what never any that were actually Kings of England did: "Refuse the Advice of Parliament." I confess, that runs deep enough,' that runs' to all; that may be accounted a very great fault in me; and may rise up in judgment against me another time,-if my case be not different from any man's that ever was in the Chief Command and Government of these Nations before. But truly I think, all they that have been in this Office before, and owned in right of Law, were inheritors coming to it by birthright, or if owned by the authority of Parliament, they yet had some previous pretence of title or claim to it. And so, under favor, I think I deserve less blame than any of them would have done, if I cannot so well comply with this Title, and 'with' the desire of Parliament in regard to it, as these others might do. For they, when they were in, would have taken it for an injury not to be in. Truly such an argument, to them, might be very strong, Why they should not refuse what the Parliament offered! But as for me,' I have dealt plainly with you: and I have not complimented with you ' in saying' I have not desired, I have no title to, the Government of these Nations. 'No title,' but what was taken up in a case of necessity, and as a temporary means to meet the actual emergency; without which we must needs-[Have gone you know whither!]—I say, we had been all 'topsyturvying now' at the rate of the Printed Book 'you have just got hold of' [Shoreditch STANDARD SET UP and Painted Lion there], and at the rate of those men that have. been seized going into arms,-if that expedient had not been taken! That was visible to me as the day, unless I undertook it. And so, it being put upon me, I being then General, as I was General by Act of Parliament,-it being 'put' upon me to take the power into my hand after the Assembly of Men that was called together had been dissolved —[“ I took it, as you all know :" but his Highness blazing off here, as his wont is when the subject rises, the Sentence explodes]—!·

Really the thing would have issued itself in this Book:-for the Book, I am told, knows an Author [Harrison, they say, is Author]; he was a Leading Person in that Assembly! And now when I say (I speak in the plainness and simplicity of my heart, as before Almighty God), I did out of necessity undertake that 'Business,' which I think no man but myself would have undertaken,-it hath pleased God that I have been instrumental in keeping the Peace of the Nation to this day. And have kept it under a Title [Protector] which, some say, signifies but a keeping of it to another's use,-to a better use; 'a Title' which may improve it to a better use! And this I may say: I have not desired the continuance of my power or place either under one Title or another, that have I not! I say it: If the wisdom of the Parliament could find where to place things so as they might save this Nation and the Interests of it,

the Interest of the People of God in the first place; of those Godly honest men, for such character I reckon them by, who live in the fear of God, and desire to hold forth the excellency of Christ' and a Christian course in their life and conversation-[Sentence may be said to burst asunder here for the present, but will gather itself together again perhaps !] I reckon that proceeds from Faith, and 'from ' looking to our duties towards Christians, and our humanity to men as men; and to such Liberties and Interests as the People of this Nation are of:--and 'I' do look upon that as a standing truth of the Gospel; and whoso lives up to that is a Godly Man in my apprehension! [Looks somewhat animated.]— And therefore I say, If the wisdom of this Parliament,—I speak not this vainly or as a fool, but as to God,-if the wisdom of this Parliament should have found a way to settle the Interests of this Nation, upon the foundations of justice and truth and liberty, to the people of God, and concernments of men as Englishmen [Voice risen to a kind of recitative],—I would have lain at their feet, or at anybody else's feet, that things might have run in such a current! [Your Highness can't get out; no place for you now but here or in the grave!-His Highness fetches a deep breath.]-I say I have no pretensions to things for myself; to ask this or that, or to avoid this or that. I know the censures of the world may quickly pass upon me, 'and åre already passing:' but I thank God I know where to lay the weight that is laid upon me,-I mean the weight of reproach and contempt and scorn that hath been cast upon me. [Ends, I think, in a kind of snort,—and the look partly as of an injured dove, partly as of a couchant lion.]

I have not offered you any Name in competition with Kingship. I know the evil spirits of men may easily obtrude upon a man, That he would have a Name which the Laws know not, and which is boundless, and is one under which he may exercise more arbitrariness: but I know there is nothing in that argument; and if it were in your thoughts to offer any Name of that kind, I think, whatsoever it was, you would bound it and limit it sufficiently. I wish it were come to that, That no favor should be showed to me; but that the good of these Nations should be consulted; as indeed' I am confident it will be by you in whatsoever you do. But I may say a word to another thing which doth a little pinch upon me: That it is my duty to accept this Title.' I think it can be no man's duty but between God and himself, if he be conscious of his own infirmities, disabilities and weakness; 'conscious' that he perhaps is not able to encounter with it,—although he may have a little faith too, for a little exercise. I say I do not know what way it can be imputed to me for a fault, or laid upon me as a duty. Except I meant to gripe at the Government of the Nations without a legal consent,-as I say I

have done in time past upon principles of Necessity, 'but have no cali now to do again.' And I promise I shall think whatever is done towards Settlement, without authority of Parliament, will neither be very honest, nor to me very comprehensible at this stage of the business. I think we have fought for the Liberties of the Nation and for other Interests ![Checks himself.]

You will pardon me that I speak these things in such a 'desultory' way as this. I may be borne withal, because I have not truly well stood the exercise that hath been upon me these three or four days, I have not, I say. [Besides your Highness is suffering from the dregs of a cold, and I doubt still somewhat feverish !]—I have told you my thoughts, and have laid them before you. You have been pleased to give me your grounds, and I have given you mine. And truly I do purposely refuse to mention those arguments that were used when ye were last here; but rather tell you what since (as I say) lies upon my heart,—' speaking to you' out of the abundance of difficulty and trouble that lies upon me. [His Highness, sick of body, feverish, unequal to such a jungle of a subject and its adjuncts, is really weltering and staggering like a wearied man in the thickets and puddles.] And therefore you having urged me, I mean offered reasons to me, and urged them in such way as did occur to you; and I having told you, the last time we met, that the satisfaction from them did not reach to me so as wholly to convince me of my duty,—I have thought rather to answer to-day by telling you my grief, and the trouble I am under. [Poor Sovereign Man!]

