finding himself discovered, instantly left London, and returned to the king. "Soon after," writes. Budgell, Cromwell, being informed that the Lady Ormond was engaged in several practices against the government, and corresponded with her husband for the better accomplishment of them, had resolved to use her with great severity; and told the Lord Broghill with a frown, the first time he saw him, 'You have passed your word for the quiet behaviour of a fine person; the Lady Ormond is in a conspiracy with her husband against me, though, at your request, I permitted her to stay in London, and allow her £2,000 per annum. I find she is an ungrateful woman, and shall use her accordingly.' Lord Broghill, who saw the Protector was thoroughly provoked, but knew that a soft answer usually appeased him, told him, in the most submissive manner, that he was sorry the Lady Ormond had given his Highness any reason to be displeased with her, but humbly desired to know what ground he had for suspecting her. Enough,' says Cromwell. I have letters under her own hand which were taken out of her cabinet;' and then throwing him a letter, bid him read it. He had no sooner perused it, than he assured the Protector, with a smile, that what he had read was not the hand of Lady Ormond, but of Lady Isabella Thynne,' between whom and the

'Isabella, daughter of the unfortunate Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, and wife of Sir James Thynne, of Longleat. She was

Marquis of Ormond there had been some intrigues. Cromwell hastily asked him how he could prove that. Lord Broghill answered, very easily; and showed him some other letters from the Lady Isabella, of whom he told two or three stories, so pleasant as made Cromwell lose all his resentment in a hearty laugh." Morrice, in his "Memoirs of Lord Orrery," records the same story, and adds that Lord Orrery "convinced Cromwell so fully, that his anger was turned in a merry drollery, and the Lady Ormond had her estate and liberty continued to her." We have the authority of Lord Clarendon that it was Sir Richard Willis who informed Cromwell of the Marquis of Ormond being in London.

According to Welwood, Cromwell one night walked into Thurloe's office, for the purpose of discussing some very secret and important business. They had conversed together for some time, when Cromwell suddenly perceived a clerk asleep at his desk. It happened to be Mr. Morland (afterward Sir Samuel Morland), the famous mechanist, and not unknown as a statesman. Cromwell, it is

at Oxford at the time of its surrender; and, according to Aubrey, with her friend, Mrs. Fanshawe, used to attend the chapel of his college "half-dressed, like angels." "Our grove," he says, "was the Daphne for the ladies and their gallants to walk in, and many times my Lady Isabella Thynne would make her entries with a theorbo or lute played before her. She was most beautiful, most humble, most charitable, but she could not subdue one thing."

affirmed, drew his dagger, and would have despatched him on the spot, had not Thurloe, with some difficulty, prevented him. He assured him that his intended victim was certainly sound asleep, since, to his own knowledge, he had been sitting up during two consecutive nights.

CHAPTER III.

OLIVER CROMWELL.

Death and Burial of the Protector's Mother-Distressing State of Cromwell's Mind at the Close of His Career-Reflections on His Ephemeral Greatness - His Dread of Assassination - His Custom of Wearing Secret Armour-Conspiracies against His Life - Syndercome's Plot and Untimely FateReward Offered by Charles II. to Whoever Should Take away the Life of the Usurper-Letter from the Duke of York on the Subject - The Pamphlet of "Killing No Murder " Sickness of the Protector - He Removes from Hampton Court to Whitehall - His Fanatical Enthusiasm — His Last Moments - His Death - The Fearful Storm Which Attended It― Blasphemous Language of His Panegyrists.

On the 16th of November, 1654, died Elizabeth Cromwell, the mother of one of the most extraordinary men that the world has ever produced. How singular must have been the feelings of that woman! She seems to have loved him with a motherly affection; indeed, we are told that such were her constant fears lest he should fall by the hand of an assassin, that she was never satisfied unless she beheld him at least twice a day. According to Heath, she never heard the sound of a pistol without exclaiming, "My son is shot." Her parting scene with her illustrious son is thus

described by Thurloe, who writes on the 17th November: "My Lord Protector's mother, of ninety-four years old, died last night. A little before her death she gave my lord her blessing in these words: The Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and comfort you in all your adversities, and enable you to do great things for the glory of your most high God, and to be a relief unto his people. My dear son, I leave my heart with thee. A good night!"" She shared with her son, though unwillingly, it would seem, the splendours of Whitehall, and was subsequently interred by him in the vault of the Kings of England in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. At the Restoration her remains were dug up, and on the 12th of September, 1661, to the disgrace of those who committed the outrage, were, with the remains of other Cromwellians, flung into a pit dug in St. Margaret's churchyard, Westminster.

It is curious to surmise what would have been the probable fate of the Protector, had he survived his elevation a few years longer. Hume says: "All his arts and policy were exhausted, and having so often by fraud and false pretences deceived every party, and almost every individual, he could no longer hope, by repeating the same professions, to meet with equal confidence and regard." Undoubtedly his government had become weaker, and even the powers of his mind appear to have been impaired.