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 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 Foot-boys 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 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 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 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 gaâ—â— 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 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 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 of the Blew Bore embroidered on their left shoulder Which being the custome of the good
pleist al Roy que le Navie soit maintain garde a greindre ease et profit que fair se poet 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. The Commons of the Dutchy of Cornwall shew how by taking up their Mariners the Spaniards lately burned all their Ships and otherwise much eâ—damaged them and the like complaint was made by all the Sea-coasts and therefore pray remedy may be had The King by advice of his Councill will provide remedy therefore 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 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 penâ— begining 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 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 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 three shillings four pence of every Tonne Leighter or little Ship The King hath committed the same to his Counsel to be considered 14 R. 2. They require remedy against Masters of Ships and Mariners The Admirall shall appoint them to take reasonable wages or punish them 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 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 may have only two Tons of wine of every ship of wine coming to any port in the name of prize 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 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
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 mainâ—ainance of the Kings Officers and Servants who were hitheâ—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 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 Bake-house 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. 4 d. 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 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 â— 13 s. 4 d. Two Pages fourty shillings a peice Clarks Fee 6 l. 13 s. 4 d. 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 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 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 t is 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 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 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
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 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 gâ—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 Oâ— 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 neighboâ—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 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 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 â—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 â—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 Liveâ—y and pâ—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 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
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 afâ—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 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 â—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 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 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 Crâ—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 and hath been ever since applauded for it It 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 lâ—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 eveâ—y Hâ—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 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
he or his heirs did not unto the Lord or any of his 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 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 and the other charges consisting in the no great expences of the furnishing out the young 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Abrahams giving King Abimelech Sheep and Oxen
Henry the third his Sonne by their Magna Charta Agreement 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 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 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 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 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 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 or as was done by King Edward the sixth since the Statute 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 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 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 weâ—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 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 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 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 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 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 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 received their Investitures and Temporalties from him may if they shall think the Compsitions for Pourveyances ought not
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 and by the Civil Law are undeâ—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 Common-wealth 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 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 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 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
at Westminster 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 paupâ—res Egenâ—s quot invenâ—re pâ—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 Also in the 32 year of his Reign commanded William de Haverhull and Edward of Westminster quod singulis 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 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 Lâ—vetot and Jeofry de Newbald 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 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 And whahne King Edward was coronyd annyontyd as ryghte heyre of Engâ—lond withe moche honor worsschyp Aftur Masse the King went to hys Paleys for to holde a ryall fesâ—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 thâ—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 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 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 Bâ—dâ—'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 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
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 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 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 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 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 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 duâ—st stir any further in that suite And the common people of England have always with so much reason loved and applauded Hospitality 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 dâ—inkâ—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 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
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 twelve pounds eight shillings peny farthing 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 Tythe free The greatest part of 3845. Appropriations or Impropriations 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 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 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 Copy-hold estates which usually paid nothing at all to the provisions for the Kings houshold converted into Freeholds Many Fenns and Imbancked Marshes consisting of some hundred thousand Acres Drained or recovered from the Sea An Espargne or saving more then formerly of much money very far surmounting the yearly charge damage or losses by the Kings Pouâ—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 Steâ—ling by being no more troubled with provisions to Benefices many chargeable Oblations to the Church and mony spent in Lamps or Taâ—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 Wâ—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 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 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 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 sending his Legats or Predicatores to wring and preach money out of the peoples purses pro negotio Crucis under coloâ—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 vulâ—u Flebili capite dâ—â—nisso were with great sorrow and lamentation enforced to complain to the King of the impossibility of satisfying the Pope eos incessanter torquenâ—i incessantly grinding tormenting them of his avarice and exactions toto â—undo detestabiles to be abhorred of all the world By Dispensations pardons liceâ—ces Indulgencies vows pilgrimages Writs calâ—ed perinde valere breeves and other instruments of sâ—â—dry natures names and kinds in great 〈◊〉 which in the Act of Parliament of â—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 〈◊〉 â—â—tâ—llerable exactions of great sums of money the subjects of the Realm A freedom from the chargeable giving of great quâ—ntities of Lands for Chantries and the weaniâ—g of that Clergy by the reformation of the Church oâ— 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 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 That the Friars followed folke that were rich And folk that were poor at little price they set And no Cors in the Kyrkeyard nor Kyrke was buried But quick he bequeth them ought or quit part of his det Adviseth his friend Go confesse to some Frier and shew him thy synnes For while Fortune is thy frend Friers will thee love And fetch the to their Fraternity and for thee beseech To their Prior Provinciall a pardon to have And pray for the pole by pole if thou be pecunâ—osus 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 Give me then of thy Gold to make our Cloister Quoth he for many a Muskle and many an Ouster When other men have been full well at ease Hath been our food our Cloister for to rease And yet God wot unneath the foundement Performed is ne of our pavement Is not a Tile yet within our wones By God we owen fourty pound for stones And in his Prologue to his Canterbury Tales thus Characters such a Frier Full sweetly heard he confession And pleasant was his absolution He was an easie man to give pennance There as he wist to have a good pitance The diâ—use of the old and never grudged course of Sponte Oblata's gifts or presents to the King and the
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 Bushâ—l of Rye for a pound of Candles which was worth but four pence In the eighteenth year of Queen Elizabeth when 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 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 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 appuâ—tenant expences of household Provisions with Suppers as well as Dinners came then by the week but unto six pound five shillings and fouâ— 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 worshâ—p came but to eight pound ten shillings seven pence which charged every man with little more then seven shillâ—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 â—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 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 â—acking Landlord one hundred Marks per annum and too many of the Landlords Tenants and Selleâ—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 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 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 weâ—e then as they are now esteemed taken for no less then a six
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 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 prodigâ—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 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 â—hichely Archbishop of Canterbury built that famous Colledge of All-Souls 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 boaâ—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 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 oâ— 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 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 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
should be 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 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 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 Fortcâ—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 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 Geâ—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 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 enâ—oynâ—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 Mannâ—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 Welâ—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 three hundred of Silver but five hundred head of Cattlâ— with Hawks and Hounds to a certain number towards which payment by the Statutes of Howel Dâ—a saith our Industrious Speed 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 Common-wealths 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 have arrived to that of the Children of Israel in the Desart when they