The Restoration England in the 1660s N. H. Keeble The Restoration A History of Early Modern England General Editor: John Morrill This series provides a detailed and vivid account of the history of early modern England. One of its principal aims is to capture the spirit of the time from the point of view of the people living through it. Each volume will be broad in scope covering the political,religious,social and cultural dimensions of the period. Published The Birth of the Elizabethan Age England in the 1560s Norman Jones The Restoration England in the 1660s N. H. Keeble England in the 1670s John Spurr England in the 1690s Craig Rose The Birth of Britain* A New Nation 1700±10 W. A. Speck * denotes out of print In Preparation England in the 1590s David Dean England in the 1650s Ann Hughes The Restoration England in the 1660s N. H. Keeble # 2002 by N. H. Keeble 350 Main Street,Malden,MA 02148-5018,USA 108 Cowley Road,Oxford OX4 1JF,UK 550 Swanston Street,Carlton South,Melbourne,Victoria 3053,Australia KurfuÈrstendamm 57,10707 Berlin,Germany The right of N. H. Keeble to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording or otherwise,except as permitted by the UK Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988,without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2002 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd,a Blackwell Publishing company Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Keeble,N. H. The Restoration: England in the 1660s / N. H. Keeble. p. cm. ± (A history of early modern England) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-631-19574-2 (alk. paper) ± ISBN 0-631-23617-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Great Britain±History±Charles II,1660±1685. 2. Great Britain±History±Restoration, 1660±1688. 3. England±Civilization±17th century. I. Title. II. Series. DA445. K44 2002 941.0606±dc21 2002001980 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Typeset in 10 on 12pt Baskerville by Kolam Information Services Pvt. Ltd,Pondicherry,India Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by TJ International,Padstow,Cornwall For further information on Blackwell Publishing,visit our website: www.blackwellpublishing.com To Jen Contents Preface X List of Abbreviations x11 A Note on Conventions, Procedures and Dates XVll Introduction 1 1 The Return of the King (1658-1660) 5 1 The Fall of the Protectorate (September 1658-April 1659) 5 2 The Rump Restored (May-September 1659) 9 3 Don Juan Lamberto (October-December 1659) 11 4 The Long Parliament Restored (January-March 1660) 17 5 Monarchy Restored (April-May 1660) 26 2 The Restoration Year (1660-1661) 32 1 ‘Past all humane policy’ 32 2 The Royal Martyr 36 3 ‘A time of universal festivity &joy’ 40 4 Restoration or Revolution? 46 5 Executions and Exhumations 54 3 Great Zerubbabel: Charles and the Convention (1660) 58 1 Images of the King 58 2 ‘Our good old Form’ 64 ... Vlll Contents 3 The Declaration dEreda 68 4 The Act of Oblivion 70 5 The Convention Settlement 76 4 Royal Servants: Clarendon and the Cavalier Parliament (1661-1667) 85 1 Court and Country 85 2 The Cavalier Settlement 89 3 ‘The fat Scriv’ner’ 95 4 The Costs of War 102 5 ‘The old man’s going away’ 105 5 Fathers in God: The Church of England 109 1 The Worcester House Declaration 109 2 The Act of Uniformity 115 3 Comprehension, Indulgence and the Clarendon Code 120 4 Laudians and Latitude-men 124 5 GiantPope 129 6 ‘The Patience of Heroic Fortitude’: Nonconformity, Sedition and Dissent 132 1 ‘Fall’n on evil days’: Milton and Bunyan 132 2 The Experience of Persecution 138 3 Nonconformist Culture 144 4 The Licensing Act and the Press 148 5 Radicals, Republicans and Plotters 154 7 ‘Luxury with Charles restor’d’? The Temper of the Times 159 1 ‘A yeare of prodigies’ (1665-1 666) 159 2 ‘Things going to wrack‘ 164 3 The Cabal (1667-1670) 168 4 Porno-politics 171 5 Alamode 176 Contents 1x 8 ‘Male and Female Created He Them’ 183 1 Men and Women 183 2 The Weaker Vessel 186 3 ‘An honourable estate’ 191 4 A Woman’s Place 194 5 Men of the World 198 AJerword 206 Notes 208 Index 254 Preface I must first express my gratitude to Professor John Morrill,FBA,for giving me the opportunity to write this book. I count myself privileged to have been asked to contribute to the History of Early Modern England series of which he is the general editor and I especially appreciate his taking a chance on one who is not a historian by training or profession. I owe a considerable debt to the following friends and colleagues for giving their time to read through,and to comment upon,parts of