Diary of the times of Charles II/Volume 1/Diary continued, November 11 to December 24

by Ann Spencer

11th.⁠I went with Sir Harry Capell to Mr. Montague ; in the way he told me how every thing had passed that same day at the Council: I find him extremely unsatisfied at the King's proceedings; he tells me they will again attempt it. When I came back, Lord Sunderland told me how I must set him right with the Prince: I am to tell him the whole story, and how all that hath been done could not be avoided; he can't say but that the King may at some time take measures with France, but never to the prejudice of the Prince and the Low Countries: Lord Essex told him of his resolution to quit. He went to persuade Lord Halifax to accept, hut he refused.

12th.⁠Mr. Montague was with me to propose some expedient for uniting: I proposed my Lord Shaftesbury being of the Treasury; he said he would do all he could to persuade him. I met Monsieur Van Lewen; he told me he was afraid we were making an alliance with France, but now he was well assured there was nothing in it.

13th.⁠I was with Mr. Pelham: met Sir William Jones, dined with Mr. Montague, who told me Lord Shaftesbury would not accept of being Commissioner of the Treasury; Sir Stephen Fox thought of. In the evening I spoke to the King of my going; he said he would consider of what was to be said to the Prince of Orange.

14th.⁠The King went to Hampton Court. I was with Mr. Hide and my Lord of Essex: he is horribly vext; told me the story of the plot, and thinks we shall be all undone; he bids me tell the Prince that they are endeavouring to get witnesses to swear the King was married to the Duke of Monmouth's mother.^[1] I dined with Sir William Jones; he thinks we shall be undone. In the evening I went to my Lord Halifax: he desired me to tell the Prince he would write to him if he had any thing to say. I went then to Sir William Temple, and found him with the gout; he talks of never meddling with public business; he is of opinion I should have no other instructions; that being I came over about my particular business, I should return, and not give the King an account of all occurrences, and, without saying any thing of an alliance, he would have the Prince write his sense to the King, and would have him join the Duke of Monmouth; they would be a strong party. My Lord Sunderland told of Sir Stephen Fox's being a Commissioner of the Treasury, of his discourse with Mr. Hide, that we were to dine together, to consider what would be best to be said to the Prince.

15th.⁠I met my Lord of Essex in the King's bedchamber, and went with him to the Treasury. I found him apt to laugh and despise the Treasury: I spoke for money for the robes; they said I should have an assignment before Christmas, and ready money after. At 12 o'clock I met my Lord Sunderland; he told me that my business was done; that they had resolved I should propose nothing, but only expect what they would say to me; I am to endeavour to hinder any alliance with France; I am to tell the Prince that the King will prorogue the Parliament, that there was no remedy, that they would have his crown; he desired me to tell him how he was his servant, and that it must be he at last that must settle us; he hopes we are not in so ill a condition as people imagine; he thinks the Parliament would have been so violent that nothing would satisfy them but the Duke and the Queen, which would not be well for him; he assures him of his kindness, and that he will never do any thing to his prejudice; he does not say but that we may make some alliance with France at some time or other, but will never do it without consulting with the Prince, but at present he is sure there is nothing of that on foot. At twelve, I was with Halifax; he is strongly discontented; the French Ambassador busy, the Duchess of Portsmouth has more power than ever, and the Duke's party governs.^[2]

16th.⁠We met at my Lord Sunderland's to consider what was to be said to the Prince, and we resolved that I should let him know that the people were so inflamed by late accidents that there was no hope of agreeing with them; that they would ask more than was fit for the King to give; that, as to any treaties, the King was ready to receive any proposals that would be made to him, and would consent to any that are reasonable; that he would make no offer because he had been already refused: he talked then of the Duke of Monmouth being so well used, which I am to give a particular account of.

