Oliver Cromwell

Front matter

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Cromwell and hi- Secretary, John !

Chapter I. Page

Oliver Cromwell — His Birth — Boyhood — Parents — at School — College — Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded — Marriage — Religious Agony — becomes a Puritan — Member of Parliament — Dissolution of Parliament — Assassination of Duke of Buckingham — returns Home, . . 9

Chapter II

Removal to St. Ives — His Residence there — His Conduct as a Townsman — His Friendship for the Puritan Preachers — death of his Uncle, and removal^ to Ely — His House — Laud's Persecution of the Preachers — The Excitement in Scotland — Trial of Hampden, and his conviction — The Lord of the Pens— Cromwell proposes to go to America — His Children — Religious Enthusiasm — Scotch Covenanters — elected to Parliament — The Long Parliament, 35

. CHAPTER III.

Cromwell's Personal Appearance — His Influence in the Long Parliament — The Triumph of the Long Parliament — The Success of the Popular Cause — Prospects of Civil "War — Milton a Champion of Freedom — Trial of Strafford — Eloquence of Digby — The Great Speech of Strafford — His Death-Warrant — His Execution — Cromwell again at Ely — Irish Massacre — Grand " Petition and Remonstrance" — The Bishops voted Guilty of Treason, 56

Contents.

Chapter IV. Page

The King flies to Hampton Court — Preparations for Civil War — Civil "War begins — Cromwell bears an active part — Battle of Edgehill— Cromwell in the Battle — The King in Adversity — Cromwell's Victory of Gainsborough — The Royalists Victorious — Death of Hampden — Waller's Conspiracy — Battle of Newbury — Death of Falkland, and his Character — " Solemn League and Covenant" — Cromwell's Ironsides — Victory of Winceby — Cromwell's Energy, 81

Chapter V

The Siege of York raised — Battle of Marston Moor — ^ Death of Duke of Newcastle — Essex and Cromwell at Loggerheads — Self-denying Ordinance — Cromwell's Arrival in Camp — Battle of Naseby — The Ascendency of the Independents — Their Character — Basing House — The King in Scotland — Death of Pym — Quarrel between the Presbyterians and Independents — The King in the Hands of the Army — Harmony between Cromwell and the King — Cromwell's Family — The Levellers put down, lOt

Chapter VI

Advocates a New Government — The Royalists encouraged — Hostile Meeting — Prince Henry forgets his Father — The King in Hurst Castle— Pride's Purge — The King removed — The King hopeful — The King's Trial — Conviction — Sentence — Death seems inevitable — prepares for it — Parting — His March to the Scaffold — Address to the Multitude — Noble Sentiments — His Death — The Commonwealth established — Milton ad-

Contents. vii

PAGE

vocates the Popular Cause — Trial of Royalists — The Pardon of some — Execution of others — Lilburn, the Leveller — New Troubles, 140

Chapter VII

Cromwell's Popularity — Visit to Ireland — quells the Disturbance — His Cruelty — The Son of the King — Cromwell takes an Army into Scotland — Engagement at Dunbar — The Scotch routed — Triumphant March — Sickness — Surrender of Edinburgh Castle — Charles II. marches into England — Battle at Worcester — Cromwell Victorious — Charles II. a Fugitive — Cromwell's Success and Popularity, 113

Chapter VIII

Cromwell treated as a King — his Family — Political Movements — Champion of Toleration — Naval Battle with the Dutch — Victory — Doings of Parliament— The Army Petition — looking towards a Monarchy — The Vices of Parliament — broken up by Cromwell — expels the Council of State — The Barebones Council — Naval Victory — dissolution of the New Parliament — CromweL made Protector — Opposition of Old Friends — Royalist Conspiracy — Cromwell's Power — The Queen of Sweden a Partisan, 19*7

Chapter IX

Courted by Monarchs — A Bold Act of Justice — First Protectorate Parliament— Stormy Session and Summary Closing of the Parliament House — Accident to the Protector—Narrow Escape— Death of his Mother— Parliament reopened — Again dissolved — Popular Comviii Contents.

