66 XIV. 1653. posing a government, by first putting it into a most BOOK ridiculous confusion, and by divesting himself of all pretences to authority, and putting what he had no title to keep into the hands of men so well chosen, that they should shortly after delegate the power in form of law to him for the preservation of the nation, was not less admirable; and puts me in mind of what Seneca said of Pompey, "that he had brought the people of Rome to that pass, by mag"nifying their power and authority, ut salvus esse “non possit nisi beneficio servitutis." And if Cromwell had not now made himself a tyrant, all bonds being broken, and the universal guilt diverting all inclinations to return to the king's obedience, they must have perished together in such a confusion, as would rather have exposed them as a prey to foreigners, than disposed them to the only reasonable way for their preservation; there being no man that durst mention the king, or the old form of government. It was upon the twentieth of April that the parliament had been dissolved; and though Cromwell found that the people were satisfied in it, and the declaration published thereupon, yet he knew it would be necessary to provide some other visible power to settle the government, than the council of officers; all whom he was not sure he should be able long entirely to govern, many of them having clear other notions of a republic than he was willing England should be brought to. A parliament was still a name of more veneration than any other assembly of men was like to be, and the contempt n in form of law] legally twentieth] twenty-fourth BOOK the last was fallen into was like to teach the next XIV. to behave itself with more discretion. However the 1653. ice was broken for dissolving them, when they should do otherwise; yet he was not so well satisfied in the general temper, as to trust the election of them to the humour and inclination of the people. Cromwell and his offi a parlia ment. He resolved therefore to choose them himself, that cers choose he might with the more justice unmake them when he should think fit; and with the advice of his council of officers, for he made yet no other council of state, he made choice of a number of men, consisting of above one hundred persons, who should meet as a parliament to settle the government of the nation. It can hardly be believed that so wild a notion should fall into any man's imagination, that such a people should be fit to contribute towards any settlement, or that from their actions any thing could result, that might advance his particular design. Yet, upon the view and consideration of the persons made choice of, many did conclude, "that " he had made his own scheme entirely to himself; " and though he communicated it with no man that "was known, concluded it the most natural way "to ripen and produce the effects it did afterwards, "to the end he proposed to himself." Conditions and quali There were amongst them divers of the quality ties of the and degree of gentlemen, and who had estates, and minated. such a proportion of credit and reputation, as could persons no consist with the guilt they had contracted. But much the major part of them consisted of inferior persons, of no quality or name, artificers of the meanest trades, known only by their gifts in pray XIV. From one of bers, this named ing and preaching; which was now practised by all BOOK degrees of men, but scholars, throughout the kingdom. In which number, that there may be a better 1653. judgment made of the rest, it will not be amiss to the memname one, from whom that parliament itself was was nickafterwards denominated, who was Praise-God (that Praise-God was his Christian name) Barebone, a leatherseller Barebone's in Fleet-street, from whom (he being an eminent speaker in it) it was afterwards called Praise-God Barebone's parliament. In a word, they were generally a pack of weak senseless fellows, fit only to bring the name and reputation of parliaments lower than it was yet. parliament. calls them his own It was fit these new men should be brought to- Cromwell gether by some new way and a very new way it together by was; for Cromwell by his warrants, directed to every warrant to one of them, telling them "of the necessity of dis- meet July 4. "solving the late parliament, and of an equal neces 66 66 sity, that the peace, safety, and good government "of the commonwealth should be provided for, and "therefore that he had, by the advice of his council " of officers, nominated divers persons fearing God, "and of approved fidelity and honesty, to whom the great charge and trust of so weighty affairs was "to be committed, and that having good assurance " of their love to, and courage for God, and the in"terest of his cause, and the good people of this "commonwealth;" he concluded in these words, "I, “Oliver Cromwell, captain general and commander "in chief of all the forces raised, or to be raised, "within this commonwealth, do hereby summon "and require you personally to be and appear at 66 generally] Not in MS. XIV. BOOK "the council-chamber at Whitehall, upon the fourth "day of July next, then and there to take upon 1653. Cromwell speaks to delivers 66 you the said trust. And you are hereby called " and appointed to serve as a member of the county "of," &c. Upon this wild summons, the persons so nominated appeared at the council-chamber upon the fourth of July, which was near three months after the dissolution of the former parliament. Cromwell, with his council of officers, was ready them, and to receive them, and made them a long discourse of them an in- "the fear of God, and the honour due to his name," strument full of texts of scripture; and remembered "the authority. "wonderful mercies of God to this nation, and the "continued series of providence, by which he had for their 66 appeared in carrying on his cause, and bringing "affairs into that present glorious condition, where"in they now were." He put them in mind of "the noble actions of the army in the famous vic 66 tory of Worcester, of the applications they had "made to the parliament, for a good settlement of "all the affairs of the commonwealth, the neglect "whereof made it absolutely necessary to dissolve "it." He assured them by many arguments, some of which were urged out of scripture, "that they "had a very lawful call to take upon them the su 66 preme authority of the nation;" and concluded with a very earnest desire, "that great tenderness "might be used towards all conscientious persons, "of what judgment soever they appeared to be." When he had finished his discourse, he delivered to them an instrument, engrossed in parchment under his hand and seal, whereby, with the advice of his council of officers, he did devolve and intrust the supreme authority of this commonwealth into the XIV. hands of those persons therein mentioned; and de- BOOK clared, "that they, or any forty of them, were to be "held and acknowledged the supreme authority of 1653. "the nation, to which all persons within the same, " and the territories thereunto belonging, were to "yield obedience and subjection to the third day of "the month of November, which should be in the "year 1654," which was about a year and three months from the time that he spoke to them; and three months before the time prescribed should expire, they were to make choice of other persons to succeed them, whose power and authority should not exceed one year, and then they were likewise to provide and take care for a like succession in the government. Being thus invested with this autho-They repair rity, they repaired to the parliament house, and liament made choice of one Rouse to be their speaker, an choose old gentleman of Devonshire, who had been a member of the former parliament, and in that time been preferred and made provost of the college of Eton, which office he then enjoyed, with an opinion of having some knowledge in the Latin and Greek tongues, but of a very mean understanding, but throughly engaged in the guilt of the times. to the par house, and Rouse their speaker. At their first coming together, some of them had the modesty to doubt, that they were not in many respects so well qualified as to take upon them the style and title of a parliament. But that modesty was quickly subdued, and they were easily persuaded to assume that title, and to consider themselves as They asthe supreme authority in the nation. These men name of a thus brought together continued in this capacity parliament. near six months, to the amazement and even mirth of the people. In which time they never entered sume the |