the Governor of Scotland, marched into the City of London with his army and forced the Rump Parliament to re-admit members of the Long Parliament excluded during Pride's Purge. The Long Parliament dissolved itself and for the first time in almost 20 years, there was a general election. The Convention Parliament assembled and voted for Charles' restoration. In his progress to London, Charles, escorted by a brilliant retinue, amidst shouts of welcome from his assembled subjects, dismounted to salute a family group in which the central figure was the old knight of Ditchley, whose venerable features expressed his appreciation of the happiness of once more pressing his sovereign's hand, and whose contented death almost immediately followed the realisation of his anxious and long-cherished hopes. Characters Principal characters in bold Sir Henry Lee, of Ditchley, keeper of Woodstock Park Albert Lee, his son, a Royalist colonel Alice Lee, his daughter Dr Anthony Rochecliffe, late rector of Woodstock Rev Nehemiah Holdenough, a Presbyterian minister Colonel Markham Everard, a Roundhead, Sir Henry's nephew Joceline Joliffe, a Royalist forester, and Sir Henry's servant Phoebe Mayflower, his sweetheart Commissioners of the Council of State Colonel Desborough General Harrison Joshua Bletson Joseph Tomkins, their steward Captain Roger Wildrake, of Squattlesea-mere Spitfire, his page Oliver Cromwell Zerobabel Robins, a Parliamentary soldier (Zerubbabel in some editions) Captain Pearson, his aide-de-camp Louis Kerneguy, a page, the future Charles II of England Bevis, a wolf-dog Chapter summary Volume One Preface: The Author has extracted the following Memoirs from the papers of the [fictitious] 17th-century Rector of Woodstock the Rev. J. A. Rochecliffe, D. D. Ch. 1: Nehemiah Holdenough, a Presbyterian minister, is displaced in the pulpit of Woodstock parish church by an Independent [Joseph Tomkins] who is heckled by Josceline Joliffe, a royalist forester. Ch. 2: In the park, Tomkins overhears the staunch royalist Sir Henry Lee and his daughter Alice discussing their family's divided political allegiances. After initially resisting, Sir Henry submits to him as a steward of the Parliamentary Commissioners, and the Lees leave to seek shelter in Joliffe's hut. Ch. 3: Tomkins and Joliffe spar verbally on their way to the Lodge, where Joliffe despatches Phoebe Mayflower to his hut with refreshments. Ch. 4: At the hut Markham Everard offers Sir Henry and Alice his assistance, but it is indignantly rejected by his uncle. Ch. 5: On his way to the Lodge, Markham encounters Roger Wildrake. Tomkins