"After Cromwell had been declared General of the Commonwealth's
Forces, he seized the possessions of the Royalists, who had
escaped his implacable resentment; and the New Hall fell to the
share of the Usurper, who, flushed with the victory of Worcester,
disposed at pleasure of the forsaken seates of the noble
Fugitives, who still supported Charles II.'s Drooping Standards;
and adding insulte to oppression, commanded the domesticks of the
Duke of Buckingham to follow their master's desperate fortune, and
to carry him five shillings, which he might want in his exile, for
the purchase of a Lordship, whose yearly value exceeded then
1300_l._ Cromwell kept possession of New Hall till he assumed the
title of Protector, and was instaled at White Hall, in the Pallace
of the English Kings: Then he chose Hampton Court for his Summer
Residence. He led at New Hall an obscure life, without pomp,
without luxury, having but two servants in his retinue. Though his
manners were natuaraly austere, he had some private amoures, which
he indulged with great Caution and Secrecy. His favourites were
General Lambert's wife and Major-General Vernon's sister: the
first was a well-bred, genteel woman, fatheless to her husband
from natural aversion, and attached to Cromwell from a conformity
of inclination in a mysterious enjoyment and stolen embraces, with
mask of religious deportment and severe virtue: the other was a
person made to inspire lust and desire, but selfish, revengfull,
and indiscreet. These too rivals heartily detested each other:
Mrs. Lambert reproached Cromwell for his affection to a worthless,
giddy, and wanton woman; and Mrs. Vernon laughed at him for being
the dupe of the affected fondness and hipocry of an artful
Mistress. They once met at the house of Colonel Hammond, a
Creature of Cromwell's, and reviled each other with the most
virulent sarcasms. Mrs. Lambert, fired with rage and resentment,
went immediately to New Hall, where Oliver was at that juncture,
and insisted upon her Rival's dismission for her unprovoked
outrage. Cromwell, who was then past the meridian of voluptuous
sensations, sacrificed the person he was no longer fit to enjoy,
to a woman who had gained his esteem and confidence, and delegated
to Mrs. Lambert all the domestic concerns of his house in Essex.
Cromwell's wife, called afterwards the Protectress, was a sober
helpmate, who, dressed in humble stuff, like a Quaker, neither
interfered in his amours or politics. She never went to New Hall
but once, and that was on the 25th of April, 1652, when he invited
all his family to a grand entertainment on account of his
Birthday. The other Guests were, his mother, who survived his
elevation to the Protectorship: she was a virtuous woman of the
name of Stewart, related to the Royall Family; Desborough, his
brother-in law; and Fleetwood, who had married his daughter; his
Eldest Son, Richard, a man of an inoffensive and unambitious
Character, who had been married some years, and lived in the
country on a small estate which he possessed in right of his wife,
where he spent his time in acts of benevolence: at the trial of
Charles I. he fell on his knees and conjured his Father in the
most pathetic manner to spare the life of his Sovereign; his
brother Henry, afterwards Govonor of Ireland, where he was
universally beloved for his mild administration; Mrs. Claypole,
the darling of her father; and his three other daughters: Mrs.
Rich, married to the Grandson and heir of the Earl of Warwick;
Lady Falconbridge; and the Youngest, who lived in celibacy. They
spent a week at New Hall, in innocent mirth and jollity; Oliver
himself joining in convivial pleasure with his children,
disengaged the whole time from state affairs and Political
Speculations.
"His constant visitors at New Hall were some Regicides, and the
meanest, lowest, and most ignorant among the Citizens on whome he
had decreed that the Sovereign power should be vested. To excell
in Fanaticism seemed a necessary qualification in this new
parliment; and Oliver foresaw that they would soon throw up the
reins of Government, which they were unqualified to guide, and
raise himself to an unlimited power far beyond that of former
Kings.
"It seems Mrs. Lambert continued to reside at New Hall during
Cromwell's Protectorship, and that Col. Wite, his trusty friend,
was often sent with kind messages and preasants from Oliver, who
travelled himself in the night, with hurry and precipitation, to
enjoy with her some moments of domestic comfort and tranquility."