ceremony. The martial Henry is oftener in the camp than in the palace, and is never absent from a parade or a council. The widow Ireton, though in weeds, proudly promenades the park of St. James, and disputes the way with the showy Lady Lambert, who, on the score of her being the wife of a Lord-Deputy of Ireland, has assumed the precedence of a daughter of Cromwell. The widow, however, consoles her wounded vanity in the tender attentions of her wooer, Fleetwood, who soon gives the envious lady her coveted place, in advance of the presumptuous dame Lambert; for Fleetwood is substituted for that lady's lord in the Irish deputyship. When Mr. Claypole is in town, on a visit from the country, Henry Somerset, Lord Herbert, eldest son of the Marquis of Worcester, the author of the "Century of Inventions," who is said to have had a dim prophetic idea of the steam-engine, is observed to be more than usually frequent in his visits to Whitehall. Cromwell, while absent in Scotland, had written to his wife, telling her to beware of the resort of this gallant nobleman to her house, "because it might occasion scandal," his enemies say on account of an intrigue with Mrs. Claypole; Cromwell himself says: "As if I were bargaining with him." Herbert, who after the restoration became the Duke of Beaufort, was a Roman Catholic, with Royalist tendencies, and of course it was not politic that he should be observ

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ed as a frequent visitor at the house of the rising republican.

Cromwell, who was fifty-two years of age, in the full vigor of a robust life, was now possessed of vast experience, from the active part he had borne in a time more replete, from its vicissitudes and its fullness of events, with lessons, than any other period of history. He had always a rapid and almost instinctive perception of characters, which his well-tried knowledge of the world had matured into an unerring judgment of his fellow-men. Cromwell accordingly placed himself in the very midst of the active movement of the day, and began to mould the molten elements of the government to his own iron purposes. While he never loosened the rein he held over the great power of the realm, his veteran soldiery, but kept them well trained and ready to draw his triumphal car onward to power, he was none the less watchful of the state. He knew that with the devotion of Englishmen to constitutional liberty, a purely military despotism would but irritate to resistance, and could not enslave his countrymen. Cromwell accordingly strove to gain an ascendency by political manoeuvre, and in Parliament became an advocate of all the popular measures for reform.

Religion was also a great prop to his advancement. Cromwell was undoubtedly, throughout his career, a religious enthusiast, whose sincerity can

not be doubted.

He convinced himself that he was a chosen instrument of God, and trusting, like all Independents, to his own excited emotions only, for the evidence of his inspiration, he never doubted, but was a firm believer in himself. Despotic exercise of power, wiliness, violence, and cruelty, and all the means which the ambitious use for self-advancement, were crimes for which Cromwell is amenable; although self-judging, he may have acquitted himself, or even believed his vices holy virtues.

Cromwell's religious views as an Independent, gave him the sympathy of all the sectaries into which England, set loose from the control of its Established Church, readily dissolved. He was therefore deemed the champion of toleration, and its great protector against the dogmatic and absolute Presbytarians. Cromwell, with the control of such powerful elements, the martial spirit, the religious enthusiasm, and the democratic feeling, had but warily to watch his opportunity and become the master of England. That opportunity soon offered.

The government was carrying on its external affairs with spirit and vigor. The navigation act, which has been the boast for two hundred years of England's policy, until our day, when it has been abolished, was passed, chiefly with the purpose of striking a blow at the commerce of the Dutch who had all the carrying trade. By this act it was forbidden that any goods should be imported into Eng

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land except in English ships or in ships of the country whence the goods were imported. The Parliament had other than commercial motives in this proceeding. The Dutch had harbored and sympathized with Charles II.; the Parliamentary ambassador, Derislan, had been assassinated at the Hague; and repeated attempts at settlement of the difficulties between the two nations had been obstructed by the imperious demands of Holland. A naval war was the consequence, which the Dutch, with their famous admirals, Van Tromp and De Ruyter, and the recollection of their triumphs at sea, entered into with a precipitate confidence of victory. The English had, since the reign of Queen Elizabeth, yielded the dominion of the seas to Holland, but now strove to reässert their maritime power. The famous Parliamentary officers, Blake, Dean, and Monk, were extemporized into admirals of the sea for the emergency, and soon won for England the same prestige for its might on the water as they had gained for it on land. Van Tromp who insultingly made fast a broom to the bowsprit of his vessel, with the proud boast that he would sweep the English Channel, was swept back by Blake, into the Dutch harbors, with all his ships shattered and many destroyed in the process.

At home the Parliament were not acting with the same decision and success as abroad. They had long contemplated the filling up of the vacancies

which had been created by "Pride's Purge," and still hesitated for fear of being thrown into a minority by the popular vote. The resolution to dissolve the House in November, 1654, three years after the passage of the act, was now, although strenuously urged by Cromwell and the petitions of the people, viewed as of no effect, and there seemed to be a disposition on the part of Parliament to retain its power perpetually. They struggled more against their powerful enemies than in favor of their country. Cromwell and his army were the great objects of their attack. Accordingly, after several previous unsuccessful attempts, the Parliament ordered, on the 12th August, 1652, the Council of State to report to the House what had been done in regard to the retrenchment of the forces. The army were on the alert, and on the same day the officers assembled in council, and resolved to submit a petition, in which their grievances and their desires in regard to the state and religion were set forth. Six of the principal officers bore this petition to the door of the House. The Parliament was aghast that the army should thus directly interfere with the government. Cromwell, however, who was in his seat, skillfully quieted the rising alarm, and, although he had secretly instigated this movement on the part of the army, pretended that he had been desirous of preventing it, and declared on his word that if Parliament should