Somerset and others attainted added by King Edward the sixth the forfeitures of the Duke of Northumberland William Parr Marquess of Northampton John Earl of Warwick Sir Thomas Wyat and others to Queen Mary the Lands of the Duke of Norffolk Philip Earl of Arrundel the Earls of Westmerland Essex and Southampton Sir John Perrot Leonard Dacres and others in the reign of Queen Elizabeth and hers as well as King Edward the sixth's ill advised and unhappy clypping and lessening the Lands and Revenues of many Bishopricks Deans and Chapters forfeitures of the Lord Cobham Sir Walter Rawley and of Winter Grant and other the Gunpowder Traytors the great revenues of the Earles of Tyrone and Desmond and other large confiscated Escheats and forfeited Estates in Ireland which came to King James for before his reign and the subduing of Tyrone that Kingdome as to the publick was a greater charge then profit addition of Scotland and all the Appennages and Lands of the royal Brethren and Princes of the blood of England in their several times and ages falling into the Regal Revenues would have made a plentifull support for the Crown of England if they had tarried as they did not one for another and continued unwasted and unaliened CHAP. II. Supplies and Additions to the Royall Revenues and the many cares taken therein by Parliaments and otherwise WHich could not be prevented by a thousand sixty one pounds and three half pence per diem revenue ex justis reditibus which William the Conqueror had in daily revenue after his Knights Fees and his large gifts and rewards given to his friends and followers which in the now value of money and rates of provision would a great deal more then treble that summe as Ordericus vitalis who was born in his reign and died in the beginning of the reign of King Stephen hath informed us exceptis muneribus regiis reatum redemptionibus aliisque multiplicibus negotiis quae Regis Aerarium quotidie aduagebant besides Gifts Presents Confiscations and other things which did daily increase his riches nor by sixty thousand pounds sterling 〈◊〉 by him in his Treasury his Censas Nemorâ—m rents or profits of Woods Escheats and incidents of Tenures in Capite and by Knight service Hidage Danegeld Sponte oblata for all Grants or Favours which passed from him Cambium Regium or benefit of Exchanges rating of the Fees of the Officers of his Household to a certainty per diem taking accounts upon oath for all his monies issued out or imprest for repair of his Castles and Houses and fines for granting of Priviledges and Liberties Contributions to William Rufus towards the building of Westminster-Hall three shillings upon every hundred Acres or Hide of Land in England to King Hen. 1. and his providence in making every third year a survey of his Woods and Forrests changing of the penalites of mutilation of members into pecuniary mulcts turning of his rents which were formerly paid in corn and other houshold provisions into money and six pence overplus in every pound for any loss or abatement which might happen in the value of money which being then by reason of his often absence and residence in Normandy reckoned to be good husbandry proved shortly afterwards by the change of times dearer rates of provision to be the contrary and a great disadvantage to his Successors one hundred thousand pounds in money besides Plate and Jewels left by him in his Treasury and possest by King Stephen resumption of divers Lands aliened from the Royal Revenue reforming of the Exchequer by Hen. 2. revoking of all Grants of Lands aliened from the Crown of the Castles of Clebury Wigmore and Bridgnorth from 〈◊〉 Mortimer City of Gloucester and Lands belonging unto it from Roger Fitz Miles Earl of Hereford Castle of Scarborough from William Earl of Albemarle with many other Lands Towns and Castles and from William Earl of Mortain and Warren base Son to King Stephen the Castle of Pemsey and City of Norwich notwithstanding that himself had granted them to the said William Earl of Mortaign in his agreement with King Stephen alledging that they were of the Demeasnes of the Crown and could not be alienated calling of certain of his great Ministers of Estate to account and imposing a Tax of two pence upon every yoke of Oxen in Ireland and two pence in the pound by Act of Parliament of every mans Lands and goods in Normandy to be paid in the year 1166. and a penny in every pound to be paid for four years following for the relief of the Christians in the Holy warre enquiring by his Justices Itinerants and Articles in Eyre in England of the rights of his Crown and Exchequer taxing in the 32. year of his reign all his Dominions in France with the Tenth of the Revenues for that year of all as well Clergy as Laity but such as went in person to the Holy warre the tenth of all their moveables as well gold as silver and the tenth of the moveables of two hundred of the richest men in London and of one hundred in York banishment of William de Ipre Earl of Kent with his Countrymen and followers when they grew to be a burden to the Kingdome nine hundred thousand pounds in money besides Plate and Jewels inestimable left in the Treasury to his Son King Richard the first great summes of money gained by him by renewing Charters and Fines imposed upon Sheriffs and Accomptants and such as had taken part with his Brother John in his usurpations the tenth of all moveables granted to him and the City of London giving him a voluntary contribution towards his voyage into the Holy Land banishment of Otho Earl of York the Son of his Sister and all the Bavarians a fourth part given him by Parliament of all spirituall and temporall Revenues as much for moveables and twenty shillings for every Knights Fee resumption of many Grants of Lands and Annuities two shillings of every plough land taken for preparation of a journy to Normandy examination of the Accounts of his Exchequer Officers five shillings laid upon every plough land for another forrain voyage and a general survey made of his Lands and Profits Three shillings for every plough land granted by Parliament to King John for his affairs in Normandy one hundred thousand pounds taxed upon the Clergy towards his charges in Ireland a thirteenth of all Spirituall and Temporall mens goods twenty six shillings eight pence for every Knights Fee two shillings upon every plough land an Ayde of twenty six shillings and eight pence of every Knights fee towards his warres in Wales with Escauge of such as held of him besides Benevolences Escheats and Americiaments twenty shillings of every Knights see towards his charges in Normandy forty shillings at another time and an Ayde for the marriage of his Sister Isabel to the Emperor Frederick The fifteenth part of every mans moveables to King Henry the third for a confirmation of
