the treatise must indeed have been almost the last pre-Restoration protest of the republicans.

There are many references to contemporary events. The restored Rump has already become the 'last Parliament.' This dissolution occurred on March 16. Those who are bent upon recalling the king are now engaged in 'cheapning' the 'price' of subjection. Monk held his first interview with the royal agent, Sir John Greenville, on March 17, and dispatched him to Brussels with proposals on March 20. It is not likely that Milton knew of this business immediately. Yet he seems to be writing with full knowledge of Monk's and of the Presbyterians' negotiations with the king. The Censure of the Rota appeared on March 30. It is evident that Milton is writing after that date, for the gibes and criticisms contained in the pamphlet are freshly and poignantly in mind (see Appendix A. 2). Furthermore, Milton thinks that what he has written 'may now be of much more use and concernment to be freely publishd, in the midst of our Elections to a free Parlament, or their sitting to consider freely of the Government.' The writs for this election had been agreed upon by Parliament on March 16, and Whitelock reports several members elected as early as March 26.1 But Milton's sentence indicates that he is writing, not at the beginning, but in the full swing of the elections-very probably well along in April. As these elections proceeded, it became apparent that the Parliament about to meet would be almost solidly Royalist. The return of Charles was therefore a certainty. Milton concedes the fact, and drops, as no longer applicable, the allusion to Coniah in his terrific peroration. He laments the 'absolute determination... to enthrall,' and admits

1 Memorials 4. 405.

the hopelessness of staying the deluge. There is no longer a possibility of convincing opponents, but only of confirming those who yield not-probably Lambert and the Fanatics, then making a last appeal to arms. Lambert escaped from the Tower on April 9, and was captured on April 22. In view of the internal evidence just considered, we may be reasonably certain that to this interval, April 9-22, belongs the composition of the second edition.

We do not know the exact date of its publication; but there is evidence that the book appeared after April 20. Milton himself mentions the possibility of its coming out during the 'sitting' of the new Parliament—that is, after April 25. Roger L'Estrange, Milton's tireless pamphleteering opponent and critic, writing on April 20 in reply to the Notes on Dr. Griffith's Sermon, quotes several passages from The Ready and Easy Way, and invariably from the first edition. It seems incredible that L'Estrange, who pounced with such zest and fury upon every utterance of his renowned antagonist, should have been ignorant of the more daring edition, or have failed to quote from it, had it been at that time in print.

It would seem, at first thought, that the book must have appeared before April 24, when Lambert was brought captive to London, and all signs of armed resistance disappeared. But Phillips' statement indicates that the pamphleteers were the last in the field: The Defeat of Lambert did not make the Fanaticks leave the Pursuit of their Mischiefs, several seditious Pamphlets being published in Print, to deprave the Minds of the People.' It is not unlikely that The Ready and Easy Way was one of them.

2

1 No Blinde Guides (Tracts, p. 1).

2 Baker, Chron., p. 608.

The conclusion, then, is that the second edition was written certainly between March 16 and April 25, and very likely during the interval April 9-22; and that it was published upon the eve of the Restoration, almost certainly after April 20, and probably in the last six days before the setting up of kingship on the Ist of May.

C. HISTORICAL SETTING

I. ANARCHY AND CONFUSION'

A study of the historical situation with which The Ready and Easy Way attempts to deal may well begin with a résumé of the more important events of 1659. Early in that year the Cromwellian protectorate had gone to pieces; and in May the army, by resurrecting the Rump Parliament, restored the republic as it had existed from 1649 to 1653. Eager to exert its authority, and especially to subordinate the military to the civil power, the Rump's first business was the reorganization of the army. Week after week a steady procession of the 'well affected' filed in before that august assembly, received new commissions from the venerable speaker's hands, and filed out again better 'affected' than ever. At last the weary process was completed-and just in time. A general rising of Royalists had been planned to occur on August 1; but only Sir George Booth, in Cheshire, made any considerable demonstration, and he was easily suppressed (Aug. 17-9) by the new-modeled army. From this achievement General Lambert returned with high notions of his own and of the army's importance. In September the Parliament was suddenly dumbfounded by demands, couched in no uncertain terms, from Lambert and his clique of ambitious officers. Among other things demanded, Fleetwood was

b

to be made commander-in-chief, and Lambert himself was to be placed next under him. The wary and insecure Rump instantly scented a conspiracy. It was convinced that Lambert 'aspired to succeed Cromwell,' and that 'when he should have so gotten the Sword, he would not long want the Scepter.' It refused these and other demands, reproved the petitioners, and being secretly assured of support from Scotland, finally cashiered Lambert and eight of his associates. The next morning (Oct. 13) Lambert threw his troops around Westminster, and put an end to the sitting. 'Illegal and scandalous, I fear me barbarous,' protested Milton, 'that a paid army should, for no other cause, thus subdue the supreme power that set them up.'2

But the army-officers boldly assumed control, set up a committee of safety, and fell to work upon a constitution. The sword was law. Citizens were 'knock'd on the head,' or killed outright. The soldiers, in turn, were hissed, jeered, and pelted until they grew ashamed and afraid to march. L'Estrange was inflaming Royalists with his pamphlets. 'No quiet was enjoyed by any party,' and on Dec. 20 poor Whitelock was wishing himself 'out of these daily hazards.' Meanwhile the army in Scotland was preparing to march against Lambert. Suddenly Ireland and the fleet declared for the Parliament. The army-régime collapsed. Fleetwood now admitted that the Lord had blasted their

Counsels, and spit in their Faces.'" On Dec. 24

1 Baker, Chron., p. 577.

2 Letter to a Friend (Bohn 2. 103).

3 L'Estrange, Apology (Tracts, p. 42).

4 Baker, Chron., p. 591.

5 Whitelock, Memorials 4. 380.

6 Ibid. 4. 380.

7 Baker, Chron., p. 592.

even 'the Soldiers declared to live and die with the Parliament'; and they stood in Ranks, and made Acclamations,' as the triumphant little Rump marched back to Westminster on Dec. 26.1

The most potent factor in the overthrow of the Lambert tyranny had been the silent pressure of Cromwell's old lieutenant-general, George Monk, military governor of Scotland, who now emerged as the dominant individual force in England. Monk was by no means the loftiest character on that remarkable stage; but he possessed a unique combination of qualities that fitted him to glide into the midst of turbulent factions, preserve order, and guide the overwhelming sentiment of the nation to its logical expression in restored kingship. He was a blunt, rough soldier, having had his 'education in a commonwealth whose soldiers received and observed commands but gave none'; a man of decision and vigor, of much shrewdness and common sense. He stuck not at dissimulation, and knew how to think much and say little. Phillips calls him 'the most reserved. man then living.' He was generally known in his army as 'silent Old George.' It was precisely this cunning and this incomparable impenetrability that fitted him so uniquely for the rôle he now proposed to

assume.

The turn of the year found Monk crossing the Border. The movement was begun immediately upon his hearing of the downfall of the army-régime. This is all the more curious, as his announced intention had been merely to restore the Rump. The apparent aimlessness of the movement argued some deep design, which none could positively fathom, but which every faction chose

1 Baker, Chron., p. 592.

2 Monk, Letter to Speaker (Corbet, Monk, p. 121).

3 Baker, Chron., p. 594.