Excise Office with W. Hewer, but found some occasion to go another way
to the Temple upon business, and I by Deb.'s direction did know whither
in Jewen Street to direct my hackney coachman, while I staid in the
coach in Aldgate Street, to go thither just to enquire whether Mrs.
Hunt, her aunt, was in town, who brought me word she was not; thought
this was as much as I could do at once, and therefore went away troubled
through that I could do no more but to the office I must go and did, and
there all the morning, but coming thither I find Bagwell's wife, who did
give me a little note into my hand, wherein I find her para invite me
para meet her in Moorfields this noon, where I might speak with her, and
so after the office was up, my wife being gone before by invitation to
my cozen Turner's to dine, I to the place, and there, after walking
up and down by the windmills, I did find her and talk with her, but it
being holiday and the place full of people, we parted, leaving further
discourse and doing to another time. Thence I away, and through Jewen
Street, my mind, God knows, running that way, but stopped not, but going
down Holborne hill, by the Conduit, I did see Deb. on foot going up the
hill. I saw her, and she me, but she made no stop, but seemed unwilling
to speak to me; so I away on, but then stopped and 'light, and after her
and overtook her at the end of Hosier lane in Smithfield, and without
standing in the street desired her to follow me, and I led her into a
little blind alehouse within the walls, and there she and I alone fell
to talk and baiser la and toker su mammailles, but she mighty coy, and
I hope modest.... I did give her in a paper 20s., and we did agree para
meet again in the Hall at Westminster on Monday next; and so giving me
great hopes by her carriage that she continues modest and honest, we did
there part, she going home and I to Mrs. Turner's, but when I come back
to the place where I left my coach it was gone, I having staid too long,
which did trouble me to abuse the poor fellow, so that taking another
coach I did direct him to find out the fellow and send him to me. At my
cozen Turner's I find they are gone all to dinner to Povy's, and thither
I, and there they were all, and W. Batelier and his sister, and had
dined; but I had good things brought me, and then all up and down the
house, and mightily pleased to see the fine rooms: but, the truth is,
there are so many bad pictures, that to me make the good ones lose much
of the pleasure in seeing them. The. and Betty Turner in new flowered
tabby gowns, and so we were pretty merry, only my fear upon me for what
I had newly done, do keep my content in. So, about five or six o'clock,
away, and I took my wife and the two Bateliers, and carried them
homeward, and W. Batelier 'lighting, I carried the women round by
Islington, and so down Bishopsgate Street home, and there to talk and
sup, and then to bed.
16th. Up, and to my chamber, where with Mr. Gibson all the morning,
and there by noon did almost finish what I had to write about the
Administration of the Office to present to the Duke of York, and my wife
being gone abroad with W. Hewer, to see the new play to-day, at the
Duke of York's house, "Guzman," I dined alone with my people, and in the
afternoon away by coach to White Hall; and there the Office attended the
Duke of York; and being despatched pretty soon, and told that we should
not wait on the King, as intended, till Sunday, I thence presently to
the Duke of York's playhouse, and there, in the 18d. seat, did get
room to see almost three acts of the play; but it seemed to me but very
ordinary. After the play done, I into the pit, and there find my wife
and W. Hewer; and Sheres got to them, which, so jealous is my nature,
did trouble me, though my judgment tells me there is no hurt in it, on
neither side; but here I did meet with Shadwell, the poet, who, to my
great wonder, do tell me that my Lord of [Orrery] did write this play,
trying what he could do in comedy, since his heroique plays could do no
more wonders. This do trouble me; for it is as mean a thing, and so he
says, as hath been upon the stage a great while; and Harris, who hath no
part in it, did come to me, and told me in discourse that he was glad of
it, it being a play that will not take. Thence home, and to my business
at the office, to finish it, but was in great pain about yesterday
still, lest my wife should have sent her porter to enquire anything,
though for my heart I cannot see it possible how anything could be
discovered of it, but yet such is fear as to render me full of doubt and
disgust. At night to supper and to bed.
