The Most excellent Oliver Cromwell Lord Gen ll: of Great Brittay Chancellor of the University of Oxford, & L: ᵈ Cheife Gover ʳ: of Ireland  
☜ Claude lib: de laud Still.— Similem Quae protulit Aelus Consilio vel Marle VIRUM    

THE HISTORY OF THE Life and Death Of His most Serene Highness, O LIVER, Late Lord Protector.  
Wherein, from his Cradle to his Tomb, are impartially transmitted to Posterity, the most weighty Transactions, Foreign or Domestic, that have happened in his Time, either in Matters of Law, Proceedings in Parliaments, or other Affairs in Church or State.  
By S. Carrington.  
Pax quaeritur Bello.  
London, Printed for Nath. Brook, at the Sign of the Angel in Cornhill, 1659.   


FUIMUS The Right Honble. Charles Viscount Bruce of Ampthill (●en ●. Heir Apparent of Thomas Earl of ●●●●bury) & Baron Bruce of Whorleton    

To His most SERENE HIGHNESS, RICHARD, Lord PROTECTOR OF THE Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging.  
May it please Your Highness,  
AS nothing can be presented to the Potentates of the World of greater value, than the Labours of Famous Historiographers, who describe to the life the Examples of such Eminent Personages as were transcendent in preceding Ages; and may in their Successors beget both Emulation and Experience: so shall I not need to apprehend that this History (which in all humility I present unto Your Highness) will prove unacceptable, since therein You may encounter with such a Model of all kind of Virtues and Perfections, as I hope may take a deeper impression in Your Highness' Breast, in regard that it will be found, that Art herein is seconded by Nature. And whereas I am under the lash of a severe Castigation for my presumption, in proffering this History to Your Review, as I acknowledge, when I seriously consider how You have attracted to Yourself that lively Portraiture of his Great Soul, that You appear the true Emblem both of his Virtues and Majesty.  
May it please Your most Serene Highness, I cannot choose but address this present Oblation as to Yourself, so in other Languages, to the rest of the Princes and Potentates of the Earth, I bequeath it unto posterity, very humbly craving the favourable Protection of Your Highness' Patronage. Nor durst I publish so glorious a Work to the World, before I had craved Your Highness' pardon for my Rashness, in adventuring to trace those Vigorous Lineaments in the Alexander, whom Your Highness so well resembleth, and in whom your Highness beareth so great a part. Moreover, as a sole Apelles could only be capable of so great an Enterprise, so it will be altogether unnecessary for me to endeavour the Description of that Portraiture, which so evidently is manifested to all the World, both in Your Highness' Person and Actions: Wherefore, my Lord, I must needs confess, that Your Highness is the true Original, and mine only relating to the Outside of so Great and unalterable an Albionist. The truth is, I find not in myself ability to express the Real Worth of His Accomplishments, and Hardy Features, accompanied with that Vivacity and Lustre, which secret Mystery lieth only in the Hand of that great Master of Nature, and Extant in that very Personage, whose Simile is hardly this Day to be found in the whole Universe, except in Your Inimitable Self. Nor doth Art or Humane frailty allow so much to be in the Possession of the best men. Therefore those who go about to Portrait such like Incomparable Personages, cannot avoid one of those extremities, which Painters run into when they go about to represent the Sun; who either place themselves at so great a distance, as that they can only discover an ineffications and feeble Reflections of its Beams; or approach so near unto it, as that being dazzled with its Resplendency, and overcome with its Heat, they are bereft of their Senses, and retain only their Hearts at liberty to adore and admire that powerful Hand, which form so glorious a Creature. To the like Non plus am I reduced, who rashly ascend to the very summit of the Throne of Honour, thence to contemplate his late Highness Person, surrounded by so glorious a Resplendency as no eyes are able to behold, nor to be comprehended by the minds of men; so that I must needs sink under the burden, and content myself with the Poet's Expression, 
— Inopem me copia fecit.  In which ecstasy all my Senses being surprised, my Heart is only left free to admire, and my Tongue to plead Excuses, and offer up good Wishes, which I most humbly Dedicate and Devote unto Your most Serene Highness. Nor could the Heavens have ever established a more fitting Personage, to bear a share in, or inclination unto this Work, than Your Highness, as well as to defend it from Envy itself. And if so be History be a second Life, Your Highness may judge by the black Attempts which threatened Your Glorious Father, how this Work will be assailed; and how many Enemies its Author must resolve to enter into the Lists withal: their Rage being thereby renewed and augmented, by their perceiving that the Tomb hath only bereft us of the least part of this Great Hero. And how malicious soever their Envy may appear in such Stories which possibly may be written in Contradiction hereof; it will only publish from Truth itself, to the World, their inveterate Spleen, which can never pierce through the bright Rays of his Innocent and Glorious Actions.  
Moreover, whereas the Divine Providence hath so often and miraculously preserved the first life of his late Highness, against the Attempts both of men and monsters; Your most Serene Highness is also engaged, as well by Imitation, as by the Interest of Your Care and Royal Dignity, to watch over the Preservation of his second Life, which is in Your Highness by so Lawful a Succession, as is devolved upon Yourself. The Glorious Course whereof I resolve to trace from this very moment; that I may the better publish the Illustrious Transactions thereof in five other Languages, which during my Travels I have acquired. In which also I intent to publish this present History, the French being already perfected and fit for the Press: His great Soul expecting proportionable Honours to its Dignity; and his vast Mind requiring number less Elegies, which may remain as so many living Monuments, not to be defaced by Time's Violence nor Envy. But I press this Subject too home to Your Highness, since You bear so great a share therein, and myself dare attribute so little of it to my own incapacity, of compassing so great an undertaking.  
Wherefore, I shall only hereby endeavour to attract others, and to show them the Borders and Coast of that vast Sea into which they ought to launch: so that like to a Forelorn Hope, I shall only first mount the Breach, and by divers Languages animate all the Trumpets of Fame, to Celebrate the Glory of his late Highness, in those parts of the World, where I have conversed for the space of sixteen or eighteen years past. Hoping for the future to write the Heroic Actions of this Nation in unexpugnable Characters, to leave unto Posterity (as an eye witness) the Rehearsal of those Victories which Heaven shall bestow on England, under Your Glorious Government; that so I may the better satisfy my Zeal and Fidelity to Your Highness, and approve myself to be  
Your Highness' most Humble, most Obedient, most Faithful Servant, and Loyal Subject. S. Carrington.   

The Preface.  
Courteous Reader,  
THat which I do here intend to present you with all, is, the Life and Death of Oliver Cromwell, late Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England; that Grand Personage, whose Conduct and Fortune all the world doth admire; and who in the space of ten years' time, did accomplish the work of a whole Age: nay more, he perfected the work of future Ages; having settled England on such good Foundations, that if she continues to build thereon, she may expect to produce second Edwards, and second Henry's.  
This Illustrious Personages life is presented unto you in three several Scenes; First, you will find him Dormant, like unto David midst his Flocks, until the Troubles of his Country awake him. And that the Almighty was pleased to call upon him to appease them, as well as to en crease his glory, you may reflect upon the course and progress of his valour; by which being elevated almost to the sublimest pitch of his Grandeur, he was left to act more absolutely according to his own prudence, and was enforced to lay hands on the Reins of the most confused State that ever was.  
Where you will find his late Highness demeaning himself like unto a well resolved skilful Pilot in a Vessel tossed and tumbled by a tempest, bestirring himself amidst the contrariest of Winds, and wisely and dexterously avoiding those Rocks, Shelves, and Quicksands, which threatened England with a second Shipwreck. This his sage conduct being the more to be admired, in that as than he had but a limited Power, although the whole was due to his dexterity and prudence; yet each one thought they had as great a share as himself in the Sovereign Power, which as they supposed they had acquired by the Pen or the Sword; either in the Army or in the Parliament: so that all this great Politician could as then do, was to reconcile those several Opinions then in agitation, and to suffer himself to be swayed by the current of those winds and streams which he was neither willing nor well able to withstand at that time.  
Now as there is nothing more dangerous in States then great and sudden changes, so nothing more difficult to be managed; and this being the Masterpiece which a Politician hath to act, this ensuing History will discover unto us the chief and several Motions, Turnings, Windings, and Settling of the same.  
His late Highness like unto an expert Physician, was first put to read the Temperment of England, her former way and manner of actings, before the Current of her Humours, and the Symptoms of all the Evils and Malignities which threatened her. He likewise reflected on the Body Politic, which he found as well as the Humane had its Replenishments, and Evacuations, and Crisis; and then observed that as well in the one as the other, those sudedn changes which happen are either Destructive or Salutary. He observed that these Bodies nourished Choler as well as other Humours; and thence deemed War to be the best Rhubarb to purge them, lest otherwise they might evacuate of themselves. Moreover, he observed these Humours were subject to grow sharp and to rebel, and that they oftentimes caused such violent and hot fits, as that without the assistance of an expert and accomplished Physician, death was like to ensue; or which is worst, most violent languishing and intolerable diseases. So that the thing which is most to be admired at in the conduct of this grand Politician, is, that he could govern a People, and procure a perfect Union and Tranquillity amidst three Nations, whose minds were agitated by several Opinions, and whereby they are continually stirred against each other; no motion transporting men more impetuously towards civil Dissensions, than those which arise from the several Professions in Religion. For besides the chief Religions professed in these three Nations, viz. that of Geneva, the Protestant, the Episcopal, and some Roman Catholics, there are sprung up throughout all England, an infinite number of other Sectaries, which like unto so many Hidra's, did seem to issue forth from each others neck; and whereby the minds of men were so discomposed and hurried away into such violent Enthusiasms, as they stood in need of a good Guide to conduct and refrain them from a total precipitation. And as it would be a difficult task to give you the several Denominations, Derivations, and Offsprings of all these several Schismatics, I shall therefore pass them by as being numberless.  
Wherefore, if we acknowledge as it is most assuredly true, that Religion is the chief principal part which doth most of all contribute to the well ordering, quiet, and peaceable settling and Governing of a People; we may easily judge that his late Highness the Lord Protector stood in need of more than ordinary Sagacity, Prudence, and Conduct, to procure that Tranquillity, Plenty, and Splendour to England, wherein he left it; and the which without example, is hardly to be found in all the other parts of Europe.  
But to come nearer home, to my own enterprise, the Life of an Historian is the Life of History; and his truth the most proper Preface to it. Thus much I can safely write for myself, that I have entertained no design beyond Truth; as I have not made this History subservient either to Flattery or Interest: I question not but the prejudice of some may go about to detect, but I am so confident of my own integrity, as to believe, no person can form a truer Relation of the late disturbed Affairs of these Nations. I acknowledge where Originals have failed me, and must do others, I have conformed to Copies, but of so near extraction, as that they are but once removed from their Fountain.  
I being so truly acquainted, my knowledge so strongly established to trace this History, as to discern how to write; so also for the credit of my laborious Industry, I can affirm, That my Information was not without near approaches, as I continually conversed with the most principal Instruments in these admirable Transactions, persons Unbiased, that had certain and full Intelligence of the highest emergences, whether Foreign or Domestic. If I have been but as judicious and clear-sighted to perceive and write, as I have been honestly unconcerned to transmit this History to posterity, I shall not need to fear but stand secure against the most malicious, or otherwise impertinent Imputations. Having thus discharged my Conscience in these my honest endeavours, I have no more to write, but to bid thee read, and then censure Impartially.  
Farewell. Thine, S. C.  
The Postscript.  
REader,  
Be pleased to take notice that this History is Translating into five other Languages; it is in French ready for the Press: the other Translations for other parts of the World being in such forwardness, as that they will be speedily extant.   

An Advertisement.  
Courteous Reader,  
BE pleased to take notice, that in the Page 195. seven lines before that never till now published, an Incomparable Poem of the English Virgil of our times, Mr. Edmund Waller, on General Mountague's wonderful Victory at Sea over the Spaniards, at Sancta Cruze, that in the Printing this escaped, for shaming read sublime: for other lesser Mistakes, the expedition of the Press may obtain thy excuse.   

THE HISTORY Of his Highness OLIVER, The late Lord-Protector, From his Cradle to his Tomb.  
The Introduction.  
IF those Writers who pen the Histories of great Men, had the same advantage as Painters have, who oblige those whom they are to Portrait, to seat themselves in such a posture, as they may best consider and judge of them, who do choose their Lights, and thereby discover most apparently the most delicate and neatest feature of the Faces, which they are to represent; I might hope to give unto the public and to Posterity a perfect Resemblance of his late Highness the Lord Protector of England, although I should meet with a great deal of difficulty in the well applying of the Colours, and to make choice of such exquisire Ones to trace the Footsteps of so glorious a Life. True it is, that the Soul is not visible, as men's Bodies are; for as it hath its Origine from Heaven, we must of necessity ascend up thither, and enter into the Counsels of the Almighty, to observe those Lights and Inspirations which he gives unto those persons whom his Divine Providence doth make choice of to command here on Earth, and those designs which he doth frame in these great Souls, for the increase of his Glory, and for our Peace and Tranquillity. So that our Ignorance doth oblige us herein to immitare the modesty and good behaviour of Painters, who instead of a beautiful nakedness, render it to our view wrapped up in fine Linen, and not discovering unto us the Brain, whence the several motions of the Body do proceed, they only set before our eyes a dumb Image without Motion, and some few Physionomical Marks, which do help us to guests who the party is they intent to represent unto us.  
My intent is, to give you a rough Draught of this most excellent Personage, whose Actions are so glorious and surpassingly winning in themselves, as that we shall only need to enter upon a Relation of them, and so insensibly complete a Natural Panegyric, much like unto those exquisite Beauties, the advantages whereof we so much the more lessen, and detract from, by how much the more we go about to embellish them with Ornaments and Clothing; so that the Resplendency of my Subject itself will spare me the labour of making a long Introduction, and the vastness of its Renown saves me the care I ought to have taken in duly preparing the Readers Mind to conceive worthily of this my HERO, and to have begot in them a Love and Esteem of his Person.  
His late Highness was born in the Town of Huntingdon, the chief of the Shire, which beareth the same Name, of a Noble Parentage, being descended from the Ancient and Illustrious Family of the Williams', of the County of Glamorgan, which Name in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth, was changed into that of Cromwell, as will appear by the ensuing History. 
His Highness' Birth and Parentage.  His Parents left him not much Wealth, but caused him to be educated in the University of Cambridge; where, as it is reported, a public Representation being to be performed, he that was to represent the King's part, falling sick, this our Cromwell was said to have taken the Part upon Himself, and so well employed the little time he had to get it by Heart, 
Lingua the Combat of the Senses.  as it seemed, that it was Infused into him, and whereby he represented a King with so much Grace and Majesty, as if that Estate had been natural unto him: And truly thus much may be averred, that his Soul comprehended all those Seeds and Foundations of such Virtues, as do usually render a Person capable to govern others.  

His excellent qualifications.  Having finished his course of Study at the University, when he had perfectly acquired unto himself the Latin Tongue (which Language, as all men know, he made use of to treat with Strangers) his Parents designed him to the Study of the Civil Law, which is the Foundation of the Politics: It being very requisite that he who was Ordained to give Law to three Kingdoms, and to the whole Sea besides, should have a smack of the Law, and chiefly of those which were the most Essential and Universal, for he dived not over deep into this Study, but rather chose to run a Course in all the rest of the Sciences, and chiefly in the Mathematics, wherein he excelled, as likewise he may be justly said to have yielded to no Gentleman whatsoever in the knowledge of the rest of the Arts and Sciences. But to keep more close to our History.  
His Fortune and Rise did commence by those very means which by degrees elevated him to the Supreme pitch of Grandeur; The conjuncture of Affairs brought him on the Stage, his Valour raised him up, and the Politic part taking the upper hand as belonging to Her by Birthright, Crowned him with all those Blisses which both the former and latter could justly discern.  
Wherefore the Disorders of England and Scotland being not possible to be appeased without the intervening of a Parliament, there was one summoned in the year 1641. in which the late Protector assisted in the quality of a Burgess, for the Town of Cambridge, one of the most famous Universities of England, who could not fail in making so good a Choice, and so worthy of such Eminent persons as themselves, versed in all Sciences and Profound Knowledge. Things growing past an amicable reconciliation between the King and the Parliament, after several and infinite Treaties and Proposals; the last Reason both of the one and the other terminated in the loud Volleys of Canons, each Party took the Field, 
The first Engagement.  and those Parliament Men who were minded to engage in the War, did with a general consent and approbation obtain leave to suspend their Employment in the House whereunto they were called, To maintain the Liberties of Parliament with the points of their Swords; His late Highness was none of the last that proffered his Service to the Parliament, and the better to witness his Passion and Zeal to the Cause, he raised a Troop of Horse at his own costs and Charges. The esteem he had in the House, and the value which the County of Essex put upon his Person, obliged the Parliament to grant him a Commission to levy as many men as he could, that so he might make up a complete Regiment: And as he was Burgess of the Town of Cambridge, so his first care was to settle that place for the Parliament, although he met with great Obstacles therein, and the Reason likewise was very harsh; it being the Month of January, the very heart of the Winter: Now you are to note, that the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were the first of all the Towns in England which declared themselves for the King, and the last which acknowledged the new established Authority; by reason they were filled with persons designed to possess those Church Goods which were in the King's Donation, besides which the Parliament detesting their Commissions, was resolved to reduce and reform them.  

The Treasure of the University sailed on.  His late Highness having notice that all the Colleges were making a Stock and Assembly of all their Plate, and of what ready moneys they had, to send it unto the King, all which amounted unto a very considerabe Sum, went suddenly to Cambridge, and seized all that Treasure just as it was ready to be sent away unto Oxford: And as he was upon this Expedition, he signallized himself far more by another Action; Sir Thomas Comes who was newly made Sheriff of Hertford Shire, had received Orders from the King, to publish a Proclamation, by which the County of Kent, and all its Adherents were proclaimed Traitors. His late Highness. surprised him in the very Action on a Market-day, in the Town of St. Albon, and having seized the said Knight, he sent him up to the Parliament.  
And not long afterwards he very opportunely assembled all the Forces of the County of Cambridge, & exhorted the Neighbouring Counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex, to send him their Aids to oppose the Lord Capell, who was to have been seconded by Prince Rupert, and should have seized Cambridge, and thereby have impeded the association of the united Counties about London, which were the only Bulwark and Defence of that great City, wherein the Sinews of War did consist, and by whose resolutions and proceedings the rest of the Kingdom was then governed; His Highness' diligence and vigilancy at that time, broke the Neck of that Design, and forced the Lord Capell, and Prince Rupert to direct their Thoughts another way. In the beginning of the Month of March, next ensuing, his late Highness having completed a Regiment of Horse to the full number of a thousand Men, marched with great diligence into the County of Suffolk, on the advice which he had received of a great Confederacy which was there hatching between the Nobility of the King's Party who were assembled in a considerable Town, called Lowerstost; whom he so unsuspectedly surprised, as that he became Master of the place without the firing of one Gun; He took Prisoners Sir Thomas Barker, Sir John Pettas his Brother, Mr. Knevet, Catlines Hammond, Cory Turrill, Preston, and above twenty other Persons of Note. He likewise there took several parcels of Arms and Ammunition, and other Warlike Equipages, sufficient to have armed a considerable Party, and had not his Highness made use of his accustomed Prudence, and his usual Activity in this Conjuncture, he had met with a great deal of difficulty on this account, and the whole County had run a danger to have been lost: several persons of Quality, and divers Noble men hourly flocking to that Randezvous; This Service was most seasonably rendered to the Parliament, and the King's Party both in Suffolk and Norfolk, were thereby totally disheartened and di●…ncouraged.  
The Spring being advanced, and the Season permitting the framing of greater Designs, and taking of longer Marches, his Highness having well settled the Peace and Tranquillity of the associated Counties; which (as we have said) served as a Bulwark to the Parliament, his Mind and his Valour requiring a space of Ground as vast as its Activity, he raised a Body of an Army and that a very considerable one, being composed of such zealous persons as had already been charmed with his Conduct, and being attracted by his Reputation, did voluntarily come in unto him to serve with, and under him in the Cause of Religion; He thus Marched into Lincolnshire, with a Resolution to assist those Forces which lay about Newark, one of the strongest places which held out as then for the King, into which the greatest part of the Gentry of Lincolnshire had retired themselves, and where there was a good Garrison commanded by Officers, who had served their Apprenticeships in the Military Art beyond the Seas; so that they fetched in vast Contributions out of the Neighbouring Counties, and made Inroads to the very Gates of Lincoln: And his Highness being now at the Head of a Regiment of Horse, in his passage through Huntingtonshire, was willing to deliver his Native Country from those Disorders which two contrary Parties do usually cause and commit being in one Shire, he therefore disarmed all those who were not affectioned to the Parliament, by which means he so enlarged and augmented his Troops that he had gotten two thousand Men together; and before he came near Newark, he received another re enforcement of Horse, which was sent him by Captain Hotham, as also some other Troops which were sent him from Lincoln: insomuch that he thus framed a sufficient considerable Body of an Army for that time: 
A remarkable expedition.  He no sooner was come nigh to Newark, but that he signallized himself by an Action which was the more glorious, by how much the less it was expected nor foreseen; Captain Wray having so inconsiderately placed himself with his Lincoln Horse too nigh Newark, was in the Night set upon by the Garrison, which made a great Sally, and surrounded and took all his Men; the Alarm coming hot to his late Highness Quarters, he forthwith repaired to the place where the Fight was, it being then about ten of the Clock in the Night, relieved the said Captain Wray, and took three whole Companies of the Enemy, killed the rest on the place, and made good his Retreat by Favour of the dark Night.  
After which, having blocked up the place, he received those Sallies which were made by the Besieged, with so much Courage and Vigilancy, as that he always came off with advantage, sometimes forcing the Enemies into their very Works, and sometimes cutting them in pieces, insomuch that he never returned unto the Camp but he was laden either with Prisoners, Spoils or Colours, and that he might neglect no occasion for to give a testimony of his Prudence and Activity, he also scouted abroad into the Country with his Horse, and near unto Grantham he defeated a strong Party which came forth of Newark, with a handful of Men, only since which, the World did take notice that there was somewhat more than ordinary in the person of his late Highness: And not long after he also defeated part of the Lord of Newcastles Army, which came to relieve Newark, setting upon them in their Quarters betwixt Grantham and Newark, where he took one hundred Horses, forty Prisoners, and killed several on the place. And should I particularlize all his late Highness' memorable Actions, during these English Civil Wars, I must of necessity compile a whole Volume thereof, since nothing worth the taking notice of ever happened in which he was not a Sharer, and wherein he was not always one of the foremost: wherefore I shall only insist upon two chief Actions which were of so great Importance, that the decision of the whole War depended thereon, and wherein the Valour of his late Highness may justly claim the greatest, if not the sole share. Two of the Parliaments Armies, the one commanded by the Lord Fairfax, and the other by the Lord Manchester, being united to the Scotch Army their Confederates, Commanded by the Earl of Livin, had jointly besieged the City of York, the Metropolis of that County, and whereof the Earl of Newcastle was Governor for the King, who over and above his Garrison which was very strong, had also a brave and gallant Army, Prince Rupert was sent by the King to raise that Siege, with such considerable Forces, as being joined to those of the Earl of Newcastle, did well nigh equalise the Parliaments in number. The three Parliament Generals did immediately raise the Siege to encounter Prince Rupert, and the Earl of Newcastle, drew forth also his Forces out of the Town, and both Armies being drawn up in Battell-Array upon Marston Moor, 
The Battle of Marston Moor.  they both fought with a great deal of Fury, Animosity, and hopes of Victory, which at first seemed to incline to the King's Part, the right Wing of the Parliaments Forces Commanded by the Lord Fairfax, having the disadvantage of the Ground, was overwhelmed by the left Wing of the King's Party, who routed and defeated it: But his late Highness (who as then was styled but a Colonel) whose after Appellations I shall observe by degrees, which Fortune advanced him to) who commanded the left Wing, and had not the least advantage of the Ground, did so violently set upon the right Wing of the King's Party, as that he broke in pieces Prince rupert's best Regiments, and forced them not only to give way, but to turn their Backs, and suffering only some part of his Men to pursue the Enemy, he with the rest made half a turn about and charged the Enemies main Battle in the Rear so vigorously, as that putting Life again into the Lord Fairfax's Soldiers, he constrained them to face about, and thereby so well restored the Success of the Battle, as that he obtained and Entire and complete Victory. Two Generals of the Enemies, and some of the best mounted of their Officers only making their escapes by their Horses good heels; and this Battle was accounted the greatest that ever was fought during these last Wars.  

His Highness admirable management of the Bartell at Nazeby.  The same thing likewise happened in the famous Battle of Naseby, near unto Northampton; when as his late Highness arriving in the Camp but on the Evening before the Fight, gave such encouragement and joy to the whole Army, by reason of his so sudden and unexpected Arrival from so great a distance of place, as that it presaged an undoubted Victory. The left Wing of the Parliaments Army was quite over borne; General Ireton his late Highness Son-in-Law, and who afterward governed Ireland in the Quality of Lord Deputy, with as much Prudence and Conduct as he showed Valour and Deserts to merit so considerable an Employment, being the second Person of the Commonwealth, was carried off from the Field by two Wounds he received, and was taken Prisoner, but was relieved again, and Prince Rupert pursued his Victory with as much vigour and hopes to gain the Battle, as if the day had been his own: But his late Highness on his side defeating that Wing which was oposite to him, charged them with such force and Courage, as that he made the Victory dubious, and so it continued for a good while, neither inclining to the one side, not the other, till at last the King's Horse falling a running, left their Foot to shift for themselves, which were all cut in pieces and taken Prisoners, all the Canon & Baggage was likewise taken, of a considerable value; there was also found a Cabinet of the Kings with his Papers of great Importance: The royal Standard, and one hundred Colours beside were brought off, and his late Highness having pursed the King's Horse as long as he listed, at length returned to the Camp with a great number of Prisoners. Should I go about to number up the several places of consequence which this Conqueror hath taken, either by force or by Capitulations, I should fill up a whole Volume with the Names of Towns and Fortresses alone, besides intending hereby only to give you a Perspective of his glorious Life: I will only instance in those worthy Actions of his, whereby the Fortunes of the Wars did decide the possession of three Kingdoms.  

