cherished," and sure to appreciate the late
declaration in favour of a sober and conservative Church policy,
inasmuch as no nation more dreaded "to be overrun with fanatic
notions." Having thus delivered himself, Monk withdrew, leaving the
House wholly mystified, but also a good deal distempered, by his
ambiguities. It seems to have been on this occasion that Henry Marten
vented that witty description of Monk which is one of the best even
of _his_ good sayings. "Monk," he said, "is like a man that,
being sent for to make a suit of clothes, should bring with him a
budget full of carpenter's tools, and, being told that such things
were not at all fit for the work he was desired to do, should answer,
'It matters not; I will do your work well enough, I warrant you.'"
Monk was now on the spot with his budget of carpenter's tools, and he
meant to make a tolerable suit of clothes with them somehow.[1]

[Footnote 1: There is a hiatus in the Journals at the point of
Monk's reception and speech in the House; but the speech was printed
separately, and is given in the Parl. Hist. III. 1575-7. The original
authority for Henry Marten's witticism is, I believe, Ludlow
(810-811).]

There was no lack of advices for his direction. Through the month of
his march and of the anxious sittings of the House in expectation of
him, the London press had teemed with pamphlets for the crisis. _The
Rota, or a Model of a Free State or Equal Commonwealth_ was another
of Harrington's, published Jan. 9, when Monk was between Newcastle
and York; and on the 8th of February, when Monk had been five days in
London, he was saluted by _The Ways and Means whereby an Equal and
lasting Commonwealth may be suddenly introduced_, also by Harrington.
_A Coffin for the Good Old Cause_ was another, in a different strain;
and there were others and still others, some of them in the form of
letters expressly addressed to Monk. From the moment of his arrival
at St. Alban's, indeed, he had become the universal target for
letter-writers and the universal object of popular curiosity. _The
Pedigree and Descent of his Excellency General Monk_ was on the
book-stalls the day before his entry into London, and his speech to
the Parliament was in print the day after its delivery. All were
watching to see what "Old George" would do. He did not yet know that
himself, but was trying to find out. What occupied him was that
question of the means towards a full and free Parliament whi