within two days. He continued at College only fourteen months; for, on the decease of his father in June, 1617, Mrs. Cromwell sent for him home; to which probably she was partly induced by that turn for extravagance and dissipation, which at this period seemed to govern his conduct. Dugdale says, that, while at Cam bridge," he made no great proficiency in any kind of learning; but then, and afterwards, sorting himself with drinking companions, and the under sort of people, being of a rough and blustering disposition, he had the name of a royster amongst most that knew him."* Though this character is admitted to be, in general, correct, it is certain, that Oliver was well acquainted with the Latin language; and that he had also a good knowledge of the Greek and Latin historians. "The death of a prudent father," says Mr. Noble, "was a severe loss to young Oliver; for the necessary severity of the parent restrained, though it could not conquer, the levity of a youth of strong, ungovernable passions; which bar being taken away, he fell into all the dissipation of a young heir, unheedful of the tender intreaties of a good mother. The juice of the grape, and the charms of the fair, with an habit of gaming, are said to have engrossed his mind, instead of attending to Coke upon Lyttleton, and Law Reports, which he was sent to study at Lincoln's Inn, soon after his return from Cambridge; and thus, says Sir Philip Warwick, the first years of his manhood were spent in a dissolute course of life, and good fellowship, and gaming. From the gay capital, he returned a finished rake to the place of his nativity;" and for some time continued to pursue an unhallowed and boiste rous tingdoniensis admissus ad commeatum Sociorum Aprilis vicessimo tertio; Tutore Mr. Ricardo Howlet.' Between this and the next entry, is the following remarkable character of the Protector, crowded in, in a different hand-writing. Hic fuit grandis ille Impostor, carnifex perditissimus, qui pientissimo rege Carolo 1° nefaria cæde sublato, ipsum usurpavit thronum, et tria regna, per 5 ferme annorum spatium, sub protectoris nomine indomita tyrannide vexavit. Short View of the late Troubles in England, p. 459. rous line of conduct, which ultimately led to his exclusion from respectable society, and to the total estrangement of the affections of his godfather and uncle, Sir Oliver, who had assisted in his education, and had him taught the polite accomplishments of music, dancing, &c. with his own sons. His extravagance in expenditure, soon produced its concomitant, want; and the pressure of necessity, aided by the remonstrances of maternal tenderness, and strengthened, perhaps, by the admonitions of the God, that dwells within us,' at length operated to produce a complete change in his behaviour; and he became by degrees a rigid sectarian. "He now took to a stricter course of life, which he daily increased, till his mind seemed wholly bent upon religious subjects: his house became the retreat of the persecuted Non-conformist teachers; and they shew a building behind it, which, they say, he erected for a chapel, where many of the disaffected had their religious rites performed, and in which he himself sometimes gave them edifying sermons. He also warmly interested himself in behalf of such of the Non-conformist preachers as were persecuted for their opi nions. Through this conduct, he obtained the confidence of a large party, and he was returned a Member for the Borough of Huntingdon to the Parliament which met in January, 1628. He had, indeed, been once before chosen for the same place, (anno 1625;) but on this latter occasion, he was elected as a kind of champion against the measures of the court, which had now become particularly obnoxious to the nation. Upon the very im politic dissolution of this Parliament, he retired to Huntingdon, and more than ever espoused the cause of the disaffected. His over-heated enthusiasm disturbed his mind; and Dr. Simcott, his physician, assured Sir Philip Warwick, that Mr. Cromwell was quite a splenetic, and had fancies about the cross in that town; and that he had been called up to him at midnight, and such unseasonable hours, many times, upon a strange phantasy, which made him believe he was then dying."t In Noble's Crom. Vol. I. p. 101. + Ibid. In the new charter that was granted to the Corporation of Hun tingdon, in July 1630, he was appointed a Justice of Peace, jointly with his former preceptor, Dr. Beard, and Robert Bernard, Esq. afterwards created a Baronet by Charles the Second. "Huntingdon, however, soon became disagreeable to him: his uncle, Sir Oliver Cromwell, was eminently loyal, and he had influence enough to keep the corporation of that town so likewise, which, with his quarrel with Dr. Beard for precedency, (and, as most say, his embarrassed fortune,) made him determine to leave the place. Whether he was at this, or any former period, concerned in the brewing business, is difficult to determine: many of his enemies lampooned him for it in his life-time; but as Heath, one of his bitterest foes, assures us that he never was a brewer, we may, I think, take his word." In Noble's Crom. Vol. I. p. 102. Worm, in Colman's Cutter of Coleman Street, has a reference to Cromwell, when speaking in derision of the Cutter's learning, he asks him, What parts hast thou? Hast thou scholarship enough to make a brewer's clerk ?'