The Antiquity, Legality, Reason, Duty and Necessity of Prae-emption and Pourveyance, for the King: Or, Compositions for his Pourveyance, as they were used and taken for the Provisions of the Kings Houshold, the small charge and burthen thereof to the People, and the many great Mischiefs and Inconveniences which will inevitably follow the taking of them away.
THat wise Councel and Saying of Solomon, the wisest of Men as well as Kings, To fear God and honor the King▪ Prov. 24.21. and not to meddle with them who are given to change, should if it were not a part of the Sacred Volumes not be denied an admission into every mans care and observation to follow that advice, as well as to believe that it is good to do so, when as every Nation in the World, in every age and [Page 2] generation of mankind, may by woful experience many times acted over subscribe unto it, or be ready to make Oath or Affidavit of the many ill consequences which have very often happened in the Tryal and event of the contrary, and is the more to be followed in the retaining of good Laws, or not changing them upon Light, seldom, small or inconsiderable inconveniences, for that those antient and righteous Judicial and Moral Laws of Moses written or dictated by God himself, and originally fitted for the Jewish Government, and the Manners and Customs of that his Darling and beloved people, were not certainly intended to Lacquie, after the humors, designs, passions or Interests of men, and those people who were to obey and observe them, but to remain and continue as fixed and permanent, as they were good and profitable, for otherwise they would not have been commanded to be Deut. 6▪8.9.11.18. taught their Children and after Generations, to be laid up in their hearts and their Souls, written upon the Posts of their houses, and on their Gates, bound for a Sign upon their hands, and as Frontlets between their eyes.
For howsoever other Laws which have not so divine an Original, or not being de jure Naturae, and drawn from that holy and excellent fountain of Scripture, are and may upon a true (not phantastick or imaginary ballancing) and due consideration of Conveniencies, with Inconvenien [...]es, be alterable, and either totally taken away or reformed. Yet when the ages past, and daily experiences, have not only told us, but all the people of the world, that new Laws cannot give us that certainty of their effects which the old have done, nor can be like Christal, so clear and transparent, as to give us [Page 3] beforehand a liberty of discerning the effects hoped for, and that experience is by much a better guide then hopes or expectation; we may with som assurance of reason conclude that Licurgus did not ill to ordain that de legibus semel receptis & probatis disserere non liceret, that the goodness of Laws experimented, should be honored rather then called in question, & did not merit a repoof when for fear of the Inconstancy of the Lacedemonians, or a less understanding part of them, he caus'd an oath Plutarch in vita Licurgi. to be taken, that those Laws which he had devised for them, should not be altered until his return from Delphos, where or at Creet he pined himself to death, to make them perpetual, and that Solon was not likewise to be blamed, in imitating him so far as to ordain an Oath to be taken by the people of Athens Plutarch in vita Solonis. not to change the Laws which he had ordained for them, but would rather endure a ten years absence, not much unlike a banishment from that his beloved country, because he would not give them any occasion or temptation of changing them, and that our late Factious and ignorant Legislators have been far exceeded and outgone by the inferior and overwise seeming Members, or parts of the body natural, represented in Menenius Agrippa's happy Fable to the seditious Romans of the mutiny of the Members of the body natural, against the Belly or Paunch thereof who did not in all that contention and desire of some better (as they thought) order to be enacted betwixt it and the Members, many of them having several intents and interests, propose as our late Giddy Reformers have done any thing against the Soveraignity or Supremacy of the Head, or to dislocate or cast it into a meaner scituation or condition amongst its inferiors, upon pretence [Page 4] that it might be more serviceable if it were placed in a Co-ordination, in the middle of the body, or to reside nearer the Belly or Feet, and be a Concomitant of them and their more ignoble Offices would conduce to a better Reiglement of the affairs of the Belly, and the rest of the inferior Members, or a more even walking, or at least not so often stumbling of the Feet, and prevent many a prejudice to those now more remote parts from its ordinary care and protection.
And we cannot therefore without some wonder, contemplate the vast difference which appears to have been betwixt all the heretofore popular Pretences, and intended Reformations of the Athenian and Spartan Commonwealths now sufficiently quieted and purged of those humors by a Turkish Tyranny, and that of the Romans in their many Tumults and Seditions under their many several sorts of Governments, and our godly (as they called themselves) Reformers of laws, & amenders of male administration (as they supposed) in Government, when as those Greeks and Romans being Heathens, could pursue their ends without rapine and plundering of their fellow citizens, but our men of Ignorance and Innovation, could in their vertigo and overturning of Kingdoms and good Laws, finde the way to all manner of Ravage Rapine and Injustice, to enrich and advance themselves by that great gain and spoil which they met with, by the alteration of Laws, and invadeing their Neighbors and other mens Proprieties.
And at the same time when they made their Jugling self denying Ordinanc [...], and pretended so much to Revelations and Gifts extraordinary could think of nothing more then making themselves great by the ruine [Page 5] of their betters, the afflictions of the poor and needy, the Widdows and Fatherless.
And rather then faile of their prey which had such a pleasant Haut-goust or relish cooked and palated for them by the Devil, would pretend all our Laws and good and reasonable Customs to be as bad as they were antient, and rather call their Fore-fathers fools for enacting or permitting them, then acknowledge those Excellencies, Reason, Justice and Goodness, which were every where to be found in them, as if more then six thousand years of the Worlds age already past, were not time enough to teach mankind necessary helps for its well being and preservation; or as if God having given man a reasonable Soul, endued with all those eminent faculties which he communicated unto it, had confined the right use of them to the later part, decrepit, and old age only of the world, and permitted all the experiments of the long lived Patriarches, and their succeeding Generations, and all the Rules of Prudence and Wisdom, which the former ages had observed and found to be good and useful for the sons of men, to be so bound up in the bundles of vanity, or not worth the heeding, as every Chimaera or Megrum of the less understanding▪ and more distempered part of the people should be better and more to be followed, and therefore to be taken in and receive as great an entertainment and applause as the Children of Israel did their Golden Calfe with shouts and acclamations, whilst Moses as they thought had tarried too long with God Almighty in the Mount, for his direction in the making of Laws, or as the Romans did the more to be respected, twelve Tables of Laws then those of their Mechanick and [Page 6] vulgar Judgements and reasonings which the wiser and more noble, not the illiterate and foolisher sort of their Citizens and people had learned, well considered, and brought home from Athens and other cities of Greece, as fit to be observed or imitated.
When as it might rather be remembred that God in his infinite mercy, to the works of his own hands, did so early distribute the Beams of his Right Reason and Illumination, as the days of old were not without wisdom, which being from everlasting and rejoycing afterwards in Prov. 8.31. the habitable parts of the Earth, her delights were with the sons of men.
And therefore Jeremy no Fanatique or man of an Imaginary or self conceited mistaken holiness, but inspired by God Almighty, and filled with the wisdom from above, did not tell us as many of our Novelists and Commonwealth-mongers, and the would be wise of the Rota's or Coffee-houses would make us believe that all the succesful experiments which the long lived world had approved to be right reason, were either burthensome or oppressive, and not to be any longer esteemed, or that the paths of wisdom were worne out, and not at all to be walked in, but with a thus saith the Lord, enjoyned us, as if there and no where else it were to be found to stand in the Jeremy. 6.16. ways, and see and ask for the old Paths, where is the good way, and walk therein.
But that would have been to their loss, and rather then faile of their purpose, or forsake their beloved ignorant intermedling in Government, they could never think any thing to be well, until they had made all things ill, and like Children, would have liberty to do what they list, which would do them as much good, as the [Page 7] liberties of their misusing the power of the Sword, or in medling in matters too high for them, did in these last unhappy Twenty years, and as little conduce to the publick, or their own good and safetie, as for Children to be permitted the use of Swords or Pistol [...], whereby to kill and mischief one another, or of fire to burn themselves, or set their Parents houses on fire, or as they are said to do in Gonzaguas new discovered world in the Moon, to govern their parents, cannot finde the way to obey Laws and reasonable Customs, unless their narrow Capaci [...]ies, or small Understandings may apprehend the cause of it, the reason of it must like the Lesbian rule be made to be as they why [...]sie or fancie it, and obedience to Kings or Laws, cut out to their Interest and Conveniencies.
And will not believe that they have Liberties enough unlesse like Swyne got into a Garden, they may foule and root up all that is good and beautifull in it.
And with their cries and gruntings could never be at quiet until they had trampled upon Monarchy, and the majesty and loveliness of it, digged up the Gardens of Spices, and stopped the streams of our Lebanus. And the late blessed Martir King Charles the First, was no sooner in the defence of our Magna Charta, and the Lawes and Liberties of England murdered, but they and their Partisans must frame a Commonwealth, and pretend a necessity thereof for avoiding the intollerable (as they falsely called them) burdens and oppressions of the people amongst which is ranked that great and most notorious piece of untruth, that the Carttaking for the King, impoverished many of the people, and that the Pourveyance cost the Country more in one year [Page 8] then their Assessments to the Army, which with other matters contained in that most untrue and malicious Declaration of the Parliament of England, as they then called themselves, beraing date the 17. day of March 1648. are more against truth or any mans understanding, then the tale of Garagantua's mighty mouth and stomach of eating three hundred fat Oxen at a meal, and having five or six men to throw mustard into his mouth with shovels: And as false as it was, must for an edium to the late King, and his Monarchicall Government, be translated into Latine, and sent and dispersed by their Emissaries into all the parts of the Christian world: And from thence or some of the other, I may not say causes, but incentives or delusions, the people, too many of whom were inticed or made to believe any thing though never so much against truth, reason, common sense and their own knowledge, must be taught; for they could of themselves not find any cause to complain of it, to believe that Declaration to be true, to the end that whilst they did then bear and had long before endured very great assessements and burdens they might be enabled, and be the better in breath to sustein for many years more a seaventy ▪ and sometimes a ninty, and not seldome one hundred and twenty thousand pounds monethly Taxes and Assessments, besides many other greater impoverishments and oppressions, obedience must be called a burden, every thing but ruining honest men, and destroying of Loyaltie an oppression, and every thing but vice and cheating to maintain it a grievance, for the Truths sake, therefore which every good and honest man is bound to submit unto, and de [...]end, and in vindication of his late Sacred Majesty, and [Page 9] the Laws and Honor of my Country, the too much abused England by such Tricks and Villanies, and upon no other motive, byasse, or concernment, but to make that scandal which only becomes the Father of Lyes, and the causelesness of that complaint appear in their Deformities and proper colours.
I shall by an enquiry and search for the Original and Antiquity of Royal Pourveyance, as to the furnishing of several sorts of Provision for the Kings House and Stable, at a small or lesser rate then the markets, and a praeemption for those or the like purposes used in this and most Nations of the World, bring before the Reader the Laws and Acts of Parliament in England, allowing it the Legality, Reason, Necessity, and right use of it, the small charge and burden of it, and the consequences which will inevitably follow the takeing of it away, which we hope will remove the ill opinion which some worthy men heretofore, by reason of an abuse or misusage only, and some very learned men of late misled by them, have had of it.
CHAP. I. The Antiquity of Regal Pourveyance and Praeemption, for the maintenance of the Kings Houses, Navy, Castles, & Garrisons, attended by a Jus Gentium, and reasonable Customs, of the most or better part of other Nations.
WHich being not here intended or understood to be by an invadeing of the peoples Rights and Properties in their moveables or immovables, but a receiving [Page 10] or imposing of that which publick welfare, and the contracts or respects of Subjects in general or particular have for benefits received, and to be continued, reduced into reasonable Customs, and made to be as a most ready and willing Tribute, Oblations, or Duty to their Kings and Princes, may go as high as Filial duty and Paternity, and a retribution or gratitude for the peace and plenty which their Subjects and people enjoy under their Government, Love, Honor, and Reverence for their Protection and self Preservation, publick weal and safety, and of every mans particular included in the General, and was to be found in the Genesis 43.24. & 26. morning of the world, as well as in the afternoon and evening of it; when as Joseph relieving the Egyptians necessity, which a national Famine had brought upon them, gave them Lands and Seed-Corn to sow it, that they might have food for their Housholds and little ones, and made a Law over the Land of Egypt to this day, that the King▪ should have the Fifth part (of the yearly profits) except the land of the Priests only which became not Pharaohs: And in the Reign of King David, when the Moabites 1 Sam. 25. 2 Sam. 8. being become his Subjects sent him Guifts, and Shobi the Son of Nahash and Rabbab of the Children of Ammon, and Machir the Son of Ammiel of Lodebar and Barzillai, the Gileadite of Rogelim, in his sorrowfull march against his Son Absolom, brought Beds and Basins, Earthen Vessels, Wheat and Barley, Floure, Parched Corn, Beans, Lentils Parched, Honey, Butter, Sheep and Cheese of Kyne, for David and the people; and in all or most of the Circumstances of what was lately used in England, was no stranger in the happy and famous Government of King Solomon the wisest of men 2 Sam. 1.17 whose wisdom excelled the wisdom [Page 11] of all the East Country, and all the wisdom of Egypt, for besides the Victuals and Provision which his twelve great Officers or Socage Tenants provided for him and all that came unto his Table; all the Kingdoms which he reigned over from the River (of Euphrates) unto the Land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt, and all other his Dominions 1 Reg. 4▪21, 22, 23. brought Presents unto him, and his prouision for one day, was thirty measures of fine Floure, threescore measures of meal, ten fat Oxen, Twenty Oxen out of the Pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides Harts, Roe Bucks, Fallow Deer, and fatted Fowl. And all the Earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart, and they brought every man his present, Vessels of Silver, Vessels of Gold, Garments, Armour, Spices, Horses and Mules, a rate year by year; 1 Reg. 10.24, 25. And he raised a Levy out of all Israel, and the Levy was thirty thousand men, and sent them to Lebanon, as workmen, ten Thousand a month by course, and two months at home, and Judah and Israel were many, as is the sand which is by the Sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry▪ and dwelt safely every man under his own Vine, and under his Figg Tree, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba all the days of Solomon, and as Josephus de [...]. Jud. lib. 8. Josephus saith, had Tribute Gatherers over the Syrians, who brought him Provision towards the keeping of his house & horses. Mesha King of Moab, rendred unto Ahab King of Israel, 2 Reg. 3. a Tribute of one hundred Thousand Lambs, and an hundred Thousand Rams with the wool, some of the Philistines brought Jehosophat King of Judah, Presents and Tribute Silver, and the Arabians brought him Flocks, Chron. 16. seven thousand Rams, and seven hundred Hee-goats. And in the measure and description of the Holy City, [Page 12] shewed to the Prophet Ezekiel, in the Twenty Fifth year of Jehoiakims Captivity Ezekiel 45. & 48. a portion of the City and Suburbs and Oblations were appointed for the Prince.
Which custom or right due to the Kings or Governors, was not after the long and lamentable Captivity of the Children of Israel, at their return and building of Jerusalem, either forgotten or thought fit to be laid aside, when as the Righteous Nehemiah, considering the necessities of the people, refused the bread of the Governor, Nehemiah 5.18. and that which was prepared for him daily, which was one Oxe and six thousand sheep, and also Fowls, and once in ten days, store of all sorts of wine.
Nor was that usage and way of remuneration to Superiors, confined only to the pedagoguie of the Jews, under the Severities of their Mosaical Laws, or their being so much weaned from avarice or selfishnes by their remissions in their years of Jubile their many oblations, free-will, offerings, and chargeable Sacrifices, and no less a penaltie then death ordained for not obeying their Princes or Magistrates, but was by a light of nature and emanation of right Reason, some way or other brought or carried to the Greeks, no despisers of wisdom or prudential imitations.
Agamemnon at the siege of Troy, was able to treat the chief of Hom. Iliad. the Grecian Army in his Tent, with all fitting provisions; And Eustathius the Scoliast saith that the King had, at the devision of any spoils, an extraordinary share assigned him for such entertainments.
The Spartan Kings had in all Sacrifices the Chynes and the skins for their honorary Fees (as amongst the Hebrews, the Priests had the shoulders) and in [Page 13] that popular rustick and unmanerly Commonwealth of the Boemus de moribus Gentium. Lacedemonians, their Kings even in the time of their insolent Ephori, who dominered over them, and when they lived and were maintained ex publico, out of the publick, could not be denied by the Laws of Lycurgus in egressibus, their marches or progresses, capere quaecunque pecora libuerit, to take what Cattel they pleased, Et singulis quoque Calendis, mensium singula pecora eis, è publico data fuerint. And in the Calends of every month, the people gave or presented Cattel unto them, Apollini immolanda, to sacrifice to Apollo, and when their Pythii, or those two whom the Kings did use upon occasions, to send to Delphos to consult the Oracle, were publickly to eat with them, Regibus ad Caenam non euntibus binae Chaenices, id est Semimodia Farinae & uni singulae Cotylae, (i. e.) sextarii presentibus dupla data fuerint, if the Kings, (for sometimes they had two) came not to the place appointed to eat with the Pythii, certain large proportions of meat, wine, and other Provisions were sent them, and when they did come, had a double proportion, more then the Pythii, allowed them.
The Athenians whilst they were a Republick, highly valuing, and carefully preserving their Liberties, had their Tolls and vectigalia publica, their Senators as well as their Judges having an allowance or pensions out of them and their Sitophilaces and Frumentatores or Overseers of the Corn, were able to take care of the Provision of Corn, quod in atticum emperium adveheretur, duas partes in urbem mercatores deferre cogerent, that two parts of the Corn which should be brought to Sigonius d [...] Repub. Athen. 540. & 541. Eudaeus in Pandect. 192. Athens, should be by the Merchants brought into the City.
[Page 14]By the Pattern whereof, or from the Laws of Nature and right Reason, the Romans in the greatest opinion and rufle of their Liberties, were not also without their vectigalia, quae ex importatione & exportatione rerum vaenalium capiabantur, Imposts for the import and export of things to be sold, and besides the App [...]an. l. 1. decumamanum frumenti, thei [...] Tenth or Tithes of the Husband-mens Corne, which was delivered unto them, the Magistrates had sine pretio, freely and without recompence their emptum, or that which was bought for a certain sum of money, or at a rate Rasinus de antiquitate Rom. 993. quam Aratores vendere accepto ex S. Ct•. pretio cogebantur quod frumentum Romam ad alendum populum a magistratibus Romanis mittebatur, which the Farmers being compelled by the Law or order of the Senate to take a certain price for, was sent by the Magistrates to Rome, to feed or nourish the people, Pancirollus Comment in notitiam imperii occidentis, ca. 5. Tenebantur Campani, Samnites, Lucani, B [...]utii & Tusci, aliqui unam & semis, alii, duas decimas pecorum quas alebant populo Romano exhibere, the Campanians, Samnites, Lucani, Brutians, and the people of Tuscany, were bound yearly to send to Rome, some one and a half, others two Tenths of their Cattle, which they bred pro Annona for their provision, and had also that which was called Rosinus de Antiqu [...]tat. Rom ca. 14.24. & lib. 10. c. 22. Estimatū quia estimaba [...] magistratus & in cell [...] ̄ suā in usū familiae suae asportabatur, because that according to the Magistrates rate, it was brought into their Houses o [...] Granaries▪ & interdū prò frumēt [...] pecuniā acciperent, & was sometimes released or discharged for money, did usually impress workmen and many things necessary to the building of Forts or Castles, or other uses in their Military & Publick affairs, their Consuls had at their coming into their Provinces, honoraria, or Presents [Page 15] Honoris loco in respect and honor done unto them, and did at their coming into a Province▪ as L. Posthumus Albinus the Consul did, litteras mittere ut sibi magistratus obviam exirent locum publice pararent in quo diverterentur jumentaquè cum exirent, inde praesto essent, send their Mandate or Letters to the Magistrate, requiring him to meet them, and provide a Lodging and Carriages to be ready when he should depart. And besides other Tributes, imposed upon Countries Annotations upon Tacitus. subdued, had a portion in Corn, commonly the Tenth part, bebesides other necessaries for the Provision of the Lieutenant and Soldiers maintained there, and for other like purposes at a reasonable price. Julius Caesar being Consul with Tibullus, anno urbis conditae 691. made a Law that when any Magistrates of Rome, passed by any Province, the people should furnish them with Hay and Victuals. L. Julia de Magistratibus. Et Angariarum & Parangariarum praestatio inter Vectigalia quae Regalia dicuntur annumeratur quia ea Regis aut Imperatoris jura propria sunt cum olim eo nomine significarentur munera onerum vehendorum provincialibus imposita, and Cart-taking or pressing of ships, carts and horses, were under the names of Angaria and Parangaria, not infrequently taken to be Regalities and Rights due to Emperors, Kings or Princes, who had their Annonarii & praefecti Annonae, Surveyors or Pourveyors of Corn, and in times of dearth did cause it to be given to the people without money. Cod. tit. de cursu publico Ant. Thisius de celebero Rep [...]b. Jus quo (que) Angariarum & Parangariarum supremus habet magistratus quo jure necessitas incumbit equos plaustra naves prestandi, the power of pressing horses, carts or ships belongeth to the Supream Magistrate, and there is by Law, a necessity of furnishing them.
[Page 16]In the time of Trajan the Emperor, who for his goodness and excellent Government was called herba parietaria, the wall Flower, and deliciae hominum, the delight of his people, presides provinciarum evectiones dabant, did licence or did give warrant for the taking of carts and horses, and then and afterwards, Tributa & species ex Provinciis exactae ad aulam principis in Rhedis & Jumentis cursus publici transferebantur, the Tributes and Provisions gathered in the Provinces, were by Carriages and the Horses of the publick, carried to the Palace of the Prince, or to his Army, insomuch as si immunitas aliquibus concedatur neque ab Annona, neque ab Angariis, neque veredo excusari possunt nullusque ab hoc onere nec Ecclesia excusabatur Pancirol. in no [...]itiā utrius (que) Imperii ca. 6. in the Grants of exemptions or immunities, Pourveyance and Cart-taking were not to be included, for that none, nor the Church it self were to be excused from such duties, whence ships as Vlpian saith came to be arrested by Princes, and imployed for publick use, and Simon of Cirene was made to carry the Cross of our Blessed Saviour, Maranta speculum aureum parte 6. de executione sententiae. Judex pro Justicia exequenda capere potest Asinum vel Equum, vel currum a subdito ut cum eo ducatur malefactor ad supplicium, a Judge in order to Justice, and to carry a malefactor to execution, may command a mans horse, asse, or cart to be taken, and likewise, officialis pro servicio publico potest capere jumentum alienum pro mittendis victualibus in exercitum, vel pro servicio Bart. in l. jubemus u [...] nullam navem 1 [...] in princip. Regis vel Baronis, aut facere mandatum de persona, & semper debet dari salarium angariato constitutum, an Officer may for the service of the publick imprest, another mans horse, and himself also, to carry victuals to the Army, or for the service of the King, or a Baron, giving the [Page 17] Salary or rate allowed, the Presides or Governors of Provinces Novel. Majoran. tit. 1. de Curialibus. euntes ad aliquam civitatem unam tantum angariam & duos paranedos & totidem officium petere possunt, in their Journey to any city or town, might imprest one Carriage and two Palfreys.
Et ita invaluerunt istae consuetudines, and so strong such or the like customs came to be, as the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinianus did in their Rescripts order that Cujat. tit. 48. ad librum 10. Cod. Justinian. 1429. ubi iter arripimus omnes debeant solita ministeria exhiberi & neminem ab Angariis Parangariis vel plaustris, vel quolibet munere exc [...]sari, when they were to make any expedition or progress, every man should in all Provinces or places, through which they should pass, perform their accustomed duties, & that no man should be excused from furnishing of Carts or from other payments or services. And did upon some complaints, that messengers sent into the Provinces, to carry tydings of Victories, Leagues or publique Joyes, did take too much for the Pourveyance, or si sacros vultus inhiantibus forte populis inferimus, when the Emperors should themselves bless the people with their presence in their Progress, did ordain Cujacius Commentar & Expositio Novel. tit. 63. ne quid accipiant immodicum ▪ that they should not be unreasonable or immoderate in it. And the Emperor Leo did ordain that no man should deny his Service in murorum extructione seu comparatione frumenti aliarumque specierum, for the building of walls, providing of Corn and other Provisions.
Upon a remission of some Tribute by the Emperor Valentinianus to Numidia, & both the Mauritania's quatuor millia aureorum & ducentas tantum solverent, & ducentas militares Annonas & 800. capita id est equorum pabula [Page 18] singulasque Annonas solidis quatuor per annum jussit aestimari, they were ordered to pay but yearly Four thousand and two hundred Crowns, Twelve hundred measures of Military Corn or Provisions, and Fodder or Provision for eight hundred horses, every one of those Annonae or quantities being ordered to be rated at four shillings Pancirollus Comment. in notiti [...]m Imperii occidentis c. 65. Justinianus tanti sed solidis quinis singulas Annonas compensari mandat, and Justinian ordering the same proportions, did command five shillings to be paid for every of those Annona's or quantities.
In that ancient custom of Posts or speedy Messengers instituted by Zenopbon. lib. 8. Paidiae. Cyrus amongst the Persians, and brough [...] into use amongst the Romans by Augustus Caesar before the coming of Christ, provincialium paecunia equi cum hominibus ad currendum destinatis alerentur, the Country or Provinces did bear the charges of men and horses, Pancirollus in [...]otitia Imperii orientis. quod Severus Imperator postea abolevit id fisci onus esse jubens, which Severus the Emperor afterwards took away and put that charge upon himself, as Princes do sometimes in other matters upon some necessity or reasons of State, but not for any evil in the thing it it self no more being signified thereby then the remission of some Subsidies in England: after they were Granted to Queen Elizabeth, can declare them to be evill or inconvenient, for it seems by Spartianus, it was Spartianus cap. 6. in Seve [...]o. only done in regard that he desired se commendare hominibus, to get an applause of the people, stabula tamen in quibus equi a [...]ebantur provincialium sumptibus reficiebantur. but the Stables notwithstanding in which the horses were kept, were to be Repaired by the people. The Terciocerius an Officer so called, did look to the Bastages or publick Carriages, Et res [Page 19] transvehendas & transvectas ut frumentum Constantinopolim devehendi, did order or send out Warrants for Carriages for the Emperors Journeys, or to carry Corn for the publick to Constantinople, Et in diversis orientis Regionibus erant corpora se [...] collegia na [...]tarum quorum quique per vices onera publica ferre cogebantur propter quod incommodum a muneribus civilibus immunes erant & à Tributis liberi & quandoque ad mercedulam Philici nomine accipiebant Pancirollus Comment. in notitiam Imperii orient. 86. And in diverse parts of the East there were certain Corporations or Societies of Men, of which every one by Turns were compelled to those publick Carriages, in consideration whereof they were freed from the bearing of all Offices in the Common-wealth, and from Tributes, sometimes receiving a small reward, called Philichus▪ in mediterraneis quoque jumenta & plaustra habentes eidem oneri erant obnoxii quae Angaria vocatur; And in the Mediterranean they which had Carts and Horses were subject to the like duties.
The Wisigothes had their erogatores Annonae per singulas civitates & castella, LL. Wisigoth▪ lib. 9. tit. 6. their Stewards for all provisions in all Cities and Castles. And Theodoricus King of the Gothes, though so great an enemy to the Civil Law, and the Laws of other Nations, as he forbad the use of them with a nolumus sive Romanis legibus, sive alienis, LL. Wisigoth lib. 2. tit. 9. institutionibus amodò amplius convexari, and would (as our Pride the Drayman, and Hewson the Cobler, and many of our Committee men wereof late troubled with reason and our English Laws) be no more vexed with them, could give notwithstanding such an entertainment to the right reason of them concerning Pourveyances, as when he enjoyned a care in distributing [Page 20] the Annonae or military provisions, he could say additum est etiam beneficii genus ut in presenti devotione praeceptis Regis, Cassiodorus variarum l. 12. nec divina domus (the Kings house in the respectfull language of those times) videatur excepta sed totum communiter sustineatur, and would have that benefit extended to his own House, that it might also be susteined by it.
And had them so much at his command as he appointed Annona [...] praebendas infirmo venienti ad locum pro recuperanda sanitate, Ibidem. lib. 11. provision to be made for one that was for his health removed to a better aire.
Those Annonae being not only confined to corn, but comprehending omnia alimentorum genera, Leg. Jul. de Annon. Cujacius Paratitl. in lib. Cod. Justiniani all manner of yearly provisions for victuals, quae praediorum Provincialium Domini conductoresque tuendi exercitus causa quotannis praebebant, C. de Annon. & Tribut. veg [...]tius which the Provinces subject to the Roman Empire yearly paid towards the support of the Army,Lib. 1. tit. de Annon. & Tribut. Et solebant preberi in speciebus ipsis verum constitutione (postea rediguntur ad praetia definita in delegationibus quae eo nomine singulis officiis dantur;) and were usually paid in kind, but were afterwards reduced to certain prices by Officers appointed to that purpose, qua Annonae eis debitae taxantur & capita, aut praetia ecrum quae sumunt ex tributis illius, Cujacius in lib. 1 Cod. Just [...]niani 52. vel illius provinciae, vel ex publicis Horreis, by whom the Provisions of the Provinces, or that which were taken out of the publique Barns or Granaries were duly rated, Et quae militaribus palatinisque officiis ex eorum qui possessiones tenebant collatione erogabantur, and gathered by the Emperors Officers, which Doctor Ridley in his view of the Civil and Ecclesiasticall Law extends to all things necessary for the Princes House and Family.Ridleys view of the Civil and Ecclesiasticall Lawes.
[Page 21]In the time of Charlemaigne, or Charles the Great, who subdued the Gothes, and other Northern and unruly Nations, infesting the Roman Empire, Tractatoria Legatorum, the Treatments or entertainment of Messengers, by a custome borrowed from the Romans, for such as were by the Kings Letters or Warrants sent to, or by the Emperor, were usual, and they might make use of horses, adscriptis etiam bonis & mansionibus quibus sumptu publico ali deberent, Cod. Th. & Justinian. lib. 12. & Cuja [...]ius. and had houses and lodgings assigned, where out of the publick, provisions should be made for them, and quid unicuique in itinere commeatus praestare deberet variè pro dignitate et qualitate personarum plus Episcopo quem rex mittebat Abati, Bignonius Not. in lib. 1. Marculfi 465. e [...] Comiti non tantum minùs autem vasallo decernebatur, which were to be according to the dignity or quality of the persons sent, as more to a Bishop, less to an Abbot or Earl, less then that to a more inferour, et a subditis et provincialibus suppeditarenur ▪ Capitl. lib. 4. cap. 72. & were furnished by the Subjects and People of the Countries, and it was a great favour for some Religious Houses and for Bishops and Churchmen to be exempted from it, Et per singula territoria discurrentes mansionaticos et paravedos accipiunt, and all places where they came were to have some entertainments; tunc namque solebant subditi hospitio non modo recipere missos et legatos Principis, Comites, Duces, et eorum ministros verum et viaticum eis pro unius cujusque dignitate praestare, for then the Subjects were not only to receive the Kings or Princes Messengers or Earls,Bi [...]n [...]nius Not. in Marcul [...]um. or Dukes and their Attendants imployed in their Affairs, but to give them entertainment according to their dignities; and it was so especially ordained, as de missis nostris discurrentibus saith, [Page 22] an express Law of that good and virtuous as well as great Emperor, vel ceteris propter utilitatem nostram iter agentibus ut nullus mansionem contradicere eis presumat, Capitl. Ca [...]. M. lib. 3. c. 1.39· no man was to deny any employed upon his service entertainment in his house, regis quoque recipiendi idem onus provincialibus incumbebat ejusque rei cura ad mansionarium; and the King was in his Progress or travelling, to have the like, and the care thereof belonged to an Officer called Mansionarius, or Mansionum Marescallum the Marshall, or as we now call it, the Harbenger,Hinckmarus Ep. 3. c. 23. to whom saith Hinckmarus out of Adalhardus, it belonged, ut in hoc maxime sollicitudo ejus intenta esset ut susceptores quo tempore ad eos illo in loco Rex venturus [...]sset propter mansionum preparationem ut opportuno tempore prescire potuissent nè aut tardè scientes propter afflictionem familie importuno tempore peccatum, aut isti propter non condignam susceptionem, to take great care that those who were to receive the King when he should come, might have such timely notice, as for want thereof the Family might not be put to the greater trouble, or punished for not worthily entertaining him; And the old French whom Franciscus Hott [...]mannus would make to be the freest of all Nations,Hottoman Franco Gali [...]a. were so used to those paratas or pastùs, making provisions for their Kings,Bignonius Not. in 1. lib. Marculsi 447. & 448. as they did make livrees (a term now used in France for provisions or meats, which in specie were daily provided for the Kings house.)
Et olim magistris hospitiijus Annonae quae in Comitatum Regium importabatur per praeconem statuendi praetium eosque poenis gravioribus mulctandi, Vincentius Lupa [...]us de Magistrat. Franciae lib. 1. qui societatem coiissent ut Annona Carior esset; and therefore the Stewards or great Officers of the Kings Houshold did heretofore [Page 23] appoint the rates of provision for the Kings house, publickly proclaim it, and punish such as did confederate to raise the prices or make them dearer, Et non hospicium modo Regi aliisque ab eo missis dabatur verum & parabantur alimenta, not lodging or house-room only, but food and provisions were to be provided for the King, or such as he should employ upon his occasions.
Nor was it unusual amongst the antient Germans, who totam spirantes libertatem, though they were loath to come behind any Nations of the world in freedome, ex omnibus quae terra producere solet usui necessariis exceptis vix bubus & semmibus ad excolendam terram idoneis de ceteris quantum necesse fuerit militi profuturis ad regios usus suppeditare aequum illi arbitrentur, Otho Frifinge [...]siis de gistis Friderici lib. 2. ca· 12. of all which the earth produced, and was necessary for use, except Oxen and seed to sow the ground withall, and might supply the Army, to furnish some part for the use of the King.
In Franconia, that great part or Circle of the German Empire which is washed with the Rhine, non antea Vindemiare cuiquam concessum quam domini quibus decimae debentur permiserunt, Botmus de mo [...]ibus Gentium. & suis expensis▪ decimam in domini Torcular inferre debent, no man was to gather and press his grapes without the Lords licence, and every man was at his own charge to bring the tenth part thereof to their Lords.
By the Laws of t [...]e Ripuarians or Borderers upon the Rhine, LL Ripuar. a penalty of 60 shillings was to be imposed upon him qui Legatarium Regis, vel ad Regem, seu in utilitatem Regis pergentem hospitio contempserit, who should refuse to lodge any Embassadour of the Kings, or sent unto him.
[Page 24] LL. Lombard. 3. tit. 2 Imperator Carotas.And amongst the Lombards such a care there was to be in every man of all the Kings concerns, as nemopresumat ad Regem venienti mansionem vetare & quae necessaria sunt sicut vicino suo ei vendat, no man was to deny any of the Kings Lieges, lodging in his journey to the King, but was to sell him things necessary as cheap as to his Neighbour.
In Poland which is an Elective Kingdome, and where the people take no small care of their Liberties and Priviledges, the Agrestes and Ascriptitii, Socage Tenants and Husbandmen, besides their Rents paid to the King in money,Martinus Cremerus de Regn [...] Poloniae. Pensitant Pecuarias, Frumentarias, Avenarias & aliarum rerum pensiones, nec Agricolae, sed et oppidani quin et equites, sive milites non penitùs immunes sunt, doe provide, Cattle, Corn, Oates and other provisions, and not only the Husbandmen, but the Burgers: neither are the Knights or Gentry altogether free from it, Jumenta autem ei quacunque iter facit, et canes cum venatoribus ejus alere necesse habent, but doe furnish horses and carriages and provisions for his Hounds and Hunters.Boemus de moribus G [...]ntium. And the Kingdome being divided into four parts, Rex in orbem quotannis invisit, the King every year visiteth them in his Progress, è quorum singulae ternis mensibus alunt Regem Regumque Comitatum, and every Province for the space of three moneths doe furnish him and his Court with provisions of victuals.
Mosconiae T [...]pograph.The dull and frozen Muscovite or Russian denies not his Prince his labour when he calls for it, or a part ex ferarum exuviis, of the surres which he getteth.
The Tartars as fierce and unruly as they are, and a nasty People nearly related to beasts, who live in Tents all the Summer, and remove from place to place [Page 25] with their Cousins the Cattle,Thu [...]us. lib. 69. and in their Cottages or ugly Houses daubed with their Cattles dung all the Winter, drink Mares milk, and eat Horse-flesh, carrion, and garbage, bestowing many times no more Cookery upon it then what [...]he wind and sun affords them, do willingly furnish their Prince or great Chan with horses and all kind of houshold provisions as well in time of Peace as Warre.
The Laplanders and Samoites bordering upon the Dane and Russe, when they hold their Mart at Cola upon St. Peters day, cannot keep it, unless the Captain of the Wardhuyss, that is Resiant there for the King of Denmark be present,Fletchers History of Russia. or send his Deputy to set prices upon their Stock-fish, Train-oyl, Furres, and other Commodities, as also the Emperour of Russia's Customer or Tribute Taker, to receive his Custome, which is ever paid before any thing can be bought or sold.
At Naples a Tribute is yearly paid pro singulis focis pro hospitiis praesidiariorum, S [...]gethus de Principatibus Italiae. & nobilium quorundam qui Proregem comitantur, by every house towards the charge and provision of the Presidents and Nobles which attend the Vice-Roy, and every two years great Donations are presented from the Churches.
The Grand Duke of Florence or Tuscany, vectigal quod ipsi darium vocant pro animalibus quae Florentiam ducuntur percipit, hath a Tribute which they call there Dairo, for all Cattle which are brought to Florence.
In Hungarie, Leges Hungariae 537. Decret. P [...]ssonien. Anno 1 [...]66. A [...]tic. 14. & Decret. Posonien An. 1600. Artic. 13▪ which hath been in this and the foregoing Century or Age an Elective Kingdome in the House of Austria, the Coloni, Fa [...]mers, or Husbandmen and common-People are obliged ad gratuitas operas & labores sex dierum, to work six dayes for nothing [Page 26] in the fortifying of Castles and Garrisons; & anno 1600. propter penuriam Annonae: & defectum jumentorum, by the scarcity of victuals and defect of Horses and Cattel for Carriages, the States of Hungary not being able to promise certam vecturam victualium ▪ what victuals they could carry and provide, did hope, if God send them more plenty, quod non de [...]runt regnicolae qui praetio quantum fieri potuit victualia convehent, that the Inhabitants of the Kingdome would take care that victuals may be provided and carried as cheap as may be.
Messenius de Legibus Suecorum Gothorum, lib. 2.53.The Swedes who do boast themselves to be the remaining parts of the Ostrogothes, & are an Elective Kingdome, are omnia tributa & census Regidebita vehere & transferre juxta Regis voluntatem, to carry and bring to the King his Tributes and Rents (which are there much in provision) or where else he shall please to dispose of them.
And by that grand guide of Reason, the Civil Law, which in all the Kingdomes and Provinces of the Christian World is the Cynosura or Pole-starre, by which for the most part their Governments are steered and directed. That custome of Pourveyance for the Princes private as well as publick use was ever so inseparable and usual, and so little scrupled at or complained of, as it grew to be as universal as it was antient, and in the later time, and old age of the Civil Law, as well as the morning, youth and age of it, to be justly accompted to be principis privilegium & gloriosae militiae currus et naves accipere subditorum pro vehendo res de loco ad locum si sibi necessarium fuerit tam pro casu suo▪ Julius Fe [...]re [...]us de re & disciplina militari 137. Sect. 155. & 157. quam probello, a Priviledge and Right due to Princes and the publick welfare, to imprest and take [Page 27] Ships and Carts of their Subjects when there shall be need, as well for their own use and occasions as in times of warre, Et si naves & plaustra tempore exercitus occultentur poterunt confiscari de j [...]re, Alber de Rosa in l. jubennis c. de sacrosanct. Ecclesia. & talem confiscationem esse legitimam, saith Ferettus, who wrote no longer agoe then in the Reign of the Emperour Charles the Fifth and our King Henry the Eighth,Ferettus de disciplina militari 137. cum agatur de honore & commodo universali ac de principis Imperi [...], and if Ships and carriages or carts should be hid whereby they might not be taken for the use of the Army, they were by Law to be confiscate; and such a confiscation is lawfull when the publick honor and profit are concerned, or they are seized by the Princes order. And Ulpian saith ad onus fructuarii pertinet si quod ob transitum exercitus penditur, & si quid m [...]nicipio nam solent possessores certam partem fructuum municipio vili [...]r [...] pre [...]io addicere, et ad fructuarium haec onera pertinebant, it belongeth to the Tenant or Farmer, if the Army pass that way, to pay contribution, and also to a Garrison for the Tenants, and did use to send in a certain part of provisions at cheaper rates then ordinary.Ulpian in l. Si pendentes. L. 3. de muneribus patrimon. lib. 10. c. l. 3. And in oneribus patrimoniorum etiam hospit [...]m susceptio ponenda est, the lodgings and free-quarter of persons imployed for the use of the publick were likewise to be born plerumque enim militibus supervenientibus, L. 3. sect. in eos mil [...]es D. de muneribus. vel publicis personis ea iter facientibus hospitia in civitatibus praebere oportuit; and commonly if any Souldiers or publick persons travailed that way, they were to have lodgings & free-quarter in Cities, Et ab his oneribus quae patrimoniis, vel possessionibus indicuntur, neque numero liberorum, neque ullo alio privilegio quem excusari, and from which publick charges which are laid upon mens Patrimonies or Estates, no man was to be [Page 28] excused by having many children, or by any other priviledge; Ab hoc tamen hospitiis recipiendi munere militibus veteranis medicis Philosophis vacatio immunitasque principum constitutionibus indulta est, from which notwithstanding old Souldiers, Physitians and Philosophers or (poor Scholars) were only so favoured by the Prince as to be exempted.
In Spain, a Kingdom very fruitfull in Taxes, and never or seldom parting with any that have been once raised or charged upon the people, witness their Cruzado's for the holy warre, and Assessments for the expelling of the Moors: there is a Consilium or Tribunal which hath cognizance, and judgeth de Annona concerning corn and other provisions: And the King continueth to this day (which might spare contribution towards the maintenance of his house) a decimam omnium vaenalium, Mariana de redditibus Hispaniae. tenth of all sorts of things which are sold, imposed by King John ob belli subsidium, upon occasion of a warr in Anno 1366.
Mariana, ibid.In Portugal the King hath his publick Tolls and Alfandega's ex quibuscunque vaenalibus out of all victuals and commodities, of some a tenth, some a fifth, and of others some other part.
The Commonwealth of Venice so mingled, and as well as may be composed of an Aristocratie, Democratie, and a small part of Monarchy, and with such a harmony and content of her Citizens as the Doge or Duke Senate and Magistrates (rather then the common people) are by many worthy Authors and Writers reported to enjoy a most clear and satisfying liberty, have their Proveditori All-sale, who rent the Salt-pits, and take care that the City be served at reasonable rates, [Page 29] their Signori della Grascia, who do supervise Cheese, Bacon and salt things, Signori del vino, Johannes Co [...]onicus Syno [...]fis de Repub. Ven [...]t. who look to the condition and rates of all kind of wines, and a sort of Aediles called delle ragion vecchie whose office it is to entertain forraign Ambassadors or Princes,Ja. Howells Survey of the City of Venice & Contarenus de Repub. Venet. and to defray their charges at the publick expence of St. Mark; and their Signori delle bia [...]i who are to take order that the City be well provided with a sufficient proportion of wheat and other grain. And their Duke having speciem regiam, non potestatem, the shew of a King only, but little of the power, and qui aulam non alit ut liberi principes, sed congruam solam familiam, Contarenus de Repub. Venet. though he keeps not a Court as free Princes doe, but only a private Family, hath ex publico aerario, a yearly Salary, and the greater because every year he is to feast the Principal of the Senate, and nè ullus praeteritus videatur veteri instituto ac lege constitutum est, to the end that none may seem neglected, by an antient Law and Custom, is to send every winter five wild Ducks to every Citizen that hath voice in the great Council.
The States of the United Provinces in the Netherlands, who are well contented to call themselves Hooge Mogende and Groot Mogende great and high and mighty Lords, & like a Corporation of Kings govern the people by a false perswasion of liberties, under more burdens and Taxes then they ever endured under their Earles of Holland and Friesland, and their German and Spanish Monarchs, can in their Low-country and levelling humour, and the ill measure which they take of reverence to their betters, afford the Prince of Orange and his Court and Houshold, which is not small, a freedom from Excise, upon the buying of all provisions for [Page 30] his house, which after the rate of its griping would goe a great part of the way to as much as what the King of England saves by his Pourveyances, and the like to the Queen of Bohemia her Retinue and Court when she was resident amongst them, Embassadours of forraign Princes, the English Company of merchants of the Staple, their Armies & common Souldiers when they are [...]n the field or a Leaguer for all their victuals and such like provisions, their ships and men of warre at sea, and to the University of Leyden for their Wine and Beer.
The States Generall having great and fitting stipends from their several Provinc [...]s, whom they represent in an Assembly or standing Counsel at the Hague, and the Deputies of every Province sent to the Hague, when their Comitia, or as it were, Parliaments are there assembled have each of them four Florens, or our eight shillings a day allowed them, the Princes of Orange, besides their great places of Captain General by Sea and by Land, which yielded them great profits as well as power, had 1000 pounds sterling a moneth stipend, e [...] cum in castris agebant, et in ipsa erat expeditione when they were in the Leagure or any service of warre had for a present given them,Philippus Caesius a Zesen de Leone Belgi [...]o 186. & 226. forty thousand Florens being almost four thousand pounds sterling for a Present or Honorary, magnaque pecuniae vis qu [...] centum millia persaepe excedeba [...] in eundem conferebatur, and a great sum of money, over and above which many times was more then one hundred thousand Florens, or ten thousand pounds sterling for Spies, Intelligence, and other necessaries without any accompt to be given for it: which stipends of the Prince of Orange, and the States of Holland, or the Duke of Venice, including their charges of [Page 31] Diet, Servants and Retinue, and all other necessaries belonging to the honor of their imployments, being paid in money, or raised by Taxes or Excise out of the people, have no other difference with the Pourveyance or Royall provision for Kings or Princes, but that the stipends are in money, and a gross summe large enough to take in all occasions and necessaries, and most commonly more then needs. And as to that particular, being a great deal more then the Pourveyance or compositions for it would amount unto, many times falls more heavy upon the people in the lump then it doth or could in a Pourveyance by distribution of it into small parts; for that Commonwealths and those Free States or Combinations of governing and taxing are never no loosers by making finding or taking advantage of necessities, or catching opportunities of burdening the people, and getting such overplus as may either help to enrich their Treasuries, and furnish out their magnificence in publick, or too often their private and particulars, wherein our cunning Church-wardens and Epitomes of Free States in their Parishes and the Grandees of some of our Cities and Corporations are very well instructed.
In the German Empire now much lessened in its antient rights and pre [...]ogative by granting them away to several Princes Hanse Towns and Imperial Cities, by indulgences, necessity of State affairs, or want of money, the Angariae and Parangariae, duties of furnishing horses and carts upon any publick necessity, are not denied to the Emperor, and upon occasions of warre extraordinariae collationes prastantur que Fodron appellantur, Vulteius num. 7. Otto Or [...] gensis de jure publico Imperii Romani. et ea appellatione non solum pabulum equorum quod Futter vocatur, set et frumentum hordeum aliaeque res ad [Page 32] Imperatoris exercitum victui, extraordinary provisions called Foder are furnished, which in the German or high Dutch signifieth not only horse meat, but corn, barley, & other food for the Emperors Army, Et aliorum sententia verior esse videtur qui dicunt extraordinariam collationem, quae pro Imperatoris Utilitate, et necessitate indicitur supra ordinarias et statas indictiones census et tributa. And the better opinion is▪ that Pourveyance or Provisions may be taken for the necessary occasions of the Emperor over and above his Tributes, or what is paid unto him. And as that excellently learned D. Weymondus now deceased Chancellor to the Prince Elector of Brandenburgh, was pleased to inform me at his late being here together with Prince Maurice of Nassau, Embassadors from that Prince Elector prae-emption, and a power of ordering moderate rates and prices in the Markets is passim in tota Germania, now in use in all Germany as well by the Emperor as the Electors, and many other lesser Princes.
And if the French who have yet their Terms des droits de Bordage of provisions which Tenants were obliged to furnish for the Kings Houshold, and their grand Provost de l' hostel Lord Steward of the Kings house, met priz et taxe a pain vin viandes foin et avoine, had in the year 1654▪ power to rate the prices of wine, victuals, hay, provender, and all things appertaining to the provision of the Kings House.
And were wont to be very wary in parting with Regalities, have by any ill advice turned away the honour of hospitality, and that magnificence and good which ariseth thereby to their Kings and Princes, and put their Court to board-wages, which falling short, or coming [Page 33] to be ill paid or long forborn will but starve the Houseshold, and so keen the appetite and projects of the Court when they shall be every day pursued by their own necessities, and put in mind to make what shift they can for themselves, as that Nation which is already over-spread with Taxes as with a Garment, may in due time, if they doe it not already, easily acknowledge the difference betwixt this Kingdome and its just Laws and Liberties, and the present mode or fashion of that which by departing from their antient and better Laws and Constitutions▪ is now for the most part cut into Tallages and Commands in warre, Titles and Outsides of honor, and Offices granted not to the deserver, but the best Chapman, and betwixt making Pourveyance for the Kings Houshold, and necessaries to support his Regalities, and paying as many kinds of Gabels and Impositions instead of it, as there be weeks in the year, and the rich and plentifull living of our English Yeomen, Francklins and Farmers, and their Paysants whose hardship and beggerly way of living makes them to be but as Slaves to their Gentry and Nobility. And the dependencie of the Noblesse, or the Nobility and Gentry upon the King for charges and places, making them so little able to want or be without their Trade of warre, as if there be no forreign warres, they doe commonly make it out in rebellions and combustions amongst themselves, which bringing a large addition to the ordinary burdens of the Paisants or Countrymen, renders them ever unable to purchase themselves some freedome or exemption of Taxes, by getting themselves to be made Gentlemen, and taking share in the fortune and ravage of warre; and that being [Page 34] not to be compassed, are to live as well contented as they may in being their drudges, and to take it for a happiness to make some of their children to be their Lacquies or Jack Puddings, very fine for a little time of every year, when their fantasticall Apish clothes are new▪ but in rags, foul and lowsie linnen, and vices, all the year after.
And that the custome and usage of Pourveyance, and the smaller trouble & charge thereof, will be much better which being by the light of nature & irradiations of wisdom and right reason, not only confined to the Jews, Graecians, Romans and Europe, hath diffused and spread it self to the Mahumetans, and the more remote Heathen, as may appear by good Authors and Writers of their Customes and usages, and by our Ambassadours sent from hence in the behalf of our Merchants as the learned and greatly experienced Sir Thomas Roe, besides many Sea Captains, Navigators and Traders into the farther parts of the World, as Captain Hawkins ▪ Sir John Davis, Mr. Methwold, Captain Saris, Captain Whittington, Mr. Courtop, Mr. Peyton and others, and of some French and Venetians trading into the East and West Indies, Tartary, and other farre distant places, whose written relations in their adventurous discoveries of most of the habitable parts of the earth, and search after Trade and Commerce, were very carefully collected by Mr. Samuel Purchas
For in that great extent of Kingdoms and Provinces belonging to the Grand Signior or Emperor of Turkie, there comes yearly to the Ottoman Port from Egypt great store of of Dates, Prunes and other dried plums of divers sorts, which the Cooks doe use in their dressing [Page 35] of meat, great quantities of honey from Valachia, Transilvania and Moldavia, which are presented to the Grand Signior, and oyl (of which there is an unspeakable consumption made) brought from Modon and Coron in Graecia, the Saniack Begh of that Province, being bound to see the Port sufficiently served therewith. The Butter (of which there is also spent a great quantity in that it is much used in most of their meats) comes out of the Black sea from Mogdania, and from Caffa in great Oxe and Buffale hides, and fruits of all sorts are daily brought for Presents.
In the great Empire of Persia there are urbes complures alimenta donantes, una panem, altera ova, Brissonius de regno Persiae, lib. 1. alia obsonia suppeditant, many Cities which have several assignations for furnishing provisions for the King and his publick uses, and the Subjects do over & above other great Tributes, pay other things towards the maintenance of the King, as those of Armenia, Horses, Babilonia, four moneths victuals, the rest of Asia eight, and other Regions their particular commodities, and some of his Guard receive no money but victuals for their wages.
The antient more Eastern or Cathaian Tartars doe daily from October to March send unto their great Chan great store of cattel. And on his Birth-day great Presents; and it is the custom of those which bring Presents unto him at New-years tide (which the Rulers and Governors of Provinces never fail to do;) or at other times of the year to present nine times nine of gold and horses, and of all that they bring, so as sometimes he hath at once one hundred thousand horses; and when he hath any use of his Dukes, whom they call Morscis or Divoimorscis, they are bound to come & bring with them their [Page 36] Souldiers to a certain number, every man with his two horses at the least, the one to ride on, and the other to kill when it cometh to his turn to have his horse eaten. And the Governors of Countries and Provinces doe send the best of the wild beasts, which the Hunters take as Stags, Boares, &c. unto the Emperor in Wains or Ships many daies journey, and if farre distant, the skins only to make armour.
In China, and the vast Provinces thereunto belonging, where they think they have a Monopoly of wit and bragging of their two eyes, would not willingly allow the Europeans any more then one, every house not priviledged, payes a Tribute towards the expences of the Kings Houshold, and the great numbers of the Royall Line, which (in a Country where Polygamy is allowed, are many thousands,) are all maintained at the publick charge, every man payes a Tribute for his person, lands and trees, and all that he hath: Every Province yearly sends its Legates or Deputies; and all his kindred bring Presents unto him, in so much as ten thousand Vessels in a year are imployed by water to carry Tributes and provision for the Kings Houshold, and all dainties and things of worth or value presented to him for the service of him and his house.
The greatest part of the King of Fez his Tribute is paid in corn, cattel, oyl and butter.
In Guinea the King hath a Custome of fish which is sent by his Slaves every morning to his house. And the Prete or Emperor of Ethiopia hath of that King besides gold an yearly Tribute of three thousand five hundred M [...]les, and three hundred Horses.
And it is a custom in the East-Indies near the Portugals [Page 37] Dominions, that when any Vice-Roy cometh newly over all the Kings bordering upon Goa which have peace and friendship with the Portugals, do send their Embassadors unto him to confirm their Leagues with great and rich Presents, which do amount unto a great mass of treasure.
In the Province of Goa, as appears by the confirmation of their Customs by Tractat. Don Duarte de Meneses. John King of Portugal in the year 1526. and that which is now continued and in use amongst them under the government of the Portuguez, at what time soever the chief Master of the Ports with the Clerks or Clerk of his charge together, or any one of himself shall goe to the Island about matters concerning the Kings affairs, or any one whom they shall send to the Island, or to the Towns of the same, they are to give them their meat according to their use and custome: and also to the Kings Factor or Officer of that Office, when they shall goe thither to provide in any matters concerning the Kings Affairs; or the Towns of the Island, and whatsoever footman shall go of any message pertaining to the Kings service, or the recovery of any of his Rents they shall give him every day, that he shall be there without dispatching two measures of Rice for his meat, or one Leal (a piece of money of the value of our three farthings) to buy Betre, which is an herb that they do use to eat, and out of their Trade or Customes do pay one per cent. for provision of Fortresses.
In the Kingdom of Barnagasso the King hath besides Silks and Cloth of Gold, and other precious things for Tribute, Horses, and payeth himself 150. Horses to Pretious, or Prete John Emperor of Ethiopia, of whom he holdeth.
[Page 38]The Kingdom of Oghy, besides a Tribute of Gold and Silver, sendeth him yearly a thousand Beeves.
In Ethiopia the Prete or Emperor upon the coming or returning of Embassadors, gives order to his Subjects or Vassals to furnish them with provisions for their Journey, and not long agoe commanded one to whom he had but a little before given a little Lordship, containing not above 80. Houses and two Churches to furnish an Embassador with five hundred Loads of Corn, a hundred Oxen, and a hundred Sheep.
The Gozagues do yearly pay to their King, besides great quantities of Gold and Silver, a thousand Beeves alive.
The Maldives do yearly pay unto their King the fifth part of the grains which they sowe, and give him a Portion of their Coco's and Limmons; and besides their Taxes compound also for fruits and honey.
The Princes and great men in Varennius lib. 10. de regno Japan. Japan do contend who shall give most to the Caesar, and almost impoverish themselves by their Presents: All the houses in the City of the Kings Residence are by the King taxed towards the making of Fortresses.
In Firando in Japan, when any forraign Merchants are by the King invited to see Playes and publick Shows, they send Presents to him, and every forraign Merchant that comes thither, may not sell his goods untill he hath carried a Present to the Emperor. And when any of the Kings white Elephants are brought unto him, the Merchants in the City are commanded to come and see him, and bring every one a Present of half a Ducat, which altogether amounteth to a great sum of money.
[Page 39]In Industan when the Mogol goeth abroad, or in progress, euery one (saith Sir Thomas Roe) by whose house he passeth is to make him a Present, Sir Thomas Roe himself doing it when the King or Mogol rode to the River of Darbadath. All the Persian Merchants doe bring their goods first to the Mogol, who buyes what he pleaseth, and after his Officers have set the rate they may sell to whom they will. All men strive to present him with all things rich and rare, and no man petitioneth him for any thing empty-handed, and thereby come to preferment, some giving him one hundred thousand pounds in Jewels at a time.
The King of Achen commands those of Tecoo to bring thither their Pepper, which none may buy but he, and puts off his Surat commodities in truck to them at what rates he pleaseth, and oftimes sends his commodities to Priaman and Tecoo, enforcing them to buy them at his own rates, none being suffered to buy or sell before he hath vented his own.
At Bantam the Governor or Protector so called useth to send in the Kings name to the people to serve him with sacks of Pepper, some a hundred, some fifty, some ten, some five at the Kings price, which was a Riall less in a Sack then the Merchants paid: Divers bring Presents of Rice and Cashes, and some bring imbroidered cloth for the Kings wearing.
Nor were the more civilized part of the Heathen only accustomed to the way of Pourveyance or bringing provisions or presents to their Kings and Princes, but the wild and savage part of them were by the Lawes of nature, and glimmerings of the light of reason, taught to doe it.
[Page 40]In Mexico in the West-Indies, and its large Dominions under the Emperor Montezeuma, containing 100 Cities and their Provinces, the people did pay a certain yearly Tribute to the King for water brought by pipes into the City: Those that hold lands did yearly pay unto him one third part of their fruit and commodities which they had or did reap, as gold, silver, stones, dogs, hens, fouls, conies, salt, wax, honey, mantels, feathers, cotton, and a certain fruit called C [...]cao, which they there used for money; also all kinds of grain, Garden-herbs and fruits: Some Towns paid 400 burdens of white Mantles, others great Tropes of wood full of Maiz, Fri [...]oles, &c. some four hundred burdens of wood, others four hundred planks of Timber; some, every six moneths brought four hundred burdens of Cotton-wool, and others, two thousand loads of Salt, two hundred pots of Honey, twenty Xacaras of Gold in powder, and some a Truss of Turkie stones, and paid besides the King of Alzopuzalco a Tribute of Firre and Willow-trees towards the building of a City.
Divers Provinces are bound to provide fire-wood for the Kings house amounting unto two hundred and thirty weight a day, which was five hundred mens burdens, & for the Kings particular Chimnies they brought the Bark of the Oak.
The Incas or Indian Kings before the coming of their unlucky loving friends the Spaniards had their Tributes yearly brought unto the Court, and when any work was to be done, or any thing to be furnished for the Incas, the Officers knew presently how much every Province, Town and Family ought to provide, and by their Registers strings and knots, knew what every one was to [Page 41] pay even to a hen or burden of wood.
And as Inea Garzilasco de la Vega a Native of Cozco, relates in his book of the antient customes of those Countries, did amongst other Tributes make and furnish clothes and Arms to be used in warr.
In Virginia the Weroances under-Lords or petty Kings did hold their lands, habitations and limits to Fish, Foul or Hunt, of their soveraign, King Powhatan to whom they pay Tributes of Skins, Beads, Copper, Pearl, Dear, Turkies wild Beasts and Corn.
And in all Savage Countries the English Merchants and Navigators, as Mr. Edward Winslow, a man afterwards too well known amongst the plundering and mistaken godly at Haberdashers Hall, hath related, at his return from thence doe make presents to the Savage Kings,
In New-England the Sachims or Lords are subject to one Sachim, to whom they resort for protection, and pay homage; neither may any make warre without their privity; every Sachim knoweth the bounds and limits of his Country, and that is as his proper Inheritance and out of that, if any of his men desire Land to set their corn, he giveth them as much as they can use, and puts them in their bounds. Whosoever hunteth, or killeth any venison (which is there much of their food) he bringeth him his Fee, which is the fourth part of the same, if it be killed on the Land, but if in the water, then the skin thereof. Once a year the people are provoked by the Pinieses, Knights or Councellors of the Sachims to bestow much corn on the Sachim, who bring him thereupon many Baskets of corn and make a great Stack thereof.
In Florida, where they all goe naked, and doe but [Page 42] litle exceed the beasts of the field in understanding, and want the wit of most part of the Nations of the world to cover their nakedness, they can notwithstanding crowd in amongst them and subscribe to that rule and part of right reason in making retributions and acknowledgements to their Kings or Governors for self-preservation; so as a Lord of that Country brought the Governour of the Plantation, which was made there, two Deer skins, and in one Town they made him a present of 700 wild hens, and in other Towns sent him those which they had or could get.
A Ca [...]ique at Panico near Florida and his men, as their manner is, weeping in token of obedience, made the Governor a Present of much Fish.
And this custom of Pourveyance and gratefull acknowledgments, being thus diffused and to be found amongst the farre greater part of all the Nations of the world, we may well conclude it to be almost as universal as the use of Beds, Phisick, Horses and Shooes, or the custome of washing of hands, and so generally, as if the Sun had in his journies been imployed by God Almighty, the Author of all Wisdome and Goodness, to scatter and infuse it with his light into the minds and understandings of mankind.
And that those few places or parts of the world which have not that custome, because their Kings are their Peoples Heirs, take what part of their Estates they please, and govern by an Arbitary power, may when they arrive to a better understanding acknowledge and bewaile the want of it.
And that from these and the like customes of real and willing obedience, love to their Princes and their [Page 43] honor and dignity, in which their native Countries and themselves did pertake and had so great a share, came those great and marvailous publick works.
As the Piramides of Egypt, the Obelisk cut by Semiramis out of the mountains, the Pensil Gardens made by Nebuchadonosor, the costly and most magnificent Temple of Solomon, which was seven years in building by one hundred eighty three thousand six hundred men imployed therein, the second Temple at Jerusalem which was 8 years in building, and 10000 workmen at a time working upon it, a part of the River Euphrates cut and brought into Tigris, Ninive built and walled 480 furlongs about and 10000 workmen at a time imployed.
The stupendious and great Wall of 40 leagues in length built in China; the Picts Wall as yet a wonder in its ruines and remains, built betwixt some part of England and Scotland of 80 miles in length, by Adrian the Emperor; and another in or near the same place by the Emperor Severus, Grahams Dike in Scotland built by Caraus [...]us; the Vallum Barbaricum, a great Wall or Trench made by the Emperor Julian in Germany to defend it against the incursions of the Barbarians; the four great High-wayes or Roads in England called Watlingstreet, the Fosse, Erminstreet and Iknelstreet, leading to the four Quarters or several parts of the Kingdome; the Aquaeducts stately Buildings Palaces, Castles and Forts, and many other publick works built by the Romans, and the greatest part of the Nations of the World, serving to beautifie and adorn as well as strengthen it, which could never have been made or done by the greedy rates of workmen, or the extremities or hire of the utmost farthing.
[Page 44]And hence it will be now time to imbark for old England and our British Isles, the more antient habitation of the Britains.
CHAP. II. Of the Use and Allowance of Pourveyance in England, and our British Isles
WHere those prudential as well as antient, just & reasonable Customes, being by a long usage of time incorporated into the Civil Law, and so universally allowed and received amongst many Nations, as they may well be said to be established jure naturae & gentium, by a Law of Nature and Nations, could not be any stranger, when as the Romans by the conquest of it, and the Governors and Legions transported hither, were not likely to leave behind them their own Lawes and Customes, especially such as these which had been appropriated to Martiall affairs, and the support of the Honor and Dignity of the Governours or Lievtenants of Provinces.
For in Britain when Julius Agricola in the Reigns of Nero and Domitian governed for the Romans, such kind of Pourveyance for publick uses, or support of the Magistrate was taken, as Tacitus in vita Agricolae. Tacitus his Son in Law in his life relates when he did frumenti & tributorum auctionem aequalitate munerum mollire circumscisis quae in quaestum reperta, mollifie the augmentation of Tribute and Corn, with equal dividing of burdens, cutting of those petty extortions, which grieved the Subjects (more then the Tribute it self) for it seemed that the Romans had ingrossed all the Corn of the Country, and instituting a Monopoly [Page 45] thereof, compelled the poor Britains to buy it again of them at their price, and shortly after laying a new charge upon them, as to victuall the Army, or the like, to sell it again under foot, and the Cart-takers for carriage of provision did use to take up Carts at places farre distant and make them pay well to be spared, whereas the same thing, saith Sir Hen. Savile the learned Scholiast or Commentator upon Tacitus, might have been done without molestation of the people, but not with like gain to the Officers; nor were our Ancestors the Britains so unhappy in their friends the Saxons, likely to be unlearned in those customes of Pourveyance, when that great and famous Lawyer Papinian, did afterwards at York for some years together under the Emperor Severus, as our great Selden dissertat. ad Fletam 478. & 479. Selden intimates, dicere & docere jus Caesareum, keep the Courts of Justice according to the Roman Laws, and that those Lawes flourished and continued here as directors and assistants of their Government for more then 350 years after, that is to say from the fiftith year of Christ to about the year 410, since when or before the Irish paid very antiently their Coshery or exactio Dynastae Hibernici, quando ab incolis & sub ejus potèstate clientela victum & hospitium capiebat pro seipso suaque sequela, Ware de Antiquitatibus Hiberniae. Tributes to their Kings or Rulers of lodging and victuals for them and their Retinue, and so long continued it as it is not yet out of the memory of some men with how much honour and esteem an Earl of Desmond lived in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth amongst his Tenants in Ireland, where when he yearly made his Progress, they having comfortable bargains, were some for one day and night, others for two, and some for a greater part of time, to entertain him and his no small company.
[Page 46]And those reasonable Customes of Pourveyance without destroying of property have not been disused, but have with relation to publick uses or benefits kept company with our municipall Lawes and Customes during all the Saxon times, untill the Reign of Canutus the Danish King, who notwithstanding his Agreement with King Edmond Ironside, made in a single combat in Alney Mead before Gloucester in Campo Martio view of the Danish and English Armies, to divide the Kingdomes of England and Denmark betwixt them, having by the death of that valiant Saxon King, and his own and others treachery gained and gotten to himself the whole Kingdome, murdered Edmond Ironsides kindred and friends, denied his children their fathers right in the Kingdom of the Simeon Dunelm, 175, 176, & 178. West Sexes, & banished them, deprived his Cousin Olaus of the Kingdome of Norway, and acting an haughty and domineering Tyranny, thought his Prerogative to be so boundless, that he took it ill that the Chronic. Bromton 912. Sea (which is only commanded by him that stilleth the raging waves, and rideth upon the wings of the wind) did not adore his feet, and run back like the river Jordan; and having Demeasns & Provisions enough of his own for the maintenance of his Houshold, and lazy and unruly Lourdanes, did in a contrivance of some ease to the people in small or less considerable matters the better to please them, and assure his new Dominions sapientum adhibito Consilio, by advice of his Parliament or LL. Canuti 67. Councill in Anno 1010. ut quo prius opprimabatur onere populum liberaret, that they might be freed from the burden with which (as he said) they were formerly oppressed; amongst other things, by a Law, Order and Command, his Officers, as the learned Mr. [Page 47] Lambard hath out of the old English or Saxon published it, ut ex aratione & praediis suis propriis quae sibi fuerunt ad victum necessaria suppeditent neque alius quisquam victui sui adjumenta praestare invitus cogatur; atque si eorum aliquis hoc nomine mulctam petierit is proprii capitis estimationem Regi dependito, that out of his own Demeasnes they should provide necessaries for his Houshold, and that none be compelled to furnish any provisions: And if any of his Officers should impose any penalty upon them, for not furnishing such provisions, he should himself forfeit or pay a great sum of money, amounting to near as much as he was worth. But as John Bromton, who wrote in the Reign of King Edward the third, hath recited that Law, it doth something differ from that which Mr. Lamberd hath mentioned, and is only in these words, praecipio praepositis meis omnibus ut in proprio meo lucrentur, & inde mihi serviant, & nemo cogatur ad firmae adjutorium aliquid dare nisi sponte sua velit, all his Reeves (or Officers) were commanded that they should make the best profit they could of the Kings Lands for his use; and that no man should be compelled to add or pay any thing more then his Rent or Farme, unless he should do it of his own accord; Chronic. Johannis Bromton 930. Et si quis aliquem inde gravabit werae sua Reus sit erga Regem, and if any should disturb them therein they should forfeit and pay a Fine to the King.
And that Law (or Edict, or Proclamation rather then a Law) taken as it is either in Bromton or Lambard, was but only intended, as the title and body of it signifieth, de victu ex praediis regis concerning his Tenants in his own Lands and Demeasnes, and any provisions to be made by them over and above their Rents, but [Page 48] did not discharge Cart-taking, or other parts of the Royal Pourveyance in his own Demeasnes, nor extended to any Lands or people other then the Kings own Demeasnes, and can signifie no more then his desire to spare the Tenants of his own Lands from being charged with any provisions for his House, who, as Sir Edward Coke saith in his Comment or Annotations upon Coke 2. part. institutes Comment▪ in Artic. super Chartas. Magna Charta, and the Statutes of Articuli super Chartas, being the Kings Tenants in antient Demeasne, have ever since enjoyed many great priviledges, as to be free from payment of Toll, paying of wages to the Knights of the Shire which serve in Parliament, and the like.
And were by speciall priviledge granted by William the LL. Gulielmi Conquestoris 2. Conqueror, to have upon Judgements obtained against any that did them wrong, double the forfeitures and penalties (or damage) which were to be adjudged to any other.
And the word [...] as Mr. Somner saith in his Glossary victum propriè sonans, signifying only some provision of victuals reserved, it is not likely that, the firmae adjutorium in Bromtons Translation of that Law or Edict of King Canutus could be meant or expounded, that no provisions should at all be paid; for then it would have signified the whole Rents to have been acquitted if no moneys had been used to have been paid together with provisions. Or if as the judicious Spelmans Glossar. in verbo fi [...]ma 274. Sir Hen. Spelman saith, the word Farme doth import tam redditus pecuniarias ex elocatis provenientes quam Annonarias, as well for rent in money as corn, and other provisions for housekeepings, & pro caena prandio corrodio convivio epulis et omni mensae apparatu sumitur, [Page 49] and is taken for a Corrody, Supper, Dinner, Feast, or any other provision to furnish the Table; and that some money and some provisions were paid for their Rents; it remains a doubt what that favour intended by Canutus his Law or Edict should be interpreted to be, or how much of that Kings provisions towards the keeping and maintenance of his house, were by him remitted; or if it shall be understood to have been only in alba firma quae argento penditur non pecude. only in money, which if at all was very seldome used in those times; that also must be denied to have been either the meaning or practise of that Law or Edict of Canutus, when as the Tenants of the Crown have been found to have paid their provisions for Housekeeping in Edward the Confessors reign before the Conquest, and after in the reigns of William the Conqueror, William Rufus, and part of the reign of Henry the first; so as the way to get out of it will be in all probability to understand it to be no otherwise then a fo [...]bidding the rapines and the outragious taking of the peoples Cattel, Corn and Provisions by his unruly Danes, who had so lately been invading and plundering enemies, and were scarcely denizend.
For in the same LL. Canuti 78. Parliament we find his Law, that Dona potionis honoraria aliaque debita Dominis officia in suo semper statu immutato manerent, honorary oblations or customes for drink, with other duties (of Tenants to their Lords, should continue as formerly and remain unchangeable. And the Customes of England afterwards extant, and to be found in old Charters and Doomsday book, do accordingly often mention Bordland to find provisions for the Lords Houses or Tables, [Page 50] Dro [...]land, to drive their Ca [...]tel to Fairs, Markets, &c. Berland, to bear or carry provision of victuals or the like for them or their Stewards in their remove from place to place▪ Po [...]ura or Drinklan, or Scot ale, a Contribution by Tenants towards a [...]otation, Drinking, or an Ale, provided to entertain the Lord or his Steward coming to keep his Courts, Somner Treatise of Gavelkind. Gavel Malt, Gavel Corn, & ad defer [...]endum & cariandum ad costas & expensas tenentium usque ad granarium ▪ and to carry it at the Tenants charges to the Lords Granary, Gabulum mellis or Rent-honey, [...]-gavel, Rent-oates▪ Wood-lede, to carry home his wood, Gavel or Rent-timber to repair his house, and Gavel dung, to carry out his dung, often used in Kent, where they think that in liberties and priviledges they doe surpass most of the other parts and Provinces of England. And could at the same time also lay a greater burden upon the people then his pretended ease amounted unto in that his Law touching his own Demeasnes, and enjoyn the Romescot or Peterpence for every house or chimney, which he had given the Pope larga ma [...]u & penhenniter, as Chronic. Bromton 912. Bromton saith, and a charge upon the people to a perpetuity, as he thought of that which the former Kings had made, but some temporary grants of; to the See of Rome, with great penalties for the non payment thereof: And under severe mulcts comm [...]nded the yearly payments of the Ciricksea [...] or Oblations for First fruits to the Church, which was then, as Mr. Somner saith, à census s [...]e in gallinis, sive in aliis rellus pro aedium decima solvendis, a Rent or Duty to be paid in Henns or other things for the Tithes of their Houses, or as a Symbolum or munus, gift or offering.
[Page 51]And though William the Conqueror had a great affection to establish Leges Noricas, Danish or Norway Lawes then used in many Provinces, yet was England so happy in its unhappiness▪ as he did not, but precibus Anglorum atque Normannorum deprec [...]tus, tired with the petitions and importunities as well of his Normans as the English, ut per animam LL. Edwardi C [...]isessoris. Regis Edwardi qui sibi post diem suum concesserat c [...]ronam & regnum, & cujus erant Leges, nec aliorum extraneorum exaudiendo concederet eis sub legibus perseverare paternis, as he respected the soul of King Edward who gave him the Crown and Kingdome, and whose Lawes they were, and not any strangers, that he would not hearken unto them, but give them leave to enjoy the Lawes of their Ancestors; whereupon consilio habito & precatu Baronum, by the advice and counsel of the Barons, when his conquering Normans as well as the subdued English thought it to be most for their good and safety to be governed by Edward the Confessors Lawes, and the good old Customes of England, he did after an enquiry of Chronic. Le [...]ebfeldense. duode [...]im sapientiorum de quo libet comitatu quibus jurejurando injunctum fuit, twelve of the wisest men of every County upon their oaths restore to them patriae leges; their own Laws, especially the Laws of LL. Gulielmi Conquestoris, 59. Edward the Confessor, which were first instituted by King Edgar, and had long lain asleep; but at the same time took a care by a Law made on purpose, ne quis domino suo debitas praestationes (which did then and antiently signifie services and duties to be done) LL. Gulielmi Conquestoris, 34. subtrahat propter nullam remissionem quam ei antea fe [...]erit, that no man upon any release or discharge made thereof should withhold or deny his service or accustomed dues to the Lord, [Page 52] which repealing as it were Canutus his Law did not certainly exclude the King or his Successors in their own particulars, when as he procured by another Law, ut jura regia illaesa servare pro viribus conentur subditi, that all his Subjects should endeavour all they could to preserve his Regalities, Et ex illo die (the Laws of Canutus vanishing probably as those of Cromwell did) Leges Sancti Edwardi multa autoritate veneratas, & per universum regnum corroboratas et observatas, and from that time the Lawes of Edward the Confessor were greatly reverenced, and through all England observed. For we find not that Law of Canutus either repeated or mentioned (as the Laws of some of the Saxon Kings were) or any thing of that nature enacted or confirmed in or by the Laws of Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror▪ or King Henry the the First; but on the contrary the Laws of Edward the Confessor confirmed by William the Conqueror doe expresly ordain, that debent enim et leges e [...] libertates jura, et justas consuetudines LL. Edwardi Confessor. regni, et antiquas a bonis predecessoribus (which could not well be meant or intended of any of Canutus ▪ or any the Denelage or Danish Lawes) approbatas inviolabiliter modis omnibus pro posse suo servare, every man ought to his utmost to keep and conserve the Lawes, Liberties and Rights, and the just and antient Customes of the Kingdome.
The Abbot of Ramsey was by a Charter of William the Conqueror exempt from Spelman [...]n verbo Angaria carriages and Pourveyance.
And the Book of Doomesday, which was made in the sixteenth year of his Reign, and remains ever since an unquestionable record of the Kingdome, is [Page 53] not without some vestigia or footsteps of Pourveyance in the Reign of that good, and to this day ever honored King, Edward the Confessor, where it is said that tempore regis Edwardi reddebat civitas de Tit. Gloucestrescire. Gloucester xxxvi l. numeratas xii. sextaria mellis ad mensuram ejusdem Burgi, & xxxvi. Dacras ferri, C. virgas ferras ductiles ad claves navium Regis, & quasdam alias minutas consuetudines in Aula & in Camera Regis, in the time of King Edward the Confessor the City of Gloucester did pay yearly six and thirty pounds in money, twelve measures of honey containing six Gallons a piece, according to the measure of the Town, six and thirty Dacres (a proportion then known by that term) of Iron, and one hundred Rods of Iron, to make nails for the Kings Ships, and certain other small Customes for the Hall and Chamber of the King; Et in Sciptone Rex tenet de annona xv l. the King had fifteen pounds per annum provision of corn and other victuals.
The Bordarii often mentioned in Doomesday Book were such as held Lands mensae domini designatas & esculenta indicta, videlicet ova, gallinas, aucas, porcellos, et hujusmodi ezhiberent, appropriate to a Pourveyance for the Kings Table, furnishing Eggs, Hens, Geese, Pork and the like; and for the Huscarles or houshold servants so called, concerning whom it is there said Tit. Dorsetscire, & Spelman in verbo Bordarii 202. Et gilda pro decem hidis, scilicet ad opus huscarlum unam marcam argenti, and he paid taxes for ten hides, that is to say, a mark of silver for the use or maintenance of them, Tit, Northantesceire reddit firmam trium noctium (vel edulia ad caenam unam) 30. lib. ad. pondus, made provision for one night of the value of thirty pound; [Page 54] & tit. Oxenefordsc. Comitatus Oxeneford reddit Spelman glossar. in verbo firma 275. firmam trium noctium, hoc est 100 lib. furnisheth provision for three nights of the value of 100 pound. Et Doomsd. tit. Wilts. Wilton. quando Rex ibat in expeditione, vel terra, vel mari habebat de hoc manerio xx. sol. ad pascendos suos Buzcarlos, aut unum hominem ducebat secum pro honore quinque hidar [...]m, when the King went upon any expedition by land or sea, he was to have out of that Manor twenty shillings to feed his Buzcarles, Mariners or Seamen; or took for every five hides of land, or that then (esteemed honorable) quantity of land a man with him.
But howsoever if that of Canutus discharging Pourveyance were a Law neither altered nor repealed, it did but like his Laws touching Ordeal, and delivering over the Murderer to the Kindred, & other of his Laws which proved to be unpracticable, rather make the matter worse then better, by his renouncing Pourveyance in his own Demeasnes: for that Law and Resolution of his did meet with so little observance, as in the Reign of King William Rufus, and a great part of the Reign of his Brother King Henry the First, the Kings Servants and Court for want of their former provisions grew to be so unruly, as Hist. Edmer. lib. 4.22.94. multitudo eorum qui curiam ejus sequebantur quaeque pessunda [...]ent diriperent & nulla eos cohibente disciplina totam terram per quam Rex ibat devastarent; and a multitude following the Court, took and spoiled every thing in the way which the King went, there being no discipline or good order taken; Et dum reperta in Hospitiis quae invadebant penitus absumere non valebant ea aut ad forum per eosdem ipsos quorū erant pro suo lucro ferre ac vendere aut supposito igne cremare, [Page 55] [...]ut [...]i potus esset lotis exinde equ [...]rum suorum pedibus residuum illius per terram effundere aut aliquo alio modo disperdere solebant; and when they could not consume that which they found in the houses whereinto they had broken, made the owners carry it to the Market, and sell it for them, or else burnt their provisions, or if it were drink, washed their horses feet with it, or poured it upon the ground, in so much as quique pre [...]ognito regis adven [...]u sua habitac [...]l a fugithant, every one hearing before hand of the Kings coming, would run away from their houses, which probably bringing in a dearth or scarcity of co [...]n, might be the cause of the Tenants of the Kings Demeasne Lands, bringing in the later end of the Reign of King Henry the First, (for then it was and not before, as it appears by Edmerus and William of Malmsbury who lived in his time) to the King their Plowshares instead of Corn to Court on their backs, and making heavy complaints of their poverty and misery, procured that King to change their Rents, which before were used to be paid for the most part in corn, cattle and provisions, and were wont abundantly to supply his houshold occasions, and with which in primitivo regno statu post conquisitionem, the Kings of England ▪ from the Conquest untill then did plentifully, as Lib. rub▪ in Scaccario. Gervasius Tilburien [...]is, who lived also in his Reign hath related defray the charges of their Courts and Housholds into money with six pence in the pound overplus, left the value of the mony should afterwards diminish: but whether Canut [...] his Law were then in force or not, or could be sufficient to abrogate those Jura Majestatis, Rights or Prerogatives of our English Kings, we find King Henry the first after those disorders [Page 56] (in his greatest compliance with the English, and his need of their aid to defend him against the pretensions and better Title of his elder Brother Robert Duke of Normandy, and his cou [...]ting of them unto it per libertates quas sanctus Rex Edwardus spiritu Dei provide sancivit, by the antient Lawes and Liberties of holy King Edward, which he had granted them, and a promise to grant them any other) retaining his Pourveyance,Mat. Paris 62. and putting it into better order; for as William Malmesbury hath recorded it, Malmesbury lib 5.91. Curialibus suis ubicunque villarum esset quantum a Rusticis gratis accipere quantum & quoto praetio emere debuissent edixit transgressores, vel gravi pecuniarum mulcta, vel vitae dispendio afficiens, directing and ordering those of his Court in whatsoever places he should abide, what and how much they were to receive from the Country people gratis, and without money, and at what prices and rates they should buy other things, under great penalties of money or punishment by death, and was optimatibus venerabilis & provincialibus amabilis, reverenced by the Nobility and beloved by the common people; and in his Charter, which was for a g [...]eat part of it the original of our Magna Charta, where Mat. Paris 240. & 258. & Charta H. 1. de libertatibus. omnes malas consuetudines quibus regnum Angliae iniuste opprimebatur inde aufert, he took away all the evill Customs with which England was oppressed; Et quas, as the Charter saith, in parte hic posuit; and which were in part recited, and with which the discontented Barons & Nobility of England claiming their antient Liberties, were so well contented in the 14. year of the Reign of King John, when Steven Langton Archbishop of Canterbury produced it unto them, as, gavisi sunt gaudio [Page 57] magno valdè & juraverunt omnes quod pro hiis libertatibus si necesse fuerit decertabunt usque ad mortem; they greatly rejoyced, and swore that they would if need were contend unto death for those Liberties: there is no mention of any evil in Pourveyance, nor any order for the taking of them away. And might as justly & rationally continue in the Raign of King Henry the second his Grandchild, as that custome or usage for the Bishops and dignified Clergy to take their provisions of the Inferior Clergy, and their Carriages or Carts which Pope Alexander in a Councel or Synod held at Rome, where were present the Bishops of Durham, Norwich, Hereford and Bath, and divers Abbots sent from England, did notwithstanding many complaints not against the Pourveyance it self, but the immoderate use of it, onely limit and restrain them, secundum tolerantiam in illis locis in quibus am [...]liores fuerint redditus & Ecclesiasticae facultates, De [...]retum Alexandri Papae in parte posteriori, Annal Rogeri de Hoveden, 333. in pauperibus autem mensura tenenda, to be moderately taken in such places as had more large possessions and Ecclesiastical Revenues, and less of those who were in a poorer condition; and then and long before the Domini hundredorum, Lords or great men having the command or jurisdiction of Hundreds, uti comes aut vicecomes as the Ea [...]l or Sheriff of the County had,Spelman glossar in voce Hundredus. multa inde auxilia tributa sectas aliasque praestationes cum ad utilitatem tum ad voluptatē Cererē nempe & frumentū receperunt, &c and received many aids, tributes, and Pourveyances aswel conducing to their profit as pleasure cujus hodie nomine Annuum penditur tributum pecuniarum, for which now there is a certain rent in mony paid. Nor could the rights of Pou [...]veyance & Prae-emption be any thing less then denizend in Scotland, or the Northern parts of our British Isles, when as the Civil and universal Law of the World was there so long ago entertained, and yet continues [Page 58] the great Director and Guider of their Justice, where in Anno 1487. in an Act of 14. Parliament King James the 3. Parliament made by King James the third anent strange [...]s bringing in victuals and utheris merchandice, it is provided, that quhair any victuals of merchandise cummis, gaining for the King, that his Comptroller after that the price be maide with the strangers sall have sa meikle of the first and best as is needful to the Kings proper use for the quihilk full payment but delay; and their learned Craig in the Reign of our King James doubts not to reckon the Angari [...] & Parangariae plaustrorum & navium praestationes, furnishing of Carriages and Ships for publick uses, inter ea quae Regalia dicuntur, & quae in annexo patrimonio numerantur, amongst those Regalities which are annexed to the Crown of Scotland Craig. de feudis apud S [...]o [...]os D [...]eg. 14. eo quod ad conservandam Regni dignitatem ex consensu ordinum constituta sunt, in regard that by the consent of the Estates is thereby conserved the dignity of the Kingdom.