PAG3

motions — Conspiracy crushed — Attempt to proclaim Charles II. King — Cromwell attempts to control the Judiciary — The Vaudois — John Milton — Religious Toleration — Interview with a Republican Opponent — Ludlow, 228

Chapter X

Invasion of the Spanish Colonies — Disappointment — Blake's Expedition — Success — War with Spain — Parliament Convened — Sir Harry Yane — Cromwell's Speech — Proscription — Battle before Cadiz — Victory — Popular Delight — Ode to Cromwell — Honors and Gifts — Cromwell for King — Attempts at his Assassination — Conspiracy — The Major-Generals — Persecution of Naylor — An Intrusive Quaker — Religious Impostors, . 254

CHAPTER XL

Visions of a Crown — advised not to accept it — Parliament tenders it — declines it — Inauguration of the Protectorship — Death of Blake — Family Alliances — advances his Family — The New House of Peers — Opposition — Parliament dissolved — The Royalists again — Their Plans — Punishments — Suspicious of Assassins — Homage of Kings — Alliance with France, . . .281

Chapter XII

Visit of the French King — Death of Cromwell's Daughter — His own Sickness — Hopes of Recovery — Religious Exercises — Prayers for his People — Tempest without — Cromwell dies — His Character, . . . 315

OHiiur Cramtodl

Chapter I

THE greatest of England's sovereigns — Oliver Cromwell — needs not the borrowed lustre of a distinguished ancestry, to add to the glory of his great name. The deeds of the hero have made him illustrious beyond crowned heads. There is no king of royal descent, that Englishmen have more reason to be proud of, than of Cromwell.

Oliver Cromwell was a gentleman by birth. His father was the son of Sir Henry Cromwell, and younger brother of Sir Oliver Cromwell. The grandfather, Sir Henry, was called the Golden Knight, from the sumptuous manner in which he lived, and his profuse hospitality. He had large possessions, which he had inherited from his father, who had been a favorite of King Henry VIII., and had shared in the plunder of the revenues of the Church, and the rich monasteries, that monarch so liberally distributed among his friends. This ancestor of whom we 1* speak, was Sir Richard Cromwell, great-grandfather of the subject of our history. lie was zealously employed, in conjunction with his kinsman the Earl of Essex, Wolsey's friend, the Cromwell of Shakspeare, in suppressing the monasteries during the reformation in England under the reign of Henry VIII. He came in for a large share of the spoils, and thus became possessed of estates in the county of Huntingdon, which he bequeathed to his son. The Convent of Hinchinbrooke, with its broad lands, was a portion of this inheritance, and was selected by Sir Henry Cromwell, the grandfather of Oliver, as his residence. The old convent was accordingly remodelled and fitted up in the style of the great country mansions of those days. It was here that Queen Elizabeth was entertained by Sir Henry ; and King James, on his accession to the English crown, by his son, Sir Oliver. The hospitality displayed on the latter occasion, was profuse beyond example. The gates of Hinchinbrooke were thrown wide open, and all were free to partake of the hospitality, with which the visit of King James was welcomed. To each guest were served the choicest viands and the most costly wines, while the common people had free access to the kitchens and cellars. The king exclaimed in his broad Scotch to his generous host : " Morry, man, thou hast treated me better than any one since I left Edinburgh." The entertainment was said to have been the greatest feast that had ever

Boyhood. 1 1

been given to a king by a subject. The generous host on the departure of his royal guest, bestowed upon him a large, elegant wrought standing cup of gold, deep-mouthed hounds, and divers hawks of excellent wing ; while among the king's attendants he distributed fifty pounds, a generous sum in those days. King James showed his gratitude by conferring upon the liberal Sir Oliver Cromwell, the title of Knight of the Bath, and honoring him with a second visit.

On one of these royal occasions, when the future Protector was a lad, he was a visitor at his uncle's home, and shared in the festivities. Prince Charles, afterward King Charles I., accompanied his father on his visit to Hinchinbrooke ; and as the royal child and young Oliver Cromwell were about the same age, they soon became familiar as children will, and joined heartily together in boyish riot and amusement. The life of childhood is like the youth of the year, alternate storm and sunshine, and the two boys varied their bright moments of innocent happiness with an occasional quarrel. It is recorded, that the playfellows on one occasion came to blows ; and as the young prince was puny, and the little Oliver sturdy, the royal child was so far worsted in the battle, that he came off with a bloody nose. The future regicide thus early stained his hands with the royal blood, and in the rude triumph of the boy Oliver, and in the defeat of the prince, there seemed a presage of the fate, which bound together the king and Cromwell as victim and executioner.

