"One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the crown jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court's glittering state apartments ... Hutchinson paints a ... portrait of a double agent bent on ambiguous political and personal motivation, and provides an ... account of the perils and conspiracies that abounded in Restoration England"--Dust jacket flap.