declare against it when he contrived (plotted) for it in his own person? to abuse perfidiously and supplant "ingratefully" his own general first, and afterwards most of those officers, who, with the loss of their honour and hazard of their souls, had lifted him up to the top of his unreasonable ambitions? to break his faith with all enemies and with all friends equally; to make no less frequent use of the most solemn perjuries than the looser sort of people do of customary oaths? to usurp three kingdoms without any shadow of the least pretensions, and to govern them as unjustly as he got them? to set himself up as an idol (which we know, as St. Paul says, in itself is nothing), and make the very streets of London like the valley of Hinnom, by burning the bowels of men as a sacrifice to his Molochship? to seek to entail this usurpation upon his posterity, and with it an endless war upon the nation? and, lastly, by the severest judgment of Almighty God, to die hardened, and nad, and unrepentant, with the curses of the present age, and the detestation of all to succeed?

4. WAS CROMWELL A TYRANT?

(FROM THE SAME WORK.)

I CALL him (said I) a tyrant' who either intrudes himself forcibly into the government of his fellow-citizens without any legal authority over them, or who, having a just title to the government of a people, abuses it to the destruction or tormenting of them. So that all tyrants are at the same time usurpers, either of the whole, or at least of a part of that power which they assume to themselves; and no less are they to be accounted rebels, since no man can usurp authority over others but by rebelling against them who had it before, or at least against those laws which were his superiors; and in all these senses no history can afford us a more evident example of tyranny, or more out of all possibility of excuse or palliation, than that of the person whom you are pleased to defend;

(1) Tyrant. This word (fr. Gr. rúpavvos) was first applied to the man who, in a free republic, had got the supreme power into his own hands. This was what Pisistratus did at Athens, and hence he was called a tyrant, though it was allowed that he administered the power, which he had forcibly seized, ably and justly. The very different use made by others of power gained by similar means, has darkened the meaning of this neutral word. The various ordinary senses f the word are admirably illustrated in the text, and some introduced which are questionable

whether we consider his reiterated rebellions against all his superiors, or his usurpation of the supreme power to himself, or his tyranny in the exercise of it; and if lawful princes have been esteemed tyrants by not containing themselves within the bounds of those laws which have been left them as the sphere (limit) of their authority by their forefathers, what shall we say of that man who, having by right no power at all in this nation, could not content himself with that which had satisfied the most ambitious of our princes ?—nay, not with those vastly extended limits of sovereignty which he (disdaining all that had been prescribed and observed before) was pleased (out of great modesty) to set to himself? not abstaining from rebellion and usurpation even against his own laws as well as those of the nation?

Hold, friend, said his Highness (i.e. the evil spirit before alluded to), pulling me by the arm, for I see your zeal is transporting you again. Whether the Protector were a tyrant in the exorbitant exercise of his power, we shall see anon (presently); it is requisite to examine first whether he were so in the usurpation of it. And I say that not only he, but no man else, ever was, or can be so; and that for these reasons:-First, because all power belongs only to God, who is the source and fountain of it, as kings are of all honours in their dominions. Princes are but his viceroys in the little provinces of this world; and to some he gives their places for a few years, to some for their lives, and to others, upon (for) ends or deserts best known to himself, or merely for his indisputable pleasure, he bestows, as it were, leases upon them and their posterity for such a date of time as is prefixed in that patent of their destiny, which is not legible to you men below. Neither is it more unlawful for Oliver to succeed Charles in the kingdom of England than it had been for him to have succeeded the Lord Strafford in the lieutenancy of Ireland, if he had been appointed to it by the king then reigning. Men are in both the cases obliged to obey him, whom they see actually invested with the authority by that sovereign from whom he ought to derive it, without disputing or examining the causes, either of the removal of the one, or the preferment of the other. Secondly, because all power is attained either by the election and consent of the people, and that takes away your objection of forcible intrusion; or else by a conquest of them, and that gives such a legal authority as you mention to be wanting in the usurpation of a tyrant; so that either this title is right, and then there are no usurpers; or else it is a wrong one, and then there are none

else but usurpers, if you examine the original pretences of the princes of the world. Thirdly (which, quitting the dispute in general, is a particular justification of his Highness), the government of England was totally broken and dissolved, and extintinguished by the confusions of a civil war, so that his Highness could not be accused to have possessed himself violently of the ancient building of the Commonwealth, but to have prudently and peaceably built up a new one out of the ruins and ashes of the former; and he who after a deplorable shipwreck can with extraordinary industry gather together the dispersed and broken planks and pieces of it; and with no less wonderful art and felicity' so rejoin them as to make a new vessel more tight and beautiful than the old one, deserves, no doubt, to have the command of her, even as his Highness had by the desire of the seamen and passengers themselves. And do but consider, lastly (for I omit a multitude of weighty things that might be spoken upon this noble argument), do but consider seriously and impartially with yourself, what admirable parts (qualities) of wit and prudence, what indefatigable diligence and invincible courage, must of necessity have concurred in the person of that man, who, from so contemptible beginnings (as I observed before), and through so many thousand difficulties, was able not only to make himself the greatest and most absolute monarch of this nation, but to add to it the entire conquest of Ireland and Scotland (which the whole force of the world, joined with the Roman virtue, could never attain to), and to crown all this with illustrious and heroical undertakings and successes upon all our foreign enemies; do but (I say again) consider this, and you will confess that his prodigious merits were a better title to imperial dignity than the blood of a hundred royal progenitors; and will rather lament that he lived not to overcome more nations, than envy him the conquest and dominion of these.

