ll the elements of the Christian religion."

So great were the miseries incident to civil commotion, so soon did the
mask fall off from those pseudo-patriots, that all parties except the
creatures of the ambitious Cromwel, ardently looked for the restoration
of their imprisoned King, as a termination of their own sorrows, as well
as of his misfortunes. And when that hope was frustrated "by the most
consummate hypocrisy and atrocious breach of all law and justice," the
iron pressure of those times of pretended liberty and equality that
ensued, led every one, who had not by some unpardonable crime hazarded
his own safety, to welcome back the son of the royal victim to the
constitution and honour of England, with such rash exuberance of
confiding loyalty, that, by intrusting to his careless hand the full
possession of unrestrained power, they laid the foundation of future
contests and confusion. Such were the prospective evils with which the
Oliverian usurpation afflicted the state, while in the department of
morals, piety was brought into such contempt by the extravagance of
fanatics, and the detected cheats of hypocrites, that atheism and
profaneness grew popular, as being more open and candid in their avowed
profligacy. The oppressive, or as his admirers call it, the vigorous
government of Cromwell humbled the proud spirit of Englishmen, who had
often revolted at the excessive stretches of prerogative under their
legitimate kings; and this new habit of submission, added to a deep
repentance for their late crime, so struck the independent character of
the nation, that a cabal of atheists and libertines persuaded an
unprincipled Prince that he might as easily found his throne on what was
then deemed the firm basis of despotism, as many of the Continental
princes had done. If, as Englishmen, we blush at the disgrace of a King
sold to France, and a court and nation abandoned to such licentious
contempt of all Christian obligations, that even decency is compelled to
consign their polite literature to oblivion, we must seek for the seeds
of this twofold degradation in the times of which I propose to exhibit a
familiar portrait, illustrated by imaginary characters and events, but
carefully compared with warranted originals.

It remains to say something of the conduct of this design. Public events
will be stated with fidelity. Historical characters shall be but
sparingly combined with feigned actions, but, where they, are, grea