.

The game now played by the advocates of high church and state notions in
England and America is to represent the republican party as illiterate
and narrow minded. A viler falsehood was never sworn to at the Old
Bailey. The leading men of the party who opposed the royal tyrant were
scholars, and ripe ones. If any man doubts it, let him read their
speeches, peruse their lives, and study their writings. Prynne did not
lose his acquirements nor his brains when Charles and Laud cropped his
ears, and, loving the sport, came back for a second harvest, and
"grubbed out the stumps" remaining from the first operation. Read his
folios, quartoes, and octavoes, and from one of these men estimate the
others. If you want to know the real character of Cromwell and his
party, as to their knowledge and love of good letters, look at the
patronage which the government gave to learning. Owen was chancellor of
Oxford, Milton and Thurlow were secretaries, and their friends were
called into public life. Were these men barbarians and enemies to
learning? The men who were educated at Oxford and Cambridge at this
period were the ornaments of learning and religion for the next forty
years. The day has gone by forever when Cromwell's name can be used as
synonymous with fraud, ignorance, and hypocrisy. Kings and prelates may
hate him, but a liberty-loving world will enshrine his character in the
sanctuary of grateful hearts and faithful memories.

After crossing the Severn at the old Passage, or Aust, where it is two
miles wide, we took carriage to Bristol. This parish of Aust gave a
church living to the immortal Wickliffe, who received the appointment
from Edward III.

The drive to the city was a rich enjoyment. Every acre is in the highest
cultivation, and the charming villas of the merchant princes of Bristol
make the eleven miles an entire garden scene.

Four miles from the city we came to Henbury, regarded by the citizens as
their finest suburban spot. It is indeed beautiful. There are here about
a dozen exquisite cottages, built in 1811, by Mr. Harford, who lives in
Blaize Castle. The founder's object was purely benevolent--to provide a
comfortable asylum for aged females, who had income enough to support
them, if only relieved from house rent. The forms of these cottages are
all different, but they were the earliest specimens in our times of the
adoption of the old Elizabethan style. They are perfect _bijoux_, and
the taste displayed i