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so instrumental in vindicating her right to the throne in opposition to the party for Lady Jane Gray-an act for which they were ill requitedshe declared she did not mean to make any altera

consider the case Mr. Hume alludes to, where the member was convicted of having given a mayor four pounds. Every one must be aware of the difficulty of proving bribery at an election; and that where evidence can be brought, of any sum however small having been given, large sums are always presumed. But it may be alleged, that the notions of the present times are inapplicable to the ancient. The course pursued by the commons of that age, however, sufficiently evinced the reverse, for, in that very case, they annulled all bonds granted for votes!-a sure proof of their idea of the extent of the corruption. D'Ewes, p. 182. An. 1571.

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Mr. Hume's observations in this place are totally irreconcileable with his remarks upon the 8th Henry VI. c. 7. & 10. c. 2. which restricted the elective franchise in the shires to those possessed of freehold, to the annual value of forty shillings. He there says, may learn from these expressions," (those used in the statute) "what an important matter the election of a member of Parliament was now become in England," &c. vol. iii. p. 213. It is inconsistent with his theory to suppose that the commons fell back; and, therefore, we must conclude, that as Mr. Hume wrote the late part of his work first, he had formed a theory regarding the constitution incompatible with his subsequent discoveries. In regard to Beal, whose authority he treats with contempt, it may be observed, that, whether the facts narrated by him be true or false, they still afford clear evidence of the understanding on that subject of his own age; for why should he invent or relate circumstances which people never suspected the existence of? His testimony, however, derives strong corroboration from the other indisputable evidence transmitted.

Archbishop Whitgift used all his influence " to prevent unfit men, especially disaffected to the present constitution of the Church, from coming there," that is, to Parliament. Strype's Life of Whitgift, p. 508.

On this subject of corruption and undue influence at elections, we cannot forbear from remarking, that undertakers, as the agents for the crown on such occasions were denominated, were declared in 1614 to be worse than the gun-powder traitors. Journals of the Commons, p. 470. See also, on this subject, p. 478.

tion in religion: she assumed a bolder tone to the council, yet, even then, her language was extremely moderate" that though her own conscience was settled in matters of religion, she was resolved not to compel others but by preaching of the word:" But, in a few days, she issued a proclamation, in which she intimated that she would not compel others to be of her religion-" till public order should be taken in it by common assent," -language which indicated that she expected the assistance of parliament in restoring the old worship. The most intolerant, blood-thirsty sects are ever the readiest to exclaim most loudly against the abominable cruelty and injustice of persecu. tion for conscience-sake, when themselves are the object of it, and, at the beginning of this reign, Parliament was incited to give licence to

*Is it possible," says Neal, in page 103," after such a relation of things, for any Protestant to be in love with High Commissions, with oaths ex officio, and laws to deprive men of their lives, liberties, and estates, for matters of mere conscience? And yet these very reformers, when the power returned into their hands, were too much inclined to these engines of cruelty." As persecution, how much soever encouraged by each party against its adversaries, was regarded by its victims with every sensation of horror, so was its authors. Bishop Gardiner is thus described by a contemporary, (Ponet), "This Doctor hath a swart colour, hanging look, frowning brows, eyes an inch within his head, a nose hooked like a buzzard, nostrils like a horse, ever snuffing into the wind, a sparrow mouth, great paws like the devil, talons on his feet like a gripe, two inches longer than the natural toes, and so tied with sinews, that he cannot abide And to be touched, nor scarce suffer them to touch the stones. nature having thus shaped the form of an old monster, it gave him a vengeable wit," &c. Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 271, &c.

persecute by the most bitter invective, in the mouths of the Queen's councillors and expectant lawyers, against the statutes about religion which had been passed in the two preceding reigns,statutes which they stigmatized "as bloody, and cruel, like Draco's laws written in blood, and more intolerable than any that Dionysius or any other tyrant ever made *."

