissed me, and told me that he had often heretofore
kissed my hands, but now he would kiss my lips: protesting that I
was another Cicero, and said, all the world said the same of me. Mr.
Ashburnham, and every creature I met there of the Parliament, or that
knew anything of the Parliament's actings, did salute me with this
honour:--Mr. Godolphin;--Mr. Sands, who swore he would go twenty mile,
at any time, to hear the like again, and that he never saw so many sit
four hours together to hear any man in his life, as there did to hear
me; Mr. Chichly,--Sir John Duncomb,--and everybody do say that the
kingdom will ring of my abilities, and that I have done myself right for
my whole life: and so Captain Cocke, and others of my friends, say that
no man had ever such an opportunity of making his abilities known; and,
that I may cite all at once, Mr. Lieutenant of the Tower did tell me
that Mr. Vaughan did protest to him, and that, in his hearing it, said
so to the Duke of Albemarle, and afterwards to W. Coventry, that he had
sat twenty-six years in Parliament and never heard such a speech there
before: for which the Lord God make me thankful! and that I may make use
of it not to pride and vain-glory, but that, now I have this esteem, I
may do nothing that may lessen it! I spent the morning thus walking in
the Hall, being complimented by everybody with admiration: and at noon
stepped into the Legg with Sir William Warren, who was in the Hall, and
there talked about a little of his business, and thence into the Hall a
little more, and so with him by coach as far as the Temple almost, and
there 'light, to follow my Lord Brouncker's coach, which I spied, and so
to Madam Williams's, where I overtook him, and agreed upon meeting this
afternoon, and so home to dinner, and after dinner with W. Pen, who
come to my house to call me, to White Hall, to wait on the Duke of York,
where he again and all the company magnified me, and several in the
Gallery: among others, my Lord Gerard, who never knew me before nor
spoke to me, desires his being better acquainted with me; and [said]
that, at table where he was, he never heard so much said of any man as
of me, in his whole life. We waited on the Duke of York, and thence into
the Gallery, where the House of Lords waited the King's coming out of
the Park, which he did by and by; and there, in the Vane-room, my Lord
Keeper delivered a message to the King, the Lords being about him,
wherein the Barons of England, from many good arguments, very well
expressed in the part he read out of, do demand precedence in England of
all noblemen of either of the King's other two kingdoms, be their title
what it will; and did shew that they were in England reputed but as
Commoners, and sat in the House of Commons, and at conferences with the
Lords did stand bare. It was mighty worth my hearing: but the King did
only say that he would consider of it, and so dismissed them. Thence
Brouncker and I to the Committee of Miscarriages sitting in the Court
of Wards, expecting with Sir D. Gawden to have been heard against Prince
Rupert's complaints for want of victuals. But the business of Holmes's
charge against Sir Jer. Smith, which is a most shameful scandalous thing
for Flag officers to accuse one another of, and that this should be
heard here before men that understand it not at all, and after it hath
been examined and judged in before the King and Lord High Admirall and
other able seamen to judge, it is very hard. But this business did keep
them all the afternoon, so we not heard but put off to another day.
Thence, with the Lieutenant of the Tower, in his coach home; and there,
with great pleasure, with my wife, talking and playing at cards a
little--she, and I, and W. Hewer, and Deb., and so, after a little
supper, I to bed.
7th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, at noon home to
dinner, where Mercer with us, and after dinner she, my wife, Deb., and
I, to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Spanish Gipsys," the
second time of acting, and the first that I saw it. A very silly
play, only great variety of dances, and those most excellently done,
especially one part by one Hanes, only lately come thither from the
Nursery, an understanding fellow, but yet, they say, hath spent L1000
a-year before he come thither. This day my wife and I full of thoughts
about Mrs. Pierces sending me word that she, and my old company, Harris
and Knipp, would come and dine with us next Wednesday, how we should
do-to receive or put them off, my head being, at this time, so full of
business, and my wife in no mind to have them neither, and yet I desire
it. Come to no resolution tonight. Home from the playhouse to the
office, where I wrote what I had to write, and among others to my father
to congratulate my sister's marriage, and so home to supper a little and
then to bed.
8th (Lord's day). At my sending to desire it, Sir J. Robinson,
Lieutenant of the Tower, did call me with his coach, and carried me to
White Hall, where met with very many people still that did congratulate
my speech the other day in the House of Commons, and I find all the
world almost rings of it. Here spent the morning walking and talking
with one or other, and among the rest with Sir W. Coventry, who I find
full of care in his own business, how to defend himself against those
that have a mind to choke him; and though, I believe, not for honour
and for the keeping his employment, but for his safety and reputation's
sake, is desirous to preserve himself free from blame, and among other
mean ways which himself did take notice to me to be but a mean thing
he desires me to get information against Captain Tatnell, thereby to
diminish his testimony, who, it seems, hath a mind to do W. Coventry
hurt: and I will do it with all my heart; for Tatnell is a very rogue.
He would be glad, too, that I could find anything proper for his taking
notice against Sir F. Hollis. At noon, after sermon, I to dinner with
Sir G. Carteret to Lincoln's Inn Fields, where I find mighty deal of
company--a solemn day for some of his and her friends, and dine in the
great dining-room above stairs, where Sir G. Carteret himself, and
I, and his son, at a little table by, the great table being full of
strangers. Here my Lady Jem. do promise to come, and bring my Lord
Hinchingbroke and his lady some day this week, to dinner to me, which I
am glad of. After dinner, I up with her husband, Sir Philip Carteret,
to his closet, where, beyond expectation, I do find many pretty things,
wherein he appears to be ingenious, such as in painting, and drawing,
and making of watches, and such kind of things, above my expectation;
though, when all is done, he is a shirke, who owns his owing me L10 for
his lady two or three years ago, and yet cannot provide to pay me. The
company by and by parted, and G. Carteret and I to White Hall, where I
set him down and took his coach as far as the Temple, it raining, and
there took a hackney and home, and so had my head combed, and then to
bed.
9th. Up betimes, and anon with Sir W. Warren, who come to speak with me,
by coach to White Hall, and there met Lord Brouncker: and he and I to
the Commissioners of the Treasury, where I find them mighty kind to
me, more, I think, than was wont. And here I also met Colvill, the
goldsmith; who tells me, with great joy, how the world upon the 'Change
talks of me; and how several Parliamentmen, viz., Boscawen and Major
[Lionel] Walden, of Huntingdon, who, it seems, do deal with him, do say
how bravely I did speak, and that the House was ready to have given
me thanks for it; but that, I think, is a vanity. Thence I with Lord
Brouncker, and did take up his mistress, Williams, and so to the
'Change, only to shew myself, and did a little business there, and so
home to dinner, and then to the office busy till the evening, and then
to the Excize Office, where I find Mr. Ball in a mighty trouble that he
is to be put out of his place at Midsummer, the whole Commission being
to cease, and the truth is I think they are very fair dealing men, all
of them. Here I did do a little business, and then to rights home, and
there dispatched many papers, and so home late to supper and to bed,
being eased of a great many thoughts, and yet have a great many more to
remove as fast as I can, my mind being burdened with them, having been
so much employed upon the public business of the office in their defence
before the Parliament of late, and the further cases that do attend it.
10th. Up, and to the office betimes, where all the morning. At noon home
to dinner with my clerks, and after dinner comes Kate Joyce, who tells
me she is putting off her house, which I am glad of, but it was pleasant
that she come on purpose to me about getting a ticket paid, and in
her way hither lost her ticket, so that she is at a great loss what to
do.--There comes in then Mrs. Mercer, the mother, the first time she has
been here since her daughter lived with us, to see my wife, and after a
little talk I left them and to the office, and thence with Sir D. Gawden
to Westminster Hall, thinking to have attended the Committee about the
Victualling business, but they did not meet, but here we met Sir R.
Brookes, who do mightily cry up my speech the other day, saying my
fellow-officers are obliged to me, as indeed they are. Thence with
Sir D. Gawden homewards, calling at Lincolne's Inn Fields: but my Lady
Jemimah was not within: and so to Newgate, where he stopped to give
directions to the jaylor about a Knight, one Sir Thomas Halford brought
in yesterday for killing one Colonel Temple, falling out at a taverne.
So thence as far as Leadenhall, and there I 'light, and back by coach
to Lincoln's Inn Fields; but my Lady was not come in, and so I am at
a great loss whether she and her brother Hinchingbroke and sister will
dine with me to-morrow or no, which vexes me. So home; and there comes
Mr. Moore to me, who tells me that he fears my Lord Sandwich will meet
with very great difficulties to go through about the prizes, it being
found that he did give orders for more than the King's letter do
justify; and then for the Act of Resumption, which he fears will go on,
and is designed only to do him hurt, which troubles me much. He tells me
he believes the Parliament will not be brought to do anything in matters
of religion, but will adhere to the Bishops. So he gone, I up to supper,
where I find W. Joyce and Harman come to see us, and there was also Mrs.
Mercer and her two daughters, and here we were as merry as that fellow
Joyce could make us with his mad talking, after the old wont, which
tired me. But I was mightily pleased with his singing; for the rogue
hath a very good eare, and a good voice. Here he stayed till he was
almost drunk, and then away at about ten at night, and then all broke
up, and I to bed.
11th. Up, and betimes to the office, where busy till 8 o'clock, and then
went forth, and meeting Mr. Colvill, I walked with, him to his building,
where he is building a fine house, where he formerly lived, in Lumbard
Street: and it will be a very fine street. Thence walked down to the
Three Cranes and there took boat to White Hall, where by direction I
waited on the Duke of York about office business, and so by water to
Westminster, where walking in the Hall most of the morning, and up to my
Lady Jem. in Lincoln's Inn Fields to get her to appoint the day certain
when she will come and dine with me, and she hath appointed Saturday
next. So back to Westminster; and there still walked, till by and by
comes Sir W. Coventry, and with him Mr. Chichly and Mr. Andrew Newport,
I to dinner with them to Mr. Chichly's, in Queene Street, in Covent
Garden. A very fine house, and a man that lives in mighty great fashion,
with all things in a most extraordinary manner noble and rich about him,
and eats in the French fashion all; and mighty nobly served with his
servants, and very civilly; that I was mighty pleased with it: and good
discourse. He is a great defender of the Church of England, and against
the Act for Comprehension, which is the work of this day, about which
the House is like to sit till night. After dinner, away with them back
to Westminster, where, about four o'clock, the House rises, and hath
done nothing more in the business than to put off the debate to this
day month. In the mean time the King hath put out his proclamations this
day, as the House desired, for the putting in execution the Act against
Nonconformists and Papists, but yet it is conceived that for all this
some liberty must be given, and people will have it. Here I met with
my cozen Roger Pepys, who is come to town, and hath been told of my
performance before the House the other day, and is mighty proud of it,
and Captain Cocke met me here to-day, and told me that the Speaker says
he never heard such a defence made; in all his life, in the House; and
that the Sollicitor-Generall do commend me even to envy. I carried
cozen Roger as far as the Strand, where, spying out of the coach
Colonel Charles George Cocke, formerly a very great man, and my father's
customer, whom I have carried clothes to, but now walks like a poor
sorry sneake, he stopped, and I 'light to him. This man knew me, which
I would have willingly avoided, so much pride I had, he being a man
of mighty height and authority in his time, but now signifies nothing.
Thence home, where to the office a while and then home, where W.
Batelier was and played at cards and supped with us, my eyes being out
of order for working, and so to bed.
12th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, at noon home, and
after dinner with wife and Deb., carried them to Unthanke's, and I to
Westminster Hall expecting our being with the Committee this afternoon
about Victualling business, but once more waited in vain. So after a
turn or two with Lord Brouncker, I took my wife up and left her at the
'Change while I to Gresham College, there to shew myself; and was there
greeted by Dr. Wilkins, Whistler, and others, as the patron of the Navy
Office, and one that got great fame by my late speech to the Parliament.
Here I saw a great trial of the goodness of a burning glass, made of a
new figure, not spherical (by one Smithys, I think, they call him), that
did burn a glove of my Lord Brouncker's from the heat of a very little
fire, which a burning glass of the old form, or much bigger, could not
do, which was mighty pretty. Here I heard Sir Robert Southwell give an
account of some things committed to him by the Society at his going to
Portugall, which he did deliver in a mighty handsome manner.
[At the meeting of the Royal Society on March 12th, 1668, "Mr.
Smethwick's glasses were tried again; and his telescope being
compared with another longer telescope, and the object-glasses
exchanged, was still found to exceed the other in goodness; and his
burning concave being compared with a spherical burning-glass of
almost twice the diameter, and held to the fire, it burnt gloves,
whereas the other spherical ones would not burn at all."--"Sir
Robert Southwell being lately returned from Portugal, where he had
been ambassador from the king, and being desired to acquaint the
society with what he had done with respect to the instructions,
which he had received from them before his departure from England,
related, that he had lodged the astronomical quadrant, which the
society had sent to Portugal to make observations with there, with a
body of men at Lisbon, who had applied themselves among other kinds
of literature to mathematics" (Birch's "History of the Royal
Society," vol. ii., p. 256).]
Thence went away home, and there at my office as long as my eyes would
endure, and then home to supper, and to talk with Mr. Pelling, who tells
me what a fame I have in the City for my late performance; and upon the
whole I bless God for it. I think I have, if I can keep it, done myself
a great deal of repute. So by and by to bed.
13th. Up betimes to my office, where to fit myself for attending the
Parliament again, not to make any more speech, which, while my fame is
good, I will avoid, for fear of losing it; but only to answer to what
objections will be made against us. Thence walked to the Old Swan and
drank at Michell's, whose house is going up apace. Here I saw Betty, but
could not baiser la, and so to Westminster, there to the Hall, where
up to my cozen Roger Pepys at the Parliament door, and there he took me
aside, and told me how he was taken up by one of the House yesterday,
for moving for going on with the King's supply of money, without regard
to the keeping pace therewith, with the looking into miscarriages, and
was told by this man privately that it did arise because that he had a
kinsman concerned therein; and therefore he would prefer the safety of
his kinsman to the good of the nation, and that there was great things
against us and against me, for all my fine discourse the other day. But
I did bid him be at no pain for me; for I knew of nothing but what I was
very well prepared to answer; and so I think I am, and therefore was not
at all disquieted by this. Thence he to the House, and I to the Hall,
where my Lord Brouncker and the rest waiting till noon and not called
for by the House, they being upon the business of money again, and at
noon all of us to Chatelin's, the French house in Covent Garden, to
dinner--Brouncker, J. Minnes, W. Pen, T. Harvey, and myself--and there
had a dinner cost us 8s. 6d. a-piece, a damned base dinner, which did
not please us at all, so that I am not fond of this house at all, but do
rather choose the Beare. After dinner to White Hall to the Duke of York,
and there did our usual business, complaining of our standing still in
every-respect for want of money, but no remedy propounded, but so I must
still be. Thence with our company to the King's playhouse, where I left
them, and I, my head being full of to-morrow's dinner, I to my Lord
Crew's, there to invite Sir Thomas Crew; and there met with my Lord
Hinchingbroke and his lady, the first time I spoke to her. I saluted
her; and she mighty civil and; with my Lady Jemimah, do all resolve to
be very merry to-morrow at my house. My Lady Hinchingbroke I cannot say
is a beauty, nor ugly; but is altogether a comely lady enough, and seems
very good-humoured, and I mighty glad of the occasion of seeing her
before to-morrow. Thence home; and there find one laying of my napkins
against tomorrow in figures of all sorts, which is mighty pretty; and,
it seems, it is his trade, and he gets much money by it; and do now and
then furnish tables with plate and linnen for a feast at so much, which
is mighty pretty, and a trade I could not have thought of. I find my
wife upon the bed not over well, her breast being broke out with heat,
which troubles her, but I hope it will be for her good. Thence I to Mrs.
Turner, and did get her to go along with me to the French pewterer's,
and there did buy some new pewter against to-morrow; and thence to White
Hall, to have got a cook of her acquaintance, the best in England, as
she says. But after we had with much ado found him, he could not come,
nor was Mr. Gentleman in town, whom next I would have had, nor would
Mrs. Stone let her man Lewis come, whom this man recommended to me; so
that I was at a mighty loss what in the world to do for a cooke, Philips
being out of town. Therefore, after staying here at Westminster a great
while, we back to London, and there to Philips's, and his man directed
us to Mr. Levett's, who could not come, and he sent to two more, and
they could not; so that, at last, Levett as a great kindness did resolve
he would leave his business and come himself, which set me in great ease
in my mind, and so home, and there with my wife setting all things in
order against to-morrow, having seen Mrs. Turner at home, and so late to
bed.
14th. Up very betimes, and with Jane to Levett's, there to conclude upon
our dinner; and thence to the pewterer's, to buy a pewter sesterne,
[A pewter cistern was formerly part of the furniture of a well-
appointed dining-room; the plates were rinsed in it, when necessary,
during the meal. A magnificent silver cistern is still preserved in
the dining-room at Burghley House, the seat of the Marquis of
Exeter. It is said to be the largest piece of plate in England, and
was once the subject of a curious wager.--B.]
which I have ever hitherto been without, and so up and down upon several
occasions to set matters in order, and that being done I out of doors to
Westminster Hall, and there met my Lord Brouncker, who tells me that
our business is put off till Monday, and so I was mighty glad that I was
eased of my attendance here, and of any occasion that might put me out
of humour, as it is likely if we had been called before the Parliament.
Therefore, after having spoke with Mr. Godolphin and cozen Roger, I away
home, and there do find everything in mighty good order, only my wife
not dressed, which troubles me. Anon comes my company, viz., my Lord
Hinchingbroke and his lady, Sir Philip Carteret and his, lady, Godolphin
and my cozen Roger, and Creed: and mighty merry; and by and by to
dinner, which was very good and plentifull: (I should have said, and Mr.
George Montagu), who come at a very little warning, which was exceeding
kind of him. And there, among other things, my Lord had Sir Samuel
Morland's late invention for casting up of sums of L. s. d.;
[The same as Morland's so-called calculating machine. Sir Samuel
published in 1673 "The Description and Use of two Arithmetick
Instruments, together with a short Treatise of Arithmetic, as
likewise a Perpetual Almanack and severall useful tables."]
which is very pretty, but not very useful. Most of our discourse was of
my Lord Sandwich and his family, as being all of us of the family; and
with extraordinary pleasure all the afternoon, thus together eating
and looking over my closet: and my Lady Hinchingbroke I find a very
sweet-natured and well-disposed lady, a lover of books and pictures, and
of good understanding. About five o'clock they went; and then my wife
and I abroad by coach into Moorefields, only for a little ayre, and so
home again, staying no where, and then up to her chamber, there to talk
with pleasure of this day's passages, and so to bed. This day I had the
welcome news of our prize being come safe from Holland, so as I shall
have hopes, I hope, of getting my money of my Lady Batten, or good part
of it.
15th (Lord's day). Up and walked, it being fine dry weather, to Sir W.
Coventry's, overtaking my boy Ely (that was), and he walked with me,
being grown a man, and I think a sober fellow. He parted at Charing
Cross, and I to Sir W. Coventry's, and there talked with him about the
Commissioners of Accounts, who did give in their report yesterday to the
House, and do lay little upon us as aggravate any thing at present, but
only do give an account of the dissatisfactory account they receive from
Sir G. Carteret, which I am sorry for, they saying that he tells them
not any time when he paid any sum, which is fit for them to know for
the computing of interest, but I fear he is hardly able to tell it. They
promise to give them an account of the embezzlement of prizes, wherein
I shall be something concerned, but nothing that I am afeard of, I thank
God. Thence walked with W. Coventry into the Park, and there met the
King and the Duke of York, and walked a good while with them: and here
met Sir Jer. Smith, who tells me he is like to get the better of Holmes,
and that when he is come to an end of that, he will do Hollis's business
for him, in the House, for his blasphemies, which I shall be glad of. So
to White Hall, and there walked with this man and that man till chapel
done, and, the King dined and then Sir Thomas Clifford, the Comptroller,
took me with him to dinner to his lodgings, where my Lord Arlington and
a great deal of good and great company; where I very civilly used by
them, and had a most excellent dinner: and good discourse of Spain, Mr.
Godolphin being there; particularly of the removal of the bodies of all
the dead Kings of Spain that could be got together, and brought to the
Pantheon at the Escuriall, when it was finished, and there placed before
the altar, there to lie for ever; and there was a sermon made to them
upon this text, "Arida ossa, audite verbum Dei;" and a most eloquent
sermon, as they say, who say they have read it. After dinner, away
hence, and I to Mrs. Martin's, and there spent the afternoon, and did
hazer con elle, and here was her sister and Mrs. Burrows, and so in the
evening got a coach and home, and there find Mr. Pelting and W. Hewer,
and there talked and supped, Pelting being gone, and mightily pleased
with a picture that W. Hewer brought hither of several things painted
upon a deale board, which board is so well painted that in my whole
life I never was so well pleased or surprized with any picture, and so
troubled that so good pictures should be painted upon a piece of bad
deale. Even after I knew that it was not board, but only the picture of
a board, I could not remove my fancy. After supper to bed, being very
sleepy, and, I bless God, my mind being at very good present rest.
16th. Up, to set my papers and books in order, and put up my plate since
my late feast, and then to Westminster, by water, with Mr. Hater, and
there, in the Hall, did walk all the morning, talking with one or other,
expecting to have our business in the House; but did now a third time
wait to no purpose, they being all this morning upon the business
of Barker's petition about the making void the Act of Settlement in
Ireland, which makes a great deal of hot work: and, at last, finding
that by all men's opinion they could not come to our matter today, I
with Sir W. Pen home, and there to dinner, where I find, by Willet's
crying, that her mistress had been angry with her: but I would take no
notice of it. Busy all the afternoon at the office, and then by coach to
the Excize Office, but lost my labour, there being nobody there, and
so back again home, and after a little at the office I home, and there
spent the evening with my wife talking and singing, and so to bed with
my mind pretty well at ease. This evening W. Pen and Sir R. Ford and I
met at the first's house to talk of our prize that is now at last come
safe over from Holland, by which I hope to receive some if not all the
benefit of my bargain with W. Batten for my share in it, which if she
had miscarried I should have doubted of my Lady Batten being left little
able to have paid me.
17th. Up betimes and to the office, where all the morning busy, and
then at noon home to dinner, and so again to the office awhile, and then
abroad to the Excize-Office, where I met Mr. Ball, and did receive the
paper I went for; and there fell in talk with him, who, being an old
cavalier, do swear and curse at the present state of things, that we
should be brought to this, that we must be undone and cannot be saved;
that the Parliament is sitting now, and will till midnight, to find how
to raise this L300,000, and he doubts they will not do it so as to be
seasonable for the King: but do cry out against our great men at Court;
how it is a fine thing for a Secretary of State to dance a jigg, and
that it was not so heretofore; and, above all, do curse my Lord of
Bristoll, saying the worst news that ever he heard in his life, or that
the Devil could ever bring us, was this Lord's coming to prayers the
other day in the House of Lords, by which he is coming about again from
being a Papist, which will undo this nation; and he says he ever did
say, at the King's first coming in, that this nation could not be safe
while that man was alive. Having done there, I away towards Westminster,
but seeing by the coaches the House to be up, I stopped at the 'Change
(where, I met Mrs. Turner, and did give her a pair of gloves), and there
bought several things for my wife, and so to my bookseller's, and there
looked for Montaigne's Essays,
[This must have been Florio's translation, as Cotton's was not
published until 1685.]
which I heard by my Lord Arlington and Lord Blaney so much commended,
and intend to buy it, but did not now, but home, where at the office
did some business, as much as my eyes would give leave, and so home to
supper, Mercer with us talking and singing, and so to bed. The House, I
hear, have this day concluded upon raising L100,000 of the L300,000
by wine, and the rest by a poll-[tax], and have resolved to excuse the
Church, in expectation that they will do the more of themselves at this
juncture; and I do hear that Sir W. Coventry did make a speech in behalf
of the Clergy.
18th. Up betimes to Westminster, where met with cozen Roger and Creed
and walked with them, and Roger do still continue of the mind that there
is no other way of saving this nation but by dissolving this Parliament
and calling another; but there are so many about the King that will not
be able to stand, if a new Parliament come, that they will not persuade
the King to it. I spent most of the morning walking with one or other,
and anon met Doll Lane at the Dog tavern, and there je did hater what I
did desire with her... and I did give her as being my valentine 20s.
to buy what elle would. Thence away by coach to my bookseller's, and
to several places to pay my debts, and to Ducke Lane, and there bought
Montaigne's Essays, in English, and so away home to dinner, and after
dinner with W. Pen to White Hall, where we and my Lord Brouncker
attended the Council, to discourse about the fitness of entering of men
presently for the manning of the fleete, before one ship is in condition
to receive them. W. Coventry did argue against it: I was wholly silent,
because I saw the King, upon the earnestness of the Prince, was willing
to it, crying very sillily, "If ever you intend to man the fleete,
without being cheated by the captains and pursers, you may go to bed,
and resolve never to have it manned;" and so it was, like other things,
over-ruled that all volunteers should be presently entered. Then there
was another great business about our signing of certificates to
the Exchequer for [prize] goods, upon the L1,20,000 Act, which the
Commissioners of the Treasury did all oppose, and to the laying fault
upon us. But I did then speak to the justifying what we had done, even
to the angering of Duncomb and Clifford, which I was vexed at: but, for
all that, I did set the Office and myself right, and went away with the
victory, my Lord Keeper saying that he would not advise the Council
to order us to sign no more certificates. But, before I began to say
anything in this matter, the King and the Duke of York talking at the
Council-table, before all the Lords, of the Committee of Miscarriages,
how this entering of men before the ships could be ready would be
reckoned a miscarriage; "Why," says the King, "it is then but Mr. Pepys
making of another speech to them;" which made all the Lords, and there
were by also the Atturny and Sollicitor-Generall, look upon me. Thence
Sir W. Coventry, W. Pen and I, by hackney-coach to take a little ayre in
Hyde Parke, the first time I have been there this year; and we did meet
many coaches going and coming, it being mighty pleasant weather; and so,
coming back again, I 'light in the Pell Mell; and there went to see Sir
H. Cholmly, who continues very ill of his cold. And there come in Sir H.
Yelverton, whom Sir H. Cholmly commended me to his acquaintance, which
the other received, but without remembering to me, or I him, of our
being school-fellows together; and I said nothing of it. But he took
notice of my speech the other day at the bar of the House; and indeed I
perceive he is a wise man by his manner of discourse, and here he do say
that the town is full of it, that now the Parliament hath resolved
upon L300,000, the King, instead of fifty, will set out but twenty-five
ships, and the Dutch as many; and that Smith is to command them, who is
allowed to have the better of Holmes in the late dispute, and is in good
esteem in the Parliament, above the other. Thence home, and there, in
favour to my eyes, stayed at home, reading the ridiculous History of
my Lord Newcastle, wrote by his wife, which shews her to be a mad,
conceited, ridiculous woman, and he an asse to suffer her to write what
she writes to him, and of him.
["The Life of the thrice noble, high, and puissant Prince, William
Cavendish, Duke... of Newcastle," by his duchess, of which the
first edition, in folio, was published in 1667.]
Betty Turner sent my wife the book to read, and it being a fair print,
to ease my eyes, which would be reading, I read that. Anon comes Mrs.
Turner and sat and talked with us, and most about the business of
Ackworth,
[William Acworth, storekeeper at Woolwich, was accused of converting
stores to his own use (see "Calendar of State Papers," 1667-68, p.
279).]
which comes before us to-morrow, that I would favour it, but I do not
think, notwithstanding all the friendship I can shew him, that he can
escape, and therefore it had been better that he had followed the advice
I sent him the other day by Mrs. Turner, to make up the business. So
parted, and I to bed, my eyes being very bad; and I know not how in the
world to abstain from reading.
19th. Up, and betimes to the Old Swan, and by water to White Hall, and
thence to W. Coventry's, where stayed but a little to talk with him,
and thence by water back again, it being a mighty fine, clear spring
morning. Back to the Old Swan, and drank at Michell's, whose house goes
up apace, but I could not see Betty, and thence walked all along
Thames Street, which I have not done since it was burned, as far as
Billingsgate; and there do see a brave street likely to be, many brave
houses being built, and of them a great many by Mr. Jaggard; but the
raising of the street will make it mighty fine. So to the office, where
busy all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and thence to the office,
very busy till five o'clock, and then to ease my eyes I took my wife out
and Deb. to the 'Change, and there bought them some things, and so home
again and to the office, ended my letters, and so home to read a little
more in last night's book, with much sport, it being a foolish book, and
so to supper and to bed. This afternoon I was surprized with a letter
without a name to it, very well writ, in a good stile, giving me notice
of my cozen Kate Joyce's being likely to ruin herself by marriage, and
by ill reports already abroad of her, and I do fear that this keeping
of an inne may spoil her, being a young and pretty comely woman, and
thought to be left well. I did answer the letter with thanks and good
liking, and am resolved to take the advice he gives me, and go see her,
and find out what I can: but if she will ruin herself, I cannot help it,
though I should be troubled for it.
20th. Up betimes, and to my Office, where we had a meeting extraordinary
to consider of several things, among others the sum of money fit to be
demanded ready money, to enable us to set out 27 ships, every body
being now in pain for a fleete, and everybody endeavouring to excuse
themselves for the not setting out of one, and our true excuse is lack
of money. At it all the morning, and so at noon home to dinner with my
clerks, my wife and Deb. being busy at work above in her chamber getting
things ready and fine for her going into the country a week or two
hence. I away by coach to White Hall, where we met to wait on the Duke
of York, and, soon as prayers were done, it being Good Friday, he come
to us, and we did a little business and presented him with our demand
of money, and so broke up, and I thence by coach to Kate Joyce's,
being desirous and in pain to speak with her about the business that I
received a letter yesterday, but had no opportunity of speaking with her
about it, company being with her, so I only invited her to come and dine
with me on Sunday next, and so away home, and for saving my eyes at
my chamber all the evening pricking down some things, and trying some
conclusions upon my viall, in order to the inventing a better theory of
musique than hath yet been abroad; and I think verily I shall do it. So
to supper with my wife, who is in very good humour with her working, and
so am I, and so to bed. This day at Court I do hear that Sir W. Pen do
command this summer's fleete; and Mr. Progers of the Bedchamber, as a
secret, told me that the Prince Rupert is troubled at it, and several
friends of his have been with him to know the reason of it; so that he
do pity Sir W. Pen, whom he hath great kindness for, that he should not
at any desire of his be put to this service, and thereby make the Prince
his enemy, and contract more envy from other people. But I am not a whit
sorry if it should be so, first for the King's sake, that his work will
be better done by Sir W. Pen than the Prince, and next that Pen, who is
a false rogue, may be bit a little by it.
21st. Up betimes to the office, and there we sat all the morning, at
noon home with my clerks, a good dinner, and then to the Office, and
wrote my letters, and then abroad to do several things, and pay what
little scores I had, and among others to Mrs. Martin's, and there did
give 20s. to Mrs. Cragg, her landlady, who was my Valentine in the
house, as well as Doll Lane.... So home and to the office, there to end
my letters, and so home, where Betty Turner was to see my wife, and she
being gone I to my chamber to read a little again, and then after supper
to bed.
22nd (Easter day). I up, and walked to the Temple, and there got a
coach, and to White Hall, where spoke with several people, and find by
all that Pen is to go to sea this year with this fleete; and they excuse
the Prince's going, by saying it is not a command great enough for him.
Here I met with Brisband, and, after hearing the service at the King's
chapel, where I heard the Bishop of Norwich, Dr. Reynolds, the old
presbyterian, begin a very plain sermon, he and I to the Queen's chapel,
and there did hear the Italians sing; and indeed their musick did appear
most admirable to me, beyond anything of ours: I was never so well
satisfied in my life with it. So back to White Hall, and there met Mr.
Pierce, and adjusted together how we should spend to-morrow together,
and so by coach I home to dinner, where Kate Joyce was, as I invited
her, and had a good dinner, only she and us; and after dinner she and
I alone to talk about her business, as I designed; and I find her very
discreet, and she assures me she neither do nor will incline to the
doing anything towards marriage, without my advice, and did tell me that
she had many offers, and that Harman and his friends would fain have
her; but he is poor, and hath poor friends, and so it will not be
advisable: but that there is another, a tobacconist, one Holinshed, whom
she speaks well of, to be a plain, sober man, and in good condition,
that offers her very well, and submits to me my examining and inquiring
after it, if I see good, which I do like of it, for it will be best for
her to marry, I think, as soon as she can--at least, to be rid of this
house; for the trade will not agree with a young widow, that is a little
handsome, at least ordinary people think her so. Being well satisfied
with her answer, she anon went away, and I to my closet to make a few
more experiments of my notions in musique, and so then my wife and I to
walk in the garden, and then home to supper and to bed.
23rd. Up, and after discoursing with my wife about many things touching
this day's dinner, I abroad, and first to the taverne to pay what I owe
there, but missed of seeing the mistress of the house, and there
bespoke wine for dinner, and so away thence, and to Bishopsgate Streete,
thinking to have found a Harpsicon-maker that used to live there before
the fire, but he is gone, and I have a mind forthwith to have a little
Harpsicon made me to confirm and help me in my musique notions, which my
head is now-a-days full of, and I do believe will come to something that
is very good. Thence to White Hall, expecting to have heard the
Bishop of Lincolne, my friend, preach, for so I understood he would do
yesterday, but was mistaken, and therefore away presently back again,
and there find everything in good order against dinner, and at noon come
Mr. Pierce and she, and Mrs. Manuel, the Jew's wife, and Mrs. Corbet,
and Mrs. Pierces boy and girl. But we are defeated of Knepp, by her
being forced to act to-day, and also of Harris, which did trouble me,
they being my chief guests. However, I had an extraordinary good dinner,
and the better because dressed by my own servants, and were mighty
merry; and here was Mr. Pelling by chance come and dined with me; and
after sitting long at dinner, I had a barge ready at Tower-wharfe, to
take us in, and so we went, all of us, up as high as Barne-Elms, a very
fine day, and all the way sang; and Mrs. Manuel sings very finely, and
is a mighty discreet, sober-carriaged woman, that both my wife and I are
mightily taken with her, and sings well, and without importunity or the
contrary. At Barne-Elms we walked round, and then to the barge again,
and had much merry talk, and good singing; and come before it was dark
to the New Exchange stairs, and there landed, and walked up to Mrs.
Pierces, where we sat awhile, and then up to their dining-room. And so,
having a violin and theorbo, did fall to dance, here being also Mrs.
Floyd come hither, and by and by Mr. Harris. But there being so few of
us that could dance, and my wife not being very well, we had not much
pleasure in the dancing: there was Knepp also, by which with much
pleasure we did sing a little, and so, about ten o'clock, I took coach
with my wife and Deb., and so home, and there to bed.
24th. Up pretty betimes, and so there comes to me Mr. Shish, to desire
my appearing for him to succeed Mr. Christopher Pett, lately dead, in
his place of Master-Shipwright of Deptford and Woolwich, which I do
resolve to promote what I can. So by and by to White Hall, and there to
the Duke of York's chamber, where I understand it is already resolved
by the King and Duke of York that Shish shall have the place. From the
Duke's chamber Sir W. Coventry and I to walk in the Matted Gallery; and
there, among other things, he tells me of the wicked design that now is
at last contriving against him, to get a petition presented from people
that the money they have paid to W. Coventry for their places may be
repaid them back; and that this is set on by Temple and Hollis of the
Parliament, and, among other mean people in it, by Captain Tatnell: and
he prays me that I will use some effectual way to sift Tatnell what he
do, and who puts him on in this business, which I do undertake, and will
do with all my skill for his service, being troubled that he is still
under this difficulty. Thence up and down Westminster by Mrs. Burroughes
her mother's shop, thinking to have seen her, but could not, and
therefore back to White Hall, where great talk of the tumult at the
other end of the town, about Moore-fields, among the 'prentices, taking
the liberty of these holydays to pull down bawdy-houses.
[It was customary for the apprentices of the metropolis to avail
themselves of their holidays, especially on Shrove Tuesday, to
search after women of ill fame, and to confine them during the
season of Lent. See a "Satyre against Separatists," 1642.
"Stand forth, Shrove Tuesday, one a' the silenc'st bricklayers;
'Tis in your charge to pull down bawdy-houses."
Middleton's Inner Temple Masque, 1619,
Works, ed. Bullen, vii., 209.]
And, Lord! to see the apprehensions which this did give to all people
at Court, that presently order was given for all the soldiers, horse
and foot, to be in armes! and forthwith alarmes were beat by drum and
trumpet through Westminster, and all to their colours, and to horse, as
if the French were coming into the town! So Creed, whom I met here, and
I to Lincolne's Inn-fields, thinking to have gone into the fields
to have seen the 'prentices; but here we found these fields full of
soldiers all in a body, and my Lord Craven commanding of them, and
riding up and down to give orders, like a madman. And some young men we
saw brought by soldiers to the Guard at White Hall, and overheard others
that stood by say, that it was only for pulling down the bawdy-houses;
and none of the bystanders finding fault with them, but rather of the
soldiers for hindering them. And we heard a justice of the Peace this
morning say to the King, that he had been endeavouring to suppress this
tumult, but could not; and that, imprisoning some [of them] in the new
prison at Clerkenwell, the rest did come and break open the prison and
release them; and that they do give out that they are for pulling down
the bawdy-houses, which is one of the greatest grievances of the nation.
To which the King made a very poor, cold, insipid answer: "Why, why do
they go to them, then?" and that was all, and had no mind to go on with
the discourse. Mr. Creed and I to dinner to my Lord Crew, where little
discourse, there being none but us at the table, and my Lord and my Lady
Jemimah, and so after dinner away, Creed and I to White Hall, expecting
a Committee of Tangier, but come too late. So I to attend the Council,
and by and by were called in with Lord Brouncker and Sir W. Pen to
advise how to pay away a little money to most advantage to the men of
the yards, to make them dispatch the ships going out, and there did make
a little speech, which was well liked, and after all it was found most
satisfactory to the men, and best for the king's dispatch, that what
money we had should be paid weekly to the men for their week's work
until a greater sum could be got to pay them their arrears and then
discharge them. But, Lord! to see what shifts and what cares and
thoughts there was employed in this matter how to do the King's work and
please the men and stop clamours would make a man think the King should
not eat a bit of good meat till he has got money to pay the men, but I
do not see the least print of care or thoughts in him about it at all.
Having done here, I out and there met Sir Fr. Hollis, who do still tell
me that, above all things in the world, he wishes he had my tongue in
his mouth, meaning since my speech in Parliament. He took Lord Brouncker
and me down to the guards, he and his company being upon the guards
to-day; and there he did, in a handsome room to that purpose, make us
drink, and did call for his bagpipes, which, with pipes of ebony, tipt
with silver, he did play beyond anything of that kind that ever I heard
in my life; and with great pains he must have obtained it, but with
pains that the instrument do not deserve at all; for, at the best, it is
mighty barbarous musick. So home and there to my chamber, to prick out
my song, "It is Decreed," intending to have it ready to give Mr. Harris
on Thursday, when we meet, for him to sing, believing that he will do it
more right than a woman that sings better, unless it were Knepp, which
I cannot have opportunity to teach it to. This evening I come home from
White Hall with Sir W. Pen, who fell in talk about his going to sea this
year, and the difficulties that arise to him by it, by giving offence to
the Prince, and occasioning envy to him, and many other things that make
it a bad matter, at this time of want of money and necessaries, and bad
and uneven counsels at home,--for him to go abroad: and did tell me how
much with the King and Duke of York he had endeavoured to be excused,
desiring the Prince might be satisfied in it, who hath a mind to go;
but he tells me they will not excuse him, and I believe it, and truly do
judge it a piece of bad fortune to W. Pen.
25th. Up, and walked to White Hall, there to wait on the Duke of York,
which I did: and in his chamber there, first by hearing the Duke of York
call me by my name, my Lord Burlington did come to me, and with great
respect take notice of me and my relation to my Lord Sandwich, and
express great kindness to me; and so to talk of my Lord Sandwich's
concernments. By and by the Duke of York is ready; and I did wait for
an opportunity of speaking my mind to him about Sir J. Minnes, his being
unable to do the King any service, which I think do become me to do in
all respects, and have Sir W. Coventry's concurrence therein, which I
therefore will seek a speedy opportunity to do, come what will come of
it. The Duke of York and all with him this morning were full of the talk
of the 'prentices, who are not yet [put] down, though the guards and
militia of the town have been in armes all this night, and the night
before; and the 'prentices have made fools of them, sometimes by running
from them and flinging stones at them. Some blood hath been spilt, but
a great many houses pulled down; and, among others, the Duke of York was
mighty merry at that of Damaris Page's, the great bawd of the seamen;
and the Duke of York complained merrily that he hath lost two tenants,
by their houses being pulled down, who paid him for their wine licenses
L15 a year. But here it was said how these idle fellows have had the
confidence to say that they did ill in contenting themselves in pulling
down the little bawdyhouses, and did not go and pull down the great
bawdy-house at White Hall. And some of them have the last night had a
word among them, and it was "Reformation and Reducement." This do make
the courtiers ill at ease to see this spirit among people, though they
think this matter will not come to much: but it speaks people's minds;
and then they do say that there are men of understanding among them,
that have been of Cromwell's army: but how true that is, I know not.
Thence walked a little to Westminster, but met with nobody to spend any
time with, and so by coach homeward, and in Seething Lane met young
Mrs. Daniel, and I stopt, and she had been at my house, but found nobody
within, and tells me that she drew me for her Valentine this year, so
I took her into the coach, and was going to the other end of the town,
thinking to have taken her abroad, but remembering that I was to go out
with my wife this afternoon,... and so to a milliner at the corner shop
going into Bishopsgate and Leadenhall Street, and there did give her
eight pair of gloves, and so dismissed her, and so I home and to dinner,
and then with my wife to the King's playhouse to see "The Storme," which
we did, but without much pleasure, it being but a mean play compared
with "The Tempest," at the Duke of York's house, though Knepp did act
her part of grief very well. Thence with my wife and Deb. by coach to
Islington, to the old house, and there eat and drank till it was almost
night, and then home, being in fear of meeting the 'prentices, who are
many of them yet, they say, abroad in the fields, but we got well home,
and so I to my chamber a while, and then to supper and to bed.
26th. Up betimes to the office, where by and by my Lord Brouncker and I
met and made an end of our business betimes. So I away with him to Mrs.
Williams's, and there dined, and thence I alone to the Duke of York's
house, to see the new play, called "The Man is the Master," where the
house was, it being not above one o'clock, very full. But my wife and
Deb. being there before, with Mrs. Pierce and Corbet and Betty Turner,
whom my wife carried with her, they made me room; and there I sat, it
costing me 8s. upon them in oranges, at 6d. a-piece. By and by the King
come; and we sat just under him, so that I durst not turn my back all
the play. The play is a translation out of French, and the plot Spanish,
but not anything extraordinary at all in it, though translated by Sir
W. Davenant, and so I found the King and his company did think meanly
of it, though there was here and there something pretty: but the most
of the mirth was sorry, poor stuffe, of eating of sack posset and
slabbering themselves, and mirth fit for clownes; the prologue but poor,
and the epilogue little in it but the extraordinariness of it, it
being sung by Harris and another in the form of a ballet. Thence, by
agreement, we all of us to the Blue Balls, hard by, whither Mr. Pierce
also goes with us, who met us at the play, and anon comes Manuel, and
his wife, and Knepp, and Harris, who brings with him Mr. Banister,
the great master of musique; and after much difficulty in getting of
musique, we to dancing, and then to a supper of some French dishes,
which yet did not please me, and then to dance and sing; and mighty
merry we were till about eleven or twelve at night, with mighty great
content in all my company, and I did, as I love to do, enjoy myself in
my pleasure as being the height of what we take pains for and can hope
for in this world, and therefore to be enjoyed while we are young and
capable of these joys. My wife extraordinary fine to-day, in her flower
tabby suit, bought a year and more ago, before my mother's death put
her into mourning, and so not worn till this day: and every body in love
with it; and indeed she is very fine and handsome in it. I having paid
the reckoning, which come to almost L4., we parted: my company and
William Batelier, who was also with us, home in a coach, round by the
Wall, where we met so many stops by the Watches, that it cost us much
time and some trouble, and more money, to every Watch, to them to drink;
this being encreased by the trouble the 'prentices did lately give the
City, so that the Militia and Watches are very strict at this time; and
we had like to have met with a stop for all night at the Constable's
watch, at Mooregate, by a pragmatical Constable; but we come well
home at about two in the morning, and so to bed. This noon, from Mrs.
Williams's, my Lord Brouncker sent to Somersett House to hear how the
Duchess of Richmond do; and word was brought him that she is pretty
well, but mighty full of the smallpox, by which all do conclude she will
be wholly spoiled, which is the greatest instance of the uncertainty of
beauty that could be in this age; but then she hath had the benefit of
it to be first married, and to have kept it so long, under the greatest
temptations in the world from a King, and yet without the least
imputation. This afternoon, at the play, Sir Fr. Hollis spoke to me as
a secret, and matter of confidence in me, and friendship to Sir W. Pen,
who is now out of town, that it were well he were made acquainted that
he finds in the House of Commons, which met this day, several motions
made for the calling strictly again upon the Miscarriages, and
particularly in the business of the Prises, and the not prosecuting of
the first victory, only to give an affront to Sir W. Pen, whose going to
sea this year do give them matter of great dislike. So though I do not
much trouble myself for him, yet I am sorry that he should have this
fall so unhappily without any fault, but rather merit of his own that
made him fitter for this command than any body else, and the more for
that this business of his may haply occasion their more eager pursuit
against the whole body of the office.
27th. Up, and walked to the waterside, and thence to White Hall to the
Duke of York's chamber, where he being ready he went to a Committee
of Tangier, where I first understand that my Lord Sandwich is, in his
coming back from Spayne, to step over thither, to see in what condition
the place is, which I am glad of, hoping that he will be able to do some
good there, for the good of the place, which is so much out of order.
Thence to walk a little in Westminster Hall, where the Parliament I find
sitting, but spoke with nobody to let me know what they are doing, nor
did I enquire. Thence to the Swan and drank, and did baiser Frank, and
so down by water back again, and to the Exchange a turn or two, only to
show myself, and then home to dinner, where my wife and I had a small
squabble, but I first this day tried the effect of my silence and not
provoking her when she is in an ill humour, and do find it very good,
for it prevents its coming to that height on both sides which used to
exceed what was fit between us. So she become calm by and by and fond,
and so took coach, and she to the mercer's to buy some lace, while I
to White Hall, but did nothing, but then to Westminster Hall and took a
turn, and so to Mrs. Martin's, and there did sit a little and talk and
drink, and did hazer con her, and so took coach and called my wife at
Unthanke's, and so up and down to the Nursery, where they did not act,
then to the New Cockpit, and there missed, and then to Hide Parke, where
many coaches, but the dust so great, that it was troublesome, and so by
night home, where to my chamber and finished my pricking out of my song
for Mr. Harris ("It is decreed"), and so a little supper, being very
sleepy and weary since last night, and so by to o'clock to bed and slept
well all night. This day, at noon, comes Mr. Pelling to me, and shews
me the stone cut lately out of Sir Thomas Adams' (the old comely
Alderman's) body, which is very large indeed, bigger I think than my
fist, and weighs above twenty-five ounces and, which is very miraculous,
he never in all his life had any fit of it, but lived to a great age
without pain, and died at last of something else, without any sense of
this in all his life. This day Creed at White Hall in discourse told me
what information he hath had, from very good hands, of the cowardice and
ill-government of Sir Jer. Smith and Sir Thomas Allen, and the repute
they have both of them abroad in the Streights, from their deportment
when they did at several times command there; and that, above all
Englishmen that ever were there, there never was any man that behaved
himself like poor Charles Wager, whom the very Moores do mention, with
teares sometimes.
28th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning busy, and at noon
home to dinner with my clerks; and though my head full of business, yet
I had a desire to end this holyday week with a play; and so, with my
wife and Deb., to the King's house, and there saw "The Indian Emperour,"
a very good play indeed, and thence directly home, and to my writing of
my letters, and so home to supper and to bed for fearing my eyes. Our
greatest business at the office to-day is our want of money for the
setting forth of these ships that are to go out, and my people at dinner
tell me that they do verily doubt that the want of men will be so great,
as we must press; and if we press, there will be mutinies in the town;
for the seamen are said already to have threatened the pulling down of
the Treasury Office; and if they do once come to that, it will not be
long before they come to ours.
29th (Lord's day). Up, and I to Church, where I have not been these many
weeks before, and there did first find a strange Reader, who could not
find in the Service-book the place for churching women, but was fain to
change books with the clerke: and then a stranger preached, a seeming
able man; but said in his pulpit that God did a greater work in raising
of an oake-tree from an akehorne, than a man's body raising it, at the
last day, from his dust (shewing the possibility of the Resurrection):
which was, methought, a strange saying. At home to dinner, whither
comes and dines with me W. Howe, and by invitation Mr. Harris and Mr.
Banister, most extraordinary company both, the latter for musique of all
sorts, the former for everything: here we sang, and Banister played on
the theorbo, and afterwards Banister played on his flageolet, and I had
very good discourse with him about musique, so confirming some of my
new notions about musique that it puts me upon a resolution to go on
and make a scheme and theory of musique not yet ever made in the world.
Harris do so commend my wife's picture of Mr. Hales's, that I shall have
him draw Harris's head; and he hath also persuaded me to have Cooper
draw my wife's, which, though it cost L30, yet I will have done. Thus
spent the afternoon most deliciously, and then broke up and walked
with them as far as the Temple, and there parted, and I took coach to
Westminster, but there did nothing, meeting nobody that I had a mind to
speak with, and so home, and there find Mr. Pelling, and then also comes
Mrs. Turner, and supped and talked with us, and so to bed. I do hear
by several that Sir W. Pen's going to sea do dislike the Parliament
mightily, and that they have revived the Committee of Miscarriages to
find something to prevent it; and that he being the other day with the
Duke of Albemarle to ask his opinion touching his going to sea, the
Duchess overheard and come in to him, and asks W. Pen how he durst
have the confidence to offer to go to sea again, to the endangering the
nation, when he knew himself such a coward as he was, which, if true, is
very severe.
30th. Up betimes, and so to the office, there to do business till about
to o'clock, and then out with my wife and Deb. and W. Hewer by coach to
Common-garden Coffee-house, where by appointment I was to meet Harris;
which I did, and also Mr. Cooper, the great painter, and Mr. Hales: and
thence presently to Mr. Cooper's house, to see some of his work, which
is all in little, but so excellent as, though I must confess I do think
the colouring of the flesh to be a little forced, yet the painting is
so extraordinary, as I do never expect to see the like again. Here I
did see Mrs. Stewart's picture as when a young maid, and now just done
before her having the smallpox: and it would make a man weep to see what
she was then, and what she is like to be, by people's discourse,
now. Here I saw my Lord Generall's picture, and my Lord Arlington and
Ashly's, and several others; but among the rest one Swinfen, that was
Secretary to my Lord Manchester, Lord Chamberlain, with Cooling, done so
admirably as I never saw any thing: but the misery was, this fellow died
in debt, and never paid Cooper for his picture; but, it being seized on
by his creditors, among his other goods, after his death, Cooper himself
says that he did buy it, and give L25 out of his purse for it, for what
he was to have had but L30. Being infinitely satisfied with this sight,
and resolving that my wife shall be drawn by him when she comes out of
the country, I away with Harris and Hales to the Coffee-house, sending
my people away, and there resolve for Hales to begin Harris's head for
me, which I will be at the cost of. After a little talk, I away to White
Hall and Westminster, where I find the Parliament still bogling about
the raising of this money: and every body's mouth full now; and Mr. Wren
himself tells me that the Duke of York declares to go to sea himself
this year; and I perceive it is only on this occasion of distaste of the
Parliament against W. Pen's going, and to prevent the Prince's: but I
think it is mighty hot counsel for the Duke of York at this time to go
out of the way; but, Lord! what a pass are all our matters come to!
