continued for some days; and the conference which he carried on with the members who were sent to make him the offer, seems to argue that he was desirous of being compelled to accept what he feared openly to assume. The obscurity of his answers, the absurdity of his speeches on this occasion (for they still remain), show plainly a mind at variance with itself, and combating only with a wish to be vanquished. "I confess," said he, " for "it behoves me to deal plainly with you, I must "confess, I would say I hope I may be under"stood in this; for indeed I must be tender what "I would say to such an audience as this; I say "I would be understood, that in this argument I "do not make a parallel between men of a dif"ferent mind, and a parliament, which shall "have their desires. I know there is no compa"rison; nor can it be urged upon me that my "words have the least colour that way, because "the parliament seems to me to give liberty to me "to say any thing to you. As that is a tender of my humble reasons and judgment and opinion "to them, and if I think they are such, and will be such to them, and are faithful servants, and "will be so to the supreme authority and the le"gislative, wheresoever it is. If I say I should not "tell you, knowing their minds to be so, I should "not be faithful if I should not tell you so, to "the end that you may report it to parlia"ment." In this manner did this most unaccountable of all characters answer their petitions for his assuming the kingly name and dignity; however, the conference ended in his refusing their offer. But it must not be supposed that his situa 1 tion, with all these offered honours, was at this time enviable. Perhaps no station, however mean, or loaded with contempt, could be more truly distressful than his, at a time the nation was loading him with congratulations and addresses. He had now rendered himself hateful to every party; A, D.1658. and he owed his safety to their mutual hatred and diffidence of each other. His arts of dissimulation had been long exhausted; and none could be deceived by them, those of his own party and principles disdaining the use to which he had converted his zeal and professions. The truth seems to be, if we may use a phrase taken from common life, he had began with being a dupe to his own enthusiasm, and ended with being a sharper. The whole nation silently detested his administration, but he had not still been reduced to the extreme of wretchedness, if he could have found domestic consolation. Fleetwood, his sonin-law, actuated with the wildest zeal, detested that character which could use religious professions for the purposes of temporal advancement. His eldest daughter, married to Fleetwood, had adopted republican principles so vehemently, that she could not behold even her 'own' father intrusted with uncontroulable power. His other daughters were no less sanguine in favour of the royal cause; but above all, Mrs. Claypole, his favourite daughter, who, upon her death-bed, upbraided him with all those that led him to trample on the throne. Every hour added some new disquietude. Lord Fairfax, sir William Waller, and many of the heads of the presbyterians, had secretly entered into an engagement to destroy him. His administration, so expensive both at home and abroad, had exhausted his revenue, and he was left considerably in debt. One conspiracy was no sooner detected, but another rose from its ruins: and, to increase his calamity, he was now taught, upon reasoning principles, that his death was not only desirable, but his assassination would be meritorious. A book was published by colonel Titus, a man who had formerly been attached to his cause, entitled, Killing no Murder. Of all the pamphlets that came forth at that time, or perhaps of those that have since appeared, this was the most eloquent and masterly. "Shall we," said this popular declaimer, "who would not suffer "the lion to invade us, tamely stand to be de-` "voured by the wolf?" Cromwell read this spirited treatise, and was never seen to smile more. All peace was now for ever banished from his mind. He found that the grandeur to which he had sacrificed his former peace was only an inlet to fresh inquietudes. The fears of assas sination haunted him in all his walks, and was perpetually present to his imagination. He wore armour under his cloaths, and always kept pistols in his pockets. His aspect was clouded by a settled gloom; and he regarded every stranger with a glance of timid suspicion. He always tiavelled with hurry, and was ever attended by a numerous guard. He never re turned from any place by the road he went; and seldom slept above three nights together in the same chamber. Society terrified him, as there he might meet an enemy; solitude was terrible, as he was there unguarded by every friend. A ter A tertian ague kindly came at last to deliver him from this life of horror and anxiety. For the space of a week no dangerous symptoms appeared; and in the intervals of the fits he was able to walk abroad. At length the fever increased, and he himself began to dread his approaching fate; but he was taught to consider his present disorder as no way fatal, by his fanatic chaplains, on whom he entirely relied. When his chaplain, Goodwin, told him that the elect would never be damned, "then "I am sure," said he, "that I am safe; for I was "once in a state of grace." His physicians were sensible of his dangerous case; but he was so much encouraged by the revelations of his preachers, that he considered his recovery as no way doubtful. "I tell you," cried he to the physicians, "that I shall not die of this distemper; I am well assured of my recovery. "vourable answers have been returned from "heaven, not only to my own supplications, but "likewise to those of the godly, who have a "closer correspondence with God than I. Ye <c may have skill in your profession; but nature "can do more than all the physicians in the "world; and God is far above nature." Upon a fast day appointed on account of his sickness, his ministers thanked God for the undoubted pledges they had received of his recovery. Notwithstanding these assurances, the fatal symptoms every hour increased; and the physicians were obliged to declare that he could not survive the next fit. The council now therefore came to know his last commands concerning the succession; but his senses were gone, and he was just able Fa to |