dering over the country. Persecution commenced a system of espionage was carried on, and a petty tyranny practiced by that incarnation of all meanness and villany, Laud. The Puritans began to leave in crowds for other more tolerant countries. The people were enraged even the country nobility and wealthy gentlemen took fire at these accumulated wrongs, and all was ripe for an explosion. Men were put in the stocks for circulating pamphlets that denounced the injustice of the times, and their ears cropped off in presence of the people. But the elements were only more deeply stirred by every act of tyranny, and at length they seemed to reach their full height when John Hampden, who had refused to pay the ship-money tax and demanded a trial, was condemned.

In the mean time the attempt to force the English liturgy down the throats of the sturdy Scotch Calvinists had raised a whirlwind in Scotland, and the self-conceited Laud found he had run his hand into a hornet's nest. Edinburgh was in a blaze, and the excited crowds from every part came thronging through the streets-highlander and lowlander, noble and commoner, struck hands together, and old Scotland stood up in her might, with her solemn "Covenant" in her hand, and swore to defend it to the last. The fiery cross went flashing along the glens, through the valleys and over the mountains, and in six weeks Scotland was ready to do battle for her rights. Poor Charles was frightened at the spirit he had raised, and strove to lay it, but failing in this he marched his armies against the Covenanters. Imbecile, like all Stuarts, the invasion ended in smoke, and the baffled King called another Parliament in order to raise some money. It met April 13, 1640. Charles had got along eleven years without a parliament, but now was fairly driven to the wall. But during eleven years of dissolution the Commons had not forgotten grievances, and when the King asked for supplies, he received in reply, "grievances." Nothing could be done with a Parliament that talked only of grievances, and in three weeks it was dissolved. This was in May; in October Parliament again met-the famous Long Parliament. Ex- asperated at its last dissolution-enraged at the falsehoods and tyranny of the King-perceiving, at last, that he with his favorite the Earl of Strafford were bent on breaking down the Constitution

of England-it met, with the stern purpose of taking the management of affais in its own hands. The King saw, at a glance, that he had got to retreat or close in a mortal struggle with his Parliament. The respect they showed him at his opening speech was cold, and even haughty. The proud determination that sat on their countenances awed even the monarch, and the fierce indignation that broke forth after his departure told his friends that a crisis had come. Every member had some petition from his constituents to offer, and the eleven years of arbitrary rule that Charles had tried, and now was compelled to abandon, received a terrible review. Monopolies, shipmoney, illegal arrests, the despotism of the bishops and the action of arbitrary courts, came up in rapid succession, each adding to the torrent of indignation that was about to roll on the throne. One of the first acts of this Parliament was to declare every member of their body who had taken part in any monopoly unfit to sit with them, and four were immediately excluded. This decision fell like a thunderbolt on the King and his party, and revived the hopes of the people. The Presbyterian preachers resumed their livings-suppressed pamphlets were again sent abroad on the wings of the wind-Church despotism dare not wag its head, and yet no legal steps had been taken to produce this change. The people felt that Parliament was on their side, and took confidence in resisting oppression. Strafford was impeached and sent to the Tower, and the next blow fell on the heartless Archbishop Laud. Things began to look significant--the head of civil oppression and the leader of religious despotism were struck within a short time of each other, and the character of the coming revolution clearly pronounced. The next step was still more significant. A bill was carried making it necessary that a Parliament should assemble at least once in three yea and should not be dissolved till fifty days after its meeting. The King, though filled with rage, was compelled to sanction it. No sooner was this done than the Star Chamber, ecclesiastical court of high commission, and all the extraordinary tribunals which the King had erected were abolished. Last of all, Parliament declared that it had power alone to terminate its sittings. Thus tumbled down stone after stone of England's huge feudal structure, and such men as Hamp

den, Prym and Holles began to look toward the abolishment of kingly power altogether. Religious matters also came up, and petitions were poured in demanding the entire abolition of Episcopacy. The people had begun to think, and the quarrel which had commenced with Charles and his Parliament had been taken up by the people, and the struggle was between liberty and oppression in every department.

In the mean time Strafford's head rolled on the scaffold. This was in 1641. In August the King visited Scotland, and devoutly attended Presbyterian churches -heard the long prayers and longer sermons of Presbyterian preachers with becoming gravity, and Parliament adjourned. In the fall, however, it assembled again, and a general remonstrance was drawn up setting forth the grievances of the kingdom, and defining all the privileges that freedom demanded. Amid a storm of excitement it passed. Cromwell backed it with his stern and decided action. The King returned, and was again in collision with his Parliament. In the mean time popular outbreaks commenced in London-the houses of bishops were in danger of being mobbed, and Charles found himself on a wilder sea than he had ever dreamed of. The Parliament now began to reach out its hand after the control of the army, and there seemed no limit to the reforms proposed.