Northumberland Seymour Duke of Somerset Russell Earl of Bedford St. John Earl of Wiltshire Rich Willoughby Paget Sheffeild Barons his giving away great quantities of Ecclesiasticall and Chantry Lands Viscount Mountague Lord Howard of Effingham Lord North advanced by Queen Mary the Subsidie of four shillings in the pound for Lands and two shillings for Goods granted to King Edward the sixth in the last year of his Reign remitted by her and nine thousand two hundred pounds land per annum of the Crown given away paying at the same time twelve pound per cent Interest for twenty thousand pounds borrowed of the City of London and the greater charges and Expences of Queen Elizabeth in protecting the Neatherlands and United Provinces which cost her five hundred thirty four thousand pounds and four hundred thousand pounds in succouring King H. 4. of France besides what was disbursed for other Protestant Allies guarding the Back-door of Scotland relieving guarding the young King who was afterwards her Successor endeavouring to reduce Ireland to its former obedience which in a few years cost her as the Lord Treasurer Cecill Earl of Salisbury in the Reign of King James informed the Parliament nineteen hundred twenty and four thousand pounds and defending her self from the Assaults and machinations of the Pope King of Spain and other Catholick Princes advancing and enriching Cecil L. Burghley Sackvile L. Buckhurst Charles Blount Lord Mountjoy Knowles Wotton Sidney Carew Petre Compton Cheney Norris and Stanhop to be Barons and creating of the Earls of Essex Leicester Lincoln and Warwick Remission of a Subsidie granted to Q. Mary Farming of her Customs to Smyth but for thirteen thousand pounds per annum afterwards to forty two thousand pounds and raising them after that only to no more then fifty thousand pounds per annum five hundred thousand pounds spent by King James in a totall subduing of Ireland three hundred and fifty thousand pounds paid for Queen Elizabeth's debts to the City of London for which some of the Crown Lands were mortgaged and for debts to the Army Admiralty and Wardrobe and discharging the reckoning of brass money in Ireland with the same sums in silver his vast expences by Treaties and Ambassadours amounting in the seventh year of his Reign unto five hundred thousand pounds to keep us in our envied peace and plenty four hundred thousand pounds disbursed in relieving the Dutch besides what was spent in satisfying the greedy cravings of the Scottish Nation preferring and raising of the Duke of Richmond Ramsey Earl of Holderness Earls of Carlisle Kelley Morton and Dunbarre Howard Earl of Northampton Carr Earl of Somerset Herbert Earl of Montgomery Villers Duke of Buckingham Cranfeild Earl of Middlesex Cecill Earl of Salisbury Howard Earl of Suffolke Mountague Earl of Manchester Ley Earl of Marleborough and Digby Earl of Bristol All which and many more which might be here enumerated did not only as was usuall in the Reigns of our former Kings by necessary bounties encouraging of virtue and valour rewarding of merits and high deservings of Ministers of State and great Atchievements of men of warre through a successiion of ages accidents occasions and reasons of State draw and derive their honours from those fountains of Honour but large Revenues and Lands many times likewise to support and maintain their Dignities and sometimes upon the Petitions of the Commons in Parliament as to conferre upon John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the Dukedome of Acquitaine in the reign of King Edward the third to make John Holland the Kings half-Brother Earl of Huntington in the reign of King Richard the second and to preferre and advance the Lords John and Humphrey Sons of King Henry the fourth and sometimes great Pensions and Annuities were given for life untill Lands could be provided to support them in reward of virtue and their services done or to be done for the good of the Nation and to continue them and their posterities as props and pillars of the Royall Throne in a gratefull acknowledgment of the favours received from it And besides those former rewards and Ennoblishments puts it at this day for Creation money paid to the Dukes Marquesses and Earls to no less a charge then one thousand pounds per annum by which the people were in all ages no loosers when the Honour strength and defence of the Kingdome was maintained and increased by them and themselves kept in peace and plenty the manner of living in ancient and better times being with little money and small rents great services by the thankfull and ready duty and affections of Tenants to their Benefactors and mesne Lords not only made them great in power but enabled them to imitate their Princes as much as they could in great hospitalities deeds of charity and almes building and endowing of Churches Abbies Priories and Religious Houses and giving large Inheritances to their Servants Friends and Followers pro homagio servitio and other dependances Common of Estovers and of great quantities of Lands to severall Cities Towns and Villages and in such a plentifull manner distributed and gave their Lands as if the Lands in Capite by Knight Service Coppyhold Lands Commons which our King's Nobility and Gentry bestowed heretofore upon the inferiour sort of people and what they dedicated to God by giving to Churches Religious Houses Colleges Churches and Chappels should be surveyed and measured they would amount to no less then two parts in four of the Lands of the Kingdome The quondam lethargie sleepiness and unactivity of many of the Officers of the Exchequer who should be as the Argus eyes to guard the Royall Revenue the indulgence heretofore or neglect of some of her Officers and their not remembring that they were to be the Kings and his Treasurers Remembrancers respiting or nichiling of his debts upon feigned Petitions which can tell how to deceive the most carefull Barons or Judges of that Court when their Soveraign