" Welwood, in his "Memoirs," adds the Protector wore a
coat of mail beneath his dress, and carried a poniard under his
cloak.
Nor was this all. According to the "Chronicle of the late
Intestine War," Cromwell "would sometimes pretend to be merry,
and invite persons, of whom he had some suspicion, to his cups,
and then drill out of their open hearts such secrets as he wisht
for. He had freaks also to divert the vexations of his misgiving
thoughts, calling on by the beat of drum his footguards, like a
kennel of hounds to snatch away the scraps and reliques of his
table. He said every man's hand was against him, and that he ran
daily into further perplexities, out of which it was impossible
to extricate, or secure himself therein, without running into
further danger; so that he began to alter much in the tenour of
his former converse, and to run and transform into the manners of
the ancient tyrants, thinking to please and mitigate his own
tortures with the sufferings of others."
But now the fate his vigilance had hitherto combated at last
overtook him in a manner impossible to evade. He was attacked by
divers infirmities, but for some time made no outward sign of his
suffering, until one day five physicians came and waited on him,
as Dr. George Bate states in his ELENCHUS MOTUUM NUPERORUM. And
one of them, feeling his pulse, declared his Highness suffered
from an intermittent fever; hearing which "he looked pale, fell
into a cold sweat, almost fainted away, and orders himself to be
carried to bed.
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