Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1668 N.S. Complete

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6th. Up betimes, and with Sir D. Gawden to Sir W, Coventry's chamber:
where the first word he said to me was, "Good-morrow, Mr. Pepys, that must
be Speaker of the Parliament-house:" and did protest I had got honour for
ever in Parliament. He said that his brother, that sat by him, admires
me; and another gentleman said that I could not get less than L1000 a-year
if I would put on a gown and plead at the Chancery-bar; but, what pleases
me most, he tells me that the Sollicitor-Generall did protest that he
thought I spoke the best of any man in England. After several talks with
him alone, touching his own businesses, he carried me to White Hall, and
there parted; and I to the Duke of York's lodgings, and find him going to
the Park, it being a very fine morning, and I after him; and, as soon as
he saw me, he told me, with great satisfaction, that I had converted a
great many yesterday, and did, with great praise of me, go on with the
discourse with me. And, by and by, overtaking the King, the King and Duke
of York come to me both; and he--[The King]--said, "Mr. Pepys, I am very
glad of your success yesterday;" and fell to talk of my well speaking; and
many of the Lords there. My Lord Barkeley did cry the up for what they
had heard of it; and others, Parliament-men there, about the King, did say
that they never heard such a speech in their lives delivered in that
manner. Progers, of the Bedchamber, swore to me afterwards before
Brouncker, in the afternoon, that he did tell the King that he thought I
might teach the Sollicitor-Generall. Every body that saw me almost come
to me, as Joseph Williamson and others, with such eulogys as cannot be
expressed. From thence I went to Westminster Hall, where I met Mr. G.
Montagu, who come to me and kissed me, and told me that he had often
heretofore kissed my hands, but now he would kiss my lips: protesting that
I was another Cicero, and said, all the world said the same of me. Mr.
Ashburnham, and every creature I met there of the Parliament, or that knew
anything of the Parliament's actings, did salute me with this honour:--Mr.
Godolphin;--Mr. Sands, who swore he would go twenty mile, at any time, to
hear the like again, and that he never saw so many sit four hours together
to hear any man in his life, as there did to hear me; Mr. Chichly,--Sir
John Duncomb,--and everybody do say that the kingdom will ring of my
abilities, and that I have done myself right for my whole life: and so
Captain Cocke, and others of my friends, say that no man had ever such an
opportunity of making his abilities known; and, that I may cite all at
once, Mr. Lieutenant of the Tower did tell me that Mr. Vaughan did protest
to him, and that, in his hearing it, said so to the Duke of Albemarle, and
afterwards to W. Coventry, that he had sat twenty-six years in Parliament
and never heard such a speech there before: for which the Lord God make me
thankful! and that I may make use of it not to pride and vain-glory, but
that, now I have this esteem, I may do nothing that may lessen it! I
spent the morning thus walking in the Hall, being complimented by
everybody with admiration: and at noon stepped into the Legg with Sir
William Warren, who was in the Hall, and there talked about a little of
his business, and thence into the Hall a little more, and so with him by
coach as far as the Temple almost, and there 'light, to follow my Lord
Brouncker's coach, which I spied, and so to Madam Williams's, where I
overtook him, and agreed upon meeting this afternoon, and so home to
dinner, and after dinner with W. Pen, who come to my house to call me, to
White Hall, to wait on the Duke of York, where he again and all the
company magnified me, and several in the Gallery: among others, my Lord
Gerard, who never knew me before nor spoke to me, desires his being better
acquainted with me; and [said] that, at table where he was, he never heard
so much said of any man as of me, in his whole life. We waited on the
Duke of York, and thence into the Gallery, where the House of Lords waited
the King's coming out of the Park, which he did by and by; and there, in
the Vane-room, my Lord Keeper delivered a message to the King, the Lords
being about him, wherein the Barons of England, from many good arguments,
very well expressed in the part he read out of, do demand precedence in
England of all noblemen of either of the King's other two kingdoms, be
their title what it will; and did shew that they were in England reputed
but as Commoners, and sat in the House of Commons, and at conferences with
the Lords did stand bare. It was mighty worth my hearing: but the King
did only say that he would consider of it, and so dismissed them. Thence
Brouncker and I to the Committee of Miscarriages sitting in the Court of
Wards, expecting with Sir D. Gawden to have been heard against Prince
Rupert's complaints for want of victuals. But the business of Holmes's
charge against Sir Jer. Smith, which is a most shameful scandalous thing
for Flag officers to accuse one another of, and that this should be heard
here before men that understand it not at all, and after it hath been
examined and judged in before the King and Lord High Admirall and other
able seamen to judge, it is very hard. But this business did keep them
all the afternoon, so we not heard but put off to another day. Thence,
with the Lieutenant of the Tower, in his coach home; and there, with great
pleasure, with my wife, talking and playing at cards a little--she, and I,
and W. Hewer, and Deb., and so, after a little supper, I to bed.

