338 
OLIVER CROMM'ELL. 
A man of his deep penetration eould not but perceive that the 
national liberty was deeply wounded. Bis gloomy turn of mind might 
induce him to consider it as absolutely destroyed. And as he was 
undoubtedly, in his religious sentiments, a flaming puritanical bigot, 
he was as violent against the decent ceremonies of the church, as 
archbishop Laud was anxious to graft upon them .many of the super- 
stitions of the church of Rome. 
Probably, even at this early period, he foresaw that a civil war 
must decide between prerogative and liberty ; and had already deter- 
mined what part he should take. But if he had formed any aspiring 
views, they must have been very confined ; the most towering flights 
of his ambition could never have suggested a hope of attaining the 
command of an army, much less that of the whole kingdom. 
The ill-fated year 1642 witnessed the commencement of the fatal 
quarrel between king Charles and his parliament; which took its 
rise from the insincerity of both. Upon this occasion, Oliver, through 
the fnterest of his relation Mr. Hampden, obtained a commission 
from the latter to raise a troop of horse, which he found no difli- 
culty in doing in his own county of Huntingdon ; and as his recruits 
chiefly consisted of freeholders’ sons, they did not a little contribute, 
by their firmness and discipline, to his success and elevation. 
He first served under Sir Philip Stapleton, and was in the battle of 
Edgehill, where the dawning of his bravery first shone forth. The 
follow'ing year, 1643, he obtained a colonel’s commission ; and almost 
immediately after, for the services he had performed, was appointed 
lieutenant-general to the earl of Manchester. Such was the rapidity 
with which he rose in the army, notwithstanding he was totally 
unacquainted with arms before the fatal rupture commenced. But 
it was the at relief of Gainsborough, during this year, where, with the 
brave troop of his countrymen, he exhibited the great proofs of his 
courage, that laid the foundation of his future greatness. 
Oliver’s antipathy was so determined and undisguised, that he 
would enlist none but those who would resolve to go any lengths 
with him against the king. And this enmity was so well known to 
archbishop Williams, that he advised his majesty to secure him by 
some signal favour, or to take him off by violence. Though Charles 
at the time only smiled at the bishop’s proposal, yet he was after- 
wards heard to say, “ 1 would that some would do me the service to 
bring Cromw^ell to me, alive or dead.” 
Under Fairfax, he was the grand movement of a victorious army, 
from which, in the end, the kingdom must receive its laws. Now it 
was that his contracted principles of religion, together with his ostensi- 
ble patriotism, began to give w^ay to his ambition. Of the former, 
if we may judge by the tenor of his conduct, little more than the 
mask remained. And when honours and great emoluments courted 
his acceptance, to a mind aspiring as his, it was impossible to sit 
down again as a private gentleman. His ambition, however, at this 
time, might have had its limits. He had probably set a certain 
mark to his desires, the arriving at which would entirely have satis- 
fied him ; and in return, he would, no doubt, have been as firm a 
friend to the ruined monarch, as he had been a formidable foe. His 