The Victory of Preston in Lancashire.  Nor may we omit to reckon amongst the rest of his Heroic Achievements, the Victory which he obtained by Preston in Lancashire, over Duke Hamilton, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale, whose united Forces amounted unto 25000, his late Highness' having not above 10000 at most, notwithstanding which inequality of Forces he gave them Battle, and entirely routed that puissant Army, killing 3000 Scotch upon the place, and taking 9000 Prisoners, chase the remaining Forces to Warrington about 20 Miles from the place where the Battle was fought, and taking Duke Hamilton Prisoner, at a place called Vttoxeter, whither he was retired with 3000 Horse, as also Sir Marmaduke Langdale, the one by my Lord Grey, and Colonel White, and the other by Captain Widmonpoole, so that but few Scotch returned to their own Country, to carry back the News of so prodigious a Defeat.  
NO sooner were the Civil Wars of England terminated by the discomsiture of all the King's Armies, the taking of his own Person, and by his death, but the Parliament by a solemn Vote and Ordinance, changed the monarchial Government into a Commonwealth. 
The monarchial Government changed into a Common Wealth.  The Kingdom of Ireland was the first that witnessed a discontent of this Change, and all the several Parties there uniting themselves on the News of this Change, they owned the late King's Son, and joined all their Forces against the Interest of the Commonwealth, and on a sudden became so powerful and formidable, as that the chief Places in those Parts submitted to their obedience, Dublin only, and London Derry excepted, the first whereof was immediately besieged by an Army of 22000 Men, Commanded by the Marquis of Ormond, and the other by a considerable Party, the Natives of the Country. The Royalists were as yet in possession of the Isles of Jersey and Man, which places although they were adjacent unto England, yet they only stood them in stead for a retreat to some Ships, which rob up and down the Seas in those Parts: Nor were the Irish Businesses there arrived at the height of perfection, whereas they began to decline: 
Forces sent into Ireland.  for 3000 Horse and Foot which the Parliament sent into Ireland, as the forerunner only of a more considerable Body being safely landed at Dublin, joined themselves unto the Garrison, and unto the rest of the Forces which could be got together in a Body, which in all amounted not unto above 9000 Men, and who jointly made so general and vigorous a Sally upon the Marquis of Ormond (which Sally was so well ordered by the Prudence of Colonel Michael Jones, and so well encouraged and led on by his Prudence and Valour together) as that they forced the Marquis to quit the Siege, and so well prosecuted the point of their Victory, as that they cut all the said Marquises Troops in pieces, who with much ado saved himself; there were slain in the Combat and pursuit about 2000 Men, as many were taken Prisoners, and all the Ammunition of War, with the Baggage and Ordnance were likewise left behind as a Prey to the Besieged. 
General Cromwell goes for Ireland, and arrives there in August, 1649.   
And the better to advance this general Defeat, and to cause these puissant Confederates the sooner to run into their Ruin, who a little before promised themselves no less than the Conquest of the three Kingdoms; Oliver Cromwell being by the Commonwealth nominated Governor of Ireland, took footing at Dublin with an Army furnished with all Necessaries requisite toward the Crowning of an Undertaking, which already had so happy and successful a beginning.  
But General Cromwell having in vain sought for the Enemies, who by these addition all Forces were forced to take Sanctuary in the best places and Fortresses of the Country, at length besieged Drogedah, 
Drogedah in Ireland besieged.  one of the best and considerablest places in all Ireland, defended by so strong a Garrison as it might well have framed a little Army, and was commanded by such Officers as had been signallized beyond the Seas, whose numbers were so exceeding great, as that several of them bare Arms only as private Soldiers. There was no time spent in the framing of a Siege, or in the opening of Approaches, but each one minded the beating of the Iron whilst it was hot, and concluded that the Confederates ought not to be suffered to rally themselves, nor to unite in a Body again, wherefore a slight Breach being made, the Orders were given out for a general Assault, but the Walls were lined with so many and so good Men chiefly in those places where the Assault was to be given, as that the solidest and gravest Officers of the Army did represent unto his Excellency the General, that there was no appearance at all to carry the place by force, but that it would be better to tire and weary out the besieged by the length of a siege, during which the breach might be made the larger. But General Cromwell, whose prudence (as we have already observed) seconded his valour, did briskly answer them that he would go and open the breach for them, and placing himself at the head of his Troops, caused the assault to be given, rendering this example of wisdom to all great Personages, that in Actions of important consequence neither Age, nor great Commands, or high Preferments, aught to hinder a General to be the first man to go on upon an assault, since it must render them the most considerable, and raise them up to the highest pitch of honour and esteem.  
Finally, after a sharp and bloody contest hand to hand, most obstinately maintained on all sides, the English forced their entrance, and the General went into the place pell mell with his Soldiers, at which time the ardour and heat of the victory did appear to correspond with his prudence, for though his generosity did oblige him to give quarter to those who had so well defended themselves, notwithstanding, deeming it fitting to make that place an example of terror unto the rest of the Towns which were garrisoned, and which might cost him too dear should they stand out as sturdily and obstinately as these did, he caused all those to be put to the sword who were found to be in Arms, & thus he sacrificed 3000 Irish unto the Ghosts of 10000 English whom they had massacred some years before. The taking of this place was followed by the surrender of several others, fear causing the weakest to yield, but those which were able to defend themselves were sold at dear rates. Trin, Dundalke, Nury, Wexford, R●ne, Bandonbridge and Kingsale were subdued, this last being a very considerable passage, so likewise were several other places taken by the respective Commanders of the Commonwealth, at the self same time in the other parts of Ireland, and several parties of the Enemy's field-Forces were likewise defeated by Sir Charles Coot, Colonel Venables and Jones, and the Lord Broghill, each of them signalizing themselves according to their accustomed valours, and the Lord Broghill having since made it appear in the managing of States affairs that he is as great a Politician as a Soldier. One would have imagined that the impetrous course of these victories should absolutely have quelled and abated the courage of the Irish, or that force and might would soon have reduced them to terms of reason, but they held out for a long time together in unaccessable places, in Woods and Bogges, over which none but the Natives both Horse and Men can pass without perishing, which doth manifest unto us, that the Conquest of that Island is not so easy at present, as it was formerly when Henry the second of England reduced it in one Winter, which, as certain Writers say, is almost incredible. That so populous a Nation, so hardy, so well disciplined, so active and dexterous, should not so much as lift up a hand to defend themselves: But as the same writer saith, it is apparent that they were not accustomed to our manner or ways of warring, nor to defend themselves against such kind of weapons as were then used; however, if the Conquest was easy, the preservation was not found to be so, and cost far dearer. True it is, that this last Conquest of that Nation was not so suddenly archieved, but those means which have been used to assure and preserve it, will give occasion unto our nephews,— that this present age hath much profited by the faults and omissions of our Ancestors. Moreover, that fire which the Civil Wars had kindled: in the Britannic Islands, was so violent, as that all the Sea which separates the Old World from the New, was not capable to hinder the Communication thereof even to their Colonies in America, for Virginia and the Carybde Islands refused to acknowledge the power of the Commonwealth, all those who inclined thereunto were either banished or executed, and despoiled of their goods, and however those Colonies could not subsist but by the Commerce of England, and that this Revolt did bring along with it their ruin, yet their obstinacy was such, as that they would neither yield to their own Interest nor Reason. Till at length the Commonwealth sent a Fleet thither, under the Command of Sir George Askue, who delivered them out of their miseries, by ranging them under the obedience of the Parliament. Meanwhile the Royalists Forces were very considerable at Sea, for Prince Rupert had a Fleet of nine great Ships which served to shelter several other small ones, whereby the trade of England was much impeded and incommodated, which obliged the Parliament to put forth a most puissant Naval Army to Sea, fitted with good Mariners, and all kind of necessary warlike Ammunitions. The sole brute of this Fleet made all the Enemy's Ships to run into their several skulking holes like unto so many Coneys, and Prince Rupert being not strong enough to encounter them, was forced to retire into Kingsale Haven in Ireland, where he was immediately blocked up by the Parliaments Fleet, whilst General Cromwell besieged both the Port and Town by land, and Prince Rupert being forced to make a virtue of necessity, resolved to bear the brunt of all the English Fleet, and so saved himself, leaving behind him three Ships, which by that occasion were taken, and finally after several turnings and turmoilings, be cast anchor at Lisbon, where he was protected by the King of Portugal, which caused the rupture betwixt this Commonwealth and that Crown, and all those mischiefs which ensued, as we hereafter shall rehearse.  
Meanwhile the Royalists in Scotland seeing the Parliament was busied in Ireland, thought to lay hold on a fit opportunity to play their game, and to that purpose the Earl of Montrosse having landed in the North of Scotland, with some Forces he had raised in Holland and other parts, assembled the old Soldiers who had formerly served under him, and armed them with such Arms as he had brought from Holland, but before he could make a considerable body, he was defeated by the Presbyter Forces, taken, and hanged on a very high Gibbet, which is the last mark of infamy in that Country.  
Within a while after, there was a Treaty commenced at Breda, between the Scots and their King, to install and re-establish him in that Kingdom, and in the others, according as Fortune should answer their designs and expectations; and to this end, they deputed Ambassadors into Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and into Turkey, and finally throughout all Europe, to demand relief, aid and assistance: But all their Embassies procured neither men nor money, only their Ambassadors were laden with Compliments and good wishes in return, each others particular affairs not permitting them to do more.  
All which gave unto the Commonwealth of England, not any great fears, but great jealousies, wherefore the better to be informed of the passages abroad, and the better to fortify themselves by foreign Leagues and Alliances, M. Dorislaus a person full of knowledge and conduct, was sent in the quality of an Agent towards the States of the United Provinces, the chief drift of this Negotiation being to criment a good and firm understanding between the two Commonwealths: But scarce was he arrived at the Hague, when five or six disguised persons entered forcibly into his Chamber and massacred him. And whilst it seemed all things were a profound Calm in England, or that at least the course of the Enemy's designs both at home and abroad, being sufficiently known to the State, on a sudden there sprang up the most formidable faction that ever was hatched since these last Wars: A certain number of persons who called themselves Levellers, whose pretences were to render all men's goods and possessions alike, and truly this was a very plausible design, and might doubtless have met with as many Abetters as there are men in the world, who have no other possessions or Revenues, but their good wills to obtain them.  
The chief of these Levellers was one John Lilborn, a man of a dating and attempting spirit, who could not remain quiet, but was altogether invincible, not to be moved by threats nor gained by the favour or presents of fortune, which were beneath the extent of his ambition, and a considerable part of the Army siding with their Leader, they augmented in numbers as fast as the shortness of the time would permit, the confluence of such men as flattered themselves with such fond hopes, and who promised themselves a revenge, and and establishment by a second Revolution and change. But before all those who intended to have sided with them could come up to them and unite in one body, they were vigorously set upon by the Lord Fairfax, at that time the Commonwealth's General, who defeated them at a place called Burford in the County of Oxford, where their Leader and the best part of his Soldiers were taken, some of which were put to death for example sake, and some others were banished, but the greatest part were pardoned, and admitted into favour again.  
As for their Leader John Lilborne being brought up to London, he appeared before the chief Officers and Judges of London and Westminster, the Lord Maior, Sheriffs, and divers others, where he was not only accused of divers Martial Crimes, but also Politic ones, as having been the Author of several scandalous and defamatory. Libels against the State, which tended to render the Government odious, and to beget a Mutiny in the people; however, he so dexterously shifted himself of all these accusations, as that the Judges declared him Not guilty. Much about that very time Mr. Anthony Ascham a most judicious and accomplished Gentleman, was Deputed, and sent over in the quality of an Agent to the King of Spain, and arrived at the Port of Sancta Maria, on the 5. of June, 1650. where being advertised but his person was in danger, he was constrained to cause himself to be guarded to Madrid, where the next day after his arrival, as he was at Dinner, six men knocked at his Chamber door, which was immediately opened unto them, and he rising from the Table to receive them, the first of the said parties stabbed him in the head with a Dagger, so that he fell down dead to the ground, and his Interpreter Signior Riba being not able to make his escape soon enough, was likewise stabbed in the belly; which being thus done, the Murderers would have saved themselves in the Venetian Ambassadors house, who refused them protection, whence they retired themselves into a Church, which in Spain is a Sanctuary which the Justice ought not to violate, whence however the King of Spain had them taken, and put into prison, one only excepted, who made an escape. Hence there arose a great contest betwixt the King and the Clergy, who complained that their privileges had been infringed, and demanded that the Prisoners might be returned unto them: and on the other side, the Parliament of England pressed hard to have justice done on them, and though message upon message, instance upon instance were used therein, yet they took no effect. And lest it may seem that all these foreign Negotiations which we have here inserted, may be beyond my subject, however if they be considered as so many obstacles which Fortune opposed unto the virtue and greatness of his late Highness, you will find that the recital of them will not be altogether useless, the rather since I have related them as succinctly as possibly: Besides, we may also look upon them as so many seeds sown, to beget those wars which thereon ensued, and which were by the late Protector, rather by most glorious Treaties whereunto he was sought, or by most signal Victories which were obtained, and brought to a happy period, by which the blood of these two Agents, so cruelly murdered, were retaliated with use. But to go on to our History, the Treaty of Breda being absolutely concluded, and notwithstanding the great Antipathy and animosity between the Royalists and the Presbyterians, all their jealousies and grudges were seemingly reconcised, so that the Scotch wanted nothing to complete their design, but to enjoy their King's preserce, who immediately coming to the Hague, went thence for Schevelinge, and embarked himself for Scotland notwithstanding the dangers and perils of the Sea, which were very great, and the English Ships which had waylaid him to surprise him. As soon as he was landed in Scotland, the first thing they propounded unto their King was to take the solemn Oath, called the Covenant, that burning Torch which the Mother of Paris did see in her frenzies, that fatal fire which the Scotch believe descended from Heaven, and by which they at their pleasures kindle those wars wherewith they infest England, which Covenant as we know was only a superstitious and warlike Prorestation made in the presence of God and Men: To maintain the purity of the Religion, to preserve the privileges of Parliament, and the people, and to re-establish the King in his Ancestors Throne.  
But that which seemed somewhat harsh and rude to this Prince, was the terms wherein they caused him to take this Oath, quite contrary to Physicians, who dip their Pills in Syrups or Sugar, to make them down the glibber, yet these Politicians when the whole lay at the stake, it seems, troubled themselves not much with the wording of the thing; for amongst real friends indeed, there needs not many compliments nor much complacence to be used. Therefore the Churches of Scotland made their King swallow this restorative in the following Beverage, constraining him to protest, That he renounced the sins of his Fathers and his own house, the Idolatry of his Mothers, and that he would adhere unto God's cause in conformity to the Covenant, in the firm establishment of the Church Government, as it was expressed in the Directory, for that public worship which is to be rendered to God, contained in the Belief and Catechism: And this Cup he was forced to drink, that he might obtain his Father's Kingdom, which formalities were more than requisite for to establish that Prince in the opinion of the prevailing party, which was only then in a condition to help him. 
The Commonwealth prepares to war against the Scots.  Howbeit the English knew very well to distinguish between these Artificial fictions, and the truth, for the Parliament of England being duly informed of the Scots, their designs and practices, thought it was high time to think of the best means to oppose them, and after several consultations upon this business, it was resolved that the Lord Fairfax should command the Army in chief, and with all speed march toward the North of England. But he most humbly thanked the Parliament, and like unto a second Cincinatus, retired himself from the Dictatorship to a Countrey-life, excusing himself for not serving them in that Expedition, upon his Indisposition at that time. 
His late Highness made Generalissimo of the Commonwealth's Armies.  The Renown of General Cromwell's feats of Arms, both as Governor and Conqueror of Ireland, admitted of no less Proposals, then to make him Generalissimo of the Commonwealth's Armies, in the Lord Fairfax his stead: So that he came over again into England, whilst his hands were as yet warm, and was sent to give a check unto other Enemies in another Climate, and under another disguise, after he had settled and assured all the Conquests of Ireland, and had left the necessary and requisite Orders, conducing to a solid peace and establishment of those parts, with his son-in-law Henry Ireton, so that he returned thence laden with Palms and Laurels, as Trophies of his worthy Acts in those parts. And scarce was he returned home, but he was enforced to march towards those parts, whither the glory of Conquering a second Kingdom called upon him. Now the Scots, who by no means would make any outward show of the grand designs which they were hatching, at the approach of the English Army on their Frontiers, seemed to be very much astonished, and the whole Country took the Alarm, moreover, the better to colour this their astonishment and seeming surprisal, they deputed a Messenger to Sir Arthur Haslerigge, as then Governor of Newcastle, upon the Borders of England and Scotland, to know the reason of that so sudden March of the English Army towards their Frontiers, whereunto they joined several Manifesto's, setting forth the Contents of the Leagues and ample Treaties of union between the two Nations, and several other particulars, which served only to gain time, and to make the better preparations to receive their Enemies. At the same time of the English Armies advance towards the North, the Parliament set forth a Manifest accompanied by another from the General, and chief Officers of the Army, whereby both the one and the others declared, viz. 
A Manifest concerning the Scotch war.  That the reasons which moved them to this great undertaking, was neither the support which they expected from the Arm of flesh, nor the consideration or vanity of former successes, not the desire they had to compass any of their own designs; But the true assurance they had, that their cause was just before God; reflecting on the foregoing Revolutions, and the success which had followed them, not as the handiwork of Politic men, or of Humane force, but as the most eminent works of Providence, and the power of God, thereby to make his good will appear, and to show his pleasure concerning those things which he had decreed in this world: That they were obliged, not to betray the cause wherein God had so evidently manifested himself, after which there was nothing more dear unto them then the preservation of those who feared the Lord, and who might greatly suffer either by being mistaken, or by not being capable to discern the true tye of a General Calamity, of which their Christian charity they hoped they had given sufficient proofs, at the last time, when they were in Scotland with this very Army, of which God was pleased to make use, for to break in pieces the power of those who oppressed the faithful in those parts. But that the acknowledgements of so signal a favour, did but little appear in the Engagement which they had lately made with their new King, and that they had not proceeded like unto good Christians, in publishing that their Army was but an Army of Sectaries: However, that they doubted not, but that God would give them the grace to forgive them that calumny, and to that effect they beseeched him to be so good unto them, as to separate the Chaff from the good Corn, concluding in like manner as they had begun by a most solemn and terrible Imprecation, beseeching that in testimony of the truth of all these particulars, the great God of Heaven, through his infinite mercy pardoning their failings and weaknesses, would judge betwixt them when they should come to join in battle with their Enemies. This Manifesto was sent from the General's quarters, as then at Barwick, to the Metropolitan of Scotland, by a Trumpet, whose eyes the Scots did blind both going and coming. Meanwhile the Army advanced as far as the Lord Mordingtons' Castle, on the 22 of July, 1650. and refreshed there three days, on the 25. they advanced towards Copperspeth, and the 26. they arrived at Dunban where the Army received those Ammunitions wherewith such Ships were laden, as were come thither on purpose to observe the motions of the Army, by reason that the Peasants had abandoned their dwellings, not leaving so much as any thing which might serve for refreshing. The Army being somewhat refreshed at Dunbar, marched toward Haddington, and the next day understood, that the Enemies were disposed to give them battle on a Heath called Gladsmore, so that the English endeavoured to possess themselves of the place. But the Scots appeared not, whereupon it was resolved, that Major General Lambert, and Colonel whaley persons of an approved valour (and who have since proved themselves as great Politicians as they were great Commanders) should with 1400. Horse advance towards Muscleborough, to endeavour if possible to draw forth the Enemy, and to engage him to fight, whilst the rest of the Army marched up unto them, whereupon there happened some slight skirmishes, but the Scots would not by any means be engaged in a general Combat, so that the English that night encamped hard by Muscleborough, from whence the Scots were but four miles distant, defended by a brest-work which they had drawn from Edinborough to Leith, and which was well nigh flanked all the way by the Canon of the last place, so that they were possessed of a very advantageous Port. The English being approached unto Muscleborough with a resolution to have set upon the Enemy in their works, found that it was a difficult matter to force their Line, and so were constrained to set down their Camp hard by that place all the day, to discover the countenance of the Enemy: But the desire they had to fight was somewhat abated by a great shower of rain, which continued all the day, and which did much incommodate them, by reason they had no shelter at all. On the 30. finding that they were put to it for want of Victuals, and the ground being so throughly soaked by the rain, as that it was far more difficult to attempt the Enemy then before, the English retired to their former quarters; which begat heart in the Scots, who fallyed out of their Lines, and fell so fiercely upon the Rearguard of the English, as that they put them into a kind of disorder, but some Squadrons of Horse fronting in the Rear, and making good the ground, assured the March of the foot, and so vigorously continued their charge, as that they had like to have brought the business to a general Combat; had not the Commander in chief of the Scots Army caused a retreat to be sounded, that so they might bring their men into their Lines again, whither the English pursued them, fight all the way with their cavalry. In this Encounter, Major General Lambert engaged so far, as that he was hurt in the Arm with a Lance, and received another wound in the body, and once he was taken prisoner, but was rescued again by Lieutenant Empson of the General's Regiment, there were but few English killed, but far more of the Scotch, and amongst them some persons of quality, several prisoners of theirs were also taken, as a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major, and some Captains. By which means the English recovered Muscleborough that night without being molested by the Enemy, but they were so disheartened for want of sleep, and so tired by the dirty slabbery ways, as that misdoubting lest the enemy being aware thereof might give them an Alarm, that night they stood upon their guard, and accordingly they failed not betwixt three and four of the clock in the Morning, with fifteen Companies of choice Horse, commanded by Major General Montgomery, and Colonel Straughton, to fall into the English quarters with such a vehemency as that they bore down the Guards, and put a whole Regiment of Horse in disorder, whereby the whole Army taking the Alarm, the English charged them so home as that they put them into a rout, and pursued them within half a League of Edinbourgh, killing them a sufficient number both of Officers and Soldiers, and taking several prisoners: After which, the Scots being disgusted at these their ill successes, retired themselves for a while within their intrenchments, where we shall also leave them to their closer guards. In the meanwhile the Parliament interdicted the Commerce between England and Scotland, and caused their Ships to be adjudged good Prize, which contributed very much to their undoing and ruin: During which they wanted for no Partisanes in England, who laboured to dispose things toward the effecting of their grand design, and amongst their chief Agitators, Colonel Eusebius Andrew's being discovered and convinced, was also condemned and beheaded on Tower-hill.  
The whole Month of August passed almost away without any action in Scotland, towards the latter end whereof, Collington and Readhall were taken by attempt, where the Lord Hamilton and Major Hamilton were taken, with 60. Soldiers, 60. Barrels of Powder, Arms for 60 men, and a considerable quantity of Victuals, and other good Booty, all which happened on the 24 of August.  
After which the whole Body of the English Army quitted the Mountains of Pencland, and encamped about Collington and Readhall, and the parts adjacent within one Mile of the Scotch Army; on the seven and twentieth both Armies marched Flank to Flank, being only separated by a little Quagmire or Marsh-ground, which hindered their Conjunction, however the Canon played upon each other, and on the 28th the English Canon plied the Scots hard, and endamaged them very much, notwithstanding they neither quitted their Ground, nor would they come to a Resolution to join in a closer Fight. And the English having consumed all their Provisions of Victuals, retired unto their former Quarters, first unto Pencland Hills, and afterwards unto Mussleborough whither they had much ado to reach, where being some what refreshed, they drained their Garrisons, assembled also their Forces, and took their March toward Hoddington, at which the Scots coasting their March on their right Wing, did charge them with a Squadron of stout Men, and as they did most briskly set upon the English, so they were in like manner vigorously repulsed by a Regiment of Foot commanded by Colonel Fairfax: On the first day of September both Armies found themselves only separated by the Town and the Scots, being encamped in an advantageous place, on the Westside of the Town the English were engaged to encamp themselves on the East-side of the Town, in an open Field, very fit to give Battle in, without that either Party would give or take advantage of the Ground, where the English having attended the Enemies a sufficient space of time, and perceiving that they would not fight but upon an advantage, they took their March towards Dunbar, whither the Scots followed them immediately, and at a certain passage endeavoured to charge their Rearguard; But the English immediately facing about, the Scots changed their resolution and gained the Hills, where they thought they might with advantage cut off the English their passage to Coperspeth: at which time the English Army was but in a very ill Condition, the Winter which begins betimes in those parts had so nipped them with Colds and great Rains, and the ill Victuals which they had besides, caused a great deal of sickness in the Army, Fluxes, Looseness, and other Diseases, whereby many died, and were rendered uncapable of Service, being sent and carried away to Barwick, and the adjoining parts.  
The Scots who very well knew the sad estate of the English Army, which they had really blocked up at the passage of Copperspeth, which is betwixt Dunbar and Barwick, thereby impeding the English's Communication with that place, and by hindering them from those Conveniencies which they thence received, intending either to overcome them there, or to cause them to perish there for want of Necessaries, so that they promised themselves an unquestionable Victory without much loss on their sides, whereby they presumed to brag that they had gotten the English in the Earl of Essex's Pensold, alluding to that extremity whereunto the Royalists had reduced that Earl in the County of Cornwall. where his Army surrendered at discretion (the Horse only excepted, who made their way through the Enemy in the Nighttime.) Nor were the Scots their hopes ill grounded, considering the ill plight wherein the English Army was at that time, and the inequality of their Forces, the Scots being at the least 20000 Men, and the English not above 12000, divers of which were likewise sick: But the extremity whereunto the English were reduced, made them pitch upon so firm a resolution, either to overcome, or to die in the Battle, as that the Scots were totally routed and defeated, by those very reasons, and that very confidence which had made them as it were sure of the Victory. 
The B●●…te●… of Dunia gainte by the English  Wherefore the General, and the chief Officers of the English Army, deeming that the longer they should delay, to put it to a noble adventure, whereby to get out of this great strait wherein they were, the less they should be able to compass it, resolved either to make their passage through their Enemies by the points of their Swords, or to perish in the undertaking; So that they employed the whole Night in seeking of the Lord, and imploring his Assistance from Heaven, as also in giving out and distributing the Orders requisite for the Fight, and just at break of the day, the Army was ready drawn up into Battel-aray, and to give the onset; the English word was, The Lord of Hosts: and the Scots word was, The Covenant, which did very well represent the state of their Affairs, and the subject of their Quarrel, and in an instant both the English Horse and Foot, with a gallant resolution, fiercely charged the right Wing of the Scots, where the Enemy had placed all their Cavalry, on purpose to hinder the English in their passage that way. The Scots received their Charge with a great deal of constancy and resolution, and it may justly be said, That Alexander did not meet with more resistance, nor glory at the passage of Granicia, than our late Protector met with at this Encounter; especially if so be we consider, how that the said Conqueror of Asia had to do with an effeminate kind of People, bred in a delicious Country, accustomed to their ease and pleasures; but here on the contrary, That the English brought up in a fertile abundant Soil, and under a middle Climate, should come to confront a Warlike Nation in a harsh, barren, and cold Climate. The General's own Regiment of Foot had the Vanguard that day, and performed the parts of men, answering most gloriously to that honour which belonged to them: Their Colonel and General together animating a●d encouraging them by his own example, witnessed by his Actions, that there was not a straw's breadth that day betwixt them and death or the Victory: Major General Whaley charged the Enemies whole Army through and through, with his Regiment; bearing down all those who durst withstand him, and without the loss of many men; having wheeled about again, and cleared all before him, regained his former station himself, having only received a slight Wound in the Arm, and had a Horse killed under him. And not to detain the Reader in any further suspense, all the Regiments of the Army performing their parts, like resolute gallant men, (For should a man go about to praise one Squadron or battalion of them in particular, he must of necessity derogate from the rest) you might have observed as many Soldiers as Officers, & as many Officers as Soldiers, who being all of them animated, or rather inspired by a supernatural instinct of Valour, a man would have thought they had been invulnerable, or shot-free, and that a Hand from on high did defend them from the showers of Lead and Lances, which were ready to overwhelm them, so that the violence and force wherewith they fought, did only permit the Scots to put by their Blows, as also it is worthy to be noted that in all this Fight the English lost but forty men, whereas of the Scots there were four thousand killed upon the place, and that Army which was stronger than the English by two thirds, thinking to have overwhelmed them, did only by closing in upon them, force them to fight with the greater vigour; and you would have imagined, that the little Army of the English consisted only of one Body, which had but one only motion, and charged the Enemy on all sides with so much Impetuosity and Animosity, as that you would have said it had been and insensible Mass, or Lump which only pressed forwards, where the weight of Arms, or the force of Powder did transport it. Finally, after one whole hours dispute, very hot Fight, and violent furious Contests, the Scots gave way, and their Horse being put to flight, endeavoured to save themselves by the goodness of their heels, the English Cavalry pursuing them to Haddington, all the Scotch Foot remained on the place, and that which rendered the slaughter of them the greater was, that the English Soldiers remembered an Action which happened the day before, in which thirty Soldiers of Colonel Pride's Regiment being commanded to possess a House situate betwixt both Camps, and not being seconded, were overpowered by a greater number of the Scots, and so forced to deliver up the place again, notwithstanding which, after they had promised quarter to the English, they killed three of them, and hurt all the rest: There was no English Soldiers but had a Prisoner in this Battle, there being taken ten thousand, most of all which, except the Officers, were suffered to steal away, amidst which there was ten Colonels, twelve Lieutenant Colonels, nine Majors, forty seven Captains, seventy two Lieutenant's, and eighty Ensigns, and amongst the Prisoners of Quality, there was the Lord Libberton, and his Son, the Lord Cranstone, Sir James Lundsdale, Lieutenant General of the Foot, and Sir Pickerten Adjutant General, all their Baggage and Canon was taken, to the number of two and twenty great Guns, and several lesser ones, two hundred Colours, and Arms for 15000 Men; of the English there was but one Officer killed, and Major Rooksby, who afterwards died of his Wounds, as also Captain Sloyd of the Lord Fleetwoods' Regiment, dangerously wounded. His late Highness obtained this memorable Victory on the third day of September, 1650, on which day he also obtained another no less famous than this: And on this very day God crowned his Labours with a peaceful and resolved quiet death, whereby he no less triumphed over the World, and the rage of Hell, than he did in this last Battle we have related, over a most puissant raging Enemy; at which time his Army, as a man may say (brought low by Want, and Sicknesses) was even Bedrid, and at deaths very Door. And as the Parliament of England had caused a day of universal Prayers and Fast to be kept for the good success of their Army in Scotland, so likewise did they order a day of general thanksgiving for this so notable and famous Victory: and the General likewise on his part did not fail with the whole Army, to acknowledge the good handy work of God, who had so visibly gained him and them this Battle: And the better to prosecute the said Victory, and 
Lieth taken.  to reap the fruits thereof, On the seventh day of September, four Regiments of Foot were sent to possess Lieth, a very considerable and advantageous place, where seven and thirty piece of Ordnance were found mounted on Plat-forms, and a considerable quantity both of Ammunitions of War and Provisions of Victuals. And on the same day his late Highness became Master of the City of Edinbrough, the Metropolitan of all Scotland, and caused his whole Army to march into it, without any loss, save the Arm of one Soldier, which was shot off by a Canon-bullet from the Castle. 
Edinbor●ugh taken.  And on the next Lordsday he sent a Trumpeter to the Castle, to give notice to such Ministers as had abandoned their Pulpits, to come and perform their Duties in their said Callings, which they having refused to do, he caused English Ministers to Officiate in their places; in the mean while, all possible diligence was used in the Fortifying of Lieth, it being concluded to be the best and most commodious sheltring-place the English could have in Scotland, for the Winter Season. And after his late Highness had by sound of Trumpet, both at Lieth and Edinbrough, caused the freedom of Traffic, and liberty of Trade to be published and established, a sure way for the public Markets, himself on the fourteenth marched toward Nethrife, six miles from Edinbrough, leaving Major General Overton with his Brigade in Edinborough. On the fifteenth the Army adadvanced toward Linlithgo, but by reason of the ill Wether they could not pass on forward; On the sixteenth, they marched toward Falkirk, and the next day they came up within one mile of Sterling; On the eighteenth, the Council of War being assembled, a Letter was drawn up to be sent thither, by which the tenderness and affection of the English towards the Scotch Nation was represented, alleging that though formerly it had not taken its desired effects; Notwithstanding, seeing that at present the Fortune and Success of Arms had been so contrary to them, they desired them to reflect on those Proposals which had been formerly made unto them, and to surrender that place unto them, for the use of the Commonwealth of England, and a Trumpeter being sent with the aforesaid Letter, who coming up almost to the Walls, met with a Gentleman on foot, with a Pike in his hand, who told him he should not be suffered to come into the place, and that his Letter should in like manner not be received: In the Afternoon that very day, those of the Town sent a Trumpeter to demand the Prisoners, with a proffer to pay their Ransoms; To whom the General made answer, That they were not come into Scotland to trade in Men, nor to enrich themselves, but to do Service to the Commonwealth of England, and to settle and establish those Dominions. On the same day, Orders were issued to draw up the whole Army to the very Walls of the Town, and by setting scaling Ladders to the place, to give a general Assault, but after it was found that there was but a little appearance to effect the same, in regard of the good Condition the Place and Garrison was in, they changed their resolution, and on the nineteenth the Army retired to Linlithgow, which was accounted a very fit place to make a Garrison of, whereby both Sterling and Edinborough might be bridled and kerbed, and the necessary Orders for the fortifying of the place being given, there were five Troops of Horse left in Garrison, and six Companies of Foot, and the Body of the Army returned to Edinborough, where on the twenty third of September, there was a day of Humiliation celebrated and solemnly kept.  
And much about the same time the Churches of Scotland likewise ordered a solemn Festival for the ensuing Reasons; Viz.  

I. To humble themselves before God, and to crave his pardon for having too much relied on the Arm of Flesh.  
II. For the wickedness and profaneness of their Armies.  
III. For the Spoils and other Misdemeanours their Soldiers had committed in England.  
IV. For having not sufficiently purged their Armies; that is to say, For not having put out such persons as were not godly, and of their Belief.  
V. For the indirect and sinister Means which their Commissioners made use of in their Treaty with their King, and the indirect ways by which they had brought him into Scotland.  
VI For their not having sufficiently purged the King's Family.  
VII. For the just Grounds they had to believe that his Majesty's repentance was not real; nor from his heart.   

The besieging of Edinborough Castle.  The rest of the Month was employed in the making of the Siege and Approaches against the Castle of Edinborough, and in applying the Mines to the Walls. And on the thirtieth the English with so much gallantry surprised one of their Bulwarks, as they carried thence three hundred Muskets, one Ensign, and several other Arms, without the loss of one Man. On the first of October, the Besieged began to make their Salleys to hinder the working of the Miners, upon whom they fired incessantly with their great and small Shot, yet however they continued their Sappinges. Upon the second of the said Month, upon notice that several Arms and Ammunitions of War were hidden in the Cathedral Church at Edinborough they were transported thence. Whilst the fortifying of Leith was carried on vigorously, as well as the Mines under the Castle of Edinborough, that no time might be lost; his late Highness whose great Soul could not live without Action, and who was not to be taken up by one or two single Objects, marched off with part of the Army to go and view Glascow, which having done, and finding that he was not in a Condition to assail it at that time, he returned back to Edinborough; but by the way, he razed two strong Holds whither the Moss Troopers were accustomed to retreat and shelter. And as the Scots had a puissent Enemy in the heart of their Country, so had they a far greater in their very Bowels, since it's generally confessed, That the greatest of all Evils which can possibly happen to a State, Is the Divisions which the different professions in Religion, and the other particular Interests do beget: For in the North of Scotland, there was a Party for the King, separated from the Churches, in the West, there was a Party for the Church separated from the King; so likewise there was a third Party more moderate, who held both for King and Church, and all these intestine Divisions were carried on with such a violent animosity, as that they neglected the common good, and were even ready to cut each others throat: The last of these parties was the strongest, being composed of the General States of the Kingdom, as then held at Sterling, who nevertheless stood upon their Guards, as well as the several others did, they being afraid of each other. The Assembly of the Estates used their best endeavours to reconconcile these two parties, and to this purpose treated mainly with the Colonel's Car and Straughan, who seemed to be the chief Heads of the said parties, but they could not prevail with them. His late Highness who was always as politic as vigilant, endeavoured to make good use of their dissensions, and so wrote both unto Car and Straughan, but their particular quarrels hindered them not to join in their general animosities against the English, whom they reputed to be their common Enemy. But the said proffers which were made unto them, having as little wrought upon them as the care of their own preservations, Colonel Whaley was commanded with a good Squadron of the Army, to go and reduce them to their obedience, which he undertook not, however, before he had once more assailed to gain them by fair means, wherefore he sent a Letter unto them both, representing unto them in substance as followeth, viz.  
That all the world knew how many amicable ways and endeavours had been used by the English since their being in Scotland, to hinder the effusion of Christian blood; and although all the said undertake had proved fruitless, yet they still harboured the same thoughts and resolutions, continuing thus, that their arms were always ready and open to receive and embrace them, whensoever it should please God to inspire them to meet them halfway. That their design was not to rule over them, nor to entrench upon their liberties, far less on their Church Government, or to possess their goods and fortunes, their drift being only to advance the Lords work: But if they perished in their blindness, and would continue to harbour frivolous and vain hopes, they must continue to be their enemies to their rests, and declared unto them, that all the miseries which should befall them hereafter, either by the sword or famine, would fall very heavy on their own account.  
Colonel Carr sent an answer to this Letter quite in another strain than it might have been expected from persons who professed to desire nothing so much as an accommodation; and this Answer was returned to Commissary General Whaley, at his being at Carlisle, according to the tenor following, or very nigh the same: That although they were not strong enough to resist the English their unjust Invasion, yet that they had strength enough to undergo it, and that by their actions and sufferings they would submit themselves to the will of God, until the time of their deliverance should come: That in case they should have the happiness to perish in doing of their duties, it would be too much grace that God would do unto them, that they doubted not but when their miseries should be arrived at the full pitch, their Fortune would then change, adding that they thought it very strange, that the English should mention a cessation of Arms at the same time when they laded their Subjects with Irons, when they took their Towns, when they imprisoned their Ministers, and by this means bereft their flocks (now going astray) of the only and best comforts which they had left unto them amidst their greatest miseries: Concluding thus, That if they would voluntarily desert and relinquish Scotland, and afterwards enter upon a Treaty in such a manner as becometh Christians to do, it would be a reciprocal grace and favour they would do unto both Nations. But these Interparlies having proved thus unprofitable, the English began to fall to work again, and Major Brown possessed himself of a strong place called Ball-house, and afterwards took the Castle of Dorlington, in which there were great store of Ammunitions of war found, and in this last some Mosse-Troopers, some of which were put to death. Colonel Monk likewise with a party both of Horse and Foot, marched towards the Castle of Rozellar within seven miles of Edinborough, which was also surrendered after some Granado Shells were fired into it: Immediately after which Colonel Lambert marched with 2000 Horse towards Dumfreez, in quest of Colonel Car who was about Peblies, and likewise Colonel whaley who commanded a Squadron of that party, took Dalkeith on his march, which merely surrendered upon the threats which he sent in unto those who defended it, although the walls of the said Castle were 13 foot thick, and that they were well stored with Canon, Arms, and all kind of warlike Ammunitions, and provisions of victuals. Meanwhile Colonel Lambert having with much difficulty passed the River Hamilton, encamped there that night, whereof Colonel Car having notice, did endeavour to surprise him the next morning at the very break of day, which he likewise did very briskly, but the English having opportunely taken the Alarm, and being unwilling that any of the Enemy's forces should escape out of their hands, did surround them in such a manner, as that they found themselves at one and the self same time set upon on all sides. The English in a trice killed them 100 men, and took as many prisoners: Not could the Scotch Horse escape their clutches, so that they dismounted 400. Horsemen, whose Horses and baggage they brought away, and might have had the men too, but that they would not stand to trouble themselves with so many Prisoners, but rather follow the Runaways, and so contented themselves to take the most considerable persons: They chased the Scots as far as Aire Town: Colonel Car himself was wounded and taken Prisoner, together with his Captain-leiutenant, as well as his Lieutenant-colonel and Major Straughon: as for Captain Giffin, and several other chief Officers of their party, they came and voluntarily surrendered themselves up to Major General Lambert, who brought them all with him to the Head quarters at Edinborough. During all which, the approaches against Edinborough Castle, were continued, but to speak the truth, with little or no effect, till the Month of December, when as all the Troops which were dispersed up and down the Country, were assembled and brought together, by reason of the ill weather and sharp season, which would not permit them any longer to keep the field, and then they fell to work in earnest towards the reducing of the said Castle, which is the strongest and most considerable of all that Country, against which a Platform was raised to place the Morter-pieces and the great Guns on, but those within relied so much on the strength and goodness of the place, that they hung out a Flag of defiance; but not long after they were glad to take it in again, whereby it was conceived that the Morter-shells had done some execution, and that thereby they were constrained to change their tune; so that in lieu of their former Flag, they were glad to hang out a white one, betokening Peace, and likewise they sent out a Drummer to propound, That they were resolved to yield, if so be they might be permitted to send to the Deputy of the States, which being refused them, they desired to parley, and so delivered up the place. Moreover one of the most remarkable and essential parts of his Highness' life, was his ability in making choice of capable personages, fit to serve the State as well by their Counsels, as for the managing of the wars, and indeed herein the Parliament always preferred his opinion and sense beyond all others, having found by experience, that his advice and counsels were accompanied with a good fortune, as his valour constrained her to Crown his actions.  

The good success of the Naval Forces under General Blake.  And on the other part, General Blake, who commanded the Commonwealth's Fleet at Sea, was no less successful by Sea then his late Highness was by Land, whose Naval Forces being anchored before Lisbon, having taken several French and Portugal men of war, which much endamaged the English Merchantmen, especially those which traded to the Levant, was obliged by ill weather and for want of provisions, to quit that Coast, and to leave the Port of Lisbon free.  
During which, Prince Rupert making use of this opportunity, set sail towards Mallaga, where he took, burnt, and pillaged several English Merchantmen, which obliged Admiral Blake to reduce his Fleet to seven of his best sailing Frigates, and sending the rest into England with the Prizes which he had taken, he pursued the Enemies with all possible speed & diligence, and being arrived at Mallaga, he understood that they had made sail towards Alicant, and in his search of them, betwixt the Cape of Got and Paulo, he took a French Ship, which carried twenty Guns, and presently afterwards the Roebuck of Prince rupert's Fleet, after which he encountered with another called the Black Prince, which rather than she would suffer herself to be taken, ran on shore, and fired her powder: Some few days after four Vessels more of Prince rupert's Fleet ran on shore in the Bay of Carthagena, where they were lost, and deserted by their Ships Companies: 
Prince rupert's Fleet ruined.  Insomuch that of all that Fleet, there was but two left, which steered their course toward Majorca and Sumaterra. General Blake having thus miss them, would no longer continue the pursuit, lest the Commonwealth might need him on more urgent and important occasions, so that he set over for England, to receive the Laurels due to his good service, having done as much as could be expected from a person of Honour and Courage, always faithful and true to the Commonwealth. He was received by the Parliament with all the praise and thanks he could expect for his good service, but especially by the Merchants, who treated him highly, and immediately revived the Trade again, which had for so long time as it were lain dead by the interruptions of so many Enemies. Notwithstanding which good successes the Royalists were not backwark to be stirring in England, being incited thereunto by the Ministers of the old Church of England, one of their Agents Benson being discovered, was put to death: So likewise in the County of Norfolk certain people made a rising, and under the notion of abolishing Papism, Schisms and Heresies, and of re-establishing the King, they gathered to a head, but the Parliament not giving them time to get into a body, they were routed and defeated, and a score of them were put to death. Much about which time there happened a contest at Constantinople betwixt two English Ambassadors, the one a royalist, the other a Commonwealths-man, and to know which was the true Ambassador, they referred their business to the— who delivered the royalist into the others power, to dispose of him as he pleased, and in reference thereto he was embarked at Smyrna for London, where he was beheaded before the Exchange.  
But to return to Scotland, where the cold Northern Climate seems to have buried all the Martial heat, although not the Scotch Ministers zeal, who had excommunicated Straughon and Swinton, for adhering to the English, who performed in those parts as much as the rigour of the season would permit men to do, and the Scots on the other side laboured to unite and settle each others minds and differences, give order for new Levies, and Crowned their King with the greatest magnificence as the indigency and necessity of their affairs would permit. The Scots, who were better accustomed to the rigour and violence of their Winters then the English, thinking to have some advantage over them, would not let slip so favourable a season without their making some good use thereof, wherefore Lieutenant General David Lesly, with a party of 800 Horse endeavoured to surprise Lithgoe, maintained but by one Regiment of Horse, under the Command of Colonel Sanderson, but finding the English upon their guards, were forced to return without any attempt at all: And the English on the other side, to let them see that the harsh season had not quite benumbed them, took the field with two Regiments, one of Horse, the other of Foot, commanded by Colonel Fenwick, and marched towards the taking of Hume Castle, which was very strong by reason of its situation; I have here inserted two Letters which passed between the Besiegers and the Besieged, by reason that the one denotes an absolute power in the Country, and the other bears an extraordinary style.  
TO THE GOVERNOR Of the CASTLE of HUME.  
SIR,  
HIs Excellency the Lord General Cromwell, Hath commanded me to reduce to his Obedience the Castle which you keep; In case you deliver it into my Hands for his Service, it shall be on such Articles which may please you, and those which are with you, by which means you will not a little ease the Neighbouring Countries about you: In case you give me a refusal, I doubt not but by God's assistance to obtain that which at present I demand of you: I expect your Answer to Morrow by seven in the Morning, and remain your Servant  
FENWICK.  
THE ANSWER: To the GOVERNOR of BARWICK, Colonel FENWICK.  
Right Hourable,  
I Have seen a Trumpet of yours, as he saith, without a Pass, who doth summon me to surrender the Castle of Hume to the Lord General Cromwell; That it may not displease you, I never did see nor know your General: as for the Castle of Hume, it is seated on a Rock. Given in the Castle of Hume this day, before seven of the Clock. In these terms I do remain, without prejudice to my Country, your most humble Servant  
Tho. Cockburne.  
BUt the Morter-pieces had no sooner made a slight breach, when as they demanded to parley, and because they would not receive such Conditions as were preferred unto them, they were forced to be contented with such Conditions as they could obtain, and thus they surrendered at discretion. After which, Colonel Monk with about three Regiments of Horse and Foot laid siege to Tymptallon Castle, which for the space of eight and forty hours together, he battered with Morter-pieces without any effect, whereby he was enforced to raise a Battery of six Guns, which did marvellous execution, whereupon the besieged desired to parley, but no composition would be given them, so that at last they were constrained to yield to the mercy of the Conqueror, and to deliver into his hand all the Arms, Cannon, Ammunitions of War, and Provisions; The keeping of which Place by the Scots, was a shrewd Thorn in the sides of the English, who were by the parties from the said Castle situate between Edinborough and Barwick daily taken and despoiled, when as they straggled never so little out of their way, which enforced his late Highness to cause this ensuing Declaration to be published, and to have executed with the utmost rigour; Viz.  

A DECLARATION  
By GENERAL CROMWELL.  

A Declaration for the security of the Soldiers.  FInding that several who bear Arms under our Colours, are stripped, robbed, and most barbarously and inhumanely murdered by Thiefs and Vagabonds, who are not under discipline of any Army; And moreover that the Inhabitants of these Parts, instead of answering our goodness, do join with such people and support them; And considering that it is in the power of the said Inhabitants, to discover and produce them, since they do for the most part dwell round about those places, where usually the said Villainies are committed; Observing moreover, that by the Intelligence which is given by the Peasants, the said Robbers come forth of their lurking places. Therefore I do declare, That in whatsoever place it shall happen, that any of our Men shall be robbed and despoiled, or killed by such like persons, I shall require life for life, and an entire restitution for those things which shall be so stolen, upon the Villages, and other places, where the Fact shall have been committed, unless they discover and produce the Malefactor: And hereof I will that all men take knowledge, that none may pretend cause of Ignorance herein.  
Given under my Hand and Seal at Edinborough 5. Novemb. 1656. Signed, O. Cromwell.   
BY virtue of this Proclamation several sums of money were raised on those Parishes and places where the like Robberies and Murders were committed, and those who were found either to be the Authors of, or Complices therein, in any manner whatsoever, were either put to death, or put to a pecuniary Mulct. Shortly after there was a design upon Brunt Island, but at that time it took not any effect; whereas General Cromwell, drew all his Forces out of Edinborough, to have maintained them all the rest of the Winter in Fyfe, which is the best part of all Scotland, but the rigour of the Season, and the difficulty of the passage constrained him to face about again to his old Quarters, which were very good by reason of the Shipping which continually arrived at Leith with all kind of Provisions for the Soldiery Horse and Foot; which said Refreshments came in very good time to the Army, which being not accustomed to the extreme rigour of the weather in those Parts, was incommodated by several Diseases, and amongst the rest, by a certain contagious Fever which is peculiar to that Country, and the which had also seized the General himself, who spared his person no more than the least Soldier; His late Highness was so cast down by this kind of Contagion, as that it was believed he would scarce have escaped death: and it may be said that his sickness was the greatest of the whole Armies, for the private Soldiers they lost no Courage, but did gladly and joyfully withstand and outbrave those difficulties which stopped Julius Caesar in his enterprise in those parts, and who chose rather to be at the charge of a prodigious Wall which fenced him from the Scotch Incursions, then to engage his Army in that mountainous Country, hoary with Snow and Ice, and the Conquest whereof was by the English undertaken in the very heart of the Winter.  
And whilst the fierceness of the Winter is passing over, we will leave both parties in Scotland, being separated by a River, which was impossible to be passed over in that Season, and will make a small digression into England, to see what in the mean while passed there. At Oxford, one of the most famous Universities of England, A certain Maiden, who bym if chance at four months' end cast her Fruit, was accused, to have done it wilfully and of set purpose, to have used some art therein; and without any more formalities was Impeached and condemned to be hanged, which was accordingly done; and some while afterwards the Physicians and Surgeons being resolved to make a dissection of her body, there being no Symptoms of life at all in her: Notwithstanding, just as they were ready to cut her up, as if she had been only in a Dream, and as if her shamefacedness being not able to endure the touching and looks of so many men, had awakened her to shun their Eyes and Razors, she gave some tokens of life, to the admiration of the wisest and most judicious men learned in the like Cases, who all of them declared, that she was really dead▪ whereupon no kind of remedies were left unassailed to bring her to herself, which accordingly was accomplished, and she at present liveth in as perfect health as even she did before; It being not God's will nor pleasure, that during the Government of the justest of Conquerors, there should an act of so high an Injustice pass, as the barbarous condemning and putting to death so innocent a Creature, as the Event proved this silly Maiden to be.  
But to come to public Concernments, the Parliament being desirous together with the King's person to extirpate his Memory, and to remove those Objects which might beget tenderness in the people (who do always bemoan the misfortunes of those whom before they hated) Commanded that his Statues should be flung down, whereupon that which stood on the West-end of St. Paul's Church in London was cast down, and the other which was placed in the old Exchange, placing this following Inscription in the Comportment above the same; Exit tyrannus Regum ultimus Anno Libertatis Angliae restitutae primo, Anno Domini, 1648. Januarii 30. In like manner the A●mes of the Crown of England, which were placed in the Churches, in the Courts of Judiciture, and other public places, were taken down: And the Common-weath being now as it seemed solidly established, some neighbouring States who desired to be in Amity with Her, sent their extraordinary Ambassadors over; as namely, the Hollanders, Spain and Portugal, and by the following Negociations the issues of the said Embassies will easily appear.  
As to the Spanish Ambassador, satisfaction was continually demanded of him, for the Murder which was committed on the persons of this Commonwealth's Agents at Madrid, nor was this State at all satisfied with the Answer thereon returned; That the Contestations between the King of Spain and his Clergy, on that particular were not as yet reconciled or brought to naissue. And as to the Portugal Ambassador, great and vast sums being demanded of him for the reimbursement of those Charges which the King his Master had caused the Commonwealth to be at, and for the reparation of those damages which the English Merchants had sustained: He replied, he had no Orders to make Answer thereunto; whereupon he had his Audience of departure, and went his way.  
Immediately after, this Commonwealth sent two extraordinary Ambassadors to the States of the united Provinces, the Lords Oliver St. john's, and Walter Strickland, Personages of a high repute, and endowed with exquisite Parts; their Train was great ad splendid, and their Equipage favoured not a little of the Splendour of their continued Victories: They Embarked in the Downs on the eleventh of March, 1651. and the next day toward even they came to an anchor near Helvoot Slugs, but not without some danger, on the 13 they made towards Rotterdam in the long-boats, and by the way they were met by some of the States Jachts or Barges, and being arrived they were by the English Merchants conducted to their public House, where they were most splendidly entertained; whither the Spanish Ambassador sent to compliment them, by one of his Gentlemen, to testify unto them his joy for their happy arrival, beseeching them to enter into and join with him in a right understanding. Two or three days after, they set forward towards the Hague, and by the way were met by the Master of Ceremonies, accompanied with about thirty Coaches, and after some reciprocal compliments passed and exchanged, they were conducted to a stately House which was prepared for them in the Town, where having been three days treated at the State's charges, they had audience. In which the Lord St. john's made a most Elegant and learned Speech, in English, and gave the Copy thereof unto the Lords States both in English and in Dutch, the most essential points whereof were as followeth.  

