C. B.
Old Hewson the Cobbler (Vol. iii., pp. 11. 73.).—The most satisfactory account of "old Hewson" is the following, extracted from The Loyal Martyrology, by William Winstanley, small 8vo. 1665, (p. 123.):—
"John Hewson, who, from a cobbler, rose by degrees to be a colonel, and though a person of no parts either in body or mind, yet made by Cromwell one of his pageant lords. He was a fellow fit for any mischief, and capable of nothing else; a sordid lump of ignorance and impiety, and therefore the more fit to share in Cromwell's designs, and to act in that horrid murther of his Majesty. Upon the turn of the times, he ran away for fear of Squire Dun [the common hangman], and (by report) is since dead, and buried at Amsterdam."
In the collection of songs entitled The Rump, 1666, may be found two ballads relative to Hewson, viz., "A Hymne to the Gentle Craft; or Hewson's Lamentation. To the tune of the Blind Beggar:"
"Listen a while to what I shall say
Of a blind cobbler that's gone astray
Out of the parliament's high way,
Good people pity the blind."
"The Cobbler's Last Will and Testament; or the Lord Hewson's translation:"
"To Christians all, I greeting send,