The next year, 1642, five members of the House were suddenly accused of high treason for the prominent part they had taken in the affairs of the kingdom. The King sent his sergeant-at-arms to take them in custody, but the House would not give them up, and declared that consideration was required before such a breach of privilege could be allowed. The next day the King came with an armed force to arrest them. At the news swords flashed in the Hall of Parliament, and brows knit in stern defiance. But better counsels prevailed, and the five members were hurried away, before Charles with his armed guard approached. The birds had flown, but the King made a speech, declaring that he expected the accused, as soon as they returned, would be sent to him, and departed. As he strode through the door, Privilege privilege!" smote his ear. The next day the citizens rushed to arms, and all was in commotion; and as the King passed through the crowd, it was silent and cold, and a pamphlet was thrown into

his carriage headed, "To your tents, O Israel"

Here is the beginning of the war. The Parliament found that it must surround itself with armed force for self-protection. And armed force begat armed force, till civil war broke out in all its fury. Hitherto Charles had professed great affection and respect for the Parliament-made endless promises and broke them " on the word of a king." His duplicity was no longer of avail. The mask was off-hostilities had commenced; and though peace could be, and was, talked about, Parliament would never let power again rest in the hands of a monarch who seemed to have no moral sense respecting truth and falsehood. The word of a London pick pocket could be relied on as soon as his. Besides, the leaders of Parliament now lived with a halter about their necks, and let Charles once gain the power he formerly wielded, he would make summary work with them.

With the departure of the King and the commencement of the civil war, Parliament proceeded to assume more and more power; and though negotiations were still kept up, reformation had yielded to revolution, and the elements were unbound. The battle of Edgehill opened the tragedy, which in its bloody performance was to see the throne of England go down, and the head of its king roll on the scaffold. Cromwell now presents himself on the stage to some purpose, and there is little danger of his being lost sight of again. The years of 1642 and '3 were eventful ones, for the sword of civil war was drinking blood on every side. At the end of 1643 the reformation was complete, Parliament had done all it wished; but things had gone too far to stop. The army had gradually acquired power, as it always does in war, and its leader was carried on towards the control of the kingdom. In 1648 Charles I. was executed, and kingship in England for the time ended.

The progress of things during the civil wars we design to take up again with Cromwell. But in this condensed synopsis the career and separate steps of the revolution may be traced out. First, Parliament wished to place some restrictions on arbitrary power-nothing more. The resistance and madness of Charles aroused indignation, and boldness and discussion. The natural result was, clearer views of their own rights, and of the injustice of the King's arbitrary conduct.

The King, instead of yielding with grace, multiplied his tyrannical acts, and incensed still more the Commons of England. Not satisfied with pleasing the imbecile and driveling Laud, he undertook to fetter the consciences of the people, and force episcopacy down their throats. As if bent on his own ruin, he transferred, or rather extended, the quarrel from Parliament to every town in the land, and thus made the excitement and opposition universal. Slight reforms were sought in the first place, but the principles of justice on which the demand for them was based, soon brought grievances to light whose removal would infringe on the sovereignty of the King. The King resisted, but the Commons stood firm; and as soon as the people found they had a strong ally they brought in their grievances on religious matters. Broken promises, falsehoods, secret apy open tyranny, practiced everywhere bn the King or Bishops, rendered the breach between the monarch and his subjects wider-until at last royal bayonets gleamed around the Parliament. As sailed by physical force, Parliament sought to protect itself by force also, and civil war took the place of discussion and remonstrance, and revolution succeeded reformation. There was nothing unnatural in this. The same result will follow in every despotism of Europe, so soon as there can be a representation of the people bold enough to ask justice.

For taking part in such a movement of the English people-fighting bravely for the English constitution and religious liberty, and finally bringing the revolution to the only peaceful termination it could have had, Oliver Cromwell has been termed a regicide, a monster and a tyrant. This work of Mr. Carlyle's puts the mark of falsehood on these accusations, and presents the man before us in his simple majesty and noble integrity. The speeches and letters of a man-both public and private-must reveal his character, and if there be any hypocrisy in him it will appear. But here we have a hundred and sixty-seven letters written in various periods of his life, to persons of every description-even to his wife and children and relatives-and yet no inconsistency in his character is seen. Those who term him a hypocrite would do well fo explain this fact. Before the idea of power had ever dawned on his mind, or he had ever dreamed a letter of his would be seen, except by his family,

he utters the same religious sentiments, indulges in the same phrases which, repeated in public, bring down on him the charge of cant, hypocrisy and design. These letters and speeches show him consistent throughout; and Mr. Carlyle has forever removed the obloquy that covered him, and given him that place in history which should have been granted long ago. The triumph is the more complete, from its being effected not by eulogies, but by the man's self lifted up in his simplicity and grandeur before the world. No one can read this work without obtaining a clear and definite view of Cromwell he never can forget. Perhaps some of the very faults we have men. tioned in it have rendered the picture more complete. Mr. Carlyle has given us Cromwell as he was, and as he will be received by future generations. We see him in every step of his progress; there are the same massive features, and grave countenance, and serious air, with here and there indications of a volcano within. Whether wandering by the banks of the Ouse-gloomy and desponding as he attempts to look into that mysterious eternity to which he is bastening—or riding all fierce and terrible amid his Ironsides through the smoke of battleor with hat on his head standing on the floor of Parliament, and hurling defiance on all around-or praying in the midst of the midnight storm as life is receding -we still stand in his presence-live, move, speak with him. There is no English writer that equals Carlyle in this pictorial power-revealing rather than describing things, and bidding us look on them rather than conceive them.

