No More Learning

The admiral was so

day's ac- . . . .

lion. shattered in his rigging and masts, that he was com-
pelled to get off and anchor, that he might mend
what was amiss; and many of his squadron had
their main-yards shot off, and received such damage
in their tackling, which was the chief aim of the
Dutch, that they could hardly govern their ships.
And by this means the enemy got the wind ; and
the battle continued with great fierceness, and loss
of many men on both sides, till nine or ten of the
clock at night, when all were willing to have some
rest.

The second That night was spent in repairing masts and rig-

tion. ging : and at six of the clock in the morning the
battle began again with the same firceness, and
lasted till night. And that day the Dutch suffered
much, and one of their vice-admirals was l>oarded
and afterwards sunk, as many of their other ships

The Dutch likewise were; so that they began to fall of: when

reinforced. . . . , . . , , . ,

sixteen new great ships came to their aid, which
gave them new courage ; so that they renewed and
maintained the fight with great resolution, and
killed many men of the English, and disabled many
of the ships, till the night again parted them.
The EHK- Upon the account the general received that night,

lish retire. i i-v i i

and the new access ot force to the Dutch, he



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 75

thought it necessary to retire ; for though he had
lost no ship, very many were so disabled, that there ~
was reason to fear they would hardly hold out to re-
cover the shore. And thereupon he caused all
those ships to be put before and make all the sail
they could, and himself with sixteen ships in a
breadth went in the rear : which as soon as the
enemy perceived, they pursued, but came not within
reach of their guns till four of the clock in the after-
noon ; and then, though they shot hard, they did Tll <= third

day's ac-

very little harm, the sternpieces of the English over- tion.
reaching their broadsides, which made many of them
get off as quickly as they could. But by this time
the English descried about twenty sail of ships
standing towards them, which they concluded to be
prince Rupert, (as it proved :) and so being earnest
to join, they edged up towards them, but so unfortu-
nately, that many of the flag ships were on ground
off the Galloper-sand. But with much ado they all
got off safe, the Royal Prince only excepted, which
for this last age, and till the late war, was held the
best ship in the world. This brave ship stuck so
fast, that no art or industry could move her ; so
that the enemy, when they found they could not
carry her off, set her on fire, and took the captain,
sir George Ayscue, and all the company prisoners,
and without distinction used all with great barbarity,
in which they pretended only to use retaliation.
That night prince Rupert joined: and then they Prince KU
bore to the northward, that they might get clear of Up Juh'his
the sands ; and thereby the enemy got the wind M|Ud(
again.

The fourth day of the battle, which was the The fourth
fourth of June, the enemy being to windward about'' 1



76 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. three leagues, the generals in the morning made all
~~ sail towards them : and they lay with their sails to
the masts to stay for them, which they would not
have had the courage to have done, if they had not
had intelligence from the prisoners of the Prince, in
how tattered a condition the fleet was. The battle
began about eight of the clock in the morning with
extraordinary confidence on both sides, the Dutch
continuing their old guard, to spend all their shot
upon the rigging and masts, and to defend them-
selves from being boarded, which the English most
intended and laboured to do. But the design of the
others succeeded better : insomuch that one of
the vice-admirals of a squadron, and other of the
best ships, were so disabled that they bore off from
the battle, that they might mend and repair;
which gave no small encouragement to the enemy.
But the two generals were invincible, and continued
the battle all the day in several forms, and by the
advantage of the wind fired six or seven of their
ships, and sunk others, and had two or three of their
own likewise sunk. And between six and seven at
night, as. if by consent, (and no doubt both sides
were very weary of the encounter,) they separated
without looking after each other, and hastened to
their several coasts ; many of the English being so
hurt in yards, masts, rigging, and hulls, many of
them wanting men to ply their guns, and their pow-
der and shot near spent, that with very much diffi-
Both >ide> culty they got into harbour : and so concluded that
great action, wherein either side pretended to have
advantage, and both lost very much.

The next day after the battle was spent in fitting
their masts and repairing their rigging, that they



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 77

might be able to reach the coast: and when they
came near it, the generals called a council about dis-
posing those ships which could not remain at sea,
and sent them to such several places as they might
be soonest repaired in ; and gave every captain
very strict order, " that all possible diligence and
" expedition should be used to get their ships ready,
" and furnished with whatsoever was wanting ;" and
the commissioners of the navy were required to be
assistant in all places. And so wonderful diligence
was used, (which appears almost incredible,) that
the whole fleet was so well fitted, that by the seven-
teenth day of the same month, within a fortnight
after so terrible a battle, it was gathered together to
a rendezvous to the Buoy of the Nore. The enemy
made as much haste, rather to meet with the French,
who were every day still expected, than to fight
with the English, and kept as near to their own
coast as conveniently they could : so that how ready
soever the generals were (who had never left their
ships) with the fleet by the seventeenth of the
month, the winds were so averse or so calm, that it
was the four and twentieth day of that month be-
fore they could reach the sight of the enemy.

And the next day, which was the twenty-fifth, The third

. genera) en

the English made all the sail they could, and by ten gagement.
in the morning engaged in as hot an encounter as
had hitherto been in any engagement : and though
the Dutch seemed not to fight with the same spirit
and mettle, yet the battle held till two in the after-
noon, when by the advantage of the wind they
bore away faster than the English could follow.
However, here they took vice-admiral Banchart, The *? ". ? -
and his ship of threescore guns and three hundred torious.



78 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

men was birrned ; and another ship of seventy guns
and three hundred men was likewise taken and
burned ; which the generals thought better, than to
undergo the possible inconvenience of keeping them:
and so they kept up as close to the enemy in the
night as they could do. The next morning they
used all their sails, and designed to board De Ruy-
ter ; which, the wind lessening, they could not effect,
he fighting very well, but running faster: and so,
though very well pursued, he got into his fastness
at the Wierings, with those who were nearest to
him. But the rest who were further off, and were
like to have the benefit of the night, tacked about :
which they who attacked De Ruyter perceiving,
and that they could follow him no further, and that
the rest were five and forty sail, they followed them,
the generals doing all they could with their squad-
ron to put themselves between them and the coast ;
but the wind growing on a sudden calm, about mid-
night they dropped their anchors, that they might
not be driven further than they had a mind to be.
But in the morning, when they weighed anchor to
pursue them, and made all the way they could with
a little wind, the enemy got so close to their own
shore, their ships drawing less water than the Eng-
lish, that there could be no further pursuit.

Another part of the fleet, which was separated
when De Ruyter got into the Wierings, and which
the generals looked upon as their own, was so
unhappily pursued, though by men of very good
name, that they escaped ; which raised a great dis-
temper in the fleet, whilst some officers of the prime
and most unquestionable courage charged and ac-
cused others, who had always given great testimony



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 79

that they durst do any thing, " of base declining to I c>66.
" fight when the enemy was in their power, and~
" that they chose rather to suffer them to escape
" than to encounter them. " And this dispute and
expostulation, between men who had many seconds,
divided the generals, one declaring himself on the
one side as the other did on the other <*; but they
wisely laid aside the debate, till they should be at
more leisure with less inconvenience to determine it.
The generals thereupon, having thus scattered
the enemy, resolved to ply upon the Dutch coast to
take all ships of trade, which they did ; and off the
Texel and the Flie took many prizes 1 ', both home-
ward and outward bound, of great value. And they The at-

i ii T MI i tempt upon

having now nothing to do but to lie still, there



a Dutch captain, one Laurence Van Humskerke, Sc
who after the first battle, in the faction between
Evertson and Van Trump, had given De Wit so
great an advantage, that if he had not made his
escape, he had been hanged, who from that time
had always been on board with prince Rupert : this
man, whilst the fleet lay in this posture, advised
prince Rupert to attempt a place near the Flie,
which was so locked in the land that it was always
looked upon as very secure, (and where all ships
laden at Amsterdam for the Straits and those parts,
when they were outward bound, used to lie two or
three days, as in a safe port, until all things which
might be forgotten were prepared s , and all the com-
pany came together,) and had never been invaded in
any war ; and by it was a pretty large village, called
Schelling, which had many good houses in it, besides

i as the other did on the other] r prizes] rich prizes
and the other s were prepared] Not in MS.



80 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
IGC6. others inhabited by, and for the entertainment of,



seamen.

This enterprise was committed to sir Rolxrt
Holmes, a very bold and expert man ; who, with a
number of small vessels very well manned, besides a
body of stout foot to land upon occasions, l>eing as-
Tbe chief sisted by the Dutchman, so vigorously assaulted it,
fthat he burned all the Dutch ships lying there, being
. f inestimable value, all outward bound, and some
of them worth above one hundred thousand pounds
each ship. They burned likewise the whole town
of Schelling ; which conflagration, with that of the
ships, appearing at the break of day so near Am-
sterdam, put that place into that consternation that
they thought the day of judgment was come, not
thinking of their ships there, as being out of the
power or reach of any enemy : and no doubt it was
the greatest loss that state sustained in the whole
war, that is, greater than all the rest. And as this
victory, if it can be called a victory when there is
no resistance, occasioned great triumph in England,
so it raised great thoughts of heart in De Wit, and
a resolution of revenge before any peace should be
consented to ; which they effected to a good degree
the next year.

