In a biographical notice (MS.) of Speaker Lenthall by the Rev. Mark
Noble, I find the following passage:
"His (Lenthall's) ancestor is mentioned in the will of Sir Richard
Williams _alias_ Cromwell. Sir Richard was the great-grandfather
of Oliver Lord Protector. There was always a friendship between
the family of Cromwell and that of Lenthall."
Can any one versed in Cromwellian lore kindly inform me if any such will
is in existence; and if so, what is its date? I should be glad to know
too if there is any further authority for the statement in the text,
that there was _always_ a friendship between the Cromwells and
Lenthalls, assuming such friendship to have subsisted anterior to the
days of the Commonwealth.
It is stated by Wood (_Athen. Oxon._, article LENTHALL), and repeated in
substance by Noble in his _Protectoral House of Cromwell_, that "two or
more" of the Speaker's son, Sir John Lenthall's speeches, "spoken in the
time of usurpation," are in print. Having hitherto failed in discovering
any trace of these speeches, I should greatly value any clue that may
direct me to them if still extant. On Noble's authority, when
unsupported, of course little reliance can be placed; but in any matter
of detail, or pure and simple fact, related by Wood, I have
considerable, though not altogether implicit, faith.
In a brief and singularly inaccurate memoir of Lenthall, in the _Lives
of the Speakers_, lately published by Churton, the following passage
occurs:
"We omitted to state in reference to Mr. Lenthall's strenuous
exertions in favour of the gallant Earl of Derby, that Mrs.
Cromwell, in one of her letters to the Protector, urges him to
endeavour to effect a reconciliation with the Speaker," &c. &c.
As no authority is cited, I should be glad to learn where the letters of
Mrs. Cromwell thus referred to are to be found. Are they in print or
MS.? If any of your readers should be able to enlighten me in respect of
all or any of the above Queries, and would kindly do so either through
the medium of the Notes, or to my address as below, I should be greatly
obliged.