When Oliver Cromwell famously instructed Peter Lely to paint his portrait "warts and awl," it was because he wanted to be depicted for posterity carrying his lucky awl, an old pointy instrument the Lord Protector often employed to scratch his itchy facial growths with. But what is less commonly known is that Cromwell concluded this aesthetic command with the equally uncompromising words, "And make sure that my eyes will follow you around the room, since there's little point in bequeathing one's regicidal likeness to the world if it's not going to really creep people out."
References: 'The American Fez Bumper Book of Bogus Quotations.'
As Samuel Rawson Gardiner said of our Lord Protector, "Awl is forgiven"
Posted by: Peter Horne | August 03, 2007 at 14:58