of the Revenues BY reason of the great charges and expences which the Kings of England were at through their severall Generations to protect and defend themselves and their people though some of them as in all other conditions and sorts of men were sound to be less provident then others and more easie to the flatteries of Courtiers or the necessities or importunities of Favourites or Followers as King Edward the second and King Richard the second sixty thousand Knights Fees or maintenance for them given away by William the Conquerour of which the Religious Houses then or in the near succeeding times came to be possessed of 28115. the yearly value of which number of Knights Fees if now they should be estimated but at ten thousand and valued but at the rate of twenty pounds per annum as they seemed to be at the making of the Statute of 1 Ed. 2. would be worth two hundred thousand pounds per annum and if at three hundred pounds per annum which is now the least of the improvement Sir Edward Coke reckoning eight hundred and others six hundred and eighty acres to a Knights Fee and others at the least allowing a large proportion would make three millions per annum sterling two hundred and eighty Manors given to Godfry Bishop of Constance which he left to his Nephew Moubray the Isle of Wight Earldome of Devon and Honour of Plimpton given by Henry the first to Richard de Ripariis or Rivers Earldome of Gloucester to Robert Fitz Henry great possessions given away by King Stephen to purchase love and fidelity the great Estates in Land which Maud the Empress was inforced to grant and her Son King Henry the second afterwards to confirme to divers of the great men and Nobility as the Earldom of Oxford to Awbrey de vere Earldome of Arundel to William de Albeney Earldome of Hereford to Miles of Gloucester and of Essex to Jeofrey Magnauile to forsake the usurping King Stephen and the great charge which those twenty years warres expended the wars of King H. 2. in France and with his own Sons there and at home and of seven and forty thousand three hundred thirty three pounds six shillings eight pence expended and given towards the warres of the Holy land great somes of gold and silver sent to the Pope charges of the voyage or expedition which King Richard the first made in person into Asia and the Holy Land and his ransome the Earldomes of Mortaigne Cornwall Dorses Somerset Nottingham Derby and Lancaster with all their great possessions being a great part of the Crown Revenues given to his brother John and a great part of the remainder sold The troubles of King John with his boisterous Barons the Stanneries Castles and Honor of Barkhamstead and County of Cornwall granted by King Hen. 3. to his Brother Richard his great warres and turmoils in the Barons warres which drove him to such wants and perplexities as he and his Queen as Matthew Paris tells us were somtimes enforced to seek their daily and necessary sustenance from Monasteries charge of endeavoring at a great rate and price though unsuccesfully to make his Son Edmond King of Sicily and furnishing his Son Edward afterwards King E. 1. with an Army to Jerusalem that of King Ed. 1. in his wars against the Scots and subduing that Kingdom the raising and advancing the unhappy Favorites Gaveston and the two Spencers Father and Son by King Edward the Second and his troubles great expences of Edward the Third in his Conquering of France the Dukedom of Cornwal and Earldoms of Chester and Flint setled upon the Black Prince his Son and the eldest Sons and Heirs of the Kings of England successively preferring of Lionel Duke of Clarence and his many other Sons restoring of Don Pedro to the Kingdom of Castile by the aid of the Black Prince the Earldom of Salisbury Isle of Man Castle and Barony of Denbigh given to Mountacute and one Thousand Marks Lands per annum besides to him and his Heirs for taking Roger Mortimer Prisoner at Nottingham Castle one thousand pounds per annum with the Town and Castle of Cambridge to William Marquess of Juliers and the Heirs of his body Honor of Wallingford and Earldome of Cornwall escheated given to John of Eltham his Brother the penalties and fines of Labourers Artificers and Servants in anno 36. of his reign given to the Commons for three years to be distributed amongst them the maintaining and humoring of severall Factions of the great Nobility by King Richard the second his voyage into Ireland and after misfortunes raising of John Beaufort Earl of Somerset and John Holland his half-Brother to be Earl of Kent and Duke of Exeter dissentions and troubles in the Reign of King Henry the fourth preferring another of the Beauforts to be Earl of Dorset and his establishment as well as he could in his own usurpations Chirk and Chirk Lands in Wales given by King Henry the fifth to Edmond Beaufort second Son of John Beaufort Earl of Somerset the charge of his Conquest of France the seeking to preserve and keep it by Henry the sixth long and bloody Factions and Warres of York and Lancaster Kendal and other great possessions given to John de Foix a Frenchman in marriage with Margaret the Sister to William de la Poole Duke of Suffolk the Earldome of Shrowsbury to the high deserving Talbot the Isles of Guarnsay and Jersey and the Castle of Bristol to Henry Beauchamp Duke of Warwick the charge of King Edward the fourth in his getting the Crown the Earldome of Pembroke given by him to William Lord Herbert the making of friends and parties by King R. 3. pacifying of Interests by King Hen. 7. his gifts and grants to Stanley Earl of Derby and the dying the white Rose into the Red or uniting of them the voyages and warres of King H. 8. in France preferring of Charles Brandon to be Duke of Suffolk Seymour to be Earl of Hertford Ratcliffe Earl of Sussex Thomas Manors Earl of Rutland Sir Thomas Bolein to be Viscount Rochford and Earl of Wiltshire his contest with the Pope and other great Princes large and great quantities of Religious and Ecclesiasticall Lands given away to divers of his Nobility many of whom had been the former Donors thereof and to divers of the Gentry to corroborate what he had done bring them into a better liking of that action and to be the more unwilling to leave those Lands which he had given them a remission of all debts without schedule or limitation in anno 21. of his Reign endowing six Bishopricks and Cathedrall Churches Pensions for life to many which were turned out of their Cloisters a perpetuall maintenance to the Professors of the Greek and Hebrew Tongues Civill Law Divinity and Physick in both the Universities and to twelve poor Knights at Windsor the warres of King Edward the sixth in Scotland creating of John Dudley Earl of Warwick Duke of