Whoever you are, said I (my indignation making me somewhat bolder), your discourse, methinks, becomes as little the person of a tutelar angel, as Cromwell's actions did that of a Protector. It is upon these principles that all the great crimes of the world have been committed, and most particularly those which I have had the misfortune to see in my own time and in my own countrey." If these be to be allowed, we must

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(1) Happiness and felicity, see note 1, p. 200.

(2) Countrey. “This word, in the sense of patria, or as including in it the idea of a civil constitution, is always spelt by Mr. Cowley, I observe, with an e before

break up human society, retire into woods, and equally there stand upon our guards against our brethren mankind, and our rebels the wild beasts. For if there can be no usurpation upon the rights of a whole nation, there can be none most certainly upon those of a private person; and if the robbers of "countreys" be God's vicegerents, there is no doubt but the thieves and banditos (banditti), and murderers, are his under officers.

LORD CLARENDON.'

1. CHARACTER OF HAMPDEN.

(FROM THE "HISTORY OF THE REBELLION," WRITTEN ABOUT 1666.)

He was a gentleman of a good family in Buckinghamshire, and born to a fair fortune, and of a most civil 2 and affable deportment. In his entrance into the world he indulged to himself all the license in sports and exercises, and company, which were used by men of the most jolly conversation. Afterwards he retired to a more reserved and melancholy society, yet preserving his own natural cheerfulness and vivacity, and above all, a flowing courtesy to all men; though they who conversed nearly (who were intimately acquainted) with him, found him growing into a dislike of the ecclesiastical government of the

y, countrey; in the sense of rus, without an e-country; and this distinction, for the sake of perspicuity, may be worth preserving."--Hurd.

This suggestion, made about a century ago, was not, it is believed, adopted by any portion of the public.

(1) "His (Clarendon's) style cannot be commended for its correctness. The manner in which he constructs his sentences, indeed, often sets at defiance all the rules of syntax; but yet he is never unintelligible or obscure-with such admirable expository skill is the matter arranged and spread out, even where the mere verbal sentence-making is the most negligent and entangled. The style, in fact, is that proper in speaking, rather than writing."-Craik's English Literature, ii. 120.

(2) Civil, i.e. courteous. This word, used by Milton, for citizen-like or politic, refers here to manners only.

(3) Indulged to himself, &c. A very unusual construction for "indulged himself in," &c.

(4) Most jolly conversation, the freest manner of life. Jolly, fr. Fr. joli, was used by Spenser in the sense of lively, merry, as "a jolly knight;" and Milton (" Sonnets ") has, "The jolly (cheerful) hours lead on propitious May."

church, yet most believed it rather a dislike of some churchmen (i.e. of Laud, &c.) and of some introducements (innovations) of theirs, which he apprehended might disquiet the public peace. He was rather of reputation in his own country (own part of the country) than of public discourse or fame in the kingdom, before the business of ship-money; but then he grew the argument' (became the theme) of all tongues, every man inquiring who and what he was, that durst at his own charge support (maintain) the liberty and property of the kingdom, and rescue his country, as he thought, from being made a prey to the court. His carriage throughout this agitation was with (of) that rare temper and modesty, that they who watched him narrowly to find some advantage against his person, to make him less resolute in his cause, were compelled to give him a just testimony. And the judgment that was given against him infinitely more advanced him, than the service for which it was given. When this parliament (the long parliament) begun (being returned knight of the shire for the county where he lived), the eyes of all men were fixed upon him as their Patria Pater, and the pilot that must steer the vessel through the tempests and rocks which threatened it. And I am persuaded his power and interest, at that time, was greater to do good or hurt (harm) than any man's in the kingdom, or than any man of his rank hath had in any time; for his reputation of (for) honesty was universal, and his affections seemed so publicly guided, that no corrupt or private ends could bias them.

He was of that rare affability and temper in debate, and of that seeming humility and submission of judgment, as if he brought no opinion of his own with him, but a desire of information and instruction; yet he had so subtle a way of interrogating, and, under the notion of doubts, insinuating his objections,

(1) Argument, fr. Lat. arguere, to make clear, prove; hence (1), a sign, evidence; (2) proof, or the process of reasoning; (3) the matter reasoned or talked about. In this last sense the word is used above. Shakspere ("Much Ado about Nothing") introduces a man who "becomes the argument of his own scorn" by falling in love. Milton also speaks of wars, "hitherto the only argument, heroic deemed."

(2) Information, instruction, education. According to general use, information is knowledge of facts, instruction of facts conjoined with principles; and education, which is more comprehensive, is the process of physical, mental, and moral development. A desire of information and instruction, therefore, is a desire to know facts, and to be the better for the knowledge. To speak of the education of an opinion, as in the next page, is unusual. We educate persons, or educate the mind, &c., but not abstractions.