Diary, April 1667 | Page 7

men that they do hide
themselves, and swear they will not go to be killed and have no pay. I
find the Duke of Albemarle at dinner with sorry company, some of his
officers of the Army; dirty dishes, and a nasty wife at table, and bad
meat, of which I made but an ill dinner. Pretty to hear how she talked
against Captain Du Tell, the Frenchman, that the Prince and her
husband put out the last year; and how, says she, the Duke of York hath
made him, for his good services, his Cupbearer; yet he fired more shot

into the Prince's ship, and others of the King's ships, than of the enemy.
And the Duke of Albemarle did confirm it, and that somebody in the
fight did cry out that a little Dutchman, by his ship, did plague him
more than any other; upon which they were going to order him to be
sunk, when they looked and found it was Du Tell, who, as the Duke of
Albemarle says, had killed several men in several of our ships. He said,
but for his interest, which he knew he had at Court, he had hanged him
at the yard's-arm, without staying for a Court-martiall. One Colonel
Howard, at the table, magnified the Duke of Albemarle's fight in June
last, as being a greater action than ever was done by Caesar. The Duke
of Albemarle, did say it had been no great action, had all his number
fought, as they should have done, to have beat the Dutch; but of his 55
ships, not above 25 fought. He did give an account that it was a fight he
was forced to: the Dutch being come in his way, and he being ordered
to the buoy of the Nore, he could not pass by them without fighting, nor
avoid them without great disadvantage and dishonour; and this Sir G.
Carteret, I afterwards giving him an account of what he said, says that it
is true, that he was ordered up to the Nore. But I remember he said, had
all his captains fought, he would no more have doubted to have beat the
Dutch, with all their number, than to eat the apple that lay on his
trencher. My Lady Duchesse, among other things, discoursed of the
wisdom of dividing the fleete; which the General said nothing to,
though he knows well that it come from themselves in the fleete, and
was brought up hither by Sir Edward Spragge. Colonel Howard, asking
how the prince did, the Duke of Albemarle answering, "Pretty well;"
the other replied, "But not so well as to go to sea again."--" How!" says
the Duchess, "what should he go for, if he were well, for there are no
ships for him to command? And so you have brought your hogs to a
fair market," said she. [It was pretty to hear the Duke of Albemarle
himself to wish that they would come on our ground, meaning the
French, for that he would pay them, so as to make them glad to go back
to France again; which was like a general, but not like an admiral.] One
at the table told an odd passage in this late plague: that at Petersfield, I
think, he said, one side of the street had every house almost infected
through the town, and the other, not one shut up. Dinner being done, I
brought Balty to the Duke of Albemarle to kiss his hand and thank him
far his kindness the last year to him, and take leave of him, and then

Balty and I to walk in the Park, and, out of pity to his father, told him
what I had in my thoughts to do for him about the money--that is, to
make him Deputy Treasurer of the fleete, which I have done by getting
Sir G. Carteret's consent, and an order from the Duke of York for
L1500 to be paid to him. He promises the whole profit to be paid to my
wife, for to be disposed of as she sees fit, for her father and mother's
relief. So mightily pleased with our walk, it being mighty pleasant
weather, I back to Sir G. Carteret's, and there he had newly dined, and
talked, and find that he do give every thing over for lost, declaring no
money to be raised, and let Sir W. Coventry name the man that
persuaded the King to take the Land Tax on promise, of raising present
money upon it. He will, he says, be able to clear himself enough of it. I
made him merry, with telling him how many land-admirals we are to
have this year: Allen at Plymouth, Holmes at Portsmouth, Spragge for
Medway, Teddiman at Dover, Smith