Northumberland Seymour Duke of Somerset Russell Earl of Bedford St. John Earl of Wiltshire Rich Willoughby Paget Sheffeild Barons his giving away great quantities of Ecclesiasticall and Chantry Lands Viscount Mountague Lord Howard of Effingham Lord North advanced by Queen Mary the Subsidie of four shillings in the pound for Lands and two shillings for Goods granted to King Edward the sixth in the last year of his Reign remitted by her and nine thousand two hundred pounds land per annum of the Crown given away paying at the same time twelve pound per cent Interest for twenty thousand pounds borrowed of the City of London and the greater charges and Expences of Queen Elizabeth in protecting the Neatherlands and United Provinces which cost her five hundred thirty four thousand pounds and four hundred thousand pounds in succouring King H. 4. of France besides what was disbursed for other Protestant Allies guarding the Back-door of Scotland relieving guarding the young King who was afterwards her Successor endeavouring to reduce Ireland to its former obedience which in a few years cost her as the Lord Treasurer Cecill Earl of Salisbury in the Reign of King James informed the Parliament nineteen hundred twenty and four thousand pounds and defending her self from the Assaults and machinations of the Pope King of Spain and other Catholick Princes advancing and enriching Cecil L. Burghley Sackvile L. Buckhurst Charles Blount Lord Mountjoy Knowles Wotton Sidney Carew Petre Compton Cheney Norris and Stanhop to be Barons and creating of the Earls of Essex Leicester Lincoln and Warwick Remission of a Subsidie granted to Q. Mary Farming of her Customs to Smyth but for thirteen thousand pounds per annum afterwards to forty two thousand pounds and raising them after that only to no more then fifty thousand pounds per annum five hundred thousand pounds spent by King James in a totall subduing of Ireland three hundred and fifty thousand pounds paid for Queen Elizabeth's debts to the City of London for which some of the Crown Lands were mortgaged and for debts to the Army Admiralty and Wardrobe and discharging the reckoning of brass money in Ireland with the same sums in silver his vast expences by Treaties and Ambassadours amounting in the seventh year of his Reign unto five hundred thousand pounds to keep us in our envied peace and plenty four hundred thousand pounds disbursed in relieving the Dutch besides what was spent in satisfying the greedy cravings of the Scottish Nation preferring and raising of the Duke of Richmond Ramsey Earl of Holderness Earls of Carlisle Kelley Morton and Dunbarre Howard Earl of Northampton Carr Earl of Somerset Herbert Earl of Montgomery Villers Duke of Buckingham Cranfeild Earl of Middlesex Cecill Earl of Salisbury Howard Earl of Suffolke Mountague Earl of Manchester Ley Earl of Marleborough and Digby Earl of Bristol All which and many more which might be here enumerated did not only as was usuall in the Reigns of our former Kings by necessary bounties encouraging of virtue and valour rewarding of merits and high deservings of Ministers of State and great Atchievements of men of warre through a successiion of ages accidents occasions and reasons of State draw and derive their honours from those fountains of Honour but large Revenues and Lands many times likewise to support and maintain their Dignities and sometimes upon the Petitions of the Commons in Parliament as to conferre upon John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster the Dukedome of Acquitaine in the reign of King Edward the third to make John Holland the Kings half-Brother Earl of Huntington in the reign of King Richard the second and to preferre and advance the Lords John and Humphrey Sons of King Henry the fourth and sometimes great Pensions and Annuities were given for life untill Lands could be provided to support them in reward of virtue and their services done or to be done for the good of the Nation and to continue them and their posterities as props and pillars of the Royall Throne in a gratefull acknowledgment of the favours received from it And besides those former rewards and Ennoblishments puts it at this day for Creation money paid to the Dukes Marquesses and Earls to no less a charge then one thousand pounds per annum by which the people were in all ages no loosers when the Honour strength and defence of the Kingdome was maintained and increased by them and themselves kept in peace and plenty the manner of living in ancient and better times being with little money and small rents great services by the thankfull and ready duty and affections of Tenants to their Benefactors and mesne Lords not only made them great in power but enabled them to imitate their Princes as much as they could in great hospitalities deeds of charity and almes building and endowing of Churches Abbies Priories and Religious Houses and giving large Inheritances to their Servants Friends and Followers pro homagio servitio and other dependances Common of Estovers and of great quantities