7th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, at noon home to
dinner, where Mercer with us, and after dinner she, my wife, Deb., and I,
to the King's playhouse, and there saw "The Spanish Gipsys," the second
time of acting, and the first that I saw it. A very silly play, only
great variety of dances, and those most excellently done, especially one
part by one Hanes, only lately come thither from the Nursery, an
understanding fellow, but yet, they say, hath spent L1000 a-year before he
come thither. This day my wife and I full of thoughts about Mrs. Pierces
sending me word that she, and my old company, Harris and Knipp, would come
and dine with us next Wednesday, how we should do-to receive or put them
off, my head being, at this time, so full of business, and my wife in no
mind to have them neither, and yet I desire it. Come to no resolution
tonight. Home from the playhouse to the office, where I wrote what I had
to write, and among others to my father to congratulate my sister's
marriage, and so home to supper a little and then to bed.

8th (Lord's day). At my sending to desire it, Sir J. Robinson, Lieutenant
of the Tower, did call me with his coach, and carried me to White Hall,
where met with very many people still that did congratulate my speech the
other day in the House of Commons, and I find all the world almost rings
of it. Here spent the morning walking and talking with one or other, and
among the rest with Sir W. Coventry, who I find full of care in his own
business, how to defend himself against those that have a mind to choke
him; and though, I believe, not for honour and for the keeping his
employment, but for his safety and reputation's sake, is desirous to
preserve himself free from blame, and among other mean ways which himself
did take notice to me to be but a mean thing he desires me to get
information against Captain Tatnell, thereby to diminish his testimony,
who, it seems, hath a mind to do W. Coventry hurt: and I will do it with
all my heart; for Tatnell is a very rogue. He would be glad, too, that I
could find anything proper for his taking notice against Sir F. Hollis.
At noon, after sermon, I to dinner with Sir G. Carteret to Lincoln's Inn
Fields, where I find mighty deal of company--a solemn day for some of his
and her friends, and dine in the great dining-room above stairs, where Sir
G. Carteret himself, and I, and his son, at a little table by, the great
table being full of strangers. Here my Lady Jem. do promise to come, and
bring my Lord Hinchingbroke and his lady some day this week, to dinner to
me, which I am glad of. After dinner, I up with her husband, Sir Philip
Carteret, to his closet, where, beyond expectation, I do find many pretty
things, wherein he appears to be ingenious, such as in painting, and
drawing, and making of watches, and such kind of things, above my
expectation; though, when all is done, he is a shirke, who owns his owing
me L10 for his lady two or three years ago, and yet cannot provide to pay
me. The company by and by parted, and G. Carteret and I to White Hall,
where I set him down and took his coach as far as the Temple, it raining,
and there took a hackney and home, and so had my head combed, and then to
bed.

