pacity in the main, that the royalists owed their defeat. The two parties were frequently brought together in situations in which valour and conduct in the field were the chief engines by which the fate of the cause was to be determined. As an actor, therefore, in these eventful times, Fairfax may well be regarded, if not the principal, as very little below him. The credit due to him is, however, it must be confessed, of an inferior kind. His share of the victory was won by knowing how to direct brute force; Cromwell gained his by a surpassing skill in the management of men's minds; and hence the reason not only why that subtle politician at length rose so superior to his associates, but why, independent of the consideration of his power, the character of Fairfax and the rest of the parliamentarians make so little figure in history when compared with that of the protector.

The victorious commander-in-chief remained in London till he was sent into the north to escort the unfortunate monarch to the capital. It was now that all the intelligence of the parliamentarians was needed to determine in what way their triumph should be used. The existence of a large military force was evidently inconsistent with the good order of a government, which had not strength to control its motions. There were, therefore, two parties in the nation adverse to its continuance; the one consisting of persons who earnestly desired the settlement of the nation in peace and freedom; the other of those who looked forward to the time, when the army being disbanded, they might pursue their designs in the management of the state without a check. Sir Thomas Fairfax, it is said, was far from approving the conduct of some of his associates, and had formed the intention of resigning his command; but the influence which Cromwell possessed over him prevented his taking this step, and we consequently find him engaged in the most remarkable measures taken by the military party against the parliament. In March 1647--8, he became, by the death of his father, Lord Fairfax, and was soon after actively engaged in putting down the remnants of the royalist party, which made a last desperate effort in favour of their master. The siege of Colchester cost him eleven weeks of hard fatigue, but he revenged the opposition of the garrison and citizens in a manner little creditable to his character. Two men of rank and high honour, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, were ignominiously brought to a court-martial, and condemned, because they had manfully kept their posts to the last; the townspeople were oppressed with a fine of twelve thousand pounds, and no means were left unemployed to injure and insult them.

So satisfied, however, was Sir Thomas with his victory, that having made the circuit of the neighbouring counties, he returned to London in December, and took up his residence in the palace of Whitehall. The melancholy transactions which now occupied the nation, obtained a full share of his attention, and it seems that he was not far behind the most zealous of the parliamentarian leaders in their persecution of the dethroned Charles. That he stopped short of the last act which desecrated the otherwise noble triumph of liberty, appears to have been less owing to the moderation of his own principles, than to the good sense, the justice and humanity of his wife. It is well known, that when his name was called, as the first on the list of the king's judges, she exclaimed from a distant part of the court that he had too

much wit to be there. The little exertion he made towards preventing the execution of the king when he was in possession of so much power to save him, tends strongly to confirm this suspicion, and leads to the conclusion, that if he was unwilling to have a share in the execution himself, he was not sorry to see others ready to fulfil the task. The account which Wood gives of his conduct affords, if correct, a curious proof of the insincerity of his expressions in the monarch's behalf. ""Tis true," says he, "that before the king was beheaded, he did use his power and interest to have the execution deferred for some days, forbearing his coming among the officers, and did fully resolve with his own regiment to prevent the execution, or have it deferred till he could make a party in the army to second his design; but behold his policy! All the morning of that day on which the king was beheaded, and the time when he was beheaded, he was with certain officers of the army at prayer or in discourse, or both, in Major Thomas Harrison's apartment in Whitehall, (being a room at the hither end of that gallery looking towards the privy garden,) and knew nothing of it, as it doth appear by this passage. When his majesty was beheaded, and his corpse thereupon immediately coffined and covered with a black velvet pall, Bishop Juxon who attended him on the scaffold, and Thomas Herbert, the only groom of his bedchamber that was then left, did go with the said corpse to the back-stairs to have it embalmed, and Mr Herbert, after the body had been deposited, meeting with the general, Fairfax asked him, how the king did?' Whereupon Herbert looking very strangely upon him, told him that the king was beheaded,' at which he seemed much surprised." As some apology, however, for his supineness at the time when his authority or power might have been most effectually exerted, he refused to become one of the new council of state, or declare that he approved of the late measures of the parliament. But this did not prevent his retaining the command of the army, at the head of which he dispersed a numerous body of insurgents, who, under the name of levellers, threatened to destroy every vestige of law and civilization. The reputation he enjoyed throughout the country from these continued and important successes, was testified by the manner in which he was every where received. The university of Cambridge made him a master of arts; Oxford conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws; and the citizens of London showed their respect for him by feasts, and the gift of a splendid bason and ewer of beaten gold. But his position was every day becoming more difficult to support with comfort or dignity. The wishes of his wife, and of the strong party of presbyterians whose principles and interests she endea voured to support, were directly opposed to the measures of the exist ing government, and the declaration of Scotland in favour of Charles II. furnished an occasion for his final retirement from office. On refusing to lead the forces under his command into that country, he resigned his commission into the hands of parliament, which immediately settled a pension on him of five thousand pounds per annum, and transferred the authority he had relinquished to Cromwell.

