and the royalists were unprepared to join him; and when he arrived at Worcester, his forces were not more numerous than when he rose from his camp at Torwood.

Such is the influence of established government, that the commonwealth, though very unpopular, had sufficient influence to raise the militia of the counties; and these, united with the regular forces, enabled Cromwell to fall upon the king at Worcester with an army of thirty thousand men. The streets of that city were strewed with the dead. Hamilton, a nobleman of bravery and honour, was mortally wounded; Massey was wounded and taken prisoner; and the king himself, having given many proofs of personal valour, was obliged to fly. The whole Scottish army was either killed or taken prisoners.

By the earl of Derby's directions, Charles went to Boscobel, a lone house on the borders of Staffordshire, inhabited by one Penderell, a farmer, who, with his four brothers, served him with unshaken fidelity. Having clothed the king in a garb like their own, they led him into a neighbouring wood, and pretended to employ themselves in cutting faggots. For better concealment, he mounted an oak, where, hid among the leaves, he saw several soldiers pass by, who expressed in his hearing, their earnest wishes of finding him. At length, after escaping the frequent dangers of detection, the king embarked on board a vessel at Shoreham, in Sussex, and arrived safely at Fescamp in Normandy, after a concealment of one and forty days. No less than forty men and women had at different times been privy to his concealment, yet all of them proved faithful to their trust.

The battle of Worcester afforded Cromwell what he called his "crowning mercy ;" and he now discovered to his intimate friends his aspiring views. The unpopularity of the parliament aided the ambition of this enterprising man, and paved the way to his exaltation. Never, however, had the power of this country appeared so formidable to neighbouring nations, as at this time. Blake had raised the naval glory of England to a greater height than it had attained at any former period. In America, the Bermudas, Antigua, Virginia, and Barbadoes, were reduced; Jersey, Guernsey, Scilly, and the Isle of Man, were brought under subjection to the republic; and all the British dominions submitting, parliament turned its views to foreign enterprises.

The Dutch were the first that felt the weight of their arms. The parliament passed the famous navigation act. Letters of reprisal were granted to several merchants, who complained of injuries which they had received from the states; and above eighty Dutch ships fell into their hands, and were made prizes. The cruelties committed on the English at Amboyna, which had been suffered to sleep in oblivion for thirty years, were also urged as a ground for hostile aggression.

A. D.

1652.

That they might not be unprepared for the war with which they were menaced, the states equipped a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail; and gave the command of a squadron of forty-two ships to Van Tromp, an admiral of great talents, to protect the Dutch navigation against the privateers of England. In the road of Dover, he met with Blake, who commanded an English fleet much inferior in number. Who was the aggressor in the action which ensued, it is not easy to determine; but the Dutch were defeated with the loss of one ship sunk, and another taken.

The parliament gladly seized this opportunity of commencing the war in form. Several actions now took place with various success. At length, Tromp, seconded by De Ruyter, met near the Goodwin Sands with Blake, who, though his fleet was inferior to that of the Dutch, declined not the combat. Both sides fought with the greatest bravery; but the advantage remained with the Dutch; and after this victory, Tromp, in a bravado, fixed a broom to his mast-head, as if resolved to sweep the seas of the English.

A. D.

1653.

Great preparations were made in England to wipe off this disgrace; and a fleet of eighty sail was fitted out, commanded by Blake, and under him by Dean aud Monk. As the English lay off Portland, they descried a Dutch fleet of seventy-six vessels, sailing up the channel with three hundred merchantmen, under the command of Tromp and De Ruyter. A most furious battle commenced, and continued for three days, with the utmost rage and obstinacy; and Blake, who was victor, could scarcely be said to have gained more honour than the vanquished. Tromp made a skilful retreat, and after losing eleven ships of war, and thirty merchantmen, reached the coast of Holland.

This defeat, together with the loss which their trade sustained by the war, inclined the states to peace; but parliament did not receive their overtures in a favourable manner; and they rejoiced at the dissolution of that assembly by Cromwell, as an event likely to render their affairs more prosperous.

Cromwell, sensible that parliament entertained a jealousy of his power, which they wished to restrain, determined to anticipate their designs. A council of officers presented a remonstrance, complaining of the arrears due to the army, and demanding that a new parliament should be summoned. To this the parliament made a sharp reply; and Cromwell in a rage hastened to the house, attended by three hundred soldiers, some of whom he placed at the door, some in the lobby, and some on the stairs. He reproached the parliament for their tyranny, ambition, and oppression; and commanding the soldiers to clear the hall, he himself went out the last, and ordering the doors to be locked, departed to his lodgings at Whitehall.

