Clarendon's pages.

On May 8th, the King was proclaimed at Westminster Hall and in the city;
and bonfires and rejoicings took place, on a scale more prodigious even
than when Monk had declared for a free Parliament. The happy news soon
spread, and the exiled court was the resort of those who came post-haste
to renew old bonds of loyalty, or to lay the foundations of a reputation
for new-born zeal for their King. It was not long before those very
lukewarm allies, Spain and France, broke down the barriers of their
selfish caution, and vied with one another in protestations of friendship
and offers of help that was no longer necessary. The unaccustomed warmth
of their congratulations adds a new touch of comedy to the surprising
scene. The Marquis of Carracena, Governor of Flanders, who had turned a
deaf ear to all suggestions of alliance, and had not been slow to hint the
inconvenience of the King's prolonged stay in Flanders, now craved his
return to Brussels, and when the invitation was politely declined, could
only vent his rage on Cardenas, whose dense stupidity had left him so
ignorant of all English affairs, after a residence there of sixteen years.
Cardinal Mazarin persuaded Queen Henrietta to send Jermyn (now Earl of St.
Albans) to invite the King to France. Against that suggestion also, good
excuse was pleaded--"the King had declined to return to Brussels, and
could not therefore pass through Flanders in order to go to France." The
mockery of these shameless overtures of belated friendship might well add
to that cynicism which his experiences had done so much to imprint on
Charles's heart and brain.

Crowds now came to Breda, no longer as disguised fugitives, but in eager
rivalry to have their loyalty published and recognized. Their money
offerings were welcome, as they enabled the King to pay his servants their
arrears of wages and clear himself from the burden of debt to which he had