9th. Up betimes, and anon with Sir W. Warren, who come to speak with me,
by coach to White Hall, and there met Lord Brouncker: and he and I to the
Commissioners of the Treasury, where I find them mighty kind to me, more,
I think, than was wont. And here I also met Colvill, the goldsmith; who
tells me, with great joy, how the world upon the 'Change talks of me; and
how several Parliamentmen, viz., Boscawen and Major [Lionel] Walden, of
Huntingdon, who, it seems, do deal with him, do say how bravely I did
speak, and that the House was ready to have given me thanks for it; but
that, I think, is a vanity. Thence I with Lord Brouncker, and did take up
his mistress, Williams, and so to the 'Change, only to shew myself, and
did a little business there, and so home to dinner, and then to the office
busy till the evening, and then to the Excize Office, where I find Mr.
Ball in a mighty trouble that he is to be put out of his place at
Midsummer, the whole Commission being to cease, and the truth is I think
they are very fair dealing men, all of them. Here I did do a little
business, and then to rights home, and there dispatched many papers, and
so home late to supper and to bed, being eased of a great many thoughts,
and yet have a great many more to remove as fast as I can, my mind being
burdened with them, having been so much employed upon the public business
of the office in their defence before the Parliament of late, and the
further cases that do attend it.

10th. Up, and to the office betimes, where all the morning. At noon home
to dinner with my clerks, and after dinner comes Kate Joyce, who tells me
she is putting off her house, which I am glad of, but it was pleasant that
she come on purpose to me about getting a ticket paid, and in her way
hither lost her ticket, so that she is at a great loss what to do.--There
comes in then Mrs. Mercer, the mother, the first time she has been here
since her daughter lived with us, to see my wife, and after a little talk
I left them and to the office, and thence with Sir D. Gawden to
Westminster Hall, thinking to have attended the Committee about the
Victualling business, but they did not meet, but here we met Sir R.
Brookes, who do mightily cry up my speech the other day, saying my
fellow-officers are obliged to me, as indeed they are. Thence with Sir D.
Gawden homewards, calling at Lincolne's Inn Fields: but my Lady Jemimah
was not within: and so to Newgate, where he stopped to give directions to
the jaylor about a Knight, one Sir Thomas Halford brought in yesterday for
killing one Colonel Temple, falling out at a taverne. So thence as far as
Leadenhall, and there I 'light, and back by coach to Lincoln's Inn Fields;
but my Lady was not come in, and so I am at a great loss whether she and
her brother Hinchingbroke and sister will dine with me to-morrow or no,
which vexes me. So home; and there comes Mr. Moore to me, who tells me
that he fears my Lord Sandwich will meet with very great difficulties to
go through about the prizes, it being found that he did give orders for
more than the King's letter do justify; and then for the Act of
Resumption, which he fears will go on, and is designed only to do him
hurt, which troubles me much. He tells me he believes the Parliament will
not be brought to do anything in matters of religion, but will adhere to
the Bishops. So he gone, I up to supper, where I find W. Joyce and Harman
come to see us, and there was also Mrs. Mercer and her two daughters, and
here we were as merry as that fellow Joyce could make us with his mad
talking, after the old wont, which tired me. But I was mightily pleased
with his singing; for the rogue hath a very good eare, and a good voice.
Here he stayed till he was almost drunk, and then away at about ten at
night, and then all broke up, and I to bed.