-One of the best pieces written under the impression of Oliver having been concerned in the brewing business, is styled The Protecting Brewer,' and is as follows: it contains a sort of epitome of his life. A Brewer may be a Burgess grave, And carry the matter so fine, and so brave, That he the better may play the Knave, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may be a Parliament-man, For there the knavery first began, And brew most cunning plots he can, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may put on a Nabal face, And march to the wars with such a grace, That he may get a Captain's place, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may speak so wond'rous well, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer In May, 1631, Oliver, with his mother, and his uncle Sir Oliver, (whose favor he had partially regained, from the alteration in his conduct,) joined in the sale of his paternal estates at Huntingdon, &c. the sum they produced was 18001. with this he removed to St. A Brewer may make his foes to flee, Lieutenant-General may be, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may be all in all, And raise his powers both great and small, That he may be a Lord General, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may be like a fox in a cub, And teach a lecture out of a tub, And give the wicked world a rub, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer, by's excise and rate, Will promise his army he knows what, And sit upon the College gate, Which nobody can deny. Methinks I hear one say to me, Pray why may not a Brewer be Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may be as bold as Hector Which nobody can deny. Now here remains the strangest thing, How this Brewer about his liquor did bring, To be an Emperor, or a King, Which nobody can deny. A Brewer may do what he will, And rob the Church and State, to sell His soul unto the Devil in Hell, Which nobody can deny. St. Ives, and stocked a grazing farm in the skirts of that town, where he remained till the death of his maternal uncle, Sir Thomas Steward, in January, 1635-6, leading a very strict and de vout life; so much so, indeed, that his success in his new business was altogether impeded through the loss of the time which he and his servants daily consumed in prayer, and other devotional exercises. By the decease of his uncle without issue, he became possessed of a considerable estate in Ely and its neighbourhood; and he soon afterwards went to reside at the Glebe-house in that city. Here he still continued, from principle, to oppose the measures which Charles and his infatuated advisers were still pursuing, and greatly increased his interest among the puritanical party, by the fervour and rigidness of his religious practice. "In 1638, he so strenuously opposed the scheme of draining the Fens of Lincolnshire, and the Isle of Ely, which was undertaken by the Earl of Bedford, and others, under the Royal sanction, that, by his plausibility, activity, and interest, at the meeting held at Huntingdon, he obliged the projectors to drop their intention; and though the scheme promised to be vastly beneficial to the country, and had been recommended by his father, yet, as it was extremely unpopular, (particularly amongst the commonalty, because they had a custom of commoning and fishing in dry times,) it gained him a great accession of friends, and procured him the title of Lord of the Fens."* It was about this period that Oliver, with many of his friends, including his cousin, the patriot Hampden, and Sir Arthur Hasilrigge, proposed immediately to emigrate to America, in order to enjoy that liberty of conscience in a foreign country, which the arbitrary proceedings of the government, and the intolerance of Archbishop Laud, prevented them exercising in their native land. With this design, Cromwell arranged his affairs, and had actually embarked with his family for New England,† when the fatal interference of VOL. VII. APRIL, 1808. Bb Noble's Crom. Vol. I. p. 103. the + Lord Warwick had obtained a grant of the sea-coast of that province; this, in 1631, he assigned to the Lords Brooke, Say and Sele, and |