The Bishops of Lincoln and Exeter were deputed to beseech the king to withdraw his demand: they could not so much as obtain an audience. Henry had made up his mind: the priests must yield. The only means of their obtaining pardon (they were told) was by their renouncing the papal supremacy. The bishops made a fresh attempt to satisfy both the requirements of the king and those of their own conscience. ‘Shrink before the clergy and they are lions,’ the courtiers said; ‘withstand them and they are sheep.’—‘Your fate is in your own hands. If you refuse the king’s demand, the disgrace of Wolsey may show you what you may expect.’ Archbishop Warham, president of the Convocation, a prudent man, far advanced in years, and near his end, tried to hit upon some compromise. The great movements which agitated the Church all over Europe disturbed him. He had in times past complained to the king of Wolsey’s usurpations,[113] and was not far from recognizing the royal supremacy. He proposed to insert a simple clause in the act conferring the required jurisdiction on the king, namely, _Quantum per legem Christi licet_, so far as the law of Christ permits. ‘Mother of God!’ exclaimed the king, who, like his royal brother Francis I., had a habit of saying irreverent things, ‘you have played me a shrewd turn. I thought to have made fools of those prelates, and now you have so ordered the business that they are likely to make a fool of me. Go to them again, and let me have the business passed without any _quantums_ or _tantums_.... So far as the law of Christ permits! Such a reserve would make one believe that my authority was disputable.’[114] [Sidenote: The Clergy Submit.]