11th. Up, and betimes to the office, where busy till 8 o'clock, and then
went forth, and meeting Mr. Colvill, I walked with, him to his building,
where he is building a fine house, where he formerly lived, in Lumbard
Street: and it will be a very fine street. Thence walked down to the
Three Cranes and there took boat to White Hall, where by direction I
waited on the Duke of York about office business, and so by water to
Westminster, where walking in the Hall most of the morning, and up to my
Lady Jem. in Lincoln's Inn Fields to get her to appoint the day certain
when she will come and dine with me, and she hath appointed Saturday next.
So back to Westminster; and there still walked, till by and by comes Sir
W. Coventry, and with him Mr. Chichly and Mr. Andrew Newport, I to dinner
with them to Mr. Chichly's, in Queene Street, in Covent Garden. A very
fine house, and a man that lives in mighty great fashion, with all things
in a most extraordinary manner noble and rich about him, and eats in the
French fashion all; and mighty nobly served with his servants, and very
civilly; that I was mighty pleased with it: and good discourse. He is a
great defender of the Church of England, and against the Act for
Comprehension, which is the work of this day, about which the House is
like to sit till night. After dinner, away with them back to Westminster,
where, about four o'clock, the House rises, and hath done nothing more in
the business than to put off the debate to this day month. In the mean
time the King hath put out his proclamations this day, as the House
desired, for the putting in execution the Act against Nonconformists and
Papists, but yet it is conceived that for all this some liberty must be
given, and people will have it. Here I met with my cozen Roger Pepys, who
is come to town, and hath been told of my performance before the House the
other day, and is mighty proud of it, and Captain Cocke met me here
to-day, and told me that the Speaker says he never heard such a defence
made; in all his life, in the House; and that the Sollicitor-Generall do
commend me even to envy. I carried cozen Roger as far as the Strand,
where, spying out of the coach Colonel Charles George Cocke, formerly a
very great man, and my father's customer, whom I have carried clothes to,
but now walks like a poor sorry sneake, he stopped, and I 'light to him.
This man knew me, which I would have willingly avoided, so much pride I
had, he being a man of mighty height and authority in his time, but now
signifies nothing. Thence home, where to the office a while and then
home, where W. Batelier was and played at cards and supped with us, my
eyes being out of order for working, and so to bed.

12th. Up, and to the office, where all the morning, at noon home, and
after dinner with wife and Deb., carried them to Unthanke's, and I to
Westminster Hall expecting our being with the Committee this afternoon
about Victualling business, but once more waited in vain. So after a turn
or two with Lord Brouncker, I took my wife up and left her at the 'Change
while I to Gresham College, there to shew myself; and was there greeted by
Dr. Wilkins, Whistler, and others, as the patron of the Navy Office, and
one that got great fame by my late speech to the Parliament. Here I saw a
great trial of the goodness of a burning glass, made of a new figure, not
spherical (by one Smithys, I think, they call him), that did burn a glove
of my Lord Brouncker's from the heat of a very little fire, which a
burning glass of the old form, or much bigger, could not do, which was
mighty pretty. Here I heard Sir Robert Southwell give an account of some
things committed to him by the Society at his going to Portugall, which he
did deliver in a mighty handsome manner.

[At the meeting of the Royal Society on March 12th, 1668, "Mr.
Smethwick's glasses were tried again; and his telescope being
compared with another longer telescope, and the object-glasses
exchanged, was still found to exceed the other in goodness; and his
burning concave being compared with a spherical burning-glass of
almost twice the diameter, and held to the fire, it burnt gloves,
whereas the other spherical ones would not burn at all."--"Sir
Robert Southwell being lately returned from Portugal, where he had
been ambassador from the king, and being desired to acquaint the
society with what he had done with respect to the instructions,
which he had received from them before his departure from England,
related, that he had lodged the astronomical quadrant, which the
society had sent to Portugal to make observations with there, with a
body of men at Lisbon, who had applied themselves among other kinds
of literature to mathematics" (Birch's "History of the Royal
Society," vol. ii., p. 256).]

Thence went away home, and there at my office as long as my eyes would
endure, and then home to supper, and to talk with Mr. Pelling, who tells
me what a fame I have in the City for my late performance; and upon the
whole I bless God for it. I think I have, if I can keep it, done myself a
great deal of repute. So by and by to bed.

