The Diary of Samuel Pepys

by Samuel Pepys

29th. Mr. Wren first tells us of the order from the King, come last night to the Duke of York, for signifying his pleasure to the Solicitor-generall for drawing up a Commission for suspending of my Lord Anglesy, and putting in Sir Thomas Littleton and Sir Thomas Osborne [Eldest son of Sir Edward Osborne, Bart.; made a Privy-counsellor 1672, and the following year constituted Lord High Treasurer, and elected K.G. in 1677. He was created Baron Kiveton and Viscount Latimer 1678, Earl Of Danby 1674, Marquis of Caermarthen 1689, and Duke of Leeds 1694. Ob. 1712, AET.SUAE 81.] (the former a creature of Arlington's, and the latter of the Duke of Buckingham's) during the suspension. The Duke of York was forced to obey, and did grant it, he being to go to Newmarket this day with the King, and so the King pressed for it. But Mr. Wren do own that the Duke of York is the most wounded in this in the world, for it is done and concluded without his privity, after his appearing for him; and that it is plain that they do ayme to bring the Admiralty into Commission too, and lessen the Duke of York. This do put strange apprehensions into all our Board; only I think I am the least troubled at it, for I care not at all for it: but my Lord Brouncker and Pen do seem to think much of it.

30th. Up betimes; and Mr. Povy comes to even accounts with me; which we did, and then fell to other talk. He tells me, in short, how the King is made a child of by Buckingham and Arlington, to the lessening of the Duke of York, whom they cannot suffer to be great, for fear of my Lord Chancellor's return, which therefore they make the King violent against. That he believes it is impossible these two great men can hold together long; or, at least, that the ambition of the former is so great that he will endeavour to master all, and bring into play as many as he can. That Anglesy will not lose his place easily, but will contend in law with whoever comes to execute it. That the Duke of York, in all things but in his amours, is led by the nose by his wife. That Sir W. Coventry is now by the Duke of York made friends with the Duchesse; and that he is often there, and waits on her. That he do believe that these present great men will break in time, and that Sir W. Coventry will be a great man again; for he do labour to have nothing to do in matters of the State, and is so usefull to the side that he is on, that he will stand, though at present he is quite out of play. That my Lady Castlemaine hates the Duke of Buckingham. That the Duke of York hath expressed himself very kind to my Lord Sandwich; which I am mighty glad of. That we are to expect more changes if these men stand.

31st. This day my Lord Anglesy was at the office, and do seem to make nothing of this business of his suspension, resolving to bring it into Council; where he seems not to doubt to have right, he standing upon his defence and patent; and hath put in his caveats to the several offices; so as soon as the King comes back again, which will be on Tuesday next, he will bring it into the Council.

NOVEMBER 2, 1668. To Mr. Povy's; and there I find my Lords Sandwich, Peterborough, and Hinchingbroke, Charles Harbord, and Sidney Montagu; and there I was stopped, and dined mighty nobly at a good table with one little dish at a time upon it; but mighty merry. I was glad to see it; but sorry, methought, to see my Lord have so little reason to be merry, and yet glad for his sake to have him cheerful. After dinner up, and looked up and down the house, and so to the cellar; and thence I slipt away without taking leave.

