the attempt and of the failure is not a little remarkable, and connects itself with a memorable scene with which the session was closed. December.On the 24th of December, the King for the last time in his life appeared in Parliament for the prorogation. When the business was over and the address was presented, the chancellor was beginning as usual to reply in his name, when Henry unexpectedly rose from his seat, and, with a half-apology for the interruption, requested to be allowed to speak in his own person.[1]
The address had contained the ordinary compliments to royalty. The King commenced by saying that he regarded such expressions rather as a point of rhetoric, to put him in remembrance of qualities lacking in him, which he would use his endeavours to obtain; and he trusted his hearers would help him with their prayers. If any point or iota of them were already in him, God was therefore to be thanked, and not he, from whom came all goodness and virtuous quality. He then thanked the Houses for their liberality in the grant of the subsidy, for which, however, he said, considering it was to be employed not for his own use, but for the safety of the commonwealth, he felt not so much obliged, as for the permission which they had given him to dispose as he should think good of the chantries and colleges.
- ↑ Two independent accounts of this speech remain: one is given by Hall, whose language implies that he was present: the other is in a letter of Sir John Mason to Paget, in MS. in the State Taper Office. The first is the longest, the second is the most interesting from the description of the manner in which the words were spoken and of the effect which they produced.
