(0) Fafti, vol. ii. c. 88.

This involved him in expences which his fortune would ill bear, and reduced him to fome difficulties. But his vices were of no long continuance. He foon recovered himfelf, and at the age of twenty one years, married Elizabeth (D) daughter of Sir James

Bouchier,

Inn to ftudy the common law, but making nothing of it, he was sent for home by his mother, became a debauchee, and a boyfterous and rude fellow (0).' Thus, according to 'these writers, Oliver mispent his time, and fell into vice; and tho' very probably his faults are heightened by the authors here quoted, yet I' make no doubt but there is fome foundation for the charge. For in a letter to Mrs. St. John, his cozen, dated Ely, 13th O. 1639, he has the following expreffions. You know what my manner of life hath been. O, I lived in, and loved darkness, and hated the light; I was a chief, the chief of finners. This is true, I hated godliness, yet God had mercy on (p) Thur me (p). Which words undoubtedly imply fome perPapers, vol. fonal vice or other to which he had been addicted, i. P. 1. Fol. though we cannot, at this diftance, well tell what it Lond. 1742. was with certainty.

loe's State

(D) He married Elizabeth Bouchier who shewed due fubmiffion to him.] The Bouchiers were antient as a family; from hence probably arose the spirit and pride of Mrs. Cromwell. Whether thefe led her into any indecencies with refpect to her neighbours, appears not even from the foes of the family. With regard to her hufband the had merit, i. e. fhe was affectionate, obedient, fubmiffive, and defirous to pleafe: qualities vastly beyond any which refult from birth, beauty, parts or wealth. What led me to confider her in this light, is the following letter to Oliver, which will be read I dare fay with pleasure, efpecially as it is the only one of hers which has been handed down to posterity.

De

Bouchier, of Effex, knight, faid to be a woman of spirit and parts, and not wanting in pride (9), tho' fhe fhewed all due fubmif- (7) See fion to her husband. Soon after his mar- Heath's Flagellum, riage he fettled at Huntington, his native p. 4 country; but upon the death of his uncle,

6

I

My Dearift,

Sir

Defember the 27th, 1650.

Wonder you should blame me for writing nowe oftnir, when I have fent thre for one: 1 canenot but thenk they ar mifcarid. Truly if I knog my one hart I fhould afe foune neglect myself afe to the leaft thought towards you, hoe in douing of it I must doe it to myfelf; but when I doe writ, my dear, I feldome have any fatisfactore anfer, wich makse me thenk my writing is flited, as well it mae; but I can6 not but thenk your love covene my weknifis and infirmetis. I fhould rejoys to hear your defire in fee6 ing me, but I defire to fubmit to the providens of God, howping the Lord, houe hath feperated us, and heth oftune brought us together agane, wil in heis good time breng us agane, to the prafe of heis name. Truly my lif is but half a lif in your abseinse, deid not the Lord make it up in heimself, which I 'muft acknoleg to the prafe of heis grace. I would you would thenk to writ fometims to your deare frend me Lord Chef Juftes, of hom I have oftune put you in mind and truly, my deare, if you would thenk of what I put you in mind of fume, it might be of as much purpos afe others, writting fumetims a letter to the Prefedent, and fometims to the Speiker. Indeid, my deare, you cannot thenk the rong you doe yourself in the whant of a letter, though it wer but () Milton's feldome. I pray think of, and foe reft yours in all faithfulnife,

< ELIZ. CROMWELL (r).

State Papers, by Nickolls, p. 40. Fol.

Lond. 1743.

(s) Me

moirs, vol. ii, p. 488.

Sir Robert Stewart, who left him an estate of between four and five hundred pounds a year, he removed to the ifle of Ely. Here again it is faid that he fell into great ftreights and difficulties, through an excefs of fuperftition; though the accounts given of it (E)

are,

In conformity to the reprefentations of others I have mentioned Mrs. Cromwell's fpirit and pride: how the latter appear'd I know not. It is not faid that she lov'd ftate and magnificence, that he was delighted with flattery, or fond of power. Nor do I remember to have seen any addreffes made to her either by the court divines, or poets of her age, though her husband, and her fon Richard had ftore of them. So that I fhould rather conclude her meek and humble, than proud and high-fpirited; though we have no facts given us from whence we may draw the one or the other conclufion. What confirms me in the opinion of her real good character is, that Dugdale and Bates, who have drawn the most ugly pictures of Cromwell, have left hers untouched, which I'm perfwaded they would not have done, could they have found any thing to faften on. Bates, being phyfician to the family, must have had opportunities fufficient for information; and after the reftoration it was making court to abuse any part of Oliver's family.

