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own palace; and lastly, the great fire of London, happening in 1666, at the latter end of his wonderfully-long life (see "Hone's Every-day Book," p. 1602). 1640, Nov. 3. The famous Long Parliament met this day. 1641, May 10. Charles, after having in a private letter to Strafford, assured him, "on the word of a king," that he should not suffer in life, honour, or fortune, signed by commission the bill of attainder. May 12. The Earl of Strafford, then in his forty-ninth year, beheaded on Tower-hill: 100,000 persons were present at the execution. The Earl had offered Balfour, Lieutenant of the Tower, £22,000, the marriage of Balfour's son to his daughter, and the king's warrant of indemnity, for his escape. August 4. An order of the Commons for removing scandalous pictures, crosses, and figures within churches and without: whereupon the crosses in Cheapside, Charing-cross, and cat several other places, were taken down. September 23. The Irish rebellion and massacre; they were headed by O'Neil, and the number of Protestant victims has been variously stated at from 10,000 to 200,000. The origin of this terrible slaughter has been ascribed to the king or to the intrigues of the Scots. December 28. Daring tumult of the London apprentices at Whitehall and Westminster. The name of "Roundheads" first introduced by Captain Hyde drawing his sword amidst the mob at Westminster, and saying he would crop the ears of those round-headed dogs that bawled against the bishops; the apprentices wore their hair cut round and short. December 30. Twelve bishops committed to custody for declaring all legislative acts in their absence from the lords were invalid. 1642. The king left London for Hampton Court on the 10th Jan., and on the 11th removed to Windsor, and did not return to his capital till he was brought to it a captive. October 23. The battle of Edge Hill. December 4. Cardinal Richelieu died. 1643, February 1. Prince Rupert took Cirencester by storm. 1643, December 8. John Pym, the great parliamentarian dies. July 3. The battle of Marston Moor. 1645, Jan. 10. Archbishop Laud beheaded on Tower-hill. June 14. The battle of Naseby. 1649, January 20. The king tried in Westminster Hall, and on the 27th condemned to the block.*

The queen, Henrietta Maria, was in Paris at the time of her husband's execution; and Hume relates that she was at one time in such pecuniary distress, from the non-payment of her small pension, that one morning when Cardinal de Retz waited, lie was informed that "the princess was obliged to be a bed for want of a fire to warm her. To such a condition was reduced, in the midst of Paris, a queen of England, and daughter of Henry IV. of France.

THE COMMONWEALTH.

ELEVEN YEARS-FOUR MONTHS.

[The Commonwealth began with the death of Charles I., in 1649. Cromwell was made Protector, 1653. The monarchy was restored in 1660.]

OLIVER CROMWELL.

FROM 1653 TO 1658-4 YEARS, 8 MONTHS.

BATTLE OF WORCESTER.

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The battle of Worcester, gained by Cromwell, September 3, 1651, is one of those points in English history from which may be conveniently taken a view, both retrospective and prospective, of a period of the very highest interest and importance. Looking on the events anterior to but connected with the battle of Worcester, we find Charles I., who succeeded his father in 1625, attempting to govern without the aid of parliaments; and in 1634 he issued writs, directing the sheriffs of the different counties to collect from each of the inhabitants, according to their means, a sum of money for the equipment of ships for the king's service. This tax, known by the name of "ship money,' was at first generally paid, though known to be illegal.. John Hampden, a gentleman of fortune and good family in Buckinghamshire, an earnest lover of liberty and a true patriot, he alone brought the question before the courts of law. The judges were weak enough to assert that the king could, by his own royal authority, levy that or any other tax. The question was henceforth to be decided in the field. The royalists were beaten at Edge Hill, in 1642; at Marston Moor, in 1644; and lastly, at Naseby, in 1645. In England they never rallied in the field after the flight from Naseby; and in less than five years, namely, on the 30th January, 1649, the king was beheaded at Whitehall.

