Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/483

1554.] that it was necessary to bribe them to accept it; and the conditions of the compromise, even yet, were far from concluded.

The sanction given to the secularization of Church property was a cruel disappointment to the clergy, who cared little for Rome, but cared much for wealth and power. Supported by a party in the House of Commons who had not shared in the plunder, and who envied those who had been more fortunate, the ecclesiastical faction began to agitate for a reconsideration of the question. Their friends in Parliament said that the dispensation was unnecessary. Every man's conscience ought to be his guide whether to keep his lands or surrender them. The Queen was known to hold the same opinion, and eager preachers began to sound the note of restitution. Growing bolder, the Lower House of Convocation presented the bishops immediately after