his policy. The expedient, which has since made the way plain, of the constitutional supremacy of the Commons of England was then unborn, and as yet in the light of practical affairs inconceivable. The Lord Chief Justice, “toughest of men,” and too stubborn to yield, was broken; but his brethren on the bench gave way and offered assurances of their good conduct for the future and of their devotion to the royal will. James took the opportunity of the lecture which he read to the judges in the star chamber to compare their behaviour in meddling with the prerogative of the crown to the atheism and blasphemy committed by good Christians in disputing the word of God. Thus the judges became, according to Bacon’s wish, “lions, but yet lions under the throne,” and carried themselves very circumspectly not to “check or oppose any points of sovereignty.”[485] Of their regularity in this course there can be no doubt, for if any lapsed into forbidden ways, a judge he speedily ceased to be. His appointment was _durante beneplacito_[486] and revocable at the will of the king; and the king took full advantage of his power. The example offered by the case of Coke was not left long in isolation. The government was engaged in the hopeless attempt to uphold the constitution of the Tudor monarchy at a time when the nation had outgrown it, and had opened a war to the death with the progressive tendency of Parliament. In such a struggle the judges were the king’s strongest weapon, and as a weapon that turns uselessly in the hand, the recalcitrant judge was discarded without scruple. When the better class of judges questioned the legality of acts of government they met with the same fate as their rugged predecessor. Under Charles I two Lord Chief Justices were dismissed and Chief Baron Walter was suspended from office. Judicial offices of consequence were filled with “men of confidence,” men who enjoyed the confidence of the king and quickly lost that of every one else.[487]