CHARLES II. 2zr

house, by a majority os four only: So nearly chap.were the parties balanced. The quarrel was LXVI -

revived, to which Dr. Shirley’s cause had given l67, ‘occasion. The proceedings of the commonsdiscovered the same violence as during the lastsession, A motion was made in the house of peers,but rejected, for addressing the king to dissolvethe present parliament. The king contented nd Nov;himself with proroguing them to a very longterm. Whether these quarrels between the housesarose from contrivance or accident was notcertainly known. Each party might, accordingto their different views, esteem themselves eithergainers or losers by them. The court mightdesire to obstruct all attacks from the commons,by giving them other employment. T he countryparty might desire the dissolution of a parliament,which, notwithstanding all disgusts, still containedtoo many royalists, ever to serve all the purposesof the malecontents.

Soon after the prorogation, there passed anincident, which in itself is trivial, but tendsstrongly to mark the genius of the English govern-ment, and of Charles’s administration, duringthis period. The liberty of the constitution, andthe variety as well as violence of the parties, hadbegotten a propensity for political conversation;and as the coffee-houses in particular were thescenes, where the conduct of the king and theministry was canvassed with great freedom , aproclamation was issued to suppress these placesof rendezvous. Such an act of power, during

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