called all who differed from them in religious and political principles, all who adhered to the old monarchical and church government, malignants; and as it became a mere party word, and expressed no moral condemnation, the royalists adopted it without scruple. Clarendon frequently uses it to designate his own party.

With this malignant, or, as we should say, royalist family, the king "lay concealed, without the knowledge of some gentlemen who lived in the house, and of others who daily resorted thither for many days, the widow herself only attending him with such things as were necessary, and bringing him such letters as the doctor received from the Lord Wilmot and Colonel Philips. A vessel being at last provided upon the coast of Sussex, and notice thereof sent to Dr. Hinchman, he sent to the king to meet him at Stonehenge. From Stonehenge, Charles and Lord Wilmot went to Brighton, and there embarking in a small fishing vessel, were safely landed in Normandy."

Through the whole of this perilous period, Charles showed not only constant cheerfulness, but much patience, great presence of mind, and cool intrepidity, for there is more real courage

On

required to pass your deadly enemy with an unblanched countenance, when the slightest suspicion would deliver you to his malice, without any other resource, than to defend yourself against his mere bodily strength by force of arms. the other hand, in those who favoured his escape, there was "a concurrence of good nature, charity, and generosity, in persons of the meanest and lowest extraction," who, though they did not know him personally, were yet well aware that he was some one of sufficient consequence to entitle whomsoever should deliver him up to a reward from the existing government; and the courage, loyalty, and activity, of those who did know him, was not less admirable.

Charlotte. How happy he must have been when he got to France!

Mr. Austin. He was rejoiced, no doubt, to escape from such constant fear and danger, but his situation was sufficiently pitiable, for “he had not one shilling towards the support of himself and his family, and his mother was in debt both to her servants and for the very provisions of her house." This of all things must have been the most irksome to one who all his life never cared for any thing except for money to support his

extravagance. It is thought that if Cromwell would have given him a pension, he would willingly have resigned his title to him: but the able usurper was sufficiently secure without that, and Charles lived on in penury and exile, till the death of the Protector, on the fifth anniversary of the battle of Worcester, made him an object of more consequence to foreign states. He was then become an object of consequence to all parties at home and abroad, and the incapacity of Cromwell's son effected his restoration. Such was the adulation at first paid to Richard Cromwell, that a popular preacher blasphemously prayed "that he might be made the brightness of his father's glory, and the express image of his person." It was the fashion of the Puritans to use the words of Scripture on every occasion, and sometimes with a degree of force none others could give. The royalists answered the sectaries in their own language; and the war of Scriptural citation was often as furious, and scarcely less destructive, than the combat of the sword, tending to exasperate fanaticism on the one side, and to engender a fatal levity on the other; making that trite with the royalist which should have been sacred, and leading their enemies to pervert the Word

of God, by forced application, to their own actions.

Mrs. Austin. And what do you say of the custom of the present day of pointing the ridicule of a work of fiction, by ludicrous quotations from Scripture, at which the infirmity of human nature will first smile, however it may, the instant after, condemn the practice?

Mr. Austin. Fortunately there are few subjects that will admit of this. Were it general, I think no one device could be so effectual to destroy the reverence with which all sacred subjects should be treated.

Charlotte. When did Charles return?

Mr. Austin. On the 29th of May, 1660; about two years after the death of Cromwell, when he was hailed with universal joy. The nation seemed unanimous in their sentiments.

Edward. Did he make a good king?

Mr. Austin. I will read you an extract from the character given of him by Burnet, who knew him personally, and you shall then judge for yourself whether such a man could have been a good sovereign.

"The king was then thirty years of age, and, as might have been supposed, past the levities of

youth and extravagance of pleasure. He had a very good understanding. He knew well the state of affairs both at home and abroad. He had a softness of temper that charmed all who came near him, till they found how little they could depend on good looks, kind words, and fair promises, in which he was liberal to excess, because he intended nothing by them but to get rid of importunities, and to silence all further pressing upon him. He seemed to have no sense of religion. He was affable and easy, and loved to be made so by all about him. The great art of keeping him long was the being easy, and the making every thing easy to him. He had made such observations on the French government, that he thought a king who might be checked, or have his ministers called to account by parliament, was but a king in name. He had much compass of knowledge, though he was never capable of much application or study. He understood the mechanics and physics, and was a good chemist, and much set on several preparations of mercury, chiefly the fixing it. He understood navigation well; but above all, he knew the architecture of ships so perfectly, that in that respect he was exact rather more than became a