, that he hath made some kind of peace with
Algiers; upon which the King and Duke of York, being to go out of town
to-morrow, are met at my Lord Arlington's: so I there, and by Mr. Wren
was desired to stay to see if there were occasion for their speaking
with me, which I did, walking without, with Charles Porter,

[Charles Porter "was the son of a prebend[ary] in Norwich, and a
'prentice boy in the city in the rebellious times. When the
committee house was blown up, he was very active in that rising, and
after the soldiers came and dispersed the rout, he, as a rat among
joint stools, shifted to and fro among the shambles, and had forty
pistols shot at him by the troopers that rode after him to kill him
[24th April, 1648]. In that distress he had the presence of mind to
catch up a little child that, during the rout, was frighted, and
stood crying in the streets, and, unobserved by the troopers, ran
away with it. The people opened a way for him, saying, 'Make room
for the poor child.' Thus he got off, and while search was made for
him in the market-place, got into the Yarmouth ferry, and at
Yarmouth took ship and went to Holland.... In Holland he
trailed a pike, and was in several actions as a common soldier. At
length he kept a cavalier eating-house; but, his customers being
needy, he soon broke, and came for England, and being a genteel
youth, was taken in among the chancery clerks, and got to be under a
master.... His industry was great; and he had an acquired
dexterity and skill in the forms of the court; and although he was a
bon companion, and followed much the bottle, yet he made such
dispatches as satisfied his clients, especially the clerks, who knew
where to find him. His person was florid, and speech prompt and
articulate. But his vices, in the way of women and the bottle, were
so ungoverned, as brought him to a morsel.... When the Lord
Keeper North had the Seal, who from an early acquaintance had a
kindness for him which was well known, and also that he was well
heard, as they call it, business flowed in to him very fast, and yet
he could scarce keep himself at liberty to follow his business....
At the Revolution, when his interest fell from, and his debts began
to fall upon him, he was at his wits' end.... His character for
fidelity, loyalty, and f