r terms in respect to his own position and the
rewards which he was to receive for his services on that side than on
the other.

[Sidenote: Gloucester alarmed.]

Now Henry was married, and, moreover, it had long been evident to
Gloucester that his own influence was fast declining. The scene in the
king's cabinet, when Somerset brought those charges against him, must
have greatly increased his fears in respect to the continuance of his
power under Henry's government. Still, if it was true that he was
contemplating making common cause with the Duke of York, he had not
yet so far matured his plans as to make any open change in his course
of conduct.

[Sidenote: Calling of Parliament.]

Accordingly, when the plan of calling a Parliament was determined by
the king and Margaret, every effort was made to keep it a secret from
the public that the case of Gloucester was to be brought before it. It
was summoned on other pretexts. The place of meeting was not, as
usual, at London, for Gloucester was so great a favorite with the
people of London that it was thought that, if it were to be attempted
to arrest him there, he would certainly resist and attempt to raise an
insurrection.

[Sidenote: Bury St. Edmund's.]

The Parliament was accordingly summoned to meet at Bury St.
Edmund's--a town situated about fifty or sixty miles to the northeast
of London, where there was a celebrated abbey.[9] The English
Parliament was in those days, as it is, in fact, in theory now,
nothing more nor less than a convocation of the leading personages of
the realm, called by the king, in order that they might give the
monarch their counsel or aid in any emergency that might arise, and
he could call them to attend him at any place within the kingdom that
he chose to designate.

[Footnote 9: See map.]

While thus, by summoning Parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmund's, the
queen's party placed themselves beyond the reach of the friends and
adherents of Gloucester, who were very numerous in and around the
capital, they took care to have a strong force there on their own
side, ready to do whatever might be required of them.

[Sidenote: The abbey.]

[Sidenote: The duke arrested.]

When the appointed day arrived the Parliament assembled. It met in the
abbey. The great dining-hall of the abbey, or the refectory, as it was
called, the room in which the monks were accustomed to take their
meals, was fitted up for their reception. On the fi