agreed upon in that parliament;
and (4), moreover, that the King declared in that parliament his
determination to allow of no innovations, nor of any encroachments on
his prerogative, but to maintain the rights and privileges of his
crown in full enjoyment, as his royal predecessors had delivered them
down.

A superficial glance at these facts would doubtless suggest a strong
confirmation of the details of the MS. in other points, and thus
predispose us to receive the statement with regard to Prince Henry's
unfilial conduct on the authority of this document alone. But, on
close examination, these very facts, which the records of the realm
place beyond doubt, coupled with others equally indisputable, to which
we shall presently refer, demonstrate to the Author's mind that no
dependence whatever can be placed on this MS., and that the statement
is altogether apocryphal, and founded on palpable confusion.

The parliament met on the morrow of All Souls, Tuesday, November 3,
1411, (13th Henry IV,) and was opened, continued, and prorogued by the
Chancellor; but not on account of the King's indisposition, or
inability to be present. The Rolls of Parliament are most explicit on
this point. They state that the King, having been informed that very
many lords, spiritual and temporal, knights of the shire, and
burgesses, who ought to attend that parliament, had not assembled on
the appointed day, commissions the Chancellor to open the parliament,
and to prorogue it _till the following day_. And on the following day,
Wednesday, (the Lords and Commons then being in the presence of (p. 440)
the King,) the Chancellor, by the King's command, recited the reasons
for convening the parliament, and charged the Commons to retire and
elect their Speaker.

Not only so. On the Thursday (Nov. 5), the Commons came before the
King and the Lords, and presented Thomas Chaucer as their Speaker. And
the Speaker prayed liberty of speech, &c.: and the King granted the
request, but declared that he would admit of no innovation nor
encroachment on his prerogative, but resolved to maintain his rights
as fully as his predecessors had done. On this the Speaker prayed him
to grant to the Commons, till the day following, time for putting
their protest, &c. in writing. To this the King agreed. But, forasmuch
as the King could not attend on the Friday in consequence of diverse
great and pressing matters, the time was postponed to the following
day, Satur