duke, at the request of the king of France, had granted an amnesty to the Waldenses, and confirmed their ancient privileges; and that the natives of the valleys, protestant and catholic, had met, embraced one another with tears, and sworn to live in perpetual amity together. During his residence in Geneva, Morland, at Thurloe's suggestion, prepared minutes, and procured records, vouchers, and attestations from which he might compile a correct history of the Waldenses (Vaughan, Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, ii. 507). He arrived at Whitehall 18 Dec. 1656, and shortly afterwards received the thanks of a select committee appointed by Cromwell to inquire into his proceedings.
Two years later he published 'The History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piemont. Together with a most naked and punctual relation of the late Bloudy Massacre, 1655. And a narrative of all the following transactions to the year of our Lord 1658. All which are justified, partly by divers ancient manuscripts written many hundred years before Calvin or Luther, and partly by the most authentick attestations : the true originals of the greatest part whereof are to be seen in their proper languages, by all the curious, in the Publick Library of the famous University of Cambridge,' London, 1658, fol. This volume, which was illustrated with sensational prints of the supposed sufferings of the Waldenses, 'operated like Fox's Book of Martyrs' (cf. Thomas Warton's note on Milton's sonnet 'On the late Massacre in Piemont,' in Milton's Poems, 1785, p. 357). Prefixed to the book is a fine portrait of Morland, engraved by P. Lombart, from a painting by Sir P. Lely, and an epistle dedicatory to Cromwell, couched in a strain of extreme adulation. In Hollis's 'Memoirs' it is stated that Morland afterwards withdrew this dedication from all the copies he could lay hands on.
Most of the Waldensian manuscripts brought to England and partly published by Morland were said by him to exhibit the date 1120, and they have been often quoted to prove the fabulous antiquity of the sect, which was falsely alleged to have existed long before the time of Peter Waldensis. Morland's documents have since been proved, however, to be forgeries of moderate skill and ingenuity. Morland was probably misled by incorrect statements of the Waldensian minister, Jean Leger, master of an academy at Geneva, whose 'Histoire Generale des Eglises Evangeliques de Piemont,' published at Amsterdam in 1680, may be regarded as an enlarged edition of Morland's book. Six of the most important manuscript volumes brought over by Morland were long supposed to have mysteriously disappeared from the Cambridge University Library, and it was generally believed that they had been abstracted by the puritans; but they were all discovered by Mr. Henry Bradshaw in 1862, in their proper places, where they had probably remained undisturbed for centuries (Cambridge Antiquarian Communications, ii. 203; Athenæum, 20 May 1865, p. 684; Todd, Books of the Vaudois, 1865; Melia, Origin . . . of the Waldenses, 1870; Cat. of MSS. in Univ. Libr. Cambr. i. 81-9, 548-52, v. 589).
Morland now became intimately associated with the government of the Commonwealth, and he admits that he was an eye and ear witness of Dr. Hewitt's being 'trepanned to death' by Thurloe and his agents. The most remarkable intrigue, however, which came to his knowledge was that usually called Sir Richard Willis's plot. Its object was to induce Charles II and his brother to effect a landing on the Sussex coast, under pretence of meeting many adherents, and to put them both to death the moment they disembarked. This plot is said to have formed the subject of a conference between Cromwell, Thurloe, and Willis at Thurloe's office, and the conversation was overheard by Morland, who pretended to be asleep at his desk. Welwood relates that when Cromwell discovered Morland's presence he drew his poniard, and would have killed him on the spot but for Thurloe's solemn assurance that his secretary had sat up two nights in succession, and was certainly fast asleep (Welwood, Memoirs, ed. 1820, p. 98). From this time Morland endeavoured to promote the Restoration. In justifying to himself the abandonment of his former principles and associates, he observes that avarice could not be his object, as he was at this time living in greater plenty than he ever did after the Restoration, 'having a house well furnished, an establishment of servants, a coach, &c., and 1,000l. a year to support all this, with several hundred pounds of ready money, and a beautiful young woman to his wife for a companion.' In order to save the king's life and promote the Restoration, he eventually went to Breda, where he arrived on 6-16 May 1660, bringing with him letters and notes of importance. The king welcomed him graciously, and publicly acknowledged the services he had rendered for some years past (Lower, Charles II's Voiage and Residence in Holland, 1660, p. 12; Kennett, Register and Chronicle, p. 135).
Grave charges of various kinds were brought against him by Sir Richard Willis, when he was pleading for a full pardon in 1661, but they do not seem to have received
