March 1st (Lord’s day). Up and walked to White Hall, to the Chappell,
where preached one Dr. Lewes, said heretofore to have been a great witt;
but he read his sermon every word, and that so brokenly and so low, that
nobody could hear at any distance, nor I anything worth hearing that
sat near. But, which was strange, he forgot to make any prayer before
sermon, which all wonder at, but they impute it to his forgetfulness.
After sermon a very fine anthem; so I up into the house among the
courtiers, seeing the fine ladies, and, above all, my Lady Castlemaine,
who is above all, that only she I can observe for true beauty. The King
and Queen being set to dinner I went to Mr. Fox’s, and there dined with
him. Much genteel company, and, among other things, I hear for certain
that peace is concluded between the King of France and the Pope; and
also I heard the reasons given by our Parliament yesterday to the King
why they dissent from him in matter of Indulgence, which are very good
quite through, and which I was glad to hear. Thence to my Lord Sandwich,
who continues with a great cold, locked up; and, being alone, we fell
into discourse of my uncle the Captain’s death and estate, and I took
the opportunity of telling my Lord how matters stand, and read his
will, and told him all, what a poor estate he hath left, at all which he
wonders strangely, which he may well do. Thence after singing some new
tunes with W. Howe I walked home, whither came Will. Joyce, whom I have
not seen here a great while, nor desire it a great while again, he is so
impertinent a coxcomb, and yet good natured, and mightily concerned for
my brother’s late folly in his late wooing at the charge to no purpose,
nor could in any probability expect it. He gone, we all to bed, without
prayers, it being washing day to-morrow.
2nd. Up early and by water with Commissioner Pett to Deptford, and there
took the Jemmy yacht (that the King and the Lords virtuosos built the
other day) down to Woolwich, where we discoursed of several matters both
there and at the Ropeyard, and so to the yacht again, and went down four
or five miles with extraordinary pleasure, it being a fine day, and a
brave gale of wind, and had some oysters brought us aboard newly taken,
which were excellent, and ate with great pleasure. There also coming
into the river two Dutchmen, we sent a couple of men on board and bought
three Hollands cheeses, cost 4d. a piece, excellent cheeses, whereof I
had two and Commissioner Pett one. So back again to Woolwich, and going
aboard the Hulke to see the manner of the iron bridles, which we are
making of for to save cordage to put to the chain, I did fall from the
shipside into the ship (Kent), and had like to have broke my left hand,
but I only sprained some of my fingers, which, when I came ashore I sent
to Mrs. Ackworth for some balsam, and put to my hand, and was pretty
well within a little while after. We dined at the White Hart with
several officers with us, and after dinner went and saw the Royal James
brought down to the stern of the Docke (the main business we came for),
and then to the Ropeyard, and saw a trial between Riga hemp and a sort
of Indian grass, which is pretty strong, but no comparison between it
and the other for strength, and it is doubtful whether it will take
tarre or no. So to the yacht again, and carried us almost to London, so
by our oars home to the office, and thence Mr. Pett and I to Mr. Grant’s
coffee-house, whither he and Sir J. Cutler came to us and had much
discourse, mixed discourse, and so broke up, and so home where I found
my poor wife all alone at work, and the house foul, it being washing
day, which troubled me, because that tomorrow I must be forced to have
friends at dinner. So to my office, and then home to supper and to bed.
3rd (Shrove Tuesday). Up and walked to the Temple, and by promise
calling Commissioner Pett, he and I to White Hall to give Mr. Coventry
an account of what we did yesterday. Thence I to the Privy Seal Office,
and there got a copy of Sir W. Pen’s grant to be assistant to Sir J.
Minnes, Comptroller, which, though there be not much in it, yet I intend
to stir up Sir J. Minnes to oppose, only to vex Sir W. Pen. Thence by
water home, and at noon, by promise, Mrs. Turner and her daughter, and
Mrs. Morrice, came along with Roger Pepys to dinner. We were as merry
as I could be, having but a bad dinner for them; but so much the better,
because of the dinner which I must have at the end of this month. And
here Mrs. The. shewed me my name upon her breast as her Valentine, which
will cost me 20s. After dinner I took them down into the wine-cellar,
and broached my tierce of claret for them. Towards the evening we
parted, and I to the office awhile, and then home to supper and to bed,
the sooner having taken some cold yesterday upon the water, which brings
me my usual pain. This afternoon Roger Pepys tells me, that for certain
the King is for all this very highly incensed at the Parliament’s late
opposing the Indulgence; which I am sorry for, and fear it will breed
great discontent.
4th. Lay long talking with my wife about ordering things in our family,
and then rose and to my office, there collecting an alphabet for my
Navy Manuscript, which, after a short dinner, I returned to and by night
perfected to my great content. So to other business till 9 at night, and
so home to supper and to bed.
