Cromwell. An Historical Novel. 2 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1838.
The British edition, edited by Horace Smith, was published in London by Henry Colburn in 1840; this was Herbert's first work to appear in England. Several later editions published in New York and Dublin are noted by William Mitchell Van Winkle, Herbert's bibliographer.
Edgar Ardenne, who has been traveling in Europe for three years prior to the beginning of the novel, although an English aristocrat, finds himself in the position of opposing “the headlong declination of the English Church toward dreaded popery, [and] the more rapid increase of prerogative toward absolute and autocratic sway” [I, 62] of Charles I. Ardenne sides with the Puritan Parliament when Civil War breaks out and Cromwell is elevated to leadership of the rebellion. Interestingly, John Milton plays...
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Citation: Meats, Stephen E.. "Cromwell: A Historical Novel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 September 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16251, accessed 09 June 2026.]
