and the English, the former consenting to lower their flag A.C. to British ships, to pay 300,000l. for the business at Amboyna, and surrender the island of Poleron, in the East Indies.The protector passed an act in council for the union of Scotland with England into one commonwealth.

Louis the Fourteenth was inaugurated at Rheims on the 7th of June, by the bishop of Soissons.On the 16th, Christina, queen of Sweden, abdicated the crown in favour of Charles Gustavus, her cousin, and after seeing him placed on the throne, retired to Rome, where she embraced the catholic faith.

In July, Vowel and Gerard were executed for conspiring the death of Oliver Cromwell; and Don Pataleon Sa, the Spanish ambassador's brother, was beheaded for murder.

Charles the Second, finding his residence at the court of France was disagreeable, in consequence of the treaty between that country and England, repaired to the court of the princess of Orange, his sister, and subsequently visited Cologne with his little court, where he continued two years.

On the 3d September, the parliament of the three kingdoms assembled, consisting of 400 members for England, 30 for Scotland, and 30 for Ireland; Lenthal being appointed speaker.General Fleetwood, who had espoused Ireton's widow (daughter of Cromwell) was appointed to govern Ireland, two years after which he was succeeded by Henry Cromwell, the protector's younger son.The Scotch invited over Charles the Second, but he refused compliance with their wishes.

Towards the close of October, Cromwell was voted Lord Protector during life. And on the 30th died John Selden, the learned antiquary.--During this year, Balzac, the French author, also expired.

Cromwell's mother, daughter of Sir Richard Steward, died on the 17th November, and was interred in Westminster Abbey.

In December 200,000l. per ann. were voted for the use of the Protector and his successors.

During January and the two succeeding months, the cava- 1655 liers and levellers conspired against the protectorate of England, when several were executed at Exeter, on the 16th May.

In March, 30 sail under admiral Penn, with land forces commanded by Venables, were fitted out for the conquest of Hispaniola.The king of Spain, in consequence, ordered the property of English merchants to be seized throughout his dominions."

A.C. Dr. James Usher, archbishop of Armagh, died, and was interred the ensuing month, in Westminster Abbey, at the expense of Cromwell.

1656

Alexander the Seventh mounted the papal chair, on the 7th of April.

Peace was ratified between the Protestants and Catholics of the Swiss cantons, through the medium of the French king.

Frederick William, elector of Brandenburgh, obtained of Poland to be acknowledged sovereign duke of Prussia and an independent monarch.

Oliver Cromwell ratified a treaty with France, and declared war against the Spaniards, from whom the island of Jamaica was, on the 3d of May, captured by Penn and Venables. At the same period, Blake also battered Tunis, destroyed nine ships, and effected the delivery of English captives.

In September, Cromwell ordered a fast, and that a collection should be made for the persecuted Piedmontese Pro

testants.

On the 24th of October, the articles of peace were signed between England and France. That alliance laid the foundation of the greatness of the latter monarchy, though Cromwell did not permit the French king to style himself king of France, and obliged him to subscribe his signature after his own as Protector of France and England.

In December, a conference took place between commissioners from the Protector of England and Manasseh Ben Israel, for admitting the Jews to traffic in England.

Isaac de la Peyrere, a native of Bordeaux, published a work entitled, Pre-adamites, thereby establishing a new sect. He subsequently, in 1657, abjured his system, at the feet of Pope Alexander the Seventh.

On the 23d January, Pascal published the first of his eighteen famous Provincial Letters.A decree of the Inquisition was published, tolerating those Chinese who were converted, to practise the ceremonies of their nation, as regarded Confucius and their deceased parents.

Spain, on the 15th February, declared war against England.

In April, Mrs. Barlow, with her natural son by Charles the Second, afterwards duke of Monmouth, who had been committed to the Tower, were freed by an order of Cromwell.

Early in September, several Spanish galleons were destroyed by the English near Cadiz, and one captured esti

mated to have contained two millions in silver.Parlia- A.C. ment voted that the crown should be tendered to the Protector, who refused the kingly dignity.--Blake and Montague attacked the Spanish West India fleet, when Cromwell commanded the riches then taken to be conveyed in triumph to London.

On the 3d of October, the Thames ebbed and flowed twice in three hours.

1

At the close of the month, it was made high treason to conspire against Cromwell's person, and the title of Charles Stuart was disannulled.

In December, one James Naylor, for having personated Christ at Bristol, &c., was condemned to be whipped, pilloried, and have his tongue perforated with a red-hot iron.

During January, the plot of Miles Syndercombe, against 1657 Cromwell, was discovered, when being condemned to death, he was discovered murdered in his prison; and in the March following, some Anabaptists also conspired against the Lord Protector.

Cromwell having been applied to, to accept the regal title, the officers of the army, in April, petitioned against his accepting the same, and threatened him, in case of compliance. Charles the Second entered into a treaty with Spain, and removed to Bruges.

