Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/490

 470 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45. the trouble which it had given on other subjects, and the Queen was privately informed that the grant we uld be made unusually large. Elizabeth, determined not to be outdone, replied that although for the public service she might require all which they were ready to offer, ' she counted her subjects, in respect of their hearty good will, her best treasurers ; ' and ' she therefore would move them to forbear at that time extending their gift as they proposed/ The manner as well as the matter of the message was pointedly gracious, yet the Com- mons would have preferred her taking the money and listening to their opinions ; and the bribe was as un- successful as the menace, in keeping them silent. They voted freely the sum which she would consent to take. It amounted in a rough estimate to an income tax of seven per cent, for two years ; but an attempt was made to attach a preamble to the Bill which would commit the Queen in accepting it to what she was straining every nerve to avoid. Referring to the promise which she had made to the Committee, 'the Commons humbly and earnestly besought her with the assistance of God's grace, having resolved to marry, to accelerate without more loss of time all her honourable actions tending thereto ; } while ' submitting themselves to the will of Almighty God, in whose hands all power and counsel did consist, they would at the same time beseech Him to give her Majesty wisdom well to fore- see, opportunity speedily to consult, and power with assent of the realm sufficiently to fulfil without un- necessary delay, all that should be needful to her sub-