suffered in the mean time very great damage for want of the money the not duly estreating of all Fines and Amerciaments corrupt compounding for such as were estreated by under Officers at easie rates granting to the City of London their Fines and Amerciaments want of looking after as they doe in other Nations the execution of those multitudes of penall Lawes which otherwise will be to little purpose and assisting the collection of the Kings legall profits arising thereby the heretofore carelesness or corruption of some of our former Kings Officers who for fees of favour enlarged their Charters and Grants to bodies politique Cities Towns and Corporations and to as many private persons as would petition for them and decked them with the flowers of the Kings Crown which were not to be parted with so easily So as what by Grants or Prescription which in many cases is but the incroachment or filchings of liberties and priviledges concealed or not well looked after covered and drawn into a property by a time beyond
most of their servile works without money and paid them besides an annual Rent in corn and other houshold provisions was to quiet the ruined English and by intermarriages of them and the Normans and Forreigners and other establishments to assure what was gained to their posterities the plenty and abundance whereof continuing through the reigns of King Stephen and King Henry the Second who greatly inlarged his Dominions by the Dutchy of Aquitain Earldomes of Aniou Main Poictou Touraine and other Provinces and parts of France the Lands of Henry de Essex his Standard-bearer by inheritance forfeited for the treason of throwing it down and flying and reporting that he was slain the Earldome of Lincoln Earldomes being then and long after not without great Possessions and Revenues belonging to them the Lands of William Peverell Lord of Nottingham Conquest of Ireland and whole Counties and Provinces thereof comming to be the Kings Demeasnes and the forfeitures to Richard the First of many of his Nobility and others who had taken part with his Brother John in his usurpation of the Regall authority All which with the Escheats and Forfeitures of the Terra Normanorum in England upon the losse of Normandy by King John unto the French confiscated Lands of a great part of the English Nobility and Gentry after the misfortune of Henry the Third in the unquietness of many of his Barons and People his better fortune in the battel of Evesham and subduing them in the forty ninth year of his Reign the accession to the Crown of the Earledoms of Derby Leicester Salisbury and the County Palatine of Chester with the vast Territories and Estates which belonged unto them and many other lesser Escheats and Forfeitures the Forfeiture of Roger Bigod Earl of Norfolk and his Earldome and great Possessions with divers other Escheats and Forfeitures the Principality of Wales and the Conquest of Scotland in the Reign of King Edward the First confiscating of the lands of inheritance for from the making of the Statute de Donis or Entails in Anno 13. of Edward the first untill Anno 5 6 of Edward the sixth Lands entailed were not forfeited for Treason of Thomas Earl of Lancaster Lincoln and Derby Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford and Essex of the Lords Clifford Warrein Lisle Tutchet Cheney Mowbray Teyes Aldenham Badlesmere and Gifford and many other men of great note and eminencie to King Edward the second the lands of Mortimer Earl of March Edmund Earl of Kent and the Escheat of the great Estate and Inheritance of Hastings Earl of Pembroke to King Edward the third with several other confiscations and forfeitures and his Conquest of a great part of France the forfeitures of Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland Michael dela Pooli Earl of Suffolk of the Duke of Gloucester Earles of Arundel and Warwick and divers other great Inheritances to King R. 2. the marriage of John of Grant fourth son to King Ed. 3. to Blanch the sole daughter and heir of Henry Duke of Lancaster Earl of Derby Leicester and Lincoln making that of Lancaster to be as a Principality or little Kingdome which by Henry 4 5 6 and 7th Kings of England coming afterwards to attend the Royal Dignity accompanied by the forfeitures of the Dukes of Exeter and Albemarle Mowbray Earl Marshal Earles of Kent Salisbury Huntington Northumberland Stafford March and Worcester Owen Glendour Lords Hastings Despencer Falconbridge Bardolph and many others to King H. 4. and the lands of the Earldome of Oxford long detained by him confiscation of the lands of the Prior Aliens and all France conquered and in possession and many other great Estates coming to Hen. 5. by the Attainders of Richard Earl of Cambridge Earl of Northumberland Henry Lord Scroop the lands of Widevill Earl Rivers and divers other Barons the Dukedomes of Exeter and Somerset and Earldome of Devonshire and many other Lands and Inheritances forfeited to King Edward the Fourth the Lands and Estate of Henry Duke of Buckingham Earl of Stafford and Northampton and Lord of Brecknock and Holderness Henry Earl of Richmond and Jasper Earl of Penbroke with some other to King Richard the Third accumulated by the great and Princely Inheritance of Richard Duke of York and all the partakers of him and King Edward the fourth his brother with the Lands and great Inheritance of the Countess of Warwick gained by King H. 7. his fortune at Bosworth-field and the marriage and inheritance of the Royal and principall heir of the white Rose the confiscations of the lands of John Duke of Norfolk Earls of Surrey Warwick Lincoln Lords Lovel Welles Audley and divers others like many great rivers running into the Ocean of the Crown revenues made its Lands and Estate to be as vast in Demeasnes and Service as they were Princely and honourable Which being likewise abundantly enlarged by King Hen. 8. by the unprosperous dissolution of the Abbey and religious Lands which the envy of the Laity in the reign of King H. 4. had over and above as they said what would serve for the remaning Clergy computed to be sufficient and enough to maintain fifteen Earles which after the rate of Earls in those dayes and their grand revenues could not be a little fifteen hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Gentlemen and an hundred Hospitals besides twenty thousand pounds per annum to be given to the King