For well over a hundred years, the convocation of Canterbury presented one of those curiosities which give England so much of her charm. It was summoned to transact business, and, as soon as it met, it was prorogued before it could transact any business at all, apart from the pure formality of agreeing to an address to the sovereign. It remained prorogued until the sovereign dissolved parliament. This state of affairs originated in 1717, when an immediate prorogation precluded the lower house of convocation from censuring the latitudinarian sermons of Hoadly.