Naval Victory over the Dutch--Death of Van Tromp--_Quasi_-Royal State of the Lord-Protector--Disaffection against Cromwell--His Vigorous Rule--Charles II. offers a Reward for his Assassination--Rebellions in Scotland--Cromwell's Dealings with the Portuguese Ambassador--Reform of the Court of Chancery--Commission for Purgation of the Church--The Reformed Parliament--Exclusion of the Ultras--Dissolution of Parliament--Danger from Plots--Accident to the Protector--Death of Cromwell's Mother--Royalist Outbreaks--Cromwell's Major-Generals--Foreign Policy--War with Spain--Massacre of the Piedmontese--Capture of Jamaica--The Jews Appeal for Toleration--Cromwell's Third Parliament--Plots against his Life--The Petition and Advice--Cromwell refuses the Royal Title--Blake's Brilliant Victory at Santa Cruz--Death of Blake--Successes against Spain--Failure of the Reconstructed Parliament--Punishment of Conspirators--Victory in the Netherlands--Absolutism of Cromwell--His Anxieties, Illness, and Death--Proclamation of Richard Cromwell--He calls a Parliament--It is Dissolved--Reappearance of the Rump--Richard Retires--Royalist Risings--Quarrels of the Army and the Rump--General Monk--He Marches upon London--Demands a Free Parliament--Royalist Reaction--Declaration of Breda--Joyful Reception of Charles 123 CHAPTER VI. THE PROGRESS OF THE NATION UNDER JAMES I., CHARLES I., AND THE COMMONWEALTH. Manufactures and Commerce--Trade under the Stuarts--English Commerce and Dutch Competition--The East India Company--Vicissitudes of its Early History--Rival Companies--The American Colonies and West Indies--Growth of London--National Revenue--Extravagance of the Stuarts--Invention of the Title of Baronet--Illegal Monopolies--Cost of Government--Money and Coinage--Agriculture and Gardening--Dramatists of the Period--Shakespeare and his Contemporaries--Poets of the Occult School--Herbert, Herrick, Quarles--A Wealth of Poetry--Prose-Writers--Bacon's "Novum Organum"--Milton's Prose Works--Hales, Chillingworth, Jeremy Taylor, Fuller, and other Theological Writers--Harrington's "Oceana"--Sir Thomas Browne--Historians and Chroniclers--First Newspapers--Harvey's Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood--Napier's Invention of Logarithms--Music--Painting, Engraving, and Sculpture--Architecture--Manners and Customs--Sports and Pastimes--Furniture and Domestic Embellishment--Costumes--Arms and Armour--Condition of the People 165 CHAPTER VII. CHARLES II.