In 1793 appeared his Considerations on the Utility of the National Debt, a pamphlet in octavo; in which the author points out the nature of a pub lic debt as contradistinguished from a private debt, and shews the fallacious doctrines with respect to public credit which arise from the want of attending to the just and essential distinctions which exist between the nature of the one description of debt and of the other. This tract contains some observations on the general subject it handles, which are deserving of serious consideration.

In 1796, our author sent forth his elegant Vestiges of Oxford Castle, folio; being introductory to a most learned and extensive work which he afterwards gave to the public, and which we shall notice in its due place. These vestiges were discovered by the inde fatigable labours of Mr. Harris, the architect, under the neighbouring influence and patronage of the present Earl of Harcourt, and served to exercise the ingenuity of Mr. King in tracing out a plan from a few obscure remaius. The vestiges are illustrated by some excellent drawings of Mr. Harris.

In the same year, this industrious author offered to the philosophical world his Remarks concerning tones said to have fallen from the Clouds, both in these Days and in ancient Times, quarto; a curious and learned performance, not only from the facts which it exhibits (undoubtedly the most extensive collection of the kind that is extant), but also from the interesting and ingenious speculations which it contains, as illustrative of the phenomenon which is the subject of it. Some of the instances which Mr. King adduces are taken from scripture; some from Herodian, Plutarch, Pliny, and Livy; and other circumstances of the same kind said to have happened in France, Italy, and Spain, are likewise brought forward. The reality of the phenomenon in question had but few advocates when Mr. King sent forth his remarks; but the more than doubts which then existed have been very much removed from the minds of those who are not naturally sceptical, by the strongly attested cases of stones fallen from the clouds abroad and in this country, since the publication of Mr. King's interesting account; and by noue more than by the large stone which fell in MajorTopham's grounds in Yorkshire. In 1798, Mr. King published Remarks on the Signs of the Times, quarto; an

edifying example of pious investigation. They were succeeded, in 1799, by a Supplement, with many additional Remarks, which was the means of soon afterwards producing the masterly “Critical Disquisitions on the 18th Chapter of Isaiah, by Samuel, Lord Bishop of Rochester, in a Letter to Edward King, Esq Though the Bishop here dissents in some important points from our venerable layman, yet he agrees with him concerning the general scope of the prophecy in question; and he expresses his differences of opinion in a manner which is truly worthy of him, and which shews the high estimation in which he held our author. "I cannot, however, enter upon the subject," says the Right Reverend Prelate, "without professing, not to yourself, but to the world, how highly I value and esteem your writings, for the variety and depth of erudition, the sagacity and piety which appear in every part of them; but appear not more in them, than in the conversation and habits of your life, to those who have the happiness, as I have the happiness, to enjoy your intimacy and friendship. I must publicly declare," adds his Lordship, “that I think you are rendering the best service to the Church of God, by turning the attention of believers to the true sense of the prophecies." uch a tribute from such a man as Bishop Horsley (one of the very ablest divines and most learned scholars of his time, and the honest independence of whose mind scorned to stoop to the meanness of flattery), must have been highly grati fying to him to whom it was rendered. A few years afterwards the illustrious Prelate, for such he was, published bis ingenious and scientific tract" On Virgil's two Seasons of Honey, and his Season of sowing Wheat, with a new and compendious Method of investigating the Risings and Settings of the fixed Stars." This he also addressed, in a short and very affectionate epistle dedicatory, to Mr. King, "as eminently qualified to judge of the soundness of the arguments, the truth of the conclus.ous, and to appreciate the merits of the whole."

We have already observed, that the Vestiges of Oxford Castle was the forerunner of a much larger work, which Mr. King intended to give to the world. The first volume of this magnificent and most laborious undertaking, the idea of which reflects the highest credit on the expanded mind of its author,

SKETCH of CROMWELL'S HISTORY.

The generality of mankind read history as they would a romance, and imagine that reliance is to be placed on all its statements. This is far from being the reader's fault alone; its origin is most commonly ascribable to the historian himself. It is the same with them as with those portrait-painters who, anxious to form a finished work from the delineation of the countenance,whose peculiar features only they ought to copy, insensibly introduce so many touches which are the mere creation of their own fancy, that at length all resemblance is destroyed. By this erroneous method, they annihilate one of the most essential advantages resulting from the study of history. It appears to me, that a sure means of remedying this error, would be to re-analyse and sketch anew those characters which historians have grouped according to their own taste, as we would reduce a portrait, whose effect is destroyed by faise colouring, to a drawing in which its genuine form should re-appear. Esteeming this idea not unimportant, I have tried its operation upon one of the most remarkable characters which modern history presents; and should my attempt meet approbation, it shall be followed by other not less interesting profiles.

