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'Betty' and 'he' are Elizabeth Claypole and her Husband; of whom, for the curious, there is a longwinded intricate account by Noble, but very little discoverable in it. They lived at Norborough, which is near Market Deeping, but in Northamptonshire; where, as already intimated, the Lady Protectress, Widow Elizabeth Cromwell, after the Restoration, found a retreat. They had at least three sons and daughters.' Claypole became 'Master of the Horse' to Oliver; sat in Parliament; made an elegant appearance in the world :—but dwindled sadly after his widowership; his second marriage ending in separation,' in a third quasimarriage, and other confusions, poor man! But as yet the Lady Claypole lives; bright and brave. Truly they are dear to me, very dear.'

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'Dick Cromwell and his Wife' seem to be up in Town on a visit;-living much at their ease in the Cockpit, they. Brother Henry, in these same days, is out 'in the King's County' in Ireland; doing hard duty at Ballybawn,' and elsewhere,2—the distinguished Colonel Cromwell. And Deputy Ireton, with his labours, is wearing himself to death. In the same house, one works, another goes idle.

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'The Lord Herbert' is Henry Somerset, eldest son of the now Marquis of Worcester,-of the Lord Glamorgan whom we knew slightly at Ragland, in underhand Irish Treaties' and such like; whose Century of Inventions is still slightly known to here and there a reader of Old Books. This Lord Herbert,' it seems, 'became Duke of Beaufort after the Restoration.' For obvious reasons, you are to beware of his resort to your house at present.' A kind of professed Protestant he, but come of rank Papists and Malignants; which may give rise to commentaries. One stupid Annotator on a certain Copy of this Letter says, 'His Lordship had an intrigue with Mrs. Claypole ;'-which is evidently downright stupor and falsehood, like so much else.

1 ii. 375, &c.

2 Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 102).

VOL. II.

X

LETTER CLVIII.

UPON the Surrender of Edinburgh Castle, due provision had been made for conveyance of the Public Writs and Registers to what quarter the Scotch Authorities might direct; and 'Passes' under the Lord General's hand duly granted for that end. Archibald Johnston, Lord Register, we conclude, had superintended the operation; had, after much labour, bundled the Public Writs properly together into masses, packages; and put them on shipboard, considering this the eligiblest mode of transport towards Stirling and the Scotch head-quarters at present. But now it has fallen out, in the middle of last month, that the said ship has been taken, as many ships and shallops on both sides now are; and the Public Writs are in jeopardy: whereupon ensues correspondence; and this fair Answer from my Lord General.

To the Honourable Archibald Johnston, Lord Register of Scotland: These.'

MY LORD,

Edinburgh, 12th April, 1651.

Upon the perusal of the Passes formerly given for the safe passing of the Public Writs and Registers of the Kingdom of Scotland, I do think they1 ought to be restored: and they shall be so, to such persons as you shall appoint to receive them; with passes for persons and vessels, to carry them to such place as shall be appointed :—so that it be done within one month next following.

I herewith send you a Pass for your Servant to go into Fife, and to return with the other Clerks; and rest,

Your servant,

OLIVER CROMWELL.*

1 The Writs and Registers.

* Thurloe, i. 117. Records of the Laigh Parliament House.

Warriston's answer, written on Monday, the 12th being Saturday, is given also in Thurloe. The Lord General's phrase, 'perusal of the Passes,' we now find, means 'reperusal,' new sight of them; which, Archibald earnestly urges, is impossible; the original Passes being now far off in the hands of the Authorities, and the Writs in a state of imminent danger, lying in a ship at Leith, as Archibald obscurely intimates, which the English Governor has got his claws over, and keeps shut up in dock; with a considerable leak in her too: very bad stowage for such goods. Which obscure intimation of Archibald's becomes lucid to us, as to the Lord General it already was, when we read this sentence of Bulstrode's, under date 22d March, 1650-1: Letters 'that the Books and Goods belonging to the' Scotch 'King and Register were taken by the Parliament's ships; and another 'ship, laden with oats, meal, and other provisions, going to Fife: 'twenty-two prisoners.'2 For captures and small sea-surprisals abound in the Frith at present; the Parliament-ships busy on one hand; and the 'Captain of the Bass,' the 'Shippers of Wemyss,' and the like active persons doing their duty on the other,whereby infinite 'biscuit,' and such small ware, is from time to time realised."