Admiral Blake, having attacked the Spanish galleons, near the Canaries, and burnt the whole, expired on the 17th of August, when sailing home in triumph, and was interred at Cromwell's expense in the most sumptuous manner, in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

On the 8th of May, Cromwell refused to accept the title of king, upon which he was petitioned by parliament to govern as Lord Protector, being also empowered to appoint a successor, when an annual sum of 1,300,000l. were allowed him to defray the expenses of his government.

Oliver Cromwell was inaugurated Lord Protector, on the 26th June, in Westminster Hall, in great pomp.

On the 30th July, Dr. William Harvey, who had confirmed the discovery of the circulation of the blood, died.

In September, Mardyke was captured by the British and French forces, and put into possession of the former; when Cromwell despatched 6000 English troops to France, to assist the French.

During December, the Protector of England sent an agent to the duke of Savoy, to negotiate in behalf of his protestant subjects.--Writs were issued for the attendance of 60 members at Westminster, to constitute a house of peers.

A.C.

1658

Sir Edward Hyde was, in January, constituted lord chan cellor of England, by Charles the Second, at Bruges. The marquis of Ormond landed in England to head the cavaliers, but was discovered, and narrowly escaped back to Flanders.

In February, Cromwell married his second daughter to Lord Fauconbridge, and his third to Mr. Rich, grandson of the earl of Warwick; his eldest had long been espoused to Mr. Claypole, and a fourth continued unmarried. Charles the Second removed his court to Brussels.

During March, plots were discovered against the Protector of England; and a pamphlet, entitled Killing no Murder, written by Colonel Titus, gave Cromwell so much uneasiness, that he is said to have worn armour under his clothes, to have carried pistols in his pockets, and changed his bed-room nightly.A high court of justice was appointed for the trial of the conspirators against Cromwell, when, in the June following, Sir Henry Slingesby and Dr. Hewet were condemned and executed, and Mr. Mordaunt acquitted. Several others afterwards suffered.

The Spaniards, commanded by the Great Condé, had taken advantage of the troubles that reigned in France, to make themselves masters of Gravelines and Dunkirk; Turenne compelled them to raise the siege of Arras, and then gained the famous victory of Dunes, when he retook Dunkirk, which place was given up to the English, by virtue of a treaty entered into with the Protector Cromwell.

Mrs. Claypole, Oliver Cromwell's eldest daughter, died on the 6th of August.

The emperor Ferdinand the Third died at Vienna, in the 49th year of his age and the 21st of his reign; when his son, Leopold the First was elected emperor, during the ensuing

year.

The French, assisted by England, overrun great part of Flanders, possessing themselves of Winoxburgh, Furnes, Menin, Oudenarde, and Ypres.--Charles the Second removed from Brussels to Hochstraten, but hearing of Cromwell's decease the following month, he returned to the former city.

On the 12th of August, the Lord Protector of England, being seized with a fever at Hampton Court, returned to Whitehall, where he expired the 3d of September following, aged 60, after having enjoyed the Protectorate four years, eight months, and eighteen days. It is remarkable, that on the day of his decease, the greatest tempest of wind ever witnessed took place. He had appointed his son Richard Crom

well to succeed him, whose mother, prior to her marriage A.C. with Oliver Cromwell, was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Bourchier. Having twice triumphed over his enemies on the 3d of September, the day of his death, namely, at Dunbar, in 1650, and at Worcester, in 1651, the protector's adherents concluded that he had gone triumphantly to paradise. Richard Cromwell was on the 4th proclaimed Lord Protector, when he received the condolence of the foreign ministers, &c. It has been stated by some, that Cromwell had appointed Fleetwood for his heir, but that one of his daughters, aware of the spot where the will was placed, destroyed it. Being asked who should succeed him, Oliver replied, in such a drawer of a cabinet in my closet it will be found *.

The late Protector of England was interred on the 23d November, in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, after laying in state in Somerset House, at the expense of 60,000l.-Richard Cromwell strove to obtain the favour of General Monk, then commanding in Scotland, when the latter submitted to his government.

On the 4th December, the Protector Richard called a parliament after the ancient form, and summoned his peers to meet on the 27th January following.

The Dutch possessed themselves of the island of Ceylon. The famous league, called the League of the Rhine, was entered into during this year, between the principal electors and princes of Germany and the king of Sweden, as duke of Bremen, for the purpose of maintaining the treaty of Westphalia and preserving peace in Germany; wherefore it was agreed to keep a standing army of 10,000 men. To this treaty the French king acceded, and thereby acquired a predominating influence in the affairs of the empire, which frequently proved more powerful than that of the emperor himself.

Richard Cromwell, protector of England, in January, 1659 strove to make himself master of the army; but the leaders combined against him, and drew out a petition which Richard refused to sanction.

At the close of March, the English parliament, on examining public accounts, found that the yearly income of the three kingdoms amounted to 1,868,717, and the expenditure to

*Oliver Cromwell was born at Huntingdon, on the 25th April, 1599. His family was originally of Glamorganshire, in Wales, and possessed no other name save that of Williams; but one of his ancestors having espoused a daughter of Cromwell, earl of Essex, the vicegerent of Henry the Eighth, in ecclesiastical matters, he assumed the name of his father-inlaw, and transmitted the same to his posterity.