Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/214

194 The opening was conducted by the King in person, on Monday, the 28th of April. The clerk of the House of Lords has recorded (either as if it was exceptional or as if the circumstances of the time gave to a usual proceeding an unusual meaning) the religious service with which the ceremony was accompanied, and the special prayers which were offered for the divine guidance. The first week passed in unexplained inactivity. On the Monday following the lord chancellor read the speech from the throne, declaring the object for which Parliament had been called. The King desired, if possible, to close the religious quarrels by which the kingdom was distracted. With opinions in so furious conflict, the mode of settlement would demand anxious consideration; his Majesty therefore proposed, if the lords saw no objection, that, preparatory to the general debate, a committee of the Upper House should compose a report upon the causes and character of the disagreement. The committee should represent both parties. The peers selected were Cromwell, the two Archbishops, the Bishops of Bath, Ely, Bangor, Worcester, Durham, and Carlisle. It was foreseen that a body, of which Cranmer and Latimer, Lee and Tunstall, were severally members, was