And their Ce [...]sus Cani, Rent or Provision, quh [...]t, beir, aytes, or uther kind of victuals, reckoned by Bolls of Wheat,Skene de verbor [...] significatione. and Chalders of victuals, not yet forsaken or laid by, may induce any man to believe that they were well acquainted with those just and ancient observances. And in that Charter of our King Johns at Mat. Paris 323. Running Mede near Stanes (being the same word for word which was after so long and bloody warres confirmed, by King Henry the third) which was made when his weaker forces were ready to be encountred by a farre stronger of his boysterous Barons, there is no denying of Prae-emption and the reasonable part of Pourveyance, the former of which as long as the fifth Commandement in the Decalogue, and the acknowledgements and respects of inferiors to superiors, the honor due to Kings & Patribus Patriae, and the common civilities of [Page 59] mankind shall continue in force, and be practised and unrepealed, is certainly to be continued, and should not be disturbed by any the Sons of men who would preserve the honour and dignity of their Prince and Common Parent; for it was there only agreed that nullus constabularius vel Ballivus noster capiat blada vel alia Catalla alicujus nisi statim inde reddat denarios; No Constable or Bayliff of the King shall without present payment take any Corn or Cattle of any mans, aut respectum inde habeat de voluntate venditoris, unless the Seller should be contented to give day for it Charta Regis Johannis de libertatibus Angliae. 9 H. 3. ca. 19. & 21. Et nullus Ballivus noster▪ vel Vice-comes, vel alius capiat equos, vel caretas alicujus pro cariagio faciendo nisi reddat liberationem antiquitus statutum scilicet pro careta ad duos equos decem denarios per diem, & pro careta ad tres equos quatuordecim denarios per diem; And that none of the Kings Bailiffs, Under Sheriffs or other take any mans carts or horses for the Kings carriages without paying the antient rate or Livree appointed, that is to say for a Cart and two Horses ten pence a day, and for a Cart and three Horses fourteen pence.
Nor did the Conservatores libertatum Angliae enforced upon Mat. Paris 641. King Henry the third in his troublesome Reign make any quarrels or restrictions concerning it.
In Charta Foreste made at the same time, no 9 H. 3 ca. 7. Foster or Bedil was to make Scota [...], or gather Garb, Oats, Corn, Lamb or Pig, nor any gathering but by the view and oath of twelve Rangers, the Exception allowing the things in casibus non exceptis, and proving that such things might in such manner be then reasonably and lawfully taken. And in that Kings Regin Writs were frequently sent to the Sheriffs, as appeareth in the Ro. Claus. H. 3. close [Page 60] Rolls, to make provisions of Mutton, Puletry, Geese, Eggs, &c. against Christmas and other principal Feasts, and sometimes to the Chamberlains of London to make provision of wine, Cl [...]us. 1 H 3. m. [...]5. Spices and Furres to be paid de denariis Regis, and at other times to some others to make provision of Corn, Claus. 29 H. 3. m 11. Bacon, &c. for fortifying a Castle, promising that the Sheriff should make payment, and be allowed upon his accompt out of the profits of the County, so as although the provisions for the Kings own Houshold, or for publick uses, were not taken without monies to be paid for them, yet they were, as it may well be supposed, at reasonable prices, and by a priviledge or prerogative of Praeemption, and not alwayes at such prices as the avaritious humour of the Sellers should exact,13 Ed. 3.6. Brook Leet 26. Dier 13. Coke 2. part. Institutes 72. when the Sheriffs in their Turns or Leets might compel them to reasonable rates. And Sir Edward Coke will hardly be brought off from a mistake, in alledging in his Comment upon the Statute of Artic [...]li super Chartas, that when the Kings of Englands provisions C [...]ke 2 par [...]e institutes & in Artic. super [...]ha [...]tas 543 began to fail, and could not be had as formerly out of their own Demeasnes, there were Markets kept at the Court gates, which being not in the Reign of King Henry the first, who changed his Provision Rent into money, doe not appear to have been afterwards in his time, or of the next succeeding Kings, Stephen, Henry the 2. Richard the 1▪ or King John, and King Hen. 3. who needed not to have made use of his Sheriffs to have furnished his Christmas or other houshold provisions, if Markets with that decency and regard which belonged to a Kings Court, where those great Kings, and a daily confluence of their then no small Nobility, with their usual Trains and Attendants, and many times forreign [Page 61] Princes or their Ambassadors were to pass, had been or were then kept at the Court gates: for Britton de me [...]ures ca. 30. Britton who wrote in the Reign of King Edward the first, only saith that the Clerk of the Market, or he which was to look to the measures was to goe with his Standard from Market to Market when he found the Market to be within the Virg [...], otherwise to make the Bayliffs to appear before him.
Tertio Ed. 1. ca. 7. it was enacted, that of Prises taken by the Constables or Castellanes upon such folk as be not of the Towns where the Castles are, no Constable or Castellane from thenceforth should exact any price or like thing of any other then of such as be of the Town or Castle; and that it be paid, or else agreement made within forty daies, if it be not an antient price due to the King, or to the Castle, or the Lord of the Castle.
Tempore Ed. 1. ca. 2. It was ordained that no Officers of the King or of his Heirs should take Corn, Leather, Cattel, ot any other goods of any manner of person without the good will and assent of the party to whom the goods belonged: And ca. 3. the King granted for him and his Heirs that all Clerks & Lay-men of the Land, should have their Laws Liberties and free Customes as largely and wholly as they have used to have the same at any time when they had them best. And if any Statutes have been made by him or his Ancestors, or any Customes brought in contrary to them or any manner of Article contained in that Charter, willed and granted that such manner of Statutes and Customes should be void and frustrate for ever.
Anno 28 Ed. 1. Artic. super Charta [...] ca. 2. upon complaint that the Kings Ministers of his house did to the great grievance and damage of the people take the goods as well of the Clergy as the Laity without paying [Page 62] any thing, or els much less then the value; It was ordained that no Pourveyors should take any thing but for the Kings House; and touching such things as they should take in the Country of meat and drink, and such other mean things necessary for the house, they should pay or make agreement with them of whom the things should be taken, nor take more then should be needfull to be used for the King, his Houshold and Children, with a Proviso therein, that nevertheless the King and his Counsel did not intend by that Estatute to diminish the Kings Right for the antient prices due and accustomed, as of wines and other goods, but that his Right should be saved unto him in all points.
Anno 16 Ed. 2. Hill. 16 E. 2. the King sent his Writ to the Justices of the Court of Kings Bench, then not so fixed as now or of later times, to command them to take care to punish the Infringers of those Lawes.
And howsoever the Articles and inquiries in the Eyres in the Reign of King Edward the first were to enquire and punish those Sheriffs, Constables or Bayliffs which took any victuals or provisions for the King or his Houshould (which shews that then also no Markets were kept at the Court gates, nor that all the Kings provisions were there bought or taken) contra voluntatem eorum quorum Catalla fuerint, without the will of the owners (which in all probability was to be regulated and perswaded by that duty and loyalty which every good Subject coming to a Country or City Market did bear to his Soveraign, and the Preserver by his authority and power of not only what they brought to Market that day, but what was left at home, or to be brought at other times to Market) and the words sine consensu & voluntate, &c. without the consent of the Seller are to [Page 63] be interpreted and understood, saith Sir Coke 2. parte Institut. 543. Edward Coke to have been inserted in that and other Statutes; for that Pourveyers would take the goods of such men as had no will to sell them, but to spend them for their own necessary use.
But afterwards some abuses like weeds getting in amongst the best, corn or greatest care of the watchfull Husbandman happening in the manner of Pourveyances, by taking them without warrant or threatning the Sellers or Assessors to make easie prices, or not paying ready money or the Market rate for them, or taking more then they needed, or by greater measures, & making the Pourveyances for divers Noble-men belonging to the Court, as of the Duke of Gloucester in the Reign of King Henry the sixth: and in his time also some Hostlers, Brewers, and other Victuallers keeping Hosteries and Houses of retailing victuals in divers places of the Realm, having purchased the Kings Letters Patents, to take Horses and Carts for the service of the King and Queen, did by colour of them take horses where no need was, and bring them to their Hosteries and other places, and there keep them secretly untill they had spent xx.d. or xl.d. of their stuff, and sometimes more, and then make the owners pay it before their horses could be delivered, and sometimes made them pay a Fine at their will, and at other times took Fines to shew favour, and not to take their horses, and many times would not pay for the hire of the said horses and carts, divers Acts of Parliament upon complaints at several times in Parliament of the said abuses committed by Pourveyers were made to prohibit and provide against them, but none at all to take away the Pourveyance it [Page 64] self, or Prae-emption, or the Kings just Rights and Prerogatives therein, but a saving of the Kings Rights especially provided for in many of them, as
Anno 10 Ed. 3. ca. 4. The Sheriff shall make Pourveyance for the Kings horses.
Anno 18 Ed. 3. ca. 4. In the Commissions to be made for Pourveyance the Fees of the Church shall be exempted in every place where they be found.
Anno 25 Ed. 3. ca. 1. after that in Anno 20 Ed. 3. divers Pourveyers had been attainted and hanged for fending against those Lawes: and that in the 23. year of that Kings Reign divers of the Kings Pourveyers were indited for breach of those Lawes. It was enacted that If any Pourveyer of victuals for the King Queen or their Children should take Corn, Litter or Victuals without ready mony at the price it commonly runneth in the Market, prized by Oath▪ by the Constable and other good people of the Town, he shall be arrested, and if attainted, suffer pains as a Thief if the quantity of the goods the same require.
Cap. 6. No Pourveyer shall take, cut or [...]ell wood or Timber for the Kings use for work growing near any mans dwelling house.
Et cap. 7, Keepers of Forrests or Chaces shall gather nothing, nor victuals, nor sustenance without the owners good will, but that which is due of old right.
Cap. 15. If any Pourveyer take more sheep then shall be needfull, and be thereof attainted, it shall be done to him as a Thief or a Robber.
Anno 36 Ed. 3. ca. 6. No Lord of England nor none other of the Realm of what estate or condition that he be, except the King and the Queen his wife shall make any [Page 65] taking by him or any of his Servants of any manner of victuals, but shall buy the same that they need of such as will sell the same of their good will, and for the same shall make ready payment in hand according as they may agree with the seller. And if the people of Lords, or of other, doe in other manner, and thereof be attainted, such punishment of life and of member shall be done of them as is ordered of the buyers, the occasion of the making of which Statute, and the preceding Act of Parliament of 25 Ed. 6. before mentioned, Sir Coke 2. part. Institutes 545. Edward Cook informes us was a book written in Latin by Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury, (and before that a Secretary of State and Privy Councellor) to King Ed. 3. called Speculum Regis, sharpely inveying against the intollerable abuses of Pourveyers and Pourveyance in many particulars, and earnestly advising▪ and pressing him to provide remedies for those insufferable oppressons and wrongs offered to his Subjects, which the King often perusing, it wrought such effect, as at divers of his Parliaments, but especially in his Parliament holden in the 36 year of his Reign, he did of his own will without the motion of the great men or Commons, as the Record of Parliament speaketh, cause to be made many excellent Laws against the oppressions and falshood of Pourvey [...]rs.
2 R. 2. ca. 1. Upon complaint made in Parliament, that Pourveyors and Buyers did take Provisions of the Clergy, and enforce them to make carriages against their Liberties; It was enacted that the holy Church should have and enjoy her Franchises and Liberties in all points in as ample manner as she had in the time of the Kings noble Progenitors Kings of England; and that the great Charter, and the Charter of the Forest, and the good [Page 66] Laws of the Land be firmly holden and kept, and put in due execution, saving to the King his Regality (which is in the Record, but omitted in the Print;) by which Statute saith Coke 2. part. Institutes Comment. in confi [...]mationes Chartarum 526 Sir Edward Coke, there was nothing enacted but what was included in Magna Charta.
And in the same Parliament it was ordained that the Statutes heretofore made should be kept; and that Petitions in Parliament, 2 R. 2. all Clerks should have their Actions against such Pourveyors by Actions of Trespass, and thereby recover treble damages. And in 7 R. 2. cap. 8. it was ordained that no Subjects Chator shall take any victuals or carriages to the use of their Lords or Ladies without the owners good will, and the party endamaged, if he will, shall have his Suit at the Common Law.
2 H. 4. cap. 15. Pourveyance of the value of forty shillings or under for the Kings house shal,l be paid for presently upon pain of forfeiture of the Pourveyors Office.
23 H. 6. ca. 14. If any Buyer or other Officer of the Duke of Gloucester, or of any other Lord or person, take any Victuals, Corn, Hey, Carriages, or any other thing of the Kings Liege people against their will, or without lawfull bargain, but only for the King and the Queen and their houses, they shall be arrested; and if any of the said buyers other then of the King and Queen shall be convicted of such unlawfull taking he shall pay treble damages.
28 H. 6. ca. 2. None shall take any persons Horses or Carts without the delivery of the Owner or some Officer, nor any money to spare them, saving alwayes to the King his Prerogative and his Preheminence of and in the premisses.
And in the care of our Kings to redress the peoples grievances, and satisfie their complaints against the Pourveyors [Page 67] rather then the Royal Pourveyances; it may be understood also that they did not altogether lay aside the preservation and care of those antient and most necessary rights and parts of the Kingly Prerogative, by their Answers given in divers Parliaments to the Petitions of the People concerning it, as
13 Ed. 3. The Commons pray in Parliament, that all Pourveyors as well with Commission as without shall be arrested if they make not present pay; whereupon it was agreed that the Commissioners of Sir William Heallingford, and all other Commissioners for Pourveyance for the King be utterly void.
14 Ed 3. Ordered that the Chancellor by Writs doe pay the Merchants of Barton and Lynne for their Pourveyance of corne.
17 Ed. 3. The Commons pray that remedies may be had against the outragious taking of Pourveyors.
The Statutes made shall be kept, and better, Resp. if it may be, devised.
20 Ed. 3. That payment be made for the last taking of victuals.
Order shall be taken therein. Resp.
They pray that Pourveyors not taking the Constables with them according to the Statute of Westminster, shall be taken as Theeves, and the Judges or Justices of Assize or the Peace may inquire of the same.
The Statutes made shall be observed.
21 Ed. 3. Upon a complaint of the Commons,Resp. That whereas in the Parliament in anno 17. and the next Parliament before, it was accorded that Commissions should not issue out of the Chancery for Hoblers, and taking of Victuals, &c. the said Ordinances are not kept.
[Page 68] Resp. If any such Imposition was made, the same was made upon great necessity, and with consent of the Prelates, Counts, Barons, & Autres grandees, and some of the Commons then present, notwithstanding the King will not that such undue Imposition be drawn into consequence, but willeth that the Ordinances in this Petition mentioned be well kept.
And as touching the taking of victuals, alwayes saving the Kings Prerogative, his will is, that agreement be made with such of whom the same are and shall be taken.
The Commons alleaging, That whereas it was lately ordained and assented by the King and hîs Council, that men and horses of the Kings Houshold should not be harbinged in any part of the Country, but by Bill of the Marshall of the House delivered to the Constable, who should cause them to have good sustenance for themselves and their horses as should be meet, and cause their victuals to be prised by the men of the same Towns, and before their departures should pay the parties of whom the victuals were taken, and if they did not their horses should be arrested; and that contrary hereunto they depart without payment, pray that in every Bill mention be made of the number of horses, and that no more but one Garson be allowed, and that payment according to the Statute may be made from day to day.
Resp. The King is pleased that this Article be kept in all points according to the form of the Statute.
They complain that the Pourveyors of the King, Queen and Prince severally doe come yearly assess and Towns severally at ten Quarters of Oates more or less at their pleasure, and the same doe cause to be [Page 69] carried away without paying for the same; and pray that such Tallages and Pourveyance may be taken away.
The King will forbid it, Resp. and that no man take contrary to such prohibition, saving to him, the Queen his companion, and their Children, their rightfull takings.
Eodem Parliamento, whereas the horses of the King, Queen & Prince do wander into divers parts, doing much hurt and damage to the people, and that hay, oats, &c. are taken contrary to the Ordinances already made, the Commons pray, That the King will ordain that those horses may abide in some certain place of the Country where they are, and that Pourveyance may be had for them in convenient time of the year by the Deputies, as may be agreed between them and the owners of those goods.
The King is well pleased that the Ordinances already made shall be kept, Resp. and that Pourveyances may be made for his best profit and ease of his People.
45 Ed. 3. That no Pourveyance be made for the King but for ready money, and that the King be served by common measure.
The Statutes made before shall be observed. Resp.
They complain of the decay of the Navy by reason tha [...] sundry mens ships were stayed for the King long before they served, the Masters of the Kings Ships doe take up Masters of the Ships as good as themselves.
The King will provide Remedy. Resp.
46 Ed. 3. They complain that Ships arrested have been kept a quarter of a year before they pass out of the Port, and in that time the Masters or Marriners have no wages.
Y pleist al Roy que le Navie soit maintain & garde a greindre ease et profit que fair se poet. Resp.
[Page 70] Eodem Parliamento, The Commons desire the King and his Councill, that whereas it is granted that no Pourveyance be but where payment is made at the taking, that it will please him that his Ordinance be holden as it was granted.
Resp. It pleaseth the King, that he that findeth himself grieved shall pursue it, and right shall be done him.
47 Ed. 3. That the Statute made whereby buyers of the Kings Houshold should pay readily may stand, and that no man be impeached for resisting them therein.
The Statute therefore provided shall be kept, and who will complain shall be heard. Resp.
Eodem Parliamento, That Masters of Ships and their Mariners may be paid their wages from the day of their being appointed to serve the King.
Resp. Taking of Ships shall not be but for necessity, and payment shall be reasonable as heretofore.
They pray, That Masters of Ships may have allowance for their Tackling worn in the Kings service.
Resp. Such allowance hath not been heretofore made.
50 Ed. 3. That the Kings Carriages for himself and his Houshold may be of Carts and Horses of his own, and not to charge the Commons therewith.
Resp. The King knoweth not how these things may be brought to pass, but if they be he will charge the Steward and Officers to make redress.
The Commons of Norfolk require that payments may be made to them and to all their Countries for sheep taken by the Pourveyors farre under the price against the Statute.
This Bill is otherwise answered within the Bill of Buyers. Resp.
[Page 71]The Commons of Devon pray that they may be paid for victuals taken of them by the Duke of Britain whilst he lay there of long time for passage, and that from thenceforth no protection be granted to any passenger to take any victuals ooher then for present pay.
Let the offendors for time past pay, and answere, and for to come the King will provide. Resp.
50 Ed. 3. That the Kings Pourveyor take of the Provision the Clergy, and cause them also to make carriage for the King, against the Ordinances and Statutes thereof made.
2. That the owners of the Ships taken up for the Kings service may be considered for their losses in the same, and that Marriners may have the like wages as Archers have.
It shall be as it hath been used.
2 R. 2.Resp. The Commons of the Dutchy of Cornwall shew how by taking up their Mariners, the Spaniards lately burned all their Ships, and otherwise much e [...]damaged them; and the like complaint was made by all the Seacoasts, and therefore pray remedy may be had.
The King by advice of his Councill will provide remedy therefore Resp.
3. R. 2. The Commons by their Speaker pray that it would please the King to appoint by Commission such as should enquire by all means of the Kings charges as well of his Houshold as otherwise.
The King granteth it, his Estate and Royalty alwayes saved; and it was enacted untill the next Parliament,Resp. That every Master of a Ship shall have for his reward for every Tonne weight for such his vessel as shall be taken up to serve the the King for every quarter of a year that they shall remain in his service three shillings four pen [...], begining [Page 72] the first day of their entring into the haven or place appointed.
5 R. 2. The Commons made Recapitulation of their requests, and namely of the Ordinance concerning Pourveyors,
Whereto it was replied for the King, That his charges were great as well concerning sundry particulars there uttered, as like to be greater for the solemnity of his marriage with the Lady Anne Daughter to the mighty Prince Charles Emperor of Rome; the which Lady was newly come into the Realm, the tenth part of which charges the King had not in treasure or otherwise; and that therefore it was, as necessary to provide for the safety of the Kings Estate as for the Commonwealth.
6 R. 2. The Commons pray, That the Statute of Pourveyors may be observed, and that ready payment may be made.
Resp. The Statute therefore made shall be observed.
2 R. 2. The Commons pray that every Ship taken up for the Kings service may towards her apparrelling take for every quarter, two shillings of every Tonne.
That the Statutes of Pourveyors and Buyers be executed, and that the Justices of the Peace have power to hear and determine the same.
That the Estate of the Kings Houshold be yearly viewed once or oftner by the Chancellor, Treasurer and Keeper of the privy Seal, and that the Statutes therefore appointed may be observed.
Resp. The King granteth to the first at his pleasure, and to the second he granteth.
10 R. 2. That every owner of a ship serving the King may have for every quarters service of the same his Ship [Page 73] three shillings four pence of every Tonne Leighter, or little Ship.
The King hath committed the same to his Counsel to be considered. Resp.
14 R. 2. They require remedy against Masters of Ships and Mariners.
The Admirall shall appoint them to take reasonable wages, or punish them. Resp.
17 R. 2. Pray that Remedy may be had against the Officers in London, who exact of Drovers bringing Cattle into Smithfield the third Beast.
The Maior and Sheriffs of London shall answere the same before the Council. Resp.
20 R. 3. A Bill was exhibited in Parliament amongst other things for the avoiding of the outragious expences of the Kings House, upon which particular the King seemmed much offended, saying he would be free therein, and that the Commons thereby committed offence against him and his dignity, which he willed the Lords to declare to the Commons, and their Speaker was charged to declare the name of him who exhibited the said Bill; which having done, and the Bill delivered to the Clerk of the Crown, the Commons came before the King shewing themselves of heavy cheer, and declared they meant no harme, submitted and craved pardon; and Sir Thomas Hexey a Clergie-man, who exhibited the Bill, was by Parliament adjudged to die as a Traitor, but at the request of the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops pardoned for life, and ordered to be by Sir Thomas Percy Steward of the House delivered to the custody of the Archbishop.
Anno 1 Hen. 4. The Commons pray that the King [Page 74] may have only two Tons of wine of every ship of wine coming to any port in the name of prize.
Resp. It shall be as heretofore.
6 H. 4. That the owners of every Ship or other Vessel serving the King may have allowance of every Tonne waight of the same Vessel three shillings four pence for every quarter towards the apparrelling of the said ship.
Resp. The Statute therefore appointed shall be observed.
7 & 8 H. 4. That all the Statutes touching buyers and Pourveyors may be executed, and that payment may be made for victuals taken by the Kings Pourveyors from the time of his Coronation.
Resp. The King is willing to doe the same, and that all Statutes of Pourveyors be observed.
11 H. 4. The King promiseth convenient payment for victuals taken by his Pourveyors.
Thomas Chancer chief [...]tler to the King sheweth what prices of wine the King ought to have of every Ship, and how much the King was deceived thereof, that the Citizens of London being exempt from the same, did use notwithstanding to make strangers free thereof.
Resp. The King sent for the Citizens heretofore, and further willeth that none shall enjoy any such liberty unless he be there a Citizen res [...]a [...]t and dwelling.
3 H. 5. The Commons pray that no Ship be taken to serve the King by any Letters Patents, but that the same Letters Patents may be seen before the Maior▪ and other Officers of the Town, that hire of the fraight, may be by them made and ready payment had ▪
Resp▪ The Statutes heretofore made shall be observed.
18 H. 6. Order was taken for the payment of the [Page 75] Kings debts and provision of his Houshold, and authority committed to the Kings Council to take order concerning Pourveyors, and the fourth part of the Tenth and Fifteenth to be imployed to the payment of the Pourveyance for his Houshold.
20 H. 6. The Commons pray that certain Lords, such as the King shall please, may have authority to settle good order in his Houshold, and that ready money be paid for victuals, carriages, and other dispenses of the same House.
Be it as is desired, Resp. provided that this extend not to impeach any Assignments, Grants, Payments, Benefit or Interest to any man lawfully granted, or had before this Parliament.
27 H. 8. cap. 24. The Kings Pourveyors may for the provision of the King, Queen and their Children take all victuals, corn, and other kinds of things whatsoever according to their Commissions, as well within the Liberties and Franchises as without, any Grants, Allowance, or other thing to the contrary notwithstanding.
1 & 2 Phil. & Ma [...]. It was ordained by Act of Parliament, That no Commission of Pourveyors should continue above six moneths; the County to be named where Beeves, Weathers Lambs Calves, Swine, Salt-fish, Corn, Butter, Cheese, Bacon, Conies, Pigs, Geese, Capons and Hens, and any other provision of victuals were taken, the proportions and numbers of them and a Docquet to be made all things taken. And cap. 6. No victuals shall be taken by the Kings Pourveyors within five miles of the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, nor in Oxford or Cambridge upon pain of forfeiture of four times the value, provided that the Act be not put in execution at any time or [Page 76] times whensoever the Queen and her heirs and successors shall please to come to both or any of the said Universities, or within seven miles of either of them, but be suspended during that time and no longer.
5 Eliz. cap. 5. Composition Fish heretofore granted to the Queens Majesty by the Subjects of this Realm travailing into Iseland, may be taken by her Majesties Officers and Pourveyors in such sort as the same hath been lawfully used to be taken before the making of this Act, saving to the Queens Majesty her Heirs and Successors, and to all other persons such Fishes as be known and used to be called Regall Fishes, whereunto her Majesty or the said other persons have or shall have right or interest for such recompence as heretofore hath been accustomed.
13 Eliz. cap. 21. Reciting the said Act of the 2 and 3 of King Phillip and Queen Mary; and that since divers of the Townships, Inhabitants and Res [...]ants within the Limits and Precincts aforesaid, having converted the benefit of the said Act to their private use and commoditie without any profit or commodities to the poor Schollars of either of the said Universities, whereby the Queens Majesty was not only not served of provision of Corn, Grain, and other victuall to be taken for her Majesties-provision, but also the said Universities were defrauded of the benefits and commodities to them intended. It was ordained that no person whatsoever, nor the Pourveyors of the Queen her Heirs and Successors, nor no Badger or Poulter should take or bargain grain, or victuals, within the compass of five miles of the said Universities, or within the Towns of Oxford and Cambridge without the consent of the Chancellors or [Page 77] Vice-Chancellors in writing under the Seal of either of the said Universities first had in writing: And if any person or persons within the said Precincts should refuse reasonably to serve the necessary provision of the said Universities, that then it should be lawfull to any of the Queens Majesties Takers or Pourveyors to provide any corn or victuall of any such person or persons within any part of the precinct aforesaid for the use of the Queen, as should be declared and notif [...]ed to the said Pourveyors or Takers to be persons not worthy of the said priviledge, for not reasonably serving the necessities of the said Universities by the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor for the time being of either of the said Universities with the assent of the two Justices of Peace res [...]ant within the said Universities, Town, or County under the hands and Seals of the said Chancellor, or Vice-Chancellor, and the said two Justices of the Peace, as the said Pourveyors or Takers lawfully may in any other place within the said Precinct, and not otherwise; Provided that the Act shall not be put in execution at any time or times whensoever the Queens Majesty, her Heirs and Successors shall come to any of both the Universities, or within seven miles of either of of them, but shall be in suspence during that time only and no longer.
And King Henry the seventh, who in the rage and scuffle of a fortunately fought Battel at Bosworth field, having found his Crown thrown into a Hathorn, or bush of Thorns, as a presage of the cares which usually attend the wearers, and by marriage once accounted the best of unions, happily established himself in the Kingdom, and stopt the issue of blood betwixt those two great [Page 78] contending Families of York and Lancaster; and having afterwards (as no giddy but a probable tradition, hath left it in the successive memories of the servants of the Royal houshold) for the better government and order of his Expences of his House, and their provision of Diet, put a rate or Reiglement as well in the quantity as quality and price thereof, which in those cheaper times was little less then the Market rate, or but that which might reasonably be afforded. It continued uncomplained of in the Reign of King Hen. 8. when Cardinal Wolsey Lord Chancellor of England, and the Kings Privy Council made certain Reiglements & Constitutions touching the well ordering & government of the Kings Houshold; the motives thereof were therein expressed to be al honne [...]r de Diu & a honneur & profit de Saint Eglise, & al honneur du Roy & a son profit & du profit de son peuple, for the honor of God, and the honour and profit of holy Church and the King and his People.
Which Rules and Rates being not held to be a publick grievance in all his Reign, and the Reigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Mary, some of the Counties in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, though the people thereof were most commonly well paid for their provisions by the Queens Pourveyors, finding some trouble and attendance in the procuring their monies to be paid for their commodities which were sometimes taken upon credit, by reason of so many Offices, Cheques, Intrada's and Comptrolments, which they were to pass through at the Court, did about the fourth year of her happy Reign petition her to accept the value in money to be yearly paid by [Page 79] the Countries, which she by no means hearkening unto, it came afterwards to an agreement what proportion those▪ and severall other Counties should yearly serve in Oxen, Calves, Muttons, Poultry, Corn, &c.
In which she was so carefull to preserve her Subjects and People from grievances, or just causes of complaints, as in Coke comment in Artic. super Chartas. Anno 32 of her Reign Nicholls one of her Pourveyors was attainted of Felony, and hanged for forcibly taking provisions without money: and those compositions and agreements for provision of the Houshold continuing all her glorious and happy Reign, and all the Reign of the peaceable King James, it was in the eighth year of his Reign in the case betwixt Va [...]x and Newman resolved by the Judges, and allowed for law, that it was lawfull for a Pourveyor (paying for them to take Cattle for the Kings House by virtue of the Kings Commission, and cited the book of 18 H. 6. 19 b. to that purpose. And in the third year of the Reign of King Charles the Martyr were none of the grievances then complained of in order to the obtaining of the Petition of Right, and confirmation of the Peoples Rights and Liberties, or of those which were then alleaged to be infringed. Although that in the Reign of King James some of his Pourveyors having taken greater quantities of provision for his House and Stable then ever came or were needfull to his use, and caused Timber to be cut down: thereupon in Anno 2. of his Reign it was resolved by all the Coke i [...] Mag. Charta 36. Judges of England and Barons of the Exchequer upon mature deliberation, that the Kings Pourveyors could take no Timber growing [Page 80] upon the Inheritances of the Subject, because it was parcell of their Inheritances no more then the Inheritance it self, of which the King and his Council being informed, he did by a Proclamation dated 23 Aprilis anno 4 of his Reign prohibit such their ill dealings, and divers Pourveyors were afterwards punished by the Court of Starre-chamber for Pourveying of Timber growing without the consent of the owners.
Nor had that fatal and ever to be bewailed Remonmonstrance of the House of Commons in Parliament the 15. of December 1641. in which was too industriously amassed and put together all the errors imaginable in the Government and Reign of that pious Prince, and more then could be proved any thing to charge upon the Pourveyance or Compositions for the provision of the Kings Houshold, but only that the people were vexed and oppressed with Exact Collection of passages betwixt the King and Parliament 7. Pourveyors and Clerks of the Market, neither in their nineteen Propositions in June, 1642. sent to the King at Oxford, wherein they would have lessened his power all they could, and extended their own, was there any thing proposed for the taking away of the Royal Pourveyance, or Compositions, or in other propositions afterwards sent thither, or in the Treaties at Uxbridge and the Isle of Wight.
Nor if causes and circumstances be as they ought, to be well weighed in the Ballance of Judgement, and all things rightly considered, could be any grievance or cause of complaint.
When as the remote Counties which had less benefit by the constant residence of Q. Elizabeth, King James, & King Charles the First, in their Chamber of London, [Page 81] the heart of the Kingdome did bear very little, and the near adjacent Counties; which by heightning their Markets and prices of all sorts of Commodities by a large improvement of their Lands and Rents to above twenty times more then [...]t was in the Reign of King Henry the seventh, and ten times more then it was in the eighteenth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth might better afford it, did not pay or bear much in the Pourveyance or Composition, which were made by the Justices of the Peace in each County upon consultation and agreement with the Officers of the Green-cloth in the Kings House, for serving in a certain quantity of provisions out of every County at such rates and prices as were agreed on betwixt them, as by a few instances of many may easily appear by what was yearly charged upon the Counties of Essex, and Midlesex, neer adjacent to London, and the Counties of Derby, Worcester and York, which were more remote, viz.
| The Kings price | Totall. | |||||
| l. | s. | d. | l. | s. | d. | |
| Wheat 500 quarters at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 166 | 13 | 4 |
| Oxen fat 20 at | 4 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 0 |
| Muttons fat 300 at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| Veals 300 at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| Porks 100 at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 33 | 6 | 8 |
| Boars 6 at | 0 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Bacon Flitches 30 at | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Lambs 1200 at | 0 | 1 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 0 |
Essex. Geese 5 dozen at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Capons 10 dozen at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Hens 30 dozen at | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Chickens 150 dozen at | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| Pullets 40 dozen at | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Hay 134 loads at | 0 | 8 | 0 | 53 | 12 | 0 |
| Oats 1426 quarters at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 285 | 4 | 0 |
| Litter 120 loads at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Wood 769 loads at | 0 | 3 | 0 | 115 | 7 | 0 |
| Coals 250 chalder at | 0 | 13 | 9 | 171 | 17 | 6 |
| Summe | 1201 | 0 | 6 | |||
| Kings price. | Totall. | |||||
| Wheat 200 quarters at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 66 | 13 | 4 |
| Veals 40 at | 0 | 12 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Veals 100 at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 33 | 6 | 8 |
| Green Geese 20 doz. at | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Capons course 10 doz. at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Hens 20 dozen at | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Midlesex. Pullets 20 dozen at | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Chicken 40 dozen at | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Hay 202 loads at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 40 | 8 | 0 |
| Oats 211 quar. 2 bush. at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 42 | 5 | 0 |
| Litter 180 loads at | 0 | 4 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| Wood 200 loads at | 0 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Summe | 285 | 3 | 0 | |||
| The Market price. | Totall. | Difference. | ||||||
| l. | s. | d. | l. | s. | d. | l. | s. | d. |
| 1 | 16 | 8 | 916 | 13 | 4 | 640 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 300 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 4 | 0 | 360 | 0 | 0 | 260 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 3 | 4 | 116 | 13 | 4 | 83 | 6 | 8 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 8 | 0 | 480 | 0 | 0 | 420 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 Essex. |
| 0 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 12 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 6 | 0 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 10 | 0 | 201 | 15 | 0 | 140 | 19 | 0 |
| 0 | 12 | 0 | 855 | 12 | 0 | 570 | 8 | 0 |
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 7 | 0 | 26 [...] | 3 | 0 | 153 | 16 | 0 |
| 1 | 10 | 0 | 373 | 0 | 0 | 203 | 2 | 6 |
| 4266 | 6 | 8 | 2931 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Market price | Totall | Difference | ||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 400 | 0 | 0 | 333 | 6 | 8 |
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 110 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 13 | 4 |
| 0 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| 0 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 Middlesex. |
| 1 | 10 | 0 | 303 | 0 | 0 | 262 | 12 | 0 |
| 0 | 12 | 0 | 126 | 15 | 0 | 84 | 7 | 0 |
| 0 | 10 | 0 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 7 | 0 | 70 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 1203 | 12 | 0 | 917 | 19 | 0 | |||
| Kings price. | Totall. | |||||
| l. | s. | d. | l. | s. | d. | |
| Oxen lean 40 at | 2 | 13 | 4 | 106 | 13 | 4 |
Derby▪ Muttons lean 200 at | 0 | 4 | 8 | 46 | 13 | 4 |
| Wax 200 weight at | 0 | 0 | 8 per lb | 7 | 9 | 1 |
| Summe | 160 | 15 | 9 | |||
| Kings price. | Totall. | |||||
| Oxen fat 20 at | 4 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 0 |
| Muttons fat 200 at | 0 | 6 | 8 | 66 | 13 | 4 |
Worcester. Stirks 20 at | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Lambs 150 at | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| Summe | 164 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Kings price. | Totall. | |||||
Yorkshire. Oxen lean 110 at | 2 | 10 | 0 | 275 | 0 | 0 |
| Price of the Market. | Difference. | |||||||
| l. | s. | d. | l. | s. | d. | l. | s. | d. |
| 6 | 10 | 0 | 260 | 0 | 0 | 153 | 6 | 4 |
| 0 | 14 | 0 | 140 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 6 | 8 Derby. |
| 0 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 4 |
| 414 | 18 | 8 | 254 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Market price | Totall | Difference | ||||||
| 9 | 10 | 0 | 190 | 0 | 0 | 110 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 133 | 6 | 8 |
| 2 | 13 | 4 | 53 | 6 | 8 | 43 | 6 | 8 Worcester. |
| 0 | 8 | 0 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 10 | 0 |
| 503 | 6 | 8 | 339 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Market price | Totall | Difference | ||||||
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 770 | 0 | 0 | 495 | 0 | 0 Yorkshire. |
[Page 86]And may shew with what justice, equality and due consideration those profitable Agreements and Compositions were made by the several Counties when as they did bear no other parts of the whole Compositions yearly served in kind for provisions for his Majesties late Royal Fathers House; and they in the general were no more then as followeth.
| l. | s. | d. | |||||
| Wheat | 3790 quarters at | 0 l. | 6 s. | 8 d. | 1263 | 6 | 8 |
| Oxen fat | 578 at | var. pretium | 1980 | 6 | 8 | ||
| Oxen lean | 915.110 at 50's. pr. | rest at 53 s. 4. d. | 821 | 13 | 4 | ||
| Muttons fat | 5150 | ad var. prec. | 1575 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Muttons lean | 1850 | ad var. prec. | 373 | 6 | 8 | ||
| Veals | 1231 | ad var. prec. | 386 | 16 | 8 | ||
| Porks | 310 | ad var. prec. | 88 | 13 | 4 | ||
| Stirks | 410 | ad var. prec. | 183 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Boars | 26 | ad 13 s. 4 d. prec. | 17 | 16 | 8 | ||
| Bacon. | 320 flitches. | ad var. prec. | 17 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Lambs | 6820 | ad 12 d. prec. | 341 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Butter | 40 Barrels | ad 45 s. br. | 60 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Geese | 145 dozen | ad var. prec. | 28 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Capons cours | 252 dozen | ad 4 s. doz. | 50 | 8 | 0 | ||
| Henns | 470 dozen | ad 2 s. doz. | 47 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Pullets cours | 750 dozen | ad 18 d. doz. | 56 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Chickens cours | 1470 dozen | ad var. prec. | 126 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Wax | 3100 weight | ad 8 d. lb | 115 | 17 | 8 | ||
| Sweet Butter | 46640 lb. | ad var. prec. | 804 | 6 | 8 | ||
| Charcoals | 1250 loads | ad 13 s. 9 d. load | 859 | 7 | 6 | ||
| Tallwood | 3950 loads | ad 3 s. load | 442 | 10 | |||
| Billets. | 3950 loads | ad 3 s. load | 442 | 10 | |||
| Faggots | 3950 loads | ad 3 s. load | 442 | 10 | |||
| Herrings | 60 br. | ad 13 s. 4 d. br. | 40 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Wine Caske from the Vintners 600 Ton at 3 s. 4 d. per Ton 100 l. | |||||||
[Page 87]And will upon the severest examination or inquiries appear to be no more then necessary for the food and provision of the Kings Houshold, those great Lords and Officers of State and persons of honor, extracted from the best Houses and Families of England which stand before him, and manage the many several offices and imployments in his House, their Tables Dyet and Bouche of Court allowed them; the many Knights, Esquires, Gentlemen & Yeomen which attend him in their monthly or weekly turns and courses, and do take their Diet and Lodging therein, which being not a few, and yet not much above the ninth part of the 10000 which daily follow the Court of France, made up of an hideous dissolute and unruly number of Pages, Lacquies and Footboyes, could not possibly be provided for and honorably & worshipfully maintained with lesser proportions in that princely, honorable, and plentiful manner in which the King and his royal Progenitors have alwaies kept their household and family and according to the honor and worth of those who are faithfully and decently to serve and attend him, where frugality and prudence, (which as antiently as in the later end of the raign of King Edward the first, when Fleta lib. 2. ca. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, & 24. Fleta a treatise so called was written appeares not to have been a litle) and a not sometimes but dayly care of expending no more then needs must, by those excellent Rules and Orders from the highest Office in the Court unto the lowest thorough all the rankes and degrees of it, without any lessening or diminution of the honor of it, which are not to be equalled or patterned in the Oeconomy or government of any of the Nobility, Gentry, Merchants Cittizens, or sorts [Page 88] of people whatsoever in the Kingdom.
Where Honor, and Majesty, sate in its greatest lustre, where the expences were great and princely, and yet such, as compared with other mens families, might seem impossible to bring the year about with so little, where Prudence and Largesse, Bounty, and Providence, were so combined, and entered into a League and Association, as if the Queen of Sheba, before the Erinnis of our fiery and factious Spirits had lighted us with her hellish Torch, to our shamefull Misdoeings, and Miseries, had viewed the honor of our King, and the order of his house, his many officers, and their manner of sitting at their meate, the attendance of his ministers, and their English (not Frenchified or Phantasticall) apparrell, she would not only have said as she did concerning Solomons Court and State, Blessed and happy are they that serve and stand before him (who hath power opportunity and meanes at all times to preferre and advance them, and their merits) but have wondered how it should have been done with so small an yearly expence, so litle noyse or trouble, and in so goodly an order.
Which the more then seldom extraordinary Embassadors of forraign Princes, coming hither may subscribe unto, when as for some dayes before their Audience, they have with some of every sort of the Kings Servants and Officers, selected to that purpose seene themselves attended in the plenty State and greatest of Royalty of the King or Prince from which they were sent, and in the mean time nothing wanting or missing in that of the Kings attendance, or magnificence, in his Court o [...] Family.
From whence at all times, Carelesnes Profusenes, and [Page 89] all manner of wast were so banished, as the Porters at the Gates were charged to watch and hinder the carrying out of meat and provision by such as should not, the Pastrie rated in their allowances for Spice, Sugar, Corance, &c. the servants took an oath of duty and obedience; and the Treasurer and Comptroller to make due allowance and payments with favourable demeanings, and cherish love betwixt the King and his people.
In Anno 7 Jac. Rates and orders were made and set touching the Kings Breakfast, and his particular fare as to qualities and proportions for Dynner and Supper, and Fish dayes; for the dyet of the great Officers and all other Officers and Servants having diet, and the like on the Queens side; Rates for Bouche of Court for Mornings and Evenings, Lights and Candles, and the Yeomen of the Guards diet; and Beefe ordered to be on Flesh dayes for the King, Queen and Houshold.
In anno 16 Jac. by advice of the Earl of Middlesex, Sir Richard Weston Knight, Sir John Wolstenholme, Sir William Pyt Knight, and other discreet men very much experienced in the Affairs of the world, appointed to lessen as much as might be the charges of his house: many good orders were made for the regulation of the Kings▪ Houshold, some abatements made in the allowance for his Breakfast by his own order, a Limitation and stint of Joynts of Meat to make Jellies, and all other compositions: the number and names of all Noblemen and Ladies attending the Court to be quarterly presented. And that the Prince should pay for his diet at his coming to Court (which the most narrow-hearted and frugall of fathers in private Families and Societies have not done (and [Page 90] his Countrymen of Scotland, and many English could not say he was) according to the rates he paid at his own House, and that when he should repair to any of the Kings Houses in remote places, he should pay for such of the Kings provisions as he should expend there according as they should be worth at the next Market. And yet in all that frugality and care to prevent wast, and the daily meeting of some of the Officers of the Greencloth in the Compting house, there were 240 gallons allowed at the Buttery Bar per diem, three gallons per diem at the Court gate for thirteen poor men, six Services or Mess of meat, and seven pieces of Beefe per diem as wast and extraordinary for the Kings honour. And there was no Sunday or other day of the week but the Tables of the great Officers and Lords entertained many Lords, Knights and Gentlemen which were not of the Houshold, but came to see the King, or make and attend their petitions and suits: and few Gentlemen of quality, Citizens or other persons of those multitudes whose busines or desires to see the Court brought them thither, but were taken in as Guests to dinner, with some of those many other Officers of the Court that had diet allowed them, it having been an antient custome after the King was set to dinner to search through all the Lodgings and Rooms of the House to find out Gentlemen and Strangers fit for and becoming the invitation of the Kings Servants to the Kings meats and provision for his servants: and in all those treatments and largess of house-keeping there wanted not a sober plenty of wine and beer out of the Kings Sellers, and an open house-keeping with so much sobriety as if it had not been an open housekeeping; wherein no drunkenness [Page 91] or debauchery was to be seen, as is too commonly in the now almost out of fashion open or free house-keeping at Christmas or other Festivals.
18 Jac. Regis Divers Ordinances were made for the diminution of the charge of the Kings house-keeping, the allowances of wast to be given dayly for the Kings honour reduced to a certainty, viz. 200 loaves of bread, 240 gallons of beer, remains of Wax and Torch-lights to be returned, the number of Artificers, Victualle [...]s and Landresses ascertained, number of Carts for Carriages stinted and proportioned to all degrees and Offices, the charge of the Stable being almost doubled to what it was in Queen Elizabeths time, to be lessened as much as may be; none to be sworn Servants, before the number of Officers should be reduced to what was formerly no Offices or Places in the Kings House to be sold, & all other good Orders to be put in Execution, & yet could at the same time by his especiall grace and favour remit to certain places some of his compositions.
Nor did those contrivances and endeavors to lessen the Kings charge of house-keeping die with King James, but were found to survive to his Son, and Successor his late Majesty King Charles the first, in the third year of whose Reign half the allowance for houshold diets was abated on fasting nights, and the carriages in every office reduced to a certain number: and when the composition or Country provision of Oxen or Sheep did by the Courts frugality sometimes exceed or make an overplus, they were sold and exactly brought unto an accompt for the defraying of other houshold charges, where, as his Royal Progenitors used to doe, he could in his greatest wants, and care of [Page 92] all fitting Espargne in his own diet and houshold, cause the Lord High Stewards Table in time of Parliament to be constantly abundantly and extraordinarily kept and furnished, to treat and dine the then numerous nobility and persons of honour coming to the Court and Parliament.
But all that was of Innocency, antient, legall and just Rights in it, backt and seconded by right Reason, the Lawes and reasonable Customes of the Land, the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy taken by all Magistrates, Justices of Peace, Officers, and many of the better sort of the people, and of every Freeman of every Trade and Company in London, and ordered to be taken by all men in the Kingdome to defend and maintain the Rights and Jurisdictions of the King and his Crown, and the interests, concernments, good, honor, safety, welfare and happiness of every man in particular being involved in that of their King or Prince, were not enough to perswade those who had found the sweetness of ruining him and all which were loyal and well affected to him, from pursuing the sinfull and abominable ends and designes of themselves and their great Master of Delusion the Devil, to murder him: but whilst they hunted him like a Partridge upon the mountains, and through more persecutions of mind and body, and a longer time then ever the righteous and holy David endured in his greatest afflictions, could take all that he had from him, his Lands, Revenues and Estate, and so much as his Plate for religious uses for his Chappel and Devotion, sell the Coats of the Yeomen of his Guard, break in scorn his great Seal of England by the hand and hammer of a common Blacksmith [Page 93] (which shewed what they intended to the life of the owner) drive and engage all men into a monstrous Rebellion & a slavery, which proved to be the consequence and just reward of it, and deprive him as much as they could of the loyalty, duty, love and obedience of his people, and having abundantly enriched themselves and their Godless praying party by the Crown Lands and Revenues of the Church, most of the Nobility and Gentry, and many other good men and their Families, did not think it reasonable to serve their Master for a little, but as a further reward and recompence for their care and diligence to oppress and ruine their King and his better Subjects, would be sure to make for themselves as good a Pourveyance and Provision as they could, upon pretences of some little losses in their own small and necessitous Estates, and allow one another besides their gaine of plundering, and traiterous and sacrilegious purchases out of the improvements of the Common misery, and washing as well as wasting three Kingdomes over in blood, some fifty pounds some ten, some four pounds a week towards thei [...] support and maintenance, and to make their proportions the more plausible, and to seem something reasonable, would not leave out of the account the well stretched Items of the losses and charges of their Grandchildren & married Sons and Daughters; and when they had finished their ungodly work, murdered the King, Monarchy, Magna Charta, Petition of right, and the Lawes and Liberties of the People, and converted their own sins into the bloody and unsure foundation of a Commonwealth, founded upon the blood and murther of their Soveraign, and many thousands of his loyal and religious [Page 94] Subjects, and the perjury of themselves and as many as they could perswade or constrain unto it, and the greatest of iniquities; and made the people (who got as much ease by it as the Asse in the Fable, who thought to make his burden of Sponges the lighter by lying down in the water with them) believe that when two parts in three of the Kingdome were undone to enrich a third, and brought under a slavery and arbitrary power of the mechanick and ruder sort of them, that their freedome from Pourveyance and Cart-taking was an especial deliverance, which amongst other wonderfull things, as they called them, pretended to be done for them, being only to buy Sadles for their reforming Legislators to ride upon their backs; and a favour much of kin to that of Pharoahs kind usage of the Children of Israel, when he set Task-masters over them to afflict them with burdens, made their lives bitter with hard bondage, caused them to make bric [...], and double the Ta [...]e thereof, and gather the straw, was recompence sufficient for all their money and sins laid out in that wicked and detestable cause, and for all that which they were to endure in this life and the next, and in that seeming holy but assured cheating a miserable and strangely deluded Nation, continued like the Egyptians in their way to the Red sea, and oppressing of Gods people, untill their Oliver and grand Impostor and Instrument had out-witted and undermined them, and ins [...]ead of many Tyrants had set up his single Tyranny; and having from an indebted and small Estate, made much less by a former drunken and debauched conversation, by which he was so streightned as not to be able to buy some oats or pease to sow a small parcel [Page 95] of ground, but to borrow some of a friend upon his promise of a Repayment upon his hoped for increase at Harvest, did notwithstanding neither then nor after a more plentifull crop of his wicked doings, and that great Estate which the sinnes of a factious and wicked part of the people had made him Master of, ever find the way to satisfie or repay.
And having largely pourveyed for himself, better then he could do in his Brewhouse, & put an Excise upon Ale & Beer, and intoxicated as many as he could seduce with an opinion that Rebellion was Religion, and gotten an Arbitrary power, with a large Revenue in Lands which was the Kings and other mens, an Army of twenty thousand Foot and ten thousand Horse, and a formidable Navy to be maintained at the peoples charge to continue their misery, and three hundred thousand pounds per annum to defray the charges of his tyrannical Government, took himself to be a Child of Providence, and something more then one of the smallest Branches of Cromwell alias Williams King Henry the eights Barber, and therefore in order to a Kingship or something by another name amounting to as much, made it his work to disguise and metamorphose the antient Government, decry our fundamentall Lawes and every antient constitution, dig up by the roots all that was not novel or assistant to his designs, & fit to make a head out of the Heels; and after he had taken an oath to maintain and preserve the Laws and Liberties of the people imprisoned Serjeant Maynard, Serjeant Twisden, and Mr. Wadham Windam, who pleaded in the behalf of a Client for them, thought it to be conscience, Law and Latin good enough to call our Magna [Page 96] Charta, magna Farta, and did so order his Convention, or thing called a Parliament of England, compounded and made up of time-servers, and a Medly of Irish and Scottish of the like complexion as they were brought in Anno 1656. by one of their Tooles called an Act of Parliament to ordain that pourveyance or Composition for the Kings house (which they were taught to alleage to be a grievance to the people and very chargeable (when there was none at all at that time in being in England, nor was ever intended by many of the worshipfull Mushrooms to be,) thereafter, should no more be taken under pain of Felony.
And was as great a kindness and ease to the people as if they had ordained that no more Subsidies (which seldome amounted to more then a tenth part of the late yearly Taxes should be imposed by Parliament, but Assessments at 70 thousand pounds, or one hundred and twenty thousand pounds per mensem, as often & as long as that which they called the supreme Authority should have or feign a necessity for it; or that offenders should be no more sent for by the Kings messengers, or tried by Juries and the known Laws of the Land, but at Cromwells High Court of Justice or Shambles lined with red or bloody Bayes: or that there should be no more use or trouble of the Train Bands, but an Army of 30000 domineering Redcoats or Fanaticks with their Bashaws or Major-Generals maintained at the peoples charge to keep or make them quiet under their vassalage, or slavery, or that there should be no more Coat and Conduct money, long agoe remitted by King Charles the Martyr, but free quarter as oft as any Plot should be feigned and contrived to Bugbeare them into more Taxes [Page 97] and Garisons, and make them the more willing to pay new Assessments, and content to imbrace their miseries.
But the Varnish and Fucus of those State-Mountebanks and Intruders being by time and many years lamentable experiments discovered, found out and detected by all men which had not been gainers by it, or bound their understandings and reason apprentices to the witchcraft or inchantments of the Devil and his Angels, chattering and canting Scripture on purpose to wrong and ensnare them.
If any in our times of pretence of much reason and little or no practise of it shall be so over inquisitive or curious as to demand.
CHAP. III. The reason of Prae-emption and Regall Pourveyance, or Composition for the Provision of the Kings Houshold.
WHich deserves a place inter Regalia & insignia Majestatis, amongst the speciall parts of Prerogative and denotations of Royal Majesty, it will besides the universality of it, and the allowance, direction and examples of the Law of Nature and Nations before demonstrated, be as obvious to all that will not willfully or purposely forsake the great road or highway of Reason and Truth, and creep into By-pathes of Error and Fancies, as the causes and right reason of tributes▪ self-preservation, gratitude and retribution for publick benefits, and the support of that happines, peace and plenty, which every man that would not be a Candidatus amongst such as are listed for Bedlam, [Page 98] would not only willingly enjoy but leave as a Legacie to his posterity.
And the objections that every [...]eller is to ask what price he pleaseth for that which is his own, that no man by Law can lesse [...] or take that liberty from him, which jure naturae, by the Law of Nature is due unto him, and that Jura naturae sunt immutabilia, the Laws of Nature are not be abrogated, that every Buyer is to have a free disposal of his own money, is not to be restrained in the pleasing of his appetite or f [...]ncy, or providing for his necessities or occasions in the giving what rate he will, or laying out of his own money, will be too weak to hinder or interrupt our passage to the conclusion or proving of it to be rational.
For that the Lawes of Nature, which takes care of particular mens just rights and liberties, do take a greater for the generall well-being of mankind, and do many times enforce particulars in order to common good, to yield and give place to Generals, and God himself, the natura naturan [...] great Master and Governor of Nature, and the greatest and most prudent of all Legislators, having all things past, present and to come before him and uno intuitu, looketh at once into them, who may well be believed to be better skilled in the making of Lawes then any of the sons of men, who at the best can only view the things that stand before them, or which are weakly imprinted in their memory, did in the righteous Lawes which he made for his beloved people of Israel and Children of the Promise, limit the taking of Interest for the mony which was their own, commanded them not to be usurers▪ to the poor of that people, and if they took a garment for a pledge to restore [Page 99] it unto Exodus 22. v. 24 & 25. & 23. v. 11. the borrower before the going down of the sun, ordered them to release their Creditors at the seven years end, and permit the poor to enjoy their Lands, their Vineyards and Olive-yards in that year of rest, and not to sow or till Leviticus c [...]. 25. v. 11, 14. their Land in the Jubile or fiftieth year, but to return every man into his possession, and in selling ought unto their neighbour, or buying ought of his hand, they should not oppress one another: And the good Nehemiah the righteous governor of a Remnant of that people, did not take it to be out of the power of the chief Magistrate to abate or mitigate unmercifull and hard hearted bargains and contracts in the lending of money one unto another, but was angry, and made them Nehemiah cap 5. forbear their usury, and restore to the Mortgagers their Lands, their Vineyards, their Olive-yards, and their houses also, the hundreth part of the money and of the corn, the wine and the oile which they exacted of them, and bound them unto it by an oath.
From the pattern, or by imitation of which unquestionable Lawes came that rule or reason given by the Wisigothes in a Law of theirs, prohibiting the stopping of the passage of ships or boats upon great rivers, upon the pretence of a right of Fishing, LL. Wisigoth. lib. 8.39. ut nullus contra multorum commune commodum suae tantummodo utilitati consulturus, that no man taking care only of his own private profit more then that of the Common-wealth, or many should do it, & our English Kings for publick utility and common good, which according to that Axiome of the Civil Law, that privatorum conventiones juri publicae derogare non debent, private mens interests or bargains are not to inconvenience or disturb the Publick, is to take place of every mans particular, long before [Page 100] any Acts of Parliament were made to bring usury into some reasonable compass, have punished excessive usury, not suffered any man Spelman▪ Glossar. in vocekernellare▪ kernellare, to embattel or build his house in the manner or form of a Castle, though it were upon his own ground, or at his own charge, nor to make a Park in his own ground without the Kings License; and from the rule of Interest Republicae ut re sua quisque bene utatur, that it is for the good of the Commonwealth, that every one should so use his own as not to doe any hurt to the publick, punished one that set his corn on fire; and in the Case of one Barrell in 5 Eliz. did by Decree of the Court of Star-chamber sequester part of his Estate to preserve it from his Extravagant expences, and hinder him from undoing of his wife and children, the abuse of propriety, and the evils arising by a misusage of it, being only thereby restrained as the prohibiting and punishing a Nusance, by a Writ or Indictment, or the bringing or suing out a Curia Claudenda, for not making of Fences, and the like remedies which our Laws of England have in many cases provided only to but and bound every mans propriety, but not to take it away or do any harme or hurt unto it, agreeable to the opinion of Grotius, who tells us out of the almost Christian De Offic. 155. Tully, that it is contra naturam ex hominis incommodo nostrum augere commodum, & natura non patitur ut aliorum spoliis nostras facultates copias opes augemus, against the rules of nature to increase our Estates, or gain by the spoils and damage of other men Et doli mali vox, saith that learned Grotius de [...]re [...]elli & pacis lib. 2.215. & 231. Grotius, & omne significat quod naturali juri & equitati repugnat, and that every thing which is contrary to equity and the Laws of [Page 101] Nature are to be interpreted fraud and deceit, neque verò tantum intellectum rerum, sed & in voluntatis usu quaedam contrahentibus inter se aequalitas debetur, & ne plus exigatur quam par est; and that not only in the right apprehension or understanding well what is bought, but in the exercise of the will, there be an equality (or rule of equity) kept and observed betwixt the contracters, so as nothing be exacted or required more then is fitting.
From whence the power of keeping Markets and Fairs, and of the meetings or gathering together of the people to buy or sell thereat, which have been so exceedingly profitable to the people, and so abundantly usefull, and not to be wanted, was so originally in government, and so inherent to Monarchy and Magistracy, as without the Kings Licence or approbation it could not without the danger of sedition or ill intended or dangerous Assemblies or Meetings of the people, be left to every man to do what he would in coming thither, nor be consistent with the Rules of Justice to permit the rich and mighty to oppress the weak and needy by enhaunce of prices, using false weights or measures, deceitfull dealing or sale of corrupt and unwholsome victuals: and in that particular also had no worse a foundation and originall then the Laws and command of the Almighty and the King of Kings, Levit. 19.35, 36. Ye shall doe no unrighteousness in judgement in mete, yard, in weight, or in measure, just ballances, just weights, a just Ephah and a just Hin shall ye have, a false ballance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight, a just weight and ballance are the Lords (or as the Latine hath it Judicia Domini sunt) Proverbs 11. v. 1. & 16. v. 11. all the weights [Page 102] of the bag are his; Levit. 27.3 & omnis aestimatio siclo Sanctuarii ponderabitur, and the Shekel of the Sanctuary was to be the Rule or Standard: Et statutum ergo erat in Haebraeor [...]m republica, ut omnes venditiones, emptiones, omnesque contractus qui pecunia conficiebantur probatis siclis juxta justum Sicli Sanctuarii conficerentur; and it was therefore, saith Menochius de Repub. Hebrae orum lib. 7. ca. 10. & 11. Menochius, a Custome or Law amongst the Hebrews, that all buying sellings and contracts made for money should be according to that Shekel, & magistratibus constitutis ementium indemnitati consultum est, and the care that buyers should not be deceived, belonged to the Magistrate.
The Athenians had their [...] Sigonius de Repub. Atheniens [...]um lib. 4. ca. 3. ad quos pertinebat curare ut venditores justis mensuris uterentur, Officers like our Clerks of the Market, which did oversee and take care that the sellers should sell by just and true measures, and the other Cites and parts of Greece were not without their Officers, qui negotiationi & Nundinationi praefuerunt, which were appointed to look to the Markets and Fairs, which Aristotel Politic. Aristotle likes so well of as he makes it to be primum ex necessariis, more then ordinarily necessary.
To which were somthing near related the [...] at Athens, qui curabant ut frumentum farinae & panes justo pretio venderentur e [...]rumque decem in urbe jus dicebant quinque in Piraeo, which ordered corn, bread, and other provisions to be sold at reasonable rates, ten of which had their Judicatories in the City it self and five in the Piraeum or Haven.
Whence probably the Romans their imitators, and after subduers, having learned it, had their Persius Sat. 6. & Juvenal Sat. 10. Rofinus de A [...] ti [...]u [...]tat. Rom u. [...]ib. 7. cap. 24. Aediles Cereales qui falsas mensuras frangebant, which broke [Page 103] any false Measures they could find, and imposed Fines upon offenders, quibus, as St. Hierom saith D. Hier. Ep. 4. vendentium rabies coercebatur, the extortion of sellers was hindred, and some ages after under their Emperors Pancirollus in notic. Imp. occidentis ca. 5. vini carnis & sabi [...] curam prefectus Annon [...] habebat ut ne immodico pretio obsonia venderentur, the Prefect or Surveyor of victuals and provision did take care that wine, flesh, salt and victuals, should not be sold at unreasonable prices aestimabantur pecora pro anni fertilitate & usu temporum, and set the rates of Cattel according to the plenty of the year or accustomed rates, Et pec [...]rum carniumque, & aliorum ad victum civium spectantium prefectus urbis arbiter erat: And the Governour of the City had also a power of rating the price of Cattel, flesh and other victuals: and the Civil Law informes us that in every Town of the Cod. lib. 10. de Po [...]der. Roman Empire, which was once extended over a great part of the world, there were some appointed to look to weights and measures.
Which the Gothes (as small friends as they were of the Civil Lawes) so well liked as they could not but cut out a pattern by it, and the Franks, Germans, Swedes and Spaniards, and all other Nations of Europe within the large lines of Communication of the Jus Caesareum, or Civil Law, though some of them as the Dutch, Hungarians and others gain the greater Excise or Tribute by the rise or heightning of the prices of many things which are sold at the Markets, in the great and Western Empire of the Romans, held to be so consistent with Digest. lib. 27. tit. 1.26. Cassiodorus varia [...]. lib. 6.18. & 23. Marant. Specul. Aur. parte 4.9. dist. Jud. & de indic mercator. right reason, and the ends and good of Government as by the love and liking or necessity of it they would make that and no other the path and [Page 104] readiest way to suppress or prevent the peoples too much exacting and oppressing of one another in the daily use of victuals and necessaries, as the Banda's or rates set by the Magistrates in Rome, Florence, Italy and Spain upon Butchers meat and other sorts of victuals and commodities, so as a child may be sent to Market and not be cozened will sufficiently evidence.
The Wisigothes ordained double the price, quantum de justo pretio fraudatum est, as much as was over and above their just price to be restored by the buyer to the seller; Et si in LL. Wisigoth. lib. 5.6. contractu venditionis minus precium datum fuerit & per fraudem; if in the bargain a lesser price was given by deceipt, aut etiam contra voluntatem vendentis amplius datum▪ precium, or a price greater then the seller would have taken.
And Four times the Edictum Theodorici Regis in Lindenbrogio 259. value of what was gained by deceipts by false weights or measures was to be paid to the party grieved.
The old LL. Almanorum capitl. 78. Almans did rate and set the price of Oxen.
The Emperor Charlemaigne commanded the Longobards, ut mensurae secundum jussionem suam aequales fiant, that their measures should, as he had ordained, be LL. Longobard. lib. 3. tit. 22. & Goldastus constitutiones Imperial. 151. equall, and in time of scarcity and famine limited the price of Oats and Barley.
The Emperor Frederick the Second in Anno 1224. ordained that deprehensus in dolo cibaria prohibita vel corrupta, vel vinum lymphatum pro puro vendendo, That if any of the Constitut. Sicularum lib. 3. tit. 36. Sicilians should deceive another, or sell prohibited or corrupt meat, or bad and adulterated wine (though by no worse ingredients then water) for good, he should pay a pound of the purest gold to his Exchequer: if he were poor, and could [Page 105] not pay it, he should be beaten, and if taken in the fault the second time should loose his hand, and the third time should be hanged; Et ad legitima pondera & mensuras merces quaslibet vendere voluit venditores; and commanding that all things should be sold by just weights and measures, ordained that whosoever should be found guilty in doing contrary thereunto, should pay a pound of the purest gold to his Treasury quam si dare non poterit condemnatus cum pondere & mensura ad collum ejus appensis in sui paenam (a well deserved punishment, and every where to be imitated) & aliorum exemplum per terram in qua fraudem commiserit publice fustigetur, which if he should not be able to pay, he was with the weight or measure hung about his neck for a punishment to deterre others from doing the like, to be beaten about the place where the fraud was committed, for the second offence to have his hand cut off, and for the third to be hanged.
The Leges Swecorum collectae per Reginaldum Ingemundum, l. 7 ca. 1. & 2. Swedes ordained that all moveables should be bought presentia testium, before witnesses, and imposed penalties upon any deceits used therein.
And in the former France, (for the modern ought to be distinguished from the antient, as having for the most part since unhapily exchanged their antient Laws & Liberties for an Arbitrary power) the survey & correction of weights and measures is as it was formerly, un droit de la couronne a right of the Crown, and antiently there were Roys des Merciers en toutes les Provinces de France proueus par le grand Chambrier de France qui avoyent la visitation des poids et balances, some Officers called Kings of the Charles Loyseau du droit de Police ca. 9. Mercers in every Province of France, appointed by the great Chamberlain of France, which [Page 106] were to visit the weights, measures and ballances; and Tiller saith that the grand Chambellan himself was therefore sometimes called Roy de Merciers & quand l' office Feodall du grand Chambrier avec ses dependances a es [...]e reiiny a la Couronne par le Roy Francois le premier en l' an. 1545 les Roys ont bien commis des visiteurs ou Roys des Merciers, &c. King of the Mercers; and that when the Office Feodal of the great Chamberlain with its dependances was united to the Crown by King Francis the first in the year 1545. the Kings of France have since appointed those visiteurs, &c. Et qu'en la menue merchandise qui sont les victualles et autres, petites, commoditez pour l' entretien et usage iournalier du peuple les Juges de Police y peuvent mettre tax et faire tout autre reglement pour empescher les Monopoles et autres abus mesme pour fair fournir l' habitant avant le Marchand qui les vent revendre; and as touching small Merchandize, as victuals, and other the like commodities for the daily use of the people, the Magistrates, or Judges appointed for that purpose, may set a rate or price, make orders to prevent ingrossings, monopolies, or other abuses, and command the seller to furnish the Inhabitants before such as buy to sell again; Et de cet article dependent les poids & mesures pour ce qu'en vain y mettroit en le prix si le poids et mesures n'y estoient certaines & justes; And to them the care of weights and measures appertained, for that otherwise it would be in vain to set the price, if the measures and weights should not be certain and just.
And our Saxon Kings did think the Markers deserved a more then ordinary care to be taken therein, when as King Alured or Alfred, as good in his government [Page 107] as his name, did as Sir Henry Spelman thinks most probably, ordain Court Leets to be holden twice a year in singulis Villis in every (or many) Towns of the Kingdome, and that in the multitude of those very atnient little Courts, which our Nobility and Gentry have ever found to be very usefull for their own just rights and power over their Tenants in their Regalities (as they are now called) and subordinate Jurisdictions; and if well observed and looked unto would be for the publick good and profit both of the King and all sorts of his people. The Steward gives at this day in charge to the Juries (little or not at all observed, the more is the pitty, to the great inconveniencies and grievances of the people) to inquire of deceits and abuses in Trade, or such as make or sell deceitfull wares, or sell by false weights and measures, of Bakers and Brewers which keep not the assise, prices, and quantities according to the Writing or (Roll) of the (Kings) Marshalsey, of Victuallers, and Fishers, selling at unreasonable rates; of Forestallers, Regrators, and Ingrossers, or which buy up Corn, Butter, Cheese, and other victuals with an intent to sell again to advance the price thereof, &c. King LL. Ed [...] vardi 2. Edward in Anno 912. did ordain that no man should buy any thing without a voucher, nor out of a Town, unless in presence of a Magistrate or other good men. King Aethelstani 12. Athelstane about Anno 930. orda [...]ned that extra oppidum quicquam viginti denariis carius aestimatum, no man should buy any thing out of a Town of above the value of twenty pence or within the Town, but in the presence of the Magistrate or the Kings Officer. King LL. Edgari 8. Edgar did about the year 960. ordain the price wooll with a nec pluris is vendatur, that more [Page 108] should not be given for it. LL. Canu [...] 9. & 22. Canutus made a Law against false weights and measures, and no man in City and Country was to buy any thing living or dead exceeding the price of four pence without the testimony of four good witnesses; and if he did and another claimed it, he should not vouch him that sold it.
The LL Edwardi C [...]nfessoris. 24. Thol or Toll, as we now call it, was before and at the Conquest usually paid pro libertate vendendi & [...]mendi, for licence to buy or sell, or as a Tribute upon the sale thereof.
Every man was Ibidem 38. prohibited to buy any thing sine fidejussoribus, without Vouchers or Pledges: And if the Seller had not Pledges, he was to be stayed or arrested untill he had brought a warranty: Et si quis aliter emeret quod stultè emisset cito perdet; And if any should otherwise buy he was quickly to loose what he had so foolishly bought.
By the Laws of LL. Gulielmi Conquestoris 43. William the Conqueror nemo emat quantum quatuor denariis aestimatur, neque de re mortua, ne que de viva absque testimonio quatuor hominum, aut de Burgo, aut de villa; no man was to buy any thing which amounted to the value of 4 d. without testimony of four witnesses of the Town or Village; Et ut nulla viva pecunia vendatur aut ematur nisi intra civitates; et hoc ante tres fideles testes, nec aeliquam rem vetitam sine fidejussore & warranto quod si aliter fecerit solvat & persolvat▪ & postea forisfacturam; nor to sell or buy any thing for money but within Cities, and before three witnesses, nor without a Voucher or warranty; and if any did otherwise they were to be fined, and at last incurre a forfeiture. Ibidem 60. Item nullum mercatum vel forum fieri permittatur, nisi in civitatibus regni, & [Page 109] jus suum commune & dignitatis coronae quae constituta sunt a bonis Ibidem 61. predecessoribus suis deperiri non possunt, nec violari, sed omnia rite, & in aperto, & per judicium [...]ieri debent, likewise that no Market be kept but in Cities, so that the right of the King and the dignity of his Crown, as it was constituted in the times of his good predecessors, might not be lost, defrauded, or violated; and that all things be rightly and openly done according to right and justice.
King Henry the 1. his Son (saith the Monk of Malmsbury) Sel [...]en Janus Anglorum & Malmesbury in leg bus Hen [...] ci prim [...] collect. per Seldenum & edit. per Cl. R [...] gerum Twisden Equit. Aurat. corrected the false Ell or Measure, so called of the Merchants, brachii sui mensura adhibita omnibusque per Angliam proposita, & causing one to be made according to the measure or length of his own arm, ordered it to be used through all England, and in his Laws reckoneth the punishment of false Coiners, and prohibiting and punishing of Forestall, or forestalling of Markets, inter Jura, his Rights & Royal Prerogatives; quae Rex Angliae solus & super omnes homines habet in terra sua, which belonged to him only as King of England, and Houeden, in H. 1. without an Act of Parliament ordered the rate and value of mony, which being the mensura rerum, measure & guide of all things in commerce and dealings one man with another, hath no small influence or power in the heightning or lessening of the price of things, and is such a part of Soveraignty, as the Parliament in their 19. high and mighty and unreasonable propositions sent unto the late King Charles the Martyr in his troubles in June 1642. never attempted to restrain or take from him.
In the Reign of King Henry the second, when (as Ranuphus de Glanvilla Chief Justice of England under him, saith in that book, which is generally believed to [Page 110] have been written by him) the Laws and Customes of England, being ratione introductis & diu obtentis, founded upon reason, and long used, had arrived to that perfection, as pauperes non opprimabantur adversarii potentia, nec a limitibus Judiciorum Glanvill in Proae [...]mio & lib. 14. cap. 7. propellabat quenquam amicorum favor & gratia; the poor were not oppressed by their adversaries power, nor did partiality or friendship hinder any from Justice, the inquiry and punishment of false measures and all manner of deceipts did appertain Coronae Regis, to the King only.
Justices in Eyre were after the return of King Richard the first from his Captivity sent into all Counties of England to enquire amongst other things de Hoveden Annal parte posterior. 423. Faeneratoribus & vinis venditis contra Assisam & de falsis mensuris tam vini quam aliarum rerum, of Usurers, and of wine sold contrary to the Assize, and of false measures as well of wine as other things.
In Anno quarto of King John, being thirteen years before the granting of Magna Charta de Libertatibus Angliae, the great Charter of the Liberties of England, the King did by his Edict and Proclamation command the Assize of bread to be strictly observed, under the pain of standing upon the Pillory, and the rates were set,Mat. Paris 208. & the Assise approved per Pistorem (as Matthew Paris saith) Gaufridi filii Petri Justiciarii Angliae, & Pistorem R. de Thurnam, by the Baker of Jeoffry Fitz Peter Justice of England, and the Baker of R. of Thurnam.
And in the Magna Charta, and Liberties granted by him afterwards: at Running Munde or Mead near Stanes assented (which our Ancestors and Procurers of that Charter believed to be for a publick good) that una mensura vini & cervisiae sit per totum Regnum, & una mensura [Page 111] bladi scilicet quarterium Londinense, & una latitudo pannorum tinctorum & russetorum, & Char [...] Regis Johannis in Mat. Paris 258. haubergetorum) panni genus, a kind of Cloth, saith Sir Henry Spelman, then so called) there should be throughout all England one measure of Wine and Beer, and the like of Corn, and of the breadth of Cloth died, and russet, or other kinds.
And was confirmed by 2. H. 3. cap. 25. King Henry the third his Son in Anno 9. of his Reign, who by an Ordinance made by the Kings command, and on the behalf of the King (howsoever it be stiled a Statute, and is placed in our Statute book collected by Mr. Poulton, amongst those which he calleth Statutes incerti temporis, made in the Reigns of Hen. 3. Ed. 1. or Ed. 2. but cannot assign by whom or in what years or times, but in all probability in the Reign of King Henry the third) did ordain that no Forestaller which is an open oppresser of poor people, and of the Commonalty, and an enemy of the whole Shire and Countrey, which for greediness of his private gain doth prevent others in buying Grain, Fish, Herring, or any other thing to be sold coming by Land or waters, oppressing the poor and deceiving the rich, and c [...]rrieth away such things intending to sell them more deer, should be suffered to dwell in any Town; he that shall be convict thereof shall for the first offence be amerced and lose the thing so bought, and for the second time have judgement of the Pillory, the third time be imprisoned and make Fine; and the fourth time abjure the Town. And this Judgement to be given upon all manner of Forestallers, and likewise upon them that have given them counsel, help, or favour.
And providing that his people should not be oppressed with immoderate & unreasonable prices in the buying of food and victuals and other necessaries did by [Page 112] his Writ limit the price of Lampreys; [...]laus. 10. H. 3. m. 23. and had, as his Royal Progenitors such a power and just Prerogative of regulating and well ordering of Markets and Fairs, as notwithstanding any Charters or Grants of Fairs and Markets to Cities and Towns, he did in anno quinto of Claus. [...]. H. 3. m. [...]. his Reign, upon a complaint of some Merchants of Lynn, that when they came to sell their goods and Merchandize at Norwich, the Merchants (or Tradesmen) took away their goods and Merchandise to the value of three hundred marks; by his writ give them power to arrest and seize any goods of the Norwich Merchants which should come to any Fairs at Lyn, untill that Justice should be done unto them: And in Claus. 49. H 3. m. 11. in do [...]s [...]. anno 49. of his Reign commanded the Barons of the Exchequer that they should inroll, and cause to be executed his Letters Patents of a Confirmation to the Citizens of Lincoln of a Charter of King Henry the second his Grandfather, that the Sheriff and other the Kings Officers and Ministers of Lincolnschiry should not hinder forraign Merchants to come to Lincoln to trade there ita rationabiliter & juste, as reasonably and justly as they were wont to do in the times of his great Grandfather Henry the first, his Uncle King Richard, and his Father King John, or at any time in his own Reign, untill his first going over the Seas into Britain; for the Kings of England, saith the learned Sir John Davies Sir John Davies A [...]gument upon the question of Impositions. have always [...]ad a special Prerogative in the ordering and government of all Trade and Traffique in Corporations, Markets and Fairs within the Kingdom, which the Common Law of England doth acknowledge and submit unto, as amongst many other things may appear, by the Charter granted to the Abbot of Westminster [Page 113] mentioned in the Register of Writs wherein the King doth grant to the Abbot & his Successors to hold a Fair at Westminster for two and thirty dayes together with a Prohibition,Register 167. that no man within seven miles thereof should during that time buy or sell but at that Fair.
Whence for the freedome of Markets and Fairs, protection in going and retorning, and other immunities had their extraction and original, and no less just and reasonable then antient foundation, those duties of Toll or Tribute for all things sold in them, & the Exemptions of the Kings own Tenants or in Auntient demeasn, by writs de quietos esse de Theloneo to be Toll-free,Register 258. à regale, and power (not denied to any forreign Prince or King in Christendome, or the States of Holland in their free, as they would be called, Common-wealth) the benefit and authority whereof most of the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation, tanquam Reguli, as little Kings, do by the Charters and Grants of the Kings of England, or a Prescription or time immemoriall, which supposeth it now, injoy in their Manors under that part only of his Prerogative, and many Cities, Boroughs, and Towns Corporate, by their Charters have likewise not only before the 49 of Henry third, but in almost every Kings Reign since their Liberties, Customes, and Franchises concerning their Markets and Fairs, and the assise and correction of victuals.
Whence also were deduced the Standard kept in the Exchequer for all weights and measures, the Kings power of the Mynt, coyning, enhauncing, or decrying the value of moneys, and his publick Beam or Weighhouse in London, where all Merchandise brought from [Page 114] beyond the Seas are or should be justly weighed.
And whence it came that King Henry the 3. in the ninth year of his Reign caused the Constable of the Tower of London to arrest the Ships of the Cinque-Ports on the Thames, and compel them to bring their Corn to no other place but only to the Queens Hithe, charged in anno undecimo of his Reign the said Constable to distrain all Fish offered to be sold in any place but at Queen Hithe, and that Tolls and payments were then and formerly made and paid to the Kings use for Corn, Fish, and all other provisions brought thither, or to Down or Dowgate (the rent and profit whereof were afterwards in Pa [...]. 31 H. 3. anno 31. of his Reign granted and confirmed to the Maior and Commonalty of London at 50 l. per annum Fee-farme.) And in Anno 14 H. 3. forraign Ships laden with Fish were ordered to unlade only at Queen Hithe, and if any did contrary thereunto he should be amerced forty shillings.
Whence also proceeded that well known and antient Office of the Clerk of the Markets in the later end of the Reign of King Edward the first, Fleta lib 2▪ [...]ad. 8. who was not to be a stranger in the prices or rates of the Markets, for his Office extended something further then the care of just weights and measures, and, as Sir John Davies saith, was to oversee and correct all abuses in Markets and Fairs, it being said in Fleta, that ipse in notitia assisarum panis, vini, mensurarum, cervisiae debet experiri, ut inde notitiam habeat pleniorem, he ought well to inform himself of the assises of Bread; Measures, Beer and Wine (the later of which was not assised or rated by the assisa panis & cervisiae in anno 51 of Henry the third) and no man could [Page 115] be fitter to watch and hinder (for the Justices in Eyre came but twice a year or seldome into every County) Forestallers, or such as made the Markets dearer, or informe or give evidence thereof to the Justices in Eyre, or Juries impanelled by them, then the Clerk of the Markets, who was probably attendant in all the Iters or Eyres, for otherwise the Juries who had it then in charge to inquire of false weights and measures, or such as buy by one measure and sell by another, would have wanted, or not so well have had their evidence; and the Justices in Eyre could not so well inquire in their Eyres or Circuits de custodibus mensurarum, of the Guardians of the measures (or Clerks of the Market, for so they may be understood to be) which took bribes or gifts to permit false Measures, if there had been but one Clerk of the Market infra villatas & virgam hospitii Regis, within the Townships or Virge of the Kings House: or if as Sir Edward Coke supposeth, the Clerks of the Market had been penned within the narrow compass of the Kings House and the Virge thereof, or that the cares of the Fairs and Markets, and the Justice of the Kingdome as to that concernment had been but only calculated for the Kings Houshold, and confined unto it.
When as Bracton a learned Judge sub ultima tempora Henrici Tertii, in the later end of the Reign of King Henry the third, hath recorded in his book de Legibus & consuetudinibus Angliae, of the Lawes and Customes of England ▪ the Justices in Eyre did enquire Bracton lib. 3. de Coronae 116. & 120. de mensuris factis & juratis per Regnum si servatae sint sicut praevisum fuit & de vinis venditis contra Assisam, &c. of the Measures sworn to be observed whether they were [Page 116] kept as it was ordained, and of Wines sold contrary thereunto: And was of opinion that it was gravis praesumptio contra Regem & coronam, & dignitatem suam si assisae statutae & juratae in regno suo ad commuem Regni sui utilitatem non fuerint observatae, a great offence against the King, his Crown and Dignity, if the assizes or rates which were appointed and sworn to be kept in the Kingdome to the common profit or weal publick thereof, should not be kept.
Which do fully evidence that those antient Rights of the Crown were inquirable in the Eyres and Leets long before that which is called a Statute of view of Frank pledge in anno 18 Ed. 2. was made, which at the best was but declaratory of what was before the Common Law, & some other antient Customes of England.
And anno 51 H. 3. in the assisa panis & cervisae being as Decrees or Rates ordained (which as to Ale and Drink the Judicious and right-learned Sir Henry Spelman believeth was Spelman Glossa [...]. in voce assisa. altioris originis, and as antient as 18 R. 1. mutatis ratione seculi mutandae, to be altered and changed according to the rates and prices of Barley, and what they made it with) and confirmed by Inspeximus of the Ordinances of divers Kings of England the Kings Progenitors, which set the assise of Bread and Ale, and the making of measures; and howsoever stiled a Statute, appears not to have been an Act of Parliament, but an Exemplification only made of those Ordinances and Orders by King Henry the third at the request of the Bakers of Coventry, mentioning that by an Act of Parliament made in the first year of his Reign, he had granted that all good Statutes and Ordinances made in the times of his Progenitors [Page 117] aforesaid, and not revoked, should be still holden, in which the rates and assise of bread are said to have been approved by the Kings Bakers, and contained in a Writing of the Marshalsey (of the Kings House where the Chief Justice and other Ministers of Justice then resided) and by an Ordinance or Statute made in the same year for the punishment of the offending Bakers by the Pillory, and the Brewers by the Tumbrel or some other correction. The Bayliffs were to enquire of the price of Wheat, Barley and Oats at the Markets; and after how the Bakers bread in the Court did agree, that is to wit waistel (which name a sort of bread of the Court or Kings House doth yet retain) and other bread, after Wheat of the best, of the second, or of the third price; also upon how much increase or decrease in the price of wheat a Baker ought to change the assize and weight of his bread, and how much the wastel of a farthing ought to weigh, and all other manner of bread after the price of a quarter of Wheat (which shewes that the Tryal, Test; Assay, or Assize of the true weight of bread to be sold in all the Kingdome was to be by the Kings Baker of his House or Court, and that there was the Rule or Standard) and that the prices should increase or decrease after the rate of six pence.
And Fleta an Author planè incognitus, as to his name (saith Mr. Selden) altogether unknown who writ about the later end of the Reign of King Ed. 1. tells us, that amongst the Fleta lib. 1. cu. 10. & lib. 2.75. & Selden. dissert. in Fletam. Capitula coronae & itineris, the Articles in the Eyre concerning the Pleas of the Crown which were not then novel, or of any late institution) enquiries were made de vinorum contra rectam assisam venditoribus, & de mensuris, item de Forstallariis victualibus [Page 118] [...]nalibus mercatum obvi [...]ntibus per quod carior sit inde venditio, & de non virtuosis cibariis; of wine sold contrary to the assize of Measures and Forestallers of the Market to make victualls dearer, and of such as sold corrupt food or victuals.
An. 31 Ed. 1. it was found by inquisition that Bakers and Brewers, and others buying their corn at Queen-Hithe were to pay for measuring, portage, and carriage for every quarter of corn whatsoever from thence to Pat. 17 E. 2. Westcheap, St. Anthonies Church, Horshoo Bridge, to Wolsey street in the Parish of Alhallowes the less, and such like distances, one ob. q; to Fleetstreet, Newgate, Cripplegate, Birchoners Lane, East-cheap, and Billingsgate, one penny.
17 Ed. 2. Stowes Survey of London ▪ By command of the King by his Letters Patents a Decree was made by Hamond Chicwel Maior, That none should sel Fish or Flesh out of the Markets appointed, to wit, Bridge-streat, East-cheap, Old-Fishstreet, St. Michaels Shambles, and the Stocks, upon pain to forfeit such Fish or Flesh as were sold for the first time, and for the second offence to lose their Freedome.
And so inherent in Monarchy and the royall Praerogative was the power and ordering of the Markets, and the rates of provision of victuals, and communicable by grant or allowance to the inferior Magistrates as the King, who alwayes reserves to himself the supreme power and authority in case of male administration of his delegated power, or necessity for the good and benefit of the publick, is not thereby denuded or disabled to resort unto that soveraign and just authority which was alwayes his own, and Jure coronae, doth by right [Page 119] of his Crown and Regal Government belong unto him, as may appear by the forfeiture and seising of Liberties and Franchises, and many other the like instances to be found every age.
And therefore 41 King E. 3. without an Act of Parliament, certain Impositions were set upon Ships & other Vessels coming thither with Corn, Salt, and other things towards the charge of cleansing Romeland. And 3 Ed. 4. the Market of Queen Hithe, being hindred by the slackness of drawing up London Bridge, it was ordered, Stows Survey of London, 6 [...]2. that all manner of Vessels, Ships or Boats, great or small resorting to the City with victuals should be sold by retail, and that if there came but one Vessel at a time, were it Salt, Wheat, Rye, or other Corn from beyond the Seas, or other Grains, Garlick, Onions, Herrings, Sprats, Eels, Whitings Place, Codds, Mackarel, &c. it should come to Queen-Hithe and there make sale; but if two Vessels came, the one should come to Queen-Hithe, the other to Billingsgate; if three, two of them should come to Queen-Hithe; and if the Vessels coming with Salt from the Bay were so great as it could not come to these Keyes, then the same to be conveyed to the Port by Lighters.
Queen Elizabeth by advice and order of her Privy Councell in a time of dearth and scarcity of corn, commanded the Justices of Peace in every County to enforce men to bring their Corn to the Markets, limited them what proportions to sell to particular persons, and ordered them to cause reasonable prices, and punish the Refusers.
And the like or more hath been legally done by the Kings authority in the Reign of King James and King Charles the Martyr, in the beginning of whose Reign by [Page 120] the advice of all the Judges of England, and the eminently learned Mr. Noy the then Attorny Generall, rates and prices were set by the Kings Edict, and Proclamation, upon Flesh, Fish, Poultry, and most sort of victuals, Hay, Oats, &c. commanded to be observed.