4th. To White Hall; and there I find the King and Duke of York came the last night, and every body's mouth full of my Lord Anglesy's suspension being sealed, which it was, it seems, yesterday; so that he is prevented in his remedy at the Council. And, it seems, the two new Treasurers did kiss the King's hand this morning, brought in by my Lord Arlington. They walked up and down together in the Court this day, and several people joyed them; but I avoided it, that I might not be seen to look either way. This day also I hear that my Lord Ormond is to be declared in Council no more Deputy Governor of Ireland, his commission being expired: and the King is prevailed with to take it out of his hands; which people do mightily admire, saying that he is the greatest subject of any prince in Christendome, and hath more acres of land than any, and hath done more for his Prince than ever any yet did. But all will not do; he must down, it seems, the Duke of Buckingham carrying all before him. But that that troubles me most is that they begin to talk that the Duke of York's regiment is ordered to be disbanded; and more that undoubtedly his Admiralty will follow: which do shake me mightily, and I fear will have ill consequences in the nation, for these counsels are very mad. The Duke of York do by all men's report, carry himself wonderfull submissive to the King in the most humble manner in the world; but yet, it seems, nothing must be spared that tends to the keeping out the Chancellor; and that is the reason of all this. The great discourse now is, that the Parliament shall be dissolved and another called, which shall give the King the Dean and Chapter's lands; and that will put him out of debt. And it is said that Buckingham do knowingly meet daily with Wildman and other Commonwealth-men; and that when he is with them he makes the King believe that he is with his wenches. And something looks like the Parliament's being dissolved, by Harry Brouncker's being now come back, and appearing this day the first day at White Hall; but he hath not been yet with the King, but is secure that he shall be well received, I hear. God bless us when such men as he shall be restored! But that that pleases me most is, that several do tell me that Pen is to be removed; and others that he hath resigned his place; and particularly Spragg tells me for certain that he hath resigned it, and is become a partner with Gauden in the Victualling: in which I think he hath done a very cunning thing; but I am sure I am glad of it; and it will be well for the King to have him out of this office. Sir John Talbot talks mighty high for my Lord of Ormond: and I perceive this family of the Talbots hath been raised by my Lord.

5th. The Duke of York did call me and Mr. Wren; and my paper that I have lately taken pains to draw up was read, and the Duke of York pleased therewith; and we did all along conclude upon answers to my mind for the Board, and that that, if put in execution, will do the King's business. But I do now more and more perceive the Duke of York's trouble, and that he do lie under great weight of mind from the Duke of Buckingham's carrying things against him; and particularly when I advised that he would use his interest that a seaman might come into the room of Sir W. Pen, who is now declared to be gone from us to that of the Victualling, and did show how the office would now be left without one seaman in it but the Surveyor and the Controller, who is so old as to be able to do nothing. He told me plainly that I knew his mind well enough as to seamen, but that it must be as others will. And Wren did tell it me as a secret, that when the Duke of York did first tell the King about Sir W. Pen's leaving of the place, and that when the Duke of York did move the King that either Captain Cox or Sir Jer. Smith might succeed him, the King did tell him that that was a matter fit to be considered of, and would not agree to either presently: and so the Duke of York could not prevail for either, nor knows who it shall be. The Duke of York did tell me himself, that if he had not carried it privately when first he mentioned Pen's leaving his place to the King, it had not been done: for the Duke of Buckingham and those of his party do cry out upon it as a strange thing to trust such a thing into the hands of one that stands accused in Parliament: and that they have so far prevailed upon the King that he would not have him named in Council, but only take his name to the Board; but I think he said that only D. Gauden's name shall go in the patent; at least, at the time when Sir Richard Browne asked the King the names of D.Gauden's security, the King told him it was not yet necessary for him to declare them. And by and by, when the Duke of York and we had done, Wren brought into the closet Captain Cox and James Temple about business of the Guinea Company; and talking something of the Duke of Buckingham's concernment therein, says the Duke of York, "I shall give the Devil his due," as they say the Duke of Buckingham hath paid in his money to the Company, or something of that kind, wherein he would do right to him. The Duke of York told me how these people do begin to cast dirt upon the business that passed the Council lately touching Supernumeraries, as passed by virtue of his authority there, there being not liberty for any man to withstand what the Duke of York advises there; which, he told me, they bring only as an argument to insinuate the putting of the Admiralty into Commission, which by all men's discourse is now designed, and I perceive the same by him. This being done, and going from him, I up and down the house to hear news: and there every body's mouth full of changes; and among others, the Duke of York's regiment of Guards that was raised during the late war at sea it is to be disbanded: and also, that this day the King do intend to declare that the Duke of Ormond is no more Deputy of Ireland, but that he will put it into Commission. This day our new Treasurers did kiss the King's hand; who complimented them, as they say, very highly,—that he had for a long time been abused in his Treasury, and that he was now safe in their hands. I saw them walk up and down the Court together all this morning; the first time I ever saw Osborne, who is a comely gentleman. This day I was told that my Lord Anglesy did deliver a petition on Wednesday in Council to the King, laying open, that whereas he had heard that his Majesty had made such a disposal of his place, which he had formerly granted him for life upon a valuable consideration, and that without any thing laid to his charge, and during a Parliament's sessions, he prayed that his Majesty would be pleased to let his case be heard before the Council and the Judges of the land, who were his proper Counsel in all matters of right: to which, I am told, the King, after my Lord's being withdrawn, concluded upon his giving him an answer some few days hence; and so he was called in and told so. At the Treasurer's, Sir Thomas Clifford, where I did eat some oysters; which while we were at, in comes my Lord Keeper and much company; and so I thought it best to withdraw. And so away, and to the Swedes Agent's, and there met Mr. Povy; where the agent would have me stay and dine, there being only them and Joseph Williamson, and Sir Thomas Clayton; [Thomas Clayton, M.D., Professor of Physic, and Anatomy Lecturer at Oxford, for which University he was chosen Member 1660, and afterwards, knighted and made Warden of Merton College.] but what he is I know not. Here much extraordinary noble discourse of foreign princes, and particularly the greatness of the King of France, and of his being fallen into the right way of making the kingdom great. I was mightily pleased with this company and their discourse.

