In the ninth parliament of Elizabeth's reign (1597–8), in the course of a heated debate on monopolies, MP Sir Edward Hoby was shocked by the appearance outside parliament of ‘a multitude of people who said they were commonwealth men and desired [the House] to take compassion of their griefs’. In the parliament of 1601 Robert Cecil similarly complained that ‘Parliament matters are ordinarily talked of in the street. I have heard myself, being in my coach, these words spoken aloud: “God prosper those that further the overthrow of these monopolies. God send the prerogative touch not our liberty.”’ He reminded his auditors ‘that whatsoever is subject to a public exposition cannot be good’, and implicitly blamed those in the House of Commons who, he suggested, shared the secrets of the House with men out of doors. They ‘would be glad that all sovereignty were converted into popularity’.