of Lands to severall Cities Towns and Villages and in such a plentifull manner distributed and gave their Lands as if the Lands in Capite by Knight Service Coppyhold Lands Commons which our King's Nobility and Gentry bestowed heretofore upon the inferiour sort of people and what they dedicated to God by giving to Churches Religious Houses Colleges Churches and Chappels should be surveyed and measured they would amount to no less then two parts in four of the Lands of the Kingdome The quondam lethargie sleepiness and unactivity of many of the Officers of the Exchequer who should be as the Argus eyes to guard the Royall Revenue the indulgence heretofore or neglect of some of her Officers and their not remembring that they were to be the Kings and his Treasurers Remembrancers respiting or nichiling of his debts upon feigned Petitions which can tell how to deceive the most carefull Barons or Judges of that Court when their Soveraign suffered in the mean time very great damage for want of the money the not duly estreating of all Fines and Amerciaments corrupt compounding for such as were estreated by under Officers at easie rates granting to the City of London their Fines and Amerciaments want of looking after as they doe in other Nations the execution of those multitudes of penall Lawes which otherwise will be to little purpose and assisting the collection of the Kings legall profits arising thereby the heretofore carelesness or corruption of some of our former Kings Officers who for fees of favour enlarged their Charters and Grants to bodies politique Cities Towns and Corporations and to as many private persons as would petition for them and decked them with the flowers of the Kings Crown which were not to be parted with so easily So as what by Grants or Prescription which in many cases is but the incroachment or filchings of liberties and priviledges concealed or not well looked after covered and drawn into a property by a time beyond
look like virtue and their wickedness to be successfull or been brought off when not often catched by a gentle composition or some money or recompence given to a friend at Court or Conniver are so habituated and used to cosen the King as notwithstanding the severity of our Lawes if they were let loose and not too many of them laid as they are to sleep they doe as frequently continue their practise in it as they dress themselves and put on their cloathes and can as little forbear or live without them insomuch as some having been known to have been men of an otherwise strict morality life and conversation and dealing very punctually and honestly with all men but the King can no more resist an opportunity or temptation of cozening of him then a Child at a Basket of Cherries can forbear eating of them or a Cutpurse not to be nimble in a crowd Disuse of the duties of Sheriffs and Escheators which by their then few conduit Pipes did better look after the collecting the Kings Revenues and with less trouble and charge to the King and people bring it into his Cisterns then those who being under no oath or controll are as it is to be feared by a too often respiting of the Kings debts or laying them to sleep for some years untill they be grown antient many times the occasion of their being drowned in a Generall Pardon begged by Courtiers or made to be a new discovery desperate or insolvent and by undertaking more then they should doe have to the greater charge of the King and his people disheartned and caused the more antient more diligent and powerfull Officers of the Exchequer for a great part of what belongs unto their Offices to be ineffectuall Discontinuance of the Lawes and Customes for the collecting of the Regall Revenues and the many excellent cares and orders of the Exchequer as good as any Prince in the world can have or devise for the speedy and orderly getting in issuing out and accounting for the Revenue A succession and improvement of knavery in some whom our former Kings trusted occasioned or encouraged by our warres abroad in France after 4 Edward the first for then there was an endevour of an Extenta Maneriorum and an enquiry after many of the Rights and Regalities which are not retorned or certified in Chancery nor any where else to be found but by time and the troubles thereof are lost or carried away And after the Statute of Quo warranto in 12 Ed. 1. for then also the great care and good husbandry of our Kings in preserving or improving their Revenues was not laid aside or by the troubles of King Edward the second and the irregularities of his Favourites for much about that time there began to be a quitting of the former cares of the Revenue or by our successfull warres abroad in France by Edward the third and Henry the fifth the unhappy Quarrels of the York and Lancastrian Families for almost sixty years together and the hatching or breeding of them in the unquiet and unfortunate reign of Richard the second or the short reign of Hen. 7. who had not time enough to reduce things into their former Channel but was busie in gathering the treasure which he left to his Son Henry the eighth or being newly settled in his Throne did not think it safe or seasonable to make alterations or put them into their former or better order or the great increase of Revenue as well as treasure in Money Plate and Jewels to Henry the eight by the dissolution of the Abbies and religious Houses or that the fragments not given away or disposed by him employed the bounty and munificence of his Successors Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth during their severall reigns and her many great cares and affairs of State otherwise busying her or our Halcion dayes peace and plenty in the reign of King James and a great part of the reign of King Charles the Martyr and the hearkening to pretences and erecting more Offices to hinder the cheating and knavery of