y," the "Winsby" to the "Happy Return," the
"Wakefield" to the "Richmond," the "Lambert" to the "Henrietta," the
"Cheriton" to the "Speedwell," and the "Bradford" to the "Success."
This portion of the Diary is of particular interest, and the various
excursions in Holland which the Diarist made are described in a very
amusing manner.

When Montagu and Pepys had both returned to London, the former told the
latter that he had obtained the promise of the office of Clerk of the
Acts for him. Many difficulties occurred before Pepys actually secured
the place, so that at times he was inclined to accept the offers which
were made to him to give it up. General Monk was anxious to get the
office for Mr. Turner, who was Chief Clerk in the Navy Office, but in
the end Montagu's influence secured it for Pepys. Then Thomas Barlow,
who had been appointed Clerk of the Acts in 1638, turned up, and
appeared likely to become disagreeable. Pepys bought him off with an
annuity of too, which he did not have to pay for any length of time,
as Barlow died in February, 1664-65. It is not in human nature to be
greatly grieved at the death of one to whom you have to pay an annuity,
and Pepys expresses his feelings in a very naive manner:--

"For which God knows my heart I could be as sorry as is possible for
one to be for a stranger by whose death he gets L100 per annum, he
being a worthy honest man; but when I come to consider the
providence of God by this means unexpectedly to give me L100 a year
more in my estate, I have cause to bless God, and do it from the
bottom of my heart."

This office was one of considerable importance, for not only was the
holder the secretary or registrar of the Navy Board, but he was also one
of the principal officers of the navy, and, as member of the board, of
equal rank with the other commissioners. This office Pepys held during
the whole period of the Diary, and we find him constantly fighting for
his position, as some of the other members wished to reduce his rank
merely to that of secretary. In his contention Pepys appears to have
been in the right, and a valuable MS. volume in the Pepysian library
contains an extract from the Old Instructions of about 1649, in which
this very point is argued out. The volume appears to have been made
up by William Penn the Quaker, from a collection of manuscripts on the
affairs of the navy found in his father's, "Sir William Penn's closet."
It wa