But just as the conference was about to finish, it was announced that Vane, Desborough, and Berry desired to see the General, and he requested Whitelock to withdraw, and stay a little for him, -which he did with heaviness of heart, knowing the irresolution of his friend. In a quarter of an hour Fleetwood came out, and with much emotion said, "I cannot do it! I cannot do it!" and being asked the reason for this sudden change, he answered, “These gentlemen have put me in mind, and it is very true, that I am engaged to do no such thing without the consent of Lord Lambert. Whitelock urged that Lambert was then absent from London, and that the affair admitted no delay; but Fleetwood, repeating that "he could not do it without him," he retired, making this observation, "You will ruin yourself and your friends."*

There can be no doubt that Whitelock, as the accredited agent of Fleetwood, would have been most cordially received by Charles, who was still very doubtful as to the intentions of Monk; and perhaps an arrangement might have been made, providing guarantees for religion and liberty, which would have rescued the nation from the misgovernment of the two succeeding reigns, and saved the Stuart dynasty.

Several of Whitelock's private friends strongly urged him, for his own sake, to fly with the Great Seal to Breda; but dreading lest representing no party in the state he should meet with a repulse, he declined the advice, although he afterwards found that Ingoldsby, who had signed the warrant for the execution of Charles I., by a tender of his service about this time, experienced indemnity and favour.

As a last desperate effort to continue the republican government, he put the Great Seal to writs of summons for the election of a new parliament, but the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of Middlesex refused to act upon them; no respect was paid to them in any quarter, and, to the astonishment and amusement of mankind, the “ Rump" was once more restored. A mob, consisting chiefly of royalists, aided by some soldiers, assembled in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and proceeded to the Rolls, in Chancery Lane, saluted Lenthal as the Speaker of the Long Parliament, not yet legally dissolved, and required that he should go and take his scat in the House of Commons to assist in recalling the King. Fleetwood, after some days spent in weeping, said, [DEC. 26.] "the Lord had spit in his face," fell on his knees before the Speaker, and surrendered his commission. The members, with Lenthal at their head, resumed the possession of the House and of the government.

This was a very alarming state of affairs for "my Lord Keeper Whitelock," who, if he had not actively assisted in their last expulsion, had immediately assented to it, had accepted a seat in

* Mem. 691.

"the Committee of Safety," and acted as their chief legal adviser. He was told of many threatening expressions uttered against him, and that one Scot, a person of considerable influence, with whom he had had a private quarrel at an election, had publicly declared," that the Lord Keeper ought to be hanged, with the Great Seal about his neck."*

He was afraid therefore to take his place in the House as he would have been inclined to do,—his principle being to conform to every political change as quickly as possible. Having been summoned to attend, he went privately to the Speaker, and stated his apprehensions that if he were to appear in his place he might be called in question for his recent conduct, and committed to prison. Lenthal in a friendly manner advised him to attend, saying, that it would be taken as an owning of their authority if he sat with them. He accordingly summoned up resolution to enter the House, but he was very ill received; many of his most familiar acquaintance looked cool and reserved, and one or two particular friends, who still stuck by him, gave him a hint not to be present on the day that was appointed to consider of the absent members.

The just result of all his political manoeuvring was, that he found himself universally despised, and that he was [A. D. 1660.] equally afraid for his personal safety whichever side should triumph. Under these melancholy circumstances his heart entirely failed him, and he resolved at once and forever to withdraw from public life. He therefore locked the Great Seal in a box, and ordered his wife to carry it to the Speaker, and to deliver him the key of it. He then went privately into the country, and remained in strict concealment at the house of a friend. An order was made that he should attend in his place, but he was not farther molested.†

After the Restoration, he at last found himself safe, when the bill of indemnity had passed. From his precaution in declining to act in the High Court of Justice, he was not included in the exception levelled at the King's Judges.