I. That they were sent unto the Lords, the High and mighty States of the United Provinces, on the behalf of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, to cement a firm League and Confederation betwixt the two Commonwealths, in case their Lordships thought it fitting, notwithstanding the injuries which the English had received from the Holland Nation.  
II. That they desired to renew and confirm the Treaties and Agreements formerly made, concerning the Traffic and Commerce betwixt both Nations.  
III. After which they exhibited the advantages which the Hollanders would reap by this said union, in regard of the commodious situation of England, for the Traffic, with the multitude and security of her Havens, and of all things which may advance the Commerce and Trade.  
IU. Finally he told them, That he wus commanded by the Parliament of England and by the Commonwealth, to make known to their Lordships, how sensibly they were touched with the Murder which was committed on the person of their Agent, Mr. Dorislaus, and that they doubted not but their Lordships would use all possible endeavours to discover the Authors of that horrid and unworthy action.   
After which, the Lords States being informed, that the said Lords Ambassadors followers were daily molested and affronted by the English Royalists, and other persons, who resided in Holland, they caused a Proclamation to be drawn up, which they sent unto the Lords Ambassadors, to know of them whether it was penned in the due terms, according to their good liking, whereby on pain of death they prohibited, that no man should either by words or deeds, offend or molest any of the said Ambassadors followers or retainers. Three months' time was already elapsed in their Negotiation at a vast expense, and with a far greater patience, without that the least satisfaction in the world could be obtained at the hands of Justice, for those daily affronts & injuries which were put upon the Lords Ambassadors Retinue & Servants, and the scorns and disgraces offered to their own persons, even to such a pitch, as that the Common people and Rascality would assemble themselves at the Gates of their house, and belch out injurious language, and set upon, and injure their Servants. Now the Parliament being sensible of these wrongs and injuries, and seeing the Lords States did not at all answer those kind proffers and endeavours which were made unto them, to beget and fettle a solid and firm alliance and peace betwixt the two Commonwealths, save with delays and shifts, purposely to gain time upon the English, till they should be able to judge how the face of things would evidence itself in Scotland, and which way the Chain would turn there, they recalled their Ambassadors.  
Which sudden and unexpected news extremely surprised the Hollanders, who testified their astonishments thereon to the Lords Ambassadors, by more frequent and oftener visitations then formerly, and by which they endeavoured to persuade them to believe the sincerity of their intentions, and how earnestly and ardently they desired the alliance which their Lordships had propounded. But all these fair words were not able to stay the Ambassadors, who immediately returned into England again, to cut out another guess kind of work for the Hollanders. And that which gave the greater cause of jealousy unto the English, and made them believe that the Hollander dealt deceitfully with them, was that their Admiral Van Trump lay lurking about the Isle of of Scilly, with his Fleet, as if he had some design to make himself Master of them: But when as the States were demanded the reason of his lying there, they replied, that their Admiral's being in those parts was only to demand restitution of some Ships, Goods and Merchandises which the Pirates of those parts had despoiled their Merchants of: Which answer though in some measure it satisfied the Parliament, yet not so far as to trust too much therein to the Hollanders, and whereby the Parliament was obliged to give order for the sudden reducing of that Island to their obedience.  

The reducing the Isle of Scilly.  General Blake being reinforced by a Squadron of Ships commanded by Sir George Askue which was designed for the reduceing of the Cariba Islands made sail towards Scilly, where immediately they set ashore 300. Seamen, besides the Land-men, the Seamen gave the first onset with a great deal of courage and resolution, and the Land-men did second them very well, insomuch that they speedily became Masters of the Isles of Tresco and Briers, where they took 150 Prisoners, after they had once slain a score of them. They found in the place two good Frigates, one of 18 Guns and the other of 32. and immediately possessed the best Haven of all these Islands, whence the Enemies fled unto St. Mary's, the strongest of all those Islands, but which held not long out afterwards, and so they were all reduced. It is unnecessary to lose time in the disating upon the strength and conveniencies of those Islands, since all what art and nature could possibly allot unto them, is there to be found, and so need but look into the Maps, to judge by their very situation, of what concernment they are unto England. Meanwhile it is worthy admiration that so difficult a Conquest should be attained in so little a space of time, with the loss of so few men only. And whereas the Royalists did continue to make good Cornet Castle in the Isle of Guernsey, and on a false advice, that there were but forty men in the place, eighteen of which were also said to be incapable of doing service, a resolution was taken to set upon the said Castle, and to carry it by surprisal; but when the attempt was made, there were found to be in the place threescore good men, who when the Scaling Ladders were applied to the walls, and the assault given to the place, defended themselves resolutely, and endamaged the Assailants in such a manner, with Stones and Timber which they cast down upon them, as also by their Canon which flanked the wall, charged with Case-shot, as that they killed divers of the Assailants, and constrained the rest to retire, and the greatest dysaster that happened, was, that a Vessel or two in which the men retired, were sunk by the Canon from the Castle: And however this attempt did not succeed, yet the English did like courageous men, and deserved no less praise than if they had carried the place. About which time, one Brown-Bushell was beheaded at London, a famous royalist both by Sea and Land, for having deserted the Parliaments Forces, and having since committed several Murders and mischievous actions.  
But it is time to return into Scotland, and to see in what posture both Armies are there. The English, who would not remain idle, only to keep their Men in action, besieged Blackness, a considerable place, and whence their quarters were continually alarumed by the Mosse-Troopers, who retreated and sheltered themselves in that place. 
Blackn●sse taken by Colonel Monk.  Colonel Monk commanded in chief in this Expedition, who with but a handful of men, causing a Battery to be raised, and having given them some few volleys of Cannon, constrained them to yield. 
The Scots unit●.  On the other side, all the several dissenting parties amongst the Scots, notwithstanding their differences, quarrels, jealousies, and their terrible excommunications, did unite themselves altogether, by their common interest, wherein they concurred to re-establish their King, whereunto they were encouraged by several under hand practices which were carried on here in England, and chiefly in Lancashire, which was generally to have risen in Arms: 
A Plot discovered.  One of the chief Agents interessed in this business, by name Mr. Thomas Cook, was taken at London, who discovered part of the design, and more was known by Letters which were found in a Vessel sailing from the Mount of Scotland to the Isle of Man, which belonged to the Earl of Derby, and who anon will appear more visibly in this business, as also Mr. Birkenhead was taken, being charged with several Orders and Instructions by which the most hidden and intricate secrets of this conspiracy were discovered. 
Major General Harrison sent to the North.  These proceedings obliged the Parliament to order a party both of Horse and Foot under the command of Major General Harrison, to march towards the North, as well to dissipate such raisings as should chance to happen there, as to oppose the Enemy, should they make an irruption by the way of Carlisle. Meanwhile, several persons of note were impeached, and tried for having a hand in this Conspiracy: 
Mr. Love & Gibbons beheaded.  The names of the chief are as followeth, viz. Mr. Christopher Love, Major Alford, Major Addams, Colonel Barton, Mr. Blackmore, Mr. Case, and Mr. Cauton, Doctor Drake, Mr. Drake, Captain far, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Haviland, and Mr. Jenkins, Major Huntingdon, Mr. Jackwell, Mr. Jackeson, Mr. Walton, Mr. Robinson, Captain Massey, Captain Potter, Lieutenant Colonels, Jackeson, Sowton, and Vaughan, and several others.  
Two of which number were only put to death, being found more guilty than the rest, to wit, Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons, who were both beheaded on Tower-hill. And a false report being spread in the principality of Wales, that General Cromwell was defeated in Scotland, and that the Royalists Army was entering England, a party began to form itself in those parts, but as the cause of the same rising was false, so the effect thereof did soon vanish.  
Now the English being resolved to terminate the war of Scotland, caused Vessels to be built, to pass over the River, and to enter into Fife, which began to alarm the Enemies who were on the other side of the water, as also those in Brunts-Island. Nor were the Scots idle neither, but incommodated those quarters of the English which were the most advanced, which they effected with the greater advantage, being versed and known in the ways and advances, and by this means they slew several English Soldiers as they went out to forage and to get in Provisions, whereby the English were constrained to quit their Out-quarters, and having thus engrossed their Army by the said Garrisons, they advanced towards Fife, and to that end made their Magazine at Blackness, but not finding wherewithal in the Country to feed their Horse, they retarded their March for some few days: 
The Scotch army completed refuse to fight.  By which time the Scots having completed their Levies, found themselves to be 15000 Foot, and 6000 Horse, with which Force they marched toward a place called Torwood on this side Sterling, whereby they were faced by the English Army, but would not engage in a Battle, keeping themselves within their Bogs, and other inaccessible places, 
Colonel Overton passes into Fife.  whereupon the English resolved to pass over part of their Army on the other side of the River, and Colonel Overton being thereunto ordered, did on the 6th of July, 1651. pass at Queen's Ferry with 1600 Foot, and four Troops of Horse, having in his said passage lost but six men; as soon as they were arrived they fell to entrenching themselves, and at the same time, the General with the body of the Army marched directly towards the Enemy, to the end, that in case the Scots should make a show to march towards Fife, he might charge their Rear, before they should gain Sterling, and the Scots being unwilling to let the day pass without driving the English out of Fife, sent 4000 Horse and Foot, under the command of Sir John Brown, to set upon the English, which obliged General Cromwell to send over a re-inforcement of two Regiments of Horse, and two Regiments of Foot, under the Command of Major General Lambert, 
Major General Lambert passes into Fife.  in less than 24 hours they were passed over and joined to the others, and immediately the Regiment of Colonel Okey advanced towards the Enemy, which engaged them to draw up into Battle-array, and the English likewise did the same, who though they were more in number then the Scots, yet they had the advantage of the ground, and the Scots being placed on a hill, they remained face to face for the space of an hour and a half, looking on each other, the Scots not being willing to march down nor lose their advantage, insomuch that the English at last resolved to march up towards them, and set upon them so resolutely, as that after a very slender contest they quite routed them, and made such a butchery amongst them, that they killed 2000 of their 4000 took 1400 Prisoners, 
4000 Scots defeated by the English.  amongst whom Sir John Brown who commanded the Party, Colonel Buchanam, and several other persons of quality on the English side, there were but few slain, but many hurt; and in reference hereunto more Forces were sent over into Fyfe, in case the whole Body of both Armies might chance to come to a general Battle. Immediately after the English became Masters of Inchigarvy a strong Castle, situate upon a Rock in the midst of the Province of Fryth, between Queen's Ferry and North Ferry, in which there were sixteen piece of Ordnance mounted. 
Brunt Isleland surrendered.  On the twenty seventh of July, all the English Army appearing before Brunt Island, the Governor there of took such an Alarm thereat, as that after a small Contest in a Parley, he surrendered the same, delivering unto the English, together with the said Island, all the Men of War which were found in the Haven, all the Cannon of the place, as also all the Arms, Ammunition of War, and the provision of Victuals; which said Isle was very considerable for the English to make a Magazine and Storehouse for the Provisions and Ammunition for the Army.  

St. John's Town surrendered.  Thence the Army marched to St. John's Town, a very strong and considerable place, into which the Enemy had but just before put a fresh Regiment, who were resolved to have defended themselves very well, but as soon as they saw that their Sluices were cut off by the English, they lost their Courage, and surrendered the place,  

The Scots enter England by Carlisle.  Meanwhile there happened a great change of Affairs, for the Scots Army consisting in 16000 men, abandoned their own Territories, in hopes of establishing themselves in a better Country, and by the way of Carlisle enter England.  

The English follow  General Cromwell being advertised hereof, issued out immediately such Orders as were requisite to pursue the Scots, and with all possible speed the Army repassed the River of Fife upon a Bridge of Boats at Leith, Major General Lambert the sooner to overtake the Enemy's Rear, with 3000 Horse and Dragoons followed after them, and Major General Harrison with a Body of lighter Horse, was commanded to get into the Van of the Enemy, for to amuse and detain them, whilst the General himself with the Body of the Army consisting in sixteen Regiments of Horse and Foot immediately pursued the Enemy.  

Colonel Monk with 7000 men reduceth all Scotland  But not wholly to abandon the Affairs of Scotland; Colonel Monk was left there with 7000 men, with which alone he perfected the Conquest of that Kingdom, taking immediately after this Change of the Scene, the strong Town and Castle of Sterling, being a very considerable Place, and also Aberdeen, Dundee, and the strong Castle of Dunnotters, and Dunbarton, with many others: Insomuch, as that after the passage into Fyfe was once gained, the remaining parts of Scotland were so on entirely subdued, and were made tributary unto the Commonwealth of England.  
Mean while, the divided Parties of the English Forces which pursued the Scots Army, did quite and clean tyre them out during their March, setting upon them sometimes in the Van, sometimes in the Rear, sometimes in the Flank; and finally, on all sides as they saw their opportunity to disturb and annoy them: Insomuch that their long and precipitated March did much weaken the Scots. But that which troubled and vexed them most of all, was the little hopes they saw of those promises of relief which were given them from England, The Parliament having settled such good Orders in all parts, as that no body durst stir or rise in Arms to their Aid. In all places wheresoever the Scots came they proclaimed their King, To be King of great Britain, France, and Ireland, according to the accustomed Forms, and in his Name they sent unto all those who had any Commands, or were in any Authority in those parts through which they passed, to rise in Arms jointly with them, but no body budged. To the contrary by Order of Parliament the Trained Bands of several Countries drew forth in Arms, to hinder the Risings, and to augment the Commonwealth's Armies. On the one side, General Cromwell's Army marched on the Heels of the Scots to their Terror; on the other side, the Major General Lambert and Harrison waited upon their Designs, and Colonel Robert Lilborn was left in Lancashire, to hinder the Earl of Derby from levying men in those parts, and to the same purpose, several other Bodies were placed in other places, as the occasion required, both to cut off the Enemy's Provisions, as well as his passage; In case they should resolve to retreat back again, or to fly away. Finally, the Scotch Army having reached the Town of Worcester, pitched its Camp there, having much debated where, and in what manner they should fix upon a resting and breathing place, after so long and tedious a march: Whereof the Earl of Derby was no sooner ascertained, but he issued forth of his Island with 300 Gentlemen, and Landed in Lancashire, where he assembled at least 1200 men, during which, the General's Regiment which was left at Manchester, was Commanded to join with Colonel Lilborne, to cut off the Earl of Darbies' passage to Manchester, whither he was marching to have fallen upon the said Regiment; but Colonel Lilborne observing his motion, marched the very same way, joining Flank and Flank, with the Earls Forces, who deeming that he ought not to defer the Fight with Lilborne, till he should have joined with the General's Regiment, when as then he might have proved too strong, but whilst he was weaker being alone, fell upon Colonel Lilborne, and each side for the space of four hours fight did behave themselves very well, 
The Earl of Derby defeated.  till at length the Earls Forces being worsted, he was constrained to save himself, and to gain Worcester, almost all alone; amongst Prisoners of note, which were taken in this Encounter, were Colonel Legg, Robinson, Baines, Gerrard, four Lieutenant Colonels, one Major, four Captains, two Lieutenant's, twenty Gentlemen, and five hundred Soldiers. There were killed the Lord Withrinton, Sir Thomas Fieldsley, Colonel Boynton, Sir William Throgmorton, Sir Gamuell, and sixty Soldiers.  
On the Parliaments side there were but ten men slain, but abundance were hurt, which defeat, although it was but a small one, yet it was very ominous, and served not a little to discourage those who were on the Brink of declining themselves, and ready to rise in Arms; so that it may be said without vanity, that the defeating of those 1500 men, hindered above 10000 to join with the Scots at Worcester: and indeed Colonel Lilborne received those Honours and that recompense from the Parliament which was due to his Valour; And the Lord General Cromwell whose prudence did at all times equalise his Valour, nay far surpass it, being conscious that diligence and expedition was more than requisite in this Conjuncture, which was like unto a Gangrene, continually gaining ground, and therefore immediately to be cut off, lest it should endanger the whole; arrived with his Army at Worcester, sooner than he was expected, with a resolution to make his Enemies either perish within the place, or constrain them to give Battle. Here Warlike stratagems or wiles were not necessary, for there was no delaying of the business, neither was there any retreat to be made, or flight to be taken; It matters not for one Town more or less, This is the upshot Blow, where the best Swords were, to decide the Interest of three Crowns. The Royalists were backed by despair, and the others were animated with the continual and accustomed defeating of their Enemies; Now both must either fight or die, and resolve to be a Cast or nothing, and the Town of Worcester, this very day must be the bloody Theatre, of the fairest chance of Fortune which ever happened in the Isles of great Britain; The first thing therefore which the Parliaments Forces endeavoured, was to gain a pass over the River of Severne, which was immediately performed by Major General Lambert, at a place called Vpton, and which passage was made good by Liveten at General Fleetwcods Brigade, which advancing towards Tame River, a Bridge of Boats was laid over the same, and likewise another Birdge was made over Severn on the General's side, which being perceived by the Royalists they caused a Body both of Horse and Foot to advance to oppose the Lieutenant General's passage, 
Worcester Fight.  who was backed by two Regiments of Foot of Colonel Inglesbies', and Colonel Fairfax's, by the General's Troops of Guard, and Clonel Hackers Regiment of Horse, all which were animated and encouraged by the General's prerence, who marched at the Head of them; after which Colonel Goffs, and Major General Deans Regiments were passed over the River, who began to scour the Hedges which were lined by the Enemy, and whence they drove them away, beating them from Hedge to Hedge, being supplied with fresh men, but after this kind of Skirmish had lasted well nigh a good hour, very smartly, the Royalists were constrained to give ground, and to retire to Powick Bridge, which they made good for an hour longer, but quitting it at length, they retired toward the Town, except those which were made Prisoners; and within a little while afterwards, having assembled all their Forces, and all their Courage to boot, they issued forth of the Town in a Body towards the General's side, believing that the best part of his Army had been on the other side (as in effect it was separated in two by the afore specified River, and the Royalists at their first charge were so furious and resolute, as that the General's Troops were constrained to give way, but that only served to augment their courage, and make them more covetous of Glory: Insomuch, that renewing their Fight with a fresh vigour, they charged the Enemy so impetuously, as that the Scotch Army both Horse and Foot were on a sudden over borne and quite brought into disorder, all their Works and Lynes, together with their Royal Fort, and their Cannon were immediately taken, and turned upon and against themselves; the Town was given in Pillage, 
The Scots defeated at Worcester.  and all their Foot were either slain or taken Prisoners, a Body of 3000 Horse broke through and made their escape, and one thousand of them were taken by Colonel Barton who lay about Bewdly, only with a few Horse and Dragoons, and Colonel Lilborne with the General's Regiments of Foot accidentally met with the Earl of Derby, who a little before had escaped him, whom he seized, together with the Earl of Landerdale,, and above a hundred persons of quality, several others were likewise taken by the other parties which were abroad; as Duke Hamilton General of the Scotch Army, who afterwards died of his Wounds, the Earl of Rothe, the Earl of Cornwarth, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Packington, Cunningham, and Clare, Knights, the Lords Spine and Sinclere, the Earl of Cleaveland, of Kelley, and Colonel Greaves, six Colonels of Horse, thirteen of Foot, nine Lieutenant Colonels of Horse, eight of Foot, six Majors of Horse, thirteen of Foot, thrity seven Captains of Horse, seventy three of Foot, fifty five Quarter-masters, eighty nine Lieutenant's of Foot, Major General Biscotty, Major General Montgomery, the Lieutenant General of the Ordnance, the adjutant General of the Foot, the Martial General, the Quartermaster General, the Conductor General of the Baggage, seventy six Standards, ninety nine Ensigns, nine Ministers, nine Surgeons, one hundred fifty eight Colours, and all the Cannon, and Baggage generally, the Royal Standard, the King's Coach and Horses, the Royal Robe, the Collar of the Order of the Garter, thirty of his domestic Servants, and his Secretary Fa●shams as for the King his own person, he made and escape strangely, and in a disguise he saved himself at length into France, not without many difficulties and dangers; Notwithstanding the Parliament had promised five hundred pounds to any one that could discover his Person. Several other persons were also afterwards taken in the remotest Countries; as Major General Massey, who afterwards made an escape, Major General Middleton, Lieutenant General David Lesly, and several others; insomuch, as that it may be said, the Glean of this Victory, were as considerable as the whole Harvest itself.  
But let us return to our CONQUEROR, and observe with what a moderation he enjoyed this his victory, he desires no triumphal preparations, He would not that thanks should be returned to him for the same; but only to God alone, who helped him with his mighty Arm to advance his own Glory, and to establish the peace and repose of England, upon solid and firm Foundations, and when as the Parliament did propound unto him most splendid and magnificent Presents, in recompense, he only desired the Lives and Liberties of their Prisoners. They proposed to have Bonfires made, and to have Triumphal Arcks erected, but he answered; That it would be better to raise Monuments to such of their Illustrious Patriots as lost their lives in the gaining of that Day, and to bewail their deaths with Teats. And jastly at the General's request; there were only the Earl of Derby, and Sir Fetherston Knight, of all this great number of Prisoners put to death. besides some few others of less quality.  

The remaining Nobility of Scotland seized and sent into England.  Much about which time also, that small Body of an Army which remained in Scotland, seized upon a great number of the Nobility of the Country, who were assembled all together at a place called Ellet; where the old General Lesly, Earl Martial, the Lord Keith, Cofford, Ogleby, Barany, Huntly, Lee, and several other Knights, Gentlemen, and Ministers, were in Consultation, all of which were put on board a Ship, and sent into England.  
This great Storm being thus overblown, and the Minds of the Parliament Members being calmed, after the apprehensions of the Scotch Invasion, and the doubtful and unexpected Events of a Battle, they began to tract the Footsteps of their Conquest a new, and the whole Commonwealth being entirely cleansed within, they cast about how to reduce those Islands which sheltered several of the Enemies small Vesssels, whereby the Trade was interrupted, and several Merchantmen impeded in their Voyages: 
The Isle of Jersey attempted  The Isle of Jersey was the first they resolved to begin withal, and the Conduct of this Enterprise was left to Colonel Haymes, who upon the same account on the fourteenth of October, 1651. caused two Regiments of Foot, and as many of Horse to be embarked on board of eight Ships, in the Port of Weymouth, and the seventeenth they set Sail, but the Stormy Wether forced them to return: On the nineteenth they set sail again, and on the same day about Midnight, they came to anchor under the Island of Zoark, and next Morning continuing their Course, they arrived at Stowens Bay in Jersey; on the next day they fell down with the Tide, and got into St. Brelads Bay, where they were assailed by so vehement a storm as that the Fleet was dispersed, but having joined to each other again; on the one and twentieth they resolved to go ashore that Night at Stowens Bay, wheunto they were necessitated for want of Forage for the Horse, and as it were in a trice, they landed their Horse by an admirable Industry of General Blake, and his other Officers in Boats, and two hours after the Flood they weighed anchor, and some cut their Cables to run a shore, and so the Foot Landed some at three some at four, some at five, and some at six foot set and more, receiving all that while both the Cannon and Musket shot which played upon them from the shore; Notwithstanding which they gained Land, although they were faced by both the Horse and Foot of the Island, but this was their advantage, they were so overcharged with Water, as that they were not succeptible of Fire. Finally, after they had endured this first brunt, they got all of them on shore, and quickly gained as much Ground as served them to draw up into a Body to fight, which they accordingly did, with so much resoluion and vigour, that in one half hours time they forced the Enemy to retreat, who left their Ensigns behind them, and twelve piece of Cannon, after which the Horse being a little heartened having been refreshed in their Quarters in the Island, on the two and twentieth of October they attempted three small Forts, each having two piece of Ordnance in them which they took, after which, they advanced within sight of Elizabeth's Castle, to set upon a Fort called the Tower of St. Albon, having fourteen piece of Ordnance commanded by the said Castle: In two hours' time they gained the said Tower, and their next work was to possess the Castle of Montorqueil, which they also took without much trouble; 
Jersey and all the Castles taken.  But Elizabeth's Castle being a very strong and considerable place into which they had retired all rheir Forces, was not surrendered until the midst of the Month of December, on the most advantageous Conditions which so considerable a place could expect.  
On the sixteenth of October 1651. there were embarked at Westchester and Leverpoole three Regiments of Foot, to wit, 
The Isle of Man attempted, and reduced.  General Cromwell's, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Worstey, Major General Deans Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Michael, and Colonel Duck●nfields, who Commanded the whole Brigade, together with two Troops of Horse, which Forces were sent to reduce the Isle of Man.  
On the eighteenth of the said Month they set Sail, but the Wind coming contrary, they were driven into the Port of Beaumorris. On the twenty fifth, by two in the Morning the Wind coming Southwardly, by the favour of a fresh Gale, they set Sail again, and about two of the Clock in the Afternoon they discovered the Custle of the Isle of Man, Rushed Castle, Derby Fort, and a good part of the Island, as also the Inhabitants and Soldiery, as well Horse and Foot in Arms, who were drawn out to make a review of their Forces, when as by a sudden Gust the Fleet was hindered from approaching nearer the shore, whereupon they tacked about towards the North of the Island, and not without some difficulty they gained Ramsey Bay, where they Anchored that Night in sight of the Island, and sent them Volleys of Cannon which were not at all answered by those of the Island. On the twenty sixth of October, an Inhabitant was sent on board the Fleet from the chief persons of the Island, to assure the Commander that they would not in any wise hinder their Landing, But to the contrary that they would deliver up unto them two Forts which they had Mastered, after which there remained only Rushed and Peele Castle to be taken, wherein they would also be assisting to the utmost of their powers: But because the said Inhabitant brought nothing in writing to confirm what he had said, Major Fox went on shore to be assured of the certainty thereof, and returning well satisfied, he was followed by some Commissioners of the Island, who most humbly beseeched the Officers not to ruin them, which must of necessity ensue, should they Land all their Men, obliging and engaging themselves to bring Provisions at reasonable rates, unto those who should remain on board the Ships: The Commander in chief returned them thanks, promising them to do them all the favour possible and imaginable; but it fell out unhappily for all sides: That on the twenty seventh the Sea became very rough, and the Ships being not able to remain all of them under shelter in the said Bay, they were in a great deal of darger, and one Ship running a shore, was broken and rend in sunder; however all the men were saved, and those within the Castles knowing full well the danger wherein the Ships were, did increase the dangers from shore as well as from Sea, and thereby became the more resolute and obstinate; Insomuch that on the twenty eighth they were constrained to Land the Horse and the rest of the Foot; who became Masters of the Forts, and afterwards set upon the Castles, in one of which was the Earl of Darbies' Widow, who quickly surrendered herself, together with all the Ammunitions of War, and some Vessels which were Anchored in the Harbour.  

Guerns●y Castle surrendered.  And not long after the strong Castle of Guernsey was also surrendered to the Parliament, the whole Island having always remained under the obedience of the Commonwealth, and never deserted the same.  
And, as there is no felicity or bliss under the Heavens, which is not mingled with some bitterness; 
The death of two famous Persons in England.  so in like manner, the great Conquest of the Parliament both by Sea and Land, had some mixture of missorrunes on both Elements, on the Land by the decease of a great Captain, and a greater Statesman, and on the Sea by the death of a great Pilot, and a greater Admiral both together. The first was the Lord Ireton, Son-in-law to his late Highness, who immediately after the taking of Limrick, a very considerable place in those parts, died, during his being Lord Deputy of Ireland, he was generally bemoaned of all men, being a person who had rendered himself equally famous in Warlike Exploits, as well as in Politic Affairs, and Sagacious Counsels, and to speak the truth, there was scarce his like in all England, and all the Comforts which survived his loss, were, that those good Foundations which he had laid, and the Maxims which he had prescribed for the Government of Ireland did not perish with him, but have remained to his Successors, as Lamps and Lights whereby they may safely conduct their Footsteps, and assuredly carry on their Designs.  
The other famous Person who also died, was General Poppham, a Personage endowed with all the good qualities of an exquisite Seaman, being valiant, active, and well versed in Sea Affaires, his precipitated death, and the small time he continued in that Employment, did show unto us less what he was, then according unto all appearance what he would have been, had it pleased God to have lengthened his days. And now the Parliament being truly sensible both of the old and new Injuries which England had received from, and by the States of Holland, thought it fit to publish this ensuing Manifest; Viz.  

An Act of Parliament, concerning the Importation and exportation of Goods & Merchandises.  THat no Commodities whatsoever of the growth or Manifacture of Africa, Asia, America, or Europe, should be brought into England, or into any of the Territories belonging thereunto, either by the English themselves, or by any others, save in Vessels, or Barks, effectively belonging to this Commonwealth, or the Colonies and Plantations in the Indies, who depend on the same, on the penalty of forfeiting both Ships and Goods.  
2. That all Commodities whatsoever of the growth or manifacture of Foreigners which shall be brought within the Dominions of this Commonwealth, in Vessels belonging to the Inhabitants thereof shall be taken and laden only in the places where the said wares do grow or else in those Ports and Havens, whence they must of necessity be brought, and where they are accustomed to be had and bought at the first hand.  
3. That all kind of Fish of the Fishing belonging to the people of this Nation, as also all kind of Oil of Fish, Whales' Oil, and Whale Bones, shall not be brought, save in such Ships where the said Fishing shall have been made, upon the forementioned Penalty.  
4. That after the first of February, 1653. there shall be no Saltfish transported out of England, save in English Vessels, etc. Then which, nothing was more pleasing to the Merchants, nor could any thing have more eucouraged them, to cause the Traffic and Navigation to flourish again, and whereby they were not a little also endeared to the Parliaments Interest: So likewise was it very effectual to gain the Seamens hearts, than which nothing is so apt to rebel, and so hard to be kept in awe.  
So likewise several other Ordinances and Regulations were made concerning those Merchandizes which are brought from the East Indies, from the Levant, and from the Coast of Spain and Portugal, 
A Rupture with Holland caused.  all which did not much please, and but lease oblige the Hollanders; but to the contrary did so exasperate their Minds, as that even during the time when they were treating of an Accommodation, it came to an open War, concerning the point of Honour at Sea, and in this wise the Quarrel begun.  

The first Sea-fight with the Hollander, May 52.  MAjor Bourn Commander in chief of a Squadron of English Ships, discovered Van Trump Admiral of the Dutch Fleet, on the back of Goodwin Sands, who with two and forty Sail of Ships made towards Dover Road, whereupon the Frigate called the Greyhound was commanded to make all the possible sail she could after them, to speak with them, which she accordingly did, whereas they struck their Sail, and gave all kind of tokens of honour and respect, saying moreover, That they would gladly tell something in the behalf of their Admiral, unto the Party that commanded the English Fleet in chief, and coming on board, they saluted the English Ships, and to seem the more officious, they gave them an Account of their Navigation in this wise; saying, That the Nothernly Winds having been somewhat high for some days, they had been constrained to ply more to the Southward, then else they willingly would have done, and that being come to an Anchor somewhat hitherwards, to avoid the falling too near unto Dunkirk, they had lost several Cables and Anchors, concluding that they had not the least intention to do us any Injury. General Blake was at that time with the rest of the Fleet towards the West, who being informed by Major Bourn of the Hollanders proceedings, he used all the possible speed he could to join with him, and on the nineteenth of May he discovered the Hollanders Anchored in Dover Road, and being within three Leagues of each other, the Hollander weighed Anchor, and sailed Eastward, where they met with an Express from the States, whom they spoke withal, and afterwards made all the Sail they could up to the English Fleet, their Admiral Van Trump showing himself upon the Decks of the foremost Ships; And General Blake coveting the honour to give the first Volley, let fly three Guns at Van Trumpets Flag, though without Bullets, To which Van Trump answered by a shot from the Stern of his Ship backwards, signifying his disdain to vale his Flag, and instead of the striking his Main Topsail, he caused a red Flag of War to be set up, in token of a Combat to his whole Fleet, and without any further delay, he gave General Blake a whole Broadside, who joyfully received it, and returned two for one, and for the space of four hours together both Fleets fought with that Animosity and vehemency, which is usually on the like occasions at the first fall out: when at last, having several times past and repast, through and through each other, General Blake obtained the Victory, having sunk one Holland Man of War, took another with thirty Guns made a hundred and fifty Prisoners, and both the Captains of the said Ships, and sent the rest of their Fleet home by weeping Cross, to tell the rest of their Butterbox Brethren the success of their rash Attempt: The English lost but ten Men in this Fight, and had forty wounded, and of the whole Fleet, the General's Ship alone was somewhat endamaged in her Masts, Sails, Tackling, and Apparel; After which the States of Holland disowned and disavowed this Action, and to that purpose sent over two extraordinary Ambassadors into England, who represented these Reasons to the Parliament of England, therein declaring, Viz.  
That the unhappy Fight betwixt the Fleets of both Commonwealths, happened without their knowledge, and contrary to the will and desire of the Lords, the State's General of the united Provinces, taking God to witness of this Truth, who knows the hearts of men, and that both by Letters and Messages they had continually been assured of the said Lords and States Sincerity: That with astonishment and amazement they had received the fatal tidings of so rash an Attempt and Action; and that immediately they entered into Consultation, how they might best find out a remedy to soften and excuse this fresh bleeding Wound: To which end they had convocated a general Assembly of the Provinces, in the which they doubted not, God willing, to meet with a present remedy to these Troubles, whereby not only the Causes of all the evils which might ensue, should be removed, but also by an interior Comfort men's Minds might be rectified, and brought to a better hope of the Treaty which was on Foot, wherein their Lordships laboured daily, and in good earnest for the Welfare of both Nations, to avoid the further effusion of Christian blood, so much desired by the Enemies unto both Nations; wherefore they requested and desired most humbly of this honourable Council by the Pledges of the Liberty and their mutual concurrence in Religion; Not to suffer any thing to be undertaken with too much precipitation and heat, which might at length become irrevocable, and not to be remedied by vain Wishes, or too late Vows; but that without delay they might receive a favourable Answer, which they the more earnestly desire, since their Lordships, the State's Ships, and Mariners were detained and impeded in their Voyages, some by force and others by the Fights at Sea, and the rest in the Ports of this Commonwealth.  

Whereunto the Parliament thus replied, Viz.  
THat whereas they remember with what continual Demonstrations of Friendship they always Comported themselves towards their Neighbours of the united Provinces, ever since the beginning of their Civil Wars, having not omitted any thing which might tend to the preservation of a good understanding betwixt them, they think it very strange to find how ill the said States have answered these their Civilities, and especially by the Acts of Hostility which they have lately exercised against this Commonwealth's Fleet, and having taken the whole into their Consideration, as well as the several Papers presented to the Council of State by their Ambassadors; They do thereon answer, That as they are ready to give a favourable interpretation to the expressions contained in the said Papers, tending to represent how that the last Fight which happened lately, was without the knowledge, and contrary to the intentions of their Masters; so likewise, when they consider how incomformable and inconsistent with these Thoughts and Discourses the proceedings of their State, and the behaviour of their Seamen hath been in the very midst of a Treaty, and in what a manner the said particulars have been Negotiated here by their Ambassador; The extraordinary preparations of a 150 Ships without any apparent necessity, and the Instructions which were by the said Lords States given to the Seamen, we have but too great cause to believe; That the Lords the State's General of the united Provinces, have a design to usurp the known right which the English have to the Seas, To destroy their Fleets, which after God, are their Walls and Bulwarks, and thereby to expose the Commonwealth to an Invasion, according to their own good liking, even as they have attempted to do by their last Action: whereupon the Parliament do think themselves to be obliged, to endeavour by God's assistance, as they shall find occasion for the same, to seek the reparation of those Wrongs which they have already received, and an assurance for the future against the like which might be attempted against them: However with a desire and an intention that things may be composed and put up in an amicable way, if it be possible by such ways and means as God by his Providence shall lay open, and by such circumstances as may tend to hasten this Design, and may render it more efficacious than any other of the like nature hath not yet been.   

Open War with Holland.  So that this Conference besides many others, having not been caple to produce the Agreement and expected Reconciliation; the Holland Ambassadors took their leaves of the Parliament, by a public Audience, and went their ways. And immediately both these powerful Commonwealths prepared for an open War, all the Waters of the Ocean being not able to quench their just Indignations, and those Forces which they will both engender upon the Surface of the Sea, may well and duly represent unto us the Image of the Chaos, and the Wars of the Elements.  

The Hollanders Fishermen destroyed in the North.  General Blake who seemed to have fastened the Sail of Fortune to his most prodigious mast by the glorious appearance of his gallant and resolute Fleet, makes Sail towards the Northern Parts, and about the Isles of Orkney, and seized upon all the Holland Vessels which he found Fishing on that Coast, most part of the Fishing Barks he sent away, and discharged as unworthy Objects, or Ornaments to so stately a Naval Armado; but the twelve Holland Men of War which were to convoy and secure them, he brought home with him.  

A Holland Fleet destroyed by Sir Geo. Askue.  On the other side, Sir George Askue remaining in the Channel with another Squadron of Ships, to clear and guard the same, discovered thirty Sail of Hollanders betwixt Calais and Dover, to which he gave Chase, and constrained them all for the most part to run a shore on the Coast of France, only ten excepted, which were taken, burnt, and sunk, and in reference to this fatal Rupture, there was not a day past wherein Prizes were not made by the English on the Hollander and French, who likewise were not as yet well reconciled to the English.  
Thence Sir George Askue set Sail towards the West, as well to seek out for the Hollander, as to guard those Coasts, and to convoy the Merchantmen which were ready to set Sail from Plymouth through the Channel, and being come within seven or eight Leagues of the said Port, he had notice given him that the Holland Fleet was not far off, whereupon calling a Council of War, it was conceived they might be met with about the Coast of France, a Resolution was taken to make Sail thitherwards; and the same day which was the sixteenth of August, betwixt one and two of the Clock in the Afternoon they discovered the Holland Fleet, and immediately made up towards them as fast as they could, and found them to be sixty Men of War, and thirty Merchant men; the English were but eight and thirty Men of War, four Fire Ships, and four small Frigates, who notwithstanding the inequality of of their Number, about four of the Clock of the said Afternoon, encountered the Enemy with as much Gallantry and Resolution as possible could be expected.  

The Plymouth fight with the Dutch.  And Sir George Askue seconded by six other Ships immediately Charged into the very Body of the Enemy, and however they were sufficiently damaged by this first Charge, in their Sails Masts, and Yards, yet they got to the Wind-ward of their Enemies, and once again Charged the whole Body of them, continuing their said Combat very fiercely in this wise, and always being intermingled pellmell with the Enemy; until the obscurnesse of the Night had separated them, and had the rest of the Fleet employed their parts as well as Sir George Askue's Squadron did, it is believed the whole Holland's Fleet had been destroyed: amongst the English there were several hurt and killed, however but one Person of Note, Captain Pack a Person of Honour, and a very Valiant, stout, and experienced Seaman, whose Leg being shot off by a Cannon Bullet, he died immediately; there were also two other Captain's hurt, Viz. Little, and Whiteridge, Two of the Holland Men of War, and one of their Fire Ships were sunk, as might be guest by the Wrecks afterwards; for the Night which terminated this Fight, did also debar the sight of the Fleets what it had produced: So that the Hollanders continued their Course towards the Coast of France, and the English towards Plymouth, to repair their Vesseels, but especially their Masts, Yards, and Tackling, which were so much endamaged, that they were forced to give over the pursuit of the Enemy.  