At dinner I spoke about Mr. Carr's business, and Mr. Hide seconded me: I took my leave of a great many. At night I was with the King: he told me I should inform the Prince of the measures he intended to take, but that it was plain he could not let the Parliament sit above a week; that it was better not meeting than parting angrily; that he knew they would impeach the Duke, and fall upon all that he considered right; that they would be glad to mutiny, and only wanted a head, which the Parliament would be; that he hoped this violence would wear off, and then he should be glad to meet his Parliament: in the mean time, he said, he intended to live upon his revenues, and do all he can to satisfy his people.^[3]

In the evening, my Lord of Essex told the King of his intentions to quit. He said little to him, but was horribly vexed. Sir Stephen Fox kissed the King's hand.^[4]' I was with Sir William Temple; he told me he intended to quit, when he spoke of proroguing the Parliament, and going into France: we talked of the Prince and the Duke of Monmouth being of a party. He said how strong they would he: as to the Prince, he said there was nothing for him to do but to get a boy, and he hath given me a receipt for it.

17th.⁠I met Sir John Baber at my Lord Sunderland's, and then went with him to his own house. He still complains of the Prince's unkindness to the Presbyterians: he tells me my business is to join the Prince and the Duke of Monmouth, and that the Duke's business is to unite Scotland. Every body talks of the Prince's kindness to the Duke of Monmouth. I went afterwards to Sir W. Temple: he is for the Prince's writing for the Parliament, as he uses to do: and he would have him mind the popular interest.

When I took my leave of the Duchess of Portsmouth, she bade me tell the Prince she was more his friend than he imagined: she is absolutely in with the Duke. Mrs. Wall loves him above all things: he would have given her 500 guineas, but she refused it.^[5] All the Duke's servants are much elevated. This night there were great marks of joy, and burning of the Pope, where there was 200,000 people.

18th.⁠I went to my Lord Sunderland with a design of taking my leave, but the weather not being good, he persuaded me to stay. At night I was with my Lady. She told me, how afraid the Lord Mayor was that there would be some trouble. My sister Sunderland spoke to me for a China cup. Lady Sunderland told me how the Duke of Monmouth had a mind to the Guard, to dissatisfy the Parliament. Lord Sunderland told the King of it; and told him further, that if he was of that mind he would have no more to say to him. The Duke was ill received at York. The King sent to chide them.

19th.⁠I came in a barge to the Greyhound frigate. We had no wind, and therefore lay at Gravesend.

20th.⁠I dined at Mr. Chevens [Chiffinch]. I was at Tilbury Fort, where I found nobody but a corporal and three files of musqueteers.^[6] I came on board about three; at eleven, Mr. Smythe and Mr. Chivens went away to Gravesend. At Gravesend there was never a commissioned officer, but an ensign at Tilbury. The corporal laughed, because he commanded.

21st.⁠We ran ashore at the Hope, and stayed there till eight in the morning; then we set sail, and were at Margate a little after twelve; the captain resolved to stay there till seven or eight, because we should be too soon over; at seven we set sail.

22nd.⁠We came upon the coast of Holland about seven in the morning, but there was such a fog, and such a strong south-west wind, that we thought we should be obliged to stay out all night; but it cleared up at twelve, and a pilot came on board us, who brought us to the Brill: at four I took a boat at Mayslandsluys, which brought me to the Hague.

23rd.⁠The English merchants at Dort came to see me. At noon, I went to see the Prince: I told him of all the King had commanded me : his chief answer was, he desired nothing so much as what was good for the King, without consideration for himself; hut I find he is not at all pleased, and is apt to believe that, though we have not fallen in with France already, that we shall do so before it be long. I told him what the King resolved concerning the public; he said he must speak to the Pensioner, to consider what way is best to turn this indifference of the King's, for I told him the King would propose nothing; that any thing they offered he would receive with great joy and satisfaction; but he took no pleasure in being refused, which he was the other day: he is against Sir William Temple's quitting; he told me he knew the reason why the Duke was not kind to Sir William. In the evening I was again with the Prince; we talked of the Duke of Monmouth; he said he thought it not fit to make any excuse, because he did not think there was any fault.^[7] He is against Sir William Temple's quitting, and will write to dissuade him as soon as he can; he does not know what to say to the King; when a man is resolved, 'tis to no purpose to give him advice.