Charles II. was residing at the Hague at the period of his father's execution. His friends in England were suffering under confiscations and imprisonment, and the royalist party, which had engaged with such high spirit in the cause of the late king, was broken and subdued. Many an ancient family which had lived peacefully in the enjoyment of its broad possessions since the Wars of the Roses, was now glad to compound for one half of their estates by giving up the other half. The young king was proclaimed in Scotland and in Ireland immediately after his father's death, but did not land in Scotland until June, 1650. After being defeated by Cromwell at Dunbar, Charles was forced to withdraw into the Highlands, but Cromwell laid siege to Perth, intending to prevent the highlanders from sending supplies either of men or provisions to Sterling. The king, by the advice of his council, now formed the bold step of marching into England, which he effected with such secrecy and expedition, that Cromwell was almost sur

prised by him. The two armies now advanced with the greatest rapidity. The king on approaching Shrewsbury, summoned it to surrender, but this demand being firmly denied, the army marched towards Worcester, at which place, after a gallant resistance, in which the royalists lost more than three thousand men, Charles was thoroughly defeated, and it was with the greatest difficulty he made his escape. The battle of Worcester, which Cromwell, in the language of that day, termed his "crowning mercy," was fought on the anniversary of his victory at Dunbar. From this period he advanced to the supreme power of overcoming the faction into which the anti-royalist party itself was divided. On the 20th April, 1653, he dissolved the long parliament, and took the government into his own hands.

Penny Magazine, June, 1841, p. 233.

ESCAPE OF CHARLES II.

The king left Worcester at six in the afternoon, and without halting travelled about twenty-six miles, in company with fifty or sixty of his friends. To provide for his safety he thought it best to separate himself from his companions, and he left them without communicating his intentions to any of them. By the Earl of Derby's directions, he placed himself in the hands of one Penderell, a farmer, who inhabited a lone house in Boscobel, on the borders of Staffordshire. Though a great reward was offered for the apprehension of Charles, and though the penalty of death was denounced against all who should conceal him, he professed and maintained the most unshaken fidelity. He took the assistance of his four brothers, equally honourable with himself, and having clothed the king in a garb like their own,* they led him into the neighbouring wood, put a bill into his hand, and pretended to employ themselves in cutting faggots. Some nights he lay upon straw in

*The king's dress is thus described by Pepys (appendix to Memoirs of Count de Grammont, p. 463):-"A very greasy old grey steeple crowned hat. with the brim turned up, without lining or hat band, a green cloth jump coat, threadbare, even to the threads being worn white, and breeches of the same, with long knees down to the garter, with an old leathern doublet, a pair of white flannel stockings next to his legs, which the king said were his boot stockings, their tops being cut off to prevent their being discovered, and upon them a pair of old green yarn stockings all worn and darned at the knees, with their feet cut off; which last, he said, he had of Mr. Wolfe, who persuaded him thereunto, to hide his other white ones, for fear of being observed; his shoes were old, all slashed for the ease of his feet, and full of gravel, with little rolls of paper between his toes, which he said he was advised to, to keep them from galling; he had an old course shirt, patched both at the neck and hands, of that very course sort which in that country go by the name of ' hogging shirts;' which shirt Father Hodlestone shifted from the king, by giving him one of his new ones. His handkerchief was a very old one, torn, and very coarse, and being daubed with the king's blood from his nose, Father Hodlestone gave it to a kinswoman of his, one Mrs. Brathwayte, who kept it with great veneration, as a remedy for the king's evil. He had no gloves, but a long thorn-stick, not very strong, but crooked three or four several ways, in his hand; his hair cut short up to the ears (as short at the top as scissors would do it, but leaving some about the ears according to the country mode), and his hands coloured, his majesty refusing to have any gloves, as also to change his stick.

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the house, and fed on such homely fare as it afforded. While mounted upon an oak, where he sheltered himself among the leaves and branches for twenty-four hours, he saw several soldiers pass by, all of whom were intent upon the search of the king, and some expressed, in his hearing, their earnest wishes of seizing him. This tree was afterwards denominated the Royal Oak; and for many years was regarded by the neighbourhood with veneration.*

Charles was in the middle of the kingdom, and could neither stay in his retreat nor stir a step from it without the most imminent danger. Fear, hope, party zeal, interested multitudes to discover him, and the smallest indiscretion might prove fatal. Having joined Lord Wilmot, who was skulking in the neighbourhood, they agreed toput themselves into the hands of Colonel Lane, a zealous royalist, who lived at Bentley, not many miles distant. The king's feet were so hurt by walking about in heavy boots, or countrymen's shoes which did not fit him, that he was obliged to mount on horseback; and he travelled in this situation to Bentley, attended by the Penderells. Lane formed a scheme for his journey to Bristol, where, it was hoped, he would find a ship in which he might transport himself. The colonel had a near kinswoman, Mrs. Norton, who lived within three miles of that city. He obtained a pass for his sister Jane Lane, and a servant, to travel towards Bristol, under pretence of visiting and attending Mrs. Norton; Charles rode before the lady and personated the servant.

