feated, and severely punished. At last Prince Charles was beaten at a battle fought near Worcester, which made Oliver's position secure.

But though it was safe, as far as his power went, he had not a happy life. He constantly dreaded that he should be murdered; he even slept in armour. His own daughter turned against him, and upbraided him for the death of the king. He had made a great show of religion all his life, having had many religious phrases and much good talk at his tongue's end. He generally said that what he did was for God's glory; though, to other people, it often looked very like his own interest. When severe illness came upon him, he was frightened, and at first declared that he was not going to die. When convinced that he could not recover, he begged that his eldest son might succeed him as Protector.

The night of Oliver's death was marked by a fearful thunderstorm, to which superstitious people attached great meaning. Richard Cromwell was very unlike his father. He was timid, and not very wise, excepting indeed that he had wisdom enough to see that the place of Protector was too hard for him, and he gave it up. The people then joyfully called upon Charles II. to come and rule them, and thus ended the so-called Commonwealth.

CHAPTER XXIX.

CHARLES II., 1660-1685.

Married Catharine of Portugal.

CHARLES II. was the son of Charles I., who had been beheaded by Oliver Cromwell. Charles II., when a lad, had been sent to Scotland. The Scotch had disliked his father, and lost no opportunity of abusing him to his son. Even when Charles went to the kirk on Sundays, he was sure to hear a great deal against kings in general, and his dead father in particular. The Scotch ministers pray extempore. One reason they had disliked Charles I. was that he had tried to oblige them to use the English Prayer-book, and to have their ministers ordained by bishops.

But in those days, on all sides, there was far too much of politics introduced into the sermons. Whether these Scotch services gave Charles a dislike to religion, or how it was, I do not know, but he turned out a bad man. He professed to be a member of the Church of England, but did not seem to care about religion at all; and after his death it was declared that he had been a Roman Catholic. Before the people of England begged him to come to take his father's crown, he lived on the Continent; but before getting there he had many hair-breadth escapes from his enemies, Oliver and his soldiers. Once he was hidden in an oak-tree, while they hunted below it without discovering him.

It was in 1660 that the English people (after Oliver's

death) begged Charles to return. There were great rejoicings when he reached London. However, he did not do much good when he got there, for he was careless and extravagant, caring chiefly for his own pleasure, although he could be good-natured when it was not too much trouble.

During this reign there was a dreadful disease in London, called the plague. It was so terribly catching that every infected house was marked with a red cross on the door, and the words, "Lord! have mercy on us," in order to prevent people entering. At last, the disease got so fearfully bad, that it was impossible to bury the people who died, as at other times. Every night a cart went through the streets, with a man walking in front of it, tinkling a small bell, and crying, "Bring out your dead." Dead bodies were then put without coffins into the cart, and thrown into trenches dug outside the walls of the city. No clergyman was allowed to read the service, nor any mourners permitted to follow, for fear of infection.

The year afterwards there was a great fire in London, which destroyed more than thirteen thousand houses and eighty-nine churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral. However, though the fire did so much harm, it also did some good, for it put an end to the plague, by burning up dirty streets and close alleys, out of which it would have been impossible to get the infection.

In this reign we have the first mention of public concerts. This is the account of one. "A rare consort of 4 trumpets. If any person desires to come and hear it, they may repair to the Fleece Tavern, about 2 o'clock, any day except Sundays. Every consort shall continue

one hour, and so begin again. The best places are One shilling, the others 6d."

Charles II. died at Whitehall Palace, rather suddenly, in 1685.

CHAPTER XXX.

JAMES II., 1685-1688.

Married, first, Anne Hyde; secondly, Maria Beatrice of Este. Children :-Mary, Anne, daughters of Anne Hyde; James Francis Edward, son of Maria of Este; and one daughter who died.

JAMES came to the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II., in the year 1685. He was our last Roman Catholic king.

Very soon after his accession a young nobleman, called the Duke of Monmouth, rebelled against him. Monmouth, having collected an army, landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, on the 14th June, 1685. He was a very popular man; and James had never been liked, even before he was king. So, many country people joined Monmouth's party, and he was proclaimed king at Taunton, in Somersetshire. James sent an army against the rebels. In the first battle his troops were routed; but in the second they were successful. Monmouth, who was rather a coward, ran away, and hid in a ditch. Here he was found by some of the king's soldiers.

He begged them to let him go; but they, of course, refused, and brought him as a prisoner to London. There he was sentenced to be beheaded. He begged as a great favour to be allowed to see James, and the king granted this request, but did not grant his next, which was, as

you may suppose, that his life should be spared. James saw Monmouth, heard his passionate, almost abject, entreaties, and then refused them.

The next thing done was to send a judge into Somersetshire to try the ignorant country people there, who either had helped Monmouth, or were supposed to have done so. The judge selected was a man named Jeffreys. He was exceedingly cruel. His one wish seems to have been to hang as many people as possible. It is true there were trials; but the witnesses, if they had a good word to say for the prisoners, were hardly allowed to speak, for Jeffries scowled and brow-beat them to such a degree that they became stupefied. An immense number of people were hanged; and those who were only guilty of having given Monmouth's soldiers a little food were punished.

Soon after these events, James had a paper of laws written, giving great privileges to the Roman Catholic clergy. It was ordered that all Protestant clergymen should read this aloud on a certain day in the church after the prayers. Only 200 clergymen read the paper. which contained a great deal with which most Protestants disagreed.

Seven bishops were bold enough to write to the king, to tell him how wrong they thought him; one of these brave men was Bishop Ken, who wrote the Morning and Evening Hymns that you know so well, "Awake, my soul," and " Glory to Thee." James was very angry, and ordered that the seven bishops should be imprisoned. They were sent by water from Whitehall to the Tower. The banks of the river Thames were