Page:Diary of the times of Charles II Vol. I.djvu/92

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INTRODUCTION.

be extremely welcome, and 'twill be a great satisfaction to me to understand what is passed. I will stay till two of the clock to receive that satisfaction."

There was a great debate upon it, which ended in her son-in-law being excepted from the Bill: and, if Evelyn gave her a true account of things, for which she was willing to defer her dinner to so late an hour as two o'clock, the evening could not have passed off very agreeably; for, among other speeches made on that day, Mr. Harbord said—"I am for catching the great fishes; to catch little rogues is not worth our while. I would not fall into the misfortune of not making examples. This Ecclesiastical Court was not managed by Jenner—he is a little fellow. But for a Secretary of State (Lord Sunderland) to renounce his God, and act in that commission, you had as good give up all as not to question him."[1]

In the spring of the year 1691, notwithstanding his being specially excepted from pardon, Lord and Lady Sunderland returned to England; secure, if called in question, of receiving it from his Sovereign. After this period, her letters to Evelyn are almost entirely on private and domestic sub-

  1. Parliamentary History, v. 372.