CHAPTER XVI
THE FOUNDATION OF THE PROTECTORATE
1653
The fall of the Long Parliament was received with general satisfaction. “There was not so much as the barking of a dog or any general and visible repining at it,” said Cromwell afterwards. His words are justified by the facts. Hyde termed it a most popular and obliging act, and the French Ambassador told his Government that nobility and populace universally rejoiced at General Cromwell’s noble deed. Public feeling found vent in ballads. One described the scene of the dissolution, relating what Cromwell had said, and how the members had looked.
“Brave Oliver came to the House like a sprite,
His fiery face struck the Speaker dumb,
‘Begone,’ said he, ‘you have sate long enough;
Do you mean to sit here until Doomsday come?’”
OLIVER CROMWELL.
(From the painting by Sir Peter Lely.)
“Cheer up, kind countrymen, be not dismayed,” sang another street poet, ending every verse with the exultant chorus: “Twelve parliament men shall be sold for a penny.”
For a few weeks, Cromwell was the most popular man in the nation. Royalists whispered that the King would marry Cromwell’s daughter, and that Cromwell would content himself with a dukedom and the viceroyalty of Ireland. A more general belief was that he would assume the crown himself. An enthusiastic partisan hung up in the Exchange a picture of Cromwell crowned, with the invitation underneath: