Letters and Papers 1535. 27 Sep 1535. R. O. 450. Sir Thomas Audeley to Cromwell.

Has received his letter, with the books of Bath and Winchester for valuation of the spiritualities. Only 12 or 13 books have yet come to his hands. Wonders the Commissioners are so negligent. Has lain at Old Ford only for this cause these 14 or 15 days, and cannot proceed till all the books come in. Intends to write letters, in the names of Cromwell and himself, to the Commissioners of the shires where they lack. and send them with the writs of the prorogation of Parliament, and with the commissions and proclamations for wheat, which will all be ready tomorrow. Wishes to know the King's pleasure about proclamations for clothiers. Must ride to the burial of Sir David Owen, who has named him one of his executors. Wishes to know what Cromwell has done for London, Middlesex, and Surrey. Thanks him for moving the Queen (age 34) for her house, and desires him to thank her Highness for lending it to him. Would be glad to gratify Cromwell about the nomination of the under-sheriff of Middlesex, "and am right well content ye take your pleasure in it, praying you to consider that it is given me, and that of good congruence and reason ye cannot take it from me." You have done me much greater pleasures, and this is not for my own profit, but for my poor servant's, to whom I can give nothing. Remember, I moved you once for poor Dyne to have the controllership of the dispensations, "with poor £10 fee. Ye have his bill." Each of us must have a clerk, with 20 marks' fee, to make up books of benefices, as it will be a great business. I shall be near the Court when I go to Mr. Owen's burial, but dare not approach the King's presence till I know his pleasure. I have long wished to see his Grace, "but I have a little resorted to London, and some suitors of London daily have come to my house." Can never be rid of them. Sends humble recommendations to the King and Queen. Old Ford, Monday before Michaelmas Day.

Hol., pp. 2. Add.: Thomas Crumwell, Esq., Chief Secretary to the King's Highness. Endd.

John Evelyn to Samuel Tuke 27 Sep 166. 27 Sep 1666. John Evelyn (age 45) to Samuel Tuke 1st Baronet (age 51).

It was some foure dayes before the most fatal Conflagration of the (quondam) Cltty of London y^t I addressed a few lines to you; little thinking I should so soone have had two such dissolutions to deplore: The burning of the best Towne in the World: and the discease of the best fFriend in y^e World, your excellent Lady. S^r, you know they are but small afflictions that are loquacious - greate ones are silent: & if ever greate ones there were, mine eyes have beheld, & mine eares heard them, with an heart so possess'd with sorrow, that it Is not easily expressed; because y^e instances have ben altogether stupendous & unparallel'd. But it were in vaine to entertaine you with those formal topics, w^h are wont to be apply'd to persons of lesse fortitude & Christian resignation, though I cannot but exhort you to what, I know, you do - looke upon all things in this World as transitory & perishiug; sent us upon condition of quitting them cherefully, when God pleases to take them from us. This consideration alone, (w^th the rest of those Graces w^h God has furnish'd you w^th all will be able to alevlate y^r passion, & to preserve you from succumbing under y^r pressures, w^h I confesse are weighty: but not insupportable: Live therefore, I conjure you, & helpe to restore y^r deare Country, & to consolate y^t ffriends: There is none alive wishes you more sincere happlnesse than my poore family.