Without doubt the Public Writs were all redelivered, according to the justice of the case; and the term of 'one month,' which Archibald pleads hard to get lengthened, was made into two, or the necessary time. Archibald's tone towards the Lord General is anxiously respectful, nay submissive and subject. In fact, Archibald belongs, if not by profession, yet by invincible tendency, to the Remonstrant Ker-and-Strahan Party; and looks dimly forward to a near time when there will be no refuge for him, and the like of him, but Cromwell. Strahan, in the month of January last, is already excommunicated, and solemnly delivered to the Devil, in the Church of Perth.'4 This is what you have to look for, from a Quasi-Malignant set of men!

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This Archibald, as is well known, sat afterwards in Cromwell's Parliaments; became one of Cromwell's Lords;' — and ultimately lost his life for these dangerous services. Archibald 2 Whitlocke, p. 490.

Thurloe, ibid.

3 Balfour, iv. 204, 241, 251, &c.

Ibid. iv. 240.

Johnston of Warriston; loose-flowing Bishop Burnet's uncle by the Mother's side: a Lord Register of whom all the world has heard. Redactor of the Covenanters' Protests, in 1637 and onwards; redactor perhaps of the Covenant itself; canny lynx-eyed Lawyer, and austere Presbyterian Zealot; full of fire, of heavy energy and gloom : in fact, a very notable character ;—of whom our Scotch friends might do well to give us farther elucidations. Certain of his Letters edited by Lord Hailes,1 a man of fine intelligence, though at that time ignorant of this subject, have proved well worth their paper and ink. Many more, it appears, still lie in the Edinburgh Archives. A good selection and edition of them were desirable. But, alas, will any human soul ever again love poor Warriston, and take pious pains with him, in this world? Properly it turns all upon that; and the chance seems rather dubious!

SECOND VISIT TO GLASGOW.

THAT Note to Warriston, and the Letter to Elizabeth Cromwell, as may have been observed, are written on the same day, Saturday 12th April, 1651. Directly after which, on Wednesday the 16th, there is a grand Muster of the Army on Musselburgh Links; preparatory to new operations. Blackness Fort has surrendered ; Inchgarvie Island is beset by gunboats: Colonel Monk, we perceive, who has charge of these services, is to be made LieutenantGeneral of the Ordnance: and now there is to be an attack on Burntisland with gunboats, which also, one hopes, may succeed. As for the Army, it is to go westward this same afternoon; try whether cautious Lesley, straitened or assaulted from both west and east, will not come out of his Stirling fastness, so that some good may be done upon him. The Muster is held on Musselburgh Links; whereat the Lord General, making his appearance, is received with shouts and acclamations,' the sight of him infinitely comfortable to us.2 The Lord General's health is somewhat re

'Memorials and Letters in the reign of Charles I. (Glasgow, 1766). 2 Newspapers (in Cromwelliana, p. 102).

established, though he has had relapses, and still tends a little towards ague. 'About three in the afternoon' all is on march towards Hamilton; quarters mostly in the field there.' Where the Lord General himself arrives, on Friday night, late; and on the morrow afternoon we see Glasgow again.

Concerning which here are two notices from opposite points of the compass, curiously corroborative of one another; which we must not withhold. Face-to-face glimpses into the old dead actualities; worth rescuing with a Cromwell in the centre of them.

The first is from Baillie; shews us a glance of our old friend Carstairs withal. Read this fraction of a Letter: "Reverend and "dear brother, -For preventing of mistakes," lest you should think us loose-laced, Remonstrant, sectarian individuals, “we have

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thought meet to advertise you that Cromwell having come to "Hamilton on Friday late, and to Glasgow on Saturday with a body of his Army, sooner than we could well with safety have "retired ourselves," there was nothing for it but to stay and abide him here! "On Sunday forenoon he came unexpectedly "to the High Inner Kirk; where quietly he heard Mr. Robert Ramsay," unknown to common readers, "preach a very honest sermon, pertinent to his" Cromwell's " case. In the afternoon "he came, as unexpectedly, to the High Outer Kirk; where he "heard Mr. John Carstairs," our old friend, "lecture, and” a “Mr. James Durham preach,—graciously, and weel to the times as could have been desired." So that you see we are not of the loose-laced species, we! "And generally all who preached that day in the Town gave a fair enough testimony against the Sec"taries."—Whereupon, next day, Cromwell sent for us to confer with him in a friendly manner. "All of us did meet to advise," for the case was grave: however, we have decided to go; nay are just going;-but, most unfortunately, do not write any record of our interview! Nothing, except some transient assertion elsewhere that "we had no disadvantage in the thing." So that now, from the opposite point of the compass, the old London Newspaper must come in; curiously confirmatory:

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"SIR,-We came hither" to Glasgow "on Saturday last, April "19th. The Ministers and Townsmen generally stayed at home, (Glasgow, 22 April, 1651) iii. 165.

2 Baillie, iii. 168.

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