ad; a which is a great loss to the nation, having, I
think, never an heyre male now of the King's or Duke's to succeed to the
Crown. He tells me that they do begin already to damn the Dutch, and call
them cowards at White Hall, and think of them and their business no better
than they used to do; which is very sad. The King did tell him himself,
which is so, I was told, here in the City, that the City, hath lent him
L10,000, to be laid out towards securing of the River of Thames; which,
methinks, is a very poor thing, that we should be induced to borrow by
such mean sums. He tells me that it is most manifest that one great thing
making it impossible for us to have set out a fleete this year, if we
could have done it for money or stores, was the liberty given the
beginning of the year for the setting out of merchant-men, which did take
up, as is said, above ten, if not fifteen thousand seamen: and this the
other day Captain Cocke tells me appears in the council-books, that is the
number of seamen required to man the merchant ships that had passes to go
abroad. By and by, my wife being here, they sat down and eat a bit of
their nasty victuals, and so parted and we to bed.

23rd (Lord's day). Up to my chamber, and there all the morning reading in
my Lord Coke's Pleas of the Crowne, very fine noble reading. After church
time comes my wife and Sir W. Pen his lady and daughter; and Mrs. Markham
and Captain Harrison (who come to dine with them), by invitation end dined
with me, they as good as inviting themselves. I confess I hate their
company and tricks, and so had no great pleasure in [it], but a good
dinner lost. After dinner they all to church, and I by water alone to
Woolwich, and there called on Mr. Bodham: and he and I to see the batterys
newly raised; which, indeed, are good works to command the River below the
ships that are sunk, but not above them. Here I met with Captain Cocke
and Matt. Wren, Fenn, and Charles Porter, and Temple and his wife. Here
I fell in with these, and to Bodham's with them, and there we sat and
laughed and drank in his arbour, Wren making much and kissing all the day
of Temple's wife. It is a sad sight to see so many good ships there sunk
in the River, while we would be thought to be masters of the sea. Cocke
says the bankers cannot, till peace returns, ever hope to have credit
again; so that they can pay no more money, but people must be contented to
take publick security such as t