archy, reconciled, as they were bound in charity to believe it now reconciled, with freedom and religion - was that for which they had fought from the first, and for which they would fight to the last.

to have supported, Leslie soon gave up the battle for lost. Had Lawrence Crawford been there to manœuvre the foot and steady them in the shock of conflict! But such speculation is foolish. Cromwell's victory was complete. About We have been losing sight of Argyle. three thousand of the Scots were slain, about ten thousand taken; the army which had chased the English to Dunbar was annihilated.

The fact is that he was not one of those men who move star-like through the dusky past, forcing the historical eye to read events by their light. His brain Now then, surely little Scotland will was large and clear, but his heart was give in. She had sent thousands to die cold. He worked out the intellectual by sword and famine in Ireland, thou- problem of his time with exactitude; but sands to fall in battles and sieges in the no swell of feeling rose in his breast to first civil war in England. The plough inspire him for mighty action, and to of destruction had passed over her back, make him an inspiration to others. He in six deep, blood-watered furrows, under saw that Prince Charles had granted all the heavy hand of Montrose. Her nobil- the English Parliament demanded of his ity, her gentry, the flower of her mounted father, that constitutional monarchy was men, and about fifteen thousand of her now making its last stand against the foot-soldiers, had followed Hamilton to power of the sword, that a Puritan setbe trodden into the mud of the Lanca- tlement, under a young king, with guarshire lanes. And now her last and finest antees of its permanence as firm as the army was broken to pieces, her thirty Puritans chose to require, would be the cannon taken. Nor was the loss of the natural, safe, and honourable conclusion army the worst that the Covenanters had of the revolution. Seeing all this, he to bear after the catastrophe of Dunbar. could not abandon Charles. But neither Divisions appeared among themselves. could he throw himself into his cause with A number of the straiter-laced announced the self-sacrificing, whole-hearted enthu that they had qualms of conscience on siasm of Montrose. He balanced himself the subject of fighting in company with so evenly between yes and no, and cast so some of the old royalists who had crept many wistful glances towards the camp into the ranks. These grumblers were of Cromwell, that Charles suspected him called Protesters. Cromwell, whose prin- of a design to deliver him up, and actciple, as he had peremptorily laid it down ually took flight from Perth under this in a letter to Crawford, was that any man impression. He returned, indeed, within ought to be employed that would faith- forty-eight hours, but one can guess fully serve the State, and who was, at this whether the relations between himself moment, powerfully seconded by Monk, and the marquis were likely to be corwho had been taken in arms for Charles dial. Some time after the rout of DunI., and lived to restore Charles II., art- bar, Argyle presented to Charles for fully inflamed their conscientious irrita-signature a letter which was to form the tion. Ulysses was not more skilful in basis of an agreement between them. the war of divisive words than Cromwell. In this curious document, the prince What with his cunning arguments, what engages to make Argyle a duke, a knight with the swift smiting of his ever-ready of the garter, a gentleman of the bedsword, he managed, soon after Dunbar, chamber, to "hearken to his counsels," to ruin the Covenanting cause throughout and, in the event of Charles's restoration all the south-western shires, and to leave to the throne of England, to "see him Leslie command of nothing in Scotland paid the forty thousand pounds sterling south of Stirling. Nevertheless, the rem-due to him." This is not the sort of nant, such as it was, that is to say, the loyalty we expect from a hero. main body of the old true-blue Covenanters, did not waver. The ways of Providence might be dark, but it was for them to walk by the simple shining of honour and duty. "The cause of God and the kingdoms, as hath been these twelve years__past_ "the cause maintained in the Great Remonstrance, and in the Solemn League between England and Scotland the cause of the ancient monVOL. X. 510

LIVING AGE.

But the fighting Covenanters were of a different temper from Argyle. Let us not impute his chill and calculating spirit to men who might respect but who never loved him. On the 2nd of January, 1651, as if in solemn announcement, four months after Dunbar, that they still held to their principles, and would die for their king, they crowned Charles in the church of Scone. He was conducted by

of the English Parliament! The crown was set upon Charles's head by the Marquis of Argyle. Under the wintry heaven, as earnestly as ever from the heart of David or of Jeremiah, rose from the congregation that Hebrew psalm of prayer —

Jehovah hear thee in the day

When trouble He doth send.