Oliver Cromwell, who had by this violent measure monopolized the whole civil and military power in the king dom, was born at Huntingdon, of a good family, though their estate was small. In the early part of his life, he was extremely dissolute and dissipated: but he was suddenly seized with the spirit of reformation, and entered into all the zeal and rigour of the puritans. His affairs being embarrassed, he took a farm at St. Ives, and applied himself to agriculture; but this expedient involved him in greater difficulties. The length of his prayers, together with the general abstraction of his mind, prevented him from paying due attention to his farm; and urged by his wants, and the religious principles he had imbibed, he had made a party with Hampden, his near kinsman, to transport himself to New-England, but was prevented by an order of council. From accident and intrigue he was chosen member for the town of Cambridge in the long parliament; but though highly gifted by nature, he was no orator; and if he had not lived in times of turbulence and disorder, it is probable that he would never have risen to eminence and distinction.

The indignation manifested by the people, on the usurpation of Cromwell, was less violent than might have been expected. Harrassed with wars and factions, men were

glad to see any prospect of peace; and they considered it less ignominious to submit to a person of talents and abilities, than to a few enthusiastic hypocrites, who, under the name of a republic, had reduced them to a cruel subjection.

By the advice of his council of officers, Cromwell sent summons to one hundred and twenty-eight persons, of different towns and counties of England, to five of Scotland, and to six of Ireland. These men, who were generally low mechanics, supported by Cromwell, voted themselves a parliament; and from one of the most noted, a leatherseller in London, whose name was Praise-God Barebone, they obtained the ridiculous appellation of Barebone's parliament. Cromwell, however, soon became dissatisfied with this assembly of fanatics, who, he expected, would have been subservient to him, but who began to insist on their divine commission, and to oppose his views. In the act of drawing up a protest against their dissolution, they were interrupted by Colonel White, with a party of soldiers. White asked them what they did there?" We are seeking the Lord," said they. "Then you may go elsewhere," replied he;" for to my knowledge, he has not been here these many years.

This shadow of a parliament being dissolved, the council of officers now proposed, that the supreme authority should be vested in a single person, who should be stiled the PROTECTOR; and a new instrument of government being prepared, Cromwell was declared protector, and installed with great solemnity in that high office. By the plan of this new legislature, a council was appointed, which was not to exceed twenty-one, nor be fewer than thirteen persons. The protector, however, was to possess all the executive power; but the advice of the council was to be taken on every important occasion. A parliament was to be summoned every three years, and allowed to sit five months, without adjournment, prorogation, or dissolution. The bills which they passed were to be presented to the protector for his assent; but if within twenty days that assent was not obtained, they were to become laws by the authority of parliament alone. A standing army was established, and funds were assigned for its support. During the intervals of parliament, the protector and council had the power of enacting laws, which were to be valid till the next

meeting of the legislative body. The protector was to en joy his office during life; and, on his death, the council was to fill up the vacancy. The council of state, named by the instrument, were men entirely devoted to Cromwell, and not likely ever to combine against him.

Whatever may be the defects and distractions in this system of civil polity, the military force of England was exerted with vigour, conduct, and unanimity. The English fleet, commanded by Monk and Dean, after an engagement of two days, defeated the Dutch under Tromp; and in another engagement, when Blake commanded, Tromp was shot through the heart, and this decided the action. The Dutch regarded less the loss of thirty ships which were sunk and taken, than the catastrophe of their brave admiral. At length, however, a defensive A. D. league was contracted between the two republics, 1654. on terms very honourable and advantageous to England; and Cromwell, as protector, signed the treaty of pacification.

Cromwell, however, had occasion to observe the prejudices entertained against his government, by the disposition of the parliament which he had summoned. The manner in which he had conducted the elections had been favourable to liberty. The small boroughs, as being most exposed to influence and corruption, had been disfranchised; and of four hundred members who represented England, two hundred and seventy were chosen by the counties. These measures, however, failed to procure him the confi dence of the people; and the first business on which the parliament entered, was to discuss the pretended instrument of government, and the authority which Cromwell had assumed over the nation. Cromwell obliged the members to sign a recognition of his authority, and an engagement not to propose or consent to any alteration in the government, as settled in a single person and a parliament; but, finding that conspiracies had been entered into between the members and some malcontent officers, he hastened to dissolve this dangerous assembly.

A. D.

After this, the protector exerted himself against the ad herents of Charles, who had appointed a day of 1655. general rising throughout England; and in order to draw off the attention of the nation from himself, he extended his enterprises to every part of Europe. He