others when as the proposers either by intending it at first or easily learning to imitate or exceed them did afterwards draw from the King and People more money then what their undertakings ever amounted unto and proved to be as little for the Kings good as Sir Simon Harvey's design of Reformation in the Reign of King James for the better ordering of the Expences of his House where after many dishonorable essayes and retrenchments casting many of the Kings Servants into ruine and discontents and serving some of the Tables with half a Goose instead of a whole one he could at last when he had gained a pension of five hundred pounds per annum for his own life and his wives put up all his Engines and conclude with making every thing worse then it was before And no better a husbandry then those that will feed and give wages to half a dozen Shepheards to keep a score of sheep and allow them the keeping of some of their own into the bargain and make no better a totall at the years end then the Gardner which gives entertainment to a multitude of Catterpillers in his Garden and thinks it is preserved by them the waters being ever likely to come short or but faintly when instead of fewer or greater Pipes which brought it better there shall be so many to divert or wast it in the way or passage to the Royall uses The necessity of Intelligence Leagues and Correspondency with neighbour and forraign Princes and States and the charges incident thereunto which cannot be thought to be small when as that with the house of Burgundy within the space of sixty years betwixt the reign of King Henry the sixth and the later end of the reign of Henry the eighth amounted to no less then six millions the more then formerly greater charges of sending and entertainment of Ambassadours Princely Gifts and Presents to such as come hither and the Generall Pardons at the end of severall Parliaments granted by our Kings and Princes and to the great advantage of the People of late petitioned for as a kind of custome and renumeration for some Ayds or Subsidies which came not up most commonly to a moiety of what was in every Parliament quitted and released to them The granting away in all ages many of the Royall Rights and Prerogatives to the people And in a long course and series of time like some aged parents in love to some of their children or by the importunites or designes of others giving away too much of their own Revenues and Estate and bereaving themselves of that which is now thought too little for those who have gained it from them Restorations and many times by petitions of one or both Houses of Parliament of the Lands and Estates which came to the Crown by Attainders and Forfeitures for Treason their confiscations never amounting
the memory of man upon a meer supposition that there might possibly have been a loyal or good grant or commencement for them every little Manor of those multitudes of Manors and Franchises which the Commons in a Parliament of King Edward the third complained off and proportions of Lands in England many of which are called Manors by supposed Titles or reputation only as so many little Seigniories Jurisdictions or Royalities as they are improperly called have Courts Leet and Baron and free warren some of whom enjoy the honor and profit of the King in trying and executing Felons and many using all manner of inferiour justice upon the Tenants correction of the Affize of Bread and Beer have Tolles Fairs Markets Fishings Waives Estraies Felons goods and of persons outlawed and waived Issues Fines and Amerciaments Wrecks of Sea Deodands Mortuaries Treasure Trove and punishment of breach of the peace c. granted or claimed as belonged to them The not having a Clerk for the King besides the Clerks of the Assizes to keep a Roll of all Fines Amerciaments and Profits due to the King in the Iters or Circuits to estreat and certifie them into the Exchequer as was usual in the Reigns of Henry the third Edward the first and the elder Kings and many of the Justices of peace not duly certifying their Recognizances The letting the Greenwax to Farm with defalcations of such as the King shall grant away which breeds no smal neglect in the payment or gathering of it the not duly making or sending the originall Roll of the Chancery into the Exchequer the posting off many of the Kings Farms and debts de anno in annum by some of the former Clerks of the Pipe not holding the Sheriff to a strict opposal nor inforcing them to pay the monies levied of the Kings before their discharge or departure out of the Court not drawing of debts down into the Cedule Pipae being a more forcible process the heretofore Stewards and Bayliffs of Manors belonging to the Crown not justly accompting in the Exchequer as they ought the not awarding as there shall be occasion Commissions to worthy Gentlemen of every County to enquire of the Kings debts not levied and of the Sheriffs and other his Officers false Accomps ordained by the Statutes of 3 E. 1. c. 19. and 6 H. 4. cap. 3. neglect of the former Clerks of the Estreats and many other abuses crept into evil customes by some Officers or Clerks of that Court and in anno 1641. discovered and published by Mr. Vernon the superfluous number and charge of many Stewards Bayliffs and other Officers imployed which besides the many deceits used by some of them to the King and exaction upon the people did as was informed in their annuall Fees paid and allowed by the King yearly exceed three thousand pounds more then what they accompted for the selling or granting away and dismembring many Hundreds Wapentakes and liberties from the Crown and bodies of the Counties which the Statutes of 2 and 14 Ed. 3. doe prohibit to be aliened The falshood of such as did formerly make kind and easie particulars to such as were to buy or have any of the Kings Lands given them knavery and abuse of Under Sheriffs