Portrait of Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper (1656). Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

2,373 words

That was God’s judgment on the man who had set himself above his kind. — John Buchan, Greenmantle

Oliver’s army is here to stay.
Oliver’s army are on their way.
And I would rather be anywhere else than here today.
— Elvis Costello, “Oliver’s Army”

Although my scant knowledge of English history makes me ashamed to be called an Englishman, I have at least an idea of how that history has judged its more recent figures. Or have I?