and splendid
silks, employed in so many useless processions, were the spoils which
he had forcibly ravished from the true owners [l]. Throughout this
remonstrance, in which the complaints, derived from an abuse of the
ancient right of purveyance, may be supposed to be somewhat
exaggerated, there appears a strange mixture of regal tyranny in the
practices which gave rise to it, and of aristocratical liberty, or
rather licentiousness, in the expressions employed by the Parliament.
But a mixture of this kind is observable in all the ancient feudal
governments; and both of them proved equally hurtful to the people.
[FN [l] M. Paris, p. 498. See farther, p. 578. M. West. p. 348.]

As the king, in answer to their remonstrance, gave the Parliament only
good words and fair promises, attended with the most humble
submissions, which they had often found deceitful, he obtained at that
time no supply; and therefore, in the year 1253, when he found himself
again under the necessity of applying to Parliament, he had provided a
new pretence, which he deemed infallible, and taking the vow of a
crusade, he demanded their assistance in that pious enterprise [m].
The Parliament, however, for some time hesitated to comply; and the
ecclesiastical order sent a deputation, consisting of four prelates,
the primate, and the Bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, and Carlisle,
in order to remonstrate with him on his frequent violations of their
privileges, the oppressions with which he had loaded them and all his
subjects [n], and the uncanonical and forced elections which were made
to vacant dignities. "It is true," replied the king, "I have been
somewhat faulty in this particular: I obtruded you, my Lord of
Canterbury, upon your see: I was obliged to employ both entreaties and
menaces, my Lord of Winchester, to have you elected: my proceedings, I
confess, were very irregular, my Lords of Salisbury and Carlisle, when
I raised you from the lowest stations to your present dignities: I am
determined henceforth to correct these abuses; and it will also become
you, in order to make a thorough reformation, to resign your present
benefices, and try to enter again in a more regular and canonical
manner [o]." The bishops, surprised at these unexpected sarcasms,
replied, that the question was not at present how to correct past
errors, but to avoid them for the future. The king promised redress
both of ecclesiastical and civil grievances; and the Parlia