Six Hollanders Ships taken by Gen. Blake.  And much about the same time that this Fight happened, General Blake steeting North-wards, took six Holland Ships of a great value about the Downs, and sent one Frigate toward the East, to reinforce Sir George Askue; presently afterwards Captain Penne 
Six more taken by Captain Penne.  plying also upon the Coast of France, took six Holland Ships, which had formerly been in the Venetian Service, and were all of them bound homewards richly Laden, being all Men of War of considerable Burden. 
A French Fleet taken by Gen. Blake.   
On the fifth of September, General Blakes Fleet riding at Anchor in the Downs, having notice that a French Fleet was to touch in Calais Road, there to take both Men and Ammunition on Board for the Relief of Dunkirk, he weighed Anchor and made towards them, and about five in the Evening they were tiding it out of Calais Road, with a Design in the Night to have set Sail towards Dunkirk: But General Blake as soon as they were got to Sea gave them Chase, and pursued them to the very Flats before Dunkirk, as far as he durst, by reason of the Flats, and the Burden of his Ships; he took seven of their Men of War, the least carrying two and twenty Guns, and one Frigate with eight Guns, and also one of their Fire Ships; whereupon the Garrison of Dunkirk having been disappointed of their expected Relief of Ammunitions and Provisions: Not long after was forced, together with the rest of the Garrisons which depended on the same, to yield to the Spaniards.  
On the twenty seventh of September, General Blake discovered about sixty Sail of Holland Men of War, Commanded by Admiral Dewit, on the backside of the Goodwin Sands, so that next day he set Saile and made towards the Enemy, but falling upon a Flat called the 
The Kentish Knock, a fight with the Hollanders.  Kentish Knock (under which the Hollander had purposely sheltered themselves, to endanger the English, should they attempt to gain the Windward of them) they found they had but three Fathom Water, so that several of the Fleet struck upon the Sands, but had no other harm, which caused them to stand off again, and to make directly towards the Enemy, endeavouring to engage them to a Fight: But the Hollander being unwilling to engage, all that day passed in slight Skirmishes only, towards Evening the Hollanders changed their Station, but kept themselves off from the English towards the Flats, making a show of being desisirous to fight: But the next Morning by break of day, the English Fleet perceiving that the Hollanders were gone about two Leagues Northward from them, they resolved although they had but very little Wind, and that various to make up towards them, which they endeavoured all the Morning, but could not reach them, the Wind being come North, inclined to the West: However the best Sailing Frigates were commanded to make after them, and to keep them in play till the rest of the Fleet could get up to them, and about three in the Afternoon, the said Frigates with much ado got within shot of them, but the Hollander fearing lest by degrees they might be drawn to a general Combat (as it indeed was the English's, Design) hoist up their main Topsails, and fairly run away: Notwithstanding which, ten good Frigates gave the Chase, till ten at Night, and the next Morning by the favour of a fresh Gale from the South-west, the whole Fleet pursued them till they came to West cappel in Zealand, when as they put into Gore, the English would fain have fall'n on and fought them in their own Ports, but a Council of War being called, it was judged unfitting to pursue them any further upon their own Coasts, by reason of the Flats, and also by reason that the English Provisions began to fall short: The Hollananers' loss in this Encounter is not well known, that which was visible was, that three of their Ships were disembled from fight, the one having her Mainmast shot down, and the Mizzen-mast, Bowsprits, Stays and Tackling of the other two; the Admiral of their Rear Squadron was reduced to so ill a plight, as being not able to make any way of herself, they were constrained to tow her a long by a Hoy of two and thirty great Guns, which advanced but slowly forward: so that the Nonesuch Frigate boarded her, and having put thirty men over into each Vessel, they mastered them, but finding that they were extreme leaky, and began to sink, they took eighty men out of them, and their Officers, the Rear Admiral, and the Captain, and left the Hulks to serve the dead men for a Coffin: The English had but forty men killed, and as many hurt. Now the fame of this notable War between these two Queenly and Mistress Commonwealths of the Navigation, having spread itself throughout the Universe in all places where Trade and Commerce is used; The effects thereof appeared shortly after in the Mediterranean Seas, as well as in the Ocean and in the English Channel: Some Frights were sent towards the Levant, to guard the English Merchant Men from the French Shipping of Marselleis, and Toulon, a Squadron of which Frigates consisting only in four Sail of Ships, viz. The Paragon, the Phoenix, the Constant Warwick, and the Elizabeth, convoying three Merchant Men, two of which had taken in their Lading at Scandaroon, and the other at Smyrna, were encountered by eleven Holland Men of War, who made up towards them, and set upon them; All that the English could at first do, was to return their broad Sides on their Poops, to let them see that they were not afraid of their exceeding them in number, but ere the fight was well begun, the Night separated them, and the next Morning the Hollanders began the fight again, and were received as briskly, as if they had been equally matched. The Masts and Yards of two of their Ships were quickly shot down, and another was set on fire, but quickly recovered; The Phoenix a gallant Frigate of five and forty Guns was boarded by a huge State's Ship, and after a marvellous defence lost almost all her Men (and being over powered) was forced to yield, but not without a great loss on the Hollanders side; Nor did the English quit the fight till all their Men and Ammunition were killed and spent: The Paragon lost seven and twenty Men, and had sixty wounded, the Elizabeth had but two Barrels of Powder left; However they disengaged themselves from so great a number of their Enemies, and put their Merchantmen safe in Porto-longone; So that the Hollander had not much to brag of in the fight which happened near Corsica. Much about this time an Ambassador from the Queen of Sweden; 
Two Ambassadors arrive in England.  but before he had made the least overture of Business, he died: Another Ambassador arrived from the King of Denmark, but finding that it was impossible to reconcile the differences betwixt the two Commonwealths, he withdrew again and went his ways, by reason of the common Interest of the Danes, and the united Provinces: And the Parliament having notice that the Hollanders who blocked up the passage of the Sound, had constrained two and twenty English Merchants coming from the Eastern Parts towards England, to put themselves under the King of Denmark's protection, ordered eighteen Sail of Ships to go to fetch them home, the rather because they were Laden with such Merchandizes, as were at that time very useful for the State, and without which the War against the Hollanders could not be prosecuted nor continued.  

Several passages between the English & the Danes.  On the nineteenth of September, the Fleet set sail from Yarmouth, and the next Morning they came to Anchor within two Leagues of the Castle of Essenhoeur, in Denmark, whence the Commander in chief sent away the Greyhound Frigate, with a Letter directed to the Governor of the Castle, and another to the Admiral of Denmark, by which he desired them to inform the King of Denmark of their arrival, and of the Subject thereof, whereunto he added a third Letter, directed to the Masters of the English Ships, ordering them to make their Addresses to the King of Denmark, and to procure liberty from him that their Ships might with all speed be suffered to come out of the 〈…〉 of Copenhagen, where they as then lay: But the Frigate was not suffered to approach nearer than within a League of the Castle, whence she returned again. The next Morning the Commander in Chief himself went thither in his long Boat, and declared the Subject of his Arrival, and delivered his Letters, but no Answer was returned unto him, which obliged him the second time to send to the King, and to the English Merchants, but without success, for the King was not to be heard of, nor seen, nor to be spoken with; at length two Lords sent from the King of Denmark, came to Elsenore Castle, whither also the Captains of the English Fleet went, who vigorously pressed the Restitution of their Merchantmen: But in answer to this their Demand they were interrogated; Wherefore their Ambassador had not been admitted to Hearing at his being in England? wherefore they came so boldly into his Majesty's Seas, and so near to his place of Residence, and of his Castles, with so strong a Fleet, before they had given notice thereof three weeks before?  
But the English not standing to Canvasle these Demands, save only to procure satisfaction on their Pretences, pressed to have a positive Answer returned thereunto: Whereupon on the seven and twentieth of the said Month they received a Letter from the King of Denmark, telling them, That he would preserve the said Ships for the Merchants, as carefully as he had hitherto done, but that he would not deliver them into their hands. Whereupon the English Merchants, and the Masters and Seamen, seeing there was no hopes to get their Ships released, abandoned them, and came aboard of the Fleet, and straightway quitting the Sound, made over again towards England, but in the Night of the following Day, which was the last of the Month, the weather proved so dark, that the Admiral Ship Commanded by Captain Ball, 
The Antelope Frigate lost.  steering too much towards the shore, run on ground upon the Coast of that Sand, where she was lost, only all the Ships Company was saved, and it was ten to one that the whole Fleet had not followed her, she bearing the Lantern: she was an excellent Frigate, called the Antelope, carrying fifty brass Guns. But this Loss was presently after repaired by 
20 Holland Barks, and 2 Men of War taken.  taking of about twenty Holland Barks, and one Convoy Man of War, as also one other Ship carrying twenty Guns, and thus without any other Loss, or adventure, they returned into England, and on the fifteenth of October, they came to an Anchor in Burlington Bay, within a little while after Master Bra●…haw was deputed in the quality of an Envoy, or Deputy towards the King of Denmark, to try whether the Restitution of those Merchant's Vessels might not be procured in an amicable way, but this Attempt proved as bootless as the former; For the said Ships were not only detained, but their Lading was carried on Shore and Sold: Which Acts of Hostility committed against the Law of Nations and of Hospitality to innocent Persons, and against a State which had desired their Amity, by all ways and means possible, will sooner, orlater meet with their Reward and Punishment, either by the hands of those who were endamaged, or by some others, which by the sequel you will find proved so.  
But to return again to the Hollander, who were almost enraged at their continual Losses of their Ships, with which all the Havens in England were filled, and being resolved to be revenged for so many 
Another Sea Fight betwixt the English & the Hollander, in December.  Sea Fights as they had lost, busied themselves in setting forth a great Fleet, and notwithstanding the rigour of the Season in the very midst of Winter, they came to Sea with a Fleet of ninety Sail, and ten Fireships; and on the twentieth of December, they appeared on the back of the goodwin's, the English Fleet under General Blakes Command, consisted but in two and forty Ships, ill furnished, wanting Men, and all other Necessaries: The greatest part of the best Ships having been rendered incapable of going forth to Sea; whereas there was the greatest occasion to make use of them, which happened either by the negligence, or rather by the perfideousness, and treachery, and set Malice of some, who at that time had the management of the Sea Affaires, being over jealous that the Military Persons and Men of Action, should grow too high and over-top them; although afterwards God in his own time found out these men, and caused them to give an account of these their pernicious averseness to the public Good of the Commonwealth, and to the private interests of the particular Members thereof. Hour the English, notwithstandsting the Inequality of their Forces, resolved to Launch out and fight them so that on the thirtieth of December being a very fair day, both Fleets steering Westward, encountered each other about eleven of the Clock in the Morning, and began the Fight, the English having the upper hand of the Wind; of two and forty English Ships, not one half of them engaged in the fight for want of men, insomuch, that twenty, or two and twenty Ships bore the brunt of the puissant Holland Fleet. The Avant guard, and the Victory, two brave, Frigates, having been the whole day engaged in the midst of the Enemy, firing from all sides, got off in a very good Condition: But towards the Evening, the Garland, carrying about forty pieces of Cannon, was boarded at once by two great Dutch Ships, which she manfully resisted, till her Decks were quite unfurnished of men, which having blown up, and finally being over powered on all sides, was forced to yield. The Bonaventure being a Merchantman, but a, good Vessel going to relieve the Garland, was clapped aboard by a Man of War, and after she had several times cleared her Decks of the Enemy, which were gotten into her, at length by the death of her Captain, who behaved himself stoutly, she lost both Strength and Courage, and so fell into the hands of her Enemies.  
Meanwhile, General Blake, who Commanded the Triumph, seeing this Disorder, plunged into the thickest of his Enemies to rescue the Garland, had his foremast shot down close by the Board, and was Clapped on Board by the Enemy, but having stoutly defended himself, and several times beaten them off again, he at length got clear of them, and went off with the rest of his Fleet, only with the loss of two Ships, which cost the Dutch dear enough, before they got them: and after the fight two English Merchantmen falling casually into the Hollanders hands, helped to make up the Fruits of this their great boasted of Victory over the English, which being in itself but a small Check, served only to whet the Valour of the English, and to edge them on with the more vehemency to dissipate that Eclipse which had so lately over Clouded their wont Glory; Wherefore they made a very considerable Sea Equipage, and fitted out with all speed a brave Fleet of the best and gallantest Ships, as well to bring down their Enemy's Pride, who were devoid of all Moderation, after this their pretended Success, as to stop and silence the Murmurings and Clamour of the People, against those who at that time held and guided the Reins of the State; some of which behaved themselves so untoward, that it could not be imagined, save that by a base and vile black policy they intended, together with the Ruin of Maratine Affaires, to bring Destruction upon the whole LAND.   

THE HISTORY OF OLIVER Lord Protector, From his Cradle to his Tomb.  
HIs Highness at that time being General, was as it were seized with a kind of horror, by the very sense of these disorders, which could not be excused either by reason of the disabillity of the Country, of any misfortunes, or ill accidents, nor by any imprudence, but were manifestly committed out of mere malice, through a blind zealous ambition, His great soul did even reproach him inwardly for letting the honour of his Country (as it were) fall to the ground; and that a Million of brave Merchants were suffered to run into perdition, by default of a discreet Pilot to steer at the Helm, which was so ill guided; and although the Sea-affairs did not properly concern him, He conceived however, that in case during the General Shipwreck, he launched into the Main with some small Barks to save the grand Vessel and body of the State which was perishing, he might do both a beneficial, commendable, and praiseworthy work. He therefore believed that in Honour and Conscience he was bound to dive more narrowly into the secret of the Affairs, and to employ the keenness of his Sword to set an edge upon the subtle Cabinet pens, and mend their bluntness and dullness: so that after the most requisite Orders for the arming and equipying of the Fleet had been issued out, he hammered out some others, for the better encouragement of the Seamen in general, as well Commanders and Soldiers, as Mariners. In reference whereunto it was ordered,  

1. That some musters should be advanced them, to put themselves in a fit equipage to go to Sea, and to leave a subsistence with their families during their absence.  
2. That for every ship which was adjudged good prize in the Admiralty, they should have two pounds per Tun, and six pounds for every piece of Canon, Brass, or Iron, as should be found in the said Vessels, and the which should be equally distributed amongst them in relation to the Offices they bear in the Ship which had taken the said prize.  
3. That they should have ten pound for every piece of Cannon on board of such Ships as they should sink, or destroy by firing, or otherwise.  
4. That those who should enrol themselves before the forty days should be expired, should receive a months pay as a gratuity which should not be put to account.  
5 That Hospitals should be erected at Dover, Deal, and Sandwich, for such sick and wounded Men as should be brought on shore; and that a Stock should be settled for their maintenance, as also for the subsistence of such other sick and wounded men, as by reason of their Diseases and Wounds could not be brought on shore, or should be too far from Hospitals.   
Divers other Ordinances of the like nature were also settled, which did wonderfully encourage the Seamen and Mariners; so that toward the latter end of February; 1653. the English put forth a puissant Fleet to Sea, frighted with gallant men, who were resolved to fight it out, although at that time the Hollanders had made use of their best wits and stratagems, and had negotiated almost with all the Nations of Europe, to hinder the bringing into England any Pitch, Tarr, Masts, and such other necessaries for the Navigation.  
This brave Fleet being in a longing desire to encounter their enemies; on the eighteenth of February about eight in the morning, descried eighty Holland men of War conveying one hundred and fifty Merchantmen coming from Bourdeaux, Nants, Rouen, and other parts of France; 
A Fight between the English and the Hollander, near the Isle of Wight & Portland.  and just between the Isle of Wight and Portland, the foremost Frigates of the English Fleet, to wit, General Blake in the Triumph, followed by General Dean, and three or four others, began the fight; the rest of the English Fleet being towards the Coast, was not able to get up; insomuch, that from eight in the morning till two in the afternoon, this small squadron of General Blakes was enforced to stand out the brunt of above thirty of the enemy's ships, with which they incessantly fought, and demeaned themselves gallantly; till at length about two in the afternoon, as aforesaid, half of the Fleet got up to them, and began the fight for good and all, which ceased not but with the dark night. The English lost the Samson, a Ship which they had formerly taken from the Hollanders, and by reason she was quite shattered in pieces, they sunk her themselves after they had taken the men out of her; however she cost the Hollanders dear, for she sunk the Sip which had so evilly entreated her. On the ninteenth of February, the English again made up towards the Enemy, and gave them Chase for a long while together, and forced some of their Ships upon the Sands where they destroyed them. The day following, the English again assaulted the Hollanders, and the fight became more obstinate then on the two days before; but at length the Enemies having their bellies full, began to fire out of their Sterns, and like unto the Parthians to make a running fight of it; when as all their Merchantmen being not able to follow them, they became unto the English like unto so many Golden apples which stopped their pursuit of the Enemy. Towards the evening they came towards the height of Bullen, but the wind coming North, North-East, and consequently not fit to regain their own Coast, their sails and tackling being pretty well disordered, they resolved to come to an Anchor. The English in this fight took about fifty Merchantmen and nine men of War, they sunk several besides those the Enemies themselves sunk to save their men; their Ships having been sorely shattered upon the Coast of France; there were above two thousand of their dead bodies found floating, and there were above fifteen hundred Prisoners brought up to London. General Blake was hurt in this encounter, having done as much as could be expected from a gallant Seaman; and likewise several of his Officers and persons of Mark, who behaved themselves courageously, were both hurt and killed on this occasion. It is hard justly to describe the loss which the Hollanders sustained in this burnt, by reason that parties frequently endeavour to silence their disgraces, and that the Sea doth usually better swallow up and hide the events and effects of such bloody Sea-fights than the Land. The Hollander by this prodigious and vast loss, being touched to the quick, did send a Letter to the Parliament, to endeavour to mediate a means to terminate these Differences, but the said letter being signed only by States of Holland and West Freizland, the Parliament made answer unto by a letter, witnessing their earnest desires to accommodate things in an amicable way, and so to stop the current of so bloody a War, but the said Negociation produced not the expected effect.  
Mean time Fortune, which is as unconstant as the Sea itself, found out a way to produce the effects of her unstabillity better on this Element then on the Land; and this Goddess being thus exasperated at the constant prosperity of the English, would let them see that she had as great an advantage over their valour at Sea, as their Valour had over her in their Land fights: Wherefore to bereave them of her Land-aids, she surpriseth them in foreign Seas, and causes them to seel one of her back-blows when they least of all expected it. Wherefore the English having by a stratagem recovered again the 
The Phoenix regained.  Phoenix Frigate from the Hollanders; as she lay at an Anchor in the Mole of Leagorne, disposed themselves to a second encounter with the Hollanders in those Seas.  

A second Sea-fight in the Levant between the English and the Dutch.  Captain Badiley with nine men of War set sail from Porto-Longone, to deliver and free certain Frigates Commanded by Captain Appleton, which were by twenty two Holland men of War cooped up in the Mole of Legorne, and had been detained in the like manner for several Months; the mischance was, that both these Squadrons could not come to fight the Hollanders at one and the self same time, for Captain Appleton and his Ships setting sail out of the said Mole sooner than they should have done, were immediately surrounded by the whole Holland Fleet, who being more in number, had also the advantage of the wind. The Dutch Admiral seconded by two other great Ships, fell upon the Leopard a smug Frigate, carrying fifty piece of Cannon, who for the space of five hours together maintained a stout fight against all the said Ships, whereas being overpowered by the number of their men, she fell into the Enemy's hands; and a Cannon-bullet having unhappily fired the Bonaventure's powder, occasioned the loss of her without Labour or Valour to the Enemy, for she was blown up; a loss which otherwise would have cost them dear. The Pilgrim having sustained the brunt of four or five Holland Ships for a long while together had her Main and Mizen-Masts both shot down, and so was taken, being overpowered with numbers which she was not able to resist.  
The Levant-Merchant, another English Frigate, maintained a long fight against a great Holland Ship of thirty six Guns, and being just on the brink of obtaining the Victory over her Enemy, (whom she sunk downright a little after) was set upon a new by a fresh Ship as big as the former, with whom she fought two hours, and having lost all her men, was at length; taken. The Samson on the one side being assaulted by young Van-Trump, who commanded the Admiral of the Rere-Guard, and on the other side by a Fireship, was soon set on fire, and midst of the flames met with a Tomb which had some conformity to the noble heat with the which its company was animated. Thus you have a relation of the greatest misfortune which befell the English during the continuance of his whole War, and which was the more to be lamented, that it happened within sight of nine of their own Ships, commanded by Captain Badiley, who could not with all his endeavours come up to join with them, but who was nevertheless so happy and so prudent as to save his squadron, after he had done the best to relieve his companions, and had seen that the disaster was not to be remedied.  
But let us for a while quit the Sea, and take a view of some Land passages, and see in what a posture the Affairs of great Britain are with the neighbouring States.  
It is a thing worthy of observation and admiration both together, that our Protectors Ancestors did always bear this Motto in their Arms, Pax quoeritur Bello: which seemeth only to belong to Sovereign Princes, as if by a prophetical chance, or else rather by a Divine Providence, this Family, which as it seems was designed to bear the Sceptre, and to restore and give peace unto England after so bloody a Civil War, and so many other foreign broils, had received this glorious Motto as an earnest of its future Grandeur; which said Motto doth in substance contain all the mystery of the Politics, and comprehend the two powers which God doth give to those whom he establisheth his Lieutenant's upon Earth. In effect, we may observe that peace which seemed to have embraced our incomparable Oliver, and as it were to have been incorporated with him, hath ever since grown up with him, until such time as its powerful branches, which increased and grew up to an infinite height, had spread it self so far, as that this dutiful Daughter of Heaven whose growth is limited by God, being not able to follow him no longer, was constrained only to fix herself to the body of the tree, and to suffer the branches to extend themselves to the other sides of the Seacoasts, for to deprive that Nation of Peace which doth least deserve it, having extended the War and her Tyrannies throughout all the inhabitable parts of the World. For as soon as his late Highness, our dread Protector, had attained to the power (by the means and force of Arms) in England, Scotland, and Ireland, Peace immediately broke forth, and resplendently shown throughout all those parts, and stopped those floods of Blood which could never have been staunched, but by the greatest branches of our illustrious Oliver: and not sooner had his Voice a transcendency in and over the Counsels, but Peace continually accompanied his Oracles. Do but with me tract the course of his fortunes, and you will find that bright Astrea doth follow, or rather doth conduct and lead by the hand this blessed Deity, and chains her up to the triumphal Chariot, there to humble her and to make her know, that this our Oliver was not the work of her hands, but rather of her own, since it is the end which doth always Crown glorious and magnanimous Actions. Now whereas the last Victory which General Blake obtained at Sea, had gained a great stock of credit unto his late Highness, both at home and abroad; the whole English Nation began to witness a desire that he would undertake the Management of Affairs, and put himself at the Helm of the Government; and likewise all Strangers and Foreigners endeavoured to be in a good understanding with England. 
A Portugal Ambassador obtains Peace.  The King of Portugal sent an extraordinary Ambassador over into England, with a gallant retinue, the stateliness whereof savoured of the profusion of Peace, which was also immediately granted them on very advantageous Conditions for England.  
And almost at the same time, two deputations were admitted from France, which Kingdom was again for the second time unfortunately divided by a Civil War. 
French Deputations sent to England.  The French King by his Deputy demanded the restitution of those Ships which had been taken by the English, as they were going to the relief of Dunkirk; and on the other part, the Prince of Conde sent a Deputy from Bourdeaux (besieged by the King) to demand relief; but all the Civility England could show either of them at that time, was, not to assent at all to their demands, and by that means remove all occasions of jealousy from each party: besides that business being too much exasperated between England and France, there could not so sudden an occomodation be expected; and as to the Bourdelois, all men know those French Quarrels are as short as violent.  

Deputations concerning a peace with Holland.  In like manner, several other foreign Princes and States sent over Deputations into England, to endeavour to moderate a Peace between this Commonwealth and the Hollanders, as amongst the rest, the Queen of Sweeden; The Cantons of Switzes, the Imperial Hansiatick Towns of Hamborough and Lubeck: But at that time there was such a combustion in the mind of the English, who were at variance amongst themselves, as that there was no appearance of thinking of any peace with strangers and foreigners. Affairs being therefore thus embroiled at home, his late Highness, as then General, seeing that in the Parliament, the particular Interests overswayed the public Good, and that it was aparent, all their drifts tended but to establish themselves into a perpetual Senate, contrary to the ancient Customs and Liberties of England, which require that Parliaments should have their successions, and should only be convocated from time to time; and that therefore the members of the house wiredrawed Affairs by unnecessary Centestations, which only served to publish the designs, and to retard the execution of them. This our General, I say, who was designed by the Divine Providence to establish peace and tranquillity in England upon surer, more solid, and more glorious Foundations, entered the Parliament House, accompanied by the Chief Officers of the Army, and briefly represented unto them the Reasons why the Parliament ought to be dissolved; which was also accordingly done. 
The ●…ong Parliament dissolved.  The Speaker with the rest of the Members immediately departing the House; some by force, some through fear, and others not without a great deal of reluctancy and murmuring. No one living soul was aggrieved at this action, neither was it so much as endeavoured to be questioned or redressed by any one, all the world believing, that in case the said change should bring no good with it, at least it would not put Affairs in a worse predicament than they were: so that the sovereign Senate was dissolved, as you have heard, and the power thereof was transferred into the hands of those who better deserved it, since they acquired it by the points of their Swords; and that they have since made appear, that they knew how to use it with more prudence and moderation. Nay, the Parliament-men were even made so cheap unto the people, that they became their reproach and obloquy, and so were a consolation to the unfortunate, who saw themselves revenged on them by those from whom they had least cause to suspect or expect it. There was not so much as the least questioning nor censuring of the cause of this revolution, but every one found it expedient according unto the several satisfactions which he thereby received or hoped for; and as the Army was only looked upon as Soldiers of fortune, whom the necessity of the Affairs, or the dangerous conjuncture of the times had enforced to take up Arms, so that which was past and gone was not laid to their charge; and the world could not choose but applaud them for what happened at present, but expect from them for the future that generosity which the Military profession doth inspire into great courages, as to this very day all men do enjoy, and are sensible of the favourable effects which have since been produced. However, the universal joy which was so evidently to be seen in all their countenances did not hinder, but that it was thought fitting for the better satisfaction of the generality, and of all men in particular, to publish the causes, the grounds and reasons of the dissolving of the Parliament, which was accordingly ordered by the General and by his Council, consisting of the chief Officers of the Army, and was manifested accordingly in a Declaration, whereof the following are the chief Heads.  

The Lord General Cromwell and his Counsels Manifest for the dissolving the Parliament.  That after God was pleased marvellously to appear for his people, in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a degree of peace, and England to perfect quiet, whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the people the harvest of all their Labour, Blood, and Treasure, and to settle a due liberty in reference to Civil and Spiritual things, whereunto they were obliged by their duty, engagements, and those great and wonderful things God had wrought for them; But they made so little progress, that it was matter of much grief to the good people of the Land, who thereupon applied themselves to the Army, expecting redress by their means; who though unwilling to meddle with the Civil Authority, agreed that such Officers as were members of Parliament, should move them to proceed vigorously in reforming what was amiss in the Commonwealth, and in settling it upon a Foundation of Justice and Righteousness; which being done, it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations. But finding the contrary, they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in August, 1652. which produced no considerable effect, nor was any such progress made therein, as might employ their real intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for; but rather in averseness to the things themselves, with much bitterness and aversion to the people of God, and his Spirit acting in them, insomuch that the Godly party in the Army were rendered of no other use then to countenance the ends of a corrupt party for effecting their desires, in perpetuating themselves in the supreme Government. For the obviating of these evils, the Officers of the Army obtained several meetings with some of the Parliament, to consider what remedy might be applied to prevent the same; but such endeavours proving ineffectual, it became evident that the Parliament through the corruption of some, the jealousy of others, and the non-attendance of many, would never answer those ends which God, his People, and the whole Nation expected from them; But that this Cause which God had so greatly blessed, must need languish under their hands, and by degrees be lost; and the Lives, Liberties, and Comforts of his people be delivered into their Enemy's hands: all which being sadly and seriously considered by the honest people of the Nation, as well as by the Army, it seemed a duty incumbent upon us who had seen so much of the power and presence of God, to consider of some 〈◊〉 means whereby to establish Righteousness and Peace in these Nations. And after much debate it was judged necessary, That the supreme Government should be by the Parliament devolved upon known persons, fearing God, and of approved integrity, for a time, as the most hopeful way to countenance all God's people, reform the Law, and administer Justice impartially, hoping thereby the people might forget Monarchy, and understand their true interest in the election of successive Parliaments; that so the Government might be settled upon a Right Basis, without hazard to this glorious Cause, or necessitating to keep up Armies for the defence of the same. And being still resolved to use all means possible to avoid extraordinary courses, we prevailed with about twenty Members of Parliament to give us a Conference, with whom we plainly debated the necessity and justness of our proposals; the which found no acceptance, but instead thereof, it was offered, that the way was to continue still this Parliament, as being that from which we probably might expect all good things. This being vehemently insisted on, did much confirm us in our apprehensions, that any love to a Representative, but the making use thereof to recrute and so to perpetuate themselves, was their aim in the Act they had then under consideration. For preventing the consumating whereof, and all the sad and evil consequences which upon the grounds aforesaid must have ensued, and whereby at one blow the interest of all honest men, and of this glorious cause had been endangered to be laid in the dust, and these Nations embroiled in new troubles, at a time when our Enemies abroad are watching all advantages against, and some of them actually engaged in War with us, we have been necessitated (though with much repugnancy) to put an end to this Parliament. This Declaration and these proceedings of his late Highness, than General, and of his Council of Officers of the Army, were backed by the consent of the Generals at Sea, and by all the Captains of the Fleet, and in like manner by all the other Generals and Officers of the Land forces, both in Scotland, Ireland, and the other Territories.  
But least the Magistrates and other public Ministers of Justice and Policy, suprized at this sudden change, should chance to swerve from their duties; or that other persons should thereby take occasion to foment disturbances prejudicial to the Commonwealth, this ensuing Declaration was published. 
A Declaration for settling a Council of State.  Whereas the Parliament being dissolved, persons of approved fidelity and honesty are, according to the late Declaration of the two and twentieth of April last passed, to be called from the several parts of this Commonwealth to the supreme authority; and although effectual proceedings are, and have been had for perfecting those resolutions, yet some convenient time being required for the assembling of those persons, It hath been found necessary for preventing the mischiefs and inconveniencies which may arise in the mean while to the public Affairs, that a Council of State be constituted to take care of, and intent the peace, safety, and present management of the Affairs of this Commonwealth; which being settled accordingly, the same is hereby declared and published, to the end that all persons may take notice thereof, and in their several places and stations, demean themselves peaceably, giving obedience to the Laws of the Nation as heretofore, in the exercise and administration whereof, as endeavours shall be used. That no oppression or wrong be done to the people, so a strict account will be required of all such as shall do any thing to endanger the public peace and quiet upon any presence whatsoever. Dated April the thirtieth 1653. subscribed Oliver Cromwell.  
These domestic revolutions did in a manner put a new life into the Dutch again, who thought that they would cause some eminent distractions and disturbances as well on the Seas as by Land. But they were very much deceived, for the Maratine Affairs of these Lands, on which either the good or bad fortune of England depended, were carried on with so much dexterity, diligence, and vigour, as that they had reason to confess, that the change of the Pilot, and the entire obedience which is rendered to an absolute Captain, who hath the sole power in his hands, are but ill signs that the Vessel should be therefore the worse guided and conducted. And to give you a proof of the truth, the Hollanders having at that time a vast number of Merchantmen in their Harbour's ready to set Sail, durst not hazard them through the Channel, although they had a Fleet of ninety Men of War to conduct them. But conducted them by North of Scotland to reach the Sound, where they met with another great Fleet of their Merchantmen, some coming from Russia, some from the East-Indies, and others from France, all which they carried home into Holland; after which, hearing that the English Fleet was steered Northward, instead of seeking them out, and to take the advantage of the English divisions, as they had pretended and bragged, they amuzed themselves in making several bravadoes in such places where there was neither honour, glory, nor benefit to be acquired: at length they steered towards the Downs where they carried away two or three despicable Barks, and sent some volleys of Cannon into Dover, their Hearts and their Sails being equally puffed up with these imaginary successes, which savouring something of their old Masters Jack Spaniard's Rodomontadoes, they thought they could not better express them then at that time, saying, That the English Fleet was to be cried out by the sound of Trumpets and Horns, as if she had been lost. But the Wind being as unconstant as the Sea itself, and as dangerous, quickly tacked about to their confusion, and the Old Proverb, That all the evil comes from the North, was made good to their cost and charges.  
For the English Fleet returning on a sudden from the Northward, on the twenty eighth of May came into Yarmouth-Road, and on the first of June next ensuing, being at an Anchor, they discovered two Dutch Galliots, to which they gave chase till they came up to the body of the Dutch Fleet. 
A Fight between the English and the Dutch on the North Foreland.  But the weather proving over-covered and dusky, they could not join with them. On the third, the English being at Anchor near unto the South-point of the Gober, descried the Enemy about two Leagues to Leeward of them, being about one hundred Sail of Ships, wherefore without loss of time the English weighed, and made up to them. The engagement began between eleven and twelve at noon, and for some hours the fight was sharp until about six in the evening; the enemy bore right way before the wind, and so ended that day's fight. On the next morning both Fleets came in sight of each other, but there was so little wind stirring that they could not engage each other till twelve at noon; 
The Dutch worsted and many Ships taken.  when as they fell to it again for good and all, and after four hours fight, which proved very disadvantageous to the Hollanders, they thought it not fitting to contest any longer, but to get away as well as they could; However a fresh westerly gale arising very opportunely, the English being encouraged by their flight, bare in so hard amongst them, that they took eleven Men of War and two water Hoys: in which fight one thousand five hundred prisoners were taken, and six Captains, besides which, six Holland Men of War were sunk, and all the rest of the Dutch Fleet had according to all probability been cut off, had not the night happily closed in for them. But the darkness growing on, and the English finding themselves near the Flats, and necessitated to stay and mend their Sails and Rigging, which were much shattered and torn, about ten at night they came to an Anchor. The greatest loss the English sustained was of General Dean one of their Admirals, who was taken off by a great shot in the first day's engagement, and whose death did sufficiently recompense all the Enemy's loss; he having been a person of reputed Valour and great experience, besides which, there was one Captain slain, and about one hundred and fifty men, and two hundred and forty hurt, but not one of the English Ships were lost. That which greatly encouraged the English and disheartened the Dutch, was the arrival of General Blake to their aid and succour with sixteen good Men of War very opportunely. Now the Dutch by the favour of the night being gotten off, and having retired themselves into the Weiling, the 〈…〉, and the Texel, the English called a Council of all the Officers, to advise on, what would be most expedient to be undertaken to improve this Victory to the best advantage; and it was resolved, to advance with the whole Fleet as fast as they could to the Weiling as far as they could possibly approach with safety, by reason of the Flats and Shelves, and in this wise forage the whole Dutch Coasts till they came to Texel: which being accordingly performed, and being arrived at the said height, they there remained a pretty while, taking every day some prizes more or less, to the great prejudice 
The Hollanders pursued and blocked up in their own Ports.  of the Dutch, whose Ships could neither get in or out of any of their Ports, as long as the English continued there: Nor could their Men of War unite and come to a head to make a body to come forth. Wherefore leaving them to take breath, and to recollect their spirits again, and so to think of the best means for their Deliverance, we will return for England again with our Fleet and see how squares stands there.  
General Cromwell who always made use of more moderation than power in the Rise of his Fortune, being unwilling to deprive England of her ancient Liberties and Privileges, resolved together with the chief Officers of his Army to assemble a Parliament. 
A Parliament called by General Cromwell.  To invest them with the power of administering and exercising the Laws, and to appoint them as it were Judges of his Council and Government. And the Warrants requisite thereunto were issued out unto such persons as through England, Scotland, and Ireland, were chosen by himself and his Council, to assist in the said Parliament, for them to meet in the Councel-Room at White-Hall on the fourth day of the month of July, in the year of our Lord. 1653. A form of which said Warrant you have, as followeth, viz.  

For as much as upon the dissolution of the late Parliament, it became necessary that the Peace, Safety, and good Government of this Commonwealth should be provided for; and in Order thereunto, divers persons fearing God, and of approved sidelity and honesty, are by myself, with the advice of my Council of Officers, nominated, to whom the great charge and trust of so weighty Affairs is to be Committed. And having good assurance of the love to, and courage for God, and the interest of his Cause, and the good people of this Commonwealth, I Oliver Cromwell, Captain General, and Commander in chief of all the Army and Forces raised and to be raised within this Commonwealth, do hereby Summon and Require you (being of the persons nominated) personally to be and appear at the Councel-Chamber, commonly called or known by the name of the Councel-Chamber at White-Hall, within the City of Westminster upon the fourth day of July next ensuing the date hereof; then and there to take upon you the said trust to which you are hereby called and appointed to serve as a member for the County of 〈◊〉, and hereof you are not to fail.  
Given under my hand and seal the day of 〈◊〉 July, 1653. subscribed Oliver Cromwell.   
And in conformity to this Convocation, the nominated for every County did accordingly meet on the fourth of July in the Council Chamber, where the Lord General Cromwell, being accompanied with the greatest part of the Officers of the Army, delivered himself to the laid members in an excellent Speech; in which, his Prudence, Valour, and Piety, were at once manifested; but chiefly his passionate tenderness for the good of the Commonwealth in General, and for the peace and tranquillity of each member in particular: so that we may justly attribute unto him the qualities both of a Caesar, and of a Moses, by reason of his elegant Speech which he prosecuted in this manner.  

The General's Speech to the Members.  By recounting the many wonderful Mercies of God towards this Nation, and the continued Series of Providence by which he had appeared, in carrying on his Cause, and bringing Affairs to that present glorious condition wherein they were. He likewise manifested the progress of Affairs since the famous Victory at Worcester, as also the actings of the Army thereupon: After divers applications to the Parliament, and much waiting upon them, with the Grounds and necessities of their dissolving the last Parliament, which he declared to be for the preservation of this Cause, and the Interest of all honest men who had been engaged therein.  
In like manner, he set forth the clearness of the Call given to the Members then present, to take upon them the Supreme Authority; and from the Scriptures exhorted them to their duties, and encouraged them therein. He further desired them, that a tenderness might be used towards all conscientious persons of what Judgement soever. Which said Speech was pronounced with such a grate tone, and in such excellent manner, as it sufficiently manifested, that as he himself was throughly persuaded thereof, the Spirit of God acted in and by him, he had adorned it with no other eloquent phrase, save that of Holy Writ. The rest was a masculine and convincing stile, the comeliness whereof consisted in its plainness, without any Rhethorical or Artificial words, but single and pure, such as proceeded from our Saviour's Ministers, the which begat the peace, tranquillity, and glory of all men.  

The Instrument of Government delivered to the Parliament.  The Lord General's Speech being ended, he produced an Instrument under his own Hand and Seal, whereby he did with the Advice of his Officers, devolve and intrust the Supreme Authority and Government of this Commonwealth into the Hands of the persons there met in the manner aforesaid; who, or any Forty of them, were to be held and acknowledged the Supreme Authority of this Nation: unto whom, all persons within the same, and the Territories thereunto belonging, were to yield obedience and subjection. That they were to sit no longer than the third of November, 1654. And that three months before their dissolution, they were to make choice of other persons to succeed them, and whose Powers and Sitting should not exceed twelve Month's time; at the end of which, they were likewise to take care for a succession in the Government. Which said Instrument having been thus delivered unto them by the Lord General, he did again exhort them to take the Business to heart, and to set nothing before their eyes save the Glory of God, and the Good of Public Weal; promising them, that on his part, he would neither spare his Goods, Life, nor his Rest, to answer that great Mercy of God which he had shown them, in making choice of them to follow those tracks which the Divine Providence had set before them for their good, and for the glory and tranquillity of these Nations. Finally, he recommended them to the Almighty's protection, and so together with his Officers withdrew, leaving them to take their places in the former Parliament House, and to act accordingly; who forthwith named their Speaker, and took their places, meeting in the House and sitting in due form.  

