made Fashionable. Such was the Time in which _Cromwell_ enter'd himself
into the Parliament's Service. What he aim'd at first was Applause;
and skilfully suiting himself in every Respect to the Spirit of his
party, he studied Day and Night to gain the good Opinion of the Army.
He would have done the same, if he had been on the other Side. The
Chief Motive of all his Actions was Ambition, and what he wanted was
immortal Fame. This End he steadily pursued: All his Faculties were
made subservient to it; and no Genius was ever more supple to his
Interest. He could take Delight in being Just, Humane and Munificent,
and with equal Pleasure he could oppress, persecute and plunder, if it
served his Purpose. In the most Treacherous Contrivance to hasten the
Execution of his blackest Design, he could counterfeit Enthusiasm, and
seem to be a Saint. But the most enormous of his Crimes proceeded from
no worse Principle, than the best of his Atchievements. In the Midst
of his Villanies he was a Slave to Business; and the most
disinterested Patriot never watch'd over the Publick Welfare, both at
Home and Abroad, with greater Care and Assiduity, or retriev'd the
fallen Credit of a Nation in less Time than this Usurper: But all was
for himself; and he never had a Thought on the Glory of _England_,
before he had made it inseparable from his own.

Hor. I don't wonder you dwell so long upon Cromwell, for Nothing can
be more serviceable to your System, than his Life and Actions.

Cleo. You will pardon the Excursion, when I own, that you have hit
upon the Reason. What I intended to shew, when I ran away from my
Subject, was, that able Politicians consult the Humour of the Age, and
the Conjuncture they live in, and that _Cromwell_ made the most of his.
I don't question, but he would have done the same, if he had been born
three or four score Years later. And if he had been to command an