the king; partly by the divisions in parlia

ployed in this expedition himself, yet being more unwilling to hinder the undertaking of it by another, he had sent his secretary, who attended at the door, to surrender his commission, if they thought fit to receive it; the secretary was called in, and delivered the commission, which the parliament having received, they proceeded to settle an annual revenue of five thousand pounds upon the lord Fairfax, in consideration of his former services, and then voted lieutenant general Cromwell to be captain general of all their land forces, ordering a commission forthwith to be drawn up to that effect, and referred to the council of state to hasten the preparations for the northern expedition. A little after as I sat in the house, near general Cromwell, he told me, that having observed an alteration in my looks and carriage towards him, he apprehended that I entertained some suspicions of him; and that being perswaded of the tendency of the designs of us both to the advancement of the publick service, he desired that a meeting might be appointed, wherein with freedom we might discover the grounds of our mistakes and misapprehensions, and create a good understanding between us for the future. I answered, that he discovered in me what I had never perceived in myself; and that if I troubled him not so frequently as formerly, it was either because I was conscious of that weight of business that lay upon him, or that I had nothing to importune him withal upon my own or any other account; yet since he was pleased to do me the honor to desire a free conversation with me, I assured him of my readiness therein. Whereupon we resolved to meet that afternoon in the council of state, and from thence to withdraw to a private room, which we did accordingly in the queen's guard-chamber, where he endeavoured to perswade me of the necessity incumbent upon him to do several things that appeared extraordinary in the judgment of some men, who in opposition to him took such courses as would bring ruin upon themselves, as well as him and the publick

ment, and among the commanders of their

cause, affirming his intentions to be directed entirely to the good of the people, and professing his readiness to sacrifice his life in their service. I freely acknowledged my former dissatisfaction with him and the rest of the army, when they were in treaty with the king, whom I looked upon as the only obstruction to the settlement of the nation; and with their actions at the rendevouz at Ware, where they shot a soldier to death, and imprisoned divers others upon the account of that treaty, which I conceived to have been done without authority, and for sinister ends. Yet since they had manifested themselves convinced of those errors, and declared their adherence to the commonwealth, tho' too partial a hand was carried both by the parliament and themselves, in the distribution of preferments and gratuities, and too much severity exercised against some who had formerly been their friends, and as I hoped would be so still, with other things that I could not entirely approve, I was contented patiently to wait for the accomplishment of those good things which I expected, till they had overcome the difficulties they now laboured under, and suppressed their enemies that appeared both abroad and at home against them; hoping that then their principles and interest should lead them to do what was most agreeable to the constitution of a commonwealth, and the good of mankind. He owned my dissatisfaction with the army whilst they were in treaty with the king, to be founded upon good reasons, and excused the execution done upon the soldier at the rendevouz, as absolutely necessary to keep things from falling into confusion; which must have ensued upon that division, if it had not been timely prevented. He professed to desire nothing more than that the government of the nation might be settled in a free and equal commonwealth, acknowledging that there was no other probable means to keep out the old family and government from returning upon us; declaring that he looked upon the design of the Lord in this day to be the freeing

armies; and probably also by a desire of ter

of his people from every burden, and that he was now accomplishing what was prophesied in the 110th Psalm; from the consideration of which he was often encouraged to attend the effecting those ends, spending at least an hour in the exposition of that Psalm *."- Cromwell must have had a peculiar knack at dissimulation, when he was capable of thus imposing on Ludlow, who had many times before found himself deceived by him! And he must have been a master in this art, who could still deceive, and still find means to be trusted by the same persons: as trusted he was by the republican party, and many other honest men, till he broke through all forms, and boldly seized the sovereignty. The arts made use of to bring this about, will tend to heighten our idea of his capacity in this respect, and shew him in his true colours. Though he eagerly coveted his own advancement, he thought it not convenient yet to unmask himself; but rather to make higher pretences to honesty, than ever he had done before, thereby to engage major general Harrison, colonel Rich, and their party to himself. To this end he took all occasions in their presence to asperse the parliament, as not designing to do those good things they pretended to; but rather intending to support the corrupt interests of the clergy and lawyers. And though he was convinced they were hastning with all expedition to put a period to their sitting, having passed a vote that they would do it within the space of a year, and that they were making all possible preparations in order to it; yet did he industriously publish, that they were so in love with their seats, that they would use all means to perpetuate themselves. These and other calumnies, he had with so much art insinuated into the belief of many honest and well-meaning people, that they began to wish him prosperity in his undertaking. Divers of the clergy from their pulpits began to prophecy the

minating the war rather by treaty than the

destruction of the parliament, and to propose it openly as a thing desirable. Insomuch that the general, who had all along concurred with this spirit in them, hypocritically complained to quarter-master Vernon, that he was pushed on by two parties to do that, the consideration of the issue whereof, made his hair to stand an end. One of these, said he, is headed by major general Lambert, who in revenge of that injury the parliament did him, in not permitting him to go into Ireland with a character and conditions suitable to his merit, will be contented with nothing less than their dissolution: of the other major general Harrison is the chief, who is an honest man, and aims at good things, yet from the impatience of his spirit will not wait the Lord's leizure, but hurries me on to do that which he and all honest men will have cause to repent. Thus," adds Ludlow, "did he craftily feel the pulse of men towards this work, endeavouring to cast the infamy of it on others, reserving to himself the appearance of tender'ness to civil and religious liberty, and of skreening the nation from the fury of the parties before mentioneda." I have given these passages at length, to shew fully Cromwell's deep dissimulation. The reader may possibly be apt to ask, how these things were reconcileable with any real sense of religion, or common honesty and fair dealing? The answer is, that enthusiasm, to which Cromwell was subject, as I have made appear, is a very variable thing; it admits of much devotion and many crimes. Men who think themselves under the special and extraordinary influence of the Deity, attribute to him their feelings, sentiments and desires, and whatever proceeds from him, must be wise, just and good. And we are assured also, that "Cromwell and his adherents believed that there were great occasions, in which some men were called to great services, in the doing of which they were excused from the

sword. But things soon took a very different

common rules of morality: such were the practices of Ehud and Jael, Samson and David: and by this they fancied they had a priviledge from observing the standing rules*." -Besides, we are to consider Oliver as a politician, as a great man "who must be master of much artifice and knavery, his situation requiring him to employ, and to be employed by so many knaves; yet he must have some honesty, or those very knaves will be unwilling to trust him." And it is not improbable Cromwell had learnt from Machiavel, whom he is by some said to have been well read in, "that men do seldom or never advance themselves from a small beginning to any great height, but by fraud or by force (unless they come to it by donation, or right of inheritance.) I do not think," adds he, "any instance is to be found where force alone brought any man to that grandeur, but fraud and artifice have done it many times, as is clear in the lives of Philip of Macedon, Agathocles the Sicilian, and several others, who from mean and inconsiderable extraction, came at length to be kings." Accordingly the writers on politics observe, " that in the transacting of great affairs, the rules of morality admit of some relaxation; this is to be lamented, but not to be helped. Such frequently are the exigencies of a state, and such always the crookedness and depravity of the heart of man, that were you to deal openly, to tell all that you mean, all that you know, and all that you aim at, you would expose your country to ruin, and yourself to scorn, perhaps to the block. The most that can be done is to save appearances, and be wary of what expressions are used; for, upon these occasions, and many others, men are not to be upbraided for their silenced." - De Solis, speaking of the charge of horrible inhumanity brought against the Spaniards, says by way of reply, "We are not