[Lincoln's Inn Fields] was taken for the Commissioners of Trade and
Plantations, and furnished with rich hangings of the King's. It
consisted of seven rooms on a floor, with a long gallery, gardens, etc.
This day we met the Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord
Culpeper, Sir George Carteret, Vice-Chamberlain, and myself, had the
oaths given us by the Earl of Sandwich, our President. It was to advise
and counsel his Majesty, to the best of our abilities, for the
well-governing of his Foreign Plantations, etc., the form very little
differing from that given to the Privy Council. We then took our places
at the Board in the Council-Chamber, a very large room furnished with
atlases, maps, charts, globes, etc. Then came the Lord Keeper, Sir
Orlando Bridgeman, Earl of Arlington, Secretary of State, Lord Ashley,
Mr. Treasurer, Sir John Trevor, the other Secretary, Sir John Duncomb,
Lord Allington, Mr. Grey, son to the Lord Grey, Mr. Henry Broncher, Sir
Humphrey Winch, Sir John Finch, Mr. Waller, and Colonel Titus, of the
bedchamber, with Mr. Slingsby, Secretary to the Council, and two Clerks
of the Council, who had all been sworn some days before. Being all set,
our Patent was read, and then the additional Patent, in which was
recited this new establishment; then, was delivered to each a copy of
the Patent, and of instructions: after which, we proceeded to business.
The first thing we did was, to settle the form of a circular letter to
the Governors of all his Majesty's Plantations and Territories in the
West Indies and Islands thereof, to give them notice to whom they should
apply themselves on all occasions, and to render us an account of their
present state and government; but, what we most insisted on was, to know
the condition of New England, which appearing to be very independent as
to their regard to Old England, or his Majesty, rich and strong as they
now were, there were great debates in what style to write to them; for
the condition of that Colony was such, that they were able to contest
with all other Plantations about them, and there was fear of their
breaking from all dependence on this nation; his Majesty, therefore,
commended this affair more expressly. We, therefore, thought fit, in the
first place, to acquaint ourselves as well as we could of the state of
that place, by some whom we heard of that were newly come from thence,
and to be informed of their present posture and condition; some of our
Council were for sending them a menacing letter, which those who better
understood the peevish and touchy humor of that Colony, were utterly
against.
A letter was then read from Sir Thomas Modiford, Governor of Jamaica;
and then the Council broke up.
Having brought an action against one Cocke, for money which he had
received for me, it had been referred to an arbitration by the
recommendation of that excellent good man, the Chief-Justice Hale,[27]
but, this not succeeding, I went to advise with that famous lawyer, Mr.
Jones, of Gray's Inn, and, 27th of May, had a trial before Lord Chief
Justice Hale; and, after the lawyers had wrangled sufficiently, it was
referred to a new arbitration. This was the very first suit at law that
ever I had with any creature, and oh, that it might be the last!
[Footnote 27: Sir Matthew Hale, so famous as one of the justices of
the bench in Cromwell's time. After the Restoration, he became Chief
Baron of the Exchequer; then Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and
died in 1676. The author of numerous works, not only on professional
subjects, but on mathematics and philosophy.]
1st June, 1671. An installation at Windsor.
6th June, 1671. I went to Council, where was produced a most exact and
ample information of the state of Jamaica, and of the best expedients as
to New England, on which there was a long debate; but at length it was
concluded that, if any, it should be only a conciliating paper at first,
or civil letter, till we had better information of the present face of
things, since we understood they were a people almost upon the very
brink of renouncing any dependence on the Crown.
19th June, 1671. To a splendid dinner at the great room in Deptford
Trinity House, Sir Thomas Allen chosen Master, and succeeding the Earl
of Craven.
[Sidenote: LONDON]
20th June, 1671. To carry Colonel Middleton to Whitehall, to my Lord
Sandwich, our President, for some information which he was able to give
of the state of the Colony in New England.
21st June, 1671. To Council again, when one Colonel Cartwright, a
Nottinghamshire man, (formerly in commission with Colonel Nicholls) gave
us a considerable relation of that country; on which the Council
concluded that in the first place a letter of amnesty should be
dispatched.
