Stmv-j^Ie in En^^land between Ki7ig and Parliament by 5 The French king, Louis XIV, at first hesitated to address Crom- well, in the usual courteous way of monarchs, as " my cousin," but soon admitted that he would have even to call Cromwell " father " should he wish it, as the Protector was undoubtedly the most powerful person in Europe. Indeed, he found himself forced to play the part of a monarch, and it seemed to many persons that he was quite as despotic as James I and Charles I. In May, 1658, Crom- well fell ill, and as a great storm passed over Eng- land at that time, the Cavaliers asserted that the devil had come to fetch home the soul of the usurper. Cromwell was dying, it is true, but he was no instrument of the devil. He closed a life of honest effort for his fellow beings with a last touching prayer to God, whom he had con- sistently sought to serve : " Thou hast made me, though very unworthy, a mean instrument to do Thy people some good and Thee service : and many of them have set too high a value upon me, though others wish and would be glad of my death. Pardon such as desire to trample upon the dust of a poor worm, for they are Thy people too ; and pardon the folly of this short prayer, even for Jesus Christ's sake, and give us a good night, if it be Thy pleasure. Amen." Fig. 233. A Ship of the Hanseatic League This is taken from a picture at Cologne, painted in 1409. It, as well as other pic- tures of the time, makes it clear that the Hanseatic ships were tiny compared with those used two hundred and fifty years later, when Cromwell fought the Dutch