All which reasonable laws, constitutions & customes were made, confirm'd, & continued by our Kings of England by the advice sometimes of their lesser and at other times of their greater Councels the later whereof were in those early dayes, composed of Bishops, Earles and Barons, and great and wise men of the Kingdome, not by the Commons or universall consent and representation of the people by their Knights of the Shires or Burgesses, sent as their Procurators ad faciendum & consentiendum, to consent unto those Acts of Parliament which should be made and ordained by the King and the Barons and Peers of England; for they were neither summoned for that purpose, nor represented in Parliament untill Anno 49 H. 3. and in Anno 26 or 31 Ed. 1. were called thither only ad faciendum quod de communi consilio per Comites, Barones, & ceteros Proceres, to do those things which by the King and the Barons and Nobiltiy) by their Common Council should be ordained, and the Procuratores Cleri, Proctors or Representers of the Clergy (not Bishops who sate in Parliament, and were summoned unto it as a third Estate, and Barons inter Proceres Regni, amongst the Nobility of the Kingdome) ad consentiendum, to consent only to such things as should be ordained in Parliament, as hath been learnedly and accurately proved by examination of antient Records and Parliament Writs by Prynne second part of a brief Register of the forms of Parliamentary Writs, 22 39.67. Mr. William Prynne in his second [Page 121] part of a Register and Survey of severall kinds and forms of Parliament Writs.
And may well be deemed to be no less then Law and right Reason, when as divers Acts of Parliament made by the advice of the Lords Spiritual & Temporall, and the assent of the Commons summoned & called unto Parliament by the Kings Writ to consent only unto such Laws as should be made therein, with the Royal assent and breath of life given by the King unto such Acts without which those Petitions and Bills which were intended, and desired by the people to be Acts of Parliament, are but as the matter, to the form, presented unto the King in his great Councill and Parliament, and amount unto no more in the best of value and constructions which can be put upon them, then Petitions and Requests, or as bodies without souls, or pieces of Silver or Gold uncoyned, having not the power or effect of money without Caesars Image and Superscription and the Royal Stamp and Authority given them, have enacted and ordained the same or the like cares and provisions, as that without date made in the Reign of King H. 3. or Ed. 1. or Ed. 2. and to be found amongst the Statutes of 17 Ed. 2. if all or some of them were not made by the Kings Royal Authority and power only, that the Toll of a Milne shall be taken according to the custome of the Land, strength of the water-course, either to the twentieth or four and twentieth corn; and the measure whereby the Toll must be taken, was to be agreeable to the Kings measure, and taken by the rate and not by the heap or cantell.
The Assise of Cap. 6, 7. Ale to be according to the price of Corn. Cap. 8. Butchers to be punished which sell unwholsome [Page 122] flesh: [...]ushels, Gallons, and Ells shall be kept by Mayors, Bayliffs, &c. signed with the Kings Seal, and he that buyeth or selleth with any other shall be amerced. No [...]ap 9. grain shall be sold by the Heap or Cantell but Oats, Malt, and Meal. Wines by the Act of Parliament of 4 E. 3 cap 1 [...]. 4 Ed. 3. shall be assaied twice a year, and be sold at reasonable prices, and a Cry (or Proclamation) made that none should be so hardy as to sell wines but at a reasonable price, regarding the price that is at the Ports from whence the Wines came, and the expences, as in carriage of the same from the Ports to the places where they be sold. No 5 E. 3. ca. [...] man may sell Ware at a Fair after i [...] is ended. Victuals 23 E. 3. cap. 6. shal [...] be sold at reasonable prices; and Butchers Fishmongers, Regrators, Hostelers, Brewers, Bakers, Poulters, and all other sellers of all manner of victuals shall be bound to sell the same victuall for a reasonable price, having respect to the price, that such victuals be sold at in the places adjoyning; so that the said Sellers have moderate gains, and not excessive, reasonably to be required according to the distance of the place from whence the said victuals be carried.
None 25 E. 3. cap. 3. shall Forestall Wines and Victuals, Wares and Merchandizes coming to the good Towns of England by land or by water to be sold. Auncel weight shall be put out, & weighing shall be by equall ballances, every measure shall be according to the Kings Standard, and be striked without heap.
It shall be 31 E. 3. cap. 2. Ibidem ca. 5. Felony to forestall or ingross Gascoine wine: Red and white wine shall be gauged; Ballances and Weights shall be sent to all the Sheriffs of England, and all persons are to make their Weights and Ballances by them. And 31 E. 3. cap 10. in anno 31 Ed. 3. because saith the [Page 123] Statute the Fishers, Butchers, Poulters, and other sellers of Victualls in the City of London, by colour of some Charters, and by evil intepretation of Statutes made in advantage of the people, that every man may freely sell victuals without disturbance, and that no Maior, Bailiffe, or other Minister ought to meddle with the sale. It was accorded & assented, That every man that bringeth victuals, whatsoever they be, to the City by land or by water, may freely sell the same to whom shall please him without being interrupted or impeached by Fisher, Butcher, Poulter, or any other, and that the Maior and Aldermen of the said City may rule and redress the defaults of Fishers, Butchers, and Poulters, as they doe of those which sell Bread, Ale or Wine.
In the same year upon the complaint Statute of Herring [...]. 31 Ed. 3. ca. 2. of the Commons that the people of great Yarmouth did encounter the Fishers bringing Herrings to the said Town in the time of the Fair, and buy and forestall the Herrings before they come to the Town: And also the Hostlers of the same Town which lodge the Fishers coming thither with Herrings, would not suffer the said Fishers to sell their Herrings, nor meddle with the sale thereof, but sell them at their own will as dear as they will, and give to the Fishers what pleaseth them; whereby the Fishers did withdraw themselves from coming thither. It was enacted that Herrings should not be bought or sold upon the sea. That Fishers be free to sell their Herrings without disturbance of the Hostelers, that when the Fishers will sel their Merchandises in the Port they shall have their Hostelers with them, if there they will be, and in their presence openly sell their Merchandises; and that every man claim his part for the taking after the rate for the same Merchandises [Page 124] so sold. That no Hosteler or other buy any for to hang in their houses by Covin, nor in other manner at a higher price the last then forty shillings, but less in as much as he may. That no Hosteler nor any of their Servants, nor any other shall by land or Sea forestall the said Herrings. No vessel called Piker of London, nor of no other place shall enter into the said Haven to abate the Fair in damage of the people. That all the Hostelers be sworn before the Wardens of the Fair, and enjoyned upon a great forfeiture to the King to receive their Guests well and conveniently, and to aid and ease them, reasonably taking of every Last that shall be sold to other Merchants then the said Hostelers 40 d. That of Herrings sold to the same Hostelers to take in their houses, the same Hostelers shall take nothing, and that because of the profits which they shall have of victuals sold to their said Guests, and of the advantage which they have more then other of carriage of Herrings so by them bought and hanging in their houses, and for the advantage of 40 d. the Last, take upon them for the payment of all the Herrings that shall be sold by their assent to any persons, and the hundred of Herring shall be accompted by sixscore, and the Last by ten thousand. That the people of London at such Fair shall bring the Last from Yarmouth to London for one Mark of gain, and not above, That the Fishers be compelled to bring the remnant of their Herrings not sold in the Road of Kirkley to the Fair to sell them; so that none sell Herring in any place about the haven of Yarmouth by seven miles, except in three Towns of Yarmouth, that is to say, Easton, Weston, and Southton, unless it be Herrings of their own Fishing.
The Ibid ca. 3. Chancellor or Treasurer taking to them Justices [Page 125] and other the Kings Council, shall have power to ordain remedy touching the buying and selling of Stock-fish of Saint Botolph, and Salmon of Barwick, and of Wines and Fish of Brist [...]ute and else-where, to the intent the King and his People may better be served, and have better Markets then they have had before this time; and that the Ordinances by them made in this party be firmly holden.
Doggers and Landships of Blackney Haven shall discharge their Fish there, Ibid. ca. 1. & 2. the price of Dogger-fish and Loichfish, that is to say, Lob, Ling and Cod, shall be assessed by the Advice of the Merchants and Rulers comming to the Fair of Blackney, and of the owners of the ships before any sale be made, which shall be holden during the Fair; Every man shall buy Herrings openly, and not privily at such price as may be agreed betwixt him and the seller. And 36 E. 3. Ordinance of Petri [...]g. no man shall enter into bargain upon the buying of the same, till he that first cometh to bargain shall have an end of his bargain greable to the seller, 42 E 3. c. 7. and that none increase upon other during the first bargain.
Londoners 6 R. 2. ca 7. and other shall sell victualls by retail: Sweet wines may be sold by retail at the price of Gascoyne wines: Victuallers shall have but reasonable gains according to the discretion of the Justices of Peace: there shall be but eight Bushels striked to the Quarter; the severall 13 R. 2. c. 8.15 R. 2. ca. 4.2 H. 6. ca 11.18 H. 6. ca. 8. measures of vessels of wine, Eels, Herrings and Salmons, 12 E. 4. c 8. and vessels of Oil and Honey to be gauged.
12 E. 4. ca. 8. Divers Patents being granted under the great Seal of England to divers persons to be Surveyors and Correctors of beer, ale, wine and victuals within divers Cities, Boroughs and Towns, it was ordained, That they should be void, and that the Mayors, Bayliffs, [Page 126] and chief Governours of Cities, Boroughs and Towns Corporate shall be the only Searchers and Surveyors of victualls; for that every City, Borough, and Town of substance in England for the most part have Court Lee [...]s and views of Frank-pledge holden yearly within the same Cities, Boroughs and Towns, surveying of all victualls therein, and correction and punishment of the offenders, and breakers of the Assise of the same which ought not to be c [...]ntraried.
Ordinances made by 22 E. 4. c. 2. Guilds, Fraternities, and Companies of Trade shall be examined and approved by the Chancellor, Treasurer of England, or Chief Justices of either Benches, or three of them, or by Justices of Assise in their Circuits, to prevent and hinder unlawfull Ordinances as well in prises of wares as in other things to the Common hurt and damage of the people. When any victualler is chosen Officer in any City (except 3 H. 8. c 8. London, York, and Coventry) Borough or Town Corporate, which by virtue of his Office should have the Assising and Correction for selling of victualls, that then two discreet and honest persons neither of them being Victuallers, shall during that time be sworn truely to sess and set the price of victuals; such as sell false and mixt Oils to be searched and punished, and such as destroy wild [...]oul, whereby formerly the Kings most honourable Houshold Ibid. ca. 14.25 H. 8. ca. 11. and the houses of Noblem [...]n & Prelates were furnished at convenient prices to be punished.
Upon complaint made for enhauncing of prices of victuals 24 H. 8. ca. 3. & 4.25 H 8 ca. 2. the prices thereof shall be assessed by the Kings Councellors and Officers, and they which have victuals to sell shall sell them at the same prises.
The 28 H. 8.14.37 H. 8.23.5 E. 6.17. Prises of the But, Tun, Pipe, Hogshead, &c. of [Page 127] all kinds of wines when it shall be sold in gross, shall be set by certain of the Kings great Officers.
Whosoever shall buy or sell any 32 H. 8. ca. 8 Ibidem ca 14. F [...]sant or Partridge saving the Officers of the Kings, Queens, or Princes houses shall forfeit for every Fesant six shillings eight pence, and for every Partridge three shillings four pence to the King.
Conspiracies 37 H. 8 23. made by Victuallers touching selling of victuals shall be grievously punished.
Taverns Ibidem. may be appointed in every City, Borough or Town Corporate to sell wine by Retail.
None Ibidem. shall retail wines but in Cities, Market Towns, &c.
Vintners Ibidem. which sell by Ret [...]il in Towns Corporate shall be assigned by the head Officers thereof, and in other Towns by the Justices of Peace.
And 2 & 3 E. 6. ca. 3. 2 & 3 Ed. 6. by a temporary Act expired with the time therein limitted, which may shew the minds and intents of the makers, and what was then thought convenient for that small part of time, and being probably only done upon some grounds or reasons of State for the present, or in ease of the people, or some popular designe of the then ruling Lord Protector, was not then, nor at any time after thought fit to continue any longer, it was ordained, That no Pourveyor or other person by authority of any Commission or other Warrant shall during three years (then) next ensuing pourvey, or take for the provision of the Kings Houshold, his Sisters, or any others, any Corn, Beeves, Muttons, &c. Wood, Coal, Straw, Hay, or any kind of Victuals without the full consent of the owner, and at such price for ready money as the owner or Pourveyor can agree; nor shall take [Page 128] for any of the Kings Affairs, or the Warres or otherwise any Goods, Chattels, or other things whatsoever (saving Barges, Ships, Carts, and things necessary) without the consent of the owners, and at such prises for ready money as the owner & Pourvey [...]rs can agree (except Post-horses for which shall be paid a penny a mile) and the King will allow to the owner of every Cart taken for his houshold four pence a mile, and for the Warres and other Carriages three pence a mile.
The 3 & 4 E. 6. ca. 1 [...]. Lord Chancellor of England, Lord Treasurer, Lord President of the Kings Councel, Lord Privy Seal, and the two Chief Justices, or any five, four, or three of them are authorised to set prises of wine, and none to sell either in gross or by retail above those prises ▪
No 5 & 6 E. 6. c. 14. Cattel shall be bought but in open Fair or Market but by a Butcher, provisions of houshold Butter or Cheese, shall not be bought to be sold again, except it be by retail in open Shop, Fair, or Market. 5 Eliz. ca▪ 12 Forestallers and Regrators shall be punished, Badgers and Drovers licensed by three Justices of the Peace of the County, and enter into Recognizances not to forestall or ingross, provided that all Cities and Towns Corporate may assigne and licence Pourveyors for their provisions.
Which power of regulating weights and measures, and reduction of victuals to reasonable prices and rates was no stranger in Ireland, whither many if not all of our then Laws were transmitted by King John, by exemplification unde [...] his great Seal of England, and all our Laws reasonable Customes and Acts of Parliament both before and afterwards were by Act of Parliament called Poynings Act or Law, allowed and enacted [Page 129] to be Laws in that Kingdome in the Reign of our King Henry the seventh.
Nor in Scotland where the assises of weights and measures were ordained by King James the first in Parliament in Anno Domini 1426. And it was also ordained by 6. Parliament James the second & Reg. Majest. King James the second in Parliament, that Schireffes, Bayllies and uther officiars baith to burgh and to land take and inquire at ilk Court, that they haldquhat persons within their boundes by is victuall and haldis it till a dearth▪ and punish them which sall be found to offend therein, and besides their uther punishment the victuall that they have be escheated to the King.
All which may declare and give us to understand how unreasonable it would be that the King, who by his Oath and Kingly Office is to keep all his people from oppression, which being one of the great sins of Sodom, as the Prophet Ezekiel 16.49. Ezekiel tells us in that she strengthened not the hand of the poor and needy, caused God to say he would come down nd see the oppressions of his people should take no order to preserve himself from the more then formerly deceipts of his own people, and their enhaunce of prises.
King Edward the second therefore, and his Councell after that the Commons of England had in the Claus. 3 E. 2. [...]. 2. in d [...]s. second year of his Reign granted him in Parliament an aid of the five and twentieth part of their goods upon condition that he would answer and redress their grievances, which they in eleven Articles had then presented unto him, in some of which they complained that their Corn, Victuals, Poultrie, and Fish as well fresh as salt were taken by those which called themselves the Kings [Page 130] M [...]nisters, and paid nothing for it, nor gave them any manner of satisfaction, by which they were greatly impoverished: And he had answered, that there was an Ordinance made of those prises in the time of his Father King Edward, which was for the good of the King and his people: and willed that it should be kept and observed in all parts, did in the fifteenth year of his Reign upon occasion of his being at Cirencester in the County of Gloucester with divers of the Nobility and great men of the Kingdome, not think it to be any violation of the Laws formerly made for the regulation of Pourveyance to command and ordain by his Letters Pa [...]ents directed to the Sheriffs of Gloucester, Worcester, and Wiltshire in the words following, viz.
Rex. vic. & al. ministris de Com. Glouc. Wigorn. & Wilts. salutem cum sumus in partibus Cirencestr. cum pluribus magnatibus pro negotiis, &c. & pro nostra & ipsorum pat. 15 E 2. m. 5. sustentatione plura victualia oportet providere, & plures frumentum hab [...]ntes ea penes se retinent, non curantes illa vendic. exp [...]nere nisi excessiva Caristia nos volentes sustentac. [...]orum providere prout decet▪ assignavimuus Johan. Hampton & al. ad supervidendum blada in Com. praedict. & ad emend. ubi blada invenerint pro pretio rationabili jam currente de quo ipsi respondeant illa quo pretio empt [...] [...]runt & ad liberand. pistoribus & braciatoribus furnend. braciand. & vend. dictis magnatibus, &c. that a reasonable price should according to the ordinary Market rate beset upon Corn.
No [...]ere the Writs or Commissions de providentiis pro Rege faciendis, to buy and make provisions for the Kings houshold in Pat. 7 E 2. part. 1. m 2 [...]. Claus. 37 E. 3. part. 1. m. 26. Pat. 1. part. 3 R. 2 m. [...]9. Pat. 1 H 4 part▪ m. 8. 7 E. 2. 37 E. 3. 3 R. 2. 1 H. 4. and other Kings Reigns directed to the Sheriffs of several [Page 131] Counties, to whose oaths and Offices it belonged by the just and antient Laws and Customes of England, to cause men to sell victuals and necessary provisions at reasonable rates and prices, or Writs sent to the Sheriffes to make provisions for some of the Kings of Scotland and their Trains in their passage as they came to London to do their homage unto some of our Kings, esteemed to be any breach of the peoples Liberties.
Neither did Queen Elizabeth that delight and love of her people, enriching as well as easing and filling them with peace and plenty; who was never of the opinion of Oliver Cromwel, that grand Master of Iniquity (who as carefull as he would seem to be of the peoples ease and liberties in his afterwards counterfeit kindness of taking away the Royal Pourveyance) could when he was Lievtenant Generall of an Army of a distempered and disobedient part of the Parliament, being moved by a Gentleman of Bedfordshire for some ease of their great Assessements and Burdens, answere, that he could never believe that the Country-men were poor or not able to bear them as long as they could whistle at the Plow and Cart) but so contented them in her happy Government, as the 20. day of November, the beginning of her Reign, is yet, though above one hundred years agoe, gratefully remembred with the ringing of Bells in many of the Churches of England, conceive or understand it to be any grievance to the people for the Soveraign or Lex viva, the maker, Protector, and Preserver of many of those good Laws which they enjoyed, to ordain and publish by the advice of her Privy Councel, who by the happy and sage conduct of all her affairs, were well known by the effects as well as the causes, the [Page 132] Mediums as well as the success, to be as wise and prudent a Councel as any Prince of Christendome had to attend them.
That the Clerk of the Market in avoiding of the danger of the loss of his Office and further punishment at her pleasure, should duly and substantially put in execution all such things as to his charge appertaineth, as well for vittails to be had seasonable▪ good, and wholsome in the Towns and places near unto the Court, as for the just observing of Weights and Measures assigned and assessed; and likewise for setling of convenient and reasonable prises as well upon Meat and Drink, Horse-meat, Lodging, Bedding, and other things in such cases accustomed, so as the Noblemen attending in the Court, and all Suitors & others following the same, be not compelled in default of the said Clerk to be put unto excessive charges for their expences, but such indifferency to be used therein as the plenty or sterility considered should accord with equity: And straightly charged, that no person of what estate or degree soever should in any wise pay m [...]re for Vittail, Horsemeat, Lodging, or otherways then after the prises that should be assessed by the said Clerk of the Market, in avoiding her Highness displeasure, and further punishment at her Graces pleasure.
Which as to the enforcing of reasonable rates and p [...]ises for victuals and houshold provisions, was no more then that which all Maiors and Bailiffs of Cities, Boroughs, Merchant Towns and others, and of the Ports of the Sea, and other places, are by the Statute of 23 E. 3. c. 6. Lambard [...] 4 [...]3, 448. 23 Ed. 3. cap. 6. authorised to doe, and is to be given in charge and inquired of by the Justices of Peace of every County at their Quarter Sessions.
For if by the rules of Reason, Policie, and Prudence, [Page 133] it was alwayes adjudged to be necessary and profitable for the people in general that the King or Prince should restrain them from deceiving or oppressing one another, or not permit the cunning, false, or richer part of the people to deceive and put what rates or prises they please, or can heighten and invent upon the plain dealing honest simple hearted, poor and necessitous part of them, but should rather resist the Nimrods & Tormentors of them, and by putting them into some method of righteousness, imitate the care and designs of the Almighty, to succour, relieve, and help the poor and needy. And that it can never be for the good of the Nation so to encourage the evils and deceitfulnes of mens hearts one towards another, as to suffer every one to hatch or spawn as many cheating and cozening tricks, perjuries, deceipts and false or aequivocal oathes as they can possibly, or under a counterfeit shew of godliness, make contrive and invent to blind, deceive, delude or oppress one another; or to be like Cut-purses, Jews, Bandities, Wild Arabs, or crafty deceitfull Bannyans, to the well-doing as well as well-meaning, little part of the people, or like Rooks cawing, wrangling, and making a noyse in the trees, make it their perpetual business when they are not asleep to steal and filch away one anothers Nests and provisions, and being guilty of as bad themselves, to be in a perpetuall watch of keeping as well as they can their own, whilest they are busie in stealing from others, or to make old England to be a Country of Rooks and Jackdaws.
It cannot be certainly adaequate to any rule of Justice, that the King who is to make it his daily care to provide peace plenty, and benefits, for all his Subjects, [Page 134] regulates by his Magistrates and Officers rates and prices of victuals at Markets and Fairs, moderates and abates such as are excessive and unreasonable, Book of Entries 49 [...]. Hill. 2 H. 7. [...]ol. 11 pl. 11. and by Law may seize, as forfeit, the Court Leets of Lords of Manors, for not providing Pillories to punish offending Bakers; and ordaineth by his Laws, that every Lord or other having the priviledge of a Market shall forfeit it, if he have not a Clerk of the Market to look unto it, should provide blessings for every one but himself, and partake of none or very little of them, and that his Subjects should not be at liberty to cozen and oppress one another, and yet every man should be at liberty and make it his designe and business to cozen and lay burdens upon him, which would be as little for the good of the body politick as it would be in the body natural, to wear the head downward; and make it to be subservient to the business and humor of the ignoble, and less to be taken care of parts of the body.
Or to give liberty not only in a Siege or publick necessity, like that of Samaria, but at all other times, unto as many as will like the gain or content of it to be as Bears and Wolves one to another, and by hardening of their hearts, and oppressing one another, make a Wilderness and Desert in our Land of Canaan, which if well ordered flows with more then milk and honey, and by reason of an universall pride, ingrossing, enhauncing and cheating to maintain it, cause a dearth when there may be a plenty.
And reducing him thereby into the condition of the 2 Reg. c [...] 6. King of Israel in that Siege, when an Asses head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of Doves dung for five pieces of silver, enforce him [Page 135] to answer as he did the woman which cryed unto him, Help my Lord O King if the Lord doe not help thee, whence shall I help thee out of the Barn floor, or out of the Wine-presse.
Or that the King when he shall (as the 1 Reg. 18. King of Israel did) in an unseasonable and dry year, search the Land for grass to save the peoples horses, mules, and beasts alive, should let his own not pertake of his cares, but perish, & whilst he mittigates unjust and unconscionable rates and prices in the Markets, bē himself exposed to all manner of unconscionable and deceitfull dealings.
Which his just and alwaies until now allowed right of Praeemption, which heretofore made the Kings provision for his houshold when it was bought in the Markets or Fairs to be much cheaper then what were bought upon the vie, or endeavours who should give most to purchase it at such unreasonable prices as the Sellers could strain or scrue them unto. And the Commissions not seldome made by his Royal Progenitors to the Sheriffs and other Officers and Magistrates, which had the delegated power of Assise and Correction of Markets and unreasonable prices, and the rating of them to make his houshold provisions; and where the Pourveyors and the owners could not otherwise agree, were to be rated and ascertained, as some Acts of Parliament and Statutes have appointed, by Constables and some honest men of their Neighbourhood upon their oaths, (which cannot be supposed to make, or admit them to be high or immoderate) together with a due regulation of the Markets by the Clerks of the Markets; and that care with the Law enjoyneth the Lords of Manors in their Court Leets, the Sheriffs in their [Page 136] Tornes, the Justices of Peace of every Countie, and the Magistrates of every City and Towns Corporate, to take in the supressing of unreasonable prices, Forestallers, Ingrossers, and Regrators, which are no small part of the causes of them, would have prevented or greatly lessened: And the Markets would not have risen to that excess of price which is now heavily complained of, and every where to be met with, by the sleepiness or sluggishness of Magistrates and Justices of the Peace neglect of their oathes and duties, which are too often and easily obliterated or put out of memory, by sprinkling or dipping them in the waters of some Lethe or Oblivion, or by some unrighteous or unbecoming partialties, connivance and kindness to their Neighbours and friends, or such as they would make to be their friends, a timerousness or unwillingness to displease or irritate such as are or may be their enemies, or the allurements and temptation of their own Interests, in letting their Lands at the rack, or very much dearer then it was when the Kings price or compositions were agreed upon; and by tentering the Tenants Rents, enforce them in requital thereof and care of themselues, to stretch as much or more the prices of their Cattel and Commodities, because their Landlords were insatiable, and did never think their Rents high enough raised, as long as they could find any pretences to raise them higher, or any one to give them the utmost penny, when they should not be able to pay their Rents, maintain their wives and children, and have some little comfort or incouragement by their honest labours unless they should as much as they could make every thing as dear as they could, and imitate or exceed them.
[Page 137]All which combining and strongly confederating together his mersere malis, have brought many an evil upon the Kingdome, made our Atlas burthen much the heavier, the poorer sort of the people to be greatly impoverished and devoured like sheep, and the landed and richer part, like the Israelites with Quails in their mouths, murmurring in the midst of their peace and plenty, and thinking that to be thanks enough for them and all their Mannah.
And like those which distempering their bodies, and breeding and causing their own diseases, are unwilling to acknowledge themselves to be the Authors of what they complain of, but would willingly make the aire and heavenly influences to be in the fault; and when they make the high wayes the fowler by their own travailing and riding in them, and the worse for the next that shall come after them, will lament the deepness or foulness of them.
Or as Landlords which can grievously complain and wonder at the high rates of Flesh, Fish, Corn, Butter Cheese, and other houshold provisions at the Markets, when the enhauncing of their own pride, extravagancies, and profit to maintain them, and sequestring themselves from the virtues and hospitalitie of their more beloved and honored Ancestors, when they have any thing to buy themselves, will not as they should, lay the blame upon their own letting their Lands by exact and strict measures of the Acres, Rods, and Perches to the utmost rack and farthing, and in many places (by as much indiscretion as unconscionableness) apportion and limit the wood which the Tenants are to burn or use by the loads, as if it were something more pretious, or [Page 138] to be brought by degrees to be weighed by the pound or ownces, and will have more rent many times to be paid for it then can possibly be made of it, with as many nomine paenes, and impossible to be kept Covenants and restrictions as hard-hearted curiosity and diffidence can contrive and invent to the sometimes ruine or great losses of the Tenants in their endeavours to improve and make their Farms yeild as much as their Rents doe amount unto, which necessitates them to sell every thing which they have to sell at the highest rates.
And by so letting their Lands at the highest rent, and ten times higher then their Grandfathers (some only few good and worshipfull imitators of their Progenitors virtues excepted) or as much as can be gotten, are not only the greatest cause of the enhaunching of all prices of provisions, but by making another as great an advantage to themselves.
Do, when as they do not pay Rents as their Tenants doe for the Lands out of which they raise their commodities, add to the prejudice of the Buyers by holding of them up to the rates and humour of the Markets, and getting as much as they can possible for what they themselves do sell and send to the Markets.
And by such or the like profitable and beneficiall customes, which are sweet in the mouth or unto the taste, but may be bitter in the stomach or digestion, of making their benefits by the losses or oppression of the Buyers, which at the Markets with those reckoned and included which are at home, and to be fed with what is bought or brought from thence are forty for one that are sellers, and those that have either Lands of their own, or at a Rent are not one in every twenty for those [Page 139] which have not, have very much enlarged their own Estates and impoverished the Commonalty.
Wherefore all those of our Nation, which like the wanton, & at last unhappy Sybarites, now troubled with a great deal more under a slavish government and dominion of the Turks, then the crowing of the Cocks in the night time to disturb their sweet sleeps or repose which once they were so foolish as to account an inconvenience, would but summon in their consciences and a right understanding of causes and effects to the Tribunal of reason, and observe the dictates of that and common right.
The Praeemption which was never used to be denied to praeheminence, but alwayes attended it as an insepeperable Concomitant and Consequence, and so esteemed to be rational, as the rude and unmannerly Dutch with their heads in a piece of a Rug, and their good manners running out of their knees, can afford it to the lowest rank of their Heeren, self-created Lords or States, or to a Schepen or Sindic, Sheriffe or Recorder of a Town, would not be found to be a grievance and where any Priviledges, as there ought to be many, are associate and incorporate with Soveraign Majesty, the King of England, under whose grants and allowance only every Seller as well as Buyer at Fairs and Markets claims and enjoyes the liberty of buying and selling, should not himself be unkindly used, or his Pourveyors debarred the liberty of a first Buyer, which was in Anno 720. or thereabouts, understood to be so necessary and inherent to Kingly authority and Supereminence, the reverence respect [Page 140] and duty belonging unto it, and a priviledge so just and reasonable and becoming Subjects to be well contented with, and the Regality of Kings not to part with, as King Ina one of our Saxon Kings did by a Law prohibit Fore Fang, or Captio Obs [...]ni [...]rum quae in Foris aut Nundinis ab aliquo fit priusquam Minister Regis ea caeperit quae Regi fuerint necessaria, the taking or buying of houshold prouisions by others in Fairs or Markets before the Kings Minister or Pourueyor took those things which were necessary for the King, the words of that Law, as the learned Spelman Gloss [...]. in voce Fore fang, & L.L. Inae cap. altero ante penult. M. S. Sir Henry Spelman hath in the Version rendred them de Fore fang ( [...] in Saxon signifying ante or before, and [...] prendere or to take) i. e. de preventione decrevimus per totam Angliam quod idem judicium teneri debet; We ordain that this Law of Prevention (or Praeemption) be firmly holden throughout all England. And is more fit to be allowed unto the King whose just Rights and Jurisdictions every man is sworn or ought to swear to maintain and defend. If there were no fifth commandement in being, or any other Praecept in Scripture to honour and obey the King then unto Lords of Manors, having Markets and Fairs belonging unto them, or the Lord Maior or Sheriffs of London, or the Magistrates of any other City or Town Corporate in England; for a greater observance is certainly to be tendered unto the King even in that particul [...]r of Praeemption (which may well be believed by all that are not Quakers) whose Tenants all the people of England are mediately or immediately by some or other Tenure: Then that which is usually done to Lords of Manors, Justices of Peace, or Country [Page 141] Gentlemen by their Tenants or poorer sort of Neighbours, who if they chance to catch any Woodcocks or Partridges in any of those Gentlemens Lands, will bring them to their [...]ouses to sell at such cheap and easie rates as they shall please to give for them; and if, which seldome happens, they should carry them to the Markets and not thither, are sure enough to be chid for it, and crossed and denied in any greater matter which they shall have to doe with them. And is but that or a little more curtesie which Butchers Fishmongers, and other Tradesmen selling victualls or provisions in great quantities, and all the year or often unto their constant Customers, will not for their own ends fail to doe or neglect, or to sell unto them at easier rates then unto others, and find themselves to be many times no loosers by it, insomuch as some have lately well afforded to sell to a constant Customer for great quantities at the same rate it was 40 or 60 years before.
And the Compositions of the Counties for Pourveyance to serve in Beefe, Mutton Poultry, Corn, Malt, and other provisions for the Kings Houshold, and the maintenance and support of it at a more cheaper rate then the Markets yeild, which when they were first set, was but the Market rate or a little under, long agoe made and agreed upon by the greater Officers of the Kings Houshold, and some Justices of Peace in every County, and easily and equally taxed and laid upon the whole, and not upon any particular man which was poor or of a small Estate not fit to bear it.
May be with as much and more reason allowed and chearfully submitted unto as those many now called quit rents, or Rent services, which the most of our Nobility, [Page 142] Gentry and others (not for some few of them doe yet hold some of their Tenants to their antient and reasonable Customes) doe receive, and their Tenants easily and willingly pay for their several sorts of [...]apola Gavels or Tributes charged upon their Lands before and since the Conquest in Kent (a County recounting with much comfort of their many Priviledges and beneficiall Customes) and most parts of England Somners Treatise of Gavelkind Customs in Kent. as Gavel Erth, to Till some part of their Landlords Ground; Gavel Rip, to come upon summons to help to reap their Corn; Gavel R [...]d, to make so many perches of hedge; Gavel Swine, for pawnage or feeding their Swine in the Lords Woods; Gavel werk, which was either Manuopera by the person of the Tenant, or Carropera, by his Carts or Cariages, Harth-silver, Chimney-money, or Peter-pence, which some Mesne Lords do yet receive; Were Gavel in respect of Wears and Kiddels to catch Fish, pitched and placed by the Sea coasts; Gavel noht or Fother, or Rent Spelman Glossar. in v [...] cibus Fodrum, Sigonius de Regno Italiae lib. 7. Foder, which did signifie pabulum or alimentum ut Saxones antiqui dixerunt, and comprehended all sorts of victuals or provisions, as the old Saxons interpreted it for the Lord probably in his progress or passing by them, and was in usage and custome in the time of Charlemaigne the Emperor, about the year of our Lord 800. when the people of Italy, Regi venienti in Italiam solvere tenebantur pro quo saepe etiam aestimata pecunia pendebatur, were to provide Foder or provisions for the King when he came into Italy, in liew of which, money to the value thereof was sometimes paid, and was long after taken to be so reasonable as it was by the Radenicus in gestis Friderici lib. 2. ca. 5. Princes and Nobility of Italy acknowledged in an Assembly to be inter Regalia, [Page 143] as a Prerogative due to the King.
And after the Conquest for Somner of Gavelkind 116 Aver Land or Ouver Land carriage of the Lords Corn to Markets and Fairs, or of his domestick utensils saith the learned and Judicious Mr. Somner, or houshold provisions, of the Lord or his Steward when they removed from one place to another, sometimes by horse Average, sometimes by foot Average; one while within the Precinct of the Manor, thence called In average, and at other times without, and then called Out Average; whereupon such Tenants were known by the name of Avermanni or Bermanni; Smiths Land holden by the service of doing the Smiths work: the not performing of which several services so annexed to the said several sorts of Lands, and their Tenures made Coke 2. par. Instit. p. 204. them to be forfeited, which though not exchanged and turned into Rents Regis ad exemplum in imitation of the indulgence and favour of King Henry the first to the Tenants of his demeasne Lands either then or shortly after, but many of them, as appeareth by Mr. Somner continuing in Kent, to the Reign of Henry the third, others to Edward the first, and Edward the third, and some in other places, to the Reign of King Henry the sixth, and in all or many of the Abbies and Religious Houses untill their dissolution in the later end of the Reign of King Henry the eighth notwithstanding that the Lords of Manors and Leets, receiving those free or quit Rents, as they were called of their Freeholders and Tenants belonging unto their several Manors in lieu and recompence of those services, did or ought, in their Court Leets twice a year holden, cause to be presented and punished any unreasonable prises for provisions or [Page 144] victuals sold in Markets & Fairs, o [...] otherwise; or if they have not Leets, are when they are Justices of Peace authorised to doe it, and by that untill their Interests perswaded them to let their Tenants use all manner of deceipts in their Marketings, and get what unreasonable prises they pleased, so as they themselves might rack their Rents farre beyond former ages, might have had their provisions untill this time at as low and easie rates as the Kings prouisions and Compositions were at when they were rated and set by the Justices of Peace in the severall Counties, and all others of their Neighbourhood might also have enjoyed the benefit of the like rates which the Law intended them.
And the King may as well or better deserve and expect as many Boons or other services as the Nobility and other great men of the Kingdome doe, notwithstanding many Priviledges and Indulgences granted by their more liberall Auncestors, and better bestowing their bounties to their Tenants; And to be furnished with Carts and Carriages at easie rates as well as the Earl of Rutland is at this day for nothing, upon any removall from Belvoir Castle in Lincolnshire to Haddon in Darbyshire and elsewhere from one place to another, with very many Carts of his Tenants, which are there called Boon Carts, when as all Lords or Gentlemen of any rank, place, or quality in the Kingdome doe take it to be no burden or grievance to their Tenants to permit them to pay their respects and obligations unto them in that way, or upon a New-years day, or when they shall invite them to a Christmas dinner, or doe them any courtesie to bring them a present of Capons or Chickens, or the like, or [Page 145] when they come to welcome them home from London, or have any request how little soever to make unto them, are afraid to approach them without bringing some offering or mediation, though it be but a bottle of such pitifull wine as the Vintner of the next Market Town can furnish them out of a Vessel but little bigger.
And the Lord of the Manor of Harrow in the County of Middlesex had in Anno 21 R. 2. a Custome belonging to that Manor, that by summons of the Bayliffe upon a Generall Reap day or Magna precaria, then so called, the Tenants as well free as Copiholders should yearly amongst them doe 199 dayes work for the Lord within the Manor,Somner Treatise of Gavelkind. and every one having a Chimney should send a man thither for that purpose; and where there is no Custome to oblige it, or the like, some curtesies amounting to near as much are as often to be found as the love and good will to a Landlord or a man of quality, or fear of his ill will or displeasure: Nor is it unusuall for Parishioners to help a Parson or Minister of a Parish to reap and carry in his corn, or to fetch coals or wood for him many a mile distant.
And will be as much and more according to the dictates of right reason, as for a Patron of the Advowson of a Church to be for ever entitled to the presentation of it, because his Ancestors, or those under whome he claime, did at the first build and endow it with the Gl [...]be land and their own Tythes, though the Parson presented by him unto it is to repair the Chancel,Coke 2. par [...]. 5. report. 81. and the Parishioners tax one another to maintain and keep the other parts of the Church in good reparations; or that the Patron and Ordinary should in a vacancy charge the Glebe with some yearly payments.
[Page 146]Or for those that have Grants of Fairs or Markets or enjoy them by prescription, to take their Toll which (unless there be found a speciall custome that the Sellers should doe it) is to be paid by the Buyers; and money for Pickage and Stallage, or for Toll called Travers, or passage by some wayes, and Thorough Toll, for driving or passing through some Towns, &c.
And the Assistances, Aids, or Contributions in his Majesties Pourveyance and Composition for his housekeeping, may be as much (and more) warranted by the rules of right reason, as they are in matters of Policy, and well ordering of some Societies and subordinate Governments in and concerning the Kingdome, and as they are when the Merchants of the English Staple at Dordrecht and Hamborough, do tax and receive a certain summe of money upon every English Cloth sold beyond the seas, and to imploy that and the admittances, and making free of Apprentices of the old or new Hanse.
And the Fines assessed upon the Infringers of any Orders of the Companies to defray the charges and support thereof; or as the Lord Mayor of London for the time being by Custome or Charter of the City, takes for Scavage or Shewage of all Merchandise brought to London a certain rate by the Tonne or Pack so much as amounts to above three hundred pounds besides the profits of the Tolls, Pickage and Stallage of Fairs and Markets, with an allowance of fourscore pounds out of every one of the 8. Coal-meaters places, and for Cattle brought to Smithfield to be sold, and Eels, Fish and Corn imported, and many other things towards the charges of his extraordinary housekeeping for the credit [Page 147] and honor of the City in the time of his Maioralty, which the simplest and poorest Citizen never grumbles at, but acknowledgeth to be for the good of the City, & the Company of which he is free (for he must alwaies in the year of his Maioralty be [...]aken in as a Freeman of one of the twelve antient and principall Companies of the City, as the Mercers, Goldsmiths, Gro [...]ers, Cloth-workers, Fishmongers, &c. though before he was free of some other Company) largely contributing to the charges of him and his Pageants upon the day of his Initiation or Lord Maiors day; so as the twelve Companies are every year never able to escape a great part of the charges of that day, and besides an allowance of five hundred pounds, or a considerable summe of money towards that years expences out of the Chamber and Revenues of the City, hath the Livery men of every of the many Companies or Corporations of Trade▪ bringing him 40 s. in retribution of a Dinner, and a small silver spoon of the sixth part of the value, every Citizen of any considerable Estate taxed and contributing to the charges of Triumphant Arches or Entertainments of their King or Prince upon extraordinary occasions, every Company bearing and helping out the charges of the Livery-men Wardens, and chief of their Company, many rich Bachelers, or men so called, though some of them are married, created in the Lord Maiors Company only for the service of that day, paying six pound a man, and others of that Company paying four pound a man to be of the Budge, and to wear their Gowns faced with a furre so called; and the other Companies have Bachelers created or chosen for that day out of the Yeomanry, so stiled, which besides [Page 148] their something extraordinary charges in Feasts at their admissions, and in apparrel and habiliments for that day, doe likewise contribute to the charges and worship of their particular Companies for that day, which enables them to drain the Capons & White-broath & puts them in a capacity of most couragiously storming the Custards in their Grusty Garrisons, and of the better overseeing of the Company and Mystery of their Trade at their no seldome comfortable meetings and rejoycing in the creatures: the Lord Mayor having also the benefit of great Fines of four hundred pounds or more a man imposed upon twenty or thirty in a year, or too many more then need, who after such time as his Lordship in his Fishing for Fines hath drunk unto them, shall be unwilling, or not think themselves fit to be an Alderman or Sheriffe.
And as consonant and more agreeable to right reason as the quarteridge of never less then five pence every quarter of year, and twelve pence per annum to be distributed as their Company pleaseth to the poor, paid by every Freeman of which there are very great numbers to every of their Halls or Companies, two shillings and six pence for binding, and thirteen shillings and four pence for making free of every Apprentice, six pence per annum for every Yeoman or Freeman of the Company under the Livery, and two shillings per annum of every one of the Livery towards the expences of their Barge, when with as much magnificence as they can they doe with Trumpets, Drums and Musick by water in their several Barges, adorned with the Banners and Arms of their Companies or Gilds, conduct and attend their Lord Maior to be sworn at Westminster, although [Page 149] the City of London and every Company in London are abundantly or very well endowed with lands of inheritance of a great yearly value, and great stocks of money by Gifts and Legacies.
And no less reason then the imposing of a penny upon every Broad Cloth brought to sale to Blackwell-hall in London to be paid to the Chamberlain of London to the use of the City for Hallage, which the Judges of the Kings Bench in Mich. Terme 32 & 33 Eliz. Cokes 2. part. 5. Relat. Cases de Bylawes and Ordinances. in the Chamberlain of Londons Case adjudged to be lawfull, because it was as they then declared pro bono publico, in regard of the benefits which the Subjects enjoyed thereby, and for the maintenance of the weal publick, and can not be said to be a charge to the Subject when he reaps benefit thereby▪ and resembled it to Pontage, Murage, Toll, and the like, which as appeareth by the book of 13 H. 4.14. being reasonable, the Subject will have more benefit by it then the charge amounts unto, and that the Inhabitants of a Town or Parish may without any Custome, make Ordinances and Bylawes for the reparation of a Church or High-wayes, or any thing which is 44 E. 3 19. for the weal publick, and in such cases the greater part shall bind all the rest.
And as much to be approved as the wages of the Knights of the Shires and Burgesses coming to Parliaments, which are taxed and levied of the Counties, Cities and Boroughs, some few as those which hold any Lands parcel of an Earldome or Barony only excepted; and the charges of the Convocation or Clergy assessed upon the Clergy; The Synodals,Lind [...]wood const [...]tutiones Angliae & constitut. O. bo [...]oni. Procurations, Proxies, and payments made and paid by every Minister to defray the charges of [Page 150] the Arch Deacons in their Visitations every year, and the Bishops every three years, who are enabled to recover them by the Statute of 34 and 35 of Henry the eighth cap. 19. Oblations, Easter and other offerings, for the further supply and maintenance of the Ministry, Tributes, Customes and allowances to Governors of Colonies and Plantations, as Virginia, New-England, Barbados, &c. or 10 s. or some other rate given by Merchants to the Consuls at Venice, Smirna, Aleppo, Ligorne, &c. towards their support, to assist them in the matter of Trade, and procuring Justice from the Superiors of the Territories: The Pensions, Admissions, and Payments in the Universities and the severall Colleges and Halls therein, for their support with Taxes also sometimes imposed for publick Entertainments of the King, Queen, Prince, Chancellor of the University, or some other Grandees, although every Colledge and Hall is endowed with large yearly and perpetuall Revenues in Lands, the Admittances, yearly Pensions and Payments, together with the sale and rent of many Chambers in the Inns of Court, Chancery, or Colledges or Houses of Law, towards the maintenance, charges and support of the honour of those Societies; and contributions not seldome made and enforced towards publick Treatments and Masques, the payments and rates in Parishes for Pews, Burialls, tolling a passing Bell, or ringing him and his companions at Funerals; which if not enough to defray the charges of the many Feasts and Meetings of the Church-wardens and Petty States of the Parish, repairing of the Church, new painting and adorning it, buying new Bell-ropes, casting one or more Bells, building [Page 151] the Steeple something higher, or making a sumptuous Diall with a gilded Time and Hour-glass, are sure enough to be enlarged by a Parish Rate or Tax more then it comes to.
Or that which is paid by the poor Tankard or Water-Bearers at the Conduits in London, where every one payeth three shillings and six pence at his admittance, and a penny a quarter towards the support of that pittifull Society.
Or those contributions (sic magna componere parvis▪ to represent great things by small, and the vegetation or manner of the growth of an Oak by that of the lowly Shrubs) which are made by a more impoverished sort of people;Johnson of the order and government of Ludgate. the Prisoners for Debt in Ludgate by Orders and Constitutions (so necessary is Government and Order, and the support thereof even in misery) of their own sorrowfull making in their narrow confinements, that the Assistant which is monethly chosen by all the Prisoners to attend in the Watch-hall all day to call down prisoners to strangers which come to speak with them, change money for the Cryers at the Grates, keep an accompt in writing what money or gifts are every day sent to the Prisoners, or given to the Box, to charge the Steward with it upon the Accompt day, see the Accompts truly cast up, the Celler cleared by ten of the clock at night of all Prisoners, and the Prisoners to be at their Lodgings quietly and civily, hath his share of six pence allowed out of the Charity money every night, whereof two pence is to be for the Assistant, two pence for the Master of the Box, and the other two pence allowed in mony or drink unto him which is the running Assistant, [Page 152] or unto the Scavenger for bearing 2 candles before him at nine of the clock at night, and rings the bell for Prayers, is the Cryer for sale at the Markets for the Charity men, of light bread taken by the Lord Maior or Sheriffs, chumps of Beefe or any other things sent in by the City Clerk of the Market, and unsized Fish by the water Bayliffe, with many other small employments, for which his Salery is four shillings eight pence per moneth, and two pence out of the sixteen pence paid by every Prisoner at his first coming: And the Scavenger who is to keep the house clean hath for his standing Salery five shillings eight pence per moneth, two pence for every Prisoner at his first coming, out of the sixteen pence table-money by him paid, and a penny out of every Fine imposed upon offenders for the breach of any orders. Every Prisoner paying at his first coming, besides many other Fees, fourteen pence for entring his name and turning the key, five shillings for a Garnish to his Chamber-fellows to be spent in coals and candles for their own use, or for a Dinner or Supper, and sixteen pence to one of the Stewards of the House for Table-money, out of which candles are to be bought for the use of the House every night set up in places necessary, &c. notwithstanding that it hath above 60▪ l. per annum belonging unto it charged upon lands in perpetuity, and many other considerable and misused Legacies which have been setled and bestowed upon that should be well priviledged Prison.
And as much and more reasonable (as the generall protection and defence is above any particular, and the publick benefits do exceed any that are private) as those payments and services which being derived from gratitude [Page 153] or retribution for benefits received which (highly pleasing the Almighty, and being lovely in the eyes of all men) which are not only enjoyed, but held fast and enforced by all the Nobility, Gentry, and richer sort of men in England, when it happens to be denied, as the services and customes of all their Tenants to grind their corn at their Lords Mill, or baking their bread at his common Oven in some Borough or Market Town,
The Reliefs in Tenures by Knight Service or Chivalry fixed and appropriate unto those Fewds and Tenures, and paid at the death of every Tenant dying seised, being at the first never condescended unto by the Tenants by any paction or stipulation betwixt them and their Lords. But although there was antiently and originally betwixt the Lord and the Tenant, Bodin de Repub. ca. 7. mutua fides tuendae salutis & dignitatis utriusque, saith Bodin, a mutual obligation betwixt the Tenant and the Lord to defend one anothers Estate and Dignity, or as Craig saith pactionibus interpositis de mutua Tutela upon certain agreements to defend one another, were lately notwithstanding received and taken by the Nobility and Gentry as a gratitude, and in that and no other respect, were by the Tenants willingly paid unto them.
The Reliefs paid by the Heirs of Freeholders in Socage after the death of their Ancestors, which being not paid by Tenants for years by a rack Rent, do appear to have no other commencement but in signum subjectionis & gratitudinis, a thankfull acknowledgement for benefits received.
Or those duties & payments which many Lords and Gentry doe enjoy in Cumberland, Westmerland, and many [Page 154] of the other Northern Counties which were not at the first by any original contract or agreement as to their Tenants particular services, for so it could not be a custome, but the Tenants at the first upon the only reason of gratitude (untill it had by length of time and usage uninterrupted, gained the force of a custome, and that the succeeding Heirs and Tenants were admitted according to those customes) did as willingly observe and acknowledge them.
The Fines incertain at the will of severall Lords which the Nobility and Gentry of other parts of England do receive and take of their Copihold Tenants under the penalty of a forfeiture if not paid in a reasonable time after they were assessed; and the priviledges which they retain of seising their Tenants Copihold Lands as forfeit, whether the Fines were certain or incertain, if they sued Replevins against them, distraining for their Rents or Services, and had no other parents or originall untill custome had settled it then the Tenants gratefull acknowledgements of the Lords or his Ancestors former kindess and benefits bestowed upon them or their Progenitors.
And the Socage Lands and Freeholders might be Tallied, or have a Tax laid upon them by their Lords at their will and pleasure as their necessities or occasions required, as well before as after the Statute de Tallagio non concedendo, made betwixt the years 25 & 34 Ed. 1. and if it had been an Act of Parliament, and not a Charter could bind only the King as to his extraordinary, but not to his legall Tallages, untill custome by the kindness or favour of time, and the curtesie and good will of their Lords did permit them by a desuetude of [Page 155] imposing, and a well rellished custome of the Tenants not paying to enjoy their easie and cheap bargains and freedome of their Lands for which they should doe well to remember better then they doe their Benefactors, and be more mannerly and gratefull then of late they have been, and were before those indulgencies held to be so accustomed and usual, as it was not seldome found by Inquisitions and Juries upon oath that such or such land was holden, Et Talliari potest, &c. And might have Taxes or a greater Rent laid upon them by the Lord of the Manor, in so much as the Kings demeasne Lands were not free from Tallage, which will be evident enough by a presentment of a Jury of Nottinghamshire before the Justices in Eyre in anno 8 E. 1. or King Edward the first, when the Kings Letters Patents, of a Grant of the Town of Retford to the Burgesses thereof and their Heirs in Fee Farm was found and, mentioned in these words, viz. In Baga de quo warranto in Com. Not. & placitis de Ragemannis coram Justic. Itinerant. in Com. Nott. anno regni Regis 8. incipiend. nono. in Recept Scacar [...]i. Edwardus Dei gratia, &c. Sciatis nos concessisse, &c. Burgensibus nostris de Retford quod ipsi & eorum haeredes de cetero habeant & teneant ad feodi firmam de nobis & haeredibus nostris in perpetuum villam nostram de Retford cum pertnen, reddendo inde nobis & haeredibus nostris per manus suas proprias decem libras per annum ad Scaccarium nostrum ad festum Sancti Michaelis pro omnibus serviciis, &c. Salvo inde nobis & haeredibus nostris Tallagio nostro cum nos, & haeredes nostris Dominica nostra per Angliam fecimus Talliari, &c. reserving to himself and his Heirs a Fee Farme Rent of ten pounds per annum, and the power of Tax or Tallage (or improving) what he had granted unto them when he should have occasion to make a Taxe or Tallage upon all his [Page 156] Demesne Lands in England: And untill Rents were racked (of which the Kings of England and the Officers of their Revenue in land were seldom or never yet much guilty) & that Rents were improved as high as the profits of Lands, all the Lands of England except the Copihold & Customary lands, by Fines certain & the curtesie of time and their Landlords suffering their good will and charity to be reduced into thankless customs, escaped it) were liable to be made contributaries to many of the necessities or occasions of the Lords of Manors, who formerly did not make Leases and take Fines to lessen the rents, as they doe now▪ by a high rate or rule of interest and disadvantages, procuring their rents to be advanced as it were in the name of a Fine before hand; nor if the Lands were holden in Capite by Knight service untill time and their Princes favours had disused it, could make a Lease unto any Tenant of such Lands but by licence, and then also for no longer a term then 3. or 7. years. And their Lands and Rents, except Capite and Knight-service and Copihold land, and lands in Frank Almoigne, being capable of no higher Rents or improvement, cannot now be any more by them Tallied, (which in effect is but a calling for more rent, or raising it, which every Landlord may do where his Tenants are at Will, or when their Leases are expired) when they are now all but those Lands, before excepted, as to the King and the mesne Lords, and the Lands of the Freeholders and Cop holders at the utmost or a very high rent.
And such Tallage is at this day not laid aside by our Neighbours of France, Estate de la France par N. Besog [...]e en l' An. 1661. in very many places were les Tailles se paient par ceuz du Tiers estat c'est a dire par les [Page 157] habitans Roturiers des Villes non Franches Bourgs & Villages a proportion des biens du Taillable sans qu 'il ait estè besoin d' asembler les Estats pour ce suiet; those kind of Taxes are paid by the third Estate or Commonalty, that is to say, by the Inhabitants (or common people of the Towns and Boroughts not infranchised or freed from it by the King according to the proportion of their goods or moveables without any assembly of the Estates to that purpose, except in Languedoc, Provence, Burgogne, Daulphine, and Brittaine, where when the King and his Councel have resolved what the Tailles shall be les terres & immeubles seulement sont Taillables, the lands and immoveables only are tailleable, and their near friends the Scots did long agoe so well like of gratitude as they enacted and held it to be a good Law, that Lands holden in few Ferme pay and ane certain zierly dewty nomine Feudi Firme may be recognosced be the Superior for none payment of the few dewtie, and that twa maner of waies, the first ex provisione & naturae contractus by operation of law and the nature of the contract; Skene de verborum significatione. for the few Fermorer not pay and his few Ferme for his ingratitude and unthankfulnes Tinis and forfaltis his few Ferme be the disposition of the Law quhilk as zit was not in practique and use in Scotland. And the English Landlords were so unwilling to part with any priviledges which brought them in any power, gain or profit, as where they held any of the Kings antient Demesnes, in Fee Farme, and the King did cause his antient Demesnes to be Tallied, the Lord or Fee Farmer under him would sue forth the Kings writ, commanding the Sheriff that in case the lands were auntient Demeasne, Register of [...] writs 87. & hucusque consueverit Talliari and was untill then accustomed to be Tallied, that rationabile [Page 158] Tallagium ei habere faceret de libere Tenentibus suis in manerio praedicto sicut prius fieri consuevit, he should cause the Freeholders of the said Manor to pay unto their Lord such reasonable Tallage as was accustomed.
And with as much or more reason were the Pourveyances or Compositions for them allowed and established as the hitherto never complained of in Parliament or accompted to be grievances Herezelda, Herriot services, or Herriots, which Skene an Author of great authority amonst the Scots, defineth to be Ske [...]eu [...] ad Tit. de Herezeldis in Quon. attach. ca. 25. Alciat. lib. 1. parerg. ca. 45. & Spelman glossar▪ in voce Heriotum & Neo [...]acitus de feudi [...] Hollandici [...]. gratuitae donationes quae ab husbando seu agricola datur domino suo ratione dominij & reverentiae, the free gifts or remunerations of the Tenants to their Lords in the reverence and respect which they bear unto them.
Which the Hollanders, those grand contesters for Liberties, doe call Laudemia, and notably increase their small Revenues in lands with them: And in England, saith the learned Spelman, Non nisi post mortem husbandi solvitur is only paid after the death of the Tenant, and differs from a Reliefe; for that a Reliefe is in case of Inheritance, but an Herriot in a lesser Estate, as for life, &c. and being formerly and in the Saxon times of a greater value, by the giving or paying to their Lords Shields, Swords, Spears, Helmets, Horses furnished, and money, according to the several qualities and estates of the Tenants have been since by the example and indulgence of our Princes imitated by the Nobility and Gentry, reduced to the best horse or beast, and if none to the best houshold stuffe, but so greedily attached, or seldome remitted by the Landlords, as the poor mans single Ewe Lamb in the parable [Page 159] of the Prophet Nathan to David, or a Cow which should give the lamenting Wife and Children some nourishment and sustenance, are seldome able to escape their Bailiffes, or such as are sent to fetch them.
And if it be reason for the people to make such payments and contributions, and observe such respects to their Landlords and subordinate Governors or Superiors, as much, and greater surely ought they to pay unto their Pater Patriae, the protector and defender, as well of those that receive those duties, as of those that pay them, and are and should be enough to awaken and rouze up their gratitudes, and imprint in their memories the never enough to be requited benefits and blessings received by our Kings and Princes, as much as if with a forfeiture upon the not doing or observing those Agreements, they had been as strongly annexed and incorporated into our Lands and Estates, as that of the Service or Conditions of Lands given to hold by the Tenures of Knight service which as some Civilians hold, Repetit. l. Imperial in Bartholmeo Camerari 769. ipsi sanguini cohaerent, are inherent in the very blood of the Tenants, which being the most noble, gentile, rich, and better sort of the people, were when the Pourveyance was in being, the most fit and likeliest to be charged with the Payments or Contributions towards it; and were therefore in several Kings Reigns sometimes singly and often charged with publick Ayds or Taxes, and very much more then other of the people, as twenty shillings for every Knights Fee granted by Parliament to King Richard the first six and twenty shillings eight pence for every Knights Fee to King John, and as much at another time to him towards his Warres in Wales, twenty shillings upon every [Page 160] Knights Fee towards his Voyage into Normandy, and forty shillings at another time, and as much twice assessed in the Reigns of King Henry the third towards his Warres in Gascony, twenty shillings upon every Knights Fee by Henry the fourth (the Warres in Scotland by King Edward the first and Edward the second, and of France by King Edward the third, and the personal and chargeable services of most of the Nobility and Gentry therein probably procuring them some relaxation of not having their Fees or Lands so charged as formerly.) And besides other incidents belonging thereunto, are by the Fewdists said to be so more then ordinarily tied up unto gratitudes and the more especiall duties and obligations thereof; as such a Tenant forfeits his Lands in Fee, Si percipiat magnum periculum domino imminere, & ultrò sine requisitione servicium non offert; if he perceived any danger imminent or likely to happen to his Lord, and did not of his own accord offer his service to prevent it; or if his Lord were a Captive or in prison, ought to contribute towards his redemption, or if he should happen to fall into distress, was to relieve him as farre say some of the Fewdall Laws (which by stipulation or paction, being not at the first agreed upon, or included in the General words of defending the Lord and his Dignity, was with many other their gratefull observances afterwards particularized and deduced from such customes as gratitude only had in process of time introduced) and as much as amounted unto the Moiety of one years Rent, or si [...]esoldus discurs. Politic 741. & Commentar. dua [...]eni Wesenbech & Contii in Consuetudine Veud [...] rum Obertu [...] de Feudis lib. 2. [...]t. 24 & 28. Spelman glossar. in voce auxilium. dominum in acie periclitantem deseruerit, if he left his Lord in the field, and was ingratefull; And by our Laws of England, if he or his heirs did not unto the Lord, or any of his [Page 161] Heirs of whom the Lands were holden, his services within two years, was upon a Cessavit per Biennium brought by the Lord, and no sufficient distress to be found to forfeit the Lands so holden.
And from no other source or original was derived Escuage for the Tenants by Knight service not attending the King or their Lords in the wars, which,Littleton ca. 3. Escuage. as Littleton saith, was because the Law intendeth and understood it that the lands were at the first for that end freely given them, whence also came the Aide to make the eldest Sonne of the King a Knight, and to marry the eldest Daughter and the like assistances or duties unto the mesne Lords as gratefull acknowledgements for the Lands holden of them, which the Freeholders in Socage are likewise not to deny, and were not at the first by any Agreement betwixt the King and his particular Tenants, nor likely to be betwixt the mesne Lords and their Tenants when the Lands were given them; for that some of the mesne Lords might probably be without Sonne or Daughter, or both, or any hopes to have any when they gave their Lands, and their Grants doe frequently mention, pro homagio & servicio, in consideration only of homage and service to be done.
And being called auxilia sive adjutoria, Aids or Assistances to their Lords (who could not be then in any great want of such helps when the portions of Daughters were very much in vertue, and little in mony, and the charges of making the eldest Son a Knight, the King in those dayes bestowing upon all or many of them some costly Furres & Robes,Claus. H. 3. and the other charges consisting in the no great expences of the furnishing out the young [Page 162] Gentleman to receive the then more martial better used and better esteemed honour of Knighthood) were reckoned by Bracton in the later end of the Reign of King Henry the third, Bract [...]n lib. 2. tract. 1. cap 16. num. 8. inter consuetudines quae serviciae non dicuntur nec concomitantia serviciorum sicut sunt rationabilia auxilia; amongst those customes which are not understood to be services nor incidents thereof if they be reasonable.
But were de gratia & ut Domini necessitas secundum quod major esset vel minor relevium acciperet, and proceeded from the good will of the Tenants to help their Lords as their occasions or necessities should require, Et apud exteros (saith Sir Henry Spelman) non solum Spelman glossar. in voce Auxilium. ad collocandas sorores in matrimonium, sed ad fratres etiam Juniores milites faciendos; And with some forreign Nations (as the Germans, old Sicilians and Neapolitans) not only towards the marriage of the Sisters of their Lords, but to make also their younger Sons Knights.
For, the good will and gratefull retorns of the Subjects to their Kings and Princes, and of the Tenants to their Lords were not only since the Norman Conquest, but long before practised and approved by the Britains the elder and most antient Inhabitants of this our Island and other world, as is manifest by the Ebidiu or Tributum Spelman glossar. in voce Ebed [...]. paid per Nobilium haeredes Capitali provinciae domino, the Heirs of the Nobility or great men after the death of their Ancestors to the Lords or chief of the Province, like unto (as Sir Henry Spelman saith) our relief (which Hottoman termeth Honorarium, a free gift or offering) And that learned Knight found upon diligent enquiry amongst the Welch, who by the sins of their forefathers and injury of the Saxons are [Page 163] now contented to be called by that name, as Strangers in that which was their own Country, that that Ebidiu was paid at a great rate non solum è praediis Laicis, sed etiam Ecclesiasticis, not only by the Laity but the Church-men
And being not discontinued amongst the Saxons, was besides the payment of Reliefs attended with other gifts and acknowledgements of superiority as well as thanks; for Gervasius Tilburiensis in the Reign of King Henry the second, when the people of England had not been so blessed and obliged as they were afterwards with the numberless Gifts, Grants and Liberties which in the successive Reigns of seventeen Kings and Queens after preceding our now King and Soveraign were heaped upon them, found oblata presents, gifts or offerings to the King to be a well approved Custome, and therefore distinguished them into Ex nigro libro in A [...]chiv [...] [...]iscali sive recept. quaedam in rem & quaedam in spem, some before hand for hopes of future favours, and others for liberties or other things given and granted by the King, and the Fine Rolles of King John and Henry the third his Son will shew us very many Oblata's or Free-will Offerings of several kinds,Fines 6 Johannis. which were so greatly valued and heeded as King Henry the third and his Barons in or about the 23 year of his Reign (which was thirteen or fourteen years after his confirming of Magna Charta) did in the bitter prosecution and charge of Hubert de Burgo Earl of Kent and chief Justice of England, Mat. Paris 336. demand an Accompt de donis & xeniis of gifts and presents (amongst which Carucagii or carriages were numbred) spectantibus ad Coronam appertaining to the Crown.
And upon that and no other ground were those reasonable [Page 164] Lawes or Customes founded, that the King might by the Laws of England grant a Corody, which Sir Henry Spelman ex constitut. Sicul. lib. 3. Tit. 18. defineth to be quicquid obsonii superiori in subsidium penditur, provisions of victuals made for superiors; Et ad fundatores Monasteriorum, and to the Founders of every Monastry, though by the Constitutions of Othobon the Popes Legat in the Reign of King Henry the third, Spelman glossar. in v [...]ce Corredio, & F. N. [...]. 230. the Religious of those houses were forbidden to grant or suffer any to be granted or allowed è communi jure spectabat corrodium in quovis suae fundationis monasterio nisi in libera Eleemosina fundaretur, it belonged of common right to grant a Corrody in any Religious houses of their foundation, if not founded in Franke Almoigne, disposuit item Rex in beneficium famulurom suorum corrodium, &c. likewise the King might grant to any of his houshold servants a Corrody in any houses of the foundation of the Kings of England, and as many were in all by them granted as one hundred and eleaven, which that learned Knight conceived to be an argument that so many of the Monasteries were of their foundation, Et issint de common droit, saith the learned Judge Fitzherbert in his Natura Brevium, and also of Common Right the King ought Fitz Herbert Novel Natura Brevium 230. A. to have a reasonable Pension out of every Bishoprick in England and Wales for his Chaplain, untill the Bishop should promote him to a fitting Benefice.
Which if the compositions for Pourveyances being reduced into contracts, and a lawfull custome, were or should be no other then gratitudes, may be as commendable and necessary, as those well approved Examples of thankfulness recorded in holy writ, of Genes. 21. v. 23.26. Abrahams [Page 165] giving King Abimelech Sheep and Oxen for his kindness shewed unto him in the Land wherein he had sojourned: Araunah bowing himself with his face to the ground before King David when he asked him to buy his threshing floor, and being willing not only to have given it him if he would have accepted it, 2 Sam. ca. 24. v. 21, 22, & 23. as a King and unto the King, as the Text saith, the Threshing floor, but Oxen also for burnt sacrifice.
And The custome of Strangers (much more to be observed by Subjects who are under greater obligations) in the Queen of Sheba's presents of an hundred and twenty Talents of gold, and of spices very great store, 1 Reg. 10. and pretious stones, which she had before hand prepared and brought with her, and gave him at her departure, or in acknowledgement of her entertainment. And of Naaman the Sirians pressing the Prophet Elisha very hard after he was cured of his leprosie by no long or troublesome medicines to take a blessing of him, 2 Reg. 5. which may be understood to be no less an offer then a good part of ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment which he took with him when he began his journey unto him to seek his cure.
And more expressions of thankfulness then the Royal Pourveyance amounteth unto may certainly be due unto the King, who doth not as many great and small Princes or States usually do in Germany and Italy, build Forts upon some or many rivers or passages, which may streighten, incumber, or terrifie Merchants with their Merchandize, or other men that travail in the day time, or at other seasonable times upon their occasions and affairs, to enforce a Toll or payments of money, nor make a Sundt or Baltick of the Auss or passage from Bristow [Page 166] to Wales, or out of Lincolnshire over the Hum [...]er to Hull, or at Barwick or Newcastle, or in the passage betwixt Dover and Calais, which might yeild him even of Strangers a benefit or profit as considerable, or very neer as much as the Danish King doth of the Sund.
Suffers not the people to be troubled in their going to Markets & Fairs, or passing to & fro with their goods or inland Commodities or Merchandize with any such paages, payages or monies as are now paid by Passengers through the divers great and small & many several Territories of the Nobility or Lords of Manors in France for carriage of Goods or Merchandise, some of which payments are called Barrage, by reason of a Barre put cross the way; or Charles Loys [...]a [...] traite des s [...]igneuri [...]s. Billets in respect of a Billet which is hung upon a tree to denote the entrance into another Territory, or Pontage for the passage over a Bridge, or Prevostè for the Customes or Rights due in their passage to the Lord of that Jurisdiction, or the Travers which is paid by every one which carrieth any thing to sell out of the Manor, Jurisdiction or Territorie, and altogether doe make so great a trouble to the Carters, Voituriers, Passengers, or people, and the affairs of Merchandise, loosing much time in paying their Billets almost in every Parish as they pass finding out and tarrying for those that are to receive it; and in some places having Souldiers, or some hungry and almost starved companions placed to receive it, and Billets hung out many times where they should not, and being constrained thereby to seek by-wayes to escape such their too farre extended exactions, and hazard themselves if catched to pay une grosse amende more then otherwise they should, as the Commonalty and poor People [Page 167] of France, who have little more for their hard labours and drudgery to comfort them then a Lenten or slender dyet all the year, with Taxes, Rags and Apish fashions, had rather pay another Tail or Tax to the King, or twenty times as much to the Lords in their petites so [...]erainetès, little Royalties, then to be so much incumbred.
Which our Traders and Travailers are not at all troubled with, but are excused at Markets and Fairs, Cities or Towns of Trade by a Toll, which is more antient then the Conquest, or a few Centuries, are now taken by the King where he or his Progenitors have not granted them away unto others at the same or some easie rates, which they were at some hundreds of years or long agoe, when the price of a fat Sheep or Mutton was but twenty pence, and the Toll in some places; (for they vary according to custome) at one half penny, a Sheep, amounted unto a fortieth part of the then value of a fat Sheep, which is now not seldome rated and sold at 20 s. (and may therefore be the more contentedly paid, and if raised up together with the Pickage and Stallage, and for the Pennes to the now rates of victuals and provisions, would according to the difference betwixt the then small value of silver, and that which is now more then twice as much, and at 5 s. and a penny the ounce, and setled again in the Crown from whence it first came to many Lords of Manors, some of whom doe make 80 l. per annum by it, go a great way towards the loss or charges which the Counties doe pretend were laid upon them by the differences betwixt the Market prises and the rates which they did in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth agree by their Compositions [Page 168] to serve in the provisions for her and her Royall Family, or if raised up proportionably unto the price which it bears in the Markets and Fairs since those Tolls were first set and imposed (which must needs be understood to have a greater respect to the value then the numbers;) or what they have been enhaunced since the 24. year of the Reign of Henry the eighth after the ounce of Silver was raised to five shillings, when a pound of Mutton was by Act of Parliament not to be sold above a half penny farthing; and in Anno 34 of Henry the eighth,Stows Survey of London 421. 25 Boards or Stalls in the Stocks Market in London for Fishmongers paid rent yearly to the City 34 l. 13 s. 4 d. and for eighteen Butchers Boards or Stalls one and forty pounds sixteen shillings and four pence, or the Reign of King Henry the first, which was long after the custome of paying Toll, when the rate or price of a Mutton for the Kings provision was Gervasius Tilburiensis in Archizo Fiscali apud Recept. Scacc [...]ii, & Spelman gloss [...]r. in verbo Firma. secundum constitut [...]m modum, according to the then valuation and rate set at no greater a price then four pence (so great a difference had two hundred years betwixt that and the Reign of King Edward the second made in the rates and provisions for victuals) would make an encrease of the rates for Pickage and Stallage, and for Toll as much or more after no greater a rate then twenty shillings for a fat Mutton (which is now often exceeded) as five to one, and come up very near unto the pretended loss or difference in serving in the provisions for the Kings house.
And if it did not may be well afforded, and was abundantly recompenced by the indulgence of his Royall Progenitors King John and King Henry the third his Sonne by their Magna Charta, Agreement, [Page 169] or Accord made with their then powerfull Barons and Church men, and a discontented and seditious Commonalty (since reduced into Lawes, and confirmed by thirty Acts of Parliament) wherein the people having many liberties granted them by those Kings the great Lords Prelates, and superior part of the Clergy of whom they held, which they could not then claim as rights, but were to be received as favours, and as much to be valued as their pardon and indemnity which was granted unto them by the same Charter, King John therein promising them that all those Customes and Liberties Magna Charta Regis Johannis apud Mat. Paris 255. & 256. quantum ad se pertinet erga suos & omnes homines de regno suo tam Laici quam Clerici observent quantum ad se pertinet erga suos, as much as belonged to him he would observe towards all men, and that all as well Laick as spiritual should as much as belonged to them observe them towards such as held of them.
And by the late King Charles the Martyr who took but one hundred pounds for the Relief of an Earldome which was antiently accompted to be but of the yearly value of four hundred pounds per annum, 9 H. ca. 2. Selden 2 part. titles of honor. the least of which are now three or four thousand pounds per annum, very many double as much, and some sixteen or twenty thousand pounds per annum, when as the hundred pounds was then according to the now value of silver above three hundred pounds.
And to disburse in houshold provisions according to the difference betwixt the rates and prises of victuals as they were in the Reign of King Edward the second, which was above 80 years after the granting and confirming of Magna Charta by King Henry the third, [Page 170] when a Capon was sold for two pence, and what they are now will not be the fourth part as to some sort of provisions and victuals, and as to others not the sixteenth of that hundred pounds for the Relief of an Earldome, and so proportionably in other reliefs, and the summe of five pounds for the relief of a Knights Fee, which is but the fourteenth part according to the difference betwixt the antient and then value of the lands belonging unto a Knights Fee, now estimated but at three hundred pounds per annum, many of which are four or five hundred pounds per annum, and others of a greater yearly value, as the lands are lesser or more improved nearer or farther distant from London the grand Emporium of the Trade and Commerce of the Nation, and the residence of the King and his superior Courts of Justice.
Charta H. 1 in Mat. Paris 240.And are but the Antiqua Relevia, antient Reliefs, which King Henry the first in his Charter of Liberties granted to the people, did not reduce unto any certain sums, but ordered to be justa & legitima.
And but two hundred Marks for the Relief of a Marques, and two hundred pounds of a Duke (although there were at the time of the making of those great Charters neither Dukes nor Marquesses in England, or any such Titles in being) and one hundred pounds for the relief of a Baron.
And if the warres had not hindred him from those and other his dues, but 20 s. for every Knights fee according to the Statute in anno 3 E. 1. towards the marriage of his eldest Daughter, and making his eldest Son a Knight; and no more of every twenty pounds per annum in Socage.
[Page 171]Did not according to the Equity and Preamble of the Act of Parliament de anno quinto Eliz. cap. 4. which in regard that the wages and allowances limited and rated in former Statutes were in divers places too small, and not answerable to that time, respecting the advancement of prices of all things belonging unto Servants and Labourers, and that the Law could not conveniently without the great grief and burden of the poor Laborers and hired men be put in execution, and to the end that there might be a convenient proportion of wages in the times of scarcity and plenty, did repeal so much of the said former Statutes as concerning the working, and wages of Servants and Labourers, and enacted that the wages of Artificers Labourers and Servants should be yearly assessed by the Justices of the Peace and Magistrates in every County, City and Town Corporate with respect to the plenty and scarcity of the time, and other circumstances necessary to be considered, endeavour to raise them to any higher sums, or make them proportionable to the present values of lands and money, rates and prices of victuals.
And by the favour of his now Royal Majesty, who delighting in the vestigiis and pathes of his many indulgent and Royall Progenitors, though his own very great wants and necessities, and their daily importunities might have advised him not to have kept the road of his Ancestors liberality and bounty, but to reserve some kindness for himself and his more urgent occasions, did not as King Henry the third and several other Kings of England his Successors cause his Taxes & Assessements by Parliament to be assessed upon oath according to the full and true value of the peoples Estates, Mat. Paris 380. or as was done by King Edward the sixth since the Statute [Page 172] of 6 Ed. 3. for restraining the Parliament aids to the old Taxation upon the assistance or relief then so called, given unto him by Parliament, and make enquiries upon oath of the best values of the substance of such as were to pay that Relief, Dismes and Subsidies▪ and by the oaths also of those who were to pay them▪ and caused some to be sworn to value clothes to the end that the King might receive payment of Relief for every cloth; or as Queen Mary did, cause an enquiry to be made upon oath of the value of the goods and lands of such as were lyable to the payment of Fifteens Dismes and Subsidies in the 2, 3, 4, and 5, years of her Reign: But in his Assessments, Aids or Subsidies granted by Parliament did imitate his Royal Father King Charles the first, who took and received all his Subsidies at two shillings eight pence in the pound for goods and moveables, and four shillings for lands and immoveables, (with defalcation of debts,Anno 4 Car. 1. and consideration of a greater then ordinary charge of children) assessed by an express exception without oath, and the Commissioners left at liberty to assesse themselves and the Assessors according to the old and easie Taxations.
Takes and receives his First-fruits, or the first years value of Bishopricks, Spiritual Promotions and of Benefices not under ten marks per annum ▪ and Vicarages not under ten pounds per annum, (since treble those values) as they are said to be in the Kings books, and for the Tenths of their Spirituall Promotions after no greater a rate or yearly value, which no Act of Parliament ever obliged him to doe, then they were long agoe valued, with some very small encrease or raising long since in a very few of the Bishopricks (but in many, as Canterbury, [Page 173] York, Durham, Lincoln, Coventry and Lichfield, Exeter, Ely, Winchester, and Norwich, much abated) when as now by the rise of mony and prises they are greatly different from what they then we [...]e, and are of some of those Benefices and Spiritual Promotions, but the eighth or tenth, and of many but the twentieth part.
And receives his prae-Fines and post-Fines, Licences and Pardons of Alienation upon Common Assurances at less then a tenth, and many times less then a twentieth part of the true yearly values of the lands or rates which the Law (ordering the compositions to be upon oath) intendeth him, after the example of his Royal Father, who permitted the yearly value of lands in Capite and by Knight-service to be found by Juries and Inquisitions at the tenth part of the now true yearly value, when as by oath they were to find and certifie the true yearly values, and all the Lands of the Kingdome but his own are raised and improved generally ten to one, or very much in very many parts, and particulars thereof more then what they were two hundred years last past in or about the Reign of King Henry the sixth, when as the errable and pasture lands which are now in Middlesex let at fifteen or sixteen shillings per annum an Acre, and Meadow commonly at forty shillings, and sometimes at three pounds the Acre; were in Anno 1 Ed. 3. at a farre lesser yearly value, when two Toftes of Land, one Mill, fifty acres of Land, and two acres of Wood in Kentish Town near London was of no greater yearly value then 20 s. and 3 d. and the courser sort of pasture land in Essex now let for 8 or 9 s. the Acre, and Meadow at twenty or thirty shillings the Acre, was [Page 174] then in that Countie, and in many fertill Counties within sixty miles (and farre less) of London valued but at eight pence per annum, and four or five pence the Acre errable, and the like valuations were holden in licences of Mortmain in all his extents or values of lands seised for taken into his hands.
Received their primer seisins at the like small yearly rate, and took for suing out of Liveries, which may be resembled to a Copiholders admittance, not a fifth part proportionably to what is now paid by Copiholders to their Lords of Manors; and respites of homage, as they were taxed and set in anno primo Jacobi, in a very easie manner.
Did not in the valuation of Lands and Estates, as some Lords of Manors have been known to doe, whereby to rack and oppress the Widdows and Fatherless, employ some Sycophants or Flatterers of the Manor to over-value them, or have some Decoyes in the assessing of Fines to seem willing to pay or give as much when they are sure to have a good part of it privately restored unto them again, or cause their poor Tenants to be misled, and the more willingly cozen themselves by crediting hard and erroneous Surveyes, taking Leases of their Copihold Estates or using some other unwarrantable and oppressive devices, worse then the Pharisaicall Committees did in the renting of lands they had no title unto, when they did put men to box one another by overbidding themselves at their wickedly improving Boxes. Instructions of King James to his Councel of the Court of Wards and Liveries.
But did according to his Father King James his instructions given to his Councel of the Court of Wards in the assessing of Fines for the Marriages of the Wards and [Page 175] renting of their Lands (which too many of the Nobility and Gentry, and other of his Subjects did never or very seldome order the Stewards of their Manors to doe) order that upon considerations which might happen therein either by reason of the broken estate of the deceased want of provision for his wife, his great charge of children unprovided for, infirmity or tenderness of the Heirs, incertainty of the title or greatness of the incumbrances upon the Lands, they should have liberty as those or the like considerations, should offer themselves to use that good discretion and conscience which should befit in mitigating Fines or Rents to the relief of such necessities.
Suffers the Fees of his Chancery and Courts of Common-pleas and Kings-Bench for the small Seals, to be receved;Petit Parliament. 21 Ed. 3. n. 43 as they were in the Reign of King Ed. 3. and the Tenths reserved upon the Abby and Religious lands at no greater an yearly value then they were in the later end of the Reign of King Henry the eighth, when they were first granted, though now they are of a four times or greater yearly value. The Fees of the Seals of Original and Judiciall Writs and Process in Wales, as they 34 H. [...] ca. 26. were in the 34. year of the Reign of King Henry the eighth when the English Courts of Justice were there first erected; takes six pence a piece for Capons reserved for Rent in Queen Elizabeths time; the issues of lands forfeited unto him upon Writs of distringas at such small rates as six shillings eight pence upon one distringas, and 10 s. at another, which the Law intendeth to be the profits of the Lands distrained, betwixt the Teste and the return of the Writs, which would have amounted unto twenty times, or a great deal more, and receiveth his Fines upon Formedons ▪ and othe [Page 176] real Actions granted and issuing out of the Chancery at most gentle and moderate rates, his Customes inward and outward at easie rates proportionable to such small values as the Merchants advantage to themselves shall give in, or the Officers or Commissioners for the King at the Custome-houses shall at randome and without view think to be a favourable and easie estimate.
Some single ones, of which before recited undervaluations, besides the profits of the Tolls of Fairs and Markets if rightly and justly paid according to the true improved values, or two of the most of them would make up in a constant Revenue unto him a great deal more then the Compositions for his Pourveyances yearly and lately amounted unto by the difference betwixt his rates or prices and those of the Market.
A due consideration whereof if there were nothing else to put in the Ballance might induce the Earls, Marquesses and Dukes of England who have received their honors and dignities from his Royal Progenitors, to permit him as well to enjoy his Pourveyance, and reasonable support & maintenance of the honor of himself and his Royal Family, as they doe take and receive of him their Creation monies, being antiently a third part of the fines and profits of the Counties whereof the Earls are denominated, since reduced to a certain and yearly sum of money, when as also not a few of them have had great and large Revenues given them by his Royal Progenitors to uphold and sustein their Dignities and Honors.
And the Bishops whose Bishopricks and Baronies, and most of the Revenues belonging unto them were of the foundation of the Kings Royal Ancestors, and [Page 177] received their Investitures▪ and Temporalties from him, may if they shall think the Compsitions for Pourveyances ought not to be charged upon the Revenues of the Holy Church, and that of the Clergy but shall claim some priviledges and exemptions therein, be pleased to remember that although Simon Islip Archbishop of Canterbury being in many things a man of a severe life and discipline, did write his Speculum Regis aforesaid, or a book so called, sharply inveighing against the Kings Pourveyors, and their manner of taking the Pourveyance without money or due payment; in some sence and feeling probably of the taking of it from the Clergy complained of by them in the Parliament of 18 of Edward the third, they being no longer before exempted from it (some only as the Abbot of Battel and others specially priviledged excepted) then the first year of the Reign of that King,Charta Gulielmi Conquestori [...] in notis Seldeni ad Hist. Edmeri who as Matthew Parker in the life of Walter Reynold Archbishop of Canterbury mentioneth, being very well pleased with the Clergy for so freely contributing to his Warres; did in Parliament not only restore unto them vetera & antiquissima privilegia Ecclesiae Anglicanae, the old and antient Rights of the Church of England (which by Magna Charta could as to Cart [...] taking claim but the same freedom which those did who held by Knight service, viz. that their own Carts used in their Demeasnes should not be taken for the Kings use) but de novis auxit (i. e.) de non exigendis a Clero in regis hospitium esculentis poculentis, vecturis & similibus, gave them new priviledges, that is to say, to be freed from furnishing of Carts and provisions of victuals for the Kings Houshold.
[Page 178]Yet he and all other the Bishops of England could at the same time (and their Successors after them do unto this day justly and lawfully) take & receive in their Visitations once every 3 years a certain Rate or Tax set upon every Benefice propter hospitium towards the charge of their expences, house keeping and victuals, which, saith Stephens discourse of Procurations, Synodals, &c. 44. Mr. Stephens in his learned and judicious Treatise of Procurations and Synodals, are Perquisites or Profits of their Spiritual Jurisdictions, as creation money given to a Duke or Earl for the maintenance of his honour, and by reason of the great Trains & Attendance of Bishops heretofore with one hundred or two hundred men and horses at a time, some of the Visitors carrying Hounds and Hawks with them, and sparing not the exempt and priviledged placed, it grew to be so excessive as interdum Ecclesiastica ornamenta subditi exponere tenebantur, the poor Clergy were enforced to make provision for them, by selling their Church plate and ornaments; and it was therefore by a Constitution of Boniface the eighth, about the year 1295. ordained that the Archbishops should be limited unto 40 or 50 men and horses, the Bishops to 20 or 30, the Cardinals unto 25, and the Arch-Deacons unto 5 or 7, and they were prohibited to carry Hounds and Hawks along with them; and that also bringing but little ease to the inferiour Clergie (saith Stephens Ibidem 13. Mr. Stephens) because when victuals were not furnished they being left unlimited in Compositions or summes of money to be taken in lieu or recompence thereof, broke down the doors of Monasteries and Churches, taking where they were denied what they could lay their hands on, which caused the Councell of Vienna in [Page 179] the year 1311. to declaim against and prohibit such doings, which being not redressed might have put Simon Istip in mind who was betwixt that and 1349. when he was elected Arch-bishop of Canterbury in almost the zenith and heighth of his preferment, as Councellor and Secretary to King Edward the third, and Keeper of the Privy Seal, to have written as well against the abuse of Visitations and Procurations, if the Book which I have not seen, and is only to be found in Sir Robert Cottons excellently well furnished library, do not (as I could never understand it did) mention them, as against the abuses in the maner of making the Kings Pourveyances.
But was the cause howsoever that Pope Benedict the twelfth, about the year 1337. which was the eleventh year of the Reign of King Ed. 3. did make a Canon or Constitution to settle a proportionable rate of mony to be paid in lieu of victuals or provisions out of all Churches, Monasteries, and Religious Houses not exempted, and where custome and the smalness of the Benefices have not lessened it, was, as Lindewood saith in the Reign of King Henry the fifth of and out of every Benefice for the Arch-Deacons procuration no less then seven shillings and six pence, which was for each man attending him twelve pence towards the defraying of his charges (being then a great ordinary) and eighteen pence for the Arch-deacon himself, as well when they did visit as when they did not. And even Simon Islip himself whilest he was so busie about other mens failings was not without some of his own, nor was so great a friend to Justice in every part of it, or in his own particular as he might have been; for when he [Page 180] had been (as Matthew Parker Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, one of his reverend and worthy Successors, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth recordeth it) at some extraordinary charges in repairing of his Manor house at Wrotham in Kent, and obtained a Licence from the Pope to tax all the Clergie of his Province at a great in every twenty marks towards his expences therein, the Collectors did (probably by his privity) so order it, that they gathered a Tenth; which being complained of could never be refunded: And if he and his Successors had not continued the custome of their Procurations and other profits raised from the Clergy towards their more honourable and necessary support, would have been blamed as much as he was by Mat. Parker Antiquitates Britannicae 244.348. Matthew Parker and others long before his time with a malè audivit, for releasing to the Earl of Arundel for 240 marks the yearly payment of 26 red and fallow Deer in their seasons to the Arcbishops of Canterbury.