24th June, 1671. Constantine Huygens, Signor of Zuylichem, that
excellent learned man, poet, and musician, now near eighty years of age,
a vigorous, brisk man,[28] came to take leave of me before his return
into Holland with the Prince, whose Secretary he was.
[Footnote 28: He died in 1687, at the great age of 90 years and 6
months. Constantine and his son, Christian Huygens, were both
eminent for scientific knowledge and classical attainments;
Christian, particularly so; for he was the inventor of the pendulum,
made an improvement in the air-pump, first discovered the ring and
one of the satellites of Saturn, and ascertained the laws of
collision of elastic bodies. He died in 1695. Constantine, the
father, was a person of influence and distinction in Holland, and
held the post of secretary to the Prince of Orange.]
26th June, 1671. To Council, where Lord Arlington acquainted us that it
was his Majesty's proposal we should, every one of us, contribute £20
toward building a Council chamber and conveniences somewhere in
Whitehall, that his Majesty might come and sit among us, and hear our
debates; the money we laid out to be reimbursed out of the contingent
moneys already set apart for us, viz, £1,000 yearly. To this we
unanimously consented. There came an uncertain bruit from Barbadoes of
some disorder there. On my return home I stepped in at the theater to
see the new machines for the intended scenes, which were indeed very
costly and magnificent.
29th June, 1671. To Council, where were letters from Sir Thomas
Modiford, of the expedition and exploit of Colonel Morgan, and others of
Jamaica, on the Spanish Continent at Panama.
4th July, 1671. To Council, where we drew up and agreed to a letter to
be sent to New England, and made some proposal to Mr. Gorges, for his
interest in a plantation there.
24th July, 1671. To Council. Mr. Surveyor brought us a plot for the
building of our Council chamber, to be erected at the end of the Privy
garden, in Whitehall.
3d August, 1671. A full appearance at the Council. The matter in debate
was, whether we should send a deputy to New England, requiring them of
the Massachusetts to restore such to their limits and respective
possessions, as had petitioned the Council; this to be the open
commission only; but, in truth, with secret instructions to inform us of
the condition of those Colonies, and whether they were of such power, as
to be able to resist his Majesty and declare for themselves as
independent of the Crown, which we were told, and which of late years
made them refractory. Colonel Middleton, being called in, assured us
they might be curbed by a few of his Majesty's first-rate frigates, to
spoil their trade with the islands; but, though my Lord President was
not satisfied, the rest were, and we did resolve to advise his Majesty
to send Commissioners with a formal commission for adjusting boundaries,
etc., with some other instructions.
19th August, 1671. To Council. The letters of Sir Thomas Modiford were
read, giving relation of the exploit at Panama, which was very brave;
they took, burned, and pillaged the town of vast treasures, but the best
of the booty had been shipped off, and lay at anchor in the South Sea,
so that, after our men had ranged the country sixty miles about, they
went back to Nombre de Dios, and embarked for Jamaica. Such an action
had not been done since the famous Drake.
I dined at the Hamburg Resident's, and, after dinner, went to the
christening of Sir Samuel Tuke's son, Charles, at Somerset House, by a
Popish priest, and many odd ceremonies. The godfathers were the King,
and Lord Arundel of Wardour, and godmother, the Countess of Huntingdon.
[Sidenote: LONDON]
29th August, 1671. To London, with some more papers of my progress in
the Dutch War, delivered to the Treasurer.
1st September, 1671. Dined with the Treasurer, in company with my Lord
Arlington, Halifax, and Sir Thomas Strickland; and next day, went home,
being the anniversary of the late dreadful fire of London.
13th September, 1671. This night fell a dreadful tempest.
15th September, 1671. In the afternoon at Council, where letters were
read from Sir Charles Wheeler, concerning his resigning his government
of St. Christopher's.
21st September, 1671. I dined in the city, at the fraternity feast in
Ironmongers' Hall, where the four stewards chose their successors for
the next year, with a solemn procession, garlands about their heads, and
music playing before them; so, coming up to the upper tables where the
gentlemen sat, they drank to the new stewards; and so we parted.
22d September, 1671. I dined at the Treasurer's, where I had discourse
with Sir Henry Jones (now come over to raise a regiment of horse),
concerning the French conquests in Lorraine; he told me the King sold
all things to the soldiers, even to a handful of hay.
