an unwilling admiration, and in after days, when a foreign fleet insulted our shores, men looked back with something of regret to the mighty Oliver, who "made all the neighbour princes fear him." 10. Religious Affairs. Cromwell's general policy was one of toleration in religious matters. Church livings were held both by Presbyterian and Independent ministers, subject to the approval of a Board appointed by the Protector. Freedom was allowed to all the sects which had sprung out of Puritanism, so long as they did not utter opinions dangerous to his government; for the fiercest Republicans were to be found among some of the "sectaries -Anabaptists, Levellers, "Fifth-Monarchy men." The last-named believed themselves called to prepare the way for the reign on earth of Christ's saints. Having read of the "Four great Monarchies," Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman, they reckoned their expected kingdom as the “ Fifth Monarchy." Not long before the Protectorate, there arose the sect of the Quakers, as the world in general called them, or Friends, as they called themselves, founded by George Fox, son of a weaver. They were at first looked on with great dislike, and were much harassed, though the Protector himself treated Fox kindly. A few Jews were allowed to settle in the country, for the first time since their expulsion by Edward I. Oliver's toleration however did not extend to the Roman Catholics, and hardly to the Episcopalians, who were, as a matter of course, Royalists. After the revolt of 1655, he forbade the use of the Common Prayer-book, and the Episcopalian clergy were debarred from preaching or teaching. But these orders were not strictly carried out, and zealous congregations of the "Silenced Church" still met in private.

11. The Protectorate. Richard Cromwell, 1658-1659.-Great was the vexation of the Royalists on

finding that Richard Cromwell took his place as quietly as any rightful King. Gentle, docile, and of ordinary abilities, the young man had made no enemies; but the army scorned the rule of one who had never distinguished himself in war. After eight months, the malcontent officers recalled the "Rump" to power, and Richard, without a struggle, gave up his office, and retired into private life, whither he was followed by his brother Henry, who, during the Protectorate, had governed Ireland with ability.

12. General Monk,-The Rump was no sooner restored than its quarrel with the army began again; and in a few months the doors of the House were closed by General John Lambert, who thought himself a second Oliver Cromwell. But Monk, the commander of the English army in Scotland, refusing to acknowledge the government set up by the officers in London, marched with his forces towards England, and fixed his head-quarters at Coldstream on the Tweed. Hence his men were called "Coldstreamers," a name of which the memory is still preserved in that of the Coldstream Guards. Everywhere the dislike of military government was breaking out; people refused to pay taxes; the London apprentices were clamouring for a freely elected Parliament; the fleet advanced up the Thames, and declared itself against the rule of the army. The soldiers themselves, dissatisfied with their officers, restored the Rump, the only body in the country which had any show of legal authority. Fairfax, co-operating with Monk, mustered his friends. and occupied York; while Lambert, who had marched to the North to stop Monk, was forsaken by his forces. Monk, the ruler of the hour, entered London, Feb. 3, 1660. Cold and silent, he for some days let not a word fall that could betray his real intentions, but at last he declared for a free Parliament-an announcement which was received with every mark of joy,

amidst the ringing of bells and the blaze of bonfires. The Presbyterian members who had been purged out by Pride, again took their seats, and Parliament, after issuing writs for a general election, decreed its own dissolution, March 16. Thus ended that famous "Long Parliament" which, twice expelled and twice restored, had existed for twenty years.

13. The Restoration.-The new Parliament, or rather Convention, for, not having been summoned by the King, it was not in law a Parliament, met April 25, the Peers now returning to their House. Monk meanwhile had been in secret communication with the exiled Charles, who issued to his "loving subjects" a Declaration, dated from Breda, wherein he promised pardon for past offences to all, "excepting only such persons as shall hereafter be excepted by Parliament," and also "a liberty to tender consciences." On the 8th May, seven days after this Declaration was received, Charles II. was proclaimed King, and the fleet having been sent to convoy him from Holland to Dover, he made his entry into London, May 29, in the midst of almost universal rejoicing; the roads were strewed with flowers, the streets hung with tapestry, the fountains Iran with wine. On his way he passed the Commonwealth army, drawn up on Blackheath to give a reluctant welcome to the King whom they abhorred. Thus fell the Puritans, a class who rendered great political service to their country, and who are to be respected for their conscientious devotion to what seemed to them to be right. But they committed the error of trying to make all men religious after their own pattern. The Long Parliament put down public amusements, forbade the keeping of Christmas and other ancient festivals, and assigned punishments of unprecedented severity to breaches of private morality. Religion, or the appearance of it, was made a necessary qualification for office; and the result was that the name of Puritan became synonymous with that

of hypocrite, and the unnatural restraint of the Commonwealth was succeeded at the Restoration by an outbreak of profligacy.

CHAPTER XXXV.

CHARLES II.

Charles II. (1)—the Convention Parliament (2)—the Nonconformists (3)—Ireland (4)—the King's marriage; Tungier; Bombay; sale of Dunkirk (5)—the Plague Year (6)-the Great Fire (7)—the Dutch War (8)fall of Clarendon; the Triple Alliance; Treaty of Dover; the Cabal (9)—the Popish Plot (10)—the Habeas Corpus Act (11)-Whig and Tory; the Dukes of York and of Monmouth; the Whig Plots; death of Charles (12).

1. House of Stuart. Charles II., 1660-1685.— Charles II. began his reign with everything in his favour. No measure was ever more acceptable to the nation than was the Restoration; no conditions were made with him, no new restrictions laid upon him; the year of his return was styled, not the first, but the twelfth, of his reign, which was thus reckoned to have begun from the time of his father's death. Unfortunately Charles had few qualities which merited the love bestowed upon him. He had talents, easy good-temper, and the manners of an accomplished gentleman, but neither heart nor principles. So far as he had any religion, he was secretly a Roman Catholic; as a ruler, his inclination was towards a despotic monarchy; but he was not the man to risk his crown in grasping at more power-as he himself said, he was resolved to go abroad no more; "—and his main object in life was to be amused and to avoid trouble.

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2. The Convention Parliament.—The Convention Parliament-for by its first statute it declared

itself to be a Parliament-passed an Act of Indemnity by which the promised general pardon was granted; those who had been actually concerned in the death of Charles I. were excepted from its benefits. Of these "regicides" thirteen suffered death, and others were left in prison for life. The bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were, on the next anniversary of the late King's death, dragged out of their tombs at Westminster, and hanged on the gallows at Tyburn. The Act of Indemnity was far from pleasing the distressed Cavaliers, who found that it barred them from legal remedy for their losses during the late troubles, and their feelings were consequently very bitter. A statute was passed abolishing the now useless and oppressive tenures by knight-service, with all their attendant grievances. By the same Act the King also gave up the prerogative of purveyance and pre-emption. In compensation, he received an excise upon beer and other liquors, a tax first introduced by the Long Parliament. The army was disbanded as soon as possible. If Parliament had had its wish, there would have been no military force except the militia; but a wild rising of a handful of Fifth-Monarchy men in London gave Charles an excuse for keeping up a body of guards, retaining among them Monk's "Coldstreamers " and another old regiment. He contrived to spare enough from his revenue to maintain and gradually to increase these forces, and thus, though without the sanction of law, he became master of a small standing army.

3. The Nonconformists or Dissenters.-In the new Parliament, which met in May, 1661, the Cavalier party had completely the upper hand. The Corporation Act was passed, by which every officer of a corporation was required to communicate according to the rites of the Church of England, and to swear to his belief that taking arms against the King was in all cases unlawful. The Bishops, who had already returned