this study: David Bebbington,Professor of History at the University of Stirling; Gordon Camp- bell,Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Leicester; Thomas N. Corns,Professor of English and Head of the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Wales,Bangor; Mark Goldie,Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge; Richard L. Greaves,Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of History at Florida State University. They have rescued me from many errors and infelicities. For those which remain,I alone am responsible. I must acknowledge,too,how very much I owe to those whose work in the last twenty years has restored scholarly excitement to the 1660s (and to the later seventeenth century in general). In addition to the colleagues I have mentioned,among historians I think particularly of Tim Harris,Michael Hunter,Ronald Hutton,Steven Pincus,Paul Seaward,Jonathan Scott,John Spurr and Blair Worden; and among literary scholars,of Paul Hammond, Michael McKeon,David Norbrook,Annabel Patterson and Steven Zwicker. The many references to them in my notes to this book do not adequately record the extent of my indebtedness to their work. In one respect,however,I have not followed them. Repudiating anglo-centrism,the best current writing on the early modern period is alive to the complex interactions between the nations of the British isles. I,though,make no mention of Scotland,Wales or Ireland. This is not because I have forgotten the Celtic nations,but simply because the title of the series in which my book appears confines its attention to England. Preface xi Since,many years ago now,Dr Geoffrey F. Nuttall,FBA,acted as the external examiner of my D. Phil. thesis,he has been for me a model of scholarly accuracy,clarity and integrity. Although in the course of preparing this book I have (unusually) not troubled him with drafts and queries,I should not like something of mine to appear in print without my acknowledging how much in all I write I owe to his inspiration. I am much indebted to Blackwell Publishers for the understanding and courtesy with which they responded to what became my annual letter explain- ing that the project was not yet completed. They (and Professor Morrill) have patiently tolerated the inordinate length of time which,because of adminis- trative commitments,it has taken me to finish this book. I am grateful to the British Academy for an award under its Research Leave Scheme which extended a period of research leave granted by the University of Stirling. To Stirling I am additionally grateful for a second sabbatical in which to finish the book. The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland generously provided a grant to fund travel to libraries. Some passages derive from previously published material: in chapter 2 from ` ``When civil fury first grew high,/ And men fell out they knew not why. .'': Hudibras and the Making of History', Literature and History,7 (1998),70±87; in chapter 6 from ` ``Till one greater man / Restore us . .'': Restoration Images in Bunyan and Milton',which appeared in Bunyan Studies,6 (1995/96),6±33, and,in revised form,in David Gay,James G. Randall and Arlette Zinck (eds), Awakening Words: Bunyan and the Language of Community (Newark: University of Delaware Press,and London: Associated University Presses,2000),pp. 27±50; in chapter 6 from my The Literary Culture of Nonconformity in Later Seventeenth- century England (Leicester: Leicester University Press,and Athens,GA: Univer- sity of Georgia Press,1987); and in chapter 8 from introductions to the chapters in my The Cultural Identity of Seventeenth Century Woman: A Reader (London: Routledge,1994). I gratefully acknowledge the permission of the copyright holders to re-use this material. I dedicate this book to my wife. It is because her life is so firmly rooted in the present that I am able to abscond to the seventeenth century sure of a safe return. NHK Abbreviations Abernathy George R. Abernathy,`The English Presbyterians and the Stuart Restoration', Transactions of the Ameri- can Philosophical Society,ns 55,2 (1965),5±101 Ailesbury [Thomas Bruce], Memoirs of Thomas, Earl of Ailes- bury,The Roxburghe Club,2 vols (1890) Baker Sir Richard Baker, A Chronicle of the Kings of Eng- land . Whereunto is Added the Reign of King Charles the First, and the First Thirteen Years of his Sacred Majesty King Charles the Second . in which are . the most re- markable occurrences relating to his Majesties most happy and wonderful Restauration, by the prudent conduct, under God, of George late duke of Albemarle .