THE WITS AND BEAUX OF SOCIETY. GEORGE VILLIERS, SECOND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. SAMUEL PEPYS, the weather-glass of his time, hails the first glimpse of the Restoration of Charles II. in his usual quaint terms and vulgar sycophancy. "To Westminster Hall," says he; "where I heard how the Parliament had this day dissolved themselves, and did pass very cheerfully through the Hall, and the Speaker without his mace. The whole Hall was joyful thereat, as well as themselves; and now they begin to talk loud of the king." And the evening was closed, he further tells us, with a large bonfire in the Exchange, and people called out, “God bless King Charles!" This was in March, 1660; and during that spring, Pepys was noting down how he did not think it possible that "my Lord Protector," Richard Cromwell, should come into power again; how there were great hopes of the king's arrival; how Monk, the Restorer, was feasted at Mercers' Hall; (Pepys's own especial); how it was resolved that a treaty be offered to the king, privately; how he resolved to go to sea with "my lord;" and how, while they lay at Gravesend, the great affair which brought back Charles Stuart was virtually accomplished. Then, with various parentheses, inimitable in their way, Pepys carries on his narrative. He has left his father's "cutting-room" to take care of itself; and finds his cabin little, though his bed is convenient, but is certain, as he rides at anchor with "my lord" in the ship, that the king "must of necessity come in," and the vessel sails round and anchors in Lee Roads. "To the castles about Deal, where our fleet" (our fleet, the saucy son of a tailor!) "lay and anchored; great was the shoot of guns from the castles and ships, and our answers.” Glorious Samuel! in his element, to be sure. Then the wind grew high: he began to be “dizzy and squeamish ;” nevertheless employed "Lord's Day" in looking 14 SIGNS OF THE RESTORATION. through the lieutenant's glass at two good merchantmen, and the women in them, "being pretty handsome;" then in the afternoon he first saw Calais, and was pleased, though it was at a great distance. All eyes were looking across the Channel just then-for the king was at Flushing; and, though the Fanatiques" still held their heads up high, and the Cavaliers also talked high on the other side, the cause that Pepys was bound to still gained ground. Then "they begin to speak freely of King Charles;" churches in the city, Samuel declares, were setting up his arms; merchant-ships more important in those days-were hanging out his colors. He hears, too, how the Mercers' Company were making a statue of his gracious Majesty, to set up in the Exchange. Ah! Pepys's heart is merry; he has forty shillings (some shabby perquisite) given him by Captain Cowes of the Paragon ;" and "my lord" in the evening "falls to singing" a song upon the Rump to the tune of the "Blacksmith." 66 The hopes of the Cavalier party are hourly increasing, and those of Pepys we may be sure also; for Pim, the tailor, spends a morning in his cabin "putting a great many ribbons to a sail." And the king is to be brought over suddenly, "my lord” tells him: and indeed it looks like it, for the sailors are drinking Charles's health in the streets of Deal, on their knees; "which, methinks," says Pepys, "is a little too much;" and "methinks" so, worthy Master Pepys, also. Then, how the news of the Parliamentary vote of the king's declaration was received! Pepys becomes eloquent. "He that can fancy a fleet (like ours) in her pride, with pendants loose, guns roaring, caps flying, and the loud Vive le Roi!' echoed from one ship's company to another; he, and he only, can apprehend the joy this inclosed vote was received with, or the blessing he thought himself possessed of that bore it." Next, orders come for "my lord" to sail forthwith to the king; and the painters and tailors set to work, Pepys superintending, "cutting out some pieces of yellow cloth in the fashion of a crown and C. R.; and putting it upon a fine sheet”and that is to supersede the States' arms, and is finished and set up. And the next day, on May 14, the Hague is seen plainly by us, "my lord going up in his night-gown into the cuddy." And then they land at the Hague; some "nasty Dutchmen" come on board to offer their boats, and get money, which Pepys does not like; and in time they find themselves in the Hague, “a most neat place in all respects;" salute the Queen of Bohemia and the Prince of Orange-afterward Wil A ROYAL COMPANY. 15 liam III.