tton to London to see the so much celebrated line of
com'unication, and on the 10th. returned to Wotton, nobody knowing of my
having been in his Majestie's Army.'

During the first half of 1643 Evelyn employed himself entirely in rural
occupations, visiting the garden and vineyard of Hatfield and similar
places. From time to time, however, he made many journeys to and from
London. What he sometimes saw there gave him much food for ample
reflection. 'May 2nd. I went from Wotton to London, where I saw the
furious and zelous people demolish that stately Crosse in Cheapside. On
the 4th. I returned with no little regrett for the confusion that
threatened us. Resolving to possess myself in some quiet if it might be,
in a time of so great jealosy, I built by my Brother's permission a
study, made a fishpond, an island, and some other solitudes and
retirements, at Wotton, which gave the first occasion of improving them
to those water-works and gardens which afterwards succeeded them, and
became at that tyme the most famous of England.' But, willy nilly, he
was bound to become dragged into action on the King's behalf. 'July
12th. I sent my black manege horse and furniture with a friend to his
Majestie then at Oxford. 23rd. The Covenant being pressed, I absented
myselfe; but finding it impossible to evade the doing very unhandsome
things, and which had been a greate cause of my perpetual motions
hitherto between Wotton and London, Oct. 2nd. I obtayned a lycence of
his Majestie, dated at Oxford and sign'd by the King, to travell
againe.' Accordingly, on 7th. November, he took boat at the Tower wharf
for Sittingbourne, 'being only a payre of oares, expos'd to a hideous
storm, thence posting to Dover accompanied by an Oxford friend, Mr.
Thicknesse, and crossing the Channel to Calais.'

Proceeding by Boulogne, Monstreuil, Abbeville, Beauvais, Beaumont, and
St. Denys to Paris, of which he gives a very interesting account, he
threw himself into the social life of that gay capital. His first step
was to make his duty to Sir Richard Browne, afterwards his
father-in-law, then in charge of British affairs pending the arrival of
the Earl of Norwich, who came immediately after that as Ambassador
Extraordinary. That Evelyn's purse was fairly well lined the Parisian
passages in his _Diary_ distinctly show. He appears to have taken part
in many gay excursions and junkettings, though he sometimes reckoned the
cost. 'At an inn in this village (St