consents to--

'play one scene
Of excellent dissembling, and let it look
Like perfect honour.'

These lines disclose our case. With prescient genius Shakspeare has
described the part that Cromwell took in an event which occurred under
his Protectorate, the so-called Insurrection of March 1655; and in our
examination into the secret history of that occurrence lies the test
that we have applied to Cromwell's character.

The revelation that we are attempting is not, however, free from
inherent difficulty. In these days of literature made easy, the products
of close research are not readily acceptable. To open up a new vista in
history, much has to be cut down, much put into new order; and the
reader must unavoidably share in the labours of the writer. And though
some curiosity may be aroused by the discovery of that which has
remained hidden, for over two centuries; still, to gratify that
curiosity, many an ingrained idea must be laid aside. Difficult as it
may seem to many, Cromwell at the outset must be regarded not as 'our
heroic One,' but as a man who sold himself to falsehood, that he might
'ride in gilt coaches, escorted by the flunkeyisms, and most sweet
voices.' Nor to appreciate the secret of our character-test, can the
assertion of any historian, from Clarendon down to Carlyle's last
imitator, be credited, that 'a universal rising of Royalists combined
with Anabaptists' broke out in March 1655. On the contrary, it must be
accepted as a preliminary condition in this investigation that England
was, at that time, in a state of immovable tranquillity, and that any
insurrectionary movement during the year 1655 sprang from a far-reaching
design, which Cromwell practised alike on friends, neutrals, and
enemies.

That this was the case has hitherto escaped notice. Every historian, who
has taken part in the Cromwelliad, regards that revolt as 'a very tragic
reality;' they all agree, that it was 'prevented from breaking into a
dangerous flame by vigilance, prompt action, and by necessary severity.'
That this event might be regarded in a very different light was an idea
far from every one of them. Proof, however, goes before disproof. The
historians should have their say first; and our readers must endure, for
a few moments, what may be termed the received version of the
Insurrection of March 1655.

According to Godwin, 'A general rising was meditated about the beginning
of Marc