There appeared no more likelihood of the Dutch
coming out again : so about the fifteenth of August
the generals returned to Southwould Bay, to receive
a recruit of men, provisions, and ammunition, having
left ships enough upon the coast of Holland to take
prizes, and scouts upon the coast to get intelligence
in what readiness the enemy's fleet was, and what
was done within the land. And about the twenty-
seventh a little pink, that waited upon the coast of



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 81

Zealand, brought notice that the enemy, consisting J66G.
of about fourscore sail of 'ships, were ready to come The Dutch
out from the Wierings ; and the next day they were rteet P utsto

sea ii^uiii.

assured that they were come out and bound west-
ward, by which they concluded that they had hope
to join the French fleet. Whereupon the generals
gave present orders to unmoor the fleet ; and weigh-
ing anchor about seven of the clock in the morning
stood to sea, and about noon discovered the Dutch
fleet about four leagues to the leeward. The gene-
rals made all sail towards them : but the enemy
stood away for the coast of Flanders, whilst the
English were so entangled upon the Galloper-sands,
that they could not stand after the enemy till late
in the afternoon ; so that it was night before they
came near each other, and then several guns were
fired to little purpose.

The next morning, being the first of September,
the season when the winds begin to grow boisterous,
they had, upon the breaking of the day, lost the
sight of the enemy, though they c believed that they
had bore up in the night for them : but when it was
light, they found that they were to the leeward, as
far as they could discover, near St. John's Bay be-
yond Calais. The English pursued them, and mak-
ing some stay for the fireships, which could not
make haste by reason of the blustering weather, it
was four in the afternoon before the fleet came up
together to them ; when De Ruyter made a show
as if he would draw off from the shore towards
them. But when he saw the English stand with
him and advance with their usual resolution, he

1 though they] and
VOL. III. Ci



82 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. tacked back again, and stood close in to the shore,
where the rest of the fleet was, in the Bay of Staples.
TheEogiuii And then the night came, and the wind blew so
pmedbya violently, that the English were forced to tack, and
many of the ships were forced to the leeward, the
night being so foul, that neither the generals nor
the chief flags could be discerned. And though the
storm continued very violent the next day, a good
part of the fleet got again together, and stood to the
Bay of Staples, where the Dutch still remained close
under the shore at anchor, but could not be invited
to come out. So the English found it necessary to
stand further out to the sea ; and then they disco-
vered the rest of the fleet at a great distance to the
leeward, and so bore after them, and at night they
all arrived at St. Helen's Point. And though the
tempest still increased, a squadron went every day
out to the coast of France.
The French In this tempest the French fleet had a very nar-

fleet has a

narrow row escape, by a providence they are seldom with-
out. A gentleman of good quality of that nation
returned at this time out of England, (whither they
repaired with as much liberty and were as kindly
treated as if there were no war, whilst no English-
man could be safe there ;) and landing at Calais, and
finding that the duke of Beaufort was every day
expected, he despatched two or three barks to find
him, with information how and where the English
lay ; one of which came so luckily to him towards
the evening, that he changed his course, and by the
darkness of the night got into the road of Dieppe,
where he dropped his anchors. But his vice-ad-
miral, being the biggest and the best ship but one
in the fleet, and carrying seventy pieces of cannon,



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 83

pursuing the course he was directed, in the dark of 1G6G.
the night fell amongst the English, as the rest had
done if it had not been for that advertisement ; and
after a little defending himself, which he saw was
to no purpose, was taken prisoner, and desired to
be brought to prince Rupert, who knew him well,
and treated him as a gallant person ought to be,
and caused many things which belonged to his own
person to be restored to him ; and when he was
brought into England, he found another kind of re-
ception (though he was prisoner in the Tower) than
any of the English, though of the same quality, met
with abroad. By this accident the French fleet
made a happy escape" : and the continuance of the
storm for many days kept the English and the
Dutch from any further engagement. But the
same winds, and at the same time, did much more
mischief at land than at sea.

It was upon the first day of that September, in the The 6re of
dismal year of 1666, (in which many prodigies were
expected, and so many really fell out,) that that
memorable and terrible fire brake out in London,
which begun about midnight, or nearer the morning
of Sunday, in a baker's house at the end of Thames-
street next the Tower, there being many little nar-
row alleys and very poor houses about the place
where it first appeared ; and then finding such store
of combustible materials, as that street is always
furnished with in timber-houses, the fire prevailed
so powerfully, that that whole street and the neigh-
bourhood was in so short a time turned to ashes,
that few persons had time to save and preserve any

u escape] Erroneously in MS. estate

G 2



84 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 666. of their goods ; but were a heap of people almost as
~ dead with the sudden distraction, as the ruins were
which they sustained. The magistrates of the city
assembled quickly together, and with the usual re-
medies of buckets, which they were provided with :
but the fire was too ravenous to be extinguished
with such quantities of water as those instruments
could apply to it, and fastened still upon new mate-
rials before it had destroyed the old. And though
it raged furiously all that day, to that degree that
all men stood amazed, as spectators only, no man
knowing what remedy to apply, nor the magistrates
what orders to give ; yet it kept within some com-
pass, burned what was next, and laid hold only on
both sides ; and the greatest apprehension was of
the Tower, and all considerations entered upon how
to secure that place.

But in the night the wind changed, and carried
the danger from thence, but with so great and irre-
sistible violence, that as it kept the English and
Dutch fleets from grappling when they were so near
each other, so it scattered the fire from pursuing
the line it was in with all its force, and spread it
over the city : so that they, who went late to bed
at a great distance from any place where the fire
prevailed, were awakened before morning with
their own houses being in a flame ; and whilst en-
deavour was used to quench that, other houses were
discovered to be burning, which were near no place
from whence they could imagine the fire could
come ; all which kindled another fire in the breasts
of men, almost as dangerous as that within their
houses.

Monday morning produced first a jealousy, and



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 85

then an universal conclusion, that this fire came not 1666.
by chance, nor did they care where it began ; but ~
the breaking out in several places at so great dis-
tance from each other made it evident, that it was
by conspiracy and combination. And this determi-
nation could not hold long without discovery of the
wicked authors, who were concluded to be all the
Dutch and all the French in the town, though they
had inhabited the same places above twenty years.
All of that kind, or, if they were strangers, of what
nation soever, were laid hold of; and after all the ill
usage that can consist in words, and some blows and
kicks, they were thrown into prison. And shortly
after, the same conclusion comprehended all the Ro-
man catholics x , who were in the same predicament
of guilt and danger, and quickly found that their
only safety consisted in keeping within doors ; and
yet some of them, and of quality, were taken by
force out of their houses, and carried to prison.

When this rage spread as far as the fire, and
every hour brought reports of some bloody effects of
it, worse than in truth there were, the king distri-
buted many of the privy-council into several quarters
of the city, to prevent, by their authorities, those in-
humanities which he heard were committed. In
the mean time, even they or any other person
thought it not >" safe to declare, " that they believed
" that the fire came by accident, or that it was not a
* c plot of the Dutch and the French and papists to
" burn the city ;" which was so generally believed,
and in the best company, that he who said the con-



v the Roman catholics] the > not] Omitted in MS.
Roman catholics, the papists

G 3



86 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. trary was suspected for a conspirator, or at best a

favourer of them. It could not be conceived, how

a house that was distant a mile from any part of the
fire could suddenly be in a flame, without some par-
ticular malice ; and this case fell out every hour.
When a man at the furthest end of Bread-street
had made a shift to get out of his house his best and
most portable goods, because the fire had approached
near them ; he no sooner had secured them, as he
thought, in some friend's house in Holborn, which
was believed a safe distance, but he saw that very
house, and none else near it, in a sudden flame.
Nor did there want, in this woful distemper, the
testimony of witnesses who saw this villany com-
mitted, and apprehended men who they were ready
to swear threw fireballs into houses, which were
presently burning.

The lord Hollis and lord Ashley, who had their
quarters assigned about Newgate-market and the
streets adjacent, had many brought to them in cus-
tody for crimes of this nature; and saw, within a
very little distance from the place where they were,
the people gathered together in great disorder ; and
as they came nearer saw a man in the middle of
them without a hat or cloak, pulled and hauled and
very ill used, whom they knew to be a servant to
the Portugal ambassador, who was presently brought
to them. And a substantial citizen was ready to
take his oath, "that he saw that man put his hand
" in his pocket, and throw into a shop a fireball ;
" upon which he saw the house immediately on fire :
" whereupon, being on the other side of the way,
" and seeing this, he cried out to the people to stop
" that gentleman, and made all the haste he could



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 87

" himself;" but the people had first seized upon 1666.
him, and taken away his sword, which he was ready"
to draw ; and he not speaking nor understanding
English, they had used him in the manner set down
before. The lord Hollis told him what he was ac-
cused of, and " that he was seen to have thrown
" somewhat out of his pocket, which they thought
" to be a fireball, into a house which was now on
" fire :" and the people had diligently searched
his pockets to find more of the same commodities,
but found nothing that they meant to accuse him
of. The man standing in great amazement to hear
he was so charged, the lord Hollis asked him,
" what it was that he pulled out of his pocket, and
" what it was he threw into the house:" to which he
answered, "that he did not think that he had put his
" hand into his pocket ; but he remembered very
" well, that as he walked in the street, he saw a
" piece of bread upon the ground, which he took up,
" and laid upon a shelf in the next house;" which is
a custom or superstition so natural to the Portu-
guese, that if the king of Portugal were walking,
and saw a piece of bread upon the ground, he would
take it up with his own hand, and keep it till he
saw a fit place to lay it down.

The house being in view, the lords with many of
the people walked to it, and found the piece of
bread just within the door upon a board, where he
said he laid it ; and the house on fire was two doors
beyond it, which the man who was on the other
side of the way, and saw this man put his hand into
the house without staying, arid presently after the
fire break out, concluded to be the same house ;
which was very natural in the fright that all men

G 4



88 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. were in : nor did the lords, though they were satis-
~~ fied, set the poor man at liberty ; but, as if there
remained ground enough of suspicion, committed
him to the constable, to be kept by him in his own
house for some hours, when they pretended they
would examine him again. Nor were any persons
who were seized upon in the same manner, as mul-
titudes were in all the parts of the town, especially
if they were strangers or papists, presently dis-
charged, when there was no reasonable ground to
suspect ; but all sent to prison, where they were in
much more security than they could have been in
full liberty, after they were once known to have
been suspected ; and most of them understood their
commitment to be upon that ground, and were glad
of it.

