the storm,' but to direct it so as invariably to promote his own advantages. Himself, past doubt, both a political and religious enthusiast, he was certain, from that circumstance alone, of securing the consideration, applause, and hearty services, of numbers; and, being at the same time gifted with a very extraordinary portion of a most opposite quality, self-command, he could instantly, when his interests required it, bid the current of his own feelings subside, while he continued to avail himself of the full tide of those of others. By turns sincere, and a hypocrite; a religionist, and a zealous worldling; a man of gravity, and (almost) a buffoon; a preacher, and a punster; a clown, and a gentleman; stately, and familiar; slovenly, and precise; an orator, and without words to express himself;-cautious, and yet enterprizing; ardent, and yet methodical; ready, and yet invariably politic;—his very defects were made to turn to his account, almost equally with his admirable qualities; and, by nearly literally becoming all things to all men,' he contrived to elevate himself above all his competitors.

This most singular combination of contradictions in mortal mould, was born at Huntingdon, April 25th, 1599, (a) of a good family, both by his father's and mother's side. Milton tells us, he "was descended of an house noble

and illustrious ;" and we have information on the subject, of which there can be no reason to suspect the accuracy, from his own mouth, in his speech, Sept. 12, 1654, to his first Parliament; in which he says, "I was by birth a gentleman, neither living in any considerable height, nor yet in obscurity." Mr. Robert Cromwell, his father, was the second son of Sir Henry Cromwell, himself eldest son and heir to Sir Richard Williams, alias Cromwell, who, as the issue of Morgan Williams, by his marriage with a sister of Thomas Lord Cromwell, Earl of Essex, assumed, like his father, the name of Cromwell. The family of Williams, of Welch extraction, was itself ancient and reputable. (b) Sir Oliver, Mr. Robert Cromwell's elder brother, and uncle to Oliver the Protector, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth; created a Knight of the Bath by King James; and married a daughter of Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord High Chancellor of England, and, upon her death, Lady Anne, widow of Sir Horatio Palavacini, of Babram, Cambridgeshire. (c) Mr. Robert Cromwell, it appears from good authority, was in the commission of the peace for the borough of Huntingdon; member of Parliament for the same borough in the 35th of Elizabeth; and one of the commissioners for draining the fens of his own and the adjoining counties in 1605. Of his wife, Elizabeth, Oliver's mother, nothing

is very certainly known; except that she was the daughter of William Steward, Esq. of the city of Ely, and widow of William Lynne, Gent. of Bassingbourne: according to Mr. Noble, indeed, she was descended from a branch of the royal family of Stuart, which ultimately possessed both the Scottish and English thrones; and, from the pedigree given by him, it would actually appear that Oliver was a remote cousin to his future illustrious victim, Charles the First. But it is unquestionable, that the Cromwell (or Williams) family was allied, collaterally, and by marriage, with some of the most distinguished names and titles in England.

There would seem but slender reason, however, to doubt the so often repeated assertion, that Oliver's father, being a younger brother, and not very munificently provided for, engaged (both wisely and honourably, as prejudice alone will deny) in trade, for the better support of that numerous family of ten children, of whom Oliver was the only son that attained the age of manhood. of manhood. Coke* tells us, "his father being asked whether he knew the Protector, he said - Yes, and his father too, when he kept his brew-house in Huntingdon.' And Sir William Dugdalet relates, that "Robert

* Detection II. 57. Lond. 1694.

+ Short View of the Troubles in England, p. 458, Oxon. Folio. 1681.

Cromwell, though he was, by the countenance of his elder brother, made a justice of peace in Huntingdonshire, had but a slender estate, much of his support being a brew-house in Huntingdon." Oliver's own assertion, that he "was by birth a gentleman," would in no sense be disproved, since his descent was really next only to illustrious, by this circumstance; and Harris, in his Historical and Critical Account' of the Protector, not improperly remarks, that" every reasonable and considerate person will think it no discredit to the family;" for that," in England, trade is not disgraceful to a gentleman."

The possessions of Mr. Robert Cromwell, which he enjoyed independently of his business, were of the yearly value of about £300; they were chiefly in and near Huntingdon, and had previously belonged to a monastery of Augustine Friars. His usual residence, however, was in a house that had formed part of the dissolved Hospital of St. John, or had been erected with its materials upon its site; and here Mrs. Cromwell continued the management of the brewery after her husband's death, for which indeed she was well qualified by her having mainly conducted it in his life-time.

Little has been related, that can be implicitly depended on, relative to the youth of Oliver: but so far as what has been said of his character

D

and propensities at that early period, will harmonise with what is known of him in maturer years, it is entitled to passing attention; though his after power was no doubt the source of many inventions, eagerly credited by the multitude for the tincture of the marvellous contained in them.*

His education, we are told, was at first intrusted to the Rev. Mr. Long, of Hunt

*His very infancy," says Noble, if we believe what Mr. Audley, brother to the famous civilian, says he had heard Some old men tell his grandfather, " was marked with a peculiar accident, that seemed to threaten the existence of the future Protector for his grandfather, Sir Henry Cromwell, having sent for him to Hinchinbrooke, (near Huntingdon, the ancient family seat) when an infant in arms, a monkey took him from his cradle, and ran with him upon the lead that covered the roofing of the house. Alarmed at the danger Oliver was in, the family brought beds to catch him upon, fearing the creature's dropping him down; but the sagacious animal brought the Fortune of England' down in safety: so narrow an escape had he, who was doomed to be the Conqueror and Sovereign Magistrate of three mighty nations, from the paws of a monkey." He is also said to have been once saved from drowning by a Mr. Johnson, curate of Cunnington; a fact more credible, perhaps, than that the same worthy clergyman should, at a future period, when Oliver was marching at the head of his troops through Huntingdon, have told him, that he "wished he had put him in, rather than have seen him in arms against his King:"-the latter part of which story is probably a loyal but fabulous appendage, tagged after the Restoration to the former.