s, it was feared, would carry out in
England by means of his standing army commanded by Roman Catholic
officers. Hence the alarm which pervaded not only parliament, but also the
city and the nation at large.

(M811)

Hence too it was that when the Houses, which had been adjourned during the
campaign in the West, met on the 9th November,(1574) they remonstrated
with him for the favour he had shown to Catholics in direct contravention
of the law. Finding himself unable to bend parliament to his will, he
determined to do without one, and accordingly, after a brief session, it
stood prorogued (20 Nov.),(1575) never to meet again during the present
reign.

(M812)

Without a parliament James could act with a free hand. By a piece of
chicanery he managed to get a legal decision acknowledging the dispensing
power of the king.(1576) He established an Ecclesiastical Commission
Court, with the infamous Jeffreys at its head, the first act of which was
to suspend the Bishop of London for upholding the Protestant faith. He
removed the Earl of Clarendon (son of the late Chancellor), who had
recently been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,(1577) and appointed as
lord deputy the Earl of Tyrconnel, a Roman Catholic of low character, who
had gained an unenviable notoriety as the "lying Dick Talbot." The country
was over-run with Papists from abroad. All the laws against the exercise
of the Roman Catholic religion were set at defiance. There was no
disguise. Mass was publicly celebrated at Whitehall and Roman Catholic
chapels sprang up everywhere, giving rise to no small dissatisfaction and
tumult. The agitation in London was great, but greater in the city, where
men had been less accustomed to the sight of the Romish ceremonial than
those who lived in the neighbourhood of the court. Riots in the city were
of frequent occurrence, more especially on Sundays, when the Roman
Catholics were more in evidence than on week days. A Roman Catholic chapel
had recently been erected by the Elector Palatine in Lime Street. An
ineffectual attempt had been made by the mayor and aldermen to stay the
work. They were summoned to appear before the king and reprimanded. The
work was accordingly allowed to go on and the chapel was opened. On
Sunday, the 18th April (1686), the priests attached to the chapel were
followed by a mob into Cheapside, and matters would have gone hard with
them had not the mayor and aldermen appeared on the scene with a regimen