it him, but preferred employment for the future either in
England or in his native Ireland. Broghill's Presidency in Scotland
had now, indeed, virtually ceased, and the administration there, with
the difficult steering between the Resolutioners and the Protesters
of the Kirk, had been left to Monk and the rest. Nay, as we know, the
hearing of that vital Scottish question had been transferred to
London. Sharp, who had come to London in Broghill's train as agent
for the Resolutioners, "presently got access to the Protector" and
"was well liked of and accepted." But the Marquis of Argyle had
weight enough yet to stop any concession to him till the other party
had been heard. Accordingly, in October, 1656, a Mr. James Simson,
minister of Airth, had been sent up by the Protesters, to be
followed, more effectively, in January, by Mr. James Guthrie himself,
Principal Gillespie of Glasgow, and three elders, of whom one was
Warriston. There had been a conference and debate between Sharp and
these Protesters before Cromwell, three of his Council being present,
and Owen, Lockyer, Manton, and Ashe attending as representative
English divines; but his Highness had not yet made up his mind. The
rumour in Scotland was that Sharp was likely to succeed, and that he
had driven Warriston and Gillespie very hard in the Conference, and
contrived, in particular, to make Warriston, in self-defence, betray
some awkward secrets. One finds, however, that Principal Gillespie
was invited to preach twice before the Parliament, and thanked for
his sermons, and that he had influence enough to move in the Council
a suit in the interests of the University of Glasgow. Though Sharp,
as Baillie advised him, was "supping with a long spoon," Cromwell
had probably taken estimate of him.[1]

[Footnote 1: Council Order Books of dates given, and of others (e.g.
Nov. 4 and Dec. 2, 1656, and Jan. 12 and Feb. 12, 1656-7); _Merc.
Pol._ No. 340 (Dec. 11-18, 1656); Life of Robert Blair, 329-331;
Baillie, III. 328-341.]

One matter In which there had been an approach to disagreement
between the Parliament and the Protector was the famous _Case of
James Nayler;_--Quakerism and its extravagancies were irritating
the sober part of the nation unspeakably, and this maddest of all the
Quakers, on account of the outrageous "blasphemies" of his recent
Song-of-Simon procession through the west of England--repeated at
Bristol after his release from Exeter jail--had been select