well"a lively copy of Jeroboam;" when dead, he ventured to say: "Who that had beheld such a bankrupt, beggarly fellow as Cromwell, first entering the Parliament house, with a threadbare torn cloak and a greasy hat, (and perhaps neither of them paid for,) could have suspected that in the space of so few years, he should, by the murder of one king, and the banishment of another, ascend the throne, be invested in the royal robes, and want nothing of the state of a king but the changing of his hat into a crown ?”

The country gentleman was not long in showing the effects of a town residence upon his exterior, if we may believe Sir Philip Warwick, who seems to have been as close an observer of the cut of a coat as a Nugee or Stultz. This observing knight, who had been so severe upon the clumsy performance of Oliver's country suit, makes amends by praising with the gusto of a connoisseur, the finished productions of the more skillful London artist, and talks of Cromwell's "great and majestic deportment and comely presence" when he had submitted to the finishing touch of a "better taylor."

To those who were better judges than the courtly South or the gossiping Sir Philip, the rude-spoken, slovenly country gentleman appeared a noticeable person. Lord Digby, when in the House of Commons, by the side of Hampden, remarked: "Pray, Mr. Hampden, who is that man, for I see he is on our side by his speaking so warmly to-day?" "That

sloven," answered Hampden, "whom you see before you hath no ornament in his speech; that sloven, I say, if we should ever come to a breach with the King, (which God forbid!) in such a case, I say, that sloven will be the greatest man in England." "That sloven" was Oliver Cromwell, the future Protector.

Our country member, however, soon made himself heard by all in that memorable Long Parliament. Though never fluent, and unskilled in the practised eloquence of the orator, Cromwell spoke always with a fervor, which, as it came from the heart, went to the hearts of all who heard him. Even his enemies confess that, from his earnestness and fervor, he was much listened to.*

King Charles had summoned the Parliament with fear and trembling. By the very act he had thrown himself upon the mercy of his subjects. Instead of opening the session with the usual pomp and ceremonial, he proceeded quietly, almost secretly, to Westminster by water. The speech from the throne was intended to be conciliatory, but having alluded to the Scots who had invaded England, as rebels, his Majesty was forced to apologize for the use of the term. The House of Commons was evidently composed of the friends of the people. The royal influence had failed even to secure the election of a devoted friend of the King, Gardiner, as Speaker. Not one third of the members, although the crown had exercised all its

* Sir Philip Warwick.

power to secure a majority for its party, were ready to raise their voices in behalf of the King. The redress of grievances, political and religious, claimed the first attention of the Commons. The Papistical tendencies of the crown were rebuked by the stern denunciation of the Puritan orators. The King was forced to drive all the Roman Catholics from the court and the army, and banish the priests from the country. The "Church was purged." The independent ministers who had been dismissed from their livings for non-conformity by the intolerant Laud, were restored; and those "scandalous" clergymen, whose conduct had been immoral, or who had made themselves obnoxious to the Protestant feeling of the country, by their zeal for Popish ceremonies, were either rebuked or cast into prison.

Prynne, Burton, and Bostwick, who had been so severely punished, were triumphantly pardoned, and their judges fined. These sufferers for the Puritan cause were compensated by a public ovation, and entered London, attended by a procession of hundreds of carriages, thousands of horsemen, and multitudes on foot, wearing bay and rosemary in their hats.

The levy of ship-money, and all the prosecutions which attended the imposition of that odious tax, were pronounced illegal.

These decided measures having been summarily disposed of, Pym rose, and having enlarged upon the public grievances, indulged, at the close, in a strain of

Faithful in Parliament.

61

bitter invective against the ministers of the government, whom he held responsible by their wicked counsels, for the 'subversion of the liberties of the realm. Of the chief of these traitors to their country was Strafford, against whose public and private character Pym, having bitterly inveighed, he concluded by moving the impeachment of that statesman. Strafford, Laud, and others were successively impeached and imprisoned in the Tower of London, to await their trial for treason.

It does not appear that Cromwell took a very active part in the early proceedings of the Long Parliament, although we are sure he felt a deep interest in the momentous transactions of that important body. When the Scotch treaty came up, Cromwell evidently took a part in the question, as a letter addressed to a friend is extant, in which he asks for information in regard to an article which bore upon the subject of uniformity of religion between England and Scotland. He also showed his sympathy with the persecuted Puritans by presenting a petition in behalf of young John Lilburn, who had been whipped with two hundred stripes from Westminster to Fleetstreet prison. This Lilburn had been Secretary to Prynne, and thus came in for his share of persecution from Laud and the High-Church party.

Cromwell was evidently doing his duty faithfully as a member of Parliament. If he did not shine among the orators, he was not surpassed by the hard

1

est workers on committees and in the business of the House. The Tory Earl of Clarendon has left a record of Cromwell's conduct on one occasion, which, as the report comes from an enemy, must be taken with considerable allowance. The occasion was a parliamentary committee before which was the question of the right of inclosure of certain waste lands belonging to the Queen's manors. These lands had been inclosed without the consent of the tenants, and sold by the Queen to the Earl of Manchester, Lord Privy Seal. Loud complaints were made by the people throughout the country, at this interference with the rights of tenants, and a petition was submitted to Parliament praying for protection. Cromwell appeared, with his usual devotion to the popular cause, for the petitioners. The question, moreover, had a local interest for him; for it referred to a wrong in his own neighborhood of St. Ives. Lord Clarendon says: "Cromwell, who had never before been heard to speak in the House of Commons-at least not by me, though he had often spoken, and was very well known there-ordered the witnesses and the petitioners in the method of the proceeding; and seconded and enlarged upon what they said with great passion; and the witnesses and persons concerned, who were a very rude kind of people, interrupted the counsel and witnesses on the other side, with great clamor, when they said any thing that did not please them; so that Mr. Hyde (whose office it was to