st broken down.

Now, under the Restoration, the reaction set in, and the lower and
earthly side of human nature--none the less human because it is at the
bottom and not at the top--seemed determined to take its full
revenge. Butler ridiculed religious zeal in his poem of "Hudibras"
(S457), which ever courtier had by heart. Society was smitten with an
epidemic of immorality. Profligacy became the fashion in both speech
and action, and much of the popular literature of that day will not
bear the light.

470. The Royal Favorites.

The King surrounded himself with men like himself. This merry gang of
revelers vied with each other in dissipation and in jests on each
other. Charles's two chief favorites were the Earl of Rochester, a
gifted but ribald poet, and Lord Shaftesbury, who became Lord
Chancellor. Both have left on record their estimate of their royal
master. The first wrote on the door of the King's bedchamber:

"Here lies our sovereign lord, the King,
Whose word no man relies on;
He never says a foolish thing,
Nor ever does a wise one."

To which Charles, on reading it, retorted, "'Tis true! because while
my words are my own, my acts are my ministers'."

A bright repartee tells us what the second favorite thought. "Ah!
Shaftesbury," said the King to him one day, "I verily believe you are
the wickedest dog in my dominions." "Yes, your Majesty," replied
Shaftesbury, "for a SUBJECT I think perhaps I may be."

471. The Clarendon Ministry; Punishment of the Regicides.

From a political point of view, the new reign began decently and ably
under the direction of the Earl of Clarendon as leading minister or
adviser to the King. The first act of Charles's first Parliament was
to proclaim a pardon to all who had fought against his father in the
civil war. The only persons excepted wre the members of that high
court of justice (S448) which had sent Charles I to the block. Of
these, ten were executed and nineteen imprisoned for life. Most of
the other regicide judges were either already out of the country or
managed to escape soon after.

Among these, William Goffe, Edward Whalley, and Colonel John Dixwell
took refuge in Connecticut, where they remained concealed for several
years. Eventually the first two went to Hadley, Massachusetts, where
they lived in seclusion in the house of a clergyman until their death.

The bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw,