26. Restoration

As any fan of Tolkien's Lord of Rings can tell you, nothing beats the return of a king.

After the chaos that followed Richard Cromwell's following Oliver as Lord Protector, the restoration of Charles II, another Stuart, to the English throne seemed a relief and a promise of stability. What's more, his character - not for nothing is he called the Merry Monarch - promised lots of good things. Sadly, though, there weren't just good things...

Illustration: Nell Gwynn in about 1680, by Simon Verelst
National Portrait Gallery 2496

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License