d the reigning
family on the throne. This brought down a storm on the head of the
preacher. Mr. Thomas Townshend moved that the sermon should be burned
by the common hangman; and another member moved that all future sermons
should be printed before the preachers received the thanks of the house.
These motions were not carried, but on the motion of the Honourable
Boyle Walsingham, it was voted that the thanks of the house to Dr.
Nowell should be erased. In the course of the debate severe strictures
were made upon the character of Charles I., and of that part of the
liturgy which describes him as a blessed martyr; and this seems to have
encouraged Mr. Montague soon afterwards to make a motion to repeal the
act for observing the 30th of January as a holiday, or a day of prayer
and fasting. Mr. Montague attacked the appointed form of prayer as
blasphemous, inasmuch as it contains a parallel between Charles I. and
our Saviour. But the motion was negatived by a majority of an 125 to 97.

TEST AND CORPORATION ACTS.

During the debates on the anti-subscription petition, many members on
both sides of the house had acknowledged, that though it was just and
reasonable to require subscription from persons entering the established
church, it was nevertheless hard to demand it from dissenters and
schoolmasters. Later in the season Sir Henry Houghton made a motion to
relieve these from subscription, and from the operation of penal laws:
in other words, for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. This
was strongly opposed by the high church party, who argued that such an
exemption would open a road to heresy and infidelity, encourage schism,
and tend to the overthrow of the church of England. The bill, however,
was carried in the house of commons by a large majority; but it
was thrown out in the lords, where it encountered the most violent
opposition of the bench of bishops and the ministry.

THE ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT.

In the year 1771, the Duke of Cumberland had contracted a private
marriage with Mrs. Horton, widow of Christopher Horton, Esq., a daughter
of Lord Irnham, and sister of Colonel Luttrell. It was also generally
believed, that his majesty's other brother, the Duke of Gloucester, had
married the widow of the Earl of Waldegrave. This gave offence to
their majesties, who prided themselves on the antiquity of the House
of Brunswick, on the family of Guelph, and the "antique blood" of Este,
from which they wer