102 THE EFFECTS OF 



CHAP. XX. 



more than a balance to the misery they have oc- 

 casioned. 



Tliis is, however, a view which it becomes 

 necessary to turn aside from, and look at those 

 derangements which were occasioned among dif- 

 ferent classes by the great influx of the precious metals 

 in the first century after the discovery of America. 



The several monarchs who ruled in the dif- 

 ferent divisions of Europe were commonly the 

 largest proprietors of the land in their dominions, 

 and chiefly subsisted on their produce, which was 

 transferred to them partly in kind, partly in various 

 feudal services, and partly in money. The portion 

 paid in money was chiefly in the form of fines at 

 the renewal of leases, with small fixed annual rents, 

 which were in many cases almost nominal, or. 

 which became so when the value of money de- 

 clined. In England a pepper-corn rent was 

 common, but it originated at a time when that 

 spice was of more than five hundred times its 

 present value if exchanged for silver, and perhaps 

 five thousand times that value when exchanged for 

 corn or wool. 



In time of war our monarchs obtained money 

 from their subjects under various names and 

 pretexts, but in peace chiefly depended on their 

 lands, with some addition from the customs and 

 from the coinage. The latter was made available 

 by Henry VII. and Henry VIII. to an ex- 

 travagant extent, and by Edward VI. till the 



