of Clouts or in Show or a meer Duke of Venice Then their own Declaration printed and published shewed how well Arbitrariness thrived when they owned That their Votes were not to be questioned either by King or People That no Precedents could bound their proceedings That the Soveraign Power resides in the two Horses That the King hath no negative Voyce That a levying War against the personal Commands of the King tho he were present is not a levying War against the King but that a levying War against his Laws and Authority is levying War against the King which was levying War against them That Treason could not be committed against the person of the King otherwise then he was intrusted That they had power to judge of his Actions and whether he discharged his trust or not and that they were only judges of the Law Their Arbitrary putting to death of Yeomans and Boucher at Bristol and others at London for endeavouring to shew their Royalty to their King and Acting against them and their illegal Authority Voting and making a new Seal and breaking all the Kings old Seals Privy Signets of the King's bench Exchequer Court of Wards Admiralty c. Beheading of several persons by a Court martial against Law and Equity Putting Arch-Bishop Laud to Death after four years Imprisonment Their taking the Scotch solemn League and Covenant for the Extirpation of Episcopacy and the alteration of Religion â—sâ—â—blished by Law contrâ—ry to Law and according to their own illegal and Arbitrary proceedings With many more Acts of the same nature which plainly declared to all the World how far they had deviated from their first more plausible Pretexts But all this while I say by the Kings great Concession in yielding to pass that Act which wrought him so much Mischief they seemed to have a shadow of Power from the King and acted as an House tho contrary to the King the Laws of the Land the Liberty of the Subject and against Equity Conscience and Religion But now after the King had been delivered up to them from the Scots and that they had subdued all his Forces and Garrisons Ragland Castle in Wales being the last that held out for his Majesty then they shewed their power more manifestly and that their Intentions were to usurp the Regal Authority altogether having thus far tasted the sweetness of it and thrived in their Rebellion On the 4 th of June 1647. a Party of Horse under Cornet Joyce seized the King at Holdenby where he was under restraint by the Parliaments order and Carried him away to the Army and thence by them brought to Hampton Court about the middle of August where both the Parliament and Army make to him their several unjust Proposals after the insolent manner of Victors which the King could in no ways grant being contrary to his Conscience his Crown and Dignity At the same time the Independant Officers of the Army kept their chief Cabals at Putnâ—y where it was proposed among them That it was not safe for them nor the Kingdom to grant any Power to the King That it was not for them to set up a Power which God had determined to pull down That the power of Kings was grown a burthen to the Nation and that the reason of all their Distractions in their Counsels was from their Compliance to save that man of Bood and to uphold the Tyranny which God by their many Successes had declared against Where also Major General Harrison made a speech pressing them to the taking off the King Who having notice of these wicked Agitators Actions makes his escape from Hampton Court leaving a Letter behind him intending to get over to the Islâ— of Jersey but being in the Isle of Wight he put himself under the Protection of Collonel Hammond a Parliament man and Governour there who sending â—otice thereof to the Parliament they Vote That he should be continued in the Castle of Cowes That no Malignants shall stay in the Island That no Delinquent or Forreigner should be permitted to come to him without the Parliaments leave That five Thousand pounds should be advanced for his Accommodation and That tâ—eâ— would consider who should attend his Person In the mean time the Independent party of the Army cause a Mutiny which tho quelled by the Industry of Cromwel and his Son-in-Law Ireton yet it caused them to alter their Councels and to joyn with them against the Parliament and all accommodation whatsoever with the King The King sends a Letter to the Parliament from the Isle of Wight dated November 18. 1647. superscribed to the Speaker of the House of Lords to be communicated to the House of Commons In which he granted for Peace-sake the setling of Presâ—ytery for three years And the Militia in the hands of the Parliament during his Reign with a Proviso by Patent that then it should return again to his Successors And also that they should have the Choice of his Privy Councellors and desired earnestly to have with them a personal treaty in London After a long debate upon this Letter the Commissioners of Scotland also pâ—â—ssing them to comply with the Kings just desires on the 26 th of November they concluded That four Previous Acts should be drawn up and sent to the King to which if he would sign they Voted That they then would admit of a personal Treaty with him These unreasonable Proposals drawn into form of Acts were these First an Act for raising settling and maintaining Forces by Sea and Land c. In which they fully and wholly divested the King of the Militia his 〈◊〉 and Successors for ever and gave an unlimitted power to the two houses to raise what Forces they please for Land or Sea and of what persons they please and what Money they please to maintain them The