Commif the parlia 1660. parliament and city departed on the 11th to wait on the king who expected them at the Hague. Some prefbyterian minifters alfo repaired thither, as well to imprint on the king a fioners from fenfe of the fervice lately done him by their fect, as to found ment and his inclinations with regard to the liberty, which they had city to the probably ftipulated, before they engaged in the affair of his king. restoration. The king confirmed by word of mouth what P: 707; he had promifed by his declaration. But when they befought III. P. 600. him not to revive the ufe of the common prayer, in his chaConference pel, and that the furplice might be difcontinued, he warmly fome prefanfwered, "That whilft he gave them liberty, he would byterian mi- not have his own taken from him "." Clarendon, between nifters and the king. Id. p. 601. The king gives au dience to the deputies After the king had given audience to the parliament's commiffioners the 16th of May, and received the homage of admiral Montague, and the other officers of the navy, who waited on him at Scheveling, he ftill remained fome days at the Hague, as well to prepare for his departure, as to receive from the the compliments of the ftates, and embarked the 23d. He parliament, arrived at Dover the 25th, and the fame at Canterbury, May 16. where on the morrow, he honoured Monk with the order Whitehall. of the garter. The 29th, his birth day, he arrived at Whitehall, through a numberlefs multitude of people, who Phillips, by their acclamations demonftrated their joy at his reftop. 710, 711 ratione. Arrives at May 29. Clarendon, III. p. 602. c Whitelock fays, "The ministers "had difcourfe with the king, and "were much fatisfied with him," P. 702. But the lord Clarendon's words are: "Though they were "much unfatisfied with him, they "ceafed farther troubling him." Tom. III. p. 602. d Who made him a prefent of fix thousand pounds. Whitelock, p. 701. e Burnet obferves, in the hiftory of his own times, that fuch unanimity appeared in the proceedings of the parliament for the king's reftoration, that there was not the leaft difpute among them, but upon one fingle point, yet that was a very important one. Hale, afterwards the famous chief justice, moved, That a committee might be appointed to look into the propofitions that had been made, and the conceffions that had been offered by the late king, and from thence digeft fuch propofitions, as they fhould think fit to be fent over to the king. This was decoded, bit by whom the bishop forgot. As fuch a motion was forefeen, Monk was inftructed how to antwer it: he told the houfe, that he had information of fuch numbers of incendiaries ftill in the kingdom, that if any delay was put to the fending for the king, he could not anfwer for the peace either of the nation or army. And as the king was to bring neither army nor treasure with him, either to fright or corrupt them, propofitions might be as well offered to him when he fhould come over; fo he moved for fending commiflioners immediately. This was echoed with fuch a fhout over the house that the motion was no more infifted on. And this, fays Burnet, was indeed the great fervice Monk did. To the king's coming in without conditions, may be well imputed all the errors of his reign, and it may be added, many mifchiefs that followed afterwards, p. 88, 89. The parliament, on April 25. 1649, agreed upon a new fort of coin, whereof wele were coined crowns, half crowns, fhillings, fixpences, pence, and halfpence. The larger pieces were infcribed on one fide, THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND, and had St. George's cross in a fhield, betwixt a palm-branch and a laurel; reverfe, the fame fhield conjoined to another, in which is a harp for Ireland (vulgarly called the breeches) above which there is x11. the legend GOD WITH US. The fixpence has vi. above the fhields. The twopence and pence have no infcription, only the initial figures; and the halfpenny only the fingle fhield, with the harp on the reverse. There were likewife coined pieces of fine gold, of the fame form and infcription as the filver money, xx. above the arms. The half of them have x. (fig. 2.) The fixpence 1651, is, ftrictly speaking, the first milled money, queen Elizabeth's being only marked on the flat edge. The copper farthing has the crofs under a garland, ENGLANDS FARTHING. Reverse, a harp, FOR NECESSARY CHANGE. Oliver Crom 1 well's crown-piece is inimitably performed, and preferved as a choice medal in the cabinets of the curious, being the first milled money that has an infcription upon the rim. It has his head laureat, OLIVAR. D. G. PR.ANG. Sco. HIB. &c. PRO. Reverse, in a fhield crowned with the imperial crown of England, St. George's crofs in the firft and fourth quarters; St Andrew's for Scotland in the fecond; and the harp for Ireland in the third; and in a fcutcheon of pretence his paternal coat, namely, a lion rampant, legend PAX QUÆRITUR BELLO. 