told me there was many did seek to remove him; but they were old seamen,
such as Sir J. Minnes (but he would name no more, though I do believe Sir
W. Batten is one of them that do envy him), but he says he knows that the
King do so love him, and the Duke of York too, that there is no fear of
him. He seems to be very well acquainted with the King's mind, and with
all the several factions at Court, and spoke all with so much frankness,
that I do take him to be my Lord's good friend, and one able to do him
great service, being a cunning fellow, and one (by his own confession to
me) that can put on two several faces, and look his enemies in the face
with as much love as his friends. But, good God! what an age is this, and
what a world is this! that a man cannot live without playing the knave and
dissimulation. At Whitehall we parted, and I to Mrs. Pierce's, meeting
her and Madam Clifford in the street, and there staid talking and laughing
with them a good while, and so back to my mother's, and there supped, and
so home and to bed.

2nd. In the morning to my cozen Thos. Pepys, executor, and there talked
with him about my uncle Thomas, his being in the country, but he could not
advise me to anything therein, not knowing what the other has done in the
country, and so we parted. And so to Whitehall, and there my Lord Privy
Seal, who has been out of town this week, not being yet come, we can have
no seal, and therefore meeting with Mr. Battersby the apothecary in
Fenchurch Street to the King's Apothecary's chamber in Whitehall, and
there drank a bottle or two of wine, and so he and I by water towards
London. I landed at Blackfriars and so to the Wardrobe and dined, and
then back to Whitehall with Captain Ferrers, and there walked, and thence
to Westminster Hall, where we met with Mr. Pickering, and so all of us to
the Rhenish wine house (Prior's), where the master of the house is laying
out some money in making a cellar with an arch in his yard, which is very
convenient for him. Here we staid a good while, and so Mr. Pickering and