all the evening and late sent a long discourse to Mr. Coventry by his
desire about the regulating of the method of our payment of bills in the
Navy, which will be very good, though, it may be, he did ayme principally
at striking at Sir G. Carteret. So weary but pleased with this business
being over I home to supper and to bed.

22nd. Up, and by water to the Duke of Albemarle, and there did some
little business, but most to shew myself, and mightily I am yet in his and
Lord Craven's books, and thence to the Swan and there drank and so down to
the bridge, and so to the 'Change, where spoke with many people, and about
a great deale of business, which kept me late. I heard this day that Mr.
Harrington is not dead of the plague, as we believed, at which I was very
glad, but most of all, to hear that the plague is come very low; that is,
the whole under 1,000, and the plague 600 and odd: and great hopes of a
further decrease, because of this day's being a very exceeding hard frost,
and continues freezing. This day the first of the Oxford Gazettes come
out, which is very pretty, full of newes, and no folly in it. Wrote by
Williamson. Fear that our Hambro' ships at last cannot go, because of the
great frost, which we believe it is there, nor are our ships cleared at
the Pillow [Pillau], which will keepe them there too all this winter, I
fear. From the 'Change, which is pretty full again, I to my office and
there took some things, and so by water to my lodging at Greenwich and
dined, and then to the office awhile and at night home to my lodgings, and
took T. Willson and T. Hater with me, and there spent the evening till
midnight discoursing and settling of our Victualling business, that
thereby I might draw up instructions for the Surveyours and that we might
be doing something to earne our money. This done I late to bed. Among
other things it pleased me to have it demonstrated, that a Purser without
professed cheating is a professed loser, twice as much as he gets.