presented to
Gbe Olibran?
of tbe
THnfter0tt\> of Toronto
Branksome Hall Girls' School, Toronto.
LETTERS AND SPEECHES
WITH ELUCIDATIONS.
THOMAS CARLYLE,
COPYRIGHT EDITION.
IN FIVE VOLUMES.
VOL- III.
LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LD.
Tm
THE SHILLING EDITION OF
THOMAS CARLYLE'S WORKS
COMPLETE.
SARTOR RESARTUS, 1 Vol. With Portrait of Thomas
Carlyle.
FRENCH REVOLUTION. A History. 3 Vols. PAST AND PRESENT, 1 Vol. ON HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP, AND THE
HEROIC IN HISTORY, 1 VoL THE LIFE OF SCHILLER, AND EXAMINATION OF
HIS WORKS, 1 Vol. OLIVER CROMWELL'S LETTERS AND SPEECHES,
5 Vols. With Portrait of Oliver Cromwell. CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS, 7 Vols. WILHELM MEISTER, 3 Vols. LATTER-DAY PAMPHLETS. LIFE OF JOHN STERLING.
HISTORY OF FREDERICK THE GREAT, 10 Vols. TRANSLATIONS FROM MUS^EUS, TIECK, AND
RICHTER, 2 Vols. THE EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY; Essay on the Portraits
of Knox, and General Index.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
PART VI.
WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 1650-51.
PAGB
«VAR WITH SCOTLAND ,": . i
LETTER CXXXIII. To Hon. W. Lenthall: London. 20
June 1650 .... 7 On behalf of Alderman Hooke of Bristol
CXXXIV. To R. Mayor, Esq. : AUwick, 17
July 1650 ." . .9
Concerning his Son and Daughter-in-law.
„ CXXXV. To President Bradshaw : Mussel- burgh, 30 July 1650 . .12 Appearance before Edinburgh : Lesley within his Lines.
„ CXXXVI. To Scots Committee of Estates : Mus-
selburgb, 3 Aug. 1650 . .16
Remonstrates on their dangerous Courses, on their unchristian Conduct towards him.
„ CXXXVI I. To Gen. Lesley : Camp at Pentland
Hills, 14 Aug. 1650 . . 21 Answer to Lesley's Message and Declaration.
„ CXXXVIII. To the Council of State : Mussel- burgh, 30 Aug. 1650. . . 25
Progress of the Scotch Campaign : Skirmish on (he 3iirling Road, no Battle ; Retreat to the eastward again.
BATTLE OF DUNBAR 28
iv CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
M6I
LETTER CXXXIX. To Sir A. Haselrig : Dunbar, 2 Sept.
1650 . . . . -30 Day before Dunbar Battle.
PROCLAMATION : The Wounded on the Field . . .38
LETTER CXL. To Hon. W. Lenthall : Dunbar, 4 Sept.
1650 39
Of Dunbar Battle :— This Letter and the next Five.
„ CXLI. To Sir A. Haselrig : same date . . 47
CXLII. To President Bradshaw : same date . 49
,, CXLIII. To Mrs. Cromwell: same date . • ,5'
„ CXLIV. To R. Mayor, Esq.: same date . .52
„ CXLV. To Lieut.-Gen. Ireton : same date . .53
„ CXLVI. To Lord Wharton : same date . .55 Wharton's Doubts again.
„ CXLVII. To Governor Dundas : Edinburgh, 9 Sept.
1650 . . .59
Has offered to let the Ministers of Edinburgh Castle preach in the City : Rebuke for their Refusal.
„ CXLVIII. To the same : Edinburgh, 12 Sept. 1650 . 6? Second more deliberate Rebuke, with Queries.
QUERIES 68
PROCLAMATION : Inhabitants have free Leave to come
and go . . . .70
LETTER CXLIX. To President Bradshaw : Edinburgh,
25 Sept. 1650 . . . .72 Has marched towards Stirling, but been obliged to return.
„ CL. To Scots Committee of Estates : Lin-
Hthgow, 9 Oct. 1650 . . .77
Remonstrates again with them concerning the folly and impiety of this War.
„ CLI. To Col. Strahan : Edinburgh, 25 Oct.
1650 80
On the foregoing Letter ; desires a Friendly Debate.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III. v
PAGE
PROCLAMATION : Mosstroopers . . ' ... , 83
LETTER CLII. To Governor of Borthwick Castle : Edin- burgh, 1 8 Nov. 1650 ... 84 Summons.
„, CLIII. To Hon. W. Lenthall : Edinburgh, 4 Dec.
1650 . ... . .85
Progress of Scotch Affairs ; Ker and Strahan.
,, CLIV. To Governor Dundas: Edinburgh, 12
Dec. 1650 . . . . .90
This and the Six following, with the Pass and Pro- clamation, relate to the Siege of Edinburgh Castle.
CLV. To the same
CLVI. To the same
CLVII. To the same
CLVI 1 1. To the same
CLIX. To the same
. CLX. To the same
same date . '. ' . 91
Edinburgh, 13 Dec. 1650 93
Edinburgh, 14 Dec. 1650 95
same date . . • 95
Edinburgh, 18 Dec. 1650 97
same date ... 98
PASS 98
PROCLAMATION r :. .1 . . 99
LETTER CLXI. To Hon. W. Lenthall : Edinburgh, 24
Dec. 1650 ..... 100 Edinburgh Castle surrendered.
„ CLXII. To Col. Hacker : Edinburgh, 25 Dec.
1650 102
Captain Empson's Commission cannot be revoked. Censures a phrase of Hacker's.
„ CLXI 1 1. To Gen. Lesley: Edinburgh, 17 Jan.
16501 . . . . 104
Provost Jaffray, Rev. Messrs. Waugh and Carstairs.
CLXIV. To Scots Committee of Estates : Edin- burgh, 17 Jan. 1650-1 . . 108
Augustin the German Mosstrooper.
fi CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
riGB LETTER CLXV. To Committee of Army: Edinburgh, 4
Feb. 1650-1 . . .no
Symonds, and the Medal for Dunbar Battle.
CLXVI. To Rev. Dr. Greenwood: Edinburgh,
4 Feb. 1650-1 . . . .114 Has been elected Chancellor of Oxford University.
„ CLXVI I. To the same: Edinburgh, 1 4 Feb. 1650-1 117 Waterhouse : For an Oxford De|free.
„ CLXVIII. To Hon. W. Lenthall : Edinburgh, 8
March 1650-1 . . . .118
Intercedes for Col. Robert Lilburn.
„ CLXIX. To the same : Edinburgh, 1 1 March
1650-1 120
Durham University.
„ CLXX. To President Bradshaw: Edinburgh, 24
March 1650-1 .... 123
Has been dangerously unwell ; Thanks for their in- quiring after him.
„ CLXXI. To Mrs. Cromwell : Edinburgh, 1 2 April
1651 . . . . -.124
Domestic. The Lord Herbert. Richard and the other Children.
„ CLXXII. To Hon. A. Johnston: Edinburgh, 12
April 1651 . . . . 126
Public Registers of Scotland.
SECOND VISIT TO GLASGOW 129
LETTER CLXXI II. To Mrs. Cromwell: Edinburgh, 3
May 1651 .... 133
Domestic. Regards to his Mother.
„ CLXXIV. To President Bradshaw : Edinburgh,
3 June 1651 . . . .134
Dangerous Relapse ; now recovering : Drs. Wright and Bates.
CLXXV. To Hon. W. Lenthall : Linlithgow,
21 July 1651 . . .137
Tnvetkeithing Fight.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III. vii
PACK
LETTER CLXXVI. To President Bradshaw : Dundas,
24 July 1651 . . .139
Gone over to Fife.
„ CLXXVII. To the same : Linlithgow, 26 July
1651 . . . . .140 Inchgarvie surrendered.
„ CLXXV1II. To R. Mayor, Esq. : Burntisland, 28
July 1651 . . . 142
Rebukes his Son Richard for excess in expenditure.
CLXXIX. To Hon. W. Lenthall : Burntisland,
29 July 1651 . . .144
Burntisland. Army mostly in Fife.
„ CLXXX. To the same : Leith, 4 Aug. 1651 . 145 St. Johnston taken : the Enemy suddenly gone southward.
„ CLXXXI. To' Lord Wharton : Stratford-on-
Avon, 27 Aug. 1651 . . 150 Wharton's Doubts once more.
BATTLE OF WORCESTER . . . . . .152
LETTER CLXXXI I. To Hon. W. Lenthall : near Wor- cester, 3 Sept. 1651 . . 155 Battle of Worcester.
„ CLXXXI 1 1. To the same : Worcester, 4 Sept.
1651 . ... 157
The same.
PART VII.
THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 1651-53. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT . '. . . . .165
LETTER CLXXXIV. To Rev. J. Cotton: London, 2 Oct.
1651 . • ."' ' " -. " l / . i> "
Reflections on Public Affairs ; what Prophecies are now fulfilling.
viii CONTENTS OF VOLUME III.
PACK
LETTER CLXXXV. To Mr. Hungerford : London, 30
July 1652 . . . .181
Note on Private Business.
, CLXXXVI. To A. Hungerford, Esq. : Cockpit,
10 Dec. 1652 . . . 187
Not at Home when Hungerford called.
» CLXXXVI I. To Lieutenant-General Fleetwood :
Cockpit, 1652 . . 189
Domestic-Devotional. Difference between Love and Fear in matters of Religion.
„ CLXXXVIII. To Mr. Parker: Whitehall, 23
April 1653 . . . .196 Riot in the Fen-Country.
SUMMONS ........ 198
SPEECH 1. Opening of the Little Parliament, 4 July 1653 199
Retrospective : aim of all these Wars and Struggles ;
chief events of them ; especially dismissal of the Long
Parliament. Prospective : dayspring of divine Pro-
. phecy and Hope, to be struggled towards, though
with difficulty. Demits his authority into their hands.
LETTER CLXXXIX. To Lieutenant-General Fleetwood :
Cockpit, 22 Aug. 1653 . . 233
Complains ; heart-weary of the strife of Parties : Moses and the Two Hebrews.
„ CXC. To Committee of Customs : Cock-
pit, Oct. 1653 . . .23, In remonstrance for a poor Suitor to them.
„ CXCI. To H. Weston, Esq.: London, 16
Nov. 1653 .... 236
Excuse for an Oversight : Speldhurst Living.
(Adjoined to this Volume)
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT . . . .243 LISTS OF THE EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES . 263
OLIVER CROMWELL'S LETTERS AND SPEECHES,
PART SIXTH.
WAR WITH SCOTLAND.
1650-51.
WAR WITH SCOTLAND.
THE Scotch People, the first beginners of this grand Puritan Revolt, which we may define as an attempt to bring the Divine Law of the Bible into actual practice in men's affairs on the Earth, are still one and all resolute for that object ; but they are getting into sad difficulties as to realising it. Not easy to realise such a thing : besides true will, there need heroic gifts, the highest that Heaven gives, for realising it ! Gifts which have not been vouchsafed the Scotch People at present. The letter of their Covenant presses heavy on these men ; traditions, formulas, dead letters of many things press heavy on them. On the whole, they too are but what we call Pedants in con- duct, not Poets : the sheepskin record failing them, and old use-and-wont ending, they cannot farther ; they look into a sea
VOL. III. B
« PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. ,6S<x
of troubles, shoreless, starless, on which there seems no navi- gation possible.
The faults or misfortunes of the Scotch People, in their Puritan business, are many : but properly their grand fault is this, That they have produced for it no sufficiently heroic man among them. No man that has an eye to see beyond the letter and the rubric ; to discern, across many consecrated rubrics of the Past, the inarticulate divineness too of the Pre- sent and the Future, and dare all perils in the faith of that ! With Oliver Cromwell born a Scotchman ; with a Hero King and a unanimous Hero Nation at his back, it might have been far otherwise. With Oliver born Scotch, one sees not but the whole world might have become Puritan ; might have struggled, yet a long while, to fashion itself according to that divine Hebrew Gospel, — to the exclusion of other Gospels not Hebrew, which also are divine, and will have their share of fulfilment here ! — But of such issue there is no danger. Instead of in- spired Olivers, glowing with direct insight and noble daring, we have Argyles, Loudons, and narrow, more or less opaque persons of the Pedant species. Committees of Estates, Com- mittees of Kirks, much tied-up in formulas, both of them : a bigoted Theocracy without the Inspiration ; which is a very hopeless phenomenon indeed ! The Scotch People are all willing, eager of heart ; asking, Whitherward? But the Leaders stand aghast at the new forms of danger ; and in a vehement discrepant manner some calling, Halt ! others calling, Back- ward ! others, Forward ! — huge confusion ensues. Confusion which will need an Oliver to repress it ; to bind it up in tight manacles, if not otherwise; and say, "There, sit there and con- sider thyself a little !" —
The meaning of the Scotch Covenant was, That God's divine Law of the Bible should be put in practice in these Na- tions ; verily it, and not the Four Surplices at Allhallowtide, or any Formula of cloth or sheepskin here or elsewhere which merely pretended to be it. But then the Covenant says ex- pressly, there is to be a Stuart King in the business : we can- not do without our Stuart King ! Given a divine Law of the Bible on one hand, and a Stuart King, Charles First or Charles Second, on the other : alas, did History ever present a more irreducible case of equations in this world ? I pity the poor Scotch Pedant Governors ; still more the poor Scotch People,
,659. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3
who had no other to follow ! Nay, as for that, the People did get through, in the end ; such was their indomitable pious constancy, and other worth and fortune : and Presbytery became a Fact among them, to the whole length possible for it : not without endless results. But for the poor Governors this irre- ducible case proved, as it were, fatal ! They have never since, if we will look narrowly at it, governed Scotland, or even well known that they were there to attempt governing it. Once they lay on Dunse Hill, ' each Earl with his regiment of Tenants round him,' "For Christ s Crown and Covenant/1 and never since had they any noble National act which it was given them to do. Growing desperate of Christ's Crown and Covenant, they, in the next generation when our Annus Mirabilis arrived, hurried up to Court, looking out for other Crowns and Coven- ants ; deserted Scotland and her Cause, somewhat basely ; took to booing and booing for . Causes of their own, unhappy mortals ; — and Scotland and all Causes that were Scotland's have had to go on very much without them ever since ! Which is a very fatal issue indeed, as I reckon ; — and the time for settlement of accounts about it, which could not fail always, and seems now fast drawing nigh, looks very ominous to me. For in fact there is no creature more fatal than your Pedant ; safe as he esteems himself, the terriblest issues spring from him. Human crimes are many : but the crime of being deaf to the God's Voice, of being blind to all but parchments and anti- quarian rubrics when the Divine Handwriting is abroad on the sky, — certainly there is no crime which the Supreme Powers do more terribly avenge !
But leaving all that, — the poor Scotch Governors, we re- mark, in that old crisis of theirs, have come upon the despe- rate expedient of getting Charles Second to adopt the Cove- nant the best he can. Whereby our parchment formula is indeed saved ; but the divine fact has gone terribly to the wall ! The Scotch Governors hope otherwise. By treaties at Jer- sey, treaties at Breda, they and the hard Law of Want toge- ther have constrained this poor young Stuart to their detested Covenant ; as the Frenchman said, they have ' compelled him to adopt it voluntarily.' A fearful crime, thinks Oliver, and think we. How dare you enact such mummery under High Heaven ! exclaims he. You will prosecute Malignants ; and, with the aid of some poor varnish, transparent even to your-
4 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 1650.
selves, you adopt into your bosom the Chief Malignant ? My soul come not into your secret ; mine honour be not united unto you ! —
In fact, his new Sacred Majesty is actually under way for the Scotch court ; will become a Covenanted King there. Of himself a likely enough young man ; — very unfortunate he too. Satisfactorily descended from the Steward of Scotland and Elizabeth Muir of Caldwell (whom some have called an im- proper female1) ; satisfactory in this respect, but in others most unsatisfactory. A somewhat loose young man ; has Bucking- ham, Wilmot and Company, at one hand of him, and painful Mr. Livingston and Presbyterian ruling-elders at the other ; is hastening now, as a Covenanted King, towards such a Theo- cracy as we described. Perhaps the most anomalous pheno- menon ever produced by Nature and Art working together in this World ! — He had sent Montrose before him, poor young man, to try if war and force could effect nothing ; whom in- stantly the Scotch Nation took, and tragically hanged.2 They now, winking hard at that transaction, proffer the poor young man their Covenant ; compel him to sign it voluntarily, and be Covenanted King over them.
The result of all which for the English Commonwealth can- not be doubtful. What Declarations, Papers, Protocols, passed on the occasion, — numerous, flying thick between Edinburgh and London in late months, — shall remain unknown to us. The Commonwealth has brought Cromwell home from Ireland ; and got forces ready for him : that is the practical outcome of it. The Scotch also have got forces ready ; will either invade us, or (which we decide to be preferable) be invaded by us.3 Crom- well must now take up the Scotch coil of troubles, as he did the Irish, and deal with that too. Fairfax, as we heard, was unwilling to go ; Cromwell, urging the Council of State to second him, would fain persuade Fairfax ; gets him still nomi- nated Commander-in-Chief ; but cannot persuade him ; — will himself have to be Commander-in-Chief, and go.
In Whitlocke and Ludlow4 there is record of earnest inter-
1 Horseloads of Jacobite, Anti- Jacobite Pamphlets; Goodall, Father Innes, &c. &c. How it was settled, I do not recollect * Details of the business, in Balfour, iv. 9-22. 3 Commons Journals, z6th June 1650. « Whitlocke, pp. 444-6 (zsth June 1650) ; Ludlow, i. 317.
1650. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 5
cessions, solemn conference held with Fairfax in Whitehall, duly prefaced by prayer to Heaven ; intended on Cromwell's part to persuade Fairfax that it is his duty again to accept the chief command, and lead us into Scotland. Fairfax, urged by his Wife, a Vere of the fighting Veres, and given to Presby- terianism, dare not and will not go ; — sends ' Mr. Rushworth, his Secretary,' on the morrow, to give up his Commission,5 that Cromwell himself may be named General-in-Chief. In this preliminary business, says Ludlow, ' Cromwell acted his part so to the life that I really thought he wished Fairfax to go.' Wooden-headed that I was, I had reason to alter that notion by and by !
Wooden Ludlow gives note of another very singular inter- view he himself had with Cromwell, 'a little after,' in those same days or hours. Cromwell whispered him in the House ; they agreed ' to meet that afternoon in the Council of State' in Whitehall, and there withdraw into a private room to have a little talk together. Oliver had cast his eye on Ludlow as a fit man for Ireland, to go and second Ireton there ; he took him, as by appointment, into a private room, ' the Queen's Guard- chamber' to wit ; and there very largely expressed himself. He testified the great value he had for me, Ludlow; combatted my objections to Ireland ; spake somewhat against Lawyers, what a tortuous ungodly jungle English Law was ; spake of the good that might be done by a good and brave man ; — spake of the great Providences of God now abroad on the Earth ; in particular ' talked for almost an hour upon the Hundred-and- tenth Psalm ;' which to me, in my solid wooden head, seemed extremely singular !6
Modern readers, not in the case of Ludlow, will find this fact illustrative of Oliver. Before setting out on the Scotch Expedition, and just on the eve of doing it, we too will read that Psalm of Hebrew David's, which had become English Oliver's : we will fancy in our minds, not without reflections and emotions, the largest soul in England looking at this God's World with prophet's earnestness through that Hebrew Word, • — two Divine Phenomena accurately correspondent for Oliver ; the one accurately the prophetic symbol and articulate inter- pretation of the other. As if the Silences had at length found utterance, and this was their Voice from out of old Eternity :
' Commota Journals, ubi supra. 6 Ludlow, i. 319.
6 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 20Jun*
4 The Lord said unto my Lord : Sit thou at my right hand ' until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall ' send the rod of thy strength out of Zion : rule thou in the ' midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the ' day of thy power ; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb ' of the morning : thou hast the dew of thy youth. The Lord ' hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever 1 after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord, at thy right hand, ' shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath. He shall ' judge among the Heathen ; he shall rill the places with the ' dead bodies ; he shall wound the heads over many countries. ' He shall drink of the brook in the way : therefore shall he lift ' up the head.'
In such spirit goes Oliver Cromwell to the Wars. 'A god- intoxicated man,' as Novalis elsewhere phrases it. I have asked myself, If anywhere in Modern European History, or even in ancient Asiatic, there was found a man practising this mean World's affairs with a heart more filled by the Idea of the Highest ? Bathed in the Eternal Splendours, — it is so he walks our dim Earth : this man is one of few. He is projected with a terrible force out of the Eternities, and in the Times and their arenas there is nothing that can withstand him. It is great ; — to us it is tragic ; a thing that should strike us dumb ! My brave one, thy old noble Prophecy is divine ; older than Hebrew David ; old as the Origin of Man ; — and shall, though in wider ways than thou supposest, be fulfilled! —
LETTERS CXXXIIL— CXXXVIII.
HOOKE and his small business, in rapid public times, will not detain us. Humphrey Hooke, Alderman of Bristol, was elected to the Long Parliament for that City in 1640; but being found to have had concern in ' Monopolies,' was, like a number of others, expelled, and sent home again under a cloud. The ' service' he did at Bristol Storm, though somewhat need- ing ' concealment,' ought to rehabilitate him a little in the charity, at least in the pity, of the Well-affected mind. At all
1650, LETTER CXXXIII. LONDON. 7
events, the conditions made with him must be kept ; — and we doubt not were.
LETTER CXXXIII.
' To the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Commons: These!
MR. SPEAKER, London, 2oth June 1650.
When we lay before Bristol in the Year 1645, we considered the season of the year, the strength of the place, and of what importance the reducement thereof would be to the good of the Commonwealth, and accordingly ap- plied ourselves to all possible means for the accomplish- ment of the same ; which received its answerable effect. At which time, for something considerable done in order to that end, by Humphrey Hooke, Alderman of that place, — which, for many reasons, is desired to be concealed, — his Excellency the Lord General Fairfax and myself gave him an Engagement under our hands and seals, That he should be secured and protected, by the authority of the Parlia- ment, in the enjoyment of his life, liberty and estate, as freely as in former times, and as any other person under the obedience of the Parliament ; notwithstanding any past acts of hostility, or other thing done by him, in opposition to the Parliament or assistance of the Enemy. Which En- gagement, with a Certificate of divers godly persons of that City concerning the performance of his part thereof, is ready to be produced.
I understand, that lately an Order is issued out to se- quester him, whereby he is called to Composition. I thought it meet therefore to give the honourable Parliament this account, that he may be preserved from anything of that nature. For the performance of which, in order to the good of the Commonwealth, we stand engaged in our faith and
8 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 2ojun«
honour. I leave it to you ; and remain, Sir, your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
On Wednesday 2.6th June 1650, the Act appointing 'That ' Oliver Cromwell, Esquire, be constituted Captain-General and ' Commander-in-Chief of all the Forces raised or to be raised ' by authority of Parliament within the Commonwealth of Eng- ' land,'1 was passed. 'Whereupon,' says Whitlocke, 'great cere- ' monies and congratulations of the new General were made to ' him from all sorts of people ; and he went on roundly with ' his business.' Roundly, rapidly; for in three days more, on Saturday the 29th, ' the Lord General Cromwell went out of ' London towards the North : and the news of him marching ' northward much startled the Scots.'2
He has Lambert for Major-General, Cousin Whalley for Commissary-General ; and among his Colonels are Overton, whom we knew at Hull ; Pride, whom we have seen in West- minster Hall ; and a taciturn man, much given to chewing tobacco, whom we have transiently seen in various places, Colonel George Monk by name.3 An excellent officer; listens to what you say, answers often by a splash of brown juice merely, but punctually does what is doable of it. Pudding- headed Hodgson the Yorkshire Captain is also there ; from whom perhaps we may glean a rough lucent-point or two. The Army, as my Lord General attracts it gradually from the right and left on his march northward, amounts atTweedside to some Sixteen-thousand horse and foot.4 Rushworth goes with him as Secretary; historical John ; having now done with Fairfax: — but, alas, his Papers for this Period are all lost to us : it was not safe to print them with the others ; and they are lost ! The Historical Collections, with their infinite rubbish and their modicum of jewels, cease at the Trial of the King; leaving us, fallen into far worse hands, to repent of our impatience, and regret the useful John !
The following Letters, without commentary, which stingy space will not permit, must note the Lord General's progress for us as they can ; and illuminate with here and there a rude gleam of direct light at first-hand, an old scene very obsolete, confused, unexplored and dim for us.
* Tanner MSS. (In Gary, ii. 222). ' Commons Journals, in die.
a Whitlocke, jw>. 446-7. 3 Life of Monk, by Gumble, his Chaplain,
* Train, 690; horse, 5,415; foot, 10,249; in toto, 16,354 (Cromweiliana, p. 85).
LETTER CXXXIV. ALNWICK.
LETTER CXXXIV.
DOROTHY CROMWELL, we are happy to find, has a ' little brat ;' — but the poor little thing must have died soon : in No- ble's inexact lists there is no trace of its ever having lived. The Lord General has got into Northumberland. He has a good excuse for being ' silent this way,' — the way of Letters.
For my very loving Brother Richard Mayor, Esquire, at his House at Hursley : These.
DEAR BROTHER, Ainwick, iTth July 1650.
The exceeding crowd of business I had at London is the best excuse I can make for my silence this way. Indeed, Sir, my heart beareth me witness I want no affection to you or yours ; you are all often in my poor prayers.
I should be glad to hear how the little Brat doth. I could chide both Father and Mother for their neglects of me : I know my Son is idle, but I had better thoughts of Doll. I doubt now her husband hath spoiled her ; pray tell her so from me. If I had as good leisure as they, I should write sometimes. If my Daughter be breeding, I will excuse her ; but not for her nursery ! The Lord bless them. I hope you give my Son good counsel ; I believe he needs it He is in the dangerous time of his age ; and it's a very vain world. O, how good it is to close with Christ betimes; — there is nothing else worth the looking after. I beseech you call upon him, — I hope you will discharge my duty and your own love : you see how I am employed. I need pity. I know what I feel. Great place and business in the world is not worth the looking after; I should have no comfort in mine but that my hope is in the Lord's presence. I have not sought these things; truly I have been called
10 PART vi. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. i7juiy
unto them by the Lord ; and therefore am not without some assurance that He will enable His poor worm and weak servant to do His will, and to fulfil my generation. In this I desire your prayers. Desiring to be lovingly remembered to my dear Sister, to our Son and Daughter, to my Cousin Ann and the good Family, I rest, your very affectionate brother, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
On Monday izdjuly, the Army, after due rendezvousing and reviewing, passed through Berwick ; and encamped at Mordington across the Border, where a fresh stay of two days is still necessary. Scotland is bare of resources for us. That night ' the Scotch beacons were all set on fire ; the men fled, and drove away their cattle.' Mr. Bret, his Excellency's Trumpeter, returns from Edinburgh without symptom of pa- cification. ' The Clergy represent us to the people as if we were monsters of the world.' " Army of Sectaries and Blas- phemers," is the received term for us among the Scots.5
Already on the march hitherward, and now by Mr. Bret in an official way, have due Manifestos been promulgated : De- claration To all that are Saints and Partakers of the Faith of Cod's Elect in Scotland, and Proclamation To the People of Scotland in general. Asking of the mistaken People, in mild terms, Did you not see us, and try us, what kind of men we were, when we came among you two years ago? Did you find us plunderers, murderers, monsters of the world? 'Whose ox have we stolen ?' To the mistaken Saints of God in Scotland, again, the Declaration testifies and argues, in a grand earnest way, That in Charles Stuart and his party there can be no salvation ; that we seek the real substance of the Covenant, which it is perilous to desert for the mere outer form thereof; — on the whole, that we are not sectaries and blasphemers ; and that it goes against our heart to hurt a hair of any sincere servant of God. — Very earnest Documents ; signed by John Rushworth in the name of General and Officers; often printed and reprinted.6 They bear Oliver's sense in every feature of them ; but are not distinctly of his composition : wherefore, as
* Harris, p. 513 : one of the Pusey stock.
* Balfour, iv. 97, 100, &c. : ' Cromwell the Blasphemer' (ib. 88).
' Newspapers (in Parl. Hist. xix. 298, 310); Com. Jour, igth July 1650.
1650. LETTER CXXXIV. ALNWICK. 11
space grows more and more precious, and Oliver's sense will elsewhere sufficiently appear, we omit them.
1 The Scots,' says Whitlocke,7 'are all gone with their goods • towards Edinburgh, by command of the Estates of Scotland, ' upon penalty if they did not remove ; so that mostly all the ' men are gone. But the wives stay behind; and some of them ' do bake and brew, to provide bread and drink for the Eng- ' lish Army.' The public functionaries 'have told the people, ' "That the English Army intends to put all the men to the ' sword, and to thrust hot irons through the women's breasts ;" ' — which much terrified them, till once the General's Procla- ' mations were published.' And now the wives do stay behind, and brew and bake, — poor wives !
That Monday night while we lay at Mordington, with hard accommodation out of doors and in, — my puddingheaded friend informs me of a thing. The General has made a large Discourse to the Officers and Army, now that we are across ; speaks to them "as a Christian and a Soldier, To be doubly and trebly diligent, to be wary and worthy, for sure enough we have work before us! But have we not had God's blessing hitherto? Let us go on faithfully, and hope for the like still !"8 The Army answered ' with acclamations,' still audible to me. — Yorkshire Hodgson continues :
' Well ; that night we pitched at Mordington, about the ' House. Our Officers,' General and Staff Officers, 'hearing a ' great shout among the soldiers, looked out of window. They ' spied a soldier with a Scotch kirn' (churn) 'on his head. Some ' of them had been purveying abroad, and had found a vessel ' filled with Scotch cream: bringing the reversion of it to their ' tents, some got dishfuls, and some hatfuls ; and the cream ' being now low in the vessel, one fellow would have a modest ' drink, and so lifts the kirn to his mouth : but another cant- ' ing it up, it falls over his head; and the man is lost in it, all ' the cream trickles down his apparel, and his head fast in the ' tub ! This was a merriment to the Officers ; as Oliver loved ' an innocent jest.'
A week after, we find the General very serious ; writing thus to the Lord President Bradshaw.
7 p. 450* * Hodgson, p. 130 ; Whitlocke, p. 450.
13 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3ojul,
LETTER CXXXV.
' COPPERSPATH,' of which the General here speaks, is the country pronunciation of Cockburnspath ; name of a wild rock- and-river chasm, through which the great road goes, some miles to the eastward of D unbar. Of which we shall hear again. A very wild road at that time, as may still be seen. The ravine is now spanned by a beautiful Bridge, called Pease Bridge, or Path's Bridge, which pleasure-parties go to visit. — The date of this Letter, in all the old Newspapers, is '3oth July,' and doubt- less in the Original too ;9 but the real day, as appears by the context, is Wednesday 3ist.
To the Right Honourable the Lord President of the Council of State: These.
MY LORD, Musselburgh, soth July 1650.
We marched from Berwick upon Monday, being the 22d of July; and lay at my Lord Mordington's house, Monday night, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thurs- day we marched to Copperspath; on Friday to Dunbar, where we got some small pittance from our ships; from whence we marched to Haddington.
On the Lord's-day, hearing that the Scottish Army meant to meet us at Gladsmoor, we laboured to possess the Moor before them; and beat our drums very early in the morning. But when we came there, no considerable body of the Army appeared. Whereupon Fourteen-hundred horse, under the command of Major-General Lambert and Colonel Whalley, were sent as a vanguard to Musselburgh, to see likewise if they could find out and attempt any thing upon the Enemy; I marching in the heel of them with the residue of the Army. Our party encountered with some of their horse ; but they could not abide us. We lay at Musselburgh, en- camped close, that night ; the Enemy's Army lying between
• ' Letter from the General, dated 30° Julii' (Commons Journals, vi. 451),
,65o. LETTER CXXXV. MUSSELBURGH. 13
Edinburgh and Leith, about four miles from us, entrenched by a Line flankered from Edinburgh to Leith ; the guns also from Leith scouring most part of the Line, so that they lay very strong.
Upon Monday 2Qth instant, we were resolved to draw up to them, to see if they would fight with us. And when we came upon the place, we resolved to get our cannons as near them as we could; hoping thereby to annoy them. We likewise perceived that they had some force upon a Hill that overlooks Edinburgh, from whence we might be annoyed ; ' and' did resolve to send up a party to possess the said Hill ; — which prevailed : but, upon the whole, we did find that their Army were not easily to be attempted. Whereupon we lay still all the said day; which proved to be so sore a day and night of rain as I have seldom seen, and greatly to our disadvantage ; the Enemy having enough to cover them, and we nothing at all considerable.10 Our soldiers did abide this difficulty with great courage and resolution, hoping they should speedily come to fight. In the morning, the ground being very wet, ' and' our provisions scarce, we resolved to draw back to our quarters at Musselburgh, there to refresh and revictual.
The Enemy, when we drew off, fell upon our rear ; and put them into some little disorder : but our bodies of horse being in some readiness, came to a grabble with them; where indeed there was a gallant and hot dispute; the Major-General11 and Colonel Whalley being in the rear; and the Enemy drawing out great bodies to second their first affront. Our men charged them up to the very trenches, and beat them in. The Major-General's horse was shot in the neck and head ; himself run through the arm with a
10 ' Near a little village named, I think, Lichnagarie,' — means, Lang Niddery (Hodgson, p. 132) ; the Niddery near Duddingston, still deservedly called Lang by the people, though map-makers append the epithet elsewhere.
u Lambert.
r4 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 30July
lance, and run into another place of his body, — was taken prisoner by the Enemy, but rescued immediately by Lieu- tenant Empson of my regiment. Colonel Whalley, who was then nearest to the Major-General, did charge very reso- lutely ; and repulsed the Enemy, and killed divers of them upon the place, and took some prisoners, without any con- siderable loss. Which indeed did so amaze and quiet them, that we marched off to Musselburgh, but they dared not send out a man to trouble us. We hear their young King looked on upon all this, but was very ill satisfied to see their men do no better.
We came to Musselburgh that night; so tired and wearied for want of sleep, and so dirty by reason of the wetness of the weather, that we expected the Enemy would make an infall upon us. Which accordingly they did, between three and four of the clock this morning ; with fifteen of their most select troops, under the command of Major-General Montgomery and Strahan, two champions of the Church : — upon which business there was great hope and expectation laid. The Enemy came on with a great deal of resolution ; beat-in our guards, and put a regiment of horse in some disorder : but our men, speedily taking the alarm, charged the Enemy ; routed them, took many prisoners, killed a great many of them ; did execution * to' within a quarter of a mile of Edinburgh ; and, I am informed, Strahan12 was killed there, besides divers other Officers of quality. We took the Major to Strahan's regiment, Major Hamilton; a Lieutenant-Colonel, and divers other Officers, and persons of quality, whom yet we know not. Indeed this is a sweet beginning of your business, or rather the Lord's ; and I be- lieve is not very satisfactory to the Enemy, especially to the Kirk party. We did not lose any in this business, so far as
1a We shall hear of Strahan again, not 'killed.' This Montgomery is the Earl of Ej»linton's son Robert, of whom we heard before (Letter LXXVIII. vol. ii. p. 67); neither is he ' slain,' as will be seen by and by.
i6so. LETTER CXXXV. MUSSELBURGH. 15
I hear, but a Cornet; I do not hear of four men more. The Major-General will, I believe, within few days be well to take the field. And I trust this work, which is the Lord's, will prosper in the hands of His servants.
I did not think advisable to attempt upon the Enemy, lying as he doth : but surely this would sufficiently provoke him to fight if he had a mind to. I do not think he is less than Six or Seven thousand horse, and Fourteen or Fifteen thousand foot. The reason, I hear, that they give out to their people why they do not fight us, is, Because they ex- pect many bodies of men more out of the North of Scotland ; which when they come, they give out they will then engage. But I believe they would rather tempt us to attempt them in their fastness, within which they are entrenched ; or else hoping we shall famish for want of provisions ; — which is very likely to be, if we be not timely and fully supplied. I remain, my Lord, your most humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
* P.S.' I understand, since writing of this Letter, that Major-General Montgomery is slain.*
Cautious David Lesley lies thus within his Line ' flankered' from Leith shore to the Calton Hill, with guns to ' scour' it ; with outposts or flying parties, as we see, stationed on the back slope of Salisbury Crags or Arthur's Seat ; with all Edinburgh safe behind him, and indeed all Scotland safe behind him, for supplies : and nothing can tempt him to come out. The fac- tions and distractions of Scotland, and its Kirk Committees and State Committees, and poor Covenanted King and Courtiers, are many : but Lesley, standing steadily to his guns, persists here. His Army, it appears, is no great things of an Army : ' altogether governed by the Committee of Estates and Kirk,' snarls an angry ^covenanted Courtier, whom the said Com- mittee has just ordered to take himself away again ; ' altogether ' governed by the Committee of Estates and Kirk,' snarls he, ' and they took especial care in their levies not to admit any
* Newspapers (in Cromivelliana, pp. 85-6).
16 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3AnS.
• Malignants or Engagers' (who had been in Hamilton's En- gagement) ; ' placing in command, for most part, Ministers' ' Sons, Clerks and other sanctified creatures, who hardly ever ' saw or heard of any sword but that of the spirit !'13 The more reason for Lesley to lie steadily within his Line here. Lodged in ' Bruchton Village,' which means Broughton, now a part of Edinburgh New Town ; there in a cautious solid manner lies Lesley ; and lets Cromwell attempt upon him. It is his history, the military history of these two, for a month to come.
Meanwhile the General Assembly have not been backward with their Answer to the Cromwell Manifesto, or ' Declaration of the English Army to all the Saints in Scotland,' spoken of above. Nay, already while he lay at Berwick, they had drawn- up an eloquent Counter-Declaration, and sent it to him ; which he, again, has got ' some godly Ministers' of his to declare against and reply to: the whole of which Declarations, Replies and Re-replies shall, like the primary Document itself, remain suppressed on the present occasion.14 But along with this ' Reply by some godly Ministers,' the Lord General sends a Letter of his own, which is here :
LETTER CXXXVI.
To the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland; or, in case of their not sitting, To the Commissioners of the Kirk of Scotland: These.
SrRS, Musselburgh, $d August 1650.
Your Answer to the Declaration of the Army we have seen. Some godly Ministers with us did, at Ber- wick, compose this Reply ;15 which I thought fit to send you.
That you or we, in these great Transactions, answer the will and mind of God, it is only from His grace and mercy
13 Sir Edward Walker, Historical Discourses (London, 1705), p. 162.
14 Titles of them, copies of several of them, in Parliamentary History, xix.
iinall 410, no. 475, § 15 (Printed, London, i6th Aug. 1650).
1650. LETTER CXXXVI MUSSELBURGH. 17
to us. And therefore, having said as in our Papers, we commit the issue thereof to Him who disposeth all things, assuring you that we have light and comfort increasing upon us, day by day; and are persuaded that, before it be long, the Lord will manifest His good pleasure, so that all shall see Him; and His People shall say, This is the Lord's work, and it is marvellous in our eyes : this is the day that the Lord hath made ; we will be glad and rejoice therein. — Only give me leave to say, in a word, ' thus much :'
You take upon you to judge us in the things of our God, though you know us not, — though in the things we have said unto you, in that which is entitled the Army's Declaration, we have spoken our hearts as in the sight of the Lord who hath tried us. And by your hard and subtle words you have begotten prejudice in those who do too much, in matters of conscience, — wherein every soul is to answer for itself to God, — depend upon you. So that some have already, followed you, to the breathing -out of their souls :16 ' and' others continue still in the way wherein they are led by you, — we fear, to their own ruin.
Arid no marvel if you deal thus with us, when indeed you can find in your hearts to conceal from your own people the Papers we have sent you ; who might thereby see and understand the bowels of our affections to them, especially to such among them as fear the Lord. Send as many of your Papers as you please amongst ours ;17 they have a free passage. I fear them not. What is of God in them, would it might be embraced and received ! — One of them lately sent, directed To the Under-Officers and Soldiers in the Eng- lish Army, hath begotten from them this enclosed Answer;™
16 In the Musselburgh Skirmish, &c. f Our people.
18 The Scotch Paper 'To the Under-Officers,' &c., received on the last day of July ; and close following on it, this ' Answer' which it ' hath begotten from them,' addressed To the People of Scotland (especially those among them that know and fear the Lord) from whom yesterday -we received a Paper directed To the Under-Officers &C. ; of date 'Musselburgh, ist August 1630:' in King's Pamphlets, small 410, no. 475, § 10 (Printed, London, izth August 1650). — This Answer 'by the Under-Officers, a
VOL. III. C
l§ PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3Aug.
which they desired me to send to you : not a crafty politic one, but a plain simple spiritual one ; — what kind of one it is, God knoweth, and God also will in due time make mani- fest.
And do we multiply these things,19 as men ; or do we them for the Lord Christ and His People's sake? Indeed we are not, through the grace of God, afraid of your num- bers, nor confident in ourselves. We could, — I pray God you do not think we boast, — meet your Army, or what you have to bring against us. We have given, — humbly we speak it before our God, in whom all our hope is, — some proof that thoughts of that kind prevail not upon us. The Lord hath not hid His face from us since our approach so near unto you.
Your own guilt is too much for you to bear : bring not therefore upon yourselves the blood of innocent men, — de- ceived with pretences of King and Covenant ; from whose eyes you hide a better knowledge ! I am persuaded that divers of you, who lead the People, have laboured to build yourselves in these things ; wherein you have censured others, and established yourselves "upon the Word of God." Is it therefore infallibly agreeable to the Word of God, all that you say ? I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken. Precept may be upon precept, line may be upon line, and yet the Word of the Lord may be to some a Word of Judgment ; that they may fall backward, and be broken and be snared and be taken !20 There may be a spiritual fulness, which the World may call drunkenness;21 as in the second Chapter of \heActs. There
very pious and zealous Piece, seems to have found favour among the pious Scots, and to have circulated among them in Manuscript Copies. A most mutilated unintel- ligible Fragment, printed in A nalecta Scotica. (Edinburgh, 1834), ii. 271, as 'a Pro- clamation by Oliver Cromwell,' turns out to be in reality a fraction of Ms 'Answer by the Under-Officers :' — printed there from a ' Copy evidently made at the time/ evidently a most ruinous Copy, 'and now in th™ possession of James Macknight, Esq.'
19 Papers and Declarations. 2° Bible phrases.
41 As you now do of us ; while it is rather you that are drunk."
i*so. LETTER CXXXVI. MUSSELBURGH. 19
may be, as well, a carnal confidence upon misunderstood and misapplied precepts, which may be called spiritual drunkenness. There may be a Covenant made with Death and Hell !22 I will not say yours was so. But judge if such things have a politic aim : To avoid the overflowing scourge ;22 or, To accomplish worldly interests ? And if therein we23 have confederated with wicked and carnal men, and have respect for them, or otherwise ' have' drawn them in to associate with us, Whether this be a Covenant of God, and spiritual ? Bethink yourselves ; we hope we do.
I pray you read the Twenty- eighth of Isaiah, from the fifth to the fifteenth verse. And do not scorn to know that it is the Spirit that quickens and giveth life.
The Lord give you and us understanding to do that which is well-pleasing in His sight. Committing you to the grace of God, I rest, your humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Here is the passage from Isaiah : I know not whether the General Assembly read it and laid it well to heart, or not, but it was worth their while, — and is worth our while too :
' In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a crown of ' glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of His ' people. And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in ' judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the ' gate.
' But they also have erred through wine, and through strong ' drink are out of the way ! The Priest and the Prophet have ' erred through strong drink ; they are swallowed up of wine ; ' they are out of the way through strong drink. They err in ' vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of 1 vomit and filthiness ; so that there is no place clean.
' Whom shall He teach knowledge? Whom shall He make ' to understand doctrine ? Them that are weaned from the ' milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon ' precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line:
** Bible phrases. ** i. e. you.
* Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 320-323).
20 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Aug.
' here a little and there a little. For with stammering lips and * another tongue will He speak to this people. To whom He ' said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to ' rest, and this is the refreshment ; — yet they would not hear.' No. ' The Word of the Lord was unto them precept upon ' precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little, That 4 they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared ' and taken ! — Wherefore hear ye the Word of the Lord, ye ' scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem !'
Yes, hear it, and not with the outward ear only, ye Kirk Committees, and Prophesying and Governing Persons every- where : it may be important to you ! If God have said it, if the Eternal Truth of things have said it, will it not need to be done, think you ? Or will the doing some distracted shadow of it, some Covenanted Charles Stuart of it, suffice? — The Kirk Committee seems in a bad way.
David Lesley, however, what as yet is in their favour, con- tinues within his Line ; stands steadily to his guns ; — and the weather is wet ; Oliver's provision is failing. This Letter to the Kirk was written on Saturday : on the Monday following,24 ' about the 6th of August,' as Major Hodgson dates it, the tempestuous state of the weather not permitting ship-stores to be landed at Musselburgh, Cromwell has to march his Army back to Dunbar, and there provision it. Great joy in the Kirk-and-Estates Committee thereupon : Lesley steadily con- tinues in his place. —
The famine among the Scots themselves, at Dunbar, is great ; picking our horses' beans, eating our soldiers' leavings : ' they are much enslaved to their Lords,' poor creatures; almost des- titute of private capital, — and ignorant of soap to a terrible ex- tent !25 Cromwell distributes among them ' pease and wheat to the value of 24O/.' On the I2th he returns to Musselburgh; finds, as heavy Bulstrode spells it in good Scotch, with a friski- ness we hardly looked for in him, That Lesley has commanded ' The gude women should awe come away with their gear, and ' not stay to brew or bake, any of them, for the English ;' — which makes it a place more forlorn than before.26 Oliver de- cides to encamp on the Pentland Hills, which lie on the other side of Edinburgh, overlooking the Fife and Stirling roads ; and
* Balfour, iv. 89. K WHtlocke, p. 453. * Ibid. p. 453.
s65o. LETTER CXXXVII. PENTLAND HILLS. 21
to try whether he cannot force Lesley to fight, by cutting-off his supplies. Here, in the mean time, is a Letter from Lesley him- self; written in ' Broughton Village,' precisely while Oliver is on march towards the Pentlands :
" For his Excellency the Lord General Cromwell,
" Bruchton, i3th August 1650.
" MY LORD, — I am commanded by the Committee of Es- " tates of this Kingdom, and desired by the Commissioners of " the General Assembly, to send unto your Excellency this en- " closed Declaration, as that which containeth the State of the " Quarrel ; wherein we are resolved, by the Lord's assistance, " to fight your Army, when the Lord shall be pleased to call " us thereunto. And as you have professed you will not con- " ceal any of our Papers, I do desire that this Declaration may " be made known to all the Officers of your Army. And so I " rest, — your Excellency's most humble servant,
" DAVID LESLEY."2?
This Declaration, done by the Kirk, and endorsed by the Estates, we shall not on the present occasion make known, even though it is brief. The reader shall fancy it a brief em- phatic disclaimer, on the part of Kirk and State, of their hav- ing anything to do with Malignants ; — disclaimer in emphatic words, while the emphatic facts continue as they were. Dis- tinct hope, however, is held out that the Covenanted King will testify openly his sorrow for his Father's Malignancies, and his own resolution for a quite other course. To which Oliver, from the slope of the Pentlands,28 returns this answer :
LETTER CXXXVII.
For the Right Honourable David Lesley, Lieutenant- General of the Scots Army : These.
Q From the Camp at Pentland Hills,
oIR, 1 4th August 1650.
I received yours of the i3th instant; with the Paper you mentioned therein, enclosed, — which I caused
77 Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 330). ** ' About Colinton' (Balfour, iv. 90).
22 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 14 Aug.
to be read in the presence of so many Officers as could well be gotten together; to which your Trumpet can witness. We return you this answer. By which I hope, in the Lord, it will appear that we continue the same we have professed ourselves to the Honest People in Scotland; wishing to them as to our own souls ; it being no part of our business to hinder any of them from worshipping God in that way they are satisfied in their consciences by the Word of God they ought, though different from us, — but shall therein be ready to perform what obligation lies upon us by the Cove- nant.29
But that under the pretence of the Covenant, mistaken, and wrested from the most native intent and equity thereof, a King should be taken in by you, to be imposed upon us ; and this ' be' called " the Cause of God and the Kingdom ;" and this done upon "the satisfaction of God's People in both Nations," as is alleged, — together with a disowning of Malignants ; although he30 who is the head of them, in whom all their hope and comfort lies, be received ; who, at this very instant, hath a Popish Army fighting for and under him in Ireland ; hath Prince Rupert, a man who hath had his hand deep in the blood of many innocent men of Eng- land, now in the head of our Ships, stolen from us upon a Malignant account ; hath the French and Irish ships daily making depredations on our coasts; and strong combina- tions by the Malignants in England, to raise Armies in our bowels, by virtue of his commissions, who hath of late issued out very many to that purpose : — How the ' Godly' Interest you pretend you have received him upon, and the Malignant Interests in their ends and consequences 'all' centering in this man, can be secured, we cannot discern ! And how we should believe, that whilst known and noto- rious Malignants are fighting and plotting against us on
w Ungrammatical, but intelligible and characteristic. M Charles Stuart.
i65o. LETTER CXXXVII. PENTI>AND HILLS. 23
the one hand, and you declaring for him on the other, it should not be an " espousing of a Malignant Party's Quarrel or Interest ;" but be a mere " fighting upon former grounds and principles, and in defence of the Cause of God and the Kingdoms, as hath been these twelve years last past," as you say : how this should be " for the security and satisfac- tion of God's People in both Nations ;" or ' how* the oppos- ing of this should render us enemies to the Godly with you, we cannot well understand. Especially considering that all these Malignants take their confidence and encouragement from the late transactions of your Kirk and State with your King. For as we have already said, so we tell you again, It is but ' some' satisfying security to those who employ us, and ' who' are concerned, that we seek. Which we conceive will not be by a few formal and feigned Submissions, from a Person that could not tell otherwise how to accomplish his Malignant ends, and 'is' therefore counselled to this compliance, by them who assisted his Father, and have hitherto actuated himself in his most evil and desperate designs ; designs which are now again by them set on foot. Against which, How you will be able, in the way you are in, to secure us or yourselves ? — * this it now' is (forasmuch as concerns ourselves) our duty to look after.
If the state of your Quarrel be thus, upon which, as you say, you resolve to fight our Army, you will have oppor- tunity to do that ; else what means our abode here ? And if our hope be not in the Lord, it will be ill with us. We commit both you and ourselves to Him who knows the heart and tries the reins; with whom are all our ways; who is able to do for us and you above what we know : Which we desire may be in much mercy to His poor People, and to the glory of His great Name.
And having performed your desire, in making your Papers so public as is before expressed, I desire you to do the like.
24 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. u Aug.
by letting the State, Kirk and Army have the knowledge hereof. To which end I have sent you enclosed two Copies * of this Letter ;' and rest, your humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The encampment on Pentland Hills, ' some of our tents within sight of Edinburgh Castle and City,' threatens to cut-off Lesley's supplies ; but will not induce him to fight. ' The gude ' wives fly with their bairns and gear' in great terror of us, poor gude wives ; and ' when we set fire to furze-bushes, report ' that we are burning their houses.'31 Great terror of us ; but no other result. Lesley brings over his guns to the western side of Edinburgh, and awaits, steady within his fastnesses there.
Hopes have arisen that the Godly Party in Scotland, see- ing now by these Letters and Papers what our real meaning is, may perhaps quit a Malignant King's Interest, and make blood- less peace with us, ' which were the best of all.' The King bog- gles about signing that open Testimony, that Declaration against his Father's sins, which was expected of him. ' A great Com- mander of the Enemy's, Colonel Gibby Carre' (Colonel Gilbert Ker, of whom we shall hear farther), solicits an interview with some of ours, and has it ; and other interviews and free commun- ings take place, upon the Burrow-Moor and open fields that lie between us. Gibby Ker, and also Colonel Strahan who was thought to be slain :32 these and some minority of others are clear against Malignancy in every form ; and if the Covenanted Stuart King will not sign this Declaration — ! — Whereupon the Covenanted Stuart King does sign it ; signs this too,33 — what will he not sign ? — and these hopes of accomodation vanish.
Neither still will they risk a Battle ; though in their inter- views upon the Burrow-Moor, they said they longed to do it. Vain that we draw out in battalia ; they lie within their fast-
* Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 331-333).
31 Narrative of Farther Proceedings, dated ' From the Camp in Musselburgli Fields, i6th August 1650 ;' read in the Parliament 2ad August (Commons Jourtials); reprinted in Parliamentary History (xix. 327) as a ' Narrative by General Crom- well ;' though it is clearly enough not General Cromwell's, but John Rushworth's.
» Letter CXXXV. antea, p. 14.
33 At our Court at Dunfermline this i6th day of August 1650 (Sir Edward Walker, pp. 170-6 ; by whom the melancholy Document is, with due loyal indignation, given at large there).
i6So. LETTER CXXXVIII. MUSSELBURGH. 25
nesses. We march, with defiant circumstance of war, round all accessible sides of Edinburgh ; encamp on the Pentlands, return to Musselburgh for provisions ; go to the Pentlands again, — enjoy one of the beautifulest prospects, over deep-blue seas, over yellow corn-fields, dusky Highland mountains, from Ben Lomond round to the Bass again ; but can get no Battle. And the weather is broken, and the season is advancing, — equinox within ten days, by the modern Almanac. Our men fall sick ; the service is harassing ; — and it depends on wind and tide whether even biscuit can be landed for us nearer than Dunbar. Here is the Lord General's own Letter 'to a Mem- ber of the Council of State,' — we might guess this or the other, but cannot with the least certainty know which.
LETTER CXXXVIII. lTo Council of State in Whitehall: These?
SlR, Musselburgh, 3oth August 1650.
Since my last, we seeing the Enemy not willing to engage, — and yet very apt to take exceptions against speeches of that kind spoken in our Army ; which occasioned some of them to come to parley with our Officers, To let them know that they would fight us, — they lying still in or near their fastnesses, on the west side of Edinburgh, we resolved, the Lord assisting, to draw near to them once more, to try if we could fight them. And indeed one hour's advantage gained might probably, we think, have given us an opportunity.34
To which purpose, upon Tuesday the 27th instant we marched westward of Edinburgh towards Stirling; which the Enemy perceiving, marched with as great expedition as was possible to prevent us ; and the vanguards of both the Armies came to skirmish, — upon a place where bogs and
34 Had we come one hour sooner : — but we did not
36 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 30Aug.
passes made the access of each Army to the other difficult. We, being ignorant of the place, drew-up, hoping to have engaged ; but found no way feasible, by reason of the bogs and other difficulties.
We drew-up our cannon, and did that day discharge two or three hundred great shot upon them ; a considerable number they likewise returned to us : and this was all that passed from each to other. Wherein we had near twenty killed and wounded, but not one Commission Officer. The Enemy, as we are informed, had about eighty killed, and some considerable Officers. Seeing they would keep their ground, from which we could not remove them, and our bread being spent, — we were necessitated to go for a new supply : and so marched off about ten or eleven o'clock on Wednesday morning.35 The Enemy perceiving it, — and, as we conceive, fearing we might interpose between them and Edinburgh, though it was not our intention, albeit it seemed so by our march, — retreated back again, with all haste; having a bog and passes between them and us : and there followed no considerable action, saving the skirmishing of the van of our horse with theirs, near to Edinburgh, without any considerable loss to either party, saving that we got two or three of their horses.
That ' Wednesday' night we quartered within a mile of Edinburgh and of the Enemy. It was a most tempestuous night and wet morning. The Enemy marched in the night between Leith and Edinburgh, to interpose between us and our victual, they knowing that it was spent ; — but the Lord in mercy prevented it ; and we, perceiving in the morning, got, time enough, through the goodness of the Lord, to the sea-side, to re- victual; the Enemy being drawn-up upon the
95 We drew towards our old Camp, one of our old Camps, that Wednesday ; and off to Musselburgh ' for a new supply' next morning. Old Camp, or Bivouack, ' on Pentland Hills,' says vague Hodgson (p. 142) ; ' within a mile of Edinburgh,' says Cromwell in this Letter, who of course knows well.
i6so. LETTER CXXXVIII. MUSSELBURGH. 27
Hill near Arthur's Seat, looking upon us, but not attempting any thing.
And thus you have an account of the present occurrences. Your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The scene of this Tuesday's skirmish, and cannonade across bogs, has not been investigated ; though an antiquarian Topo- grapher might find worse work for himself. Rough Hodgson, very uncertain in his spellings, calls it Gawger Field, which will evidently take us to Gogar on the western road there. The Scotch Editor of Hodgson says farther, ' The Water of Leith lay between the two Armies ;' which can be believed or not ; — which indeed turns out to be unbelievable. Yorkshire Hodg- son's troop received an ugly cannon-shot while they stood at prayers ; just with the word Amen, came the ugly cannon-shot singing, but it hurt neither horse nor man. We also ' gave them an English shout' at one time, along the whole line,36 making their Castle-rocks and Pentlands ring again ; but could get no Battle out of them, for the bogs.
Here, in reference to those matters, is an Excerpt which, in spite of imperfections, may be worth transcribing. ' The ' English Army lay' at first ' near Musselburgh, about Stony ' Hill. But shortly after, they marched up to Braid House,' to Braid Hills, to Pentland Hills, Colinton and various other Hills and Houses in succession ; 'and the Scots Army, being put in ' some readiness, marched up to Corstorphine Hill. But be- ' cause the English feared it was too near the Castle of Edin- ' burgh, they would not hazard battle there. Wherefore both ' Armies marched to Gogar, Tuesday August 27th ; and played ' each upon other with their great guns : but because of Gogar 1 Burn (Brook] and other ditches betwixt the Armies, they could ' not join battle. Next day, about midday,' more precisely Wednesday about ten or eleven o'clock, ' the English began to ' retire ; and went first to their Leaguer at Braid Hills,' within a mile of Edinburgh as their General says. ' The English re- ' moving, the Scots followed by Corstorphine the long gate' (roundabout road), — which is hard ground, and out of shot- range. 'The English,' some of them, 'marched near to Mus- ' selburgh ; and, in the mid night, planted some guns in Nid-
* Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 339). & Hodgson, p. 141.
28 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 2 Sept.
• dry : the Scots having marched about the Hill of Arthur's ' Seat, towards Craigmillar, there planted some guns against ' those in Niddry ;>37 — and in fact, as we have seen, were drawn up on Arthur's Seat on the morrow morning, looking on amid the rain, and not attempting anything.
The Lord General writes this Letter at Musselburgh on Friday the 3Oth, the morrow after his return : and directly on the heel of it there is a Council of War held, and an important resolution taken. With sickness, and the wild weather coming on us, rendering even victual uncertain, and no Battle to be had, we clearly cannot continue here. Dunbar, which has a harbour, we might fortify for a kind of citadel and winter-qua'r- ter ; let us retire at least to Dunbar, to be near our sole friends in this country, our Ships. On the morrow evening, Saturday the 3 1 st, the Lord General fired his huts, and marched towards Dunbar. At sight whereof Lesley rushes out upon him ; has his vanguard in Prestonpans before our rear got away. Satur- day night through Haddington, and all Sunday to Dunbar, Lesley hangs, close and heavy, on Cromwell's rear ; on Sunday night bends southward to the hills that overlook Dunbar, and hems him in there. As will be more specially related in the next fascicle of Letters.
LETTERS CXXXIX.— CXLVI.
BATTLE OF DUNBAR.
THE small Town of Dunbar stands, high and windy, looking down over its herring-boats, over its grim old Castle now much honeycombed, — on one of those projecting rock-promontories with which that shore of the Frith of Forth is niched and van- dyked, as far as the eye can reach. A beautiful sea ; good land too, now that the plougher understands his trade ; a grim niched barrier of whinstone sheltering it from the chafings and tum- blings of the big blue German Ocean. Seaward St. Abb's Head, of whinstone, bounds your horizon to the east, not very far off;
37 Collections by a Private Hand, at Edinburgh, from 1650 to 1661 (Woodrow MSS.), printed in Historical Pragma (s on Scotch Ajfairsfrom 1635 to 1664 (Edin- burgh, 1832), Part i. pp. 27-8.
i6s& BATTLE OF DUNBAR. 29
west, close by, is the deep bay, and fishy little village of Bel- haven : the gloomy Bass and other rock-islets, and farther the Hills of Fife, and foreshadows of the Highlands, are visible as you look seaward. From the bottom of Belhaven bay to that of the next sea-bight St. Abb's-ward, the Town and its environs form a peninsula. Along the base of which peninsula, ' not much above a mile and a half from sea to sea,' Oliver Crom- well's Army, on Monday 2d of September 1650, stands ranked, with its tents and Town behind it, — in very forlorn circum- stances. This now is all the ground that Oliver is lord of in Scotland. His Ships lie in the offing, with biscuit and trans- port for him ; but visible elsewhere in the Earth no help.
Landward as you look from the Town of Dunbar there rises, some short mile off, a dusky continent of barren heath Hills ; the Lammermoor, where only mountain-sheep can be at home. The crossing of "which, by any of its boggy passes, and brawling stream- courses, no Army, hardly a solitary Scotch Packman could attempt, in such weather. To the edge of these Lammer- moor Heights, David Lesley has betaken himself; lies now along the outmost spur of them, — a long Hill of considerable height, which the Dunbar people call the Dun, Doon, or some- times for fashion's sake the Down, adding to it the Teutonic Hill likewise, though Dun itself in old Celtic signifies Hill. On this Doon Hill lies David Lesley with the victorious Scotch Army, upwards of Twenty-thousand strong ; with the Commit- tees of Kirk and Estates, the chief Dignitaries of the Country, and in fact the flower of what the pure Covenant in this the Twelfth year of its existence can still bring forth. There lies he since Sunday night, o.n the top and slope of this Doon Hill, with the impassable heath-continents behind him ; embraces, as within outspread tiger-claws, the base-line of Oliver's Dun- bar peninsula ; waiting what Oliver will do. Cockburnspath with its ravines has been seized on Oliver's left, and made im- passable ; behind Oliver is the sea ; in front of him Lesley, Doon Hill, and the heath-continent of Lammermoor. Lesley's force is of Three-and-twenty-thousand,1 in spirits as of men chasing, Oliver's about half as many, in spirits as of men chased. What is to become of Oliver ?
1 27,000 say the English Pamphlets ; 16,000 foot and 7,000 horse, says Sir Edward Walker (p. 182), who has access to know.
PART vi. WAR WITH SCOTLAND.
LETTER CXXXIX.
HASELRIG, as we know, is Governor of Newcastle. Oliver on Monday writes this Note ; means to send it off, I suppose, by sea. Making no complaint for himself, the remarkable Oliver ; doing, with grave brevity, in the hour the business of the hour. ' He was a strong man,' so intimates Charles Harvey, who knew him : 'in the dark perils of war, in the high places of the ' field, hope shone in him like a pillar of fire, when it had gone ' out in all the others.'2 A genuine King among men, Mr. Harvey. The divinest sight this world sees, — when it is privi- leged to see such, and not be sickened with the unholy apery of such ! He is just now upon an ' engagement,' or complicated concern, 'very difficult.'
To the Honourable Sir Arthur Haselrig, at Newcastle or elsewhere: These, Haste, haste.
DEAR SlR, ' Dunbar,' ad September 1650.
We are upon an Engagement very difficult. The Enemy hath blocked-up our way at the Pass at Coppers- path, through which we cannot get without almost a miracle. He lieth so upon the Hills that we know not how to come that way without great difficulty and our lying here daily consumeth our men, who fall sick beyond imagination.
I perceive, your forces are not in a capacity for present release. Wherefore, whatever becomes of us, it will be well for you to get what forces you can together ; and the South to help what they can. The business nearly concerneth all Good People. If your forces had been in a readiness to have fallen upon the back of Copperspath, it might have occasioned supplies to have come to us. But the only wise God knows what is best. All shall work for Good. Our spirits3 are comfortable, praised be the Lord, — though our present condition be as it is. And indeed we have much
8 Passages in his Highness' s last Sickness, already referred to. * minds.
t6sa LETTER CXXXIX. DUNBAR. 31
hope in the Lord ; of whose mercy we have had large ex- perience.
Indeed, do you get together what forces you can against them. Send to friends in the South to help with more. Let H. Vane know what I write. I would not make it public, lest danger should accrue thereby. You know what use to make hereof. Let me hear from you. I rest, your servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
' P.S.' It's difficult for me to send to you. Let me hear from ' you' after * you receive this.'*
The base of Oliver's ' Dunbar Peninsula,' as we have called it (or Dunbar Pinfold where he is now hemmed in, upon ' an entanglement very difficult'), extends from Belhaven Bay on his right, to Brocksmouth House on his left ; ' about a mile and a half from sea to sea.' Brocksmouth House, the Earl (now Duke) of Roxburgh's mansion, which still stands there, his soldiers now occupy as their extreme post on the left. As its name indicates, it is the mouth or issue of a small Rivulet, or Burn, called Brock, Brocksbiirn; which, springing from the Lammermoor, and skirting David Lesley's Doon Hill, finds its egress here into the sea. The reader who would form an image to himself of the great Tuesday 3d of September 1650, at Dun- bar, must note well this little Burn. It runs in a deep grassy glen, which the South-country Officers in those old Pamphlets describe as a ' deep ditch, forty feet in depth, and about as many in width,' — ditch dug-out by the little Brook itself, and carpeted with greensward, in the course of long thousands of years. It runs pretty close by the foot of Doon Hill ; forms, from this point to the sea, the boundary of Oliver's position ; his force is arranged in battle-order along the left bank of this Brocksburn, and its grassy glen ; he is busied all Monday, he and his Officers, in ranking them there. ' Before sunrise on
* Communicated by John Hare, Esquire, Rosemont Cottage, Clifton. The MS. at Clifton is a Copy, without date ; but has this title in an old hand : ' Copy of an ' original Letter of Oliver Cromwell, written with his own hand, the day before the
' Battle of Dunbarr, to Sir A. Haselridge.' Note to Second Edition. Found since
(1846), with the Postscript, printed from the Original, in Brand's History of New- castle (London, 1789), ii. 479. Note to Third Edition. Autograph Original found
now (May 1847); in the possession of R. Ormston, Esq., Newcastie-on-Tyne. See postea, p. 50, and Appendix, No. 19.
32 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Sept
Monday' Lesley sent down his horse from the Hill-top, to oc- cupy the other side of this Brook ; ' about four in the afternoon' his train came down, his whole Army gradually came down ; and they now are ranking themselves on the opposite side of Brocksburn, — on rather narrow ground ; cornfields, but swiftly sloping upwards to the steep of Doon Hill. This goes on, in the wild showers and winds of Monday 2d September 1650, on both sides of the Rivulet of Brock. Whoever will begin the attack, must get across this Brook and its glen first ; a thing of much disadvantage.
