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IV.
Charles II., good man! despised him. The happiness of England under
Charles II. was more than happiness, it was enchantment. A restoration
is like an old oil painting, blackened by time, and revarnished. All the
past reappeared, good old manners returned, beautiful women reigned and
governed. Evelyn notices it. We read in his journal, "Luxury,
profaneness, contempt of God. I saw the king on Sunday evening with his
courtesans, Portsmouth, Cleveland, Mazarin, and two or three others, all
nearly naked, in the gaming-room." We feel that there is ill-nature in
this description, for Evelyn was a grumbling Puritan, tainted with
republican reveries. He did not appreciate the profitable example given
by kings in those grand Babylonian gaieties, which, after all, maintain
luxury. He did not understand the utility of vice. Here is a maxim: Do
not extirpate vice, if you want to have charming women; if you do you
are like idiots who destroy the chrysalis whilst they delight in the
butterfly.
Charles II., as we have said, scarcely remembered that a rebel called
Clancharlie existed; but James II. was more heedful. Charles II.
governed gently, it was his way; we may add, that he did not govern the
worse on that account. A sailor sometimes makes on a rope intended to
baffle the wind, a slack knot which he leaves to the wind to tighten.
Such is the stupidity of the storm and of the people.
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