be again possessed of more absolute authority
than ever, and to be without any danger of opposition or control.

The republican party was at this time guided by two men, Hazelrig and
Vane, who were of opposite characters, and mortally hated each other.
Hazelrig, who possessed greater authority in the parliament, was
haughty, imperious, precipitate, vainglorious; without civility, without
prudence; qualified only by his noisy, pertinacious obstinacy to
acquire an ascendant in public assemblies. Vane was noted in all civil
transactions for temper, insinuation, address, and a profound judgment;
in all religious speculations, for folly and extravagance. He was a
perfect enthusiast; and fancying that he was certainly favored with
inspiration, he deemed himself, to speak in the language of the times,
to be a _man above ordinances_, and, by reason of his perfection,
to be unlimited and unrestrained by any rules which govern inferior
mortals. These whimseys, mingling with pride, had so corrupted his
excellent understanding, that sometimes he thought himself the
person deputed to reign on earth for a thousand years over the whole
congregation of the faithful.[*]

* Clarendon.

Monk, though informed of the restoration of the parliament, from whom
he received no orders, still advanced with his army, which was near six
thousand men: the scattered forces in England were above five times more
numerous. Fairfax, who had resolved to declare for the king, not being
able to make the general open his intentions, retired to his own house
in Yorkshire. In all counties through which Monk passed, the prime
gentry flocked to him with addresses, expressing their earnest desire
that he would be instrumental in restoring the nation to peace and
tranquillity, and to the enjoyment of those liberties which by law were
their birthright, but of which, during so many years, they had been
fatally bereaved; and that, in order to this salutary purpose, he would
prevail, either for the restoring of those members who had been secluded
before the king's death, or for the election of a new parliament, who
might legally and by general consent again govern the nation. Though
Monk pretended not to favor these addresses, that ray of hope which the
knowledge of his character and situation afforded, mightily animated
all men. The tyranny and the anarchy which now equally oppressed the
kingdom; the experience of past distractions, the dread of future
convuls