require at the hands of the Soveraigne protection and defence of the Subject against all wrongs and injuries whatsoever offered either by one Subject to another or by the Common Enemy to them all or any of them This Protection the Law considereth cannot be without a great charge to the King And because as Christ saith No man goeth to warre upon his owne charge the Common-Law therefore hath not onely given the King great Prerogatives and favours touching his own patrimony more I beleeve than any other Prince in the world hath but also hath for the sustentation of his great and necessary expences in the protection of his Subjects given him out of the interest and property of the Subject an ample and very honorable revenue in very many particular cases some of which I will call to your remembrance He receiveth out of the Subjects purse for wardships and the dependances thereupon as we have of late accounted about forty five thousand pounds by the yeare This is a Revenue which no other King of the world hath And as it appeares by the Statute of 14. E. 3. c. 1. It ought to be imployed in maintenance of the warres and so doubtlesse was the first institution of the Common-Law For the Lord hath the profit of the Wards lands to no other end than to maintain a man in the warre during the infancy of him who otherwise should serve in person He hath likewise all forfeitures upon Treason and Outlawry and upon penall Lawes Fines and Amerciaments Profits of Courts Treasure-Trove Prisage Butlerage Wreck and so many more as the very enumeration of the particulars would take up long time To what other end hath the common-Law thus provided for the maintenance of the Kings charge by all these wayes and meanes of raising profit out of the Interest and property of the Subjects estate in lands and goods but onely to this end That after these duties paid the poore Subject might hold and enjoy the rest of his estate to his owne use free and cleare from all other burdens whatsoever To what end hath the Law given a part to the King and left the rest to the Subject if that which is left be also at the Kings will to make his profit thereof as he pleaseth To give a small portion to him that may at his pleasure take more or all is a vain and an idle act which shal never be imputed to a wise Law But it may be objected that as the revenues are ordinary Answere to an objection that the King may lay Impositions in times of extraordinary occasions so are they by the Law provided onely for the susteyning of the kings ordinary charge and that if the Law have not taken further consideration and limmitted some certain course how upon sudden and extraordinary occasions the kings charge may bee susteined that there is yet no reason shewed to the contrary why the king may not upon such occasion take some extraordinary course for the raysing of money as by the laying of Impositions upon Merchandizes or by a tax within the Realme rather then the Common wealth for want thereof should perish or be indangered Sir Robert Hitcham And hereupon by the knight that last spake it was held that upon occasion of a sudden and unexpected war the King may not only lay impositions but levy a tax within the Realme without assent of Parliament which position in my opinion is very dangerous for to admit this were by consequence to bring us into bondage You say that upon occasion of suddaine warre the king may levy a Tax who shall be Judge between the king and his people of the occasion can it be tryed by any Legall course in our Law it cannot if then the king himselfe must be the sole Judge in this case will it not follow that the king may levie a taxe at his owne pleasure seeing his pleasure cannot be bounded by Law You see into what a mischiefe the admittance of one error hath drawne you But for a full answer to the objection I say that the providence of the Common-Law is such and so excellent as that for the defraying of the kings charge upon any occasions of a suddain warre it hath over and above all the ordinary Revenues which it giveth the king which in the time of warre cannot indeed but fall short made an excellent provision for Sir The warre must needs be either offensive or defensive Offensive must either be upon some Nation beyond the Seas or against the Scots or Welsh or other borderers within the Iland If it be an offensive warre upon some Nation beyond the Seas it cannot be a sudden Accident for it is the kings own act and he may and 't is fitting he should take deliberation and if it be a just and necessary warre he may crave and easily obtaine assistance of his Subjects by grant of Ayd in Parliament If an offensive warre upon some of his neighbors within the Continent of this Iland as the Scots or the Welsh which also cannot be sudden or unexpected to the king being his own act you know how politikely the kings of this Realme have provided by reserving Tenures by which many of their Subjects are bound to serve them in those warres in person at their owne charge Only a Defensive warre by invasion of forreign enemies may be sodain in which case the Law hath not left the king to warre upon his owne expence or to rely upon his ordinary Revenue but hath notably provided That every Subject within the Land high and low whether he hold of the king or not in case of forreign Invasion may be compelled at his own charge to serve the king in person as it appeares by the opinion of Justice Thirming in 7 H. 4. The reason of which in my opinion was to no other end than that the king might