disappearance of the last remains of Oliver (Nov. 29, 1658) it was resolved in Council to call a Parliament.  This, in fact, was but carrying out the intention formed in the late Protectorate; but, while the cause that had mainly made another Parliament desirable to Oliver was still excruciatingly in force,—­to wit, the exhaustion of funds,—­it was considered fitting moreover that Richard’s accession should as soon as possible pass the ordeal of Parliamentary approval.  Thursday, Jan. 27, 1658-9, was the day fixed for the meeting of the Parliament.  Through the intervening weeks, while all the constituencies were busy with the canvassing and the elections, the procedure of Richard and his Council at Whitehall seemed still regular and judicious.  There was due correspondence with foreign powers, and there was no interruption of the home-administration.  The Protector kept court as his father had done, and conferred knighthoods and other honours, which were thankfully accepted.  Sermons were dedicated to him as “the thrice illustrious Richard, Lord Protector.”  In short, nearly five months of his Protectorship passed away without any tumult or manifest opposition.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Merc.  Pol., from Sept. 1658 to Jan. 1658-9, as quoted in Cromwelliana, 178-181; Thurloe, VII. 383-384, et seq. as far as 541; Whitlocke, IV. 335-339; Phillips (i.e. continuation of Baker’s Chronicle by Milton’s nephew, Edward Phillips), ed. 1679, pp. 635-639; Peplum Olivarii, a funeral sermon on Oliver, dated Nov. 17, 1658, among Thomason Pamphlets.—­Knights of Richard’s dubbing in the first five months of his Protectorate were—­General Morgan (Nov. 26), Captain Beke (Dee. 6), and Colonel Hugh Bethel (Dee. 26).  There may have been others.]

Appearances, however, were very deceptive.  The death of Cromwell had, of course, agitated the whole world of exiled Royalism, raising sunk hopes, and stimulating Charles himself, the Queen-Mother, Hyde, Ormond, Colepepper, and the other refugees over the Continent, to doubled activity of intrigue and correspondence.  And, though that immediate excitement had passed, and had even been succeeded by a kind of wondering disappointment among the exiles at the perfect calm attending Richard’s accession, it was evident that the chances of Charles were immensely greater under Richard than they had been while Oliver lived.  For one thing, would the relations of Louis XIV. and Mazarin to Richard’s Government remain the same as they had been to Oliver’s?  There was no disturbance of these relations as yet.  The English auxiliaries in Flanders were still shoulder to shoulder with Turenne and his Frenchmen, sharing with them such new successes as the capture of Ypres, accomplished mainly by the valour of the brave Morgan.  But who knew what might be passing in the mind of the crafty Cardinal?  Then what of the Dutch?  In the streets of Amsterdam the populace, on receipt of the news of Cromwell’s death, had gone about