The fire and the wind continued in the same ex-
cess all Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday till after-
noon, and flung and scattered brands burning into
all quarters ; the nights more terrible than the days,
and the light the same, the light of the fire sup-
plying that of the sun. And indeed whoever was
an eyewitness of that terrible prospect, can never
have so lively an image of the last conflagration till
he beholds it ; the faces of all people in a wonderful
dejection and discomposure, not knowing where
they could repose themselves for one hour's sleep,
and no distance thought secure from the fire, which
suddenly started up before it was suspected ; so that
people left their houses and carried away their goods
from many places which received no hurt, and whi-
ther they afterwards returned again ; all the fields
full of women and children, who had made a shift
to bring thither some goods and conveniences to rest



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 89

upon, as safer than any houses, where yet they felt 1666.
such intolerable heat and drought, as if they had~~
been in the middle of the fire. The king and the
duke, who rode from one place to another, and put
themselves into great dangers amongst the burning
and falling houses, to give advice and direction what
was to be done, underwent as much fatigue as the
meanest, and had as little sleep or rest ; and the
faces of all men appeared ghastly and in the highest
confusion. The country sent in carts to help those
miserable people who had saved any goods : and by
this means, and the help of coaches, all the neigh-
bour villages were filled with more people than they
could contain, and more goods than they could find
room for ; so that those fields became likewise as full
as the other about London and Westminster.

It was observed that where the fire prevailed
most, when it met with brick buildings, if it was not
repulsed, it was so well resisted that it made a much
slower progress ; and when it had done its worst,
that the timber and all the combustible matter fell,
it fell down to the bottom within the house, and the
walls stood and enclosed the fire, and it was burned
out without making a further progress in many of
those places ; and then the vacancy so interrupted
the fury of it, that many times the two or three
next houses stood without much damage. Besides
the spreading, insomuch as all London seemed but
one fire in the breadth of it, it seemed to continue
in its full fury a direct line to the Thames side,
all Cheapside from beyond the Exchange, through
Fleet-street ; insomuch as for that breadth, taking
in both sides as tar as the Thames, there was scarce
a house or church standing 1 from the bridge to Uor-



90 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. set-house, which was burned on Tuesday night after
~ Baynard's-castle.

On Wednesday morning, when the king saw that
neither the fire decreased nor the wind lessened, he
even despaired of preserving Whitehall, but was
more afraid of Westminster-abl^ey. But having
observed by his having visited all places, that where
there were any vacant places between the houses,
by which the progress of the fire was interrupted, it
changed its course and went to the other side ; he
gave order for pulling down many houses about
Whitehall, some whereof were newly built and
hardly finished, and sent many of his choice goods
by water to Hampton-Court ; as most of the persons
of quality in the Strand, who had the benefit of the
river, got barges and other vessels, and sent their
furniture for their houses to some houses some miles
out of the town. And very many on both sides the
Strand, who knew not whither to go, and scarce
what they did, fled with their families out of their
houses into the streets, that they might not be with-
in when the fire fell upon their houses.
The fire But it pleased God, contrary to all expectation,
that on Wednesday, about four or five of the clock
in the afternoon, the wind fell : and as in an instant
the fire decreased, having burned all on the Thames
side to the new buildings of the Inner Temple next
to White-friars, and having consumed them, was
stopped by that vacancy from proceeding further
into that house ; but laid hold on some old buildings
which joined to Ram-alley, and swept all those into
Fleet-street. And the other side being likewise de-
stroyed to Fetter-lane, it advanced no further ; but
left the other part of Fleet-street to the Temple-bar,



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 91

and all the Strand, unhurt, but what damage the 1666.
owners of the houses had done to themselves by en-~
deavouring to remove ; and it ceased in all other
parts of the town near the same time : so that the
greatest care then was, to keep good guards to watch
the fire that was upon the ground, that it might not
break out again. And this was the better perform-
ed, because they who had yet their houses standing
had not the courage to sleep, but watched with
much less distraction ; though the same distemper
still remained in the utmost extent, '* that all this
" had fallen out by the conspiracy of the French and
" Dutch with the papists ;" and all gaols were filled
with those who were every hour apprehended upon
that jealousy ; or rather upon some evidence that
they were guilty of the crime. And the people were
so sottish, that they believed that all the French in
the town (which no doubt were a very great num-
ber) were drawn into a body, to prosecute those by
the sword who were preserved from the fire : and
the inhabitants of a whole street have ran in a great
tumult one way, upon the rumour that the French
were marching at the other end of it ; so terrified
men were with their own apprehensions.

When the night, though far from being a quiet
one, had somewhat lessened the consternation, the
first care the king took was, that the country might
speedily supply markets in all places, that they who
had saved themselves from burning might not be in
danger of starving ; and if there had not been extra-
ordinary care and diligence used, many would have
perished that way. The vast destruction of corn,
and all other sorts of provisions, in those parts where
the fire had prevailed, had not only left all that



<J2 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 666. people destitute of all that was to be eat or drank ;
but the bakers and brewers, which inhabited the
other parts which were unhurt, had forsaken their
houses, and carried away all that was portable : in-
somuch as many days passed, before they were
enough in their wits and in their houses to fall to
their occupations; and those parts of the town
which God had spared and preserved were many
hours without any thing to eat, as well as they who
were in the fields. And yet it can hardly be con-
ceived, how great a supply of all kinds was brought
from all places within four and twenty hours. And
which was more miraculous, in four days, in all the
fields about the town, which had seemed covered
with those whose habitations were burned, and with
the goods which they had saved, there was scarce a
man to be seen : all found shelter in so short a time,
either in those parts which remained of the city and
in the suburbs, or in the neighbour villages ; all kind
of people expressing a marvellous charity towards
those who appeared to be undone. And very many,
with more expedition than can be conceived, set up
little sheds of brick and timber upon the ruins of
their own houses, where they chose rather to inhabit
than in more convenient places, though they knew
they could not long reside in those new buildings.

The king was not more troubled at any parti-
cular, than at the imagination which possessed the
hearts of so many, that all this mischief had fallen
out by a real and formed conspiracy ; which, all*eit
he saw no colour to believe, he found very many in-
telligent men, and even some of his own council,
who did really tolieve it. Whereupon he appointed
the privy-council to sit both morning and evening,



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 93

to examine all evidence of that kind that should be i C66.
brought before them, and to send for any persons ~~
who had been committed to prison upon some evi-
dence that made the greatest noise ; and sent for the
lord chief justice, who was in the country, to come
to the town for the better examination of all sug-
gestions and allegations of that kind, there having
been some malicious report scattered about the town,
" that the court had so great a prejudice against
" any kind of testimony of such a conspiracy, that
" they discountenanced all witnesses who came be-
" fore them to testify what they knew ;" which was
without any colour of truth. Yet many, who were
produced as if their testimony would remove all
doubts, made such senseless relations of what they
had been told, without knowing the condition of the
persons who told them, or where to find them, that it
was a hard matter to forbear smiling at their evi-
dence. Some Frenchmen's houses had been searched,
in which had been found many of those shells for
squibs and other fireworks, frequently used in nights
of joy and triumph ; and the men were well known,
and had lived many years there by that trade, and
had no other : and one of these was the king's ser-
vant, and employed by the office of ordnance for
making grenades of all kinds, as well for the hand
as for mortarpieces. Yet these men were looked
upon as in the number of the conspirators, and re-
mained still in prison till their neighbours solicited
for their liberty. And it cannot be enough won-
dered at, that in this general rage of the people no
mischief was done to the strangers, that no one of
them was assassinated outright, though many were
sorely beaten and bruised.



94 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1666. There was a very odd accident that confirmed



Hubert-! many in what they were inclined to believe, and
startled others, who thought the conspiracy impos-
sible, since no combination not very discernible and
discovered could have effected that mischief, in which
the immediate hand of God was so visible. Amongst
many Frenchmen who had been sent to Newgate,
there was one Hubert, a young man of five or six
and twenty years of age, the son of a famous watch-
maker in the city of Roan ; and this fellow had
wrought in the same profession with several men
in LnndnM. and had for many years, both in Roan
and in London, been looked upon as distracted.
This man confessed " that he had set the first house
" on fire, and that he had been hired in Paris a year
" before to do it : that there were three more com-
" bined with him to do the same thing ; and that
" they came over together into England to put it in
" execution in the time of the plague : but when
" they were in London, he and two of his compa-
" nions went into Sweden, and returned from thence
" in the latter end of August, and he resolved to
" undertake it ; and that the two others went away
" into France. "

The whole examination was so senseless, that the
chief justice, who was not looked upon as a man
who wanted rigour, did not believe any thing he
said. He was asked, " who it was in Paris that
" suborned him to this action :" to which he answer-
ed, " that he did not know, having never seen him
" before ;" and in the enlarging upon that point he
contradicted himself in many particulars. Being
asked *' what money he had received to perform a
" service of so much hazard," he said, " he had re-



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 95

" ceived but a pistole, but was promised five pistoles 1666.
" more when he should have done his work ;" and
many such unreasonable things, that nobody present
credited any thing he said. However, they durst
not slight the evidence, but put him to a particular,
in which he so fully confirmed all that he had said
before, that they were surprised with wonder, and
knew not afterwards what to say or think. They
asked him, " if he knew the place where he first put
" fire :" he answered, " that he knew it very well,
" and would shew it to any body. " Upon this the
chief justice, and many aldermen who sat with him,
sent a guard of substantial citizens with the prisoner,
that he might shew them the house ; and they first
led him to a place at some distance from it, and
asked him " if that were it :" to which he answered
presently, " No, it was lower, nearer to the Thames. "
The house and all which were near it were so co-
vered and buried in ruins, that the owners them-
selves, without some infallible mark, could very
hardly have said where their own houses 7 - had stood :
but this man led them directly to the place, de-
scribed how it stood, the shape of the little yard,
the fashion of the door and windows, and where he
first put the fire ; and all this with such exactness,
that they who had dwelt long near it could not so
perfectly have described all particulars.

