--_Blake's
Encyclopedia_.
* * * * *
NOTES OF A READER.
* * * * *
CHARACTER OF CROMWELL.
(_From the Buccaneer.--By Mrs. S.C. Hall_.)
There are two things that to a marvellous degree bring people under
subjection--moral and corporeal fear. The most dissolute are held in
restraint by the influence of moral worth, and there are few who would
engage in a quarrel if they were certain that defeat or death would be
the consequence. Cromwell obtained, and we may add, maintained his
ascendancy over the people of England, by his earnest and continually
directed efforts towards these two important ends. His court was a
rare example of irreproachable conduct, from which all debauchery
and immorality were banished; while such was his deep and intimate
though mysterious acquaintance with every occurrence throughout the
commonwealth, its subjects had the certainty of knowing that, sooner or
later, whatever crimes they committed would of a surety reach the ear
of the protector. His natural abilities must always have been of the
highest order, though in the early part of his career he discovered
none of those extraordinary talents that afterwards gained him so
much applause, and worked so upon the affections of the hearers
and standers-by. His mind may be compared to one of those valuable
manuscripts that had long been rolled up and kept hidden from vulgar
eyes, but which exhibits some new proof of wisdom at each unfolding.
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