sensitive part in the papal armour; there was no
law in the _Corpus Juris Canonici_ requiring the
payment of annates (Maitland in _Engl. Hist. Rev._,
xvi., 43).]

[Footnote 806: _L. and P._, v., 723.]

[Footnote 807: _Ibid._, v., 898.]

[Footnote 808: _Ibid._, v., 832.]

[Footnote 809: _Ibid._, v., 886.]

[Footnote 810: _L. and P._, v., 150. This letter is
misplaced in _L. and P._; it should be under 23rd
March, 1532, instead of 1531. The French envoy,
Giles de la Pommeraye, did not arrive in England
till late in 1531, and his letter obviously refers
to the proceedings in Parliament in March, 1532;
_cf._ v., 879.]

But no pressure was needed to induce the Commons to attack abuses, the
weight of which they felt themselves. Early in the session they were
discussing the famous petition against the clergy, and, on 28th
February, Norfolk referred to the "infinite clamours" in Parliament
against the Church.[811] The fact that four corrected drafts of this
petition are extant in the Record Office, is taken as conclusive proof
that it really emanated from the Court.[812] But the drafts do not
appear to be in the known hand of any of the Government clerks. The
corrections in Cromwell's hand doubtless represent the wishes of the
King; but, even were the whole in Cromwell's hand, it would be no bar
to the hypothesis that Cromwell reduced to writing, for the King's
consideration, complaints which he heard from independent members in
his place in Parliament. The fact that nine-tenths of our modern
legislation is drawn up by Government draughtsmen, cannot be accepted
as proof that that legislation represents no popular feeling. On the
face of them, these petitions bear little evidence of Court dictation;
the grievances are not such as were felt by Henry, whose own demands
of the clergy were laid directly before Convocation, without any (p. 292)
pretence that they really came from the Commons. Some are similar
to those presented to the Parliament of 1515; others are directed
against abuses which recent statutes had sought, but failed, to
remedy. Such were the citation of laymen out of their dioceses, the
excessive fees taken in spiritual courts, the delay