—and find at their place of supper nothing but a "sallet" and two or three bones of mutton provided for ten of us, "which was very strange." Nevertheless, on they sail, having returned to the fleet, to Schevelling; and, on the 23d of the month, go to meet the king; who, "on getting into the boat, did kiss my lord with much affection." And "extraordinary press of good company," and great mirth all day, announced the Restoration. Nevertheless Charles's clothes had not been, till this time, Master Pepys is assured, worth forty shillings-and he, as a connoisseur, was scandalized at the fact. And now, before we proceed, let us ask who worthy Samuel Pepys was, that he should pass such stringent comments on men and manners? His origin was lowly; his family ancient; his father having followed, until the Restoration, the calling of a tailor. Pepys, vulgar as he was, had nevertheless received a university education; first entering Trinity College, Cambridge, as a sizar. To our wonder we find him marrying furtively and independently; and his wife, of fifteen, was glad with her husband to take up an abode in the house of a relative, Sir Edward Montagu, afterward Earl of Sandwich, the "my lord" under whose shadow Samuel Pepys dwelt in reverence. By this nobleman's influence, Pepys forever left the "cutting-room;" he acted first as Secretary (always as toad-eater, one would fancy), then became a clerk in the Admiralty; and as such went, after the Restoration, to live in Seething Lane, in the parish of St. Olave, Hart Street-and in St. Olave his mortal part was ultimately deposited. So much for Pepys. See him now, in his full-bottomed wig, and best cambric neckerchief, looking out for the king and his suit, who are coming on board the "Nazeby." “Up, and made myself as fine as I could, with the linning stockings on, and wide canons that I bought the other day at the Hague." So began he the day. "All day nothing but lords and persons of honor on board, that we were exceeding full. Dined in great deal of state, the royalle company by themselves in the coache, which was a blessed sight to see. This royal company consisted of Charles, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, his brothers, the Queen of Bohemia, the Princess Royal, the Prince of Orange, afterward William III.-all of whose hands Pepys kissed, after dinner. The King and Duke of York changed the names of the ships. The "Rumpers," as Pepys called the Parliamentarians, had given one the name of the "Nazeby;" that was now christened the "Charles;" "Richard" was changed into "James." The "Speaker" into "Mary," the "Lambert" was "Henrietta," and so on. How merry the king must have been while he thus turned the 16 PEPYS READY TO WEEP." Roundheads, as it were, off the ocean; and how he walked here and there, up and down (quite contrary to what Samuel Pepys "expected"), and fell into discourse of his escape from Worcester, and made Samuel "ready to weep" to hear of his traveling four days and three nights on foot, up to his knees in dirt, with "nothing but a green coat and pair of breeches on" (worse and worse, thought Pepys), and a pair of country shoes that made his feet sore; and how, at one place, he was made to drink by the servants, to show he was not a Roundhead; and how, at another place-and Charles, the best teller of a story in his own dominions, may here have softened his tone-the master of the house, an inn-keeper, as the king was standing by the fire, with his hands on the back of a chair, kneeled down and kissed his hand "privately," saying he could not ask him who he was, but bid "God bless him, where he was going!". Then, rallying after this touch of pathos, Charles took his hearers over to Fecamp, in France-thence to Rouen, where, he said, in his easy, irresistible way, "I looked so poor that the people went into the rooms before I went away, to see if I had not stolen something or other.” With what reverence and sympathy did our Pepys listen! but he was forced to hurry off to get Lord Berkeley a bed; and with "much ado" (as one may believe) he did get "him to bed with my Lord Middlesex;" so, after seeing these two peers of the realm in that undignified predicament-two in a bed-"to to my cabin again," where the company were still talking of the king's difficulties, and how his Majesty was fain to eat a piece of bread and cheese out of a poor body's pocket and, at a Catholic house, how he lay a good while "in the Priest's Hole, for privacy." * In all these hairbreadth escapes-of which the king spoke with infinite humor and good feeling-one name was perpetually introduced: George-George Villiers, Villers, as the royal narrator called him; for the name was so pronounced formerly. And well he might; for George Villiers had been his playmate, classfellow, nay, bedfellow sometimes, in priests' holes; their names, their haunts, their hearts, were all assimilated; and misfortune had bound them closely to each other. To George Villiers let us now turn; he is waiting for his royal master on the other side of the Channel-in England. And a strange character have we to deal with: "A man so various, that he seemed to be |