CHAP. xx. INCREASED PRICES. 103 



last year of his reign. In the reign of Mary her 

 demands were in some measure supplied from the 

 treasures of her husband, Philip of Spain. Elizabeth, 

 who placed confidence in enlightened ministers, 

 was led to avoid the evil of debasing the coin, 

 and in the latter years of her reign placed it on 

 a proper footing, which has been continued ever 

 since with slight variations. The rigid frugality 

 she practised, her abstinence from wars, and the 

 high tone of authority which she exhibited to her 

 parliaments, preserved her from pressing on her 

 subjects, who from a feeling of loyal attachment 

 were ever ready to satisfy her demands. During 

 these reigns the income derived by the crown 

 from the lands had been very little increased, 

 whilst all the expenses of living, whether laid out 

 for foreign or domestic commodities, had been 

 raised to at least four or five times as much as a 

 hundred years earlier. It is then evident that 

 the wealth as well as the power of the crown must 

 have diminished very considerably in the period 

 we are reviewing. 



It does not indeed seem improbable that the 

 continued increase of expenditure, whilst a great 

 part of the royal income was stationary, was one 

 of the causes which produced the civil wars in the 

 reign of Charles L, and at length cost the loss 

 of his life to that unfortunate monarch. 



The condition of the proprietors of the soil 

 naturally attracts attention next to that of the 

 sovereigns. Where the rent was paid in produce, 



