OLIVER CROMWELL. 
337 
living lan^’uages, his learning, as already observed, extended only to 
a moderate acquirement of the Latin: so far from being acquainted 
with the jarring interests of foreign courts, and the dispositions of the 
different princes on the continent, he had never been out of the 
kingdom ; and as to a knowledge of the arrangements of the English 
court, and the characters of the leading men either of that or live 
country party, it must have been very confined, as he had resided but 
a short time in the capital, and had sat in parliament but a few months. 
His person, though manly, did not , possess any of those elegancies 
which captivate regard or command respect, and which are only to 
be acquired by a long and familiar acquaintance with persons of the 
first rank. And as for his dress, it was far from attracting respect 
He rather engaged the attention of the house by a slovenly habit 
His clothes were ill made, entirely out of the fashion, the work of an 
ordinary country tailor, and no part of them of the best materials. 
Sir Philip Warwick, a gentleman, the exactness of whose description 
may be relied on, gives the following account of Oliver’s appearance 
when he was first called to sit in the long parliament 
The first time,” says the knight, “ that ever I took notice of him, 
was in the beginning of the parliament held in November 1640. I came 
one morning into the house, and perceived a gentleman speaking, 
whom 1 knew not, very ordinarily apparelled ; for it was a plain 
cloth suit, which seemed to have been made by a bad country tailor; 
bis linen was plain, and not very clean ; and I remember a speck or 
two of blood upon his little band, which was not much larger than his 
collar; his hat was without a hand ; his stature was of good size; 
bis sw’ord stuck close to his side ; his countenance sw'ollen and red- 
dish ; his voice harsh and untunahie ; and his eloquence full of 
fervour.” 
With all these disadvantages of mind and body, was it ever to he 
expected that Oliver would become a principal person in the senate, 
and much less its future sovereign? It is, however, no less strange 
than true, that this very man, within a few years, was not only noticed 
in the house for the boldness of his speeches, and the solidity of his 
arguments, but that he studied both grace in his gesture, and neatness 
and gentility in his dress. “And I lived to see,” continues Sir 
Philip Warwick, “this very gentleman, who out of no ill will I thus 
describe, by multiplied good successes, and by real but usurped 
pow'er, having had a better tailor, and more converse among good 
company, in my own age, when for six weeks together I was a pri- 
soner in his sergeant’s hands, and daily waited at Whitehall, appear 
t)f a great and majestic deportment, and comely presence.” 
From the foregoing observations we see, that though Oliver’s 
speeches were delivered at first withoutgrace, eloquence, or even per- 
spicuity, yet he soon commanded the attention of the house by the 
depth of his arguments; and overcame all his disadvantages, by his 
penetration, unwearied diligence, courage, and perseverance ; by his 
accommodating himself to the dispositions of the ditFereat persons of 
liis own party, and discovering the tempers of all; and by even not 
neglecting to copy the dress and behaviour of the most graceful and 
refined. 
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