ever stand high in the list of those who raised themselves to
supreme power by the force of their genius; and among such, even in
respect of moral virtue, it would be found to be one of the least
exceptionable if it had not been tainted with that most odious and
degrading of all human vices, hypocrisy.

The short interval between Cromwell's death and the restoration
exhibits the picture of a nation either so wearied with changes as
not to feel, or so subdued by military power as not to dare to show,
any care or even preference with regard to the form of their
government. All was in the army; and that army, by such a
concurrence of fortuitous circumstances as history teaches us not to
be surprised at, had fallen into the hands of a man than whom a
baser could not be found in its lowest ranks. Personal courage
appears to have been Monk's only virtue; reserve and dissimulation
made up the whole stock of his wisdom. But to this man did the
nation look up, ready to receive from his orders the form of
government he should choose to prescribe. There is reason to
believe that, from the general bias of the Presbyterians, as well as
of the Cavaliers, monarchy was the prevalent wish; but it is
observable that although the Parliament was, contrary to the
principle upon which it was pretended to be called, composed of many
avowed royalists, yet none dared to hint at the restoration of the
king till they had Monk's permission, or rather command to receive
and consider his letters. It is impossible, in reviewing the whole
of this transaction, not to remark that a general who had gained his
rank, reputation, and station in the service of a republic, and of
what he, as well as others, called, however falsely, the cause of
liberty, made no scruple to lay the nation prostrate at the feet of
a monarch, without a single provision in favour of that cause; and