full attendance, with an enormous crowd outside threatening to break open the church for a chance to hear him preach. With his sermon now in massive circulation, the Whig government considered prosecuting Sacheverell. In his sermon Sacheverell had gone further than most High Church preachers in minimising the Glorious Revolution and extolling the doctrine of non-resistance, as well as challenging Parliament by his remarks on the Toleration Act and Parliament's December 1705 resolution declaring the Church to be in no danger. He had also attacked a leading member of the government, Godolphin. However, when the government lawyers examined the sermon, they discovered that Sacheverell had chosen his words carefully to such an extent that they considered it uncertain whether he could be prosecuted for sedition. They considered bringing Sacheverell to the Commons' Bar on the charge of displaying contempt for the Commons resolution of December 1705. A vote in the Commons would be enough to convict him. However this approach would deny the Whigs the publicity they sought in prosecuting Sacheverell and he would be at liberty once the Commons' session ended. The Whigs wanted a punishment sufficient enough to deter other High Churchmen. A vote in the House of Lords on a charge of high crimes and misdemeanours had the power to achieve what the Whigs wanted and could also inflict a heavy fine with confiscation of goods and imprisonment for life. On 13 December the Commons ordered Sacheverell to attend the Bar of the House. On 14 December Sacheverell appeared before the Commons with a hundred other clergymen also in attendance to show moral support. The House resolved that Sacheverell be impeached and he was put into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms. He was visited at his lodgings in Peters Street by prominent Tories such as the Duke of Leeds, Lord Rochester and Duke of Buckingham. The Duke of Beaufort sent him claret and 50 guineas. Although the Tories in the Commons managed only 64 votes on behalf of Sacheverell's petition for bail, there was an outbreak of support for him amongst the Anglican clergy. The Duke of Marlborough remarked that "the whole body of the inferior clergy espouse his interest". Trial Sacheverell's impeachment trial lasted from 27 February to 21 March 1710 and the verdict was that he should be suspended for three years and that the two sermons should be burnt at the Royal Exchange. This