(Thomas), earl of Essex, was the son of a blacksmith at Putney, and born in 1498. Without a liberal education, but endowed with a strong natural genius, he considered travelling as the proper means of improving his understanding; and to this early token of his sound judgment he stood indebted for the high rank and distinguished honours he afterwards enjoyed. He became by degrees the confidential favourite and prime minister of Henry VIII.; and from the moment he acquired any authority in the cabinet, he employed it in promoting the reformation, to his zeal for which he became a victim; for, the more firmly to secure the Protestant cause, he contrived to marry the king to Anne of Cleves, whose friends were all Lutherans. Unfortunately Henry took a disgust to this lady, which brought on Cromwell's ruin; the king, with his usual cruelty and caprice, taking this opportunity to sacrifice this minister to the Roman Catholic party, to whom he seemed desirous of reconciling himself as soon as he had Catherine Howard in view. Cromwell was a great politician, and a good man; but, like most statesmen, was guilty of great errors. In his zeal for the new religion, Cromwell, he had introduced the unjustifiable mode of attainder in cases of treason and heresy; and his enemies, who were numerous (consisting of two classes, the ancient nobility and gentry, who were enraged to see the highest honours bestowed on a man of his mean extraction, and the Roman Catholics, who detested him), having preferred many complaints against him, availed themselves of his own law. He was attainted of treason and heresy, convicted unheard, and beheaded in 1546. He was the chief instrument of the suppression of the abbeys and monasteries, and of the destruction of images and relics; to him also we are indebted for the institution of parish registers of births, marriages, and burials.

Cromwell (Oliver), styled Lord Protector of the commonwealth of England, one of the most extraordinary personages mentioned in history, was the son of Mr Robert Cromwell of Hinchingbrooke in the county of Huntingdon. His ancestors were of very honourable extraction: but no ways related to Thomas Cromwell earl of Essex, the prime minister and favourite of Henry VIII. He was born in the parish of St John, Huntingdon, where his father mostly lived, on the 24th or 25th of April 1599, and educated at the free school of that town. Little is known concerning him in his younger years, or indeed concerning his behaviour in private life. It is, however, related by authors of unsuspicious veracity, that when at school he gave many signs of a very turbulent and restless disposition. He is also said from his early years to have been subject to the hypochondriac disorder, and to many deceptions of the imagination. He had a very remarkable one while at school. It happened in the daytime, when he was lying melancholy upon his back in bed. A spectre, as he thought, approached him, and told him that he should be the greatest man in the kingdom. His father, being informed of this, was very angry, and desired his master to correct him severely. This, however, produced no effect. Oliver persisted in the truth of his story, and would sometimes mention it though his uncle told him "it was too traitorous to be repeated."—From this school Oliver was removed to Sidney college in Cambridge, where he was admitted in 1616. His progress in his studies is uncertain; but he spent much time in playing at foot-ball, cricket, and other robust exercises, at which he was very expert. His father dying after he had been about two years at college, Cromwell returned home; but the irregularity of his life gave such offence to his mother, that, by the advice of some friends, she sent him to London, and placed him in Lincoln's-inn. This expedient by no means answered the purpose; her son gave himself up to gaming, wine, and women, so that he quickly dissipated all that was left him by his father. This dissipation, however, could be but of very short continuance; for he was married, before he was 21 years of age, to Elizabeth daughter of Sir James Bouchier of Essex. Soon after his marriage he returned to the country, where he led a very grave and sober life. This sudden reformation has been ascribed to his falling in with the Puritans; but it is certain, that Mr Cromwell continued then, and for some time after, a zealous member of the church of England, and formed a close friendship with several eminent divines.

