But I hold it not to be such a deluge as that of which you speak; but rather a blessed flood, like those of the Nile, which in its overflow doth indeed wash away ancient landmarks, and confound boundaries, and sweep away dwellings, yea, doth give birth to many foul and dangerous reptiles.

Yet hence is the fulness of the granary, the beauty of the garden, the nurture of all living things.
"I remember well, Mr Cowley, what you have said concerning these things in your Discourse of the Government of Oliver Cromwell, which my friend Elwood read to me last year.

Truly, for elegance and rhetoric, that essay is to be compared with the finest tractates of Isocrates and Cicero.

But neither that nor any other book, nor any events, which with most men have, more than any book, weight and authority, have altered my opinion, that, of all assemblies that ever were in this world, the best and the most useful was our Long Parliament.

I speak not this as wishing to provoke debate; which neither yet do I decline." Mr Cowley was, as I could see, a little nettled.