“Why,” says Mark, “honest George Monk, as the Soldiers call him, is marching up to London, and you have always said he was a Royalist in his Heart.”
“Heaven defend us from Siege and civil War,” says Father; “we’ve had too much of them already. Better one Master than many, even such a Master as old Noll; and if General Monk is coming up to seat himself in his Place, ’twill be better for us than these City Tumults, wherein a Parcel of young ’Prentices that deserve a good Threshing, get together and clamour for Things they know not, till grown Men are forced to put them down with a strong Hand. Where there’s Order, there’s Liberty; and Nowhere else.”
Mark’s News proved true; the disaffected Regiments were sent out of London, and General Monk with his Army entered Westminster. He was a right-judging as well as right-meaning Man, on the whole, to my Mind, prudent and moderate, though he sided first with one Party, then with the other, then back to the first again. One of the evil Consequences of our evil Times was, so many conscientious Men were set down for obstinate and pig-headed, or else Turn-coats. My Father, to represent the Humour of the Time, had removed the obnoxious Cavalier and Puritan from his Window, and set up in their stead a Head that united half of both, which, revolving slowly when he pulled a String, shewed now one Side, now the other, and, as he observed, never looked so bad as when you saw a little of both. But as soon as Monk, throwing off his late Shew of Moderation, marched into the City, removed the Posts and Chains across the Streets, seized on obnoxious Persons, and broke down our Gates and Portcullises, my Father became sure that a great Change was at Hand, and the King would enjoy his own again. Whereon, he commenced beautifying and renewing the waxen Cavalier, which had got a little fly-spitten, and privately smuggled into the House a most beautiful female Counterpart for it, extremely like Queen Henrietta Maria, whom I immediately set about dressing in the favourite Style of her Majesty, that is to say, in a rich velvet Boddice, with a falling Collar of Cutwork, Vandyked at the Edge, relieved by a blue Breast-knot. My Father dressed her Hair in long, drooping, dark Curls, with a few pearl Pins; and, abiding the right Time with Calmness and Confidence, shut up the comely Pair in a dark Closet till the happy Moment for their bursting upon the World should arrive.
CHAPTER VII
Signs in the Air
AND now the glorious Restoration at length arrived, and ’tis incredible what a Spur it was to Trade, and how the Mercers and Drapers could hardly supply their Customers fast enough with expensive Goods; and how the Tailors and Sempstresses worked all Night, and Hairdressers sold their Ellwigs, and Hatters their Hats, and Horse-dealers their Horses good and bad. For every one was for pouring out of London, across our Bridge, at least as far as Blackheath. Oh! what a busy, what a joyous Sight it was! All the Streets from the Bridge to Whitehall were hung with Tapestry, and the Windows filled with Ladies. The Lord Mayor’s Cooks set up a gay Tent in St. George’s Fields, to prepare a Refection for his Majesty. The Livery Companies in their various rich Dresses of Crimson, Violet, Purple, and Scarlet, lined the Streets on one Side, and the Trained Bands on the other: Bursts of gay Music were intermingled with Cheers and Laughter; Everybody seemed in tip-top Spirits that the King was coming. We let our Windows for a good Premium to some of the Grandees; but had a good View ourselves of what was going on, from the Leads—now there would come along a Troop of two or three Hundred or more, in Cloth of Silver Doublets; then four or five Times as many in Velvet Coats, with Attendants in Purple; then another Party in Buff Coats with Cloth of Silver Sleeves and green Scarfs, others in pale Blue and Silver, others in Scarlet: by and by, six Hundred of the Livery on Horseback, in black Velvet with Gold Chains, then the Trumpeters, Waits, City Officers, Sheriffs, and Lord Mayor ... in short, there was no End to the Splendour and Glory of that Day; for we had hardly rested ourselves after seeing them all go forth, when they began to come back, with the King in the midst. Oh! what Shouts! what Cheers! what Bursts of Music! And he, bowing this Side and that, so smiling and gracious! “It seemed,” he said, “as if it must have been his own Fault he came not sooner back, Everyone appeared so glad to see him!”
But the Ladies’ Dresses!—Oh, how grieved I was!—Sure, they were resolved to make up for the Dulness and Decorum they had been restricted to during the Protectorate; for, indeed, they seemed to think Decorum and Dulness went together, and should now be thrown overboard in Company. The Henrietta Maria Dress I had so complacently made up for our Wax Doll, was now twenty Years behind the Fashion! fit only to laugh at!—and what had taken its Place, I thought fit only to blush at.