which prescribes, upon a total alteration of government, as a thing absolutely necessary, to cut of all the heads of those, and extirpate their families, who are friends to the old one. It was confidently reported that in the council of officers it was more than once proposed, "that there might be a general massacre of all the royal party, as the only expedient to se cure the government," but that Cromwell would never consent to it; it may be, out of too great a contempt of his enemies. In a word, as he was guilty of many crimes against which damnation is denounced and for which hell-fire is prepared, so he had some good qualities which have caused the memory of some men in all ages to be celebrated; and he will be looked upon by posterity as a brave, wicked man.

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud
Not of war only, but detractions rude,

Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,

To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd,
And on the neck of crownèd fortune proud

Hast rear'd God's trophies, and his works pursued,
While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots imbrued,
And Dunbar field resounds thy praises loud,

And Worcester's laureate wreath. Yet much remains
To conquer still; Peace hath her victories
No less renown'd than War; new foes arise
Threat'ning to bind our souls with secular chains:
Help us to save free conscience from the paw
Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.*
Milton.

His grandeur he derived from heaven alone;
For he was great ere fortune made him so;
And wars, like mists that rise against the sun,

Made him but greater seem, not greater grow.
Dryden.

This sonnet was written in May, 1652, and, consequently, previous to the dissolution of the Par liament. It was inscribed, "To the Lord General Cromwell; on the proposals of certain ministers at the committee for the propagation of the Gospel."

Eulogy on Oliver Cromwell.-Milton.

[During the protectorate of Cromwell, Milton acted as his foreign secretary, and the State papers which he prepared bear the impress of his genius and patriotic spirit. In contrast with the portrait of the Protector as presented by the royalist historian, Clarendon, it is instructive to reflect upon the eulogium (excessive, no doubt) of one to whom every part of the Protector's character must have been familiar, and whose principles and conduct are a sufficient guaranty of his sincerity. The following is extracted from Milton's "Second Defense of the People of England," written in 1653.]

1. OLIVER CROMWELL was sprung from a line of illustrious ancestors, who were distinguished for the civil fanctions which they sustained under the monarchy, and still more for the part which they took in restoring and establishing true religion in this country. In the vigor and maturity of his life, which he passed in retirement, he was conspicuous for nothing more than for the strictness of his religious habits and the innocence of his life; and he had tacitly cherished in his breast that flame of piety which was afterward to stand in so much stead on the greatest occasions and in the most critical exigencies. In the last parliament which was called by the king, he was elected to represent his native town; when he soon became distinguished by the justness of his opinions and the vigor and decision of his counsels.

2. When the sword was drawn, he offered his services, and was appointed to a troop of horse, whose numbers were soon increased by the pious and the good, who flocked from all quarters to his standard; and in a short time he almost surpassed the greatest generals in the magnitude and rapidity of his achievements. Nor is this surprising; for he was a soldier disciplined to perfection in the knowledge of himself. He had either extinguished, or by habit had learned to subdue, the whole host of vain hopes, fears, and passions, which infest the soul. He first acquired the government of himself, and over himself acquired the most signal victories; so that, on the first day he took the field against the external enemy, he was a veteran in arms, consummately practiced in the toils and exigencies of war.

3. It is not possible for me in the narrow limit in which I

circumscribe myself on this occasion, to enumerate the many towns which he has taken, the many battles which he has won. The whole surface of the British empire has been the scene of his exploits, and the theatre of his triumphs; which alone would furnish ample materials for a history, and want a copiousness of narration not inferior to the magnitude and diversity of the transactions. This alone seems to be a sufficient proof of his extraordinary and almost supernatural virtue, that by the vigor of his genius, or the excellence of his discipline, adapted, not more to the necessities of war than to the precepts of Christianity, the good and the brave were from all quarters attracted to his camp, not only as the best school of military talents, but of piety and virtue; and that, during the whole war, and the occasional intervals of peace, amid so many vicissitudes of faction and of events, he retained and still retains the obedience of his troops, not by largesses or indulgence, but by his sole authority, and the regularity of his pay.

