Guildhall, and there he declared for the members whom the army had
forced away in year forty-seven and forty-eight, who were known by
the names of secluded members."--Burnet's Hist. of his Own Time,
book i.]

having been at the House-door the last week to demand entrance, but it was
denied them; and it is believed that [neither] they nor the people will be
satisfied till the House be filled. My own private condition very
handsome, and esteemed rich, but indeed very poor; besides my goods of my
house, and my office, which at present is somewhat uncertain. Mr. Downing
master of my office.

[George Downing was one of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of the
Exchequer, and in his office Pepys was a clerk. He was the son of
Emmanuel Downing of the Inner Temple, afterwards of Salem,
Massachusetts, and of Lucy, sister of Governor John Winthrop. He is
supposed to have been born in August, 1623. He and his parents went
to New England in 1638, and he was the second graduate of Harvard
College. He returned to England about 1645, and acted as Colonel
Okey's chaplain before he entered into political life. Anthony a
Wood (who incorrectly describes him as the son of Dr. Calybute
Downing, vicar of Hackney) calls Downing a sider with all times and
changes: skilled in the common cant, and a preacher occasionally.
He was sent by Cromwell to Holland in 1657, as resident there. At
the Restoration, he espoused the King's cause, and was knighted and
elected M.P. for Morpeth, in 1661. Afterwards, becoming
Secretary to the Treasury and Commissioner of the Customs, he was in
1663 created a Baronet of East Hatley, in Cambridgeshire, and was
again sent Ambassador to Holland. His grandson of the same name,
who died in 1749, was the founder of Downing College, Cambridge.