There were a number of very great men in the times of the civil wars. But I will only tell you of one, whom I have not named yet. He was secretary to the Council of State, and to Cromwell. But what we best know him by, and love him for now, is his poetry. His name was John Milton; and every Englishman must be proud that he was born in the same land, and that he speaks the same tongue with JOHN MILTON. CHAPTER LI. CHARLES II.—1660 to 1685. How Richard Cromwell was Protector for a short time; how the people chose to have a king again; how General Monk brought home Charles the Second; how there was again a war with the Dutch; how the great Plague was stopped by the great Fire; how the King chose evil counsellors; how the Scotch and Irish were treated with great cruelty; how the King caused Lord Russell and many more to be put to death. After Cromwell’s death his friends wished his son, Richard Cromwell, to be Protector of England. But Richard, who was a shy, quiet man, did not like it, and after a very short trial went home to his house in the country, and left the people to do as they pleased about a Protector. But the people were tired of being governed by the army, even under such a wise and clever man as Cromwell, and they chose to have a king and real parliament again. Most men were glad to have bishops again, and to be allowed to have their own prayer-books and their own music in church, instead of being forced to listen for hours together to sermons from the Puritans, who called all pleasant things sin, and grudged even little children their play-hours. But the really wise people of all kinds, the English Protestants, the Puritans, and the Roman Catholics, had another reason for being glad the king was come home. I will try to explain this reason. You have read that whenever there was any dispute about who should be king, there was always a war of some kind, and generally the worst of all, a civil war. Now, if the people had to choose who should be their new king every time an old one dies, so many men would wish to be king, that there would be disputes, and then perhaps war; and while the war was going on there would be nobody to see that the laws were obeyed, and all the mischief would happen that comes in civil wars. Now in England, it is settled that when a king dies his eldest son shall be king next; or if he has no son, that his nearest relation shall be king or queen. You remember that after Edward the Sixth, his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were queens, and then their cousin, James Stuart, was king. This rule prevents all disputes, and keeps the kingdom quiet.