Thus
there was to be a constant flow of new blood through the political
system, and the representative was to be kept true as a reflection of
the public mind.
The Commonwealth of Oceana was England. Harrington called
Scotland Marpesia; and Ireland, Panopea. London he called
Emporium; the Thames, Halcionia; Westminster, Hiera;
Westminster Hall, Pantheon. The Palace of St. James was Alma;
Hampton Court, Convallium; Windsor, Mount Celia. By Hemisna,
Harrington meant the river Trent. Past sovereigns of England he
renamed for Oceana: William the Conqueror became Turbo; King
John, Adoxus; Richard II, Dicotome; Henry VII, Panurgus; Henry
VIII, Coraunus; Elizabeth, Parthenia; James I, Morpheus. He
referred to Hobbes as Leviathan; and to Francis Bacon, as
Verulamius. Oliver Cromwell he renamed Olphaus Megaletor.
Harrington's book was seized while printing, and carried to
Whitehall. Harrington went to Cromwell's daughter, Lady
Claypole, played with her three-year-old child while waiting for
her, and said to her, when she came and found him with her little
girl upon his lap, " Madam, you have come in the nick of time, for
I was just about to steal this pretty lady." "Why should you?"
"Why shouldn't I, unless you cause your father to restore a child of
mine that lie has stolen?" It was only, he said, a kind of political
romance; so far from any treason against her father that he hoped
she would let him know it was to be dedicated to him.
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