In consequence of Monk having declared for the Commonwealth, Charles II., who for some years had resided on the continent, after his escape from Brighton, by his advice repaired to Breda. But it being resolved in England to recall him to the throne, he made, on the 14th day of April, 1660, his celebrated Declaration of Breda, whereby he granted a free and general pardon to all offenders against himself and his royal father, and “liberty of conscience, that no man shall be disquieted or called in question for differences of opinion, in matter of religion.” His Restoration was the result on the 18th of May following, and on the 29th of the same month, his birthday, he made his public entry into London. The Act of Uniformity, which was passed in 1662, and was called the St. Bartholomew Act, because it was to take effect on the 24th of August, the feast of that apostle, produced a kind of ecclesiastical revolution, and shewed the invincible determination of the enthusiasts. The date of the Bi-centenary of this Act, is the 24th of August of the present year, 1862. The Act was short, but very stringent, as the annexed extract XIV. Caroli II., 1662.— Be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by the advice and with the consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and of the Commons in this present Parliament, that every Parson, Vicar, or other Minister, who now hath any Ecclesiastical Benefice or Preferment within the Realm of England, shall, in the Church, Chapel, or place of public worship, upon some Lord’s Day, before the Feast of St. Bartholomew, which shall be in the year of our Lord God, 1662, publicly and solemnly read the morning and evening prayers, according to the said Book of Common Prayer, at the times appointed, and after such reading thereof, shall openly and publicly, before the congregation, declare his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things in the said book in these words and no others—I, A. B., declare my unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer. And that every such person who shall (without some lawful impediment) neglect or refuse to do the same, shall be deprived of all his spiritual promotion; and the Patron shall present or collate, as if he were dead.