By the term
restoration England, we mean England of the period between 1660 and 1688. All
the institution and practices which were suppressed during the puritan regime
were restored after Charles 2 was brought back to England as its king. Political
monarchy, parliament and law were all brought back to their former status. In
religion episcopacy or rule of the bishops, and prayer book were reinstated. As
far as social life was concerned the nobles and the gentry once again became
the acknowledged leaders of provincial and national life.
During the restoration period
Anglicanism became the acknowledged religion of upper class people. In general
the parish church was patronized by the local squire. Of course there were
cases of cold war between the parson and the squire. Addison, in one of his
spectator essays “sir roger at church”, refers to this, “the parson and the
squire live in a perpetual state of war. The parson is always preaching at the
squire and the squire to be revenged on the parson, the Quakers suffered
religious persecution under the “Clarendon code”. The Roman Catholics were shut
out from all participation in local and national government.
An event of great political magnitude
that took place during the restoration period was the formation of political
parties. The upper class was divided politically into Whigs and Tories. The
Tories like the cavaliers before them were the section of society that formed
rural England. They were always supporters of the king. The Whigs like their
roundhead fathers were the landowning class in close association with
commercial interests. They always stood for the rights of the parliament.
Experimental science was
spreading fast in England. For the first time in the history of mankind it was
discovered that science could be used for the development of agriculture,
industry, navigation, medicine and engineering. The royal society of science was
founded in 1662 under the patronage of king Charles and of his cousin prince
Rupert, himself a scientist. It was not yet time for conflict between science
and religion. The great scientists of the time, Robert Boyle the chemist, the
Isaac Newton the physicist, were religious men who repudiated the skeptical
doctrines of the time. The importance of science was so much acknowledged that
the first history of the royal society was written by no less a person than
Rev. Sprat, who afterwards became bishop of Rochester. With the spread of
scientific inquiry most of the superstitions lost grip on the people. They
began to realize that plagues and fires and floods were not necessarily the
divine punishment for sin. Belief in witches and witchcraft became less
widespread even through it continued to have some hold on the rustics. However,
it has to be admitted that the new scientific spirit to some extent at least
undermined the character of religious faith.
The theatres which remained
closed during the puritan regime once again started functioning; but of course
with certain changes. The whole playhouse was roofed in and the stage was artificially
lighted with candles. There were drop curtains and painted scenery. More than
that the women’s parts were no longer taken by well - trained boys . Instead
women’s parts were acted by women actresses as much as the play. Not all
actresses were talented enough. Nell Gwynne’s personal vigor and charm counted
more perhaps than her professional skill. The drama was localized in London,
and even there it appealed not to the ordinary citizens but to the court and
fashionable people of the town. Unfortunately enough it was for their vulgarity
tastes and interests that the drama of the early restoration period catered.
The restoration plays noted for their vulgarity created a hostile attitude to
the drama in the minds of decent people, with the result that till the late
nineteenth century well-brought-up young people were not allowed to visit the
theatre. One of the most popular dramas of the early restoration period was
Wycherley’s country wife, one of the most Vulgur plays ever produced in
English. However, things changed for the better in the next few years.
In the restoration period
censorship was rigid and yet the total output of literature was considerable.
The first licensing act was passed in 1663 by the cavalier parliament, chiefly
with the aim of preventing the publication of seditious and puritan writings.
Otherwise permission was given easily enough for publishing the great epics,
paradise lost and paradise regained. In spite of the rigid censorship, private
libraries were becoming more and more common, of course, varying in size and
quality. Private libraries of renowned persons like Samuel Pepys contained many
valuable volumes. Similarly the library owned by the cotton family had many
remarkable books. In many of the yeomen families there was at least a bookshelf
consisting of modest collection. In 1684, for the first time, a public library
was established in London by tension, the benevolent clergymen who later became
the archbishop of Canterbury. This exemplary man of god also built a large
building on the courtyard of St.
Martin’s church and used the upper part for a library and the ground floor for
a workroom for the poor. However, in 1696, eight years after the glorious
revolution, to the relief of all freedom- loving Englishmen, the licensing act
ceased to operate.
With the restoration of the
monarchy the fortunes of the cavalier families with landed property changed for
the better. Nevertheless, to the small squire
who lived on the proceeds becoming unfavorable . The two largest sections of the
society were those who cultivated their small bits of land and the
wage-earners. The agricultural as well as industrial workers did not have any
means of subsistence except their wages. In general the wages were regulated by
the justices of the peace. On the whole, both in trade and industry trade
unions were not common.
It should be said to the credit
of the English that they have always maintained a high standard of living. It
has become one of their national characteristics. The people of the restoration
period were no exception. The staple diet of the time was bread, beer and meat.
Vegetables and fruit formed a small and meat a large part in English meal of
that period. Almost half the population ate meat daily; the other half had to
be satisfied with eating meat twice a week.
Sports and pastimes had become
rare during the puritan rule. They were even prohibited especially on Sundays,
fearing that sports and games would spoil the solemnity of the Sabbath.
However, they were revived during the restoration period. Shooting partridges
was almost the privilege of the squires alone. The netting of birds on the
ground was a fashionable sport of the time. Fox hunting was becoming more and
more popular. More exiting and popular than the hunting of deer or fox was the
pursuit of the hare with a pack of hounds, the gentlemen on horseback and the
common folk running, headed by the huntsman with his pole. Other popular sports
were wrestling, boxing and sword fighting, or bull and bear baiting, and
various rough kinds of football. But cockfighting was the most popular of all
pastimes, watched by huge excited crowds. Horse-racing was become more
prominent owing to the royal patronage.
The wealth of the country was
not at all evenly distributed. Certain parts of the country were very rich. In
general the central countries were richer than the rest of the country. Of the
various countries, the richest was Middlesex. The seven countries of the north
were poor and the poorest was Cumberland. The poverty of the northern countries
was strange because they had the biggest coal mines and textile mills.
Two great national calamities of the
restoration period were the plague and the great fire. The plague of 1665
carried away nearly one-fifth of the London population. The great fire of 1666
raged for five long days, destroying all the churches and other buildings of
the city. The great fire was in a sense a blessing in disguise because the
reconstruction of the city on modern lines was possible after this calamity.
The reconstruction of London was accomplished in a comparatively short period
of four or five years.
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