Lord Sunderland was now nominated Ambassador to Spain.
After dinner, the Treasurer carried me to Lincoln's Inn, to one of the
Parliament Clerks, to obtain of him, that I might carry home and peruse,
some of the Journals, which were, accordingly, delivered to me to
examine about the late Dutch War. Returning home, I went on shore to see
the Custom House, now newly rebuilt since the dreadful conflagration.
[Sidenote: LONDON]
9th and 10th October, 1671. I went, after evening service, to London,
in order to a journey of refreshment with Mr. Treasurer, to Newmarket,
where the King then was, in his coach with six brave horses, which we
changed thrice, first, at Bishop-Stortford, and last, at Chesterford;
so, by night, we got to Newmarket, where Mr. Henry Jermain (nephew to
the Earl of St. Alban) lodged me very civilly. We proceeded immediately
to Court, the King and all the English gallants being there at their
autumnal sports. Supped at the Lord Chamberlain's; and, the next day,
after dinner, I was on the heath, where I saw the great match run
between Woodcock and Flatfoot, belonging to the King, and to Mr. Eliot,
of the bedchamber, many thousands being spectators; a more signal race
had not been run for many years.
This over, I went that night with Mr. Treasurer to Euston, a palace of
Lord Arlington's, where we found Monsieur Colbert (the French
Ambassador), and the famous new French Maid of Honor, Mademoiselle
Querouaille, now coming to be in great favor with the King. Here was
also the Countess of Sunderland, and several lords and ladies, who
lodged in the house.
During my stay here with Lord Arlington, near a fortnight, his Majesty
came almost every second day with the Duke, who commonly returned to
Newmarket, but the King often lay here, during which time I had twice
the honor to sit at dinner with him, with all freedom. It was
universally reported that the fair lady ----, was bedded one of these
nights, and the stocking flung, after the manner of a married bride; I
acknowledge she was for the most part in her undress all day, and that
there was fondness and toying with that young wanton; nay, it was said,
I was at the former ceremony; but it is utterly false; I neither saw nor
heard of any such thing while I was there, though I had been in her
chamber, and all over that apartment late enough, and was myself
observing all passages with much curiosity. However, it was with
confidence believed she was first made _a Miss_, as they called these
unhappy creatures, with solemnity at this time.
On Sunday, a young Cambridge divine preached an excellent sermon in the
chapel, the King and the Duke of York being present.
16th October, 1671. Came all the great men from Newmarket, and other
parts both of Suffolk and Norfolk, to make their court, the whole house
filled from one end to the other with lords, ladies, and gallants; there
was such a furnished table, as I had seldom seen, nor anything more
splendid and free, so that for fifteen days there were entertained at
least 200 people, and half as many horses, besides servants and guards,
at infinite expense.
In the morning, we went hunting and hawking; in the afternoon, till
almost morning, to cards and dice, yet I must say without noise,
swearing, quarrel, or confusion of any sort. I, who was no gamester, had
often discourse with the French Ambassador, Colbert, and went sometimes
abroad on horseback with the ladies to take the air, and now and then to
hunting; thus idly passing the time, but not without more often recess
to my pretty apartment, where I was quite out of all this hurry, and had
leisure when I would, to converse with books, for there is no man more
hospitably easy to be withal than my Lord Arlington, of whose particular
friendship and kindness I had ever a more than ordinary share. His house
is a very noble pile, consisting of four pavilions after the French,
beside a body of a large house, and, though not built altogether, but
formed of additions to an old house (purchased by his Lordship of one
Sir T. Rookwood) yet with a vast expense made not only capable and
roomsome, but very magnificent and commodious, as well within as
without, nor less splendidly furnished. The staircase is very elegant,
the garden handsome, the canal beautiful, but the soil dry, barren, and
miserably sandy, which flies in drifts as the wind sits. Here my Lord
was pleased to advise with me about ordering his plantations of firs,
elms, limes, etc., up his park, and in all other places and avenues. I
persuaded him to bring his park so near as to comprehend his house
within it; which he resolved upon, it being now near a mile to it. The
water furnishing the fountains, is raised by a pretty engine, or very
slight plain wheels, which likewise serve to grind his corn, from a
small cascade of the canal, the invention of Sir Samuel Morland. In my
Lord's house, and especially above the staircase, in the great hall and
some of the chambers and rooms of state, are paintings in fresco by
Signor Verrio, being the first work which he did in England.
