CHAPTER VI.

Of the Reigns of Charles the Second, and

THE

James the Second.

HE restoration of Charles II. to the throne of his ancestors, was produced in fuch hurry and agitation of spirits as precluded every attention and precaution which prudence and deliberation would have suggested. The different parties who united in this precipitate measure, were too heterogeneous in their principles, and too jealous of one another, as well as too much afraid of the partifans of the protectorate, or the supporters of a republican fyftem, to form any regular concert, and thus to hazard the delay which an attempt to limit the powers, and to regulate the conduct of the fovereign, would have required. Having no leisure for entering into particulars, they were fatisfied with the profeffions of Charles, conceived in vague and general terms; that, in matters of religion, he would fhew indulgence

gence to differences of opinion; that he would grant a free pardon to all offences committed against him by his subjects, referving to the confideration of parliament the exceptions that ought to be made; and that, in relation to the changes lately introduced in the ftate of property, he would refer all future claims to the determination of that affembly. None of those political points, therefore, which, after the acceffion of James I. had been the subject of controverly, were, on this occafion, fettled or explained; and the monarch, affuming the reins of government, without any limitations or conditions, was understood to recover all that extent of prerogative which, before the commencement of the civil war, had been vefled in the crown.

The principal events in this reign exhibit a difgufting repetition of fimilar fruggles to thofe which had occurred under the two first princes of the Houfe of Stewart, and afford no profpect of that fplendid fuccefs with which, in a fhort time after, the cause of liberty was fully crowned. The great unanimity with which the nation had concurred in refloring the royal family was

repre

represented as an experimental proof of the futility and imprudence of those pretended improvements in the government, which had of late been attempted; but which had ended in a new and moft arbitrary fpecies of defpotifm, or rather in total anarchy and confufion. The tide was now turned in favour of the monarch; and his old adhe rents became the governing party in the flate. The fhame and difgrace attending the late measures were, in fome degree, communicated to all who had any fhare in their accomplishment, and became the fubject of exultation and triumph to those who had followed the oppofite course. Men ftrove, by their fervices, to compensate their former difaffection; and, in proportion to the severity with which they had treated the father, they were warm in their profeffions of attachment and loyalty to the fon.

The agreeable qualities and accomplishments of the king, joined to the memory of the hardships which he had suffered, contributed to improve those favourable dispositions. Equally removed from the pedantic vulgarity of his grandfather, and from the haughty reserve and formality of his father,

Charles

Charles II. poffeffed an affability and ease of deportment, a fund of wit and pleafantry in converfation, a knowledge of the world, and difcernment of the weakneffes of mankind, which qualified him to win the hearts of his fubjects, and to procure their indulgence even to the blemishes and vices of his character. The popularity of the prince was, in fome measure, extended to all that party who, having been his fellow-fufferers, had acquired, by their fidelity and attachment, a ftrong claim to his favour and confidence. As they now filled the principal offices of truft and emolument, the influence and power, the confideration and rank, which they now enjoyed, gave reputation and confequence to their peculiar ways of thinking and modes of behaviour. Those who had followed the fortunes of Charles were chiefly among the higher class of gentry, who, by their fituation in life, had acquired that relifh of pleasure and diffipation which affluence naturally bestows; and this original difpofition was confirmed by their long refidence in France, where gaiety

and

and elegance had made greater advances than in any other part of Europe. Upon returning to England, they propagated all their own habits and prepoffeffions. The four and rigid fobriety of the puritans was now laughed out of doors. All extraordinary pretenfions to devotion, all inward illuminations of the fpirit, were treated as knavery and hypocrify. Loyalty to the king; generofity, frankness, and hospitality; a taste for conversation, and for the enjoyments of fociety and good fellowship, were looked upon as the characteristics of a gentleman, and the diftinguishing marks of a liberal education. Charles himself, from his indolence, and the eafinefs of his temper, had an utter averfion to business, and a strong propensity to pleasure. Careless about religion and government, and fludying only to gratify his own inclinations, he was little attracted by objects of ambition, or by the pomp and pageantry of a crown; and fet no value upon any talents and accomplishments but fuch as were fubfervient to his amusement, or conducive to mirth and fellivity.