second was that all Declarations Oaths Proclamations against the Parliament might be recalled or against all or any that adhered to them The third an Act that those Peers that were made after the great Seal was carried away from the Parliament might be made uncapable of sitting in the house of Peers And lastly That Power may be given to the two Houses to adjourn themselves as they think fit By these you may easily perceive to what height they were come of all unreasonableness These were presented to the King at Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight on the 24 th of December 1647 by the Earl of Denby the Lord Mountague Lisle Goodwin Bunkley and Kemp Commissioners from both Houses of Parliament The King it may well be thought having no desire to dethrone himself and enslave his Subjects refused the Bills and desired to Treat personally sending them his reasons in Writing Whereupon Sr. Tho. wroth moves the House That the King who had Acted like a Mad man should be secured in some inland Castle with sure Guards That Articles of Impeachment should be drawn up against him That he should be wholly lay'd by
having made way for the most horrid and Bloody design that ever was heard of the Motion is made in this usurping House to proceed to the Trâ—al of the King as a Capital Offender When the grand Impostor Cromwell stood up and said That if any man moved this upon Design he should think him the greatest Traytor in the World but since Providence and Necessity had cast them upon it he should pray to God to bless their Councells And so on the 28 th of December 1648. Thomas Scot brought in the Ordinance for the Tryal of the King being read and Committed three several times and all the Commissioners names inserted Consisting of divers Gentlemen and Soldiers This Ordinance being pass'd the Junto they send it up to the Lords House by the Lord Grey of Grooby together with their Vote formerly made Viz. Resolved c. That the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament do declare and adjudge That by the Fundamental Laws of the Realm it is Treason in the King of England for the time to come to levy War against the Parliament and Kingdom of England The house of Lords debate the matter and first the Declaratory Vote against which the Earls of Manchester and Northumberland with others spake and declared There was none nor could be any such Fundamental Law in England whereby the King could be a Traytor by leaving War against his People and that thus to declare Treason by an Ordinance when no law was extant to judge it by was most unreasonable Upon which the Lords cast out this Ordinance and Vote and adjourned themselves for seven days This proceeding of the Lords gave them no small trouble and stirr'd up the wrath of some of the Zealots who threatned to hang a Pad-lock on the Lords door and sending up to search their journal Book they found the Lords had made these two Votes That they do not Concur to the said declaratory Vote And Secondly That they rejected the Ordinance for the Tryal of the King Upon which these men resolving to be rid of the Lords as well as of King they Vote That they should Act without them as well they might according to their own Law That all Authority was sounded in the People and that they being the Representatives of the People all Authority lay in them Some of them were for Impeaching the Lords for favouring the grand Delinquent of the Land as they called the King And now to make all sure on their sides that they may Act legally On the 4 th of January they Vote That the People are under God the Original of all just Power That the Commons of England in Parliament assembled being chosen by and representing the People have the Supreme Power of this Nation That whatsoever is declared or Enacted for Law by the House of Commons assembled in Parliament hath the force of Law This makes clear Work and by this our Arbitrary Usurpers may do what they will and cut off their Kings Head according to their own Position legally what need of Kings Lords Laws Rights Liberties Properties or fundamental Government when the Arbitrary Consciences of such men may serve instead of all and conclude thereby all the People of England tho they declare against it and tho opposed by the King or House of Peers And thus notwithstanding the rejection of the Lords these Commons pass their Ordinance and declaratory Vote by the name of An Act of Parliament of the House of Commons which was never before heard of for the Tryal of Charles Stewart King of England This being objected to Hugh Peters that there was no President or Example for the Tryal of a King by a judicial Court he Prophanely applyed That there was never any President before the Virgin Mary of a Womans conceiving and bringing forth a Child without accompanying with a Man therefore they might walk without President for this was an Age to make Examples and Presidents There was yet one thing that passed these men which they had not foreseen which was That it was a very improper thing to make use of the Kings Seal wherein he is styled King of England c. by the Grace of God to seal a Commission against him for his Tryal They were now in hast and could not stay for a new one which they had not as yet thought on therefore it was concluded the Commissioners should proceed upon the Ordinance without any Commission under Seal and that every Commissioner should set his own Hand and Seal to the Instruments of their Proceedings All things being now in a readiness for the Tryal The King is taken from Hurst Castle and brought to Winchester thence to Farnham thence to Winsor