This silenced all further doubts. And though the
chief justice told the king, " that all his discourse
" was so disjointed that he did not believe him
" guilty ;" nor was there one man who prosecuted
or accused him : yet upon his own confession, and

' their own houses] his own house



9f> CONTINUATION OF THE LIFK OF

1666. so sensible a relation of all that he had done, accom-
~ panied with so many circumstances, (though* with-
out the least show of compunction or sorrow for
what he said he had done, nor yet seeming to justify
or to take delight in it ; but being asked whether
he was not sorry for the wickedness, and whether
he intended to do so much, he gave no answer at
all, or made reply to what was said ; and with the
upon which same temper died,) the Jury found him guilty, and
! *ot*d*~ ne was executed accordingly. And though no man
could imagine any reason why a man should so de-
sperately throw away his life, which he might have
saved though he had been guilty, since he was only
accused upon his own confession ; yet neither the
judges nor any present at the trial did believe him
guilty, but that he was a poor distracted wretch,
weary of his life, and chose to part with it this way.
Certain it is, that upon the strictest examination
that could be afterwards made by the king's com-
mand, and then by the diligence of the house, that
upon the general jealousy and rumour made a com-
mittee, that was very diligent and solicitous to make
that discovery, there was never any probable evi-
dence (that poor creature's only excepted) that there
was any other cause of that woful fire, than the dis-
pleasure of God Almighty : the first accident of the
beginning in a baker's house, where there was so
great a stock of fagots, and the neighbourhood of
much combustible matter, of pitch and rosin and
the like, led it b in an instant from house to house
through Thames-street, with the agitation of so ter-
rible a wind to scatter and disperse it.

a though] Not in MS. >' led it] that led it



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 97

Let the cause be what it would, the effect was 1666.
very terrible ; for above two parts of three of that ~~
great city were burned to ashes, and those the most
rich and wealthy parts of the city, where the great-
est warehouses and the best shops stood. The Royal
Exchange with all the streets about it, Lombard-
street, Cheapside, Paternoster-row, St. Paul's church,
and almost all the other churches in the city, with
the, Old Bailey, Ludgate, all Paul's churchyard even
to the Thames, and the greatest part of Fleet-street,
all which were places the best inhabited, were all
burned without one house remaining.

The value or estimate of what that devouring The ines-

. . . . , timable loss

fire consumed, over and above the houses, could sustained
never be computed in any degree : for besides that by *
the first night (which in a moment swept away the
vast wealth of Thames-street) there was not c any
thing that could be preserved in respect of the sud-
denness and amazement, (all people being in their
beds till the fire was in their houses, and so could
save nothing but themselves,) the next day with the
violence of the wind increased the distraction ; nor
did many believe that the fire was near them, or
that they had reason to remove their goods, till it
was upon them, and rendered it impossible. Then
it fell out at a season jn the year, the beginning of
September, when very many of the substantial citi-
zens and other wealthy men were in the country,
whereof many had not left a servant in their houses,
thinking themselves upon all ordinary accidents
more secure in the goodness and kindness of their
neighbours, than they could be in the fidelity of a
servant; and whatsoever was in such houses was

c not] Omitted in MS.
VOL. III. H



98 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

166C. entirely consumed by the fire, or lost as to the
"owners. And of this classis of absent men, when
the fire came where the lawyers had houses, as
they had in many places, especially Sergeants-Inn
in Fleet-street, with that part of the Inner Temple
that was next it and White-friars, there was scarce
a man to whom those lodgings appertained who was
in Town : so that whatsoever was there, their mo-
ney, books, and papers, besides the evidences of
many men's estates deposited in their hands, were
all burned or lost, to a very great value. But of
particular men's losses could never be made any
computation.

It was an incredible damage that was and might
rationally be computed to be sustained by one small
company, the company of stationers, in books, paper,
and the other lesser commodities which are vendible
in that corporation, which amounted to no less than
two hundred thousand pounds : in which prodigious
loss there was one circumstance very lamentable.
AH those who dwelt near Paul's carried their goods,
books, paper, and the like, as others of greater
trades did their commodities, into the large vaults
which were under St. Paul's church, before the fire
came thither: which vaults, though all the church
above the ground was afterwards burned, with all
the houses round about, still stood firm and sup-
ported the foundation, and preserved all that was
within them ; until the impatience of those who had
lost their houses, and whatsoever they had else, in
the fire, made them very desirous to see what they
had saved (1 , upon which all their hopes were founded
to repair the rest.

d saved] lost



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 99

It was the fourth day after the fire ceased to 1666.
flame, though it still burned in the ruins, from""
whence there was still an intolerable heat, when the
booksellers especially, and some other tradesmen,
who had deposited all they had preserved in the
greatest and most spacious vault, came to behold all
their wealth, which to that moment w r as safe : but
the doors were no sooner opened, and the air from
without fanned the strong heat within, but first the
driest and most combustible matters broke into a
flame, which consumed all, of what kind soever,
that till then had been unhurt there. Yet they who
had committed their goods to some lesser vaults, at
a distance from that greater, had better fortune ;
and having learned from the second ruin of their
friends to have more patience, attended till the rain
fell, and extinguished the fire in all places, and
cooled the air : and then they securely opened the
doors, and received all from thence that they had
there.

If so vast a damage as two hundred thousand
pounds befell that little company of stationers in
books and paper and the like, what shall we con-
ceive was lost in cloth, (of which the country clo-
thiers lost all that they had brought up to Black-
well-hall against Michaelmas, which was all burned
with that fair structure,) in silks of all kinds, in
linen, and those richer manufactures ? Not to speak
of money, plate, and jewels, whereof some were re-
covered out of the ruins of those houses which the
owners took care to watch, as containing somewhat
that was worth the looking for, and in which de-
luge there were men ready enough to fish.

The lord mayor, though a very honest man, was
H 2



100 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. much blamed for want of sagacity in the first night
~ of the fire, before the wind gave it much advance-
ment : for though he came with great diligence as
soon as he had notice of it, and was present with
the first, yet having never been used to such spec-
tacles, his consternation was equal to that of other
men, nor did he know how to apply his authority to
the remedying the present distress ; and when men
who were less terrified with the object pressed him
very earnestly, " that he would give order for the
" present pulling down those houses which were
" nearest, and by which the fire climbed to go fur-
ther," (the doing whereof at that time might pro-
bably have prevented much of the mischief that suc-
ceeded,) he thought it not safe counsel, and made
no other answer, " than that he durst not do it with-
" out the consent of the owners. " His want of skill
was the less wondered at, when it was known after-
wards, that some gentlemen of the Inner Temple
would not endeavour to preserve the goods which
were in the lodgings of absent persons, nor suffer
others to do it, " because," they said, " it was against
" the law to break up any man's chamber. "

The so sudden repair of those formidable ruins,
and the giving so great beauty to all deformity, (a
beauty and a lustre that city had never before been
acquainted with,) is little less wonderful than the
fire that consumed it.

It was hoped and expected that this prodigious
and universal calamity, for the effects of it covered
the whole kingdom, would have made impression,
and produced some reformation in the license of the
court : for as the pains the king had taken night
and day during the fire, and the dangers he had ex-



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 101

posed himself to, even for the saving the citizens' J666.
goods, had been very notorious, and in the mouths'"
of all men, with good wishes and prayers for him ;
so his majesty had been heard during that time to
speak with great piety and devotion of the displea-
sure that God was provoked to. And no doubt the The king
deep sense of it did raise many good thoughts and affected 7
purposes in his royal breast. But he was nar-^Jity!
rowly watched and looked to, that such melancholic
thoughts 6 might not long possess him, the conse-
quence and effect whereof was like to be more griev-
ous than that of the fire itself; of which that loose
company that was too much cherished, even before
it was extinguished, discoursed as of an argument
for mirth and wit to describe the wildness of the
confusion all people were in ; in which the scripture
itself was used with equal liberty, when they could
apply it to their profane purposes. And Mr. May
presumed to assure the king, " that this was the Measles

taken to

" greatest blessing that God had ever conferred upon efface such

" him, his restoration only excepted: for the walls passions in.

" and gates being now burned and thrown down of him;

" that rebellious city, which was always an enemy

" to the crown, his majesty would never suffer them

" to repair and build them up again, to be a bit in

" his mouth and a bridle upon his neck ; but would

" keep all open, that his troops might enter upon

" them whenever he thought necessary for his ser-

" vice, there being no other way to govern that rude

" multitude but by force. "

This kind of discourse did not please the king,
but was highly approved by the company ; and for

e thoughts] Not in MS.
H 3



102 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. the wit and pleasantness of it was repeated in all
""companies, infinitely to the king's disservice, and
corrupted the affections of the citizens and of the
country, who used and assumed the same liberty to
publish the profaneness and atheism of the court.
And as nothing was done there in private, so it was
made more public in pasquils and libels, which were
as bold with reflections of the broadest nature upon
the king himself, and upon those in whose company
he was most delighted, as upon the meanest person.