24th.⁠Some of the merchants dined with me; Monsieur Lente desired to know what good news I brought. At night I was with the Prince; he told me that he had considered what was best to be said to Monsieur Van Beuninghen and every body else; that the King does not think they care for any alliance with him; that he believes they think themselves strong enough to stand upon their own legs; that if they would make any offer to him, he should accept it with all the joy and satisfaction imaginable, but that he did not love to be perpetually refused: that the King thinks he can live without an alliance as well as they. In the evening I was with Monsr. Zulickem; he told me of a man at Amsterdam who cured the gout, with giving drops. The Prince told me he would write to the Duke of the report that there was of his using the Duke of Monmouth too well; he says he will apply himself more to business than ever when he comes into England, and will declare that he hates the Duchess of Portsmouth.

25th.⁠I heard, by a servant of mine, that the Duke of Monmouth was gone into England. In the evening I told the Prince of it; he said it was not fair play, considering they were plotting together; he showed me a letter of his to Sir William Temple. I told him of my Lord Shaftesbury being offered to come into the Treasury. He was in a maze.

26th.⁠I was with Monsieur Odike, and met the French ambassador: he told me how he would press for an alliance, which would trouble them extremely, for they had no mind to consent and were afraid to deny; he afterwards sent him another message; he pretends to know all the Prince's mind.

27th.⁠The Prince told me the French did press extremely for an alliance with them; that the Ambassador had sent to him to know if he would be for it; if he would, then he would conclude it done, and take no more care of it; but if he would not, then he must take some other way. He is in pain to know what to do, for he is extremely unwilling to consent, and if he should oppose it, it might prove mightily to his prejudice, and it may be done at last against his will; the King of France will have their resolution before next year, that he may proceed accordingly. They are here so afraid of him, and have so little hopes of assistance from us, that I believe they will have it. If they hear that the Parliament be again prorogued, which they do already suspect, I do not think it will be in the Prince's power to oppose it.

28th.⁠I was with the Pensioner: he told me he would do what he could to hinder the alliance, but he thinks if our afiairs do not go better in England, it will not be to be done : he saith the noise is worse than the thing itself; they will say that the King, the Prince, and the King of France, are all joined to ruin the people. On the other side, if he does not oppose France, he will seize upon Orange and his other lands in France, and play him a hundred tricks, as setting up the Duke of Monmouth. He told me how Monsieur Luxembourg wondered at the Duke of Monmouth fighting for the Prince of Orange against his King who would set him up. Fitzpatrick told me they believed there was no likelihood of an alliance with England, because they talked in such contempt of Kerouel (Le Querouaille), but that Mr. Churchill was very busy. The French Ambassador is perpetually with Odyke, and I doubt hath corrupted him.

29th.⁠I dined with Fitzpatrick: he told me again how he suspected Odyke; in the evening the Prince sent for me, and told me how the French alliance was proposed, that the Pensioner thought that it would have less weight than by a memorial; he advised me to send an express into England, and to advise the King to speak high to Monsieur Van Lewin; he thinks the King will he afraid of France, and not do it, and if he will not, he does not know whether he shall oppose it. I do not comprehend the Pensioner's making such haste to propose it.

30th.⁠The Prince dined with me; as we came I asked why the Pensioner made such haste to propose it; he said to show they were not afraid of proposing it, and besides which, he would have given it in a memorial, which would have been stronger and would have a worse effect.

December 1st.⁠I dined with the Prince, and afterwards went a-coursing with him.

2nd.⁠Monsieur Bentem invited me to Sourfliet; I showed the Prince my letters: he hath a mind to send somebody into England, but doth not know who; he thought of Odyke, Bentem, Sir Gabriel Sylvius, and Sas. I told him of Reede.

3rd.⁠I was with Monsieur Rounswinkle:^[8] he is in pain how to get money for the paying the contributions due to the French; afterwards I went to Monsieur Campricht; he told me that he believed the Swedes and Danes had made an alliance a l'inscue de la France. I went a-coursing with the Prince, and then he ate with me.