and thence to St. James on the 19 th day of January And they had caused for the greater Solemnity of the Business their Serjeant Dandy who was appointed Serjeant at Arms to the Commissioners for the Tryal of his Majesty to proclaim it openly in Westminster-Hall with his Mace on Horse back with six Trumpets and several Officers attending all bare That the Commissioners were to sit to morrow and that all those who had any thing to say against Charles Stewart King of England might be heard This was done in like manner in Cheap-side and at the Royal Exchange The same day the House Voted their great Seal to be broken and ordered a new one to be made Upon this Mr. Prin sends to the Junto a Memento of their unpresidented Proceedings Complaining of the force and Violence put upon their fellow Members warning them from Acting Consulting or ordaining any Act or Ordinance without Concurrence of their fellow-Members being Arbitrary and against Law and that the secluded Members not only declared against such Proceedings but more especially against this horrid Act of theirs for the Tryal of the King shewing them That by the common Law and by the Statute of 25. Ed. 3. and all other Acts concerning Treason it is high Treason for any man to Compass or Contrive the Death of the King or his eldest Son tho never Executed That they were also bound to the Contrary by their Oath of Allâ—giance from which no Power could absolve them That they had in above an hundred Declarations and Ordinances in the name of the Parliament professed That they never intended the least hurt injury or Violence to the Kings person his Crown Dignity or Posterity with several other things very pressing and full as may be seen at large in the printed Paper but all was in vain for they were resolved on the Business tho they could give no kind of colourable Reason for their Actings This Memento was seconded with a Declaration and Protestation signed the 19 th of January by the said Prin and Clement Walker another of the secluded Members which ran very much after the same Tenure and absolutely Protesting against the Junto's Actings and Proceedings declared against the illegal Act of Erecting an high Court of Justice and usurping a Power against
old Trade of Debauchery always fighting and in Quarrels tho with Pedlars Tinkers and such like Fellows skillful in handling the Quarter-Staff so that none could over-match him This kind of life he led till he had spent his Patrimony and almost ruined his Mother hated by the Country for his many Villanies committed especially by his Uncle and God-father Sr. Oliver who could not endure to have him named At last beginning to perceive his ruin he feigned a Conversion went to Church among the orthodox Divines and so far insinuated himself with them that they deal with his Mothers Uncle Sr. Robert Stewart a Gentleman of a Competent Estate in the Country to take him into Favour and to declare him his Heir and who dying soon after left him an Estate of five hundred pound a year which quickly mouldred away he having left of it not above forty or fifty Pounds a year He then falls in with the Non-conformist Ministers entertains them at his House has Lectures and exercises himself in Preaching and Praying about which time he marries the Daughter of Sr. James Boucher her name Elizabeth and Kins-woman to Mr. Hambden of Buckinghamshire and turns Farmer for five years with ill success but still continuing his Preaching and Praying was so much follow'd by the Faction that they by a wile got him to be chosen a Burgess for Cambridge in the Parliament of 1640. when he was at his last Gasp and thinking to have Transplanted himself to New England and raised Mony for that purpose which enabled him to stand a Candidate for Parliament man And now joyning with Hambden Pym and the rest of them he began to blow up the Coals of Sedition and to be noted amongst them tutored by them till he grew quickly able to out-Wit them in their own Pernicious designs But now having spent the utmost farthing of his Estate and run in Debt he was priviledged from Arrests by being a Member of Parliament and now he betakes him into the Army where he was a Captain under Essex and where he became so Active and busie that he soon advanc'd himself to be Lieutenant General to the Earl of Manchester I crave Pardon of the Reader for this Digression for I intend not to write his Life but what I have related may let you see what this great Man was ab origine and therefore I shall say no more of his Actions in the Army they being sufficiently known in Story and how gradually he came to his Command of General in the Army part of which as far as came within my Province that I have undertook appears by the aforegoing Discourse whereby it is plainly manifested by what Methods he attained his Greatness and Usurpation I could say no less of this their Ring-Leader who deserves a more particular Character being so Notorious throughout Christendom and Famous for his Actions and Usurpation I shall not be so prolix in the rest but only name them to you They say his Family descended from a branch of that Cromwell in Henry the 8 th dayes who ruined the Abbies and was fatal to the Popish Clergy as this was to the Protestant Episcopacy and that the Lineal descent was from one Williams of Glamorgan-shire who marrying the Daughter of that Cromwell took on him the Name and transfer'd it to his Posterity but the direct Line of that Cromwell is continued in the Lord Cromwell and Earl of Arglass in Ireland This our Oliver was a man as you have found by what I have related of him of many Vices of deep Dissimulation