ABSTRACT
In 1660, after Charles II’s address to the House o f Lords, the Lord Chancellor said to the House:1
You are now returning to your Countries, to receive the Thanks and Acknowledgements o f your Friends and Neighbours for the great Things you have done, and to make the Burdens you have laid upon them easy, by convincing them of the inevitable Necessity o f their submitting to them . . . Your Lordships will easily recover their Estimation and Reverence that is due to your high Condition . . . you will cause your Piety, your Justice, your Affability and your Charity, to shine as bright as is possible before [the people] . . . [W]e are no more than just, when we say that England is an Inclosure o f the best People in the World, when they are well informed and instructed . . . And this Exercise of your Justice and Kindness towards them will make them the more abhor and abominate that Parity upon which a Commonwealth must be founded, because it would extirpate, or suppress, or deprive them of their beloved Nobility, which are such a Support and Security to their full Happiness.
