Diary of the times of Charles II/Volume 1/The Earl of Sunderland to Mr. Sidney, January 12

2656149Diary of the times of Charles II — The Earl of Sunderland to Mr. Sidney, January 12Robert Spencer

THE EARL OF SUNDERLAND TO MR. SIDNEY.

January 12.

I have received the letters you writ to me by your servant, of January 7th, which do not exactly suit with the present affairs, for the difficulty is not what is to be done after the King should declare he would pass the bill,[1] but how to persuade him to pass it, which I believe he never will do; and that being so, if some expedient might be found to which the Prince would agree, we shall be all happy, but they are so averse to everything but the bill, it must be some extraordinary means that can make them be contented with less than that. These means I think can only be found in the Prince's coming, and in the manner we have formerly thought of, all which Sir W. Temple hath writ at large.

The prorogation every body will write to you about; if they can tell you what will follow, they know more than I do.—I am for ever yours.


  1. The passages in italics are in cipher.