These royal visits to Hinchinbrooke, which the loyal uncle Sir Oliver so sumptuously welcomed, drew so largely upon his purse, and made such inroads upon his fortune, that he was forced to curtail his expenses. He could no longer dispense that hospitality and prodigious entertainment of which old Fuller speaks, to King James and his court. Unable to open wide the doors of his mansion, for the welcome of princes, he closed them upon himself for ever, and settled the long arrears of debt incurred by his prodigal hospitality, by the sale of Hinchinbrooke. The old house still stands, a stately mansion, in the possession of Lord Sandwich, who is a descendant of the Sir Sidney Montague, who purchased it of Sir Oliver. The pious reverence of the English for tradition has persuaded even Time to mercy, and the hand of the destroyer has been gentle with the ancient hall of the Cromwells. The visitor may at this day behold old Hinchinbrooke in all its former stateliness. It is beautifully situated on the river O use, within a half mile or so of Huntingdon. Extensive parks, shaded with ancient .oaks, surround it, and rich, deep green lawns stretch down from its embowered porches and great bow-windows. The dining-hall in 4&hich the royal guests were entertained, remains as in the time of Sir Oliver, with the exception of the bow-window, which is described as prodigious, cun-

Father and Uncle. 13

ningly sculptured in stone with lions, eagles, roses, and fleurs de lis, finely adorned with royal and noble blazonry of rich and varied color, and supported by arches and seven stone pillars. The change is in one of the compartments of this window, where, by the right of possession, the Montague blazonry has ousted that of the Cromwells. Some old portraits of the Cromwell family still hang upon the walls of the ancient mansion.

The grandfather and uncle of Oliver Cromwell were evidently men of mark. Both were sheriffs of the county and members of Parliament. Both earned the friendship of their sovereigns by the staunchest loyalty. The uncle Sir Oliver, took sides with King Charles in the civil war. He contributed large sums of money, raised a troop at his own expense, and pledged his sons to the royal cause, who took up arms in defense of the king. His nephew when high in command in the republican army, paid Sir Oliver a visit, and although he did not forget the outward respect due to his kinsman, but refusing to remain covered in his presence, asked the blessing of the old gentleman, he was not unmindful of his public duty, and did not leave him until he had disarmed the inveterate royalist, and seized all his plate for the service of the Commonwealth. This was not the only time that the loyal uncle was made to contribute by the republican nephew to a cause he despised. Sir Oliver on another occasion was forced to

14 Oliver Cromweh.

supply forty saddle-horses for the seats of the Puritan cavalry.

The father of Oliver Cromwell was Robert, the second son of Sir Henry, and brother of Sir Oliver of Hinchinbrooke. Being a younger son, he had but a humble portion of the paternal estate, the bulk by the right of primogeniture having devolved upon the knight Sir Oliver, who so prodigally entertained kings. By the will of his father, Robert Cromwell came into possession of a house in the town of Huntingdon, and of land in the neighborhood, which was valued at three hundred pounds a year. Those royalist writers who have been anxious to throw contempt upon the origin* of the great Cromwell, have stated that his father was a brewer ; but it appears without truth. Even if it were a fact, to us who believe an honorable business, however humble, honorably conducted, is worthy of the best of men, the attempt to injure the memory of the hero seems as contemptible as the statement upon which it is based is proved to be false. Robert Cromwell was a country squire, and cultivated his own freehold estate, which was of no small extent for those early days. That he was a man of mark and likelihood among the neighboring gentry is proved by the fact, that he served as a magistrate, the sheriff of the county, and member of Parliament, and was named as one of the commissioners for draining the fens of the counties of Northampton, Lincoln, Huntingdon,

His Mother. 15

and Cambridge. He lived for the most part the simple life of a country gentleman, and worthily fulfilled the duties of his unobtrusive vocation.

His wife was a daughter of Sir Richard Stuart of Ely, whose descent from the royal family of Scotland has been elaborately traced by the industry of some eager genealogists. So in the execution of King Charles, Oliver Cromwell may have spilled the blood of a kinsman. There is a portrait of this lady in Hinchinbrooke House, which represents her in the middle age of life, with a handsome though thoughtful and slightly sad face. Her mouth is full and expressive of impulse. Her hair is of a flaxen color. Her costume is rich with pearls, golden lace, purple velvet, and glistening satin. She was a loving woman, and deeply attached to her children, of whom Oliver was the favorite, and whom she watched throughout his stormy career with a jealous care. She trembled hourly for his life, and never thought him safe, when out of her sight. Every report of a gun she heard, seemed to echo the death of her beloved Oliver, and she would exclaim, " My son is shot." She lived to behold him, as Protector of England, the greatest among the great potentates of the earth, and on her death she was buried with royal splendor in that tomb of kings, Westminister Abbey.

