forwards under his feet. At last he managed to get away across the sea to France. 8. But before long the Parliament quarrelled with Cromwell. It was thirteen years since it had been elected; and Cromwell resolved that the nation should elect a fresh one. So he went one day into the House of Commons, and called in soldiers, and they dragged the Speaker from his chair, turned all the members out of the House, and locked the doors. 9. Oliver Cromwell ruled England about five years, and some of his friends would have made him king if they had been able. The end of his life was sad. Many of the friends who had stood up with him against the king in Parliament, and who had fought side by side with him, turned against him. They thought he took too much power upon himself, and sought his own glory instead of his country's good. But while he ruled, England was greatly respected abroad, and he protected the Protestants in foreign lands from persecution. 10. Many hated him, and tried to kill him, so that he dared not sleep twice in the same bed, and wore armour under his clothes, and was surrounded by guards. He became moody and sullen, and fell into a melancholy sickness. Then one of his daughters whom he loved very dearly fell ill and died; and this he felt more than anything. And very soon after he died too. And as he lay on his death-bed, he said, "I would be willing to live to be further serviceable to God and His people; but my work is done, yet God will be with His people.” 42. JOHN MILTON (B. 1608; D. 1674). 1. Soon after King James came out of Scotland to reign in England, one of the greatest English poets was born in London. His name was John Milton; from his boyhood he was determined to write a great poem. He had read in old books of history about a famous prince called Arthur, who once ruled over the Britons, and was served by a great company of very noble knights, who did good and glorious deeds continually. So about Arthur he meant to write. 2. When Milton grew up he still kept the same mind. But the struggle between Charles I. and the Parliament broke out and interrupted all Milton's thoughts and plans. He was on his travels in Italy; but he hastened home to aid the Parliament. 3. On his way back he heard that his dearest friend was dead; and it seemed to him that all happiness was over for him, and that the rest of his life would be sad and lonely. He poured out his sorrow in a long sad poem, and then said to himself that he would write no more poetry till his country should be delivered from the trouble in which it now stood. 4. At last peace was restored, and John Milton was chosen to be secretary to the Council which helped Cromwell in the government. His duty was to write letters in Latin to all the kings and queens of Europe, telling them all that Cromwell and his Council determined to do in foreign affairs. 5. Now Milton was suffering much from bad eye sight, and his doctor had told him that unless he gave up reading and writing for a time he would lose his sight altogether, and be blind for the rest of his life. But Milton would not cease to labour for his country, and at last he became quite blind. A friend once asked him how he bore his blindness so patiently, and he answered that he was comforted by the thought that he had lost his sight in serving his country. 6. Very soon after the death of Cromwell, Charles the Second was called back to be King of England. And then all the men who had had honours and power during Cromwell's reign fell into disgrace. Milton, among others, lost his work and the wages he had been paid for it. And now, at last, he had time to write the great poem he had thought of all his life. He could not write it with his own hand because of his blindness. But there were many young men who honoured him for the noble life that he had lived, and were glad to serve him by reading and writing for him. He had daughters, too, who sometimes helped him in these ways. So Milton thought out his poem in his mind, and then dictated it word by word to his friends and his daughters. 7. But after all this great poem was not about King Arthur and his knights. Milton had changed his mind as he grew old, and he chose instead to tell again the story that is written in the Book of Genesis about Adam and Eve and the sin of disobedience, for which they were turned out of the Garden of Eden. He called this poem "Paradise Lost;" and when he had finished it, he wrote another, which he called "Paradise Regained." And in this second poem he described the Temptation of Jesus Christ in the Wilderness, and showed how men may win back the best sort of happiness by choosing to do right and refusing to do wrong. 43. CHARLES II. (R. 1660-1685). 1. All England welcomed back Charles II., for men were tired of the uncertain and changing government under which they had lived since the Civil War began, and Charles promised that he would rule justly and lawfully. But no man could rely on his word. 2. Charles' reign is famous for three great disasters. First, there came the Great Plague of London. People grew sick and died by hundreds and thousands. The king, and everybody else who could, fled from London; but when once the plague had broken out in a house, there a great cross of red was painted on the door, and no one was allowed to pass out till the sick were all dead or recovered. Very few recovered. At night the dead-carts went round. Men bearing torches walked before, and rang a bell, and cried, "Bring out your dead!" And so they were borne away to be buried by hundreds in great pits. 3. The next year came the Great Fire of London. Most of the London houses were then built of wood. The fire broke out at the place where the Monument now stands, and spread very rapidly. St. Paul's |