have no pretence whatsoever for the raising of money upon his Subjects at his owne pleasure without their common assent in Parliament I doe then conclude this Argument that seeing the Common-Law for maintenance of the Kings ordinary charge hath given him such an ample Revenue out of the interest and property of the Subject and provided also for sodaine occasions that in so doing it hath secluded and secured the rest of the Subjects estate from the Kings power and pleasure and consequently that the King hath not power upon any occasion at his pleasure to charge the estate of his Subjects by Impositions Tallages or Taxes for I hold them all in one degree or any other burden whatsoever without the Subjects free and voluntary assent and that in Parliament If it were otherwise you see how it were to the utter dissolution and destruction of that politike frame constitution of this Common-wealth which I have opened unto you and of that excellent wise providence of the Common-Law for the preserving of property and the avoydance of oppression These two Arguments used by me that
one aide or other in Parliament sometimes a taxe sometimes a Fifteenth sometimes a Subsidie of Tonnage Poundage In the eighteenth yeer he was inforced to go in person into Ireland to settle the state of that Country then in Rebelion all these troubles he had from abroade besides those famous Rebellions here at home which afterwards cast him out of his Seat yet did he never for all this attempt to lay impositions though he wanted not about him to put him in minde of his absolute power For Edward Strafford Bishop of Exeter Lord Chancellor of England in a Sermon made to the Parliament held anno 21. as our Chronicles report did publiquely maintaint that the King was not bound by any Law but was of himself absolute above Law and that to controle any of his actions was an offence worthy of Death at which Parliament all that were present came armed for fear of the King and the Parliament House it selfe was beset with 4000. Archers by his appointment I will speak no more of him then this though he were a King of a weak spirit yet did he not spare to practise upon his people the most grievous things that were Insomuch that he so farre discontented them that they deposed him by common consent in Parliament the onely desperate example of that kinde that our Histories doe afford or I hope ever shall His successor Henry the fourth Hen. 4. in respect he held the Crown by so weak a title had cause to give the people all the content he could possible and yet he was so oppressed with warrs on all sides from France and Scotland but especially by continuall and dangerous invasions made by the Welsh as without the aide of his people for the supply of his treasure it had not been possible for him to have held his Crown on his head and therefore he pressed his people so farre that in a Parliament held the fifth yeere of his reigne they yeelded to him so great and so unaccustomed a tax as that the grantors thereof as our Chroniclers say tooke speciall order that no memory thereof should remaine of record onely to avoide the president and yet the very next yeere following his wants were againe grown so great as his Subjects being assembled in Parliament to give him further ayde did resolve that there was no other way to supply his want then to take from the Clergie their temporall Lands and goods and to give them all to the King which being withstood by the Clergie a resumption of all the guifts of Ed. 3. and Ric. 2. was propounded at last after they had sate a whole yeere they gave him two Fifteenths at this time most of his Counsell and the great Officers of the Kingdome were Spirituall men had they not now if ever a just occasion given them to have put the King in minde of his Prerogative of laying impositions not onely to the intent to have diverted him from the harkning to that desperate motion that had been made against them to all their utter undoings but were they not also bound in duty and conscience in this time of so great necessitie seeing the Parliament knew not otherwise how to supplie the Kings wants to have advised him to have made use of his lawfull right of imposing by which means he might without troubling the Parliament quickly have raised great summes of money certainly it was not because they were ignorant of any such practise in former times For none of them that were then of the Counsell to Henry the Fourth but they lived in Ed. 3. time and most of them doubtlesse were in Ed. 3. time men of age and discretion But in all likelyhood as they knew that Edward the Third did lay impositions so likewise they knew that impositions had been from time to time in those daies condemned as unlawfull and were become hatefull to the people and onely for that reason they did forbeare to advise the King to take that course though the necessitie were never so great Another Prerogative as much concerning the interest of the Subject as this of Impositions namely the abasing of Coyne this King made no scruple at all to put in practise because he held it to be lawfull His Sonne and next Successor Hen. 5. who by his many victories over the French Hen. 5. and his noble disposition and behaviour towards his people was so farre beloved of them as never was King of this Realme more though the Kingdome were now by one degree of discent more firmely setled upon him then it was on his Father who usurped it though also his expence of treasure by reason of that great warre in France were