unless it was a crime in him not to put it into the power of his enemies, to destroy him with the greater ease.

Ambition and thirst of glory might fometimes lead the protector afide, for he imagined himself to be a fecond Phineas, raised up by Providence to be the fcourge of idolatry and fuperftition, and in climbing up to the pinnacle of fupreme power, did not always keep within the bounds of law and equity: To this paffion fome have afcribed his affuming the protec torship, and putting himself at the head of three kingdoms; though others are of opinion, it was owing to hard neceffity and felf-prefervation. I will not venture to decide in this. cafe; poffibly there might be a mixture of both. When he was in poffeffion of the fovereign power, no man ever used it to greater publick advantage, for he had a due veneration. for the laws of his country, in all things wherein the life of his jurifdiction was not concerned: And though he kept a ftanding army, they were under an exact discipline, and very little burthen to the people.

The charge of cruelty, which is brought against him, for having put fome men to death for confpiring against his perfon and government, deferves no confutation, unless they would have had him fit ftill, till fome confpiracy or other had fucceeded. Cruelty was not in his nature; he was not for unneceffary effufion of blood. Lord Clarendon affures us, that when a general maffacre of the royalists was propofed by the officers in council, he warmly oppofed and prevented it.

Dr. Welwood compares the protector to an unusual meteor, which with its furprising influences over-awed not only three kingdoms, but the most powerful princes and states about us. A great man he was, (fays he) and posterity might have paid a juft homage to his memory, if he had

Such was the fenfibility of his fpirit, that if an account were given him of a diftreffed cafe, the narration would draw tears from his eyes. It fpeaks ftrongly in favour of his temper and his domeftick deportment, that the daughter of Sir Francis Ruffel, married to his fecond fon Henry, who be fore her marriage had entertained an ill opinion of his father Oliver, upon 'her coming into the family felt all her prejudice removed and changed into a most affectionate esteem for her father-in-law, as the most amiable of parents. Gibbons's Funeral Sermon for William Cromwell, efq; p. 46. ÉD. § Page 102.

not

not embrued his hands in the blood of his prince, and trampled upon the liberties of his country.

Upon the whole, it is not to be wondered, that the character of this great man has been tranfmitted down to pofterity with fome disadvantage, by the feveral factions of royalifts, prefbyterians, and republicans, because each were difappointed, and enraged to fee the fupreme power wrested from them; but his management is a convincing proof of his great abilities: He was at the helm in the most stormy and tempeftuous feafon that England ever faw; but by his confummate wisdom and valour, he difconcerted the measures and designs of his enemies, and preferved both himself and the commonwealth from fhipwreck. I fhall only obferve further, with Rapin, that the confufions which prevailed in England after the death of Cromwell, clearly evidence the neceffity of this ufurpation, at leaft till the conftitution could be restored. After his death his great atchievements were celebrated in verfe, by the greatest wits of the age, as Dr. Sprat, afterwards bishop of Rochester, Waller, Dryden, and others, who in their panegyricks out-did every thing, which till that time had been written in the English language.

Four divines of the affembly died this year: Dr. John Harris, fon of Richard Harris of Buckinghamshire, born in the parfonage-house of Hardwick in the fame county, educated in Wickham fchool near Winchester, and in the year 1606 admitted perpetual fellow of New-college. He was fo admirable a Grecian, and eloquent a preacher, that Sir Henry Saville called him a fecond St. Chryfoftom. In 1619 he was chofen Greek profeffor of the univerfity. He was afterwards prebendary of Winchester, rector of Meonstoke in Hampshire, and in the year 1630, warden of Wickhamcollege near Winchester; in all which places he behaved with great reputation. In the beginning of the civil wars he took part with the parliament, was chofen one of the affembly of divines, took the covenant, and other oaths, and kept his wardenfhip till his death; he published feveral learned works, and died at Winchefter, Auguft 11, 1658, aged feventy years.

