same as one which Barwick proposed--_i.e._, that the King should grant a Commission to the Bishops of each province, to elect and consecrate fit persons for vacant sees, and ratify and confirm the process afterwards.[43] To this Hyde agreed, and wrote for the form of such a Commission as the Bishops might judge proper. No further steps appear to have been taken in that direction. [Sidenote: 1659.] Hyde counselled as much privacy as possible in measures for the preservation of the Episcopal order; and in all affairs relating to the Church he recommended the utmost prudence and moderation: at a later period, when Monk was preparing for Charles' return, Hyde complained of the "unskilful passion and distemper" of some Divines. The King, he added, was really troubled, and "extremely apprehensive of inconvenience and mischief to the Church and himself." Still later, he advised that endeavours should be made to win over those who had reputation, and desired to merit well of the Church--and that there should be no compliance "with the pride and passion of those who propose extravagant things."[44] As correspondence passed between Hyde and Barwick many Episcopalians in England gave themselves to fasting and prayer. Evelyn writes in his diary on the 21st of October: "A private fast was kept by the Church of England Protestants in town, to beg of God the removal of His judgments, with devout prayers for His mercy to our calamitous Church." Other entries appear, of the same kind. The ruling politicians in England, out of all sympathy with the exiles, were, nevertheless, promoting their interests by divisions at home.[45] [Sidenote: INTERREGNUM--EPISCOPALIANS.] Money-matters, out of which broods of quarrels are always being hatched, caused what remained of the Long Parliament to be very unpopular; and the upshot is seen in the dissolution by General Lambert, on the 13th of October, of that attenuated but vivacious body, whose continued, or renewed existence, through an age of revolutions, presents such a singular phenomenon. CHAPTER II.