11th. At noon to the Coffee-house, were with Dr. Allen some good
discourse about physick and chymistry. And among other things, I
telling him what Dribble the German Doctor do offer of an
instrument to sink ships; he tells me that which is more strange,
that something made of gold, which they call in chymistry AURUM
FULMINANS, a grain, I think he said, of it put into a silver
spoon and fired, will give a blow like a musquett, and strike a
hole through the silver spoon downward, without the least force
upward; and this he can make a cheaper experiment of, he says,
with iron prepared.
15th. This day being our Queene's birthday, the guns of the
Tower went all off; and in the evening the Lord Mayor sent from
church to church to order the constables to cause bonfires to be
made in every street, which methinks is a poor thing to be forced
to be commanded.
19th. With Sir G. Carteret to my Lord Treasurer, to discourse
with him about Mr. Gauden's having of money, and to offer to him
whether it would not be necessary, Mr. Gauden's credit being so
low as it is, to take security of him if he demands any great
sum, such as 20,000l.
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