5th. Rose this morning early, only to try with intention to begin my
last summer’s course in rising betimes. So to my office a little, and
then to Westminster by coach with Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten, in
our way talking of Sir W. Pen’s business of his patent, which I think
I have put a stop to wholly, for Sir J. Minnes swears he will never
consent to it. Here to the Lobby, and spoke with my cozen Roger, who is
going to Cambridge to-morrow. In the Hall I do hear that the Catholiques
are in great hopes for all this, and do set hard upon the King to get
Indulgence. Matters, I hear, are all naught in Ireland, and that the
Parliament has voted, and the people, that is, the Papists, do cry out
against the Commissioners sent by the King; so that they say the English
interest will be lost there. Thence I went to see my Lord Sandwich, who
I found very ill, and by his cold being several nights hindered from
sleep, he is hardly able to open his eyes, and is very weak and sad
upon it, which troubled me much. So after talking with Mr. Cooke, whom
I found there, about his folly for looking and troubling me and other
friends in getting him a place (that is, storekeeper of the Navy at
Tangier) before there is any such thing, I returned to the Hall, and
thence back with the two knights home again by coach, where I found Mr.
Moore got abroad, and dined with me, which I was glad to see, he having
not been able to go abroad a great while. Then came in Mr. Hawley and
dined with us, and after dinner I left them, and to the office, where
we sat late, and I do find that I shall meet with nothing to oppose my
growing great in the office but Sir W. Pen, who is now well again, and
comes into the office very brisk, and, I think, to get up his time
that he has been out of the way by being mighty diligent at the office,
which, I pray God, he may be, but I hope by mine to weary him out, for
I am resolved to fall to business as hard as I can drive, God giving me
health. At my office late, and so home to supper and to bed.
6th. Up betimes, and about eight o’clock by coach with four horses, with
Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten, to Woolwich, a pleasant day. There at
the yard we consulted and ordered several matters, and thence to the
rope yard and did the like, and so into Mr. Falconer’s, where we had
some fish, which we brought with us, dressed; and there dined with us
his new wife, which had been his mayde, but seems to be a genteel woman,
well enough bred and discreet. Thence after dinner back to Deptford,
where we did as before, and so home, good discourse in our way, Sir J.
Minnes being good company, though a simple man enough as to the business
of his office, but we did discourse at large again about Sir W. Pen’s
patent to be his assistant, and I perceive he is resolved never to let
it pass. To my office, and thence to Sir W. Batten’s, where Major Holmes
was lately come from the Streights, but do tell me strange stories of
the faults of Cooper his master, put in by me, which I do not believe,
but am sorry to hear and must take some course to have him removed,
though I believe that the Captain is proud, and the fellow is not supple
enough to him. So to my office again to set down my Journall, and so
home and to bed. This evening my boy Waynman’s brother was with me, and
I did tell him again that I must part with the boy, for I will not keep
him. He desires my keeping him a little longer till he can provide for
him, which I am willing for a while to do. This day it seems the House
of Commons have been very high against the Papists, being incensed by
the stir which they make for their having an Indulgence; which, without
doubt, is a great folly in them to be so hot upon at this time, when
they see how averse already the House have showed themselves from it.
This evening Mr. Povy was with me at my office, and tells me that my
Lord Sandwich is this day so ill that he is much afeard of him, which
puts me to great pain, not more for my own sake than for his poor
family’s.
7th. Up betimes, and to the office, where some of us sat all the
morning. At noon Sir W. Pen began to talk with me like a counterfeit
rogue very kindly about his house and getting bills signed for all our
works, but he is a cheating fellow, and so I let him talk and answered
nothing. So we parted. I to dinner, and there met The. Turner, who is
come on foot in a frolique to beg me to get a place at sea for John,
their man, which is a rogue; but, however, it may be, the sea may do
him good in reclaiming him, and therefore I will see what I can do. She
dined with me; and after dinner I took coach, and carried her home; in
our way, in Cheapside, lighting and giving her a dozen pair of white
gloves as my Valentine. Thence to my Lord Sandwich, who is gone to Sir
W. Wheeler’s for his more quiet being, where he slept well last night,
and I took him very merry, playing at cards, and much company with him.
So I left him, and Creed and I to Westminster Hall, and there walked a
good while. He told me how for some words of my Lady Gerard’s
[Jane, wife of Lord Gerard (see ante, January 1st, 1662-63). The
king had previously put a slight upon Lady Gerard, probably at the
instigation of Lady Castlemaine, as the two ladies were not friends.
On the 4th of January of this same year Lady Gerard had given a
supper to the king and queen, when the king withdrew from the party
and proceeded to the house of Lady Castlemaine, and remained there
throughout the evening (see Steinman’s “Memoir of Barbara, Duchess
of Cleveland,” 1871, p. 47).]
against my Lady Castlemaine to the Queen, the King did the other day
affront her in going out to dance with her at a ball, when she desired
it as the ladies do, and is since forbid attending the Queen by the
King; which is much talked of, my Lord her husband being a great
favourite. Thence by water home and to my office, wrote by the post and
so home to bed.
