became in 1644 the second wife of John Byron,
first Lord Byron. Died 1663.--B.]

who had been, as he called it, the King's seventeenth whore abroad, did
not leave him till she had got him to give her an order for L4000 worth
of plate to be made for her; but by delays, thanks be to God! she died
before she had it. He tells me mighty stories of the King of France, how
great a prince he is. He hath made a code to shorten the law; he
hath put out all the ancient commanders of castles that were become
hereditary; he hath made all the fryers subject to the bishops,
which before were only subject to Rome, and so were hardly the King's
subjects, and that none shall become 'religieux' but at such an age,
which he thinks will in a few, years ruin the Pope, and bring France
into a patriarchate. He confirmed to me the business of the want of
paper at the Council-table the other day, which I have observed; Wooly
being to have found it, and did, being called, tell the King to his face
the reason of it; and Mr. Evelyn tells me several of the menial servants
of the Court lacking bread, that have not received a farthing wages
since the King's coming in. He tells me the King of France hath his
mistresses, but laughs at the foolery of our King, that makes his
bastards princes,

[Louis made his own bastards dukes and princes, and legitimatized
them as much as he could, connecting them also by marriage with the
real blood-royal.--B.]

and loses his revenue upon them, and makes his mistresses his masters
and the King of France did never grant Lavalliere

[Louise Francoise de la Baume le Blanc de la Valliere had four
children by Louis XIV., of whom only two survived-Marie Anne
Bourbon, called Mademoiselle de Blois, born in 1666, afterwards
married to the Prince de Conti, and the Comte de Vermandois, born in
1667. In that year (the very year in which Evelyn was giving this
account to Pepys), the Duchy of Vaujour and two baronies were
created in favour of La Valliere, and her daughter, who, in the deed
of creation, was legitimatized, and styled princess.--B.]

any thing to bestow on others, and gives a little subsistence, but no
more, to his bastards. He told me the whole story of Mrs. Stewart's
going away from Court, he knowing her well; and believes her, up to her
leaving the Court, to be as virtuous as any woman in the world: and told
me, from a Lord that she told it to but