of the Duke of Savoy, whom he could | knowledged as lord-protector. not himself reach.

At home Cromwell was less successful. He called two parliaments, but found neither of them compliant, and was obliged to rule avowedly by the sword. Intended risings against his government and plots against his life were discovered in every quarter; the Levellers, the more moderate republicans, the Presbyterians, and the royalists combined to overthrow him, and he had few other adherents beside his soldiery. Worn out by anxiety and disease, he died at Whitehall, Sept. 3, 1658, in the sixth year of his assumption of government, and was buried in the chapel of Henry VII., at Westminster, shortly after'.

Cromwell had married Elizabeth Bourchier, and left, beside daughters, two sons, Richard and Henry, of whom one was, at the time of his father's death, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and the other was for a brief period ac

land, gave £2,000 towards a subscription for their relief, which soon amounted to more than £30,000, then a very large sum, and paid the expense of printing a History of their sufferings, drawn up by his agent, Samuel Morland. Milton's noble sonnet relating to them is familiar to all.

It is singular that Whitelock, usually so well informed, should have made the mistake of asserting that Cromwell died at Hampton Court, "about two in the afternoon." Clarendon, agreeing with the official account, says correctly, at Whitehall.

His body was buried privately very shortly after his death, but the public funeral did not take place until Nov. 23, and was of the most pompous description. Letters patent were granted Nov. 22, 1659, by "the Keepers of the liberty of England by authority of Parliament," for the payment of £6.929 6s. 5d. to Robert Walton, citizen and draper of London, for "black cloth and bays for the funeral of his late highness."

They were married Aug. 22, 1620, at the church of St. Giles Cripplegate, London.

a Richard went on the Continent just before the Restoration, and remained abroad until about 1680, then returned to England, and lived at Cheshunt until 1712, under an assumed name. Henry retired to Spinney Abbey, in Cambridgeshire, and lived as a country gentleman to 1674. Elizabeth, married to Mr. Claypole, died Aug. 6, 1658. Bridget, married successively to Ireton and to Fleetwood, died in 1681. Mary, countess Fauconberg, died in 1712; and Frances, Lady Russell, survived till 1721. Cromwell's eldest son, Robert, died in 1639; and another son, Oliver, a captain in the army, was killed in opposing the duke of Hamilton, in 1648.

• John Lambert, born in Yorkshire in 1619, was a law student, but joined the parliamentary army as soon as the war broke out. He rose to be general of Cromwell's forces, but refused to acknowledge him as Protector, and resigned his post. He failed in an attempt to establish a military government after the retirement of Richard Cromwell, and was condemned to death. His life, however, was spared. He amused his leisure with painting, and cultivating flowers, his imprisonment being by no means rigorous, for he had shewn kindness when in power to many of the royal party,

But

the officers of the army, headed by Lambert, Fleetwood, and Desborough, soon seized on the government, recalled the Long Parliament, then dismissed it and again attempted to govern in their own name; they were, however, circumvented by Monk, and the lawful king was recalled, who entered London amid so great a display of fervent loyalty, that he pleasantly remarked that "it must surely have been his own fault that had kept him so long away from such excellent subjects."

That Oliver Cromwell possessed great talents for war and government is allowed by Clarendon, Ludlow, and other hostile delineators of his charac

ter", They justly charge him with hypocrisy, violence, and boundless ambition; but, on the other hand, are obliged to confess that he had filled the post he had usurped with vigour, and with decent splendour, and re

and this was not forgotten. He died a Romanist, in 1683.

P Edmund Ludlow, born in 1620 at Maiden Bradley, was bred to the law, but took up arms for the parliament, and exhibited much zeal in their cause. He had imbibed the sternest republican principles, and hence he not only sat as one of the king's judges, but was also a resolute opponent of the usurpation of Cromwell. On the Restoration he was committed to the Tower, Sept. 6, 1660, but escaped. He visited England in the three following years in the hope of heading a new revolt. Failing in this, he retired to the Continent, and did not return until after the Revolution. His reception, however, was so unfavourable, that he soon departed, and he died at Vevay in 1693. His Memoirs, written in exile, are devoted to a vindication of "the good old cause," and, though perhaps depicting its opponents in too dark colours, have a high degree of interest and value.

