"Now, then, though the _Præmunientes_ was obeyed nationally, yet the clergy that met with the Parliament acted provincially, _i. e._ the clergy of that province where the Parliament was held acted as a Synod convened by their metropolitan, and the clergy of the other province sent their deputies to the Lay Assembly to consult for them; but taxed themselves, and did all manner of ecclesiastical business, at home in their own province. _And this was pitched upon as a means of complying with the Canons of the Church, which required frequent Provincial Councils, and yet paying their attendance in Parliament; the Archbishop's mandate summoned them to the one, and the præmunitory clause to the other_, and both were obeyed."--_Atterbury on Convocation_, p. 243. The same view is taken by Kennet in his _Ecclesiastical Synods and Parliamentary Convocations in the Church of England_. Here, then, is the origin of Convocation, strictly so called, viz. the Clergy withdrawing themselves from the Commons into a separate chamber for purposes of debate, and for transacting their own business independently, but yet not ceasing thereby at all to be a part of that parliament, to their being summoned to which they owed the opportunity of meeting in their provincial synod, which was _Congregatio tempore Parliamenti_. We hear of the clerical proctors being occasionally present in the House of Commons in the earlier part of our history; and we may reasonably infer that they would not have been so present unless they had _a right_ to have been there. If they had that right, then they were a part of parliament. They certainly had that right by the clause _Præmunientes_ so often referred to, "according to antient usage;" but they waived the exercise of it, on finding it more advantageous to deliberate by themselves. At a later period they wished to resume their right, and therefore petitioned "to be admitted to sit in parliament WITH _the House of Commons_, according to antient usage," of which Commons they had of usage considered themselves the _spiritual_ part. An instance in point we shall find in a petition of Parliament to Henry IV.:-- "Supplient humblement _les Communes_ de vostre Roialme, sibien _Espirituelz_ come _Temporelz_."--_Rot. Parl._ 7 & 8 Henry IV. n. 128. And again, in a proclamation of the 35 Henry VIII.:-- "The Nobles and _Commons_ both _Spirituall_ and Temporall, _assembled in our Court of Parliament_, have, upon good, lawful, and virtuous grounds," &c. And "Direction to Justices of Peace," by the same King:-- "HENRY R.