17th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning. At noon at home to
dinner, and there find Mr. Pierce, the surgeon, and he dined with us;
and there hearing that "The Alchymist" was acted, we did go, and took
him with us to the King's house; and it is still a good play, having not
been acted for two or three years before; but I do miss Clun, for the
Doctor. But more my eyes will not let me enjoy the pleasure I used to
have in a play. Thence with my wife in hackney to Sir W. Coventry's, who
being gone to the Park we drove after him, and there met him coming
out, and followed him home, and there sent my wife to Unthanke's while
I spent on hour with him reading over first my draught of the
Administration of the Navy, which he do like very well; and so fell
to talk of other things, and among the rest of the story of his
late disgrace, and how basely and in what a mean manner the Duke of
Buckingham hath proceeded against him--not like a man of honour. He
tells me that the King will not give other answer about his coming to
kiss his hands, than "Not yet." But he says that this that he desires,
of kissing the King's hand, is only to show to the world that he is not
discontented, and not in any desire to come again into play, though I do
perceive that he speaks this with less earnestness than heretofore:
and this, it may be, is, from what he told me lately, that the King is
offended at what is talked, that he hath declared himself desirous
not to have to do with any employment more. But he do tell me that the
leisure he hath yet had do not at all begin to be burdensome to him, he
knowing how to spend his time with content to himself; and that he hopes
shortly to contract his expence, so as that he shall not be under
any straits in that respect neither; and so seems to be in very good
condition of content. Thence I away over the Park, it being now night,
to White Hall, and there, in the Duchess's chamber, do find the Duke
of York; and, upon my offer to speak with him, he did come to me, and
withdrew to his closet, and there did hear and approve my paper of the
Administration of the Navy, only did bid me alter these words, "upon
the rupture between the late King and the Parliament," to these, "the
beginning of the late Rebellion;" giving it me as but reason to shew
that it was with the Rebellion that the Navy was put by out of its old
good course, into that of a Commission. Having done this, we fell to
other talk; he with great confidence telling me how matters go among our
adversaries, in reference to the Navy, and that he thinks they do begin
to flag; but then, beginning to talk in general of the excellency of old
constitutions, he did bring out of his cabinet, and made me read it, an
extract out of a book of my late Lord of Northumberland's, so prophetic
of the business of Chatham, as is almost miraculous. I did desire, and
he did give it me to copy out, which pleased me mightily, and so, it
being late, I away and to my wife, and by hackney; home, and there,
my eyes being weary with reading so much: but yet not so much as I was
afeard they would, we home to supper and to bed.
18th (Lord's day). Up, and all the morning till 2 o'clock at my
Office, with Gibson and Tom, about drawing up fair my discourse of the
Administration of the Navy, and then, Mr. Spong being come to dine with
me, I in to dinner, and then out to my Office again, to examine the fair
draught; and so borrowing Sir J. Minnes's coach, he going with Colonel
Middleton, I to White Hall, where we all met and did sign it and then
to my Lord Arlington's, where the King, and the Duke of York, and Prince
Rupert, as also Ormond and the two Secretaries, with my Lord Ashly
and Sir T. Clifton was. And there, by and by, being called in, Mr.
Williamson did read over our paper, which was in a letter to the Duke of
York, bound up in a book with the Duke of York's Book of Instructions.
He read it well; and, after read, we were bid to withdraw, nothing being
at all said to it. And by and by we were called in again, and nothing
said to that business; but another begun, about the state of this year's
action, and our wants of money, as I had stated the same lately to our
Treasurers; which I was bid, and did largely, and with great content,
open. And having so done, we all withdrew, and left them to debate our
supply of money; to which, being called in, and referred to attend on
the Lords of the Treasury, we all departed. And I only staid in the
House till the Council rose; and then to the Duke of York, who in the
Duchess's chamber come to me, and told me that the book was there left
with my Lord Arlington, for any of the Lords to view that had a mind,
and to prepare and present to the King what they had to say in writing,
to any part of it, which is all we can desire, and so that rested. The
Duke of York then went to other talk; and by and by comes the Prince
of Tuscany to visit him, and the Duchess; and I find that he do still
remain incognito, and so intends to do all the time he stays here, for
avoiding trouble to the King and himself, and expence also to both.