8th (Lord’s day). Being sent to by Sir J. Minnes to know whether I would
go with him to White Hall to-day, I rose but could not get ready before
he was gone, but however I walked thither and heard Dr. King, Bishop of
Chichester, make a good and eloquent sermon upon these words, “They that
sow in tears, shall reap in joy.” Thence (the chappell in Lent being
hung with black, and no anthem sung after sermon, as at other times), to
my Lord Sandwich at Sir W. Wheeler’s. I found him out of order, thinking
himself to be in a fit of an ague, but in the afternoon he was very
cheery. I dined with Sir William, where a good but short dinner, not
better than one of mine commonly of a Sunday. After dinner up to my
Lord, there being Mr. Kumball. My Lord, among other discourse, did tell
us of his great difficultys passed in the business of the Sound, and
of his receiving letters from the King there, but his sending them by
Whetstone was a great folly; and the story how my Lord being at dinner
with Sydney, one of his fellow plenipotentiarys and his mortal enemy,
did see Whetstone, and put off his hat three times to him, but the
fellow would not be known, which my Lord imputed to his coxcombly humour
(of which he was full), and bid Sydney take notice of him too, when at
the very time he had letters in his pocket from the King, as it proved
afterwards. And Sydney afterwards did find it out at Copenhagen, the
Dutch Commissioners telling him how my Lord Sandwich had hired one
of their ships to carry back Whetstone to Lubeck, he being come from
Flanders from the King. But I cannot but remember my Lord’s aequanimity
in all these affairs with admiration. Thence walked home, in my way
meeting Mr. Moore, with whom I took a turn or two in the street among
the drapers in Paul’s Churchyard, talking of business, and so home to
bed.
9th. Up betimes, to my office, where all the morning. About noon Sir J.
Robinson, Lord Mayor, desiring way through the garden from the Tower,
called in at the office and there invited me (and Sir W. Pen, who
happened to be in the way) to dinner, which we did; and there had a
great Lent dinner of fish, little flesh. And thence he and I in his
coach, against my will (for I am resolved to shun too great fellowship
with him) to White Hall, but came too late, the Duke having been with
our fellow officers before we came, for which I was sorry. Thence he
and I to walk one turn in the Park, and so home by coach, and I to my
office, where late, and so home to supper and bed. There dined with us
to-day Mr. Slingsby, of the Mint, who showed us all the new pieces both
gold and silver (examples of them all), that are made for the King,
by Blondeau’s’ way; and compared them with those made for Oliver. The
pictures of the latter made by Symons, and of the King by one Rotyr, a
German, I think, that dined with us also. He extolls those of Rotyr’s
above the others; and, indeed, I think they are the better, because the
sweeter of the two; but, upon my word, those of the Protector are more
like in my mind, than the King’s, but both very well worth seeing. The
crowns of Cromwell are now sold, it seems, for 25s. and 30s. apiece.
10th. Up and to my office all the morning, and great pleasure it is to
be doing my business betimes. About noon Sir J. Minnes came to me and
staid half an hour with me in my office talking about his business with
Sir W. Pen, and (though with me an old doter) yet he told me freely how
sensible he is of Sir W. Pen’s treachery in this business, and what poor
ways he has taken all along to ingratiate himself by making Mr. Turner
write out things for him and then he gives them to the Duke, and how
he directed him to give Mr. Coventry L100 for his place, but that Mr.
Coventry did give him L20 back again. All this I am pleased to hear that
his knavery is found out. Dined upon a poor Lenten dinner at home, my
wife being vexed at a fray this morning with my Lady Batten about my
boy’s going thither to turn the watercock with their maydes’ leave, but
my Lady was mighty high upon it and she would teach his mistress better
manners, which my wife answered aloud that she might hear, that she
could learn little manners of her. After dinner to my office, and there
we sat all the afternoon till 8 at night, and so wrote my letters by
the post and so before 9 home, which is rare with me of late, I staying
longer, but with multitude of business my head akes, and so I can stay
no longer, but home to supper and to bed.
11th. Up betimes, and to my office, walked a little in the garden with
Sir W. Batten, talking about the difference between his Lady and my wife
yesterday, and I doubt my wife is to blame. About noon had news by Mr.
Wood that Butler, our chief witness against Field, was sent by him to
New England contrary to our desire, which made me mad almost; and so
Sir J. Minnes, Sir W. Pen, and I dined together at Trinity House, and
thither sent for him to us and told him our minds, which he seemed not
to value much, but went away. I wrote and sent an express to Walthamstow
to Sir W. Pen, who is gone thither this morning, to tell him of it.
However, in the afternoon Wood sends us word that he has appointed
another to go, who shall overtake the ship in the Downes. So I was
late at the office, among other things writing to the Downes, to the
Commander-in-Chief, and putting things into the surest course I could to
help the business. So home and to bed.
12th. Up betimes and to my office all the morning with Captain Cocke
ending their account of their Riga contract for hemp. So home to dinner,
my head full of business against the office. After dinner comes my uncle
Thomas with a letter to my father, wherein, as we desire, he and his son
do order their tenants to pay their rents to us, which pleases me well.
