ll the foregoing,
would be governed by the Puritans; and therefore, to obviate their
enterprises, she renewed, at the beginning of the session, her usual
injunction, that the parliament should not on any account presume to
treat of matters ecclesiastical. Notwithstanding this strict inhibition,
the zeal of one Damport moved him to present a bill to the commons for
remedying spiritual grievances, and for restraining the tyranny of the
ecclesiastical commission, which were certainly great: but when Mr.
Secretary Woley reminded the house of her majesty's commands, no one
durst second the motion; the bill was not so much as read; and the
speaker returned it to Damport without taking the least notice of
it.[***] Some members of the house, notwithstanding the general
submission were even committed to custody on account of this
attempt.[****]

* See note CC, at the end of the volume.

** See note DD, at the end of the volume.

*** D'Ewes, p. 438.

**** Strype's Life of Whitgift, p. 280. Neal, vol. i. p.
500.

The imperious conduct of Elizabeth appeared still more clearly in
another parliamentary transaction. The right of purveyance was an
ancient prerogative, by which the officers of the crown could at
pleasure take provisions for the household from all the neighboring
counties, and could make use of the carts and carriages of the farmers;
and the price of these commodities and services was fixed and stated.
The payment of the money was often distant and uncertain; and the rates,
being fixed before the discovery of the West Indies, were much inferior
to the present market price; so that purveyance, besides the slavery
of it, was always regarded as a great burden, and being arbitrary and
casual, was liable to great abuses. We may fairly presume, that the
hungry courtiers of Elizabeth, supported by her unlimited power, would
be sure to render this prerogative very oppressive to the people; and
the commons had, last session, found it necessary to pass a bill for
regulating these exactions: but the bill was lost in the house of
peers.[*] The continuance of the abuses begat a new attempt for redress;
and the same bill was now revived, and again sent up to the house of
peers, together with a bill for some new regulations in the court of
exchequer. Soon after, the commons received a message from the upper
house, desiring them to appoint a committee for a conference. At this
conference, the peers inform