They drew up a letter to Sunderland in which they requested him to inform the King that they could not, in this matter, obey His Majesty without breaking the law and betraying their trust.
There can be little doubt that, had ordinary signatures been appended to this document, the King would have taken some violent course.

But even he was daunted by the great names of Ormond, Halifax, Danby, and Nottingham, the chiefs of all the sections of that great party to which he owed his crown.

He therefore contented himself with directing Jeffreys to consider what course ought to be taken.

It was announced at one time that a proceeding would be instituted in the King's Bench, at another that the Ecclesiastical Commission would take up the case: but these threats gradually died away.

[292] The summer was now far advanced; and the King set out on a progress, the longest and the most splendid that had been known for many years.