business in Paris very much to His Majesty's
satisfaction, as well as to that of others; and that M. Barillon himself
had urged me to stay there altogether, saying that I could make a career
for myself there (as the Romans say), such as I could never make in
England. But I would not, though I must confess that I was very much
tempted to it; and I know now, though I did not know it altogether then,
that there were just two things that prevented me--and these were that
His Majesty and my Cousin Dorothy were in England and not France.

Of my Cousin Dorothy I had heard scarcely anything at all; for the last
letter I had had from Hare Street was at Eastertide; and Tom said not
very much about his daughter, except that she was pretty well; and that
he thought of taking her to town in the summer for a little. The rest of
his letter was, two-thirds of it all about Hare Street and the lambs and
how the fruit promised; and one-third of the affairs of the kingdom.

These affairs, of which I learned from other sources besides my Cousin
Tom, were, in brief, as follows.

His Majesty, for the first time, since he had come to the throne, had
shewn an extraordinary open courage in dealing with the country-party.
(I must confess that my success in France was not wholly without
connection with this. He was so much strengthened in French affairs that
he felt, I suppose, that he could act more strongly at home.)

First, in January, he had dissolved the Parliament that had threatened
the exclusion of the Duke of York, and that would vote him no money till
he would yield. First he prorogued it, though there was a great clamour
in his very presence; and then he dissolved it, coming in so early in
the morning that none suspected his design.

Then he summoned a new Parliament to meet at Oxford: for at Oxford he
knew he would have the support of the city, whereas at London he had
not. That Parliament at Oxford will never be forgotten, I think; for it
was more like an armed camp than a Parliament. Both parties went armed.
My Lord Shaftesbury, in order to rouse the feeling on his side, went
there in a borrowed coach without his liveries, as if he feared arrest
or even death. But His Majesty answered that by himself going with all
his guards about him, as if for the same reason. There were continual
brawls in the city, and duels too. The parties went about like companies
of cats and dogs, snarling and spitting at one another continually; and
so