Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, vol 2 | Page 2

was
unresting: in preparing pamphlets, in writing under various disguises,
in carrying on endless correspondence, in drafting constant declarations.
But all such work met with little acknowledgment from those who
thought that their own intrigues were more likely to benefit the King,
and, above all, to advance themselves. They recked nothing of that
sound traditional frame of government which it was the aim of Hyde
religiously to conserve. Few statesmen have had a task more hard, more
thankless, and more hopeless than that which fell to him during these
troubled months.
Hyde was saved from despair only by the intense dramatic instinct of
the historian that was implanted in him. He could, or--what came to the

same thing--he believed that he could, discern the greater issues of the
time, and what interested him above all was the vast influence upon
those issues of personal forces. When he recalled the events of his time,
in the enforced leisure of later years, it was to the action of great
personalities that he gave his chief attention, and the passing incidents
grouped themselves in his memory as mere accessories to the play of
individual character. All through his history it is this which chiefly
attracts us, and nowhere is it more striking than when he records the
passing of the greatest personal force of the age in Cromwell. It did not
occur to Hyde--and, to their credit be it said, it did not occur to any
even of the more friendly spectators on the other side--to regard
Cromwell as the embodiment of a mighty purifying force in which
defects were to be ignored or even justified on account of the
heaven-inspired dictates under which he was presumed to have acted.
Just as little could Hyde conceive of Cromwell as the great precursor of
modern ideas, demanding the obedient homage of every ardent partisan
of popular rights. These were eccentricities reserved for later historians
under impulses of later origin. Hyde was compelled by all his strongest
traditions and most cherished principles to regard Cromwell's work as
utterly destructive, and he never pretended to have anything but the
bitterest prejudice against him. To his mind, Cromwell was sent as a
punishment from Heaven for national defection, and he never
concealed his hatred for Cromwell's profound dissimulation or his
abhorrence for the tyranny which the Protector succeeded in imposing
on the nation. To have assumed an impartial attitude would only have
been, to Hyde, an effort of insincerity. It is precisely this which gives
its weight to the measured estimate which Hyde forms of his
stupendous powers. His appreciation of Cromwell is a pendant to that
which he gives of Charles I. The latter is inspired with a clear flame of
loyalty; but this does not blind him to the defects of the master for
whom he had such a sincere regard. His deadly hatred of Cromwell
leaves him equally clear-sighted as to the Protector's supreme ability.
"He was one of those men whom his very enemies could not condemn
without commending him at the same time; for he could never have
done half that mischief without great parts of courage, industry, and
judgment." "He achieved those things in which none but a valiant and

great man could have succeeded." "Wickedness as great as his could
never have accomplished these trophies without the assistance of a
great spirit, an admirable circumspection and sagacity, and a most
magnanimous resolution." "When he was to act the part of a great man,
he did it without any indecency, notwithstanding the want of custom."
"He extorted obedience from those who were not willing to yield it."
"In all matters which did not concern the life of his jurisdiction, he
seemed to have great reverence for the law." "As he proceeded with
indignation and haughtiness with those who were refractory and dared
to contend with his greatness, so towards all who complied with his
good pleasure and courted his protection, he used a wonderful civility,
generosity, and bounty." "His greatness at home was but a shadow of
the glory he had abroad." "He was not a man of blood, and totally
declined Machiavel's method." When a massacre of Royalists was
suggested, "Cromwell would never consent to it; it may be out of too
much contempt of his enemies." "In a word, as he had all the
wickedness against which damnation is denounced, and for which
hell-fire is prepared, so he had some virtues which have caused the
memory of some men in all ages to be celebrated; and he will be looked
upon by posterity as a brave bad man."
These fierce words are inspired by exceeding hatred. But in spite of that,
we can see that Hyde felt himself in the presence of a greatness that
compelled respect. He was himself to