To the student of English history the campaign in Flanders, undertaken by Cromwell in 1657 in conjunction with the French king, is one of great interest and importance. Yet, strange to say, to all, except to the plodders in the by-paths of history, it is one of the least known of the episodes in the story of that wonderful man, who according to Macaulay was the ‘greatest prince that ever ruled England.’ Justice has not yet been done to the memory of one to whom the English nation owes more perhaps than to any other ruler, or statesman, to whom for so brief a period the destinies of the country have been entrusted. Something has been attempted of recent years in this direction, and something done—especially by Carlyle—but it amounts to no more than an instalment of the sum total of that justice which was due. When that interest comes to be taken in the measures and achievements of the great Protector which they deserve, it will be found and confessed that the Flanders scheme, which he did not live long enough to fully realise, was one of the greatest of them. It is with that scheme that we have to deal in the present paper.

It is quite unnecessary, in addressing such a Society as this, for me to enlarge on the help that may be obtained in historical investigations from other researches that are purely literary. I may, however, venture to express a regret that so little mutual assistance is usually afforded by those who confine themselves, too exclusively, to one or other of these branches of seeking after truth. A remarkable instance of this want of co-operation is afforded us in the earliest of the poems, which I shall now bring under your notice: Chaucer's ‘Dream,’ or, as it has well been renamed in our time, his ‘Isle of Ladies.’ For as, on the one hand, by establishing the true meaning of this poem, we present to the historian new pastures, whence he may here and there glean, by comparison with known historical facts, some additions to the story of the time; so, on the other, by a due use of history, we may throw new light on the works of our first and almost our greatest poet. I know that the school of modern criticism, which trusts the counting of its fingers rather than the evidence of its ears or its reason, has pronounced this poem spurious; but I trust to show you that its agreement with history prevents our taking that view, which rests wholly on the ungrounded assumption that because Chaucer used no rhymes of –y and –ye in his later poems, he could not have done so in this, his very earliest that has come down to us.

The Emperor Frederick II. was one of the most extraordinary personages in history. He has found many biographers among Continental writers. Muratori, Giannone, Von Raumer, and Hofler have described his remarkable career either with national pride or with stern condemnation. But until Dean Milman wrote his history of Latin Christianity, a few lines in Gibbon and a few pages of Hallam contained all the information which could be obtained respecting him by the English reader. Since the Dean wrote, information from other sources has been obtained, which I now propose to bring before you. We see this remarkable man only indistinctly through the mists of calumny and prejudice. On account of his long contest with the popes, he has been assailed by Roman Catholic writers with vituperative epithets. I propose in the following paper to give an account of his life; to show whether or no Roman Catholic writers were justified in regarding him as a monster of iniquity; to describe his natural endowments and acquirements, and the services which he conferred on his country; and to bring before you that celebrated struggle with the popes which has affected the course of events in his own age, and through succeeding generations.

The portion of the history of Britain now to be dealt with has hitherto been regarded as rather belonging to ethnology than to history, as prehistoric. It has consequently been supplied from barrows, from skulls, and from pottery, and has been largely matter of speculation and conjecture, supplied according to the fancy or prepossessions of each individual author. The greater part of what has been written turns upon Stonehenge and on supposed Druidical practices.