Behind Oliver's ranks, between him and Dunbar, stand his tents ; sprinkled up and down, by battalions, over the face of this ' Peninsula ;' which is a low though very uneven tract of ground ; now in our time all yellow with wheat and barley in the autumn season, but at that date only partially tilled, — de- scribable by Yorkshire Hodgson as a place of plashes and rough bent-grass ; terribly beaten by showery winds that day, so that your tent will hardly stand. There was then but one Farm-house on this tract, where now are not a few : thither were Oliver's Cannon sent this morning ; they had at first been lodged ' in the Church,' an edifice standing then as now some- what apart, 'at the south end of Dunbar.' We have notice of only one other ' small house/ belike some poor shepherd's home- stead, in Oliver's tract of ground : it stands close by the Brock Rivulet itself, and in the bottom of the little glen ; at a place where the banks of it flatten themselves out into a slope pass- able for carts : this of course, as the one ' pass' in that quarter, it is highly important to seize. Pride and Lambert lodged ' six horse and fifteen foot' in this poor hut early in the morning : Lesley's horse came across, and drove them out ; killing some and ' taking three prisoners ;' — and so got possession of this pass and hut ; but did not keep it. Among the three prisoners was one musketeer, ' a very stout man, though he has but a wooden arm,' and some iron hook at the end of it, poor fellow. He ' fired thrice,' not without effect, with his wooden arm ; and was not taken without difficulty : a handfast stubborn man ; they carried him across to General Lesley to give some account of himself. In several of the old Pamphlets, which agree in all the details of it, this is what we read :
' General David Lesley (old Leven,' the other Lesley, ' being
test*. DUNBAR BATTLE. 33
' in the Castle of Edinburgh, as they relate4), asked this man, ' If the Enemy did intend to fight? He replied, "What do ' you think we come here for ? We come for nothing else !" — ' " Soldier," says Lesley, " how will you fight, when you have ' shipped half of your men, and all your great guns ?" The ' Soldier replied, " Sir, if you please to draw down your men, ' you shall find both men and great guns too !" ' — A most dog- ged handfast man, this with the wooden arm, and iron hook on it ! ' One of the Officers asked, How he durst answer the Ge- ' neral so saucily ? He said, " I only answer the question put ' to me !'" Lesley sent him across, free again, by a trumpet : he made his way to Cromwell ; reported what had passed, and added doggedly, He for one had lost twenty shillings by the business, — plundered from him in this action. ' The Lord Ge- neral gave him thereupon two pieces,' which I think are forty shillings ; and sent him away rejoicing.5 — This is the adven- ture at the ' pass' by the shepherd's hut in the bottom of the glen, close by the Brocksburn itself.
And now farther, on the great scale, we are to remark very specially that there is just one other ' pass' across the Brocks- burn ; and this is precisely where the London road now crosses it ; about a mile east from the former pass, and perhaps two gunshots west from Brocksmouth House. There the great road then as now crosses the Burn of Brock ; the steep grassy glen, or 'broad ditch forty feet deep,' flattening itself out here once more into a passable slope : passable, but still steep on the southern or Lesley side, still mounting up there, with consider- able acclivity, into a high table-ground, out of which the Doon Hill, as outskirt of the Lammermoor, a short mile to your right, gradually gathers itself. There, at this 'pass,' on and about the present London road, as you discover after long dreary dim examining, took place the brunt or essential agony of the Battle of Dunbar long ago. Read in the extinct old Pamphlets, and ever again obstinately read, till some light rise in them, look even with unmilitary eyes at the ground as it now is, you do at last obtain small glimmerings of distinct features here and
4 Old Leven is here, if the Pamphlet knew ; but only as a volunteer and without command, though nominally still General-in-chief.
* Cadwell the Army-Messenger's Narrative to the Parliament (in Carte's Onnond Papers, i. 382). Given a'so, with other details, in King's Pamphlets, small 410, no. 478, 55 9, 7, 10 ; no. 479, § i ; &c. &C.
VOL. III. D
34 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Sept.
there, — which gradually coalesce into a kind of image for you ; and some spectrum of the Fact becomes visible ; rises veritable, face to face, on you, grim and sad in the depths of the old dead Time. Yes, my travelling friends, vehiculating in gigs or other- wise over that piece of London road, you may say to yourselves, Here without monument is the grave of a valiant thing which was done under the Sun ; the footprint of a Hero, not yet quite undistinguishable, is here ! —
' The Lord General about four o'clock," say the old Pam- phlets, 'went into the Town to take some refreshment,' a hasty late dinner, or early supper, whichever we may call it ; ' and very soon returned back,' — having written Sir Arthur's Letter, I think, in the interim. Coursing about the field, with enough of things to order ; walking at last with Lambert in the Park or Garden of Brocksmouth House, he discerns that Lesley is astir on the Hill-side ; altering his position somewhat. That Lesley, in fact, is coming wholly down to the basis of the Hill, where his horse had been since sunrise : coming wholly down to the edge of the Brook and glen, among the sloping harvest-fields there ; and also is bringing up his left wing of horse, most part of it, towards his right; edging himself, 'shogging,' as Oliver calls it, his whole line more and more to the right I His mean- ing is, to get hold of Brocksmouth House and the pass of the Brook there ;6 after which it will be free to him to attack us when he will ! — Lesley, in fact, considers, or at least the Com- mittee of Estates and Kirk consider, that Oliver is lost ; that, on the whole, he must not be left to retreat, but must be at- tacked and annihilated here. A vague story, due to Bishop Burnet, the watery source of many such, still circulates about the world, That it was the Kirk Committee who forced Lesley down against his will ; that Oliver, at sight of it, exclaimed, " The Lord hath delivered" &c. : which nobody is in the least bound to believe. It appears, from other quarters, that Lesley was advised or sanctioned in this attempt by the Committee of Estates and Kirk, but also that he was by no means hard to advise; that, in fact, lying on the top of Boon Hill, shelterless in such weather, was no operation to spin-out beyond neces- sity ; — and that if anybody pressed too much upon him with advice to come down and fight, it was likeliest to be Royalist Civil Dignitaries, who had plagued him with their cavillings at
6 Baillie's Lttters, iii.ui.
tfa. t)UNBAR BATTLE. 3$
his cunctations, at his ' secret fellow-feeling for the Sectarians and Regicides," ever since this War began. The poor Scotch Clergy have enough of their own to answer for in this business ; let every back bear the burden that belongs to it. In a word, Lesley descends, has been descending all day, and ' shogs' him- self to the right, — urged, I believe, by manifold counsel, and by the nature of the case ; and, what is equally important for us, Oliver sees him, and sees through him, in this movement of his.
At sight of this movement, Oliver suggests to Lambert stand- ing by him, Does it not give us an advantage, if we, instead of him, like to begin the attack ? Here is the Enemy's right wing coming out to the open space, free to be attacked on any side ; and the main-battle hampered in narrow sloping ground be- tween Doon Hill and the Brook, has no room to manoeuvre or assist :7 beat this right wing where it now stands ; take it in flank and front with an overpowering force, — it is driven upon its own main - battle, the whole Army is beaten ? Lambert eagerly assents, "had meant to say the same thing." Monk, who comes up at the moment, likewise assents ; as the other Officers do, when the case is set before them. It is the plan resolved upon for battle. The attack shall begin tomorrow be- fore dawn.
And so the soldiers stand to their arms, or lie within instant reach of their arms, all night ; being upon an engagement very difficult indeed. The night is wild and wet ; — 2d of September means 1 2th by our calendar : the Harvest Moon wades deep among clouds of sleet and hail. Whoever has a heart for prayer, let him pray now, for the wrestle of death is at hand. Pray, — and withal keep his powder dry ! And be ready for extremi- ties, and quit himself like a man ! — Thus they pass the night ; making that Dunbar Peninsula and Brock Rivulet long memor- able to me. We English have some tents ; the Scots have none. The hoarse sea moans bodeful, swinging low and heavy against these whinstone bays ; the sea and the tempests are abroad, all else asleep but we, — and there is One that rides on the wings of the wind.
Towards three in the morning the Scotch foot, by order of a Major-General say some,8 extinguish their matches, all but
7 Hodgson.
* ' Major-General Holburn" (he that escorted Cromwell into Edinburgh in 1648 , (ays Walker, p. 180.
36 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Sept
two in a company ; cower under the corn-shocks, seeking some imperfect shelter and sleep. Be wakeful, ye English ; watch, and pray, and keep your powder dry. About four o'clock comes order to my puddingheaded Yorkshire friend, that his regiment must mount and march straightway ; his and various other regiments march, pouring swiftly to the left to Brocksmouth House, to the Pass over the Brock. With overpowering force let us storm the Scots right wing there ; beat that, and all is beaten. Major Hodgson riding along, heard, he says, ' a Cor- net praying in the night ;' a company of poor men, I think, making worship there, under the void Heaven, before battle joined : Major Hodgson, giving his charge to a brother Officer, turned aside to listen for a minute, and worship and pray along with them ; haply his last prayer on this Earth, as it might prove to be. But no : this Cornet prayed with such effusion as was wonderful : and imparted strength to my Yorkshire friend, who strengthened his men by telling them of it. And the Hea- vens, in their mercy, I think, have opened us a way of deliver- ance ! — The Moon gleams out, hard and blue, riding among hail-clouds ; and over St. Abb's Head a streak of dawn is rising.
And now is the hour when the attack should be, and no Lambert is yet here, he is ordering the line far to the right yet ; and Oliver occasionally, in Hodgson's hearing, is impatient for him. The Scots too, on this wing, are awake ; thinking to sur- prise us ; there is their trumpet sounding, we heard it once ; and Lambert, who was to lead the attack, is not here. The Lord General is impatient ; — behold Lambert at last ! The trumpets peal, shattering with fierce clangour Night's silence ; the cannons awaken along all the Line : " The Lord of Hosts ! The Lord of Hosts !" On, my brave ones, on ! —
The dispute ' on this right wing was hot and stiff, for three quarters of an hour.' Plenty of fire, from fieldpieces, snaphances, matchlocks, entertains the Scotch main-battle across the Brock; — poor stiffened men, roused from the corn-shocks with their matches all out ! But here on the right, their horse, ' with lancers in the front rank,' charge desperately ; drive us back across the hollow of the Rivulet ; — back a little ; but the Lord gives us courage, and we storm home again, horse and foot, upon them, with a shock like tornado tempests ; break them, beat them, drive them all adrift. ' Some fled towards Coppers-
i6So. DUNBAR BATTLE. 37
path, but most across their own foot.' Their own poor foot, whose matches were hardly well alight yet ! Poor men, it was a terrible awakening for them : fieldpieces and charge of foot across the Brocksburn ; and now here is their own horse in mad panic trampling them to death. Above Three-thousand killed upon the place : ' I never saw such a charge of foot and horse,' says one ;9 nor did I. Oliver was still near to Yorkshire Hodgson when the shock succeeded ; Hodgson heard him say, " They run ! I profess they run !" And over St. Abb's Head and the German Ocean, just then, bursts the first gleam of the level Sun upon us, ' and I heard Nol say, in the words of the Psalmist, "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered,"' — or in Rous's metre,
Let God arise, and scattered
Let all his enemies be ; And let all those that do him hate
Before his presence flee !
Even so. The Scotch Army is shivered to utter ruin ; rushes in tumultuous wreck, hither, thither ; to Belhaven, or, in their distraction, even to Dunbar ; the chase goes as far as Had- dington ; led by Hacker. ' The Lord General made a halt,' says Hodgson, 'and sang the Hundred-and-seventeenth Psalm,' till our horse could gather for the chase. Hundred-and-seven- teenth Psalm, at the foot of the Doon Hill ; there we uplift it, to the tune of Bangor, or some still higher score, and roll it strong and great against the sky :
O give ye praise unto the Lord,
All nati-ons that be ; Likewise ye people all, accord
His name to magnify !
For great to-us-ward ever are
His lovingkindnesses ; His truth endures forevermore:
The Lord O do ye bless !
And now, to the chase again.
The Prisoners are Ten-thousand, — all the foot in a mass. Many Dignitaries are taken ; not a few are slain ; of whom see Printed Lists, — full of blunders. Provost JafTray of Aberdeen, Member of the Scots Parliament, one of the Committee of Estates, was very nearly slain : a trooper's sword was in the air to sever him, but one cried, He is a man of consequence ;
9 Rushworth's Letter to the Speaker (in Parliamentary History, xix. 341).
38 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept.
he can ransom himself! — and the trooper kept him prisoner.10 The first of the Scots Quakers, by and by ; and an official per- son much reconciled to Oliver. Ministers also of the Kirk Com- mittee were slain ; two Ministers I find taken, poor Carstairs of Glasgow, poor Waugh of some other place, — of whom we shall transiently hear again.
General David Lesley, vigorous for flight as for other things, got to Edinburgh by nine o'clock ; poor old Leven, not so light of movement, did not get till two. Tragical enough. What a change since January 1 644, when we marched out of this same Dunbar up to the knees in snow ! It was to help and save these very men that we then marched ; with the Covenant in all our hearts. We have stood by the letter of the Covenant ; fought for our Covenanted Stuart King as we could ; — they again, they stand by the substance of it, and have trampled us and the letter of it into this ruinous state ! — Yes, my poor friends ; — and now be wise, be taught ! The letter of your Covenant, in fact, will never rally again in this world. The spirit and sub- stance of it, please God, will never die in this or in any world.
Such is Dunbar Battle ; which might also be called Dunbar Drove, for it was a frightful rout. Brought on by miscalcula- tion ; misunderstanding of the difference between substances and semblances ; — by mismanagement, and the chance of war. My Lord General's next Seven Letters, all written on the mor- row, will now be intelligible to the reader. First, however, take the following
PROCLAMATION.
FORASMUCH as I understand there are several Soldiers of the Enemy's Army yet abiding in the Field, who by rea- son of their wounds could not march from thence :
These are therefore to give notice to the Inhabitants of this Nation That they may and hereby have11 free liberty to repair to the Field aforesaid, and, with their carts or * in' any other peaceable way, to carry away the said Soldiers to such places as they shall think fit : — provided they meddle
10 Diary of Alexander Jqffray (London, 1834; — unhappily relating almost all to the inner man of Jaffray).
11 ftf.
i6So. LETTER CXL. DUNBAR. 39
not with, or take away, any the Arras there. And all Offi- cers and Soldiers are to take notice that the same is per mitted.
Given under my hand, at Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
OLIVER CROMWELL. To be proclaimed by beat of drum.*
LETTER CXL.
For the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England: These.
SlR, Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
I hope it's not ill taken, that I make no more frequent addresses to the Parliament. Things that are in trouble, in point of provision for your Army, and of ordinary direction, I have, as I could, often presented to the Council of State, together with such occurrences as have happened ; — who, I am sure, as they have not been wanting in their extraordinary care and provision for us, so neither in what they judge fit and necessary to represent the same to you. And this I thought to be a sufficient discharge of my duty on that behalf.
It hath now pleased God to bestow a mercy upon you, worthy of your knowledge, and of the utmost praise and thanks of all that fear and love His name ; yea, the mercy is far above all praise. Which that you may the better perceive, I shall take the boldness to tender unto you some circumstances accompanying this great business, which will manifest the greatness and seasonableness of this mercy.
* Old Newspaper, Several Proceedings in Parliament, no. 50 (sth-izth Sept i6<;o) : in Burney Newspapers (British Museum), vol. JOfxiv,
40 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND 4 Sept.
We having tried what we could to engage the Enemy, three or four miles West of Edinburgh ; that proving inef- fectual, and our victual failing, — we marched towards our ships for a recruit of our want. The Enemy did not at all trouble us in our rear ; but marched the direct way towards Edinburgh, and partly in the night and morning slips-through his whole Army ; and quarters himself in a posture easy to interpose between us and our victual. But the Lord made him to lose the opportunity. And the morning proving exceeding wet and dark, we recovered, by that time it was light, a ground where they could not hinder us from our victual : which was an high act of the Lord's Providence to us. We being come into the said ground, the Enemy marched into the ground we were last upon ; having no mind either to strive to interpose between us and our vic- tuals, or to fight ; being indeed upon this * aim of reducing us to a' lock, — hoping that the sickness of your Army would render their work more easy by the gaining of time. Where- upon we marched to Musselburgh, to victual, and to ship away our sick men; where we sent aboard near five-hundred sick and wounded soldiers.
And upon serious consideration, finding our weakness so to increase, and the Enemy lying upon his advantage, — at a general council it was thought fit to march to Dunbar, and there to fortify the Town. Which (we thought), if any- thing, would provoke them to engage. As also, That the having of a Garrison there would furnish us with accommo- dation for our sick men, ' and' would be a good Magazine, — which we exceedingly wanted ; being put to depend upon the uncertainty of weather for landing provisions, which many times cannot be done though the being of the whole Army lay upon it, all the coasts from Berwick to Leith having not one good harbour. As also, To lie more conveniently to receive our recruits of horse and foot from Berwick.
i6so. LETTER CXL. DUNBAR. 41
Having these considerations, — upon Saturday the ;$oth12 of August we marched from Musselburgh to Haddington. Where, by that time we had got the van-brigade of our horse, and our foot and train, into their quarters, the Enemy had marched with that exceeding expedition that they fell upon the rear-forlorn of our horse, and put it in some dis- order; and indeed had like to have engaged our rear-brigade of horse with their whole Army, — had not the Lord by His Providence put a cloud over the Moon, thereby giving us opportunity to draw-off those horse to the rest of our Army. Which accordingly was done without any loss, save of three or four of our aforementioned forlorn ; wherein the Enemy, as we believe, received more loss.
The Army being put into a reasonable secure posture, — towards midnight the Enemy attempted our quarters, on the west end of Haddington : but through the goodness of God we repulsed them. The next morning we drew into an open field, on the south side of Haddington ; we not judg- ing it safe for us to draw to the Enemy upon his own ground, he being prepossessed thereof; — but rather drew back, to give him way to come to us, if he had so thought fit. And having waited about the space of four or five hours, to see if he would come to us ; and not finding any inclination in the Enemy so to do, — we resolved to go, according to our first intendment, to Dunbar.
By that time we had marched three or four miles, we saw some bodies of the Enemy's horse draw out of their quarters ; and by that time our carriages were gotten near Dunbar, their whole Army was upon their march after us. And indeed, our drawing back in this manner, with the addition of three new regiments added to them, did much heighten their confidence, if not presumption and arrogancy. — The Enemy, that night, we perceived, gathered towards
12 sic : but Saturday is 3ist.
42 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept.
the Hills; labouring to make a perfect interposition between us and Berwick. And having in this posture a great ad- vantage,— through his better knowledge of the country, he effected it: by sending a considerable party to the strait Pass at Copperspath ; where ten men to hinder are better than forty to make their way. And truly this was an exigent to us,13 wherewith the Enemy reproached us ; — ' as' with that condition the Parliament's Army was in when it made its hard conditions with the King in Cornwall.14 By some reports that have come to us, they had disposed of us, and of their business, in sufficient revenge and wrath towards our persons; and had swallowed-up the poor Interest of England ; believing that their Army and their King would have marched to London without any interruption ; — it being told us (we know not how truly) by a prisoner we took the night before the fight, That their King was very suddenly to come amongst them, with those English they allowed to be about him. But in what they were thus lifted up, the Lord was above them.
The Enemy lying in the posture before mentioned, hav- ing those advantages ; we lay very near him, being sensible of our disadvantages, having some weakness of flesh, but yet consolation and support from the Lord himself to our poor weak faith, wherein I believe not a few amongst us stand : That because of their numbers, because of their ad- vantages, because of their confidence, because of our weak- ness, because of our strait, we were in the Mount, and in the Mount the Lord would be seen; and that He would find out a way of deliverance and salvation for us : — and indeed we had our consolations and our hopes.
Upon Monday evening, — the Enemy's whole numbers
13 A disgraceful summons of caption to us : ' exigent' is a law-writ issued against a fugitive, — such as we knew long since, in our young days, about Lincoln's Inn !
14 Essex's Army six years ago, in Autumn 1644, when the King had impounded it among the Hills there (see voL i. p. 172).
i6So. LETTER CXL. DUNBAR. 43
were very great; about Six-thousand horse, as we heard, and Sixteen-thousand foot at least ; ours drawn down, as to sound men, to about Seven-thousand five-hundred foot, and Three-thousand five-hundred horse, — ' upon Monday even- ing,' the Enemy drew down to the right wing about two-thirds of their left wing of horse. To the right wing ; shogging also their foot and train much to the right; causing their right wing of horse to edge down towards the sea. We could not well imagine but that the Enemy intended to attempt upon us, or to place themselves in a more exact condition of interposition. The Major-General and myself coming to the Earl Roxburgh's House, and observing this posture, I told him I thought it did give us an opportunity and advant- age to attempt upon the Enemy. To which he immediately replied, That he had thought to have said the same thing to me. So that it pleased the Lord to set this apprehension upon both of our hearts, at the same instant. We called for Colonel Monk, and showed him the thing : and coming to our quarters at night, and demonstrating our apprehensions to some of the Colonels, they also cheerfully concurred.
We resolved therefore to put our business into this pos- ture : That six regiments of horse, and three regiments and a half of foot should march in the van ; and that the Major- General, the Lieutenant-General of the horse, and the Com- missary-General,15 and Colonel Monk to command the brigade of foot, should lead on the business; and that Colonel Pride's brigade, Colonel Overton's brigade, and the remaining two regiments of horse should bring up the cannon and rear. The time of falling-on to be by break of day : — but through some delays it proved not to be so ; ' not' till six o'clock in the morning.
The Enemy's word was, The Covenant ; which it had been for divers days. Ours, The Lord of Hosts. The Major- is Lambert, Fleetwood, Whalle7.
44 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept.
General, Lieutenant-General Fleetwood, and Commissary- General Whalley, and Colonel Twistleton, gave the onset ; the Enemy being in a very good posture to receive them, having the advantage of their cannon and foot against our horse. Before our foot could come up, the Enemy made a gallant resistance, and there was a very hot dispute at sword's point between our horse and theirs. Our first foot, after they had discharged their duty (being overpowered with the Enemy), received some repulse, which they soon recovered. For my own regiment, under the command of Lieu tenant- Colonel Goffe and my Major, White, did come seasonably in ; and, at the push of pike, did repel the stout- est regiment the Enemy had there, merely with the courage the Lord was pleased to give. Which proved a great amaze- ment to the residue of their foot ; this being the first action between the foot. The horse in the mean time did, with a great deal of courage and spirit, beat back all oppositions ; charging through the bodies of the Enemy's horse and of their foot ; who were, after the first repulse given, made by the Lord of Hosts as stubble to their swords. — Indeed, I believe I may speak it without partiality : both your chief Commanders and others in their several places, and soldiers also, were acted16 with as much courage as ever hath been seen in any action since this War. I know they look not to be named ; and therefore I forbear particulars.
The best of the Enemy's horse being broken through and through in less than an hour's dispute, their whole Army being put into confusion, it became a total rout ; our men having the chase and execution of them near eight miles. We believe that upon the place and near about it were about Three-thousand slain. Prisoners taken : of their officers you have this enclosed List ; of private soldiers near Ten-thou- sand. The whole baggage and train taken, wherein was
16 ' actuated/ as we now write it.
i6so. LETTER CXL. DUNBAR. 45
good store of match, powder and bullet ; all their artillery, great and small, — thirty guns. We are confident they have left behind them not less than Fifteen-thousand arms. I have already brought in to me near Two-hundred colours, which I herewith send you.17 What officers of theirs of quality are killed, we yet cannot learn; but yet surely divers are : and many men of quality are mortally wounded, as Colonel Lumsden, the Lord Libberton and others. And, that which is no small addition, I do not believe we have lost twenty men. Not one Commission Officer slain as I hear of, save one Cornet; and Major Rooksby, since dead of his wounds; and not many mortally wounded: — Colonel Whalley only cut in the handwrist, and his horse (twice shot) killed under him ; but he well recovered another horse, and went on in the chase.
Thus you have the prospect of one of the most signal mercies God hath done for England and His people, this War : — and now may it please you to give me the leave of a few words. It is easy to say, The Lord hath done this. It would do you good to see and hear our poor foot to go up and down making their boast of God. But, Sir, it's in your hands, and by these eminent mercies God puts it more into your hands, To give glory to Him ; to improve your power, and His blessings, to His praise. We that serve you beg of you not to own us, — but God alone. We pray you own His people more and more ; for they are the chariots and horsemen of Israel. Disown yourselves ; — but own your Authority; and improve it to curb the proud and the in- solent, such as would disturb the tranquillity of England, though under what specious pretences soever. Relieve the
17 They hung long in Westminster Hall ; beside the Preston ones, and still others that came. Colonel Pride has been heard to wish, and almost to hope, That the Law- yers' gowns might all be hung up beside the Scots colours yet, — and the Lawyers' selves, except some very small and most select needful remnant, be ordered peremp- torily to disappear from those localities, and seek an honest trade elsewhere 1 (Walk* er's History of Independency.)
46 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4SePt
oppressed, hear the groans of poor prisoners in England. Be pleased to reform the abuses of all professions : — and if there be any one that makes many poor to make a few rich,18 that suits not a Commonwealth. If He that strengthens your servants to fight, please to give you hearts to set upon these things, in order to His glory, and the glory of your Commonwealth, — ' then' besides the benefit England shall feel thereby, you shall shine forth to other Nations, who shall emulate the glory of such a pattern, and through the power of God turn-in to the like !
These are our desires. And that you may have liberty and opportunity to do these things, and not be hindered, we have been and shall be (by God's assistance) willing to venture our lives ; — and * will' not desire you should be pre- cipitated by importunities, from your care of safety and preservation ; but that the doing of these good things may have their place amongst those which concern wellbeing,19 and so be wrought in their time and order.
Since we came in Scotland, it hath been our desire and longing to have avoided blood in this business ; by reason that God hath a people here fearing His name, though de- ceived. And to that end have we offered much love unto such, in the bowels of Christ ; and concerning the truth of our hearts therein, have we appealed unto the Lord. The Ministers of Scotland have hindered the passage of these things to the hearts of those to whom we intended them. And now we hear, that not only the deceived people, but some of the Ministers are also fallen in this Battle. This is the great hand of the Lord, and worthy of the considera- tion of all those who take into their hands the instruments of a foolish shepherd, — to wit, meddling with worldly poli- cies, and mixtures of earthly power, to set up that which
18 ' Many of them had a peek at Lawyers generally' (says learned Bulstrode in these months. — appealing to posterity, almost with tears in his big dull eyes 1). lu We as yet struggle for being; which is preliminary, and still more essential.
.650. LETTER CXLI. DUNBAR. 4>
they call the Kingdom of Christ, which is neither it, nor, if it were it, would such means be found effectual to that end, — and neglect, or trust not to, the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit ; which is alone powerful and able for the set- ting-up of that Kingdom ; and, when trusted to, will be found effectually able to that end, and will also do it ! This is humbly offered for their sakes who have lately too much turned aside : that they might return again to preach Jesus Christ, according to the simplicity of the Gospel ; — and then no doubt they will discern and find your protection and encouragement.
Beseeching you to pardon this length, I humbly take leave ; and rest, Sir, your most obedient servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Industrious dull Bulstrode, coming home from the Council of State towards Chelsea on Saturday afternoon, is accosted on the streets, 'near Charing Cross,' by a dusty individual, who declares himself bearer of this Letter from my Lord General ; and imparts a rapid outline of the probable contents to Bul- strode's mind, which naturally kindles with a certain slow solid satisfaction on receipt thereof.20
. LETTER CXLI.
LETTER CXXXIX., for Sir Arthur, did not go on Monday night ; and finds now an unexpected conveyance ! — Brand, Historian of Newcastle, got sight of that Letter, and of this new one enclosing it, in the hands of an old Steward of the Haselrigs, grandfather of the present possessor of those Docu- ments, some half- century ago ; and happily took copies. Letter CXXXIX. was autograph, ' folded up hastily before the ink was quite dry ; — sealed with red wax :' of this there is nothing autograph but the signature ; and the sealing-wax is black.
* Newspapers (in Cromwelliana. pp. 87-91)1 *> Whitlocke (ad edition), p. 470 (jtk Sept.),
43 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4r.s^
for the Honourable Sir Arthur Haselrig, at Newcastle or elsewhere: These. Jfaste, haste.
oIR, Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
You will see by my Enclosed, of the 2d of this month, which was the evening before the Fight, the condition we were in at that time. Which I thought fit on purpose to send you, that you might see how great and how seasonable our deliverance and mercy is, by such aggra- vation.
Having said my thoughts thereupon to the Parliament, I shall only give you the narrative of this exceeding mercy;21 believing the Lord will enlarge your heart to a thankful con- sideration thereupon. The least of this mercy lies not in the advantageous consequences which I hope it may pro- duce; of glory to God and good to His People, in the prose- cution of that which remains ; unto which this great work hath opened so fair a way. We have no cause to doubt but, if it shall please the Lord to prosper our endeavours, we may find opportunities both upon Edinburgh and Leith, — Stirling-Bridge, and other such places as the Lord shall lead unto. Even far above our thoughts ; as this late and other experiences gives good encouragement.
Wherefore, that we may not be wanting, I desire you, with such forces as you have, Immediately to march to me to Dunbar; leaving behind you such -of your new Levies as will prevent lesser incursions : — for surely their rout and rain is so total that they will not be provided for any thing that is very considerable. Or rather, which I more in- cline unto, That you would send Thomlinson with the Forces you have ready, and this with all possible expedition ; and that you will go on with the remainder of the Reserve, —
21 Means the bare statement. In the next sentence, ' The least lies not,' is for The not least lies.
,6So. LETTER CXLII. DUNBAR. 49
which, upon better thoughts, I do not think can well be done without you.
Sir, let no time nor opportunity be lost. Surely it's pro- bable the Kirk has done their do.22 I believe their King will set-up upon his own score now ; wherein he will find many friends. Taking opportunity offered, — it's our great advantage, through God. I need say no more to you on this behalf; but rest, your humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
My service to your good Lady. — I think it will be very fit that you bake Hard-bread again, considering you increase our numbers. I pray you do so. — Sir, I desire you to pro- cure about Three or Four score Masons, and ship them to us with all speed : for we expect that God will suddenly put some places into our hands, which we shall have occasion to fortify.*
LETTER CXLII. To the Lord President of the Council of State: These.
MY LORD, Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
I have sent the Major-General, with six regiments of horse and one of foot, towards Edinburgh ; purposing (God willing) to follow after, tomorrow, with what convenience I may.
We are put to exceeding trouble, though it be an effect of abundant mercy, with the numerousness of our Prisoners; having so few hands, so many of our men sick; — so little conveniency of disposing of them ;23 and not, by attendance
M ' doo' in orig.
* Brand's History of Newcastle, ii. 489. In Brand's Book there follow Excerpts from two other Letters to Sir Arthur ; of which, on inquiry, the present Baronet of Nosely Hall unluckily knows nothing farther. The Excerpts, with their dates, shall be given presently.
23 The Prisoners : — sentence ungrammatical, but intelligible.
. VOL. Ill E
50 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept
thereupon, to omit the seasonableness of the prosecution of this mercy as Providence shall direct. We have been constrained, even out of Christianity, humanity, and the forementioned necessity, to dismiss between four and five thousand Prisoners, almost starved, sick and wounded ; the remainder, which are the like, or a greater number, I am fain to send by a convoy of four troops of Colonel Hacker's, to Berwick, and so on to Newcastle, southwards.24
I think fit to acquaint your Lordship with two or three observations. Some of the honestest in the Army amongst the Scots did profess before the fight, That they did not believe their King in his Declaration;25 and it's most evident he did sign it with as much reluctancy and so much against his heart as could be : and yet they venture their lives for him upon this account ; and publish this ' Declaration' to the world, to be believed as the act of a person converted, when in their hearts they know he abhorred the doing of it, and meant it not.
I hear, when the Enemy marched last up to us, the Minis- ters pressed their Army to interpose between us and home ; the chief Officers desiring rather that we might have way made, though it were by a golden bridge. But the Clergy's counsel prevailed, — to their no great comfort, through the goodness of God.
The Enemy took a gentleman of Major Brown's troop
54 Here are Brand's Excerpts from the two other Letters to Sir Arthur, spoken of
in the former Note : ' Dunbar, $th Sept. 1650. After much deliberation, we
' can find no way how to dispose of these Prisoners that will be consisting with these
* two ends : to wit, the not losing them and the not starving them, neither of which
would we willingly incur, — but by sending them into England.' (Brand, ii. 481.)— —
Edinburgh, gthSept. 1650 I hope your Northern Guests are come to you by
this time. I pray you let humanity be exercised towards them : I am persuaded it will be comely. Let the Officers be kept at Newcastle, some sent to Lynn, some to 'Chester.' (Ibid. p. 480.) (Note to Third Edition). Letters complete, in Ap- pendix, No. 19.
A frightful account of what became of these poor 'Northern Guests' as they pro- ceeded ' southwards ;' how, for sheer hunger, they ate raw-cabbages in the ' walled farden at Morpeth,' and lay in unspeakable imprisonment in Durham Cathedral, and ied as of swift pestilence there : In Sir Arthur Hasting" s Letter to the Council qf State (reprinted, from the old Pamphlets, in Parliamentary History, xix. 417). *> Open Testimony against the sins of his Father, see aiitea, p. 24.
,650. LETTER CXLIII. DUNBAR. 51
prisoner, that night we came to Haddington ; and he had quarter through Lieu tenant- General David Lesley's means ; who, finding him a man of courage and parts, laboured with him to take up arms. But the man expressing constancy and resolution to this side, the Lieutenant-General caused him to be mounted, and with two troopers to ride about to view their gallant Army; using that as an argument to per- suade him to their side ; and, when this was done, dismissed him to us in a bravery. And indeed the day before we fought, they did express so much insolency and contempt of us, to some soldiers they took, as was -beyond apprehension. Your Lordship's most humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
WHICH high officialities being ended, here are certain glad domestic Letters of the same date.
LETTER CXLIII.
For my beloved Wife Elizabeth Cromwell, at the Cockpit: These.
MY DEAREST, Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
I have not leisure to write much. But I could chide thee that in many of thy Letters thou writest to me, That I should not be unmindful of thee and thy little ones. Truly, if I love you not too well, I think I err not on the other hand much. Thou art dearer to me than any creature ; let that suffice.
The Lord hath showed us an exceeding mercy: — wno can tell how great it is ! My weak faith hath been upheld. I have been in my inward man marvellously supported ; — though I assure thee, I grow an old man, and feel infirmities of age marvellously stealing upon me. Would my corrup-
* Newspapers (In Cromweliiana, p. 91).
52 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept.
tions did as fast decrease ! Pray on my behalf in the latter respect. The particulars of our late success Harry Vane or Gilbert Pickering will impart to thee. My love to all dear friends. I rest thine, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CXLIV.
For my loving Brother Richard Mayor, Esquire, at Hursley :
These.
DEAR BROTHER, ' Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
Having so good an occasion as the imparting so great a mercy as the Lord has vouchsafed us in Scotland, I would not omit the imparting thereof to you, though I be full of business.
Upon Wednesday26 we fought the Scottish Armies. They were in number, according to all computation, above Twenty- thousand; we hardly Eleven -thousand, having great sick- ness upon our Army. After much appealing to God, the Fight lasted above an hour. We killed (as most think) Three-thousand; took near Ten-thousand prisoners, all their train, about thirty guns great and small, besides bullet, match and powder, very considerable Officers, about two-hundred colours, above ten -thousand arms; — lost not thirty men. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. Good Sir, give God all the glory ; stir up all yours, and all about you, to do so. Pray for your affectionate brother,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
I desire my love may be presented to my dear Sister, and
* Copied from the Original by John Hare, Esq., Rosemont Cottage, Clifton. Collated with the old Copy in British Museum, Cole MSS. no. 5834, p. 38. 'The 'Original was purchased at Strawberry-Hill Sale' (Horace Walpole's), ' 3Oth April ' 1842, for Twenty-one guineas.'
56 ' Wedensd.' in the Original. A curious proof of the haste and confusion Crom- well was in. The Battle was on Tuesday, — yesterday, 3d September 1650; indis Tuesday; and he !«• jxaw writing on Wednesday 1—
1650. LETTER CXLV. DUNBAR. 53
to all your Family. I pray tell Doll I do not forget her nor her little Brat. She writes very cunningly and compliment- ally to me ; I expect a Letter of plain dealing from her. She is too modest to tell me whether she breeds or not. I wish a blessing upon her and her Husband. The Lord make them fruitful in all that's good. They are at leisure to write often ; — but indeed they are both idle, and worthy of blame.*
LETTER CXLV.
A PIOUS Word, shot off to Ireland, for Son Ireton and the 'dear Friends' fighting for the same Cause there. That they may rejoice with us, as we have dona with them : none knows but they may have ' need' again ' of mutual experiences for re- freshment.'
' To Lieutenant- General Ireton, Deputy- Lieutenant of Ireland:
These:
SlRj Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
Though I hear not often from you, yet I know you forget me not. Think so of me ' too ;' for I often remember you at the Throne of Grace. — I heard of the Lord's good hand with you in reducing Waterford, Dun- cannon, and Catherlogh :27 His Name be praised.
We have been engaged upon a Service the fullest of trial ever poor creatures were upon. We made great pro- fessions of love ; knowing we were to deal with many who were Godly, and ' who' pretended to be stumbled at «ur In- vasion : — indeed, our bowels were pierced again and again ; the Lord helped us to sweet words, and in sincerity to mean them. We were rejected again and again ; yet still we begged to be believed that we loved them as our own souls;
* Harris, p. 513 ; one of the Pusey stock, the last now but three. 27 ' Catherlogh' is Carlow : Narrative of these captures (roth August 1650) in a Letter from Ireton to the Speaker {Parliamentary History, xix. 334-7).
54 fART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept
they often returned evil for good. We prayed for security t28 they would not hear or answer a word to that We made often appeals to God ; they appealed also. We were near engagements three or four times, but they lay upon advant- ages. A heavy flux fell upon our Army; brought it very low, — from Fourteen to Eleven thousand : Three-thousand five-hundred horse, and Seven-thousand five-hundred foot The Enemy Sixteen-thousand foot, and Six-thousand horse.
The Enemy prosecuted the advantage. We were neces- sitated ; and upon September29 the 3d, by six in the morn- ing, we attempted their Army : — after a hot dispute for about an hour, we routed their whole Army; killed near Three-thousand; and took, as the Marshal informs me, Ten- thousand prisoners; their whole Train, being about thirty pieces, great and small ; good store of powder, match and bullet; near Two-hundred Colours. I am persuaded near Fifteen-thousand Arms left upon the ground. And I be- lieve, though many of ours be wounded, we lost not above Thirty men. Before the Fight our condition was made very sad, the Enemy greatly insulted and menaced ' us ;' but the Lord upheld us with comfort in Himself, beyond ordinary experience.
I knowing the acquainting you with this great handi- work of the Lord would stir-up your minds to praise and rejoicing ; and not knowing but your condition may require mutual experiences for refreshment ; and knowing also that the news we had of your successes was matter of help to our faith in our distress, and matter of praise also, — I thought fit (though in the midst of much business) to give you this account of the unspeakable goodness of the Lord, who hath thus appeared, to the glory of His great Name, and the refreshment of His Saints.
28 Begged of them some security against Charles Stuart's designs upon England. *» ' yber* he writes
i6so. LETTER CXLVI. DUNBAR. 55
The Lord bless you, and us, to return praises; to live them all our days. Salute all our dear Friends with you, as if I named them. I have no more ; — but rest, your loving father and true friend, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
We observe there are no regards to Bridget Ireton, no news or notice of her, in this Letter. Bridget Ireton is at London, safe from these wild scenes ; far from her Husband, far from her Father : — will never see her brave Husband more.
LETTER CXLVI.
DUBITATING Wharton must not let 'success* too much sway him ; yet it were fit he took notice of these things : he, and idle Norton whom we know, and Montague of Hinchinbrook, and others. The Lord General, for his own share, has a better ground than ' success ;' has the direct insight of his own soul, such as suffices him, — such as all souls to which ' the inspira- tion of the Almighty giveth understanding,' are or may be capable of, one would think I
For the Right Honourable the Lord Wharton : These.
MY DEAR LORD, Dunbar, 4th September 1650.
Ay, poor I love you ! Love you the Lord : take heed of disputing ! — I was untoward when I spake last with you in St. James's Park. I spake cross in stating ' my* grounds : I spake to my judgings of you; which were : That you, — shall I name others ? — Henry Lawrence, Robert Ham- mond, &c., had ensnared yourselves with disputes.
I believe you desired to be satisfied ; and had tried and doubted your ' own' sincerities. It was well. But upright- ness, if it be not purely of God, may be, nay commonly is, deceived. The Lord persuade you, and all my dear Friends !
* Russell's Life of Cromwell (Edinburgh, 1829; forming vols. 46, 47 ofConsfa- bit's Alucellany), ii. 317-19. Does not say whence ; — Letter undoubtedly genuine.
56 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. Sept.
The results of your thoughts concerning late Transac- tions I know to be mistakes of yours, by a better argument than success. Let not your engaging too far upon your own judgments be your temptation or snare : much less ' let' success, — lest you should be thought to return upon less noble arguments.30 It is in my heart to write the same things to Norton, Montague and others : I pray you read or communicate these foolish lines to them. I have known my folly do good, when affection has overcome31 my reason. I pray you judge me sincere, — lest a prejudice should be put upon after advantages.
How gracious has the Lord been in this great Business ! Lord, hide not Thy mercies from our eyes ! —
My service to the dear Lady. I rest, your humble ser- vant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTERS CXLVIL— CXLIX.
OF these Letters, the first'Two, with their Replies and Ad- juncts, Six Missives in all, form a Pamphlet published at Edin- burgh in 1650, with the Title : Several Letters and Passages between his Excellency the Lord General Cromwell and the Go- vernor of Edinburgh Castle. They have been reprinted in various quarters : we copy the Cromwell part of them from Thurloej and fancy they will not much need any preface. Here are some words, written elsewhere on the occasion, some time ago.
' These Letters of Cromwell to the Edinburgh Clergy, treat- ' ing of obsolete theologies and polities, are very dull to modern 1 men : but they deserve a steady perusal by all such as will 1 understand the strange meaning (for the present, alas, as good
30 Decide as the essence of the matter is ; neither persist nor ' return' upon falla- cious, superficial, or external considerations.
31 outrun.
* Gentleman's Magaziue (London, 1814), Ixxxiv. 419. Does not say whence or how.
i6So. LETTERS CXLVIL— CXLIX. 57
' as obsolete in all forms of it) that possessed the mind of 1 Cromwell in these hazardous operations of his. Dryasdust, ' carrying his learned eye over these and the like Letters, finds 'them, of course, full of "hypocrisy," &c. &c. — Unfortunate ' Dryasdust, they are coruscations, terrible as lightning, and ' beautiful as lightning, from the innermost temple of the Hu- ' man Soul; — intimations, still credible, of what a Human Soul ' does mean when it believes in the Highest; a thing poor Dry- ' asdust never did nor will do. The hapless generation that ' now reads these words ought to hold its peace when it has ' read them, and sink into unutterable reflections,— not unmixed ' with tears, and some substitute for " sackcloth and ashes," ' if it liked. In its poor canting sniffing flimsy vocabulary there ' is no word that can make any response to them. This man ' has a living god-inspired soul in him, not an enchanted arti- ' ficial "substitute for salt," as our fashion is. They that have ' human eyes can look upon him ; they that have only owl- ' eyes need not.'
Here also are some sentences on a favourite topic, lightning and light. ' As lightning is to light, so is a Cromwell to a ' Shakspeare. The light is beautifuler. Ah, yes ; but until, by ' lightning and other fierce labour, your foul Chaos has become ' a World, you cannot have any light, or the smallest chance ' for any ! Honour the Amphion whose music makes the ' stones, rocks, and big blocks dance into figures, into domed ' cities, with temples and habitations : — yet know him too ; how, ' as Volker's in the old Nibelungen, oftentimes his "fiddlebow" ' has to be of " sharp steel," and to play a tune very rough to ' rebellious ears ! The melodious Speaker is great, but the ' melodious Worker is greater than he. " Our time," says a ' certain author, "cannot speak at all, but only cant and sneer, ' and argumentatively jargon, and recite the multiplication- ' table. Neither as yet can it work, except at mere railroads ' and cotton-spinning. It will, apparently, return to Chaos ' soon ; and then more lightnings will be needed, lightning ' enough, to which Cromwell's was but a mild matter ; — to be ' followed by light, we may hope !" ' —
The following Letter from Whalley, with the Answer to it, will introduce this series. The date is Monday ; the Lord General observing yesterday that the poor Edinburgh people
5 8 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 9 Sept.
were sadly short of Sermon, has ordered the Commissary- General to communicate as follows :
For the Honourable the Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh.
" Edinburgh, gth September 1650.
" SIR, — I received command from my Lord General to : desire you to let the Ministers of Edinburgh, now in the Castle with you, know, That they have free liberty granted them, if they please to take the pains, to preach in their several Churches ; and that my Lord hath given special com- mand both to officers and soldiers that they shall not in the least be molested. Sir, I am, your most humble servant,
" EDWARD WHALLEY."
To which straightway there is this Answer from Governor Dundas :
" ' To Commissary-General Whalley?
" ' Edinburgh Castle,' gth September 1650.
" SIR, — I have communicated the desire of your Letter to " such of the Ministers of Edinburgh as are with me ; who " have desired me to return this for Answer :
" That though they are ready to be spent in their Master's " service, and to refuse no suffering so they may fulfil their " ministry with joy ; yet perceiving the persecution to be per- " sonal, by the practice of your Party1 upon the Ministers of " Christ in England and Ireland, and in the Kingdom of Scot- " land since your unjust Invasion thereof; and finding nothing " expressed in yours whereupon to build any security for their " persons while they are there, and for their return hither ; — " they are resolved to reserve themselves for better times, and " to wait upon Him who hath hidden His face for a while from " the sons of Jacob.
" This is all I have to say, but that I am, Sir, your most " humble servant, W. DUNDAS."
To which somewhat sulky response Oliver makes Answei in this notable manner :
1 Sectarian Party, of Independents.
LETTER CXLVII. EDINBURGH. 59
LETTER CXLVII.
For the Honourable the Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh. These.
SlR, Edinburgh, gth September 1650.
The kindness offered to the Ministers with you was done with ingenuity ;2 thinking it might have met with the like : but I am satisfied to tell those with you, That if their Master's service (as they call it) were chiefly in their eye, imagination of suffering3 would not have caused such a return ; much less ' would' the practice of our Party, as they are pleased to say, upon the Ministers of Christ in England, have been an argument of personal persecution.
The Ministers in England are supported, and have liberty to preach the Gospel ; though not to rail, nor, under pre- tence thereof,4 to overtop the Civil Power, or debase it as they please. No man hath been troubled in England or Ireland for preaching the Gospel ; nor has any Minister been molested in Scotland since the coming of the Army hither. The speaking truth becomes the Ministers of Christ
When Ministers pretend to a glorious Reformation ; and lay the foundations thereof in getting to themselves worldly power ; and can make worldly mixtures to accomplish the same, such as their late Agreement with their King ; and hope by him to carry-on their design, ' they' may know that the Sipn promised will not be built with such untempered mortar.
As for the unjust Invasion they mention, time was5 when an Army of Scotland came into England, not called by the Supreme Authority. We have said, in our Papers, with what hearts, and upon what account, we came ; and the Lord hath
* Means always ingenuously.
* Fear of personal damage. 4 Of preaching the Gospel.
4 1648, Duke Hamilton's time ; to say nothing of 1640 and other time*.
60 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 9 Sept
heard us,6 though you would not, upon as solemn an appeal as any experience can parallel.
And although they seem to comfort themselves with being sons of Jacob, from whom (they say) God hath hid His face for a time ; yet it's no wonder when the Lord hath lifted up His hand so eminently against a Family as He hath done so often against this,7 and men will not see His hand, — ' it's no wonder* if the Lord hide His face from such; putting them to shame both for it and their hatred of His people, as it is this day. When they purely trust to the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, which is powerful to bring down strongholds and every imagination that exalts itself, — which alone is able to square and fit the stones for the new Jerusalem ; — then and not before, and by that means and no other, shall Jerusalem, the City of the Lord, which is to be the praise of the whole Earth, be built; the Sion of the Holy One of Israel.
I have nothing to say to you but that I am, Sir, your humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Scotch Clergy never got such a reprimand since they first took ordination ! A very dangerous radiance blazes through these eyes of my Lord General's, — destructive to the owl-do- minion in Edinburgh Castle and elsewhere !
Let Dundas and Company reflect on it. Here is their ready Answer : still of the same day.
" ' To the Right Honourable the Lord Cromwell, Commander- in-Chief of the English Army'
" ' Edinburgh Castle,' gth September 1650.
" MY LORD, — Yours I have communicated to those with " me whom it concerned ; who desire me to return this " Answer :
" That their ingenuity in prosecuting the ends of the Cove-
8 At Dunbar, six days ago. 7 Of the Stuarts.
• Thurloe, L 159 ; Pamphlet at Edinburgh.
i6so. LETTER CXLVII. EDINBURGH. 61
" nant, according to their vocation and place, and in adhering " to their first principles, is well known ; and one of their " greatest regrets is that they have not been met with the like. " That when Ministers of the Gospel have been imprisoned, " deprived of their benefices, sequestrated, forced to flee from " their dwellings, and bitterly threatened, for their faithful de- " claring the will of God against the godless and wicked pro- " ceedings of men, — it cannot be accounted ' an imaginary " fear of suffering' in such as are resolved to follow the like " freedom and faithfulness in discharge of their Master's mess- " age. That it savours not of ' ingenuity' to promise liberty " of preaching the Gospel, and to limit the Preachers thereof, " that they must not speak against the sins and enormities " of Civil Powers; since their commission carrieth them to " speak the Word of the Lord unto, and to reprove the sins " of, persons of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest. That " to impose the name of ' railing' upon such faithful freedom " was the old practice of Malignants, against the Ministers of " the Gospel, who laid open to people the wickedness of their " ways, lest men should be ensnared thereby.
" That their consciences bear them record, and all their " hearers do know, that they meddle not with Civil Affairs, " farther than to hold forth the rule of the Word, by which the " straightness and crookedness of men's actions are made evi- " dent. But they are sorry they have such cause to regret " that men of mere Civil place and employment should usurp " the calling and employment of the Ministry :8 to the scandal " of the Reformed Kirks ; and, particularly in Scotland, con- " trary to the government and discipline therein established, " — to the maintenance whereof you are bound, by the Solemn " League and Covenant.
" Thus far they have thought fit to vindicate their return " to the offer in Colonel Whalley's Letter. The other part of " yours, which concerns the Public as well as them, they con- " ceive hath all been answered sufficiently in the public Papers " of the State and Kirk. Only to that of the success upon your " ' solemn appeal,' they say again, what was said to it before, " That they have not so learned Christ as to hang the equity " of their Cause upon events ; but desire to have their hearts
8 Certain of our Soldiers and Officers preach; very many of them ca^i preach,— and greatly to the purpose too 1
62 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. » Sept
•' established in the love of the Truth, in all the tribulations " that befall them.
" I only do add that I am, my Lord, your most humble " servant, W. DUNDAS."
On Thursday follows Oliver's answer, — 'very inferior in composition,' says Dryasdust ; — composition not being quite the trade of Oliver ! In other respects, sufficiently superior.
LETTER CXLVIII. For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, izth September 1650.
Because I am at some reasonable good leisure, I cannot let such gross mistakes and inconsequential reason- ings pass without some notice taken of them.
And first, their ingenuity in relation to the Covenant, for which they commend themselves, doth no more justify their want of ingenuity in answer to Colonel Whalley's Christian offer, concerning which my Letter charged them with guiltiness ' and' deficiency, than their bearing witness to themselves of their adhering to their first principles, and ingenuity in prosecuting the ends of the Covenant, justifies them so to have done merely because they say so. They must give more leave henceforwards ; for Christ will have it so, nill they, will they. And they must have patience to have the truth of their doctrines and sayings tried by the sure touchstone of the Word of God. And if there be a liberty and duty of trial, there is a liberty of judgment also for them that may and ought to try : which being9 so, they must give others leave to think and say that they can appeal to equal judges, Who have been the truest fulfillers of the most real and equitable ends of the Covenant ?
But if these Gentlemen do10 assume to themselves to be
9 'if in orig. I" 'which do* in orig. ; dele ' which.'
s6so. LETTER CXLVIII. EDINBURGH. 63
the infallible expositors of the Covenant, as they do too much to their auditories * to be the infallible expositors' of the Scriptures 'also,' counting a different sense and judg- ment from theirs Breach of Covenant and Heresy, — no marvel they judge of others so authoritatively and severely. But we have not so learned Christ. We look at Ministers as helpers of, not lords over, God's people. I appeal to their consciences, whether any 'person' trying their doc- trines, and dissenting, shall not incur the censure of Sectary? And what is this but to deny Christians their liberty, and assume the Infallible Chair ? What doth he whom we would not be likened unto11 do more than this ?
In the second place, it is affirmed that the " Ministers of the Gospel have been imprisoned, deprived of their bene- fices, sequestered, forced to fly from their dwellings, and bitterly threatened, for their faithful declaring of the will of God ;" that they have been limited that they might not " speak against the sins and enormities of the Civil Powers;" that to "impose the name of railing upon such faithful freedom was the old practice of Malignants against the Preachers of the Gospel," &c. — ' Now' if the Civil Authority, or that part of it which continued faithful to their trust,12 ' and' true to the ends of the Covenant, did, in answer to their consciences, turn-out a Tyrant, in a way which the Christians in aftertimes will mention with honour, and all Tyrants in the world look at with fear ; and ' if while many thousands of saints in England rejoice to think of it, and have received from the hand of God a liberty from the fear of like usurpations, and have cast-off him13 who trod in his Father's steps, doing mischief as far as he was able (whom you have received like fire into your bosom, — of which God will, I trust, in time make you sensible) : if, ' I say,' Minis-
" The Pope. B When Pride purged them.
U Your Charles II., as you call him.
64 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. „ Sept
ters railing at the Civil Power, and calling them murderers and the like for doing these things, have been dealt with as you mention, — will this be found a " personal persecu- tion"? Or is sin so, because they say so?14 They that acted this great Business15 have given a reason of their faith in the action ; and some here16 are ready farther to do it against all gainsayers.
But it will be found that these reprovers do not only make themselves the judges and determiners of sin, that so they may reprove; but they also took liberty17 to stir-up the people to blood and arms ; and would have brought a war upon England, as hath been upon Scotland, had not God prevented it. And if such severity as hath been ex- pressed towards them be worthy of the name of " personal persecution," let all uninterested men judge : * and' whether the calling of the practice " railing" be to be paralleled with the Malignants' imputation upon the Ministers for speaking against the Popish Innovations in the Prelates' times,18 and the 'other' tyrannical and wicked practices then on foot, let your own consciences rnind you ! The Roman Empe- rors, in Christ's and his Apostles' times, were usurpers and intruders upon the Jewish State : yet what footstep19 have ye either of our blessed Saviour's so much as willingness to the dividing of an inheritance, or their20 ' ever' meddling in that kind ? This was not practised by the Church since our Saviour's time, till Antichrist, assuming the Infallible Chair, and all that he called Church to be under him, prac- tised this authoritatively over Civil Governors. The way to fulfil your Ministry with joy is to preach the Gospel; which I wish some who take pleasure in reproofs at a venture, do not forget too much to do 1
14 Because you call it so. K Of judging Charles First
l» I for one. " In 1648.
18 O Oliver, my Lord General, the Lindley-Murray composition here is dreadful; the meaning struggling, like a strong swimmer, in an element very viscous I >» Vestige. & The Apostles'.
i«so. LETTER CXLVIII. EDINBURGH. 65
Thirdly, you say, You have just cause to regret that men of Civil employments should usurp the calling and employ- ment of the Ministry; to the scandal of the Reformed Kirks. — Are you troubled that Christ is preached ? Is preaching so exclusively your function ?21 Doth it scandalise the Re- formed Kirks, and Scotland in particular ? Is it against the Covenant ? Away with the Covenant, if this be so ! I thought, the Covenant and these ' professors of it' could have been willing that any should speak good of the name of Christ : if not, it is no Covenant of God's approving ; nor are these Kirks you mention insomuch22 the Spouse of Christ. Where do you find in the Scripture a ground to warrant such an assertion, That Preaching is exclusively your function ? Though an Approbation from men hath order in it, and may do well ; yet he that hath no better warrant than that, hath none at all. I hope He that ascended up on high may give His gifts to whom He pleases : and it those gifts be the seal of Mission, be not 'you' envious though Eldad and Medad prophesy. You know who bids us covet earnestly the best gifts, but chiefly that we may pro- phesy; which the Apostle explains there to be a speaking to instruction and edification and comfort, — which speaking, the instructed, the edified and comforted can best tell the energy and effect of, ' and say whether it is genuine.' If such evidence be, I say again, Take heed you envy not for your own sakes ; lest you be guilty of a greater fault than Moses reproved in Joshua for envying for his sake.
Indeed, you err through mistaking of the Scriptures. Approbation23 is an act of conveniency in respect of order ; not of necessity, to give faculty to preach the Gospel. Your pretended fear lest Error should step in, is like the man who would keep all the wine out the country lest men should be
21 ' so inclusive in your function,' means that.
22 So far as their notion of the Covenant goes.
M Or say ' Ordination/ Solemn Approbation and Appointment by men.
VOL. III. F
66 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 12 SePu
drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon a supposition he may abuse it. When he doth abuse it, judge. If a man speak foolishly, ye suffer him gladly24 because ye are wise ; if erroneously, the truth more appears by your conviction ' of him.' Stop such a man's mouth by sound words which cannot be gainsaid. If he speak blasphemously, or to the dis- turbance of the public peace, let the Civil Magistrate punish him : if truly, rejoice in the truth. And if you will call our speakings together since we came into Scotland, — to pro- voke one another to love and good works, to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance from dead works ; ' and' to charity and love towards you, to pray and mourn for you, and for your bitter returns to ' our love of you,' and your incredulity of our professions of love to you, of the truth of which we have made our solemn and humble appeals to the Lord our God, which He hath heard and borne witness to : if you will call ' these' things scandalous to the Kirk, and against the Covenant, because done by men of Civil call- ings,— we rejoice in them, notwithstanding what you say.
For a conclusion : In answer to the witness of God upon our solemn Appeal,25 you say you have not so learned Christ ' as' to hang the equity of your Cause upon events. We, 'for our part,' could wish blindness have not been upon your eyes to all those marvellous dispensations which God hath lately wrought in England. But did not you solemnly appeal and pray ? Did not we do so too ? And ought not you and we to think, with fear and trembling, of the hand of the Great God in this mighty and strange ap- pearance of His ; instead of slightly calling it an " event" !26 Were not both your and our expectations renewed from time to time, whilst we waited upon God, to see which way
24 With a patient victorious feeling. 3'> At Dunbar.
* ' but can slightly call it an event' in orig.
,6so. LETTER CXLVIII. EDINBURGH. 67
He would manifest Himself upon our appeals ? And shall we, after all these our prayers, fastings, tears, expectations and solemn appeals, call these bare " events" ? The Lord pity you.
Surely we, ' for our part,' fear ; because it hath been a merciful and gracious deliverance to us. I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, search after the mind of the Lord in it towards you ; and we shall help you by our prayers ; that you may find it out : for yet (if we know our hearts at all) our bowels do, in Christ Jesus, yearn after the Godly in Scotland. We know there are stumbling-blocks which hinder you : the personal prejudices you have taken up against us27 and our ways, wherein we cannot but think some occasion has been given,28 and for which we mourn: the apprehension you have that we have hindered the glorious Reformation you think you were upon : — I am persuaded these and such- like bind you up from an understanding, and yielding to, the mind of God, in this great day of His power and visita- tion. And, if I be rightly informed, the late Blow you received is attributed to profane counsels and conduct, and mixtures29 in your Army, and suchlike. The natural man will not find out the cause. Look up to the Lord, that He may tell it you. Which that He would do, shall be the fervent prayer of, your loving friend and servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
' P.S.' These ' following' Queries are sent not to reproach you, but in the love of Christ laying them before you ; we being persuaded in the Lord that there is a truth in them. Which we earnestly desire may not be laid aside unsought after, from any prejudice either against the things them-
W Me, Oliver Cromwell.
28 I have often, in Parliament and elsewhere, been crabbed towards your hide- bound Presbyterian Formula ; and given it many a fillip, not thinking sufficiently what good withal was in it,
39 Admission of Engagers and ungodly people.
68 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. » Sept.
selves, or the unworthiness or weakness of the person that offers them. If you turn at the Lord's reproofs, He will pour-out His Spirit upon you; and you shall understand His words ; and they will guide you to a blessed Reformation indeed,30 — even to one according to the Word, and such as the people of God wait for : wherein you will find us and all saints ready to rejoice, and serve you to the utmost in our places and callings.*
ENCLOSED is the Paper of Queries ; to which this Editor, anxious to bring-out my Lord General's sense, will take the great liberty to intercalate a word or two of Commentary as we read.
QUERIES.
1. Whether the Lord's controversy be not both against the Ministers in Scotland and in England, for their wrest- ing and straining ' of the Covenant,' and employing31 the Covenant against the Godly and Saints in England (of the same faith with them in every fundamental) even to a bitter persecution ; and so making that which, in the main inten- tion, was Spiritual, to serve Politics and Carnal ends, — even in that part especially which was Spiritual, and did look to the glory of God, and the comfort of His People ?
The meaning of your Covenant was, that God's glory should be promoted : and yet how many zealous Preachers, unpresby- terian but real Promoters of God's glory, have you, by wrest- ing and straining of the verbal phrases of the Covenant, found means to menace, eject, afflict and in every way discourage! —
2. Whether the Lord's controversy be not for your and the Ministers in England's sullenness at ' God's great provi- dences,' and ' your' darkening and not beholding the glory
30 'glorious Reformation/ 'blessed Reformation," &c. are phrases loud and 7i>- rent everywhere, especially among the Scotch, for ten years past. * Thurloe, i. 158-162. 3i ' improving" in orig.
,6so. QUERIES. 69
of God's wonderful dispensations in this series of His pro- vidences in England, Scotland and Ireland, both now and formerly, — through envy at instruments, and because the things did not work forth your Platform, and the Great God did not come down to your minds and thoughts.
This is well worth your attention. Perhaps the Great God means something other and farther than you yet imagine. Per- haps in His infinite Thought, and Scheme that reaches through Eternities, there may be elements which the Westminster As- sembly has not jotted down ? Perhaps these reverend learned persons, debating at Four shillings and sixpence a day, did not get to the bottom of the Bottomless, after all ? Perhaps this Universe was not entirely built according to the West- minster Shorter Catechism, but by other ground-plans withal, not yet entirely brought to paper anywhere, in Westminster or out of it, that I hear of? O my reverend Scotch friends! —
3. Whether your carrying-on a Reformation, so much by you spoken of, have not probably been subject to some mis- takes in your own judgments about some parts of the same, — laying so much stress thereupon as hath been a tempta- tion to you even to break the Law of Love, ' the greatest of all laws,' towards your brethren, and those ' whom' Christ hath regenerated; even to the reviling and persecuting of them, and to stirring-up of wicked men to do the same, for your Form's sake, or but ' for' some parts of it.
A helpless lumbering sentence, but with a noble meaning in it.
4. Whether if your Reformation be so perfect and so spiritual, be indeed the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, it will need such carnal policies, such fleshly mixtures, such unsin- cere actings as ' some of these are' ? To pretend to cry- down all Malignants; and yet to receive and set-up the Head of them ' all,' and to act for the Kingdom of Christ
70 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 13 Sept.
in his name,32 and upon advantage thereof? And to pub- lish so false a Paper,33 so full of special pretences to piety, as the fruit and effect of his " repentance," — to deceive the minds of all the Godly in England, Ireland and Scotland ; you, in your own consciences, knowing with what regret he did it, and with what importunities and threats he was brought to do it, and how much to this very day he is against it? And whether this be not a high provocation of the Lord, in so grossly dissembling with Him and His people ?*
Yes, you can consider that, my Friends ; and think, on the whole, what kind of course you are probably getting into ; steering towards a Kingdom of Jesus Christ with Charles Stuart and Mrs. Barlow at the helm !
The Scotch Clergy reply, through Governor Dundas, still in a sulky unrepentant manner, that they stick by their old opinions ; that the Lord General's arguments, which would not be hard to answer a second time, have already been answered amply, by anticipation, in the public Manifestos of the Scot- tish Nation and Kirk; — that, in short, he hath a longer sword than they for the present, and the Scripture says, "There is one event to the righteous and the wicked," which may pro- bably account for Dunbar, and some other phenomena. Here the correspondence closes ; his Excellency on the morrow morn- ing (Friday I3th September 1650) finding no 'reasonable good leisure' to unfold himself farther, in the way of paper and ink, to these men. There remain other ways ; the way of cannon- batteries and Derbyshire miners. It is likely his Excellency will subdue the bodies of these men ; and the unconquerable mind will then follow if it can.
PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS it hath pleased God, by His gracious provi- dence and goodness, to put the City of Edinburgh and the
32 Charles Stuart's: a very questionable 'name' for any Kingdom of Christ to act aron I
1)3 The Declaration, or testimony against his Father's sins. * Thurloe, L 158-162.
i6so. PROCLAMATION. 71
Town of Leith under my power : And although I have put forth several Proclamations, since my coming into this Country, to the like effect with this present : Yet for farther satisfaction to all those whom it may concern, I do hereby again publish and declare,
That all the Inhabitants of the country, not now being or continuing in arms, shall have free leave and liberty to come to the Army, and to the City and Town aforesaid, with their cattle, corn, horse, or other commodities or goods whatsoever; and shall there have free and open markets for the same ; and shall be protected in their persons and goods, in coming and returning as aforesaid, from any injury or violence of the Soldiery under my command ; and shall also be protected in their respective houses. And the Citi- zens and Inhabitants of the said City and Town shall and hereby likewise have34 free leave to vend and sell their wares and commodities; and shall be protected from the plunder and violence of the Soldiers.
And I do hereby require all Officers and Soldiers of the Army under my command, To take due notice hereof, and to yield obedience hereto. As they will answer the contrary at their utmost peril.
