Stuarts

i7 2 THE STUARTS
House of Commons passed Dec. 8th, 1660, taken out of their graves by John
Lewis, a mason, as appears by his receipt as follows :
" May, the 4th day, 1661, rec, then in full of the worshipfull Sargeant
Norfolke fifteen shillings for taking up the corpes of Cromwell and Ireton
and Brasaw rec by me."
"John Lewis."
The coffins containing the bodies of Cromwell and Ireton were taken
up on Saturday, January 26, 1661, and on the Monday night following were
drawn in two carts from Westminster Abbey to the Red Lion Inn in Holborn,
where they remained all night ; Bradshaw was not taken up until the morning
following; and on the anniversary of Charles's death, January 30, 1661, all
the three coffins were conveyed on sledges to Tyburn, and the bodies were
taken out and hanged at the three several angles of the gallows until sunset.
They were then beheaded, the trunks thrown into a deep pit under the gal-
lows, and the heads set upon poles on the top of Westminster Hall. The
anonymous author of this tract, being an eyewitness of the state of the
bodies, mentions that Cromwell's was in green cere-cloth, very fresh embalmed.
In the same pamphlet it is said that the tradition respecting the head of
Oliver Cromwell was that on a stormy night in the latter end of the reign
of Charles or James II. it was blown off from the top of Westminster Hall,
and that it was taken up and soon after presented to one of the Russell
family.
Much has been written about Oliver Cromwell's dishonoured remains,
and, whatever may have become of them, it is a striking instance of the
mutability of human affairs that any doubt should exist as to the disposal
of the body of the man who, but a few months before, held the helm of
State in England, and, with it, one of the foremost positions in Europe ;
for such was the vigorous force of his character that he made this country
feared and respected abroad as it never had been before. How strong is
the contrast between the great Protector and the King who succeeded him,
and sold his sovereign control over the destinies of his realm for French
gold ! The secret of the nation's toleration is to be found in the easy temper
and charm of manner which, joined to considerable natural abilities, fascinated
all those who came in contact with the King. Yet it must be owned that
the House of Stuart would have small claim upon our loyalty, and none