Who as well as other Bishops can take and receive Subsidium Cathedraticum, which is a duty of prerogative and superiority, Quarta Episcopalis, which is given to them for the reparation of Churches, which if the Cathedrals be not intended thereby is not bestowed upon the Parochiall Churches, which the Rectors and Parishioners are now only charged with.
Doe continue their taking also of Proxies, being an exhibition towards their charges for their visitation of Religious houses, since dissolved, and not now at all in being, and permit their Arch-Deacons in some Dioceses to receive their Pentecostalia or Whitsun farthings for every Family yet used and taken by the Bishops & Arch-Deacons of the Diocesses of Worcester and [Page 181] Gloucester, & be well pleased with some good Benefices many times allowed them in Commendam to make out and help the inequality of the Revenues of some of their Bishopricks, with the greater charges and expence of their spirituall dignities.
And their middle sort of Clergie can be well content to e [...]ke and piece out their Benefices with the comfort of the Lands belonging to a Deanery, Prebenda or Prebendship of Lands and other Revenues annexed to the Cathedrals, many if not most of which with the Deanerles and Prebendships thereunto belonging (as the Deanerie and twelve Prebends of Westminster by Camde [...] 1. part. Annales of Queen Elizabeth in Anno 1560. Queen Elizabeth) were of the foundation and gift of the Kings Royal Progenitors.
Which comfortable and necessary supports of our Bishops administred by their Clergie, are ex antiquo, and long agoe resembled by some or the like usages in Ireland, where the Coloni or Aldiones, such as hold in Socage of the Irish Bishops, did besides their Rents and Tributes erga reparationes Matricis Ecclesiae quidpiam conferre, give something (yearly) towards the reparation of the Cathedral or Mother Churches, and the Spelman in voce Heren [...]ciis. Herenaci another sort of Tenants so called, did besides their annual rent cibarià quaedam Episcopo exhibere, bring to the Bishop certain provisions for his Houshold (which was very frequent with the Tenants of Lands holden of our English Abbies and Religious Houses) & by an inquisition in the County of Tirone in anno 1608. it was by a Jury presented upon oath that there were quidam Clerici sive homines literati qui vocentur Herinaci, certain learned men of the Clergy who were called Herinaci & ab antiquo seisiti fuerunt, &c. And anciently [Page 182] were seised of certain lands which did pay to the Arch-bishop or Bishop of the Diocess quoddam charitativum subsidium refectiones & pensiones annuales secundum quantitatem terrae & consuetudinem patriae, a dutifull and loving aid, and some provisions and pensions according to the quantity of their lands and custome of their Country, and the grants of such lands as appeareth by a Deed of the Dean and Chapter of Armach in Anno Domini 1365. to Arthur and William Mac Brin for their lives, and the longer liver of them at the yearly rent of a mark and eight pence sterling una cum aliis oneribus & servitiis inde debitis & consuetis, with all other charges and services due and accustomed had in them sometimes a condition of quam diu grati fuerint & obedientes, so long as they should be gratefull and obedient unto them.
Wherefore the Barons, Nobility and Gentry of England who did lately enjoy those beneficiall Tenures by Knight-service (now unhappily as the consequence and greater charges and burdens upon the people will evidence, converted as much as an Act of Parliament in the twelfth year of the Reign of his Majesty that now is can doe it into Socage) which were at the first only given for service and assistance of their King and Country and their mesne Lords in relation thereunto, and have besides the before recited conditions many a beneficiall custome and usage annexed and fixed unto them, and at the dissolution of the Abbies and Religious Houses had much of the Lands given and granted unto them and their Heirs in tail, or otherwise with a reservation of a Tenth, now a great deal below the value, can doe no less in the contemplation of their honours, dignities and [Page 183] priviledges received from them, and many great favours continued unto their Heirs and Successors from Generation to Generation, then doe that in the matter of Praeemption, Pourveyance or Contribution towards the Composition or serving in of victuals or Provision for his Majesties Royal Houshold, and the honor of his House and Kingdome, which their Ancestors did never deny.
The Lord Maiors of London who doe take and rereceive yearly a payment or Tribute called Ale-silver, and the Citizens of London who doe claim and enjoy by the Kings Grants, Charters, or Confirmations a freedom from all [...]olls & Lastage throughout England, besides many other large priviledges and immunities, and the Merchants of England, and such as trade and trauell through his Ports, and over his Seas into forrain parts and are not denied their Bills of Store to free their Trunks, and wearing Clothes and other necessaries imported or exported from paying any Custome and other duties, which with many other things disguised and made Custome-free under those pretences for which the Farmers of the Customes have usually had yearly allowances and defalcations would amount unto a great part of the peoples pretended damage by the compositions for Royall Pourveyance, should not trouble themselves with any complaints or calculations of it, when as both Citizens and Merchants can derive their more then formerly great increase of trade and riches from no other cause or fountain then the almost constant [...]esidence of the King and Courts of Justice in or near London, and the many great priviledges granted unto them and obtained for [Page 184] them by the Kings and Queens of England.
The Tenants in ancient Demeasne claiming to be free from the payment of Tolls for their own houshold provisions, and from contribution unto all wages assessed towards the expences of the Knights of the Shires, or Burgesses sent unto the Parliament, which Comment. in Artic. super Chartas 542, 543. Sir Edward Coke believes was in regard of their helping to furnish the Kings Houshold provisions, though since granted to other persons, and their services turned into small rents now much below what they would amount unto, and many Towns and Corporations of the Kingdome,Vide Act for Subsidies in Anno 4 Car. 1. the Resiants in the Cinque Ports and Romney Marsh, Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the Colledges and Halls therein, and the Colledges of Winton and Eaton claiming to be acquitted from the payment of Subsidies by antient Exemptions, may be willing to pay or bear as much as comes to their share in that one of the smallest parts of duty which is not to be refused by such as will fear God and honour the King.
And all the Subjects of England who enjoy their Common of Estovers in many of the Kings Woods or Forrests, Pannage or feeding of Swine with Acorns, or fetching of Ferne from thence, Priviledges of Deafforrestations, Assart lands, Pourlieus, and Browse wood, and have Common of Vicinage, and Common appendant not only therein, but in most of his Manors by a continuance or custome of the charity, or pitty of his Royal Progenitors, and where they have no grant to produce for those and many other favours will for refuge, and to be sure not to part with it, fly to praescription and time beyond the memory of man; [Page 185] and suppose that there was a grant thereof, because that possibly there might have been one, should not think much to let him pertake of some of their thanks and retributions, which will not amount to one in every twenty for all the benefits which they have received of his Royal Ancestors, or doe yearly receive of him.
Nor should forget that God Almighty the maker of heaven and earth, giver of all good things, and bestower of blessings, who fed his people of Israel with Quails in the Wilderness where none were bred, Manna where none was either before or since, and made the Rocks to yeild water, did in his Theocraty or Government of them by his Laws and Edicts written by his own finger, or spoken by his own mouth, give all the Nations of the Earth a pattern or direction for Pourveyance and gratefull acknowledgements in his reserving the Tenths or Tithes for his Priests or Clergy, notwithstanding their Glebe,Leviticus 38. v. 32, 33. Numbers 18. v. 21. and 48 Cities with the Pomaeria's or Lands belonging unto them, and their shares and parts out of the multitudes of Sacrifices, with many other Fees and Priviledges which were for a further support and provision for them great offerings of Oxen,Numbers ca. 7. Silver and Plate brought unto the Tabernacles by the Princes and the Heads of the houses of their Fathers, which God himself directed Moses to receive and dispose amongst the Levites, and the offerings at the Feast of the Passeover, Numbers 9. v 13. which later if not brought were to be very poenal to the refuser, in being to be cut off from his people; their Offerings and Free-gifts and First-fruits, and that which was brought by Gods direction as a Pourveyance for the building of the Tabernacle, which was then the only Church.
[Page 186]Which our fore-fathers the Britans as well as the Saxons had so good a mind to imitate as they did in the Feast of St. Martin, Fleta lib. 8. ca. 47. Spelman glossar. in voce Ciricksceat. yearly offer to the Church for their Ciricksceat, or contributions to the Church, certam mensuram bladi Tritici, a certain measure or quantity of wheat, and at Christmas, gallos & gallinas Hens and Cocks, which in a Synode or Councell holden in Anno 1009. at Aenham in England, were interpreted to be Ecclesiastica munera, contributions to the Church, and long before that established by a Law of King Ina's under a great penalty,Inae LL. ca. 4. Canuti LL. ca. 10. and by a Law of Canutus long after laid under a greater penalty of eleven times the value of the Bishop, and two hundred and twenty shillings (then a very great summe) to the King.
And it may be remembred that our Saviour the blessed Son of God whilest he was upon Earth, and was the Messiah or King of Israel long before prophecied, and to ride as a King in a kind of triumph into Jerusalem, Zach· 9.9. Mark 11. v. 3. and would not use unfitting or unjust wayes and means unto it, did send two of his Disciples for a Colt, or Foal of an Ass, to ride upon, with no other answer or satisfaction to be given to the Owner, but that the Lord hath need of him, and streight way he will send him hither; which a learned Commentator upon that place understands to be some exercise of a Kingly power to convince the stubborn Jews of his Kingly office.
But if the Royall Pourveyance or Compositions for them shall be so unhappy as not to be able to grow or prosper upon the Stocks of gratitude, or those every daies benefits, quae magna accipientibus ac etiam dantibus, which are great to the receivers if rightly valued, and great and costly to the givers, which the people of this [Page 187] might be fortunate Island have for those many ages and hundreds of years past had and received of the Kings and Monarchs thereof.
The contracts and agreements made with the several Counties for the Pourveyances & their willing submission thereunto if the King had no former right (as he had a sufficient one) thereunto, can no less then induce an Obligation,Bracton de actionibus ca. 2. & Oldendorpius in locis communibus Actionum Juris Civilis 9. & 11. & that naturalem rationem & honestatem naturalem juris & fidei vinculum quibus necessitate omnes astringuntur, natural reason and honesty with the Bonds and Tyes of the Law and common faith which ought to be in every man, and one unto another; And being the great Peacemakers, cement and quiet, if observed as they ought to be, in all the affairs of mankind, brings with them, or are to enforce a necessity of performance.
But if the obligations which the faith and contracts of one man to and with another, which generally binds the most rude and ignorant of mankind, and the Heathen as well as Christian shall not be able to make any impression upon us.
Or if Gratitudes, Duties and Retributions to our King and Common Parent can by any rules of Law or Reason be interpreted or understood to be no more then a Custome.
All the subordinate ranks and degrees of the People and Subjects of England might be perswaded to follow the counsel given by the blessed Redeemer of Mankind, which the Emperor Severus and some of the Heathen Roman Emperors by the only light of nature could, as if they had read his Gospels, propose afterwards almost in the very same words of Doe unto others as they would have others doe unto them, and believe that the legall [Page 188] priviledges and customes of the King in his Praeemption, Pourveyance, or Composition for his Houshold (who gave or confirmed unto them all their Priviledges and Customes) being rationabiles, Glos. in ve [...]b. usque ab hoc tempus c. servi [...]tium 18 q. 2. and by the Civil Law are unde [...]stood to be legitime praescriptae, most reasonable and lawfully prescribed or used, when they are bona fide and but for forty years, and ought to be inviolabiles quia nec divino juri, nec legibus naturae & Gentium sive municipalibus contradicunt, inviolable when they contradict not the Laws of God, Nature and Nations, and the Laws of the Land, neither are nor can be any grievance, but are justly due unto him as he is their Supreme, when as it was well said by Judge Barkeley in his Argument in the Exchequer Chamber in the Case of the Ship-money unhappily there put to a dispute, the whole Realm is but one body (whereof the King is the head) and all the Members doe center in that body) and if one member (epecially the head do suffer) all the rest will suffer with him; and though every man hath an Interest in the Commonwealth, yet the Kings Interest is incomparable and beyond all others.
And the Compositions for the Pourveyance, being not only a duty and a custome now above 88. years reckoned but from the 3. year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Camd [...] 1 [...] ▪ Annals of Queen El [...]zabeth. (which was the time of the first agreement, or compositions for the most of the Counties of England and Wales) to the death of King Charles the Martyr, and from his death to the restauration of Charles the second, his Son & our gracious Soveraign in the twelfth year of his Reign,A [...]ciat. lib 5. a [...] [...]ust. will yeild no less a Totall of years then one hundred, which is justly accompted to be a time immemoriall or beyond the memory of man, and makes a more [Page 189] warrantable prescription and ground of Title then that in King Henry the seconds Reign tempore Henrici Regis Avi, in the time of King Henry the first his Grandfather, or post coronationem suam, after his own coronation, or post ultimam transfretationem in Normanniam, after his last going over into Normandy, or that in Henry the thirds time, post ultimam transfretationem in Britanniam; or that time of Limitation by the Statute of 32 H. 8. ca. 2. of 50 years, for bringing of Writs of Right and Formedons, &c. And in the Kings case, being a greater Epocha, period, or account of time▪ must needs be the best of Prescriptions and the greatest of Customes, because it was not gained as most of the peoples Customs or Prescriptions were, the best of which had no other originall then the continuance of favours of those that bestowed and permitted them to be enjoyed, or a neglect of taking or calling for duties untill time had overrun and covered them with that which is now called a Custome or Prescription, but were established by a threefold obligation composed of a Right or Duty, a very antient Custome backt by the Lawes of God, Nature and Nations, and a Contract, made and continued by the people to their King, built upon the best and greatest of considerations, which the Prophet David in the 15 Psalm, if it had not been beneficiall, but to some loss or damage, adviseth not to be broken.
And merited the bettter observance, in that Queen Elizabeth did but the year before call into her Mint and reduce unto pure silver the monies which her Father King Henry the eighth had so much debased with a mixture of brass, as it was scarcely half the value in silver, [Page 190] which made the price of commodities so much or a great deal the dearer,Camden 1. part Annals of Queen Elizabeth in Anno 1560. and by her Edicts did all she could to bring down the prices in the Markets, which then began to swell more then there was any cause for, and in her composition and agreement with many or most of the Counties of England and Wales the next year after, did but accept of what then they understood might, as the learned and judicious Mr. Camden hath informed us, justo pretio, at a reasonable or Market rate be, well afforded.
And the Lords of Manors who according to the several customes thereof think it not unreasonable to enjoy their Chevagia or Chiefage, which Cowel takes to be pecunia Annu [...] data potentiori tutelae patrociniique gratia, a small yearly payment paid by Tenants as acknowledgments, for favours and help received, or to be received, and take their reliefs of their Tenants in Socage, in some places by custome a years value, and in some but half as much, and in others more according as their customes vary, the least of which in value of money doth twice exceed what it amounted unto formerly, & enjoy their Free Warrens and Fishings, with many other Priviledges and immunities by Grant or Prescription, and with the Yeomanry, and lower ranks of people, can be content to claim the benefit of their Customes de non decimando, of paying no Tythes at all for Lands formerly belonging to the Cistercians, Knights Templers, Hospitlers, or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, or of a modus decimandi, of paying but a penny or some little yearly summe of money in lieu of all Tithes, and make an inheritance of the greatest part of 3845 Impropriations with the Smoke-pennies, or Peter or Chimney [Page 191] pence, Weavers funeral monuments 176. & Si [...] Roger Twisdens Vindication of the Church of England 77. which being formerly paid unto some Abbies and Religious Houses, and coming afterwards to the Crown in the Reign of King Henry the eight, and granted out again by him, are in many places as Appendants unto some Manors paid unto this day; And think it no grievance to enjoy them and many other priviledges, which wereby Grants, or Exemptions by Papal Constitutions, designed to Religious and not any Lay uses.
And the customary services of their Tenants, to repair wayes and Bridges, contribute to the maintenance of a Priest or Preacher, or to the marriage of poor Maids, or to carry Milstones some miles distant to their Milnes, to doe suit of Court, or be Butler, Baker, or Carver at some Festivals, and can notwithstanding all the sometimes tedious Suits in Law of their Tenants, who hold by Fines incertain, and their complaints cram'd in a great purse made of many little ones, attended with staves and ill-smelling shoes and feet, travailing for relief to Westminster Hall, and the superior Courts of Justice, with store of out-cries of grievances and oppressions, filling every Alehouse they come in with the lamentable tediously told stories of that which they doe many times but guess to be like them, raise their Fines for admittances unto two years present value, which amounts unto sixteen or twenty times as much as the antient value and demand, and take ten or thirteen shillings an Acre to reduce the Fines incertain to a smaller certainty.
Can take the Optimum Animal, LL. Gulielmi Conquestoris [...]9▪ or best horse or beast for a Herriot at the death of their Tenants when it exceeds the value of as much as 40 or 50 or 100 to [Page 192] one, of what it was at the Conquest, when it was reduced from a greater to that lesser rate and within a month or less after take as much as they can get for an Admittance of the Widdow or Heir of the deceased (which in Copihold Estates differs very Little from a Relief) and in some places, as in Cumberland, Westmerland, and some adjacent Northern Counties compel them, besides their formerly perilous enjoyned services annexed to their Lands, to be ready night or day to repell the incursions of their plundering and unruly Scottish Neighbours, to pay a thirtieth penny after the rate or assise of their old rents upon every Alienation, and a twentieth upon the death or change of a Landlord, which were formerly more easie, and have been since only raised to those higher rates in regard of a greater value since put upon lands, houshold provisions and commodities, should not murmur at the small oblations which in no burdensome, great, or general contributions are to be made unto the King for the maintenance of himself and his Royal Family.
And the Copiholders who can when they please think themselves happy in their customes of Fines certain, which patientia & charitate in jus transi [...]runt, crept by the charity and sufferance of their Landlords into that which they doe now call Tenant rights, when as the lands which they do now hold is in the improved yearly value ten or sixteen or twenty times, in many places more then the former yearly value, and are by so much beyond the intention either of the Lords or Tenants, the Grantors or Grantees when those Fines certain were at the first set or accepted, and in those Tenant Rights, as they call them, and many of their Customes, have in [Page 193] many places large Pastures and Meadows of many Acres yearly thrown out at Midsummer, or the first day of August, or some other time in the Summer, or latter end thereof, for a Township to inter Common for three quarters of every year, or some months, and in some places have Common belonging to their Copyholds, for paying to the Lord of the Manor yearly (as in Grayes Case in Hil. 37 Eliz. a hen & five eggs,Cokes [...]. part. 5. Reports. much increased in price since that collateral recompence (as it was in that case resolved to be) was first taken, continued, and preserved unto them by the care of the King and his Laws, by Inquiries formerly in the Eyres or Circuits, de novis consuetudinibus levatis, if any oppression, or new customs were imposed by their Lords; and no sooner complained of any, but had their remedies by a writ of ne injuste vexes, Glanvil lib. [...]2. cap. 9. and Coke Magna Charta ca. 10. where their Lords did indebita servicia exigere, require customs and services not due, or writs to command their Lords to keep their Courts when the necessities of Justice & the Tenants required them,Fitz. He [...]bert: brief de droir▪ patent. N. [...].B▪ & Register of Writs. seising them if they did not do Justice, causing their Lands to be seised for not holding of their Courts, or for wrongful proceedings, or requiring unreasonable rents & services, taking unreasonable Amerciaments & the like, & gives remedies by his Courts of Chancery, Common-Pleas, Kings-Bench & Exchequer, to any unreasonable exactions or hard-heartedness of their Landlords, & those Acquittances and Freedoms which the King, and his most illustrious Progenitors have given many of the people of England to be free, de omni praestatione, of furnishing Corn, Lamb, and Wooll, to the use of the Forresters of Buckstall, or assisting them in the Chase when the King comes to [Page 194] hunt; or of Tristris, to hold Grey-hounds; or of Sumage, or carriages by Horse or Carts; or Chiminage, for travelling through the Forrests;C [...]ke 4 [...]h. part Institutes. or of Bridgebote, to be quit of making of Bridges in the Forrests, or their bounds; and granting likewise that antient priviledge to the Nobility, Bishops, & Barons, coming to Parliament, or returning from thence, to kill one or two of his Deer, in any of his Forrests, Chases, or Parks, should be as unwilling to see his Royal Liberties, Legal Customs, and Priviledges infringed, denied, or taken from him, as their own.
But if neither gratitude for benefits and favours recieved in particular by every Family, Kindred & Generation, in the Nation, one time with another, from the King, or his Royal Progenitors, immediately or mediatly, nor contracts nor customs can oblige or perswade to that small part of Subjects duty in the Praeemption, or royal Pourveyance, or compositions for it, which Oliver, & his Complices, the Contrivers of much of our late sins, shame, and misery, taught them by a strange mistaking, to call a burden or grievance.
They should not deny them as retributions & oblations which they are to make unto their King (if he, or his royal Ancestors, had not in every age & Kings reign given them any honours, dignities, estates, lands, liberties, or priviledges) for his protection only, & care of them, and for their peace, plenty, & good Laws, & the happiness imparted by them, (which is not to be outweighed by any assistance which they can give unto their Prince, & Defender of their faith, as well as their estates) or as tributes which Peter Martyr, Pe [...]er Martyr, Commen [...]. in lib▪ 1. Reg, a godly & learned foreign Protestant Divine, ca [...]d hither by K. Ed. 6. [Page 195] to assist in the work of Reformation, saith, are velu [...]i symbola subjectionis & mercedis cujusdam eorum laborum, qui sua propria neglexerint, & ideo necesse est ut de publico provideatur, as signes of subjection and retributions for their cares of the people whilest they neglect their own affairs; and therefore, it is fit, they should be provided for out of the publick by Tributes, which, besides the allowance which our Saviour Christ the Son of God the greatest of Legislators gave of them, were so necessary and usuall, as feré cum Regibus esse nata nullamque penè gentem fuisse unquam quae Regibus atque Magistratibus suis de publico non solvent tributa unanimis est Historicorum ac Politicorum consensus, Besoldus in discurs. politic. de Aerar [...]o ca. 1. & Bullinger de Vec [...]igal. ca. 1. they were as antient almost as Kings, and brought into the world with them, saith Besoldus, and it is the unanimous opinion of all that know any thing of history and policy, that there never was Nation in the world which did not pay tributes to Kings and Magistrates.
And may deem his just and legall prerogatives and reasonable priviledges and customes in his rights of Pourveyance to be as deservedly belonging unto him his Royall Crown and Dignity, as Swans not and marked, and Whales & Sturgeons,Cas [...] de Swanns Coke 7. [...]elat. Stamford pleas of the Crown, and Bracton lib. 3. de corona. which Bracton tells us do propter privilegium & de jure gentium, by priviledge and the Law of Nations belong unto the Crown, and Porpoises, Dolphins, and all other Fishes strange for bulk, rarity or quality, for that by custome the Soveraign Prince (say the ancient Sea Laws of Oleron) ought to have his share, demand, or pleasure therein, and with good reason; for the Subject owes obedience and tribute to his Soveraign, Pat. 20 Ed. 3. m. 1. who may as his Ancestors grant Kaiage & Plankage, and ought to h [...]ve as much right & as great a privilege, [Page 196] not yet rest ained o [...] taken away by his Royal Progenitors assent to any Act of Parliament in his Praeemtion and royal Pourveyance, as King Henry the third had in the fourth year of his reign, who being to transport his Army into France, commanded by his Proclamation omnes victualium mercatores, all Market folk in the Counties of Berk. Southt. Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire quod veniant ad Portsmouth cum victualibus, & quod nullum mercatum teneatur in Comitat. praedict. quamdiu, &c. to bring victuals and provisions to Portsmouth, and that no Markets should in the mean time, or as long as the Army there continued, be kept in the said Counties, which would of necessity abate the prices.
Ex libr [...] C [...]mput. Garderob [...] 34 Ed. 1. ex parte Rememb. Reg.Or as King Ed. 1. did in anno 34 of his Reign, assigne Robert Bacon the Sheriffe of Cambridge and Huntington Shires, ad blad [...] emenda infra Ballivam suam per visum & ordinationem Willielmi de sancto Georgio & Gulielmi de Say milit. mitend. usque Berwicam super Twedam ad expensas hospitii, & exercitus Regis in guerra Scotiae, to buy and provide corn within his Baliwick by the view and assistance of Sir William St. George and Sir William de Say to be sent and conveyed to Barwick upon Twede for the provisions of the Kings Houshold and Army in the warres of Scotland, viz. 40 quarters de frument. & 425. quarters Brasii, prec. quarter 4 s. & 425 quarters 3. avenae prec. quarter 2 s. 6 d. 40 quarter of corn and 425 quarter of Malt or Barley at 4 s. a quarter, and 425 quarter of Oats at 2 s. 6 d.
Pa [...]. 33 Ed. 3. pat. 3. m. 4.Or as King Ed. 3. had by his Letters Patents in the three and thirtieth year of his Raign to seise and take Falcons and Hawks to his use, and limit the price of them, en le Cite de Londres, & les lieux environ cibien [Page 197] en [...]au come en terre cest a scavoir le falcon gentil pour 20 solz le Tersel gentil pour 10 solz. & le Laner pour demy mark destre payer par les mains des ses visc [...]nts; in London and the parts adjacent, as well upon the water as the land, that is to say, twenty shillings for the Falcon-gentil, ten shillings for the Tersel-gentil, and a noble for a Laner, to be paid by the Sheriffs, which hath an affinity or neer resemblance with Solomons Merchants receiving the linnen-yarn which came from Egipt at a price. 1 Reg. 10.28.
Or to grant a Toll without act of Parliament as well before as since the Conquest for murage or repair of the walls of Towns, as Ipswich, Harwich, Pat. 11 E. 3. m 5.3 part. 22 E. 3 part. 1. m. 20. Pat. 24 E. 3. part. 2. m. 16.25 E. 3. part. 2. m. 9.28 E. 3. part. m. 4. Pat. 12 E. 3. part. m. 15. Pat. 12 E. 3. part. 1. m. 2. Pat. 11 E. 3. part. 3. m. 5. Newcastle upon Tine, Ludlow, &c. or Cities, as London, Norwich, York, Bristol, &c. which must of necessity raise the rates of commodities brought thither to be sold; and by the same power or authority remit or release them; and being granted to many Cities or Towns but for three of seven years, or as to London for five years, or some other short term since expired, is, as may be feared, under a colour of custome or praescription as yet continued.
Or being Soveraign of the British seas, to take weekly for all Herring taken therein, six pence for every Ton, and the like for other fish every three weeks either of his own Subjects or forraign Nations;Rot. Parl. 2 R. 2. & Seldens Ma [...]e clausum.] or for his Admiral under him to take the tenth of all the Prizes, or Ships of his Enemies taken at the Sea, and money for Anchorage, paid by every Ship for their quiet riding in the river of Thames, or any of the Kings Harbours.
And with as good reason as the Burrow Mealis in Scotland, where quilibet Burgensis debet domino Regi pro [Page 198] Burgagio quinque denarios annuatim & dicuntur incorporari, [...]. Parliamen [...] James 1. ca. 8. Spelman in verb. [...]o [...]row mealis. annexique Fisco & patrimonio Regis, every Burgess was to pay five pence per annum for his mealis (which Sir Henry Spelman interprets to be a Farme appropriated to buy provisions in regiae mensae apparatum, for the Kings Table or Houshold) and are said to be incorporate and annexed to the Patrimony of the King and his Exchequer.
Borrow Laws ca. 39.Or as the Provost of Edenburgh or other borough Towns in Scotland may take and receive four pence upon every quarter of Malt of ilk Brewster quhe brewes aill all the zeir four pennies, and for [...]ne halfe zeir tw [...] pennies.
As the Apprisers of flesh are appointed to apprise it at the Kings price ilk dayes of the Markets, and to admit the eath of the [...]s [...]er in that matter.
Statutes of David the second, An [...]o 13 [...]7.And as by the Statutes of King David the second, it was ordained that for relief of the inward parts of the Realm, quhair woll hes course and quhilks ar burdened with customes, and that the remanent parts of the Realm may be made equall with them in all services and burdings. It is Statute that certain sommes and quantities of victuall quhareof there is abundance in these utward parts (sick as Marts beir and sicklike sall be taken up zeirly at the Chamberlains command to the expenses of the Kings house according to the prices quihilk in auld times used to be taken up in these places.
5. Parliament Mary 1551.Queen Mary, the Lord Governour, and Lords of secret Counsell havand respect to the great and exorbitant dearth risen upon the will and t [...]me Fowles, ordained the prices thereof, as 5 s. (Scottish) the Swan▪ the black Cock and gray hen, six pennies (twenty of their pennies [Page 199] being but two pence) the Woodcock four pennies, and the dous [...]n of Laverocks and uthers small birds four pennies, &c.
And by as good reason as King James the sixth his Majesties Grandfather confirmed the Acts of Parliament made by his noble Progenitors for the stanching of dearth of Victuals, 7. Parliament King James 6. An. 1581. and setting order and price on all Stuffe, and ordained all Earls, Lords, Barons, as well within regality as royalty, and their Bailles to landwart, and the Provestes and Bailles of all B [...]rrows and Cities to cause the said Acts to be put to due execution, every ane within their boundes and Jurisdiction respective makand and constitutand them Justices to that effect, with power to make and appoint Statutes and Ordinances for the special observation of the saidis Acts at every head Court zierly.
Assigned money and victuals of several Shires and places in Scotland, 9. Parliament James 6. 1585. to the keeping of the Castles of Edinburgh, Dunbartane, Strivilinge, and Blacknes.
Declared the tenths of all Herrings taken in the Scottish Seas to be due unto him as King of Scotland and all infestments and Alienations in few ferme or utherwaies, and all dispositions quhatsumever in all time bygane, and to cum, 15. Parliament James the sixt. of the Assise Herring to be nil and of no avail, because the said Assise Herring pertanis to the King as ane part of his Customes and annexed property.
And by as much (or a greater) warrant or assent of reason, as King Henry the 5. of England did in a Patent or Grant of the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland to James de Boteler Earl of Ormond, authorise him ad victualia sufficientia & necessaria pro expensis hospi [...]ii sui ac Soldariorum suorum in quocunque loco infra terram predictam [Page 200] per Provisores hospitii sui & alios ministrossuos unacum Cariagio su [...]ficienti, Pat. [...]. H. 5. m. 9. pro eisdem tam in [...]ra libertates quam extra feodo Ecclesie duntaxat excepto pro denariis suis rationabiliter solvend capere & providere juxta formam diversorum Statutorum de hujusmodi provisionibus ante haec tempora factorum, to take victuals sufficient and necessary for the expences of his Houshold and his Souldiers by his Pourveyors and other Ministers in any place whatsoever in Ireland, with carriages sufficient for the same, as well within liberties as without, the Fees of the Church only excepted, at reasonable prises, according to divers Statutes made concerning provisions.
And was so well grounded upon Law and reason, as all the succeeding Lord Lieutenants or Deputies of Ireland have ever since not wanted those necessary priviledges to attend their high & honourable trusts & imployments, & could so little be parted with, in the 19. year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, Cam [...]en. 2 part. Annals of Q Elizabeth de Anno 1576. when Sir Henry Sidney was Deputy of Ireland, as the Earl of Desmond, the Viscount Baltinglas, & other unquiet spirits refusing to pay the provision or Ceasse, as they there called it for the Lord Deputies house, & the Souldiers in Garrison, which the learned Camden saith was exactio rei Annonariae certo pretio, provisions to be furnished at a certain rate or price ad alendum proregis familiam militesque praesidiarios, for the Lord Lieutenants or Deputies Families, & the Souldiers in Garrison, quasi non exigenda nisi ex authoritate Parliamentaria, as not due unless it were ordained by authority of Parliament: & sending over their complaints into England, the Lords of the Privy Council upon the hearing & [Page 201] bate thereof committed them, and those which remained in Ireland, and had sent them, were in like manner imprisoned untill they should submit to the payment and furnishing thereof; for that it appeared by the Records of that Kingdome to be antiquitus institutum an antient constitution, & jus quoddam Majestatis, a part of the right appertaining to the soveraign Power, Praeeminence or Kingly Praerogative, quae legibus non subjicitur, nec tamen legibus adversatur ut Jurisprudentes judicarunt, which being not against the Laws was not to be subjected to them, saith that worthy Historian, the Queen then only ordering the Lord Deputy to use as much moderation as he could in taking those Provisions or Pourveyances.
And as necessary as that most prudently governing Queen (who as King James her Successor saith,Rex Jacobus in his [...]asilicon Doron, or instructions to his Son Prince Henry. prudentia & faelicitate imperandi omnes ab Augusto principes superavit, in the wisdome and happiness of her government out went and exceeded all the Princes of the world since Augustus Caesar, understood it to be when by a warrant under the hand of the Earl of Leicester, Master of her horse, bearing date the 3. of July 1574. she commanded the furnishing of four able Cart Horses or Geldings, with all manner of furniture for draughts to serve her during the Progress. Or as he by a just authority derived from her by his letter bearing date the 29. day of June before, autho [...]ized the Knight Marshall to apprehend and punish all such, as George Middleton one of the Surveyors of the Stable should inform not to have done their duties in furnishing provisions for the Stable, and by his warrant bearing date the 20. of October 1574. which was in the seventeenth year of her [Page 202] reign directed to the high Constable of Elthorne in the County of Middlesex commanded the Inhabitants to furnish the arrears of composition Oats for the years 13, 14, 15, and 16. then last past, as also the composition Oats for that present year: And the like to the Constables of the hundred of Isleworth in the said County, and by a warrant under his hand in the year 1576. in the 19. year of her reign, ordered the taking up of 16 Ambling Mares for the service of her Majesty at reasonable prises in such places as they should think meet.
Stowes Survey of London.And by as much right and reason as the Maior and Magistrates of London did in the seventh year of the reign of King Edward the second set prises on victuals, & ordered no more to be taken for a fat Oxe then 24 s. a fat Goose two pence half penny, a fat Mutton twenty pence, a fat Capon two pence, a fat Hen a penny, two Chickens a penny, three Pigions a penny, and 42 Eggs a penny, and as the present Lord Maior doth or should daily and weekly by his Officers rate and set prices upon all Fish, M. S. of the antient order and government of the City of London. Cheese, Salt, Onions, Garlick, Oats, Pease, Victualls and Fewell brought unto London by water, and upon all manner of Grain and Victuals brought by land, and to commit to prison such as disobey, which doth or might make his own provisions to be much the cheaper.Pat. 8▪ Ed. 2. p [...]rt 2. m. 7. & 21.
Or as the Maior of London did in the 8. year of the reign of King Ed. 2. take for the strengthening of Newgate and the Gaol therein, and the repair of certain Chambers there by the Kings grant or Licence [...]ertam consuetudinem de rebus vaenalibus, Pat. 10 Ed. 2. part. 2. m. 11. a certain Toll or Custome of things to be sold, or the like shortly [Page 203] after in auxilium, or ayd to build a new Bulwark upon the wall of the City near the house of the Friers predicants.
Or as there was a Fee Farm rent of 80 l. per annum to the King and his Successors auntiently and long agoe reserved, payable by the Town of Droitwich in Worcester-shire for their Salt-pits, wherein their Burgers doe claim by proportions an estate of inheritance.
Or as in the Colleries of Newcastle upon Tine, wherein the Owners of the Soil have an inheritance and propriety, the King and his Progenitors have a legall allowance or imposition of twelve pence upon every Chaldron of Coles.
And with better reason may set a rate or price year by year upon his houshold provisions then Solomon did, who though he in the Trade managed for himself in sending his ships to Ophir to fetch gold and silver,1 Reg. c [...]. 10▪ made it to be (in the large expression or manner of speech) as plentifull as stones in the streets, yet he did not give to all or any of the Tribes of Israel their Lands or Possessions, who had them at their first coming into the Land of Canaan by Joshua and divine appointment allotted unto them, and not given unto them by any of their Kings.
Or if he gave them any (which doth not appear) did not do it so largely as our William the Conqueror did in the rewarding of those that assisted him, if what he so gave amounted but unto as much as would in those dayes make a competent living or maintenance,Spelman [...]loss in voc [...] [...] for 10000 Knights and their Heirs (which some that lived in or near his time believe to have been more then for [Page 204] 60000 l. and valued but at 20 l. per annum, as they were reckoned in 1 Ed. 2. would amount unto 200000. pounds per annum; and if but at three hundred pounds per annum, which is now the least, improvement would amount unto as much as three millions per annum sterling, besides large quantities of Socage lands, with twice or thrice as much more in the several reigns of our succeeding Kings, given to the people in lands and yearly revenues of inheritance.
Nehemiah 5. v. 10.Or then Nehemiah who having the provisions allotted to the Governor, and in compassion of the poverty of the people for that part of time remitting it; could tell them that he might exact it of them, but did not give them any Lands or Possessions, and being but as a Conductor or Governour of them, had not, if he would, wherewithall to doe it.
So as all degrees, ranks and orders of the people of England may, if the difference or value betwixt the former and present market rates and prices, should be the Jonas that troubles their ship and affairs, permit it to take its rest, and be as well contented with that in the Kings case as they are in many of their own, when as many of them can retain and keep without any murmur or grudging above 30 thousand pounds per annum ▪ lands of inheritance, or as some have computed it above eighty thousand pounds per annum (being almost all the certain and reall revenues which are remaining to the Crown) holden of his Majesty and his royall Progenitors in Fee Farme at the small rents, which were at the first, and long agoe reserved thereupon, when as at the times when they were first reserved, they were in the intention of the Donors, or the allegations likewise, or [Page 205] intentions of the Donees proportioned according to the then yearly value of the Lands, which are now improved in many or much of them to a twentieth, thirtieth, fortieth, fiftieth or sixtieth part more then they were, and if they were not (as they are) at all, or so very much improved, are no more then one in three to the price or value which silver now bears by the Ounce, more then formerly, and five pound of that rent when it was first reserved would according to the rate of 2 d. a Capon in King Edward the seconds time,Stowes Survey of London 925. in quarto. many of the Fee Farm rents having been more antiently reserved) have bought 60▪ Capons at the then Market price, & now at two shillings six pence a Capon (which is less by six pence or twelve pence in a Capon then the King now paieth for them) will buy but forty, or if as they were in the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, at six pence a piece in the Market, would buy 200 Capons, and at two shillings six pence but forty, and the five pounds Fee Farme [...]ent in King Edward the second's time, when a fat sheep was sold for twenty pence would buy thirty, but now at twenty shillings a fat Sheep no greater a number then five: And the Kings losses and the Tenants gains thereby will many times multiplied yearly exceed the yearly sum which they pretend is lost in the Compositions for his Majesties Pourveyance.
And all the people of England who doe pay Tithes in Corn, Cattle, &c. in kind, when Corn at the rate which Wheat was sold at in 51 Hen. 3. (when the Assize of Bread and Ale was set or confirmed) but at 12 d. a quarter is at 32 s. a quarter, which was the price in 3 Caroli primi, now 34 years since, when by a Statute [Page 206] made in that year, it might when it should happen to be so cheap be transported into the parts beyond the seas, not the thirtieth part of that then esteemed to be an easie, and reasonable price, or at two shillings six pence the quarter, supposed in 51 H. 3. to have been a rate which in a dearer time it might have risen unto, would be but the thirteenth part of two and thirty shillings, or at twelve shillings the quarter, which was in those antient times deemed to be the highest rate that any dearth or scarcity could bring it unto, is but little more then one part in three of that medium or moderate rate in 3 Caroli of 32 s. the quarter, and farre short of the rate of 40 or 48 shillings a quarter, when it is now reckoned to be cheap and reasonable, or of 4 l. a quarter, as it is in this present year much dearer, are not to deny the payment of the improvement of their Tythes by their own industrie, or what they exceed the first intentions or grant of them.
And that part of the people which doe pay their Tithes to Impropriators and Lay men, cannot be ignorant that the first intention and right use of them is so laid by and disused, as the hospitality, reliefe of the poor, repair and adorning of Churches, which were some of the causes for which they are paid, and which the Abbies and Monasteries when they were in being took a greater care of then those that lay it out in the excess, pride, vanities and humours of themselves or their lavish and expencefull wives, and convert all their hospitality and care of the Poor and Churches into gilded Coaches and Butterflye Lacquies, which being most of the houshold which can be afforded to be kept, are carried up and [Page 207] down the streets of London, that grand Magazine and Nurserie of all vices, at the end or breech of the Coaches, whilest the Church is but meanly repaired and ill-favouredly kept at the charge of the Parishes, the Poor not pitifully but beggerly and in a wofull manner provided for by a rate or taxe of the Parishes, the Vicar not allowed the fifth if it be a small Appropriation, or in many places where they are greater little more then a tenth ▪ and at the best not enough to keep him and his wife and children from being the prognosticks of a fam [...]ne, and comes short at the years end of Mica's Salary, of ten shekels of silver, Jud. ca. 18. a suit of apparrel and his victuals, which renders him a scorn to the wicked, and a pitty to those that love God and goodness, who are not certainly mistaken when they think a better allowance would yeild them better Preachers.
May be as little displeased with the failing or falling of the Kings price or rate for his houshold provisions, as they were in being quitted of Cerage or Waxscot, thrice a year paid towards the charge of candles in the Churches. Or as the Landlords or Lords of Manors, who doe now receive their Rent-services or Quit-rents at a far lesser value then they were originally intended, or now are, or the Tenants and those that pay them, who are by so much more the gainers.
And the Town of Alesbury in the County of Buckingham may the better bear her part of the Composition for the Royall Pourveyance, for that the Town it self and their then liberties and priviledges were freely granted by some of the Kings Royal Progenitors to hold in Capite by the service of keeping all the distresses of Cattel, &c. (which in those dayes were many) [Page 208] which the King or his Sheriff, or other Ministers in the County of Buckingham should cause to be taken for his debts, and feed them in the common Pasture of Alesbury: And to take for every Colt, Oxe, Horse, and Cow not milcht a penny, for every four Sheep a penny,Inquis. 10 E. 2. n. 142. for every four hogs a penny; and for every day and night whilest they stay there pro singulis districtionibus for every distress a penny: And the Sheriffe was to bring his distresses taken for the King no where else, which the Town by a disuse being altogether freed from doe not at all murmur at that which was given them for no other intent or purpose.
Esc [...]et 23 E. 3. post mortem Roberti de Byker.Also the owners of the Manor of Byker in the County of Northumberland which is holden of the King by the Serjeanty to receive and keep safe at Bykere all distresses taken within that County for the Kings debts; not being now troubled at all with the distresses taken for the Kings debts, need not repine at the Pourveyance or Compositions for it.
For they and all other are to consider that if the Kings Royal Progenitors had not, as King Henry the first, condescended to accept of the rents, or such part as was usually paid in provisions for his housekeeping, the lands which they or those which claim under them have ever since held, and are so greatly improved, as five or more to one in some places, and twenty or more in another allowing them a variation according to the nature or fertility of the ground, or distance nearer or further from London or other Towns of trade or intercourse; or the Sea Ports might well have born the charge of the Kings provisions, though they do now so much exceed their Market rates.
[Page 209]And that as that King and his Successors have exchanged it for money, which makes them to be the greater loosers, and the Tenants the greater gainers, by so much as the money▪ reserved for rent falls under the now value of money and the Market price; for things to be bought with it, would amount to a great deal more then the pretended losses by the Kings Pourveyance or compositions for it.
That the Law, Justice and Equity which binds the King to that prejudiciall (as it hath since happened) condiscention of his Royal Ancestor King Henry the first, in taking money for his provisions, ought a fortiori, to bind his Subjects to those beneficiall contracts made by their Fore-fathers and Predecessors with Queen Elizabeth, if they stood upon equall terms with him, and owed him neither gratitude, allegiance, or subjection.
That he who is so great a looser by the change & alteration of times, and his own & his Royal Progenitors bounties and indulgences, might howsoever be allowed to be a little gainer in that one particular of the Compositions for his Pourveyances (for in every thing else he is abundantly a very great looser) and ought as well to take an advantage by it as the Clergie, and Impropriators of England doe by the rise and encrease of their Tithes and imp [...]ovement of their Glebes, and are sure to be gainers by the difference in the value and price of commodities, when as they sell their corn at the highest rates, and make the improvement of their Glebes to follow the rise of money and the Markets.
And may take it to be no Paradox or stranger to any [Page 210] mans understanding or belief, that the King who by his Lawes hath ordered, that reasonable prises and rates should be taken for victuals and houshold provisions for himself and all his people; and if his Sheriffs, Justices of Peace, Clerks of the Markets, and the Lords and Stewards of Court-leets had but imitated the care of their Predecessors in the execution of the trusts committed unto them by their Soveraign and his Laws; or of the Sheriffs in the reign of King Henry the third, when as the King by his Writ being petitioned to give the Sheriffe of Bedford a power to dispence with the Vintners in the Town of Bedford for selling wine above the rates & assize, doth it in these words, Rex, &c. Vic. Bed. salutem, Quia Villa de Bedeford distat a quolibet portu maris duas dietas, tibi praecipimus quod permittas Vinitar. Claus. 10 H. 3. m. 13. in dorso. Bed. Sextarium vini Franc. vendere pro 8. denar. & sextarium vini Andeg. Wascon. & de Blanc. pro 10 d. non obstante, &c. Teste R. &c. allowing them to take for a pint and a half, if the Sextarie was then accompted to be no greater a measure of wine 7 d. and for the like measure of white wine of Anjou and Gascoine 10 d.
And had not, as they doe daily, too much neglected the execution of the Laws, and laid by their duties to God, their King, and Country, and by being over wakefull and diligent to improve their estates and private interests, taken a Nap or fit of sleeping in point of time, farre beyond that of the seven notorious Sleepers, might at this day have been out of the reach of the causeless murmur of those who, as they were seduced and fooled by Oliver and his Associates, in the greatest of iniquities, can make a Non causa to be a cause of their Complaints [Page 211] and of a grievance to themselves, when as they and many of their fellow Subjects are and have been the only and immediate causes of it, and if rightly considered, is a reall grievance to the King, and to all that buy more then they sell.
And that if the King and his Laws had been as they ought to have been better obeyed and observed in such a Land or Kingdome as England is, which is justly accompted to be blest with so much peace and plenty, and such an over-plus of all things good and pleasant as well as necessary for the sustenance of the People or Inhabitants thereof, as a deer year is not heard of above once at the most in ten or twenty years, but many very cheap ones.
The rates or prices agreed upon by the Counties in the fourth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth would have been enough and sufficient, or more then enough, if the Acts of Parliament of 25 H. 8. ca. 2. to suppress the enhaunce of the then Market rates, which may well be supposed to have been much cheaper then what it was in Anno 4 of Elizabeth, and the Statutes of incerti temporis. or King Henry the third, 3 & 4 Ed. 6. ca. 19. & 5 Ed. 6. ca. 14. against Forestallers had been duly put in execution.
And that the 12. Counties bordering upon London and adjacent, as Middlesex, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hertford, Buckingham, Berkshire, Bedford, Oxford, Cambridge and H [...]ntington Shires, making no small gains by the vent and rise of their provisions and commodities, and an high improvement of their Lands beyond all other Counties and Parts of England, would if the Markets had been regulated and kept down [Page 112] to such just and reasonable prices as might have been well enough afforded, have for want of their now great rates for victuals and commodities night and day sent unto London, that greatest belly and mouth of the Kingdome, and their racking or improving of their Lands, been constrained to let fall and diminish their rates and prices, and follow the regulating of the Markets, and make their prices and rates to be conformable to the Laws and plenty of the Kingdome, which would have brought unto them and their Estates a greater or more then supposed damage, many times, and very far exceeding the pretended losses of serving in their proportions of the Kings provisions, as they were agreed upon.
And if this shall not be believed without experiments or demonstrations, they may be quickly brought to assent unto that which will certainly p [...]ove to be a truth, that if the King should, as King Henry the second, keep his Court and Parliament for a time at [...]larendon in Wiltshire, or, as King Edward the first did, keep his Court and Parliament in Denbigh-shire at Ruthland (too often mistaken and called Rutland) or at Carnarvon in Wales, or at York, where whilest he was busie and imployed in his Warres against the Scots, he kept his Terms and Court for seven years together, or as many of the former Kings did keep their Christmas and other great yearly Festivals sometimes at Nottingham, other times at Worcester Lincoln, and other places far remote from London. And as the Sun yearly diffuseth his li [...]ht and heat in his journey through the Tropicks, some at one time, and some at another unto all parts of the world; or as the blood in the body naturall daily [Page 213] circulates, visits and comforts all the parts of it, should enrich & comfort most of the parts of his Kingdom with the presence and influence of his Courts and residence.
Those rates and prises in the Composition for Pourveyances would rather prove to be too high a rate and allowance then too little.
As it happened to be in Anno 1640. when the late King and Martyr was enforced to be with his Court and Army about Newcastle upon Tine on the borders and confines of Scotland where the cheapness of victualls and other provisions at the Market rates in those parts fell to be very much under the Kings rates or allowance according to the Compositions for his Pourveyance made in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, which the Inhabitants and People thereabouts understood so well, as a great store, and farre more p [...]ovisions being daily brought in at those rates then the King and his then more then ordinary numerous retinue could expend, he was (which many that were then present can testifie) enforced by a Proclamation to forbid the bringing in of great quantities, or more then was necessary.
And if the rates which Queen Elizabeth accepted her provisions to be served in by the Counties had been agreed to have been paid in money and not in kind, and had by the fall of the Markets, which the Lawes well executed would in a Kingdome of peace and plenty have easily brought to pass, been too high a rate, and more then the provisions served in kind would have amounted unto, those who made that agreement for themselves and the Counties and places which they represented could not have receded from it, no more then she or her Successors, if the provisions [Page 214] served in kind should have grown cheaper, or might have been had for less money, or been bought by her Officers at easier rates then the Compositions, could without the help of a Proviso, with honour or Justice have desired that her provisions might not have been served in kind by the several Counties of England and Wales, but that the money or rate then agreed upon to have been the price of those provisions should have been yearly paid into the Exchequer to be disposed of for that purpose, which probably might have been the reason that at the first agreement made by several Counties for the Compositions, some for 3 years, some for four, and some for seven, there was a proviso that either party disliking (which until our mad times or quarrelling with the fifth Commandement, and finding fault with every thing that fed not the rebellious humour, was not at all done by the Counties) should be at liberty, and free from that agreement.
For there can be no reason (unless ingratitude and unreasonableness, neglect of Laws and Duties, breach of Faith and Contracts, and reasonable Customes unto the King and Soveraign shall be installed virtues, and put in the seat of reason, and understood to be no otherwise) that when all the Lands of the twelve adjacent and neighbour Counties of London have been so exceedingly, and to such a height improved, and the Lands of all the other Counties of England and the Dominion of Wales have by neighbourhood and communication largely likewise, and more then formerly, improved and raised their rents and estates by the rise and greater prices given for Corn, Cattel, Victuals, and all other Houshold Provisions [Page 215] more then they were heretofore, the Landlords made to be so very great gainers, and the Tenants if they be no great gainers, sure enough to be made savers by heightening the prices of Corn, Cattel, and all other victuals and houshold provisions, the King only should bear the burden, and not partake of some of the fruits (if there were nothing else to require or deserve it) of their great advance and increase in all their Estates and Revenues.
And that he by whose power, alliance, and interest with forreign Princes the People of England doe enjoy the trade as well inward from for [...]aign parts as outward into them, the many priviledges and immunities procured for our Merchants by his famous Progenitors and Predecessors, as that of Burgundy and the Neatherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Ligorne, the Russian or Muscovy Trade, the Hanse or Hamborough, Turkish and East-Indie Trades; for all which but Burgundy and the East-land Trades our Merchants are beholding to Queen Elizabeth and King James, the Rex Pacificus, with the Trades now begining to florish in and with our English Colonies in Virginia, Bermudas, Barbados, St. Christophers, Mevi [...], New-England and Sianam, &c. which doe serve to augment our plenties and delicacies in England, and his protection of them and all their Trades with forreign Princes by his Leagues, Confederacies and Ambassadors and allowing them the freedom of the Seas and Ports and that beneficiall Trade for the London Woodmongers or Colliers to Newcastle upon Tine for coals, where their Chaldrons by which they buy, are more [Page 216] then double to what they sell and measure by at London ▪ and the owners of the Colleries to gain their custome, doe not only sell at cheap and easie rates, but give and allow them for nothing, seven and sometimes eight or nine Chaldron of their great and double chaldrons or measures in every twenty or score of chaldrons; and notwithstanding their easie and small rates can by engrossing and keeping them upon the River of Thames unsold, and a combination and confederacy among themselves sell their coals at 24 or 30 s. a single or London chaldron, and think that also not to be gain or profit enough unless they can upon any Frost or increase of winter weather, or the news (sometimes but feigned or pretended) that a Ship or two of coals were cast away by storms, raise their coals 2, 3, 5, 10, or 20 shillings more in a chaldron when they please, to the damage of the Rich, and great oppression of the Poor, who buy their coals by the peck, and must pay a greater rate for them then their labours & small earnings every day from 4. in the morning until 12. at night will amount unto; and did in the times of Rebellion, and pretence of Gods glory to be advanced by it, continue their mystery of trade and oppression to such a height & impudence, as when it was proved at a Sessions at the Old-Baily in London, that they might sell cheaper, and the Lord Maior and Justices had put a rate upon coals, and ordered that they should sell accordingly, neither the fear of Laws or Magistrates was able to perswade them to an obedience, or diswade or deterre them from their Liberty of sinning, should be denied such a legal, antient and reasonable duty.
[Page 217]And may believe that the granting and permitting of Marts, Fairs and Markets at home, and the improvement of his Subjects Estates & Revenues, a five times mo [...]e in some places and ten in others, within the space of 200 years last past; and 20 times more then what they were before that period by their peace and liberties, may very well deserve so small an acknowledgement and return, and so petit a priviledge as the having of a Praemption and his Provisions served in for his household at reasonable prices, which is no more then what the Law it self enjoyneth to be done unto all the People and Subjects of England from the highest to the lowest, and to the poorest as well as unto the aboundantly or indifferently rich.
And that when in our Magna Charta, or great Charter of our Liberties, the Praeemption & Pourveyance was not denied upon present payment for all under 40 shillings, and for the rest within forty dayes after, and the Cart-taking upon the payment of ten pence a day for a Cart with two horses, and fourteen pence a day for three secundum antiqua pretia, after the old rates for which now are allowed better rates, and being afterwards confirmed by King Henry the third in a solemn procession of the King, Arch-Bishops, Earls, Barons, and the most eminent men of the Kingdome with candles or torches burning in their hands in Westminster Hall, Mat. Paris 86 [...]. denouncing excommunication, direfull curses and Anathema's against the Infringers thereof by the candles or torches flung upon the ground, and wishing that so their souls might burn in hell. And the same Magna Charta being by thirty Parliaments since confirmed and accompted [Page 218] to be part of the peoples Birthright.
It can be no less then the greatest of reason, that those his Liberties and Priviledges mentioned and agreed therein should be as well preserved unto him as those of the people unto them, and with the greater reason in that his were alwaies his own, and many of theirs but newly granted them.
And that he was not in the confirming of Magna Charta, without some care of preserving his own rights and priviledges, as appeareth by his Writ or Proclation (better in former times then now obeyed) sent unto the Sheriff of York in these words, Cum probis hominibus nostris libertates concesserimus per Cartas nostras in quibus continetur (that which we have of that excellent Law and Charter, being by many learned men believed to be but a Transcript) quòd nihilomninus salve sint omnibus libertates, & liberae consuetudines quas prius habuerunt libertates nostras de quibus maxime specialis mentio in Cartis praedictis facta non est nobis volumus inviolabiliter observari unde tibi districtè praecipimus quatenus omnes libertates nostras usitatas tempore domini Johannis Regis patris nostri quas quidem nobis non subtrahimus ex speciali mentione facta in praedictis Cartis nobis facias firmiter observari nullius obstante reclamatione sicut usitatae fuerunt temporibus antecessorum nostrorum, Claus. 9 H. 3. m. 9. & maxime tempore predicti patris nostri, wherein he having granted that their Liberties which they had before should not be prejudiced, commanded him that all his Liberties and Priviledges which were not specially mentioned and granted away in those Charters should be specially observed, notwithstanding [Page 219] any allegation to the contrary, as they were used and accustomed in the times of his Ancestors, and especially in the Reign of his Father King John.
For the reason which gives Aaron and his Sons, the Clergie, their Tythes and Pourveyance, should perswade the people to think the Composition for Pourveyance to be no burden, when as it is as short of the Tithes as one unto a hundred.
And it should be reason, if any thing can be reason, and it be not fled after Astraea into the upper Regions, and left some counterfeit and false resemblance instead of it, that all, or many, or most of the males and men of England, and such as in the Court Leets and elswhere have taken the Oath of Allegiance (which all the men of England and their generations are so born under, Calvins Case in C [...]kes 2 part 5. Reports, & Lord Chancellor Ellismeres post Nati, or argument concerning them. as by the Laws and Customes of England it is and ought to be as Connaturall and Congaeniall unto them) and the Oath of Supremacy, to maintain and defend the Kings Rights and Jurisdictions; and all the Citizens and Freemen of London, and other Cities and Corporations of England taking an Oath to the like purpose, all the Freeholders of the Kingdome holding of him immediately swearing in their homage and fealty to doe him service and be faithfull unto him; all the Copiholders holding of him, swearing unto him their Fealty, and all the Freeholders and such as hold of their mesne Lords by Knights service or Socage in their homage and fealty unto them, excepting their allegiance and duty to the King, should have as great a care not to deny him those parts of his Jurisdictions, Praeeminences and just rights, as they would not to [Page 220] perjure and forswear themselves, or bring the curses and woes attending such grievous sins, or the breach of that part of Magna Charta upon the heads of them and their posterities, which a Kings assent to any Acts of Parliament for the taking away or extinguishing such individua & annexa Coronae jure diadematis potestatis atque authoritatis, Gregor Tholosan. Syntag. Juris universi inseparable parts of Majesty and the Rights of his Crown, Regal power and Prerogative: If any Law or Sanction could enable him to that which all Laws both Civil and Common doe deny, will not be sufficient to acquit or discharge; for although the dispensation of Oathes by those to whom, and for whose benefit they were made, be in some cases allowed by the Canon Law, and some Roman Casuists doe believe that violation of oathes have been well dispensed withall by those for whose interest and benefit they were made, it will not be hard to determine in the greatest veneration of Parliaments, which are to be obeyed actively or passively, and of whose acts no man is so much as to think evil, that Laws of that kind when they shall be by importunities and necessities made or enacted against the Lawes of God and right reason cannot give an absolution for oathes violated, [...] Comment. 398.6. nor if they could be excused, for the not payment of those most necessary duties to their King and common Parent in foro humano, in this world, will ever be excused in foro animae, in the next.
And if the Parliament in Anno 18 Eliz. took it to be for the good of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, that the Colleges, Halls and Houses for Students therein should receive the third part of their Rents in Corn and Mal [...], and ordered them so to doe▪ [Page 221] and that their Tenants who had then & have since such comfortable Bargains and Leases under them as every man is glad to purchase or get them, and inroll themselves for their Tenants, wherein if a deer year comes once in 7▪ or 10 years, and their Bargains happen to be so much the worser, as the prises which are to be ruled according as the like was sold the Market day next before the Rent day exceeds the former or cheaper prices, the yearly profit notwithstanding of their Lands being alwaies more then the Rent, and six or nine cheap years to one may pacifie their complaints or grudgings; the King certainly may expect as much or more care to be had of him and his house-keeping as there was of the Universities, Colledges and Halls, and not to be denied in his particular of Pourveyance or compositions for it that which every man thinks reasonable in his own.
Nor to be made so great a sufferer under those heaps of mischiefs and inconveniencies which by the great and excessive rates and prises put upon victuals and household provisions daily more and more encreasing doe assault and lessen his too smal a Revenue.
Neither should be rendred more helpless, and in a worser condition then the Lords of Leets, Sheriffs in their Turns, Justices of Peace in their Counties, Magistrates in Cities and Towns Corporate,Pat. 46 Ed. 3. part. 2. m. 17. Judges in their Circuits, the University of Oxford, who hath liberty to punish the breakers of the Assise of Bread, Beer and Ale; and the University of Cambridge, who may require the Maior of the Town to make the Assise in the presence of the Chancellor of that University,Pat 10 Ed. 3. part. 1. m. 36. Pat. 4 R. 2. part. 2. m 34. and if [Page 222] it be not well observed may himself punish the offenders by the authorities and power only derived from the King.
Who may with better reason, justice and equity claim and keep his Rights of Praeemption, Pourveyance and compositions for it then the Stret gavel was in 4. Ed. 1. claimed by the Lord of the Manor of Cholmton in the County of Sussex, Mich. 4 E. 1 co [...]am Rege. that every Tenant of that Manor should (yearly) give two shillings (then a good summe of money) pro itu & reditu for his going out of the Manor, or returning into it; or as the Town of Maldon in Essex did in the fifteenth year of the Reign of that King claim by antient custome Totteray which was a payment of four pence for every bushel and a half of corn sold there, 4 pence for Stallage and a Mark penny,Hil 15 E 1. viz. 1 d. per illos qui truncos extra domum in vicis ejusdem ville habuerunt, for every one which had pipes or gutters laid or made out of their houses into the streets, & de omnibus pascentibus mariscum de pecoribus, of all that had cattel going or feeding in the Marsh, for every Horse two pence, Oxe two pence, Bullock a penny, and for every five Sheep two pence, quae praestatio vocatur, which in the language of the Civil and Common Law was usually understood to be Pourveyance or furnishing of necessary provisions.
Or as the Town of Yarmouth, which was made a Port or Haven by Letters Patents of King Edward the first, did antiently, and doe now take and receive of the Herring-Fishers a certain Prize of Pourveyance of Fish and Herring towards the maintenance and repair of their Haven,
[Page 223]Or as the Lord Roos of Hamlake, from whom the Earls of Rutland are descended did claim and enjoy as belonging to Belvoir Castle, Escaet. 23. E. 3. post mortem Gulielmi de Roos de Hamlake. custumam ibidem vocat Palfrey silver, quae levari debet annuatim de villis, a Custome called Palfrey silver, which ought to be levied every year of the Towns of Botelesford, Normanton, Herdeby, Claxton, Muston, Howes, Barkeley, Queenby, & aliis Hamlettis, and of other Hamlets.
Or as King Edward the third had to send his Writ or Com [...]ssion to the Magistrates of the Town of Barwick [...] Tweed, to inquire Si pisces marini & Salmones in aqua de Tweed capt. usque villam praedictam duci & in vico vocat Narrow Gate, Pat. 22 Ed. 3. part 1. m. 1. in dorso. venditioni exponi & de custumis inde Regi solvend. if the Sea Fish and Salmons taken in the River of Twede were brought to the Town of Barwick upon Tweed, and put to sale in the street called Narrow-gate, and of the Customes to be paid for them to the King.
More especially when the Judges in 11 Hen. 4. did resolve it to be Law as well as reason, [...]r [...]ayd del Roy 29. that the Pourveyor or taker for the King might take victuals (or provisions) at a reasonable price to the use of the King against the will of the party [...]elling them.
Which unless the Laws of God, Nature and Nations, and the Laws of the Land, reasonable Customes, Liberties Rights and Priviledges should be all and every thing in the peoples own cases and concernments, and nothing at all in the Kings, and that the duty of Subjects▪ honor of the King, and support and maintenance of him who supports and defends them and all that is theirs in their just and legal Interests, should be but as the Astronomers lines and terms of art in the firmament, [Page 224] as Zones, Tropicks, Meridian, Zodiack, and the Ursa major and minor, &c. meerly imaginary and undemonstrable, may with as much or greater reason be understood to be no burden, as the late design (if it should take effect) of the Petition of the Lord Maior, Aldermen, and Common Councel of the City of London lately presented vnto the House of Common in Parliament in order, as they alleage to the honor, happiness and prosperity of the Kingdom,Vide Petition of the Lord Maior and Common Council of London to the Commons in Parliament assembled in April, 1662. that the Governor, Deputy and Assistants of their desired Company of th [...] [...]nglish Merchants trading into Italy, and the Domini [...] of the French King, and the King of Portugal, and of all other Merchants thereafter to be taken into that Association, may, besides other emoluments to be taken of the Merchants, have power for the maintenance of the Government to take and receive upon all goods to be exported and imported not exceeding one twentieth part of the Customes, as they are on all goods, except Wines, and on wines not exceeding one fourtieth part of the Customes as they now are.
Which twentieth part after no greater a reckoning then four hundred thousand pounds per annum for the Customes (which if not too much defrauded, are more likely to be eight hundred thousand pounds per annum) will be twenty thousand pounds per annum, and if eight hundred thousand pounds per annum, will come near unto as much as the pretended losses of the Counties in the Compositions for the Pourveyances.
And the people of England would find the Pourveyance and Compositions for them to be for their own good and profit, as well as there is a great and every where to be acknowledged reason for it [Page 225] not denied to be reason in their own cases, affairs & dealings one with another) by the want of greater benefits; if the King should shut up all his Ports, and forbid all Trade with forreign Merchants inward or outward, as some Kings and Princes have commonly and ordinarily done, and as Common-wealths, and those that call themselves Estates do as well as Kings and Princes in case of hostilities, and upon reason of State, or some other extraordinary occasions.
Or put down (as God forbid he should) or seise as forfeited by misuser, which many will be found to have deserved, all the Fairs and Markets in the Kingdome, or some great part of them; or forbid for some time, as hath been antiently done, all the Markets in two or three Counties, and command the people to bring their victuals and provisions to be sold where the Kings or the Publick necessities or occasions wanted them, or allow but one or two in a County at the chiefest or greatest of Cities or Towns; or as King Henry the third did strictly command the assise of bread, wine,c [...]a s. 20 H. 3. m. 24 in dorso. beer and victuals to be kept in Oxford in debito statu secundum precium bladi, & sicut in aliis Burgis & Villis, as it ought according to the price of corn, and as was used to be in other Towns and Burrows, threatning them, that if they neglected to doe it, he would seise and take the Town into his own hands; and at the same time setting a rate or price upon wines, gave the Magistrates of that Town to understand, that whoever did otherwise, ad corpus suum graviter se caperet, & omnia vina sua a Vice-comite suo Oxon. in manum suam capi praeciperet, should be arrested and have all his wines seised, or limit them to such rigorous observances, as the Saxon and some of [Page 226] the Norman Kings did command & require to have witnesses and Vouchers for all that the people should sell or buy. Or if upon that or some other causes or grounds there were no Markets or Fairs to resort unto, or vent the plenty or over-plus of the peoples corn, cattel, fruits, fish, flesh, butter, cheese, poultrie, or other provisions or commodities: and that by tarrying at their own houses they could not be informed what rates they would yeild, or what some over-lavishly have given for the like or for less or worse then theirs, which is usually a great cause of the enhaunce of prices in the endeavours of all people to get as much for their commodities as they finde others have gotten, or as much or more as by any pretences or frauds they can procure for them, there would be so much and so great a cheapness and plenty of our native commodities as would draw along with them, or cause a great abatement in the rates of setting▪ or letting of land, and bring us again into some part of that hospitality, charity and alms deeds, which our pious Progenitors made to be a great part of their cares and business, and rescue us from those great sinnes of avarice, envie, Pride, uncharitableness, cozening, cheating and oppression, under which the Land grones, and for which Gods judgements like a sword hanging over our heads in a small silk or hair, are ready to destroy us.
And we should quickly find by the want of Fairs and Markets that which our daily experience now tells us to be true, that they are the Markets and Fairs which doe make and yeeld a greater price then can be had at home at the peoples own houses; that the Markets and Fairs, which are a blessing and happiness to the people, [Page 227] granted by our Kings and Princes, not now to be wanted, with a Safety, and Protection in viis (Regiis) aquis Silvis & Semitis, in or through his high-wayes, or by land or water (very often denied by private men through their own lands and Jurisdictions) which our forefathers not deserving to be called fools by their les [...] wise generations for obtaining for them so many good Laws & Liberties, understood to be so much the Kings rights and favours, as in the old Grants and Charters made by the King of any lands or liberties unto them, they thought themselves never safe enough unless those words and priviledges were specially inserted. And it is obvious to all mens experience, that by the intercourse and commerce of the people one with another in the accommodation of one anothers wants, affection, interest present necessities or occasions, the prices of all manner of commodities, victuals, and provisions have been very much raised and heightned more then formerly; or when the buyers were not so numerous, and that the vie and biddings which are usually found and to be met with at Fairs and Markets, doe much raise and enhaunce them farre above the reall worth, or for what otherwise they might be had with a reasonable gain and profit for the things themselves, or recompence for labour of bringing them thither, as is often found in the way of Holland and some other forreign parts; now used by our English and other Merchants of Londan, in selling goods or merchandise by an inch or small piece of candle set up to burn for a small time, with a condition that he that bids most before it be out shall have it, in which contest or striving who shall have the commodity; the hasty or over-biddings as the candle [Page 228] goes almost out makes the price to be sometimes a fifth and sometimes a tenth more then it is truly worth; and if it chance to be no loss or but a small one to him that winns the bargain, it is because it may more conduce to some one particular occasion or affair which that party hath for it more then another.
That the Markets or Fairs in Cities or great Towns of trade where there are more people, a larger expence and more delicate way of living brings the sellers or Market people a meli [...]ur marchè, or better gain or return then they would or could get by carrying it to some lesser Town or place not so much frequented. And that the ground and soyl near those Market Towns are much bettered and imp [...]oved by the ordure, dirt and dung of Horses or Cattel in the Streets or Stables carried out and laid upon it.
That the loss supposed by the duty or compositions for the Pourveyance would not come up to the fortieth or fiftieth part of what they would be otherwise loosers in the fall of their rents and prices.
And be at last assured to their losses that there can be no reason that all or many of the people who can now take or receive advantage by their own heightning and enhaunce of the prices of provisions at home or at the Markets, and so greatly improve their estates by it against the min [...] and intent of the King and his Laws, should stretch and raise all they can their rates and prises upon him, or should in his particular of his Praeemption, Pourveyance, or Compositions for it, take advantage or benefit by their own wrongs or breach of the Law, which by the rule or maxime of the Civil Law, that N [...]mo ex suo delicto meliorem suam conditionem facere potest, [Page 229] no man is to make himself a gainer by his own evil doings is not permitted,De cius de regul▪ Juris regul. 176▪ and our Common Law is not willing to allow a man to take benefit de son tort of his own wrongfull actions.
Or if that shall not be enough to make the experiment let the most froward and unwilling to that Duty and reasonableness of the Praeemption or Compositions for Pourveyance, suppose that which was grown to be almost more then a supposition▪ that Oliver the Cheat as well as Darling of the Factious and Rebellious part of the people, and the Patrono of all or many of their wicked doings, had as William the Conqueror all the Lands of England in his demeasn power or disposing, and given to all the people more then eight parts in nine (the Tithes or Tenths being reserved to God and the Clergie) with all their Liberties, Courts-Leet and Baron, Franchises, Priviledges of Free-warren, Fishing, Trade and Commerce, Markets, Fairs and Tolls, with many other Immunities and Freedoms which the bounty and indulgence of our more lawfull Kings and Princes have from age to age, and one generation to another, given and granted to them and their heirs in perpetuity, speciall or generall tail, and think but how willing and glad they would have been before they were given, or afterwards (the late little benevolence being given to the King after the greatest Act of Oblivion or Indempnity, which ever Englishmen or any other people had bestowed upon them, teaching us the difference betwixt after and before and between a willingness to receive benefits and promises of gratitude and thankfulness after they are had and received) to have given him in perpetuity as much or a great deal more than ever the P [...]aeemption, [Page 230] Pourveyance or Composition for it would have amounted unto, and imprecated curses and woes as many or more then the plagues of Egypt to have fallen upon them and their after generations neglecting it; for it is ever to be understood that the Subsidies, Assessements and other Ayds given to the Kings and Princes of England by their Subjects and People in Parliament, or at any time taken or otherwise received by them, have been more with respect unto their own particular Estates, included in the safety of his greater, and his granting them free and general pardons, not only for offences criminal committed one against another, but for offences committed against the King, and incroachments and intrusions upon the royal Revenves, and for his Royal protection and defending of them, and preserving them in their peace and plenty, then as for any retributions or acknowledgements of their favours shewed to any or many in particular.
There being as much reason for the King to expect and receive the presents or acknowledgements of his people,1 Reg. ca. 10. v. 15. & 25. as it was for King Solomon to take his presents sine quibus, (saith the great and excellently learned Grotius) Reges Orientis adire non solebant, Grotius Annotat. ad vet. Testament. without which the people were accustomed not to come unto their Kings, and continued long after to be a custome, as may be understood by the Kings or Wise men coming out of the East to worship and adore our blessed Saviour at his birth, and is at this day not disused in the Africk and Asiatick Countries.
And did not, nor ought to dull or lessen the alacrity and payment of other necessary duties and tributes, when as Solomon, besides the provisions of his Houshold, [Page 231] brought and served in every year by a rate; and what he had of the Governors of the Countrey (which if they were not provisions, or conducing thereunto, might be some other Tributes) and did receive Gold and Tributes (or Customs) of the Merchant men of the Traf [...]ick of the Spice Merchants. 1 Reg. ca. 10. v. 15. &▪ 25.
For if it hath been reason every where, and amongst all Nations where either subjection and duty to superiors, or humane prudence had any entertainment or abode, to take as much care as may be of general and publick safeties▪ when the safeties of particulars are included and comprehended in them, and to be willing in the common or publick calamities of a Warre already fastned upon them, or hope to prevent them, readily to contribute to their Princes, or permit them to take provisions sometimes without any price at all, and at other times but at reasonable prises, in order to their preservation, or repelling of evils or inconveniences which would a great deal more molest or trouble them, or to give him or his Army free quarter, as the men of Israel & Juda did unto David their King, or bring or send victuals and provisions to his Camp or marching Army, and can think it no ill husbandry though they have but the day before paid contribution to the Enemy, had much of their Cattel and Provisions taken away by the Enemy, a Husband, Brother, or Sonne killed, women and children slain and butchered, and the bloody and dreadfull Scenes or Pageants of Warre every where to be seen, heard of, or lamented, or to do as the Danes did lately to the unjustly invading Swedes, give money to keep their houses from spoiling or burning.
[Page 232]It can be no less then reason to contribute something yearly to a King, who not only keeps us from those and many other woes and miseries by land and by Sea, but daily heapes and multiplies his blessings upon us in protecting and defending us; and not only gave many of us our Vineyards, but procureth us all to sit quietly under the shadow, pleasure, content and fruitfulness of our ow [...] vines; and by his care at home and abroad preserves us and our Estates in an envied peace and plenty.
And be the more willing to allow him his Praeemption and Compositions for Pourveyance, which amounts not unto the two hundreth or five hundreth part, and sometimes not the one thousand part or more of the expence and losses which warre and the many times not to be avoided unruliness and spoil thereof may bring upon them.
Unless like Ulisses Companions transformed into Swine by the accursed charms of a Cir [...]e, or inticements of selfish or foolish interests for the maintenance of our vices and luxuries, we should think it to be either Religion, Duty, Conscience, Reason, or Prudence, to take all we can from a King, who is the Guardian of all his people, and a nursing Father to the Church, which his Royal Progenitors, Kings of England, were so long agoe accustomed to rank amongst their principall cares, as in the 23. year of the Reign of King Edward the first it was alledged in a pleading, and allowed for law & right reason, that Ecclesia est infra aetatem, & in custodia Regis qui tenetur jura & haereditates ejusdem manu tenere & defendere, Mich. 23 Ed. 1. coram. [...]eg [...]. the Church is as an Infant under age, and [Page 233] in the custody of the King, who is bound to defend and maintain its rights, estates and hereditaments, who governs by no Arbitrary will or power, but by our known Lawes, which are so excellent beyond all the Laws of other Nations, so rational, so binding and transcendent, so carefully watching over the peoples liberties and proprieties, such a Buckler, Guard and strong Tower of defence unto them, and poenal to all that shall but execute any unjust or illegall commands, tending to the violation of them, (not to be denied by the most seditious, and undutifull Subjects, when they shall but be pleased to be friends and at peace with their reason and understanding) as if by any divine punishment proceeding from an iratum Numen, an angry and just God, after ages should find England to be governed by a King or Prince as cruel as Nero or Commodus, and as arbitrary and unruly as some of the Roman or Eastern Emperors have been, there cannot untill the sword shall have cut the strings of our Magna Charta, and silenced or banished the Laws, be any oppression or evil happen to the people, without the Balm of Gilead, and remedies as quickly brought and found out by our Lawes as there can be any necessities or occasions of them.
Wherefore we should not like people altogether transported and carried out of humanity into a Lycanthropia or woolfish nature, think it to be rationall, honest, or becoming us instead of every mans saying, Domine quid retribuam, Lord what shall I render thee for all thy benefits, to make it the greatest of our care, imployment, and business not only to take from the King, but keep all we can from him.
[Page 134]And if they would or could tell how to doe it without the just reproach of disloyalty, dishonesty and villany, should not do it in his Praeemption, Pourveyance, or Compositions for it, when it concerns him so much and so nearly in his honour, and the daily bread and sustenance of himself and his Royal Family, when he expendeth for want of his Pourveyances or compositions for them, yearly more then he did when he enjoyed them, as may appear by a just accompt and calculation lately made by his Majesties special command, no less then seventy three thousand six hundred seaven pounds fourteen shillings and seaven pence in his Houshold and Stable provisions, besides the extraordinaries of Carriages for his Navy, Provisions and Ammunition, and what would have been added unto it, if he had, as other Kings or Princes, gone his Sommer Progress, when the want of it is so unbecomming a King, and the aspect of it when he had it, was in
CHAP. IV. The right use of the Praeemption and Pourveyance, and Compositions for them.
SO lovely and very well imployed, and canont by rules of truth, reason and understanding be gainsaid by the most disffaected and worst of Subjects, when they shall but please to take into their consideration▪
That the magnificence and bounty of a King in his house, and the method and manner used therein is no small part of the increase, continuance, and support of his power, reverence, honor, and awe; which are so necessary [Page 235] and essentiall to the good and well-being of a King and his People, as they cannot be wanted, but are and should be the adjuncts and concomitants of the Royall or Princely, dignity and like Hypocrates Twins, subsist in one another, which the wisdome of the Antients as well as modern, and all Nations and People under the Sun, and even the naked, wild and savage part of them have by a Jure Gentium and eternall Law of Nature, derived from divine instinct, allowance, and patern in the infancy of the world,Genes. 6 19. and through all the times and ages of it so well approved, as they could never think fit to lay aside or disuse the practise of it; for it cannot be by any rule of reason supposed that the fifth Commandement, Genes. 41. v. 42, 43. being at the Creation of mankind after Gods own Image, written in the heart of him and all his after Generations, and justly accompted to be comprehended in those Precepts of the Law of Nature, and the righteous Noah, with which the world, was blessed, as well before the flood as afterwards, and before the Children of Israel had received the Decalogue or ten Commandements, in the dread and astonishment of Gods appearance to Moses in Mount Sinai; there was not a distinction at the first, and all along holden and kept betwixt Parents and Children, and Kings or common Parents and their Subjects, in the fear and reverence of Children to Parents, and of Subjects to their Kings and Soveraigns: when as Noah, though preaching to the old world in vain and to no purpose, as they made it, was so mighty a man, and so well beloved and observed, as he could by Gods direction cause to be brought into the Ark two of every sort of the species of all irrationall living creatures [Page 236] in order to their preservation for the Generations which were to survive the threatned deluge, which without some more then ordinary extent of power could not be compassed by him, if he had been but an ordinary man, or but one of the common people, who hearkened not unto his preaching, and had no better an opinion of his Ark or Floating-house, then as a Dilirium, or his too much adoring the Images of his own phantasie.
Pharaoh King of Egypt having those requisites and decorums, which the Kings and Princes of those early dayes had appertaining to their Royall super-eminence and dignities,Genes. 41. v. 42, 43. could upon Josephs extraordinary deserts array him in fine linnen and silks, put a gold chain about his neck, make him to ride in his second Charriot, and cause a Cry or Proclamation to be made before him, that every man should bow the knee.
David, that was but the Sonne of Jesse the Bethlemite, and once a Keeper of his Fathers few sheep, as his envying brother told him, in the Wilderness (or Common) and was taken, as God himself said, from the Sheepcoat, would not, when he came to be King, omit the dues and regalities, which belonged unto Kings, though he could in a gratefull acknowledgment say unto God, Who am I, 2 Sam. 7 18. 1 [...]. [...]6 1. O Lord God, and what is my house that thou hast brought me hither; but could think it comely and fitting for him as a King to dwell in a house of Cedars.
And King Solomon his Son, who expending 7 years in the building of the Temple and House of God, was thirteen years in building of his own house, and another magnificent and stately house of the Forrest of [Page 237] Lebanon, and another for the Queen his Wife, which was the Daughter of Pharaoh, 1 Reg. 7. 1 Reg. 10. had 300 shields of beaten gold, three pound to every shield, put into his house of the Forrest: his sumptuous Throne of Ivory over-laid with the best gold, the like whereof was not in any Kingdome; drinking vessels, and all the vessels of Gold in that house; and kept that state and order in his Tables, in the sitting of his servants at meat, the attendance of his Ministers and their Apparrel, and his Cup-bearers: as the Queen of Sheba coming unto him with a very great Train, was so much astonished thereat, and the house that he had built, as there was no more spirit in her, and confessed, that what she had seen with her own eyes was more by half then what was told her in her own Land.
All which being allowed by God as necessary honors for Kings, conservations of respects, and allurements to the obedience and esteem which were to be paid and performed by the people, were not put in the Catalogue of that Prince and great Master of wisdomes failings, or not walking in the wayes of God, or doing that which was right in his eyes, and keeping his Statutes and Judgements, as his Father David did.
Neither were those Royal and great Feasts made long after by Ahasuerus, which reigned from India unto Ethiopia, Ester ca. 1. over an hundred and seven and twenty Provinces, to his Princes and Servants, the Nobles and Princes of his Provinces for one hundre [...] [...] eighty daies: Or the state of that mighty King whe [...] [...] shewed the honour of his Excellent Majesty▪ when as white, green, and blue Hangings, were fastned with cords of fine linnen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble▪ with Beds of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, blue, white and [Page 238] black marble, and gave them drink in vessels of gold, according to the state of the King, put under any note or character of blame.
But those and other due respects have so alwaies attended the world, and the good order and government of it under Monarchy, and Kings and Princes through all the changes and chances thereof, as it may be taken to be as universall a Law of Nature and Custome or Nations, as the duty and honor of Children to their Parents, and the love of Parents to their Children, when we find all the Kings and Potentates of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America to have maintained their Honors and Regalities by the state which they used in their Palaces and extraordinary Buildings, witness the House or Palace of Julius Caesar, who, as Plutarch saith, had ornatus & majestatis causa, some Acrosteria or fastigia, Turrets or Pinacles for ornament and majesty placed thereupon, the Escurial of Spain, the Louvre of France, the Palaces and Piazza's of the Roman Emperors of those of Greece and the Grand Signieur, the Colledges publick and costly buildings of the Kings of Fez and Morocco, the stately Palaces of the Sophy or Emperor of Persia, the Mogol, Emperour or Dairo of China, the Caesar of Japan, and the quondam Emperour of Mexico in the West-Indies, which stood not alone or solitary for the wonder of passengers, or habitation only of Jack-daws, as too many of [...] uses of our Nobility and Gentry doe now fo [...] [...]ant of hospitality or the owners residence, but were ever attended with a numerous and fitting retinue of Servants, extracted out of the best and greatest Families of their Kingdoms, and the wisest and most virtuous, who, as the Scripture saith, being cloathed [Page 239] in silks and fine rayment, had the honor to stand before Princes, who had their Crowns of gold, rich habiliments and costly utinsils, their Jura & insignia Majestatis, rights and Ceremonies appropriate to Majesty, and an Apartment state or fence betwixt them and the common usage or contempt of the people: The which was so customary and usual in Davids time, a [...] forespeaking the royalty of Solomon, which was to succeed him, he doth in his Psalms or holy Songs informe us, that the Kings glory is great in Gods salvation, P [...]alm 22. & Psalm 25. who hath laid Honour and Majesty upon him; all his garments smel of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia, out of the Ivory Palace whereby they have made him glad: upon his right hand did stand the Queen in gold of Ophir; the Kings Daughter is all glorious her clothing is of wrought gold, and her raiment of needle work.
Nor would the outward pomp and shew of Kings and their Palaces, Apparrel, Ensignes of Honor and Majesty, and all those Rites and ornaments which doe belong unto their Grandeur and Majesty be intire, or as it should be, if there were not a plenty and state also in their feeding daily recruits of nature and life, and hospitality.
All which put together in a comely and most necessary combination and harmony, do with the virtue, power, prudence and goodness of Kings and common Parents, constitute and make that honor which doth justly belong unto them, and so necessary as God himself commanded it by word of mouth, twice wrote it with his own finger, and by an early example severely punished Korah, Dathan and Abiram for murmuring against Moses.
[Page 240]And therefore the Apostle Peter instructed by the Holy Ghost, commands us (as if one could not be without the other) to fear God and honour the King: And Aristotle who had been much at home as well as abroad, and no young beginner or Pupil in Politicks, but a Master of that most excellent and useful kind of learning, how to govern and obey, could even in his ignorance of God and of the Scriptures, which he thought not worthy his reading,Aristotle lib. 2. de Repub. conclude that, Qua in civitate non maximus virtuti honos tribuitur in ea optimus civitate status stabilis & firmus esse nullo modo potest; no Commonwealth can be lasting or happy where the greatest honour is not given to virtue: And St. Hierom, a better Tutor in Christianity tells us,Hieron. Epist. that ubi honor non est, ibi contemptus, ubi contemptus, ibi frequens injuria & indignatio & ibi quies nulla; where there is not honor there is contempt, and where there is contempt, there are injuries and anger, and where anger & wrath no manner of quiet, which to the Common people when Princes are wronged and enforced to take arms or use the sword, is as good as a wind or Brawl amongst glasses.
And that which my worthy friend, the very virtuous and learned Franciscus Junius, the Sonne of that pious and learned Franciscus Junius, who with Tremelius the Jew translated the Bible or Book of God out of the originall languages, hath in his laborious travails and searches into the old Reunick, Gothick, Danish and Frisick languages, and the Etymologies and Antiquities of the old Greek and Celtick Languages, and the Saxon with her people derived from them, been pleased to communicate unto me, is not unworthy observation, that the word Lord was antiently amongst [Page 241] the English Saxons [...], and afterwards came to be called [...], from whence per contractum or abbreviaion it came to be called lord, Et quotquot se in magnatis alicujus clientelam se commendaverant appellaverunt dominum suum [...], quoòd suppeditasset panem (i. e. omne alimentum) qui [...] dicebatur. And as many as came to be under the protection of any Lord, or to hold Lands of them, did call their Lord [...], which signified a giver of bread, because he afforded [...]hem bre [...]d, which was called [...], to which Etymologie agre [...]th the Cambro-Britannick, or Welch derivation by Mr. John Davies, where he deriveth Satrapa [...] nobilem dominum, a Noble-man Lord o [...] Governor of a Province, ab Hebraea radice significante pavit & rexit homines, from an Hebrew root or original, signifying one that fed as well as governed men, which Goropius Becanus alloweth to be the meaning of the Dutch word H [...]t, which signifieth prebentem vel offerentem alimenta ▪ a giver of victuals and food; from which word [...], saith Mr. Junius, who although he be a Dutchman born, yet is very well acquainted with the English language by many years conversation amongst us, remaineth amongst us to this day the word loaf (or b [...]ead) and the word Lady so much esteemed amongst us, and misused and altered in the antient and honorable origination of it was [...] a bread giver, not a converter of their Husbands and his Auncestors Manors, Lands, Woods and Hospitality into Coaches, Lacquies, and the [...]urnishing out of their over-costly Jewels and Apparrel, Paintings, and making new faces, Black-patches or the Devils Brand-marks, forty, fifty, or a hundred pounds lost in a night or afternoon at Cards, and running [Page 242] up and down like so many costly and expensive Cleopatra's, and half a dozen or a dozen of Mark Anthonies a [...]ter them; make it their business to be lascivious and luxurious, to tempt and be tempted, and doe the Devil service.