6th. To see Roger Pepys at his lodgings next door to Arundell- house, a barber's. And there I did see a book, which my Lord Sandwich hath promised one to me of, "A Description of the Escuriall in Spain;" which I have a great desire to have, though I took it for a finer book when he promised it me.

9th. The Duke of York told me that Sir W. Pen had been with him this morning to ask whether it would be fit for him to sit at the office now, because of his resolution to be gone and to become concerned in the Victualling. The Duke of York answered, Yes, till his contract was signed. Thence I to Lord Sandwich's, and there to see him; but was made to stay very long, as his best friends are, and when I came to him had little pleasure, his head being full of his own business, I think. Thence to White Hall with him to a Committee of Tangier; a day appointed for him to give an account of Tangier, and what he did and found there; which, though he had admirable matter for it, and his doings there were good, and would have afforded a noble account, yet he did it with a mind so low and mean, and delivered in so poor a manner, that it appeared nothing at all, nor any body seemed to value it; whereas he might have shown himself to have merited extraordinary thanks, and been held to have done a very great service: whereas now, all that cost the King hath been at for his journey through Spain thither, seems to be almost lost. After we were up, Creed and I walked together, and did talk a good while of the weak Report my Lord made, and were troubled for it; I fearing that either his mind and judgment are depressed, or that he do it out of his great neglect, and so that he do all the rest of his affairs accordingly.

11th. To the office; where by a speciall desire the new Treasurers came, and there did show their Patent and the Great Seal for the suspension of my Lord Anglesy: and here did sit and discourse of the business of the office; and brought Mr. Hutchinson with them, who, I hear, is to be their Paymaster, in the room of Mr. Waith. For it seems they do turn out every servant that belongs to the present Treasurer; and so for Fenn do bring in Mr. Littleton, Sir Thomas's brother, and oust all the rest. But Mr. Hutchinson do already see that his work now will be another kind of thing than before, as to the trouble of it.

