ueens--Mary,
wife of William of Orange, and Anne, of pious memory.

CHAPTER V.

Morality of the Restoration.--Puritan piety.--Conduct of women under
the Republic.--Some notable courtiers.--The Duke of Ormond and his
family.--Lord St. Albans and Henry Jermyn.--His Grace of Buckingham
and Mistress Fairfax.--Lord Rochester.--Beautiful Barbara Palmer.--The
King's Projected marriage.--Catherine of Braganza.--His Majesty's
speech.--A Royal love-letter.--The new Queen sets sail.

A general idea obtains that the libertine example set forth by Charles
II. and his courtiers is wholly to blame for the spirit of depravity
which marked his reign. That it was in part answerable for the spread
of immorality is true, inasmuch as the royalists, considering sufficient
aversion could not be shown to the loathsome hypocrisy of the puritans,
therefore fell into an opposite extreme of ostentatious profligacy.
But that the court was entirely responsible for the vice tainting all
classes of society whilst the merry monarch occupied the throne, is
false.

Other causes had long been tending to produce this unhappy effect.
The reign of the Commonwealth had not been, remarkable for its virtue,
though it had been notable for its pharisaism. With the puritan, words
of piety took place of deeds of grace; the basest passions were often
hidden under sanctimonious exteriors. Even Cromwell, "a man of long and
dark discourses, sermons, and prayers," was not above reproach. Bishop
Burnet, who has no harsh words for him, and few gentle ones for Charles,
states the Protector's intrigue with Lady Dysart was "not a little taken
notice of;" on which, the godly man "broke it off." He therefore, Heath
records, began an amour with a lady of lesser note--Mrs. Lambert, the
wife of a puritan, herself a lady devoted to psalm singing and audible
prayer when, not otherwise pleasantly engaged.

The general character of many news-sheets of the day proves that
morality under the Republic was at a low ebb. Anarchy in a kingdom
invariably favours dissoluteness in a people, inasmuch as the
disturbance of civil order tends to unsettle moral law. Homes being
divided amongst themselves by political strife, paternal care was
suspended, and filial respect ignored. In the general confusion which
obtained, the distinction of social codes was overlooked. Lord Clarendon
states that; during this unhappy period, young people of either sex
were "educated in all the