[Sidenote: NORWICH]
17th October, 1671. My Lord Henry Howard coming this night to visit my
Lord Chamberlain, and staying a day, would needs have me go with him to
Norwich, promising to convey me back, after a day or two; this, as I
could not refuse, I was not hard to be pursuaded to, having a desire to
see that famous scholar and physician, Dr. T. Browne, author of the
"_Religio Medici_" and "Vulgar Errors," now lately knighted. Thither,
then, went my Lord and I alone, in his flying chariot with six horses;
and by the way, discoursing with me of several of his concerns, he
acquainted me of his going to marry his eldest son to one of the King's
natural daughters, by the Duchess of Cleveland; by which he reckoned he
should come into mighty favor. He also told me that, though he kept that
idle creature, Mrs. B----, and would leave £200 a year to the son he had
by her, he would never marry her, and that the King himself had
cautioned him against it. All the world knows how he kept his promise,
and I was sorry at heart to hear what now he confessed to me; and that a
person and a family which I so much honored for the sake of that noble
and illustrious friend of mine, his grandfather, should dishonor and
pollute them both with those base and vicious courses he of late had
taken since the death of Sir Samuel Tuke, and that of his own virtuous
lady (my Lady Anne Somerset, sister to the Marquis); who, while they
lived, preserved this gentleman by their example and advice from those
many extravagances that impaired both his fortune and reputation.
Being come to the Ducal palace, my Lord made very much of me; but I had
little rest, so exceedingly desirous he was to show me the contrivance
he had made for the entertainment of their Majesties, and the whole
Court not long before, and which, though much of it was but temporary,
apparently framed of boards only, was yet standing. As to the palace, it
is an old wretched building, and that part of it newly built of brick,
is very ill understood; so as I was of the opinion it had been much
better to have demolished all, and set it up in a better place, than to
proceed any further; for it stands in the very market-place, and, though
near a river, yet a very narrow muddy one, without any extent.
Next morning, I went to see Sir Thomas Browne (with whom I had some
time corresponded by letter, though I had never seen him before); his
whole house and garden being a paradise and cabinet of rarities; and
that of the best collection, especially medals, books, plants, and
natural things. Among other curiosities, Sir Thomas had a collection of
the eggs of all the fowl and birds he could procure, that country
(especially the promontory of Norfolk) being frequented, as he said, by
several kinds which seldom or never go further into the land, as cranes,
storks, eagles, and variety of water fowl. He led me to see all the
remarkable places of this ancient city, being one of the largest, and
certainly, after London, one of the noblest of England, for its
venerable cathedral, number of stately churches, cleanness of the
streets, and buildings of flint so exquisitely headed and squared, as I
was much astonished at; but he told me they had lost the art of squaring
the flints, in which they so much excelled, and of which the churches,
best houses, and walls, are built. The Castle is an antique extent of
ground, which now they call Marsfield, and would have been a fitting
area to have placed the Ducal palace in. The suburbs are large, the
prospects sweet, with other amenities, not omitting the flower gardens,
in which all the inhabitants excel. The fabric of stuffs brings a vast
trade to this populous town.
Being returned to my Lord's, who had been with me all this morning, he
advised with me concerning a plot to rebuild his house, having already,
as he said, erected a front next the street, and a left wing, and now
resolving to set up another wing and pavilion next the garden, and to
convert the bowling green into stables. My advice was, to desist from
all, and to meditate wholly on rebuilding a handsome palace at Arundel
House, in the Strand, before he proceeded further here, and then to
place this in the Castle, that ground belonging to his Lordship.
I observed that most of the church yards (though some of them large
enough) were filled up with earth, or rather the congestion of dead
bodies one upon another, for want of earth, even to the very top of the
walls, and some above the walls, so as the churches seemed to be built
in pits.
18th October, 1671. I returned to Euston, in Lord Henry Howard's coach,
leaving him at Norwich, in company with a very ingenious gentleman, Mr.
