Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/474

454 But Bagenall was listened to with smiles. The resolution passed, the very ease and unanimity betraying the hollow ground on which it rested; and, again, devout Catholics beheld the evident work of supernatural agency. Lords and Commons had received separately the same proposition; they had discussed it, voted on it, and come to a conclusion, each with closed doors, and the messengers of the two Houses encountered each other on their way to communicate their several decisions. The chancellor arranged with Pole the forms which should be observed, and it was agreed that the Houses should present a joint petition to the King and Queen, acknowledging their past misconduct, engaging to undo the anti-papal legislation, and entreating their Majesties, as undefiled with the offences which tainted the body of the nation, to intercede for the removal of the interdict. A committee of Lords and Commons sat to consider the words in which the supplication should be expressed, and all preparations were completed by the evening.

And now St Andrew's Day was come; a day, as was then hoped, which would be remembered with awe and gratitude through all ages of English history. Being the festival of the institution of the Order of the Golden Fleece, high mass was sung