CHAPTER XV.

CROMWELL THE PROTECTOR.

APRIL, 1653, he dissolved "the Rump!" "We

did not hear a dog bark at their going," he said afterwards in one of his speeches, and it expresses the very truth of the event. Henceforth, until 1658-a brief parenthesis of time, indeed, in the history of the country-he governed the country absolutely. In a history so brief as this we shall not attempt to detail the circumstances of those troublesome years. Alas! all his battles had been easy to win compared with the task of ruling the distracted realm. He called "the little Parliament," or the short, as its predecessor had been called "the long." It had been resolved in a council of the chief officers and eminent persons of the realm-but no doubt by Cromwell's own desire,— that the Commonwealth should be in a single person, that that person should be Cromwell, under the title of the Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, to be advised and assisted by "a council of not more than twenty-one able, discreet, and godly persons." His inauguration took place on the 16th of December of that year, in the presence of the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal of England, the

Barons of the Exchequer, and all the judges in their robes, the Council of State, the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of the City of London in their scarlet gowns, and the chief officers of the army; a chair of state was set in the midst of the Court of Chancery, and on the left side of it stood Cromwell in a plain suit of black velvet. An instrument of Government was read to him, to which he attached his signature, and in which he declared, in the presence of God, that he would not violate or infringe the matters and things therein contained, and to which he set his name. He then sat down in the chair of state, which was while he filled it the strongest throne in Europe; next day he was proclaimed Protector, by sound of trumpet, in the Palace Yard, Westminster, and at the Royal Exchange in the City.

What manner of man was he at this period-fiftyfour years of age? See him standing there, before all England, and all following ages, a man of some five feet ten or more, of massive, stout stature, and large massive head, dignified military carriage; " of leonine aspect," says Carlyle, "a figure of sufficient impressiveness, not lovely to the man milliner, nor pretending to be so; an expression of valour and devout intelligence, energy, and delicacy on a basis of simplicity; wart above the right eyebrow, nose of considerable blunt aquiline proportions; strict, yet copious lips, full of all tremulous sensibilities, and also, if need were, of all fierceness and rigours; deep

loving eyes-call them grave, call them stern,-looking from those craggy brows as if in life-long sorrow, and yet not thinking it sorrow, thinking it only labour and endeavour." Thus Hampden's prophecy at last was realized, and "that sloven" had made himself. the greatest man in the kingdom.1

Cromwell called Parliaments from time to time, but they gave him no satisfaction, nor the nation either; the members spent their time very much in useless and idle chatter. But, again and again, he was urged by the Council and by the Commons to take the Crown: this formed no part of the plan in his mind. We have seen that he probably knew that the nation would settle itself beneath its ancient monarchy again, and he had no ambition to form or found a phantom royal dynasty.

The following is a very characteristic letter to his son-in-law, and seems to admit us, in a very clear manner, into the mind of the Protector on this subject:

1 Concerning likenesses of Cromwell, it cannot be uninteresting, I think, to say that, probably, my excellent friend, the Rev. D. Kewer Williams, of Hackney, London (England), has the largest and most curious collection of every kind-engravings, paintings, etc., etc.—in the world; in fact, he has a real Cromwellian museum. Let a committee be formed for the purchase of these; let all other possible obtainable Cromwell memorials be added, and some such monument reared to the Protector's memory as that of Robert Burns in Edinburgh, as Göethe's house in Frankfort, as Michael Angelo's in Florence.

"To the Lord Fleetwood, Lord-Deputy of Ireland,

"WHITEHALL,

22nd June, 1655.

"DEAR CHARLES,

"I write not often: at once I desire thee to know I most dearly love thee; and, indeed, my heart is plain to thee, as thy heart can well desire; let nothing shake thee in this. The wretched jealousies that are amongst us, and the spirit of calumny, turn all into gall and wormwood. My heart is for the people of God; that the Lord knows, and will in due time manifest; yet thence are my wounds; which though it grieves me, yet through the grace of God doth not discourage me totally. Many good men are repining at everything; though indeed very many good are well satisfied, and satisfying daily. The will of the Lord will bring forth good in due time.

"It's reported that you are to be sent for, and Harry to be Deputy; which, truly, never entered into my heart. The Lord knows my desire was for him and his brother to have lived private lives in the country; and Harry knows this very well, and how difficultly I was persuaded to give him his commission for his present place. This I say as from a simple and sincere heart. The noise of my being crowned, etc., are similar malicious figments.

"Dear Charles, my dear love to thee; and to my dear Biddy, who is a joy to my heart, for what I hear of the Lord in her. Bid her be cheerful and rejoice in again; if she knows the covenant

the Lord once and