or, which will be very noble and quite put down the other
two.

So home to dinner and then to the office, and entered in my manuscript
book the Victualler's contract, and then over the water and walked to
see Sir W. Pen, and sat with him a while, and so home late, and to my
viall. So up comes Creed again to me and stays all night, to-morrow
morning being a hearing before the Duke. So to bed full of discourse of
his business.

4th. Up by 4 o'clock and sent him to get matters ready, and I to my
office looking over papers and mending my manuscript by scraping out the
blots and other things, which is now a very fine book. So to St. James's
by water with Sir J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten, I giving occasion to a
wager about the tide, that it did flow through bridge, by which Sir W.
Batten won 5s. of Sir J. Minnes. At St. James's we staid while the Duke
made himself ready. Among other things Sir Allen Apsley showed the
Duke the Lisbon Gazette in Spanish, where the late victory is set down
particularly, and to the great honour of the English beyond measure.
They have since taken back Evora, which was lost to the Spaniards, the
English making the assault, and lost not more than three men. Here I
learnt that the English foot are highly esteemed all over the world, but
the horse not so much, which yet we count among ourselves the best; but
they abroad have had no great knowledge of our horse, it seems. The
Duke being ready, we retired with him, and there fell upon Mr. Creed's
business, where the Treasurer did, like a mad coxcomb, without reason or
method run over a great many things against the account, and so did Sir
J. Minnes and Sir W. Batten, which the Duke himself and Mr. Coventry
and my Lord Barkely and myself did remove, and Creed being called in did
answer all with great method and excellently to the purpose (myself I
am a little conscious did not speak so well as I purposed and do think
I used to do, that is, not so intelligibly and persuasively, as I well
hoped I should), not that what I said was not well taken, and did carry
the business with what was urged and answered by Creed and Mr. Coventry,
till the Duke himself did declare that he was satisfied, and my Lord
Barkely offered to lay L100 that the King would receive no wrong in the
account, and the two last knights held their tongues, or at least by not
understanding it did say what made for Mr. Creed, and so Sir G. Carteret
was left alone, but yet persisted to say th