John Lilburn demands Protection is denied and remitted to the Law.  Upon this change of Government, John Lilburne, the chief of the Levellers, of whom mention was formerly made, and who had been banished the Land upon an Act of the foregoing Parliament, thought to be protected by this, and cast himself upon the Lord General; who being unwilling to interpose matters of that nature, left him to the Law, whence he always freed himself by a most strong fatality of Fortune.  
And whilst this new Parliament is settling itself in England, let us look a while back into Scotland and Ireland, and see how things have prospered there since we left them. 
The state of Affairs in Scotland.  Now although the English were possessed of the best strong places and Forteresses of all Scotland, and of all the Castles and Forts of value in the Low-lands, yet however the High-landers who perceived their inaccessible Fortresses, did make continual excursions on the Low-lands, being a people hardy and laborious, faring hardly, used to the cold and rigorousness of those Climates, as swift and nimble as Stags; and however they have more Valour than Conduct, and more Temerity than Discipline, yet some of them chose to be commanded by Glencarne, Athol, the Lord Seafort, and others; who framing several small Bodies of them, would unexpectedly fall in upon, and surprise the Inhabitants and English Soldiery, without either giving or taking quarter, spoiling and murdering all that came in their way; and when the English would make show to charge them, and to pursue them, in case they found themselves to be the weaker, they then betook themselves to their heels with such swiftness, and sheltering themselves in such unaccessible Rocks and Holds, that it was impossible to pursue or light upon them: by which advantages they were emboldened to commit several outrages, murders, and had like to have surprised an English Ship which came to an anchor at Leevis Island, some of which ships company going on shore to get in fresh water and provisions, were detained by the Lord Seafort, who also sent a ridiculous Summons to the said ship for its surrender, freighted with threats and detestations of the English Government, although the said ship the Fortune, bearing more sails then their threats could fill, laughed at their temerity, and got off at will.  

The state of Affairs in Ireland.  Moreover, the state of Affairs in Ireland were much about the same predicament; for the English having reduced all the strong Holds of that Country, and having shipped away all those who had born Arms in the last Wars, to be transported into Spain, France, Flanders, and other parts whither themselves would go, those only excepted, who during the first Rebellion, had a hand in the murdering of the Protestants, and who were brought up through all the parts of the Country, were tried, condemned, and excuted in great numbers, they drove the rest of the Irish into Cannaught, within the heart or centre of the Country; where they are cooped in by the English, who have possessed their Lands, and have given them others in that Province to the value of them: however, the English were continually molested by the Outlaws of that Nation, the Tories, much like the Moss-Troopers, or Italian Bandittoes, but of late they are pretty well calmed, and almost quite exterminated.  

An admirable effect of his Highness' Prudence and Justice  Mean while the continual Wars in Ireland, as well as the said Banishment and Executions, having left above one half of Ireland almost as it were desert, and left all the rest of the Cowtrey as a prey to the Conqueror; hereupon his late Highness made use of this occasion to give an evidence both of his Justice and Prudence together. For whether the Exchequer at that time was bare of Moneys or no, or whether this great Politician had wilfully deferred the paying of the English Forces in Ireland till this very time, the better to settle the English in those parts, he gave unto them those Lands which themselves had conquered, in part of their payment; whereby he did according to the usual saying, kill two birds with one stone, if not three; which is, that at the same also he did recompense them with that which was far more worth than that which was owing unto them, and a far more worth than that which was owing unto them, and a far more solid thing, which was not to be easily taken from them; so that part of the Irish Lands were allotted to pay the Soldiery, and at the same time to establish and settle the Conquests of Ireland, by giving them a subsistence to maintain and preserve them in those parts. As for the other part of the said Lands, we must look back, how in the beginning of these Wars, the State being not in a capacity to furnish sufficient moneys to defray the charges thereof, was Constrained to borrow monies of private persons on the promises of paying them both Principal and Interest, as soon as the Conquests of Ireland should be perfected; and however since that time the scene of Affairs was mightily changed, that those who were engaged in this promise, and who at that time governed the State, had no more power or might, and that his late Highness was not in reason bound to subscribe or make good those Conditions or Articles on which they received the said moneys, nor to heed the same at all; yet however by a transcendent act of Justice he consented unto the disposal of the remaining Lands towards the reinbursing of the Irish Adventurers, and by this means made his Laurels become as fruitful as if they had been watered by the sweat and labours of those people, and brought up at their costs and charges; so that he both satisfied the Soldier's Arrears, and the Adventurers Advances to their own content and hearts desires, and to his own praise and glory as long as the memory of man lasteth.  

Continuance of the Dutch Affairs.  Mean while the Hollanders being quite tired by their continual losses, and seeing that Fortune remained obstinate to their prejudice, and seldom or never frowned on the English, resolved at length once more to come to a Treaty, and to this purpose sent four Commissioners 
Holland Commissioners sent over to treat.  into England, viz. the Lords, Beveringe, Newport, Yongstal, and Vanderperre, which last no sooner arrived here, but took leave of the world; so that the other three pursued their Negotiation with hopes of a good success: yet however these fair appearances did not produce either a cessation or a suspension of Arms, but both parties treated and fought together, insomuch that all kind of hostilies were exercised on both sides against each other; and as they seemed both desirous to show the most of their powers, and that there was no necessity at all of a peace, so they came at length to a notable fight even during the Treaty, and the which did not a little conduce to hasten the Conclusion of the peace. The manner of which fight was as followeth.  

A notable fight between the Dutch and English during the Treaty.  On the twenty ninth of july, two English Scouts, where abroad at Sea on intelligence, discovered the Holland Fleet coming forth of the Wielings of about ninety five sail, all men of War; and as soon as the English Fleet received notice thereof, they made all the fail they possibly could toward them, but the Enemies descrying our Fleet, witnessed a desire not as yet to fight and so stood away. But by five of the clock that evening some of the English Frigates getting up to them, engaged them into a Fight; and soon after, thirty of our Ships seconding of them, began the Fight for good and all, and were constrained to bear the brunt of the whole Holland Fleet, by reason the rest of the English Fleet being asterne could not get up to engage. However they were only separated by the night which forced both Fleets to retreat; and the Fight although it was but short, yet it proved smart, and the Hollanders had several of their Ships put out of a condition to serve, being so soarly maimed, that they were forced to send them away in the night, by the favour whereof they got by the English, and strove to join with a relief of five and twenty good Ships which which were coming to the mouth of the Texel.  

The Fight renewed.  On the morrow, the Hollanders being encouraged by their new recruits which they had joined with the night before, by reason of the thick and fowl weather which hindered the English from debarring them thereof, fell first of all upon the English Fleet with a great deal of gallantry and resolution; and from five in the morning till one in the afternoon fought as courageously as possibly men could, either in respect of the Valour they showed, or in their conduct and dexterity in managing of the said Fight; and the English on their sides being well pleased to have to do with so gallant and resolute an enemy, and who promised them a great deal of glory in their manful and vigorous resistance, received them as gallantly on their parts; and the fight being by this time well exasperated on both sides, they passed through, and upon each other with so much violence, impetuosity, and dexterity, as that it might be easily conjectured each particular person knew that the whole decision of the War depended on the event of this combat. The Sea was never so much pressed by its contrary Elements, and the combatants which covered the Decks and Galleries appeared like unto so many Salamanders that live in the fire; and indeed the zeal and earnestness which transported them were of the very same nature; each Vessel chose another to try the day withal, and whensoever one was charged by two or three, more or less, that only served to waken her dexterrity, and to excite her resolution; and those who could not burn, destroy, or sink their Enemies by a close boarding and grasping hand to hand, endeavoured to dispute that which their Cannons could not effect. The Fight at length became so obstinate and violent, as that the Air was red by fire, and the Sea with blood, and these two floating Forests, whose high and thick Masts sunk as fast as the Corn under the Mower's hand, gave to believe by their redoubled and obstinately continued blows, that the Sea would at length serve both the Fleets for a Triumph and a Tomb.  

The Dutch Admiral Van-Trump slain.  And in the very midst of this contest, the Holland Admiral Van-Trump being wounded, presaged his death, wherefore like a Lion, who having received his mortal wound by the hand of the Huntsman, redoubleth his force ever at the Article of his expiring; so this famous and renowned Admiral did sell his life at a dear rate, and had received that happiness to be sprinkled with the blood of his Enemies in that barbarous Element in which he had so often sown his Palms and Laurels.  
In like manner, the Generals Blake and Monk did most admirably well sustain the last Assaults of this desperate dying Admiral, who desired not so much to live as to revenge his own Death; Both these gallant Generals I say were present every where, and in all occasions; and where their persons could not show themselves, Vice-Admiral Pen and Rere-Admiral Lawson, so well supplied their places, as that the Hollanders encountered none but Admirals wheresoever they charged. Finally, all the English as well Officers as Seamen behaved themselves wondrously well, and had the Honour to obtain jointly with the Laurels of War, the Roses and Olive-branches of a glorious Peace. And amongst the rest of the Holland Ships of note, the Garland a stout man of War, which the Hollanders had formerly taken from the English was laid aboard by the Worcester Frigate, and was fired and burnt by her. The Triumph and the Andrew of the English side were also boarded by two or three Dutch Fire Ships, and received some damage in their sails and rigging, but were quickly again cleared by the Valour and industry of the nearest Ships, and some of particular persons. As to the Holland's Fleet, it seemed to have been all on fire, so well did the English Fire Ships second by their dexterity the men of War, and the Cries of those who saw their ships rolling and sinking alike, were more formidable and loud then the roar of the Sea; so that as they endeavoured to avoid the flames, they were sure to find their deaths in the merciless Waves. There were at least twenty Holland men of War burnt and sunk in this fight, and almost all their Companies lost, although the English took more glory to save them, than their valour as it seems had to destroy them; the generosity of the English causing them to precipitate themselves midst all dangers whatsoever, to save the lives of above a thousand of their enemies: amongst which, there were six Captains which the Hollanders themselves had abandoned, by reason they were not in a capacity to save them.  

The Dutch put to flight.  Finally, the Hollanders seeing so great a number of their ships sunk and lost, began to despair of the Victory; and the spirits of their men being drowned and fallen, they thought it not fitting to expose themselves with the rest of the Fleet, to the hazard of a general defeat and rout, they faced about, and began to bear away with all the possible sail they could make towards the Texel. And the English not judging it expedient to engage too far upon the Dutch Coast by reason of the Flats, the Wind being also very uncertain and inconstant at that time, and moreover their sails and tackling being sufficiently torn and rend, they resolved at a Council of War, to set sail with the whole Fleet to Soles-Bay, to dispose of such ships as were disabled, and to put their wounded Men and Prisoners on shore, and sending two small Frigates to observe the Course they steered, who kept in sight of them till next morning by break of day, when as they steered into Texel Harbour, by the favour of certain Boats with Lights, which were sent them out to conduct them in. The loss which the English sustained in this Fight, was of about three hundred men who were slain outright; amongst which there were eight Captains, to wit, Graves, Chapman, Tailor, Newman, Crispe, Owen, Cox, and Peacock; the wounded were about seven hundred in number, whereof five were Captains, viz. Stokes, Seaman, Rous, Holland, and Cabitt, who all of them behaved themselves like persons of Courage and Conduct. As for the number of the killed and hurt on the Hollanders part, we can make no other guests thereat, save only according to the number of the ships which they lost, however several Letters from Holland certified, that in the Fight they lost about six thousand men.  
This Naval Conflict being the most bloody and most famous Fight which happened between the English and the Hollander since the Wars began, did evidently manifest what a kind of Martial genius it was, that had gotten such a transcendency upon the deciding of a Victory; and how wise and vigorous a Pilot there was both at the Helm of the State and of the Fleet: So likewise the advantages which were obtained by this Victory were very considerable, during the conjuncture of Affairs at the present, just on the point of an accommodation, which also ensued both unto the profit, honour, and glory of England. And in reference thereunto, the Parliament did acknowledge this so important and considerable a peace of service by all the marks of honour, which could be worthily conferred on persons who had so valiantly acquitted themselves. To the Generals, Blake, Monk, Pen, and Lawson, and to the other Flag Captains, Gold Chains were presented as precious tokens of their favour and acknowledgements; and to the other Officers of the Fleet, silver Medals were distributed, which although they were not of so much value yet they bear as great a weight in the Scales and Balances of honour and glory.  

The weakness of the new Parliament.  And this very Parliament which truly had procured very beneficial Orders in matters of the lesser consequence, extremely advantageous to the people, in respect of the small time during which they had been assembled, however in the greater concernments they had not so good Fortune; there was so much of confusion in their Counsels, such a contrariety in their opinions, such a dissonancy in their actings, and disparity in their aims and projections, as that this Senate was more like unto a Monster with many heads, than a well ordered grand assembly, or supreme Council; insomuch, that there was little or no appearance it should continue out the prefixed time of their sitting. Moreover, the chiefest designs by their long and tedious discussions and debates did even perish and vanish through the loss of those urgent actions which are the soul of execution, or became public by a too public devulging of such secrets as are not usually discovered by great Statesmen, until the very effects of them are ready to appear. All which reasons being naturally pondered by the wisest and most zealous persons interessed in the glory of the English Nation, the good and welfare of the Commonwealth, and particularly by his excellency the Lord General, it was resolved that the Parliament should be dissolved; in reference hereunto, on the twelfth of December, 1653. as soon as the Parliament was met, A Member of the said House stood up and moved.  

A motion to dissolve the Parliament.  That the sitting of this Parliament as it was then constituted, being not thought proper nor fitting for the good of the Commonwealth, It was therefore requisite to deliver up unto the Lord General Cromwell, the powers which they had received from him. Which motion being seconded by the greatest part of the other Members, the House arose, 
The Parliament meant dissolved December, 12, 1653.  and the Speaker accompanied by the major part of the House departed, and went to White-Hall, where they did by a Writing under their hands (being the greater number of the Members sitting in Parliament) resign unto his Excellency the Power which they had received from him, and the which was by the Speaker presented to his said Excellency accordingly, in the Name of the whole House.  
No sooner was the Parliament dissolved and that Affairs of moment and weight came crowding in apace, but that there was a necessity (during the intervals of Parliament) to form (as it is called in foreign parts) an upper Council, and to create a superior dignity, to avoid both tediousness and confusion in the dispatch of Affairs; which said dignity holding the midway between a Monarchial and Democratical, might avoid the inconveniencies which these two extremities are subject unto; and the thing itself having been well pondered and maturely deliberated, the choice of the person on whom this dignity was to be conferred, was soon made, God having pointed him out unto them by a mark, those admirable and uninterrupted Victories which he caused him to gain; and by those excellent productions of a mind, which had something of supernatural in it, and partaked of the Divinity.  

The Lord General Cromwell chosen and sworn Lord Protector.  Wherefore the Lord General Cromwell was Elected, Declared, and Sworn at Westminster, in the presence of all the Judges and Justices, the Barons of the Exchequer, the keepers of the Liberties of England, the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City of London, with most of the chief Officers of the Army, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Islands and Territories thereunto belonging; and at the same time several Articles were presented to the Lord Protector, by which he was to govern the people; which being red unto him, he took a solemn Oath to perform and see them kept in the presence of the whole assembly, protesting moreover, that he would mind nothing so much as the good of the Commonwealth, the Glory of God, and the Honour of the English Nation.  

The chief heads of the Articles of Government were as followeth.  

The Protector Sworn to the ensuing Articles.  1. That the Protector should call a Parliament every three years.  
2. That the first Parliament should assemble on the third of September, 1654.  
3. That he should not dissolve the Parliament till it had sat five months.  
4. That such Bills as he should not sign within twenty days should pass without him.  
5. That he should have a select Council to assist him, not exceeding one and twenty, nor less than thirteen.  
6. That immediately after his Death the Council should choose another Protector before they rose.  
7. That no Protector after him should be General of the Army.  
8. That the Protector should have Power to make Peace or War.  
9 That with the consent of his Council he may make Laws which shall be binding to the Subjects during the intervals of Parliament, etc.   
Immediately after which, the Lord General Cromwell, without the divesting of himself of the Command of the Army, (which he preferred before all other charges) took upon him the title of Highness, and the dignity and name of Lord Protector. A very fit appellation, in regard of the Infantine, and as yet growing State of England, which the several Factions and Divisions, as also the different Opinions in Religion would have exposed to a numberless kind of unavoidable miseries, had not a powerful Genius, armed with Force and Judgement, protected it from ripping up its Entrails and Bowels by its own hands. And immediately after, he was proclaimed Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, etc. 
The Lord Protector proclaimed.  First in the Palace yard at Westminster, by the Officers of State, and afterwards at the Royal Exchange by the Lord Major and Aldermen in their Scarlet Gowns.  
Some few days after the body of the City invited his Highness the Lord Protector to a most splendid feast and gallant entertainment, at Grocers-Hall; not so much to treat him with their good cheer, as with the resplendent testimonies of their joy, and with the submissive tenders of their devoires.  
His Highness would by no means refuse to give that satisfaction to their evidences of respect and joy; and the better to testify unto them on his behalf, the high value he put upon their care and love, he set forth towards them in as great a pomp and magnificence as befitted a person invested with so eminent qualities; and as one who having reaped so many Laurels, had newly restored peace and tranquillity unto three distracted Kingdoms.  

The manner of his Highness going to the City and reception there, was on this wise.  
His Highness' Lifeguard of Horse marched in the first place, after which followed the chief Officers of the Army on Horseback, and some of his Council of State: after them road two Pages bore headed in sumptuous Apparel; after them came twelve Lackeys in velvet Caps and grey Liveries, with silk and silver Fringe; then followed his Highness seated in a Chariot of State drawn by six beautiful Horses richly trapped, which by their lofty gate seemed to glory in their drawing so victorious a Hercules, triumphing over so many Monsters: and his Highness who always preferred the little ornaments of the Soul before those of the Body, was only clad in a dark coloured Suit and Cloak, the greatest part of the other Nobility attending in their Coaches and six horses.  
At Temple-Bar his Highness was met and received by the Lord Major and Aldermen; and the Recorder of the City saluted him with an excellent Speech, containing several expressions of Joy, Fidelity, and Obeisance, and of good Hopes of his prosperous and happy Government. His Highness having thanked him, alighted from his Chariot, and quitting his Cloak, put on a rich Riding Coat embroidered with Gold, and got up on Horseback on a Palfrey richly trapped, and was followed by three other led Horses of State. By which change of Garments, his Highness testified unto them, that when as occasions of the States-service should call upon him, he would descend from his Triumphal Chariot, where the glory of his Conquests had set him in rest, and mounting his Horse for Battle, would expose his Life as freely, as he formerly had done, for the peace and tranquillity of their City, and for the Liberty of England. The Lord Major road all the way bareheaded, as also carried the City Sword drawn before his late Highness the Lord Protector. By the one, representing the Respect and Obedience of the City; and by the other, its Fidelity and Resolution, to spill their Blood in the defence of the Peace of the State, and for the preservation of the Life and new Dignity of his Highness.  
The Streets were railed up, and the several Companies of the City in their Liveries sat on both sides of the way, with Streamers sticking up to distinguish each Company. Moreover, it is a thing worthy to be observed, how that the Character which God doth imprint on the Forehead of those whom he hath designed to be his Vicegerents on Earth, doth beget an astonishment and fear in the hearts of those where it cannot raise a respect; but in the others, both admiration and love: so that on all sides the Divine Providence compasseth its Glory, either by the means of its Justice or Mercy. And thus you see his Highness the Lord Protector passing through this great City, which was drawn up in Arms, having his Head only covered with Laurels, and his guarded with a simple though resplendent morsel of Glory; The one surrounding him to cover and protect him with her wings; and the disarmed Justice which accompanied this great Heroes footsteps, seemed to Led a naked and fettered Mars by a silken thread  

Sir Thomas Viner Knighted.  And thus after his Highness had been most splendedly entertained by the City, before he departed, he conferred the Honour of Knighthood upon the Lord Major, and left all the City filled with an admiration of his Heroic Virtues, and with a general satisfaction of his candour and generousness; their hopes being freighted with acclamations and good wishes.  
No sooner was his late Highness settled in the Supreme degree of his Protectorship, but just like the Sun elevated in a high sublime Sphere, he begat an infinite number of malignant Exhalations, which however were soon dissipated by his lustre and resplendency; and at the same time by his virtue, he gave a life and being to all those glorious actions which knowing men did expect from his sage Government.  

A Conspiracy discovered.  On the Eighteenth of February, 1653. a most dangerous Conspiracy which was hatched by the Royalists was discovered; several of the Conspirators were taken and sent to the Tower of London. But his Highness willing to begin his Government by an Act of Clemency; and to let the world see, that the Grandor of his new Dignity did only render him powerful to do good, he pardoned the said Delinquents, and caused them to be set at liberty.  

Addresses to his Highness from all parts.  Much about which time arrived Deputies from the several Counties and Shires as well of England, Stotland and Ireland, to congratulate his Highness happy Inauguration, and to assure him of their fidelity and submission to his Commands; all which his Highness received with a great deal of Candour, and repaied them with Use (to wit) the establishing of good and salutary Orders for the Peace and Tranquillity of the Commonwealth, and each Member thereof in particular; Nor did he forget to regulate the Spiritual Affairs, and out of an infinite number of Opinions, he begat a pleasant harmony; the seeming dissonance and harshness whereof, was only unsavoury to the ignorant, and to such as had stopped their ears.  

The Scots frame an Army.  Mean while the Scots animated by several discontented persons here in England, did levy an Army by Command from their King, and began to take heart of grace again, reassuming their former courage and hopes. The Earls of Glencarne and Kenmore were at the Head of four thousand Horse and Foot, joining several other small parties, which from all sides flocked down unto them. But Colonel Morgan was so vigilant and active, that before they could have time to Form a greater Body, he marched with fifteen hundred Horse and Foot, and on the seventh of February he arrived at Lough, 
The Scots defeated by Colonel Morgan.  which was the Enemies appointed Rendezvouz, where having charged them, after a short but smart Fight, he killed one hundred and fifty of them, and defeated all the rest, the Earl of Glencarne with much ado making his escape only with forty Horse. But all these small Bicker, and as it were shadows of War, did only serve as a foil to that most important and considerable Peace which both England and Holland was to reap at our oliver's hands.  

Peace with Holland concluded and proclaimed.  When as most part of the Winter was well nigh passed over in this Negociation at London, where the Hollanders had four Ambassadors who daily laboured to compass the same. Two of them, to wit, the Lords Newport and Youngstall re-passed into Holland about the Month of February, to communicate unto the High and Mighty Lords the States their Masters, the Conclusion of the Treaty, and to get them to ratify the same. On the third of March 1653/4. of the same Year, they returned back again, where they were received with all the pomp and state that could possibly be imagined, and might demonstrate the Joy which the Merchants conceived of the happy effects of so happy a Reconciliation. The next day they had Audience from his Highness, where declaring the full powers they had from the Lords States to ratify the said Peace which they had made, they desired a speedy Cessation of Arms should be published on both sides; and in conformity thereto, on the fifth Day of April next ensuing, the Articles of Peace were signed, sealed, and delivered on the behalf of both parties, and were accordingly published and proclaimed, to the general satisfaction of all men. And his Highness, the better to testify the particular pleasure he took therein, did most sumptuously treat the Holland Ambassadors; witnessing unto them by his noble Noble treatment, all the marks of Joy which might manifest and make good, by his Conduct and Entertainment, the old Motto of his Family, That War hath no other end save to beget a Peace.  
And as to the Affairs of Ireland, his Highness by his good Orders, and establishing the Natives in the Province of Cannaught, which is in the heart of Ireland, had settled all things so well in those parts, as that the English needed not to fear any either abroad or at home; 
The Affairs of Ireland settled.  and the Irish beginning to be sensible that the Yoke of a vigilant and absolute Protector was far more tolerable, and to be preferred before the Servitude of a feeble and tottering multitude, who only heeding their own preservations and particular interests, do abandon the People and their wellfares, either to their own capriciousness, or to the imbroils of ambitious and hot spirits, who abusing of the Commonalties simplicity and sincerity, run them headlong into Ruin.  
But some enemies of the State perceiving that it was impossible to hinder the Earth from bringing forth of good fruits, as long as it was animated by so sensible and feeling a warmth, resolved to beget an Eclipse of its Sun; and having covered it with darkness, to bring down Horror and Confusion upon it: wherefore a black Conspiracy was hatched again his late Highness' Life; but Heaven which had preserved 
A second conspiracy.  him for her glory, and for the good of England, and carried him through so many dangers during the Wars, did even as yet watch over him in the times of Peace, and miraculously preserved him for this heinous attempt, as well as from many others. Several of the Conspirators were apprehended; and amongst the rest, Mr. Thomas and John Gerrard, Brothers, John Jones an Apothecary, and Thomas Tender, Somerset Fox, and Peter Vowel, who being Tried and Condemned to die, Vowel was Hanged, John Gerrard by reason of his Birth was Beheaded; 
Mr. Vowel Hanged Mr. Gerrard Beheaded.  Thomas Gerrard and Fox were pardoned by his Highness, by reason of their ingenuous confessions, and some other further discoveries which they made of the Fact.  

The Portugal Ambassadors Brother Beheaded.  At the same time the Portugal Ambassadors Brother was likewise Beheaded, for having caused the Death of an English Gentleman, at a hubbub and quarrel made by the Portugals in the New Exchange: neither could States policy, nor the complacency and gallantry which are often used by Princes, to the prejudice of the Commenwealth, and of the particular members of the same, hinder the doing of Justice in this case; so much did the love of his Country, and the suffering of Justice to take place, prevail with his late Highness.  

The Scotch Highlanders rise in Arms.  Mean while, the Scotch Highlanders not being able to brook the English yoke, although they full well saw that their continual Conspiracies and Risings were discovered and crushed, yet they believed that a far greater and more considerable one might happily break forth and show themselves, in case any considerable party should rise in Arms; they therefore got together in a body, and General Middleton being passed out of Holland into Scotland, joined himself to them. But General Monk falling into the North of Scotland, and for some time driving them from place to place, did at length on the one and twentieth of July 1654. give them such a full charge at Loughberrie, that he defeated them and made them incapable of ever after thinking of appearing in Arms again. 
General Middleton defeated by General Monk.  However, all these happy successes, such an absolute power, and so invincible an Army at command, did not at all insult in his Highness' thoughts, nor puff up his mind, nor enhanced his authority, save only armed him with much precaution as he stood in need of, to maintain the Peace and Tranquillity of the People, to augment their wealth, and to increase the glory of the Commonwealth; therefore to produce that mediocrity which the Gown adds to Arms, and which public Counsels, do unto private Deliberations, on the third of September 1654. a Parliament 
A Parliament assembly September 3. 1654.  (which had been convocated by his Highness' Writs according to the tenor of the precedent ones) assembled at Westminster, and began its sitting, after the members had been present at a most learned and eloquent Sermon preached by Mr. Marshal, when as Mr. Lenthal was declared Speaker of the House; and as soon as they were met, they fell upon the questioning of the Power by which they were convocated, and doubted of its lawfulness; so that his late Highness considering with himself the evils which a new change might produce, caused a form and acknowledgement of the Government to be drawn up, which was to be signed by all the Members of the House before they were to meet again. The Tenor whereof followeth, viz.  

The Recognition to be signed by the Members before they were admitted to the House in the Parliament of September 3. 1654.  
I do hereby freely promise and engage to be true and faithful to the Lord Protector, and the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and shall not (according to the Tenor of the Indenture, whereby I am returned to serve in Parliament, propose, or give my consent to alter the Government, as it is settled in one person and a Parliament.   
After which subscrption, the Members were admitted to assemble again; but not at all minding those things which the State expected at their hands, and on the contrary, instead of cementing the commonalty in a perfect union; they fed them with vain and imaginary hopes, and endeavoured to disgust them with the Government: giving them to understand, that they should enjoy happy days again, which they could not have hoped for till then, and which they were to expect from their consultations and assemblings. Wherefore his Highness having had patience with them full five entire months, after he had several times exhorted them to follow more lawful courses, and not to forget their Duties by swerving from them in such a manner as they did: 
Parliament d●●●●ved January 10. 1655.  But seeing all this gained nothing upon their Spirits, his Highness dissolved the Parliament on the tenth day of January, 1655 five Months after its Convocation: and truly it was high time to put a period to their Consultation, which only tended to have ripped up again the old sores of the State, which his late Highness had so happily closed up; and to have engaged England into a worse Relapse than its former Malady.  

Several Conspiracies discovered.  And the venom and rancour which was hatched in the said Parliament was so general, that it had spread itself through all the Counties of England. Sir Henry Littleton, and Sir John Packington, chief Actors in this Conspiracy, were apprehended; and Major Wildman on the behalf of the Levellers was surprised and seized on, as he was dictating a Paper to one of his Servants, or rather a Libel, the Title whereof was, A Declaration containing the Motives and Reasons which oblige us to take up Arms against Oliver Cromwell. Nor did this discovery at all dishearten the Conspirators, the business being so general, and so many People being engaged therein, insomuch, that they ceased not to carry on the Design, which they grounded more upon the force then the fear thereof: and immediately News was brought, that a party of two hundred armed men had entered the Town of Salisbury 
A Rising at Salisbury.  on Sunday about midnight, commanded by Sir Joseph Wagstaff, Penruddock, and Jones, who had been formerly Officers in the late King's Army. They presently seized on all the Inns, and chief Houses; and whereas at that time the Assizes were held at that place, they were so bold as to take away the Judges Commissions and Patents; and having likewise taken all their Horses, they went away and marched towards Pool.  

A Rising in Shropshire.  At the same time a second party of these Risers did endeavour to surprise the Town and Castle of Shrewsbury, but being discovered, their design failed.  

A Rising in Montgomery.  In Montgomeryshire eight hundred men got to a head, which marching backwards and forwards, daily increased; and committed all kind of Acts of Hostility.  

A Rising in Nottinghamshire.  There likewise came tidings from Nottinghamshire, that a party of five hundred Horse had been seen together in Sheerwood Forest, with several Carts laden with Ammunitions; who making an halt at an Inn which was situated from the Road, to consult on their Business, were seized with a Panic fear: and no one of their Enemies appearing or pursuing them, they cried out that they were betrayed; and so betook themselves to their heels, some one way some another, in a confused manner.  

A Rising framing in Northumberland.  So likewise did Colonel Lilburn send word out of Northumberland, that they were busy in framing of a party there also, but that they had dissipated themselves through their own Fears and Jealousies.  

A rising in Yorkshire.  Finally, in Yorkshire, Sir Henry Slingsby, and Sir Richard Maleverer had also assembled some Forces to have seized the City of York, having two Cartloads of Ammunition with them, but they dispersed themselves on their own account, seeing but little appearance to succeed in their design; Sir Henry Slingsby was taken and Imprisoned, and afterwards Beheaded upon another account.  

Wagstaff defeated and Penruddock and others executed.  The first party commanded by Wagstaff and Penruddock was defeated by Captain Vnton Crook, at a place called South-melton; some whereof were killed and others were taken, who were Tried and Condemned; and those which died of note were Mr. Lucas, Thorpe, Kensey, Graves, and Penruddock, Sir Joseph Wagstaff had the hap to make his escape and to get away.  

Royalists sent toforreign Plantations.  Moreover a little afterwards to rid the State of such like Incendiaries and Firebrands, the several Prisons and Goals of England were delivered from the Royalists, which were detained prisoners on the foregoing accounts, who were sent away to the Plantations and Colonies in America.  

The Insurrections all dissipated.  In like manner, the rest of the other risings before mentioned, were quelled and dissipated, which both struck a terror in those who had not as yet shown themselves, and restored peace and quietness to the State.  

A Spanish Ambassador sent over to his Highness  By this time the subtle Spaniard, whose acquaint policy doth for the most part hug the prosperous, and destroy the miserable and distressed, seeing that Fortune did daily more and more incline to favour his late Highness the Lord Protector, that his Vigour and Force increased by opposition, and that the sole resplendency of his glory dissipated all those fogs and mists which endeavoured to obscure it, thought it meet to court England, and to endeavour to engage this State in his interests, in which was omitted no proffers which a Puissant Monarch could possibly make unto a Prince, whose Power was but as it were in the bud, and beginning to sprout forth. To which purpose the Marquis of Leda arrived at London in the quality of an extraordinary Ambassador to his late Highness; where he was received with all the Demonstrations of Honour and Pomp. But his late Highness being over-sensible of all those gross injuries which the Spanish Nation for several years together have committed against the English, and also against all Europe besides; and being not willing to conform his Maxims with the tyrannical and unjust principles of the Spaniards, returned civil and ceremonious Answers to the said Ambassadors Proposals; who returned back again very speedily with all sorts of contentment and satisfaction, save only to that which he chiefly expected and most of all insisted upon. And England being at that present time in a peaceable posture, the Almighty having Crowned his late Highness the Lord protector with several signal Victories and Deliverances of his person from an infinite number of Dangers, his Highness thought he could not in a better wise express his acknowledgements 
Motives inducing his late Highness to a Breach with Spain.  for so many mercies, then by the employing of all his Care and Forces to oppose and beat down the Ambition (nay I may justly say, their Sacraledge and Impiety) and Avarice of the Spaniards, since it only belongs to a God to Style himself the Universal Monarch; who at the expense and charge of an hundred thousand Murders and Devastations, have rendered themselves Masters of the whole world's Treasures. And withal, totally to extripate and root up the profound plots and devices which the Spaniards had long since laid in England to become Masters thereof; or at least to breed divisions in it at their own pleasures. Nor shall I need to enlarge upon the ambitious and cruel designs of that invincible Armado of Philip the Second, which was to have invaded England, and to have made it swim in its own Blood; nor of those several entreagues and policies which Spain hath hatched in Ireland, by assistances of men and moneys; as also by their several Conspiracies in England, abusing of the Religion and blind zeal of some particular persons there: I shall only begin with Gundamore that arch Machiavilian Spanish Ambassador, who had gained such a Credit and Power in the Court of England, as that when he pleased he could dispose of the Lives of the greatest and best men in the State, when he had discovered they were his Master's Enemies: I shall only instance in one, that admirable personage Sir Walter Raleigh, who by reason he had undertaken to visit their Treasures in Hispaniola, and had Committed some hostillities in those Seas in former time, Gundamore never left importuning of King James (whom he had in a manner bewitched) till he had obtained his death, and thus bereft England of one of the great Politicians and Universallest men that ever this Isle brought forth; leaving us a testimony of his vast knowledge and experience, to wit, his famous History of the World. From hence his late Highness resolved to begin his just War against the proud Spaniard, and to sacrifice to the memory of this great Captain (and one of the most experienced Seamen of all the World) all the Spanish Blood which the valour of the noble English hath so generously by way of retaliation drawn and let out since his late Highness' expedition against them.  
There are some friends with whom a man is forced to break off all friendship, because they will be too much our friends; that is, because they overact the part of friendship by prying too deep into our Affairs and Designs, and by interesting themselves too far into the concernments of those who depend on us, as that thereby they steal away their hearts from us; and such like friends have the Spaniards been to England, who buy their friendships at such cheap rates, as that they feed those who side with them only with imaginary speculations here on earth, making them eternally miserable; and with specious promises in the world to come, which would be obtained at cheaper and more assured rates without the interposing of their Hippocritical and Ambitious trains.  
But to return to our History again, his late Highness whose Genius affected the greatest difficulties, and the most extraordinary and rarest Designs, fixed his thoughts upon New Spain; not to bereave them of their Treasures, which are with more ease to be interrupted at their coming home, but to revenge all Europe, unto whom the Jealous humour of the Spaniards denies Traffic and Commerce into those parts; having at all times exercised unheard of Cruelties and horrible Treacheries on such as were driven into those parts accidentally and forcibly by storms and tempests; or such as were by themselves, under the notion of friendship and kind entertainment, drawn in thither to trade with them; whom they tied stark naked unto trees, placing this Writing on their Breasts, Who sent for you hither? And in this wise suffered them to be eaten up alive by the Fowls of the Air, and the wild Beasts of the Field.  

The Hispaniola expection  And the better to accomplish this Design, on the twenty seventh of December, 1654. a gallant Fleet manned with brave Sea and Land-men, and well furnished with all kind of Provisions and Ammunitions of War, set sail from Portsmouth Road under the Command of the Generals, Penn and Venables, upon a Design which was not made public. On the first of May 1655. news was brought that they were arrived at the Barbadoss on the twenty eight of January, where they had seized eighteen Holland Merchantmen, which trafficked in those parts contrary to the Ordinance of the long Parliament, prohibitting the same. And by Letters of a fresher date, that they set sail from Barbadoes on the thirtieth of March towards Hispaniola. Where being arrived, by an unfortunate excess of prudence, the Commanders not deeming it fit to make a too near descent unto Sancto Domingo in Hispaniola, (which notwithstanding was deserted by all the Garrison at the very sight and appearance of so considerable a Fleet) landed their men somewhat lower; that so, during the time the Spaniards should come to impead their descent, they might have liberty to disimbark all their men, and to refresh themselves of the toils of the Sea. But this landing so far from the place, and deferring of the attempt, put a new life and courage into the Spaniards, who repossessed their place again; imagining that the English being unaccustomed to the excessive Heats of that Climate, and the deepness of the Sands, would be infinitely tired in their March; and that by the said means they should be able to repulse and withstand them at a very cheap rate; which fell out just as the Spaniards had foreseen it: for the Climate was so hot and the Sands so deep, as that the English after their long march were not able to fight, were put to flight, and enforced to march back again to their ships, not without some difficulty; however, being seconded by fresh and vallant Seamen, who went on shore to bring them off, they got on board again.  
And that their long voyage and course might not prove totally useless and unprofitable, they 
Jamaica attempted and carried.  resolved to set upon the Island of Jamaica, where they arrived on the tenth of May next ensuing; and after a little resistance which was made by the Spaniards, they became Masters of the place, which they have ever since preserved and kept with a great deal of constancy and glory, as we shall see hereafter.  
And that the English valour might be rendered more considerable and formidable to the whole World, the Almighty inspired into them that Religious Design, to revenge the Christians wrongs and sufferings against the Profanations and Abuses of the Turkish Barbarians, and crowned their pious attempt with as holy and glorious a Victory. 
General Blake demads satisfaction for wrongs sustained.  Wherefore, General Blake having cast Anchor before Tunnis on the eighteenth of April, 1655 sent unto the Die of the place, to demand satisfaction for some English ships which the Pirates of those parts had carried away, and the liberty of the English Slaves they had detained. But it was refused with scorn and derision, the Turks making this Answer, Behold our Castles of Galetta, and our Castles and Vessels of Porto Ferino, do your worst against them, and do not think to brave us with the sight of your great Fleet. Whereupon, General Blake being sensible, that the Glory of God, and the Honour of the English Nation was concerned in the punishing of so great a disdain; and to let the Enemies of Christ and Christianism see, That they can do all things in and through him their strength and fortress, he called a Council of War, rather to implore the Almighty's assistance towards the compass of so glorious a Design, then to resolve on the performing it. Each one finding himself animated and armed with a more than natural courage, to let those Infidels and all the World see, That the English are none of the least zealous in the Concernments of Christ; and so jointly resolved by all means possible to burn nine of their men of War which lay in Porto Ferino, which was performed in the manner following. 
General Blake attempts the Turks fortresses and navy.  The Seashore was lined by one hundred and twenty pieces of Cannon, and the Port was defended by the Castle, on which twenty pieces were mounted, besides some other small Forts which were also defended by great Guns and Musket shot: However, it was resolved, That the Admiral, Vice-Admiral, and Rere-Admiral should approach within musket shot of the Castle, and there come to an Anchor, and incessantly fire upon the Castle and other Forts, whilst the rest of the Fleet should second and back the Fireships and long Boats which were designed to fire the Ships in the Port. And the Almighty did evidently manifest as well in the hearts of the men, as by the blowing of the Wind, that he bore a part in this undertaking; so favourable was the Wind to the English, and so much were their courages animated by his Grace and Spirit: therefore in less than four hours' time the said nine Ships were burnt down to their very Keels, the English for their part losing but five and twenty men which were slain, and eight and forty wounded. Whereupon, the King of Tunis sought to the English for their friendship, and restored all the Prisoners for little or nothing: amongst which, divers Dutch also obtained their liberty amongst the English, not being distinguished by the Turks. And one of the English Admirals who went ashore to redeem the Captives, was highly honoured and treated; all which sufficiently recompensed the disdain they harboured against the Valour and Piety of the English.  
Nor had these bold and glorious attempts sufficiently blazed the Virtue and Fortune of our late Protector, had they not continually been assailed by intestine Conspiracies which rose one on the back of the other, like unto so many Surges of the Sea, but which broke themselves in like manner upon a small shelf of Sand, on which the finger of God had worked their limits which they durst not exceed. 
A fourth conspiracy suspected.  Thus on the twelfth of June in the same Year, the Lords, Willoughby of Parham, and Newport, Mr. Seamore, and Mr. Newport, with some others, were sent Prisoners to the Tower of London, on suspicion of intermeddling and assisting in a new Conspiracy.  