13th. Up betimes to my office, where to fit myself for attending the
Parliament again, not to make any more speech, which, while my fame is
good, I will avoid, for fear of losing it; but only to answer to what
objections will be made against us. Thence walked to the Old Swan and
drank at Michell's, whose house is going up apace. Here I saw Betty, but
could not baiser la, and so to Westminster, there to the Hall, where up to
my cozen Roger Pepys at the Parliament door, and there he took me aside,
and told me how he was taken up by one of the House yesterday, for moving
for going on with the King's supply of money, without regard to the
keeping pace therewith, with the looking into miscarriages, and was told
by this man privately that it did arise because that he had a kinsman
concerned therein; and therefore he would prefer the safety of his kinsman
to the good of the nation, and that there was great things against us and
against me, for all my fine discourse the other day. But I did bid him be
at no pain for me; for I knew of nothing but what I was very well prepared
to answer; and so I think I am, and therefore was not at all disquieted by
this. Thence he to the House, and I to the Hall, where my Lord Brouncker
and the rest waiting till noon and not called for by the House, they being
upon the business of money again, and at noon all of us to Chatelin's, the
French house in Covent Garden, to dinner--Brouncker, J. Minnes, W. Pen, T.
Harvey, and myself--and there had a dinner cost us 8s. 6d. a-piece, a
damned base dinner, which did not please us at all, so that I am not fond
of this house at all, but do rather choose the Beare. After dinner to
White Hall to the Duke of York, and there did our usual business,
complaining of our standing still in every-respect for want of money, but
no remedy propounded, but so I must still be. Thence with our company to
the King's playhouse, where I left them, and I, my head being full of
to-morrow's dinner, I to my Lord Crew's, there to invite Sir Thomas Crew;
and there met with my Lord Hinchingbroke and his lady, the first time I
spoke to her. I saluted her; and she mighty civil and; with my Lady
Jemimah, do all resolve to be very merry to-morrow at my house. My Lady
Hinchingbroke I cannot say is a beauty, nor ugly; but is altogether a
comely lady enough, and seems very good-humoured, and I mighty glad of the
occasion of seeing her before to-morrow. Thence home; and there find one
laying of my napkins against tomorrow in figures of all sorts, which is
mighty pretty; and, it seems, it is his trade, and he gets much money by
it; and do now and then furnish tables with plate and linnen for a feast
at so much, which is mighty pretty, and a trade I could not have thought
of. I find my wife upon the bed not over well, her breast being broke out
with heat, which troubles her, but I hope it will be for her good. Thence
I to Mrs. Turner, and did get her to go along with me to the French
pewterer's, and there did buy some new pewter against to-morrow; and
thence to White Hall, to have got a cook of her acquaintance, the best in
England, as she says. But after we had with much ado found him, he could
not come, nor was Mr. Gentleman in town, whom next I would have had, nor
would Mrs. Stone let her man Lewis come, whom this man recommended to me;
so that I was at a mighty loss what in the world to do for a cooke,
Philips being out of town. Therefore, after staying here at Westminster a
great while, we back to London, and there to Philips's, and his man
directed us to Mr. Levett's, who could not come, and he sent to two more,
and they could not; so that, at last, Levett as a great kindness did
resolve he would leave his business and come himself, which set me in
great ease in my mind, and so home, and there with my wife setting all
things in order against to-morrow, having seen Mrs. Turner at home, and so
late to bed.

14th. Up very betimes, and with Jane to Levett's, there to conclude upon
our dinner; and thence to the pewterer's, to buy a pewter sesterne,

[A pewter cistern was formerly part of the furniture of a well-
appointed dining-room; the plates were rinsed in it, when necessary,
during the meal. A magnificent silver cistern is still preserved in
the dining-room at Burghley House, the seat of the Marquis of
Exeter. It is said to be the largest piece of plate in England, and
was once the subject of a curious wager.--B.]