White, whose father and mother (daughter to the late Lord Treasurer
Weston, Earl of Portland) I knew at Rome, where this gentleman was born,
and where his parents lived and died with much reputation, during their
banishment in our civil broils.
21st October, 1671. Quitting Euston, I lodged this night at Newmarket,
where I found the jolly blades racing, dancing, feasting, and reveling;
more resembling a luxurious and abandoned rout, than a Christian Court.
The Duke of Buckingham was now in mighty favor, and had with him that
impudent woman, the Countess of Shrewsbury, with his band of fiddlers,
etc.
Next morning, in company with Sir Bernard Gascoyne, and Lord Hawley, I
came in the Treasurer's coach to Bishop Stortford, where he gave us a
noble supper. The following day, to London, and so home.
14th November, 1671. To Council, where Sir Charles Wheeler, late
Governor of the Leeward Islands, having been complained of for many
indiscreet managements, it was resolved, on scanning many of the
particulars, to advise his Majesty to remove him; and consult what was
to be done, to prevent these inconveniences he had brought things to.
This business staid me in London almost a week, being in Council, or
Committee, every morning till the 25th.
27th November, 1671. We ordered that a proclamation should be presented
to his Majesty to sign, against what Sir Charles Wheeler had done in St.
Christopher's since the war, on the articles of peace at Breda. He was
shortly afterward recalled.
6th December, 1671. Came to visit me Sir William Haywood, a great
pretender to English antiquities.
14th December, 1671. Went to see the Duke of Buckingham's ridiculous
farce and rhapsody, called the "The Recital,"[29] buffooning all plays,
yet profane enough.
[Footnote 29: The well-known play of "The Rehearsal" is meant.]
23d December, 1671. The Councillors of the Board of Trade dined together
at the Cock, in Suffolk street.
12th January, 1671-72. His Majesty renewed us our lease of Sayes Court
pastures for ninety-nine years, but ought, according to his solemn
promise[30] (as I hope he will still perform), have passed them to us in
fee-farm.
[Footnote 30: The King's engagement, under his hand, is now at
Wotton.]
[Sidenote: LONDON]
23d January, 1672. To London, in order to Sir Richard Browne, my
father-in-law, resigning his place as Clerk of the Council to Joseph
Williamson, Esq., who was admitted, and was knighted. This place his
Majesty had promised to give me many years before; but, upon
consideration of the renewal of our lease and other reasons, I chose to
part with it to Sir Joseph, who gave us and the rest of his brother
clerks a handsome supper at his house; and, after supper, a concert of
music.
3d February, 1672. An extraordinary snow; part of the week was taken up
in consulting about the commission of prisoners of war, and instructions
to our officers, in order to a second war with the Hollanders, his
Majesty having made choice of the former commissioners, and myself among
them.
11th February, 1672. In the afternoon, that famous proselyte, Monsieur
Brevall, preached at the Abbey, in English, extremely well and with much
eloquence. He had been a Capuchin, but much better learned than most of
that order.
12th February, 1672. At the Council, we entered on inquiries about
improving the plantations by silks, galls, flax, senna, etc., and
considered how nutmegs and cinnamon might be obtained and brought to
Jamaica, that soil and climate promising success. Dr. Worsley being
called in, spoke many considerable things to encourage it. We took order
to send to the plantations, that none of their ships should adventure
homeward single, but stay for company and convoys. We also deliberated
on some fit person to go as commissioner to inspect their actions in New
England, and, from time to time, report how that people stood affected.
In future, to meet at Whitehall.
20th February, 1672. Dr. Parr, of Camberwell, preached a most pathetic
funeral discourse and panegyric at the interment of our late pastor, Dr.
Breton (who died on the 18th), on "Happy is the servant whom, when his
Lord cometh," etc. This good man, among other expressions, professed
that he had never been so touched and concerned at any loss as at this,
unless at that of King Charles our martyr, and Archbishop Usher, whose
chaplain he had been. Dr. Breton had preached on the 28th and 30th of
January: on the Friday, having fasted all day, making his provisionary
sermon for the Sunday following, he went well to bed; but was taken
suddenly ill and expired before help could come to him.