At noon by appointment to Cursitor's Alley, in Chancery Lane, to meet
Captain Cocke and some other creditors of the Navy, and their Counsel,
Pemberton, North, Offly, and Charles Porter; and there dined, and talked
of the business of the assignments on the Exchequer of the L1,250,000
on behalf of our creditors; and there I do perceive that the Counsel had
heard of my performance in the Parliamenthouse lately, and did value
me and what I said accordingly. At dinner we had a great deal of good
discourse about Parliament: their number being uncertain, and always
at the will of the King to encrease, as he saw reason to erect a new
borough. But all concluded that the bane of the Parliament hath been the
leaving off the old custom of the places allowing wages to those that
served them in Parliament, by which they chose men that understood their
business and would attend it, and they could expect an account from,
which now they cannot; and so the Parliament is become a company of men
unable to give account for the interest of the place they serve
for. Thence, the meeting of the Counsel with the King's Counsel this
afternoon being put off by reason of the death of Serjeant Maynard's
lady, I to White Hall, where the Parliament was to wait on the King; and
they did: and it was to be told that he did think fit to tell them that
they might expect to be adjourned at Whitsuntide, and that they might
make haste to raise their money; but this, I fear, will displease them,
who did expect to sit as long as they pleased, and whether this be
done by the King upon some new counsel I know not, for the King must be
beholding to them till they do settle this business of money. Great talk
to-day as if Beaufort was come into the Channel with about 20 ships, and
it makes people apprehensive, but yet the Parliament do not stir a bit
faster in the business of money. Here I met with Creed, expecting a
Committee of Tangier, but the Committee met not, so he and I up and
down, having nothing to do, and particularly to the New Cockpit by the
King's Gate in Holborne, but seeing a great deal of rabble we did refuse
to go in, but took coach and to Hide Park, and there till all the tour
was empty, and so he and I to the Lodge in the Park, and there eat and
drank till it was night, and then carried him to White Hall, having
had abundance of excellent talk with him in reproach of the times and
managements we live under, and so I home, and there to talk and to
supper with my wife, and so to bed.
31st. Up pretty betimes and to the office, where we sat all the morning,
and at noon I home to dinner, where uncle Thomas dined with me, as he do
every quarter, and I paid him his pension; and also comes Mr. Hollier
a little fuddled, and so did talk nothing but Latin, and laugh, that it
was very good sport to see a sober man in such a humour, though he was
not drunk to scandal. At dinner comes a summons for this office and the
Victualler to attend a Committee of Parliament this afternoon, with
Sir D. Gawden, which I accordingly did, with my papers relating to
the sending of victuals to Sir John Harman's fleete; and there, Sir R.
Brookes in the chair, we did give them a full account, but, Lord! to see
how full they are and immoveable in their jealousy that some means are
used to keep Harman from coming home, for they have an implacable desire
to know the bottom of the not improving the first victory, and would lay
it upon Brouncker. Having given them good satisfaction I away thence,
up and down, wanting a little to see whether I could get Mrs. Burroughes
out, but elle being in the shop ego did speak con her much, she could
not then go far, and so I took coach and away to Unthanke's, and there
took up my wife and Deb., and to the Park, where, being in a hackney,
and they undressed, was ashamed to go into the tour, but went round
the park, and so with pleasure home, where Mr. Pelting come and sat and
talked late with us, and he being gone, I called Deb. to take pen, ink,
and paper and write down what things come into my head for my wife to
do in order to her going into the country, and the girl, writing not
so well as she would do, cried, and her mistress construed it to
be sullenness, and so away angry with her too, but going to bed she
undressed me, and there I did give her good advice and baiser la, elle
weeping still.
APRIL 1668
April 1st. Up, and to dress myself, and call as I use Deb. to brush and
dress me..., and I to my office, where busy till noon, and then out to
bespeak some things against my wife's going into the country to-morrow,
and so home to dinner, my wife and I alone, she being mighty busy
getting her things ready for her journey, I all the afternoon with her
looking after things on the same account, and then in the afternoon out
and all alone to the King's house, and there sat in an upper box, to
hide myself, and saw "The Black Prince," a very good play; but only the
fancy, most of it, the same as in the rest of my Lord Orrery's plays;
but the dance very stately; but it was pretty to see how coming after
dinner and with no company with me to talk to, and at a play that I had
seen, and went to now not for curiosity but only idleness, I did fall
asleep the former part of the play, but afterward did mind it and like
it very well. Thence called at my bookseller's, and took Mr. Boyle's
Book of Formes, newly reprinted, and sent my brother my old one. So
home, and there to my chamber till anon comes Mr. Turner and his wife
and daughter, and Pelting, to sup with us and talk of my wife's journey
to-morrow, her daughter going with my wife; and after supper to talk
with her husband about the Office, and his place, which, by Sir J.
Minnes's age and inability, is very uncomfortable to him, as well as
without profit, or certainty what he shall do, when Sir J. Minnes dies,
which is a sad condition for a man that hath lived so long in the Office
as Mr. Turner hath done. But he aymes, and I advise him to it, to
look for Mr. Ackworth's place, in case he should be removed. His wife
afterwards did take me into my closet, and give me a cellar
[A box to hold bottles. "Run for the cellar of strong waters
quickly"
--Ben Jonson, Magnetic Lady, act iii., sc. r.]
of waters of her own distilling for my father, to be carried down with
my wife and her daughter to-morrow, which was very handsome. So broke up
and to bed.
2nd. Up, after much pleasant talk with my wife, and upon some
alterations I will make in my house in her absence, and I do intend to
lay out some money thereon. So she and I up, and she got her ready to be
gone, and by and by comes Betty Turner and her mother, and W. Batelier,
and they and Deb., to whom I did give 10s. this morning, to oblige her
to please her mistress (and ego did baiser her mouche), and also Jane,
and so in two coaches set out about eight o'clock towards the carrier,
there for to take coach for my father's, that is to say, my wife and
Betty Turner, Deb., and Jane; but I meeting my Lord Anglesey going to
the Office, was forced to 'light in Cheapside, and there took my leave
of them (not baisado Deb., which je had a great mind to), left them to
go to their coach, and I to the office, where all the morning busy, and
so at noon with my other clerks (W. Hewer being a day's journey with my
wife) to dinner, where Mr. Pierce come and dined with me, and then with
Lord Brouncker (carrying his little kinswoman on my knee, his coach
being full), to the Temple, where my Lord and I 'light and to Mr.
Porter's chamber, where Cocke and his counsel, and so to the attorney's,
whither the Sollicitor-Generall come, and there, their cause about their
assignments on the L1,250,000 Act was argued, where all that was to
be said for them was said, and so answered by the Sollicitor-Generall
beyond what I expected, that I said not one word all my time, rather
choosing to hold my tongue, and so mind my reputation with the
Sollicitor-Generall, who did mightily approve of my speech in
Parliament, than say anything against him to no purpose. This I believe
did trouble Cocke and these gentlemen, but I do think this best for me,
and so I do think that the business will go against them, though it is
against my judgment, and I am sure against all justice to the men to
be invited to part with their goods and be deceived afterward of their
security for payment. Thence with Lord Brouncker to the Royall Society,
where they were just done; but there I was forced to subscribe to
the building of a College, and did give L40; and several others did
subscribe, some greater and some less sums; but several I saw hang
off: and I doubt it will spoil the Society, for it breeds faction and
ill-will, and becomes burdensome to some that cannot, or would not,
do it. Here, to my great content, I did try the use of the
Otacousticon,--[Ear trumpet.]--which was only a great glass bottle broke
at the bottom, putting the neck to my eare, and there I did plainly hear
the dashing of the oares of the boats in the Thames to Arundell gallery
window, which, without it, I could not in the least do, and may, I
believe, be improved to a great height, which I am mighty glad of.
Thence with Lord Brouncker and several of them to the King's Head
Taverne by Chancery Lane, and there did drink and eat and talk, and,
above the rest, I did hear of Mr. Hooke and my Lord an account of the
reason of concords and discords in musique, which they say is from the
equality of vibrations; but I am not satisfied in it, but will at my
leisure think of it more, and see how far that do go to explain it. So
late at night home with Mr. Colwell, and parted, and I to the office,
and then to Sir W. Pen to confer with him, and Sir R. Ford and Young,
about our St. John Baptist prize, and so home, without more supper to
bed, my family being now little by the departure of my wife and two
maids.
3rd. Up, and Captain Perryman come to me to tell me how Tatnell told him
that this day one How is to charge me before the Commissioners of
Prizes to the value of L8000 in prizes, which I was troubled to hear, so
fearful I am, though I know that there is not a penny to be laid to my
charge that I dare not own, or that I have not owned under my hand, but
upon recollection it signifies nothing to me, and so I value it not,
being sure that I can have nothing in the world to my hurt known from
the business. So to the office, where all the morning to despatch
business, and so home to dinner with my clerks, whose company is of
great pleasure to me for their good discourse in any thing of the navy
I have a mind to talk of. After dinner by water from the Tower to White
Hall, there to attend the Duke of York as usual, and particularly in a
fresh complaint the Commissioners of the Treasury do make to him, and
by and by to the Council this day of our having prepared certificates
on the Exchequer to the further sum of near L50,000, and soon as we had
done with the Duke of York we did attend the Council; and were there
called in, and did hear Mr. Sollicitor [General] make his Report to
the Council in the business; which he did in a most excellent manner of
words, but most cruelly severe against us, and so were some of the Lords
Commissioners of the Treasury, as men guilty of a practice with the
tradesmen, to the King's prejudice. I was unwilling to enter into a
contest with them; but took advantage of two or three words last spoke,
and brought it to a short issue in good words, that if we had the King's
order to hold our hands, we would, which did end the matter: and they
all resolved we should have it, and so it ended: and so we away; I vexed
that I did not speak more in a cause so fit to be spoke in, and
wherein we had so much advantage; but perhaps I might have provoked the
Sollicitor and the Commissioners of the Treasury, and therefore, since,
I am not sorry that I forbore. Thence my Lord Brouncker and I to the
Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw the latter part of "The
Master and the Man," and thence by coach to Duck Lane, to look out for
Marsanne, in French, a man that has wrote well of musique, but it is not
to be had, but I have given order for its being sent for over, and I
did here buy Des Cartes his little treatise of musique, and so home, and
there to read a little, and eat a little, though I find that my having
so little taste do make me so far neglect eating that, unless company
invite, I do not love to spend time upon eating, and so bring emptiness
and the Cholique. So to bed. This day I hear that Prince Rupert and
Holmes do go to sea: and by this there is a seeming friendship and peace
among our great seamen; but the devil a bit is there any love among
them, or can be.
4th. Up betimes, and by coach towards White Hall, and took Aldgate
Street in my way, and there called upon one Hayward, that makes
virginalls, and did there like of a little espinette, and will have him
finish it for me; for I had a mind to a small harpsichon, but this takes
up less room, and will do my business as to finding out of chords, and
I am very well pleased that I have found it. Thence to White Hall, and
after long waiting did get a small running Committee of Tangier, where
I staid but little, and little done but the correcting two or three
egregious faults in the Charter for Tangier after it had so long lain
before the Council and been passed there and drawn up by the Atturney
Generall, so slightly are all things in this age done. Thence home to
the office by water, where we sat till noon, and then I moved we might
go to the Duke of York and the King presently to get out their order
in writing that was ordered us yesterday about the business of
certificates, that we might be secure against the tradesmen who (Sir
John Banks by name) have told me this day that they will complain in
Parliament against us for denying to do them right. So we rose of a
sudden, being mighty sensible of this inconvenience we are liable to
should we delay to give them longer, and yet have no order for our
indemnity. I did dine with Sir W. Pen, where my Lady Batten did come
with desire of meeting me there, and speaking with me about the business
of the L500 we demand of her for the Chest. She do protest, before God,
she never did see the account, but that it was as her husband in his
life-time made it, and he did often declare to her his expecting L500,
and that we could not deny it him for his pains in that business, and
that he hath left her worth nothing of his own in the world, and that
therefore she could pay nothing of it, come what will come, but that he
hath left her a beggar, which I am sorry truly for, though it is a
just judgment upon people that do live so much beyond themselves in
housekeeping and vanity, as they did. I did give her little answer, but
generally words that might not trouble her, and so to dinner, and after
dinner Sir W. Pen and I away by water to White Hall, and there did
attend the Duke of York, and he did carry us to the King's lodgings: but
he was asleep in his closet; so we stayed in the Green-Roome, where the
Duke of York did tell us what rules he had, of knowing the weather, and
did now tell us we should have rain before to-morrow, it having been
a dry season for some time, and so it did rain all night almost; and
pretty rules he hath, and told Brouncker and me some of them, which were
such as no reason seems ready to be given. By and by the King comes
out, and he did easily agree to what we moved, and would have the
Commissioners of the Navy to meet us with him to-morrow morning: and
then to talk of other things; about the Quakers not swearing, and how
they do swear in the business of a late election of a Knight of the
Shire of Hartfordshire in behalf of one they have a mind to have; and
how my Lord of Pembroke says he hath heard him (the Quaker) at the
tennis-court swear to himself when he loses: and told us what pretty
notions my Lord Pembroke hath of the first chapter of Genesis, how
Adam's sin was not the sucking (which he did before) but the swallowing
of the apple, by which the contrary elements begun to work in him, and
to stir up these passions, and a great deal of such fooleries, which
the King made mighty mockery at. Thence my Lord Brouncker and I into the
Park in his coach, and there took a great deal of ayre, saving that it
was mighty dusty, and so a little unpleasant. Thence to Common Garden
with my Lord, and there I took a hackney and home, and after having done
a few letters at the office, I home to a little supper and so to bed, my
eyes being every day more and more weak and apt to be tired.
5th (Lord's day). Up, and to my chamber, and there to the writing fair
some of my late musique notions, and so to church, where I have not been
a good while, and thence home, and dined at home, with W. Hewer with
me; and after dinner, he and I a great deal of good talk touching this
Office, how it is spoiled by having so many persons in it, and so much
work that is not made the work of any one man, but of all, and so is
never done; and that the best way to have it well done, were to have
the whole trust in one, as myself, to set whom I pleased to work in
the several businesses of the Office, and me to be accountable for the
whole, and that would do it, as I would find instruments: but this is
not to be compassed; but something I am resolved to do about Sir J.
Minnes before it be long. Then to my chamber again, to my musique, and
so to church; and then home, and thither comes Captain Silas Taylor to
me, the Storekeeper of Harwich, where much talk, and most of it against
Captain Deane, whom I do believe to be a high, proud fellow; but he is
an active man, and able in his way, and so I love him. He gone, I to my
musique again, and to read a little, and to sing with Mr. Pelling, who
come to see me, and so spent the evening, and then to supper and to
bed. I hear that eight of the ringleaders in the late tumults of the
'prentices at Easter are condemned to die.
[Four were executed on May 9th, namely, Thomas Limmerick, Edward
Cotton, Peter Massenger, and Richard Beasley. They were drawn,
hanged, and quartered at Tyburn, and two of their heads fixed upon
London Bridge ("The London Gazette," No. 259). See "The Tryals of
such persons as under the notion of London Apprentices were
tumultuously assembled in Moore Fields, under colour of pulling down
bawdy-houses," 4to., London, 1668. "It is to be observed," says
"The London Gazette," "to the just vindication of the City, that
none of the persons apprehended upon the said tumult were found to
be apprentices, as was given out, but some idle persons, many of
them nursed in the late Rebellion, too readily embracing any
opportunity of making their own advantages to the disturbance of the
peace, and injury of others."]
6th. Betimes I to Alderman Backewell, and with him to my Lord Ashly's,
where did a little business about Tangier, and to talk about the
business of certificates, wherein, contrary to what could be believed,
the King and Duke of York themselves, in my absence, did call for some
of the Commissioners of the Treasury, and give them directions about the
business [of the certificates], which I, despairing to do any thing on
a Sunday, and not thinking that they would think of it themselves,
did rest satisfied, and stayed at home all yesterday, leaving it to do
something in this day; but I find that the King and Duke of York had
been so pressing in it, that my Lord Ashly was more forward with the
doing of it this day, than I could have been. And so I to White
Hall with Alderman Backewell in his coach, with Mr. Blany; my Lord's
Secretary: and there did draw up a rough draught of what order I would
have, and did carry it in, and had it read twice and approved of, before
my Lord Ashly and three more of the Commissioners of the Treasury, and
then went up to the Council-chamber, where the Duke of York, and Prince
Rupert, and the rest of the Committee of the Navy were sitting: and I
did get some of them to read it there: and they would have had it
passed presently, but Sir John Nicholas desired they would first have it
approved by a full Council: and, therefore, a Council Extraordinary
was readily summoned against the afternoon, and the Duke of York run
presently to the King, as if now they were really set to mind their
business, which God grant! So I thence to Westminster, and walked in
the Hall and up and down, the House being called over to-day, and little
news, but some talk as if the agreement between France and Spain were
like to be, which would be bad for us, and at noon with Sir Herbert
Price to Mr. George Montagu's to dinner, being invited by him in the
hall, and there mightily made of, even to great trouble to me to be so
commended before my face, with that flattery and importunity, that I was
quite troubled with it. Yet he is a fine gentleman, truly, and his lady
a fine woman; and, among many sons that I saw there, there was a little
daughter that is mighty pretty, of which he is infinite fond: and, after
dinner, did make her play on the gittar and sing, which she did mighty
prettily, and seems to have a mighty musical soul, keeping time
with most excellent spirit. Here I met with Mr. Brownlow, my old
schoolfellow, who come thither, I suppose, as a suitor to one of the
young ladies that were there, and a sober man he seems to be. But here
Mr. Montagu did tell me how Mr. Vaughan, in that very room, did say that
I was a great man, and had great understanding, and I know not what,
which, I confess, I was a little proud of, if I may believe him. Here
I do hear, as a great secret, that the King, and Duke of York and
Duchesse, and my Lady Castlemayne, are now all agreed in a strict
league, and all things like to go very current, and that it is not
impossible to have my Lord Clarendon, in time, here again. But I do hear
that my Lady Castlemayne is horribly vexed at the late libell,
["The Poor Whores' Petition to the most splendid, illustrious,
serene and eminent Lady of Pleasure the Countess of Castlemayne,
&c., signed by us, Madam Cresswell and Damaris Page, this present
25th day of March, 1668." This sham petition occasioned a pretended
answer, entitled, "The Gracious Answer of the Most Illustrious Lady
of Pleasure, the Countess of Castlem.... to the Poor Whores'
Petition." It is signed, "Given at our Closset, in King Street,
Westminster, die Veneris, April 24, 1668. Castlem...."
Compare Evelyn, April 2nd, 1668.]
the petition of the poor whores about the town, whose houses were pulled
down the other day. I have got one of them, but it is not very witty,
but devilish severe against her and the King and I wonder how it durst
be printed and spread abroad, which shews that the times are loose, and
come to a great disregard of the King, or Court, or Government. Thence
I to White Hall to attend the Council, and when the Council rose we find
my order mightily enlarged by the Sollicitor Generall, who was called
thither, making it more safe for him and the Council, but their order
is the same in the command of it that I drew, and will I think defend
us well. So thence, meeting Creed, he and I to the new Cocke-pitt by
the King's gate, and there saw the manner of it, and the mixed rabble
of people that come thither; and saw two battles of cocks, wherein is
no great sport, but only to consider how these creatures, without
any provocation, do fight and kill one another, and aim only at one
another's heads, and by their good will not leave till one of them be
killed; and thence to the Park in a hackney coach, so would not go into
the tour, but round about the Park, and to the House, and there at the
door eat and drank; whither come my Lady Kerneagy, of whom Creed tells
me more particulars; how her Lord, finding her and the Duke of York at
the King's first coming in too kind, did get it out of her that he did
dishonour him, and so bid her continue..., which is the most pernicious
and full piece of revenge that ever I heard of; and he at this day owns
it with great glory, and looks upon the Duke of York and the world with
great content in the ampleness of his revenge. Thence (where the place
was now by the last night's rain very pleasant, and no dust) to White
Hall, and set Creed down, and I home and to my chamber, and there
about my musique notions again, wherein I take delight and find great
satisfaction in them, and so, after a little supper, to bed. This day,
in the afternoon, stepping with the Duke of York into St. James's Park,
it rained: and I was forced to lend the Duke of York my cloak, which he
wore through the Park.
7th. Up, and at the office all the morning, where great hurry to be made
in the fitting forth of this present little fleet, but so many rubs by
reason of want of money, and people's not believing us in cases where
we had money unless (which in several cases, as in hiring of vessels,
cannot be) they be paid beforehand, that every thing goes backward
instead of forward. At noon comes Mr. Clerke, my solicitor, and the
Auditor's men with my account drawn up in the Exchequer way with their
queries, which are neither many nor great, or hard to answer upon it,
and so dined with me, and then I by coach to the King's playhouse, and
there saw "The English Monsieur;"' sitting for privacy sake in an upper
box: the play hath much mirth in it as to that particular humour. After
the play done, I down to Knipp, and did stay her undressing herself; and
there saw the several players, men and women go by; and pretty to see
how strange they are all, one to another, after the play is done. Here
I saw a wonderful pretty maid of her own, that come to undress her, and
one so pretty that she says she intends not to keep her, for fear of her
being undone in her service, by coming to the playhouse. Here I hear
Sir W. Davenant is just now dead; and so who will succeed him in the
mastership of the house is not yet known. The eldest Davenport is, it
seems, gone from this house to be kept by somebody; which I am glad of,
she being a very bad actor. I took her then up into a coach and away to
the Park, which is now very fine after some rain, but the company was
going away most, and so I took her to the Lodge, and there treated her
and had a deal of good talk, and now and then did baiser la, and that
was all, and that as much or more than I had much mind to because of her
paint. She tells me mighty news, that my Lady Castlemayne is mightily in
love with Hart of their house: and he is much with her in private, and
she goes to him, and do give him many presents; and that the thing is
most certain, and Becke Marshall only privy to it, and the means of
bringing them together, which is a very odd thing; and by this means she
is even with the King's love to Mrs. Davis. This done, I carried her and
set her down at Mrs. Manuel's, but stayed not there myself, nor went in;
but straight home, and there to my letters, and so home to bed.
8th. Up, and at my office all the morning, doing business, and then at
noon home to dinner all alone. Then to White Hall with Sir J. Minnes in
his coach to attend the Duke of York upon our usual business, which
was this day but little, and thence with Lord Brouncker to the Duke
of York's playhouse, where we saw "The Unfortunate Lovers," no
extraordinary play, methinks, and thence I to Drumbleby's, and there did
talk a great deal about pipes; and did buy a recorder, which I do intend
to learn to play on, the sound of it being, of all sounds in the world,
most pleasing to me. Thence home, and to visit Mrs. Turner, where among
other talk, Mr. Foly and her husband being there, she did tell me
of young Captain Holmes's marrying of Pegg Lowther last Saturday by
stealth, which I was sorry for, he being an idle rascal, and proud, and
worth little, I doubt; and she a mighty pretty, well-disposed lady, and
good fortune. Her mother and friends take on mightily; but the sport
is, Sir Robert Holmes do seem to be mad too with his brother, and will
disinherit him, saying that he hath ruined himself, marrying below
himself, and to his disadvantage; whereas, I said, in this company, that
I had married a sister lately, with little above half that portion, that
he should have kissed her breech before he should have had her, which,
if R. Holmes should hear, would make a great quarrel; but it is true I
am heartily sorry for the poor girl that is undone by it. So home to
my chamber, to be fingering of my Recorder, and getting of the scale of
musique without book, which I at last see is necessary for a man that
would understand musique, as it is now taught to understand, though
it be a ridiculous and troublesome way, and I know I shall be able
hereafter to show the world a simpler way; but, like the old hypotheses
in philosophy, it must be learned, though a man knows a better. Then
to supper, and to bed. This morning Mr. Christopher Pett's widow and
daughter come to me, to desire my help to the King and Duke of York, and
I did promise, and do pity her.
9th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning sitting, then at noon
home to dinner with my people, and so to the office again writing of my
letters, and then abroad to my bookseller's, and up and down to the Duke
of York's playhouse, there to see, which I did, Sir W. Davenant's corpse
carried out towards Westminster, there to be buried. Here were many
coaches and six horses, and many hacknies, that made it look, methought,
as if it were the buriall of a poor poet. He seemed to have many
children, by five or six in the first mourning-coach, all boys. And
there I left them coming forth, and I to the New Exchange, there to meet
Mrs. Burroughs, and did take her in a carosse and carry elle towards the
Park, kissing her..., but did not go into any house, but come back
and set her down at White Hall, and did give her wrapt in paper for my
Valentine's gift for the last year before this, which I never did yet
give her anything for, twelve half-crowns, and so back home and there
to my office, where come a packet from the Downes from my brother Balty,
who, with Harman, is arrived there, of which this day come the first
news. And now the Parliament will be satisfied, I suppose, about the
business they have so long desired between Brouncker and Harman about
not prosecuting the first victory. Balty is very well, and I hope hath
performed his work well, that I may get him into future employment. I
wrote to him this night, and so home, and there to the perfecting
my getting the scale of musique without book, which I have done to
perfection backward and forward, and so to supper and to bed.
10th (Friday) All the morning at Office. At noon with W. Pen to Duke of
York, and attended Council. So to piper and Duck Lane, and there kissed
bookseller's wife, and bought Legend. So home, coach. Sailor. Mrs.
Hannam dead. News of Peace. Conning my gamut.
[The entries from April 10th to April 19th are transcribed from
three leaves (six pages) of rough notes, which are inserted in the
MS. The rough notes were made to serve for a sort of account book,
but the amounts paid are often not registered in the fair copy when
he came to transcribe his notes into the Diary.]
12th (Sunday). Dined at Brouncker's, and saw the new book. Peace.
Cutting away sails.
13th (Monday). Spent at Michel's 6d.; in the Folly, 1s.;
[The Folly was a floating house of entertainment on the Thames,
which at this time was a fashionable resort.]
oysters, 1s.; coach to W. Coventry about Mrs. Pett, 1s.; thence to
Commissioners of Treasury, and so to Westminster Hall by water, 6d. With
G. Montagu and Roger Pepys, and spoke with Birch and Vaughan, all in
trouble about the prize business. So to Lord Crew's (calling for a low
pipe by the way), where Creed and G. M. and G. C. come, 1s. So with
Creed to a play. Little laugh, 4s. Thence towards the Park by coach, 2s.
6d. Come home, met with order of Commissioners of Accounts, which put
together with the rest vexed me, and so home to supper and to bed.
14th (Tuesday). Up betimes by water to the Temple. In the way read
the Narrative about prizes; and so to Lord Crew's bedside, and then to
Westminster, where I hear Pen is, and sent for by messenger last night.
Thence to Commissioners of Accounts and there examined, and so back to
Westminster Hall, where all the talk of committing all to the Tower, and
Creed and I to the Quaker's, dined together. Thence to the House, where
rose about four o'clock; and, with much ado, Pen got to Thursday to
bring in his answer; so my Lord escapes to-day. Thence with Godage and
G. Montagu to G. Carteret's, and there sat their dinner-time: and hear
myself, by many Parliament-men, mightily commended. Thence to a play,
"Love's Cruelty," and so to my Lord Crew's, who glad of this day's time
got, and so home, and there office, and then home to supper and to bed,
my eyes being the better upon leaving drinking at night. Water, 1s.
Porter, 6d. Water, 6d. Dinner, 3s. 6d. Play part, 2s. Oranges, 1s. Home
coach, 1s. 6d.
15th. After playing a little upon my new little flageolet, that is so
soft that pleases me mightily, betimes to my office, where most of the
morning. Then by coach, 1s., and meeting Lord Brouncker, 'light at
the Exchange, and thence by water to White Hall, 1s., and there to the
Chapel, expecting wind musick and to the Harp-and-Ball, and drank all
alone, 2d. Back, and to the fiddling concert, and heard a practice
mighty good of Grebus, and thence to Westminster Hall, where all cry out
that the House will be severe with Pen; but do hope well concerning
the buyers, that we shall have no difficulty, which God grant! Here met
Creed, and, about noon, he and I, and Sir P. Neale to the Quaker's, and
there dined with a silly Executor of Bishop Juxon's, and cozen Roger
Pepys. Business of money goes on slowly in the House. Thence to White
Hall by water, and there with the Duke of York a little, but stayed not,
but saw him and his lady at his little pretty chapel, where I never was
before: but silly devotion, God knows! Thence I left Creed, and to the
King's playhouse, into a corner of the 18d. box, and there saw "The
Maid's Tragedy," a good play. Coach, 1s.: play and oranges, 2s. 6d.
Creed come, dropping presently here, but he did not see me, and come to
the same place, nor would I be seen by him. Thence to my Lord Crew's,
and there he come also after, and there with Sir T. Crew bemoaning my
Lord's folly in leaving his old interest, by which he hath now lost
all. An ill discourse in the morning of my Lord's being killed, but this
evening Godolphin tells us here that my Lord is well. Thence with Creed
to the Cock ale-house, and there spent 6d., and so by coach home, 2s.
6d., and so to bed.
16th. Th[ursday]. Greeting's book, is. Begun this day to learn the
Recorder. To the office, where all the morning. Dined with my clerks:
and merry at Sir W. Pen's crying yesterday, as they say, to the King,
that he was his martyr. So to White Hall by coach to Commissioners of
[the] Treasury about certificates, but they met not, 2s. To Westminster
by water. To Westminster Hall, where I hear W. Pen is ordered to be
impeached, 6d. There spoke with many, and particularly with G. Montagu:
and went with him and Creed to his house, where he told how W. Pen hath
been severe to Lord Sandwich; but the Coventrys both labouring to save
him, by laying it on Lord Sandwich, which our friends cry out upon, and
I am silent, but do believe they did it as the only way to save him. It
could not be carried to commit him. It is thought the House do coole: W.
Coventry's being for him, provoked Sir R. Howard and his party;
Court, all for W. Pen. Thence to White Hall, but no meeting of the
Commissioners, and there met Mr. Hunt, and thence to Mrs. Martin's, and,
there did what I would, she troubled for want of employ for her husband,
spent on her 1s. Thence to the Hall to walk awhile and ribbon, spent is.
So [to] Lord Crew's, and there with G. Carteret and my Lord to talk, and
they look upon our matters much the better, and by this and that time
is got, 1s. So to the Temple late, and by water, by moonshine, home,
1s. Cooks, 6d. Wrote my letters to my Lady Sandwich, and so home, where
displeased to have my maid bring her brother, a countryman, to lye
there, and so to bed.
17th (Friday). Called up by Balty's coming, who gives me a good account
of his voyage, and pleases me well, and I hope hath got something. This
morning paid the Royall Society L1 6s., and so to the office all the
morning. At noon home to dinner with my people, and there much pretty
discourse of Balty's. So by coach to White Hall: the coachman on Ludgate
Hill 'lighted, and beat a fellow with a sword, 2s. 6d. Did little
business with the Duke of York. Hear that the House is upon the business
of Harman, who, they say, takes all on himself. Thence, with Brouncker,
to the King's house, and saw "The Surprizall," where base singing, only
Knepp,' who come, after her song in the clouds, to me in the pit, and
there, oranges, 2s. After the play, she, and I, and Rolt, by coach, 6s.
6d., to Kensington, and there to the Grotto, and had admirable pleasure
with their singing, and fine ladies listening to us: with infinite
pleasure, I enjoyed myself: so to the tavern there, and did spend 16s.
6d., and the gardener 2s. Mighty merry, and sang all the way to the
town, a most pleasant evening, moonshine, and set them at her house in
Covent Garden, and I home and to bed.
18th (Saturday). Up, and my bookseller brought home books, bound--the
binding comes to 17s. Advanced to my maid Bridget L1. Sir W. Pen at the
Office, seemingly merry. Do hear this morning that Harman is committed
by the Parliament last night, the day he come up, which is hard; but
he took all upon himself first, and then when a witness come in to say
otherwise, he would have retracted; and the House took it so ill, they
would commit him. Thence home to dinner with my clerks, and so to White
Hall by water, 1s., and there a short Committee for Tangier, and so I to
the King's playhouse, 1s., and to the play of the "Duke of Lerma," 2s.
6d., and oranges, 1s. Thence by coach to Westminster, 1s., and the House
just up, having been about money business, 1s. So home by coach, 3s.,
calling in Duck Lane, and did get Des Cartes' Musique in English,' and
so home and wrote my letters, and then to my chamber to save my eyes,
and to bed.
19th (Sunday). Lay long. Roger Pepys and his son come, and to Church
with me, where W. Pen was, and did endeavour to shew himself to the
Church. Then home to dinner, and Roger Pepys did tell me the whole story
of Harman, how he prevaricated, and hath undoubtedly been imposed on,
and wheedled; and he is called the miller's man that, in Richard the
Third's time, was hanged for his master.
[The story alluded to by Pepys, which belongs not to the reign of
Richard III., but to that of Edward VI., occurred during a seditious
outbreak at Bodmin, in Cornwall, and is thus related by Holinshed:
"At the same time, and neare the same place [Bodmin], dwelled a
miller, that had beene a greate dooer in that rebellion, for whom
also Sir Anthonie Kingston sought: but the miller being thereof
warned, called a good tall fellow that he had to his servant, and
said unto him, 'I have business to go from home; if anie therefore
come to ask for me, saie thou art the owner of the mill, and the man
for whom they shall so aske, and that thou hast kept this mill for
the space of three yeares; but in no wise name me.' The servant
promised his maister so to doo. And shortlie after, came Sir
Anthonie Kingston to the miller's house, and calling for the miller,
the servant came forth, and answered that he was the miller. 'How
long,' quoth Sir Anthonie, 'hast thou kept this mill?' He answered,
'Three years.'--'Well, then,' said he, 'come on: thou must go with
me;' and caused his men to laie hands on him, and to bring him to
the next tree, saieing to him, 'Thou hast been a busie knave, and
therefore here shalt thou hang.' Then cried the fellow out, and
saide that he was not the miller, but the miller's man. 'Well,
then,' said Sir Anthonie, 'thou art a false knave to be in two
tales: therefore,' said he, 'hang him up;' and so incontinentlie
hanged he was indeed. After he was dead, one that was present told
Sir Anthonie, 'Surelie, sir, this was but the miller's man.'--'What
then!' said he, 'could he ever have done his maister better service
than to hang for him?'"--B.]
So after dinner I took them by water to White Hall, taking in a very
pretty woman at Paul's Wharf, and there landed we, and I left Roger
Pepys and to St. Margaret's Church, and there saw Betty, and so to walk
in the Abbey with Sir John Talbot, who would fain have pumped me about
the prizes, but I would not let him, and so to walk towards Michell's to
see her, but could not, and so to Martin's, and her husband was at home,
and so took coach and to the Park, and thence home and to bed betimes.
Water 1s., coach 5s. Balty borrowed L2.
20th. Up betimes and to the getting ready my answer to the Committee of
Accounts to several questions, which makes me trouble, though I know of
no blame due to me from any, let them enquire what they can out.
[The first part of the entry for April 20th is among the rough
notes, and stands as follows: "Monday 20. Up and busy about answer
to Committee of Accounts this morning about several questions which
vexed me though in none I have reason to be troubled. But the
business of The Flying Greyhound begins to find me some care, though
in that I am wholly void of blame." This may be compared with the
text.]
I to White Hall, and there hear how Henry Brouncker is fled, which, I
think, will undo him: but what good it will do Harman I know not,
he hath so befooled himself; but it will be good sport to my Lord
Chancellor to hear how his great enemy is fain to take the same course
that he is. There met Robinson, who tells me that he fears his master,
W. Coventry, will this week have his business brought upon the stage
again, about selling of places, which I shall be sorry for, though the
less, since I hear his standing for Pen the other day, to the prejudice,
though not to the wrong, of my Lord Sandwich; and yet I do think what
he did, he did out of a principle of honesty. Thence to Committee of
Accounts, and delivered my paper, and had little discourse, and was
unwilling to stay long with them to enter into much, but away and glad
to be from them, though very civil to me, but cunning and close I see
they are. So to Westminster Hall, and there find the Parliament upon the
Irish business, where going into the Speaker's chamber I did hear how
plainly one lawyer of counsel for the complainants did inveigh by name
against all the late Commissioners there. Thence with Creed, thinking,
but failed, of dining with Lord Crew, and so he and I to Hercules
Pillars, and there dined, and thence home by coach, and so with Jack
Fenn to the Chamberlain of London to look after the state of some Navy
assignments that are in his hands, and thence away, and meeting Sir
William Hooker, the Alderman, he did cry out mighty high against Sir
W. Pen for his getting such an estate, and giving L15,000 with his
daughter, which is more, by half, than ever he did give; but this the
world believes, and so let them. Thence took coach and I all alone to
Hyde Park (passing through Duck Lane among the booksellers, only to get
a sight of the pretty little woman I did salute the other night, and
did in passing), and so all the evening in the Park, being a little
unwilling to be seen there, and at night home, and thereto W. Pen's and
sat and talked there with his wife and children a good while, he being
busy in his closet, I believe preparing his defence in Parliament, and
so home to bed.
21st. Up, and at the office all the morning, at noon dined at home, and
thence took Mrs. Turner out and carried her to the King's house, and
saw "The Indian Emperour;" and after that done, took Knepp out, and to
Kensington; and there walked in the garden, and then supped, and
mighty merry, there being also in the house Sir Philip Howard, and some
company, and had a dear reckoning, but merry, and away, it being quite
night, home, and dark, about 9 o'clock or more, and in my coming had the
opportunity the first time in my life to be bold with Knepp..., and so
left her at home, and so Mrs. Turner and I home to my letters and to
bed. Here hear how Sir W. Pen's impeachment was read, and agreed to, in
the House this day, and ordered to be engrossed; and he suspended the
House--[From sitting as a member pending the impeachment.-B.]--Harman
set at liberty; and Brouncker put out of the House, and a writ for a new
election, and an impeachment ordered to be brought in against him, he
being fled!
[Sir Charles Berkeley, jun. was chosen in his room. In the sea-
fight off Southwold Bay on June 3rd, 1665, the English triumphed
over the Dutch, but the very considerable victory was not followed
up. During the night, while the Duke of York slept, Henry
Brouncker, his groom of the bedchamber, ordered the lieutenant to
shorten sail, by which means the progress of the whole fleet was
retarded, the Duke of York's being the leading ship. The duke
affirmed that he first heard of Brouncker's unjustifiable action in
July, and yet he kept the culprit in his service for nearly two
years after the offence had come to his knowledge. After Brouncker
had been dismissed from the duke's service, the House of Commons
ejected him. The whole matter is one of the unsolved difficulties
of history. See Lister's "Life of Clarendon," ii., 334 335]
22nd. Up, and all the morning at my office busy. At noon, it being
washing day, I toward White Hall, and stopped and dined all alone at
Hercules Pillars, where I was mighty pleased to overhear a woman talk
to her counsel how she had troubled her neighbours with law, and did it
very roguishly and wittily. Thence to White Hall, and there we attended
the Duke of York as usual; and I did present Mrs. Pett, the widow, and
her petition to the Duke of York, for some relief from the King.
Here was to-day a proposition made to the Duke of York by Captain Von
Hemskirke for L20,000, to discover an art how to make a ship go two foot
for one what any ship do now, which the King inclines to try, it costing
him nothing to try; and it is referred to us to contract with the man.
Thence to attend the Council about the business of certificates to the
Exchequer, where the Commissioners of the Treasury of different minds,
some would, and my Lord Ashly would not have any more made out, and
carried it there should not. After done here, and the Council up, I by
water from the Privy-stairs to Westminster Hall; and, taking water, the
King and the Duke of York were in the new buildings; and the Duke of
York called to me whither I was going? and I answered aloud, "To wait on
our maisters at Westminster;" at which he and all the company
laughed; but I was sorry and troubled for it afterwards, for fear any
Parliament-man should have been there; and will be a caution to me for
the time to come. Met with Roger Pepys, who tells me they have been on
the business of money, but not ended yet, but will take up more time.
So to the fishmonger's, and bought a couple of lobsters, and over to
the 'sparagus garden, thinking to have met Mr. Pierce, and his wife
and Knepp; but met their servant coming to bring me to Chatelin's, the
French house, in Covent Garden, and there with musick and good company,
Manuel and his wife, and one Swaddle, a clerk of Lord Arlington's, who
dances, and speaks French well, but got drunk, and was then troublesome,
and here mighty merry till ten at night, and then I away, and got a
coach, and so home, where I find Balty and his wife come to town, and
did sup with them, and so they to bed. This night the Duke of Monmouth
and a great many blades were at Chatelin's, and I left them there, with
a hackney-coach attending him.
23rd. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon comes
Knepp and Mrs. Pierce, and her daughter, and one Mrs. Foster, and dined
with me, and mighty merry, and after dinner carried them to the Tower,
and shewed them all to be seen there, and, among other things, the Crown
and Scepters and rich plate, which I myself never saw before, and indeed
is noble, and I mightily pleased with it. Thence by water to the Temple,
and thereto the Cocke alehouse, and drank, and eat a lobster, and sang,
and mighty merry. So, almost night, I carried Mrs. Pierce home, and then
Knepp and I to the Temple again, and took boat, it being darkish, and to
Fox Hall, it being now night, and a bonfire burning at Lambeth for the
King's coronation-day. And there she and I drank;.... and so back, and
led her home, it being now ten at night; and so got a link; and, walking
towards home, just at my entrance into the ruines at St. Dunstan's, I
was met by two rogues with clubs, who come towards us. So I went back,
and walked home quite round by the wall, and got well home, and to
bed weary, but pleased at my day's pleasure, but yet displeased at my
expence, and time I lose.
24th. Up betimes, and by water to White Hall, to the Duke of York,
and there hear that this day Hopis and Temple purpose to bring in the
petition against Sir W. Coventry, which I am sorry for, but hope he will
get out of it. Here I presented Mrs. Pett and her condition to Mr. Wren
for his favour, which he promised us. Thence to Lord Brouncker and sat
and talked with him, who thinks the Parliament will, by their violence
and delay in money matters, force the King to run any hazard, and
dissolve them. Thence to Ducke Lane, and there did overlook a great many
of Monsieur Fouquet's library, that a bookseller hath bought, and I did
buy one Spanish [work], "Los Illustres Varones."
[Nicholas Fouquet, "Surintendant des Finances" in France, had built
at Vaux a house which surpassed in magnificence any palace belonging
to Louis XIV., prior to the erection of Versailles, and caused much
envy to all the Court, especially to Colbert. Fouquet died at
Pignerol in 1680, after nineteen years' incarceration; and whilst
Pepys was buying his books in London, Colbert had become prime
minister in France, and Colbert's brother ambassador in England.
The 'viper' had caught the 'squirrel'!--B.]
Here did I endeavour to see my pretty woman that I did baiser in las
tenebras a little while depuis. And did find her sofa in the book[shop],
but had not la confidence para alter a elle. So lost my pains. But will
another time, and so home and to my office, and then to dinner. After
dinner down to the Old Swan, and by the way called at Michell's, and
there did see Betty, and that was all, for either she is shy or foolish,
and su mardi hath no mind para laiser me see su moher. To White Hall by
water, and there did our business with the Duke of York, which was
very little, only here I do hear the Duke of York tell how Sir W. Pen's
impeachment was brought into the House of Lords to-day; and spoke with
great kindness of him: and that the Lords would not commit him till they
could find precedent for it, and did incline to favour him. Thence to
the King's playhouse, and there saw a piece of "Beggar's Bush," which I
have not seen some years, and thence home, and there to Sir W. Pen's and
supped and sat talking there late, having no where else to go, and my
eyes too bad to read right, and so home to bed.
25th. Up, and with Sir J. Minnes to my Lord Brouncker, and with him all
of us to my Lord Ashly to satisfy him about the reason of what we do
or have done in the business of the tradesmen's certificates, which he
seems satisfied with, but is not, but I believe we have done what we can
justify, and he hath done what he cannot in stopping us to grant them,
and I believe it will come into Parliament and make trouble. So home and
there at the office all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and thence
after dinner to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "Sir
Martin Marr-all," which, the more I see, the more I like, and thence to
Westminster Hall, and there met with Roger Pepys; and he tells me that
nothing hath lately passed about my Lord Sandwich, but only Sir Robert
Carr did speak hardly of him. But it is hoped that nothing will be
done more, this meeting of Parliament, which the King did, by a message
yesterday, declare again, should rise the 4th of May, and then only
adjourne for three months: and this message being only adjournment, did
please them mightily, for they are desirous of their power mightily.
Thence homeward by the Coffee House in Covent Garden, thinking to have
met Harris here but could not, and so home, and there, after my letters,
I home to have my hair cut by my sister Michell and her husband, and so
to bed. This day I did first put off my waste-coate, the weather being
very hot, but yet lay in it at night, and shall, for a little time.
26th (Lord's day). Lay long, and then up and to Church, and so home,
where there come and dined with me Harris, Rolt, and Bannister, and
one Bland, that sings well also, and very merry at dinner, and, after
dinner, to sing all the afternoon. But when all was done, I did begin
to think that the pleasure of these people was not worth so often charge
and cost to me, as it hath occasioned me. They being gone I and Balty
walked as far as Charing Cross, and there got a coach and to Hales's the
painter, thinking to have found Harris sitting there for his picture,
which is drawing for me. But he, and all this day's company, and Hales,
were got to the Crown tavern, at next door, and thither I to them and
stayed a minute, leaving Captain Grant telling pretty stories of people
that have killed themselves, or been accessory to it, in revenge to
other people, and to mischief other people, and thence with Hales to
his house, and there did see his beginning of Harris's picture, which I
think will be pretty like, and he promises a very good picture. Thence
with Balty away and got a coach and to Hide Park, and there up and down
and did drink some milk at the Lodge, and so home and to bed.
27th. Up, and Captain Deane come to see me, and he and I toward
Westminster together, and I set him down at White Hall, while I to
Westminster Hall, and up to the Lords' House, and there saw Sir W. Pen
go into the House of Lords, where his impeachment was read to him,
and he used mighty civilly, the Duke of York being there; and two days
hence, at his desire, he is to bring in his answer, and a day then to be
appointed for his being heard with Counsel. Thence down into the Hall,
and with Creed and Godolphin walked; and do hear that to-morrow is
appointed, upon a motion on Friday last, to discourse the business of my
Lord Sandwich, moved by Sir R. Howard, that he should be sent for, home;
and I fear it will be ordered. Certain news come, I hear, this day, that
the Spanish Plenipotentiary in Flanders will not agree to the peace and
terms we and the Dutch have made for him and the King of France; and by
this means the face of things may be altered, and we forced to join with
the French against Spain, which will be an odd thing. At noon with Creed
to my Lord Crew's, and there dined; and here was a very fine-skinned
lady dined, the daughter of my Lord Roberts, and also a fine lady, Mr.
John Parkhurst his wife, that was but a boy the other day. And after
dinner there comes in my Lady Roberts herself, and with her Mr.
Roberts's daughter, that was Mrs. Boddevill, the great beauty, and
a fine lady indeed, the first time I saw her. My Lord Crew, and
Sir Thomas, and I, and Creed, all the afternoon debating of my Lord
Sandwich's business, against to-morrow, and thence I to the King's
playhouse, and there saw most of "The Cardinall," a good play, and
thence to several places to pay my debts, and then home, and there took
a coach and to Mile End to take a little ayre, and thence home to Sir
W. Pen's, where I supped, and sat all the evening; and being lighted
homeward by Mrs. Markham, I blew out the candle and kissed her, and so
home to bed.
28th. Up betimes, and to Sir W. Coventry's by water, but lost my labour,
so through the Park to White Hall, and thence to my Lord Crew's to
advise again with him about my Lord Sandwich, and so to the office,
where till noon, and then I by coach to Westminster Hall, and there
do understand that the business of religion, and the Act against
Conventicles, have so taken them up all this morning, and do still, that
my Lord Sandwich's business is not like to come on to-day, which I am
heartily glad of. This law against Conventicles is very severe; but
Creed, whom I met here, do tell me that, it being moved that Papists'
meetings might be included, the House was divided upon it, and it was
carried in the negative; which will give great disgust to the people,
I doubt. Thence with Creed to Hercules Pillars by the Temple again,
and there dined he and I all alone, and thence to the King's house, and
there did see "Love in a Maze," wherein very good mirth of Lacy, the
clown, and Wintersell, the country-knight, his master. Thence to the New
Exchange to pay a debt of my wife's there, and so home, and there to the
office and walk in the garden in the dark to ease my eyes, and so home
to supper and to bed.
29th. Up, and to my office, where all the morning busy. At noon dined
at home, and my clerks with me, and thence I to White Hall, and there
do hear how Sir W. Pen hath delivered in his answer; and the Lords have
sent it down to the Commons, but they have not yet read it, nor taken
notice of it, so as, I believe, they will by design defer it till they
rise, that so he, by lying under an impeachment, may be prevented in
his going to sea, which will vex him, and trouble the Duke of York. Did
little business with the Duke of York, and then Lord Brouncker and I to
the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "Love in a Tubb;" and, after
the play done, I stepped up to Harris's dressing-room, where I never
was, and there I observe much company come to him, and the Witts, to
talk, after the play is done, and to assign meetings. Mine was to talk
about going down to see "The Resolution," and so away, and thence to
Westminster Hall, and there met with Mr. G. Montagu, and walked and
talked; who tells me that the best fence against the Parliament's
present fury is delay, and recommended it to me, in my friends' business
and my own, if I have any; and is that, that Sir W. Coventry do take,
and will secure himself; that the King will deliver up all to the
Parliament; and being petitioned the other day by Mr. Brouncker to
protect him, with teares in his eyes, the King did say he could not, and
bid him shift for himself, at least till the House is up. Thence I away
to White Hall, and there took coach home with a stranger I let into the
coach, to club with me for it, he going into London, I set him down at
the lower end of Cheapside, and I home, and to Sir W. Pen's, and there
sat, and by and by, it being now about nine o'clock at night, I heard
Mercer's voice, and my boy Tom's singing in the garden, which pleased me
mightily, I longing to see the girl, having not seen her since my wife
went; and so into the garden to her and sang, and then home to supper,
and mightily pleased with her company, in talking and singing, and so
parted, and to bed.
30th. Up, and at the office all the morning. At noon Sir J. Minnes and I
to the Dolphin Tavern, there to meet our neighbours, all of the
Parish, this being Procession-day, to dine. And did; and much very good
discourse; they being, most of them, very able merchants as any in
the City: Sir Andrew Rickard, Mr. Vandeputt, Sir John Fredericke,
Harrington, and others. They talked with Mr. Mills about the meaning
of this day, and the good uses of it; and how heretofore, and yet in
several places, they do whip a boy at each place they stop at in their
procession. Thence I to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw
"The Tempest," which still pleases me mightily, and thence to the
New Exchange, and then home, and in the way stopped to talk with Mr.
Brisband, who gives me an account of the rough usage Sir G. Carteret and
his Counsel had the other day, before the Commissioners of Accounts, and
what I do believe we shall all of us have, in a greater degree than any
he hath had yet with them, before their three years are out, which are
not yet begun, nor God knows when they will, this being like to be no
session of Parliament, when they now rise. So home, and there took up
Mrs. Turner and carried her to Mile End and drank, and so back talking,
and so home and to bed, I being mighty cold, this being a mighty cold
day, and I had left off my waistcoat three or four days. This evening,
coming home in the dusk, I saw and spoke to our Nell, Pain's daughter,
and had I not been very cold I should have taken her to Tower hill para
together et toker her. Thus ends this month; my wife in the country,
myself full of pleasure and expence; and some trouble for my friends, my
Lord Sandwich, by the Parliament, and more for my eyes, which are daily
worse and worse, that I dare not write or read almost any thing.
The Parliament going in a few days to rise; myself so long without
accounting now, for seven or eight months, I think, or more, that I know
not what condition almost I am in, as to getting or spending for all
that time, which troubles me, but I will soon do it. The kingdom in an
ill state through poverty; a fleete going out, and no money to maintain
it, or set it out; seamen yet unpaid, and mutinous when pressed to go
out again; our Office able to do little, nobody trusting us, nor we
desiring any to trust us, and yet have not money for any thing, but only
what particularly belongs to this fleete going out, and that but lamely
too. The Parliament several months upon an Act for L300,000, but cannot
or will not agree upon it, but do keep it back, in spite of the King's
desires to hasten it, till they can obtain what they have a mind, in
revenge upon some men for the late ill managements; and he is forced to
submit to what they please, knowing that, without it, he shall have no
money, and they as well, that, if they give the money, the King will
suffer them to do little more; and then the business of religion
do disquiet every body, the Parliament being vehement against the
Nonconformists, while the King seems to be willing to countenance them.
