he acquisition of money to redeem
themselves, rather than to quench the exertions of their industry by
availing himself of an extreme right. Deeds of enfranchisement occur in
the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth;[424] and perhaps a commission of the
latter princess in 1574, directing the enfranchisement of her bondmen
and bondwomen on certain manors upon payment of a fine, is the last
unequivocal testimony to the existence of villenage;[425] though it is
highly probable that it existed in remote parts of the country some time
longer.[426]

[Sidenote: Reign of Henry VI.]

From this general view of the English constitution, as it stood about
the time of Henry VI., we must turn our eyes to the political
revolutions which clouded the latter years of his reign. The minority of
this prince, notwithstanding the vices and dissensions of his court and
the inglorious discomfiture of our arms in France, was not perhaps a
calamitous period. The country grew more wealthy; the law was, on the
whole, better observed; the power of parliament more complete and
effectual than in preceding times. But Henry's weakness of
understanding, becoming evident as he reached manhood, rendered his
reign a perpetual minority. His marriage with a princess of strong mind,
but ambitious and vindictive, rather tended to weaken the government and
to accelerate his downfall; a certain reverence that had been paid to
the gentleness of the king's disposition being overcome by her
unpopularity. By degrees Henry's natural feebleness degenerated almost
into fatuity; and this unhappy condition seems to have overtaken him
nearly about the time when it became an arduous task to withstand the
assault in preparation against his government. This may properly
introduce a great constitutional subject, to which some peculiar
circumstances of our own age have imperiously directed the consideration
of parliament. Though the proceedings of 1788 and 1810 are undoubtedly
precedents of far more authority than any that can be derived from our
ancient history, yet, as the seal of the legislature has not yet been
set upon this controversy, it is not perhaps altogether beyond the
possibility of future discussion; and at least it cannot be
uninteresting to look back on those parallel or analogous cases by which
the deliberations of parliament upon the question of regency were
guided.

[Sidenote: Historical instances of regencies:]

[Sidenote: during the absence of our kings in Fr