~69 His attendance there, changing his custome of life, into a sedentary .employment, ]esse suitable to his ac tive spirit !, and more p reiudiciall to his health, he fell into a long and pa inefnll sicknesse, which many t imes brought him -neare the grave, and was not perfec tly cured iq foure yeares. The doc tors could no t find a name for _i t ; bu t at the length resolv'd upon the running gout, and a cure, proper for that disease, being 'practis'd on him, tooke effect. The truth is, his greate mind so far surmounted the frailty of his flesh, that it would never yield to the tendernesse of his constitution, nor suffer him to feele those inconveniences of martiall toyles, which often cast downe his captaines, men of more able bodies and healthfu ll complexions, while the business was in hand; but when that was finisht, he fo und, what he had not leisure to consider before, that his body's strength was farre unequal! to the vigor of his soule. After the surrender of Newark, Nottingham towne and castle was contin ued a garrison fo r some time: ~etwee? this and. his greater employmen t at London, the governor div ided himselfe. Meanwhi le, upon the 15th clay of July, 1646, propositions were sent to the k ing, then with the Scotts at Newcastle, little higher than those which had been made him at Uxbridge, but he wove out engagement to God and their ccuntry, and most manfully acquitted themselves of it, call on the parliament to complete it by a happy settlemen t. Their several petitions and remonstrances, preserved in Rushworth, vol. vii. p. 4, & infra, shev,· that their views were just a nd rational, and such as have since in part been realized, in part are still wished for, viz . a the duration of parlimnents to be l imited; elections bette r re- " gulated-the representation bet ter distributed ; improper pri\•ilegcs, and peculiarly "that of being sc reened from creditors, giv(;n up; not b ishqps, but t he ir coercive u power and civ il penalties taken away; the king restored to his r ights (but wi th some H restric tions as to appointmen ts fo r ten yea rs); the laws simplified, and lesse ned in Hex pence; monopolies set aside; tythes cornmuted, &c. But all this was interrupted H by the domi neering party." ' 'Vho CH n help lamenti ng that there were not mol'e found to unite with Col. Hutchinson and t!sis army to perfect the best system of goYcrnment that ever did or will exist? These proposals of the army are supposed to have been penned by l reton.
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