Footnote 1081: In 1536 Henry had sent round a circular to the sheriffs; but its main object was to show that another Parliament was indispensable, to persuade the people that "their charge and time, which will be very little and short, would be well spent," and to secure "that persons are elected who will serve, and for their worship and qualities be most meet for this purpose" (L. and P., x., 815). The sheriffs in fact were simply to see that the burden was placed on those able and willing to bear it. The best illustration of the methods adopted and of the amount of liberty of election exercised by the constituents may be found in Southampton's letter to Cromwell (ibid., XIV., i., 520). At Guildford he told the burgesses they must return two members, which would be a great charge to the town, "but that if they followed my advice it would cost little or nothing, for I would provide able men to supply the room". They said that one Daniel Modge wanted one of the seats, but Southampton might arrange for the other. About the Sussex election he was doubtful, but various friends had promised to do their parts. Farnham, he said, returned burgesses (though it does not appear in the Official Return), but that was the bishop's town, "and my Lord Chamberlain is his steward there; so I forbear to meddle".[(back)]
Footnote 1082: L. and P., XIV., i., 662, 800, 808. By a singular fatality the returns for this Parliament have been lost, so there is no means of ascertaining how many of these nominees were actually elected.[(back)]
Footnote 1083: Ibid., XIV., i., 573, and "although he fears my lord of Winchester has already moved men after his own desires". He also spoke with Lord St. John about knights of the shire for Hampshire, and St. John "promised to do his best". Finally he enclosed a "schedule of the best men of the country picked out by them, that Cromwell may pick whom he would have chosen".[(back)]
Footnote 1084: "We of the temporality," writes a peer, "have been all of one mind" (L. and P., XIV., i., 1040; Burnet, vi., 233; Narratives of the Reformation, p. 248).[(back)]
Footnote 1085: See the present writer's Cranmer, p. 129 n. Cranmer afterwards asserted (Works, ii., 168) that the Act would never have passed unless the King had come personally into the Parliament house, but that is highly improbable.[(back)]
Footnote 1086: Husee (L. and P., XIV., i., 1158) says the House had been fifteen days over this bill; cf. Lords' Journals, 1539.[(back)]
Footnote 1087: Parliament is sometimes represented as having almost committed constitutional suicide by this Act; but cf. Dicey, Law and Custom of the Constitution, p. 357, "Powers, however extraordinary, which are conferred or sanctioned by statute, are never really unlimited, for they are confined by the words of the Act itself, and what is more by the interpretation put upon the statute by the judges". There was a world of difference between this and the prerogative independent of Parliament claimed by the Stuarts. Parliament was the foundation, not the rival, of Henry's authority.[(back)]
Footnote 1088: L. and P., xv., 486.[(back)]
Footnote 1089: Ibid., xv., 735.[(back)]
Footnote 1090: L. and P., xv., 306, 312, 334.[(back)]