y defended themselves by prescription and usage, to which a
Gray's Inn lawyer something insolently answered, on one occasion, "the
usage hath ever been of thieves to rob on Shooter's Hill, _ergo_, it is
lawful." "With this answer," continues Hall, "the spiritual men were sore
offended because their doings were called robberies, but the temporal men
stood by their sayings, insomuch that the said gentlemen declared to the
Archbishop of Canterbury, that both the exaction of probates of testaments
and the taking of mortuaries were open robbery and thefts."

At length, people out of doors growing impatient, and dangerous symptoms
threatening to show themselves, the king summoned a meeting in the
Star-chamber between eight members of both Houses. The lay peers, after
some discussion, conclusively gave way; and the bishops, left without
support, were obliged to yield. They signified their unwilling consent, and
the bills, "somewhat qualified," were the next day agreed to--"to the great
rejoicing of the lay people, and the great displeasure of the spiritual
persons."[245]

Nor were the House of Commons contented with the substance of victory. The
reply to their petition had perhaps by that time been made known to them,
and at any rate they had been accused of sympathy with heresy, and they
would not submit to the hateful charge without exacting revenge. The more
clamorous of the clergy out of doors were punished probably by the stocks;
from among their opponents in the Upper House, Fisher was selected for
special and signal humiliation. The words of which he had made use were
truer than the Commons knew; perhaps the latent truth of them was the
secret cause of the pain which they inflicted; but the special anxiety of
the English reformers was to disconnect themselves, with marked emphasis,
from the movement in Germany, and they determined to compel the offending
bishop to withdraw his words.

They sent the speaker, Sir Thomas Audeley, to the king, who "very
eloquently declared what dishonour it was to his Majesty and the realm,
that they which were elected for the wisest men in the shires, cities, and
boroughs within the realm of England, should be declared in so noble a
presence to lack faith." It was equivalent to saying "that they were
infidels, and no Christians--as ill as Turks and Saracens." Wherefore he
"most humbly besought the King's Highness to call the said bishop before
him, and to cause him to speak more discreetl