ABSTRACT
A royalist intelligence report which Sir Edward Nicholas received in 1650 depicted an England in which the Independents had possession of all the forts, towns and treasure while the Presbyterians, for their part, had a ‘silent power’ which owed much to the clergy and some of the nobility and gentry. During the Commonwealth period many Puritan squires who had been active in the cause of godliness before the time of the Civil Wars were finally laid to rest. Whatever their political views the Puritan gentry were saddened by the realization that all the high expectations about the advancement of godliness had proved illusory. During the Protectorate, writes Lucy Hutchinson, True religion was now almost lost, even among the religious party, and Hipocrisies became an epidemically disease. If the Puritan gentry were to retain their religious identity it was clearly imperative that they should take particular care over the education of the children.
