James's.--Fights in the service of
France.--Marriage with Anne Hyde.--Sensation at Court.--The Duke of
Gloucester's death.--The Princess of Orange.--Schemes against the
Duke of York's peace.--The "lewd informer."--Anne Hyde is acknowledged
Duchess of York.

Whilst the kingdom was absorbed by movements consequent on its change of
government, the court was no less engrossed by incidents relative to the
career it had begun. In the annals of court life there are no pages more
interesting than those dealing with Charles II, and his friends; in the
history of kings there is no more remarkable figure than that of the
merry monarch himself.

Returning to rule over a nation which, during his absence, had been
distracted by civil strife, King Charles, young in years, brave in
deeds, and surrounded by that halo of romance which misfortune lends its
victims, entirely gained the hearts of his subjects. Nature had endowed
him with gifts adapted to display qualities that fascinated, and
fitted to hide blemishes which repelled. On the one hand his expressive
features and shapely figure went far towards creating a charm which
his personal grace and courtesy of manner completed; on the other, his
delicate tact screened the heartlessness of his sensualism, whilst his
surface sympathies hid the barrenness of his cynicism.

With the coolness and courage he had shown in danger, the shrewdness
and wit he continually evinced, and the varied capacities he certainly
possessed, Charles II. might have made his reign illustrious, had not
his love of ease and detestation of business rendered him indifferent
to all things so long as he was free to follow his desires. But these
faults, which became grievous in the eyes of his subjects, commended him
to the hearts of his courtiers, the common purpose of whose lives was
pursuit of pleasure. Never was sovereign more gracious to those who came
in contact with him, or less ceremonious with his friends; whilst abroad
he had lived with his little band of courtiers more as a companion
than a king. The bond of exile had drawn them close together; an equal
fortune had gone far towards obliterating distinctions of royalty; and
custom had so fitted the monarch and his friends to familiarity, that on
his return to England neither he nor they laid aside a mutual freedom of
treatment which by degrees extended itself throughout the court. For all
that, "he was master," as Welwood says, "of something in his