a Committee of the whole House of Commons, in the Commons' House of Parliament, between one Captain Taylor and my Lord Viscount Mordaunt,' where, after the lawyers had pleaded and the witnesses been examined, such foul and dishonourable things were produced against his Lordship, of tyranny during his government of Windsor Castle, of which he was Constable, incontinence, and suborning witnesses (of which last, one Sir Richard Breames was most concerned), that I was exceedingly interested for his Lordship, who was my special friend, and husband of the most virtuous lady in the world. We sat till near ten at night, and yet but half the Counsel had done on behalf of the Plaintiff. The question then was put for bringing-in of lights to sit longer. This lasted so long before it was determined, and raised such a confused noise among the Members, that a stranger would have been astonished at it. I admire that there is not a rationale to regulate such trifling accidents, which consume much time, and is a reproach to the gravity of so great an assembly of sober men.

27th November. Sir Hugh Pollard, Comptroller of the Household, died at Whitehall, and his Majesty conferred the white staff on my brother Commissioner for sick and wounded, Sir Thomas Clifford, a bold young gentleman, of a small fortune in Devon, but advanced by Lord Arlington, Secretary of State, to the great astonishment of all the Court. This gentleman was somewhat related to me by the marriage of his mother to my nearest kinsman, Gregory Coale, and was ever my noble friend, a valiant and daring person, but by no means fit for a supple and flattering courtier.

28th. Went to see Clarendon House, now almost 1 John, second son of John, first Earl of Peterborough. He was raised to the Peerage in July, 1659, for his services in the cause of Charles II. He died June 5th, 1675. See the whole proceedings in this affair in the Journals of Lords and Commons, under date of 1666.

* Of this "nearest kinsman" and his family, seated at Petersham in Surrey, see Bray's History of that County, i. 489, 441, but his precise connection or kinsmanship with the Evelyns does not appear.

Of which frequent mention, throughout his Diary and Letters, is made by Evelyn; since quite demolished. It was situated where Albemarle Street now is. After Lord Clarendon's exile the Duke of Albemarle occupied it, and two engraved views of it exist as it then stood; one a small one by John Dunstall, and another upon a very large scale, by J. Spilbergh.

finished, a goodly pile to see to, but had many defects as to the architecture, yet placed most gracefully. After this, I waited on the Lord Chancellor, who was now at Berkshire House,' since the burning of London.

2nd December. Dined with me Monsieur Kiviet, a Dutch gentleman-pensioner of Rotterdam, who came over for protection, being of the Prince of Orange's party, now not welcome in Holland. The King knighted him for some merit in the Prince's behalf. He should, if caught, have been beheaded with Monsieur Buat, and was brother-inlaw to Van Tromp, the sea-general. With him came Mr. Gabriel Sylvius, and Mr. Williamson, secretary to Lord Arlington; M. Kiviet came to examine whether the soil about the river of Thames would be proper to make clinker-bricks, and to treat with me about some accommodation in order to it.3

1666-7. 9th January. To the Royal Society, which since the sad conflagration were invited by Mr. Howard to sit at Arundel-House in the Strand, who, at my instigation, likewise bestowed on the Society that noble library which his grandfather especially, and his ancestors had collected. This gentleman had so little inclination to books, that it was the preservation of them from embezzlement.

24th. Visited my Lord Clarendon, and presented my son, John, to him, now preparing to go to Oxford, of

'Berkshire or Cleveland House, belonging to the Howards Earls of Berkshire. It was purchased and presented by Charles II. to Barbara Duchess of Cleveland, and was then of great extent; she, however, afterwards sold part, which was divided into various houses.

2 Williamson, already mentioned in a note (vol. i. p. 409), filled several important offices. He was Keeper of the State Paper Office, Under Secretary, and then Secretary of State. He was knighted; subsequently elected President of the Royal Society; and as Sir Joseph Williamson, continued a Member of Parliament during several sessions, representing Thetford and Rochester. Pepys describes him in 1662-3 as "a pretty knowing man and a scholar, but it may be, thinks himself to be too much so." He died in 1701. See Ante, vol. i. p. 409.

› Occasional references are made to it hereafter (24, 32, &c.) Monsieur Kiviet, probably the same person described by Pepys as "Kevet, Burgomaster of Amsterdam." He made a proposition, as Evelyn describes it, "to wharf the whole river of Thames, or quay from the Temple to the Tower, as far as the fire destroyed, with bricks, without piles, both lasting and ornamental."

which his Lordship was Chancellor. This evening I heard rare Italian voices, two eunuchs and one woman, in his Majesty's green chamber, next his cabinet.

29th January. To London, in order to my son's Oxford journey, who, being very early entered both in Latin and Greek, and prompt to learn beyond most of his age, I was persuaded to trust him under the tutorage of Mr. Bohun, Fellow of New College, who had been his preceptor in my house some years before; but, at Oxford, under the inspection of Dr. Bathurst, President of Trinity College, where I placed him, not as yet thirteen years old. He was newly out of long coats.1

15th February. My little book, in answer to Sir George Mackenzie2 on Solitude, was now published, entitled "Public Employment, and an active Life with its Appanages, preferred to Solitude."

18th. I was present at a magnificent ball, or masque, in the theatre at the Court, where their Majesties and all the great lords and ladies danced, infinitely gallant, the men in their richly embroidered most becoming vests.

