The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His TimeMasson, David
History
The Life of John Milton, Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660: Narrated in Connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of His Time
Masson, David
Milton, John, 1608-1674; Poets, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography
poet WALLER was connected with the Protector by his cousinship with
the Hampdens.[1]
[Footnote 1: Among authorities for the facts in this compilation,
besides Council Order Books, and the whole narrative heretofore, are
Carlyle's three genealogical Notes (I. 16, 20-21, and 54-55), Wood's
Fasti, II. 155-8, various passages in Codwin, and two "Narratives"
in _Harl. Misc_ III. 429-468.]
The Protector's new Privy Council for his Second Protectorate was not
constituted till Monday, July 13, 1657, more than a fortnight after
his installation. Then, his Highness being present, there were sworn
in, according to the new oath of fidelity provided by the _Petition
and Advice_, Lord President Lawrence, General Desborough, Lord
Commissioner Fiennes, the Earl of Mulgrave, Lord Viscount Lisle, Mr.
Rous, Lord Deputy Fleetwood, Lord Strickland, and Mr. Secretary
Thurloe. This last took his seat at the board as full Councillor by
special nomination of his Highness. In the course of the next few
meetings there came in Colonel Sydenham, Major-General Skippon, Sir
Gilbert Pickering, and Sir Charles Wolseley, raising the number to
thirteen; which completed the Council for some time, though Colonel
Philip Jones and Admiral Montague afterwards took their seats, and
Lord Richard Cromwell, as we have seen, was added Dec. 31. On
comparing the total list with that of the Council of the First
Protectorate (Vol. IV. p. 545), it will be seen that Cromwell
retained all that were alive of his former Council, except Lambert,
Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, and Mr. Richard Mayor. Sir Anthony Ashley
Cooper had been a deserter from the former Council as early as Dec.
1654, and had since then been so conspicuous in the opposition that
he had been one of the ninety-three excluded from the House at the
opening of the Second Parliament. Mr. Mayor, Richard Cromwell's
father-in-law, though still nominally in the Council, seems to have
been now in poor health and in retirement. The one extraordinary
omission was that of Lambert. He had taken all but the chief part in
the foundation of the First Protectorate; why was he absent from the
Government of the Second? His Oliverianism, it appears, had
evaporated in the late debates about the Kingship and the new
constitution. Certain it is that he did not present himself at the
first meeting of the new Council, and that, after an interview with
Cromwell in consequence, he surrendered his two regimental
colonelcies, his major-generalship, and £10 a day which he had for
the last, and withdrew into private life. Still called "Lord
Lambert," and with a pension of £2000 a year granted him by Cromwell,
he retired to Wimbledon, where his chief amusement was the
cultivation of tulips.[1]
[Footnote 1: Council Order Books of July 13, 1657, and thenceforward;
Ludlow, 593-594; Godwin, IV. 446-447.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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