Page:The Leveller movement; a study in the history and political theory of the English Great Civil War (IA levellermovement01peas).djvu/112

 graphs and unwieldy sentences; he has an oratorical skill that by use of capitals or what not can make the most rambling paragraph climax with a crack like a whip-lash. A power of bitter invective couched in language as clean as that of the cleanest contemporary pamphleteer and an absolute freedom from a sense of humor complete his equipment for appeal to the masses.

For politics he is hampered by a credulity that makes him too trustful of seeming friends, and too ready to forgive repeated treacheries, if only they be interspersed with professions of penitence. A declared enemy he pursues relentlessly. His high devotion to principle pardons no man’s deviation from it in deference to passing exigencies. These traits are accompanied by a more than passive willingness to receive what is justly his due. But the dominating trait in his character, ignored both by contemporary and modern biographers, is the spirit of a crusader for the public good; and, as he endeavors to convince his critics, the attainment of the public good is the motive of his life.

When John Lilburne took up his abode in London at the conclusion of his military career, his temper and pursuits drew him into active political life.