--Noble, i. 228.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. Oct 26.]
Of all the changes which had surprised and perplexed the nation since
the death of the last king, none had been received with such general
disapprobation as the present. It was not that men lamented the removal of
the Rump; but they feared the capricious and arbitrary rule of the army;
and, when they contrasted their unsettled state with the tranquillity
formerly enjoyed under the monarchy, many were not backward in the
expression of their wishes for the restoration of the ancient line of their
princes. The royalists laboured to improve this favourable disposition; yet
their efforts might have been fruitless, had the military been united among
themselves. But among the officers there were several who had already made
their peace with Charles by the promise of their services, and many
who secretly retained a strong attachment to Hazlerig and his party in
opposition to Lambert. In Ireland, Barrow, who had been sent as their
representative from Wallingford House, found the army so divided and
wavering, that each faction alternately obtained a short and precarious
superiority; and in Scotland, Cobbet, who arrived there on a similar
mission, was, with seventeen other officers who approved of his proposals,
imprisoned by order of Monk.
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