A Critical History of English Literature III. [antikvár]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Restoration The Puritan experiment in government did not long survive Cromwell's death in 1658; less than two years later—in May, 1660— Charles II returned from exile ami^d popular acclamation. "The shouting and joy expressed by all is past imagination," recorded the diarist Samuel Pepys, and though, as one of those who went over to Holland to escort the King back, he cannot be considered a wholly impartial witness, there can be no doubt that a majority of the nation was weary both of the rigors of Puritan rule and of the instability in government that followed Cromwell's death. There remained, as time was to show, a strong Puritan core in England, but for the moment monarchist sentiment was in the ascendant, and the Cavaliers came back to enjoy an Indian summer until the bad judgment of Charles' brother and successor, James II, alienated finally the great Protestant heart of the country and so brought about the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 and the accession of a king and queen not by divine right but on Parliament's terms. There was a strong traditionalist element in England which had never reconciled itself to the execution of Charles I and to the various forms which Cromwell's rule took, and this was true even of many who were on the Puritan side in the conflict. The popular welcome given to Cha^s on his f^t*"^-^ return was largely dtie to the general bjlieLjhat_contjnuity and le-?ality had now been re-^establighed without loss of any of the real gains for Frorestgntjrgedoni and variety vyon in the fight against royaTaEsolutlsm^ dictatorship in the 1640"s. T^fyTew Droved to be unduly optimistic; if it had been well-founded, the revo-ution of 1688 would nave beeiTunnecessary. „ / The reaction against Pmjtan manners and morals was inevitable, It was all the more violent because many of the returned Cavaliers "fa-t^ had spent their exile in France and become expert in French wit and French gallantry, and because the King himse f, an indolent sensual- ^ ist possessed of both wit and cunning, encouraged an atmosphere of