The History of ----- found at or near Yorke; it is good Workmanship, but not enough remaining to express the Story; sent by Mr. Gyles the famous Glass-Painter. An antique Head in Marble that belonged to the Virgin Mary's Shrine at York Minster; sent me by Mr. Sam. Carpenter the Statuary. John the Baptist's Head in a Platter, with this Inscription in old Letters, Inter nat: Mulier nō: sur: (surrexit) maj: Johē: Bapt: It is in Metal, twenty Inches in Circumference. The Heads of Otho and Vitellius in Plaister, from Aldburgh. Don. D. Eliz. Aldburgh. The first twelve Roman Emperors, done in Plaister by R. Th. Cardinal Wolsey's Head very well performed in Wood, found in the Ruins of the Archbishop's House at Cawood. Don. D. Jo. Etty Architect. The Head of King Charles I. seems to be black Marble, but is of the Lancashire Canal-Coal. The Present of the Lady Thornton. Lewis le Grand in Plaister, inscribed, Lud XIIII D G Fr: et Nav: Rex. Sir Paul Rycaut, the Learned Consul, in Wax, very curiously done at Hamburgh, K. Solomon's Judgment upon the Two Harlots, wherein are about a Dozen Figures in less than three Inches Diameter. Another half a Yard in Circumference, both of Metal and very well performed. The History of Elijah under the Juniper-Tree, supported by an Angel, 1 Kings 19. It is well performed in Wood by the celebrated Mr. Grindlin Gibbon, when Resident at Yorke, six Inches in Length, and four in Breadth. The same History wrought from it in Silk-work, by Mrs. Catharine Thoresby (my Mother-in-Law). A Mould for the History of our First Parents in Paradice, well designed, bought of the Executors of the said ingenious Mr. Gyles, together with an Excellent Statue of our Blessed Saviour, as bound to a Pillar in order to be scourged, so admirably express'd, that I confess, I cannot look upon it without Concern, and yet dread not the Scandal of Superstition. These are each a Foot high.

On the morning of 25 Oct. we drove to Kensington. The house is not very large but new and regular, having many handsome and well-furnished rooms. In several we saw various pictures of Holbein and other fine paintings, of which the Birth of Christ, a night-piece, and the Sacrifice of Elijah were the most elegant. We saw also here a barometer of Tompion with a round disc as a clock. We were taken into a room where paintings of the English admirals, fourteen of them, were hung. This opened into a small room in which were portraits of the four Indian kings who some time ago paid a visit to London. In another we saw a curious screen before the fireplace, on which there were all manner of Indian birds in relief with their natural feathers stuck on it. The so-called Great Hall is narrow and long but adorned with handsome paintings. Above the chimney-piece in this room stands an anemoscope. The paintings in this room are fifty-nine in number. By the door is a large painting by Tintoretto with several nude figures. Over one door is the Beheading of St John and over the other a Cupid drawing his bow, both remarkably well painted. There are, moreover, several portraits by famous artists, some perspective-pieces, a Lucretia, a Susanna, which are all very excellent. In one corner stands a curious striking clock with a fine black case ornamented with gilt figures. The clock does not only tell the time but also the course of the sun. Above stands the knight St. George in silver-gilt of the most excellent workmanship. We were told that it was presented to King William by the Frenchman who made it, and that the latter received a hundred guineas for it. On the table lay a small box of amber with several figures on it, extremely well wrought. The paintings hung high on the walls all round the room are of little account. In one corner was the bust of a Moor very well done from life—made, indeed, of nothing but coloured stones, with great skill. In another room we saw a prodigiously fine bed of red velvet and costly stuffs; in yet another, in which hung the Czar's portrait, was a most curious clock, of which a description with copper engravings has appeared in London. It has four great round dials, in the middle being a small one showing the hours. Above one sees the course of the sun and moon according to Ptolemy's system and next it the system of Copernicus, with the course of all the planets. The lowest discs have all manner of special divisions. In one of these was written: Samuel Watson, now in London; and in the other: Coventriae fecit. In most of the rooms stood very elegant inlaid tables. The garden round this palace is large, and in it hedges alternate with lawns, yews and flower-beds. The prospect from this garden and the zoological garden next it is most agreeable. On the left hand is the orangery, which is very well and elegantly planned in a straight line with round vaulted chambers at either end. The shrubs were for the most part laurels, but among them were some fine plants. There are no statues here, and only a very wretched and paltry fountain and some mere basins. The walks are extraordinarily large and handsome, especially the middle one. The open space, which is laid out like an amphitheatre, is vastly elegant, though the hedges and bushes on both sides are not fully grown. After we had seen all we drove back to London.