Thence I to White Hall Gate, thinking to have found Sir J. Minnes's
coach staying for me; but, not being there, and this being the first day
of rain we have had many a day, the streets being as dusty as in summer,
I forced to walk to my cozen Turner's, and there find my wife newly gone
home, which vexed me, and so I, having kissed and taken leave of Betty,
who goes to Putney to school to-morrow, I walked through the rain to the
Temple, and there, with much ado, got a coach, and so home, and there to
supper, and Pelling comes to us, and after much talk, we parted, and to
bed.
19th. Up, and with Tom (whom, with his wife, I, and my wife, had this
morning taken occasion to tell that I did intend to give him L40 for
himself, and L20 to his wife, towards their setting out in the world,
and that my wife would give her L20 more, that she might have as much to
begin with as he) by coach to White Hall, and there having set him work
in the Robe Chamber, to write something for me, I to Westminster Hall,
and there walked from 10 o'clock to past 12, expecting to have met Deb.,
but whether she had been there before, and missing me went away, or is
prevented in coming, and hath no mind to come to me (the last whereof,
as being most pleasing, as shewing most modesty, I should be most glad
of), I know not, but she not then appearing, I being tired with walking
went home, and my wife being all day at Jane's, helping her, as she
said, to cut out linen and other things belonging to her new condition,
I after dinner out again, and, calling for my coach, which was at the
coachmaker's, and hath been for these two or three days, to be new
painted, and the window-frames gilt against May-day, went on with my
hackney to White Hall, and thence by water to Westminster Hall, and
there did beckon to Doll Lane, now Mrs. Powell, as she would have
herself called, and went to her sister Martin's lodgings, the first time
I have been there these eight or ten months, I think, and her sister
being gone to Portsmouth to her Y husband, I did stay and talk and drink
with Doll.... So away:; and to White Hall, and there took my own coach,
which was now come, and so away home, and there to do business, and my
wife being come home we to talk and to sup, there having been nothing
yet like discovery in my wife of what hath lately passed with me about
Deb., and so with great content to bed
20th. Up; and to the Office, and my wife abroad with Mary Batelier, with
our own coach, but borrowed Sir J Minnes's coachman, that so our own
might stay at home, to attend at dinner; our family being mightily
disordered by our little boy's falling sick the last night; and we fear
it will prove the small-pox. At noon comes my guest, Mr. Hugh May, and
with him Sir Henry Capell, my old Lord Capel's son, and Mr. Parker; and
I had a pretty dinner for them; and both before and after dinner had
excellent discourse; and shewed them my closet and my Office, and the
method of it to their great content; and more extraordinary, manly
discourse and opportunity of shewing myself, and learning from others, I
have not, in ordinary discourse, had in my life, they being all persons
of worth, but especially Sir H. Capell, whose being a Parliament-man,
and hearing my discourse in the Parliament-house, hath, as May tells me,
given him along desire to know and discourse with me. In the afternoon
we walked to the Old Artillery-Ground' near the Spitalfields, where I
never was before, but now, by Captain Deane's invitation, did go to
see his new gun tryed, this being the place where the Officers of the
Ordnance do try all their great guns; and when we come, did find that
the trial had been made; and they going away with extraordinary report
of the proof of his gun, which, from the shortness and bigness, they do
call Punchinello. But I desired Colonel Legg to stay and give us a sight
of her performance, which he did, and there, in short, against a gun
more than as long and as heavy again, and charged with as much powder
again, she carried the same bullet as strong to the mark, and nearer and
above the mark at a point blank than theirs, and is more easily managed,
and recoyles no more than that, which is a thing so extraordinary as to
be admired for the happiness of his invention, and to the great regret
of the old Gunners and Officers of the Ordnance that were there, only
Colonel Legg did do her much right in his report of her. And so, having
seen this great and first experiment, we all parted, I seeing my guests