as much as any king's of England ever were though he had troubles also from his Neighbours the Scots and within his owne Realme by Rebellions and lastly though he spared not for supplie of treasure to suppresse above a 100. Priories of Aliens yet neither out of the strength of his love with the people nor in his extreame necessity by reason of these honorable warres in France for the maintenance of which the people would willingly have undergone any burden which he would have laid upon them especially after the victory at Agencourt did he ever so much as attempt the laying of Impositions His Successor Hen. 6. Hen. 6. though indeed of a meek spirit yet he was so followed with troubles within the Realme and from abroad that he was inforced to crave such an extraordinary aide of his Subjects in Parliament as the levieing thereof was the cause of that famous Rebellion of Jack Cade in his time Besides in the 18 yeer of his Reign for the ease of his charge and supply of his wants all Grants by him made of any Lands Rents Annuities or Fees whatsoever since the first day of his Reigne were resumed and this is never yeelded to but in cases of extreame necessity As for Impositions notwithstanding his great wants he thought not of them Edw. 4. Edw. 4. that succeeded him was no lesse free from troubles for he was as you know driven to forsake his Kingdome and to live for a while like a banished man with the Duke of Burgundy He was also inforced in the 5 yeer of his Reign to make a Resumption and the same yeer to abase his Coyne And Comines observeth of him that he obteined a Subsidie of his Subjects in Parliament upon condition that he should himselfe in person undertake the war in France and that only to get the Subsidie he passed the Seas into France but presently returned without doing any thing What should such shifts as these have needed if he might without being beholding to his Subjects lawfully and without controll have raised Treasure by laying of Impositions It is well worth the remembring that which the same Comines speaking in commendation of the frame of this Common-wealth saith That this State is happy in that the people cannot be compelled by the
of Certainty and this of the provision made by the Common-Law are in my poor opinion Arguments of direct proofe that the King cannot Impose I will now according to my division urge an Argument or two of Inference and presumption the rather because Arguments of this nature have been much enforced by those who have maintained the contrary opinion Sir Francis Bacon especially by Mr. Solicitor I call them Arguments of inference and yet in my opinion those which I shall urge are also of good proofe such as they are you shall judge of them They are drawne either from the actions or forbearances of the Kings of this Realme or from the actions and forbearances of the people First in the actions and forbearances of the Kings Arguments drawne from the actions of the Kings that they have no power to Impose I observe that all the Kings of this Realm since Hen. 3. have sought and obteined an increase of Custome more or lesse by the name of Subsidie of the gift of their Subjects in Parliament Nay some of them and those not the weakest in Spirit or power but the most couragious and potent in that whole ranke even that mighty and victorious Prince King Ed. 3. being to undertake a just and honorable warre than which there could not happen a better or juster occasion to have made use of his Prerogative of Imposing did neverthelesse at that time stoope so low in this point that he did in full assembly of the three States pray his Subjects to grant him a Reliefe in this kinde for the maintenance of his warre and that to endure but for a short time and further was well content to suffer his prayer in that behalfe to be entred of Record to the memory of all posterity And the succeeding Kings have also suffered the same to be printed as may appeare by the printed Statutes at large An. 14. Ed. 3. cap. 21. Is it likely that if any or all these Kings had thought they had had in them any lawfull power by just Prerogative to have laid Impositions at their pleasure that they would not rather have made use of that than have taken this course by act of Parliament so full of delay so prejudiciall to their Right so subject to the pleasure of their people who never undergoe Burdens but with murmuring and much unwillingnes Can there be any thing more hatefull to the high Spirit of a King than to subject himselfe to the pleasure of his people especially for matter of Reliefe and that by way of Prayer having lawfull power in his hands to relieve himselfe without being beholding to them If perhaps the Kings themselves were ignorant of this great Prerogative which cannot be imagined had they not alwaies about them wise Counsellors to assist them and such as for the procuring of favor to themselves would not have failed to have put them in minde of it Nay if they had known any such lawfull Prerogative had they not been bound in conscience so to have done What an oversight was it of King Ed. 3. and all his Counsell so much to prejudice his right in so beneficiall a Prerogative as to suffer him upon Record and that in Parliament to pray for that which he might have taken out of his absolute power Can there almost be a more direct disclaiming in the Right to compare great things with lesse if the Lord by matter of Record claime any thing of his villaine it is a disclaimer of the villenage The Kings of England have other