Farliament, and cajoling the Council of Of ficers, in order to play the supreme power into his own hands, which, confidering the variety and multiplicity of obftacles, he effectuated in an exceeding fhort period. The news of the change reaching Leland foon after his diffolving the Long Parliament, those who were of the republican party flattered themselves that, whatever might be the practices, principles, or pretences, of him and his party, yet that there were too many on the other fide; and that the Commonwealth's-men would, by their steadiness, convince them how very foolish it would be for any one to fet up for himself: They therefore continued flill to act in their places and refpective stations as before. But, when Cromwell had again diffolved that shadow of a reprefentative of the nation, which, tho' by many ftyled a Parliament, our author would never call more than a Convention, and had taken upon kimself the title and office of Protector, Ludłow refolved, to the utmoft of his power, to oppose what he esteemed fo flagrant an ufurpation on the liberties of the people, or at leaft not to do any thing that might contribute to the ftrengthening of it, and therefore used his utmost endeavours to prevent Cromwell's being proclaimed in Ireland, but without fuccefs. Hereupon he refused to act any longer in a civil capacity as a Cornmiffioner of the Parliament; yet, having received his military commiffion of Lieutenant-general of the horse from the Parliament, he refolved to keep it as long as he could, and act under it, in order to obtain those ends, the principal of which, fays he, were to bring thofe to justice who had been guilty of the blood of many thousands of English Proteftants, and to restore to the remaining English the lands which the Irish had difpoffeffed them of. Henry Cromwell being foon after fent by his father to Ireland, Ludlow received and entertained him at his house, which was near the fea-fide where he landed, and alfo invited him to make use of it on his going back to England. This being accepted, our author entered into a friendly converfation with him on the great revolution, which, though it fo highly concerned the nation, had been clandeftinely carried on, and huddled up by two or three perfons. Not long after the return of Henry Cromwell to England, there appeared much difaffection in the army, fome of whom figned a petition to the Protector; 300 copies of which, together with another writing called the Memento, were fent in a box directed to Ludlow in Ireland, accompanied with a fhort, unfubscribed letter. These, on perufal, appeared to him to contain proper motives to excite the people to endeavour at rescuing themfelves from the oppreffions they laboured under; and, accordingly, he difperfed as many as he could, in which Capt. Walcot, one of his Officers, was very aflifting to him: Lieut. Col. Brayfield and Major Davis were alfo acquainted with this defigh, to the latter of whom, who was then at Dublin, but whofe ufual refidence was in Connaught, he fent fome of the papers, that they might be difperfed in that province by his means: But, he acquainting Roberts with it, this last informed Fleetwood of the affair, who, after examining Brayfield and Davis thereupon, difpatched a mellenger to Monckton to inquire into the truth. The Deputy fent for our author, and, after fome conference about the papers, told him he had received an order from Cromwell fome months ago, fignifying that, as he had declared himself diflatisfied with the prefent government, he, the Deputy, fhould take care that his charge in the army might be managed fome other way; adding, that he had hitherto concealed it, but could not any longer, left he should be accounted his confederate in the distribution of those papers. Our author's answer was, that, having received his commiffion from the Parliament, he was not willing, by a voluntary fubmiffion, to own the juftice of the prefent order for depriving him of it. Adding, that if he had even received it immediately from the General himself, he should not be willing to part with it for his pleasure in that conjuncture; fince that could be nothing lefs than betraying that cause, which he, in conjunction with the army, had contended for: Efpecially if he, who had been honoured with an employment in a war raised for the defence of liberty against the arbitrary power of a fingle perfon, fhould voluntarily fubmit to what was propofed: For, fince the whole authority in the three nations was affumed by the army, if I, fays he, fhould acknowledge the intire difpofal of all things relating to that army to refide in the General, what would this be but to declare my confent to give up the power of the Parlia ment, army, and nation into his hands? After having refufed all expedients propofed for an amicable conciliation of matters, the Deputy fent our author word, that he might make his option, whether he would be confined in Ireland or go to London; which, if he would give his word to appear before Cromwell, and not act any thing againft him in the mean time, he thould