carelesnes and covetousness of the High Sheriffs in appointing them and not looking better to the performance of their own oathes as well as theirs The not duly accompting for prizes taken at sea and other maritime profits the heretofore sleepiness or slugishness of Justices of Peace in all or most Counties and Cities who being intrusted by the Law to take care of the observation of some scores of Statutes and Acts of Parliament would though their eyes and ears might almost every day perswade them to a greater care of their oathes and the good of their Country too often suffer grosse and numberless offences to increase and multiply and neither punish molest or trouble them or so much as give any information of them and too many of the Clerks of the peace Clerks of the Market and others not duly recording or certifying their Estreates The customes which in all civilized Nations and even amongst the Heathen are de jure Gentium to be paid to Kings and Princes and by the Laws of England and Parliament assent are due to the King who is the Soveraign of the Sea keeps the keyes of his Ports gives safe conduct to forrein Merchants to come hither and by his power friendship and treaties with his Allies neighbour and other Princes obtains the like with many priviledges for his own Merchants to goe and trade thither prevents with no small charges by his Ambassadours kept in their Dominions all injuries procures them right and justice and in case of deniall forceth it are now so daily cosened and put up into other Pockets as notwithstanding all the care taken in the farming or collecting of them though the people upon the retaile are sure to pay them to the full the King as it is believed doth not receive above a third part thereof by reason of the treachery and connivance of the former Searchers or Waiters and the Merchants defraying as they can sometimes confess the pompous charge of their City and Country Houses Wives and Coaches with their purloined Customes and that the cosenning of the King in his Excise yeilds them many times more then their Merchandise and their Apprentices now not taken under three or four hundred pounds a peice can live more like Gentlemen then Servants and purchase all kind of vanities vice and pride with what they likewise filch and take from him and when the Customes are let to farm though the Farmers take them as they are capable of such kind of losses can abuse their consciences and perswade themselves that they do no wrong to the King who is to have onely his Farm or Rent And that howsoever the more they cozen him the better they may be enabled to trade and the more they trade the more may be his Customes The not improving of their Lands other Revenues by raising of their Rents and rates according to the rise of money and provisions which the Subjects have exceedingly and to their great advantage done in their own Estates and Revenues and ten to one more then what was formerly The heretofore demising and letting to farm very many of the Kings Manors and Lands at the old and small Rents for three lives 21. 31. or 40. years in Reversion bespeaking a continuall wasting and weakening of his Revenues before hand Discoveries of information of deceipts or wrong done to his Revenues seldome made and then not without an allowance or gratification craved of three parts in four or a great share to begiven to the discoverers or prosecutors Many mens pretending service to the King but doing all they can to enrich themselves and deceive and lessen him and having by indulgence or cunning escapes from punishment made vice
them that the Church-wardens or Governours of every Parish as is usually done in Holland where by their excellent orders and care of their Poor very few are to be seen either wandring or miserable may upon poverty happening to any Family or the death of a Father or Mother of children goe or send to their houses as the Commissioners de aflictis at Amsterdam usually do lift up the broken hearted and enquire what are their necessities or what there is to maintain them and accordingly make provision for them by relieving the aged sick or impotent providing work for such as are able and putting out of children at fitting ages to be Apprentices or to service or some other imployments wherein we may well hope for those good effects which the like courses in France by the erecting of the Hospitals de dieu or other Hospitals in or about Paris have lately assured that the encrease and decrease of the poor in every Parish and the Collections and Assessments for them and Legacies and charitable uses given to the poor be yearly certified to the Clerk of the Peace of every City County at the Quarter Sessions to be holden after Michaelmas to be by him entred into fair Books with Calenders and Tables fitted thereunto publickly read before the Justices at the next Quarter Sessions after to the end that the Justices there assembled may duly consider thereof and make such further orders and Provisions as shall be fitting and requisite And that when the English Captives at Algier shall be released and no more likely to be in that condition the one pound per cent granted by Act of Parliament for that purpose or the like allowance and proportion for seven years to be allowed out of the Custome-house may be imployed to relieve and make a stock for the Poor of England And in regard that such as sue at Law in forma pauperis notwithstanding all the cares which have been hitherto taken by the Courts of Justice in assigning them Counsel and Attornies and ordering that no Fees should be taken they doe for want of money and those cares and diligences which are only purchased and procured by mony many times but tire themselves to no purpose and after many years expence of time and labour in trudging to and fro with their foul and tatered Bundles and Papers wither away die in the hopes of