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Packed and guilty as her parliaments were, Mary did not find them all compliance. The first was dissolved, because it would not consent to her marriage with Philip-an opposition which proceeded rather from civil than religious motives, and, in some degree from a dread of Spaniards engrossing English offices t. The frequent dissolu

* Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 39. In 554, Cardinal Pole having been introduced into Parliament as the pope's legate, declaimed against the misery of the two former reigns. "For," said he," those that live under the Turk may freely live after their conscience, and so it was not lawful here." Yet his object was to persuade the legislature to persecute the reformers. Fox's Martyr. vol. iii. p. 109.-But the Protestants had, after all, little cause to complain, since they suffered upon their own principles. Mary had narrowly escaped the death of a heretic in her father's time, (Burnet, vol. iii. p. 432.) and her humble solicitations to be allowed mass in her brother's reign were denied. She was told that the king could not bear with her conduct in this respect longer, " without some sudden amendment." But she answered resolutely, her soul was God's, and her faith she would not change, nor dissemble her opinion by contrary doings. "It was told her that the king constrained not her faith, but willed her not to rule as a king, but obey as a subject," Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 251. See whole chapter, b. ii. c. 1. How ready Cranmer-who is called gentle, &c. was to persecute we have already seen.

+ Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 126, 251.

tions prove how anxious she was to try her fortune at new elections; and a band of patriots perceiving that all their efforts to serve their country in such an assembly, were unavailing, openly seceded from the Lower House*. In one instance, too, she got a memorable check, which illustrates the view we have taken of the posture of affairs. In the year 1554, (she was proclaimed in July 1553) when her third parliament passed a statute, reconciling the kingdom to the Romish see, they added a proviso that all settlements of the church lands which had belonged to any bishoprics, monasteries, or other religious houses, should continue unaltered, and unmolested by ecclesiastical censures or laws. Cardinal Pole, who had arrived in England as the Pope's legate, though he conceived it prudent to submit to the proviso, denounced heavy judgments against all who withheld the church's patrimony-judgments which these Catholics disregarded; but the Pope, pretending that the legate had, in this instance, exceeded his instructions, refused to confirm his act, and published a bull, by which he excommunicated all who held and refused to restore the eccle

* Coke, 4 Inst. p. 17. There was an information filed by the attorney-general against thirty-nine members for deserting their places in Parliament, An. 1. & 2. P. & M. and Plowden, the great lawyer, was one of the number; but he pleaded that he had always attended from the beginning to the end of the Parliament, a circumstance which had escaped Mr. Strype. See Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 165. The bill for repealing King Edward's laws about religion was debated six days. Burnet, p. 459.

siastical property*. The excommunication was as little regarded as the legate's denouncement of judgments; but from the conduct of the Pope, the feelings of such of the party as held none of the lands, and the temper of the Queen, the proprietors laboured under fears of ejectment†, which had a strong effect on their conduct; and Mary soon convinced them that their apprehensions were not altogether groundless. Supposing herself with child, and near her delivery, she, on the 28th of March, 1555, sent for part of her council, Lord Treasurer Paulet, Sir Robert Rochester, comptroller, Sir William Petre, Secretary of State, and Sir Francis Inglefield, master of the Wards, and expressed to them her intention of restoring that portion of the church lands which was in the possession of the crown. The answer of the Council is memorable: "The Lords thought requisite to direct some course, whereby she might satisfy her desires to her own great honour, and yet not alienate too much at once

* Burnet, vol. iii. p. 530. et seq. p. 557, & 560. Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 159. et seq. Neal, vol. i. p. 95.

+ Burnet, vol. iii. p. 536. & 577. Some applied to the Pope for bulls of dispensation for holding those lands. Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. iii. p. 162. Osborn says, that Sir John Parsons told him he had seen a bull amongst Selden's antiquities, confirming the rights of the possessors to the church lands: and it is not improbable that a bull might have been prepared against contingencies, though not divulged, as matters were otherwise arranged, and the Pope would naturally renounce nothing he could pretend a claim to. But, on the other hand, the bull in Selden's collection, might be in favour of an individual. Church lands sold at low rates. Osborn, p. 376.

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