Ontario High School History of England . now con-trolled by Monk, and drawn up fifty thousand strong onBlackheath, raised no note of dissent. Charles II wasrestored at the age of thirty. He was tall and swarthy,with a sensuous face, an active andvigorous body, and a powerful,though indolent, mind. Time wasto show that, while affable and witty,he was also selfish and cruel. Thewandering life of a king deprived ofhis crown had proved injurious tohis character; he revealed to hissubjects a slackness in morals thatshocked all sober English business matters he was veryshrewd; he took a ke
Ontario High School History of England . now con-trolled by Monk, and drawn up fifty thousand strong onBlackheath, raised no note of dissent. Charles II wasrestored at the age of thirty. He was tall and swarthy,with a sensuous face, an active andvigorous body, and a powerful,though indolent, mind. Time wasto show that, while affable and witty,he was also selfish and cruel. Thewandering life of a king deprived ofhis crown had proved injurious tohis character; he revealed to hissubjects a slackness in morals thatshocked all sober English business matters he was veryshrewd; he took a keen interest inplans to promote English commerce;the traders, an important class, found him their also did the men of science. Charles had seen much ofthe world and had learned to be wary and happened, he said, he should not go again onhis travels, and he meant by this that, unlike his lessable, but more conscientious, father, he was ready to yield aprinciple in order to keep his throne. At heart he was as 315. Charles II (1630-1685) 316 HISTORY OF ENGLAND much of a despot as his father, but, on reaching London, hereadily gave renewed assent to Magna Carta, the Petitionof Right, and other measures which limited the kingspower. Severity against the Puritans With Charles once seated on the throne, a bitter spirit of revenge soon became mani-fest. Parliament refused amnesty to all who had had ashare in the death of Charles I, and named half a dozenother persons to whom no mercy should be shown. Therestored monarchy was guilty of petty dead bod} of Cromwell was taken from its resting-place in Westminster Abbey, and hanged on a gallows atTyburn with every mark of indignity; the remains of Pymand Blake were cast into a pit. Thirteen of the regi-cides, men who had voted for the kings death, were exe-cuted as traitors. Charles himself witnessed some of theexecutions, and seemed to find pleasure in watching thehorrors of hanging, drawing, and
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