AN EXACT ACCOMPT OF THE RECEIPTS, AND DISBURSMENTS Expended by the Committee of Safety, Upon the Emergent Occasions of the NATION.
Delivered in by M. R. Secretary to the said Committee, to prevent false Reports, and prejudicate Censures.
LONDON, Printed for Jer. Hanzen. 1669.
AN EXACT ACCOMPT OF THE RECEIPTS, &c.
I Am come here according to Order, to present unto yee, an exact Accompt of what Money was disburs'd by the Committee of Safety in the short time of their sitting. Truly I would fain justifie my self and them who were my Masters, for I desire to appeare an honest man outwardly what ere I am inwardly. I know and am not ignorant what a good thing 'tis to be a good Steward, for I know you love good Stewards, and have thrown out the Family of the Stewards, because you thought them not to be good Stewards; I make no question but your Honors will find this to be a just & true Accompt; for I learnt Substraction, Multiplication, and Addition while I was at Drury House, and I thank God I attain'd also to some small knowledge of the Golden Rule; I could have wish'd with all my heart it had bin more, yet I intended to have perfected my knowledge in the Committee of Safety, had my time not bin so short; However I intreat your Honors to consider, that the Committee of Safety could be at no small charges, in regard of the Expences that waits upon Authority. We had many Mouths to feed, many wanting Brethren that were in charity to be relieved; and Charity, your Honors know, how laudable a thing it is. All men love Money, all men seek for it, and are never well till they have it; And would ye have the Committee of Safety more then men? Truly I can assure your Honors they were but men at their highest, and now they are God knows what; 'tis thought some of them now wish they were women: 'Tis true, Changes have been very advantagious to a great many men in these times, but there are no changes now can doe them good, but such Metamorphoses as the Poets speak of. I my self wish I had been chang'd into an Elder tree, to have been cut out into Pot-guns, when I first finger'd a peny of their Mony. Truly I think the curse of Symon Magus fell upon them, for no sooner [Page 4]was their Money spent, but they were forced to run away; so that I may say of them, that They and their Money perish'd together. How it perish'd, I hope your Honors will hereby receive full satisfaction; I would have your Honors contented with this Accompt which I have here brought, but I assure your Honors if you will not, I can bring you no other. I have one word more by way of Petition, That your Honors would be pleased to consider my condition, and if I have laid out any money out of my purse (as you may hereby perceive that I have) that you will be pleased to restore it me again, and give me ten times as much more. 'Tis a sad thing to be poor and needy. O Hunger, hunger, said the famous Champion of England, more sharp then the stroke of Death, thou art the extremest punishment that ever man endured, if I were now king of Armenia, and chief Potentate of Asia, yet would I give my Diadem, my Scepter, with all my Provinces for one sliver of brown Bread. I speak this to show you how much it concerns every man, and as well my self as any body else, to prevent poverty, which makes me urge my petition to yee once again, That you would not onely not take away what I have got, but rather, as I said but just now, give me ten times more. May it please your Honors, I have done, the Lord bless you, and encline your hearts to pity and compassion.
Received out of the Treasuries of the Excize, Customs, and the Exchequer — 430000 l.
Disbursed as followeth.
| l. | s. | d. | |
| IMprimis, For three and twenty long Cloaks, at seven pound ten shillings per Cloak, to cover the Committee of Safety's Knavery, | 243 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for six dozen of large fine Holland Handkerchiefs, with great French Buttons, for the Lord Fleetwood, to wipe away the Teares from his Excellencies Cheeks, at twenty shillings per Handkerchief, | 72 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for four New Perriwigs for his Lordship, at six pound a Perriwig, together with a dozen pound of Amber Powder, with four wodden Blocks, and half a dozen of Tortois shell Combs, | 41 | 10 | 00 |
| Item for a Silver Inkhorn, and ten gilt Paper-books cover'd with green Plush and Turky leather, for his Lady to write in at Church, | 07 | 03 | 03 |
| Item paid his young Daughters Musick-Master, and Dancing Master, for fifteen Moneths Arrears, due at the Interruption of the Parliament, | 59 | 05 | 00 |
| Item for twelve new Brass Nails that were wanting in his Coach, and removing all his Excellencies horses shooes, and blooding his Pad Nag, | 160 | 01 | 02 |
| Item for four rich Mantles for his Lady, two lac'd, and two embroidered, and a brave New Gown, made to congratulate her Husbands new Honor, | 270 | 00 | 00 |
| Item bestowed by her Order, upon the Journey-men Taylors, and given to him that brought home and tryed on her said Gown, seven Pieces in gold, | 07 | 14 | 0 [...] |
| Item for changing an old fashion Caudle-cup, and three silver Skillets that were melted, | 10 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for the Use of his Excellencies Roomes, his Chairs and Cushions; as also for Candles and Scotch-Coales, while the Committee of Officers sate in his House, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for an innumerable company of Pectoral Rolls, and Lozenges, to dry up his Excellencies Rheum, at two pence a piece, | 30 | 02 | 02 |
