Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/489

1554.] why the opposition should persevere; if he chose to go, his departure could be endured.

So keen was the debate that there was not so much as a Christmas recess. Christmas-day was kept as a holyday. On the 26th the struggle began again, and, fortunately, clouds had risen between the House of Commons and the Court. Finding more difficulty than he expected in embroiling England with France, Philip, to feel the temper of the people, induced one of the peers to carry a note to the Lower House to request an opinion whether it was not the duty of a son to assist his father. An answer was instantly returned that the question had been already disposed of by the late Parliament in the marriage treaty, and the further discussion of it was unnecessary. Secretary Bourne, at the instigation of Gardiner, proposed to revive the claims on the pensions; but he met with no better reception. And