Royalty Restored | Page 6

his knees.
CHAPTER XIV.
The kingdom in peril.--The chancellor falls under his majesty's
displeasure.--The Duke of Buckingham's mimicry.--Lady Castlemaine's
malice.--Lord Clarendon's fall.--The Duke of Ormond offends the
king's mistress.--She covers him with abuse.--Plots against the Duke of
York.--Schemes for a royal divorce.--Moll Davis and Nell
Gwynn.--The king and the comedian.--Lady Castlemaine abandons
herself to great disorders.--Young Jack Spencer.--The countess
intrigues with an acrobat.--Talk of the town.--The mistress created a
duchess.
CHAPTER XV.
Louise de Querouaille.--The Triple Alliance.--Louise is created
Duchess of Portsmouth,--Her grace and the impudent comedian.--
Madam Ellen moves in society. The young Duke of St. Albans.--
Strange story of the Duchess of Mazarine.--Entertaining the wits at
Chelsea.--Luxurious suppers.--profligacy and wit.
CHAPTER XVI.
A storm threatens the kingdom--The Duke of York is touched in his
conscience.--His interview with Father Simons.--The king declares his
mind.--The Duchess of York becomes a catholic.--The circumstances
of her death.--The Test Act introduced.--Agitation of the nation.--The
Duke of York marries again.--Lord Shaftesbury's schemes.--The Duke
of Monmouth.--William of Orange and the Princess Mary.--Their
marriage and departure from England.

CHAPTER XVII.
The threatened storm bursts.--History of Titus Oates and Dr. Tonge.--A
dark scheme concocted.--The king is warned of danger. --The narrative
of a horrid plot laid before the treasurer.-- Forged letters.--Titus Oates
before the council.--His blunders. --A mysterious murder.--Terror of
the citizens.--Lord Shaftesbury's schemes.--Papists are banished from
the capital.-- Catholic peers committed to the Tower.--Oates is
encouraged.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Reward for the discovery of murderers.--Bedlow's character and
evidence.--His strange story.--Development of the "horrid plot."
--William Staley is made a victim.--Three Jesuits hung.--Titus Oates
pronounced the saviour of his country.--Striving to ruin the
queen.--Monstrous story of Bedlow and Oates.--The king protects her
majesty.--Five Jesuits executed.--Fresh rumours concerning the
papists.--Bill to exclude the Duke of York.--Lord Stafford is
tried.--Scene at Tower Hill.--Fate of the conspirators.
CHAPTER XIX.
London under Charles II.--Condition and appearance of the
thoroughfares.--Coffee is first drunk in the capital.--Taverns and their
frequenters.--The city by night.--Wicked people do creep
about.--Companies of young gentlemen.--The Duke of Monmouth kills
a beadle.--Sir Charles Sedley's frolic.--Stately houses of the
nobility.--St. James's Park.--Amusement of the town.--At Bartholomew
Fair.--Bull, bear, and dog fights.--Some quaint sports.
CHAPTER XX.
Court customs in the days of the merry monarch.--Dining in
public.--The Duke of Tuscany's supper to the king.-- Entertainment of
guests by mountebanks.--Gaming at court.--Lady Castlemaine's
losses.--A fatal duel.--Dress of the period.-- Riding-habits first

seen.--His majesty invents a national costume.--Introduction of the
penny post.--Divorce suits are known.--Society of Antiquaries.--Lord
Worcester's inventions.-- The Duchess of Newcastle.
CHAPTER XXI.
A period rich in literature.--John Milton's early life.--Writing "Paradise
Lost."--Its publication and success.--His later works and death.--John
Dryden gossips with wits and players.--Lord Rochester's
revenge.--Elkanah Settle.--John Crowne.--Thomas Otway rich in
miseries.--Dryden assailed by villains.--The ingenious Abraham
Cowley.--The author of "Hudibras."--Young Will Wycherley and Lady
Castlemaine. The story of his marriage.--Andrew Marvell, poet and
politician.--John Bunyan.
CHAPTER XXII.
Time's flight leaves the king unchanged.--The Rye House
conspiracy.--Profligacy of the court.--The three duchesses.--The king is
taken ill.--The capital in consternation.--Dr. Ken questions his
majesty.--A Benedictine monk is sent for.--Charles professes
catholicity and receives the Sacraments.--Farewell to all.--His last night
on earth.--Daybreak and death.--He rests in peace.
*
ROYALTY RESTORED
OR,
LONDON UNDER CHARLES II.
CHAPTER I.
Cromwell is sick unto death.--Fears and suspicions.--Killing no
Murder.--A memorable storm.--The end of all.--Richard Cromwell
made Protector.--He refuses to shed blood.--Disturbance and
dissatisfaction.--Downfall of Richard.--Charles Stuart proclaimed

king.--Rejoicement of the nation.--The king comes into his own.
--Entry into London.--Public joy and satisfaction.
On the 30th of January, 1649, Charles I. was beheaded. In the last days
of August in the year of grace 1658, Oliver Cromwell lay sick unto
death at the Palace of Whitehall. On the 27th day of June in the
previous year, he had, in the Presence of the Judges of the land, the
Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City, and Members of Parliament
assembled at Westminster Hall, seated himself on the coronation chair
of the Stuarts, assumed the title of Lord Protector, donned a robe of
violet velvet, girt his loins with a sword of state, and grasped the
sceptre, symbolic of kingly power. From that hour distrust beset his
days, his nights were fraught with fear. All his keen and subtle
foresight, his strong and restless energies, had since then been exerted
in suppressing plots against his power, and detecting schemes against
his life, concocted by the Republicans whose liberty he had betrayed,
and by the Royalists whose king he had beheaded.
Soon after he had assumed the title of Lord High Protector, a most
daring pamphlet, openly advocating his assassination, was circulated in
vast numbers throughout the kingdom. It was entitled "Killing no
Murder," and was dedicated in language outrageously bold to His
Highness Oliver Cromwell. "To your Highness justly belongs the
honour of dying for the people," it stated, "and it cannot but be an
unspeakable consolation to you, in