The trouble had come, and Jehovah did not avert it. Cut off from all the world, with Oliver Cromwell before them and the haggard hills and moaning ocean be

his nobles from the old palace to the scrupulous respect shown to the rights old church, the spurs carried by the Earl of Eglinton, the sword by the Earl of Rothes, the sceptre by the Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, the crown by the Marquis of Argyle. On the king's right walked the great constable, on his left the great marshal. Over his head a canopy of crimson velvet was borne by six earls' sons, and four earls' sons upheld his train. In the church, on a raised platform duly carpeted, was placed the throne. Ere he ascended it, Charles seated himself in a chair placed before the preacher, on the common level of the congregation, and took part in divine hind, the Covenanters still held out for service. Mr. Robert Douglas, modera-eight long months, and then, giving tor of the Commission of General Assem- Cromwell the slip with an adroit skill bly, preached the sermon. The text was that Oliver never equalled, Leslie marched that stern passage of the Hebrew annals, with his little army for England. Did in which we are told how Jehoiada, priest Argyle cast in his lot with the intrepid of Jehovah, and the fai hful captains of remnant and do at least one perfectly hethe host, rescued the boy Joash from the roic thing? Alas, no! His heart failed daughter of Jezebel, the intriguing, blood-him; he remained behind; and the glory thirsty Athaliah, and crowned him as the of Worcester is not his. Steadily penecovenanted king of Israel. Mr. Douglas trating into England, Lambert on his dealt plainly with Charles in his adversity, flank and Cromwell in his rear, Leslie but the Church of Scotland had not flat-conducted his army to Worcester. With tered kings in the day of their power. a mean effusiveness of enthusiasm for He was exhorted to be all that Trajan the winning side which drew a contempthad been said to be devout at home, uous rebuke from Cromwell himself, the courageous in war, just in his judicato- forces of the English counties came flockries, prudent in his affairs. Of the doc-ing, vulture-like, to be in at the death. trine of divine-right royalty that sugar Enormously outnumbered, ill-armed, halfof lead which the Anglican Church has starving, the little Scottish army fought so industriously dropped into the ears of on for four hours, vindicating forever the her kings there was no trace. Kings honour of Scotland by spurning, with are deceived," said Mr. Douglas, "who death before its eyes, the offers of acthink that the people are ordained for the commodation made by Cromwell at the king, and not the king for the people." price of sacrificing the king. The sword "The king is the MINISTER OF GOD FOR was now supreme in England, Scotland, THE PEOPLE'S GOOD." "The king hath and Ireland, and Cromwell expressly his distinct possessions and revenues said that Scotland had given the army from the people; he must not oppress more trouble than any other part of the and do what he pleases; there must be three kingdoms. no tyranny upon the throne." Scotsmen may reflect with pride that these words were spoken to the last king ever crowned in Scotland.

66

After service the ceremony of coronation proceeded. Charles kneeling and lifting up his right hand, said, "I, Charles, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, do assure and declare, by my solemn oath, in the presence of Almighty God, the searcher of hearts, my allowance and approbation of the National Covenant, and of the Solemn League and Covenant . . and that I shall give my royal assent to acts and ordinances of Parliament passed, enjoining the same, in my other dominions." Observe the

The Covenanters who sank in their attempt to establish the monarchy on a constitutional basis ten years before the Restoration, were the fathers of the historical Whig party. The name was first applied to those Covenanters who rose upon and disarmed the stragglers from Hamilton's expedition, as they made their way back to Scotland. The name, or nickname, then given them was naturally applied to that political party which maintained their principle of sub. mitting neither to the will of a tyrant nor to the dictation of an army, of accepting neither a dynasty without liberty nor liberty with obliteration of the old lines of the constitution. The Puritan revolu

tion as led by Eliot, Hampden, Pym,—! Charles. He had given up his sword to the Puritan revolution of the Bill of Cromwell at Worcester, but, like a brave Rights, and the Great Remonstrance, and high-principled man, he declined to and the Solemn League and Covenant, make his peace with the Protector, and - the Puritan revolution which fought remained in the Tower till the Restorathe king in his own name, and had as one tion. He was then rewarded by Charles of its fundamental objects to make the with a pension and a peerage. monarchy possible and permanent - was The hostility of Cromwell endeared Whig. Had it triumphed in 1650 in- the Church of Scotland to the people. stead of in 1688, there would probably The atrocious maladministration of Scothave been retained in the political and land between 1660 and 1688 had a similar social constitution of England, and in the tendency. Physical defeat, political failtemper and habits of the people, more of ure ensured for the Church complete spirthe elevation and moral ardour of the itual conquest. She had leant upon the Puritans than have been traceable since sword, and it had pierced her. She had the seventeenth century. Even if we been a great power in politics; and under grant that Cromwell, Milton, Ireton, and her auspices disaster followed disaster, the Ironside invincibles of Naseby and army after army was destroyed. When she Dunbar, represent the purest resplen- could not place a squadron in the field, dence of spiritual enthusiasm that ever when she was despised and persecuted glowed in England, we may maintain that by statesmen, she became finally and this was too much above the habitual immovably enthroned in the affections mood of the English people for perma- of Scotchmen. She had the felicity of nence, and that, if a less lofty flight had been attempted, the utter collapse of Puritanism in England when Cromwell died might have been avoided.

