TAXATION AND FINANCE. 157 



indeed to the whole community, on the plea that as the benefits 

 of the public defence were shared by all, the burden should be 

 borne by all. Of course the real reason why the levy was 

 extended was because, if it were successful, it would be four 

 times as productive as any sum which could be imposed on 

 the ports. It is supposed that the device was invented or 

 revised by Noy, and at first employed cautiously, with a view 

 to its subsequent extension from a real or mythical ship -geld 

 of the Anglo-Saxon kings. But I suspect that Noy had other 

 evidence, not indeed so recent or so cumulative as that which 

 suggested the writs of 1634, and perhaps not capable of such 

 obvious interpretation. 



In my earliest researches into prices, principally in bailiffs 1 

 accounts of land cultivated on behalf of the lord, I have occa- 

 sionally noticed charges which do not seem consistent with 

 parliamentary grants 1 or customary payments. Two of these 

 seem very like ship-money. Thus in 1296, the possessions of 

 Merton College at Basingstoke pay 6s. pro warda marts, and 

 in 1338 Letherhead pays 2s. for the ward of the sea at Shore- 

 ham. These are I conceive not customary imports, and 

 certainly not parliamentary grants, and I conceive they were 

 paid either in answer to a request from the king's officer, or to 

 a levy made by the king's authority. What I have noticed in 

 a few cases, might have been detected after a search by Noy, 

 especially when the records had been handled by antiquaries 

 of such eminence as Camden, Cotton, and Spelman. So again 

 I find that Gamlingay in 131 2 pays ^d. on every mark of income 

 pro utilitate regni, and again in 1321, Js. $\d. for the burial of 

 the dead in Scotland. These seem to be examples of excep- 

 tional levies imposed by the king's personal authority. 



The ship-money was calculated to produce, according to 

 Davenant, 206,980, or less than three subsidies. But it was 

 to be an annual charge, for beyond doubt, if it were proved 

 legal or were submitted to, Charles would have issued the 



1 Some of these are plainly grants of Parliaments the writs and rolls of which 

 have not survived. See vol. ti p. 560. 



