CHAPTER LXIII.
[Illustration: 1-756-charles2.jpg CHARLES II.] CHARLES II.
{1660.} CHARLES II., when he ascended the throne of his ancestors, was thirty years of age.

He possessed a vigorous constitution, a fine shape, a manly figure, a graceful air; and though his features were harsh, yet was his countenance in the main lively and engaging.

He was in that period of life when there remains enough of youth to render the person amiable, without preventing that authority and regard which attend the years of experience and maturity.

Tenderness was excited by the memory of his recent adversities.

His present prosperity was the object rather of admiration than of envy.