So we are all poor, and in pieces--God help us! while the peace is
like to go on between Spain and France; and then the French may be
apprehended able to attack us. So God help us!
MAY 1668
May 1st, 1668. Up, and to the office, where all the morning busy. Then
to Westminster Hall, and there met Sir W. Pen, who labours to have his
answer to his impeachment, and sent down from the Lords' House, read
by the House of Commons; but they are so busy on other matters, that he
cannot, and thereby will, as he believes, by design, be prevented from
going to sea this year. Here met my cozen Thomas Pepys of Deptford,
and took some turns with him; who is mightily troubled for this Act now
passed against Conventicles, and in few words, and sober, do lament the
condition we are in, by a negligent Prince and a mad Parliament. Thence
I by coach to the Temple, and there set him down, and then to Sir G.
Carteret's to dine, but he not being at home, I back again to the New
Exchange a little, and thence back again to Hercules Pillars, and there
dined all alone, and then to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The
Surprizall;" and a disorder in the pit by its raining in, from the
cupola at top, it being a very foul day, and cold, so as there are few
I believe go to the Park to-day, if any. Thence to Westminster Hall,
and there I understand how the Houses of Commons and Lords are like to
disagree very much, about the business of the East India Company and one
Skinner; to the latter of which the Lords have awarded L5000 from the
former, for some wrong done him heretofore; and the former appealing
to the Commons, the Lords vote their petition a libell; and so there is
like to follow very hot work. Thence by water, not being able to get a
coach, nor boat but a sculler, and that with company, is being so foul
a day, to the Old Swan, and so home, and there spent the evening, making
Balty read to me, and so to supper and to bed.
2nd. Up, and at the office all the morning. At noon with Lord Brouncker
in his coach as far as the Temple, and there 'light and to Hercules
Pillars, and there dined, and thence to the Duke of York's playhouse,
at a little past twelve, to get a good place in the pit, against the new
play, and there setting a poor man to keep my place, I out, and spent an
hour at Martin's, my bookseller's, and so back again, where I find the
house quite full. But I had my place, and by and by the King comes and
the Duke of York; and then the play begins, called "The Sullen Lovers;
or, The Impertinents," having many good humours in it, but the play
tedious, and no design at all in it. But a little boy, for a farce, do
dance Polichinelli, the best that ever anything was done in the world,
by all men's report: most pleased with that, beyond anything in the
world, and much beyond all the play. Thence to the King's house to see
Knepp, but the play done; and so I took a hackney alone, and to the
park, and there spent the evening, and to the lodge, and drank new milk.
And so home to the Office, ended my letters, and, to spare my eyes,
home, and played on my pipes, and so to bed.
3rd (Lord's day). Up, and to church, where I saw Sir A. Rickard, though
he be under the Black Rod, by order of the Lords' House, upon the
quarrel between the East India Company and Skinner, which is like to
come to a very great heat between the two Houses. At noon comes Mr.
Mills and his wife, and Mr. Turner and his wife, by invitation to
dinner, and we were mighty merry, and a very pretty dinner, of my
Bridget and Nell's dressing, very handsome. After dinner to church
again.... So home and with Sir W. Pen took a hackney, and he and I to
Old Street, to a brew-house there, to see Sir Thomas Teddiman, who is
very ill in bed of a fever, got, I believe, by the fright the Parliament
have put him into, of late. But he is a good man, a good seaman, and
stout. Thence Pen and I to Islington, and there, at the old house, eat,
and drank, and merry, and there by chance giving two pretty fat boys
each of them a cake, they proved to be Captain Holland's children, whom
therefore I pity. So round by Hackney home, having good discourse, he
[Pen] being very open to me in his talk, how the King ought to dissolve
this Parliament, when the Bill of Money is passed, they being never
likely to give him more; how he [the King] hath great opportunity of
making himself popular by stopping this Act against Conventicles; and
how my Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if the Parliament continue,
will undoubtedly fall, he having managed that place with so much
self-seeking, and disorder, and pleasure, and some great men are
designing to overthrow [him], as, among the rest, my Lord Orrery; and
that this will try the King mightily, he being a firm friend to my Lord
Lieutenant. So home; and to supper a little, and then to bed, having
stepped, after I come home, to Alderman Backewell's about business, and
there talked a while with him and his wife, a fine woman of the country,
and how they had bought an estate at Buckeworth, within four mile of
Brampton.
4th. Up betimes, and by water to Charing Cross, and so to W. Coventry,
and there talked a little with him, and thence over the Park to White
Hall, and there did a little business at the Treasury, and so to the
Duke, and there present Balty to the Duke of York and a letter from the
Board to him about him, and the Duke of York is mightily pleased with
him, and I doubt not his continuance in employment, which I am glad of.
Thence with Sir H. Cholmly to Westminster Hall talking, and he crying
mightily out of the power the House of Lords usurps in this business of
the East India Company. Thence away home and there did business, and
so to dinner, my sister Michell and I, and thence to the Duke of York's
house, and there saw "The Impertinents" again, and with less pleasure
than before, it being but a very contemptible play, though there are
many little witty expressions in it; and the pit did generally say that
of it. Thence, going out, Mrs. Pierce called me from the gallery, and
there I took her and Mrs. Corbet by coach up and down, and took up
Captain Rolt in the street; and at last, it being too late to go to the
Park, I carried them to the Beare in Drury Lane, and there did treat
them with a dish of mackrell, the first I have seen this year, and
another dish, and mighty merry; and so carried her home, and thence home
myself, well pleased with this evening's pleasure, and so to bed.
5th. Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon home to dinner
and Creed with me, and after dinner he and I to the Duke of York's
playhouse; and there coming late, he and I up to the balcony-box, where
we find my Lady Castlemayne and several great ladies; and there we sat
with them, and I saw "The Impertinents" once more, now three times, and
the three only days it hath been acted. And to see the folly how the
house do this day cry up the play more than yesterday! and I for that
reason like it, I find, the better, too; by Sir Positive At-all, I
understand, is meant Sir Robert Howard. My Lady [Castlemaine] pretty
well pleased with it; but here I sat close to her fine woman, Willson,
who indeed is very handsome, but, they say, with child by the King. I
asked, and she told me this was the first time her Lady had seen it,
I having a mind to say something to her. One thing of familiarity I
observed in my Lady Castlemayne: she called to one of her women, another
that sat by this, for a little patch off her face, and put it into her
mouth and wetted it, and so clapped it upon her own by the side of her
mouth, I suppose she feeling a pimple rising there. Thence with Creed
to Westminster Hall, and there met with cozen Roger, who tells me of
the great conference this day between the Lords and Commons, about
the business of the East India Company, as being one of the weightiest
conferences that hath been, and managed as weightily. I am heartily
sorry I was not there, it being upon a mighty point of the privileges
of the subjects of England, in regard to the authority of the House of
Lords, and their being condemned by them as the Supreme Court, which, we
say, ought not to be, but by appeal from other Courts. And he tells
me that the Commons had much the better of them, in reason and history
there quoted, and believes the Lords will let it fall. Thence to walk in
the Hall, and there hear that Mrs. Martin's child, my god-daughter,
is dead, and so by water to the Old Swan, and thence home, and there a
little at Sir W. Pen's, and so to bed.
6th. Up, and to the office, and thence to White Hall, but come too
late to see the Duke of York, with whom my business was, and so to
Westminster Hall, where met with several people and talked with them,
and among other things understand that my Lord St. John is meant by Mr.
Woodcocke, in "The Impertinents."
["Whilst Positive walks, like Woodcock in the park,
Contriving projects with a brewer's clerk."
Andrew Marvell's "Instructions to a Painter," part iii., to which is
subjoined the following note: "Sir Robert Howard, and Sir William
Bucknell, the brewer."--Works, ed. by Capt. E. Thompson, vol.
iii., p. 405.--B.]
Here met with Mrs. Washington, my old acquaintance of the Hall, whose
husband has a place in the Excise at Windsor, and it seems lives well.
I have not seen her these 8 or 9 years, and she begins to grow old,
I perceive, visibly. So time do alter, and do doubtless the like in
myself. This morning the House is upon the City Bill, and they say hath
passed it, though I am sorry that I did not think to put somebody
in mind of moving for the churches to be allotted according to the
convenience of the people, and not to gratify this Bishop, or that
College. Thence by water to the New Exchange, where bought a pair of
shoe-strings, and so to Mr. Pierces, where invited, and there was Knepp
and Mrs. Foster and here dined, but a poor, sluttish dinner, as usual,
and so I could not be heartily merry at it: here saw her girl's picture,
but it is mighty far short of her boy's, and not like her neither; but
it makes Hales's picture of her boy appear a good picture. Thence to
White Hall, walked with Brisband, who dined there also, and thence I
back to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Virgin Martyr," and
heard the musick that I like so well, and intended to have seen Knepp,
but I let her alone; and having there done, went to Mrs. Pierces back
again, where she was, and there I found her on a pallet in the dark...,
that is Knepp. And so to talk; and by and by did eat some curds and
cream, and thence away home, and it being night, I did walk in the dusk
up and down, round through our garden, over Tower Hill, and so through
Crutched Friars, three or four times, and once did meet Mercer and
another pretty lady, but being surprized I could say little to them,,
although I had an opportunity of pleasing myself with them, but left
them, and then I did see our Nell, Payne's daughter, and her je did
desire venir after me, and so elle did see me to, Tower Hill to our back
entry there that comes upon the degres entrant into nostra garden...,
and so parted, and je home to put up things against to-morrow's carrier
for my wife; and, among others, a very fine salmon-pie, sent me by Mr.
Steventon, W. Hewer's uncle, and so to bed.
7th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, and thither I sent for Mercer to dine with me, and after dinner
she and I called Mrs. Turner, and I carried them to the Duke of York's
house, and there saw "The Man's the Master," which proves, upon my
seeing it again, a very good play. Thence called Knepp from the King's
house, where going in for her, the play being done, I did see Beck
Marshall come dressed, off of the stage, and looks mighty fine, and
pretty, and noble: and also Nell, in her boy's clothes, mighty pretty.
But, Lord! their confidence! and how many men do hover about them as
soon as they come off the stage, and how confident they are in their
talk! Here I did kiss the pretty woman newly come, called Pegg, that was
Sir Charles Sidly's mistress, a mighty pretty woman, and seems, but is
not, modest. Here took up Knepp into our coach, and all of us with her
to her lodgings, and thither comes Bannister with a song of hers, that
he hath set in Sir Charles Sidly's play for her, which is, I think, but
very meanly set; but this he did, before us, teach her, and it being but
a slight, silly, short ayre, she learnt it presently. But I did get him
to prick me down the notes of the Echo in "The Tempest," which pleases
me mightily. Here was also Haynes, the incomparable dancer of the King's
house, and a seeming civil man, and sings pretty well, and they gone, we
abroad to Marrowbone, and there walked in the garden, the first time I
ever was there; and a pretty place it is, and here we eat and drank and
stayed till 9 at night, and so home by moonshine.... And so set Mrs.
Knepp at her lodging, and so the rest, and I home talking with a great
deal of pleasure, and so home to bed.
8th. Up, and to the office, where busy all the morning. Towards noon I
to Westminster and there understand that the Lords' House did sit till
eleven o'clock last night, about the business in difference between them
and the Commons, in the matter of the East India Company. Here took a
turn or two, and up to my Lord Crew's, and there dined; where Mr. Case,
the minister, a dull fellow in his talk, and all in the Presbyterian
manner; a great deal of noise and a kind of religious tone, but very
dull. After dinner my Lord and I together. He tells me he hears that
there are great disputes like to be at Court, between the factions of
the two women, my Lady Castlemayne and Mrs. Stewart, who is now well
again, and the King hath made several public visits to her, and like to
come to Court: the other is to go to Barkeshire-house, which is taken
for her, and they say a Privy-Seal is passed for L5000 for it. He
believes all will come to ruin. Thence I to White Hall, where the Duke
of York gone to the Lords' House, where there is to be a conference on
the Lords' side to the Commons this afternoon, giving in their Reasons,
which I would have been at, but could not; for, going by direction to
the Prince's chamber, there Brouncker, W. Pen, and Mr. Wren, and I, met,
and did our business with the Duke of York. But, Lord! to see how this
play of Sir Positive At-all,--["The Impertinents."]--in abuse of Sir
Robert Howard, do take, all the Duke's and every body's talk being of
that, and telling more stories of him, of the like nature, that it is
now the town and country talk, and, they say, is most exactly true. The
Duke of York himself said that of his playing at trap-ball is true, and
told several other stories of him. This being done, Brouncker, Pen,
and I to Brouncker's house, and there sat and talked, I asking many
questions in mathematics to my Lord, which he do me the pleasure to
satisfy me in, and here we drank and so spent an hour, and so W. Pen and
I home, and after being with W. Pen at his house an hour, I home and to
bed.
9th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning we sat. Here I first
hear that the Queene hath miscarryed of a perfect child, being gone
about ten weeks, which do shew that she can conceive, though it be
unfortunate that she cannot bring forth. Here we are told also that last
night the Duchesse of Monmouth, dancing at her lodgings, hath sprained
her thigh. Here we are told also that the House of Commons sat till five
o'clock this morning, upon the business of the difference between the
Lords and them, resolving to do something therein before they rise, to
assert their privileges. So I at noon by water to Westminster, and there
find the King hath waited in the Prince's chamber these two hours, and
the Houses are not ready for him. The Commons having sent this morning,
after their long debate therein the last night, to the Lords, that
they do think the only expedient left to preserve unity between the two
Houses is, that they do put a stop to any proceedings upon their late
judgement against the East India Company, till their next meeting; to
which the Lords returned answer that they would return answer to them by
a messenger of their own, which they not presently doing, they were all
inflamed, and thought it was only a trick, to keep them in suspense
till the King come to adjourne them; and, so, rather than lose the
opportunity of doing themselves right, they presently with great fury
come to this vote: "That whoever should assist in the execution of the
judgement of the Lords against the Company, should be held betrayers of
the liberties of the people of England, and of the privileges of
that House." This the Lords had notice of, and were mad at it; and so
continued debating without any design to yield to the Commons, till the
King come in, and sent for the Commons, where the Speaker made a short
but silly speech, about their giving Him L300,000; and then the several
Bills, their titles were read, and the King's assent signified in the
proper terms, according to the nature of the Bills, of which about
three or four were public Bills, and seven or eight private ones, the
additional Bills for the building of the City and the Bill against
Conventicles being none of them. The King did make a short, silly
speech, which he read, giving them thanks for the money, which now,
he said, he did believe would be sufficient, because there was peace
between his neighbours, which was a kind of a slur, methought, to the
Commons; and that he was sorry for what he heard of difference between
the two Houses, but that he hoped their recesse would put them into a
way of accommodation; and so adjourned them to the 9th of August, and
then recollected himself, and told them the 11th; so imperfect a speaker
he is. So the Commons went to their House, and forthwith adjourned; and
the Lords resumed their House, the King being gone, and sat an hour or
two after, but what they did, I cannot tell; but every body expected
they would commit Sir Andrew Rickard, Sir Samuel Barnardiston, Mr.
Boone, and Mr. Wynne, who were all there, and called in, upon their
knees, to the bar of the House; and Sir John Robinson I left there,
endeavouring to prevent their being committed to the Tower, lest he
should thereby be forced to deny their order, because of this vote of
the Commons, whereof he is one, which is an odde case.
[This "odd case" was that of Thomas Skinner and the East India
Company. According to Ralph, the Commons had ordered Skinner, the
plaintiff, into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms, and the Lords
did the same by Sir Samuel Barnadiston, deputy-governor of the
company, as likewise Sir Andrew Rickard, Mr. Rowland Gwynn, and Mr.
Christopher Boone.--B.]
Thence I to the Rose Taverne in Covent Garden, and there sent for a
pullet and dined all alone, being to meet Sir W. Pen, who by and
by come, and he and I into the King's house, and there "The Mayd's
Tragedy," a good play, but Knepp not there; and my head and eyes out of
order, the first from my drinking wine at dinner, and the other from my
much work in the morning. Thence parted, and I towards the New Exchange
and there bought a pair of black silk stockings at the hosier's that
hath the very pretty woman to his wife, about ten doors on this side
of the 'Change, and she is indeed very pretty, but I think a notable
talking woman by what I heard to others there. Thence to Westminster
Hall, where I hear the Lords are up, but what they have done I know not,
and so walked toward White Hall and thence by water to the Tower, and so
home and there to my letters, and so to Sir W. Pen's; and there did talk
with Mrs. Lowther, who is very kind to me, more than usual, and I will
make use of it. She begins to draw very well, and I think do as well, if
not better, than my wife, if it be true that she do it herself, what she
shews me, and so to bed, and my head akeing all night with the wine I
drank to-day, and my eyes ill. So lay long, my head pretty well in the
morning.
10th (Lord's day). Up, and to the office, there to do, business till
church time, when Mr. Shepley, newly come to town, come to see me,
and we had some discourse of all matters, and particularly of my Lord
Sandwich's concernments, and here did by the by as he would seem tell
me that my Lady--[Lady Sandwich.]--had it in her thoughts, if she had
occasion, to, borrow L100 of me, which I did not declare any opposition
to, though I doubt it will be so much lost. But, however, I will not
deny my Lady, if she ask it, whatever comes of it, though it be lost;
but shall be glad that it is no bigger sum. And yet it vexes me though,
and the more because it brings into my head some apprehensions what
trouble I may here after be brought to when my Lord comes home, if
he should ask me to come into bonds with him, as I fear he will have
occasions to make money, but I hope I shall have the wit to deny it.
He being gone, I to church, and so home, and there comes W. Hewer and
Balty, and by and by I sent for Mercer to come and dine with me, and
pretty merry, and after dinner I fell to teach her "Canite Jehovae,"
which she did a great part presently, and so she away, and I to church,
and from church home with my Lady Pen; and, after being there an hour
or so talking, I took her, and Mrs. Lowther, and old Mrs. Whistler, her
mother-in-law, by water with great pleasure as far as Chelsy, and so
back to Spring Garden, at Fox-hall, and there walked, and eat, and
drank, and so to water again, and set down the old woman at home at
Durham Yard:' and it raining all the way, it troubled us; but, however,
my cloak kept us all dry, and so home, and at the Tower wharf there we
did send for a pair of old shoes for Mrs. Lowther, and there I did pull
the others off and put them on, elle being peu shy, but do speak con
mighty kindness to me that she would desire me pour su mari if it were
to be done..... Here staid a little at Sir W. Pen's, who was gone to
bed, it being about eleven at night, and so I home to bed.
11th. Up, and to my office, where alone all the morning. About noon
comes to me my cousin Sarah, and my aunt Livett, newly come out of
Gloucestershire, good woman, and come to see me; I took them home, and
made them drink, but they would not stay dinner, I being alone. But here
they tell me that they hear that this day Kate Joyce was to be married
to a man called Hollingshed, whom she indeed did once tell me of, and
desired me to enquire after him. But, whatever she said of his being
rich, I do fear, by her doing this without my advice, it is not as it
ought to be; but, as she brews, let her bake. They being gone, I to
dinner with Balty and his wife, who is come to town to-day from Deptford
to see us, and after dinner I out and took a coach, and called Mercer,
and she and I to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "The
Tempest," and between two acts, I went out to Mr. Harris, and got him to
repeat to me the words of the Echo, while I writ them down, having tried
in the play to have wrote them; but, when I had done it, having done it
without looking upon my paper, I find I could not read the blacklead.
But now I have got the words clear, and, in going in thither, had the
pleasure to see the actors in their several dresses, especially the
seamen and monster, which were very droll: so into the play again. But
there happened one thing which vexed me, which is, that the orange-woman
did come in the pit, and challenge me for twelve oranges, which she
delivered by my order at a late play, at night, to give to some ladies
in a box, which was wholly untrue, but yet she swore it to be true. But,
however, I did deny it, and did not pay her; but, for quiet, did buy 4s.
worth of oranges of her, at 6d. a-piece. Here I saw first my Lord Ormond
since his coming from Ireland, which is now about eight days. After the
play done, I took Mercer by water to Spring Garden; and there with great
pleasure walked, and eat, and drank, and sang, making people come about
us, to hear us, and two little children of one of our neighbours that
happened to be there, did come into our arbour, and we made them dance
prettily. So by water, with great pleasure, down to the Bridge, and
there landed, and took water again on the other side; and so to the
Tower, and I saw her home, I myself home to my chamber, and by and by to
bed.
12th. Up, and to the office, where we sat, and sat all the morning. Here
Lord Anglesey was with us, and in talk about the late difference between
the two Houses, do tell us that he thinks the House of Lords may be in
an error, at least, it is possible they may, in this matter of Skinner;
and he doubts they may, and did declare his judgement in the House
of Lords against their proceedings therein, he having hindered 100
originall causes being brought into their House, notwithstanding that he
was put upon defending their proceedings: but that he is confident that
the House of Commons are in the wrong, in the method they take to remedy
an error of the Lords, for no vote of theirs can do it; but, in all like
cases, the Commons have done it by petition to the King, sent up to
the Lords, and by them agreed to, and so redressed, as they did in the
Petition of Right. He says that he did tell them indeed, which is talked
of, and which did vex the Commons, that the Lords were "Judices nati et
Conciliarii nati;" but all other judges among us are under salary, and
the Commons themselves served for wages; and therefore the Lords, in
reason, were the freer judges. At noon to dinner at home, and after
dinner, where Creed dined with me, he and I, by water to the Temple,
where we parted, and I both to the King's and Duke of York's playhouses,
and there went through the houses to see what faces I could spy that I
knew, and meeting none, I away by coach to my house, and then to Mrs.
Mercer's, where I met with her two daughters, and a pretty-lady I never
knew yet, one Mrs. Susan Gayet, a very pretty black lady, that speaks
French well, and is a Catholick, and merchant's daughter, by us, and
here was also Mrs. Anne Jones, and after sitting and talking a little, I
took them out, and carried them through Hackney to Kingsland, and there
walked to Sir G. Whitmore's house, where I have not been many a day;
and so to the old house at Islington, and eat, and drank, and sang, and
mighty merry; and so by moonshine with infinite pleasure home, and there
sang again in Mercer's garden. And so parted, I having there seen a
mummy in a merchant's warehouse there, all the middle of the man or
woman's body, black and hard. I never saw any before, and, therefore, it
pleased me much, though an ill sight; and he did give me a little bit,
and a bone of an arme, I suppose, and so home, and there to bed.
13th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and so to Sir H. Cholmly's, who
not being up I made a short visit to Sir W. Coventry, and he and I
through the Park to White Hall, and thence I back into the Park, and
there met Sir H. Cholmly, and he and I to Sir Stephen Fox's, where we
met and considered the business of the Excise, how far it is charged
in reference to the payment of the Guards and Tangier. Thence he and I
walked to Westminster Hall and there took a turn, it being holyday, and
so back again, and I to the mercer's, and my tailor's about a stuff suit
that I am going to make. Thence, at noon, to Hercules Pillars, and there
dined all alone, and so to White Hall, some of us attended the Duke
of York as usual, and so to attend the Council about the business of
Hemskirke's project of building a ship that sails two feet for one of
any other ship, which the Council did agree to be put in practice, the
King to give him, if it proves good, L5000 in hand, and L15,000 more in
seven years, which, for my part, I think a piece of folly for them to
meddle with, because the secret cannot be long kept. So thence, after
Council, having drunk some of the King's wine and water with Mr.
Chevins, my Lord Brouncker, and some others, I by water to the Old Swan,
and there to Michell's, and did see her and drink there, but he being
there je ne baiser la; and so back again by water to Spring Garden all
alone, and walked a little, and so back again home, and there a little
to my viall, and so to bed, Mrs. Turner having sat and supped with me.
This morning I hear that last night Sir Thomas Teddiman, poor man! did
die by a thrush in his mouth: a good man, and stout and able, and much
lamented; though people do make a little mirth, and say, as I believe
it did in good part, that the business of the Parliament did break his
heart, or, at least, put him into this fever and disorder, that caused
his death.
14th. Up, and to the office, where we sat all the morning, and at noon
home to dinner with my people, but did not stay to dine out with them,
but rose and straight by water to the Temple, and so to Penny's, my
tailor's, where by and by by agreement Mercer, and she, to my great
content, brings Mrs. Gayet, and I carried them to the King's house; but,
coming too soon, we out again to the Rose taverne, and there I did give
them a tankard of cool drink, the weather being very hot, and then into
the playhouse again, and there saw "The Country Captain," a very dull
play, that did give us no content, and besides, little company there,
which made it very unpleasing. Thence to the waterside, at Strand
bridge, and so up by water and to Fox-hall, where we walked a great
while, and pleased mightily with the pleasure thereof, and the company
there, and then in, and eat and drank, and then out again and walked,
and it beginning to be dark, we to a corner and sang, that everybody got
about us to hear us; and so home, where I saw them both at their doors,
and, full of the content of this afternoon's pleasure, I home and to
walk in the garden a little, and so home to bed.
15th. Up, and betimes to White Hall, and there met with Sir H. Cholmly
at Sir Stephen Fox's, and there was also the Cofferer, and we did there
consider about our money and the condition of the Excise, and after much
dispute agreed upon a state thereof and the manner of our future course
of payments. Thence to the Duke of York, and there did a little navy
business as we used to do, and so to a Committee for Tangier, where God
knows how my Lord Bellasses's accounts passed; understood by nobody but
my Lord Ashly, who, I believe, was mad to let them go as he pleased. But
here Sir H. Cholmly had his propositions read, about a greater price for
his work of the Mole, or to do it upon account, which, being read, he
was bid to withdraw. But, Lord! to see how unlucky a man may be, by
chance; for, making an unfortunate minute when they were almost tired
with the other business, the Duke of York did find fault with it, and
that made all the rest, that I believe he had better have given a great
deal, and had nothing said to it to-day; whereas, I have seen other
things more extravagant passed at first hearing, without any difficulty.
Thence I to my Lord Brouncker's, at Mrs. Williams's, and there dined,
and she did shew me her closet, which I was sorry to see, for fear of
her expecting something from me; and here she took notice of my wife's
not once coming to see her, which I am glad of; for she shall not--a
prating, vain, idle woman. Thence with Lord Brouncker to Loriners'-hall,
[The Loriners, or Lorimers (bit-makers), of London are by reputation
an ancient mistery, but they were first incorporated by letters
patent of 10 Queen Anne (December 3rd, 1711). Their small hall was
at the corner of Basinghall Street in London Wall. The company has
no hall now.]
by Mooregate, a hall I never heard of before, to Sir Thomas Teddiman's
burial, where most people belonging to the sea were. And here we had
rings: and here I do hear that some of the last words that he said were,
that he had a very good King, God bless him! but that the Parliament had
very ill rewarded him for all the service he had endeavoured to do
them and his country; so that, for certain, this did go far towards his
death. But, Lord! to see among [the company] the young commanders, and
Thomas Killigrew and others that come, how unlike a burial this was,
O'Brian taking out some ballads out of his pocket, which I read, and the
rest come about me to hear! and there very merry we were all, they being
new ballets. By and by the corpse went; and I, with my Lord Brouncker,
and Dr. Clerke, and Mr. Pierce, as far as the foot of London-bridge;
and there we struck off into Thames Street, the rest going to Redriffe,
where he is to be buried. And we 'light at the Temple, and there
parted; and I to the King's house, and there saw the last act of "The
Committee," thinking to have seen Knepp there, but she did not act. And
so to my bookseller's, and there carried home some books-among others,
"Dr. Wilkins's Reall Character," and thence to Mrs. Turner's, and there
went and sat, and she showed me her house from top to bottom, which I
had not seen before, very handsome, and here supped, and so home, and
got Mercer, and she and I in the garden singing till ten at night, and
so home to a little supper, and then parted, with great content, and
to bed. The Duchesse of Monmouth's hip is, I hear, now set again, after
much pain. I am told also that the Countess of Shrewsbury is brought
home by the Duke of Buckingham to his house, where his Duchess saying
that it was not for her and the other to live together in a house, he
answered, Why, Madam, I did think so, and, therefore, have ordered your
coach to be ready, to carry you to your father's, which was a devilish
speech, but, they say, true; and my Lady Shrewsbury is there, it seems.
16th. Up; and to the Office, where we sat all the morning; and at
noon, home with my people to dinner; and thence to the Office all the
afternoon, till, my eyes weary, I did go forth by coach to the King's
playhouse, and there saw the best part of "The Sea Voyage," where Knepp
I see do her part of sorrow very well. I afterwards to her house; but
she did not come presently home; and there je did kiss her ancilla,
which is so mighty belle; and I to my tailor's, and to buy me a belt for
my new suit against to-morrow; and so home, and there to my Office, and
afterwards late walking in the garden; and so home to supper, and to
bed, after Nell's cutting of my hair close, the weather being very hot.
17th (Lord's day). Up, and put on my new stuff-suit, with a
shoulder-belt, according to the new fashion, and the bands of my vest
and tunique laced with silk lace, of the colour of my suit: and so, very
handsome, to Church, where a dull sermon and of a stranger, and so home;
and there I find W. Howe, and a younger brother of his, come to dine
with me; and there comes Mercer, and brings with her Mrs. Gayet, which
pleased me mightily; and here was also W. Hewer, and mighty merry; and
after dinner to sing psalms. But, Lord! to hear what an excellent base
this younger brother of W. Howe's sings, even to my astonishment, and
mighty pleasant. By and by Gayet goes away, being a Catholick, to
her devotions, and Mercer to church; but we continuing an hour or two
singing, and so parted; and I to Sir W. Pen's, and there sent for a
hackney-coach; and he and she [Lady Pen] and I out, to take the gyre. We
went to Stepney, and there stopped at the Trinity House, he to talk
with the servants there against to-morrow, which is a great day for the
choice of a new Master, and thence to Mile End, and there eat and
drank, and so home; and I supped with them--that is, eat some butter and
radishes, which is my excuse for not eating any other of their victuals,
which I hate, because of their sluttery: and so home, and made my boy
read to me part of Dr. Wilkins's new book of the "Real Character;" and
so to bed.
18th. Up, and to my office, where most of the morning doing business and
seeing my window-frames new painted, and then I out by coach to my Lord
Bellasses, at his new house by my late Lord Treasurer's, and there met
him and Mr. Sherwin, Auditor Beale, and Creed, about my Lord's accounts,
and here my Lord shewed me his new house, which, indeed, is mighty
noble, and good pictures--indeed, not one bad one in it. Thence to my
tailor's, and there did find Mercer come with Mrs. Horsfield and Gayet
according to my desire, and there I took them up, it being almost twelve
o'clock, or a little more, and carried them to the King's playhouse,
where the doors were not then open; but presently they did open; and we
in, and find many people already come in, by private ways, into the
pit, it being the first day of Sir Charles Sidly's new play, so long
expected, "The Mullberry Guarden," of whom, being so reputed a wit, all
the world do expect great matters. I having sat here awhile, and eat
nothing to-day, did slip out, getting a boy to keep my place; and to the
Rose Tavern, and there got half a breast of mutton, off of the spit, and
dined all alone. And so to the play again, where the King and Queen, by
and by, come, and all the Court; and the house infinitely full. But the
play, when it come, though there was, here and there, a pretty saying,
and that not very many neither, yet the whole of the play had nothing
extraordinary in it, at all, neither of language nor design; insomuch
that the King I did not see laugh, nor pleased the whole play from the
beginning to the end, nor the company; insomuch that I have not been
less pleased at a new play in my life, I think. And which made it the
worse was, that there never was worse musick played--that is, worse
things composed, which made me and Captain Rolt, who happened to sit
near me, mad. So away thence, very little satisfied with the play, but
pleased with my company. I carried them to Kensington, to the Grotto,
and there we sang, to my great content, only vexed, in going in, to
see a son of Sir Heneage Finch's beating of a poor little dog to death,
letting it lie in so much pain that made me mad to see it, till, by and
by, the servants of the house chiding of their young master, one of
them come with a thong, and killed the dog outright presently. Thence
to Westminster palace, and there took boat and to Fox Hall, where we
walked, and eat, and drank, and sang, and very merry. But I find Mrs.
Horsfield one of the veriest citizen's wives in the world, so full
of little silly talk, and now and then a little sillily bawdy, that I
believe if you had her sola a man might hazer all with her. So back by
water to Westminster Palace, and there got a coach which carried us as
far as the Minorys, and there some thing of the traces broke, and we
forced to 'light, and walked to Mrs. Horsfield's house, it being a long
and bad way, and dark, and having there put her in a doors, her husband
being in bed, we left her and so back to our coach, where the coachman
had put it in order, but could not find his whip in the dark a great
while, which made us stay long. At last getting a neighbour to hold
a candle out of their window Mercer found it, and so away we home at
almost 12 at night, and setting them both at their homes, I home and to
bed.
19th. Up, and called on Mr. Pierce, who tells me that after all this ado
Ward is come to town, and hath appeared to the Commissioners of Accounts
and given such answers as he thinks will do every body right, and let
the world see that their great expectations and jealousies have been
vain in this matter of the prizes. The Commissioners were mighty
inquisitive whether he was not instructed by letters or otherwise
from hence from my Lord Sandwich's friends what to say and do, and
particularly from me, which he did wholly deny, as it was true, I not
knowing the man that I know of. He tells me also that, for certain, Mr.
Vaughan is made Lord Chief justice, which I am glad of. He tells me,
too; that since my Lord of Ormond's coming over, the King begins to be
mightily reclaimed, and sups every night with great pleasure with
the Queene: and yet, it seems, he is mighty hot upon the Duchess of
Richmond; insomuch that, upon Sunday was se'nnight, at night, after he
had ordered his Guards and coach to be ready to carry him to the Park,
he did, on a sudden, take a pair of oars or sculler, and all alone, or
but one with him, go to Somersett House, and there, the garden-door not
being open, himself clamber over the walls to make a visit to her,
which is a horrid shame. He gone, I to the office, where we sat all
the morning, Sir W. Pen sick of the gout comes not out. After dinner at
home, to White Hall, it being a very rainy day, and there a Committee
for Tangier, where I was mightily pleased to see Sir W. Coventry fall
upon my Lord Bellasses' business of the 3d. in every piece of it which
he would get to himself, making the King pay 4s. 9d, while he puts them
off for 4s. 6d., so that Sir W. Coventry continues still the same man
for the King's good. But here Creed did vex me with saying that I ought
first to have my account past by the Commissioners of Tangier before in
the Exchequer. Thence W. Coventry and I in the Matted gallery, and there
he did talk very well to me about the way to save the credit of the
officers of the Navy, and their places too, by making use of this
interval of Parliament to be found to be mending of matters in the
Navy, and that nothing but this will do it, and gives an instance in
themselves of the Treasury, whereof himself and Sir John Duncombe all
the world knows have enemies, and my Lord Ashly a man obnoxious to most,
and Sir Thomas Clifford one that as a man suddenly rising and a creature
of my Lord Arlington's hath enemies enough (none of them being otherwise
but the Duke of Albemarle), yet with all this fault they hear nothing
of the business of the Treasury, but all well spoken of there. He is for
the removal of Sir John Minnes, thinking that thereby the world will see
a greater change in the hands than now they do; and I will endeavour it,
and endeavour to do some good in the office also. So home by coach,
and to the office, where ended my letters, and then home, and there got
Balty to read to me out of Sorbiere's Observations in his Voyage into
England, and then to bed.
20th. Up, and with Colonell Middleton, in a new coach he hath made him,
very handsome, to White Hall, where the Duke of York having removed his
lodgings for this year to St. James's, we walked thither; and there
find the Duke of York coming to White Hall, and so back to the
Council-chamber, where the Committee of the Navy sat; and here we
discoursed several things; but, Lord! like fools; so as it was a shame
to see things of this importance managed by a Council that understand
nothing of them: and, among other things, one was about this building
of a ship with Hemskirke's secret, to sail a third faster than any other
ship; but he hath got Prince Rupert on his side, and by that means, I
believe, will get his conditions made better than he would otherwise, or
ought indeed. Having done there, I met with Sir Richard Browne, and he
took me to dinner with him to a new tavern, above Charing Cross, where
some clients of his did give him a good dinner, and good company; among
others, one Bovy, a solicitor, and lawyer and merchant all together, who
hath travelled very much, did talk some things well; but only he is a
"Sir Positive:" but the talk of their travels over the Alps very fine.
Thence walked to the King's playhouse, and saw "The Mulberry Garden"
again, and cannot be reconciled to it, but only to find here and there
an independent sentence of wit, and that is all. Here met with Creed;
and took him to Hales's, and there saw the beginnings of Harris's head
which he draws for me, which I do not yet like. So he and I down to the
New Exchange, and there cheapened ribbands for my wife, and so down to
the Whey house and drank some and eat some curds, which did by and by
make my belly ake mightily. So he and I to White Hall, and walked over
the Park to the Mulberry-Garden,
[On the site of the present Buckingham Palace and gardens.
Originally a garden of mulberry trees, planted by James I. in 1609
with the intention of cultivating the manufacture of English silks.]
where I never was before; and find it a very silly place, worse than
Spring-garden, and but little company, and those a rascally, whoring,
roguing sort of people, only a wilderness here, that is somewhat pretty,
but rude. Did not stay to drink, but walked an hour and so away to
Charing Cross, and there took coach and away home, in my way going
into Bishopsgate Street, to bespeak places for myself and boy to go to
Cambridge in the coach this week, and so to Brampton, to see my wife. So
home, and to supper and to bed.
21st. Up, and busy to send some things into the country, and then to
the Office, where meets me Sir Richard Ford, who among other things
congratulates me, as one or two did yesterday, [on] my great purchase;
and he advises me rather to forbear, if it be not done, as a thing
that the world will envy me in: and what is it but my cozen Tom Pepys's
buying of Martin Abbey, in Surry! which is a mistake I am sorry for,
and yet do fear that it may spread in the world to my prejudice. All the
morning at the office, and at noon my clerks dined with me, and there do
hear from them how all the town is full of the talk of a meteor, or some
fire, that did on Saturday last fly over the City at night, which do put
me in mind that, being then walking in the dark an hour or more myself
in the garden, after I had done writing, I did see a light before me
come from behind me, which made me turn back my head; and I did see a
sudden fire or light running in the sky, as it were towards Cheapside
ward, and it vanished very quick, which did make me bethink myself what
holyday it was, and took it for some rocket, though it was much brighter
than any rocket, and so thought no more of it, but it seems Mr. Hater
and Gibson going home that night did meet with many clusters of people
talking of it, and many people of the towns about the city did see it,
and the world do make much discourse of it, their apprehensions being
mighty full of the rest of the City to be burned, and the Papists to cut
our throats. Which God prevent! Thence after dinner I by coach to the
Temple, and there bought a new book of songs set to musique by one Smith
of Oxford, some songs of Mr. Cowley's, and so to Westminster, and there
to walk a little in the Hall, and so to Mrs. Martin's, and there
did hazer cet que je voudrai mit her, and drank and sat most of the
afternoon with her and her sister, and here she promises me her fine
starling, which was the King's, and speaks finely, which I shall be glad
of, and so walked to the Temple, meeting in the street with my cozen
Alcocke, the young man, that is a good sober youth, I have not seen
these four or five years, newly come to town to look for employment: but
I cannot serve him, though I think he deserves well, and so I took coach
and home to my business, and in the evening took Mrs. Turner and Mercer
out to Mile End and drank, and then home, and sang; and eat a dish of
greene pease, the first I have seen this year, given me by Mr. Gibson,
extraordinary young and pretty, and so saw them at home, and so home to
bed. Sir W. Pen continues ill of the gout.
22nd. Up, and all the morning at the office busy. At noon home with my
people to dinner, where good discourse and merry. After dinner comes
Mr. Martin, the purser, and brings me his wife's starling, which was
formerly the King's bird, that do speak and whistle finely, which I am
mighty proud of and shall take pleasure in it. Thence to the Duke of
York's house to a play, and saw Sir Martin Marr-all, where the house is
full; and though I have seen it, I think, ten times, yet the pleasure
I have is yet as great as ever, and is undoubtedly the best comedy ever
was wrote. Thence to my tailor's and a mercer's for patterns to carry my
wife of cloth and silk for a bed, which I think will please her and me,
and so home, and fitted myself for my journey to-morrow, which I fear
will not be pleasant, because of the wet weather, it raining very hard
all this day; but the less it troubles me because the King and Duke of
York and Court are at this day at Newmarket, at a great horse-race, and
proposed great pleasure for two or three days, but are in the same wet.
So from the office home to supper, and betimes to bed.
23rd. Up by four o'clock; and, getting my things ready, and recommending
the care of my house to W. Hewer, I with my boy Tom, whom I take with
me, to the Bull, in Bishopsgate Street, and there, about six, took
coach, he and I, and a gentleman and his man, there being another
coach also, with as many more, I think, in it; and so away to Bishop's
Stafford, and there dined, and changed horses and coach, at Mrs.
Aynsworth's; but I took no knowledge of her. Here the gentleman and I to
dinner, and in comes Captain Forster, an acquaintance of his, he that
do belong to my Lord Anglesey, who had been at the late horse-races at
Newmarket, where the King now is, and says that they had fair weather
there yesterday, though we here, and at London, had nothing but rain,
insomuch that the ways are mighty full of water, so as hardly to be
passed. Here I hear Mrs. Aynsworth is going to live at London: but I
believe will be mistaken in it; for it will be found better for her to
be chief where she is, than to have little to do at London. There
being many finer than she there. After dinner away again and come to
Cambridge, after much bad way, about nine at night; and there, at the
Rose, I met my father's horses, with a man, staying for me. But it is
so late, and the waters so deep, that I durst not go to-night; but
after supper to bed; and there lay very ill, by reason of some drunken
scholars making a noise all night, and vexed for fear that the horses
should not be taken up from grass, time enough for the morning. Well
pleased all this journey with the conversation of him that went with me,
who I think is a lawyer, and lives about Lynne, but his name I did not
ask.
24th (Lord's day). I up, at between two and three in the morning, and,
calling up my boy, and father's boy, we set out by three o'clock, it
being high day; end so through the water with very good success, though
very deep almost all the way, and got to Brampton, where most of them
in bed, and so I weary up to my wife's chamber, whom I find in bed, and
pretended a little not well, and indeed she hath those upon her, but
fell to talk and mightily pleased both of us, and upgot the rest, Betty
Turner and Willet and Jane, all whom I was glad to see, and very merry,
and got me ready in my new stuff clothes that I send down before me, and
so my wife and they got ready too, while I to my father, poor man, and
walked with him up and down the house--it raining a little, and the
waters all over Portholme and the meadows, so as no pleasure abroad.
Here I saw my brothers and sister Jackson, she growing fat, and, since
being married, I think looks comelier than before: but a mighty pert
woman she is, and I think proud, he keeping her mighty handsome, and
they say mighty fond, and are going shortly to live at Ellington of
themselves, and will keep malting, and grazing of cattle. At noon comes
Mr. Phillips and dines with us, and a pretty odd-humoured man he seems
to be; but good withal, but of mighty great methods in his eating and
drinking, and will not kiss a woman since his wife's death. After dinner
my Lady Sandwich sending to see whether I was come, I presently took
horse, and find her and her family at chapel; and thither I went in to
them, and sat out the sermon, where I heard Jervas Fullwood, now their
chaplain, preach a very good and seraphic kind of sermon, too good for
an ordinary congregation. After sermon, I with my Lady, and my Lady
Hinchingbroke, and Paulina, and Lord Hinchingbroke, to the dining-room,
saluting none of them, and there sat and talked an hour or two, with
great pleasure and satisfaction, to my Lady, about my Lord's matters;
but I think not with that satisfaction to her, or me, that otherwise
would, she knowing that she did design tomorrow, and I remaining all
the while in fear, of being asked to lend her some money, as I was
afterward, when I had taken leave of her, by Mr. Shepley, L100, which
I will not deny my Lady, and am willing to be found when my Lord comes
home to have done something of that kind for them, and so he riding to
Brampton and supping there with me he did desire it of me from my Lady,
and I promised it, though much against my will, for I fear it is as good
as lost. After supper, where very merry, we to bed, myself very weary
and to sleep all night.
25th. Waked betimes, and lay long.... and there fell to talking, and by
and by rose, it being the first fair day, and yet not quite fair, that
we have had some time, and so up, and to walk with my father again in
the garden, consulting what to do with him and this house when Pall and
her husband go away; and I think it will be to let it, and he go live
with her, though I am against letting the house for any long time,
because of having it to retire to, ourselves. So I do intend to think
more of it before I resolve. By and by comes Mr. Cooke to see me and so
spent the morning, and he gone by and by at noon to dinner, where Mr.
Shepley come and we merry, all being in good humour between my wife and
her people about her, and after dinner took horse, I promising to fetch
her away about fourteen days hence, and so calling all of us, we men on
horseback, and the women and my father, at Goody Gorum's, and there in
a frolic drinking I took leave, there going with me and my boy, my two
brothers, and one Browne, whom they call in mirth Colonell, for our
guide, and also Mr. Shepley, to the end of Huntingdon, and another
gentleman who accidentally come thither, one Mr. Castle; and I made them
drink at the Chequers, where I observed the same tapster, Tom, that was
there when I was a little boy and so we, at the end of the town, took
leave of Shepley and the other gentleman, and so we away and got well to
Cambridge, about seven to the Rose, the waters not being now so high as
before. And here 'lighting, I took my boy and two brothers, and walked
to Magdalene College: and there into the butterys, as a stranger, and
there drank my bellyfull of their beer, which pleased me, as the best I
ever drank: and hear by the butler's man, who was son to Goody Mulliner
over against the College, that we used to buy stewed prunes of,
concerning the College and persons in it; and find very few, only Mr.
Hollins and Pechell, I think, that were of my time. But I was mightily
pleased to come in this condition to see and ask, and thence, giving the
fellow something, away walked to Chesterton, to see our old walk, and
there into the Church, the bells ringing, and saw the place I used to
sit in, and so to the ferry, and ferried over to the other side, and
walked with great pleasure, the river being mighty high by Barnewell
Abbey: and so by Jesus College to the town, and so to our quarters, and
to supper, and then to bed, being very weary and sleepy and mightily
pleased with this night's walk.
26th. Up by four o'clock; and by the time we were ready, and had eat,
we were called to the coach, where about six o'clock we set out, there
being a man and two women of one company, ordinary people, and one lady
alone, that is tolerably handsome, but mighty well spoken, whom I took
great pleasure in talking to, and did get her to read aloud in a book
she was reading, in the coach, being the King's Meditations;--[The
meditations on death, and prayers used by Charles I. shortly before his
execution]--and then the boy and I to sing, and so about noon come to
Bishop's Stafford, to another house than what we were at the other
day, and better used. And here I paid for the reckoning 11s., we dining
together, and pretty merry; and then set out again, sleeping most part
of the way; and got to Bishopsgate Street before eight o'clock, the
waters being now most of them down, and we avoiding the bad way in the
forest by a privy way, which brought us to Hodsden; and so to Tibalds,
that road, which was mighty pleasant. So home, where we find all well,
and brother Balty and his wife looking to the house, she mighty fine,
in a new gold-laced 'just a cour'. I shifted myself, and so to see Mrs.
Turner, and Mercer appearing over the way, called her in, and sat and
talked, and then home to my house by and by, and there supped and talked
mighty merry, and then broke up and to bed, being a little vexed at what
W. Hewer tells me Sir John Shaw did this day in my absence say at the
Board, complaining of my doing of him injury and the board permitting
it, whereas they had more reason to except against his attributing that
to me alone which I could not do but with their condent and direction,
it being to very good service to the King, and which I shall be proud to
have imputed to me alone. The King I hear come to town last night.
27th. Up, and to the office, where some time upon Sir D. Gawden's
accounts, and then I by water to Westminster for some Tangier orders,
and so meeting with Mr. Sawyers my old chamber-fellow, he and I by water
together to the Temple, he giving me an account of the base, rude usage,
which he and Sir G. Carteret had lately, before the Commissioners of
Accounts, where he was, as Counsel to Sir G. Carteret, which I was sorry
to hear, they behaving themselves like most insolent and ill-mannered
men. Thence by coach to the Exchange, and there met with Sir H. Cholmly
at Colvill's; and there did give him some orders, and so home, and there
to the office again, where busy till two o'clock, and then with Sir
D. Gawden to his house, with my Lord Brouncker and Sir J. Minnes, to
dinner, where we dined very well, and much good company, among others,
a Dr., a fat man, whom by face I know, as one that uses to sit in our
church, that after dinner did take me out, and walked together, who told
me that he had now newly entered himself into Orders, in the decay of
the Church, and did think it his duty so to do, thereby to do his part
toward the support and reformation thereof; and spoke very soberly, and
said that just about the same age Dr. Donne did enter into Orders. I
find him a sober gentleman, and a man that hath seen much of the world,
and I think may do good. Thence after dinner to the office, and there
did a little business, and so to see Sir W. Pen, who I find still
very ill of the goute, sitting in his great chair, made on purpose for
persons sick of that disease, for their ease; and this very chair,
he tells me, was made for my Lady Lambert! Thence I by coach to my
tailor's, there to direct about the making of me another suit, and so
to White Hall, and through St. James's Park to St. James's, thinking to
have met with Mr. Wren, but could not, and so homeward toward the New
Exchange, and meeting Mr. Creed he and I to drink some whey at the
whey-house, and so into the 'Change and took a walk or two, and so home,
and there vexed at my boy's being out of doors till ten at night, but
it was upon my brother Jackson's business, and so I was the less
displeased, and then made the boy to read to me out of Dr. Wilkins his
"Real Character," and particularly about Noah's arke, where he do give
a very good account thereof, shewing how few the number of the several
species of beasts and fowls were that were to be in the arke, and that
there was room enough for them and their food and dung, which do please
me mightily and is much beyond what ever I heard of the subject, and so
to bed.
28th. Up, to set right some little matters of my Tangier accounts, and
so to the office, where busy all the morning, and then home with my
people to dinner, and after dinner comes about a petition for a poor
woman whose-ticket she would get paid, and so talked a little and did
baiser her, and so to the office, being pleased that this morning my
bookseller brings me home Marcennus's book of musick,' which costs me
L3 2s.; but is a very fine book. So to the office and did some business,
and then by coach to the New Exchange, and there by agreement at my
bookseller's shop met Mercer and Gayet, and took them by water, first
to one of the Neat-houses, where walked in the garden, but nothing but a
bottle of wine to be had, though pleased with seeing the garden; and so
to Fox Hall, where with great pleasure we walked, and then to the upper
end of the further retired walk, and there sat and sang, and brought
great many gallants and fine people about us, and, upon the bench, we
did by and by eat and drink what we had, and very merry: and so with
much pleasure to the Old Swan, and walked with them home, and there left
them, and so I home to my business at the office a little, and so to
bed.
29th. Betimes up, and up to my Tangier accounts, and then by water to
the Council Chamber, and there received some directions from the Duke of
York and the Committee of the Navy there about casting up the charge of
the present summer's fleete, that so they may come within the bounds
of the sum given by the Parliament. But it is pretty to see how Prince
Rupert and other mad, silly people, are for setting out but a little
fleete, there being no occasion for it; and say it will be best to save
the money for better uses. But Sir W. Coventry did declare that,
in wisdom, it was better to do so; but that, in obedience to the
Parliament, he was [for] setting out the fifty sail talked on, though
it spent all the money, and to little purpose; and that this was better
than to leave it to the Parliament to make bad construction of their
thrift, if any trouble should happen. Thus wary the world is grown!
Thence back again presently home, and did business till noon: and then
to Sir G. Carteret's to dinner, with much good company, it being the
King's birthday, and many healths drunk: and here I did receive another
letter from my Lord Sandwich, which troubles me to see how I have
neglected him, in not writing, or but once, all this time of his being
abroad; and I see he takes notice, but yet gently, of it, that it puts
me to great trouble, and I know not how to get out of it, having no good
excuse, and too late now to mend, he being coming home. Thence home,
whither, by agreement, by and by comes Mercer and Gayet, and two
gentlemen with them, Mr. Monteith and Pelham, the former a swaggering
young handsome gentleman, the latter a sober citizen merchant. Both
sing, but the latter with great skill-the other, no skill, but a good
voice, and a good basse, but used to sing only tavern tunes; and so I
spent all this evening till eleven at night singing with them, till
I was tired of them, because of the swaggering fellow with the base,
though the girl Mercer did mightily commend him before to me. This night
je had agreed par' alter at Deptford, there par' avoir lain con the
moher de Bagwell, but this company did hinder me.