being always on the side of Scotland's freedom, independence, or good government, freedom against Charles I., independence against Cromwell, good govDuring the Protectorate, favour was ernment against Lauderdale and Clavershown by the ruling powers in Scotland house. She continued, therefore, to be to that party among the Covenanting the Church of the Scottish people; and clergy which had distrusted and forsaken those who have seceded from her since Charles. Protesters were placed in va- the seventeenth century have seceded, cant charges by forcible intervention of not because they wished to change her, Cromwell's soldiers, although the con- but because they objected to her being gregations detested the intrusion. This changed. No lesson of her history, howriveted the affection of the people to the ever, is more impressive than the unmain body of the Presbyterian preachers. questionable fact that her intermeddling They clung to a Church identified with with politics resulted in calamity to herthe cause of national independence; and self and to Scotland. Was this the reathough the number of Protesters in the son why M'Crie, having told the tale of occupation of pulpits increased, the prin- her struggles under Knox and Melville, ciples of the sectaries, as they were left the tale of her predominance uncalled, made no way in Scotland. These told? considerations enable us to do justice For Scotland it was probably, after all, to Charles in estimating the guilt of in- well that the victory of the Covenanters gratitude laid to his charge on account was wholly in the spiritual province. Had of his conduct, at the Restoration, to the the simpleton Committee of Estates and Church of Scotland. On any showing, it Church let David Leslie deal with Cromwas bad enough. But for eleven years be- well in his own way; had Oliver been sefore he ascended the throne, the minis-riously crippled; had the immense party ters promoted to livings in Scotland had belonged to the party which did its worst to ruin him, whose divisive courses after Dunbar had caused bitter anguish to Charles's Covenanting allies. To those Covenanters who had stood by him to the last, Charles was not more ungrateful than the indolent facility of his character, and the furious anti-Presbyterian zeal of his chief advisers on Scottish affairs, might have led us to expect. David Leslie had no occasion to complain of

in England which desired nothing better than that Charles should reign under constitutional restraints coalesced with the Covenanters and effected a settlement, the Scots might, or must, have attained an ascendency in the councils of the island which could hardly have promoted the general welfare. All thoughtful and well-informed Englishmen admit that the vindication of Scottish independence by Bruce and Wallace was a benefit to England. Scotland, had the Refor

tions.

From Good Words.

FATED TO BE FREE.

mation been offered at the point of the the house of Ahab,- that moment wher English sword, would have rejected it as he knelt before God, and, with uplifted implacably as Ireland, and two Irelands hand, swore to maintain the Covenants,would certainly have clogged the wheels would have made life not worth having of England. But if the Scots had con- for Charles. He committed murder; but quered at Dunbar, they might have be- no murderer could plead greater palliacome arrogant. Either they might have clung to their local independence, perpetuating a cumbrous and dangerous dualism in Great Britian, or they might have claimed more than their share in the common government. It was beneficial that Scotland should achieve selfrespect and the respect of England; but it was also desirable that the ingenium perfervidum should be toned down a little, and that Scotchmen should know that they are to Englishmen as one to seven. It is perhaps not far from the truth to say that, next to the victory of Bannockburn, the best thing that ever happened to Scotland was the defeat of Dunbar, and that high among the benefactors of Scotland, not far behind Wallace and Bruce, stands Oliver Cromwell.

BY JEAN INGELOW.

CHAPTER XIII.

VENERABLE ANCIENTRY.

"Even as the sparrow findeth an house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, so I seek thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my God." - PSALM Ixxxiv., Marginal Translation.

RISING early the next morning, Brandon found that he had an hour to spare before breakfast, and sallied forth for an early walk. A delicate hoar-frost still made white the shade, and sparkled all over the sombre leaves of some fine yewtrees that grew outside the garden-wall.

Walking up a little rise, he saw the weathercock and one turret of a churchtower peering over the edge of a small steep hill, close at hand, and turning toward it he went briskly on, under the lee of a short fir-plantation, all the grass being pure and fresh with hoar-frost, which melted in every hollow and shadow as fast as the sun came round to it.

The house was too large and pretentious for the grounds it stood in, these being hardly extensive enough to be called a park; they consisted of finely varied wood and dell, and were laid out in grass and fed off by sheep.

