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    l > &bly told the King in the morning , that-he was a sacred person , a dread sovereign , high and' mighty , most gracious and mo $ t"religious , and the Lord ' s anointed ; but none of the priestly attendants on royalty « aw or

    could decipher the hand-writing on the wall . The day following this Sunday ' s revels , Charles was smitten with a stroke of vapoplexy , under which he lingered till the Friday , and then ( Feb . 6 , 1685 ) expired in the 54 th 3 > ear of his age . Evelyn writes thus in his Diary on the Sunday succeeding the King ^ s

    decease : cease : i ' -l can never forget y inexpressible luxury mid prophanentss , gaming and all dissoluteness , and , as it were , total forgetfulnesse of God , *( it being Sunday evening , ) w this day seimight I was witness ^ of , the King sitting and toying with his concubines ,

    Portsmouth , Cleaveland and Mazarine , &c , a French boy singing love songs , in that glorious gallery , whilst aboute 120 of y greate courtiers and other dissolute persons were at Basset tound a large table , a bank of at least 2000 in gold before them , upon w two gentlemen who were with me made reflexions with astonishment . Six

    days after was all in the dust I" I . 585 , 586 . The Quarterly Review has exhibited Evelyn as a sort of Church-of-England Knight . His ' sense of religion was of a mysterious kind , since it did not keep him from such Sunday company . But there was so much in him to

    esteem and admire that we are not disposed to dwell upon his failings , which were chiefly the result of his absurd and mischievous notions of loyalty .

    Much ridicule was cast upon Cromwell ' s chaplains who were instant in prayer for-him during his last illness ; but Charles ' s chaplains copied the example , ' and in them the practice is represented as orderly and pious .

    ** Prayers were solemnly made in all the Churchesj especially an both y * ' Court Chapells , where the x > hap + laines reliev e d one another every halfe quarter of an Jioure from the time he

    began to be in . danger till he expir ed , according to y former prescribed in . y * Chupch offices . " J . 681 . An- * nfry of E * efy 4 i& , > id hi * Diary of Feb » 14 , affects the readier with k

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    kirtd of melatix ? holyf -even while he feels ) a sense of retributive jdstice * Aftclr a blaze of -splendid vice ami folly , Charles was in his very name and memory enveloped in darkness .

    His burial was obscure , and the indulgent , loyal Evelyn , recording the feet , is betrayed into a virtual charge against the lifeless monarch of being a buffoon and profane .

    " Thp King Was- this night very obscurely buried in a vault u ** der Hen . 7 th ' s Ghapell at Westpainster , without any manner of pomp , and soone forgotten after all this vanity , and yf face of the whole Court was

    exceedingly ch an g'd into a more solemn and moral behaviour 3 the new King affecting Kteither praphaneness nor huf foomryr I . 58 & . The sober James now comes into the Diary , and one of the first anecdotes of him is creditable to his

    understanding . He was on a journey to Portsmouth to view the fortification , and Mr- Evelyn waited upon him in company with Mr . Pepys : they met the Kidg at Winchester . Here his majesty discoursed with the Bishops of Bath and Wells , ( Kenn , ) and of Winchester , ( Peter Mew , ) on modern

    miracles : he declared himself a sceptic with regard to ! them , but Mew asserted the truth of tw *> recent ones > viz . the recovery of a decrepid child by baptism , and the healing of a hjincl man by the blood of Charles A . Surrounded with such Protestant bishops , it is not wonderftil that the two last

    Stuart Princes should have become Papists . ** The next morning setting out early , we arriv'd soon enough at Winchester to waite on the King , who was lodg ' d at the DeaDV ( Dr- Meggot ) , I found very few with him besides

    my Lords Feversham , Arran , Newport , and the Bishop of Bath and Wells . His Majesty was discoursing with the Bishops concerning miracles ? and what strange things the ' saludadors would . do in Spain , as by creeping into heated ovens without hurt .

    and that they had a black crosse in the toofie of their mouthes , but yet wefre commonly notorious and profane wretches ; uporit which his Majesty further said , that he was so esctreamly difficult of . miracles , for feare of beiu ^ ioipoHdu \) on , that if he should chattel to see one ? himsclf < v witfoout sdtoe rtv

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    Aneeddies of ChUrhsJl . and James II ; , from Evelyn . i \ 5 ?

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/21/