godly Mr. Brewster, hardly known to us otherwise, is also proceeding thither; with v.hom the Lord Protector thinks good to salute his Son-in-law Fleetwood, the Lord Deputy, Ireton's successor in Ireland. Henry Cromwell was there once before, on a somewhat similar mission, and acquitted himself well. His title, this second time, is Major-General of the Army in Ireland. He is to command the forces in Ireland; one easily believes farther, he is to observe well and report faithfully how affairs are; and do his best to assist in rectifying them. Lord Deputy Fleetwood is by some thought to be of too lax temper for his place he, with his Ludlows, Axtels and discontented Republi cans, not to speak of other businesses, would need energy, if he have it not. Rumour has even risen that Henry Cromwell is now sent to supersede him; which, however, the Protector expressly contradicts. The rumour nevertheless proved, if not true, yet prophetic of the truth. Henry Cromwell acquitted himself well this second time also; being, as we judge, a man of real insight, veracity and resolution; very fit for such a service. Many of his Letters, all creditable to him, are in Thurloe: Petitions' from certain Irish parties come likewise to view there, That he might be appointed Deputy; which Petitions are, for the present, carefully 'suppressed,' yet have in the end to be complied with ;they and the nature of the case, we suppose, require compliance. Some fifteen months hence, Henry is appointed Lord Deputy;5 Fleetwood, in some handsome way, recalled. In which situation Henry continues till the end of the Protectorate, making really an honourable figure; and then, the scene having altogether changed, retires from it into total obscurity, still in a very manful, simple and noble way.6 ་ 'My dear Biddy,' in this Letter, is Bridget Fleetwood, whom we once saw as Bridget Ireton ;7 who, for her religious and other worth, is 'a joy to my heart.' Of 'Mr. Brewster,' and the other reverend persons, Spiritual Fathers, held in such regard by the Lord Protector as is due to Spiritual Fatherhood, and pious nobleness of Intellect under whatever guise, I can say nothing; they are Spiritual Great-grand-fathers of ours, and we have had + March 1653-4 (Thurloe, ii. 149). 5 21st November 1657 (Thurloe, vi. 632). 6 His Letter to Clarendon, in Thurloe, i. 763; see also Tanner Mss. li. 71, a prior Letter to Speaker Lenthall. 7 Vol. i. p. 229. to forget them! Some slight notices of Brewster, who I think was a Norfolk man, and more of Cradock, who was Welsh,zealous Preachers both,‚—are in the Milton State-Papers 8 they prove the fervent zeal, faith and fearlessness of these worthies; —not necessary to extract in this place. Cradock writes to Cromwell in 1652 that his heart overflows with prayers and praise to God for sending such a man; that he has often stept aside to pray for him, in some thicket or ditch by the wayside, while travelling along, and thinking of him ;—which Dryasdust Nicols, the Editor of these Milton State-Papers, considers a very ludicrous proceeding. Godly 'Mr. Tillinghurst,' so noble a phenomenon to Oliver and Fleetwood, is to us fallen altogether silent :—seemingly some godly Preacher, of very modest nature; who, in his old days, being brought once before the Lord Protector, cried it was a 'shame' to trouble any Lord Protector, or Sovereign Person, with the like of him! venerable hoary man. And godly Mr. Troughton, or 'Throughton,' too, was there. O Tillinghurst, O Troughton, how much lies buried !9 'To the Lord Fleetwood, Lord Deputy of Ireland. DEAR CHARLES, 'Whitehall,' 22d June 1655. The I write not often: at once I desire thee to know I most dearly love thee; and indeed my heart is plain to thee as thy heart can well desire: let nothing shake thee in this. The wretched jealousies that are amongst us, and the spirit of calumny turn all into gall and wormwood. My heart is for the People of God: that the Lord knows, and will in due time manifest; yet thence are my wounds ;which though it grieves me, yet through the grace of God doth not discourage me totally. Many good men are repining at everything; though indeed very many good 'are' 8 pp. 85, 158, &c. 9 Buried but indisputable traces of this Tillinghurst, certain authentic, still legible entries concerning him, in one of which Brewster too is named, have been detected by a friendly eye in the Record-Book of the Independent Church at Great Yarmouth; where Tillinghurst, it clearly enough appears, was Minister from 1651 to 1654, and inuch followed and valued as a Preacher and Spiritual Guide in those parts. Brewster, likewise an Independent, was of Alby in the same neighbourhood-Ms. Excerpts penes me (Note to Third Edition). well satisfied, and satisfying daily. The will of the Lord will bring forth good in due time. It's reported that you are to be sent for, and Harry to be Deputy; which truly never entered into my heart. The Lord knows, my desire was for him and his Brother to have lived private lives in the country: and Harry knows this very well, and how difficultly I was persuaded to give him his commission for his present place. This I say as from a simple and sincere heart. The noise of my being crowned &c. are similar10 malicious figments. Use this