The Sun.
London, England, 1823-05-30 00:00:00

ROYAL OAK DAY.

THE TWENTY.NINTIIOT MAY says the author
•
of a loyal work, printed in 1678t' is celebrated
upon a double account ; first, in commemoration
of the birth of our Sovereign King CHARLES the
Second, the princely son of his Royal Father
Charles the First, of happy memory, and Mary,
the daughter of Henry the Fourth, the French
King, who was born the 29th day of May, 1630;
and also by-an Act of Parliament 12 Car. It., by
the passionate desires of the people, in memory
of Ills MOST !lA/TY RESTORATION to his Crown
and dignity, after twelve years forced exile from
his undoubted right, the Crown of England, by
barbarous rebels and regicides. And on the Sth
of this month, his Majesty was, with universal
joy and great acclamation, proclaimed in London
and WestminSter, and after throughout his domi-
nions. The 16th; he tame to the Hague; the
23d, with his two brothers, embarqued for Eng.'
land ; and on the 25th, he happily landed at
Dover, being received by General Monk, and
some 'of the army, from whence he was by several
voluntary troops of the nobility and gentry wait-
' ed upon to Canterbury ; and on the 29th, 1660,
he made his magnifiCent entrance into that em-
porium of Europe, his stately and rich metro-
polis, the renowned city of London. On this
very day also, anno 1662, the King came to
Hampton Court with his Queen Catherine after
his marriage at Portsmouth. This, 'as it is birth.
day, is one of his collar-days without' offering."
It was the custom, some years since, to deco-
rate the monument 'of Richard Pendrell (the
King's preserver), which stands in the church-
yard of St. Giles in the Fields, London, with oak
branches on the annual return of this festival ;
but the custom, from the increasing distance of
time from the event, has been of late discon-
tinued ; and the vulgar demonstration of respect
for the day is now chiefly confined to the wear.,
ing of gilded oak leaves.
Pendrell's Monument, which is not generally
known to be in existence, still remains perfect
near the east corner of the church, and is care-
fully kept.up' by the parishioners. It is proba,
ble that he was an inhabitant here, as the name
occurs at various times in the parish books, (lu-
ring the reign of Charles IL, and one of the
Pendrells is also mentioned as being overseer.
The inscription on the monument may be interest-.
ing to the reader. It is as follows
" Here lyeth Richard Pendrell, preserver and
conductor of his Sacred Majesty King Charles IL,
of Great Britain 7 after his escape front \Worcester
Fight, in the year 1651, who died Feb. 8, 1671."
" Hold passenger,:_here'sithrouded,in this hearse..
UnparallePd .Pendrell tbro' tile universe.
Like when the eastern star from iletiv'n gave light,-
To three lost Kings, so he in such daft; night
To Britain's Monarch, toss'd by adverse war,
On earth appear'd a second eastern star :
A. pole a-stern in her rebellious main,
A pilot to her Royal Sovereign .
Now to triumph'in fleavin's eternal sphere,
He's hence advanc'd for his just steendge here ;
Whilst Albion's Chronicles, with ',matchless-fame
Embalm the story of great Pendrell's name."

The Royal Oak was standing in Dr. Stuke-
ley's time (1724),Inclosed with a brick wall,but
almost cut away in the middle, by travellers
whose curiosity led then to see it. The Doctor
thus notices it in his hincrarium Curiosuni. 44 A
bow shot from Boscobel House, just by a horse
track passing through a wood, stood the Royal
Oak, lute, which the King and his companion,
Colonel Carlos, climbed by means of the hen-
roost ladder, when they judge it no longer safe to
stay in the house; the family reaching them vic-
tuals with the nut-hook., The tree is now inclosed
in with a brick wall, the inside whereof is covered
with a laurel, of which we may say as Ovid did of
that before the Augustan Palace,' mediamque tue-
here quercum.' Close by its side grows a young
thriving plant from one of its acorns. Over the
door of the inclosure I took this inscription,
which is cut in marble

" Felicissimam arborem gnaw in asylum potentissimi Regis
;Awl' 11. Deus 0 M. per quern reges regnant bic crescere vo-
luit, tam in perpetunm rei tantte memoriam, quam specimen
iirmte in reps fidei, muro cinctam posteris commandant Basi-
lius et Jena Fitzherbert.—Quercus Arnica Jovi.",

" The King, after the Restoration, reviewing
the place, curried some of the acorns, and set
them in St. James's-park or garden, and used to
water them himself."

. In, 'Carolina, or Loyal Poems, by Thomas
Shipman (1683), ace the following: thoughts on
'the subject :
" Blest Charles then to an oak has safety owes ;
The Royal Oak ! which now in songs shall live,
Until it reach to heaven with its boughs ' •
Boughs that'for loyalty shall garlands give.
Let celebrated wits, with lautel crown'd;
And wreaths of bays, .boast their ttiuMphant,brows;
• I will esteem myself far more renown'd,
In being honour'd with-these oaken boughs.
The Gerd of the Druids hover'd here,
Who.under oaks did Britain's glories sing ;
Whicksinco in Charles completed did appear,
They gladly came now to protect their Icing."

