Elocution was not his talent. His public fpeeches ⚫ and Strickland on his left hand; they made a handfome thew in this equipage, and fo went up to the councilchamber, where the ambaffador repos'd himself, about a quarter of an hour, and then word being brought that the Protector was ready in the Banquetting-house, " he came down into the court again, and in the fame order they went up into the Banquetting-bufe. White⚫ ball court was full of foldiers in good order, the stairs and doors were kept by the Protector's guards in their livery coats, with halberts, the rooms and paffages in very handsome order; the Banquetting-boufe was richly hung with arras, multitudes of gentlemen in it, and of ladies in the galleries. The ambaffador's people were all admitted into the room, and made a lane ⚫ within the rails in the midft of the room. At the up per end upon a foot-pace and carpet, ftood the Protector with a chair of ftate behind him, and divers of his council and fervants about him. The mafter of the ceremonies went before the ambassador on the left fide; the ambaffador in the middle, betwixt me and • Strickland, went up in the open lane of the room; as 'foon as they came within the room, at the lower end of the lane, they put off their hats: the ambassador a little while after the reft, and when he was uncover'd, the Protector alfo put off his hat, and anfwer'd the ambaffador's three falutations in his coming up to him, and on the foot-pace they faluted each other as ufually friends do: and when the Protector put on his hat, the ambassador put on his, as foon as the other. After a little paufe, the ambaffador put off his hat, and began to fpeak, and then put it on again; and when'foever in his speech he named the King his mafter, or Sweden, or the Protector, or England, he moved his hat, especially if he mentioned any thing of God, or the good of Christendom, he put off his hat very low; and the Protector ftill answered him in the like poftures of civility. The ambaffador fpoke in the Swedish fpeeches in general are longwinded, obfcure, fat (1) and ambiguous: but whether this was not 6 language, and after he had done, being but fhort, his fecretary did interpret it in Latin.-After his interpreter had done, the Protector ftood ftill a pretty while, and putting off his hat to the ambaffador, with a carriage full of gravity and state, he anfwered him in Eng() Memo-lish (m).Though the ceremonials on these pubrials, p. 623. lic occafions are, I apprehend, ordered and appointed by the proper officers, yet the man who (having spent forty years of his life in a manner almost wholly in obfcurity and remote from courts, as Oliver had done) could act his part fo gracefully in them, must have had a genius of a peculiar turn, and greatly fuperiour to the common clafs of men.-Mr. Waller feems therefore to have had reafon for his complement to him in the following verfes : • Oft have we wonder'd, how you hid in peace I cannot clofe this note without obferving the propriety of the Swedish ambaffador's making ufe of his native tongue in his public audience, and the Protector's replying in his own language. It fhews the value they each fet on their refpective countries, and their diflike of putting fuch a flight on them as to imagine their idiom unpolite or indeterminate. It would not have been amifs if the example had been followed. (1) Elocution was not his talent, &c.] Cromwell's want of eloquence has been obferv'd by many writers. All • virtues, not partly out of defign, may be a question, feeing virtues, fays Mr. Cowley, being rightly divided into mo⚫ral and intellectual, I know not how we can better judge of the former than by mens actions, or of the latter than by their writings or speeches. And for these latter (which are leaft in merit, or rather which are only the inftruments of mischief where the other are wanting) I think you can hardly pick out the name of a man who ever was called great, befides him we are now speaking of, who never left the memory behind him of one wife or witty apothegm even among his domeftic fervants or greatest flatterers. That little in print which remains upon a fad record for him, is fuch, as a fatyr against him would not have made him () Diffay, for fear of tranfgreffing too much the rules of pro- courfe conbability (n).' cerning Oliver ted among Mr. Hume fays that he was incapable of expreffing Cromwell, himself on this occafion [the crown's being offer'd p. 87. Prin. him] but in a manner which a peasant of the most or- his Works dinary capacity, would justly be ashamed of.' And in 12mo. after quoting a paffage from the conference at Whitehall Lond. 1681. to fupport this affertion, he obferves that the great defect in Oliver's fpeeches confifts not in his want of • elocution, but in his want of ideas. The fagacity of his actions and the abfurdity