xx INTRODUCTION 



ions of his people, being conducted through London with 

 a most splendid cavalcade ; and on 3rd November, following 

 (a day never to be mentioned without a curse) to that long, 

 ungratefull, foolish, and fatall Parliament, the beginning 

 of all our sorrows for twenty years after, and the period of 

 the most happy Monarch in the world : Quis talia fando /' 



In the closing days of 1640 Evelyn lost his father, when 

 he abandoned the study of the law and betook himself abroad 

 in preference to being mixed up in the disorders of the time. 

 His resolutions were c to absent myselfe from this ill face 

 of things at home, which gave umbrage to wiser than myselfe, 

 that the medaill was reversing, and our calamities but yet in 

 their infancy. ' Shortly before that he had c beheld on 

 Tower Hill the fatal stroake which sever'd the wisest head 

 in England from the shoulders of the Earl of StrafFord. ' 



Landing at Flushing in July, 1641, Evelyn passed, accom- 

 panied by his tutor Mr. Caryll, through Midelbrogh, Der 

 Veer, Dort, Rotterdam, and Delft, to the Hague, where he 

 presented himself to the Queen of Bohemia's Court. Thence 

 he went on to Leyden, Utrecht, Rynen, and Nimeguen, to 

 where the Dutch army was encamped about Genep, a strong 

 fortress on the Wahale river. Here he enrolled himself 

 and served for a few days as a volunteer in the Queen's 

 army * according to the compliment, ' being attached to the 

 English company of Captain Apsley : and in this capacity 

 he ' received many civilities. ' Even when thus playing at 

 soldering, he did not like the roughness of a soldier's life, 

 'for the sun piercing the canvass of the tent, it was, during 

 the day, unsufferable, and at night not seldom infested with 

 mists and fogs, which ascended from the river. ' However, 

 during the few days he took his fair share in the work. 

 c As the turn came about, I watched on a home work neere 

 our quarters, and trailed a pike, being the next morning 

 relieved by a company of French. This was our continual 

 duty till the Castle was re-fortified, and all danger of quitting 

 that station secured. ' Retracing his steps to Rotterdam, 

 Delft, the Hague and Leyden, he also visited Haerlem, 

 Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and various other towns 

 before returning by way of Ostend, Dunkirk and Dover to 

 Wotton, where he celebrated his 2ist birthday. 