" They are hastening the preparations for his
Majesty's reception into the City," says the Ater-
curius Publicus, of May 24, 1660, which will be
as magnificent as possibly the time will permit.
'Fite Lord Mayor, Alderman, and chief officers,
with choice citizens of ail companies, to the num-
ber of about GOO, all go out in horseback, babited
in velvet and other costly apparel, with chains of
gold, rich liveries, Scc. The streets from the
bridge to Temple-bar, are to be guarded, on the
one side, by all the forces of the trained bands;
on the other side, by the liveries of the compa-
nies, 84c. ; the houses all the way towards the
streets, are to be covered with tapestry and other
hangings.
" Divers maidens, on behalf of themselves and
others, have presented a petition to the Lord
Mayor; wherein they pray his Lordship to grant
them liberty to meet his Majesty, an the day of
his passage through the'city, clad in white waist-
coats and other ornaments of triumph."
There follows an account in a subsequent
paper, of the King's progress to town from Dover,
and the Royal procession alluded to
At Blackheath the King reviewed the corn
pany, uho were all drawn up ready to receive
him, on whom he bestowed various compli-
ments, and was greeted in return " with loud
sitoutings and rejoicings." At night there were
various bonfires rnath.op the heath, " and one more

" Vesta Angio-Romapa."

temarkable than the rest of ,his bigness; where
the States arms were burned."

At St. George's-fields the Lord Mayor and
Corporation of London waited to receive him
mrder a magnificent tent, where the ceremony of
delivering and redelivering the city state sword
took place. From thenee the procession went
over London-bridge to Whitehall-place. All
'he streets from the,bridge to Temple-bar were
richly hnng with tapestry, the companies lining
the way in their liveries, with banners and
streamers flying. The dresses of the numerous
Nobility, citizens, &c. composing the procession,
or otherwise in attendance, are described as par-
ticularly superb, some being in velvet coats, with
their footmen and liveries in purple; others with
buff coats, silver sleeves, and greeh scarfi ; one
troop .had blue liveries and silver lace ; another
red, another tawny, and so on. The Liverymen
of the different Companies were all dressed in
black velvet coats, with gold chains,' with their
footmen in liveries, of red and white, pink and
white, blue, yellow, and other colours. The
Lord Mayor wore his richest robes of office, and
the Aldermen their scarlet gowns and gold
chains. The King rode between his two
brothers, the Dukes of York and Glouces-
ter, under a magnificent. canopy, followed by
a troop, bare, with white colours. The solemni-
ties of the day were concluded by an infinite
number of bonfires, and among the rest, in Wes-
terminster, was a very costly one, where the
effigies, adds the account, " of old Oliver Crom-
well was set upon a high post, with the arms of
the commonwealth, which, having been exposed
there awhile to the public view, with torches
lighted, that every one might take better notice►
of them, were burnt together."
The character of Charles 11. was composed of
very different materials from those of most men.
Adversity, which is generally acknowledged to
be the best monitor in the Government of life,
seems to have had little effect upon him, unless
we admit the, probability that he might have acted,
with still greater impropriety, had not Boscobel
Wood, and the Royal Oak, sometimes reminded
him of his almost miraculous steps to the throne
of his ancestors.. It is said by his enemies that
he had an unaccountable partiality in his very
early age for a billet of wood, which he was in
the habit of carrying in his arms during the day,
and sleeping with at night.
" On Monk's coming to London, 1659-60,"
say the Aubrey MSS., " his countryman Sir
Ralph Sydenham went and dined with him, and
after dinner told him yt. GOD had put a good op-
portunity into his hands kinuendo) for restoring
the K.; to which he gave an indefinite answer,
and sayd he should doe like an honest man. Wc
yt. were Sir Ralph's acquaintance, were longing
for his comeing home to supper for the Generall's
answer, who kept him till 9at night. He after
the K's restoration got him made master of the
Charter-house."

And in further proof how cautiously the Ge-
neral acted in the business of the Restoration, it
is added, " He, G.M. lay in Draper's Hall, in
Throgmorton-street. Cot. Massey (Sir 'Edward
afterwards), and T. Morrie, every day were
tampering with G.M. as also Col. Robinson
(afterwards Lieutenant of the Tower), whom I
remember they accounted not so wise as King
Solomon, and they could not. find any, inclina-
tion or propensity in G. M. for their purpose, so
to be instrumental to bring in the King. Every
night late, I had an account of all these tran-
sactions tt-bed, and I remember in the maine,
they were satisfied he nor, intended or designed
the K.'s Restauration when he came into Eng-
land, or first came to London, than his horse did ;
but shortly afterwards finding himselfe at a
insse, and that he was (purposely) made odious
to the city, and that hg ;was a lost man by the
Parliament, and that the generalitie of the cittie
and countrey were for the restoring the King,
having long groaned under other governmems,
he had no way to anvil himselfe, but to close
v,ith the cittie,"&c.—(llky 29.)

Alew weeks ego, a bitch belonging to Mt.
Birkrigg-park, puppetl three pups,
which were all dead ; and in, a fortnight after
his. cat littered four kittens, which were regu-
larly suckled by the bitch iluritig the absence of
old puss : such was the affection of the bitch
towards them, that she would seldom leave, the
;plaCe where they were first diposited; and con-
tentions between her and- the • cat betamo 'so fre-
quent and violent, ,that it was thought,best to
drown the whole litter, and put an end, to the
warfare.
EXECUTION.—AIerdeen, May 21.--Vesterday, Thomas
Donaldson, William Buchanan, and ‘Villiam Macleod, three
unfortunate young men convicted
,at the last Circuit Court
'of Justiciary, of the crimes- of theft and stouthrlef, expiated,
their offences by an ignoruipious death. They had _previ.
ously manifested much contrition, and a due sense of their
unhappy state. All three in turn. addressed the populace,
lamenting, in bitter terms, their pmerse ways, and strenu,
ously recommending a religious 'observance of the Sabbatb,.:
They ascended the fatal platform; with unshaken firmness, oila
seemed to suffer nothing in dying, a slight convulsion only ap-
pearing in Donaldson and Macleod,
Ci.ace GrUjin, the wife of a publican and
keeper of a brothel, at Berwick, murdered her
husband,' a few days ego, by trampling on his
body in a most brutal mann er.—(Carlisk Patriot.)