hidden in the great shadows that fall from the mountains. He was rarely

met by any passer-by. The man was out of his country, almost out of his

century. At that time, to those who understood and were posted in the

affairs of the period, no resistance to established things was

justifiable. England was happy; a restoration is as the reconciliation

of husband and wife, prince and nation return to each other, no state

can be more graceful or more pleasant. Great Britain beamed with joy; to

have a king at all was a good deal--but furthermore, the king was a

charming one. Charles II. was amiable--a man of pleasure, yet able to

govern; and great, if not after the fashion of Louis XIV. He was

essentially a gentleman. Charles II. was admired by his subjects. He had

made war in Hanover for reasons best known to himself; at least, no one

else knew them. He had sold Dunkirk to France, a manoeuvre of state

policy. The Whig peers, concerning whom Chamberlain says, "The cursed

republic infected with its stinking breath several of the high

nobility," had had the good sense to bow to the inevitable, to conform

to the times, and to resume their seats in the House of Lords. To do so,

it sufficed that they should take the oath of allegiance to the king.

When these facts were considered--the glorious reign, the excellent

king, august princes given back by divine mercy to the people's love;

when it was remembered that persons of such consideration as Monk, and,

later on, Jeffreys, had rallied round the throne; that they had been

properly rewarded for their loyalty and zeal by the most splendid

appointments and the most lucrative offices; that Lord Clancharlie could

not be ignorant of this, and that it only depended on himself to be

seated by their side, glorious in his honours; that England had, thanks

to her king, risen again to the summit of prosperity; that London was

276

The Man Who Laughs