noble and high Prerogatives I will only name two of them The making of warre and peace and the raising and abasing of Coyne at their pleasure Did they ever crave the assent of their Subjects in Parliament to make a warre Their advice indeed they have sometimes sought and their ayd for treasure to maintaine it The Prerogative of raising and abasing the value of money hath been oftentimes put in practise by them and sometimes strayned to such a height that the King might well suppose the Subjects could not but be much discontent therewith And yet never any King of this Realme did it by assent of Parliament which perhaps some one milde King among so many would have done and it may be would also have prayed his Subjects to yield thereto only to avoid the grudging of the people if the seeking of assent in Parliament had not been thought to have been prejudiciall to the absolute power of their Successors and yet as for some of these Kings it may be supposed they made little conscience to prejudice a Successor in one point that made no scruple totally to depose a Predecessor from his Throne and all his Regalities and to usurp it to themselves And so I proceed to my next Argument of Inference drawn from the actions of our Kings Some of the Kings of England as namely Ed. 2. Edward the 2. in the yeere of his Reigne and Ed. 3. in the 1. and 24. yeere of his Reigne as may appeare by the Records here amongst us were contented to accept an increase of their Custome by way of Loane from the Merchants and solemnly binde themselves to repay it againe Would any wise man in the world that thought he had but a colour of Right so much prejudice his himself as to borrow that which he might take without leave and binde himselfe to repay it If a poore man perhaps through feare might be enforced so farre to yeeld to a mighty adversary yet that a powerfull man should stoope so low to one much weaker than he nay that a King in a point of such consequence should so farre discend from his Greatnesse as to borrow of his poore Subject that which without being beholding to him he might obtein as his Right and binde himselfe to repay it againe I say it cannot with any reason be imagined but withall it must be concluded that a king that shall so doe doth not thinke that he hath so much as colour of Right to impose I will not much presse or enforce the actions of Ed. 2. who I confesse was but a weake Prince Edward the 3. But as for his Sonne and successor Ed. 3. there was not as I have said a stouter a wiser a more noble and couragious Prince than he and none more carefull to preserve the Rights of his Prerogative as may evidently appeare by all his answers in Parliament on any complaint of the Subject Besides never had king of this Realme more occasion than he to straine this Prerogative of imposing to the utmost For besides his excessive expence in the warres of France and Scotland he had also a continuall charge of many expensive children his wife Queene Philip had also for her maintenance a large allowance out of his Revenue but the dowry of Queen Isabell his mother who lived till about the 27. yeere of his Reigne was so great as it is reported by some writers that little more than the
this high authority of an Ordinance in Parliament the assent also of Merchants was usually joyned therewithall to make it have the cleerer passage with the Subject and further it was never but in the time of warre The first imposition of this kinde by way of Ordinance 7 Ed. 3. R 9. Orig. de Scac. which I finde amongst the Records was 7 E. 3. amongst the Originals of the Exchequer where it is said by way of recitall that the King considering how Merchants which make great gaine by trading ought aswell as others to assist him with treasure for his Warre especially considering how at their intreaty he had placed the staple in England Therefore at his Parliament held at Yorke by the Prelates Earls and Barons it was ordained that the Merchants should yeeld unto the King a Subsidie upon Merchandizes This Subsidie or rather Imposition thus solemnly ordained and in the times of so great necessity was no sooner established then revoked as may appeare by the words imediately following in the same Record whereupon the Merchants of their own accords yeelded and freely gave ten shillings upon a sack of Wooll as much upon three hundred Woolfels and twenty shillings upon last of Lether for a short time by way of Dispensation or Licence towards the maintenance of the Warre The like is found anno 20. E. 3. 20. Ed. 3. Nu. 18. Ro Parl. where the Commons complaining of an imposition of this kinde laid by the Prelates Earles and Barons in Parliament and by the agreement also of Merchants It was not denyed unto them but that their suit was just onely it was answered them that as yet it was not convenient to take it away For that the King had taken up great summes of money of divers Merchants for his present necessity to be repayed out of the said Subsidie and therefore it could not be as yet discharged without great damage to the King and the Merchants But the most materiall Record against Impositions by way of Ordinance is the yeere following where the King in excuse of impositions complained of answereth that they were laid in times of great necessity and by the assent of the Prelates Earles and Barons and other great men and some of the Commons then present neverthelesse his pleasure is that such impositions not duly laid be not drawn into consequence but taken away 21 E. 3. No. 17. There are