e final
incorporation of Wales in 1535 meant the adding of twenty-five
members. In 1536 and 1543 the counties of Monmouth and Chester were
admitted to representation. There followed the enfranchisement of a
number of boroughs, and by the end of the reign of Henry VIII. the
representation of counties had been increased from 74 to 90, and that
of the boroughs had been brought up to 252, giving the House an
aggregate membership of 342. During the reign of Edward VI. twenty new
constituencies were created, and during that of Mary twenty-one. But
the most notable increase was that which took place in the reign of
Elizabeth, the net result of which was the bringing in of 62 new
borough representatives, in some cases from boroughs which now
acquired for the first time the right of representation, in others
from boroughs which once had possessed the right but through disuse
had been construed to have forfeited it. The total increase of the
Commons in numerical strength during the Tudor period was 166. There
can be little question that in a few instances parliamentary
representation was extended with the specific purpose of influencing
the political complexion of the popular chamber. But, on the whole,
the reason for the notable increase, especially of borough members, is
to be found in the growing prosperity of the country and in the
reliance which the Tudors were accustomed to place upon the commercial
and industrial classes of the population.

*26. Other Developments.*--A second point at which Parliament in the
Tudor era underwent modification was in respect to permanence and
sittings. Prior to Henry VIII. the life of a parliament was confined,
as a rule, to a single session, and sessions were brief. But (p. 025)
parliaments now ceased to be meetings to be broken up as soon as some
specific piece of business should have been completed, and many were
brought together in several succeeding sessions. Henry VIII.'s
Reformation Parliament lasted seven years. During the forty-five years
of Elizabeth there were ten parliaments and thirteen sessions. One of
these parliaments lasted eleven years, although it met but three
times. It is true that the parliaments of Elizabeth were in session,
in the aggregate, somewhat less than three years, an average for the
reign of but little more than three weeks a year. But the point is
that, slowly but effectually, Parliament as an institution was
acquiring a recognized position in the poli