13th. Up, and with Sir W. Pen by coach to White Hall; where to the Duke of York, and there did our usual business. And thence I to the Commissioners of the Treasury; where I staid and heard an excellent case argued between my Lord Gerard and the town of Newcastle, about a piece of ground which that Lord hath got a grant of under the Exchequer Seal, which they were endeavouring to get of the King under the Great Seal. I liked mightily the Counsel for the town, Shaftow their recorder, and Mr. Offly. But I was troubled, and so were the Lords, [The Lords Commissioners.] to hear my Lord fly out against their [The inhabitants of Newcastle.] great pretence of merit from the King for their sufferings and loyalty; telling them that they might thank him for that repute which they have for their loyalty, for that it was he that forced them to be so against their wills, when he was there: and, moreover, did offer a paper to the Lords to read from the town, sent in 1648; but the Lords would not read it; but I believe it was something about bringing the King to trial, or some such thing, in that year. Thence I to the Three Tuns Tavern by Charing Cross, and there dined with W. Pen, Sir J. Minnes, and Commissioner Middleton; and as merry as my mind could be, that hath so much trouble upon it at home. And thence to White Hall, and there staid in Mr. Wren's chamber with him reading over my draught of a letter, which Mr. Gibson then attended me with; and there he did like all, but doubted whether it would be necessary for the Duke to write in so sharp a style to the office as I had drawn it in: which I yield to him, to consider the present posture of the times and the Duke of York, and whether it were not better to err on that hand than the other. He told me that he did not think it was necessary for the Duke of York to do, and that it would not suit so well with his nature nor greatness; which last perhaps is true, but then do too truly show the effects of having princes in places where order and discipline should be. I left it to him to do as the Duke of York pleases; and so fell to other talk, and with great freedom, of public things. And he told me, upon my several inquiries to that purpose, that he did believe it was not yet resolved whether the Parliament should ever meet more or no, the three great rulers of things now standing thus:—The Duke of Buckingham is absolutely against their meeting, as moved thereto by his people that he advises with, the people of the late times, who do never expect to have any thing done by this Parliament for their religion, and who do propose that, by the sale of the Church-lands, they shall be able to put the King out of debt: my Lord Keeper is utterly against putting away this and choosing another Parliament, lest they prove worse than this, and will make all the King's friends, and the King himself, in a desperate condition: my Lord Arlington knows not which is best for him, being to seek whether this or the next will use him worst. He tells me that he believes that it is intended to call this Parliament, and try them with a sum of money; and if they do not like it, then to send them going, and call another who will, at the ruin of the Church perhaps, please the King with what he will have for a time. And he tells me, therefore, that he do believe that this policy will be endeavoured by the Church and their friends,—to seem to promise the King money when it shall be propounded, but make the King and these great men buy it, dear before they have it. He tells me that he is really persuaded that the design of the Duke of Buckingham is, by bringing the State into such a condition as, if the King do die without issue, it shall upon his death break into pieces again; and so put by the Duke of York, whom they have disobliged, they know, to that degree as to despair of his pardon. He tells me that there is no way to rule the King but by brisknesse, which the Duke of Buckingham hath above all men; and that the Duke of York having it not, his best way is what he practices, that is to say, a good temper, which will support him till the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Arlington fall out, which cannot be long first, the former knowing that the latter did, in the time of the Chancellor, endeavour with the Chancellor to hang him at that time, when he was proclaimed against. And here, by the by, he told me that the Duke of Buckingham did by his friends treat with my Lord Chancellor, by the mediation of Matt. Wren and Clifford, to fall in with my Lord Chancellor; which, he tells me, he did advise my Lord Chancellor to accept of, as that, that with his own interest and the Duke of York's, would undoubtedly have secured all to him and his family; but that my Lord Chancellor was a man not to be advised, thinking himself too high to be counselled: and so all is come to nothing; for by that means the Duke of Buckingham became desperate, and was forced to fall in with Arlington, to his ruin. This morning at the Treasury-chamber I did meet Jack Fenn, and there he did show me my Lord Anglesy's petition and the King's answer: the former good and stout, as I before did hear it; but the latter short and weak, saying that he was not by what the King had done hindered from taking the benefit of his laws, and that the reason he had to suspect his mismanagement of his money in Ireland did make him think it unfit to trust him with his Treasury in England till he was satisfied in the former.