which he was fo foon to fuffer, would prove but an easy prologue to that which he must undergo hereafter. They next offered to pray with him: but he was too well acquainted with ⚫ thofe forms of imprecation, which they called prayers. "Lord, "vouchsafe yet to touch the obdurate heart of this proud incor"rigible finner; this wicked, perjured, traiterous, and profane "perfon, who refuses to hearken to the voice of thy church." Such were the petitions, which, he expected, they would, ' according to custom, offer up for him. He told them, that they ⚫ were a miserable, deluded and deluding people; and would 'fhortly bring their country under the most insupportable servi'tude, to which any nation had ever been reduced. "For my part, added he, I am much prouder to have my head affixed "to the place where it is fentenced to ftand, than to have my picture hang in the king's bed-chamber. So far from "being forry, that my legs and arms are to be fent to four "cities of the kingdom; I wish I had limbs enough to be dif"perfed into all the cities of Chriftendom, there to remain as "teftimonies in favour of the caufe, for which I fuffer." This fentiment, that very evening, while in prison, he 'threw into verfe. The poem remains; a fignal monument of his heroic fpirit, and no defpicable proof of his poetical ' genius. Now was led forth, amidst the infults of his enemies and the tears of the people, the man of the most illustrious 'birth and greatest renown of the nation, to suffer, for his • adherence to the laws of his country and the rights of his fovereign, the ignominious death destined to the meanest 'malefactor. Every attempt, which the infolence of the governing party had made to fubdue his gallant spirit, had hitherto proved fruitlefs: they made yet one effort more, in this last and melancholy scene, when all enmity, arifing from • motives merely human, is commonly foftened and disarmed. The executioner brought that book, which had been pub⚫lished in elegant Latin of his truly heroic actions, and tied it by a cord about his neck. Montrofe fmiled at this new • inftance of their malice. He thanked them, however, for their officious zeal; and faid, that he bore this teftimony of his bravery and loyalty with more pride than he had ever VOL. II. Decem. 1756. Dd worne worne the garter. Having afked, whether they had any more indignities to put upon him, and renewing fome devout ejaculations, he patiently endured the laft act of the execu ⚫tioner. Thus perifhed in the thirty-eighth year of his age, the gallant marquifs of Montrofe; the man whofe military genius, both by valor and conduct, had fhone forth beyond any, which, during these civil diforders, had appeared in the 'three kingdoms. The finer arts too, in his youth, he had 'fuccessfully cultivated; and whatever was fublime, elegant, or noble touched his great foul. Nor was he infenfible to the pleasures either of fociety or of love. Something, however, of the vast and unbounded characterized his whole actions and deportment; and it was merely by an heroic effort • of duty, that he brought his mind, impatient of superiority and even of equality, to pay fuch unlimited fubmiffion to the will of his fovereign.' We fhall conclude with his obfervations on the character of Cromwel, which, in our opinion, are equally judicious and uncommon, and ferve to demonftrate the author's intimate acquaintance with the human mind. It seems to me, that the occurrence of Cromwel's life, where his abilities are principally discovered, is his rifing from a private station, in oppofition to fo many rivals fo much advanced before him, to a high command and authority in the army. His great courage, his fignal military talents, his eminent dexterity and addrefs, were all requifite for this important acquifition. Yet will not this promotion appear the effect of fupernatural abilities, when we confider, that Fairfax, himself a private gentleman, who had not the advantage of a feat in parliament, had, thro' the fame fteps, attained even a fuperior rank, and, if endued with common capacity and penetra*tion, had been able to retain it. To incite fuch an army to rebellion against the parliament, required no uncommon art or industry to have kept them in obedience had been the more difficult enterprife. When the breach was once formed betwixt the military and civil powers, a fupreme and absolute authority, from that moment, is devolved on the general; and if he is afterwards pleafed to employ artifice or po •licy, licy, it may be regarded, on moft occafions, as great conde* fcenfion, if not as a fuperfluous caution. That Cromwel was ever able really to blind or over-reach, either the king or the republicans, does not appear: as they poffeffed no means of refifting the force under his command, they were glad to temporize with him, and, by feeming to be deceived, wait for opportunities of freeing themselves from his domini⚫on. If he feduced the military fanatics, it is to be confidered, that their interest and his evidently concurred, that their ignorance and low education exposed them to the groffeft impofition, and that he himself was at bottom as frantic an enthufiaft as the worft of them, and, in order to 'obtain their confidence, needed but display those vulgar and ❝ ridiculous habits, which he had early acquired, and on which 'he fet fo high a value. An army is fo forcible, and at the • fame time fo coarse a weapon, that any hand, which wields 'it, may, without much dexterity, perform any operation, ⚫ and attain any ascendant in human society. The domeftic administration of Cromwel, tho' it discovers great ability, was conducted without any plan either of liberty or arbitrary power: perhaps, his difficult fituation ad'mitted of neither. His foreign enterprises, tho' full of in'trepidity, were pernicious to national interest, and seem more the refult of impetuous fury or narrow prejudices, than of 'cool forefight and deliberation, An eminent perfonage, however, he was in many refpects, and even a fuperior genius ; 'but unequal and irregular in his operations. And tho' not defective in any talent, except that of elocution, the abilities, which in him were moft admirable, and which moft • contributed to his marvellous fuccefs, were the magnanimous ' refolution of his enterprises, and his peculiar dexterity in ⚫ discovering the characters, and practifing on the weaknesses ' of mankind. If we furvey the moral character of Cremwel with that indulgence, which is due to the blindness and infirmities of the human fpecies, we fhall not be inclined to load his memory ' with fuch violent reproaches as thofe which his enemies ufually throw upon it. Amidst the paffion and prejudices of that time, that he should prefer the parliamentary to the • royal Dd 2 royal caufe will not appear very extraordinary; fince, ever at prefent, many men of fenfe and knowledge are difpofed 'to think, that the question with regard to the juftice of the quarrel may be regarded as very doubtful and ambiguous. The murder of the king, the most atrocious of all his actions, was to him covered under a mighty cloud of republi⚫ can and fanatical illufions; and it is not impoffible; that he might believe it, as many others did, the moft meritorious action, which he could perform. His fubfequent ufurpation was the effect of neceffity, as well as of ambition; nor is it eafy to fee, how the various factions could at that time have 'been restrained, without a mixture of military and arbitrary authority. The private deportment of Cromwel, as a fon, a husband, a father, a friend, is exposed to no confiderable cenfure, if it does not rather merit praife, and, upon the whole, his character does not appear more extraordinary and unufual by the mixture of fo much abfurdity with so much 'penetration, than by his tempering fuch violent ambition ⚫ and fuch enraged fanaticifm with fo much regard to juftice • and humanity.' We have carefully perufed this performance, comparing it with other productions on the fame fubjects, and notwithstandftanding the little blemishes on which we have animadverted, we will venture to pronounce it one of the best histories which modern times have produced. ART. II. KEYSLER's Travels, Vol. II. continued. WE E fhall now rejoin Mr. Keyfler where we parted from him in that renowned city, which more than any other place in the known wor'd abounds with objects that exite the admiration, and gratify the curiofity of strangers. In the area before the church of St. Anthony is a cross of oriental granate, with a crucifix of brafs on it; and at its fide the virgin Mary, of the fame metal, under a canopy fupported by four granate pillars. This is a memorial of the mass 'celebrated in this church by Clement VIII. on the converfion of Henry IV. king of France to the Romish religion. It is no wonder that the popes lay a great ftrefs on this tranfaction, as it ferves them for an undeniable record of their fupremacy • over ⚫ over crowned heads. At the abfolution, whilst the Miferere ← mei was finging, at every verse the pope, with a staff which he held in his hand, ftruck the king's representatives, the 'cardinals du Perron and d'Offat, on the fhoulders, who were kneeling at his feet. And though cardinal d'Ossat, in a • letter to his friend the duke de Villeroy, writes, that he hardly ⚫ felt the chastisement; yet it is fufficient that the holy father can plead this as a precedent of his power over difobedient 'children; and that he can lay on them the staff of chastisement with lenity or rigour as he fhall think fit. After all, 'tho' the cardinal often repeated that nothing passed in the ab• folution in the least derogatory to the king's prerogative, few ♦ impartial readers will take his word for it. His delay in sending an account of this fingular circumftance, betrays fome fear of the censures that might be paffed on it; and that he ◄ would have been much better pleased if it could have been ' entirely concealed from the French. It was however publicly known in France, with all its ignominious circumstances, before the papal court had published the narrative of this extraordinary abfolution. 'On the pedestal of the above-mentioned pillar was formerly this infcription : D. O. M. Clemente VIII. Pont. Max. Ad memoriam abfolutionis 2. F. R. D. xv. Kal. O&tobris "To God the greatest and best of Beings. This was " erected in memory of the abfolution of the most chriftian "king Henry IV. of France and Navarre, on the 17th of Sep❝tember, 1595, Clement VIII. being Pope." In the oratory of Gregory the Great is to be feen the marble <table, at which that pope used every day to feed twelve poor men, till once a thirteenth joined thefe guefts, who, it is faid, was found to be an angel. From that time he had always thirteen of the poor at his table, which is ftill the number ' of poor priests, on whom the pope waits at table on Maunday Thurfday. The faint entertaining the twelve poor men, with other pious actions of Gregory the Great, are painted in Dd3 'frefer |