1 57 1-] -THE RIDOLFI CONSPIRACY. 421 was that broad mass of legislation on which the eccle- siastical constitution of England reposes a legislation the vitality of which after so many centuries of change is a witness to the wisdom of the statesmen by whom those laws were constructed. The practice of annual or frequent parliaments, com- menced by King Henry, was followed reluctantly and with less success by the Protector Somerset, the Duke of Northumberland, and Queen Mary. Disagreements naturally rose between the Crown and the Peers and Commons, when the government remained in the hands of one or other of the extreme parties in the country. "With the accession of Elizabeth and a return to a more moderate policy, the good understanding might have been expected to come back. It might have been thought that the Queen would have followed the example of her father in this respect if in no other so confessedly excellent, and that no season would have been allowed to pass without the opinion of the country being allowed to express itself through its legitimate channel. The anticipation however, if entertained by the people, had not been fulfilled. Elizabeth had now reigned thirteen years, and in all that time there had been but three short sessions. She was personally popu- lar popular for her own qualities, and popular because her life was the only breakwater between the country and civil war ; yet the Parliament of 1566 had been dissolved in disgrace, and she looked forward to another as the most unwelcome of necessities.
