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A HISTORY OF SURREY at this period the former had been nearly or quite suppressed. The iron masters had eluded the vexatious trammels of the Tudor legislation sometimes, but now in the unparliamentary period of Charles' govern- ment they were marked down as a source of money, commissioners being appointed to compound with them for breaches of the law on pain of Star Chamber proceedings. This was in 1636 and 1637.* Yet the county must have been fairly flourishing. In the assessment to ship money in 1636, while Kent and Berkshire and the counties in the south- east Midlands were assessed at between j and 6 a square mile, Surrey was assessed at between 6 and 5 on the same scale as Essex, Suffolk, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Leicestershire ; higher than Norfolk, Hampshire and Devonshire and many others ; more than twice as highly as Yorkshire, three times as highly as Lancashire and the three northern counties. Though the impost was unconstitutional there is no reason to suppose that it was not fairly assessed. Southwark raised the average of the Surrey assessment. It was naturally the most highly rated place in the county, 350 being required from it in 1636. Farnham parish stood at 94, Godalming at 90, Kingston at 88, Guildford at only 53." There must have been a genuine decay of trade for the county town to have sunk so far in rateable value ; Reigate at 60 and Dorking at 58 were both above it. Ship money was assessed on both real and personal property. It was trifling in amount on individuals, but was generally disliked and often resisted in inland shires as being unusual. The successive sheriffs of Surrey, Sir Anthony Vincent in 1637 an ^ Nicholas Stoughton in 1638, had difficulty in collecting it. 3 In the first instance none had refused to pay, 4 but a spirit of resistance grew up in Surrey as elsewhere. Stoughton wrote to the Council on May 7, 1638, that people refused payment and threatened the collectors with actions, and the distresses could not be executed. Cattle taken for distress at Blechingley were forcibly rescued. 6 In fact Nicholas Stoughton, a Puritan and friend to the Dutch, against whose naval insolences ship money was needed, mem- ber for Guildford in the Long Parliament and active opponent of the king, was not very anxious that ship money should be collected if he could get out of it decently. Most of it seems ultimately to have been paid. On January 28, 1638, only 300 was in arrear for the whole county, 54 in Southwark, 10 5J. zd. in Guildford, and small sums from individuals, such as I $s. from the Earl of Annandale. Another hardship had befallen Surrey which though not general to the whole kingdom had also affected many counties. In the straits to which Charles' government was driven for money in the time when Parliaments were suspended and direct taxation in the form of subsidies was out of the question, and forced loans were given up in accordance with the Petition of Right, the king had turned to a strict definition of 1 Rymer, Fcedera, xx. 68, 161. See Appendix, Ship Money Assessment. 8 Bruce's St. P. Dm. Ch. I. 1638. 4 Ibid. Ch. i. November 15, 1635. 8 Ibid. 1638, vol. cccxlviii. 402