4. In this instance his fame may rival that of Cyrus, of Epaminondas, or any of the great generals of antiquity. Hence he collected an army as numerous and as well equipped as any one ever did in so short a time; which was uniformly obedient to his orders and dear to the affections of the citizens; which was formidable to the enemy in the field, but never cruel to those who laid down their arms; which committed no lawless ravages on the persons or the property of the inhabitants, who, when they compared their conduct with the turbulence, the intemperance, the impiety, and the debauchery of the royalists, were wont to salute them as friends, and to consider them as guests. They were a stay to the good, a terror to the evil, and the warmest advocates for every exertion of piety and virtue.

5. Nor would it be right to pass over the name of Fairfax, who united the utmost fortitude with the utmost courage, and the spotless innocence of whose life seemed to point him out as the peculiar favorite of heaven. Justly, indeed, may you [Fairfax] be excited to receive this wreath of praise, though you have retired as much as possible from the world, and seek

those shades of privacy which were the delight of Scipio. Nor was it only the enemy whom you subdued; but you have triumphed over that flame of ambition and that lust of glory which are wont to make the best and the greatest of men their slaves. The purity of your virtues and the splendor of your actions consecrate those sweets of ease which you enjoy, and which constitute the wished-for haven of the toils of

man.

6. Such was the ease which, when the heroes of antiquity possessed, after a life of exertion and glory not greater than yours, the poets, in despair of finding ideas or expressions better suited to the subject, feigned that they were received into heaven and invited to recline at the tables of the gods. But whether it were your health, which I principally believe, or any other motive, which caused you to retire, of this I am convinced, that nothing could have induced you to relinquish the service of your country, if you had not known that in your successor, liberty would meet with a protector, and England with a stay to its safety and a pillar to its glory. For while you, O Cromwell, are left among us, he hardly shows a proper confidence in the Supreme, who distrusts the security of England, when he sees that you are, in so special a manner, the favored object of the divine regard. But there was another department of the war, which was destined for your exclusive exertions.

7. Without entering into any length of detail, I will, if possible, describe some of the most memorable actions, with as much brevity as you performed them with celerity. After the loss of Ireland, with the exception of one city, you in one battle immediately discomfited the forces of the rebels, and were busily employed in settling the country when you were suddenly recalled to the war in Scotland. Hence you proceeded with unwearied diligence against the Scots, who were on the point of making an irruption into England with the king in their train; and, in about the space of one year, you entirely subdued and added to the English dominion that kingdom which all our monarchs, during a period of eight hundred

years, had in vain struggled to subject. In one battle you almost annihilated the remainder of their forces, who, in a fit of desperation, had made a sudden incursion into England, then almost destitute of garrisons, and got as far as Worcester, where you came up with them by forced marches, and captured almost the whole of their nobility.

8. A profound peace ensued; when we found, though indeed not then for the first time, that you were as wise in the cabinet as valiant in the field. It was your constant endeavor

in the senate either to induce them to adhere to those treaties which they had entered into with the enemy, or speedily to adjust others which promised to be beneficial to the country. But when you saw that the business was artfully procrastinated, that every one was more intent on his own selfish interest than on the public good, that the people complained of the disappointments which they had experienced and the fallacious promises by which they had been gulled, that they were the dupes of a few overbearing individuals, you put an end to their domination.

9. A new parliament is summoned, and the right of election given to those to whom it was expedient. They meet, but do nothing; and, after having wearied themselves by their mutual dissensions, and fully exposed their incapacity to the observation of the country, they consent to a voluntary dissolution. In this state of desolation to which we were reduced, you, O Cromwell! alone remained to conduct the government, and to save the country. We all willingly yield the palm of sovereignty to your unrivalled ability and virtue, except the few among us who, either ambitious of honors which they have not the capacity to sustain, or who envy those which are conferred on one more worthy than themselves, or else who do not know that nothing in the world is more pleasing to God, more agreeable to reason, more politically just, or more generally useful, than that the supreme power should be vested in the best and the wisest of men.

10. Such, O Cromwell, all acknowledge you to be; such are the services which you have rendered, as the leader of our