href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@1879@[email protected]#link2HCH0015" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XV.
Louise de Querouaille.—The Triple Alliance.—Louise is created Duchess
of Portsmouth,—Her grace and the impudent comedian.—Madam Ellen moves
in society. The young Duke of St. Albans.—Strange story of the
Duchess of Mazarine.—Entertaining the wits at Chelsea.—Luxurious
suppers.—profligacy and wit.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVI.
A storm threatens the kingdom—The Duke of York is touched in his
conscience.—His interview with Father Simons.—The king declares his
mind.—The Duchess of York becomes a catholic.—The circumstances of her
death.—The Test Act introduced.—Agitation of the nation.—The Duke
of York marries again.—Lord Shaftesbury's schemes.—The Duke of
Monmouth.—William of Orange and the Princess Mary.—Their marriage and
departure from England.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVII.
The threatened storm bursts.—History of Titus Oates and Dr. Tonge.—A
dark scheme concocted.—The king is warned of danger.—The narrative of
a horrid plot laid before the treasurer.—Forged letters.—Titus Oates
before the council.—His blunders.—A mysterious murder.—Terror of the
citizens.—Lord Shaftesbury's schemes.—Papists are banished from the
capital.—Catholic peers committed to the Tower.—Oates is encouraged.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.
Reward for the discovery of murderers.—Bedlow's character
and evidence.—His strange story.—Development of the "horrid
plot."—William Staley is made a victim.—Three Jesuits hung.—Titus
Oates pronounced the saviour of his country.—Striving to ruin the
queen.—Monstrous story of Bedlow and Oates.—The king protects
her majesty.—Five Jesuits executed.—Fresh rumours concerning
the papists.—Bill to exclude the Duke of York.—Lord Stafford is
tried.—Scene at Tower Hill.—Fate of the conspirators.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XIX.
London under Charles II.—Condition and appearance of the
thoroughfares.—Coffee is first drunk in the capital.—Taverns and
their frequenters.—The city by night.—Wicked people do creep
about.—Companies of young gentlemen.—The Duke of Monmouth kills
a beadle.—Sir Charles Sedley's frolic.—Stately houses of the
nobility.—St. James's Park.—Amusement of the town.—At Bartholomew
Fair.—Bull, bear, and dog fights.—Some quaint sports.

CHAPTER XX.

CHAPTER XX.
Court customs in the days of the merry monarch.—Dining in public.—The
Duke of Tuscany's supper to the king.—Entertainment of guests by
mountebanks.—Gaming at court.—Lady Castlemaine's losses.—A fatal
duel.—Dress of the period.—Riding-habits first seen.—His majesty
invents a national costume.—Introduction of the penny post.—Divorce
suits are known.—Society of Antiquaries.—Lord Worcester's
inventions.—The Duchess of Newcastle.

CHAPTER XXI.

CHAPTER XXI.
A period rich in literature.—John Milton's early life.—Writing
"Paradise Lost."—Its publication and success.—His later works and
death.—John Dryden gossips with wits and players.—Lord Rochester's
revenge.—Elkanah Settle.—John Crowne.—Thomas Otway rich in
miseries.—Dryden assailed by villains.—The ingenious Abraham
Cowley.—The author of "Hudibras."—Young Will Wycherley and Lady
Castlemaine. The story of his marriage.—Andrew Marvell, poet and
politician.—John Bunyan.

CHAPTER XXII.

Time's flight leaves the king unchanged.—The Rye House
conspiracy.—Profligacy of the court.—The three duchesses.—The king
is taken ill.—The capital in consternation.—Dr. Ken questions his
majesty.—A Benedictine monk is sent for.—Charles professes catholicity
and receives the Sacraments.—Farewell to all.—His last night on
earth.—Daybreak and death.—He rests in peace.

ROYALTY RESTORED

or, LONDON UNDER CHARLES II.

CHAPTER I.

On the 30th of January, 1649, Charles I. was beheaded. In the last days of August in the year of grace 1658, Oliver Cromwell lay sick unto death at the Palace of Whitehall. On the 27th day of June in the previous year, he had, in the Presence of the Judges of the land, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City, and Members of Parliament assembled at Westminster Hall, seated himself on the coronation chair of the Stuarts, assumed the title of Lord Protector, donned a robe of violet velvet, girt his loins with a sword of state, and grasped the sceptre, symbolic of kingly power. From that hour distrust beset his days, his nights were fraught with fear. All his keen and subtle foresight, his strong and restless energies, had since then been exerted in suppressing plots against his power, and detecting schemes against his life, concocted by the Republicans whose liberty he had betrayed, and by the Royalists whose king he had beheaded.

Soon after he had assumed the title of Lord High Protector, a most daring pamphlet, openly advocating his assassination, was circulated in vast numbers throughout the kingdom. It was entitled "Killing no Murder," and was dedicated in language outrageously bold to His Highness Oliver Cromwell. "To your Highness justly belongs the honour of dying for the people," it stated, "and it cannot but be an unspeakable consolation to you, in the last moments of your life, to consider with how much benefit to the world you are likely to leave it. It is then only, my lord, the titles you now usurp will be truly yours; you will then be, indeed, the deliverer of your country, and free it from a bondage little inferior to that from which Moses delivered his, you will then be that true reformer which you would now be thought; religion shall then be restored, liberty asserted, and Parliaments have those privileges they have sought for. All this we hope from your Highness's happy