30th. Up, and put on a new summer black bombazin suit, and so to the
office; and being come now to an agreement with my barber, to keep my
perriwig in good order at 20s. a-year, I am like to go very spruce, more
than I used to do. All the morning at the office and at noon home to
dinner, and so to the King's playhouse, and there saw "Philaster;" where
it is pretty to see how I could remember almost all along, ever since
I was a boy, Arethusa, the part which I was to have acted at Sir Robert
Cooke's; and it was very pleasant to me, but more to think what a
ridiculous thing it would have been for me to have acted a beautiful
woman. Thence to Mr. Pierces, and there saw Knepp also, and were merry;
and here saw my little Lady Katherine Montagu come to town, about her
eyes, which are sore, and they think the King's evil, poor, pretty
lady. Here I was freed from a fear that Knepp was angry or might take
advantage to declare the essay that je did the other day, quand je was
con her ... Thence to the New Exchange, and there met Harris and Rolt,
and one Richards, a tailor and great company-keeper, and with these over
to Fox Hall, and there fell into the company of Harry Killigrew, a rogue
newly come back out of France, but still in disgrace at our Court, and
young Newport and others, as very rogues as any in the town, who were
ready to take hold of every woman that come by them. And so to supper
in an arbour: but, Lord! their mad bawdy talk did make my heart ake! And
here I first understood by their talk the meaning of the company that
lately were called Ballets; Harris telling how it was by a meeting of
some young blades, where he was among them, and my Lady Bennet
[Evidently adopted as a cant expression. The woman here alluded to
was a procuress well known in her day, and described in the "Tatler"
(No. 84) as "the celebrated Madam Bennet." We further learn, from
the "Spectator" (No. 266), that she was the Lady B. to whom
Wycherley addressed his ironical dedication of "The Plain Dealer,"
which is considered as a masterpiece of raillery. It is worthy of
remark that the fair sex may justly complain of almost every word in
the English language designating a woman having, at some time or
another, been used as a term of reproach; for we find Mother, Madam,
Mistress, and Miss, all denoting women of bad character; and here
Pepys adds the title of my Lady to the number, and completes the
ungracious catalogue.--B.]
and her ladies; and their there dancing naked, and all the roguish
things in the world. But, Lord! what loose cursed company was this, that
I was in to-night, though full of wit; and worth a man's being in for
once, to know the nature of it, and their manner of talk, and lives.
Thence set Rolt and some of [them] at the New Exchange, and so I home,
and my business being done at the office, I to bed.
31st (Lord's day). Up, and to church in the morning. At noon I sent for
Mr. Mills and his wife and daughter to dine, and they dined with me, and
W. Hewer, and very good company, I being in good humour. They gone to
church, comes Mr. Tempest, and he and I sang a psalm or two, and so
parted, and I by water to the New Exchange, and there to Mrs. Pierces,
where Knepp, and she, and W. Howe, and Mr. Pierce, and little Betty,
over to Fox Hall, and there walked and supped with great pleasure. Here
was Mrs. Manuel also, and mighty good company, and good mirth in
making W. Howe spend his six or seven shillings, and so they called him
altogether "Cully." So back, and at Somerset-stairs do understand that
a boy is newly drowned, washing himself there, and they cannot find his
body. So seeing them home, I home by water, W. Howe going with me, and
after some talk he lay at my house, and all to bed. Here I hear that
Mrs. Davis is quite gone from the Duke of York's house, and Gosnell
comes in her room, which I am glad of. At the play at Court the other
night, Mrs. Davis was there; and when she was to come to dance her jigg,
the Queene would not stay to see it, which people do think it was out of
displeasure at her being the King's whore, that she could not bear it.
My Lady Castlemayne is, it seems, now mightily out of request, the King
coming little to her, and thus she mighty melancholy and discontented.
JUNE 1668
June 1st. Up and with Sir J. Minnes to Westminster, and in the Hall
there I met with Harris and Rolt, and carried them to the Rhenish
wine-house, where I have not been in a morning--nor any tavern, I think,
these seven years and more. Here I did get the words of a song of Harris
that I wanted. Here also Mr. Young and Whistler by chance met us,
and drank with us. Thence home, and to prepare business against the
afternoon, and did walk an hour in the garden with Sir W. Warren, who
do tell me of the great difficulty he is under in the business of
his accounts with the Commissioners of Parliament, and I fear some
inconveniences and troubles may be occasioned thereby to me. So to
dinner, and then with Sir J. Minnes to White Hall, and there attended
the Lords of the Treasury and also a committee of Council with the
Duke of York about the charge of this year's fleete, and thence I to
Westminster and to Mrs. Martin's, and did hazer what je would con her,
and did once toker la thigh de su landlady, and thence all alone to Fox
Hall, and walked and saw young Newport, and two more rogues of the town,
seize on two ladies, who walked with them an hour with their masks on;
perhaps civil ladies; and there I left them, and so home, and thence to
Mr. Mills's, where I never was before, and here find, whom I indeed
saw go in, and that did make me go thither, Mrs. Hallworthy and Mrs.
Andrews, and here supped, and, extraordinary merry till one in the
morning, Mr. Andrews coming to us: and mightily pleased with this
night's company and mirth I home to bed. Mrs. Turner, too, was with us.
2nd. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, and there dined with me, besides my own people, W. Batelier and
Mercer, and we very merry. After dinner, they gone, only Mercer and I
to sing a while, and then parted, and I out and took a coach, and called
Mercer at their back-door, and she brought with her Mrs. Knightly, a
little pretty sober girl, and I carried them to Old Ford, a town by Bow,
where I never was before, and there walked in the fields very pleasant,
and sang: and so back again, and stopped and drank at the Gun, at
Mile End, and so to the Old Exchange door, and did buy them a pound of
cherries, cost me 2s., and so set them down again; and I to my little
mercer's Finch, that lives now in the Minories, where I have left my
cloak, and did here baiser su moher, a belle femme, and there took my
cloak which I had left there, and so by water, it being now about nine
o'clock, down to Deptford, where I have not been many a day, and there
it being dark I did by agreement aller a la house de Bagwell, and
there after a little playing and baisando we did go up in the dark a su
camera... and to my boat again, and against the tide home. Got there by
twelve o'clock, taking into my boat, for company, a man that desired a
passage--a certain western bargeman, with whom I had good sport, talking
of the old woman of Woolwich, and telling him the whole story.
3rd. Up, and to the office, where busy till g o'clock, and then to White
Hall, to the Council-chamber, where I did present the Duke of York with
an account of the charge of the present fleete, to his satisfaction; and
this being done, did ask his leave for my going out of town five or
six days, which he did give me, saying, that my diligence in the King's
business was such, that I ought not to be denied when my own business
called me any whither. Thence with Sir D. Gawden to Westminster, where
I did take a turn or two, and met Roger Pepys, who is mighty earnest
for me to stay from going into the country till he goes, and to bring my
people thither for some time: but I cannot, but will find another time
this summer for it. Thence with him home, and there to the office till
noon, and then with Lord Brouncker, Sir J. Minnes, and Sir G. Carteret,
upon whose accounts they have been this day to the Three Tuns to dinner,
and thence back again home, and after doing a little business I by coach
to the King's house, and there saw good, part of "The Scornfull Lady,"
and that done, would have takn out Knepp, but she was engaged, and so
to my Lord Crew's to visit him; from whom I learn nothing but that
there hath been some controversy at the Council-table, about my Lord
Sandwich's signing, where some would not have had him, in the treaty
with Portugall; but all, I think, is over in it. Thence by coach
to Westminster to the Hall, and thence to the Park, where much good
company, and many fine ladies; and in so handsome a hackney I was, that
I believe Sir W. Coventry and others, who looked on me, did take me to
be in one of my own, which I was a little troubled for. So to the lodge,
and drank a cup of new milk, and so home, and there to Mrs. Turner's,
and sat and talked with her, and then home to bed, having laid my
business with W. Hewer to go out of town Friday next, with hopes of a
great deal of pleasure.
4th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home to
dinner, where Mr. Clerke, the solicitor, dined with me and my clerks.
After dinner I carried and set him down at the Temple, he observing to
me how St. Sepulchre's church steeple is repaired already a good deal,
and the Fleet Bridge is contracted for by the City to begin to be built
this summer, which do please me mightily. I to White Hall, and walked
through the Park for a little ayre; and so back to the Council-chamber,
to the Committee of the Navy, about the business of fitting the present
fleete, suitable to the money given, which, as the King orders it, and
by what appears, will be very little; and so as I perceive the Duke of
York will have nothing to command, nor can intend to go abroad. But it
is pretty to see how careful these great men are to do every thing so
as they may answer it to the Parliament, thinking themselves safe in
nothing but where the judges, with whom they often advise, do say the
matter is doubtful; and so they take upon themselves then to be the
chief persons to interpret what is doubtful. Thence home, and all the
evening to set matters in order against my going to Brampton to-morrow,
being resolved upon my journey, and having the Duke of York's leave
again to-day; though I do plainly see that I can very ill be spared now,
there being much business, especially about this, which I have attended
the Council about, and I the man that am alone consulted with; and,
besides, my Lord Brouncker is at this time ill, and Sir W. Pen. So
things being put in order at the Office, I home to do the like there;
and so to bed.
5th (Friday).
[The rough notes for the journal from this time to the 17th of June
are contained on five leaves, inserted in the book; and after them
follow several pages left blank for the fair copy which was never
made.]
At Barnet, for milk, 6d. On the highway, to menders of the highway, 6d.
Dinner at Stevenage, 5s. 6d.
6th (Saturday). Spent at Huntingdon with Bowles, and Appleyard, and
Shepley, 2s.
7th (Sunday). My father, for money lent, and horse-hire L1 11s.
8th (Monday). Father's servants (father having in the garden told me bad
stories of my wife's ill words), 14s.; one that helped at the horses,
2s.; menders of the highway, 2s. Pleasant country to Bedford, where,
while they stay, I rode through the town; and a good country-town; and
there, drinking, 1s. We on to Newport; and there 'light, and I and W.
Hewer to the Church, and there give the boy 1s. So to Buckingham, a good
old town. Here I to see the Church, which very good, and the leads, and
a school in it: did give the sexton's boy 1s. A fair bridge here,
with many arches: vexed at my people's making me lose so much time;
reckoning, 13s. 4d. Mighty pleased with the pleasure of the ground
all the day. At night to Newport Pagnell; and there a good pleasant
country-town, but few people in it. A very fair--and like a
Cathedral--Church; and I saw the leads, and a vault that goes far under
ground, and here lay with Betty Turner's sparrow: the town, and so most
of this country, well watered. Lay here well, and rose next day by four
o'clock: few people in the town: and so away. Reckoning for supper, 19s.
6d.; poor, 6d. Mischance to the coach, but no time lost.
9th (Tuesday). When come to Oxford, a very sweet place: paid our guide,
L1 2s. 6d.; barber, 2s. 6d.; book, Stonage, 4s.
[This must have been either Inigo Jones's "The most notable
Antiquity of Great Britain vulgarly called Stonehenge," printed in
1655, or "Chorea Gigantum, or the most famous Antiquity of Great
Britain, vulgarly called Stones Heng, standing on Salisbury Plain,
restor'd to the Danes," by Walter Charleton, M.D., and published in
1663.]
To dinner; and then out with my wife and people, and landlord: and to
him that showed us the schools and library, 10s.; to him that showed us
All Souls' College, and Chichly's picture, 5s. So to see Christ Church
with my wife, I seeing several others very fine alone, with W. Hewer,
before dinner, and did give the boy that went with me 1s. Strawberries,
1s. 2d. Dinner and servants, L1 0s. 6d. After come home from the
schools, I out with the landlord to Brazen-nose College;--to the
butteries, and in the cellar find the hand of the Child of Hales,...
long. Butler, 2s. Thence with coach and people to Physic-garden, 1s. So
to Friar Bacon's study: I up and saw it, and give the man 1s. Bottle of
sack for landlord, 2s. Oxford mighty fine place; and well seated, and
cheap entertainment. At night come to Abingdon, where had been a fair of
custard; and met many people and scholars going home; and there did get
some pretty good musick, and sang and danced till supper: 5s.
10th (Wednesday). Up, and walked to the Hospitall:--[Christ's
Hospital]--very large and fine; and pictures of founders, and the
History' of the Hospitall; and is said to be worth; L700 per annum; and
that Mr. Foly was here lately to see how their lands were settled; and
here, in old English, the story of the occasion of it, and a rebus at
the bottom. So did give the poor, which they would not take but in their
box, 2s. 6d. So to the inn, and paid the reckoning and what not, 13s. So
forth towards Hungerford, led this good way by our landlord, one Heart,
an old but very civil and well-spoken man, more than I ever heard, of
his quality. He gone, we forward; and I vexed at my people's not minding
the way. So come to Hungerford, where very good trouts, eels, and
crayfish. Dinner: a mean town. At dinner there, 12s. Thence set out with
a guide, who saw us to Newmarket-heath, and then left us, 3s. 6d. So all
over the Plain by the sight of the steeple, the Plain high and low,
to Salisbury, by night; but before I come to the town, I saw a great
fortification, and there 'light, and to it and in it; and find it
prodigious, so as to frighten me to be in it all alone at that time of
night, it being dark. I understand, since, it to be that, that is called
Old Sarum. Come to the George Inne, where lay in a silk bed; and very
good diet. To supper; then to bed.
11th (Thursday). Up, and W. Hewer and I up and down the town, and find
it a very brave place. The river goes through every street; and a most
capacious market-place. The city great, I think greater than Hereford.
But the Minster most admirable; as big, I think, and handsomer than
Westminster: and a most large Close about it, and houses for the
Officers thereof, and a fine palace for the Bishop. So to my lodging
back, and took out my wife and people to shew them the town and Church;
but they being at prayers, we could not be shown the Quire. A very good
organ; and I looked in, and saw the Bishop, my friend Dr. Ward. Thence
to the inne; and there not being able to hire coach-horses, and not
willing to use our own, we got saddle-horses, very dear. Boy that went
to look for them, 6d. So the three women behind W. Hewer, Murford, and
our guide, and I single to Stonage; over the Plain and some great hills,
even to fright us. Come thither, and find them as prodigious as any
tales I ever heard of them, and worth going this journey to see. God
knows what their use was! they are hard to tell, but yet maybe told.
Give the shepherd-woman, for leading our horses, 4d. So back by Wilton,
my Lord Pembroke's house, which we could not see, he being just coming
to town; but the situation I do not like, nor the house promise much, it
being in a low but rich valley. So back home; and there being 'light,
we to the Church, and there find them at prayers again, so could not see
the Quire; but I sent the women home, and I did go in, and saw very many
fine tombs, and among the rest some very ancient, of the Montagus.
[The Montacutes, from whom Lord Sandwich's family claimed descent:
--B.]
So home to dinner; and, that being done, paid the reckoning, which was
so exorbitant; and particular in rate of my horses, and 7s. 6d. for
bread and beer, that I was mad, and resolve to trouble the master about
it, and get something for the poor; and come away in that humour: L2 5s.
6d. Servants, 1s. 6d.; poor, 1s.; guide to the Stones, 2s.; poor woman
in the street, 1s.; ribbands, 9d.; washwoman, 1s.; sempstress for W.
Hewer, 3s.; lent W. Hewer, 3s. Thence about six o'clock, and with a
guide went over the smooth Plain indeed till night; and then by a happy
mistake, and that looked like an adventure, we were carried out of our
way to a town where we would lye, since we could not go so far as we
would. And there with great difficulty come about ten at night to a
little inn, where we were fain to go into a room where a pedlar was in
bed, and made him rise; and there wife and I lay, and in a truckle-bed
Betty Turner and Willett. But good beds, and the master of the house a
sober, understanding man, and I had good discourse with him about this
country's matters, as wool, and corne, and other things. And he also
merry, and made us mighty merry at supper, about manning the new ship,
at Bristol, with none but men whose wives do master them; and it seems
it is become in reproach to some men of estate that are such hereabouts,
that this is become common talk. By and by to bed, glad of this mistake,
because, it seems, had we gone on as we intended, we could not have
passed with our coach, and must have lain on the Plain all night. This
day from Salisbury I wrote by the post my excuse for not coming home,
which I hope will do, for I am resolved to see the Bath, and, it may be,
Bristol.
12th (Friday). Up, finding our beds good, but lousy; which made us
merry. We set out, the reckoning and servants coming to 9s. 6d.; my
guide thither, 2s.; coachman, advanced, 10s. So rode a very good way,
led to my great content by our landlord to Philips-Norton, with great
pleasure, being now come into Somersetshire; where my wife and Deb.
mightily joyed thereat,--[They were natives of that county.-B.]--I
commending the country, as indeed it deserves. And the first town we
came to was Brekington, where, we stopping for something for the horses,
we called two or three little boys to us, and pleased ourselves with
their manner of speech, and did make one of them kiss Deb., and another
say the Lord's Prayer (hallowed be thy kingdom come). At Philips-Norton
I walked to the Church, and there saw a very ancient tomb of some Knight
Templar, I think; and here saw the tombstone whereon there were only two
heads cut, which, the story goes, and credibly, were two sisters, called
the Fair Maids of Foscott, that had two bodies upward and one belly, and
there lie buried. Here is also a very fine ring of six bells, and they
mighty tuneable. Having dined very well, 10s., we come before night to
the Bath; where I presently stepped out with my landlord, and saw the
baths, with people in them. They are not so large as I expected, but
yet pleasant; and the town most of stone, and clean, though the streets
generally narrow. I home, and being weary, went to bed without supper;
the rest supping.
13th (Saturday). Up at four o'clock, being by appointment called up to
the Cross Bath, where we were carried one after one another, myself, and
wife, and Betty Turner, Willet, and W. Hewer. And by and by, though we
designed to have done before company come, much company come; very fine
ladies; and the manner pretty enough, only methinks it cannot be clean
to go so many bodies together in the same water. Good conversation among
them that are acquainted here, and stay together. Strange to see how
hot the water is; and in some places, though this is the most temperate
bath, the springs so hot as the feet not able to endure. But strange
to see, when women and men herein, that live all the season in these
waters, that cannot but be parboiled, and look like the creatures of the
bath! Carried away, wrapped in a sheet, and in a chair, home; and there
one after another thus carried, I staying above two hours in the water,
home to bed, sweating for an hour; and by and by, comes musick to play
to me, extraordinary good as ever I heard at London almost, or anywhere:
5s. Up, to go to Bristol, about eleven o'clock, and paying my landlord
that was our guide from Chiltern, 10s., and the serjeant of the bath,
10s., and the man that carried us in chairs, 3s. 6d. Set out towards
Bristoll, and come thither (in a coach hired to spare our own horses);
the way bad, but country good, about two o'clock, where set down at the
Horse'shoe, and there, being trimmed by a very handsome fellow, 2s.,
walked with my wife and people through the city, which is in every
respect another London, that one can hardly know it, to stand in the
country, no more than that. No carts, it standing generally on vaults,
only dog-carts.
["They draw all their heavy goods here on sleds, or sledges, which
they call 'gee hoes,' without wheels, which kills a multitude of
horses." Another writer says, "They suffer no carts to be used in
the city, lest, as some say, the shake occasioned by them on the
pavement should affect the Bristol milk (the sherry) in the vaults,
which is certainly had here in the greatest perfection." An order
of Common Council occurs in 1651 to prohibit the use of carts and
waggons-only suffering drays. "Camden in giving our city credit for
its cleanliness in forming 'goutes,' says they use sledges here
instead of carts, lest they destroy the arches beneath which are the
goutes."--Chilcott's New Guide to Bristol, &c.,]
So to the Three..Crowns Tavern I was directed; but, when I come in,
the master told me that he had newly given over the selling of wine; it
seems, grown rich; and so went to the Sun; and there Deb. going with
W. Hewer and Betty Turner to see her uncle [Butts], and leaving my wife
with the mistress of the house, I to see the quay, which is a most large
and noble Vlace; and to see the new ship building by Bally, neither
he nor Furzer being in town. It will be a fine ship. Spoke with the
foreman, and did give the boys that kept the cabin 2s. Walked back to
the Sun, where I find Deb. come back, and with her, her uncle, a sober
merchant, very good company, and so like one of our sober, wealthy,
London merchants, as pleased me mightily. Here we dined, and much good
talk with him, 7s. 6d.: a messenger to Sir John Knight, who was not at
home, 6d. Then walked with him [Butts] and my wife and company round the
quay, and to the ship; and he shewed me the Custom-house, and made me
understand many things of the place, and led us through Marsh Street,
where our girl was born. But, Lord! the joy that was among the old poor
people of the place, to see Mrs. Willet's daughter, it seems her mother
being a brave woman and mightily beloved! And so brought us a back
way by surprize to his house, where a substantial good house, and well
furnished; and did give us good entertainment of strawberries, a whole
venison-pasty, cold, and plenty of brave wine, and above all Bristoll
milk,
[A sort of rum punch (milk punch), which, and turtle, were products
of the trade of Bristol with the West Indies. So Byron says in the
first edition of his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers"
"Too much in turtle Bristol's sons delight,
Too much oer bowls of rack prolong the night."
These lines will not be found in the modern editions; but the
following are substituted:
"Four turtle feeder's verse must needs he flat,
Though Bristol bloat him with the verdant fat."
Lord Macaulay says of the collations with which the sugar-refiners
of Bristol regaled their visitors: "The repast was dressed in the
furnace, And was accompanied by a rich brewage made of the best
Spanish wine, and celebrated over the whole kingdom as Bristol milk"
("Hist. of England," vol. i., p. 335)--B.]
where comes in another poor woman, who, hearing that Deb. was here, did
come running hither, and with her eyes so lull of tears, and heart so
full of joy, that she could not speak when she come in, that it made me
weep too: I protest that I was not able to speak to her, which I would
have done, to have diverted her tears. His wife a good woman, and
so sober and substantiall as I was never more pleased anywhere.
Servant-maid, 2s. So thence took leave, and he with us through the city,
where in walking I find the city pay him great respect, and he the like
to the meanest, which pleased me mightily. He shewed us the place where
the merchants meet here, and a fine Cross yet standing, like Cheapside.
And so to the Horseshoe, where paid the reckoning, 2s. 6d. We back, and
by moonshine to the Bath again, about ten-o'clock: bad way; and giving
the coachman 1s., went all of us to bed.
14th (Sunday). Up, and walked up and down the town, and saw a pretty
good market-place, and many good streets, and very fair stone-houses.
And so to the great Church, and there saw Bishop Montagu's tomb;
[James Montagu, Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1608, and of Winchester
in 1616--died 1618. He was uncle to the Earl of Sandwich, whose
mother was Pepys's aunt. Hence Pepys's curiosity respecting the
tomb.--B.]
and, when placed, did there see many brave people come, and, among
others, two men brought in, in litters, and set down in the chancel
to hear: but I did not know one face. Here a good organ; but a vain,
pragmatical fellow preached a ridiculous, affected sermon, that made
me angry, and some gentlemen that sat next me, and sang well. So home,
walking round the walls of the City, which are good, and the battlements
all whole. The sexton of the church is. So home to dinner, and after
dinner comes Mr. Butts again to see me, and he and I to church, where
the same idle fellow preached; and I slept most of the sermon. Thence
home, and took my wife out and the girls, and come to this church again,
to see it, and look over the monuments, where, among others, Dr. Venner
and Pelting, and a lady of Sir W. Walter's; he lying with his face
broken. So to the fields a little and walked, and then home and had my
head looked [at], and so to supper, and then comes my landlord to me, a
sober understanding man, and did give me a good account of the antiquity
of this town and Wells; and of two Heads, on two pillars, in Wells
church. But he a Catholick. So he gone, I to bed.
15th (Monday). Up, and with Mr. Butts to look into the baths, and find
the King and Queen's full of a mixed sort, of good and bad, and the
Cross only almost for the gentry. So home and did the like with my wife,
and did pay my guides, two women, 5s.; one man, 2s. 6d.; poor, 6d.;
woman to lay my foot-cloth, 1s. So to our inne, and there eat and paid
reckoning, L1 8s. 6d.; servants, 3s.; poor, 1s.; lent the coach man,
10s. Before I took coach, I went to make a boy dive in the King's bath,
1s. I paid also for my coach and a horse to Bristol, L1 1s. 6d. Took
coach, and away, without any of the company of the other stage-coaches,
that go out of this town to-day; and rode all day with some trouble,
for fear of being out of our way, over the Downes, where the life of
the shepherds is, in fair weather only, pretty. In the afternoon come to
Abebury, where, seeing great stones like those of Stonage standing up,
I stopped, and took a countryman of that town, and he carried me and
shewed me a place trenched in, like Old Sarum almost, with great stones
pitched in it, some bigger than those at Stonage in figure, to my great
admiration: and he told me that most people of learning, coming by, do
come and view them, and that the King did so: and that the Mount
cast hard by is called Selbury, from one King Seall buried there, as
tradition says. I did give this man 1s. So took coach again, seeing one
place with great high stones pitched round, which, I believe, was once
some particular building, in some measure like that of Stonage. But,
about a mile off, it was prodigious to see how full the Downes are of
great stones; and all along the vallies, stones of considerable bigness,
most of them growing certainly out of the ground so thick as to cover
the ground, which makes me think the less of the wonder of Stonage, for
hence they might undoubtedly supply themselves with stones, as well
as those at Abebury. In my way did give to the poor and menders of the
highway 3s. Before night, come to Marlborough, and lay at the Hart; a
good house, and a pretty fair town for a street or two; and what is most
singular is, their houses on one side having their pent-houses supported
with pillars, which makes it a good walk. My wife pleased with all, this
evening reading of "Mustapha" to me till supper, and then to supper, and
had musique whose innocence pleased me, and I did give them 3s. So to
bed, and lay well all night, and long, so as all the five coaches that
come this day from Bath, as well as we, were gone out of the town before
six.
16th (Tuesday). So paying the reckoning, 14s. 4d., and servants, 2s.,
poor 1s., set out; and overtook one coach and kept a while company with
it, till one of our horses losing a shoe, we stopped and drank and spent
1s. So on, and passing through a good part of this county of Wiltshire,
saw a good house of Alexander Popham's, and another of my Lord Craven's,
I think in Barkeshire. Come to Newbery, and there dined, which cost me,
and musick, which a song of the old courtier of Queen Elizabeth's,
and how he was changed upon the coming in of the King, did please me
mightily, and I did cause W. Hewer to write it out, 3s. 6d. Then comes
the reckoning, forced to change gold, 8s. 7d.; servants and poor, 1s.
6d. So out, and lost our way, which made me vexed, but come into it
again; and in the evening betimes come to Reading, and there heard my
wife read more of "Mustapha," and then to supper, and then I to walk
about the town, which is a very great one, I think bigger than Salsbury:
a river runs through it, in seven branches, and unite in one, in one
part of the town, and runs into the Thames half-a-mile off one odd sign
of the Broad Face. W. Hewer troubled with the headake we had none of his
company last night, nor all this day nor night to talk. Then to my inn,
and so to bed.
17th (Wednesday). Rose, and paying the reckoning, 12s. 6d.; servants
and poor, 2s. 6d.; musick, the worst we have had, coming to our
chamber-door, but calling us by wrong names, we lay; so set out with one
coach in company, and through Maydenhead, which I never saw before, to
Colebrooke by noon; the way mighty good; and there dined, and fitted
ourselves a little to go through London, anon. Somewhat out of humour
all day, reflecting on my wife's neglect of things, and impertinent
humour got by this liberty of being from me, which she is never to be
trusted with; for she is a fool. Thence pleasant way to London, before
night, and find all very well, to great content; and there to talk with
my wife, and saw Sir W. Pen, who is well again. I hear of the ill news
by the great fire at Barbados. By and by home, and there with my
people to supper, all in pretty good humour, though I find my wife
hath something in her gizzard, that only waits an opportunity of being
provoked to bring up; but I will not, for my content-sake, give it. So I
to bed, glad to find all so well here, and slept well.
[The rough notes end here.]
18th. Up betimes and to the office, there to set my papers in order and
books, my office having been new whited and windows made clean, and so
to sit, where all the morning, and did receive a hint or two from my
Lord Anglesey, as if he thought much of my taking the ayre as I have
done; but I care not a turd; but whatever the matter is, I think he hath
some ill-will to me, or at least an opinion that I am more the servant
of the Board than I am. At noon home to dinner, where my wife still in a
melancholy, fusty humour, and crying, and do not tell me plainly what it
is; but I by little words find that she hath heard of my going to plays,
and carrying people abroad every day, in her absence; and that I cannot
help but the storm will break out, I think, in a little time. After
dinner carried her by coach to St. James's, where she sat in the coach
till I to my Lady Peterborough's, who tells me, among other things, her
Lord's good words to the Duke of York lately, about my Lord Sandwich,
and that the Duke of York is kind to my Lord Sandwich, which I am glad
to hear: my business here was about her Lord's pension from Tangier.
Here met with Povy, who tells me how hard Creed is upon him, though he
did give him, about six months since, I think he said, fifty pieces in
gold; and one thing there is in his accounts that I fear may touch me,
but I shall help it, I hope. So my wife not speaking a word, going nor
coming, nor willing to go to a play, though a new one, I to the Office,
and did much business. At night home, where supped Mr. Turner and his
wife, and Betty and Mercer and Pelling, as merry as the ill, melancholy
humour that my wife was in, would let us, which vexed me; but I took no
notice of it, thinking that will be the best way, and let it wear away
itself. After supper, parted, and to bed; and my wife troubled all
night, and about one o'clock goes out of the bed to the girl's bed,
which did trouble me, she crying and sobbing, without telling the cause.
By and by she comes back to me, and still crying; I then rose, and would
have sat up all night, but she would have me come to bed again; and
being pretty well pacified, we to sleep.
19th. When between two and three in the morning we were waked with my
maids crying out, "Fire, fire, in Markelane!" So I rose and looked out,
and it was dreadful; and strange apprehensions in me, and us all, of
being presently burnt. So we all rose; and my care presently was to
secure my gold, and plate, and papers, and could quickly have done it,
but I went forth to see where it was; and the whole town was presently
in the streets; and I found it in a new-built house that stood alone
in Minchin-lane, over against the Cloth-workers'-hall, which burned
furiously: the house not yet quite finished; and the benefit of brick
was well seen, for it burnt all inward, and fell down within itself;
so no fear of doing more hurt. So homeward, and stopped at Mr. Mills's,
where he and she at the door, and Mrs. Turner, and Betty, and Mrs.
Hollworthy, and there I stayed and talked, and up to the church leads,
and saw the fire, which spent itself, till all fear over. I home, and
there we to bed again, and slept pretty well, and about nine rose, and
then my wife fell into her blubbering again, and at length had a request
to make to me, which was, that she might go into France, and live there,
out of trouble; and then all come out, that I loved pleasure and
denied her any, and a deal of do; and I find that there have been great
fallings out between my father and her, whom, for ever hereafter, I must
keep asunder, for they cannot possibly agree. And I said nothing, but,
with very mild words and few, suffered her humour to spend, till we
begun to be very quiet, and I think all will be over, and friends, and
so I to the office, where all the morning doing business. Yesterday I
heard how my Lord Ashly is like to die, having some imposthume in his
breast, that he hath been fain to be cut into the body.
["Such an operation was performed in this year, after a consultation
of medical men, and chiefly by Locke's advice, and the wound was
afterwards always kept open, a silver pipe being inserted. This
saved Lord Ashley's life, and gave him health"--Christie's Life of
the first Earl of Shaftesbury, vol. ii., p. 34. 'Tapski' was a name
given to Shaftesbury in derision, and vile defamers described the
abscess, which had originated in a carriage accident in Holland, as
the result of extreme dissipation. Lines by Duke, a friend and
imitator of Dryden:
"The working ferment of his active mind,
In his weak body's cask with pain confined,
Would burst the rotten vessel where 'tis pent,
But that 'tis tapt to give the treason vent."]
At noon home to dinner, and thence by coach to White Hall, where we
attended the Duke of York in his closet, upon our usual business. And
thence out, and did see many of the Knights of the Garter, with the King
and Duke of York, going into the Privychamber, to elect the Elector of
Saxony into that Order, who, I did hear the Duke of York say, was a good
drinker: I know not upon what score this compliment is done him. Thence
with W. Pen, who is in great pain of the gowte, by coach round by
Holborne home, he being at every kennel full of pain. Thence home, and
by and by comes my wife and Deb. home, have been at the King's playhouse
to-day, thinking to spy me there; and saw the new play, "Evening Love,"
of Dryden's, which, though the world commends, she likes not. So to
supper and talk, and all in good humour, and then to bed, where I slept
not well, from my apprehensions of some trouble about some business of
Mr. Povy's he told me of the other day.
20th. Up, and talked with my wife all in good humour, and so to the
office, where all the morning, and then home to dinner, and so she and
I alone to the King's house, and there I saw this new play my wife saw
yesterday, and do not like it, it being very smutty, and nothing so good
as "The Maiden Queen," or "The Indian Emperour," of his making, that I
was troubled at it; and my wife tells me wholly (which he confesses a
little in the epilogue) taken out of the "Illustre Bassa." So she to
Unthanke's and I to Mr. Povy, and there settled some business; and here
talked of things, and he thinks there will be great revolutions, and
that Creed will be a great man, though a rogue, he being a man of the
old strain, which will now be up again. So I took coach, and set Povy
down at Charing Cross, and took my wife up, and calling at the New
Exchange at Smith's shop, and kissed her pretty hand, and so we
home, and there able to do nothing by candlelight, my eyes being now
constantly so bad that I must take present advice or be blind. So to
supper, grieved for my eyes, and to bed.
21st (Lord's day). Up, and to church, and home and dined with my wife
and Deb. alone, but merry and in good humour, which is, when all is
done, the greatest felicity of all, and after dinner she to read in the
"Illustre Bassa" the plot of yesterday's play, which is most exactly the
same, and so to church I alone, and thence to see Sir W. Pen, who is ill
again, and then home, and there get my wife to read to me till supper,
and then to bed.
22nd. Up, and with Balty to St. James's, and there presented him to Mr.
Wren about his being Muster-Master this year, which will be done. So
up to wait on the Duke of York, and thence, with W. Coventry, walked to
White Hall good discourse about the Navy, where want of money undoes us.
Thence to the Harp and Ball I to drink, and so to the Coffee-house in
Covent Garden; but met with nobody but Sir Philip Howard, who shamed
me before the whole house there, in commendation of my speech in
Parliament, and thence I away home to dinner alone, my wife being at her
tailor's, and after dinner comes Creed, whom I hate, to speak with me,
and before him comes Mrs. Daniel about business.... She gone, Creed
and I to the King's playhouse, and saw an act or two of the new
play ["Evening's Love"] again, but like it not. Calling this day at
Herringman's, he tells me Dryden do himself call it but a fifth-rate
play. Thence with him to my Lord Brouncker's, where a Council of the
Royall Society; and there heard Mr. Harry Howard's' noble offers about
ground for our College, and his intentions of building his own house
there most nobly. My business was to meet Mr. Boyle, which I did, and
discoursed about my eyes; and he did give me the best advice he could,
but refers me to one Turberville, of Salsbury, lately come to town,
which I will go to.
[Daubigny Turberville, of Oriel College; created M.D. at
Oxford,1660. He was a physician of some eminence, and, dying at
Salisbury on the 21st April, 1696, aged eighty-five, he was buried
in the cathedral, where his monument remains. Cassan, in his "Lives
of the Bishops of Sarum," part iii., p. 103, has reprinted an
interesting account of Turberville, from the "Memoir of Bishop Seth
Ward," published in 1697, by Dr. Walter Pope. Turberville was born
at Wayford, co. Somerset, in 1612, and became an expert oculist; and
probably Pepys received great benefit from his advice, as his vision
does not appear to have failed during the many years that he lived
after discontinuing the Diary. The doctor died rich, and
subsequently to his decease his sister Mary, inheriting all his
prescriptions, and knowing how to use them, practised as an oculist
in London with good reputation.--B.]
Thence home, where the streets full, at our end of the town, removing
their wine against the Act begins, which will be two days hence, to
raise the price. I did get my store in of Batelier this night. So home
to supper and to bed.
23rd. Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon home to dinner, and
so to the office again all the afternoon, and then to Westminster to
Dr. Turberville about my eyes, whom I met with: and he did discourse, I
thought, learnedly about them; and takes time before he did prescribe me
any thing, to think of it. So I away with my wife and Deb., whom I left
at Unthanke's, and so to Hercules Pillars, and there we three supped
on cold powdered beef, and thence home and in the garden walked a good
while with Deane, talking well of the Navy miscarriages and faults. So
home to bed.
24th. Up, and Creed and Colonell Atkins come to me about sending coals
to Tangier: and upon that most of the morning. Thence Creed and I to
Alderman Backewell's about Tangier business of money, and thence I
by water (calling and drinking, but not baisado, at Michell's) to
Westminster, but it being holyday did no business, only to Martin's...
and so home again by water, and busy till dinner, and then with wife,
Mercer, Deb., and W. Hewer to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there
saw "The Impertinents," a pretty good play; and so by water to Spring
Garden, and there supped, and so home, not very merry, only when we come
home, Mercer and I sat and sung in the garden a good while, and so to
bed.
25th. Up, and to the office all the morning, and after dinner at home to
the office again, and there all the afternoon very busy till night, and
then home to supper and to bed.
26th. All the morning doing business at the office. At noon, with my
Fellow-Officers, to the Dolphin, at Sir G. Carteret's charge, to dinner,
he having some accounts examined this morning. All the afternoon we all
at Sir W. Pen's with him about the Victuallers' accounts, and then in
the evening to Charing Cross, and there took up my wife at her tailor's,
and so home and to walk in the garden, and then to sup and to bed.
27th. At the office all the morning, at noon dined at home, and then
my wife, and Deb., and I to the King's playhouse, and saw "The Indian
Queene," but do not doat upon Nan Marshall's acting therein, as the
world talks of her excellence therein. Thence with my wife to buy some
linnen, L13 worth, for sheets, &c., at the new shop over against the
New Exchange; [and the master, who is] come out of London--[To the
Strand.]--since the fire, says his and other tradesmen's retail trade is
so great here, and better than it was in London, that they believe
they shall not return, nor the city be ever so great for retail as
heretofore. So home and to my business, and to bed.
28th (Lord's day). Up, and to church, and then home to dinner, where
Betty Turner, Mercer, and Captain Deane, and after dinner to sing, Mr.
Pelting coming. Then, they gone, Deane and I all the afternoon till
night to talk of navy matters and ships with great pleasure, and so at
night, he gone, I to supper, Pelling coming again and singing a while,
then to bed. Much talk of the French setting out their fleete afresh;
but I hear nothing that our King is alarmed at it, at all, but rather
making his fleete less.
29th. Called up by my Lady Peterborough's servant about some business of
hers, and so to the office. Thence by and by with Sir J. Minnes toward
St. James's, and I stop at Dr. Turberville's, and there did receive a
direction for some physic, and also a glass of something to drop into my
eyes: who gives me hopes that I may do well. Thence to St. James's,
and thence to White Hall, where I find the Duke of York in the
Council-chamber; where the Officers of the Navy were called in about
Navy business, about calling in of more ships; the King of France
having, as the Duke of York says, ordered his fleete to come in,
notwithstanding what he had lately ordered for their staying abroad.
Thence to the Chapel, it being St. Peter's day, and did hear an anthem
of Silas Taylor's making; a dull, old-fashioned thing, of six and seven
parts, that nobody could understand: and the Duke of York, when he come
out, told me that he was a better store-keeper than anthem-maker, and
that was bad enough, too. This morning Mr. May' shewed me the King's
new buildings at White Hall, very fine; and among other things, his
ceilings, and his houses of office. So home to dinner, and then with my
wife to the King's playhouse--"The Mulberry Garden," which she had not
seen. So by coach to Islington, and round by Hackney home with much
pleasure, and to supper and bed.
30th. Up, and at the Office all the morning: then home to dinner, where
a stinking leg of mutton, the weather being very wet and hot to keep
meat in. Then to the Office again, all the afternoon: we met about the
Victualler's new contract. And so up, and to walk all the evening with
my wife and Mrs. Turner in the garden, till supper, about eleven at
night; and so, after supper, parted, and to bed, my eyes bad, but not
worse, only weary with working. But, however, I very melancholy under
the fear of my eyes being spoiled, and not to be recovered; for I am
come that I am not able to readout a small letter, and yet my sight good
for the little while I can read, as ever they were, I think.
JULY 1668
July 1st. Up; and all the morning we met at the office about the
Victualler's contract. At noon home to dinner, my Cozen Roger, come
newly to town, dined with us, and mighty importunate for our coming down
to Impington, which I think to do, this Sturbridge fair. Thence I set
him down at the Temple, and Commissioner Middleton dining the first time
with me, he and I to White Hall, and so to St. James's, where we met;
and much business with the Duke of York. And I find the Duke of York
very hot for regulations in the Navy; and, I believe, is put on it by
W. Coventry; and I am glad of it; and particularly, he falls heavy
on Chatham-yard,, and is vexed that Lord Anglesey did, the other day,
complain at the Council-table of disorders in the Navy, and not to him.
So I to White Hall to a Committee of Tangier; and there vexed, with the
importunity and clamours of Alderman Backewell, for my acquittance
for money supplied by him to the garrison, before I have any order for
paying it: so home, calling at several places-among others, the 'Change,
and on Cooper, to know when my wife shall come to sit for her picture,
which will be next week, and so home and to walk with my wife, and then
to supper and to bed.
2nd. Called up by a letter from W. Coventry telling me that the
Commissioners of Accounts intend to summons me about Sir W. Warren's
Hamburg contract, and so I up and to W. Coventry's (he and G. Carteret
being the party concerned in it), and after conference with him about it
to satisfaction I home again to the office. At noon home to dinner, and
then all the afternoon busy to prepare an answer to this demand of the
Commissioners of Accounts, and did discourse with Sir W. Warren about
it, and so in the evening with my wife and Deb. by coach to take ayre
to Mile-end, and so home and I to bed, vexed to be put to this frequent
trouble in things we deserve best in.
3rd. Betimes to the office, my head full of this business. Then by coach
to the Commissioners of Accounts at Brooke House, the first time I was
ever there, and there Sir W. Turner in the chair; and present, Lord
Halifax, Thoms[on], Gregory, Dunster, and Osborne. I long with them,
and see them hot set on this matter; but I did give them proper and safe
answers. Halifax, I perceive, was industrious on my side, in behalf of
his uncle Coventry, it being the business of fir W. Warren. Vexed only
at their denial of a copy of what I set my hand to, and swore. Here till
almost two o'clock, and then home to dinner, and set down presently what
I had done and said this day, and so abroad by water to Eagle Court in
the Strand, and there to an alehouse: met Mr. Pierce, the Surgeon, and
Dr. Clerke, Waldron, Turberville, my physician for the eyes, and Lowre,
to dissect several eyes of sheep and oxen, with great pleasure, and to
my great information. But strange that this Turberville should be so
great a man, and yet, to this day, had seen no eyes dissected, or but
once, but desired this Dr. Lowre to give him the opportunity to see him
dissect some. Thence to Unthanke's, to my wife, and carried her home,
and there walked in the garden, and so to supper and to bed.
4th. Up, and to see Sir W. Coventry, and give him account of my doings
yesterday, which he well liked of, and was told thereof by my Lord
Halifax before; but I do perceive he is much concerned for this
business. Gives me advice to write a smart letter to the Duke of York
about the want of money in the Navy, and desire him to communicate it
to the Commissioners of the Treasury; for he tells me he hath hot
work sometimes to contend with the rest for the Navy, they being all
concerned for some other part of the King's expenses, which they would
prefer to this, of the Navy. He shewed me his closet, with his round
table, for him to sit in the middle, very convenient; and I borrowed
several books of him, to collect things out of the Navy, which I have
not, and so home, and there busy sitting all the morning, and at noon
dined, and then all the afternoon busy, till night, and then to Mile-End
with my wife and girl, and there drank and eat a joie of salmon, at the
Rose and Crown, our old house; and so home to bed.
5th (Lord's day). About four in the morning took four pills of Dr.
Turberville's prescribing, for my eyes, and they wrought pretty well
most of the morning, and I did get my wife to spend the morning reading
of Wilkins's Reall Character. At noon comes W. Hewer and Pelling, and
young Michell and his wife, and dined with us, and most of the afternoon
talking; and then at night my wife to read again, and to supper and to
bed.
6th. Up, and to St. James's, and there attended the Duke of York, and
was there by himself told how angry he was, and did declare to my Lord
Anglesey, about his late complaining of things of the Navy to the King
in Council, and not to him; and I perceive he is mightily concerned
at it, and resolved to reform things therein. Thence with W. Coventry
walked in the Park together a good while, he mighty kind to me. And hear
many pretty stories of my Lord Chancellor's being heretofore made sport
of by Peter Talbot the priest, in his story of the death of Cardinall
Bleau;
[It is probable these stories, in ridicule of Clarendon, are nowhere
recorded. Cardinal Jean Balue was the minister of Louis XI. of
France. The reader will remember him in Sir W. Scott's "Quentin
Durward." He was confined for eleven years in an iron cage invented
by himself in the Chateau de Loches, and died soon after he regained
his liberty.--B.]
by Lord Cottington, in his 'Dolor de las Tyipas';
[Gripes. It was a joke against Lord Cottington that whenever he was
seriously ill he declared himself a Roman Catholic, when he was well
again he returned to the Protestant faith.]
and Tom Killigrew, in his being bred in Ram Ally, and now bound prentice
to Lord Cottington, going to Spain with L1000, and two suits of clothes.
Thence home to dinner, and thence to Mr. Cooper's, and there met my wife
and W. Hewer and Deb.; and there my wife first sat for her picture: but
he is a most admirable workman, and good company. Here comes Harris, and
first told us how Betterton is come again upon the stage: whereupon my
wife and company to the [Duke's] house to see "Henry the Fifth;" while I
to attend the Duke of York at the Committee of the Navy, at the Council,
where some high dispute between him and W. Coventry about settling
pensions upon all Flag-Officers, while unemployed: W. Coventry against
it, and, I think, with reason. Thence I to the playhouse, and saw a
piece of the play, and glad to see Betterton; and so with wife and Deb.
to Spring-garden, and eat a lobster, and so home in the evening and to
bed. Great doings at Paris, I hear, with their triumphs for their late
conquests! The Duchesse of Richmond sworn last week of the queen's
Bedchamber, and the King minding little else but what he used to
do--about his women.
7th. Up, and to the office, where Kate Joyce come to me about some
tickets of hers, but took no notice to me of her being married, but
seemed mighty pale, and doubtful what to say or do, expecting, I
believe, that I should begin; and not finding me beginning, said
nothing, but, with trouble in her face, went away. At the office all
the morning, and after dinner also all the afternoon, and in the evening
with my wife and Deb. and Betty Turner to Unthanke's, where we are fain
to go round by Newgate, because of Fleet Bridge being under rebuilding.
They stayed there, and I about some business, and then presently back
and brought them home and supped and Mrs. Turner, the mother, comes to
us, and there late, and so to bed.
8th. Betimes by water to Sir W. Coventry, and there discoursed of
several things; and I find him much concerned in the present enquiries
now on foot of the Commissioners of Accounts, though he reckons himself
and the rest very safe, but vexed to see us liable to these troubles, in
things wherein we have laboured to do best. Thence, he being to go out
of town to-morrow, to drink Banbury waters, I to the Duke of York, to
attend him about business of the Office; and find him mighty free to
me, and how he is concerned to mend things in the Navy himself, and not
leave it to other people. So home to dinner; and then with my wife
to Cooper's, and there saw her sit; and he do do extraordinary things
indeed. So to White Hall; and there by and by the Duke of York comes to
the Robe-chamber, and spent with us three hours till night, in hearing
the business of the Master-Attendants of Chatham, and the Store-keeper
of Woolwich; and resolves to displace them all; so hot he is of giving
proofs of his justice at this time, that it is their great fate now, to
come to be questioned at such a time as this. Thence I to Unthanke's,
and took my wife and Deb. home, and to supper and to bed.
9th. Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning, and after noon
to the office again till night, mighty busy getting Mr. Fist to come and
help me, my own clerks all busy, and so in the evening to ease my eyes,
and with my wife and Deb. and Betty Turner, by coach to Unthanke's and
back again, and then to supper and to bed.
10th. Up, and to attend the Council, but all in vain, the Council
spending all the morning upon a business about the printing of the
Critickes, a dispute between the first Printer, one Bee that is dead,
and the Abstractor, who would now print his Abstract, one Poole. So home
to dinner, and thence to Haward's to look upon an Espinette, and I did
come near the buying one, but broke off. I have a mind to have one. So
to Cooper's; and there find my wife and W. Hewer and Deb., sitting, and
painting; and here he do work finely, though I fear it will not be so
like as I expected: but now I understand his great skill in musick,
his playing and setting to the French lute most excellently; and speaks
French, and indeed is an excellent man. Thence, in the evening, with my
people in a glass hackney-coach to the park, but was ashamed to be seen.
So to the lodge, and drank milk, and so home to supper and to bed.
11th. At the office all the morning. After dinner to the King's
playhouse, to see an old play of Shirly's, called "Hide Parker" the
first day acted; where horses are brought upon the stage but it is but
a very moderate play, only an excellent epilogue spoke by Beck Marshall.
Thence home and to my office, and then to supper and to bed, and
overnight took some pills,
12th. Which work with me pretty betimes, being Lord's day, and so I
within all day. Busy all the morning upon some accounts with W. Hewer,
and at noon, an excellent dinner, comes Pelling and W. Howe, and the
latter staid and talked with me all the afternoon, and in the evening
comes Mr. Mills and his wife and supped and talked with me, and so to
bed. This last night Betty Michell about midnight cries out, and my wife
goes to her, and she brings forth a girl, and this afternoon the child
is christened, and my wife godmother again to a Betty.
13th. Up, and to my office, and thence by water to White Hall to attend
the Council, but did not, and so home to dinner, and so out with my
wife, and Deb., and W. Hewer towards Cooper's, but I 'light and walked
to Ducke Lane, and there to the bookseller's; at the Bible, whose moher
je have a mind to, but elle no erat dentro, but I did there look upon
and buy some books, and made way for coming again to the man, which
pleases me. Thence to Reeves's, and there saw some, and bespoke a little
perspective, and was mightily pleased with seeing objects in a dark
room. And so to Cooper's, and spent the afternoon with them; and it will
be an excellent picture. Thence my people all by water to Deptford, to
see Balty, while I to buy my espinette,
[Espinette is the French term for a small harpsichord, at that time
called in England a spinet. It was named from a fancied resemblance
of its quill plectra to spines or thorns.]
which I did now agree for, and did at Haward's meet with Mr. Thacker,
and heard him play on the harpsicon, so as I never heard man before,
I think. So home, it being almost night, and there find in the garden
Pelling, who hath brought Tempest, Wallington, and Pelham, to sings and
there had most excellent musick late, in the dark, with great pleasure.
Made them drink and eat; and so with much pleasure to bed, but above
all with little Wallington. This morning I was let blood, and did bleed
about fourteen ounces, towards curing my eyes.
14th. Up, and to my office, where sat all the morning. At noon home
to dinner, and thence all the afternoon hard at the office, we meeting
about the Victualler's new contract; and so into the garden, my Lady
Pen, Mrs. Turner and her daughter, my wife and I, and there supped in
the dark and were merry, and so to bed. This day Bossc finished his copy
of my picture, which I confess I do not admire, though my wife prefers
him to Browne; nor do I think it like. He do it for W. Hewer, who hath
my wife's also, which I like less. This afternoon my Lady Pickering come
to see us: I busy, saw her not. But how natural it is for us to slight
people out of power, and for people out of power to stoop to see those
that while in power they contemned!
15th. Up, and all the morning busy at the office to my great content,
attending to the settling of papers there that I may have the more rest
in winter for my eyes by how much I do the more in the settling of
all things in the summer by daylight. At noon home to dinner, where is
brought home the espinette I bought the other day of Haward; costs me
L5. So to St. James's, where did our ordinary business with the Duke of
York. So to Unthanke's to my wife, and with her and Deb. to visit Mrs.
