[1]
At the same time the public mind was agitated by the circulation of reports
the most unfounded, and the advocacy of projects the most contradictory.
This day it was rumoured that Cromwell had offered to recall
[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 556, 557, 559. Leicester's Journal, 142. Merc.
Polit. No. 157.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1653. April 30.]
the royal family, on condition that Charles should marry one of his
daughters; the next, that he intended to ascend the throne himself, and,
for that purpose, had already prepared the insignia of royalty. Here,
signatures were solicited to a petition for the re-establishment of the
ancient constitution; there, for a government by successive parliaments.
Some addresses declared the conviction of the subscribers that the late
dissolution was necessary; others prayed that the members might be allowed
to return to the house, for the sole purpose of legally dissolving
themselves by their own authority. In the mean while, the lord-general
continued to wear the mask of humility and godliness; he prayed and
preached with more than his wonted fervour; and his piety was rewarded,
according to the report of his confidants, with frequent communications
from the Holy Spirit.[1] In the month of May he spent eight days in close
consultation with his military divan; and the result was a determination to
call a new parliament, but a parliament modelled on principles unknown to
the history of this or of any other nation.
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