When their Mothers and Grandams were better imployed in the more honest and honourable imployments of hospitality, house-keeping, charity and almsdeeds, and receiving the love, honour and applause of their Tenants and poor Neighbours.
And their Husbands Ancestors if of any time or standing, and not upstarts, made it their honour as well as business to imitate their Progenitors, the old (not now drinking) Germans, who as Tacitus mentions in their Customes,Tacitus d [...] Mori [...]us Germanorum c 1.13▪ & [...]4. were to their Princes in pace decus, in bello praesidium (which may shew us the grand esteem, antient and noble use of Tenures by Knight-service) an honor in Peace & a Guard in war; and made it their glory, si numero & virtute comitatus emineant, if they had a great number of Tenants and Retainers following them, insomuch as ipsa plerumque fama Belli profligant, the fame and fear of them did many times prevent warres and promote peace; Et quum ventum in aciem turpe principi virtute vinci turpe comitatui virtutem principis non adaequare, & infame per omnem vitam at probrosum superstitem principi suo ex acie recessisse illum defendere tueri sua quoque fortia facta gloriae ejus assignare praecipuum sacramentum est Principes pro victoria pugnant Comites pro Principe; and when they were in battel the Prince or King took it to be a shame and dishonor to be out-done in valour, & those who attended him thought it to be as much unworthy not to imitate him, & a great [Page 243] disgrace all their life after to leave him in the field and come home without any wounds, their greatest care being to defend him, and to asc [...]ibe and offer all their valiant Acts to his renown and glory, their Prince fighting for victory, & their Attendants for their Prince, Magnaque & Comitum aemulatio quibus primum apud principum locus exigunt principis liberalitate illum bellatorem equum illam cruentam victricemque frameam nam epulae & quanquam contempti largi tamen apparatus pro stipendio cedunt, and vied who should be nearest their Princes in all their dangers, and believed themselves to be well rewarded, if by the bounty of the Prince they had such a charging Horse, or such a bloody and conquering Spear bestowed upon them: for as to wages they were very well contented with Feasts, and a large provision of victuals, though homely drest.
And by such or the like longa series, or continuance of duties and obedience to Princes, kindness and hospitality of the more great and powerful to the meaner, came that strength and honor of our Nation; not by screwing or racking their Tenants, and the Lands which they let them, but by easie and cheap bargains, when the Tenant would be well content to make his Rents to his Landlord to be as much in love and retribution as in money; and both were no loosers when provisions for house-keeping were so much and excessively reserved or presented;Spelman Gloss. in voce Firma. for Prisci autem moris (saith Sir Henry Spelman) profusius hospitalitas annales reditus in eduliis collegisse; in the times of great hospitality, the manner or custome of Landlords was to reserve provisions for house-keeping for all (or some) of their Rents.
And those reservations of provisions grew to be so [Page 244] excessive, as before the Conquest, lege cautum fuit de quantitate eduliorum reddenda, it was by a Law ordained by Ina King of the West Saxons, betwixt the years 712. and 727. how much rent in provisions should be taken or reserved for every 10 Hides or Plough lands, which Sir Henry Spelman understands to be a prohibition, that no man should take or reserve more, viz. LL. Ina 70.
- Mellis dolia, Hogsheads or vessels of Honey (of which it seems there was then great plenty and much used) 10
- Panes, loaves of bread 300
- Amphorae Cervisiae Wallicae duodenae, twelve Rundlets of Welch Beer or Ale
- Amphorae Cervisiae tenuioris, Rundlets of small Ale or Beer 30
- Oxen 2
- Weather Sheep 10
- Geese 10
- Hens 20
- Cheeses 10
- Gallons of Butter, 9
- Salmons 5
- Twenty pound weight of Hey or Provender 10
- And Eels 100
Which was but a small Rent, as Rents are now heightned for ten Yards or plough Lands; and the Heirs of those which held such proportions of Lands, upon those or the like easie Rents, or afterwards paid, and doe now pay only as Freeholders, certain small Quit-rents in money proportionable to the then small rates of such provisions, may thank God that the alteration [Page 245] of times and rates of provisions, have made them in such a condition, as to be very well enabled to perform their duties to their Prince in an easie contribution for the composition for the Royall Pourveyances.
And that most necessary duty of the Kings Royal Pourveyance, if he had not power to regulate and bring down the excessive prises of provisions, and at Markets, as well for the ease and benefit of his Subjects as himself, might be the more willingly and cheerfully submitted unto and performed, when as it is for the good of the head and principall part of the body Politick, and when as that which the members do contribute, is communicated to all the members and parts of it, in the preventing, hindring, or keeping off greater inconveniencies, burdens and troubles, which would otherwise fall upon them, or serves to support and maintain many of themselves and their Sons and Daughters in the service of the King and his Court, which hath raised many Families (which now either forget or over-look their beginnings, originals, and founders) or to relieve many poor, and others who doe partake of those National Blessings of Peace and plenty, which are maintained by the honor, well-being, and prosperity of the King which procures them.
And should not be disliked, but rather rejoyced in, when we shall recount unto our Children and posterity the magnificence and hospitality of our Kings, when the great Hall at Westminster, capable and large enough to entertain three of the largest Courts of Justice in the Nation, besides many Shops of Trade built by the sides thereof, and receives the feet of some hundreds of the Natives which four times or Terms in the year do [Page 246] come thither to demand it, was heretofore but the Common Hall or dining Room of King William Rufus.
That Henry the 2. caused corn to be laid up in store in Granaries to be given to the poor in the time of dearth in the parts of Anjou and Main, and fed every day out of his Granaries a thousand persons, from the beginning of April untill new corn was gotten.
Claus. 23 H. 3. Henry the third in the 23 year of his Reign did by his Writ command William de Haverhull, and Edward Fitz Odo, that upon Friday next after the Feast of St. Matthias, being the Anniversary of Elianor Queen of Scotland his Sister, they should cause to be fed as many poor as might enter into or be entertained in the greater Hall of Westminster.
Ibidem m. 14.And in the same year did by his Writ likewise command the said William de Haverhull to feed fifteen thousand Poor at St. Peters in London on the Feast day of the Conversion of St. Peter.
Ibidem m. 18.And four thousand Poor upon Monday next after the Feast of St. Lucie the Virgin in the great Hall at Westminster.
Claus. 28. H. 3.Commanded in the 28 year of his Reign Hugh Gifford and William le Brun, that upon Friday next after the Epiphany, they should cause to be fed in the Hall at Windsor, ad bonum focum omnes pueros, paup [...]res, & Egen [...]s quot inven [...]re p [...]terint, it a quòd aula impleatur, si tot inveniantur, at a good fire all the poor boyes and needdy, so that the Hall may be filled, if so many might be found.
Claus. 32 H. 3. m. 15.Also in the 32 year of his Reign commanded William de Haverhull, and Edward of Westminster, quod singulis [Page 247] diebus a die Natalis Domini usque ad diem Circumcisionis computatis illis duabus diebus impleri faciant magnam Aulam Regis de pauperibus, & eos pasci; That every day from Christmas to Newyears-tide, reckoning and including those two dayes they should fill the great Hall of Westminster with poor and feed them. And in the same year commanded the said William de Haverhull his Treasurer, and Edward Fitz Odo to feed upon the day of Edward the Confessor pauperes in magna Aula Westmonasterium sicut fieri consueverunt, Claus. 32 H. 3. m. 17. & ipsis monathis pittantiam eadem die sicut consueverunt habere faciant, the poor as they were accustomed to do in the great Hall of Westminster, and to give the Monks their accustomed pittances (or exceedings.)
Which would have cost more then a little, if prices and plenty of provisions for food and victuals had not better accorded then now they doe, or if the King had not had his Prae-emption and Royal Pourveyance, or that his Prerogative had been no more in regulating of the Markets, and such prises as the avarice of the sellers should enforce upon the buyers, then to pay for his own houshold provisions double or treble the worth and the utmost farthing.
And 174 l would not have been sufficient for King Edward the first his Son by his Writ directed to John L [...]vetot and Jeofry de Newbald, Ex Archiv. T [...]r. London. Guardians of the Temporalities of the Bishoprick of Durham, to allow unto Alexander King of Scotland coming to London to the Coronation of his Brother in Law guarded with a goodly Troop of Knights and Gentlemen, pro expensis suis per quinque septimanas, videlicet singulis diebus centum solidos in veniendo ad Westmonasterium [Page 248] ad mandatum ipsius Domini Regis, & inde ad partes suas redeundo, &c. for his expences for five weeks, that is to say, five pounds for every day in his coming at the Kings command to Westminster (to do him homage) and returning from thence.
At whose great Feast and Coronation the said Alexander King of Scotland came (as an old Manuscript cited by Mr. Weaver mentioneth) to doe him servyse and worschip.
Weaver's funeral monuments 456. And whahne King Edward was coronyd & annyontyd as ryghte heyre of Eng [...]lond withe moche honor & worsschyp. Aftur Masse, the King went to hys Paleys for to holde a ryall fes [...]e, amonges them that hym had doon servyse and worsschyp. And whahne he was set at hys mete, King Alexandre of Scotland come to doe hym servyse and worsschyp wyth a queyntyse, and an hondred Knyghtes wyth hym, horsed and arayd. And whanne they wered lyght of theyr horse, they let theyr horse goon whether th [...]y wolde, and they that wolde take them had them to their own behofe without any challange. And aftyr that come Syr Edmond, King Edwards Broder, a curtayse Knight and a gentyl of renoon, and the Erle of Cornwayle, and the Erle of Glowcestre. And aftyr theym come the Erle of Penbroke, and the Erle of Warren, and eche of them led on theyr hondes be themselfe an hondred Knights disgyse in their Armes. And whanne they weren a lyght of theyr horse they let them goo whedyr they wolde, and they that cowd them take, had them stylle at theyr own lyking▪ And whanne all this was doon, Kyng Edward dyd [Page 249] his dyligens and his myght to amende the Relme, and redresse the wronges in the best manner, to the honor of God, and profyte to the Crown, and to holy Cherch, and to amende the anoyance of the Common people. The worthiest Knight he was of alle the world of honor and worsschyp, for the grace of God was in hym, and he ever had the victory of hys enemies.
Which is here repeated to shew how well the people of those times liked any honor done to their Kings, and rejoyced in it.
And not only in the better course and customes of those times, but in all the after ages, untill that in which we now are, when the pride, luxurie and vanity of the Nation have conquered and almost extirpated all the hospitalities of England, and made vice and sinfull prodigalities the only care and imployment of their time and Revenues, could not leave or forsake the pathes of their more prudent Progenitors, when the Nobility and Gentry by their charities, alms-deeds, bounties and benificences, building of Churches, permitting of Copihold Estates, being only antient allowed and continued charities and succouring of the poor & needy; founding of Monasteries, Priories and Religious houses, the then grand supports and Magazines of charity, relief & alms-deeds to the poor, to travellers & strangers, and the sick and needy, granting of large proportions of Commons unto Villages and Townships in that which was part of their own Demesnes, and Common of Estovers & Turbary for their wood and firing in divers of their Woods and Forrests, did so continue the honorable customes of a great hospitality, retinue and Attendance, great love [Page 250] and good will to their Tenants, who enjoying Lands and Leases under them at small and reasonable Rents, took them to be their tutelar Gods, and as helps and refuges in all their necessities.
And so intent upon charity were those better and less sinfull times, and so much were the necessities of the poor taken to heart, as the Bishops and Prelates in venerable B [...]d [...]'s time, which was long before the Conquest, had, as he writeth, alwaies on their Table at meals an Alms dish, wherein was carved some good portion of meat out of every dish brought unto the Table, which the poor were sure to have besides the fragments left.
Ethelwald Bishop of Winchester in the Reign of King Edgar about the year of Christ 963. did in a great Famine sell the Plate belonging to the Church to relieve the almost starved people.
Walter de Suffild Bishop of Norwich in a time of great dearth in Anno 1245. sold all his Plate, and distributed the money made thereof unto the poor.
Robert Winchelsey Arch-bishop of Canterbury about the year 1293. gave besides the daily fragments of victuals expended in his house every Friday and Sunday unto every Beggar which came unto his gate a loaf of bread sufficient for a day,Stowes Survey of London. and in times of scarcity relieved on those dayes four hundred, and some times five hundred poor people.
Nor was the house-keeping, retinue and attendance of the Nobility and Gentry in those and after ages so small or sparing, as it is now in too many of them who having racked their Tenants to the utmost, can leave their Ancestors great and stately houses in the Country as if they had been lately infected with the plague, or [Page 251] were haunted with some Devils or Hobgoblins, and employ their expences, which would have been more honourably laid out in hospitality, in treatments of two or three hundred pounds at a time; & some of our prodigal Gentry expending fifty, threescore, or an hundred pounds in a Suit of Apparrel; can give it away after twice or thrice wearing to a Pimp, Sicophant, or flattering Servant, and lose two hundred or five hundred pounds in a night at Dice or Cards; give a hundred pounds for a needle work Band, and expend two hundred pounds per annum for Periwigs, and all the racked Revenue either laid out by themselves or their wives (who vie who shall spend most) in the wicked and vain pursuits of a detestable luxury; and as if they held their Lands not as formerly, by Knight service, but by Lady service ▪ and their Ancestors had taken pains to leave them estates to play the mad-men withall, do make sin the only Errand and employments of their lives and conversations; and by their prodigal expences and confining themselves to some few dishes of meat dressed at the Common Cooks in London, do leave their Footboys and Servants so little of it, as they are many times constrained to be glad with the bones and scraps, which would have been better bestowed upon Beggars, and have reason enough to believe that their Masters can doe no miracles, nor multiply loaves of bread or fishes▪
But our Nobility and Gentry demeaned themselves in a more honorable, noble, and Christian way, as may be understood by that of Thomas Earl of Lancasters expences in house-keeping in the Reign of King Ed. 2. when money was scarcer than now it is, and yet the account [Page 252] from Michaelmas in the 7. year of the Reign of that King, unto Michaelmas in the 8. year of his Reign, being but for one year, was in the Buttery, Pantry, and Kitchin three thousand four hundred and five pounds.
And there was paid for 6800 Stock-fishes, so called, and for dried Fishes, as Lings, Haberdines, &c. 41 l.—6 s.—7 d. for one hundred eighty four Tonnes, and one Pipe of Clarret wine, and one Tonne of white wine 104 l.—17 s.—6 d. gave costly Liveries of Furres and Purple to Barons, Knights, and Esquires, and paid in that year 623 l.—15 s.—5 d. to divers Earles, Barons, Knights and Esquires for Fees.
The house-keeping of the Nobility being not then mean or ignoble, when in the fourteenth year of that Kings Reign,Stowes Survey of London. Hugh Spencer the elder was by Inquisition found to have been possessed of at his several Houses or Manors 28000 Sheep, 1000 Oxen and Steers, 1200 Kine with their Calves, 2000 Hogs, 300 Bullocks, 40 Tons of Wine, 600 Bacons, 80 Carcases of Martilmas Beef, 600 Muttons in the Larder, and 10 Tons of Sider.
Richard Nevil Earl of Warwick in the Reign of King Henry the fifth had in his house oftentimes six Oxen eaten at a Breakfast, and every Tavern was full of his meat, and he that had any acquaintance in his house might have there so much sodden and roste, as he could prick and carry upon a long Dagger.
Cardinal Woolsey Arch-Bishop of York in the Reign of King Henry the eighth, kept no small house, when as his Master Cook in the Privy Kitchin went daily in Velvet and Satten, with a chain of Gold about his neck, had two Clerks of the Kitchin, a Surveyor of the [Page 253] Dresser, a Clerk of the Spicery, four Yeomen of the ordinary Scullery, four Yeomen of the silver Scullery, two Yeomen of the Pastery, and two Pastery men under them; in the Scalding house a Yeoman and two Grooms, In the Buttery two Yeomen Grooms and two Pages, In the Pantery two Yeomen, and in the Waferie two Yeomen.
Nicholas West Bishop of Ely in the year 1532. in the 23 year of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth, kept continually in his house one hundred Servants, giving to the one halfe of them 53 s. 4 d. a piece (then an allowance for a Gentleman Servant, but now by an unreasonable and illegall rise and exaction of servants wages not the halfe of a Carter or Ploughmans wages) and to the other 40 s. a piece, and to every one of his Servants four yards of broad Cloth for his Winter Gown, and for his Summer Coat three yards and a half, and daily gave at his gate (besides bread and drink) warm meat for two hundred poor people.
Edward Earl of Derby in the Reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth had 220 men in Checque Roll, fed sixty eight aged persons twice every day, besides all comers, appointed thrice a week for his dealing dayes, and every good Friday gave unto two thousand seven hundred poor men meat drink and money.
The Lord Cromwell in the declyning times of charity, as Mr. John Stow well observed, served twice every day at his ga [...] two hundred poor people, with bread meat and drink sufficient, all the Gentry making it to be their honor in their lesser orbes to measure their Actions by those as good and honorable patterns.
And proportionable to their hospitality, and the [Page 254] state and dignity of our then Nobility were the numbers of their Servants in their houses at home, or in their journies or riding abroad, many of the Knights & Gentlemens Sons of England making it to be the best of their breeding, education, and way to preferment, to serve or retain unto them, insomuch as notwithstanding the Statute made against giving of Liveries or Badges 1 R. 2. cap. 7. and the suspicion which some of our Kings and Princes, and King Henry the seventh had of their greatness and popularities, the great (so called) Earl of Warwick in the Reign of King Henry the sixt, rode with six hundred men in red Jackets, embroidered with ragged staves before and behind.
Thomas Audley Lord Chancellor of England usually rode with many Gentlemen before him with coats guarded with velvet, and chains of gold, and his Yeomen following after him in Liveries not guarded.
William Paulet Marquess of Winchester did ride with a great attendance in Liveries, and gave great reliefe at his gate; and Edward Duke of Somerset did the like.
Stows Survey of London. John de vere Earl of Oxford in the Reign of Queen Mary, notwithstanding the rigour of the Law against Liveries and Reteiners, which King Henry the seventh did so turn against one of his highly deserving Ancecestors, as it cost him a fine of ten or fifteen thousand marks, was accustomed to ride from his Castle of Hedingham in Essex to his City House at London Stone, with eighty Gentlemen in tawny velvet Liveries or Coats, and Chains of Gold about their necks before him, and one hundred tall Yeomen in the like Livery of Cloth following him, with the cognisance [Page 255] of the Blew Bore embroidered on their left shoulder.
Which being the custome of the good people, Subjects and men of Honor in England, in those more honorable, more performing, & less complementing times, but since withering, and growing fruitless and out of fashion, when that great commander Luxury had with his Regiments and Brigades of vices, new fangles and vanities, subdued, and put the people to a greater contribution towards such their wicked and vain expences, and all that they can now make shift for is too little to support and bear out their extravagancies. It is well known and experimented to the great comfort of such as lived within the virge of the Kings houses and residence, that the Hospitality of the Kingdome, like the heart in the body naturall, the primum vivens beginner and conservator of life, beginning in the Kings house, and propagating and diffusing it self in and through as many of the Nobility and Gentry, as being de meliori lut [...], of a more then ordinary extraction, did strive, as much as became them, to imitate Royal Examples, would be in the Kings house the ultimum m [...]riens, the last which expired. And that besides the necessary grandeur and magnificence of the Kings houshold, plenty, and variety of meat and drink, to entertain at his Officers Tables the, Nobility, Gentry and Citizens, which had any occasion to come thither, and 240 gallons of Beer allowed the poor every day at the Buttery Barre, three gallons every day at the Court gate for thirteen poor men; six services or messe of meat, and seven pieces of beef a day as wast and extraordinarie for the Kings Honor; the chippings of bread sometimes [Page 256] (more then should be) and the fragments and knapstry of broken, or quarter, or half joynts of meat, carcases of Fowl and Poultry, pieces of Pie-crust, or other provisions carefully and daily gathered, and put into severall Almes-baskets left at every Table and Chamber in the Court, and distributed unto the poor by two Grooms and two Yeomen of the Elemosinary or Almnery, who enjoy an yearly Salary and maintenance from the King for that only imployment, which hath fed and supported many poor Families in and about Westminster as well as Common Beggars; the Lodgings and accomodations of Nobility and Gentry resorting to the Court, have so greatly enriched all the Streets and parts about it, as that end of London and parts adjacent, have, like trees planted by the water side, so very much prospered as Westminster, which originally had but some scattered houses adjoyning to the Abby and the Kings Palace, came aftewards to be a Burrough Town & Corporation, endowed with great Liberties and Priviledges, and sending Burgesses to the Parliament, & afterwards to be a City; and the people of other parts, as birds haunting the woods for shelter, shade or succor, observing the plenty & happiness which they enjoyed, have built & made their nests & habitations as near as they could unto that place and Royal seat of bounty, charity, and magnificence, insomuch as the swelling and increase of London at this day every where to be seen not without some admiration in her Extent and buildings, hath within this and the last Century of years very much outgrown that antient City it self;Graunts observation of the London Bills of Mortality. and as Mr. John Graunt and some others have truly and ingeniously observed, extended it self Westward, and as near as it could unto the Royal [Page 257] bitation, as if that were more to be desired for a neighbourhood then the River of Thames, the Exchange, or Custome-house of London, and places of Trade and Traffick.
They therefore that shall remember how his Majesties Maundie or Charity, kept as his Royal Ancestors ever did upon the Thursday before Easter, or Eve of Good-Friday, with a Joul of Salmon, a Poll of Ling, 30 red Herrings, and as many white, garnished with [...]erbs in new clean wooden dishes, four six penny loaves of Court bread, cloth for a Gown and a Shirt, a pair of New Shoes and Stockins, and a single penny with a twenty shillings piece of gold overplus, put in severall little purses, given to as many poor old men as the King is years old; and the state and decency observed in the distributing of it; after their feet washed and dried, and the King with a condiscention and unexampled humility, beyond the reach and example of any of his Subjects, kneeling upon his knees, and devoutly kissing the feet of those his Almes-men, cannot certainly tell how to murmur at such an hospitality or Provisions, which afforded him the means wherewith to doe it.
Nor should the many cures which he yearly doth unto such as are Lame, Blind, Diseased, or troubled with the Disease called the Kings Evil (because he cureth it) the patience and meekness which he employeth in it, and the yearly charge of at least three thousand pounds per annum, which his Angel Gold of the value of ten shillings, and a silk Ribbon put about the neck of every one, be they rich or poor, young or old which doe come to that English Pool of Bethesda to be healed and cured, be forgotten or thought unworthy a gratitude, [Page 258] or some remuneration or acknowledgements.
Neither can any that ever understood or read of the round Tables of our King Arthur, the great Roger Mortimer, and the famous Hospitality of England continued through the British▪ Saxon and Norman times all the turmoyls and troubles of the after Generations in their greatest extremities of the Barons warres, and the direfull and bloody contentions of the two great discording Houses of York and Lancaster, with the vast quantities of Land given besides to Monasteries and Religious Houses to the great increase of Charity and Alms-deeds, which was then the only Trade driven or thought on in the way to Cabo di buona speranza, & the everlasting rest of the righteous; the large proportions of Lands given for Chantries in a then supposed pious care of themselves, and their Progenitors great gifts and remunerations to Servants, and curtesies and kindness to Neighbours and Tenants, when most of our Nobility and Gentry thought themselves not great unless they were good, nor a Gentleman, because he had only the insignia virtutum, Armories and marks of the honor of his Ancestors descended unto him, without the virtuous, noble and heroick qualities, which were the cause or original of them, when pride and interest the Devils Deputies were not the Soveraign which they most obeyed, vanity and all the folli [...]s of sin the neighbours which they loved as themselves; when virtue was not reckoned, as it is now amongst too many, a base or simple companion, nor honour turned into a Pageant, or n [...]men inane, or only made a pretence to deceive mens expectations; when almost every English Gentleman was in his Parish, and amongst his Tenants like [Page 259] Job that good accomptant of his talents, a deliverer of the poor that cried, the fatherless, and him that had none to help him; caused the Widows heart to sing for joy; was eyes to the blinde, feet to the lame, brake the jawes of the wicked, pluckt the spoils out of his teeth; grieved for the poor, wept for him that was in trouble; and sate chief, and dwelt as a King, Job 29. in the Army as one that comforteth the mourners; the ears that heard him blessed him, and the eye that saw him gave witness to him, when men gave care and waited, and kept silence at his counsel: (although it must be acknowledged that there are now some of the Gentry more learned & accomplished then in former ages, and might equall or goe beyond their worthy and honorable Ancestors, if they would but imitate their Alms-deeds and hospitality, and not permit their greater expences in matters less warrantable and laudable, to make and enforce an ava [...]ice, or Rubiginem animarum, canker or rust of the soul to hinder or keep them from it).
And Gentlemen were not then as too many now are, the fools of the Parish, and so little valued as they are now, when too many of them may be beaten and kickt in the Market-places, in the view and sight of their over-racked and disobliged Tenants, piget & pudet dicere, I would there were no cause or occasion to speak it,) and with their few attendants of Sicophants, Pimps and Foot-boyes, be as little helped or regarded by the Common people as a ridiculous pride and a large and wastfull retinue of sins and folly ought to be,
But kept great hospitalities, and were heretofore in their houses in the Country, as the Dii Tutelares of the poor, or such as were in any want or necessit [...]es, [Page 260] the Cities of refuge in all their distresses; the Esculapius. Temple for wholsome or honest medicaments or unmercinary cures of wounds and diseases which the good Ladies and Gentlewomen, their Wives or Daughters were then well practised in, and had great respects and reverence paid unto them for it.
And see how little is now done in any of those kinds, if he hath any fear of God or care of goodness, love, or respect to his Country and posterity forbear a bewailing of the ruine and decay of the moralities, virtues and honor of England, and wonder how that only remaining relique of our fore-fathers magnanimity and virtues, that seed plot of love and good will, which the Angels in their song and rejoycing at the birth of our Jesus and Redeemer proclaimed to be a blessing; that seminary of reverence, honor and respect; that ligament and tye betwixt the inferiours and superiours; that incitement and encouragement to reciprocations of love and duty; and that heretofore so famous and well imployed strength and power of the Nobility and Gentry should be disused and laid side: and that those laudable pious and honorable actions of Hospitality and Charity, in which our Kings of England so much delighted, and by a solemn and thrice repeated crie or proclamation made by one of the Heralds, of a Largesse, a Largesse at the creation of every Baron, Earl, or Duke, (being as the cry or joy of the Harvest mentioned in the holy Scriptures) and at St. George's Feasts, did put the Nobility and Gentry in mind to doe the like in their several orbes and stations, should be now restrained by the want of Pourveyance, or Compositions for it, or that there should be any endeavours [Page 261] to decay and hinder it at the fountain or well head, by stopping the pleasant and refreshing waters which gladded our Sion, and the Inhabitants thereof, and made it to be the terror of all the Nations round about us, or that any should think it to be for the good and honor of England to lessen that hospitality and plenty in the Kings House or Court, which is so pleasing and suitable to the humor and constitution of the English Nation; hath gained the Kings of England so much love at home, and honor abroad; maintained so fair a correspondency and intelligence betwixt the Court and Ministry, and relieved the poor and needy, the Widdow and the Fatherless.
And is so essentiall and proper to Majesty, as David when he offered sacrifice unto the Lord after the bringing back of the Ark,2 Sam. 6. did give to every one of the people▪ men and women a Cake of bread, a good piece of flesh, and a Flaggon of wine; and so customary as the Romans could not think themselves secure in the good wills & affections of the people without their Epulae and publick Feasts and caressing of the people,Dionis. Halicarn. lib. 2. which Julius Caesar nor his Successor Augustus would not adventure to omit.
Nor Domitian and Severus who gave oyle, wine, and other necessary provisions, a Fin ▪ Lois d' Orleans ovver [...]ures de [...] Parlements. as Lois d' Orleans rightly understood it, d' concilier l' amour de leurs Subjects quils prenoient par lebouch [...], to procure the love of the people, who were taken by the mouth: and was so customary in France as well as England, as at a great solemnity there after that our King Henry the fifth had espoused the Daughter and Heir of France, and the people of Paris in great numbers went unto the [Page 262] Louvre to see the King and Queen of England sit at meat together with their Crowns upon their heads; but being dismissed without an invitation to eat or drink by some of the Officers or Masters of the houshold, as they were accustomed, they murmured exceedingly; for that when they came to such grand solemnities at the King of Frances Court, they used to have meat and drink given them in great plenty,Mo [...]rele [...] lib. 1. ca. 2.62. and those which would sit at meat, were by the Kings Officers most abundantly served with wine and victuals▪ and at extraordinary Feasts, as that at the marriage of King Henry the fifth of England, and the Lady Katherine Daughter of Charles the sixth King of France, had Tables furnished with victuals set in the streets, where they which would might sit and eat at the Kings charges, as was afterwards also done at Amiens at the enterview of Lewis the eleventh of France, and Edward the fourth of England.
And was there in those dayes most laudably used, a fin d [...] unir le peuple au Roy & les pieds a la teste pur affirmir le corps politick, & le lier par une gracieuse voire necessaire correspondence, to the end to fasten the people unto the King, and the feet unto the head, to strengthen the body politick, and unite all the parts thereof by a loving and necessary compliance; and was an usage so well entertained in other Nations,Lois d' Orleans les ovvertures des Parlements ca. 8. Guagninus iu descript. Mosco viae lib. 1. c. 46. Aelianus lib. 4. va [...]ar. Histor. as the Tartars and Laplanders, would not be without it, and the Graecians thought themselves dishonored, if there were not a more then ordinary care to entertain strangers of free cost, insomuch as a Law was made amongst the Lucani, to punish such as took not a care of them; and the Swedes and Gothes esteemed it to be so great an [Page 263] unworthines not to doe it, as they did by a Law ordain, That whosoever denied lodging or entertainment to any strangers, and was by witnesses convicted to have thrice offended in that kind his house was to be burned. Jo. Magnus lib. 4. cap. 2.
Those or the like kind and charitable customs haveing so crept through the cranies of humane understanding and right reason into the ruder sort of the heathen; as in some parts of Africk the King thinks he is not beloved of his people unless he doth sometimes feast them,John Leo Hist. of Africa. and the heads of the Cowes which are killed for that provision, are painted and hung up like pictures in his Chamber as for an honor to the King, whereby such strangers which did come to his Court might perceive that he was a good King.
Being like the Agapes or Love Feasts, allowed by St. Paul, and those which the primitive Christians continued as an excellent Custome and usage, when the rich, as Tertullian witnesseth, brought to those publick feastings meat and provisions, and fed and feasted the poor, which were so usefull and well-becoming all such as intended or desired the comfort and blessing of it, as that thrifty as well as magnificent Commonwealth of Venice, doe not only order and encourage yearly Feasts among the several ranks and Classes of their Citizens and people, but doe make an allowance to their Duke or shadow of Monarchy for the feasting of the principal of the Senate, and to send yearly in the winter to every Citizen a certain petty present of wild foul.
And if the virtue of charity, which St. Paul makes to be the chief, or summa totalis of all the virtues and excellencies which humane nature or frailties can be capable of; and will not allow that of speaking with the [Page 264] tongues of Angels (which certainly is more to be valued then our last twenty years English complement) nor the gift of prophecy and understanding of all mysteries and all knowledge;1 Corinth. [...]3. neither the having of such a faith as might remove mountains, to be any more then nothing in him or a noise or emptiness, if charity be not joyned with it, be so superlative.
The people of England as well as their Kings and Princes were not mistaken when they did so heed, and thought it necessary to be observed, as a good part of the Tythes given by Aethelulph in the year after the birth of Christ 855. not only of his own Lands in demeasne, but as most of the Writers which lived nearer that time, have, as the most learned and judicious Selden rightly observed it, extended unto a grant made by the consent omnium Praelatorum ac Principum suorum, Selden Hist. of Tithes, & Ingulphs hist. qui sub ipso variis provinciis totius Angliae praeerant, of all the Bishops and Prelates, and the Princes and Earles, which under him governed in the severall Provinces, and whether the Tithes came first to be setled here by that great King Ethelulphus, and his Bishops and great men; or were assented unto or granted afterwards by the piety and devotion of particular men, and the owners of lands and goods, of which very many grants doe occurre, before they were settled by a very just and binding authority of the Secular & Ecclesiastical power and authority in this our Isle of great Britain, some part of them may be certainly said to be in the use and application of them to the Church and Ministry, and sacred uses dedicated and designed for hospitality.
Which the People of did so greatly regard and look after, as the supposed want of it in the reverend [Page 265] Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury begot a project in the reign of King Henry the eighth, as Doctor Peter Heylin, that learned and great Champion of the Church of England, and the truth even after he was blind hath recorded it.
Whereby a design was laid by a potent and over-busie Courtier to ruine the Revenues belonging to that Arch-Bishoprick, by informing the King that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had fallen much Wood, let long Leases for great Fines, and made great havock of the Revenues of his Arch-Bishoprick, whereby to raise a fortune to his wife and children; and with so large a Revenue had kept no Hospitality; that it was more meet for Bishops to have a sufficient yearly stipend out of the Exchequer, then to be incumbred with Temporal Revenues, and that the Lands being taken to his Majesties use, would afford him besides the said Annual stipends a great yearly Revenue. But the King rightly apprehending the device, sent the Informer on an errand about Dinner time to Lambeth-house, where he found all the Tables in the great Hall, to be very bountifully provided, the Arch-Bishop himself, accompained at Dinner with diverse persons of quality, his Table exceeding plentifully furnished, and all things answerable to the port of so great a Prelate; wherewith the King being made acquainted at his coming back, gave him such a rebuke for his false information, and the design which was built upon it, as neither he nor any of the other Courtiers du [...]st stir any further in that suite.
And the common people of England have always with so much reason, loved and applauded Hospitality, [Page 266] good House-keeping, Alms Deeds, and works of Charity, (and in that besides their own benefits and concernments did but delight in the ways of God which he hath commanded, and is well pleased with,) whereby the heretofore famous and greatly beloved Nobility and Gentry of England, have gained so much love, honor, power, reverence, and well deserved esteem, as the greatest part of the respects which are now afforded, and paid by them unto their Issues and remaining generations, are as unto too many of them, more in remembrance of the good and vertuous deeds of their Ancestors, then any personal good or vertue is either to be found in them, or according to the courses which they now hold, is so much as expected from them, who think a name or title like some gaudy Sign-post hung out of an empty ill governed and worse furnished house, where vice and all manner of sins in their horrid and ugly deformities being treated and entertained, do crawle up and down like Toads, Frogs, and Serpents in some dark and loathsome Dungeon, or that a pedigree deriving their discents from some or many Heroes and Worthy Patriots, is honor enough for them, do scorn all but their own foolries, and suppose a witty Drollery, and the Friskes and Funambuloes of an ill governed wit, or of brains soaked and steeped in drink, more to be valued then the wisdom in the Proverbs of Solomon, hate vice and admonition, shun vertue and morality as they would do the burst and fire of a Granado; and believe d [...]ink [...]ng, Dicing and Drabbing to be a more Gentile and cleanlier way of Hospitality, and make the common people, whilst they stand almost amazed at their [Page 267] Debaucheries and irregularities, ready to swear they are illegitimate, or some Changelings crept into the name and estate of their Hospitable and vertuous Progenitors; and if any of them should be well affected and inclined to walk in the ways of their Ancestors, and keep good houses, can never be able to do it by reason of the no Reason of their Ranting and expensive Wives, twenty of which sort of new fashioned women (for there are some, though not so many as should be, which are or would be helpers to preserve and increase their Husbands estates, not to waste or destroy them) would if they might injoy their spending humors, in the wasteful course of their lives be able to consume the value of all or the greatest part of the Lands and Estates in a County.
But however such kind of people shall so misuse their estates and Talents, our Kings & Princes being to guide their Actions by higher & more transcendent rules then any of their Subjects did in the better times of vertue and Hospitality, are not certainly to be restrained in the magnificence and state of their House-keeping, nor to have the means whereby they should do it, diverted or diminished; when as Alexander the Great, answered some that [...]ound fault with the greatness of his gift or bounty to a mean man, The gifts of Kings are not altogether to be proportioned according to the men who receive it, but of the King that giveth it; and as the Duke of Savoy said unto King Henry the fourth of France, when he found him unwilling to grant or remit unto him the Marquisate of Saluces, John de Serres Hist. of France. Kings do wrong the greatness of their courage, if they shall not give great things.
For if there were no necessity of a largeness of heart [Page 268] and expences in Hospitality in the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation, they would not be good Subjects to blame it in their King, nor honorers of him, unless they should, as they ought and are enjoyned by their Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, maintain and defend his Honor and Jurisdictions, who by the preeminency of his Imperial Dignity is not to want that which should help to support and adorn it, when as to that, and the preservation of his people who are to sub [...]ist and be protected by his welfare, honor, and happiness, there will be a real and very great.
CHAP. V. Necessity that the King should have and enjoy his Ancient Right of Pourveyance, or Compositions for them.
FOr that there is, and should be always a necessity to observe the Laws of God, Nature, and Nations right reason, and the Laws and reasonable Customes of England, and of honoring and obeying the King, and keeping him from mischiefs and inconveniencies, and that the members of the body Politick, should as every part of the body natural doth, be willing to assist and contribute unto the good and well being of the head and better part of it.
And although that sin the fruitful parent of all our evils and miseries, be not in numero eligibilium, or to be put within the pleas of necessity, yet goodness, vertue and the duties of holy life, are propter se expetibilia for their real benefits and excellencies to be desired and [Page 269] thirsted after, as the Hart panteth and thirsteth after the water brooks.
And it would be neither wisdom nor goodness in the people to subject the King to an yeerly loss of seventy three thousand six hundred seven pounds fourteen shillings and seven pence, which he did the last year loose in his house-keeping by the want of his Pourveyance or Compositions for them, and by the excessive Rates and Prices of Provisions for his houshold, which were put upon him by the avarice and ill custome of such as sold or furnished them besides his greater then formerly charge of Carts, and other parts of the Royal Pourveyance, and drive him thereby into wants of money, which may either cause him to be more sparing then he would be otherwise, in his Royal favors, bounty, indulgences, and Charity to his people, or to seek after and take those many legal and just advantages to support himself in his Kingly Office which the Law affords and cannot be denyed him, or give a greater liberty or attention then otherwise he would to his necessities, or the designs, or invention of those who by finding out ways of supply to an over-burdened and insufficient Royal Revenue, may shew the people their errors in the denyal of just rights and duties, and by putting him to inconveniencies, exceedingly increase and multiply their own; and that it would be much better to imitate the prudence of Abigail, who to make some recompence to Davids keeping safe all that appertained to her husband N [...]bal, so that nothing was missing, whilst he was a wall unto him and his people by night and by day, made haste and took two hundred Loaves two Bottles of Wine, five Sheep ready dressed, [Page 270] five measures of parched Corn, an hundred Clusters or Lumpes of Raisins, and two hundred Cakes of Figgs, and intreated him to accept of the blessing or present which she had brought unto him,1 Sam. ca. 25. then the indiscretion, ingratitude, and folly of her Husband Nabal; and consider that even the Beasts of the Forrest would think themselves more happy and safe when the Lyon shall have his Food and Dyet provided for him and his family, then that he and the young Lyons should roar for hunger, and that it would be better for the Shephard to bring him a Lambe or two of the Flock, then to enforce him in the extremity of hunger to come and take away three times as many more and carry to his Den.
That the Turks may as they have for many ages past rejoyce in the foolish covetousness of the Citizens of Constantinople, whose generations may curse and abominate their selfishness, and then supposed wisdom in denying their Emperor money and means to defend them, bewail the loss of Greece, and weep unpittied for their children when they are by the command of that grand Tyrant of the Mahometan Empire, taken from them, and driven like heards of Cattle and Flocks of Sheep, never more to know or remember their parents, or be of the Christian Religion, to his Serraglio, where the Males are bred up in the service of his wars or civil affairs, and many of their daughters made to be his Concubines.
And the French may lament their ill usage of their King Charles the seventh in his great extremities in refusing necessary Aids to resist the successes of our English Conquering forefathers, which brought the Pesantry [Page 271] and lower ranks of that [...]ince Gabelled and over Salted people, not only to their present miseries, and that fertility of Taxes which is since most fatally rivetted and entailed upon them, but the loss of all their liberties.
Experience having told our Progenitors how much the necessities and wants of some of our Kings and Princes, have heretofore given way to the excursions of some of their servants and Ministers, upon the rights and liberties of the people, which made the Lords and Commons in Parliament frequently in sundry Ages and Parliaments past, to take a great care for the support and honor of their House-keeping, the preserving of the Kings Rights and Revenues, and the punishment of such as were any cause of the waste or diminishing of it.
And that a supply of the Kings wants, or for the payment of his debts, could never yet, nor can be so Arithmetically made or proportioned either as to what was past or to come, as to even the Tax or Assessements of the people, or to make them to be just so much and no more then the Kings wants, but were alwayes like the Tax in France for money to buy the Queen Pins; or the Aids given to some Foreign Princes to marry their eldest daughters, which amounted unto many times double the sum of the greatest portions which they gave with them; or the Aides in England to make the Prince or the Kings eldest son a Knight, when the expences never came neer the sum contributed, and as heretofore the City of London and other Cities and Corporations have done in their Taxes and Subsidies leavyed upon the Citizens and Townesmen, [Page 272] which did usually by a considerable everplus furmount the necessities and occasions of them.
Or if there could be any Reason, Prudence, or Religion, for the people to permit their Soveraign who is to protect and defend them to live under the Tyranny, discredits and pressures of Debts and necessities, when as that which is grievous or too much for him to bear, may easily be supplyed or helpt by a contribution of the multitude, or many giving every one a little.
It cannot be for their good that the Kings small Revenue, and the Hospitality and honor of his house-keeping should be subject to the enhaunce of Prices, cosening and cheating of Tradesmen, and of every one which his Officers and Servants shall have occasion to deal with, or that the Royal Revenues should be like Pharaohs lean kine, devoured by the fat, or daily tormented and gnawn upon like Titius heart in the Fable, with greedy and never gorged Vultures.
Which if the King and his Revenue could bear at the present, will be every year and oftener more increased, as the pride of the people and their avarice, and cheating to maintain it shall multiply.
When such a great Provision of Meat and Victuals as is necessarily to be made for the Kings houshold, and his multitude of Servants and Attendants, will when his Provision shall not be sent in (as formerly to his Court which did prevent it) sweep and take away the best sorts of Provisions from the Markets, and as experience hath already told us, make scarce and dear, all Commodities not only in the Markets within the Virge, or in or near London, but in the more remote places, or [Page 273] threescore miles off, and as far as Salisbury, all that can be brought to the Markets near the Kings residence or his occasions.
Teach the people to heighten their Prices whose measure and rule of Conscience is to ask high rates, and take as much as by any pretences, tales, falshoods or devices they can get; and more of the King, Nobility, and Gentry, then of the Mechanick or Common people, and get thereby unjustly of the King more then all their Subsidies and Assessements (if they be not very great) shall come unto.
And if the great enhaunce of Prices were not or could not be so great a consumption of the Kings Revenue, it must needs be altogether indecent and unbefitting the Duty and Honor of Subjects to their Kings.
That the Kings Harbingers should be so ill entertained as one of them was lately by one of the Tribe of Na [...]al at Windsor, at the solemnities of the Feast of the Garter, who answered his demand in the Kings name for lodgings for some of the Kings Court or retinue, that the King had quitted his Pourveyance, and was now no more unto him then another man, and he was at liberty to let his lodgings to any one who would give him six pence more.
Or as one of his Pourveyors was by a London Poulterer by Trade, and a Captain by a sinful & mistaken Commission, who (upon the ingagement of an unwarrantable Covenant, with hands lifted up to heaven to testifie his Loyalty to the late King Charles the Martyr, whilst with the same hands he did fight against his Person & Authority for liberty of Conscience, to destroy him & his more Loyal and Honest Subjects, did no longer ago then the [Page 274] last Christmas (when he should have bewailed his Rebellion, and the sad account which he was to make to God for those numberless sins which he had accumulated by ingaging in such an ungodly and unwarrantable war, and should have bin more thankful for his Majesties Pardon and Act of Indempnity, and abhorred and repented his former wickedness) buy against the will of the Kings Pourveyer, three Bitternes which he was bargaining for and buying of a Poulterer, and though he was informed by the Pourveyor that he was buying, and had bid money for them for the King, could in a most unchristian, rude, and barbarous manner, say, He cared not a Turd for the King, he had bought and would have them, and would by no means be perswaded to permit the Kings Pourveyer to have them.
Or that every Clown and Carter▪ and every mans Kitchin-Maid, shall in matters of Market and Provision, be at liberty to buy Salmons, Phesants, Partriches, Bustards, or the like, fitter for the King then their Masters or Mistresses out of his Pourveyers hands.
Or if the product of the taking away of the Pourveyance and Compositions for them could be so innocent as not to swell and multiply the Kings charges beyond its just or former dimensions, there will be many other Evils and Inconveniencies, by enforcing the Officers and servants of the Kings-houshold to buy and provide his and their food and provisions as the common people do theirs, when they shall be larded or inlaid with all the oaths, deceits, and pretences which the invention of the Market people can possibly lay upon it, and when that and many over-reaches and cou [...]ening [Page 275] tricks shall be endured, cannot by the carelesness of the Clerks of the Market, and too many of the Justices of the Peace, be always at any certainty that they do not buy the Beef of some diseased Oxe or Cow, which had the knavish help of a Butcher to make mans meat of that which was more fit to make a Feast for the Crows, or such Dogs as should have the happiness to smell out the Carrion, and go a share with them, or that the Poultery which they shall buy were not killed by some accident or disease, as many times they are before they are brought or offered to be sold.
And if that & all the many other mischiefs & inconveniencies which [...]hall happen by taking away the Kings Pourveyances & Compositions for them, levelling him, and his Officers, & Servants, & ranking them in the business of Markets amongst the Vulgus & Plebeians, or common or rudest sort of the people, and rendring them in the particular of Pourveyance in a worse condition, and more to be exacted upon then many of the Nobility, Gentry, and Lords of Mannors are, whose Tenants are not at liberty to use them, either as Strangers or Inferiors, and in as bad a condition as the poorest or meanest laborer of the Parish, were fit to be endured or could be reckoned amongst the honors and respects due unto the Soveraignity & Majesty of Kings, there will be added & brought to those heaps of evils, another of no small detriment in the rise of the wages and main [...]ainance of the Kings Officers and Servants, who were hithe [...]to paid and encouraged more by the plenty of the Kings Provisions, and their Tables and Dyet, and some Fees and avails allowed them out of it, then by the yearly Wages and Pensions which were given unto them, [Page 276] which being when they were first given of a far greater value then now they are, and were then esteemed sufficient for his great and subordinate officers and servants, being as they ought to be men of honor, worship, and reputation, are and will be now without those Diets, Fees, and Allowances, by the alteration of the times, and the Rates and Prices of Apparrel and victuals, and the Wages and keeping of their own servants and manner of livelihood (in regard that, they which are to stand before Princes, are by allowance and pattern of Holy Writ, to be more then ordinarily Dieted, Apparrelled, and Clothed) too petit and unworthy for a King to give, or for such his servants to take, and without any possibility of a comely and decent maintenance and subsistence in the service of a King, which requires a more honorable and well accoutred Retinue, then any of his Nobility, Gentry or Subjects.
As may appear by the Lord High Admirals yeerly Fee of two hundred Marks. The Treasurer of the houshold besides his Table 123 l.—14 s. The Cofferers Fee besides his Table 100 l. Carvers fifty Marks a peice. Cup-bearers fifty Marks a peice. The Pages of the Privy Chamber fourty shillings a peice. The Captain of the Guard 14 l. The Serjeant of the Ewries Fee 11 l.—8 s.—1 d.—ob. Serjeant of the Bakehouse 11 l.—8 s.—1 d.—ob. Serjeant of the Pantry 11 l.—8 s.—1 d.—ob. Seven Yeomen five pound a peice. Grooms Fee 2 l.—13 s.—4d. Two Pages fourty shillings a peice. Serjeant of the Cellar 11 l.—8 s. — 1 d.—ob. Serjeant of the Pastry 11 l.—8 s.—1 d.—ob. Serjeant of the Poultry 11 l.—8 s.—1 d.—ob. Clarks [Page 277] Fee 6 l.—13 s.—4 d. Four Yeomen Pourveyors 7 l.— 13. s.—4 d. a peice. Two Yoemen of the boiling house fifty pounds a peice. Three Grooms 2 [...].—13 s. —4d. Two Pages fourty shillings a peice. Clarks Fee 6 l.—13 s.—4d. Serjeant of the Wood-yard 11 l.— 13 s.—4 d.
Which small yearly Pensions to the great and other Officers before mentioned as they are termed above stairs are made out and supplyed by some other Fees and profits belonging to their places and the favor and bounty of the King in other profits and emoluments by suits and requests on the behalf of themselves and others bestowed upon them.
And the Officers or servants below Stairs, as they are called, have their offices and places enlarged by some availes and allowances, as may be instanced in these particulars, viz.
The Serjeant of the Ewrie hath by ancient custome for his Fee all Dyaper spent by the King onely dampned or damnified.
The Serjeant of the Bakehouse, all the Bran coming and arising of all the Wheat baked for the which he doth finde all Bolting Clothes.
The Serjeant of the Pantry, the Cover-pans, Drinking Towels, and other Lynnen Clothes dampned.
The Serjeant of the Cellar, the empty Caskes of Wine spent, and Cupboard cloaths damnified.
The Yeoman Trayer hath for his Fees all the Lees of the Wines within four fingers of the Chyme of all the Wines spent, and all the Wines shed with drawing.
[Page 278]The Yeoman of the Bottles all the drinking Towels Dampned or Dampnified.
The Serjeant of the Pastery is to have by like ancient custome the Bran of the Meal spent, the Leggs of Beeves at four principal Feasts in the year onely, and all the Leggs of Muttons bakt through the year stricken in the first joynt.
The Serjeant of the Poultery, the Gray Cony skins from Alhallontide to Shrovetide.
The Clerk hath all the black and Dun Coney Skins.
The Serjeant of the Accatrie, the Head of the Oxe, the Tongue, Midriff, Panch, and four Feet.
The Yeoman and Grooms have the Belly-peice, Sticking-peice, and Rump of the Ox, the Sheeps head, Gather, and Calves Feet.
The Boiling house hath for Fee, the dripping of the Rost, the stripping cut off from the Brisket and Surloine peice of Beif, and the Grease coming of the drawing of the Beif out of the Lead being in the Kettles or Pans.
And the officers of the Woodyard, all the small Taps of Woods of the Kings Fell for the expences of his houshold.
All which several sorts of Fees, allowances and avails, are not by the orders of the Kings house to be had or taken without the Comptrolment and view of the Clerks Comptrollers, or the Clerk in every office.
And being in many things but parallel, and like unto that which the Nobility and Gentry do allow unto their servants for rewards and incouragements, as to the Gentleman of the Horse, the cast or over-ridden horses, to the Keepers of [Page 279] Parks the Umbles, Shoulders and Skins of Deer, a Fee of ten shillings permitted to be taken of every one that hath a Buck or Doe given them, and the Browse and windfall Wood, to servants, the going of some Horses or Sheep in their grounds, to Cooks the Kitchin-stuffe, and to Butlers the chippings and waste Bread and Beer, &c.
Are in the case of diverse of the Kings Officers and servants, eiked and peiced out by the Kings bounty and grace in some peices of Plate given to them for new years gifts, which in Anno 25 H. 8. (and tis likely that the same or something like unto it, was and is every year retained as a custome) in what was given by him unto diverse of his Nobility, Bishops, and houshold officers and servants amounted unto above one thousand pounds sterling, as appears by an account signed with the Sign Manual of that King communicated unto me by Mr. Thomas Falconbridge one of the Deputy Chamberlaines of the Exchequer,In Recept. Scac [...]ar. very well skilled in our English Antiquities, and a great lover and preserver of the Ancient Rolls and Records in the Office of the Receipt of the Exchequer, and by many other allowances, and some permissions and connivences to support the honor of our Kings in their houshold affairs, Trains, and attendants which would not otherwise be allowed or permitted, and would cost the King as much or more in Wages or other Pensions if they were not, nor would need to be if the Rates and Prices of livelihood did not so exceedingly and beyond all measure and reason surpass the ancient Wages and Pensions of the Court which may escape any, either the severe censures or sullen murmurings of some of the people, when [Page 280] as the difference in the Kings Wages and Rewards to and upon his officers and servants, betwixt what was heretofore (to make no greater a retrospect, then one hundred or two hundred yeers ago) and what he is now necessitated unto, reaches a great deal beyond the peoples extraordinary charges in his Pourveyance and compositions; and that his Officers and Servants are not as in the reign of King H. 3. French and Poictovins, or Bohemians, as in the Reign of King R. 2. or Gascoignes, as in the Reign of his Supplanter King H. 4. but are for the most part English, and the sons or sons in Law, Nephews, kindred, and relations of those that are to furnish the provisions of his houshold at some under value or loosing rates and prices, and in that way are no great loosers or none at all; if it were not every one of the peoples interest as well as duty to help the King in his provisions for house-keeping, who is their Buckler and ready help upon all occasions, and gave many of them that which may very well enable them to do it.
And it cannot become either the Majesty or business of the King if he had as he hath not a large Demeasne, Vineyards and Olive Trees,1 Chron. ca. 27· as David and the Kings of Israel and Juda had, who kept Tillage in their own hands, and had flocks of Sheep and Lambs, and Herds of Cattel feeding in Sharon and the valleys, wherewith to make and perform their often sacrifices, which (though not so great as that which Solomon made at the Dedication of the Temple when he sacrificed twenty and two thousand Oxen and twenty thousand Sheep) were with his many other sacrifices every year upon the Altar of the Lord which he had built before the Porch of the Temple very costly and chargeable (and yet had his houshold [Page 281] provisions yearly served in by a rate.)
To ingage or trouble himself and the Officers and Servants of his Court being men of another manner of extraction and business in the low and laborious labors, or skill of Ploughmen, Herdsmen, or Husbandmen, or of buying and selling Cattle, when they are not at all instructed or educated therein, or to have their Court and Palaces incumbred with the making of Butter and Cheese, breeding and feeding of Poultry with the imployments belonging thereunto, which are usually managed by those inferior ranks and degrees of women, who are onely necessary for those or the like kinde of Incumbrances, which however it may with other sorts of people be very subservient and consistent with Hospitality and house keeping, and the necessaries thereunto; and that the breeding and raising of their own houshold provisions, and the having it of their own, did heretofore very much enable our Nobility and Gentry in their Hospitalities and house-keeping, yet it was never according to the prudence and wisdom of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, Boemus de mo [...]i [...]us Gentium, Sigonius de Repub Athenien. lib. 1.481. & de Antique Ju [...]e Prov [...]iciarum l [...]b. 2. and by all or the major part of Nations thorough so many ages and so much experimented right Reason, thought fitting or becoming the Majesty, State, and imployment of Kings and Princes, who (as Quintius Cincinnatus well understood it when he left his Plough and Country life, to help the Romans his Countrimen, when in their great distress they choose him to be their Dictator:) are more especially to imploy their time and cares in military affairs, and the daily importunities and troubles of State and Government.
And when those kinde of high and important affairs [Page 282] shall give them any ease or respiration,Aristotel. politic. lib. 7. ca. 9. Opus est quiete & otio ad virtutem c [...]mparandam & ad Rempublicam gerendam; It is requisite (saith Aristotle) that universal searcher into Nature, and all manner of Learning and Policy,) that such as govern or imploy themselves in Magistracy should have leisure to contemplate Virtue, and the best wayes, and means, of Government; and that in optima Republica, the best kinde of Government (by which he understands Monarchy, which he else where preferreth before all other, and calleth it Divine) nec certe Agricoloe, men that busie themselves in Husbandry are not to be admitted into it.
VVhich being granted by all that are in any Amity or correspondence with their own understanding, it will by a most undeniable consequence or conclusion, necessarily follow, that the Officers and Servants of the King are either to buy his provisions for house-keeping at the Markets, or where else it may be had, or take, or receive it as formerly they did by ancient right and custome by way of Pourveyance and Composition, and that the buying of it as he doth now, when he hath not his Pourveyance and Composition, will if they pay not ready money, but add insteed of interest a greater rate then they shall pay who do buy with ready money, and if they do buy with ready money, which in such a consumption, as the Kings Estate and Revenue languisheth under, they are not likely to do, will not be able after such exorbitant rates long to continue payment of ready mony, and if those notwithstanding who shall be imployed be not the honester, may take of the Kings Officers more money then they lay out, and by serving his [Page 283] provisions in at a certain rate, gain a quarter or fourth part of the price in every thing they buy. Such or the like good services being now by a general way of Shift and cosening, bred and nursed up by the late unhappy Rebellion & liberties of sinning, & are now so much in fashion, as too many of the Cook-maids or servants in private houses and families will out of every joynt of meat, and things which they are sent to buy at the Market, or in any other place, Tax & sconse their Master or Mistresses purses, as much as their ill Consciences shall direct them, and think they have bad services if they have not besides their meat, drink, lodging, and as much wages again as fromerly they had, the benefit of their Basket, as they term it, and going to Market to cozen or cheat ten or fifteen pounds more then their yearly Wages, and if their Masters to prevent it shall agree with the Butcher to serve them at a rate all the year for Beef, Veal, Lamb and Mutton, will be so impudent as to threaten to carry their Masters custom some where else, or not pay the money which is sent to pay them, unless they may have poundage allowed them, and may after that rate and fashion of their pride and cheating their Masters to maintain it, make themselves in a little time to be free of the Corporation of Judas, whilst too many Citizens or Tradesmen, notwithstanding the great care which they seem to take of Truth and Religion, preaching of the Word, purity of the Gospel, Family Duties, Catechising their servants, repetition of Sermons, walking the wayes of God, and a good conscience, and their fear of the increase of Popery, Superstition, Idolatry, and the impending judgements of God for the sins of the Nation, can by most wicked combinations entice and allure their customers, [Page 284] servants, to cozen and cheat their Masters by stretching the reckonings, and making them, to be due unto themselves, can give them an allowance or present out of it of ten shillings, or some other sum of money in a Bill of four or five pounds, and give an acquittance for it, as if they themselves had received it.
So as all manner of cozening and artificial and newly devised trim ways of cheating, under the pretence and colour of Religion, honesty, and doing of faithful service, having like some Epidemick and general contagion, infected and spread it self through almost all the ranks and degrees of the people; the King who is like to be most abused by it, hath now a greater necessity then ever of his Compositions for Pourveyance, and of the several Counties serving in their Provisions, for that otherwise so great a number of Harpies and Gyps [...]es as his officers and servants shall meet with, in the buying of his houshold Provisions, will make a great allowance or assignments in money for houshold expences, which several Acts of Parliament in the Reign of King H. 7. King H. 8. Queen Elizabeth and King James, did in aid of the Pourveyance or Compositions for them limit and appoint to be paid towards the charge of house-keeping, out of several parts of the revenue, as some out of the profits of the Court of Wards, some out of Fee Farm Rents, and others out of the Customes, yet unrepealed, to be but as a very little, and render it altogether insufficient, and not the one half so much in value as the allowance or money shall seem to be.
Or if the King had had a yearly sum of money to be yearly charged upon the people, and paid by them in lieu of the Pourveyance, as it was designed by a Bill [Page 285] for an Act of Parliament thrice read in the house of Peers in Parliament in the first year of the Reign of King James and passed, and sent down to the house of Commons, and being by them not assented unto, but another Bill for an Act of Parliament prepared and sent up in stead of the former, and the abolishing of all Pou [...]veyance, and fifty thousand pound per annum in recompence thereof, granted to be leavy [...]d upon the Lands in every County of England, and prosecuted no further then the twice reading of that Bill.
Such an yearly sum of money, being afterwards yearly drawn and forced from those uses by some greater necessities, would have left the King to more wants, and his people to a greater necessity of supplying him, or if it had been then as it is now supposed to be, satisfied by a grant of the moiety of the Excise of Ale, Beer, Sider, Perry, and other compounded drinks, to be yearly paid to him his heirs and Successo [...]s, those yearly profits would have been under the like fate of being otherwise imployed, and whether in that way, or by the fifty thousand pound per annum to be charged upon the people, would not have been a just and ad [...]equate recompence for the yearly loss (if no more) of seventy three thousand six hundred pounds fourteen shillings and seven pence, which the King now sustaineth for want of his prae-emption, Pou [...]veyance, or Compositions for them, by how much the sum of seventy three thousand six hundred pounds fourteen shillings and seven pence per annum, if no fur [...]her addition of damage should happen, exceedeth fifty thousand pounds per annum, and by how much the moiety of such an Excise might as it doth now fall a great deal short of the [Page 286] estimate or yearly Income, which it was believed to be.
Nor can come up unto that equality or rule of justice which ought to be in laying of Assessements or Taxes upon the common people for a general and publike good wherein every man being concerned ought to contribute, for that such a Tax or Imposition for the Pourveyance, will be as wide of it, as to lay the burden of the rich upon the poor, compell the Aged, Lame, or Impotent▪ to maintain the young more healthy and able, or to enforce a contribution of the County of Oxford, towards the See Walls, Inning of Marshes, or draining of Fennes in Norfolk and Lincol [...]eshire, constrain men to fraight out Ships and pay custome for the goods of Merchants, when they shall partake nothing of the gains, and make all the Counties and people of England ▪ to pay a far greater Tax then the Compositions for Pourveyance amounted unto for to purchase a discharge of Compositions for Pourveyance, which lay but lightly upon all but twelve or thirteen Shires or Counties which are near adjacent unto London, and gave them little or no trouble at all, to ease those twelve or thirteen Counties which gained ten times more by the Pourveyance, and the Kings residence at London, then what they ever paid or contributed towards it.
And may well miscarry in the hopes ot wishes of the peoples content or approbation, when as such a recompence as the King is supposed to have by it, and as much again laid upon the people by the fraud and exactions of the Brewers and sellers of Ale and Beer, &c▪ [Page 287] and the peoples oppressing and cheating of one another, by pretence and colour of it, and in the Farming or collecting of it shall be extorted or taken out of the necessities or excess of his subjects, the groans and complaints of the poorer sort of them, and the murmurings and discontents of the rich & more able to bear it, who will not be perswaded but that it is an Artifice of the Nobility and Gentry, to ease themselves of other necessary duties and payments by taking it off their own shoulders, and putting it upon theirs.
And the poorer sort of people who were never used to be troubled with any charge or payments towards Pourveyance and Compositions, and by their weakness of Purse and Estate, are always more sensible and complaining of any burdens which shall be laid upon them; shall as they will finde themselves to be loosers in the rise and heightning of all victuals and provisions to be bought, as much or more then the yearly charge of the Kings Pourveyance and Compositions did amount unto, for that the Kings price will increase that of the Nobility, that of the Nobility will raise the Gentry in their prices, and the unreasonable rates and prices which the Gentry must be constrained to give, will raise that of the common people, and a price once raised and fixed, but for a little time is so by the craft and sinful pretences of the sellers kept up and continued as it seldom falls again, but riseth higher and higher, and as far as they can possibly stretch or strain it, so as none will be gainers but the sellers, who are not a third part of the people, and their gains must be made out of the losses and damage of the King and two parts of the people.
[Page 288]Who will also be put in a worse condition when the King by a daily waste and consumption in his Revenue by such exactions and prices imposed upon him in buying his houshold provisions at such intollerable rates and prices, as the unbounded avarice, gnawing and grinding advantages of the sellers shall be pleased to put upon him, shall for want of his Pourveyance or Compositions be enforced to lay down his Officers and Servants Tables, and put all or most of his servants to Board-wages, and that the money which shall be intended or assigned to pay them, shall afterwards upon some emergencies or necessities of State affairs for the defence or preservation of himself or his people be transferred to other important uses.
When the wants and cravings of his servants who cannot live by unpaid Arrears, may set them to hunt the people for monys which they suppose may by reason of some neglected rights or concealments, be due from them to the King their Master, or to devise projects, and perswade him to strain his Prerogative in the reformation of known abuses in Trade, or other dealings, wherein many of the people do appear to be very great gainers, more then by Law or Conscience they ought, to be, to the end that he might help his servants, who think it to be reasonable enough for them to essay lawful ways and means to support themselves, whilst they conceive that they should not have wanted their daily bread or maintenance, if the business of the Commonwealth, and the Kings care of the people in general had not bereaved or deprived them in their particulars.
And that their sufferings, want of Wages and fitting maintenance was to procure the wel-fare and happiness of their fellow subjects.
[Page 289]Or if that way which many times galles & vexes more in the maner then the things themselves shal not extend unto their relief, will at the best after dangerous discontents and commotions in the minds of the people, but beget larg [...] Taxes and Assessements in exchange of projects or some other necessitated incursions upon the peoples liberties, or produce some Artifices of Policies of State to raise money from them, as the Crusadoes by the Popes in the Reign of King Henry the third,Mat. Paris 803.913. and dispensing for money with such as had engaged to go to the wars in the holy Land, and were sick or not able, or had a minde to [...]arry at home; or as some Kings and Princes have done by pretending fears of invasion from some neighbor Princes, or a necess [...]ty of transporting the war out of their own into an enemies Country, and when they had raised great sums of money and made ready their Armies, dismissed all but the money which was gained by them, to return home again upon an overture of a peace, or a certainty that there was no need or likelihood of wars.
When it is well known that the people had no just cause to complain of the Pourveyance or Compositions for it▪ nor of the Cart taking, as to themselves or their servants, when the Masters had two pence a mile allowed them for their Horses and Carts, which most commonly went not above twelve miles from their habitations, the Horses having no want of Grass, Provender, or Hey; the men had better Beer and Victuals then they had at home. And the owners of Carts and Horses within the Virge of the Kings houses, or Palaces, or in the way of his progress, were no loosers by his coming when either for his recreation [Page 290] or refreshment, or to visit the several parts and Provinces of his kingdom, he should think fit to make his progress to meet with and redress any complaints or grievances which should happen therein.
So as the fault must needs be in themselves, if they would now finde fault with that which they could not do before; when as those just and ancient rights of the Kings of England, and duties of their subjects, were alwayes so necessary and inseparable to the Crown and their Imperial dignity, as that if our ancient Kimgs of England had not enjoyed those their just rights (which the fury of the Barons wa [...]s against King John, and his son King Henry the third, and those grand advantages which they had over those Kings in so great a commotion of the people, which the power and interests of those Barons (for all had not laid aside their loyalty) had stirred up against them, did not in the making and confirming of our Magna Charta think fit to deny them if they paid the antiqua pretia ancient rates and hire) they could not without an immense charge, which we do not finde they were at have removed so often and so far as they did from London, to their several houses and Palaces (which their many Forrests, Chases, and Parks, for their disport and Hunting in several Counties and remote parts of the Kingdom will evidence, that they did not seldom do) and make so many Voyages into Normandy, as our Norman Kings William Rufus and Henry the first, and their successor Henry the second, and he and his son King John, and Richard the second did into Ireland, or as other of their predecessors did into Wales, or as King James did from and into Scotland, or King Charles the Martyr, his [Page 291] son when he went thither to be Crowned, nor keep their Christmas and other Festivals, or their Parliaments as many of our Kings and their successors did in several places of the Kingdom, which their Letters Pattents dated from thence, do frequently testifie, or the term as King Edward the first did at York.
Neither could our late Royal Martyr King Charles the first have made so good a shift as he did to remove himself and his Court Northerly, and to York in the yeer 1641. to save himself from the London tumults, nor have gathered Forces, or had means or time to defend himself and his people, if he had released and forbid his Pourveyances by Act of Parliament, but must like a Bird without Feathers, or with broken wings, have been taken with a little running after, and been brought back again by the Sheriff of the first County he had escaped into, which the Rebellious pa [...]ty in the late distempered and fatally unhappy Parliament, were confident would have been the consequence of his going away from them without granting unto them his regality, and surrendring up the care and protection of his people into their arbitrary way of governing them in his name to their own use, and as they pleased by Votes and Ordinances.
If his officers and servants could not when the Factious party in that Parliament had seised his Rents and Revenues, have hired a Cart for his use without an order or provision of Carts and Horses made by the appointment of two of the next Justices of Peace, or at a lesser rate then six pence a mile, or what more every rich sturdy Clown, or his rude unmannerly servants should have demanded of them to be paid before hand, [Page 292] and upon refusal of their Carts or Carriages should have had no other remedy but to complain to the Justices of Peace to compell or punish them.
The want of which part of the Royal Pourveyance, as well as his other Pourveyance and Compositions for them, hindring his now Majesty in the last Summer 1661. when he intended a Progress to visit his loyal City of Worcester, the Roy [...]l ever to be remembred Oak, and the places of his marvelous escape in a grateful acknowledgement of Gods never to be forgotten mercies shewed unto him in that his greatest of distresses, so as he could not either then or ever since perfect or put in execution, that his pious and most Christian-like resolution may inform every one that is not more then deaf to all reason, that it was the Nations concernment that the King should not have wanted the assistance of his Pourveyance to have gone to the place of that his extraordinary deliverance, to have rendred thanks for himself and his people, who may be said to have been delivered in him, and escaped with him.
And if it had not been such an ancient right, should not have been denyed him in his necessities; which Cicero who was as great a Commonwealths man in Rome and lover of it,Tully lib. de. offici [...]. as any of our Republicans could be in England, was of opinion, ought to be obeyed, ubi pro salute Reipublicae, Molina de [...]st. & Jur. Tom 3. disput [...]t. 674. & C [...]ar [...]u. ad [...]ep. peccatum. where it is for the good of the Commonwealth. And Molin [...] and Couarruvias, do think it no adventure to conclude that in that case Subditi non sunt excusati in foro conscientiae, si tributa collectas, &c. detrectent aut fraude circumveniant, Subjects are not in conscience to be excused if they delay or deny to pay [Page 293] their Tributes or dues, or shall use any deceipt in the payment of them.
For it can be no other then the weal publike, and an universal good and benefit that the King, who although he be Gods Deputie, is not as he is Omniscient or Omnipres [...]nt, nor can at once or a far off see and understand all the Actions of his subjects, should like the Sun in his course visit at several times as many parts and places of his Kingdom as he can, and it must needs be a great damage to his people that the King who is not to be chained like the Romane Gods to the Capitol, or forced into the condition of some Foggy Citizen of London, who being born within the sound of Bow Bell, thinks it a great adventure to travil any further; should be kept for want of his Pourveyance, from the knowledge of his people, who can not justly complain that their burdens, or grievances when there are any (as some will always be in the most Pacifique and happy Government, and are many times not at all occasioned by any publike affairs or inconveniencies, but by the peoples afflicting and oppressing one another (a small matter being to a weak man, or of an incumbred estate, or overcharged with children, misfortunes, or debts, a burden or grievance, which to one that is otherwise, would seem light or trivial, and scarce worth the taking notice of.)
Are not remedied, or can no sooner get through the throng or crowds of pleasures, designs, or interests, which too much and too often infest and injure the Courts of Princes and their good intentions, or that they cannot find intercessors or opportunities when they shall for want of his Pourveyances and progresses, [Page 294] confine him to one place of residence, nor may wonder that he is so much in want of money, and complain that they should so often be inforced to give entertainment to Subsidies, Taxes, and Assessments to supply him, and the publike affairs, when as they themselves do not onely increase his wants by putting dear rates and unreasonable prices upon him, but constrain him by reason of the loss of his Pourveyance, to reside altogether at London, where nothing but devout cheating and knavery is cheap, when David was sometimes at Hebron, and Solomon at Gibeon aswell as at Jerusalem. And it must needs be very necessary that Kings should sometimes by their progesses visit their several Provinces, and inquire into the contents or discontents, weal or wo of their Subjects, when they have not an hundred eyes like Argus, nor Lynceus his sharp sight to see as he is said to have done at a great distance, nor can make use of their own eyes and ears, the truest and best Intelligencers, if they shall be always tyed up to one and the same House or Palace, where the mists and clouds of Flattery, the bane and ruine of Princes and their Kingdoms, and people, and multitudes of varnished designs, do hourely interpose, keep out or abuse any true information which shall be given or made unto them of the grievances of the people, who like Cripples, or Mephibosheth, lame of their feet, cannot reach the gracious eyes or ears of their Prince, but must give against their wills advantages to every lying and deceitful Ziba, to misuse or divert the effect of their Princes cares and good intentions which makes Progresses to be so useful, and to have been heretofore so observed and unneglected by our English as well as all other Kings and Princes, [Page 295] whereby to understand as Philippus Honorius saith,Philipp Honorius Thesaur. Politic. La natura di subditi, the manners and imployment well or ill being of their subjects, and the performance, or neglect of subordinate Governors, and to rejoyce, and comfort themselves in their love and acclamations, and should therefore have their eyes like Gods-providence, running to and fro the Land, as much as mortality and its frailties can permit them, which hath taught the great Monarch of Industan not onely yeerly to make his progresses into several parts of his Dominions, but wherever he resides to shew himself, every evening out of his window about Sun setting to the people, and to cause a little Bell to be hung in the room where he sits, by the cord whereof conveyed without the door, and suitor or petitioner may ring the Bell & be admitted. And the unhappy Childerick King of France, keeping too much within doors all the rest of the year, could notwithstanding be perswaded to exhibite and shew himself to the people every May day.
The necessity and good use of Progresses being to be subscribed unto, and acknowledged when the King shall diffuse his comforts to all that shal be within the circumference or neighborhood of his abode, when he shall not by his Royal influence and neighborhood, make one part of his Kingdom an East or West Indies, and all the rest or the major part thereof to be a Greenland, or place uncomfortable, but extend his bounty and goodness at several times and seasons to all his people.
When many a petition and request shall not need to make a costly journey to London, when the prices of the Markets raised higher then they were before by his Train and Retinue coming amongst them, and [Page 296] the confluence of many people from all parts within or neer unto the neighborhood, shall reimburse the Sellers a great deal more then those parts, or their neighborhood, did pay or were charged with, either for Compositions for Pourveyance, or Cart taking, when some Cities and Towns, as many have done shall be much the better by an enlargement of their Charters, or a grant of some immunities and priviledges to them their successors and after generations in perpetuity.
When some families may be forever made happy as one was in a progress of King James, when a careful Gentlewoman with her seven young children, having too small an estate to educate them, being purposely placed in a stand where the King was brought to shoot at a Deer, and pleasantly tendred to the King as a Hen with her seven Chicken, gave his Princely charity and bounty the opportunity to take them into his care and service when they came to be fit for it, and brought either all or most of them to great preferments, when poor people or their children being lame or diseased with the sickness called the Kings Evil, may be freed from their otherwise tedious journeys and charges in going to London, their abode there and returning home, which if a Tax were laid upon their Parishes to furnish, would come to as much if not more then the charge of Cart taking and Pourveyance did cost them. When our Pool of Bethesda shall be Itinerant, and the good Angel shall yearly ride his Circuit to bring blessings and cures to those that need it, and where a multitude of people shall not be the cause of uncovering the roof of any house to let down the sicke [Page 297] in their beds to be healed.
All which with many other comforts and benefits which the King by his progress or residence brings to all which are or shall be near it. The City of York in the North parts of England, and her adjacent and neighbor Provinces would purchase at a greater rate then the Pourveyances or Compositions for them, do or did ever yearly amount unto, and being like to be g [...]eat and glad gainers by it, would be most chearfully willing and ready to carry or remove his travailing goods or utensils from or to any of his Royal houses at his no contemptible or unreasonable rates or Prices.
O [...] the City of Worcester, or Town of Shrowsbury, with their adjacent bordering Shires would in the prospect or certain gain of it, be not at all discontented or troubled at the neighbo [...]hood of such an enriching staple comfort.
Which every man may believe when as he must be a great stranger to England, as well as to common sense and understanding, who cannot apprehend how much relief an old fashioned English Gentlemans house (for we must distinguish betwixt rich hospitable good men, and those who being weary of Gods long continued mercies and patience, do think they are not Gentlemen or well educated if they do not swear as fast as they can God damne me, and the devil take me, and make themselves, and their wives and children, their estate, and all that they have, the prey and business of Taylors, Vintners, Cooks, Pimps, Flatterers, and all that may consume them) is unto two or three Cottages or poor peoples houses near unto it, what small Villages and Towns, and how mean, unfrequented; and poor Oxford and Cambridge were before the founding of those [Page 298] famous Universities, and the Colledges and Halls in them? How many Villages and some Borrough Towns have been founded and built by the warmth and comfort of the Kings Palaces, as Woodstock, &c. how many have been built or much augmented by the neighborhood of Abbies and Monasteries, &c. as Evesham, Reding, Bangor, St. Albans, &c. and of Bishops houses, as Croydon, Lambeth, &c. though many or most of the Religious Houses in England and Wales were at the first designed & intended for solitude; How many great Towns and Villages in Middlesex, Essex, and Kent have been more then in other Counties more remote, built or much augmented and increased by the Kings residence at London, and the Port Towns and conveniency for Shipping? How many Farmers in Berkshire and other Counties near London, have more then in those farther distant converted their Barns into Gentlemens Halls, or stately houses, and began their Gentility with great and plentiful revenues to support it? What addresses or suites are often made to Judges in their Circuits to transfer the keeping of the Assizes from some City or Shire Town, to some other Town in the County to help or do them some good, by the resort and company which comes to the Assizes, as to keep it at Maidstone and not at Canterbury in the County of Kent; at Woolverhampton, not at Stafford in the County of Stafford, &c. or to keep Terms in a time of Pestilence, and adjornment from London to St. Albans, Hertford or Reding? & how like an Antwerp or the Skeleton, or ruins of a forsaken City, the Suburbs of London, now the greatest and beautifullest part of it would be if the residence of the King and his Courts of Justice [Page 299] should be removed from thence or discontinued? How many thousand families would be undone and ruined? and how those stately buildings would for want of that daily comfort which they received by it, moulder and sink down inter rudera, under its daily [...]uines, and give leave to the earth and grass to cover and surmount them, and turn the new Troy, if that were not a fable, into that of the old.
Which the Citizens of London very well understood, when in the raign of King Richard the second, and the infancy of those blessings and riches which since have hapned to that City by the Kings of England, making it to be their darling or Royal Chamber, that King was so much displeased with them, as besides a fine of ten thousand pounds imposed upon them for some misdemeanors, their liberties seised, their Maior committed prisoner to the Castle of Windsor, and diverse Aldermen and substantial Citizens arrested; he removed his Court from London, where not long before at a solemn Justes or Tourney, he had kept open house for all comers, they most humbly and submissively pacified [...]im, and procured his return to so great a joy of the Citizens, as they received him with four hundred of their Citizens on horseback clad all in one Live [...]y, and p [...]esented the King and Queen with many rich gifts.
All which and more which may happen by the Kings want of his Pourveyance or Compositions for them, and keeping him and his Officers and Servants in want of money, or streightning him or them in their necessaries and daily provisions may perswade every man to subscribe to these Axioms, that the more which the King hath the more the people have.
[Page 300] That whosoever cozens and deceives the King, cozens and deceives the people, that the wants and necessities of the King and common parent which is to be supplyed by the people, are and will become their own wants and necessities.
That it cannot be for the good or honor of the Nation, that the King, who is not onely Anima, Cor, Caput, & Radix Reipublicae, the Soul, heart, head, and foundation of the Commonwealth, but the defender and preserver of it, should either want or languish in his honor and estate, when as unusquisque subditorum saith Valdesius Regi ut Capiti, cordique suo oppitulari debeat precipue ad dignitatem Regiam Regnique auhoritatem publicam tuendam cum ut membrum particeps fit gloriae qua Caput fruitur, Valdesius in proaem [...]o de praerogat. R [...]gum Hispaniae. every subject ought to assist his King as he would do his own head and heart, and more especially to maintain and defend his Kingly dignity and authority for that every member in the body pertakes of the good and honor which the head enjoyes.
That it cannot be for the good or happiness of subjects to necessitate the power of their Prince, or enforce him to try how far it can extend or prevail to free himself from wants or pressures incumbent upon him▪ when as common observation can tell us that small Brooks or Rivolets being stopt or obstructed in their creeping Maeanders, or way unto the greater Rivers who are to conduct and lead them into the great assembly or collection of waters, will go out of their former gentleness, and either inforce a passage by inundations or break their way through all the Barricadoes which can be made to restrain them, and that the more they are endeavored to be restrained, the more they do rage, [Page 301] and easily overcame and bear down before them all that can come in the way of their combined fury stirred up and heightned by the necessities which were put upon them. That a want of Revenue in a King to discharge common and ordinary necessaries, makes necessitatem invincibilem & violentam, which saith Aristotle, [...]od [...]n lib. 4. & 5. de repub. Aristot. Politic. proposito & electioni prohibet & obstat, such an irresistable and violent necessity as it enforceth that which was never intended, nor would otherwise have been done (which the Wisdom & Spirit of God in the vision which he shewed unto the Prophet Ezekiel, of the building & order of the Holy City,Ezech. 46.8, & the Revenues of the Prince held fit to prevent by a competent Revenue) That Armies do notwithstanding all the cares and commands of their Generals, and the severest Laws and Discipline of war, prohibiting spoil, rapine, or plundering, break out for want of pay and necessaries into all manner of disorders and oppressions, and that we need not enquire of the days of old, or the Ages past, of the numberless mischiefs and inconveniences which have inevitably followed the wants of Princes and the effects of power put on or let loose by necessities.
And may sadly remember that the people of England denying the late blessed King and Martyr his Customes of Tonnage and Poundage, did not onely put him and the cause of his Protestant Allies and friends into many disadvantages for want of those aides which he would otherwise have been enabled to give them, and enforced him to fall short of his desires and intentions therein, but to give way to many of his craving Scots and wanting servants to take in the assistance of his Royal Prerogative, and stretch it further then ever he intended. [Page 302] That notwithstanding all the care which he could take that such grants and letters Patents should not transgress or go beyond the bounds of the Law and the right reason and use of it, and did upon the granting of many of those Patents, cause the Patentees to become bound in Recognizances of great penalties to surrender up their grants and letters Patents, if at any time he or his Councel should equi [...]e it. And had of his own accord in the year 1639. and 1640. by his Proclamation called in above thirty of such Patents and Commissions as either had been or were likely to be grievances unto the people, and in the beginning of that long and unhappy Parliament had graciously condescended to th annulling or abolition of all that did but resemble grievances, or were but likely to produce them.
And that those Letters Patents, Commissions and Grants which were called Projects and Innovations were invented and promoted by many Citizens Tradesmen, Gentlemen & others, who being none of the Kings servants, did court and wo the Kings Prerogative unto it, and busily employed some of the Kings servants to go shares with them in the gain or profit thereof, none or very little, whatsoever was pretended; coming to the King or his Treasury, & began with the necessities which a causeless discontented part of the people, did most unadvisedly and undutifully put upon their King, whom they would not suffer to be at any rest, untill he had ingaged himself and his Allies in a war with Spain, and the then greatly prevailing house of Austria, for the recovery of the Palatinate, and to make a breach with France for the relief of Rochel and the Hugonots, and [Page 303] left him afterwards in the midst of the troubles, expence and danger thereof, without any aid or assistance to go through as well as he could with it.
And may now understand how much better it had been to have acquiesced in the many precedents and authorities of the Kings just and legal power of sending his writs to the Cinque ports, and many maritime Towns & Counties, many if not all of whom were by Tenure or Custom in lieu of many liberties & priviledges granted unto them by the Kings Royal Progenitors, which they do yet enjoy to send or furnish out a certain number of Ships as their own charges, when the King should have any publick occasion or necessity, & to have continued the Kings most just & ancient rights and regalities in his Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service, which by Land together with a fixed & certain aid of Shipping, contributed by the Cinque Ports and Maritime Towns and Counties, would together with his Commissions of Array, have enabled him upon a short warning never to have wanted most puissant and gallant Armies and Forces both by Land and by Sea, consisting not of hirelings and strangers, but such as would have fought pro Aris & Focis, for their own as well as their Princes interest, and would not easily turn their backs, betray or fly from their Wives and Children and their own Estates, then to put the King for want of them to a yearly charge, of no less than eight hundred thousand pounds per annum by Sea and by Land for the peace, security, & honour of the Nation, which did not before cost the late King fourscore thousand pounds per Annum.
Or to be charged with an everlasting Excise as to the [Page 304] moiety of the Excise of Ale, Beer, Sider, Perry, &c. which did no [...] the last year amount unto more than one hundred & five thousand pounds per annum in recompence of the yearly profits of the Kings Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service, and what he looseth by his want of Pourveyance and Compositions for them, both which did yearly amount unto a far greater benefit, what an ill bargain both the King and the people have by the laying by of the one, and granting the other; how small an advantage the people got by their heretofore invisible Keepers of their Liberties, who did all they could to keep them from them, or by Oliver, their quondam Protector, and whether the turning of their freedom into a slavery, and the intreating of him by that which by a dreamed authority of Parliament, they called the Petition and advice to accept o [...] ten hundred thousand pounds per Annum, to be charged upon the people without a Land Tax for the maintenance of a Navy ten thousand horse and Dragoons, and twenty thousand Foot, (to keep them and their posterities in sin and slavery) with such other supplies as should be needful to be raised from time to time, and three hundred thousand pounds per Annum in like manner to be raised for the support of his Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government, were less trouble and charge than the Kings Tenures in Capite and by Knight Service, and his Compositions for Pourveyance, the greatest yearly profit by the Tenures, in what was paid to the King, not amounting unto above one hundred thousand pounds per Annum, and the Pourveyance which saved the King in his Houshold expences above one hundred and forty thousand pounds per Annum, not charging the people in these [Page 305] late times of enhaunce of prices above Sixty five thou-pounds per annum.
Who when they shall have paid double or treble more then the Excise is rated at by colour of the Excise which was by Act of Parliament given to the King and his Heirs and Successors, in supplement of his exhausted and overwasted Revenue, and racked and oppressed one another by occasion or pretence of the charge of it, cunning and avari [...]e of the selling and richer part of the people, Merchants, Retailers, and Mechanicks of the Nation, every one striving to put the damage from themselves, and shift as much as they can the burden upon others, will by a lamentable summa totalis find how little they have gained by putting their Prince into necessities, and how small a gain or blessing they will leave to their posterities▪
When by begging, getting and keeping all they can from the King and cozening him all that they can; the common people unless they will have their body Politick to be without a head, and as they were in the Time of Usurpation when there was no King in Israel, busied like the Beasts of the Forrests, and Fishes in the Sea in devouring and oppressing one another in a Chaos of villany and confusion, cannot subsist or maintain themselves in peace and plenty without enabling the King to support himself to protect an [...] defend them.