A Relief sent to Jamaica in twelve ships.  But to the end that evil might be repaid with good, and that the Sun might be heightened in its heat at the same time that the mists and fogs did thicken to obscure it, his Highness sent twelve good men of War, well manned, with Colonel Humphreys his Regiment to boot, and well provided with all necessaries, as well to reinforce the Naval Army as the Land Forces in Jamaica; which Fleet set sail on the second of July next ensuing, and in convenient space of time arrived safely at their designed Port.  

General Pen returns to England.  Within a month after which, General Pen arrived in England, having left the best part of the Fleet in those parts under the Command of Vice-Admiral Goodson, a very valiant and experienced Sea-Commander, and the Troops which had mastered Jamaica under the Command of Colonel Fortescue. But as all prosperities are usually accompanied with some small Alleys of adversity, the Almighty suffering it to be so for our instruction and precaution, and to humble us in our highest transcendencies of Fortune; Wherefore the said Fleet having gained the height of the Havennas in the Isle of Cuba, the Paragon Frigate was fired by negligence, and perished in the flames with the greatest part of its Company and Mariners before she could be succoured or relieved.  

General Venables also returned.  On the ninth of the month of September ensuing, General Venables likewise returned from the Indies in the Frigate called the Marston-moor, in so weak and dejected a condition, that he was even at death's door and nothing save the change of Air could possibly have saved him.  

Treaty and Peace with Sweden.  Mean while, the sympathy which all great and courageous persons seem to have for each other, begat a desire in his late Highness to be in amity with the King of Sweden, and likewise the King of Sweden on the other side coveted the same thing; so that the noble Lord Bulstrode Whitlock, one of England's Worthies, having scarce his like for profound Knowledge and Sagacity, after he had resided for the space of eight Months in Sweden, terminated his Embassy by a complete Peace and glorious Alliance, which he had concluded between that Crown and England; and returned himself to bring the good tidings thereof.  
Now for the preservation of the Peace of this Commonwealth, his late Highness constituted several Major-Generals in the respective Counties thereof, whose Names are as followeth: viz.  

1. For Kent and Surrey, Colonel Kelsey. 
Major Generals constituted.   
2. For Sussex, Hamshire, and Berkshire, Colonel Goff.  
3. For Glocestershire, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, General Desborow.  
4. For Oxfordshire, Bucks, Hertford, Cambridge, Isle of Ely, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, the Lord Deputy Fleetwood.  
5. For the City of London, Major General Skippon.  
6. For Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Derby, Warwick, and Leicestershire, Commislary General Whaley.  
7. For Northamptonshire, Bedford, Rutland, and Huntingdon, Major Butler.  
8. For Worcester, Hereford, Salop, and North-Wales, Colonel Berry.  
9 For Cheshire, Lancashire, and Staffordshire, Colonel Wortley.  
10. For Yorkshire, Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumberland, the Lord Lambert.  
11. For Westminster and Middlesex, the Lieutenant of the Tower.   

France seeks his Highness to perfect a Peace.  At this time France on her side being jealous of the several applications, proffers, and propositions which the Spaniards made unto England; to beget an alliance with us, began to be sensible that it was high time to think upon her own preservation, her navigation being quite ruined, her subjects divided by Civil Wars, and intestine troubles, and her foreign Enemies as powerful as ever, resolved at length to make an address to his late Highness for an Alliance of Peace.  
Besides, that his late Highness harboured a natural averseness and hatred against the Spaniards, who time out of mind have always been the implacable and cruel Enemies of England, 
Reason's inducing his late Highness rather to condescend to an alliance with France then Spain.  as well as of all mankind besides; and who under a fair pretence of Religion and Amity, endeavour to withdraw the Subjects of their Allies, and make them swerve from their Allegiance and Fidelity, either by the powerful operations of money, gifts, and such like other bewitching inducements, rendering themselves the Masters of the people's inclinations, when by their Valour they cannot overcome them in Battle, nor by force of Arms gain their Towns or Fortresses. But his late Highness open virtue and magnanimous courage disdaining any Commerce with this kind of insinuating and entreaguing Nation, the Lion being too noble to enter into association and communication with the Fox; The French policy did better jump with his humour; and their manner in vanquishing their Enemies in a pitched Battle, and forcing them upon the very Ramparts of their Fortresses, did better please and second his Warlike virtue; and by whose good intelligence and communication, the English growing discipline could not choose but attain to a rare perfection; whereas the Spaniards might happily have poisoned them by their Wiles and Subilties, and have corrupted them by their Hipocritical false Alloy and Metal. Besides that the Liberty which is granted by the French to those who are of a different opinion in the points of Religion, was a great inducement to move his Highness rather to incline to a peace with that Nation, since himself was ever so tender in matters of Religion, as that he believed it did only belong to the Almighty to force the Consciences of Men, at least to enlighten and inspire them by his Graces, which are only capable to convince our reason.  

A Peace with France Concluded and Proclaimed.  Finally, The Articles of peace with France, which were so much traversed by the Spanish Faction, were concluded and signed by such Commissioners as his late Highness had thereunto deputed; and on the other part by his excellency the Lord Bourdeaux Ambassador of France: and on the eight and twentieth day of the month of November next ensuing, the publication of the said Treaty was proclaimed first at Whitehall by the Heralds of Arms, the sound of Trumpets, and other formalities accustomed on the like occasions; afterwards in the Palace-yard at Westminster, and in the other usual places in the City of London where such like Proclamations are made; and on the selfsame day it was also published at Paris with a general applause and joy, at least of the Merchants, who by the preceding misunderstanding between England and France were quite ruined; and who by this conclusion of peace, found not only the Seas open and free for them to trade in, but that the English of their worst Enemies became their best friends; by causing a abundance to reign in their Rivers and Territories, and by begetting an assured Commerce and Navigation in all those Seas wherein the Navigation extended itself. Nor was the Lord Major of the City of Paris less glad than the poor Citizens, who all of them witnessed an equal joy and alacrity, finding themselves indulged by this Treaty of peace from breaking their Ember-weeks, their Lent, and Fasting days, (as they call them) since they would otherwise have been constrained (by reason of the excessive rates which fish, butter, and cheese, and such other small ratable wares were grown to) to have kept more fasting days then the Roman Kallendar doth enjoin them; which would have been a double Penance and an intolerable mortification.  
From all which they were freed by this happy Peace; and in acknowledgement whereof, the Guns and Chambers from the Marketplace and Town-House called the Greve, as well as those from the Bastile or Tower, echoed forth the joy which the Monsieurs conceived of this forerunner of the peace and tranquillity which they have since enjoyed in the heart of their Dominions, and the Victories and Conquests which they may yet achieve by this happy Union, if their victorious and gallant Prince doth continue to accompany his Valour with those Virtues, which are only capable not only to give him addition of Crowns, but also to preserve them.  
And lest I might insensibly out-slip my chief intent and purpose, and engage myself in the giving of you a Relation of the chiefest and most important Wars and Transactions of all Europe, should I recount unto you all the glorious Actions which have happened since the Breach between England and Spain; in which our late Protector bore away all the share at Sea, and a very great part also by Land; as in our joint Conquests in Flanders, and our particular ones in Lorain.  
I shall therefore contract my pen a little, and only give you a Breviate of the chiefest Actions, remitting the Reader to the more ample Histories both of France and England, to peruse the Relation of those Victories, wherewith Heaven hath blessed this Alliance for these late Years past: In which the mature deliberations and good Counsels do more concern his late Highness, than the execution of those gallant Attempts which proceeded from them; although in truth both the one and the other may well be attributed to his great prudence, and to those Blessings which it hath pleased the Almighty to shower down upon his admirable good fortune, of which take some few Instances.  

The defence and good success at Jamaica.  It is apparent to all the world in what a manner his late Highness provided for the preservation of Jamaica, notwithstanding all the force and attempts of Spain and the Indies, to free that Island again, although they never yet did set foot thereon, save to their own shame and confusion, having been driven thence again with the loss of all their Cannon and Baggage; and the which happened two several times, when as the Spaniards assembling all their Forces in the Indies, came and encamped themselves in the Island with two or three thousand men, had the time and opportunity to build and erect Forts, and for the space of some days to settle themselves: Notwithstanding which, the English as if they were but newly arrived from England to attempt a new Conquest of the Island, were constrained to embark themselves and put to Sea again, the ways being not passable by Land; and in that wise compassing the whole Island, they made their descent at the very place where the Enemies were encamped, and assailed them in their Forts and Breast-works with a far less number of men than theirs, and drove the Spaniards quite from them, and out of the Island, killing and taking several of their men, and retaining several of their great Guns and stately Standards as Trophies of their Victory. 
General Mountegue his victory over the Spaniards at Sea.   
Nor shall I enlarge upon that glorious Victory obtained by General Mountegue over the Spaniards at Sea, which was the first that made this entrance into that famous War, and gave the Spaniards to understand, that it would cost them far more to transport their Gold from the Indies to Spain, then to dig it out of the Mines, or to refine it: The ensuing Poem penned by one of the most exquisite Wits of England, upon that subject, may better suffice to satisfy the Reader of the gloriousness of the Fact, and the shaming Style which it is described by, is more proper to express this Heroic Action, than my low and unpolished Prose, which might haply obscure and detract from the lustre and splendour of so brave an Exploit; wherefore I have thought fit to insert the Poem itself.  

Upon the present War with Spain, and the first Victory obtained at Sea.  

Now for some Ages had the pride of Spain,  
Made the Sun shine on half the World in vain;  
While she bid War, to all that durst supply  
The place of those, her Cruelty made die.   

Of Nature's Bounty men forbore totaste,  
And the best Portion of the Earth lay waste.  
From the New World, her Silver and her Gold;  
Came like a Tempest, to confound the Old.  
Feeding with these the bribed Elector's Hopes,  
She made at pleasure Emperors and Popes:  
With these, advancing her unjust Designs,  
Europe was shaken with her Indian Mines.   

When our Protector looking with disdain  
Upon this gilded Majesty of Spain;  
And knowing well that Empire must decline,  
Whose chief support, and sinews, are of Coin:  
Our Nation's solid virtue, did oppose  
To the rich Troublers of the World's repose.   

And now some months encamping on the Main,  
Our Naval Army had besieged Spain.  
They that the whole World's Monarchy designed,  
Are to their Ports by our bold Fleet confined:  
From whence our Red Cross they triumphant see,  
Riding without a Rival on the Sea.  
Others may use the Ocean as their road,  
Only the English make it their abode:  
Whose ready Sails with every Wind can fly,  
And make a covenant with th'unconstant Sky.  
Our Oaks secure, as if they there took root;  
We tread on Billows with a steady foot.   

Mean while the Spaniards in America,  
Near to the Line, the Sun approaching saw;  
And hoped their European Coasts to find  
Cleared from our ships, by the Autumnal Wind.  
Their huge capacious Galleons stuffed with Plate,  
The labouring winds drives slowly towards their fate.   

Before Saint Lucar they their Guns discharge,  
To tell their Joy, or to invite a Barge.  
This heard some Ships of ours, though out of view,  
As swift as Eagles to the quarry flew.   

So heedless Lambs which for their mother's bleat,  
Wake hungry Lions, and become their meat.  
Arrived, they soon begin that Tragic play,  
And with their smoky Cannon banish day:  
Night, horror, slaughter, with confusion meets,  
And in their sable Arms embrace the Fleets.  
Through yielding Planks the angry Bullets fly,  
And of one Wound hundreds together die.  
Born under different Stars, one Fate they have,  
The Ship their Coffin, and the Sea their Grave.   

Bold were the men, which on the Ocean first  
Spread their new Sails, whilst shipwreck was the worst,  
More danger now from men alone we find,  
Then from the Rocks, the Billows, or the Wind.  
They that had sailed from near th' Anartick Pole,  
Their Treasure safe, and all their Vessels whole;  
In sight of their dear Country ruin'd be,  
Without the guilt of either Rock or Sea.  
What they would spare, our fiercer Art destroys,  
Excelling storms, in terror and in noise.   

Once Jove from Hyda did both Hosts survey,  
And when he pleased to Thunder, part the Fray:  
Here Heaven in vain that kind Retreat should sound,  
The louder Canon had the thunder drowned.   

Some we made Prize while others burnt & rend,  
With their rich Lading to the bottom went.  
Down sinks at once (so Fortune with us sports)  
The Pay of Armies, and the Pride of Courts.   

Vain man, whose rage buries as low that store,  
As Avarice had digged for it before.  
What Earth in her dark bowels could not keep  
From greedy hands, lies safer in the Deep:  
Where Thetis kindly doth from mortals hide,  
Those seeds of Luxury, Debate, and Pride.  
And now into her lap the richest Prize  
Fell, with the Noblest of our Enemies.   

The Marquis glad to see the fire destroy  
Wealth, that prevailing Foes were to enjoy:  
Out from his flaming Ship his Children sent,  
To perish in a milder Element.  
Then laid him by his burning Ladies side,  
And since he could not save her, with her died.  
Spices and Gums about them melting fry,  
And Phenix-like, in that rich nest they die.  
Death bitter is, for what we leave behind,  
But taking with us, all we love, is kind.  
What could he more than hold for term of life,  
His Indian Treasure, and his more prized Wife?  
Alive, in flames of equal Love, they burned,  
And now together are to ashes turned.  
Ashes more worth, than all their Funerals cost,  
Then the huge Treasure which was with them lost.   

These dying Lovers, and their floating Sons,  
Suspend the Fight, and silence all our Guns.  
Beauty and Youth, about to perish, finds  
Such noble pity in brave English minds;  
That the rich Spoil neglecting, and the Prize,  
All labour now to save their Enemies.   

How frail our Passion's? how soon changed are  
Our wrath and fury to a friendly care?  
They that but now to gain the Spanish Plate,  
Made the Sea blush with Blood, forget their Hate;  
And their young Foes, while sinking, they retrieve,  
With greater danger than they fought, they dive.   

With these returns Victorious Montague,  
With Laurel in his hands, and half Perue.   

Let the brave General divide that bough,  
Our great Protector hath such Wreaths enough.  
His conquering Head hath no more room for Bays,  
Then let it be as the whole Nation prays:  
Let the rich Oar forthwith be melted down,  
And the State fixed, by making him a Crown:  
With Ermines clad, and Purple; let him hold  
A Royal Sceptre, made of Spanish Gold.    
Take the particulars of the Fight briefly thus: The Spaniards were seven in number, richly laden, about nine Leagues from Cadiz, coming from the West Indies; one whereof was burnt another sunk, two run aground, two were taken, one got away, with a Portugal Prize. In the ship that was burnt was the Marquis of Badex, his Wife, and one Daughter. In one of the ships taken, was the young Marquis his Brother, and another Sister, who was set on shore in Spain. The two Brothers were brought to England with a great deal of wealth.  

General Blakes destroying the Spanish Fleet at the Canaries.  And amongst these Victories which were gained at Sea against the Spaniards since the breach of the Peace, that which was obtained by General Blake at Sancta Cruza, in the Island of Teneriff, on the twentieth day of April, 1657. was none of the least; in which Port there was sixteen great Vessels burnt and sunk by the English; and the Spaniards Forts and Castles of the Isle, amidst which there were five or six great Galleons, the Admiral, Vice-Admiral, and Rere-Admiral, the greatest part whereof were mounted with Brass Ordnance, and laden some with rich merchandizes from the Indies, and the others with provisions and other manufactures to be transported thither, equipied in ample manner both with Soldiers and Mariners.  
All which having their Flags, Ensigns, and Streamers flying, were set upon by the English, who in less than four hours' time destroyed them all without the loss of above sixty men; the greatest part of which were killed by the Musket shot which played from the shore: But in lieu of them, the English with their Cannon killed a great number of the Spaniards in their Breast-works and Forts.  
Wherefore his late Highness who never recompensed virtuous and magnanimous actions which bare praise, sent a civil Letter of thanks to General Blake, with a Diamond Ring valued at five hundred pounds, and gave the Captain that brought the news one hundred pound for a present. Moreover, according to his accustomed Piety, be ordained a day of public Prayer and Thanksgiving to be set apart, to return all Thanks, Acknowledgements, Praise, and Glory to the Almighty, for this so happy and signal a success; and to supplicate his Divine Bounty to bestow frequent and like Blessings upon the English Armadas and Land Forces.  
But the Sea being a Theatre or Stage too unstable for so settled a valour and constant aFortune, the traces and marks which she receives of Combats and Victories are too soon worn out, and scare leave unto History, and to the memory of men, wherewith to raise Monuments, erect Triumphs, and to transmit unto posterity the truth of things; and although that virtue be the more glorious, by how much the greater dangers it assails and surmounts; yet however, as a flight is more easily made by Sea then by Land, where seldom men fight at hand-blows, we have reason to give the first praise and honour to that Element which first brought us forth, and whence we reap the most beneficial necessaries towards our subsistence. In like manner, his late Highness' solid policy was employed on such solid foundations where it might lay deep rooting, and spread its large branches far and near without the apprehension of being sapped or dug up.  

May. 4. 1657. The English join with the French in Flanders under Sir John Reynolds.  The French therefore being desirous to be revenged for their ill success at Valenchenes, resolved the next summer to assault Montmedy, a strong Frontier seated upon a Rock; but being not strong enough to keep the Spaniards in play in Flanders, they separated part of their Army to prosecute the said siege; and the English began to make their first landing in Flanders, Sir John Reynolds was chosen by his late Highness to command the Body of the English Forces, consisting in six thousand Foot, who happily landed in Picardy about the latter end of May. And that it may not seem to be a digression from my subject, I shall omit the particularising of the siege, and the taking of Montmedy, and shall only tell you, that the Marshal De la Ferte, who carried on that siege, was not at all incommodated by the Enemy from without, during the whole siege; nor durst the Spaniard ever set upon the French Army, thereby to attempt the relief of that place. And although it would be a piece of injustice to dispoil that warlike nation of their glory, yet all men know that their Army wanted Foot extremely that Summer; but the English foot (which we must confess is the best in all Europe) being joined to their Cavalry, (which also excel all others) there had not a more resolute and gallant Army been seen in France for many years together.  

His Highness' Instalment in the Protectorship.  And here by the way take notice of the Instalment of his late Highness in the Protectorship, which was on this manner, viz. On the twentieth day of the month of June, in the year of our Lord God 1657. being appointed for the Instalment of his late Highness the Lord Protector; a large and spacious place was raised at the upper end of Westminster-Hall under the great window, in the midst whereof, a Rich Cloth of State was set up, and under it a Chair of State was placed upon an ascent of two degrees, covered with Carpets; before which stood a Table with a Chair appointed for the Speaker of the Parliament. On each side of the Hall, upon the said Structure there were seats raised one above each other, and decently covered for the Members of the Parliament; and below them there were Seats made for the Judges of the Land on the one side, and for the Aldermen of the City on the other side.  
About two of the Clock in the afternoon, his Highness met the Parliament in the Painted Chamber, and passed such Bills as were presented to him; after which they went in order to the place appointed in Westminster-Hall: his Highness being entered on the place, and standing under the Cloth of State, Mr. Speaker did in the Name of the Parliament, present several things which lay ready on the Table, unto his Highness, viz.  
A Robe of Purple Velvet, lined with Ermines, being the habit, anciently used at the solemn Investure of Princes; next a large Bible richly Gilt and Bossed; and lastly a Sceptre of massy Gold; which being thus presented, Mr. Speaker came from his Chair, took the Robe and therewith vested his Highness, being assisted by the Earl of Warwick, the Lord Whitlock, and by others; which being done, the Bible was delivered to his Highness; after which Mr. Speaker girt about him the Sword; and finally delivered his Highness the Sceptre; which being thus performed, Mr. Speaker returned to his Chair, and administered the Oath to his Highness which had been prepared by the Parliament for him to take.  
His Highness standing thus adorned in Princely State, Mr. Manton, by prayer recommended his Highness Forces by Sea and Land, the whole Government and People of these Nations, to the blessing and protection of God Almighty.  
After which, the people gave several shouts, and the Trumpets sounding, his Highness sat down in the Chair of State, holding the Sceptre in his hand; and whilst his Highness thus sat, a Herald of Arms stood aloft, making a signal to a Trumpet to sound three times; after which, by direction and Authority of Parliament, he did there publish and proclaim his Highness, Oliver Lord Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Dominions thereto belonging. Hereupon the Trumpets ' sounded again, and the People gave several Acclamations, with loud shouts, crying, God save the Lord Protector.  
After a little pause, the Ceremony being ended, his Highness saluting the Ambassadors, and public Ministers, proceeded thence in his Princely Habit, (the Train whereof was borne up by six noble persons) and passed through the Hall into the Palace-yard, the Earl of Warwick, carrying the sword before him, where his Highness entered into his Coach, attended by his Life-guards and Halberdeer; the Officers of State; the Lord Major and Aldermen; all which waited on his Highness back to White-Hall; the whole Ceremony having been managed with State and Magnificence, suitable to so high and happy a Solemnity.  

Mardike taken by the English and French.  But to return to our History again, toward the end of the Summer therefore, the united Forces of England and France took the Fort of Mardike, whereof Major General Morgan took possession for the English, as the earnest of further Conquests. The Spaniard hereupon conceived all the fears and jealousies which so dangerous a neighbourhood might justly cause, which obliged them in the following month to resolve vigorously to assault the place, and to carry it by force: But they were received with 
The Spaniards repulsed at Mardike.  so much vigour by the English, as that they were manfully beaten off, and constrained to retire with a great loss of their men, and of several Officers of note.  

General Blake dies in sight of Plymouth.  But the joy of these successes were moderated by the death of Admiral Blake, a person who had so well deserved of England, as that he may be justly entitled its Neptune, at the same time when as his Highness was its Jupiter and Mars; who caused him to be buried with all the Demonstrations of Honour due to his high demerits. He came within sight of Plymouth only to give up the Ghost, and received this satisfaction at his death, to have bestowed all the Moment's of his life on that Element which had given him so much glory; just like unto Moley Moluch that Illustrious King of Fess, who at the Article of Death, caused himself to be carried in a Litter into his Camp, where he expired in the middle of the Battle, as he was exhorting his Soldiers, and gained the Victory. In like manner died General Blake in the midst of his famous Combats and Victories, regretted by all England; and his late Highness, who had always an especial care to cause those honours to be rendered to such great persons as were due to their demerits, would have him stately interred, as the Earl of Essex had been before; but General Blakes body was only brought with a Naval Pomp by Water in State on the Thames from Greenwich to Westminster, as being a more suitable Ceremony to his employment; and was there buried in Henry the Seventh's famous Chapel.  
Now the Spaniards disgusted at the firm footing the English had both gotten and kept at Mardike, conceiving that against the next 
The Spaniards repulse again from before Mardike.  Spring it might give them a greater inlet in Flanders, deemed they had best to endeavour the driving of them thence betimes, before they should be too well settled and established there; they resolved to assault them again, and accordingly did set upon them very vigorously and resolutely with a party very considerable, commanded by the pretended Princes of England, and the Marquis of Coracene; but the English defended themselves so manfully and stoutly, as that the Spaniards began to judge that as the French are good at taking of places, so the English were constant in keeping and defending them; insomuch as that my Dons were forced to return by weeping cross to Dunkirk, and take their last farewell of Mardike.  

St. Venaut taken by the English.  For they might very well have perceived by the business of St. Venant, that the English were as good at the one as at the other; when as the Spaniards having besieged Ardres, the English supposed that their advance into France was only to retard their progress into Flanders, gave so resolute an assault to St. Venant, as that they carried the place and had the sole honour of it; and immediately marching towards Ardres, they drove away the Spaniards then with so much courage and resolution as amazed the French. Wherefore this latter part of the season having been employed in sowing the seeds of those Laurels which they were to reap in the next years expedition in Flanders. His late Highness recollected himself, to establish Peace and Tranquillity in England, and to settle the foundation of a happy and glorious Government.  

The Lord Henry Cromwell made deputy of Ireland.  And deeming that he could not more justly confer the eminent dignities of the Land, save upon those who together with their blood had sucked from him the seeds and buds both of Military and Politic Virtues; he created his younger son the Lord Henry Cromwell, Lord Deputy of Ireland; who hath always and doth still behave himself with so much conduct and applause in this so eminent a charge, as that envy itself is constrained to confess, that his Father's wisdom could not have made a better choice.  
Much about this time the Officers at Mardike, in whose breasts the rigour of the winter did only excite the heat of those designs which they had conceived in their souls, being desirous to employ part of that unprofitable season to concourse and consult that Oracle of Prudence, who by the conduct of their Heroic Projects did inspire into them the virtue and efficacy to compass their designs, and to surmount even the greatest difficulties; Sir John Reynolds, I say, 
Sir John Reynolds and others drowned.  Commander in chief, Colonel White, and some other Officers, being impatient to enjoy the happiness of seeing and consulting his Highness, embarked at Mardike for England; but the mischance was, that being assailed by a tempest, they were unfortunately cast away upon the Goodwin Sands, and so frustrated all the world of the expectations of those fair hopes which were conceived of their valours, and of so fortunate beginnings.  
On the fourth day of the month of February than next ensuing, his late Highness repaired to the Lords House then in Parliament, and having sent notice thereof to the House of Commons by the Keeper of the Black-Rod, the Speaker with the Members came to the Lords House, where standing without the Bar, and his Highness within under a Cloth of State, being animated with his wont vigour and resolution, succinctly told them without many preambles, 
The Parliament dissolved Febr. 4. 1657/ 8  That it concerned his Interest as much as the public Peace and Tranquillity, to terminate this Parliament, so that he was come thither to dissolve the same, which was also immediately performed.  

The City Militia settled again by his late Highness.  On the twelfth day of the month of March ensuing, his late Highness being desirous to oblige the City of London in a particular manner, and at the same time to witness unto them the care he took for their preservation and tranquillity; he sent for the Lord Major, the Aldermen, and the other Magistrates of the City, and having made them sensible of his tenderness and care for their good; he also represented unto them, that during the Calm, Tempests were most of all to be apprehended: so that at such times, the requisite Orders and necessary preventions to resist Troubles, were to be chiefly minded. For to this knowing and vigilant Spirit, to whom nothing was dark or hid; this penetrating Light, who could pry even into men's hearts; and who from out of his Cabinet could discover the most secret Plots which were hatching throughout all Europe, declared unto them, That the Enemies both of the State and of their City did not sleep, although it seemed they were quite lulled: That their City was great and vast, and like unto a corpulent Body, nourished several ill humours: That he requested them for their own goods to have a special care, and to bear a watchful eye: That he relied much upon their Vigilancy and Affection, and that all he could contribute thereunto on his behalf, was to re-establish the City Militia, (which had been abolished through the disorder of the foregoing Wars) and to desire them to appoint for their Officers, persons of Honour and Probity, wellwishers and friends to the peace and quietness of the State and public Good. Whereupon, the Lord Major and Officers having returned thanks to his Highness for so signal a Mark of his confidence and goodness towards them, proceeded to settle the Militia, and repaid him with all the Obedience and Fidelity, which a Magnanimous Prince could expect from Subjects, who were well versed in the duties they owed to a Governor, who had rid them of a world of miseries, and delivered them from the burden of a Civil War.  
Nor was this precaution or forewarning of his late Highness without some grounds or foundation; 
A Conspiracy discovered  for on the twenty fourth of the said Month, the quiet Serpent which hatched its poison under the green grass, unawares let slip a Hiss, whereupon an exact search was made throughout all London and Westminster for suspected persons, divers of which were secured and imprisoned. His late Highness knowing full well, that States are maintained, as well by Justice as by force of Arms, and that those chiefly stand in need of both, which through the divisions of men's minds, touching Spiritual concernments, seem to be in a continual apprehension of those revolutions, which at all times have been caused in the World by the means of these diversities of opinions. His Highness I say through the cause of these apprehensions, and the discoveries which were already made, as aforesaid, caused a High Court of Justice to be erected, 
A high Court of Justice erected.  according as it had been decreed by an Act of Parliament, and settled under the great Seal of England: and truly it was high time for the Swords of Justice to appear to chastise the Conspirators, since the sparkles of their fury had spread themselves abroad through its veil, rather by their immoderate heat then their sad looks; several persons of quality were imprisoned in the Tower of London; and within few days afterwards, just like unto a River, which is ready to disgorge itself into the Sea, appears great and violent at its entrance, so also the Conspiracy being just ready to break forth, appeared the more formidable; and assured there were whole Regiments enroled; and in the midnight of May-day they should have set fire on several parts of the City, and whilst the confusion and horror thereof had seized all men, they should have made a general Massacre of all those who would have opposed their fury. His Highness like unto the Sun, elevated up to the highest Heaven, pierced through all those other Spheres, which were darkened to all other Lights but his, and dissipated those Fogs and Mists, which the darkness of the Furies had spread over the City of London; 
The Plot prevented  for on the morning of that fatal intended day, the Guards were doubled both within and without the City; and about five of the Clock in the Evening, both Horse and Foot were drawn up in Arms; the City Militia likewise keeping strong Guards all that night, to prevent and hinder so sad and horrid an attempt. 
Several Conspirators taken and sentenced, some condemned, others pardoned.  Mean while, all care was taken to discover the Firebrands before they could enter upon their exploit; and as Erterprises wherein so many persons are engaged cannot remain very secret or hidden, about seven of the Clock that Evening, about forty of the Conspirators were taken and carried to White-Hall, and on the day following, several others of all kinds and conditions were also apprehended; as Gentlemen, Merchants, Soldiers, and the like; many of which were condemned to die as Traitors: but his late Highness was so merciful to pardon the most part of them, to the end that like unto a second Augustus he might gain by his Clemency those hearts which would not be mollified by the horror of the undertake, nor the rigour and severity of the punishments.  
On the second day of the month of June than next ensuing, there arrived a strange accident on 
A Whale cast up in the Thames.  the Thames near London, to wit, a Whale of a prodigious bigness, at least sixty foot, and of a proportionable breadth, was cast up. This great Fish, which may be styled the King of the Sea for his bulk, came to do homage to his late Highness, and by his Captivity and Death, to to let him see he was absolute Master of that terrible Element which had given her a being.  

Dunkirk besieged by the English and French.  But let us again return to the Wars in Flanders, and let us see how whole Armies and Cities do there submit unto his Highness' power, as well as the Sea Monsters here. Now although taking and keeping of Mardike had been a sufficient warning to the Spaniards to provide the Town of Dunkirk with all necessaries to withstand a Siege, however that changed not the English their resolution to attempt it; wherefore the United Forces both of France and England, under the Command of those two glorious Chieftains, his Highness the Martial of Tureine, Prince of Quesnoy, and his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart, besieged the place, opened the approaches, and with an incredible diligence perfected the Circum volution. 
The Spaniards attempt to relieve Dunkirk.  The Spaniards intending to attempt the relief of the place, being the Key of all Flanders, and the chief Sea Port, assembled all their Forces, and made up a considerable Army of sixteen thousand men, with a design to have forced the Lines, and to have raised the Siege. To which intent, on the third of June they came in a Body through Fuernes, and encamped within an English mile and a half of the Martial Tureines' Quarters, who being aware of their intent, the following night broke up his Camp; and having left part of his Forces to make good the Approaches, and to guard the Trenches, marched all night with fifteen thousand men and ten pieces of cannon to encounter the Enemy, to decide in a pitched Battle and an open Field, with an equal advantage, which party should be victorious.  
The English Foot drawn up into four great Battalions, and led on by his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart, gave the first onset upon five great Battalions of the Spanish Foot placed very advantageously on three high and great Downs, feconded by Don John of Austria himself, and the best of the Spanish and Condean Forces, which they had purposely opposed unto the English, conceiving them to have been as yet Novices in the manner of waging War beyond Seas, and that for want of Discipline and Conduct they would soon have been routed and disordered: But they were suddenly deceived in their expectations, and found that they had to deal with persons of courage and resolution, who as well in the Military Discipline, as in the Art of Courtship, became perfect and absolve Masters even during their first years of Apprenticeship; wherefore it was not without reason the Ancients did always join Mars and Venus together, since towards the doing of gallant Actions, it is sufficient to be passionate and resolute at the very entering into the Lists of either of these Divinities. The English therefore assailing the Spaniards in their advantageous stand as aforesaid, in the high Downs, did themselves alone several times charge them, and sustained both the burnt of their Horse and Foot, without ever being seconded or relieved by the French; who were so confident of their Resolution and Valour, as that they would not seem to entrench upon their Honour; besides that, they were loath to change their Stands, lest thereby they might bring themselves into a disorder: 
The Spaniard beaten by the English and French  and finally, forcing the Spaniards to quit their stations, they put them to a total rout and confusion. In which Charge up the Downs, Lieutenant Colonel Fenwick, who showed a great deal of Gallantry in leading on his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockharts Regiment of Blue, received his mortal wound by a Musket bullet through the Body, whereof he died some few days after. Divers other persons of quality and note signallized themselves not a little that day at the Head of their respective Regiments; as the Honourable Colonel Lillingston, Lieutenant Colonel Fleetwood, Captain Devaux, who led up a Forelorn of three hundred Musquetiers, and gave the first Charge upon the Spaniards: And of the Volunteers, Colonel Henry Jones, who at first charged with Lieutenant Colonel Fenwick on foot, afterwards on Horseback, when as engaging too far, he was taken prisoner, but was afterwards exchanged; and by his late Highness at his return into England, made Knight and Baronet. Divers others did gallantly, who doubtless will not be forgotten in the English Annals, and would be too large to be expressed in this Epitome relating only to his Highness.  
The Spaniards had at first resolved to have given no English man quarter, but the fortune of the day made them glad to seek to the English for quarter themselves; and it was well they could have it given them, although the English were generous enough to have spared their Lives, had not the zeal of overcoming, and their resolutions to perfect the Victory, taken up all their care and passions. Finally, the Spanish Foot being totally routed, and coming to surrender themselves to the English in whole troops, the English mistrusting they had some other intentions and stratagem thereby, neither understanding their Language nor design, continued charging them, and enforced them to seek quarter elsewhere, preferring the gaining of the Victory to their own particular interests; and so reaped an entire glory in their despising and rejecting several prisoners of quality, who proffered themselves to them, and for the which they might have had considerable ransoms.  
And in the gaining of those high Downs on which the Spaniards were placed, the English behaved themselves with so much gallantry and resolution, as that envy and malice raised a report amidst the jealous and their Corivals, that it savoured more of a piece of rashness then of a true valour; as if Soldiers could possibly with too much zeal and readiness perform those Commands which are given them.  
To be brief, the victory wholly declared itself for the English and for the French, and the whole Spanish Army was quite discomfited and pursued to the very Gates of Fuernes, with the loss of three thousand five hundred men, two thousand whereof were killed on the place of Suydcote, a Village seated in the Downs between Dunkirk and Fuernes; and the rest were taken prisoners, and the whole Army dissipated and disordered: which defeat having quite disheartened the besieged, and depriving them of all hopes of relief, besides their Govornour the Marquis De Leda being mortally wounded by two hand Granades as he defended the false bray, and of which wounds he died, constrained them to beat a Parley fourteen days afterwards, and to surrender the place on the fifteenth of July 1658. after the one and twentieth day of the opening of the Approaches. 
Dunkirk taken and possessed by the English.  And in this manner this famous Seaport was reduced under the obedience of his late Highness the Lord Protector, and was by the French put into the hands of his Excellency the Lord Ambassador and General Lockhart, who was by his Highness declared Governor of the same; and took possession of it with four English Regiments which compose the Garrison thereof, and serve to defend the Fort Mardike, and the new Fort Royal, begun by the Spaniards on the Channel of Burges, and perfected by the English, now called oliver's Fort. The Inhabitants of which place are so much taken with the superabundancy of the generosity and goodness of their said Governor his Excellency the Lord Lockhart, as that they repent themselves to have so much listened to the Spanish false persuasions and fears, which they possessed them with, that they should be cruelly and inhumanely treated by the English, purposely to make them resist the longer. It had been well they had had so much care of their Souls, as they persuaded them they had of their Goods and Fortunes.  
But it would be too great a conquest to pretend jointly to overcome both the Consciences of men and their Town to boot; the first is God's due, and the other Caesars. And we may observe in Alexander the Great, whensoever his Forces became Master sof any place, he would always sacrifice to the Gods of the Country; thereby to gain the Inhabitants hearts, and to induce their Gods to become propitious to him. Numa Pompilius was a King before he was a Priest, and although the Almighty hath imprinted in all men a particular inclination to adore him, yet however as concerning the manner of worshipping him, Policy always preceded Religion, and ever kept the upper hand over her as much as she possibly could.  
King Henry the Fourth of France was a Protestant whilst he had overcome his Enemies, but as soon as he was settled in the Throne, and that he was to Reign as King, he seemingly returned Papist, and said, That the Kingdom of France and City of Paris was worth a going to Mass. But when as superstitious and zealous spirits counselled him to prosecute and pursue the Protestants, he answered, That so long as they remained faithful and true to him, and continued to stand by and serve him as they were wont, he would be as much a Father and Protector unto him, as unto the rest of his good Subjects. These Maxims are general and common, and admit of no distinctions save in Schools; nor need the Spaniards with all their Hypocrisy and Pious malice to doubt, but that France and England understanding each other well enough, and that the English themselves are prudent enough to avoid that which may prejudice them, and to tolerate whatsoever may advance and further their conquests, and beget a love and esteem of their government. But to return to our former subject again, as we have oft before alleged, the joys of this World are always for the most part mingled with some alleys of sorrow; the Almighty being willing to keep us mindful that there are no perfect felicities to be enjoyed here on earth; and that its only in heaven we are to expect an entire and perpetual Contentment and Bliss. Wherefore the Laurels of the Victory obtained against the Spaniards, and of the taking of the Town of Dunkirk, were soon withered, and the joys abated, by the interposing of the Cypress-tree which death planted upon the Tomb of the Illustrious and most generous Lady Cleypoll, second Daughter to his late Highness; 
The Lady Cleypolls death.  who departed this mortal life to a more glorious and eternal one on the sixth day of August this present year: a fatal prognostication of a more sensible ensuing loss. For even as Branches of trees being cut and lopped in an ill season, do first draw away the sap from the tree, and afterwards cause the body thereof to dry up and die; In like manner, during the declining age of his late Highness, an ill season, in which men usually do as it were reap all their consolation from the youth and vigour of their Children, wherein they seem to ruin by degrees as they draw near to their death, it unfortunately fell out, that this most illustrious Daughter, the true representative and lively Image of her Father, the Joy of his Heart, the Delight of his Eyes, and the Dispenser of his Clemency and Benignity, died in the flower of her age; which struck more to his heart then all the heavy burdens of his Affairs, which were only as a pleasure and pastime to his great Soul. So great a power hath Nature over the dispositions of generous Men, when the tye of Blood is seconded by love and virtue. This generous and noble Lady Elizabeth therefore departed this World in despite of all the skill of Physicians, the Prayers of those afflicted persons whom she had relieved, and the vows of all kind of Artists whom she cherished: But she died an Amazonian-like death, despising the Pomp's of the Earth, and without any grief, save to leave an afflicted Father perplexed at her so sudden being taken away; she died with those good Lessons in her mouth, which she had practised whilst she lived. And if there be any comfort left us in her death, it is the hope we have, That her good Example will raise up the like inclinations in the remainder of her Sisters whom Heaven hath yet left us. I shall not at all speak of her Funerals, for if I might have been credited, all the Muses and their God Apollo, should have made her an Epicedium, and should have appeared in mourning, which should have reached from the top of their Mount Parnassus to the bottom of the valley thereof. But if this illustrious Personages death received not the Funeral Rites which all great Wits were bound to pay it, at least the Martial men did evidence, that the disgrace lay not at their doors, but that they ought to reap all the glory, since they were not backward to continue to brave and affront dangers in the behalf of an illustrious and glorious Cause: wherefore the sad tidings of this noble Personages death touched the gallant English to the heart, seeing they were bereft of their English Pallas, and of their Jupiter's Daughter; they therefore accused the Destinies for entrenching upon their Privileges, and evidenced, that it appertained not alone unto them to dispose of the lives of men. Their wrath therefore discharged itself on the first Objects which presented themselves to their eyes: and the harmless Spaniards were so many Victims offered up to this Amazons shrine; and as if Gravelling had been her stake, they were so eagerly bend to fire the Enemies out of the same, 
Gravelling taken by the French  as that the Spaniards were constrained to open their gates to give vent to the fire and flame which suffocated them, and surrendered themselves to the Conquering French Army; to whose share that place fell, and by whose force it was solely gained.  
As Physicians do agree that extreme Joy causeth Death as well as excessive Grief, so may we likewise say, That both these violent Passions united together, must needs destroy the strongest person on earth; and that the Conflict which they produce in a Soul, is capable to turn the edge of the keenest weapons which are opposed to their resistance, and to make the fairest champain Field become a parched barren plat of Ground. But what need we to seek external Causes in a Death which brought along such violent ones with it, a Cardinal of Richelieu, who was one of the best Tempers and Constitutions in the world, did fall under the burden of the Anxieties and Agitations of the Mind. The scabbard (as the Proverb saith) being worn out by the sharpness of the blade, must of necessity find a vent: And how could it otherwise choose, that a Man who for the space of ten or twelve years together had opposed himself to all the Injuries both of Time and of War, should not at length fall under the activeness of a soul which seldom gave him any rest, which governed and directed the Reins of three restive Kingdoms, unaccustomed to the noble and famous Trappings of a Military Government; and who moreover was to direct and guide the Consciences as well as the Bodies of Men, and their Reasons as well as their Wills. It had not been considerable had the Interest of England only required that his Cares had been limited within the Pales which the Sea prescribes to her Precincts; But as the cause of the Disease was from abroad, and that from the Closets of the Escurial, the Spaniards had employed their false Piety as well as their Peru Gold, to discover and molest the repose of England; so fire and flame was to be applied without, and it was necessary to penetrate into the very secret causes of the evils. The People of the Cities of the Continent were to be disabused, and the Soldiery were to be overcome in open field. The Mines of Mexico were to be looked into, and the extent of that Ambition was to be curtailed, which boasts itself both to see the Sun set and rise.  
These were vast employments indeed of a large activity, to run through these undertake, the fervour of them was scorching; and although the Heavens did second these lawful Designs with all its Graces, yet it could not without a Miracle, and without destroying the secondary Causes, hinder the separation of a Soul from a Body which it had so often employed, and so efficaciously seconded the grand Affairs both of State and War for the Peace, Glory, and Tranquillity of three Nations. Wherefore Nature itself did witness her grief some two or three days before, by an extraordinary Tempest and violent gust of weather; insomuch that it might have been supposed, that herself had been ready to dissolve; or that the Masterpiece of Nature suffered a violent agitation. And as the Death of the Sun of Righteousness was foretold by an Eclipse of the Sun, which covered the surface of the whole Earth with Darkness: In like manner, at the death of the People of England's Hercules, both Force and Nature were let loose to shake the very Elements; and by the reuniting of their violence, like unto those who are ready to give up the Ghost, to leave some marks of an extreme dissolution; all which is so lively set forth by the quaintest Wit of these times, as that I shall not enlarge any further upon this observation, 
Mr. E. Waller.  but shall only content myself to repeat unto you his Verses, who expresseth it more elegantly and copiously then my rough Prose can possibly reach to.  

