248 Readiiigs in European History down," said the General ; then Harrison went and pulled the Speaker by the gown, and he came down. It happened that day that Algernon Sidney sat next to the Speaker on the right hand ; the General said to Har- rison, " Put him out." Harrison spake to Sidney to go out, but he said he would not go out, and sat still. The General said again, "Put him out." Then Harrison and Wortley put their hands upon Sidney's shoulders, as if they would force him to go out ; then he rose and went towards the door. Then the General went to the table where the mace 1 lay, which used to be carried before the Speaker, and said, "Take away these baubles." So the soldiers took away the mace, and all the House went out ; and at the going out, they say, the General said to young Henry Vane, call- ing him by his name, that he might have prevented this extraordinary course, but he was a juggler and had not so much as common honesty. All being gone out, the door of the House was locked, and the key with the mace was car- ried away, as I heard, by Colonel Otley. 2 A distinguished enemy of Cromwell's, Clarendon, has given a remarkable picture of the Protector in his His- tory of the Rebellion. 322. Claren- He was one of those men quos vituperare ne inimici qui- don's esti- dem possimt nisi ut simul I an dent ; for he could never have Cromwell. done half that mischief without great parts of courage and industry and judgment. And he must have had a wonderful 1 The mace still lies on the table when the House of Commons is sitting. 2 Another account of this scene, written by an ardent enemy of Cromwell's, maybe found in Kendall's Source Book of English History, pp. 251 sqq. It corresponds essentially with that given above. It closes as follows : " Then Cromwell applied himself to the members of the House, who were in number between eighty and one hundred, and said to them, " It 's you that have forced me to this, for I have sought the Lord night and day that he would rather slay me than put upon me the doing of this work."
