On the 3rd of December, 1663, he gives us the satisfactory intelligence "that the navy (excepting what is due to the yards upon the quarter now going on) is quite out of debt; which is extraordinary good news, and upon the 'Change, to hear how our credit goes as good as any merchant's upon the 'Change is a joyfull thing to consider, which God continue!" The next day he remarks, "The King of France, they say, is hiring of 60 sail of ships of the Dutch, but it is not said for what design." On the 22nd of January he went down to Deptford, "and there viewed Sir William Petty's vessel; which hath an odd appearance, but not such as people do make of it." On the 4th of March he "saw several people trying a new-fashion gun, brought by my Lord Peterborough this morning, to shoot off often, one after another, without trouble or danger." This must have been something of the fashion of a revolver of the present day. One of the first entries regarding the Dutch war is on the 21st of November, 1644. "This day, for certain, news is come that Teddiman hath brought in eighteen or twenty Dutchmen, merchants, their Bourdeaux fleet, and two men-of-war to Portsmouth. And I had letters this afternoon, that three are brought into the Downes and Dover; so that the warr is begun: God give a good end to it!" On the 31st of December he says: "My Lord Sandwich at sea with the fleet at Portsmouth, sending some about to cruise for taking of ships, which we have done to a great number." On the 11th of January, 1665: "This evening, by a letter from Plymouth, I hear that two of our ships, the _Leopard_ and another, in the Straights, are lost by running aground; and that three more had like to have been so, but got off, whereof Captain Allen one; and that a Dutch fleet are gone thither; and if they should meet with our lame ships, God knows what would become of them. This I reckon most sad news; God make us sensible of it!" The following remarks show the threatening attitude of the Dutch: on the 12th of January, 1665, "Spoke with a Frenchman, who was taken, but released, by a Dutch man-of-war, of 36 guns (with seven more of the king's or greater ships), off the North Foreland, by Margett. Which is a strange attempt, that they should come to our teeth; but, the wind being easterly, the wind that should bring our force from Portsmouth, will carry them away home."