Note 650 — Chapter XI · (continued 2)

Parl. Hist. 421; Ralph, 170; Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 362. Sir Thomas Littleton spoke in favour of the comprehension, as did Seymour and Waller; all of them enemies of Clarendon, and probably connected with the Buckingham faction: but the church party was much too strong for them. Pepys says the Commons were furious against the project; it was said that whoever proposed new laws about religion must do it with a rope about his neck. Jan. 10, 1668. This is the first instance of a triumph obtained by the church over the Crown in the House of Commons. Ralph observes upon it, "It is not for nought that the words church and state are so often coupled together, and that the first has so insolently usurped the precedency of the last."