I suppose I should have heard ere this from you of all y concerntnents; but impute y silence to some possible miscarriage of y"^ Letf^; since the usual place of addresse is w"' the rest reduc'd to ashes & made an heape of ruines. I would give you a more particular relation of this calamitous accident; but I should oppresse you with sad stories, and I. question not but they are come too soone amongst you at Paris with all mlnutenesse, & (were it possible) hyperbolies; There is this yet of lesse deplorable in it: That, as it pleas'd God to order it, little effects of any greate consequence have been lost, besides the houses: - ^That o"^ Merchands at the same instant in w*^ it was permitted y'^ y^ tidings should file over Seas, had so settled all their affaires, as they complying w*'' their forraliie Correspondence as punctualy as if no disaster at all had happen'd; nor do we heare of so much as one that has fail'd. The Exchange is now at Gressham Colledge. Tlie rest of the Qitty (which m.ay consist of neere a 7th part) & suburbs peopl'd with new shopps, the same noyse, bulslnesse & co'merce, not to say vanity. Onely the poore Booke-sellers have ben indede ill treated by Vulcan; so many noble impressions consum'd, hy their trusting them to y* Churches, as the losse is estimated neere two-hundred thousand pounds: w*^^ will he an extraordinary detriment to y^ whole Republiq of Learning. In y* meane time, the King & Parliament are infinitely zealous for the rebuilding of our ruines; & I believe it will universally be the employment of y^ next Spring: They are now busied w'*^ adjusting the claimes of each proprietor, that so they may dispose things for the building after the noblest model: Every body brings in his idea, amongst the rest I P'^sented his Ma^"^ my owne conceptions, w^'' a Discourse annex'd. It was the second that was seene, within 2 dayes after the Conflagration; But Dr. Wren had got the start of me *. Both of us did coincide so frequently, that his Ma^'^ was not displeas'd with it, & it caus'd divers alterations; and truly there was never a more glorious Phoenix upon Earth, if it do at last emerge out of these cinders, & as the designe is layd, with the present fervour of y* undertakers. But these things are as yet im'a- ture; & I pray God we may enjoy peace to encourage those faire dispo- sitions: The miracle is, I have never in my life observ'd a more uni- versal resignation, lesse repining amongst sufferers; which makes me hope, y* God has yet thoughts of mercy towards us: Judgments do not alwayes end where they begin; & therefore let none exult over our calamities: - We know not whose turne it mav be next. But S'", I forbear to entertaine you longer on these sad reflections; but persist to beg of you not to suffer any transportations unbecoming a man of xvirtue; resolve to preserve y^e selfe, if it be possible, for better times, the good & restauration of ^e Country, & the comfort of Friends & Relations, and amongst them of, S^r,

Sayes Court, Deptford [Map].

Pepy's Diary. 27 Sep 1667. To the office again, my head running on this pretty girl, and there till noon, when Creed and Sheres come and dined with me; and we had a great deal of pretty discourse of the ceremoniousness of the Spaniards, whose ceremonies are so many and so known, that, Sheres tells me, upon all occasions of joy or sorrow in a Grandee's family, my Lord Embassador is fain to send one with an 'en hora buena', if it be upon a marriage, or birth of a child, or a 'pesa me', if it be upon the death of a child, or so. And these ceremonies are so set, and the words of the compliment, that he hath been sent from my Lord, when he hath done no more than send in word to the Grandee that one was there from the Embassador; and he knowing what was his errand, that hath been enough, and he never spoken with him: nay, several Grandees having been to marry a daughter, have wrote letters to my Lord to give him notice, and out of the greatness of his wisdom to desire his advice, though people he never saw; and then my Lord he answers by commending the greatness of his discretion in making so good an alliance, &c., and so ends. He says that it is so far from dishonour to a man to give private revenge for an affront, that the contrary is a disgrace; they holding that he that receives an affront is not fit to appear in the sight of the world till he hath revenged himself; and therefore, that a gentleman there that receives an affront oftentimes never appears again in the world till he hath, by some private way or other, revenged himself: and that, on this account, several have followed their enemies privately to the Indys, thence to Italy, thence to France and back again, watching for an opportunity to be revenged. He says my Lord was fain to keep a letter from the Duke of York (age 33) to the Queen of Spain (age 32) a great while in his hands, before he could think fit to deliver it, till he had learnt whether the Queen (age 28) would receive it, it being directed to his cozen. He says that many ladies in Spain, after they are found to be with child, do never stir out of their beds or chambers till they are brought to bed: so ceremonious they are in that point also. He tells me of their wooing by serenades at the window, and that their friends do always make the match; but yet that they have opportunities to meet at masse at church, and there they make love: that the Court there hath no dancing, nor visits at night to see the King (age 37) or Queen (age 28), but is always just like a cloyster, nobody stirring in it: that my Lord Sandwich (age 42) wears a beard now, turned up in the Spanish manner. But that which pleases me most indeed is, that the peace which he hath made with Spain is now printed here, and is acknowledged by all the merchants to be the best peace that ever England had with them: and it appears that the King (age 37) thinks it so, for this is printed before the ratification is gone over; whereas that with France and Holland was not in a good while after, till copys come over of it in English out of Holland and France, that it was a reproach not to have it printed here. This I am mighty glad of; and is the first and only piece of good news, or thing fit to be owned, that this nation hath done several years.