Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/206

186 shrunk back when it was accepted. Thus the two parties which divided England were left to determine by themselves the form of their future; and if the moderate good sense of the country could prevent an armed collision between the fanatics of either extreme, it was likely to arrange itself into a compromise. The elements of danger were still considerable; yet the revolution, which had already been securely accomplished, might inspire a reasonable confidence. Sixteen years had now elapsed since the memorable meeting of Parliament in 1529; and in those years the usurpation of Rome had been abolished; the phantom which overshadowed Europe 'had become a laughing-stock; the clergy for four centuries had been the virtual rulers in State and Church; their authority had extended over castle and cottage; they had monopolized the learned professions, and every man who could read was absorbed under the privileges of their order; supreme in the cabinet, in the law courts, and in the legislature, they had treated the Parliament as a shadow of Convocation, and the House of Commons as an instrument to raise a revenue, the administration of which was theirs: their gigantic prerogatives had now passed away from them; the Convocation which had prescribed laws to the State endured the legislation of the Commons, even on the Articles of the Faith; the religious houses were swept away; their broad lands had relapsed to the laity, with the powers which the ownership conveyed with it; the mitred abbots had ceased to exist; the temporal lords had a majority in the House of Peers: and the Bishops