OF

OLIVER CROMWELL

1644-1658

COLLECTED AND EDITED BY

CHARLES L. STAINER, M.A.

CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD

London

HENRY FROWDE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, AMEN CORNER, E.C.

NEW YORK: 91 & 93 FIFTH AVENUE

1901

PREFACE

THESE speeches have been collected with two distinct objects in view. In the first place, it is thought that no proper idea of the Protector, as a speaker, can be obtained if attention only is paid to the last few years of his life. His activity extends from 1629 to 1658, a fact which should not be altogether ignored simply because the historical material at our disposal is scanty. For this reason a beginning has been made with the year 1644, a date that should serve to remind readers of how much must be missing, for Cromwell surely took some part in the long constitutional debates that preceded the outbreak of the Civil War. And for this reason also, the substance' of a large number of speeches has been included. These fragments give greater continuity to the book, they enable us to form a more general estimate of Cromwell's speech-making, and to realize the poverty of our historical records.

In the second place, it seems high time that some attempt should be made to gather together the actual

texts of these speeches, as at present existing, and not to present mere literary versions in which it is difficult to distinguish between speaker and author. Accordingly these speeches have been faithfully copied from the best available sources by the Editor, and all emendations and words inserted by him have been placed within brackets. This enables the reader to see at one glance the condition of the text, and to satisfy himself as to the value of the corrections made. Throughout the book this has been followed as a hard and fast rule, though in many cases the alterations are of the most trivial character. Further, no attempt has been made to alter the text where sense can possibly be made, or where the sentences are so confused as to make restoration impossible. The punctuation is mostly the Editor's, a necessity forced upon him by the extraordinary condition of most of the originals; and the spelling is also modern. The book is thus a textbook, in reading which, though some assistance is offered, the reader must largely depend on his own knowledge and judgement.

This being so, it naturally becomes a question of some interest whether the texts copied have any claim to be considered originals: that is to say, whether any of our MSS. were actually written at the time of the speeches. It will be noticed that a number of alternative readings have been added in the notes. These are but a few selected from an immense quantity, and it is quite astonishing to find so much diversity when one of the texts appears to be fairly