--Schemes against the Duke of York's peace.--The "lewd
informer."--Anne Hyde is acknowledged Duchess of York.

Whilst the kingdom was absorbed by movements consequent on its
change of government, the court was no less engrossed by
incidents relative to the career it had begun. In the annals of
court life there are no pages more interesting than those dealing
with Charles II, and his friends; in the history of kings there
is no more remarkable figure than that of the merry monarch
himself.

Returning to rule over a nation which, during his absence, had
been distracted by civil strife, King Charles, young in years,
brave in deeds, and surrounded by that halo of romance which
misfortune lends its victims, entirely. gained the hearts of his
subjects. Nature had endowed him with gifts adapted to display
qualities that fascinated, and fitted to hide blemishes which
repelled. On the one hand his expressive features and shapely
figure went far towards creating a charm which his personal grace
and courtesy of manner completed; on the other, his delicate tact
screened the heartlessness of his sensualism, whilst his surface
sympathies hid the barrenness of his cynicism.

With the coolness and courage he had shown in danger, the
shrewdness and wit he continually evinced, and the varied
capacities he certainly possessed, Charles II. might have made
his reign illustrious, had not his love of ease and detestation
of business rendered him indifferent to all things so long as he
was free to follow his desires. But these faults, which became
grievous in the eyes of his subjects, commended him to the hearts