Diary, Jul/Aug 1663 | Page 7

no account of the reason of it, but that it is so: for
which I am sorry: and yet if the King do it to leave off not only her but
all other mistresses, I should be heartily glad of it, that he may fall to
look after business. I hear my Lord Digby is condemned at Court for
his speech, and that my Lord Chancellor grows great again. Thence
with Mr. Creed, whom I called at his chamber, over the water to
Lambeth; but could not, it being morning, get to see the Archbishop's
hearse: so he and I walked over the fields to Southwark, and there
parted, and I spent half an hour in Mary Overy's Church, where are fine
monuments of great antiquity, I believe, and has been a fine church.
Thence to the Change, and meeting Sir J. Minnes there, he and I
walked to look upon Backwell's design of making another alley from
his shop through over against the Exchange door, which will be very
noble and quite put down the other two.
So home to dinner and then to the office, and entered in my manuscript
book the Victualler's contract, and then over the water and walked to
see Sir W. Pen, and sat with him a while, and so home late, and to my
viall. So up comes Creed again to me and stays all night, to-morrow
morning being a hearing before the Duke. So to bed full of discourse of
his business.

4th. Up by 4 o'clock and sent him to get matters ready, and I to my
office looking over papers and mending my manuscript by scraping out
the blots and other things, which is now a very fine book. So to St.
James's by water with Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten, I giving
occasion to a wager about the tide, that it did flow through bridge, by
which Sir W. Batten won 5s. of Sir J. Minnes. At St. James's we staid
while the Duke made himself ready. Among other things Sir Allen
Apsley showed the Duke the Lisbon Gazette in Spanish, where the late
victory is set down particularly, and to the great honour of the English
beyond measure. They have since taken back Evora, which was lost to
the Spaniards, the English making the assault, and lost not more than
three men. Here I learnt that the English foot are highly esteemed all
over the world, but the horse not so much, which yet we count among
ourselves the best; but they abroad have had no great knowledge of our

horse, it seems. The Duke being ready, we retired with him, and there
fell upon Mr. Creed's business, where the Treasurer did, like a mad
coxcomb, without reason or method run over a great many things
against the account, and so did Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten, which
the Duke himself and Mr. Coventry and my Lord Barkely and myself
did remove, and Creed being called in did answer all with great method
and excellently to the purpose (myself I am a little conscious did not
speak so well as I purposed and do think I used to do, that is, not so
intelligibly and persuasively, as I well hoped I should), not that what I
said was not well taken, and did carry the business with what was urged
and answered by Creed and Mr. Coventry, till the Duke himself did
declare that he was satisfied, and my Lord Barkely offered to lay L100
that the King would receive no wrong in the account, and the two last
knights held their tongues, or at least by not understanding it did say
what made for Mr. Creed, and so Sir G. Carteret was left alone, but yet
persisted to say that the account was not good, but full of corruption
and foul dealing. And so we broke up to his shame, but I do fear to the
loss of his friendship to me a good while, which I am heartily troubled
for. Thence with Creed to the King's Head ordinary; but, coming late,
dined at the second table very well for 12d.; and a pretty gentleman in
our company, who confirms my Lady Castlemaine's being gone from
Court, but knows not the reason; he told us of one wipe the Queen a
little while ago did give her, when she came in and found the Queen
under the dresser's hands, and had been so long:
"I wonder your Majesty," says she, "can have the patience to sit so long
a-dressing?"--"I have so much reason to use patience," says the Queen,
"that I can very well bear with it." He thinks that it may be the Queen
hath commanded her to retire, though that is