In discourse he tells me my uncle Wight thinks much that I do never see
them, and they have reason, but I do apprehend that they have been too
far concerned with my uncle Thomas against us, so that I have had no
mind hitherto, but now I shall go see them. He being gone, I to the
office, where at the choice of maisters and chyrurgeons for the fleet
now going out, I did my business as I could wish, both for the persons
I had a mind to serve, and in getting the warrants signed drawn by my
clerks, which I was afeard of. Sat late, and having done I went home,
where I found Mary Ashwell come to live with us, of whom I hope well,
and pray God she may please us, which, though it cost me something,
yet will give me much content. So to supper and to bed, and find by her
discourse and carriage to-night that she is not proud, but will do
what she is bid, but for want of being abroad knows not how to give the
respect to her mistress, as she will do when she is told it, she having
been used only to little children, and there was a kind of a mistress
over them. Troubled all night with my cold, I being quite hoarse with it
that I could not speak to be heard at all almost.
13th. Up pretty early and to my office all the morning busy. At noon
home to dinner expecting Ashwell’s father, who was here in the morning
and promised to come but he did not, but there came in Captain Grove,
and I found him to be a very stout man, at least in his discourse he
would be thought so, and I do think that he is, and one that bears
me great respect and deserves to be encouraged for his care in all
business. Abroad by water with my wife and Ashwell, and left them at
Mr. Pierce’s, and I to Whitehall and St. James’s Park (there being no
Commission for Tangier sitting to-day as I looked for) where I walked
an hour or two with great pleasure, it being a most pleasant day. So to
Mrs. Hunt’s, and there found my wife, and so took them up by coach, and
carried them to Hide Park, where store of coaches and good faces. Here
till night, and so home and to my office to write by the post, and so to
supper and to bed.
14th. Up betimes and to my office, where we sat all the morning, and a
great rant I did give to Mr. Davis, of Deptford, and others about
their usage of Michell, in his Bewpers,--[Bewpers is the old name for
bunting.]--which he serves in for flaggs, which did trouble me, but
yet it was in defence of what was truth. So home to dinner, where Creed
dined with me, and walked a good while in the garden with me after
dinner, talking, among other things, of the poor service which Sir J.
Lawson did really do in the Streights, for which all this great fame
and honour done him is risen. So to my office, where all the afternoon
giving maisters their warrants for this voyage, for which I hope
hereafter to get something at their coming home. In the evening my
wife and I and Ashwell walked in the garden, and I find she is a pretty
ingenuous
[For ingenious. The distinction of the two words ingenious and
ingenuous by which the former indicates mental, and the second moral
qualities, was not made in Pepys’s day.]
girl at all sorts of fine work, which pleases me very well, and I hope
will be very good entertainment for my wife without much cost. So to
write by the post, and so home to supper and to bed.
15th (Lord’s day). Up and with my wife and her woman Ashwell the first
time to church, where our pew was so full with Sir J. Minnes’s sister
and her daughter, that I perceive, when we come all together, some of us
must be shut out, but I suppose we shall come to some order what to do
therein. Dined at home, and to church again in the afternoon, and so
home, and I to my office till the evening doing one thing or other and
reading my vows as I am bound every Lord’s day, and so home to supper
and talk, and Ashwell is such good company that I think we shall be very
lucky in her. So to prayers and to bed. This day the weather, which of
late has been very hot and fair, turns very wet and cold, and all the
church time this afternoon it thundered mightily, which I have not heard
a great while.
16th. Up very betimes and to my office, where, with several Masters
of the King’s ships, Sir J. Minnes and I advising upon the business of
Slopps, wherein the seaman is so much abused by the Pursers, and
that being done, then I home to dinner, and so carried my wife to her
mother’s, set her down and Ashwell to my Lord’s lodging, there left
her, and I to the Duke, where we met of course, and talked of our Navy
matters. Then to the Commission of Tangier, and there, among other
things, had my Lord Peterborough’s Commission read over; and Mr.
Secretary Bennet did make his querys upon it, in order to the drawing
one for my Lord Rutherford more regularly, that being a very extravagant
thing. Here long discoursing upon my Lord Rutherford’s despatch, and so
broke up, and so going out of the Court I met with Mr. Coventry, and
so he and I walked half an hour in the long Stone Gallery, where we
discoursed of many things, among others how the Treasurer doth intend to
come to pay in course, which is the thing of the world that will do the
King the greatest service in the Navy, and which joys my heart to hear
of. He tells me of the business of Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Pen, which
I knew before, but took no notice or little that I did know it. But
he told me it was chiefly to make Mr. Pett’s being joyned with Sir
W. Batten to go down the better, and do tell me how he well sees that
neither one nor the other can do their duties without help. But however
will let it fall at present without doing more in it to see whether they
will do their duties themselves, which he will see, and saith they
do not. We discoursed of many other things to my great content and so
parted, and I to my wife at my Lord’s lodgings, where I heard Ashwell
play first upon the harpsicon, and I find she do play pretty well, which
pleaseth me very well. Thence home by coach, buying at the Temple the
printed virginal-book for her, and so home and to my office a while, and
so home and to supper and to bed.
17th. Up betimes and to my office a while, and then home and to Sir W.
