Part 2
When Lambert was cashiered by Parliament, he and eight other officers of the Army conspired to wrest the power from Parliament. The badge adopted by the conspirators was a yellow tulip.
30. VIII of Clubs.
"_Pride Oliver's drayman._"
Parliament not proving willing to condemn Charles I., was _purged_ of its unruly members by Colonel Pride, (who was said to have been originally a drayman) who entered the house and drove 160 members into the streets, leaving 60 of the _faithful_ to govern the kingdom and murder their monarch.--(Imprisonment and death of King Charles I., Aungervyle Society reprint, p. 58).
31. VIII of Spades.
"_Scot Oliver's clerk or tallyman._"
Scott was one of the members of the long parliament, and with Robinson was sent to Monk to "give some check to that license of addresses and resort of malignants."--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. iii. p. 410.)
32. VIII of Diamonds.
"_Don Haselrigg Kt. of y^e codled braine._"
"Haselrigg was of a rude, and stubborn nature, and of a weak understanding."--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. iii. p. 401).
33. IX of Hearts.
"_Huson the cobler entring London._"
Hewson, who had originally been a cobbler, became Lt.-Col. of Cromwell's Ironsides.
34. IX of Clubs.
"_The army entring the city persuing the apprentices._"
Parliament had voted that "the militia of the city of London should be put into such hands as the army should desire.... Many thousands, apprentices and young citizens, brought petitions to parliament" in opposition. Parliament "durst not deny concurrence, the apprentices behaving themselves so insolently, that they would scarce suffer the door of the House of Commons to be shut."--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. iii. p. 36). The army assembled at Hounslow Heath, and Colonel Rainsborough having seized in the night the defences of London Bridge, "the army of horse, foot and cannon marched next day through the city."--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. iii. p. 39).
35. IX of Spades.
"_A Committee at Derby House to continue the warr._"
Parliament had appointed a committee "for the raising of men ... and listing in all places, companies of volunteers" which met at Derby House.
36. IX of Diamonds.
"_Lenthall runs away with his mace to the army._"
The Army having declared against the Committee of Safety, Lenthall the Speaker recovered his spirit and went into the city uniting with the army against the committee.--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. iii., p. 407.)
37. X of Hearts.
"_The Rump and dreggs of the house of Com. remaining after the good Members were purged out._"
The explanation of this Card will be found above. (See VIII of Clubs.)
38. X of Clubs.
"_Oliver seeking God while the K. is murthered by his order._"
Cromwell who signed the warrant for the Execution of Charles I., is said to have spent the night of the 29th of January, 1648, in prayer, and to have taken good care to let his fanatic followers know it.
39. X of Spades.
"_A comitte at Haberdashers hall to spoyle the caualeers, as the Jews did the Egyptians._"
Parliament, after the battle of Edgehill appointed a committee to sit at Haberdashers Hall to consider the fines to be imposed upon those of the King's adherents who had been taken prisoners there.
40. X of Diamonds
"_A comittee for plundered ministers, Miles Corbet in the chaire._"
This card speaks for itself.
41. Knave of Hearts.
"_Hugh Peters shews the bodkins and thimbles gluen by the wives of Wappin for the good old cause._"
Hugh Peters was born at Fowey, publicly whipped and expelled from the University of Cambridge, and obliged to leave England for adultery. After some years spent in Holland and America, he returned in 1641, and became chaplain to Lord Brooke's regiment. He was a most burlesque preacher, and actually performed the act stated on the card. He styled the king Barabbas and compared the army to Christ. He advised the destruction of Stonehenge. Clarendon calls him the "ungodly confessor" who contrived the tragedy of the two Hothams (_Rebellion_, vol. ii. p. 383). He is said to have been one of the masked executioners of Charles I. He was beheaded October 16th 1660, and certainly deserved his fate if any of the Regicides did.
42. Knave of Clubs.
"_Ireton holds that saints may pass through all forms to obtain his ends._"
Ireton was born in 1610, and commanded the left wing of the Parliamentarians at Naseby. He married a daughter of Oliver Cromwell, whom he succeeded as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland, where he died in 1651.
43. Knave of Spades.
"_Sir H. Vane finds a distinction betwixt a Legal and an Evangelical Conscience._"
Vane was the principal mover of the Solemn League and Covenant, but did not sit on the King's trial.
44. Knave of Diamonds.
"_H. Martin moues y^e House that y^e King may take the Covenant._"
Martin, Vane and Hazelrigg were the principal supporters of the self-denying Ordinance.
45. Queen of Hearts.
"_The damnable engagement to be true and faithfull._"
The taking of the Holy League and Covenant. (See Queen of Diamonds).
46. Queen of Clubs.
"_Joane hold my staff Lady Protectoresse._"
Another riddle. Cromwell's wife's name was Elizabeth. _Query, what was Lady Lambert's name? (See next card)._
47. Queen of Spades.
"_The lady Lambert and Oliver under a strong conflict._"
It was said that an improper intimacy existed between Cromwell and Lambert's wife, but although the Protector is known to have been somewhat profligate in his youth, this charge seems to be mere calumny.
48. Queen of Diamonds.
"_The Takeing of the Holy League and Covenant._"
The Holy League and Covenant between England and Scotland was solemnly adopted by Parliament on the 16th of November 1643. It was accepted by Charles II. in 1650, but repudiated by him at his Restoration, and declared to be illegal by Parliament.--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. ii. p. 229).
49. King of Hearts.
"_The saints think it meet that the Rump make a league with Oneale._"
Lord Broghill, president of Munster, and Sir Charles Coote, president of Connaught had shewn enmity to the Rump, who thereupon coquetted with the Irish party.--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. iii. p. 434).
50. King of Clubs.
"_Oliver declars himself, and the Rebells to be the Gadly party._"
This card needs no explanation.
51. King of Spades.
"_Bradshaw in y^e High Court of Justice insulting of the King._"
"The King demanded by what authority they brought him thither, the President answered that they derived their authority from an act made by the Commons.... The King demurred to the jurisdiction of the Court, but the President overruled this." When the iniquitous sentence was read, "The King would have spoken something before he was withdrawn, but being accounted dead in law immediately after sentence was pronounced, it was not permitted."--(_Ludlow's Imprisonment and Death of Charles I._--_Aungervyle Soc. Rep._ pp. 62-65).
52. King of Diamonds.
"_Sir H. Mildmay solicits a Cityzen's wife, for which his owne corrects him._"
On September 9, 1641, the House of Commons appointed Pym, St. John, Sir H. Mildmay, Sir H. Vane, and others (six to form a quorum), as a Committee, with extraordinary powers, to act during the recess, "To draw resort and reverence to them from almost all sorts of men." Mildmay is said to have used his political power to further his own projects of lust and greed.--(_Clarendon's Rebellion_, vol. i., pp. 168 _et seq._).
Finis.