Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Atlantic Essays

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[150] promote public economy,--Hutchinson refusing a peerage and a fortune as a bribe to hold Nottingham Castle a little while for the King,--Eliot and Pym bequeathing their families to the nation's justice, having spent their all for the good cause. And rising to yet higher attributes, as they pass before us in the brilliant paragraphs of the courtly Clarendon, or the juster modern estimates of Forster, it seems like a procession of born sovereigns; while the more pungent epithets of contemporary wit only familiarize, but do not mar, the tame of Cromwell (Cleaveland's “Cesar in a Clown” ),--“William the Conqueror” Waller,--“young Harry” Vane,--“fiery Tom” Fairfax,--and , “King Pym.” But among all these there is no peer of HIampden, of him who came not from courts or camps, but from the tranquil study of his Davila,--from that thoughtful retirement which was for him, as for his model, Coligny, the school of all noble virtues,--came to find himself at once a statesman and a soldier, receiving from his contemporary, Clarendon, no affectionate critic, the triple crown of historic praise, as being “the most able, resolute, and popular person in the kingdom.” Who can tell how changed the destiny of England, had the Earl of Bedford's first compromise with the country party succeeded, and Hampden become the tutor of Prince Clharles,--or could this fight at Chalgrove Field issue differently, and Hampden survive to be general instead of Essex, and Protector in place of Cromwell?

But that may not be. Had I Hampden's earlier counsels prevailed, Rupert never would have ventured on his night foray; had his next suggestions been followed, Rupert never would have returned from it. Those failing, IHampden has come, gladly followed by Gunter and his dragoons, outstripping the tardy Essex, to dare all and die.