knows nothing of our money I will prevent any other
inconvenience. In the evening comes Mr. Povy about business; and he and
I to walk in the garden an hour or two, and to talk of State matters.
He tells me his opinion that it is out of possibility for us to escape
being undone, there being nothing in our power to do that is necessary
for the saving us: a lazy Prince, no Council, no money, no reputation at
home or abroad. He says that to this day the King do follow the women as
much as ever he did; that the Duke of York hath not got Mrs. Middleton,
as I was told the other day: but says that he wants not her, for he hath
others, and hath always had, and that he [Povy] hath known them brought
through the Matted Gallery at White Hall into his [the Duke's] closet;
nay, he hath come out of his wife's bed, and gone to others laid in
bed for him: that Mr. Bruncker is not the only pimp, but that the whole
family is of the same strain, and will do anything to please him: that,
besides the death of the two Princes lately, the family is in horrible
disorder by being in debt by spending above L60,000 per. annum, when he
hath not L40,000: that the Duchesse is not only the proudest woman
in the world, but the most expensefull; and that the Duke of York's
marriage with her hath undone the kingdom, by making the Chancellor so
great above reach, who otherwise would have been but an ordinary man, to
have been dealt with by other people; and he would have been careful of
managing things well, for fear of being called to account; whereas, now
he is secure, and hath let things run to rack, as they now appear. That
at a certain time Mr. Povy did carry him an account of the state of the
Duke of York's estate, showing in faithfullness how he spent more than
his estate would bear, by above L20,000 per annum, and asked my Lord's
opinion of it; to which he answered that no man that loved the King or
kingdom durst own the writing of that paper; at which Povy was startled,
and reckoned himself undone for this good service, and found it
necessary then to show it to the Duke of York's Commissioners; who read,
examined, and approved of it, so as to cause it to be put into form, and
signed it, and gave it the Duke. Now the end of the Chancellor was, for
fear that his daughter's ill housewifery should be condemned. He [Povy]
tells me that the other day, upon this ill newes of the Dutch being upon
us, White Hall was shut up, and the Council called and sat c