ve his company now and then, for that he knows much
of the temper of the City, and is able to acquaint therein as much
as most young men, being of large acquaintance, and himself, I think,
somewhat unsatisfied with the present state of things at Court and in
the Church. Then to the office, and there busy till late, and so home to
my wife, with some ease and pleasure that I hope to be able to follow
my business again, which by God's leave I am resolved to return to
with more and more eagerness. I find at Court, that either the King is
doubtfull of some disturbance, or else would seem so (and I have reason
to hope it is no worse), by his commanding all commanders of castles,
&c., to repair to their charges; and mustering the Guards the other day
himself, where he found reason to dislike their condition to my Lord
Gerard, finding so many absent men, or dead pays.

[This is probably an allusion to the practice of not reporting the
deaths of soldiers, that the officers might continue to draw their
pay.--B.]

My Lady Castlemaine, I hear, is in as great favour as ever, and the King
supped with her the very first night he came from Bath: and last night
and the night before supped with her; when there being a chine of beef
to roast, and the tide rising into their kitchen that it could not be
roasted there, and the cook telling her of it, she answered, "Zounds!
she must set the house on fire but it should be roasted!" So it was
carried to Mrs. Sarah's husband's, and there it was roasted. So home to
supper and to bed, being mightily pleased with all my house and my red
chamber, where my wife and I intend constantly to lie, and the having
of our dressing room and mayds close by us without any interfering or
trouble.

14th. Up and to my office, where all the morning, and part of it Sir
J. Minnes spent, as he do every thing else, like a fool, reading
the Anatomy of the body to me, but so sillily as to the making of
me understand any thing that I was weary of him, and so I toward the
'Change and met with Mr. Grant, and he and I to the Coffee-house, where
I understand by him that Sir W. Petty and his vessel are coming, and
the King intends to go to Portsmouth to meet it. Thence home and
after dinner my wife and I, by Mr. Rawlinson's conduct, to the Jewish
Synagogue: where the men and boys in their vayles, and the women behind
a lattice out of sight; and some things stand up, which I believe is
their Law, in a press to