14th.  Up very betimes, and with Jane to Levett’s, there to conclude upon our dinner; and thence to the pewterer’s, to buy a pewter sesterne,

[A pewter cistern was formerly part of the furniture of a well- appointed dining-room; the plates were rinsed in it, when necessary, during the meal.  A magnificent silver cistern is still preserved in the dining-room at Burghley House, the seat of the Marquis of Exeter.  It is said to be the largest piece of plate in England, and was once the subject of a curious wager.—­B.]

which I have ever hitherto been without, and so up and down upon several occasions to set matters in order, and that being done I out of doors to Westminster Hall, and there met my Lord Brouncker, who tells me that our business is put off till Monday, and so I was mighty glad that I was eased of my attendance here, and of any occasion that might put me out of humour, as it is likely if we had been called before the Parliament.  Therefore, after having spoke with Mr. Godolphin and cozen Roger, I away home, and there do find everything in mighty good order, only my wife not dressed, which troubles me.  Anon comes my company, viz., my Lord Hinchingbroke and his lady, Sir Philip Carteret and his, lady, Godolphin and my cozen Roger, and Creed:  and mighty merry; and by and by to dinner, which was very good and plentifull:  (I should have said, and Mr. George Montagu), who come at a very little warning, which was exceeding kind of him.  And there, among other things, my Lord had Sir Samuel Morland’s late invention for casting up of sums of L. s. d.;

[The same as Morland’s so-called calculating machine.  Sir Samuel published in 1673 “The Description and Use of two Arithmetick Instruments, together with a short Treatise of Arithmetic, as likewise a Perpetual Almanack and severall useful tables.”]

which is very pretty, but not very useful.  Most of our discourse was of my Lord Sandwich and his family, as being all of us of the family; and with extraordinary pleasure all the afternoon, thus together eating and looking over my closet:  and my Lady Hinchingbroke I find a very sweet-natured and well-disposed lady, a lover of books and pictures, and of good understanding.  About five o’clock they went; and then my wife and I abroad by coach into Moorefields, only for a little ayre, and so home again, staying no where, and then up to her chamber, there to talk with pleasure of this day’s passages, and so to bed.  This day I had the welcome news of our prize being come safe from Holland, so as I shall have hopes, I hope, of getting my money of my Lady Batten, or good part of it.