Pierce, whom I do not now so much affect, since she paints. But stayed
here a while, and understood from her how my Lady Duchesse of Monmouth
is still lame, and likely always to be so, which is a sad chance for a
young [lady] to get, only by trying of tricks in dancing. So home, and
there Captain Deane come and spent the evening with me, to draw some
finishing lines on his fine draught of "The Resolution," the best ship,
by all report, in the world, and so to bed. Wonderful hot all day and
night, and this the first night that I remember in my life that ever I
could lie with only a sheet and one rug. So much I am now stronger than
ever I remember myself, at least since before I had the stone.
16th. Up, and to the office, where Yeabsly and Lanyon come to town and
to speak with me about a matter wherein they are accused of cheating the
King before the Lords' Commissioners of Tangier, and I doubt it true,
but I have no hand in it, but will serve them what I can. All the
morning at the office, and at noon dined at home, and then to the office
again, where we met to finish the draft of the Victualler's contract,
and so I by water with my Lord Brouncker to Arundell House, to the
Royall Society, and there saw an experiment of a dog's being tied
through the back, about the spinal artery, and thereby made void of all
motion; and the artery being loosened again, the dog recovers. Thence to
Cooper's, and saw his advance on my wife's picture, which will be indeed
very fine. So with her to the 'Change, to buy some things, and here I
first bought of the sempstress next my bookseller's, where the pretty
young girl is, that will be a great beauty. So home, and to supper with
my wife in the garden, it being these two days excessively hot, and so
to bed.
17th. Up, and fitted myself to discourse before the Council about
business of tickets. So to White Hall, where waited on the Duke of York,
and then the Council about that business; and I did discourse to their
liking, only was too high to assert that nothing could be invented to
secure the King more in the business of tickets than there is; which the
Duke of Buckingham did except against, and I could have answered, but
forbore; but all liked very well. Thence home, and with my wife and Deb.
to the King's House to see a play revived called The------, a sorry mean
play, that vexed us to sit in so much heat of the weather to hear it.
Thence to see Betty Michell newly lain in, and after a little stay we
took water and to Spring Garden, and there walked, and supped, and staid
late, and with much pleasure, and to bed. The weather excessive hot, so
as we were forced to lie in two beds, and I only with a sheet and rug,
which is colder than ever I remember I could bear.
18th. At the office all the morning. At noon dined at home and Creed
with me, who I do really begin to hate, and do use him with some
reservedness. Here was also my old acquaintance, Will Swan, to see me,
who continues a factious fanatick still, and I do use him civilly,
in expectation that those fellows may grow great again. Thence to the
office, and then with my wife to the 'Change and Unthanke's, after
having been at Cooper's and sat there for her picture, which will be a
noble picture, but yet I think not so like as Hales's is. So home and
to my office, and then to walk in the garden, and home to supper and
to bed. They say the King of France is making a war again, in Flanders,
with the King of Spain; the King of Spain refusing to give him all that
he says was promised him in the treaty. Creed told me this day how when
the King was at my Lord Cornwallis's when he went last to Newmarket,
that being there on a Sunday, the Duke of Buckingham did in the
afternoon to please the King make a bawdy sermon to him out of
Canticles, and that my Lord Cornwallis did endeavour to get the King a
whore, and that must be a pretty girl the daughter of the parson of
the place, but that she did get away, and leaped off of some place and
killed herself, which if true is very sad.
19th (Lord's day). Up, and to my chamber, and there I up and down in the
house spent the morning getting things ready against noon, when come Mr.
Cooper, Hales, Harris, Mr. Butler, that wrote Hudibras, and Mr. Cooper's
cozen Jacke; and by and by comes Mr. Reeves and his wife, whom I never
saw before: and there we dined: a good dinner, and company that pleased
me mightily, being all eminent men in their way. Spent all the afternoon
in talk and mirth, and in the evening parted, and then my wife and I to
walk in the garden, and so home to supper, Mrs. Turner and husband and
daughter with us, and then to bed.
20th. Up, and to the office, where Mrs. Daniel comes.... All the morning
at the office. Dined at home, then with Mr. Colvill to the new Excise
Office in Aldersgate Street, and thence back to the Old Exchange, to see
a very noble fine lady I spied as I went through, in coming; and there
took occasion to buy some gloves, and admire her, and a mighty fine fair
lady indeed she was. Thence idling all the afternoon to Duck Lane, and
there saw my bookseller's moher, but get no ground there yet; and here
saw Mrs. Michell's daughter married newly to a bookseller, and she
proves a comely little grave woman. So to visit my Lord Crew, who is
very sick, to great danger, by an irisipulus;--[Erysipelas.]--the first
day I heard of it, and so home, and took occasion to buy a rest for my
espinette at the ironmonger's by Holborn Conduit, where the fair pretty
woman is that I have lately observed there, and she is pretty, and je
credo vain enough. Thence home and busy till night, and so to bed.
21st. Up, and to St. James's, but lost labour, the Duke abroad. So home
to the office, where all the morning, and so to dinner, and then all the
afternoon at the office, only went to my plate-maker's, and there spent
an hour about contriving my little plates,
[This passage has been frequently quoted as referring to Pepys's.
small bookplate, with his initials S. P. and two anchors and ropes
entwined; but if looked at carefully with the further reference on
the 27th, it will be seen that it merely describes the preparation
of engravings of the four dockyards.]
for my books of the King's four Yards. At night walked in the garden,
and supped and to bed, my eyes bad.
22nd. All the morning at the office. Dined at home, and then to White
Hall with Symson the joyner, and after attending at the Committee of the
Navy about the old business of tickets, where the only expedient they
have found is to bind the Commanders and Officers by oaths. The Duke
of York told me how the Duke of Buckingham, after the Council the other
day, did make mirth at my position, about the sufficiency of present
rules in the business of tickets; and here I took occasion to desire
a private discourse with the Duke of York, and he granted it to me on
Friday next. So to shew Symson the King's new lodgings for his chimnies,
which I desire to have one built in that mode, and so I home, and with
little supper, to bed. This day a falling out between my wife and Deb.,
about a hood lost, which vexed me.
23rd. Up, and all day long, but at dinner, at the Office, at work, till
I was almost blind, which makes my heart sad.
24th. Up, and by water to St. James's, having, by the way, shewn Symson
Sir W. Coventry's chimney-pieces, in order to the making me one; and
there, after the Duke of York was ready, he called me to his closet; and
there I did long and largely show him the weakness of our Office, and
did give him advice to call us to account for our duties, which he did
take mighty well, and desired me to draw up what I would have him write
to the Office. I did lay open the whole failings of the Office, and how
it was his duty to find them, and to find fault with them, as Admiral,
especially at this time, which he agreed to, and seemed much to rely
on what I said. Thence to White Hall, and there waited to attend the
Council, but was not called in, and so home, and after dinner back with
Sir J. Minnes by coach, and there attended, all of us, the Duke of York,
and had the hearing of Mr. Pett's business, the Master-Shipwright
at Chatham, and I believe he will be put out. But here Commissioner.
Middleton did, among others, shew his good-nature and easiness to the
Masters-Attendants, by mitigating their faults, so as, I believe, they
will come in again. So home, and to supper and to bed, the Duke of York
staying with us till almost night.
25th. Up, and at the Office all the morning; and at noon, after dinner,
to Cooper's, it being a very rainy day, and there saw my wife's picture
go on, which will be very fine indeed. And so home again to my letters,
and then to supper and to bed.
26th (Lord's day). Up, and all the morning and after dinner, the
afternoon also, with W. Hewer in my closet, setting right my Tangier
Accounts, which I have let alone these six months and more, but find
them very right, and is my great comfort. So in the evening to walk with
my wife, and to supper and to bed.
27th. Busy all the morning at my office. At noon dined, and then I out
of doors to my bookseller in Duck Lane, but su moher not at home, and it
was pretty here to see a pretty woman pass by with a little wanton look,
and je did sequi her round about the street from Duck Lane to Newgate
Market, and then elle did turn back, and je did lose her. And so to see
my Lord Crew, whom I find up; and did wait on him; but his face sore,
but in hopes to do now very well again. Thence to Cooper's, where my
wife's picture almost done, and mighty fine indeed. So over the water
with my wife, and Deb., and Mercer, to Spring-Garden, and there eat and
walked; and observe how rude some of the young gallants of the town are
become, to go into people's arbours where there are not men, and almost
force the women; which troubled me, to see the confidence of the vice of
the age: and so we away by water, with much pleasure home. This day my
plate-maker comes with my four little plates of the four Yards, cost me
L5, which troubles me, but yet do please me also.
28th. All the morning at the office, and after dinner with my wife and
Deb. to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "The Slighted Maid,"
but a mean play; and thence home, there being little pleasure now in a
play, the company being but little. Here we saw Gosnell, who is become
very homely, and sings meanly, I think, to what I thought she did.
29th. Busy all the morning at the office. So home to dinner, where
Mercer, and there comes Mr. Swan, my old acquaintance, and dines
with me, and tells me, for a certainty, that Creed is to marry Betty
Pickering, and that the thing is concluded, which I wonder at, and am
vexed for. So he gone I with my wife and two girls to the King's house,
and saw "The Mad Couple," a mean play altogether, and thence to Hyde
Parke, where but few coaches, and so to the New Exchange, and thence by
water home, with much pleasure, and then to sing in the garden, and so
home to bed, my eyes for these four days being my trouble, and my heart
thereby mighty sad.
30th. Up, and by water to White Hall. There met with Mr. May, who was
giving directions about making a close way for people to go dry from the
gate up into the House, to prevent their going through the galleries;
which will be very good. I staid and talked with him about the state of
the King's Offices in general, and how ill he is served, and do still
find him an excellent person, and so back to the office. So close at my
office all the afternoon till evening, and then out with my wife to the
New Exchange, and so back again.
31st. Up, and at my office all the morning. About noon with Mr.
Ashburnham to the new Excise Office, and there discoursed about
our business, and I made him admire my drawing a thing presently in
shorthand: but, God knows! I have paid dear for it, in my eyes. Home and
to dinner, and then my wife and Deb. and I, with Sir J. Minnes, to White
Hall, she going hence to the New Exchange, and the Duke of York not
being in the way, Sir J. Minnes and I to her and took them two to the
King's house, to see the first day of Lacy's "Monsieur Ragou," now new
acted. The King and Court all there, and mighty merry--a farce. Thence
Sir J. Minnes giving us, like a gentleman, his coach, hearing we had
some business, we to the Park, and so home. Little pleasure there, there
being little company, but mightily taken with a little chariot that we
saw in the street, and which we are resolved to have ours like it. So
home to walk in the garden a little, and then to bed. The month ends
mighty sadly with me, my eyes being now past all use almost; and I am
mighty hot upon trying the late printed experiment of paper tubes.
[An account of these tubulous spectacles ("An easy help for decayed
sight") is given in "The Philosophical Transactions," No. 37, pp.
727,731 (Hutton's Abridgment, vol. i., p. 266). See Diary, August
12th and 23rd, post.]
AUGUST 1668
August 1st. All the morning at the office. After dinner my wife, and
Deb., and I, to the King's house again, coming too late yesterday to
hear the prologue, and do like the play better now than before; and,
indeed, there is a great deal of true wit in it, more than in the common
sort of plays, and so home to my business, and at night to bed, my eyes
making me sad.
2nd. (Lord's day). Up and at home all the morning, hanging, and removing
of some pictures, in my study and house. At noon Pelling dined with me.
After dinner, I and Tom, my boy, by water up to Putney, and there heard
a sermon, and many fine people in the church. Thence walked to Barne
Elmes, and there, and going and coming, did make the boy read to me
several things, being now-a-days unable to read myself anything, for
above two lines together, but my eyes grow weary. Home about night, and
so to supper and then to bed.
3rd. Up, and by water to White Hall and St. James's, where I did much
business, and about noon meeting Dr. Gibbons, carried him to the Sun
taverne, in King Street, and there made him, and some friends of his,
drink; among others, Captain Silas Taylor, and here did get Gibbons to
promise me some things for my flageolets. So to the Old Exchange, and
then home to dinner, and so, Mercer dining with us, I took my wife
and her and Deb. out to Unthanke's, while I to White Hall to the
Commissioners of the Treasury, and so back to them and took them out to
Islington, where we met with W. Joyce and his wife and boy, and there
eat and drank, and a great deal of his idle talk, and so we round by
Hackney home, and so to sing a little in the garden, and then to bed.
4th. Up, and to my office a little, and then to White Hall about a
Committee for Tangier at my Lord Arlington's, where, by Creed's being
out of town, I have the trouble given me of drawing up answers to the
complaints of the Turks of Algiers, and so I have all the papers put
into my hand. Here till noon, and then back to the Office, where sat a
little, and then to dinner, and presently to the office, where come to
me my Lord Bellassis, Lieutenant-Colonell Fitzgerald, newly come from
Tangier, and Sir Arthur Basset, and there I received their informations,
and so, they being gone, I with my clerks and another of Lord
Brouncker's, Seddon, sat up till two in the morning, drawing up my
answers and writing them fair, which did trouble me mightily to sit up
so long, because of my eyes.
5th. So to bed about two o'clock, and then up about seven and to White
Hall, where read over my report to Lord Arlington and Berkeley, and then
afterward at the Council Board with great good liking, but, Lord! how it
troubled my eyes, though I did not think I could have done it, but did
do it, and was not very bad afterward. So home to dinner, and thence out
to the Duke of York's playhouse, and there saw "The Guardian;" formerly
the same, I find, that was called "Cutter of Coleman Street;" a silly
play. And thence to Westminster Hall, where I met Fitzgerald; and with
him to a tavern, to consider of the instructions for Sir Thomas Allen,
against his going to Algiers; he and I being designed to go down to
Portsmouth by the Council's order, and by and by he and I went to the
Duke of York, who orders me to go down to-morrow morning. So I away
home, and there bespeak a coach; and so home and to bed, my wife being
abroad with the Mercers walking in the fields, and upon the water.
6th. Waked betimes, and my wife, at an hour's warning, is resolved to
go with me, which pleases me, her readiness. But, before ready, comes a
letter from Fitzgerald, that he is seized upon last night by an order
of the General's by a file of musqueteers, and kept prisoner in his
chamber. The Duke of York did tell me of it to-day: it is about a
quarrel between him and Witham, and they fear a challenge: so I to him,
and sent my wife by the coach round to Lambeth. I lost my labour going
to his lodgings, and he in bed: and, staying a great while for him, I at
last grew impatient, and would stay no longer; but to St. James's to Mr.
Wren, to bid him "God be with you!" and so over the water to Fox Hall;
and there my wife and Deb. come and took me up, and we away to Gilford,
losing our way for three or four mile, about Cobham. At Gilford we
dined; and, I shewed them the hospitall there of Bishop Abbot's, and
his tomb in the church, which, and the rest of the tombs there, are kept
mighty clean and neat, with curtains before them. So to coach again, and
got to Lippock,2 late over Hindhead, having an old man, a guide, in the
coach with us; but got thither with great fear of being out of our way,
it being ten at night. Here good, honest people; and after supper, to
bed....
7th. Up, and to coach, and with a guide to Petersfield, where I find
Sir Thomas Allen and Mr. Tippets come; the first about the business, the
latter only in respect to me; as also Fitzgerald, who come post all
last night, and newly arrived here. We four sat down presently to our
business, and in an hour despatched all our talk; and did inform Sir
Thomas Allen well in it, who, I perceive, in serious matters, is a
serious man: and tells me he wishes all we are told be true, in our
defence; for he finds by all, that the Turks have, to this day, been
very civil to our merchant-men everywhere; and, if they would have broke
with us, they never had such an opportunity over our rich merchant-men,
as lately, coming out of the Streights. Then to dinner, and pretty
merry: and here was Mr. Martin, the purser, and dined with us, and wrote
some things for us. And so took coach again back; Fitzgerald with
us, whom I was pleased with all the day, with his discourse of his
observations abroad, as being a great soldier and of long standing
abroad: and knows all things and persons abroad very well--I mean, the
great soldiers of France, and Spain, and Germany; and talks very well.
Come at night to Gilford, where the Red Lyon so full of people, and a
wedding, that the master of the house did get us a lodging over the
way, at a private house, his landlord's, mighty neat and fine; and there
supped and talked with the landlord and his wife: and so to bed with
great content, only Fitzgerald lay at the Inne. So to bed.
8th. Up, and I walked out, and met Uncle Wight, whom I sent to last
night, and Mr. Wight coming to see us, and I walked with them back to
see my aunt at Katherine Hill, and there walked up and down the hill and
places, about: but a dull place, but good ayre, and the house dull. But
here I saw my aunt, after many days not seeing her--I think, a year or
two; and she walked with me to see my wife. And here, at the Red Lyon,
we all dined together, and mighty merry, and then parted: and we home
to Fox Hall, where Fitzgerald and I 'light, and by water to White Hall,
where the Duke of York being abroad, I by coach and met my wife, who
went round, and after doing at the office a little, and finding all well
at home, I to bed. I hear that Colbert, the French Ambassador, is come,
and hath been at Court incognito. When he hath his audience, I know not.
9th (Lord's day). Up, and walked to Holborne, where got John Powell's
coach at the Black Swan, and he attended me at St. James's, where waited
on the Duke of York: and both by him and several of the Privy-Council,
beyond expectation, I find that my going to Sir Thomas Allen was looked
upon as a thing necessary: and I have got some advantage by it, among
them. Thence to White Hall, and thence to visit Lord Brouncker, and
back to White Hall, where saw the Queen and ladies; and so, with Mr.
Slingsby, to Mrs. Williams's, thinking to dine with Lord Brouncker
there, but did not, having promised my wife to come home, though here
I met Knepp, to my great content. So home; and, after dinner, I took my
wife and Deb. round by Hackney, and up and down to take the ayre; and
then home, and made visits to Mrs. Turner, and Mrs. Mercer, and Sir W.
Pen, who is come from Epsom not well, and Sir J. Minnes, who is not well
neither. And so home to supper, and to set my books a little right, and
then to bed. This day Betty Michell come and dined with us, the first
day after her lying in, whom I was glad to see.
10th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and thence to Sir W. Coventry, but
he is gone out of town this morning, so thence to my Lord Arlington's
house, the first time I there since he come thither, at Goring House,
a very fine, noble place; and there he received me in sight of several
Lords with great respect. I did give him an account of my journey; and
here, while I waited for him a little, my Lord Orrery took notice of me,
and begun discourse of hangings, and of the improvement of shipping: I
not thinking that he knew me, but did then discover it, with a mighty
compliment of my abilities and ingenuity, which I am mighty proud of;
and he do speak most excellently. Thence to Westminster Hall, and so by
coach to the old Exchange, and there did several businesses, and so home
to dinner, and then abroad to Duck Lane, where I saw my belle femme of
the book vendor, but had no opportunity para hazer con her. So away to
Cooper's, where I spent all the afternoon with my wife and girl, seeing
him-make an end of her picture, which he did Jo my great content, though
not so great as, I confess, I expected, being not satisfied in the
greatness of the resemblance, nor in the blue garment: but it is most
certainly a most rare piece of work, as to the painting. He hath L30 for
his work--and the chrystal, and case, and gold case comes to L8 3s. 4d.;
and which I sent him this night, that I might be out of debt. Thence my
people home, and I to Westminster Hall about a little business, and
so by water home [to] supper, and my wife to read a ridiculous book I
bought today of the History of the Taylors' Company,
[The title of this book was, "The Honour of the Merchant Taylors."
Wherein is set forth the noble acts, valliant deeds, and heroick
performances of Merchant Taylors in former ages; their honourable
loves, and knightly adventures, their combating of foreign enemies
and glorious successes in honour of the English nation: together
with their pious....]
and all the while Deb. did comb my head, and I did toker her with my
main para very great pleasure, and so to bed.
11th. Up, and by water to Sir W. Coventry to visit him, whom I find yet
troubled at the Commissioners of Accounts, about this business of Sir
W. Warren, which is a ridiculous thing, and can come to nothing but
contempt, and thence to Westminster Hall, where the Parliament met
enough to adjourne, which they did, to the 10th of November next, and so
by water home to the office, and so to dinner, and thence at the Office
all the afternoon till night, being mightily pleased with a little trial
I have made of the use of a tube-spectacall of paper, tried with my
right eye. This day I hear that, to the great joy of the Nonconformists,
the time is out of the Act against them, so that they may meet: and they
have declared that they will have a morning lecture
[During the troubled reign of Charles I., the House of Commons gave
parishioners the right of appointing lecturers at the various
churches without the consent of rector or vicar, and this naturally
gave rise to many quarrels. In the early period of the war between
the king and the parliament, a course of sermons or lectures was
projected in aid of the parliamentary cause. These lectures, which
were preached by eminent Presbyterian divines at seven o'clock on
the Sunday mornings, were commenced in the church of St. Mary
Magdalen in Milk Street, but were soon afterwards removed to St.
Giles's, Cripplegate. After the Restoration the lectures were
collected in four volumes, and published under the title of the
"Cripplegate Morning Exercises," vol. i. in 1661; vol. ii. in 1674;
vol. iii. in 1682; and vol. iv. in 1690. In addition there were two
volumes which form a supplement to the work, viz., "The Morning
Exercises methodized," preached at St. Giles's-in-the-Fields, edited
by the Rev. Thomas Case in 1660, and the "Exercises against Popery,"
preached in Southwark, and published in 1675 (see Demon's "Records
of St. Giles's, Crinnlegate," 1883, pp. 55-56).]
up again, which is pretty strange; and they are connived at by the King
every where, I hear, in City and country. So to visit W. Pen, who is yet
ill, and then home, where W. Batelier and Mrs. Turner come and sat and
supped with us, and so they gone we to bed. This afternoon my wife, and
Mercer, and Deb., went with Pelting to see the gypsies at Lambeth, and
have their fortunes told; but what they did, I did not enquire.
12th. Up, and all the morning busy at my office. Thence to the Excise
Office, and so to the Temple to take counsel about Major Nicholls's
business for the King. So to several places about business, and among
others to Drumbleby's about the mouths for my paper tubes, and so to
the 'Change and home. Met Captain Cocke, who tells me that he hears for
certain the Duke of York will lose the authority of an Admiral, and be
governed by a Committee: and all our Office changed; only they are in
dispute whether I shall continue or no, which puts new thoughts in
me, but I know not whether to be glad or sorry. Home to dinner, where
Pelting dines with us, and brings some partridges, which is very good
meat; and, after dinner, I, and wife, and Mercer, and Deb., to the Duke
of York's house, and saw "Mackbeth," to our great content, and then
home, where the women went to the making of my tubes, and I to the
office, and then come Mrs. Turner and her husband to advise about their
son, the Chaplain, who is turned out of his ship, a sorrow to them,
which I am troubled for, and do give them the best advice I can, and so
they gone we to bed.
13th. Up, and Greeting comes, and there he and I tried some things of
Mr. Locke's for two flageolets, to my great content, and this day my
wife begins again to learn of him; for I have a great mind for her to
be able to play a part with me. Thence I to the Office, where all the
afternoon [morning??], and then to dinner, where W. Howe dined with me,
who tells me for certain that Creed is like to speed in his match with
Mrs. Betty Pickering. Here dined with me also Mr. Hollier, who is mighty
vain in his pretence to talk Latin. So to the Office again all the
afternoon till night, very busy, and so with much content home, and made
my wife sing and play on the flageolet to me till I slept with great
pleasure in bed.
14th. Up, and by water to White Hall and St. James's, and to see Sir
W. Coventry, and discourse about business of our Office, telling him my
trouble there, to see how things are ordered. I told him also what Cocke
told me the other day, but he says there is not much in it, though he do
know that this hath been in the eye of some persons to compass for the
turning all things in the navy, and that it looks so like a popular
thing as that he thinks something may be done in it, but whether so
general or no, as I tell it him, he knows not. Thence to White Hall, and
there wait at the Council-chamber door a good while, talking with one or
other, and so home by water, though but for a little while, because I
am to return to White Hall. At home I find Symson, putting up my new
chimney-piece, in our great chamber, which is very fine, but will cost
a great deal of money, but it is not flung away. So back to White Hall,
and after the council up, I with Mr. Wren, by invitation, to Sir Stephen
Fox's to dinner, where the Cofferer and Sir Edward Savage; where many
good stories of the antiquity and estates of many families at this day
in Cheshire, and that part of the kingdom, more than what is on this
side, near London. My Lady [Fox] dining with us; a very good lady, and a
family governed so nobly and neatly as do me good to see it. Thence the
Cofferer, Sir Stephen, and I to the Commissioners of the Treasury about
business: and so I up to the Duke of York, who enquired for what I had
promised him, about my observations of the miscarriages of our Office;
[This refers to the letter on the affairs of the office which Pepys
prepared, and respecting which, and the proceedings which grew out
of it, so many references are made in future pages of the Diary.]
and I told him he should have it next week, being glad he called for
it; for I find he is concerned to do something, and to secure himself
thereby, I believe: for the world is labouring to eclipse him, I
doubt; I mean, the factious part of the Parliament. The Office met this
afternoon as usual, and waited on him; where, among other things, he
talked a great while of his intentions of going to Dover soon, to be
sworn as Lord Warden, which is a matter of great ceremony and state,
and so to the Temple with Mr. Wren, to the Attorney's chamber, about
business, but he abroad, and so I home, and there spent the evening
talking with my wife and piping, and pleased with our chimney-piece, and
so to bed.
15th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning busy, and after
dinner with my wife, Mercer, and Deb., to the King's playhouse, and
there saw "Love's Mistresse" revived, the thing pretty good, but full of
variety of divertisement. So home and to my business at the office, my
eyes bad again, and so to bed.
16th (Lord's day). All the morning at my Office with W. Hewer, there
drawing up my Report to the Duke of York, as I have promised, about
the faults of this Office, hoping thereby to have opportunity of doing
myself [something]. At noon to dinner, and again with him to work all
the afternoon till night, till I was weary and had despatched a good
deal of business, and so to bed after hearing my wife read a little.
17th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and so to St. James's, and thence
with Mr. Wren by appointment in his coach to Hampstead, to speak with
the Atturney-general, whom we met in the fields, by his old route and
house; and after a little talk about our business of Ackeworth, went and
saw the Lord Wotton's house and garden, which is wonderfull fine: too
good for the house the gardens are, being, indeed, the most noble that
ever I saw, and brave orange and lemon trees. Thence to Mr. Chichley's
by invitation, and there dined with Sir John, his father not coming
home. And while at dinner comes by the French Embassador Colbert's
mules, the first I eversaw, with their sumpter-clothes mighty rich, and
his coaches, he being to have his entry to-day: but his things, though
rich, are not new; supposed to be the same his brother
[A mistake of Pepys's. Colbert de Croissy, then in England, had
himself been the French Plenipotentiary at Aix-la-Chapelle.--B.]
had the other day, at the treaty at Aix-la-Chapelle, in Flanders. Thence
to the Duke of York's house, and there saw "Cupid's Revenge," under the
new name of "Love Despised," that hath something very good in it, though
I like not the whole body of it. This day the first time acted here.
Thence home, and there with Mr. Hater and W. Hewer late, reading over
all the principal officers' instructions in order to my great work upon
my hand, and so to bed, my eyes very ill.
18th. Up, and to my office about my great business betimes, and so to
the office, where all the morning. At noon dined, and then to the office
all the afternoon also, and in the evening to Sir W. Coventry's, but he
not within, I took coach alone to the Park, to try to meet him there,
but did not; but there were few coaches, but among the few there were
in two coaches our two great beauties, my Lady Castlemayne and Richmond;
the first time I saw the latter since she had the smallpox. I had much
pleasure to see them, but I thought they were strange one to another.
Thence going out I met a coach going, which I thought had Knepp in it,
so I went back, but it was not she. So back to White Hall and there took
water, and so home, and busy late about my great letter to the Duke of
York, and so to supper and to bed....
19th. Up betimes, and all day and afternoon without going out, busy upon
my great letter to the Duke of York, which goes on to my content. W.
Hewer and Gibson I employ with me in it. This week my people wash, over
the water, and so I little company at home. In the evening, being busy
above, a great cry I hear, and go down; and what should it be but Jane,
in a fit of direct raving, which lasted half-an-hour. Beyond four or
five of our strength to keep her down; and, when all come to all, a fit
of jealousy about Tom, with whom she is in love. So at night, I, and my
wife, and W. Hewer called them to us, and there I did examine all the
thing, and them, in league. She in love, and he hath got her to promise
him to marry, and he is now cold in it, so that I must rid my hands of
them, which troubles me, and the more because my head is now busy upon
other greater things. I am vexed also to be told by W. Hewer that he is
summoned to the Commissioners of Accounts about receiving a present of
L30 from Mr. Mason, the timber merchant, though there be no harm in
it, that will appear on his part, he having done them several lawful
kindnesses and never demanded anything, as they themselves have this day
declared to the Commissioners, they being forced up by the discovery of
somebody that they in confidence had once told it to. So to supper vexed
and my head full of care, and so to bed.
20th. Betimes at my business again, and so to the office, and dined with
Brouncker and J. Minnes, at Sir W. Pen's at a bad pasty of venison, and
so to work again, and at it till past twelve at night, that I might get
my great letter
[In the Pepysian Library is a MS. (No. 2242), entitled, "Papers
conteyning my addresse to his Royall Highnesse James Duke of Yorke,
Lord High Admirall of England, &c., by letter dated the 20th of
August, 1668, humbly tendering him my advice touching the present
State of the Office of the Navy, with his Royall Highness's
proceedings upon the same, and their result."]
to the Duke of York ready against to-morrow, which I shall do, to my
great content. So to bed.
21st. Up betimes, and with my people again to work, and finished all
before noon: and then I by water to White Hall, and there did tell the
Duke of York that I had done; and he hath to my great content desired
me to come to him at Sunday next in the afternoon, to read it over, by
which I have more time to consider and correct it. So back home and to
the 'Change, in my way calling at Morris', my vintner's, where I love
to see su moher, though no acquaintance accostais this day con her. Did
several things at the 'Change, and so home to dinner. After dinner I by
coach to my bookseller's in Duck Lane, and there did spend a little
time and regarder su moher, and so to St. James's, where did a little
ordinary business; and by and by comes Monsieur Colbert, the French
Embassador, to make his first visit to the Duke of York, and then to the
Duchess: and I saw it: a silly piece of ceremony, he saying only a few
formal words. A comely man, and in a black suit and cloak of silk, which
is a strange fashion, now it hath been so long left off: This day I did
first see the Duke of York's room of pictures of some Maids of Honour,
done by Lilly: good, but not like.
[The set of portraits known as "King Charles's Beauties," formerly
in Windsor Castle, but now at Hampton Court.--B.]
Thence to Reeves's, and bought a reading-glass, and so to my
bookseller's again, there to buy a Book of Martyrs,
[The popular name of John Fox's "Acts and Monuments," first
published in 1562-63.]
which I did agree for; and so, after seeing and beginning acquaintance
con his femme, but very little, away home, and there busy very late at
the correcting my great letter to the Duke of York, and so to bed.
22nd. Up betimes, at it again with great content, and so to the Office,
where all the morning, and did fall out with W. Pen about his slight
performance of his office, and so home to dinner, fully satisfied that
this Office must sink or the whole Service be undone. To the office all
the afternoon again, and then home to supper and to bed, my mind being
pretty well at ease, my great letter being now finished to my full
content; and I thank God I have opportunity of doing it, though I know
it will set the Office and me by the ears for ever. This morning Captain
Cocke comes, and tells me that he is now assured that it is true, what
he told me the other day, that our whole Office will be turned out,
only me, which, whether he says true or no, I know not, nor am much
concerned, though I should be better contented to have it thus than
otherwise. This afternoon, after I was weary in my business of the
office, I went forth to the 'Change, thinking to have spoke with Captain
Cocke, but he was not within. So I home, and took London-bridge in my
way; walking down Fish Street and Gracious Street, to see how very fine
a descent they have now made down the hill, that it is become very easy
and pleasant, and going through Leaden-Hall, it being market-day, I
did see a woman catched, that had stolen a shoulder of mutton off of a
butcher's stall, and carrying it wrapt up in a cloth, in a basket. The
jade was surprised, and did not deny it, and the woman so silly, as to
let her go that took it, only taking the meat.
23rd (Lord's day). Up betimes, my head busy in my great letter, and
I did first hang up my new map of Paris in my green room, and changed
others in other places. Then to Captain Cocke's, thinking to have talked
more of what he told me yesterday, but he was not within. So back to
church, and heard a good sermon of Mr. Gifford's at our church, upon
"Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness, and all
these things shall be added to you." A very excellent and persuasive,
good and moral sermon. Shewed, like a wise man, that righteousness is
a surer moral way of being rich, than sin and villainy. Then home
to dinner, where Mr. Pelting, who brought us a hare, which we had at
dinner, and W. Howe. After dinner to the Office, Mr. Gibson and I, to
examine my letter to the Duke of York, which, to my great joy, I did
very well by my paper tube, without pain to my eyes. And I do mightily
like what I have therein done; and did, according to the Duke of York's
order, make haste to St. James's, and about four o'clock got thither:
and there the Duke of York was ready, to expect me, and did hear it all
over with extraordinary content; and did give me many and hearty
thanks, and in words the most expressive tell me his sense of my good
endeavours, and that he would have a care of me on all occasions; and
did, with much inwardness,--[i.e., intimacy.]--tell me what was doing,
suitable almost to what Captain Cocke tells me, of designs to make
alterations in the Navy; and is most open to me in them, and with utmost
confidence desires my further advice on all occasions: and he resolves
to have my letter transcribed, and sent forthwith to the Office. So,
with as much satisfaction as I could possibly, or did hope for, and
obligation on the Duke of York's side professed to me, I away into the
Park, and there met Mr. Pierce and his wife, and sister and brother,
and a little boy, and with them to Mulberry Garden, and spent I 18s. on
them, and there left them, she being again with child, and by it, the
least pretty that ever I saw her. And so I away, and got a coach, and
home, and there with my wife and W. Hewer, talking all the evening, my
mind running on the business of the Office, to see what more I can do to
the rendering myself acceptable and useful to all and to the King. We to
supper, and to bed.
24th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning upon considerations
on the Victualler's contract, and then home to dinner, where my wife is
upon hanging the long chamber where the girl lies, with the sad
stuff that was in the best chamber, in order to the hanging that with
tapestry. So to dinner, and then to the office again, where all the
afternoon till night, we met to discourse upon the alterations which are
propounded to be made in the draft of the victualler's contract which
we did lately make, and then we being up comes Mr. Child, Papillion and
Littleton, his partners, to discourse upon the matter with me, which
I did, and spent all the evening with them at the office, and so, they
being gone, I to supper and talk with my wife, and so to bed.
25th. Up, and by water to St. James's, and there, with Mr. Wren, did
discourse about my great letter, which the Duke of York hath given him:
and he hath set it to be transcribed by Billings, his man, whom, as he
tells me, he can most confide in for secresy, and is much pleased with
it, and earnest to have it be; and he and I are like to be much together
in the considering how to reform the Office, and that by the Duke of
York's command. Thence I, mightily pleased with this success, away to
the Office, where all the morning, my head full of this business. And
it is pretty how Lord Brouncker this day did tell me how he hears that
a design is on foot to remove us out of the Office: and proposes that
we two do agree to draw up a form of a new constitution of the Office,
there to provide remedies for the evils we are now under, so that we may
be beforehand with the world, which I agreed to, saying nothing of my
design; and, the truth is, he is the best man of them all, and I would
be glad, next myself, to save him; for, as he deserves best, so I
doubt he needs his place most. So home to dinner at noon, and all the
afternoon busy at the office till night, and then with my mind full of
business now in my head, I to supper and to bed.
26th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning almost, busy about
business against the afternoon, and we met a little to sign two or three
things at the Board of moment, and thence at noon home to dinner, and so
away to White Hall by water. In my way to the Old Swan, finding a great
many people gathered together in Cannon Street about a man that was
working in the ruins, and the ground did sink under him, and he sunk in,
and was forced to be dug out again, but without hurt. Thence to White
Hall, and it is strange to say with what speed the people employed do
pull down Paul's steeple, and with what ease: it is said that it, and
the choir are to be taken down this year, and another church begun
in the room thereof, the next. At White Hall we met at the Treasury
chamber, and there before the Lords did debate our draft of the
victualling contract with the several bidders for it, which were Sir D.
Gawden, Mr. Child and his fellows, and Mr. Dorrington and his, a poor
variety in a business of this value. There till after candle-lighting,
and so home by coach with Sir D. Gawden, who, by the way, tells me how
the City do go on in several things towards the building of the public
places, which I am glad to hear; and gives hope that in a few years it
will be a glorious place; but we met with several stops and new troubles
in the way in the streets, so as makes it bad to travel in the dark now
through the City. So I to Mr. Batelier's by appointment, where I find
my wife, and Deb., and Mercer; Mrs. Pierce and her husband, son, and
daughter; and Knepp and Harris, and W. Batelier, and his sister Mary,
and cozen Gumbleton, a good-humoured, fat young gentleman, son to the
jeweller, that dances well; and here danced all night long, with a noble
supper; and about two in the morning the table spread again for a noble
breakfast beyond all moderation, that put me out of countenance, so much
and so good. Mrs. Pierce and her people went home betimes, she being
big with child; but Knepp and the rest staid till almost three in the
morning, and then broke up.
27th. Knepp home with us, and I to bed, and rose about six, mightily
pleased with last night's mirth, and away by water to St. James's, and
there, with Mr. Wren, did correct his copy of my letter, which the Duke
of York hath signed in my very words, without alteration of a syllable.
[A copy of this letter is in the British Museum, Harl. MS. 6003.
See July 24th, ante, and August 29th, Post. In the Pepysian
Collection are the following: An Inquisition, by his Royal Highness
the Duke of York, when Lord High Admiral of England, into the
Management of the Navy, 1668, with his Regulations thereon, fol.
Also Mr. Pepys's Defence of the same upon an Inquisition thereunto
by Parliament, 1669, fol.--B.]
And so pleased therewith, I to my Lord Brouncker, who I find within, but
hath business, and so comes not to the Office to-day. And so I by water
to the Office, where we sat all the morning; and, just as the Board
rises, comes the Duke of York's letter, which I knowing, and the Board
not being full, and desiring rather to have the Duke of York deliver
it himself to us, I suppressed it for this day, my heart beginning to
falsify in this business, as being doubtful of the trouble it may give
me by provoking them; but, however, I am resolved to go through it, and
it is too late to help it now. At noon to dinner to Captain Cocke's,
where I met with Mr. Wren; my going being to tell him what I have done,
which he likes, and to confer with Cocke about our Office; who tells me
that he is confident the design of removing our Officers do hold, but
that he is sure that I am safe enough. Which pleases me, though I do not
much shew it to him, but as a thing indifferent. So away home, and there
met at Sir Richard Ford's with the Duke of York's Commissioners about
our Prizes, with whom we shall have some trouble before we make an end
with them, and hence, staying a little with them, I with my wife, and W.
Batelier, and Deb.; carried them to Bartholomew Fayre, where we saw the
dancing of the ropes and nothing else, it being late, and so back home
to supper and to bed, after having done at my office.
28th. Busy at the office till toward 10 o'clock, and then by water to
White Hall, where attending the Council's call all the morning with Lord
Brouncker, W. Pen, and the rest, about the business of supernumeraries
in the fleete, but were not called in. But here the Duke of York did
call me aside, and told me that he must speak with me in the afternoon,
with Mr. Wren, for that now he hath got the paper from my Lord Keeper
about the exceptions taken against the management of the Navy; and so
we are to debate upon answering them. At noon I home with W. Coventry to
his house; and there dined with him, and talked freely with him; and did
acquaint him with what I have done, which he is well pleased with, and
glad of: and do tell me that there are endeavours on foot to bring the
Navy into new, but, he fears, worse hands. After much talk with great
content with him, I walked to the Temple, and staid at Starky's, my
bookseller's (looking over Dr. Heylin's new book of the Life of Bishop
Laud, a strange book of the Church History of his time), till Mr. Wren
comes, and by appointment we to the Atturney General's chamber, and
there read and heard the witnesses in the business of Ackeworth, most
troublesome and perplexed by the counter swearing of the witnesses one
against the other, and so with Mr. Wren away thence to St. [James's] for
his papers, and so to White Hall, and after the Committee was done at
the Council chamber about the business of Supernumeraries, wherein W.
Pen was to do all and did, but like an ignorant illiterate coxcomb,
the Duke of York fell to work with us, the Committee being gone, in
the Council-chamber; and there, with his own hand, did give us his long
letter, telling us that he had received several from us, and now did
give us one from him, taking notice of our several duties and failures,
and desired answer to it, as he therein desired; this pleased me well;
and so fell to other business, and then parted. And the Duke of York,
and Wren, and I, it being now candle-light, into the Duke of York's
closet in White Hall; and there read over this paper of my Lord
Keeper's, wherein are laid down the faults of the Navy, so silly,
and the remedies so ridiculous, or else the same that are now already
provided, that we thought it not to need any answer, the Duke of York
being able himself to do it: that so it makes us admire the confidence
of these men to offer things so silly, in a business of such moment. But
it is a most perfect instance of the complexion of the times! and so the
Duke of York said himself, who, I perceive, is mightily concerned in it,
and do, again and again, recommend it to Mr. Wren and me together, to
consider upon remedies fit to provide for him to propound to the King,
before the rest of the world, and particularly the Commissioners of
Accounts, who are men of understanding and order, to find our faults,
and offer remedies of their own, which I am glad of, and will endeavour
to do something in it. So parted, and with much difficulty, by
candle-light, walked over the Matted Gallery, as it is now with the mats
and boards all taken up, so that we walked over the rafters. But strange
to see what hard matter the plaister of Paris is, that is there taken
up, as hard as stone! And pity to see Holben's work in the ceiling
blotted on, and only whited over! Thence; with much ado, by several
coaches home, to supper and to bed. My wife having been this day with
Hales, to sit for her hand to be mended, in her picture.
29th. Up, and all the morning at the Office, where the Duke of York's
long letter was read, to their great trouble, and their suspecting me to
have been the writer of it. And at noon comes, by appointment, Harris to
dine with me and after dinner he and I to Chyrurgeon's-hall, where they
are building it new, very fine; and there to see their theatre; which
stood all the fire, and, which was our business, their great picture of
Holben's, thinking to have bought it, by the help of Mr. Pierce, for a
little money: I did think to give L200 for it, it being said to be worth
L1000; but it is so spoiled that I have no mind to it, and is not a
pleasant, though a good picture. Thence carried Harris to his playhouse,
where, though four o'clock, so few people there at "The Impertinents,"
as I went out; and do believe they did not act, though there was my Lord
Arlington and his company there. So I out, and met my wife in a coach,
and stopped her going thither to meet me; and took her, and Mercer,
and Deb., to Bartholomew Fair, and there did see a ridiculous, obscene
little stage-play, called "Marry Andrey;" a foolish thing, but seen by
every body; and so to Jacob Hall's dancing of the ropes; a thing worth
seeing, and mightily followed, and so home and to the office, and then
to bed. Writing to my father to-night not to unfurnish our house in the
country for my sister, who is going to her own house, because I think I
may have occasion myself to come thither; and so I do, by our being put
out of the Office, which do not at all trouble me to think of.
30th (Lord's day). Walked to St. James's and Pell Mell, and read over,
with Sir W. Coventry, my long letter to the Duke of York, and which the
Duke of York hath, from mine, wrote to the Board, wherein he is mightily
pleased, and I perceive do put great value upon me, and did talk very
openly on all matters of State, and how some people have got the bit
into their mouths, meaning the Duke of Buckingham and his party, and
would likely run away with all. But what pleased me mightily was to hear
the good character he did give of my Lord Falmouth for his generosity,
good-nature, desire of public good, and low thoughts of his own wisdom;
his employing his interest in the King to do good offices to all people,
without any other fault than the freedom he, do learn in France of
thinking himself obliged to serve his King in his pleasures: and was
W. Coventry's particular friend: and W. Coventry do tell me very odde
circumstances about the fatality of his death, which are very strange.
Thence to White Hall to chapel, and heard the anthem, and did dine with
the Duke of Albemarle in a dirty manner as ever. All the afternoon, I
sauntered up and down the house and Park. And there was a Committee for
Tangier met, wherein Lord Middleton would, I think, have found fault
with me for want of coles; but I slighted it, and he made nothing of it,
but was thought to be drunk; and I see that he hath a mind to find fault
with me and Creed, neither of us having yet applied ourselves to him
about anything: but do talk of his profits and perquisites taken from
him, and garrison reduced, and that it must be increased, and such
things, as; I fear, he will be just such another as my Lord Tiviott and
the rest, to ruin that place. So I to the Park, and there walk an hour
or two; and in the King's garden, and saw the Queen and ladies walk;
and I did steal some apples off the trees; and here did see my Lady
Richmond, who is of a noble person as ever I saw, but her face worse
than it was considerably by the smallpox: her sister' is also very
handsome. Coming into the Park, and the door kept strictly, I had
opportunity of handing in the little, pretty, squinting girl of the Duke
of York's house, but did not make acquaintance with her; but let her go,
and a little girl that was with her, to walk by themselves. So to White
Hall in the evening, to the Queen's side, and there met the Duke of
York; and he did tell me and W. Coventry, who was with me, how that Lord
Anglesey did take notice of our reading his long and sharp letter to
the Board; but that it was the better, at least he said so. The Duke of
York, I perceive, is earnest in it, and will have good effects of it;
telling W. Coventry that it was a letter that might have come from the
Commissioners of Accounts, but it was better it should come first from
him. I met Lord Brouncker, who, I perceive, and the rest, do smell that
it comes from me, but dare not find fault with it; and I am glad of it,
it being my glory and defence that I did occasion and write it. So by
water home, and did spend the evening with W. Hewer, telling him how we
are all like to be turned out, Lord Brouncker telling me this evening
that the Duke of Buckingham did, within few hours, say that he had
enough to turn us all out which I am not sorry for at all, for I know
the world will judge me to go for company; and my eyes are such as I am
not able to do the business of my Office as I used, and would desire to
do, while I am in it. So with full content, declaring all our content
in being released of my employment, my wife and I to bed, and W. Hewer
home, and so all to bed.
31st. Up, and to my office, there to set my journal for all the last
week, and so by water to Westminster to the Exchequer, and thence to the
Swan, and there drank and did baiser la fille there, and so to the New
Exchange and paid for some things, and so to Hercules Pillars,' and
there dined all alone, while I sent my shoe to have the heel fastened at
Wotton's, and thence to White Hall to the Treasury chamber, where did
a little business, and thence to the Duke of York's playhouse and there
met my wife and Deb. and Mary Mercer and Batelier, where also W. Hewer
was, and saw "Hamlet," which we have not seen this year before, or more;
and mightily pleased with it; but, above all, with Betterton, the
best part I believe, that ever man acted. Thence to the Fayre, and saw
"Polichinelle," and so home, and after a little supper to bed. This
night lay the first night in Deb.'s chamber, which is now hung with that
that hung our great chamber, and is now a very handsome room. This day
Mrs. Batelier did give my wife a mighty pretty Spaniel bitch [Flora],
which she values mightily, and is pretty; but as a new comer, I cannot
be fond of her.
SEPTEMBER 1668
September 1st. Up and all the morning at the office busy, and after
dinner to the office again busy till about four, and then I abroad (my
wife being gone to Hales's about drawing her hand new in her picture)
and I to see Betty Michell, which I did, but su mari was dentro, and no
pleasure. So to the Fair, and there saw several sights; among others,
the mare that tells money,
[This is not the first learned horse of which we read. Shakespeare,
"Love's Labour's Lost," act i., SC. 2, mentions "the dancing
horse,"' and the commentators have added many particulars of Banks's
bay horse.]
and many things to admiration; and, among others, come to me, when she
was bid to go to him of the company that most loved a pretty wench in
a corner. And this did cost me 12d. to the horse, which I had flung him
before, and did give me occasion to baiser a mighty belle fille that was
in the house that was exceeding plain, but fort belle. At night going
home I went to my bookseller's in Duck Lane, and find her weeping in the
shop, so as ego could not have any discourse con her nor ask the reason,
so departed and took coach home, and taking coach was set on by a wench
that was naught, and would have gone along with me to her lodging in
Shoe Lane, but ego did donner her a shilling... and left her, and home,
where after supper, W. Batelier with us, we to bed. This day Mrs. Martin
come to see us, and dined with us.
2nd. Fast-day for the burning of London, strictly observed. I at home
at the office all day, forenoon and afternoon, about the Victualler's
contract and other things, and at night home to supper, having had but
a cold dinner, Mr. Gibson with me; and this evening comes Mr. Hill to
discourse with me about Yeabsly and Lanyon's business, wherein they are
troubled, and I fear they have played the knave too far for me to help
or think fit to appear for them. So he gone, and after supper, to bed,
being troubled with a summons, though a kind one, from Mr. Jessop, to
attend the Commissioners of Accounts tomorrow.
3rd. Up, and to the Office, where busy till it was time to go to
the Commissioners of Accounts, which I did about noon, and there was
received with all possible respect, their business being only to
explain the meaning of one of their late demands to us, which we had not
answered in our answer to them, and, this being done, I away with great
content, my mind being troubled before, and so to the Exchequer and
several places, calling on several businesses, and particularly my
bookseller's, among others, for "Hobbs's Leviathan,"
["Leviathan: or the matter, forme and power of a Commonwealth
ecclesiasticall and civill," by Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, first
published in 1651. It was reprinted in 1680, with its old date.
Hobbes's complete works, English and Latin, were published by Sir
William Molesworth in sixteen volumes 8vo. between 1839 and 1845.]
which is now mightily called for; and what was heretofore sold for 8s. I
now give 24s. for, at the second hand, and is sold for 30s., it being a
book the Bishops will not let be printed again, and so home to dinner,
and then to the office all the afternoon, and towards evening by water
to the Commissioners of the Treasury, and presently back again, and
there met a little with W. Pen and the rest about our Prize accounts,
and so W. Pen and Lord Brouncker and I at the lodging of the latter to
read over our new draft of the victualler's contract, and so broke up
and home to supper and to bed.
4th. Up, and met at the Office all the morning; and at noon my wife, and
Deb., and Mercer, and W. Hewer and I to the Fair, and there, at the old
house, did eat a pig, and was pretty merry, but saw no sights, my wife
having a mind to see the play "Bartholomew-Fayre," with puppets. Which
we did, and it is an excellent play; the more I see it, the more I love
the wit of it; only the business of abusing the Puritans begins to grow
stale, and of no use, they being the people that, at last, will be found
the wisest. And here Knepp come to us, and sat with us, and thence took
coach in two coaches, and losing one another, my wife, and Knepp, and I
to Hercules Pillars, and there supped, and I did take from her mouth the
words and notes of her song of "the Larke," which pleases me mightily.
And so set her at home, and away we home, where our company come home
before us. This night Knepp tells us that there is a Spanish woman
lately come over, that pretends to sing as well as Mrs. Knight; both of
which I must endeavour to hear. So, after supper, to bed.
5th. Up, and at the office all the morning. At noon home to dinner, and
to the office to work all the afternoon again till the evening, and then
by coach to Mr. Hales's new house, where, I find, he hath finished my
wife's hand, which is better than the other; and here I find Harris's
picture, done in his habit of "Henry the Fifth;" mighty like a player,
but I do not think the picture near so good as any yet he hath made for
me: however, it is pretty well, and thence through the fair home, but
saw nothing, it being late, and so home to my business at the office,
and thence to supper and to bed.
6th (Lord's day). Up betimes, and got myself ready to go by water, and
about nine o'clock took boat with Henry Russell to Gravesend, coming
thither about one, where, at the Ship, I dined; and thither come to me
Mr. Hosier, whom I went to speak with, about several businesses of work
that he is doing, and I would have him do, of writing work, for me. And
I did go with him to his lodging, and there did see his wife, a pretty
tolerable woman, and do find him upon an extraordinary good work of
designing a method of keeping our Storekeeper's Accounts, in the Navy.
