he Duke of Richmond and Mrs. Stewart were betrothed last
night. Thence to Westminster Hall again, and there saw Betty Michell,
and bought a pair of gloves of her, she being fain to keep shop there,
her mother being sick, and her father gathering of the tax. I 'aimais
her de toute my corazon'. Thence, my mind wandering all this day upon
'mauvaises amours' which I be merry for. So home by water again, where
I find my wife gone abroad, so I to Sir W. Batten to dinner, and had a
good dinner of ling and herring pie, very good meat, best of the kind
that ever I had. Having dined, I by coach to the Temple, and there did
buy a little book or two, and it is strange how "Rycaut's Discourse of
Turky," which before the fire I was asked but 8s. for, there being
all but twenty-two or thereabouts burned, I did now offer 20s., and he
demands 50s., and I think I shall give it him, though it be only as a
monument of the fire. So to the New Exchange, where I find my wife, and
so took her to Unthanke's, and left her there, and I to White Hall,
and thence to Westminster, only out of idleness, and to get some little
pleasure to my 'mauvais flammes', but sped not, so back and took up
my wife; and to Polichinelli at Charing Crosse, which is prettier
and prettier, and so full of variety that it is extraordinary good
entertainment. Thence by coach home, that is, my wife home, and I to the
Exchange, and there met with Fenn, who tells me they have yet no orders
out of the Exchequer for money upon the Acts, which is a thing not to
be borne by any Prince of understanding or care, for no money can be got
advanced upon the Acts only from the weight of orders in form out of
the Exchequer so long time after the passing of the Acts. So home to
the office a little, where I met with a sad letter from my brother, who
tells me my mother is declared by the doctors to be past recovery, and
that my father is also very ill every hour: so that I fear we shall see
a sudden change there. God fit them and us for it! So to Sir W. Pen's,
where my wife was, and supped with a little, but yet little mirth, and
a bad, nasty supper, which makes me not love the family, they do all
things so meanly, to make a little bad show upon their backs. Thence
home and to bed, very much troubled about my father's and my mother's
illness.

21st. Up, and to the office, where sat all the morning. At noon home to
dinner, and had some melancholy discourse with my wife about my mother's
bein