which was then more then one hundred thousand pounds per annum is now and were at their dissolution six hundred forty and five Abbeys Priories and Nunneries ninety Colledges one hundred and ten Hospitals and two thousand three hundred seventy and four Chanteries and free Chappels then valued at one hundred-eighty six thousand fifteen pounds eight shillings penny farthing per annum And together with the forfeited Lands and Inheritance of Empson and Dudley George Lord Rochford Edmond de la Poole Duke of Suffolk the Duke of Buckingham Earl of Surrey Lord Dacres and divers others and the confiscation of his two great Favourites Wolsey and Cromwell the former of which left him the stately Palaces of Hampton-Court and Whitehall and the recontinuing of divers liberties withheld from the Crown by the Lords Marchers of Wales made so great an accession and increase as the Court of Exchequer was not thought to be comprehensive enough for the care and governance thereof without the short-lived Courts of the Survay and Augmentation and First-fruits erected by Act of Parliament for the separate management of the Ecclesiasticall Revenues By the dissolution whereof shortly after and not trusting the Exchequer with the better care thereof the regal revenues if Mr. Christopher Vernon a late antient and expert Officer of that Court hath not been mistaken or miscast it were not so little damnified as six hundred thousand pounds sterling or if plenty had not as it most commonly useth introduced profusion and carelesness might otherwise have been saved Which with the Lands and Inheritance of the Duke of
Magna Charta and Charta Foreste fortieth part of every mans goods towards the payment of his debts and a thirtieth part afterwards granted by Act of Parliament much of his Forrests and Woods converted to errable land his Parks of Woodstock and Gillingham ploughed many Grants made in his minority revoked his great Officers as Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent Chief Justice of England and others called to account Ranulph Britton Treasurer of his Chamber fined in one thousand marks a great summe of money given by the City of London to be made Toll-free every one that could dispend in land fifteen pound per annum ordered to be knighted or pay a Fine great summes of money gained by composition with Delinquents at seven years value of their Lands by the DictuÌ„ de Kenilworth his houshold charges lessened a meaner Port kept less Almes given his Jewels and the Crown royal pawned Plate sold to pay his debts at no greater a value then the weight though the workmanship did cost as much and the golden Shrine of Edward the Confessor forty shillings for every Knights see twice assessed for his warres in Gascony great sums of money raised of the Iewes the banishment of the Poictouins and his half-brothers who had made it too much of their business to beg what they could of the Revenue and by his own sometimes sitting in the Exchequer to preserve it thirty two thousand pounds sterling received of Leolin Prince of Wales propaee habenda and a resumption of divers of the Crown Lands which had been aliened Nor by an Inquiry in Anno 4. of King Ed. 1 by Act of Parliament of the Castles Buildings Lead and Timber of the Kings his Demeasnes Parks Woods extent of Manors forrain Parks and Woods Pawnage Herbage Mills Fishings Freeholds Cottages Curtilages customary Tenants Patronages Perquisitâ—s of Courts Liberties Customes and Services a Subsidie in Anno 6. of his reign of the twentieth part of every mans goods towards the charges of his warres in Wales the Statute of Quo warranto in Anno 18. to inquire and seise into the Kings hands all liberties usurped a Subside in anno 22. of his reign upon Woolfels and Hydes transported a tenth of all goods the eighth of the goods of the Citizens and Burgesses a twelfth of the rest of the Laity and a moiety of the Clergy in anno 25. and in anno 26. the ninth penny of the Commons the tenth penny of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury and the fifth of York taking away much monies from the Priors Aliens payment by the Clergy in anno 23 of all such summes of money which they had promised to pay to the Pope towards the maintenance of the Holy warres and half a years value of their Ecclesiasticall livings and promotions abased monies four hundred and twenty thousand pounds fifteen shillings and four pence raised from the Jewes and a farre greater summe afterwards contribution of ships and ship-money by the maritime Coasts and Counties in case of danger and invasion sixty five thousand marks of silver received for Fines of some corrupt Judges and great summes of money likewise for forfeitures by an Inquisition or Commission of Trail Baston A fifteenth of the Clergy and a twentieth of the Temporalty to King Edward the Second in anno primo of his reign the moveables and personal Estate of the Knights Templers in England Contribution of ships and ship-money by the maritime Counties a fifteenth in anno 6. and the great and rich confiscated personall Estates of the two Spencers Father and Son and an Ordinance made pro Hospitio Regis concerning the regulation of his Houshold Thirty thousand marks paid to King Edward the third in anno 2. of his reign by Robert Bruce King of Scots to release his Soveraignity to that Kingdom a tenth of the Clergy Citizens and Burgesses and a fifteenth of others granted in anno 6. of his reign Aids of ships ship-money by the Sea-coasts and in an 13. the tenth sheep of all the Lords Demeasnes except of their bound Tenants the tenth fleece of wool and the tenth lamb of their store to be paid in two years and that such of them or their Peers as held by Baronie should give the tenth of their grain wool and Lamb and of all their own Demeasnes and two thousand five hundred sacks of wool given by the Commons anno 14. the ninth of the grain wool and lamb of the Laity to be paid in two years the ninth of the goods of the Townsmen and the fifteenth of such as dwelt in Forrests and Chases anno 17. forty shillings for every Sack of wool over and above the old rate anno 18. a Disme by the Clergy of Canterbury for three years two fifteenths of the Commons and two dismes of the Cities and Towns to be levied in such wise as the last in an 20. two fifteens to be paid in two years anno 21. two shillings upon every Sack of wool granted by the Lords without the