mons voted that the house of lords was useless and dangerous, and therefore was to be abolished. They voted it high-treafon to acknowledge Charles Stuart, fon of the late king, as fucceffor to the throne. A great feal was made, on one fide of which were engraven the arms of England and Ireland, with this infcription: "The great feal of England." On the reverfe was reprefented the houfe of commons fitting, with this motto: "On the first year of freedom, "by God's bleffing reftored, 1648." The forms of all public bufinefs were changed from the king's name to that of the keepers of the liberties of England.

The next day they proceeded to try those gallant men, whofe attachment to their late fovereign had been the most remarkable. The duke of Hamilton and lord Capel were condemned and executed; the earl of Holland loft his life by a like fentence; the earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen were condemned, but afterwards pardoned by the commons.

The Scots, who had in the beginning fhown. themselves fo averfe to the royal family, and having by a long train of fucceffes totally fuppreffed all infurrections in its favour, now firft began to relent from their various perfecutions. Their loyalty began to return; and the infolence of the independents, with their victories, ferved to inflame them ftill more. The execution of their favourite duke Hamilton alfo, who was put to death not only contrary to the laws of war, but of nations, was no fmall vexation; they therefore determined to acknowledge prince Charles for their king. But their love of liberty was ftill predominant, and feemed to combat with their manifold refentments. At the fame

7

time

time that they refolved upon raifing him to the throne, they abridged his power with every limitation which they had attempted to impofe on their late fovereign.

Charles, after the death of his father, having paffed fome time at Paris, and finding no likelihood of affiftance from that quarter, was glad to accept of any conditions. He poffeffed neither the virtues nor the conftancy of his father; and being attached to no religion as yet, he agreed to all their propofals, being fatisfied with even the formalities of royalty. It is remarkable, that while the Scots were thus inviting their king over, they were, nevertheless, cruelly punifhing thofe who had adhered to His caufe. Among others, the earl of Montrofe, one of the braveft, politeft, and most finished characters of that age, was taken prifoner, as he endeavoured to raise the Highlanders in the royal caufe; and being brought to Edinburgh was hanged on a gibbet thirty feet high, then quartered, and his limbs ftuck up in the principal towns of the kingdom. Yet notwithstanding all this feverity to his followers, Charles ventured into Scotland, and had the mortification to enter the gate of Edinburgh, where the limbs of that faithful adherent were ftill expofed.

Being now entirely at the mercy of the gloomy and auftere zealots who had been the caufe of his father's misfortunes, he foon found that he had only exchanged exile for imprisonment. He was furrounded, and inceffantly importuned by the fanatical clergy, who obtruded their religious inftructions, and obliged him to liften to long fermons, in which they feldom failed to ftigmatife the late king as a tyrant, to accufe

B 2

his

his mother of idolatry, and himself of an untoward difpofition. Six fermons a day were his usual allowance; and though they laboured to outgo each other in abfurdity, yet he was denied. the fmall confolation of laughter. In short, the clergy, having brought royalty under their feet, were refolved to keep it ftill fubfervient, and to trample upon it with all the contumely of fuccefsful upftarts. Charles for a while bore all their infolence with hypocritical tranquillity, and even pretended to be highly edified by their inftructions. He once, indeed, attempted to escape from among them; but being brought back, he owned the greatness of his error, he teftified repentance for what he had done, and looked about for another opportunity of efcaping.

In the mean time Cromwell, who had been appointed to the command of the army in Ireland, profecuted the war in that kingdom with his ufual fuccefs. He had to combat against the royalifts, commanded by the duke of Ormond, and the native Irish, led on by O'Neal. But fuch ill-connected and barbarous troops could give very little oppofition to Cromwell's more. numerous forces, conducted by fuch a general, and emboldened by long fuccefs. He foon overran the whole country, and, after some time, all the towns revolted in his favour, and opened their gates at his approach. But in thefe conquefts, as in all the reft of his actions, there appeared a brutal ferocity that would tarnish the moft heroic valour. In order to intimidate the natives from defending their towns, he, with a barbarous policy, put every garrifon that made any refiftance to the fword. He entered the city of Drogheda by ftorm, and indifcriminately but

6

chered

chered men, women, and children; fo that only one escaped the dreadful carnage to give an account of the maffacre. He was now in the train of speedily reducing the whole kingdom to fubjection, when he was called over by the parliament to defend his own country against the Scots, who having efpoufed the royal caufe, had raifed a confiderable army to fupport it.

After Cromwell's return to England, upon taking his feat, he received the thanks of the house, by the mouth of the speaker, for the fervices he had done the commonwealth in Ireland. They then proceeded to deliberate upon chufing a general for conducting the war in Scotland, which Fairfax refufing upon principle, as he had all along declined oppofing the prefbyterians, the command neceffarily devolved upon Cromwell. Fairfax, from that time forward, declined meddling in public affairs; but fending his commiffion of generaliffimo to the house, he retired to spend the remainder of his life in peace and privacy. Cromwell, eager to purfue the path of ambition that now lay before him, and being declared captain-general of the forces, boldly fet forward for Scotland, at the head of an army of fixteen thousand men.

The Scots, in the mean time,, who had invited. over their wretched king to be a prifoner, not a ruler, among them, prepared to meet the invafion. They had given the command of their army to general Lefley, a good officer, who formed a proper plan for their defence. This prudent commander knew, that though fuperior in numbers, his army was much inferior in difcipline and experience to the English; and he kept himself carefully within his entrenchments.

B 3

After

After fome previous motions on one fide and the other, Cromwell, at laft, faw himself in a very disadvantageous poft near Dunbar, and his antagonist waiting deliberately to take advantage of A.D. 1650. his fituation. But the madnefs of the Scottish clergy faved him from the imminent difgrace that was likely to attend him, and to their vain infpirations he owed his fecurity. Thefe had, it feems, been night and day wrestling with the Lord in prayer, as they termed it; and they at laft fancied that they had obtained the fuperiority. Revelations they faid were made them, that the heretical army, together with Agag their general, would be delivered into their hands. Upon the affurances of thefe vifions, they obliged their general, in fpite of all his remonttrances, to defcend into the plain, and give the English battle.

The English had their vifions and their affurances on their fide alfo. Cromwell, in his turn, had been wrestling with the Lord, and had come off with fuccefs. When he was told that the Scottish army were coming down to engage, he affured his foldiers that the Lord had delivered the enemy into his hands; and he ordered his army to fing pfalms, as if already poffeffed of a certain victory. The Scots, though double the number of the English, were foon put to flight, and purfued with great flaughter, while Cromwell did not lofe above forty men in all.

'The unfortunate king, who hated all the Scottish army, and only dreaded Cromwell, was well enough pleafed at the defeat, which belied all the allurances of his oppreffors. It was attended alfo with this good confequence to him, that it ferved to introduce him to a greater share of power