Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/324

304 Grace hath the rule of, which is a mean to slander all that is done.'

But Parliament was now to meet. The Protector came back from Scotland surrounded with a halo of splendour; London proposed to receive him with a triumphal procession; and, although he declined this excess of honour, the mayor and aldermen met him on Finsbury fields in their robes, and formed his escort to the palace. Fresh distinctions were heaped on him by the council; his designation in future was to run in royal phrase—Edward, by the grace of God, Duke of Somerset, Protector of the Realm. An order was issued in the name of the boy King that 'our uncle shall sit alone, and be placed at all times, as well in our presence at our court of Parliament, as in pur absence, next on the right hand of our seat royal in our Parliament chamber.'

In the midst of the sunshine, a few motes indeed were visible besides the imprisonment of Gardiner. Memoranda appear, in the council books and official papers, of complaints in the fleet on account of unpaid wages. The bills of the Antwerp money dealers, instead of being paid, had been renewed on interest, and fresh loans contracted. The bad money had not only not been called in, but more had been coined, and still the exchequer was running low. Lists were drawn of all gentlemen in