World Enough And Time
“Thomas Hollis1 On 29 May 1660 Charles II entered London to scenes of popular rejoicing. Old-fashioned historians have always relished this particular episode in the national narrative. Writing in 1936 (the year of the Jarrow March), the author of the relevant volume of the Oxford History of England, G.N. Clark, painted a picture of Merrie England stirring its sleepy limbs to raise maypoles, propose drunkenly extravagant loyal toasts, and mock the defeated Puritans. Clark wrote warmly of the King’s procession making its way from the harbour at Dover through south-east England to Whitehall, deploying an antique diction to realise the feudal scene: ‘Noblemen and gentlemen attended on horseback, mayors and aldermen in their gowns, country-folk were morris-dancing on the greens; maidens strewed flowers and sweet herbs before the cavalcade.’2 Although the truth may have been a little more undifferentiated, there is little doubt that the Restoration was welcomed. The country had had enough a...nd was at the very least eager to come out and see the spectacle.MoreLess
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