Given under my hand at Edinburgh, the i4th of Sep- tember 1650. OLIVER CROMWELL.
To be proclaimed in Leith and Edinburgh, by sound of trumpet and beat of drum.*
Listen, and be reassured, ye ancient Populations, though your Clergy sit obstinate on their Castle-rock, and your Stuart King has vanished ! — While this comfortable Oyez-oyez goes sounding through the ancient streets, my Lord General is • himself just getting on march again ; as the next Letter will testify.
34 Grammar irremediable !
* King's Pamphlets, small 410, no. 479, art. 16 ('The Lord General Cromwell his March to Stirling : being a Diary of &c. ' Published by Authority').
72 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. ,5 Sept
LETTER CXLIX.
THE Lord General, leaving the Clergy to meditate his Queries in the seclusion of their Castle-rock, sets off west- ward, on the second day after, to see whether he cannot at once dislodge the Governing Committee-men and Covenanted King ; and get possession of Stirling, where they are busily endeavouring to rally. This, he finds, will not answer, for the moment.
' 20 the Right Honourable the Lord President of the Council of State: These.1
Edinburgh, 25th September 1650.
* * * On Saturday the i4th instant, we marched six miles towards Stirling ; and, by reason of the badness of the ways, were forced to send back two pieces of our greatest artillery. The day following, we marched to Linlithgow, not being able to go farther by reason of much rain that fell that day. On the i6th, we marched to Falkirk; and the next day following, within cannot-shot of Stirling ; — where, upon Wednesday the i8th, our Army was drawn forth, and all things in readiness to storm the Town.
But finding the work very difficult ; they having in the Town Two-thousand horse and more foot; and the place standing upon a river not navigable for shipping to relieve the same, 'so that' we could not, with safety, make it a Garrison, if God should have given it into our hands : — upon this, and other considerations, it was not thought a fit time to storm. But such was the unanimous resolution and cour- age both of our Officers and Soldiers, that greater could not be (as to outward appearance) in men.
On Thursday the ipth, we returned from thence to Lin- lithgow; and at night we were informed that, at Stirling, they shot-off their great guns for joy their King was come thither. On Friday the 2oth, three Irish soldiers came from
1650. LETTER CXLTX. EDINBURGH. 73
them to us ; to whom we gave entertainment in the Army ; they say, Great fears possessed the soldiers when they ex- pected us to storm. That they know not whether old Leven be their General or not, the report being various ; but that Sir John Browne, a Colonel of their Army, was laid aside. That they are endeavouring to raise all the Forces they can, in the North ; that many of the soldiers, since our victory, are offended at their Ministers; that Colonel Gilbert Ker and Colonel Strahan are gone with shattered forces to Glas- gow, to levy soldiers there. As yet we hear not of any of the old Cavaliers being entertained as Officers among them ; 4 the expectation of which occasions differences betwixt their Ministers and the Officers of the Army.
The same day, we came to Edinburgh ' again.' Where we abide without disturbance ; saving that about ten at night, and before day in the morning, they sometimes fire three or four great guns at us ; and if any of our men come within musket-shot, they fire at them from the Castle. But, blessed be God, they have done us no harm, except one soldier shot (but not to the danger of his life), that I can be informed of. There are some few of the inhabitants of Edinburgh returned home ; who, perceiving our civility, and ' our' paying for what we receive of them, repent their departure; open their shops, and bring provisions to the market. It's reported they have in the Castle provisions for fifteen months ; some say, for a longer time. Generally the poor acknowledge that our carriage to them is better than that of their own Army ; and * that' had they who are gone away known so much, they would have stayed at home. They say, one chief reason wherefore so many are gone was, They feared we would have imposed upon them some oath wherewith they could not have dispensed.
I am in great hopes, through God's mercy, we shall be
74 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 29 Sept
able this Winter to give the People such an understanding of the justness of our Cause, and our desires for the just liberties of the People, that the better sort of them will be satisfied therewith; although, I must confess, hitherto they continue obstinate. I thought I should have found in Scot- land a conscientious People, and a barren country : about Edinburgh, it is as fertile for corn as any part of England ; but the People generally ' are so' given to the most impudent lying, and frequent swearing, as is incredible to be believed. I rest, * your Lordship's most humble servant,'
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
What to do with Scotland, in these mixed circumstances, is a question. We have friends among them, a distinct coincidence with them in the great heart of their National Purpose, could they understand us aright ; and we have all degrees of ene- mies among them, up to the bitterest figure of Malignancy itself. What to do ? For one thing, Edinburgh Castle ought to be reduced. ' We have put forces into Linlithgow, and our Train is lodged in Leith,' Lesley's old citadel there ; 'the wet being so great that we cannot march with our Train.' Do we try Edinburgh Castle with a few responsive shots from the Calton Hill ; or from what point ? My Scotch Antiquarian friends have not informed me. We decide on reducing it by mines.
' Sunday 2gf/i September 1650. Resolution being taken for ' the springing of mines in order to the reducing of Edinburgh ' Castle ; and our men beginning their galleries last night, the ' Enemy fired five pieces of ordnance, with several volleys of shot, from the Castle ; but did no execution. We hope this ' work will take effect ; notwithstanding the height, rockiness, ' and strength of the place. — His Excellency with his Officers ' met this day in the High Church of Edinburgh, forenoon and ' afternoon; where was a great concourse of people.' Mr. Sta- pylton, who did the Hursley Marriage-treaty, and is otherwise transiently known to mankind, — he, as was above intimated, occupies the pulpit there; the Scots Clergy still sitting sulky in their Castle, with Derby miners now operating on them. 'Many
* Newspapers (in Parliamentary History, xix. 404).
i«So. LETTERS CL.— CLXI. 75
' Scots expressed much affection at the doctrine preached by Mr. 1 Stapylton, in their usual way of groans,' — Hum-m-mrrh ! — 1 and it's hoped a good work is wrought in some of their hearts.'35 I am sure I hope so. But to think of brother worshippers, par- takers in a Gospel of this kind, cutting one another's throats for a Covenanted Charles Stuart, — Hum-m-mrrh 1
LETTERS CL.— CLXI.
HASTE and other considerations forbid us to do more than glance, timidly from the brink, into that sea of confusions in which the poor Scotch people have involved themselves by sol- dering Christ's Crown to Charles Stuart's ! Poor men, they have got a Covenanted King; but he is, so to speak, a Solecism Incarnate : good cannot come of him, or of those that follow him in this course ; only inextricability, futility, disaster and discomfiture can come. There is nothing sadder than to see such a Purpose of a Nation led on by such a set of persons ; staggering into ever deeper confusion, down, down, till it fall prostrate into utter wreck. Were not Oliver here to gather up the fragments of it, the Cause of Scotland might now die ; Oliver, little as the Scots dream of it, is Scotland's Friend too, as he was Ireland's : what would become of Scotch Puritanism, the one great feat hitherto achieved by Scotland, if Oliver were not now there ! Oliver's Letters out of Scotland, what will elucidate Oliver's footsteps and utterances there, shall alone concern us at present. For sufficing which object, the main features of these Scotch confusions may become conceivable without much detail of ours.
The first Scotch Army, now annihilated at Dunbar, had been sedulously cleared of all Hamilton Engagers and other Malignant or Quasi-Malignant Persons, according to a scheme painfully laid down in what was called the Act of Classes, — a General-Assembly Act, defining and classifying such men as shall not be allowed to fight on this occasion, lest a curse over- take the Cause on their account. Something other than a
85 Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p, 92).
76 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 9 Oct
blessing has overtaken the Cause : — and now, on rallying a' Stirling with unbroken purpose of struggle, there arise in th« Committee of Estates and Kirk, and over the Nation generally, earnest considerations as to the methods of farther struggle ; huge discrepancies as to the ground and figure it ought hence- forth to take. As was natural to the case, Three Parties now develop themselves : a middle one, and two extremes. The Official Party, Argyle and the Official Persons, especially the secular portion of them, think that the old ground should as much as possible be adhered to : Let us fill-up our old ranks with new men, and fight and resist with the Covenanted Charles Stuart at the head of us, as we did before. This is the middle or Official opinion.
No, answers an extreme Party, Let us have no more to do with your covenanting pedantries ; let us sign your Covenant one good time for all, and have done with it ; but prosecute the King's Interest, and call on all men to join us in that. An almost openly declared Malignant Party this ; at the head of which Lieutenant-General Middleton, the Marquis of Huntly and other Royalist Persons are raising forces, publishing mani- festos, in the Highlands near by. Against whom David Les- ley himself at last has to march. This is the one extreme ; the Malignant or Royalist extreme. The amount of whose exploits was this : They invited the poor King to run off from Perth and his Church-and-State Officials, and join them; which he did, — rode out as if to hawk, one afternoon, softly across the South Inch of Perth, then galloped some forty miles- ; found the ap- pointed place, — a villanous hut among the Grampian Hills, without soldiers, resources, or accommodations, ' with nothing but a turf pillow to sleep on :' and was easily persuaded back, the day after j1 making his peace by a few more — what shall we call them ? — poetic figments ; which the Official Persons, with an effort, swallowed. Shortly after, by official persuasion and military coercion, this first extreme Party was suppressed, reunited to the main body ; and need not concern us farther.
But now, quite opposite to this, there is another extreme Party ; which has its seat in 'the Western Shires,' from Ren- frew down to Dumfries ; — which is, in fact, I think, the old Whiggamore Raid of 1 648 under a new figure ; these Western Shires being always given that way. They have now got a
1 4 h-6th October, Balfour, iv. 113-15.
«6so. LETTER CL. LINLITHGOW. 77
' Western Army,' with Colonel Ker and Colonel Strahan to command it ; and most of the Earls, Lairds, and Ministers in those parts have joined. Very strong for the Covenant ; very strong against all shams of the Covenant. Colonel Ker is the ' famed Commander Gibby Carre," who came to commune with us in the Burrow-Moor, when we lay on Pentland Hills: Colo- nel Strahan is likewise a famed Commander, who was thought to be slain at Musselburgh once, but is alive here still ; an old acquaintance of my Lord General Cromwell's, and always sus- pected of a leaning to Sectarian courses. These Colonels and Gentry having, by sanction of the Committee of Estates, raised a Western Army of some Five-thousand, and had much consi- deration with themselves ; and seen, especially by the flight into the Grampians, what way his Majesty's real inclinations are tending, — decide, or threaten to decide, that they will not serve under his Majesty or his General Lesley with their Army, till they see new light ; that in fact they dare not ; being appre- hensive he is no genuine Covenanted King, but only the sham of one, whom it is terribly dangerous to follow ! On this Party Cromwell has his eye ; and they on him. What becomes of them we shall, before long, learn.
Meanwhile here is a Letter to the Official Authorities ; which, however, produces small effect upon them.
LETTER CL.
For the Right Honourable the Committee of Estates of Scotland, at Stirling, or elsewhere: These.
RIGHT HONOURABLE, Liniithgow, 9th October 1650.
The grounds and ends of the Army's enter- ing Scotland have been heretofore, often and clearly, made known unto you ; and how much we have desired the same might be accomplished without blood. But, according to what returns we have received, it is evident your hearts had not that love to us as we can truly say we had towards you. And we are persuaded those difficulties in which you have involved yourselves, — by espousing your King's interest, and taking into your bosom that Person, in whom (notwithstand-
78 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 9Oct
ing what hath • been' or may be said to the contrary) that which is really Malignancy and all Malignants do centre ; against whose Family the Lord hath so eminently witnessed for bloodguiltiness, not to be done away by such hypo- critical and formal shows of repentance as are expressed in his late Declaration; and your strange prejudices against us as men of heretical opinions (which, through the great good- ness of God to us, have been unjustly charged upon us), — have occasioned your rejecting those Overtures which, with a Christian affection, were offered to you before any blood was spilt, or your People had suffered damage by us.
The daily sense we have of the calamity of War lying upon the poor People of this Nation, and the sad conse- quences of blood and famine likely to come upon them ; the advantage given to the Malignant, Profane, and Popish party by this War ; and that reality of affection which we have so often professed to you, — and concerning the truth of which we have so solemnly appealed, — do again constrain us to send unto you, to let you know, That if the contend- ing for that Person be not by you preferred to the peace and welfare of your Country, the blood of your Peoples, the love of men of the same faith with you, and (in this above all) the honour of that God we serve, — Then give the State of England that satisfaction and security for their peace- able and quiet living beside you, which may in justice be demanded from a Nation giving so just ground to ask the same, — from those who have, as you, taken their enemy into their bosom, whilst he was in hostility against them : * Do this ;' and it will be made good to you, That you may have a lasting and durable Peaoe with them, and the wish of a blessing upon you in all religious and civil things.
If this be refused by you, we are persuaded that God, who hath once borne His testimony, will do it again on the behalf of us His poor servants, who do appeal to Him
,6so. LETTER CL. LINLITHGOW. 79
whether their desires flow from sincerity of heart or not. I rest, your Lordships' humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Committee of Estates at Stirling or elsewhere debated about an Answer to this Letter ; but sent none, except of civility merely, and after considerable delays. A copy of the Letter was likewise forwarded to Colonels Ker and Strahan and their Western Army, by whom it was taken into consideration ; and some Correspondence, Cromwell's part of which is not yet altogether lost, followed upon it there ; and indeed Cromwell, as we dimly discover in the old Books, set forth towards Glas- gow directly on the back of it, in hopes of a closer communi- cation with these Western Colonels and their Party.
While Ker and Strahan are busy ' at Dumfries,' says Baillie, ' Cromwell with the whole body of his Army and cannon comes ' peaceably by way of Kilsyth to Glasgow.' It is Friday even- ing, 1 8th October 1650. 'The Ministers and Magistrates flee ' all away. I got to the Isle of Cumbrae with my Lady Mont- ' gomery ; but left all my family and goods to Cromwell's 1 courtesy, — which indeed was great; for he took such a course ' with his soldiers that they did less displeasure at Glasgow ' than if they had been in London ; though Mr. Zachary Boyd,' a fantastic old gentleman still known in Glasgow and Scotland, ' railed on them all, to their very face, in the High Church ;'2 calling them Sectaries and Blasphemers, the fantastic old gen- tleman ! ' Glasgow, though not so big or rich as Edinburgh, ' is a much sweeter place ; the completest town we have yet ' seen here, and one of their choicest Universities.' The people were much afraid of us till they saw how we treated them. ' Captain Covel of the Lord General's regiment of horse was 1 cashiered here for holding some blasphemous opinions.'3 — This is Cromwell's first visit to Glasgow : he made two others, of which on occasion notice shall be taken. In Pinkertoris Correspondence are certain ' anecdotes of Cromwell at Glasgow ;' which, like many others on Cromwell, need not be repeated anywhere except in the nursery.
Cromwell entered Glasgow on Friday evening ; over Sunday, was patient with Zachary Boyd : but got no result out of Ker
* Newspapers (in Croimvelliana, p. 93). ' Baillie, iii. 119 ; Whitlocke, p. 459. 3 Whitlocke, p. 459 ; Crotntvelliana, pp 92-3.
So PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 25 Oct.
and Strahan. Ker and Strahan, at Dumfries on the Thursday, have perfected and signed their Remonstrance of the Western Army ;4 a Document of much fame in the old Scotch Books. ' Expressing many sad truths,' says the Kirk Committee. Ex- pressing, in fact, the apprehension of Ker and Strahan that the Covenanted King may probably be a Solecism Incarnate, under whom it will not be good to fight longer for the Cause of Christ and Scotland ; — expressing meanwhile considerable reluctancy as to the English Sectaries ; and deciding, on the whole, to fight them still, though on a footing of our own. Not a very hopeful enterprise ! Of which we shall see the issue by and by. Meanwhile news come that this Western Army is aiming to- wards Edinburgh, to get hold of the Castle there. Whereupon Cromwell, in all haste, on Monday, sets off thitherward ; 'lodges the first night in a poor cottage fourteen miles from Glasgow ;' arrives safe, to prevent all alarms. His first visit to Glasgow was but of two days.
LETTER CLI.
THE Western Colonels have given-in their Remonstrance to the Committee of Estates ; and sat in deliberation on their copy of Cromwrll's Expostulatory Letter to that Body, the Let- ter we have jrst read, — in which these two words, 'security' and ' satisfact'on,' are somewhat abstruse to the Western Colo- nels. They decide that it will not be convenient to return any public Answer ; but they have forwarded a private Letter of acknowledgment with 'Six Queries:' Letter lost to. us ; Six Queries still surviving. To which, directly after his return to Edinburgh, here is Cromwell's Answer. The Six Queries, being very brief, may be transcribed ; the Letter of acknowledgment can be conceived without transcribing :
' Query I. Why is "satisfaction" demanded? 2. What is ' the satisfaction demanded ? 3. For what is the " security" ' demanded ? 4. What is the security ye would have? 5. From ' whom is the security required ? 6. To whom is the security ' to be given ?'5 Queries which, I think, do not much look like real despatch of business in the present intricate conjuncture !
This Letter, it appears, is, if not accompanied, directly fo]
4 Dated \^\ October ; given in Balfbur, iv. 141-60. s Balfour, iv. 135.
.65o. LETTER CLI. EDINBURGH. 81
lowed by ' Mr. Alexander Jaffray' Provost of Aberdeen, and a 1 Reverend Mr. Carstairs' of Glasgow, two Prisoners of Oliver's ever since Dunbar Drove, who are to ' agent' the same.6
' To Colonel Strahan, with the Western Army : These.'
SlR, Edinburgh, 25th October 1650.
I have considered of the Letter and the Queries ; and, having advised with some Christian friends about the same, think fit to return an Answer as followeth :
' That' we bear unto the Godly of Scotland the same Christian affection we have all along professed in our Papers; being ready, through the grace of God, upon all occasions, to give such proof and testimony thereof as the Divine Pro- vidence shall minister opportunity to us to do. That nothing would be more acceptable to us to see than the Lord re- moving offences, and inclining the hearts of His People in Scotland to meet us with the same affection. That we do verily apprehend, with much comfort, that there is some stirring of your bowels by the Lord ; giving some hope of His good pleasure tending hereunto; which we are most willing to comply with, and not to be wanting in anything on our part which may further the same.
And having seen the heads of two Remonstrances, the one of the Ministers of Glasgow, and the other of the Offi- cers and Gentlemen of the West,7 we do from thence hope that the Lord hath cleared unto you some things that were formerly hidden, and which we hope may lead to a better understanding. Nevertheless, we cannot but take notice, that from some expressions in the same Papers, we have too much cause to note that there is still so great a difference betwixt us as we are looked upon and accounted as Enemies
6 Baillie, iii. 120.
7 Remonstrance of the Western Army is this latter ; the other, very conceivable as a kind of codicil to this, is not known to me except at secondhand, from Baillie's eager, earnest, very headlong and perplexed account of that Business (iv. 120, 122 et seqq.X
III, G
82 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 25 Oct.
And although we hope that the Six Queries, sent by you to us to be answered, were intended to clear doubts and remove the remaining obstructions ; which we shall be most ready to do : yet, considering the many misconstructions which may arise from the clearest pen (where men are not all of one mind), and the difficulties at this distance to re- solve doubts and rectify mistakes, we conceive our Answer in Writing may not so effectually reach that end as a friendly and Christian Conference by equal persons ' might'
And we doubt not we can, with ingenuity and clear ness, give a satisfactory account of those general things held forth in the Letter sent by us to the Committee of Estates,8 and in our former Declarations and Papers ; which we shall be ready to do by a Friendly Debate, — when and where our answer to these particulars may probably tend to the better and more clear understanding betwixt the Godly Party of both Nations.
To speak plainly in a few words : If those who sincerely love and fear the Lord amongst you are sensible that mat- ters have been and are carried by your State so as that therewith God is not well pleased, but the Interest of His People ' is' hazarded, in Scotland and England, to Malig- nants, to Papists, and to the Profane, — we can, through Grace, be willing to lay our bones in the dust for your sakes ; and can, as heretofore we have * said,' still continue to say, That, not to impose upon you in Religious or Civil Interests, not dominion nor any worldly advantage, ' not these,' but the obtaining of a just security to ourselves,9 were the motives, and satisfactions to our consciences, in this Undertaking. ' A just security ;' which we believe by this time you may think we had cause to be sensible was more than endan- gered by the carriage of affairs with your King. And it is
8 Letter CL. ' ' securing ourselves" in orig.
«6So. PROCLAMATION. 83
not success, and more visible clearness to our consciences arising out of the discoveries God hath made of the hypo- crisies of men, that hath altered, ' or can alter,' our principles or demands. But we take from thence humble encourage- ment to follow the Lord's providence in serving His Cause and People; not doubting but He will give such an issue to this Business as will be to His glory and your comfort. I rest, your affectionate friend and servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
There followed no ' Friendly Debate' upon this Letter ; no- thing followed upon it except new noise in the Western Army, and a straitlaced case of conscience more perplexing than ever. Jaffray and Carstairs had to come back on parole again ; Strahan at length withdrew from the concern : the Western Army wect its own separate middle road, — to what issue we shall see.
Here is another trait of the old time ; not without illumina- tion for us. ' One Watt, a tenant of the Earl of Tweedale's ' being sore oppressed by the English, took to himself some of ' his own degree ; and by daily incursions and infalls on the 1 English Garrisons and Parties in Lothian, killed and took of 'them above Four-hundred,' or say the half or quarter of so many, ' and enriched himself by their spoils.' The like 'did one ' Augustin, a High-German,' not a Dutchman, ' being purged ' out of the Army before Dunbar Drove,' — of whom we shall hear farther. In fact, the class called Mosstroopers begins to abound ; the only class that can flourish in such a state of affairs. Whereupon comes out this
PROCLAMATION.
I FINDING that divers of the Army under my command are not only spoiled and robbed, but also sometimes bar- barously and inhumanly butchered and slain, by a sort of Outlaws and Robbers, not under the discipline of any Army;
* Clarendon State-Paptrs (Oxford, 1773), ii. 551-0.
84 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 18 Nov.
and finding that all our tenderness to the Country produceth no other effect than their compliance with, and protection of, such persons; and considering that it is in the power of the Country to detect and discover them (many of them being inhabitants of those places where commonly the out- rage is committed) ; and perceiving that their motion is ordinarily by the invitation, and according to intelligence given them by Countrymen :
I do therefore declare, that wheresoever any under my command shall be hereafter robbed or spoiled by such par- ties, I will require life for life, and a plenary satisfaction for their goods, of those Parishes and Places where the fact shall be committed ; unless they shall discover and produce the offender. And this I wish all persons to take notice of, that none may plead ignorance.
Given under my hand at Edinburgh, the 5th of Novem- ber 1650. OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CLII.
ONE nest of Mosstroopers, not far off, in the Dalkeith region, ought specially to be abated.
To the Governor of Borthwick Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, i8th November 1650.
I thought fit to send this Trumpet to you, to let you know, That if you please to walk away with your company, and deliver the House to such as I shall send to receive it, you shall have liberty to carry-off your arms and goods, and such other necessaries as you have.
You have harboured such parties in your House as have basely and inhumanly murdered our men : if you necessitate me to bend my cannon against you, you may expect what
* Newspapers (in Crotnwelliana, p. 94).
,6So. LETTER CLIII. EDINBURGH. 85
I doubt you will not be pleased with. I expect your present Answer ; and rest, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Governor of Borthwick Castle, Lord Borthwick of that Ilk, did as he was bidden; 'walked away,' with movable goods, with wife and child, and had ' fifteen days' allowed him to pack : whereby the Dalkeith region and Carlisle Road is a little quieter henceforth.
LETTER CLIII.
COLONELS Ker and Strahan with their Remonstrance have filled all Scotland with a fresh figure of dissension. The Kirk finds ' many sad truths' in it ; knows not what to do with it. In the Estates themselves there is division of opinion. Men of worship, the Minister in Kirkcaldy among others, are heard to say strange things : " That a Hypocrite," or Solecism Incar- nate, " ought not to reign over us ; that we should treat with " Cromwell, and give him assurance not to trouble England " with a King ; that whosoever mars such a Treaty, the blood " of the slain shall be on his head !" ' Which are strange words,' says Baillie, 'if true.' Scotland is in a hopeful way. The extreme party of Malignants in the North is not yet quite extinct ; and here is another extreme party of Remonstrants in the West, — to whom all the conscientious rash men of Scot- land, in Kirkcaldy and elsewhere, seem as if they would join themselves ! Nothing but remonstrating, protesting, treatying and mistreatying from sea to sea.
To have taken up such a Remonstrance at first, and stood by it, before the War began, had been very wise : but to take it up now, and attempt not to make a Peace by it, but to con- tinue the War with it, looks mad enough ! Such, nevertheless, is Colonel Gibby Ker's project, — not Strahan's, it would seem : men's projects strangely cross one another in this time of be- wilderment ; and only perhaps in doing nothing could a man in such a scene act wisely. Lambert, however, is gone into the West with Three-thousand horse to deal with Ker and his projects ; the Lord General has himself been in the West : the end of Ker's projects is succinctly shadowed forth in the follow-
• Russell's Life of Cromwell, ii. 95 (from Statistical Account oj Scotland).
86 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Dec.
ing Letter. From Baillie10 we learn that Ker, with his Western Army, was lying at a place called Carmunnock, when he made this infall upon Lambert ; that the time of it was ' four in the morning of Sunday 1st December 1650;' and the scene of it Hamilton Town, and the streets and ditches thereabouts : a dark sad business, of an ancient Winter morning ; — sufficiency luminous for our purpose with it here.
The ' treaties among the Enemy' means Ker and Strahan's confused remonstratings and treatyings; the ' result,' or general upshot, of which is this scene in the ditches at four in the morning,
11
To the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, 4th December 1650.
I have now sent you the results of some Treaties amongst the Enemy, which came to my hand this day.
The Major-General and Commissary -General Whalley marched a few days ago towards Glasgow. The Enemy at- tempted his quarters in Hamilton ; were entered the Town : but by the blessing of God, by a very gracious hand of Pro- vidence, without the loss of six men as I hear of, he beat them out; killed about an Hundred; took also about the same number, amongst whom are some prisoners of quality; and near an Hundred horse, — as I am informed. The Major- General is still in the chase of them ; to whom also I have since sent the addition of a fresh party. Colonel Ker (as my Messenger, this night, tells me) is taken; his Lieutenant- Colonel ; and one that was sometimes Major to Colonel Strahan; and Ker's Captain-Lieutenant. The whole Party is shattered. And give me leave to say it, If God had not brought them upon us, we might have marched Three-thou- sand horse to death, and not have lighted on them. And truly it was a strange Providence brought them upon him.
'» jij. i2£. 'I See also Whitlocke, i6th December i6$<x
i6so. LETTER CLIII. EDINBURGH. 87
^
For I marched from Edinburgh on the north side of Clyde ; ' and had" appointed the Major-General to march from Pee- bles to Hamilton, on the south side of Clyde. I came thither by the time expected ; tarried the remainder of the day, and until near seven o'clock the next morning, — apprehending 'then that' the Major-General would not come, by reason of the waters. I being retreated, the Enemy took encourage- ment; marched all that night; and came upon the Major- General's quarters about two hours before day; where it pleased the Lord to order as you have heard.
The Major-General and Commissary-General (as he sent me word) were still gone on in the prosecution of them ; and 'he' saith that, except an Hundred-and-fifty horse in one body, he hears they are fled, by sixteen or eighteen in a company, all the country over. Robin Montgomery was come out of Stirling, with four or five regiments of horse and dragoons,12 but was put to a stand when he heard of the issue of this business. Strahan and some other Officers had quitted some three weeks or a month before this busi- ness ; so that Ker commanded this whole party in chief.
It is given out that the Malignants will be almost all received, and rise unanimously and expeditiously. I can assure you, that those that serve you here find more satis- faction in having to deal with men of this stamp than ' with' others ; and it is our comfort that the Lord hath hitherto made it the matter of our prayers, and of our endeavours (if it might have been the will of God), To have had a Christian understanding between those that fear God in this land and ourselves. And yet we hope it hath not been carried on with a willing failing of our duty to those that
11 For the purpose of rallying to him these Western forces, or such of them as would follow the official Authorities and him ; and leading them to Stirling, to the main Army ( Baillie, -ubi supra). Poor Ker thought it might be useful to do a feat on his own footing first : and here is the conclusion of him ! Colonel ' Robin Montgomery' IS the Earl of Eglinton's Son, whom we have repeatedly seen before.
88 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Dec.
trust us : — and I am persuaded the Lord hath looked favour- ably upon our sincerity herein ; and will still do so ; and upon you also, whilst you make the Interest of God's People yours.
Those religious People of Scotland that fall in this Cause we cannot but pity and mourn for them ; and we pray that all good men may do so too. Indeed, there is at this time a very great distraction, and mighty workings of God upon the hearts of divers, both Ministers and People; much oi it tending to the justification of your Cause. And although some are as bitter and as bad as ever; making it their business to shuffle hypocritically with their consciences and the Covenant, to make it ' seem' lawful to join with Malig- nants, which now they do, — as well they might long before, having taken-in the Head ' Malignant' of them : yet truly pthers are startled at it; and some have been constrained by the work of God upon their consciences, to make sad and solemn accusations of themselves, and lamentations in the face of their Supreme Authority ; charging themselves as guilty of the blood shed in this War, by having a hand in the Treaty at Breda, and by bringing the King in amongst them. This lately did a Lord of the Session ; and withdrew 'from the Committee of Estates.' And lately Mr. James Livingston, a man as highly esteemed as any for piety and learning, who was a Commissioner for the Kirk at the said Treaty, — charged himself with the guilt of the blood of this War, before their Assembly ; and withdrew from them, and is retired to his own house.
It will be very necessary, to encourage victuallers to come to us, that you take off Customs and Excise from all things brought hither for the use of the Army.
I beg your prayers ; and rest, your humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
* Newspapers (in CrotnweUiana, pp. 94-5).
.65o. LETTER CLIII. EDINBURGH. 89
This, then, is the end of Ker's fighting project ; a very mad one, at this state of the business. The Remonstrance continued long to be the symbol of the Extreme-Covenant or Whigga- more Party among the Scots ; but its practical operation ceased here. Ker lies lamed, dangerously wounded ; and, I think, will fight no more.13 Strahan and some others, voted traitor- ous by the native Authorities, went openly over to Cromwell ; — Strahan soon after died. As for the Western Army, it straightway dispersed itself; part towards Stirling and the Au- thorities ; the much greater part to their civil callings again, wishing they had never quitted them. 'This miscarriage of ' affairs in the West by a few unhappy men,' says Baillie, 'put ' us all under the foot of the Enemy. They presently ran over ' all the country ; destroying cattle and crops ; putting Glasgow ' and all other places under grievous contributions. This ' makes me,' for my part, ' stick at Perth ; not daring to go ' where the Enemy is master, as he now is of all Scotland ' south of the Forth.'14
It only remains to be added, that the two Extreme Parties being broken, the Middle or Official one rose supreme, and widened its borders by the admission, as Oliver anticipated, ' of the Malignants almost all ;' a set of ' Public Resolutions' so-called being passed in the Scotch Parliament to that end, and ultimately got carried through the Kirk Assembly too. Official majority of ' Resolutioners,' with a zealous party of 'Remonstrants,' who are also called 'Protesters:' in Kirk and State, these long continue to afflict and worry one another, sad fruit of a Covenanted Charles Stuart; but shall not farther concern us here. It is a great comfort to the Lord General that he has now mainly real Malignants for enemies in this country ; and so can smite without reluctance. Unhappy ' Re- solutioners,' if they could subdue Cromwell, what would become of them at the hands of their own Malignants ! They have admitted the Chief Malignant, ' in whom all Malignity doth centre," into their bosom ; and have an Incarnate Solecism presiding over them. Satisfactorily descended from Elizabeth Muir of Caldwell, but in all other respects most unsatisfac- tory ! —
13 Other notice of him, and of his unsubduable stiffness of neck, in Thurloe tv. 480 (Dec. 1655), &c.
u iii. 125 (ilate, 2d January 1650-1).
90 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 12 Dec.
The ' Lord of the Session,' who felt startled at this con- dition of things, and ' withdrew" from it, I take to have been Sir James Hope of Craighall,15 of whom, and whose scruples, and the censures they got, there is frequent mention in these months. But the Laird of Swinton, another of the same, went still farther in the same course ; and indeed, soon after this defeat of Ker, went openly over to Cromwell. ' There is ' very great distraction, there are mighty workings upon the ' hearts of divers.' ' Mr. James Livingston,' the Minister of Ancrum, has left a curious Life of himself : — he is still repre- sented by a distinguished family in America.
LETTER CLIV.
THE next affair is that of Edinburgh Castle. Our Derby- shire miners found the rock very hard, and made small way in it : but now the Lord General has got his batteries ready ; and, on Thursday 1 2th December, after three-months' blockade, salutes the place with his 'guns and mortars,' and the following set of Summonses ; which prove effectual.
For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, 12th December 1650.
We being now resolved, by God's assistance, to make use of such means as He hath put into our hands towards the reducing of Edinburgh Castle, I thought fit to send you this Summons.
What the grounds of our proceedings have been, and what our desires and aims in relation to the glory of God and the common Interest of His People, we have often ex- pressed in our Papers tendered to public view. To which though credit hitherto hath not been given by men, yet the Lord hath been pleased to bear a gracious and favourable testimony ; and hath not only kept us constant to our pro- is JJalfour, iy> *73» 235-
i6so. LETTER CLV. EDINBURGH. 91
fession, and in our affections to such as fear the Lord in this Nation, but hath unmasked others from their pretences, — as appears by the present transactions at St. Johnston.16 Let the Lord dispose your resolutions as seemeth good to Him : my sense of duty presseth me, for the ends aforesaid, and to avoid the effusion of more blood, To demand the rendering of this place to me upon fit conditions.
To which expecting your answer this day, I rest, Sir, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.
The Governor's Answer to my Lord General's Letter is this:
" For his Excellency the General of the English Forces.
" Edinburgh, isth December 1650.
" MY LORD, — I am intrusted by the Estates of Scotland " with this place ; and being sworn not to deliver it to any " without their warrant, I have no power to dispose thereof by " myself. I do therefore desire the space often days, wherein " I may conveniently acquaint the said Estates, and receive " their answer. And for this effect, your safe-conduct for them " employed in the message. Upon the receipt of their ans- " wer, you shall have the resolution of, — my Lord, your most ' humble servant, W. DUNDAS."
The Lord General's Reply to Governor Walter Dundas :
LETTER CLV. For the Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh.
SlR, Edinburgh, izth December 1650.
It concerns not me to know your obligations to those that trust you. I make no question the appre- hensions you have of your abilities to resist those impres-
18 Readmission ' of the Malignants almost all ;' Earl of Calendar, Duke of Hamil- ton, &c. (Balfpur, iv. 179-203); by the Parliament at Perth, — at 'St. Johnston,' xt the old name is.
92 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. i3 Dec.
sions which shall be made upon you,17 are the natural and equitable rules of all men's judgments and consciences in your condition ; — except you had taken an oath beyond a possibility. I leave that to your consideration ; and shall not seek to contest with your thoughts : only I think it may become me to let you know, You may have honourable terms for yourself and those with you; and both yourself and soldiers have satisfaction to all your reasonable desires; and those that have other employments, liberty and pro- tection in the exercise of them.
But to deal plainly with you, I will not give liberty to you to consult your Committee of Estates ; because I hear, those that are honest amongst them enjoy not satisfaction, and the rest are now discovered to seek another Interest than they have formerly pretended to. And if you desire to be informed of this, you may, by them you dare trust, at a nearer distance than St. Johnston.
Expecting your present answer, I rest, Sir, your servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
The Governor's Reply, No. 2, arrives on the morrow, Friday :
"For his Excellency the Lord General of the English Forces in Scotland.
" Edinburgh Castle, i3th December 1650.
" MY LORD, — It much concerned! me (considering my " obligations) to be found faithful in the trust committed to " me. And therefore, in the fear of the living God, and of " His great Name called upon in the accepting of my trust, " I do again press the liberty of acquainting the Estates. The " time is but short ; and I do expect it, as answerable to your " profession of affection to those that fear the Lord. In the " mean time I am willing to hear information of late proceed- " ings from such as he dare trust who is, — my Lord, your " humble servant, W. DUNDAS."
" By my cannons and mortars.
•6so. LETTER CLVI. EDINBURGH. 93
The Lord General's Reply, No. 2 :
LETTER CLVI. For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, isth December 1650.
Because of your strict and solemn adjura- tion of me, in the fear and Name of the living God, That I give you time to send to the Committee of Estates, to whom you undertook the keeping of this place under the obligation of an oath, as you affirm, — I cannot but hope that it is your conscience, and not policy, carrying you to that desire. The granting of which, if it be prejudicial to our affairs, — I am as much obliged in conscience not to do it, as you can pretend cause for your conscience' sake to de- sire it.
Now considering 'that' our merciful and wise God binds not His People to actions too cross one to another ; but that our bands may be,18 as I am persuaded they are, through our mistakes and darkness, — not only in the question about the surrendering this Castle, but also in all the present differences : — I have much reason to believe that, by a Con- ference, you may be well satisfied, in point of fact, of your Estates (to whom you say you are obliged) carrying on an Interest destructive and contrary to what they professed when they committed that trust to you, — having made to depart from them many honest men through fear of their own safety,19 and making way for the reception of professed Malignants, both in their Parliament and Army ; — and also ' that you' may have laid before you such grounds of our ends and aims to the preservation of the interest of honest men in Scotland as well as England, as will (if God vouch- safe to appear in them) give your conscience satisfaction.
18 our perplexities are caused. 19 Swinton, Strahan, Hope oi'Craighall, &c
94 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 14 Dec.
Which if you refuse, I hope you will not have cause to say that we are either unmindful of the great Name of the Lord which you have mentioned, nor that we are wanting to answer our profession of affection to those that fear the Lord.
I am willing to cease hostility for some hours, or con- venient time to so good an end as information of judgment and satisfaction of conscience ; — although I may not give liberty for the time desired, to send to the Committee of Estates ; or at all stay the prosecution of my attempt.
Expecting your sudden answer, I rest, your servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Governor's Reply, No. 3, comes out on Saturday :
" For his Excellency the Lord General of the English Forces in Scotland : These.
" Edinburgh Castle, i4th December 1650.
" MY LORD, — What I pressed, in my last, proceeded from " conscience and not from policy: and I conceived that the " few days desired could not be of such prejudice to your "affairs as to bar the desired expressions of professed affec- " tion towards those that fear the Lord. And I expected that " a small delay of our own20 affairs should not have prepon- " derated the satisfaction of a desire pressed in so serious and " solemn a manner for satisfying conscience.
" But if you will needs persist in denial, I shall desire to " hear the information of late proceedings from such as I dare " trust, and ' as' have had occasion to know the certainty of " things. Such I hope you will permit to come alongst at the " first convenience ; and during that time all acts of hostility, " and prosecution of attempts, be forborne on both sides. I 11 am, my Lord, your humble servant, W, DUNDAS."
The Lord General's Reply, No. 3:
• Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 97). *> 'our own/ one's ovutt.
,650. LETTER CLVIII. EDINBURGH. $$
LETTER CLVII. For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, i4th December 1650.
You will give me leave to be sensible of delays out of conscience of duty ' too.'
If you please to name any you would speak with ' who are' now in Town, they shall have liberty to come and speak with you for one hour, if they will ; provided you send presently. I expect there be no loss of time. I rest, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Governor Dundas applies hereupon for Mr. Alexander Jaffray and the Reverend John Carstairs to be sent to him: two official persons, whom we saw made captive in Dunbar Drove, who have ever since been Prisoners-on-parole with his Excellency; doing now and then an occasional message for him ; much meditating on him and his ways. Who very naturally decline to be concerned with so delicate an opera- tion as this now on hand, — in the following characteristic Note, enclosed in his Excellency's Reply, No. 4 :
LETTER CLVIII. For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, i4th December 1650.
Having acquainted the Gentlemen with your desire to speak with them, and they making some difficulty of it, ' they' have desired me to send you this enclosed. I rest, Sir, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL, f
Here is ' this enclosed :*
* Newspapers (in CromweUiana, p. yj\ t Ibid. p. 98.
96 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. is D«.c.
" For the Right Honourable the Governor of Edinburgh Castle : These.
" Edinburgh, i4th December 1650.
"RIGHT HONOURABLE, — We now hearing that you was " desirous to speak with us for your information of the posture " of affairs, we would be glad, and we think you make no " doubt of it, to be refreshing or useful to you in anything ; " but the matter is of so high concernment, especially since " it may be you will lean somewhat upon our information in " managing that important trust put upon you, that we dare " not take upon us to meddle : ye may therefore do as ye " find yourselves clear and in capacity; and the Lord be with " you. We are, Sir, your honour's humble servants, well- " wishers in the Lord,
"AL. JAFFRAY.
"Jo. CARSTAIRS."
So that, for this Saturday, nothing can be done. On Sun- day, we suppose, Mr. Stapylton, in black, teaches in St. Giles's ; and other qualified persons, some of them in red with belts, teach in other Kirks ; the Scots, much taken with the doctrine, ' answering in their usual way of groans,' Hum-m-mrrh! — and on Monday, it is like, the cannons and mortar-pieces begin to teach again, or indicate that they can at once begin. Where- fore, on Wednesday, here is a new Note from Governor Dundas ; which we shall call Reply No. 4, from that much-straitened Gentleman :
"Edinburgh Castle, i8th December 1650.
" MY LORD, — I expected that conscience, which you pre- " tended to be your motive that did induce you to summon " this house before you did attempt anything against it, should " also have moved you to have expected my Answer to your " Demand of the house ; which I could not, out of conscience, " suddenly give without mature deliberation ; it being a busi- " ness of such high importance. You having refused that " little time, which I did demand to the effect I might receive " the commands of them that did intrust me with this place ; " and" I " yet not daring to fulfil your desire, — I do demand " such a competent time as may be condescended upon be- " twixt us, within which it no reliei come, I shall surrender
»ip. LETTER CLIX. EDINBURGH. 97
" this place upon such honourable conditions as can be agreed " upon by capitulation ; and during which time all acts of " hostility and prosecution of attempts on both sides may be " forborne. I am, my Lord, your humble servant,
" W. DUNDAS."
The Lord General's Reply, No. 5 : '
LETTER CLIX. For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
oIR, Edinburgh, i8th December 1650.
All that I have to say is shortly this : That if you will send out Commissioners by eleven o'clock this night, thoroughly instructed and authorised to treat and conclude, you may have terms, honourable and safe to you, and ' to' those whose interests are concerned in the things that are with you. I shall give a safe-conduct to such whose names you shall send within the time limited, and order to forbear shooting at their coming forth and going in.
To this I expect your answer within one hour, and rest, Sir, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Governor's Reply, No. 5 :
" Edinburgh Castle, i8th December 1650.
" MY LORD, — I have thought upon these two Gentlemen " whose names are here mentioned ; to wit, Major Andrew " Abernethy and Captain Robert Henderson ; whom I pur- " pose to send out instructed, in order to the carrying-on the " Capitulation. Therefore expecting a safe-conduct for them " with this bearer, — I rest, my Lord, your humble servant,
" W. DUNDAS."
The Lord General's Reply, No. 6 :
* Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 98). VOL. III. H
98 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 18 Dec.
LETTER CLX. For the Governor of Edinburgh Castle: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, i8th December 1650.
I have, here enclosed, sent you a safe-con- duct for the coming forth and return of the Gentlemen you desire ; and have appointed and authorised Colonel Monk and Lieutenant-Colonel White to meet with your Commis- sioners, at the house in the safe-conduct mentioned : there to Ireat and conclude of the Capitulation on my part. I rest, Sir, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Here is his Excellency's Pass or safe-conduct for them :
PASS.
To all Officers and Soldiers under my Command.
You are on sight hereof to suffer Major Andrew Abernethy and Captain Robert Henderson to come forth of Edinburgh Castle, to the house of Mr. Wallace in Edinburgh, and to return back into the said Castle, without any trouble or molestation.
Given under my hand, this i8th December 1650.
OLIVER CROMWELL.!
By tomorrow morning, in Mr. Wallace's House, Colonel Monk and the other Three have agreed upon handsome terms ; of which, except what indicates itself in the following Procla- mation, published by beat of drum the same day, we need say nothing. All was handsome, just and honourable, as the case permitted ; my Lord General being extremely anxious to gain this place, and conciliate the Godly People of the Nation. By one of the conditions, the Public Registers, now deposited in the Castle, are to be accurately bundled up by authorised persons, and carried to Stirling, or whither the Authorities please ; con- cerning which some question afterwards accidentally rises.
* Newspapers (in CrvtmueUiana, p. 98). t Ibid. p. 99.
PROCLAMATION.
PROCLAMATION.
To be proclaimed by the Marshal-general, by beat of drum, in Edinburgh and Leith.
WHEREAS there is an agreement of articles by treaty concluded betwixt myself and Colonel Walter Dundas, Go- vernor of the Castle of Edinburgh, which doth give free liberty to all Inhabitants adjacent, and all other persons who have any goods in the said Castle, to fetch forth the same from thence :
These are therefore to declare, That all such people before mentioned who have any goods in the Castle, as is before expressed, shall have free liberty between this pre- sent Thursday the ipth instant and Tuesday the 24th, To repair to the Castle, and to fetch away their goods, without let or molestation. And I do hereby farther declare and require all Officers and Soldiers of this Army, That they take strict care, that no violation be done to any person or persons fetching away their goods, and carrying them to such place or places as to them seemeth fit. And if it ^iiall so fall out that any Soldier shall be found willingly or wil- fully to do anything contrary hereunto, he shall suffer death for the same. And if it shall appear that any Officer shall, either through connivance or otherwise, do or suffer ' to be done' anything contrary to and against the said Proclama- tion, wherein it might lie in his power to prevent or hinder the same, he the said Officer shall likewise suffer death.
Given under my hand the iQth of December 1650.
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
It is now Thursday : we gain admittance to the Castle on the Tuesday following, and the Scotch forces march away, — in a. somewhat confused manner, I conceive. For Governor Dun-
* Newspaper* (in Cromwelliana, p. 99).
TOO PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 24 Dec.
das and the other parties implicated are considered little better than traitors, at Stirling : in fact, they are, openly or secretly, of the Remonstrant or Protester species ; and may as well come over to Cromwell ; — which at once or gradually the most of them do. What became of the Clergy, let us not inquire : Remonstrants or Resolutioners, confused times await them ! Of which here and there a glimpse may turn up as we proceed. The Lord General has now done with Scotch Treaties ; the Malignants and Ouasi-Malignants are ranked in one definite body ; and he may smite without reluctance. Here is his Letter to the Speaker on this business. After which, we may hope, the rest of his Scotch Letters may be given in a mass ; sufficiently legible without commentary of ours.
LETTER CLXI.
For the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England: These.
RIGHT HONOURABLE, Edinburgh, 24* Dec. 1630.
It hath pleased God to cause this Castle ot Edinburgh to be surrendered into our hands, this day about eleven o'clock. I thought fit to give you such account thereof as I could, and ' as' the shortness of time would permit.
I sent a Summons to the Castle upon the i2th instant; which occasioned several Exchanges and Replies, which, for their unusualness, I also thought fit humbly to present to you.21 Indeed the mercy is very great, and seasonable. I think, I need to say little of the strength of the place ; which, if it had not come in as it did, would have cost very much blood to have attained, if at all to be attained ; and did tie-up your Army to that inconvenience, That little or nothing could have been attempted whilst this was in design ; or little fruit had of anything brought into your power by your Army hitherto, without it. I must needs
" We have already read them.
i6so. LETTERS CLXII.— CLXXXI. 101
say, not any skill or wisdom of ours, but the good hand of God hath given you this place.
I believe all Scotland hath not in it so much brass ordnance as this place. I send you here enclosed a List thereof,22 and of the arms and ammunition, so well as they could be taken on a sudden. Not having more at present to trouble you with, I take leave, and rest, Sir, your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTERS CLXII.— CLXXXI.
THE Lord General is now settled at Edinburgh till the sea- son for campaigning return. Tradition still reports him as lodged, as in 1648, in that same spacious and sumptuous ' Earl of Murrie's House in the Cannigate;' credibly enough ; though Tradition does not in this instance produce any written voucher hitherto.1 The Lord General, as we shall find by and by, falls dangerously sick here ; worn down by over-work and the rugged climate.
The Scots lie entrenched at Stirling, diligently raising new levies ; parliameriting and committeeing diligently at Perth ; — crown their King at Scone Kirk, on the First of January,2 in token that they have now all ' complied' with him. The Lord General is virtually master of all Scotland south of the Forth ; — fortifies, before long, a Garrison as far west as ' Newark, >3 which we now call Port Glasgow, on the Clyde. How his forces had to occupy themselves, reducing detached Castles ; coercing Mosstroopers ; and, in detail, bringing the Country to obedience, the old Books at great length say, and the reader here shall fancy in his mind. Take the, following two little traits from Whitlocke, and spread them out to the due expan- sion and reduplication :
22 Drakes, minions, murderers, monkeys, of brass and iron, — not interesting to us, except it be ' the great iron murderer called Muckle-Meg? already in existence, and still held in some confused remembrance in those Northern parts.
* Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 99).
1 Yes, in fine : Memorie of the Somervilles (Edinburgh, 1815), ii. 423, gives 'my Lady Home's Lodging,' which is known to signify that same House. (Note of 1857.)
4 Minute description of the ceremony in Somers Tracts, vi. 117.
» Milton State-Papers, p. 84.
102 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 25 Dec.
' February ^d, 1650. Letters that Colonel Fenwick sum- ' moned Hume Castle to be surrendered to General Cromwell. ' The Governor answered, " I know not Cromwell ; and as for ' my Castle, it is built on a rock." Whereupon Colonel Fen- ' wick played upon him' a little ' with the great guns.' But the Governor still would not yield ; nay sent a Letter couched in these singular terms :
" I, William of the Wastle, Am now in my Castle ; And aw the dogs in the town Shanna gar4 me gang down."
So that there remained nothing but opening the mortars upon this William of the Wastle ; which did gar him gang down, — more fool than he went up.
We also read how Colonel Hacker and others rooted out bodies of Mosstroopers from Strength after Strength; and 'took much oatmeal,' which must have been very useful there. But this little Entry, a few days subsequent to that of Willie Wastle, affected us most : ' Letters that the Scots in a Village called ' Geddard rose, and armed themselves ; and set upon Captain ' Dawson as he returned from pursuing some Mosstroopers ; — ' killed his guide and trumpet ; and took Dawson and eight of ' his party, and after having given them quarter, killed them ' ah1 in cold blood.'5 In which 'Village called Geddard,' do not some readers recognise a known place, Jeddart or Jedburgh, friendly enough to Mosstroopers ; and in the transaction itself, a notable example of what is caUed 'Jeddart Justice,' — killing a man whom you have a pique at ; killing him first, to make sure, and then judging him ! — However there come Letters too, ' That the English soldiers married divers of the Scots Women ;' which was an excellent movement on their part ; — and may serve as the concluding feature here.
LETTER CLXII.
THE ' Empson' of this Letter, who is now to have a Com- pany in Hacker's regiment, was transiently visible to us one*
4 ' Shand garre' is Whitlocke's reading.
5 i4th February 1650 (Whitlocke, p. 464).
,6so. LETTER CLXII. EDINBURGH. . 103
already, as ' Lieutenant Empson of my regiment,' in the Skir- mish at Musselburgh, four months ago.6 Hacker is the well- known Colonel Francis Hacker, who attended the King on the scaffold ; having a signed Warrant, which we have read, ad- dressed to him and two other Officers to that effect. The most conspicuous, but by no means the most approved, of his mili- tary services to this Country ! For which one indeed, in over- balance to many others, he was rewarded with death after the Restoration. A Rutlandshire man ; a Captain from the begin- ning of the War ; and rather favourably visible, from time to time, all along. Of whom a kind of continuous Outline of a Biography, considerably different from Caulfield's and other inane Accounts of him,? might still be gathered, did it much concern us here. To all appearance, a somewhat taciturn, somewhat indignant, very swift, resolute and valiant man. He died for his share in the Regicide ; but did not profess to re- pent of it ; intimated, in his taciturn way, that he was willing to accept the results of it, and answer for it in a much higher Court than the Westminster one. We are indeed to under- stand generally, in spite of the light phrase which Cromwell re- primands in this Letter, that Hacker was a religious man; and in his regicides and other operations did not act without some warrant that was very satisfactory to him. For the present he has much to do with Mosstroopers ; very active upon them ; — for which ' Peebles' is a good locality. He continues visible as a Republican to the last ; is appointed ' to raise a regiment' for the expiring Cause in 1659, — in which, what a little con- cerns us, this same ' Hubbert' here in question is to be his Major.8
To the Honourable Colonel Hacker ; at Peebles or elsewhere : These.
SlR, ' Edinburgh," 25th December 1650.
I have * used' the best consideration I can, for the present, in this business ; and although I believe Captain Hubbert is a worthy man, and hear so much, yet.
6 Letter CXXXV., antea, p. 12.
7 Caulfield's High Court of Justice, pp. 83-7 ; Trials of tht Regicides; &q.
8 Commons Journals, vii. £69, 675, 824.
104 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 27 Dec.
as the case stands, I cannot, with satisfaction to myself and some others, revoke the Commission I had given to Captain Empson, without offence to them, and reflection upon my own judgment.
I pray let Captain Hubbert know I shall not be un- mindful of him, and that no disrespect is intended to him. But indeed I was not satisfied with your last speech to me about Empson, That he was a better preacher than fighter or soldier, — or words to that effect. Truly I think he that prays and preaches best will fight best. I know nothing 'that' will give like courage and confidence as the know- ledge of God in Christ will ; and I bless God to see any in this Army able and willing to impart the knowledge they have, for the good of others. And I expect it be encour- aged, by all the Chief Officers in this Army especially ; and I hope you will do so. I pray receive Captain Empson lovingly ; I dare assure you he is a good man and a good officer; I would we had no worse. I rest, your loving friend, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CLXIII.
LETTER Hundred-and-sixty-third relates to the exchange of three Prisoners whom we saw taken in Dunbar Drove, and have had an occasional glimpse of since. Before reading it, let us read another Letter, which is quite unconnected with this ; but which lies, as we may see, on the Lord General's table in Moray House in the Canongate, while he writes this ; — and indeed is a unique of its kind : A Letter from the Lord General's Wife.
' My Lord Chief Justice' is Oliver St. John, known to us this long while ; ' President* is Bradshaw ; ' Speaker' is Lent- hall : high official persons ; to whom it were better if the Lord General took his Wife's advice, and wrote occasionally.
* Harris, p. 516 ; Lansdowne MSS., 1236, foL 99, contains the address, which Harris has omitted.
,6so. LETTER CLXIII. EDINBURGH. 105
" The Lady Elizabeth Cromwell to her Husband the Lord General at Edinburgh.
" ' Cockpit, London," 2;th December 1650.
" MY DEAREST, — I wonder you should blame me for " writing no oftener, when I have sent three for one : I cannot " but think they are miscarried. Truly if I know my own " heart, I should as soon neglect myself as to ' omit'9 the least " thought towards you, who in doing it, I must do it to myself. " But when I do write, my Dear, I seldom have any satisfac- " tory answer ; which makes me think my writing is slighted ; " as well it may : but I cannot but think your love covers my " weakness and infirmities.
" I should rejoice to hear your desire in seeing me ; but I " desire to submit to the Providence of God ; hoping the Lord, " who hath separated us, and hath often brought us together " again, will in His good time bri"g us again, to the praise of " His name. Truly my life is but half a life in your absence, " did not the Lord make it up in Himself, which I must " acknowledge to the praise of His grace.
" I would you would think to write sometimes to your dear " friend my Lord Chief Justice, of whom I have often put you " in mind. And truly, my Dear, if you would think of what I " put you in mind of some, it might be to as much purpose as " others ;10 writing sometimes a Letter to the President, and " sometimes to the Speaker. Indeed, my Dear, you cannot " think the wrong you do yourself in the want of a Letter, " though it were but seldom. I pray think on ;n and so rest, " — yours in all faithfulness, ELIZABETH CROMWELL."12
This Letter, in the original, is frightfully spelt ; but other- wise exactly as here : the only Letter extant of this Heroine ; and not unworthy of a glance from us. It is given in Harris too, and in Noble very incorrectly.
And now for the Letter concerning Provost Jaffray and his two fellow-prisoners from Dunbar Drove.
9 Word torn out.
10 The grammar bad : the meaning evident or discoverable, — and the bad gram- mar a part of that !
" ' think of is the Lady's old phrase. l2 Milton Stafe-PaJers, p. 40.
lo6 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. ,7jan
For the Right Honourable Lieutenant- General David Lesley;
These.
SlR, Edinburgh, i7th January 1650.
I perceive by your last Letter you had not met with Mr. Carstairs13 and Mr. Waugh, who were to apply themselves to you about Provost Jaffray's and their release, ' in exchange' for the Seamen and Officers. But I under- stood, by a Paper since shown me by them under your hand, that you were contented to release the said Seamen and Officers for those three Persons, — who have had their discharges accordingly.
I am contented also to discharge the Lieutenant, 'in exchange' for the Four Troopers at Stirling, who hath soli- cited me to that purpose.
I have, here enclosed, sent you a Letter,14 which I desire you to cause to be conveyed to the Committee ot Estates ; and that such return shall be sent back to me as they shall please to give. I remain, Sir, your humble ser- vant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Here is. a notice from Balfour :15 At Perth, '22d November ' 1650 {Rege prasente' the King being present, as usually after that Flight to the Grampian Hills he is allowed to be), ' the ' Committee of Estates remits to the Committee of Quarterings ' the exchange of Prisoners anent Mr. Alexander Jaffray and ' Mr. John Carstairs, Minister, with some English Prisoners in ' the Castle of Dumbarton.' Nevertheless, at this date, six or seven weeks after, the business is not yet perfected.
Alexander Jaffray, as we know already, is Provost of Aber- deen ; a leading man for the Covenant from of old ; and gene- rally the Member for his Burgh in the Scotch Parliaments of these years. In particular, he sits as Commissioner for Aber- deen in the Parliament that met 4th January 1 649 ;l6 under which this disastrous Quarrel with the English began. He was famed afterwards (infamous it then meant) as among the first of the Scotch Quakers ; he, with Barclay of Urie, and other
13 Custaircs. '4 The next Letter. * Thurloe, i. 172. Laigh Parliament House.
14 jv. 168. >6 Balfour, iii. 383.
i6Si. LETTER CLX1I1. EDINBURGH. 107
lesser Fallen-Stars. Personal intercourse with Cromwell, the Sectary and Blasphemer, had much altered the notions of Mr. Alexander Jaffray. Baillie informed us, three months ago, he and Carstairs, then Prisoners-on-parole, were sent Westward by Cromwell ' to agent the Remonstrance,' — to guide towards some good issue the Ker-and-Strahan Negotiation ; which, alas, could only be guided headlong into the ditches at Hamilton before daybreak, as we saw! — Jaffray sat afterwards in the Little Parliament; was an official person in Scotland, ^ and one of Cromwell's leading men there.
Carstairs, we have to say or repeat, is one of the Ministers of Glasgow ; deep in the confused Remonstrant - Resolutioner Controversies of that day ; though on which side precisely one does not altogether know, perhaps he himself hardly altogether knew. From Baillie, who has frequent notices of him, it is clear he tends strongly towards the Cromwell view in many things ; yet with repugnancies, anti-sectary and other, difficult for frail human nature. How he managed his life-pilotage in these circumstances shall concern himself mainly. His Son, I believe, is the 'Principal Carstairs,'18 who became very cele- brated among the Scotch Whigs in King William's time. He gets home to Glasgow now, where perhaps we shall see some glimpses of him again.
John Waugh (whom they spell Vauch and Wauch, and otherwise distort) was the painful Minister of Borrowstounness, in the Shire of Linlithgow. A man of many troubles, now and afterwards. Captive in the Dunbar Drove ; still deaf he to the temptings of Sectary Cromwell ; deafer than ever. In this month of January 1651, we perceive he gets his deliverance; returns with painfully increased experience, but little change of view derived from it, to his painful Ministry ; where new tribu- lations await him. From Baillie1^ I gather that the painful Waugh's invincible tendency was to the Resolutioner or Quasi- Malignant side ; and too strong withal ; — no level sailing, or smooth pilotage, possible for poor Waugh ! For as the Re- monstrant, Protester, or Ker-and-Strahan Party, having joined itself to the Cromwellean, came ultimately to be dominant in Scotland, there ensued for straitlaced clerical individuals
17 Ousted our friend Scotstarvet, — most unjustly, thinks he of the Staggering State (p. 181 ). There wanted only tiiat to make the Homily on Life's Nothlngue*» complete I
18 Biog. Britann. in voce ; somewhat indistinct. ® iii. 2*8.
toB PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. I7jaa.
who would cling too desperately to the opposite Resolutioner or Quasi-Malignant side, very bad times. There ensued in the first place, very naturally, this, That the straitlaced in- dividual, who would not cease to pray publicly against the now Governing Powers, was put out of his living : this ; and if he grew still more desperate, worse than this.
Of both which destinies our poor straitlaced Waugh may serve to us as an emblem here. Some three years hence we. find that the Cromwellean Government has, in Waugh's, as in various other cases, ejected the straitlaced Resolutioner, and inducted a Jooselaced Protester into his Kirk ; — leaving poor Waugh the straitlaced to preach ' in a barn hard by.' And though the looselaced 'have but fifteen,' and the straitlaced 'all the Parish,1 it matters not ; the stipend and the Kirk go with him whose lacing is loose : one has nothing but one's barn left, and sad reflections. Nay in Waugh's case, the very barn, proving as is likely an arena of too vehement discourse, was taken away from him ; and he, Waugh, was lodged in Prison, in the Castle of Edinburgh.20 For Waugh ' named the King in his prayers,' he and ' Mr. Robert Knox' even went that length ! In Baillie, under date nth November 1653, is a most doleful inflexible Letter from Waugh's own hand: "brought " to the top of this rock," as his ultimate lodging-place ; " hav- " ing my habitation among the owls of the desert, because of " my very great uselessness and fruitlessness among the sons of " men." Yet he is right well satisfied, conscience yielding him a good &c. &c. — Poor Waugh, I wish he would reconsider himself. Whether it be absolutely indispensable to Christ's Kirk to have a Nell-Gwynn Defender set over it, even though descended from Elizabeth Muir ; and if no other, not the bravest and devoutest of all British men, will do for that? O Waugh, it is a strange camera-obscura, the head of man ! —
LETTER CLXIV.
WE have heard of many Mosstroopers : we heard once of a certain Watt, a Tenant of the Earl of Tweedale's, who being ruined-out by the War, distinguished himself in this new course ; and contemporary with him, of ' one Augustin a High-
*> Baillie, iii. 248, 253, 228.
.fist. LETTER CLXIV. EDINBURGH. 109
German.' To which latter some more special momentary no- tice now falls due.
Read Balfour's record, and then Cromwell's Letter. 'One ' Augustin, a High-German, being purged out of the Army ' before Dunbar Drove, but a stout and resolute young man, ' and lover of the Scots Nation, — imitating Watt, — in October 1 or November this year, annoyed the Enemy very much ; kill- ' ing many of his stragglers ; and made nightly infalls upon ' their quarters, taking and killing sometimes twenty, some- ' times thirty, and more or less of them : whereby he both ' enriched himself and his followers, and greatly damnified the ' Enemy. His chief abode was about and in the Mountains ' of Pentland and Soutra.' — And again, from Perth, igth De- cember 1650: ' Memorandum, That Augustin departed from ' Fife with a party of Six-score horse ; crossed at Blackness ' on Friday 1 3th December ; forced Cromwell's guards ; killed ' eighty men to the Enemy ; put-in thirty-six men to Edinburgh ' Castle, with all sorts of spices, and some other things ; took ' thirty-five horses and five prisoners, which he sent to Perth ' the 1 4th of this instant.' Which feat, with the spices and thirty-six men, could not indeed save Edinburgh Castle from surrendering, as we saw, next week ; but did procure Captain Augustin ' thanks from the Lord Chancellor and Parliament in his Majesty's name," and good outlooks for promotion in that quarter.21
For the Right Honourable the Committee of Estates of the Kingdom of Scotland : These,
MY LORDS, Edinburgh, 17th January 1650.
Having been informed of divers barbarous murders and inhuman acts, perpetrated upon our men by one Augustin a German in employ under you, and one Ross a Lieutenant, I did send to Lieutenant-General David Les- ley, desiring justice against the said persons. And to the end I might make good the fact upon them, I was willing either by commissioners on both parts, or in any other equal way, to have the charge proved.
Balfour, iv. 166, 210, 314.
tto PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Feb.
The Lieutenant-General was pleased to allege a want of power from Public Authority to enable him herein : which occasions me to desire your Lordships that this business may be put into such a way as may give satisfaction ; — whereby I may understand what rules your Lordships will hold dur- ing this sad Contest between the two Nations; 'rules' which may evidence the War to stand upon other pretences at least than the allowing of such actions will suppose.
Desiring your Lordships' answer, I rest, my Lords, your humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
No effect whatever seems to have been produced by this Letter. The Scotch Quasi-Malignant Authorities have ' thanked' Augustin, and are determined to have all the benefit they can of him, — which cannot be much, one would think ! In the following June accordingly we find him become ' Colonel Au- gustin,' probably Major or Lieutenant-Colonel; quartered with Robin Montgomery ' at Dumfries ;' giving ' an alarm to Car- lisle,' but by no means taking it ; — ' falling in,' on another oc- casion, 'with Two-hundred picked men,' but very glad to fall out again, 'nearly all cut off.' In strong practical Remonstrance against which, the learned Bulstrode has Letters in Novem- ber, vague but satisfactory, ' That the Scots themselves rose ' against Augustin, killed some of his men, and drove away the ' rest ;' entirely disapproving of such courses and personages. And then finally in January following, « Letters that Augustin ' the great robber in Scotland, — upon disbanding of the Mar- ' quis of Huntly's forces,' the last remnant of Scotch Malig- nancy for the present, — 'went into the Orcades, and there took ' ship for Norway.'22 Fair wind and full sea to him ! —
LETTER CLXV.
AN Official Medallist has arrived from London to take the Effigies of the Lord General, for a Medal commemorative of
* Thurloe, i. 175. Laigh Parliament House.
42 Newspapers (vaCromwelliana, p. 104); Whitlocke, 23d November 1651 ; ib. 14th January 1651-2.
•6Si. LETTER CLXV. EDINBURGH. lit
the Victory at Dunbar. The Effigies, Portrait, or ' Statue' as they sometimes call it, of the Lord General appears to be in a state of forwardness ; but he would fain waive such a piece of vanity. The ' Gratuity to the Army' is a solid thing : but this of the Effigies, or Stamp of my poor transient unbeautiful Face — ? — However, the Authorities, as we may surmise, have made up their mind.