All men of virtue and sobriety, of which there
were very many in the king's family, were grieved
and heartbroken with hearing what they could not
choose but hear, and seeing many things which they
could not avoid the seeing. There were few of the
council that did not to one another lament the ex-
cesses, which must in time be attended with fatal
consequences, and for the present did apparently
lessen the reverence to the king, that is the best
support of his royalty : but few of them had the
courage to say that to his majesty, which was not
so fit to be said to any body else. Nor can it be de-
nied, that his majesty did, upon all occasions, re-
ceive those advertisements from those who presented
them to him, with patience and benignity, and
without the least show of displeasure ; though the
persons concerned endeavoured no one thing more



And to th an to persuade him, " that it was the highest pre-

Imen his

esteem of sumption imaginable in the privy-council to be-
coun P ci'j7 " lieve, that they had any jurisdiction in the court,
" or ought to censure the manners of it. "

Nor were all those endeavours without making
some impression upon his majesty, who rather
esteemed some particular members of it, than was



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 103

inclined to believe that the body of it ought to re- 1666.
ceive a reverence from the people, or lie looked upon ~"
as a vital part of the government : in which his ma-
jesty (as hath been often said before) by the ill prin-
ciples he had received in France, and the accustomed
liberty of his bedchamber, was exceedingly and un-
happily mistaken. For by the constitution of the
kingdom, and the very laws and customs of the na-
tion, as the privy-council and every member of it is
of the king's sole choice and election of him to that
trust, (for the greatest office in the state, though
conferred likewise by the king himself, doth not
qualify the officer to be of the privy-council, or to be
present in it, before by a new assignation that ho-
nour is bestowed on him, and that he be sworn of
the council ;) so the body of it is the most sacred,
and hath the greatest authority in the government
of the state, next the person of the king himself, to
whom all other powers are equally subject : and no
king of England can so well secure his own just
prerogative, or preserve it from violation, as by a
strict defending and supporting the dignity of his
privy-council.

When it was too much taken notice of, that the
king himself had not that esteem or consideration of
the council that was due to it, what they did or or-
dered to be done was less valued by the people;
and that disrespect every day improved by the want
of gravity and justice arid constancy in the proceed-
ings there, the resolutions of one day being reversed
or altered the next, either upon some whispers in
the king's ear, or some new fancy in some of those
counsellors, who were always of one mind against
all former orders and precedents ; the pride and in-

H 4



104 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. solent humour of sir William Coventry taking not so
~ much delight in any thing, as to cross and oppose
whatsoever the chancellor or the treasurer advised,
and to reverse what had been ordered upon that
ground. And though he had sucked his milk at the
charge of the law, no man was so professed an enemy
to it and to the professors of it, and shewed so
little f respect to any thing passed and granted under
the great seal of England, but spake against it with
the same confidence as if it had been a common
scroll of no signification ; which kind of behaviour
in a person unqualified by any office to speak much
in such an assembly, as it had never been accus-
tomed, so it would have found much reprehension
there, if it had not been for respect to the duke,
and if the king himself had not very often declared
himself to be of his opinion, even in particulars
which himself had caused to be proposed to a con-
trary purpose.

One day his majesty called the chancellor to him,
and complained very much of the license that was
assumed in the coffeehouses, which were the places
where the boldest calumnies and scandals were
raised, and discoursed amongst a people who knew
not each other, and came together only for that
communication, and from thence were propagated
over the kingdom ; and mentioned some particular
rumours which had been lately dispersed from those
fountains, which on his own behalf he was enough
displeased with, and asked him what was to be done
in it.

The chancellor concurred with him in the sense

' so little] no more



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 105

of the scandal, and the mischief that must attend ] 666.
the impunity of such places, where the foulest im-~
putations were laid upon the government, which
were held lawful to be reported and divulged to
every body but to the magistrates, who might ex-
amine and punish them ; of which there having yet
been no precedent, people generally believed that
those houses had a charter of privilege to speak
what they would, without being in danger to be
called in question : and " that it was high time for
" his majesty to apply some remedy to such a grow-
" ing disease, and to reform the understanding of
" those who believed that no remedy could be ap-
" plied to it. That it would be fit, either by a pro-
" clamation to forbid all persons to resort to those
" houses, and so totally to suppress them ; or to em-
" ploy some spies, who, being present in the conver-
" sation, might be ready to charge and accuse the
" persons who had talked with most license in a
" subject that would bear a complaint ; upon which
" the proceedings might be in such a manner, as
" would put an end to the confidence that was only
" mischievous in those meetings. " The king liked
both the expedients, and thought that the last could
not justly be made use of till the former should give
fair warning; and commanded him to propose it
that same day in council, that some order might be
given in it.

The chancellor proposed it, as he was required,
with such arguments as were like to move with
men who knew the inconveniences which arose from
those places ; and the king himself mentioned it
with passion, as derogatory to the government, and
directed that the attorney might prepare a procla-



106 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. mat inn for the suppression of those houses, in which
~ the hoard seemed to agree : when sir William Co-
ventry, who had been heard within few days before
to inveigh with much fierceness against the permis-
sion of so much seditious prattle in the impunity of
those houses, stood up and said, " that coffee was a
" commodity that yielded the king a good revenue,
" and therefore it would not be just to receive the
" duties and inhibit the sale of it, which many men
" found to be very good for their health," as if it
might not be bought and drank but in those licen-
tious meetings. " That it had been permitted in
" Cromwell's time, and that the king's friends had
" used more liberty of speech in those places than
" they durst do in any other ; and that he thought
" it would be better to leave them as they were,
" without running the hazard of ill being continued,
" notwithstanding his command to the contrary. "
And upon these reasons his majesty was converted,
and declined any further debate; which put the
chancellor very much out of countenance, nor knew
he how to behave himself.

The chau- The truth is, he had a very hard province, and
terest de- found his credit every day to decay with the king ;
whilst the whilst they who prevailed against him used all the
affect'to s kiU anc ^ cunning they had to make it believed,
represent that his power with his majesty was as great as it
highest. " had ever been, and that all those things which he
" most opposed were acted by his advice. " And
whilst they procured all those for whom he had
kindness, or who professed any respect towards him,
to be discountenanced and undervalued, and pre-
ferred none but such who were known to have an
aversion for him upon somewhat that he had, or



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 107

they had been told that he had, obstructed their \C)66.
pretences in ; they persuaded men, " that nobody
" had any credit with the king to dispose of any
" place but he. "

Those very men would often profess to him, " that
" they were so much afflicted at the king's course of
" life, that they even despaired that he would be
" able to master those difficulties which would still
" press him ;" and would then tell him some parti-
culars which he himself had said or done, or had
been said or done lately in his own presence, and of
which he had never heard before ; which gave him
occasion often to blame them, " that they, who had
" the opportunity to see and know many things
" which he had no notice of or could not take any,
" and foresaw the consequence that did attend them,
" did yet forbear to use the credit they had with his
" majesty, in advertising him what they thought
" and heard all others say ;" and he offered " to go
" with them to his majesty, and make a lively repre-
" sentation to him of the great decay of his reputa-
" tion with the people upon his exorbitant excesses,
" which God could never bless :" to all which they
were not ashamed to confess, " that they never had
" nor durst speak to his majesty to that purpose, or
" in such a dialect. " Indeed they were the honester
men in not doing it, for it had been gross hypocrisy
to have found fault with those actions, upon the pur-
suing whereof they most depended; and the re-
formation which they would have been glad to have
seen, had no relation to those inordinate and unlaw-
ful appetites, which were the root from whence all

4 s who had] having



108 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF



1666.



Arlington
laments to
the chan-
cellor the
king's
course of
life: the
king enters
the room.



To whom
the chan-
cellor re-
peats the
discourse.



the other mischiefs had their birth. They did not
wish that the lady's authority and power should he
lessened, much less extinguished ; and that which
would have been the most universal blessing to the
whole kingdom, would have been received by them
as the greatest curse that could befall them.

One day the chancellor and the lord Arlington
were together alone, and the secretary, according to
his custom, was speaking soberly of many great mis-
carriages by the license of the court, and how much
his majesty suffered thereby; when the king sud-
denly came into the room to them, and after he was
sat asked them what they were talking of: to which
the chancellor answered, " that he would tell him
" honestly and truly, and was not sorry for the op-
" portunity. " And the other looking with a very
troubled countenance, he proceeded and said, " that
" they were speaking of his majesty, and, as they
"did frequently, were bewailing the unhappy life he
" lived, botli with respect to himself, who, by the
" excess of pleasures which he indulged to himself,
" was indeed without the true delight and relish of
" any ; and in respect to his government, which he
*' totally neglected, and of which the kingdom was
" so sensible, that it could not be long before he felt
" the ill effects of it. That the people were well
" prepared and well inclined to obey ; but if they
" found that he either would not or could not com-
" mand, their temper would quickly be changed, and
" he would find less obedience in all places, than
" was necessary for his affairs : and that it was too
" evident and visible, that he had already lost very
" much of the affection and reverence the nation
" had for him. "



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 109
He said, " that this was the subject they two

^

" were discoursing upon when his majesty entered ;
" and that it is the argument, upon which all those
" of his council with whom he had any conversation
" did every day enlarge, when they were together,
" with grief of heart, and even with tears ; and that
" he hoped that some of them did, with that duty
" that became them, represent to his majesty their
" own sense, and the sense his good subjects had, of
" his condition of living, both with reference to God,
" who had wrought such miracles for him, and ex-
" pected some proportionable return ; and with re-
" ference to his people, who were in the highest dis-
" content. He doubted all men did not discharge
" their duty this way ; and some had confessed to
" him that they durst not do it, lest they might
" offend him, which he had assured them often that
" they would not do, having had so often experience
" himself of his goodness in that respect h ; and that
" he had the rather taken this opportunity to make
" this representation to him in the presence of an-
" other, which he had never used to do :" and con-
cluded " with beseeching his majesty to believe that
" which he had often said to him, that no prince
" could be more miserable, nor could have more rea-
" son to fear his own ruin, than he who hath no
" servants who dare contradict him in his opinions,
" or advise him against his inclinations, how natural
" soever. "

The king heard all this and more to the same ef-
fect with his usual temper, (for he was a patient
hearer,) and spake sensibly, as if he thought that

h in that respect] Not in MS.