Upon the late Storm, and his Highness' death ensuing the same.  

We must resign, Heaven his great soul doth claim,  
In Storms as loud as his immortal fame.  
His dying groans, his last breath shakes our Isle,  
And Trees uncut fall for his Funeral Pile;  
About his Palace there broad roots were tossed,  
Into the Air, so Romulus was lost.  
New Rome in such a tempest missed their King,  
And from obeying fell to worshipping.   

On Aetna's top, thus Hercules lay dead,  
With ruin' Oaks and Pines about him spread;  
Those his last fury from the Mountain rend,  
Our dying Hero from the continent.  
Ravish whole Towns and Forts from Spaniards reft,  
As his last Legacy to Britain left.  
The Ocean which so long our hopes confined  
Could give no limits to his vaster mind:  
Our bounds enlargement was his latest toil,  
Nor hath he left us Prisoners to our Isle.  
Under the Tropic is our Language spoke,  
And port of Flanders hath received our Yoke,   

From Civil Broils he did us disengage,  
Found nobler objects for our Martial rage;  
And with wise conduct to his Country showed,  
Their ancient way of conquering abroad.  
Ungrateful than it were no tears allow,  
To him that gave us peace and Empire too:  
Princes that feared him grieve concerned to see,  
No Pitch of glory from the Grave is free.   

Nature herself took notice of his death,  
And sighing swelled the Sea with such a breath;  
That to remotest shores her billows rolled,  
The approaching fate of their Great Ruler told.    
And truly I had need of all Parnassus his art to sweeten and mollify the bitterness of this death, which causeth my pen to fall to the ground, and would cast up my Muse into a pitiful swound, did not all the rest of the Muses come to her aid, and sprinkle her with some of that divine Water which nourisheth her, to make her revive again, and to restore her to her strength, to announce to posterity the time, the day, and the manner when and how his late Highness our great Oliver breathed his last.  
After his late Highness had therefore been sick about a fortnight of a Disease which at the beginning was but an Ague, on a Friday being the third of September 1658. in the Morning, he gave all the signs of a dying person, and for whom the Physicians had only Vows and Prayers in reserve: However, he remained in that manner till about three of the Clock in the afternoon, when as his Soul which had always retained the upper hand of his Body, preserved her Empire till the last moment; he had always his wits about him, and his perfect and entire understanding, and continued to deliver those Oracles which were necessary to establish, after so great a loss, the Peace and Tranquillity of England; and immediately to repair the ruins which so dangerous a dissolution had threatened the State withal, and might cause in the minds of every particular person.  
His greatest and most important care was to name a Protector to be his successor, which he did with Reasons so little savouring of his own interests and worldly concernments, as that he testified, that being not content to have sacrificed himself for the common good by the shortening of his days, he was willing to consecrate his Children thereunto, by the lading of them with the heavy burden of those weighty mysteries, which may well be termed a Royal and Gilt Servitude.  
Which succession was so necessary to the Peace and Tranquillity of the State, that the Commonwealth and the Elective Kingdoms are constrained to imitate it; and the successive Monarchies have oftentimes done more with a young Prince in a Cradle, hung betwixt two Trees in the midst of their Camp, than they would have done by the Orders and the Examples of the most expert Captains: But when as the Age, Experience, and Deserts of a Son do unite and combine in the Love and Memory of the virtues of a Father, what shall not betid so wise and worthy a choice? and what shall not be thence expected? For who can with more reason hope to be feared, loved, and obeyed by a whole Nation, save the worthy Heir of him, who hath rendered them so formidable, and who hath ruled over, and governed them so tenderly and meekly? How should unavoidable and strange changes have been prevented, if domestic broils had not been shunned? and whom could we thave better met with the resemblance of a Father, who never had his equal in Prudence, Fortune, and Valour, save in a Son?  
Politicians and Nature delight in the diversifying of their works; the one produceth few men alike, and the other delights in the condemning and destroying of the designs of those who have preceded them, to the end, that they may thereby show their own good parts, and rather appear Originals then Copies. After the giving of these and like Orders, and the settling of the most important Concernments of the State, this great Personage gave up the Ghost, just like a man that falls asleep through the toil of a laborious task. The ensuing night was serene and peaceful, like unto those who display their Sable Veil spangled with Stars, to deck and wrap up the Sun after its long and serious ardent Course.  
He died in the midst of his Victories and Triumphs, after he had caused all the fair fruits which shall be reaped for ever by England, as well in the Continent, as within the Circumference of its Isles, to bud forth into Blossoms and Flowers. He died in a Bed of Bucklers, and on a Pillow of Caskets; and though the Wreaths of the Imperial Laurel which environed his head did wither at the Groans of his Agony, it was only to make place for a richer Diadem which was prepared for him in Heaven; and which must needs be more sumptuous and resplendent, in that it is engrafted upon that Christian humility wherewith he did so constantly refuse a temporal Crown, which was due unto his deserts, and which was proffered him several times by the People of England: and although he be dead, yet he is living, nay, triumphing, and pronouncing Oracles to his very last Groans, most clear and intellegible Oracles; and as being inspired by the Spirit of the God of Truth, he died like a second Vespasian, who even on his Deathbed continued to enlarge the Bounds of his Empire, and as long as he had breath, ceased not to dispatch several Businesses of consequence; answering the Physicians who reproved him, as the Emperor did, That an Emperor ought to die standing. Truly it is a great comfort at the Article of death, to die profitably for Heaven, and for the good of ones Country.  
But before we close his Eyes, let us once more reflect on the constancy wherewith he expects her last assaults, and with how much fear and trembling this inexorable one sets upon him unarmed, and resolved to yield to her; and however she was accustomed to cast her darts before him, yet she is afraid, she trembles and hides her treacherous sith, and never producing it till she sees her blow sure. How oftentimes approaching him in the heat of Battles, armed with despair and horror, was she constrained to turn her back, and to serve him for an Instrument of Victory, whom she was resolved to have laid along? How often hath she been seen to change colour, and to embrace the weaker party, to the end she might show her force, and cut down a greater number of victim? Self-Interest is then made this insensible one grieve for those which she had rashly slain on oliver's side, she lost by their not being, since her sacrifices were there lessened, and that Olivers Arm alone was forced often to supply the absence of his companions, or their ill fortunes. But as the love of this stepdame was false, so likewise was it converted into rage as soon as his late Highness caused Peace to succeed War, and that he outvied this furious Hag by the undaunted courage; as than she broke off all intelligence with force and horror, and she raised up from Hell all the malicious and subtle Furies, both Envy and Treason came to her relief and aid; and by a sacrilegious Spell, she hath sought the Blood of Christ in the very Sacrament thereof to compose her Poison; and by abominable wit chcrafts she sowed sedition in the Hearts of the People; she bewitched the Wise, she blinded the Nobles, and finally she therewith coloured and cloaked all her most black and horrid Designs. But on Oliver his late Highness, she could never fasten her baits, finding him always armed with that Antidote which he renewed daily on the same Altars whence she sucked her venom. He always opposed his Wisdom to her Craft, his Justice to her Violence, his Prayers to her Impieties, and his Clemency to her Obstinacy. The Tempest environed him on all sides, but he was in the Ark; his Enemies set upon him whilst he was asleep, but the Character of God which was imprinted in his Forehead, caused the Sword to fall out of their hands; and Goliath with his Legions of Philistines fell down at the sole report of his Sling.  
Finally, God hath made him to pass safe through the lifted up Waves of his Enemies, in which themselves were drowned; and in case the Sea did prove Red, God be praised it was not by his Blood, nor by the stains of his Soul which abhorred all kind of Cruelty. For if the Pardons which he granted were put in an equal balance with the Deaths which happened during the time wherein his Power was as yet but limited, it would be found, that he did not always give ear to the prudent Politician, to abandon himself from the meekness and generosity of his natural inclinations. Those who shall read the Histories of such like Revolutions as these, will find that they never attained to so high a pitch of Grandor, by such meek and merciful means, and so void of passion. Wherefore his peaceable and natural Death hath been also a Reward for his so great a Moderation; nor can any one doubt but Heaven hath had a particular care of that life, which hath been so often attempted and so desperately assaulted: Not but that he would happily have rather chosen to have died with his Sword in his hand, for the Glory of God and the Defence of his Country, as better befitting his Warlike humour and Men of Courage, but Heaven had otherwise evidenced its Miracles in his preservation. Nor had our Champion had the glory to have wrestled with this powerful Enemy upon unequal terms, and in an estate wherein the imbecility of the Spirit hath no other relief but that of Grace and Reason: This his preservation was also an effect of his Prayers, which he had chosen with a great deal of prudence out of the holy Writs. He caused one of his Gentlemen often to read the tenth Chapter of Matthew's Gospel; and twice a day himself rehearsed the 71. Psalms of David, which hath so near a relation to his Fortune and to his Affairs, as that one would believe it had been a Prophecy purposely dictated by the holy Ghost for him; or else that this great Personage was a Mortal Figure of that great Favourite of God, who hath done so many marvellous things with such slender beginnings, passing through so many obstacles, difficulties, and dangers: so likewise was it very just, that he should enter into the eternal Rest on the like day wherein he had undergone such great and glorious Labours and Dangers; and that he should triumph over Death even in his weakness, at the like time wherein he had overcome her at her fullest strength and greatest advantages. This conformity happened unto him as well as to several other great Personages of the Earth, but by such observable and reiterated notable actions, as that it is void of all doubt but the Heavens had foretold by the Stars (which are the Looking-glasses and Rule of all famous men's Lives) the Events of our glorious Protectors successes. To instance in some, Alexander the Great was born on the sixth day of April, on the like day the famous Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt, presaging that fire which this Conqueror should kindle in Asia. On a sixth day of April he overcame Darius' King of Persia in a Battle; and on the like day he departed this life: whereunto there may be added, that his Birth was preceded by a famous Victory which the Greeks his Subjects obtained on a sixth day of April against the Persians hard by Plutea, and by a Naval Combat which also happened the same day. So likewise Pompey was born and triumphed on a like day, to wit, the thirtieth of the Month of September. Charles the Fifth the Emperor had also such like observable Encounters: he was born on a twenty fourth of February, and being twenty four years old, on the like day he obtained a great Victory, in which a great King was taken prisoner. And on a twenty fourth day of February, he was crowned Emperor by the Pope.  
But not to look any further than our own Country, and into our own Histories; It is observed that his late Highness our present Lord Protector, Richard, was Installed in his Protectorship on the like day, being a third day of September, when as Richard the First, that Famous King of England, so much spoken of in the Histories by reason of his great Wit, Understanding, and Resolution, began his Reign; an accident which cannot choose but promise a most favourable Omen and good Token. In like manner his late Highness had more favourable and famous days encountering together, than any of those foregoing Worthies which we have specified.  

The remarkable passages which happened on the like days in his Highness' life.  For on a third of September he was confirmed in his Protectorship by the Parliament. On a third of September he gained in Scotland that famous Battle of Dunbar. On a third of September he gained that great Battle at Worcester. And Finally, on a third of September his glorious life was Crowned with a peaceable and resolved death in the midst of all his Triumphs, in his Palace at Whitehall, with all the comforts which good hopes could give in his posterity, both to his Children, and to the Companions of his Fortune.  

His late Highness Corpse removed to Somerset-House.  The Corpse of his late Highness having been Embalmed and wrapped up in a sheet of Lead, was on the six and twentieth of September, about ten of the Clock at night, privately removed from Whitehall to Sommerset-house, being only attended by his own Domestic Officers and Servants, as the Lord Chamberlain, and controller of the Household, the Gentlemen of the Lifeguard, the Guard of Halberdiers, and divers other Officers and Servants, two Heralds of Arms went next before the Corpse, which was placed in a morning Hearse, drawn by six Horses; in which manner it was carried to Sommerset-House, where it remained for some days in private until things were in a readiness to expose it in State to a public view, which was performed with the following order and Solemnity.  

The manner of his Highness lying in State.  The first Room at Sommerset-House where the Spectators entered, was formerly the Presence Chamber, completely hung with Black, at the upper end whereof was placed a Cloth of State with a Chair of State under the same.  
The second large Room was formerly the Privy Chamber, hung with Black, with a Cloth and Chair of State under the same.  
The third Room was formerly the Withdrawing Room, hung with BlackCloth, & had a Cloth and Chair of State in it as the former; all which three large Rooms were completely furnished with Scutcheons of his Highness' Arms crowned with the Imperial Crown; and at the head of each Cloth of State was fixed a large majestic Scutcheon fairly painted and gilded upon Taffety.  
The fourth Room where both the Corpse and the Effigies did lie, was completely hung with Black Velvet, and the Roof was cieled with Velvet, and a large Canopy or Cloth of State of black Velvet fringed, was plated over the Effigies made to the life in Wax. The Effigies itself being apparelled in a rich suit of uncut Velvet, robed in a little Robe of Purple Velvet, laced with a rich Gold Lace, and furred with Ermines; upon the Kirtle was the Royal large Robe of the like purple Velvet, laced and furred with Ermines, with rich strings and tassels of Gold; the Kirtle being girt with a rich embroidered Belt, wherein was a fair Sword, richly gilded and hatched with Gold, hanging by the side of the Effigies. In the right hand was the Golden Sceptre, representing Government; in the left hand the Globe, denoting Principality; upon the Head a purple Velvet Cap furred with Ermines, signifying Regality: Behind the Head there was placed a rich Chair of State of tissued Gold, and upon the Cushion which lay thereon was placed an Imperial Crown set with precious Stones. The Body of the Effigies lay upon a Bed of State covered with a large Pall of black Velvet, under which there was spread a fine Holland Sheet upon six stools of tissued Cloth of Gold: on the sides of the Bed of State was placed a rich suit of complete Armour, representing his late Highness Command as General: at the Feet of the Effigies stood his Crest according to the custom of ancient Monuments.  
The Bed of State whereupon the Effigies did thus lie, was ascended unto by two steps covered with the aforesaid Pall of Velvet, the whole work being compassed about with Rails and Ballasters covered with Velvet; at each corner whereof there was placed an upright Pillar covered with Velvet, upon the tops whereof were the four Supporters of the Imperial Arms, bearing Banners or Streamers Crowned. The Pillars were adorned with Trophies of Military Honour carved and gilded; the pedestals of the Pillars had Shields and Crowns gilded which completed the whole work. Within the Rails and Ballasters stood eight great Silver Candlesticks, or Standarts, almost five soot high, with Virgin-wax Tapers of three foot long; next unto the Candlesticks there were set upright in Sockets the four great Standards of his Highness' Arms, the Guydons, great Banners, and Banrolls of war being all of Taffety very richly gilded and painted. The Cloth of State which covered the Bed of State, and the Effigies, had a Majestic Scutcheon; and the whole Room was fully and completely adorned with Taffety Scutcheons: several of his late Highness' Gentlemen attending bareheaded round about the Bed of State in Mourning; and other of his Highness' Servants waiting in the other Rooms, to give directions to the spectators, and to prevent disorders.  

His late Highness standing in State.  After which, his late Highness Effigies was several days shown in another Room, standing upon an Ascent under a rich Cloth of State; vested in royal Robes having a Sceptre in one hand, and a Globe in the other, a Crown on his Head, his Armour lying by him at a distance, and the Banners, Banrolls, and Standards being placed round about him, together with the other Ensigns of Honour: the whole Room which was spacious being adorned in a majestical manner, and several of his late Highness' Gentlemen attending about the Effigies bareheaded, in which manner the Effigies continued until the solemnisation of the Funerals.  

The Funeral Solemnities performed at his late Highness' Interment.  On the three and twentieth day of November in the morning, the time appointed for the solemnisation of the Funerals of his late Highness, the several persons of Honour and quality which were invited to attend the Interment, being come to Somerset-house, and all things being in a readiness to proceed; the Effigies of his late Highness standing under a rich Cloth of State in the manner afore specified, was first shown to the company, and afterwards removed and placed on a Hearse richly adorned and set forth with Scutcheons and other Ornaments; the Effigies itself being vested in Royal Robes, a Sceptre in one hand, a Globe in the other, and a Crown on the Head: after it had been a while thus placed in the middle of a Room, it was carried on the Hearse by ten of his late Highness Gentlemen into the Court-yard, where a very rich Canopy of State was born over it by six other of his late Highness Gentlemen till it was brought and placed on the Chariot, at each end whereof was a seat wherein sat two of his late Highness' Gentlemen of the Bedchamber, the one at the Head and the other at the Feet of the Effigies. The Pall which was made of Velvet and the white linen was very large, extending on each side of the carriage and was born up by several persons of Honour thereunto appointed. The Chariot wherein the Effigies was conveyed, was covered with black Velvet, adorned with Plumes and Scutcheons, and was drawn by six Horses covered with black Velvet, and each of them adorned with black Plumes of Feathers.  
From Somerset-house to Westminster the streets were railed in, and strawed with Sand; the Soldiers being placed on each side of the steeets without the Rails, and their Ensigns wrapped up in a Cypress mourning Veil.   

The manner of the proceeding to the Interment, was briefly thus.  

The several distinctions observed in the Funeral Solemnities.  First, a Knight Martial advanced on Horseback with his black Truncheon tipped at both ends with Gold, attended by his Deputy and thirteen men on Horseback, to clear the way.  
After him followed the Poor men of Westminster in mourning Gowns and Hoods, marching two and two.  
Next unto them followed the Servants of the several persons of all qualities, which attended the Funeral.  
These were followed by all his late Highness' Servants, as well inferior as superior, both within and without the Household, as also all his Highness' Bargemen and Watermens.  
Next unto these followed the Servants and Officers belonging to the Lord Major and Sheriffs of the City of London.  
Then came several Gentlemen and attendants on the respective Ambassadors, and the other Public Ministers.  
After those came the poor Knights of Windsor in Gowns and Hoods.  
Then followed the Clerks, Secretaries, and other Officers belonging to the Army, the Admiralty, the Treasury, the Navy, and Exchequer.  
After these came the Officers in Command in the Fleet, as also the Officers of the Army.  
Next followed the Commissioners for Excize, those of the Army, and the Committee of the Navy.  
Then followed the Commissioners for the Approbation of Preachers.  
Then came the Officers, Messengers, and Clerks belonging to the Privy Council, and the Clerks of both Houses of Parliament.  
Next followed his late Highness Physicians.  
The Head Officers of the Army.  
The Chief Officers and Aldermen of the City of London.  
The Masters of the Chancery, with his Highness learned Council at Law.  
The Judges of the Admiralty, the Masters of Request, with the Judges in Wales.  
The Barons of the Exchequer, the Judges of both Benches, and the Lord Major of London.  
Next to these the persons allied in Blood to his late Highness, and the Members of the Lords House.  
After them the Public Ministers of Foreign States and Princes.  
Then the Holland Ambassador alone, whose Train was born up by four Gentlemen.  
Next to him the Portugal Ambassador alone, whose Train was held up by four Knight of the Order of Christ.  
And thirdly the French Ambassador, whose Train was also held up by four persons of quality  
Then followed the Lords Commissioners of the great Seal.  
The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury.  
The Lords of his late Highness most Honourable Privy Council.  
After whom followed the chief Mourner, and those persons of quality which were his Assistants, and bore up his Train. All the Nobles were in close Mourning, the rest were but in ordinary, being disposed in their passage into several Divisions, being distinguished by Drums and Trumpets, and by a Standard or Banner born by a Person of Honour and his assistant, and a Horse of State covered with black Velvet, and led by a person of Honour, followed by two Grooms: Of which Horses there were eleven in all, four covered with black Cloth, and seven with Velvet. These being all passed in order, at length the Chariot followed with the Effigies, on each side of which were born six Banner Rolls, twelve in all, by as many persons of Honour. The several pieces of his late Highness Armour were born by eight Honourable persons, Officers of the Army, attended by a Herald and a Gentleman on each side. Next followed Garter principal King of Arms, attended with a Gentleman on each side bareheaded.  
Then came the chief Mourner together with those Lords and noble personages that were supporters and assistants to the chief Mourner.  
Then followed the Horse of Honour in very rich Trappings embroidered upon Crimson Velvet, and adorned with white, red, and yellow Plumes, and was led by the Master of the Horse.  
Finally, in the close of all followed his late Highness Guard of Halberdiers, and the Warders of the Tower.  
The Solemnity was managed with a great deal of State from Somerset-House to Westminster, many thousands of people being Spectators in the Windows and upon the Scaffolds all along the way as it passed.  
At the West Gate of the Abbey Church, the Hearse with the Effigies thereon was taken off again from the Chariot by those ten Gentlemen who placed it thereon before, and in their passing on to carry it into the Church, the Canopy of State was by the former six Gentlemen born over it again: In which stately manner it was carried up to the East end of the Abbey, and there placed in that Magnificent structure which was purposely erected there to receive it; where it is to remain for some time exposed to public view. The Corpse having been some days before Interred in Henry the Seventh's Chapel in a Vault purposely prepared for the same, over which a costly Monument is preparing.  
Thus have you a brief Relation of the last Ceremonies of Honour which were performed to the Memory of his late Highness, who by his Heroic Acts had so well deserved, as that my dull pen not able to express them, I shall remit the Reader to censure my endeavours, and submit to those that shall hereafter undertake to present the World with a larger Chronicle.   
FINIS.   

THE CHARACTER of his late Serene Highness, OLIVER, Late Lord Protector: With several Reflections on the foregoing History.  
SEeing Philosophers are of opinion, that the Resemblance of Children to their Parents, as well in their bodily shapes and features, as in the Inclinations of their Souls, is produced by one and the selfsame Cause; chiefly grounded upon this reason, That the one is the Representative of the other. And seeing moreover; that we may not attribute unto a material Cause an immaterial Effect, such as are all the operations of a Rational Soul; they reject the power of a forming virtue, the the Imaginary one, the Constellation of the Planets, and the qualities of the Seed. To fix upon a more sublime mystery, whereby God would have the Legitimateness of Children and Nephews to be manifested, rather by the better part of man, which is the Soul, then by his Complexion, his Behaviour, his Speech, and the shape of his Body. And that such glorious souls as are wrapped up as it were in the body, should like unto a transparent sun penetrate through those thick clouds, and by that resplendency which they infuse through the whole body, should attract the esteem and veneration which they beget in men; either in the vulgar sort, who are only taken with the outside, or in the malicious and envious, who endeavour to smother those Talents in others which they do not possess themselves.  
Which truth, that we may the better make good, it will not be amiss, having first represented unto you some of his late Highness the Lord Protectors memorable Acts, to demonstrate unto you the greatness of his soul, and how well it was placed, whereby all its Heroical virtues may, as through a Crystal glass, appear unto the eyes of the whole world.  
In this wise all Historiographers have proceeded, not only in their describing of the lives of Illustrious Personages, but also in subduing of Cities and Towns, Foretresses, and places of Consequence, which no sooner had received the conquerors yoke, but the Origine and Foundations were narrowly pried into, the manner of their being fortified was described, the form of their being besieged, the assaults which they sustained, and the glory which they acquired even by their surrendry upon honourable terms; whereas on the contrary, inconsiderate ones are quite neglected, their appellations and reductions being scarce deemed worthy to be specified in a History.  
In like manner, since death after several vain attempts and successess assaults hath at length bereft us of our Illustrious late Lord Protector, we shall give you the Character of his person, to let you see how much he resembled his glorious predecessors. And howbeit we may thereby somewhat diminish and detract from his glory, however so beautiful a soul as his was, accompanied by a body participating of all those Organs which were succeptible of such high and admirable operations, could not choose but produce the ensuing glorious effects?  
In his person he somewhat exceeded the usual middle stature, but was well proportioned accordingly, being of a becoming fatness, well shaped, having a masculine face, a sparkling eye, both courteous and harsh at once, according as there was occasion; hardy and fierce in combats and reprehensions, tempered in counsels and meek, promising to the afflicted and suitors. He was of a strong constitution, and of an active body well disposed, an enemy both to ease and excess; and although in his youth he was capable of, yet he used not those fair and bewitching pleasures which a country (where idleness and wantonness did reign) doth afford to vigorous constitutions with a great deal of mediocrity in the War, he was active, vigilant, and circumspect; and although he was doubtless one of the best headpieces in the world, yet he disdained not to confer and take counsel with others, even in Affairs of the least concernment.  
His greatest delight was to read men rather than books, and his Eloquence which was both Masculine and Martial, was rather a natural gift than an effect of art, wherein he always mingled some passages of the holy Writ, in which his piety had amply instructed him; to which most charming part as well as to his Sword, he owed most of his Conquests and Victories; being always accustomed to exhort and animate his Soldiers at the undertaking of any great enterprise, and before the giving of a battle, so likewise after he had gained the victory, he himself did express unto God his thankfulness and acknowledgements with so profound an humility, as that he attributed unto God alone all his good success; and did constantly refuse all those triumphs which were prepared for, and proffered to his valour. He had an especial care to have Piety and Godliness reign in his Armies, and punished as a most enormous crime, those who took God's name in vain. Moreover, he loved his Soldiers as his Children, and his greatest care was to see them provided for with all necessaries requisite; by which foresight and provividence, he was the better able to execute that severe punishment which he usually caused to be inflicted on those who plundered and spoiled the Peasants, for which crime he would not have pardoned his ownbrother; and on the other side he was always most bountiful and liberal to his Soldiers, and those Pensions which are yet paid daily unto the old Soldiers, unto their Widows, and to the maimed and hurt men, may save those charges which some Princes have been at to hire persons to weep and lament at their Funerals, and over their Tombs.  

See History and Policy reviewed.  He took great delight to discourse of the Affairs of the World, and his own judgement did furnish him with such exact resolutions concerning the Government of his Estates, and touching the interests of other Princes, as without the entering into their Cabinets, or partaking of their Counsels, he discoursed very pertinently of their Affairs, and foretold their several issues and events. He likewise was an excellent Phisionomer, and having once seriously considered any one, he was seldom deceived in the opinion he conceived of him.  
He married into the ancient and noble family of the Bourchers, whence the Earls of Essex were descended; his marriage bed was blessed with many Children, none of which did ever degenerate from the eminent virtues of their most Illustrious Father. His eldest son named Ricard hath succeeded him in the Protectorship; his younger son named Henry, being at this time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; both of them capable to follow their Father's glorious footsteps, and to perfect and crown such hopeful, promising, though difficult, beginnings; their Father having as it were divided, shared, and left by inheritance unto their youth (swelling with marvellous hopes) that most exquisite Quintessence of two great Talents, which he had acquired by his age and by his experience; so that the one of his sons may be styled the Jupiter, and the other the Mars of England.  
He had four Daughters, all of them Ladies of a most eminent and virtuous disposition: The Lady Bridget first married unto the Lord Ireton, in his life time Lord Deputy of Ireland, a Personage of sublime worth; and afterwards espoused unto the Lord Fleetwood, sometimes Lord Deputy of Ireland, and at present Lieutenant General of all his Highness Forces. The Lady Elizabeth his second Daughter, married unto the Lord Cleypoll, and died a little before her Father; of whom we shall speak hereafter. The third, the Lady Mary, espoused unto the Lord Viscount Faulconbridge. And the youngest, the Lady Frances, at present widow of the Lord Robert Rich, Grandchild to the late Earl of Warwick.  
Nor did the change of his late Highness Fortunes in the least decline or diminish the tenderness and affection which he ever bare towards the worthy Mother of so numerous and hopeful an issue; and that absolute power which he had over all his Dominions, never gave him the least desire to captivate any heart, save that which God had given him in marriage. And that which is the most to be admired at, and seems to be the sum of all bliss, is, that the Almighty lent his late Highness so much life as to see all his Children disposed to the most gallant personages, and allied to the most Illustrious Families of England; which are as so many props of his Fortune, and Fences against the enviers of his Virtue.  
He was an enemy to vain gloriousness & ostentation, and although he was all as it were fire, that is, of a passionate constitution; yet he had so overcome his passions, that he was seldom or never moved but when there was a great cause given: so likewise was he more subject to repress and keep in, then to give way to his passion. The actions of his body denoted those of his mind, his actions were in a manner without motion, and without any force of the body; in like manner his mind was not at all agitated, nor his expressions precipitated; sweetness and tranquillity accompanied his thoughts and his words; but when there was occasion to carry a business, he expressed himself with so much vigour, as gave to understand, that he was not easily to be dissuaded from the thing he had once resolved.  
In like manner during the whole course of the War, he never harboured the least thought of changing of parties. And as for Ambition, which is the only passion whereof envy itself seems to accuse him, the effects thereof were so inconfiderable and unnecessary unto him, nay, so unpleasing and unwelcome; and which is more, he so often refused the pomps, delights, and grandours which were proffered him, that all the world must needs confess, that where Nature could claim so small an interest, the master and director of Nature must needs have had a great share. Wherefore we may aver with a great deal of reason, That in case he hath hoarded and laid up Treasures, it hath been in the entrails of the Poor of all Sexes, and of all Nations, of all Professions and Religions, both at home and abroad; insomuch, that it hath been computed, that out of his own private instinct particular Motions and pious Compassion, he distributed at least forty thousand pounds a year in Charitable Uses, out of his own purse, out of such Moneys as the Commonwealth did allow him for his Domestic Expenses, and for the maintenance of his State, and the Dignity of his Person, Family, and the keeping up the splendour of his Court.  
And the better to illustrate this matter, we shall insert an Essay of two examples of Generosity and Gratitude, which are not to be paralleled, save in the persons of Thomas Lord Cromwell, his late Highness' predecessor, in Henry the Eighth's Reign, and in the person of his late Highness, Oliver Lord Protector.  

An example of gratitude and generosity in the Lord Tho. Cromwell.  In those glorious days, when the English young Gentry endeavoured to outvie their elder Brothers, by undertaking far and dangerous journeys into Foreign parts, to acquire glory by feats of Arms, and experiencing themselves in the Military Discipline; Thomas Cromwell a younger Brother, to better his knowledge in Warlike Affairs passed into France, and there trailed a Pike, accompanying the French Forces into Italy, where they were defeated at Gattellion; whereupon our English Volantier betook himself to Florence, designing to pass thence home again into England; but having loft all his equipage, and being in a necessitated condition, he was enforced to address himself to one Signior Francisco Frescobald an Italian Merchant, who corresponded at London; and making his case known unto him, Frescobald observing something remarkable, and a certain promising greatness in the Features, Actions, and Deportment of Thomas Cromwell, who gave an account of himself with so candid an ingenuity, and in such terms as beseemed his Birth, and the Profession he then was of: whereby he gained so much upon Frescobald, as inviting him home to his house, he caused him to be accommodated with new Linen and Clothes, and other suitable necessaries; kindly entertaining him, till such time as he testified a desire to return for England; when as to complete his Generosity and Kindness, he gave Mr. Thomas Cromwell a Horse, and sixteen Ducats in gold, to prosecute his journey homewards.  
In process of time, several disasters and Bankrupts befalling Signior Frescobald, his Trading and Credit was not a little thereby impaired; and reflecting on the Moneys which were due unto him by his Correspondents in England, to the value of 15000. Ducats, he resolved to pass thither, and try whether he could happily procure payment.  
During which interval of time, Mr. Thomas Cromwell being a person endowed with a great deal of Courage, of a transcendent Wit, hardy in his undertake, and a great Politician, had by these his good qualities gotten himself entrance and credit at Court, and highly ingratiated himself with King Henry the Eighth; having advanced himself to almost as high a pitch of Honour, in as short a time, in a manner, as his late Highness did.  
The Lord Thomas Cromwell therefore riding one day with a great train of Noble Men towards the King's Palace, chanced to espy on foot in the streets Signior Frescobald, the Italian Merchant, in an ill plight: however, he immediately alighting from his Horse, embraced him before all the world, to the great astonishment of the beholders; and chid him, that at his very arrival he came not to visit him. Frescobald being astonished at so unexpected an encounter, and receiving so signal a favour from a personage he could not call to mind he had ever known, was quite surprised; and my Lord Cromwell's pressing affairs at Court not permitting him the while to acquaint him further who he was, only engaged him to come and dine with him that day. Frescobald full of amazement, enquired of the attendants who that great personage might be? And hearing his name, he began to call the Feature of his Face, and the Idea of his Person to mind; and so by degrees conceiving with himself it might happily be the same Mr. Thomas Cromwell whom he had harboured at Florence; he enquired out his Lordship's habitation, and attended his coming at Noon-tide, walking in his Court-yard. No sooner was the Lord Thomas Cromwell entered the same, (attended by several persons of quality, and officers of the Crown) but speedily alighting from his Horse, he embraced his friend Frescobald in the same manner he had done in the morning; and perceiving that the Lords which accompanied him were amazed at such a disproportioned familiarity, he told them that he was more obliged to Frescobald then to all the men in the world, owing unto him the making of his Fortune; and so proceeded to relate unto them the whole story which had befallen him at Florence. So great a delight do generous minds take to recount their foregoing Misfortunes, when their Grandor hath elevated them to such a pitch, as that they triumph over Shame, and are incapable of Ingratitude.  
Frescobald was treated at Dinner with all the tenderness he could expect from so great a personage, and so good a friend; after which being carried up by the Lord T. Cromwell into his Closet, he was there presented with four bags of Gold, each containing four hundred Ducats, in return of his former civilities: which Frescobald (being of a gallant spirit) at first refused, but after several contestations was constrained to accept as an acknowledgement from the Lord Cromwell; who, moreover enquiring of him concerning his coming over, and affairs in England; and understanding his Losses, and that there were Moneys due to him, caused him to write down his Debtors names; and by his Secretary summoned the several Merchants which were indebted to Frescobald (upon pain of his displeasure) to clear their Accounts with him, and to pay him within the space of fifteen days; which was accordingly performed: only Frescobald freely forgave them the Use.  
Over and above all which, the Lord Thomas Cromwell endeavoured to persuade his friend Frescobald to have remained in England the rest of his Days, proffering to lend him a stock of 60000. Ducats to trade withal: But Frescobald being overcharged with all those grand obligations which the Lord Cromwell had conferred on him; having by his Lordship's Generosity acquired enough to keep him from being necessitated all his life time; and deeming that the trading in good Works was incomparably more sure and gainful then in the richest Wares and Merchandizes, being resolved to quit Trading, and to end the rest of his days peaceably and quietly, he obtained leave of the Lord Thomas Cromwell to depart towards his own Country, freighted with so great obligations as caused in him a generous shame.  
But the Almighty doth not always recompense the fruits of good Works here on Earth, often repaying the greatest with the least rewards; and Heaven delights in the exercising of its great Virtues, by the Vices which are thereunto opposite: and as the most noblest Creatures are the slowest in the attaining to their perfections, so the Almighty doth not immediately cause those Fruits to ripen, which are sowed here below by Christian Charity.  

The Lord Tho. Cromwel's Seed, Destiny, and end.  Wherefore to return to the Lord Thomas Cromwell, who had made the Match between Anne of Cleve and King Henry the Eighth, you shall see how he was rewarded for his Generosity and good Services; for this Princess Anne of Cleve, conceiving a certain womanish Jealousy, she knew not why nor wherefore, against the Lord Thomas Cromwell, save only that she apprehended he had too great a power and sway with the King; never left off soliciting and importuning of him, till he caused the Lord Thomas Cromwell to be beheaded; by which sad compliance, the King lost the best Supporter of his Crown, and the faithfullest of his Servants and Subjects. The Lord Thomas Cromwell died without Heir Males, leavingone only Daughter, espoused to one Mr. Williams a Gentleman of Glamorganshire, of a good Family; who, as we have before said, inherited little of his Father, save his Virtues, besides what his own Deserts had procured him, and what he might promise himself by the Match with this Heiress the Lord Thomas Cromwel's Daughter: (from whence our Lord Protectors are lineally descended) and who was the lively representative of her Father, and the very portraiture of his great soul, as the Lady Cleypool was of his late Highness the Lord Protector.  
Now that you may know on what occasion 
How the Name of Williams came to be changed into that of Cromwell.  the Name of Williams came to be changed into that of Cromwell; it happened when as King Henry the Eighth was in the midst of his Splendour, Pomp, and Magnificence, wallowing in the pleasures of a sumptuous Entertainment at Court, Mr. Williams (who had been a retainer to the late Lord Thomas Cromwell) made his appearance before the King in deep Mourning, like a dark Cloud eclipsing the Sun at Noon-tide. The King casting his eye upon so unexpected and dismal an Object, (which seemed to reproach his rash fault) was surprised and offended, at the interrupting of his Pleasures, by Williams so unseasonable apparition; wherefore the King asked him how he durst appear at Court in that garb? whereunto Williams replied with a sad but assured countenance, That not only himself, but the King and all the Court had reason to mourn for the loss of the greatest and faithfullest of his Subjects and Servants, whose Death himself might one day chance to regret, when he should stand in need of his Counsels and Fidelity. But the King whose thoughts were at that time taken up with his Pastimes, wished Williams to be gone, and to get himself cured of his Frenetick Malady.  
Some while after troubles arising, and the King finding himself in a straight for want of so faithful a Minister of State as the late Lord Thomas Cromwell was, whose life he had so inconsiderately taken away; began to reflect on the loss he had sustained; and how requisite it was, for Princes, and great Potentates, to retain near their Persons, Men of Knowledge, Worth and Fidelity; and calling to mind the action and discourse of Williams, conceiving that it could not proceed but from a great soul endowed with extraordinary virtues, and such a one as might be useful and serviceable to him; he sent for him up to Court, and commanding him to take the name of Cromwell upon himself, (unto whom he had testified so much Fidelity and Gratitude) he invested him with all the Offices and Charges the late Lord Thomas Cromwell enjoyed near his person; and re-instated him again in all his Goods and Lands which had been confiscated; so that the Lord Williams assisted in the King's Council, as his Father in Law the Lord Thomas Cromwell before had done.  

