616 



Between the period when the new Commonwealth Mace was first 

 used and the 23rd of April 1653, the date of the celebrated dissolu- 

 tion, the Journals of the Commons frequently allude to the new Mace ; 

 and as there is no record whatever of any other Mace having been 

 ordered, we can arrive at no other conclusion, than that this was 

 the celebrated Mace mentioned in all histories of this period as the 

 " Bauble," so called by Cromwell when he dissolved the Parliament. 

 That the Mace was turned out of the House of Commons admits of 

 no doubt, as all historians agree on the point, the only discrepancy 

 being, that some say Cromwell ordered a musketeer to take away 

 that " fool's Bauble," pointing to the Mace ; and others, that when 

 all the Members had left the House, the doors were locked, and the 

 Key with the Mace carried away by Colonel Otley. 



It will not be out of place to mention here, that West's famous 

 picture of the Dissolution of the Long Parliament represents Crom- 

 well in the act of pointing to the Mace as he uttered the words, 

 " Take away that fool's Bauble ; " and it is important to state, that 

 the Mace, which occupies a most prominent position in the centre of 

 the picture, agrees perfectly in its appearance with the description 

 given of it in the Parliamentary History and Whitelock's Memorials, 

 being nearly destitute of ornament, and without the Crown and 

 Cross. 



Had we no further evidence, the foregoing extracts from authentic 

 documents would suffice to prove that the Mace turned out of the 

 House of Commons by Cromwell was not that subsequently given 

 to the Royal Society by Charles the Second, which diflfers totally in 

 its appearance from the Mace made for the Commonwealth Parlia- 

 ment, and, as we have seen, used by the House of Commons from 

 1649 to 1653. And when we reflect, that immediately after the 

 King's execution, orders were issued to pull down, erase, and de- 

 stroy every vestige of Royalty throughout the length and breadth of 

 the land*, it is absurd to imagine that the individuals giving such 

 orders, and exacting their most rigid execution, should, for a period 

 of upwards of four years, have sat around a table on which lay a 

 Mace, bearing not only the Royal Arms in the most conspicuous 

 manner, but also a Crown and the letters C. R. four times re- 

 peated ; and this they must have done to make the story true, that 

 the Mace given to the Royal Society by Charles the Second is 

 the famous " Bauble." 



" The sacred Mace," as it has been called by some historians, 

 though so rudely expelled from the House of Commons, was, strange 

 as it may seem, preserved and soon restored to its high office ; for on 

 the 7th of July 1653, only three days after the assembling of Crom- 

 well's first Parliament, the Journals of the Commons state, that the 

 Sergeant-at-Arms was " Ordered to repair to Lieut. -Col. Worseley 

 for the Mace, and to bring it to this House ; and on the same day it 



* The Journals of the Commons state, that the King's Arms over the Speaker's 

 Ghair were taken down, and those of the Commonwealth substituted, immediately 

 after the execution of Charles the First. 



