He was in the House Nov.

4, welcomed with thanks and applauses to his place for a while among the legislators.[1] [Footnote 1: Commons Journals of dates given, and Godwin, IV, 300-303.] Legislative work being back in the hands of a Parliament, the Protector and his Council had confined themselves meanwhile to matters of administration, war, and diplomacy.

Vane had been released from his imprisonment in the Isle of Wight by order of Council, Dec.
11, and permitted to return to Lincolnshire; and there had been other relaxations of the severities attending the opening of the Parliament.

There had been an order of Council (Oct.

2) for the release of imprisoned Quakers at Exeter, Dorchester, Colchester, and other places, with instructions to the Major-Generals in the respective districts to see the order carried out and the fines of the poor people discharged.