land, and contained a summary of the wrongs of which the people complained. This remarkable document must have been drawn up before the opening of Parliament, and must have been presented in the first week of the session, probably on the first day on which the House met to transact business.[1] There is appearance of haste in the composition, little order being observed in the catalogue of grievances; but inasmuch as it contains the germ of all the Acts which were framed in the following years for the reform of the Church, and is in fact the most complete exhibition which we possess of the working of the Church system at the time when it ceased to be any more tolerable, I have thought it well to insert it uncurtailed. Although the fact of the presentation of this petition has been well known, it has not been accurately described by any of our historians, none of them appearing to have seen more than incorrect and imperfect epitomes of it.[2] Nov. 3.
'TO THE KING OUR SOVEREIGN LORD.
- ↑ The session lasted six weeks only, and several of the subjects of the petition were disposed of in the course of it, as we shall see.
- ↑ The MS. from which I have transcribed this copy is itself imperfect, as will be seen in the 'reply of the bishops,' which supplies several omitted articles. See p. 226 et seq. It is in the Rolls House.
