In short, though the hereditary principle had now taken firm root, though the disputes between the pretenders to the Crown were mainly disputes as to the right of succession, yet the remembrance of the days when the Crown had been truly the gift of the people had not wholly passed away. The last King who could bring even the shadow of a claim to have been chosen by the voice of the people beneath the canopy of heaven was no other than Richard the Third. The last King who could bring a better claim to have been chosen by the same voice beneath the vault of the West Minster was no other than Henry the Eighth. Down to his time the old ecclesiastical form of choosing the King remained in the coronation-service, and it was not wholly out of character that Henry should issue a _congé d’élire_ for his own election. The device for Henry’s coronation survives in his own handwriting, and, while it contains a strong assertion of his hereditary right, it also contains a distinct provision for his election by the people in ancient form(40). The claim of Henry was perfectly good, for a Parliament of his father’s reign had declared that the Crown should abide in Henry the Seventh and the heirs of his body(41). But it was in his case that the hereditary and parliamentary claim was confirmed by the ancient rite of ecclesiastical election for the last time in our history. His successor was not thus distinctly chosen. This was perhaps, among other reasons, because in his case the form was specially needless. For the right of Edward the Sixth to succeed his father was beyond all dispute. By an exercise of parliamentary power, which we may well deem strange, but which was none the less lawful, Henry had been entrusted with the power of bequeathing and entailing the Crown as he thought good. That power he exercised on behalf of his own children in order, and, failing them and their issue, on the issue of his younger sister(42). Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, therefore all reigned lawfully by virtue of their father’s will. A moment’s thought will show that Mary and Elizabeth could not both reign lawfully according to any doctrine of hereditary succession. On no theory, Catholic or Protestant, could both be the legitimate daughters of Henry. Parliament indeed had declared both to be illegitimate; on any theory one or the other must have been so(43). But each reigned by a perfectly lawful title, under the provisions of the Act which empowered their father to settle the succession according to his pleasure. While Elizabeth reigned, almost divine as she might be deemed to be in her own person, it was at least not held that there was any divine right in any other person to succeed her. The doctrine which came into vogue under her successors was in her day looked upon as treasonable(44). Elizabeth knew where her strength lay, and the Stewarts knew where their strength, such as it was, lay also. In the eye of the Law the first Stewart was an