Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/500

480 all the articles of the marriage treaty, 'which, during the time that he should hold the government, should remain and continue in as full force and strength, as if they were newly inserted and rehearsed in the present Act.'

The disposition of the House of Lords was the more dangerous, because the bishops, of course, voted with the Government, and the strength of the opposition, therefore, implied something like unanimity in the lay peers. The persecuting Act had been carried with difficulty, and in the reconciliation with Rome the legate had been studiously mortified. On the succession and the coronation the Court had been wholly baffled; and in the Regency Bill they had obtained but half of what they had desired. At the least Mary had hoped to secure for the King the free disposal of the army and the finances, and she had not been able so much as to ask for it. Compelled to rest contented with such advantages as had been secured, the Court would not risk the results of further controversy by prolonging the session; and on the 16th of January, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the King and Queen came to the House of Lords almost unattended, and with an evident expression of dissatisfaction dissolved the Parliament.