| Item paid the Apothecary's Bill, for Pills and Glisters for the last Autumn, | 31 | 12 | 00 |
| Item for two Rolls of Spanish Tobacco for Colonel Sydenham, at twenty shillings per pound, according to the Protectors rate, and five black Pots to warm Ale in, at twelve pence a piece, together with ten groce of glaz'd Pipes, at nine shillings the groce, | 45 | 13 | 04 |
| Item for two gilt Horn-bookes for his great son, at two shillings six pence a piece, | 00 | 05 | 00 |
| Item bestowed upon the Lord Lambert five thousand pounds, to buy him the several Pictures of Moses, Mahomet, Romulus and Rhemus, Caesar, and all those that were the first Founders of large Empires and Kingdoms, | 5000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item presented to the Lord Lambert the Root of a Tulip, and a certain East-Indian Flower with a hard Name, which for their rarity, cost two hundred and fifty pound, | 250 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid the said Lord, who is now no Lord, six thousand pound, to be spent the Lord knows how, in a certaine Northern Expedition, which came to nothing, | 6000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item laid out for seven rich New Gowns, bespoke at Paris for the Lady Lambert, to be worn seven several dayes one after another, at her Husbands coming to the Crowns, every Gown valued at sixty pound, one with another, | 480 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Pins and Gloves for the said Lady, | 83 | 09 | 00 |
| Item for seven New Whisks, lac'd with Flanders Lace of the last Edition, each Whisk valued at fifty pound, | 350 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for four hundred Packs of French Cards with Pictures, to play at Best and Picquet withal, | 200 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a new pair of Spurs for Colonel Clark, and a new Whip with a silver Handle, and a Coral Whistle at the end of it, to call the Ostler, | 003 | 06 | 00 |
| Item for Vamping the said Colonels Riding-boots, and for new Spur-leathers, | 10 | 00 | 00 |
| Item laid out for Wedding Clothes for the Lord Lambert's Daughter, | 1150 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given to the Lord Wareston one thousand pounds to buy him a House and Land here, because his Lordship had expressed a very great dislike of his owne Countrey, and was then resolved never to have gone thither any more, | 1000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given to the Lord Strickland for his very ordinary Service, a dozen of gilt Nutmegs, at six pence three farthings a piece, | 00 | 06 | 04 |
| Item given to Colonel Berry five hundred pound, to buy him a three-handed sword, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given to Lord Mayor Tichborn three thousand pounds, to buy him a Hobby-horse and a clear Conscience, | 3000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid to a Spectacle-maker, for a Spectacle with one glass for Col: Hewson, four hundred pound, | 400 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid for three great Saddles for the Lord Lawrence's son, and for Provender for his lofty Steeds, ever since the Protectors Political death, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item reimbursed to the said Lord Lawrence, several Sums of Money which his eldest Son had squandered away upon Poets and Dedications to his Ingenuity, to the value of five hundred pound more, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid Sir Harry Vane to defray the extraordinary charges of his fruitless Voyage into the Hope, | 800 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given the Gunner for four Salutes as he went off the Admiral, ten pieces in gold, | 12 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid the Scrivener for writing out the League made betwixt him and the Lord Lambert, when they joyned their Forces together, | 15 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a great sharp Knife to cut his Meat, according to his stomach, with an Agate handle, | 02 | 04 | 01 |
| Item for Caudles devoured by his Lady every morning, for these last three moneths, | 60 | 07 | 02 |
| Item allowed Sir Harry Vane five hundred pound, to [Page 7]pay for the Exchange of Money which he transferred into Holland, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item allowed him him five hundred pound more, to buy him Fortunatus's Cap, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given to Colonel Cobbet three hundred pound, to buy him Mambrine's Helmet, and the Sword which St. George pull'd out of the Rock, | 400 | 00 | 00 |
| Item disbursed to the Lady Thomas, at the request of her Father in law, four hundred and seventy pounds, to make her husband a new pair of Horns, his old ones being now worn our, | 470 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for new Chairs for the Council Chamber, and for brushing the Hangings, and Airing the Room, for fear of any Infection that the Lord Lamberts enemies might leave behinde them, | 201 | 03 | 06 |
| Item for Switches which the Lord Lambert wore out when he interrupted the Parliament, and for making clean his Boots the next day, | 43 | 00 | 00 |
| Item bestowed upon Mr. Holland nine hundred pound to buy him six New Iron chests, to lock up his Money in, | 900 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid the Herald for a New Coat of Arms for Major General Disborough, with this Motto, God speed the Plough, fifty eight pound, | 58 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid for new Matting one of his Bed-chambers, sixteen pound, two shillings, two pence, | 16 | 02 | 02 |