He continued at Huntingdon where he settled after Cromwell's marriage, till an estate of between £400 and £500 per annum devolved to him by the death of his uncle Sir Thomas Stuart. This induced him to remove to the isle of Ely where the estate lay, and here he embraced the puritanical doctrines. He was elected a member of the third parliament of Charles I., which met on the 20th of January 1628; and was a member of the committee for religion, where he distinguished himself by his zeal against popery. After the dissolution of that parliament, he returned again into the country, where he continued to express much concern for religion, to keep company with silenced ministers, and to invite them often to lectures and sermons at his house. Thus he brought his affairs again into a very indifferent situation; so that, by way of repairing the breaches he made in his fortune, he took a farm at St Ives, which he kept five years. But this scheme succeeded to ill, that he was obliged to give it up; and at last, chagrined with his disappointments, and made uneasy by the treatment his party at that time received, he formed a design of going over to New-England. In this, however, he was disappointed; the king issued out a proclamation against all such emigrations, and Cromwell was obliged to remain in England against his will.

In 1638, Cromwell had first an opportunity of getting himself publicly taken notice of. The earl of Bedford, and some other persons of high rank, who had estates in the fen country, were very desirous of having it better drained; and though one project of this sort had failed, they set on foot another, got it countenanced by royal authority, and settled a part of the profits upon the crown. This, though really intended for a public benefit, was opposed as injurious to private property: and at the head of the opposers was Mr Oliver Cromwell, who had considerable influence in these parts. The vigour he showed on this occasion recommended him to his friend and relation Mr Hampden; who afterwards characterized him in parliament, as a person capable of contriving and conducting great designs. But for all this he was not very successful in his opposition; and as his private affairs were still declining, he was in very necessitous circumstances at the approach of the long parliament. In this critical situation he got himself elected member of parliament in the following manner. In the puritanical meetings which he constantly frequented, Oliver had most eminently distinguished himself by his gifts of praying, preaching, and expounding. At one of these meetings, he met with one Richard Tims, a tradesman of Cambridge. This man was so much taken with Oliver, that he took it into his head to attempt getting him chosen burgess for the approaching parliament. Being himself one of the common-council, Tims imagined this design might be brought about; and with this view went to Mr Wildbore a relation of Cromwell's, to whom he communicated his intention. Wildbore agreed as to the fitness of the person; but told him the design was impracticable, because Oliver was not a freeman. Tims next addressed one Evett on the same subject, who also made the same objection. He recollected, however, that the mayor had a freedom to bestow, and a scheme was immediately laid for securing this freedom to Cromwell. On application... plication to the mayor; however, he told them that the freedom was already disposed of to another; but this objection being obviated by promising that person a freedom from the town, the mayor being informed that Cromwell was a man of great fortune, signified his intention of bestowing the freedom upon him. Our hero, being informed of the good offices of his friends, made his appearance in the court dressed in scarlet richly laced with gold, and having provided plenty of claret and sweetmeats, they were freely circulated among the corporation, that Mr Mayor's freeman was unanimously declared to be a very civil worthy gentleman. When the election came on, the mayor discovered his mistake, but it was now too late; the party among the burgesses was strong enough to choose him, and accordingly did so at the election next year.

When Cromwell first came into parliament, he affected great plainness, and even carelessness, in his dress. His attention to farming had entirely rusticated him, so that he made a very uncouth appearance.

"Who (says Dr South) that had beheld such a bankrupt, beggarly fellow, as Cromwell, first entering the parliament house, with a threadbare torn coat and greasy hat, and perhaps neither of them paid for, could have suspected, that, in the space of few years, he should, by the murder of one king, and the banishment of another, ascend the throne, be invested with the royal robes, and want nothing of the state of a king but the changing his hat into a crown?"

Cromwell was very active in promoting the famous Remonstrance*, which in reality laid the foundation of the civil war. He declared afterwards to Lord Falkland, that if the remonstrance had not been carried, he designed to have converted the small remains of his estate into ready money the next day, and to have left the kingdom by the first opportunity. His firmness on this occasion so effectually recommended him to Hampden, Pym, and the other leaders of the popular party, that they took him into all their councils; and here he acquired that clear insight into things, and that knowledge of men, of which he afterwards made such prodigious use. His exploits during the civil war, his murder of the king, and usurpation of the kingdom, are related under the article BRITAIN, n° 139, 188.