some others of this kinde but never any that did abide the triall though they have allwayes been accompanied with all such circumstances as were most likely to give them passage without controllment as to be laid in the time of warre to be limited to a short time with consent of Merchants If the authoritie of an Ordinance in Parliament joyned with the assent of Merchants were in those dayes not of force sufficient to uphold Impositions much lesse will an Order of the King and his Counsell out of Parliament uphold them at this day especially after so many yeeres discontinuance Another invention to raise impositions Impositions raysed by way of Loane by Merchants practised by Ed. 3. and in former times was by way of a pretended or feined Loane from the Merchants of so much above the old custome upon Merchandise exported or imported which Loane was never repaid to the Merchant That this was an old practise may be collected by the president 12. of Ed. 2. already cited where the King promiseth that without fiction or delay he would repay them their money implying thereby that sometimes fiction had been used and doubtlesse that loane which was 11. Ed. 2. the very yeere before was such a fained Loane as I speake of for otherwise without question the King would not have released part of it as may appeare by that Record that he did For if the money be bona fide borrowed and truly intended to be repaid then doubtlesse the course is lawfull if otherwise I hold this kinde also as unlawfull as any of the rest Edward the Third did once or twice borrow in this kinde as may appeare by Records already cited to another purpose with which I will not againe trouble you There was yet another Device for raising of Impositions begun indeed by Ed. 1. and condemned in the time of Ed. 2. Impositions raised by grant of Merchants for Liberties granted to them but revived and much practised by Ed. 3. which was also by way of grant of Merchants and yet not altogether the same that I first observed to have been so much practised by Ed. 3. but is much more colourable and tollerable For whereas that was a grant or rather a meere guift without any thing granted back againe in lieu thereof this I now speake of is a solemne grant indeed made by Merchants of an increase of custome for liberties and freedoms and other valuable priviledges and exemptions granted unto them by the King that former was date nihil expectantes this is date dabitur vobis and indeed the recompence that the Merchants had by this Charter granted unto them made their grant to the King lesse subject to controll then otherwise without such recompence it would have been I mean the grant of Merchant strangers so often remembred amongst us by the name of Charta Mercatoria which though it were damned all the time of Ed. 2. from the third yeer of his reign yet was it revived by E. 3. Even that very yeer when he likewise deposed the King his father and usurped to himselfe his Crown For it appeares by the Records that he commanded the same to be levied the very first yeere of his Reigne 1. Ed. 3. Ro. Fin. What hath been said against this kind of Imposition I shall not need here againe to repeate only let me call to your remembrance how this Charter as needing a better prop then his owne strength and Validity in Law was in the same Kings Reigne confirmed by Parliament and onely by that strength continueth in force at this day You have heard five or sixe severall politique Inventions and Devises for the easie drawing on and sweetning of this yoak of Impositions all practised by this prudent and potent King Ed. 3. whose times were indeed so troublesom and his charge every way so excessive as it is no marvell that he left not any way unattempted to raise money without the assent of the Commons whom he always found unwillingly and hardly drawne to matters of charge One other way of Impositions he used Impositions laid by expresse and direct Commandment not coloured or masked under any such pretence or politick Invention as you have heard but plain and direct only his owne expresse commandment to his Officers to collect of every Merchant so much for such a commoditie exported or imported and to answere it into his Exchequer without any recitall in his Commissions of Grant Assent Guift Loane of Merchants Dispensation or Ordinance in Parliament or any other such colourable pretext whatsoever
King to sustein any publique charge except it be by their own consent in Parliament I proceed from Ed. 4. to Hen. 7. Hen. 7. omitting Ed. 5. and Ric. 3. because of the shortnes of their Reignes Hen. 7. H. 7. had a Subsidy of Tunnage and Poundage granted to him for his life as may appear by the Parl. Roll 1 H. 7. which appeares no where in our printed books had indeed a more peaceable time than any of his Predecessors and yet he was not altogether free from troubles both within the Realme and from abroad But his naturall inclination was rather to embrace Peace he was so provident and politique in the gathering and storing up of Treasure as never any Prince of this Realme was therein to be compared to him He did himselfe take the accounts of his Revenues which I have seen under his own hand He had for his Assistants about him Empson and Dudley men learned in the Lawes and by all probability very canning in all the profitable points of the Prerogative men that that intended or studied little else than the advancing of their Masters profit men even till this day infamous for their wicked counsell in perswading that good King