Commons in anno 22. three fifteens to be paid in three years All such treasure as was committed to Churches throughout England for the Holy warre all the goods of the Cluniacques Cistercians and some other Orders of Monks half the wools of the Laity and the whole of the Clergy the jewels of the Crown pawned imprisonment of his Treasurer abasing some of his 〈◊〉 and ordaining some of his Exchanges of money to be at London Canterbury and York monies abated in weight and made to pass according to former value and the profits which the forrain Cardinals enjoyed in England during their lives taken into his hands one hundred thousand pounds received for the ransome of John King of France great sums of money for the ransoming of David King of Scotland Philip afterwards Duke of Burgogne Jaques de Bourbon and many of the French Nobility fifty shillings granted by Parliament in anno 43. for every sack of wool for six years by which imposition only as the Trade of Wools and Cloathing then flourished the King as it was computed might dispend one thousand marks per diem fifty thousand pounds by the Laity and as much by the Clergy granted him by the Parliament in anno 45. to resume his right in France a Poll-money by Act of Parliament of four pence for every person of of the Laity that took not almes of every Clergy-man beneficed twelve pence and of every Religious person four pence in anno 50. and a resumption of divers of his Crown Lands A Subsidie in the first year of K. Richard the second levied upon the great men to spare the Commons Poll-money of every person above fifteen years old Fines of seaventeen shires in anno 21. and causing them to pay great summes of money for aiding the Duke of Gloucester and Earles of Arrundel and Warwick the Bohemians which pestered his Court banished and a resumption of divers of his Crown Lands A tenth of the Clergy and a Subsidie
their Master any more then three hundred thousand pounds sterling in Cash and ready money and that with that and such of the Royall Revenues as they left him and those vast Spoils Rapines Taxes Assessments and pillage of all that were not as bad as himself and his Predecessor Common-wealth Contrivers in the three Kingdomes of England Ireland and Scotland which amounted unto above forty millions he was not able in a few years wars with the Dutch and Spaniards to bring about his expences support the Protection as he called it of the people with it but died above three millions in debt which the debts of our famous King Edward the third and Henry the fifth who conquered France and the most of our indebted Kings never amounted unto When our English Kings and Princes having never received of the people by their Aides and Subsidies the twentieth penny towards their expences in the preservation of them and the honor peace plenty of the Kingdom could never do as the Field Marshals Stadt Holders or Generals in Commonwealths have done or as the late Princes of Orange did for severall successions in Holland and the united Provinces receive great allowances and Sallaries keep and greatly improve and increase their own Revenues and make the Publick bear and defray its vast charges as well in warres as the cares and defence of peace in the absence of it but did bear and sustein the brunt of all that was not extraordinary and the charge of many a warre abroad and suppressing of insurrections and rebellions at home out of their own Estates and Revenues and made many a hard shift even to the pawning of their Jewels and mortgaging of their Lands without an often calling to the People for Subsidies or other Aids or Assistance to preserve them and their Estates and Posterities Nor took to themselves the liberty which many Subjects doe to put into their Accounts and Bills of charges to their Princes their Damnum emergens damage happening by any service done for him or their Country and many times their Lucrum cessans gain or improvement lost though every mans particular in the defence of their King and Country is involved in the generall that the service was not altogether or immediately done or tendred to him or for the preservation of him or his Estate only and Posterity but as much if not more for their own concernments and think themselves to be ill dealt with if they be not speedily and abundantly rewarded To help on which consumption of the Royal Revenues came also the great charges which King Charles the first upon whom the decay of the Royal Revenues occasioned by the necessities and indulgences of his Predecessors at once falling might have made him crie out with King Henry the third as the Monk of St. Albans relates it seducor undique mutilatus sum Rex et abbreviatus was at in leagues and confederacies with forreign Princes maintaining Armies in the Palatinate and Germany aiding the Kings of Bohemia Denmark and Sweden engaging in a warre against Spain and sending a great Fleet and Army to invade him great expences in sending a Navy and Army to the Isle of Rhe and two others to aid the Rochellers to furnish part of which for it amounted to a great deal more he sold at once at too easie rates to the City of London above twelve thousand pounds Land per annum rent of Assize the payment of fifty thousand pounds per annum Pensions aud Annuities out of the Exchequer as it was industriously computed by that factious party of Common woe contrivers to diverse of the Scottish Nation many of whom did afterwards joyn with his enemies to ruine him the great and necessary yearly Pensions and Annuities paid to the King and Queen of Bohemia and their children charges of going with a great Army to the Borders of Scotland against the Covenanting Scots and maintaining another in England with the payment of 120000l principall money borrowed by his Father of divers Citizens of London with interest at 8. per cent Which with the many great cares troubles wants and necessities which compassed him in on every side whilst his great virtues for want of necessary supplies of money and treasure were not able to support or bear him up against the storms of an hideous Rebellion escape the snares and pursuit of a rebellious party or scour and cleanse that Augaean Stable which had ruined and weakned his Revenues made him a glorious Martyr for the Laws and Liberties of England and those that were the causers of it the great Examples of a Divine Justice overtaking them And enforced