‘Inspired,’ Lambert said briefly, and ordered that Sir George Booth be taken to London for his trial for treason.

Lambert’s popularity rose and he was declared the saviour of the nation in every ale shop and tavern down the Great North Road. More particular were the thanks of the Quakers who came under his protection while he scotched the last of the royalist rebellions. By the end of August he was recognised as the greatest man in the kingdom and a grateful parliament voted him a gift of one thousand pounds.

Autumn 1659

In September, on his way back to London down the North Road, Lambert sent John Tradescant a note which read:

You may not have heard that John Mordaunt has left England to join the court of Charles Stuart at the Hague. He has had so many disappointments that I dare say one was no more memorable than another. Whatever happens in the future, Mordaunt’s enmity will not be anything to fear.

Before Lambert returned to London his army sent another petition to the House of Commons. Their list of requests was coming to be known as the ‘Grand Old Cause’, the cause of the Ironsides, the cause of the Levellers, the cause of the republicans. They demanded godly reforms, a proper command structure for the army, Parliament to be run by elected members advised by a senate, and court martial law in the army.

The House of Commons, always an unfaithful friend when the victory had been won, decided that the army was demanding reforms rather than requesting, and was probably marching on Parliament to seize power. In a frenzy of panic they ordered that the doors should be shut and Major General Lambert, so recently their hero, should be regarded as an enemy of Parliament and arrested for treason.

In early October John Tradescant received a magnificent order for spring bulbs from John Lambert who gave Wimbledon House as his address.

‘So he’s exiled again,’ John observed to Hester. ‘They don’t have the courage to send him to the Tower but they don’t dare let him near Parliament. They must be mad not to make him Lord Protector.’

‘They’re terrified,’ she said. ‘They think of nothing but saving their own skins. A parliament run by Lambert would reform them out of existence. He has no patience with time-servers. Did he write all this to you?’

‘No, it’s just an order for bulbs.’

‘Then how d’you know he’s in exile?’

John grinned. ‘He always orders too many when he has been thrown out of power. He couldn’t plant all these if he had three autumns under house arrest.’

John could have sent the lad with the three sacks of bulbs but his curiosity was too great. He himself drove the cart into the stable yard at Wimbledon and was directed to the pheasant garden where his Lordship was feeding his birds.