that 'it is the King's especial desire that all differences of religious opinion should be eradicated,' and that 'it is his will that some persons should be chosen to examine such opinions and report on them in the present Parliament.' On this a Commission was appointed consisting of Cromwell, as representing the supreme head, the two archbishops, and six bishops, of very different opinions.[1] These were appointed on May 5, and upon their having made no progress in their somewhat hopeless task by the 16th of the same month, the Duke of Norfolk introduced the Bill of Six Articles, with a penal clause attached, at once, into the House of Lords on that day. Nothing more appears to have been done until after a short prorogation from May 23 to 30, on which latter day[2] the Chancellor announced it to be the 'Kings will that a penal statute should be made on the Six Articles.' It was agreed that two forms of statute should be framed—one by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Ely and St. Davids, with the assistance of Dr. Petre; and the other by the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Durham and Winchester, with that of Dr. Tregonwell. Meanwhile Cromwell lays the Six Articles before Convocation, in the form of questions, on June 2, and gets their affirmative answers apparently on the 5th. On the 7th the bill is read a first time in the Lords; and notwithstanding the subsequent introduction of a proviso in the Commons, which necessitated its reappearance in the Lords, it is through both Houses[3] on the 16th, and Parliament is prorogued before the end of the month.
