[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1657.  Feb. 13.]

Cromwell, and another to the army, both conceived in a strain of the most poignant and sarcastic irony, it proceeds to discuss the three questions:  Whether the lord-protector be a tyrant?  Whether it be lawful to do justice on him by killing him? and, Whether this, if it be lawful, will prove of benefit to the commonwealth?  Having determined each question in the affirmative, it concludes with an eulogium on the bold and patriotic spirit of Syndercombe, the rival of Brutus and Cato, and a warning that “longus illum sequitur ordo idem petentium decus;” that the protector’s own muster-roll contains the names of those who aspire to the honour of delivering their country; that his highness is not secure at his table, or in his bed; that death is at his heels wherever he moves, and that though his head reaches the clouds, he shall perish like his own dung, and they that have seen him shall exclaim, Where is he?  Of this tract thousands of copies were sent by Sexby into England; and, though many were seized by the officers, yet many found their way into circulation.[1] Having obtained a sum of one thousand four hundred crowns, he followed the books to organize new plots against the life of the protector.  But by this time he was too well known.  All his steps in Holland were watched; his departure for England was announced; emissaries were despatched in every direction; and within a few weeks he was apprehended and incarcerated in the Tower.  There he discovered, probably feigned, symptoms of insanity.  To questions respecting himself[a] he answered with apparent frankness and truth, that he had intrigued with the Spanish court, that he had supplied Syndercombe with money, that he had written the

[Footnote 1:  Thurloe, vi. 315.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1657.  Oct. 10.]

tract, “Killing no Murder;” nor was there, he said, any thing unlawful in these things, for the protectorate had not then been established by any authority of parliament; but, whenever he was interrogated respecting the names and plans of his associates, his answers became wild and incoherent, more calculated to mislead than to inform, to create suspicion of the friends, than to detect the machinations of the enemies, of the government.  He was never brought to trial, but died, probably by violence, in the sixth month of his imprisonment.[1]

3.  During the winter Blake continued to blockade Cadiz:  in spring he learnt that the Plate fleet from Peru had sought an asylum in the harbour of Santa Cruz, in the Island of Teneriffe.  There the merchantmen, ten in number, were moored close to the shore, in the form of a crescent; while the six galleons in their front formed a parallel line at anchor in deeper water.  The entrance of the bay was commanded by the guns of the castle; seven batteries erected at intervals along the beach protected the rest of the harbour; and these were connected with each other by covered ways lined with musketry.  So confident was the governor when he surveyed these preparations, that, in the pride of his heart, he desired a Dutch