his letter find that the
Dutch had made no motion since their taking Sheernesse; and the Duke
of Albemarle writes that all is safe as to the great ships against any
assault, the boom and chaine being so fortified; which put my heart into
great joy.

[There had been correspondence with Pett respecting this chain in
April and May. On the 10th May Pett wrote to the Navy
Commissioners, "The chain is promised to be dispatched to-morrow,
and all things are ready for fixing it." On the 11th June the Dutch
"got twenty or twenty-two ships over the narrow part of the river at
Chatham, where ships had been sunk; after two and a half hours'
fighting one guard-ship after another was fired and blown up, and
the enemy master of the chain" ("Calendar of State Papers," 1667,
pp. 58, 87, 215).]

When I come to Sir W: Coventry's chamber, I find him abroad; but his
clerk, Powell, do tell me that ill newes is come to Court of the Dutch
breaking the Chaine at Chatham; which struck me to the heart. And to
White Hall to hear the truth of it; and there, going up the back-stairs,
I did hear some lacquies speaking of sad newes come to Court, saying,
that hardly anybody in the Court but do look as if he cried, and would
not go into the house for fear of being seen, but slunk out and got
into a coach, and to The. Turner's to Sir W. Turner's, where I met Roger
Pepys, newly come out of the country. He and I talked aside a little,
he offering a match for Pall, one Barnes, of whom we shall talk more the
next time. His father married a Pepys; in discourse, he told me further
that his grandfather, my great grandfather, had L800 per annum, in
Queen Elizabeth's time, in the very town of Cottenham; and that we did
certainly come out of Scotland with the Abbot of Crowland. More talk I
had, and shall have more with him, but my mind is so sad and head full
of this ill news that I cannot now set it down. A short visit here, my
wife coming to me, and took leave of The., and so home, where all our
hearts do now ake; for the newes is true, that the Dutch have broke the
chaine and burned our ships, and particularly "The Royal Charles,"

[Vandervelde's drawings of the conflagration of the English fleet,
made by him on the spot, are in the British Museum.--B.]

other particulars I know not, but most sad to be sure. And, the truth
is, I do fear so much that the whole kingdom is undone, that I do this
night