which I have ever hitherto been without, and so up and down upon several
occasions to set matters in order, and that being done I out of doors to
Westminster Hall, and there met my Lord Brouncker, who tells me that our
business is put off till Monday, and so I was mighty glad that I was eased
of my attendance here, and of any occasion that might put me out of
humour, as it is likely if we had been called before the Parliament.
Therefore, after having spoke with Mr. Godolphin and cozen Roger, I away
home, and there do find everything in mighty good order, only my wife not
dressed, which troubles me. Anon comes my company, viz., my Lord
Hinchingbroke and his lady, Sir Philip Carteret and his, lady, Godolphin
and my cozen Roger, and Creed: and mighty merry; and by and by to dinner,
which was very good and plentifull: (I should have said, and Mr. George
Montagu), who come at a very little warning, which was exceeding kind of
him. And there, among other things, my Lord had Sir Samuel Morland's late
invention for casting up of sums of L. s. d.;

[The same as Morland's so-called calculating machine. Sir Samuel
published in 1673 "The Description and Use of two Arithmetick
Instruments, together with a short Treatise of Arithmetic, as
likewise a Perpetual Almanack and severall useful tables."]

which is very pretty, but not very useful. Most of our discourse was of
my Lord Sandwich and his family, as being all of us of the family; and
with extraordinary pleasure all the afternoon, thus together eating and
looking over my closet: and my Lady Hinchingbroke I find a very
sweet-natured and well-disposed lady, a lover of books and pictures, and
of good understanding. About five o'clock they went; and then my wife and
I abroad by coach into Moorefields, only for a little ayre, and so home
again, staying no where, and then up to her chamber, there to talk with
pleasure of this day's passages, and so to bed. This day I had the
welcome news of our prize being come safe from Holland, so as I shall have
hopes, I hope, of getting my money of my Lady Batten, or good part of it.

15th (Lord's day). Up and walked, it being fine dry weather, to Sir W.
Coventry's, overtaking my boy Ely (that was), and he walked with me, being
grown a man, and I think a sober fellow. He parted at Charing Cross, and
I to Sir W. Coventry's, and there talked with him about the Commissioners
of Accounts, who did give in their report yesterday to the House, and do
lay little upon us as aggravate any thing at present, but only do give an
account of the dissatisfactory account they receive from Sir G. Carteret,
which I am sorry for, they saying that he tells them not any time when he
paid any sum, which is fit for them to know for the computing of interest,
but I fear he is hardly able to tell it. They promise to give them an
account of the embezzlement of prizes, wherein I shall be something
concerned, but nothing that I am afeard of, I thank God. Thence walked
with W. Coventry into the Park, and there met the King and the Duke of
York, and walked a good while with them: and here met Sir Jer. Smith, who
tells me he is like to get the better of Holmes, and that when he is come
to an end of that, he will do Hollis's business for him, in the House, for
his blasphemies, which I shall be glad of. So to White Hall, and there
walked with this man and that man till chapel done, and, the King dined
and then Sir Thomas Clifford, the Comptroller, took me with him to dinner
to his lodgings, where my Lord Arlington and a great deal of good and
great company; where I very civilly used by them, and had a most excellent
dinner: and good discourse of Spain, Mr. Godolphin being there;
particularly of the removal of the bodies of all the dead Kings of Spain
that could be got together, and brought to the Pantheon at the Escuriall,
when it was finished, and there placed before the altar, there to lie for
ever; and there was a sermon made to them upon this text, "Arida ossa,
audite verbum Dei;" and a most eloquent sermon, as they say, who say they
have read it. After dinner, away hence, and I to Mrs. Martin's, and there
spent the afternoon, and did hazer con elle, and here was her sister and
Mrs. Burrows, and so in the evening got a coach and home, and there find
Mr. Pelting and W. Hewer, and there talked and supped, Pelting being gone,
and mightily pleased with a picture that W. Hewer brought hither of
several things painted upon a deale board, which board is so well painted
that in my whole life I never was so well pleased or surprized with any
picture, and so troubled that so good pictures should be painted upon a
piece of bad deale. Even after I knew that it was not board, but only the
picture of a board, I could not remove my fancy. After supper to bed,
being very sleepy, and, I bless God, my mind being at very good present
rest.

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