SPEECH XIV., LETTERS CLII.-CLVII.

THE Session of Parliament is prosperously reaching its close; and during the recess there will be business enough to do. Selection of our new House of Lords; carrying-on of the French League Offensive against Spain; and other weighty interests. Of which the following small documents, one short official Speech, and six short, mostly official Letters are all that remain

to us.

SPEECH XIV.

PARLIAMENT has passed some Bills; among the rest, some needful Money-Bills, Assessment of 340,000l. a-month on England, 6,000l. on Scotland, 9,0007. on Ireland ;* to all which his Highness, with some word of thanks for the money, will now signify his assent. Unexceptionable word of thanks, accidentally preserved to us, which, with the circumstances attendant thereon, we have to make conscience of reporting.

Tuesday morning, 9th June, 1657, Message comes to the Honorable House, That his Highness, in the Painted Chamber. requires their presence. They gather up their Bills; certain Money-Bills for an assessment towards the Spanish War;' and divers other Bills, some of public, some of more private concernment,' among which latter we notice one for settling Lands in the County of Dublin on Widow Bastwick and her four children, Dr. Bastwick's widow, poor Susannah, who has long been a solicitress in this matter: these Bills the Clerk of the Commons

Parliamentary History, xxi., 151; Commons Journals, vii., 554-7. † Commons Journals, vii., 551-2.

gathers up, the Sergeant shoulders his Mace; and so, Clerk and Sergeant leading off, and Speaker Widdrington and all his Honorable Members following, the whole House in this due order, with its Bills and apparatus, proceeds to the Painted Chamber. There, on his platform, in chair of state sits his Highness, attended by his Council and others. Speaker Widdrington at a table on the common level of the floor 'finds a chair set for him, and a form for his clerk.' Speaker Widdrington, hardly venturing to sit, makes a 'short and pithy Speech' on the general proceedings of Parliament; presents his Bills, with probably some short and pithy words, such as suggest themselves, prefatory to each: "A few slight Bills; they are but as the grapes that precede the full vintage, may it please your Highness." His Highness in due form signifies assent; and then says:

MR. SPEAKER, I perceive that, among these many Acts of Parliament, there hath been a very great care had by the Parliament to provide for the just and necessary support of the Commonwealth by those Bills for the levying of money, now brought to me, which I have given my consent unto. Understanding it hath been the practice of those who have been Chief Governors to acknowledge with thanks to the Commons their care and regard of the Public, I do very heartily and thankfully acknowledge their kindness herein.*

The Parliament has still some needful polishing-up of its Petition and Advice, other perfecting of details to accomplish: after which it is understood there will be a new and much more solemn Inauguration of his Highness; and then the First Session will, as in a general peal of joy-bells, harmoniously close.

LETTER CLII.

OFFICIAL Letter of Thanks to Blake, for his Victory at Santa Cruz on the 20th April last. The small Jewel' sent herewith

* Commons Journals, vii., 552; Reported by Widdrington in the after

noon

is one of 5007. value, gratefully voted him by the Parliament; among whom, as over England generally, there is great rejoicing on account of him. Where Blake received this Letter and Jewel we know not; but guess it may have been in the Bay of Cadiz. Along with it, 'Instructions' went out to him to leave a Squadron of Fourteen Ships there, and come home with the rest of the Fleet. He died, as we said above, within sight of Plymouth, on the 7th of August following.

'To

General Blake, at Sea.'

Whitehall, 10th June, 1657.

SIR,

I have received yours of -'April last;** and thereby the account of the good success it hath pleased God to give you at the Canaries, in your attempt upon the King of Spain's Ships in the Bay of Santa Cruz.

The mercy therein, to us and this Commonwealth, is very signal; both in the loss the Enemy hath received, and also in the preservation of our own' ships and men ;†— which indeed was very wonderful; and according to the goodness and loving-kindness of the Lord, wherewith His People hath been followed in all these late revolutions; and doth call on our part, That we should fear before Him, and still hope in His mercy.

We cannot but take notice also how eminently it hath pleased God to make use of you in this service; assisting you with wisdom in the conduct, and courage in the execution 'thereof;' and have sent you a small Jewel, as a testimony of our own and the Parliament's good acceptance of your carriage in this Action. We are also informed that the Officers of the Fleet, and the Seamen, carried themselves with much honesty and courage; and we are considering of a way to show our acceptance thereof. In the meantime, we desire you to return our hearty thanks and acknowledgments to them.

