rks on the Royal Supremacy_ (1850), p. 57.

[8] Salvetti's Corresp. in _Hist. MSS. Comm._ 11th Rep. app. pt. i.
p. 6.

CHARLES II. (1630-1685), king of Great Britain and Ireland, second son
of Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria, was born on the 29th of May
1630 at St James's Palace, and was brought up under the care
successively of the countess of Dorset, William Cavendish, duke of
Newcastle, and the marquess of Hertford. He accompanied the king during
the campaigns of the Civil War, and sat in the parliament at Oxford, but
on the 4th of March 1645 he was sent by Charles I. to the west,
accompanied by Hyde and others who formed his council. Owing, however,
to the mutual jealousies and misconduct of Goring and Grenville, and the
prince's own disregard and contempt of the council, his presence was in
no way advantageous, and could not prevent the final overthrow of the
king's forces in 1646. He retired (17th of February) to Pendennis Castle
at Falmouth, and on the approach of Fairfax (2nd of March) to Scilly,
where he remained with Hyde till the 16th of April. Thence he fled to
Jersey, and finally refusing all the overtures from the parliament, and
in opposition to the counsels of Hyde, who desired the prince to remain
on English territory, he repaired to the queen at Paris, where he
remained for two years. He is described at this time by Mme de
Motteville as "well-made, with a swarthy complexion agreeing well with
his fine black eyes, a large ugly mouth, a graceful and dignified
carriage and a fine figure"; and according to the description circulated
later for his capture after the battle of Worcester, he was over six
feet tall. He received instruction in mathematics from Hobbes, and was
early initiated into all the vices of the age by Buckingham and Percy.
In July 1648 the prince joined the royalist fleet and blockaded the
Thames with a fleet of eleven ships, returning to Holland, where he
received the news of the final royalist defeats and afterwards of the
execution of his father. On the 14th of January 1649 he had forwarded to
the council a signed _carte blanche_, granting any conditions provided
his father's life were spared. He immediately assumed the title of king,
and was proclaimed in Scotland (5th of February) and in some parts of
Ireland. On the 17th of September, after a visit to his mother at St
Germain, Charles went to Jersey and issued a declaration proclaiming his
rights; but, owing to the