4 Mrs. Hutchinson, who may be considered as speaking the sentiments of the Independents, gives a very unfavourable character of Cromwell and his family. She says,-"Cromwell and his army grew wanton with their power, and invented a thousand tricks of government, which, when nobody opposed, they themselves fell to dislike and vary every day.. He weeded in a few months' time above one hundred and fifty godly officers out of the army, with whom many of the religious soldiers went off, and in their room abundance of the king's dissolute soldiers were entertained.... His wife and children were setting up for principality, which suited no better on any of them than scarlet on the ape; only, to speak the truth of himself, he had much natural greatness, and well became the place he had usurped. His daughter Fleetwood was humbled, and not exalted with these things, but the rest were insolent fools. Claypole, who married his daughter, and his son Henry, were two debauched, ungodly cavaliers. Richard was a peasant in his nature, yet gentle and virtuous, but be came not greatness. His court was full of sin and vanity, and the more abominable, that they had not yet quite cast away the name of God, but profaned it by taking it in vain upon them.'

and the Saxon Dictionary;" to which the Annals of the Old Testament, and other productions of the learned Usher', might have been added; the actual foundation of the chief learned society of England also dates from the same unpromising period. The fame of Selden as an author was gained before the civil war broke out; and perhaps the only really great literary name on the side of the Commonwealth is that of John Milton, and he is merely spoken of by Whitelock, as "one Mr. Milton, a blind man," who wrote Latin; so little did his own party appreciate his genius.

established the influence of England | worthy. I appeal to the Monasticon, abroad. He proposed to found a third | Decem Scriptores, the Polyglot Bible, university (Durham'), substituted the English language for French or Latin in official proceedings wherever practicable, abstained, in general, from interference with the ordinary course of the laws, and, except in the case of his Irish campaign, was perhaps as little stained with blood as any private man who ever forced his way to a throne". The era of the Commonwealth was marked by the appearance of many valuable works, hardly to be expected in a time of such confusion. "All the professors of true religion and good literature," says Bishop Kennett, in his Life of Somner, the antiquary, 66 were silenced and oppressed. And yet Providence so ordered, that the loyal suffering party did all that was then done for the improvement of letters and the honour of the nation. Those that intruded into the places of power and profit, did nothing but defile the press with lying news and fast-sermons; while the poor ejected Churchmen did works of which the world was not

The royal arms were systematically defaced during the period of the Commonwealth, and the States' Arms substituted, being, after the reduction of Scotland, the cross of St. George first and fourth; the saltire of St. Andrew second, and that of St. Patrick third; the Cromwells placed their arms (a lion rampant gardant argent) on an escutcheon surtout, sable.

NOTE

THE SILENCED CHURCH.

THE Universities in effect destroyed, the clergy dispersed, and the Book of Common Prayer prohibited under the severest pen alties, it might appear to the triumphant |

This had been first proposed about May, 1650, when a representation had been made to the parliament, desiring "that the college and houses of the dean and chapter, being now empty and in decay, may be employed for erecting a college, school, or academy, for the benefit of the northern counties, which are so far from the Universities." The college was founded by letters patent, dated May 15, 1637, and was endowed with lands of the value of £900 a-year; it was empowered to grant degrees, and was to have a press. It was to consist of a provost and twelve fellows; Philip Hunton, rector of Sedgefield, being named the first provost. The other Universities, however, petitioned against the project, and it was abandoned.

"He was not a man of blood," says Lord Clarendon, "and totally declined Machiavel's method, which prescribes upon any alteration of government, as a thing absolutely necessary, to cut off all the heads of those, and extirpate their families, who are friends to the old one. It was confidently reported, that, in the council of officers, it was more than once proposed, that there might be a general massacre of all the royal party, as the only expedient to secure the government, but that Cromwell would never consent to it; it may be, out of too much contempt of his enemies."

James Usher, the great advocate of what has been invidiously termed "moderate episcopacy," was born in Dublin, Jan. 4, 1580, and he became

sectaries that the Church was indeed ruined; but such was by no means the case. Clergymen were found, all through the period of their tyranny, who continued

one of the earliest students of Trinity College, in that city. He distinguished himself in the Romish controversy, and gaining thus the favour of James I., he was in 1620 appointed to the see of Meath, whence he was in 1625 translated to the archiepiscopate of Armagh. Though a decided Calvinist in doctrine, Usher concurred in the adoption of the English Articles by the Irish Church (see A.D. 1635). He came to England in 1640, and the rebellion in the next year preventing his return to Ireland, he repaired to the king at Oxford, and, as a means of subsistence, was allowed to hold the see of Carlisle in commendam. He was greatly esteemed by the king, and was expressly sum moned to assist him with his advice at the Treaty of Newport. Archbishop Usher produced many laborious works, written amid trouble and danger, and his learning and his virtues commanded the respect of many who were the avowed enemies of his order. Thus he was allowed to hold the preachership of Lincoln's Inn after the bishops' lands had been sold, and Cromwell listened to his earnest remonstrances in favour of the despoiled clergy, who owed some alleviation of their sufferings to him. Usher found a home in the house of the countess dowager of Peterborough for several years, and he died under her roof at Reigate, March 21, 1656. His remains were honoured with a public funeral, to the cost of which Cromwell contributed £200 by letter of privy seal, April 2, 1656.

A.D. 1649.

Charles II. becomes king de jure, Jan. 30. He is proclaimed at Edinburgh, Feb. 5, and the Scots generally begin to arm for him. The States of Holland covertly favour him.

The duke of Hamilton and Lord Capel escape from their prisons, Jan. 30, Feb. 1. They are soon retaken, and a court is constituted for their trial, and that of other royalists.

