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504 THE SUCCESSION QUESTION October Sadler spoke, but in vain ; and in the discussion which was resumed on the following day, Cecil, the vice -chamberlain, the chancellor of the duchy, and the comptroller intervened, telling the commons from Elizabeth that she was resolved to marry. 1 All failed to prevent the appointment of a committee to consider making suit to the queen in company with the lords. The lords were approached on 21 October, but they deferred their answer, and in the meanwhile probably approached the queen to discover what her attitude would be. 2 This at least would appear to be the meaning of the appointment of a committee to wait on the queen, • which appears as an entry in the Lords' Journals under 22 October ; for although the purpose of the audience is not mentioned, no other than this seems likely. If such an interview did take place, there can be no doubt that Elizabeth vigorously opposed their co-operation with the commons. No wonder then that she abused the duke of Norfolk and railed at those lords who inter- vened on his behalf, 3 when on 25 October 4 the upper house decided to join with the lower, the only dissentient, so Silva stated, being the lord treasurer. The committees of both houses got to work on 2 November, but arrived at no decision on that day. 5 They met a second time on 4 November, but the following morning there came a summons from the queen for a certain number of each house to meet her in the afternoon. 6 What actually took place at the audience has remained a matter for some doubt. The difficulty has been that whilst parliament undoubtedly meant to petition the queen, no text or summary of the petition has been preserved. Camden, D'Ewes, and Froude give one, but, as already pointed out, 7 it is the petition presented by the lords in 1562/3. Sir George Prothero indeed threw out a suggestion that probably no petition was presented, pointing out that there was hardly time for the committees to draw one up and submit it to the two houses. 8 The committees could only have decided on their draft on 4 November, quite possibly in the afternoon ; and naturally the journals contain no mention of a petition being before either house. But the argument need not rest here ; 1 Commons' Journals, i. 74-5. See reference to the event in Elizabeth's speech, infra, p. 515. Sadler's speech on this occasion is probably Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 33591, fo. 8. 2 Commons' Journals, i. 75 ; Lords Journals, i' 635. 3 Spanish Col., Eliz., i. 591-2. Cf. Froude, vii. 455, where there is not the strictest fidelity to Silva's account, at least as we have it in the calendar. 4 Commons Journals, i. 75, whose date, 25 October, I take rather than 26 October, as in the Lords' Journals, i. 638, because the former record was at this time written in its finished form during the actual proceedings in the house. (See my article ' The Commons' Journals of the Tudor Period ', in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc, 4th series, vol. iii.) 5 Commons' Journals, i. 76 ; Spanish Col., Eliz., i. 593. 6 Commons' Journals, i. 76. 7 Supra, p. 498. 8 Ante, ii. 744.