THE AMATEURS 179 



going fast enough to please him he used his whip, which 

 they resented, "and run so fast" that he was flung from 

 his seat and, catching his foot in part of the harness, 

 dragged some distance. To make his situation the more 

 perilous, a pistol "went off in his pocket," so that it is 

 surprising to find that he escaped with but little hurt, 

 and after being taken home and let blood was soon well 

 again. Thurloe, who jumped from the coach, injured 

 his ankle, and kept his room for some days, "so that we 

 have not been able to further or expedite any business 

 this week," wrote the Dutch Ambassador. 



Enemies of the Protedlorate openly expressed their 

 regret that the accident had not terminated fatally. 

 This is what they said of it in Paris: "Sir — We hear of a 

 misfortune befallen the Lord Protedlorate, for playing 

 the coachman. He had better have sat in his chair in 

 the painted chamber to govern the Parliament, which is 

 more pliable to his pleasure, than in the coach-box to 

 govern his coach horses, which have more courage to put 

 him out of the box, than the three hundred Members 

 of Parliament have to put him out of his chair." 



Poets, Royalists, and Parliamentarians alike, rushed 

 into print on the subject, drawing morals widely diver- 

 gent, according to their political opinions. Supporters 

 of the Commonwealth professed to see in the accident 

 a case of miraculous intervention: 



"When he did fall, was it not won'drous well 

 That from his seat, into God's arms he fell? 

 And that, he falling, fell not in such wise 

 As they, who rise to faU; but fell to rise." 



