common people,' for the current year 'should not be grieved;'[1] and no person should be called on to contribute unless with his own consent, or unless his circumstances notoriously justified a demand upon him.[2]
Fifty or sixty thousand pounds, it was calculated, might be raised in this way; and thus they might struggle on till May. Forty thousand more would then fall in from sales of Crown lands already effected; and the ordinary revenue might afterwards be sufficient for the summer campaign. The estimate of expenses (as usual in such cases) fell far short of the reality; but the alternative lay only between a bold bearing, at whatever cost, and a peace equivalent to a defeat. The bulk of the people had no cause to complain; and the gentlemen preferred the honour of their country to their personal convenience. The clergy, being unable to give active assistance, were expected to be the largest contributors. The Bishop of Bath—not, indeed, without some gentle pressing—yielded a thousand marks.[3]
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid. From a passage in the same minute it seems that the unfruitfulness of the King's last marriage was creating great anxiety. 'As to the matter of the succession,' he says, 'as it is undoubtedly a marvellous great matter, so we trust that God, which hath hitherto preserved his Majesty to his glory and honour, and to our comfort, will preserve him longer and send him time enough both to proceed for that and many other things which be to be looked upon.'
- ↑ MS. State Paper Office, Domestic, vol. xvi.
private commodities,' he says, 'we would rather desire a Parliament than none, for then we should pay nothing mora than the law appoint eth; whereas now, Upon prorogation of the Parliament, we shall pay that which the law will bind us unto, and also every of us will stretch himself besides to his power in benevolence.'—Paget's Minute: Haines, vol. i.
