en Creed and I (the other being
lost in the crowd) to drink a cup of ale at Temple Bar, and there we
parted, and I (seeing my father and mother by the way) went home.

13th. At the office all the morning; dined at home, and poor Mr. Wood
with me, who after dinner would have borrowed money of me, but I would
lend none. Then to Whitehall by coach with Sir W. Pen, where we did very
little business, and so back to Mr. Rawlinson's, where I took him and
gave him a cup of wine, he having formerly known Mr. Rawlinson, and
here I met my uncle Wight, and he drank with us, and with him to Sir W.
Batten's, whither I sent for my wife, and we chose Valentines' against
to-morrow.

[The observation of St. Valentine's day is very ancient in this
country. Shakespeare makes Ophelia sing

"To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window
To be your Valentine."

Hamlet, act iv. sc. 5.--M. B.]

My wife chose me, which did much please me; my Lady Batten Sir W. Pen,
&c. Here we sat late, and so home to bed, having got my Lady Batten to
give me a spoonful of honey for my cold.

14th (Valentine's day). Up early and to Sir W. Batten's, but would not
go in till I asked whether they that opened the door was a man or a
woman, and Mingo, who was there, answered a woman, which, with his tone,
made me laugh; so up I went and took Mrs. Martha for my Valentine (which
I do only for complacency), and Sir W. Batten he go in the same manner
to my wife, and so we were very merry. About 10 o'clock we, with a great
deal of company, went down by our barge to Deptford, and there only went
to see how forward Mr. Pett's yacht is; and so all into the barge again,
and so to Woolwich, on board the Rose-bush, Captain Brown's' ship, that
is brother-in-law to Sir W. Batten, where we had a very fine dinner,
dressed on shore, and great mirth and all things successfull; the first
time I ever carried my wife a-ship-board, as also my boy Wayneman, who
hath all this day been called young Pepys, as Sir W. Pen's boy young
Pen. So home by barge again; good weather, but pretty cold. I to my
study, and began to make up my accounts for my Lord, which I intend to
end tomorrow. To bed. The talk of the town now is, who the King is
like to have for his Queen: and whether Lent shall be kept with the
strictness of the King's p