Oliver Cromwell, the Protector of England, was born at Huntingdon, on the 25th of April, in the year |599. He was the only son of the seven children of his father, who arrived at maturity. The house where he was born still exists, though several times remodelled since that period. It is situated at tho northern extremity of the main street, which composes the principal part of Huntingdon. This town is placed on the left bank of the river Ouse, over which a stone bridge stretches, leading to the ancient village of Godmanchester. Two old churches, a range of miscellaneous shops, and a few scattered houses of a better sort, compose the whole of Huntingdon. The district is mostly a marsh, called by the English people a fen. There is, however, a stretch of rolling upland, varied with the shade of old trees of vigorous growth, where the farm of Robert Cromwell was situated, and which he cultivated with a good return of hay harvesting, and well-fed beeves. Oliver was born here in the bosom of plenty, but with a prospect of nature certainly not the most enlivening, as his eye wandered through an atmosphere thick with dank vapor over a dull landscape with a dead level of black marsh, scarcely varied with meagre alders and weeping willows.

Some of the biographers of our hero have given a sad account of his early life. They speak of him as the terror of the neighborhood, on account of his roguery, and denounce him as a pitiless freebooter ere he was fairly out of petticoats. He was no doubt a boisterous, mischievous lad, and might possibly have had upon Ms conscience the sins of

At School 17

bird-nesting and orchard-trespassing. At an early age he was placed, to learn the elements, under a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Long, from whose gentle guidance he was soon transferred to the severer discipline of the ferule of a Doctor Beard, who was master of the free grammar school of Huntingdon. The doctor we doubt not, had full occasion for the exercise of his magisterial authority, for Oliver was spirited and always antagonistic to power. He was irregular at this period in pursuit of learning. He made at times spasmodic efforts of study alternating with long periods of indifference. He was certainly never lazy, though not always studious ; and if not busy at his books, we can conceive him very diligent in mischief.- He would play truant oftentimes in spite of Dr. Beard and his fatal ferula, and forget them both while climbing the tall oaks for birds' nests, or conspiring against the neighbors' orchards, or, with gun on shoulder, wading knee-deep through the marshes in pursuit of wild duck. Whatever may have been the irregular tendencies of the youthful Cromwell, there was the restraining influence of the best of homes, to keep him in the path of virtue. His father's severe rectitude, his mother's anxious care, and the gentle companionship of his seven sisters, surrounded the youth with all the domestic virtues. Severity was tempered by affection, and good advice confirmed by excellent example. Young Oliver, thus benignly brought up, could not fail to love religion and virtue and strive to ensure them.

The influence of the graces of life, which crowned the more aristocratic home of his uncle, could not have been without its effect upon young Oliver, who was a frequent visitor at Hinchinbrooke. His uncle always warmly welcomed him, and felt so far an interest in his breeding, as to have him taught with his own sons, the polite accomplishments of music and dancing. There was no danger of Oliver's sturdy nature being frittered away by dalliance with the luxurious trifles of life, but we have no doubt its rudeness was tempered by the refining influence of his uncle's aristocratic household.

Oliver thus passed his youth until he had reached the age of seventeen, when he was sent to the University of Cambridge. Cambridge is only twelve miles from Huntingdon, and was a half-day's journey in those times. Young Cromwell, accompanied by his father, rode to the University and matriculated at Sydney-Sussex College, on the 23d April, the very day " that William Shakspeare was taking his farewell of this world. Oliver's father saw Oliver write in the album at Cambridge : at Stratford, Shakspeare's Ann Hathaway was weeping over his bed."*

There are various accounts of Oliver's career at Cambridge, where he spent but a single year. Some

* Carlyle.