be at liberty to do; upon which he chose the latter, but was defired to defer his journey for a couple of months, under pretence that, matters not being quite eafy in England, Bbz Cromwel Cromwell might be reduced on his arrival to treat him with more feverity than he would chufe; ordering him, at the fame time, a fum of money for his fupport during his stay, and alfo to defray the expences of his voyage. But, before the expiration of the two months, eary Cromwell arrived in freland to take the government upon him, and our authors departure was deferred from time to time, till, having, by the interceffion of his wife, obtained a promife from that Governor, that, though he would not grant a warrant for her husband to go, yet neither would he order him to stay, though he thought this laft would be bett for him; whereupon he determined at all events to fet off, which he accordingly did, accompanied to the fhore by near 200 people; and im barked, (having left a letter for Col. Cromwell to be delivered the next day about noon) between two and three o'clock, and the next day at noon arrived in Beaumaris harbour. The Governor met him at his landing the next day, and furnished horses to carry himfelf and family to the town; and after dinner informed him in the civilleft manner he could, that one Capt. Shaw was arrived from Ireland, with an order from Col. Cromwell and the rest of the Council there, for the detention of him till the Protector's pleafure was known; at the fame time introducing Shaw, and producing the order figned by Col. Cromwell, Corbet, and two others. In the evening he was conveyed to a widow's houfe in the town, where a guard was fet over him, a centinel being placed at the ftairhead. Here he remained fix weeks, and had once a very narrow efcape from being fent to the caftle in confequence of a fresh order from Whitehall; but at laft Capt. Shaw brought an order for his discharge, provided he figned an engagement, fent ready drawn from London, never to act against the government then established. This he abfoJutely refufed to fign, unless under certain explanations, which at laft the Governor a-. greed to accept; and he was thereupon difcharged, and fet forwards for London, where he arrived the 10th of December, 1655. On Wednesday the 12th, having waited on Fleetwood, he received a meffage from Cromwell to attend him at Whitehall, whither he went about eight in the evening, and found the Protector in his chamber with Lambert, Col. Sydenham, Mr. Walter Strickland, and Col. Montague; and foon after, Fleetwood coming in, there enfued a long difcourfe concerning the difference between Cromwell and our author. This converfation being over, he was defired to withdraw into the next room, where Fleetwood foon came to him, and laboured hard to bring him to enter into an engagement, though but for a week; to which he replied he would not willingly do it for an hour. Fleetwood would then have had him engage himself a fresh to him; but this he alfo refufed, faying, he had already gone as far as he poffibly could, looking upon himself to be fufficiently obliged by the conditions of his present engagement, and, having fo faid, he returned to his lodging. Soon after this, he endeavoured to draw Major-general Harrison and the famous Hugh Peters over to his opinion. So that the Protector, finding it necellary to call another Parliament, and being very apprehenfive a majority, in spite of all his care, might be returned of those who were against him and his fchemes, refolved at all events to hinder Ludlow from either standing himfelf, or any way intermeddling in the election; and to that end fummoned him, together with Bradshaw, Sir Henry Vane, and Col. Rich, to appear before the Council at Whitehall. Here he was again charged with difperfing treasonable papers in Ireland, and endeavouring to corrupt the Officers of the army, by difcourfing about a new government, and with encouraging a clandeftine correfpondence carrying on by his party with Spain; and requested to give fecurity in the fum of 5000l. that he would not act againft Cromwell; which, unless he did, he was threatened to be fecured. He owned and juftified the difperfing of the papers, said he did not know it was criminal to debate about the feveral forms of government, refused to give fecurity, and faid he was very ready to fubmit to a legal trial, if he had done any thing amifs, only defiring to enjoy what he and all had fought for, a free government by confent; that it was from the duty he owed the public he refused to give the fecurity required, conceiving it to be against the liberty of the people, and contrary to the known law of England; in proof of which he produced the act of the 16th and 17th Charles I, for preventing the Council-table from imprisoning any of the free-born people of England, afferting that, for his part, he durft not do any act tending to the violation of it. Cromwell asked, if the Council of State and Army had not committed many; to which he replied the Council of State had the authority of Parliament, and the Army did it only