When they arrived at Norton's, Mrs. Lane pretended that she had brought along, as her servant, a poor lad, a neighbouring farmer's son, who was ill of an ague; and she begged a private room for him where he might be quiet. Though Charles kept himself retired in this chamber, the butler, one Pope, soon knew him: the king was alarmed, but made the butler promise he would keep the secret from every mortal, even from his master; and he was faithful to his engagement. Finding no ship was likely to sail from Bristol, either for France or Spain, the king was obliged to go elsewhere for a passage. He entrusted himself to Colonel Windham, of Dorsetshire, a steady adherent of the royal cause. Various trials were made to procure a vessel for his escape, but he still met with disappointment. Having left Windham's house, he was obliged again to return to it. He passed through many other adventures; assumed different disguises; in every step was exposed to imminent perils; and received daily proofs of extraordinary attachment. The sagacity of a smith, who remarked that his horse's

*The Colonel (William Carlis) persuaded his majesty to go back into the wood (supposing it safer than the house), where the colonel made choice of a thick-leaved oak, into which William and Richard Pendereli helped them both up, and brought them such provision as they could get, with a cushion for his majesty to sit on; the colonel humbly desired his majesty (who had taken little or no rest the two preceding nights) to seat himself as easily as he could in the tree, and rest his head on the colonel's lap, who was watchful that his majesty might not fall. In this oak they continued most part of the day; and in that posture his majesty slumbered away some part of the time, and bore all these hardships and afflictions with incomparable patience.

Pepys

shoes had been made in the north, not in the west, as he pretended, once detected him, and he narrowly escaped. At Shoreham, in Sussex, a vessel was at last found in which he embarked. After one and forty days concealment, he landed at Feschamp in Normandy, No less than forty men and women had been privy, at different times, to his concealment and escape, and many of them were in humble circumstances; yet, though the parliament had offered a reward of £1,000 for his apprehension, not one was base enough to betray him. Hume, vol. vii., p. 196.

DISSOLUTION OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.

Cromwell having been informed by Ingoldsby that the parliament which was then setting had come to the resolution not to dissolve themselves, but to fill up the house with new elections, his resolution was immediately formed; and a company of musketeers received orders to accompany him to the house. At this eventful moment, big with the most important consequences both to himself and his country, whatever were the workings of Cromwell's mind, he had the art to conceal them from the eyes of the beholders. Leaving the military in the lobby, he entered the house, and composedly seated himself on one of the outer benches. His dress was a plain suit of black cloth, with grey worsted stockings. For a while he seemed to listen with interest to the debate, but when the Speaker was going to put the question, he whispered to Harrisson, "This is the time; I must do it ;" and rising put off his hat to address the house. At first his language was decorous and even laudatory; gradually he became more warm and animated; at last he assumed all the vehemence of passion, and indulged in personal vituperation. He charged the members with self-seeking and profaneness; with the frequent denial of justice, and numerous acts of oppression; with idolising the lawyers, the constant advocates of tyranny; with neglecting the men who had bled for them in the field, that they might gain the Presbyterians, who had apostatised from the cause; and with doing all this in order to perpetuate their own power, and to replenish their own purses. But their time was come; the Lord had disowned them; he had chosen more worthy instruments to perform his work. Here the orator was interrupted by Sir Peter Wentworth, who declared that he never before heard language so unparliamentary; language, too, the more offensive, because it was addressed to them by their own servant, whom they had too fondly cherished, and whom, by their unprecedented bounty, they had made what he was. At these words Cromwell put on his hat, and springing from his place, exclaimed, "Come, come, sir, I will put an end to your prating." For a few seconds, apparently in the most violent agitation, he paced forward and backward, and then, stamping on the floor, added, "You are no parliament; I say you are no parliament. Bring them in; bring them in." Instantly the door opened, and Colonel Worseley

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