And may without any violence used to their judgments believe that it was better with the common people of England when they paid for thei [...] Farms, some rent in mony, & some in provisions of house-keeping, when by the [Page 306] hospitality of their Landlords, they were sure to partake of them, their Lands and Rents being not tortured or drawn up to the highest pin or screw of the Rack or any possible improvement which might be made of it. And the plowing of some part of their Lords Demeasnes, reaping or carrying in of their Corn, and helping them to fetch home some Wood or Coals, did not amongst a many of Tenants according to their proportioned services for which they reckoned the love, protection, and hospitality of their Landlords, to be satisfaction enough amount unto the Twentieth or Thirtieth part of the rack Rent which now they do pay and have not so much as a Cup of Beer or a morsel of Bread given them when they come to pay it.
Which the people of Scotland may to their cost experiment, if they should as the rustick part of the people of England have done, never think themselves happy untill they have shaken off the services and obligations to their Lords and Benefactors, and in stead of paying some Chald [...]rs of Victuals Mailes and other more easie duties, have their Lands let by their Landlords to the utmost penny and bidding; and like the Israelites in their Egyptian bondage make Brick and gather the Straw and pay a Rent as much as the Land or Farm can possibly yeild or it may be a great deal more.
And may perswade the people that there is a grand necessity attended with many other great necessities that the King should have again his just and harmless rights and prerogative of prae-emption, Pourveyance and Compositions, and as great a necessity for the people if they will avoid those heaps of evils and inconveniences [Page 307] which may otherwise happen upon them and their posterities to desire that he should have it.
When the oppression of the Markets, and the peoples working upon one anothers necessity, the most part of them walking by no rule of piety, virtue, morality, humanity, charity, or conscience, but labouring all they can in their actions to advance the kingdom of Sin and Satan, and their own everlasting punishments, shall by their wicked and illegal enhauncings, ingrossings, combinations, and contrivances, make the prizes of every thing to be so immense and unreasonable, as the vicious and Rooking part of the people will, if such rates and prices shall hold on, continue, and grow higher and higher, as they are like to do without some Bando or reiglement, and a greater care taken by the Justices of Peace, and Clerks of the Market, then hitherto they have been pleased to bestow in the execution of their places and duties undoe and begger the virtuous, or such as shall be inforced to buy at such unreasonable rates their provisions of food and livelyhood, & make, as a Jew lately well observed▪ none but the richer part able to live with any plenty or content, u [...]terly ruine the middle ranks of the people, and enslave and begger the poorer, who must like the Gibionites be well contented to be hewers of Wood, & drawers of Water, that they may live, and eat bread.
And that all that the King and his Council can do by putting in practice the antient usage of a Jury impannelled by the Clerk of the Market within the Virge of the Court, and commanding them upon [Page 308] their Oaths to set a marketable and reasonable rate according to the usual prices of Victuals and household provisions in Markets and elsewhere, which all men were enjoyned by His Majesties Proclamation strictly to observe, cannot now that the Pourveyance or Compositions for it are laid aside, keep their rates and prices within the bounds and limits of any reason, but the people are so insatiable in their gains, and so cuning to promote their unjust designs therein, as they do not only not keep the Kings rates, but to enlarge their profit and prices do all they can to bribe and go a share with some of his Pourveyers.
When it is very evident and demonstrable, and our own happiness might tell us, if we did not too much mistake and abuse it, and make our sins to be the product of it, that now, that in England, by laying down of Tillage more than it should, there is more Pasture & Land to feed or fatten Cattel ten or twenty to one then ever it had before, and that this our fruitful Isle hath both for Tillage and Pasturage, agros luxuriantes, rich and fertil Lands, watered and enriched with many Rivers, her Mountains and Downs covered and replenished with Sheep, and far more then they were before the Raign of King Edward the third, abounds with Corn, Butter, Cheese, and all manner of Commodities for the u [...]e and livelyhood of mankind and by a greater improvement of all the Lands of the Kin [...]dom within this last Century or hundred yeares, then was in three or four hundred yeares before, and by watering, marling, and burning the more barren parts of it, is gone far beyond the time [Page 309] and expectation of our Fathers and Progenitors, either Brittaines, Saxons or Normans; and is in the yearly value of Land increased in many parts or particulars thereof twenty, thirty, or fourty to one more then it was, insomuch as we may to our comfort say and believe that Forraign Writers were well acquainted with our happiness when they called England the Court of Ceres, and (as Charles the great▪ or Charlemaigne of France our neighbor was wont to term it) the Granary of the Western world, Speed Hist. of Great Brittaine in P [...]coemio a Paradice of Pleasure and Garden of God, and was many ages before in the Brittish times so fruitful in all kinde of Corn and Grain, as the Romanes were wont yearly to transport from hence with a Fleet of eight hundred vessels, then but something bigger then Barges, great store of Corn for the maintenance of their Armies; and our Brittains could before those large improvements of Lands and Husbandry which have been since made in it, declare unto the Saxons when they unhappily called them in to their aid, and took them to be their friends, that it was a Land plentiful and abounding in all things.
Pope Innocent the fourth in the Raign of our King Henry the third, called it Hortus deliciarum, Mat. Paris in Anno 1246. a Garden of delights ubi multa abundant, where all things are plentiful. And in the Raign of King Edward the third where there was small or very little enriching or bettering of Lands compared with what it is now, the English Leigier Embassadors at Rome hea [...]ing that Pope Clement the sixth had made a grant, as he then took upon him, to the King of Spaine of the Fortunate Islands (now called the Canaries) did so believe that to be England which was then granted by the name of the Fortunate Islands, [Page 310] as they made what haste they could home to inform the King of that which they believed to be a danger.
And may now more then ever well deserve those Encomiums or commendations which our industrious Speed hath given it▪ that her Vallies are like Eden, her Hills as Lebanon, her Springs as Pisgah, her Rivers as Jordan, and hath for her Walls the Ocean, which hath Fish more then enough to feed her people, if they wanted Flesh and had not as they have such innumerable Herds of Cattle, & flocks of Sheep, such plenty of Foul, Fruit, Poultery, and all other provisions on the Land for the sustenance & life of man, to furnish the delicacy of the richer part of the people, and the necessities of the poorer, if they would but lay aside their too much accustomed Lazines and carelesseness, with which the plenty of England hath infected her people, and not suffer the Dutch to enrich themselves and make a great part of their vast Commerce and Trade, by the Fish which they catch and take in our Brittish Seas, multiplying the stocks of their children and Orphants, whilst too many of ours for want of their parents industry, have none at all or being ready to starve or dye, do begg up and down the streets, when the waters have made her great, the Deep hath set her on high with her Rivers running round about her plants, and sent out her little Rivers unto all the Trees of the field, when she is become the Merchant for many Isles, hath covered the Seas with her ships, which go and return a great deal sooner then Solomons Ships to or from Ophyr, searcheth the Indies and the remotest parts of the earth, to enrich her borders and adds unto her extraordinary plenty, the Spices, Sugar, Oyl, Wine, [Page 311] and whatsoever foreign Countries can produce to adorn our Tables, which former Ages wanted, or had not in so great an abundance.
And that her people are now (if so much) no more numerous than formerly, by her emptying of multitudes of her Natives into Ireland, since the Raign of King Henry the Second, many of whose Inhabitants have been English, transplanted, & gone thither, by our many great Plantations, since the middle of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth, sent into America, as Virginia, Bermudas, New-England, Barbadoes, St. Christophers, Mary-Land, Charibe Isles, Me [...]is, &c. By our many Voyages at Sea, and to the Indies more than formerly; our Fishing in Newfound Land, which we had not in former dayes, our Nursery of War, and Regiments of English in Holland, and the United Provinces, and our greate [...] than formerly Luxury, use of Physick, and shortning the lives of the richer part of the people by it.
When the Provisions for the Kings Houshold, or the Compositions for them, in so great a plenty as England, is now more than formerly blessed with, notwithstanding that we do keep fewer Vigils, & Fasting Eves than heretofore, and do, as it hath been an usage & custom of this Nation, eat more flesh in every one month of every year, the time of Lent excepted, (which since the Reformation of our Religion, & the return of it from the now Church of Rome, to that which is more Orthodox, is very little at all, or not so well observed as our Laws intend, and it ought to be) than all France, Spain, & the Netherlands do in every year; would if the Universal Pride & Luxury of [Page 312] the people, and their Racking and Cheating one another to maintain it, did not hinder it, be as cheap, or cheaper afforded than it was heretofore.
I For that our Ancestors well approved, and much applauded customs of Hospitality, are almost every where turned out of doors, and an evil custom of eating no Suppers (which a Tax, for a little time, of as much as was saved by one meal in every week, introduced, and brought into fashion, to maintain the Grand Rebellion) hath helped the Back to cozen the Belly, and the Back, with its Brigade of Taylors, and all other the abused and retaining Trades to Lucifer, hath cheated, and rooted out Love, Charity, and good House-keeping, and retrenched much of the Provisions, which were wont to be better employed.
II That the Lands of most part of the Monasteries, and Religious Houses in England and Wales, and their yearly Revenues, which, at the old easie rates, were in, or about the Raign of King Henry the Fourth, computed to be sufficient, and enough to maintain fifteen Earls, which after the rate of Earls in those dayes, and their great Revenues, could not be a little, fifteen hundred Knights, six thousand two hundred Gentlemen, and an hundred Hospitals, besides [...]wenty thousand pounds per Annum to be given to the King, many, if not all of which, were by Priviledges, or otherwise exempted from Pourveyance, and being at a low, and great undervalue, in the latter end of the Raign of King Henry the Eighth, now above one hundred years since, of the yearly value of one hundred eighty six thousand five hundred [Page 313] twelve pounds eight shillings peny farthing, Vide in [...] funeral monument [...], an information given to Queen Elizabeth of under valuation [...] in the su [...] pression of the Abbie [...], &c. now improved unto more then Ten times that yeerly value are for the most part of them come to be the inheritance of Lay-men. And too much of the Revenues of Bishops, which by a sacrilegious alienation from the Church are not enjoyed by any of the sons of Levy.
A great part of the Lands belonging to Monasteries or Religious houses by custome or exemption become III Tythe free.
The greatest part of 3845. Appropriations or Impropriations IIII which had been formerly designed and given ad mensam, unto several Monasteries and Religious houses, for the better support and maintenance of their hospitality, and which before contributed nothing to the Kings Pourveyance now made to be a Temporal and Lay inheritance.
Many Forrests and Chaces, and a great part of other V Forrests and Chases Deafforrested, much Assart lands, and many Parks converted to Tillage or Pasture.
No Escuage paid since the Reign of King Henry the VI sixth, nor Aid leavyed to make the Kings eldest son a Knight, or to marry his eldest daughter, for above fifty years, during the Reign of King Edward the sixth, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, and very many Copyhold estates (which usually paid nothing at all to the provisions for the Kings houshold) converted into Freeholds.
Many Fenns and Imbancked Marshes, consisting of VII some hundred thousand Acres Drained or recovered from the Sea.
An Espargne or saving more then formerly, of much VIII money, very far surmounting the yearly charge, damage, [Page 314] or losses by the Kings Pou [...]veyances in the purchase or procuring the Popes Bulls (which as was affirmed in the Parliament of 25 H. 8. had betwixt that time and the fourth year of the Reign of King H. 7. cost the people of this Kingdome threescore thousand pounds Ste [...]ling) by being no more troubled with provisions to Benefices, S [...]owes An [...]a [...]. many chargeable Oblations to the Church, and mony spent in Lamps or Ta [...]ers, Pourveyance or provisions for the Popes Legates, Shrines, Copes, Altarages, extraordinary Masses, Dirges, Trentals, relaxations, faculties, grants, aboltions, Pensions, Censes, Procurations, rescripts, appeals, and long and chargeable journyes to Rome, where as well as in England, (as their own Monkes and W [...]iters affirm) the Pope did, Angariis & Injuriis miseros exagitare, poll and pill the wretched English, made Walter Gray a Bishop of England in the Reign of King H. 3. pay one thousand pounds for his Pall ▪ and at the breaking up of every general Council, extorted of every Prelate a great sum of money before he would give them leave to depart, chid William Abbot of St. Albans for coming to take leave of him without any present, [...] Alba [...] M. S. and when he offered him fifty marks, checked and inforced him before he went out of his Chamber to pay one hundred Marks, the fashion being then for every man to pay dear for his Benedictions, lay down his money ready told before his Holiness feet, Ma [...] ▪ Paris [...]. and if present Cash was wanting, the Popes Merchants and Usurers were at hand, but upon very hard conditions to supply it. And so great were his Emunctiones, as Mathew Paris calls them exactions and impositions in England, as a bloody Wolf tearing the Innocent sheep, by sometimes exacting a third part of the Clergies goods, and at other [Page 315] times a twentieth by aides towards the defraying of his own wars and other pretences, sometimes exacting the one half of an yearly revenew of their Benefices, and enjoyning them under the penalty of their then dreadful Excommunications not to complain of it or publish it,Mat. Pari [...] 7 [...]6, 717. sending his Legats or Predicatores to wring and preach money out of the peoples purses pro negotio Crucis, under colo [...]r of making a war to regain Jerusalem and the Holy Land, out of the hands of the Saracens, and by such a multitude of other contrivances and extorsions as all the Abbotts of England, vul [...]u Flebili & capite d [...]nisso were with great sorrow and lamentation enforced to complain to the King of the impossibility of satisfying the Pope, eos incessanter torquen [...]i, Ma [...]. Paris 514 incessantly grinding & tormenting them, & of his avarice, and exactions toto [...]undo detestabiles to be abhorred of all the world. By Dispensations, pardons, lice [...]ces, Indulgencies, vows, pilgrimages; Writs cal [...]ed perinde valere, breeves, and other instruments of s [...] dry natures, names, and kinds, in great [...] which in the Act of Parliament of [...]5 H. 8. [...] the exonerating of the Kings subjects from [...] and impositions paid to the See of Rome, [...] said to have greatly decayed and impoverished [...] [...]t [...]llerable exactions, of great sums of money, the subjects of the Realm.
A freedom from the chargeable giving of great qu [...]ntities IX of Lands for Chantries, and the weani [...]g of that Clergy by the reformation of the Church o [...] England, from their over-sucking or making sore the Breasts or Nipples of the common people, which the murmuring men of these times, would if they had as their forefathers [Page 316] tried it more then seven times, and over and over be of the opinion of Piers the Plowman in Chaucer (who being of the Romish Church, wrote in the unfortunate Reign of King Richard the second, when the Hydra of our late Rebellious devices spawned by the not long before ill grounded Doctrines, and treasonable positions of the two Spencers, father and son began to Craule) complaining,
Adviseth his friend,
Brings in a Frier perswading a sick Farmer to make his confession to him rather then to his Parish Priest, and requesting him as he lay upon his death-bed to bestow a Legacy upon his Covent.
And in his Prologue to his Canterbury Tales thus Characters such a Frier,
The di [...]use of the old and never grudged course of Sponte Oblata's gifts or presents to the King, and the X Aurum Reginae, Gold or presents made and given to the Queen in return of their Gifts and favors received from the King.
Great liberties and priviledges, by grants of free Warren, Mines, Felons and Outlaws goods, Deodands,XI Waiss, Estraies, Fishings, Court Leets, Tolls, and freedom from Tolls to many Cities and people of England, granted since the ninth year of the raign of King Henry the third, when for the like and some other liberties then confirmed unto them, the people of England not having half so much before that time granted unto them as by the bounty and Indulgences of the succeeding Kings and Princes, they have had since, took it to be no ill bargain to give unto the King, for that his grace and favour a Subsidy of the Fifteenth [Page 318] part of all their moveables, not loosely rated or much undervalued as their posterities have found the way to do▪
Abundance of Wood and Tymber sold and destroyed XII by their prodigal posterities which yeelded them as much money as the inheritance of the Lands would have done, some of their wives, like the story of Garagantuas lusty Mare whisking down with their Tailes whole Woods and great store of Timber in them of two or three hundred years growth.
A lesser number of servants and retainers, and charge XIII of Badges and Liveries, especially since the Statutes of 1 R. 2. ca. 7. and 8 E. 4. ca. 2. made against too great a number or the abuse of them, when as now many Gentlemen can put a Coachman & Carter into one, and supply the places of a Servingman, Butler, and Taylor, by one man fitted for all those imployments.
XIV A great increase of Wool and the price thereof, since the Raign of King Edward the third, by our quondam flourishing Trade of Clothing, untill that our late giddy times of Rebellion had so very much lessened and impaired it.
XV Many great Factories or Manufactures of Bays, Sayes, Serges, and Kerseys at and about Colchester, Sudbury, &c. and of stuffs at Norwich, Canterbury, Sandwich, Kiderminster, &c. erected and encouraged before our long and late unhappy wars, and the raign and Rapine of Mechanick Reformers.
The Lands of Wales greatly improved since the XVI Raign or King Henry the fourth, and his severe Laws which denyed them the intercourse, commerce, and priviledges of England.
[Page 319]The freeing of some of the Northern Counties, as XVII Cumberland, Westmerland, and Northumberland from the trouble, charge, and damages of maintaining their Borders against the Scotish, formerly and frequent outrages, invasions, and taking away their goods and cattle by day and by night.
And the like freedom from the incursions and depraedations XVIII of the Welch assured and settled upon the four Shires or Counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, and Shropshire, by the guard and residence of a Lord President of Wales and the Marches thereof.
Abundance of Markets and Fairs now more then formerly granted, so as few or no parts of England XIX and Wales can complain of any want of them within every four or five miles distance.
Great sto [...]e of Welch, Scottish and Irish-cattel now XX yearly brought into England, when as few or none were heretofore.
Horses, Oxen and Cattel now by Law permitted to be XXI transported into the parts beyond the Seas which were formerly denyed.
A greater profit made to many private Lords of XXII Mannors by Lead and other Mines, &c. more then heretofore.
Many Fruit Trees bearing Apples, Pears, &c. yearly XXIII planted, and great quantities of Sider and Perry made more then formerly.
Many Rivers made Navigable, and Havens repaired.XXIV
The loss of Cattel and great damages by Inundations XXV of the Sea, or the Creeks thereof, or of some boysterous and un [...]uly Rivers prevented by contributions to the making of Sea walls by several Statutes or Commissions for Sewers.
[Page 320] XXVI None or very little trouble or charges before ou [...] late wars for maintaining of Garrisons, &c. or by the disorder or Rapines of any of them.
XXVII Our Ships better then in former times secured upon the Sea Coasts by light houses, &c.
XXVIII Some of our Principal native Commodities, as F [...]llers Earth, Leather, Hides, &c. and Corn when it is not cheap, prohibited to be exported.
XXIX Divers Statutes restraining Aliens, not being Denizend to Trade or keep Shops, &c.
Convenient provisions made for Vicars in case of XXX Churches appropriate.
The goods of Foraigners to be taxed for the payment XXXI of fifteens.
XXXII The breed of large Horses and increase of Husbandry commanded, divers Statutes made for the incouragement of Merchants, Merchandize and Mariners; preservation of Fishing, Fuel, Cattel, and Rivers, and against Freequarter of souldiers, excessive Tolls, Forestallers, Regrators, Ingrossers, and Monopolies, Riots, Routs, and Vagabond Rogues, and to relieve the poor.
XXXIII All Commotes or unlawful gatherings of money in Wales, and the Marches thereof taken away.
XXXIV Weights and measures Regulated.
XXXV Depopulations prohibited.
XXXVI Many an unjust title in concealed Lands made good by sixty years quiet possession.
Interest for money lent, reduced to a lower rate then XXVII formerly, and Brokage forbidden.
[Page 321]No Tillage or errable land to be laid down, but as XXXVII much to be broken up.
Merchants Strangers permitted to Trade and sell XXXVIII their Merchandize in England, and buy and sell things ve [...]dible; and a great improvement of Trade and Merchandize six or seven times exceeding that which was in or before the raign of Queen Elizabeth.
Fishgarthes in the Rivers of Ouse and Humber ordered XXIX to be pulled down.
The passage upon the River of Severne freed from XL Tolles imposed by the proprietors of the Lands upon the Banks.
The bringing of Silver Bullion into England by our XLI English Merchants encouraged, the transportation from thence of Gold and Silver without the Kings licence prohibited, and the care of the Kings Exchangers, untill the disuse of it now of late preventing all abuses in the coyn or money of the Kingdom.
Merchants Aliens, and Merchants of Ireland, ordained XLII to imploy their mony received in England upon the Commodities thereof and every Merchant Alien to finde Sureties that they shall not carry Gold or Silver out of this Realm.
The keeping of great numbers of Sheep by rich men,XLIII whereby meaner men were impoverished, restrained to a certain number.
Ordinances made for Bakers, Brewers, and other XLIIII Victuallers.
The prices of victuals to be rated and assessed by the XLV Magistrates.
Rents of houses in Staple-Towns to be reasonable and XLVI assess [...]d by the Maior.
[Page 322] XLVII Great quantities of waste grounds and Commons inclosed and improved.
XLVIII A long and happy Peace at home for more then two hundred years.
XLIX Many an Act of Parliament made to prevent or remedy grievances, enlarge the peoples liberties, and make them the most free and happy Nation in the world, si sua bona Norint, if they could but be content with their happiness, and know how to use it.
L All the Revenues and Estates of the people, aswell reall as personal, exceedingly and by many degrees improved more then formerly. And all manner of Victuals and provisions, sold at such excessive rates and prices as would busie our Forefathers with no common or ordinary wonder if they could be alive again to see or understand it, and makes the former Market prizes and rates, to be but as Pigmies or Dwarfs to those which are now so immense and Gigantine.
So as if the Laws of God, Nature and Nations, right reason, and the heretofore well approved custome of England, with the care of avoiding of evils and inconveniencies, which was wont to be the primum mobile and greatest Orator in worldly affairs, to incite and stir up most mens cares and preventions (m [...]ny of whom have had cause to lament the not allowing of that and oother the Kings ancient and just rights, and a due submission thereunto cannot perswade or lead them unto that great part of reason & duty called Prae-emption, Pourveyance or Compositions for them; the consideration of the l [...]berties and happiness which they do now enjoy more then many of their Ancestors might certainly drive or carry them into their more laudable ways and courses.
[Page 323]When the peoples want of a liberty of unmannerliness or Praeemption before their Soveraign or his servants on his behalf, begets no other loss or grievance unto them then a disturbance of their Fancies, or their not obtaining that which did not become them or their Humor of hindring their betters from having of it, or to make a vie betwixt them and the Kings servants, either to hinder him from having of it, or to make him pay for it a great deal more then it was worth.
Which Davids three Worthies who hazarded their lives,2 Sam. 23. And brake thorough the host of the Philistims to draw water out of the Well of Bethlehem, and brought it to David who longed and had a desire to drink of it, would never have done but would have been ashamed to offer unto their Prince so great an indignity.
And the charge and enhaunce of the prices of all Commodities necessary for houshold provisions, will by the needless racking of rates and prices, and the Insana praetia intollerable rates and prices, which the King by the avarice and insatiableness of the sellers is and shall be inforced to give, so infect and spoile the markets of such part of the people as shall have occasion to buy, which are many to every one that is a seller, those that are sellers having sometimes also occasion to be buyers, as if the wisdom of the King and his great and Privy Councel prevent it not, there will in a few years be ten times or a greater charge more then was in the same year when the Pourveyance or Compositions for it were abolished, imposed upon the subjects by the Tyranny of rates and prices then ever the Compositions for the Kings Pourveyance or houshold provisions did amount unto.
[Page 324]And when the difference in the Compositions for the Kings Pourveyance betwixt the Market rates and the Kings price, do amount at the utmost but unto sixty five thousand pounds per annum or thereabouts, and is charged upon so many and in so easie and petit proportions.
And being no greater a charge or inconvenience, the people who in a legal and Parliamentary way are to help him to sustain and bear his burdens, if they love and tender their own good and the well being of themselves and their posterities, will too prodigally cast away too much of their own happiness, and as much of their own Estates, if they shall for want of so small and easie accommodations which are so just, and so necessary to the honor and support of their Prince, enforce him into so great a prejudice and damage as to pay yearly four times as much as sixty five thousand pounds per annum, shall amount unto, in many, if not all the particulars of his houshold provisions, as may be instanced in four and twenty shillings, the price of a Sheep, which was in the Compositions to be served in at three shillings four pence; A [...] Oxe twelve pounds, which was to have been furnished at four marks; three shillings or two shillings six pence for a Hen, which was to be furnished for two pence, Vide Act of Parliament 18. Eliz cap 6. touching the Colledges in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, reserving a third part of their rents in Corn, or Mal [...] ▪ &c. four shillings for a Goose which was to be sent in for four pence, Lambs at twelve pence a piece, for which he now pays eleven or twelve shillings, and at Christmas sixteen▪ or twenty shillings, Wheat at ten pence a Bushel (the Market rate being no more for Wheat in 18. of Queen Elizabeth) for which he lately paid before the late dearth 7 s. 6 d. a Bushel, and cannot furnish sixteen dishes of meat to the Table of one of his great Officers [Page 325] of his houshold, if report be true under twenty shillings a dish.
And if weather beat [...]n by such an exaction and enhaunce of prices, he shall seek a shelter or Port by putting one thousand two hundred and fourty servants (the Queens servants above and below stai [...]s not included) to Board [...]wages, the profits and allowed avails of their places which contrary to the Laws of England, the honor of the King, the weal and profit of him and his people too many have dea [...]ly bought and paid for, will to reduce their vails and profits of their places into a certain yearly Board-wages, their standing Wages and Pensions being so very petit and inconsiderable cost him in such an unreasonable and intollerable exaction, and enhaunce of Rates and Prices as there is in the Markets, ten times more in money and twenty times more in some then what he now paies, if his servants shall not like hunger bitten, starved, and ragged Beggars, be enforced to torment aswell as shame him with their daily Petitions and importunities, or be as the naked attendants about the Salvage Kings.
Or if he shall not make them recompence for the losses of their Diet and availes arising by it will undoe and ruine very near so many Families and Dependencies who have nothing to live upon but his Majesties service and their hopes of subsistance by it.
Or if the loss of Pourveyance or Compositions for them shall in his house-keeping endamage him but two hundred thousand pounds per annum, it will with one hundred thousand pounds per annum profit which was heretofore made by the Tenures, amount unto [Page 326] three hundred thousand pounds per annum, which will be more then that part of the Excise which was allowed in lieu of the Tenures and Pourveyance; and the supplemental Revenue of the Chimney money deductis deducendis will yearly bring into the Kings Exchequer.
So great a damage will arise unto the King by the loss of his Pourveyance and Compositions for them; and so much the greater, if he shall put his servants (which never King of England was yet inforced unto, and the Nobility and Gentry of England, untill of late disdained to do) to Board-wages, and give them recompence for their losses; and will be not onely a very great damage and inconvenience in the consequence to the people.
But a great dishonor unto the King, whose sublimity, Majesty and Honor is not to be measured or managed by the narrow rules of private men or house-keepers, for although it may relish very well with some that have Tables daily furnished at the Kings charge to feed so many as depend upon it, and entertain such men of quality as shall come to his Court about his or their affairs, and would much advance their private purses, and do well in their own families to have the expences of it turned into a yearly Pension in money, wherein the King is like to be as much a saver as King Charles the Martyr, was when he allowed Mr. Andrew Pitcarne the Master of his Hawks ten shillings per diem to provide Pigeons,Pa [...]. 1. Ca [...]. 1.3 Pa [...]t. Hens, and other meat for his Hawks; and as he and many of his Progenitors have been in converting allowances or provisions into Salaries.
And that some of those who advise a Sparing, not at all becoming the grandeur and honour of a Prince to [Page 327] make themselves the greater gainers by his bounty to be worse imployed upon themselves, may suppose that which might be a fit Espargne in their own lesser Orbes and Oeconomies, may serve for the Court and Family of an English King, and that the Grandeur and Magnificence thereof would be but little or not at all lessened by some thriftie contrivances and abatements calculated only for their own Meridian, and that the Power, Authority, and Virtue of a Prince, can well enough subsist without the prop and support of that due Awe and Reverence which are to attend the Majesty of Kings, and that some in their short sighted Policies may reckon such or the like good husbandries to be no small part of Prudence and Providence very laudable and fit to be put in practice.
Yet the Laws of God, Nature and Nations, and the state and magnificence of Kings and their Princely Families, allowed as well as mentioned in the Book of God and Holy Writ, as that of Pharaoh, Saul, David, Solomon and Ahashuerus. The State and Magnificence of all the Christian and Heathen Kings and Princes, Grecian Magistrates, Romane Consuls and Dictators, Venetian Doges, and Dutch Stadtholders, and our laudable customs of England, can teach every man who hath not abjured his own reason as well as the Laws of God and Nature, and the reasonable customes of England, how very necessary the honor and State of Princes are to the obedience and good Government of the people, how much they conduce to their well-being; how the observance, honor, and reverence due unto [Page 328] Kings, are lessened by the meannesse of their Servants, and diminishing their State and Port, how unsafe and insipid such new found policies and contrivances would be; and that the dishonor of the Prince is the unsafety and dishonor of the people, who may easily and every where find a necessity of his Pourveyance or Compositions for it, and no reason at all to deny it.
When the total of the charges of it will be so useful to their Soveraign, so becomming his Royal Dignity, so necessary to the honor and splendor of his house-keeping, and that the parts which shall be charged upon particular men to make up that total, will be so petit and inconsiderable, as our Laws and the Compositions for Pourveyance had ordered it.
CHAP. VI. The small charge of the Pourveyance or Compositions for it, to or upon such of the people as were chargeable with it.
AS may evidently and undeniably appear by the Compositions for Pourveyance which were agreed to be paid by the several Counties, As,
For the County of Anglisey in Wales which hath eighty three Parishes, but five pounds, which is for every Parish not one shilling three pence, it being commonly in every County charged onely upon the Lands of inheritance of the greater size or quantity, (not upon Copyholders or small Freeholders) and upon those kind of Lands which were most proper for it and could better afford it as Wheat, Malt, &c. upon Errable Lands and Cattel upon Pasture, &c.
For the County of Mountgomery who we [...]e to provide yearly but twenty Sturks or smaller sized Cattle so called, or sixty pounds per annum, and had Fifty four Parishes, whereof five or six were Borough Towns, which made the charge upon every Parish to be little more then twenty shillings per annum.
All the charge of the Compositions for the Kings provisions being onely of one hundred and eighty Sturks in Wales and its thirteen shires or Counties which costes that Dominion yeerly no more then three hundred and sixty pounds.
[Page 330]The County of Worcester which hath one hundred and fifty two Parishes, paid but four hundred ninety five pounds besides the Kings p [...]ice or rate allowed for provisions served in kinde, which is but three pounds and seven shillings or thereabouts to be assessed upon every Parish.
Derbyshire having one hundred and six Parishes, paid but two hundred fifty four pounds two shillings two pence, which is something less then fifty shillings upon every Parish.
Yorkeshire, which hath four hundred fifty nine Parishes, besides many large Chapelries was charged with no more then four hundred ninety five pounds, which was not two and twenty shillings upon every Parish one with another, and would not be six pence a year upon every house one with another, if no respect were to be had to the real or personal Estates of the proprietors which admits of large differences or proportions more or less then one another.
The County of Midlesex having seventy three Parishes, besides what are in the London Suburbes, paid but nine hundred seventeen pound nineteen shillings, which by her great benefits by the Kings constant residence in it, is in a better condition with her few but v [...]ry plentiful and numerous Parishes, then the Counties further distant, and by the letting and setting of their Lands, Houses, and Lodgings, and the great rates and prices of all the Commodities which they sell to other people gaineth fourty to one at the least of what they loose by the Kings prices for his Pourveyance or houshold provisions, the City of Westminster, and the Suburb Parishes of London, consisting more of houses then Lands or [Page 331] Pasture and being not at all charged or troubled wi [...] [...].
The County of Essex paid for Composition but two thousand nine hundred thirty one pounds two shillings and two p [...]nce, and having many of the benefits which Midlesex enjoyeth far exceeding the charge of the Compositions for Pourveyance, hath four hundred and fifteen Parishes, which is little more then seven pound five shillings upon every Parish chargeable, for the Compositions and provisions served in kinde.
Bedfordshire which hath one hundred and sixteen Parishes, paid but four hundred ninty seven pounds eight shillings four pence, which was but four pounds five shillings nine pence upon every Parish.
The County of Buckingham which hath one hundred eighty five Parishes, two thousand fourty pounds sixteen shillings and six pence, which was but something more then eleven pounds upon every Parish one with another.
Berkshire having one hundred and fourty Parishes, but one thousand two hundred and fifty five pounds seventeen shillings and eight pence, which did not charge every Parish with nine pounds per annum.
Cheshire having sixty eight Parishes and furn [...]shing but 25. lean Oxen at the Kings price - 2l.—13s.-4d. a peice Total—66 l.—13 s.—4 d. at the Market price— 6 [...].—10 s. Total—162 l.—10 s.—0. Difference—95 l. 16 s.—8 d. was not thereby charged with more then one pound nine shillings upon every parish.
Cornewall having an hundred sixty one Parishes, and furnishing but Ten fat Oxen at the Kings price—4 l. Total [Page 332] [...]0 l. Market price—10 l. Total—100 l. Difference—60l. did bear not so great a contribution as eight shillings upon every Parish.
The County of Devon having three hundred ninty four Parishes, and furnishing but Ten fat Oxen at the Kings price—4 l. Total—40 l. Market price—10 l. Total —100l. Difference—60 l. Muttons fat 150. at the Kings price—6 s.—8 d. Total—50 l. Market price—18 s. Total—135l. Difference—85l. paid no greater a sum in that yearly Composition then ten shillings upon every parish.
Gloucestershire which hath two hundred and eighty parishes paid but four hundred twenty two pounds seven shillings eight pence, which was not one pound eleven shillings upon every parish.
Hertfordshire numbering one hundred and twenty parishes, paid but one thousand two hundred fifty nine pounds ninteen shillings four pence, which laid upon every parish but abou [...] ten pounds ten shillings.
Herefordshire furnishing but 18. fat Oxen at the Kings price—4 l. Total—72 l. Market price—10 l. Total—180l. Difference—108 l. and having one hundred seventy six par [...]shes, made every one of them a contributary of no more then about twelve shil [...]ings six pence upon every parish.
Kent having three hundred ninety eight parishes, and being a very great gainer by the Kings so constant abode in his Chamber of London, more then its charge of Pourvey [...]nce amounted unto, paid but three thousand three hundred thirty four pounds and six shillings, which laid upon ever parish for Composi [...]ions for the Pourveyance, [Page 333] no more then about eight pounds ten shillings.
Lincolnshire which hath six hundred and thirty parishes, and paid but one thousand one hundred seventy five pounds thirteen sh [...]llings and eight pence, charged every parish with no more then about nineteen sh [...]llings six pence, or thereabouts.
The County of Northampton having three hundred twenty six parishes, and being like to be no looser by its gainful vicinity to London, and the Royal Residence, paid no more towards the Pourveyance and Compositions then nine hundred nine [...]y three pounds eighteen shillings four pence, which was for every parish very little more then three pounds.
The County of Norfolke having six hundred and sixty parishes, paid but one thousand ninety three pounds two shillings and eight pence, which charged every parish not with one pound eleven shillings.
Somersetshire which hath three hundred eighty five parish [...]s, and paid no more then seven hundred fifty five pounds fourteen sh [...]llings eight pence, laid no greater a leavy for the Composition for Pourveyance upon every Parish then about fourty shillings.
The County of Surry having one hundred and fourty parishes, and paid no more then one thousand seventy nine pounds three pence, rendered every parish a contributer for the Pourveyance of not above seven pounds nineteen shillings.
The County of Sussex which hath one hundred and twelve parishes, and paid no more to that kind of contribution then one thousand and sixteen pounds two [Page 334] shillings six pence, makes every Parish to be charged with no greater a sum or proportion then three pounds thirteen shillings six pence or thereabouts.
And London which is and hath been the greatest gainer by the residence of the King and his principal Courts of Justice at Westminster, and by the confluence of the people, not onely of this Nation, but many Merchants and people from all parts of the Christian word, is grown to be the grand Emporium and Town of Trade in England, mighty and strong in shipping, a Merchant-like Tyrus for many Isles, and as great and famous as any City or Mart Town of the World, to whom all the Ships of the Sea with their Mariners do bring their Merchandize; the most of Nations are her Merchants by reason of the multitude of the Wares, of her making; and with the multitude of her riches and Merchandize makes all the other parts, Counties, Cities, and Borough Towns of the Kingdom, as to riches, money, and Trade, her vassals and retailers, doth for all these benefits contribute with the out Ports only for the Kings Grocery ware, which if it could be called a contribution, did in some years amount according to the full price but unto two thousand pounds per annum, and in other years but unto sixteen hundred pounds or there abouts, and is raised and charged by way of Impost upon the gross quantites of such kinde of Merchandise; and being repayed the Merchant by the retailer, and by the buyer to the retailer, was no more in the fifth year of the Raign of King Charles the fi [...]st in the Impost or Rates of Composition then as followeth, viz.
- [Page 335]Pepper The hundred pound xviii. d.
- Cloves The hundred pound xviii. d.
- Mace The hundred pound xviii. d.
- Nutmeggs The hundred pound xviii. d.
- Cynamon The hundred pound xviii. d.
- Ginger the hundred pound xii. d.
- Raisons of the Sun the hundred waight iii. d.
- Raisons great the piece i. d. ob.
- Proyns the Tun xvi. d.
- Almonds the hundred waight v. d.
- Corrants the Tun ii. s.
- Sweet oyle the Pipe iii. s.
- Sugar refined the hundred waight viii. d.
- Sugar, powder, and Mukovadoes the C. waight v. d.
- The Chest xx. d.
- Sugar corse and paneles the C. waight iii. d.
- Figges the Barrell i. d.
- Figges the Piece ob. q.
- Figges the Topnet ob.
- Dates the hundred waight viii. d.
- Rice the hundred waight iiii. d. ob.
- Olives the Tun iiii. s.
- Castel and all other hard Soap the C. waight vi. d.
- Anniseeds the hundred waight ii. d.
- Licorish the hundred waight ii. d.
And so petit as in a pound of Raisins of the Sunne now sold for four pence a pound, it [Page 336] falls to be less then the eighth or tenth part of a farthing increase of price in every pound of Raisins of the Sun.
And as inconsiderable in the charge or burden of it, laid upon the Grocers or Retailers as that of their pack-thred and brown paper, which in the vent of those commodities and accommodation of Customers are freely and willingly given into the bargain.
And when the Brewers in London, and four miles about, did before the granting of the Excise upon Ale and Beer, and taking away of the Pourveyances or Composition for them, pay four pence in every quartet of Malt which they Brewed, the Composition thereof amounting but unto three thousand five hunded pounds per annum, being now remitted and not paid by reason of the said Excise, that yearly Impost or Composition, did not onely lye upon the Brewers, but was dispersed and laid upon all their Customers and Inhabitants of London, who paying for it in the smalness of their Ale and Beer and of the measure, were notwithstanding no loosers by it, when as the damage that the poorest sort of house-keepers received thereby, came not, when their gains were least, unto the twentieth penny nor of the richer, to the hundreth or two hundreth peny of what they gained by the Kings residence, by trade, letting, of lodgings, or the greater rent of their houses; and if the Brewer had paid it himself, and not laid it upon his Customers, might for his priviledge in Brewing in the Cities of London and West [...]minster, and not being removed or punished for the Nuisance, have very well afforded so small a sum as four pence in every quarter of Mault, containing [...] [Page 339] Berkshire, Cheshire, Cornewall, Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Herefordshire, Kent, Northampton, Norfolk, Somersetshire, Surrey, Sussex and London, may give the prospect of the rest) and how small the proportions were, which were charged upon such as were to bear or pay them, may make it appear that that so much now of late complained of charge of Pourveyance or Compositions for them will be so little as there will be no cause at all for it, when as the yearly charge of buying Babies, Hobby horses, and Toys for children to spoil as well as play with (which costs England, as hath been computed, near one hundred thousand pounds per annum) or of amending the High ways, yearly Treatments given to Harvest Folk, or the expences of an Harvest Goose, and a Seed Cake given yearly to their Plow-men, keeping a Wake or Parish Feast every year, or the monyes which the good Women in every Parish and County, do expend in their Gosshippings, at the birth of their Neighbours Children, or many other such like trivial and most cheerful and pleasing expences, will make the foot of the accompt as to the several kinds of those particulars to be a great deal more then the charge of that necessary duty of Pourveyance or Compositions for them which was so [...]asy and petit as in most of the Counties of England, it was many times not singly rated or assessed by it self, but was joyned with some other Assessements, and in Kent, where more was paid then in any one County near London, it was so little felt and regarded, as a Tenant paying one hundred pounds rent per annum, for his Land, did not think it to be of any concernment for him to reckon it to his Landlord, and demand an allowance for it.
[Page 340]Which caused the people of Oxfordshire, Barkshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire, upon his now Majesties most happy restoration, receiving his gracious letters, offering them the Election of suffering him to take his Prae-emption and Pourveyance, or to pay the Compositions, to return answer by their letters, which were read before the King in his Compting-house in White-Hall, that they humbly desired him to accept of the Compositions.
And all the other Counties and the generality of the people of the smaller as well as greater Intellectuals, to understand it to be so much for the good of the King & his People, as many of them are troubled and discontented that he hath them not.
And they who causing the Markets and the prices of things to be so unreasonably dear and excessive by their own raising of prices for their own advantages, may when they please make the difference betwixt the Kings rates and theirs to be none at all, or much lesser if they would but sell as cheap as they might afford their commodities according to the plenty of Victuals, or provisions which is in England. The high prices and rates which are now put upon Victuals and Provisions for Food and House-keeping being neither enforced nor occasioned by any plenty of Gold or Silver in England, and if there were any such store or abundance of it, non causatur effective, cujus effectus est necessarius nisi aliunde impediatur, could not be so the sole or proper cause of it, as if not otherwise hindered it could not want its necessary effect.
[Page 339] Berkshire, Cheshire, Cornewall, Devonshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Herefordshire, Kent, Northampton, Norfolk, Somersetshire, Surrey, Sussex and London, may g [...]ve the prospect of the rest) and how small the proportions were which were charged upon such as were to bear or pay them.
That so much now of late complained of charge of Pourveyance or Compositions fo [...] them will be so little as there will be no cause at all for it, when as the yearly charge of buying Babies, Hobby-horses, and Toys for children to spoil aswell as play with (which costes England, as hath been computed near one hundred thousand pounds per annum) or of amending the High ways, yeerly Treatments given to Harvest Folk, or the expences of an Harvest Goose, and a Seed Cake given yearly to their Plowmen, keeping a Wake or Parish Feast every year▪ or many other such like trivial and most cheerful and pleasing expences will make the foot of the accompt as to the several kinds of those particulars to be a great deal more then the charge of that necessary duty of Pourveyance or Compositions for them which was so easie and petit as in most of the Counties of England, it was many times not singly rated or assessed by it self, but was joyned with some other Assessements▪ and in Kent where more was paid then in any one County near London, it was so little felt and regarded as a Tenant paying one hundred pounds rent per annum, for his Land, did not think it to be of any concernment for him to reckon it to his Landlord, and demand an allowance for it.
And the people of Oxfordshire, Barkshire, Wiltshire, and Hampshire upon his now Majesties most happy restoration, [Page 340] receiving his gracious letters, offering them the Election of suffering him to take his Prae-emption and Pourveyance, or to pay the Compositions, returned answer by their letters, which were read before the King in his Compting house in Whitehall, that they humbly desired him to accept of the Compositions.
And all the other Counties and the generality of the people of the smaller as well as greater Intellectuals do understand it to be so much for the good of the King and the people, as many of them are troubled and discontented that he hath them not.
And they who causing the Markets and the prices of things to be so unreasonably dear and excessive by their own raising of prices for their own advantages, may when they please make the difference betwixt the Kings rates and theirs to be none at all, or much lesser if they would but sell as cheap as they might afford their commodities according to the plenty of Victuals, or provisions which is in England. The high prices and rates which are now put upon Victuals and Provisions for Food and house-keeping being neither enforced nor occasioned by any plenty of Gold or Silver in England, and if there were any such store or abundance of it, non causatur effective, cujus effectus est necessarius nisi aliunde impediatur, could not be so the sole or proper cause of it, as if not otherwise hindered it could not want its necessary effect.
CHAP. VII. That the supposed plenty of money, and Gold, and Silver in England since the Conquest of the West Indies by the Spaniards, hath not been a cause of raising the prices of food and victuals in England.
BUt will upon a due examination, be too light in the Ballanee of Truth and Reason, and deserve a place in the Catalogue of vulgar Errors.
For that the rise of Silver in its value or denomination by certain gradations or parts in several Ages from twenty pence the ounce by King Henry the sixth by his prerogative to thirty pence, Lex M [...]. c [...]toria pe [...] Gerard Mal [...]nes. and between his Raign and that of Queen Elizabeth to forty pence, and after to forty five pence, and after to sixty pence, Sir Ralph Madd [...]sons [...]ngland [...] In and Ou [...]. ours being of a finer standard mixture or Allay then that of France, the united Belgicque Provinces, or the ha [...]se or Imperial Cities of Germany, and is now as high as five shillings and a penny the ounce, comes far short of the now or then enhaunce of victuals and commodities, and makes so large a disproportion as the abundance of that could not be probably the cause of the dearth of victuals, and all manner of Commodities, for that the plenty of those bewitching and domineering mettals of Gold and Silver, supposed to be betwixt the Times of the discovery and subduing of the Indian Mines in the Raign of our King Henry the seventh, which was about the year of our Lord, [Page 342] one thousand five hundred and five, and the middle of the Raign of King Edward the sixth, when as those Irritamenta malorum, American riches, and the alurements of them, did not in the time of Charles the fifth Emperor, who out-lived our King Henry the eight, amount unto for his account, any more then five hunddred thousand Crowns of Gold, and with that and what came into Europe to the Spanish Merchants Accompts, our English hav [...]ng not then learnt the way to the West Indies, or to search the unknown passages of the unmerciful Ocean could not have so great an influence upon England, which was no neer neighbor to the Indies, as to cause that dearth of Victuals, & all commodities which was heavily complained of in the raign of King Edward the sixth,M. S. of Sir Thoms Chamberlaines. and if it had, there would not have been any necessity of King Henry the 8. embasing or mixing with Copper so much as he did the Gold and Silver Coin of the Nation, or that the price of the ounce of Silver should be raised betwixt the Raign of King Henry the 7. and the middle of the raign of Queen Elizabeth to sixty pence or five shillings the ounce, and though it must be granted that the raising of the ounce of Silver by King Henry the 8. or King Edward the 6. to five and forty pence, and afterwards by some of his successors to sixty pence, and the making of more pence out of an Ounce then was formerly, might be some cause of the enhaunce of the price of victuals and commodities. And that some of our Gallants or Gentlemen of these times forgetting the laudable f [...]ugality of their ancestors, who had otherwise not have been able to have le [...]t them those Lands & estates which do now so elevate their Poles, [...]ay by coiting their mony from them, as if they were weary of it, [Page 343] many times ignorantly give out of their misused abundance more mony, or as much again as a thing is worth, or not having money to play the fools withall in the excess of gluttony or apparel, or the pursuite of their other vices may sometimes by taking them upon day or trust, give three or four tim [...]s more then the commoditys would be sold to another for ready money, the seller being many times never paid at all, and if he should reckon his often attendance and waiting upon such a customer to no other purpose but to tire himself and never get a peny of his money, would have been a greater gainer if he had given him his wares or commodityes for nothing, and if after many yeers he should by a chance meet with his money, looseth more by his interest then the principal amounted unto.
Yet if Parliaments which have been composed of the collected wisdom of the Nation, and their Acts and Statutes which have been as they are understood to be made with the wisdom, and universal consent of the people of England, & tanta solemnitate, and with so great solemnity (as Fortescue in the Raign of King H. 6. and the Judges in Doctor Fosters Case in 12. Jac. Regis, do say they are) may be credited,Coke 11. Reports. the plenty of Gold and Silver, was never alleaged or believed to be a cause of the dearness of Victuals and provisions.
When as the Statute of Herring made in the thirty fifth year of the Raign of King Edward the third, when the Trade of Clothing was in a most flourishing condition,Statute of Herring, 35 E. 3. such a Trade necessarily inducing & conferring some plenty of money, declares the cause of the dearness of Herring to be because that the Hostes of the Town of [Page 344] great Yarmouth, who lodged the Fishers coming there in the time of the Fair, would not suffer the Fishers to sell their Herrings, nor to meddle with the sale of the same, but sell them at their own will as dear as they will, and give the Fishers that pleaseth them, so that the Fishers did withdraw themselves to come there, and the Herring was set at a greater dearth then there was before, and that men outvied and overbid each other.
For if the many accidents concurring to the enhauncing of the price of any thing or commodity beyond its ordinary and intrinsicque worth & value, shall be rightly considered as famine the unseasonableness of the year or harvest, blasts or Mildews of Corn, transportation, fear of an approaching famine, keeping Corn and provisions from Markets, and hoarding them up, e [...]ther for the peoples own use, or to catch an opportunity of the highest rates, the scarcity, or surpassing excellency of it, obstructions which wars, policy, or controversies of Princes or neighbor Nations, one with or against another, may put upon it a general Murrain or Mortality of Cattel, Inundations of waters, great store of provision or foder for Cattle, or a gentle Winter; the charge and burden of a new Tolle or Taxe, a present necessity to have the thing desired to be bought or had, which the crafty and covetous seller hath taken notice of, the importunity of an affection, to have it although it cost a great deal more then the worth of it, or the conveniency for one more then another, which may recompence the damage in giving too much for it, or more then was otherwise needful, making it to be a good bargain for that particular person, time or place, which would not be so for others, and the Market people imitating one [Page 345] anothers high demands or avarice, by taking advantage of some particular persons folly, or over-bidding and keeping up the excessive rates of the Market, to the same or a more unreasonable price, and not being willing to let them fall again to a lower price, though there be plenty and reason enough to do it, unlawful combinations and confederacies of Trades men to raise their prices, or cause their wares to be made Slight or insufficient, unconscionable adulterating of Commodities, and making them seem what they are not, to raise the greater prices, evil Artifices of Forestallers of the Markets, Ingrossers and Regrators, who for their own ungodly gains can make a dearth and scarcity in the midst of plenty, and like Caterpillars spoil and devour the Hopes of the years fertility, the Landlords racking of rents▪ and the price of all manner of houshold provisions and other things raised by the Tenants to enable them to pay them; an universal pride and vanity of the Nation and enhaunce of prices to support them, plunder, miseries, and desolations of War; numberless tricks and deceipts of Tradesmen, and fraud of the common and Rustick part of the people in the Counties neer London, in keeping many of their Cattel half a mile or some little distance from the Fairs untill the Evening, or much of the day be spent, to make them to sell at greater rates; frequent deceits of stocking or Tying up the Udders of Kine, a day before hand to make them swell and seem to give great store of Milke: And as many other tricks of Trade and deceit as the Devil and deluded consciences can invent.
[Page 346]And truely looked upon as causes or concurrent parts of the cause of the now grand and most intollerable inhaunce of the rates and p [...]ices of Victuals, houshold provisions, and other Commodities, there will be little or no room for the supposed plenty of Gold and Silver to be either a cause or so much as any part of a cause of it.
Nor can be well imagined, when as notwithstanding that betwixt the middle of the Raign of King Henry the eight, and the beginning of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth, the Gold and Silver Mines of the West Indies had by the Spanish cruelty to the Indians and their almost extirpation afforded such quantities of these baites of Satan and temptations, as two hundred and sixty millions of Gold, Lewis Roberts Map of Commerce. did appear by the Records of the Custom house of Sivill, to have been brought from the West Indies into Spain, all the plenty of that riches, either by our Merchants bringing in of Bullion from Spain and its other Kingdomes and Provinces by Commerce or return of Merchandize did not so in England raise & enhaunce the rates and prices of Victuals and houshold provisions, but that we finde the Parliament of 24. H. 8. ordaining that Beef Pork, Mutton and Veal should be sold by the weight called haber dupois, no person should take for a pound of Beef or Pork above one half penny, nor for a pound of Mutton or Veal above half penny farthing, did believe they might be reasonably so afforded.
And the rates of Victuals and houshold provisions notwithstanding so increasing as in the yeer following. It was ordained, That Governors of Cities and Market Towns upon complaint to them made of any Butcher refusing to sell victuals by the weight, according to the Statute [Page 347] of 24 H. 8. ca. 3. might commit the offenders toward untill he should pay all penalties limitted by the said Statute, and were enabled to sell or cause to be sold by weight all such victuals for ready money to be delivered to the owner; and if any Grasier, Farmer, Breeder, Drover, &c. should refuse to sell his fat Cattel to a Butcher upon such reasonable prices as he may retail it at the price assessed by the said Statute. The Justices of Peace, Maiors, or Governors should cause indifferent persons to set the prices of the same which if the owner refused to accept then the Justices, &c. should binde him to appear the next Term in the Star Chamber, to be punished as the Kings Councel should think good.
And the same Parliament Enacting, That upon every complaint made of any enhauncing of prices of Cheese, Butter, Capons, Hens, Chickens, and other Victuals necessary for mens sustenance without ground or cause reasonable in any part of this Realm, or in any other the Kings Dominions, the Lord Chancellor of England, the Lord President of the Kings most honorable Councel, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlaine, and all other Lords of the Kings most honorable house, the Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster, the Kings Justices of either Bench, the Chancellor, Chamberlains, under Treasurer, and the Barons of the Kings Exchequer, or seven of them at the least, whereof the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, the Lord President of the Kings Councel, or the Lord Privy seal to be one, should have power and authority from time to time, as the cause should require, to set and tax reasonable prices of all such kinde of Victuals how they should be sold in gross or by retail, and that after such prices set and taxed, Proclamation should [Page 348] be made in the Kings name, under the great Seal, of the said prices, in such parts of this Realm, as should be convenient for the same.
Was not of op [...]nion that the plenty of Gold and Silver were any cause of the enhaunce of the prices or rates of Victuals; but did in the preamble of that Act declare, That forasmuch as dearth, scarcity, good, cheap and plenty of such kinde of Victuals happeneth, riseth and chances of so many, and diverse occasions that it is very hard and difficult to put any certain prices to any such things, yet nevertheless the prices of such Victuals, be many times enhaunced and raised by the greedy covetousness and appetites of the owners of such Victuals by occasion of ingrossing and regrating the same more then upon any reasonable or just ground, or cause to the great damage and impovershing of the Kings subjects.
Si [...] Thomas Chamberlaine, qui mores hominum multorum vidit & urbes, who by his several Embassages f [...]om England into Foraign Countries in the Raigns of Ki [...]g Henry the eighth, and King Edward the sixth was not a little acquainted with the customes of other Nations, aswell as his own, did in the Raign of King Edward the sixth,M. S. Sir Th [...] [...]a [...] Chamberla [...]ne. in a Treatise entituled Policies to reduce the Realm of England unto a prosperous wealth and estate, dedicated unto the Duke of Somerset, then Lord Protector, assign the causes of the high prices and dearness of Victuals (far less then what is now) to be abasing of Coyn, and giv [...]ng more then Forty pence for the ounce of Silver, ingrossing of Commodities, the high price of Wooll, which caused the Lords and Gentlemen, being by the suppressing of the Abbies and liberality of King Henry the eight, waxen rich, to convert [Page 349] all their grounds into Sheep Pastures, which diminished Victuals; ten Lordships to the great decay of Husbandry, being sometimes imployed onely to the Pasturage of Sheep, and lessened the plenty of Calves, Butter, Eggs, Cheese, Chickens, Hens, Capons, Ducks, Geese, Beef, Piggs, Por [...], and Bacon, the labor of the husbandman, wife and servants encreasing more Victuals thorough the whitemeat of one Cow in one year being well pastured, and her Calf taken from her at a moneth old, then her body being fat amounted unto, the dearth of Victuals, causing the greatness of price of other Commodities, and the overcharging of Commons by raising the Rents of enclosed grounds.
The very judicious and lea [...]ned Camden doth not believe the plenty of money to be the sole or principal, if any cause of the high prices and rates of Victuals, but refers it to Politicians to dispute among themselves, Camdens Remaines. whether the dearth of all things (now very much exceeded) which most complain of doth proceed from plenty of Gold and Silver since the discovery of the West Indies, or from Monopolies and Combinations of Merchants and Craf [...]smen, transportation of grain, or from the pleasure of great personages, who [...]o most highly rate such things as they do most like, or excess in private persons, or from all these.
And Gerard Malines, a Learned knowing and judicious Merchant, is (in his learned Tract or Book called Lex Mercatoria, written in Anno 1622. of opinion that the General dearth of all things within this Realm, where there is no scarcity of provisions for the Back and Belly, & yet food is dear, and there is a dearth, proceeds from the Husbandman, who lays the fault upon the Noblemen and [Page 350] Gentlemen for raising of their Rents, taking of Farms into their hands, and making of inclosures, Noblemen and Gentlemen, alleaging the fault to be in Merchants and Artificers for selling things dearer then in times past, which caused every man to make the most of his own, and the Artificers and workmen raising their wages when they do buy all things dearer.
To which the Merchants in their ordinary and lawful course of Trade and Merchandize (without those lately practised illegal waye [...] of Ingrossings, when as one having bought up all the Pepper which was in London, and recruiting and adding more unto it, made thirty thousand pounds clear gain thereof) being more to be tollerated then other men, in regard of the hazard of Seas, Pirates and Imbargoes which many times attends their business and affairs do but very little contribute, but the disease and evil is more intrinsicke within our selves and at home, and proceeds (where it is not upon scarcity as of Corn, &c. which happeneth not often nor continueth long) not from the increase of money or people, but of pride, selfishness, oppressing of one another, and the non-execution of many good Laws which are yet in force and unrepealed, as may evidently appear to any that will but look back and su [...]vey our Bigone and former times.
For although money which notwithstanding the opinion of some learned men that pecunia was derived a pecude from the use of Cattle in exchange of other commodities, was as anciently in use as the times of Abraham and Jacob, be as it hath of long time been in this and many other pa [...]ts of the world, the exchange rule or measu [...]e in commutations and commerce, and should [Page 351] be in some sort the Par in the prices or rates of all Commodities to be bought or exchanged by it, yet the avarice and craft of people, never satisfied with gaining advantages one upon another, the power of some, and weakness of others in Estate or Judgements, have so far transgressed the rules which ought to be in that measure, or the Justice which every man owes one to another, an [...] to do as they would be done unto, as the plenty or want of money not abased or corrupted, is seldom (as to the generality) the cause of the dearness or cheapness of things▪ and if it could so happen or appear to be so, neither of them can be any causa potens, an onely or meer cause in it self of the dearth or cheapness, or the excessiveness of the prices or rates of provisions to be bought or provided with it.
It being not to be denyed but that the scarcity or want of money doth many times enforce a Tenant to sell his Corn or Cattle at cheaper rates and prices then he otherwise would do, whereby to be able to pay his Landlord his Rent at the time appointed; or an Indebted Gentlemen to sell his Lands much beneath the worth or true value of it, to avoid greater inconveniences, or [...]edeem himself out of the Pawes of a Panther like usurer, and his biting Interest; and that the plenty of mony at the same time in the buyer, makes it to be much cheaper unto him then otherwise it would have been, and renders the scarcity or want of money in the one, and the plenty of it in the other, to be a cause of the small rate or price of the commodity, or that which is sold; and howsoever it be admitted that the prices and rates of commodities or things to be bought with money, may sometimes have a respect or regard to the true and [Page 352] intrinsick value of the Coin or money which is to be given for it; and that at some times there may be more mony or Coin in a Kingdom then there is or can be at another time, yet that grand Witch or Inchantress which insinuates it self into most mens loves and affections (the small and contemptible (the more is the pitty) society of Scholars, Philosophers and Vertuosi's onely excepted) is so predominant and powerful, as Auri sacrafame [...], the greedy appetite of Gold and Silver, and the insatiablenes thereof veri [...]ying the long ago experimented saying of the Poet, that ‘Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crescit.’ the love of money increaseth as the money doth, will not allow us to believe that there is no hoarding or keeping it from the knowledge or use of others, or that there is such an equal distribution of it, that every one like the children of Israel gathering their Manna in the Desert, might go out and fill their Homers, or as much as might be sufficient for their necessary provisions, when this age wherein we live hath told us, that Sir William Craven an Alderman of London, could besides a great estate purchased in Land, leave at his death in money four hundred thousand pounds, which was more overplus and spare money then all the men in that large County of York, from whence originally he came, could make or cast into a Treasury. That Sir William Cokaine an Alderman of London, could within a few yeers after, notwithstanding great portions given unto two of his daughters in marriage, the one unto a Baron, & the other unto an Earl, dye possessed of a personal Estate [Page 353] worth 200000 l. and seised of such an Estate of Inheritance of his own getting, as enabled his son to be made an Irish Viscount, which was more then all the men in the County of Bedford, from whence he was discended, could have made in overplus and spare money; and that Paul Bayning an Alderman of London, could about the same time, besides an Estate in Land of inheritance, of almost six thousand pound per annum, make a totall of his personal Estate, of about one hundred and fourty thousand pounds, which was as much or more then many thousand men in the County of Essex could above their necessary expences make in [...]n overplus or sum of money.
And that if money were in England, as plentiful as it was in Jerusalem in the happy Raign of the wise King Solomon, when it was said to be in as much abundance as the stones in the streets, yet if Corn, Cattel, and food should be scarce, the greatest plenty of money we can imagine would not deliver us from that dearth which was in that Kingdom, not many years after, when Samaria was besieged, making the excessive rates of an Asses head, and a Kab of Pigeons Dung; and whether money be scarce or plentiful, if there should be a famine as it was in Israel when there had been no rain in three years, when the heavens were as brass, and the fruits of the earth failed, no man can with any reason believe that the great rates or prices of Corn, Victuals, and houshold provisions were because there was plenty of Gold & Silver, for if there be a scarcity of the thing to be bought, it must be the want of that, and not the abundance of money that makes the dearness, which if it be never so much cannot increase that little that is of the Commodity or [Page 354] thing to be bought, nor the want of money make it to be any cheaper; the want or plenty of it contributing in such a case nothing at all to the making that to be dear, which when there is more of it, will be sold at a cheaper rate & for a little money, & whether they that are to buy it have little or more of money, the want of money constraining him that sells to sell cheaper, and the great store of money, sometimes but not often or generally perswading the buyer to give more then one that hath not so much, will be d [...]awn to give for it.
For as it is true that in Virginia where their principal Barter or Exchange is by Tobacco instead of money, and is there many times used as their Coyn or money; that where any man there is in want of Tobacco, and must needs have it, he will be willing to give more Beavers Skins, or any other commodities which he hath for it, then he would otherwise do if Tobacco were more plentiful or easier to be had. And as certain likewise that when there is great store of Tobacco, and it is (in the language of Merchants and Tradesmen) but as a Drug and of little price or value, there will not be so much of other things or commodities given for it.
So it will be as true and certain that there is in no Kingdom or Country of Christendom, especially in our Brittain and other world where (howsoever some Cosmographers and Chartes or Mapps, would by a great mistake make Gold to be a Native) the Sun is not so amorous as to beget us Mines of Gold, nor is there any probability that there ever were any, neither is there any Tagus or River bringing any golden Sands along with it. And that which we have of Silver is but rarely and seldom intermixed, and lurking [Page 355] in our Mines of Lead; there can be no ground for our belief or reason that there should be such a disesteem or under valuing of Gold and Silver, in regard of any plenty of it, as was amongst the Americans or West Indians, when they would give great quantities of it for Knives, Beads, or other Toys which the novelty of them or their desires to have them, made to be pretious, or that there should ever be such a surfet of Gold and Silver which most of the sons of men do desire to get or keep, as to make all things dear which are to be bought with it, or to hinder that cheapness of things to be bought with it, which will be of necessity where there happens to be an abundance, which is the true and never failing cause of cheapness abstracted and altogether a stranger to any supposed plenty of money, neither the want of money or plenty of it, being generally any sole proper or efficient cause of cheapness or dearness, which residing in the commodity to be bought or fold tanquam in subjecta materia, as in its matter or subject regulates and makes the price when there are no fraudes or Artifices to disturbe it according as there is a scarcity or plenty of that which is to be bought or sold, which is the cause that the scarcity of money hath not in all ages made or enforced a cheapness of commodities or houshold provisions to be bought with it, nor a plenty of money made a dearness or enhaunce of prices, nor any thing like or within many degrees of that which is n [...]w or [...]ath been within forty years last past, and they therefore will err toto Caelo, who by misplacing th [...] cause, would make the plenty or scarcity of the mensura or money to be either the cause of the scarcity or plenty, dearness or cheapness of the Mensurata or things to be bought with [Page 356] it, as by a retrospect into the course of former times and ages may be plainly manifested.
Where we may find the Britaines when the Barbarians drave them back to the Sea, and the Sea put them back to the Barbarians, grievously tormented with a famine and mortality which raged in the Land; and with great desolations wrought by that dearth,Hig [...]on in [...]ibli [...]eca Cattoni [...]na. and after they had by repressing their enemies gained some peace, and that produced such a plenty and abundance of all things, as the like before no age had seen, to have faln into great Riots and Excesses, plenty of money (there being then none or little in the Land) not being any cause of the dearth or scarcity, nor scarcity of the mony of the plenty of provisions.
The Saxons being oppressed with the invasion of the Danes, and enforced to pay them a Composition of sixteen thousand pounds, shortly after twenty thousand pounds, afterwards twenty four, then thirty, and lastly fourty thousand pounds, untill all the Land was emptyed of all her Coyne, did not find their Victuals to be cheap in regard of their want of money, but Victuals and all things to be bought with it to be dear by reason of the spoil of wars and Murrain of Cattel.
And they having in Anno Domini 1066▪ met with Talions Law, and the Divine vindicta, or punishment for their perfidiousness to the Britaines hastened by their excess of pride, the women wearing as Ordericus vitalis, a contemporary of William the Conqueror tells us far longer Trains or Garments then was necessary, and the men striving to overtake the pride and vanity of Absolom in his hair or Bush of Excrement, and so subdued and conquered as they were enforced to be shaved [Page 357] and wear their hair shorter, their Lands being given away to his Normans, the greatest part of the Nobility and Gentry extirped, many of the common people glad to be vassals and Tenants to those Lands which before were their own, and had nothing to recompence their losses, but the retaining of their good old Laws; and their Masters and Conquerors having gathered all the money and riches of the Kingdom into their Chests and possessions, there was, after the harrassed English had gained some peace, and that the long languishing Olive branches began again to recover their Sap and Verdure, so small an improvement of the rent of Land amongst the Normans plenty of money as in the valuation of Lands in the sixteenth year of the raign of William the Conqueror, there was such a wonderful small value put upon Lands, fifty or sixty and more to one less then it is now (the commodities and Cattel raised thereupo [...], being in all probability proportionable thereunto) as in Drayton no unfruitful place in Cambridgeshire, Hist. Ingulph. & libe [...] Censualis, or Domesday. the Abbot of Croyland had fourteen or fifteen yard Lands, twelve Villaines, three Bordmen, three Soccage Tenants and two Meadows, which in the time of Edward the Confessor, were of the value of five pounds per annum, and at that time but four pounds and ten shillings.
In the Raign of King Henry the first, which began his Raign in the year of our Lord one thousand one hundred, when the Normans had something more improved their Lands and possessions, their plenty of money made out of the English miseries,Iu ingro lib. Sceti. & in glossar Henrici Spelman in voce Fi [...]ma. did not banish their cheapness of victuals and provisions, but left them at those small rates of one shilling for the Carcase of an Ox, and four pence for a sheep, and no more for the [Page 358] Provender of twenty horses, the Denarius or English penny then being probably as the Roman which was but the fourth part of an ounce of Silver which in coyn or money made no more then twenty pence.Camdens Remaines.
In the latter end of the Raign of King Richard the first, who began his Raign in Anno Domini, one thousand one hundred eighty nine,Ho [...]eden part posterior, 424. and after his redemption from his imprisonment by the Emperor of Germany in his return from the Holy Land, when money was so scarce in England as to make up the sum of one hundred thousand Marks for his ransome, the Church Plate and Chalices were pawned, an Oxe or Cow was but of the price of four shillings, a Hogg ten pence, a sheep of the finer Wooll ten pence, and six pence of the courser.
In the Raign of King Edward the first, whose raign commenced in the year of our Lord God one thousand two hundred fifty two, when there was as much plenty of mony as peace, and an increase of Trade under his [...]appy and prudent Government, Scotland conquered and subdued, and such a plenty of money, as some Esterlings or men of Germany, from whom our Sterling money is well conjectured by Sir Henry Spelman, to receive its denomination) were here imployed to coyn our money; the Market price of an Oxe was eight shillings and six pence; twenty six seames (or sums or horse-loads, or quarters) of Barley was at fourty three shillings, Extent m [...]ne [...] de [...]i [...]burgh p [...]incipis, 27. E. 1. a quarter of Oats for fourteen pence; and the yearly value of an Acre of Meadow was in Buckinghamshire, apud altum firmam, at the Rack, but eight pence per Acre, and so small a power had the plenty of mony then upon the price of victuals, as upon the payment of mony [Page 359] agreed to be paid upon a Bond or Deed (which was not likely to be for any long time) as the Case at Law tempore, E. 1. Cited in 9. E. 4. informs us the price of a quarter of Barley, which was at the time of the making of the Bond or Deed but three shillings a quarter, was before the time of payment for it,In qu [...]t [...]am baga entitulat. Rageman apud Recept. Sc [...]i [...]. come to be thirty and two shillings a quarter, which might happen from some other causes, and not at all by reason of any extraordinary store of money which the Kingdom was then blessed withal.
In the eighth year of the Raign of King Edward the second, which was in the year of our Lord God one thousand three hundred and fifteen, a Parliament was assembled at London, where all or most of the Prelates and great Lords of England, were with the Commons assembled, [...]aith, Thomas Walsingham, Walsingham hist. Ang [...]ae, 106▪ ad tractandum de statu regni & alleviatione rerum venalium (a matter now mo [...]e then ever necessary) to consult of the State of the Kingdom, and the taking down the price of victuals which saith Walsingham was then so high, ut vix posset vivere plebs communis, as the common people could scarce live, and would have been in a worse condition if the Landlords had then let their Lands at the Rack, or beyond the value, as many of them do now, and many of the houshold provisions had been sold as they are now more then twenty times, and others ten or fifteen times more then they were then, where it was ordained that an Ox not fed with grain, should be sold for sixteen shillings, and if with grain and fat for four and twenty shillings, and no more; a fat Cow of the best sort for twelve shillings, a fat Hogg of two years old three shillings and four pence, a Mutton fat and shorn for fourteen [Page 360] pence, and for one that was unshorn, one shilling eight pence, a Goose for two pence half penny, a Hen for a penny, and four Pigeons for a penny. And though immediately after in the same year there followed such a very great famine, as Flesh and Corn were scarcely to be had, Hens and Geese seldom found, Pigs and Swine, wanted Food, and Sheep dyed of the Rot or Murrain, yet a quarter of Malt was sold for a Mark, and a quarter of Corn for twenty shillings; and upon the great dearth which happened in the next year after, making such a famine, as Horse-flesh was good Diet for the poor, and causing a repeal of the Act of Parliament which was made the year before touching the price of Victuals, three quarts of strong Beer was then sold for three pence, and of small for two pence, which in that sad and horrid famine the Magistrates of London understood to be so unreasonable, as they prohibited it to be sold at so high a rate, in the City, and ordained that no more then three half pence should be taken for three quarts of strong Beer, and a penny for small; and the King by his Proclamation likewise commanded that in all parts of the Kingdom three quarts of Beer should not be sold for more then a penny.
In the 21. year of the Raign of King Edward the third, notwithstanding any enhaunce of prices made or occasioned by the great famine which was in the eight and ninth years of the Raign of King Edward the second his Father, and the continuance of it for four or five years afterwards by reason of the Murrain of Cattel, and a more then ordinary unseasonableness of those years, twenty quarters of Corn were furnished for the Kings use and taken by the Sheriff of Kent at eleven [Page 361] shillings the quarter, as appeareth by a Tally struck fo [...] the payment thereof, yet extant in his Majesties Receipt of the Exchequer,In Rec [...]pt Sca [...] ca [...]ii. and although that in the year next following by reason of a peace with France, and the great victories before obtained against it by the English, when the King was rich and the people rich, which makes a Kingdom compleatly rich, with the riches and spoiles gained thereby, and that great store of Gold and Silver, Plate, Jewels, and rich vestiments sparsim per Angliam in singulorum domibus, were almost in every house in England to be found, and that in the 23. year of the Raign of the said King, so great a mortality of men and Cattle happned ut vix media aut decima pars hominum remaneret, as scarce a third par [...] and as some were of opinion, not above a tenth part of the people remained alive, which must needs have made a plenty of money, & tunc redditus perierunt, saith the Historian,Walsingham hist. Angliae, 168. hinc terra ob defectum Colonorum qui nusquam erant remansit inculta tantaque miseria ex bis malis est secuta quod mundus ad pristinum statum redeundi nunquam postea habuit facultatem, insomuch as Rents (or Tenants) for Lands were not to be had, the Lands for want of husbandmen, remained untilled (which would necessarily produce a dearth and scarcity of Victuals) And so great was the misery as the Kingdom was never like to recover its former condition.
And that in the 25. year of the Raign of King Edward the third, by reason of the Kings coyning of groats and half groats,Walsingham hist. Angl [...]ae 169. less in value then the Esterling money, Victuals were through all England more dear then formerly, and the Workmen, Artificers, and servants raised their Wages yet in Anno 12 R. 2. though [Page 362] there was a great dearth, yet Wooll was sold for two shillings a Stone, a Bushel of Wheat for thirteen pence, Sir Richard Bakers [...]h [...]onicle or hist. of England, 166. which was then thought to be a great rate, a Bushel of Wheat being sold the year before for six pence.
And in Anno 14. of King R. 2. in an account made in the Receipt of the Exchequer by Roger Durston the Kings Bayliff,In qua [...]am [...]aga [...]. R [...]geman in Recept. Scacca [...]i he reckons for three Capons paid for Rent four pence half penny, for thirteen Hens, one shilling and seven pence, for a P [...]ow [...]share paid for Rent eight pence, and for four hundred Couple of Conies at three pence a couple, one hundred shillings.
In Anno 2 H. 5. the Parliament understood four pounds thirteen shillings four pence to be a good yearly a [...]lowance or salary for a Chaplain,2 H. 5. cap. 2. being men of more then ordinary quality (so g [...]eat a cheapness was there then of Victuals and other provisions for the livelihood of men) and for Parish Priests, six pounds per annum for their Board, Apparrel, and other necessaries; and being to provide that Jurors which were to be impanelled touching the life of man Plea Real or Forty Marks damage should be as the Statute of 42 E. 3. c. 5. required men of substance, good estate and credit, did ordain that none should be Jurors in such cases but such as had fourty shillings per annum in Lands above all charges, which was so believed to be a good estate in 5 H. 8. c. 5. which was almost one hundred years after, as the Parliament of that year did think it to be an estate competent enough for such kind of men.
In the Raign of King Henry the sixth, after that France, a great and rich neighboring kingdom was wholy conquered and possessed by the English, who had [Page 363] not then learned their waste [...]ul Luxuries or Mimick fashions, and could not with such an increase of Dominion and so great spoils and riches transported from thence hither, but be abundantly and more then formerly full of money; the price and rates of Victuals was so cheap, as the King could right worshipfully, as the Record saith, keep his Royal Court, which then could be no mean one with no greater a charge then four and twenty thousand pounds per annum; and in the 33. year of his raign, which was in Anno Domini, one thousand four hundred fifty and five,Rot. Par [...] ▪ 33. H. 6. by assent of Parliament granted to his son the Prince of Wales, but one thousand pound per annum, whilst he had Dirt and Lodging for himself and his servants in his house, until he should come to the age of eight years, and afterwards no more then 2000. Marks per annum for the charge of his Wardrobe, Wages of servants, and other necessa [...]y expences, whilst he remained in the house of the King his [...]ather, which was then thought sufficient to support the honor and dignity of the Prince and heir apparent of England, though now such a sum of money can by some one that m [...]ndeth his pleasure more then his estate, and the present more then the future, be thrown away in one night or day at Cards or Dice.
In Anno 37 H. 6.Inquis. inter e [...]idencias Johann [...]. Ferrers [...]rn [...]ge [...]i. Meadow in Derbyshire was valued but at ten pence per Acre, and errable Land at three pence.
In the 22. year of the Raign of King Edward the fourth,Ter [...]ino P [...]che 2 [...]. [...]. [...]. which was [...]n the year of our Lord one thousand four hundred eighty and two, the price and value of six Oxen was at the highest valuation but ten pounds.
In the seventh year of the Raign of King H▪ 7. which [Page 364] was in Anno Domini one thousand four hundred ninety and two, Wheat was sold at London for twenty pence the Bushel, which was then accounted a great dearth, and three years after for six pence the Bushel; Bay Salt for three pence half penny, Namp [...]wich Salt for six pence the Bushel, white Herrings nine shillings the Barrel, red Herrings three shillings the Cade; in the fifteenth year of his Raign Gascoign Wine was sold at London for fourty shillings the Tun; and a quarter of Wheat for four shillings.
In the 24. year of the Raign of King Henry the 8. a fat Ox was sold at London for 26 s. & an half peny a pound for Beef and Pork,24 H. 8 cap 3. and a half penny farthing a pound for Veal and Mutton, was by Act of Parliament thought to be a reasonable price, and with gain enough afforded.
In the fourth year of the Raign of Queen Mary, which was in the year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred fifty and seven, when very many families and multitudes of the people of England had been but a little before greatly monyed & enriched by the lands & spoil or the Monasteries and other Religious houses and their large possessions, Wheat was sold before Harvest for four Marks the quarter, Malt at four and fourty shillings the quarter, and Pease at six and fourty shillings and eight pence, S [...]r Richard Bakers history of England. but after Harvest Wheat was sold at London for five shillings the quarter, Malt at six shillings eight pence; and Rye at three shillings four pence the quarter, and in the Country Wheat was sold for four shillings the quarter, Malt at four shillings eight pence, and in some places a Bush [...]l of Rye for a pound of Candles, which was worth but four pence,
In the eighteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, when [Page 365] the Act of Parliament was made in favour of the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, that the Colledges and Halls should take a third part of their rents in Corn, Malt,18 Eliz cap. 6. &c. the price of a quarter of Wheat was valued but at six shillings eight pence the quarter, and Malt at five shillings, and the Tenants or Lessees might (if it should be cheaper) make their election to pay them after the rate as it should be the next Market day before their rents should grow due.
Anno 25. Eliz. four good Leggs of Mutton could be bought in London for four shillings, two Roasting Piggs for two shillings and six pence, four Pullets for four shillings four pence, and four Leggs of Pork for four shillings and six pence, which may prove that the Compositions for Pourveyance made with the County of Essex in or about the fourth year of her blessed Raign for six shillings eight pence a quarter of Wheat, six shillings eight pence for a Mutton, no more for a Pork, and eighteen pence for a Hen▪ was if not more or as much, but a very little below the Market. In Anno 34. Eliz. after her many glorious successes against the Spanish King, with whom she had no commerce or alliance to bring any fruits of his golden Mines into England, and the many plunderings and ransackings of his Indian Treasurs by our famous Drake, and his worthy contemporaries in their high adventures, and the enriching of our Land and people thereby, that, or any other plenty of money, did not so increase (if at all it had been able) our Market prices, for food and houshold provisions, but that they might be bought at London at lesse then half the rate they are now at, and the whole charges of a plentiful Dyet [Page 366] for a society of twenty four Gentlemen of no ordinary quality or condition with Beef, Mutton, Beer, Bread, Rabits, Chickens, Geese, Capons, Piggs, Fish, Sawses and Oysters, and the charges of Fire, Washing of Table Clothes and Napkins, the Cooks and Butlers Salaries, and all other appu [...]tenant expences of household Provisions, with Suppers as well as Dinners came then by the week but unto six pound five shillings and fou [...] pence, which amounted unto very little more then five shillings a man. In Anno 43. Eliz. two necks of Mutton were bought for one shilling and ten pence, and four large Shoulders of Mutton for five shillings six pence, and a weeks Commons for the same society and number of quality which might have contented Justices of Peace and men of worsh [...]p, came but to eight pound ten shillings seven pence, which charged every man with little more then seven shill [...]ngs a peece.
In Anno 20. Jac. after that England had suffered too many of the hungry & never satisfied Scotish Nation, not only to pertake of her plenties here, but to carry home all the monies and riches which an over kind & gracious Soveraign sending away few of their desires unanswered, had so liberally distributed amongst them, and the more then formerly profusions & expences of [...]ur own nation, making such a scarcity of money as might have made provisions for housekeeping cheap, if the supposed Rule of plenty of money would make them dear, the rates of victuals and provisions met with some augmentation notwithstanding more then needed.
And in quarto Car. primi, when too many mens unnecessary expences, and the higher rack and rent of Lands had informed every man that victuals and household [Page 367] provisions were dearer then they should have been, the rates and prices of diet and houshold provisions be-but a little more advanced.
And the stretch of prices and rates of victuals and houshold provisions, from that time keeping pace with the rack and increasing of Rents, or rather out going them, and so far surpassing the bounds of reason and moderation, as well as the customs and usage of former times and ages, as a Tenant by several Leases of a Farm in the County of Essex, almost fourty miles distant from London of no extraordinary Lands, being raised since the beginning of the Raign of King James from five and twenty pounds per annum, to eight & thirty pounds per annum, after that to sixty pounds per annum, was most unconscionably turned out of his Farm this present yeer, because he could not afford to give his [...]acking Landlord, one hundred Marks per annum, and too many of the Landlords, Tenants, and Selle [...]s vying who should most drain and disadvantage the purses of the buyers, or those which had need of their Lands or Commodities (as if God Almighty the revenger of oppressions and relief, at one time or another, or by one way or another of such as suffer by it, had onely made and ordained mankind to devour and take advantages one of another) have so brought the Markets and prices of houshold provisions, from those formerly more moderate, gentle and easie to those immoderate and unconscionable rates which are now imposed upon the buyers, as we may plainly see from whence they do proceed, and that the raising and increase of the price of the ounce of Silver could not cause or effect them.
For although that our Denarius, both Anglo, Saxonick [Page 368] and Norman had more weight and Silver in it when the ounce of Silver was valued but at twenty then when it was at thirty pence, and that had more weight and Silver in it then when it was at fourty or five and fourty pence, then as it is now at five shillings the ounce, and that a Denarius or English peny, is but now the sixtieth part of an ounce; and that when it was in the raign of King Henry the sixth, raised to thirty pence the ounce, in regard of the enhauncing of mony in foraign parts, & that our Denarius or penny passed as Mr. Malines saith in his Lex Mercatoria for three half pence, and in the raign of King Edward the fourth for two pence, when the ounce of Silver was raised to fourty pence, and so continued untill the raigns of King Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth, Malines Lex Mercatoria. and was then valued a three pence, because the ounce of Silver was enhaunced to sixty pence or five shillings, and that all three pences coyned by that Queen did weigh but a peny weight, and the six pence but a two penny weight, which is rather to be understood as to the weight of the penny or two pence in the coyning or mynting of it, then to the denomination of it or the value as the people did receive or pay it in Commerce and exchange, when as six single pence or three two pences we [...]e then as they are now esteemed & taken for no less then a six pence in one intire peice of coyn, and a Queen Elizabeths six pence doth now pass in payment for three times the value of a two pence, yet our Caesars value or rate put upon it making our now Denarius or penny to be current at the rate or value which the former Denarius or peny was, and the King giving at his Mint or Exchange for those or any other coyns of Silver, after the rate as the ounce of Silver [Page 369] is now at; and the buyers of things or commodities can put it away in payment for a peny, and the seller can pass it away for as much as he received it, there is no wrong at all done by it when it passeth in England (though the intrinsick value will be onely looked upon in Foraign parts) for a greater value then it is, as in some of the Heathen Countries, where Rice and sometimes Cocao Nuts pass for their money, or as the Dutch have done when some of their Towns have been streightly besieged in allowing the Townesmen and [...]arrison to make use of Tynne, Leather,Philippus Caesius a Zesen in Leone Belgico. or Paper for money, and not onely promised but at the raising of the siege rendred them in good money as much as that went or was taken for, or as our King James did when he made good Queen Elizabeths promise, and paid good money for that Copper or base money which her necessities in the Irish wars had made use of for the present, or as our farthing Tokens or brass did no hurt but a great deal of good when they went for more then the intrinsick worth or value: And therefore such high rates and prices of victuals and houshold provisions may well be understood to be the product of other causes, and not of any plenty of money which could not cause either a scarcity of provisions (which is one of the grand causes of high rates and prices) or when there is a plen [...]y of provisions enforce any great rates and prices for them.
But if it should be otherwise, and that the valuing of Coyn, above their true and real values should have no small influence upon the prices and rates of food and houshold provisions, yet they did not always proceed passibus aequis, keep even pace one [Page 370] with another, when as from the ra [...]sing of the ounce of Silver to fourty five pence; those peices of Coyn which went before for a penny, were as Mr. Malines saith, taken in payment in the Raigns of King Henry the eighth, Edward the sixth, and Queen Mary for two pence, and when the ounce of Silver came to be five shillings or sixty pence in the Raign of Queen Elizabeth, went for three pence though it waighed but a penny waight, the prices or rates of victuals and houshold prov [...]sions would not keep company with the intrinsick value of the money; but conten [...]ing themselves with the denomination or what it was then or is since onely curr [...]nt for, are at this day gone excessively beyond the rise of the ounce of Silver, & so unreasonably as they do exceed all measure and reason; & those proportions which were formerly holden betwixt the coyn and the Bullion; and Master Malines in his book called Lex Mercatoria, attributting all or or the most part of the dearness of all sorts of houshold provisions to the raising of the Rents of Lands, Gerard Malines Lex Mercatoria, 47. & 147. will hardly be able to reconcile that contradiction with what he seemeth at the same time to be very positive in, that according to plenty or scarcity of mony, commodities, do▪ generally become dear or good cheap; and that so it came to pass of late years that every thing is enhaunced in price by the aboundance of Bullion moneys which come from the West Indies into Europe, and the money it self being altered by valuation, caused the measure to be made lesser, whereby the number did increase to make up the tale, being augmented by denomination from twenty to forty, and in later years, from forty five to sixty, it being always to be remembred that the rareness or scarcity of every thing doth augment the value, and that it is the [Page 371] value which begets an esteem and makes it precious, and that Silver being in the infancy of the world very much esteemed and valued, and hath to the decrepit and old age of the world more & more increased its value and esteem, the rising of the price or rate of the ounce of Silver by King Henry the sixth, King Henry the eight, and Queen Elizabeth might as well proceed from the scarcity of it, as from any policy or reason of State to keep our Silver at home, and not permit it to be carryed away by Foraign Princes enhances, or putting a denomination upon it over and above its real value, or to keep the ballance of Trade and Commerce even betwixt us and them; and that as it hath been rationally enough said by some that the denomination of coyn passeth by the connivance of the Magistrate insensibly, and as much without damage or inconvenience to the people, as the permissive monies have done amongst Brokers and Merchants Cashiers, and as it is now daily experimented by the Brass or Copper farthing since the causeless suspention of the farthing tokens by the late over turning Reformers (because they were established by his late Majesties Letters Patents, or upon some other new found Politick pretences) which some Tavern keepers and Chandlers do take the boldness to stamp with an inscription of their own names and places of abode.
