"[Oliver Cromwell's] temper exceeding fiery, as I have known, but the flame of it kept down, for the most part, or soon allayed with those moral endowments he had."
— Maidston, John
Author
Work Title
Date
March 24, 1659
Metaphor
"[Oliver Cromwell's] temper exceeding fiery, as I have known, but the flame of it kept down, for the most part, or soon allayed with those moral endowments he had."
Metaphor in Context
His body was well compact and strong, his stature under 6 foot (I believe about two inches), his head so shaped as you might see it a storehouse and shop both of a vast treasury of natural parts. His temper exceeding fiery, as I have known, but the flame of it kept down, for the most part, or soon allayed with those moral endowments he had. He was naturally compassionate towards objects in distress, even to an effeminate measure: though God made him a heart wherein was left little room for any fear but what was due to himself, of which there was a large proportion, yet did he exceed in tenderness
towards sufferers. A larger soul, I think, hath seldom dwelt in a house of clay than his was. I do believe, if his story were impartially transmitted and the unprejudiced world possessed with it, she would add him to her nine worthies, and make up that number to a decemviri. He lived and died in comfortable communion with God, as judicious persons near him well observed. He was that Mordecai that sought the welfare of his people, and spake peace unto his seed, yet were his temptations such, as it appeared frequently, that he, that hath grace enough for many men, may have too little for himself, the treasure he had being but in an earthen vessel, and that equally defiled with original sin, as any other man's nature is.
Categories
Provenance
Reading Mrs. Frederick Boas's With Milton and the Cavaliers. New York: James Pott, 1905. p. 42.
Date of Entry
01/19/2010