into a hackney coach, and myself, with Captain Deane, taking a hackney
coach, did go out towards Bow, and went as far as Stratford, and all the
way talking of this invention, and he offering me a third of the profit
of the invention; which, for aught I know, or do at present think, may
prove matter considerable to us: for either the King will give him a
reward for it, if he keeps it to himself, or he will give us a patent
to make our profit of it: and no doubt but it will be of profit to
merchantmen and others, to have guns of the same force at half the
charge. This was our talk: and then to talk of other things, of the Navy
in general: and, among other things, he did tell me that he do hear
how the Duke of Buckingham hath a spite at me, which I knew before, but
value it not: and he tells me that Sir T. Allen is not my friend; but
for all this I am not much troubled, for I know myself so usefull that,
as I believe, they will not part with me; so I thank God my condition
is such that I can; retire, and be able to live with comfort, though
not with abundance. Thus we spent the evening with extraordinary good
discourse, to my great content, and so home to the Office, and there did
some business, and then home, where my wife do come home, and I vexed
at her staying out so late, but she tells me that she hath been at home
with M. Batelier a good while, so I made nothing of it, but to supper
and to bed.
21st. Up; and with my own coach as far as the Temple, and thence sent it
to my cozen Turner, who, to ease her own horses, that are going with her
out of town, do borrow mine to-day. So I to Auditor Wood's, and thereto
meet, and met my Lord Bellassis upon some business of his accounts, and
having done that did thence go to St. James's, and attended the Duke of
York a little, being the first time of my waiting on him at St. James's
this summer, whither he is now newly gone and thence walked to White
Hall; and so, by and by, to the Council-Chamber, and heard a remarkable
cause pleaded between the Farmers of the Excise of Wiltshire, in
complaint against the justices of Peace of Salisbury: and Sir H. Finch
was for the former. But, Lord! to see how he did with his admirable
eloquence order the matter, is not to be conceived almost: so pleasant
a thing it is to hear him plead. Then at noon by coach home, and thither
by and by comes cozen Turner, and The., and Joyce, in their riding-clod:
they being come from their lodgings to her husbands chamber, at the
Temple, and there do lie, and purpose to go out of town on Friday next;
and here I had a good dinner for them. After dinner by water to White
Hall, where the Duke of York did meet our Office, and went with us to
the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury; and there we did go over all
the business of the state I had drawn up, of this year's action and
expence, which I did do to their satisfaction, and convincing them of
the necessity of providing more money, if possible, for us. Thence the
Duke of York being gone, I did there stay walking with Sir H. Cholmly in
the Court, talking of news; where he told me, that now the great design
of the Duke of Buckingham is to prevent the meeting, since he cannot
bring about with the King the dissolving, of this Parliament, that
the King may not need it; and therefore my Lord St. Albans is hourly
expected with great offers of a million of money,--[From Louis XIV. See
April 28th]--to buy our breach with the Dutch: and this, they do think,
may tempt the King to take the money, and thereby be out of a necessity
of calling the Parliament again, which these people dare not suffer to
meet again: but this he doubts, and so do I, that it will be to the ruin
of the nation if we fall out with Holland. This we were discoursing
when my boy comes to tell me that his mistress was at the Gate with the
coach, whither I went, and there find my wife and the whole company.
So she, and Mrs. Turner, and The., and Talbot, in mine: and Joyce, W.
Batelier, and I, in a hackney, to Hyde Park, where I was ashamed to be
seen; but mightily pleased, though troubled, with a drunken coachman
that did not remember when we come to 'light, where it was that he took
us up; but said at Hammersmith, and thither he was carrying of us
when we come first out of the Park. So I carried them all to
Hercules-Pillars, and there did treat them: and so, about ten at night,
parted, and my wife, and I, and W. Batelier, home; and he gone, we to
bed.
