“To enable us justly to appreciate the importance of this measure, it must not be forgotten that by this one act three hundred and seventy-six monasteries were simultaneously suppressed, and their revenues, of the yearly value of 32,000_l._, placed at the king’s disposal, together with their personal property, amounting to 100,000_l._; and so absolute was the monarch’s authority, and so abject the servility of his Parliament, under the guidance of their Speaker, that no opposition was offered to the bill during its progress through the House of Commons. We may easily imagine that Henry was not a little pleased with these proceedings; and Audley’s services became so necessary to him that he was, in the ensuing year, constituted Attorney-General for the duchy of Lancaster, and, in November following, made King’s Sergeant; and so rapid was his promotion, that, on the 20th of May, 1532, we find him, upon the resignation of Sir Thomas More, knighted, and appointed Keeper of the Great Seal; and, in January 26, 1532-3, Lord Chancellor. In the exercise of his new functions Audley proved as subservient to the wishes of his royal master as he had shewn himself upon all former occasions; and having, while Speaker, gratified the king, as well as the people, by passing six bills to restrain the power of the clergy, and greatly forwarded the measure of dissolving the lesser religious establishments, he now undertook the arduous task of obtaining the surrender of the more wealthy foundations; and in this enterprise his endeavours were shortly crowned with complete success; and, before the expiration of two years, the king found himself in possession of all the remaining monastic establishments, producing, with those already dissolved, an annual income, according to Hume, of 142,914_l._”[19]