and Hypocrisie and tho no great Schollar of great improved Parts of a strong robust Constitution and naturally Martial of deep reach and a great Politician after he had Conversed with Ireton his Son-in-Law who taught him his Art He had some Spice of Generosity in him which he shewed on some Occasions whether it was in his Nature or Designedly is to be doubted But for his Courage and Resolution and skill in Martial Discipline that is not to be questioned and tho I cannot think he really embraced any Religion as his particular Judgment yet he embraced all that he found subservient to his Ends as may be perceived by his Actings and Intreagues with the Presbyterians and Independants and all the other Sectaries which were all alike to him and no doubt Episcopacy it self would have been as pleasing to his Conscience could he have Established his Usurpation by it It was not therefore his Love of Vertue or Religion that made him thrust out all Vice from his Army but that he knew it would naturally ruin it and that a strict Discipline and the Face of some Religion would preserve it so that he never permitted among his Souldiers Swearing Drunkenness Profaneness Murther Rapine or Uncleanness but punishing them Severely his Camp was like a well regulated Common-wealth and had he not been a Rebel and employed his Parts to so wicked an end as the Destruction of his King and Country for the setting up himself he might have passed among the Worthies of this Nation and lawfully have become eminent in his Generation He had two Sons Richard and Henry besides one that dyed young and four Daughters one married to Ireton afterwards to Fleetwood one to the Lord Fawkenbridge one to Mr. Cleypool which he much lov'd and was his second Daughter and one to the Lord of Warwicks Grand-child Mr. Rich which was his youngest Cromwell as well as the rest had a share in the Spoil before he came to grasp all into the Paws of his Protector-ship to which we have brought him but we now consider him as a Rumper and by an Ordinance of that Parliament was conferred on him out of the Marquess of Worcester's Estate 2500. pounds a year a good Competency tho some say the said Lands so settled upon him at their improved Vallue were worth to him five Thousand if not six Thousand pounds a year besides four or five pound a day coming in as Lieutenant General and Collonel of Horse in the Army Ireton the Scribe as some called him being excellent at drawing Declarations Petitions and such like things to serve his politick Ends was a man of a deep Reach of much Dispatch of very dexterous and able Parts he was Cromwell's right Hand and was a great Contriver of his greatest Designs and Stratagems He was a Common-wealth's man of the truest Stamp and it is thought had he lived Cromwell had not assumed that Power to himself which he had helpt him to mount to by destroying the Government which Advantage Cromwell after his death laid hold on He married Cromwell's eldest Daughter and tho poor before the Wars liv'd very splendidly kept his rich Coach gilt that cost two hundred pounds and four gallant Horses He lick'd his Fingers with the rest and had he liv'd no doubt had got more he died at Limrick in Ireland of the Plague being Deputy there and was brought over into England and by the Junto buried
General Monk whom he had a desire to send further from him But before this last Fight the Parliament called by Cromwell under his Hand and Seal directed to each man such as he picked out godly men as he calleâ— them fit for his turn about One hundred and forty-two of them in all assembled at White-Hall on the Fourth of July where they chose one Mr. Rous a Cornish man Speaker one that had been by the laâ—e Parliament made Provost of Eaton Cromwell in a set Speech declares to them the occasion of their Meeting with his old way of Canting full of Scripture To these men a company of obscure fellows most of them 〈◊〉 Phanaticks the Council of State surrender 〈◊〉 their Power that they might afterwards give it to Cromwell These Adjourn themselves to Westminster where they sit and call themselves the supreme Authority of the Nation and begin to form Committies for the dispatch of Business But this Parliament called Barebones Parliament from a Leatherseller a Member thereof and consisting as I have said of such obscure Persons that most of them were hardly known in the Counties where they were born began to make such ridiculous Acts and so displeasing to the people that some thought Cromwell had called together this little Parliament to bring Parliaments into contempt the better to devolve the Ruling Power on himself as a Monarch One of their Acts was that none should be married without a Justice of Peace and the Banes asked in the Market-place three several Market-daies Thus the Priesthood was invaded and placed in the Civil Magistrate Then they took off the Penal Law of the Engagement to acknowledge the late Rump whereby it was ordered that no man should be admitted to sue in Law in any Court that had not taken it They voted against Tythes and the Universities as Antichristian They also were going in hand with cancelling the Law and all Law Books and so make a new Code more besitting their own turns and for the establishing of the Saints as they called themselves They were also upon making an Act that one Parliament should upon their dissolving have power to call another and so to make Parliaments perpetual This was not to be endured by the Oliverian Party who expected now to solace themselves under the shadow of his greatness And on the twelfth of December this Party in the House with the