The citizens received him with groans and hisses;
the soldiers murmured; the officers tendered their resignations. He merely
replied that his orders left nothing to his discretion; but the reply was
made with a sternness of
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1660. Feb. 9.]
tone, and a gloominess of countenance, which showed, and probably was
intended to show, that he acted with reluctance and with self-reproach.[1]
As soon as the posts and chains were removed, Monk suggested, in a letter
to the speaker, that enough had been done to subdue the refractory spirit
of the citizens. But the parliamentary leaders were not satisfied: they
voted that he should execute his former orders; and the demolition of the
gates and portcullises was effected. The soldiers loudly proclaimed
their discontent: the general, mortified and ashamed, though he had been
instructed to quarter them in the city, led them back to Whitehall.[2]
There, on the review of these proceedings, he thought that he discovered
proofs of a design, first to commit him with the citizens, and then to
discard him entirely. For the house, while he was so ungraciously employed,
had received, with a show of favour, a petition from the celebrated
Praise-God Barebone, praying that no man might sit in parliament, or hold
any public office, who refused to abjure the pretensions of Charles Stuart,
or of any other single person.
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