a pompous funeral
at the public charge: but the tears of his countrymen were the most
honorable panegyric on his memory.

The conduct of the protector in foreign affairs, though imprudent and
impolitic, was full of vigor and enterprise, and drew a consideration
to his country, which, since the reign of Elizabeth, it seemed to have
totally lost. The great mind of this successful usurper was intent on
spreading the renown of the English nation; and while he struck mankind
with astonishment at his extraordinary fortune, he seemed to ennoble
instead of debasing, that people whom he had reduced to subjection. It
was his boast, that he would render the name of an Englishman as much
feared and revered as ever was that of a Roman; and as his countrymen
found some reality in these pretensions, their national vanity, being
gratified, made them bear with more patience all the indignities and
calamities under which they labored.

It must also be acknowledged, that the protector, in his civil and
domestic administration, displayed as great regard both to justice and
clemency, as his usurped authority, derived from no law, and founded
only on the sword, could possibly permit. All the chief offices in
the courts of judicature were filled with men of integrity: amidst
the virulence of faction, the decrees of the judges were upright and
impartial; and to every man but himself, and to himself, except where
necessity required the contrary, the law was the great rule of conduct
and behavior. Vane and Lilburn, whose credit with the republicans and
levellers he dreaded, were indeed for some time confined to prison:
Cony, who refused to pay illegal taxes, was obliged by menaces to depart
from his obstinacy: high courts of justice were erected to try those who
had engaged in conspiracies and insurrections against the protector's
authority, and whom he could not safely commit to the verdict of juries.
But these irregularities were deemed inevitable consequences of his
illegal authority. And though often urged by his officers, as is
pretended,[*] to attempt a general massacre of the royalists, he always
with horror rejected such sanguinary counsels.

* Clarendon, Life of Lord Berwick, etc.

In the army was laid the sole basis of the protector's power; and in
managing it consisted the chief art and delicacy of his government. The
soldiers were held in exact discipline; a policy which both accustomed
them to obedience, and made them less