During the Protectorate Argyle was a judicious trimmer, anxiously civil to Oliver, hated as false and half-hearted both by Scotch and English. At the restoration he posted up to London, but Charles refused to see him, had him arrested, sent to Scotland, tried and executed. This was a murder. For all that Argyle did against Charles I. he had obtained the amplest indemnity before he crowned Charles II., and there was no legal ground for exempting him from the general pardon granted to those who had gone with the stream between 1651 and 1660, or had intrigued against the Restoration. Charles II. murdered Argyle. But it was a murder with palliations. How could life be endurable for Charles while Argyle continued to breathe? There was, for example, the little bill for the He passed through a gate into the dukedom, the garter, the forty thousand churchyard, which had a very little valpounds. It would not have been pleasant ley all to itself, the land rising on every for Charles to have his attention called to side so as to make a deep nest for it. that friendly transaction. But that was Such a venerable, low, long church! taknot the worst. How could the gay Syba-ing old age so quietly, covering itself rite bear to have his dead past, his buried with ivy and ferns, and having a general conscience, raised from the tomb, and air of mossiness, and subsidence into the set to glare withal on that scowling brow, bosom of the earth again, from whence in those grey, searching eyes? Con- its brown old stones had been quarried. science incarnated in Argyle, conscience, For, as is often the case with an old burstalking grimly in among the throng of ial-place, the soil had greatly risen, so courtiers, say when Charles sat wreathed that one who walked between the graves in smiles between Buckingham and Nel- could see the whole interior of the place ly, and recalling to him that hour when through the windows. The tiled roof, he sat on the floor of the old church of sparkling and white with the morning Scone, and heard Mr. Douglas thunder frost, was beginning to drip, and dew on the rescue of Joash and the sins of 'shone on the melting rime, while all

around the enclosure orchards were planted, and the trees leaned over their boughs.

A woman, stepping from a cottage on the rise, held up a great key to him, and he advanced, took it, and told her he would return it.

laid, in a country full of days, full of the echoes of old Englishmen's talk, and whose sunsets are stained as if with the blood shed for their liberties."

He left the church, noticing, as he went down the aisle, numbers of dog'seared books in the different pews, and A large heavy thing it was, that looked the narrow window at the east end now as if it might be hundreds of years old; letting in long shafts of sunshine; but he turned the lock with it and stepped in, there was nothing to inform him of any walking down the small brick aisle, ob- fact that threw light on his step-father's serving the ancient oaken seats, the letter, and he returned the key to the quaint pulpit, and strange brasses; till sexton's wife, and went back to breakwhite, staring, obtrusive, and all out of fast, telling Mrs. Melcombe where he taste, he saw in the chancel what he had had been, and remarking that there was come to look for, a great white marble no date of death on Augustus Melmonument, on the south side; four flut-combe's tomb. tering cherubs, with short wings that ap- "I think they did not know the date," peared to hold up a marble slab, while she replied. "It was during the long two weeping figures knelt below. First French war that he died, and they were was recorded on the slab the death of some time uncertain of the fact, but at Augustus Cuthbert Melcombe, only son length the eldest son going to London, of Cuthbert Melcombe, gent., of this wrote his mother an account of how he place. Then followed the date of his had met with the captain of his young birth, and there was no date of death, uncle's ship, and had been told of his merely the information that he was a death at sea, somewhere near the West lieutenant in the royal navy. Brandon Indies. The dear grandmother showed copied this inscription into his note-book. me that letter," observed Mrs. Melcombe, Below was the name of the young "when first I married." man's only sister, aged ninety-seven, "universally beloved and respected; then the solemn words used before death by the aged patriarch, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord." All about the chancel were various small tablets in memory of the successive vicars of the place and their families, but no others with the name of Melcombe on them. The whole building was so overflowing with the records of human creatures, inside and out, it appeared as if so saturated with man's thoughts, so used to man's prayers and tears, so about presently to decline and subside into the earth as he does, that there was almost an effort in believing that it was empty of the beings it seemed to be a part of empty of those whom we call the living.

It was easy to move reverently and feel awed in the face of this venerable ancientry. This was the place, then, where that poor woman had worshipped whose son "had never judged her."

"If I settled," he thought, "in a new country, this is the sort of scene that, from time to time, would recur to my thoughts and get hold of me, with almost intolerable power to make life one craving for home.

How hard to take root in a soil my fathers never ploughed! Let me abide where my story grew, where my dead are'

Brandon listened attentively, and when he was alone set that down also in his note-book, then considering that neither the ghost nor the young lieutenant need trouble him further, he felt that all his suspicions were cast loose into a fathomless sea, from which he could fish nothing up; but the little heir was well and happy, and he devoutly hoped that he would remain so, and save to himself the anxiety of showing, and to Valentine the pain and doubt that would come of reading the letter.

Mrs. Melcombe, narrow as were her thoughts, was, notwithstanding, a schemer in a small way. She had felt that Brandon must have had something to say to Laura when she herself coming up had interrupted him. Laura had few reserves from her, so when she had ascertained that nothing had occurred when she had left them together in the grandmother's sitting-room but such talk as naturally arose out of the visit to it, she resolved to give him another opportunity, and after breakfast was about to propose a walk, when he helped her by asking her to show him that room again.

"I should like so much to have a photograph of Mr. Mortimer's picture,” he said; "may I see it again?""

Nothing more easy. They all went up to the room; a fire had been lighted to