occupat, suam ipse primus omnium amittat; seque primum omnium intelligat servire: atque id quidem non injuriâ. At verò, si patronus ipse libertatis et quasi tutelaris deus, si is, quo nemo justior, nemo sanctior est habitus, nemo vir melior, quam vindicavit ipse eam postmodùm invaserit, id non ipsi tantùm, sed universæ virtutis ac pietatis rationi perniciosum ac lethale propemodum sit necesse est: ipsa honestas, ipsa virtus decoxisse videbitur, religionis angusta fides, existimatio perexigua in posterum erit, quo gravius generi humano vulnus, post illud primum, infligi nullum poterit. Onus longè gravissimum suscepisti, quod te penitùs explorabit, totum te atque intimum perscrutabitur, atque ostendet quid tibi animi, quid virium insit, quid ponderis; vivatne in te verè illa pietas, fides, justitia, animíque moderatio, ob quas evectum te præ cæteris Dei numine ad hanc summam dignitatem credimus. Tres nationes validissimas consilio regere, populos ab institutis pravis ad meliorem quàm antehac frugem ac disciplinam velle perducere, remotissimas in partes sollicitam mentem cogitationesque immittere, vigilare, prævidere, nullum laborem recusare, nulla voluptatum blandimenta non spernere, divitiarum atque potentiæ ostentatio

nem fugere, hæc sunt illa ardua præ quibus bellum ludus est; hæc te ventilabunt atque excutient, hæc virum poscunt divino fultum auxilio, divino penè colloquio monitum atque edoctum. Quæ tu et plurą sæpenumerò quin tecum reputes atque animo revolvas, non dubito; uti et illud, quibus potissimùm queas modis et illa maxima perficere, et libertatem salvam nobis reddere et auctiorem. Quod meo quidem judicio, haud aliâ ratione rectiùs effeceris, quàm si primùm quos laborum atque discriminum comites habuisti, eosdem, quod facis, conciliorum socios cum primis adhibueris; viros sanè et modestissimos, et integerrimos, et fortissimos; quos tot mortes conspectæ, tot strages ante ora editæ, non ad crudelitatem aut duritiem animi, sed ad justitiam et numinis reverentiam et humanæ sortis miserationem, ad libertatem denique eo acriûs retinendam erudierunt, quo gravioribus ejus causâ periculis ipsi suum caput objecêre. Non illi quidem ex colluvione vulgi aut advenarum, non turba collectitia, sed melioris plerique notæ cives, genere vel nobili vel non inhonesto, fortunis vel amplis vel mediocribus; quid si ipsâ paupertate aliqui commendatiores? quos non præda convocavit, sed difficillima tempora, rebus maximè dubiis sæpè adversis, ad

liberandam tyrannide rempublicam excitârunt; non in tuto aut curiâ sermones inter.se atque sententias tantùm, sed manus cum hoste conserere paratos. Quòd nisi spes semper infinitas atque inanes persequemur, in quibus tandem mortalium sisti aut confidi possit non video, si his horumque similibus fides non habebitur. Quorum fidelitatis certissimum pignus et indubitatum habemus, quòd pro republicâ vel mortem oppetere, si itâ sors tulisset, non recusârint; pietatis, quòd implorato suppliciter Dei auxilio, totiesque ab eo insigniter adjuti, à quo auxilium petere eidem gloriam tribuere omnem rerum prosperè gestarum consueverint; justitiæ, quòd etiam regem in judicium adduxerint, damnato parci noluerint: moderationis, quòd et eam experti jam diu sumus, et, quam ipsi sibi peperere, pacem, si eorundem per injuriam rumpatur, quæ mala inde oritura sunt ipsi primi sint persensuri, ipsi prima vulnera suis corporibus excepturi, deque suis omnibus fortunis atque ornamentis feliciter jam partis rursus dimicaturi; fortitudinis denique, quòd nulli unquam libertatem feliciùs aut fortiùs recuperaverint; ne arbitremur ullos alios posse. diligentiùs conservare.'

IP. W. v.-259.

"Proceed then, O Cromwell; and exhibit, under every circumstance, the same loftiness of mind; for it well becomes you and is consistent with your greatness. The deliverer, as you are, of your country, the author, the guardian, the preserver of her liberty, you can assume no additional character more important or more august:" since not only the actions of our kings, but the fabled exploits of our heroes are overcome by your achievements. Reflect then frequently, (how dear alike the trust, and the parent from whom you have received it!) that to your hands your country has commended and confided her freedom; that, what she lately expected from her choicest representatives, she now hopes exclusively from you. O reverence this high confidence, this hope of your country relying exclusively upon yourself: reverence the countenances and the wounds of those brave men, who have so

m It may be proper to remark that the allusion in this place is not to Cromwell's rejection of the crown, when offered to him by the Parliament; for this event happened in 1656, more than two years after the period now immediately in question; but to the result of a consultation on the subject, just before the dismission of the Long Parliament, between Cromwell and some of the principal men of the nation whom he considered as friendly to his views; on which occasion, Whitelocke strongly dissuaded him from assuming the title of king.

nobly struggled for liberty under your auspices, as well as the manes of those who have fallen in the conflict: reverence also the opinion and the discourse of foreign communities; their lofty anticipations with respect to our freedom so valiantly obtainedto our republic so gloriously established, of which the speedy extinction would involve us in the deepest and the most unexampled infamy: reverence, finally, yourself! and suffer not that liberty, for the attainment of which you have encountered so many perils and have endured so many hardships, to sustain any violation from your own hands, or any from those of others. Without our freedom, in fact, you cannot yourself be free: for it is justly ordained by nature that he who invades the liberty of others shall in the very outset lose his own, and be the first to feel that servitude which he has induced. But if the very patron, the tutelary Deity as it were of freedom;—if the man, most eminent for justice, and sanctity, and general excellence should assail that liberty which he has asserted, the issue must necessarily be pernicious, if not fatal, not only to the aggressor but, to the entire system and interests of piety herself: honour and virtue would indeed appear to be empty names; the credit