IV

A BRIEF HISTORY

Weeks, faw him fink without drawing one Sword in his Quarrel. This was the first Inftance of thefe ADDRESSES, by which Princes may fee how little they ought to rely on this Sort of Compliment. The Common-Wealth- Faction, and that Party in the Army who had combined against the Father, fancied it much eafier to compafs their Defigns on the Weakness and Incapacity of the Son, who wanted his Father's Vigilance to forefee, and Refolution to obviate Dangers, for want of which laft Quality, he was pulled down by the mutinous Army, and divefted of his Authority.

THUS, after a Reign of nine Months, ended RICHARD'S Mock-Government; on which the Army,divided in their Councils according to their feveral Views, not knowing well what to do, were forced to recal the RUMP to the Exercife of their Authority.

THE frequent Changes in our Government, after the execrable Murther of King CHARLES I, not only made the English Government ridiculous Abroad, but puzzled Foreign Ministers refiding here, how to behave themselves, what Parties to Court, to whom Addrefs, or indeed how to direct their Memorials, for the Names and Titles varied with every Form of Government: Sometimes a Parliament, then a PROTECTOR, then a Parliament again, Junctoes, Committees of Safety, &c. all which Confufions are the neceffary Confequences of Folly and

Faction,

Faction, when Men leave the beaten Paths pre fcribed by the Laws, and Ancient Conftitution, to follow the Systems of their own wild Imaginations, by Attempts above their Genius. But these wicked Scenes were foon closed through the Extravagances which the Movers of them attempted to difplay: curbed by the immediate Interpofition of that Power, by which the World is governed, the fignal Footsteps of whofe Providence were never more adorably Confpicuous, than in the happy Conduct of the RESTAURATION Of King CHARLES the Second.

HE made his Entry into London on the 29th of May, 1660; a Day doubly Aufpicious, for his Birth, and Return; never was Cavalcade more Illuftrious, than this Triumphal March through his Capital City. Whether we confider the Greatness and Sincerity of the Joy, the Solemnity of the Sight, the Auguft Majefty of the Perfons, who were three Brothers, the finest Princes of Europe, all in the Flower of their Age, riding through the Acclamations of the People, agitated with the different Paffions of Joy and Shame; Joy to fee them returned at laft, and Shame to have injured them fo long.

A Sweetness of Temper, Affability, and Good Nature, were lefs remarkable in these Princes, by being effential to the Name of STUART; and the first Instance of these

King CHARLES II, JAMES Duke of York, HENRY Duke

of Gloucester.

good Qualities given by the KING was, his Care in expediting An Act of Oblivion, that he might fettle a Quiet in the Minds of his Subjects equal to the Serenity of the Government they had the Happiness to live under: In this Affair he was forced to interpofe between the Juftice of his Parliament, and the Guilt of his Enemies, a greater Number of whom were defigned to be excepted, in this Act of Indemnity, than what the Mercy of this Prince would permit; fo that there were but Ten Examples made out of fo many Legions as were guilty of his Fa

ther's Blood.

THESE neceffary Acts of Juftice being passed, and the Government fettled on fuch lafting Foundations, as promised nothing but Peace and Happinefs, the Young MONARCH, voluptuous in his Nature, and too much refigned to his Pleafures, feemed refolved to make amends for the Chagrin of fo long an Exile, by enjoying the Rest of Life; this made him neglect taking fuch Measures as would not only have fecured his Quiet and Safety, but that of his Succeffors.

AS all Turns of State are generally violent and precipitate, this PRINCE at his first Acceffion to the Throne, found a Difpofition in his People to have made him as Great, and Abfolute, as a reasonable Ambition could have defired; for through a Confcioufnefs of their late Injuftice, they thought they could not do too much to recompence a Family, whom they had

fo

fo undefervedly injured; befides the wrong and popular Notions of Liberty, which had been fo fatal to them, were now exploded; they had too dearly bought the Experience of their Errors, and the Confequences were too fresh in their Memories of pursuing Chimerical Notions of ill grounded Dangers, a wrong Sense of which had involved them in all their Troubles; this made the People of England, now newly returned to their Senfes, the more willing to truft that Power in the PRINCE, which they had found they could not manage themselves, but to their own Destruction.

BUT CHARLES, through an Indolence in his Temper, or else wholly guided by the Counfels of the Chancellor, Hyde, rejected all Advances that were offered to make him Easy, Safe, and Great; how that Minifter came afterwards to fall into the Odium of a Party to whom he was so serviceable, is a Myftery, for he was the fatal Perfon who advised his Mafter to court his Enemies, and neglect his Friends, by which falfe Policy the Intereft of the Royal Family has been destroyed; befides this, feveral other Counfels were given by the fame Perfon, that feem more Popular than Arbitrary, for he prevented fuch a Revenue being fettled on the Crown, as would have made the KINGS of England not fo dependant; notwithstanding all these Services, this Great Man was attacked by a Faction in the House of Commons, and forced into Exile, in which he Died, leaving A 4

his

his Mafter, by his fatal Mistakes, entangled in fuch Difficulties, as fucceeding Minifters without Violence could not unravel.

THE Earl of Clarendon's melancholy Cataftrophe, of which the Public may now see his own Account and Defence of himself, is a fatal Memento for all future Prime Minifters, efpecially in England, who may think themselves eftablished upon the most lafting Basis of their Selfraifed Popularity.

NEXT to him, being the Chief among the Converts, was the famous Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, who from an old Presbyterian, either through Ambition or Inconftancy, was entirely come over to the Royal Party; this Minister was a Man of extraordinary Parts, great Knowledge of the World, and Application to Business, but of no Principle, Honour, or Confcience; in Confirmation of which, he had chalked out a Way for the King his Mafter to have trampled on the Necks of his People, and to have been as Abfolute as the Great Mogul; but CHARLES, through a Diffidence in his Nature, and Averfion to Enterprizes of Hazard, but chiefly out of a Principle of Generosity that would not permit him to make fo ill a Return to a People who had fo frankly Reftored him, rejected the pernicious Advice: this mortally difgufted Shaftesbury, whofe Refentments being more inflamed afterwards by the KING's not concurring in fome other of