[89] In a short time the King went a step further.

Sclater and Walker had only been permitted to keep, after they became Papists, the preferment which had been bestowed on them while they passed for Protestants.

To confer a high office in the Established Church on an avowed enemy of that Church was a far bolder violation of the laws and of the royal word.

But no course was too bold for James.

The Deanery of Christchurch became vacant.