For the Honourable the Committee of the Army ' at London : These.
GENTLEMEN, Edinburgh, 4th February 1650.
It was not a little wonder to me to see that you should send Mr. Symonds so great a journey, about a business importing so little, as far as it relates to me ; whereas, if my poor opinion may not be rejected by you, I have to offer to that23 which I think the most noble end, to wit, The Commemoration of that great Mercy at Dunbar, and the Gratuity to the Army. Which might be better ex- pressed upon the Medal, by engraving, as on the one side the Parliament, which I hear was intended and will do sin- gularly well, so on the other side an Army, with this Inscrip- tion over the head of it, The Lord of Hosts, which was our Word that day. Wherefore, if I may beg it as a favour from you, I most earnestly beseech you, if I may do it without offence, that it may be so. And if you think not fit to have it as I offer, you may alter it as you see cause ; only I do think I may truly say, it will be very thankfully acknowledged by me, if you will spare the having my Effigies in it.
The Gentleman's pains and trouble hither have been very great ; and I shall make it my second suit unto you that you will please to confer upon him that Employment which Nicholas Briot had before him : indeed the man is ingenious, and worthy of encouragement. I may not pre- sume much ; but if, at my request, and for my sake, he may
23 I should vote exclusively for that.
112 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Fd-.
obtain this favour, I shall put it upon the account of my obligations, which are not few ; and, I hope, shall be found ready to acknowledge ' it,' and to approve myself, Gentle- men, your most real servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Of ' Nicholas Briot' and ' Mr. Symonds,' since they have the honour of a passing relation to the Lord General, and still enjoy, or suffer, a kind of ghost-existence in the Dilettante memory, we may subjoin, rather than cancel, the following authentic particulars. In the Commons Journals of 2oth Au- gust 1642, it is: 'Ordered, T4iat the Earl of Warwick,' now Admiral of our Fleet, ' be desired that Monsieur Bryatt may ' have delivery of his wearing apparel ; and all his other goods ' stayed at Scarborough, not belonging to Minting and Coining ' of Moneys.' — This Nicholas Bryatt, or Briot, then, must have been Chief Engraver for the Mint at the beginning of the Civil Wars. We perceive, he has gone to the King northward; but is here stopt at Scarborough, with all his baggage, by War- wick the Lord High Admiral : and is to get away. What be- came of him afterwards, or what was his history before, no man and hardly any Dilettante knows.
Symonds, Symons, or, as the moderns call him, Simon, is still known as an approved Medal-maker. In the Commons Journals of i/th December 1651, we find : ' Ordered, That it ' be referred to the Council of State to take order that the sum ' of 3oo/. be paid unto Thomas Symonds, which was agreed ' by the Committee appointed for that purpose to be paid unto ' him, for the Two Great Seals made by him, and the materials ' thereof : And that the said Council do take consideration of ' what farther recompense is fit to be given unto him for his ' extraordinary pains therein ; and give order for the pay- 1 ment of such sum of money as they shall think fit in respect ' thereof.'
An earlier entry, which still more concerns us here, is an Order, in favour of one whose name has not reached the Clerk, and is now indicated only by stars, That the Council of State shall pay him for 'making the Statue of the General,' — doubt- less this Medal or Effigies of the General ; the name indicated by stars being again that of Symonds. The Order, we observe,
* Harris, p. 519.
r«5t. LETTER CLXV. EDINBURGH. 113
has the same date as the present Letter.24 The Medal of Crom- well, executed on this occasion, still exists, and is said to be a good likeness.25 The Committee-men had not taken my Lord General's advice about the Parliament, about the Army with the Lord of Hosts, and the total omitting of his own Effigies. Vertue published Engravings of all these Medals of Simon (as he spells him) in the year 1753.
The 'Two Great Seals,' mentioned in the Excerpt above, are also worth a word from us. There had a good few Great Seals to be made in the course of this War ; all by Symonds : of whom, with reference thereto, we find, in authentic quarters, various notices, of years long prior and posterior to this. The first of all the ' new Great Seals' was the one made, after in- finite debates and hesitations, in 1643, when Lord Keeper Lyt- tleton ran away with the original : Symonds was the maker of this, as other entries of the same Rhadamanthine Commons Journals instruct us: On the nth July 1643, Henry Marten is to bring ' the man' that will make the new Great Seal, and let us see him ' tomorrow ;' which man, it turns out, at sight of him, not 'tomorrow,' but a week after, on the igth July, is ' Mr. Simonds,'26 — who, we find farther, is to have loo/, for his work ; 4o/. in hand, 3O/. so soon as his work is done, and the other 3o/. one knows not when. Symonds made the Seal duly ; but as for his payment, we fear it was not very duly made. Of course when the Commonwealth and Council of State began, a couple of new Great Seals were needed ; and these too, as we see above, Symonds made ; and is to be paid for them, and for the General's Statue ; — which we hope he was, but are not sure !
Other new Seals, Great and Not-so-great, in the subsequent mutations, were needed ; and assiduous Symonds made them all. Nevertheless, in 1 659, when the Protectorate under Richard was staggering towards ruin, we find, ' Mr. Thomas Symonds Chief Graver of the Mint and Seals,' repeatedly turning-up with new Seals, new order for payment, and new indication that the order was but incompletely complied with.2? May I4th, 1659, he has made a new and newest Great Seal ; he is to be paid for that, and ' for the former, for which he yet remains un- satisfied.' Also on the 24th May 1659, 28 the Council of State
" Commons Jonmals, 4th February 1650-1. *' Harris, p. 518.
*> Commons Journals, iii. 162, 174. a Ibid. vii. 654. * Ibid. viL 6£j.
VOL. 111. 1
114 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 FA.
get a new Seal from him. Then on the 22d August, on the Rump Parliament's re-assembling, he makes a ' new Parlia- ment Seal;' and presents a modest Petition to have his money paid him : order is granted very promptly to that end ; ' his ' debt to be paid for this Seal, and for all former work done ' by him ;' — we hope, with complete effect.2^
The Restoration soon followed, and Symonds continued still in the Mint under Charles II.; when it is not very likely his claims were much better attended to ; the brave Hollar, and other brave Artists, having their own difficulties to get life kept-in, during those rare times, Mr. Rigmarole ! — Symonds, we see, did get the place of Nicholas Briot ; and found it, like other brave men's places, full of hard work and short rations. Enough now of Symonds and the Seals and Effigies.
LETTER CLXVI.
ALONG with Symonds, various English strangers, we per- ceive, are arriving or arrived, on miscellaneous business with the Lord General in his Winter-quarters. Part of the Oxford Caput is here in Edinburgh, with ' a very high testimony of respect ;' whom, in those same hours, the Lord General dis- misses honourably with their Answer.
We are to premise that Oxford University, which at the end of the First Civil War had been found in a most broken, Malignant, altogether waste and ruinous condition, was after- wards, not without difficulty, and immense patience on the part of the Parliament Commissioners, radically reformed. Philip Earl of Pembroke, he of the loud voice, who dined once with Bulstrode in the Guildhall -,30 he, as Chancellor of the Univer- sity, had at last to go down in person, in the Spring of 1648 ; • — put the intemperate Dr. Fell, incorrigible otherwise, under lock and key; left the incorrigible Mrs. Dr. Fell, 'whom the ' soldiers had to carry out in her chair,' ' sitting in the quad- ' rangle ;' appointed a new Vice-Chancellor, new Heads where needful, — and, on the whole, swept the University clean of much loud Nonsense, and left some Piety and Sense, the best
49 Commons Journals, vii. 654, 663, 765. *> Antea, vol. ii. p. 126.
x6Si. LETTER CLXVI. EDINBURGH. 115
he could meet with, at work there in its stead.*1 At work, with earnest diligence and good success, as it has since con- tinued actually to be, — for the contemporary clamours and Querelas about Vandalism, Destruction of Learning, and so forth, prove on examination to be mere agonised shrieks, and unmelodious hysterical wind, forgettable by all creatures. Not easily before or since could the Two Universities give such ac- count of themselves to mankind, under all categories, human and divine, as during those Puritan years.
But now Philip of Pembroke, the loud-voiced Chancellor of Oxford, is dead ; and the reformed University, after due con- sultation, has elected the Lord General in his stead ; to which ' high testimony' here is his response. — 'Dr. Greenwood,' who, I think, has some cast about his eyes, is otherwise a most re- commendable man: 'Bachelor, then Doctor of Divinity, some- ' times Fellow of Brasenose College,' says Royalist Anthony,32 ' and lately made Principal of the said College by the Com- ' mittee and Parliamentary Visitors ; a severe and good Go- ' vernor, as well in his Vice-Chancellorship as Principality; ' continued till the King's return, and then'-^-
To the Reverend Dr. Greenwood, Vice- Chancellor of the Univer- sity of Oxford, and other Members of the Convocation.
HONOURED GENTLEMEN, Edinburgh, 4th Feb. 1650.
I have received, by the hands of those worthy Persons of your University sent by you into Scot- land, a Testimony of very high respect and honour, in 'your' choosing me to be your Chancellor. Which deserves a fuller return, of deep resentment, value and acknowledgment, than I am any ways able to make. Only give me leave a little to expostulate, on your and my own behalf. I confess it was in your freedom to elect, and it would be very uningenious
31 Act and Visitors' names in Scobell, L 116 (ist May 1647) : see Commons Jour- nals, v. 83-142 (loth February — isth April 1647) : 8th March 1647-8, Chancellor Pem- broke is to go(Neal, ii. 307; Walker, L 133); makes report, and is thanked, 2ist April 1648 (Commons Journals, v. 538). Copious history of the proceedings, from the Pu- ritan side, in Neal, ii. 290-314 ; and from the Royalist side, in Walkers S-ufferings oj the Clergy, L 124-142, which latter, amid its tempestuous froth, has many entertain- ing traits.
* Wood's Fasti, ii. 157 (in Athena, iv. ), of July 1649.
Ii6 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Feb.
in me to reflect upon your action ; only (though somewhat late) let me advise you of my unfitness to answer the ends of so great a Service and Obligation, with some things very obvious.
I suppose a principal aim in such elections hath not only respected abilities and interest to serve you, but freedom * as' to opportunities of time and place. As the first may not be well supposed, so the want of the latter may well become me to represent to you. You know where Provi- dence hath placed me for the present; and to what I am related if this call were off,33 — I being tied to attendance in another Land as much out of the way of serving you as this, for some certain time yet to come appointed by the Parliament. The known esteem and honour of this place is such, that I should wrong it and your favour very much, and your freedom in choosing me, if, either by pretended modesty or in any unbenign way, I should dispute the ac- ceptance of it. Only I hope it will not be imputed to me as a neglect towards you, that I cannot serve you in the measure I desire.
I offer these exceptions with all candour and clearness to you, as ' leaving you' most free to mend your choice in case you think them reasonable ; and shall not reckon my- self the less obliged to do all good offices for the Univer- sity. But if these prevail not, and that I must continue this honour, — until I can personally serve you, you shall not want my prayers That that seed and stock of Piety and Learning, so marvellously springing up amongst you, may be useful to that great and glorious Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ ; of the approach of which so plentiful an effu- sion of the Spirit upon those hopeful plants is one of the best presages. And in all other things I shall, by the Divine
w Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 'for three years to come" (Commons Journals, vi. »39.', ""* June 1649.
.65i. LETTER CLXVII. EDINBURGH. 117
assistance, improve my poor abilities and interests in mani- festing myself, to the University and yourselves, your most cordial friend and servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
On the same Tuesday, 4th February 1650-1, while the Lord General is writing this and the former Letter, his Army, issuing from its Leith Citadel and other Winter-quarters, has marched westward towards Stirling ; he himself follows on the morrow. His Army on Tuesday got to Linlithgow ; the Lord General overtook them at Falkirk on Wednesday. Two such days of wind, hail, snow and rain as made our soldiers very un- comfortable indeed. On Friday, the morning proving fair, we set out again ; got to Kilsyth ; — but the hail-reservoirs also opened on us again : we found it impossible to get along ; and so returned, by the road we came ; back to Edinburgh on Satur- day,34— coated with white sleet, but endeavouring not to be dis- couraged. We hope we much terrified the Scots at Stirling ; but the hail-reservoirs proved friendly to them.
LETTER CLXVII.
THE Oxford Convocation has received the foregoing Letter, ' canting Letter sent thereunto,' as crabbed Anthony designates it, ' dated at Edinburgh on the 4th of February, ' and now at length made public in print ; they have ' read it in Convoca- ' tion,' continues Anthony, ' whereat the Members made the ' House resound with their cheerful acclamations j'33 — and the Lord General is and continues their Chancellor ; encouraging and helping forward them and their work, in many ways, amid his weighty affairs, in a really faithful manner. As begins to be credible without much proof of ours, and might still be abundantly proved if needful.
Here however, in the first blush of the business, comes Mr. Waterhouse, with a small recommendation from the Lord Gene- ral ; ' John Waterhouse of Great Greenford in Middlesex, son of Francis Waterhouse by Bridget his wife,' if anybody want
* From the Archives of Oxford University ; communicated by Rev. Dr. Bliss ** Perfect piurnal (in Cromiuelltana, p. 100). K Fasti, ii. 159.
n8 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. H Feb.
to know him better j36 — ' a student heretofore for eighteen years in Trinity College, Cambridge,' a meritorious Man and Healer since ; whom one may well decorate with a Degree, or decorate a Degree with, by the next opportunity.
To my very worthy Friend Dr. Greenwood, Vice- Chancellor of the University of Oxford.
SlR, Edinburgh, I4th February 1630.
This Gentleman, Mr. Waterhouse, went over into Ireland as Physician to the Army there ; of whose dili- gence, fidelity and abilities I had much experience. Whilst I was there, he constantly attended the Army : and having, to my own knowledge, done very much good to the Officers and Soldiers, by his skill and industry ; — and being upon urgent occasion lately come into England, ' he' hath desired me to recommend him for the obtaining of the Degree of Doctor in that Science. Wherefore I earnestly desire you that, when he shall repair to you, you37 will give him your best assistance for the obtaining of the said Degree; he being shortly to return back to his charge in Ireland.
By doing whereof, as you will encourage one who is willing and ready to serve the Public, so you will also lay a very great obligation upon, Sir, your affectionate servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CLXVIII.
COLONEL ROBERT LILBURN, a stout impetuous soldier, as both his Brothers were, and steady to his side as neither of them was, had the honour, at a critical time, in the Summer of 1648, while Duke Hamilton and his Scots were about invad-
* Fasti, ii. 163: 'created Doctor of Physic by virtue of the Letters of Oliver Cromwell, General (i2th March 1650-1).
87 ' that you' in the hasty original.
* From the Archives of Oxford University ; communicated by Rev. Dr. Bliss.
i65i. LETTER CLXVIII. EDINBURGH. 119
ing us, to do the State good service, as we transiently saw j38 — to beat down, namely, and quite suppress, in Lancashire, a certain Sir Richard Tempest and his hot levyings of ' 1000 horse,' and indeed thereby to suppress all such levyings on be- half of the said Duke, in those Northern parts. An important, and at the time most welcome service. Letter of thanks, in consequence ; reward of i ooo/. in consequence, — reward voted, never yet paid, nor, as would seem, likely soon to be. Colonel Robert will take Delinquents' lands for his iooo/. ; will buy Bear Park, with it and with other debentures or moneys : Bear Park, once Beaurepaire, a pleasant manor near native Durham, belongs to the Cathedral land ; and might answer both parties, would the Committee of Obstructions move.
To the Right Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of tJie Parliament of the Commonwealth of England: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, 8th March 1650.
I am informed that Colonel Robert Lilburn is like to be damnified very much, in relation to his pur- chase of the Manor of Bear Park in the County of Durham, by being employed in the service of the Commonwealth in39 Scotland : — which business (as I understand), upon his Peti- tion to the Parliament, was referred to the Committee of Obstructions, and a Report thereof hath lain ready in the hands of Mr. John Corbet, a long time, unreported.
I do therefore humbly desire that the House may be moved to take the said Report into speedy consideration, that so Colonel Lilburn may have redress therein, accord- ing as you think fit ; and that his readiness and willingness to return to his charge here, and leave his own affairs to serve the Public, may not turn to his disadvantage. I doubt not but those services he hath done in England and here will be a sufficient motive to gratify him herein ; which shall be acknowledged by, Sir, your most humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
38 Antea, voL ii. p. 9. 8 'of in orig. * Baker MSS. (Cambridge), XXXT. 79,
120 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. » March
Committee of Obstructions, ' a Committee for removing Ob- structions to the Sale of Dcan-and-Chapter Lands,' does accord- ingly bestir itself ; and on Tuesday 1 8th March, the due order is given.40 To which, we doubt not, as the matter then drops, effect was given, — till the Restoration came, and ousted Colonel Robert and some others. Whether the Colonel personally ever lived at Bear Park, or has left any trace of his presence there, the County Histories and other accessible records do not say.
LETTER CLXIX.
HERE next, from another quarter, is a new University mat- ter,— Project of a College at Durham ; emerging incidentally like a green fruitful islet from amid the dim storms of War ; agreeably arresting the eye for a moment.
Concerning which read in the Commons Journals of May last : ' A Letter from the Sheriff and Gentlemen of the County ' of Duresme, dated 24th April 1650 ; with a Paper' or Peti- tion of the same date, ' " delivered-in by the Grand Jury at the ' Sessions of the Peace holden at Duresme the 24th of April ' 1650, To be presented to the Honourable Parliament of this ' Nation," — were this day read. Ordered, That it be referred ' to the Committee of Obstructions for Sale of Dean-and-Chap- ' ter Lands, to consider these Desires of the Gentlemen and ' others of that County, touching the converting some of the ' Buildings at Duresme called the " College," which were the ' Houses of the late Dean and Chapter, into some College or 1 School of Literature ; to state the business, to'41 — in short, to get on with it if possible.
This was some ten months ago, but still there is no visible way made ; and now in the wild Spring weather here has been, I suppose, some Deputation of the Northern Gentry riding through the wild mountains, with humane intent, to represent the matter to the Lord General at Edinburgh ; from whom, if he pleased to help it forward, a word might be very furthersome. The Lord General is prompt with his word ; — writes this Letter,
40 Commons Journals, vi. 492 (yth November 1650), his ' Petition.' referred to in this Letter ; ib. 549 (i8th March 1650), due 'redress' to him.
41 Ibid. vi. 410 (8th May 1650).
i65i. LETTER CLXIX. EDINBURGH. 121
as I lind, this and the foregoing, in some interval of a painful fit of sickness he has been labouring under.
To the Right Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England: These.
SlR, Edinburgh, nth March 1650.
Having received information from the Mayor and Citizens of Durham, and some Gentlemen of the North- ern Counties, That upon their Petition to the Parliament, " that the Houses of the late Dean and Chapter in the City of Durham might be converted into a College or School of Literature," the Parliament was pleased in May last to refer the same to the Committee for removing Obstructions in the sale of Dean-and-Chapter Lands. " to consider thereon, and to report their opinion therein to the House :"42 Which said Committee, as I am also informed, have so far approved thereof as that they are of an opinion That the said Houses will be a fit place to erect a College or School for all the Sciences and Literature, and that it will be a pious and laudable work and of great use to the Northern parts ; and have ordered Sir Arthur Haselrig to make report thereof to the House accordingly : And the said Citizens and Gen- tlemen having made some address to me to contribute my assistance to them therein :
To which, in so good and pious a work, I could not but willingly and heartily concur. And not knowing wherein I might better serve them, or answer their desires, than by re- commending the same to the Parliament by, Sir, yourself their Speaker, — I do therefore make it my humble and ear- nest request that the House may be moved, as speedily as conveniently may be, To hear the Report of the said Com- mittee concerning the said Business, from Sir Arthur Hasel-
** Commons Journals, ubi supra.
t22 PART vi. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. » March
rig ; that so the House, taking the same into consideration, may do therein what shall seem meet for the good of those poor Countries.
Truly it seems to me a matter of great concernment and importance ; as that which, by the blessing of God, may much conduce to the promoting of learning and piety in those poor rude and ignorant parts ; — there being also many concurring advantages to this Place, as pleasantness and aptness of situation, healthful air, and plenty of provisions, which seem to favour and plead for their desires therein. And besides the good, so obvious to us, 'which' those Northern Counties may reap thereby, who knows but the setting on foot this work at this time may suit with God's present dispensations; and may, — if due care and circum- spection be used in the right constituting and carrying-on the same, — tend to, and by the blessing of God produce, such happy and glorious fruits as are scarce thought on or foreseen !
Sir, not doubting of your readiness and zeal to promote so good and public a work, I crave pardon for this boldness; and rest, your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Whereupon the Committee for removing Obstructions does bestir itself; manages, in three months hence (for we do nothing rashly), to report43 by ' Sir Arthur Haselrig, touching Duresme ' College-Buildings to be converted to a College or School 'for all the Sciences of Literature : That' — that — And, in brief, History itself has to report that the pious Project, thanks mainly to furtherance by the Lord General, whose power to further it increased by and by, did actually, some seven years hence, take effect ;44 — actually began giving Lessons of hu-
* Baker MSS. xxviiL 455 : printed also in Hutchinson's History of DurJiam ; and elsewhere.
43 Commons Journals (vi. 589), i8th June 1651.
44 Protector's Letters-Patent of jsth May 1657, following up his Ordinance in Council of the previous Year : Hutchinson's History of the County Palatine of Dur- ham (Newcastle, 1785), L 514-30. See Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, iii. 473 (Cam- bridge Petition against it: i8th April 1659). 'Throve apace,' says Hutchinson, 'till' &c.
i6Si. LETTER CLXX. EDINBURGH. 123
man Grammar, human Geography, Geometry, and other divine Knowledge, to the vacant human mind, — in those once sleepy Edifices, dark heretofore, or illuminated mainly by Dr. Co'sins's Papistical waxlights or the like : and so continued, in spite of opposition, till the Blessed Restoration put a stop to it, and to some other things. In late years there is again some kind of Durham College giving Lessons, — I hope, with good success.
LETTER CLXX
BY that tempestuous sleety expedition in the beginning of February my Lord General caught a dangerous illness, which hung about him, reappearing in three successive relapses, till June next ; and greatly alarmed the Commonwealth and the Authorities. As this to Bradshaw, and various other Letters still indicate.
To the Right Honourable the Lord President of the Council of State : These.
MY LORD, Edinburgh, 24th March 1650.
I do with all humble thankfulness acknow- ledge your high, favour, and tender respect of me, expressed in your Letter, and the Express sent therewith to inquire after one so unworthy as myself.
Indeed, my Lord, your service needs not me : I am a poor creature ; and have been a dry bone ; and am still an unprofitable servant to my Master and you. I thought I should have died of this fit of sickness ; but the Lord seemeth to dispose otherwise. But truly, my Lord, I desire not to live, unless I may obtain mercy from the Lord to ap- prove my heart and life to Him in more faithfulness and thankfulness, and ' to' those I serve in more profitableness and diligence. And I pray God, your Lordship, and all in public trust, may improve all those unparalleled experiences of the Lord's wonderful Workings in your sight, with single-
124 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. ,a April
ness of heart to His glory, and the refreshment of His People ; who are to Him as the apple of His eye ; and upon whom your enemies, both former and latter, who have fallen before you, did split themselves.
This shall be the unfeigned prayer of, my Lord, your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
From Edinburgh, of date 1 8th March, by special Express •we have this comfortable intelligence : ' The Lord General is ' now well recovered : he was in his dining-room today with his ' Officers, and was very cheerful and pleasant.' And the symp- toms, we see, continue good and better on the 24th. ' So that • there is not any fear, by the blessing of God, but our General ' will be enabled to take the field when the Provisions arrive.' ' Dr. Goddard' is attending him.45 Before the end of the month he is on foot again ; sieging Blackness, sieging the Island of Inchgarvie, or giving Colonel Monk directions to that end.
LETTER CLXXI. THE following Letter brings its own commentary :
For my beloved Wife Elizabeth Cromwell^ at the Cockpit: These.
MY DEAREST, ' Edinburgh,' I2th April 1651.
I praise the Lord I am increased in strength in my outward man : But that will not satisfy me except I get a heart to love and serve my heavenly Father better ; and get more of the light of His countenance, which is better than life, and more power over my corruptions : — in these hopes I wait, and am not without expectation of a gracious return. Pray for me ; truly I do daily for thee and the dear Family ; and God Almighty bless you all with His spiritual blessings.
* Newspapers (in Cromwellia.no., p. 101). ** Ibid. pp. 100-1.
i05i. LETTER CLXXI. EDINBURGH. 125
Mind poor Betty of the Lord's great. mercy. Oh, I de- sire her not only to seek the Lord in her necessity, but in deed and in truth to turn to the Lord ; and to keep close to Him; and to take heed of a departing heart, and of being cozened with worldly vanities and worldly company, which I doubt she is too subject to. I earnestly and fre- quently pray for her and for him. Truly they are dear to me, very dear ; and I am in fear lest Satan should deceive them, — knowing how weak our hearts are, and how subtle the Adversary is, and what way the deceitfulness of our hearts and the vain world make for his temptations. The Lord give them truth of heart to Him. Let them seek Him in truth, and they shall find Him.
My love to the dear little ones; I pray for grace for them. I thank them for their Letters ; let me have them often.
Beware of my Lord Herbert's resort to your house. If he do so, it may occasion scandal, as if I were bargaining with him. Indeed, be wise, — you know my meaning. Mind Sir Henry Vane of the business of my Estate. Mr. Floyd knows my whole mind in that matter.
If Dick Cromwell and his Wife be with you, my dear love to them. I pray for them : they shall, God willing, hear from me. I love them very dearly. — Truly I am not able as yet to write much. I am weary ; and rest, thine,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
' Betty' and ' he* are Elizabeth Claypole and her Husband ; of whom, for the curious, there is a longwinded intricate account by Noble,46 but very little discoverable in it. They lived at Norborough, which is near Market Deeping, but in Northamp- tonshire ; where, as already intimated, the Lady Protectress, Widow Elizabeth Cromwell, after the Restoration, found a re- treat. ' They had at least three sons and daughters.' Clay- pole became ' Master of the Horse' to Oliver; sat in Parliament;
* Cole MSS. xxxiii. 37 : a Copy ; Copies are frequent. <ti ii. 375, &c.
126 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. » April
made an elegant appearance in the world : — but dwindled sadly after his widowership ; his second marriage ending in ' separa- tion,' in a third quasi -marriage, and other confusions, poor man ! But as yet the Lady Claypole lives ; bright and brave. ' Truly they are dear to me, very dear.'
' Dick Cromwell and his Wife' seem to be up in Town on a visit ; — living much at their ease in the Cockpit, they. Brother Henry, in these same days, is out 'in the King's County' in Ireland ; doing hard duty at ' Ballybawn' and elsewhere,47 — the distinguished Colonel Cromwell. And Deputy Ireton, with his labours, is wearing himself to death. In the same house, one works, another goes idle.
' The Lord Herbert" is Henry Somerset, eldest son of the now Marquis of Worcester, — of the Lord Glamorgan whom we knew slightly at Ragland, in underhand ' Irish Treaties' and suchlike; whose Century of Inventions is still slightly known to here and there a reader of Old Books. ' This Lord Her- ' bert,' it seems, ' became Duke of Beaufort after the Restora- ' tion.' For obvious reasons, you are to ' beware of his resort ' to your house at present.1 A kind of professed Protestant he, but come of rank Papists and Malignants ; which may give rise to commentaries. One stupid Annotator on a certain Copy of this Letter says, ' his Lordship had an intrigue with Mrs. Clay- pole ;' — which is evidently downright stupor and falsehood, like so much else.
LETTER CLXXII.
UPON the Surrender of Edinburgh Castle, due provision had been made for conveyance of the Public W^ts and Regis- ters to what quarter the Scotch Authorities might direct ; and ' Passes,' under the Lord General's hand, duly granted for that end. Archibald Johnston, Lord Register, we conclude, had superintended the operation ; had, after much labour, bundled the Public Writs properly together into masses, packages ; and put them on shipboard, considering this the eligiblest mode of transport towards Stirling and the Scotch head-quarters at pre- sent. But now it has fallen out, in the middle of last month,
47 Newspapers (in Croinwelliana, p. 102).
i6Si. LETTER CLXXII. EDINBURGH. 127
that the said ship has been taken, as many ships and shallops on both sides now are ; and the Public Writs are in jeopardy : whereupon ensues correspondence ; and this fair Answer from my Lord General :
' To the Honourable Archibald Johnston, Lord Register of Scotland: These:
MY LORD, Edinburgh, i2th April 1651.
Upon the perusal of the Passes formerly given for the safe passing of the Public Writs and Regis- ters of the Kingdom of Scotland, I do think they48 ought to be restored : and they shall be so, to such persons as you shall appoint to receive them; with passes for per- sons and vessels, to carry them to such place as shall be appointed : — so that it be done within one month next fol- lowing.
I herewith send you a Pass for your Servant to go into Fife, and to return with the other Clerks; and rest, your servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Warriston's answer, written on Monday, the I2th being Saturday, is given also in Thurloe. The Lord General's phrase, ' perusal of the Passes,' we now find is prospective, and means ' reperusal,' new sight of them by the Lord General ; which, Archibald earnestly urges, is impossible ; the original Passes being now far off in the hands of the Authorities, and the Writs in a state of imminent danger, lying in a ship at Leith, as Archibald obscurely intimates, which the English Governor has got his claws over, and keeps shut-up in dock; with a consi- derable leak in her, too : very bad stowage for such goods.49 Which obscure intimation of Archibald's becomes lucid to us, as to the Lord General it already was, when we read this sen- tence of Bulstrode's, under date 2 ad March 1650-1 : 'Letters ' that the Books and Goods belonging to the' Scotch ' King ' and Register were taken by the Parliament's ships ; and an-
« The Writs and Registers.
* Thurloe, L 117 Records of the Laigh Parliament House.
« Ibid.
128 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. » Apri.
1 other ship, laden with oats, meal, and other provisions, going ' to Fife : twenty -two prisoners.'50 For captures and small sea-surprisals abound in the Frith at present ; the Parliament- ships busy on one hand ; and the ' Captain of the Bass,' the ' Shippers of Wemyss," and the like active persons doing their duty on the other, — whereby infinite ' biscuit,' and such small ware, is from time to time realised.51
Without doubt the Public Writs were all redelivered, accord- ing to the justice of the case ; and the term of ' one month,' which Archibald pleads hard to get lengthened, was made into two, or the necessary time. Archibald's tone towards the Lord General is anxiously respectful, nay submissive and subject. In fact, Archibald belongs, if not by profession, yet by invinci- ble tendency, to the Remonstrant Ker-and-Strahan Party ; and looks dimly forward to a near time when there will be no refuge for him, and the like of him, but Cromwell. Strahan, in the month of January last, is already ' excommunicated, and so- lemnly delivered to the Devil, in the Church of Perth.'52 This is what you have to look for, from a Quasi-Malignant set of men!
This Archibald, as is well known, sat afterwards in Crom- well's Parliaments ; became ' one of Cromwell's Lords ;' and ultimately lost his life for these dangerous services. Archibald Johnston of Warriston ; loose-flowing Bishop Burnet's uncle by the Mother's side : a Lord Register of whom all the world has heard. Redactor of the Covenanters' protests, in 1637, and onwards ; redactor perhaps of the Covenant itself ; canny lynx-eyed Lawyer, and austere Presbyterian Zealot ; full of fire, of heavy energy and gloom : in fact, a very notable character ; — of whom our Scotch friends might do well to give us farther elucidations. Certain of his Letters edited by Lord Hailes,53 a man of fine intelligence, though at that time ignorant of this subject, have proved well worth their paper and ink. Many more, it appears, still lie in the Edinburgh Archives. A good selection and edition of them were desirable. But, alas, will any human soul ever again love poor Warriston, and take pious pains with him, in this world? Properly it turns all upon that; and the chance seems rather dubious- ! —
so Whitlocke, p. 490. 51 Balfour, iv. 204, 241, 251, &c. M Ibid. iv. 240. 53 Memory's and Letters in the Reign of Charles I. (Glasgow, 1766).
i6Si. SECOND VISIT TO GLASGOW. 129
SECOND VISIT TO GLASGOW.
THAT Note to Warriston, and the Letter to Elizabeth Crom- well, as may have been observed, are written on the same day, Saturday 1 2th April 1 65 1. Directly after which, on Wednesday the 1 6th, there is a grand Muster of the Army on Musselburgh Links ; preparatory to new operations. Blackness Fort has surrendered; Inchgarvie Island is beset by gunboats: Colonel Monk, we perceive, who has charge of these services, is to be made Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance : and now there is to be an attack on Burntisland with gunboats, which also, one hopes, may succeed. As for the Army, it is to go westward this same afternoon ; try whether cautious Lesley, straitened or assaulted from both west and east, will not come out of his Stirling fastness, so that some good may be done upon him. The Muster is held on Musselburgh Links ; whereat the Lord General, making his appearance, is received ' with shouts and acclamations,' the sight of him infinitely comfortable to us.54 The Lord General's health is somewhat reestablished, though he has had relapses, and still tends a little towards ague. 4 About three in the afternoon' all is on march towards Hamil- ton ; quarters ' mostly in the field there.' Where the Lord General himself arrives, on Friday night late ; and on the morrow afternoon we see Glasgow again.
Concerning which here are two notices from opposite points of the compass, curiously corroborative of one another; which we must not withhold. Face-to-face glimpses into the old dead actu- alities ; worth rescuing with a Cromwell in the centre of them.
The first is from Baillie ;55 shows us a glance of our old friend Carstairs withal. Read this fraction of a Letter: "Reve- " rend and dear Brother, — For preventing of mistakes," lest you should think us looselaced, Remonstrant, sectarian indivi- duals, " we have thought meet to advertise you that Cromwell " having come to Hamilton on Friday late, and to Glasgow on " Saturday with a body of his Army, sooner than we could well " with safety have retired ourselves," — there was nothing for it but to stay and abide him here ! " On Sunday forenoon he " came unexpectedly to the High Inner Kirk; where quietly he
64 Newspapers (in Crpmivelliana, p. 102). 45 (Glasgow, 22d April 1651} iii. 165. VOL. III. K
T30 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. ,9Arril
" heard Mr. Robert Ramsay," unknown to common readers, " preach a very honest sermon, pertinent to his" Cromwell's " case. In the afternoon he came, as unexpectedly, to the " High Outer Kirk; where he* heard Mr. John Carstairs," our old friend, " lecture, and" a " Mr. James Durham preach, — " graciously, and weel to the times as could have been desired." So that you see we are not of the looselaced species, we! "And " generally all who preached that day in the Town gave a fair " enough testimony against the Sectaries." — Whereupon, next day, Cromwell sent for us to confer with him in a friendly manner. "All of us did meet to advise," for the case was grave : however, we have decided to go ; nay are just going ; — but, most unfortunately, do not write any record of our inter- view! Nothing, except some transient assertion elsewhere that " we had no disadvantage in the thing. "^ — So that now, from the opposite point of the compass, the old London Newspaper must come in ; curiously confirmatory :
" Sir, — We came hither" to Glasgow " on Saturday last, " April I gth. The Ministers and Townsmen generally stayed " at home, and did not quit their habitations as formerly. The " Ministers here have mostly deserted from the proceedings " beyond the Water," at Perth, — and are in fact given to Re- monstrant ways, though Mr. Baillie denies it : " yet they are " equally dissatisfied with us. But though they preach against " us in the pulpit to our faces, yet we permit them without " disturbance, as willing to gain them by love.
" My Lord General sent to them to give us a friendly " Christian meeting, To discourse of those things which they " rail against us for; that so, if possible, all misunderstandings " between us might be taken away. Which accordingly they " gave us on Wednesday last. There was no bitterness nor " passion vented on either side ; all was with moderation and " tenderness. My Lord General and Major-General Lambert, " for the most part, maintained the discourse ; and, on their " part, Mr. James Guthry and Mr. Patrick Gillespie.6? We " know not what satisfaction they have received. Sure I am, " there was no such weight in their arguments as might in the 11 least discourage us from what we have undertaken ; the chief
» Baillie, iii. 168.
57 ' Gelaspy' the Sectarian spells ; in all particulars of facts he coincides with Baillie. Guthry and Gillespie, noted men in that time, published a ' Sum' of this In- terview (Baillie, iii. 168), but nobody now knows it.
j6si. SECOND VISIT TO GLASGOW. 131
" thing on which they insisted being our Invasion into Scot- " land."58
The Army quitted Glasgow after some ten days ; rather hastily, on Wednesday 3oth April ; pressing news, some false alarm of movements about Stirling, having arrived by express from the East. They marched again for Edinburgh ; — quenched some foolish Town Riot, which had broken out among the Glasgow Baillies themselves, on some quarrel of their own; and was now tugging and wriggling, in a most unseemly manner, on the open streets, and likely to enlist the population generally, had not Cromwell's soldiers charitably scattered it asunder be- fore they went.^ In three days they were in Edinburgh again.
When a luminous body, such as Oliver Cromwell, happens to be crossing a dark Country, a dark Century, who knows what he will not disclose to us ! For example : On the Western edge of Lanarkshire, in the desolate uplands of the Kirk of Shotts, there dwelt at that time a worshipful Family of Scotch Lairds, of the name of Stewart, at a House called Allertoun, — a lean turreted angry-looking old Stone House, I take it; stand- ing in some green place, in the alluvial hollows of the Auchter Burn or its tributaries : most obscure ; standing lean and grim, like a thousand such ; entirely unnoticeable by History, — had not Oliver chanced to pass in that direction, and make a call there ! Here is an account of that event : unfortunately very vague, not written till the second generation after ; indeed, palpably incorrect in some of its details ; but indubitable as to the main fact ; and too curious to be omitted here. The date, not given or hinted at in the original, seems to fix itself as Thursday ist May 1651. On that day Auchter Burn rushing idly on as usual, the grim old turreted Stone House, and rigor- ous Presbyterian inmates, and desolate uplands of the Kirk of Shotts in general, — saw Cromwell's face, and have become memorable to us. Here is the record given as we find it.60
' There was a fifth Son' of Sir Walter Stewart, Laird of Allertoun: 'James ; who in his younger years was called "the ' Captain of Allertoun," — from this incident : Oliver Cromwell, ' Captain-General of the English Sectarian Army, after taking ' Edinburgh Castle, was making a Progress through the West of
58 Newspapers (in Crom-welliana, p. 102).
59 'Ane Information concerning the late Tumult in Glasgow, Wednesday, April 30th/ at the very time of Cromwell's Removal (in Baillie, iii. 161).
6° Coltness Collections, published by the Maitland Club (Glasgow, 1842), p. 9.
132 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. i M*,
' Scotland ; and came down towards the River Clyde near Lan- ' ark, and was on his march back, against King Charles the ' Second's Army, then with the King at Stirling. Being ' informed of a near way through Auchtermuir, he came ' with some General Officers to reconnoitre ; and had a Guide ' along. Sir Walter, being a Royalist and Covenanter, had ' absconded. As he' Cromwell ' passed, he called in at Aller- ' toun for a farther Guide ; but no men were to be found, save ' one valetudinary Gentleman, Sir Walter's Son,' — properly a poor valetudinary Boy, as appears, who of course could do no- thing for him.
' He found the road not practicable for carriages ; and upon ' his return he called in at Sir Walter's House. There was none ' to entertain him but the Lady and Sir Walter's sickly Son. 1 The good Woman was as much for the King and Royal ' Family as her Husband: but she offered the General the civi- ' lities of her House ; and a glass of canary was presented. ' The General observed the forms of these times (I have it from ' good authority), and he asked a blessing in a long pathetic ' grace before the cup went round ; — he drank his good wishes61 ' for the family, and asked for Sir Walter ; and was pleased to ' say, His Mother was a Stewart's Daughter, and he had a re- ' lation to the name. All passed easy ; and our James, being 1 a lad of ten years, came so near as to handle the hilt of one ' of the swords : upon which Oliver stroked his head, saying, ' " You are my little Captain;" and this was all the Commission ' our Captain of Allertoun ever had.
' The General called for some of his own wines for himself ' and other Officers,62 and would have the Lady try his wine ; ' and was so humane, When he saw the young Gentleman so ' maigre and indisposed, he said, Changing the climate might do ' good, and the South of France, Montpellier, was the place.
' Amidst all this humanity and politeness he omitted not, 1 in person, to return thanks to God in a pointed grace after ' his repast ; and after this hasted on his return to join the • Army. The Lady had been a strenuous Royalist, and her ' Son a Captain in command at Dunbar ; yet upon this inter- ' view with the General she abated much of her zeal. She said ' she was sure Cromwell was one who feared God, and had ' that fear in him, and the true interest of Religion at heart. A
*' Certainly incorrect. 6J Imaginary.
.65i. LETTER CLXXIII. EDINBURGH. 133
' story of this kind is no idle digression ; it has some small con- ' nexion with the Family concerns, and shows some little of the ' genius of these distracted times.' — And so we leave it ; vague, but indubitable ; standing on such basis as it has.
LETTER CLXXIII.
' For my beloved Wife Elizabeth Cromwell, at the Cockpit : These:
MY DEAREST, Edinburgh, 3d May 1651.
I could not satisfy myself to omit this post, although I have not much to write; yet indeed I love to write to my Dear, who is very much in my heart. It joys me to hear thy soul prospereth : the Lord increase His favours to thee more and more. The great good thy soul can wish is, That the Lord lift upon thee the light of His counten- ance, which is better than life. The Lord bless all thy good counsel and example to all those about thee, and hear all thy prayers, and accept thee always.
I am glad to hear thy Son and Daughter are with thee. I hope thou wilt have some good opportunity of good ad- vice to him. Present my duty to my Mother, my love to all the Family. Still pray for thine, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Written the day after his return to Edinburgh. ' Thy Son and Daughter' are, to all appearance, Richard and his Wife, who prolong their visit at the Cockpit. The good old ' Mother' is still spared with us, to have ' my duty' presented to her. A pale venerable Figure ; who has lived to see strange things in this world ; — can piously, in her good old tremulous heart, rejoice in such a Son.
Precisely in these days, a small ship driven by stress of weather into Ayr Harbour, and seized and searched by Crom- well's Garrison there, discloses a matter highly interesting to the Commonwealth. A Plot, namely, on the part of the Eng- lish Presbyterian-Royalists, English Royalists Proper, and all
• Harris, p. 517.
134 PART vi. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3jun«
manner of Malignant Interests in England, to unite with the Scots and their King : in which certain of the London Pres- byterian Clergy, Christopher Love among others, are deeply involved. The little ship was bound for the Isle of Man, with tidings to the Earl of Derby concerning the affair ; and now we have caught her within the Bars of Ayr ; and the whole matter is made manifest !63 Reverend Christopher Love is laid hold of, 7th May ; he and others : and the Council of State is busy. It is the same Christopher who preached at Uxbridge Treaty long since, That ' Heaven might as well think of uniting with Hell.1 Were a new High Court of Justice once consti- tuted, it will go hard with Christopher.
As for the Lord General, this march to Glasgow has thrown him into a new relapse, which his Doctor counts as the third since March last. The disease is now ague ; comes and goes, till, in the end of this month, the Council of State, as ordered by Parliament, requests him to return, in the mean while, to England for milder air ;64 and despatches two London Doctors to him ; whom the Lord Fairfax is kind enough to ' send in his own coach ;' who arrive in Edinburgh on the soth of May, ' and are affectionately entertained by my Lord.'65 The two Doc- tors are Bates and Wright. Bates, in his loose-tongued His- tory of the Troubles, redacted in after-times, observes strict silence as to this Visit. Here is the Lord General's Answer ; indicating, with much thankfulness, that he will not now need to return.
LETTER CLXXIV. * To the Lord President of the Council of State: These?
MY LORD, Edinburgh, 3d June 1651.
I have received yours of the 27th of May ; with an Order from the Parliament for my Liberty to return into England for change of air, that thereby I might the
fi3 Bates, History of the late Troubles in England (Translation of the Elenchus Motnum ; London, 1685), Part ii. 115.
61 Whitlocke, p. 476 ; Commons Journals (vi. 579), 27th May 1651. 63 Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 103).
i6St. LETTER CLXXIV. EDINBURGH. 13$
better recover my health. All which came unto me whilst Dr. Wright and Dr. Bates, whom your Lordship sent down, were with me.
I shall not need to recite the extremity of my last sick- ness : it was so violent that indeed my nature was not able to bear the weight thereof. But the Lord was pleased to deliver me, beyond expectation ; and to give me cause to say once more, " He hath plucked me out of the grave !"66 — My Lord, the indulgence of the Parliament expressed by their Order is a very high and undeserved favour : of which although it be fit I keep a thankful remembrance, yet I judge it would be too much presumption in me to67 return a par- ticular acknowledgment. I beseech you give me the bold- ness to return my humble thankfulness to the Council for sending two such worthy Persons, so great a journey, to visit me. From whom I have received much encourage- ment, and good directions for recovery of health and strength, — which I find ' now,' by the goodness of God, growing to such a state as may yet, if it be His good will, render me useful according to my poor ability, in the station wherein He hath set me.
I wish more steadiness in your Affairs here than to de- pend, in the least degree, upon so frail a thing as I am. Indeed they do not, — nor own any instrument. This Cause is of God, and it must prosper. Oh, that all that have any hand therein, being so persuaded, would gird up the loins of their mind, and endeavour in all things to walk worthy of the Lord ! So prays, my Lord, your most humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Lord General's case was somewhat grave ; at one
66 Psalm xxx. 3, 'hast brought up my soul from the grave ;' or, Ixxxvi. 3, 'de- livered my soul from :' but ' plucked' is not in any of the texts.
67 ' not to' in orig. ; — dele ' not.'
* Kimber's (anonymous) Life of Oliver Cromwell (London, 1724), p. 201; — does not say whence derived.
136 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 25 June
time, it seemed hopeless for this summer. ' My Lord is not sensible that he is grown an old man.' The Officers were to proceed without him ; directed by him from the distance. Here, however, is an improvement ; and two days after, on the 5th of June, the Lord General is seen abroad in his coach again ; shakes his ailments and infirmities of age away, and takes the field in person once more. The Campaign is now vigorously begun ; though as yet no great result follows from it.
On the 25th of June, the Army from all quarters reassem- bled ' in its old Camp on the Pentland Hills ;' marched west- ward ; left Linlithgow July 2d, ever westward, with a view to force the Enemy from his strong ground about Stirling. Much pickeering, vapouring, and transient skirmishing ensues ; but the Enemy, strongly entrenched at Torwood, secured by bogs and brooks, cannot be forced out. We take Calendar House, and do other insults, before their eyes ; they will not come out. Cannonadings there are 'from opposite Hills;' but not till it please the Enemy can there be any battle. David Lesley, second in rank, but real leader of the operations, is at his old trade again. The Problem is becoming difficult. We decide to get across into Fife ; to take them in flank, and at least cut-off an important part of their supplies.
Here is the Lord General's Letter on the result of that enterprise. Farther details of the Battle, which is briefly spoken of here, — still remembered in those parts as the Battle of Inverkeithing, — may be found in Lambert's own Letter con- cerning it.68 ' Sir John Browne, their Major-General,' was once a zealous Parliamenteer ; ' Governor of Abingdon' and much else ; but the King gained him, growls Ludlow, ' by the gift of a pair of silk stockings,' — poor wretch ! Besides Browne, there are Massey, and various Englishmen of mark with this Malignant Army. Massey's Brother, a subaltern person in London, is one of the conspirators with Christopher Love. — The Lord General has in the interim made his Third Visit to Glasgow ; concerning which there are no details worth giving here. 69 Rev. Christopher Love, on the 5th of this month, was condemned to die. 7°
68 North Ferry, 22d July 1651 (Whitlocke, p. 472) : the Battle was on Sunday the aoth. See also Balfour, iv. 313.
«9 Whitlocke, p. 471 ; Milton State-Papers, p. 84 (nth July 1651). W Wood, iii. 278, &c.
i6Si. LETTER CLXXV. LINLITHGOW. 137
LETTER CLXXV.
For the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England : These.
SlR, Linlithgow, 2ist July 1651.
After our waiting upon the Lord, and not knowing what course to take, for indeed we know nothing but what God pleaseth to teach us of His great mercy, — we were directed to send a Party to get us a landing ' on the Fife coast' by our boats, whilst we marched towards Glasgow. On Thursday morning last, Colonel Overton, with about One-thousand four-hundred foot and some horse and dra- goons, landed at the North Ferry in Fife ; we with the Army lying near the Enemy (a small river parted us and them), and having consultations to attempt the Enemy within his fortifications : but the Lord was not pleased to give way to that counsel, proposing a better way for us. The Major- General ' Lambert' marched, on Thursday night, with two regiments of horse and two regiments of foot, for better securing the place; and to attempt upon the Enemy as occasion should serve. He getting over, and finding a con- siderable body of the Enemy there (who would probably have beaten our men from the place if he had not come), drew out and fought them ; he being about two regiments of horse, with about four-hundred of horse and dragoons more, and three regiments of foot ; the Enemy five regi- ments of foot, and about four or five of horse. They came to a close charge, and in the end totally routed the Enemy ; having taken about forty or fifty colours,71 killed near Two- thousand, some say more; have taken Sir John Browne their Major- General, who commanded in chief, — and other Colonels and considerable Officers killed and taken, and
Tl Farther account of these in Appendix, No. 22.
13$ PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. n July
about Five or Six Hundred prisoners. The Enemy is re- moved from their ground with their whole Army; but whither we do not certainly know.
This is an unspeakable mercy. I trust the Lord will follow it until He hath perfected peace and truth. We can truly say, we were gone as far as we could in our counsel and action ; and we did say one to another, we knew not what to do. Wherefore it's sealed upon our hearts, that this, as all the rest, is from the Lord's goodness, and not from man. I hope it becometh me to pray, That we may walk humbly and self-denyingly before the Lord, and believingly also. That you whom we serve, as the Authority over us, may do the work committed to you, with uprightness and faithfulness, — and thoroughly, as to the Lord. That you may not suffer anything to remain that offends the eyes of His jealousy. That common weal may more and more be sought, and justice done impartially. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro ; and as He finds out His enemies here, to be avenged on them, so will He not spare them for whom He doth good, if by His lovingkindness they become not good. I shall take the humble boldness to represent this Engagement of David's, in the Hundred-and-nineteenth Psalm, verse Hundred-and-thirty-fourth, Deliver me from the oppression of man, so will I keep Thy precepts. I take leave, and rest, Sir, your most humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
P.S. The carriage of the Major-Gen eral, as in all other things so in this, is worthy of your taking notice of; as also the Colonels Okey, Overton, Daniel, West, Lydcot, Syler, and the rest of the Officers.*
Matters now speedily take another turn. At the Castle of • Dundas' we are still on the South side of the Frith ; in front of the Scotch lines, though distant: but Inchgarvie, often tried
* Newspapers (in Parl. Hist. xix. 494 ; and Cromwelliana, p. 105).
1651. LETTER CLXXVI. DUNDAS. 139
with gunboats, now surrenders ; Burntisland, by force of gun- boats and dispiritment, surrenders : the Lord General himself goes across into Fife. The following Letters speak for them- selves.
LETTER CLXXVI.
' To the Right Honourable the Lord President of the Council of State: These?
MY LORD, Dundas, 24th July 1651.
It hath pleased God to put your affairs here in some hopeful way, since the last Defeat given to the Enemy.
I marched with the Army very near to Stirling, hoping thereby to get the Pass; and went myself with General Dean, and some others, up to Bannockburn ; hearing that the Enemy were marched on the other side towards our forces in Fife. Indeed they went four or five miles on towards them ; but hearing of my advance, in all haste they retreated back, and possessed the Park, and their other works. Which we viewed ; and finding them not advisable to attempt, resolved to march to Queensferry, and there to ship over so much of the Army as might hopefully be master of the field in Fife. Which accordingly we have almost perfected ; and have left, on this side, somewhat better than four regiments of horse, and as many of foot.
I hear now the Enemy's great expectation is to supply themselves in the West with recruits of men, and what victual they can get : for they may expect none out of the North, when once our Army shall interpose between them and St. Johnston. To prevent their prevalency in the West, and making incursions into the Borders of England, * * *72 OLIVER CROMWELL.*
75 Sir Harry Vane, who reads the Letter in Parliament, judges it prudent to stop here (Commons Journals, vi. 614).
* Newspapers (in Cromwelliatia, p. 107).
140 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 26 jul,
LETTER CLXXVII.
OF this Letter Sir Harry Vane and the Council of State judge it improper to publish anything in the Newspapers, except a rough abstract, in words of their own, of the first two paragraphs and the concluding one. In which state it presents itself in the Old Pamphlets.?3 The Letter copied in full lies among the Tanner Manuscripts ; — gives us a glimpse into the private wants, and old furnitures, of the Cromwell Army. ' Pots' are cavalry helmets ; ' backs-and-breasts' are still seen on cuir- assier regiments ; 'snaphances' (German schnapphahti, snapcock) are a new wonderful invention, giving fire by flint-and-steel ; — promising, were they not so terribly expensive, to supersede the old slow matchlock in field-service ! But, I believe, they wind-up like a watch before the trigger acts ;?4 and come very high !—
To the Right Honourable the Lord President of the Council of State: These.
MY LORD, Linllthgow, 26th July 1651.
I am able to give you no more account than what you have by my last ; only we have now in Fife about Thirteen or Fourteen thousand horse and foot. The Enemy is at his old lock, and lieth in and near Stirling; where we cannot come to fight him, except he please, or we go upon too -too manifest hazards; he having very strongly laid himself, and having a very great advantage there. Whither we hear he hath lately gotten great pro- visions of meal, and reinforcement of his strength out of the North under Marquis Huntly. It is our business still to wait upon God, to show us our way how to deal with this subtle Enemy ; which I hope He will.
Our forces on this side the River75 are not very many : wherefore I have sent for Colonel Rich's ; and shall appoint them, with the forces under Colonel Saunders, to embody
73 In Parliamentary History, xix. 498.
74 Grose's Military A ntiqitities. 75 Means ' Frith' always.
t6Si. LETTER CLXXVII. LINLITHGOW. 141
close upon the Borders, — and to be in readiness to join with those left on this side the Frith, or to be for the security of England, as occasion shall offer; there being little use of them where they lie, as we know.
Your Soldiers begin to fall sick, through the wet weather which has lately been. It is desired, therefore, that the re- cruits of foot determined ' on,' may rather come sooner in time than usually ; and may be sure to be full in numbers, according to your appointment, whereof great failing has lately been. For the way of raising them, it is wholly sub- mitted to your pleasure ; and we hearing you rather choose to send us Volunteers than Pressed-men, shall be very glad you go that way.
Our Spades are spent to a very small number : we de- sire, therefore, that of the Five -thousand tools we lately sent for, at the least Three-thousand of them may be spades, — they wearing most away in our works, and being most useful. Our Horse-arms, especially our pots, are come to a very small number : it is desired we may have a Thousand backs-and-breasts and Fifteen-hundred pots. We have left us in store but Four-hundred pair of pistols ; Two-hundred saddles ; Six-hundred pikes ; Two-thousand and thirty mus- kets, whereof thirty snaphances. These are our present stores : and n'ot knowing what you have sent us by this Fleet that is coming, we desire we may be considered there- in.— Our cheese and butter is our lowest store of Victual.
We were necessitated to pay the Soldiery moneys now at their going over into Fife; whereby the Treasury is much exhausted, although we desire to husband it what we can. This being the principle time of action, we desire your Lordship to take a principal care that money may be sup- plied us with all possible speed, and these other things here- with mentioned; your affairs so necessarily requiring the same.
142 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. as July
The Castle of Inchgarvie, which lieth in the River, al- most in the midway between the North and South Ferry, commonly called Queen's Ferry, —was delivered to us on Thursday last. They marched away with their swords and baggage only ; leaving us sixteen cannon, and all their other arms and ammunition. I remain, my Lord, your lordship's most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CLXXVIII.
' To my very loving Brother Richard Mayor ^ Esquire, at Hursley: These'
DEAR BROTHER, ' Bumtisiand,' 28th July 1651.
I was glad to receive a Letter from you ; for indeed anything that comes from you is very welcome to me. I believe your expectation of my Son's coming is deferred. I wish he may see a happy delivery of his Wife first,76 for whom I frequently pray.
I hear my Son hath exceeded his allowance, and is in debt. Truly I cannot commend him therein ; wisdom re- quiring his living within compass, and calling for it at his hands. And in my judgment, the reputation arising from thence would have been more real honour than what is at- tained the other way. I believe vain men will speak well of him that does ill.
I desire to be understood that I grudge him not laud- able recreations, nor an honourable carriage of himself in them ; nor is any matter of charge, like to fall to my share, a stick77 with me. Truly I can find in my heart to allow him not only a sufficiency but more, for his good. But if
* Tanner MSS., in Gary, ii. 288-90.
76 Noble's registers are very defective ! These Letters, too, were before the poor man's eyes. 77 stop.
<6Si. LETTER CLXXVIII. BURNTISLAND. 143
pleasure and self-satisfaction be made the business of a man's life, 'and' so much cost laid out upon it, so much time spent in it, as rather answers appetite than the will of God, or is comely before His Saints, — I scruple to feed this hum- our ; and God forbid that his being my Son should be his allowance to live not pleasingly to our Heavenly Father, who hath raised me out of the dust to be what I am !
I desire your faithfulness (he being also your concern- ment as well as mine) to advise him to approve himself to the Lord in his course of life ; and to search His statutes for a rule of conscience, and to seek grace from Christ to enable him to walk therein. This hath life in it, and will come to somewhat : what is a poor creature without this ? This will not abridge of lawful pleasures ; but teach such a use of them as will have the peace of a good conscience going along with it. Sir, I write what is in my heart; I pray you communicate my mind herein to my Son, and be his remembrancer in these things. Truly I love him, he is dear to me ; so is his Wife ; and for their sakes do I thus write. They shall not want comfort nor encouragement from me, so far as I may afford it. But indeed I cannot think I do well to feed a voluptuous humour in my Son, if he should make pleasures the business of his life, — in a time when some precious Saints are bleeding, and breathing out their last, for the safety of the rest. Memorable is the speech of Uriah to David (Second Samuel, xi. n).78
Sir, I beseech you believe I here say not this to save my purse; for I shall willingly do what is convenient to satisfy his occasions, as I have opportunity. But as I pray he may not walk in a course not pleasing to the Lord, so T think it lieth upon me to give him, in love, the best
78 'AndUriah said unto David, The Ark, and Israel, and Judah abide intents; and ' my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields : shall I, ' then, go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife ? As thou livest, ' and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.'
144 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 29 July
counsel I may ; and know not how better to convey it to him than by so good a hand as yours. Sir, I pray you ac- quaint him with these thoughts of mine. And remember my love to my Daughter ; for whose sake I shall be induced to do any reasonable thing. I pray for her happy deliver- ance, frequently and earnestly.
I am sorry to hear that my Bailiff79 in Hantshire should do to my Son as is intimated by your Letter. I assure you I shall not allow any such thing. If there be any suspicion of his abuse of the Wood, I desire it may be looked after, and inquired into ; that so, if things appear true, he may be removed, — although indeed I must needs say he had the repute of a godly man, by divers that knew him, when I placed him there.
Sir, I desire my hearty affection may be presented to my Sister; to my Cousin Ann, and her Husband though unknown. — I praise the Lord I have obtained much mercy in respect of my health ; the Lord give me a truly thankful heart. I desire your prayers ; and rest, your very affec- tionate brother and servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
My Cousin Ann, then, is wedded ! ' Her Husband though anknown' is John Dunch ; who, on his Father's decease, be- came John Dunch of Pusey ; — to whom we owe this Letter, among the others.
LETTER CLXXIX.
To the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England : These.
SlR, Burntisland, zpth July 1651.
The greatest part of the Army is in Fife ; waiting what way God will farther lead us. It hath pleased
79 ' S»yiye.' * Harris, p. 513.
xu3«. LETTER CLXXX. LEITH. 145
God to give us in Burntisland ;80 which is indeed very con- ducing to the carrying-on of our affairs. The Town is well seated ; pretty strong ; but marvellous capable of farther improvement in that respect, without great charge. The Harbour, at a high spring, is near a fathom deeper than at Leith ; and doth not lie commanded by any ground without the Town. We took three or four small men-of-war in it, and I believe thirty or forty guns.
Commissary-General Whalley marched along the sea-side in Fife, having some ships to go along the coast ; and hath taken great store of great artillery, and divers ships. The Enemy's affairs are in some discomposure, as we hear. Surely the Lord will blow upon them. ' I rest,' your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CLXXX.
IN effect, the crisis has now arrived. The Scotch King and Army, finding their supplies cut off, and their defences rendered unavailing, by this flank-movement, — break up sud- denly from Stirling ;81 march direct towards England, — for a stroke at the heart of the Commonwealth itself. Their game now is, All or nothing. A desperate kind of play. Royalists, Presbyterian-Royalists and the large miscellany of Discon- tented Interests may perhaps join them there ; — perhaps also not ! They march by Biggar ; enter England by Carlisle,82 on Wednesday 6th of August 1651. 'At Girthhead, in the Parish of Wamphray, in Annandale,' human Tradition, very faintly indeed, indicates some Roman Stones or Mile-stones, by the wayside, as the place where his Sacred Majesty passed the Tuesday night ; — which are not quite so venerable now as formerly.83
so ' Brunt Island' in orig.
* Newspapers (in Cromtvelliann, p. 107).
81 ' Last day of July' (Bates, ii. 120).
»* Whitlocke, p. 474.
« Nicholas Carlisle s Topographical Diet, of Scotland, ? Wamphray.
VOL. III. I.
146 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Aue
xo the Honourable William Lent hall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England: These.
SlR, Leith, 4th August 1651.
In pursuance of the Providence of God, and that blessing lately given to your forces in Fife ; and find- ing that the Enemy, being masters of the Pass at Stirling, could not be gotten out there except by hindering his pro- visions at St. Johnston, — we, by general advice, thought fit to attempt St. Johnston ; knowing that that would necessi- tate him to quit his Pass. Wherefore, leaving with Major- General Harrison about three-thousand horse and dragoons, besides those which are with Colonel Rich, Colonel Saun- ders, and Colonel Barton, upon the Borders, we marched to St. Johnston;84 and lying one day before it, we had it surrendered to us.
During which time we had some intelligence of the Enemy's marching southward ; though with some contradic- tions, as if it had not been so. But doubting it might be true, we (leaving a Garrison in St. Johnston, and sending Lieutenant-General Monk with about Five or Six thousand to Stirling to reduce that place, and by it to put your affairs into a good posture in Scotland) marched, with all possible expedition, back again; and have passed our foot and many of our horse over the Frith this day; resolving to make what speed we can up to the Enemy, — who, in his despera- tion and fear, and out of inevitable necessity, is run to try what he can do this way.
I do apprehend, that if he goes for England, being some few-days march before us, it will trouble some men's thoughts ; and may occasion some inconveniences ; — which I hope we are as deeply sensible of, and have been, and I
84 ad August 1651 (Balfour, iv. 313): 'St. Johnston,' as we know, is Perth.
ifei. LETTER CLXXX. LEITH. ttf
trust shall be, as diligent to prevent, as any. And indeed this is our comfort, That in simplicity of heart as towards God, we have done to the best of our judgments ; knowing that if some issue were not put to this Business, it would occasion another Winter's war : to the ruin of your soldiery, for whom the Scots are too hard in respect of enduring the Winter difficulties of this country ; and to the endless ex- pense of the treasure of England in prosecuting this War. It may be supposed we might have kept the Enemy from this, by interposing between him and England. Which truly I believe we might : but how to remove him out of this place, without doing what we have done, unless we had had a commanding Army on both sides of the River of Forth, is not clear to us ; or how to answer the inconveniences aforementioned, we understand not.
We pray, therefore, that (seeing there is a possibility for the Enemy to put you to some trouble) you would, with the same courage, grounded upon a confidence in God, wherein you have been supported to the great things God hath used you in hitherto, — improve, the best you can, such forces as you have in readiness, or ' as' may on the sudden be gathered together, To give the Enemy some check, until we shall be able to reach up to him ; which we trust in the Lord we shall do our utmost endeavour in. And indeed we have this comfortable experience from the Lord, That this Enemy is heart -smitten by God ; and whenever the Lord shall bring us up to them, we believe the Lord will make the desperateness of this counsel of theirs to appear, and the folly of it also. When England was much more unsteady than now ; and when a much more considerable Army of theirs, unfoiled, invaded you; and we had but a weak force to make resistance at Preston, — upon deliberate advice, we chose rather to put ourselves between their Army and Scotland : and how God succeeded that, is not well to
148 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4Aug.
be forgotten ! This ' present movement' is not out of choice on our part, but by some kind of necessity ; and, it is to be hoped, will have the like issue. Together with a hopeful end of your work ; — in which it's good to wait upon the Lord, upon the earnest of former experiences, and hope of His presence, which only is the life of your Cause.
Major-General Harrison, with the horse and dragoons under him, and Colonel Rich and the rest in those parts, shall attend the motions of the Enemy ; and endeavour the keeping of them together, as also to impede his march. And will be ready to be in conjunction with what forces shall gather together for this service: — to whom orders have been speeded to that purpose ; as this enclosed to Major-General Harrison will show. Major-General Lambert, this day, marched with a very considerable body of horse, up towards the Enemy's rear. With the rest of the horse, and nine regiments of foot, most of them of your old foot and horse, I am hasting up , and shall, by the Lord's help, use utmost diligence. I hope I have left a commanding force under Lieutenant-General Monk in Scotland.
This account I thought my duty to speed to you ; and rest, your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The Scots found no Presbyterian-Royalists, no Royalists Proper to speak of, nor any Discontented Interest in England disposed to join them in present circumstances. They marched, under rigorous discipline, weary and uncheered, south through Lancashire ; had to dispute their old friend the Bridge of War- rington with Lambert and Harrison, who attended them with horse-troops on the left ; Cromwell with the main Army steadily advancing behind. They carried the Bridge at Warrington ; they summoned various Towns, but none yielded ; proclaimed their King with all force of lungs and heraldry, but none cried, God bless him. Summoning Shrewsbury, with the usual ne- gative response, they quitted the London road ; bent south-
* Newspapers (in Cronvwelliana, pp. 107-8).
i6Si. LETTER CLXXX. LEITH. 149
ward towards Worcester, a City of slight Garrison and loyal Mayor ; there to entrench themselves, and repose a little.
