CABINET

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

BOOK VIII.

THE PERIOD FROM THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. TO THE REVOLUTION.

CHAPTER I.

CHARLES II.

A.D. 1660.-ON the 25th of May, Charles and his two brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, landed near Dover, where Monk met them. The king embraced and kissed his restorer, calling him "Father." On the 29th, which was Charles's birth-day, and that on which he completed his thirtieth year, he made his solemn entry into London, attended by the members of both Houses, by bishops, ministers, knights of the Bath, lord-mayor and aldermen, kettle-drums and trumpets. All was joy and jubilee. And when Charles met the House of Lords, the Earl of Manchester hailed him as "Great king," "dread sovereign," "native king," "son of the wise," &c., and prophesied to him that he would prove an example to all kings, of piety, justice, prudence, and pcwer. Nor were the Commons much behind the Lords: their speaker, Sir Harbottle Grimston, told Charles that he was deservedly called the "king of hearts;" that he would receive from his people a crown of hearts; that he could not fail being the happiest and most glorious king of the happiest people.

The king's principal adviser was, and for some time had been, the Earl of Clarendon-the reforming Edward Hyde of former days; but in the formation of a government or a ministry, Clarendon was obliged to consult the interest of Monk. In Charles's first privy council there were admitted almost as many Presbyterians as Church-of-England-men and cavaliers; but Clarendon evidently hoped to be able to displace these Presbyterians by degrees. Among the members of this new cabinet were the king's two brothers, the Marquess of Ormond, the Earl of Lindsay, Lord Saye and Sele, General Monk, the Earl of Manchester, Mr. Denzil Hollis,

and Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper. Monk was continued captain-general of all the forces of the three kingdoms, and he was soon gratified by a long list of titles of nobility, ending in that of Duke of Albemarle. The Duke of York was made lord high admiral, lord warden of the Cinque Ports, &c. The Earl of Southampton became lord-high treasurer; the high-church Marquess of Ormond, lord steward of the household; and the Presbyterian Earl of Manchester, lord chamberlain. Lord Clarendon, retaining the chancellorship, was intrusted with the chief management of affairs.

The Presbyterians were startled at the reproduction of the Thirty-Nine Articles; but they were gratified by a royal proclamation against vice, debauchery, and profaneness, and by seeing one of the most debauched and profane of princes admit into the number of his chaplains two eloquent and famous Presbyterian preachers. To keep the lord-mayor, the aldermen, sheriffs, and principal officers of the city militia in good humour and loyalty, the honour of knighthood was showered upon them, and the king went into the city to feast with them. That none of the old attributes of royalty might remain in the shade, his majesty began to touch for the king's evil, sitting under his canopy of state with his surgeons and chaplains, and stroking the faces of all the sick that were brought to him, one of the chaplains saying at each touching" He put his hands upon them and he healed them." This disgusting if not blasphemous ceremonythis pretension to an hereditary right of working miracles -greatly incensed the Puritans.

The Lords and Commons, who, under Monk, had recalled the king, were not properly a parliament, but only a convention. Therefore one of the first proceedings after his arrival was to pass an act constituting this convention to be a parliament. They then voted 70,000l. a month to the king for present necessities. The Chancellor Clarendon told them that his majesty would in all points make good his declaration from Breda; that he granted a free pardon to all except those whom the parliament might except; and that no man should be

B 2

disquieted for differences of opinion in matters of religion.

Fifteen days before Charles's joyous entrance into London, the Lords had caused the Book of Common Prayer to be read in their House; and at the same time they and the Commons had begun to arrest as traitors, all such as spoke amiss of his gracious majesty or of kingly government. They had also seized Clement, one of the late king's judges; and had ordered the seizure of the goods of all that sat as judges upon that memorable trial; thus plainly intimating, even before Charles's arrival, that vengeance was to be taken upon the regicides. And now the Presbyterian majority of the Commons, led on by the noisy, hot-headed, and vindictive Denzil Hollis, voted that neither they themselves nor the people of England could be freed from the horrid guilt of the late unnatural rebellion, or from the punishment which that guilt merited, unless they formally availed themselves of his majesty's grace and pardon, as set forth in the declaration of Breda; and they went in a body to the banqueting-house, and threw themselves at the feet of Charles, who recommended them to despatch what was called a bill of indemnity and oblivion. Clarendon had all along counted upon punishing with death all such as had been immediately concerned in the death of the late king.

Monk, however, when arranging the Restoration, had advised that not more than four should be excepted; and now he stepped in to check the vindictive fury of the Commons, and prevailed upon them to limit the number of their victims to seven,-Scott, Holland, Lisle, Barkstead, Harrison, Saye, and Jones,-who, it was voted, should lose the benefit of the indemnity both as to life and estate. But the number of seven was presently raised to ten by the addition of Coke, the active solicitor Broughton, clerk to the High Court of Justice; and Dendy, who had acted as serjeant-at-arms during the trial. These ten, it was understood, were all to suffer a horrible death. But without losing time, the Commons proceeded to select a still larger number that were to