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Oil the next page is an account of another merry spectacle for * the amusement of Charles and his courtiers .
amongst whom was the grave Evelyn : " 49 Sep . 13 . I saw in Southwark , at St . Margaret ' s Fa ' ire , monkies and apes dance , and do other feates of activity on y * high rope ; they were gallantly clad d , la mode , went upright , saluted the company , bowing 1
and pulling offtheir hafts ; they saluted one another with as good a grace as if instructed by a dancingmaster ; they turn'd heels over head -with a basket having eggs in it , without breaking any ; also with lighted candles in their hands and on their
heads , without extinguishing them , and with vesselfs of water without spilling a drop . I also saw an Italian wench daunce and perform all the tricks on the high rope to admiration ; all the Court went to see her .
Likewise here was a man who tooke up a piece of iron cannon , of about 400 lb . weight , with the haire of his head onely . " Vol . I . p . 395 . In the page following is described another sight not less gratifying to the Court .
" Oct . 17 . Scot , Scroope , Cook and Jones , suffered for reward of their iniquities at Charing Crosse , in sight of the place where they put to death their natural Prince , and in the
presence of the King , his sonn , whom they also sought to kill . I saw not their execution , but met their quarters ,, mangled and cutt and reekingf as they were brought from the gallows in baskets on the hurdle * Oh the
miraculous providence of God ! " Vol . I . p . 326 . The presence of Charles II . at these horrid barbarities , perpetrated upon some of the wisest and best of men , [ it is no longer treason to say so , ] is a new feature in his character , already sufficiently marked with the worst vices and crimes of human nature .
The amiable and virtuous Evelyn , too , beheld the spectacle with pious exultation : in the same temper he records in his Diary , Jan . 30 , l 66 l , the brutal , savage proceeding of tearing
up the dead bodies of Cromwell , Bradshaw and Ireton , and exposing them on the gallows at Tyburn , from nine in the morning till six at night ! The violator * of the sanctuary of the
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Evelyn ' s Description of Incidents in the Reign of Charles II . 2 $
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tombwere probably mistaken in the body of the Protector : but what times , what manners !
Loyalty was now become a passion , and good men , while they secretly deplored Charles ' vices , were in some measure and oh principle participes criminis
. The return of " the good old times" brought back the court celebration of the Epiphany 9 or Twelfth-day : the restoration of the day is thus described by the abovenamed accurate Journalist i—
lt 1669 , 6 Jan . This evening , according to costome , his Majesty open ed the revells of that night by throwing the dice himselfe in thie privy chamber , where was a table set on purpose , and lost his 100 / . ( The yea re before he won 1500 / . ) The ladies also pi a ied very deepe . I came away when the Duke of Ormoncl had won about
1000 / ., and left them still at passage ^ cards , &c . At other tables , both there and at y Groom-porter ' s , observing the wicked folly and monstrous excesse of passion amongst some loosersi
sorry I am that such a wretched costome as play to that excesse should be countenanc'd in a Court , which ought to be an example of virtue to the rest of the kingdome . " Vol . I .
p . 344 . A few days after * ' there was a general fast , " and the preacher , before the House of Commons , shewed " how the neglect of exacting justice on offenders was a maine cause of God ' s 1
punishing a land , " meaning , as Evelyn explains , that there were some of the regicides not yet hewed in pieces . How much the King was edified by " this solemn fast '* is not recorded , but the entry of the next day , Jan , 16 , is , " This night was acted before tle
his Ma « The Widow / a lewd play " Evelyn relates nothing more of the operation of the black Bartholomew act , than that ( 1669 , Aug . £ 0 , ) •* There were strong guards in the citty this day , apprehending some tumults , many of the Presbyterian Ministers not conforming . "
The book , though a private Diary , is a commentary on the history of the most Religious King , as he was described by the Church , in her prayers to heaven .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1819, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1768/page/23/
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