Diary of the times of Charles II/Volume 1/Mr. Sidney to the Earl of Essex, August 6-15
MR. SIDNEY TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.
My Lord,
Your Lordship made me so melancholy at my coming away, that I could not recover till I came hither; but, finding the Prince in so good humour, and that he hath reason to be so, hath cheered up my spirits extremely. He saith his affairs here go well enough, and if ours did so in England he should be perfectly satisfied. He had little hopes of this when I came to him, but I have now given him a good deal; I never saw a man more pleased than he was when I told him of the kindness of some of his friends in England; and I believe, when he hath a good opportunity, he will let them know how sensible he is of it. He is in a maze, how your Lordship hath done to pay off the fleet; and, till I assured him to the contrary, he imagined that some great sum was paid to you from abroad. In that and the dissolution of parliament, which were the two things which troubled him most, I think I gave him pretty good satisfaction. I have writ some other particulars, which, I am sure, will be communicated to you; and, therefore, I will now only say that there is no man in the world hath more esteem and value for you than I have, and will take all occasions of letting you see how much I am
Your humble and obedient servant,