] The judges determined, that the members
attainted should forbear taking their seat till an act were passed for
the reversal of their attainder. There was no difficulty in obtaining
this act; and in it were comprehended a hundred and seven persons of the
king's party.[***]

* Polyd. Virg. p. 567.

** Bacon, p. 661.

*** Rot. Parl. 1 Henry VII. n. 2, 3, 4-15, 17, 26-65.

But a scruple was started of a nature still more important. The king
himself had been attainted; and his right of succession to the crown
might thence be exposed to some doubt The judges extricated themselves
from this dangerous question by asserting it as a maxim, "That the crown
takes away all defects and stops in blood; and that from the time
the king assumed royal authority, the fountain was cleared, and all
attainders and corruptions of blood discharged." [*] Besides that the
case, from its urgent necessity, admitted of no deliberation, the judges
probably thought that no sentence of a court of judicature had authority
sufficient to bar the right of succession; that the heir of the crown
was commonly exposed to such jealousy as might often occasion stretches
of law and justice against him; and that a prince might even be engaged
in unjustifiable measures during his predecessor's reign, without
meriting on that account to be excluded from the throne, which was his
birthright.

With a parliament so obsequious, the king could not fail of obtaining
whatever act of settlement he was pleased to require. He seems only to
have entertained some doubt within himself on what claim he should found
his pretensions. In his speech to the parliament, he mentioned his just
title by hereditary right: but lest that title should not be esteemed
sufficient, he subjoined his claim by the judgment of God, who had given
him victory over his enemies. And again, lest this pretension should be
interpreted as assuming a right of conquest, he insured to his subjects
the full enjoyment of their former properties and possessions.

The entail of the crown was drawn according to the sense of the king,
and probably in words dictated by him. He made no mention in it of
the princess Elizabeth, nor of any branch of her family: but in other
respects the act was compiled with sufficient reserve and moderation.
He did not insist that it should contain a declaration or recognition of
his preceding right; as, on the other hand, he avoided the appearance of
a new law o