Charles Dickens             Read All BookKING JAMES THE SECOND was a man so very disagreeable, that even the best of historians has favoured his brother Charles, as becoming, by comparison, quite a pleasant character. The one object of his short reign was to re-establish the Catholic religion in England; and this he doggedly pursued with such […]

Charles Dickens             Read All BookTHERE never were such profligate times in England as under Charles the Second. Whenever you see his portrait, with his swarthy, illlooking face and great nose, you may fancy him in his Court at Whitehall, surrounded by some of the very worst vagabonds in the kingdom (though they were lords and […]

Charles Dickens             Read All BookBEFORE sunset on the memorable day on which King Charles the First was executed, the House of Commons passed an act declaring it treason in any one to proclaim the Prince of Wales – or anybody else – King of England. Soon afterwards, it declared that the House of Lords was […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book BABY CHARLES became KING CHARLES THE FIRST, in the twenty-fifth year of his age. Unlike his father, he was usually amiable in his private character, and grave and dignified in his bearing; but, like his father, he had monstrously exaggerated notions of the rights of a king, and was evasive, […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book “O UR cousin of Scotland` was ugly, awkward, and shuffling both in mind and person. His tongue was much too large for his mouth, his legs were much too weak for his body, and his dull goggle-eyes stared and rolled like an idiot`s. He was cunning, covetous, wasteful, idle, drunken, […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book THERE was great rejoicing all over the land when the Lords of the Council went down to Hatfield, to hail the Princess Elizabeth as the new Queen of England. Weary of the barbarities of Mary`s reign, the people looked with hope and gladness to the new Sovereign. The nation seemed […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book THE Duke of Northumberland was very anxious to keep the young King`s death a secret, in order that he might get the two Princesses into his power. But, the Princess Mary, being informed of that event as she was on her way to London to see her sick brother, turned […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book HENRY THE EIGHTH had made a will, appointing a council of sixteen to govern the kingdom for his son while he was under age (he was now only ten years old), and another council of twelve to help them. The most powerful of the first council was the EARL OF […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book PART THE SECONDTHE Pope was thrown into a very angry state of mind when he heard of the King`s marriage, and fumed exceedingly. Many of the English monks and friars, seeing that their order was in danger, did the same; some even declaimed against the King in church before his […]

Charles Dickens             Read All Book PART THE FIRSTWE now come to King Henry the Eighth, whom it has been too much the fashion to call `Bluff King Hal,` and `Burly King Harry,` and other fine names; but whom I shall take the liberty to call, plainly, one of the most detestable villains that ever drew […]