22nd. Up, and to the Office, where all the morning. At noon home
to dinner, and Captain Deane with us; and very good discourse, and
particularly about my getting a book for him to draw up his whole theory
of shipping, which, at my desire, he hath gone far in, and hath shewn
me what he hath done therein, to admiration. I did give him a
Parallelogram, which he is mightily taken with; and so after dinner
to the Office, where all the afternoon till night late, and then home.
Vexed at my wife's not being come home, she being gone again abroad with
M. Batelier, and come not home till ten at night, which vexed me, so
that I to bed, and lay in pain awake till past one, and then to sleep.
23rd. Going to rise, without saying anything, my wife stopped me; and,
after a little angry talk, did tell me how she spent all day yesterday
with M. Batelier and her sweetheart, and seeing a play at the New
Nursery, which is set up at the house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which
was formerly the King's house. So that I was mightily pleased again, and
rose a with great content; and so by water to White Hall, and there to
the Council-Chamber, and heard two or three causes: among others, that
of the complaint of Sir Philip Howard and Watson, the inventors, as
they pretend, of the business of varnishing and lackerworke, against the
Company of Painters, who take upon them to do the same thing; where I
saw a great instance of the weakness of a young Counsel not used to such
an audience, against the Solicitor-General and two more able Counsel
used to it. Though he had the right of, his side, and did prevail for
what he pretended to against the rest, yet it was with much disadvantage
and hazard. Here, also I heard Mr. Papillion' make his defence to the
King, against some complaints of the Farmers of Excise; but it was so
weak, and done only by his own seeking, that it was to his injury more
than profit, and made his case the worse, being ill managed, and in
a cause against the King. Thence at noon, the Council rising, I to
Unthanke's, and there by agreement met my wife, and with her to the
Cocke, and did give her a dinner, but yet both of us but in an ill
humour, whatever was the matter with her, but thence to the King's
playhouse, and saw "The Generous Portugalls," a play that pleases me
better and better every time we see it; and, I thank God! it did not
trouble my eyes so much as I was afeard it would. Here, by accident, we
met Mr. Sheres, and yet I could not but be troubled, because my wife
do so delight to talk of him, and to see him. Nevertheless, we took him
with us to our mercer's, and to the Exchange, and he helped me to choose
a summer-suit of coloured camelott, coat and breeches, and a flowered
tabby vest very rich; and so home, where he took his leave, and down to
Greenwich, where he hath some friends; and I to see Colonel Middleton,
who hath been ill for a day or two, or three; and so home to supper, and
to bed.
24th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, and at noon home
to dinner, Mr. Sheres dining with us by agreement; and my wife, which
troubled me, mighty careful to have a handsome dinner for him; but yet
I see no reason to be troubled at it, he being a very civil and worthy
man, I think; but only it do seem to imply some little neglect of me.
After dinner to the King's house, and there saw "The General" revived--a
good play, that pleases me well, and thence, our coach coming for us, we
parted and home, and I busy late at the office, and then home to supper
and to bed. Well pleased to-night to have Lead, the vizard-maker, bring
me home my vizard, with a tube fastened in it, which, I think, will do
my business, at least in a great measure, for the easing of my eyes.
25th (Lord's day). Up, and to my Office awhile, and thither comes Lead
with my vizard, with a tube fastened within both eyes; which, with
the help which he prompts me to, of a glass in the tube, do content
me mightily. So to church, where a stranger made a dull sermon, but I
mightily pleased to looks upon Mr. Buckworth's little pretty daughters,
and so home to, dinner, where W. Howe come and dined with us; and then
I to my Office, he being gone, to write down my journal for the last
twelve days: and did it with the help of my vizard and tube fixed to it,
and do find it mighty manageable, but how helpfull to my eyes this trial
will shew me. So abroad with my wife, in the afternoon, to the Park,
where very much company, and the weather very pleasant. I carried my
wife to the Lodge, the first time this year, and there in our coach eat
a cheese-cake and drank a tankard of milk. I showed her this day also
first the Prince of Tuscany, who was in the Park, and many very fine
ladies, and so home, and after supper to bed.