CROMWELL-who, during a revolution of which he was not the author, soon raised himself to be generalissimo of the Parliament-possessed personal bravery. With twelve horsemen, he cut his way through the royal camp before Hull, and lost not a man, although exposed to the incessant fire of his encEurop. Mag. Vol. LII. July 1807.

mies.-In the first engagement where he was present, he was wounded both in his foot and shoulder, and had his horse shot under him: he mounted an. other, and rushing with fifteen horsemen into the midst of the enemy's ranks, created a dreadful carnage.-At the battle of Marstenmoor, he took two standards and an ensign, and received another wound; at that of Edgehill, he was always in the thickest of the fight.

In the battle of York, he was carried wounded off the field: but no sooner did he learn that his party were put to flight, than, regardless of his wounds, he flung himself on a horse, and meeting the retreating general, cried out to him, "Not here, Lord Manchester, but there is the enemy to be found!" Anew the beaten turned upon their adversaries, and gained the victory. He was frequently surrounded by the enemy at the battle of Needs, and saved himself by his personal bravery alone: five horses were killed under him, and with his own arm he slew twelve officers. Thrice he stormed Drogheda without effect: and then, snatching a standard out of an ensign's hand, amidst showers of musketry, he planted it himself before the walls of the town.

Cromwell was a hypocrite.-He pretended to be inflamed with zeal for religion, recommended a diligent perusal of the holy scriptures to his soldiers, constantly preached from the chancel with his sword by his side, never failed to go to church on Sundays, and there to place himself in a situation where he might be seen by every one, and have his devotion admired.. But notwithstanding this zeal, he tolerated every sect, and strove to make their leaders his friends.

Cromwell was greedy of rule, and ambitious of glory, and yet wished it to appear that he did not govern by force, but was the saviour of the kingdom.Chosen by him, and obedient to his commands, the Parliament pretended to reward his services in the name of the people, and assigned to him all the revenues of their martyred sovereign, his possessions and chattels, not excepting those of the queen, the bishops, and the clergy, and the confiscated estates of the King's friends and yet the nation was oppressed by heavy taxes.-He was more powerful than any King before him, and arrogated to himself the dominion of the seas, although he was obliged to displace the

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Earl of Warwick, one of his warmest friends. At his instances the crown was offered to him; and he refused it, because the protectorate afforded a wider field for dominion, and a less for hatred. But he was also, like a king, invested with the dignity of Protector in Westminster cathedral, and his insignia also were, a globe, a sword, and a toga and cap of ermine.

Cromwell was overbearing and despotic. Much as he was accustomed to deride the threats of others, yet he was implacable towards those who despised his own.-In the face of the commissioners of Parliament, he caused the King to be arrested in the Isle of Wight.-He suddenly surrounded the House of Commons with his guards in November, 1648, entered it, and arrested forty-one members. In vain an universal cry was raised against this unprecedented outrage. On another occasion he contented himself with writing a short note to the Speaker, in these words: "Dissolve the Parliament in my name, for the good of the commonwealth requires it should immediately separate." When the Commous attempted to deprive him of the diploma of Protector, he himself threw it down upon the table: "What man amongst ye all," he exclainied, "has the heart to take it away from there?" and in the ebullition of his rage, he at the same time dashed his watch against the floor, and cried aloud, "Thus will I break you!" -He thought fit to rid himself of the Upper House, and thence the generous Fairfax resigned his dignities, and, resolving to interfere no longer in the government, retired to his seat in the neighbourhood of London.-Cromwell then appointed a Council of State, consisting of forty members, and composed of his relations and creatures, which was obliged to obey his every whim.-Proposals of peace from the Dutch he absolutely refused to hear of in any other place than London.

Cromwell was ungrateful.-When he came to London, in 1628, and found that the credit of the Duke of Buckingham, his first patron, was on the wane, instantly he turned his back upon him, and kept him at a distance.--To his old faithful preceptor, Long, he gave a cool and haughty reception, because he differed with him in opinion.

Cromwell was revengeful and bloodthirsty.He precipitated the fall of the Earl of Strafford," because that noble

man saw through his designs. He brought the Archbishop of Canterbury to the scaffold, because he hated him.

The brave, the good, the adored Montrose, was outlawed by him, and, when taken, fell a victim to his malignity, although sovereigns interceded in his behalf; for Cromwell felt that if he was not his superior in talents, he was it at least in virtue.-He ordered two men to be executed at Colchester, because one of his favourites was inimical to them.-The Earl of Darby and above thirty noblemen and magistrates were beheaded on account of their loyalty to their sovereign.-The Duke of Buckingham was sent to the Tower, because he had rejected the hand of Cromwell's daughter.-The execution of Lord Holland, and even that of the King, he coolly beheld from a window, with his arms reposing on silk cushions.