Sir Thomas lived about eight years in retirement on his estate at Hunappleton, in Yorkshire. During this time his principles appear

* Clarendon.

to have received a continually increasing bias in favour of royalty, and at the first signal given him by General Monk, he assembled a body of volunteers, composed of the neighbouring gentry, and appeared in the field as the champion of Charles the second. His fame as a commander, combined with the popularity of the cause he had espoused, brought speedy accessions to his force, and he was soon enabled to make a free passage for Monk and his army. He was now again called to take a part in the operations of government; was elected a member of the council of state by the rump parliament; represented the county of York, in what was termed the healing parliament; and was one of the deputation appointed to invite the king to return to England. Having performed this office, he again retired into domestic privacy, which he continued to enjoy till the month of November 1671, when he ended his active and memorable career.

The character of this distinguished man was formed for the times ir which he lived, and the party of which he was so conspicuous a member. He possessed military talents of a high order, was ardent in the support of the principles he espoused, and pursued the object he had in view with a perseverance as vigorous as it was successful. But fortunately for those with whom he was associated, he had little political sagacity; was incapable of managing the complicated and rapid machinery with which he stood surrounded; and was in every respect far better calculated to be the servant of a government than its chief. both his public and his private conduct, the comparison of his character with that of most of the great men of his day, will be to his advantage. He wanted penetration and decision, and this led him into some important errors; but the readiness with which he yielded to the suggestions of the more moderate party, his acknowledged zeal for religion, his domestic virtues and attachment to literature, contribute a powerful plea in behalf of his name and character.

Monk, Duke of Albemarle.

BORN A. D. 1608.-DIED A. D. 1670.

In

GEORGE MONK, a general in the time of the commonwealth, and after the restoration made duke of Albemarle, was descended from an ancient family in Devonshire. His father was Sir Thomas Monk of Rotheridge, in that county. The fortunes of the family being much reduced about the time of Charles, George, who was a younger son, and born December 6, 1608, was devoted to the military profession. At the age of seventeen, he was induced to enter as a volunteer under Sir R. Grenville, in the expedition which was fitting out at Plymouth against Spain, and which was commanded by Lord Wimbledon. The year after, he obtained an ensigncy in the expedition against the isle of Rhe. He returned to England in 1628, but went out again as ensign in another expedition to the Low Countries, and there obtained the rank of captain. Having been about ten years abroad, and served in many sieges and battles, he acquired the reputation of an accurate acquaintance with the military art, and returned to his native country just as hostilities were on the eve of commencement between Charles I. and his subjects.