Speaker made a Motion for their dissolution declaring that their sitting any longer would not be for the good of the Nation Many of the Committee Blades hardly warm in their seats were startled at it these began to stand up stifly pleading for the Cause of God as they called it and shewing they could not leave the Commonwealth and the People of God committed to their charge so soon which would leave them to utter ruine and Harison and Squib a great Sequestrator were very zealous in defence of their own Authority But Oliver's Party being the greater arose and with their Speaker Rous left the House and the Fifth-monarchy Saints sitting in it who having sought God resolved to continue sitting Rous in the mean time with the Mace before him and his Followers go to Whitehall and there resign to Oliver the Instrument of Power he had given them that made them a Parliament with notice how they had left their fellows sitting Oliver returns them his thanks and kindly receives their Present and presently dispatches a Confident of his Colonel White with a Guard of Red-coates to turn the fag end or Rump of this little Parliament out of the House who entring the House commanded them in the name of the General to depart declaring them to be dissolved but they told him they were upon earnest business and therefore desired that he would not disturb them for they were seeking God to which he replied pish is that all 't is to no purpose for God has not been within these walls this twelve years and so fairly compelled them to go out of the House and to seek God somewhere else About four days after the Officers of the Army had prepared an Instrument of Government on which foundation they erected their new Dominion in a single Person entreating their General to accept of the Government under the Title of Protector of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland and thus a Rotation is made from a Republick to a single Person and Arbitrary Tyranny not the Monarchy is restored and instead of the many Tyrants one as boundless is constituted by a Military Power Good man with his usual dissimulation and Hypocrisie he refused it with much seeming modesty what he so long had sought and ambitioned but being pressed and by being made sensible of the great necessity of it for the upholding the Nation he at last accepts it and is installed with great pomp in Westminster Hall attended by the Lords Commissioners of the great Seal all the Judges in their Robes the Serjeants and learned Counsellors at Law the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Recorder of London in their Scarlets and all the chief Officers of the Army Being seated in a great Chair of State and the Instrument read unto him this Oath was administred I promise in the presence of God not to violate or infringe the Matters and things contained in the Instrument but to observe and cause the same to be observed and in all things to the best of my understanding govern the Nation according to the Laws Statutes and Customes thereof and to seek their peace and to cause Justice and Law to be equally administred But how well he kept this Oath you may perceive by the sequell of his Reign Having taken this Oath putting on his Hat the Commissioners surrender into his Hand the great Seal and the Lord Mayor the City Sword and Cap of maintenance which he respectively returned to them again and then returned in the same pomp to Whitehall The chief Heads of this Instrument as they called it of Government were First That a Parliament should be called every three years Second That the first should assemble the third of September 1654. Third That no Parliament should be dissolved till they had sate five Months Fourth That such Bills as should be offered to the Protector by the Parliament if he assented not in twenty dayes should be Laws without him Fifth That his Council should not exceed the number of twenty one nor be less than thirteeâ— Sixth That immediately after the death of the present and succeeding Protectors the Council shall choose another Protector before they rise Seventh That no Protector after the present should be General of the Army Eighth That the Protector should have power to make War or Peace This they denyed to the King Ninth That in the Intervals of Parliaments the Protector and his Council may make some Laws that should be binding to the Subject Here is a prerogative granted beyond any of the Kings of England Tenth That in the Parliament should be
Smithfield he was reprieved the like hapned to John Summer who was condemned to dye in Bishopsgate-street and Oliver Allen in Gracechurch-street who had their Reprieves brought them Baron Manly Mansel with one Seymour and Carlton all imprison'd on the same account made their escape but were arraigned though absent and condemned But Edward Ashton John Bettely and Edward Stacy were also tryed before this Court for the same Crime of raising War and seeking the Death of Cromwell where all three were Condemned with little or no proofs against them Col. Ashton was a known Cavalier and a Prisoner for Debt in Newgate but being permitted by favour to go abroad fell into the company of one of Cromwell's Trepanners who went stroling about for prey who informs the Secretary of dangerous words spoken by this Ashton for which he was tryed and condemned though he denied them at his Death and was hang'd drawn and quarter'd in Tower-street the Tyrant making all parts of the City his Shambles of humane flesh for the greater terror this was his bloody policy Mr. Bettely was in like manner betray'd and falsly accused by these Ruffians the