XXXII. 1658. another. Lambert, and the party in the army that CHAP. had brought forward the petition of May 1657, which had for the present defeated all his hopes, were formidable enemies. Might he not by a continued series of successes, at home and abroad, have become so strong as to act without them and against them? Cromwel excelled all men in those arts of persuasion, by which he brought men to agree to and support his views. He had also in successive instances demonstrated his dexterity in new moulding the army, and, by degrees almost imperceptible, taking the power out of the hands of those who opposed, and confiding it to persons whose judgment coincided with his own. dence be Henry loe. The question of a new parliament was perpe- Correspontually under consideration; and the necessities tween that called for it daily increased. Thurloe says, Cromwel in a letter to Henry Cromwel before the end of and ThurApril, "If you ask, what are the difficulties which attend the necessary arrangements for calling a new parliament, I answer, the fears of some honest men that this will settle us upon some foundations, and the doubts of others, that settlement not prevailing, that a parliament will ruin us'." Henry Cromwel in return expresses a "doubt that the 1 Burnet (Own Time, Book I,) says, "If he had lived out the next winter, as the debates were to have been brought on again, so it was generally thought he would have accepted of the offer of the crown." Thurloe, p. 99, 100, 128, 144. 1 Ibid, p. 99. VOL. IV. 20 IV. BOOK delay of a parliament may be occasioned by the unripeness of some design of Desborough and Fleetwood m" 1658. Cromwel reported to have gain ed over some of the republi cans. Committee of nine to prepare There is a remarkable letter of Henry Cromwel in answer to one of Thurloe, of the date of the second of June, in which he says, "I am glad to hear from you of Ludlow, and Rich, and also of Sir Henry Vane's compliances "." As we have not the letter of Thurloe to which this is an answer, it is difficult to make out the exact purport of the intelligence it contained. Henry Cromwel proceeds, "I hope these persons do not intend to tickle you, as men do trouts. Neither do I think that your affairs will gain much reputation, by their being in your counsel. I confess I think it were happy, if his highness could confine the conduct of affairs to the hands of such, as have in the worst of times opposed the common enemy." The rumour here spoken of was probably groundless. Vane and Ludlow never deviated to their last breath from their determined condemnation of the protector. In the letters of Fleetwood to the lord deputy about the same time, it is observed that the parthe way for liament cannot now probably meet till September P. Meanwhile a committee of nine persons was appointed to arrange what was fit to be done a parlia ment. in the next parliament. The members were Fiennes, Fleetwood, Pickering, Desborough, Whalley, Goffe, Philip Jones, Cooper and Thurloe. Two of the points to be considered by them were, how to be secured against the cavalier party, and how to parry the measures that might be started for restoring a commonwealth. An idea was suggested of laying a burthen upon all the opulent adherents of the royalist party, and even carrying it to the amount of one half of their estates. But, as Thurloe observes, this scheme "would not obtain the sanction probably of all the nine, and least of all would be approved by the parliament, who were not to be persuaded to punish alike the unoffending and the guilty 9." In a letter of the thirteenth of July Thurloe further states, "The report, as I take it, was made five days ago to his highness. After much consideration it was voted by a majority, that it was desirable that the succession should rather be by election than hereditary; that is, that the chief magistrate should always name his successor." He adds, by an insinuation which must probably always remain mysterious, "I believe we are now out of the danger of our juncto, and I think also of ever having such another " CHAP. XXXII. 1658. 564 CHAPTER XXXIII. IV. 1658. Mother of Cromwel. DEATH OF LADY CLAYPOLE.-DECLINING HEALTH OF CROMWEL AND HIS CHAPLAINS. HIS DEATH. BOOK BUT a succession of misfortunes at this time occurred in the family of Cromwel, which terminated in the death of the protector. It would be difficult to find in the annals of mankind an example of a more affectionate son, husband and father. He removed his mother to apartments in Whitehall, where she continued to her death in November 1654. She was under perpetual impressions of the danger of his condition, and would often, as it is said, when she heard the report of a musquet, exclaim, My son is shot a. Death of pole. His eldest daughter was successively the wife of Ireton and Fleetwood. His second, the lady Elizabeth, had married in 1646 John Claypole of Norborough in the county of Northampton, who was afterwards master of the horse to the protector, and was one of the members of his • Ludlow, p. 488. XXXIII. 1658. house of lords. She is acknowledged on all CHAP hands to have been a woman of great and admirable qualities. About this time she was attacked with a most painful disease, an internal abscess. On the fifteenth of June Fleetwood writes, "My lady Elizabeth continues very ill; and, as I fear, unless the Lord supports her, will be much worse by the death of her youngest son, Oliver b." Grief vitiated the animal juices, and aggravated the disease. After a lingering illness she expired on the sixth of August. Cromwel was deeply afflicted with the condition of his daughter; and on the twenty-seventh of July Thurloe writes "His highness's constant residence has been at Hampton Court, and his attendance on the lady Elizabeth perpetual, so that very little or nothing has been done by him in public business for these last fourteen days." His own health was at the same time indifferent; and he was in a course of taking the Tunbridge or Spa waters d. very Ibid, p. 237, 295. The influence of party-spirit in the writers of the times has made them eagerly seize upon these circumstances as an occasion of obloquy to Cromwel. Ludlow says, p. 607, "Mrs. Claypole laboured earnestly with her father to save the life of Dr. Hewit without success, which denial so afflicted her, that it is reported to have been one cause of her death." Heath, p. 405, and Echard, p. 732, tell the same story. Noble adds, She was impressed with a sincere wish to see the lawful heir to the crown restored, and frequented the house of Hewit to hear divine worship according to the church of England." The same writer gratui |