Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/406

386 they will conclude well in it, by the help of the Holy Ghost, without whom such matters cannot well be tried. Part of our bishops that have been most stiff in opinion of the reality of his body, that as He was here on earth, so He should be in the bread, now confess and say that they were not of that opinion. But yet there is hard hold with some to the contrary, who shall relent when it pleaseth God.'

The victory, notwithstanding Traheron's auguries, was still doubtful on the 26th of December, and Peter Martyr was in alarm at the vigour and determination of the Catholics; if the body of Gardiner were in the Tower, his spirit was abroad and powerful. 'There is so much contention about the eucharist,' Martyr said, 'that every corner is full of it; every day the question is discussed among the Lords, with such disputing of bishops as was never heard; the Commons thronging the Lords' galleries to hear the arguments.'

The nature of the debates can be conjectured only from the result, which, as on the other questions, was a compromise. On the 7th of January the Act of Uniformity was brought into the House of Lords; on the 15th it was passed; eight Bishops—London, Durham, Norwich, Carlisle, Hereford, Worcester, Westminster, and Chichester—the Earl of Derby,