110 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 666. much that had been said was with too much reason ;
"~ when the other, who wished not such an effect from
the discourse, instead of seconding any thing that
Arlington had been said, made use of the warmth the chan-
wuh'rati- cellor was in, and of some expressions he had used,
to fall into raillery, which was his best faculty ;
with which he diverted the king from any further
serious reflections ; and both of them grew very
merry with the other, and reproached his overmuch
severity, now he grew old, and considered not the
infirmities of younger men : which increased the
passion he was in, and provoked him to say, "that it
" was observed abroad, that it was a faculty very
" mnch improved of late in the court, to laugh at
" those arguments they could not answer, and
" which would always be requited with the same
" mirth amongst those who were enemies to it, and
" therefore it was pity that it should be so much
" embraced by those who pretended to be friends;"
and to use some other, too plain, expressions, which
it may be were not warily enough used, and which
the good lord forgot not to put the king in mind of,
and to descant upon the presumption, in a season
that was more ripe for such reflections, which at the
present he forbore to do, and for some time after re-
membered only in merry occasions.

Though the king did not yet, nor in a good time
after, appear to dislike the liberty the chancellor
presumed to take with him, (who often told him,
" that he knew he made himself grievous to him,
" and gave his enemies too great advantages against
" him ; but that the conscience of having done his
" duty, and having never failed to inform his ma-
" jesty of any thing that was fit for him to know



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. Ill
" and to believe, was the only support he had to 1GGG.



" bear the present trouble of his mind, and to pre-
" pare him for those distresses which he foresaw he
" was to undergo :" which his majesty heard with
great goodness and condescension, and vouchsafed
still to tell him, " that it was in nobody's power to
" divert his kindness from him :") yet he found
every day that some arguments grew less acceptable
to him, and that the constant conversation with
men of great profaneness, whose wit consisted in
abusing scripture, and in repeating and acting what
the preachers said in their sermons, and turning it
into ridicule, (a faculty in which the duke of Buck-
ingham excelled,) did much lessen the natural es-
teem and reverence he had for the clergy ; and in-
clined him to consider them i as a rank of men that
compounded a religion for their own advantage, and
to serve their own turns. Nor was all he could say
to him of weight enough to make impression to the
contrary.

And then he seemed to think, " that men were The king
" bolder in the examining his actions and censuring toThV*'' 1
" them than they ought to be :" and once he told ^Xlu'
him, " that he thought he was more k severe against be , rties .

taken with

" common infirmities than he should be ; and that ! s charac-
ter.
" his wife was not courteous in returning visits and

" civilities to those who paid her respect ; and that
" he expected that all his friends should be very
" kind to those who they knew were much loved by
" him, and that he thought so much justice was due
" to him. "

The chancellor, who had never dissembled with

1 and inclined him to con- k more] too
sider them] Not in MS.



112 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. him, but on the contrary had always endeavoured

""to persuade him to believe, that dissimulation was

the most dishonest and ungentlemanly quality that

Tbc chan- CO uld be affected, answered him very roundly, ". that

cllor se-
riously re- " he might seem not to understand his meaning,

with him. " and so make no reply to the discourse he had
" made : but that he understood it all, and the
" meaning of every word of it ; and therefore that
" it would not become him to suffer his majesty to
" depart with an opinion, that what he had said
*' would produce any alteration in his behaviour to-
" wards him, or reformation of his manners towards
" any other persons.

" That for the first part, the liberty men took to
" speak of him and to censure his actions, he was of
" the opinion that it was a very great presumption,
" and a crime very fit to be punished : for let it be
" true or false, men had been always severely chas-
" Used for that license, because it tended to sedition.
" However, he put his majesty in mind of the ex-
" ample of Philip of Macedon, who, when one of his
" servants accused a person of condition to him of
" having spoken ill of him, and offered to go him-
" self to the magistrate and make proof of it, an-
" swered him ; that the person he accused was a
" man of the greatest reputation of wisdom and in-
" tegrity in the kingdom, and therefore it would be
" fit in the first place to examine, whether himself,
" the king, had not done somewhat by which he
" had deserved to be so spoken of: indeed this way
" the best men would often receive benefit from
" their worst enemies. For the matter itself," he
said, " he need make no apology : for that it was
" notoriously known, that lie had constantly given



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 113

" it in charge to all the judges, to make diligent in- 166G.

" quiry into misdemeanours and transgrassions of ~

" that magnitude, and to punish those who were

" guilty in the most exemplary manner ; and that

" he took not more pains any way, than to preserve

" in the hearts of the people that veneration for his

" person that is due to his dignity, and to persuade

" many who appeared afflicted with the reports they

" heard, that they heard more than was true ; and

" that the suppressing all reports of that kind was

" the duty of every good subject, and would contri-

" bute more towards the reforming any thing that

" in truth is amiss, than the propagating the scandal

" by spreading it in discourses could do. However,

" that all this, which was his duty, and but his duty,

" did not make it unfit for him, or any other under

" his obligations, in fit seasons to make a lively re-

" presentation to his majesty of what is done, and

** how secretly soever, that cannot be justified or ex-

" cused ; and of the untruths and scandals which

" spring from thence to his irreparable dishonour

" and prejudice.

" For the other part, of want of ceremony and
" respect to those who were loved and esteemed by
" his majesty, he might likewise avoid enlarging
" upon that subject, by putting his majesty in mind,
" that he had the honour to serve him in a province
" that excused him from making visits, and exempt-
" ed him from all ceremonies of that kind. But he
" would not shelter himself under such a general de-
" fence, when he perceived that his majesty had in
" the reprehension a particular intention : and there-
" fore he confessed ingenuously to his majesty, that
:{ he did deny himself many liberties, which in

VOL. in. j



114 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 666. " themselves might be innocent enough and agree-
~" " able to his person, because they would not be de-
" cent or agreeable to the office he held, which
" obliged him, for his majesty's honour, and to pre-
" serve him from the reproach of having put a light
" person into a grave place, to have the more care
" of his own carriage and behaviour. And that, as
" it would reflect upon his majesty himself, if his
" chancellor was known or thought to be of disso-
" lute and debauched manners, which would make
" him as uncapable as unworthy to do him service ;
" so it would be a blemish and taint upon him to
" give any countenance, or to pay more than or-
" dinary, cursory, and unavoidable civilities, to per-
" sons infamous for any vice, for which by the laws
" of God and man they ought to be odious, and to
" be exposed to the judgment of the church and
" state. And that he would not for his own sake
" and for his own dignity, to how low a condition
" soever he might be reduced, stoop to such a con-
" descension as to have the least commerce, or to
" make the application of a visit, to any such person,
" for any benefit or advantage that it might bring
" to him. He did beseech his majesty not to be-
** lieve, that he hath a prerogative to declare vice
** virtue ; or to qualify any person who lives in a sin
" and avows it, against which God himself hath pro-
" nounced damnation, for the company and conver-
" sation of innocent and worthy persons. And that
" whatever low obedience, which was in truth gross
" flattery, some people might pay to what they Ix? -
" lieved would be grateful to his majesty, they had
'* in their hearts a perfect detestation of the persons
" they made address to : and that for his part he



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 115

" was long resolved that his wife should not be one I6GG.
" of those courtiers ; and that he would himself
" much less like her company, if she put herself
" into theirs who had not the same innocence. "

The king was not the more pleased for the de-
fence he made, and did not dissemble his dislike of
it, without any other sharpness, than by telling him
" that he was in the wrong, and had an understand-
" ing different from all other men who had ex-
" perience in the world. " And it is most certain, it
was an avowed doctrine, and with great address
daily insinuated to the king, "that princes had
" many liberties which private persons have not ;
" and that a lady of honour who dedicates herself
" only to please a king, and continues faithful to
" him, ought not to be branded with any name or
" mark of infamy, but hath been always looked
" upon by all persons well-bred as worthy of re-
" spect :" and to this purpose the history of all the
amours of his grandfather were carefully presented
to him, and with what indignation he suffered
any disrespect towards any of his mistresses.

But of all these artifices the chancellor had no ap-
prehension, out of the confidence he had in the in-
tegrity of the king's nature ; and that though he
might be swayed to sacrifice his present affections
to his appetite, he could never be prevailed upon to
entertain a real suspicion of his very passionate
affection and duty to his person. That which
gave him most trouble, and many times made
him wish himself in any private condition sepa-
rated from the court, was that unfixedness and irre-
solution of judgment that was natural to all his fa-
mily of the male line, which often exposed them

I 2



116 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

I G66. all to the importunities of bold, and to the snares nf
~" crafty, men.

One day the king and the duke came to the chan-
cellor together ; and the king told him with a very
visible trouble in his countenance, " that they were
" come to confer and advise with him upon an affair
" of importance, which exceedingly disquieted them
one Tai- both. That Dick Talbot" (which was the fami-

bot, an , . _. . t _ _

irishman, liar appellation, according to the ill custom of the
JsaLlnate court, that most men gave him) " had a resolution
the duke of to assass i na te the duke of Ormond. That he had

Or mono.