of his difcourfe, forms the most prodigious contrafte that ever was known. The collection of all his fpeeches, letters, fermons, (for he alfo wrote fermons) would make a great curiofity, and with a few exceptions might juttly pafs for (0) Hift. one of the most nonfenfical books in the world (0).' vol. ii. p. This gentleman's great defects are want of confiftency 79, 89. with himself, and regard to truth. In the paffage here quoted he affures us that the great defect in Oliver's fpeeches confifts not in his want of elocution, but in his 'want of ideas:' a few pages after he obferves that Cromwell was not defective in any talent, except that of elocution (p). That he wrote fermons is a difcovery 90. of Mr. Hume's own; I believe no writer worth naming D 2 ་ ever (p) Id. p. feeing he could fpeak and write well on some occafions. Bigo ever before said it; it is quite unsuitable to his character, and the times. I have faid in the text that his fpeeches, in general, are longwinded, obfcure, flat, and ambiguous: this will appear to any who will be at the trouble to read his fpeech at the diffolution of his firft parliament, and his fpeeches at the conference at Whitehall, of which I shall have occafion hereafter to give extracts. The reason of thefe defects feem to be fometimes the enthusiasm of his temper, which produc'd a kind of expreffion favouring of cant; other times his being neceffitated to find excuses for refusing what he was defirous of; and moft times a willingness to hide his real intentions. To which, probably, may be added his having been little used to speak in public affemblies, on public occafions, before he feiz'd the fupreme power. But defign I'm perfwaded had the greatest share in producing fome of his oddeft compofitions. I have feen, and fhall in the following fheets produce copies of original letters written by him, which fhew that he knew well how to exprefs himself; his letters to the governor of Edinburgh caftle before mention'd are a farther proof of it; and the following fpeech made off hand to the Swedish ambaffador confirms it. My Lord Ambaffador, I have great reafon to acknowledge with thankfulness, the refpects and good • affection of the King your mafter towards this commonwealth, and towards myself in particular, whereof I fhall always retain a very grateful memory, and fhall be ready upon all occafions to manifeft the high fenfe and value I have of his majefty's friendship and alliance. My Lord, you are very welcome into England, and during your abode here, you shall find all due regard and respect to be given to your perfon, and to the bufinefs about which you come. I am very ⚫ willing to enter into a nearer and more ftrict alliance and friendship with the King of Swedland, as that • which Bigottry (K) made no part of Cromwell's cha which in my judgment will tend much to the honor and commodity of both nations, and to the general advantage of the proteftant intereft; I fhall nominate fome perfons to meet and treat with your lordship upon (2) Whit , lock, p. • fuch particulars as you fhall communicate to them (q).’ 628. Perhaps a better turn'd anfwer than this is not to be See alfo note found in England in Cromwell's age!-it fhews what he [w]. could do: though he feldom equall'd it. (K) Bigottry made no part of Cromwell's character.] Bigottry ill becomes a great man, if a truly great man is capable of it. In a politician it is a defect, in a fovereign a fault of the firft magnitude. Woe be to that country whose princes and minifters are tinctur'd with it. There ecclefiaftics reign-and the rule of ecclefiaftics has been always fevere and tyrannical. Bigottry produc'd the maflacres of Paris and Ireland; repeal'd the edict of Naniz; annull'd the privileges of the Moriscoes in Spain; drove the nonconformists out of England; and depriv'd Philip the fecond of the United Provinces. These were the effects of this fiend, black as the infernal pit where it firft was produc'd, and mischievous as Satan its parent. May all princes have it in abhorrence! may they keep its favourers and abettors far from their councils! vain elfe will be their endeavours for the public, vain their hopes of perpetuating their fame. No prince, 'tis well known, was ever well counfell'd by priests. They have themselves too much in view; their own order too much at heart-They cannot facrifice these though inconfiftent with the welfare of the community, nor can they forbear preferring them to the most useful members of it. But the bigot is the tool of the priest. He must be so-from him therefore is to be expected nothing truly generous. We know what Cardinal Granvall did in Spain; what Laud in England; but they had never been in a capacity of executing their mad and destructive schemes, had they had mafters less bigotted. But Cromwell had a mind fuperior, he was D 3 above |