was he entered and cast his eye on the work, but he was astonished at the curiosity of it; and having considered it a long time, and discoursed with Mr. Gibbon, whom I brought to kiss his hand, he commanded it should be immediately carried to the Queen's side to show her. It was carried up into her bed-chamber, where she and the King looked on and admired it again; the King, being called away, left us with the Queen, believing she would have bought it, it being a crucifix; but, when his Majesty was gone, a French peddling woman, one Madame de Boord, who used to bring petticoats and fans, and baubles, out of France to the ladies, began to find fault with several things in the work, which she understood no more than an ass, or a monkey, so as in a kind of indignation, I caused the person who brought it to carry it back to the chamber, finding the Queen so much governed by an ignorant Frenchwoman, and this incomparable artist had his labour only for his pains, which not a little displeased me; and he was fain to send it down to his cottage again; he not long after sold it for 801., though well worth 1001., without the frame, to Sir George Viner.

His Majesty's Surveyor, Mr. Wren, faithfully promised me to employ him. I having also bespoke his Majesty for his work at Windsor, which my friend, Mr. May, the architect there, was going to alter, and repair universally; for, on the next day, I had a fair opportunity of talking to his Majesty about it, in the lobby next the Queen's side, where I presented him with some sheets of my history. I thence walked with him through St. James's Park to the garden, where I both saw and heard a very familiar discourse between . . . . . and Mrs. Nelly,' as they called an impudent comedian, she looking out of her garden on a terrace at the top of the wall, and . . . . . standing on the green walk under it. I was heartily sorry at this scene. Thence the King walked to the Duchess of Cleveland, another lady of pleasure, and curse of our nation.

'The carving in the Choir, &c. of St. Paul's Cathedral was executed by Gibbon.

Nell Gwynne: there can be no doubt as to the name with which we are to fill up these blanks. This familiar interview of Nelly and the King has afforded a subject for painters.

5th March. I dined at Greenwich, to take leave of Sir Thomas Linch, going Governor of Jamaica.

10th. To London, about passing my patent as one of the standing Council for Plantations, a considerable honour, the others in the Council being chiefly noblemen and officers of state.

2nd April. To Sir Thomas Clifford, the Treasurer, to condole with him on the loss of his eldest son, who died at Florence.

2nd May. The French King, being now with a great army of 28,000 men about Dunkirk, divers of the grandees of that Court, and a vast number of gentlemen and cadets, in fantastical habits, came flocking over to see our Court, and compliment his Majesty. I was present, when they first were conducted into the Queen's withdrawing-room, where saluted their Majesties the Dukes of Guise, Longueville, and many others of the first rank.

10th. Dined at Mr. Treasurer's,' in company with Monsieur De Grammont and several French noblemen, and one Blood, that impudent bold fellow who had not long before attempted to steal the imperial crown itself out of the Tower, pretending only curiosity of seeing the regalia there, when stabbing the keeper, though not mortally, he boldly went away with it through all the guards, taken only by the accident of his horse falling down. How he came to be pardoned, and even received into favour, not only after this, but several other exploits almost as daring both in Ireland and here, I could never come to understand. Some believed he became a spy of several parties, being well with the Sectaries and Enthusiasts, and did his Majesty services that way, which none alive could do so well as be; but it was

This entry of 10th May, 1671, so far as it relates to Blood, and the stealing of the crown, &c., is a mistake. Blood stole the crown on the 9th of May, 1671-the very day before; and the "not long before" of Evelyn, and the circumstance of his being "pardoned," which Evelyn also mentions, can hardly be said to relate to only the day before. This is another of the passages to which frequent reference has been made, and which are explained in the advertisement to the present edition of the Diary. The Monsieur de Grammont, who was one of the party at the Treasurer's, was Philebert, Comte de Grammont, so well known by the Memoirs he dictated to his brother-in-law, Anthony, Count Hamil ton. He died in 1707.

certainly the boldest attempt, so the only treason of this sort that was ever pardoned. This man had not only a daring but a villanous unmerciful look, a false countenance, but very well-spoken, and dangerously insinuating.

11th May. I went to Eltham, to sit as one of the Commissioners about the Subsidy now given by Parliament to his Majesty.

17th. Dined at Mr. Treasurer's [Sir Thomas Clifford] with the Earl of Arlington, Carlingford, Lord Arundel of Wardour, Lord Almoner to the Queen, a French Count and two abbots, with several more of French nobility; and now by something I had lately observed of Mr. Treasurer's con versation on occasion, I suspected him a little warping to Rome.

25th. I dined at a feast made for me and my wife by the Trinity Company, for our passing a fine of the land which Sir R. Browne, my wife's father, freely gave to found and build their college, or Alms-houses on; at Deptford, it being my wife's after her father's decease. It was a good and charitable work and gift, but would have been better bestowed on the poor of that parish, than on the seamen's widows, the Trinity Company being very rich, and the rest of the poor of the parish exceedingly indigent.

