The Diary of Samuel Pepys

by Samuel Pepys

9th. Great talk of the Dutch proclaiming themselves in India, Lords of the Southern Seas, and denying traffick to all ships but their own, upon pain of confiscation: which makes our merchants mad. Great doubt of two ships of ours, the Greyhound and another, very rich, coming from the Streights, for fear of the Turkes. Matters are made up between the Pope and the King of France; so that now all the doubt is, what the French will do with their armies.

10th. I did give my wife's brother 10s. and a coat that I had by me, a close-bodied, light-coloured cloth coat, with a gold edgeing in each seam, that was the lace of my wife's best pettycoat that she had when I married her. He is going into Holland to seek his fortune.

15th. To White Hall, to the Duke: where he first put on a periwigg to-day: but methought his hair cut short in order thereto did look very prettily of itself, before he put on his periwigg. Great news of the arrivall of two rich ships, the Greyhound and another, which they were mightily afraid of, and great insurance given. This afternoon Sir Thomas Chamberlin [Son of William Chamberlayne, an English Judge, and created a Baronet 1642.] come to the office to me, and showed me several letters from the East Indys, showing the height that the Dutch are come to there, showing scorn to all the English, even in our only Factory there at Surat, beating several men, and hanging the English standard St. George under the Dutch flag in scorn: saying, that whatever their masters do or say at home, they will do what they list, and be masters of all the world there; and have so proclaimed themselves Soveraine of all the South Seas; which certainly our King cannot endure, if the Parliament will give him money. But I doubt and yet do hope they will not yet, till we are more ready for it.

17th. Mr. Pierce tells me of the King's giving of my Lord FitzHarding two leases which belong indeed to the Queene, worth 20,000l. to him; and how people do talk of it.

19th. Mr. Cutler come, and walked and talked with me a great while; and then to the 'Change together; and it being early, did tell me several excellent examples of men raised upon the 'Change by their great diligence and saving; as also his own fortune, and how credit grew upon him; that when he was not really worth 1,100l., he had credit for 100,000l.; of Sir W. Rider how he rose; and others. By and by joyned with us Sir John Bankes; [An opulent merchant, residing in Lincoln's Inn Fields.] who told us several passages of the East India Company; and how in every case, when there was due to him and Alderman Mico 64,000l. from the Dutch for injury done to them in the East Indys, Oliver presently after the peace, they delaying to pay them the money, sent them word, that if they did not pay them by such a day, he would grant letters of mark to those merchants against them; by which they were so fearful of him, they did presently pay the money every farthing. Took my wife; and taking a coach, went to visit; my Ladys Jemimah and Paulina Montagu, and Mrs. Elizabeth Pickering, [Lord Sandwich's niece.] whom we found at their father's new house in Lincolne's Fields; but the house all in dirt. They received us well enough; but I did not endeavour to carry myself over familiarly with them: and so after a little stay, there coming in presently after us my Lady Aberguenny [Probably Mary, daughter of Thomas Clifford, Esq., of Dunton Walet, Essex, wife to George, ninth Lord Abergavenny.] and other ladies, we back again by coach.