in time of war, and in both cafes to fecure perfons that they might be brought to a legal trial. To this Cromwell returned with fome warmth, A Justice of Peace may commit, and fhall not I?' He is a legal Officer,' anfwered our author, and authorised to do fo by the law, which you could not be, though though you were King; becaufe, if you do wrong, there is no remedy can be had against you. He defired, therefore, to be referred to a Justice of the Peace, if he had offended against the law, that he might be proceeded. with according to law. Upon this he was ordered to withdraw into an adjoining room, and prefently after received permiffion to return to his lodging, whither, in less than a quarter of an hour, he was followed by Mr. Strickland, one of the Council, who prefied him carneftly to comply; but he told him, That, having contended for, the liberty of others, he was not willing to give away his own, and be made a precedent to the prejudice of his countrymen. A meffenger from the Board ferving him with an order to give in the fecurity within three days, on pain of being taken into cuftody, put an end to their converfation, and, he not obeying the order, Serjeant Dandy, a day or two after, brought a warrant, figned by Henry Lawrence, the Prefident, to apprehend him. Some of his relations difcourfed with the Serjeant, who thereupon left him in his own lodgings, and Cromwell, the next day, meeting his bro ther Thomas Ludlow, propofed his engaging for the Lieutenant-general, which was agreed to very readily by the brother, but without our author's confent, However, after this he went into Effex, where he spent the remaining part of the fummer, which, he fays, fully answered the Protector's intention to prevent him from going down into Wilthire during the elections in 1657; and, indeed, he had no inclination thereto, though he was nominated for Knight of the fire by many of his friends. Our author ftaid in Effex till Oliver was feized with his latt ficknefs, when, coming to town, Fleetwood was directed to inquire the reafon of his coming at that critical feafon; to whom he gave fatisfaction on that head, the chief motive of his journey being to fetch his mother and his father-in-law into the country, that the family might be all together. [To be finished in our next. } Natural Hiftory of the RABBIT, with a finely-engraved Figure of the RABBIT of ANGORA. HE rabbit is called in Greek dawa; ther by wounds, or the excefs of his kindin Time Labin cunculus, in French, lapin; in old French, connin, connil; in Italian, coniglio; in Spanish, conejo; in Portuguefe, coelho; in German, kaninichen; and, in Swedish, kanin. The rabbit and hare, though very like each other as well in the external as internal form, by not copulating together, constitute two diftinct and feparate fpecies: Yet, as hunters fay, that male-hares, in rutting-time, run after female rabbits and cover them, I have endeavoured to know what might be the refult of fuch union, and for this purpose I procured bucks and does of both species to be reared together: But thefe effays were productive of nothing, and ferved only to inform me, that thofe animals, whofe form is fo like, are however by nature different enough, not even to be able to produce a fpeeds of mules. A young male hare, and a young female rabbit, nearly of the fame age, lived only about a quarter of year toge ther: As foon as they had collected a little Irength, they became enemies, and the continual war they waged against each other ended by the death of the leveret. Of two older male hares, which I had put up each with a female rabbit, one met with the fame fate, and the other, who was very hot and ftrong, and did not cease to torment the rabbit by ftriving to cover her, killed her ei nefs. Three or four buck-rabbits, which I made to cohabit with female hares, killed them likewife in a longer or fhorter time 5: but neither one nor the other produced any thing. I believe notwithstanding that I may aver that they have fometimes really copu lated; at least there was often a certainty that, notwithstanding the refiftance of the female, the male had fatisfied himself; and there was more reafon to expect fome produce from thefe copulations, than from the amours of the rabbit and hen, we have been amused with, in a Hiftory of the Art of: rearing of Chickens, of which, according to this ingenious author, the fruit was to be chickens covered with hairs, or rabbits covered with feathers; whilft it was nothing more than a vicious or over-hot buck-rabbit, who, for want of a female, had made ufe of the hen of the house, as he would have ufed any other utenfil: Befides, it is quite improbable to expect any production between animals of fuch remote species; and the rather, as there is no refult from the union of the hare and rabbit, whose species fo nearly border upon each other. The fruitfulness of the rabbit is stilk greater than that of the hare; and, without crediting what Wotten fays, that, from a fingle pair left on an island, there had been ingendered fix thousand at the expiration of one, |