" sworn in the presence of two or three persons
" of honour, that he would do it in the revenge of
" some injuries which, he pretended, he had done
" his family : that he had much rather fight with
" him, which he knew the duke would be willing
" enough to do ; but that he should never be able
" to bring to pass ; and therefore he would take his
" revenge in any way that should offer itself. And
" every body knew that the man had courage and
" wickedness enough to attempt any thing like it.
" That the duke of Ormond knew well enough that
" the fellow threatened it, and was like enough to
" act it ; but that he thought it below him to appre-
" bend it ; and that his majesty came to the notice
" of it by the earl of Clancarty, to whom sir Rotert
" Talbot, the elder brother of the other, told it, to
" the end that the earl might give the duke notice
" of it, and find some way to prevent it ; and the
" earl had that day informed the king of it, as the
" best way he could think of to prevent it. " His ma-
jesty said, " there remained no doubt to l)e made of
" the truth of it ; for there were two or three more
" of unquestionable credit who had heard him use



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 117

" the same expressions: and that* he had first spoken 1666.
" with his brother, whose servant he was, whom he ~~
" found equally incensed as himself; and that they
" came immediately together to consult with him
" what was to be done. "

The chancellor knew all the brothers well, and A " accou

of this

was believed to have too much prejudice to them man's fa.
all. They were all of an Irish family, but of an- with the



cient English extraction, which had always inhabit-
ed within that circle that was called the Pale ; brothers -
which, being originally an English plantation, was
in so many hundred years for the most part degene-
rated into the manners of the Irish, and rose and
mingled with them in the late rebellion : and of this
family there were two distinct families, who had
competent estates, and lived in many descents in the
rank of gentlemen of quality ; and those brothers
were all the sons, or the grandsons, of one who was
a judge in Ireland, and esteemed a learned man.
The eldest was sir Robert Talbot, who was by much Sir Robcrt

* Talbot, the

the best ; that is, the . rest were much worse men : a eldest.
man, whom the duke of Ormond most esteemed of
those who had been in rebellion, as one who had less
malice than most of the rest, and had recommended
to the king as a person fit for his favour. But be-
cause he did not ask all on his behalf, which he
must have done for a man entirely innocent, this re-
fusal was looked upon as the highest disobligation.

The second brother was a Jesuit, who had been peter, the
very troublesome to the king abroad, and had be-
haved himself in so insolent a manner, that his ma-
jesty had forbidden him his court ; after which he
went into England, and applied himself to the ruling
power there, and was by that sent into Spain, at

i 3



118 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1666. the time when the treaty was at Fuentarabia be-



tween the two crowns, to procure that England
might be included in that peace, and the king ex-
cluded, and not to be suffered to remain in Flanders.
Of all which his majesty having advertisement, sent
positive orders to sir Harry Bennet his resident then
in Madrid to complain of him, and to desire don
Lewis de Haro, that he might receive no counte-
nance in that court. But the Jesuit had better and
more powerful recommendation ; and was not only
welcome there, but (which was very strange, consi-
dering his talent of understanding) in a short time
got so much interest in the resident, that he re-
ceived him into all kind of familiarity and trust, and
undertook to reconcile the king to him, and was as
good as his word : and from the time of his majesty's
return, or rather from the return of sir Harry, Ben-
net, he was as much and as busy in the court as if
he were a domestic servant. And after the queen
came to Whitehall, he was admitted one of her al-
moners; and walked with the same or more freedom
in the king's house (and in clergy habit) than any of
his majesty's chaplains did; who did not presume
to be seen in the galleries and other reserved
rooms, where he was conversant with the same con-
fidence as if he were of the bedchamber.
Gilbert, The third brother was Gilbert, who was called 1
called Co. Colonel Talbot from some command he had with
the rebels against the king. And he had likewise
been with the king in Flanders, that is, had lived in
Antwerp and Brussels whilst the king was there ;
and being a half-witted fellow did not meddle with

' called] Not in JMS.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 119

any thing nor angered any body, but found a way J666.
to get good clothes and to play, and was looked upon ~
as a man of courage, having fought a duel or two
with stout men.

The fourth brother was a Franciscan friar, of wit Thomas,

the fourth,

enough, but of so notorious debauchery, that he was a Francis-
frequently under severe discipline by the superiors
of his order for his scandalous life, which made him
hate his habit, and take all opportunities to make
journeys into England and Ireland : but not being
able to live there, he was forced to return and put
on his abhorred habit, which he always called his
" fool's coat," and came seldom into those places
where he was known, and so wandered into Ger-
many and Flanders, and took all opportunities to be
in the places where the king was ; and so he came
to Cologne and Brussels and Bruges, and being a
merry fellow, was-the more made of for laughing at
and contemning his brother the Jesuit, who had not
so good natural parts, though by his education he
had more sobriety, and lived without scandal in his
manners. He went by the name of Tom Talbot,
and after the king's return was in London in his
man's clothes, (as he called them,) with the natural
license of an Irish friar, (which are a people, for the
most part, of the whole creation the most sottish
and the most brutal,) and against his obedience,
and all orders of his superiors, who interdicted him
to say mass.

The fifth brother was this Dick Talbot, who gave Richard,
the king and the duke the trouble mentioned before, the person
He was brought into Flanders first by Daniel concernetl '
O'Neile, as one who was willing to assassinate
Cromwell ; and he made a journey into England

I 4



120 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 666. with that resolution not long before his death, and
"after it returned into Flanders ready to do all that
he should be required. He was a very handsome
young man, wore good clothes, and was m without
doubt of a clear, ready courage, which was virtue
enough to recommend a man to the duke's good
opinion ; which, with more expedition than could be
expected, he got to that degree, that he was made
of his bedchamber; and, from that qualification.
embarked himself after the king's return in the pre-
tences of the Irish, with such an unusual confi-
dence, and upon private contracts with very scan-
dalous circumstances, that the chancellor had some-
times at the council-table been obliged to give him
severe reprehensions, and often desired the duke to
withdraw his countenance from him. He had like-
wise declared very loudly against the Jesuit, and,
though he had made many addresses unto him by
letters and by some friends who had credit with
him, would never, from the time of the king's re-
turn, be persuaded to speak with him, and had once
prevailed with the king so far, that he was forbid to
come to the court ; but he had a friend, who after
some time got that restraint off again. The chan-
cellor had likewise observed the friar to be too fre-
quently in the galleries, and sometimes drunk there,
and caused him to be forbid to come into the court :
and the eldest brother, towards whom he had rather
kindness than prejudice, finding many obstructions
in his pretences, was persuaded to think him not his
friend. And so he got the reproach of being an
enemy to the whole family.

m was] Not in MS.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 121

This consideration did really affect the chancellor, 1 666.
so that he appeared more reserved and more wary"
in this particular proposed by the king and by the
duke, than he used to be. He said, " that in many
" respects he was not so fit to advise in this parti-
" cular as other men were. Though this man's be-
" haviour was so scandalous that it deserved exem-
" plary punishment, yet he did not conceive any pre-
" sent danger from it : that he would deny it and
" repent it, and give any other satisfaction that
" would be required or assigned ; and then his ma-
" jesty and the duke would be prevailed with to
" take off their displeasure. And therefore it would
" be better n not to make such a matter public,
" which, considering the person and the circum-
" stances, would make a deep impression upon the
" minds of all wise men ; than, after the world takes
" notice of it, to pass it over with a light and ordi-
" nary punishment. " The king interrupted him as
he was going on, and told him, " there was no dan-
" ger of that, and that he would deal freely with
" him. That as the offence was in itself unpar-
" donable, so he and his brother were resolved to take
" this opportunity and occasion to free themselves
" from the importunity of the whole family : that
" all the brothers were naughty fellows, and had no
" good meaning. " And thereupon his majesty en-
larged with much sharpness upon the Jesuit and
friar, with charges upon both very weighty and un-
answerable ; and the duke upon this man who was
the subject of the debate : and both concluded,
" that they should be in great ease by the absence

" it would be better] Omitted in MS.



122 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1 666. " of all of them, which should be enjoined as soon
~ " as a resolution should be taken in this particular. "
The chancellor knew that there was somewhat
else, which was not so fit to be mentioned, that had
offended them both as much ; and thought he had
reason to believe that they would be both resolute
in the punishment, and that they had deliberated it
too long to depart from the prosecution. He there-
fore advised, " that the gentleman should be pre-
" sently apprehended and examined upon the words,
" which some witness should be ready to affirm :
" and that thereupon he should be sent to the Tower,
" and the next day that his majesty should inform
" the privy-council of the whole, which without
" question would give direction to his attorney ge-
" neral to prosecute this foul misdemeanour in such
" a manner, that should put this gentleman in such
" a condition, that he should not trouble the court
" with his attendance; and other men should by
" his example find, that their tongues are not their
" own, to be employed according to their own mali-
" cious pleasures. "

He is sent The person was the same night sent to the Tower ;

Tcwer by an ^ both the king and the duke declared themselves,
r^'ad * n * ne P resence ^ their servants and many others,
to be as highly offended, and as positively resolved
to take as much vengeance upon the impudent pre-
sumption of the offender as the rigour of the law
would inflict, as ever they had done upon any oc-
currence and accident in their lives : and if they
had had persons enough about them, who out of a
just sense of their honour would have confirmed

ever] if



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 123

them in the judgment they were of, it would have 1 666.
been in nobody's power to have shaken them. But"
as from the first day of his commitment, the ser-
vants near the person both of the king and duke
presumed, against all ancient order, (which made it
a crime in any to perform those civilities to persons
declared to be under his majesty's displeasure,) to
visit Mr. Talbot, and to censure those who had ad-
vised his commitment; SOP after some few days,
when they thought the duke's passion in some de-
gree abated, the lord Berkley confidently told the
duke, " that he suffered much in the opirtion of the
" world, in permitting a servant of so near relation <i
" to be committed to prison for a few hasty and
" unadvised words to which he had been provoked ;
" and that it was well enough known that it was
" by the contrivement and advice of the chancellor,
" who was taken notice of to be an enemy to that
" whole family, nor any great friend to any of his
" highness's servants ; and if he had that credit to
" remove any of them from his person, there would
" in a short time be few of them found in his
" court. "

This was seconded by all the standers by ; and
though it did not suddenly work its effect, yet the
continual pressing it by degrees weakened the reso-
lution : and the same offices being with equal im-
portunity performed towards the king, and with the
more zeal after it was published that the whole was
done by the chancellor's procurement ; both his ma-
jesty and his highness grew weary of their severity,
and, upon conference together, resolved to interpose

v so] and 'i relation] relation to his person



124 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

with the duke for his remission, who disdained to
~ make himself a prosecutor in such a transgression.
ut won And so the prisoner returned to Whitehall, with the

released by .

the artifice advantage which men who have been unjustly im-
usually receive : and all men thought he



enemies, triumphed over the chancellor, who, how uncon-
cerned soever, knew every day the less how to be-
have himself. And this unhappy constitution grew
so notorious, (for there were too many instances of
it,) that all men grew less resolute in matters which
concerned the king and drew the displeasure of
others upon them, which was like to prove unpro-
fitable to them.

