4th October, 1658. I dined with the Holland ambassador, at Derby House: returning, I diverted to see a very WHITE RAVEN, bred in Cumberland; also a porcupine, of that kind that shoots its quills, of which see Claudian; it was headed like a rat, the fore feet like a badger, the hind feet like a bear.
19th October, 1658. I was summoned to London, by the commissioners for new buildings; afterward, to the commission of sewers; but because there was an oath to be taken of fidelity to the Government as now constituted without a king, I got to be excused, and returned home.
22d October, 1658. Saw the superb funeral of the protector. He was carried from Somerset House in a velvet bed of state, drawn by six horses, housed with the same; the pall held by his new lords; Oliver lying in effigy, in royal robes, and crowned with a crown, sceptre, and globe, like a king. The pendants and guidons were carried by the officers of the army; the imperial banners, achievements, etc., by the heralds in their coats; a rich caparisoned horse, embroidered all over with gold; a knight of honor, armed cap-a-pie, and, after all, his guards, soldiers, and innumerable mourners. In this equipage, they proceeded to Westminster: but it was the most joyful funeral I ever saw; for there were none that cried but dogs, which the soldiers hooted away with a barbarous noise, drinking and taking tobacco in the streets as they went.
I returned not home till the 17th of November.
I was summoned again to London by the
commissioners for new foundations to be erected within such a distance of London.
6th December, 1658. Now was published my "French Gardener," the first and best of the kind that introduced the use of the olitory garden to any purpose.
23d December, 1658. I went with my wife to keep Christmas at my cousin, George Tuke's, at Cressing Temple, in Essex. Lay that night at Brentwood.
25th December, 1658. Here was no public service, but what we privately used. I blessed God for his mercies the year past; and 1st of January, begged a continuance of them. Thus, for three Sundays, by reason of the incumbent's death, here was neither praying nor preaching, though there was a chapel in the house.
17th January, 1659. Our old vicar preached, taking leave of the parish in a pathetical speech, to go to a living in the city.