Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/470

 450 KE1GN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 45- yet they were no more successful than Sadler ; ' the law- yers ' still insisted ; the House went with them in de- clining to endure any longer a future which depended 011 the possible * movements' of the Queen's mind; and a vote was carried to press the question to an issue and to invite the Lords to a conference. The Lords, as eager as the Commons, instantly acquiesced. Public business was suspended, and committees of the two Houses sat daily for a fortnight, preparing an address to the Crown. 1 1 Cecil, who was a member of the Commons' Committee, has left a paper of notes touching the main points of the situation : < October, 1556. the stablishing of the succession is the uttermost that can be desired. that can be denied. 'To require marriage is most natural, most easy, most plausible to the Queen's Majesty. sion is most plausible to all people. ' To require the succession is hardest to be obtained, both for the difficulty to discuss the right and the loathsomeness of the Queen's Majesty to consent thereto. reason of 1. ' The uncertainty of indiffer- ency in the parties that shall discuss it. 2. ' The uncertainty of the right pretended. 'The loathsomeness to grant it is by reason of natural suspicion against a successor that nuth right by law to succeed. 4 The mean betwixt them is to determine effectually to marry, and if it succeed not, then proceed to dis- cussion of the right of succession.' Domestic MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xl. Another paper, also in Cecil's hand, contains apparently a rough sketch for the address to the Crown : ' That the marriage may proceed effectually. ' That it may be declared how necessary it is to have the succession stablished for sundry causes. 'Surety and quietness of the Queen's Majesty, that no person may attempt anything to the furtherance of any supposed title when it shall be manifest how the right is settled. Whereunto may also be added sun- dry devices to stay every person in his duty, so as her Majesty may reign assuredly. 'The comfort of all good sub- jects that may remain assured, how and whom to obey lawfully, and how
 * To require both marriage and
 * To deny both, the uttermost
 * To require certainty of succes-
 * The difficulty to discuss it is by
 * Corollarium.