Daily national Democrat., 1858-10-06
nl,. 1Ienh nc oliver Cromwell.

The Head % oliver Cromwell.
We notice the following in the Paris cor.
respondence Of the n. Y Express:
Before leaving England had an opportu-
nifty Of seeing great curiosity, relic of an
tiuuity. which few Englishmen have seen.-
You will be surprised, and perhaps ncredu
lous. when | say have seen the head Of Oh
rer Cromuoli-not the mere skull but tn,
head entire, and in state of rem, rkabl,
preservation. Its history is authentic. and
there is verbal and historical evidence to
place the thing beyond cayil Cromwell
died Mt Hampton Court in 1868, giving th,
strongest evidence of lis earnest religious
convictions, and of his sincerity as Chris
tian. After an imposing funeral pageant, tn,
body having been embamed, he was buried
in Nestminster Abbey. On the restoration
OF The Stuarts he was taken up and hung in
! Tyburn Afterwards hs head was cut off, a
pike driven up through the neck and skull,
and exposed on Westminster HALL 1t re
maincd there long while, until, by some
violence, the pike was thrown down. Ii
was picked mp by a soldier and concealed,
and aiterW ards conveyed to some friends,
who kept it carefully for years. Through n
succession Of families. which can easily be
]
| daughter Of Hon. Dir. Wilkinson, eX-member
of parliament from Buckingham and Brom.
/ lev. 1t was at the residence of this gentle
man that | saw the head, and his daughter,
lady of fine manners and great culture,
! exhibited it to Rev. Mr. Nerrell, the pastor
of the Bromley Dissenting Chapel, and my
| self
This head Of Cromwell is almost entire
The flesh is black and sunken but the fea-
lures are nearly perfect, the hair still re
manning, and even the large wart over one OF
the eycs-such being n distiuctmark on his
face--is yet perfectly visible. The pike
which was thrust through his neck still re-
mains, the upper part of iron, nearly rusted
off, and the lower wooden portion in spin
ters, showing that it was broken 10y some act
of violence 1t is known historically that
| Cromwell was embalmed, and no person thus
cared for was ever publicly gibbctted, except
this illustrous man.
The head Of Oliver Cromwell 1t is scarce
" credible Yet, if it be So how carefully
ought it to be preserved What study for
the phrenologst With what rapt atten.
tion, and prying, curious awe, would he note
the earying Of the grand arch, beneath
which that capacious brain throbbed and
that mighty spirit burned How eagerly
would he behold each swelling prominence
out-pressed by the growing brain, impa-
tient Of its bony confne. Here sat, ike Gods
enthroned, Firmness, Reason, Imagination.
Memory-all the grandcr faculties Of Man.
in grandest Development Here moved that
tongue which was made for command--the
tongue that spake the doom of King, and
his head fell at the word, CORY from the
block. Here flashed that eye, beneath which
the Long Parliament quailed, when, sword in
hand, he peremptorily babe them adjourn,
and give place to better men. Here throb
bed the brain which conceived and executed
the majestic scheme of establishing a free
Commonwealth upon the ruins of a monar
chy, around which had gathered the strength
ening influence of centuries, and the rever-
erential associations of a people schooled for
ages in the love of the Divine Right of Kings.
This was the head which alone could com
bine all the raging and discontented and dis
eordant elements of opposition to the tyran-
nical authority of Charles First, that they
might be hurled like storm against his tot
tering throne. Now, school by might use
it for oot-ball
Two hundred years have rolled away since
his death. Yet has no greater man arisen
upon the soil of England. Exeerated by |
the Stuarts who are in their turn execrated |
by the friends of constitutional liberty, they |
might tear his bones from their resting place.
and stick his head upon a gibbet, and hang
his limbs in the four quarters of the English
Isle, but they could not blot his great name
from the pages Of history nor dim its lastre
in the armament of fame. The worshippers
of hereditary monarchy might even now, per
haps vent their rage and petty malice upon
that deenceless head, but the queachless spir
it that dwelt within that deserted tabernacle.
still lives, not alone ensphered among the
stars but an ever present immortality upon
earth As long as England stands. or the
world revolves, will iyrants learn from
the great King Staying Puritan, that there
are bounds to the King as well as to the peo
pie and that, hedged as he may be with that
peculiar divinity which belongs to sceptred
dignity, King may be slain for his crimes
by thehish hand of Justice, as well as the
mcanes. Of his subjects.