And it would be near of kin to a wonder, & the reason of it lye everlastingly hid & undiscovered, that any plenty of monys here should so swell our rates and prices, and make every thing dear which is to be bought with it, and make a plenty of provisions to be as a scarcity, when as there have been no such effects or consequences [Page 372] thereof found amongst other Nations.
For the Hollanders who by the Artifice of their Banks and greatness of their Trade, do give laws to all the commerce and money of Christendom, and a great part of the Pagan Nations, and in their long wars with the King or Spain for above sixty years together have been a means to waste & consume all the Gold and money which his Indies or other large and over taxed Dominions could furnish, and had it spent upon or amongst them, and having little Lands of their own, but much of their provisions and victuals from the neighboring Countries and Nations could not in that great plenty of money and Trade, wherein they are known to abound, live so cheaply as they might (if the heavy burden of continual Taxes and Excise which are there the onely or a great part of the cause of their dearness were separate and abstracted from the natural and genuine rates and prices thereof) where Fish, Fowl, Carrets, Turneps, Apples, Pears, and many other houshold provisions, are (notwithstanding the burden of their Excise) much cheaper then in England, if store or plenty of money could be any efficient cause of high rates and prices for victuals and houshold provisions.
In France the Paysants which are the greatest part of the people, will tell us that there is mony little enough, and that there would (if it were not for their Hydras and multitudes of Taxes and Gabels) be cheapness enough of all manner of houshold provisions, when their Wines and flesh notwithstanding that or any supposed plenty of money are cheap enough.
In Scotland the moneys and riches which that Nation gained from England by King James his coming to [Page 373] the English Crown, and the bounties of that King and his Son King Charles the Martyr, with the three hundred thousand pounds sterling, for brotherly assistance given to a factious and Rebellious part of them, by a party of Covenanting English Rebels, to ruine their King and the race and posterity of their benefactors, together with the two hundred thousand pounds sterling, far exceeding the pay as well as wickedness of their Master Judas, given them to sell their pious and distressed King (who in a confidence of their Covenanting pretences, Faith and promises had fled to their Army for refuge, which with the help of his loyal English subjects might easily have preserved him as well as themselves from the miseries and destruction which afterwards happened) never appeared to be any cause of the dearness of victuals and houshold provisions more then ordinary, or what proceeded from other accidents or causes.
In Germany, where the Bavarian Silver Mines have of late made a plenty of it, and every petty Prince and principality hath a regality and priviledge of coyning, their Dollars are much allayed and mixed with a baser mettal, and their Hanse and Imperial Cities do enjoy a great commerce by Sea and Land, they do not complain of the high rates and prices of victuals and houshold provisions.
The Kingdom of Sweden whose Copper Mines are their Indies, and do furnish plenty of Copper money, with a value in its weight and materials as much as their denominations which the coyns of Gold and Silver, necessarily requiring an allay and some mixture are never blessed with, hath in a plenty of that base money, no [Page 374] high rates or prices upon their native commodities, but [...] reasonable as fish enough may be bought for three pence to dine twenty men.
Rome which receives the money as well as feet of many strangers, is the Mart or Forum for the dispatch of most of the Ecclesiastical, and too much of the civil affairs of the Catholike Nations, and by her claimed Vicariat or Lieutenancy from Jesus Christ, and an Empire in Ecclesiastical affairs hath her Taxes, Tenths, first fruits, Oblations, Jubilees, Indulgences, pardons, and other attractions of money, large Territories, Church Land Revenues, and the disposal of many priviledges and principalities, and famous Channels cut for the Gold and Silver of the Catholike and most enriched Nations, to run into the Ocean of its ever filling and never emptying Treasury, can at the same time whilst she fits as Queen and delights her self in the several Magazines and Store-houses of her abundance of riches, enjoy a very great plenty and cheapness of houshold provisions.
The Commonwealth of Venice with her wonderful Amass of Treasurs, by which she hath for some years last past made wars with the g [...]and Seignior, the Behemoth and Leuiathan of the East doth, notwithstanding as she did before those wars bless her inhabitants with a competent cheapness.
The Kingdom of Naples and Dutchy of Milan who with their Garrisons and Armies of Spaniards to the natives in a forced and unwilling obedience are the expenditors and wasters of much of the King of Spaines incomes from India and other his Dominions, do not finde that to be the cause or occasion of any dearth [Page 375] or high prices of victuals amongst them.
The grand Duke of Florence with his great commerce and riches brought into that Country by granting of great priviledges to his Port of Legorn, and the Merchants of other Nations trading thither, filling his subjects and people with more then formerly and ordinary plenty of money did not thereby so establish the unhappiness of buying their victuals and provisions at unreasonable prices, but that there, as well as in other principalities and Provinces of Italy (which by the Trade of Legorn and neighborhood of Rome, and her Ecclesiastical Merchandize are greatly enriched) there is so little reason for an enhaunce of the prices and rates of food or provisions as they can be honest gainers by an easie Banda or Reiglement of what is to be paid for them.
In Spain where the common people do onely hear of the arrival of many millions of Gold and Silver from the West Indies, and have little of that but a great deal of black money or Maravedis, their great rates for flesh do not arise from the abundance of their money, either of the one kinde or of the other, but from the barrenness of the Country and the little use thereof, procuring no dearness in their Oranges, Olives, and Lymmons and other fruits, and delicacies of that mountainous Country.
In the East Indies which is one of the Suns darlings, whether our English Merchants carry more mony then they should, & where their mountains & hills bring forth great quantities of precious stones and Jewels, Gold and Silver, and bestows upon them an abundance thereof, enough to adorn themselves and the people [Page 376] of the utmost Isles, there are no high rates put upon food or victuals.
In China, where there is no want of money, they have Rice and other meat for the sustenance of man very cheap, and to be had for almost nothing in the Philippina Islands, three Hens were sold not long ago for a Rial, which is no more then six pence English mony; a Dear for two Rials, and a Hogg for eighteen.
And our Countriman Mr. Gage in his journey in Anno 1625. from St. John de Ulhua to Mexico in the West Indies, where the world had as it were laid up its Treasures of Gold and Silver, found Beef, Mutton, Kid, Hens, Turkies, Fowles and Quailes to be so plentiful and cheap as he was astonished at it, nor was it any store of money in Virginia, which heightened there for some times the prices of all things, but the Merchants giving greater sums of money to the Savages then they needed, neither in New England in Anno 1636. when a Cow was sold for two and twenty pounds, which the next yeer after upon the arrival of more might be had for eight pounds.
And as little is any supposed plenty of money in old England, when three millions of Gold (too much of which is since transported) were coined here betwixt the yeers 1622. and 1630▪ and two hundred thousand pounds per annum brought hither from Spain to be coined for some years betwixt that and 1640. (now no more coming so long a voyage to our Min [...]) the cause or reason of those excessive and intollerable p [...]ices and rates of victuals and houshold provisions, even to an oppression of the buyers, and a consumption of their estates, [Page 377] making the greatest most universal and extended g [...]ievances and oppression of the Nation.
When as there is and hath been for some yeers of late in England, the greatest want of money and Trade which should introduce and procure it that ever it languished and groaned under for three hundred years last past, by an universal poverty, and want of it by reason of twenty years great and heavy Taxes which yearly enforced and called for more money then the King of Spain, during that time, received for his West Indies for his own account, or England ever paid in Taxes, all being summed up together in the space of 500. years before, together with a gene [...]al pride & luxury since wasting and carrying away that little that was left of our money, whilst all or the most of our Gold have been inticed and transported into Foraign Countries by reason of the fineness of our Standard, and their putting a greater value upon our coyne, much of our Silver hath in coyne or Plate been carried into Ireland and Scotland, and from thence or from England into Foraign parts, and that little which remained of it together with a great part of our Silver converted into Gold and Silver Lace, or other vain and needless manufactures, some millions of money imployed here by the Dutch at interest, because that their own Country, yeelded not above four per cent. for it, called home and taken away by reason of our distempers and troubles, the bringing of interest by our usu [...]ping Legislators to six per cent. whereby to advance the sale of loyal mens lands which they had without law or reason taken from them, eighty thousand pounds in coyne and Silver Bullion, or Ingotts of our [Page 378] small [...]emainder of mony yearly carryed out of England by our East Indian company into the East Indies or Persia, to purchase Spices & many superfluous and transmarine commodities, without which our forefathers could live longer, more plentifully and healthy then now they do. And so little money left in the Nation in general or amongst the common people, as they are many of them being dragged by their necessities, enforced to endure the greatest bitings and extortions from the Usurers, and the Cancer or Gangreen of Usury & Brokage grown so high and intollerable, as by a judicious computation lately made there are no less then 3000. publike and private Brokers and Harpies in and about the City of London, taking fourty, sixty, or eighty per cent. far exceeding that of the Jews, or the Caursini, when they to [...]m [...]nted England with their unmerciful Usuries untill they were banished many of our Merchants by reason of the adulterating of our Commodities, and taking away the credit of them, or by the inticements of an unlawful gain buying their Corants at Zant, and Silks and other Commodities in the Levant and Turky, with pieces of eight, and their Deal and Timber in Norway with Dollars, which hath made such a scarcity and want, as all the Silver money coyned in the Kingdom by the late Parliament so called, with their dolorous Cross and ill tuned Harp, amounted when it was called into the Mint after his Majesties restoration to no more, with some store of Brass, Copper, or Lead counterfeit money crept in amongst it, then five hundred thousand pounds sterling, or thereabouts; and that which went about of the Coynes of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles the Martyr, not being [Page 379] estimated to be much above as much more, no [...] making a total with both, included together of more then a million and a half of sterling monies, which amongst four millions of people, if that should be the account of the number of the inhabitants, men, women and children in England, there being not likely to be many less, would afford but seven shillings and six pence to every one, and if the money in the Kingdom should as some have guessed it more at random, then upon certainty or p [...]obability amount unto twenty seven hundred thousand pounds, or to make it numerum rotundum, for the more even and easie computing of it three millions sterling would yeild every one but fifteen shillings, which renders the mony of the kingdom to be lamentably scarce & too little for the people, & may without the blame of being over sanguine or credulous induce any man to believe that the credit which the people have one with another, far exceeds the money of the Nation, that they which are any thing rich in the Kingdom, the Nobility, Gentry, and such as live upon their Lands and Estats without trading onely excepted, are but as the Pikes in the Ponds or Rivers which devour and feed upon the multitude and smaller Frye of F [...]shes, that there is no such plenty of money now in England, when poverty and want are as Regiments of armed men breaking in upon every County and part of England and Wales, the lamentations of the poor and such as are undone for want of trade and imployments, are as the noise of many waters, and the excessive rates and prices of victuals and houshold provisions are to seek for some other causes or originals, then a supposed plenty of money, when as there is no housekeeper but feels the burden [Page 380] and smart of them, and may hear almost every body, not as Usurers which do it to conceal their money from such as might over importune them to borrow it, or to heighten the necessities of such as they may scrue up to their exactions, or in a greedy humor or appetite never think they have money enough, but as a people exhausted and impoverished by wars and luxury, lamenting their want of money, and that every Town, Corporation, City and County of the Kingdom, the more vain and prodigal part of the people who make hast to spend all that they have or can come at onely exepted have too many symptomes and signs of a poverty and want of Trade, and tire themselves with the complaints of it.
And it cannot be either want or plenty of money which causeth such extraordinary rates and prices of food and houshold provisions, servants and workmens wages, greatness of Rents, and the intollerable and unreasonable prices of all that are to be bought either for the Belly or the Back, now more then it was twenty years ago, and then more then it was some hundred years before, making the sin of oppression and cozening one another, to rise like the waters of Noahs Flood prevailing and increasing greatly, but the wickedness in the hearts of men doing and devising evil continually, oppressing, and cheating one another.
For it was not an abundance of mony that hath made Beef to be at three pence, Mutton four pence a pound, and to be much dearer at Christmas and other Festivals, then at other times in the year but an evil custome only, & the will & pleasure of the Butchers, or that hath raised [...]he Board wages of a Footmen to be seven shillings [Page 381] and a valect du Chambre or extraordinary Servingman ten shillings a week, that makes good Butter to be at nine pence a pound, when it was within this twenty years commonly one year with another but at six pence per pound, and three Eggs a g [...]oat; a Maid-servants wages to be four pounds a year, and a Ploughmans five or six pounds a yeer, but because the Maids will wear Silkes and Gold and Silver Lace, and the Clowns their clothes after the Gentlemans mode or [...]ashion, or that hath doubled workmens wages, but because they will eat of the finest sorts of meat, and be as Trim as pride and Ribbons can make them.
That causes Milk at London in a time of as many or more Cowes and Pasturage then ever, to be at one penny a qua [...]t for some little time in Summer, and three half pence and some times seven farthings a quart all the year after, when as Iohn Stow not long ago deceased, hath left it amongst his memorials, that in his youth he fetched many a half penny wo [...]th of Milk from a Farm by the Minories near London, and never had less then three Ale pintes for a half penny in the Summer, nor less then two Ale pintes for a half penny in the Winter. Nor any excess of money that brings many poor Artizans and their pittiful fed Families to do suite and service to the Chandlers, who having made their Mathematical Lines upon their Cheeses, can enforce them to be content with such small penny worths of that, and such farthings-worth of Butter, as they shall think fit to allow them.
No such scarcity of fruit nor store of mony two years ago amongst Gallants as to make a dozen of Pears cost six and thirty shillings, or of Peermains this year, when [Page 382] a dozen of them may be bought by others for a penny to give a penny a peece for them, but the small acquaintance of those that gave it with their forefathers frugalities.
Nor any discovery of a new Indies or Atlantick Islands that makes twenty shillings a pound to be given for Cherries, or ten shillings a peck for green Pease, but because their fancies or disorderly appetites will not tarry untill the Markets come to be cheaper, when Cherries may be had for a groat a pound, and a peck of as good or better Pease for the same price, and can give twenty shillings for a small Apricock▪ or Spring Garden Tart, when the next morning they have nothing to satisfie the men of Items or reckonings for their long forborn and clamorous debts.
No increase of money but the profusion and luxuria Triumphans of the times we now live in, which (by a peculiar carelesness of our Gentry eating their meat before they inquire what is to be paid for it, which all other Nations do as much abhor as wonder at) hath raised the reckonings of the Vintners who can sit in their little Sentry houses turning over the leaves of their Bibles, and yet as if they were to be the Collectors of the Devils Revenues can multiply their Wine as they finde their Guests over much taken with it, and increase their scores according as the company are careless, or when the Gallants are willing to let their Mistresses or Dalilas know how readily they can expend their monys in those or the like exercises, & never be daunted at a reckoning of 13 s. 4 d. for a couple of green Geese, when they were every where to be met withal for two shillings a peice, ten shillings for two brace of Partriches, [Page 383] and four pound for a Collar of Brawn, and the Cooks so unwilling to come far behind them as to think themselves not paid unless they may have three shillings six pence for a Neats Tongue and Turnips, seven shillings for a Shoulder of Mutton with Oysters, for a Potage thirty shillings, eight tame Pigeons eleven shillings, dressing a dish of Carpes fifteen shillings, a dish of Whitings and Flounders ten shillings, dressing a dish of Smelts eight shillings, for a Neck of Mutton three shillings and six pence, a Shoulder of Mutton five shillings and six pence, and for a Calves head hashed ten shillings.
No over flowing of our English purses which hath made a load of Wood which hath been bought in some Woodland Counties of England within the memory of man for a penny a load as much as six Oxen could draw, to be now seven or eight shillings a load, but the devouring Iron works and the scarcity of Wood, or that hath made our Newcastle Coles when they are now at the cheapest to be a third part dearer then they were.
No Surfeit of money or scarcity of horses that hath brought a horse within these twenty years last past, from ten pounds price for a man of worship or good estate and reputation, to be sold for twenty, thirty, fourty or fifty pounds, and sometimes a hundred pound, though they be onely for travailing, and no Barbary or Foraign breed, or race horses, nor could they be really so much worth, but that the prices are onely advanced according to the pride, humor or affection of some, and imitated and brought into a custome by others who were loath to come short of them in their folly, which makes those or greater prices to be kept up or demanded [Page 384] by the subtil Countrymen or sellers, who by such indiscretions and humors can make their Market advantages greater then ever they were before.
Or that makes in our greatest want of money a Go [...]get for a Lady or Gentlewoman to cost eighty or one hundred or two hundred pounds, and a yard of Flanders or Frenchified Lace, at the rate of fou [...]ty or fifty pounds, or a Lady in the Country to [...]read and trample upon a Gorget which her husband had brought her from London, because it had not cost above sixteen pounds, or a young Merchant to wear a Band or thirty pound price, when as twenty pounds per annum in Fee or for life was in the Parliament of primo E. 2. which was in Anno domini 1307. accounted to be a good Revenue to maintain a Knight, his Lady and Family in a worshipful manner, and keep good horses, men and Arms for the service of his Prince and Country.
No Inundation of money from Foraign Countries, but the knavery of the Tanners and Curriers, and transportation of Leather, and to enable the Shoomakers Wives to wear Lace upon their Gorgets of forty shillings a yard, that makes a Hide of Leather which within the memory of a young man was sold for twelve shillings, now to cost thirty shillings or above, and the making of a pair of Shooes to a Journeyman which was wont to be for five pence, not to be now under fourteen pence, and that makes our Gentlemens plain Shooes which were heretofore sold for three shillings, not to be now under six shillings, when there are more Cattle killed and spent then ever, and Boots are not so frequently▪ worn as they were in the later end of [Page 385] King James his Raign (when the Spanish Embassador the Conde of Gondomar, could pleasantly relate when he went home into Spain, that all the Citizens of London were Booted and ready as he thought to go out of Town) and that for many years since all the men of the Nation as low as the Plowmen and meanest Artizans which walked in their Boots, a [...]e now with the fashion returned again as fo [...]merly to Shooes and Stockings.
Neither is it plenty of money that maketh Scholars or men of Learning never less regarded, more poor and scorned, to pay double or many times treble the rates and prices for Books, then they did twenty years ago, because the rates and prices of books are by the unconscionable Arts and Trade of the Stationers, proportioned and kept up to a penny a sheet, which of late was usually paid for Pamphlets sold and cryed up and down the streets to publish the madness and rebellion of an hypocritical and wicked part of the people, or that causeth China Orenges which at a dearer rate then elsewhere are to be had at the Play-house door five for a shilling, but within the house, in that which is called the Pit not to be had of the woman that sells them, under three for a shilling, because for a Monopoly of the only selling of them in the Play-house, she gives one hundred pounds Fine, and thirty pounds per annum Rent, and hath such a power and dominion over some of the peoples purses, who take it to be an honor to be foolish and ready upon any terms to part with their money and be their own Pick pockets, as they that sit in the eighteen pence Rooms or Galleries may have four for a shilling, and those that sit in the [Page 386] twelve penny Rooms or Galleries are seldom denyed five for a shilling.
It was not the plenty of money but Prodigality which in Holland and the Netherlands not long since made Tulips, whose glories are in the varieties of their most excellent Colours and abasements in the want of Odour to accompany them, to be at two or three hundred pounds sterling a piece untill those insane and causeless prices were decryed and forbidden by the Edicts or Placaets of the States General, and that an hundred, or sixty, or fifty, or fourty pound sterling, could be here given for a Root of a Tulip, when as now in an abundance or commonness of them, one or two hundred of them may be had for five pounds.
It is not an abundance of money, but abundance of Devil, sin and vice, and all manner of villanies which makes all Commodities to be so dear at London, and in its adjacent Counties; our Cloth to be as dear again as it was but lately, and not half so honestly made; the binding or putting an Apprentice to a Draper or Grocer, which not long ago could be done for twenty or thirty pounds, cannot be now under an hundred, or an hundred and twenty pounds, and that many which do now come to buy any thing of a Tradesman, can hardly escape the temptation of a bribe, or some share in the bargain to permit him to sell his sophisticated or adulterated wares at as high a price as he can possibly get for them, or that makes house-rents (when the undone people in the Countries flock to London to see if they can find a better subsistence) one part in three dearer then it was twenty years ago.
[Page 387]Nor an abundance of money in Spain and other Foraign kingdomes that makes as some ingenious Travilers have well observed, provisions of victuals to be much dearer in or under the chief City of a Nation or Country, then it is at a distance from it, or that makes an Hen Egge to be sold at Madrid for three pence, when as twelve may be had for a penny in Gallicia or places more remote.
Nor that in Ireland, whither too much of our money is transported, and many peices of Eight which our Merchants have imported into England, and being here afforded at three shillings three pence a peice, do there yeild the exporter five shillings a peice, and makes a greater plenty of money to be there then should be; there doth notwithstanding continue such a cheapness of victuals and houshold provisions, as it made a Maid-servant when she was lately sent to Market to come home with a complaint that she paid five pence for a Hen, and could have but fourteen Eggs for a penny.
For it is not scarcity of mony that makes victuals to be so cheap in Yorkshire, where many of the Gentry do many times want no money for Horse Races and other needless expences, but the far distance from London, and want of vent for their Commodities, And besides the causes above mentioned proceeding from frauds and the peoples oppressing one another: it will be ubique & semper, every where and at all times true that many times sola universaque hominum libido non natura rebus omnibus pretium suum posuerit, Philippus Caesius a Zesen in Leone Belgico § 16. it is the unruliness of mens appetites which causeth things to be dear.
[Page 388]And whether our money or Bullion be more or less then it was heretofore, or more imported then exported, there would not be such a cry and complaint of the want of money, if the prudence of our more generous and hospitable Ancestors had not been as it is so much slieghted and thought unworthy our imitation, and that our estates had been the rule and measure of our expences, of which if an account were taken but in some particulars, which since the flight and banishment of our English Hospitalities, hath more then formerly wasted the money and Revenues of England, it will be found that the laying aside or scorning, or seldom usage of the grosses viandes Butchers or course meat, as it is now disdainfully termed, and the substantial food & dyet of Beef and Brewesse, Mutton, Veal, Po [...]k, B [...]con, &c. and the introducing in stead of them many Foraign quelque choses, or fantastically made Dishes Oleos, Fricasses and Potages, hant gousts, and provoking sawces in the steed of a more wholsom Diet, with rich Wines and many costly Confections, Banquets and perfumes at the disert or end of meals or repasts, have spent and cost more then the pious, more noble prudent and worthy custom of hospitality, building of Castles, and the building and endowing of stately Churches and Monasteries ever did, and that the money spent in some one vain and costly Dish, adorned and enriched with Amber gris, making a charge of ten or twelve pounds would in the later end of the Raign of King Henry the eighth have gone a great part of the way in the defraying of the expences of an Oxe or a Beef by a Gentleman or good Housekeeper (for in those dayes they were synonimas or Termini convertibiles) every day in the Christmas to entertain [Page 389] his friends and Tenants and feed the poor. And that if the charges of our delicacies, incouragements and incentives of the most mortal sins, heaping upon those that use them, the dangers of immortal punishments, with that which hath within these last century or hundred years been expended more then formerly in Wine, which in King Henry the eighths days was so little used to be drunk by Pints or Quarts, or great quantities in Taverns, as they were like some medicaments, or Cordials usually sold, and to be had at Apothecaries Shops.
And of all that hath been since vainly spent in Pictures, Coaches, Dice and Cards more then their forefathers, excess of Apparrel building of stately houses, and laid out in Plate and the Furniture, and adorning of them when he is but a Sonne of contempt, and a Citizen of the lowest rank, that hath not his Country-house (which though it cost five or six thousand pound the building must scornfully be called a Wash house) with gallant Gardens, Fountains and Orchards, and as much or more Plate then the Nobility or Gentry were wont to have, with very costly Hangings of threescore or one hundred pounds a Suit.
Vast sums of mony yearly spent more then formerly in the purchase and taking of Tobacco and those smoaky delights and contemplations, twenty, thirty or forty times greater Portions given with Daughters in marriage, many of whom are so ill bred and habituted unto it, as they seldome fail to spend in a short time that and three times as much more of their Husbands Estates (which did not long agoe put the wise Spaniard in mind by a Law or Pragmatico to cause a restraint [Page 390] and limitations of Portions to be given in marriage with Daughters) and can in a month or night lose as much or more at Cards then the Portions of their Grandmothers, the Daughters of Knights & men of worship amounted unto, besides what is disbursed by some of our Ladies African she-monsters and high-flying Gentlewomen of the sinfull mode and fashion in artificiall beauties, black patches, extraordinary washings, and as they hope, invisible Fucusses: and perswading their Husbands not to trouble themselves with the dirty husbandry, and greasie Hospitalities, as they please to stile them, of their Fathers or Grandfathers, but to turn their care into Cards, Sedans and Coaches and their Chimneys to Tobacco-pipes.
And an Accompt were taken of all which hath been spent and paid more then formerly in the high rates and prises more than needed of all that hath been worn or eaten since the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, and extraordinarily paid in Servants and Workmens wages.
All the money which hath been spent more then formerly, in sugars, fruits, spices, and other forragin delicacies and superfluities, all the money which hath been made of the wood and timber more then ordinarily cut down and sold, (which yielded as much as the purchase of the Lands where it grew could come unto, and had been carefully planted and preserved by our forefathers for shipping, and better uses then to pay the debts or furnishing out the vanities and wickedness of their profuse generations; and all the money spent in Watches, worn by almost every Citizen of the better sort and their Apprentices, with a constant rent [Page 391] paid quarterly to keep them in order, more then 60000 pounds per annum vainly spent in the twelve penny jobs in Hackny Co [...]ches, and in Perruks or Periwigs, when Clarks and some foolish Tradesmen must not be without them, though they cast 5 l. a peice. All that hath been spent in Jewels or Counterfeits of them, and in making the superfluous Trains or length of our Gentlewomans Gowns▪ all that hath been expended in the payment of interest and Brokage to keep up our pride and luxury, and twenty Millions sterling at the least lately thrown away in a dir [...]ful and bloody sacrifice to a most wicked rebellion, were or could be recalled again and amassed, and put into a publick Treasury, it would be as much, if not greatly exceed that so famous, Aerarium or Storehouse of gold and silver, jewels and precious stones of the City or Commonwealth of Venice, and more then enough to erect a Bank or Mont Piete which might have furnished the Nation with money at a less interest upon pawns then fifty or sixty per cent. and stills our more then ordinary cries of want of Trade and money.
And when all that is spent, and not to be found at home in the circulation of Trade or Exchange, but for the most part di [...]bursed and sent abroad in the acquests of pride and luxury: And that we are so mad and prodigall in the scattering and consumption of that little which remains when every Asse thinks it to be a good bargain to sell or pawn his skin and ears, that [...]e may (which he will never be able to compass) look like a Lyon, every Goose would be a Swan, every Owle a Nightingale; and our Taylors (some whereof are grown so rich as to ride in their Coaches) and do make [Page 392] their Bills accordingly, almost tyred with trimming up too many of our fantastick Gentry, cutting out their Lands and Estates into cloaths, and bestowing their money and credit in ribbands and apish garnishes; one hundred pounds or more can be spent in a Supper or Treatment at the Beare at London-bridge, and forty pounds at a Feast in a private House o [...] Family, when it was more then any of their Ancestors had in Land or yearly rents, and many of our Merchants and Citizens in London are, as they think, but ill accoutred unless us Lucullus the Luxurious Roman after his conquests and spoils of forreign Countries, they may keep their Coaches and support their unnecessary expences, with the spoils of a good conscience, and their ill-gotten riches by tricks and contrivances of Trade, and at the time of the greatest complaints of want of Trade and money and the direfull and unwelcome news often assailing their ears of such or such a too gallant Tradesman broken all in pieces, can make a Wedding dinner for about eight and twenty persons with one hundred and fifty costly dishes of meat, and like some great Eastern Monarcks, continue their feasting for several dayes after, when not a few of our Citizens must ordinarily have their Wives and Daughters in the Fashion, and richest sort of Apparel of cloth of Silver, Plushes, Velvets and Satin, garnished with more costly pearls and jewels then our great and good, (because they were used to be as good as great) Ladies were wont to deck and adorn themselves upon high and solemn Festivals, with their Clossets abundantly furnished with rarities, and their gold and silver Watches hanging by their sides, and too many of their Wives [Page 393] will be out of Tune or sick, and in danger to miscarry, if a bed with the furniture of threescore or one hundred pounds price, and a Chamber better and better furnished for every child her husband thinks is lawfully begotten, may not be provided for her, and too many of them and their Daughters will by no means be left behind their neighbours in Fashions or Folly; and if any one of them by over-pampering themselves chance to slip into the chambers of death, must have no lesse then three hundred pounds bestowed in a Funeral, her herse trimmed up as stately as the Armes-painters and Abusers can devise it with Tapers burning in great silver Candlesticks hired at the Goldsmiths, and four or six women in mourning fitting to attend it, to shew the beholders the unbecoming pride and vanity of it, and a Shop keepers Wife whilst her husband complains of want of trade, must not want a Velvet Gown; every Servant must (as much as their wages will reach unto) imitate their Master and Mistresses in their clothes, and the fashion of them, which Queen Elizabeth did well prevent when she caused the Taylors to enter into Bonds or Recognizances, not to make clothes finer then the degree of such as were to wear them, every Cotager and Day-labourer will do what they can to eat of the best and live after the rate of a Farmer, every Farmer live and have his diet like a Gentleman, every Gentleman of the smallest estate whatsoever strives to live like a Knight, and some Gentlewomen taking themselves to be higher born then any of their kindred, or neerest relations can remember, will not think their husbands do their duty unless they permit them like Baronesses to have Carpets & foot paces on the ground [Page 394] when the Madam so called shall have a mind to sit in her garnish of sin and foolery, to receive the visits of those which when the Marmalet is eaten, do most commonly appear to have come onely to view and censure her pride; every Knight will spend and live like a Lord or Baron; and the sons and daughters of too many of our Gentry, ready to tear them in peices to enforce them to make them an allowance proportionable to their pride and prodig [...]lities, whilst the Gentlemen racking and raising their Rents beyond the yearly Income and value of the Tenants Lands, are too often the cause that the Tenants do put as high rates and prices as they can upon their commodities to be sold or sent to the Markets, and use as many Cheats as the Country Devil can invent for them, to abuse and cozen the buyers, the Citizens raise the price of their wares and commodities to maintain their delicacies; workmen their wages because victuals are so dear, & servants by a sinful necessity of pride, never think they have wages enough to the end that they may wear better Clothes then they should do, & King William Rufus Hose or Breeches of three shillings price or a Mark, as he was afterwards perswaded to believe it then thought to be magnificent & worthy enough for a mighty Kings wearing, is not now a rate or price enough for a Ploughmans ordinary wearing: And the improvements of our Lands and Estates, do seem to have served for no other purpose then to improve and multiply our sins and vices, whilst the hospitality and virtues of England like the brave Brittish Caractacus or Catacratus Prince of the Silures, following in his chains the triumphs of the Romish Conquerers, are made to be the attendants of the [Page 395] Triumphs of our vices and wickedness, and Truth and Honesty like the distressed Naomi and her daughter Ruth going their mournful Pilgrimages to finde a better entertainment.
So as there must needs be a want of Trade when there is so great a Trade driven of pride and vanity, and a dearness of all things when every one almost some poor and despised Moralists and men of Religion, and care in their ways and walkings onely excepted, makes what shift he can per fas aut nefas to save and get what he can for himself, and there is scarce a courtesie done for one another without a bribe or fellow-feeling, the sons are ready to betray their parents, and the parents to prostitute and deliver up their children to the slavery of sin for the support of their pride and luxuries; the most of our friendships and realities now turned into a lying, most dissembling and accursed complement, & the rich making it their hoc age, and onely business to oppress the poor, who since the fall and dissolution of our Abbies and Religious Houses are so impoverished and increased, as a Gentleman of the same and no more Land and Estate, then he had fourty years ago, paying but three shillings four pence per annum, is now constrained to pay forty shillings per annum, and the rates and prices of workmens wages, victuals, and every thing else so increased, and beyond reason more then was formerly, as may appear by the difference betwixt what was in Anno Domini, one thousand four hundred thirty and seven, in the sixteenth year of the Raign of King Henry the sixth, now but two hundred thirty and two yeers ago, when [...]hichely Archbishop of Canterbury, built that famous Colledge of All-Souls [Page 396] in Oxford, there was paid to a Stone-cutter, but two shillings ten pence a week, a Carpenter four pence a day, a Sawyer fourteen pence a hundred for sawing of boa [...]ds a Joiner five pence half penny a day, and but sixteen pence for himself and his servant for two days, four pence a day to laborers, Ex libro comput. Johannis Druel Supervisoris remanent in Colligio Omnium Animarum in Academia Oxon. five pence a day to such as digged stones, four pence a day for a Cart & for a weeks Commons, for Mr. John Wraby (who was comptroller of the works, and an eminent man in those times) fourteen pence, for his servant ten pence for the meat of his horse for a week ten pence half penny, and for the expences o [...] Mr. John Druel Surveyor of the works travailing with two servants and three horses from Maidstone to Lambeth, and their charges at Lambeth for two nights and two days seven shillings. And what is now paid to workmen, when a Carpenter will have three shillings a day, and eighteen pence, or two shillings a day for his man, and eighteen or twelve pence a day for a common laborer; as there is never like to be any more easie or reasonable rates for houshold provisions or workmens Wages, or any hospitality to be found in England, nor any thing else of vertue or goodness, unless the wisdom of the King and his great Councel shall prevent that Ultimam ruinam, great and destroying ruine which citato cursu, as to the peoples Estates in this life, and sending their souls into the other world with a Lord have mercy upon us, is galloping upon the Nation, and will never be prevented either by preaching or Church Censures, or the King and his Nobilities own examples, without some severe and well observed Sumptuary Laws, now very much wanted by an unhappy repeal of all in that kind which we [Page 397] had before, and without which all that can be done to hinder and destroy an innundation of miseries, which by our pride and luxury far surmounting any of our forefathers is suddainly like to over-run us, will be to as little purpose as that which the King of Achen is said to do when he and all his nobilty, Hackluits Voiages lib. 3 do in the blindness of their Religion, upon a certain day in every year ride in great pompe and procession to the Church to look if the Messias be come, and not finding him, as they supposed to be come, the King returns riding upon that Elephant which he prepared for the Messias to ride upon.
And untill those daily growing and dangerous Evils, and sins of pride and luxu [...]y which have undone the greatest of Empires and Kingdoms, ruined the Brittaines by the Saxons, and the Saxons by the Danes and Normans, shall be curbed and redressed, there needs no petition to be made for an assent or subscription to this known and sadly experimented truth. That there is a great want of money, and it is not any plenty of money which makes such an enhaunce of the rates and prices of houshold provisions, and of all other things to be bought or sold, but our pride begetting an ungodly selfishness, and pride and self interest begetting all manner of cheating to maintain them, which have brought those evils of evils upon us, and made those miseries & wants, are so every where complained of, and have destroyed all honesty, friendship, & obedience, and taught the people by such wicked necessities, and imitating one anothers good success by their evil actions, to run over all Laws and penalties that can be threatned or laid in the way, and that the King having no Elixir or means to transmute all the mettals in this Kingdom [Page 398] to an infinitum of Gold and Silver to furnish the vanity of the peoples expences, there must in so universal a prodigality and profusion as is in the Nation, be [...]yond the reach and compass of the peoples means and estates, when a Bricklayer must wear silk Stockings, and his wife a Whisk of four pounds p [...]ice, and an Alewoman if she hath turned up the D [...]vel Trump, and be but a little beforehand, will think her self not well apparelled if her Gowns be not of silk or bedaubed with Gold or Silver Lace; every ordinary mans house must be furnished with one peece of plate, if not many more; the weighty Silver money be melted down into Plate, and all or a great part of the Bullion and Foraign coyns exported as soon as they are imported, needs be a want of money; and that when Kit or Christopher Woodroofe a rich Citizens son in the later end of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth, marrying the daughter of a great Lord of this Kingdom, which wore a Silver Legg in stead of a better, which had been cut off to prevent a greater mischief by a Gangreen, had a mad and strange custome to throw his shillings upon the Thames to make them in the language of the Boys to dive and leap as Ducks and Draks; it was no marvail that he was many times when he wanted money, necessitated to steal his wives silver Legg in a morning before she was up and pawn it.
And that the Tyranny and Tricks of Trade, oppression of the Markets, and the arbitrary power which the people take to impose high and unreasonable rates and prices one upon another (which exceeds most of the evils imaginable in a time of peace (do make a great addition to the poverty of the Nation, [Page 399] too many of whom do make their own burdens, and complain of them when they have done, and may be eased themselves if they would but ease others.
And that as the people of Florence do more cheerfully endure those many great Taxes and Burdens which the grand Duke imposeth upon them, because by a Banda or rule for the rates and prices of victuals and houshold provisions, so as those which are sent to buy cannot be cheated or injuried they enjoy such a cheapness as makes them a recompence, the people of England would not take their Taxes and Assessements for the publike to be much or any great burden, if by reducing the Market prices and rates to a reiglement intended by our Laws, they might not so much cozen and oppress one another, but be the better enabled to live cheapely and to pay them.
CHAP. VIII. That it is the interest of the people of England to revive again the Ancient and legal usage of his Majesties just rights of Praeemption and Pourveyance, or Compositions for them.
ANd now that the lines from all the parts of the Circumference of this discourse concerning the lawfulness and necessity of the Royal Praeemption and Pourveyance, or Compositions for them, are met in the center or conclusion of it, every man that is not over Byassed by his own conceit or prejudice, or carryed into an obstinacy or uningenious resolution not to alter his opinion or obey so great a truth, because he once thought or said, or declared otherwise, will I hope be so far perswaded by the light and rules of right reason, as to understand that Praeemption which is founded upon the Laws of Nature and Nations, hath been as ancient a custome in the world as that of Civility and good manners, and lived here in England, the age of Methusalah is an ancient and undoubted right of the Kings, and that the Royal Pourveyance or respects to be paid in that particular from subjects to their Kings, and Princes for the supportation of their honor may well deserve an approbation when the Laws of God and the Laws of men, and the Civil, [Page 401] Common and Canon Laws have not denyed it. And the Laws and customs of Nations have made it as common and necessary as the use of houses, fire, and water, and Arms for offence and defence, uncovering or bowing of the head in sign of reverence, wearing of Shoos or Sandals for the defence or safe-guard of the Feet, or any thing else which hath met with a customary and universal approbation, and have so prevailed with most of the rational inhabitants of the world, as the people of Japan, who howsoever they be averse to many of the customes of other Nations,Varenius de regno Japan. as to delight to have their Teeth [...]black when others do desire to have them white, mount their horses on the right side, when as we and many other Nations do on the left, do not as we do uncover their heads in saluting each other, but onely untie some part of their Shoos or Sandals, nor do arise to any which do come to salute them but sit down, are notwithstanding unwilling to come behind other Nations in the duty of Pourveyance and honor of their Prince, which may induce us to subscribe to that common principle of Nature and Nations, that there is and will be a necessity of the Royal Prae emption and Pourveyance or Compositions for them, and that there is a noble use of them.
Nor to think it burdensome, when as what the Country looseth by their Compositions or serving in the Kings provisions after his rates, or by his Cart takings, do not every yeer one with another amount unto so much as the Papal impositions which before the raign of King Edward the sixth, were Annually laid upon their fortunes and estates, or drawn beyond the Alpes by Romes artifices.
[Page 402]Or that it is the duty which every man owes to God and his King and Country, and the good of himself and his own posterity to further and advance the peoples cheating and oppressing of one another, or to cause the King to pay the dearer, or incur so great a damage as now it plainly appears he doth in his house-keeping for want of his Pourveyance, when as all the Landed and rich men in England, all the Farmers, and all the Citizens and Tradesmen of the Nation, the later of whom like aqua fortis can eat and make their way to be sauers thorough the dearest or highest rates, or prices of houshold provisions, by adulterating or raising their Commodities, or as a London Brewer lately said concerning the Excise upon Ale and Beer, that it should never hurt him whilst there was water enough in the Thames, those of that profession being not contented to be repaid by the house-keeper, the six pence rated for the Excise upon every Barrel of six shillings Beer, unless they may leave out of such a Barrel of Beer six penny worth of Malt, and make it by an half Boyling of it to save the expence of fire, little better then so much half sodden water, and are not satisfied also with such an unchristian cozening of the people, and making their drink by such their doings, and puting in Broom and other noxious ingredients in stead of Hopps, to be as unwholsome as it is weak and naughty, unless they may likewise cozen the King of his Dues upon the Excise, and put as many tricks as they can upon him and his Laws and Officers, and when by these and many other devices they make themselves very great gainers by the Excise in abusing both the King and his people are as busie as any in raising the cry [Page 403] against the Excise as a very great grievance; and when all the Mechanick and Rustick part of the Nation, workmen, day-laborers, maid-servants and men-servants shall not onely be savers but gainers by the enhance of rates and prices, and the King onely and the poor of the Kingdom be the very great loosers and sufferers by it.
Or for the interest of the body Politick, that the pinch and hardship should lye all on the Princes part, and he onely be the greatest looser by his want of Praeemption, Pourveyance or Compositions of the Counties as he had formerly, be as an Amorite or stranger in our Israel, and pay usury for his victuals, by being constrained to give two parts in three, or more sometimes then fourty per cent. for the houshold provisions which his officers and servants do buy or provide for him, four parts in five in many things, & six parts in seven in some other more then the Market rates and prices were in the beginning of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth when the Compositions were made by the Counties and willingly assented unto, or that now there is a greater plenty of Food and houshold provisions, Trade and Manuf [...]cture then were in the former ages, and all things may be afforded to be sold as cheap as they were retroactis seculis, or some hundred years ago, or as they were in the four and twentieth year of the Raign of King Henry the eight, and cheaper then they were in the beginning of the Raign of Queen Elizabeth, every thing should be dearer to him then to others, or that so great an increase of Rates and Prices, as have been within this last hundred years, and all the mischiefs and inconvenienc [...]s of them which have been brought upon the King and his [Page 404] people by private and particular interests the non execution of good Laws, and the neglect and carelesseness of the subordinate Magistrates, Justices of Peace, and Clerks of the Markets, should with an addition be continued and fixt upon the King, who if he should resume but his Tolles in Fairs and Markets, which the Civilians do rightly enough derive a tollendo from taking, many of which are now accompted to be as the proprieties & inhe [...]itance of private men or Lords of Mannors, & are in some cases more by the indulgence of the Kings Royal Progenitors, and a prescription claimed by long enjoyments or continuance of favors then de jure, or were by grants or confirmations, allowed where they were before but usurped and with-held from him, and a Royalty and prerogative so antiently allowed in the Roman Empire as Valens and Valentinian the Emperors a mercatoribus seu negotiatoribus quae ad domum imperialem pertinent exegerunt necessitatem debitam pensionum ex emolumentis negotiationum, L. de Commer [...]. & Mer [...]t. C. did raise a good part of their Pourveyance or provisions for their houshold out of the Tolles or profits made by Fairs and Markets, those of the people of England who do claim an exemption from the payment of them and those very many proprietors of Lands or Mannors, who by many Royal grants and favors do claim and enjoy the profit of the Tolles, would finde to be a greater damage and prejudice unto them then that which the Olivaria [...] party, and the troublers of our Israel pretended to be by the Royal Pourveyance or Compositions for them, or should as he never doth let his Lands to the uttermost penny, measure his gifts or bounties by that of private men and proportion his favors according to his wants or [Page 405] occasions of keeping or saving what he can for himself, or the ingratitude or forgetfulness of those which receive them, and be as unwilling to answer & acknowledge benefits, as too many are unto him, or take his Reliefs, Herriots First fruits, Fee Farms, Quit Rents, Customes, Fines for alienation Fines certain or incertain of his Copyhold estates at the full and present value, and the Fees for his Seals in Chancery, and the other Courts and all his Subsidies according to the alteration of monys, & the disproportion betwixt the present and the former rates, there would be cause enough for them to acknowledge his favou [...]s already received, and believe that those small retributions in his Pourveyance or Compositions for them, will bear so small a part in the Ballance, as they should rather lay their hands upon their mouths, and rest assured that they which are daily craving and gaining by the King, and blest with a peace and plenty under his government, cares and protection should be ashamed to make him to be so great a looser, and themselves such gainers by his loss and damages.
And that it can no way become them to suffer him, that granted or confirmed their Fairs and Markets to be oppressed by them, pay a shilling and many times more for every groat he disburses for his necessary occasions, and at the same time in the distribution of his bounties and rewards give a shilling & more for every groat which he intended to give, shall be kind to every body, and receive in acknowledgement thereof no more then to get & keep all they can from him, which in their own particular estates would bring no less then ruine to all the people of England, and those that so very much enrich themselves by putting him to more expences then should be.
[Page 406]And that it was and will be for the good of the people unless the oppressing and cheating one another, shall be understood to be for their good, that the King and his subordinate Magistrates should correct and regulate the deceits and excess of rates and prices in Markets, as those of the Fishmongers of London were by King Edward the first when they were fined five hundred Marks pro illicitis negotiis & Forstallamentis & aliis transgressionibus in officio suo Piscatorum, Pat. 18. E. 1. m. 15. for Forstallings and other unlawful practises in their Trades; or as King E. 3. did when upon a Complaint made by the Commonalty of the City of London, that the Butchers (such a watchful eye was then kept, more then now upon, the deceits of Trade) did stick and fasten the fat of great or fat Oxen upon the flesh of the lean, whereby to promote the sale and price in deceptionem populi, Claus. 14. E. 3. m. 28. to the damage and deceipt of the people, he commanded the Maior to provide a remedy, or as an Assise of Bread and good and needful Ordinances for Bakers, Brewers, Inholders, Vintners and Butchers, was set and made (there being an old Assise book made and Ordained in Anno 12 H. 7.) by the Lords of the Privy Councel to Queen Elizabeth, viz. John Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Christopher Hatton, William Lord Burghley, Henry Earl of Derby, Charles Lord Howard, Henry Lord Hunsdon, Thomas Lord Buckhurst, Sir Francis Knowles, Sir Thomas Heneage, Sir John Fortc [...]cue, and Sir John Wolley, or the Decree (if had been observed) which was made in the Star Chamber the thirteenth day of November, Anno 11. of the Raign of King Charles the Martyr, after consultation had with diverse Justices of the Peace, and [Page 407] the Certificate of all the Judges of England, viz. Sir Thomas Richardson Knight, Sir Robert Heath Knight, Sir Humfrey Davenport Knight, Sir John Denham Kt, Sir Richard Hutton Knight, Sir William Jones Knight, Sir George Croke Knight, Sir Thomas Trevor, Knight, Sir Ge [...]rge Vernon Knight, Sir Robert Barkley Knight, and Sir Francis Crawley Knight; and confirmed by the Kings Letters Patents under the great Seal of England the 14. day of December then next following, that No Inkeeper or Ostler within the Cities of London and Westminster, or ten miles distant (who have since made such excessive rates, as have affrighted many of their Customers away who finde it less chargeable to come to London in passage Coaches, or send their horses back into the Country to finde out more honest Inkeepers) should take above six pence for Hay for a horse standing night or day, nor more then six pence for a peck of Oats of the measure called Winchester measure; No Tavernor or Victualler selling Wine by Retail, should sell or make ready for sale any sort of Flesh, Fish, or other victual save bread, nor procure to be set up the Trade of a Cook within the same house, or in any Shop or Room thereunto belonging, or in any house near adjacent, nor permit or suffer any Flesh, Fish or other Victual, except bread to be brought into the house to be there eaten by any of his Guests. And did likewise upon hearing of divers Inkeepers, who could not deny but that the rates before specified were competent, further ordain that where Grain and Hey should (at a further distance from London) be sold at lesser prices, there the rates & prices should be accordingly, And that that Ordinance should continue in the County of Middlesex, untill it should be made to appear to [Page 408] the Justices of the Kings Bench, and in other Counties and places to the Justices of peace, that because of the increase of prices in the parts adjoyning, greater rates should be necessary to be permitted, and that thereupon other rates should from time to time be set, and being set were commanded and en [...]oyn [...]d to be strictly and duely observed untill by the like authority they should be altered.
And cannot deny but that if the King and his Royal Progenitors, if they could ex praevisione by some foresight of things to come (of which supernatural eminencies there is a non datur or denyall even to Kings and Princes) have understood that their ancient and lawful rights of Pourveyance and Prae-emption, would in return of all their benefits daily and yearly heaped upon their subjects, have been ever thought to have been a grievance or oppression, or endeavored to be withheld from them, they might have saved as much and more, as that would have come unto by reserving upon all their bounties, and grants or Leases of their Mann [...]rs, or Lands, their Pourveyance or houshold provisions, or when they gave Lands of inheritance, rendring small or disproportionate Rents or Fee Farms, to the greater yearly value which they now appear to be might have added so much of Pourveyance or provisions as might have taken away that causeless murmur against the Pourveyance, which our old Saxon King Aethelstane, who raigned here in Anno Dom. 938. understood to be so necessary for his housekeeping, as when he had subdued the Wel [...]h Princes, & made them his Tributaries, he caused them to Covenant with him at Hereford, not onely to pay him yeerly twenty pounds weight of Gold, and [Page 409] three hundred of Silver, but five hundred head of Cattl [...], with Hawks and Hounds to a certain number, towards which payment by the Statutes of Howel D [...]a, saith our Industrious Speed, Speed. Hist▪ of England & [...] VV [...]lle [...]se. the King of Aberfraw was charged at sixty six pounds (an Early Composition rate for Pourveyance) the Prince Dinemore, and the Prince of Powys being to pay the like sums of money.
And that now to deny it unto the Crown, is a greater injustice and injury, then to have denyed it to Queen Elizabeth, King James or his son King Charles the Martyr, or in some hundred years before, for that then our Kings and Princes might have preserved themselves and their successors from the rapines and unconscionable rates and prices of houshold provisions which some of his subjects might have forborn to impose upon their King though they do it upon others.
That if in the Raign of King Henry the seventh, a Law or Act of Parliament had been made, that for one hundred and fifty years after to the end to make a Treasury or provision of money (which Commonwealths and many Kingdoms are not without) for the protection and defence of the people against invasions or emergent evils, the prices taken in the Markets more then formerly over and above the genuine and real worth of the Commodities, should be collected and laid up for the good of the Publike, or that all that took Lands to Farm should pay ten times the former yearly value, and all things bought in the Market, should like the King of France his Salt, be for some things at three or four times, or for others at ten, fifteen, or 20. times beyond the true value, it would not be imaginable how near the peoples murmuring would [Page 410] have arrived to that of the Children of Israel in the Desart, when they forgot the mercies and wonders of the Almighty; or that they would have been brought to any manner of beliefe that ever they should have been able to bear so great and so intollerable (as they would have called it) a burden.
And yet now that time and custome like Milo's Calf carryed untill he be a Bull, and being a Bull found to be no heavyer then when he was a Calf; the burthen is not so heavy at the last, as they would have believed it would have been at the first, because the people have hitherto made shift to bear it, by cheating or impoverishing one another, and by laying the burden one upon another, will dispendio reipublicae, to the not to be avoyded loss and ruine of the Commonwealth, be for some time longer able to endure it, if the rich may grinde and devour the poor, and the King now his Pourveyance is taken away must bear the greater part of the burden.
That if the King before he had granted the greatest Act of Pardon, Bounty and Indempnity that ever any, or all the Kings of England had done before him to a company of Factious and Rebellious people, who had out done either Sheba or Shimei, or any of the sons of Zeru [...]ah, and deserved less then any of their forefathers unless the murder of his Royal Father, and all the groundless obloquies and reproaches which they could cast upon him, the banishing & persecuting of himself & his brethren, murder and ruine of his loyal subjects, and dispossessing him of his Estate, Kingdoms and Revenues for twelve years toge [...]her, and all things endeavoured which might load him or them with scorn and indignities, [Page 411] can by any Fanaticks or Factious people, be proved (which it never can) to have been by dispensations or communication with God, and a living and walking in the spirit, had taken in again to the Crown all those forfeited Rights, Franchises and priviledges which had been heretofore too liberally given or granted from it, and reserved a ten times greater Pourveyance then is by any now complained of, the people of England, would have been so glad with their Quailes, as they would have blamed themselves for murmuring without a cause either before or after they had them.
And that those who could adventure to transgress the Laws which by their Idolized Covenant they bound themselves to observe, and buy Places and Offices in the Kings houshold, the greatest part of the profits whereof were made by the Kings allowance of Dyet, may now that many of those Dyets and Tables are taken away, come to a better understanding of the necessity and right use of Pourveyance and Compositions for them.
That the allowance of fifty thousand pounds per annum proposed as a recompence for his losses in the want of his Pourveyance, is not to be found in the moyety of the Excise of Ale and Beer settled upon him and his heirs and successors, for that the benefit thereof will not make amends for what he lost by his Tenures in the yearly Revenue thereof (for as to the honor, regality and right use of it, that and Ten times more and all that could be given in money or an yearly rent, would not have been enough for the purchase.)
That thrice the sum of fifty thousand pounds per annum, cannot ballance so great a loss and damage as the [Page 412] King sustains by his remitting of the Royal Pourveyance or Compositions for them.
That the splendor and magnificence of the Kings house cannot be so well supported by any certain yearly allowance in money, nor the Squeeze and enhance of the Markets be so well escaped as they will be by that most easie, laudable, and accustomed way and establishment of the Royal Pourveyance or Compositions for them, and that it can be no less then an undenyable truth and reason that it is the duty and should be the care of every good subject to further rather then hinder the Royal Pourveyance or Compositions for them.
That the mischiefs and inconveniences of taking away the Royal Pourveyances or Compositions for them have so visibly and often appeared to every unprejudiced eye or judgement, as there is scarce an Englishman, unless it be Cornelius Holland, one of those that helped to kill the heir for his inheritance, and would rather have Pourveyance to be a grievance, then that he should fail of getting to him and his heirs Creslow P [...]stures in Buckinghamshire, which were appropriate to the fatting of the Kings lean Cattle for the provision of his houshold as every man may well conclude that it will be more for t [...]e good and ease of the people who can never be rich or happy when their Prince is poor or necessitous, and if they love themselves are to love and support him, that the King should have his Prae [...]emption and Pourveyance, or Compositions for them, then that he should be so much dishonored or oppressed as he is already and like to be more and more for want of it.
Which should be numbred amongst those ancient [Page 413] and legal priviledges and rights belonging to soveraignty, pu [...]chased by the cares and labors of our many English Kings and Monarchs, with the hazard of their lives, fortunes and estates in the preservation of the wel-fare of the people, and a Monarchy which is of more then one thousand years continuance, and being a duty ought to be more cheerfully submitted unto, then any Ordinances, By Laws, or Customes of any Cities, Borough, Towns, or Corporations, or those of the Lords of Mannors, by Grant, Allowance or permission of Royal Indulgences, or those of the City of London, that great ingrosser of Liberties and priviledges, who besides their Court of Wards and Orphans, which yeildeth them very great yearly profits and advantages do receive & take amongst many other things not here particularly mentioned by a Grant of King Henry the third of his Tolles at Queen Hithe, Belines Gate and Downgate, and else where in the City of London, for a small Fee Farm Rent of fifty pounds per annum (if enjoyed by so good a title) which were formerly taken for the Kings use, For every Tun of Beer carryed from Billingsgate by Merchant Strangers beyond the Seas four pence, Ex antiquo Codice M.S. de custumes de London in Bibliotheca Cl. viri Galfridi Palmer Milit. & Baronetti Attorn. General. Regis Caroli Secundi. out of every hundred of Salmons brought to Queen Hithe by foraigners, or such as are not free of the City two Salmons, for every thousand of Herrings bought in Shops an ha [...]f penny; twenty six Mackarels out of every Mackarel Boat; one Fish out of every Dosser of Fish not having in it Mullet Ray Congre Turbut, &c. Two Salmons out of every Bark which bringeth Salmons out of Scotland; some Sprats out of every Boat or Barke with Sprats two pence of every Oyster Boat; out of every Bark or Boat of Haddocks twenty six Haddocks; out of every Ship or Bark [Page 414] laden with Herrings from Yarmouth two hundred Herrings; for all kind of Fish brought to London after the same rate as was paid to the King at London Bridge; for every Ship, Bark or Vessel not belonging to London, or the Cinque Ports which cometh within the Orlokes two pence, five Eggs in every hundred brought to London; for Poultery brought thither on horseback three Farthings, and on foot an half penny; for every load of Cheese two pence, for every dozen of Sheep brought to Smithfield to be sold an half penny; for every Cow or Beast bought out of the Franchise a penny; and of every foraigner bringing Cows, Beeves, Sheep, Swine or Porks to Smithfield to be sold, betwixt the Feast of St. Martin and Christmas, the third best Beast, Sheep, Swine or Pork after the two first best (or some Composition for them) and if the Beast be of the value of a Mark, the Bailiff was to restore fourty pence for his skin, and might take for lean Hogs or Porks brought thither to be sold betwixt Hock tyde and Michaelmas, the third best next af [...]ter the first best, or twelve, or six pence in lieu thereof; which with their other Tolles and Perquisites, and the yearly Scavage or Shewage, & the profit of Tronage and Pesage at the Balance together with their yearly income by the Cole Meters places, would if the King for the better supply of his Pourveyance should take into his own hands as they are now Collected and taken, either in money or in specie, the above mentioned Tolles and Customes (which are but the Irradiations and participations of the power and authority of the King imparted unto them for the better order and management of the peace and affairs of the people in those lesser Orbes) and as was covenanted in a confirmation of the Fee Farm of [Page 415] three hundred pounds per annum for the Shirivalties of London and Middlesex by King John in case of taking away or granting any of the profits thereof) release and discharge the said Fee Farm Rent of fifty pounds per annum, bring a good assistance to his charge of Pourveyance and houshold provisions, and make him some amends and recompence for his daily great damages sustained in his more then formerly expences for his houshold provisions by making his so constant aboad in that his Imperial Chamber.
Being priviledges better to be liked and approved then many of those which are not discommended, in Military affairs where a Colonel of horse hath liberty besides his pay of a Colonel to reckon a pay for a Captain, though he hath none, and to be allowed for a certain number of spare Horses, and to Muster and take pay for [...]ix of his own servants, and the like for one in every of the six Troops of his Regiment.
And may be allowed a soveraign as well as those daily and frequently practised, given, received and taken acknowledgments of Favors, Reciprocations and discharges of obligations which are in and thorough the Kingdom performed as well as expected by all the people of the Nation one unto another, and by all mankind in their several actions and affairs one with another, and their dependencies and relations one unto another.
And as little to be omitted as the duty and priviledge of the Prae-emption of the Tyn at a reasonable rate, with many other allowances and liberties in the Counties of Cornwall and Devon, not to be denyed to the King or his Royal Predecessors Kings of England, who before they had granted them away, had all or the [Page 416] greatest part of the Lands or soyle where the Tynne Mines are.
For it cannot be any injustice, or have so much as any aspect of wrong or oppression that he whose Royal Ancestors have granted & confirmed to all his people their liberties and priviledges, should seek to preserve his own which helpes to preserve theirs, and be unwilling to part with them and his praestationes Angariarum & Parangariarum▪ Plaustrorum & navium, &c. his Pourveyance, Cart taking and impressing of Ships, which as Bossius cited by Zecchius, Zecchius de principat. administratione saith, Regi competunt ratione Excellentiae ejus dignitatis quae Regalia dicuntur, for that as Zecchius alleadgeth, multa adjumenta sunt ti necessaria ut dominium intus & externe Tueri valeat, many things are necessary for a Prince to defend his Dominions at home as well as abroad.
Or if any should be willing to have it to be no duty, & would be such strangers to the Scriptures, & the right interpretation and meaning thereof, as to think that the fifth Commandement extendeth onely to parents natural when any shall have a minde to respect them, or to let their Fancies run as wild as the zealous reformer did at Cr [...]ydon in the beginning of the grand Rebellion, when he would have prohibited the reading of that and the other Commandments in the Decalogue, by alleaging that they were made by the Bishops, they cannot; if they will not throw away their Reason and understandings, but acknowledge that if Uriah could rationally conclude it to be unfit for him to go to his own house and take the comfort of it, when his Lord Joab and the servants of his Lord the King were incamped in the field, 2 Sam. 11.12. and hath been ever since applauded for it: It [Page 417] cannot be thought to be correspondent to the greatness and Majesty of a King or the duty of his subjects that he should want those ordinary and no very chargeable respects and conveniencies of Pourveyance or Compositions for them, and the priviledge to have his goods in progress or upon removals carryed for him at easie rates by his subjects, and such as hold of him or have been raised and brought to what they have by the bounties and Royal influences of him and his Princely Progenitors, and protected and defended by them, when as many of the Nobility and Gentry of England, do enjoy those or the like services from their Tenants, for letting them heretofore have good penniworths of them, or in hope that they may hereafter be good unto them, and should not at all grumble or grudge to perform those duties and remunerations to their King, whose honor and jurisdictions they are sworn to defend and maintain, when they can do it willingly to others upon l [...]sser hopes or gratifications, and that he hath already, and may as well deserve it, as that great and honorable family of the Cliffords late Earles of Cumberland, whose heir the Lady Anne Clifford Countess of Pembroke, Dorset and Mountgomery, doth at this day of her obliged Tenants in the North, whose Carts are not to be denyed at any removal from her Castle of Skipton in Craven in Yorkshire, by certain proportioned journeys to her Castle of Appleby in Westmerland, where her Tenants in that County are to furnish yearly six hundred Hens, or a groat for eve [...]y H [...]n, and six hundred Bushels of Oats distinguished or called by the name of Sergeant Oats, and those in Craven as many Hens or six pence for every Hen, or as others who take [Page 418] benefit by such or the like retributions, Customs and usages in other parts of England, or the North thereof as Boon Hens, &c. at Sheffeild in the County of York, once the inheritance of the great Talbots, or as the Prior of Canterbury did of his Tenants who in every Manor were bound ex antiqua consuetudine providere Priori ibidem de quodam Palifrido competenti tempore novae creations suoe, Pat. 3 E. 39. parte 1. m. 6. by ancient custome to present the Prior at his election or first admittance, a Palfrey fitting for him.
Or which the Prior of Rochester did of his Tenants of the Mannor of Haddenham in the County of Buckingham, who by ancient custome in the eighteenth yeer of the raign of King Edward the third, were to Mow and make the Lords Hey, Weed his grain in his demesnes, pay certain Rent Corn called Booting Corn, and five hundred threescore and three Eggs at Easter, which in Anno 18 H. 6. were by an agreement made with the Prior of Rochester, released for the sum of three pounds, and an increase of Rent from thence forward,18 E. 3. inter consuetudines de Haddenham in Com. Buck viz. for every Yard land twelve pence, every half yard land six pence, every Cotland eight pence, and every worthy (some Tenants so called) four pence, which is to this day paid and continued.
And being besides obliged by their customes to the works and services following, viz. That every Tenant holding a yard land, and the Tenants of two half yard lands ought to plough the Demeasne lands of the Lord two days in the year, viz. in Winter and in Lent, for which they were to have their dinner allowed by the Lord, every Tenant holding a yard land, ought in harvest upon a flesh day, as also upon a Fish day to be assigned by the Reeve or Bailiff to find two able persons, every holder of a half [Page 419] yard, every Cotland or Cottogea, and every worthy ought to finde the same day one able and lawful person with Hooks or Sickles to reap the Lords Grain in his Demeasnes for which they were to have their dinner allowed them at the charge of the Lord or his Farmer, every yard land ought to carry half a quarter of the Lords grain to Oxford (being about twelve miles distant) to Wallingford (neer as much) or to Wickham (being about ten miles distant) being Market Towns near adjoyning to Haddenham, and all the Carriers were to have one penny in common to drink the morrow they ought not to work, every yard land, ought to carry to Marlow eleven quarter of Grain of antient measure at three tearms of the year, to be quit from all things by six weeks after, and to carry the Lords grain from his demeasnes into his Barn from the furthest field four loads, from Dillicot field six loads, and if they carry nearer, then all the day if it please the Lord; also if the Lord shall buy Wood, every Yard land ought to carry two loads of Wood from the place into the Lords Yard, so it be ready to carry before the Feast of St. Michael, otherwise each Yard land should onely carry a horse load, so as they may in one day go and return, and all that week they should remain quiet, likewise if the Lord should build houses he ought to buy Tymber, and the men, viz. his Coppyholders ought to bring it home, viz. each hide every day one Load, untill the whole be carryed, so as they may in one day go and return; also if it please the Lord to send for fish four hides ought to be summoned, and two shall go for fish to Gloucester, which is about six and thirty miles from thence, and other two shall carry it to Rochester upon their own cost, and they should remain quiet until they return; all the Cotterels and worthy Tenants ought to [Page 420] wash the Sheep of the Lord and to sheer them, and fully to perform all thereunto belonging, and have nothing therefore; and if a theif should be taken in the liberty of the Lord, the Cotterel Tenants should keep him.
And were so due, and of so long a continuance as though the Tenants (some few onely excepted which would not pertake of the Composition, and are still contented to do their work and carriage services) did upon a reference made by King James to Henry Earl of Manchester Lord President of his Councel in Anno 1624. to hear and determine the differences betwixt Sir Henry Spiller then Lord of the said Mannor, and the Tenants concerning that and other matters within a short time after, viz. in the first year of the raign of King Charles the Martyr, agree for a Release of the said services not acquitted in Anno 18 H. 6. to pay yeerly unto the Lord of the Mannor and his heirs after the rate of three pence for every Acre and a penny for every Messuage or Cotage which had no land belonging unto it.
Or as many the like beneficial customes and priviledges at this day enjoyed by the Lords of some thousands, or more of Mannors in England, which beloned unto the Abbies and Religious houses for which they have quit Rents or other payments not unlike the Compositions for the Royal Pourveyance.
Or that the Steward of the Kings house should not if the Kings Pourveyance and Prae-emption had not been remitted by Act of Parliament, have authority to do as much as the Steward of the Kings house did about the eighteenth year of the Raign of King Edward the second, notwithstanding so great priviledges, [Page 421] immunities and exemptions granted and confirmed to the City of London, command that no Fishmonger upon pain of imprisonment and forfeiture of his goods and chattels should go out of the City to forestall any Sea or fresh fish, Ex antiquo Codice M.S. des Customes de Londres. or send them to any great Lord or Religious house, or any person whatsoever, nor keep from coming to Town untill the hour appointed for selling be past, untill the Kings Achators or Pourveyers should have made their Pourveyance to the use of the King.
Or that the King of England whose Royal Ancestor King Richard the first, did not onely give to many Religious houses, as to the Priory of Royston in Cambridgeshire, divers exemptions and priviledges, to be free from Carriages, &c. but de Regalium domorum aedificatione ac omnimoda operatione of works towards the repair or building of the Kings houses, Ac ut silvae eorum ad praedicta opera aut ad aliqua alia nullo modo capiantur, Carta Abbatiae Sancti salvatoris confirm. per H. 3. & that their Woods or Timber should not be cut or taken for that or any other purpose, and whose other Royal Progenitors have abundantly furnished diverse Abbies & Religious houses with priviledges to be free of Carriage by Carts, Summage upon horses de Thesauro ducendo, Convoy of the Kings Treasure, de operationibus Castellorum Pontium Parcorum & Murorum ▪ work to be done in the building or repairs of Castles, Bridges or Walls,Cart. 17. H. 3. m. 6. in 2. parte Dugdals Monastic. Anglic. & de vaccarum solutione quae dari solebant pro Capitibus utlagatorum, and the payment of certain Cows or Cattel to redeem the forfeitures of Outlaws, and exemptions from payment of Fumage, or Chimny money, Lestage or licence to carry away from Markets what they had bought, or in release or discharge of customes such as at Beleshale in Warwickshire belonging to some [Page 422] Religious house where they were to Mow three dayes at the charge of the house, three dayes to Plow, and at the charge of the house to reap one day, Dugdales 2 parte Monastic. Anglic. 528. and to have a Wether Sheep or eight pence or twenty five loaves or peices of bread, one of the best Cheeses in the house, and a measure of Salt, and if any horse Colt were foled upon the lands, he was not to be sold without licence, nor were any of the Tenants to marry a daughter without licence, and by the custome of the Township of Berstanestone in Warwickshire, horse Colts foled upon the land, were not to be sold without licence, for which a penny was to be paid, nor any of their daughters to be married without licence, &c. which in divers old Charters, and confirmations of our Kings and Princes, do frequently occur, may evidence that such or the like were once undeniable duties to their Kings and Benefactors, and onely released in favor of those which were the owners and proprietors of the lands and priviledges, and being now enjoyed, were formerly regalities and rights inherent and vested in the Crown of England, should retain no liberties or priviledges for himself.
And that the Quit Rents as they are now called & taken by the owners and proprietors of some of the Abby and Religious Lands for Eleemosinae's, 2 parte Monastic. Anglic. 264. or Alms-money given by Founders or other charitable persons, & many a sum of money formerly paid for Mortuaries, Pardons, Indulgences, Pitances or Pourveyances and Oblations which are at this time kept on foot and received under the name and notion of Quit Rents, might put them in mind how necessary it is for them to perform the duty of Pourveyance to the King being the heir and successor of many of those which gave them.
[Page 423]And how unbe [...]oming the duty of subjects pertaking the benefits thereof, it would be that the King whose Royal Ancestors, Saint Edward the King gave for ever to the Abby of St. Edmonds Bury the Mannor of Mildenhall in Suffolk to buy wheaten bread for the Monks to prevent their necessities of eating Barly bread,Dugdales 2 parte Monastic. anglic. 187.206▪297. which he perceived them to do when he came once to visit them; King John gave for ever to the Abby of St. Albans, and King Edward the first (as many other Kings of England have done to other Monasteries and Religious houses) gave and confirmed for ever to the Abby of St. Edmunds Bury divers Mannors, Lands, Tyths, and yeerly Revenues of a very great yeerly Revenue to maintain their Hospitalities, Pitances and Liu [...]es of servants and for the relief of strangers and poor people coming thither, should now have his own Hospitality and the means to support it taken from him.
And that if all the customes, priviledges, and Royalties as they are called which are now performed and willingly assented unto by Tenants, and enjoyed by the Lords of other Mannors by the power and priviledges derived unto them from the King & his Royal Progenitors were truely represented and brought to a publike view; together with all the priviledges, liberties, exemptions and immunities granted unto the Cities, Boroughs and Towns Corporate of England; it might be wondered how they that enjoy so much & so many liberties & favours from the King & his Royal Progenitors by grants or prescribed Indulgences should think there could be any reason to deny him those his most just, necessary and ancient rights and liberties of Pourveyances or Compositions [Page 424] for them, when at the same time they are so carefull to preserve and keep their own.
And it would be something more then unfitting that the King whose Royal Ancestors have allowed so many of his subjects those priviledges and liberties, should be debarred from a greater right and legal liberty in his own case; or when he should make his progress to Chester should be refused that priviledge more ancient then the Conquest of having of every Yard land two hundred Capons, or Caponets, a fat or stand of Beer, and a certain quantity of Butter, Lib. Domesday tit. Cestre which as appears by the book of Domesday, were by custome or Tenure to be provided for him, and not enjoy as much liberty as Hugh Earl of Chester did when he could priviledge Nigell de haulton, his Constable and his heirs, Quod omnia quae ad praedicti Nigelli opus erant necessaria emant ministri sui ante omnes alios in Civitate Cestriae nisi praenominati Comitis ministri praevenerint sine cujuscunque contradictione, that his servants should in the City of Chester without contradiction have a Prae-emption before any but the Earles servants and Officers; or as the Abbot of Burgh who had a P [...]ae [...]emption in all necessaries concerning the Abby, & a priviledge to pay an half penny cheaper then others in every hundred of Herring; or the Abbot of St. Albans, who was by the Charter of King John to have a prae-emption for any of his provisions to be bought in London, Dugdales 2 parte Monastic Anglic. as well as any of the Kings Officers, the Abbot of St. Edmonds Bury having a like priviledge for his Fodder Corn.
That the King of England, whose Royal Ancestor King Aethelstane was able to give to the Church of Beverlye, quasdam avenas vulgariter dictas Hestcorn percipiendas de Dominiis & Ecclesiis in illis partibus, certain Oats [Page 425] commonly called Hestcorne, to be taken out of his Demeasnes, and the Churches in those parts which by the dissolution of the Religious houses are now probably claimed and enjoyed by Laymen, and did in Anno Dom. 936. ex sua Regalitate, by his Kingly authority, saith the History of that Foundation, give towards the Hospitality and relief of the poor coming to the Hospital of St. Peters or St. Leonards in York, de qual bet Caruca Arante in Episcopatu Eboraci unam Travam bladi out of every yard land of errable in the Bishoprick of York one Thrave (which is four and twenty sheaves) of Corn, Et ex consensu Incolarum Episcopatus Eboraci Rex habuit, saith that Historian, Travas praedictas sibi & successoribus suis sic quod exterminaret lupos patriam devastantes, and was ofterwards granted by the consent of the inhabitants upon condition that he would destroy the Wolves which wasted that Country,2 parte Dugdales Monastic. Anglic. 367. & 368. Erat siquidem in Diocesi Eboracensi tanta adtunc multitudo luporum quod omnes fere villanorum bestias devorarunt, for there were in that Diocess such a multitude of Wolves (which King Aethelstane thereupon destroyed) as they almost devoured all the Beastes and Cattel belonging to the Countrimen, should now that the County and Bishoprick of York have in all the after ages and successions of our Kings not onely received of them many and greater benefits, but have been by their many good Laws and Governments protected and defended from all manner of Wolves be denyed so small an observance or retribution as the Pourveyance or Compositions for them which were charged upon that County or Bishoprick did amount unto, and at the same time do either not pay those Thraves of Corn, [Page 426] which would far exceed the Pourveyance charged upon that County, or have compounded for them, or do pay them to such as have obtained Grants of the Lands and Revenues belonging to that Hospital.
Or that he whose Royal Ancestor King Henry the second took a care as appears by the black book in the Exchequer, that the Barons of the Exchequer (who were then taken to be a part of the Kings houshold) should have their provisions at easier rates then others, Et de victualibus suae domus in urbibus & Castellis & maritimis nomine consuetudinis nihil solvunt: Ex nigro lib. apud Recept. S [...]c [...]arii. Quod si minister vectigalium de hiis quicquam solvere compulerit, dummodo presens sit serviens ejus qui suis usibus empta fuisse oblata fide probare voluerit Baroni quidem exacta pecunia restituetur inde in integro & improbus exactor pro qualitate personae pecuniarum penam luet, and pay nothing for custom for the victuals or provisions for their houses in Cities, Castles and Maritime places; and if any Officer should compell them to pay any thing for them whilst [...]their servants were ready to testifie and prove that they were bought▪ to their use, the money was to be again restored, and the party so wickedly exacting it, amerced or fined according to the quality of his person.
And that our succeeding Kings and Princes causing a Pourveyance and provision of Diet to be made for the Justices of Assize & Justices of the Peace at the Assizes, & Sessions by the Sheriffs in every County, & making an allowance for the same out of the Exchequer, & Q. Elizabeth in Anno 1573. finding that to be troublesome & inconvenient for the Sheriffs, ordained that charge to be [Page 427] defrayed out of her Coffers, as may appear by a Copy of a letter from the Lords of her Privy Councel, communicated unto me by my worthy and learned friend Mr. William Dugdale and here inserted,
After our hearty commendations, whereas of long time many Gentlemen, some eligible to be Sheriffs,Ex autograph. in Bib. C [...]ttoniana. some that have been in Office in some of the Counties of this Realm, have both in Parliament and other places complained of the great burden and charge sustained in the said office of Sheriffwick, by reason as they have alleadged of the large Dyets and other charges of the Justices of Assize and Gaol delivery, yearly increasing in such sort as many Gentlemen, very meet for that office in respect of their wisdom and dexterity to execute the same, though not so meet for wealth to bear the charge of expences, have of late years made most earnest suits to be forborn, onely for want of wealth to bear that burden, the Queens Majesty calling this cause now of late into her remembrance, hath thought it very necessary to cause the same to be considered by her Council, and remedy to be provided therefore as the cause may bear it: And in consideration thereof it is by her Ma [...]esty and us of her Councel well perceived that by the petitions of divers of the Sheriffs in sundry Counties appearing in the Exchequer for the allowances for the Dyets and other charges of the said Justices, the same are yearly grown more and more in charge to the said Sheriffs, and consequently her Majesty thereby more charged then in reason ought to be allowed▪ And therefore to remedy this matter it is determined by her Majesty with the advice of us of her Privy Councel, That the Sheriffs shall not after this Lent Assizes defray the charges of the Justices of Assizes [Page 428] Diets, but that the said Justices shall have of her Majesty several sums of money out of her Coffers for their daily Diets, during the time that heretofore the Sheriffs have been chargeable withal within their Counties, with which determinations the more part of the said Justices have been by diverse of us of her Majesties Councel made acquainted, and thereof we have thought good to give you knowledge, as we do the like to all other Sheriffs in the Realm, to the intent you may after this Lent Assizes forbear to enter into such further charges; and yet it is meant that you shall against the Summer-Assizes by the authority of your office, aid and assist the servants of the said Justices that shall require your advice or help to make provisions for their Masters Diets, and for lodgings and houseroom at as reasonable charges as may, and ought to be for the Queens Majesties service, and as reason also requireth, that the said Justices in respect of their painful and careful services for administration of Justice should be both honorably and favourably used in all things requisite for their own persons and train, whereof we trust both you as Sheriffs now being, and all other succeeding you will have a care and due regard. Finally, we also warn you, that now, when you shall be unburdened hereof, as of a matter long time complained, you do not for your private respect enter into any such an unnecessary charge, as hath not in former times of the King her Majesties father, or other her Progenitors been used nor allowed; for it is not meant to give you allowance hereafter of any thing upon your account, that shall not be well warranted to be allowed unto you, we also hav [...] given notice unto the Justi [...]es that it shall be very convenient that at the first coming to the place appointed for the Sessions, they do begin to hear and [Page 429] determine the causes of the prisoners in your charge, and so far forth as it conveniently may be done proceed to the delivery of the Goal, before they proceed to the Assizes, whereby the attendance of the multitude of the Justices of Peace shall not need to be so long as if the Goal delivery should be last. And therefore we will that you do so make ready your Goal and prisoners, that the Justices may first finish that service, being the principal cause of their Sessions, and so we bid you right heartly farewell, from Hampton Court the 21. day of February 1573.
For these next Assizes it shall suffice that you make provision for two Messes of meat well furnished, and in case over and besides that you shall demand any further allowance of the Justices Diets, it is not meant you shall have any allowance for the same afterwards, you see what order it hath pleased her Majesty to take herein.
- W. Burghley
- A. Warwick
- F. Knollis
- R. S [...]dleir
- E. Lyncoln
- F. Bedford
- T. Smith
- Wa. Mildmay.
- T. Sussex.
- R. Leycester.
- Fr. Walsingham
and that expence being since ordered to be defrayed out of the Fines and profits of the Counties after the rate of four shillings per diem, at the Assizes & Sessions to every Justice of the peace, and two shillings per diem to the Clerk of the Peace, and the King being at more then 10000 l. per annum, charges to the Judges of the superior Courts at Westminster, who by their Circuits do to save his people a great deal more charges cause a [Page 430] cheap and impartial Justice to be twice in every year brought into every County, and is at many other yeerly expences to others in the administration of Justice (for which Cromwell and his fancied Parliaments thought a large yeerly allowance to be little enough) makes an yearly allowance of one thousand one hundred and six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence per annum to the Lord President of Wales and the Justices attending that Court for the provisions of their Diet with an allowance of Dyet to the Justices of Wales in their great Sessions, twenty four shillings per diem to the Domestick Clerks or servants of the Lord Chancellor, an allowance of Forty Marks per annum to the Kings Remembrancer in the Exchequer (which may shew what cheapness was formerly) for the diet of himself and of his eight Clarks who ought to table with him; the like for the Treasurers Remembrancer and his twelve Clarks, and to the Clark of the Pipe five pence per diem for his diet every day when he sitteth in Court; and the like to the Comptroller of the Pipe, should be now put to seek his own Provisions or Pourveyance at the dearest & most disrespectful rates; or that the Kings servants and Officers of his houshold in whose honor or dishonor the Majesty whom they serve (as that of David was in the reproach of his servants or Embassadors sent to the King of Ammon) is not a little concerned, should now for want of the Pourveyance or Compositions for them, complain that the beauty is departed from the Kings house, his servants are become like Harts that finde no Pasture, and they that did feed plentifully are desolate in the streets.
[Page 431]And that the servants of the Abbot of St. Edmunds Bury were in a better condition when as he could allow John de Hastings the Steward of the Courts of his Mannors who claimed the said Office by inheritance a Provision when he came at night unto him, for eight horses and thirteen men with an horse load of Provender, and Hey sufficient, Wine and Beer, Inquis de Statu Senescalli Abbatis de Burgo▪ sancti Edmundi in Escaet 30 E. 1. n. 13. twenty four Wax Candles▪ in the Winter time and twelve in the Summer, eight loaves of Bread for his Greyhounds, two Hens for his Hawks, & pro se & hominibus suis honorabilem sustentationem in Cibo & potu, and an honorable provision for himself and his servants in meat and drink. And as those of the children of Israel which returned from the Captivity, lamented the difference betwixt the glory of the first and second Temple, bewail the desolation of the house wherein the Kings honor dwelled, and the alteration & reducing of it to what it is now from that which it was in the raigns of Queen Elizabeth, King James, or King Charles the Martyr.
And that Foraigners and Strangers who were wont so to magnifie and extoll the Hospitality, state and magnificence of the King of Englands Court and house-keeping, as that Philip Honorius, after an exact survey of many other Kingdoms and their Policies hath publikely declared that no Nation in the world goeth beyond our Brittain in the honor of the Kings Court and houshold,Philip Honorius Thesau [...] Politic. in maggior numero di servitori con maggior distinctioni d' officii e gradi, multitude of servants, Officers and distinction of degrees, and cannot be ignorant of the respects and honor done by all Nations to Foraign Princes though no Monarchs or their superiors in their passages and journeys through any [Page 432] Towns or Cities beyond the Seas, by making them presents of Wine, Fish, Oats, and the best of houshold provisions which those places afforded, and that even those mechanick souls of Hamborough and Amsterdam, can think it worthy their imitation, shall finde the King of England, whose Ancestor Offa King of the Mercians in Anno Dom. 760. would be so little wanting to himself and his posterity in the preserving the honor and rights of Majesty, as he ordained that even in times of peace himself and his successors in the Crown, Speed Hist. of England & Leiger Book of St. Albans. should as they passed thorough any City, have Trumpets sounding before them to shew that the person of the King (saith the Leiger book of St. Albans) should breed both fear and honor in all which either see him or hear of him, to be so scanted de ea sublimitate & amplitudine augustaque illa Majestate, in that honor and reverence which his predecessors would never abate any thing of as his Officers and servants, like some Beggars who are not used to be trusted with a Mess of Pottage to be put into their hands when they buy it at the Cooks stall, unless they shall first lay down their little peice of Coyn for it, shall like some Mounsieur Mal-regard, be inforced to pay for a Cart or horses before hand, as if there were no other way to deal with them.
And in stead of being as the children of the servants of Solomon when Nehemiah long after returned with the children of Israel from Captivity found in the Registers in order to a preferment (there being then no selling of Places in fashion) be afterwards no where to be found,Nehem. c. 7. unless it be in the Role of the Beggars, or that they who have spent their times and industry in the hopes and expectation of their Princes favour, should (when the Jews who as the learned Grotius hath recorded, [Page 433] would not suffer any, Qui ministerio fuerant Regio alterius se quam Regis successoris ministerio addicere, Grotius Annotat. in lib. 3. Regum c. [...]. who had once served the King to serve any but his successors (which our Kings of England have frequently observed) be constrained to betake themselves to the services of subjects, or such as they can finde have a mind to entertain them.
And not onely his servants who are or should be well wishers to the return of Pourveyance or Compositions for them,Vide the Oaths of the Treasurer and Comptroller of the Kings house. some of whom as the Treasurer and Comptroller are by the orders of the house to be sworn That all things in the Kings house be guided to the Kings most worship, and that they search the good old rule, worshipful and profitable of the Kings Court used before time, and them to keep and better if they can.
But all the people of the Nation should remember that the honor and magnificence of David, and that Royalty of Solomon which amazed the Eastern world in the distribution of their Officers and servants in their houses and order the [...]eof were justly numbered amongst the greatest Actions of their might and Majesty.
And that the wisdom of our King Henry the seventh was not a little conspicuous in the happy effects which it produced, when after a retu [...]n from his troubles and afflictions in his great care and wisdom to prevent & avoid the like, and make such an establishment of the Crown for himself and his posterity (which he had as happily as unexpectedly attained unto) as might continue to as long a duration as the world was capable of, he did so order his Court and houshold, as it was a composure and assembly of men of the best birth, education, fortunes [Page 434] and estates, qualities, endowments and reputation in every County of the Kingdom, were most popular best allied and beloved therein and had no small influences upon their Tenants, Allies and dependencies, some of whom he made to be the Gentlemen of his Privy Chamber, Esquires of the body, Pensioners, Carvers, Cupbearers, Sewers, Ushers and Waiters, and made the Yeomen of his guard out of the best of the Yeomandry, or such as were recommended by the Gentlemen of his Privy [...]hamber, or other of his servants of the higher ranks, which together with other carefully pickt and well chosen servants not introduced by money or the avarice of such as were about him, disguises, parti [...] lities, or false recommendations were as so many Intelligencers Eyes and Ears to the better ordering of his Government and affairs which were then in a nice and perplexed condition, or as the Wheels in Ezekiels vision and the eyes in them, to inform as well as Act, served as a glass in the absence of Parliaments to represent unto him from time to time the symptomes and indications of the peoples contents or discontents, and if any thing were to be rectified for the good of his subjects, or done by him were by the great obligations which the people and such as were not his servants had and owed unto them which were his servants (and were sure to have them reciprocally to be their Advocates and Intercessors to the King for favors to be granted or done unto them) the most sure, silent, and never failing engines and contrivances to accomplish their soveraigns just and reasonable ends; by which excellent and ever to be imitated order, and very easie to be put in practice in the choice and election [Page 435] of such as were to serve and stand before him (which is and ever hath been one of the greatest pa [...]ts of prudence, either in the manage of smaller affairs in every mans private Family, or that of a K [...]ngdom which is the Complexum or comprehension of all of them.