5th.⁠I wrote to my Lord Sunderland and Nephew Pelham, and went to the French play afterwards. The Prince told me that Monsieur D'Avaux had been with the Pensioner; he wondered to hear that I spoke against it, for he believed that I had no orders for it, nor would have none; he told him how Monsieur Campricht and Monsieur Van Beuninghen and I were consulting together what was best to be done to oppose the alliance. Mr. Carr told me of a great match.

7th.⁠The English officers dined with me and Mr. Sas, who talked to me of the great fortune. In the evening I told the Prince of it; he will give me all the assistance he can. At night my express came back; I showed the letter to the Prince, who was mightily pleased, and told me I should go to the Pensioner to-morrow, and that he would consider what was next to be done.

8th.⁠I was with the Prince in the morning; I told him what I heard of the Duke of Monmouth.

9th.⁠I was with the Pensioner and showed him my letter; he desired an extract of it, which I sent him. I dined with the Prince and the Prince of Frise; after dinner he showed me the letter he writ to the Duke of York, which he was not satisfied with.

10th.⁠There was a great ball at Monsieur Odyke's. The Duchess of Simmeren and the Princess of Anhault were there; they danced till seven.^[9]

11th.⁠I was to see the Princess, and found her very weary.

13th.⁠The States assembled to consider what answer was to be given to the King of France. I asked the Prince what they had done; he told me that it went very well; that it was the King's letter that did it absolutely; without it, he doubts very much that it would not have gone so; he saith that he believes they shall have some very rough message, and he hopes the King will again give me order to speak high, if there be occasion, that is, if the French do; he does not like our affairs in England. I told him of an expedient of mine, which is, for the Prince to desire the King to call the Parliament, for I think it will be necessary for the King to call one; and it will have ill consequence for the King to call it upon the petitions that are made. I told him of my Lord Sunderland's letter; he said it was a trick of the Duke of Monmouth's, and that he would write to him about it: after he went to Monsieur Odyke, he told me matters went very well, that they were unanimous against making any alliance with France.^[10] 14th.⁠I was at church, and heard Mr. Ken preach.^[11]

15th.⁠The English officers dined with me; at night I asked the Prince what I should write into England—he said that they had resolved unanimously what was to be done, and were gone to consult their principals; but they were under an oath, and could not tell what was resolved on.

He said they took notice that what the King said to Monsieur Van Lewen was not so strong as what my Lord Sunderland writ; he is still of opinion that if France speaks high, we must do so too. In the morning Monsieur Rosbone, who is Viscall (Advocate General) to the army, was with me; the Count de Noiall and the Marquis d'Aucourt.

16th.⁠I was with Monsieur Van Beuninghen: he told me he thought I was satisfied with their proceedings, and also he told me that one of their deputies said that they most never do any thing au prejudice du Roy d'Angleterre et d'Espagne. Mr. Meredith told me that the resolution they had taken was to desire the King of France not to take it ill their not making this alliance with him, because they could not do it without disobliging their Allies.

18th.⁠I dined with the Prince; there was a Prince of the Palatinate, and Monsieur Voorschout, one of the nobles. Monsieur Siegle was with me, and told me how the Pensioner had been with him, and that he was much concerned to have the business accommodated between the Dukes of Luxemburgh and the Elector of Brandenburgh. He says his master's troops are marched towards the Elector. At night I heard of the prorogation of Parliament. The Prince told me he was afraid it would have an ill effect here; that if the French did press again for the Alliance, he was afraid they would be more inclined to it than they were the other day.

19th.⁠I was with the Pensioner, and spoke to him of the Prince Elector's business; he promises me it shall be done; then we talked of the state of our affairs in England; he is much surprised and troubled at the news I told him; he is afraid it will make an alteration in the minds of people here. I was with Monsieur Campricht; he is also concerned, and believes that the King of France will make these people afraid by assisting the Elector of Cologne to be possessed of Maestrecht and Hasselt, which the States do refuse to evacuate.

20th.⁠I was with the Prince to ask him what I should say; he said that I must continue to tell them that the King will help them as much as he can; he does not know what to think of the business; if it had not been for this business he did not doubt but that every thing would have gone well enough: he wonders the King will not make an alliance with Spain, and send somebody to the Princes of Germany: he showed me a letter from the Duke, which was in answer to what he said to the Duke of Monmouth.

