The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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him all the wit and malice of
that party was overthrown."
This passage is taken from a memoir of Henry Earl of
Peterborough, in a volume entitled "Succinct Genealogies, by
Robert Halstead," fol. 1685. The name of Halstead is fictitious.
The real authors were the Earl of Peterborough himself and his
chaplain. The book is extremely rare. Only twenty-four copies
were printed, two of which are now in the British Museum. Of
these two one belonged to George the Fourth, and the other to Mr.
Grenville.
23 This is mentioned in the curious work entitled "Ragguaglio
della solenne Comparsa fatta in Roma gli otto di Gennaio, 1687,
dall' illustrissimo et eccellentissimo signor Conte di
Castlemaine."
24 North's Examen, 69.
25 Lord Preston, who was envoy at Paris, wrote thence to
Halifax as follows: "I find that your Lordship lies still under
the same misfortune of being no favourite to this court; and
Monsieur Barillon dare not do you the honor to shine upon you,
since his master frowneth. They know very well your lordship's
qualifications which make them fear and consequently hate you;
and be assured, my lord, if all their strength can send you to
Rufford, it shall be employed for that end. Two things, I hear,
they particularly object against you, your secrecy, and your
being incapable of being corrupted. Against these two things I
know they have declared." The date of the letter is October 5, N.
S. 1683
26 During the interval which has elapsed since this chapter was
written, England has continued to advance rapidly in material
prosperity, I have left my text nearly as it originally stood;
but I have added a few notes which may enable the reader to form
some notion of the progress which has been made during the last
nine years; and, in general, I would desire him to remember that
there is scarcely a district which is not more populous, or a
source of wealth which is not more productive, at present than in
1848. (1857.)
27 Observations on the Bills of Mortality, by Captain John
Graunt (Sir William Petty), chap. xi.
28 "She doth comprehend
Full fifteen hundred thousand which do spend
Their days within.''
Great Britain's Beauty, 1671.
29 Isaac Vossius, De Magnitudine Urbium Sinarum, 1685. Vossius,
as we learn from Saint Evremond, talked on this subject oftener
and longer than fashionable circles cared to listen.
30 King's Natural and Political Observations, 1696 This
valuable treatise, which ought to be read as the author wrote it,
and not as garbled by Davenant, will be found in some editions of
Chalmers's Estimate.
31 Dalrymple's Appendix to Part II. Book I, The practice of
reckoning the population by sects was long fashionable. Gulliver
says of the King of Brobdignag; "He laughed at my odd arithmetic,
as he was pleased to call it, in reckoning the numbers of our
people by a computation drawn from the several sects among us in
religion and politics."
32 Preface to the Population Returns of 1831.
33 Statutes 14 Car. II. c. 22.; 18 & 19 Car. II. c. 3., 29 & 30
Car. II. c. 2.
34 Nicholson and Bourne, Discourse on the Ancient State of the
Border, 1777.
35 Gray's Journal of a Tour in the Lakes, Oct. 3, 1769.
36 North's Life of Guildford; Hutchinson's History of
Cumberland, Parish of Brampton.
37 See Sir Walter Scott's Journal, Oct. 7, 1827, in his Life by
Mr. Lockhart.
38 Dalrymple, Appendix to Part II. Book I. The returns of the
hearth money lead to nearly the same conclusion. The hearths in
the province of York were not a sixth of the hearths of England.
39 I do not, of course, pretend to strict accuracy here; but I
believe that whoever will take the trouble to compare the last
returns of hearth money in the reign of William the Third with
the census of 1841, will come to a conclusion not very different
from mine.
40 There are in the Pepysian Library some ballads of that age
on the chimney money. I will give a specimen or two:
"The good old dames whenever they the chimney man espied,
Unto their nooks they haste away, their pots and pipkins hide.
There is not one old dame in ten, and search the nation through,
But, if you talk of chimney men, will spare a curse or two."
Again:
"Like plundering soldiers they'd enter the door,
And make a distress on the goods of the poor.
While frighted poor children distractedly cried;
This nothing abated their insolent pride."
In the British Museum there are doggrel verses composed on the
same subject and in the same spirit:
"Or, if through poverty it be not paid
For cruelty to tear away the single bed,
On which the poor man rests his weary head,
At once deprives him of his rest and bread."
I take this opportunity the first which occurs, of acknowledging
most grateful the kind and liberal manner in which the Master and
Vicemaster of Magdalei College, Cambridge, gave me access to the
valuable collections of Pepys.
41 My chief authorities for this financial statement will be
found in the Commons' Journal, March 1, and March 20, 1688-9.
42 See, for example, the picture of the mound at Marlborough,
in Stukeley's Dinerarium Curiosum.
43 Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684.
44 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 3; 15 Car. II. c. 4. Chamberlayne's
State of England, 1684.
