proctors of the clergy. spiritual lords. from the beginning of this Parliament, and at this session, both of them, the bishops and abbots, hath been such, that we think we can no less do than advertise your lordship thereof. "After the assembly of the parliament at this session some bills were passed the Common House, and by the speaker delivered to the high house, to be debated there. The spiritual lords thereupon made a general answer, that they would not come Opposition of the in, nor debate upon any bill, till they knew whether the proctors in the convocation had a voice or not. Whereupon we perceiving that by this means they sought an occasion to deny all things that should be presented unto the upper house, where they were the most in number, and at every other session divers of them either came out, or else within three or four days many of them would ask licence to depart; at this time nevertheless appearing, and having like licence continued (of a set course,) wholly together, every day, in the parliament house; I, the king's deputy, called to me all the king's learned counsel, to debate with them about their doubt of their proctors; who not only shewed unto them the opinions of the learned men of England, together with their own reasons, that the said proctors had no voice in the parliament, but also proved unto them by parliaments holden there, that it should seem by the entries of the rolls, that their denial or assent was not material, but that it was written under divers acts, procuratores cleri non consenserunt,' yet were the same acts good and effectual in law." Proctors shown to have no claim to vote. Some imperfect sentences follow in the letter, which afterwards continues and concludes the subject thus: the Lord Depu checking the "Whereupon, considering their obstinacy, we Continuation of thought good to prorogue the parliament for this ty's letter. time; and against the next session provide a remedy for them. And therefore, my lord, it were well done that some mean be devised whereby they may be brought to remember their duties better. Except the mean may be found that these proctors Necessity for may be put from voice in the parliament, there shall proctors; but few things pass for the king's profit. For hitherto, since this parliament, have they shewed themselves in nothing conformable. We think that no reasonable man would judge them to have such pre-eminence in a parliament, that though the king, the lords, and the commons, assent to an act, the proctors in the Convocation House, though they were but seven or eight in number, as sometime they be here no more, shall stay the same at their pleasure, be the matter never so good, honest, and reasonable. But it doth well appear that it is a crafty cast, devised betwixt their masters, the bishops, and them. It is good that we have against Means proposed the next session a declaration from thence, under the king's great seal of England, of this question, whether the proctors have a voice in the parliament, or not? and that every act, passed without their assents, is nevertheless good and effectual." for so doing. quelling the ec position. In pursuance of this letter, amongst the other Act passed for acts "drawn and delivered to commissioners under clesiastical opthe great seal of England," in July following, "to be conveyed to Ireland, and passed there by parliament, which shall be holden at the being there of the said commissioners," there was provided "an act to determine the authority of the proctors of the convocation, which take upon them now to direct the whole parliament." It was thereupon enacted, Proctors de clared not members of parlia ment. Act for first fruits. First-fruits of religious houses. Pensions to abbots. Twentieth part of benefices. 15 that "the proctors should not be deemed or taken, from the first day of the present parliament, as parcels or members of the same, but only as counsellors and assistants; and that they should give no voice, nor should their assent be requisite or necessary to any act15" And thus a fatal blow was inflicted on that ecclesiastical opposition, which otherwise, in the persons of these representatives of the clergy, and under the management and dictation of their spiritual rulers, might have been effectual in defeating the proposed alterations, and in perpetuating the abuses and ascendency of the papacy. In the same parliament several other acts were passed, which had reference to ecclesiastical property, and materially affected the church and the clergy. The act for first fruits, taking for its precedent a similar act in England, enacted that all persons, nominated to any ecclesiastical preferment, should pay to the king the profits for one year, to whomsoever the foundation, patronage, or gift belong1. Another vested in him the first-fruits of abbeys, priories, and hospitals: a previous act having provided for the suppression of thirteen religious houses by name; for the assurance of pensions to the abbots during their respective lives, and for the enjoyment of the possessions by the patentees, to whom the king should have granted them". Another ordained, that the twentieth part of the profit of all spiritual promotions be paid yearly to the king for ever: an enactment so well pleasing to the king, that he sent a particular letter of thanks to the lords spiritual for the grant1. 15 Irish Stat., 28 Henry VIII., c. 12. 16 Ib., c. 8. 18 lb., c. 14. Peter-pence, tions, &c. Another prohibited the payment of Peter-pence, Prohibition of pensions, and other impositions, to the bishop or see Papal dispensaof Rome, and the procuring of dispensations, licences, and faculties from thence; and authorized the granting of them by commissioners appointed by the king, in the same manner as by the Archbishop of Canterbury in England". habit, and lan guage. By another act of the same parliament, for English order, encouraging "the English order, habit, and language," spiritual promotions were directed to be given "only to such as could speak English, unless, after four proclamations in the next market town, such could not be had." And an oath was to be administered to "such as take orders, and to such as are instituted to any benefice, that he would endeavour to learn and teach the English tongue to all and every being under his rule; and to bid the beads in the English tongue, and preach the word of God in English, if he can preach; and to keep or cause to be kept within his parish a school for to learn English, if any children of his parish come to him to learn the same, taking for the keeping of the same school such convenient stipend or salary as in the same land is accustomably used to be taken 20: an engagment this which, by persons grossly ignorant of the purport of the statute in general, as well as of this specifick enactment, has been invidiously and injuriously misinterpreted into an obligation incurred by every parochial incumbent, of providing at his own cost a general gratuitous education for all the poor children of his parish! 19 Irish Stat., 28 Henry VIII., c. 19. 20 Ib., c. 15. Foregoing acts opposed by the the primate. SECTION II. Difficulty of carrying the foregoing Acts of Parliament into execution. Archbishop of Dublin's endeavours to remore false objects of worship. King's Correspondence with him. Inquest of Commissioners into the State of the Kingdom. Impediments opposed to the Archbishop's exertions by the Lord Deputy. Necessity of fresh support from England. IT has been judged convenient to notice together Popish party and these several acts relating to ecclesiastical persons, as they were all passed in the same parliament of 1537, which passed the acts of Supremacy, and of prohibition of the Pope's usurped authority. Reverting, however, to these most important acts, we must observe, that although the efforts for enacting them triumphed over powerful resistance, still in the execution of them no small difficulty remained. And this indeed was to be expected. For longstanding prepossessions, whether personal or national, though they have not their foundation in reason, are not quickly to be eradicated; and, however little could reasonably be pleaded for an Italian bishop's claim to pre-eminence and power in the British isles, the idea of submission to his usurped authority was not more preposterous than it was inveterate. Thus a Popish party, opposed to the rightful prerogative of the sovereign, recognised as it now expressly was and strengthened by the law of the land, still persevered in its resistance; and at the head of that party was the primate, who, if he did not venture to act in open defiance of this two-fold authority, yet forbore to exert his influence in confirming and extending it; and was sedulous rather |