The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 7, 1857.

his elder or other Brothers on various Public Commis.
slung for Draining the Fens of that region, or more
properly for inquiring into the possibility of such an
operation; a thing much noised of then; which Robert
Cromwell, among others, reported to be very feasible, very
promising, but did not live to see accomplished, or even
attempted. His social rank is sufficiently indicated;—
and much flunkeyism, falsity, and other carrion ought to
be buried! Better than all social rank, he is understood
to have been a wise, devout, stedfast, and worthy man, and
to have lived a modest and manful life in his station
there.

And again :
In short the stories of Oliver's " poverty," if they were
otherwise of any amount, are al false ; and should be
mentioned here, if still here, for the last time. The
faintly was of the rank of substantial gentry, and duly
connected with such in the counties round, for three
generations back.

And, further, Mr. Carlyle proves the relation-
ship between Cromwell and the Earl of Essex,
citing two original documents in which the
great-grandfather of Oliver Cromwell addresses
Cromwell Earl of Essex as "your most
bounden nephew."
Of the grandfather of the Protector, and of
Hinehinbrook, Mr. Carlyle writes

It was the Father Sir Henry Cromwell, who from his
sumptuosity was called the " Golden Knight," that built,
or that enlarged, remodelled and as good as built, the
Mansion of Hinchinbrook ; which had been a Nunner
while Nunneries still were: it was the son, Sir Oliver,
likewise an expensive man, that sold it to the Montagues,
since Earls of Sandwich, whose seat it still is. A stately
pleasant House, among its shady lawns and expanses, on
the left bank of the Ouse river, a short half' mile west of
Huntingdon ;—still stands pretty much as Oliver Crom-
well's Grandfather left it; rather kept goad and defended
front the inroads of Time and Accident, than substantially
altered. Several Portraits of the Cromwells, and other
interesting portraits and memorials of the seventeenth
and subsequent centuries, are still there. The Cromwell
blazonry " on the grEat bay window," which Noble makes
so math of, is now gone, destroyed by fire ; has given
place to Montague blazonry.
Of the house where Cromwell was born it is
said :
The House where Robert Cromwell dwelt, where his
son Oliver and all his family were born, is still familiar
to every inhabitant of Huntingdon : but it has been twice
rebuilt since that date, and now bears no memorial what•
ever which even Tradition can connect with him. It
stands at the upper or northern extremity of the Town,—
beyond the Market-place we spoke of; on the left or river.
ward side of the street. It is at present a solid yellow
brick house, with a walled courtyard ; occupied by some
townsman of the wealthier sort. The little Brook of Hin -
chin, making its way to the Ouse which is not far off,
still flows through the courtyard of the place,—offering
a convenience for malting or brewing, among other things.
Some vague but confident tradition as to Brewing
attaches itself to this locality; and traces of evidence, I
understand, exist that before Robert Cromwell's time, it
had been employed as a Brewery: but of this or even of
Robert Cromwell's own brewing, there is, at such a dis-
tance, in such an element of distracted calumny, exaggera-
tion, and confusion, little or no certainty to be *had.
But whether Robert Cromwell was a brewer
or not, it is certain that the Protector's family
was eminently connected.
In our English social system much impor-
tance has always been attached to "position"
and " connection." We have read no paper in
this work with more interest than the alpha-
betical list of the Long Parliament, which Mr.
Carlyle has collected, with praiseworthy in-
dustry, from various documents. It is a most
valuable paper, and would deserve special
editing of the genealogical kind. Looked on
with reference to dam, the Long Parliament
was a far more aristocratic representative
of the commonalty than the present
House of Commons. Nearly one-half of
the Long Parliament, if not more, have
living representatives of the families to whom
they belonged. And when so proud a body,
with so much social and personal pretensions,
was arrayed " pro rege, lege, grege," the nar-
rowness and faction of Cromwell and his
immediate followers are plainly seen in con-
trasting the list of the Long Parliament with
the names of the Regicides.
With " Dod " in one hand, and Mm'. Car-
lyle's catalogue (vol. ii. p.:176) in the other, it
is most curious to remark the long standing
of our parliamentary names. In the Long
Parliament Sir William Litton sat for Herts, a
Howard for Carlisle, a Fitzwilliam for Peter-
borough, an Irby for Boston, Sir Norton
Knatchbull for Romney, Sir Edward Deering
for Kent; the Evelyns sat for Reigate and
Bletchingley (Surrey), a son of Lord Pembroke
then as
.now sat for Wilts, and other Herberts
sat for Glainorganshire and Montgomery Sir
Thomas Jormyn sat for Bury St. Edmunds, a