ven more
irritable than his own. Under the terms of the new constitution the
members excluded in the preceding year took their places again in the
House; and it was soon clear that the Parliament reflected the general
mood of the nation. The tone of the Commons became captious and
quarrelsome. They still delayed the grant for supplies. Meanwhile, a
hasty act of the Protector in giving to his nominees in "the other
House," as the new second chamber he had devised was called, the title
of "Lords," kindled a strife between the two Houses which was busily
fanned by Haselrig and other opponents of the government. It was
contended that the "other House" had under the new constitution simply
judicial, and not legislative, powers. Such a contention struck at once
at Cromwell's work of restoring the old political forms of English life:
and the reappearance of parliamentary strife threw him at last, says an
observer at his court, "into a rage and passion like unto madness."

What gave weight to it was the growing strength of the Royalist party,
and its hopes of a coming rising. Such a rising had in fact been
carefully prepared; and Charles, with a large body of Spanish troops,
drew to the coast of Flanders to take advantage of it. His hopes were
above all encouraged by the strife in the Commons, and their manifest
dislike of the system of the Protectorate. It was this that drove
Cromwell to action. Summoning his coach, by a sudden impulse, the
Protector drove on, February 4th, with a few guards to Westminster; and,
setting aside the remonstrance of Fleetwood, summoned the two Houses to
his presence. "I do dissolve this Parliament," he ended a speech of
angry rebuke, "and let God be judge between you and me."

Fatal as was the error, for the moment all went well. The army was
reconciled by the blow levelled at its opponents, and a few murmurers
who appeared in its ranks were weeded out by a careful remodelling. The
triumphant officers avowed to stand or fall with his highness. The
danger of a Royalist rising vanished before a host of addresses from the
counties. Great news, too, came from abroad, where victory in Flanders,
and the cession of Dunkirk in June, set the seal on Cromwell's glory.
But the fever crept steadily on, and his looks told the tale of death to
the Quaker, Fox, who met him riding in Hampton Court Park.

"Before I came to him," he says, "as he rode at the head of his
lifeguards, I saw and felt a waft of death g