Monk being recommended to the king as an experienced and able officer, as well as cordially devoted to the royal interest, he received the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and served the king in both his expeditions against the Scotch. Upon the breaking out of the Irish rebellion he was made colonel, and having now the command of a regiment, he rendered such service to the cause of the king that he was appointed governor of Dublin. But the king's affairs in England coming now to an open rupture with the parliament, Monk was ordered into England with his regiment. At this period some suspicions appear to have fallen upon him respecting a truce which he had made with the Irish rebels, and upon his arrival at Bristol, orders were sent to the governor of that place to place him under arrest. But he suffered him to proceed on his parole to the king at Oxford. There he afforded such explanation of his conduct to Lord Digby, the secretary of state, that he was speedily introduced to the king, and as a compensation for the odium under which he had unjustly laboured, he was made a major-general in the Irish brigade. Soon after, he was engaged in the siege of Nantwich, in Cheshire. Scarcely had he arrived before that place, when the whole brigade and its general fell into the hands of Sir Thomas Fairfax. Monk was sent prisoner to the Tower, where he remained above two years a close prisoner. In November, 1646, he agreed to purchase his liberty by taking the covenant, and to accept a command in the army of the parliament to serve in Ireland. The next year, the command of all the parliamentary forces in the north of Ireland was given him, and for two years he continued to distinguish himself as an able and experienced soldier. Soon after, his conduct in treating with the Irish rebels was called in question, and he was summoned to appear before parliament. Having been heard at the bar of the house, a vote was passed August 10, 1649, in which the disapprobation of parliament was expressed against the conduct of the general, but at the same time acquitting him of any intention to injure the interests of his country. The vote, however, together with the observations of some of the members upon his conduct, gave the general deep offence. Attempts were made to clear his reputation and honour-but still his misconduct could not be forgotten, nor wholly forgiven. About this period his elder brother died, and the family-estate came into his possession; he therefore withdrew from public scenes, and endeavoured to raise the fortunes of his family by attention to his private affairs. But after the entire overthrow of the royal cause, and establishment of the commonwealth, Monk accepted a commission under Cromwell against the Scots, who had proclaimed Charles II. At the great battle of Dunbar, where the Scottish forces were completely overthrown by Cromwell, Monk was a lieutenant-general, and rendered such distinguished services, that Cromwell soon after left him in the supreme command of the army in Scotland, while he followed Charles Stuart into England, whither he had fled after the battle of Dunbar. Soon after this period, Monk was obliged to relinquish active service on account of ill health. But being restored by a residence of some time at Bath, he was again employed as one of the commissioners for uniting the kingdom of Scotland to the English commonwealth. In the war with Holland he also acted as a naval commander, and was engaged with Admiral Blake and Dean when the Dutch fleet was defeated under the 2 *

celebrated Van Tromp. It is related of him in this naval battle, that Admiral Dean being killed by the first broadside of the enemy, Monk threw his cloak over the body, and continued the engagement without the slightest interruption, and even without allowing the enemy to perceive that one of our admirals had fallen. The promptitude of this act, as well as the skill with which he continued the fight—although, in a great measure, out of his own element-contributed to secure the triumph of the British flag. He was also engaged in another great victory over the Dutch commander, and it was by these distinguished successes that Cromwell was enabled soon after to adjust an advantageous treaty with that nation.

Upon the return of Monk, he was treated with great kindness and attention by the protector. A rebellion having broken out in Scotland against the protector's authority, Monk was sent down with forces to quell it. This took place in the spring of 1654, and by the end of August order was restored, and Monk took up his residence at Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, where, for the five following years, he continued to maintain with great firmness, if not with severity, the power of the commonwealth, and the authority of its protector. On the death of Oliver Cromwell, Monk joined in an address of congratulation to his son and successor. This soldier of fortune soon discovered the commanding situation which he occupied, and lost no opportunity of employing it to his own purposes. It would be inconvenient here to enter into a detail of the steps which, with more sagacity than principle, this crafty soldier adopted for the restoration of the exiled prince. By a well-concerted but treacherous plan, he made the parliament believe that he was entirely with them; and when he had brought his army near London, and had ascertained the strength of the royal partisans, he declared for the dissolution of the present parliament, and the calling a new and free one. This was on the 11th of February, 1660. In a month after, the long parliament was dissolved, and by the 25th of April, a new parliament was assembled. After sounding them cautiously, Monk openly broached the restoration by informing them that Sir J. Granville, a servant of the king, was waiting at their door with a letter from his majesty to that house. The whole scheme succeeded, and in a short time the exiled prince was restored, amidst a manifestation of national joy which was bitterly mocked by the disasters which followed. The immediate results, however, were as flattering as Monk could well have desired, at least for himself. He was immediately created duke of Albemarle, made a privy counsellor, endowed with the order of the garter, made prime minister, and loaded with pensions, inheritances, and honours. He did not long continue to enjoy the spoils he had won. He proved, however, a fit minister for the despicable prince he had raised to the throne, and for about eight or nine years maintained the eminent station he had acquired. At the age of sixty, his constitution began to show the effects of the arduous life he had passed, and though, so late as 1666, he took the command of the fleet, and again beat his former antagonist, Van Tromp, together with De Ruyter, yet his health was failing, and in 1670, on the 3d of January, he died of dropsy. His corpse lay in state at Somerset-house for several weeks, after which it was buried in Henry VII.'s chapel, in Westminster abbey.