IV. 1658. BOOK SO many ridiculous fictions respecting his boyhood and youth. Bates says, that, at the time of lady Claypole's death, Fleetwood refrained coming to his father-in-law's house, though he lived hard by, and ought to have comforted his dying sister". But in all this there is no truth. He was one of the committee of nine, who were trusted with the government at this period. He is in constant correspondence with Henry Cromwel, and writes from day to day on the subject of his sister's illness and death; and, a few days before the protector's death, he thus expresses himself, "This dispensation has indeed that in it which ought exceedingly to awaken us, and cause us earnestly to search wherefore the Lord doth thus reprove us. There is none that have a true love to this blessed cause, but is deeply concerned in it, and that does not pray that, for the further carrying on of the work, God will bring him forth with added vigour, life and zeal. His highness has had great discoveries of the Lord in his sickness, and some assurances of his being restored, and made further serviceable to his people P." Lady Clay pole misre Granger, who, like the madman in the Book of presented. Proverbs, casteth about firebrands and arrows and death, and saith, Am I not in sport? asserts, without any authority, that the lady Claypole n Elenchus Motuum, Part II, P. 233. • Thurloe, p. 295, S09, 340. P Ibid, p. 365. XXXIII. frequently attended the preaching of Hewit, and CHAP. adds, It is asserted that she was a warm partisan of Charles the First and Charles the Second. 1658. and lord Faucon Clarendon, the unblushing promulgator of every calumny, observes, "Cromwel's domestic delights berg were lessened every day: he plainly discovered that his son Fauconberg's heart was set upon an interest opposite to his, and grew to hate him perfectly." Now, in answer to this, we have Fauconberg's own words, in a letter to Henry Cromwel, four days after the event. "Dear my lord, the bearer brings you the sad news of our general loss in your incomparable father's death, by which these poor nations are deprived of the greatest personage and instrument of happiness, that not only our own, but indeed any age ever produced. The consternation and astonishment of all people are inexpressible; their hearts seem as sunk within them. And, if this is the case abroad, your lordship may imagine what it is in her highness, and other near relations. My wife-I know not what in earth to do with poor her. When seemingly quieted, she bursts out again into a passion that tears her very heart in pieces. Nor can I blame her, considering what she has lost. It fares little better with others"." • Clarendon, p. 647. Thurloe, p. 375. VOL. IV. 2 P 578 CHAPTER XXXIV. BOOK GOVERNMENT OF CROMWEL CONSIDERED.-CHA- DOUBTFUL CHARACTER. DISSATISFACTION THEY PRODUCED.-HIGH RE PUTATION OF HIS LAWYERS.-VIOLENT CHA RACTER OF HIS ADMINISTRATION.-ITS AP- XXXIV. HAVING traced the reign of Cromwel from its CHAP. rise to its termination, it now becomes one of the duties of history to look back on the sum of the path through which we have travelled. The first characteristic of this period of history, from the day on which the independents and the army rose upon the parliament, is, that the affairs of the nation were directed by a small portion of themselves, seizing on the supreme authority by force, and retaining it by superior talents and intellect. Majority of adverse to the nation the govern ment. created by The government of a nation, particularly in Difficulties such circumstances, is a complicated science, this circumwith difficulty mastered in theory, and with dif- stance. ficulty reduced to practice. It is comparatively easy for the philosopher in his closet to invent imaginary schemes of policy, and to shew how mankind, if they were without passions and without prejudices, might best be united in the form of a political community. But, unfortunately, men in all ages are the creatures of passions, perpetually prompting them to defy the rein, and break loose from the dictates of sobriety and speculation. Thus far as to the general nature of man. And, beside these generalities, in each par IV. BOOK ticular age men have aspirations and prejudices, sometimes of one sort, and sometimes of another, rendering them very unlike the pieces on a chessboard, which the skilful practitioner moves this way and that, without its being necessary to take into his estimate the materials of which they are made, and adapting his proceedings to their internal modifications. experienced equally under the republicans and the Neither the republicans, who governed England for four or five years from the death of Charles the First, nor Cromwel who displaced protector. them, were fated to lie on a bed of roses, or to wander upon a soft and level carpet of verdure. Let us apply this to the history of Cromwel. Parties and factions The people of England, whom we may call into which his subjects, were divided into different bodies the people are divided. and factions of men, none of them disposed passively to be guided by his wishes or his will. Monarchical nature of the government for centuries. The first consideration that occurs under this head, is that of the government under which England had been placed for ages, previously to the civil war. The thing most obvious to the grossest capacity, and which therefore had a mighty influence with a great portion of the community, was, that we had had at the head of our government an individual with the appellation The crown of king. From the days of William the Conqueror at least, this office had continued in an hereditary line, with such deviations as circum hereditary. |