representatives. After this general exhortation,
the king continued in these words: "And yet, nevertheless, our pleasure
is, that where our privy council, or any of them, shall, in our behalf,
recommend within their jurisdiction men of learning and wisdom; in such
cases their directions shall be regarded and followed, as tending to the
same end which we desire; that is, to have this assembly composed of
the persons in our realm the best fitted to give advice and good
counsel."[*] Several letters were sent from the king, recommending
members to particular counties; Sir Richard Cotton to Hampshire; Sir
William Fitzwilliams and Sir Henry Nevil to Berkshire; Sir William Drury
and Sir Henry Benningfield to Suffolk, etc. But though some counties
only received this species of conge d'elire from the king; the
recommendations from the privy council and the counsellors, we may
fairly presume, would extend to the greater part, if not the whole, of
the kingdom.

* Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 394.

It is remarkable, that this attempt was made during the reign of a minor
king, when the royal authority is usually weakest that it was patiently
submitted to; and that it gave so little umbrage as scarcely to be taken
notice of by any historian. The painful and laborious collector above
cited, who never omits the most trivial matter, is the only person
that has thought this memorable letter worthy of being transmitted to
posterity.

{1553.} The parliament answered Northumberland's expectations. As
Tonstal had been in the interval deprived of his bishopric in an
arbitrary manner, by the sentence of lay commissioners appointed to
try him, the see of Durham was, by act of parliament, divided into two
bishoprics, which had certain portions of the revenue assigned them.
The regalities of the see, which included the jurisdiction of a count
palatine, were given by the king to Northumberland; nor is it to be
doubted but that noblemen had also purposed to make rich plunder of
the revenue, as was then usual with the courtiers whenever a bishopric
became vacant.

The commons gave the ministry another mark of attachment, which was
at that time the most sincere of any, the most cordial, and the most
difficult to be obtained: they granted a supply of two subsidies and
two fifteenths. To render this present the more acceptable, they voted
a preamble, containing a long accusation of Somerset, "for involving the
king in wars,