50 History of the 



"Wheretor wee will and desire, and nathless charge youe, and anie five of 

 youe, to call before you, as well our tenaunts nowe in being within ye seide 

 Forests, as other most ancient p'sons adjoining, as ye in your discretioun shall 

 think most convenient, and enquire which of ye seide tenaunts ought to pay 

 ye seide Duties, and what some ev'y one of ym, after ye old usuage and 

 custom ther, and thereupon to compel them, and evy of them to paye ye seide 

 some, and for default to distreyn them and thpr tenures, and for utter refusing 

 thereof to seaze on ther tenures imediately, and admyt such other persons 

 as will bee content to paye ye sd Duties." 



The foregoing is eminently characteristic of the grasping, lucre- 

 loving spirit of the king. Henry loved money for its own sake, 

 and never was known to let slip an opportunity of obtaining it. 

 "Indifferent enough to the rights of the people, he was always 

 ready to increase his hoarded riches by cunning extortion rather 

 than by parliamentary taxation." (?) Lord Bacon, the historian of 

 his reign, observes, that, " Of nature, assuredly, he coveted to 

 accumulate riches," and that " he did but traffic in the war with 

 Charles VIII. of France, to make his return in money." " Even 

 the king's clemency seems to have been influenced by the sordid 

 motive of selling pardons ; and it has been shown that he made a 

 profit of every office in his court, and received money for conferring 

 bishoprics." (/) 



At the same time, it is but fair to admit that he appears to have 

 been legally justified in enforcing the claim above set forth. Henry 

 possessed business talents and administrative powers of a high 

 order ; the exercise of which, though chiefly with a view to his own 

 increase in wealth, tended to the advancement of his Country. 

 He was accustomed to give his personal supervision to matters of 

 trade and commerce usually considered as beneath the immediate 

 notice of royalty. In an ancient Illumination in the Harleian 

 Collection in the British Museum, the king is depicted mace in 

 hand, in the Exchequer Chamber, superintending the proofs of the 

 standards for testing weights and measures. 



(j) Knight's History of England, vol. II. p. 211. 

 (_7) Hallam. Constitutional History, vol. i. p. 15. 



