w saw his error in aiding the French,
and made an offer of uniting his forces with those of Spain, provided the
siege of Calais were made the first attempt of the combined army.]

rapidly undermining his constitution, and hurrying him from the gay and
glittering visions of ambition to the darkness and silence of the tomb.

1. Cromwell was now reduced to that situation which, to the late
unfortunate monarch, had proved the source of so many calamities. His
expenditure far outran his income. Though the last parliament had made
provision, ample provision, as it was then thought, for the splendour of
his establishment, and for all the charges of the war, he had already
contracted enormous debts; his exchequer was frequently drained to the last
shilling; and his ministers were compelled to go a-begging--such is the
expression of the secretary of state--for the temporary loan of a few
thousand pounds, with the cheerless anticipation of a refusal.[1] He
looked on the army, the greater part of which he had quartered in the
neighbourhood of the metropolis, as his chief--his only support against his
enemies; and while the soldiers were comfortably clothed and fed, he might
with confidence rely on their attachment; but now that their pay was in
arrear, he had reason to apprehend that discontent might induce them to
listen to the suggestions of those officers who sought to subvert his
power. On former occasions, indeed, he had relieved himself from similar
embarrassments by the imposition of taxes by his own authority; but this
practice was so strongly reprobated in the petition and advice, and he had
recently abjured it with so much solemnity, that he dared not repeat
the experiment. He attempted to raise a loan among the merchants and
capitalists in the city; but his credit and popularity were gone; he had,
by plunging into

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, vii. 99, 100, 144, 295.]

war with Spain, cut off one of the most plentiful sources of profit, the
Spanish trade; and the number of prizes made by the enemy, amounting to
more than a thousand,[1] had ruined many opulent houses. The application
was eluded by a demand of security on the landed property belonging to
country gentlemen. There remained a third expedient,--an application to
parliament. But Cromwell, like the first Charles, had learned to dread
the very name of a parliament. Three of these assemblies he had moulded
according to his own plan, and yet not one of them could he re