NATIONAL TAXES 43 



From the national point of view, the 

 question may be considered first of all in 

 connection with the abandonment of certain 

 sources of revenue from land which formerly 

 appertained to the Crown. 



These revenues were of two kinds. In the 

 first place, there were the demesne lands of 

 the Crown, the manors which, in the ordinary 

 sense of the term, belonged to the King. 

 Originally this demesne land had been so 

 valuable that the King could " live of his 

 own," but successive kings granted away 

 large portions, and in spite of the protests 

 of the Commons, Elizabeth continued the 

 process, and by the time of the outbreak of 

 the Civil War under the Stuarts, the revenue 

 from the demesne was only worth ^"120,000. 

 Even this remainder was sold by the 

 Commonwealth. On the Restoration in 

 1660, suggestions were made for the re- 

 sumption of these lands, but they were met 