21st.⁠I saw Monsieur Van Beuninghen before he went to Amsterdam; he thinks for this time they shall give such an answer as we shall like, but when France does come to threaten, he does not know what he shall do ; he says nobody speaks but he, for the Prince does manage.

22nd.⁠I was with the Princess at prayers.

24th.⁠I dined with the Prince; after dinner Fitzpatrick told me of the project that was proposed to him to get the King £600,000 in one year; it was by a Jew, and an advocate here that will venture to give £1000 bond if it does not succeed. He also told me of another way of improving the King's revenue by £30,000, for which we should have £3000 for ourselves; and then he spoke of getting to be Paymaster of the army in Ireland—he also spoke of one project more of beer and alehouses. I received some letters.

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1. The story of a contract of marriage between the King and Lucy Walters, the Duke of Monmouth's mother, secretly kept in a black box, had been industriously spread abroad and was greedily received by the multitude. The Duke of York desired his brother to satisfy him and the publick by a declaration of the Duke of Monmouth's illegitimacy; and Charles in full council made such declaration.—Hume. nature, well spoken, well bred; and is so highly in his Majesty's esteeme, and so useful, that being long since made a knight, he is to be advanced to be one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury."—Evelyn's Mem. i., 25.
2. I must remember some butter for my Lady Worcester, and some cheese for Mrs. Fraser and Mrs. Foulkes.—Org. N.
3. The King resolves to live upon his revenues; and if he will keep to the scheme that is now laid before him, he will do it, and lay up £250,000 to clear the anticipations.—Orig. N.
4. "I dined with Sir Stephen Fox, now one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. This gentleman came first a poore boy from the quire at Salisbury; then was taken notice of by Bishop Duppa, and afterwards waited on my Lord Percy, who procured for him an inferior place among the clerks of the kitchen and green cloth side, where he was found so humble, diligent, industrious, and prudent in his behaviour, that, his Majesty being in exile, and Mr. Fox waiting, both the King and the Lords about him frequently employed him in their own aflfairs, trusting him with receiving and paying the little money they had. Returning with his Majesty to England, after great wants and great sufferings, his Majesty found him so honest and industrious, and withall so capable and ready, that, being advanced from the Clerk of the Kitchen to that of the Green Cloth, he procured to be Paymaster to the whole Army; and, by his dexterity and punctual dealing among the banquiers, that he was in a short time able to borrow vast sums of them, upon an exigence. The continual turning thus of money, and the soldiers' moderate allowance to him for his keeping touch with them, did so enrich him, that he is believed to be worth at least £200,000, honestly gotten and unenvied, which is next to a miracle. With all this, he continues as humble and ready to do a courtesie as ever he was. He is generous, and lives very honourably; of a swete
5. Mrs. Wall was the confidential servant of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and a very important person, to judge from this fact, and from a passage in a subsequent letter from Mr. Mountstevens to Mr. Sidney, in which he suggests to him the expediency of his congratulating her upon her appointment to the situation of Laundress, in the room of Mrs. Chiffinch (deceased).
6. It is amusing to compare this account of things at Tilbury Fort with that given by Evelyn ten years before, and his anticipations of its important effects. 21st March. "I went over to see the new begun fort of Tilbury—a royal work indeede—and such as will one day bridle a great Citty to the purpose, before they are aware."
7. He used him no better than he thought he ought to do one that the King writ such kind letters to; and it is impossible not to do more than ordinary, for he makes the greatest court and application that can be.—Orig. N.
8. Envoy from the Elector of Brandenburgh.
9. The Duchess of Simmeren was sister of the Prince of Orange.
10. The struggle which now took place between the French and English Ambassador, the one to induce the States to enter into an alliance with France, the other to prevent it, is thus described by Ralph.