Poor Earl Derby, a distinguished Royalist Proper, had has- tened over from the Isle of Man, to kiss his Majesty's hand in passing. He then raised some force in Lancashire, and was in hopes to kindle that country again, and go to Worcester in triumph : — but Lilburn, Colonel Robert, whom we have known here before, fell upon him at Wigan ; cut his force in pieces :85 the poor Earl had to go to Worcester in a wounded and wrecked condition. To Worcester, — and, alas, to the scaffold by and by, for that business. The Scots at Worcester have a loyal Mayor, some very few adventurous loyal Gentry in the neighbourhood ; and excitable Wales, perhaps again excitable, lying in the rear : but for the present, except in their own poor Fourteen-thousand right-hands, no outlook. And Cromwell is advancing steadily ; by York,86 by Nottingham, by Coventry and Stratford; 'raising all the County Militias/ who muster with singular alacrity ; — flowing towards Worcester like the Ocean-tide ; begirdling it with ' upwards of Thirty-thousand men.' His Majesty's royal summons to the Corporation of London is burnt there by the hands of the common hangman ; Speaker Lenthall and the Mayor have a copy of it burnt by that functionary at the head of every regiment, at a review of the Trainbands in Moorfields.8? London, England generally, seems to have made-up its mind.
At London on the 22d of August, a rigorous thing was done : Reverend Christopher Love, eloquent zealous Minister of St. Lawrence in the Jewry, was, after repeated respites and negotiations, beheaded on Tower Hill. To the unspeakable emotion of men. Nay the very Heavens seemed to testify a feeling of it, — by a thunderclap, by two thunderclaps. When the Parliament passed their vote on the 4th of July, That he should die according to the sentence of the Court, there was then a terrible thunderclap, and darkening of daylight. And now when he actually dies, ' directly after his beheading,' arises thunderstorm that threatens the dissolution of Nature ! Nature, as we see, survived it.
The old Newspaper says, It was on the 22d August 1642,
*5 Lilburn's two Letters, in Gary, ii. 338-45. * See Appendix, No. 21.
87 Bates, ii. 122 ; Whitlocke, p. 492 ; see also Commons Journals, vii. 6 fad Au- gust 1651).
150 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 2? Aug.
that Charles late King erected his Standard at Nottingham : and now on this same day, 22d August 1651, Charles Pre- tender erects his at Worcester ; and the Reverend Christopher dies. Men may make their reflections. — There goes a story, due to Carrion Heath or some such party, That Cromwell being earnestly solicited for mercy to this poor Christopher, did, while yet in Scotland, send a Letter to the Parliament, recom- mending it ; which Letter, however, was seized by some roving outriders of the Scottish Worcester Army ; who reading it, and remembering Uxbridge Sermon, tore it, saying, " No, let the villain die !" — after the manner of Heath. Which could be proved, if time and paper were of no value, to be, like a hun- dred other very wooden myths of the same Period, without truth. Guarda e passa. Glance at it here for the last time, and never repeat it more ! —
Charles's Standard, it would seem then, was erected at Wor- cester on Friday the 22d, the day of poor Christopher's death. On which same Friday, about sunrise, ' our Messenger' (the Parliament's) ' left the Lord General at Mr. Pierpoint's House,' — William Pierpoint, of the Kingston Family, much his friend, — the House called Thoresby, ' near Mansfield ;' just starting for Nottingham, to arrive there that night. From Notting- ham, by Coventry, by Stratford and Evesham, to ' the south- east side of Worcester,' rallying Country forces as we go, will take till Thursday next. Here at Stratford on the Wednesday, eve of that, is a Letter accidentally preserved.
LETTER CLXXXI.
DUBITATING Wharton, he also might help to rally forces ; his name, from ' Upper Winchington in Bucks,' or wherever he may be, might do something. Give him, at any rate, a last chance. — ' Tom Westrow,' here accidentally named; once a well-known man, familiar to the Lord General and to men of worth and quality ; now, as near as may be, swallowed forever in the Night-Empires ; — is still visible, strangely enough, through one small chink, and recoverable into daylight as far as need- ful. A Kentish man, a Parliament Soldier once, named in military Kent Committees ; sat in Parliament too, 'recruiter'
»6Si. LETTER CLXXXI. STRATFORD-ON-AVON. 151
for Hythe, though at present in abeyance owing to scruples. Above all, he was the Friend of poor George Wither, stepson of the Muses ; to whom in his undeserved distresses he lent beneficent princely sums ; and who, in poor splayfooted dog- grel, — very poor, but very grateful, pious, true, and on the whole noble, — preserves some adequate memory of him for the curious.88 By this chink Tom Westrow and the ancient figure of his Life, is still recoverable if needed.
Westrow, we find by good evidence, did return to his place in Parliament ;89 — quitted it too, as Wither informs us, fore- seeing the great Catastrophe ; and retired to country quiet, up the River at Teddington. Westrow and the others returned : Wharton continued to dubitate ; — and we shall here take leave of him. 'Poor foolish Mall,' young Mary Cromwell, one of 'my two little Wenches,' has been on a visit at Winchington, I think ; — ' thanks to you and the dear Lady' for her.
For my honoured Lord Wharton : These.
MY LORD, Stratford-on-Avon, 27th Aug. 1651.
I know I write to my Friend, — therefore give me leave to say one bold word.
In my very heart : Your Lordship, Dick Norton, Tom Westrow, Robert Hammond have, though not intentionally, helped one another to stumble at the dispensations of God, and to reason yourselves out of His service ! —
Now ' again' you have opportunity to associate with His people in His work ; and to manifest your willingness and desire to serve the Lord against His and His people's ene- mies. Would you be blessed out of Zion, and see the good of His people, and rejoice with His inheritance, — I advise you all in the bowels of love, Let it appear you offer your- selves willingly to His work ! Wherein to be accepted, is
88 Westrow Revived : a Funeral Poem •without Fiction, composed by George Wither, Esq. ; that God may be glorified in His Saints, and that—&c. &c. (King's Pamphlets, 121110, no. 390: London, 1653-4, dated with the pen ' 3d January' ): un- adulterated doggrel ; but really says something, and even something just; — by no means your insupportablest ' poetic' reading, as times go 1
89 ' Admitted to sit ;' means, readmitted after Pride's Purge : Commons Journals (vij. 27, 29), loth October j6gi.
152 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Sept
more honour from the Lord than the world can give or hath. I am persuaded it needs you not, — save as your Lord and Master needed the Ass's Colt, to show His humility, meekness and condescension : but you need it, to declare your submission to, and owning yourself the Lord's and His people's !90 —
If you can break through old disputes, — I shall rejoice if you help others to do so also. Do not say, You are now satisfied because it is the old Quarrel ; — as if it had not been so all this while !
I have no leisure; but a great deal of entire affection to you and yours, and those named 'here,' — which I thus plainly express. Thanks to you and the dear Lady, for all loves, — and for poor foolish Mall. I am in good earnest ' thankful ;' and so also your Lordship's faithful friend and most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
Charles's standard has been floating over Worcester some six days ; and now on Thursday 28th of August, comes in sight Cromwell's also ; from the Evesham side ; with upwards of Thirty-thousand men now near him ; and some say, upwards of Eighty-thousand rising in the distance to join him if need were.
LETTERS CLXXXII. CLXXXIII.
BATTLE OF WORCESTER.
THE Battle of Worcester was fought on the evening of Wed- nesday 3d September 1651 ; anniversary of that at Dunbar last year. It could well have but one issue ; defeat for the Scots and their Cause ; — either swift and complete ; or else incomplete, ending in slow sieges, partial revolts, and much
9° Grammar, in this last clause, lost in the haste : 'Ass's Colt' is ' Beast" in orig.
* Gentleman's Magazine (London, 1814), Ixxxlv. p. 419. — In Appendix, No. 26, there is now (1857) another Letter to his Lordship.
!65i. BATTLE OF WORCESTER. 153
new misery and blood. The swift issue was the one appointed ; and complete enough ; severing the neck of the Controversy now at last, as with one effectual stroke, no need to strike a second time.
The Battle was fought on both sides of the Severn ; part of Cromwell's forces having crossed to the Western bank, by Upton Bridge, some miles below Worcester, the night before. About a week ago, Massey understood himself to have ruined this Bridge at Upton ; but Lambert's men ' straddled across by the parapet,' — a dangerous kind of saddle for such riding, I think ! — and hastily repaired it ; hastily got hold of Upton Church, and maintained themselves there ; driving Massey back with a bad wound in the hand. This was on Thursday night last, the very night of the Lord General's arrival in those parts ; and they have held this post ever since. Fleetwood crosses here with a good part of Cromwell's Army, on the even- ing of Tuesday September 2d ; shall, on the morrow, attack the Scotch posts on the Southwest, about the Suburb of St. John's, across the River ; while Cromwell, in person, on this side, plies them from the Southeast. St. John's Suburb lies at some distance from Worcester ; west, or southwest as we say, on the Herefordshire Road ; and connects itself with the City by Severn Bridge. Southeast of the City, again, near the then and present London Road, is ' Fort Royal," an entrench- ment of the Scots : on this side Cromwell is to attempt the Enemy, and second Fleetwood, as occasion may serve. Wor- cester City itself is on Cromwell's side of the River ; stands high, surmounted by its high Cathedral ; close on the left or eastern margin of the Severn ; surrounded by fruitful fields, and hedges unfit for cavalry-fighting. This is the posture of affairs on the eve of Wednesday 3d September 1651.
But now, for Wednesday itself, we are to remark that be- tween Fleetwood at Upton, and the Enemy's outposts at St. John's on the west side of Severn, there runs still a River Teme ; a western tributary of the Severn, into which it falls about a mile below the City. This River Teme Fleetwood hopes to cross, if not by the Bridge at Powick which the Enemy pos- sesses, then by a Bridge of Boats which he is himself to pre- pare lower down, close by the mouth of Teme. At this point also, or ' within pistol-shot of it,' there is to be a Bridge of Boats laid across the Severn itself, that so both ends of the
154 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Sept.
Army may communicate. Boats, boatmen, carpenters, aquatic and terrestrial artificers and implements, in great abundance, contributed by the neighbouring Towns, lie ready on the River, about Upton, for this service. Does the reader now understand the ground a little ?
Fleetwood, at Upton, was astir with the dawn September 3d. But it was towards 'three in the afternoon' before the boatmen were got up ; must have been towards five before those Bridges were got built, and Fleetwood set fairly across the Teme to be- gin business. The King of Scots and his Council of War, ' on the top of the Cathedral,' have been anxiously viewing him all afternoon ; have seen him build his Bridges of Boats ; see him now in great force got across Teme River, attacking the Scotch on the South, fighting them from hedge to hedge towards the Suburb of St. John's. In great force: for new regiments, horse and foot, now stream across the Severn Bridge of Boats to as- sist Fleetwood : nay, if the Scots knew it, my Lord General himself is come across, ' did lead the van in person, and was the first that set foot on the Enemy's ground.' — The Scots, ob- stinately struggling, are gradually beaten there ; driven from hedge to hedge. But the King of Scots and his War-Council decide that most part of Cromwell's Army must now be over in that quarter, on the West side of the River, engaged among the hedges ; — decide that they, for their part, will storm out, and offer him battle on their own East side, now while he is weak there. The Council of War comes down from the top of the Cathedral ; their trumpets sound : Cromwell also is soon back, across the Severn Bridge of Boats again ; and the dead- liest tug of war begins.
Fort Royal is still known at Worcester, and Sudbury Gate at the southeast end of the City is known, and those other lo- calities here specified ; after much study of which and of the old dead Pamphlets, this Battle will at last become conceiv- able. Besides Cromwell's Two Letters, there are plentiful de- tails, questionable and unquestionable, in Bates and elsewhere, as indicated below.1 The fighting of the Scots was fierce and desperate. ' My Lord General did exceedingly hazard him- 1 self, riding up and down in the midst of the fire ; riding, him-
1 Bates, Part ii. 124-7. King's Pamphlets ; small 410, no. 507, ? 12 (given mostly in Crom-wcllia.no., pp. 114-15) ; large 410, no. 54, §§ 15, 18. Letter from Stapylton the Chaplain, inCrotnivelliana, p. 119.
i65i. LETTER CLXXXII. WORCESTER. 155
' self in person, to the Enemy's foot to offer them quarter, ' whereto they returned no answer but shot.' The small Scotch Army, begirdled with overpowering force, and cut-off from help or reasonable hope, storms forth in fiery pulses, horse and foot ; charges now on this side of the River, now on that ; — can on no side prevail. Cromwell recoils a little ; but only to rally, and return irresistible. The small Scotch Army is, on every side, driven in again. Its fiery pulsings are but the struggles of death : agonies as of a lion coiled in the folds of a boa !
' As stiff a contest, for four or five hours, as ever I have seen.' But it avails not. Through Sudbury Gate, on Crom- well's side, through St. John's Suburb, and over Severn Bridge on Fleetwood's, the Scots are driven-in again to Worcester Streets ; desperately struggling and recoiling, are driven through Worcester Streets, to the North end of the City, — and terminate there. A distracted mass of ruin : the foot all killed or taken ; the horse all scattered on flight, and their place of refuge very far ! His Sacred Majesty escaped, by royal oaks and other miraculous appliances well known to mankind : but Fourteen-thousand other men, sacred too after a sort though not majesties, did not escape. One could weep at such a death for brave men in such a Cause ! But let us now read Crom- well's Letters.
LETTER CLXXXII.
For the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England : These.
SlR, Near Worcester, sd Sept. 1651 (10 at night).
Being so weary, and scarce able to write, yet I thought it my duty to let you know thus much. That upon this day, being the 3d of September (remarkable for a mercy vouchsafed to your Forces on this day twelvemonth in Scotland), we built a Bridge of Boats over Severn, be- tween it and Teme, about half a mile from Worcester ; and another over Teme, within pistol-shot of our other Bridge. Lieutenant -General Fleetwood and Major-General Dean
156 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 3 Sept.
marched from Upton on the southwest side of Severn up to Powick, a Town which was a Pass the Enemy kept. We, 'from our side of Severn,' passed over some horse and foot, and were in conjunction with the Lieutenant-General's Forces. We beat the Enemy from hedge to hedge, till we beat him into Worcester.
The Enemy then drew all his Forces on the other side the Town, all but what he had lost ; and made a very con- siderable fight with us, for three-hours space : but in the end we beat him totally, and pursued him to his Royal Fort, which we took, — and indeed have beaten his whole Army. When we took this Fort, we turned his own guns upon him. The Enemy hath had great loss : and certainly is scattered, and run several ways. We are in pursuit of him, and have laid forces in several places, that we hope will gather him up.
Indeed this hath been a very glorious mercy ; — and as stiff a contest, for four or five hours, as ever I have seen. Both your old Forces and those new-raised have behaved themselves with very great courage; and He that made them come out, made them willing to fight for you. The Lord God Almighty frame our hearts to real thankfulness for this, which is alone His doing. I hope I shall within a day or two give you a more perfect account.
In the mean time I hope you will pardon, Sir, your most humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
On Saturday the 6th comes a farther Letter from my Lord General ; ' the effect whereof speaketh thus :'
• Newspapers (jnGromwelliana, p. 113); Tanner MSS. (Gary, ii. 355)1
i6Ss. LETTER CLXXXIII. WORCESTER. 157
LETTER CLXXXIII.
For the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the Parliament of England : These.
SlRj Worcester, 4th September 1651.
I am not able yet to give you an exact ac- count of the great things the Lord hath wrought for this Commonwealth and for His People : and yet I am unwilling to be silent ; but, according to my duty, shall represent it to you as it comes to hand.
This Battle was fought with various success for some hours, but still hopeful on your part; and in the end became an absolute victory, — and so full an one as proved a total defeat and ruin of the Enemy's Army ; and a possession of the Town, our men entering at the Enemy's heels, and fight- ing with them in the streets with very great courage. We took all their baggage and artillery. What the slain are, I can give you no account, because we have not taken an exact view ; but they are very many : — and must needs be so ; because the dispute was long and very near at hand ; and often at push of pike, and from one defence to another. There are about Six or Seven thousand prisoners taken here ; and many Officers and Noblemen of very great qua- lity : Duke Hamilton, the Earl of Rothes, and divers other Noblemen, — I hear, the Earl of Lauderdale ; many Officers of great quality ; and some that will be fit subjects for your justice.
We have sent very considerable parties after the flying Enemy; I hear they have taken considerable numbers of prisoners, and are very close in the pursuit. Indeed, I hear the Country riseth upon them everywhere; and I believe the forces that lay, through Providence, at Bewdley, and in Shropshire and Staffordshire, and those with Colonel Lil-
ts8 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept
burn, were in a condition, as if this had been foreseen, to intercept what should return.
A more particular account than this will be prepared for you as we are able. I hear they had not many more than a Thousand horse in their body that fled : and I believe you have near Four-thousand forces following, and interposing between them and home ; — what fish they will catch, Time will declare.2 Their Army was about Sixteen -thousand strong ; and fought ours on the Worcester side of Severn almost with their whole, whilst we had engaged about half our Army on the other side but with parties of theirs. In- deed it was a stiff business ; yet I do not think we have lost Two-hundred men. Your new -raised forces did per- form singular good service ; for which they deserve a very high estimation and acknowledgment ; as also for their will- ingness thereunto, — forasmuch as the same hath added so much to the reputation of your affairs. They are all de- spatched home again ; which I hope will be much for the ease and satisfaction of the Country ; which is a great fruit of these successes.
The dimensions of this mercy are above my thoughts. It is, for aught I know, a crowning mercy. Surely, if it be not, such a one we shall have, if this provoke those that are concerned in it to thankfulness ; and the Parliament to do the will of Him who hath done His will for it, and foi the Nation ; — whose good pleasure it is to establish the Nation and the Change of the Government, by making the People so willing to the defence thereof, and so signally blessing the endeavours of your servants in this late great work. I am bold humbly to beg, That all thoughts may tend to the promoting of His honour who hath wrought so great salvation; and that the fatness of these continued
3 Phrase omitted in the Newspaper. In orig., an official hand has written on tho margin 'omitt this.9
i65r. AFTER WORCESTER. 159
mercies may not occasion pride and wantonness, as formerly the like hath done to a chosen Nation ;3 but that the fear of the Lord, even for His mercies, may keep an Authority and a People so prospered, and blessed, and witnessed unto, humble and faithful ; and that justice and righteous- ness, mercy and truth may flow from you, as a thankful return to our gracious God. This shall be the prayer of, Sir, your most humble and obedient servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
Your Officers behaved themselves with much honour in this service ; and the Person4 who is the Bearer hereof was equal, in the performance of his duty, to most that served you that day.*
'On Lord's-day next, by order of Parliament, 'these Letters are read from all London Pulpits, amid the general thanksgiv- ing of men. At Worcester, the while, thousands of Prisoners are getting ranked, 'penned-up in the Cathedral,' with sad out- looks : carcasses of horses, corpses of men, frightful to sense and mind, encumber the streets of Worcester ; ' we are pluck- ing Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen from their lurking-holes,' into the unwelcome light.5 Lords very numerous ; a Peerage sore slashed. The Duke of Hamilton has got his thigh broken ; dies on the fourth day. The Earl of Derby, also wounded, is caught, and tried for Treason against the State ; lays down his head at Bolton, where he had once carried it too high. Lauder- dale and others are put in the Tower ; have to lie there, in heavy dormancy, for long years. The Earls of Cleveland and Lauderdale came to Town together, about a fortnight hence. ' As they passed along Cornhill in their coaches with a guard 1 of horse, the Earl of Lauderdale's coach made a stand near ' the Conduit : where a Carman gave his Lordship a visit, say-
3 ' But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked : — (and thou art waxen fat, thou art grown * thick, thou art covered with fatness :) then he forsook God which made him, and ' lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation' (Deuteronomy, xxxii. 15).
4 Major Cobbet, ' who makes a relation,' and gets zoo/. (Commons Journals, vii. w, *3>-
* Newspapers (in Cromivelliana, pp. 113, 114); Tanner MSS. (in Gary, ii. 359-62).
5 Original Commission, signed 'O. Cromwell, and dated 8th September 1651, ap- pointing ' Collonel John James' Governor of Worcester, is now among the MSS. of Trio. Coll. Cambridge (copy penes me).
160 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept.
' ing, " Oh, my Lord, you are welcome to London ! I protest, ' off goes your head, as round as a hoop !" But his Lordship ' passed off the fatal compliment only with a laughter, and ' so fared along to the Tower.'6 His Lordship's big red head has yet other work to do in this world. Having, at the Ever- blessed Restoration, managed, not without difficulty, ' to get a new suit of clothes,'7 he knelt before his now triumphant Sacred Majesty on that glorious Thirtieth of May ; learned from his Majesty, that "Presbytery was no religion for a gentleman ;" gave it up, not without pangs ; and resolutely set himself to in- troduce the exploded Tulchan Apparatus into Scotland again, by thumbikins, by bootikins, by any and every method, since it was the will of his Sacred Majesty ; — failed in the Tulchan Apparatus, as is well known ; earned for himself new plentiful clothes-suits, Dukedoms and promotions, from the Sacred Ma- jesty ; and from the Scotch People deep-toned universal sound of curses, not yet become inaudible ; and shall, in this place, and we hope elsewhere, concern us no more.
On Friday the I2th of September the Lord General arrived in Town. Four dignified Members, of whom Bulstrode was one, specially missioned by vote of Parliament,8 had met him the day before with congratulations, on the other side Ayles- bury ; ' whom he received with all kindness and respect ; and • after ceremonies and salutations passed, he rode with them ' across the fields ; — where Mr. Winwood the Member for ' Windsor's hawks met them ; and the Lord General, with the ' other Gentlemen, went a little out of the way a-hawking. ' They came that night to Aylesbury ; where they had much ' discourse ; especially my Lord Chief Justice St. John,' the dark Shipmoney Lawyer, now Chief Justice, ' as they supped together.' To me Bulstrode, and to each of the others, he gave a horse and two Scotch prisoners : the horse I kept for carry- ing me ; the two Scots, unlucky gentlemen of that country, I handsomely sent home again without any ransom whatever.9 And so on Friday we arrive in Town, in very great solemnity and triumph : Speaker and Parliament, Lord President and Council of State, Sheriffs, Mayors, and an innumerable multi- tude, of quality and not of quality, eagerly attending us ; once
8 King's Pamphlets, small 410, no. 507, § 18.
7 Roger Coke's Detection of the Court and State of England.
8 Commons Journals, vii. 13 (gth Sept. 1651).
9 Whitlocke, p. 484 ; see also ad edit p. 509.
i«5i. AFTER WORCESTER. 161
more splitting the welkin with their human shoutings, and vol- leys of great shot and small : in the midst of which my Lord General ' carried himself with much affability ; and now and ' afterwards, in all his discourses about Worcester, would sel- ' dom mention anything of himself ; mentioned others only ; and ' gave, as was due, the glory of the Action unto God.'10 — Hugh Peters, however, being of loose-spoken, somewhat sibylline turn of mind, discerns a certain inward exultation and irrepressible irradiation in my Lord General, and whispers to himself, " This man will be King of England yet." Which, unless Kings are entirely superfluous in England, I should think very possible, O Peters ! To wooden Ludlow Mr. Peters confessed so much, long afterwards ; and the wooden head drew its inferences therefrom.11
This, then, is the last of my Lord General's Battles and Victories technically so called. Of course his Life, to the very end of it, continues, as from the beginning it had always been, a battle, and a dangerous and strenuous one, with due modicum of victory assigned now and then ; but it will be with other than the steel weapons henceforth. He here sheaths his war- sword ; with that, it is not his Order from the Great Captain that he fight any more.
The distracted Scheme of the Scotch Governors to accom- plish their Covenant by this Charles-Stuart method has here ended. By and by they shall have their Charles Stuart back, as a general Nell-Gwynn Defender of the Faith to us all ; — and shall see how they will like him ! But as Covenanted King he is off upon his travels, and will never return more. Wor- cester Battle has cut the heart of that affair in two: and Monk, an assiduous Lieutenant to the Lord General in his Scotch affairs, is busy suppressing the details.
On Monday the ist of September, two days before the Battle of Worcester, Lieutenant-General Monk had stormed Dundee, the last stronghold of Scotland ; where much wealth, as in a place of safety, had been laid up. Governor Lums- den would not yield on summons : Lieutenant-General Monk stormed him ; the Town took fire in the business ; there was once more a grim scene, of flame and blood, and rage and despair, transacted in this Earth : and taciturn General Monk,
«o Whitlocke, p. 485. »' Ludlow.
VOL. III. M
161 PART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 &**.
his choler all up, was become surly as the Russian bear ; no- thing but negatory growls to be got out of him : nay, to one clerical dignitary of the place he not only gave his "No!" but audibly threatened a slap with the fist to back it, — ' ordered ' him, Not to speak one word, or he would scobe his mouth ' for him !'12
Ten days before, some Shadow of a new Committee of Estates attempting to sit at Alyth on the border of Angus, with intent to concert some measures for the relief of this same Dundee, had been, by a swift Colonel of Monk's, laid hold of; and the members were now all shipped to the Tower. It was a snuffing-out of the Government-light in Scotland. Except some triumph come from Worcester to rekindle it : — and, alas, no triumph came from Worcester, as we see ; nothing but ruin and defeat from Worcester ! The Government-light of Scot- land remains snuffed out. — Active Colonel Alured, a swift devout man, somewhat given to Anabaptist notions, of whom we shall hear again, was he that did this feat at Alyth ; a kind or leather in his cap. Among the Captured in that poor Com- mittee or Shadow of Committee was poor old General Leven, time-honoured Lesley, who went to the Tower with the others ; his last appearance in Public History. He got out again, on intercession from Queen Christina of Sweden ; retired to his native fields of Fife ; and slept soon and still sleeps in Balgony Kirk under his stone of honour, — the excellent ' crooked little Feldtmarshal' that he was. Excellent, though unfortunate. He bearded the grim Wallenstein at Stralsund once, and rolled him back from the bulwarks there, after long tough wrestle ; — and, in fact, did a thing or two in his time. Farewell to him.13
But with the light of Government snuffed-out in Scotland, and no rekindling of it from the Worcester side, resistance in Scotland has ended. Lambert, next summer, marched through the Highlands, pacificating them.14 There rose afterwards re- bellion in the Highlands, rebellion of Glencairn, of Middleton, with much mosstroopery and horsestealing ; but Monk, who had now again the command there, by energy and vigilance, by patience, punctuality, and slow methodic strength, put it
M Balfour, iv. 316.
13 Scotch Peerages ; FSrster's Wallenstein als Feldherr (Potsdam, 1834), p. t?f . Granger ^Biographic History qf England) has some nonsense about Leven, — in bis usual neat style.
M Whitlocke, p. 514.
t£st. AFTER WORCESTER. 163
down, and kept it down. A taciturn man ; speaks little ; thinks more or less ; — does whatever is doable here and elsewhere.
Scotland therefore, like Ireland, has fallen to Cromwell to be administered. He had to do it under great difficulties; the Governing Classes, especially the Clergy or Teaching Class, continuing for most part obstinately indisposed to him, so bale- ful to their formulas had he been. With Monk for an assiduous Lieutenant in secular matters, he kept the country in peace ; — it appears on all sides, he did otherwise what was possible for him. He sent new Judges to Scotland ; ' a pack of kinless loons,' who minded no claim but that of fair play. He favoured, as was natural, the Remonstrant Ker-and-Strahan Party in the Church ; — favoured, above all things, the Christian -Gospel Party, who had some good message in them for the soul of man. Within wide limits he tolerated the Resohitioner Party ; and beyond these limits would not tolerate them ; — would not surfer their General Assembly to sit ; marched the Assembly out bodily to Burntisfield Links, and sent it home again, when it tried such a thing.15 He united Scotland to England by act of Parliament ; tried in all ways to unite it by still deeper methods. He kept peace and order in the country ; was a little heavy with taxes : — on the whole, did what he could ; and proved, as there is good evidence, a highly beneficial though unwelcome phenomenon there.
Alas, may we not say, In circuitous ways he proved the Doer of what this poor Scotch Nation really wished and willed, could it have known so much at sight of him ! The true Governor of this poor Scotch Nation ; accomplishing their Covenant 'without the Charles Stuart, since 'with the Charles Stuart it was a flat impossibility. But they knew him not ; and with their stiffnecked ways obstructed him as they could. How seldom can a Nation, can even an individual man, understand what at heart his own real will is : such masses of superficial bewilderment, of respectable hearsay, of fantasy and pedantry, and old and new cobwebbery, overlie our poor will ; much hiding it from us, for most part ! So that if we can once get eye on it, and walk resolutely towards fulfilment of it, the battle is as good as gained! —
15 Whitlocke, 25th July 1653; Life of Robert Blair (Edinburgh, 1754), pp. 118- 19 ; Blencowe's Sidnty Papers, pp. 153-5.
1 64 rART VI. WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 4 Sept
For example, who, of all Scotch or other men, is he that verily understands the 'real ends of the Covenant,' and dis- criminates them well from the superficial forms thereof ; and with pious valour does them, — and continually struggles to see them done? I should say, this Cromwell, whom we call Sec- tary and Blasphemer ! The Scotch Clergy, persisting in their own most hidebound formula of a Covenanted Charles Stuart, bear clear testimony, that at no time did Christ's Gospel so flourish in Scotland as now under Cromwell the Usurper. ' These bitter waters,' say they, 'were sweetened by the Lord's ' remarkably blessing the labours of His faithful servants. A ' great door and an effectual was opened to many.'1*5 Not otherwise in matters civil. ' Scotland,' thus testifies a compe- tent eye-witness, 'was kept in great order. Some Castles in ' the Highlands had Garrisons put into them, which were so ' careful of their discipline, and so exact to their rules,' the wild Highlanders were wonderfully tamed thereby. Cromwell built three Citadels, Leith, Ayr and Inverness, besides many little Forts, over Scotland. Seven or Eight thousand men, well paid, and paying well ; of the strictest habits, military, spiritual and moral : these it was everywhere a kind of Practi- cal Sermon to take note of ! ' There was good justice done ; ' and vice was suppressed and punished. So that we always 1 reckon those Eight years of Usurpation a time of great peace ' and prosperity, IJ7 — though we needed to be twice beaten, and to have our foolish Governors flung into the Tower, before we would accept the same. We, and mankind generally, are an extremely wise set of creatures.
16 Life of Robert Blair, p. 120; Livingston's L ife of Himself (Glasgow, 1754), pp. 54-5 : &c. &c.
'* Bishop Burnet's History of his own. Time, book i.
PART SEVENTH.
THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 1651-1653.
LETTERS CLXXXIV.— CLXXXVIII.
THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT.
BETWEEN Worcester Battle on the 3d of September 1651, and the Dismissal of the Long Parliament on the 2oth of April 1653, are Nineteen very important months in the History of Oliver, which, in all our Books and Historical rubbish-records, lie as nearly as possible dark and vacant for us. Poor Dryas- dust has emitted, and still emits, volumes of confused noise on the subject ; but in the way of information or illumination, of light in regard to any fact, physiognomic feature, event or frac- tion of an event, as good as nothing whatever. Indeed, on- wards from this point where Oliver's own Letters begin to fail us, the whole History of Oliver, and of England under him, be- comes very dim ; — swimming most indistinct in the huge Tomes of Thurloe and the like, as in shoreless lakes of ditchwater and bilgewater ; a stagnancy, a torpor, and confused horror to the human soul ! No historical genius, not even a Rushworth's, now presides over the matter : nothing but bilgewater Corre- spondences j vague jottings of a dull fat Bulstrode; vague printed babblements of this and the other Carrion Heath, or Flunky Pamphleteer of the Blessed-Restoration Period, writing from ignorant rumour and for ignorant rumour, from the winds and to the winds. After long reading in very many Books, of very unspeakable quality, earning for yourself only incredibility, in- conceivability, and darkness visible, you begin to perceive that
1 66 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. i6Si.
in the Speeches of Oliver himself once well read, such as they are, some shadowy outlines, authentic prefigurements of what the real History of the Time may have been, do first, in the huge inane night, begin to loom forth for you, — credible, con- ceivable in some measure, there for the first time. My reader's patience is henceforth to be still more severely tried : there is unluckily no help for it, as matters stand.
Great lakes of watery Correspondence relating to the His- tory of this Period, as we intimate, survive in print ; and new are occasionally issued upon mankind :l but the essence of them has never yet in the smallest been elaborated by any man ; — will require a succession and assiduous series of many men to elaborate it. To pluck-up the great History of Oliver from it, like drowned Honour by the locks ; and show it to much- wondering and, in the end, right-thankful England ! The richest and noblest thing England hitherto has. The basis England will have to start from again, if England is ever to struggle Godward again, instead of struggling Devilward, and Mammon- ward merely. Serene element of Cant has been tried now for two Centuries ; and fails. Serene element, general completed life-atmosphere, of Cant religious, Cant moral, Cant political, Cant universal, where England vainly hoped to live in a serene soft-spoken manner, — England now finds herself on the point of choking there ; large masses of her People no longer able to get even potatoes in that serene element. England will have to come out of that ; England, too terribly awakened at last, is everywhere preparing to come out of that. England, her Amazon-eyes once more flashing strange Heaven' s-light, like Phoebus Apollo's fatal to the Pythian mud-serpents, will lift her hand, I think, and her heart, and swear " By the Eternal, I will not die in that ! I had once men who knew better than that !"
Bui with regard to the History of Oliver, as we were saying, for those Nineteen months there is almost no light to be com- municated at present. Of Oliver's own uttering, I have found only Five Letters, short, insignificant, connected with no phasis of Public Transactions : there are Two Dialogues recorded by Whitlocke, of dubious authenticity ; certain small splinters of
1 Thurloe's State-Papers, Milton's, Clarendon's, Ormond's, Sidney's, &c. &c. are old and very watery ; new and still waterier are Vaughan's Protectorate, and others not even worth naming here.
t<5Si. THE RUMP. 167
Occurrences not pointing very decisively anywhither, sprinkling like dust of stars the dark vacancy : these, and Dryasdust's vociferous commentaries new and old ; — and of discovered or discoverable, nothing more. Oliver's own Speech, which the reader is by and by to hear, casts backwards some straggling gleams ; well accordant, as is usual, with whatever else we know ; and worthy to be well believed and meditated by His- torical readers, among others. Out of these poor elements the candid imagination must endeavour to shape some not incon- ceivable scheme and genesis of this very indubitable Fact, the Dismissal of the Long Parliament, as best it may. Perhaps if Dryasdust were once well gagged, and his vociferous com- mentaries all well forgotten, such a feat might not be very impossible for mankind ! —
Concerning this Residue, Fag-end, or ' Rump" as it had now got nicknamed, of the Long Parliament, into whose hands the Government of England had been put, we have hitherto, ever since the King's Death- Warrant, said almost nothing : and in fact there was not much to be said. ' Statesmen of the Commonwealth' so-called : there wanted not among them men of real mark ; brave men, of much talent, of true resolution, and nobleness of aim : but though their title was chief in this Commonwealth, all men may see their real function in it has been subaltern all along. Not in St. Stephen's and its votings and debatings, but in the battle-field, in Oliver Cromwell's fightings, has the destiny of this Commonwealth decided itself. One unsuccessful Battle, at Preston or at any time since, had probably wrecked it ; — one stray bullet hitting the life of a cer- tain man had soon ended this Commonwealth. Parliament, Council of State, they sat like diligent Committees of Ways and Means, in a very wise and provident manner : but the soul of the Commonwealth was at Dunbar, at Worcester, at Tredah: Destiny, there questioned, " Life or Death for this Common- wealth ?" has answered, " Life yet for a time!" — That is a fact which the candid imagination will have to keep steadily in view.
And now, if we practically ask ourselves, What is to be- come of this small junto of men, somewhat above a Hundred in all,2 hardly above Half-a-hundred the active part of them,
2 One notices division-numbers as high as 121, and occasionally lower than even 40. Godwin (iii. 121), ' by careful scrutiny of the Journals,' has found that the utmost number of all that had still the right to come ' could not be less than 150.'
1 68 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 1651.
who now sit in the chair of authority ? the shaping-out of any answer will give rise to considerations. These men have been raised thither by miraculous interpositions of Providence ; they may be said to sit there only by a continuance of the like. They cannot sit there forever. They are not Kings by birth, these men ; nor in any of them have I discovered qualities as of a very indisputable King by attainment. Of dull Bulstrode, with his lumbering law-pedantries, and stagnant official self- satisfactions, I do not speak ; nor of dusky tough St. John, whose abstruse fanaticisms, crabbed logics, and dark ambitions, issue all, as was very natural, in ' decided avarice" at last : — not of these. Harry Marten is a tight little fellow, though of somewhat loose life : his witty words pierce yet, as light-arrows, through the thick oblivious torpor of the generations; testifying to us very clearly, Here was a right hard-headed, stout-hearted little man, full of sharp fire and cheerful light ; sworn foe of Cant in all its figures ; an indomitable little Roman Pagan if no better : — but Harry is not quite one's King either ; it would have been difficult to be altogether loyal to Harry ! Doubtful too, I think, whether without great effort you could have wor- shipped even the Younger Vane. A man of endless virtues, says Dryasdust, who is much taken with him, and of endless intellect ; — but you must not very specially ask, How or Where ? Vane was the Friend of Milton : that is almost the only answer that can now be given. A man, one rather finds, of light fibre, this Sir Harry Vane. Grant all manner of purity and elevation ; subtle high discourse ; much intellectual and practical dexterity : there is an amiable, devoutly zealous, very pretty man ; — but not a royal man ; alas, no ! On the whole, rather a thin man. Whom it is even important to keep strictly subaltern. Whose tendency towards the Abstract, or 7 emporary-Theoretic, is irre- sistible ; whose hold of the Concrete, in which lies always the Perennial, is by no means that of a giant, or born Practical King ; — whose ' astonishing subtlety of intellect' conducts him not to new clearness, but to ever new abstruseness, wheel within wheel, depth under depth ; marvellous temporary empire of the air, — wholly vanished now, and without meaning to any mortal. My erudite friend, the astonishing intellect that occupies itself in splitting hairs, and not in twisting some kind of cordage and effectual draught-tackle to take the road with, is not to me the most astonishing of intellects ! And if, as is probable, it get
,65i. THE RUMP. 169
into narrow fanaticisms ; become irrecognisant of the Perennial because not dressed in the fashionable Temporary ; become self-secluded, atrabiliar, and perhaps shrill -voiced and spas- modic,— what can you do but get away from it, with a prayer, " The Lord deliver me from thee !" I cannot do with thee. I want twisted cordage, steady pulling, and a peaceable bass tone of voice : not split hairs, hysterical spasmodics, and treble ! Thou amiable, subtle, elevated individual, the Lord deliver me from thee !
These men cannot continue Kings forever ; nor in fact did they in the least design such a thing ; only they find a terrible difficulty in getting abdicated. Difficulty very conceivable to us. Some weeks after Pride's Purge, which may be called the constituting of this remnant of members into a Parliament and Authority, there had been presented to it, by Fairfax and the Army, what we should now call a Bentham-Sieyes Constitution, what was then called an ' Agreement of the People,'3 which might well be imperative on honourable members sitting there ; whereby it was stipulated for one thing, That this present Par- liament should dissolve itself, and give place to another ' equal Representative of the People,' — in some three months hence ; on the 3Oth of April, namely. The last day of April 1649: this Parliament was then to have its work finished, and go its ways, giving place to another. Such was our hope.
They did accordingly pass a vote to that effect ; fully in- tending to fulfil the same : but, alas, it was found impossible. How summon a new Parliament, while the Commonwealth is still fighting for its existence ? All we can do is to resolve our- selves into Grand Committee, and consider about it. After much consideration, aU we can decide is, That we shall go weekly into Grand Committee, and consider farther. Duly every Wednesday we consider, for the space of eleven months and odd ; find, more and more, that it is a thing of some con- siderableness ! In brief, when my Lord General returns to us from Worcester, on the i6th of September 1651, no advance whatever towards a dissolution of ourselves has yet been made. The Wednesday Grand Committees had become a thing like the meeting of Roman augurs, difficult to go through with com- plete gravity ; and so, after the eleventh month, have silently
3 Commons Journals, 2oth January 1648-9 : some six weeks after the Purge ; ten days before the King's Death.
i;o PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. a Oct.
fallen into desuetude. We sit here very immovable. We are scornfully called the Rump of a Parliament by certain people ; but we have an invincible Oliver to fight for us : we can afford to wait here, and consider to all lengths ; and by one name we shall smell as sweet as by another.
I have only to add at present, that on the morrow of my Lord General's reappearance in Parliament, this sleeping ques- tion was resuscitated ;4 new activity infused into it ; some show of progress made ; nay, at the end of three months, after much labour and struggle, it was got decided, by a neck-and-neck division,5 That the present is a fit time for fixing a limit be- yond which this Parliament shall not sit. Fix a limit therefore ; give us the non-plus-ultra of you. Next Parliament-day we do fix a limit, Three years hence, 3d November 1654 ; three years of rope still left us: a somewhat wide limit; which, under con- ceivable contingencies, may perhaps be tightened a little. My honourable friends, you ought really to get on with despatch of this business; and know of a surety that not being, any of you, Kings by birth, nor very indubitably by attainment, you will actually have to go, and even in case of extremity to be shoved and sent !
LETTER CLXXXIV.
AT this point the law of dates requires that we introduce Letter Hundred-and-eighty-fourth ; though it is as a mere mathe- matical point, marking its own whereabouts in Oliver's History; and imparts little or nothing that is new to us.
Reverend John Cotton is a man still held in some remem- brance among our New-England friends. He had been Mi- nister of Boston in Lincolnshire ; carried the name across the Ocean with him; fixed it upon a new small Home he had found there, — which has become a large one since ; the big busy Capital of Massachusetts, Boston, so called. John Cotton his Mark, very curiously stamped on the face of this Planet ; likely
to continue for some time ! For the rest, a painful Preacher,
oracular of high Gospels to New England ; who in his day was well seen to be connected with the Supreme Powers of this
4 Commons Journals, jyth September 1651.
5 49 to 47 ; Commons Journals, i4th November 1651 : ' Lord General and Lord Chief Justice,' Cromwell and St. John, are Tellers for the Yea.
i6Si. LETTER CLXXXIV. LONDON. 171
Universe, the word of him being as a live-coal to the hearts of many. He died some years afterwards ; — was thought, especially on his deathbed, to have manifested gifts even of Prophecy,6 — a thing not inconceivable to the human mind that well consi- ders Prophecy and John Cotton.
We should say farther, that the Parliament, that Oliver among and before them, had taken solemn anxious thought concerning Propagating of the Gospel in New England ; and, among other measures, passed an Act to that end ;? not un- worthy of attention, were our hurry less. In fact, there are traceable various small threads of relation, interesting recipro- cities and mutualities, connecting the poor young Infant, New England, with its old Puritan Mother and her affairs, in those years. Which ought to be disentangled, to be made conspicuous and beautiful, by the Infant herself now that she has grown big ; the busy old Mother having had to shove them, with so much else of the like, hastily out of her way for the present ! — However, it is not in reference to this of Propagating the Gos- pel in New England ; it is in congratulation on the late high Actings, and glorious Appearances of Providence in Old Eng- land, that Cotton has been addressing Oliver : introduced to him, as appears, by some small mediate or direct acquaintance- ship, old or new ; — founding too on their general relationship as Soldier of the Gospel and Priest of the Gospel, high brother and humble one ; appointed, both of them, to fight for it to the death, each with such weapons as were given him. The Letter of Cotton, with due details, is to be seen in Hutchinson's Collection.91 The date is ' Boston in New England, 2 8th of Fifth' (Fifth Month, or July}, '1651:' the substance, full of piety and loyalty, like that of hundreds of others, must not con- cern us here, — except these few interesting words, upon certain of our poor old Dunbar friends : ' The Scots whom God de- ' livered into your hands at Dunbar,' says Cotton, 'and whereof ' sundry were sent hither, — we have been desirous, as we could ' to make their yoke easy. Such as were sick of the scurvy, ' or other diseases, have not wanted physic and chirurgery. ' They have not been sold for Slaves, to perpetual servitude ; ' but for six, or seven, or eight years, as we do our own. And ' he that bought the most of them, I hear, buildeth Houses for
6 Thurloe, i. 565 ; — in 1653. 7 Scobell (2/th July 1649), ii. 66.
8 Papers relative to the History of Massachusetts (Boston, 1769), p. 236.
172 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 2 Oct.
' them, for every Four a House ; and layeth some acres of ' ground thereto, which he giveth them as their own, requiring 1 them three days in the week to work for him by turns, and ' four days for themselves ; and promiseth, as soon as they can ' repay him the money he laid out for them, he will set them at ' liberty.' Which really is a mild arrangement, much preferable to Durham Cathedral and the raw cabbages at Morpeth ; and may turn to good for the poor fellows, if they can behave them- selves ! —
For my esteemed Friend Mr. Cotton, Pastor of the Church at Boston in New England: These.
' London,' 2d October 1651.
WORTHY SIR, AND MY CHRISTIAN FRIEND,
I received yours a few days since. It was welcome to me because signed by you, whom I love and honour in the Lord : but more * so' to see some of the same grounds of our Actings stirring in you that are in us, to quiet us to our work, and support us therein. Which hath had the greatest difficulty in our engagement in Scot- land ; by reason we have had to do with some who were, I verily think, Godly, but, through weakness and the subtlety of Satan, ' were' involved in Interests against the Lord and His People.
With what tenderness we have proceeded with such, and that in sincerity, our Papers (which I suppose you have seen) will in part manifest; and I give you some comfort- able assurance of ' the same.' The Lord hath marvellously appeared even against them.9 And now again when all the power was devolved into the Scottish King and the Malignant Party, — they invading England, the Lord rained upon them such snares as the Enclosed10 will show. Only
9 F'om Preston downward.
10 Doubtless the Official Narrative of Worcester Battle ; published about a week ago, as Preamble to the Act appointing a Day of Thanksgiving ; 26th September 1651 ; reprinted in Parliamentary History, xx. 59-65.
i6Si. CONFERENCE AT LENTHALL'S. 173
the Narrative in short is this, That of their whole Army, when the Narrative was framed, not five men were returned.
Surely, Sir, the Lord is greatly to be feared and to be praised ! We need your prayers in this as much as ever. How shall we behave ourselves after such mercies ? What is the Lord a-doing ? What Prophecies are now fulfilling ?n Who is a God like ours ? To know His will, to do His will, are both of Him.
I took this liberty from business, to salute you thus in a word. Truly I am ready to serve you and the rest of our Brethren and the Churches with you. I am a poor weak creature, and not worthy the name of a worm ; yet accepted to serve the Lord and His People. Indeed, my dear Friend, between you and me, you know not me, — my weak- nesses, my inordinate passions, my unskilfulness, and every- way unfitness to my work. Yet, yet the Lord, who will have mercy on whom He will, does as you see ! Pray for me. Salute all Christian friends though unknown. I rest, your affectionate friend to serve you, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
About this time, for there is no date to it but an evidently vague and erroneous one, was held the famous Conference of Grandees, called by request of Cromwell ; of which Bulstrode has given record. Conference held ' one day' at Speaker Len- thall's house in Chancery Lane, to decide among the leading Grandees of the Parliament and Army, How this Nation is to be settled, — the Long Parliament having now resolved on actually dismissing itself by and by. The question is really complex : one would gladly know what the leading Grandees did think of it ; even what they found good to say upon it ! Unhappily our learned Bulstrode's report of this Conference is very dim, very languid : nay Bulstrode, as we. have found elsewhere, has a kind of dramaturgic turn in him, indeed an occasional poetic friskiness ; most unexpected, as if the hippo- potamus should show a tendency to dance ; — which painfully
11 See Psalm Hundred-and-tenth.
* Harris, p. 518 ; Birch's Original,— copied in Additional Ayscough MSS. no. 4156, §70.
174 PART vn. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. i«5t.
deducts from one's confidence in Bulstrode's entire accuracy on such occasions 1 Here and there the multitudinous Paper Masses of learned Bulstrode do seem to smack a little of the date when he redacted them, — posterior to the Ever-blessed Restoration, not prior to it. We shall, nevertheless, excerpt this dramaturgic Report of Conference : the reader will be willing to examine with his own eyes, even as in a glass darkly, any feature of that time ; and he can remember always that a learned Bulstrode's fat terrene mind imaging a heroic Crom- well and his affairs is a very dark glass indeed!
The Speakers in this Conference, — Desborow, Oliver's Brother-in-law ; Whalley, Oliver's Cousin ; fanatical Harrison, tough St. John, my learned Lord Keeper or Commissioner Whitlocke himself, — are mostly known to us. Learned Wid- drington, the mellifluous orator, once Lord Commissioner too, and like to be again, though at present ' excused from it owing to scruples,' will by and by become better known to us. A mellifluous, unhealthy, seemingly somewhat scrupulous and timorous man.12 He is of the race of that Widdrington whom we still lament in doleful dumps, — but does not fight upon the stumps like him. There were ' many other Gentlemen,' who merely listened.
' Upon the defeat at Worcester,' says Bulstrode vaguely,13 ' Cromwell desired a Meeting with divers Members of Par- ' liament, and some chief Officers of the Army, at the Speaker's ' house. And a great many being there, he proposed to them, ' That now the old King being dead, and his Son being de- ' feated, he held it necessary to come to a Settlement of the ' Nation. And in order thereunto, had requested this Meet- ' ing ; that they together might consider and advise, What ' was fit to be done, and to be presented to the Parliament.
' SPEAKER. My Lord, this Company were very ready to ' attend your Excellence, and the business you are pleased to ' propound to us is very necessary to be considered. God ' hath given marvellous success to our Forces under your com- ' mand ; and if we do not improve these mercies to some ' Settlement, such as may be to God's honour, and the good ' of this Commonwealth, we shall be very much blameworthy.
'* Wood, in voce.
13 Whitlocke, p. 491 ; the date, loth December 1651, is that of the Paper merely, and as applied to the Conference itself cannot be correct.
i65i. CONFERENCE At LENTHALL'S. t?$
• HARRISON. I think that which my Lord General hath ' propounded, is, To advise as to a Settlement both of our
• Civil and Spiritual Liberties ; and so, that the mercies which ' the Lord hath given-in to us may not be cast away. How
• this may be done is the great question.
' WHITLOCKE. It is a great question indeed, and not sud- ' denly to be resolved ! Yet it were pity that a meeting of so
• many able and worthy persons as I see here, should be ' fruitless. — I should humbly offer, in the first place, Whether ' it be not requisite to be understood in what way this Settle- ' ment is desired ? Whether of an absolute Republic, or with ' any mixture of Monarchy.
4 CROMWELL. My Lord Commissioner Whitlocke hath put ' us upon the right point : and indeed it is my meaning, that 1 we should consider, Whether a Republic or a mixed Mon- ' archical Government will be best to be settled ? And if any- 1 thing Monarchical, then, In whom that power shall be placed ?
' SIR THOMAS WIDDRINGTON. I think a mixed Monarchical ' Government will be most suitable to the Laws and People of ' this Nation. And if any Monarchical, I suppose we shall 1 hold it most just to place that power in one of the Sons of ' the late King.
' COLONEL FLEETWOOD. I think that the question, Whether ' an absolute Republic, or a mixed Monarchy, be best to be 1 settled in this Nation, will not be very easy to be determined !
' LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE ST. JOHN. It will be found, that the ' Government of this Nation, without something of Monarchical ' power, will be very difficult to be so settled as not to shake ' the foundation of our Laws, and the Liberties of the People.
' SPEAKER. It will breed a strange confusion to settle a ' Government of this Nation without something of Monarchy.
' COLONEL DESBOROW. I beseech you, my Lord, why may ' not this, as well as other Nations, be governed in the way
• of a Republic ?
' WHITLOCKE. The Laws of England are so interwoven ' with the power and practice of Monarchy, that to settle a ' Government without something of Monarchy in it, would ' make so great an alteration in the Proceedings of our Law, ' that you will scarce have time14 to rectify it, nor can we welj ' foresee the inconveniences which will arise thereby.
14 Between this and November 1654.
176 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 1651.
• COLONEL WHALLEY. I do not well understand matters « of Law : but it seems to me the best way, Not to have any- ' thing of Monarchical power in the Settlement of our Govern- « ment. And if we should resolve upon any, whom have we
• to pitch upon ? The King's Eldest Son hath been in arms « against us, and his Second Son15 likewise is our enemy.
• SIR THOMAS WIDDRINGTON. But the late King's Third 1 Son, the Duke of Gloucester, is still among us ; and too ' young to have been in arms against us, or infected with the ' principles of our enemies.
'WHITLOCKE. There may be a day given for the King's
• Eldest Son,16 or for the Duke of York his Brother, to come-in ' to the Parliament. And upon such terms as shall be thought
• fit, and agreeable both to our Civil and Spiritual liberties, a ' Settlement may be made with them.
' CROMWELL. That will be a business of more than ordi-
• nary difficulty ! But really I think, if it may be done with ' safety, and preservation of our Rights, both as Englishmen ' and as Christians, That a Settlement with somewhat of Mon- ' archical power in it would be very effectual.'
Much other discourse there was, says my learned friend ; — but amounting to little. The Lawyers all for a mixed Govern- ment, with something of Monarchy in it ; tending to call in one of the King's Sons, — I especially tending that way; secretly loyal in the worst of times. The Soldiers, again, were all for a Republic ; thinking they had had enough of the King and his Sons. My Lord General always checked that secret-loyalty of mine, and put-off the discussion of the King's Son ; yet did not declare himself for a Republic either ; — was indeed, as my terrene fat mind came at length to image him, merely ' fishing for men's opinions,' and for provender to himself and his ap- petites, as I in the like case should have been doing! — The Conference broke up, with what of ' fish' in this kind my Lord General had taken, and no other result arrived at.
Many Conferences held by my Lord General have broken-up so. Four years ago, he ended one in King Street by playfully
14 James ; who has fled to the Continent some time ago, 'in women's clothes,' with one Colonel Bamfield, and is getting fast into Papistry and other confusions.
16 Charles Stuart : ' a day' foi him, upon whose Jiead there was, not many weeks ago, a Reward of iooo/. ? Did you actually say this, my learned friend? Or merely strive to think, and redact, at an after-period, that you had said it, — that you had thought it, meant to say it, whici» v~» virtually all the same, in a case of difficulty I
i6Si. DEATH OF IRETON. 177
' flinging a cushion' at a certain solid head of our acquaintance, and running down stairs. J7 Here too it became ultimately clear to the solid head that he had been ' fishing.' Alas, a Lord General has many Conferences to hold ; and in terrene minds, ligneous, oleaginous, and other, images himself in a very strange manner ! The candid imagination, busy to shape- out some conceivable Oliver in these Nineteen months, will accept thankfully the following small indubitabilities, or glimpses of definite events.
December %th, 1651. In the beginning of December (Whit- locke dates it 8th December) came heavy tidings over from Ireland, dark and heavy in the house of Oliver especially : that Deputy Ireton, worn-out with sleepless Irish services, had caught an inflammatory fever, and suddenly died. Fell sick on the 1 6th of November 1651; died, at Limerick, on the 26th.18 The reader remembers Bridget Ireton, the young wife at Cornbury :J9 she is now Widow Ireton ; a sorrowful bereaved woman. One brave heart and subtle-working brain has ended : to the regret of all the brave. A man able with his pen and his sword ; ' very stiff in his ways.'
Dryasdust, who much loves the brave Ireton in a rather blind way, intimates that Ireton's 'stern virtue' would probably have held Cromwell in awe ; that had Ireton lived, there had probably been no sacrilege against the Constitution on Oliver's part. A probability of almost no weight, my erudite friend. The ' stern virtue' of Ireton was not sterner on occasion than that of Oliver ; the probabilities of Ireton's disapproving what Oliver did, in the case alluded to, are very small, resting on solid Ludlow mainly ; and as to those of Ireton's holding Crom- well 'in awe,' in this or in any matter he had himself decided to do, I think we may safely reckon them at zero, my erudite friend !
Lambert, now in Scotland, was appointed Deputy in Ireton's room ; and meant to go ; but did not. Some say the Widow Ireton, irritated that the beautiful and showy Lady Lambert should already ' take precedence of her in St. James's Park/ frustrated the scheme : what we find certain is, That Lambert
17 Ludlow, L 240.
is Wood, iii. 300 ; Whitlocke, p. 491. — Letter (Oliver to his Sister) in Appendix, N' n
19 Letter XLI. vol. i. p. 229 ; and antea, p. 55.
VOL. III. U
178 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. ,65*
did not go, that Fleetwood went ; and farther, that the Widow Ireton in due time became Wife of the Widower Fleetwood : the rest hangs vague in the head of zealous Mrs. Hutchinson, solid Ludlow, and empty Rumour.20 Ludlow, already on the spot, does tha Irish duties in the interim. Ireton has solemn Public Funeral in England ; copious moneys settled on his Widow and Family ; all honours paid to him, for his own sake and his Father-in-law's.
March i^th, 1652. Above two years ago, when this Rump Parliament was in the flush of youthful vigour, it decided on re- forming the Laws of England, and appointed a working Com- mittee for that object, our learned friend Bulstrode one of them. Which working Committee finding the job heavy, gradually languished ; and after some Acts for having Law-proceedings transacted in the English tongue, and for other improvements of the like magnitude, died into comfortable sleep. On my Lord General's return from Worcester, it had been poked-up again ; and, now rubbing its eyes, set to work in good earnest ; got a subsidiary Committee appointed, of Twenty-one persons not members of this House at all, To say and suggest what improvements were really wanted : such improvements they the working Committee would then, with all the readiness in life, effectuate and introduce in the shape of specific Acts. Accord- ingly, on March 25th, first day of the new year 1652, learned Bulstrode, in the name of this working Committee, reports that the subsidiary Committee has suggested a variety of things : among others, some improvement in our method of Transfer- ring Property, — of enabling poor John Doe, who finds at pre- sent a terrible difficulty in doing it, to inform Richard Roe, " I " John Doe do, in very fact, sell to thee Richard Roe, such " and such a Property, — according to the usual human mean- " ing of the word sell ; and it is hereby, let me again assure " thee, indisputably SOLD to thee Richard, by me John :" which, my learned friend thinks, might really be an improvement. To which end he will introduce an Act : nay there shall farther be an Act for the 'Registry of Deeds in each County,' — if it please Heaven. ' Neglect to register your Sale of Land in this pro- ' mised County-Register within a given time,' enacts the learned Bulstrode, ' such Sale shall be void. Be exact in registering it, • the Land shall not be subject to any incumbrance.' Incuti:
40 Hutchinsou's Memoirs (London, 1806), p. 195 ; Ludlow, pp. 4x4, 449, 450, &c.
,6S2. DUTCH WAR. 179
brance : yes, but what is ' incumbrance' ? asks all the working Committee, with wide eyes, when they come actually to sit upon this Bill of Registry, and to hatch it into some kind of perfec- tion : What is ' incumbrance' ? No mortal can tell. They sit debating it, painfully sifting it, ' for three months ;'21 three months by Booker's Almanac, and the Zodiac Horologe : March violets have become June roses ; and still they debate what ' incumbrance' is ; — and indeed, I think could never fix it at all ; and are perhaps debating it, if so doomed, in some twilight foggy section of Dante's Nether World, to all Eternity, at this hour ! — Are not these a set of men likely to reform English Law ? Likely these to strip the accumulated owl-droppings and foul guano-mountains from your rock-island, and lay the reality bare, — in the course of Eternities ! The wish waxes livelier in Colonel Pride that he could see a certain addition made to the Scots Colours hung in Westminster Hall yonder.
I add only, for the sake of Chronology, that on the fourth day after this appearance of Bulstrode as a Law-reformer, oc- curred the famous Black Monday ; fearfulest eclipse of the Sun ever seen by mankind. Came on about nine in the morning; darker and darker: ploughmen unyoked their teams, stars came out, birds sorrowfully chirping took to roost, men in amazement to prayers : a day of much obscurity ; Black Mon- day, or Mirk Monday, 2Qth March i652.8* Much noised of by Lilly, Booker, and the buzzard Astrologer tribe. Betoken- ing somewhat ? Belike that Bulstrode and this Parliament will, in the way of Law-reform and otherwise, make a Practical Gospel, or real Reign of God, in this England ? —
July f)th, 1652. A great external fact, which, no doubt, has its effect on all internal movements, is the War with the Dutch. The Dutch, ever since our Death- Warrant to Charles First, have looked askance at this New Commonwealth, which wished to stand well with them ; and have accumulated offence on offence against it. Ambassador Dorislaus was assassinated in their country ; Charles Second was entertained there ; evasive slow answers were given to tough St. John, who went over as new Ambassador : to which St. John responding with great directness, in a proud, brief and very emphatic manner, took his leave, and came home again. Came home again; and
»' Ludlow, i. 430 ; Parliamtntary History, xx. 84 ; Commons Journals, vii. 67, no, &c. M Balfour, IT. 349; Law's Memorials, p. 6.
i8o PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT, gjuly
passed the celebrated Navigation Act,23 forbidding that any goods should be imported into England except either in Eng- lish ships or in ships of the country where the goods were produced. Thereby terribly maiming the ' Carrying Trade of the Dutch;' and indeed, as the issue proved, depressing the Dutch Maritime Interest not a little, and proportionally elevat- ing that of England. Embassies in consequence, from their irritated High Mightinesses ; sea-fightings in consequence ; and much negotiating, apologising, and bickering mounting ever higher ; — which at length, at the date above given, issues in declared War. Dutch War : cannonadings and fierce sea- fights in the narrow seas; land-soldiers drafted to fight on ship- board ; and land-officers, Blake, Dean, Monk, who became very famous sea-officers ; Blake a thrice-famous one ; — poor Dean lost his life in this business. They doggedly beat the Dutch, and again beat them : their best Van Tromps and De Ruyters could not stand these terrible Puritan Sailors and Gunners. The Dutch gradually grew tame. The public mind, occupied with sea-fights and sea-victories, finds again that the New Representative must be patiently waited for ; that this is not a time for turning-out the old Representative, which has so many affairs on its hands.
But the Dutch War brings another consequence in the train of it : renewed severity against Delinquents. The necessities of cash for this War are great : indeed, the grand business of Parliament at present seems to be that of Finance, — finding of sinews for such a War. Any remnants of Royal lands, of Dean-and-Chapter lands, — sell them by rigorous auction ; the very lead of the Cathedrals one is tempted to sell ; nay almost the Cathedrals themselves,24 if any one would buy them. The necessities of the Finance Department are extreme. Money, money: our Blakes and Monks, in deadly wrestle with the Dutch, must have money !
Estates of Delinquents, one of the readiest resources from of old, cannot, in these circumstances, be forgotten. Search out Delinquents : in every County make stringent inquest after them! Many, in past years, have made light settlements with lax Committee-men ; neighbours, not without pity for them.
M Introduced sth August 1651; passed gth October 1651: given in Scobell, ii. 176.
'» Parliamentary History, xs. 90,
,6S2. LETTER CLXXXV. LONDON. 181
Many of minor sort have been overlooked altogether. Bring them up, every Delinquent of them ; up hither to the Rhada- manthus-bar of Goldsmiths' Hall and Haberdashers' Hall ; sift them, search them ; riddle the last due sixpence out of them. The Commons Journals of these months have formidable ell- long Lists of Delinquents ; List after List ; who shall, on rigorous terms, be ordered to compound. Poor unknown Royalist Squires, from various quarters of England ; whose names and surnames excite now no notion in us except that of No. I and No. 2 : my Lord General has seen them ' crowding by thirties and forties in a morning'25 about these Haberdasher- Grocer Halls of Doom, with haggard expression of counten- ance ; soliciting, from what austere official person they can get a word of, if not mercy, yet at least swift judgment. In a way which affected my Lord General's feelings. We have now the third year of Peace in our borders : is this what you call Settle- ment of the Nation ?
LETTER CLXXXV.
THE following Letter 'to my honoured Fiiend Mr. Hunger- ford the Elder/ which at any rate by order of time introduces itself here, has probably some reference to these Committee businesses : — at all events, there hangs by it a little tale.
Some six miles from Bath, in the direction towards Salis- bury, are to be seen, ' on the northeast slope of a rocky height called Farley Hill,' the ruins of an old Castle, once well known by the name of Farley Monlfort or Farley Hungerford : Man- sion once of the honourable Family of Hungerfords, while there was such a Family. The Hungerfords are extinct above a century ago ; and their Mansion stands there as a Ruin, know- ing little of them any more. But it chanced, long since, before the Ruin became quite roofless, some Land-Steward or Agent of a new Family, tapping and poking among the melancholy lumber there, — found ' an old loose Chest' shoved loosely ' under the old Chapel-altar ;' and bethought him of opening the same. Masses of damp dust ; unclean accumulation of beetle-and-spider exuviae, t« the conceivable amount : under
25 Speech, postea.
1 82 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 3ojul>
these, certain bundles of rubbish-papers, extinct lease-records, marriage-contracts, all extinct now, — among which, however, were Two Letters bearing Oliver Cromwell's signature. These Two the Land-Steward carefully copied, — thanks to him ; — and here, out of Collinson' s History of Somersetshire, the first of them now is. Very dark to the Land-Steward, to Collinson, and to us. For the Hungerfords are extinct ; their Name and Family, like their old Mansion, a mouldering ruin, — almost our chief light in regard to it, the Two little bits of Paper, rescued from the old Chest under the Chapel-altar, in that ro- mantic manner! —
There were three Hungerfords in Parliament ; all for Wilt- shire constituencies. Sir Edward, ' Knight of the Bath,' Puri- tan original Member for Chippenham ; Lord of this Mansion of Farley, as we find:26 then Henry, Esq., 'recruiter' for Bed- win since 1646 ; probably a cadet of the House, perhaps heir to it : both these are now ' secluded Members ;' purged away by Pride ; nay it seems Sir Edward was already dead, about the time of Pride's Purge. The third, Anthony Hungerford, original Member for Malmesbury, declared for the King in 1642 ; was of course disabled, cast into the Tower when caught ; — made his composition, by repentance and due fine, 'fine of 2,532/.,' in 1646,27 when the First Civil War ended ; and has lived ever since a quiet repentant man. He is of ' Blackbourton in Oxfordshire,' this Anthony ; but I judge by his Parliamentary connexion and other circumstances, likewise a cadet of the House of Farley. Of him by and by, when we arrive at the next Letter.
