or,
and without the consent of the owner. By the same prerogative, carriages
and horses were impressed for the king's journeys, and lodgings provided
for his attendants. This was defended on a pretext of necessity, or at
least of great convenience to the sovereign, and was both of high
antiquity and universal practice throughout Europe. But the royal
purveyors had the utmost temptation, and doubtless no small store of
precedents, to stretch this power beyond its legal boundary; and not
only to fix their own price too low, but to seize what they wanted
without any payment at all, or with tallies which were carried in vain
to an empty exchequer.[363] This gave rise to a number of petitions from
the commons, upon which statutes were often framed; but the evil was
almost incurable in its nature, and never ceased till that prerogative
was itself abolished. Purveyance, as I have already said, may serve to
distinguish the defects from the abuses of our constitution. It was a
reproach to the law that men should be compelled to send their goods
without their consent; it was a reproach to the administration that they
were deprived of them without payment.

The right of purchasing men's goods for the use of the king was extended
by a sort of analogy to their labour. Thus Edward III. announces to all
sheriffs that William of Walsingham had a commission to collect as many
painters as might suffice for "our works in St. Stephen's chapel,
Westminster, to be at our wages as long as shall be necessary," and to
arrest and keep in prison all who should refuse or be refractory; and
enjoins them to lend their assistance.[364] Windsor Castle owes its
massive magnificence to labourers impressed from every part of the
kingdom. There is even a commission from Edward IV. to take as many
workmen in gold as were wanting, and employ them at the king's cost upon
the trappings of himself and his household.[365]

[Sidenote: Abuses of feudal rights.]

Another class of abuses intimately connected with unquestionable though
oppressive rights of the crown originated in the feudal tenure which
bound all the lands of the kingdom. The king had indisputably a right to
the wardship of his tenants in chivalry, and to the escheats or
forfeitures of persons dying without heirs or attainted for treason. But
his officers, under pretence of wardship, took possession of lands not
held immediately of the crown, claimed escheats where a right heir
existed, and seize