And such an happy as well as wise and successeful constitution (which many of the Heathen Princes, and those that live in the dark of understanding do not omit for their own security, by making the children of their subjects to be their servants, and bred up in their Courts as Hostages and Sureties for their parents good behaviours) made and observed in his Court, and within doors conjoyned with that without doors, by agreement and good accord with the then potent Barons and great men of the Kingdom (who by their hospitalities and letting of their lands at small Rents, which were as Loadstones to attract the hearts and affections of the common people, did not onely augment their own grandeur, but like Solomons Lyons upholding his Throne, imployed it in the support of the honor and magnificence of their King and Soveraign) did to the unive [...]sal content both of Prince and people Domi forisque, atchieve and bring to pass his many great and difficult affairs, by imitation whereof and continuing that or the like course King Henry the eighth his son did deliver his people and Kingdom from the Impositions of Rome, wherewith it had formerly been much troubled. And Queen Elizabeth likewise waded through those many difficulties which had beleagured her Crown and Scepter, and did those other great actions in defence of her self and her people [Page 436] which have laid her up in glory, and made her remembrance to be as precious as the Spikenard, or the sweet smelling Mirrhe, and the most precious of Odors.
The consideration whereof and what will necessarily follow by any contrary course to be held, and the lessening of Officers and servants by the want of Pourveyance or Compositions for them, upon pretences of thrift and good husbandry, or being supernumerary may inform us that it will not onely diminish and cloud the Majesty and splendor which is necessary to be in the Courts of Princes, where the people should behold as well as rejoyce in the State and honor of their Kings, which in England did outgo and surpass all that of our neighbour Princes, but break the Links of that golden chain of order in the English Court, when it will be apparent that such as otherwise may seem to be supernumeraries are not to be judged or looked upon as they would be in private families (where their concernments are most commonly with a respect unto profit more then Worship or Honor) that Princes are to have and keep a greater State then any of their subjects, and that such a State which is some times made up of Supernumeraries, cannot be lessened where the high State and Honor of a King is to be maintained, which (some great or publike occasions, as at Coronations, Funerals, Triumphs, &c. onely excepted) is principally to reside in his house or fixed Station; and therefore it cannot be for the good of the people, or be correspondent to the Majesty of a great King, that a lesser number of Maces should be born before him, or that there should not be so many servants of one & the same [Page 437] imployment, but if the grandeur and magnificence of the King could be served with a lesser number of servants, the pretended surplusage would be necessary enough in order to the preferring and pleasing of his people, and to give them encouragement to love and honor him which is their head, and to make it their business to preserve and keep up the honor and g [...]eatness of the King and his Court, which David in the order and placing of Officers and servants in the house and Temple of the God of Israel, as well as in his own, did not think impertinent as the several distributions and pluralities of Officers to places of one and the same nature will sufficiently evidence, and to do otherwise, would as little conduce to that Decorum which ought to be in a Kings Family, as some indigested advice would do in the propounding, that there might be a sparing of a great yearly charge of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, who were anciently those that served in War, and ad latus principis, in a pitched field or Battel, and were by Covenant and Indenture, which are frequently mentioned, and to be found in the Records and ancient memorials of the Kingdom, his Pensioners onely for that purpose, because that the King is at a charge of a Life Guard, which cannot comprehend and take in the uses for the Gentlemen Pensioners in their guarding the King within doors, where there is a greater decency and honor in them and their service, then can be in the Esau's or men of the Field, and such as are onely useful in the direful Sacrifices to Bellona, where the Majesty of a King is laid aside and by a present necessity exchanged for a sword, and the bloody and unmajestick business of it, and would be as [Page 438] little for the profit of a King within the Virge of that honor which sh [...]uld encompass and attend him and his affairs, as to suppose that the Master of the houshold (which certainly hath been as ancient as the houshold it self, and never but once for ought appears to the contrary intermitted, and then by the cunning insinuation and self ends of one that was too instrumental in the introducing of our Trojan Horse) is useless and supernumerary, for that the Treasurer, Comptroller, Cofferer, Clerks of the Greencloth, and Clerks Comptrollers, may amongst them and altogether discharge and supply the care and business of it, which will appear to be no more then suppositions and pretences, when as the Office of Master of the houshold, which if well executed and as it ought to be, is of most necessary use and of a greater Fatigue and trouble then any other of the houshold; is not at all comprehended in the Lord Steward or great Master of the housholds place, nor within the Offices of Treasurer, Comptroller, Cofferer, Clerks of the Greencloth, or Clerks Comptrollers, but hath as all the rest of the Officers of the Greencloth have his peculiar and particular charge, which is to inspect all the under Offices of the houshold, and to be as a Corrigidor or Surveyor of those numerous Officers and servants which are therein (unto which the other great imployments and high honor of the Lord Steward, and the Treasurer and Comptroller, who are of his Majesties Privy Councel, will not permit them always to attend) to call in question and prosecute the punishment of such under Officers and Servants and their irregularities as deserve it, and keep a constant watch & eye upon their actions, [Page 439] and cause the daily orders and commands of the great Officers to be obeyed and executed by the inferior as well as the set and known Rules of the house, which is now more then ever necessary, and not to be wanted when there are so very great and many disorders which a [...]e heightned, and more and more increased by the want of the Royal Pourveyances or Compositions for them, and by the enhaunce of rates and prices of houshold provisions (which do more infest the Purse and profit of the King then any supernumerary Officers and servants have as yet done) and hinder him from regulating these unallowable improvements, and (as they are called) Fees and perquisites of some Offices and Places in his Court by an Augmentation of the ancient Wages and Salaries of his servants now far too little and unable to support them in his service, which the monys wasted in the damages and loss sustained for want of his Prae-emption and Pourveyances, and by those otherwise remediless irregularities would have easily accomplished.
And all the people of England and their after generations may take it to be no less then their duty as well as their interest, and (if the irrational creatures were but to be Judges of it) a common gratitude to endeavour all they can, and to be willing that those ancient Rights should be continued and preserved to the King and his successors.
And having no small concernment in the honor of their Kings, which by its Rays and R [...]flexions communicated unto them was, and ever is, and will be as necessary for the good and welfare of the King and his people, as either Credit, Cloths, Jewels, or any thing else they can have or adorn themselves withall, when [Page 440] as their own interest or well or ill being, is involved in the Kings.
May understand it to be no less their interest to uphold the honor of the King and his house, then it was the interest of their forefathers, who if they had not found it to be a more then ordinary concernment of themselves and every good subject to be assistant thereunto, would not so often have been petitioners in several Parliaments and several Kings Raigns for the well ordering of the Kings house.
And being not ignorant how much all people are won and kept by hospitalities and benefits, or lost for want of them, should not be instrumental to mudd or stop the fountain, but cherish rather & keep the hospitality of the Kings house as carefully as the Romans did their Vestal fire, and the Anci [...]ia or sacred Sheilds, as some special part of the salus populi, and believe that it was for the interest of the Nation that some Lords of the Kings Privy Council in the 21. year of the Raign of Henry the eighth, even in the decay and expiring of Hospitality, and almost all other the English vertues, did amongst other Articles of Impeachment exhibited to the King against Cardinal Woolsey (who kept a very large and ample Hospitality in his own house) charge him, that where good hospitality hath been used to be kept in houses and places of Religion in this Realm; Coke 4. parte Institutes 91▪ & Hist. H. 8. by the Lord Herbert of Cherbury. and many poor people relieved thereby the said hospitality and relief is now decayed and not used: And it is commonly reported that the occasion thereof is because the said Lord Cardinal hath taken such Impositions upon the Rulers of the said houses, as well for his favor in the making of Abbots and Priors, as for his visitation by his authority Legatine: [Page 441] And yet nevertheless taketh of such Religious houses such yearly and continual charges as they be not able to keep hospitality as they were used to do, which is a great cause that there be so many Vagabonds, Beggers and Theeves. And where the same Lord [...]ardinal hath said before the suppression of the Religious houses which he suppressed, that the possessions of them should be set to Farm amongst your Lay Subjects, after such reasonable yearly Rent as they should well thereupon live and keep good hospitality, now the demeasne possession of the said houses since the suppression of them have been surveyed, met, and measured by the Acre and set above the value of the old Rent, &c.
That Judge Walmesly, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, did not appear to be an ill Commonwealths man, when upon his death bed (as some few other old fashioned English Gentry have lately done) charge his heir to continue his custome of good house-keeping and using his Tenants well.
That when King James in the thirteenth year of his Raign, being perswaded that it did greatly conduce to the welfare of his people, did by his Proclamation or Edict command all the Gentry of the Kingdom to repair at the Feasts of Christmas then next ensuing unto their several Countries and habitations for the onely ends of hospitality and housekeeping; Ro. pat. 13. Jacobi. and that such as were Justices of the Peace and did not, should be put out of the Commission of the Peace, he did not think his own heirs and successors should ever be streightned in the means that should maintain their own Hospitalities.
And that we have had of late the happy effects [Page 442] experiments & fruits of good house-keeping & usage of Tenants by what was done by the late Loyal & Noble Marquess of Worcester, when as he could by that, and the love of his Tenants and dependencies in the beginning of the late unparalelled Rebellion, assist his distressed King with great supplies of men and money, and help him that was then almost helpless to form an Army to defend our Religion, Laws, and Liberties, as well as his own Rights; & by the late Marquess of Hertfords bringing to his rescue great numbers of his Tenants, and have nothing to hinder our belief, that Sir George Booth could never so gallantly as he did have ingaged almost two thousand of his friends and Tenants to open the passage to his now Majesties happy restoration of himself to his Rights, and us to our Religion, Laws, and Liberties, if it had not been for his and his Fathers small Rents and great hospital [...]ties.
And that we shall but destroy our own interest, and appear to be ill affected to our own as well as the weal publike if we shal contribute any thing to the burdening of his now Majesty with an enhaunce of Rates & prices most unconscionably put upon houshold provisions, and so beleaguer him with necessities for want of his Pou [...]veyance or Compositions for them as he shall not be able himself to do that which for reason of State and the care of the welfare of his people, he would command others to do.
For it will be obvious to every mans understanding that our so famous Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the glorious structures of their Colledges Halls and habitations of the Muses with their prudent foundations and statutes, and great endowments [Page 443] of Lands and Revenues thereunto belonging, causing those Universities as much to excell all other the Universities of the world, as the Sun that grand Flambeau and most Illustrious Torch and light of the Firmament doth the lesser, and communicated Lights would by the rise of prices for victuals and houshold provisions neither then suspected or expected to have ever been able to come to such immoderate rates as they have since arrived unto, have notwithstanding all the care and forecast of their Founders, and the great yeerly Revenues thereunto belonging, sunk into the Rubbidge of those goodly buildings, and lost the intentions of their most noble and pious Founders, if it had not been for the care and prevention of the Statute of 18. Eliz. (justly accompted by Mr. Camden, to be a principal means of the support of those Universities) which provided that the third part of the Colledges yearly Rents and Revenues should be for ever paid and reserved in Corn, Malt, and other provisions for house-keeping.
That it cannot be for the good or honor of the Nation to hinder the King from being a Trajan, or herba parietaria, a sweet smelling Wall Flower, or deliciae hominum, by taking away or obstructing the Magnetick virtue of his Hospitality or attraction of the love of his people.
And that to overburden our head, or heap necessities upon the King, would bring us within the blame and censure of the judicious Bodin, a man not meanly learned in Politicks, who decrying all unbecoming Parsimonies in a King, or his Family, delivers his opinion, that sine Majestatis ipsius contemptu fieri non potest [Page 444] ea res enim Peregrinos ad principem aspernandum & subditos ad deficiendum excitare consuevit;Bodin de Repub. lib. 6. That to lessen the number of a Kings servants or attendants, cannot be done without a contempt or diminution of Majesty it self, and that it may cause strangers to despise him, and his own subjects to Rebell against him, and gives us the example and ill consequences which may thereby happen by the misguided frugality of Lewis the 11. King of France, who when he had put out of his houshold those that were of the Nobility and Gentry, made a Physician his Chancellor, and his Barber his Herald and Embassador, and how little good the people of France and their posterity have gained by his dishonorable and unkingly Parsimoney, when he did usually wear a course cloth suit and greasie old hat, and at the same time was but busie to load them with Taxes, and lay the foundation for as many more in perpetuity; and may now remember with grief how little was saved by sending his Barber as an Embassador to propound a marriage with Mary Dutchess of Burgundy, then the greatest heir of Christendom, and that the Burgundian scorn of such a simple Messenger, lost him and all France the advantage of having her and those seventeen great and rich Provinces which have since been the cause of so much War and trouble to the Christian world to be united and incorporate to the Crown of France, Philip. de Comines hist. and that thirty years late wars and expence of blood and many millions of money raised by Taxes, have but enforced a Conquest of less then a six [...]eenth part of those great and rich Territories, which might once have been had at a cheaper rate.
And if we would but regard the honor of the English [Page 445] Nation, and the gratitude which like the blood was wont to circulate and attend their hearts, should blush to take a lesser care of the Kings rights and preheminences then our ancestors were accustomed to do, who in a Parliament of King Edward the third in the 42. year of his Raign, declared, That they could not assent to any thing which tended to the dish [...]rison of the King and his Crown to which they were sworn. And in a Parliament in the fourteenth yeer of the Raign of King Richard the second, did pray the King, That the prerogative of him and his Crown might be kept, that all things done or attempted to the contrary might be redressed, and that the King might be as free as any of his progenitors were.
Or to deny those ancient rights of Prae-emption and Pourveyance, or the former Compositions for them, to a King who hath rescued us from a slavery from which we could not redeem our selves, and restored all the Factious and Rebellious parties to their forfeited Laws and Liberties.
Or that he should meet with no better acknowledgements then that those who professed that their lives, estates and fortunes should be at his dispose in order to his service, and that they would be Tenants in Corde, should by denying h [...]s Prae-emption and Pourveyance, or Compositions for them, but be Tenants in Ore, and by their high rates and impositions upon his houshold provisions, make it their business to take ex Ore suo that which should maintain him & his houshold.
And that the King who publickly professed that he was much troubled that his people should come flocking as they did to Whitehal, to see him where he had nothing [Page 446] to [...]eed them, should now be so much necessitated, or imposed upon as he is by his want of Pourveyance and the former way of Compositions for them; or that the maligners of our English honor and prosperity should publish it in Gath or Askelon, or have cause to upbraid us with,
Or that our Returns should be no more to a King, who doth not as the Commonwealths of Greece, the spawn and Nursery of Republikes,Greece. Cedrenus lib. 3. ca. 39. & Zonaras. fill their Treasuries with Taxes, & impose, ten Drachmas upon every house, Assessements upon every payment of Silver mony and Taxes upon Beggars & Whores, and such as were made Free, upon Cattle, Dung, Horses, Mules, Asses, Oxen, and 3. pence upon every Dog, or the Fumaria Tributa, Chimney money leavyed by Nicephorus the Emperor (the Chimney money which is now taken in England, being of late onely granted by Act of Parliament and consent of the people to supply the decayed revenues of the Crown) with a Tax likewise upon every man that grew suddainly rich upon a presumption that he had found some Treasure, which by Prerogative belonged to the Emperor, a Canon or Canonicum Tributum, ordinary or constant yeerly Tribute amounting in the whole to as much as 17 s. six pence, besides a Sheep,Lib. 1. Juris Oriental. six Bushels of Barley, six Bushels of Bran, six [Page 447] measures of Wine, and thirty Hens imposed upon every village,Julius Caesar Bullinger de Vectigalibus. having thirty Chimneys imposed by [...]saacus Commenius the Emperor, or a Tax upon the rich to excuse the poor.
Nor as the Romans did whilst they were a Commonwealth impose a Tax or Imposition (but in case of present great necessity,Roman Empire. and by the peoples consent in Parliament) de agris & Pascuis, or a Land Assessement to make an Aerarium or Treasury to supply future emergencies, or Collect Aurum vicesimarium, Zecchius de principat. administrat. a twentieth peuy of every mans estate, ad ultimos Casus, to support the Commonwealth when it should happen to be [...]istressed,Appian lib. 2. de bellis Civil. or a Tax before hand to defray the charge of a war in Gaule, when there should be any, or Poll-money (without common assent) and an imposition or Tax upon salt, nor raise Taxes and Tributes as they did Tributim a singulis ad Tributum solvendum aerario bellis exinanito, to fill again their Treasuries exhausted by War, a Tax or rate upon Wine, a tenth of all Corn, Oyl,Cicero pro leg. Manilia. and fruits of the earth, and a twentieth penny of the estates of such as were made free,Su [...]tonius in vita Julii Caesaris. a vectigal or tribute for Fish in Lakes and Fish ponds, a yeerly pension for every house in Rome, their Aedilitia vectigalia, a tribute to maintain their Theaters or Play-houses, Siliquaticum, a certain Toll in Markets and Fairs,Cicero lib. Epist. ad Q. fratrem. Vectigal macelli an Excise upon all flesh and Victuals, a Tenth of Legacies, the Decumae ▪ or Tenths of the profits of Lands given by a Husband to a Wife, or a Wife to a Husband if they had no children;Legia Papia. and a Portorium or custom for exportation or importation of Commodities.
Did not make his Census or Assessements so poenal [Page 448] in the not due discovery of the peoples estates, as the Romans those great pretenders to love and liberty, did in theirs wherein wives, servants, and children were not exempted sub poena publicationis inflicta his qui nollent bona sua aestimari v [...]l mala fide minoris quam valerent aestimari paterentur, Livius Hist. Roman. under the penalty of a forftiture of their goods if they should refuse to have their estates Assessed, or suffer them to be under valued, and exact a rate to be paid for the burial of such as died extra patriam, Dio. Cass. lib. 50. and were brought home to be buried, or such taxes as were afterwards imposed by the Emperors of Rome, when that grand and universal Commonwealth revolved into its first constitution and a Monarchy, as a third part of the revenues of all men made Free in Italy, and a fourth of the Natives or Free-holders imposed by Lepidus and Antonius in their T [...]iumvirate with Augustus, Plutarch in vita Antonii Strabo in lib. ult. & Dio. Cass. in Augusto. or as Augustus Caesar the best of their Emperors or Monarches did, who exacted the fourth part of every mans revenue, and the eighth of every mans goods which were made free, to furnish an Aerarium militare, or Magazin of money for the souldery, a Centesima pars, or hundred penny of all things sold; a twentieth part or penny of all Legacies and grants of inheritance, the Vicesima quinta or twenty fifth part of all things sold in the Country Market Towns, the Quinquagesima or fiftieth part of wild Beasts brought to be sold, and fifteen pence sterling (for the peice of money taken out of the Fishes mouth which paid the Poll-money for our Saviour Christ and Peter, is by good authors reckoned to be two shillings and six pence sterling) for Poll money the hundred part of all things bought or sold within [Page 449] the Empire, taxed before the Civil Wa [...]s, and continued by Tiberius (though the people after their Civil Wars ended, petitioned to have it abolished) towards the supply of his Aerarium militare, Treasury for the Army, and Exacted a fourth part of the value of every thing sued for at Law; a great penalty upon every one which compounded without licence; a certain number of Sesterties upon every marriage contracted, an eighth part of all wares and commodities sold imposed by Caligula, and a part of every poor Laborers Wages and of every Beggars Alms; an Impost upon Urine by Vespasian, and the Stews by Severus the Emperor,Lampridius in Alexandro Severo. and a part of Artificers, and Waggoners gains; some impositions set upon the heads of Beasts, and Tiles of houses, and a Vectigal umbrae & aeris, a Tax for the shade of the Plantane Tree by some of the ancient Emperors, and when they had the Revenue of a great part of the world at their command, and had the spoils and treasures thereof,P [...]libius. and might the better have spared their own people, for that two Legions or twelve thousand men were enough to Conquer and awe a Kingdom, and a Foot souldiers pay was in those days of so great a cheapness (as a fat Kid was sold in Portugal for an obolus then passing for about a penny farthing, which was the price of four mens Dinners in L [...]bardy, and a Medimni or three Bushels of Barley was commonly sold for four Oboli being in the beginning of the third Punick war but two Oboli, Valen. in l. modios 9. suscept. lib. 10. C. 70. Symmachus lib. 9. Epist. 10. would not forbear to leavy the fiftith part of the peoples Corn, a fourtieth of their Barley, and a twentieth of their Wine and Bacon; Praestatio Tyronum, when they took money to free soldiers and young men from warfare, which was causa exitii, a cause of the ruine [Page 450] of Rome, and that of Valens the Emperor, taking money of the people of every Province which per vices, or by turns were bound to furnish a sold [...]er,Paulus Diaconus lib. 2. quod cladem attulit Romano Imperio cum nemo militaret, which d [...]stroyed the Roman Empire, when as men had rather pay money then serve their Country as souldiers, Praestatio Lustralis, which was paid to the Emperor every five yeers for every thing bought or sold, which was not in proprio rure, of the proceed or growth of their own lands; Vectigal Allelengyum, Bullinger de Vectigalibus. a Tax when the poor were listed or Mustered for war, and the rich ordered to pay a certain rate to buy Arms and Provision for them, vectigal Chartiaticum, an Assessement upon Gards, Vectigalia de fluminibus, a Tax upon Rivers and Lakes, Aurum glebale, or Coronarium, an yeerly oblation (so called) to the Treasury, Solarium an yeerly rent upon houses built upon the waste, a Tax upon all Miners or Mettal men,D. de Publican. paid upon their first admission; a certain rate or imposition set upon Brass, Iron, Brimstom, Chalk, Alum, Pitch,Xiphilinus in Neron [...] & Lampridius. Whe [...]stones o [...] Quarries of Stone, and Vectigal pro mortuis, a Tax upon the dead or upon their Burials, of which Boundicia or Boadicia our warlike British Princess complains, that amongst the Romans, mori non licet fine tributo & mulcta, they could not dye without a Tax paid for it.
Nor (not to mention the meru [...] [...]mperium almost unlimited despotical or arbitrary power of the great Turk, Emperors of Russia, Industan and Persia, and other Eastearn, Asian or African Princes over the estates and fortunes of their subjects) doth not do as the Bishop of Rome doth,Rome. who besides his large Demeasnes great Dukedomes and Territories now called the Church Land, taking up a fifth or sixth part of I [...]aly, and the Tributes [Page 451] and Donatives flowing from all the Clergy and people of the Kingdoms & Provinces which are yet content to acknowledge his supreme (as he calls it) Vicariat, and his great Amasses of Treasure gotten by Bulls, Indulgences, Jubilees, Pardons and Dispensations, making in the Total a greater and far less troublesome Revenue then the West Indies ever amounted unto, can by an artificial selling of all Favors and benefits which he either gives or grants sub Annulo Piscatoris or otherwise, and Multiplication of Officers cut and Cantelled into too many, where a lesser number would serve as Masters of the streets, to look to the buildings thereof, Chaplaines to sing Mass to the Palfrey men, Office of the Abbreviators in the Chancery, General of the Church, Cardinal Chamberlain, Clerks of the Chamber, Apostolical prefect of the signature of Justice, or of causes delegated for it, prefect of the signature of Grace, Congregation office, or Court for Rivers, Waters and Bridges, Congregation for the Fountains of the streets, Congregation to hear the grievances of the people (which are made faster then they can complain of them) the Office of the Datary, under Doctor and Revisers, Paticipant, Pronotaries, twenty four under Secretaries, twenty Registers of Supplications, the Summist or chief Broker in the sale of all Officers (which in the Court or Palace, are very many and are subdivided into many of a sort, and hath one of each for a retribution or allowance to himself) yeilding his Holiness a great yearly Revenue; Writers of the Paenitentiaries, Apostolical Writers, Apostolical Chamberlaines, Judge of the Confidences, who is to take care that there be no Simony (when as there is nothing [Page 452] almost more frequent) Auditor of the Contradictions, Corrector of the Contradictions, Participant, Master of the Ceremonies, the Keepers of the Chaines, and the Popes four secret Sweepers, who by their Exactions and Improvements of their places and shifts do like so many devouring Minotaures of the people lurk in their several Labirinths of Fees and extortions, and keep the people lean whilst they themselves are overgrown with Fat, and where there are so many Officers & men imployed to catch Fees and mony, as the people & those that do bear the burden, are like those that are stung with the Fly of that Country called Tarantula, may in a pleasant madness content themselves as well as they can by the custome of enduring that which renders them not so sensible as they would otherwise be of it.
And the Citizens of Rome and mechanicks making it the more easie by the gaines & profit which they make by the confluence of the people and strangers thither, and those which do pay so much mony to the Popes supernumerary Officers, selling at greater rates to others, what they themselves paid very dear for, and being men of other Kingdoms and Nations, do make the crys and complaints which happen thereupon, to come short of his Holiness ears, or audience of the Court of Rome, where the other Impositions and Taxes likewise laid upon the people were so intollerable, as a Pasquil no longer ago then the Popedome of Sixtus Quintus made himself and others as merry as they could in making haste to dry his Shirt in the Sun least his Holiness should lay some Tax upon the heat thereof.
Nor as the King of Spain doth in his Kingdom of Naples, Naples. where besides extraordinary aids, he receiveth [Page 453] a Donative every two years from the people of a very great sum of money, which is reduced to an ordinary Revenue,Philip Honorius Thesaur. Politic. takes a Tax for the Chimneys or Fires in every house yearly to be paid towards the Wages of soldiers and an allowance to be made to such of the Nobility as attend the Vice Roy, another Tax towards the Garrisons, and a great Tax upon Silk and Cards, Victuals and houshold provisions, where the people having besides four thousand Barons or Titulado's, with many petty Princes, Dukes, Marquesses and Earls to domineer over them, do find the great plenty of that Country converted into a poverty of the common people.
Nor as the great Duke of Tuscany imposes (besides other Assessements upon extraordinary necessitys) eight per cent. upon Dowries,Tuscany. and as much upon the sale of all immoveables, according to the full and real value, the tenth part of the Rent made by houses or lands leased, a rate upon every pound of flesh sold,Philip Honorius Thesaur. Politic. and upon Bills of Exchange, and when he is to raise any great sum of money makes his list of all the rich men able to fu [...] nish it, who not dareing to deny it, are within twenty eight moneths after repaid by a general Taxe laid upon the people, exacteth an Excise upon Roots and Herbs, or the least thing necessary for the life of man bought or sold, or brought to any Towns, and a Tax likewise to be paid by every Inholder, Brewer, Baker, and Artificer; and of every man travailing by land or by water who pays money at every Bridge or Gate of a Town,Sir John Davies Treatise of impositions and if he doth not pay, the Gabeller Arrests him, and is ready to strip him naked to see what Goods he hath which ought to pay a Gabel.
[Page 454]Neither as the King of Spain doth in Milan where his subjects do the better endure their multitude of taxes by his moderating la voragine de gl. interesse, Milan. their grand usury cutting off or restraining le spese superflue, superfluous expences, & havendo gli occhi apperti alle mani de Ministri, and by the Magistrates keeping a strict watch and eye upon the Ministers of State and Justice, who do notwithstanding so load and oppress the people, as it is grown into an Adage or Proverb. Il ministro di Sicilia rode quel di Napoli mangia & quel di Milano divora, the Governors and officials of Sicily do gnaw the estates of the people, those of Naples eat them, and those of Milan devour them.
Nor as in Spain where the people being Tantalized may hear of Gold and Silver brought from the West Indies, Spain. and sometimes see it, but it being altogether imployed to maintain souldiers Garrisons and designes in the services of their Princes never to be satisfied ambition of piling up Crowns, Scepters and Titles one upon another, as if they intended to give thier neighbor Princes no rest untill they had built themselves a Piramid of them, passes away from the subjects like a golden Dream, leaving them a certain assurance that the Gold and Silver of America, hath but increased their Burdens and Taxes, and that besides their servitios ordinarios, ordinary and formerly accustomed services paid and done, and the Subsidies called Des millions, upon extraordinary occasions and necessities granted in their Parliaments or Assemblies of the Estates, and the charges which the people are put to for librancas, Warrants or Assignments for moneys to be paid like a late and ill invented way of Poundage here in England, and [Page 455] the E [...]comienda's, or recommendations to Offices, Places or Dignities, or the Venteia or sale of them, and the appointing Alcaldes or Officers of Justice in the Towns and Villages, and Corregidors o [...] Governors to look to their obedience to Laws and Taxes, and the profit of their inquisitions do pay the Alcavala or tenth of every mans estate first raised at a twentieth by Alph [...]nsus the twelfth, in An. Dom. 1342. to expell the Moors, and since though they be long ago driven away, made a perpetual Revenue, Collect out of all Lands, Houses, Goods & Commodities which are sold; and from Artificers, Workmen, Tavern keepers, Manufactures, Butchers, Fishmongers, Markets, &c. And for every thing sold, or which they take mony for, an Almoxariffe & do take a tenth of all Foraign Commodities imported and exported, a tenth of all Merchandize exported to the West Indies, Marian lib. lib. 16. & Linsc [...]tanus. & a twentieth when they come thither paid for importation, Vectigalia decimarū portuum siccorum, or puertos secos, a tenth of all Commodities carryed by Land out of the lirtle Kingdoms of Valentia, Arragon and Navarre, and out of Portugall into any part of Spain, and from Spain into any of those Kingdoms two Ducats from the Natives of Spain, and four of Strangers for every Sack of Wooll exported, El Senneor-capo de la moneda, a Real or six pence out of every six Ducats coyned in the Mint; a Tax called the Almodraua out of the Tunny Fishes, a great yearly Revenue out of salt, El exercitio, a tribute for the maintenance of the Gallies and Marriners la Monoda Forara, which is seven Maravedis for ever Chimney, a Tax upon Cards, Quicksilver and Russet Cloth made in Spain, and the Maestrazgos, a great Revenue yeerly raised upon the [Page 456] Rents and Estates of the Knights of the Orders of St. Jago Calatrava and Alcantara'la Cruzava, or benefit of the Kings selling of the Popes Pardons, to eat Flesh in Lent or ti [...]es prohibited, granted to maintain the charge of War against Infidels or Hereticks, yearly yeilding eighty thousand pounds sterling; the terzae or thirds out of the Lands and Estates of the Ecclesiasticks and Clergy for the maintenance of the wars and defence of the Catholick Religion over and above the Excusado or ordinary Revenue of a Tenth by the grant of the Pope of all the goods and Lands of the Church which yeildeth yearly six hundred and twenty thousand Duckets, besides the State Artifices of getting Bulls or Warrants from the Pope to lay heavy Taxes upon the Clergy, as in Anno 1560. to leavy every year for five years together, three hundred thousand Crowns with a liberty of lengthning that time, if the Pope should think fit to furnish fifty Gallies against the Infidels and Hereticks; and two years after an Addition of four hundred thousand Duckets per annum, and at another time three Millions for six years to be yearly paid by the Clergy, vast sums of money yeerly raised out of their Wine and Oyl for some yeers, insomuch as the Cardinal Ossatus complaining of it, saith, That nullus est Clerus in toto orbe Christiano qui majoribus oneribus prematur quam Clerus Hispaniae, no Clergy in the Christian world is more oppressed with Taxes then the Clergy of Spain.
Doth not lay such Taxes or Impositions as the people of Portugal do bear by the Alfandega's or Impositions upon all Merchandize (Corn excepted) Imported,Portugall. upon some a tenth, upon some a fifth, and in some [Page 457] places some other par [...]s, a Tax upon Wood, Wine, Oyl, Fruit, Flesh, Fish, Blacks or Negros, servants or slaves sold Puertes secos, or for goods or commodities carryed to be sold by Land; a Tax upon Cards, besides many Almoxariffadgo's laid upon the Towns and people, a particular Tax upon Tunny Fish, a third pa [...]t yeerly collected of the Rents and profits of all the Revenues belonging to every City and Town in the Kingdom, every one having some appropriate unto them, and of Fines and penalties imposed upon any quen [...]s therein.
Doth not do as the Emperor and German Princes do by their people and subjects,Germany. who besides the Dranksteur, Bierrecht Biersteur, or Excise upon drink and their Schoorstein oder Caming gelt or Chimny money Frawlensteur certain quantities of Wine appropriate to the Prince, & those many Consuetudines quae praestantur in recognitionem Dominii directi & Jurium Dominicalium, Customes and services which are to be performed to the Emperors or chief Lords of whom they hold and their Laudemia's Leh [...]wahrs or Reliefs, which if it be a Hahe Leh [...]wahr, is of great men or Estates a Twentieth penny, in Ecclesiastical Fees or Revenues two Dollers per cent. and in the Kleine lehne wahr or small Estates or Revenues, a sixteenth penny, and over and above what is paid for Licences of Alienation, or for lehn gel [...] for a Live [...]y or investiture into Lands, Han [...]ohn, an Oblation for any thing written in a subjects favour by the Prince, and Recht steur a payment of money towards the maintenance of the Courts of Justice, do take Turkensteur, a Tribute for war or defence against the Turks, [Page 458] Krieg steur, a Tax for the payment of souldiers; Forst gelt, Forrest money; Mase gelt, money paid for measures; Malschwein, for Swine, Last gelt, Ton money or gaging of vessels, Pf [...]ug gelt, a Tax upon every Plow, B [...]lcken gelt Timber money, Haupt vizh money for the head of every Beast, Zehenden vam Fleisch wein corne Erbsen, Tenths of Flesh, Wine, Corn and Herbs, Hausen gelt, a Tax upon houses, Frey gelt, money upon the making men to be free; Schuck gelt Shoo money, Brucken gelt Bridge money, [...]eg gelt way money, or for passage, Auf [...]nauch gelt or Auf [...]arth money paid in Cities and Towns for being chosen into any Office or Magistracy, and Abefarth Abschusz Ablosung when one removeth his Family or houshold from one City or Town to another, and is to pay a tenth of any goods sold upon such removals, Toll or Foriscapium to be paid by the buyer over and above the price agreed to be paid to the seller, Accisz upon all Commodities sold and spent, and a Land steur Tribute upon Lands which is ex voluntate superioris & ob necessitatem supervenientem variantur, imposed (for the other as aide against the Turks, and for payment of souldiers are to be by publike assent ordained at their Diets or Parliaments) it the pleasure of the Prince, and varied according to occasions or necessities.
And so many other Taxes and payments for the publike, saith B [...]soldus, ut nominibus laboretur, as there are scarce names enough for them,Besoldus de Aerario. Public. so that as free and full of liberties as that Nation did heretofore suppose themselves to have been, they do find by their Taxes and payments that the feathers which their Electors, Dukes, [Page 459] Margraues, Counts, Barons, and Imperial Cities have e [...]ther taken by force, gained by favor or purchased for money from the Imperial Roman Eagle, which Crantzius and other good Authors do heavily complain of, have but increased rather then eased the burdens of the common people.
Doth not as the King of the French, who besides his Foüages or Chimney money, which (though they of Gulen did heretofore so little like of as they rebelled against our famous English Black Prince for imposing twelve pence upon every Chimney) they believe in that and the other parts of France to be accustumez de toute Anciennete, allowed by all Antiquity, the services and profits Feodall, le Paulet, or a Tax of four Deniers upon every liuer, or two shillings of the yeerly value of Offices, profits of Prizes at Sea, and of the Admiralty, Tenths and first fruits payable by Ecclesiastical persons Escheates, Ottroyes, Licenses, and Dons gratuits, gifts, or oblations and Regalities, doth continue as perpetual a Tax called le Tailon, imposed by King Henry the second, in the year one thousand five hundred fourty nine, to increase the Wages of the soldery in regard of the dearness of victuals, and the burdens which the men at Arms or Gens d' armes, did lay upon the Laborers and common people, la Creüe, or augmentation for the pay of the Army, an Impost of the twentieth penny upon Wine sold in gross, the eighth, upon all in Normandy by retail, and a Tax upon all drink, now made a constant Revenue of the Crown; a Tax upon every vessel of Wine (which in the time of Julius Caesar, had no Imposition or burden laid upon it) [Page 460] carryed into Walled Towns, or the Suburbs, and to pay as much though it be transported from thence again before it be sold▪ B [...]llinger de Vectigalibus. The Gabell upon Salt, which being imposed by Philip the long, with a Protestation that it should continue but a while, and afterwards by Philip de Valois in the year one thousand three hundred twenty eight, who declared that he intended not to incorporate it to the Royal Demeasnes, & being remitted by Charles the fifth in the year one thousand three hundred sixty nine, is since made perpetual and annexed to the Royal Revenue and the King and his successors, are become the only Merchants of Salt, whereof every house is to take a certain proportion loaded with the Kings Taxe and Imposition upon it, though it be more then he have occasion to expend, the aequivalent or aequipollent which in Narbonne was granted for the abolition of an old Tax of the twentieth part of the price of all moveables sold by retail about the year one thousand four hundred and sixty, and agreed to be paid by a Denier in every Liure, not onely for all moveables but of Flesh and Fish sold by Retail, and the sixtieth part of all the Wine bought to sell again, and is paid in Au [...]erg [...]e for a liberty to buy their Salt where they please, and to be exempt from the Tax and Imposition of buying it at the Kings Granaries or Salt Magazines (being with Wine a great part of the natural commodities of the Country) besides the other Impostes, Entries or Customes to be paid in Towns, or for Peages and passages by Land or Water, la subsistance, which in the Raign of King Henry the fourth and since have been leavyed, pour faire subsister les soldats dans les quartiers d' hyver [Page 461] moyennant quoi on devoit estre exempt du logement de la Gens d' armes durant l' hyver, to keep the souldiers in or to maintain them in their quarters all the Winter, and to be exempt from the trouble of lodging them in, their houses, la solde d [...] 50 mille hommes, a Tax for the wages of fifty thousand men first laid upon the Cities and Walled Towns by King Francis the first, for that they could hinder their passage thorough their Towns, or coming into them and after upon the Country, to be paid without exemption of persons or allowance of priviledge with an addition of charge added thereunto by an Ordinance of that King for the maintenance of the seven Legions of Foot consisting of six thousand men a peece for the safeguard of the Kingdom, the tenths of all the Benefices and Dignities, Ecclesiasticks and Commonalties erected into Benefices, which have a Revenue in perpetual succession, les deniers Communs, or monies imposed upon Cities and Towns for the repair, fortification or defence of them, or of any Castles or Forts, to which all are to contribute without exemption; the rights and payments due out of very many Bishopricks, and Archbishopricks for Quints and Requints, Rachapts, Censives, Lots, Ventes, Saisines, Amandes, Justices, Greffes, Auboines & confiscations, the Estappes or Annonae militares, free quarterings or Provisions for the Armies or souldiers in their March, or encampings, contributions in times of peace, pour le Ban & arriere Ban, upon Fiefs and Tenures, lev [...]es de Chevaux & Charriotts, a leavy upon Carts and Carriages, & le Traicte & Imposition forraigne, being a twentieth penny, & extending to all commodities that are carryed by Land out of the Kingdom into other [Page 462] Kingdoms and Territories, as out of France into Catalonia, Spain, Lorraine, Savoy, Flanders and Italy, makes as much as an Excise upon Corn, Wine, Oyle, Flesh, Fish, Poultery, Herbs, Fruits, and all sorts of Victuals and Provisions for the Belly and the Back.
All which before mentioned Taxes and Impositions being become as the Sieur Girard du Haillan saith,Gerard du Haillan de l' estat. des affaires de France. who wrote in the later end of the Raign of their King Henry the fourth, Patrimonial and Hereditary, or as Droits du Domaine, without any distinction betwixt the times of war or peace; and leavied as the ordinary Revenues of the Crown of France have been by the Artifice of Lewis the 11. and other his successors, more then doubled or trebled, by other Tailles, Taxes, and Impositions which are laid upon extraordinary occasions by the Kings Ordonnances or Letters Parents, quand bon lui s [...]mble, at his own will and pleasure, and so much as the Sieur de Haillan, complains that ilz ne se sont contentez des dites Tailles mais peu a peu ont mis sur le dos du pa [...]ure peuple les autres impositions & depuis on a mis Taille sur Taille, & imposition sur imposition dont la France se est esmeüe contre ses Roys & ils en ont cuide perdre la France, they were not content with those (ordinary) Taxes, but by little and little have put upon the backs of the poor people, Tax upon Tax, and Imposition upon imposition, which caused a sedition and rebellion amongst the people which had almost lost or destroyed all France; and in stead of diminishing are more and more increased, though their good King St. Lewis, who raigned in Anno Domini, one thousand two hundred and thirty, did upon his death bed in the [Page 463] words of a dying man (as Bodin saith) inserted into his last Will & Testament, exhort his son Philip to be legum & Morum sui Imperii Custos & vindex acerrimus ac ut vectigalibus & tributis abstineret nisi summa necessitas ac util [...]atis publicae justissima causa impellat, Bodin de Repub. l. 6. to be a Guardian and severe observer of the Laws and customs of his Kingdom, and abstain from Taxes and Impositions, unless there should be a great necessity, or it should appear to be for the good of the people, and that afterwards Philip de Valois did in an Assembly of the three Estates in Anno one thousand three hundred thirty eight, Enact and decree ne ullum Tributi aut vectigalis genus nisi consentientibus ordinibus imperaretur, that no kinde of Tallage or Tax should be leavyed without the consent of the three Eastes.
So very many have been day after day added, as there is not to be wanted a Tax or Imposition for Pi [...]s for the Queen, and for Clouts against her time of Childbed, with Daces or Tributes, Peages, Impositions upon the going out and in of Towns and other places, Taxes for passage, upon the high ways, Emprunts generaux & particuliers, borrowing of money in general or particular (ad nunquam Solvenda, never to be paid again) vente & confirmation des offices, sale of Offices and places of Justice and Judicature (which their ancient and fundamental Laws and customes do forbid) and being cut into small parts and multiplyed do make up a very great Total or number, and by a common and publike Merchandise of them, have increased those great corruptions, delays and intrigues of Justice by appeals and otherwise, which our learned Fortescue, Chancellor to our King Henry the sixth, observed [Page 464] in the time of his Exile, was no small grievance of the people, and made that litium fertilitas, abundance of suits and controversies; which their own Learned Bodin doth ingeniously acknowledge to be so very many, as vix in omnibus Europae Regionibus & imperiis tot lites sint quam in hoc unto Imperio, Bodin lib. 6. de Repub. there are not so many suits in Law almost in all the Counties and Kingdoms of Europe put all together as they were (in his time) in that one Kingdome of France, which besides the Ottroys or aydes granted by the three Estates and universal consent of the people upon publike and great emergencies and occasions, are with many Arbitrary Taxes and Assessements, as the King or the necessities of War or State shall require, much the more burdensome to the Pesants Bourgeois and Artizans, or a third or lower estate of the people, for that all the Clergy so long as they live Clericalement, without taking of Farms or dealing in Lay matters, which with their Tenants and dependencies have been in the Raign of King Henry the fourth, reckoned to be an hideous number, are to be exempt from the Tailles or Arbitrary Taxes, as likewise all the Nobility and Gentry, which are many and very numerous, both in the greater and lesser sort of them, and that most men of any Estate both of the long Robe, or Lawyers, or soldiers, or other lower ranks do by purchase procure themselves to be of the nobless or Gentry, for that they are thereby to be freed from arbitrary Tallages, insomuch as some thousands have been at once enfranchised, made Gentlemen and inrolled into that condition or quality for such lands as they hold in their hands, there being amongst those which are exempted also reckoned the [Page 465] Domesticks of the King and Queens, the house and Crown of France, and their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters if they do not Traffick or negotiate further then with the increase of their own Lands and Revenues.
With such also as are exempt by pa [...]ticular Mandates, and Ordinances of the King, as amongst the souldiers and Life Guards, the Captains, Lieutenants, Cornets, Guidons, Quartermasters, men at Arms, Archers, Fourriers and other Officers of Companies, Provosts of the Marshals, and their Lieutenants, Paymasters of the Companies, Commissaries and Comptrollers at war, Contrerolleur general, and other Officers of the Ar [...]illery, Mort or dead pays Mint Masters, and such as do work in the Mint, the Kings Secretaries, the Rectors or Governors of Universities, Heads of Colledges, Notaries, Bedels, Scholars, or such as are actually Students, Physitians, Presidents, Councellors, Advocates, Proctors, Greffiers or Officers of Courts of Justice, Ushers of Courts, Soveraign and other Officers, also all Office [...]s in inferior Courts which are as many almost as there are V [...]llages, Stewardships, Bayliages, or petit jurisdictions) as the Lieutenants Criminel and Civil, general or particular, their Councellors, Greffiers, and other Officers, and the chief Magistrates of Tholouse during the year of their Magistracy.
And are so much the more a burden and grievous to the common people by the partial [...]ty of the Elections, or those in every Province which are the Tax Masters & by the exactions of the Collectors & particular receivers, Controlleurs generaux Receivers, generauz Tresoriers de l' [Page 466] Espargne Commis, inspectors of the Revenue and Clercs des Finances, which their great Henry or Henry the fourth did so well unde [...]stand to be a torment and a trouble to the people, as he said that On fait payer double Taille l' une est a moy & l' autre aux officers la seconde rend la premiere insupportable car les despens que f [...]nt les officers montent plus que la Taille, Hist. de la Mort. de Henry. 4. my people do pay double Taxes or Tallages, by paying as much to the Officers as to me, which do make the Taxes insupportable for the charge of the Officers do exceed that of the Tax.
Insomuch as the Paisants, Artizans and common people of France, may bewail the loss of the virtues of the old Gaules and Franks, their Ancestors and predecessors, that the Parliament of Paris, once the guide of that Nation, and representing the three Estates of that Kingdom, is now become but an extraordinary Court of Justice to verifie the Kings commands and Edicts with a Car tel est nostre plaisir, for so is our will & pleasure, & lament the change of their Government and ancient constitutions, and the wasting and dismembring of the ancient Domaine and Revenue of the Crown of France, which notwithstanding it be a part of the Oath of the Kings of France at their Coronations not to alien any of that sacrum Patrimonium, or perpetual maintenance intended for the Crown, and the returns of those many great Appennages and childrens Estates created out of them by the Escheat or coming back of Normandy, Britain, and other great Provinces, and many Revnions, Rachapts and Retraicts is now de cursu temporis, by a long course of time and necessities of State or Royal munificences languished [Page 467] and brought into the small compass of twenty thousand pounds per annum sterling, the Forests and Chases not included, so as that Crown and the Important affairs thereof are now onely upheld and supported by Taxes and a grand and yearly Revenue raised out of them to help to maintain souldiers and Armies, the Tax making a more then ordinary necessity of Armies, and their pay and maintenance, a necessity of multitudes of Taxes imposed upon the people.
Who may now believe that they are under a harder fate then the common people of the old Gaules were, whom Julius Caesar, now above seventeen hundred years ago found to be under so much vassalage and contempt, as he saith,Caesars Comment. lib. 6. apud Galles nihil fere plebe contemptius, amongst the Gaules nothing is more contemptible then the common people, by how much it is now increased, and made more then it was then, by their Taxes and poverty, affording them little more comfort then to be sometimes able to purchase some of our English old Shoos transported thither as a Merchandize, and some of our old Cloths, Carbonadoed, and trimmed up or revived a la mode de France.
Doth not use his subjects as those of Lorraine, Lorraine. who besides their many Taxes as near of kin as they are in neighborhood to many of those in France, Sir John Davies Treatise of Impositions do pay a certain Tax for the pa [...]ns of Glasse in their Windows.
Nor as those of Ferrara, Ferrara. now a Territory of the Church of Rome, where besides the defraying of their former Dukes charges in the expences of his house and family (which was wont to be nobly kept, with a stable of four hundred horses) or disbursed upon his own [Page 468] person, or for gifts, or Pensions or maintenance of Garrisons, and the great profit which is made yeerly by Fish taken in the Lake of Comachio, Philip Honorius Thesaur. Politic. the people do pay a tenth of the true value of all things exported and imported, and as much out of every Contract, Lease, Gift, or Alienation, and endure the gnawings and bitings of the Officers and Tax Masters, which are to them as unwelcome as the Lice and Frogs, some of the Plagues of Egypt, every time that they come amongst them.
Nor as the State and Republike of Venice that Lottery of liberty, Venice. where the people (besides their Taxes upon publike necessities, as when in the wars against the Emperor Maximilian, all but the poorest sort paid a moyety of their Rents) being not excused by the yearly Taxes, payments, or Aydes of 140000 Aurei or fifteen shillings sterling, out of Padua 36000 Vincenza ninety thousand, Verona 1000450. Bergamo six thousand,Philip Honorius Thesaur. Politic. Friuli thirty thousand, Dalmatia ten thousand, besides what they have yeerly out of Zant, Candy, and Corcyra, do pay a great Excise or Imposition upon Oyl, Wine, Corn, Iron, Fruit, Wood, Bakehouses, Mills, and all Commodities, exported and imported▪ and do with their burdens on their backs, but draw blancks in stead of real immunities and liberties, admire and talk of the inestimable Treasury and Arsenall of that City which sitteth as a Lady upon many waters and please themselves with the glimmering and far distant hopes that they or some of their posterities may one time or another by the chance of the Balloting Box, come to be a Senator or Clarissimo, or obtain some gainful Magistracy▪ or the Procuratorship of St. [Page 469] Mark, and are notwithstanding so little pleased with their Taxes and Tax-masters, when they do better think of it as their Masters the Doge and Signory, dare not at home Trust any of their Natives with any commands or generalship in their hired Armies, but do rather adventure the success and conduct of the wars in the hands of Foraigners and other Nations.
Doth not do as the King of Sweden, who (besides his Aydes from the people for publike occasions,Sweden. which by an eternal Law of Nature and Nations and self preservation, are never denyed to Kings or Princes, takes in that Elective Kingdom a tenth of all Mines, Fruit, Barley, Butter, Fish, Oxen and Hides, with a Tax upon Furs as the cold increaseth or decreaseth, the Nobility and their Tenants contributing nothing but in case of war to any publike Taxes or Assessements, when they bear a Moiety, hath for the most part the Furs of Lapland brought unto him yeerly for the use of himself and such of his Court as he shall please to bestow them, giving the Merchants or such as bring them some smal retributions, and rewardeth many of his Nobility, and sometimes strangers with the vassalage of diverse of the Boors and Husbandmen of the Nation, who having few or no liberties of their own can make themselves gainers by invading Germany, and pretending to fight for the liberties of other men.
Doth not do as the Dutch United Provinces and their hoghen Mogen or Corporation of Kings, Holland and the Vnited Provinces. are pleased to do, who besides their Schoorsteen gelt or Chimney money yeerly paid, and other monies raised upon extraordinary necessities, do yeerly exact and leavy de twee honder [...]ste penning, two [Page 470] hundreth penny, and the thousandth penny of every mans estate towards the charges of the wars, and as ordinary payments and Assessements,Philip Caesius a Zesen in Leone Belgic. quae semel recepta, as some of their own do acknowledge semper exiguntur, once crept into a custom are always leavyed de imposte [...] v [...]n de huizen, which is an eighth penny paid out of the Rent of every house, and a Gulder, or our two shillings for every man or Maid-servant, which the Master or Mistriss is bound yearly to pay, and as much for every Waggon or Boat, the Ships or greater Vessels having a rate imposed upon them according to the Tun six gulderen, or twelve shillings sterling per annum upon every Coach, almost a sixth penny of the Rent of Lands per annum as the Magistrate shall estimate it, four Stivers and a half, almost our five pence for every Acre of Land sowed with Corn or other things for every moneth from the time of the sowing of it, untill the Reaping or Harvest thereof, the four [...]ieth penny, and in Amsterdam the eightieth penny as well as the fortieth of all Houses, Lands or Ships sold which as to the houses is so often as the State is believed to get in a few years the full price or value thereof, den impost van veze gelde brieven, which is upon every paper wherein any Contract, last Will and Testament, Petition or Act in any Court or Assemly, or before any Magistrate, shall be written to be of any force or validity, and to be sealed in the Margin of every leaf of Paper with a small seal, two stivers or two pence half penny, and with a greater seal if it be of more concernment four stivers or five pence, the Impost van onge [...]on cerde processen, for a Fine paid for not making good an Action or Suite for every fifty [Page 471] Guilders, or five pounds sued for, thirty stivers or three shillings English, [...]out gelt a certain quantity of salt sold by the Magistrates at a certain rate or price to every Family or Town, Excise upon Beer, French, Spanish, Rhenish, and Brandewine, Oyls, Vineger, Butter, Corn, ground at the Mill, Pease, Fatches, Barly, Oats, Pease dryed or undryed in the Oven, Apples, Pears, Nuts, Grapes, Herring, Salt, Fish, Candles either Wax or Tallow, Turfs, English or Scottish, Coles, Tobacco, Sope, Pitch, Lead, Brick, Cloth, Silk and Cloth of Gold, Convoy G [...]lden Convoy money for guarding Ships at Sea; and haven gelden for money to maintain and repair their Ports and Havens, a seventh penny of the price of all Beasts or Cattel sold, three stivers for every moneth for every young Beast of three years old or above, and two for Horses, the ninth penny of the price of Sturgeons and Salmons, the eighth of the price of Wood, and the ninth of Tapestry, Hangings, and guilt leather, their licenten or money to be paid for Passes, or Licence to carry Merchandize into the enemies Country or Quarters, for every Hog or Pig killed three stivers and a half for every gulder of the value, cum multis aliis, with many other Taxes and Assessements not here recited, the most of which notwithstanding seven or eight years perfect and compleat peace with their potent and long provoked enemy the Spaniard in more then threescore years warres, Masses of money expended on both sides can be yet kept on foot and continued upon the pretences of paying of debts incurred, or to provide and furnish a Treasury against future contingencies, or to keep the government in [Page 472] the hands of the hoghen moghen, high and mighty Lords the States, who have tasted the sweetness of governing their fellow subjects, by laying out of the peoples money and imposing Taxes to maintain that frame of a Commonwealth, which pessimo exemplo, hath so much troubled Christendom, and cost them more blood and money then would have subdued the Turk, and sent him from his Ottoman Port to abide the Resurrection of his Mahomet or worthless Progenitor at Mecca, and they that thought themselves undone and ruined in the beginning of the Duke of Alvas government, if they should pay a tenth for all that was bought or sold and made that to be one of their causes to shake off their obedience, and ingage in a war against their lawful Prince, could since endure more then ten times greater Taxes and Impositions, and can now be content to pay excessive rates and prices for all things that they do buy or use, and greater Taxes and Tributes then any the most absolute King or Prince would adventure to impose upon his subjects, Et haec omnia teste Grotio tempus & majora & ferendi assuetudine molli [...]ra f [...]cit, Philippus Caesius a Zesen in Leo [...]e Belgico & Grotius in Epist. which as the learned Grotius saith, time and a custome of bea [...]ing such burdens have made more easie, and their Magistrates cunningly obse [...]ving the disposition of that people, quaestus inhiantem ac magis pecuniae quam gloriae ac honoris, to be more greedy of gain and money then of honor or glory, for so Meteranus and Strada describes their nature and conditions,Strada Decad. 1. have put them on and incouraged them to a liberty of gain and enriching themselves aswell as their Commonwealth and made that to be as the sugar to sweeten the bitte [...]ness of their Taxes. Quae hic multo graviora [Page 473] Graviora ac in aliis si [...] dictis non liberis Regionibus, which are there greater then in other Countries, which are said to be not so free, Et ex hac Regiones ac urbes seu potius earum Magistratus liberum absolutumque exercent Imperium Imo liberius & absolutius quam multis est Regibus in sibi subjectos, Philippus Caesius a Zesen in Leone Belgico, Sect. 6.130, 131. populus autem eodem respecto multo subjectos servilioris & addictioris est conditionis quam ullae aliae in Europa gentes; and by this means those Provinces and Cities, or rather their Governors or Magistrates do exercise a [...]ull and absolute Dominion over them, yea a greater and more absolute then many Kings do over their subjects; and the people are the [...]eby made to be under a greater vassalage, and in a more servile and slavish condition then any other Nation in Europe, and it is therefore more then a surmise that lucri faciendi effraenata licencia, an unbounded licence in the Magistrate to Tax the people, and a licence to the people in stead of a liberty to Trade and coz [...]n one another, makes them so patient to undergo those vectigali [...] ac Collationes aliaque servil [...]a onera, Taxes, payments and servil burdens, which otherwise they would be unwilling to endure.
All or most of which being continued and lying heavy upon them, upon pretences of debts incurred for the publike to be paid, or otherwise have made such a dearth of all houshold provisions, as that notwithstanding that their huge Granaries at Amsterdam are always stored with abundance of Corn to transport and sell to all other Nations and Kingdoms where they finde any scarcity or want of it, a family of ten persons, more then one half whereof have been young children, have this last Winter amongst other Victuals, as Flesh, [Page 474] Fish, Roots, &c. been inforced to spend 17 s. sterling in a week in ordinary and common bread, and twelve shillings sterling within the same Circle of time for Turfe or Firing, and the generality of the Nation, are sinking so fast into a poverty, as by an exact account taken thereof, there have been this last year more then in any of the former years above eighty thousand Pawns brought into the publike Lumbard at Amsterdam; and may teach them and all the world at last how great the difference will be betwixt a natural and hereditary Prince, governing by the known Laws of a Nation, and with less charges, and that which is onely upheld by the power of money and Taxes to make and preserve an interest for those who are the only gainers by it.
Did not in any of his necessities as some of his predecessors Kings of England have done in theirs both before and since the Conquest, continue and take the Tax of Dane gelt (laid to expel that Nation out of England) after they were quieted and returned home, nor as many of the English Lords of divers Mannors have done, and do to this day require and take of their Tenants, Peter pence, or Chimney money, amounting in some Mannors to considerable summes, though it was long since abolished by Act of Parliament, and was not to be taken in that kind, or for that purpose, nor doth by wars or impositions impoverish his people as some of his neighbors have done or made them to complain as the common people of Normandy did not long ago,De secret des Finances de France. that they were une uraye Anatomy de corps humain auquel ne reste plus que les os le Peau & encore foulez, like an Anatomy of a mans body which had nothing but bones and skin left upon it, and that [Page 475] also foul enough, but hath made them in the generality richer then himself, and more abounding in plenty and riches then any Nation of Christendom.
And being the son and heir of the Crowns and Kingdoms as well as afflictions of his Royal Father King Charles the Martyr, who in the Halcion, and peaceable days of the former part of his Raign did so much abhor the mode or manner of an Arbitary Government, as he did imprison in the Tower of London that Monarch of Letters and Learning, the great Selden, together with Mr. Oliver St. John, for but having in their custody or divulging a Manuscript or discourse written by Sir Robert Dudley a titular Duke of Tuscany, and an English Fugitive of the way and means how to make the King a great Revenue according to the manner of Gabels or Taxes in Italy, borrowed by Mr. St. John out of Sr. Robert Cottons famous library (where it had otherwise slept) and caused his Attorney General to exhibit a Bill in the Star Chamber against the now Earl of Clare, the said Mr. Selden and Mr. St. John for the publishing of it, though but in Manuscript, and was so far from any action, desire, or intention of a Tyrant, as when he might like the Dairo or Emperor of Japan, have wallowed in riches and pleasures, and as a Minotaur have fed upon the liberties of the people if he would have but delivered up the Church of England and his subjects, and their after generations as slaves to the Arbitrary will & Government of a Rebellious part of the people calling themselves a Parliament, he did on the contrary not only most constantly endure all the miseries, dangers, & ignominies, which they could cast upon him but rather then he would betray or give up their [Page 476] Religion, Laws, or liberties, laid down his life as a sacrifice to preserve them, and hav [...]ng before his death established our excellent Laws of Magna [...]harta, and made them stronger and more binding then ever they were before, by confirming them and other their liberties and customs under the name and notion of their petition of Right, and at the signing or ratification thereof, used a saying or sentence deserving to be written in Letters of Gold, which he called his Maxime, and declared to be his own, That the peoples liberty strengthens the Kings prerogative, Vide Petition of Right, and the Kings answer thereunto in Anno 3 Car. primi. and that the Kings prerogative is to defend the peoples liberty, did not for all those unparalelled sufferings and great Misusage of his Father and himself take any advantage of those that forfeited their interest in those excellent laws and liberties, but pardoning all their transgressions, restored them to all that they could but so much as pretend unto.
And notwithstanding that he and his Royal predecessors had quamplurimisdonis & largitionibus, by their very many favors and bounties to such as deserved well of the Commonwealth, and had been instrumental in the preservation, or promoting the good of it, given away the most part of the Crown Lands, and many of their Regalities doth not make an Aera [...]ium or Treasury of mony for himself, or his own particular use out of his own revenues, separate from that of the publike, as Lewis the 12. of France did, but doth with that very small part of his Lands which remaineth, and his legal and undenyable rights and prerogatives without any Taxes or Impositions laid upon the people, other then what is assented unto by themselves, and their representatives in Parliament, bear and support the burden and [Page 477] continual charges of the Government and [affaires thereof.
Which should rouze and stir up the hearts and affections of his people of England, and perswade them who have now, and had before the Taxes raised to improve Rebellion, fewer Taxes and impositions laid upon them, then any Nation within the walk or perambulation of the Sun, and are the freest and do enjoy more liberties, immunities and priviledges then any people of the world, not to deny or withhold from him, and of his just Regalities rights and preheminences, but think it to be more necessary for their good and well-being to permit him to enjoy his Prae-emption and Pourveyance, or Compositions for them, then that which many of our Acts of Parliament have done to enjoyn the repairs of Havens and Peers (as was in the last Session of Parliament for the Peer of Dover) or of Sea-walls, and to raise money by a Tax for the doing of it, or to repair and continue antient houses, and as necessary as for Seamen to pay a certain rate for lights or fires upon the Sea Coasts to prevent Shipwracks.
And not suffer our selves to be out done by the Heathen, and those that knew not the living God, nor called upon his name, and the Persians who adoring the Sun in stead of God the maker thereof, could in their Kings progress munera offerre neque vilia vel exilia neque nimis praetiosa & magnifica, bring him presents, neither precious nor contemptible from which etiam Agricola & opifices, Workmen and Plowmen, were not [...]reed from bringing Wine, Oxen and Sheep and some other sorts of Provisions, as Cheese, [Page 478] Fruits, &c. and the first fruits of what the earth brought forth, quae non Tributi sed doni loco censebantur, which were not received or given as Tributes but as Oblations and free gifts,Aelianus Hist. variar. lib. 1. which custom, kindness, and duty from the people to their Prince, being so innate and usual, made the poor Synetas, when unexpectedly he met with Artaxerxes and his Train,Brissonius de regno Persiae lib. 1. rather then fail of something to offer, of which he was then altogether unprovided to hasten to the River and bring as much water as he could in the palm of both his hands, hilari laetoque vultu faustis votis bonisque verbis quantum potuit ornare, and with a chearful countenance wishes, and prayers for the health of the King, present it unto him.
Suetonius in Augusto Cassiodorus lib. 6 Epist. 7, & Rosinus de Antiquitat. Roman. 54.Or by the Romans, who amongst thirty thousand false Gods, not being able to finde the light and knowledge of the true God, did not grudg the charge of costly sacrifices, ad aras & in Aedibus honoris & virtutis, in the Temples of honor and virtue, could yeerly throw money into the deep Lake or Gulfe of Curtius in Rome, pro voto & salute Imperatoris, as offerings for the health and happiness of their Emperors, and all the City and Senate, Calendis Januarii velut publico suo parenti Imperatori strenas largiebant, give new years gifts to the Emperor as their publike parent, and bring them into the Capitol though the Emperor was absent, and make their Pensitationes or Compositions for Pourveyance for their Emperors to be a Canon or rule unalterable.
Cause the monies imposed by the Pro-consuls and Praetors by the direction of the Comes Praetorii, Bullinger de Vectigalibus popul. Roman to be brought into the Arcam sacrarum largitionum, Treasury [Page 479] for moneys for the Emperors bounties or expences, and could at the same time, notwithstanding a plenty of Taxes, and the panem Gregalem, pittiful course bread allowed to the common people, and Twenty thousand Talents, which make 60▪ Millions of German money yeerly imposed and gathered out of the Provinces,Lipsius lib. 2. ca. 1. de magnitud. Imper. Roman. as the Learned Lipsius hath made up the account, willingly pay their frumentum honorarium, Pourveyance or provisions of Corn to the Pro-consuls and Praetors towards the maintenance of their families.
Or by our long ago old and worthy Ancestors,Tacitus de moribus Germanorum. the stout hearted Germans, who as Tacitus saith, did sua sponte & ex more viritim conferre principibus Armenta vel fruges quae pro honore accepta necessitatibus subvenirent, man by man of their own accord did customarily bring or send to their Princes Heards of Cattle, and some of the fruits of the earth, as presents and oblations, which being taken for an honor done unto them, did likewise much conduce to the defraying of their charges or necessities.
Or by the Shunamitish woman, who could in honor and respect to Elisha the Prophet,2 Reg. cap. 4▪ not onely constrain him to eat bread, but advise here husband to make a little Chamber in the Wall, and set for him there a bed and a Table, and a stool, and a Candlestick, to the end that when he passed that way he might turn in thither, or by the Jews, who being hard hearted, stubborn and stiffenecked enough, did in their unexpected return from captivity, under the conduct of Nehemiah, when they were so compassed about with dangers and enemies, as they that wrought in rebuilding Jerusalem, and they which did build on the wall, Nehem. 4.17. and they that bare burdens with those [Page 480] that laded, every one with one of their hands wrought in the work, and with the other held a weapon, and wanted not the company of fears and poverty to attend them, think it notwithstanding to be a part of their own preservation, to allow their Governor a fit and honourable daily Pourveyance or provisions for his family and household.
Or by the Witch of Endor who made haste to kill her fat Calfe, 1. Sam. 25. took flower and kneaded it, baked unleavened bread, and caused Saul and his servants to eat.
Or the Egyptians who in their now. Hochpot or Gallimaufry of the Turkish, Jewish, and Christian Religions, can with great costs and charges, publike Feastings and Triumphs, yeerly welcome into their Country their Fertilizing Nile.
Or the modern Germans who do yeerly, besides their many other publike Taxes and Assessements, pay to the Emperor a stewer scholz schukung, being an extraordinary Tribute in subsidium & laborum & pro regimine generali, Besoldus de Aerario pub. towards the defraying of the charges of the Government, and his expences and care therein.
Or the Rhodians who took so much care of the honor of their City or little Commonwealth, as upon the fall by an Earthquake,Bodin lib. 6. d: Repub. of their Colossus or huge and immense pillar or image of seventy cubits high devoted to the Sun, spoiled many of their Ships in the Harbor, and wanting money themselves, sent their Embassadors to the Senate of Rome, and to divers Kings and Princes (who contributed largely) to intreat some money and aid to help to set it up again.
[Page 481]Or by the Dutch who notwithstanding the great yearly stipends and allowance made to their high deserving Princes of Orange or Stadtholders, In memoriali stipendiorum sive honorariorum quae principes Auriaci perceperunt ab ordinibus, &c did redeem for them some of their Mortgaged Lands and Territories and within the compass of seventy years last past, gave them in honorariis, gifts and presents, to the value of many Millions of sterling money.
Or the Spaniards who could in the Raign of the Emperor Charles the fifth, about the year one thousand five hundred and twenty, make it the request of the Parliament or Iunta of the Kingdoms of Castile and Leon, that his Grandmother Queen Isabells Royal house might be put into such order and estate as might become her Royal person and the honor of those Kingdoms, Hist. of Spain that her house be provided of all things befitting her dignity and consent, that in his Majesties progress lodging and linnen should be allowed gratis for those of his houshold and Court, so that he exceed not the term of six days, which expired they should pay for their lodging according to the ordinary rate and custome; likewise that the soldiers of his guard should have free Quarter after the usual manner, an [...] that for the lodging of seventy of his Officers, the Cities, Towns and Villages should contribute without exemption by an Assessement to be made for that purpose.
Or by the West Indians in Guaxara, who by order of the high Justice, do deliver unto Fryers travailing that way, if they have no money, Horses to ride on,Gages Survey of the West Indies or to carry their carriages or provision without money so that at their departure they write it down in the Town book what they had spent, and not abide above [Page 482] four and twenty hours in the Town, where by a contribution their expences are defrayed.
Or by the old Irish, one of which being a Tenant of Termonland or Land belonging to the Church, and unwilling to change his old customes for new, said to the Bishop of Dermot, of whom he held his Lands, non debet dominus mutare censum antiquum sed si careat rebus necessariis vaccis pinguibus, Spelmans glossar in vocibus Corba & Herenachii. &c. debet ad nos mi [...]tere, Et nos debemus subministrare nam quaecunque nos habemus Domini sunt & nos etiam ipsi illius sumus: My Lord ought not to change his ancient Customes, Rents or services due out of the Land, but if he wanteth necessary provisions for his house and family, as fat Cows, &c. we ought to furnish them, for whatsoever we have are his, and we our selves are the Lords.
Or by the modern Irish or inhabitants of Ireland, who notwithstanding the Pourveyance or Compositions for Pourveyance and Prae-emption, allowed to the Kings Lord Lieutenant of that kingdom, could since the abolition of that most useful & necessary custome in England, offer (if Fame did not mistake her self) an yeerly supply of 3000. Irish Oxen or Cattel towards the support of the King and his Family, and have besides in their Act of Parliament lately made for the execution of his Majesties Declaration for the setlement of that kingdom, consented, That the Lord Chief Justice of his Majesties Court of Kings Bench, the Lord Chief Baron of his Majesties Court of Exchequer, Vide Act of Parliament and Declaration. and the Master of the Rolles, or any other his Majesties Officers of that Kingdom for the time being, shall and may have and receive such Port Corn of the Rectories, Impropriations, or Appropriate [Page 483] Tythes forfeited unto or vested in his Majesty, his heirs [...]nd successors, which have been formerly paid or reserved.
Or by the Scots, a people never as yet exceeding, or so much as keeping even pace with their neighbors of England in civilities, kindness, and gratitudes, who when their King Malcolme, who raigned in Scotland in Anno Dom. 1004. had given and distributed all the Lands of the Realm of Scotland amongst his men,Skenes Regia Majestas. and reserved na thing, as the Act of Parliament of 22 Jac. 3. beareth in property to himself, but the Royal dignity, and the Mute hill in the Town of Scone, could give and grant to him the ward and relief of the heir of ilke Baron, quhan he sold happen to deceis for the Kings sustentation.
And did notwithstanding so well esteem and allow of those ancient rights of Pourveyance or Compositions for them, as in the Raign of their King James the 4. in the year of our Lord 1489. The Lords spiritual and temporal, and uthers his Leiges did declare in Parliament that it was the Kings property for the honorable sustentation of his house according to his Estait and honor, 2 Parlement King James the fourth. quhilk may not be failized without great derogation of his noble Estaite, and that his true lieges suld above all singular and particular profit desire to prefer the noble Estaite of his Excellence, like as it was done in the time of his maist noble progenitors of gud minde; And did therefore think it neidful expedient and reasonable; And did statute and ordain that full derogation cassation and annullation be maid of all Gifts, Donations, Infeftments, Fewes, life Rents given by his Hieness to quhat sumever person or persons, sen the day of his Coronation, swa that all Lands, [Page 484] Rents, Customes, Burrow, Mailles, Ferme [...], Martes, Mutton; Poultery, avarage, carriage and uther Dewties that were in the hands of his Progenitors, and Father, the day of his decease notwithstanding quhat sumeuer assignation or gift be maid thereupon under the Great Seal, Privy Seal or uthers be all utterly cassed and annulled, so that the haill profits and Rents thereof, may cum to the King to the honorable sustentation of his house and noble Estaite.
Or so much degenerate from the Brittaines our Ancestors and predecessors, who were heretofore so glad of any occasions to express their love and honor of their Princes as when they made their progress, or had any occasion to visit any of their houses, they flung the doors off the Hinges, and gave them open hearted, and free entertainment.
Nor deny those respects and duties to our Kings, which no other Nations do, refuse to their Kings or Princes, which may make us to be an hissing and reproach to other Nations, and by using our head so ill to be esteemed as the [...] people without an head, or the Sciopedes, who are reported to have such large feet as they can when they please cover their head with it, and never let it be said, that when a factious and rebellious part of our people could in the year 1656. suppose it to be their Interest to exchange with Cromwell their Antichrist or Mahomet, their Religion, Laws and liberties for his Tyrannical and Arbitrary will and pleasure, and petition him in their Conventicle or pretended Assembly of Parliament that he would besides the remainder of the Kings, Queens, and Princes Revenues, not disposed of (except Forrests and Chaces, and the Mannors thereunto belonging) [Page 485] and of all the Lands of Delinquents in the Counties of Dublin, Kildare, Clare and Katerlaugh, the forfeited Lands in Scotland which were great and considerable, two parts of the Recusants Lands in England not compounded for; and all Debts, Fines, Penalties, Issues and casual profits belonging to the Keepers of the liberties of England, so miscalled, which was by them and their fellow Usurpers setled upon him, and was of it self a Revenue too great for all the Brewers of England, to accept of ten hundred thousand pounds sterling per annum to be leavyed upon the people with such other supplies as should be needful to be raised from time to time by consent of that which they Nick named a Parliament, and three hundred thousand pounds per annum to be raised for the charge of the Administration of Justice, and support of Government, which he thinking not enough to serve his wicked occasions, designes, or desires to [...]lay or keep in exile the heir of the Kingdoms,Vide his speech at a conference in April, 1657. tells his dutiful Parliament at a conference in April 1657. that the charge of the Government, would yearly amount unto ninteen hundred thousand pounds sterling; and therefore though the war with Spain should cease, desired that the thirteen hundred thousand pounds per annum, might have six hundred thousand pounds per annum more added thereunto; and that that could be willingly assented unto, and all the Loyal party enforced and driven to submit to those and as many more burdens and payments as should be necessary to keep them & their posterities in a perpetual slavery, we should when the Kings Revenue real and casual much enlarged since his happy Restoration, and yet appearing not to be enough to go thorow [Page 486] with his important and necessary occasions, and to amount but to nine hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum (his Revenue in lands being also included) take it to be consistent with the duty of subjects to put in dolio perforato, a vessel that leaks more then ordinary, or wants a bottom, the remembrance of all the benefits and [...]avors of our King and Soveraign.
Who hears no body say or do as that great Commander, and as much a Gentleman Mounsieur de la Noüe did to his Grandfather the great Henry of France, who finding himself much obliged unto him, when he was King of Navarre and full of troubles, for raising and bringing to his assistance one hundred horse well furnished at his own charges, and unfurnished with money to recompence him, sent a grant by Letters Patents unto him and his heirs of certain Crown lands lying neer unto his estate, which the virtuous and generous la Noüe not thinking fit to receive, brought back again to the King with these words, Sire ce m'est beauecoup d' honneur & de contentment de receuoir ces tesmoignages de la bonne v [...]lonte de votre Majestè & je ne les refuserois pas si vos affaires estoient en estat de faire telles liberalites Quand je vous verray Sire au dessus vos Ennemis & possedant des biens proportionnees a la grandeur de vostre courage & de vostre naissance je receuroy de bon Caeur vous gratifications, Moises Amirault en la vie de la Noüe. pour cette heure si vous vouli [...]z recompencer de ceste facon tous ceux qui vous serviront, vostre Majeste seroit incontinent ru [...]nee. Sir, These testimonies o [...] your Majesties good will towards me, and the honor which you have done me therein, do very much content me, and I would not refuse them, if your Majesties affa [...]s and estate were in a condition to [Page 487] afford such bounties, and when I shall see your Majesty to have overcome your enemies and possessing, an estate becoming your grandeur and birth, I shall be very willing to accept of your gratifications, in the meantime if you shall go on in a way of recompencing in this manner all those which shall serve you, your Majesty will be suddainly ruined, and by no means would receive it, but all his life after continued a great Warrior, and suffering most heroically in the troubles and affairs of his Soveraign, lost his life in them.
Or imitate Jesurum, who like an Heifer waxing fat, kicked against the cause of it, or do as the Athenians, taken by Philip King of Macedon, did at the Battel of Chaero [...]ea, Plutarch. Apothegmes. who could not remember his favors in releasing of them out of their Captivity, unless they might have what they lost also restored unto them.
Or be guilty of a national Ingratitude, the sin whereof being (next to blasphemy) the most ugly and horrid of all other sins which can be in a particular man, was so abhorred by the heathen as Hippocratidas, did as some wise Christians have since done, wish it were made a crime as punishable as Felony.
Or so despoil our Land of its ancient vertue and love to their Princes, as to have Nabalisme incouraged, and our Araunahs and Barzillai's to dye childless and unimitated, or suffer our selves to be misled by any Temptations of particular sparing or profits to do as some of the worser sort of the late reforming Traitors did, pick out the choicest Jewels of the Crown, and put in counterfeits in stead of them, or hearken to the Syren songs of those, who for an advantage, which may before the account be cast up, prove a greater disadvantage, [Page 488] will suppose it to be for the good of the Nation to disuse and lay by those necessary duties, and grateful acknowledgements of Pourveyance and Compositions for them to their King and Soveraign, which Renatus Choppinus, a learned French Advocate in his Treatise of the Domaines and Revenu [...] of France, Choppinus de Domainio regum Franciae lib. 1.15. stiles Dominicum jus primitus sceptris addictum in necessarios Regiae mensae Aulaeque sumptus & honorificum ad summi Imperii & inclitae decus Majestatis conservandum, a pa [...]t of the Kings Domaine belonging and annexed to the Royal Scepter, and appropriate to the necessary uses and provisions of the Kings Court and houshold for the honor and conservation of the Rights of Majesty.
And was with us in England in the Case of one Richards a Pourveyor, combining with some Constables to charge the Country with more then the Pourveyance amounted unto (for which he was grievously fined and punished) no longer ago then in Michaelmas Term in 3 Jac. certified by all the Judges of England to be a prerogative of the King at the common Law, Sir Francis Moores reports. Richards Case, 764. and [...]hat all the Statutes, which have been made, to correct abuses in Pourveyance took not away Pourveyance but confirmed it, for qu [...] tollit iniquitatem firmat proprietatem & confirmat usum, the taking away of the abuse confirmeth the Right, and when the Reputation and credit of a Town, and City shall be so dear unto the Inhabitants, as they will to preserve ancient Customes, supply the charges thereof with publike contributions, as the Town of Yarmouth doth in entertainments frequently given to strangers of quality comming thither, and the Town of Droitwich in Worcestershire, Smith de repub. Anglican. can allow the yearly profit of four of their Salt vats, or [Page 489] portions of Salt so called for the like purpose, shall endeavor all they can to lessen that of the Kings.
And the Gentry of Cheshire, who are above those of many other Counties well known to preserve the ancient honor of the English Hospitalities, and are accustomed to send provisions of meat one to another, to help to bear out the charges of their entertainments, when any of their friends come unto them, will not do well to murmur at so small an yeerly contribution for the provision of the Kings houshold, as ninety five pounds sixteen shillings eight pence per annum, which is all was charged upon that County.
Nor can all the housekeepers of England, who do well understand that the breeding and raising of their own victuals, and houshold provisions, by and out of the profits of their Lands, are a great help to their house-keeping, and makes it to be far cheaper and easie unto them, then to buy all that they spend at the Markets, where every one doth improve their gain and Commodities, and put the loss and hardships upon the buyers, think it to be their duty to put a necessity of these inconveniences upon the King, which they do all they can to avoid themselves.
Or when the designs of profit, or hopes of reciprocations of courtesies one from another, do ordinarily invite the people in their commerce or affairs one with another, to a custome of some little favors or ease in their buyings and bargains, as the Baker his one loaf of bread to the dozen; the Brewer a Barrel of strong Beer at Christmas; the Tallow Chandler his Christmas Candle; the London Draper his handful, or more then the yard called London measure, and that of the [Page 490] hundred and ten pound to some hundred of things sold by weight, and one hundred and twenty to others, and the Vintners sending some Hippocras at Christmas to their yearly and constant Customers and the like, can suppose it fit to save, such a petty contribution as the Kings Composition for Pourveyance, which throughout England, do scarcely amount to so much as those small Civilities, and being saved, will probably be spent in pride and vanities, or for worse purposes.
Or to weaken the hand of our Moses, which they should rather help to sustain and strengthen, and when all Nations rejoyce in the power, might, and Majesty of their Kings, shall make it their business to eclipse or diminish it by cutting of our Sampsons locks, and that which should promote it.
For if the men of Israel are said to do well when they perswaded their King Ahab not to hearken to the insolent demands of Benhadad the King of Syria to deliver him his silver and gold,1 Reg. 20.9. &c. the people of England must needs be believed to do ill to deny the King so necessary a part of his Regality which was more precious then gold and silver, and put him to a treble or very much greater then formerly expences in his houshold provisions, when the mercies of God which have hitherto spared our transgressions, accomplished our unhappy warfare, broken the staffe of the wicked, driven them far away that would have swallowed us up, and restored our Princes and nobles, and mighty men, the men of war, the Judges and Prophets, the prudent and the ancient, so as the light hath shined upon them that dwelt in the Land of the shadow of death, our Cities have not been laid waste, our vallies have not perished, nor our habitations [Page 491] been made desolate, should put us in mind to be more mindful of his Vicegerent and annointed, and remember how much and how often he did threaten his judgements, and brought many upon his chosen people of Israel for their ingratitude, and how much he was offended with them for not shewing kindness to the house of Gideon and Zerubbaal, Jud. 8.35. according to all the goodness which he had shewed to Israel, and that as Bornitius saith, Quicquid boni homo civisque habet & possidet quod vivit quod libere vivit quod bene quod beate omniumque rerum & bonorum usu & interdum etiam copia ad voluptatem utitur fruitur totum hoc benificium Reipublicae Civilique ordini acceptum est referendum, Bornitius lib. 5. cap. 1. Novel 8. cap. 10. Sect. 2. that whatsoever a subject enjoys or possesseth, that he lives and lives freely, well and happily, and abounds w [...]th pleasure and plenty are benefits proceeding from the Commonwealth, and good order and government thereof.
And that omnis homo, every man Et res singulorum in Republica conservari nequeant nisi conservetur res publica sive communis adeoque singuli sui causa impendere videntur quicquid conferunt in publicum usum, every mans particular estate, cannot be in any condition or certainty of safty, unless the Commonwealth be preserved, so that whatsoever is laid out or expended for the Commonwealth, is at the same time laid out and expended for every mans particular, and that St. Chr [...]sostom was of the same opinion, when he said,In Epist. ad Rom. homil. 23. that ab antiquis Temporibus communi omnium sententia principes a nobis sustentari debere visum est ob id quod sua ipsorum negligentes communes res curant universumque suum otium ad ea impendunt quibus non solum ipsi sed & quae nostra sunt [Page 492] salvantur, That anciently and by the opinion of all men, Princes ought to be supported by their subjects for that neglecting their private affairs, they do imploy all their power and care for the good of the Commonwealth, whereby not onely what is their own but that which is the subjects are preserved.
That the King whose Royal progenitor King Edward the third could take such a care of the honor and Pourveyance of the City of London (as to grant to the Maior of London, who by reason of the wars, had not for two years received that great profit which he was wont to receive,Pat. 18 E. 3. parte 2. m. 45 de mercatoribus Alienigenis illuc confluentibus, of Merchants strangers resorting thithe [...]) one and twenty pounds per annum, de reddit: diversorum messuagiorum & shoparum ibidem, out of the Rents of divers Messuages and Shops in London, in relevamine status sui, for the maintenance and support of his estate, might have as much care taken (if duty and loyalty should not be as they ought to be the greatest obligations) of his more ancient rights and Pourveyance or Compositions for them.
And may consider that if such an inseparable right and concomitant of the Crown of England should hereafter appear not to be alienable by any Act or exchange betwixt the King and the people, they and their posterities will have but an ill bargain of it, if the Pourveyance or Compositions for them, should hereafter by any reason or necessity of State be resumed, and the Excise or imagined satisfaction granted as a recompence for that, and the taking away of the Tenure in Capite and by Knight service should be retained.
That it cannot be for the good or honor of the English [Page 493] Nation, that our King should be reproached as some of a light headed and a light heeled neighbor Nation observing his want of Pourveyance, have of late very falsly, that he had not wherewithall to buy bread for his Family.
Or that other Nations should think our English so Fanatick, or improved to such a madness by a late rebellion, as to embrace the opinion of Arise Evans, that pittiful pretender to Prophesie and Revelations, who when the men of the Coffee-house Assembly, or Rota mongers, were with their Quicksilver Brains; together with some Rustick or Mechanick nodles framing a new Government or moddel for a Kingdom torn in pieces, would likewise shoot his Bolt, and publikely in Print advise that the best way would be to Elect some honest p [...]or man of the Nation to be King onely during his life, and allow him but one hundred pounds per annum, which would be a means to keep off all Plots and Treasons against him, or any ambitions, or designs to enjoy his Office, and when he should die to chose another for the term of his life, and so successively one after anoth [...]r upon the same, and no better terms or allowance.
Or that we have a minde to do by our gracious King as the Fifth-Monarchy-men, do by their King Jesus, who notwithstanding all their pretences of setting him upon his Throne, are well enough content to gather what they can the while for themselves, and Blaspheme, abuse, and crucifie him in his members.
And that it will be better to subscribe to that which is amongst all civilized Nations and people taken to be an Aphorisme or Maxime irrefragrable,Galeot Martius d' Doctrin. promise cap. 15. that om [...]e imperium omnisque Reipublic [...] forma validissimo [Page 494] munimento tuetur Auctoritate eorum penes quos simmum Imperium existit, Boccalin. 2. Ragguagl. 15 & Boterus. that all Kingdoms and Governments are most strongly fortified and defended by the authority of those who do govern, that praeclara de Imperio existimatio sue reputatio multa efficit & plura non nunquam quam vis & Arma, that the esteem and reputation of a King or Governor, doth many times bring greater advantages then power and Armies, That it is patrimonium principis, as much to a King or Prince as his Patrimony or inheritance, and certissima Imperii & salutis publciae tutela, a most certain guard and defence of a King and his people, which Saul well apprehended when upon the displeasure of Almighty God threatned by Samuel, 1 Sam. 15. he entreated him to honor him before the Elders of his people.
And that if a long duration of a right or custome, and quod semper quod ubique & quod ab omnibus approbatum, that which is and hath been always every where and of all people, so much allowed and practiced, should not be enough (as it hath in many other things which have a lawful prescription) the reason right use and necessity of it, and the avoiding of those many inconveniences which will inevitable follow the disuse of it, may perswade us to recall again and revive the duties of Prae-emption and Pourveyance or Compositions for them, and to petition the King by our Representatives in Parliament as our forefathers did in 14 R. 2. that the prerogative of him and his Crown may be kept, and that all things done to the contrary may be redressed.
That so our King may as Solomon, who feasted all the people for seven days and seven days, 1 Reg. 8.66. even fourteen [Page 495] days, have wherewithall to maintain his own honor and the love of his people, an [...] give portions of meat, as the Prophet Daniel and others had in the house of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, Dan. 1.5. that the people may with gladness and rejoycings enter into the Kings Palaces and the King not doubt of their affections, though the waters should roar and be troubled, and the mountains shake with the swellings thereof, that his love unto them may from his throne exhale and attract theirs and distill it down again upon them, as the raine upon the grass or showers that water the earth, and that our England, which was heretofore the happiest Nation that ever the Sun beheld in his journeys, may be once again the land of love and happiness, and that the people may be as busie in their gratitudes to their Prince, as the Rivers are in the tender and payment of their Tributes to the Ocean.