Batten, with whom by coach to St. Margaret’s Hill in Southwark, where
the judge of the Admiralty came, and the rest of the Doctors of the
Civill law, and some other Commissioners, whose Commission of Oyer
and Terminer was read, and then the charge, given by Dr. Exton, which
methought was somewhat dull, though he would seem to intend it to be
very rhetoricall, saying that justice had two wings, one of which spread
itself over the land, and the other over the water, which was this
Admiralty Court. That being done, and the jury called, they broke up,
and to dinner to a tavern hard by, where a great dinner, and I with
them; but I perceive that this Court is yet but in its infancy (as
to its rising again), and their design and consultation was, I could
overhear them, how to proceed with the most solemnity, and spend time,
there being only two businesses to do, which of themselves could not
spend much time. In the afternoon to the court again, where, first,
Abraham, the boatswain of the King’s pleasure boat, was tried for
drowning a man; and next, Turpin, accused by our wicked rogue Field, for
stealing the King’s timber; but after full examination, they were both
acquitted, and as I was glad of the first, for the saving the man’s
life, so I did take the other as a very good fortune to us; for if
Turpin had been found guilty, it would have sounded very ill in the ears
of all the world, in the business between Field and us. So home with my
mind at very great ease, over the water to the Tower, and thence, there
being nobody at the office, we being absent, and so no office could be
kept. Sir W. Batten and I to my Lord Mayor’s, where we found my Lord
with Colonel Strangways and Sir Richard Floyd, Parliament-men, in the
cellar drinking, where we sat with them, and then up; and by and by
comes in Sir Richard Ford. In our drinking, which was always going, we
had many discourses, but from all of them I do find Sir R. Ford a very
able man of his brains and tongue, and a scholler. But my Lord Mayor
I find to be a talking, bragging Bufflehead, a fellow that would be
thought to have led all the City in the great business of bringing in
the King, and that nobody understood his plots, and the dark lanthorn he
walked by; but led them and plowed with them as oxen and asses (his own
words) to do what he had a mind when in every discourse I observe him to
be as very a coxcomb as I could have thought had been in the City.
But he is resolved to do great matters in pulling down the shops quite
through the City, as he hath done in many places, and will make a
thorough passage quite through the City, through Canning-street, which
indeed will be very fine. And then his precept, which he, in vain-glory,
said he had drawn up himself, and hath printed it, against coachmen and
carrmen affronting of the gentry in the street; it is drawn so like a
fool, and some faults were openly found in it, that I believe he will
have so much wit as not to proceed upon it though it be printed. Here we
staid talking till eleven at night, Sir R. Ford breaking to my Lord our
business of our patent to be justices of the Peace in the City, which he
stuck at mightily; but, however, Sir R. Ford knows him to be a fool, and
so in his discourse he made him appear, and cajoled him into a consent
to it: but so as I believe when he comes to his right mind tomorrow
he will be of another opinion; and though Sir R. Ford moved it very
weightily and neatly, yet I had rather it had been spared now. But to
see how he do rant, and pretend to sway all the City in the Court of
Aldermen, and says plainly that they cannot do, nor will he suffer them
to do, any thing but what he pleases; nor is there any officer of the
City but of his putting in; nor any man that could have kept the City
for the King thus well and long but him. And if the country can be
preserved, he will undertake that the City shall not dare to stir again.
When I am confident there is no man almost in the City cares a turd for
him, nor hath he brains to outwit any ordinary tradesman. So home and
wrote a letter to Commissioner Pett to Chatham by all means to compose
the business between Major Holmes and Cooper his master, and so to bed.
18th. Wake betimes and talk a while with my wife about a wench that she
has hired yesterday, which I would have enquired of before she comes,
she having lived in great families, and so up and to my office, where
all the morning, and at noon home to dinner. After dinner by water to
Redriffe, my wife and Ashwell with me, and so walked and left them at
Halfway house; I to Deptford, where up and down the store-houses, and
on board two or three ships now getting ready to go to sea, and so
back, and find my wife walking in the way. So home again, merry with our
Ashwell, who is a merry jade, and so awhile to my office, and then
home to supper, and to bed. This day my tryangle, which was put in tune
yesterday, did please me very well, Ashwell playing upon it pretty well.
19th. Up betimes and to Woolwich all alone by water, where took the
officers most abed. I walked and enquired how all matters and businesses
go, and by and by to the Clerk of the Cheque’s house, and there eat some
of his good Jamaica brawne, and so walked to Greenwich. Part of the way
Deane walking with me; talking of the pride and corruption of most of
his fellow officers of the yard, and which I believe to be true. So
to Deptford, where I did the same to great content, and see the people
begin to value me as they do the rest. At noon Mr. Wayth took me to his
house, where I dined, and saw his wife, a pretty woman, and had a good
fish dinner, and after dinner he and I walked to Redriffe talking of
several errors in the Navy, by which I learned a great deal, and was
glad of his company. So by water home, and by and by to the office,
where we sat till almost 9 at night. So after doing my own business in
my office, writing letters, &c., home to supper, and to bed, being weary
and vexed that I do not find other people so willing to do business as
myself, when I have taken pains to find out what in the yards is wanting
and fitting to be done.
