18th. Up and to the office, Mr. Coventry and I alone sat till two
o'clock, and then he inviting himself to my house to dinner, of which I
was proud; but my dinner being a legg of mutton and two capons, they were
not done enough, which did vex me; but we made shift to please him, I
think; but I was, when he was gone, very angry with my wife and people.
This afternoon came my wife's brother and his wife, and Mrs. Lodum his
landlady (my old friend Mr. Ashwell's sister), Balty's wife is a most
little and yet, I believe, pretty old girl, not handsome, nor has anything
in the world pleasing, but, they say, she plays mighty well on the Base
Violl. They dined at her father's today, but for ought I hear he is a
wise man, and will not give any thing to his daughter till he sees what
her husband do put himself to, so that I doubt he has made but a bad
matter of it, but I am resolved not to meddle with it. They gone I to the
office, and to see Sir W. Pen, with my wife, and thence I to Mr. Cade the
stationer, to direct him what to do with my two copies of Mr. Holland's
books which he is to bind, and after supplying myself with several things
of him, I returned to my office, and so home to supper and to bed.

19th. Up and by appointment with Mr. Lee, Wade, Evett, and workmen to the
Tower, and with the Lieutenant's leave set them to work in the garden, in
the corner against the mayne-guard, a most unlikely place. It being cold,
Mr. Lee and I did sit all the day till three o'clock by the fire in the
Governor's house; I reading a play of Fletcher's, being "A Wife for a
Month," wherein no great wit or language. Having done we went to them at
work, and having wrought below the bottom of the foundation of the wall, I
bid them give over, and so all our hopes ended; and so went home, taking
Mr. Leigh with me, and after drunk a cup of wine he went away, and I to my
office, there reading in Sir W. Petty's book, and so home and to bed, a
little displeased with my wife, who, poor wretch, is troubled with her