Burnet says: “He was active, and loved business; was apt to have
particular friendships, and had an insinuating temper which was
generally very acceptable. The King loved him much better than the
Duke of York.” He died of smallpox at Whitehall, September 13th,
1660, and was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel.]
in grey and red. My Lord went in a boat to meet them, the Captain, myself, and others, standing at the entering port. So soon as they were entered we shot the guns off round the fleet. After that they went to view the ship all over, and were most exceedingly pleased with it. They seem to be both very fine gentlemen. After that done, upon the quarter-deck table, under the awning, the Duke of York and my Lord, Mr. Coventry,
[William Coventry, to whom Pepys became so warmly attached
afterwards, was the fourth son of Thomas, first Lord Coventry, the
Lord Keeper. He was born in 1628, and entered at Queen’s College,
Oxford, in 1642; after the Restoration he became private secretary
to the Duke of York, his commission as Secretary to the Lord High
Admiral not being conferred until 1664; elected M.P. for Great
Yarmouth in 1661. In 1662 he was appointed an extra Commissioner of
the Navy, an office he held until 1667; in 1665, knighted and sworn
a Privy Councillor, and, in 1667, constituted a Commissioner of the
Treasury; but, having been forbid the court on account of his
challenging the Duke of Buckingham, he retired into the country, nor
could he subsequently be prevailed upon to accept of any official
employment. Burnet calls Sir William Coventry the best speaker in
the House of Commons, and “a man of the finest and best temper that
belonged to the court,” and Pepys never omits an opportunity of
paying a tribute to his public and private worth. He died, 1686, of
gout in the stomach.]
and I, spent an hour at allotting to every ship their service, in their return to England; which having done, they went to dinner, where the table was very full: the two Dukes at the upper end, my Lord Opdam next on one side, and my Lord on the other. Two guns given to every man while he was drinking the King’s health, and so likewise to the Duke’s health. I took down Monsieur d’Esquier to the great cabin below, and dined with him in state alone with only one or two friends of his. All dinner the harper belonging to Captain Sparling played to the Dukes. After dinner, the Dukes and my Lord to see the Vice and Rear-Admirals; and I in a boat after them. After that done, they made to the shore in the Dutch boat that brought them, and I got into the boat with them; but the shore was so full of people to expect their coming, as that it was as black (which otherwise is white sand), as every one could stand by another. When we came near the shore, my Lord left them and came into his own boat, and General Pen and I with him; my Lord being very well pleased with this day’s work. By the time we came on board again, news is sent us that the King is on shore; so my Lord fired all his guns round twice, and all the fleet after him, which in the end fell into disorder, which seemed very handsome. The gun over against my cabin I fired myself to the King, which was the first time that he had been saluted by his own ships since this change; but holding my head too much over the gun, I had almost spoiled my right eye. Nothing in the world but going of guns almost all this day. In the evening we began to remove cabins; I to the carpenter’s cabin, and Dr. Clerke with me, who came on board this afternoon, having been twice ducked in the sea to-day coming from shore, and Mr. North and John Pickering the like. Many of the King’s servants came on board to-night; and so many Dutch of all sorts came to see the ship till it was quite dark, that we could not pass by one another, which was a great trouble to us all. This afternoon Mr. Downing (who was knighted yesterday by the King’) was here on board, and had a ship for his passage into England, with his lady and servants.
[“About midnight arrived there Mr. Downing, who did the affairs of
England to the Lords the Estates, in quality of Resident under
Oliver Cromwell, and afterward under the pretended Parliament, which
having changed the form of the government, after having cast forth
the last Protector, had continued him in his imploiment, under the
quality of Extraordinary Envoy. He began to have respect for the
King’s person, when he knew that all England declared for a free
parliament, and departed from Holland without order, as soon as he
understood that there was nothing that could longer oppose the re-
establishment of monarchal government, with a design to crave
letters of recommendation to General Monk. This lord considered
him, as well because of the birth of his wife, which is illustrious,
as because Downing had expressed some respect for him in a time when
that eminent person could not yet discover his intentions. He had
his letters when he arrived at midnight at the house of the Spanish
Embassador, as we have said. He presented them forthwith to the
King, who arose from table a while after, read the letters, receiv’d
the submissions of Downing, and granted him the pardon and grace
which he asked for him to whom he could deny nothing. Some daies
after the King knighted him, and would it should be believed, that
the strong aversions which this minister of the Protector had made
appear against him on all occasions, and with all sorts of persons
indifferently, even a few daies before the publick and general
declaration of all England, proceeded not from any evil intention,
but only from a deep dissimulation, wherewith he was constrained to
cover his true sentiments, for fear to prejudice the affairs of his
Majesty.”—Sir William Lowers Relation … of the Voiage and
Residence which … Charles the II. hath made in Holland,
Hague, 1660, folio, pp. 72–73.]
By the same token he called me to him when I was going to write the order, to tell me that I must write him Sir G. Downing. My Lord lay in the roundhouse to-night. This evening I was late writing a French letter myself by my Lord’s order to Monsieur Kragh, Embassador de Denmarke a la Haye, which my Lord signed in bed. After that I to bed, and the Doctor, and sleep well.
23rd. The Doctor and I waked very merry, only my eye was very red and ill in the morning from yesterday’s hurt. In the morning came infinity of people on board from the King to go along with him. My Lord, Mr. Crew, and others, go on shore to meet the King as he comes off from shore, where Sir R. Stayner bringing His Majesty into the boat, I hear that His Majesty did with a great deal of affection kiss my Lord upon his first meeting. The King, with the two Dukes and Queen of Bohemia, Princess Royal, and Prince of Orange, came on board, where I in their coming in kissed the King’s, Queen’s, and Princess’s hands, having done the other before. Infinite shooting off of the guns, and that in a disorder on purpose, which was better than if it had been otherwise. All day nothing but Lords and persons of honour on board, that we were exceeding full. Dined in a great deal of state, the Royall company by themselves in the coach, which was a blessed sight to see. I dined with Dr. Clerke, Dr. Quarterman, and Mr. Darcy in my cabin. This morning Mr. Lucy came on board, to whom and his company of the King’s Guard in another ship my Lord did give three dozen of bottles of wine. He made friends between Mr. Pierce and me. After dinner the King and Duke altered the name of some of the ships,