56 great offence and fcandal to the people." They found the King as inexorable in that point as in the other; he told them plainly, "that he would not be "reftrained himself, when he gave others fo much li 66 berty; that it had been always held a decent habit in "the Church, conftantly practised in England till these "late ill times; that it had been ftill retained by him; " and though he was bound for the present to tolerate "much disorder and undecency in the exercise of God's worship, he would never, in the leaft degree, by his "own practice, discountenance the good old order of "the Church, in which he had been bred." Though they were very much unfatisfied with him, whom they thought to have found more flexible, yet they ceafed farther troubling him, in hope, and prefumption, that they should find their importunity in England more effectual. embarks for After eight or ten days spent at the Hague in triumphs and festivals, which could not have been more fplendid if all the monarchs of Europe had met there, and which were concluded with several rich presents made to his Majefty, the King took his leave of the States, with all the profeffions of amity their civilities deferved; and embarked himself on the Royal Charles; which had been The King before called the Naseby, but had been new christened the England. day before, as many others had been, in the prefence, and by the order, of his Royal Highness the Admiral. Upon the four and twentieth day of May, the fleet fet fail; And the and, in one continued thunder of cannon, arrived near fail May 24. Dover fo early on the fix and twentieth, that his Ma- The King jesty difembarked; and being received by the General lands at at the brink of the fea, (whom he met, and embraced, 26, and with great demonftrations of affection), he prefently Canterbury took coach, and came that night to Canterbury; where that night. he fleet fets arrives and Dover Ma went to May 29. he came through Whitehall. he stayed the next day, being Sunday; and went to his devotions to the cathedral, which he found very much dilapidated, and out of repair; yet the people feemed glad to hear the Common Prayer again. Thither came very many of the nobility, and other perfons of quality, to present themselves to the King; and there his Majefty affembled his Council; and fwore the General of the Council, and Mr. Morrice, whom he there knighted, and gave him the Signet, and fwore him Secretary of State. That day his Majefty gave the Garter to the General, and likewise to the Marquis of Hertford, and the Earl of Southampton, (who had been elected many years before), and fent it likewife by Garter, Herald and King at Arms, to Admiral Mountague, who remained in the Downs. On Monday he went to Rochefter; and the next day, being the nine and twentieth of May, and his the city to birth-day, he entered London; all the ways thither being fo full of people, and acclamations, as if the whole kingdom had been gathered there. Between Deptford and Southwark the Lord Mayor and Aldermen met him, with all fuch proteftations of joy as can hardly be imagined. The concourfe was fo great, that the King rode in a crowd from the bridge to Whitehall; all the companies of the city standing in order on both fides, and giving loud thanks to God for his Majefty's preWhere the fence. He no fooner came to Whitehall, but the two Houses of Parliament folemnly caft themselves at his feet, with all vows of affection and fidelity to the world's end. In a word, the joy was fo unexpreffible, and so univerfal, that his Majefty faid fmilingly to fome about him, "he doubted it had been his own fault he had "been absent fo long; for he faw nobody that did not 66 proteft, he had ever wifhed for his return." two Houses waited on him. clufion of In this wonderful manner, and with this incredible The conexpedition, did God put an end to a rebellion that had the whole raged near twenty years, and been carried on with all history. the horrid circumftances of murder, devaftation, and parricide, that fire and fword, in the hands of the most wicked men in the world, could be inftruments of; almoft to the defolation of two kingdoms, and the exceeding defacing and deforming the third. It was but five months, fince Lambert's fanatical army was scattered and confounded, and General Monk's marched into England: it was but three months, fince the fecluded members were restored; and, fhortly after, the monftrous long Parliament finally diffolved, and rooted up: it was but a month, fince the King's letters and Declaration were delivered to the new Parliament, afterwards called the Convention: on the firft of May they were delivered, and his Majefty was at Whitehall on the 29th of the fame month. By these remarkable fteps, among others, did the merciful hand of God, in this fhort space of time, not only bind up and heal all thofe wounds, but even make the fcars as undiscernible, as, in respect of the deepness, was poffible; which was a glorious addition to the deliverance. And, after this miraculous reftoration of the Crown, and the Church, and the just rights of Parliaments, no nation under heaven can ever be more happy, if God fhall be pleafed to add establishment and perpetuity to the bleffings he then reftored. THE END OF THE LAST BOOK. |