XII.] THE SESSION OF 1529. the tax, More, in his capacity of the king's agent, prevailed on the House to pass the bill. Here you have a very illustrative case of the way in which even a most unpopular measure could be forced through parliament ; well might Cromwell conclude the letter in which he describes the session, ' after seventeen weeks of discussion we have done as our predecessors have been wont to do, that is to say as well as we might, and have left off where we began.' I do not think that any of the fourteenth-century parliaments would have stood this ; Wolsey can have been no believer in parliaments, for this is the only one that was held whilst he was chancellor. I pass on to the Long Parliament of 1529-1536, of the early doings of which, thanks to the chronicle of Hall and the reports of the Imperial ambassador, we know more minute detail than we do of any preceding session. Cromwell's defence of Wolsey in the first session, which prevented the passing of the bill of attainder in the House of Commons, is a fact which rests on historical testimony too good to be rejected ; but the circumstances in which it took place are obscure; there can be little doubt that Henry acquiesced in, perhaps prompted ihe rejection ; and it is quite certain that to have forced it through parliament would have made a serious addition to his already awkward complications. There were two other pieces of debateable policy in the short session of 1529 : the remittal of the loans of 1523-8, and the opening of the attack on the minor privileges of the clergy. The convocation passed the bill of remittal, and it was likewise read three times by the Lords ; the Commons however were sorely perplexed by it ; hitherto the royal receipt and promise to repay had been regarded as good security; new debts had been incurred on the strength of it and men had left it to their children as an adequate and safe provision. Now