that which for want of a due assistance and vigorous prosecution they could never bring to pass That an Utter-Barrister or Councellor at Law be once in every three years appointed by the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England for the time being and to continue for that time and no longer in the high Courts of Chancery and the Courts of Kings Bench Exchequer and Dutchy of Lancaster and a Sergeant at Law in the Court of Common-pleas to be for the like time nominated and appointed by the Lord chief Justice of the Court of Common-pleas for the time being to be of councell assistant for all rights and duties of men and women suing in forma pauperis and as Counsel to assist and help the poor of the respective places in the prosecution and recovery of all Legacies and charitable uses given to them or penalties given or ordained by any Statute to be had or levied for their use or any Parish collections and assessements withheld from them for which they shall take no Fees but in a reasonable manner upon the recovery thereof or end of the said Suits And for their better encouragement may in all the Courts of Justice of this kingdom according to their said several nominations and appointments as well Superior as Inferior have a prae audience in those other causes next to the Councel learned of the Kings and Queens of England and the Prince or Heir apparent That in every County and City there be a publick Work-house to imploy the Poor in the manufacture of Woollen or Linnen cloth making fishing Nets or other Manufacture and that for their better encouragement they may as they doe in Holland after a competent number of hours in every day imployed in the work of the Publick be allowed two hours in a day to work for their own advantage notwithstanding that their lodgings diet and fitting apparrel be defrayed out of the Publick and that the Governours thereof may for their encouragement have the benefit and liberty of Exportation and Importation of any the said commodities without any Custome to be paid for the same upon the Certificate of the next Justice of Peace of such County or City upon the oath of every such Governour that the said quantities to be exported were made or wrought at the said publick Workhouse and upon the oath of such Governour that the commodities imported are to be imployed and used only in the said publick Workhouse And that the kindred of Poor living in any part of England and Wales not taking almes or overburdned with poverty may be sought out and enforced to a reasonable contribution according to their abilities towards the maintenance or providing for such Poor and decayed as within the eighth degree are of their own blood and lynage and where it may be put them into such a way of living as may exempt them from the fate of common servants or people taking almes or from being placed in common Workhouses that by such means and provisions to be made for the Poor which our Acts of Parliament and the careless and many times purloyning Collectors and Overseers of the Poor in severall Parishes have not yet performed And that all Nobility Gentlemen and others excepting such whose constant and necessary attendance upon the persons of the King Queen or Prince shall not permit the same having an Estate of Lands of Inheritance of the yearly value of one hundred pounds per annum or more above reprises and their houses of residence in any Parish of England or Wales not keeping their Christmas in the said house or Parish shall at every of the said Feasts pay unto the Poor of the said parish the sum of forty shillings or proportionably according to that rate of his or their Lands lying or being in the said Parish besides their other payments to the Poor collected and assessed in the said Parish That so the multitude of Beggars in England may no more be a Byword amongst other Nations that there may be no complaining in our streets nor such dismall and sad spectacles as the leprous blind lame and aged people and young children crying out for bread and ready to starve for want of food or clothing nor so many counterfeits or tricks to make an ill use of charities to uphold their lazy and ugly condition of life That the Clerks of the Peace and Assizes and every Justice of Peace shall take their oathes not to release or discharge or respite any Fines Issues Recognizances and Amerciaments forfeited due to the King
and paid into such hands as they shall appoint and such part thereof not exceeding the sum of two hundred thousand pounds be destributed by his Majesty to the suffering and Loyal English who took Armes for him or his Royal Father and never deserted their Loyalty or to their Wives and Children surviving them as his Majesty under his sign Manual shall direct and some other part of the said moneys not exceeding the sum of one hundred thousand pounds arising out of the said Assessements be imployed for satisfaction without allowance for Interest which should not be for wickedness or sinfull contracts of such Wives and Children of Purchasers or the Purchasers of Purchasers which have yet received no satisfaction according to his Majesties Declarations by the Bishops Deanes and Chapters or Prebends or out of his Majesty or his Royal Mother the Queens Revenues or which have not been Purchasers by false Debenturs and the other remaining undisposed moneys as aforesaid of the said two years Taxe to be and remain to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors as a sacred Patrimony unalienable to be annexed inseparably to the Crown of England not to be Leased or Rent charged further then for one or two Lives or one and twenty years That after the end of five years next ensuing there be another monthly Tax or Subsidy of 120000 l. more for two whole years then next ensuing to be raised as aforesaid and disposed of by such as the Parliament shall appoint for his