Here I should have met with Mr. Wilson, but he is sick, and could not
come from Chatham to me. So, having done with Hosier, I took boat again
the beginning of the flood, and come home by nine at night, with much
pleasure, it being a fine day. Going down I spent reading of the "Five
Sermons of Five Several Styles," worth comparing one with another: but
I do think, when all is done, that, contrary to the design of the book,
the Presbyterian style and the Independent are the best of the five
sermons to be preached in; this I do, by the best of my present judgment
think, and coming back I spent reading of a book of warrants of our
office in the first Dutch war, and do find that my letters and warrants
and method will be found another gate's business than this that the
world so much adores, and I am glad for my own sake to find it so. My
boy was with me, and read to me all day, and we sang a while together,
and so home to supper a little, and so to bed.
7th. At the office all the morning, we met, and at noon dined at home,
and after dinner carried my wife and Deb. to Unthanke's, and I to White
Hall with Mr. Gibson, where the rest of our officers met us, and to the
Commissioners of the Treasury about the Victualling contract, but staid
not long, but thence, sending Gibson to my wife, I with Lord Brouncker
(who was this day in an unusual manner merry, I believe with drink), J.
Minnes, and W. Pen to Bartholomew-Fair; and there saw the dancing mare
again, which, to-day, I find to act much worse than the other day, she
forgetting many things, which her master beat her for, and was
mightily vexed; and then the dancing of the ropes, and also the little
stage-play, which is very ridiculous, and so home to the office with
Lord Brouncker, W. Pen, and myself (J. Minnes being gone home before
not well), and so, after a little talk together, I home to supper and to
bed.
8th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and to St. James's, there to talk
a little with Mr. Wren about the private business we are upon, in the
Office, where he tells me he finds that they all suspect me to be the
author of the great letter, which I value not, being satisfied that
it is the best thing I could ever do for myself; and so, after some
discourse of this kind more, I back to the Office, where all the
morning; and after dinner to it again, all the afternoon, and very late,
and then home to supper, where met W. Batelier and Betty Turner; and,
after some talk with them, and supper, we to bed. This day, I
received so earnest an invitation again from Roger Pepys, to come to
Sturbridge-Fair [at Cambridge] that I resolve to let my wife go, which
she shall do the next week, and so to bed. This day I received two
letters from the Duke of Richmond about his yacht, which is newly taken
into the King's service, and I am glad of it, hoping hereby to oblige
him, and to have occasions of seeing his noble Duchess, which I admire.
9th. Up, and to the office, and thence to the Duke of Richmond's
lodgings by his desire, by letter, yesterday. I find him at his lodgings
in the little building in the bowling-green, at White Hall, that was
begun to be built by Captain Rolt. They are fine rooms. I did hope to
see his lady, the beautiful Mrs. Stuart, but she, I hear, is in the
country. His business was about his yacht, and he seems a mighty
good-natured man, and did presently write me a warrant for a doe from
Cobham, when the season comes, bucks season being past. I shall make
much of this acquaintance, that I may live to see his lady near. Thence
to Westminster, to Sir R. Longs Office: and, going, met Mr. George
Montagu, who talked and complimented me mightily; and long discourse I
had with him, who, for news, tells me for certain that Trevor do come to
be Secretary at Michaelmas, and that Morrice goes out, and he believes,
without any compensation. He tells me that now Buckingham does rule all;
and the other day, in the King's journey he is now on, at Bagshot, and
that way, he caused Prince Rupert's horses to be turned out of an inne,
and caused his own to be kept there, which the Prince complained of to
the King, and the Duke of York seconded the complaint; but the King did
over-rule it for Buckingham, by which there are high displeasures among
them; and Buckingham and Arlington rule all. Thence by water home and to
dinner, and after dinner by water again to White Hall, where Brouncker,
W. Pen, and I attended the Commissioners of the Treasury about the
victualling-contract, where high words between Sir Thomas Clifford and
us, and myself more particularly, who told him that something, that he
said was told him about this business, was a flat untruth. However,
we went on to our business in, the examination of the draught, and so
parted, and I vexed at what happened, and Brouncker and W. Pen and I
home in a hackney coach. And I all that night so vexed that I did not
sleep almost all night, which shows how unfit I am for trouble. So,
after a little supper, vexed, and spending a little time melancholy in
making a base to the Lark's song, I to bed.
10th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and there to Sir W. Coventry's
house, where I staid in his dining-room two hours thinking to speak with
him, but I find Garraway and he are private, which I am glad of, Captain
Cocke bringing them this day together. Cocke come out and talked to me,
but it was too late for me to stay longer, and therefore to the Treasury
chamber, where the rest met, and W. Coventry come presently after. And
we spent the morning in finishing the Victualler's contract, and so I by
water home, and there dined with me Batelier and his wife, and Mercer,
and my people, at a good venison-pasty; and after dinner I and W. Howe,
who come to see me, by water to the Temple, and met our four women, my
wife, M. Batelier, Mercer, and Deb., at the Duke's play-house, and there
saw "The Maid in the Mill," revived--a pretty, harmless old play. Thence
to Unthanke's, and 'Change, where wife did a little business, while
Mercer and I staid in the coach; and, in a quarter of an hour, I taught
her the whole Larke's song perfectly, so excellent an eare she hath.
Here we at Unthanke's 'light, and walked them to White Hall, my wife
mighty angry at it, and did give me ill words before Batelier, which
vexed me, but I made no matter of it, but vexed to myself. So landed
them, it being fine moonshine, at the Bear, and so took water to the
other side, and home. I to the office, where a child is laid at Sir J.
Minnes's door, as there was one heretofore. So being good friends again,
my wife seeking, it, by my being silent I overcoming her, we to bed.
11th. Up, and at my Office all the morning, and after dinner all the
afternoon in my house with Batelier shut up, drawing up my defence to
the Duke of York upon his great letter, which I have industriously taken
this opportunity of doing for my future use. At it late, and my mind and
head mighty full of it all night.
12th. At it again in the morning, and then to the Office, where till
noon, and I do see great whispering among my brethren about their
replies to the Duke of York, which vexed me, though I know no reason for
it; for I have no manner of ground to fear them. At noon home to dinner,
and, after dinner, to work all the afternoon again. At home late, and so
to bed.
13th (Lord's day). The like all this morning and afternoon, and finished
it to my mind. So about four o'clock walked to the Temple, and there
by coach to St. James's, and met, to my wish, the Duke of York and
Mr. Wren; and understand the Duke of York hath received answers from
Brouncker, W. Pen, and J. Minnes; and as soon as he saw me, he bid Mr.
Wren read them over with me. So having no opportunity of talk with the
Duke of York, and Mr. Wren some business to do, he put them into my
hands like an idle companion, to, take home with me before himself had
read them, which do give me great opportunity of altering my answer, if
there was cause. So took a hackney and home, and after supper made my
wife to read them all over, wherein she is mighty useful to me; and I
find them all evasions, and in many things false, and in few, to the
full purpose. Little said reflective on me, though W. Pen and J. Minnes
do mean me in one or two places, and J. Minnes a little more plainly
would lead the Duke of York to question the exactness of my keeping my
records; but all to no purpose. My mind is mightily pleased by this, if
I can but get time to have a copy taken of them, for my future use; but
I must return them tomorrow. So to bed.
14th. Up betimes, and walked to the Temple, and stopped, viewing the
Exchange, and Paul's, and St. Fayth's, where strange how the very sight
of the stones falling from the top of the steeple do make me sea-sick!
But no hurt, I hear, hath yet happened in all this work of the steeple,
which is very much. So from the Temple I by coach to St. James's, where
I find Sir W. Pen and Lord Anglesey, who delivered this morning his
answer to the Duke of York, but I could not see it. But after being
above with the Duke of York, but said nothing, I down with Mr. Wren; and
he and I read all over that I had, and I expounded them to him, and did
so order it that I had them home with me, so that I shall, to my heart's
wish, be able to take a copy of them. After dinner, I by water to, White
Hall; and there, with the Cofferer and Sir Stephen Fox, attended
the Commissioners of the Treasury, about bettering our fund; and are
promised it speedily. Thence by water home, and so all the afternoon
and evening late busy at the office, and then home to supper, and Mrs.
Turner comes to see my wife before her journey to-morrow, but she is in
bed, and so sat talking to little purpose with me a great while, and,
she gone, I to bed.
15th. Up mighty betimes, my wife and people, Mercer lying here all
night, by three o'clock, and I about five; and they before, and I after
them, to the coach in Bishopsgate Street, which was not ready to set
out. So took wife and Mercer and Deb. and W. Hewer (who are all to set
out this day for Cambridge, to cozen Roger Pepys's, to see Sturbridge
Fayre); and I shewed them the Exchange, which is very finely carried on,
with good dispatch. So walked back and saw them gone, there being only
one man in the coach besides them; and so home to the Office, where Mrs.
Daniel come and staid talking to little purpose with me to borrow money,
but I did not lend her any, having not opportunity para hater allo thing
mit her. At the office all the morning, and at noon dined with my people
at home, and so to the office again a while, and so by water to the
King's playhouse, to see a new play, acted but yesterday, a translation
out of French by Dryden, called "The Ladys a la Mode:" so mean a thing
as, when they come to say it would be acted again to-morrow, both he
that said it, Beeson, and the pit fell a-laughing, there being this day
not a quarter of the pit full. Thence to St. James's and White Hall to
wait on the Duke of York, but could not come to speak to him till time
to go home, and so by water home, and there late at the office and my
chamber busy, and so after a little supper to bed.
16th. Up; and dressing myself I did begin para toker the breasts of my
maid Jane, which elle did give way to more than usual heretofore, so I
have a design to try more when I can bring it to. So to the office, and
thence to St. James's to the Duke of York, walking it to the Temple,
and in my way observe that the Stockes are now pulled quite down; and
it will make the coming into Cornhill and Lumber Street mighty noble. I
stopped, too, at Paul's, and there did go into St. Fayth's Church, and
also in the body of the west part of the Church; and do see a hideous
sight of the walls of the Church ready to fall, that I was in fear as
long as I was in it: and here I saw the great vaults underneath the body
of the Church. No hurt, I hear, is done yet, since their going to pull
down the Church and steeple; but one man, on Monday this week, fell from
the top to a piece of the roof, of the east end, that stands next the
steeple, and there broke himself all to pieces. It is pretty here to see
how the late Church was but a case wrought over the old Church; for you
may see the very old pillars standing whole within the wall of this.
When I come to St. James's, I find the Duke of York gone with the King
to see the muster of the Guards in Hyde Park; and their Colonel, the
Duke of Monmouth, to take his command this day of the King's Life-Guard,
by surrender of my Lord Gerard. So I took a hackney-coach and saw it
all: and indeed it was mighty noble, and their firing mighty fine, and
the Duke of Monmouth in mighty rich clothes; but the well-ordering
of the men I understand not. Here, among a thousand coaches that were
there, I saw and spoke to Mrs. Pierce: and by and by Mr. Wren hunts
me out, and gives me my Lord Anglesey's answer to the Duke of York's
letter, where, I perceive, he do do what he can to hurt me, by bidding
the Duke of York call for my books: but this will do me all the right
in the world, and yet I am troubled at it. So away out of the Park, and
home; and there Mr. Gibson and I to dinner: and all the afternoon with
him, writing over anew, and a little altering, my answer to the Duke
of York, which I have not yet delivered, and so have the opportunity of
doing it after seeing all their answers, though this do give me occasion
to alter very little. This done, he to write it over, and I to the
Office, where late, and then home; and he had finished it; and then he
to read to me the life of Archbishop Laud, wrote by Dr. Heylin; which is
a shrewd book, but that which I believe will do the Bishops in general
no great good, but hurt, it pleads for so much Popish. So after supper
to bed. This day my father's letters tell me of the death of poor Fancy,
in the country, big with puppies, which troubles me, as being one of my
oldest acquaintances and servants. Also good Stankes is dead.
17th. Up, and all the morning sitting at the office, where every body
grown mighty cautious in what they do, or omit to do, and at noon comes
Knepp, with design to dine with Lord Brouncker, but she being undressed,
and there being: much company, dined with me; and after dinner I out
with her, and carried her to the playhouse; and in the way did give her
five guineas as a fairing, I having given her nothing a great while, and
her coming hither sometimes having been matter of cost to her, and so I
to St. James's, but missed of the Duke of York, and so went back to
the King's playhouse, and saw "Rollo, Duke of Normandy," which, for old
acquaintance, pleased me pretty well, and so home and to my business,.
and to read again, and to bed. This evening Batelier comes to tell me
that he was going down to Cambridge to my company, to see the Fair,
which vexed me, and the more because I fear he do know that Knepp did
dine with me to-day.--[And that he might tell Mrs. Pepys.--B.]
18th. Up, and to St. James's, and there took a turn or two in the Park;
and then up to the Duke of York, and there had opportunity of delivering
my answer to his late letter, which he did not read, but give to Mr.
Wren, as looking on it as a thing I needed not have done, but only that
I might not give occasion to the rest to suspect my communication with
the Duke of York against them. So now I am at rest in that matter, and
shall be more, when my copies are finished of their answers, which I
am now taking with all speed. Thence to my several booksellers and
elsewhere, about several errands, and so at noon home, and after dinner
by coach to White Hall, and thither comes the Duke of York to us, and by
and by met at the robe chamber upon our usual business, where the Duke
of York I find somewhat sour, and particularly angry with Lord Anglesey
for his not being there now, nor at other times so often as he should be
with us. So to the King's house, and saw a piece of "Henry the Fourth;"
at the end of the play, thinking to have gone abroad with Knepp, but it
was too late, and she to get her part against to-morrow, in "The Silent
Woman," and so I only set her at home, and away home myself, and there
to read again and sup with Gibson, and so to bed.
19th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning busy, and so dined
with my people at home, and then to the King's playhouse, and there saw
"The Silent Woman;" the best comedy, I think, that ever was wrote; and
sitting by Shadwell the poet, he was big with admiration of it. Here was
my Lord Brouncker and W. Pen and their ladies in the box, being grown
mighty kind of a sudden; but, God knows, it will last but a little
while, I dare swear. Knepp did her part mighty well. And so home
straight, and to work, and particularly to my cozen Roger, who, W.
Hewer and my wife writes me, do use them with mighty plenty and noble
entertainment: so home to supper, and to bed. All the news now is, that
Mr. Trevor is for certain now to be Secretary, in Morrice's place, which
the Duke of York did himself tell me yesterday; and also that Parliament
is to be adjourned to the 1st of March, which do please me well, hoping
thereby to get my things in a little better order than I should have
done; and the less attendances at that end of the town in winter. So
home to supper and to bed.
20th (Lord's day). Up, and to set some papers to rights in my chamber,
and the like in my office, and so to church, at our own church, and
heard but a dull sermon of one Dr. Hicks, who is a suitor to Mrs.
Howell, the widow of our turner of the Navy; thence home to dinner,
staying till past one o'clock for Harris, whom I invited, and to bring
Shadwell the poet with him; but they come not, and so a good dinner
lost, through my own folly. And so to dinner alone, having since church
heard the boy read over Dryden's Reply to Sir R. Howard's Answer, about
his Essay of Poesy, and a letter in answer to that; the last whereof is
mighty silly, in behalf of Howard.
[The title of the letter is as follows: "A Letter from a Gentleman
to the Honourable Ed. Howard, Esq., occasioned by a Civiliz'd
Epistle of Mr. Dryden's before his Second Edition of his Indian
Emperour. In the Savoy, printed by Thomas Newcomb, 1668." The
"Civiliz'd Epistle" was a caustic attack on Sir Robert Howard; and
the Letter is signed, "Sir, your faithful and humble servant, R.
F."--i.e., Richard Flecknoe.]
Thence walked forth and got a coach and to visit Mrs. Pierce, with
whom, and him, I staid a little while, and do hear how the Duchesse of
Monmouth is at this time in great trouble of the shortness of her lame
leg, which is likely to grow shorter and shorter, that she will never
recover it. Thence to St. Margaret's Church, thinking to have seen Betty
Michell, but she was not there. So back, and walked to Gray's Inn walks
a while, but little company; and so over the fields to Clerkenwell, to
see whether I could find that the fair Botelers do live there still,
I seeing Frances the other day in a coach with Cary Dillon, her old
servant, but know not where she lives. So walked home, and there walked
in the garden an hour, it being mighty pleasant weather, and so took my
Lady Pen and Mrs. Markham home with me and sent for Mrs. Turner, and by
and by comes Sir W. Pen and supped with me, a good supper, part of my
dinner to-day. They gone, Mrs. Turner staid an hour talking with me....
So parted, and I to bed.
21st. Up, and betimes Sir D. Gawden with me talking about the
Victualling business, which is now under dispute for a new contract, or
whether it shall be put into a Commission. He gone, comes Mr. Hill to
talk with me about Lanyon's business, and so being in haste I took him
to the water with me, and so to White Hall, and there left him, and I
to Sir W. Coventry, and shewed him my answer to the Duke of York's great
letter, which he likes well. We also discoursed about the Victualling
business, which he thinks there is a design to put into a way of
Commission, but do look upon all things to be managed with faction, and
is grieved under it. So to St. James's, and there the Duke of York did
of his own accord come to me, and tell me that he had read, and do like
of, my answers to the objections which he did give me the other day,
about the Navy; and so did W. Coventry too, who told me that the Duke of
York had shown him them: So to White Hall a little and the Chequer, and
then by water home to dinner with my people, where Tong was also this
day with me, whom I shall employ for a time, and so out again and by
water to Somerset House, but when come thither I turned back and
to Southwarke-Fair, very dirty, and there saw the puppet-show of
Whittington, which was pretty to see; and how that idle thing do work
upon people that see it, and even myself too! And thence to Jacob Hall's
dancing on the ropes, where I saw such action as I never saw before,
and mightily worth seeing; and here took acquaintance with a fellow that
carried me to a tavern, whither come the musick of this booth, and by
and by Jacob Hall himself, with whom I had a mind to speak, to hear
whether he had ever any mischief by falls in his time. He told me, "Yes,
many; but never to the breaking of a limb:" he seems a mighty strong
man. So giving them a bottle or two of wine, I away with Payne, the
waterman. He, seeing me at the play, did get a link to light me, and so
light me to the Beare, where Bland, my waterman, waited for me with gold
and other things he kept for me, to the value of L40 and more, which I
had about me, for fear of my pockets being cut. So by link-light through
the bridge, it being mighty dark, but still weather, and so home, where
I find my draught of "The Resolution" come, finished, from Chatham; but
will cost me, one way or other, about L12 or L13, in the board, frame,
and garnishing, which is a little too much, but I will not be beholden
to the King's officers that do it. So to supper, and the boy to read to
me, and so to bed. This day I met Mr. Moore in the New Exchange, and had
much talk of my Lord's concernments. This day also come out first the
new five-pieces in gold, coined by the Guiny Company; and I did get two
pieces of Mr. Holder.
[Guineas took their name from the gold brought from Guinea by the
African Company in 1663, who, as an encouragement to bring over gold
to be coined, were permitted by their charter from Charles II. to
have their stamp of an elephant upon the coin. When first coined
they were valued at 20s., but were worth 30s. in 1695. There were
likewise fivepound pieces, like the guinea, with the inscription
upon the rim.]
22nd. Up, and to the Office, where sitting all the morning at noon, home
to dinner, with my people, and so to the Office again, where busy all
the afternoon, and in the evening spent my time walking in the dark, in
the garden, to favour my eyes, which I find nothing but ease to help.
In the garden there comes to me my Lady Pen and Mrs. Turner and Markham,
and we sat and talked together, and I carried them home, and there eat
a bit of something, and by and by comes Sir W. Pen, and eat with us, and
mighty merry-in appearance, at least, he being on all occasions glad
to be at friendship with me, though we hate one another, and know it on
both sides. They gone, Mrs. Turner and I to walk in the garden.... So
led her home, and I back to bed. This day Mr. Wren did give me, at
the Board, Commissioner Middleton's answer to the Duke of York's great
letter; so that now I have all of them.
23rd. At my office busy all the morning. At noon comes Mr. Evelyn to me,
about some business with the Office, and there in discourse tells me
of his loss, to the value of F 500, which he hath met with, in a late
attempt of making of bricks
[At the end of the year 1666 a Dutchman of the Prince of Orange's
party, named Kiviet, came over to England with proposals for
embanking the river from the Temple to the Tower with brick,
and was knighted by the king. He was introduced to Evelyn, whom he
persuaded to join with him in a great undertaking for the making of
bricks. On March 26th, 1667, the two went in search of brick-earth,
and in September articles were drawn up between them for the purpose
of proceeding in the manufacture. In April, 1668, Evelyn subscribed
50,000 bricks for the building of a college for the Royal Society,
in addition to L50 given previously for the same purpose. No more
information on the subject is given in Evelyn's "Diary."]
upon an adventure with others, by which he presumed to have got a great
deal of money: so that I see the most ingenious men may sometimes be
mistaken. So to the 'Change a little, and then home to dinner, and then
by water to White Hall, to attend the Commissioners of the Treasury with
Alderman Backewell, about L10,000 he is to lend us for Tangier, and then
up to a Committee of the Council, where was the Duke of York, and they
did give us, the Officers of the Navy, the proposals of the several
bidders for the victualling of the Navy, for us to give our answer to,
which is the best, and whether it be better to victual by commission or
contract, and to bring them our answer by Friday afternoon, which is
a great deal of work. So thence back with Sir J. Minnes home, and come
after us Sir W. Pen and Lord Brouncker, and we fell to the business, and
I late when they were gone to digest something of it, and so to supper
and to bed.
24th. Up betimes and Sir D. Gawden with me, and I told him all, being
very desirous for the King's sake, as well as my own, that he may be
kept in it, and after consulting him I to the Office, where we met again
and spent most of the morning about this business, and no other, and
so at noon home to dinner, and then close with Mr. Gibson till night,
drawing up our answer, which I did the most part by seven at night, and
so to Lord Brouncker and the rest at his lodgings to read it, and they
approved of it. So back home to supper, and made my boy read to me
awhile, and then to bed.
25th. Up, and Sir D. Gawden with me betimes to confer again about this
business, and he gone I all the morning finishing our answer, which I
did by noon, and so to dinner, and W. Batelier with me, who is lately
come from Impington, beyond which I perceive he went not, whatever his
pretence at first was; and so he tells me how well and merry all are
there, and how nobly used by my cozen. He gone, after dinner I to work
again, and Gibson having wrote our answer fair and got Brouncker and
the rest to sign it, I by coach to White Hall to the Committee of the
Council, which met late, and Brouncker and J. Minnes with me, and there
the Duke of York present (but not W. Coventry, who I perceive do wholly
avoid to have to do publickly in this business, being shy of appearing
in any Navy business, which I telling him the other day that I thought
the King might suffer by it, he told me that the occasion is now so
small that it cannot be fatal to the service, and for the present it is
better for him not to appear, saying that it may fare the worse for his
appearing in it as things are now governed), where our answer was read
and debated, and some hot words between the Duke of York and Sir T.
Clifford, the first for and the latter against Gawden, but the whole put
off to to-morrow's Council, for till the King goes out of town the
next week the Council sits every day. So with the Duke of York and
some others to his closet, and Alderman Backewell about a Committee of
Tangier, and there did agree upon a price for pieces of eight at 4s.
6d. Present the Duke of York, Arlington, Berkeley, Sir J. Minnes, and
myself. They gone, the Duke of York did tell me how hot Clifford is for
Child, and for removing of old Officers, he saying plainly to-night,
that though D. Gawden was a man that had done the best service that he
believed any man, or any ten men, could have done, yet that it was for
the King's interest not to let it lie too long in one hand, lest nobody
should be able to serve him but one. But the Duke of York did openly
tell him that he was not for removing of old servants that have done
well, neither in this place, nor in any other place, which is very nobly
said. It being 7 or 8 at night, I home with Backewell by coach, and so
walked to D. Gawden's, but he not at home, and so back to my chamber,
the boy to read to me, and so to supper and to bed.
26th. Could sleep but little last night, for my concernments in this
business of the victualling for Sir D. Gawden, so up in the morning and
he comes to me, and there I did tell him all, and give him my advice,
and so he away, and I to the office, where we met and did a little
business, and I left them and by water to attend the Council, which I
did all the morning, but was not called in, but the Council meets again
in the afternoon on purpose about it. So I at noon to Westminster Hall
and there stayed a little, and at the Swan also, thinking to have got
Doll Lane thither, but elle did not understand my signs; and so I away
and walked to Charing Cross, and there into the great new Ordinary, by
my Lord Mulgrave's, being led thither by Mr. Beale, one of Oliver's,
and now of the King's Guards; and he sat with me while I had two grilled
pigeons, very handsome and good meat: and there he and I talked of our
old acquaintances, W. Clerke and others, he being a very civil man, and
so walked to Westminster and there parted, and I to the Swan again,
but did nothing, and so to White Hall, and there attended the King and
Council, who met and heard our answer. I present, and then withdrew; and
they sent two hours at least afterwards about it, and at last rose; and
to my great content, the Duke of York, at coming out, told me that
it was carried for D. Gawden at 6d. 8d., and 8 3/4d.; but with great
difficulty, I understand, both from him and others, so much that Sir
Edward Walker told me that he prays to God he may never live to need to
plead his merit, for D. Gawden's sake; for that it hath stood him in
no stead in this business at all, though both he and all the world that
speaks of him, speaks of him as the most deserving man of any servant
of the King's in the whole nation, and so I think he is: but it is done,
and my heart is glad at it. So I took coach and away, and in Holborne
overtook D. Gawden's coach, and stopped and went home, and Gibson to
come after, and to my house, where D. Gawden did talk a little, and he
do mightily acknowledge my kindness to him, and I know I have done the
King and myself good service in it. So he gone, and myself in mighty
great content in what is done, I to the office a little, and then home
to supper, and the boy to read to me, and so to bed. This noon I went to
my Lady Peterborough's house, and talked with her about the money due
to her Lord, and it gives me great trouble, her importunity and
impertinency about it. This afternoon at Court I met with Lord
Hinchingbroke, newly come out of the country, who tells me that Creed's
business with Mrs. Pickering will do, which I am neither troubled nor
glad at.
27th (Lord's day). Up, and to my office to finish my journall for
five days past, and so abroad and walked to White Hall, calling in at
Somerset House Chapel, and also at the Spanish Embassador's at York
House, and there did hear a little masse: and so to White Hall; and
there the King being gone to Chapel, I to walk all the morning in
the Park, where I met Mr. Wren; and he and I walked together in the
Pell-Mell, it being most summer weather that ever was seen: and here
talking of several things: of the corruption of the Court, and how unfit
it is for ingenious men, and himself particularly, to live in it, where
a man cannot live but he must spend, and cannot get suitably, without
breach of his honour: and did thereupon tell me of the basest thing of
my Lord Barkeley, one of the basest things that ever was heard of of
a man, which was this: how the Duke of York's Commissioners do let
his wine-licenses at a bad rate, and being offered a better, they did
persuade the Duke of York to give some satisfaction to the former to
quit it, and let it to the latter, which being done, my Lord Barkeley
did make the bargain for the former to have L1500 a-year to quit it;
whereof, since, it is come to light that they were to have but L800
and himself L700, which the Duke of York hath ever since for some years
paid, though this second bargain hath been broken, and the Duke of York
lost by it, [half] of what the first was. He told me that there hath
been a seeming accommodation between the Duke of York and the Duke of
Buckingham and Lord Arlington, the two latter desiring it; but yet that
there is not true agreement between them, but they do labour to bring
in all new creatures into play, and the Duke of York do oppose it, as
particularly in this of Sir D. Gawden. Thence, he gone, I to the Queen's
Chapel, and there heard some good singing; and so to White Hall, and saw
the King and Queen at dinner and thence with Sir Stephen Fox to
dinner: and the Cofferer with us; and there mighty kind usage, and good
discourse. Thence spent all the afternoon walking in the Park, and
then in the evening at Court, on the Queen's side; and there met Mr.
Godolphin, who tells me that the news, is true we heard yesterday, of my
Lord Sandwich's being come to Mount's Bay, in Cornwall, and so I heard
this afternoon at Mrs. Pierce's, whom I went to make a short visit to.
This night, in the Queen's drawing-room, my Lord Brouncker told me the
difference that is now between the three Embassadors here, the Venetian,
French, and Spaniard; the third not being willing to make a visit to the
first, because he would not receive him at the door; who is willing
to give him as much respect as he did to the French, who was used no
otherwise, and who refuses now to take more of him, upon being desired
thereto, in order to the making an accommodation in this matter, which
is very pretty. So a boat staying for me all this evening, I home in the
dark about eight at night, and so over the ruins from the Old Swan home
with great trouble, and so to hear my boy read a little, and supper
and to bed. This evening I found at home Pelling and Wallington and one
Aldrige, and we supped and sung.
28th. Up betimes, and Knepp's maid comes to me, to tell me that the
women's day at the playhouse is to-day, and that therefore I must be
there, to encrease their profit. I did give the pretty maid Betty that
comes to me half-a-crown for coming, and had a baiser or two-elle being
mighty jolie. And so I about my business. By water to St. James's,
and there had good opportunity of speaking with the Duke of York, who
desires me again, talking on that matter, to prepare something for him
to do for the better managing of our Office, telling me that, my Lord
Keeper and he talking about it yesterday, my Lord Keeper did advise him
to do so, it being better to come from him than otherwise, which I have
promised to do. Thence to my Lord Burlington's houses the first time
I ever was there, it being the house built by Sir John Denham, next to
Clarendon House; and here I visited my Lord Hinchingbroke and his lady;
Mr. Sidney Montagu being come last night to town unexpectedly from
Mount's Bay, where he left my Lord well, eight days since, so as we may
now hourly expect to hear of his arrival at Portsmouth. Sidney is mighty
grown; and I am glad I am here to see him at his first coming, though
it cost me dear, for here I come to be necessitated to supply them with
L500 for my Lord. He sent him up with a declaration to his friends, of
the necessity of his being presently supplied with L2000; but I do not
think he will get one. However, I think it becomes my duty to my Lord to
do something extraordinary in this, and the rather because I have been
remiss in writing to him during this voyage, more than ever I did in
my life, and more indeed than was fit for me. By and by comes Sir W.
Godolphin to see Mr. Sidney, who, I perceive, is much dissatisfied
that he should come to town last night, and not yet be with my Lord
Arlington, who, and all the town, hear of his being come to town, and
he did, it seems, take notice of it to Godolphin this morning: so that I
perceive this remissness in affairs do continue in my Lord's managements
still, which I am sorry for; but, above all, to see in what a condition
my Lord is for money, that I dare swear he do not know where to take up
L500 of any man in England at this time, upon his word, but of myself,
as I believe by the sequel hereof it will appear. Here I first saw and
saluted my Lady Burlington, a very fine-speaking lady, and a good woman,
but old, and not handsome; but a brave woman in her parts. Here my Lady
Hinchingbroke tells me that she hath bought most of the wedding-clothes
for Mrs. Dickering, so that the thing is gone through, and will soon
be ended; which I wonder at, but let them do as they will. Here I also,
standing by a candle that was brought for sealing of a letter, do set my
periwigg a-fire, which made such an odd noise, nobody could tell what
it was till they saw the flame, my back being to the candle. Thence to
Westminster Hall and there walked a little, and to the Exchequer, and so
home by water, and after eating a bit I to my vintner's, and there did
only look upon su wife, which is mighty handsome; and so to my glove
and ribbon shop, in Fenchurch Street, and did the like there. And there,
stopping against the door of the shop, saw Mrs. Horsfall, now a late
widow, in a coach. I to her, and shook her by the hand, and so she away;
and I by coach towards the King's playhouse, and meeting W. Howe took
him with me, and there saw "The City Match;" not acted these thirty
years, and but a silly play: the King and Court there; the house, for
the women's sake, mighty full. So I to White Hall, and there all the
evening on the Queen's side; and it being a most summerlike day, and a
fine warm evening, the Italians come in a barge under the leads, before
the Queen's drawing-room; and so the Queen and ladies went out, and
heard them, for almost an hour: and it was indeed very good together;
but yet there was but one voice that alone did appear considerable, and
that was Seignor Joanni. This done, by and by they went in; and here
I saw Mr. Sidney Montagu kiss the Queen's hand, who was mighty kind to
him, and the ladies looked mightily on him; and the King come by and by,
and did talk to him. So I away by coach with Alderman Backewell home,
who is mighty kind to me, more than ordinary, in his expressions. But I
do hear this day what troubles me, that Sir W. Coventry is quite out
of play, the King seldom speaking to him; and that there is a design of
making a Lord Treasurer, and that my Lord Arlington shall be the man;
but I cannot believe it. But yet the Duke of Buckingham hath it in his
mind, and those with him, to make a thorough alteration in things; and,
among the rest, Coventry to be out. The Duke of York did this day
tell me how hot the whole party was in the business of Gawden; and
particularly, my Lord Anglesey tells me, the Duke of Buckingham, for
Child against Gawden; but the Duke of York did stand stoutly to it. So
home to read and sup, and to bed.
29th (Tuesday, Michaelmas day). Up, and to the Office, where all the
morning.
OCTOBER 1668
[In this part of the "Diary" no entry occurs for thirteen days,
though there are several pages left blank. During the interval
Pepys went into the country, as he subsequently mentions his having
been at Saxham, in Suffolk, during the king's visit to Lord Crofts,
which took place at this time (see October 23rd, host). He might
also probably have gone to Impington to fetch his wife. The pages
left blank were never filled up.--B.]
October 11th (Lord's day'). Up and to church, where I find Parson Mills
come to town and preached, and the church full, most people being now
come home to town, though the season of year is as good as summer in all
respects. At noon dined at home with my wife, all alone, and busy all
the afternoon in my closet, making up some papers with W. Hewer and at
night comes Mr. Turner and his wife, and there they tell me that Mr.
Harper is dead at Deptford, and so now all his and my care is, how
to secure his being Storekeeper in his stead; and here they and their
daughter, and a kinswoman that come along with them, did sup with me,
and pretty merry, and then, they gone, and my wife to read to me, and to
bed.
12th. Up, and with Mr. Turner by water to White Hall, there to think to
enquire when the Duke of York will be in town, in order to Mr. Turner's
going down to Audley Ends about his place; and here I met in St. James's
Park with one that told us that the Duke of York would be in town
to-morrow, and so Turner parted and went home, and I also did stop my
intentions of going to the Court, also this day, about securing
Mr. Turner's place of Petty-purveyor to Mr. Hater. So I to my Lord
Brouncker's, thinking to have gone and spoke to him about it, but he
is gone out to town till night, and so, meeting a gentleman of my Lord
Middleton's looking for me about the payment of the L1000 lately ordered
to his Lord, in advance of his pay, which shall arise upon his going
Governor to Tangier, I did go to his Lord's lodgings, and there spoke
the first time with him, and find him a shrewd man, but a drinking man,
I think, as the world says; but a man that hath seen much of the world,
and is a Scot. I offered him my service, though I can do him little; but
he sends his man home with me, where I made him stay, till I had gone to
Sir W. Pen, to bespeak him about Mr. Hater, who, contrary to my fears,
did appear very friendly, to my great content; for I was afraid of his
appearing for his man Burroughs. But he did not; but did declare to me
afterwards his intentions to desire an excuse in his own business, to
be eased of the business of the Comptroller, his health not giving him
power to stay always in town, but he must go into the country. I did
say little to him but compliment, having no leisure to think of his
business, or any man's but my own, and so away and home, where I find
Sir H. Cholmly come to town; and is come hither to see me: and he is a
man that I love mightily, as being, of a gentleman, the most industrious
that ever I saw. He staid with me awhile talking, and telling me his
obligations to my Lord Sandwich, which I was glad of; and that the Duke
of Buckingham is now chief of all men in this kingdom, which I knew
before; and that he do think the Parliament will hardly ever meet again;
which is a great many men's thoughts, and I shall not be sorry for it.
He being gone, I with my Lord Middleton's servant to Mr. Colvill's, but
he was not in town, and so he parted, and I home, and there to dinner,
and Mr. Pelling with us; and thence my wife and Mercer, and W. Hewer and
Deb., to the King's playhouse, and I afterwards by water with them, and
there we did hear the Eunuch (who, it seems, is a Frenchman, but long
bred in Italy) sing, which I seemed to take as new to me, though I
saw him on Saturday last, but said nothing of it; but such action and
singing I could never have imagined to have heard, and do make good
whatever Tom Hill used to tell me. Here we met with Mr. Batelier and his
sister, and so they home with us in two coaches, and there at my house
staid and supped, and this night my bookseller Shrewsbury comes, and
brings my books of Martyrs, and I did pay him for them, and did this
night make the young women before supper to open all the volumes for me.
So to supper, and after supper to read a ridiculous nonsensical book set
out by Will. Pen, for the Quakers; but so full of nothing but nonsense,
that I was ashamed to read in it. So they gone, we to bed.
[Penn's first work, entitled, "Truth exalted, in a short but sure
testimony against all those religions, faiths, and worships, that
have been formed and followed, in the darkness of apostacy; and for
that glorious light which is now risen, and shines forth, in the
life and doctrine of the despised Quakers.... by W. Penn,
whom divine love constrains, in holy contempt, to trample on Egypt's
glory, not fearing the King's wrath, having beheld the Majesty of
Him who is invisible:" London, 1668.--B.]
13th. Up, and to the office, and before the office did speak with my
Lord Brouncker, and there did get his ready assent to T. Hater's having
of Mr. Turner's place, and so Sir J. Minnes's also: but when we come to
sit down at the Board, comes to us Mr. Wren this day to town, and
tells me that James Southern do petition the Duke of York for the
Storekeeper's place of Deptford, which did trouble me much, and also the
Board, though, upon discourse, after he was gone, we did resolve to move
hard for our Clerks, and that places of preferment may go according to
seniority and merit. So, the Board up, I home with my people to dinner,
and so to the office again, and there, after doing some business, I with
Mr. Turner to the Duke of Albemarle's at night; and there did speak to
him about his appearing to Mr. Wren a friend to Mr. Turner, which he did
take kindly from me; and so away thence, well pleased with what we had
now done, and so I with him home, stopping at my Lord Brouncker's, and
getting his hand to a letter I wrote to the Duke of York for T. Hater,
and also at my Lord Middleton's, to give him an account of what I had
done this day, with his man, at Alderman Backewell's, about the getting
of his L1000 paid;
[It was probably for this payment that the tally was obtained, the
loss of which caused Pepys so much anxiety. See November 26th,
1668]
and here he did take occasion to discourse about the business of the
Dutch war, which, he says, he was always an enemy to; and did discourse
very well of it, I saying little, but pleased to hear him talk; and to
see how some men may by age come to know much, and yet by their drinking
and other pleasures render themselves not very considerable. I did this
day find by discourse with somebody, that this nobleman was the great
Major-General Middleton; that was of the Scots army, in the beginning of
the late war against the King. Thence home and to the office to finish
my letters, and so home and did get my wife to read to me, and then Deb
to comb my head. ...
14th. Up, and by water, stopping at Michell's, and there saw Betty, but
could have no discourse with her, but there drank. To White Hall, and
there walked to St. James's, where I find the Court mighty full, it
being the Duke or York's birthday; and he mighty fine, and all the
musick, one after another, to my great content. Here I met with Sir
H. Cholmly; and he and I to walk, and to my Lord Barkeley's new house;
there to see a new experiment of a cart, which; by having two little
wheeles fastened to the axle-tree, is said to make it go with half the
ease and more, than another cart but we did not see the trial made.
Thence I home, and after dinner to St. James's, and there met my
brethren; but the Duke of York being gone out, and to-night being a play
there; and a great festival, we would not stay, but went all of us to
the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Faythful Shepherdess" again,
that we might hear the French Eunuch sing, which we did, to our great
content; though I do admire his action as much as his singing, being
both beyond all I ever saw or heard. Thence with W. Pen home, and there
to get my people to read, and to supper, and so to bed.
15th. Up, and all the morning at the office, and at home at dinner,
where, after dinner, my wife and I and Deb. out by coach to the
upholsters in Long Lane, Alderman Reeve's, and then to Alderman Crow's,
to see variety of hangings, and were mightily pleased therewith, and
spent the whole afternoon thereupon; and at last I think we shall pitch
upon the best suit of Apostles, where three pieces for my room will come
to almost L80: so home, and to my office, and then home to supper and to
bed. This day at the Board comes unexpected the warrants from the Duke
of York for Mr. Turner and Hater, for the places they desire, which
contents me mightily.
16th. Up, and busy all the morning at the office, and before noon I took
my wife by coach, and Deb., and shewed her Mr. Wren's hangings and
bed, at St. James's, and Sir W. Coventry's in the Pell Mell, for our
satisfaction in what we are going to buy; and so by Mr. Crow's,
home, about his hangings, and do pitch upon buying his second suit of
Apostles-the whole suit, which comes to L83; and this we think the best
for us, having now the whole suit, to answer any other rooms or service.
So home to dinner, and with Mr. Hater by water to St. James's: there Mr.
Hater, to give Mr. Wren thanks for his kindness about his place that he
hath lately granted him, of Petty Purveyor of petty emptions, upon the
removal of Mr. Turner to be Storekeeper at Deptford, on the death of
Harper. And then we all up to the Duke of York, and there did our usual
business, and so I with J. Minnes home, and there finding my wife gone
to my aunt Wight's, to see her the first time after her coming to town,
and indeed the first time, I think, these two years (we having been
great strangers one to the other for a great while), I to them; and
there mighty kindly used, and had a barrel of oysters, and so to look
up and down their house, they having hung a room since I was there, but
with hangings not fit to be seen with mine, which I find all come home
to-night, and here staying an hour or two we home, and there to supper
and to bed.
17th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning sitting, and at noon
home to dinner, and to the office all the afternoon, and then late home,
and there with much pleasure getting Mr. Gibbs, that writes well, to
write the name upon my new draught of "The Resolution;" and so set it
up, and altered the situation of some of my pictures in my closet, to
my extraordinary content, and at it with much pleasure till almost 12
at night. Mr. Moore and Seymour were with me this afternoon, who tell me
that my Lord Sandwich was received mighty kindly by the King, and is in
exceeding great esteem with him, and the rest about him; but I doubt it
will be hard for him to please both the King and the Duke of York, which
I shall be sorry for. Mr. Moore tells me the sad condition my Lord is
in, in his estate and debts; and the way he now lives in, so high, and
so many vain servants about him, that he must be ruined, if he do not
take up, which, by the grace of God, I will put him upon, when I come to
see him.
18th (Lord's day). Up, and with my boy Tom all the morning altering the
places of my pictures with great pleasure, and at noon to dinner, and
then comes Mr. Shales to see me, and I with him to recommend him to my
Lord Brouncker's service, which I did at Madam Williams's, and my Lord
receives him. Thence with Brouncker to Lincolne's Inn, and Mr. Ball,
to visit Dr. Wilkins, now newly Bishop of Chester: and he received us
mighty kindly; and had most excellent discourse from him about his Book
of Reall Character: and so I with Lord Brouncker to White Hall, and
there saw the Queen and some ladies, and with Lord Brouncker back, it
again being a rainy evening, and so my Lord forced to lend me his coach
till I got a hackney, which I did, and so home and to supper, and got my
wife to read to me, and so to bed.
19th. Up, and to my office to set down my Journall for some days past,
and so to other business. At the office all the morning upon some
business of Sir W. Warren's, and at noon home to dinner, and thence
out by coach with my wife and Deb. and Mr. Harman, the upholster, and
carried them to take measure of Mr. Wren's bed at St. James's, I being
resolved to have just such another made me, and thence set him down in
the Strand, and my wife and I to the Duke of York's playhouse; and there
saw, the first time acted, "The Queene of Arragon," an old Blackfriars
play, but an admirable one, so good that I am astonished at it, and
wonder where it hath lain asleep all this while, that I have never heard
of it before. Here met W. Batelier and Mrs. Hunt, Deb.'s aunt; and
saw her home--a very witty woman, and one that knows this play, and
understands a play mighty well. Left her at home in Jewen Street, and we
home, and to supper, and my wife to read to me, and so to bed.
20th. Up, and to the office all the morning, and then home to dinner,
having this day a new girl come to us in the room of Nell, who is
lately, about four days since, gone away, being grown lazy and proud.
This girl to stay only till we have a boy, which I intend to keep when
I have a coach, which I am now about. At this time my wife and I mighty
busy laying out money in dressing up our best chamber, and thinking of
a coach and coachman and horses, &c.; and the more because of Creed's
being now married to Mrs. Pickering; a thing I could never have
expected, but it is done about seven or ten days since, as I hear out
of the country. At noon home to dinner, and my wife and Harman and girl
abroad to buy things, and I walked out to several places to pay debts,
and among other things to look out for a coach, and saw many; and did
light on one for which I bid L50, which do please me mightily, and I
believe I shall have it. So to my tailor's, and the New Exchange, and so
by coach home, and there, having this day bought "The Queene of Arragon"
play, I did get my wife and W. Batelier to read it over this night by 11
o'clock, and so to bed.
21st. Lay pretty long talking with content with my wife about our
coach and things, and so to the office, where Sir D. Gawden was to do
something in his accounts. At noon to dinner to Mr. Batelier's, his
mother coming this day a-housewarming to him, and several friends of
his, to which he invited us. Here mighty merry, and his mother the same;
I heretofore took her for a gentlewoman, and understanding. I rose from
table before the rest, because under an obligation to go to my Lord
Brouncker's, where to meet several gentlemen of the Royal Society, to go
and make a visit to the French Embassador Colbert, at Leicester House,
he having endeavoured to make one or two to my Lord Brouncker, as our
President, but he was not within, but I come too late, they being gone
before: but I followed to Leicester House; but they are gore in and up
before me; and so I away to the New Exchange, and there staid for my
wife, and she come, we to Cow Lane, and there I shewed her the coach
which I pitch on, and she is out of herself for joy almost. But the man
not within, so did nothing more towards an agreement, but to Mr. Crow's
about a bed, to have his advice, and so home, and there had my wife to
read to me, and so to supper and to bed. Memorandum: that from Crow's,
we went back to Charing Cross, and there left my people at their
tailor's, while I to my Lord Sandwich's lodgings, who come to town the
last night, and is come thither to lye: and met with him within: and
among others my new cozen Creed, who looks mighty soberly; and he and I
saluted one another with mighty gravity, till we come to a little more
freedom of talk about it. But here I hear that Sir Gilbert Pickering
is lately dead, about three days since, which makes some sorrow there,
though not much, because of his being long expected to die, having been
in a lethargy long. So waited on my Lord to Court, and there staid and
saw the ladies awhile: and thence to my wife, and took them up; and so
home, and to supper and bed.
22nd. Up, and W. Batelier's Frenchman, a perriwigg maker, comes and
brings me a new one, which I liked and paid him for: a mighty genteel
fellow. So to the office, where sat all the morning, and at noon home to
dinner, and thence with wife and Deb. to Crow's, and there did see some
more beds; and we shall, I think, pitch upon a camlott one, when all is
done. Thence sent them home, and I to Arundell House, where the first
time we have met since the vacation, and not much company: but here much
good discourse, and afterwards my Lord and others and I to the Devil
tavern, and there eat and drank, and so late, with Mr. Colwell, home by
coach; and at home took him with me, and there found my uncle Wight and
aunt, and Woolly and his wife, and there supped, and mighty merry. And
anon they gone, and Mrs. Turner staid, who was there also to talk of
her husband's business; and the truth is, I was the less pleased to talk
with her, for that she hath not yet owned, in any fit manner of thanks,
my late and principal service to her husband about his place, which I
alone ought to have the thanks for, if they know as much as I do; but
let it go: if they do not own it, I shall have it in my hand to teach
them to do it. So to bed. This day word come for all the Principal
Officers to bring them [the Commissioners of Accounts] their patents,
which I did in the afternoon, by leaving it at their office, but am
troubled at what should be their design therein.
23rd. Up, and plasterers at work and painters about my house.
Commissioner Middleton and I to St. James's, where with the rest of our
company we attended on our usual business the Duke of York. Thence I
to White Hall, to my Lord Sandwich's, where I find my Lord within, but
busy, private; and so I staid a little talking with the young gentlemen:
and so away with Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, towards Tyburne, to see the
people executed; but come too late, it being done; two men and a woman
hanged, and so back again and to my coachmaker's, and there did come a
little nearer agreement for the coach, and so to Duck Lane, and there my
bookseller's, and saw his moher, but elle is so big-bellied that elle is
not worth seeing. So home, and there all alone to dinner, my wife and W.
Hewer being gone to Deptford to see her mother, and so I to the office
all the afternoon. In the afternoon comes my cozen, Sidney Pickering,
to bring my wife and me his sister's Favour for her wedding, which is
kindly done, and he gone, I to business again, and in the evening home,
made my wife read till supper time, and so to bed. This day Pierce
do tell me, among other news, the late frolick and debauchery of Sir
Charles Sidly and Buckhurst, running up and down all the night with
their arses bare, through the streets; and at last fighting, and being
beat by the watch and clapped up all night; and how the King takes their
parts; and my Lord Chief Justice Keeling hath laid the constable by the
heels to answer it next Sessions: which is a horrid shame. How the
King and these gentlemen did make the fiddlers of Thetford, this last
progress, to sing them all the bawdy songs they could think of. How Sir
W. Coventry was brought the other day to the Duchesse of York by the
Duke, to kiss her hand; who did acknowledge his unhappiness to occasion
her so much sorrow, declaring his intentions in it, and praying her
pardon; which she did give him upon his promise to make good his
pretences of innocence to her family, by his faithfulness to his master,
the Duke of York. That the Duke of Buckingham is now all in all, and
will ruin Coventry, if he can: and that W. Coventry do now rest wholly
upon the Duke of York for his standing, which is a great turn. He tells
me that my Lady Castlemayne, however, is a mortal enemy to the Duke of
Buckingham, which I understand not; but, it seems, she is disgusted
with his greatness, and his ill usage of her. That the King was drunk at
Saxam with Sidly, Buckhurst, &c., the night that my Lord Arlington come
thither, and would not give him audience, or could not which is true,
for it was the night that I was there, and saw the King go up to his
chamber, and was told that the King had been drinking. He tells me,
too, that the Duke of York did the next day chide Bab. May for his
occasioning the King's giving himself up to these gentlemen, to the
neglecting of my Lord Arlington: to which he answered merrily, that, by
God, there was no man in England that had heads to lose, durst do what
they do, every day, with the King, and asked the Duke of York's pardon:
which is a sign of a mad world. God bless us out of it!
24th. This morning comes to me the coachmaker, and agreed with me for
L53, and stand to the courtesy of what more I should give him upon the
finishing of the coach: he is likely also to fit me with a coachman.
There comes also to me Mr. Shotgrave, the operator of our Royal Society,
to show me his method of making the Tubes for the eyes, which are
clouterly done, so that mine are better, but I have well informed myself
in several things from him, and so am glad of speaking with him. So to
the office, where all the morning, and then to dinner, and so all the
afternoon late at the office, and so home; and my wife to read to me,
and then with much content to bed. This day Lord Brouncker tells me that
the making Sir J. Minnes a bare Commissioner is now in doing, which I am
glad of; but he speaks of two new Commissioners, which I do not believe.
25th (Lord's day). Up, and discoursing with my wife about our house and
many new things we are doing of, and so to church I, and there find Jack
Fenn come, and his wife, a pretty black woman: I never saw her before,
nor took notice of her now. So home and to dinner, and after dinner
all the afternoon got my wife and boy to read to me, and at night W.