22nd. This evening come Mr. Alsopp the King's brewer, with whom I spent an hour talking and bewailing the posture of things at present; the King led away by half-a-dozen men, that none of his serious servants and friends can come at him. These are Lauderdale, Buckingham, Hamilton, FitzHarding, (to whom he hath, it seems, given 12,000l. per annum in the best part of the King's estate); and that the old Duke of Buckingham could never get of the King. Projers is another, [Edward Progers, Esq., the King's Valet-de-Chambre, and the confidant of his amours. Ob. 1713, aged ninety-six.] and Sir H. Bennett. He loves not the Queene at all, but is rather sullen to her; and she, by all reports, incapable of children. He is so fond of the Duke of Monmouth, that every body admires it; and he says that the Duke hath said, that he would be the death of any man that says the King was not married to his mother: though Alsopp says, it is well known that she was a common strumpet before the King was acquainted with her. But it seems, he says, that the King is mighty kind to these his bastard children; and at this day will go at midnight to my Lady Castlemaine's nurses, and take the child and dance it in his arms: that he is not likely to have his tables up again in his house, for the crew that are about him will not have him come to common view again, but keep him obscurely among themselves. He hath this night, it seems, ordered that the Hall (which there is a ball to be in to-night before the King) be guarded, as the Queene-Mother's is, by his Horse Guards; whereas heretofore they were by the Lord Chamberlain or Steward, and their people. But it is feared they will reduce all to the soldiery, and all other places be taken away; and what is worst of all, will alter the present militia, and bring all to a flying army. That my Lord Lauderdale, being Middleton's enemy, [John Earl of Middleton, General of the Forces in Scotland.] and one that scorns the Chancellor even to open affronts before the King, hath got the whole power of Scotland into his hand; whereas the other day he was in a fair way to have had his whole estate, and honour, and life, voted away from him. That the King hath done himself all imaginable wrong in the business of my Lord Antrim, [Randall, second Earl, and first Marquis of Antrim. Ob. 1673.] in Ireland; who, though he was the head of rebels, yet he by his letter owns to have acted by his father's and mother's and his commissions: but it seems the truth is, he hath obliged himself upon the clearing of his estate, to settle it upon a daughter of the Queene-Mother's (by my Lord Germin, [Earl of St. Albans.] I suppose,) in marriage be it to whom the Queene pleases: which is a sad story. It seems a daughter of the Duke of Lenox's was, by force, going to be married the other day at Somerset House, to Harry Germin; but she got away and run to the King, and he says he will protect her. She is, it seems, very near akin to the King. Such mad doings there are every day among them! There was a French book in verse, the other day, translated and presented to the Duke of Monmouth in such a high stile, that the Duke of York, he tells me, was mightily offended at it. The Duke of Monmouth's mother's brother hath a place at Court; and being a Welchman, (I think he told me,) will talk very broad of the King's being married to his sister. The King did the other day, at the Council, commit my Lord Digby's [George, Lord Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, who had been Secretary of State in 1643; but by changing his religion while abroad, at the instigation of Don John of Austria, incapacitated himself from being restored to that office; and in consequence of the disappointment, which he imputed to the interference of the Lord Chancellor, conspired and effected his ruin. He was installed K.G. in 1661, and died 1676.] chaplin, and steward, and another servant, who went upon the process begun there against their lord, to swear that they saw him at church, and receive the Sacrament as a Protestant, (which, the Judges said, was sufficient to prove him such in the eye of the law); the King, I say, did commit them all to the Gate-house, notwithstanding their pleading their dependance upon him, and the faith they owed him as their lord, whose bread they eat. And that the King should say, that he would soon see whether he was King, or Digby. That the Queene-mother had outrun herself in her expences, and is now come to pay very ill, or run in debt the money being spent that she received for leases. He believes there is not any money laid up in bank, as I told him some did hope; but he says, from the best informers he can assure me there is no such thing, nor any body that should look after such a thing; and that there is not now above 80,000l. of the Dunkirke money left in stock. That Oliver the year when he spent 1,400,000l. in the Navy did spend in the whole expence of the kingdom 2,600,000l. That all the Court are mad for a Dutch war; but both he and I did concur, that it was a thing rather to be dreaded than hoped for; unless by the French King's falling upon Flanders, they and the Dutch should be divided. That our Embassador had, it is true, an audience; but in the most dishonourable way that could be; for the Princes of the Blood (though invited by our Embassador, which was the greatest absurdity that ever Embassador committed these 400 years) were not there; and so were not said to give place to our King's Embassador. And that our King did openly say, the other day in the Privy Chamber, that he would not be hectored out of his right and pre-eminences by the King of France, as great as he was. That the Pope is glad to yield to a peace with the French (as the news-book says,) upon the basest terms that ever was. That the talk which these people about our King, that I named before, have, is to tell him how neither priviledge of Parliament nor City is any thing; but that his will is all, and ought to be so: and their discourse, it seems, when they are alone, is so base and sordid, that it makes the eares of the very gentlemen of the back stairs (I think he called them) to tingle to hear it spoke in the King's hearing; and that must be very bad indeed. That my Lord Digby did send to Lisbon a couple of priests, to search out what they could against the Chancellor concerning the match, as to the point of his knowing before-hand that the Queene was not capable of bearing children; and that something was given her to make her so. But as private as they were, when they come thither they were clapped up prisoners. That my Lord Digby endeavours what he can to bring the business into the House of Commons, hoping there to master the Chancellor, there being many enemies of his there: but I hope the contrary. That whereas the late King did mortgage Clarendon [Clarendon Park near Salisbury.] to somebody for 20,000l., and this to have given it to the Duke of Albemarle, and he sold it to my Lord Chancellor, whose title of Earldome is fetched from thence; the King hath this day sent his order to the Privy Seale for the payment of this 20,000l. to my Lord Chancellor, to clear the mortgage. Ireland in a very distracted condition about the hard usage which the Protestants meet with, and the too good which the Catholiques. And from all together, God knows my heart, I expect nothing but ruin can follow, unless things are better ordered in a little time.

23rd. This day, by the blessing of God, I have lived thirty-one years in the world: and, by the grace of God, I find myself not only in good health in every thing, and particularly as to the stone, but only pain upon taking cold, and also in a fair way of coming to a better esteem and estate in the world, than ever I expected. But I pray God give me a heart to fear a fall, and to prepare for it.

24th (Ash Wednesday). To the Queene's chapel, where I staid and saw their masse, till a man come and bid me go out or kneel down: so I did go out. And thence to Somerset House; and there into the chapel, where Monsieur d'Espagne [Probably author of a small volume called "Shibboleth, ou, Reformation de quelques Passages de la Bible, per Jean d'Espagne; Ministre du St. Evangile," in the Pepysian Collection, printed 1653, and dedicated to Cromwell.] used to preach. But now it is made very fine, and was ten times more crouded than the Queene's chapel at St. James's: which I wonder at. Thence down to the garden of Somerset House, and up and down the new building, which in every respect will be mighty magnificent and costly.

27th. Sir Martin Noell told us the dispute between him, as farmer of the Additional Duty, and the East India Company, whether callico be linnen or no: which he says it is, having been ever esteemed so: they say it is made of cotton woole, and grows upon trees, not like flax or hemp. But it was carried against the Company, though they stand out against the verdict.

28th (Lord's day). Up and walked to Paul's; and by chance it was an extraordinary day for the Readers of the Inns of Court and all the Students to come to church, it being an old ceremony not used these twenty-five years, upon the first Sunday in Lent. Abundance there was of Students, more than there was room to seat but upon forms, and the Church mighty full. One Hawkins preached, an Oxford man. A good sermon upon these words: "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable." Both before and after sermon I was most impatiently troubled at the Quire, the worst that; ever I heard. But what was extraordinary, the Bishop of London, [Humphrey Henchman translated from Salisbury, September 1663. Ob. 1675.] who sat there in a pew, made a' purpose for him by the pulpitt, do give the last blessing to the congregation; which was, he being a comely old man, a very decent thing, methought. The Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir J. Robinson, would needs have me by coach home with him, where the officers of his regiment dined with him. After dinner to chapel in the Tower with the Lieutenant, with the keyes carried before us, and the Warders and Gentleman-porter going before us. And I sat with the Lieutenant in his pew, in great state. None, it seems, of the prisoners in the Tower that are there now, though they may, will come to prayers there.