Historical Lucubrations.

gold . I am simply speaking of his character as a mortal ; when I touch upon its moral features , I fear I can say but little of praise , much , alas ! the reverse . But such as he was he commended himself to the English people by his love of English life and English manners , his kindness and his gaiety of address , his equability of temper , his toleration , ancl , above all , his dislike of persecution and punishment .

In later years , when he was soured ancl " weary with the march of life ;" when plots ancl conspiracies no doubt were rife ; when he was told , and perhaps believed , that his own life was not secure ; with that feeling of " misanthropy " which comes over the mere man of the world , or that sense of ingratitude which sometimes sways the strongest mind , he yielded , in my opinion most unwiselyto the advice of those fatal counsellors who darkened his last hours

, , ancl who ere long undermined and overthrew the throne of James II . But it is impossible not to feel pity for one meant for better things , in himself so amiable , kind , cheerful , pleasant , ancl warm-hearted ; ancl Mercy , which ever speaks with a seraph voice , seems still to say to us , "be moderate in censure and modest in reproach . We are all mortal and erring . "

The moral life of the Court of King Charles II . was as bad as bad can be , ancl no one more clearly mourns ancl condemns it than honest and loyal Evelyn . But to-day , when we loudly deplore ancl strongly censure , let us remember that the excess of the Restoration was only the reaction from the Puritanism of the Revolution , ancl that believing , ancl not without good reasons -if contemporary writings may be credited ( pray study them , if worth while , kind readernow lying in the dust ancl silence of the British Museum—thisas the

, , showman says , "his metaphorical , ladies ancl gents ) , believing , I say , that the Revolution affected austerity and preciseness for bad purposes , that the lonofaces and the gloomy doublets were "fetid hypocrisy" and " cruel humbuo- , " those who hailed the glorious 29 th of May alas plunged in hot haste into all the ' revel of open license , as if forsooth that was the best reply ancl antidote to a mere pretence or imposture . Most lamentable mistakeparent of

innu-, merable follies , ancl we may even say " countless crimes . " Nothing , I say , could be worse , and all honour to the great bulk of the English people , which , avoiding fanaticism on the one hand ancl profligacy on the other , still maintained , that love of virtue and that hatred of vice which have macle them , and still make them , in the good providence of God , a "wise and understanding people . "

But I have wandered a little from my "text , " ancl macle I fear a somewhat prosy sermon of my humble- little paper . But if the kind readers of the Masonic Magazine have followed my hasty pen , they will , I think , ao-ree with me that we are bound to pass a lenient sentence on one who , notwithstandinograve errors ancl weaknesses and follies and faults , retained to the last the warm regard of our good and loyal English people , was liked in life , regretted in Death ! "

Thus history , true to itself , ancl following sacred authorit y paints for us great folks ancl little folks as they really are , not as they ought to be ( a distinction we often forget ) , and leaves us , in all reverence and humility , to " point the moral" ancl illustrate the tale . I may perhaps be tempted to continue this little series of papers , as the "seria niista jocis" are especially suitable for Bro . Kenning ' s excellent magazine , for which I venture to hope and predict a successful future .