Born in 1599, Cromwell was thirty-six years old when the first Parliament was convoked by Charles I. Unlike most distinguished characters he entered on public life late, and was forty years of age before he took any part in the scenes in which he was afterwards to be the chief actor. His history is a forcible illustration of the effect of circumstances on a man's fortune. Had England remained quiet, Cromwell would have spent his energies in draining the fens on his farm, and improving his estate, and died a good, straight-forward English gentleman. But the field which the revolution opened to him soon scattered his plans for the improvement of his lands to the wind, and the too thoughtful, too contemplative religionist, entered on a life of action that left his disordered fancy

little time to people his brain with gloomy forms.

Of Cromwell's early life very little is known, but Mr. Carlyle has doubtless given all that ever will be discovered, and traced his genealogy to the right source. Cromwell appears in the third Parliament of Charles, 1628-9, in which the famous petition of Rights before spoken of was carried. He seems to have taken very little part in the stormy proceedings of the several Parliaments, and during the first two years of the Long Parliament nothing is heard of him. He went home to his farm a few weeks at the adjournment of Parliament, during the King's visit to Scotland; but is found in his place again when it is assembled. He witnessed the stormy debate on the "Grand Petition and Remonstrance," when the excitement waxed so high that members came near drawing their swords on each other; and gazed--one may guess with what feelings-on King Charles, as he came with his armed force to seize the five members accused of high treason. The lessons he learned in these agitated scenes, like those which Bonaparte received from the tragedies of the French revolution, were not forgotten by him in his after career.

When the King and Parliament finally came into open collision, and both were struggling to raise an army, Cromwell's course for the first time becomes clearly pronounced. His arm is better than his tongue, and as Parliament has passed from words into action, he immediately takes a prominent position, which he ever after maintains. Charles is still regarded as King of England, and the Parliament has sent to him to know if he will grant them "power of mili tia," and accept the list of Lord Lieutenants which they had sent him. "No, by God," he answers, "not for an hour;" and so militia must be raised in some other way than through royal permission.

This was in March, 1642; the next July we find Cromwell moving that the town of Cambridge be allowed to raise two companies of volunteers, and appoint captains over them, giving, himself, a hundred pounds towards the object.

Here is high treason at the outset, and if the King shall conquer, loss of life and property will follow. But he has taken his course, and not all the kings in the world can turn him aside. The next month he has seized the magazine

in the castle of Cambridge, and prevented the plate of the University from being carried off by the King's adherents.

The same volunteer system was carried out in every shire of England favorable to the course of Parliament. An army was organized, and the Earl of Essex was placed at its head. In the list of troops made out with their officers, Cromwell's name was found as captain of troop sixty-seven. His son was cornet in a troop of horse under Earl Bedford. The battle of Edgehill was fought

the first appeal to arms-and Cromwell's sword was there first drawn for his country. The victory was doubtful, and both parties claimed it. The country was now fairly aroused, and associations were formed during the winter in various counties, for mutual defence. Cromwell is found at the head of the "Eastern Association," the only one that survived and flourished, and is riding hither and thither to collect troops and enforce order and repel invasion. The hidden energy of the man begins to develop itself, and his amazing practical power to be felt. At the battle of Edgehill he saw the terror the royal cavalry carried through the Parliamentary horse, and he spoke to Hampden about it after the conflict was over, saying,

How can it be otherwise when your horse are for the most part superannuated domestics, tapsters, and people of that sort, and theirs are the sons of gentlemen, men of quaility. Do you think such vagabonds have soul enough to stand against men of resolution and honor?"

"You are right," replied Hampden, "but what can be done ?"

"I can do something," said Cromwell, "and I will. I will raise men who have the fear of God before their eyes, and who will bring some science to what they do, and I promise you they shall not be beaten.”

con

It was in this winter's efforts that the nucleus of that famous body of horse to which he gave the name of Ironsides was formed. He selected for it religious men, who fought for conscience' sake, and not for pay or plunder; and while he enforced the most rigid discipline, he inflamed them with the highest religious enthusiasm. Fighting under the especial protection of Heaven, and for God and religion, they would rush to battle as to a banquet, and embrace death