Bearer, Mr. Brewster, kindly. Let him be near you: indeed he is a very able holy man; trust me you will find him so. He was a bosom-friend of Mr. Tillinghurst; ask him of him; you will thereby know Mr. Tillinghurst's spirit. This Gentleman brought him to me a little before he died, and Mr. Cradock;-Mr. Throughton, a godly minister being by, with Mr. Tillinghurst' himself, who cried "Shame !" Dear Charles, my dear love to thee; 'and' to my dear Biddy, who is a joy to my heart, for what I hear of the Lord in her. Bid her be cheerful, and rejoice in the Lord once and again: if she knows the Covenant,11 she cannot but do 'so.' For that Transaction is without her; sure and stedfast, between the Father and the Mediator in His blood: therefore, leaning upon the Son, or looking to Him, thirsting after Him, and embracing Him, we are His Seed;-and the Covenant is sure to all the Seed. The Compact is for the Seed God is bound in faithfulness to Christ, and in Him to us the Covenant is without us; a Transaction between God and Christ.12 Look up to it. God engageth in 10 'like' in orig. 11 Covenant of Grace; much expounded, and insisted on, by Dr. Owen, among others; and ever a most fundamental point of God's Arrangement, according to the theory of Oliver. 12 The reader who discerns no spiritual meaning in all this, shall try it again, if I may advise him. it to pardon us; to write His Law in our heart; to plant His fear 'so' that we shall never depart from Him. We, under all our sins and infirmities, can daily offer a perfect Christ; and thus we have peace and safety, and apprehension of love, from a Father in Covenant,-who cannot deny Himself. And truly in this is all my salvation; and this helps me to bear my great burdens. If you have a mind to come over with your dear Wife &c., take the best opportunity for the good of the Public and your own convenience. The Lord bless you all. Pray for me, that the Lord would direct, and keep me His servant. I bless the Lord I am not my own;-but my condition to flesh and blood is very hard. Pray for me; I do for you all. Commend me to all friends. I rest, your loving father, OLIVER P.* Courage, my brave Oliver! Thou hast but some three years more of it, and then the coils and puddles of this Earth, and of its poor unthankful doggery of a population, are all behind thee; and Carrion Heath, and Chancellor Hyde, and Charles Stuart the Christian King, can work their will; for thou hast done with it, thou art above it in the serene azure forevermore ! Fleetwood, I observe, did come over: in January next we find the Lord Deputy' busy here in London with Bulstrode, and others of the Treasury, on high matters of State.13 He did not return to Ireland; got into Major-Generalings, into matters of State, on this side the Channel; and so ended his Deputyship;-dropping without violence, like fruit fully ripe ; the management of Ireland having gradually all shifted into Henry Cromwell's hand in the interim. LETTER CC. HERE, fluttering loose on the dim confines of Limbo and the Night-realm, is a small Note of Oliver's, issuing one knows 13 Whitlocke, p. 618 (7th Jan. 1655-6). * Thurloe, iii. 572. not whence, but recognisable as his, which we must snatch and save. A private and thrice-private Note, for Secretary Thurloe; curiously disclosing to us, as one or two other traits elsewhere do, that, with all his natural courtesies, noble simplicities and affabilities, this Lord Protector knew on occasion the word-ofcommand too, and what the meaning of a Lord Protector, King, or Chief Magistrate in the Commonwealth of England was. 'Margery Beacham,' Wife of William Beacham, Mariner, lives, the somnolent Editors do not apprise us where,-probably in London or some of the Out Ports; certainly in considerable indigence at present. Her poor Husband, in the course of 'many services to the Commonwealth by sea and land,' has quite lost the use of his right arm; has a poor Pension of Forty shillings allowed him from Chatham;' has Margery, and one poor Boy Randolph, 'tractable to learn,' but who can get no schooling out of such an income. Wherefore, as seems but reasonable, Margery petitions his Highness that the said Randolph might be admitted ‘a Scholar of Sutton's Hospital, commonly called the Charterhouse,' in London.14 His Highness, who knows the services of William Beacham, and even a secret service' of his not mentioned in the Petition or Certificates, straightway decides that the Boy Beacham is clearly a case for Sutton's Bounty, and that the Commissioners of the same shall give it him. But now it seems the Chief Commissioner, whose name in this Note stands Blank Blank, is not so prompt in the thing; will consider it, will &c. Consider it? His Highness dockets the Petition, 'We refer this to the Commissioners for Sutton's Hospital: 28th July 1655;' and instructs Thurloe to inform Blank Blank that he had much better not consider it, but do it! Which there is no doubt Blank Blank now saw at once to be the real method of the business. 'To Mr. Secretary Thurloe. 'Whitehall,' 28th July 1655. You receive from me, this 28th instant, a Petition from Margery Beacham, desiring the admission of her Son into the Charterhouse; whose Husband15 was em 14 Her Petition printed, without date, in Scatcherd, &c. ubi infra. |