With regard to the character of Cromwell, Mr Hume expresses himself as follows: "The writers attached to this wonderful person make his character, with regard to abilities, bear the air of the most extravagant panegyric: his enemies form such a representation of his moral qualities as resembles the most virulent invective. Both of them, it must be confessed, are supported by such striking circumstances in his fortune and conduct, as befit on their representation a great air of probability. What can be more extraordinary (it is said), than that a person of private birth and education, no fortune, no eminent qualities of body, which have sometimes, nor shining qualities of mind, which have often raised men to the highest dignities, should have the courage to attempt, and the abilities to execute, so great a design as the subverting one of the most ancient as well as best established monarchies in the world? That he should have the power and boldness to put his prince and matter to an open and infamous death? Should banish Cromwell, that numerous and strongly allied family? Cover all these temerities under a seeming obedience to a parliament, in whose service he pretended to be retained? Trample too upon that parliament in their turn, and scornfully expel them as soon as they gave him ground of dissatisfaction? Erect in their place the dominion of the saints, and give reality to the most visionary idea which the heated imagination of any fanatic was ever able to entertain? Suppress again that moniter in its infancy, and openly set himself up above all things that ever were called sovereign in England? Overcome first all his enemies by arms, and all his friends afterwards by artifice? Serve all parties patiently for a while, and afterwards command them victoriously at last? Over-run each corner of the three nations, and subdue with equal facility both the riches of the south, and the poverty of the north? Be feared and courted by all princes, and adopted a brother to the gods of the earth? Call together parliaments with a word of his pen, and scatter them again by the breath of his mouth? Reduce to subjection a warlike and discontented nation by means of a mutinous army? Command a mutinous army by means of feditious and factious officers? Be humbly and daily petitioned, that he would be pleased, at the rate of millions a-year, to be hired as master of those who had formerly hired him for their servant? Have the estates and lives of three nations as much at his disposal as was once the little inheritance of his father, and be as noble and liberal in the spending of them? And, lastly, (for there is no end of enumerating every particular of his glory), with one word bequeath all this power and splendor to his posterity? Die possessed of peace at home, and triumph abroad? Be buried among kings, and with more than regal solemnity? And leave a name behind him not to be extinguished but with the whole world; which, as it was too little for his praise, so it might have been for his conquests, if the short line of his mortal life could have stretched out to the extent of his immortal designs?"

"My intention is not to disfigure this picture drawn by so masterly a hand: I shall only endeavour to remove from it somewhat of the marvellous; a circumstance which, on all occasions, gives much ground for doubt and suspicion. It seems to me that the circumstance of Cromwell's life in which his abilities are principally discovered, is his rising, from a private station, in opposition to so many rivals, to much advanced before him, to a high command and authority in the army. His great courage, his signal military talents, his eminent dexterity and address, were all requisite for this important acquisition. Yet will not this promotion appear the effect of supernatural abilities, when we consider that Fairfax himself, a private gentleman, who had not the advantage of a seat in parliament, had, through the same steps, attained even to a superior rank; and, if endowed with common capacity and penetration, had been able to retain it. To incite such an army to rebellion against the parliament, required no uncommon art or industry: to have kept them in obedience had been the more difficult enterprise. When the breach was once formed between the military and civil powers, a supreme and absolute authority, from that moment, is devolved on Cromwell, the general; and if he is afterwards pleased to employ artifice or policy, it may be regarded on most occasions as great condescension, if not as superfluous caution. That Cromwell was ever able really to blind or over-reach either the king or the republicans, does not appear: as they possessed no means of resisting the force under his command, they were glad to temporize with him; and, by seeming to be deceived, to wait for an opportunity of freeing themselves from his dominion. If he seduced the military fanatics, it is to be considered, that their interest and his evidently concurred; that their ignorance and low education exposed them to the grossest imposition; and that he himself was at bottom as frantic an enthusiast as the worst of them; and, in order to obtain their confidence, needed but to display those vulgar and ridiculous habits which he had early acquired, and on which he set so high a value. An army is forcible, and at the same time so coarse a weapon, that any hand which wields it, may, without much dexterity, perform any operation, and attain any ascendant in human society.

