Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/329

1547.] separate body they should continue—or, rather, a disembodied ghost. They were not permitted to fall back upon privileges which they had voluntarily abandoned; the Lords and Commons continued to do their work for them; and, amongst other things discussed, was a question in which, if in any, they might in reason expect to have been consulted. The Lower House, on the 20th of December, sent up a bill 'that lay and married men might be priests and have benefices.' Consenting reluctantly to innovation where custom and prejudice had so strong a hold, it would seem that the first measure of relief which they contemplated was a compromise. Laymen having wives already might be ordained; those who were ordained while unmarried, would still remain single. The bill, however, was unsatisfactory. In the Lords it was read once, on the 21 st December: Parliament was prorogued a few days after, and it was dropped.

Two other measures which were passed in this session require attention. The vagrancy laws of the late reign were said to have failed from over-severity.