The Diary of Samuel Pepys [15]
where he told me the discourse that happened between the secluded members and the members of the House, before Monk last Friday. How the secluded said, that they did not intend by coming in to express revenge upon these men, but only to meet and dissolve themselves, and only to issue writs for a free Parliament. He told me how Hasselrigge was afraid to have the candle carried before him, for fear that the people seeing him, would do him hurt; and that he was afraid to appear In the City. That there is great likelihood that the secluded members will come in, and so Mr. Crewe and my Lord are likely to be great men, at which I was very glad. After dinner there was many secluded members come in to Mr. Crewe, which, it being the Lord's day, did make Mr. Moore believe that there was something extraordinary in the business.
20th. I went forth to Westminster Hall, where I met with Chetwind, Simons, and Gregory. [Mr. Gregory was, in 1672, Clerk of the Cheque at Chatham.] They told me how the Speaker Lenthall do refuse to sign the writs for choice of new members in the place of the excluded; and by that means the writs could not go out to-day. In the evening Simons and I to the Coffee House, where I heard Mr. Harrington, and my Lord of Dorset and another Lord, talking of getting another place at the Cockpit, and they did believe it would come to something.
21st. In the morning I saw many soldiers going towards Westminster Hall, to admit the secluded members again. So I to Westminster Hall, and in Chancery I saw about twenty of them who had been at White Hall with General Monk, who came thither this morning, and made a speech to them, and recommended to them a Commonwealth, and against Charles Stuart. They came to the House and went in one after another, and at last the Speaker came, But it is very strange that this could be carried so private, that the other members of the House heard nothing of all this, till they found them in the House, insomuch that the soldiers that stood there to let in the secluded members they took for such as they had ordered to stand there to hinder their coming in. Mr. Prin came with an old basket-hilt sword on, and a great many shouts upon his going into the Hall. [William Prynne, the lawyer, well known by his voluminous publications, and the persecution which he endured. He was M.P. for Bath, 1660, and died 1669.] They sat till noon, and at their coming out Mr. Crewe saw me, and bid me come to his house and dine with him, which I did; and he very joyful told me that; the House had made General Monk, General of all the Forces in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and that upon Monk's desire, for the service that Lawson had lately done in pulling down the Committee of Safety, he had the command of the Sea for the time being. He advised me to send for my Lord forthwith, and told me that there is no question that, if he will, he may now be employed again; and that the House do intend to do nothing more than to issue writs, and to settle a foundation for a free Parliament. After dinner I back to Westminster Hall with him in his coach. Here I met with Mr. Lock and Pursell, Master of Musique, [Matthew Locke and Henry Purcell, both celebrated Composers.] and went with them to the Coffee House, into a room next the water, by ourselves, where we spent an hour or two till Captain Taylor come and told us, that the House had voted the gates of the City to be made up again, and the members of the City that are in prison to be set at liberty; and that Sir G. Booth's case be brought into the House to-morrow. [Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, Bart., created Baron Delamer; 1661, for his services in behalf of the King.] Here we had variety of brave Italian; and Spanish songs, and a canon for eight voices, which Mr. Lock had lately made on these words: "Domine salvum fac Regem" Here out of the window it was a most pleasant sight to see the City from one end to the other with a glory about it, so high was the light of the bonfires, and so thick round the City, and the bells rang every where.
22nd.
20th. I went forth to Westminster Hall, where I met with Chetwind, Simons, and Gregory. [Mr. Gregory was, in 1672, Clerk of the Cheque at Chatham.] They told me how the Speaker Lenthall do refuse to sign the writs for choice of new members in the place of the excluded; and by that means the writs could not go out to-day. In the evening Simons and I to the Coffee House, where I heard Mr. Harrington, and my Lord of Dorset and another Lord, talking of getting another place at the Cockpit, and they did believe it would come to something.
21st. In the morning I saw many soldiers going towards Westminster Hall, to admit the secluded members again. So I to Westminster Hall, and in Chancery I saw about twenty of them who had been at White Hall with General Monk, who came thither this morning, and made a speech to them, and recommended to them a Commonwealth, and against Charles Stuart. They came to the House and went in one after another, and at last the Speaker came, But it is very strange that this could be carried so private, that the other members of the House heard nothing of all this, till they found them in the House, insomuch that the soldiers that stood there to let in the secluded members they took for such as they had ordered to stand there to hinder their coming in. Mr. Prin came with an old basket-hilt sword on, and a great many shouts upon his going into the Hall. [William Prynne, the lawyer, well known by his voluminous publications, and the persecution which he endured. He was M.P. for Bath, 1660, and died 1669.] They sat till noon, and at their coming out Mr. Crewe saw me, and bid me come to his house and dine with him, which I did; and he very joyful told me that; the House had made General Monk, General of all the Forces in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and that upon Monk's desire, for the service that Lawson had lately done in pulling down the Committee of Safety, he had the command of the Sea for the time being. He advised me to send for my Lord forthwith, and told me that there is no question that, if he will, he may now be employed again; and that the House do intend to do nothing more than to issue writs, and to settle a foundation for a free Parliament. After dinner I back to Westminster Hall with him in his coach. Here I met with Mr. Lock and Pursell, Master of Musique, [Matthew Locke and Henry Purcell, both celebrated Composers.] and went with them to the Coffee House, into a room next the water, by ourselves, where we spent an hour or two till Captain Taylor come and told us, that the House had voted the gates of the City to be made up again, and the members of the City that are in prison to be set at liberty; and that Sir G. Booth's case be brought into the House to-morrow. [Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey, Bart., created Baron Delamer; 1661, for his services in behalf of the King.] Here we had variety of brave Italian; and Spanish songs, and a canon for eight voices, which Mr. Lock had lately made on these words: "Domine salvum fac Regem" Here out of the window it was a most pleasant sight to see the City from one end to the other with a glory about it, so high was the light of the bonfires, and so thick round the City, and the bells rang every where.
22nd.