1660. CHA P. be made by parliament: It promised liberty of conLXII., science; and a concurrence in any act of parliament, which, upon mature deliberation, should be offered for insuring that indulgence: It submitted to the arbitration of the same assembly the inquiry into all grants, purchases, and alienations: And it assured the soldiers of all their arrears, and promised them, for the future, the same pay which they then enjoyed. 8th May. THE lords, perceiving the spirit by which the kingdom, as well as the commons, was animated, hastened to reinstate themselves in their ancient authority, and to take their share in the settlement of the nation. They found the doors of their house open; and all were admitted; even such as had formerly been excluded on account of their pretended delinquency. THE two houses attended; while the king was proclaimed with great solemnity, in Palace-Yard, at Whitehall, and at Temple-Bar. The commons voted 500 pounds to buy a jewel for Granville, who had brought them the king's gracious messages: A present of 50,000 pounds was conferred on the king, 10,000 pounds on the duke of York, 5000 pounds on the duke of Glocester. A committee of lords and commons was dispatched to invite his majesty to return and take possession of the government. The rapidity with which all these events were conducted, was marvellous, and discovered the passionate zeal and entire unanimity of the nation. Such an impatience appeared, and such an emulation, in lords, and commons, and city, who should make the most lively expressions of their joy and duty; that, as the noble historian expresses it, a man could not but wonder where those people dwelt, who had done all the mischief, and kept the king so many years from enjoying the comfort and support of such excellent subjects. The king himself said, that it must surely have been his own fault that LXII. that he had not sooner taken possession of the throne; CHA P. since he found every body so zealous in promoting his happy restoration. THE respect of foreign powers soon followed the submission of the king's subjects. Spain invited him to return to the Low Countries, and embark in some of her maritime towns. France made protestations of affection and regard, and offered Calais for the same purpose. The States-general sent deputies with a like friendly invitation. The king resolved to accept of this last offer. The people of the republic bore him a cordial affection; and politics no longer restrained their magistrates from promoting and expressing that sentiment. As he passed from Breda to the Hague, he was attended by numerous crowds, and was received with the loudest acclamations; as if themselves, not their rivals in power and commerce, were now restored to peace and security. The States-general in a body, and afterwards the States of Holland apart, performed their compliments with the greatest solemnity. Every person of distinction was ambitious of being introduced to his majesty; all ambassadors and public ministers of kings, princes, or states, repaired to him, and professed the joy of their masters in his behalf: So that one would have thought, that from the united efforts of Christendom had been derived this revolution, which diffused every where such universal satisfaction. THE English fleet came in sight of Scheveling. Montague had not waited for orders from the parliament; but had persuaded the officers, of themselves, to tender their duty to his majesty. The duke of York immediately went on board, and took the command of the fleet as high admiral. WHEN the king disembarked at Dover, he was met by the general, whom he cordially embraced. Never subject in fact, probably in his intentions, had 1660, 330 CHA P. had deserved better of his king and country. In LXII. the space of a few months, without effusion of blood, 1660. by this cautious and disinterested conduct alone, he had bestowed settlement on three kingdoms, which had long been torn with the most violent convul sions: And having obstinately refused the most inviting conditions offered him by the king as well as by every party in the kingdom, he freely restored his injured master to the vacant throne. The king 29th May. entered London on the 29th of May, which was also his birth-day. The fond imaginations of men interpreted as a happy omen the concurrence of two such joyful periods. Manners At this æra, it may be proper to stop a moment and take a general survey of the age, so far as regards manners, finances, arms, commerce, arts and sciences. The chief use of history is, that it affords materials for disquisitions of this nature; and it seems the duty of an historian to point out the proper inferences and conclusions. No people could undergo a change more sudden and arts. and entire in their manners, than did the English nation during this period. From tranquillity, concord, submission, sobriety, they passed in an instant to a state of faction, fanaticism, rebellion, and almost frenzy. The violence of the English parties exceeded any thing which we can now imagine: Had they continued but a little longer, there was just reason to dread all the horrors of the ancient massacres and proscriptions. The military usurpers, whose authority was founded on palpable injustice, and was supported by no national party, would have 4 been LXII. 1660. been impelled by rage and despair into such sangui. CHA P. nary measures; and if these furious expedients had been employed on one side, revenge would naturally have pushed the other party, after a return of power, to retaliate upon their enemies. No social intercourse was maintained between the parties; no marriages or alliances contracted. The royalists, though oppressed, harassed, persecuted, disdained all affinity with their masters. The more they were reduced to subjection, the greater superiority did they affect above those usurpers, who by violence and injustice had acquired an ascendant over them. THE manners of the two factions were as opposite as those of the most distant nations. "Your "friends, the Cavaliers," said a parliamentarian to a royalist," are very dissolute and debauched." "True," replied the royalist," they have the in"firmities of men: But your friends, the Round"heads, have the vices of devils, tyranny, rebel"lion, and spiritual pride." Riot and disorder, it is certain, notwithstanding the good example set them by Charles I., prevailed very much among his partisans. Being commonly men of birth and fortune, to whom excesses are less pernicious than to the vulgar, they were too apt to indulge themselves in all pleasures, particularly those of the table. Opposition to the rigid preciseness of their antagonists increased their inclination to good fellowship; and the character of a man of pleasure was affected among them, as a sure pledge of attachment to the church and monarchy. Even when ruined by confiscations and sequestrations, they endeavoured to maintain the appearance of a careless and social jollity. "As much as hope is superior to fear," said a poor and merry cavalier," so much is our situa"tion preferable to that of our enemies. We laugh "while they tremble." d Sir Philip Warwic. THE CHAP. 1660. THE gloomy enthusiasm which prevailed among the parliamentary party, is surely the most curious spectacle presented by any history; and the most instructive, as well as entertaining, to a philosophical mind. All recreations were in a manner suspended by the rigid severity of the presbyterians and independents. Horse-races and cock-matches were prohibited as the greatest enormities. Even bear-baiting was esteemed heathenish and unchristian: The sport of it, not the inhumanity, gave offence. Colonel Hewson, from his pious zeal, marched with his regiment into London, and destroyed all the bears, which were there kept for the diversion of the citizens. This adventure seems to have given birth to the fiction of Hudibras. Though the English nation be naturally candid and sincere, hypocrisy prevailed among them beyond any example in ancient or modern times. The religious hypocrisy, it may be remarked, is of a peculiar nature; and being generally unknown to the person himself, though more dangerous, it implies less falsehood than any other species of insincerity. The Old Testament, preferably to the New, was the favourite of all the sectaries. The eastern poetical style of that composition made it more easily susceptible of a turn which was agreeable to them. WE have had occasion, in the course of this work, to speak of many of the sects which prevailed in England: To enumerate them all would be impossible. The quakers, however, are so considerable, at least so singular, as to merit some attention; and as they renounced by principle the use of arms, they never made such a figure in public transactions as to enter into any part of our narrative. THE religion of the quakers, like most others, began with the lowest vulgar, and, in its progress, came at last to comprehend people of better quality Killing no murder. and |