Emissaries of Cromwell and Thurlo condemned upon their Oaths though he protested his Innocency and was executed in the midst of Cheapside being hang'd drawn and quarter'd After he had been a long time dead as they thought on a sudden he lift up his hands and pulling off his Cap looked upon them staring with his eyes to all their amazements till the Executioner dispatch'd him These suffer'd on the 2 d of July 1658. and two dayes after Mr. Stacy was only hang'd Many more who were imprisoned and designed to death escaped by Oliver's Death which was not very long after He was no sooner rid of the fear of this Plot by these Executions but he was again troubled by Lambert's Cabal who had inveigled both Fleetwood and Desborow Cromwell's near relations with their Commonwealth Principles though Lambert intended only the setting up of himself in Cromwell's stead But Cromwell now dallies no longer with them but takes away Lambert's Commission and lays him aside and disposes his Regiments to others whom he could better trust and sends into the Army several Spies and Eves-droppers to let him know the temper and behaviour of the Officers and of their inclinations whereby he might the better reform them This bloody Tyrant becoming Sanguinary as all other Tyrants doe grows very fearfull and suspicious and began to dread every strange face that came near him which he would fix his eyes upon and intentively view for fear of an assassination for that Book of Killing no Murther still ran dreadfully in his mind and made him to take all the care he could of himself oftentimes shifting his Lodgings to which he passed by twenty several locks and usually had four or five ways out of them He seldom went and came the same way between White-Hall and Hampton-Court and always by private and by-ways and in a great hurry his Guards before and behind still on the Gallop and his Coach especially the boots filled with armed men and began to be of very difficult access to all persons Yet this year he had success in Flanders and Dunkirk was surrendred into his hands and Lockhart General of the Forces there and his Kinsman made Governor thereof And now the Exit of this great Tyrant and Usurper draws near being ushered in with a Prodigy three Months before for on the 2 d of June a great Whale came up as far as Greenwich and was there killed His beloved Daughter Cleypool not long before him also dyed with an Ulcer in her Bladder which caused such acute pains that put her into a Feaver and in her raving Fits she much call'd upon that bloody Tyrant her Father for she had been a Suitor for Dr. Hewet's life knowing his Innocency but was denied which gave her a great disturbance being sensible of her Father's Tyrannick sway and Murtherous projects and of the Peoples hate towards him Her Death as they say went near his heart being about the beginning of August which with the troubles he saw were about to rise from the Officers of the Army fomented by Fleetwood who had Married his Daughter and Desborow who had Married his Sister gave him a fit of sickness being at Hampton-Court which he thought at first would pass over being only a Tertian feaver and his private Chaplains fasted and prayed with him and Goodwin openly declared that God had heard his prayers for him and he was assured he should not dye that bout but he was a false Prophet for his Feaver continuing with very ill symptoms the Physicians not so confident as the Priests caused him to be removed to White-Hall and he had been there but few dayes when they saw very plainly that he had but few dayes to live and this being made known to his Privy-Council they were all very much startled he finding himself now drawing towards his end on the 31 of August he caused all people to go out of his Chamber but Goodwin and Thurlo to whom he declared that he nominated his eldest Son Richard Cromwell to succeed him but these thinking it too great a thing to be communicated to them alone advised him to have more Witnesses lest they should not be credited in so great a concern He then bid them to send for the Council of 9 which were those he privately managed his more secret concerns by and these were Fleetwood Fiennes Desborow Whaly Thurlo Lawrence Berry Cooper and Goff most of this Junto being come to him he declared that it was his will that his Son Richard should succeed him as Protector Fleetwood bit his lips having been fool'd into hopes of the Protectorship as well as Lambert but little was then said and on the 3 d day of September 1658 memorable to Oliver for two great Victories Dunbar and Worcester he yielded to the great Victor Death and march'd off the Stage of this World in peace after he had trod it in Blood War Rapine Oppression Cruelty Usurpation and Tyranny Though the report went the Devil fetch'd him away in the storm which the night before his Death was so violent that many of the great Trees in St. James's Park were blown up by the Roots and that he had seven years before made a Compact with the Devil that he might obtain the Dominion of the three Kingdoms and not be prevailed against but these are Stories and God's Providence unsearchable I have already given a character of this Man and a short account of some passages of his Life before he ascended to his Greatness He was no doubt a man of extraordinary parts and raised up by God for such great undertakings as a scourge to this Nation which was full of evil humours and had entertained a spirit of Rebellion against both God the Church and the King and that they might behold their errors by those dismal effects that followed upon their unnatural Rebellion