Experiments were made with _houllies_ or briquettes of charcoal dust and loam in the Dutch manner, and Evelyn shewed to many proof of his 'new fuell, which was very glowing and without smoke or ill smell'.

But the process never caught on, and was abandoned as giving no promise of commercial success.
Evelyn's account against the Treasury now amounted to above L34,000, and he continued to urge for payment of it, or for the settlement of unpaid portions of it, as late as 1702, about three years before his death.
Whether this straitened his means or not, he was at any rate eager to make money by speculation.

So in 1667 he joined Sir John Kiviet, a Dutch Orangeman who had come over to England for protection and had been knighted by King Charles, in a scheme for making bricks on a large scale.

Perhaps as a sort of advertisement of this commercial enterprise he subscribed 50,000 bricks towards building a college for the Royal Society.

It was a big scheme, including the embankment of the river from the Tower to the Temple, and if successful it would have brought much gain to the partners.
Evelyn says nothing about the ultimate results of his undertaking, but Pepys furnishes the necessary clue in his diary for September, 1668--'23d.