him to leave his troubles to descend upon his Son our most gratious Soveraign Charls the Second with a small and despoyled Revenue which by its fluidness and the gnawing and deflux of time was as to his Crown Lands brought almost to an Exinanition and his casuall and other receipts bearing no more proportion to his expences and disbursements then a Dwarfe or Pigmey doth to a Giant or Poliphemus could doe no less then bring the remainder of that little which was left into a Tabes and almost incurable consumption when there is so great a difference betwixt the rates of provisions and livelyhood and all manner of things bought or used in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and what is now paid for them when he is at greater expences then any of his Progenitors and a less receiver receives at the old rate and buyes at the new his demeasn Lands besides his Pastures at Creslâ—w in Buckinghamshire which were hertofore imployed for the keeping of some Oxen for his household provisions and his parks and some adjacent Grounds to his Houses of residence and all his Land and certain Revenues are not above reprizes one hundred thousand pounds per annum and two parts of three of that consisting in Fee Farm Rents which admit of no improvement when his Customes which should now amount to as much or more then what they were in his late Majesties Reign by the addition of an Excise amounting to one hundred and forty thousand pounds per an now yeilds not near so much as it did formerly the Excise of Ale and Beer ill collected oâ— so chargeable in the gathering of it as it yeilds little more then the half of what the Parliament estimated and intended it to be great yearly Revenues Inheritances in Lands given to men of high deservings both of him and the Kingdom all the Confiscations of the late Traitors of a great yearly value with the benefit of the Post-Office Wine Lycences and many discoveries of personall Estates due to the King given to his Brother the Duke of York to make him a Princely Revenue When his ordinary expences doe so much exceed his ordinary receipts and his extraordinaries are six or seven to one of his ordinaries is sixteen hundred thousand pounds in debt spends more then as much again
dayes often committed oppression by a tyranny of the rich over the poor and needy and to keep the Wolves from their morning and evening preys and rejoycing in the spoil of the widdows and fatherless the hungry and necessitous which by a cheating and blinding of their consciences they will whether the Laws of God and man will or no suppose to be lawfull because it is their Trade and the misteries of it or because their Fathers or their Masters did it before them every one else doth it and every man must live and make use of their time labour calling or opportunities The people of this Kingdom being so universally endamaged by the evils happening by them and concerned and like to be benefitted by the remedies may as those of Spain Florence and other forreign Countries who in bearing some burdens and Taxes laid upon them are many times rather gainers then losers by the benefit of a Bands or rule of rating Butchers and many other Commodities to be bought or sold so as children cannot be cozened Be very willing that their representatives in Parliament shall consent That upon every Tun of wine French Spanish and Rhenish to be vented in England there be by the first buyer forty shillings per Tunne paid to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and accounted for half yearly in the Court of Exchequer That instead of an Excise upon Ale Beer Perry and Sider every one that shall in a publick Alehouse sell Ale Beer Perry or Sider shall yearly pay to the King his Heirs and Successors forty shillings per annum and every publick Brewer twenty pounds per annum and a further rate proportionable to the quantities of their Brewings And that to restore this antient Monarchy and heretofore famous and flourishing Kingdome to its former honour safety and defence and an ease from the charge of mercenary Armies and Guards and to prevent the great and many dangers and inconveniencies which may happen thereby as also to fatherless Children by Guardianships and breaches of trust his Majesty and his Heirs and Successors may have and enjoy his and their antient rights of Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service and all mesne Lords their Heirs their Tenures by Knight Service with all incidents thereunto belonging allowing unto every one holding of the King by those Tenures the liberty of being freed from the marriage of his Heir to be compounded for by yearly paying unto the King into the Exchequer or into the Court of Wards next after his age of one and twenty years and livery sued forth the sum of twenty pounds per annum rent for every Knights Fee which he shall hold or proportionably according to the partes thereof 1. That in the granting of Wardships to the Mother or next friends according to the Instructions of King James with those reasonable cares and considerations of debts and younger children used by the Court of Wards and Liveries the marriages of the Wards and Rents of their Lands during all the time of their minorities computed together be never above one years improved value which will be but the half of that which is now accompted to be a reasonable Fine and is frequently paid by many Copihold Tenants whose Fines are certain 2. That the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Durham who by antient exemptions and priviledge are to have the wardships of Tenants holding of them by Knight service in their minorities though they hold other Lands in Capite and by Knight service of the King may be ordained to doe the like favours 3. That all that hold in Capite and by Knight service be according to their antient liberties and rights granted by the Charter of King Henry the first freed as in reason they ought from all Assessments of their demeasn Lands touching warre 4. That Primer Seisins be taken away of such kind of Tenures and no more paid 5. That the Lands holden in Socage or of any other mesne Lords in case of minority of any in ward to the King by reason of Tenure in Capite or pour cause de gard being taken into consideration only as to the Fine for the marriage may not be put under any Rent or Lease to be made by the Court of Wards but freed as they were frequently