Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-07-22

The following is an extract from the last Waver.
ly Novel (Woodstock) descriptive of scene In his
apartment, where Cromwell had been urging
Wildrake, quondsm cavalier, to assist in appre-
hending certain 4" illustiOus Jugitiue:"
Il would know said Wildrake, to whom
the visible anxiety of the General gave
some confidence, what is the figure of
this young gallant, in case l should find
him p
"A tall, raw-boned, swarthy lad, they
say he has shot up into. Here is his pic
ture by agood hand some time since
He turned round one Of the portraits,
which stood with its face against the wall,
but it proved not to be that of Charles the
Second, but of his unhappy father.
The first motion of Cromwell indicated
purpose ofhastily replacing the picture,
and it seemed as if an effort was necessary
TO repress his disinclination to look upon
it. But he did repress it; and placing the
picture against the wall, withdrew slowly
and sternly, as if, in defiance of his own
feelings, he was determined to gain place
from which to see it to advantage. 1t was
well for Widrake that his dangerous COM
panion had not turned his eye on him, for
his blood also kindled when he saw the
portrait of his master in the hands of the
chief author of his death. Being fierce
and desperate man, he commanded his
passion with great difficulty; and if, on
his first violence, he had been provided
with a suitable weapon, it is probable
Cromwell never would have ascended high
er in his bold ascent towards supreme
power.
But this natural and sudden flash of in
dignation, which rushed through the veins
Of an ordinary man like Wildrake, was
presently subdued, when confronted with
the strong yet stihed emotion displayed
by so powerful character as Cromwell.
As the cavalier looked on his dark and bold
countenance agitated by inward and indis-
cribabie feeling, he found his own vio-
lence of spirit die away and lose itself in
fear and wonder. So true it is, that as
greater lights swallow up and extinguish
the display ofthose which are less, so men
of great, capacious, and overruling minds,
bear aside and subdue, in their climax of
passion, the more feeble wills and pas
sions of others; as when a river joins a
brook, the fercer torrent shoulders aside
the smaller stream.
Wildrake stood silent, inactive, and
almost terrified spectator, while Crom-
well, assuming firm sternness of eye and
manner, as one who compels himself to
look on what some strong internal feeling
renders painful and dsgustful to him, pro-
ceeded in brief and uninterrupted express
sions, but yet with firm voice, to COM
ment on the portrait ofthe late king. His
words seemed less addressed to Wildrake
than to the spontaneous unburthening of
his own bosom, swelling under recollection
of the past, and anticipation Of the fu-
ture.
"That Flemish painter" said he---"that
Antonio Vandyke--what a power he has!
Steel may mutilate, warriors may waste
and destroy---still the king stands unn-
jured by time; and our grandchildren, while
they read his history, may look on his inn
age, and compare the melancholy features
with the woful tale. II was q stern ne
cessity, it was an awful deed. The calm
pride of that eye might have ruled worlds
of crouching Frenchmen, or supple Italians,
or formal Spaniards, but its glances only
reused the native courage of the stern
Englishman. Lay not on poor sinful man,