ther it. The parliament was prorogued, but the Lords, shortly
after the separation, united with such of the Commons as remained in
London, to give a proof of their feeling by a voluntary address to the
pope. The meaning of this movement was not to be mistaken. On one side, the
Nun of Kent was threatening Clement, speaking, perhaps, the feelings of the
clergy and of all the women in England; on the other side, the parliament
thought well to threaten him, speaking for the great body of English _men_,
for all persons of substance and property, who desired above all things
peace and order and a secured succession.

The language of this remarkable document[332] was as follows:--

"To the Most Holy Lord our Lord and Father in Christ, Clement, by Divine
Providence the seventh of that name, we desire perpetual happiness in our
Lord Jesus Christ.

"Most blessed Father, albeit the cause concerning the marriage of the most
invincible prince, our sovereign lord, the King of England and of France,
Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, does for sundry great and
weighty reasons require and demand the aid of your Holiness, that it may be
brought to that brief end and determination which we with so great and
earnest desire have expected, and which we have been contented hitherto to
expect, though so far vainly, at your Holiness's hands; we have been
unable, nevertheless, to keep longer silence herein, seeing that this
kingdom and the affairs of it are brought into so high peril through the
unseasonable delay of sentence. His Majesty, who is our head, and by
consequence the life of us all, and we through him as subject members by a
just union annexed to the head, have with great earnestness entreated your
Holiness for judgment; we have however entreated in vain: we are by the
greatness of our grief therefore forced separately and distinctly by these
our letters most humbly to demand a speedy determination. There ought,
indeed, to have been no need of this request on our part. The justice of
the cause itself, approved to be just by the sentence of so many learned
men, by the suffrage of the most famous universities in England, France,
and Italy, should have sufficed alone to have induced your Holiness to
confirm the sentence given by others; especially when the interests of a
king and kingdom are at stake, which in so many ways have deserved well of
the apostolic see. This we say ought to have been motive sufficient with
you, witho