6 A ROYAL PURVEYANCE IN THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 



made to put a stop to the illegal practices carried on under the 

 name of purveyance, this does not appear in the list of grievances 

 complained of in the famous " Petition of Bights " a Bill which 

 has been called England's Second Great Charter. On the strength 

 of signing this document which enacted that no taxes should be 

 levied without the consent of Parliament, that no one should be 

 detained in prison without a trial, and that no soldiers should be 

 billeted in private houses, Charles received a generous grant from 

 the Commons. He soon, however, broke all his promises; and 

 when the Commons complained, he dissolved Parliament once more. 

 Nor does the fatal and ever-to-be remembered " Remonstrance " 

 which the Commons presented to the King, 1 December, 1641, 

 although consisting of no less than 206 articles, make any reference 

 to the subject of purveyance and compositions for the provision of 

 the King's household, but only that the people were vexed and 

 oppressed with purveyors and clerks of the nobility. Neither in 

 the nineteen propositions of peace, in June, 1642, was there any- 

 thing proposed for the taking away of the royal purveyance and 

 compositions, or in the treaties at Uxbridge and the Isle of Wight. 



Under the Commonwealth it fell into disuse. 



On the Restoration, letters were written to the counties of 

 Oxford, Berks, Wilts, and Hants (and probably to all other 

 counties), offering them the choice of allowing the King to take 

 his pre-emption and purveyance, or to pay the compositions. 

 These counties chose the latter, but the whole was soon after put 

 an end to by the Act, 12 Car. ii., c. 24, which amongst other 

 grievances abolished this heavy one. In lieu of this branch of the 

 prerogative the King received a certain amount payable on 

 excisable liquors. Probably in the earlier periods of our history 

 the existence of purveyance was almost necessary for the support 

 of the royal household, especially during the progresses which were 

 then so frequent. This seems almost a necessary inference for its 

 continuance in spite of so many attempts made to suppress it. 

 Even after its final abolition by the statute of Charles II., several 

 temporary statutes were passed, in that and the succeeding reign, 

 for its partial revival on the occasion of royal progresses. On 

 behalf of the navy and ordnance, a statute to that effect occurs so 

 late as 11 and 12 Will. iii. 



Thus have we taken some view of the rise, progress, and 

 extinction of a system which existed for ages, without producing 



