Did they not swear, at first, to fight[1]
For the king's safety and his right? 160
And after march'd to find him out,
And charg'd him home with horse and foot?
And yet still had the confidence
To swear it was in his defence?
Did they not swear to live and die165
With Essex, and straight laid him by?[2]
If that were all, for some have swore
As false as they, if th' did no more.[3]
Did they not swear to maintain law,
In which that swearing made a flaw?170
For Protestant religion vow,
That did that vowing disallow?
For privilege of Parliament.
In which that swearing made a rent?
And since, of all the three, not one[4] 175
Is left in being, 'tis well known.
Did they not swear, in express words,
To prop and back the House of Lords?
And after turn'd out the whole house-full
Of peers, as dang'rous and unuseful.[5]180
So Cromwell, with deep oaths and vows,
Swore all the Commons out o' th' House;[6]
- ↑ Cromwell, when he first mustered his troop, sincerely enough perhaps declared that he would not deceive them by perplexed or involved expressions, in his commission, to fight "for the king and Parliament;" and that he would as soon fire his pistol at the king as at any one else.
- ↑ When the Parliament first took up arms, and the earl of Essex was chosen general, the members of both Houses declared that they would live and die with him. Yet the chief object of the self-denying ordinance was to remove him from the command.
- ↑ Clarendon says, that many of Essex's friends believed he was poisoned, (Vol. iii. b. 10.)
- ↑ Namely, law, religion, and privilege of Parliament.
- ↑ When the army began to proceed against the king, in order to keep the Lords quiet, a distinct promise was made to maintain their privileges, &c. But no sooner was the king beheaded, than it was resolved that the House of Peers was useless, and ought to be abolished, which it was accordingly.
- ↑ After the king's party was utterly overthrown, Cromwell, who all along it is supposed aimed at the supreme power, persuaded the Parliament to send part of their army into Ireland, and to disband the rest, which the
