g his
own grandeur, more than of encouraging piety and religion, of which
he made such fervent professions. His eldest daughter, married to
Fleetwood, had adopted republican principles so vehement, that she could
not with patience behold power lodged in a single person, even in her
indulgent father. His other daughters were no less prejudiced in favor
of the royal cause, and regretted the violences and iniquities into
which, they thought, their family had so unhappily been transported.
Above all, the sickness of Mrs. Claypole, his peculiar favorite, a lady
endued with many humane virtues and amiable accomplishments, depressed
his anxious mind, and poisoned all his enjoyments. She had entertained a
high regard for Dr. Huet, lately executed; and being refused his pardon,
the melancholy of her temper, increased by her distempered body, had
prompted her to lament to her father all his sanguinary measures, and
urge him to compunction for those heinous crimes into which his fatal
ambition had betrayed him. Her death, which followed soon after, gave
new edge to every word which she had uttered.

All composure of mind was now forever fled from the protector: he felt
that the grandeur which he had attained with so much guilt and courage,
could not insure him that tranquillity which it belongs to virtue alone,
and moderation, fully to ascertain. Overwhelmed with the load of public
affairs, dreading perpetually some fatal accident in his distempered
government, seeing nothing around him but treacherous friends or enraged
enemies, possessing the confidence of no party, resting his title on
no principle, civil or religious, he found his power to depend on so
delicate a poise of factions and interests, as the smallest event was
able, without any preparation, in a moment to overturn. Death, too,
which with such signal intrepidity he had braved in the field, being
incessantly threatened by the poniards of fanatical or interested
assassins, was ever present to his terrified apprehension, and haunted
him in every scene of business or repose. Each action of his life
betrayed the terrors under which he labored. The aspect of strangers was
uneasy to him: with a piercing and anxious eye he surveyed every face to
which he was not daily accustomed. He never moved a step without strong
guards attending him: he wore armor under his clothes, and further
secured himself by offensive weapons, a sword, falchion, and pistols,
which he always carried