Majesties use of which if his Majesty shall please there may also be issued by Warrant under his Majesties sign Manual such moneys as his Majesty shall think fitting not exceeding the sum of two hundred thousand pounds to be imployed for the further relief of such of the Loyal suffering party in England for his Majesty or his late Royal Father as his Majesty shall appoint and that the residue of the monys to be collected and raised by the said monethly Tax or Assessement for two whole years be as soon as conveniently it may laid out and disposed for the purchasing of an honorable Revenue in Land for the King his Successors unalienable as aforesaid and to no other use or purpose which they that could pay as much and a great deal more to uphold a Slavery may be better contented to pay to establish a redemption and freedom And that after the end of three years next after the said two years there be a like monethly Tax gathered and collected for two whole years next ensuing to be disposed of by such as the Parliament shall appoint for the buying of an honorable and Princely Revenue in Lands of inheritance for the King and his Heirs and Successors never to be aliend from the Crown of England other then as aforesaid And although it may seem to be a great sum of mony in the Total to be raised out of the people yet it being the more probable and easie way and a great deal more necessary then what hath been done for worser ends and occasions and being to be born by so many Cities Towns Counties and people as are to contribute thereunto in several yeers and with several respirations will the eby not onely free them from many of the like publike Taxes and Assessements hereafter and save them in their purses and estates as much or more then that will amount unto by some good Laws and provisions to be made for the freeing of them from many of the gripings and oppressions of one another but entail our happiness and a greater then formerly freedom quiet and safety upon themselves and their posterity For there was is and ever will be a necessity of power strength and riches to be in a King that intends either to protect or make happy himself and his people as well as to have their love and affection and though David when he was in his private condition could before he was King of Israel rescue a Lamb of his flock slay a Lyon and a Bear and with a sling and a peeble stone kill the dreadful Goliah and that Nathan the Prophet no flatterer but a man of God had after he was a King said unto him The Lord is with thee and brought him a message from God that His house and Kingdom and throne should be established for ever yet neither he nor his subjects the men of Judah and Israel could believe him or themselves to be in any condition of safety without his mighty men of war Militia Captaines of thousands and Captains over hundreds nor did son Solomon after God had given him a large and understanding heart and a portion of wisdom beyond that which ever was granted to mankind with a promise likewise of riches and honor suppose it to be any policy to neglect his Tributes and Presents the improvement and well ordering of his Revenues and putting an honorable order in his houshold to build Cities of Store and Cities for his Chariots and Cities for his Horsemen and a Navy of Ships in Ezion Geber and send them to Ophir to fetch Gold Nor can it be certainly for the good and safety of the people to do by their earthly King who untied the chains and fetters of their folly restored them to their Laws and Liberties and as a balm of Gilead cured and healed the wounds of those that never could do it themselves Nor accord well with their gratitude or the many protestations and promises which they made of sacrificing their lives and fortunes and all that they had in order to his happiness Or with the repentance and satisfaction which makes repentance efficacious of those that were the causes of his twelve years misery and affliction greater longer and sharper then any of his own hundred and eight Royal Progenitors ever endured enough to have turned his youth into the gray hairs and infirmities of an old and decrepit age To doe by him as they doe by their heavenly King take get and receive all they can from him but return as little as they may for it or by the earth their common feeder and nourisher in their lifetimes and the receiver and entertainer of them at their deaths by making furrows on her back and enforcing it to serve all their designs and business and for all her fruits and kindness doe not so well by her as the Heathen who could sacrifice to Tellus and Ceres but think they do enough if in the moneths of April and May they shall be pleased to admire her beauty and beat Harvest well contented to fill their Barns with her bounty And will be as likely to be for their good as for children to have their parents so poor and impotent as not to be able to protect them or for those that are to go a Sea Voyage to have the ships ill or not at all victualled or to adventure in a War or Garrison when the Commander in chief or the General upon whose wisdom valour strength and conduct the