I am confirmed in my opinion of Mrs. Cremwell, by the following paffage in Ludlow, which I obferv'd not till I had written the above. "He [the Protector] re'moved from the Cock-pit, which houfe the parliament had affign'd him, to take poffeffion of Whitehall, which he affign'd to himself. His wife feem'd at first unwilling to remove thither, tho' afterwards fhe became better fatisfied with her grandeur (s).?

(E) He fell into freights and difficulties through an excefs of fuperftition. Let us hear what is faid on this

head

are, in my opinion, far enough from being probable.

-head by writers prejudiced against his memory.

Cer

• Ado

• lefcens cum fæmina nobili confarreavit; fed brevi poftea tum fua tum materna bona, (pater enim ante defunctus erat) effufus in luxum, funditus dilapidavit, • adeo ut ad reftim propemodum redigeretur. Dein agens refipifcentiam, concionibus facris, lectionibus piis, & mortificationis operibus totus vacat; conductoque zythepfario, velut rem familiarem quam antè decoxerat recocturus, eidem dat operam, fimul & agriculturæ. Ab eo tempore, avunculo illum fummopere perofo, Roberto Stewardo equiti, regiorum quorundam & clericorum operâ conciliatus eft, hærefque ⚫ tandem fcriptus. Patrimonio tamen paulò pòft ad affem peffundato, ftatuit Nevam Angliam proficifci, omniaque in hunc finem preparat (t). i. e. In his () Elenchi youth he married a gentlewoman, but by his profuse nuperorum and luxurious way of living, in a fhort time he fquan- in Anglia ab dered away both his mother's and his wife's eftate, fo Georgio Bathat he was almoft reduced to beggary. Afterwards, teo, pars fecunda, p. affuming the behaviour of a penitent, he gave him- 219, 8vo. felf wholly up to the hearing of fermons, reading of Lond. 1663. godly books, and works of mortification; and hav

ing got a brewhoufe, he applied himfelf to the brewing trade, and also to husbandry. After that his uncle Sir Robert Stewart, who had an averfion to him, being reconciled by the means of fome clergymen and ⚫ courtiers, left him his fortune. But fhortly after, ⚫ having again run out of all, he refolved to go to New England, and prepares all things for that end.'

Dugdale, after having spoken of his most formally canting in their [the Puritans] demure language and affected tone, and frequenting the fermons of the fierceft Beautefeaus,' tells us he was neceffitated through his low condition to quit a country farm, which he held at St. Ives, and betake himself to

' mean

Motuum

(x) Short View, P.

460.

Certain 'tis, he was very regular at this time, in his whole behaviour, publickly addicted

mean lodgings in Cambridge (u).' This neceffity another writer lays upon his overmuch religion, which induc'd him to have long prayers with his family in a morning, and again in the afternoon, at which his plowmen and all his country fervants always attended. Mr. Hume, after his manner, has improv'd upon all these writers. All of a sudden, the fpirit of refor⚫mation seized him; he married, affected a grave and • composed behaviour, entered into all the zeal and " rigour of the puritanical party, and offered to restore to every one whatever fums he had formerly gained by gaming. The fame vehemence of temper which had transported him into the extreams of pleasure, now diftinguished his religious habits. His house ⚫ was the resort of all the zealous clergy of the party; and his hofpitality as well as his liberalities to the filenced and deprived minifters, proved as chargeable • as his former debaucheries. Tho' he had acquired a, tolerable fortune by a maternal uncle, he found his affairs fo injur'd by his expences, that he was obliged to take a farm at St. Ives, and apply himself, for fome years, to agriculture, as a profeffion. But this ⚫ expedient served rather to involve him in further debts and difficulties. The long prayers which he faid to his family in the morning and again in the afternoon, confumed his own time and that of his ploughmen; ⚫ and he referved no leizure for the care of his tempo(*) Hiftoryral affairs (). There is a deal of confusion in all of Great thefe accounts, and I believe, at the bottom, but little truth. For who can think that Oliver, tho' certainly an enthufiaft, had fo little fenfe as to run himself out after fuch a ridiculous manner? No man better knew than himself that there was a feafon for every thing, and tho' he loved to pray, and preach too on occafion, yet he was never known in any other part of life to neg

Britain, vol.

ii. p. 45.

4to. Lond.

1757.

lect