| Item paid the Lord Whitlock one hundred pound for his great Swedish Cat, that it might be kept in the Tower as one of the Lord Lamberts Chattels, for the publick benefit and satisfaction of the Nation, | 100 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid the fellow that cut the Lord Lamberts corns, the day before he went out of Town, five pound in gold, | 05 | 10 | 00 |
| Item for a Tinder box for the Lord Lambert, with a thousand Card-matches to light his Candles with, when he wak'd in the night, | 16 | 15 | 10 |
| Item for half a score New Lasts for the Committee, to set their consciences upon when they began to pinch 'em, | 30 | 07 | 00 |
| Item taken by Mr. Cor. Holland five thousand pound, to satisfie himself for an old Debt owing him by King James, paid no less then twice before, | 5000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item taken by the Lord Whitlock, to satisfie himself for his Embassy into Swedeland, | 20000 | 0 | 0 |
| Item given to Mr. Thankful Owen, a small Collop to etch out his fortunes, | 400 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given to Mr. Brandrith a thousand pound, because he had never any thing given him before, | 1000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item presented by the whole Committee to the Lady Lambert, a Tooth-pick Case of Gold, beset all over with Diamonds, Rubies, and Emeraulds, cost fifteen hundred pound, | 1500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a bundle of Rods, and Utine to soak them in, which Rods were prepared for those that voted the Lord Lambert out of Commission, | 75 | 10 | 05 |
| Item given to Cardinal Mazarine fifty thousand pounds, to shew him there was Money stirring then in England, as well as in the Protectors time, | 50000 | 0 | 0 |
| Item bestowed upon Colonel Salmon five hundred pound, to buy him Borage-water, and Syrrop of Gillyflowers, to keep up his heart, by reason of his continual sighing, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item laid out of my own purse two hundred and fifty pound, for several Colations and Dinners both in Fishstreet, and elsewhere, | 250 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Bottles of Wine spent in my own house, one hundred pound, | 100 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Banquetting-stuff, and Sweet-meats of all sorts, for my Wife to entertain Visitants; and for six new Flander-lac'd Smocks, | 300 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a Neck-lace of Oriental Pearl, and three Diamond-rings, and a silver Warming-pan, | 400 | 10 | 06 |
| Item for a New great Powdering-tub, and a Sute of Tapestry hangings, | 61 | 05 | 00 |
| Item laid out one hundred thousand pound, which was carried down to the banks of the River Tweed by way of Temptation, which being utterly refused, was afterwards distributed into private Quarters, which is all the accompt I am able to give of it, | 100000 | ||
| Item paid the Under-clerks of the Committee, several sums of Money spent in Ale-houses and Bawdyhouses, according to their several accompts, amounting in all to one hundred eighty three pound, | 183 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid Politicus five hundred and five pound, to make good several sums of Money by him lost in Bowling Greens, and at the Comb-makers Ordinary, | 505 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Capers, Sampire, and Olives, and ten Bushels of Kentish Pippins for Lambs-wooll, being all very scarce commodities in the North, to furnish the Lord Lamberts Table, | 700 | 06 | 02 |
| Item for a hundred bottoms of Packthred, but for what use I know not, | 103 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Ink, Paper, Pens, Wax, and blew Dust, | 1000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a hundred thousand pound of great Candles, and given as a Gratuity to the Chandlers boy for bringing them in, | 2500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid to Linck-boyes for lighting the Commissioners and Council of Officers home to their Lodgings, | 94 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid unto the Centinels, for pissing near the Guard, | 057 | 03 | 06 |
| Item for East-India Night-Gowns for the Commissioners, and the rest of the Officers, and for Night-caps for them, | 233 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid the Chaplains for three Fast-days, and for Pomecitron to keep the Commissioners empty stomachs from wambling, | 789 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for twelve pair of cut-finger'd Gloves for my self to write in, | 10 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Coffee which the Commissioners drank every morning, especially when they had got a Dose over night, | 340 | 10 | 00 |
| Item towards the repairing the Ruines of Trey, | 20000 | ||
| Item for Whips, Tops, and Joynted-babies, for the Commissioners younger children, | 89 | 07 | 00 |
| Item for writing out the Instrument of Government seven times over, | 050 | 00 | 00 |
| Item allowed Colonel Hewson, for his charges at the Sessions-house, | 495 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for three blew Beans in a blew Bladder, | 93 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid to Lilly for casting the Nativities of the Commissioners children, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given to Sir Harry Vane three thousand pound, to raise a Regiment of Anabaptists, | 3000 | 00 | 0 |
