ost without contest or
violence, obtained a complete victory over the commons; and that
assembly, instead of guarding their liberties, now exposed to manifest
peril, conferred an additional revenue on the crown; and, by rendering
the king in some degree independent, contributed to increase those
dangers with which they had so much reason to be alarmed.

The next opposition came from the house of peers, which has not commonly
taken the lead on these occasions; and even from the bench of
bishops, where the court usually expects the greatest complaisance and
submission. The upper house had been brought, in the first days of
the session, to give general thanks for the king's speech; by which
compliment they were understood, according to the practice of that time,
to have acquiesced in every part of it: yet notwithstanding that step,
Compton, bishop of London, in his own name and that of his brethren,
moved that a day should be appointed for taking the speech into
consideration: he was seconded by Halifax, Nottingham, and Mordaunt.
Jefferies, the chancellor, opposed the motion; and seemed inclined to
use in that house the same arrogance to which on the bench he had so
long been accustomed: but he was soon taught to know his place; and he
proved, by his behavior, that insolence, when checked, naturally sinks
into meanness and cowardice. The bishop of London's motion prevailed.

The king might reasonably have presumed, that, even if the peers should
so far resume courage as to make an application against his dispensing
power, the same steady answer which he had given to the commons would
make them relapse into the same timidity; and he might by that means
have obtained a considerable supply, without making any concessions in
return. But so imperious was his temper, so lofty the idea which he had
entertained of his own authority, and so violent the schemes suggested
by his own bigotry and that of his priests, that, without any delay,
without waiting for any further provocation, he immediately proceeded to
a prorogation. He continued the parliament during a year and a half
by four more prorogations; but having in vain tried, by separate
applications, to break the obstinacy of the leading members, he at last
dissolved that assembly. And as it was plainly impossible for him to
find among his Protestant subjects a set of men more devoted to royal
authority, it was universally concluded, that he intended thenceforth to
govern entir