Cromwell pretended to esteem the arts and learned men; but, as is usual with all tyrants, inwardly detested them.After the fall of Cambridge, he ordered its professors to be caned. He committed the library of scarce Oriental manuscripts at Oxford to the flames, because they were a present from his enemy, the Archbishop of Canterbury,

Cromwell was extremely irritable in respect to satirical writings, and that was his only vulnerable part.-His connection with Mazarin was, for instance, lampooned in a pamphlet, entitled,

Europe crucified between Two Thieves."-In vain Cromwell used his utmost endeavours to suppress such writings they increased daily, and caused him many a restless night.

Cromwell plundered foreign powers whenever he felt himself the strongest, and although they had done him no injury. Thus he compelled the Grand Duke of Tuscany to pay him 60,000 pistoles, and Portugal was forced to purchase his alliance by a present of 200,000 pistoles.

Cromwell was in constant danger by conspiracies.-One was headed by a foreign ambassador, the French resident De Bas; whilst on another occasion a mine was laid under his chapel. These induced him to adopt a variety of precautions: he established a guard called the Red Brethren, never slept two nights in one chamber, employed spies at an expense of nearly 60,000 pounds, was always armed, and surrounded by his most faithful adherents. He made no scruple to seize those of whom he

stood in fear, in foreign countries, and had them brought to London and beheaded. So it happened to Henry Hyde, Charles the Ild's ambassador, who was, by his orders, carried off from Constantinople. He had, however, a good excuse for anbassadricide, as Doreslaw, one of King Charles's judges, was, when plenipotentiary at the Hague, murdered by thirty villains masked: the same fate befel also Asham, in Spain. His relations were appointed judges over those whom he wished to be found innocent. Thus it was when the King's papers were found amongst Buckingham's baggage, and in Hamilton's pockets, after the battle of Needs.

Cromwell created a new rank of nobility, and those who belonged to it were called Harp Lords, from their being obliged to quarter a harp with their coats of arms.

Cromwell persecuted the unfortunate survivors of the House of Stuart, and expressly declared to Mazarin, that no al liance with himself could take place whilst they were protected and sheltered.

Cromwell was extremely fortunate, for every circumstance favoured his elevation, The emperor and empire had made peace with France and Sweden in 1618, and all equally needed repose. Spain, exhausted by a war of nearly a hundred years, had lost Portugal, and was harassed both by Masaniello, in Naples, and the rebellious inhabitants of Calabria and Roussillon. Portugal, whose independence was but in its infancy, cultivated England's friendship. The old infirm Pope, Innocent, was governed by his niece, Donna Olympia, who, from her cupidity, was called the Harpy of the Church. Venice was engaged in warfare, lost Crete, and was obliged to maintain an army in Dalmatia at enormous expense. Tuscany's policy and economy made her shun all broils, Savoy was governed by a child under the regency of its French mother. The Swiss, enveloped by their mountains, cared nought for external affairs. Denmark's magnanimity would have led her to do more for Charles the Ist and Iid, had she not been too feeble, and at variance with Sweden, The latter wished to destroy the power of Denmark, and therefore courted an alliance with England, Russia and Prussia had then but trivial influence in the scale of politics;

and, lastly, France was torn by civil commotions. It can therefore be no longer a matter of astonishment that, under such circumstances as these, a man who was possessed of courage, activity, prudence, fertility of resources, cunning, boldness, and the gift of persuasion-in short, such a man as Cromwell, should succeed in his undertakings.

However, it was not on all occasions that Cromwell was successful.-In St.” Domingo three thousand Englishmen were killed, two thousand wounded, and the remainder forced to re-embark.—' He was obliged to retire from before the small fortress of Duncannon, without having been able to take it by storm. He sometimes conceived vast, but chi merical projects. When Dunkirk fell into his hands, he thought, with an army of forty thousand men and a fleet of fifty sail, to subjugate all Europe.He required the Dutch also to choose him as their Protector, and thus to consolidate their republic with the pretended commonwealth of England.It has even been asserted, that he once formed a plan for destroying Rome, and bringing the treasures of Loretto, together with the Pope himself, to Lon- ́ don.

(To be concluded in our next.)

DESCRIPTIONS, REMARKS, ANECDOTES, and SENTIMENTS, during a VOYAGE from the WEST INDIES to NORTH AMERICA, and from thence to ENGLAND, and during the AUTHOR'S RAMBLES in the two latter COUNTRIES.

BY A GENTLEMAN LATELY RETURNED FROM THE WEST INDIES.

(Continued from Vol. LI. page 442.)

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the morning of the 27th, we had the agreeable satisfaction of deserying land on our larboard bow, being the south-west coast of Ireland. To add to the pleasure we felt at this sight, the day was the most charming we had be held since our departure from New York: the sky was of a clear azure, untinged with threatening clouds, and unobscured, as heretofore, with dark mists; the sea had subsided to an easy undulation, and the wind to a delightful breeze, just lively enough to waft us rapidly (with all sail set) along the Hibernian shore, which now opened fast to view, Such are the vicissitudes ofthe