finder, and such an one shall every faythfull humble seeker bee at the end.  Happie seeker; happie finder.  Who ever tasted that the Lord is gracious, without some sense of self-vanitye and badness?  Who ever tasted that graciousnesse of his, and could goe lesse in desier, and lesse than pressinge after full enjoyment?  Deere hart presse on:  lett not husband, lett not anythinge coole thy affections after Christ,” &c. &c. &c.—­Harris, iii.  App. 515, edit. 1814.]

console his favourite daughter.  He frequently visited her, remained long in her apartment, and, whenever he quitted it, seemed to be absorbed in the deepest melancholy.  It is not probable that the subject of their private conversation was exposed to the profane ears of strangers.  We are, however, told that she expressed to him her doubts of the justice of the good old cause, that she exhorted him to restore the sovereign authority to the rightful owner, and that, occasionally, when her mind was wandering, she alarmed him by uttering cries of “blood,” and predictions of vengeance.[1]

4.  Elizabeth died.[a] The protector was already confined to his bed with the gout, and, though he had anticipated the event, some days elapsed before he recovered from the shock.  A slow fever still remained, which was pronounced a bastard tertian.[b] One of his physicians whispered to another, that his pulse was intermittent;[c] the words caught the ears of the sick man; he turned pale, a cold perspiration covered his face; and, requesting to be placed in bed, he executed his private will.  The next morning he had recovered his usual composure; and when he received the visit of his physician,[d] ordering all his attendants to quit the room but his wife, whom he held by the hand, he said to him:  “Do not think that I shall die; I am sure of the contrary.”  Observing the surprise which these words excited, he continued:  “Say not that I have lost my reason:  I tell you the truth.  I know it from better authority than any which you can have from Galen or Hippocrates.  It is the answer of God himself to our prayers; not to mine alone, but to those of others who have a more intimate

[Footnote 1:  Clar.  Hist. iii. 647.  Bulstrode, 205.  Heath, 408.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1658.  August 6.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1658.  August 17.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1658.  August 24.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1658.  August 25.]

interest in him than I have."[1] The same communication was made to Thurloe, and to the different members of the protector’s family; nor did it fail to obtain credit among men who believed that “in other instances he had been favoured with similar assurances, and that they had never deceived him."[2] Hence his chaplain Goodwin exclaimed, “O Lord, we pray not for his recovery; that thou hast granted already; what we now beg is his speedy recovery."[3]