20th. Up betimes and over the water, and walked to Deptford, where up
and down the yarde, and met the two clerks of the Cheques to conclude by
our method their callbooks, which we have done to great perfection, and
so walked home again, where I found my wife in great pain abed.... I
staid and dined by her, and after dinner walked forth, and by water
to the Temple, and in Fleet Street bought me a little sword, with gilt
handle, cost 23s., and silk stockings to the colour of my riding cloth
suit, cost I 5s., and bought me a belt there too, cost 15s., and so
calling at my brother’s I find he has got a new maid, very likely girl,
I wish he do not play the fool with her. Thence homewards, and
meeting with Mr. Kirton’s kinsman in Paul’s Church Yard, he and I to a
coffee-house; where I hear how there had like to have been a surprizall
of Dublin by some discontented protestants, and other things of like
nature; and it seems the Commissioners have carried themselves so high
for the Papists that the others will not endure it. Hewlett and some
others are taken and clapped up; and they say the King hath sent over
to dissolve the Parliament there, who went very high against the
Commissioners. Pray God send all well! Hence home and in comes Captain
Ferrers and by and by Mr. Bland to see me and sat talking with me till
9 or 10 at night, and so good night. The Captain to bid my wife to his
child’s christening. So my wife being pretty well again and Ashwell
there we spent the evening pleasantly, and so to bed.
21st. Up betimes and to my office, where busy all the morning, and
at noon, after a very little dinner, to it again, and by and by, by
appointment, our full board met, and Sir Philip Warwick and Sir Robert
Long came from my Lord Treasurer to speak with us about the state of
the debts of the Navy; and how to settle it, so as to begin upon the new
foundation of L200,000 per annum, which the King is now resolved not to
exceed. This discourse done, and things put in a way of doing, they went
away, and Captain Holmes being called in he began his high complaint
against his Master Cooper, and would have him forthwith discharged.
Which I opposed, not in his defence but for the justice of proceeding
not to condemn a man unheard, upon [which] we fell from one word to
another that we came to very high terms, such as troubled me, though
all and the worst that I ever said was that that was insolently or ill
mannerdly spoken. When he told me that it was well it was here that I
said it. But all the officers, Sir G. Carteret, Sir J. Minnes, Sir
W. Batten, and Sir W. Pen cried shame of it. At last he parted and we
resolved to bring the dispute between him and his Master to a trial next
week, wherein I shall not at all concern myself in defence of any thing
that is unhandsome on the Master’s part nor willingly suffer him to have
any wrong. So we rose and I to my office, troubled though sensible that
all the officers are of opinion that he has carried himself very much
unbecoming him. So wrote letters by the post, and home to supper and to
bed.
22d (Lord’s day). Up betimes and in my office wrote out our bill for the
Parliament about our being made justices of Peace in the City. So home
and to church, where a dull formall fellow that prayed for the Right
Hon. John Lord Barkeley, Lord President of Connaught, &c. So home
to dinner, and after dinner my wife and I and her woman by coach to
Westminster, where being come too soon for the Christening we took up
Mr. Creed and went out to take some ayre, as far as Chelsey and further,
I lighting there and letting them go on with the coach while I went
to the church expecting to see the young ladies of the school, Ashwell
desiring me, but I could not get in far enough, and so came out and at
the coach’s coming back went in again and so back to Westminster, and
led my wife and her to Captain Ferrers, and I to my Lord Sandwich,
and with him talking a good while; I find the Court would have this
Indulgence go on, but the Parliament are against it. Matters in Ireland
are full of discontent. Thence with Mr. Creed to Captain Ferrers, where
many fine ladies; the house well and prettily furnished. She [Mrs.
Ferrers] lies in, in great state, Mr. G. Montagu, Collonel Williams,
Cromwell that was,
[Colonel Williams--“Cromwell that was”--appears to have been Henry
Cromwell, grandson of Sir Oliver Cromwell, and first cousin, once
removed, to the Protector. He was seated at Bodsey House, in the
parish of Ramsey, which had been his father’s residence, and held
the commission of a colonel. He served in several Parliaments for
Huntingdonshire, voting, in 1660, for the restoration of the
monarchy; and as he knew the name of Cromwell would not be grateful
to the Court, he disused it, and assumed that of Williams, which had
belonged to his ancestors; and he is so styled in a list of knights
of the proposed Order of the Royal Oak. He died at Huntingdon, 3rd
August, 1673. (Abridged from Noble’s “Memoirs of the Cromwells,”
vol. i., p. 70.)--B.]
and Mrs. Wright as proxy for my Lady Jemimah, were witnesses. Very
pretty and plentiful entertainment, could not get away till nine at
night, and so home. My coach cost me 7s. So to prayers, and to bed. This
day though I was merry enough yet I could not get yesterday’s quarrel
out of my mind, and a natural fear of being challenged by Holmes for
the words I did give him, though nothing but what did become me as a
principal officer.
