, 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 to the
Northward, and Harman to the Southward. He did defend to me Sir W.
Coventry as not guilty of the dividing of the fleete the last year, and
blesses God, as I do, for my Lord Sandwich's absence, and tells me
how the King did lately observe to him how they have been particularly
punished that