His late Highness descent.  From this Noble Lord Williams, alias Cromwell, and the Illustrious Daughter of the renowned Lord Thomas Cromwell, his late Highness and our present Lord Protector are lineally descended; in whom the Almighty hath raised up and ripened those generous virtues of their predecessors, and hath elevated and spread their branches as high, as their deep roots had taken profound and vigorous Foundations.  
So that to complete our parallel, we may observe by the fruits of this Illustrious Stock from whence his late Highness is descended, whether they retained their accustomed Generosity and Clemency; which we will not go about to prove by the Military Acts, in which they have outvied their Predecessors; nor by their Politic and prudent Government of the State, in which they have at least equalised them; but by their private and domestic actions, since the resemblance of Children to their Parents may be more observed by the Features of the Face, then by the course of their lives, which are subject to vary, either by the inconstancy of Fortune, or the Communication of other men.  

An example of his late Highness gratitude.  To come therefore to his late Highness the Lord Protector, and signalise his gratitude; we shall instance in the person of one Duret a French attendant of his Highness during his General-ship; who served him with so much Fidelity and Zeal, as that he entrusted him with the managing and conduct of the greatest part of his domestic Affairs; always retaining him nigh his person, bearing so great an affection towards him, and reposing so entire a confidence in him, as during his late Highness' great sickness which he had in Scotland, (and whereof it was thought he would have died) he would not be served by any one, nor receive any nourishment, or any thing else that was administered unto him, save from the hands of Duret, who both day and night continued to watch by his Master; tending him with a special care and assiduity, not giving himself a Moment's rest until his late Highness had recovered his perfect health; which long and continual watches of Duret, and the pains he had taken in the administering unto his Master, plunged him into a sad fit of sickness; during which, this faithful servant received all the acknowledgements which his good and zealous services had demerited, his late Highness applying all the possible cures he could, not only by his commands, but by his personal visits, (so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit him) to comfort Duret, and to see all things applied, that might conduce to his recovery: but Durets hour being come, he was content to lay down his life in his Master's service; and the Physicians having quite given him over, his late Highness would needs render him his last good offices, by comforting him at his death, by his sensibleness of his good services, and the extreme zeal and affection he had born to his person; which although he could not requite unto him, yet his Highness assured him he would manifest his acknowledgements thereof unto his Parents and Kindred: Whereunto Duret replied, That the honour he had received in having served so good and great a Master, and the glory he reaped in having laid down his life for the preservation of his Highness, and of so good and glorious a Cause, was extreme, satisfactory unto him in his death. That he had a Mother and a Sister, with some Kindred in France, who were unworthy his Highness thoughts, or reflecting on them; however that he remitted them to his Highness gracious consideration. And so Duret, his good and faithful servant, breathed his last.  
In which contract of grief, and resolution of acknowledgement, his late Highness may be said to have harboured the same thoughts as Henry the Eighth did; persuading himself that he had been the Author of Durets death, though in a far innocenter way; However his late Highness retained all the resentments and sensibleness of the acknowledgements and gratitude, expressed by his generous predecessor the Lord Thomas Cromwell, towards his dear Friend Frescobald.  
For his late Highness immediately sent over For Durets Mother, Sister, and two Nephews out of France, and would have the whole Family of the Durets to come and establish themselves here in England; that he might the better manifest his Love and Gratitude in their persons, towards his deceased faithful servant. And whereas by reason of the continuance of the Scotch Wars, his late Highness was at that time, as it were confined to the North, he wrote unto her Highness, the now Lady Protectoress Dowager, his wife, that she should receive and use Durets Mother, Sister, and Allies, accordingly as she praised the good offices of his deceased faithful servant, to whose cares, pains, and watchings he owed the preservation of his own life; and that she should proportion that kindness which during his absence she should show unto them, unto the love which she bore unto him; insomuch, that Durets Mother was by her Highness admitted into her own Family, and seated at her own Table; his Sister was placed in the rank and quality of a Maid of Honour to her Highness; and his two Nephews were admitted to be her Highness' Pages; whereby the Almighty Crowned Durets good and faithful services towards his Master, and his piety and observance towards his Mother and Sister, whose only support he was in his life time, with the rich Flowers of Prosperity, and with the Fruits of Fortune; advancing them as fast as the sad destiny did his precipitated death.  
And no sooner was his late Highness returned into England after the conquest of Scotland, and the glorious Victory he had obtained at Worcester, full freighted with the resplendency of his noble achievements; but he desired to see Durets Mother, Sister, and Nephews, enquiring how they had been received, and treated; and whether they were well pleased to be in England; and as soon as they appeared in his presence, he could not retain his generous tears for the loss of Duret; nor could he cease to testify his inward grief for him, comforting the good old Gentlewoman Mrs. Duret, by the mouth of his Children who spoke French, telling her, She had not lost her son, although dead; for that himself would be her son, since the preservation of his life had its being from her entrails; that both her and his Duret was with a better Master; a Master, who was his Master also; and whose recompenses and rewards were for greater and more assured than these worldly ones. And that the great thoughts of his heart might not lose their force and energy, by his employing of another's tongue to express them; this great Personage who never made use of the French language to entertain the Ambassador of Kings and Princes withal, did put himself to the trouble of learning some French words, with which he always was used to cheer up and comfort the good old Woman whensoever he met her: and he that was wont to swim in the blood of his enemies, and could look with an undiscomposed brow on thousands of men, and of his friends, lying dead on the Field after a battle, had so much tenderness for the loss of one of his domestic Servants, as that he could not refrain from tears when he beheld any of Durets relations. Nor need we to wonder hereat, since his late Highnesses general spirit contained as well private as public Virtues. And his Reason which was always mistress of his Passions, knew full well how to employ them on such occasions, and at such times as they were most requisite and commendable: to let us see, That the Dignity of a General and a Protector, had not made him relinquish the quality of a Man; and that Maxims and Reasons of State had forced several things from him, which were absolutely repugnant to his natural inclinations. Besides, this great Politician knew, that the greatest part of Famous Men, which Fortune had elevated to the top of her Wheel, were for the most part come to untimely ends by the corruption of their domestic Servants, or the treachery of their intimatest Friends and bosom Favourites: in regard whereof, his late Highness lamented the more the loss of this his Faithful Servant.  
Nor need we to wonder hereat, since Fortune had heaped all the perfections of Virtues in his great Soul, which he evidently manifested, by his so orderly, and peaceably reuniting, and as it were, matching together the Virtues both of War and Peace; the ruffness and harshness of War, with the tenderness of Nature; their Licentiousness with Piety; Confusion with good Order; and so resplendent an eminent Greatness, to such inconsiderate, abject, and humble domestic considerations.  
Wherefore this Nation may account itself thrice happy, in enjoying such sublime rising Powers to govern it, who are able to distinguish between Good and Evil; and who suffer not themselves to be puffed up so high, as that they scorn and disdain to look downwards, and so stand not in need (as the waters poured far from the Ocean) of a borrowed and corrosive salt, to preserve things from corruption.  
Thus as I have already given you rather a Glimpse then a Character of his late Highness his Person, I shall now render you some other considerable Remarks of his Affairs.  
After the discoveries of an hundred Plots and Designs laid open and frustrated, the defeating of many jealous parties all of them convinced; and finally, sundry Foreign Negotiations and Treaties, which hath given you occasion as well to admire his Judgement as his Valour, whence you have found as bold undertake to have proceeded from his late Highness, as ever were commented; and as admirable Conquests on the Continent, as may well answer the ancient (though long time dormatick) Valour of the English Nation.  
To consider how he joined the Piety and good Order of Numa with the Vigour and Force of Romulus, in those foundations which he laid of this new and Warlike Empire; which although they scarce budded forth of the earth, are never the less substantial enough to bear up a solid building; and do sufficiently discover all the several beautiful Repartitions of the same in a most exquisite manner, and in a goodly ground plot.  
First, his late Highness settled such a Military Discipline, as partaking of the Virtues of the three first Roman Founders, did strike a terror into the most ambitious Monarches of the earth; and doth give Instructions, or rather read Lectures on both the Christian and Moral Virtues unto that Nation which pretends to be the wisest and most Religious of all the world. 
See History and policy reviewed.  I believe that if a Croysade had armed all the Priests and Religious Men, there would not be so strict an order observed in their Christian Military Discipline, as that which we now see is established in England, where Sobriety flourisheth amidst abundance, in a Country where formerly Debauchery was accounted as a Gallantry, and converted into a custom; where Modesty is wedded to Cruelty, Justice with the extremity of Power, Meekness with the stubborness of Arms, War with Piety, Valour with Fear and Obedience. And since we speak of the Piety of this English Pompilius, may we not say that the Goddess Ageria did nightly in his solitudes appear unto him.  
Nor need we to say that he made use of fire and flames by a barbarous and unchristianlike Zeal to establish the truth of the Gospel. Nor did he send millions of Pagans to Hell, thereby to be strong enough to force five hundred against their wills into Heaven: The Piety of this our Common Father was void of Envy and Cruelty. He hath defied the Tyrants over men's Consciences by Clemency and Charity, and hath caused those who profess those two Virtues before all others (which are more sublime though less profitable to our neighbours, and consequently of less concernment) to doubt, whether or no the Quality of the most Christian King is not far better than that of the Catholic. All which being maturely considered, we may say when a State erreth both in the Ecclesiastic and Politic Government, he that is invested with the Sovereign Power, far from being reputed a Tyrant, is accountable before God if he doth refuse the same, and if he lets that Talon remain useless which may otherwise be advantageous to the whole world.  
To say more of his Generosity, this Virtue he highly recommended above all others unto his Ministers of State, and unto his Ambassadors, and unto his Children; and whereof that noble Lady Cleypoll, his Daughter of worthy memory, did give so many evidences during her life, and even at the Article of her Death, as that she thereby did beget tears in the most obstinate and hardiest enemies of this State. A worthy Daughter of so famous a Father, whom Heaven too soon snatched away both from the Virtuous and from the Miserable; and whose soul did admirably correspond with her Fortune, and the Majesty of her Comportment. How many of the Royalist prisoners got she not freed? How many did she not save from Death whom the Laws had condemned? How many persecuted Christians hath she not snatched out of the hands of the torments; quite contrary unto that Herodias who could do any thing with her father. She employed her Prayers even with Tears to spare such men whose ill fortune had designed them to suffer: when as this grand Hero being transported as it were, and even ravished to see his own Image so lively described in those lovely and charming Features of that winning Sex, could refuse her nothing; insomuch, that when his Clemency and Justice did balance the pardon of a poor Criminal, this most charming Advocate knew so skilfully to disarm him, that his Sword falling out of his hands, his arms only served to lift her up from those knees on which she had cast herself, to wipe off her tears, and to embrace her. So likewise it is believed, that this illustrious Princess precipitated death, did not a little contribute to his late Highness' sickening; all whose noble parts were found to be very sound and whole, only his Heart, which sorrow had seized and dried up. Nor did he long outlive her, since it was impossible he should survive the love of so generous a dispenser of his Clemency and Generosity.  
For brevity, I shall make choice of one of the Ambassadors of this Commonwealth, to denote the splendour of the glorious Ministers of this generous Prince; he being in such a place where he hath more occasion than any of the rest, to give far ampler marks of the most Heroical Virtue, which acquires more glory to the victorious than the victory itself, and which is the most assured Character of a true Christian, his Excellency the Lord Lockhart, Ambassador in the Court of France, General of his Highness Forces in Flanders, and Governor of the Town of Dunkirk, who is espoused to that most renowned Lady one of his late Highness' Nieces. In both which noble Personages we may behold at once shining forth those two happy and glorious Talents, which most of all render persons of their Birth and Quality recommendable and famous. His person seems only to have been sent into France to charm the whole Nation, and to attract and accumulate graces; and did he not expose himself to so many dangers and hazards in the Wars, men might easily believe that after he had long born Arms in Holland, in France, and ten years' space for the late King of England, that he only ranged himself on the victorious sides to save the King's Party, and to reinstate them in their Lands and Goods.  
Wherefore the Generosity, Courtesy, and Affability of his late Highness did so superabound, as that no one person ever departed from his presence unsatisfied; for he received the Petitions of all men, he heard their Grievances, and his charitable memory was so retentive, as that he never forgot their requests, but made it his chief object to bear them in mind, and most tenderly to provide for them. He esteemed those he had overcome, and took a delight to pardon them, and to make them sharers of his good Fortune; provided that they would give over to make themselves unfortunate, by their obstinacy. He was used to say, that Hearts were as well to be overcome as Fortresses, and that the one were no more to be demolished then the other, because they had belonged to other Masters; insomuch, that he esteemed it a great Conquest to have gained a gallant Man to his party. And as for those who have been put to death in his time, they may be said to have been their own Judges, and their own executioners. And however Politicians hold, that in the changing of a Government, all things ought likewise to be changed if possible, even the very Religion itself, (were men profane enough to meddle therewith) and that Cruelty ought wholly to banish Clemency, yet all men know, that as to the point of Religion, he did leave things as he found them; and that he saved more lives by thousands, than obstinacy and despair did cause to perish. Nay, he did even wish when he came to have a more absolute power towards the latter end of his days, that those which had been put to death were yet alive; protesting solemnly, that if he could not change their hearts he would have changed their Dooms, and convert their deaths into a banishment; which is easily to be believed, by the goodness which he hath exercised towards the children of such as were put to death, even those who were his most implacable enemies; leaving them in possession both of their Goods and Titles; and whose losses he hath recompensed by such civilities as doth evidence, he learned not his Politics in Machiavils School; 
See History and Policy reviewed.  who teacheth, that the children and all the Generation were to be exterminated together with their Fathers: so that many men wished that his Highness' power had been as absolute ten years since as it was some years before his death.  
So likewise those Alliances which he made, and those Wars which he undertook, had all of them motives of Generosity, and were founded on Equity and Reason; if so be we consider the very first whereinto he only stepped by the degree of a Captain, and which may be termed a necessary evil and an inevitable one, begotten by the remissness of the Political Body, and by the corruption of the Clergy; I do find that two high injustices were the primitive causes thereof, the first was the usurpations of the Saxons, Danes, and Normanns; the second was the peaceful humour and dispositions of King James, and the idleness and sloathfulness of the Nobility, who constrained their younger brethren to serve them, or to learn Trades, by taking away from them the means to subsist by the way of Arms; which is a privilege more than legitimate, due by the elder brother to the younger, and by Princes to such Martial Spirits as live in their Dominions; if the Saxons and other Usurpers or Conquerors of England did by force of Arms become Masters of the Country, and did cast out the right Possessors thereof, and by success of time falling from a Foreign Injustice into a Domestic Injustice, they reduced their younger Brothers to Mecannick professions.  
At present they demand that they may be permitted to expose their bloods and their lives for the preservation of their brethren's: That the exercise of Arms may be abolished in so Populous and Warlike a State: that the banished glory which formerly with so much Pomp reigned in England may be restored again.  
And as for the War which his late Highness declared against Spain, that is so generous, that a man may aver, that glory was the only motive thereof; and that thereby he espoused the Interest of all the people which were oppressed, and of all the Princes which the Ambition of Spain had despoiled of their States and Territories. And the two most unfortunate people of the earth were the first objects of his Generosity, and those which were the most of all abandoned, were the first that felt the effects of that Arm which stretched itself forth to their assistance; 
Which you may see in two Books, viz. Teats of the Indies, and the other, America Painted to the life.  To wit, the poor Indians, those wretched slaves, who behold no other faces save those of their tormentors; and who were made to believe that perishing in the Mines of Peru, they thereby did raise to themselves Thrones of Glory in Heaven, since thereby they furnished Spain wherewithal to adorn and enrich Altars throughout the whole world. In these torrid Climates the gallant English went to revenge the death of several Merchants, and many brave Seamen of all Nations, which the Spaniards did surprise in those Seas; and who they did decoy and attract by specious promises, that they would not mischief them: Notwithstandstanding the Law of Nations, and the Faith which they had plighted, they seized their ships; and having tied the men alive to trees, placed this Superscription on their Breasts, Who sent for you into this Country? And let them there starve to death, whilst the Birds of the Air did feed upon their flesh as they were yet alive.  
And also Flanders, the Sea whereof like unto a sharp humour, did always nourish the wounds and incurable evils, she never was in so fair a way to recover her perfect health by the neighbourly refreshments which England at present doth proffer unto her, and the fresh Air which France would also have her enjoy. Nor was the French letting her blood sufficient to cure her, for she needed an English Physician who was accustomed to cure and treat incurable bodies; so that in case this unfortunate fair one will in the least conform herself to those Remedies which are proffered unto her, and the which will be no violenter than she herself pleaseth; she may be rendered plump and well liking, as the fresh Air and Blossoms of France can make her, and as the Sweets and Delicacies of England can procure unto her.  
In like manner, it was a high point of Generosity in the English, since they caused France to lose Gravelling and Dunkirk, to help France again to re-take such places in those parts as might repay them with use, and elsewhere also, such as might stand them in as great stead; as Montmedy, which was the first considerable reduced place after this happy Alliance, and the which crowned the same.  
And truly here we may consider the Generosity of his late Highness, in its most perfect die or lustre; for without having regard to those Advantages which Spain might render him as to the Commerce, the places of Hostage which she proffered to put into his hands for secure Retreats, as Gravelling, Dunkirk, and others; he was swayed by those Resentments which the English Nation ought to have harboured for the several and innumerable injuries and wrongs sustained by that Nation; as the Spanish intended Invasion with their great Fleet in 88 Their Tyranny in the Indies, and the Cruelties and Barbarismes which they inflict upon all those who will not acquiess unto, and follow their Maxims and Opinions. His late Highness therefore preferred the Alliance and League with France because it was more Christianlike, permitting all men to make use of that Liberty of Conscience and Freedom, which Jesus Christ hath acquired unto them by his Blood; and gaining them by meekness and courteousness to his Divine example, and not by Cruelties and Oppressions.  
His late Highness sided with France the rather, because she hath undertaken the Defence of all oppressed people, as well Princes as Subjects. And to allege all in one word, and so to complete the height of Generosity itself; because France at that time was the weakest, as being abandoned by some of her ancient Allies, and as it were quite disordered by an intestine War, which had most violently shaken her bowels; so likewise must France needs confess, that without the assistance of England, her Navigation was totally ruined; the Pirates of Dunkirk having blocked up all her Sea Ports, in so much, that Merchandizes were brought in as it were by stealth; and France might have been forced to have kept but a lean Lent, all their Farms and Farmers being destroyed; their Butter, Cheese, and all kind of Spices and other Wares of that nature, being set at such rates as the Common people were not able to pay for them: So that had not the English scoured their Seas, and driven away and chased those Pirates which lay lurking in such neighbouring Ports, France had been in a sad condition; whereas now by the means of the English, all Foreign Nations come freely into the French Ports with their Ships and Goods. And for to increase the courtesy of the English yet more to France, by saving the French the labour, charges, and hazards of going to the Indies, they thence bring home unto their doors, in Exchange of their Linen and Wines, all the good things and delicacies, which not only the New World, but the rest of the World plentifully and abundantly affords.  
I shall enlarge myself no further in these Political Reflections, but refer the Reader to the incomparable Work lately Printed, entitled, History and Policy reviewed.  
FINIS.   

Courteous Reader, These Books following, with others, are printed for Nath. Brook, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Angelin Cornhill.  

Excellent Tracts in Divinity, Controversies, Sermons, Devotions.  
THe Catholic History collected and gathered out of Scripture, Councils, and Ancient Fathers, in Answer to Dr. Vane's Lost Sheep returned home: by Edward Chesensale Esq Octavo.  
2. Bishop Morton on the Sacrament, in Folio.  
3. The Grand Sacrilege of the Church of Rome, in taking away the sacred Cup from the Laity at the Lords Table, by D. Featley, D. D. Quarto.  
4. The Quakers Cause at second hearing, being a full answer to their Tenets.  
5. Re-assertion of Grace: Vindiciae Evangelii, or the Vindication of the Gospel: a Reply to Mr. Anthony Burghess Vindiciae Legis, and to Mr. Ruthford: by Robert Town.  
6. Anabaptists anatomised and silenced: or a Dispute with Mr. Tombs, by Mr. J. Grag; where all may receive clear satisfaction in that Controversy. The best extant, Octave.  
7. The zealous Magistrate; a Sermon by T. Threscot. Quarto.  
8. Britannia Rediviva. A Sermon before the Judges, August 1648. by J. Shaw Minister of Hull.  
9 The Princess Royal, in a Sermon before the Judges, March 24. by J. Shaw.  
10. Judgement set, and Books opened, Religion tried whether it be of God or Man, in several Sermons; by J. Webster. Quarto.  
11. Israel's Redemption, or, the Prophetical History of our Saviour's Kingdom on Earth; by R. Matton.  
12. The Cause and Cure of Ignorance, Error, and Profaneness; or, a more hopeful way to Grace and Salvation; by R. Young. Octavo.  
13. A Bridle for the Times, tending to still the murmuring, to settle the wavering, to stay the wand'ring, and to strengthen the fainting: by J. Brinsley of Yarmouth.  
14. The sum of Practical Divinity: or, the grounds of Religion in a Chatechistical way, by Mr. Christopher Love late Minister of the Gospel: a useful piece.  
15. Heaven and Earth shaken; a Treatise showing how Kings and Princes, their Governments are turned and changed, by J. Davis Minister in Dover, admirably useful, and seriously to be considered in these times.  
16. The Treasure of the Soul; wherein we are taught, by dying to sin, to attain to the perfect love of God.  
17. A Treatise of Contention, fit for these sad and troublesome times, by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich.  
18. Select thoughts; or, choice helps for a pious spirit, beholding the excellency of her Lord Jesus: by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich.  
19 The Holy Order, or Fraternity of Mourners in Zion; to which is added, Songs in the night, or cheerfulness under afflictions: by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich.  
23. The Celestial Lamp, enlightening every distressed Soul from the depth of everlasting darkness: by T. Fetisplace.   

Admirable, and Learned Treatises of Occult Seiences in Philosophy, Magic, Astrology, Geomancy, Chemistry, Physiognomy, and Chyromancy.  
24. Magic and Astrology vindicated by H. Warren.  
25. Lux Veritatis, Judicial Astrology vindicated and Demonology confuted; by W. Ramsey, Gent.  
26. Cornelius Agrippa his fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, or Geomancy; Magical Elements of Peter de Abona, the nature of spirits: made English by R. Turner.  
27. Paracelsus Occult Philosophy of the Mysteries of Nature and his secret Alchemy.  
29. An Astrological Discourse with Mathematical Demonstrations; proving the influence of the Planets, and fixed Stars upon Elementary Bodies: by Sir Christ. Heyden Knight.  
30. All Mr. Lilies Astrological Treatises collected into one Volume.  
31. Catastrophe Magnatum: an Ephemerideses for the Year 1652. by N. Culpeper.  
32. Teratologia; or, a discovery of God's Wonders, manifested by bloody Rain and Waters; by J. S.  
34. Chyromancy; or the Art of divining by the Lines engraven in the hand of Man, by dame Nature, in 198. Genitures; with a Learned Discourse of the Soul of the World: by G. Wharton, Esq;  
35. The Admired Piece of Physiognomy, and Chyromancy, Metoposcopy, the Symmetrical Proportions, and Signal Moles of the Body, the Interpretation of Dreams; to which is added the Art of Memory, illustrated with Figures: by Rich. Sanders, in Folio.  
36. The no less exquisite than admirable Work, Theatrum Chymicum. Britanicum; containing several Poetical Pieces of our famous English Philosophors, who have written the Hermitique Mysteries in their own ancient Language; faithfully collected into one Volume, with Annotations thereon: by the Indefatigable industry of Elias Ashmole, Esq; illustrated with Figures.   

Excellent Treatises in the Mathematics, Geometry, of Arithmetic, Surveying, and other Arts, or Mechanics.  
37. The incomparable Treatise of Tactometria, seu Tetagmenometria; or, the Gometry of Regulars, practically proposed, after a new and most expeditious manner, together with the Natural or Vulgar, by way of Mensural comparison, and in the Solids, not only in respect of Magnitude or Dimension, but also of Gravity or Ponderosity, according to any Metal assigned: together with useful experiments of Measures and Weights, observations on Gauging, useful for those that are practised in the Art Metricald; by T. Wybard.  
38. Tectonicon, showing the exact measuring of all manner of Land, Squares, Timber, Stone, Steeples, Pillars, Globes; as also the making and use of the Carpenter's Rule, etc. fit to be known by all Surveyors, Land-meters, Joiner's Carpenters, and Masons: by L. Diggs.  
39 The unparallelled Work for ease and expedition, entitled, The exact Surveyor: or, the whole Art of Surveying of Land, showing how to plot all manner of Grounds, whether small Enclosures, Champion, Plain, Wood-lands or Mountains, by the Plain Table; as also how to find the Area, or Content of any Land, to Protect, Reduce or Divide the same; as also to take the Plot or Cart, to make a Map of any Manor, whether according to Rathburne, or any other Eminent Surveyors Method; a Book excellently useful for those that sell, purchase, or are otherwise employed about Buildings; by J. Eyre.  
40. The golden Treatise of Arithmetic, Natural and Artificial, or Decimals; the Theory and Practice united in a simpathetical Proportion, betwixt Lines and Numbers, in their Quantities and Qualities, as in respect of Form, Figure, Magnitude, and Affection; demonstrated by Geometry, illustrated by Calculations, and confirmed with variety of Examples in every Species; made compendious and easy for Merchants, Citizens, Seamen. Accomptants, etc. by Th. Wilsford Corrector of the last Edition of Record.  
41. Semigraphy, or the Art of Shortwriting, as it hath been proved by many hundreds in the City of London, and other places, by them practised, and acknowledged to be the easiest, exactest, and swiftest method; the meanest capacity by the help of this Book, with a few hours practice, may attain to a perfection in this Art; by J. Rich Author and Teacher thereof, dwelling in Swithins-Lane in London.  
42. Milk for Children; a plain and easy Method teaching to read and write, useful for Schools and Families, by J. Thomas D. D.  
43. The Painting of the Ancients; the History of the beginning, progress, and consumating of the practice of that noble Art of Painting; by F. Junius.   

Excellent and approved Treatises in Physic, Chirurgery, and other more familiar Experiments in Cookery, Preserving, etc.  
44. Culpepers's Semiatica Vranica, his Astrological judgement of Diseases from the decumbiture of the sick, much enlarged: the way and manner of finding out the cause, change, and end of the disease; also whether the sick be likely to live or die, and the time when Recovery or Death is to be expected, according to the judgement of Hipocrates and Hermes Trismegistus; to which is added Mr. Culpepers' censure of Urines.  
45. Culpeper's last Legacy, left to his Wife for the public good, being the choicest and most profitable of those secrets in Physic and Chirurgery, which whilst he lived, were locked up in his breast, and resolved never to be published till after his death.  
46. The Yorkshire Spa: or, the virtue and use of that water in curing of desperate diseases, with directions and rules necessary to be considered by all that repair thither.  
47. The Art of Simpling: an introduction to the knowledge of gathering of Plants, wherein the difinitions, divisions, places, descriptions, differences, names, virtues, times of gathering, temperatures of them are compendiously discoursed of: also a discovery of the Lesser World, by W. Coles.  
48. Adam in Eden, or Nature's Paradise: the History of Plants, Herbs, and Flowers, with their several original names, the Places where they grow, their descriptions and kinds, their times of flourishing and decreasing; as also their several signatures, anatomical appropriations, and particular physical virtues; with necessary Observations on the Seasons of planting and gathering of our English Plants: A Work admirable useful for Apothecaries, Surgeons, and other Ingenuous persons, who may in this Herbal find comprised all the English physical Simples, that Gerard or Parkinson, in their two voluminous Herbals have discoursed of, even so as to be on emergent occasions their own Physicians, the ingredients being to be had in their own fields and gardens; Published for the general good, by W. Coles, M. D.  
49. The Queen's Closet opened: incomparable Secrets in Physic, Chirurgery, Preserving, Candying, and Cookery; as they were presented to the Queen by the most experienced persons of our times; many whereof were honoured with her own Practice.   

Elegant Treatises in Humanity, History, Romances, and Poetry.  
50. Time's Treasury, or Academy, for the accomplishment of the English Gentry in Arguments of Discourse, Habit, Fashion, Behaviour, etc. all summed up in Characters of Honour, by R. Brathwait Esq.  
51. Oedipus, or, the Resolver of the secrets of Love, and other natural Problems, by way of Question and Answer.  
52. The tears of the Indians: the History of the bloody and most cruel proceedings of the Spaniards in the Island of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and other places of the West-Indies; in which to the life are discovered the tyrannies of the Spaniards, as also the justness of our War so successfully managed against them.  
52. The Illustrious Shepherdess. The Imperious Brother: written originally in Spanish by by that in comparable wit, Don John Perez de montalban's; translated at the requests of the Marchioness of Dorchester, and the Countess of Stafford, by E. P.  
53. The History of the Golden Ass, as also the Loves of Cupid and his Mistress Psyche: by L. Apulius translated into English.  
54. The Unfortunate Mother: a Tragedy by T. N.  
55. The Rebellion: a Tragedy by T. Rawlins.  
56. The Tragedy of Messalina the insatiate Roman Empress: by N. Richard's.  
57 The floating Island: a Tragicomedy, acted before the King, by the Students of Christs-Church in Oxon; by that renowned wit, W. Strode, the songs were set by Mr. H Laws.  
58. Harvey's Divine Poems, the History of Balaam, of Jonah, and of St. John the Evangelist.  
59 Fons Lachrymarum, or, a Fountain of tears; the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah in Verse, with an Elegy on Sir Charles Lucas: by I. Quarles.  
60. Nocturnal Lucubrations, with other witty Epigrams and Epitaphs; by R. Chamberlain.   

Poetical, with several other accurately ingenuous Treatises, lately printed.  
62. Wit's Interpreter, the English Parnassus: or a sure Guide to those admirable Accomplishments that complete the English Gentry, in the most acceptable Qualifications of Discourse or Writing. An Art of Logic, accurate Compliments, Fancies, Devices, and Experiments, Poems, Poetical Fictions, and All a mode Letters: by J. C.  
63 Wit and Drollery; with other Jovial Poems: by Sir J. M. M. L. M S. W. D.  
64. Sportive Wit, the Muse's Merriment; a new Spring of Drollery; Jovial Fancies, etc.  
65. The Admirable ingenuous satire against Hypocrites.  
66. The Conveyancer of Light, or, the Complete Clerk, and Scriveners Guide; being an exact draught of all Precedents and Assurances now in use; as they were penned, and perfected by divers Learned Judges, Eminent Lawyers, and great Conveyancers, both Ancient and Modern: whereunto is added a Concordance from King Richard the 3. to this present.  
67. Themis Aurea, The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross; in which, the occult Secrets of their Philosophical Notions are brought to light: written by Count Mayerus, and now Englisht by T. H.  
68 The Iron Rod put into the Lord Protectors hand; a Prophetical Treatise.  
69 Medicina Magica tamen Physica; Magical but Natural Physic: containing the general Cures of Infirmities and Diseases belonging to the Bodies of Men, as also to other animals and domestic Creatures, by way of Transplantion: with a Description of the most excellent Cordial out of Gold: by Sam. Boulton of Salop.  
70. J. Tradiscan's Rareties, published by himself.  
71. The Proceedings of the High Court of Justice against the late King Charles, with his Speech upon the Scaffold, and other proceedings, Jan. 30. 1648.  
72. The perfect Cook: a right Method in the Art of Cookery, whether for Pastry, or all other manner of All a Mode Kick-shaws; with the most refined ways of dressing flesh, fowl, or making of the most poignant Sauces, whether after the French, or English manner, with fifty five ways of dressing of Eggs: by M. M.  
73. The Expert Doctors Dispensatory: the whole Art of Physic restored to practice: the Apothecary's shop, & Chirurgeons Closet opened; with a Survey, as also a correction of most Dispensatories now extant: with a Judicious Censure of their defects: and a supply of what they are deficient in: together with a learned account of the virtues and quantities, and uses of Simples and Compounds: with the Symptoms of Diseases: as also prescriptions for their several cures: by that renowned P. Morellus, Physician to the King of France.  
74. Cabinet of Jewels, Man's Misery, God's Mercy, Christ's Treasury, etc. in eight excellent Sermons: with an Appendix of the nature of Tithes under the Gospel: with the expediency of Marriage in public Assemblies, by J. Crag. Minister of the Gospel.  
75. Nature's Secrets: or the admirable and wonderful History of the generation of Meteors: describing the Temperatures of the Elements, the heights, magnitudes, and influences of Stars, the causes of Comets, Earthquakes, Deluges, Epidemical Diseases, and Prodigies of Precedent times: with presages of the weather: and descriptions of the weatherglass: by T. Wilsford.  
76. The Mysteries of Love and Eloquence; or, the Arts of Wooing and Complementing; as they are managed in the Spring Garden, Hide Park, the New Exchange, and other eminent places: A work, in which are drawn to the life the Deportments of the most Accomplished Persons: the Mode of their Courtly entertainments, Treatment of their Ladies at Balls, their accustomed Sports, Drolls and Fancies, the Witchcrafts of their persuasive Language. in their Approaches, or other more Secret Dispatches, etc. by E. P.  
77. Helmont disguised: or, the vulgat errors of impercial and unskilful Practisers of Physic confuted: more especially as they concern the Cures of Fevers, the Stone, the Plague, and some other Diseases by way of Dialogue, in which the chief rareties of Physic are admirably discoursed of, by I. T.   

Books very lately Printed, and in the Press now Printing.  
1. THe Scales of Commerce and Trade: by T. Wilsford.  
2. Geometry demonstrated by Lines and Numbers: from thence, Astronomy, Cosmography, and Navigation proved and delineated by the Doctrine of Plain and Spherical Triangles: by T. Wilsford.  
3. The English Annals, from the Invasion made by Julius Cesar to these times: by T. Wilsford.  
4. The Fool transformed: A Comedy.  
5. The History of Lewis the eleventh King of France: a Tragicomedy.  
6. The Chaste woman against her will; a Comedy.  
7. The Tooth-drawer, a Comedy.  
8. Honour in the end: a Comedy.  
9 Tell-tale: a Comedy.  
10. The History of Donquixiot, or the Knight or the ill-favoured face; a Comedy.  
11. The fair Spanish Captive: a Tragicomedy.  
12. Sir Kenelm Digby, and other persons of Honour, their rare and incomparable secrets of Physic, Chirurgery, Cookery, Preserving, Conserving, Candying, distilling of Waters, extraction of Oils, compounding of the costliest Perfumes, with other admirable Inventions and select Experiments, as they offered themselves to their Observations: whether here, or in foreign Country's.  
13. The Saint's Tombstone: or, the Remains of the blessed. A plain Narrative of some markable Passages, in the holy Life, and happy Death of Mrs. Dorothy Shaw, Wife of Mr. John Shaw, Preacher of the Gospel at Kingston upon Hull, collected by her dearest Friends, especially for her sorrowful husband, and six Daughter's consolation and invitation.  
14. Letters the most exquisite that are in any Language, by Mr. Robert Lovedey, who was the late admired Translator of the Volumes of the famed Romance Cleopatra, Published by his dear Brother Mr. A. L.  
15. The so long expected Work, the New World of English Words, or, a general Dictionary, containing the Terms, Etymologies, Definitions, and perfect Interpretations of the proper signification of hard English words throughout the Arts and Sciences, Liberal, or Mechanic; as also other subjects that are useful, or appertain to the Language of our Nation: to which is added the signification of Proper Names, Mythology, and Poetical Fictions, Historical Relations, Geographical Descriptions of the Countries, and Cities of the World: especially of these three Nations, wherein their chiefest Antiquities, Battles, and other most memorable Passages are mentioned: by E. P.  
16 A learned Commentary, on Psalm the fifteenth, by that Reverend and Eminent Divine Mr. Christopher Cartwright, Minister of the Gospel in York, to which is prefixed a brief account to the Author's life, and of his Work, by R. Bolton.  
17. The way to Bliss, in three Books, being a learned Treatise of the Philosopher's Stone, made public by Elias Ashmole Esq;  
18. Wit restored in several Select Poems, not formerly published by Sir John Mennis, Mr. Smith and others.  
19 The Modern Assurancer. the Clerks Directory, containing the Practic Part of the Law, in the exact Forms and Draughts of all manner of Precedents for Bargains, and Sales, Grants, Feoffements, Bonds, Bills, Conditions, Covenants, Jointures, Indentures, etc. And all other Instruments and Assurances now in use, by John Hern.  
20. Naps upon Parnassus. A sleepy Muse nipped and pinched, though not awakened. Such voluntary and Jovial Copies of Verses as were lately received from some of the WITS of the Universities, in a Frolic: dedicated to Gondibert's Mistress, by Captain Jones and others, etc.  
21. The complete Midwife's Practice, in the high and weighty Concerments of Mankind: the second Edition corrected and enlarged, with a full Supply of such most useful and admirable Secrets which Mr. Nicholas Culpeper in his brief Treatise, and other English Writers in the Art of Midwifery, have hitherto wilfully passed by, kept coz to themselves, or wholly omitted: by T. Chamberlain, M. P.  
22. America Painted to the Life, the History of the Conquest, and first Original undertake of the advancement of the Plantations in those Parts: with an exquisite Map, by F. Gorges, Esquire.  
23. Culpeper's School of Physic, or the Experimental Practice of the whole Art; so reduced, either into Aphorisms, or choice and tried Receipts, that the freeborn Students of the three Kingdoms, may in this Method, find perfect ways for the operation of such Medicines, so astrologically and Physically prescribed, as that they may themselves be competent judges of the Cures of their Patients: by N. C.  
24. Blagrave's admirable Ephemerideses for the Year 1659.  
25. History and Policy Reviewed in the Heroic transactions of his most Serene Highness, Oliver late Lord Protector, declaring his steps to Princely Perfection drawn in lively Parallels to the Ascents of the great Patriarch Moses to the height of 30 degrees of Honour, by H. D. Esq;  
26. J. Cleaveland Revived: Poems, Orations, Epistles, and other of his Genuine Incomparable Pieces never before Published.  
27. England's Worthies, Select Lives of the most eminent Persons of the three Nations from Constantine the Great, to these times: by W. Winstanly.  
28. The History of the Life and Death of his most Serene Highness, Oliver, late Lord Protector. Wherein, from his Cradle to his Tomb, are impartially transmitted to Posterity, the most weighty Transactions, foreign or Domestic, that have happened in his Time, either in Matters of Law, Proceedings in Parliaments, or others Affairs in Church or State, by S. Carrington.  
29. The right Lozenges publicly sold by Edmund Buckworth in St. Katherine's Court, for Coughs, and Consumption of the Lungs, etc. are to be had at Nath. Brooks and John Grismond's in Ivy-lane, and at no other place.   
FINIS.