26th. The Earl of Bristol's house in Queen's Street [Lincoln's Inn Fields) was taken for the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and furnished with rich hangings of the King's. It consisted of seven rooms on a floor, with a long gallery, gardens, &c. This day we met the Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Lauderdale, Lord Culpeper, Sir George Carteret, Vice-Chamberlain, and myself, had the oaths given us by the Earl of Sandwich, our President. It was to advise and counsel his Majesty, to the best of our abilities, for the well-governing of his Foreign Plantations, &c., the form very little differing from that given to the Privy Council. We then took our places at the Board in the Council-Chamber, a very large room furnished with atlases, maps, charts, globes, &c. Then came the Lord Keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Earl of Arlington, Secretary of State, Lord Ashley, Mr. Treasurer, Sir John Trevor, the other Secretary, Sir John Duncomb, Lord Allington, Mr. Grey, son to the Lord Grey, Mr. Henry Broucher, Sir Humphrey

Winch, Sir John Finch, Mr. Waller, and Colonel Titus, of the Bedchamber,' with Mr. Slingsby, Secretary to the Council, and two Clerks of the Council, who had all been sworn some days before. Being all set, our Patent was read, and then the additional Patent, in which was recited this new establishment; then, was delivered to each a copy of the Patent, and of instructions: after which, we proceeded to business.

The first thing we did was, to settle the form of a circuLar letter to the Governors of all his Majesty's Plantations and Territories in the West Indies and Islands thereof, to give them notice to whom they should apply themselves on all occasions, and to render us an account of their present state and government; but, what we most insisted on was, to know the condition of New England, which appearing to be very independent as to their regard to Old England, or his Majesty, rich and strong as they now were, there were great debates in what style to write to them; for the condition of that Colony was such, that they were able to contest with all other Plantations about them, and there was fear of their breaking from all dependence on this nation; his Majesty, therefore, commended this affair more expressly. We, therefore, thought fit, in the first place, to acquaint ourselves as well as we could of the state of that place, by some whom we heard of that were newly come from thence, and to be informed of their present posture and condition; some of our Council were for sending them a menacing letter, which those who better understood the peevish and touchy humour of that Colony, were utterly against.

A letter was then read from Sir Thomas Modiford, Governor of Jamaica; and then the Council brake up.

Having brought an action against one Cocke, for money which he had received for me, it had been referred to an arbitration by the recommendation of that excellent good man, the Chief-Justice Hales; but, this not succeeding, I

1 Silas Titus, Author of Killing no Murder.

Sir Matthew Hale, so famous as one of the justices of the bench in Cromwell's time. After the Restoration, he became Chief Baron of the Exchequer; then Chief Justice of the King's Bench; and died in 1676. The author of numerous works, not only on professional subjects, but on mathematics and philosophy.

went to advise with that famous lawyer, Mr. Jones, of Gray's Inn, and, 27th May, had a trial before Lord Chief Justice Hales; and, after the lawyers had wrangled sufficiently, it was referred to a new arbitration. This was the very first suit at law that ever I had with any creature, and oh, that it might be the last!

1st June. An installation at Windsor.

6th. I went to Council, where was produced a most exact and ample information of the state of Jamaica, and of the best expedients as to New England, on which there was a long debate; but at length it was concluded that, if any, it should be only a conciliating paper at first, or civil letter, till we had better information of the present face of things, since we understood they were a people almost upon the very brink of renouncing any dependence on the Crown. 19th. To a splendid dinner at the great room in Deptford Trinity House, Sir Thomas Allen chosen Master, and succeeding the Earl of Craven.

20th. To carry Colonel Middleton' to Whitehall, to my Lord Sandwich, our President, for some information which he was able to give of the state of the Colony in New England.

21st. To Council again, when one Colonel Cartwright, a Nottinghamshire man, (formerly in commission with Colonel Nicholls) gave us a considerable relation of that country; on which the Council concluded that in the first place a letter of amnesty should be despatched.

24th. Constantine Huygens, Seignor of Zuylichem, that excellent learned man, poet, and musician, now near eighty years of age, a vigorous brisk man,' came to take leave of me before his return into Holland with the Prince, whose Secretary he was.

1 A coadjutor of Pepys at the Navy Board, and by him styled most honest and understanding man.'

"

' He died in 1687, at the great age of 90 years and 6 months. Constantine and his son, Christian Huygens, were both eminent for scientific knowledge and classical attainments; Christian, particularly so; for he was the inventor of the pendulum, made an improvement in the air-pump, first discovered the ring and one of the satellites of Saturn, and ascertained the laws of collision of elastic bodies. He died in 1695. Constantine, the father, was a person of influence and distinction r Holland, and held the post of secretary to the Prince of Orange. VOL. II.