John Wilmot Quotes
All monarchs I hate, and the thrones they sit on,
From the hector of France to the cully of Britain.
Wilmot, John. "A Satyr on Charles II." The Complete Poems of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, edited by David M. Vieth, Yale University Press, 1968, p. 60.
Cromwell was not opposed to monarchy per se as long as it was reasonably checked. He saw Charles II as a terrible monarch. After deposing Charles, he and his associates had to come up with some form of government. As “Lord Protector” he was a de facto monarch without the trappings.
John Wilmot was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodied this new era, and he became as well known for his rakish lifestyle as his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. He died as a result of venereal disease at the age of 33.
