Bedford, or than that of the Cecils to Hatfield,
purchased from the Crown for less than a third of the real value by
the first Earl of Salisbury. The Long Parliament did not, even in that
celebrated instrument of nineteen articles, which was framed expressly
for the purpose of making the King a mere Doge, propose to restrain him
from dealing according to his pleasure with his parks and his castles,
his fisheries and his mines. After the Restoration, under the government
of an easy prince, who had indeed little disposition to give, but who
could not bear to refuse, many noble private fortunes were carved out of
the property of the Crown. Some of the persons who were thus enriched,
Albemarle, for example, Sandwich and Clarendon, might be thought to have
fairly earned their master's favour by their services. Others had
merely amused his leisure or pandered to his vices. His mistresses were
munificently rewarded. Estates sufficient to support the highest rank in
the peerage were distributed among his illegitimate children. That these
grants, however prodigal, were strictly legal, was tacitly admitted by
the Estates of the Realm, when, in 1689, they recounted and condemned
the unconstitutional acts of the kings of the House of Stuart. Neither
in the Declaration of Right nor in the Bill of Rights is there a word on
the subject. William, therefore, thought himself at liberty to give
away his hereditary domains as freely as his predecessors had given away
theirs. There was much murmuring at the profusion with which he rewarded
his Dutch favourites; and we have seen that, on one occasion in the year
1696, the House of Commons interfered for the purpose of restraining
his liberality. An address was presented requesting him not to grant to
Portland an extensive territory in North Wales. But it is to be observed
that, though in this address a strong opinion was expressed that the
grant would be mischievous, the Commons did not deny, and must therefore
be considered as having admitted, that it would be perfectly legal. The
King, however, yielded; and Portland was forced to content himself with
ten or twelve manors scattered over various counties from Cumberland to
Sussex.

It seems, therefore, clear that our princes were, by the law of the
land, competent to do what they would with their hereditary estates.
It is perfectly true that the law was defective, and that the profusion
with which mansions, abbeys, chaces, warrens, beds of o