either in politics or religion. His wife, who was a coarse and low-born
drudge, was guided by the fervour of her Presbyterian advisers; but her
religious zeal had no influence over the calmer temper of her husband. At
a juncture like the present it required no abnormal sagacity to convince
Monk that the only possible course open to him was that of impenetrable
secrecy as to his designs--even had he been more certain himself as to
what these designs might be. With admirable deliberation--for intellectual
dulness, on rare occasions, can assume the aspect of Machiavellian design
--he laid his plans for a non-committal policy. He made himself safe in
Scotland by inducing the Scottish Parliament to give him a considerable
grant of money, and by leaving behind him a sufficient portion of his army
to maintain a firm hold on the Government there. With a moderate force of
about 5000 men, he slowly advanced towards London. Parliament had invited
him; but they soon saw that Monk was not likely to be their obedient
servant, and would fain have induced him to return. Monk none the less
advanced; but it was with the utmost deliberation and circumspection,
crossing no Rubicon, and breaking no bridge behind him. No word in favour
of a royal restoration passed his lips. He frowned on all who ventured to
suggest such a course. At each stage in his advance he pronounced, with
edifying conviction, his determination to maintain the authority of
Parliament; and if the announcement bore also the condition that the
Parliament should be free, that was a condition to which none could fairly
object, and which did not seem to lessen the soundness of Monk's
Republicanism. If his sphinx-like attitude proceeded more from inability
to discern the line of least resistance, than from conscious
dissimulation, or any deliberate concealment of a far-seeing policy, it
nevertheless was pursued with much adroitness, and no other course of
action could have enabled Monk to accomplish all he did. It was this which
secured for him an apparently grateful and cordial reception from the
Parliament, although it dreaded his presence, and would gladly have heard