Thus, beseeching the Lord to continue His presence with you, I remain,

Your very affectionate friend,

'OLIVER P.'

* Blank in MSS.

50 slain outright, 150 wounded: of ours' (Burton, ii., 142).

* Thurloe, vi., 342. Instructions to General Blake,' of the same date,

ibid.

Land-General Reynolds has gone to the French Netherlands, with Six-thousand men, to join Turenne in fighting the Spaniards there; and Sea-General Montague is about hoisting his flag to coöperate with them from the other element. By sea and land are many things passing;-and here in London is the loudest thing of all not yet to be entirely omitted by us, though now it has fallen very silent in comparison. Inauguration of the Lord Protector; second and more solemn Installation of him, now that he is fully recognized by Parliament itself. He cannot yet, as it proves, be crowned King; but he shall be installed in his Protectorship with all solemnity befitting such an occasion.

Friday, 26th June, 1657. The Parliament and all the world are busy with this grand affair; the labors of the season being now complete, the last finish being now given to our new Instrument of Government, to our elaborate Petition and Advice, we will add this topstone to the work, and so, amid the shoutings of mankind, disperse for the recess. Friday at two o'clock, 'in a place prepared,' duly prepared with all manner of 'platforms,' 'cloths of state,' and 'seats raised one above the other,'' at the upper end of Westminster Hall.' Palaceyard, and London generally, is all a-tiptoe, out of doors. Within doors, Speaker Widdrington and the Master of the Ceremonies have done their best; the Judges, the Aldermen, the Parliament, the Council, the foreign Ambassadors and domestic Dignitaries without end; chairs of state, cloths of state, trumpet-peals, and acclamations of the people-Let the reader conceive it; or read in old Pamphlets the exact relation' of it with all the speeches and phenomena, worthier than such things usually are of being read.*

'His Highness standing under the Cloth of State,' says Bulstrode, whose fine feelings are evidently touched by it, 'the Speaker in the name of the Parliament presented to him: First, a Robe of purple-velvet; which the Speaker, assisted by Whitlocke and others, put upon his Highness. Then he,' the Speaker, 'delivered to him the Bible richly gilt and bossed,' an affecting symbolic Gift: After that, the Speaker girt the Sword about his

An exact Relation of the manner of the solemn Investiture, &c. (Reprinted in Parliamentary History, xxi. 152-160).

Highness; and delivered into his hand the Sceptre of massy gold. And then, this done, he made a Speech to him on these several things presented;' eloquent mellifluous Speech, setting forth the high and true significance of these several Symbols, Speech still worth reading; to which his Highness answered in silence by dignified gesture only. Then Mr. Speaker gave him the Oath;' and so ended, really in a solemn manner. 'And Mr. Manton, by prayer, recommended his Highness, the Parliament, the Council, the Forces by land and sea, and the whole Government and People of the Three Nations, to the blessing and protection of God.'--And then 'the people gave several great shouts ;' and 'the trumpets sounded; and the Protector sat in his chair of state, holding the Sceptre in his hand :' a remarkable sight to see. • On his right sat the Ambassador of France,' on his left some other Ambassador; and all round, standing or sitting, were Dignitaries of the highest quality; and near the Earl of Warwick, stood the Lord Viscount Lisle, stood General Montague and Whitlocke, each of them having a drawn sword in his hand,'—a sublime sight to some of us !*

And so this Solemnity transacts itself;—which at the moment was solemn enough; and is not yet, at this or any hollowest moment of Human History, intrinsically altogether other. A really dignified and veritable piece of Symbolism; perhaps the last we hitherto, in these quack-ridden histrionic ages, have been privileged to see on such an occasion.-The Parliament is prorogued till the 20th of January next; the new House of Lords, and much else, shall be got ready in the interim.

LETTER CLIII.

SEA-GENERAL MONTAGUE, whom we saw standing with drawn sword beside the chair of state, is now about proceeding to cooperate with Land-General Reynolds, on the despatch of real business.

* Whitlocke, p. 661.