emorials, (vol. ii. p. 456,
466, 469, 475, 476,) that that report was founded on a lie
of President Richardot's.

** Winwood and Jeanin, passim.

*** Journ. 17th Feb. 1609. Kennet, p. 681.

He insisted on the unavoidable expense incurred in supporting the navy,
and in suppressing a late insurrection in Ireland: he mentioned three
numerous courts which the king was obliged to maintain, for himself,
for the queen, and for the prince of Wales: he observed that Queen
Elizabeth, though a single woman, had received very large supplies in
the years preceding her death, which alone were expensive to her: and
he remarked, that during her reign she had alienated many of the crown
lands; an expedient which, though it supplied her present necessities,
without laying burdens on her people, extremely multiplied the
necessities of her successor. From all these causes he thought it nowise
strange that the king's income should fall short so great a sum as
eighty-one thousand pounds of his stated and regular expense; without
mentioning contingencies, which ought always to be esteemed a fourth of
the yearly charges. And as the crown was now necessarily burdened with
a great and urgent debt of three hundred thousand pounds, he thence
inferred the absolute necessity of an immediate and large supply from
the people. To all these reasons, which James likewise urged in a speech
addressed to both houses, the commons remained inexorable. But not to
shock the king with an absolute refusal, they granted him one subsidy
and one fifteenth; which would scarcely amount to a hundred thousand
pounds. And James received the mortification of discovering in vain
all his wants, and of begging aid of subjects who had no reasonable
indulgence or consideration for him.

Among the many causes of disgust and quarrel which now daily and
unavoidably multiplied between prince and parliament, this article of
money is to be regarded as none of the least considerable. After the
discovery and conquest of the West Indies, gold and silver became every
day more plentiful in England, as well as in the rest of Europe; and the
price of all commodities and provisions rose to a height beyond what had
been known since the declension of the Roman empire. As the revenue of
the crown rose not in proportion,[*] the prince was insensibly reduced
to poverty amidst the general riches of his subjects, and required
additional funds in order to support the same ma