ove my love with an A, because he
is so-and-so; and I hate him with an A, because of this and that;" and
he observed that some of the ladies were mighty witty, and all of
them very merry. Blindman's-buff was a favorite game among even older
people; and Burnett says that at one time the king, queen, and whole
court "went about masked, and came into houses unknown, and danced
there with a great deal of wild frolic. In all this they were so
disguised that, without being in the secret, none could distinguish
them. They were carried about in sedan chairs, and once the queen's
chairman, not knowing who she was, went from her; so she was alone and
much disturbed, and came to Whitehall in a hackney coach (some say it
was in a cart)."

Scarcely a week passed by but that Whitehall was brilliantly
illuminated for a ball, at which the king, queen, and courtiers danced
the "bransle," which was a sort of country dance, the "corant," swift
and lively as a jig, and in which only two persons took part, and
other French figures. Billiards and chess were played a great deal,
and gambling was a ruling passion of the day. All the great women at
court had their card tables, around which thronged the courtiers,
who won and lost enormous sums. The passions which were aroused by
gambling often led to violent quarrels, and frequently these were
settled by duels, although duelling had been prohibited by the king at
the time of the Restoration.

Many fantastic changes had taken place in women's attire during the
reign of Charles. During the Commonwealth, Puritan sentiment, and
proscription as well, had reduced the dress of all classes to a
remarkable uniformity. The costume most common to women consisted of a
gown with a lace stomacher and starched kerchief, a sad-colored cloak
with a French hood, and a high-crowned hat. The Geneva cloak was no
fit covering for the courtesan, and was instantly thrown aside that
the butterfly which had hidden in this demure chrysalis might emerge
fluttering in all its gay and brilliant colors. Loose and flowing
draperies of silk and satin took the place of woollen and cotton
gowns; the stiff ruff which in the reign of Elizabeth had been
facetiously styled "three steps to the gallows," because the
fashionables of her day would go to any length to possess it in the
most extravagant size and value, had, under the Commonwealth, become
much more circumspect as to its appearance and circumference, and was
esteemed ent