"The domestic administration of Cromwell, though it discovers great ability, was conducted without any plan either of liberty or arbitrary power: perhaps his difficult situation admitted of neither. His foreign enterprises, though full of trepidity, were pernicious to national interest; and seem more the result of impetuous fury or narrow prejudices, than of cool forethought and deliberation. An eminent personage, however, he was in many respects, and even a superior genius; but unequal and irregular in his operations: and, though not defective in any talent except that of elocution, the abilities which in him were most admirable, and which contributed most to his marvellous success, were the magnanimous resolution of his enterprises, and his peculiar dexterity in discovering the characters and practising on the weaknesses of mankind.

"If we survey the moral character of Cromwell, with that indulgence which is due to the blindness and infirmities of the human species, we shall not be inclined to load his memory with such violent reproaches as those which his enemies usually throw upon it. Amidst the passions and prejudices of that time, that he should prefer the parliamentary to the royal cause, will not appear extraordinary; since even at present many men of sense and knowledge are disposed to think, that the question, with regard to the justice of the quarrel, may be regarded as doubtful and ambiguous. The murder of the king, the most atrocious of all his actions, was to him covered under a mighty cloud of republican and fanatical illusions; and it is not impossible but he might believe it, as many others did, the most meritorious action which he could perform. His subsequent usurpation was the effect of necessity, as well as of ambition; nor is it easy to see how the various factions could at that time have been restrained without a mixture of military and arbitrary authority. The private deportment of Cromwell as a son, a husband, a father, a friend, is exposed to no considerable censure, if it does not rather merit praise. And, upon the whole, his character does not appear more extraordinary and unusual by the mixture of so much absurdity with so much penetration, than by his tempering such violent ambition and such enraged fanaticism in Cromwell, with so much regard to justice and humanity."

That Cromwell continued a most complete and bigotted enthusiast to the very last, appears from his behaviour in his last sickness. His disease, which at first was a kind of slow fever, brought on by the cares and anxiety of his mind, soon degenerated into a tertian ague. For about a week the disorder continued without any dangerous symptoms, insomuch that every other day he walked abroad; but one day after dinner his five physicians coming to wait upon him, one of them having felt his pulse, said that it intermitted. At this Cromwell was surprised, turned pale, fell into a cold sweat, and, when he was almost fainting, ordered himself to be carried to bed; where, by the assistance of cordials, being brought a little to himself, he made his will with respect to his private affairs. The next morning when one of his physicians came to visit him, Cromwell asked him, why he looked so sad? and when answer was made, that so it became everyone who had the weighty charge of his life and health upon him, "Ye physicians (says Cromwell), think I shall die: I tell you I shall not die this bout, I am sure of it. Do not you think (said he to the physician, looking more attentively at him), do not think that I am mad: I speak the words of truth upon surer grounds than your Hippocrates or Galen can furnish you with. God Almighty himself hath given that answer, not to my prayers alone, but also to the prayers of those who entertain a stricter commerce and greater interest with him. Go on cheerfully, banishing all sadness from your looks; and deal with me as you would do with a fervent man. Ye may have a skill in the nature of things; yet nature can do more than all physicians put together, and God is far more above nature." As this physician was coming out of the chamber, he accidentally met with another, to whom he expressed his fear that the protector was turning light-headed. But the other informed him that the chaplains, being dispersed the preceding night into different parts of the house, had prayed for the protector's recovery, and unanimously received for answer that he should recover. Nay, to such a degree of madness did they at last arrive, that a public fast being kept at Hampton-court, they did not so much pray to God for the protector's health, as return thanks for the undoubted pledges they had of his recovery. On this account, though the physicians perceived his distemper increasing every hour, they took no notice of his danger, till it became necessary for him to appoint a successor while he had any breath remaining. But being then in a lethargic fit, he answered from the purpose; upon which he was again asked whether he did not name his eldest son Richard? and to this question he answered, Yes. Being then asked where his will was which he had formerly made concerning the heirs of the kingdom; he sent to look for it in his closet and other places, but in vain; for somebody had either stole it, or he himself had burnt it. Soon after, he expired, on the 3rd of September 1658, aged somewhat more than 59 years and four months. This day of September he had always reckoned to be the most fortunate for him in the whole year. A violent tempest, which immediately succeeded his death, served as a subject of discourse to the vulgar. His partizans, as well as his opponents, were... were fond of remarking this event: and each of them endeavoured, by forced inferences, to interpret it as best suited their particular prejudices.