| Item bestowed by his appointment upon Inciters, Promoters, and Instigators, | 1000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item given as a present to the Pope twenty thousand pound by the said Sir Harry, for several and sundry courtesies done him by his Holiness, | 20000 | 0 | 0 |
| Item for a hundred new cords, which were to be us'd when the Lord Lambert came to Town; and also for new setting the Axe in the Tower, | 204 | 05 | 10 |
| Item for a very strong Padlock to be hung upon the Parliament House door, and a silver Key, which was to be delivered to St. Peter, to be by him kept till the Lord Lambert should call to him for it, | 110 | 12 | 08 |
| Item given the Porter of Wallingford-House, for letting the Officers in and out, and sitting up all houres of the night, | 100 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for drawing the Mortgage of my Lord Lamberts House and Lands, and for Fees to the Council, | 200 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a New Riding-hat for his Lordship, because he was told that that which he wore in the day of his wrath, made him look like a Finsbury Archer, | 10 | 00 | 00 |
| Item bestowed in New years gifts one upon another, every one giving out of the publick stock, | 7000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a Paddle staff and a brown Bill for Major General Disborough, when his Worship pleases to walk his grounds, | 07 | 10 | 00 |
| Item paid to M. Saloway for Raisons, Corrans, and Pruens, at excessive rates, for the keeping of Christmas, | 2000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item laid out for Turbants, Shashes, and Scimitars for the Lord Lambert, and the rest of his Adherents, nine thousand five hundred fifty six pound, which made men thinke they would have turn'd Turkes, had they come into power, | 9556 | 00 | 00 |
| Item to the three great Officers in the Commonwealth of Oceana, the Polemarch, the Strategus, and my Lord Epimonus, ten thousand pound, to buy 'um Figs, Melons, and yellow hats, | 10000 | 00 | 0 |
| Item given in charity to the State of Venice, who are the Bulwark of Christendom, | 12000 | 00 | 0 |
| Item laid out upon a great Hog-trough to be set up in Rumford, as a Trophy of their publique Magnificence, | 3000 | 00 | 0 |
| Item sent into Lapland for the retaining of a certain Necromancer, who was to assist them in the carrying on their great Work, | 5000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for black Wooll and Civet, to stop the ears of the Committee and Council of Officers from hearing any thing that might tend to their own, or the good of the Nation, | 50 | 00 | 00 |
| Item laid out for a New Scepter for his intended Highness the Lord Lambert, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for Granado's to fire the City, | 100 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid for a pound of May butter, made of a Cows Milk that fed upon Hermon Hill, given to the Lady Lawrence for pious uses, | 87 | 10 | 00 |
| Item given to a Projector, toward a certain Design which he had to bring over an inchanted Castle, to secure the Lord Lambert's foes in, | 5000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid to another Projector, toward a Design which he had to looke in the middle of the Western Ocean, for a great Spanish Gallioon that was sunk with the weight of the Gold that she carried, some thirty years ago, | 2500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a fair pair of Tables, with several bales of Dice, that those Commissioners who cared not to trouble themselves with the Affairs of the Nation, might not want something to pass the time away withal, | 57 | 50 | 00 |
| Item for nine Mil-stones for the Lord Lambert's nine Worthies to wear about their necks in stead of Georges, and for blew Ribbans to hang them in, | 500 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for one of the Emperor of Russia's cast Furre-Gowns, for the Laird Wareston to wear while he was President of the Committee, | 754 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a Shooe-makers Measure to be provided by Colond Hewson, for the Commissioners to take the length of the peoples feet, | 023 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for a Tun of Sallet-oyl, to make their Tongues glib, when they were to talk with the Aldermen and Common council, | 233 | 12 | 06 |
| Item paid the Lord Fleetwood for Scraps given to the Beggars at his door, | 300 | 00 | 00 |
| Item for twenty pair of Castanets for the Ladies to dance Serraba [...]ds at Sir Harry Vanes sons wedding, | 050 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid to the Army, Never a farthing. | 000 | 00 | 00 |
| Item paid to the Navy, as much. | 000 | 00 | 00 |
| Summa totalis, | 430000 l. | ||
Thus your Honors may see how vainly and profusely we have squandered away a very considerable Sum, which your Honors had carefully laid up for better and more important uses. I shall onely say this in the behalf of my Masters, that if you please not to be rigorous with them, and to call them to any further Accompt, they will take it not a little courteously, and be bound to pray for your Honors, though if your Honors think [...]t to do otherwise, I do believe the whole Nation in general will be more indebted to your Justice.