And truly my intentions and purposes, they are honest to the Nation, —and shall be, by the Grace of God. And I have it not in view, upon collateral pretences, 'either by asking this Kingship or by refusing it '— to act towards things that may be destructive to the liberties of this Nation! ["I am worn and weary; let me be as clay in the hands of the potter !”] — —Any man may give me leave to die; every one may give me leave to be as a dead man,--when God takes away the spirit and life and activity that are necessary for the carrying on of such a work! [Poor Highness, still somewhat feverish, suffering from the dregs of a cold!]—

And therefore I do leave the former Debates as they were, and as we had them; and will let you know that I have looked a little upon the Paper [Petition and Advice], the Instrument, I would say, in the other parts of it, 'unconnected with this of the Kingship.' And considering that there are very many particulars in this Instrument [Holding it in his hand], some of a general reference and others specific, and all of weight (let this business of the Title be decided as it may) to the concernment of the Nations,-I think I may desire that those particulars' may be really

such as will serve their object,-let the "Title we fix upon be one or the other. They might be such as the People have no cause-- -[Sentence checking itself]—But I am confident your care and faithfulness need neither a spur nor an admonition to that!-I say, reading in your Order, the Order of the Parliament to this Committee, I find mention there of "divers particulars," concerning which, if I do make any scruple of them, I am to have the freedom with this Committee to cast* my doubts. The truth of it is, I have a Paper here in my hands† that doth contain divers things with relation to the Instrument; which, I hope, have a Public aspect in them; therefore I cannot presume but they will be very welcome to you. Therefore I shall desire that you will read them. [Hands Whitlocke the Paper.] I should desire, if it please you, the liberty,-which I submit to your judgment whether you think I have or no,— that I might tender these few things; and some others which I have in preparation. And truly I shall reduce them to as much brevity as I can:-they are too large here, these in the Paper are diffuse. And if it please you, To-morrow in the afternoon at three o'clock I may meet you again. And I hope we shall come to know one another's minds; and shall agree to that that may be for the glory of God and for the good of these Nations. §

6

So much for Monday, the 20th; noontide and the hour of dinner being now nigh. Herewith exeunt till to-morrow at three. We returned much unsatisfied with the Lord Protector's Speech,' says the Writer of Burton; it is 'as dark and promis cuous as before;' nobody can know whether he will have the Kingship or not. Sometimes the Contrariants' are up in hope, and sometimes again we,||-and the bets, if betting were permitted under Gospel Ordinances, would fluctuate not a little.

Courage, my Lord Protector! Blake even now, though as yet you know it not, is giving the Spaniards a terrible scorching for you, in the Port of Santa Cruz!-Worth noting: In those very minutes while the Lord Protector is speaking as above, there goes on far off, on the Atlantic brine, under shadow of the Peak

*Canvass, shake out.

† A Paper of Objections by his Highness; repeatedly alluded to in the Journals; unhappily altogether lost now,' say the Parliamentary History, and the Editor of Burton,—not very unhappily, say my readers and I. He gave them the complete Paper on the morrow (Burton, ii., 7). Somers, vi., 387-389. || See Burton, ii., 7 et seq.

of Teneriffe, one of the fieriest actions ever fought by land or water; this action of the Sea-king Blake, at the Port of Santa Cruz. The case was this. Blake cruising on the coast of Spain, watching as usual for Plate Fleets, heard for certain that there was a Fleet actually coming, actually come as far as the Canary Isles, and now lying in the Bay of Santa Cruz in Teneriffe there. Blake makes instant sail thither; arrives there still in time, this Monday morning early; finds the Fleet fast moored in Santa Cruz Bay; rich silver-ships, strong war-ships, sixteen as we count them; stronger almost than himself,-and moored here under defences unassailable apparently by any mortal. Santa Cruz Bay is shaped as a horse-shoe: at the entrance are Castles, in the inner circuit are other Castles, Eight of them in all, bristling with great guns; war-ships moored at the entrance, war-frigates moored all round the beach, and men and gunners at command: one great magazine of sleeping thunder and destruction; to appearance, if you wish for sure suicide to run into, this must be it. Blake, taking measure of the business, runs into it, defying its loud thunder; much out-thunders it,-mere whirlwinds of fire and iron hail, the old Peak never heard the like ;-silences the Castles, sinks or burns every sail in the Harbor; annihilates the Spanish Fleet; and then, the wind veering round in his, favor, sails out again, leaving Santa Cruz Bay much astonished at him.* It is the last action of the brave Blake; who, worn out with toil and sickness and a cruise of three years, makes homewards shortly after; dies within sight of Plymouth.†

On the whole, the Spanish Antichrist finds his Highness a rough enemy. In these same April days, Six-thousand men are getting mustered here, 'furnished with new red coats' and other equipments, to join French Turenne in the Low Countries, and fight the Spaniard by land too. For our French Treaty has become a French League Offensive and Defensive, to last for one year; and Reynolds is to be Land-General, and Montague to help him as Sea-General of whom by and by there may be tidings. But meanwhile this matter of the Kingship must be

Heath's Chronicle, pp. 720, 1.

† 7 Aug. 1657, in his Fifty-ninth year (Biog. Brit in voce). Signed 23 March, 1656-7 [Godwin, iv, 540]