we have only the popular impression to the contrary to set against his word, we must believe him; yet it was of small moment to the laity who were pillaged, whether the spoils taken from them filled the coffers of the master, or those of his followers and friends.
When we consider, also, the significant allusion[1] to the young folks whom the bishops called their nephews, we cease to wonder at their lenient dealing with the poor priests who had sunk under the temptations of frail humanity; and still less can we wonder at the rough handling which was soon found necessary to bring back these high dignitaries to a better mind.
The House of Commons, in casting their grievances into the form of a petition, showed that they had no desire to thrust forward of themselves violent measures of reform; they sought rather to explain firmly and decisively what the country required. The King, selecting out of the many points noticed those which seemed most immediately pressing, referred them back to the Parliament, with a direction to draw up such enactments as in their own judgment would furnish effective relief. In the mean time he submitted the petition itself to the consideration of the bishops, requiring their immediate answer to the charges against them, and accompanied this request with a further important requisition. The
- ↑ Explanations are not easy; but the following passage may suggest the meaning of the House of Commons:—'The holy Father Prior of Maiden Bradley hath but six children, and but one daughter married yet of the goods of the monastery; trusting shortly to marry the rest.'—Dr Leyton to Cromwell: Suppression of the Monasteries, p. 58.