Batelier comes and sups with us; and, after supper, to have my head
combed by Deb., which occasioned the greatest sorrow to me that ever
I knew in this world, for my wife, coming up suddenly, did find me
embracing the girl.... I was at a wonderful loss upon it, and the girle
also, and I endeavoured to put it off, but my wife was struck mute and
grew angry, and so her voice come to her, grew quite out of order, and
I to say little, but to bed, and my wife said little also, but could not
sleep all night, but about two in the morning waked me and cried, and
fell to tell me as a great secret that she was a Roman Catholique and
had received the Holy Sacrament, which troubled me, but I took no
notice of it, but she went on from one thing to another till at last it
appeared plainly her trouble was at what she saw, but yet I did not know
how much she saw, and therefore said nothing to her. But after her much
crying and reproaching me with inconstancy and preferring a sorry girl
before her, I did give her no provocation, but did promise all fair
usage to her and love, and foreswore any hurt that I did with her, till
at last she seemed to be at ease again, and so toward morning a little
sleep, and so I with some little repose and rest
26th. Rose, and up and by water to White Hall, but with my mind mightily
troubled for the poor girle, whom I fear I have undone by this, my
[wife] telling me that she would turn her out of doors. However, I was
obliged to attend the Duke of York, thinking to have had a meeting of
Tangier to-day, but had not; but he did take me and Mr. Wren into his
closet, and there did press me to prepare what I had to say upon the
answers of my fellow-officers to his great letter, which I promised
to do against his coming to town again, the next week; and so to other
discourse, finding plainly that he is in trouble, and apprehensions of
the Reformers, and would be found to do what he can towards reforming,
himself. And so thence to my Lord Sandwich's, where, after long stay,
he being in talk with others privately, I to him; and there he, taking
physic and keeping his chamber, I had an hour's talk with him about the
ill posture of things at this time, while the King gives countenance to
Sir Charles Sidly and Lord Buckhurst, telling him their late story of
running up and down the streets a little while since all night, and
their being beaten and clapped up all night by the constable, who is
since chid and imprisoned for his pains. He tells me that he thinks his
matters do stand well with the King, and hopes to have dispatch to his
mind; but I doubt it, and do see that he do fear it, too. He told me my
Lady Carteret's trouble about my writing of that letter of the Duke of
York's lately to the Office, which I did not own, but declared to be
of no injury to G. Carteret, and that I would write a letter to him
to satisfy him therein. But this I am in pain how to do, without doing
myself wrong, and the end I had, of preparing a justification to myself
hereafter, when the faults of the Navy come to be found out however, I
will do it in the best manner I can. Thence by coach home and to dinner,
finding my wife mightily discontented, and the girle sad, and no words
from my wife to her. So after dinner they out with me about two or three
things, and so home again, I all the evening busy, and my wife full of
trouble in her looks, and anon to bed, where about midnight she wakes
me, and there falls foul of me again, affirming that she saw me hug and
kiss the girle; the latter I denied, and truly, the other I confessed
and no more, and upon her pressing me did offer to give her under my
hand that I would never see Mrs. Pierce more nor Knepp, but did promise
her particular demonstrations of my true love to her, owning some
indiscretions in what I did, but that there was no harm in it. She at
last upon these promises was quiet, and very kind we were, and so to
sleep, and
27th. In the morning up, but my mind troubled for the poor girle, with
whom I could not get opportunity to speak, but to the office, my mind
mighty full of sorrow for her, to the office, where all the morning, and
to dinner with my people, and to the office all the afternoon, and so at
night home, and there busy to get some things ready against to-morrow's
meeting of Tangier, and that being done, and my clerks gone, my wife did
towards bedtime begin to be in a mighty rage from some new matter that
she had got in her head, and did most part of the night in bed rant
at me in most high terms of threats of publishing my shame, and when I
offered to rise would have rose too, and caused a candle to be light to
burn by her all night in the chimney while she ranted, while the knowing
myself to have given some grounds for it, did make it my business to
appease her all I could possibly, and by good words and fair promises
did make her very quiet, and so rested all night, and rose with perfect
good peace, being heartily afflicted for this folly of mine that did
occasion it, but was forced to be silent about the girle, which I have
no mind to part with, but much less that the poor girle should be undone
by my folly. So up with mighty kindness from my wife and a thorough
peace, and being up did by a note advise the girle what I had done and
owned, which note I was in pain for till she told me she had burned it.
This evening Mr. Spong come, and sat late with me, and first told me of
the instrument called parallelogram,
[This useful instrument, used for copying maps, plans, drawings, &c.
either of the same size, or larger or smaller than the originals, is
now named a pantograph.]
which I must have one of, shewing me his practice thereon, by a map of
England.
28th. So by coach with Mr. Gibson to Chancery Lane, and there made oath
before a Master of Chancery to the Tangier account of fees, and so to
White Hall, where, by and by, a Committee met, my Lord Sandwich there,
but his report was not received, it being late; but only a little
business done, about the supplying the place with victuals. But I
did get, to my great content, my account allowed of fees, with great
applause by my Lord Ashly and Sir W. Pen. Thence home, calling at one or
two places; and there about our workmen, who are at work upon my wife's
closet, and other parts of my house, that we are all in dirt. So after
dinner with Mr. Gibson all the afternoon in my closet, and at night to
supper and to bed, my wife and I at good peace, but yet with some little
grudgings of trouble in her and more in me about the poor girle.
29th. At the office all the morning, where Mr. Wren first tells us
of the order from the King, came last night to the Duke of York, for
signifying his pleasure to the Sollicitor-General for drawing up a
Commission for suspending of my Lord Anglesey, and putting in Sir
Thomas. Littleton and Sir Thomas Osborne, the former a creature of
Arlington's, and the latter of the Duke of Buckingham's, during the
suspension. The Duke of York was forced to obey, and did grant it, he
being to go to Newmarket this day with the King, and so the King pressed
for it. But Mr. Wren do own that the Duke of York is the most wounded
in this, in the world, for it is done and concluded without his privity,
after his appearing for Lord Anglesey, and that it is plain that they do
ayme to bring the Admiralty into Commission too, and lessen the Duke of
York. This do put strange apprehensions into all our Board; only I think
I am the least troubled at it, for I care not at all for it: but my Lord
Brouncker and Pen do seem to think much of it. So home to dinner,
full of this news, and after dinner to the office, and so home all the
afternoon to do business towards my drawing up an account for the Duke
of York of the answers of this office to his late great letter, and late
at it, and so to bed, with great peace from my wife and quiet, I bless
God.
30th. Up betimes; and Mr. Povy comes to even accounts with me, which we
did, and then fell to other talk. He tells, in short, how the King is
made a child of, by Buckingham and Arlington, to the lessening of the
Duke of York, whom they cannot suffer to be great, for fear of my
Lord Chancellor's return, which, therefore, they make the King violent
against. That he believes it is impossible these two great men can
hold together long: or, at least, that the ambition of the former is so
great, that he will endeavour to master all, and bring into play as
many as he can. That Anglesey will not lose his place easily, but will
contend in law with whoever comes to execute it. That the Duke of York,
in all things but in his cod-piece, is led by the nose by his wife. That
W. Coventry is now, by the Duke of York, made friends with the Duchess;
and that he is often there, and waits on her. That he do believe that
these present great men will break in time, and that W. Coventry will be
a great man again; for he do labour to have nothing to do in matters
of the State, and is so usefull to the side that he is on, that he
will stand, though at present he is quite out of play. That my Lady
Castlemayne hates the Duke of Buckingham. That the Duke of York hath
expressed himself very kind to my Lord Sandwich, which I am mighty glad
of. That we are to expect more changes if these men stand. This done,
he and I to talk of my coach, and I got him to go see it, where he finds
most infinite fault with it, both as to being out of fashion and heavy,
with so good reason that I am mightily glad of his having corrected
me in it; and so I do resolve to have one of his build, and with his
advice, both in coach and horses, he being the fittest man in the world
for it, and so he carried me home, and said the same to my wife. So I
to the office and he away, and at noon I home to dinner, and all
the afternoon late with Gibson at my chamber about my present great
business, only a little in the afternoon at the office about Sir D.
Gawden's accounts, and so to bed and slept heartily, my wife and I at
good peace, but my heart troubled and her mind not at ease, I perceive,
she against and I for the girle, to whom I have not said anything these
three days, but resolve to be mighty strange in appearance to her. This
night W. Batelier come and took his leave of us, he setting out for
France to-morrow.
31st. Up, and at the office all the morning. At noon home to dinner with
my people, and afternoon to the office again, and then to my chamber
with Gibson to do more about my great answer for the Duke of York, and
so at night after supper to bed well pleased with my advance thereon.
This day my Lord Anglesey was at the Office, and do seem to make nothing
of this business of his suspension, resolving to bring it into the
Council, where he seems not to doubt to have right, he standing upon his
defence and patent, and hath put in his caveats to the several Offices:
so, as soon as the King comes back again, which will be on Tuesday next,
he will bring it into the Council. So ends this month with some quiet to
my mind, though not perfect, after the greatest falling out with my poor
wife, and through my folly with the girl, that ever I had, and I have
reason to be sorry and ashamed of it, and more to be troubled for the
poor girl's sake, whom I fear I shall by this means prove the ruin of,
though I shall think myself concerned both to love and be a friend to
her. This day Roger Pepys and his son Talbot, newly come to town, come
and dined with me, and mighty glad I am to see them.
NOVEMBER 1668
November 1st (Lord's day). Up, and with W. Hewer at my chamber all this
morning, going further in my great business for the Duke of York, and so
at noon to dinner, and then W. Hewer to write fair what he had writ, and
my wife to read to me all the afternoon, till anon Mr. Gibson come, and
he and I to perfect it to my full mind, and so to supper and to bed, my
mind yet at disquiet that I cannot be informed how poor Deb. stands with
her mistress, but I fear she will put her away, and the truth is, though
it be much against my mind and to my trouble, yet I think that it will
be fit that she should be gone, for my wife's peace and mine, for she
cannot but be offended at the sight of her, my wife having conceived
this jealousy of me with reason, and therefore for that, and other
reasons of expense, it will be best for me to let her go, but I shall
love and pity her. This noon Mr. Povy sent his coach for my wife and I
to see, which we like mightily, and will endeavour to have him get us
just such another.
2nd. Up, and a cold morning, by water through bridge without a cloak,
and there to Mr. Wren at his chamber at White Hall, the first time of
his coming thither this year, the Duchess coming thither tonight, and
there he and I did read over my paper that I have with so much labour
drawn up about the several answers of the officers of this Office to the
Duke of York's reflections, and did debate a little what advice to
give the Duke of York when he comes to town upon it. Here come in
Lord Anglesy, and I perceive he makes nothing of this order for his
suspension, resolving to contend and to bring it to the Council on
Wednesday when the King is come to town to-morrow, and Mr. Wren do join
with him mightily in it, and do look upon the Duke of York as concerned
more in it than he. So to visit Creed at his chamber, but his wife not
come thither yet, nor do he tell me where she is, though she be in town,
at Stepney, at Atkins's. So to Mr. Povy's to talk about a coach, but
there I find my Lord Sandwich, and Peterborough, and Hinchingbroke,
Charles Harbord, and Sidney Montagu; and there I was stopped, and dined
mighty nobly at a good table, with one little dish at a time upon it,
but mighty merry. I was glad to see it: but sorry, methought, to see my
Lord have so little reason to be merry, and yet glad, for his sake, to
have him cheerful. After dinner up, and looked up and down the house,
and so to the cellar; and thence I slipt away, without taking leave, and
so to a few places about business, and among others to my bookseller's
in Duck Lane, and so home, where the house still full of dirt by
painters and others, and will not be clean a good while. So to read
and talk with my wife till by and by called to the office about Sir W.
Warren's business, where we met a little, and then home to supper and to
bed. This day I went, by Mr. Povy's direction, to a coachmaker near him,
for a coach just like his, but it was sold this very morning.
3rd. Up, and all the morning at the Office. At noon to dinner, and then
to the Office, and there busy till 12 at night, without much pain to my
eyes, but I did not use them to read or write, and so did hold out very
well. So home, and there to supper, and I observed my wife to eye my
eyes whether I did ever look upon Deb., which I could not but do now and
then (and to my grief did see the poor wretch look on me and see me look
on her, and then let drop a tear or two, which do make my heart relent
at this minute that I am writing this with great trouble of mind, for
she is indeed my sacrifice, poor girle); and my wife did tell me in bed
by the by of my looking on other people, and that the only way is to put
things out of sight, and this I know she means by Deb., for she tells me
that her Aunt was here on Monday, and she did tell her of her desire of
parting with Deb., but in such kind terms on both sides that my wife is
mightily taken with her. I see it will be, and it is but necessary, and
therefore, though it cannot but grieve me, yet I must bring my mind to
give way to it. We had a great deal of do this day at the Office about
Clutterbucke,--[See note to February 4th, 1663-64]--I declaring my
dissent against the whole Board's proceedings, and I believe I shall
go near to shew W. Pen a very knave in it, whatever I find my Lord
Brouncker.
4th. Up, and by coach to White Hall; and there I find the King and Duke
of York come the last night, and every body's mouth full of my Lord
Anglesey's suspension being sealed; which it was, it seems, yesterday;
so that he is prevented in his remedy at the Council; and, it seems, the
two new Treasurers did kiss the King's hand this morning, brought in by
my Lord Arlington. They walked up and down together the Court this day,
and several people joyed them; but I avoided it, that I might not be
seen to look either way. This day also I hear that my Lord Ormond is
to be declared in Council no more Deputy Governor of Ireland, his
commission being expired: and the King is prevailed with to take it out
of his hands; which people do mightily admire, saying that he is the
greatest subject of any prince in Christendome, and hath more acres of
land than any, and hath done more for his Prince than ever any yet did.
But all will not do; he must down, it seems, the Duke of Buckingham
carrying all before him. But that, that troubles me most is, that
they begin to talk that the Duke of York's regiment is ordered to be
disbanded; and more, that undoubtedly his Admiralty will follow: which
do shake me mightily, and I fear will have ill consequences in the
nation, for these counsels are very mad. The Duke of York do, by all
men's report, carry himself wonderfull submissive to the King, in the
most humble manner in the world; but yet, it seems, nothing must be
spared that tends to, the keeping out of the Chancellor; and that is
the reason of all this. The great discourse now is, that the Parliament
shall be dissolved and another called, which shall give the King the
Deane and Chapter lands; and that will put him out of debt. And it
is said that Buckingham do knownly meet daily with Wildman and other
Commonwealth-men; and that when he is with them, he makes the King
believe that he is with his wenches; and something looks like the
Parliament's being dissolved, by Harry Brouncker's being now come back,
and appears this day the first day at White Hall; but hath not been yet
with the King, but is secure that he shall be well received, I hear. God
bless us, when such men as he shall be restored! But that, that pleases
me most is, that several do tell me that Pen is to be removed; and
others, that he hath resigned his place; and particularly Spragg tells
me for certain that he hath resigned it, and is become a partner with
Gawden in the Victualling: in which I think he hath done a very cunning
thing; but I am sure I am glad of it; and it will be well for the King
to have him out of this Office. Thence by coach, doing several errands,
home and there to dinner, and then to the Office, where all the
afternoon till late at night, and so home. Deb. hath been abroad to-day
with her friends, poor girle, I believe toward the getting of a place.
This day a boy is sent me out of the country from Impington by my cozen
Roger Pepys' getting, whom I visited this morning at his chamber in the
Strand and carried him to Westminster Hall, where I took a turn or
two with him and Sir John Talbot, who talks mighty high for my Lord of
Ormond: and I perceive this family of the Talbots hath been raised by my
Lord. When I come home to-night I find Deb. not come home, and do doubt
whether she be not quite gone or no, but my wife is silent to me in it,
and I to her, but fell to other discourse, and indeed am well satisfied
that my house will never be at peace between my wife and I unless I let
her go, though it grieves me to the heart. My wife and I spent much time
this evening talking of our being put out of the Office, and my going to
live at Deptford at her brother's, till I can clear my accounts, and rid
my hands of the town, which will take me a year or more, and I do think
it will be best for me to do so, in order to our living cheap, and out
of sight.
5th. Up, and Willet come home in the morning, and, God forgive me! I
could not conceal my content thereat by smiling, and my wife observed
it, but I said nothing, nor she, but away to the office. Presently up
by water to White Hall, and there all of us to wait on the Duke of York,
which we did, having little to do, and then I up and down the house,
till by and by the Duke of York, who had bid me stay, did come to his
closet again, and there did call in me and Mr. Wren; and there my paper,
that I have lately taken pains to draw up, was read, and the Duke of
York pleased therewith; and we did all along conclude upon answers to
my mind for the Board, and that that, if put in execution, will do the
King's business. But I do now more and more perceive the Duke of York's
trouble, and that he do lie under great weight of mind from the Duke
of Buckingham's carrying things against him; and particularly when I
advised that he would use his interest that a seaman might come into the
room of W. Pen, who is now declared to be gone from us to that of the
Victualling, and did shew how the Office would now be left without one
seaman in it, but the Surveyour and the Controller, who is so old as
to be able to do nothing, he told me plainly that I knew his mind well
enough as to seamen, but that it must be as others will. And Wren did
tell it me as a secret, that when the Duke of York did first tell the
King about Sir W. Pen's leaving of the place, and that when the Duke of
York did move the King that either Captain Cox or Sir Jer. Smith might
succeed him, the King did tell him that that was a matter fit to be
considered of, and would not agree to either presently; and so the Duke
of York could not prevail for either, nor knows who it shall be.
The Duke of York did tell me himself, that if he had not carried it
privately when first he mentioned Pen's leaving his place to the King,
it had not been done; for the Duke of Buckingham and those of his party
do cry out upon it, as a strange thing to trust such a thing into the
hands of one that stands accused in Parliament: and that they have so
far prevailed upon the King that he would not have him named in Council,
but only take his name to the Board; but I think he said that only D.
Gawden's name shall go in the patent; at least, at the time when Sir
Richard Browne asked the King the names of D. Gawden's security, the
King told him it was not yet necessary for him to declare them. And by
and by, when the Duke of York and we had done, and Wren brought into
the closet Captain Cox and James Temple About business of the Guiney
Company, and talking something of the Duke of Buckingham's concernment
therein, and says the Duke of York, "I will give the Devil his due, as
they say the Duke of Buckingham hath paid in his money to the Company,"
or something of that kind, wherein he would do right to him. The Duke
of York told me how these people do begin to cast dirt upon the business
that passed the Council lately, touching Supernumeraries, as passed by
virtue of his authority there, there being not liberty for any man to
withstand what the Duke of York advises there; which, he told me, they
bring only as an argument to insinuate the putting of the Admiralty into
Commission, which by all men's discourse is now designed, and I perceive
the same by him. This being done, and going from him, I up and down the
house to hear news: and there every body's mouth full of changes; and,
among others, the Duke of York's regiment of Guards, that was raised
during the late war at sea, is to be disbanded: and also, that this day
the King do intend to declare that the Duke of Ormond is no more Deputy
of Ireland, but that he will put it into Commission. This day our new
Treasurers did kiss the King's hand, who complimented them, as they say,
very highly, that he had for a long time been abused in his Treasurer,
and that he was now safe in their hands. I saw them walk up and down the
Court together all this morning; the first time I ever saw Osborne, who
is a comely gentleman. This day I was told that my Lord Anglesey did
deliver a petition on Wednesday in Council to the King, laying open,
that whereas he had heard that his Majesty had made such a disposal of
his place, which he had formerly granted him for life upon a valuable
consideration, and that, without any thing laid to his charge, and
during a Parliament's sessions, he prayed that his Majesty would be
pleased to let his case be heard before the Council and the judges of
the land, who were his proper counsel in all matters of right: to which,
I am told, the King, after my Lord's being withdrawn, concluded upon his
giving him an answer some few days hence; and so he was called in, and
told so, and so it ended. Having heard all this I took coach and to Mr.
Povy's, where I hear he is gone to the Swedes Resident in Covent Garden,
where he is to dine. I went thither, but he is not come yet, so I to
White Hall to look for him, and up and down walking there I met with Sir
Robert Holmes, who asking news I told him of Sir W. Pen's going from us,
who ketched at it so as that my heart misgives me that he will have a
mind to it, which made me heartily sorry for my words, but he invited
me and would have me go to dine with him at the Treasurer's, Sir Thomas
Clifford, where I did go and eat some oysters; which while we were at,
in comes my Lord Keeper and much company; and so I thought it best to
withdraw. And so away, and to the Swedes Agent's, and there met Mr.
Povy; where the Agent would have me stay and dine, there being only
them, and Joseph Williamson, and Sir Thomas Clayton; but what he is I
know not. Here much extraordinary noble discourse of foreign princes,
and particularly the greatness of the King of France, and of his being
fallen into the right way of making the kingdom great, which [none] of
his ancestors ever did before. I was mightily pleased with this company
and their discourse, so as to have been seldom so much in all my life,
and so after dinner up into his upper room, and there did see a piece of
perspective, but much inferior to Mr. Povy's. Thence with Mr. Povy spent
all the afternoon going up and down among the coachmakers in Cow Lane,
and did see several, and at last did pitch upon a little chariott,
whose body was framed, but not covered, at the widow's, that made Mr.
Lowther's fine coach; and we are mightily pleased with it, it being
light, and will be very genteel and sober: to be covered with leather,
and yet will hold four. Being much satisfied with this, I carried him to
White Hall; and so by coach home, where give my wife a good account of
my day's work, and so to the office, and there late, and so to bed.
6th. Up, and presently my wife up with me, which she professedly now do
every day to dress me, that I may not see Willet, and do eye me, whether
I cast my eye upon her, or no; and do keep me from going into the room
where she is among the upholsters at work in our blue chamber. So abroad
to White Hall by water, and so on for all this day as I have by mistake
set down in the fifth day after this mark.
[In the margin here is the following: "Look back one leaf
for my mistake."]
In the room of which I should have said that I was at the office all the
morning, and so to dinner, my wife with me, but so as I durst not look
upon the girle, though, God knows, notwithstanding all my protestations
I could not keep my mind from desiring it. After dinner to the office
again, and there did some business, and then by coach to see Roger Pepys
at his lodgings, next door to Arundell House, a barber's; and there I
did see a book, which my Lord Sandwich hath promised one to me of, "A
Description of the Escuriall in Spain;" which I have a great desire to
have, though I took it for a finer book when he promised it me. With him
to see my cozen Turner and The., and there sat and talked, they being
newly come out of the country; and here pretty merry, and with The. to
shew her a coach at Mr. Povy's man's, she being in want of one, and so
back again with her, and then home by coach, with my mind troubled and
finding no content, my wife being still troubled, nor can be at peace
while the girle is there, which I am troubled at on the other side.
We past the evening together, and then to bed and slept ill, she being
troubled and troubling me in the night with talk and complaints upon the
old business. This is the day's work of the 5th, though it stands under
the 6th, my mind being now so troubled that it is no wonder that I fall
into this mistake more than ever I did in my life before.
7th. Up, and at the office all the morning, and so to it again after
dinner, and there busy late, choosing to employ myself rather than go
home to trouble with my wife, whom, however, I am forced to comply with,
and indeed I do pity her as having cause enough for her grief. So to
bed, and there slept ill because of my wife. This afternoon I did go out
towards Sir D. Gawden's, thinking to have bespoke a place for my coach
and horses, when I have them, at the Victualling Office; but find the
way so bad and long that I returned, and looked up and down for places
elsewhere, in an inne, which I hope to get with more convenience than
there.
8th (Lord's day). Up, and at my chamber all the morning, setting papers
to rights, with my boy; and so to dinner at noon. The girle with us, but
my wife troubled thereat to see her, and do tell me so, which troubles
me, for I love the girle. At my chamber again to work all the afternoon
till night, when Pelling comes, who wonders to find my wife so dull and
melancholy, but God knows she hath too much cause. However, as pleasant
as we can, we supped together, and so made the boy read to me, the poor
girle not appearing at supper, but hid herself in her chamber. So that I
could wish in that respect that she was out of the house, for our peace
is broke to all of us while she is here, and so to bed, where my wife
mighty unquiet all night, so as my bed is become burdensome to me.
9th. Up, and I did by a little note which I flung to Deb. advise her
that I did continue to deny that ever I kissed her, and so she might
govern herself. The truth is that I did adventure upon God's pardoning
me this lie, knowing how heavy a thing it would be for me to the ruin of
the poor girle, and next knowing that if my wife should know all it were
impossible ever for her to be at peace with me again, and so our whole
lives would be uncomfortable. The girl read, and as I bid her returned
me the note, flinging it to me in passing by. And so I abroad by [coach]
to White Hall, and there to the Duke of York to wait on him, who told me
that Sir W. Pen had been with him this morning, to ask whether it would
be fit for him to sit at the Office now, because of his resolution to
be gone, and to become concerned in the Victualling. The Duke of
York answered, "Yes, till his contract was signed:" Thence I to Lord
Sandwich's, and there to see him; but was made to stay so long, as his
best friends are, and when I come to him so little pleasure, his head
being full of his own business, I think, that I have no pleasure [to]
go to him. Thence to White Hall with him, to the Committee of Tangier;
a day appointed for him to give an account of Tangier, and what he did,
and found there, which, though he had admirable matter for it, and his
doings there were good, and would have afforded a noble account, yet he
did it with a mind so low and mean, and delivered in so poor a manner,
that it appeared nothing at all, nor any body seemed to value it;
whereas, he might have shewn himself to have merited extraordinary
thanks, and been held to have done a very great service: whereas now,
all that cost the King hath been at for his journey through Spain
thither, seems to be almost lost. After we were up, Creed and I walked
together, and did talk a good while of the weak report my Lord made, and
were troubled for it; I fearing that either his mind and judgment are
depressed, or that he do it out of his great neglect, and so my fear
that he do all the rest of his affairs accordingly. So I staid about
the Court a little while, and then to look for a dinner, and had it at
Hercules-Pillars, very late, all alone, costing me 10d. And so to the
Excise Office, thinking to meet Sir Stephen Fox and the Cofferer, but
the former was gone, and the latter I met going out, but nothing done,
and so I to my bookseller's, and also to Crow's, and there saw a piece
of my bed, and I find it will please us mightily. So home, and there
find my wife troubled, and I sat with her talking, and so to bed, and
there very unquiet all night.
10th. Up, and my wife still every day as ill as she is all night, will
rise to see me out doors, telling me plainly that she dares not let me
see the girle, and so I out to the office, where all the morning, and so
home to dinner, where I found my wife mightily troubled again, more
than ever, and she tells me that it is from her examining the girle and
getting a confession now from her of all.... which do mightily trouble
me, as not being able to foresee the consequences of it, as to our
future peace together. So my wife would not go down to dinner, but I
would dine in her chamber with her, and there after mollifying her as
much as I could we were pretty quiet and eat, and by and by comes Mr.
Hollier, and dines there by himself after we had dined, and he being
gone, we to talk again, and she to be troubled, reproaching me with my
unkindness and perjury, I having denied my ever kissing her. As also
with all her old kindnesses to me, and my ill-using of her from the
beginning, and the many temptations she hath refused out of faithfulness
to me, whereof several she was particular in, and especially from
my Lord Sandwich, by the sollicitation of Captain Ferrers, and then
afterward the courtship of my Lord Hinchingbrooke, even to the trouble
of his lady. All which I did acknowledge and was troubled for, and wept,
and at last pretty good friends again, and so I to my office, and
there late, and so home to supper with her, and so to bed, where after
half-an-hour's slumber she wakes me and cries out that she should never
sleep more, and so kept raving till past midnight, that made me cry
and weep heartily all the while for her, and troubled for what
she reproached me with as before, and at last with new vows, and
particularly that I would myself bid the girle be gone, and shew
my dislike to her, which I will endeavour to perform, but with much
trouble, and so this appeasing her, we to sleep as well as we could till
morning.
11th. Up, and my wife with me as before, and so to the Office, where,
by a speciall desire, the new Treasurers come, and there did shew their
Patent, and the Great Seal for the suspension of my Lord Anglesey: and
here did sit and discourse of the business of the Office: and brought
Mr. Hutchinson with them, who, I hear, is to be their Paymaster, in
the room of Mr. Waith. For it seems they do turn out every servant
that belongs to the present Treasurer: and so for Fenn, do bring in
Mr. Littleton, Sir Thomas's brother, and oust all the rest. But Mr.
Hutchinson do already see that his work now will be another kind of
thing than before, as to the trouble of it. They gone, and, indeed, they
appear, both of them, very intelligent men, I home to dinner, and there
with my people dined, and so to my wife, who would not dine with [me]
that she might not have the girle come in sight, and there sat and
talked a while with her and pretty quiet, I giving no occasion of
offence, and so to the office [and then by coach to my cozen Roger
Pepys, who did, at my last being with him this day se'nnight, move me
as to the supplying him with L500 this term, and L500 the next, for two
years, upon a mortgage, he having that sum to pay, a debt left him by
his father, which I did agree to, trusting to his honesty and ability,
and am resolved to do it for him, that I may not have all I have lie in
the King's hands. Having promised him this I returned home again, where
to the office], and there having done, I home and to supper and to
bed, where, after lying a little while, my wife starts up, and with
expressions of affright and madness, as one frantick, would rise, and
I would not let her, but burst out in tears myself, and so continued
almost half the night, the moon shining so that it was light, and after
much sorrow and reproaches and little ravings (though I am apt to think
they were counterfeit from her), and my promise again to discharge the
girle myself, all was quiet again, and so to sleep.
12th. Up, and she with me as heretofore, and so I to the Office, where
all the morning, and at noon to dinner, and Mr. Wayth, who, being at
my office about business, I took him with me to talk and understand his
matters, who is in mighty trouble from the Committee of Accounts about
his contracting with this Office for sayle-cloth, but no hurt can be
laid at his door in it, but upon us for doing it, if any, though we did
it by the Duke of York's approval, and by him I understand that the
new Treasurers do intend to bring in all new Instruments, and so having
dined we parted, and I to my wife and to sit with her a little, and then
called her and Willet to my chamber, and there did, with tears in my
eyes, which I could not help, discharge her and advise her to be gone as
soon as she could, and never to see me, or let me see her more while
she was in the house, which she took with tears too, but I believe
understands me to be her friend, and I am apt to believe by what my wife
hath of late told me is a cunning girle, if not a slut. Thence, parting
kindly with my wife, I away by coach to my cozen Roger, according as by
mistake (which the trouble of my mind for some days has occasioned, in
this and another case a day or two before) is set down in yesterday's
notes, and so back again, and with Mr. Gibson late at my chamber making
an end of my draught of a letter for the Duke of York, in answer to the
answers of this Office, which I have now done to my mind, so as, if the
Duke likes it, will, I think, put an end to a great deal of the faults
of this Office, as well as my trouble for them. So to bed, and did lie
now a little better than formerly, but with little, and yet with some
trouble.
13th. Up, and with Sir W. Pen by coach to White Hall, where to the
Duke of York, and there did our usual business; and thence I to the
Commissioners of the Treasury, where I staid, and heard an excellent
case argued between my Lord Gerard and the Town of Newcastle, about a
piece of ground which that Lord hath got a grant of, under the Exchequer
Seal, which they were endeavouring to get of the King under the
Great Seal. I liked mightily the Counsel for the town, Shaftow, their
Recorder, and Mr. Offly. But I was troubled, and so were the Lords,
to hear my Lord fly out against their great pretence of merit from the
King, for their sufferings and loyalty; telling them that they might
thank him for that repute which they have for their loyalty, for that
it was he that forced them to be so, against their wills, when he was
there: and, moreover, did offer a paper to the Lords to read from the
Town, sent in 1648; but the Lords would not read it; but I believe it
was something about bringing the King to trial, or some such thing,
in that year. Thence I to the Three Tuns Tavern, by Charing Cross, and
there dined with W. Pen, Sir J. Minnes, and Commissioner Middleton; and
as merry as my mind could be, that hath so much trouble upon it at home.
And thence to White Hall, and there staid in Mr. Wren's chamber with
him, reading over my draught of a letter, which Mr. Gibson then attended
me with; and there he did like all, but doubted whether it would be
necessary for the Duke to write in so sharp a style to the Office, as I
had drawn it in; which I yield to him, to consider the present posture
of the times and the Duke of York and whether it were not better to err
on that hand than the other. He told me that he did not think it was
necessary for the Duke of York to do so, and that it would not suit so
well with his nature nor greatness; which last, perhaps, is true, but
then do too truly shew the effects of having Princes in places, where
order and discipline should be. I left it to him to do as the Duke of
York pleases; and so fell to other talk, and with great freedom,
of public things; and he told me, upon my several inquiries to that
purpose, that he did believe it was not yet resolved whether the
Parliament should ever meet more or no, the three great rulers of things
now standing thus:--The Duke of Buckingham is absolutely against their
meeting, as moved thereto by his people that he advises with, the people
of the late times, who do never expect to have any thing done by this
Parliament for their religion, and who do propose that, by the sale of
the Church-lands, they shall be able to put the King out of debt: my
Lord Keeper is utterly against putting away this and choosing another
Parliament, lest they prove worse than this, and will make all the
King's friends, and the King himself, in a desperate condition: my Lord
Arlington know not which is best for him, being to seek whether this
or the next will use him worst. He tells me that he believes that it is
intended to call this Parliament, and try them with a sum of money; and,
if they do not like it, then to send them going, and call another, who
will, at the ruin of the Church perhaps, please the King with what he
will for a time. And he tells me, therefore, that he do believe that
this policy will be endeavoured by the Church and their friends--to seem
to promise the King money, when it shall be propounded, but make the
King and these great men buy it dear, before they have it. He tells me
that he is really persuaded that the design of the Duke of Buckingham
is, by bringing the state into such a condition as, if the King do die
without issue, it shall, upon his death, break into pieces again; and
so put by the Duke of York, who they have disobliged, they know, to that
degree, as to despair of his pardon. He tells me that there is no way to
rule the King but by brisknesse, which the Duke of Buckingham hath above
all men; and that the Duke of York having it not, his best way is what
he practices, that is to say, a good temper, which will support him till
the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington fall out, which cannot be
long first, the former knowing that the latter did, in the time of the
Chancellor, endeavour with the Chancellor to hang him at that time, when
he was proclaimed against. And here, by the by, he told me that the Duke
of Buckingham did, by his friends, treat with my Lord Chancellor, by
the mediation of Matt. Wren and Matt. Clifford, to fall in with my Lord
Chancellor; which, he tells me, he did advise my Lord Chancellor to
accept of, as that, that with his own interest and the Duke of York's,
would undoubtedly have assured all to him and his family; but that my
Lord Chancellor was a man not to be advised, thinking himself too high
to be counselled: and so all is come to nothing; for by that means the
Duke of Buckingham became desperate, and was forced to fall in with
Arlington, to his [the Chancellor's] ruin. Thence I home, and there to
talk, with great pleasure all the evening, with my wife, who tells me
that Deb, has been abroad to-day, and is come home and says she has got
a place to go to, so as she will be gone tomorrow morning. This troubled
me, and the truth is, I have a good mind to have the maidenhead of this
girl, which I should not doubt to have if je could get time para be con
her. But she will be gone and I not know whither. Before we went to bed
my wife told me she would not have me to see her or give her her wages,
and so I did give my wife L10 for her year and half a quarter's wages,
which she went into her chamber and paid her, and so to bed, and there,
blessed be God! we did sleep well and with peace, which I had not
done in now almost twenty nights together. This afternoon I went to my
coachmaker and Crow's, and there saw things go on to my great content.
This morning, at the Treasury-chamber, I did meet Jack Fenn, and there
he did shew me my Lord Anglesey's petition and the King's answer: the
former good and stout, as I before did hear it: but the latter short and
weak, saying that he was not, by what the King had done, hindered from
taking the benefit of his laws, and that the reason he had to suspect
his mismanagement of his money in Ireland, did make him think it unfit
to trust him with his Treasury in England, till he was satisfied in the
former.
14th. Up, and had a mighty mind to have seen or given her a little
money, to which purpose I wrapt up 40s. in paper, thinking to have given
her a little money, but my wife rose presently, and would not let me be
out of her sight, and went down before me into the kitchen, and come up
and told me that she was in the kitchen, and therefore would have me go
round the other way; which she repeating and I vexed at it, answered her
a little angrily, upon which she instantly flew out into a rage, calling
me dog and rogue, and that I had a rotten heart; all which, knowing that
I deserved it, I bore with, and word being brought presently up that she
was gone away by coach with her things, my wife was friends, and so all
quiet, and I to the Office, with my heart sad, and find that I cannot
forget the girl, and vexed I know not where to look for her. And more
troubled to see how my wife is by this means likely for ever to have her
hand over me, that I shall for ever be a slave to her--that is to say,
only in matters of pleasure, but in other things she will make [it] her
business, I know, to please me and to keep me right to her, which I will
labour to be indeed, for she deserves it of me, though it will be I fear
a little time before I shall be able to wear Deb, out of my mind. At the
Office all the morning, and merry at noon, at dinner; and after dinner
to the Office, where all the afternoon, doing much business, late. My
mind being free of all troubles, I thank God, but only for my thoughts
of this girl, which hang after her. And so at night home to supper, and
then did sleep with great content with my wife. I must here remember
that I have lain with my moher as a husband more times since this
falling out than in I believe twelve months before. And with more
pleasure to her than I think in all the time of our marriage before.
15th (Lord's day). Up, and after long lying with pleasure talking with
my wife, and then up to look up and down our house, which will when our
upholster hath done be mighty fine, and so to my chamber, and there did
do several things among my papers, and so to the office to write down my
journal for 6 or 7 days, my mind having been so troubled as never to get
the time to do it before, as may appear a little by the mistakes I have
made in this book within these few days. At noon comes Mr. Shepley to
dine with me and W. Howe, and there dined and pretty merry, and so
after dinner W. Howe to tell me what hath happened between him and the
Commissioners of late, who are hot again, more than ever, about my Lord
Sandwich's business of prizes, which I am troubled for, and the more
because of the great security and neglect with which, I think, my Lord
do look upon this matter, that may yet, for aught I know, undo him. They
gone, and Balty being come from the Downs, not very well, is come this
day to see us, I to talk with him, and with some pleasure, hoping that
he will make a good man. I in the evening to my Office again, to make
an end of my journall, and so home to my chamber with W. Hewer to settle
some papers, and so to supper and to bed, with my mind pretty quiet, and
less troubled about Deb. than I was, though yet I am troubled, I must
confess, and would be glad to find her out, though I fear it would be my
ruin. This evening there come to sit with us Mr. Pelling, who wondered
to see my wife and I so dumpish, but yet it went off only as my wife's
not being well, and, poor wretch, she hath no cause to be well, God
knows.
16th. Up, and by water to White Hall, and there at the robe chamber at
a Committee for Tangier, where some of us--my Lord Sandwich, Sir W.
Coventry, and myself, with another or two--met to debate the business of
the Mole, and there drew up reasons for the King's taking of it into his
own hands, and managing of it upon accounts with Sir H. Cholmley. This
being done I away to Holborne, about Whetstone's Park, where I never was
in my life before, where I understand by my wife's discourse that Deb.
is gone, which do trouble me mightily that the poor girle should be in
a desperate condition forced to go thereabouts, and there not hearing
of any such man as Allbon, with whom my wife said she now was, I to the
Strand, and there by sending Drumbleby's boy, my flageolet maker, to
Eagle Court, where my wife also by discourse lately let fall that he did
lately live, I find that this Dr. Allbon is a kind of poor broken
fellow that dare not shew his head nor be known where he is gone, but
to Lincoln's Inn Fields I went to Mr. Povy's, but missed him, and so
hearing only that this Allbon is gone to Fleet Street, I did only call
at Martin's, my bookseller's, and there bought "Cassandra," and some
other French books for my wife's closet, and so home, having eat nothing
but two pennyworths of oysters, opened for me by a woman in the Strand,
while the boy went to and again to inform me about this man, and
therefore home and to dinner, and so all the afternoon at the office,
and there late busy, and so home to supper, and pretty pleasant with my
wife to bed, rested pretty well.
17th. Up, and to the Office all the morning, where the new Treasurers
come, their second time, and before they sat down, did discourse with
the Board, and particularly my Lord Brouncker, about their place,
which they challenge, as having been heretofore due, and given to their
predecessor; which, at last, my Lord did own hath been given him only
out of courtesy to his quality, and that he did not take it as a right
at the Board: so they, for the present, sat down, and did give him
the place, but, I think, with an intent to have the Duke of York's
directions about it. My wife and maids busy now, to make clean the house
above stairs, the upholsters having done there, in her closet and the
blue room, and they are mighty pretty. At my office all the afternoon
and at night busy, and so home to my wife, and pretty pleasant, and at
mighty ease in my mind, being in hopes to find Deb., and without trouble
or the knowledge of my wife. So to supper at night and to bed.
18th. Lay long in bed talking with my wife, she being unwilling to have
me go abroad, saying and declaring herself jealous of my going out for
fear of my going to Deb., which I do deny, for which God forgive me,
for I was no sooner out about noon but I did go by coach directly to
Somerset House, and there enquired among the porters there for Dr.
Allbun, and the first I spoke with told me he knew him, and that he was
newly gone into Lincoln's Inn Fields, but whither he could not tell me,
but that one of his fellows not then in the way did carry a chest of
drawers thither with him, and that when he comes he would ask him. This
put me into some hopes, and I to White Hall, and thence to Mr. Povy's,
but he at dinner, and therefore I away and walked up and down the Strand
between the two turnstiles, hoping to see her out of a window, and then
employed a porter, one Osberton, to find out this Doctor's lodgings
thereabouts, who by appointment comes to me to Hercules pillars, where
I dined alone, but tells me that he cannot find out any such, but will
enquire further. Thence back to White Hall to the Treasury a while, and
thence to the Strand, and towards night did meet with the porter that
carried the chest of drawers with this Doctor, but he would not tell me
where he lived, being his good master, he told me, but if I would have
a message to him he would deliver it. At last I told him my business was
not with him, but a little gentlewoman, one Mrs. Willet, that is with
him, and sent him to see how she did from her friend in London, and no
other token. He goes while I walk in Somerset House, walk there in the
Court; at last he comes back and tells me she is well, and that I
may see her if I will, but no more. So I could not be commanded by my
reason, but I must go this very night, and so by coach, it being now
dark, I to her, close by my tailor's, and she come into the coach to me,
and je did baiser her.... I did nevertheless give her the best council I
could, to have a care of her honour, and to fear God, and suffer no man
para avoir to do con her as je have done, which she promised. Je did
give her 20s. and directions para laisser sealed in paper at any time
the name of the place of her being at Herringman's, my bookseller in the
'Change, by which I might go para her, and so bid her good night with
much content to my mind, and resolution to look after her no more till
I heard from her. And so home, and there told my wife a fair tale,
God knows, how I spent the whole day, with which the poor wretch was
satisfied, or at least seemed so, and so to supper and to bed, she
having been mighty busy all day in getting of her house in order against
to-morrow to hang up our new hangings and furnishing our best chamber.
19th. Up, and at the Office all the morning, with my heart full of joy
to think in what a safe condition all my matters now stand between
my wife and Deb, and me, and at noon running up stairs to see the
upholsters, who are at work upon hanging my best room, and setting up my
new bed, I find my wife sitting sad in the dining room; which enquiring
into the reason of, she begun to call me all the false, rotten-hearted
rogues in the world, letting me understand that I was with Deb.
yesterday, which, thinking it impossible for her ever to understand, I
did a while deny, but at last did, for the ease of my mind and hers, and
for ever to discharge my heart of this wicked business, I did confess
all, and above stairs in our bed chamber there I did endure the sorrow
of her threats and vows and curses all the afternoon, and, what was
worse, she swore by all that was good that she would slit the nose of
this girle, and be gone herself this very night from me, and did there
demand 3 or L400 of me to buy my peace, that she might be gone without
making any noise, or else protested that she would make all the world
know of it. So with most perfect confusion of face and heart, and sorrow
and shame, in the greatest agony in the world I did pass this afternoon,
fearing that it will never have an end; but at last I did call for W.
Hewer, who I was forced to make privy now to all, and the poor fellow
did cry like a child, [and] obtained what I could not, that she would be
pacified upon condition that I would give it under my hand never to see
or speak with Deb, while I live, as I did before with Pierce and Knepp,
and which I did also, God knows, promise for Deb. too, but I have the
confidence to deny it to the perjury of myself. So, before it was late,
there was, beyond my hopes as well as desert, a durable peace; and so
to supper, and pretty kind words, and to bed, and there je did hazer con
eile to her content, and so with some rest spent the night in bed, being
most absolutely resolved, if ever I can master this bout, never to give
her occasion while I live of more trouble of this or any other kind,
there being no curse in the world so great as this of the differences
between myself and her, and therefore I do, by the grace of God, promise
never to offend her more, and did this night begin to pray to God upon
my knees alone in my chamber, which God knows I cannot yet do heartily;
but I hope God will give me the grace more and more every day to fear
Him, and to be true to my poor wife. This night the upholsters did
finish the hanging of my best chamber, but my sorrow and trouble is so
great about this business, that it puts me out of all joy in looking
upon it or minding how it was.
20th. This morning up, with mighty kind words between my poor wife and
I; and so to White Hall by water, W. Hewer with me, who is to go with
me every where, until my wife be in condition to go out along with me
herself; for she do plainly declare that she dares not trust me out
alone, and therefore made it a piece of our league that I should alway
take somebody with me, or her herself, which I am mighty willing to,
being, by the grace of God, resolved never to do her wrong more. We
landed at the Temple, and there I bid him call at my cozen Roger Pepys's
lodgings, and I staid in the street for him, and so took water again at
the Strand stairs; and so to White Hall, in my way I telling him plainly
and truly my resolutions, if I can get over this evil, never to give
new occasion for it. He is, I think, so honest and true a servant to us
both, and one that loves us, that I was not much troubled at his being
privy to all this, but rejoiced in my heart that I had him to assist in
the making us friends, which he did truly and heartily, and with good
success, for I did get him to go to Deb. to tell her that I had told my
wife all of my being with her the other night, that so if my wife should
send she might not make the business worse by denying it. While I was at
White Hall with the Duke of York, doing our ordinary business with him,
here being also the first time the new Treasurers. W. Hewer did go to
her and come back again, and so I took him into St. James's Park, and
there he did tell me he had been with her, and found what I said about
my manner of being with her true, and had given her advice as I desired.
I did there enter into more talk about my wife and myself, and he did
give me great assurance of several particular cases to which my wife had
from time to time made him privy of her loyalty and truth to me after
many and great temptations, and I believe them truly. I did also
discourse the unfitness of my leaving of my employment now in many
respects to go into the country, as my wife desires, but that I would
labour to fit myself for it, which he thoroughly understands, and do
agree with me in it; and so, hoping to get over this trouble, we about
our business to Westminster Hall to meet Roger Pepys, which I did, and
did there discourse of the business of lending him L500 to answer some
occasions of his, which I believe to be safe enough, and so took leave
of him and away by coach home, calling on my coachmaker by the way,
where I like my little coach mightily. But when I come home, hoping for
a further degree of peace and quiet, I find my wife upon her bed in a
horrible rage afresh, calling me all the bitter names, and, rising, did
fall to revile me in the bitterest manner in the world, and could not
refrain to strike me and pull my hair, which I resolved to bear with,
and had good reason to bear it. So I by silence and weeping did prevail
with her a little to be quiet, and she would not eat her dinner without
me; but yet by and by into a raging fit she fell again, worse than
before, that she would slit the girl's nose, and at last W. Hewer come
in and come up, who did allay her fury, I flinging myself, in a sad
desperate condition, upon the bed in the blue room, and there lay while
they spoke together; and at last it come to this, that if I would call
Deb. whore under my hand and write to her that I hated her, and would
never see her more, she would believe me and trust in me, which I
did agree to, only as to the name of whore I would have excused, and
therefore wrote to her sparing that word, which my wife thereupon tore
it, and would not be satisfied till, W. Hewer winking upon me, I did
write so with the name of a whore as that I did fear she might too
probably have been prevailed upon to have been a whore by her carriage
to me, and therefore as such I did resolve never to see her more. This
pleased my wife, and she gives it W. Hewer to carry to her with a sharp
message from her. So from that minute my wife begun to be kind to me,
and we to kiss and be friends, and so continued all the evening, and
fell to talk of other matters, with great comfort, and after supper
to bed. This evening comes Mr. Billup to me, to read over Mr. Wren's
alterations of my draught of a letter for the Duke of York to sign, to
the Board; which I like mighty well, they being not considerable, only
in mollifying some hard terms, which I had thought fit to put in. From
this to other discourse; and do find that the Duke of York and his
master, Mr. Wren, do look upon this service of mine as a very seasonable
service to the Duke of York, as that which he will have to shew to his
enemies in his own justification, of his care of the King's business;
and I am sure I am heartily glad of it, both for the King's sake and the
Duke of York's, and my own also; for, if I continue, my work, by this
means, will be the less, and my share in the blame also. He being gone,
I to my wife again, and so spent the evening with very great joy, and
the night also with good sleep and rest, my wife only troubled in her
rest, but less than usual, for which the God of Heaven be praised. I did
this night promise to my wife never to go to bed without calling upon
God upon my knees by prayer, and I begun this night, and hope I shall
never forget to do the like all my life; for I do find that it is much
the best for my soul and body to live pleasing to God and my poor wife,
and will ease me of much care as well as much expense.
21st. Up, with great joy to my wife and me, and to the office, where
W. Hewer did most honestly bring me back the part of my letter to Deb.
wherein I called her whore, assuring me that he did not shew it her, and
that he did only give her to understand that wherein I did declare my
desire never to see her, and did give her the best Christian counsel
he could, which was mighty well done of him. But by the grace of God,
though I love the poor girl and wish her well, as having gone too far
toward the undoing her, yet I will never enquire after or think of her
more, my peace being certainly to do right to my wife. At the Office all
the morning; and after dinner abroad with W. Hewer to my Lord Ashly's,
where my Lord Barkeley and Sir Thomas Ingram met upon Mr. Povy's
account, where I was in great pain about that part of his account
wherein I am concerned, above L150, I think; and Creed hath declared
himself dissatisfied with it, so far as to desire to cut his
"Examinatur" out of the paper, as the only condition in which he would
be silent in it. This Povy had the wit to yield to; and so when it come
to be inquired into, I did avouch the truth of the account as to that
particular, of my own knowledge, and so it went over as a thing good
and just--as, indeed, in the bottom of it, it is; though in strictness,
perhaps, it would not so well be understood. This Committee rising, I,
with my mind much satisfied herein, away by coach home, setting Creed
into Southampton Buildings, and so home; and there ended my letters,
and then home to my wife, where I find my house clean now, from top
to bottom, so as I have not seen it many a day, and to the full
satisfaction of my mind, that I am now at peace, as to my poor wife,
as to the dirtiness of my house, and as to seeing an end, in a great
measure, to my present great disbursements upon my house, and coach and
horses.
22nd (Lord's day). My wife and I lay long, with mighty content; and so
rose, and she spent the whole day making herself clean, after four or
five weeks being in continued dirt; and I knocking up nails, and making
little settlements in my house, till noon, and then eat a bit of meat in
the kitchen, I all alone. And so to the Office, to set down my journall,
for some days leaving it imperfect, the matter being mighty grievous to
me, and my mind, from the nature of it; and so in, to solace myself with
my wife, whom I got to read to me, and so W. Hewer and the boy; and so,
after supper, to bed. This day my boy's livery is come home, the first I
ever had, of greene, lined with red; and it likes me well enough.
23rd. Up, and called upon by W. Howe, who went, with W. Hewer with me,
by water, to the Temple; his business was to have my advice about a
place he is going to buy--the Clerk of the Patent's place, which I
understand not, and so could say little to him, but fell to other talk,
and setting him in at the Temple, we to White Hall, and there I to visit
Lord Sandwich, who is now so reserved, or moped rather, I think, with
his own business, that he bids welcome to no man, I think, to his
satisfaction. However, I bear with it, being willing to give him as
little trouble as I can, and to receive as little from him, wishing only
that I had my money in my purse, that I have lent him; but, however,
I shew no discontent at all. So to White Hall, where a Committee of
Tangier expected, but none met. I met with Mr. Povy, who I discoursed
with about publick business, who tells me that this discourse which I
told him of, of the Duke of Monmouth being made Prince of Wales, hath
nothing in it; though he thinks there are all the endeavours used in the
world to overthrow the Duke of York. He would not have me doubt of my
safety in the Navy, which I am doubtful of from the reports of a general
removal; but he will endeavour to inform me, what he can gather from my
Lord Arlington. That he do think that the Duke of Buckingham hath a
mind rather to overthrow all the kingdom, and bring in a Commonwealth,
wherein he may think to be General of their Army, or to make himself
King, which, he believes, he may be led to, by some advice he hath had
with conjurors, which he do affect. Thence with W. Hewer, who goes up
and down with me like a jaylour, but yet with great love and to my
great good liking, it being my desire above all things to please my
wife therein. I took up my wife and boy at Unthank's, and from there to
Hercules Pillars, and there dined, and thence to our upholster's,
about some things more to buy, and so to see our coach, and so to the
looking-glass man's, by the New Exchange, and so to buy a picture for
our blue chamber chimney, and so home; and there I made my boy to read
to me most of the night, to get through the Life of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. At supper comes Mary Batelier, and with us all the evening,
prettily talking, and very innocent company she is; and she gone, we
with much content to bed, and to sleep, with mighty rest all night.
