Cromwell's Court.
XVI. The Independent Protector's Court, whilst eminently virtuous and religious, exhibited also a degree of magnificence, little inferior to that of any court in Christendom. Louis the Fourteenth would not have found in the apartments at Whitehall splendour equal to that which blazed at Versailles; but the envoy of Sweden, when he visited England in the summer of 1655, beheld a scene of pomp and magnificence which filled him with perfect surprise. Soldiers were drawn up at the entrance; guards in livery lined the stairs; the banqueting house was hung with arras; and multitudes of ladies waited in the galleries, to receive the Ambassador and his attendants, consisting of "two hundred persons, generally proper handsome men, and fair-haired; they were all in mourning, very genteel." At the upper end of the room stood his Highness, with a chair of state behind him, and divers of his council and servants, the master of the ceremonies regulating the interview. His Highness did not put off his hat till the Swede had put off his, and whenever the latter named the king his master, or Sweden, or the Protector, or England, he moved his hat. And, if he used the Divine name, or spoke of the good of Christendom, he put off his hat very low, the Protector assuming "like postures of civility."[439]
As an illustration of the social life of Whitehall, an amusing incident may be related respecting one of the clergy in attendance upon Oliver, indicative of those flirtations which neither clerical office nor the strictest forms of religious profession can banish either from royal courts or from the scenes of humble life. Jeremiah White, of Trinity College, Cambridge, a handsome young man, noted for "facetiousness," and at the time enjoying a court chaplainship, became an admirer of the lively Lady Frances Cromwell. He was one day found by his Highness on his knees, kissing the lady's hand. "What is the meaning of that posture," the grave soldier sternly enquired. "May it please your Highness," replied the chaplain, "I have a long time courted that young gentlewoman there, my lady's woman, and cannot prevail. I was therefore humbly praying her ladyship to intercede for me." The Protector demanded of the girl what she meant, by refusing the honour which Mr. White proposed. She, too glad of the opportunity, curtsied and said, "If the reverend gentleman had any such wish, she could not refuse." "Sayst thou so, my lass," answered Cromwell, "call Goodwin, this business shall be done presently before I go out of the room." The couple were married, and the bride received from the Protector five hundred pounds dowry.[440]
Cromwell's Court.
Besides Jeremiah White, Cromwell had other chaplains, Hugh Peters, William Hook, Nicholas Lockier, and Peter Sterry. John Howe, as already noticed, was also of the number; and in his letters there are found allusions to the moral and religious character of the Protector's Court, of so much importance that we cannot pass them over. Howe asked Baxter, what he conceived a chaplain ought to do in the way of urging upon the Government a redress of spiritual evils; how far it became him by public preaching, as well as by private exhortation, to bear witness against the neglect of such redress—supposing that those persons who were in power did not conceive that any interference of this description came within the range of their duty, or excused themselves because they had to attend to other affairs of still greater moment. What the writer exactly meant by these expressions is not very clear, whether by "interference" he intended merely moral interference, respecting which there ought to have been no hesitation; or beyond this, some sort of legislative interference, touching which, there might be doubts in the minds of Cromwell and his State Counsellors. The following passages had better be given literally:—
"My time will not serve me long; for I think I shall be constrained in conscience (all things considered) to return, ere long, to my former station. I left it, I think, upon very fair terms. For, first, when I settled there, I expressly reserved to myself a liberty of removing, if the providence of God should invite me to a condition of more serviceableness anywhere else—which liberty I reckon I could not have parted with if I would, unless I could have exempted myself from God's dominion. My call hither was a work I thought very considerable—the setting-up of the worship and discipline of Christ in this family, wherein I was to have joined with another, called upon the same account. I had made, as I supposed, a competent provision for the place I left. But now at once I see the designed work here hopelessly laid aside. We affect here to live in so loose a way, that a man cannot fix upon any certain charge to carry towards them as a minister of Christ should; so that it were as hopeful a course to preach in a market, or in any assembly met by chance, as here."
"Here my influence is not like to be much (as it is not to be expected a raw young man should be much considerable among grandees); my work little; my success hitherto little; my hopes, considering the temper of this place, very small; especially coupling it with the temper of my spirit, which, did you know it, alone would, I think, greatly alter your judgment of this case. I am naturally bashful, pusillanimous, easily brow-beaten, solicitous about the fitness or unfitness of speech or silence in most cases, afraid (especially having to do with those who are constant in the 'arcana imperii') of being accounted uncivil, etc.; and the distemper being natural (most intrinsically) is less curable. You can easily guess how little considerations are like to do in such a case. I did not, I confess, know myself so well as, since my coming up, occasion and reflection have taught me to do. I find now my hopes of doing good will be among people where I shall not be so liable to be overawed. I might have known this sooner and have prevented the trouble I am now in. Though the case of my coming up hither, and continuance, differ much, so as that I can't condemn the former, yet I more incline to do that than justify the latter."[441]
The word "loose," used by John Howe, must not be strictly interpreted. If licentiousness had prevailed at Whitehall, he certainly would have used stronger language, and would not have remained in the place a single hour after making such a discovery. The reputation for virtue of Cromwell's family and Court has never been impeached. Malignant slanders reflecting on their morals, and circulated by enemies after Cromwell's death, have never received any support from ascertained facts, or received any credence from unprejudiced historians; but luxury, extravagance, practical jokes, and escapades of the kind indicated in the case of Jeremiah White, there undoubtedly were; and it is to these things, probably, that the strongest expression in Howe's letter refers; whilst the rest of his complaints relate to irregularity in worship, and to habits unfriendly to vital religion. At the same time it must be remembered, that the character of Baxter's correspondent was one of saintly holiness; and that, beheld from the level of his eminently spiritual life, many things would appear deplorable, which common persons are wont to pass by without the utterance of any, even the slightest, reprehension.
The End of Life.
XVII. Before terminating the review of the private and social life of the period, as it existed amongst religious people, we must touch upon those observances of a sacred kind which were connected with the close of human existence.