Page:Explanatory notes of a pack of Cavalier playing cards.djvu/11

 (Circa 1660.)



1. Ace of Hearts.

Cromwell, Ireton and Hudson all in y$e$ same boate.

In 1650, Cromwell was named Commander-in-Chief in Ireland; Ireton, his son-in-law, his deputy; and Hewson or Huson (here misprinted Hudson) governor of Dublin. In the plate they are sailing away from the sun of loyalty towards the night of treason. The portrait of Cromwell at the stern is not to be mistaken. Next to him is Hewson distinguished from Ireton by his older features.

2. Ace of Clubs.

A Free State or a Toleration for all sorts of Villany.

In the Mystery of the Good Old Cause (London 1660) a Royalist attack on the leading members of the Long Parliament, the author says of the Roundheads, "Their pretences were no doubt the most specious and plausible that could be imagined, but, alas! never were these things more pretended to, and less in reality