CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR, 1653-1658 A.D.
As Lord Protector in name, though a king in fact, Cromwell ruled England for five years. He got along with Parliament no better than the Stuarts had done, but his successful conduct of foreign affairs gave England an importance in the councils of Europe which it had not enjoyed since the time of Elizabeth. Cromwell died in 1658 A.D. Two years later the nation, weary of military rule, restored Charles II to the throne of his ancestors.
THE PURITAN REVOLUTION
It seemed, indeed, as if the Puritan Revolution had been a complete failure. But this was hardly true. The revolution arrested the growth of absolutism in England. It created among Englishmen a lasting hostility to absolute power, whether exercised by King, Parliament, Protector, or army. And, furthermore, it sent forth into the world ideas of political liberty, which, during the eighteenth century, helped to produce the American and French revolutions.
248. THE RESTORATION AND THE "GLORIOUS REVOLUTION," 1660-1689 A.D.
REIGN OF CHARLES II, 1660-1685 A.D.
Charles II, on mounting the throne, pledged himself to maintain Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and other statutes limiting the royal power. The people of England wished to be governed by the king, but they also wished that the king should govern by the advice of Parliament. Charles, less obstinate and more astute than his father, recognized this fact, and, when a conflict threatened with his ministers or Parliament, always avoided it by timely concessions. Whatever happened, he used to say, he was resolved "never to set on his travels again." Charles's charm of manner, wit, and genial humor made him a popular monarch, in spite of his grave faults of character. One of his own courtiers well described him as a king who "never said a foolish thing and never did a wise one."
REACTION AGAINST PURITANISM
The period of the Restoration was characterized by a reaction against the austere scheme of life which the Puritans had imposed on society. Puritanism not only deprived the people of evil pleasures, such as bear- baiting, Cock-fighting, and tippling, but it also prohibited the Sunday dances and games, the village festivals, and the popular drama. When Puritanism disappeared, the people went to the opposite extreme and cast off all restraint. In this the king, who had lived long at the gay court of Louis XIV, set the example. England was nevermore merry and never less moral than under its "Merry Monarch."
[Illustration: BOYS' SPORTS
From a book of 1659 A.D.]