30 Mr. E. Freshfield on Unpublished Becords of London. [Feb. 4, 



Lenthall. They illustrate the state of affairs and the Lord 

 General's own condition of micd at this particular juncture, viz. 

 in the months of March and April 1659-60. In March he had not 

 yet broken with the Independent faction and thrown in his lot with 

 the Royalists. It was probably at this time that the first letter in 

 favour of Mr. Loder was written. The letter revoking the first letter 

 was no doubt written at the time when the Lord General had de- 

 termined to throw in his lot with the Royalists. In a minute of the 

 same vestry in September 1659, the churchwarden mentions an 

 application to the Grocers' Company to take the balance of the parish 

 stock upon interest and the fact that the Grocers' Company would 

 not pay him more than 5 per cent, interest, the minute concluding 

 " that in regard to the existing great hazard and danger of the times 

 by reason of public differences and decay of trade in general, the 

 money aforesaid, viz. 150/., was paid into the hands of the Grocers at 

 5 per cent." 



The lively interest taken in parochial matters by Speakers of the 

 House of Commons, Masters of the Rolls, lawyers, merchants, and 

 people holding high Government appointments, is apparent from 

 these books and compared favourably with the present apathy. They 

 also illustrate the extraordinary personal nature of the Protector's 

 government during the Protectorate, and the important part played 

 by the City of London at this time, the reason why the citizens threw 

 in their lot with the Parliament, why they afterwards joined in the 

 restoration of the King and the Church, which was as plainly written 

 as if you could converse with the people who had written the 

 minutes. 



[E. F.] 