1658. upon the rim, HAS. NISI. PERITVRVS. MIHI. ADIMAT. NEMO. The dye of this piece having received a flaw or crack the fift ftroke leaves a mark upon the money juft below the neck; a fure token to diftinguish the true crown-pieces from the counterfeit. The half crown is equally beautiful, though not fo rare. The fhilling is likewife a very fair piece, milled on the edge, and very rare, (fig. 1.) A 26. CHARLES II. T the arrival of the king, the face of England was 1660. entirely changed, and joy, pleasures, publick and ties at the king's ar private rejoicings fucceeded to trouble, fear, and Hopes of the confternation. The people were fo tired of the feveral parlife they had led for twenty years paft, that they did not be lieve it poffible to be in a worse state. Every one rejoiced rival. to see at last a calm after fo long a storm, and expected to Burnet. enjoy a tranquillity, fought in vain for fo many years. The royalifts and epifcopalians were at once raised to the height of their wishes, in beholding Charles II. on the throne of his ancestors, and, the church of England about to refume her former luftre. The prefbyterians flattered themselves, that their late fervices for the king would at leaft procure them an entire liberty of confcience, and the free exercise of their religion. The republicans, independents, anabaptifts could not, indeed, hope to be reftored to the state they had enjoyed fo many years, but expected at least an entire impunity, agreeably to the Breda declaration. The regicides, that is, the late king's judges, were the only persons that could not but expect the punishment, they justly deserved, and 1660. and yet, even they defpaired not of the king's clemency, as indeed, fuch as caft themselves upon it, were not wholly disappointed. It is not therefore ftrange that the whole kingdom fhould refound with joyful transports, and unite in receiving with loud acclamations a king, who, according to the general expectation, was to reftore the publick tranquillity and happiness, and put all things in their natural order. Extreme on in favour of the king. Idem. Charles II. at the time of his reftoration, was thirty years pre-poffeffi- old, and but little known to moft of his fubjects, because he had long lived out of his dominions. His actions in the weft, during his youth, where he commanded for the king his father, had been diftinguished by no advantageous event. His conduct in Scotland, when he was called to the crown of that kingdom, had not redounded to his honour, fince, in his declaration published there, he had not scrupled to facrifice the king his father to his own private advantage. In fhort, the battle of Worcefter had acquired him no reputation, in which fome pretend he had been too careful of his perfon, though others speak of his valour on that occafion with great commendation. However this be, his defeat did not contribute to raise his fame as a general. Nevertheless, his friends, with a view to his reftoration, had published such extravagant praises of him and with fuch affurance, that, before his arrival in England, he paffed there for an accomplished prince, endowed with all the virtues and noble qualities of a hero. This prepoffeffion did more mifchief to England, than all the calumnies thrown upon the late king. Every one was thereby almoft equally difpofed to put an entire confidence in the new king, in the belief, that a prince of fuch a character could never abufe it. It was hoped, that content with reftoring the government to the ftate it was in under queen Elizabeth, he would avoid treading in the fteps of his father and grandfather, without attempting to extend his prerogative. This hope was the more readily entertained, as it was not doubted, that the example of his father had made a ftrong impreffion upon him. It will hereafter a When the earl of Southampton came to see what Charles II. was like to prove, he faid once, in great wrath, to chancellor Hyde, that it was to him they owed all they either felt or feared; for if he had not poffeffed them, in all his letters, with fuch an opinion of the king, they would have taken care to have put it out of his power, either to do himself or them any mifchief. Hyde answered, he thought the king had fo true a judgment, and fo good nature, that when the age of pleafure fhould be over, and the idleness of his exile turned to an obligation to mind affairs, that he would have fhaken off these intanglements. Burnet, P. 89. |