He never again appeared on the political stage, and here we must take leave of him. It is said that after the Restoration he came to Court and asked pardon of the King for "all that he had transacted against him,"-perhaps not without hope of once more recovering the Great Seal; but Charles bade him " Go live quietly in the country, and take care of his wife and one and thirty children." +

* Scot was himself afterwards hanged as a regicide.

† Sir Harry Vane, who obeyed a similar order, was expelled the House, and exiled to his castle of Raby for having taken part with the Council of State on the second expulsion of the Rump.

This was a considerable exaggeration; for in a "Dedication to the King" of a legal work, the fruit of his retirement, he says that the royal clemency had bestowed upon him his small fortune, liberty, and life, and restored him to "a wife and SIXTEEN children," a number exceeded by legal dignitaries of the present day.

He retired to Chilton Park, in the county of Wilts. Here he lived quietly, devoting himself to study and country amusements till 1675, when he died in his seventieth year. His remains were interred at Fawley, near Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, where he had constructed a burying place for his family.

In his own time he was reckoned the competitor of Lord Clarendon for fame as well as for power, and as he was at the head of the law of England for twelve years, and mixed up with some of the most striking events during the most important period in our annals, his merits and defects must continue to be interesting to all who would become familiar with the great lawyers and statesmen of England. His character is not unfairly drawn by Wood:- "He was an observing person through all changes, being guided more by policy than conscience. He was an excellent common lawyer, as well read in books as men well versed in the oriental languages, and much beloved by Selden and the virtuosi of his time."* We must not, from the disgust excited by his uniform submission to dominant power, forget that he had valuable qualities, and that he not only resisted usurpation as far as he safely could during the struggle, but that he continued to strive to mitigate its evils. In many instances he successfully contended for the extension of clemency towards state offenders, and for protection to oppressed communities. He was ever an advocate of a tolerant and humane administration of the executive authority, and he has a right to a considerable share of the praise justly appropriated to those from whose mild disposition the English revolution in the seventeenth century contrasts so favourably with the French revolution, a century and a half later, when knowledge and civilization were supposed to have made such progress in Europe. He ought, above all, to be honoured as a most zealous and enlightened law reformer.

Both

In his character and conduct he has often been compared to Clarendon; but he bears a much closer resemblance to the Lord Keeper who lingered so long in the parliament at Westminster, and then joined the King with the Great Seal at York. Whitelock and Littleton were inclined to do good when it was consistent with their interest; both were irresolute and dastardly, and they both acted from time to time with such duplicity as to induce a suspicion that their want of courage was want of principle.

* Wood's Ath. Ox. Selden's last letter was addressed to him :

"I am a most humble suitor to your Lordship, that you would be pleased that I might have your presence for a little time to-morrow or next day. This wearies the most weak hand of

"Your Lordship's
"Most humble Servant,

"J. SELDEN."

Whitelock, though then immersed in public business, went to his dying friend, assisted him in making his will, and consented to become one of his executors.

As a contributor to English history, Whitelock does not enjoy the full measure of credit which he deserves. For his Memorials from the Accession of Charles I. till the Restoration of Charles II.," he justly takes as a motto,

Quæque ipse miserrima vidi,

Et quorum pars magna fui;"

and his work has the unspeakable advantage of having been composed almost from day to day, while there dwelt on his mind a lively and accurate impression of the events which he relates; whereas the more popular "History of the Rebellion," by Clarendon, was written from a faded recollection, and, besides purposed suppressions and misrepresentations, abounds with mistakes of dates and facts unconsciously introduced. The "Memorialist" is uniformly fair and candid; and although the form of a Diary, which he generally adopts, makes it rather a book of reference than for continuous perusals, we find in it passages of reasoning and eloquence, showing that the author was qualified to reach a high degree of literary excellence.

