ence in the high walks of human life. The religious temperament of the age in which he lived, taught him, indeed, to ascribe his elevation to the special views of a particular providence, while other heroes have used a less intelligible language in reference to a certain fate or destiny which they were sent into the world to fulfil; but the feeling, in its origin and principle, is essentially the same in a puritan and in a philosophist; arising in both cases from a long train of success, as well as from the consciousness of gigantic plans which borrow the sanction of inspiration, and of boundless schemes of improvement which seem worthy of a celestial origin.

It is to Ludlow that we are indebted for an illustration of the fact now stated. Soon after Cromwell was appointed Captain-General of the national forces, he happened to sit near the other in the House of Commons; when observing, as he imagined, a certain alteration in the looks and carriage of the republican colonel, he expressed his apprehension that he had begun to entertain suspicions of his integrity as a servant of the public. Ludlow made a civil reply, assuring him that his opinions had undergone no change. Oliver invited him to a private conference in the Queen's guard-chamber; on which occasion he endeavoured to convince his friend of the necessity now incumbent upon him to do many things that appeared extraordinary in the judgment of some men, who, in opposition to him, took such courses as would bring ruin upon themselves as well as upon him and the public cause; affirming his intentions still to be directed to the good of the people, for whose welfare he was ready

to sacrifice his life. He declared that his desires were limited to the settlement of the nation in a free and equal commonwealth; acknowledging that there were no other probable means to keep out the old family and government from returning upon them. Above all, he stated his conviction, that it was the design of the Lord in their days, to deliver his people from every burden, and that he was now bringing to pass what was prophesied in the hundred and tenth psalm; from the consideration of which he was often encouraged to promote the accomplishment of those ends which were indicated by the finger of Providence. Upon this, he entered upon an exposition of that psalm, in which, says Ludlow, he spent a full hour.

The military memorialist does not favour his readers with any specimen of Cromwell's commentary; but it is not difficult to imagine what must have been his views on such passages as these: "The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath."-" He shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.— The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of his Zion; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.-The people shall be willing in the day of thy power; thou art a priest for ever." Having finished his exposition, he assured Ludlow that he intended to make a thorough reformation of the clergy and of the law; but added, “the sons of Zeruiah are still too strong for us.' It was on the occasion now mentioned, that

* Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 319.

Cromwell induced his auditor to accept the ap. pointment of Lieutenant-General in Ireland; being desirous, it is probable, to have him removed to a distance from the centre of affairs during the approaching expedition to the north, when the more violent republicans, of whom Ludlow was one, might take advantage of any reverses that should befall him, and place the power of the state in other hands. The successor of Fairfax, indeed, already perceived that he had more to dread from his former friends than from his avowed enemies; and, under this impression, he determined to render the army still more subservient to his ulterior plans, and to separate the interests of the soldiers from those of the commanders under whom they had been originally brought into the field. With this view, he dismissed many of the old officers who belonged to what was called the "Godly Party," and gave their places to men who considered the pursuit of arms merely as a profession, without taking much pains to weigh the equity of the cause in which they were engaged, or allowing themselves to challenge the propriety of the orders which they were summoned to obey. "Now," says a popular writer, "the poison of ambition had so ulcerated Cromwell's heart, that the effects became more apparent than before; and while as yet Fairfax stood an empty name, he was moulding the army to his mind; weeding out the godly and upright-hearted men, and filling up their rooms with rascally turn-coat cavaliers and pitiful sottish beasts of his own alliance, and other such as would swallow all things, and make no question for conscience sake. Yet

this he did not directly nor in tumult, but by such degrees that it was unperceived by all that were not of very penetrating eyes."*

In pursuance of the same object, he distributed the men of the fanatical corps, which had served during the civil war, into different regiments, where the same spirit of political union and religious partisanship did not prevail, and thereby completely neutralized that powerful principle, by means of which he had repeatedly intimidated the Parliament, and finally brought his sovereign to the block. He had no longer any occasion for agitators, and therefore he suppressed all deliberative bodies in the army. He now felt that the instrument which he had used with so much effect, possessed two edges equally sharp; and therefore he not only threw it aside, but endeavoured to stamp it under his feet, and to grind it as small as powder. He dreaded the men who had formerly been the most submissive of his agents, even in the most desperate enterprises to which revenge or ambition can ever carry the human mind; for which reason, he laboured to divide their influence to such an extent as to render it inefficient, and to counteract their plans by the introduction of an antagonist power to which every day would give additional strength.

Nor did a long time elapse before it became manifest that the fears of Cromwell were not altogether without foundation. Three military enthusiasts, Rich, Staines, and Watson, conspired against his life. Being brought before the

* Hutchinson's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 167.

council of state, they acknowledged their guilt, and were about to be sentenced to a condign punishment, when the General interceded for them and obtained their pardon. Having vindicated himself from their malice, and " laid open what pitiful, sneaking, poor knaves they were, how ungrateful to him, and how treacherous and cowardly to themselves, he became their advocate, and made it his suit that they might be no farther published or punished." This generosity, "for indeed he carried himself with the greatest bravery that is imaginable therein, much advanced his glory, and cleared him in the eyes of superficial beholders; but others saw he crept on and could not stop him, while fortune itself seemed to prepare his way on sundry occasions.”

The last sentence is very remarkable, as written by a contemporary. The progress of Cromwell was perceived, but it could not be checked. Fortune ministered to him the most apt occasions, which he was always ready to seize and turn to the greatest advantage for his personal views; and all this while, he carried the most open face, and made to those about him the most obliging professions of friendship. But Mrs Hutchinson assures us that her husband " saw through him, and forbore not often to tell him what was suspected of his ambition, what dissimulations of his were remarked, and how dishonourable to the name of God and the profession of religion, how destructive to the most glorious of earthly causes, and dangerous to all their triumphs, these things would prove, if unfortunately they should be found to be true. He would seem to receive these cautions and ad