It has been imagined by some, that Oliver Cromwell was poisoned; but for this there seems to be no reasonable foundation. His body was opened by Dr Bates. He found the brain somewhat overcharged with blood, and the lungs a little inflamed; but what he reckoned to have been the principal cause of his disorder was a total degeneracy of the substance of the spleen into a matter resembling the lees of oil. This, he thought, also accounted for the hypochondriac dispositions to which Cromwell had from his infancy been subject. Though the bowels were taken out, and the body filled with spices wrapped in a fourfold cere-cloth, put first into a coffin of lead, and then into one of wood, yet the corruption was so great that the humour wrought itself through the whole, and there was a necessity of interring the body before the solemnity of the funeral. A very pompous funeral was ordered at the public expense, and performed from Somerset-house, with a splendor not only equal but superior to that bestowed upon crowned heads. Some have related that his body was deposited in Naseby-field: others, that it was wrapped in lead, and sunk in the deepest part of the Thames, to prevent any insult that might afterwards be offered to it. But it seems beyond doubt that his body was interred at Westminster; as we are informed, that on the order to disinter him after the restoration, his corpse was found in a vault in the middle aisle of Henry VII.'s chapel. In the inside of the coffin, and on the breast of the corpse, was laid a copper plate finely gilt, inclosed in a thin case of lead. On one side of this plate were engraven the arms of England impaled with those of Oliver, and on the reverse the following legend: Oliverius Protector Reipublicae Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae, natus 25 Aprilis 1599, inauguratus 16 Decembris 1653, mortuus 3 Septembris anni 1658, hic fitus est.

Cromwell was of a robust frame of body, and of a manly, though not agreeable aspect. His nose being remarkably red and thinning, was often made the subject of ridicule. He left only two sons, Richard and Henry: and three daughters; one married to General Fleetwood, another to Lord Fauconberg, and a third to Lord Rich. His mother lived till after he was protector; and contrary to her orders he buried her with great pomp in Westminster Abbey. She could not be persuaded that ever his power or his person was in safety. At every noise she heard she would exclaim that her son was murdered; and was never satisfied that he was alive if she did not receive frequent visits from him. She was a decent woman; and by her frugality and industry had raised and educated a numerous family upon a small fortune. She had even been obliged to set up a brewery at Huntingdon, which she managed to good advantage. Hence Cromwell, in the invectives of that age, is often stigmatized with the name of brewer. Ludlow, by way of insult, mentions the great affection which he would receive to his royal revenues upon his mother's death, who possessed a jointure of 60 pounds a-year upon his estate. She was of a good family, of the name of Stuart; and is by some supposed to have been remotely allied to the royal family.

Cromwell (Richard), eldest son of Oliver Cromwell, was by his father appointed successor to the protectorship, but very soon deposed by the army*. They discharged his debts, took all the household stuff, plate, &c. gave him a protection for six months, and so he retired. He was by no means qualified to support the station gained by the aspiring talents of his father. He was of a moderate temper, and untainted with that fanatical spirit which his father had so successfully cultivated. On the restoration he went abroad; but returned in 1680 under the assumed name of Clark, and settled at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, where he lived privately, and died in 1712, aged 86.