and antiently by Writs sent to the Escheators 6. That the King in recompence thereof may have and receive of every Duke or Earl dying seized of any Lands or Hereditaments in Capite and by Knight service two hundred pounds of every Marquess Viscount and Baron two hundred marks and of every one that holdeth by a Knights Fee twenty pounds for a Relief or proportionably according to the quantity of the Fee which he holdeth 7. That incroachments and wast grounds holden in Capite and by Knight Service may be no cause of wardship or paying any other duties incident to that Tenure if it shall upon the first proof and notice be relinquished 8. That only Escuage and Service of warre except in the aforesaid cases of the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Durham and all other incidents except Wardships due by their Tenants which hold of them by Knight service be restored to mesne Lords and that the Reliefs of five pounds for a whole Knights Fee or proportionably according to the quantity of Lands of that kind of Fee holden shall be after the death of every such Tenant twenty pounds 9. That to lessen the charges of Escheators and Juries for every single Office or Inquisition to be found or taken after the death of every tenant in Capite and by Knight Service the time of petitioning within a moneth after the death of the Ancestor may be enlarged to three moneths and the Shire Town City or principall place of every County be appointed with certain dayes or times for the finding of Offices to the end that one and the same Meeting and one and the same Jury with one and the same charge or by a contribution of all parties concerned may give a dispatch thereunto 10. That in case of neglecting to petition within three moneths after the death of the Tenant in Capite and by Knight Service or otherwise concealing any Wardships or not suing out of Livery if upon information brought issue joyned and witnesses examined or any time before Hearing or Tryall of the Cause the party offending or concerned shall pay the Prosecutor his double costs and satisfie the King the mesne rates he shall be admitted to compound 11. That the unnecessary Bonds formerly taken in the Court of Wards at two shillings six pence or three shillings charge upon suing out of every Diem clausit extremum or Writ to find an Office obliging the Prosecutor thereunto may be no more taken when as the time limited for petitioning to compound for Wardships and the danger of not doing of it will be engagement sufficient 12. That Grants Leases and Decrees of the Court of Wards may not to the great
but carefully and duly estreat and certifie them every half year into the Exchequer in the Terms of Easter and St. Michael which the example of Hengham a Judge in the Reign of King Edward the first who for reducing an Amerciament or Fine of thirteen shillings four pence to six shillings eight pence in favour and pitty of a poor man was grievously fined and ordered to provide at his own charge the great Clock at Westminster may perswade them not to violate That the Ballance and In and Out of forraign Trade may be observed and reduced into Books to be yearly brought into the Exchequer but not with Blanks fair Seals Covers and Labels as they have used to be to little purpose That the more to encourage Merchants to an honest accompt and payment of their Customes to the King and to deal better with him it may be enacted that where any Ships of any Merchants and their goods and lading shall be taken in times of hostility with any other Prince so as it be not by the carelesness and neglect of the Merchants in carrying prohibited goods or the Captain or owner of the Ships in not making so good a defence or not arming or providing themselves so well as they ought the losses of such Merchants and shipowners duely estimated and proved before the Judges of the Admiralty shall be refunded out of the next Prizes which shall be taken from that Nation Prince or Enemy that took it the accustomed allowances to the Lord high Admiral and others first deducted That the wages of Servants now trebled more then what it was twenty years agone and of Labourers and Workmen very much increased by reason of the intollerable and unbecomming pride of clothes now in fashion amongst them by licence and imitation of times of pride disobedience disorder and rebellion and the folly of some of their Masters and Mistresses enjoyning them to wear clothes too high for them may be limited and ordered to be as they were before these last twenty years that every Master or Mistress that giveth more shall forfeit double the value to the King and that no Servant who hath formerly served in any other place be received or taken into service without a certificate or testimony of their good behaviour from their Maister or Mistress where they last served if they shall not appear to be unreasonable or for malice or any sinister ends to deny the same That the Tenths of all the Fishing in the British or English Seas by Barks or Busses now beginning to be instituted and taken into consideration which in part was intended to be had by King Edward the sixth upon the coasts of Wales Ireland and Baltimore by building a Fort or Castle upon the streight to command as Captain John Smith relates in his discourse of the benefits of Fishing in our English Seas a tribute for Fishing and if industry fail not is like if we but imitate the Hollanders who have hitherto enjoyed that which was none of their own and enriched themselves by our carelesnes to grow up to a great and not to be estimated National profit be paid and accompted for to the King and his Heirs and Successors who may well deserve it when as besides his Soveraignty of the Sea and the guard and protection of them by his Navie and Shipping he hath of late in the midst of his own wants and necessities for the better encouragement of his people to seek their own good and that which our British Seas will plentifully afford them given all his Customs inward and outward for any the returns to be made by the sale of Fish in the Baltick Seas Denmark and France for seven years for the first entrance into the Trade of Fishing That the rivers in England and Wales not yet navigable and fit to be made navigable may by a publick purchase of the Mills or Wears standing upon them and pulling down the Wears Kiddels hindring it attempted in the Reigns of King Henry