For the present, with regard to Sir Edward, lord of the Farley Mansion, we have to report, by tremulous but authentic lights, that he stood true for the Parliament ; had controversies, almost duels, in behalf of it ; among other services, lent it 5oo/. Furthermore, that he is now dead, 'died in 1648 ;' and that his Widow cannot yet get payment of that 5oo/.; that she is yet only struggling to get a Committee to sit upon it.28 One might guess, but nobody can know, that this Note was
28 Collinson (iii. 357 n.) gives his Epitaph copied from the old Chapel ; but is very dark and even self-contradictory in what he says farther.
*? Commons Journals, iv. 565 (sth June 1646) ; ib. iii. 526, &C.
28 Committee got, i8th February 1652-3, 'the Lord General' Cromwell in it (Com- mons yountuis, viL 260): Danger of Duel (ib. ii. 928, 981; iii. 185, January — June 1643). See ib. iv. 161, v. 618, &c.
i65*. LETTER CLXXXV. LONDON. 183
addressed to Henry Hungerford, in reference to that business of Sir Edward's Widow. Or possibly it may be Anthony Hungerford, the repentant Royalist, that is now the ' Elder Hungerford ;' a man with whom the Lord General is not with- out relations ? Unimportant to us, either way. A hasty Note, on some ' business' now unknown, about which an unknown ' gentleman* has been making inquiry and negotiation ; for the answer to which an unknown ' servant' of some ' Mr. Hunger- ford the Elder' is waiting in the hall of Oliver's House, — the Cockpit, I believe, at this date : — in such faintly luminous state, revealing little save its own existence, must this small Document be left.
For my honoured Friend Mr, Hungerford the Elder ^ at his House: These.
SlR, ' London,' 3oth July 1652.
I am very sorry my occasions will not permit me to return29 to you as I would. I have not yet fully spoken with the Gentleman I sent to wait upon you ; when I shall do it, I shall be enabled to be more particular. Being unwilling to detain your servant any longer, — with my service to your Lady and Family, I take my leave, and rest, your affectionate servant, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
It is a sad reflection with my Lord General, in this Hun- gerford and other businesses, that the mere justice of any matter will so little avail a man in Parliament : you can make no way till you have got-up some party on the subject there I30 In fact, red-tape has, to a lamentable extent, tied-up the souls of men in this Parliament of the Commonwealth of England. They are becoming hacks of office ; a savour of Godliness still on their lips, but seemingly not much deeper with some of them. I begin to have a suspicion they are no Parliament ! If the Commonwealth of England had not still her Army Parlia- ment, rigorous devout Council of Officers, men in right life-and- death earnest, who have spent their bluod in this Cause, who
»' reply.
* Cottinson'sHisiory 0SSemersets&ire(Baih, 1791), iiL 3570016. — See Appendix, No. 25.
30 Speech, poster.
1 84 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 30 July
in case of need can assemble and act again, — what would be- come of the Commonwealth of England? Earnest persons, from this quarter and that, make petition to the Lord General and Officers, That they would be pleased to take the matter in hand, and see right done. To which the Lord General and Officers answer always : Wait, be patient ; the Parliament itself will yet do it.
What the ' state of the Gospel in Wales' is, in Wales or elsewhere, I cannot with any accuracy ascertain ; but see well that this Parliament has shown no zeal that way ; has shackled rather, and tied-up with its sorrowful red-tape the movements of men that had any zeal.31 Lamentable enough. The light of the Everlasting Truth was kindled ; and you do not fan the sacred flame, you consider // a thing which may be left to itself! Unhappy : and for what did we fight, then, and wrestle with our souls and our bodies as in strong agony ; besieging Heaven with our prayers and Earth and its Strengths, from Naseby on to Worcester, with our pikes and cannon ? Was it to put an Official Junto of some Threescore Persons into the high saddle in England ; and say, Ride ye ? They would need to be Threescore beautifuler men ! Our blood shed like water, our brethren's bones whitening a hundred fields ; Tredah Storm, Dunbar death-agony, and God's voice from the battle- whirlwind : did they mean no more but you ! — My Lord Gene- ral urges us always to be patient : Patience, the Parliament itself will yet do it. That is what we shall see ! —
On the whole, it must be seriously owned by every reader, this present Fag-end of a Parliament of England has failed altogether to realise the high dream of those old Puritan hearts. 1 Incumbrance,' it appears, cannot in the abstract be defined : but if you would know in the concrete what it is, look there ! The thing we fought for, and gained as if by miracle, it is ours this long while, and yet not ours ; within grasp of us, it lies there unattainable, enchanted under Parliamentary formulas. Enemies are swept away ; extinguished as in the brightness of the Lord : and no Divine Kingdom, and no clear incipiency of such, has yet in any measure come ! — These are sorrowful re- flections.
For, alas, such high dream is difficult to realise ! Not the Stuart Dynasty alone that opposes it ; all the Dynasties of the
n Speech, postea.
i6S». THE RUMP. 185
Devil, the whole perversions of this poor Earth, without us and within us, oppose it. — Yea, answers with a sigh the heart of my Lord General : Yea, it is difficult, and thrice difficult ; — and yet woe to us, if we do not with our whole soul try it, make some clear beginning of it ; if we sit defining 'incumbrances/ instead of bending every muscle to the wheel that is incumbered ! Who art thou that standest still ; that having put-to thy hand, turnest back ? In these years of miracle in England, were there not great things, as if by divine voices, audibly promised? ' The Lord said unto my Lord !' — And is it all to end here ? In Juntos of Threescore ; in Grocers-Hall Committees, in red- tape, and official shakings of the head ? — -
My Lord General, are there no voices, dumb voices from the depths of poor England's heart, that address themselves to you, even you ? My Lord General hears voices ; and would fain distinguish and discriminate them. Which, in all these, is the God's voice ? That were the one to follow. My Lord General, I think, has many meditations, of a very mixed, and some of a very abstruse nature, in these months.
August i$th, 1652. This day came a 'Petition from the Officers of my Lord General's Army,' which a little alarmed us. Petition craving for some real reform of the Law ; some real attempt towards setting-up a Gospel Ministry in England ; real and general ousting of scandalous, incompetent and plainly dia- bolic persons from all offices of Church and State ; real begin- ning, in short, of a Reign of Gospel Truth in this England ; — and for one thing, a swift progress in that most slow-going Bill for a New Representative ; an actual ending of this present Fag-end of a Parliament, which has now sat very long ! So, inmost respectful language, prays this Petition32 of the Officers. Petition prefaced, they say, with earnest prayer to God : that was the preface or prologue they gave it ; — what kind of epi- logue they might be prepared to give it, one does not learn : but the men carry swords at their sides ; and we have known them ! — ' Many thought this kind of Petition dangerous; and 1 counselled my Lord General to put a stop to the like : but he 1 seemed to make light of it,' says Bulstrode. In fact, my Lord General does not disapprove of it : my Lord General, after much abstruse meditation, has decided on putting himself at the head of it. He, and a serious minority in Parliament,
*> Whitlocke, p. 516.
1 86 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. ,4 Sept
and in England at large, think with themselves, once more, If it were not for this Army Parliament, what would become of us ? — Speaker Lenthall ' thanked' these Officers, with a smile which I think must have been of the grimmest, like that pro- duced in certain animals by the act of eating thistles.
September \%th, 1652. The somnolent slow-going Bill for a New Representative, which has slept much, and now and then pretended to move a little, for long years past, is resuscitated by this Petition ; comes out, rubbing its eyes, disposed for de- cided activity ; — and in fact sleeps no more ; cannot think of sleep any more, the noise round it waxing ever louder. Settle how your Representative shall be ; for be it now actually must !
This Bill, which has slept and waked so long, does not sleep again : but, How to settle the conditions of the New Re- presentative ? — there is a question! My Lord General will have good security against 'the Presbyterial Party,' that they come not into power again ; good security against the red-tape Party, that they sit not for three months denning an incum- brance again. How shall we settle the New Representative ; — on the whole, what or how shall we do ? For the old stagnancy is verily broken up : these petitioning Army Officers, with all the earnest armed and unarmed men of England in the rear of them, have verily torn us from our moorings; and we do go adrift, — with questionable havens, on starboard and larboard, very difficult of entrance ; with Mahlstroms and Niagaras very patent right ahead! We are become to mankind a Rump Par- liament ; sit here we cannot much longer ; and we know not what to do !
' During the month of October, some ten or twelve confer- ' ences took place,' — private conferences between the Army Officers and the Leaders of the Parliament : wherein nothing could be agreed upon. Difficult to settle the New Representa- tive ; impossible for this Old Misrepresentative or Rump to continue ! What shall or can be done ? Summon, without popular intervention, by earnest selection on your and our part, a Body of godly wise Men, the Best and Wisest we can find in England ; to them entrust the whole question ; and do you ab- dicate, and depart straightway, say the Officers. Forty good Men, or a Hundred-and-forty ; choose them well, — they will dehne an incumbrance in less than three months, we may hope, and tell us what to do ! Such is the notion ot the Army
t«s*. LETTER CLXXXVI. COCKPIT. t8?
Officers, and my Lord General ; a kind of Puritan ' Conven- tion of the Notables,' so the French would call it; to which the Parliament Party see insuperable objections. What other remedy, then? The Parliament Party mournfully insinuate that there is no remedy, except, — except continuance of the pre- sent Rump !33
November "jth, 1652. 'About this time,' prior or posterior to it, while such conferences and abstruse considerations are in progress, my Lord General, walking once in St. James's Park, beckons the learned Bulstrode, who is also there ; strolls gra- dually aside with him, and begins one of the most important Dialogues. Whereof learned Bulstrode has preserved some record ; which is unfortunately much dimmed by just suspicion of dramaturgy on the part of Bulstrode ; and shall not be excerpted by us here. It tends conspicuously to show,_/frj/, how Cromwell already entertained most alarming notions of 'making oneself a King,' and even wore them pinned on his sleeve, for the inspection of the learned ; and secondly, how Bulstrode, a secret-royalist in the worst of times, advised him by no means to think of that, but to call-in Charles Stuart, — who had an immense popularity among the Powerful in England just then ! ' My Lord General did not in words express any anger, but ' only by looks and carriage ; and turned aside from me to ' other company,' — as this Editor, in quest of certainty and insight, and not of doubt and fat drowsy pedantry, will now also do !
LETTER CLXXXVI.
HERE, from the old Chest of Farley Castle, is the other Hungerford Letter ; and a dim glance into the domesticities again. Anthony Hungerford, as we saw, was the Royalist Hungerford, of Blackbourton in Oxfordshire ; once Member for Malmesbury ; who has been living these six or seven years past in a repentant wholesomely secluded state. ' Cousin Dunch' is young Mrs. Dunch of Pusey, once Ann Mayor of Hursley ; she lives within visiting distance of Blackbourton, when at Pusey; does not forget old neighbours while in Town,
w Speech, postea.
1 88 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 10 Dec.
— and occasionally hears gloomy observations from them. " Your Lord General is become a great man now 1" — From the Answer to which we gather at least one thing : That the 'offer of a very great Proposition' as to Son Richard's marriage, which we once obscurely heard of,34 was, to all appearance, made by this Anthony Hungerford, — perhaps in behalf of his kinsman Sir Edward, who, as he had no Son,35 might have a Daughter that would be a very great Proposition to a young man. Unluckily ' there was not that assurance of Godliness' that seemed to warrant it: ho\rever, the nobleness of the Over- ture is never to be forgotten.
For my honoured Friend Anthony Hungerford^ Esquire: These.
SlR, Cockpit, ioth December 1652.
I understand, by my Cousin Dunch, of so much trouble of yours, and so much unhandsomeness (at least seeming so) on my part, as doth not a little afflict me, until I give you this account of my innocency.
She was pleased to tell my Wife of your often resorts to my house to visit me, and of your disappointments. Truly, Sir, had I but once known of your being there, and " had concealed myself," it had been an action so below a gentleman or an honest man, so full of ingratitude for your civilities I have received from you, as would have rendered me unworthy of human society ! Believe me, Sir, I am much ashamed that the least colour of the appearance of such a thing should have happened ; and * I' could not take satisfaction but by this plain-dealing for my justification, which I ingenuously offer you. And although Providence did not dispose other matters to our mutual satisfaction, yet your nobleness in that Overture obligeth me, and I hope ever shall whilst I live, to study upon all occasions to approve myself your Family's and your most affectionate and humble servant, OLIVER CROMWELE.
44 Antea, voL L p. 872. K Epitaph in Collinsoris SomcrsetsJurt.
,6sa. LETTER CLXXXVII. COCKPIT. {89
My Wife and I desire our service be presented to your Lady and Family.*
LETTER CLXXXVII.
SEEMINGLY belonging to the same neighbourhood is the following altogether domestic Letter to Fleetwood ; which still survives in Autograph ; but has no date whatever, and no in- dication that will enable us to fix its place with perfect exact- ness. Fleetwood's Commission for Ireland is dated loth July 1652 j36 the precise date of his marriage with Bridget Ireton, of his departure for Ireland, or of any ulterior proceedings of his, is not recoverable, in those months. Of Henry Cromwell, too, we know only that he sat in the Little Parliament; and, indisputably therefore, was home from Ireland before summer next. From the total silence as to Public Affairs, in this Letter, it may be inferred that nothing decisive had yet been done or resolved upon ; — that through this strange old Auto- graph, as through a dim Horn-Gate (not of Dreams but of Realities), we are looking into the interior of the Cromwell Lodging, and the Cromwell heart, in the Winter of 1652.
For the Right Honourable Lieutenant-General Fleetwood t Com- mander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland: These.
DEAR CHARLES, ' Cockpit, — 1652.'
I thank you for your loving Letter. The same hopes and desires, upon your planting into my Family, were much the same in me that you express in yours to- wards me. However, the dispensation of the Lord is, to have it otherwise for the present; and therein I desire to acquiesce ; — not being out of hope that it may lie in His good pleasure, in His time, to give us the mutual comfort of our relation : the want whereof He is able abundantly to supply by His own presence; which indeed makes-up all de- fects, and is the comfort of all our comforts and enjoyments.
* Oliver Cromwell's Memoirs of the Protector (•$& edition, Lopdon, 1822), ii. 488! sec Colliiuon's History of Somersetshire. Ui. 357 nof§. » Thurloe, j. 212.
IQO PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. i6S2.
Salute your dear Wife from me. Bid her beware of a bondage spirit.37 Fear is the natural issue of such a spirit ; — • the antidote is Love. The voice of Fear is : If I had done this ; if I had avoided that, how well it had been with me ! — I know this hath been her vain reasoning : ' poor Biddy !'
Love argueth in this wise : What a Christ have I ; what a Father in and through Him ! What a Name hath my Father : Merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in good- ness and truth; forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. What a Nature hath my Father : He is LOVE ; — free in it, unchangeable, infinite ! What a Covenant between Him and Christ, — for all the Seed, for every one : wherein He undertakes all, and the poor Soul nothing. The new Cove- nant is Grace, — to or upon the Soul ; to which it, ' the Soul,' is passive and receptive : /'// do away their sins ; Pll wriU my Law, &c. ; P II put it in their hearts : they shall never de- part from me, &c.38
This commends the Love of God : it's Christ dying for men without strength, for men whilst sinners, whilst enemies. And shall we seek for the root of our comforts within us, — What God hath done, what He is to us in Christ, is the root of our comfort : in this is stability ; in us is weakness. Acts of obedience are not perfect, and therefore yield not perfect Grace. Faith, as an act, yields it not ; but ' only' as it carries us into Him, who is our perfect rest and peace ; in whom we are accounted of, and received by, the Father, — even as Christ Himself. This is our high calling. Rest we here, and here only.89
Commend me to Harry Cromwell : I pray for him. That he may thrive, and improve in the knowledge and love of
37 A Secretary has written hitherto ; the Lore' General now begins, himself, with a new pen.
38 Has been crowding, for the last line or two, very close upon the bottom of the page ; finds now that it will not do ; and takes to the margin.
30 Even so, my noble one ! The noble soul will, one day, again come to imdsr- stand these old words oi yours.
x6sa. THE RUMP. 191
Christ. Commend me to all the Officers. My prayers in- deed are daily for them. Wish them to beware of bitterness of spirit ; and of all things uncomely for the Gospel. The Lord give you abundance of wisdom, and faith and patience. Take heed also of your natural inclination to compliance.
Pray for me. I commit you to the Lord; and rest, your loving father, OLIVER CROMWELL. 40
The Boy and Betty are very well. Show what kindness you well may to Colonel Clayton, to my nephew Gregory, to Claypole's Brother.*
And so the miraculous Horn-Gate, not of Dreams but of Realities and old dim Domesticities, closes again, into totally opaque ; — and we return to matters public.
December 1652 — March 1653. The Dutch War prospers and has prospered, Blake and Monk beating the Dutch in tough seafights ; Delinquents, monthly Assessments, and the lead of Cathedrals furnishing the sinews : the Dutch are about sending Ambassadors to treat of Peace. With home affairs, again, it goes not so well. Through winter, through spring, that Bill for a New Representative goes along in its slow gestation ; re- appearing Wednesday after Wednesday ; painfully struggling to take a shape that shall fit both parties, Parliament Grandees and Army Grandees both at once. A thing difficult ; a thing impossible ! Parliament Grandees, now become a contemptible Rump, wish they could grow into a Reputable Full Parliament again, and have the Government and the Governing Persons go on as they are now doing ; this naturally is their wish. Naturally too the Army Party's wish is the reverse of this : that a Full free Parliament, with safety to the Godly Interests, and due subordination of the Presbyterian and other factions, should assemble ; but also that the present Governing Persons, with their red-tape habits unable to define an incumbrance in
40 Has exhausted the long broad margin ; inverts now, and writes atop.
* Ayscough MSS. no. 4165, f. i. On the inner or blank leaf of this curious old Sheet are neatly pasted two square tiny bits of Paper : on one of them, ' Fairfax' in autograph ; on the other these words, ' God blesse the now Lord Protector ;' and crosswise, ' Marquis Worcester writt it ^—concerning which Marquis, once ' Lord Herbert,' see stntea, p. 126.
192 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. Dec.
three months, should for most part be out of it. Impossible to shape a Bill that will fit both of these Parties : Tom Thumb and the Irish Giant, you cannot, by the art of Parliamentary tailoring, clip-out a coat that will fit them both ! We can fancy •conferences,' considerations deep and almost awful; my Lord General looking forward to possibilities that fill even him with fear. Puritan Notables they will not have ; these present Go- verning men are clear against that : not Puritan Notables ; — and if they themselves, by this new Bill or otherwise, insist on staying there, what is to become of them ?
Dryasdust laments that this invaluable Bill, now in process of gestation, is altogether lost to Posterity ; no copy even of itself, much less any record of the conferences, debates, or con- temporaneous considerations on it, attainable even in fractions by mankind. Much is lost, my erudite friend ; — and we must console ourselves ! The substantial essence of the Bill came out afterwards into full practice, in Oliver's own Parliaments. The present form of the Bill, I do clearly perceive, had one clause, That all the Members of this present Rump should con- tinue to sit without reelection ; and still better, another, That they should be a general Election Committee, and have power to say to every new Member, " Thou art dangerous, thou shalt not enter ; go !" This clearly in the Bill : and not less clearly that the Lord General and Army Party would in no wise have a Bill with this in it, — or indeed have any Bill that was to be the old story over again under a new name. So much, on good evidence, is very clear to me ; — the rest, which is all obliterated, becomes not inconceivable. Cost what it may cost, this Rump Parliament, which has by its conduct abundantly ' defined what an incumbrance is,' shall go about its business. Terrible Voices, supernal and other, have said it, awfully enough, in the hearts of some men ! Neither under its own shabby figure, nor under another more plausible, shall it guide the Divine Mercies and Miraculous Affairs of this Nation any farther.
The last of all the conferences was held at my Lord Gene- ral's house in Whitehall, on Tuesday evening, 1 9th of April 1653. Above twenty leading Members of Parliament present, and many Officers. Conference of which we shall have some passing glimpse, from a sure hand, by and by.41 Conference which came to nothing, as all the others had done. Your Bill,
41 Speech, postea ; see also Whitlocke, p. 529.
t*5i. THE RUMP. 193
with these clauses and visible tendencies in it, cannot pass, says the one party : Your Scheme of Puritan Notables seems full of danger, says the other. What remedy ? " No remedy except, — except that you leave us to sit as we are, for a while yet !" suggest the Official persons. — " In no wise !" answer the Officers, with a vehemence of look and tone, which my Lord General, seemingly anxious to do it, cannot repress. You must not, and cannot sit longer, say the Officers ; — and their look says even, Shall not ! Bulstrode went home to Chelsea, very late, with the tears in his big dull eyes, at thought of the courses men were getting into. Bulstrode and Widdrington were the most eager for sitting ; Chief-Justice St. John, strange thing in a Constitutional gentleman, declared that there could be no sitting for us any longer. We parted, able to settle on nothing, except the engagement to meet here again tomorrow morning, and to leave the Bill asleep till something were settled on. ' A leading person," Sir Harry Vane or another, undertook that nothing should be done in it till then.
Wednesday 2oth April 1653. My Lord General accord- ingly is in his reception-room this morning, ' in plain black clothes and gray worsted stockings ;' he, with many Officers : but few Members have yet come, though punctual Bulstrode and certain others are there. Some waiting there is ; some impatience that the Members would come. The Members do not come : instead of Members, comes a notice that they are busy getting-on with their Bill in the House, hurrying it double- quick through all the stages. Possible ? New message that it will be Law in a little while, if no interposition take place ! Bulstrode hastens off to the House : my Lord General, at first incredulous, does now also hasten off, — nay orders that a Com- pany of Musketeers of his own regiment attend him. Hastens off, with a very high expression of countenance, I think ; — say- ing or feeling : Who would have believed it of them ? " It is not honest ; yea, it is contrary to common honesty !" — My Lord General, the big hour is come !
Young Colonel Sidney, the celebrated Algernon, sat in the House this morning ; a House of some Fifty-three.42 Algernon has left distinct note of the affair ; less distinct we have from Bulstrode, who was also there, who seems in some points to be
« That is Cromwell's number ; Ludlow, far distant, and not credible on this occa- sion, says ' Eighty or a Hundred.'
VOL. III. O
194 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 20 April
even wilfully wrong. Solid Ludlow was far off in Ireland, but gathered many details in after-years ; and faithfully wrote them down, in the unappeasable indignation of his heart. Combin- ing these three originals, we have, after various perusals and collations and considerations, obtained the following authentic, moderately conceivable account i43
' The Parliament sitting as usual, and being in debate upon ' the Bill with the amendments, which it was thought would ' have been passed that day, the Lord General Cromwell came ' into the House, clad in plain black clothes and gray worsted ' stockings, and sat down, as he used to do, in an ordinary ' place.' For some time he listens to this interesting debate on the Bill ; beckoning once to Harrison, who came over to him, and answered dubitatingly. Whereupon the Lord General sat still, for about a quarter of an hour longer. But now the ques- tion being to be put, That this Bill do now pass, he beckons again to Harrison, says, '"This is the time ; I must do it!'" — and so ' rose up, put off his hat, and spake. At the first, and ' for a good while, he spake to the commendation of the Parlia- ' ment for their pains and care of the public good ; but after- ' wards he changed his style, told them of their injustice, delays ' of justice, self-interest, and other faults,' — rising higher and higher, into a very aggravated style indeed. An honourable Member, Sir Peter Wentworth by name, not known to my readers, and by me better known than trusted, rises to order, as we phrase it ; says, "It is a strange language this; unusual within the walls of Parliament this ! And from a trusted servant too ; and one whom we have so highly honoured ; and one" — " ' Come, come !' " exclaims my Lord General in a very high key, "we have had enough of this," — and in tact my Lord General now blazing all up into clear conflagration, exclaims, " ' I will put an end to your prating,' " and steps forth into the floor of the House, and 'clapping-on his hat,' and occasionally ' stamping the floor with his feet,' begins a discourse which no man can report ! He says — Heavens ! he is heard saying : " ' It is not fit that you should sit here any longer !' You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing lately. ' You shall now give place to better men ! — Call them in !' " adds he briefly, to Harrison, in word of command : and ' some
« Blencowe's Sidney Papers (London, 1825). pp. 139-41 ; Whitlocke, p. 519 ; Lud- low, ii. 456; — the last two are reprinted in Partiantntarjr History, xr 128.
i6S3. DISMISSAL OF THE RUMP. 195
twenty or thirty' grim musketeers enter, with bullets in their snaphances ; grimly prompt for orders ; and stand in some attitude of Carry-arms there. Veteran men : men ot might and men of war, their faces are as the faces ot lions, and their feet are swift as the roes upon the mountains ; — not beautiful to honourable gentlemen at this moment !
"You call yourselves a Parliament," continues my Lord General in clear blaze of conflagration : " ' You are no Parlia- ' ment ; I say you are no Parliament ! Some of you are drunk- ' ards," " and his eye flashes on poor Mr. Chaloner, an official man of some value, addicted to the bottle ; " ' some of you
' are ' " and he glares into Harry Marten, and the poor Sir
Peter who rose to order, lewd livers both ; " living in open con- tempt of God's Commandments. Following your own greedy appetites, and the Devil's Commandments. ' Corrupt unjust ' persons,'" and here I think he glanced ' at Sir Bulstrode Whit- ' locke, one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal, giving him 1 and others very sharp language, though he named them not :' " ' Corrupt unjust persons ; scandalous to the profession of the 1 Gospel :' how can you be a Parliament for God's People? De- part, I say ; and let us have done with you. In the name 01 God, — go !"
The House is of course all on its feet, — uncertain almost whether not on its head : such a scene as was never seen before in any House of Commons. History reports with a shudder that my Lord General, lifting the sacred Mace itself, said, " ' What shall we do with this bauble ? Take it away !' " — and gave it to a musketeer. And now, — " Fetch him down ! " says he to Harrison, flashing on the Speaker. Speaker Lenthall, more an ancient Roman than anything else, declares, He will not come till forced. " Sir," said Harrison, " I will lend you a hand ;" on which Speaker Lenthall came down, and gloomily vanished. They all vanished ; flooding gloomily, clamorously out, to their ulterior businesses and respective places of abode : the Long Parliament is dissolved! " ' It's you that have forced me to ' this,' " exclaims my Lord General : " ' I have sought the Lord ' night and day, that He would rather slay me than put me ' upon the doing of this work.' " 'At their going out, some say ' the Lord General said to young Sir Harry Vane, calling him ' by his name, That he might have prevented this ; but that he ' was a juggler, and had not common honesty.' "« ' Oh, Si:
iq6 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 23 April
Hariy Vane,' thou with thy subtle casuistries and abstruse hair- splittings, thou art other than a good one, I think ! ' The Lord ' deliver me from thee, Sir Harry Vane !' " ' All being gone ' out, the door of the House was locked, and the Key with the ' Mace, as I heard, was carried away by Colonel Otley ;' — and it is all over, and the unspeakable Catastrophe has come, and remains.
Such was the destructive wrath of my Lord General Crom- well against the Nominal Rump Parliament of England. Wrath which innumerable mortals since have accounted extremely dia- bolic ; which some now begin to account partly divine. Divine or diabolic, it is an indisputable fact ; left for the commentaries of men. The Rump Parliament has gone its ways ; — and truly, except it be in their own, I know not in what eyes are tears at their departure. They went very softly, softly as a Dream, say all witnesses. " We did not hear a dog bark at their going !" asserts my Lord General elsewhere.
It is said, my Lord General did not, on his entrance into the House, contemplate quite as a certainty this strong mea- sure ; but it came upon him like an irresistible impulse, or in- spiration, as he heard their Parliamentary eloquence proceed. " Perceiving the spirit of God so strong upon me, I would no longer consult flesh and blood."44 He has done it, at all events ; and is responsible for the results it may have. A responsibility which he, as well as most of us, knows to be awful : but he fancies it was in answer to the English Nation, and to the Maker of the English Nation and of him ; and he will do the best he may with it.
LETTER CLXXXVIII.
WE have to add here an Official Letter, of small significance in itself, but curious for its date, the Saturday after this great Transaction, and for the other indications it gives. Except the Lord General, ' Commander-in-Chief of all the Forces raised and to be raised,' there is for the moment no Authority very clearly on foot in England ; — though Judges, and all manner of Authorities whatsoever do, after some little preliminary parley- ing, consent to go on as before.
44 Godwin, iu. 456 (who cites Echard ; not mu^h of an authority in such matters).
Ei$,. LETTER CLXXXVIII. WHITEHALL. 197
The Draining of the Fens had been resumed under better auspices when the War ended ;45 and a new Company of Ad- venturers, among whom Oliver himself is one, are vigorously proceeding with a New Bedford Level, — the same that yet con- tinues. A ' Petition* of theirs, addressed ' To the Lord General,' in these hasty hours, sets forth that upon the ' 2oth of this in- stant April' (exactly while Oliver was turning out the Parlia- ment), 'about a Hundred-and-fifty persons,' from the Towns of Swaffham and Botsham, — which Towns had petitioned about certain rights of theirs, and got clear promise of redress in fit time, — did ' tumultuously assemble,' to seek redress for them- selves ; did ' by force expel your Petitioners' workmen from 1 their diking and working in the said Fens ;' did tumble-in again ' the dikes by them made ;' and in fine did peremptorily signify that if they or any other came again to dike in these Fens, it would be worse for them. ' The evil effects of which' — are very apparent indeed. Whereupon this Official Letter, or Warrant; written doubtless in the press of much other business.
* To Mr. Parker, Agent for the Company of Adventurers for Draining the Great Level of the Fens!
MR. PARKER, ' Whitehall,1 23d April 1653.
I hear some unruly persons have lately com- mitted great outrages in Cambridgeshire, about Swaffham and Botsham, in throwing-down the works making by the Adventurers, and menacing those they employ thereabout. Wherefore I desire you to send one of my Troops, with a Captain, who may by all means persuade the people to quiet, by letting them know, They must not riotously do anything, for that must not be suffered : but ' that' if there be any wrong done by the Adventurers, — upon complaint, such course shall be taken as appertains to justice, and right will be done. I rest, your loving friend,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
45 Act for that object (Scobell, ii. 33), zgth May 1649.
* From the Records of the Fen Office, in Sergeants' Inn, London ; communicated^ w!{h other Papers relating thereto, by Samuel Wells, Esq.
198 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 6 Juno
The Declaration of the Lord General and his Council of Officers^ which came out on the Friday following the grand Catastrophe, does not seem to be of Oliver's composition : it is a Narrative of calm pious ton.e, of considerable length ; pro- mises, as a second Declaration still more explicitly does,4? a Real Assembly of the Puritan Notables ; — and, on the whole, can be imagined by the reader ; nay we shall hear the entire substance of it from Oliver's own mouth, before long. These Declarations and other details we omit. Conceive that all manner of Authorities, with or without some little preambling, agree to go on as heretofore ; that adherences arrive from Land- Generals and Sea -Generals by return of post; that the old Council of State having vanished with its Mother, a new In- terim Council of State, with ' Oliver Cromwell, Captain Gene- ral," at the head of it, answers equally well ; in a word, that all people are looking eagerly forward to those same ' Known Persons, Men fearing God, and of approved Integrity," who are now to be got together from all quarters of England, to say what shall be done with this Commonwealth, — whom there is now no Fag-end of a corrupt Parliament to prevent just men from choosing with their best ability. Conceive all this ; and read the following
SUMMONS. To
FORASMUCH as, upon the dissolution of the late Parlia- ment, it became necessary that the peace, safety and good government of this Commonwealth should be provided for : And in order thereunto, divers Persons fearing God, and of approved Fidelity and Honesty, are, by myself with the advice of my Council of Officers, nominated ; to whom the great charge and trust of so weighty affairs is to be com- mitted : And having good assurance of your love to, and courage for, God and the interest of His Cause, and ' that' of the good People of this Commonwealth :
I, Oliver Cromwell, Captain General and Commander-m-
46 32d April, Cromwelliana, p. 120. « joth April, ibid p. iaa.
1653. SPEECH I. 199
chief of all the Armies and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth, do hereby summon and require You, , being one ot the Persons nominated, — Per- sonally to be and appear at the Council- Chamber, commonly known or called by the name of the Council-Chamber at Whitehall^ within the City of Westminster, upon the Fourth day of July next ensuing the date hereof; Then and there to take upon you the said Trust; unto which you are hereby called, and appointed to serve as a Member for the County
of . And hereof you are not to fail.
Given under my hand and seal the 6th day of June 1653. OLIVER CROMWELL.*
SPEECH FIRST.
A HUNDRED-AND-FORTY of these Summonses were issued ; and all of the Parties so summoned, ' only two' did not attend. Disconsolate Bulstrode says, ' Many of this Assembly being ' persons of fortune and knowledge, it was much wondered-at ' by some that they would, at this Summons, and from such ' hands, take upon them the Supreme Authority of this Nation: ' considering how little right Cromwell and his Officers had to ' give it, or those Gentlemen to take it.'1 My disconsolate friend, it is a sign that Puritan England in general accepts this action of Cromwell and his Officers, and thanks them for it, in such a case of extremity ; saying as audibly as the means permitted : Yea, we did wish it so ! Rather mournful to the disconsolate official mind ! — Lord Clarendon again, writing with much latitude, has characterised this Convention as containing in it ' divers Gentlemen who had estates, and such a proportion of credit' in the world as might give some colour to the busi- ness ; but consisting, on the whole, of a very miserable beggarly sort of persons, acquainted with nothing but the art of praying ; 'artificers of the meanest trades,' if they even had any trade:
* Newspapers (in Cromwellioma, p. 125). ' Whitlocke, p. 534.
200 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
— all which the reader shall, if he please, add to the general guano-mountains, and pass on not regarding.
The undeniable fact is, these men were, as Whitlocke in- timates, a quite reputable Assembly ; got together by anxious ' consultation of the godly Clergy' and chief Puritan lights in their respective Counties ; not without much earnest revision, and solemn consideration in all kinds, on the part of men ade- quate enough for such a work, and desirous enough to do it well. The List of the Assembly exists ;2 not yet entirely gone dark for mankind. A fair proportion of them still recognisable to mankind. Acti al Peers one or two : founders of Peerage Families two or tr. ree, which still exist among us, — Colonel Edward Montague, Colonel Charles Howard, Anthony Ashley Cooper. And, bettei than King's Peers, certain Peers of Nature; whom if not the King and his pasteboard Norroys have had the luck to make Peers of, the living heart of England has since raised to the Peerage, and means to keep there, — Colonel Robert Blake the Sea-King, for one. ' Known persons,' I do think ; ' of approved integrity, men fearing God;' and perhaps not entirely destitute of sense any one of them! Truly it seems rather a distinguished Parliament, — even though Mr. Praisegod Barbone, ' the Leather-merchant in Fleet-street,' be, as all mor- tals must admit, a member of it. The fault, I hope, is forgiv- able ! Praisegod, though he deals in leather, and has a name which can be misspelt, one discerns to be the son of pious parents ; to be himself a. man of piety, of understanding and weight, — and even of considerable private capital, my witty flunky friends ! We will leave Praisegod to do the best he can, I think. — And old Francis Rouse is there from Devonshire ; once member for Truro ; Provost of Eton College ; whom by and by they make Speaker ; — whose Psalms the Northern Kirks still sing. Richard Mayor of Hursley is there, and even idle Dick Norton ; Alexander Jaffray of Aberdeen, Laird Swinton of the College of Justice in Edinburgh ; Alderman Ireton, bro- ther of the late Lord Deputy, colleague of Praisegod in London. In fact, a real Assembly of the Notables in Puritan England ; a Parliament, Parliamenlum, or real Speaking-Apparatus for the now dominant Interest in England, as exact as could well be got, — much more exact, I suppose, than any ballot-box, free hustings or ale-barrel election usually yields.
* Somers Tracts, L 216.
ifss- bPEECH I. toi
Such is the Assembly called the Little Parliament, and wittily Bareboness Parliament; which meets on the 4th of July. Their witty name survives ; but their history is gone all dark ; and no man, for the present, has in his head or in his heart the faintest intimation of what they did, or what they aimed to do. They are very dark to us ; and will never be illuminated much ! Here is one glance of them face to face ; here in this Speech of Oliver's, — if we can read it, and listen along with them to it. There is this one glance ; and for six generations, we may say, in the English mind there has not been another.
Listening from a distance of two Centuries, across the Death-chasms and howling kingdoms of Decay, it is not easy to catch everything ! But let us faithfully do the best we can. Having once packed Dryasdust, and his unedifying cries of " Nonsense ! Mere hypocrisy ! Ambitious dupery !" &c. &c., about his business ; closed him safe under hatches, and got silence established, — we shall perhaps hear a word or two ; have a real glimpse or two of things long vanished ; and see for moments this fabulous Barebones's Parliament itself, stand- ing dim in the heart of the extinct Centuries, as a recognis- able fact, once flesh and blood, now air and memory ; not untragical to us !
Read this first, from the old Newspapers ; and then the Speech itself, which a laborious Editor has, with all industry, copied and corrected from Two Contemporaneous Reports by different hands, and various editions of these. Note, howevei : The Italic sentences in brackets, most part of which, and yet perhaps not enough of which I have suppressed, are evidently by an altogether modern hand !
1 July Afth, 1653. This being the day appointed, by the ' Letters of Summons from his Excellency the Lord General, ' for the meeting of the Persons called to the Supreme Authority, ' there came about a Hundred-and-twenty of them to the Coun- ' cil-Chamber in Whitehall. After each person had given-in a ' Ticket of his Name, they all entered the room, and sat down ' in chairs appointed for them, round about the table. Then ' his Excellency the Lord General, standing by the window 1 opposite to the middle of the table, and as many of the Offi- ' cers of the Army as the room could well contain, some on his ' right hand, and others on his left, and about him, — made the « following Speech to the Assembly :'
io2 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 jul,
GENTLEMEN,
I suppose the Summons that hath been instrumental to bring you hither gives you well to under- stand the occasion of your being here. Howbeit, I have something farther to impart to you, which is an Instrument drawn-up by the consent and advice of the principal Officers of the Army ; which is a little (as we conceive) more signi- ficant than the Letter of the Summons. We have that here to tender you; and somewhat likewise to say farther for our own exoneration;3 which we hope may be somewhat farther for your satisfaction. And withal seeing you sit here somewhat uneasily by reason of the scantness of the room and heat of the weather, I shall contract myself with respect thereunto.
We have not thought it amiss a little to remind you of that Series of Providences wherein the Lord hath appeared, dispensing wonderful things to these Nations from the be- ginning of our Troubles to this very day.
If I should look much backward, we might remind you of the state of affairs as they were before the Short, that is the last, Parliament, — in what posture the things of this Nation then stood : but they do so well, I presume, occur to all your memories and knowledge, that I shall not need to look so far backward. Nor yet to those hostile occasions which arose between the King that was and the Parliament4 that then followed. And indeed, should I begin much later, the things that would fall very necessarily before you, would rather be for a History than for a verbal Discourse at this present
But thus far we may look back. You very well know, it pleased God, much about the midst of this War, to win-
3 ' exoneration" does not here mean 'excuse' or ' shifting-away ofblaone,' but men laying-down of office with due form. •* The Long Parliament.
i6S3. SPEECH I. 203
now (if I may so say) the Forces of this Nation ;5 and to put them into the hands of other men of other principles than those that did engage at the first By what ways and means that was brought about, would ask more time than is allotted me to mind you of it. Indeed, there are Stories that do recite those Transactions, and give you narratives of matters of fact : but those things wherein the life and power of them lay; those strange windings and turnings of Providence ; those very great appearances of God, in crossing and thwarting the purposes of men, that He might raise up a poor and contemptible company of men,e neither versed in military affairs, nor having much natural propen- sity to them, ' into wonderful success — !' Simply by their owning a Principle of Godliness and Religion ; which so soon as it came to be owned, and the state of affairs put upon the foot of that account,7 how God blessed them, furthering all undertakings, yet using the most improbable and the most comtemptible and despicable means (for that we shall ever own) : is very well known to you.
What the several Successes and Issues have been, is not fit to mention at this time neither ; — though I confess I thought to have enlarged myself upon that subject; foras- much as Considering the works of God, and the operations of His hands, is a principal part of our duty ; and a great encouragement to the strengthening of our hands and of our faith, for that which is behind.8 And among other ends which those marvellous Dispensations have been given us for, that's a principal end, which ought to be minded by us.
' Certainly' in this revolution of affairs, as the issue of those Successes which God was pleased to give to the Army, and 'to' the Authority that then stood, there were very
5 Self-denying Ordinance ; beginning of 1645 : see voL L p. 173 et seq.
6 Fairfax's Army. 7 upon that footing. 8 still to come.
so* FART VII. TRHE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
great things brought about; — besides those dints that came upon the Nations9 and places where the War itself was, very great things in Civil matters too. ' As first,' the bringing of Offenders to justice, — and the Greatest of them. Bring- ing of the State of this Government to the name (at least) of a Commonwealth. Searching and sifting of all persons and places. The King removed, and brought to justice; and many great ones with him. The House of Peers laid aside. The House of Commons itself, the representative of the People of England, winnowed, sifted, and brought to a handful ; as you very well remember.
And truly God would not rest there : — for, by the way, although it's fit for us to ascribe10 our failings and miscar- riages to ourselves, yet the gloriousness of the work may well be attributed to God Himself, and may be called His strange work. You remember well that at the Change of the Government there was not an end of our Troubles, [Nof] — although in that year were such high things transacted as indeed made it to be the most memorable year (I mean the Year 1648) that this Nation ever saw. So many Insur- rections,11 Invasions, secret Designs, open and public At- tempts, all quashed in so short a time, and this by the very signal appearance of God Himself; which, I hope, we shall never forget ! — You know also, as I said before, that, as the first effect of that memorable year of 1648 was to lay a foun- dation, by bringing Offenders to Punishment, so it brought us likewise to the Change of Government : — although it were worth the time ' perhaps, if one had time,' to speak of the carriage of some in places of trust, in most eminent places of trust, which was such as (had not God miracu- lously appeared) would have frustrated us of the hopes of all our undertakings. I mean by the closure of the Treaty
9 England, Ireland, Scotland. 10 ' intitle' in orig.
" Kent, St. Neot's, Colchester, Welsh Poyer at Pembroke, Scotch Hamilton at Preston, &c. &c,
x653. SPEECH I. 205
that was endeavoured with the King ;12 whereby they would have put into his hands all that we had engaged for, and all our security should have been a little piece of Paper ! That thing going off, you very well know how it kept this Nation still in broils by sea and land. And yet what God wrought in Ireland and Scotland you likewise know ; until He had finished these Troubles, upon the matter,18 by His marvellous salvation wrought at Worcester.
I confess to you, that I am very much troubled in my own spirit that the necessity of affairs requires I should be so short in those things : because, as I told you, this is the leanest part of the Transactions, this mere historical Narra- tive of them ; there being in every particular \ in the King's first going from the Parliament, in the pulling-down of the Bishops, the House of Peers, in every step towards that Change of the Government, — I say there is not any one of these things, thus removed and reformed, but hath an evi- dent print of Providence set upon it, so that he who runs may read it. I am sorry I have not an opportunity to be more particular on these points, which I principally designed, this day ; thereby to stir-up your hearts and mine to grati- tude and confidence.
I shall now begin a little to remind you of the passages that have been transacted since Worcester. Coming from whence, with the rest of my fellow Officers and Soldiers, we did expect, and had some reasonable confidence our expec- tations would not be frustrated, That, having such an history to look back unto, such a God, so eminently visible, even our enemies confessing that " God Himself was certainly " engaged against them, else they should never have been " disappointed in every engagement," — and that may be used
'2 Treaty of the Isle of Wight, again and again endeavoured. !3 Means ' so to speak ;' a common phrase of those times ; a perpetual one with Clarendon, for instance.
206 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4july
by the way, That if we had but miscarried in the least,14 all our former mercies were in danger to be lost : — I say, coming up then, we had some confidence That the mercies God had shown, and the expectations which were upon our hearts, and upon the hearts of all good men, would have prompted those who were in Authority to do those good things which might, by honest men, have been judged fit for such a God, and worthy of such mercies; and indeed been a discharge of duty from those to whom all these mercies had been shown, for the true interest of this Nation! [ Yes /] — If I should now labour to be particular in enumer- ating how businesses have been transacted from that time to the Dissolution of the late Parliament, indeed I should be upon a theme which would be troublesome to myself. For I think I may say for myself and my fellow Officers, That we have rather desired and studied Healing and Looking- forward than to rake into sores and to look backward, — to give things forth in those colours that would not be very pleasing to any good eye to look upon. Only this we shall say for our own vindication, as pointing out the ground for that unavoidable necessity, nay even that duty that was in- cumbent upon us, to make this last great Change — I think it will not be amiss to offer a word or two to that. \Ifear, hear f\ As I said before, we are loath to rake into busi- nesses, were there not a necessity so to do.
Indeed, we may say that, ever since the coming-up of myself and those Gentlemen who have been engaged in the military part, it hath been full in our hearts and thoughts, To desire and use all the fair and lawful means we could to have the Nation reap the fruit of all the blood and treasure that had been spent in this Cause : and we have had many desires, and thirstings in our spirits, to find out ways and means wherein we might be anywise instrumental to help it
14 lost one battle of these many.
tea. SPEECH I. 207
forward. We were very tender, for a long time, so much as to petition. For some of the Officers being Members; and others having very good acquaintance v/ith, and some rela- tions to, divers Members of Parliament, — we did, from time to time, solicit such ; thinking if there had been nobody to prompt them, nor call upon them, these things might have been attended to, from ingenuity15 and integrity in those that had it in their power to answer such expectations.
Truly, when we saw nothing would be done, we did, as we thought according to our duty, a little, to remind them by a Petition ; which I suppose you have seen : it was delivered, as I remember, in August last.16 What effect that had, is likewise very well known. The truth is, we had no return at all for our satisfaction, — a few words given us; the things presented by us, or the most of them, we were told " were under consideration :" and those not presented by us had very little or no consideration at all. Finding the People dissatisfied in every corner of the Nation, and ' all men' laying at our doors the non-performance of these things, which had been promised, and were of duty to be performed, — truly we did then think ourselves concerned, if we would (as becomes honest men) keep-up the reputa- tion of honest men in the world. And therefore we, divers times, endeavoured to obtain meetings with divers Mem- bers of Parliament ; — and we did not begin those till about October last. And in these meetings we did, with all faithfulness and sincerity, beseech them that they would be mindfvl of their duty to God and men, in the discharge of the trust reposed in them. I believe (as there are many gentle- men here know), we had at least ten or twelve meetings ; most humbly begging and beseeching of them, That by their own means they would bring forth those good things
14 ingenuousness.
16 Antea, p. 185 ; Commons Je*rnaitt rii. 164 (i3th August 1652).
208 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
which had been promised and expected ; that so it might appear they did not do them by any suggestion from the Army, but from their own ingenuity : so tender were we to preserve them in the reputation of the People. Having had very many of those meetings ; and declaring plainly that the issue would be the displeasure and judgment of God, the dissatisfaction of the People, the putting of ' all' things into a confusion : yet how little we prevailed, we very well know, and we believe it's not unknown to you.
At last, when indeed we saw that things would not be laid to heart, we had a very serious consideration among ourselves what other ways to have recourse unto [ Yea, that is the question /] ; and when we grew to more closer consi- derations, then they ' the Parliament men' began to take the Act for a Representative17 to heart, and seemed exceeding willing to put it on. And had it been done with integrity, there could nothing have happened more welcome to our judgments than that. But plainly the intention was, Not to give the People a right of choice ; it would have been but a seeming right : that ' semblance' of giving them a choice was only to recruit the House, the better to per- petuate themselves. And truly, having been, divers of us, spoken unto to give way hereunto, to which we made per- petual aversions, indeed abominating the thoughts of it, — we declared our judgments against it, and our dissatisfac- tion with it. And yet they that would not hear of a Re- presentative formerly, when it lay three years befor? .hem, without proceeding one line, or making any considerable progress, — I say, those that would not hear of this Bill for- merly, did now, when they saw us falling into more closer considerations, make, instead of protracting their Bill, ks much preposterous haste with it on the other side, and run into that ' opposite' extremity.
17 For a New Parliament and Method of Election.
I6s3> SPEECH I. 209
Finding that this spirit was not according to God j and that the whole weight of this Cause, — which must needs be very dear unto us who had so often adventured our lives for it, and we believe it was so to you, — did hang upon the business now in hand; and seeing plainly that there was not here any consideration to assert this Cause, or provide security for it, but only to cross the troublesome people of the Army, who by this time were high enough in their dis- pleasures : Truly, I say, when we saw all this, having power in our hands, ' we could not resolve' to let such monstrous proceedings go on, and so to throw away all our liberties into the hands of those whom we had fought against {Pres- byterian-Royalists; at Preston and elsewhere, — ' ^ fought against? yea and beaten to ruin, your Excellency might add!\ ; we came, first, to this conclusion among ourselves, That if we had been fought out of our liberties and rights, Necessity would have taught us patience; but that to deliver them 'sluggishly' up would render us the basest persons in the world, and worthy to be accounted haters of God and of His People. When it pleased God to lay this close to our hearts ; and indeed to show us that the interest of His People was grown cheap, ' that it was' not at all laid to heart, but that if things came to real competition, His Cause, even among themselves, would also in every point go to the ground : indeed, this did add more considerations to us, That there was a duty in- cumbent upon us, ' even upon us.' And, — I speak here in the presence of some that were at the closure of our consul- tations, and as before the Lord, — the thinking of an act of violence was to us worse than any battle that ever we were in, or that could be, to the utmost hazard of our lives [Hear him /] : so willing were we, even very tender and desirous, if possible, that these men might quit their places with hon- our.
I am the longer upon this ; because it hath been in our
VOL. III. P
210 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 T..I-
own hearts and consciences, justifying us, and hath never been yet thoroughly imparted to any ; and we had rather begin with you than have done it before; — and do think indeed that this Transaction is more proper for a verbal communication than to have it put into writing. I doubt, he whose pen is most gentle in England would, in recording that, have been tempted, whether he would or no, to dip it deep in anger and wrath. \Stifled cries from Dryasdust^ — But affairs being at this posture ; we seeing plainly, even in some critical cases,18 that the Cause of the People of God was a despised thing ; — truly we did believe then that the hands of other men ' than these' must be the hands to be used for the work. And we thought then, it was very high time to look about us, and to be^ensible of our duty. [ Oliver's voice somewhat rising; Major-General Harrison and the others looking rather animated /]
If, I say, I should take-up your time to tell you what instances we have to satisfy our judgments and consciences, That these are not vain imaginations, nor things fictitious, but which fell within the compass of our own certain know- ledge, it would bring me, I say, to what I would avoid, to rake-into these things too much. Only this. If anybody was in competition for any place of real and signal trust, ' if any really public interest was at stake in that Parlia- * ment,' how hard and difficult a matter was it to get any- thing carried without making parties, — without practices18 indeed unworthy of a Parliament ! When things must be carried so in a Supreme Authority, indeed I think it is not as it ought to be, to say no worse \_Nor do /] ! — Then, when we came to other trials, as in that case of Wales, ' of esta- blishing a Preaching Ministry in Wales,' which, I must con- •fecs for my own part, I set myself upon, — if I should relate wnat discountenance that business ot the poor People of
w * tilings'
ifiss. SPEECH I. ±ti
God there had (who had men19 watching over them like so many wolves, ready to catch the lambs so soon as they were brought forth into the world); how signally that Business was trodden under foot ' in Parliament,' to the discountenancing of the Honest People, and the countenancing of the Malignant Party, of this Commonwealth — ! I need but say it was so. For many of you know, and by sad experience have felt it to be so. And somebody I hope will, at leisure, better impart to you the state of that Business ' of Wales ;' which really, to myself and Officers, was as plain a trial of their spirits, ' the Parliament's spirits,' as anything, — it being known to many of us that God had kindled a seed there,20 indeed hardly to be paralleled since the Primitive time. —
I would these ha*d been all the instances we had ! Find- ing, ' however,' which way the spirits of men went, finding that good was never intended to the People of God, — I mean, when I say the People of God, I mean the large comprehension of them, under the several Forms of God- liness in this Nation; — finding, I say, that all tenderness was forgotten to the Good People (though it was by their hands and their means, under the blessing of God, that those sat where they did), — we thought this very bad re- quital ! I will not say, they were come to an utter in- ability of working Reformation, — though I might say so in regard to one thing : the Reformation of the Law, so much groaned under in the posture it now is in. \Hear, hear /] That was a thing we had many good words spoken for ; but we know that many months together were not enough for the settling of one word, " Incumbrances" \Three calendar months! A grim smile on some faces], — I say, finding that this was the spirit and complexion of men, — although these were faults for which no man should lift-up his hand
19 Clergymen so-called.
20 Expression then correct enough : ' kindle' = kinaeln (German), meaniii£ '^iv« Dirth to,' ' create.' Occurs in ShaVspeare more than once.
212 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
against the Superior Magistrate ; not simply for these faults and failings, — yet when we saw that this ' New Representa- tive of theirs' was meant to perpetuate men of such spirits ; nay when we had it from their own mouths, That they could not endure to hear of the Dissolution of this Parliament : we thought this an high breach of trust. If they had been a Parliament never violence was upon,20 sitting as free and clear as any in former ages, it was thought, this, to be a breach of trust, such as a greater could not be.
And that we might not be in doubt about these matters ; having had that Conference among ourselves which I gave you an account of, we did desire one more, — and indeed it was the night before the Dissolution ; it had been desired two or three nights before : we did desire that we might speak with some of the principal persons of the House. That we might with ingenuity open our hearts to them ; that we might either be convinced of the certainty of their inten- tions ; or else that they would be pleased to hear our ex- pedients to prevent these inconveniences. And indeed we could not attain our desire till the night before the Disso- lution. There is a touch of this in our Declaration.21 As I said before, at that time we had often desired it, and at that time we obtained it : where about Twenty of them were, none of the least in consideration for their interest and ability; with whom we desired some discourse upon these things ; and had it. And it pleased these Gentlemen, who are here, the Officers of the Army, to desire me to offer their sense for them, which I did, and it was shortly thus : We told them " the reason of our desire to wait upon them " now was, that we might know from them, What security " lay in their manner of proceeding, so hastened, for a New " Representative ; wherein they had made a few qualifica-
* Had no Pride's Purge, Apprentice-riot, or the like, ever come upon thftiA. " Of April 22d ; referred to, not given, at f 108.
i6S3. SPEECH I. 213
" tions, such as they were : and How the whole business " would, ' in actual practice,' be executed : Of which we " had as yet no account ; and yet we had our interest, our " lives, estates and families therein concerned ; and, we " thought likewise, the Honest People had interest in us : " ' How all this was to be ?' That so, if it did seem they " meant to appear in such honest and just ways as might " be security to the Honest Interest, we might therein acqui- " esce : or else that they would hear what we had to offer." Indeed, when this desire was made, the answer was, " That " nothing would do good for this Nation but the continu- " ance of this Parliament !" We wondered we should have such a return. We said little to that : but, seeing they would not give us satisfaction that their ways were honour- able and just, we craved their leave to make our objections. We then told them, That the way they were going in would be impracticable. ' That' we could not tell how to send out an Act with such qualifications as to be a rule for elect- ing and for being elected, Until we first knew who the per- sons were that should be admitted to elect. And above all, Whether any of the qualifications reached ' so far as to include' the Presbyterian Party.22 And we were bold to tell them, That none of that judgment who had deserted this Cause and Interest23 should have any power therein. We did think we should profess it, That we had as good deliver up our Cause into the hands of any as into the hands of those who had deserted us, or who were as neu- ters ! For it's one thing to love a brother, to bear with and love a person of different judgment in matters of religion ; and another thing to have anybody so far set in the saddle on that account, as to have all the rest of his brethren at mercy.
25 ' Presbytery" in orig,
* None of your Royalists, Hamilton-Invasion Presbyterians.
214 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
Truly, Gentlemen, having this discourse concerning the impracticableness of the thing, the bringing-in of neuters, and such as had deserted this Cause, whom we very well knew ; objecting likewise how dangerous it would be by drawing concourses of people in the several Counties (every person that was within the qualification or without); and how it did fall obvious to us that the power would come into the hands of men who had very little affection to this Cause : the answer again was made, and that by very emi- nent persons, " That nothing would save the Nation but the continuance of this Parliament." This being so, we humbly proposed, — since neither our counsels, our objec- tions to their way of proceeding, nor their answers to justify that, did give us satisfaction ; nor did we think they ever intended to give us any, which indeed some of them have since declared ' to be the fact,' — we proposed to them, I say, our expedient ; which was indeed this : That the Go- vernment of the Nation being in such a condition as we saw, and things ' being' under so much ill sense abroad, and likely to end in confusion 'if we so proceeded,' — we desired they would devolve the trust over to some Well-affected Men, such as had an interest in the Nation, and were known to be of good affection to the Commonwealth. Which, we told them, was no new thing when this Land was under the like hurlyburlies. And we had been labouring to get pre- cedents ' out of History' to convince thepi of it ; and it was confessed by them it had been no new thing. This ex- pedient we offered out of the deep sense we had of the Cause of Christ ; and were answered so as I told you, That nothing would save this Nation but the continuance of that Parliament. ' The continuance :' they would not ' be brought to' say the perpetuating of it, at this time ; yet we found their endeavours did directly tend that way; they gave us this answer, "That the thing we offered was of a very high
i6S3. SPEECH I. 215
" nature and of tender consideration : How would money " be raised?" — and made some other objections. We told them 'how;' and that we here offered an expedient five times better than that ' oi theirs,' for which no reason was given, nor we thought could be given [ Why should the Fag- end of this poor old Parliament, now fallen impotent except to raise money for itself y continue ? No reason is given, nor we think can be, that will convince mankind] ; — and desired them that they would lay things seriously to heart ! They told us, They would take time for the consideration of these things till tomorrow ; they would sleep upon them, and con- sult some friends ; ' some friends,' — though, as I said, there were about Twenty-three 'of them here,' and not above Fifty-three in the House. And at parting, two or three of the chief of them, one of the chief [O, Sir Harry Vanef\y and two or three more, did tell us, That they would endea- vour to suspend farther proceedings about their Bill for a New Representative until they had another conference with us. And upon this we had great satisfaction; and had hope, if our expedient could receive a loving debate, that the next day we should have some such istaie thereof as would give satisfaction to all.24 And herewith they went away, * it' being late at night.
The next morning, we considering how to order what we had farther to offer to them in the evening, word was brought us that the House was proceeding with all speed upon the New Representative ! We could not believe it, that such persons would be so unworthy ; we remained there till a second and third messenger came, with tidings That the House was really upon that business, and had brought it near to the issue, — and with that height25 as was never before exercised ; leaving out all things relating to the due exercise of the qualifications (which had appeared all along
24 ' hoping by conference to have satisfaction to all' in origf. 85 violence, height of temper.
216 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
' in it till now') ; and ' meaning,' as we heard, to pass it only on paper, without engrossing, for the quicker despatch of it. — Thus, as we apprehend, would the Liberties of the Nation have been thrown away into the hands of those who had never fought for it. And upon this we thought it our duty not to suffer it. [No /] — And upon this the House was dissolved, even when the Speaker was going to put the last question. [Lei HIM travel, at any rate!']
I have too much troubled you with this : but we have made this relation, that you might know that what hath been done in the Dissolution of the Parliament was as necessary to be done as the preservation of this Cause. And the necessity which led us to do that, hath brought us to this 'present' issue, Of exercising an extraordinary way and course to draw You together ' here ;' upon this account, that you are men who know the Lord, and have made observations of His marvellous Dispensations; and may be trusted, as far as men may be trusted, with this Cause.
It remains now for me to acquaint you ' a little' farther with what relates to your taking upon you this great Busi- ness. ' But indeed' that is contained in the Paper26 here in my hand, which will be offered presently to you to read.27 But having done that, we have done [Dissolving of the Par- liament; which cannot be repented of, and need not be boasted of 7] upon such ground of necessity as we have * now' de- clared, which was not a feigned necessity but a real, — ' it did behove us,' to the end we might manifest to the world the singleness of our hearts and our integrity who did these
26 An Indenture or Instrument of Government, some account of which can be found, if any one is curious about it, in Parliamentary History, xx. 175.
27 Considerable discrepancies in the Two Reports throughout this paragraph ; in- dicating some embarrassment and intricacy in the Speaker. Which with our best •ndustry we endeavour to reconcile ; to elicit from them what the real utterance, or thought and attempted utterance,, of the Speaker may have been. The two Reporters oemg faithful according to their ability, and the Speaker faithful according to his, all discrepancies ought to dissolve their.se) ves in clearer insight and conviction; as we oope they do.
,6J3. SPEECH I. 217
things, Not to grasp at the power ourselves, or keep it in military hands, no not for a day; but, as far as God enabled us with strength and ability, to put it into the hands of Proper Persons that might be called from the several parts of the Nation. This necessity ; and I hope we may say for ourselves, this integrity of concluding to divest the Sword of all power in the Civil Administration, — hath been that that hath moved us to put You to this trouble ' of coming hither :' and having done that, truly we think we cannot, with the discharge of our own consciences, but offer some- what to you on the devolving of the burden on your shoul- ders.28 It hath been the practice of others who have, volun- tarily and out of a sense of duty, divested themselves, and devolved the Government into new hands; I say, it hath been the practice of those that have done so ; it hath been practised, and is very consonant to reason, To lay ' down,' together with their Authority, some Charge ' how to employ it'29 (as we hope we have done), and to press the duty 'of employing it well :' concerning which we have a word or two to offer you.
Truly God hath called you to this Work by, I think, as wonderful providences as ever passed upon the sons of men in so short a time. And truly I think, taking the argument of necessity, for the Government must not fall; taking the appearance of the hand of God in this thing, — * I think' you would have been loath it should have been resigned into the hands of wicked men and enemies ! I am sure, God would not have it so. It's come, therefore, to you by the way of necessity ; by the way of the wise Providence of God, — through weak hands. And therefore, I think, coming through our hands, though such as we are, it may not be ill
23 ' for our own exoneration" in orig.
29 He seems embarrassed lest he be thought to have some authority over this new Little Parliament, and to treat them as if he were their King. The dissolving of the old Parliament has also its embarrassment, though not so prominent here ; and both together make an intricate paragraph. Our Two Reports, from this point, virtually coincide again.
21 8 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
taken if we do offer somewhat (as I said before) as to the discharge of the Trust which is now incumbent upon you. [Certainly not f] And although I seem to speak of that which may have the face and interpretation of a Charge, it's a very humble one : and if he that means to be a Servant to you, who hath now called you to the exercise of the Su- preme Authority, discharge what he conceives to be a duty to you, we hope you will take it in good part.
And truly I shall not hold you long in it; because I hope it's written in your hearts to approve yourselves to God. Only this Scripture I shall remember to you, which hath been much upon my spirit : Hosea, xi. 12, " Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the Saints." It's said before, that " Ephraim compassed God about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit." How God hath been compassed about by fastings and thanksgivings,30 and other exercises and transactions, I think we have all cause to lament. Truly you are called by God, ' as Judah was,' to " rule with Him," and for Him. And you are called to be faithful with the Saints who have been instrumental to your call. 'Again,' Second Samuel, xxi. 3, "He that ruleth over " men," the Scripture saith, " must be just, ruling in the " fear of God." [Groans from Dryasdust. Patience, my friend! Really, does not all this seem an incredibility ; — a palpable hypocrisy, since it is not the mouth of an imbecile that speaks it? My estimable, timberheaded, leadenhear ted friend, can there be any doubt of it /]
And truly it's better to pray for you than to counsel you in that matter, That you may exercise the judgment of
30 There was a Monthly Fast, the Last Wednesday of every Month, held duly for about Seven Years ; till, after the King's Death, we abolished it. Immense preach- ing and howling, all over the country, there has been on these stated Wednesdays ; sincere and insincere. Not to speak of due Thanksgivings for victories and felicities innumerable ; all ending in this infelicitous condition I His Excellency thinks we ought to restrain such habits ; not to imitate Ephraim, or the Long Parliament, in such. The rest of this Discourse is properly a Sermon of his ; and one conceived in * different style.
»6S3. SPEECH I. 219
mercy and truth ! It's better, I say, to pray for you than counsel you ; to ask wisdom from Heaven for you ; which I am confident many thousands of Saints do this day, ' and' have done, and will do, through the permission of God and His assistance. I say it's better to pray than advise : yet truly I think of another Scripture, which is very useful, though it seems to be for a common application to every man as a Christian, — wherein he is counselled to ask wis- dom ;81 and he is told what that is. That's " from Above," we are told ; it's " pure, peaceable, gentle and easy to be " entreated, full of mercy and good fruits ;" it's " without " partiality and without hypocrisy." Truly my thoughts run much upon this place, that to the execution of judg- ment (the judgment of truth, for that's the judgment) you must have wisdom " from Above ;" and that's " pure." That will teach you to exercise the judgment of truth ; it's " with- out partiality." Purity, impartiality, sincerity : these are the effects of " wisdom," and these will help you to execute the judgment of truth. And then if God give you hearts to be "easy to be entreated," to be "peaceably spirited," to be " full of good fruits," bearing good fruits to the Na- tion, to men as men, to the People of God, to all in their several stations, — this will teach you to execute the judg- ment of mercy and truth. [Yes, if thou understand it; still yes, — and nothing else will /] And I have little more to say to this. I shall rather bend my prayers for you in that behalf, as I said ; and many others will.
Truly the " judgment of truth," it will teach you to be as just towards an Unbeliever as towards a Believer; and it's our duty to do so. I confess I have said sometimes, foolishly it may be : I had rather miscarry to a Believer than
SI ' But the Wisdom that is from Above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and ' easy to be entreated ; full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without 1 hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace' (James, hi. 17, 18).
220 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. < July
an Unbeliever.32 This may seem a paradox : — but let's take heed of doing that which is evil to either ! Oh, if God fill your hearts with such a spirit as Moses had, and as Paul had, — which was not a spirit for Believers only, but for the whole People ! Moses, he could die for them ; wish himself " blotted out of God's Book :"33 Paul could wish himself " accursed for his countrymen after the flesh"34 [Let us never forget that, in Moses and Paul. — Are not these amazing senti- ments, on their part) my estimable, timber headed, leadenheartcd friendl] : so full of affection were their spirits unto all. And truly this would help you to execute the judgment of truth, and of mercy also.
A second thing is, To desire you would be faithful with the Saints ; to be touched with them. And I hope, what- ever others may think, it may be a matter to us all of rejoicing to have our hearts touched (with reverence be it spoken) as Christ, " being full of the spirit," was " touched with our infirmities," that He might be merciful. So should we be ; we should be pitiful. Truly, this calls us to be very much touched with the infirmities of the Saints ; that we may have a respect unto all, and be pitiful and tender to- wards all, though of different judgments. And if I did seem to speak something that reflected on those of the Presby- terial judgment, — truly I think if we have not an interest of love for them too, we shall35 hardly answer this of being faithful to the Saints.
