Richelieu and Cromwell. 213 



shout with laughter, but whenever the real business was 

 touched upon, he made his opponents feel that the 

 natural division was that the buzzard should fall to 

 them while his long bony fingers were already fast upon 

 the turkey. He could afford to joke and be patient, 

 for he saw the end from the beginning, and had faith in 

 the Republic. 



See what the whirligig of time brings round. Near 

 Preston, in the valley of the Ribble, was fought in 1648 

 the battle of Preston or Ribblesdale, in which Cromwell 

 defeated the Scotch army under the Duke of Hamilton, 

 and the English army under Sir Marmaduke Lang- 

 dale. The Royalists were driven at the point of the 

 bayonet through the streets of Preston, and, though they 

 made a stand at Uttoxeter, were finally overthrown 

 and both generals and many thousand men made pris- 

 oners. It was a notable struggle, for the Royalists had 

 more than twice as many men as the Parliamentarians ; 

 but then the latter had the great Oliver, who knew how 

 and when to strike a blow. 



Booth may not be great in anything, as some think, 

 but I do not know his equal in '' Richelieu ; " and in one 

 scene in particular he has always seemed to me at his 

 very best. The king sits with his new minister, Baradas, 

 in attendance at his side. Richelieu reclines upon a sofa 

 exhausted while his secretaries " deliver up the papers 

 of a realm." A secretary is on his knee presenting 

 papers. He says: 



