The Lower House refused to consent, [514] That House, it was now evident, was fully determined not even to enter on the consideration of any part of the plan which had been framed by the Royal Commissioners.

The proctors of the dioceses were in a worse humour than when they first came up to Westminster.

Many of them had probably never before passed a week in the capital, and had not been aware how great the difference was between a town divine and a country divine.

The sight of the luxuries and comforts enjoyed by the popular preachers of the city raised, not unnaturally, some sore feeling in a Lincolnshire or Caernarvonshire vicar who was accustomed to live as hardly as small farmer.

The very circumstance that the London clergy were generally for a comprehension made the representatives of the rural clergy obstinate on the other side, [515] The prelates were, as a body, sincerely desirous that some concession might be made to the nonconformists.