Pierson, and several of the great cavalier parsons
during the late troubles; and I was glad to hear him
talk of them, which he did very ingeniously, and very
much of Dr. Fuller’s art of memory, which he
did tell me several instances of. By and by
he parted, and we took coach and to take the ayre,
there being a fine breeze abroad; and I went and carried
them to the well, and there filled some bottles of
water to carry home with me; and there talked with
the two women that farm the well, at L12 per annum,
of the lord of the manor, Mr. Evelyn (who with his
lady, and also my Lord George Barkeley’s lady,
and their fine daughter, that the King of France liked
so well, and did dance so rich in jewells before the
King at the Ball I was at, at our Court, last winter,
and also their son, a Knight of the Bath, were at
church this morning). Here W. Hewer’s horse
broke loose, and we had the sport to see him taken
again. Then I carried them to see my cozen Pepys’s
house, and ’light, and walked round about it,
and they like it, as indeed it deserves, very well,
and is a pretty place; and then I walked them to the
wood hard by, and there got them in the thickets till
they had lost themselves, and I could not find the
way into any of the walks in the wood, which indeed
are very pleasant, if I could have found them.
At last got out of the wood again; and I, by leaping
down the little bank, coming out of the wood, did sprain
my right foot, which brought me great present pain,
but presently, with walking, it went away for the
present, and so the women and W. Hewer and I walked
upon the Downes, where a flock of sheep was; and the
most pleasant and innocent sight that ever I saw in
my life—we find a shepherd and his little
boy reading, far from any houses or sight of people,
the Bible to him; so I made the boy read to me, which
he did, with the forced tone that children do usually
read, that was mighty pretty, and then I did give him
something, and went to the father, and talked with
him; and I find he had been a servant in my cozen
Pepys’s house, and told me what was become of
their old servants. He did content himself mightily
in my liking his boy’s reading, and did bless
God for him, the most like one of the old patriarchs
that ever I saw in my life, and it brought those thoughts
of the old age of the world in my mind for two or
three days after. We took notice of his woolen
knit stockings of two colours mixed, and of his shoes
shod with iron shoes, both at the toe and heels, and
with great nails in the soles of his feet, which was
mighty pretty: and, taking notice of them, “Why,”
says the poor man, “the downes, you see, are
full of stones, and we are faine to shoe ourselves
thus; and these,” says he, “will make
the stones fly till they sing before me.”
I did give the poor man something, for which he was
mighty thankful, and I tried to cast stones with his
horne crooke. He values his dog mightily, that
would turn a sheep any way which he would have him,