"Which refection he would in nowise condemn," observed the cook of Cecil
Place, whose closely-cropped head of foxy hair seemed to throw a
proportionate quantity of glowing colour upon his rubicund countenance.
He had all the outward marks that indicate a _bon vivant_, and words of
piety came as awkwardly from his lips as sighs from the mouth of a seal
or a salmon. His little grey eyes twinkled with affection for the said
"creature-comforts;" and the leathern pouch he now carried over his
shoulder was stocked with sundry good things appropriated from the
larder for his own especial diet. He had received permission from
Mistress Cecil to accompany some of his neighbours to see the grand
company from London visit a first-rate man-of-war that had just arrived
off Sheerness, bringing in a train of prizes which the veteran Blake had
taken and sent home, himself proceeding to Vera Cruz, and which it was
rumoured the Lord Oliver was about to inspect in person. This
intelligence set the country in a ferment, and persons of all classes
hastened to the island to witness the sight. For the English _were_, as
they now _are_, a sight-loving people, who find pleasure in pageants;
and then, as at present, they demanded economy; but when economy came,
they designated it meanness.

The staunch Roundheads exulted at the idea of Cromwell's exhibiting
himself thus openly after the upsetting of the Syndercomb plot; and the
Royalists, depressed and disappointed, were content to let matters take
their course, at least until they saw some prospect of a change; while
the Levellers, the party most dreaded by the Protector, and which had
been most fatal to the Stuarts, remained in that dangerous state of
repose that is but the preparative for renewed activity.

The Reverend Jonas Fleetword had set forth from the sole desire of
"beholding him who was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, and whose
name among the nations was wonderful." Solomon Grundy, and such other of
the servants of Cecil Place as could be spared, were impelled forward by
the wish of hearing or of seeing something new; intelligence not
travelling upon wings of steam in the seventeenth century, and
newspapers being but rare visiters at Shepey. Occasionally, indeed,
there did descend from the breakfast-room of Sir Robert, unto the
servants' hall, a stray number or two of the "Mercurius Politicus," the
"Perfect Diurnal," or the "Parliament Scout;" the contents of which were
eagerly