In my pilgrimage, and some exercises I have had abroad, I did read that Scripture often, Forty-first of Isaiah ; where God gave me, and some of my fellows, encouragement ' as to' what He would do there and elsewhere ; which He hath performed for us. He said, " He would plant in the wil- " dcrncss the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle and the
w Do wrong to a {tooil than to a bad man : a remarkable sentiment
*> Kxodus, xjitii. 32. M Riiimns. ix. ;*, ** 'will' ui urig.
,6S> SPEECH I. 221
" oil-tree; and He would set in the desert the fir-tree, and " the pine-tree, and the box-tree together." For what end will the Lord do all this ? " That they may see, and know, " and consider, and understand together, That the hand of " the Lord hath done this;" — that it is He who hath wrought all the salvations and deliverances we have received. For what end? To see, and know, and understand together, that He hath done and wrought all this for the good of the Whole Flock. \Even so. for ' Saints' read ' Good Men; and it is true to the end of the world.~\ Therefore, I beseech you, — but I think I need not, — have a care of the Whole Flock ! Love the sheep, love the lambs ; love all, tender all, cherish and countenance all, in all things that are good. And if the poorest Christian, the most mistaken Christian, shall desire to live peaceably and quietly under you, — I say, if any shall desire but to lead a life of godliness and honesty, let him be protected.
I think I need not advise, much less press you, to en- deavour the Promoting of the Gospel ; to encourage the Ministry;36 such a Ministry and such Ministers as be faithful in the Land ; upcn whom the true character is. Men that have received the Spirit, which Christians will be able to discover, and do ' the will of ;' men that " have received " Gifts from Him who is ascended up on high, who hath led " captivity captive, to give gifts to men,"37 even for this same work of the Ministry ! And truly the Apostle, speaking in another place, in the Twelfth of the Romans, when he has summed-up all the mercies of God, and the goodness of God ; and discoursed, in the former Chapters, of the foun- dations of the Gospel, and of those things that are the sub- ject of those first Eleven Chapters, — he beseecheth them to " present their bodies a living sacrifice." \Note that /] He beseecheth them that they would not esteem highly of them-
18 Preaching Clergy. *> Ephesians, iv. 8.
222 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
selves, but be humble and sober-minded, and not stretch themselves beyond their line ; and also that they would have a care for those that " had received gifts" to the uses there mentioned. I speak not, — I thank God it is far from my heart, — for a Ministry deriving itself from the Papacy, and pretending to that which is so much insisted on, "Succession." \^( Hear, hear 1" from the PuseyitesJ\ The true Succession is through the Spirit — [/ should say so /] — given in its measure. The Spirit is given for that use, ' To make proper Speakers-forth of God's eternal Truth ;' and that's right Succession. But I need not discourse of these things to you; who, I am persuaded, are taught of God, much more and in a greater measure than myself, concerning these things.
Indeed I have but one word more to say to you ; though in that perhaps I shall show my weakness : it's by way of encouragement to go on in this Work. And give me leave to begin thus. I confess I never looked to see such a Day as this, — it may be nor you neither, — when Jesus Christ should be so owned as He is, this day, in this Work. Jesus Christ is owned this day by the Call of You ; and you own Him by your willingness to appear for Him. And you manifest this, as far as poor creatures may do, to be a Day of the Power of Christ. I know you well remember that Scripture, " He makes His People willing in the day of His power."38 God manifests this to be the Day of the Power of Christ; having, through so much blood, and so much trial as hath been upon these Nations, made this to be one of the great issues thereof : To have His People called to the Supreme Authority. [A thing, 1 confess, worth striving for ; and the one thing worth striving for /] He makes this to be the greatest mercy, next to His own Son. God hath
38 Psalm ex. 3 ; a favourite Psalm of Oliver's, — as we know already, and solid Ludlow knows.
i6S3 SPEECH I. 223
owned His Son: and He hath owned you, and made you own Him. I confess I never looked to have seen such a day ; I did not. — Perhaps you are not known by face to one another; 'indeed' I am confident you are strangers, coming from all parts of the Nation as you do : but we shall tell you that indeed we have not allowed ourselves the choice of one person in whom we had not this good hope, That there was in him faith in Jesus Christ, and iove to all His People and Saints. [What a Parliament ; unex- ampled before and since in this world /]
Thus God hath owned you in the eyes of the world ; and thus, by coming hither, you own Him : and, as it is in Isaiah, xliii. 21, — it's an high expression; and look to your own hearts whether, now or hereafter, God shall apply it to you : " This People," saith God, " I have formed for Myself, that they may show forth my praise." I say, it's a memor- able passage ; and, I hope, not unfitly applied : the Lord apply it to each of your hearts ! I shall not descant upon the words ; they are plain : indeed you are as like the " forming of God" as ever people were. If a man should tender a Book to you ' to swear you upon,' I dare appeal to all your consciences, Neither directly nor indirectly did you seek for your coming hither. You have been passive in coming hither ; being called, — and indeed that's an active work, — ' though not on your part !' " This People have / formed /" consider the circumstances by which you are " called" hither ; through what strivings [At Marston Moor, at Naseby, Dunbar and elsewhere], through what blood you are come hither, — where neither you nor I, nor no man living, three months ago, had any thought to have seen such a company taking upon them, or rather being called to take, the Supreme Authority of this Nation ! Therefore, own your call ! Indeed, I think it may be truly said that there never was a Supreme Authority consisting of such a
224 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
Body, above One-hundred-and-forty, I believe ; ' never such a Body* that came into the Supreme Authority 'before,' under such a notion ' as this,' in such a way of owning God, and being owned by Him. And therefore I may also say, never such a " People" so " formed," for such a purpose, * were' thus called before. \These are lucent considerations; lucent, nay radiant /]
If it were a time to compare your standing with ' that of those that have been " called" by the Suffrages of the People — \He does not say what the result would be\ — Which who can tell how soon God may fit the People for such a thing? None can desire it more than I ! Would all were the Lord's People ; as it was said, " Would all the Lord's People were Prophets !" \Fit to sit in Parliament and make Laws : alas, hitherto but few of them can " prophesy1 7] I would all were fit to be called. It ought to be the longing of our hearts to see men brought to own the Interest of Jesus Christ. And give me leaye to say : If I know any- thing in the world, what is there likelier to win the People to the interest of Jesus Christ, to the love of Godliness (and therefore what stronger duty lies on you, being thus called), than an humble and godly conversation ? So that they may see ' that' you love them ; ' that' you lay yourselves out, time and spirits, for them ! Is not this the likeliest way to bring them to their liberties? [To make them free by being servants of God ; free, and fit to elect for Parliament /] And do not you, by this, put it upon God to find out times and seasons for you ; ' fit seasons' by putting forth His Spirit ? At least you convince them that, as men fearing God have fought them out of their bondage under the Regal Power, so men fearing God do now rule them in the fear of God, and take care to administer Good unto them. — But this is some digression. I say, own your call ; for it is of God ! Indeed, it is marvellous, and it hath been unprojected. It's
i65j. SPEECH I. 225
not long since either you or we came to know of it. And indeed this hath been the way God dealt with us all along, To keep things from our eyes all along, so that we have seen nothing, in all His dispensations, long beforehand ; — which is also a witness, in some measure, to our integrity. [" Integrity /" from Dryasdust. — Husht, my friend, it is in- credible I A flat impossibility, fww can it be believed ? To the human Owl, living in his perennial London Fog, in his Twilight of all imaginable corrupt Exhalations^ and with his poor head, too, over spun to such extent with red-tape, par- liamentary eloquence, force of public opinion and suchlike, how shall the Azure Firmaments and Everlasting Stars become credible ? They are and remain incredible. From his shut sense all light-rays are victoriously repelled ; no light shall get admittance there. In no Heaveti s-light will he, for his part, ever believe; — till at last, as is the necessity withal, it come to him as lightning! Then he will believe //.] — I say, you are called with an high calling. And why should we be afraid to say or think, That this may be the door to usher-in the Things that God has promised ; which have been prophesied of; which He has set the hearts of His People to wait for and expect?39 We know who they are that shall war with the Lamb, " against His enemies :" they shall be " a people called, and chosen and faithful." And God hath, in a Military way, — we may speak it without flattering ourselves, and I believe you know it, — He hath appeared with them, ' with that same " people," ' and for them ; and now in these Civil Powers and Authorities ' does not He appear' ? These are not ill prognostications of the God we wait for. Indeed I do think somewhat is at the door : we are at the thresh- old ; — and therefore it becomes us to lift-up our heads, and encourage ourselves in the Lord. And we have thought, some of us, That it is our duties to endeavour this way ; not
•9 Hundred-and-tenth Psalm, and other Scriptures, are known to Ludlow and us ! VOL. III.
226 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 July
merely to look at that Prophecy in Daniel, " And the King- dom shall not be delivered to another people," ' and pas- sively wait.' Truly God hath brought this to your hands ; by the owning of your call ; blessing the Military Power. The Lord hath directed their [our] hearts to be instrumental to call you ; and set it upon our hearts to deliver over the Power "to another people." \Therefore "we" are not the persons prophesied qff\ — But I may appear to be beyond my line here; these things are dark. Only, I desire my thoughts40 to be exercised in these things, and so I hope are yours.
Truly seeing things are thus, that you are at the edge of the Promises and Prophecies — \Does not say what results\ — At least, if there were neither Promise nor Prophecy, yet you are carrying-on the best things, you are endeavouring after the best things ; and, as I have said elsewhere,41 if I were to choose any servant, the meanest Officer for the Army or the Commonwealth, I would choose a godly man that hath principles. Especially where a trust is to be com- mitted. Because I know where to have a man that hath principles. I believe if any one of you should choose a servant, you would do thus. And I would all our Magis- trates were so chosen : — this may be done ; there may be good effects of this ! Surely it's our duty to choose men that fear the Lord, and will praise the Lord : such hath the Lord " formed for Himself;" and He expects no praises from other 'than such.' [O, Secretary of the Home Depart- ment, my right honourable friend '/]
This being so, truly it puts me in mind of another Scrip- ture, that famous Psalm, Sixty-eighth Psalm ;42 which indeed
40 ' senses' in orig.
41 In some Speech now lost : — probably in many Speeches ; certainly in all manner of Practice and Action.
42 We remember it ever since Dunbar morning ; let us read a passage or two of it again : His Excellency and the Little Parliament will perhaps wait a moment ; and it may do us good !
' Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered : let them also that hate Him flee be-
ifo. SPEECH I. 12?
is a glorious Prophecy, I am persuaded, of the Gospel Churches, — it may be, of the Jews also. There it prophe- sies that " He will bring His People again from the depths of the Sea, as once He led Israel through the Red Sea." And it may be, as some think, God will bring the Jews home to their station " from the isles of the sea," and ans- wer their expectations " as from the depths of the sea." But, ' at all events,' sure I am, when the Lord shall set-up the glory of the Gospel Church, it shall be a gathering of people as " out of deep waters," " out of the multitude of waters :" such are His People, drawn out of the multitudes of the Nations and People of this world. — And truly that Psalm is very glorious in many other parts of it : When He gathers them, " great was the company" of them that pub- lish His word. " Kings of Armies did flee apace, and she that tarried at home divided the spoil" [Consider Charles Stuart, First and Second; and what -we see this day /] ; and " Although ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as " the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers " with yellow gold." \Hah /] And indeed the triumph of that Psalm is exceeding high and great; and God is ac- complishing it. And the close of it, — that closeth with my heart, and I do not doubt with yours, " The Lord shakes the hills and mountains, and they reel." And God hath a Hill too ; " an high Hill as the Hill of Bashan : and the
' fore Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away ; as wax melteth before the ' fire, so let the wicked perish before the presence of God.' The unhappy]
' But let the righteous be glad : let them rejoice before God, yea let them rejoice ' exceedingly. Sing unto God, sing praises to His name. A father of the fatherless, ' and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. —
' O God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy People, the Earth shook, the
' Heavens also dropped. Kings of Armies did flee apace ; and she that tarried at ' home divided the spoil.' Ye poor and brave, be ye of courage! 'Though ye have ' lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and ' her feathers with yellow gold.
'The Hill of God is as the Hill of Bashan ; an high Hill as the Hill of Ba shan.' Inexpugnable, that 1 'Why leap ye, ye high Hills ? This is the Hill of God, which ' God desireth to dwell in : yea the Lord will dwell in it forever. The chariots of God ' are twenty-thousand, even thousands of Angels : the Lord is among them, as in Sinai 'in he holy plate."
228 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 jui*
" chariots of God are twenty-thousand, even thousands of " Angels, and God will dwell upon this Hill for ever !" — [PROCUL PROFANI ! The man is without a soul that looks into this Great Soul of a man, radiant with the splendours of very Heaven, and sees nothing there but the shadow of his own mean darkness. Ape of the Dead Sea, peering asquint into the Holy of Holies, let us have done with THY comment- aries ! Thou canst not fathom //.]
I am sorry I have troubled you, in such a place of heat as this is, so long. All I have to say, in my own name, and that of my fellow Officers who have joined with me in this work, is : That we shall commend you to the grace of God, to the guidance of His Snirit : ' That' having thus far served you, or rather our Lord Jesus Christ ' in regard to you,' we shall be ready in our stations, according as the Providence of God shall lead us, to be subservient to the ' farther' work of God, and to that Authority which we shall reckon God hath set over us. And though we have no formal thing to present you with, to which the hands, or visible expressions, of the Officers and Soldiers of the three Na- tions of England, Scotland and Ireland ' are set / yet we may say of them, and we may say also with confidence for our brethren at Sea, — with whom neither in Scotland, Ire- land, nor at Sea, hath there been any artifice used to per- suade their consents to this work, — that nevertheless their consents have flowed in to us from all parts, beyond our expectations : and we may with all confidence say, that as we have their approbation and full consent to the other work, so you have their hearts and affections unto this.43 And not only theirs : we have very many Papers from the Churches of Christ throughout the Nation ; wonderfully both approving what hath been done in removing of ob-
*> ' other work' delicately means dissolving tlic old Parliatn^nt; 'this' is assent llingqfyou, ' this very thing."
.653. SPEECH I. 229
stacles, and approving what we have done in this very thing. And having said this, we shall trouble you no more. But if you will be pleased that this Instrument44 be read to you, which I have signed by the advice of the Council of Officers, — we shall then leave you to your own thoughts and the guidance of God ; to dispose of yourselves for a farther meeting, as you shall see cause.45
I have only this to add. The affairs of the Nation lying on our hands to be taken care of; and we knowing that both the Affairs at Sea, the Armies in Ireland and Scotland, and the providing of things for the preventing of incon- veniences, and the answering of emergencies, did require that there should be no Interruption, but that care ought to be taken for these things ; and foreseeing likewise that before you could digest yourselves into such a method, both for place, time and other circumstances, as you shall please to proceed in, some time would be required, — which the Commonwealth could not bear in respect to the managing of things : I have, within a week ' past,' set-up a Council of State, to whom the managing of affairs is committed. Who, I may say, very voluntarily and freely, before they see how the issue of things will be, have engaged themselves in busi- ness ; eight or nine of them being Members of the House that late was. — I say I did exercise that power which, I thought, was devolved upon me at that time; to the end affairs might not have any interval ' or interruption.' And now when you are met, it will ask some time for the set- tling of your affairs and your way. And, 'on the other hand,' a day cannot be lost, ' or left vacant,' but they must be in continual Council till you take farther order. So that the whole matter of their consideration also which regards
44 The Instrument is to be found among the Old Pamphlets: but being of a much lower strain, mtre constitutionalities, &c. in phrase and purport alike leaden, we do not read it.
43 Report in Parliamentary History, and the common Pamphlets, ends here.
230 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 4 jul,
them is at your disposal, as you shall see cause. And there- fore I thought it my duty to acquaint you with thus much, to prevent distractions in your way : That things have been thus ordered ; that your affairs will ' not stop, but' go ons ' in the meanwhile,' — till you see cause to alter this Coun- cil ; they having no authority or continuance of sitting, except simply until you take farther order.*
The reader has now struggled through this First Speech of my Lord General's ; not without astonishment to find that he has some understanding of it. The Editor has had his difficulties : but the Editor too is astonished to consider how such a Speech should have lain so long before the English Na- tion, asking, " Is there no meaning whatever in me, then ?" — with negatory response from almost all persons. Incompetent Reporters ; — still more the obscene droppings of an extensive Owl-population, the accumulated guano of Human Stupor in the course of ages, do render Speeches unintelligible ! It ought to be added, that my Lord General always spoke extempore ; ready to speak, if his mind were full of meaning; very careless about the words he put it into. And never, except in one in- stance, which we shall by and by come upon, does he seem to have taken any charge as to what Report might be published of it. One of his Parliaments once asks him for a correct Report of a certain Speech, spoken some days before : he de- clares, "He cannot remember four lines of it."46 It appears also that his meaning, much as Dryasdust may wonder, was generally very well understood by his audience : — it was not till next generation, when the owl-droppings already lay thick, and Human Stupor had decidedly set in, that the cry of Unin- telligibility was much heard of. Tones and looks do much ; — yes, and the having a meaning in you is also a great help ! Indeed, I fancy he must have been an opaque man to whom these utterances of such a man, all in a blaze with such a con- viction of heart, had remained altogether dark.
The printed state of this Speech, and still more of some
* Milton State-Papers, pp. 106-114: and Parliamentary History, xx. 153-175; which latter is identical with Harleian Miscellany (London, 1810), vi. 331-344. Our Report, in some cramp passages, which could not always be indicated without con- fusion, is a.ftertium quid between these two. Generally throughout we adhere to Milton's, which is the more concise, intelligible and everyway better Report.
« Burton's Diary. Postea, Speech XVII.
i6ss. SPEECH I. 231
others, will impose hard duties on an Editor ; which kind readers must take their share of. In the present case, it is sur- prising how little change has been needed, beyond the mere punctuation, and correct division into sentences. Not the slightest change of meaning has, of course, anywhere seemed, or shall anywhere seem, permissible ; nor indeed the twentieth part of that kind of liberty which a skilful Newspaper Reporter takes with every speech he commits to print in our day.
A certain Critic, whom I sometimes cite from, but seldom without some reluctance, winds-up his multifarious Comment- aries on the present Speech in the following extraordinary way :
' Intelligent readers,' says he, ' have found intelligibility in ' this Speech of Oliver's : but to one who has had to read it as ' a painful Editor, reading every fibre of it with magnifying- ' glasses, has to do, — it becomes all glowing with intelligibility, 1 with credibility ; with the splendour of genuine Veracity and ' heroic Depth and Manfulness ; — and seems in fact, as Oliver's ' Speeches generally do, to an altogether singular degree, the 4 express image of the soul it came from ! — Is not this the end ' of all speaking, and wagging of the tongue in every conceiv- 1 able sort, except the false and accursed sorts ? Shall we call ' Oliver a bad Speaker, then ; shall we not, in a very funda- ' mental sense, call him a good Speaker? —
' Art of Speech ? Art of Speech ? The Art of Speech, I ' take it, will first of all be the art of having something genuine ' to speak ! Into what strange regions has it carried us, that ' same sublime " Art," taken up otherwise ! One of the sad- ' dest bewilderments, when I look at all the bearings of it, nay ' properly the fountain of all the sad bewilderments, under ' which poor mortals painfully somn ambulate in these genera- ' tions. " I have made an excellent Speech about it, written ' an excellent Book about it," — and there an end. How much ' better, hadst thou done a moderately good deed about it, and ' not had anything to speak at all ! He who is about doing ' some mute veracity has a right to be heard speaking, and ' consulting of the doing of it ; and properly no other has. The ' light of a man shining all as a paltry phosphorescence on the ' surface of him, leaving the interior dark, chaotic, sordid, dead- ' alive, •• — was once regarded as a most mournful phenomenon !
' False Speech is probably capable of being the falsest and ' most accursed of all things. False Speech ; so false that it
232 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 22 Aug.
' has not even the veracity to know that it is false, — as the ' poor commonplace liar still does ! I have heard Speakers ' who gave rise to thoughts in me they were little dreaming of ' suggesting ! Is man, then, no longer an " Incarnate Word,"
• as Novalis calls him, — sent into this world to utter out of
• him, and by all means to make audible and visible what of ' GW-r-Message he has ; sent hither and made alive even for ' that, and for no other definable object ? Is there no sacred- ' ness, then, any longer, in the miraculous tongue of man ? Is ' his head become a wretched cracked pitcher, on which you ' jingle to frighten crows, and make bees hive ? He fills me ' with terror, this two-legged Rhetorical Phantasm ! I could ' long for an Oliver without Rhetoric at all. I could long for ' a Mahomet, whose persuasive-eloquence, with wild-flashing ' heart and scimitar, is : " Wretched mortal, give up that ; or ' by the Eternal, thy Maker and mine, I will kill thee ! Thou ' blasphemous scandalous Misbirth of Nature, is not even that ' the kindest thing I can do for thee, if thou repent not and ' alter, in the name of .Allah ?" ' —
LETTERS CLXXXIX.— CXCI.
CONCERNING this Puritan Convention of the Notables, which in English History is called the Little Parliament, and de- risively Bareboness Parliament, we have not much more to say. They are, if by no means the remarkablest Assembly, yet the Assembly for the remarkablest purpose who have ever met in the Modern World. The business is, No less than introducing of the Christian Religion into real practice in the Social Affairs of this Nation. Christian Religion, Scriptures of the Old and New Testament : such, for many hundred years, has been the universal solemnly recognised Theory of all men's Affairs ; Theory sent down out of Heaven itself : but the question is now that of reducing it to Practice in said Affairs ; — a most noble, surely, and most necessary attempt ; which should not have been put off so long in this Nation ! We have conquered the Enemies of Christ ; let us now, in real practical earnest, set about doing the Commandments of Christ, now that there is
•6S3. LETTER CLXXX1X. COCKPIT. 233
free room for us ! Such was the purpose of this Puritan As- sembly of the Notables, which History calls the Little Parlia- ment, or derisively Barebones's Parliament.
It is well known they failed : to us, alas, it is too evident they could not but fail. Fearful impediments lay against that effort of theirs : the sluggishness, the slavish half-and-halfness, the greediness, the cowardice, and general opacity and falsity of some ten million men against it ; — alas, the whole world, and what we call the Devil and all his angels, against it ! Con- siderable angels, human and other : most extensive arrange- mentsi investments, to be sold-off at a tremendous sacrifice ; — in general the entire set of luggage-traps and very extensive stock of merchant-goods and real and floating property, amassed by that assiduous Entity above mentioned, for a thousand years or more ! For these, and also for other obstructions, it could not take effect at that time ; — and the Little Parliament be- came a Barebones's Parliament, and had to go its ways again.
Read these three Letters, two of them of small or no signi- ficance as to it or its affairs ; and then let us hasten to the catastrophe.
LETTER CLXXXIX.
THE Little Parliament has now sat some seven weeks ; the dim old world of England, then ir» huge travail-throes, and somewhat of the Lord General's sad and great reflections thereon, may be dimly read here.
' For the Right Honourable Lieutenant- General Fleet-wood, Commander-in- Chief of the Forces in Ireland: These!
DEAR CHARLES, Cockpit, 22d August 1653.
Although I do not so often as is desired by me acquaint you how it is with me, yet I doubt not of your prayers in my behalf, That in all things I may walk as be- cometh the Gospel.
Truly I never more needed all helps from my Christian Friends than now ! Fain would I have my service accepted ot the Saints, if the Lord will ; — but it is not so. Being of different judgments, and ' those' of each sort seeking most
234 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 22 Aug.
to propagate their own, that spirit of kindness that is1 to them all, is hardly accepted of any. I hope I can say it, My life has been a willing sacrifice, — and I hope, — for them all. Yet it much falls out as when the Two Hebrews were rebuked : you know upon whom they turned their dis- pleasure !2
But the Lord is wise ; and will, I trust, make manifest that I am no enemy. Oh, how easy is mercy to be abused : — Persuade friends with you to be very sober ! If the Day of the Lord be so near as some say, how should our moder- ation appear ! If every one, instead of contending, would justify his form ' of judgment' by love and meekness, Wis- dom would be "justified of her children." But, alas ! — —
I am, in my temptation, ready to say, " Oh, would I had wings like a dove, then would I," &c. :3 but this, I fear, is my " haste." I bless the Lord I have somewhat keeps me alive : some sparks of the light of His countenance, and some sincerity above man's judgment. Excuse me thus unbowelling myself to you : pray for me ; and desire my Friends to do so also. My love to thy dear Wife, — whom indeed I entirely love, both naturally and upon the best account; — and my blessing, if it be worth anything, upon thy little Babe.
Sir George Ayscough having occasions with you, desired my Letters to you on his behalf : if he come or send, I pray you show him what favour you can. Indeed his services have been considerable for the State ; and I doubt he hath not been answered with suitable respect. Therefore again I desire you and the Commissioners to take him into a very
1 ' in me' modestly suppressed.
s_ 'And he/ the wrongdoer of the Two, 'said unto Moses, "Who made thee a ' Prince and a Judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egypt- * ian !" ' (Exodus, ii. 14.)
3 ' then would I fly away, and be at rest Lo, then would I wander far off, and ' remain m the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tern- ' pest 1' (Psalm Iv. 6, 7, 8.)
.6S3. LETTER CXC COCKPIT. 235
particular care, and help him so far as justice and reason will anyways afford.
Remember my hearty affections to all the Officers. The Lord bless you all. So prayeth your truly loving father,
OLIVER CROMWELL.
' P.S.' All here love you, and are in health, your Chil- dren and all.*
LETTER CXC.
IN the Commons Journals,4 while this Little Parliament sat, we find that, among other good services, the arrangement of the Customs Department was new-modelled ; that instead of Farmers of the Customs, there was a ' Committee' of the Par- liament appointed to regulate and levy that impost : Commit- tee appointed on the 23d of September 1653 : among whom we recognise 'Alderman Ireton,' the deceased General's Bro- ther ; ' Mr. Mayor,' of Hursley, Richard Cromwell's Father-in- Law ; ' Alderman Titchborne ;' ' Colonel Montague,' afterwards Earl of Sandwich ; and others. It is to this Committee that Oliver's Letter is addressed. It has no date of time : but as the Little Parliament ended, in Self-dissolution and Protector- ship, on the 1 2th of December, the date of the Letter lies between the 23d September and that other limit. My Lord Ge- neral,— who is himself a Member of the Parliament, he and his chief Officers having been forthwith invited to sit, — feels evi- dently that his recommendations, when grounded in. justice, ought to be attended to.
For my honoured Friends, the Committee for Regulating the Customs: These present.
GENTLEMEN, ' Cockpit, October 1653.'
I am sorry after recommendation of a Friend of mine the Bearer hereof, — considering him in relation to
» Harleian MSS. no. 7502, f. 13: 'Copyed from the Original in ye hands of Mrs. ' Cook (Grandaughter to Lieutenant-General Fleetwood) of Newington, Mid8*1 : ' Novr 5, 1759, by A. Gifford.' Printed, without reference, incorrectly, in Annual Register tor 1761, p. 49; in Gentlemaiis Magazine, &c. — Appendix, No. 27.
* vii. 323, 23d September 1653.
236 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. ,6 NO*.
his poor Parents an object of pity and commiseration, yet well deserving and not less qualified for employment, — he should find such cold success amongst you.
His great necessities and my love once more invite me to write unto you, in his behalf, To bestow on him, if it may not be in the City by reason of multiplicity of suitors, a place in the Out-ports : and I doubt not but his utmost abilities will be improved to the faithful discharging of such trust as you shall impose on him, for the good of the Com- monwealth. And thereby you will engage him who remains, your affectionate friend, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
LETTER CXCI.
THIS 'Henry Weston,' otherwise unknown to all Editors, is a Gentleman of Surrey ; his ' House at Ockham,' not Oak- ham, is in the neighbourhood of Guildford in that County. So much, strangely enough, an old stone Tablet still legible in Ockham Church, which a beneficent hand has pointed out, en- ables me to say ; — an authentic dim old Stone in Surrey, curiously reflecting light on a dim old Piece of Paper which has fluttered far about the world before it reached us here ! ' Brother Ford,' I find by the same authority, is of knightly rank in Sussex : and Henry Weston's Father ' lieth buried in the Chancel of Speldhurst Church' in Kent ; his Uncle, a childless man, resting here at Ockham, 'since the 8th day of July 1638, in the clymacteric of his age, 63. '5 — ' Reverend Mr. Draper' has not elsewhere come across me. Happily we can hope he officiates well in Kent ; and read this Letter without other light.
For my honoured Friend Henry Weston, Esquire, at his House in Ockham: TJiese.
SIR, MY NOBLE FRIEND, ' London,' i6th Nov. 1653.
Your Brother Ford was lately with me, acquainting me with my presumption in moving for, and
* Letter genuine, teste me; reference unfortunately los* s Copy of the I ascription penes me.
i653. COUNCIL OF STATE. 237
your civility in granting, the Advowson of Speldhurst to one Mr. Draper, who is now incumbent there, and who, it seems, was there for three or four years before the death ol the old incumbent, by virtue of a sequestration.
Sir, I had almost forgot upon what account I made thus bc'd with you ; but now have fully recollected. I under- stand the person is very able and honest, well approved of by most of the good Ministers thereabout ; and much de- sired by the honest people who are in a Religious Associa- tion in those parts.6 Wherefore I now most heartily own and thank you for your favour showed Mr. Draper for my sake; beseeching the continuance of your respects to the Gentleman, — who shall be very much tied to pay you all service ; and so shall, in what lieth in his power, your affec- tionate friend to serve you, OLIVER CROMWELL.*
And now to Parliament affairs again, — to the catastrophe now nigh.
On the whole, we have to say of this Little Parliament, that it sat for five months and odd days, very earnestly striving ; earnestly, nobly, — and by no means unwisely, as the ignor- ant Histories teach. But the farther it advanced towards real Christianism in human affairs, the louder grew the shrieks of Sham-Christianism everywhere profitably lodged there ; — and prudent persons, responsible for the issue, discovered that of a truth, for one reason or another, for reasons evident and for reasons not evident, there could be no success according to that method. We said, the History of this Little Parliament lay all buried very deep in the torpors of Human Stupidity, and was not likely ever to be brought into daylight in this world. In their five-months time they passed various good Acts ; chose, with good insight, a new Council of State ; took wise charge of the needful Supplies ; did all the routine busi- ness of a Parliament in a quite unexceptionable, or even in a superior manner. Concerning their Council of State, I find
' Has crossed-out 'thereabouts;' and written 'in those parts,' as preferable.
* Additional Ayscough MSS. no. 12,098. Original, in good preservation ; with this 'ndorsement in a newer hand: 'The Genercll Cromwell's letter about Speiderst liv- ing ;' and this Note appended : ' In an old Bible I had from England with other Books, March 1726.' -GcHne Transatlantic Puritan, to all appearance.
238 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. 2 Bec.
this Note ; which, though the Council had soon to alter itself, and take new figures, may be worth appending here.7
Routine business done altogether well by this Little Parlia- ment. But, alas, they had decided on abolishing Tithes, on supporting a Christian Ministry by some other method than Tithes ; — nay far worse, they had decided on abolishing the Court of Chancery ! Finding grievances greater than could be borne ; finding, for one thing, ' Twenty-three thousand Causes of from five to thirty years continuance' lying undetermined in Chancery, it seemed to the Little Parliament that some Court ought to be contrived which would actually determine these and the like Causes ; — and that, on the whole, Chancery would be better for abolition. Vote to that effect stands registered in the Commons Journals :8 but still, for near two-hundred years now, only expects fulfilment. — So far as one can discover in the huge twilight of Dryasdust, it was mainly by this attack on the Lawyers, and attempt to abolish Chancery, that the Little Par- liament perished. Tithes helped, no doubt ; and the clamours of a safely-settled Ministry, Presbyterian- Royalist many of them. But the Lawyers exclaimed : " Chancery ? Law of the Bible ? Do you mean to bring-in the Mosaic Dispensation, then ; and deprive men of their properties ? Deprive men of their pro- perties ; and us of our learned wigs and lucrative longwinded- nesses, — with your search for ' Simple Justice' and 'God's Law,' instead of Learned- Sergeant's Law?" — There was immense ' carousing in the Temple' when this Parliament ended ; as great tremors had been in the like quarters while it continued.9
But in brief, on Friday the 2d of December 1653, there came a ' Report from the Tithes-Committee, ' recommending that Ministers of an incompetent, simoniacal, loose, or other- wise scandalous nature, plainly unfit to preach any Gospel to
7 Council of State elected, — Tuesday ist November 1653 (Commons Journals, rii. 344). The Election is by ballot, 113 Members present ; ' Colonel Montague" (Sand- wich), ' Colonel Cromwell' (Henry), and 'Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,' are three of the Four Scrutineers. Among the Names reported as chosen, here are some, with the Num- bers voting for them: Lord General Cromwell (113, one and all) ; Sir Gilbert Picker- ing (Poet Dryden's Cousin and Patron, — no); Desborow (74); Harrison (58); Mayor (ofHursley, — 57); Colonel Montague (59); Ashley Cooper (60); Lord Viscount Lisle • Algernon Sidney's Brother, — 58); Colonel Norton (idle Dick, recovered from the Pride's Purge again, but liable to relapse again, — 57). The Council is of Thirty-one ; Sixteen of the Old or Interim Council (above referred to in Cromwell's Speech) are to continue ; Fifteen new : these mentioned here are all among the Old, whom the Lord General and his Officers had already nominated.
8 vii. 296 ; 5th August 1653.
9 Exact Relation of the Transactions of the late Parliament, by a Member of Jie same i London, 1654) : reprinted in Somers Tracts, vi. 266-84.
i6S3. LITTLE PARLIAMENT RESIGNS. 239
immortal creatures, should have a Travelling Commission of chosen Puritan Persons appointed, to travel into all Counties, and straightway inspect them, and eject them, and clear Christ's Church of them : — whereupon there ensued high debatings : Accept the Report, or Not accept it ? High debatings, for the space often days; with Parliamentary manceuverings, not neces- sary to specify here. Which rose ever higher ; and on Satur- day the loth, had got so high that, as I am credibly informed, certain leading persons went about colleaguing and consulting, instead of attending Public Worship on the Lord's-day : — and so, on Monday morning early, while the extreme Gospel Party had not yet assembled in the House, it was surreptitiously moved and carried, old Speaker Rouse somewhat treacherously • assenting to it, 'That the sitting of this Parliament any longer, ' as now constituted, will not be for the good of the Common- ' wealth ; and that therefore it is requisite to deliver-up unto ' the Lord General Cromwell the Powers which we received ' frem him !' Whereupon, adds the same Rhadamanthine Record, ' the House rose ; and the Speaker, with many of the Members ' of the House, departed out of the House to Whitehall : where ' they, being the greater number of the Members sitting in Par- ' liament, did, by a Writing,' hastily redacted in the waiting- room there, and signed on separate bits of paper hastily wafered together, ' resign unto his Excellency their said Powers. ' And Mr. Speaker, attended by the Members, did present the ' same unto his Excellency accordingly,' — and retired into pri- vate life again.10
The Lord General Cromwell testified much emotion and surprise at this result; — emotion and surprise which Dryasdust knows well how to interpret. In fact, the Lord General is responsible to England and Heaven for this result ; and it is one of some moment ! He and the established Council of State, ' Council of Officers and' non-established ' Persons of Interest in the Nation,' must consider what they will now do !
Clearly enough to them, and to us, there can only one thing be done : search be made, Whether there is any King, Konning, Canning, or Supremely Able-Man that you can fall- in with, to take charge of these conflicting and colliding ele- ments, drifting towards swift wreck otherwise ; — any ' T arish
10 Commons Journals, vii. 363 ; Exact Relation, ubi supra ; Whitlocke, p 551, &c.
240 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. ,e Det.
Constable,' as Oliver himself defines it, to bid good men keep the peace to one another. To your unspeakable good-luck, such Supremely Able-Man, King, Constable, or by whatever name you will call him, is already found, — known to all persons for years past : your Puritan Interest is not yet necessarily a wreck ; but may still float, and do what farther is in it, while he can float !
From Monday onwards, the excitement of the public mind in old London and whithersoever the news went, in those winter days, must have been great. The ' Lord General called ' a Council of Officers and other Persons of Interest in the ' Nation,' as we said ; and there was ' much seeking of God by ' prayer,' and abstruse advisingof this matter, — the matter being really great, and to some of us even awful ! The dialogues, conferences and abstruse advisings are all lost ; the result we know for certain. Monday was 1 2th of December ; on Fri- day 1 6th, the result became manifest to all the world : That the ablest of Englishmen, Oliver Cromwell, was henceforth to be recognised for Supremely Able ; and that the Title of him was to be LORD PROTECTOR OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF ENG- LAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND, with ' Instrument of Govern- ment," ' Council of Fifteen or of Twenty-one,' and other ne- cessary less important circumstances, of the like conceivable nature.
The Instrument of Government, a carefully constitutional piece in Forty-two Articles ; the Ceremony of Installation, transacted with due simplicity and much modest dignity, ' in the Chancery Court in Westminster Hall,' that Friday after- noon ; — the chair of state, the Judges in their robes, Lord Mayors with caps of maintenance; the state-coaches, outriders, outrunners, and 'great shoutings of the people;' the procession from and to Whitehall, and ' Mr. Lockier the Chaplain's Ex- hortation" to us there : these, with the inevitable adjuncts of the case, shall be conceived by ingenious readers, or read in innumerable Pamphlets and Books,11 and omitted here. ' His ' Highness was in a rich but plain suit ; black velvet, with ' cloak of the same : about his hat a broad band of gold." Does the reader see him ? A rather likely figure, I think. Stands some five feet ten or more ; a man of strong solid
11 V'hitlocke, pp. 552-61 ; Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 1^1. VbParlicrmzni&ij History xx. ) ; &c. &c.
i6S3 PROTECTOR. 241
stature, and dignified, now partly military carriage : the expres- sion of him valour and devout intelligence, — energy and deli- cacy on a basis cf simplicity. Fifty-four years old, gone April last ; ruddy-fair complexion, bronzed by toil and age ; light- brown hair and moustache are getting streaked with gray. A figure of sufficient impressiveness ; — not lovely to the man- milliner species, nor pretending to be so. Massive stature ; big massive head, of somewhat leonine aspect, ' evident work- shop and storehouse of a vast treasury of natural parts.' Wart above the right eyebrow ; nose of considerable blunt- aquiline proportions ; strict yet copious lips, full of all tremulous sensi- bilities, and also, if need were, of all fiercenesses and rigours ; deep loving eyes, call them grave, call them stern, looking from under those craggy brows, as if in lifelong sorrow, and yet not thinking it sorrow, thinking it only labour and endeav- our : — on the whole, a right noble lion-face and hero-face ; and to me royal enough.12 The reader, in his mind, sh»u conceive this event and its figures.
Conceived too, or read elsewhere than here, shall Dryas- dust's multifarious unmelodious commentaries be, — and like- wise Anti-Dryasdust's ; the two together cancelling one an- other ; and amounting pretty well, by this time, to zero for us. ' Love of power,' as flunkies love it, remains the one credibility for Dryasdust ; and will forever remain. To the valet-soul how will you demonstrate that, in this world, there is or was any- thing heroic ? You cannot do it ; you need not try to do it. — I cite with some reluctance from a Manuscript Author, often enough referred to here, the following detached sentences, and so close this Seventh Part.
' Dryasdust knows not the value of a King,' exclaims he ; ' the bewildered mortal has forgotten it. Finding Kings'- ' cloaks so cheap, hung out on every hedge, and paltry as ' beggars' gabardines, he says, "What use is in a King? This ' King's-cloak, if this be your King, is naught !" —
'Power? Love of power? Does "power" mean the ' faculty of giving places, of having newspaper paragraphs, of ' being waited on by sycophants ? To ride in gilt coaches, • escorted by the flunkyisms and most sweet voices, — I assure ' thee, it is not the Heaven of all. but only of many ! Some
•* Maidston's Letter to Wint'irop, i:i Thurloe, i. 763-8 ; Cooper's Portraits ; Mask of Cromwell's Face (in the Statuaries' Shops).
VOL III. R
242 PART VII. THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT. ,653.
' born Kings I myself have known, of stout natural limbs, who, ' in shoes of moderately good fit, found quiet "walking handier ; ' and crowned themselves, almost too sufficiently, by putting on ' their own private hat, with some spoken or speechless, " God ' enable me to be King of what lies under this ! For Eternities ' lie under it, and Infinitudes, and Heaven also and Hell. And ' it is as big as the Universe, this Kingdom ; and I am to con- ' quer it, or be forever conquered by it, now while it is called ' Today !" —
' The love of " power," if thou understand what to the ' manful heart " power" signifies, is a very noble and indispens- ' able love. And here and there, in the outer world too, there ' is a due throne for the noble man ; — which let him see well 1 that he seize, and valiantly defend against all men and things. ' God gives it him ; let no Devil take it away. Thou also art ' called by the God's-message : This, if thou canst read the 1 Heavenly omens and dare do them, this work is thine. Voice- ' less, or with no articulate voice, Occasion, god-sent, rushes ' storming on, amid the world's events ; swift, perilous ; like a ' whirlwind, like a fleet lightning-steed : manfully thou shalt ' clutch it by the mane, and vault into thy seat on it, and ride ' and guide there, thou ! Wreck and ignominious overthrow, 1 if thou have dared when the Occasion was not thine : ever- ' lasting scorn to thee if thou dare not when it is; — if the cack- ' ling of Roman geese and Constitutional ganders, if the clack ' of human tongues and leading-articles, if the steel of armies ' and the crack of Doom deter thee, when the voice was God's! ' — Yes, this too is in the law for a man, my poor quack-ridden, ' bewildered Constitutional friends ; and we ought to remember ' this withal. Thou shalt is written upon Life in characters as ' terrible as Thoti shalt not, — though poor Dryasdust reads ' almost nothing but the latter hitherto.'
And so we close Part Seventh ; and proceed to trace with all piety, what faint authentic vestiges of Oliver's Protectorate the envious Stupidities have not obliterated for us.
ADJOINED TO VOLUME THIRD.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. LISTS OF THE EASTERN -ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
IN the old Parliamentary History,^ and in other Books, is given, 'compiled from the Chancery Records and Commons Journals, ' a List of the Long- Parliament Members, arranged according to their Counties and Boroughs ; which is very welcome to the historical inquirer. But evidently, for every purpose of historical inquiry connected with this Period, there is needed farther, — if not some well-investigated brief ' Biographical Dictionary of the Long- Parliament Members,' such as the pious historical student is free to imagine for himself, but will not soon get, — at least and lowest, some Alpha- betical List of their Names ; the ready index and memento of a great many things to us. As no such List was anywhere discoverable, I had to construct one for my own behoof ; a process by no means difficult in proportion to its usefulness, the facts being already all given in the extant List by Places, and only requiring to be rearranged for the new object of a List by Names. This latter List, after long doing duty in the manuscript state, is now, for the use of others, appended here in print, — there being accidentally a corner of room for it in this New Edition.
It is not vitally connected with Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches ; yet neither is it quite without relation to the man. Here are the Names of some five or six hundred men, whom Oliver Cromwell sat in view of, and worked along with, through certain years of time in this world ; their Names and Localities, if we have nothing more. More is attainable concerning several of them, and is very well worth attaining ; but little more, to the
1 London, 1763, ix. 12-57.
244 LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
general reader, is yet attained. Featureless, to the general reader ; little other than ticketed shadows, a strange sanhedrim of phantoms, most of these men ; — not unlikely all of them to become shadows and invisib'e, except where kindled by some contact with this the luminous and living one ! Here are their Names, at whatever worth the reader may put upon them : 'ad- joined' to the Name of Oliver in this place, but capable of being disjoined again ; and perhaps worth printing, there being a corner of room for them. What is a more questionable point, this List I am aware is not quite free from errors ; one or two of which it has even fallen in my own %vay not only to surmise, bui to prosecute to their source, and correct. Numerous I do not suppose them to be, nor important : but I cannot certify that there are none ; nor help fprther in removing what there may be. The List itself, once printed, offers to all studious persons the opportunity to help ; which certainly it would be a beneficence of its sort if some strict antiquary, or series of anti- quaries, would effectually do. The constituent elements of the ' most re- markable Parliament that ever sat,' — which indeed is definable as the Father of Parliaments, which first rendered Parliaments supreme, and has since set the whole world upon chase of Parliaments, a notable speculation very lively in most parts of Europe at this day, — deserve at least to have their names accurately given. They deserve, and perhaps they will one day get, much more ; they deserve a History, constitutional, biographical, political, prac- tical, picturesque, better than most Entities that yet have one among us ; and, in all points of view, they will be found not imaginary but real, and well worth remembering and attending to. Meanwhile, in the absence of aU History, constitutional or other, of the Long Parliament, let this imperfect foreshadow of the incipiency of one be welcome.
.
e" is ^one nominated to that office, and only in part or not at all risking to per- form it ; 'regicide' is one who performed and completed it, who signed the Death- warrant : both titles, I find, are now and then, especially in the cases where nothing not already known was to be learned from them, omitted in this List. Other con- tractions will probably require no explanation.
Abbot, George, Esq. (dead '45) Guildford.
*Abbot, George, Esq Tamiuorth.
Acton, Sir Edward, Knight (disab. '44) ... Bridgnorth.
Aldburgh, Richard, Esq. (disab. '42. York- shire petition) Aldborough, Yorkshire
*Aldworth, Richard, Esq Bristol.
Alford, Sir Edward, Knight (disab. '44) ... A run del.
Alford, Sir Edward, Knight (void, though
twice) Tewkesbury.
Alford, John, Esq Shoreham'.
Allanson, Sir William, Knight (King's
judge) York.
•Allen, Francis, Esq. (King's judge) ... Cockermouth.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 24^
"Alien, Matthew, Esq Weymouth.
Allestre, William, Esq. (Recorder; disab.) Derby.
Alured, John, Esq. (regicide) Heydon, Yorkshire,
Anderson, Sir Henry, Knight (disab. '44). Neivcastle-on-'l'yne, Andover, Charles, Viscount (e. s. of E. of
Berkshire ; made Peer '40, in his father's
lifetime) Oxford.
'Andrews, Robert, Esq ... Weobly, Herefordshire.
*Anlaby, John, Esq. (King's judge) ... Scarborough.
*Annesley, Arthur, Esq Radnorshire.
*Apsley, Edward, Esq. ... ... ... Steyning.
Armyn, Sir William, Bart. (King's judge).. Grantham.
*Armyn, William, Esq. (since '45) ... Cumberland.
*Arthington, Henry, Esq Pontefract.
Arundel, John, Esq. (disab. '44) (St. Michaels, but preferred)
Bodmin.
*Arundel, John, Esq. West Looe.
Arundel, Richard, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Lostwithiel,
*Arundel, Thomas, Esq. (died) West Looe.
Arundel, Thomas, Esq West Looe.
*Ash, James, Esq Bath.
Ashburnham, John, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Hastings. Ashburnham, William, Esq. (army-plot '41
expelled) Ludgershall, Wilts.
Ashe, Edward, Esq. ... Heytesbury, Wilts.
Ashe, John, Esq Westbury, Wilts.
As^ton, Ralph, Esq. Clithero.
Ashton, Sir Ralph, Baronet Lancashire.
Ashurst, William, Esq. ... Newton, Lancashire*
*Atkins, Thomas, Esq. (King's judge) ... Norwich.
Ayscough, Sir Edward, Knight Lincolnshire.
*Ayscough, William, Esq Thirsk.
*Bacon, Francis, Esq. ... ... ... Ipswich.
*Bacon, Nathaniel, Esq Cambridge University,
*Bagot, Sir Harvey, Knight (disab. '42)... Staffordshire.
Bagshaw, Edward, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Southwark.
* Baker, John, Esq. ... ... East Grinstead.
Baldwin, Charles, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Ludlow.
*Ball, John, Esq. (dead '48) Abingdon.
Bampfield, Sir John, Baronet Penryn.
Barker, Anthony, Esq. (void) Wallingford.
Barker, John, Esq., Alderman Coventry.
Barnardiston, Sir Nathaniel, Knight ... Suffolk.
*Barnardiston, Sir Thomas, Knight ... Bury St. Edmunds.
Barnham, Sir Francis, Knight (dead '46).. Maidstone. *Barrington, Sir John, Baronet (King's
judge) Newton, Hants.
Harrington, Sir Thomas, Baronet (dead
'44) Colchester.
*Barrow, Morris, Esq. ... Eye, Suffolk.
Barwis, Richard, Esq. (died) Carlisle.
Basset, William, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Bath. Baynton, Sir Edward, Knight (King's
judge) Chippenham.
Baynton, Sir Edward, Knight Devizes.
Bedingfield, Sir Anthony, Knight ... Dunviis.it.
246
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
Bell, William, Esq
Bellasis, Henry, Esq. (disab. '42, York- shire petition)
Bellasis, John, Esq. (disab. '42, Yorkshire petition ; made Lord '44)
Bellingham, Sir Henry, Bart, (disab. '45)..
*Bellingham, James, Esq
Bence, Squire, Esq
*Bence, Alexander, Esq. (succeeded Rains- borough) ...
*Bendlowes, Sir Robert, Knight
*Beimet, Thomas, Esq. (dead '44)
Benson, Henry, Esq. (expelled '41, for selling protections)
Berkeley, Sir Henry, Knight (void)
*Biddulph, Michael, Esq
*Bingham, John, Esq.
*Birch, John, Esq. (the Colonel ; Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy, part ii. p. 34)
*Birch, Thomas, Esq. (from Oct. '49) ...
Bishop, Sir Edward, Knight (void)
*Blackiston, John, Esq. (regicide^
*Blagrave, Daniel, Esq. (regicide)
*BIake, Robert, Esq. (the Admiral)
Bludworth, Sir Thomas, Knight (disab.)...
Bodville, John, Esq. (disab. '44)
Bond, Dennis, Esq. (King's judge)
*Bond, John, LL.D
"Boone, Thomas, Esq. (King's judge) ...
*Booth, George, Esq. (May '46)
* Booth, John, Esq. ...
*Borde, Herbert, Esq. (died)
Borlace, John, Esq. (disab. '44)
Borlace, John, Esq. (void)
*Boscawen, Hugh, Esq
*Bosvillr, Godfrey, Esq. (King's judge) ...
*Boughton, Thomas, Esq
*Bourchier, Sir John, Knight (regicide) ...
Bowyer, Sir Thomas, Baronet (disab. '42, for Chichester garrison)
Bowyer, Sir William (died '40)
*Bowyer, John, Esq.
Boyle, Richard, Viscount Dungarvon, (e. s. of E. of Cork, whom he succeeded in '43; disab. '43)
*Boynton, Sir Matthew, Baronet (dead '47)
Boys, Sir Edward, Knight (dead '46)
"Boys, John, Esq
Brereton, Sir William, Bart. (King's judge)
Brett, Henry, Esq. (disab.)
*Brewster, Robert, Esq
Bridgeman, Orlando, Esq. (Lawyer, see D' Ewes, 118 ; disab. for assisting Lord Strange '42)
*Briggs, Sir Humphrey, Knight
Westminster. Yorkshire.
'1 'hirsk.
Westmoreland. Westmoreland, Aldborough, Suffolk.
Aldborough, Suffolk. Lancaster. Hindon, Wilts.
Knaresberough. Ilchester. Lichfield. Shaftesbury.
Leominster.
Liverpool.
Bramber.
Newcastle-on- Tyne.
Reading.
Taunton.
Reigate.
Anglesea.
Dorchester.
Melcomb Regis.
Clifton, Dartmouth, Hardntn
(Devonshire, united). Cheshire. Portsmouth. Steyning. Corfe Castle. Marlow. Corn-wall.
Warwick.
Warwickshire Ripon.
Bramber.
Staffordshire, Staffordshire.
Appleby.
Scarborough,
Dover.
Kent.
Cheshire.
Gloucester.
Dunuuich.
Wigan. Great Wenlock.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
247
Brooke, Sir John, Knight (disab. '43, for raising money in Lincolnshire)
*Brooke, Peter, Esq.
Brown, Sir Ambrose, Baronet
*Brown, Richard, Esq
*Brown, Major-Gen. Richard (disab. '49)... Brown, Samuel, Esq.
* Browne, John, Esq. (King's judge) Broxholme, John, Esq. (dead '47) Buckhurst, Lord Richard (e. s. of E. of Dorset, disab. '44)
•Bulkeley, John, Esq
Buller, Francis, Esq.
Buller, George, Esq. (died)
Buller, Sir Richard, Knight (dead '46) ...
*Burgoyne, Sir John, Baronet
*Burgoyne, Sir Roger, Baronet
Burrel, Abraham, Esq. (King's judge) ...
Button, John, Esq
Byshe, Edward, junior, Esq.
Cage, William, Esq. (dead "44)
Campbell, Tames, Esq. ... ^...
Campion, Henry, Esq
Capel, Arthur, Esq. (created Lord '41) ...
Carew, Sir Alexander (treachery of Ply- mouth ; beheaded '44)
*Carew, John, Esq. (regicide)
*Carew, William, Esq
Carnaby, Sir William, Knight (disab. '42)
Catalyn, Richard, Esq. (disab. '44)
Cave, Sir Richard, Knight (disab. '42) ...
Cawley, William, Esq. (regicide)
Cecil, Robert, Esq. (2d. s. of E. of Salis- birv)
*Celyv" Thomas, Esq
*Chadwell, William, Esq. (disab. '44) ...
*Challoner, James, Esq. (King's judge) ...
*Challoner, Thomas, Esq. (regicide)
*Charlton, Robert, Esq
Chaworth, Dr. (not duly)
Cheeke, Sir Thomas, Knight
*Chettle, Francis, Esq
Cheyne, William, Esq. (died)
Chichely, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '42) ..»
Cholmley, Sir Hugh (disab. '43) ...
*Cholmley, Thomas, Esq
Chomley, Sir Henry, Knight
•Clark, Samuel, Esq
"Clement, Gregory, Esq. (regicide ; disab. '52)
Clifton, Sir Gervase, Baronet (disab.)
Clinton, Lord Edward (e> s. of E. of Lin- coln)
Appleby.
Newton, Lancashire, Surrey. Romney. Wycombe. Clifton, Dartmouth, Hardness
(united). Dorsetshire. Lincoln,
(Steyning, Sussex, but prefers)
East Grinstead. Newton, Hants. East Loot. Saltash. Fowey.
Warwickshire. Bedfordshire. Huntingdon. Lymington. Bletchingley. Ipswich. Grampound. Lymington. Hertfordsh ire.
Cornwall. Tregony, Cornwall. Milborn Port. Morpeth. Norwich. Lichfi-eld. Midhurst, Sussex.
Old Sarum. Bridport, Dorsetshire. St. Michaeh, Cornwall. Aldborough, Yorkshire. Richmond, Yorkshire. Bridgnorth. Midhurst, Sussex. (Beeralston, Devon, but pre- ferred) Harwich. Corfe Castle. Amersham. Ca m b ridgeshire. Scarborough. Carlisle. Nor t ha llerton, Exeter.
Camelford. East Retford.
St. Michaels, Cornwall.
248
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
"Clivc, Robert, Esq.
Clotworthy, Sir John, Knight (disab. one of then)
Cuke, Henry, Esq. (disab. '42)
Coke, Sir John, Knight ...
Colepepper, Sir John, Knight (disab. '44; made Lord 21 Oct. '44)
Combe, Edward, Esq. (void)
Compton, Lord James (e. s. of E. of Nor- thampton ; disab.)
Coningsby, Fitzwilliam, Esq. (disab. '41, monopolist)
*Coningsby, Humphrey, Esq. (disab. '46).
*Constable, Sir William, Baronet (regi- cide ; instead of Benson the jobber, and in preference to Deerlove, '42)...
Constantine, William, Esq. (disab. '43) ...
Cook, Sir Robert, Knight (died)
Cook, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '44)
*Copley, Lionel, Esq. (disab. with the u).
*Corbet, John, Esq. (King's judge)
*Corbet, Sir John, Baronet
Corbet, Miles, Esq. (regicide)
Cornwallis, Sir Frederick, Baronet (disab. '42, for sending officers from Hol- land)
Cory ton, William, Esq. (not duly)
•Coventry, John, Esq. (2d s. of late Lord Keeper, disab. '42)
Cowcher, John, Esq.
Cradock, Matthew, Esq. (died '40)
Cranbourne, Viscount Charles (e. s. of E. of Salisbury) ...
Crane, Sir Robert, Baronet (dead '44) ...
Craven, John, Esq. (void ; made Baron Craven 21 March '43)
Creswell, Sergeant Richard
Crew, John, Esq. ...
Crispe, Sir Nicholas, Knight (expelled '41, for monopoly in copperas)
*Crompton, Thomas, Esq.
Cromwell, Oliver, Esq. ...
*Cromwell, Richard, Esq
Crooke, Sir Robert, Knight (disab. '43)...
*C'rowther, William, Esq. ...
*Crynes, Elizeus, Esq
Curwe.n, Sir Patricius, Baronet (disab. '44)
Curzon, Sir John, Baronet
*Dacres, Sir Thomas, Knight (instead of Capel)
*Dacres, Thomas, Esq
Dalston, Sir George, Knight (disab. '44)..
Dalston, Sir William, Baronet (disab. '44).
Danby, Sir Thomas, Knight (disab. '42, Yorkshire petition)
Bridgnorth.
(Bossiney, Cornwall, but pre- fers) Maiden , Ess<r_ Dumvich. Derbyshire.
Kent.
Warwickshire,
Warwickshire.
Herefordshire. Herefordshire,
Knaresborough.
Poole.
Tewkesbury.
Leicester.
Bossiney.
Bishop's Castle, Salop.
Shropshire.
Yarmouth.
Eye, Suffolk.
Launceston, alias I^unchnit
Evesham. Worcester. London.
Hertford, Sudbkry.
Tewkesbury.
Evesham.
Brackley.
Winchelsea. Staffordshire. Cambridge. Portsmouth.
Wendover, Buiiti.
Weobly.
Tavistock.
Cumberland.
Derbyshire.
Hertfordsh ire. Kellington. Cumberland. Carlisle.
Richmond, Yorkshire
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
249
•Danvers, Sir John, Knight (E. Danby's brother ; regicide)
"Darley, Henry, Esq.
*Dailey, Richard, Esq. (King's judge) ...
Davies, Matthew, Esq. (disab. '43)
*Davies, William, Esq
Deering, Sir Edward, Baronet (disab. '42, for printing his speeches)
*Deerlove, William, Esq. (void)
Denton, Sir Alexander, Knight (disab. '44)
*Devereux, George, Esq
D'Ewes, Sir Simond, Baronet
Digby, Lord George (e. s. of E. of Bristol ; till 10 June '41, writ to House of Peers)
Digby, John, Esq. (disab. '42)
Dives, Sir Lewis, Knight (disab.)
*Dixwell, John, Esq. (regicide)
*Dobins, Daniel, Esq
*Dodderidge, John, Esq
*Dormer, John, Esq. (in '46)
*Dove, John, Esq. (King's judge) *Downes, John, Esq. (regicide) ... *Dowse, Edward, Esq. (dead '48) *Doylcy, John, Esq.
Drake, Sir William, Knight
*Drake, Francis, Esq.
*Drake, Sir Francis, Baronet
Dryden, Sir John, Baronet
Dunch, Edmund, Esq
Dutton, John, Esq. (disab.)
*Earle, Erasmus, Esq
Earle, Thomas, Esq.
Earle, Sir Walter, Knight... Eden, Thomas, LL.D. (dead in '44) Edgcombe, Piers, Esq. (disab. "44) Edgecumbe, Richard, Esq. (disab.) *Edwards, Humphrey, Esq. (regicide) ... *Edwards, Richard, Esq. (Nov. '50)
*Edwards, Richard, Esq
*Edwards, William, Esq
*Egerton, Sir Charles, Knight
*Elford, John, Esq.... ...
Ellis, William, Esq
*Ellison, Robert, Esq
Erisy, Richard, Esq. ...
Eure, Sergeant Samuel (disab. "44)
*Evelyn, George, Esq
Evelyn, Sir John, Knight ...
Evelyn, Sir John, Knight ...
Eversfield, Sir Thomas, Knight (disab. '44)
Exton, Edward, Esq.
*Fagg, John, Esq. (King's judge)
Fairfax, Lord Ferdinando (died '47) •Fairfax, Sir Thomas, Knight (from 7 Feb. *49)
Malmesbury. Malton. Northallerton. Christchurch, Hants* Carmarthen.
Kent.
Kn a resbo rough.
Buckingham.
Montgomery.
Sudbury.
(Miltorn Port, but preferred;
Dorsetshire. Milborn Port. Bridport. Dover. Bewdley. Ban/staple. Buckingham, Salisbury. Arundel. Portsmouth. Oxford.
Amersham, Bucks. Amersham. Beeralston. Northamptonshire. \Va II ing ford. Glo ucestersh ire. Norwich. Wareham, Dorset. Weymouth.
Cambridge University. Camelford. Newport, Cornwall. Shropshire. Bedford.
Christchurch, Hani-. Chester. Ripon. Tiverton. Boston.
Newcastle-on- Tyne, St. Mawes, Cornwall, Leominster. Reigate.
Bletchingley, Surrey. Ludgershall, Wilts, Hastings. Southampton. Rye. Yorkshire.
Cirencester,
250 LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
Falkland, Ix>rd (disab. '42, killed at New-
bery, Sept. '43) ...
Fanshaw, Sir Thomas, K.B. (disab. '43).. Fanshaw, Sir Thomas, Knight (di;-ab. '42) *Fell, Thomas, Esq. (after Fanshaw)
Fenwick, John, Esq. (disab. '44}
*Fenwick, George, Esq. (King's judge) ... Fenwick, Sir John, Knight (disab. '44) ...
*Fenwick, William, Esq. ...
Fernfold, Sir Thomas (dead '45)
Ferrers, Richard, Esq. (disab.)
Fettiplace, John, Esq. (disab. '44)
•Fielder, John, Esq. ...
Fiennes, Hon. James (e. a. of " Old Sub- tlety, "Say and Scale)
* Fiennes, Hon. John (3d s. of Subtlety) ...
Fiennes, Hon. Nathaniel (2d s. of Sub- tlety)
Finch, Sir John, Knight (dead '44)
Fitzwilliam, Hon. William (e. s. of Lord Vise. Fitzwilliam ; till Jan. "44)
*Fleetwood, Charles, Esq
*Fleetwood, George, Esq. (regicide ; suc- ceeded Goodwin, '45)
Fleetwood, Sir Miles, Knight (died)
Fountaine, Thomas, Esq. (in place of Hampden ; dead '46)
*Fowel, Edmund, Esq
Fowel, Sir Edmund, Knight
*Foxwist, William, Esq
Franklyn, John, Esq. (dead '45)
Franklyn, Sir John, Knight (dead in '48)..
*Frye, John, Esq. (King's judge ; against the Trinity; disab. '51)
Gallop, George, Esq.
Gamul, Francis, Esq. (disab. '44 ; see Rush- worth, iv. 3)
*Gardiner, Samuel, Esq
*Garland, Augustin, Esq. (regicide)
Carton, Henry, Esq. (dead '41)
Gawdy, Framlingham, Esq.
*Gawen, Thomas, Esq.
*Gell, Thomas, Esq.
George, John, Esq. (disab.)
Gerrard, Francis, Esq.
Gerrard, Sir Gilbert, Baronet
Glanville, Sergeant John (instead of Hum- phrey Hooke, monopolist)
Glanville, William, Esq. (disab. '44)
Glynn.John, Esq. (Recorder; disab., one of then)
Godolphin, Francis, Esq. (disab.)
Godolphln, Francis, Esq. (disab. '44)
Godolphin, Sidney, Esq. (killed at Saltash '42)
Newport, Wight.
Hertford.
Lancaster.
Lancaster.
Morpeth.
Morpeth.
(Cockermouth, but preferred)
Northumberland. Northumberland. Steyning. Barnstaple. Berkshire. St. Ives, Cornwall.
Oxfordshire. Morpeth.
Banbury. Winchelsea.
Peterborough. Marlborough.
Buckinghamshire. Hindon, Wilts.
Wendover.
Tavistock.
Ashburton.
Carnarvon.
Marlborough.
Middlesex.
Shaftesbury. Southampton.
Chester.
Evesham.
Queenborough.
Arundel.
Thetford.
Launceston, alias Duuchevit.
Derby.
Cirencester.
Seaford (Cinque Ports).
Middlesex.
Bristol. Camelford.
Westminster,
St. Ives, Cornwall.
Helston, Cornwall.
Htlston.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 251
*G6ld, Nicholas, Esq. (died) Fmvey.
Goodwin, Arthur, Ksq. (died May '45) ... Buckinghamshire. Goodwin, Ralph, Esq. (disab. '44; Secre- tary to Rupert) Ludlow.
Goodwin, Robert, Esq East Grinstead.
Goodwyu, John, Esq. ... Halsemere, Surrey.
Gorges, Sir Theobald, Knight (disab. '44) Cirencester. Goring, Colonel George (disab. '42, for
surrendering Portsmouth) Portsmouth.
*Got, Samuel, Esq Winchelsea.
*Gourdon, Brampton, jun., Esq Sudbury.
Gourdon, John, Esq. (King's judge) ... Ipswich.
Grantham, Thomas, Esq Lincoln.
*Gratwick, Roger, Esq. (King's judge) ... Hastings.
*Green, Giles, Esq Corfe Castle.
Greenville, Sir Bevil (disab. "42 ; killed at
Lansdown, July '43) Cornwall.
Grey, Henry de (commonly called Lord
Ruthen ; House of Peers, on father E.
Kent's death, in '43) Leicestershire.
Grey, Lord Thomas, of Groby (e. s. of E.
of Stamford ; regicide) Leicester.
Griffith, Sir Edward, Knight (disab. '44)... Downton, Wilts.
Griffith, John, sen., Esq. (died '42) ... Beaumaris.
Griffith, John, jun., Esq. (disab. '42) ... Carnarvonshire.
Grimston, Harbottle, Esq. (afterwards Sir) Colchester. Grimston, Sir Harbottle, Baronet (dead
'47) Harwich.
*Grove, Thomas, Esq ... Milborn Port.
Hales, Sir Edward, Baronet (disab.) ... Queenborough, Kent.
Hallows, Nathaniel, Esq. (Alderman) ... Derby.
Hampden, John, Esq. (slain June '43) ... (Wendover, but preferred)
Buckinghamshire.