19th. I saw a Comedy acted at Court. In the afternoon, I witnessed a wrestling match for 1000l. in St. James's Park, before his Majesty, a vast assemblage of lords and other spectators, betwixt the western and northern men, Mr. Secretary Morice and Lord Gerard being the judges. The western men won. Many great sums were betted.

6th March. I proposed to my Lord Chancellor, Mon

1 In illustration of the garb which succeeded the "long coats" out of which lads of twelve or thirteen were thus suffered to emerge, it may be mentioned that there hung, some years ago, and perhaps may hang still, upon the walls of the Swan Inn at Leatherhead in Surrey, a picture of four children, dates of birth between 1640 and 1650, of whom a lad of about the age of young Evelyn is represented in a coat reaching to his ankles.

A Scottish advocate, who wrote several works on the Scottish laws, and various essays and poetical pieces. He was born at Dundee in 1536, and died in London in 1691. He has frequent mention in the Diary and Correspondence. See the present vol. p. 306, and vol. iii. 193.

Re-printed in "Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 501-509. In a letter to Cowley, 12th March, 1666, Evelyn apologises for having written against that life which he had joined with Mr. Cowley in so much admiring, assuring him he neither was nor could be serious in avowing such a preference.

sieur Kiviet's undertaking to wharf the whole river of Thames, or quay, from the Temple to the Tower, as far as the fire destroyed, with brick, without piles, both lasting and ornamental.-Great frosts, snow, and winds, prodigious at the vernal equinox; indeed it had been a year of prodigies in this nation, plague, war, fire, rain, tempest and comet. 14th March. Saw The Virgin- Queen,' a play written by Mr. Dryden.

22nd. Dined at Mr. Secretary Morice's, who showed me his library, which was a well-chosen collection. This afternoon, I had audience of his Majesty, concerning the proposal I had made of building the Quay.

26th. Sir John Kiviet dined with me. We went to search for brick-earth, in order to a great undertaking. 4th April. The cold so intense, that there was hardly a leaf on a tree.

18th. I went to make court to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle, at their house in Clerkenwell, being newly come out of the north. They received me with great kindness, and I was much pleased with the extraordinary fanciful habit, garb, and discourse of the Duchess.

22nd. Saw the sumptuous supper in the banquetinghouse at Whitehall, on the eve of St. George's day, where were all the companions of the Order of the Garter.

23rd. In the morning, his Majesty went to chapel with the Knights of the Garter, all in their habits and robes, ushered by the heralds; after the first service, they went in procession, the youngest first, the Sovereign last, with the Prelate of the Order and Dean, who had about his neck the

The Virgin Queen which Evelyn saw was Dryden's Maiden Queen. Pepys saw it on the night of its first production (twelve day's before Evelyn's visit); and was charmed by Nell Gwynne's Florimell. "So great a performance of a comical part was never, I believe, in the world

before."

2 Sir William Morice. General Monk, his kinsman, procured him, at the Restoration, the place of Secretary of State, which he resigned in 1668 He died in 1676.

See Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 244-250, vol. iv. pp 8, &c. Both Duke and Duchess are frequently mentioned by Evelyn. The Duke spent a princely fortune (with very ill reward) in the service of Charles I. and II., and is now chiefly remembered for his high-flown wife's fantastical account of him.

book of the Statutes of the Order; and then the Chancellor of the Order (old Sir Henry de Vic), who wore the purse about his neck; then the Heralds and Garter-King-at-Arms, Clarencieux, Black Rod. But before the Prelate and Dean of Windsor went the gentlemen of the chapel and choristers, singing as they marched; behind them two doctors of music in damask robes; this procession was about the courts at Whitehall. Then, returning to their stalls and seats in the chapel, placed under each knight's coat-armour and titles, the second service began. Then, the King offered at the altar, an anthem was sung; then, the rest of the Knights offered, and lastly proceeded to the banqueting-house to a great feast. The King sat on an elevated throne at the upper end at a table alone; the Knights at a table on the right hand, reaching all the length of the room; over-against them a cupboard of rich gilded plate; at the lower end, the music; on the balusters above, wind music, trumpets, and kettle-drums. The King was served by the lords and pensioners who brought up the dishes. About the middle of the dinner, the Knights drank the King's health, then the King, theirs, when the trumpets and music played and sounded, the guns going off at the Tower. At the Banquet, came in the Queen, and stood by the King's left hand, but did not sit. Then was the banqueting-stuff flung about the room profusely. In truth, the crowd was so great, that though I stayed all the supper the day before, I now stayed no longer than this sport began, for fear of disorder. The cheer was extraordinary, each Knight having forty dishes to his mess, piled up five or six high; the room hung with the richest tapestry.

25th April. Visited again the Duke of Newcastle, with whom I had been acquainted long before in France, where the Duchess had obligation to my wife's mother for her marriage there; she was sister to Lord Lucas, and maid of honour then to the Queen-Mother; married in our chapel at Paris. My wife being with me, the Duke and Duchess both would needs bring her to the very Court.

26th. My Lord Chancellor showed me all his newly finished and furnished palace and library; then, we went to take the air in Hyde-Park.

27th. I had a great deal of discourse with his Majesty