You were told, today, of a People brought out of Egypt towards the Land of Canaan; but through unbelief, murmuring, repining, and other temptations and sins wherewith God was provoked, they were fain to come back again, and linger many years in the Wilderness before they came to the Place of Rest. We are thus far, through the mercy of God. We have cause to take notice of it, That we are not brought into misery, 'not totally wrecked;' but have,' as I said before, a door of hope open. And I may say this to you: If the Lord's blessing and His presence go along with the management of affairs at this Meeting, you will be enabled to put the topstone to the work, and make the Nation happy. But this must be by knowing the true state of affairs! [Hear!] You are yet, like the People under Circumcision, but raw. Your Peaces are but newly made. And it's a maxim not to be despised, "Though peace be made, yet it's interest that keeps peace ;"and I hope you will not trust such peace except so far as you see interest upon it. But all settlement grows stronger by mere continuance.' And therefore I wish that you may go forward, and not backward; and 'in brief' that you may have the blessing of God upon your endeavours! It's one of the great ends of calling this Parliament, that the Ship of the Commonwealth may be brought into a safe harbour; which, I assure you, it will not be, without your counsel and advice.

You have great works upon your hands. You have Ireland to look unto. There is not much done to the

1 See, in Joshua, v. 2-8, the whole Jewish Nation circumcised at once. So, too, your Settlements of Discord are yet but indifferently cicatrised.

Planting thereof, though some things leading and preparing for it are. It is a great business to settle the Government of that Nation upon fit terms, such as will bear that work1 through.-You have had laid before you some considerations, intimating your peace with several foreign States. But yet you have not made peace with all. And if they should see we do not manage our affairs with that wisdom which becomes us,-truly we may sink under disadvantages, for all that's done. [Truly, your Highness!] And our enemies will have their eyes open, and be revived, if they see animosities amongst us; which indeed will be their great advantage.

I do therefore persuade you to a sweet, gracious and holy understanding of one another, and of your business. [Alas!] Concerning which you had so good counsel this day; which as it rejoiced my heart to hear, so I hope the Lord will imprint it upon your spirits,-wherein you shall have my Prayers. [Prayers, your Highness?—If this be not "cant," what a noble thing is it, O reader! Worth thinking of, for a moment.]

Having said this, and perhaps omitted many other material things through the frailty of my memory, I shall exercise plainness and freeness with you; and say, That I have not spoken these things as one who assumes to himself dominion over you; but as one who doth resolve to be a fellow-servant with you to the interest of these great affairs, and of the People of these Nations. I shall trouble you no longer; but desire you to repair to your House, and to exercise your own liberty in the

1 Of planting Ireland with persons that will plough and pray, instead of quarrel and blarney!

choice of a Speaker, that so you may lose no time in carrying on your work.*

At this Speech, say the old Newspapers, 'all generally 'seemed abundantly to rejoice, by extraordinary expressions ' and hums at the conclusion,'-Hum-m-m! His Highness

'withdrew into the old House of Lords, and the Members of 'Parliament into the Parliament House. His Highness, so soon as the Parliament were gone to their House, went back 'to Whitehall, privately in his barge, by water.'

This Report of Speech Second, taken by one that stood near,' and 'published to prevent mistakes,' may be considered as exact enough in respect of matter, but in manner and style it is probably not so close to the Original Deliverance as the He who stood near' on this occasion foregoing Speech was. seems to have had some conceit in his abilities as a Reporter; has pared off excrescences, peculiarities, somewhat desirous to present the Portrait of his Highness without the warts. He, or his Parliamentary-History Editor and he, have, for one thing, very arbitrarily divided the Discourse into little frac tional paragraphs; which a good deal obstruct the sense here and there; and have accordingly been disregarded in our Transcript. Our changes, which, as before, have been insignificant, are indicated wherever they seem to have importance or physiognomic character,-indicated too often perhaps for the reader's convenience. As to the meaning, I have not anywhere remained in doubt, after due study. The rough Speech every word of it;

when read faithfully becomes transparent,

credible, calculated to produce conviction, every word of it;

* Old Pamphlet cited above: reprinted in Parliamentary History, XX. 318-33.

1 Cromwelliana, p. 147; see also Guibon Goddard, Member for Lynn (in Burton, i. Introd. p. xviii.).

-and that I suppose is or should be, as our impatient Commentator says, 'the definition of a good Speech. Other "good speeches," continues he, ought to be spoken in Bedlam; —unless, indeed, you will concede them Drury Lane, and admittance one shilling. Spoken in other localities than ⚫ these, without belief on the speaker's part, or hope or chance ' of producing belief on the hearer's-Ye Heavens, as if the good-speeching individual were some frightful Wood-andleather Man, made at Nürnberg, and tenanted by a Devil; 'set to increase the Sum of Human Madness, instead of less'ening it—'—But we here cut short our impatient Commentator.—The Reporter of Cromwell, we may say for ourselves, like the painter of him, has not to suppress the warts, the natural rugged physiognomy of the man; which only very poor tastes would exchange for any other. He has to wash the natural face clean, however; that men may see it, and not the opaque mass of mere soot and featureless confusions which, in two Centuries of considerable Stupidity in regard to that matter, have settled there.

SPEECH III.

THIS First Protectorate Parliament, we said, was not successful. It chose, judiciously enough, old Lenthall for Speaker; appointed, judiciously enough, a Day of general Fasting:but took, directly after that, into constitutional debate about Sanctioning the Form of Government (which nobody was specially asking it to 'sanction'); about Parliament and Single Person; powers of Single Person and of Parliament; Coördination, Subordination; and other bottomless subjects;-in which getting always the deeper the more it puddled in them, inquiry or intimation of inquiry rose not obscurely in the distance, Whether this Government should be by a Parliament and Single Person? These things the honourable gentlemen, with true industry, debated in Grand Committee, 'from eight in the morning till eight at night, with an hour for refresh'ment about noon,' debates waxing ever hotter, question ever more abstruse, through Friday, Saturday, Monday; ready, if Heaven spared them, to debate it farther for unlimited days. Constitutional Presbyterian persons, Use-and-wont Neuters; not without a spicing of sour Republicans, as Bradshaw, Haselrig, Scott, to keep the batch in leaven.

His Highness naturally perceived that this would never do, not this;-sent therefore to the Lord Mayor, late on Monday night I think, to look after the peace of the City; to Speaker Lenthall, that he must bring his people to the Painted Chamber before going farther: and early on Tuesday morning, poor Mr. Guibon Goddard, Member for Lynn, just about to proceed