be disturbed in their possession the statutes abolishing
Papal jurisdiction in England were repealed; and Lords and Commons
received on their knees an absolution which freed the realm from the
guilt incurred by its schism and heresy.

[Sidenote: Mary's difficulties.]

But, even in the hour of her triumph, the temper both of Parliament and
the nation warned the Queen of the failure of her hope to bind England
to a purely Catholic policy. The growing independence of the two Houses
was seen in the impossibility of procuring from them any change in the
order of succession. The victory of Rome was incomplete so long as its
right of dispensation was implicitly denied by a recognition of
Elizabeth's legitimacy, and Mary longed to avenge her mother by humbling
the child of Anne Boleyn. But in spite of Pole's efforts and the Queen's
support a proposal to oust her sister from the line of succession could
not even be submitted to the Houses, nor could their assent be won to
the postponing the succession of Elizabeth to that of Philip. The temper
of the nation at large was equally decided. In the first Parliament of
Mary a proposal to renew the laws against heresy had been thrown out by
the Lords, even after the failure of Wyatt's insurrection. Philip's
influence secured the re-enactment of the statute of Henry the Fourth in
the Parliament which followed his arrival; but the sullen discontent of
London compelled its Bishop, Bonner, to withdraw a series of articles of
enquiry, by which he hoped to purge his diocese of heresy, and even the
Council was divided on the question of persecution. In the very
interests of Catholicism the Emperor himself counselled prudence and
delay. Philip gave the same counsel. From the moment of his arrival the
young king exercised a powerful influence over the Government, and he
was gradually drawing into his hands the whole direction of affairs.
But, bigot as he was in matters of faith, Philip's temper was that of a
statesman, not of a fanatic. If he came to England resolute to win the
country to union with the Church, his conciliatory policy was already
seen in the concessions he wrested from the Papacy in the matter of the
Church lands, and his aim was rather to hold England together and to
give time for a reaction of opinion than to revive the old discord by
any measures of severity. It was indeed only from a united and contented
England that he could hope for effective aid in the struggle of his
h