23rd. Up betimes and to my office, before noon my wife and I eat
something, thinking to have gone abroad together, but in comes Mr. Hunt,
who we were forced to stay to dinner, and so while that was got ready
he and I abroad about 2 or 3 small businesses of mine, and so back to
dinner, and after dinner he went away, and my wife and I and Ashwell by
coach, set my wife down at her mother’s and Ashwell at my Lord’s, she
going to see her father and mother, and I to Whitehall, being fearful
almost, so poor a spirit I have, of meeting Major Holmes. By and by
the Duke comes, and we with him about our usual business, and then
the Committee for Tangier, where, after reading my Lord Rutherford’s
commission and consented to, Sir R. Ford, Sir W. Rider, and I were
chosen to bring in some laws for the Civill government of it, which I am
little able to do, but am glad to be joyned with them, for I shall learn
something of them. Thence to see my Lord Sandwich, and who should I meet
at the door but Major Holmes. He would have gone away, but I told him I
would not spoil his visitt, and would have gone, but however we fell to
discourse and he did as good as desire excuse for the high words that
did pass in his heat the other day, which I was willing enough to close
with, and after telling him my mind we parted, and I left him to speak
with my Lord, and I by coach home, where I found Will. Howe come home
to-day with my wife, and staid with us all night, staying late up
singing songs, and then he and I to bed together in Ashwell’s bed and
she with my wife. This the first time that I ever lay in the room. This
day Greatorex brought me a very pretty weather-glass for heat and cold.
[The thermometer was invented in the sixteenth century, but it is
disputed who the inventor was. The claims of Santorio are supported
by Borelli and Malpighi, while the title of Cornelius Drebbel is
considered undoubted by Boerhaave. Galileo’s air thermometer, made
before 1597, was the foundation of accurate thermometry. Galileo
also invented the alcohol thermometer about 1611 or 1612. Spirit
thermometers were made for the Accademia del Cimento, and described
in the Memoirs of that academy. When the academy was dissolved by
order of the Pope, some of these thermometers were packed away in a
box, and were not discovered until early in the nineteenth century.
Robert Hooke describes the manufacture and graduation of
thermometers in his “Micrographia” (1665).]
24th. Lay pretty long, that is, till past six o’clock, and them up and
W. Howe and I very merry together, till having eat our breakfast, he
went away, and I to my office. By and by Sir J. Minnes and I to the
Victualling Office by appointment to meet several persons upon stating
the demands of some people of money from the King. Here we went into
their Bakehouse, and saw all the ovens at work, and good bread too, as
ever I would desire to eat. Thence Sir J. Minnes and I homewards calling
at Browne’s, the mathematician in the Minnerys, with a design of buying
White’s ruler to measure timber with, but could not agree on the price.
So home, and to dinner, and so to my office, where we sat anon, and
among other things had Cooper’s business tried against Captain Holmes,
but I find Cooper a fuddling, troublesome fellow, though a good artist,
and so am contented to have him turned out of his place, nor did I see
reason to say one word against it, though I know what they did against
him was with great envy and pride. So anon broke up, and after writing
letters, &c., home to supper and to bed.
25th (Lady-day). Up betimes and to my office, where all the morning, at
noon dined and to the Exchange, and thence to the Sun Tavern, to my
Lord Rutherford, and dined with him, and some others, his officers, and
Scotch gentlemen, of fine discourse and education. My Lord used me with
great respect, and discoursed upon his business as with one that he did
esteem of, and indeed I do believe that this garrison is likely to come
to something under him. By and by he went away, forgetting to take leave
of me, my back being turned, looking upon the aviary, which is there
very pretty, and the birds begin to sing well this spring. Thence home
and to my office till night, reading over and consulting upon the book
and Ruler that I bought this morning of Browne concerning the lyne of
numbers, in which I find much pleasure. This evening came Captain Grove
about hiring ships for Tangier. I did hint to him my desire that I could
make some lawfull profit thereof, which he promises that he will tell
me of all that he gets and that I shall have a share, which I did not
demand, but did silently consent to it, and money I perceive something
will be got thereby. At night Mr. Bland came and sat with me at my
office till late, and so I home and to bed. This day being washing day
and my maid Susan ill, or would be thought so, put my house so out of
order that we had no pleasure almost in anything, my wife being troubled
thereat for want of a good cook-maid, and moreover I cannot have my
dinner as I ought in memory of my being cut for the stone, but I must
have it a day or two hence.
26th. Up betimes and to my office, leaving my wife in bed to take her
physique, myself also not being out of some pain to-day by some cold
that I have got by the sudden change of the weather from hot to cold.
This day is five years since it pleased God to preserve me at my being
cut of the stone, of which I bless God I am in all respects well. Only
now and then upon taking cold I have some pain, but otherwise in very
good health always. But I could not get my feast to be kept to-day as
it used to be, because of my wife’s being ill and other disorders by my
servants being out of order. This morning came a new cook-maid at L4 per
annum, the first time I ever did give so much, but we hope it will be
nothing lost by keeping a good cook. She did live last at my Lord Monk’s
house, and indeed at dinner did get what there was very prettily ready
and neat for me, which did please me much. This morning my uncle Thomas
was with me according to agreement, and I paid him the L50, which was
against my heart to part with, and yet I must be contented; I used him
very kindly, and I desire to continue so voyd of any discontent as to
my estate, that I may follow my business the better. At the Change I
met him again, with intent to have met with my uncle Wight to have
made peace with him, with whom by my long absence I fear I shall have a
difference, but he was not there, so we missed. All the afternoon sat
at the office about business till 9 or 10 at night, and so dispatch
business and home to supper and to bed. My maid Susan went away to-day,
I giving her something for her lodging and diet somewhere else a while
that I might have room for my new maid.
