e free towns. The Duke of Brunswick has taken the
town of Brunswick; and now the Bishop of Cullen is attacking the
city of Colen. We truckle to France in all things, to the prejudice
of our honour. Barclay is still Lieutenant of Ireland; but he was
forced to come over to pay ten thousand pounds rent to his Landlady
Cleveland. My Lord Angier, who bought of Sir George Carteret for
eleven thousand pounds, the Vice-treasurership of Ireland, worth
five thousand pounds a year, is, betwixt knavery and foolery, turned
out. Dutchess of York and Prince Edgar, dead. None left but
daughters. One Blud, outlawed for a plot to take Dublin Castle, and
who seized on the Duke of Ormond here last year, and might have
killed him, a most bold, and yet sober fellow, some months ago
seized the crown and sceptre in the Tower, took them away, and if he
had killed the keeper, might have carried them clear off. He, being
taken, astonished the King and Court, with the generosity, and
wisdom, of his answers. He, and all his accomplices, for his sake,
are discharged by the King, to the wonder of all.--Yours," etc.

_To William Ramsden, Esq._
"_June 1672._

"DEAR WILL,--Affairs begin to alter, and men talk of a peace with
Holland, and taking them into our protection; and it is my opinion
it will be before Michaelmas, for some reasons, not fit to write. We
cannot have a peace with France and Holland both. The Dutch are now
brought very low; but Amsterdam, and some other provinces, are
resolved to stand out till the last. De-wit is stabbed, and dead of
his wounds. It was at twelve a clock at night, the 11th of this
month, as he came from the council at the Hague. Four men wounded
him with their swords. But his own letter next morning to the States
says nothing appeared mortal. The whole Province of Utrecht is
yielding up. No man can conceive the condition of the State of
Holland, in this juncture, unless he can at the same time conceive
an earthquake, an hurricane, and the deluge. France is potent and
subtle. Here have been several fires of late. One at St.
Catherine's, which burned about six score or two hundred houses, and
some seven or eight ships. Another in Bishopsgate-street. Another in
Crichet Fryars. Another in Southwark; and some elsewhere. You may be
sure all the old talk is hereu