At College. 19

tell us that his genius was unfitted for the calm and elegant occupations of learning, and that he consequently made small proficiency in his studies;* others declare that he gave way to a disorderly course of life, and was more famous for foot-ball, cricket, cudgelling, and wrestling, than for study, and being of a rough and blustering disposition, he acquired the name of roysterer.f We are sure he showed no lack of spirit in the play-ground ; and it is not improbable that a lad of seventeen, warm, impulsive, and with an inexhaustible stock of animal spirits, was not free from the vices of youth. He, however, undoubtedly made fair progress in his studies ; for though he knew but little Greek, he succeeded in packing away in his hard head such a store of Latin, that he was able, many years after, to converse in that language. His tutor was a Master Eichard Howlet, a grave, indefatigable disciplinarian of youth, and we may be sure that he kept his pupil close to his duties.

The premature death of his father put an abrupt end to his college studies, and Oliver, being the only son, was summoned home, as the head of his house. He did not long remain at Huntingdon, but proceeded to London to acquire some insight into life, and fit himself by studying law for the duties that might reasonably be expected to devolve upon him as a country gentleman and prospective magistrate of the county.

* Hume. f Dugclale.

According to the evil-disposed chroniclers, young Cromwell's career in London was not of the most seemly kind. Instead of poring over Coke upon Lyttleton in the chambers of the lawyers, he passed his days and nights in dissolute company, at the taverns, brothels, and gaming-houses, polluting his heart and wasting his vigor and substance in play, riot, and debauch. The two or three years passed by Cromwell in London, between the early age of eighteen and twenty-one, were at a period of life, when the youthful passions are the strongest, and the judgment the most feeble ; and it is probable that young Oliver was not totally free from the vices of the young. His future course, however, proves that his youth was not so far corrupted, as to blight the promise of a great life.

While in London, it is certain that the youthful Cromwell sought in the society of the virtuous, better influences than could be found at the tavern. Among his city acquaintances was a certain Sir James Bourchier, a knight of considerable civic dignity, who took high rank among the merchants of the capital, and had acquired a fair fortune by dealing in furs and peltries. This worthy burgher had a town-house in London, and a country residence and estate near Felsted in Essex. Oliver was probably a frequent Visitor at the citizen Bourchier s house in London, which offered, among its other attractions, the society of the knight's daughters, on# of whom,

Sir Raleigh Beheaded. 21

Elizabeth, was no doubt courted perseveringly at this time by young Cromwell, as she became soon after the bride of the future Protector of England.

On the 29th October, in the year 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded ; and as Cromwell was at London at this time, he was probably a spectator of this cruel exhibition of regal tyranny.* Oliver, young as he was, must have been familiar with the glorious life of this hero. His heart had surely glowed with that of all England at the story of Raleigh's noble career, his devoted service to the crown, his gallant triumphs over the enemies of Britain, and his bold adventures in the New World. He had heard of the courtly bearing and beauty of Sir Walter in his youth. He was not unconscious of the fame of the brave warrior, the adventurous traveller, the capacious statesman, and the learned scholar. He now beheld the aged hero walk erect and unappalled among a crowd of shuddering spectators, and place his gray head, without a tremor, upon the block, where his life was sacrificed to tyranny. This bloody act of King James must have aroused every free, manly heart to thoughts of vengeance, and the young Cromwell surely burned to vindicate the rights of his fellow-men, as he beheld this bloody scene in the drama of the tyrannical Stuarts. We may rest assured that royal prerogative, which it was Cromwell's

* Carlyle.

22 Oliver Cromwelt.

destiny so awfully to rebuke, did not arise in his esteem by this exhibition of its cruel exercise.

Oliver, now approaching his one-and-twentieth year, returned to Huntingdon, accomplished by his residence in London, if we may believe his enemies, in all the wicked ways of the world. If true that he returned to his quiet home, a perfected rake, and startled the peaceful virtues of the good people of Huntingdon by his boisterous excesses, it is quite certain that his career of debauchery was a short one. Heath, the most inveterate, of his biographical enemies, asserts that he was reduced by the ill savor of his character, to take up with tinkers and peddlers for his boon companions, and that even the gates of his favorite resorts, the taverns, were closed in his face, for the innkeepers would say : " Here comes young Cromwell ; shut up your doors." The publicans only received broken windows and hard knocks from his quarter-staff, which he wielded with all the vigor of Friar Tuck, as a settlement in full of the scores against Oliver, for his copious supplies of English ale and Sherris sack.