He compiled also "An Abridgment of the History of England down to the end of the reign of James I. ;" and besides many speeches, and several forgotten Law treatises which he published in his lifetime, there are, in the British Museum, six MS. volumes compiled by him on the Law of Elections, and other subjects.*

James, his eldest son, was knighted by Oliver, gained distinction as a Colonel in the parliamentary army, and represented the county of Oxford in parliament. William, his second son rose to great eminence at the bar, and was knighted by Charles II. I do not find any thing more respecting his descendants. And now I must proceed to relate the last days of the Great Seal of the parliament. Lady Whitelock hav[JAN. 13, 1660.] ing carried it to Lenthal, according to the instructions she had received, he presented it to the House, who immediately made an order "that it be delivered to the Speaker, as Keeper, and remain in his custody till the House should further order."+

A committee was named to consider of fit persons to be intrusted with the custody of the Great Seal. They [JAN. 19.] made a report in favour of Sir THOMAS WIDDRINGTON and Serjeants TERRYLL and FOUNTAIN, who were appointed accordingly; and the Great Seal was delivered to them, with much solemnity, by the Speaker, in the name of the parliament.‡

* Ayscough's Cat. 4749-4754.

† Mem. 693. At the same time Lady Whitelock, from apprehension for her husband's safety, burnt many of his papers, which he considered a great loss to the history of those times.

It would appear that they had considerably altered their tone, and were now professed royalists. Fountain was obnoxious to some as a great law reformer. Ludlow, 343. At the same time it was ordained that Newdigate should be Chief

The royal cause having made such progress in public opinion, we may wonder that men were not selected whose principles were more favourable to it; but we must remember that the excluded members had not yet been re-admitted; that a great majority of the members now sitting were republicans in their hearts; that Monk still found it convenient to dissemble; and that a considerable time elapsed before any one ventured openly to propose the King's recall.*

No judicial business was done in Hilary or Easter terms, and the functions of the new Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal were chiefly ministerial,-the parliament having ordered " that the Speaker, in execution of their votes, should sign a doquet for patents and other instruments to pass the Great Seal, and that the Lords Commissioners do pass such patents and instruments under the Great Seal accordingly."t

In obedience to an order they received, they sealed a commission authorising the Master of the Rolls and certain Judges to hear causes in Chancery; but the administration of justice in all the Courts was suspended till Trinity term following, when the King was again on the throne.

It was only on the 13th of March that the resolution passed doing away with the declaration hitherto required from all members and public functionaries, to "be faithful to the Commonwealth as now established, without a King or House of Lords."

Three days after, the ordinance passed for dissolving the Long Parliament, which being carried by the sole anthority [MARCH. 16.] of the Commons, the more scrupulous pronounced a nullity, for want of the assent of the King and the Lords; and, in strict theory, there is certainly great difficulty in saying when the existence of this famous legislature, which had continued twenty years, legally terminated, the Convention Parliament that ratified its dissolution being itself illegal, and incapable of giving itself power by its own act.

However, the Lords Commissioners Widdrington, Terryll, and Fountain, immediately issned, under the Great Seal, a proclamation and writs, in name of "the Keepers of the Liberties of England," for a new election of representatives of the people, to meet on the 25th of April,-not sending any summonses to Peers, nor taking any measure for having an Upper House.

On the day appointed both Houses met, without the appearance of royalty, and the Lords without even the form of a summons. None of Cromwell's Peers claimed to

[APRIL 25.]

Justice, Hill and Nicholas, Judges of the Upper Bench, St. John, Chief Justice Wyndham and Archer, Judges of the Common Pleas, Wilde, Chief Baron, Thorpe and Parker, Barons of the exchequer—who had all been republicans.-Mem. 693. * Even after the re-admission of the excluded members, although there was a majority for royalty, a resolution was passed that the Westminster Confession of Faith, framed by the Presbyterian divines, should be the basis of the national religion; and Baxter acted as chaplain to the House of Commons down to the King's return, when he was made a royal chaplain.

† Com. Jour. vii. 814.