24th. Up, and at the Office all the morning, and at noon home to dinner,
where Mr. Gentleman, the cook, and an old woman, his third or fourth
wife, come and dined with us, to enquire about a ticket of his son's,
that is dead; and after dinner, I with Mr. Hosier to my closet, to
discourse of the business of balancing Storekeeper's accounts, which
he hath taken great pains in reducing to a method, to my great
satisfaction; and I shall be glad both for the King's sake and his, that
the thing may be put in practice, and will do my part to promote it.
That done, he gone, I to the Office, where busy till night; and then
with comfort to sit with my wife, and get her to read to me, and so to
supper, and to bed, with my mind at mighty ease.
25th. Up, and by coach with W. Hewer to see W. Coventry; but he gone
out, I to White Hall, and there waited on Lord Sandwich, which I have
little encouragement to do, because of the difficulty of seeing him, and
the little he hath to say to me when I do see him, or to any body else,
but his own idle people about him, Sir Charles Harbord, &c. Thence
walked with him to White Hall, where to the Duke of York; and there the
Duke, and Wren, and I, by appointment in his closet, to read over our
letter to the Office, which he heard, and signed it, and it is to my
mind, Mr. Wren having made it somewhat sweeter to the Board, and yet
with all the advice fully, that I did draw it up with. He [the Duke]
said little more to us now, his head being full of other business; but
I do see that he do continue to put a value upon my advice; and so Mr.
Wren and I to his chamber, and there talked: and he seems to hope that
these people, the Duke of Buckingham and Arlington, will run themselves
off of their legs; they being forced to be always putting the King upon
one idle thing or other, against the easiness of his nature, which he
will never be able to bear, nor they to keep him to, and so will lose
themselves. And, for instance of their little progress, he tells me
that my Lord of Ormond is like yet to carry it, and to continue in his
command in Ireland; at least, they cannot get the better of him yet. But
he tells me that the Keeper is wrought upon, as they say, to give his
opinion for the dissolving of the Parliament, which, he thinks, will
undo him in the eyes of the people. He do not seem to own the hearing
or fearing of any thing to be done in the Admiralty, to the lessening of
the Duke of York, though he hears how the town talk's full of it. Thence
I by coach home, and there find my cozen Roger come to dine with me, and
to seal his mortgage for the L500 I lend him; but he and I first walked
to the 'Change, there to look for my uncle Wight, and get him to dinner
with us. So home, buying a barrel of oysters at my old oyster-woman's,
in Gracious Street, but over the way to where she kept her shop before.
So home, and there merry at dinner; and the money not being ready, I
carried Roger Pepys to Holborn Conduit, and there left him going to
Stradwick's, whom we avoided to see, because of our long absence, and my
wife and I to the Duke of York's house, to see "The Duchesse of Malfy,"
a sorry play, and sat with little pleasure, for fear of my wife's seeing
me look about, and so I was uneasy all the while, though I desire and
resolve never to give her trouble of that kind more. So home, and there
busy at the Office a while, and then home, where my wife to read to me,
and so to supper, and to bed. This evening, to my great content, I got
Sir Richard Ford to give me leave to set my coach in his yard.
26th. Up, and at the Office all the morning, where I was to have
delivered the Duke of York's letter of advice to the Board, in answer
to our several answers to his great letter; but Lord Brouncker not being
there, and doubtful to deliver it before the new Treasurers, I forbore
it to next sitting. So home at noon to dinner, where I find Mr. Pierce
and his wife but I was forced to shew very little pleasure in her being
there because of my vow to my wife; and therefore was glad of a very bad
occasion for my being really troubled, which is, at W. Hewer's losing
of a tally of L1000, which I sent him this day to receive of the
Commissioners of Excise. So that though I hope at the worst I shall be
able to get another, yet I made use of this to get away as soon as I had
dined, and therefore out with him to the Excise Office to make a stop of
its payment, and so away to the coachmaker's and several other places,
and so away home, and there to my business at the office, and thence
home, and there my wife to read to me, and W. Hewer to set some matters
of accounts right at my chamber, to bed.
27th. Up, and with W. Hewer to see W. Coventry again, but missed him
again, by coming too late, the man of [all] the world that I am resolved
to preserve an interest in. Thence to White Hall, and there at our
usual waiting on the Duke of York; and that being done, I away to the
Exchequer, to give a stop, and take some advice about my lost tally,
wherein I shall have some remedy, with trouble, and so home, and there
find Mr. Povy, by appointment, to dine with me; where a pretty good
dinner, but for want of thought in my wife it was but slovenly dressed
up; however, much pleasant discourse with him, and some serious; and he
tells me that he would, by all means, have me get to be a Parliament-man
the next Parliament, which he believes there will be one, which I do
resolve of. By and by comes my cozen Roger, and dines with us; and,
after dinner, did seal his mortgage, wherein I do wholly rely on his
honesty, not having so much as read over what he hath given me for it,
nor minded it, but do trust to his integrity therein. They all gone, I
to the office and there a while, and then home to ease my eyes and make
my wife read to me.
28th. Up, and all the morning at the Office, where, while I was sitting,
one comes and tells me that my coach is come. So I was forced to go out,
and to Sir Richard Ford's, where I spoke to him, and he is very willing
to have it brought in, and stand there; and so I ordered it, to my great
content, it being mighty pretty, only the horses do not please me, and,
therefore, resolve to have better. At noon home to dinner, and so to the
office again all the afternoon, and did a great deal of business, and so
home to supper and to bed, with my mind at pretty good ease, having this
day presented to the Board the Duke of York's letter, which, I perceive,
troubled Sir W. Pen, he declaring himself meant in that part, that
concerned excuse by sickness; but I do not care, but am mightily glad
that it is done, and now I shall begin to be at pretty good ease in
the Office. This morning, to my great content, W. Hewer tells me that a
porter is come, who found my tally in Holborne, and brings it him, for
which he gives him 20s.
29th (Lord's day). Lay long in bed with pleasure with my wife, with whom
I have now a great deal of content, and my mind is in other things also
mightily more at ease, and I do mind my business better than ever and am
more at peace, and trust in God I shall ever be so, though I cannot yet
get my mind off from thinking now and then of Deb., but I do ever since
my promise a while since to my wife pray to God by myself in my chamber
every night, and will endeavour to get my wife to do the like with me
ere long, but am in much fear of what she lately frighted me with about
her being a Catholique; and I dare not, therefore, move her to go
to church, for fear she should deny me; but this morning, of her own
accord, she spoke of going to church the next Sunday, which pleases me
mightily. This morning my coachman's clothes come home; and I like the
livery mightily, and so I all the morning at my chamber, and dined with
my wife, and got her to read to me in the afternoon, till Sir W. Warren,
by appointment, comes to me, who spent two hours, or three, with me,
about his accounts of Gottenburgh, which are so confounded, that I doubt
they will hardly ever pass without my doing something, which he desires
of me, and which, partly from fear, and partly from unwillingness to
wrong the King, and partly from its being of no profit to me, I am
backward to give way to, though the poor man do indeed deserve to be rid
of this trouble, that he hath lain so long under, from the negligence of
this Board. We afterwards fell to other talk, and he tells me, as
soon as he saw my coach yesterday, he wished that the owner might not
contract envy by it; but I told him it was now manifestly for my profit
to keep a coach, and that, after employments like mine for eight years,
it were hard if I could not be justly thought to be able to do that.
[Though our journalist prided himself not a little upon becoming
possessed of a carriage, the acquisition was regarded with envy and
jealousy by his enemies, as will appear by the following extract
from the scurrilous pamphlet, "A Hue and Cry after P. and H. and
Plain Truth (or a Private Discourse between P. and H.)," in which
Pepys and Hewer are severely handled: "There is one thing more you
must be mightily sorry for with all speed. Your presumption in your
coach, in which you daily ride, as if you had been son and heir to
the great Emperor Neptune, or as if you had been infallibly to have
succeeded him in his government of the Ocean, all which was
presumption in the highest degree. First, you had upon the fore
part of your chariot, tempestuous waves and wrecks of ships; on your
left hand, forts and great guns, and ships a-fighting; on your right
hand was a fair harbour and galleys riding, with their flags and
pennants spread, kindly saluting each other, just like P[epys] and
H[ewer]. Behind it were high curled waves and ships a-sinking, and
here and there an appearance of some bits of land."]
He gone, my wife and I to supper; and so she to read, and made an end of
the Life of Archbishop Laud, which is worth reading, as informing a
man plainly in the posture of the Church, and how the things of it were
managed with the same self-interest and design that every other thing
is, and have succeeded accordingly. So to bed.
30th. Up betimes, and with W. Hewer, who is my guard, to White Hall, to
a Committee of Tangier, where the business of Mr. Lanyon
[John Lanyon, agent of the Navy Commissioners at Plymouth. The
cause of complaint appears to have been connected with his contract
for Tangier. In 1668 a charge was made against Lanyon and Thomas
Yeabsley that they had defrauded the king in the freighting of the
ship "Tiger" ("Calendar of State Papers," 1668-69, p. 138).]
took up all the morning; and where, poor man! he did manage his business
with so much folly, and ill fortune to boot, that the Board, before his
coming in, inclining, of their own accord, to lay his cause aside, and
leave it to the law, but he pressed that we would hear it, and it ended
to the making him appear a very knave, as well as it did to me a fool
also, which I was sorry for. Thence by water, Mr. Povy, Creed, and I,
to Arundell House, and there I did see them choosing their Council, it
being St. Andrew's-day; and I had his Cross
[The cross of St. Andrew, like that of St. Patrick, is a saltire.
The two, combined with the red cross of St. George, form the Union
flag.]
set on my hat, as the rest had, and cost me 2s., and so leaving them I
away by coach home to dinner, and my wife, after dinner, went the first
time abroad to take the maidenhead of her coach, calling on Roger Pepys,
and visiting Mrs. Creed, and my cozen Turner, while I at home all
the afternoon and evening, very busy and doing much work, to my great
content. Home at night, and there comes Mrs. Turner and Betty to see
us, and supped with us, and I shewed them a cold civility for fear of
troubling my wife, and after supper, they being gone, we to bed. Thus
ended this month, with very good content, that hath been the most sad
to my heart and the most expenseful to my purse on things of pleasure,
having furnished my wife's closet and the best chamber, and a coach
and horses, that ever I yet knew in the world: and do put me into the
greatest condition of outward state that ever I was in, or hoped ever to
be, or desired: and this at a time when we do daily expect great changes
in this Office: and by all reports we must, all of us, turn out. But
my eyes are come to that condition that I am not able to work: and
therefore that, and my wife's desire, make me have no manner of trouble
in my thoughts about it. So God do his will in it!
DECEMBER 1668
December 1st. Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning, and
at noon with my people to dinner, and so to the office, very busy
till night, and then home and made my boy read to me Wilkins's Reall
Character, which do please me mightily, and so after supper to bed with
great pleasure and content with my wife. This day I hear of poor Mr.
Clerke, the solicitor, being dead, of a cold, after being not above two
days ill, which troubles me mightily, poor man!
2nd. Up, and at the office all the morning upon some accounts of Sir
D. Gawden, and at noon abroad with W. Hewer, thinking to have found
Mr. Wren at Captain Cox's, to have spoke something to him about doing a
favour for Will's uncle Steventon, but missed him. And so back home and
abroad with my wife, the first time that ever I rode in my own coach,
which do make my heart rejoice, and praise God, and pray him to bless it
to me and continue it. So she and I to the King's playhouse, and there
sat to avoid seeing Knepp in a box above where Mrs. Williams happened to
be, and there saw "The Usurper;" a pretty good play, in all but what is
designed to resemble Cromwell and Hugh Peters, which is mighty silly.
The play done, we to White Hall; where my wife staid while I up to the
Duchesse's and Queen's side, to speak with the Duke of York: and here
saw all the ladies, and heard the silly discourse of the King, with his
people about him, telling a story of my Lord Rochester's having of his
clothes stole, while he was with a wench; and his gold all gone, but his
clothes found afterwards stuffed into a feather bed by the wench that
stole them. I spoke with the Duke of York, just as he was set down
to supper with the King, about our sending of victuals to Sir Thomas
Allen's fleet hence to Cales [Cadiz] to meet him. And so back to my wife
in my coach, and so with great content and joy home, where I made my boy
to make an end of the Reall Character, which I begun a great while ago,
and do please me infinitely, and indeed is a most worthy labour, and I
think mighty easy, though my eyes make me unable to attempt any thing in
it. To-day I hear that Mr. Ackworth's cause went for him at Guildhall,
against his accusers, which I am well enough pleased with.
3rd. Up betimes, and by water with W. Hewer to White Hall, and there
to Mr. Wren, who gives me but small hopes of the favour I hoped for Mr.
Steventon, Will's uncle, of having leave, being upon the point of death,
to surrender his place, which do trouble me, but I will do what I can.
So back again to the Office, Sir Jer. Smith with me; who is a silly,
prating, talking man; but he tells me what he hears, that Holmes and
Spragg now rule all with the Duke of Buckingham, as to seabusiness, and
will be great men: but he do prophesy what will be the fruit of it; so I
do. So to the Office, where we sat all the morning; and at noon home
to dinner, and then abroad again, with my wife, to the Duke of York's
playhouse, and saw "The Unfortunate Lovers;" a mean play, I think, but
some parts very good, and excellently acted. We sat under the boxes,
and saw the fine ladies; among others, my Lady Kerneguy, a who is most
devilishly painted. And so home, it being mighty pleasure to go alone
with my poor wife, in a coach of our own, to a play, and makes us appear
mighty great, I think, in the world; at least, greater than ever I
could, or my friends for me, have once expected; or, I think, than ever
any of my family ever yet lived, in my memory, but my cozen Pepys in
Salisbury Court. So to the office, and thence home to supper and to bed.
4th. Up, and with W. Hewer by water to White Hall, and there did wait as
usual upon the Duke of York, where, upon discoursing something touching
the Ticket-Office, which by letter the Board did give the Duke of York
their advice, to be put upon Lord Brouncker, Sir J. Minnes did foolishly
rise up and complain of the Office, and his being made nothing of; and
this before Sir Thomas Littleton, who would be glad of this difference
among us, which did trouble me mightily; and therefore I did forbear
to say what I otherwise would have thought fit for me to say on this
occasion, upon so impertinent a speech as this doting fool made--but, I
say, I let it alone, and contented myself that it went as I advised,
as to the Duke of York's judgment, in the thing disputed. And so thence
away, my coach meeting me there and carrying me to several places to
do little jobs, which is a mighty convenience, and so home, where by
invitation I find my aunt Wight, who looked over all our house, and is
mighty pleased with it, and indeed it is now mighty handsome, and rich
in furniture. By and by comes my uncle, and then to dinner, where a
venison pasty and very merry, and after dinner I carried my wife and
her to Smithfield, where they sit in the coach, while Mr. Pickering, who
meets me there, and I, and W. Hewer, and a friend of his, a jockey, did
go about to see several pairs of horses, for my coach; but it was late,
and we agreed on none, but left it to another time: but here I do see
instances of a piece of craft and cunning that I never dreamed of,
concerning the buying and choosing of horses. So Mr. Pickering, to whom
I am much beholden for his kindness herein, and I parted; and I with my
people home, where I left them, and I to the office, to meet about some
business of Sir W. Warren's accounts, where I vexed to see how ill all
the Comptroller's business is likely to go on, so long as ever Sir J.
Minnes lives; and so troubled I was, that I thought it a good occasion
for me to give my thoughts of it in writing, and therefore wrote a
letter at the Board, by the help of a tube, to Lord Brouncker, and
did give it him, which I kept a copy of, and it may be of use to me
hereafter to shew, in this matter. This being done, I home to my aunt,
who supped with us, and my uncle also: and a good-humoured woman she is,
so that I think we shall keep her acquaintance; but mighty proud she is
of her wedding-ring, being lately set with diamonds; cost her about L12:
and I did commend it mightily to her, but do not think it very suitable
for one of our quality. After supper they home, and we to bed.
5th. Up, after a little talk with my wife, which troubled me, she being
ever since our late difference mighty watchful of sleep and dreams,
and will not be persuaded but I do dream of Deb., and do tell me that I
speak in my dreams and that this night I did cry, Huzzy, and it must
be she, and now and then I start otherwise than I used to do, she says,
which I know not, for I do not know that I dream of her more than usual,
though I cannot deny that my thoughts waking do run now and then against
my will and judgment upon her, for that only is wanting to undo me,
being now in every other thing as to my mind most happy, and may still
be so but for my own fault, if I be catched loving any body but my wife
again. So up and to the office, and at noon to dinner, and thence to
office, where late, mighty busy, and despatching much business, settling
papers in my own office, and so home to supper, and to bed. No news
stirring, but that my Lord of Ormond is likely to go to Ireland again,
which do shew that the Duke of Buckingham do not rule all so absolutely;
and that, however, we shall speedily have more changes in the Navy: and
it is certain that the Nonconformists do now preach openly in houses,
in many places, and among others the house that was heretofore Sir G.
Carteret's, in Leadenhall Streete, and have ready access to the King.
And now the great dispute is, whether this Parliament or another; and
my great design, if I continue in the Navy, is to get myself to be a
Parliament-man.
6th (Lord's day). Up, and with my wife to church; which pleases me
mightily, I being full of fear that she would never go to church again,
after she had declared to me that she was a Roman Catholique. But though
I do verily think she fears God, and is truly and sincerely righteous,
yet I do see she is not so strictly so a Catholique as not to go to
church with me, which pleases me mightily. Here Mills made a lazy
sermon, upon Moses's meeknesse, and so home, and my wife and I alone to
dinner, and then she to read a little book concerning speech in general,
a translation late out of French; a most excellent piece as ever I read,
proving a soul in man, and all the ways and secrets by which nature
teaches speech in man, which do please me most infinitely to read. By
and by my wife to church, and I to my Office to complete my Journall for
the last three days, and so home to my chamber to settle some papers,
and so to spend the evening with my wife and W. Hewer talking over the
business of the Office, and particularly my own Office, how I will make
it, and it will become, in a little time, an Office of ease, and not
slavery, as it hath for so many years been. So to supper, and to bed.
7th. Up by candlelight, the first time I have done so this winter, but
I had lost my labour so often to visit Sir W. Coventry, and not visited
him so long, that I was resolved to get time enough, and so up, and with
W. Hewer, it being the first frosty day we have had this winter, did
walk it very well to W. Coventry's, and there alone with him an hour
talking of the Navy, which he pities, but says he hath no more mind to
be found meddling with the Navy, lest it should do it hurt, as well as
him, to be found to meddle with it. So to talk of general things: and
telling him that, with all these doings, he, I thanked God, stood yet;
he told me, Yes, but that he thought his continuing in, did arise from
his enemies my Lord of Buckingham and Arlington's seeing that he cared
so little if he was out; and he do protest to me that he is as weary of
the Treasury, as ever he was of the Navy. He tells me that he do believe
that their heat is over almost, as to the Navy, there being now none
left of the old stock but my Lord Brouncker, J. Minnes, who is ready
to leave the world, and myself. But he tells me that he do foresee very
great wants and great disorders by reason thereof; insomuch, as he is
represented to the King by his enemies as a melancholy man, and one that
is still prophesying ill events, so as the King called him Visionaire,
which being told him, he said he answered the party, that, whatever he
foresaw, he was not afeard as to himself of any thing, nor particularly
of my Lord Arlington, so much as the Duke of Buckingham hath been, nor
of the Duke of Buckingham, so much as my Lord Arlington at this time
is. But he tells me that he hath been always looked upon as a melancholy
man; whereas, others that would please the King do make him believe that
all is safe: and so he hath heard my Lord Chancellor openly say to the
King, that he was now a glorious prince, and in a glorious condition,
because of some one accident that hath happened, or some one rub that
hath been removed; "when," says W. Coventry, "they reckoned their one
good meal, without considering that there was nothing left in the cup
board for to-morrow." After this and other discourse of this kind, I
away, and walked to my Lord Sandwich's, and walked with him to White
Hall, and took a quarter of an hour's walk in the garden with him, which
I had not done for so much time with him since his coming into England;
and talking of his own condition, and particularly of the world's
talk of his going to Tangier. I find, if his conditions can be made
profitable and safe as to money, he would go, but not else; but,
however, will seem not averse to it, because of facilitating his other
accounts now depending, which he finds hard to get through, but yet hath
some hopes, the King, he says, speaking very kindly to him. Thence to
a Committee of Tangier, and so with W. Hewer to Westminster to Sir R.
Longs office, and so to the Temple, but did nothing, the Auditor not
being within, and so home to dinner, and after dinner out again with my
wife to the Temple, and up and down to do a little business, and back
again, and so to my office, and did a little business, and so home, and
W. Hewer with me, to read and talk, and so to supper, and then to bed
in mighty good humour. This afternoon, passing through Queen's Street,
I saw pass by our coach on foot Deb., which, God forgive me, did put me
into some new thoughts of her, and for her, but durst not shew them, and
I think my wife did not see her, but I did get my thoughts free of her
soon as I could.
8th. Up, and Sir H. Cholmly betimes with me, about some accounts and
moneys due to him: and he gone, I to the Office, where sat all the
morning; and here, among other things, breaks out the storm W. Hewer and
I have long expected from the Surveyor,--[Colonel Middleton.]--about
W. Hewer's conspiring to get a contract, to the burdening of the stores
with kerseys and cottons, of which he hath often complained, and lately
more than ever; and now he did it by a most scandalous letter to the
Board, reflecting on my Office: and, by discourse, it fell to such high
words between him and me, as can hardly ever be forgot; I declaring I
would believe W. Hewer as soon as him, and laying the fault, if there
be any, upon himself; he, on the other hand, vilifying of my word and
W. Hewer's, calling him knave, and that if he were his clerk, he should
lose his ears. At last, I closed the business for this morning with
making the thing ridiculous, as it is, and he swearing that the King
should have right in it, or he would lose his place. The Office was
cleared of all but ourselves and W. Hewer; but, however, the world did
by the beginning see what it meant, and it will, I believe, come to high
terms between us, which I am sorry for, to have any blemish laid upon
me or mine, at this time, though never so unduly, for fear of giving
occasion to my real discredit: and therefore I was not only all the rest
of the morning vexed, but so went home to dinner, where my wife tells
me of my Lord Orrery's new play "Tryphon," at the Duke of York's house,
which, however, I would see, and therefore put a bit of meat in our
mouths, and went thither; where, with much ado, at half-past one, we got
into a blind hole in the 18d. place, above stairs, where we could not
hear well, but the house infinite full, but the prologue most silly, and
the play, though admirable, yet no pleasure almost in it, because just
the very same design, and words, and sense, and plot, as every one of
his plays have, any one of which alone would be held admirable, whereas
so many of the same design and fancy do but dull one another; and this,
I perceive, is the sense of every body else, as well as myself, who
therefore showed but little pleasure in it. So home, mighty hot, and my
mind mightily out of order, so as I could not eat any supper, or sleep
almost all night, though I spent till twelve at night with W. Hewer to
consider of our business: and we find it not only most free from any
blame of our side, but so horrid scandalous on the other, to make so
groundless a complaint, and one so shameful to him, that it could not
but let me see that there is no need of my being troubled; but such is
the weakness of my nature, that I could not help it, which vexes me,
showing me how unable I am to live with difficulties.
9th. Up, and to the Office, but did little there, my mind being still
uneasy, though more and more satisfied that there is no occasion for it;
but abroad with my wife to the Temple, where I met with Auditor Wood's
clerk, and did some business with him, and so to see Mr. Spong, and
found him out by Southampton Market, and there carried my wife, and up
to his chamber, a bye place, but with a good prospect of the fields;
and there I had most infinite pleasure, not only with his ingenuity
in general, but in particular with his shewing me the use of the
Parallelogram, by which he drew in a quarter of an hour before me,
in little, from a great, a most neat map of England--that is, all the
outlines, which gives me infinite pleasure, and foresight of pleasure,
I shall have with it; and therefore desire to have that which I have
bespoke, made. Many other pretty things he showed us, and did give me a
glass bubble, to try the strength of liquors with.
[This seems to refer to the first form of the Hon. Robert Boyle's
hydrometer, which he described in a paper in the "Philosophical
Transactions" for June, 1675, under the title of a "New Essay
instrument." In this paper the author refers to a glass instrument
exhibited many years before by himself, "consisting of a bubble
furnished with a long and slender stem, which was to be put into
several liquors to compare and estimate their specific gravity."
Boyle describes this glass bubble in a paper in "Philosophical
Transactions," vol. iv., No. 50, p. 1001, 1669, entitled, "The
Weights of Water in Water with ordinary Balances and Weights."]
This done, and having spent 6d. in ale in the coach, at the door of the
Bull Inn, with the innocent master of the house, a Yorkshireman, for his
letting us go through his house, we away to Hercules Pillars, and there
eat a bit of meat: and so, with all speed, back to the Duke of York's
house, where mighty full again; but we come time enough to have a good
place in the pit, and did hear this new play again, where, though I
better understood it than before, yet my sense of it and pleasure was
just the same as yesterday, and no more, nor any body else's about us.
So took our coach and home, having now little pleasure to look about
me to see the fine faces, for fear of displeasing my wife, whom I take
great comfort now, more than ever, in pleasing; and it is a real joy to
me. So home, and to my Office, where spent an hour or two; and so home
to my wife, to supper and talk, and so to bed.
10th. Up, and to the Office, where busy all the morning: Middleton not
there, so no words or looks of him. At noon, home to dinner; and so to
the Office, and there all the afternoon busy; and at night W. Hewer home
with me; and we think we have got matter enough to make Middleton appear
a coxcomb. But it troubled me to have Sir W. Warren meet me at night,
going out of the Office home, and tell me that Middleton do intend to
complain to the Duke of York: but, upon consideration of the business, I
did go to bed, satisfied that it was best for me that he should; and so
my trouble was over, and to bed, and slept well.
11th. Up, and with W. Hewer by water to Somerset House; and there I to
my Lord Brouncker, before he went forth to the Duke of York, and there
told him my confidence that I should make Middleton appear a fool, and
that it was, I thought, best for me to complain of the wrong he hath
done; but brought it about, that my Lord desired me I would forbear, and
promised that he would prevent Middleton till I had given in my answer
to the Board, which I desired: and so away to White Hall, and there
did our usual attendance and no word spoke before the Duke of York by
Middleton at all; at which I was glad to my heart, because by this means
I have time to draw up my answer to my mind. So with W. Hewer by coach
to Smithfield, but met not Mr. Dickering, he being not come, and so he
[Will] and I to a cook's shop, in Aldersgate Street; and dined well
for 19 1/2 d., upon roast beef, pleasing ourselves with the infinite
strength we have to prove Middleton a coxcomb; and so, having dined,
we back to Smithfield, and there met Dickering, and up and down all the
afternoon about horses, and did see the knaveries and tricks of jockeys.
Here I met W. Joyce, who troubled me with his impertinencies a great
while, and the like Mr. Knepp, who, it seems, is a kind of a jockey, and
would fain have been doing something for me, but I avoided him, and the
more for fear of being troubled thereby with his wife, whom I desire but
dare not see, for my vow to my wife. At last went away and did nothing,
only concluded upon giving L50 for a fine pair of black horses we saw
this day se'nnight; and so set Mr. Dickering down near his house, whom I
am much beholden to, for his care herein, and he hath admirable skill,
I perceive, in this business, and so home, and spent the evening talking
and merry, my mind at good ease, and so to bed.
12th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home
to dinner, and so the like mighty busy, late, all the afternoon, that
I might be ready to go to the drawing up of my answer to Middleton
to-morrow, and therefore home to supper and to bed. I hear this day that
there is fallen down a new house, not quite finished, in Lumbard Street,
and that there have been several so, they making use of bad mortar and
bricks; but no hurt yet, as God hath ordered it. This day was brought
home my pair of black coach-horses, the first I ever was master of. They
cost me L50, and are a fine pair.
13th (Lord's day). Up, and with W. Hewer to the Office, where all the
morning, and then home to a little dinner, and presently to it again all
alone till twelve at night, drawing up my answer to Middleton, which
I think I shall do to very good purpose--at least, I satisfy myself
therein; and so to bed, weary with walking in my Office dictating to him
[Hewer]. In the night my wife very ill, vomited, but was well again by
and by.
14th. Up, and by water to White Hall to a Committee of Tangier, where,
among other things, a silly account of a falling out between Norwood,
at Tangier, and Mr. Bland, the mayor, who is fled to Cales [Cadiz]. His
complaint is ill-worded, and the other's defence the most ridiculous
that ever I saw; and so everybody else that was there, thought it;
but never did I see so great an instance of the use of grammar, and
knowledge how to tell a man's tale as this day, Bland having spoiled his
business by ill-telling it, who had work to have made himself notorious
by his mastering Norwood, his enemy, if he had known how to have used
it. Thence calling Smith, the Auditor's clerk at the Temple, I by the
Exchange home, and there looked over my Tangier accounts with him, and
so to dinner, and then set him down again by a hackney, my coachman
being this day about breaking of my horses to the coach, they having
never yet drawn. Left my wife at Unthank's, and I to the Treasury, where
we waited on the Lords Commissioners about Sir D. Gawden's matters, and
so took her up again at night, and home to the office, and so home with
W. Hewer, and to talk about our quarrel with Middleton, and so to supper
and to bed. This day I hear, and am glad, that the King hath prorogued
the Parliament to October next; and, among other reasons, it will give
me time to go to France, I hope.
15th. Up, and to the Office, where sat all the morning, and the new
Treasurers there; and, for my life, I cannot keep Sir J. Minnes and
others of the Board from shewing our weakness, to the dishonour of the
Board, though I am not concerned but it do vex me to the heart to
have it before these people, that would be glad to find out all our
weaknesses. At noon Mrs. Mary Batelier with us, and so, after dinner,
I with W. Hewer all the afternoon till night beginning to draw up our
answer to Middleton, and it proves troublesome, because I have so much
in my head at a time to say, but I must go through with it. So at night
to supper and to bed.
16th. I did the like all day long, only a little at dinner, and so to
work again, and were at it till 2 in the morning, and so W. Hewer, who
was with me all day, home to his lodging, and I to bed, after we had
finished it.
17th. Up, and set my man Gibson and Mr. Fists to work to write it over
fair, while I all the morning at the office sitting. At noon home to
them, and all the afternoon looking over them and examining with W.
Hewer, and so about to at night I to bed, leaving them to finish the
writing it fair, which they did by sitting up most of the night, and so
home to bed.
18th. All the morning at the office about Sir W. Warren's accounts, my
mind full of my business, having before we met gone to Lord Brouncker,
and got him to read over my paper, who owns most absolute content in it,
and the advantage I have in it, and the folly of the Surveyor. At noon
home to dinner; and then again to the office a while, and so by hackney
coach to Brooke House, and there spoke with Colonel Thomson, I by order
carrying them [the Commissioners of Accounts] our Contract-books, from
the beginning to the end of the late war. I found him finding of errors
in a ship's book, where he shewed me many, which must end in the ruin, I
doubt, of the Controller, who found them not out in the pay of the ship,
or the whole Office. But I took little notice of them to concern myself
in them, but so leaving my books I home to the Office, where the
office met, and after some other business done, fell to mine, which the
Surveyor begun to be a little brisk at the beginning; but when I come to
the point to touch him, which I had all the advantages in the world
to do, he become as calm as a lamb, and owned, as the whole Board did,
their satisfaction, and cried excuse: and so all made friends; and their
acknowledgment put into writing, and delivered into Sir J. Minnes's
hand, to be kept there for the use of the Board, or me, when I shall
call for it; they desiring it might be so, that I might not make use of
it to the prejudice of the Surveyor, whom I had an advantage over, by
his extraordinary folly in this matter. But, besides this, I have no
small advantage got by this business, as I have put several things into
my letter which I should otherwise have wanted an opportunity of saying,
which pleases me mightily. So Middleton desiring to be friends, I
forgave him; and all mighty quiet, and fell to talk of other stories,
and there staid, all of us, till nine or ten at night, more than ever we
did in our lives before, together. And so home, where I have a new fight
to fight with my wife, who is under new trouble by some news she hath
heard of Deb.'s being mighty fine, and gives out that she has a friend
that gives her money, and this my wife believes to be me, and, poor
wretch! I cannot blame her, and therefore she run into mighty extremes;
but I did pacify all, and were mighty good friends, and to bed, and I
hope it will be our last struggle from this business, for I am resolved
never to give any new occasion, and great peace I find in my mind by it.
So to supper, she and I to bed.
19th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon, eating
very little dinner, my wife and I by hackney to the King's playhouse,
and there, the pit being full, satin a box above, and saw "Catiline's
Conspiracy," yesterday being the first day: a play of much good sense
and words to read, but that do appear the worst upon the stage, I mean,
the least diverting, that ever I saw any, though most fine in clothes;
and a fine scene of the Senate, and of a fight, that ever I saw in
my life. But the play is only to be read, and therefore home, with no
pleasure at all, but only in sitting next to Betty Hall, that did belong
to this house, and was Sir Philip Howard's mistress; a mighty pretty
wench, though my wife will not think so; and I dare neither commend, nor
be seen to look upon her, or any other now, for fear of offending her.
So, our own coach coming for us, home, and to end letters, and so home,
my wife to read to me out of "The Siege of Rhodes," and so to supper,
and to bed.
20th (Lord's day). Up, and with my wife to church, and then home, and
there found W. Joyce come to dine with me, as troublesome a talking
coxcombe as ever he was, and yet once in a year I like him well enough.
In the afternoon my wife and W. Hewer and I to White Hall, where they
set me down and staid till I had been with the Duke of York, with the
rest of us of the Office, and did a little business, and then the Duke
of York in good humour did fall to tell us many fine stories of the wars
in Flanders, and how the Spaniards are the [best] disciplined foot in
the world; will refuse no extraordinary service if commanded, but scorn
to be paid for it, as in other countries, though at the same time they
will beg in the streets: not a soldier will carry you a cloak-bag for
money for the world, though he will beg a penny, and will do the thing,
if commanded by his Commander. That, in the citadel of Antwerp, a
soldier hath not a liberty of begging till he hath served three years.
They will cry out against their King and Commanders and Generals, none
like them in the world, and yet will not hear a stranger say a word
of them but he will cut his throat. That, upon a time, some of the
Commanders of their army exclaiming against their Generals, and
particularly the Marquis de Caranen, the Confessor of the Marquis coming
by and hearing them, he stops and gravely tells them that the three
great trades of the world are, the lawyers, who govern the world; the
churchmen, who enjoy the world; and a sort of fools whom they call
souldiers, who make it their work to defend the world. He told us, too,
that Turenne being now become a Catholique, he is likely to get over the
head of Colbert, their interests being contrary; the latter to promote
trade
[This reminds us of the famous reply, 'Laissez nous affaire', made
to Colbert by the French merchants, whose interests he thought to
promote by laws and regulations.--B.]
and the sea, which, says the Duke of York, is that that we have most
cause to fear; and Turenne to employ the King and his forces by land, to
encrease his conquests. Thence to the coach to my wife, and so home,
and there with W. Hewer to my office and to do some business, and so set
down my Journall for four or five days, and then home to supper and read
a little, and to bed. W. Hewer tells me to-day that he hears that the
King of France hath declared in print, that he do intend this next
summer to forbid his Commanders to strike--[Strike topsails]--to us, but
that both we and the Dutch shall strike to him; and that he hath made
his captains swear it already, that they will observe it: which is a
great thing if he do it, as I know nothing to hinder him.
21st. My own coach carrying me and my boy Tom, who goes with me in the
room of W. Hewer, who could not, and I dare not go alone, to the Temple,
and there set me down, the first time my fine horses ever carried me,
and I am mighty proud of them, and there took a hackney and to White
Hall, where a Committee of Tangier, but little to do, and so away home,
calling at the Exchange and buying several little things, and so home,
and there dined with my wife and people and then she, and W. Hewer, and
I by appointment out with our coach, but the old horses, not daring yet
to use the others too much, but only to enter them, and to the Temple,
there to call Talbot Pepys, and took him up, and first went into
Holborne, and there saw the woman that is to be seen with a beard. She
is a little plain woman, a Dane: her name, Ursula Dyan; about forty
years old; her voice like a little girl's; with a beard as much as any
man I ever saw, black almost, and grizly; they offered to shew my wife
further satisfaction if she desired it, refusing it to men that desired
it there, but there is no doubt but by her voice she is a woman; it
begun to grow at about seven years old, and was shaved not above seven
months ago, and is now so big as any man's almost that ever I saw; I
say, bushy and thick. It was a strange sight to me, I confess, and what
pleased me mightily. Thence to the Duke's playhouse, and saw "Macbeth."
The King and Court there; and we sat just under them and my Lady
Castlemayne, and close to the woman that comes into the pit, a kind of a
loose gossip, that pretends to be like her, and is so, something. And my
wife, by my troth, appeared, I think, as pretty as any of them; I never
thought so much before; and so did Talbot and W. Hewer, as they said, I
heard, to one another. The King and Duke of York minded me, and smiled
upon me, at the handsome woman near me but it vexed me to see Moll
Davis, in the box over the King's and my Lady Castlemayne's head, look
down upon the King, and he up to her; and so did my Lady Castlemayne
once, to see who it was; but when she saw her, she looked like fire;
which troubled me. The play done, took leave of Talbot, who goes into
the country this Christmas, and so we home, and there I to work at the
office late, and so home to supper and to bed.
22nd. At the office all the morning, and at noon to the 'Change,
thinking to meet with Langford about my father's house in Fleet Streete,
but I come too late, and so home to dinner, and all the afternoon at
the office busy, and at night home to supper and talk, and with mighty
content with my wife, and so to bed.
23rd. Met at the Office all the morning, and at noon to the 'Change,
and there met with Langford and Mr. Franke, the landlord of my father's
house in Fleet Streete, and are come to an arbitration what my father
shall give him to be freed of his lease and building the house again.
Walked up and down the 'Change, and among others discoursed with
Sir John Bankes, who thinks this prorogation will please all but
the Parliament itself, which will, if ever they meet, be vexed at
Buckingham, who yet governs all. He says the Nonconformists are glad of
it, and, he believes, will get the upperhand in a little time, for the
King must trust to them or nobody; and he thinks the King will be forced
to it. He says that Sir D. Gawden is mightily troubled at Pen's being
put upon him, by the Duke of York, and that he believes he will get
clear of it, which, though it will trouble me to have Pen still at the
Office, yet I shall think D. Gawden do well in it, and what I would
advise him to, because I love him. So home to dinner, and then with my
wife alone abroad, with our new horses, the beautifullest almost that
ever I saw, and the first time they ever carried her, and me but once;
but we are mighty proud of them. To her tailor's, and so to the 'Change,
and laid out three or four pounds in lace, for her and me; and so home,
and there I up to my Lord Brouncker, at his lodgings, and sat with him
an hour, on purpose to talk over the wretched state of this Office at
present, according to the present hands it is made up of; wherein he do
fully concur with me, and that it is our part not only to prepare for
defending it and ourselves, against the consequences of it, but to take
the best ways we can, to make it known to the Duke of York; for, till
Sir J. Minnes be removed, and a sufficient man brought into W. Pen's
place, when he is gone, it is impossible for this Office ever to support
itself. So home, and to supper and to bed.
24th. A cold day. Up, and to the Office, where all the morning alone at
the Office, nobody meeting, being the eve of Christmas. At noon home
to dinner, and then to the Office busy, all the afternoon, and at night
home to supper, and it being now very cold, and in hopes of a frost, I
begin this night to put on a waistcoat, it being the first winter in my
whole memory that ever I staid till this day before I did so. So to bed
in mighty good humour with my wife, but sad, in one thing, and that is
for my poor eyes.
25th (Christmas-day). Up, and continued on my waistcoat, the first day
this winter, and I to church, where Alderman Backewell, coming in late,
I beckoned to his lady to come up to us, who did, with another lady;
and after sermon, I led her down through the church to her husband and
coach, a noble, fine woman, and a good one, and one my wife shall be
acquainted with. So home, and to dinner alone with my wife, who, poor
wretch! sat undressed all day, till ten at night, altering and lacing of
a noble petticoat: while I by her, making the boy read to me the Life of
Julius Caesar, and Des Cartes' book of Musick
["Musicae Compendium." By Rene Des Cartes, Amsterdam, 1617;
rendered into English, London, 1653, 4to. The translator, whose
name did not appear on the title, was William, Viscount Brouncker,
Pepys's colleague, who proved his knowledge of music by the
performance.]
--the latter of which I understand not, nor think he did well that writ
it, though a most learned man. Then, after supper, I made the boy play
upon his lute, which I have not done twice before since he come to me;
and so, my mind in mighty content, we to bed.
26th. Lay long with pleasure, prating with my wife, and then up, and I a
little to the Office, and my head busy setting some papers and accounts
to rights, which being long neglected because of my eyes will take me
up much time and care to do, but it must be done. So home at noon to
dinner, and then abroad with my wife to a play, at the Duke of York's
house, the house full of ordinary citizens. The play was "Women
Pleased," which we had never seen before; and, though but indifferent,
yet there is a good design for a good play. So home, and there to talk,
and my wife to read to me, and so to bed.
27th (Lord's day). Walked to White Hall and there saw the King at
chapel; but staid not to hear anything, but went to walk in the Park,
with W. Hewer, who was with me; and there, among others, met with Sir G.
Downing, and walked with him an hour, talking of business, and how the
late war was managed, there being nobody to take care of it, and telling
how, when he was in Holland, what he offered the King to do, if he might
have power, and they would give him power, and then, upon the least
word, perhaps of a woman, to the King, he was contradicted again, and
particularly to the loss of all that we lost in Guinny. He told me that
he had so good spies, that he hath had the keys taken out of De Witt's
[The celebrated John de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, who,
a few years afterwards, was massacred, with his brother Cornelius,
by the Dutch mob, enraged at their opposition to the elevation of
William of Orange to the Stadtholdership, when the States were
overrun by the French army, and the Dutch fleets beaten at sea by
the English. The murder of the De Witts forms one of the main
incidents of Alexandre Dumas's "Black Tulip."]
pocket when he was a-bed, and his closet opened, and papers brought to
him, and left in his hands for an hour, and carried back and laid in the
place again, and keys put into his pocket again. He says that he hath
always had their most private debates, that have been but between two or
three of the chief of them, brought to him in an hour after, and an hour
after that, hath sent word thereof to the King, but nobody here regarded
them. But he tells me the sad news, that he is out of all expectations
that ever the debts of the Navy will be paid, if the Parliament do not
enable the King to do it by money; all they can hope for to do out
of the King's revenue being but to keep our wheels a-going on present
services, and, if they can, to cut off the growing interest: which is a
sad story, and grieves me to the heart. So home, my coach coming for me,
and there find Balty and Mr. How, who dined with me; and there my wife
and I fell out a little about the foulness of the linen of the table,
but were friends presently, but she cried, poor heart! which I was
troubled for, though I did not give her one hard word. Dinner done, she
to church, and W. How and I all the afternoon talking together about my
Lord Sandwich's suffering his business of the prizes to be managed by
Sir R. Cuttance, who is so deep in the business, more than my Lord knows
of, and such a loggerhead, and under such prejudice, that he will, we
doubt, do my Lord much wrong. In the evening, he gone, my wife to read
to me and talk, and spent the evening with much pleasure, and so to
supper and to bed.
28th. Up, called up by drums and trumpets; these things and boxes [??]
having cost me much money this Christmas already, and will do more.
My wife down by water to see her mother, and I with W. Hewer all
day together in my closet making some advance in the settling of my
accounts, which have been so long unevened that it troubles me how to
set them right, having not the use of my eyes to help me. My wife
at night home, and tells me how much her mother prays for me and is
troubled for my eyes; and I am glad to have friendship with them, and
believe they are truly glad to see their daughter come to live so well
as she do. So spent the night in talking, and so to supper and to bed.
29th. Up, and at the Office all the morning, and at noon to dinner, and
there, by a pleasant mistake, find my uncle and aunt Wight, and three
more of their company, come to dine with me to-day, thinking that they
had been invited, which they were not; but yet we did give them a pretty
good dinner, and mighty merry at the mistake. They sat most of the
afternoon with us, and then parted, and my wife and I out, thinking to
have gone to a play, but it was too far begun, and so to the 'Change,
and there she and I bought several things, and so home, with much
pleasure talking, and then to reading, and so to supper and to bed.
30th. Up, and vexed a little to be forced to pay 40s. for a glass of my
coach, which was broke the other day, nobody knows how, within the door,
while it was down; but I do doubt that I did break it myself with my
knees. After dinner, my wife and I to the Duke's playhouse, and there
did see King Harry the Eighth; and was mightily pleased, better than I
ever expected, with the history and shows of it. We happened to sit by
Mr. Andrews, our neighbour, and his wife, who talked so fondly to his
little boy. Thence my wife and I to the 'Change; but, in going, our
neere horse did fling himself, kicking of the coachbox over the pole;
and a great deal of trouble it was to get him right again, and we forced
to 'light, and in great fear of spoiling the horse, but there was no
hurt. So to the 'Change, and then home, and there spent the evening
talking, and so to supper and to bed.
31st. Up, and at the Office all the morning. At noon Capt. Ferrers and
Mr. Sheres
[Henry Sheres accompanied Lord Sandwich in his embassy to Spain, and
returned to England in September, 1667, bearing letters from the
ambassador (see September 8th, 22nd, 27th). He was an officer in
the Ordnance, and served under Lord Dartmouth at the demolition of
the Mole at Tangier in 1683. He was knighted about 1684. He
translated Polybius (2 vols. 8vo., 1693), and also some of the
"Dialogues" of Lucian, included in the translation published in 1711
(3 vols. 8vo.). Pepys bequeathed him a ring, and he died about
1713.]
come to me to dinner, who did, and pretty pleased with their talk of
Spayne; but my wife did not come down, I suppose because she would
not, Captain Ferrers being there, to oblige me by it. They gone, after
dinner, I to the office, and then in the evening home, being the last
day of the year, to endeavour to pay all bills and servants' wages, &c.,
which I did almost to L5 that I know that I owe in the world, but to the
publique; and so with great pleasure to supper and to bed, and, blessed
be God! the year ends, after some late very great sorrow with my wife
by my folly, yet ends, I say, with great mutual peace and content, and
likely to last so by my care, who am resolved to enjoy the sweet of
it, which I now possess, by never giving her like cause of trouble. My
greatest trouble is now from the backwardness of my accounts, which I
have not seen the bottom of now near these two years, so that I know not
in what condition I am in the world, but by the grace of God, as far as
my eyes will give me leave, I will do it.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, 1668 N.S., COMPLETE:
A book the Bishops will not let be printed again
Act against Nonconformists and Papists
All things to be managed with faction
And will not kiss a woman since his wife's death
And the woman so silly, as to let her go that took it
And they did lay pigeons to his feet
As all other women, cry, and yet talk of other things
At work, till I was almost blind, which makes my heart sad
Beating of a poor little dog to death, letting it lie
Being very poor and mean as to the bearing with trouble
Being the people that, at last, will be found the wisest
Best fence against the Parliament's present fury is delay
Bite at the stone, and not at the hand that flings it
Bookseller's, and there looked for Montaigne's Essays
Bought Montaigne's Essays, in English
Bristol milk (the sherry) in the vaults
Burned it, that it might not be among my books to my shame
Business of abusing the Puritans begins to grow stale
But get no ground there yet
But this the world believes, and so let them
But what they did, I did not enquire
But if she will ruin herself, I cannot help it
Calling me dog and rogue, and that I had a rotten heart
Cannot get suitably, without breach of his honour
Cannot be clean to go so many bodies together in the same water
Carry them to a box, which did cost me 20s., besides oranges
Caustic attack on Sir Robert Howard
City to be burned, and the Papists to cut our throats
City pay him great respect, and he the like to the meanest
Coach to W. Coventry about Mrs. Pett, 1s.
Come to see them in bed together, on their wedding-night
Cost me L5, which troubles me, but yet do please me also
Craft and cunning concerning the buying and choosing of horses
Declared, if he come, she would not live with me
Did see the knaveries and tricks of jockeys
Disorder in the pit by its raining in, from the cupola
Doe from Cobham, when the season comes, bucks season being past
Down to the Whey house and drank some and eat some curds
Eat some butter and radishes
Endangering the nation, when he knew himself such a coward
Espinette is the French term for a small harpsichord
Ever have done his maister better service than to hang for him?
Family governed so nobly and neatly as do me good to see it
Fear what would become of me if any real affliction should come
Fear that the goods and estate would be seized (after suicide)
Fears some will stand for the tolerating of Papists
Force a man to swear against himself
Forced to change gold, 8s. 7d.; servants and poor, 1s. 6d.
Forgetting many things, which her master beat her for
Frequent trouble in things we deserve best in
Glad to be at friendship with me, though we hate one another
Greater number of Counsellors is, the more confused the issue
Hath not a liberty of begging till he hath served three years
Have me get to be a Parliament-man the next Parliament
He that will not stoop for a pin, will never be worth a pound
He told me that he had so good spies
How natural it is for us to slight people out of power
I know not how in the world to abstain from reading
I have a good mind to have the maidenhead of this girl
I could have answered, but forbore
I away with great content, my mind being troubled before
I know not whether to be glad or sorry
In my nature am mighty unready to answer no to anything
Inventing a better theory of musique
It may be, be able to pay for it, or have health
King, "it is then but Mr. Pepys making of another speech to them"
L'escholle des filles, a lewd book
Lady Castlemayne do rule all at this time as much as ever
Laissez nous affaire--Colbert
Little company there, which made it very unpleasing
Little pleasure now in a play, the company being but little
Live of L100 a year with more plenty, and wine and wenches
Made him admire my drawing a thing presently in shorthand
Making their own advantages to the disturbance of the peace
My wife having a mind to see the play "Bartholomew-Fayre"
My wife hath something in her gizzard, that only waits
My wife, coming up suddenly, did find me embracing the girl
My wife's neglect of things, and impertinent humour
My heart beginning to falsify in this business
Never saw so many sit four hours together to hear any man
No pleasure--only the variety of it
No man was ever known to lose the first time
Nonconformists do now preach openly in houses
Not eat a bit of good meat till he has got money to pay the men
Offered to shew my wife further satisfaction if she desired
Parliament being vehement against the Nonconformists
Pictures of some Maids of Honor: good, but not like
Presbyterian style and the Independent are the best
Resolve never to give her trouble of that kind more
Resolved to go through it, and it is too late to help it now
Ridiculous nonsensical book set out by Will. Pen, for the Quaker
Rough notes were made to serve for a sort of account book
Saw two battles of cocks, wherein is no great sport
Saw "Mackbeth," to our great content
Seeing that he cared so little if he was out
She loves to be taken dressing herself, as I always find her
Should alway take somebody with me, or her herself
Shows how unfit I am for trouble
Sir, your faithful and humble servant
Slabbering themselves, and mirth fit for clownes
So out, and lost our way, which made me vexed
So time do alter, and do doubtless the like in myself
Suffered her humour to spend, till we begun to be very quiet
Tell me that I speak in my dreams
The factious part of the Parliament
The manner of the gaming
The most ingenious men may sometimes be mistaken
The devil being too cunning to discourage a gamester
Their ladies in the box, being grown mighty kind of a sudden
There being no curse in the world so great as this
There setting a poor man to keep my place
This kind of prophane, mad entertainment they give themselves
Though I know it will set the Office and me by the ears for ever
To be enjoyed while we are young and capable of these joys
Tried the effect of my silence and not provoking her
Trouble, and more money, to every Watch, to them to drink
Troubled me, to see the confidence of the vice of the age
Turn out every man that will be drunk, they must turn out all
Uncertainty of beauty
Up, finding our beds good, but lousy; which made us merry
Vexed me, but I made no matter of it, but vexed to myself
Weather being very wet and hot to keep meat in.
When he was seriously ill he declared himself a Roman Catholic
Where I expect most I find least satisfaction
Where a pedlar was in bed, and made him rise
Whip a boy at each place they stop at in their procession
Whom I find in bed, and pretended a little not well
With hangings not fit to be seen with mine
Without importunity or the contrary
Work that is not made the work of any one man