safety of all dependeth shall be every day to seek for victuals to feed them or himself Ammunition or Weapons to defend and mony to pay them Unless they could be assured by no doubting Oracle that it would be for the good honor peace and plenty of the Kingdom to have the head faim languish want its necessary support Food and that the members in the body natural although never so warmely clad or made much of can thrive whilst the Head is sick and infirme Or unless they would be as wise as the Citizens of Constantinople who rather then they would impart any of their Riches to their Emperor for the most necessary defence of their City Estates and Religion against the Turk when their City was besieged by him would reserve it for a prey to their enemies and a perpetual slavery for themselves and their posterities or as our late men of Reformation and murmerers at their own happiness did in their complaints and taking away Ship-money and exchanging it for more miseries then ever any of their Ancestors endured when afterwards they were enforced to call their slavery a happiness and to pay and pray and give God thanks for it When as the great charge of Government in times of peace and the quietest imaginable and the necessity of the peoples Aids and Taxes to support it may the better be believed when Augustus Caesar notwithstanding the enjoyment and full possession of the Empire or greatest part of the world with the riches and spoils thereof laid up in the publike Treasuries and their Capitol enough besides what Julius Caesar had in the civil Wars consumed to make it the greatest that ever was together at one time above ground and his great frugality and care in managing his Revenue by keeping a book or memorials as Tacitus saith wherein Opes publica continebantur quantum Civium sociorumque in armis quot classes Regna Provinciae Tributa vectigalia necessitates ac largitiones and had as Bodin saith received Immanem pecuniarum summam ex Testamentis great Estates of Inheritance from those very many that made him their Heir could not subsist without Tributes and Taxes but though the bloody and expenceful Bellona was laid to sleep and there was nothing likely to disturb that happy and grateful calm of peace with which the world was then blessed found a necessity to Tax all the world and even Joseph with Mary the mother of the Redeemer of it must go up to Bethlehem to be taxed and pay Poll-mony and for all that with all his care and providence in governing that Empire having spent two paternal Patrimonies ceterasque hereditates in Rempublicam and much of his own Estate upon the Commonwealth left but a small and inconsiderable Revenue to his heir And when as the King by his inestimable charges great and daily expences for the protection and good of his people and necessary maintenance of his Royal Dignity is in a worse condition then any of his Nobility or Gentry who may when their necessities enforce them strike sail if they please and measure their expences by their Estates Because he cannot defend himself without defending his people must do like a Prince and live like a Prince and it cannot be for the good safety and honor of them that he should either live or do otherwise But should rather believe as King James the fifth in Anno 1540. his Majesties great Grandfather did when in a preamble to an Act of Parliament in Scotland for the annexation of Lands inseparable to the Crown he did declare that it Was understood and weill advisedly considered be the Kingis grace and the Estates of his Realm beand assembled in Parlement that the patrimony of his Crown and Revenues thereof beand angmented is the great weill and profit baith to the Kingis Grace and his Leiges and that King James the sixth his Majesties Grandfather and his Parliament of Scotland in Anno 1600. did not erre in the preamble of an Act Of Annexation of forefaulted Lands and others to the Crown wherein they did declare That it is clearly understand by the Kings Majesty and Estates of the Realm that the augmentation of the patrimony and Revenues of the Crown not onely serves for the forth setting and maintenance of his Highness Honor and Royall Estate but alsorelieves greatly his Subjects of divers charges and heavy burdings And when after his coming to enjoy the Crown of England he did in his Declaration in the year 1619. Declaring what things he would be moved to grant to his servants and suitors by way of bounty and what he would not signifie his desire not to cast himself and his posterity into these wants or straits which might drive them to lay burdens on the people Nor should the people of this nobler and better natured Nation who have in the times of Monarchy been blest with a greater freedom then France Spain Holland Venice or any Christian or Heathen people or Kingdom were ever owners of be unwilling to imploy as much of their care and well wishes in setling the Kings Revenue now so much weakened by age and kindness and ruined for want of repairs and being repaired will be but to help to protect and defend themselves as they usually and commonly do in the repairing and building a new their owne houses amending or making new their Clothes when they perceive them to decay or refreshing or bringing to heart again their Lands which by doing them good have needed it When as those who contrived and assented unto Olivers Instrument of Government as it was called who was one of the greatest of Villians and Tyrants in the Christian world and not only murdered his King but did all he could to destroy the Bodies Estates and Souls of his good people did more resemble Antichrist then either Pope or Turke highly deserve a burying place under the Gallows all that Ignomany could devise to lay upon him and was of neither Royal or Noble Birth or breeding and could be well contented to allow him Ten thousand Horse Dragoons twenty thousand Foot and the Navy to be maintained by a constant yearly Revenue to be raised for that purpose with the remainder of the Kings Queens and Princes Revenues not disposed of except Forests and Chases and the Mannors thereunto belonging all the Lands of Delinquents in Ireland in the Counties of Dublin Kildare Clare and Katerlaugh the forfeited Lands in Scotland which were great and considerable the two parts of 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 with two hundred thousand pounds per annum yearly Revenue for the Administration of Justice and charge of Government to be and remain to that Minotaure or Protector so called and his successors and the Framers of that which was called the Petition and Advice could afterwards in the year 1656. by