Clarendon, Albemarle, Southampton, and Ormond were the ruling spirits immediately after the Restoration; and together with them ought to be mentioned the Earl of Bristol, who, though by having recently declared himself a Roman Catholic, he had excluded himself from the Privy Council, yet retained a place at Court; and whilst his religious policy and general character made him obnoxious to Clarendon, the very same things made him agreeable to Charles. Buckingham and Bennet will come upon the stage at a future period. [Sidenote: THE KING'S RETURN.] Soon after the Restoration, which placed these men in power, there occurred the disbanding of the old Revolutionary Army, which had throughout the Commonwealth been the main guardian of the Church as well as of the State. That Army had apparently brought back the exiled Monarch, or rather it had strengthened the hands of those who performed that deed; but in consequence of its past history, and the character of many numbered amongst the troops, it was not a prop upon which sagacious and far-sighted Royalists could place much reliance. Indeed, signs of disaffection were already visible. There were veterans who, whilst formally obeying the command of Royalist officers, in their hearts retained allegiance to Lambert, and other Republicans. Whispers about the "good old cause" might be heard in garrisons, and other military quarters; and, it is said, that even a revolt against Monk had begun to be planned. Charles sought to win by flattery such of the soldiers as were of unsettled mind; and his Ministers, at the same time, employed spies to find out and secure the sowers of sedition, and so to pluck the tares from amidst the wheat; but the most effectual method of preventing the apprehended mischief was to dissolve the Army altogether. That difficult and delicate business received prompt and careful attention. The Government employed members to represent to Parliament, first, the uselessness of a military force 60,000 strong in time of peace; and next, the pecuniary burden which it imposed upon the State, then encumbered in other ways with pecuniary difficulties. Consequently motions for a gradual reduction and payment of the Army were carried; and, gradually the regiments, which had seen so much service, and had passed through such a memorable history, melted away. They took home recollections of Marston Moor and Naseby, of the Dunbar fight, and of Worcester field; and to old age men told their children, and their children's children, of their marchings and their defences, especially of the officers under whom they had fought, and of Old Noll, the greatest of them all. Dispersed over the country, settled in their former homes, or choosing new localities, they spread afar the sentiments and traditions of past days; and the religious amongst them--still very numerous--the Puritan, the Presbyterian, the Independent, the Baptist, the Fifth Monarchy Millenarian, and the