All students of the deeds done in that arena now know—and their knowledge is in no slight degree due to the persistent labours of a living writer—that the battle of the ‘Petition of Right’ was even a greater battle than Naseby or Marston Moor. They know that the marshalling of the forces which, at a period antecedent to that famous Petition, succeeded in winning a safe place on ‘the fleshy tables’ of the hearts of Englishmen for those political immunities it embodied—after the first written record had been vainly torn from the Council Book—was a feat of arms not less brilliant, in its way, than was that arraying of Ironsides, on much later days of the long strife, which resulted in ‘Darwen stream with blood of Scots imbued,’ and placed Worcester’s laureat wreath on the brow of CROMWELL. There are many senses in which we have all of us (or nearly all) learnt to see the truth of the familiar words, ‘Peace hath her victories, not less renown’d than War,’ but in no sense have those words a deeper truth than when we simply invert MILTON’S own application of them. By him they were pointed at something yet to be done, and which, as he hoped, might be done by CROMWELL. Nowadays, the historian has good ground to point them at an earlier victory, won when the great soldier was but looking on at the parliamentary contest, which he could not much advance, and might very possibly have seriously impeded. The one thing which has transmuted Robert COTTON from the status of a dead antiquary into that of a living English worthy, is his close fellowship with ELIOT, RUDYARD, and PYM. His rights to a place amongst our national worthies is due—more than all else—to the fact that the services which he rendered in that strife of heroes were services which one man, and only one, throughout broad England had made himself capable of rendering. COTTON could no more have led the parliamentary phalanx, than he could have led the Ironsides. To stir men’s minds as ELIOT or PYM could stir them was about as much in his power as it was to have invented logarithms, or to have written ‘_Lear_.’ But if he could not command the army, he could furnish the arsenal. At that day and under the then circumstances that service was priceless. Sir Robert COTTON’S best and most memorable parliamentary service was rendered under CHARLES; not under JAMES. But there is one incident in his public career which occurred just before the change in the wearers of the Crown that has a claim to mention, even in so brief a memoir as this.