Mr. Sydrach Sympfon, a meek and quiet divine, of the independant perfuafion, was educated in Cambridge, but forced

to

t

to fly his country for non-conformity, in the times of archbishop Laud. He was one of the diffenting brethren in the affembly, and behaved with great temper and moderation. Bishop Kennet fays, he was filenced, for fome time from preaching, because he differed in judgment from the affembly in points of church difcipline, but was reftored to his liberty October 28, 1646. He afterwards gathered a congregation in London, after the manner of the independants, which met in Ab-church near Canon-street. Upon the refignation of Mr. Vines in the year 1650, for refufing the engagement, he was by the vifitors made master of Pembrokehall, Cambridge. He was a divine of confiderable learning, and of great piety and devotion. In his laft fickness he was under fome darknefs, and melancholy apprehenfions; upon which account fome of his friends and brethren affembled in 'his own house to affift him with their prayers; and in the evening, when they took their leave, he thanked them, and said, he was now satisfied in his foul; and lifting up his hands towards heaven faid, He is come, he his come. And that night died.

Dr. Robert Harris was born at Broad-Campden in Gloucestershire, 1578, and educated in Magdalen-college, Oxon.. He preached for some time about Oxford, and fettled afterwards at Hanwell, in the place of famous Mr. Dodd, then fufpended for non-conformity; here he continued till the breaking out of the civil wars, when by the king's foldiers he was driven to London. He was appointed one of the affembly of divines, and minifter of St. Botolph, Bishopfgate. In the year 1646, he was one of the fix preachers to the university of Oxford, and next year one of their vifitors, when he was created D. D. and made president of Trinity-college, and rector of Garlington near Oxford, which is always annexed to it. Here he continued till his death, governing his college with a paternal affection, being reverenced by the students as a father. The infcription over his grave gives him a great character; but the royalifts charge him, and I believe juftly, with being a notorious pluralist.*

* Againft this charge, if the truth of it should be admitted, ought to be fet his charity; which, we are told, exceeded the ordinary proportion of his revenues. ED.

He

He died December 11, 1658, in the eightieth year of his age.§

Mr. William Carter was educated in Cambridge, and afterwards a very popular preacher in London. He was a good fcholar, of great ferioufnefs, and though a young man, appointed one of the affembly of divines. After fome time he joined the independants, and became one of the diffenting brethren in the affembly. He had offers of many livings but refused them, being diffatisfied with the parochial difcipline of thofe times; nevertheless, he was indefatigable in his ministry, preaching twice every Lord's-day to two large congregations in the city, befides lectures on the week days: This wafted his ftrength, and put an end to his life about Midfummer 1658, in the fifty-third year of his age. His family were afterwards great fufferers by the purchase of bishops lands.

§ Clarke's Lives in his Martyrology, p. 314-339.

CHAP.

CHAP. IV.

4

The Inter-Regnum from the Death of OLIVER CROM-. WELL to the Restoration of King CHARLES II. and the Re-Eftablishment of the Church of England.

UPON

-1659.

PON the death of the protector, all the difcontented fpirits who had been fubdued by his administration refumed their courage, and within the compass of one year, revived the confufions of the preceding ten. RICHARD CROMWELL, being proclaimed protector upon his father's decease, received numberlefs addreffes from all parts,* congratulating his acceffion to the dignity of protector, with affurances of lives and fortunes chearfully devoted to fupport his title. He was a young gentleman of a calm and peaceable temper, but had by no means the capacity or re-t folution of his father, and was therefore unfit to be at the helm in fuch boisterous times. He was highly careffed by the prefbyterians, though he fet out upon the principles of general toleration, as appears by his declaration of Nov. 25, entitled, A proclamation for the better encouraging godly minifters and others; and for their enjoying their dues and li berties according to law, without being molefted with indictments for not using the common-prayer book.

The young protector fummoned a parliament to meet on the 27th of Jan. 1658-9. The elections were not according to the method practifed by his father, but according to the old conftitution, becaufe it was apprehended that the smaller boroughs might be more eafily influenced than

66

* Of thefe addreffes, Dr. Grey fays, "nothing ever exceeded them in point of flattery, except thofe canting addreffes of the dissenters to king James upon his indulgence:" and he gives several at length, as fpecimens of the ftrain of adulation in which they were drawn up, from different corporations: from which the reader will fee that mayors, recorders, and aldermen of that day could rival the independant minifters, whom the doctor reproaches as "moft foully guilty," in their effufions of flattery. In truth, all were paying their devoirs to the rifing fun. En.

VOL. IV.

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cities