112 A. D. 1552. 



•of cities and towns, allowances being made for towns fituated on very 

 public roads ; yet this matter is neverthelefs fUll very uncertain. 



III) None of the fiid taverns fhall retail wines to be fpent or drank 

 within their refped:ive houfes. 



IV) Merchants may ufe in their own houfes (but not to fell) fuch 

 wines as they fhall import ; alfo high-fheriffs, magiftrates of cities and 

 towns, and inhabitants of fortified towns, may keep velfels of wines for 

 their own confumption only. 



' Hitherto (fays Sir John Davies) it is manifeft, that fmce the lafl 

 ' transfretation of King Richard II into Ireland, the crown of England 

 ' never fent over either numbers of men, or qitantities of treafure, fuf- 

 ' ficient to defend the fmall territory of the Pale, much lefs to reduce 



* that which was loft, or to finifh the conqueft of the whole ifland.' He 

 then fhows,that in this reign the border was extended beyond the limits 

 of the Englifh pale, after breaking the O'Moors and O'Connors, and 

 building the forts of Leix and Offaly, rooting out thole two rebellious 

 fepts, apd planting Engliih colonies in their room, in the reign of Queen 

 Mary. 



That incomparable young prince, King Edward VI, died in July 1553, 

 having juft before his death endowed three of the great London holpi- 

 tals, viz. Chrift's, St. Thomas's, and Bridewell. 



The annual expenfe of his houfehold was, according to Strype [K ii, 



P- 454-] 



I ft year, £49,187. 

 2d year, 46,902. 

 3d year, 46,100. 



rWhy this year fo far exceeds the reft we know 



, „ J not, nor why other years differ fo much ; im- 



4 y ' » vSy • j i^fg jj be from the great debafing of his filver 



|_coins in every year of his reign but the laft. 

 5th year, 62,863. 

 6th year, 65,923. 



1553 In this year (fays Sir John Boroughs, keeper of the records in 



the tower of London, in his treatife of the fovereignty of the Britifh 

 feas, written in 1633, and publifhed in 1651, />. 80.) ' Philip II king of 

 ' Spain obtained licence for his fubjeds to fifh upon the north coaft of 



* Ireland for the term of twenty-one years, paying yearly for the fame 



* Liooo ; which was accordingly brought into the exchequer of Ireland, 

 ' and received by Sir Henry Fitton, being then treaiurer there, as his 

 ' fon Sir Edward Fitton haih often teftified.' 



Under the preceding year, we have related the grounds upon which 

 King Edward's council abrogated the great privileges and immunities 

 which the Hanfeatic Steelyard Ibciety in London had enjoyed ever fince 

 the reign of King Henry III. ' Whereupon,' according to Rapin, ' the 



