6 6 6 'to be expressed, otherwise than by the condition the citizens 'were in when the city was on fire-nobody knowing which way 'to turn themselves.' In this strait it was at last determined to protect the capital by sinking some ships below Woolwich and Blackwall, -a measure which was executed in this wise. Strange our confusion! among them that are sunk they have gone and sunk without consideration the Francklin, one of the king's ships, with stores to a very considerable value that hath long 'been loaden for the supply of the ships-and the new ship at Bristol, and much wanted there-and nobody will own that they directed it, but do lay it on Sir W. Rider. They speak ' also of another ship loaden to the value of 80,000l. sunk with 'the goods in her-or at least was mightily contended for by ‹ him, and a foreign ship that had the faith of the nation for her 'security. And it is a plain truth that both here and at Chatham the ships that we have sunk have many, and the first 5 of them, been ships completely fitted for fireships at a great charge.' As to the seamen, 'several come this morning to tell 'me that, if I would get their tickets paid, they would go and 'do all they could against the Dutch: but otherwise they would not venture being killed, and lose all they have already fought for.... And, indeed, the hearts as well as the affections of the seamen are turned away; and in the open streets in Wapping, and up and down, the wives have cried publicly, "This comes of you not paying our husbands! and now your ""work is undone, or done by hands that understand it not."" Another redoubtable expedient was one which has recently been rather loudly advocated-the taking up merchants' ships for the occasion to do the duty of ships of war; but, Lord, to see how against the hair it is with these men, and every body else, to trust us and the king-and how unreasonable it is to expect ⚫ they should be willing to lend their ships and lay out 2007. or 300l. a man to fit their ships for the new voyages, when we have not paid them half of what we owe them for the old < services!' As might be anticipated, a parliamentary inquiry' followed upon all this; and the curious reader may here again find an amusing parallel to some corresponding proceedings of more recent date. Mr. Pepys, indeed, was not without some apprehension of popular violence. I have also made a girdle, by which, with some trouble, I do carry about me 300l. in gold about my body; that I may not be without something in case I should be surprised; for I think in any nation but ours, people that appear, for we are not indeed so, so faulty as we, would have their throats cut!' By-and-by he was actually summoned before a large committee of the council to explain the measures taken in his department,an ordeal which he passed pretty safely. So I away back with 'my books and papers; and when I got out into the court it was 'pretty to see how people gazed upon me-that I thought myself 'obliged to salute people and smile, lest they should think I was a prisoner too.' He was, in fact, in so great dread of such a fate, that when going to attend the court he left behind him directions where to find some gold which he had hidden against misfortune. 6 Guinnys,' it will be observed, which were seldom procurable except at a considerable premium, formed the favourite portion of Mr. Pepys's substance; and these were either 'concealed or hidden upon the first rumour of disturbance. The 'diggings' down at his father's house are a match for any stories from San Francisco. At the first sound of the Dutch guns, he despatched, as we have seen, his wife and his guinnys into the country to be buried or at least the latter. or at least the latter. The news of the clumsy way in which this had been managed 'did drive him mad;' so, three or four months afterwards, he went down himself to reconnoitre; and, it being now night, into the garden with my 'wife, and there went about our great work-to dig up the gold. But Lord! what a loss I was for some time in, that they could 'not justly tell where it was, that I begun heartily to sweat and 'be angry; but by and by poking with a spit we found it, and then began with a spudd to lift the ground.' It seems that the coin had been buried in iron headpieces, the 'notes' being inclosed in bags, and placed with them. But both bags and notes now proved to be rotten; and the earth had got in amongst the gold, and the deposit itself was within sight of a neighbour's window, and not half a foot under ground! These things'all put together did make me mad; and at last I was forced to take up the headpieces, dirt and all, and as many of the scattered 'pieces as I could with the dirt discern by candlelight, and carry them into my brother's chamber; and then, all people going to bed, W. Hewer and I did all alone, with several pails of water and besoms, at last wash all the dirt off the pieces and parted the pieces and the dirt. . . and afterwards with pails and a sieve did lock ourselves in the garden, and there gather all the ' earth about the place into pails, and then sift those pails in one 'of the summer-houses-just as they do for dyamonds in other 'parts of the world.' 6 The staunchest Tory would hardly decry the funding system, after reading how people were put to it, to invest their money, in the reigns of the last Stuarts. There was, it was true, the resource always open of lending it to his Sacred Majesty ; but the 6 alternative could not be described as highly eligible. The destitution to which the Court had reduced itself was inexpressibly scandalous. The Admiralty was soon penniless again after its unexpected piece of luck. On the 20th of August there was no 'money to be heard of-nay not 1007. on the most pressing ser'vice that can be imagined, of bringing in the king's timber from 'Whittlewood, while we have the utmost want of it.' The king offered ten per cent. for a loan; and the proposition suggested a pleasant joke in the city, that the Dutch themselves would send over money and lend it-upon our publick faith, and the Act ' of Parliament!' Even the king's personal service, notwithstanding his daily profusion, was liable to shameful deficiencies. We are accustomed to look at the Spanish Court of this period as an example of what royal households might possibly come to; but such a story as the following was never, we do believe, reported from Madrid or Aranjuez, though we recollect a legend of the whole contents of the royal larder being taken one morning to furnish a scant and insufficient breakfast for their Catholic Majesties. April 22. 1667. The king was vexed the other day for having no paper laid for him at the Council Table, as 'was usual; and Sir Richard Browne did tell his Majesty he would 'call the person whose work it was to provide it, who being come did tell his Majesty that he was but a poor man, and was ' already out 4007. or 500l. for it; which was as much as he is 'worth, and that he cannot provide it any longer without money -having not received a penny since the king's coming in. So the king spoke to my Lord Chamberlain, and many such 'mementos the king do now-a-days meet withall-enough to 'make an ingenuous man mad.' 6 Enough indeed-though all this was not exactly the fault of Charles II. As to buying and selling places and pardons, and such like matters, every page will give the most scandalous examples. Indeed we cannot but think that these volumes will, in the opinion of every impartial reader, supply the most conclusive evidence on a question which, we understand, has been lately mooted. A great historian has recently drawn a picture of England as it stood at the close of this reign-the accuracy of which has been impeached in some quarters-chiefly on the ground of its giving too unfavourable a view of the morality, happiness, and civilisation of our society at that time. Now there are very few of the propositions maintained by the historian which do not receive the most complete and thorough confirmation from the contents of the extraordinary chronicle before us and we would willingly peril the final issue upon the conclusions to which these unconscious records must inevitably lead. Let any person desirous of ascertaining the truth by his own observation, attentively study the contents of these five volumes. He will not find the task in any respect a disagreeable one; and if he exerts only an average amount of judgment and sagacity, he will need little aid in deciding the question at issue between Mr. Macaulay and his censors. No. CLXXXIII. will be published in January, 1850. INDEX. A Agriculture and Science, works relating to, 357-impressions likely Austria and Hungary, interest of Europe in the contest between B Birch, W. J., his Inquiry into the Philosophy and Religion of |