Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 2.djvu/605

1536.] might be sent at once to Hull. Sir Robert Constable declared openly, 'that if his advice might be taken, seeing he had broken one point in the tables with the King, he would yet break another, and have no meeting. He would have all the country made sure from Trent northward; he doubted not they would have joined with them all Lancashire and Cheshire, which would make them strong enough to defend themselves against all men; and then,' he said, he would be content to condescend to the meeting.'

Had this advice been taken, the consequences might have been serious; but the fatal moderation of Aske prevailed over the more audacious but safer counsel. He resolved that the terms offered by the Government should be first discussed, but discussed in security. The musters should reassemble in full force. The northern Parliament and Convocation had been summoned. The two assemblies should sit at Pomfret and not at York, and should meet at the time of the conference.

Thus, on the 26th. of November, as the King's commissioners approached the borders of Yorkshire, the news reached them that the beacons were again burning, and the force of the commons was again collecting. The conference, if conference there was to