    "About the middle of November, Mr. Henry Sidney was all of a sudden remanded to his post at the Hague, to which the motions of the Count D'Avaux recalled him; and his very arrival at that place, as we are told even in the Gazette, dispelled all those false reports which had of late been so common there. It is also notorious that the said Monsieur D'Avaux had no sooner renewed his negotiations with the States to enter into a defensive alliance with his Most Christian Majesty than Mr. Sidney appeared in the most open and avowed manner his opposer, declaring, as the King himself had before done to the Dutch Minister at Whitehall, in plain terms, that his Majesty would look on such a defensive Alliance as a league against him, and, in case it took effect, would be obliged to frame his measures accordingly; and that on the contrary, in case they rejected the proposal, his Majesty would not only punctually comply with what was stipulated and agreed in the defensive treaty of 1678, but also stand by them to the utmost in case they were attacked by France. And we find the States at this time thought themselves so well authorised to depend on these professions, that they rather seemed to deliberate on the offers of France, for form's sake, than with any disposition to accept them; and in the mean time gradually prepared Monsieur D'Avaux to expect the like refusal, that at his instance they had before given to those of England.
    "Shocked and enraged as the French Court certainly was upon this occasion, they could not persuade themselves to give over the pursuit, or to think that menaces would not succeed, though solicitations had failed. Repeated orders were therefore sent to D'Avaux, to awake their old terrors, which he failed not to obey in a thundering memorial to the States, setting forth that the King his Master was extremely astonished at their manner of proceeding in this matter of the Alliance proposed by him, and that he highly resented it. That he had his Majesty's command to wait yet a few days longer for their final decision on that affair; after which he should mention it no more, nor accept of any act relating to it. That in case they should omit this opportunity, they must expect his Majesty would alter his conduct so as would be most conducive to the good of his kingdom and advantageous to the commerce of his subjects. That his Majesty did not threaten them with his indignation, but they would find perhaps that his dissatisfaction would be more prejudicial to them than the indignation of others, and that they would do well to recollect what had happened to them within these eight or ten years; and that his Majesty had then less reason to be displeased with their deportment than now.
    "This was no sooner presented than it was followed by another from Mr. Sidney, filled with artful dissuasives, under the pretence of leaving their Lordships to he guided by their own interests, and at the same time urging that the instances of the French King were rather too pressing for a free Republic. It is not to be presumed that these alternate batteries of words made any further impression than as they were played by the two factions against each other, and on the issue it appeared that the Orange had now the best engineers. For the States of Holland (the Province, not the Republic) at last unanimously resolved to reject the French proposals, and ordered their deputies to declare the same to the States General, from whom Monsieur D'Avaux was to receive his answer in form, and who immediately on this gave out that he should very suddenly be called home. That the King his Master would order all his subjects to quit the service of the States, &c. On the other hand, that these intimidating expressions might not answer the end they were calculated for, a letter from the King of England to the Prince of Orange was read in the General Assembly of the States, not only overflowing with assurances of his Majesty's unalterable resolution to assist the Republic in case of need, but also of his intention to give his Parliament a meeting in April, if their Lordships' interest required it. And these promises, supported with the whole weight and influence of his Highness, wholly turned the scale against the threats of France. Guelderland, Utrecht, and Zealand immediately followed the example of Holland, as did also, soon after, Overyssell, and Groninghen and Friezland adhered to France, after their usual custom. The majority of the Provinces, in the case of a negative, had a right to decide for all. Accordingly, about the middle of March, the Prince of Orange having first visited the frontier and made the necessary preparations for its defence, in case of an attack, and the States having also made a grand regulation of their finances, a formal answer was prepared in the most courtly expressions that could be used to the several Memorials of Monsieur D'Avaux, importing in effect that the States found themselves obliged to decline the defensive Alliance which his Most Christian Majesty had done them the honour to propose to them. Nor did they fail to return their acknowledgments to his Majesty of England for the many testimonies he had given them of his great kindness to their State, in particular for his repeated assurances of assistance as their occasions should require, and the regard shewn to their interests in his late speech to his Parliament.
    "And thus the Public was to understand that a hook was once more put into the nostrils of the French Leviathan, and that the interests of the Court of England and the House of Orange were the same. But how deceitful these appearances on both sides were, the sequel will demonstrate."—Ralph, i. 496.
11. Mr. Ken, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, was then private Chaplain to the Princess of Orange.