Richard Cromwell Resigns as Lord Protector

On May 25, 1659, a beleaguered Richard Cromwell resigned as Lord Protector of England.  He left when the Rump Parliament agreed to fund his personal debt and provide him with a pension.  Walter Scott covers this period of history in his "Tales of a Grandfather, history of Scotland":

"...To return to public affairs in London, where, after the abdication of Richard, changes succeeded with as little permanence as the reflection of faces presented to a mirror, the attempt of the officers of the army to establish a purely military government was combated by the return to Parliament of those republican members whom Oliver Cromwell had expelled, and whom the common people, by a vulgar but expressive nickname, now called the Rump Parliament. This assembly, so called because it was the sitting part of that which commenced the civil war, was again subjected to military violence, and dissolved by General Lambert, who unquestionably designed in his own person to act the part of Oliver Cromwell, though without either the talents or high reputation of the original performer. But a general change had taken place in the sentiments of the nation..."