the third and Edward the third by several Statutes made for the taking of them away be made navigable and a reasonable Toll or Custome upon every Vessell and Fraight paid to the King his Heirs and Successors That for the better support of our Nobility and the honours which they enjoy and that as starres in our firmament they may be able to attend the Sun their Soveraign and not suffer such Eclypses in their Estates and Revenues as too many have lately done that the Lions which should guard the Thrones of our Kings may not pine away or languish and the stately columns and pillars thereof moulder into ruins and decay and have small or unbecoming Estates to maintain them in the splendor of their Ancestors and the Royal Revenue not to be troubled or lessened by suits or requests to supplie them they may according to the intent and custome of the Fewdall Laws and the locality which ought to be in Earldoms and Baronies not be without some honorary possessions which was so usual and frequent in England as through the three first Centuries after the Conquest the Lands belonging to Earldomes and Baronies were accompted to be parcels and members thereof and the word Honor so comprehensive as it conteined and comprised all the Lands belonging thereunto as well as the Earldomes Baronies and Title which did in sundry of of our former Kings reigns grants pass and comprehend the Land as well as the Titles And that according to that laudable and ever to be imitated example of Thomas late Earl of Arundel and Surrey in obtaining an Act of Parliament in the third year of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr for the annexing of divers Baronies and Lands to the Castle and Earldome of Arundel inseparable and unalienable in contemplation of the poverty and small Estates of the then Lord Stafford and some other of the antient English Nobility wetherbeaten and wasted by the injuries of time or the luxuries and carelesness of their Ancestors The Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts Barons and Baronets of England leaving some other Lands to their own disposing for the preferring of younger children payment of debts and supply of necessities which accidents may cast upon them may be ordered to settle annex by like Acts of Parliament the Capita Baroniarum and chief Castles Manors and Lands belonging to their Earldomes Baronies or Estates competent and sufficient to keep up and sustain the honour and dignity thereof from the gripes or defilements of poverty and Adversities not to be aliened or separated from their Earldomes Baronies or Dignities as long as it shall please God to continue them That the antient use of the Exchequer be restored and the Kings revenues carefully collected and answered and that the Justices in Eyre of the Kings Forrests and Chases on this side and beyond Trent Clerkes of the Market and Commissioners and Clerks of the Commissioners of Sewers do duely certifie into the
a fancied Authority of Parliament not onely confirm unto him that Revenue in Land setled upon him with the Casual profits belonging to the Crown of England but intreat him to accept of ten hundred thousand pounds per annum yearly Revenue to be raised upon the people without a Land Tax for the maintenance of the Army and Navy with such other supplies as should be needful to be raised from time to time by consent of Parliament and three hundred thousand pounds per annum in like manner to be raised for his support of the Government Need not repine or think that or a greater Revenue to be too much for the highest born Prince in Christendom and the Heir of a Succession of Kings for more then one thousand years last past who could suffer their Regal Power and Authority so to be bound with the Cords of love to their people and the rules of right reason as the Sun in all his Travails hath never yet beheld a people enjoying better or so good Laws and Liberties and less Taxed or burdened with their Princes occasions And when as there is not any City or Town Corporate in England but have received and enjoyed their Charters and Liberties from the King or his Progenitors not any of the Nobility or Gentry but have had their honors priviledges and dignities and all or some of their Lands and Estates from them nor any kinred or family in England which either by him or some of his famous Progenitors or the many Josephs and Mordecai's in every age advanced by them have not mediately or immediately been preferred and advanced and had all that they have or enjoy by their bounty and munificence or had much kindness or Royal favors shewed unto them and like the lesser Trees or Shrubs in the Forest have comfortably grown up and been protected and shadowed by Druinas Royal Oak for which in the care of their own good and safty which are involved in his they are as their forefathers were more then ordinarily obliged by those eternal Bonds of gratitude which time or adversity should never be able to break or obliterate to contribute all they can to his wellfare and this our once most famous Monarchy That so our Hercules may not want his Club to defend Himself and his people that the cry of Debts and people wanting their mony being the worst of Anguishes to a virtuous and generous mind may no longer afflict him that the looking upon a small Revenue may not dishearten him to take the accompts of it and that a greater may now our Janus Temple is shut put him in mind to do as Augustus Caesar did when all the world was at quiet keep an Exact account of his Revenues and Expences That he who hath builded up our wasts and raised up the former desolations may be at rest from his sorrows and all the people in his Dominions break forth into singing praises to the Most High which hath made him an Instrument to do wonderful things and like the Dove sent out of Noahs Ark to bring us the Olive Branch which the Deep and the rage of many waters had covered FINIS §. 1. §. 2. §. 3. §. 4. §. 5. §. 6. §. 7. §. 8. §. 9. §. 10. §. 11. §. 12. §. 13. §. 14. § 15. §. 16. §. 17. §. 18. §. 19. §. 20. §. 21. §. 22. §. 23. §. 25. §. 26. § 27. § 28. §. 1. §. 2. §. 3. §. 4. Brewers Merchants Wine-Coopers and Vintners Bakers §. 5. §. 6. §. 7. §. 8. §. 9. §. 10. § 11. §. 12. §. 13. §. 14. § 15. §. 16. §. 17. §. 18. §. 19. §. 20. §. 21. §. 22. §. 23. §. 24. §. 25. §. 26. §. 27. §. 28. §. 29. § 30. § 31. §. 32. §. 33. §. 34. §. 35. §. 36. §. 37. §. 38.