gislature;
that if one is strong, the other must be weak; and of the two
alternatives it vastly preferred a weak executive. So, to limit the
king's power, it sought to make him "live of his own," when "his own"
was absolutely inadequate to meet the barest necessities of government.
Parliament was in fact irresponsible; the connecting link between it
and the executive had yet to be found. Hence the Lancastrian "lack of
governance"; it ended in a generation of civil war, and the memory of
that anarchy explains much in Tudor history.

[Footnote 68: Fortescue, _Governance of England_,
ed. Plummer, 1885.]

The problems of Henry VIII.'s reign can indeed only be solved by
realising the misrule of the preceding century, the failure of
parliamentary government, and the strength of the popular demand for a
firm and masterful hand. It is a modern myth that Englishmen have
always been consumed with enthusiasm for parliamentary government and
with a thirst for a parliamentary vote. The interpretation of history,
like that of the Scriptures, varies from age to age; and present
political theories colour our views of the past. The political
development of the nineteenth century created a parliamentary legend;
and civil and religious liberty became the inseparable stage (p. 034)
properties of the Englishman. Whenever he appeared on the boards, he
was made to declaim about the rights of the subject and the privileges
of Parliament. It was assumed that the desire for a voice in the
management of his own affairs had at all times and all seasons been
the mainspring of his actions; and so the story of Henry's rule was
made into a political mystery. In reality, love of freedom has not
always been, nor will it always remain, the predominant note in the
English mind. At times the English people have pursued it through
battle and murder with grim determination, but other times have seen
other ideals. On occasion the demand has been for strong government
irrespective of its methods, and good government has been preferred to
self-government. Wars of expansion and wars of defence have often
cooled the love of liberty and impaired the faith in parliaments; and
generally English ideals have been strictly subordinated to a passion
for material prosperity.

Never was this more apparent than under the Tudors. The parliamentary
experiment of the Lancastrians was premature and had failed.
Parliamentary insti