Harding, Sir Richard, Knight (disab. '44) Bedwin, Wilts. *Harley, Edward, Esq. (till '47 ; one of the
n) Herefordshire.
Harley, Sir Robert, K.B Herefordshire.
*Harley, Robert, Esq Radnor.
Harman, Richard, Esq. (dead '46) ... Norwich. *Harrington, Sir James, Knight (King's
judge) Rutlandshire.
*Harrington, John, Esq. (void) Somersetshire?
*Harris, John, Esq Launceston, alias Dunchevit.
Harris, John, Esq. (disab. '44) Liskeard.
Harrison, Sir John, Knight (disab. '43) ... Lancaster. *Harrison, Thomas, Esq. (Major-General,
regicide) ... Wendover.
Harrison, William, Esq. (disab. '43) ... Queenborough.
Hartnoll, George, Esq. (disab.) ... ... Tiverton.
* Harvey, Edmund, Esq. (instead of
Smith; King's judge) Bedwin, Wilts.
*Harvey, Edward, Esq Higham Ferrers.
Harvey, John, Esq. (dead '45) Hythe.
2 Sat afterwards for Castle Carey, as appears ; and took some dim meagre Notes, which are still in existence among the Brit. Mus. MSS.
252 LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
Haselrig, Sir Arthur, Bart. (King's judge).. Leicestershire.
Hatcher, Thomas, Esq Stamford.
Hatton, Sir Christopher (disab. '42, array ;
made Baron 43) (Castle Rising, but preferred)
Higham Ferrers.
Hatton, Sir Robert (in place of Sir Chris- topher ; disab. 42) Castle Rising.
*Hay, Herbert, Esq. Arundel.
*May, William, Esq. Rye.
1 toyman, Sir Henry, Baronet Hythe.
Hayman, Sir Peter, Knight (dead '41) ... Dover.
Keblethwaite, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '44).. Malton.
*Hele, Sir Thomas (disab.) Plimpton, Devon.
Herbert, Edward, Esq. (till Jan. '41, made
Attorney-General) Old Sarum.
Herbert, Sir Henry, Knight (disab. '42,
array) Bewdley.
•Herbert, Henry, Eq Monmouthshire.
'Herbert, John, Esq. Monmouthshire.
'Herbert, Hon. James (2ds. of E. of Pem- broke) Wiltshire.
Herbert, Lord Phil. (e. s. of E. of Pem- broke) ... ... ... ... ... Glamorganshire.
Herbert, Richard, Esq. (disab. '42, array). Montgomery.
Herbert, William, Esq. (disab., killed at
Edgehill) Cardiff.
Herbert, William, Esq. (disab. '44) ... ( Woodstock, but pro/erred)
Monmouthshire.
Heveningham, William, Esq. (King's
judge) Stockbridge, Hants.
*Hill, Roger, Esq. (King's judge)... ... Bridport.
Hippesley, Gabriel, Esq. (void) Marlow.
Hippesley, Sir John, Knight Cockcrmovth.
*Hobart, Sir John, Baronet (dead '47) ... Norfolk.
Kobby, Peregrine, Esq. (in place of Bor-
lace) ... ... ... Marlow.
*Hodges, Luke, Esq. (died) Bristol.
Hodges, Thomas, Esq Cricklade.
*Hodges, Thomas, Esq. ... ... ... Ilchester.
Holborn, Robert, Esq. (disab. '42) ... St. Michaels.
*Holcrofte, John, Esq. ... Wigan.
Holland, Cornelius, Esq. (King's judge; in
place of Roe) ... ... ... ... New Windsor.
Holland, Sir John, Baronet ... ... Castle Rising, Norfolk
Holies, Den/.il, Esq. (till '47; one of the n) Dorchester.
*HolIes, Francis, Esq. ... ... ... Lostwithiel.
Holies, Gervase, Esq. (disab. '42)... ... Great Grimsby.
Hooke, Humphrey, Esq. (monopolist, not
duly: Evans's Bristol, p. 181). Bristol.
Hopton, Sir Ralph, K.B. (disab.' '42) ... Wells.
*Horner, George, Esq. (void ; Harrington's
partner) Somersetshire.
*Hoskins, Bennet, Esq. ... Hereford.
Hotham, John, Esq. (beheaded i Jan. '44) Scarborough.
Ilotham, Sir John, Baronet (beheaded 2
Jan. '44) Severity.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
253
•Houghton, Sir Richard, Baronet (from
45)
"Howard, Lord Edward, of Escrick (in
'49 ; disab. '51)
Ho\v,j.rd, Sir Robert, K.B. (disab. '42) ... Howard, Thomas, Esq. (i n place of Barker ;
disab. '44 ; D 'Ewes, 219) .'.loyle, Thomas, Esq. (Alderman) Hudson, Edmund, Esq. (disab. '47) Hungerford, Anthony, Esq. (disab.)
Hungerford, Sir Edward, K.B
*Hungerford, Henry, Esq....
Hunt, Robert, Esq. (void, but re-elected ;
disab. '44)
*Hunt, Thomas, Esq.
*Hussey, Thomas, Esq. (after Jervoise
died)
*Hutchinson, John, Esq. (the Colonel ; re- gicide) ...
Hutchinson, Sir Thomas, Knight (dead
'44) Hyde, Edward, Esq. (Clarendon ; disab.
42)
Hyde, Sergeant Robert (disab. '42) *lngoldsby, Richard, Esq. (the signer) ... Ingram, Sir Arthur, Knight (died) Ingram, Sir Thomas, Knight (disab. '42,
for Yorkshire petition) ...
Frby, Sir Anthony, Knight
*Lreton, Henry, Esq. ...
Jacob, Sir John, Knight (expelled '41,
monopolist of tobacco) ... Jane, Joseph, Esq. (disab. '44) Jenner, Robert, Esq. Jennings, Sir John, Knight (died '42) "^Jennings, Richard, Esq. (succeeds Sir
John)
Jephson, William, Esq. ermyn, Henry, Esq. (disab. '43 ; Lord Jermyn) ...
! ermyn, Sir Thomas, Knight (disab. '44).. ervoise, Richard, Esq. (dead '45) ervoise, Sir Thomas, Knight esson, William. Esq. (Alderman) ones, Arthur, Lord Ranelagh (disab.) ... Jones, John, Esq. (regicide)
*Jories, Colonel Philip (in Feb. '50)
•Jones, William, Esq
*Kekewich, George, Esq
*Kemp, John, Esq —
Killegrew, Henry, Esq. (disab. '44)
King, Richard, Esq. (disab. '43)
Kirkby, Roger, Esq. (disab. '42)
'Kirkiiam, Roger, Esq. (dead '46)
Kirle, Walter, Esq
Kirton, Edward, Esq. (disab. '42)
Lancashire.
Carlisle.
Bishop's Castle, Salop.
Wallingford.
York.
Lynn.
Malmesbury.
Chippenham.
Bedwin, Wilts.
Ilchester. Shrewsbury.
\Vhitchurch, Hants. Nottingh amsh ire. Nottingha ms/i ire.
Saltash. Salisbury. Wendover. Kellington.
Thirsk. Boston. Appleby.
Rye.
Liskeard. Cricklade. St. Albans.
St. Allans. Stockbridge, Hanis.
Bury St. Edmund*. Bury St. Edmunds. WMtchurck, Hants. Whitchurch, Haai>. Coventry. Weobly.
Merionethshire. Brecknockshire. Beaumaris. Liskeard.
Christchurch, Hants. West Looe. Melcomb Regis. Lancashire. Old Sarum. Leominster. Milf-orn Port.
254
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
*Knatchbull, Sir Norton, Baronet
Knightley, Richard, Esq. ...
Knowles, Sir Francis, sen., Knight (died
•48)
Knowles, Sir Francis, jun., Knight (died
45)
Lane, Thomas, Esq.
*Langton, William, Esq
*Lascelles, Francis, Esq. (King's judge)...
*Lawrence, Henry, Esq
*I^echmere, Nicholas, Esq.
Lee, Richard, Esq. ...
Lee, Sir Richard, Baronet (disab. '42) ... *Leech, Nicholas, Esq. (dead '47)
Leeds, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '42)
Legh, Peter, Esq. (dead '41)
Legrose, Sir Charles, Knight
*Leigh, Edward, Esq
Leigh, Sir John, Knight
*Leman, William, Esq
*Lenthall, John, Esq. (King's judge) Lenthall, William, Esq. (Speaker) Leveson, Sir Richard, K.B. (disab. '42)...
*Lewis, Ludovicus, Esq
Lewis, Sir William, Baronet (disab., one
of the n, in '47)...
Lewkenor, Christopher, Esq. (disab. '42) .
Lisle, John, Esq. (King's judge)
Lisle, Lord Philip (e. s. of Robert E. of
Leicester; King's judge)
Lister, Sir John, Knight (died)
*Lister, Thomas, Esq. (King's judge) ...
•Lister, Sir William, Knight
Littleton, Sir Edward, Baronet (disab. '44) Littleton, Thomas, Esq. (disab. "44)
Litton, Sir William, Knight
*Livesey, Sir Michael, Baronet (regicide)..
Lloyd, Francis, Esq. (disab. '44)
*Lloyd, John, Esq
Lloyd, Walter, Esq. (disab. '44)
*Long, Lislebone, Esq
Long, Richard, Esq. (monopolist, not
duly)
*Long, Walter, Esq. (instead of Ashburn-
ham ; one of the n, in '47)
*Love, Nicholas, Esq. (King's judge) ...
Low, George, Esq. (disab. '44)
Lower, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '44) Lowry, John, Esq. (King's judge ; see
Harris, Appendix)
Lucas, Henry, Esq
*Luckyn, Capel, Esq
*Lucy, Sir Richard, Baronet
Lucy, Sir Thomas, Knight (died '40) "Ludlow, Edmund, Esq
Romney. Northampton.
Reading.
Reading.
Wycombe. Preston. Thirsk.
Westmoreland. Droitwich. Rochester. Shropshire. Newport, Cornwall. Steyning.
Newton, Lancashire. Orford, Suffolk. Stafford.
Yarmouth, Wight.
Hertford.
Gloucester.
Woodstock.
Newcastle-under-Line.
Brecon.
Petersfield. Chichester. Winchester.
(St. Ives, Cornwall, but pre- ferred) Yarmouth, Wight HuM. Lincoln. East Retfard. Staffordshire. Great Wenlock. Hertfordsh ire. Qveenborough. Carmarthen. Camarthenshirc. Cardiganshire. Wells.
Bristol.
Ludgershall, Wilts. Winchester. Calne. East Loot,
Cambridge.
Cambridge University. Harwich. Old Sarum. Warwick. Hindon, Wilts.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 255
Ludlow, Sir Henry, Knight (dead '44) ... Wiltshire.
•Ludlow, Lieut. -General Edmund (regi- cide) Wiltshire.
Luke, Sir Oliver, Knight Bedfordshire.
Luke, Sir Samuel, Knight (died) Bedford.
Lumley, Sir Martin, Baronet Essex.
Lutterel, Alexander, Esq. (dead '44) ... Minehead.
Lyster, Sir Martin, Knight Brackley, Northamptonshire.
*Mackworth, Thomas, Esq. Ludlow.
Mallory, Sir John, Knight (disab. '43) ... Ripon.
Mallory, William, Esq. (disab. '42, York- shire petition) ... ... ... ... Ripon.
Manaton, Ambrose, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Launceston, alias Dunchevit.
Mansfield, Charles Viscount (e. s. of E. of
Newcastle, disab. '44) East Retford.
Marlot, William, Esq. (dead '46) Shoreham.
Marten, Henry, Esq. (regicide) Berkshire.
*Martin, Christopher, Esq. Plimpton.
*Martin, Sir Nicholas, Knight Devonshire.
*Masham, Sir William, Baronet (King's
judge) Essex.
*Masham, William, Esq Shrewsbury.
*Massey, Edward, Esq. (the soldier ; disab.,
one of then) ... Wootlon Basset.
Masters, Sir Edward, Knight (dead "48)... Canterbury.
*Matthews, Roger, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Clifton, Dartmouth, Hardness
(united).
Mauleverer, Sir Thomas, Bart, (regicide)... Boroughbridge.
May, Thomas, Esq. (not May historian ;
disab. '42) Midhurst.
*Maynard, Sir John, K.B. (disab., one of
the n) ... ... ... Lostwithiel.
Maynard, John, Esq. (refusing Newport
Cornwall, whereupon Prynne) *Mayne, Simon, Esq. (regicide) ... Melton, Sir John (died '40) Merrick, Sir John, Knight Meux, Sir John, Knight (disab. '44) Middleton, Sir Thomas, Knight ... *Middleton, Thomas, Esq. Middleton, Thomas, Esq. ...
Totness. Aylesbury. Newcastle-on- Tyne. Newcastle under Line. Newton, Hants. Denbighshire. Flint. Horsham.
Mildmay, Sir Henry, Knight (King's
judge) Maiden.
*Millington, Gilbert, Esq. (regicide ;
D' Ewes, 211, 13 Dec. '41) Nottingham.
Monson, William, Viscount Monson in
Ireland (King's judge) Reigate.
Montague, Sir Sidney, Knight (disab. '42) Huntingdonshire. "Montague, Edward, Esq. (Colonel, E. of
Sandwich ; — after his father Sir Sidney) Huntingdonshire. Montague, Edward, Esq. (succeeds Lord
M. of Boughton, in '44 ; till then)3 ... Huntingdon. *Moody, Miles, Esq. (dead '46) Ripon.
3 A "George Montague" is also indisputably a member {Commons Journal, iv. 60), I know not for what place.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT,
Moor, Richard, Esq. (dead '44) ......
Moor, Thomas, Esq. .........
*Moor, Thomas, Esq .......
Moore, John, Esq. (regicide) More, Sir Poynings, Baronet (dead '49) ... Morgan, William, Esq. (dead '49) Morley, Herbert, Esq. (King's judge) ... Morley, Sir William, Knight (disab. '42,
for garrison there) Mostyn, John, Esq. (disab. '44) ......
Mountford, Sir Edward, Knight (dead '44) *Moyle, John, Esq. ... ... ......
Moyle, John, jun. Esq. (dead '46) ......
Musgrave, Sir Philip, Baronet (disab. '43,
array) ...............
Napier, Sir Gerard, Knight (disab. "44) ...
Napier, Sir Robert, Baronet
Nash, John, Esq. ... ... ......
*Needham, Sir Robert, Knight ... *.\Telthorp, James, Esq. (King's judge) ... *Nelthorp, John, Esq. ... ......
*Nevil, — , Esq. (from '49) .........
*Xeville, Henry, Esq. (from '50) ......
Newport, Francis, Esq. (disab. '44) Newport, Sir Richard, Knight (disab. ;
made Lord '42) ... ......
Nicholas, Edward, Esq. (Secretary after
Falkland ; disab.) ......
Nichols, Anthony, Esq. (disab. , one of the
...............
Nichols, Sergeant Robert (King's judge).. *Nixon, John, Esq. (Alderman) ... Noble, Michael, Esq. .........
Noel, Hon. Baptist (e. s. of Viscount Camden ; disab.) .........
North, Sir Dudley, Baronet ......
North, Sir Roger, Knight (disab.?) Northcote, Sir John, Baronet *Norton, Sir Gregory, Baronet (regicide).. *Norton, Richard, Esq. (Colonel)... Nutt, John, Esq. (King's judge) ... Ogle, Sir William, Knight (disab. '43) ... Oldsworth, Michael, Esq. ... ......
Onslow, Arthur, Esq. (void, but reelected) Onslow, Sir Richard, Knight ......
Osborne, Sir Edward, Knight (void) *O\ven, Arthur, Esq. ......
Owen, Sir Hugh, Knight ... ......
Owfield, Sir Samuel, Knight (dead '44) ... •Owfield, William, Esq ..........
Owner, Edward, Esq. .........
'Oxenden, Henry, Esq ..........
"Backer, Robert, Esq. ... ......
Packington, Sir John, Baronet (disab. '42 ; array) ...............
Bishop's CastU.
Heytesbury.
Lit d low.
Liverpool.
Haslemere.
Brecknockshire.
Lewes.
Chichester. Flintshire. Norfolk. East Looe. St. Germain*.
Westmoreland. Melcomb Regii. Peterborough.
Worcester.
Haverford l\r((t.
Beverley.
Beverley.
East Retford.
Berkshire.
Shrewsbury.
Shropshire. Newton, Hants.
Bo dm in. Devizes. Oxford. Lichfield.
Rutlandshire. Cambridgeshire. Eye, Suffolk. Ashburton. Midhurst. Hampshire. Canterbury. Winchester. {Plimpton, Devon, bat pr»
ferred) Salisbury. Bramber. Surrey. Berwick. Pembrokeshire, Pembroke. Gallon. Gatton. Yarmouth. Winchelsea.. Walling/ord.
Aylesbury.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
257
*Palgrave, Sir John, Baronet
Palmer, Geoffrey, Esq. (disab. '42)
•Palmer, John, M.D
*Palmer, Sir Roger, Knight (succeeded Legh in '42 ; disab. '44)
Palmes, Sir Guy, Knight (disab. '43)
Parker, Sir Philip, Knight
Parker, Sir Thomas, Knight
Parkhurst, Sir Robert, Knight (died)
Parry, George, LL.D. (disab. "44)
Parteriche, Sir Edward, Baronet ...
Paulet, Sir John, Knight (disab. '42)
Peard, George, Esq. (died)
*Petfk, Henry, Esq.... ...
Pelham, Henry, Esq. (speaker in tumults ofn)
*Pelham, John, Esq.
*Pelham, Peregrine, Esq. (regicide ; Heath, p. 364)
Pelham, Sir Thomas, Baronet
•Pembroke, Philip, Earl of (in Pile's place, '49, House of Lords being abolished ; died '50) ...
Pennington, Isaac, Esq. (King's judge) ...
Pennyman, Sir William, Bart, (disab. '42)
*Penrose, John, Esq.
Percival, John, Esq. (dead '44)
*Percival, Sir Philip, Knight (dead '47) ...
Perfoy, William, Esq. (regicide)
Peyton, Sir Thomas, Baronet (disab. '44) .
Philips, Edward, Esq. (instead of Ber- keley, '40; disab. '44) ...
Pickering, Sir Gilbert, Baronet (Poet Dry- den's ; King's judge)
Pickering, Robert, Esq. (void '46)
Piercy, Henry, Esq. (Earl of Northumber- land's brother ; expelled, Army-plot, '41 ; made Baron '43) ...
Pierpoint, Francis, Esq. (3d s. of Earl of
Kingston) Pierpoint, William, Esq. (2ds. of do.) ...
*Pigot, Gervase, Esq.
*Pile, Sir Francis, Baronet (died '49)
Playters, Sir William, Baronet
Pleydall, William, Esq. (disab. "44) Pole, Sir William, Knight (disab. '43) ... Polewheel, John, Esq. (disab. '44) Pollard, Sir Hugh, Knight (expelled '41,
for plot of bringing up army)
Poole, Edward, Esq.
Poole, Sir Nevil, Knight ...
*Pope, Roger, Esq. (dead '47)
Popham, Alexander, Esq
*Popham, Edward, Esq. (from '45)
Popham, Sir Francis (dead '44)
VOL. III.
Norfolk.
Stamford.
Bridgwater.
Newton, Lancashire.
Rutlandshire.
Suffolk.
Seaford (Cinque Ports\
Guildford.
St. Mawes.
Sandwich.
Som ersetsh irt.
Barnstaple.
Chichester.
Grantham, Hastings,
Hull.
Sussex.
Berkshire.
London.
Richmond, Yorkshire.
H els ton.
Lynn. *
Newport, Cornwall.
Warwick.
Sandwich.
Ilchester.
Northamptonshire. East Grinstead.
(Portsmouth, but preferred) Northumberland.
Nottingham.
Great Wenlock, Salop.
Nottingha mshire.
Berkshire.
Orford, Suffolk.
Wootton Basset.
Honiton.
Tregony.
Beeralston. Wootton Basset. Malmesbury. Merionethshire . Bath. Minehead. Minehead.
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
Porter, Endymion, Esq. (disab. '43)
Portman, Sir William, Baronet (disab. '44)
Potter, Hugh, Esq. (disab.)
Potts, Sir John, Baronet (died)
*Povey, Thomas, Esq
Price, Charles, Esq. (disab.)
Price, Herbert, Esq. (disab.)
Price, Sir John, Baronet (disab. "45)
"Price, Sir Richard, Baronet
Price, William, Esq. (disab. '44)
Prideaux, Edmund, Esq
*Priestley, William, Esq
Prynne, William, Esq
Pury, Alderman Thomas (took notes, see Burton's Diary, where the name is, by mistake, printed " Davy")
*Pury, Thomas, jun. Esq. (of Gloucester)
*Pye, Sir Robert, Knight
*Pym, Charles, Esq.
Pym, John, Esq. (died Dec. '43) ...
Pyne, John, Esq. ...
*Radcliff, John, Esq
Rainsborough, Captain (died '41)
*Rainsborough, Colonel Thomas (killed at Doncaster, 29 Oct. '48)
Rainsford, Sir Henry, Knight (dead '41)...
*Rainsford, Henry, Esq
*Raleigh, Carew, Esq.
Ramsden, Sir John (disab. for Selby fight,
*44)
Rashleigh, Jonathan, Esq. (disab. '44) ...
Ravenscroft, Paul, Esq.
Reynolds, Robert, Esq. (King's judge) ...
*Rich, Charles, Esq. ...
*Rich, Nathaniel, Esq. (from Feb. '49) ... Rich, Robert Lord (e. s. of Robert E. of
Warwick ; called to Peers, Jan. 27,
'41 ; Rush-worth, iv. 4) ... Rigby, Alexander, Esq. (King's judge) ...
Rivers, — , Esq. (dead '41)
*Robinson, Luke, Esq. ...
*Rochester, Charles Lord Viscount (e. s. of
E. of Somerset) ... ...
Rodney, Sir Edward (disab. '42)
Roe, Sir Thomas, Knight (not duly) Roe, Sir Thomas, Knight (dead in '44) ...
Rogers, Hugh, Esq.
Rogers, Richard, Esq. (disab. '42)
Rolle, John, Esq
*Rolle, Sir Samuel, Knight (died)
Rose, Richard Esq.
*Rossiter, Edward, Esq
Rouse, Francis. Esq.
Rudyard, Sir benjamin, Knight
* "Newport, soon alter the Parliament sat ;" ntentary History gives it.
Droitwick.
Taunton.
Plimpton.
Norfolk.
Liskeard.
Radnorshire.
Brecon.
Montgomeryshire.
Cardiganshire.
Merionethshire.
Lyme Regis.
St. Matties.
Newport,* Cornwall.
Gloucester. Monmouth. Woodstock. Beeralston. Tavistock. Poole. Chester. Aldborough, Suffolk.
Droitwich.
Andover.
St. Ives, Corn-wall.
Kellington, Cornwall
Northallerton.
Fowey.
Horsham.
Hindon, Wilts.
Sandwich.
Cirencester.
Essex. Wigan. Lewes. Scarborough.
St. Michaels.
Wells.
New Windsor.
Oxford University,
Calne.
Dorsetshire.
Truro.
Devonshire.
Lyme Regis.
Great Grimsby.
Truro.
Wilton.
not " Bristol in '45," as the I'-itltjt
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
•Russel, Francis, Esq Cambridgeshire.
Russel, Lord William (e. s. of E. of Bed- ford ; till '41) Twvistock.
*Russel, John, Esq. (disab. '44) ... .. Tavistock.
St. Hill, Peter, Esq. (disab. '44 ... St. John, Sir Beauchamp, Knight St. John, Oliver, Esq. (Sol. -Gen. in "40) Salisbury, John, jun. Esq. (disab. '44) "Salisbury, William, Earl of (in '49) Salway, Humphrey, Esq. (King's judge) *Salway, Richard, Esq. (King's judge) Sanders, — , Esq. (not duly) Sandys, Samuel, Esq. (disab. '42) Sandys, Thomas, Esq.
Tiverton. Bedford. Totness. Flint. Lynn.
Worcestershire. Appieby. Gatton. Droitwich. Gatton.
Sandys, William, Esq. (expelled '41, as
monopolist) Evesham.
*Saville, Sir William, Baronet (disab. '42,
Yorkshire petition) Old Sarum.
*Say, William, Esq. (regicide) Camelford.
*Sayer, John, Esq Colchester.
*Scawen, Robert, Esq Berwick.
*Scot, Thomas, Esq. (dead '47) Aldborough, Yorkshire.
*Scott, Thomas, Esq. (regicide) Aylesbury.
*Scudamore, James, Esq. (disab.) ... Hereford.
Seabourne, Richard, Esq. (disab. '46) ... Hereford.
Searle, George, Esq. Taunton.
Selden, John, Esq Oxford University.
Seymour, Edward, Esq. (disab. '44) ... Devonshire.
Seymour, Sir Francis, Knight (made Lord,
'41) Marlborough.
*Seymour, Sir John, Knight Gloucestershire.
*Shapcot, Robert, Esq Tiverton.
*Shelley, Henry, Esq. (after Rivers) ... Lewes.
Shuckburgh, Richard, Esq. (disab. ; in- stead of Combe) Warwickshire.
Shuttle-worth, Richard, Esq Clithero.
Shuttleworth, Richard, Esq. Preston.
Siddenham, Sir Ralph (in place of Clot- worthy ; disab. '42) Bossiney.
*Sidney, Algernon, Esq. (after Herbert ;
King's judge) ... Cardiff.
*Skeffington, Sir Richard, Knight (dead Staffordshire.
'47)
*Skinner, Augustin, Esq. (King's judge)... Kent. *Skippon, Philip, Esq. (the soldier ; King's
judge) Barnstaple.
*Skutt, George, Esq. Puole.
Slanning, Sir Nicholas, Knight (disab. '42;
killed at Bristol) {Plimpton, Devon, but pre- ferred) Penryn. Slingsby, Sir Henry, Baronet (disab. '42,
Yorkshire petition ; beheaded '58) ... Knaresborough. *Smith, John, Esq. (succeeds Lord Ando-
ver ; soon disab. ) Oxford.
'Smith, Philip, Esq. Marlborough.
Smith, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '44) Chester,
260
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
*Smith, Thomas, Esq. (disab. "42) Smith, Sir Walter, Knight (disab. '44) ...
•Smith, William, Esq. (disab.)
•Smyth, Henry, Esq. (regicide)
*Snelling, George, Esq
Sneyd, Ralph, jun. Esq. (disab. '43, taken
prisoner at Stafford)
Snow, Simon, Esq. ...
Soame, Sir Thomas, Knight
*Spelman, John, Esq.
*Spring, Sir William, Bart, (after Jermyn)..
*Springet, Herbert, Esq
Spurstow, William, Esq. merchant (dead
•46)
Stamford, Sir Thomas (not duly) ... Standish, Thomas, Esq. (dead '44) Stanhope, Ferdinando, Esq. (4th s. of E.
of Chesterfield : disab. '43)
Stanhope, William, Esq. (disab.)
*Stapleton, Bryan, Esq. ...
Stapleton, Sir Philip, Knight (disab., one
of then; died '47)
*Stapleton, Henry, Esq
Staply, Anthony, Esq. (regicide) ...
*Starre, Colonel (dead '47)
Stawell, Sirjohn, K.B. (disab. '42) Stephens, Edward, Esq. (two elections ;
not duly, then lost, at last duly ; died). 'Stephens, John, Esq. Stephens, Nathaniel, Esq — *Stephens, William, LL.D. Stepney, Sirjohn, Baronet (disab )
•Stockdale, Thomas, Esq
Stonehouse, Sir George, Bart, (disab. '44). *Stoughton, Nicholas, Esq. (dead '45) ... Strangways, Giles, Esq. (disab. '44) Strangways, Sir John, Knight (disab. Sept.
'42) '
Strickland, Sir Robert, Knight (disab. '43) •Strickland, Walter, Esq. (from '45)
Strickland, Sir William, Knight
•Strode, Sir Richard, Knight
•Strode, William, Esq
Strode, William, Esq. (died '45)
Sutton, Robert, Esq. (disab. ; made Baron Lexington, 21 Nov. '45)
*Swynfen, John, Esq.
*Sydenham, William, jun. Esq
Ta*e, Zouch, Esq. (Self-denying Ordin- ance) ... ...
Taylor, William, Esq. (instead of a mono- polist ; disab. '45, Siege of Bristol) ...
Taylor, William, Esq. (in place of Waller; expelled May '41, on Stafford's ac- count)
Bedwin, Wilts. \Vinchelsea. Leicestershire. Southwark.
Stafford.
Exeter.
London.
Castle Rising, Norfolk.
Bury St. Edmunds.
Shore/tarn.
Shrewsbury. Cocker-mouth. Preston.
Tamworth, Nottingham. Aldborough, Yorkshire.
Boroughbridge.
Boroughbridge.
Sussex.
Shaftesbury.
Somersetshire.
Tewkesbury.
Tewkesbury.
Gloucestershire.
Newport, Wight.
Haverford West.
Knaresborougk.
Abingdon.
Guildford.
Bridport.
Weymouth.
Aldborough, Yorkshire. Minehead. Hey don, Yorkshire. Plimpton, llchester.
( Tamworth, but prefers) Bee* alston.
Nottinghamshire. Stafford. Melcomb Regis.
Northampton. Bristol.
New Windsor,
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
261
"Temple, James, Esq. (regicide) ...
*Temple. Sir John, Knight
Temple, Peter, Esq. (regicide)
Temple, Sir Peter, Baronet (King's judge)
*Tcmple, Thomas, Esq
*Terrick, Samuel, Esq
Theloall, Simon, jun. Esq
*Thistlethwaite, Alexander, Esq
Thomas, Edward, Esq
*Thomas, Isaiah, Esq
*Thomas, John, Esq.
Thomas, William, Esq. (disab. '44)
*Thompson, George, Esq —
*Thomhaugh, Francis, Esq. (dead '48) ... *Thorpe, Sergeant Francis (King's judge).
*Thynn, Thomas, Esq
Thynne, Sir James, Knight (disab.)
Toll, Thomas, Esq
*Tolson, Richard, Esq.
Tomkins, Thomas, Esq. (disab. '44)
*Trefusis, Nicholas, Esq. ...
Trenchard, John, Esq. (King's judge) ...
*Trenchard, Sir Thomas, Knight
Trevanion, John, Esq. (disab. ; killed at
Bristol)
Trevor, Sir John, Knight
*Trevor, John, Esq. ...
•Trevor, Sir Thomas, Knight
Trevor, Thomas, Esq. (till '44, then void).
Tufton, Sir Humphrey, Knight
Tulsey, Henry, Esq. (dead '42)
Turner, Samuel, M.D. (disab. '44)
*Twisden, Thomas, Esq
Upton, Arthur, Esq. (died '41)
*Upton, John, Esq
Uvedale, Sir William, Knight (disab.) ...
*Vachel, Tanfield, Esq
Valentine, Benjamin, Esq
Vane, George, Esq. (disab.)
Vane, Sir Henry, Knight
Vane, Sir Henry, jun. Knight
Vassal, Samuel, Esq., merchant
* Vaughan, Charles, Esq
*Vaughan, Edward, Esq
Vaughan, Sir Henry, Knight (disab.) ...
Vaughan, John, Esq. (disab. '45)
Venables, Peter, Esq. (disab. '44)
"Venn, John, Esq. (regicide)
Verney, Sir Edmund, Knight Marshal
(killed at Edgehill, Oct. '42, where he bore the King's standard)
Vemey, Sir Ralph, Knight (disab. '45) ...
Vernon, Henry, Esq. (not duly)
Vivian, Sir Richard, Knight (disab. '44)...
* Walker, Clement, Esq
Bramber, Chichester. Leicester. Buckingham. Huntingdon. Newcastle-un der-L int. Denbigh, Dcminton, Wilts. Okehampton, Devonshire. Bishop's Castle. Helston. Carnarvon. South-mark. East Retford. Richmond, Yorkshire. Saltash. Wiltshire. Lynn.
Cumberland. Weobly. Corn-wall.
Wareham, Dorsetshire. Dorsetshire.
Lostwithiel. Gramponnd. Flintshire. Tregony. Monmouth. Maidstone. Christchurch, Hants. Shaftesbury. Maidstone.
Clifton, Dartmouth, Hard- ness (united). Fowey. Petersfield. Reading. St. Germains. Kellington. Wilton. Hull. London. Honiton. Montgomeryshire. Carmarthenshire. Cardigan. Cheshire. London.
Wycombe.
Aylesbury.
Andover.
Tregony.
Wells.
362
LIST OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.
Walker, Robert, Esq. (disab. '43)
Waller, Edmund, Esq. (in place of Lord
Lisle; disab. '43)
*Waller, Thomas, Esq. ...
Waller, Thomas, Esq. (not duly)
Waller, Sir William, Knight (instead of
Vernon ; one of then) ...
Wallop, Sir Henry, Knight (dead '44) ... *Wallop, Robert, Esq. (King's judge) ... Walsingham, Sir Thomas, Knight Walton, Valentine, Esq. (regicide)
*Warmouth, — , Esq. (void)
Warton, Michael, Esq. (disab. '44) Warwick, Philip, Esq. (disab. '44)
Wastell, John, Esq
Watkins, William, Esq. (void in '44)
*Wayte, Thomas, Esq. (regicide)
*Weaver, form, Esq. (King's judge)
Weaver, Richard, Esq. (dead May '42) ...
•Weaver, Edmund, Esq. (after '46)
Webb, Thomas, Esq. (expelled '42, mono- polist)
Wenman, Thomas, Lord Viscount, in Ire- land
Wentworth, Sir George, of Wooley, Knight (disab. '42, Yorkshire petition)
Wentworth, Sir George, Knight (Straf- ford's brother, disab. '44)
•Wentworth, Sir Peter, K.B. (King's judge)
Wentworth, Lord Thomas (Earl of Cleve- land's eldest son ; to House of Peers, 25 Nov. '40, by writ)
•West, Edmund, Esq
*Weston, Benjamin, Esq. (King's udge) .
Weston, Nicholas, Esq. (disab.
42, for
Goring's business) Weston, Richard, Esq. (disab.) *Westrow, Thomas, Esq. ... Whaddon, John, Esq. Wheeler, William, Esq. ... Whistler, John, Esq. (disab.) Whitacre, Lawrence, Esq. (Borough being
restored to its rights) Whitaker, William, Esq. (dead 46) White, John, Esq. (died '45) White, John, Esq. (disab. '44) ... *White, William, Esq. (Secretary to Sir
T. Fairfax)
Whitehead, Richard, Esq....
Whitlocke, Bulstrode, Esq. (in place of
Hippesley)
Exeter.
St. Ives, Cornwall,1
Bodmin,
New Windsor*
Andover. Hampshire. Andover. Rochester. Huntingdonshire. Newcastle-on- Tyne. Beverley.
(Romney, but preferred) Rad- nor.
Malton. Monmouth. Rutlandshire. Stamford. Hereford. Hereford.
Romney.
Oxfordshire.
Pontefract.
Pontefract.
Tamworth.
Bedfordshire.
( Wendover, but preferred)
Buckinghamshire. Dover.
Portsmouth.
Stafford.
Hythe (Cinque Ports).
Plymouth.
Westbury, Wilts.
Oxford.
Okehampton, Devon.
Shaftesbury.
Southwark.
Rye.
Pontefract. Hampshire.
Marlow.
' Vmondesham,' says Biogr. Britan. (vi. 4103)
EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 363
Whitmore, Sir Thomas, Knight (disab.
'44) Bridgnorth.
Widdrington, Sir Thomas, Knight (Rush- worth, ii. 179) Berwick.
Widdrington, Sir William, Baronet (disab.
'42 ; killed at Worcester) Northumberland.
•Willes, Henry, Esq Saltash.
Williams, Sir Charles (dead 41) Monmouthshire.
Wilmot, Henry, Esq. (expelled, Army plot
"41; made Baron '43 Tamworth.
*Wilson, Rowland, Esq. (Alderman of
London; King's judge) Calne.
Windebank, Sir Francis, Knight (Secre- tary; fled 41) ... Corfe Castle.
Wingate, Edward, Esq St. Allans.
*Winwood, Richard, Esq New Windsor.
Wise, — , Esq. (died before '41) Devonshire.
Wogan, John, sen. Esq. (dead '44) ... Pembrokeshire.
*Wogan, Thomas, Esq. (regicide) ... Cardigan.
Woodhouse, Sir Thomas, Baronet ... Thetford.
Worsley, Sir Henry, Baronet Newport, Wight.
Wray, Sir Christopher, Knight (dead '45) Great GrimsSy.
Wray, Sir John, Baronet Lincolnshire.
*Wray, William, Esq ... Great Grimsby.
Wroth, Sir Peter, Knight (dead '44) ... Bridgwater.
*Wroth, Sir Thomas, Knight (King's
judge) Bridgwater.
*Wylde, Edmund, Esq. (King's judge) ... Droitwich.
Wylde, Sergeant John ... ... ... Worcestershire.
Wyndham, Edmund, Esq. (expelled '41,
monopolist) ... ... Bridgwater.
*Wynn, Sir Richard, Knight Carnarvonshire.
Wynn, Sir Richard, Baronet (dead '49) ... Liverpool.
Yelverton, Sir Christopher, Knight ... Bossiney.
Young, Sir John, Knight Plymouth.
Young, Walter, Esq. ... Honiton.
LISTS OF THE EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES.
THE Committee Lists of the Eastern Association are taken from Hus- band's Second Collection,^ where, in three successive general Acts, dated ist April 1643, 7th May (and ist June) 1643, and 3d August 1643, — followed by a few partial amendments and enlargements for specific places at different dates, — the Committees of all Parliamentary or Anti-Royalist Counties and principal Boroughs, as settled at that stage of the contest, are named.
1 Collection of all the Public Orders, Ordinances &>c. of Pa rliatnent,from March 1642-3 to December 1646: Printed tor Edward Husbfird (London, folio. 1646).
264 EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES.
Earlier and earliest Committees are in Husband's First Collection? and else- where ; but these, as transient and now abrogated combinations, do not concern us here.
The Committee of April is named for managing the Sequestration of Delinquents' Estates ; those of May and August for raising money by other methods, chiefly by Weekly Assessments ; and each has its specific Act and instructions ; but as the essential business of all these Committees was to carry on the War by furnishing the sinews of war, and as, with trifling varia- tions, the same persons sat on all, it may well be imagined their functions, even to the members themselves, became gradually much blended ; and for us they have become inextricably blended, or not worth the huge labour of attempting to extricate and distinguish. Committees, all, essentially of Finance and general Administration ; appointed, we may say, to care generally that the Parliamentary Cause suffer no damage by lack of money or otherwise, against whom, and their despotic procedure, rise loud com- plaints and denunciations in the old Pamphlets of a royalist or neutral stamp. An assiduous hand, searching on my behalf through every corner of these Lists and Supplementary Lists, as they lie in bewildering disorder, scattered over the vast surface of Husband, — has painfully added to each Name an exact note of the several Committees on which he sat : but, not to encumber the Printer and the Reader with what would little if in any degree profit, I have omitted these specialties at presant, — all but the following two :
Under date roth August 1643 (with Supplementary or subsequent Acts, in some cases) is a particular settling and assorting of the Association Com- mittees as a distinct body ; with instructions and directions ; directing, for one thing, how they are to choose the Central Committee which sits at Cam- bridge ; — indicating to us who they now are, and most probably who they were hitherto, that showed themselves most and took the chief management: these, as in some sort peculiar, I have found good to note : all that sit on this Committee are distinguished by an asterisk (*) ; those that sit on this only, or are new men at the passing of the Act, have their names printed in italics. And observe here: Among those of the asterisk the ' Deputy Lieu- tenants, ' appointed long before and with superior powers, of whom there is sometimes mention in Oliver's Letters and elsewhere, will be found ; but not in a distinguishable state : their names as a body, though ' read publicly' in 1642, and even ordered to be printed,3 do not occur in Husband. This is the first specialty of indication attempted here. Then secondly, under date I5th Feb. 1644-5, on Fairfax's appointment to be Commander-in-chief, there occurs a revision or new-model of Committees, in the Association as everywhere else, for raising assessments to support Fairfax : such men as were added for serving on this Committee, are designated by an (/.). Farther distinctions, as threatening rather to confuse than illuminate the reader, are not given at present.
2 An exact Collection of all Remonstrances &>c. &*c. (London, small 4to, 1643) ; Printed for Edward Husbands (sic), p. 891 &c.
3 Names 'read before the House,' t;th March 1641-2 (Commons Journals, ii 483) ; ordered 'to be printed,' 6th Oct. following (ib. 797): not given in cither case.
EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 265
Our only change from those Lists of Husband's is the arrangement, an important and indispensable one, in alphabetical order ; and the correction of what mistakes were palpable,— the number and nature of which still testify how hurriedly that old Parliamentary operation, in all stages of it, was done. The spelling especially, with its incessant variations, has been an intricate business, not to be settled sometimes except partly by guess. Our 'Esq.,' 'Gent,' and occasional omission of all Title, are correctly what we find in the old Book.
Under the given circumstances, Husband's List may be taken as substan- tially correct : but of course those Committees, even for specified objects, were liable, at all times, both to be supplemented and to be sifted down ; which renders their exact composition a fluctuating object, dependent on date in some measure.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE.
Cambridgeshire Committees (Husband, ii.), in 1643 : ist April (with Supplement, iSth September), p. 16, p. 322 ; — yth May (with Supplements and Revisals, 2ist June, jd August, 2oth September), p. 169, p. 225, p. 6 Appendix, p. 329 ; Association specially, roth August (and 4th September), p. 284, p. 308. For support of Fairfax in 1644-5, and to the end of the War : i5th February 1644-5, p. 603.
Those that sat exclusively on this Fairfax Committee have an (_/) appended ; those of loth August (among whom are the Deputy-Lieutenants) are marked with an asterisk (*), and such of them as were then neiu are in italics : (e.) means, For Ely only ; (t.)t For Town and University only.
Aldmond, Edward, (t.f.) *Becket, Thomas, Esq. *Bendish, Thomas, Esq. Blackley, James, (t.f.) *Browne, —
Browning, Edward, Esq. Butler, Henry, Esq. Butler, Nevill, Esq. *Castle, Robert, Esq. *Castle, Thomas, Esq. Chennery,4John, Esq. (/) Clapthorn, George, Esq. Clark, Edward, Esq. •Clark, Robert, Esq.
* Clench, Edward, Esq. Clopton, Walter, Esq. *Cooke, Thomas, Esq. *Cromwell, Oliver, Esq. *Cutts, Sir John, Kt. . Dalton, Michael, jun. Esq. Dalton, Michael, sen. Esq. (/.) Desborow, Isaac.
Diamond, Tristram, Gent, (e.f.)
* Ducket, Thomas, Esq. Eden, Dr. (/.)
* Spelt also Chymery.
Fiennes, Aid. (/./)
Fisher, William, Esq.
* Fox ton, Richard, Esq.
French, Thomas. (/.)
*Hobart, John, Esq.
Hynde, Robert.
Janes, William, Esq. (/.)
Leeds, Edward, Esq.
Lowry, John, (t.)
Male, Edmund.
•March, Humberston, Esq.
•Marsh, William, Esq.
•Martin, Sir Thomas, Kt.
•Mayor for the time being, (t.)
North, Sir Dudley, Kt.
Parker, Thomas, Esq.
Partridge, Sir Edward, Kt. (e.f,)
Pepys, Samuel, Esq.
Pepys, Talbot, Recorder, (t.)
•Pope, Dudley, Esq.
Raven, John, Esq. (/)
Reynolds, James, Esq. (/.)
Reynolds, Sir James, (f.)
Robson, Robert, (t.)
•Russel, Francis, Esq.
Russel, Killiphet, Esq. (/)
266 EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES.
•Sandys," Sir Miles, Kt. Sherwood, John. (/.) Smith, Henry. •Spalding, Samuel. (/.) Staughton, Robert. Story, Philip, Esq. Stone, Richard, M.D. (e.f.) 6 Spelt also Sands, Sandes, Sandis.
Symonds, Thomas, Esq. •Thompson, James, Esq. Towers, John, Esq. Walker, Thomas. •Welbore, John, Esq. Welbore, William. (/.) Wendy, Francis, Esq. Wright, John.
ESSEX.
Augus,
February 1644-5, P- °3-
The (_f.) designates the exclusively Fairfax men ; the asterisk (*) those of loth August, the then new ones of whom are in italics ; (c.) means, For Colchester.
Adams, Thomas, ofThaxted, Gent.
Allen, Isaac, of Haseley, Esq.
•Allistgn,6 John, Gent.
*Atwood, John, Esq.
*Atwood, William, Esq.
Ay let, Jeremy, Esq.
Aylett, Thomas, of Kelldon, Gent.
Bacon, Nathaniel, Esq.
*Barnardiston, Arthur, Esq.
Harrington, Henry, Gent, (c.)
Harrington, Robert, Esq. (f.)
Harrington, Sir John, Kt.
Harrington, Sir Thomas, Bart.
Berkhead, Edward, Esq.
Bourn, Robert, Esq.
Brook, John, Esq.
Burket, John, Esq.
Buxton, Robert, Gent, (c.)
•Calthorp, Robert, Esq.
Cheeke, Sir Thomas, Kt.
Clapton, Thomas, Esq.
Cletheroe, Captain.
Collard, William, Esq.
Cook, William, Aid. (c.)
Cooke, Thomas, Esq.
Cooke, Thomas, Gent.
Crane, Robert, Esq.
Eden, John, Esq.
"Eldred, John, Esq.
*Everard, Sir Richard, Bart.
Fair, Henry, Esq.
Penning, John, Gent.
Friborne, Samuel, Esq.
Gambeil/ James, Esq. (f.)
6 Spelt also A listen, Elision. &c. &c. 1 „ „ Cambell.
Goldingham, William, Esq. Grimston, Harbottfe, Esq. (also c.
Recorder.)
Grimston, Sir Harbottle, Bart. •Harlackenden, Richard, Esq. Harlackenden, William, Gent. Harrison, Ralph, Aid. (c.) Harvey, John, Esq. (/) Hawkin, Richard, of Harwich, Gent, Herne, James, Esq. Hicks, Sir William, Bart •Holcroft, Sir Henry, Kt. •Honywood, Sir Thomas, Kt. Jocelyn, John, Esq. (also c. Deputy
Recorder. )
Johnson, Thomas, (c.) Kemp, Sir Robert, Kt. (/) Langley, John, of Colchester, Esq.
(also c.)
Langton, John, Gent, (c.) Lumley, Sir Martin, Bart. Luther, Anthony, Esq. Maidstone, Robert, Gent Martin, Sir William, Kt. Masham, Sir William, Bart. Masham, William, Esq. Matthews, Joachim, Esq. (f.) Mayor for the time being, (c.) Mead, John, Esq. •Middleton, Timothy, Esq. Mildmay, Gary, Esq. Mildmay, Henry, of Graves, Esq. Mildmay, Sir Henry, of Wanstead,
Bart.
Nicholson, Francis, Gent. * Palmer. Edward, Esq. Pike, John, Esq.
EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 267
Plume,8 Samuel, Gent.
Raymond, Oliver, Esq.
*Reade, Dr. of Birchanger.
•Rowe, Sir William, Kt.
*Sayer, John, Esq.
Shaw, John, jun. Gent, (f.)
SheffieM, Samson, Esq. (/}
Smith, Robert, Esq.
•Sorrell.9 John, Esq.
Stonehard, Francis, Esq.
Talcot, Robert, of Colchester, Gent.
Talcot, Thomas, Gent. (/)
Thomas, Captain.
Thorogood, George, Esq.
Thorogood, John, of Walden, Gent.
*Tindall, Deane, Esq.
Topsfield, — , Esq. (/)
8 Spelt also Plum, Plumme, Plain,
Playne, Plague.
9 .. Serrilla.nA Correll.
Turner, William, of Wimbish, Gent. •Umphrevill,™ William, Esq. Vesey, Robert, Gent. Wade, Thomas, Aid. (c.f.) Walton, George, Esq. Ward, Aid. (c.) Watkins, John, Esq. Whitcombe, Peter, Esq. Williamson, Francis, of Walden,
Gent.
Wincall, Isaac, Gent. Wiseman, Henry, Esq. Wiseman, Richard, Gent. Wiseman, Robert, of Mayland, Esq. •Wright.iijohn, Esq. * Young, John^ Gent. Young, Robert, Esq.
1° Spelt also Hum/revile, &c. » .. „ Weight.
HERTFORDSHIRE.
Hertfordshire Committees (Husband, ii.), in 1643: ist April (with Supplements, ist June, 2ist June), p. 18, p. 194, p. 225 ; — yth May (with Supplements and Revisals, 3d August, 2oth September), p. 171, p. 8 Appendix, p. 329 ; — Association specially, loth August, p. 284. For support of Fairfax in 1644-5, and to tne end of the War : I5th February 1644-5, P- 604.-
The (f.) designates the exclusively Fairfax men ; the asterisk (») those of loth August ; («.) means, For St. Albans.
Atkins, Edward, Esq., Sergeant-at-
law.
*Barber, Gabriel, Esq. Carter, William, of Offley, Gent. Cecil, Robert, Esq. Combes, Toby, Esq. Cranbourne, Charles Lord Viscount. Dacres, Sir Thomas, Kt. Fairecloth, Litton, Esq. *Freeman, Ralph, Esq. •Garret,12 Sir John, Bart. Harrison, Sir John. *Heydon, John, Esq. Humberston, John, sen. Gent. Jennings, Richard, Esq. •King, Dr. John, M.D. *Leman,13 William, Esq. Litton, Rowland, Esq. (f.) Litton, Sir William, Kt Lucy, Sir Richard, Bart. (/) Marsh, John, Gent.
>2 Spelt also Gerrat and Je-fratt,
" „ „ Leaman, Lemon, &c. &c.
| Mayor for the time being, (a.) Mayor of Hertford for the time being. Meade, Thomas, Gent. *Mewtys, Henry, Esq. Norton, Gravely, Esq. Pemberton, John, Esq. *Pemberton, Ralph, Esq. (a.) *Porter, Richard, Esq. * Priestley, William, Esq. Puller, Isaac, Gent. *Read, Sir John, Bart. *Robotham, John, Esq. (a.) Sadler, Thomas, Esq. *Scroggs, John, Esq. Tooke, John, Esq. *Tooke, Thomas, Esq. •Washington, Adam, Esq. •Wilde, Alexander, Esq. Wingate, Edward, Esq. •Witterong,14 Sir John, Kt
14 Spelt also Whitterong, Whitteronge, Wittewrong, Witewrong, Witteroungr, and Wittervung.
268 EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES.
HUNTINGDONSHIRE.
Huntingdonshire Committees {Husband, ii.), in 1643 : ist April (with Supple- ment, 8th July), p. 18, p. 229 ; — yth May (with Supplements and Revisals, 3d Au- gust, 2oth September), p. 171, p. 8 Appendix, p. 329 ; — Association specially, loth August, p. 284. For support of Fairfax in 1644-5, and to the end of the \\inr: 1510 February 1644-5, P- 6o4'
The (/. ) designates the exclusively Fairfax men; the asterisk (*) those of loth August, the then usw ones of whom are in italics.
Armyn, Sir William, Bart, (f.) Bormer, John, Gent, (f.) Bulkley, John, Esq. *Burrell, Abraham, Esq. Castle, John, Esq. Cotton, Sir Thomas, Bart. *Cromvvell, Oliver, Esq. Desborow, Isaac, Gent. Drury, William. (/) *Fullwood, Gervaise, Gent. * Harvey, Robert, Gent. Hewet, Sir John, Kt.
i Ingram, Robert, Gent. | *Joceline, Terrill, Esq. I King, William, Gent. ! *Montague, Edward, Esq. I Montague, George, Esq. (f.) I Offley, John, Gent.
Petton, John, Gent.
*Temple, Thomas, Esq.
* Vintner, Robert, Gent.
Walton, Valentine, Esq. (/.)
*Winch, Onslow, Esq.
LINCOLNSHIRE.
Lincolnshire Committees (Husband, ii. ), in 1643: ist April, p. j8 ; — 7th Nlay (with Supplements and Revisals, ist June, 3d August, 2oth September), p. 171, p. 194, p. 9 Appendix, p. 329. 3d July 1644 (County now got ; corresponds to loth August 1643, for the other Counties), p. 515. For support of Fairfax in 1645-5, ano to the end of the War: isth February 1644-5 (with Supplements, 3d April, :itr. August), p. 604, p. 633, p. 707.
The (f. ) designates the exclusively Fairfax men ; the asterisk (*) those of 1644, the then new ones of whom are in italics ; (/. ) means, For Lincoln.
Anderson, Edmund, Esq. Archer, John, Esq. Armyn, Sir William, Bart. *Ashton, Peter, Esq. *Askham, Thomas. Ayscough, Sir Edward, Kt. Ayscough, Edward, Esq. Bernard, John, Gent. Bowtal, Barnaby, Esq. Brassbridge, Aid. (/ /.) *Browne, John, Gent. Brownlow, Sir John, Bart. Brownlow, Sir William, Bart Broxholme, John, Esq. (also /.) Bryan, Richard, Esq. •Bury, 1S William, Esq. *Cave, Morris, Esq. Cawdron, Robert, Esq. *Cholmley, Montague, Esq. *Coppledike, Thomas, Esq. *Cornwallis, Thomas, Esq.
13 Spelt also Burg and Berry.
*Cust, Samuel, Esq. Davison, William, Gent. (/) Dawion, Stephen, Aid. (/.) *Disney, John, sen. Esq. *Disr.ey, Mollineux, Esq. Disney, Thomas, Esq. (f.) * Disney, William, Esq. *Ellis, Edmund, Esq. Ellis, William, Esq. *Emmerson, Alexander, Esq. *Empson, Charles, Esq. Empson, Francis, Gent, (f.) *Erle, Sir Richard, Bart. Escote, Captain. Filkin, Richard, Gent. (/) *Fines, Francis, Esq. Fisher, Francis, Esq. (f) Grantham, Thomas, Esq. (also •'. ) *Godfrey, William, Esq. •Hall, Charles, Esq. Hall, — , of Kettlethorpe, Esq. Hall, Thomas, Gent. Harrington, James, Esq. (f.)
EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 269
Harrington, John, Esq. Hatcher, Thomas, Esq. Hitchcott, Edmund, Esq. Hickman, Willoughby, Esq. Hobson.John, Gent. (/.) •Hobson, William, Esq. Hudson, Christopher, Esq. Irby, Sir Anthony, Knight. *Irby, Thomas, Esq. Johnson, Martin, Gent. King, Edward, Esq. * Knight, Isaac. Leigh, Samuel, Esq. Lister, Thomas, Esq. *Lister, William, Esq. •Luddington, William, Esq. Marshal, William, Mayor. (/.) *Massinbeard,16 Draynard, Esq. *Massinbeard,16 Henry, Esq. Massingden, — , Esq. Mayor of Boston for the time being. Mayor of Lincoln for the time being.
I*.)
*Miscendyne, Francis, Esq. Moorcroft, Robert, Aid. (/.) Munckton, Michael, Gent, (f.) *Nelthorp, Edward, Esq. Nelthorp, John, Esq. (f.) *Nethercote, Thomas, Gent. Owfield, Sir Samuel, Kt. Owfield, William, Esq. (/) •Parkins, Wyat, Gent.
16 Spelt also Massingbeard, Massing- berde, Massingburgh, Massinbred, and Massinberg.
*Pelham, Henry, Esq. * Pier point, Francis, Esq. Rawson, Nehemiah, Gent. *Rossiter, Edward, Esq. (the Col. ) Rossiter, Thomas, Esq. (f.) Samuel, Arthur, Esq. (/) Savile, Thomas, Esq. *Savile, William, Esq. Sheffield, John, Esq. Skipworth, Edward, Esq. Tharrald, Nathaniel, Gent *Thompson, William, Gent. Tilson, Edmund, Esq. •Trollop, James, Gent. Trollop, Sir Thomas, Bart *Walcott, Humphrey, Esq. Watson, William, Aid. (/.) Welby, Thomas, Gent. •Welcome, Thomas, Esq. Whitchcot, Edward, Esq. Whitchcot, Sir Hamond, Kt. Whiting, John, Gent. (/) Willesby, John, Esq. Williamson, Richard, Esq. (f.) Williamson, Thomas, Esq. (f.) Willoughby, Hickman, Esq. Willoughby, Lord Francis, of Par- ham.
Wincopp,17 John, Gent. •Woolley, William, Esq. Wrath, John, Esq. Wray, Sir Christopher, Kt. Wray, Sir John, Bart. Wray, John, Esq.
17 Spelt also Wincock and Wincocks.
NORFOLK.
Norfolk Committees (Husband, ii.), in 1643: ist April (with Supplement, i8th April), p. 19, p. 38 ; — 7th May (with Supplements and Revisals, ist June, 3d August, zoth September), p. 171, p. 194, p. 9 Appendix, p. 328 ; — Association specially, xoth August, p. 283. For support of Fairfax in 1644-5, a°d to the end of the War : isth February 1644-5, P- 6°5-
The (f.) designates the exclusively Fairfax men ; the asterisk (*) those of loth August, the then new ones of whom are in italics ; («. ) means, For Norwich.
•Ashley, Sir Edward, Kt. •Ashley, Sir Isaac, Kt. Bailiffs of Yarmouth. Bain ham, Robert, Esq. './.') Baker, Thomas, Esq. (».) Barkham, Sir Edward, Bart Barret, Christopher, Esq. («.) Barret, Thomas, Sheriff. («./)
Beddingfield, Philip, Esq. Berkham, John. Berney,18 Sir Richard, Bart. Blofield, Jeremy, of Alby. *Brewster, John, Esq. Brewster, Samuel, Gent, (n.f.)
18 Spelt also Berne, Bernay, and Bar* ney.
270 EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES.
Brown, John, of Sparks. *Burnam, Edmund, Aid. (n.) Buxton, John, Esq. (f.) Calthorp, James, Esq. Calthorp, Philip, Esq. Chamberlain, Edward, Esq. (f.) Church, Bernard, Sheriff, (n.f.) Clarke, of Gay wood. Collier, John, Gent, (n.f.) Collyns, of Blackborne Abbey. Coney, William. *Cooke,19John, Esq. *Cooke, William, Esq. Corbet, Miles, Esq. Dagly, Robert, of Alsham. Day, Sucklin.
Doylie, Sir William, Kt. (/) Earl, Erasmus, Esq. (/) Felsham, Robert, of Sculthrop. Fountain, Briggs, Esq. Fryer,20 Tobias, Esq. Gasley, William, of Holcan. Gawdy, Edward, Esq. (f.) Gawdy, Framlingham, Esq. (f.) *Gawdy, Sir Thomas, Kt. *Gawsell,21 Gregory, Esq. Gibbon,22 John, Esq. Gibbon,22 Sir Thomas, Kt. Gooch, Robert, of Elham. Gower, Robert, of Yarmouth, Gent.
*Greenwood, John, Sheriff, (n.) Grey, James de, Esq. (/.) Grey, John, Gent, (n.f.) Harman, Richard, Esq. Harvye, Richard. Heveningham, William, Esq. Hey ward, Edward, Esq. (f.) *Hobart, Sir John, Bart. *Hobart, Sir Miles, Kt. Holland, Sir John, Bart. Houghton, John, Esq. Houghton, Robert, Esq. (/) 'Huggen,^ Sir Thomas, Kt. Hunt, George, Esq. (f.) Jaye, John, of Ersham. *Jermy, Francis, Esq. Jermy, Robert, Esq. Johnson, Thomas, Gent. Ket, Robert, of Wicklewood.
19 Spelt also Crook and Coke.
20 » 11 Frere, Friar, and Fryar.
21 „ „ Causell, Gousall, and
Gausey.
"*> „ „ Guibon. a ,, ,, Hognn, Hoogan, Hoggin.
Kettle, Henry, ofThetford. (/)
King, Henry, Gent.
Lincoln, Thomas, ofThetford, Esq., Aid.
*Lindsey, Matthew, Aid. (».)
Long, Robert, Esq. (/)
May, John, of Lynn, Aid. (f.)
Mayor of Lynn for the time being.
Mayor of Norwich for the time be- ing, (n.)
Money, Samuel, of Binnam.
Mountford, Sir Edmund, Kt
Owner, Edward, Esq. (f.)
*Palgrave, Sir John, Bart.
Parkes,24 Samuel, Gent.
*Parmenter, Adrian, Esq. (n.)
Paston, Sir William, Bart. (/.)
*Peckoner,25 Matthew, Aid. (n.)
Pell, Sir Valentine, Kt. Vicecomes.
(/)
Percivall, John, Esq. of Lynn: Pots, Sir John, Bart. Raymes,26 John, Esq. ofOxtron. Rich, Robert, Esq. Rower, Robert, Gent. *Russell, Thomas, Esq. Salter, John, Gent, (n.f.) Seamier, Adam, Esq. (/) Seamier, James, Esq. Scottow, Timothy, Gent, (n.f.) *Sedley,27 Martin, Esq. Sheppard, Robert, Esq. Sheriffs of Norwich. Sherwood, Livewell, Aid. (n.) Shouldham, Francis, of Fulmerston. Skippon, Philip, Esq. (f.) *Smith, Samuel, Esq. *Sotherton, Thomas, Esq. *Spelman, John, Esq. Springall, Thomas, of St. Mary's. Steward, — , Esq. (n.f.) Swalter, John, of Southcreak. *Symonds, William, of Norwich,
Aid. (n.)
Taylor, Henry, Esq. (/.) *Thacker, John, Aid. (n.) Thorisby, Edmund, Esq. (/) Tofts, John, Gent, (n.f.) Tofts, Thomas, Aid. (n.f.) Toll, Thomas, Esq. *Tooley, John, Esq. (n.)
24 Spelt also Parks, Parker, Packle.
25 » »i Peckover and Peckford.
26 „ „ Reygnes, Keyves, Reimti
and Regin. fl „ „ Sidley and Redley
EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 27!
Townsend, Roger, Esq. (/.) Utber, Thomas. Vincent, John, of Crinisham. Walpool, John, Esq. Walter, of Deram. Ward, Hamon, Esq. (/) Warner, Richard, of Little Brand. Wasted, Thomas, Gent, (n.f.) *Watts, Henry, Aid. (n.) Web, John, Esq. (f.)
Weld, Thomas, Esq. *Wilton,28 Robert, Esq. Windham, Sir George, Kt. (/.) *Windham, Thomas, Esq. With, of Brodish. *Wood, Robert, Esq. Woodhouse, Sir Thomas, Bart * Wright,™ Thomas, Esq.
28 Spelt also Wilson.
29 ,. .. Weight.
SUFFOLK.
Suffolk Committees (Husband, ii. ), in 1643: ist April (with Supplement, 2gth September), p. 19, p. 321 ; — yth May (with Supplements and Revisals, ist June, 3d August, 2oth September), p. 172, p. 193, p. 10 Appendix, p. 328 : — Association specially, loth August, p. 284. For support of Fairfax in 1644-5, ar*d to 'he end of the War : isth February 1644-5, P- 605.
The (_/) designates the exclusively Fairfax men ; the asterisk (*) those of the loth August ; (*'. ) means, For Ipswich ; (e. ) Bury St. Edmunds ; (a. ) Aldborough.
Aldermen of Bury St. Edmunds (e.)
Aldus, John, Gent. (*'.)
*Appleton, Issac, Esq.
Bacon, Sir Butts, Bart.
* Bacon, Sir Edmund, Bart.
*Bacon, Francis, Esq.
•Bacon, Nathaniel, of Freeston,
Esq.
*Bacon, Nathaniel, of Ipswich, Esq. Bacon, Nicholas, Esq. Bacon, Thomas, Esq. (f.) Bailiffs of Aldborough. (a.) Bailiffs of Ipswich, (i.) *Baker, Thomas, Esq. Barnardiston, Sir Nathaniel, Kt. *Barnardiston, Sir Thomas, Kt. *Barrow, Maurice, Esq. Basse,30 John, Esq. Bence, Alexander, Esq. (f.) Bence, Squire, Esq. Blosse, Thomas, Esq. (/.) *Bloyse, William, Esq. Bokenham, Wiseman, Esq. Brandling, John. («.) Brewster, Francis, Esq. *Brewster,31 Robert, Esq. Bright, — , Gent, (e.) Brook, Sir Robert, Kt. Brooke, John, Esq. (f.) Cage,32 William, Esq.
30 Spelt also Bates, Base, and Bace.
31 „ „ Brechoster. 88 » » Gage.
Chaplin, Thomas, Gent (e.)
Chapman, Thomas, Esq. (e.) • Cheney, Henry, (a.f.) I Clinch, John, sen. Esq.
Clinch, John, of Culpho, Esq.
*Cole, Thomas, Esq.
Cotton, John, Esq. (/)
D'Ewes, Sir Simond, Bart, (f.)
Duke, Sir Edward, Kt
Buncombe,33 Robert, Gent. (*'.)
Fisher, Peter, (z.)
Gale, Jacob, Gent, (i.)
Gibbs, Thomas, Aid. (e.)
Gurdon, Brampton, Esq.
Gurdon, Brampton, jun. Esq.
Gurdon, John. Ksq.
*Harvey, Edmmid, Esq.
Heveningham Wiibaic, Esq.
*Hobart, janies. Esq.
Hodges, I'oha, Esq. {f.}
Johnson,*4 Thomas, Gent, («.)
* Lawrence, William. Esq.
*Lucas, Gibson, Esq.
Moody, Samuel, (e.)
North, Henry, sen. Esq.
North, Henry, jun. Esq.
North, Sir Roger, Kt
Parker, Sir Philip, Kt.
Parker, Sir William, Kt
Pemberton, Joseph, Gent. (*'.)
Pepys, Richard, Esq.
31 Spelt also Duncatn and Duncoit 34 „ „ Jackson.
272 EASTERN-ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES.
Playters, Sir William, Bart. Puplet,35 Richard, Gent. (*.) Read, Edward, Esq. Reynolds, Robert, Esq. River,36 William, of Bilson, Esq. Rous, Sir John, Kt.
** Spelt also Pupler, Purplet, Pulpit. 36 ., „ Rivet and Ryvet.
Sicklemer, John, Gent. It.) *Soame, Sir William, Kt. *Spring, Sir William, Bart. *Terrell,37 Thomas, Esq. *Vaughan, Theophilus, of Beccles
Esq. Wentworth, Sir John, Kt.
« Spelt also Tirrill.
END OF VOL. III.
DA
426
A15
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Cromwell, Oliver
Letters and speeches Copyright ed.
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