, and
the Commonwealth.

_He saw not_; Ranke's dispassionate summary of the attempted 'arrest of
five members,' which has been always held one of the King's most
arbitrary steps, as it was, perhaps, the most fatal, illustrates the view
here taken: 'The prerogative of the Crown, _in the sense of the early
kings_' (unconditional right of arrest, in cases of treason), 'and the
privilege of Parliament, _in the sense of coming times_, were directly
contradictory to each other': (viii: 10).

_Till they drank the poison_; A sentence weighty with his judicial force
may be here quoted from Hallam:--'The desire of obtaining or retaining
power, if it be ever sought as a means, is soon converted into an end.'
The career of the Long Parliament supports this judgment: of it 'it may
be said, I think, with not greater severity than truth, that scarce two
or three public acts of justice, humanity, or generosity, and very few of
political wisdom and courage, are recorded of them from their quarrel
with the King to their expulsion by Cromwell': (_Const. Hist_. ch. x:
Part i).

_The chrisom_; Name for the white cloth in which babes were veiled
immediately after Baptism.

_Artist in plots_; See Ranke (viii: 5) for Pym's skilful use of a
supposed plot, (the main element in which was known by himself to be
untrue), in older to terrify the House and ensure the destruction of
Stafford; and Hallam (ch. ix).--Admiration of Pym may be taken as a proof
that a historian is ignorant of, or faithless to, the fundamental
principles of the Constitution:--as the worship of Cromwell is decisive
against any man's love of liberty, whatever his professions.

_O King_; 'Cromwell, like so many other usurpers, felt his position too
precarious, or his vanity ungratified, without the name which mankind
have agreed to worship.' The conversations recorded by Whitelock are
conclusive on this point: 'and, though compelled to decline the crown, he
undoubtedly did not lose sight of the object for the short remainder of
his life' (_Hallam_).

_The sky by a veil_; See _Appendix_ D.

_And he walks_; 'He said on one occasion, _He goes furthest who knows not
whither he is going_': (Ranke: xii: 1).

_Purrs about God_; Examples, (the tone of which justifies this phrase,
and might deserve a severer), may be found by the curious in the
frailties of poor human nature, _passim_, in Cromwell's 'Letters and
Speeches,' for which, (although not always edited with precise a