Out with the New, In with the Old?

The End of 1659...

Blessed be God, at the end of the last year I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain – though I did have a cold.

I lived in Axe Yard with my wife Elizabeth and servant Jane. It’s just us three – though until recently, we thought we might have a new addition. Elizabeth felt sure “the officers had left to fetch the king,” so to speak – but, on the last day of the year, “Parliament was back in session.”

Speaking of Parliament, the Rump has returned (not the one our late Lord Protector cooked up, but the one our Lord Lambert dismissed for turning against our latest Lord Protector). Lord Lambert has gone north to muster support, the army has begrudgingly accepted the command of the Rump, Lawson’s small navy lies in the Thames, Monke has his small army in Scotland… Well, it’s been almost 10 years since our last civil war, so we probably are due another one.

I jest, of course. Everyone I speak to expresses a desire for a free and full Parliament, with all the seats filled with members doing what’s right for the country. It’s just that people seem to disagree over what is right for the country. It seems an inherent flaw in this ‘Democracy Project.’ Even our late Lord Protector Oliver gave up, and instead elected himself K– …I mean, Lord Protector.

Personally, I give Democracy another ten months, tops.

My own private condition looks very handsome – at least on the outside. I’m seen as rich, because I live in fancy quarters – one of the benefits of my job as a teller for the Exchequer. But with everything going on in Parliament, my job is by no means certain. After all, my master – Mr Downing – is streets away from being a man of real significance himself.

I intend to help him get there, though – ideally to the benefit of my own purse along the way…

I would love to know your thoughts! Which do you favour more, King or Rump? War or Peace? Shakespeare or Marlowe…? Please –

…and I promise I shan’t report you to the authorities…