Notwithstanding this doleful record of vicious youth, we find Cromwell in London again, and in the respectable attitude of a bridegroom, at the altar of St. Giles Church at Cripplegate, pledging his troth for better or worse to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Bourchier. This was on the 22d of August in the year 1620. Oliver was now a married man, at the

Marriage. 23

early age of one-and-twenty. From London, he returned to his home at. Huntingdon, and installed his bride in the family mansion, where his mother continued to live, and those of his sisters who remained single.

By his wife, young Cromwell obtained a handsome dower for those days, which was an acceptable addition to the paternal estate, which had been somewhat diminished by youthful extravagance. The wife was no beauty, if we may judge from her portrait, which has certainly not been traced by a flattering limner.. Her features are vigorous, the nose especially prominent, the mouth large, the eyes small, with one distorted by a cast in it, and the cheeks full and pendulous at the base. The costume of the picture is not calculated to make amends for want of natural charms. A close-fitting, black hood, showing some scattered hairs at the top of the forehead, tied under the chin, and bulging out at the sides of the face, with a straight-cut, Quaker-like cape, stiffly choking, the bust tight to the neck, give a very dapper look to the portrait. There is, however, a staid; common-sense air in the whole expression which shows that kind of appearance which claims to be handsome on the score of handsome doing. We can well believe, as we are told, that she was a virtuous and good woman, an excellent housewife, and as capable of descending to the kitchen with propriety, as she was of acting in an exalted station with dignity.

Cromwell now settled in Huntingdon as a simple country gentleman, farming his own estate, and fulfilling the restricted public duties, which claimed the service of an English squire in those days. Whatever may have been his former carelessness and indifference, Cromwell now led a well-ordered life. He industriously improved his property, carefully husbanded his revenue, consoled his mother, loved his wife, and fondly cherished his young children at home, while abroad he was an example to the whole neighborhood for uprightness. He was even noted in those days, for his religious orthodoxy ; and the family pew in the parish church, on Sundays, feastdays, and fast-days, was becomingly honored by the decent conformity of the young squire.

About this time there were rumors of the lunacy of his maternal uncle, Sir Thomas Stewart, and Cromwell, in conjunction with other relatives, busied himself in efforts to obtain a commission to inquire into his uncle's capacity to govern his own affairs. This commission was denied, and Oliver has been in consequence charged with an intemperate haste to possess himself of his relative's estate ; but the fact that his uncle dying not long after, and leaving the bulk of his property to his nephew, seems to disprove the charge. By this inheritance Cromwell's annual income was increased by the handsome amount of five hundred pounds.

Cromwell was naturally of a sombre temperament.

Religious Agony. 25

and it is not surprising that a great soul like his, restricted within the narrow limits of a simple country life, should react and disquiet itself with agonizing torments. To the influence of an unquiet spirit without a strong purpose to direct its activity, was now added a newly-awakened sense of religious duty in its severest form. The asceticism of Calvinistic doctrine took a strong hold upon the sombre imagination of Cromwell. With the fearful belief that mankind were preordained by God for eternal happiness or everlasting damnation, a struggle of terrible agony agitated his soul, which was to decide the victory for life or death, hell or heaven. During this period of agony, his mind was clouded with dark thoughts and sad forebodings. His body sympathized, and his health suffered to such an extent that he became nervous and hypochondriacal, and he would send for his physician frequently at midnight and other unreasonable hours, believing that his last hour had approached. He was sorely troubled during these dark moments, about the Church and its remnants of Popery, and especially uneasy in regard to the cross, which pointed to heaven, from the steeple of the par- Jsh church of Huntingdon. Cromwell, however, soon ceased to doubt and despond, finding a relief to his misery in the comforting belief that he was of the elect and chosen of God. He became in fact a religious man, and strictly conformed to the rigid doctrine of Calvinism. This conversion is the key to all 2 the future conduct of the great Puritan leader. The popular feeling of the country was strongly Protestant, and found, in the uncompromising hostility of Puritanism to Popery and its suspected kindred, a strong arm to wield in the destruction of Romanism and prelacy. Cromwell, in his retirement at Huntingdon, felt the electrical effect of this religious enthusiasm, which was stirring the hearts, and stimulating the vigor of all England into action, and from the shock of which the kingdom was to be convulsed with the agonies of civil war, the throne overturned, and royalty prostrated.