to lay such heavy Exactions and Burdens upon his people as he did If these men who in all likelihood should have best knowne the Kings right especially in so high a point of profit had but had the least notice of so profitable a Prerogative as this would they not have been at strife which of them should first have put the king in minde thereof Or if they had held it questionable would they not have put it to some triall Certainly there can be no cause imagined that should make them thus to forbeare but either they were utterly ignorant of any such Prerogative or that knowing such a thing to be claimed by some of the ancient kings especially by Ed. 3. they knew likewise that it was in the same times continually complained of in Parliament and alwayes condemned and that there were acts of Parliament directly against it and this is more probably to bee conceived of them being men of such searching spirits and so well studied in point of Prerogative then that they were ignorant of the practise of Ed. 3. considering also that they were nerer to those times by 120 yeers then wee are But that which most of all moves me herein is that there was in H. 7. time such an occasion offered of making use of this Prerogative as there could not possibly happen any other that might better have justified the laying of Impositions which was this The Venetians to the intent to drive our Merchants from fetching sweet wines at Candy that they might the better imploy their owne ships and Merchants did impose upon every But of Malmesey brought thence by English Merchants foure Duccats by which means the English wholly lost that Trade and the Venetians made the whole profit thereof This mischiefe was no other way better to be remedied than by imposing the like or a greater charge upon Merchants of Candy bringing Malmsey into England that so they of Candy not being able to afford them better cheape than the English the English might still fetch them from Candy as they had wont to doe I say there could not possibly be a more justifiable occasion of laying Impositions than this was And did this king so carefull in other things of preserving his Prerogative and most of all in matters that concerned his profit take hold of this occasion to lay an Imposition by his absolute power Nay rather though he saw it convenient and in a manner necessary yet he conceived it to be unlawfull so to doe and therefore did it not by his absolute power but by assent of Parliament as may appeare by the Statute of 7 Hen. 7. cap. 7. printed where in the preamble of the Act you shall see the occasion of the making of the Act to be as I have opened it unto you and you may perceive by the body of the Act that for the counterpoysing of the imposition of foure Duccats laid by the Venetians upon our Merchants there was imposed 18s. for a But of Malmesey upon their Merchants bringing it hither to last as long as the imposition of foure Duccats which as appeares by the Act came but to 18s. of our mony should endure It is not probable that this king considering his other actions would have suffered this to have been done by Parliament if he had thought he might have lawfully done it by his absolute power And therfore it cannot almost be gaine-said that in these times this pretended Prerogative of laying Impositions without assent of Parliament was held to be against Law Hen. 8. his sonne and successor Hen. 8. was so farre from the disposition of his father in this point of thrift and providence Hen. 8. had a Subsidie of Tunnage and Poundage grāted to him for his life the first yeare of his Reign as appeares by the Parl. Roll. as there was not in the whol ranke of our kings any one like to him for excessive prodigality the great riches stored up by his father with so much care and left unto him hee so sodainly consumed in Triumphs Maskes Mummeries Banquets pompous and braving Warres as was that of Turwin and Turney and in the satsfying of his lust as he was out of very necessity enforced to crave most unreasonable aids of his Subjects in Parliament such as never before had been granted which through very dread and feare were yeelded to him yet not so satisfied that no meanes for the raysing of money might bee neglected or unattempted in the 15 yeere of his Reigne by the councell of that proud Prelate Cardinall Woolsey hee spared not to send out Commissions into every shire throughout the whole Realme with privy instructions to the Commissioners how they should with most advantage behave themselves in perswading the people to contribute to the king the sixt part of their whole estates to bee paid presently either in money or plate whereupon followed extreme cursing weeping and exclamation against the king and his councell and the people were in point to rebell had not the king stayed the proceedings of the commissioners by his Letters Finding that this way would not serve his turne hee demanded a benevolence which not answering his expectation hee did the same yeere raise unto himselfe a great deale of treasure by abasing his gold Such things as these Princes never put in practise but when all other meanes faile them and yet hee went many degrees beyond this For in the 27. yeer of his reigne he suppressed above 370 Religious houses the yeerly value of whose revenues I have read to be no lesse than 32000l. per annum in those dayes and that of their goods sold at very low prises he made above 100000l. in present money About 4. yeares after he dissolved all the Monasteries Abbeies Priories