city; and very few hours were allowed him to deliberate
upon the execution of these violent orders. To the great surprise
and consternation of all men, Monk prepared himself for obedience.
Neglecting the entreaties of his friends, the remonstrances of his
officers, the cries of the people, he entered the city in a military
manner; he apprehended as many as he could of the proscribed persons,
whom he sent to the Tower; with all the circumstances of contempt, he
broke the gates and portcullises; and having exposed the city to the
scorn and derision of all who hated it, he returned in triumph to his
quarters in Westminster.

No sooner had the general leisure to reflect, than he found that this
last measure, instead of being a continuation of that cautious ambiguity
which he had hitherto maintained, was taking party without reserve, and
laying himself, as well as the nation, at the mercy of that tyrannical
parliament, whose power and long been odious, as their persons
contemptible, to all men. He resolved, therefore, before it were too
late, to repair the dangerous mistake into which he had been betrayed,
and to show the whole world, still more without reserve, that he
meant no longer to be the minister of violence and usurpation. After
complaining of the odious service in which ha had been employed, he
wrote a letter to the house, reproaching them, as well with the
new cabals which they had formed with Vane and Lambert, as with the
encouragement given to a fanatical petition presented by Praise-God
Barebone; and he required them, in the name of the citizens, soldiers,
and whole commonwealth, to issue writs within a week, for the filling
of their house, and to fix the time for their own dissolution and the
assembling of a new parliament. Having despatched this letter, which
might be regarded, he thought, as an undoubted pledge of his sincerity,
he marched with his army into the city, and desired Allen, the mayor, to
summon a common council at Guildhall. He there made many apologies for
the indignity which two days before he had been obliged to put upon
them; assured them of his perseverance in the measures which he had
adopted; and desired that they might mutually plight their faith for
a strict union between city and army, in every enterprise for the
happiness and settlement of the commonwealth.

It would be difficult to describe the joy and exultation which displayed
itself throughout the city, as soon as intelligence wa