The pariia- According to their last prorogation the parliament

nient meets. . . <-,

convened again upon the one and twentieth of Sep-
The king's tember ; when the king told them, " that he was
" very glad to meet so many of them together again,
" and thanked God for their meeting together again
" in that place. " He said, " little time had passed
" since they were almost in despair of having that
" place left to meet in. They saw the dismal ruins
" the fire had made ; and nothing but a miracle of
" God's mercy could have preserved what was left
" from the same destruction. "

His majesty told them, " he need make no ex-
" cuse to them for having dispensed with their at-
" tendance in April ; he was confident they all
" thanked him for it : the truth is, he desired to
" put them to as little trouble as he could ; and he
" could tell them truly, he desired to put them to
" as little cost as was possible. He wished with all
" his heart that he could bear the whole charge of
'* the war himself, and that his subjects should reap
" the whole benefit of it to themselves. But he had



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 125

" two great and powerful enemies, who used all the ifififi.
" ways they could, fair and foul, to make all the
" world to concur with them ; and the war was
" more chargeable by that conjunction, than any
" body thought it would have been. He needed
" not tell them the success of the summer, in which
" God had given them great success ; and no ques-
" tion the enemy had undergone great losses ; and
" if it had pleased God to have withheld his late
" judgment by fire, he had been in no ill condition. "
His majesty confessed, " that they had given him
" very large supplies for the carrying on the war :
" and yet," he told them, " that if he had not, by
" anticipating his own revenue, raised a very great
" sum of money, he had not been able to have set out
" the fleet the last spring ; and he had some hope
" upon the same credit to be able to pay off the great
" ships as they should come in. They would con-
" sider what was to be, done next, when they were
" well informed of the expense : and he would leave
" it to their wisdoms, to find out the best expedients
" for the carrying on the war with as little burden
" to the people as was possible. " He said, " he
" would add no more than to put them in mind,
" that their enemies were very insolent ; and if
" they were able the last year to persuade their mi-
" serable people whom they misled, that the con-
" tagion had so wasted the nation, and impoverished
" the king, that he would not be able to set out
" any fleet ; how would they be exalted with this
" last impoverishment of the city, and contemn all
" reasonable conditions of peace ? And therefore
" he could not doubt but that they would provide
" accordingly. "



126 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1GGG. Indeed the king did not till now understand the
' damage he had sustained by the plague, much less
what he must sustain by r the fire. Monies could
neither be collected nor borrowed where the plague
had prevailed, which was over all the city and over
a great part of the country ; the collectors durst not
go to require it or receive it. Yet the fountains
remained yet clear, and the waters would run again :
but this late conflagration had dried up or so stopped
the very fountains, that there was no prospect when
they would flow again. The two great branches of
the revenue, the customs and excise, which was the
great and almost inexhaustible security to borrow
money upon, were now bankrupt, and would neither
bring in money nor supply credit : all the measures
by which -computations had been made were so
broken, that they could not be brought to meet
again. By a medium of the constant receipts it had
been depended upon, that what had been borrowed
upon that fund would by this time have been fully sa-
tisfied with all the interest, whereby the money would
have been replaced in the hands to which it was due,
which would have been glad to have laid it out again ;
and the security would have 8 remained still in vigour
to be applied to any other urgent occasions : but now
the plague had routed all those receipts, especially
in London, where the great conduits of those re-
ceipts still ran. The plague and the war had so
totally broken and distracted those receipts, that the
farmers of either had not received enough to dis-
charge the constant burden of the officers, and were
so far from paying any part of the principal that
was secured upon it, that it left the interest unpaid
r by] from * would have] Not in MS.



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 127

to swell the principal. And now this deluge by fire
had dissipated the persons, and destroyed the houses, ~
which were liable to the reimbursement of all ar-
rears ; and the very stocks were consumed which
should carry on and revive the trade. And the third
next considerable branch of the revenue, the chim-
ney-money, was determined; and the city must be
rebuilt before any body could be required to pay for
his chimneys.

This was the true state of the crown, if all other
inconveniences and casual expenses had been away,
and all application to things serious had been made
by all persons concerned. And this woful prospect
was in view when the parliament met again ; which
came not together with the better countenance by
seeing all hopes abroad with so sad an aspect, and
all things at home (that troubled them much more)
appear so desperate in many respects. Yet within
few days after the king had spoken to them, the
house of commons being most filled with the king's
servants, the gentlemen of the country being not
yet come, there was a faint vote procured, " that
" they would give a supply to the king proportion -
" able to his wants," without mentioning any sum,
or which way it should be raised : nor from that mi-
nute did they make the least reflection upon that
engagement in many months after. Whilst the ene-
mies, much more exalted than ever, believed, as
they had good cause, that they should reap a much
greater benefit by the burning of London than they
had from the contagion.

When the numbers of the members increased, the Discontents
parliament appeared much more chagrined than it
had hitherto done ; and though they made the same



128 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF
1666. professions of affection and duty to the king they



had ever done, they did not conceal the very ill
opinion they had of the court and the continual riot-
ings there: and the very idle discourses of some
(who were much countenanced) upon the miserable
event of the fire made them even believe, that the
former jealousies of the city, when they saw their
houses burning at such a distance from each other,
were not without some foundation, nor without just
apprehension of a conspiracy, and that it had not
A commit- been diligently enough examined ; and therefore
pointed to they appointed a committee, with large authority to
IhJ'cause"* send for and examine all persons who could give
of the fire. an y information concerning it.

When any mention was made of the declaration
they had so lately passed, for giving the king sup-
ply, and " that it was high time to despatch it, that
" all necessary provisions might be made for the
" setting out a fleet against the spring;" it was an-
swered with passion, " that the king's wants must
" be made first to appear before any supply must be
" discoursed of: that there were already such vast
" sums of money given to the king, that there was
" none left in the country ; nor could any commo-
" dities there, upon which they should raise where-
" with to pay their taxes, be sold for want of mo-
" ney, which was all brought to London in specie,
" and none left to carry on the commerce and trade
" in the country, where they could not sell their corn
" or their cattle or their wool for half the value. "

They who had not sat in the parliament at Ox-
ford were exceedingly vexed, that there had been so
much given there, so soon after the two millions and
a half had been granted ; and said, " if the king



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 129

" wanted again already, that he must have been 1666.
" abominably cheated, which was fit to be examined. ~~
" That the number of the ships, which had been set
" out by the king in several fleets since the begin-
" ning of this war, was no secret ; and that there
" are men enough who are acquainted with the
" charge of setting out and manning and victual-
" ling ships, and can make thereby a reasonable com-
" putation what this vast expense can amount to :
" and that they cannot but conclude, that if his ma-
" jesty hath been honestly dealt with, there must
" remain still a very great proportion of money to
** carry on the war, without need of imposing more
" upon the people, till they are better able to bear it.
" And therefore that it was absolutely necessary, that
" all those, through whose hands the money had
" passed, should first give an exact account of what
" they had received,' and what and how they had
" disbursed it : and when that should appear, it
" would be seasonable to demand an addition of
" supply, which would be cheerfully granted. "

And for the better expedition of this (for every
body confessed that the time pressed) it was proposed,
" that forthwith a bill should be prepared, which
" should pass into an act of parliament, in which
" such commissioners should be appointed as the
" houses should think fit, Ito examine all accounts of
" those who had received or issued out any monies
" for this war ; and where they found any persons
" faulty, and who had broken their trust, they
" should be liable to such punishment as the parlia-
" ment should think fit :" and a committee was pre- A bin

, . ,, 1*1 brought in

sently named to prepare such a bill accordingly. f or inspect-
This proposition found such a concurrence in theJJJjJ[*

VOL. III. K



130 CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF

1666. house, that none of the court thought fit to oppose
~ it ; and others who knew the method to be new, and
liable to just exceptions, thought it to as little pur-
pose to endeavour to divert it : and so all motions
for present supply were to be laid aside till a more
favourable conjuncture ; and the overture had been
contrived and put on by many who seemed not to
like it, which is an artifice not unusual in courts or
parliaments.

The persons, who were principally aimed at, (for
no doubt they believed that others would be com-
prehended,) were sir George Carteret, the treasurer
of the navy, through whom all that expense had
passed, who had many enemies upon the opinion
that his office was too great, and the more by the ill
offices sir William Coventry was always ready to do
him ; and the lord Ashley, who was treasurer of all
the money that had been raised upon prizes, which
could not but be a great proportion. The former
was a punctual officer and a good accountant, and
had already passed his account in the exchequer for
two years, upon which he had his " quietus est ;"
which was the only lawful way known and practised
by all accountants to the crown, who can receive a
good discharge no other way : and he was ready to
make another year's account. But what method
commissioners extraordinary by act of parliament
would put it into, he could not imagine, nor be well
satisfied with. The other, the lord Ashley, had more
reason to be troubled, for he was by his commission
exempted from giving any other account but to the
king himself, which exemption was the only reason
that made him so solicitous for the office ; and he
well knew that there were great sums issued, which



EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 131

could not be put into any public account: so that 1666.
his perplexity in several respects was not small.