27th. Up betimes and at my office all the morning, at noon to the
Exchange, and there by appointment met my uncles Thomas and Wight, and
from thence with them to a tavern, and there paid my uncle Wight three
pieces of gold for himself, my aunt, and their son that is dead, left
by my uncle Robert, and read over our agreement with my uncle Thomas and
the state of our debts and legacies, and so good friendship I think is
made up between us all, only we have the worst of it in having so much
money to pay. Thence I to the Exchequer again, and thence with Creed
into Fleet Street, and calling at several places about business; in
passing, at the Hercules pillars he and I dined though late, and thence
with one that we found there, a friend of Captain Ferrers I used to
meet at the playhouse, they would have gone to some gameing house, but I
would not but parted, and staying a little in Paul’s Churchyard, at the
foreign Bookseller’s looking over some Spanish books, and with much ado
keeping myself from laying out money there, as also with them, being
willing enough to have gone to some idle house with them, I got home,
and after a while at my office, to supper, and to bed.
28th. Up betimes and to my office, where all the morning. Dined at home
and Creed with me, and though a very cold day and high wind, yet I
took him by land to Deptford, my common walk, where I did some little
businesses, and so home again walking both forwards and backwards, as
much along the street as we could to save going by water. So home, and
after being a little while hearing Ashwell play on the tryangle, to
my office, and there late, writing a chiding letter--to my poor father
about his being so unwilling to come to an account with me, which I
desire he might do, that I may know what he spends, and how to order the
estate so as to pay debts and legacys as far as may be. So late home to
supper and to bed.
29th (Lord’s day). Waked as I used to do betimes, but being Sunday and
very cold I lay long, it raining and snowing very hard, which I did
never think it would have done any more this year. Up and to church,
home to dinner. After dinner in comes Mr. Moore, and sat and talked with
us a good while; among other things telling me, that [neither] my Lord
nor he are under apprehensions of the late discourse in the House of
Commons, concerning resumption of Crowne lands, which I am very glad of.
He being gone, up to my chamber, where my wife and Ashwell and I all the
afternoon talking and laughing, and by and by I a while to my office,
reading over some papers which I found in my man William’s chest of
drawers, among others some old precedents concerning the practice of
this office heretofore, which I am glad to find and shall make use of,
among others an oath, which the Principal Officers were bound to swear
at their entrance into their offices, which I would be glad were in use
still. So home and fell hard to make up my monthly accounts, letting my
family go to bed after prayers. I staid up long, and find myself, as
I think, fully worth L670. So with good comfort to bed, finding that
though it be but little, yet I do get ground every month. I pray God it
may continue so with me.
30th. Up betimes and found my weather-glass sunk again just to the
same position which it was last night before I had any fire made in my
chamber, which had made it rise in two hours time above half a degree.
So to my office where all the morning and at the Glass-house, and after
dinner by coach with Sir W. Pen I carried my wife and her woman to
Westminster, they to visit Mrs. Ferrers and Clerke, we to the Duke,
where we did our usual business, and afterwards to the Tangier
Committee, where among other things we all of us sealed and signed the
Contract for building the Mole with my Lord Tiviott, Sir J. Lawson, and
Mr. Cholmeley. A thing I did with a very ill will, because a thing which
I did not at all understand, nor any or few of the whole board. We
did also read over the propositions for the Civill government and
Law Merchant of the town, as they were agreed on this morning at the
Glasshouse by Sir R. Ford and Sir W. Rider, who drew them, Mr. Povy and
myself as a Committee appointed to prepare them, which were in substance
but not in the manner of executing them independent wholly upon the
Governor consenting to. Thence to see my Lord Sandwich, who I found
very merry and every day better and better. So to my wife, who waited my
coming at my Lord’s lodgings, and took her up and by coach home, where
no sooner come but to bed, finding myself just in the same condition I
was lately by the extreme cold weather, my pores stopt and so my body
all inflamed and itching. So keeping myself warm and provoking myself to
a moderate sweat, and so somewhat better in the morning,
31st. And to that purpose I lay long talking with my wife about my
father’s coming, which I expect to-day, coming up with the horses
brought up for my Lord. Up and to my office, where doing business all
the morning, and at Sir W. Batten’s, whither Mr. Gauden and many others
came to us about business. Then home to dinner, where W. Joyce came,
and he still a talking impertinent fellow. So to the office again, and
hearing by and by that Madam Clerke, Pierce, and others were come to see
my wife I stepped in and staid a little with them, and so to the office
again, where late, and so home to supper and to bed.