I remember a speck or two of blood upon his little band, which was not much larger than his collar; his hat was without a hat-band; his ftature was of good fize; his sword stuck close to his fide; his countenance fwollen and reddish; his voice harsh and untunable; and his eloquence full of fervour."

With all these difadvantages of mind and body, was it ever to have been expected that Oliver would become a principal perfon in the fenate, and much lefs its future fovereign! It is, however, no less ftrange than true, that this very man, within a few years, was not only noticed in the House for the boldness of his fpeeches, and the folidity of his arguments, but that he ftudied both grace in his gefture, and neatness and gentility in his drefs. "And I lived to fee," continues Sir Philip Warwick, "this very gentleman, whom out of no ill-will I thus defcribe, by multiplied good fucceffes, and by real (but ufurped) power, having had a better taylor, and more converse among good company; in my own age, when for fix weeks together I was a prisoner in his ferjeant's hands, and daily waited at Whitehall; appear of a great and majestic deportment, and comely prefence.

ing, but was conftantly treated with every mark of efteem, even by the cavaliers of both kingdoms. What is remarkable in Oliver's children is, that most of them disapproved of the violent steps their father was taking, and were warm partizans for Charles the First, as well as for his fon, whofe reftoration they greatly approved of, and lived quietly under his government.

Besides the foregoing children by his wife, Oliver is fupposed to have had several illegitimate children; for though a great devotee, and affecting an outward fanctity of manhe is known to have indulged himself, after he arrived at power, with the company of ladies, and that not in the most innocent

ners,

manner.

INSTANCE

INSTANCE THE SEVENTEENTH.

RICHARD CROMWELL*,

SON OF OLIVER.

The tottering bark with fkilful care to guide,
Through the rough billows of AMBITION's tide,
A heart undaunted, head ferene, demands;
She's loft, if feer'd with inexperienc'd hands.

R

ICHARD CROMWELL exhibits a no less fingular inftance of the mutability of fortune, than his father has done. By a moft unparalleled revolution, Oliver attained the fovereignty of these kingdoms: by a viciffitude nearly as extraordinary, did Richard, though he had peaceably fucceeded to the fame grand elevation, fall from the towering height, and left not to any of his name or kindred, a beam of that grandeur which had fhone round his father and himself.

Hiftory of England, Noble's Anecdotes of the Cromwell family, &c.

Richard, the third, but eldest surviving fon of the Protector Oliver, was born at Huntingdon, October 4th, 1626; and received his education, at least the latter part of it, at Felfted, in Effex; to which place he was fent, that he might be under the eye of his maternal grandfather, Sir James Bourchier, who refided there.

In the year 1647, he was admitted to the fociety of Lincoln's-inn, having then nearly completed his twenty-first year. While he was here, he took very little pains to gain a knowledge of the law, but spent his time chiefly in the pursuit of pleasure; and it is remarkable, that when the nation was torn in pieces by faction and civil war, he lived inactively in the temple. What is still more obfervable is, that at the time his father was fighting the battles of the parliament, he was the companion of the most loyal cavaliers, and frequently drank health and fuccefs to the fovereign whom Oliver was endeavouring to dethrone. And when that unhappy monarch was condemned to die, he was fo ftruck with horror at the cruel and unprecedented fentence, that he threw himself upon his knees before his father, and pleaded the caufe of fallen majefty, with all the warmth

warmth and energy of the moft faithful fubject. But the dye had been fome time caft; it was decreed that Charles fhould lose his life, and Oliver was inexorable to the tears and entreaties of his child.

Soon after the fatal cataftrophe had taken place, he obtained, through the rifing eminence of his family, a very eligible marriage with Dorothy, eldeft daughter of Richard Major, of Hurfley, in the county of Hants, efq. with whom he had a very confiderable fortune.

Upon his marriage he retired to Hurley, where he refided, and became quite the country gentleman, enjoying all the rural fports. While here, he did not depart from his former loyal principles; he had the same attachment for the fon, as he had borne the unfortunate father; and ufed all his endeavours to ferve fuch of the loyalifts as fell into inconveniences on that account. He was, likewife, ftill very inattentive to the public concerns, very uxorious, and not over frugal in his expences.

In this happy retirement Richard lived for fome time; but upon his father's advanceCc 2

ment