The members who had voted (Dec. 5, 1648) that the king's concessions were satisfactory, formally excluded from the parliament, Feb. 1.

The House of Lords voted "useless and dangerous" by the Commons", Feb. 6; the office of king declared "unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous, and therefore to be abolished"," Feb. 7. The new great seal declared to be the great seal of England, Feb. 8; the law courts opened', Feb. 9; a council of state, consisting of 41 persons, appointed, Feb. 14.

Colonels Blake, Dean, and Popham (already commissioners for the navy) nominated as admirals, Feb. 24.

The Scottish commissioners quit London secretly, Feb. 26, leaving behind them a paper containing "much scandalous and reproachful matter" against the late proceedings".

Lilburne and the Levellers petition against the new Council of State, Feb. 26.

The duke of Hamilton, the earl of Holland, and Lord Capel are executed", March 9.

Bradshaw appointed president of the Council of State1, March 10.

Several regiments are chosen by lot to assist in the reduction of Ireland, and after a time Cromwell is appointed to the command, being also named lord-deputy.

The kingly office, and the peerage, abolished by acts of parliament', March 17, 19.

Pontefract Castle surrenders, March

* On the same day, immediately after the execu-parently hoping for employment, but he was distion of Charles I., proclamation was made in London, declaring it treason to give the title of king to any person without the assent of parliament.

* See p. 435

They had, on Feb. 1 and 5, sent to the Commons, desiring the appointment of a joint committee for settlement of the affairs of the kingdom, but their messengers were not called in.

The decrees of parliament were from Jan. 16, 1649, no longer styled Ordinances, but Acts; they were now issued in the name of the Commons only: "The Commons assembled in Parliament. . . . do enact and ordain."

This seal, which was voted Jan. 9, bore on one side the cross of St. George and the saltire of St. Patrick, with the inscription, "The Great Seal of England;" and on the other a representation of the House of Commons, with "In the first year of freedom by God's blessing restored, 1648." The great seal made in 1643 (see p. 426) was brought into the House and broken up.

• Bulstrode Whitelock, Richard Keeble, and John Lisle were appointed commissioners.

missed by the king himself, with the advice "to trouble himself no more with state affairs, but take care of his wife and large family." He, upon this, retired into Wiltshire, and lived in obscurity until his death, Nov. 12, 1688. He wrote, among other things, "Memorials of the English Affairs in the reign of King Charles I.," which, as the work of a well-informed contemporary, have been freely used by most subsequent writers on that period.

f Six of the judges consented to act, on an assurance that the ordinary laws should be maintained: but this pledge did not prevent the parliament from frequently acting as a court of judicature themselves, and also erecting arbitrary tribunals styled high courts of justice. The president of these was usually John Lisle, a lawyer, and one of the commissioners of the great seal. He acted so rigorously that he was obliged to flee at the Restoration; his estates were confiscated, and he was himself assassinated at Lausanne soon after. His widow (Alicia Lisle) was executed in 1685, on a charge of harbouring parties concerned in Monmouth's rebellion.

Scotland.

h They had, together with the earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen, been condemned by a high court of justice which sat from Feb. 1o to March 6. The earl's life was saved by the casting-vote of the Speaker, and Sir John's by the exertions of Colonel Hutchinson, one of the Council of State, who observed that he appeared totally friendless, "while there was such mighty labour and endeavour for the lords.

Bulstrode Whitelock, the chief commissioner, Their intention was to proceed to Holland, to was the son of Sir James Whitelock, a judge. He offer conditions to Charles II.; but they were was born in London in 1605, was educated at Ox-seized at Gravesend, and sent under an escort to ford, and though once a courtier, when chosen a member of the Long Parliament he concurred in most of their violent proceedings. He was one of the managers of the impeachment of the earl of Strafford, but he declined to do so with regard to Archbishop Laud, from the remembrance of kindness received from him at college. He was repeatedly employed in negotiations between the king and parliament, and under Cromwell was sent ambassador to Sweden. After the fall of Richard Cromwell, Whitelock urged Fleetwood to offer to restore the exiled king, and thus anticipate Monk, but his advice was not taken. Having acted a prominent part in the events of the preceding twenty years, he experienced some difficulty in procuring the omission of his name from the list of parties excepted from the Act of Oblivion [12 Car. II. c. 11.]; having succeeded in this, he appeared at court, ap-i

i "He seemed not much versed in such businesses," says Whitelock, "and spent much of their time by his own long speeches.'

The lord-mayor of London (Sir Abraham Reynardson) refused to publish the Act against the kingly office; for which he was removed from the mayoralty, fined £2,000, and imprisoned in the Tower.

Lilburne attacks the government in a vehement pamphlet, called "Eng-rity, or to raise force against it; to land's new Chains discovered;" he and several other Levellers are committed to the Tower, March 27.

Cromwell lands in Ireland with a The earl of Pembroke (Philip Her-force of about 16,000 horse and foot, bert) takes his seat as a member of the parliament", April 16.