45 Dryden, in his Cymon and Iphigenia, expressed, with his
usual keenness and energy, the sentiments which had been
fashionable among the sycophants of James the Second:-
"The country rings around with loud alarms,
And raw in fields the rude militia swarms;
Mouths without hands, maintained at vast expense,
Stout once a month they march, a blustering band,
And ever, but in time of need at hand.
This was the morn when, issuing on the guard,
Drawn up in rank and file, they stood prepared
Of seeming arms to make a short essay.
Then hasten to be drunk, the business of the day."
46 Most of the materials which I have used for this account of
the regular army will be found in the Historical Records of
Regiments, published by command of King William the Fourth, and
under the direction of the Adjutant General. See also
Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684; Abridgment of the English
Military Discipline, printed by especial command, 1688; Exercise
of Foot, by their Majesties' command, 1690.
47 I refer to a despatch of Bonrepaux to Seignelay, dated Feb.
8/18.1686. It was transcribed for Mr. Fox from the French
archives, during the peace of Amiens, and, with the other
materials brought together by that great man, was entrusted to me
by the kindness of the late Lady Holland, and of the present Lord
Holland. I ought to add that, even in the midst of the troubles
which have lately agitated Paris, I found no difficulty in
obtaining, from the liberality of the functionaries there,
extracts supplying some chasms in Mr. Fox's collection. (1848.)
48 My information respecting the condition of the navy, at this
time, is chiefly derived from Pepys. His report, presented to
Charles the Second in May, 1684, has never, I believe, been
printed. The manuscript is at Magdalene College Cambridge. At
Magdalene College is also a valuable manuscript containing a
detailed account of the maritime establishments of the country in
December 1684. Pepys's "Memoirs relating to the State of the
Royal Navy for Ten Years determined December, 1688," and his
diary and correspondence during his mission to Tangier, are in
print. I have made large use of them. See also Sheffield's
Memoirs, Teonge's Diary, Aubrey's Life of Monk, the Life of Sir
Cloudesley Shovel, 1708, Commons' Journals, March 1 and March 20.
1688-9.
49 Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684; Commons' Journals,
March 1, and March 20, 1688-9. In 1833, it was determined, after
full enquiry, that a hundred and seventy thousand barrels of
gunpowder should constantly be kept in store.
50 It appears from the records of the Admiralty, that Flag
officers were allowed half pay in 1668, Captains of first and
second rates not till 1674.
51 Warrant in the War Office Records; dated March 26, 1678.
52 Evelyn's Diary. Jan. 27, 1682. I have seen a privy seal,
dated May 17. 1683, which confirms Evelyn's testimony.
53 James the Second sent Envoys to Spain, Sweden, and Denmark;
yet in his reign the diplomatic expenditure was little more than
30,000Β£. a year. See the Commons' Journals, March 20, 1688-9.
Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684.
54 Carte's Life of Ormond.
55 Pepys's Diary, Feb. 14, 1668-9.
56 See the Report of the Bath and Montague case, which was
decided by Lord Keeper Somers, in December, 1693.
57 During three quarters of a year, beginning from Christmas,
1689, the revenues of the see of Canterbury were received by an
officer appointed by the crown. That officer's accounts are now
in the British Museum. (Lansdowne MSS. 885.) The gross revenue
for the three quarters was not quite four thousand pounds; and
the difference between the gross and the net revenue was
evidently something considerable.
58 King's Natural and Political Conclusions. Davenant on the
Balance of Trade. Sir W. Temple says, "The revenues of a House of
Commons have seldom exceeded four hundred thousand pounds."
Memoirs, Third Part.
59 Langton's Conversations with Chief Justice Hale, 1672.
60 Commons' Journals, April 27,1689; Chamberlayne's State of
England, 1684.
61 See the Travels of the Grand Duke Cosmo.
62 King's Natural and Political Conclusions. Davenant on the
Balance of Trade.
63 See the Itinerarium Angliae, 1675, by John Ogilby,
Cosmographer Royal. He describes great part of the land as wood,
fen, heath on both sides, marsh on both sides. In some of his
maps the roads through enclosed country are marked by lines, and
the roads through unenclosed country by dots. The proportion of
unenclosed country, which, if cultivated, must have been
wretchedly cultivated, seems to
that party was overthrown."
This passage is taken from a memoir of Henry Earl of
Peterborough, in a volume entitled "Succinct Genealogies, by
Robert Halstead," fol. 1685. The name of Halstead is fictitious.
The real authors were the Earl of Peterborough himself and his
chaplain. The book is extremely rare. Only twenty-four copies
were printed, two of which are now in the British Museum. Of
these two one belonged to George the Fourth, and the other to Mr.
Grenville.
23 This is mentioned in the curious work entitled "Ragguaglio
della solenne Comparsa fatta in Roma gli otto di Gennaio, 1687,
dall' illustrissimo et eccellentissimo signor Conte di
Castlemaine."
24 North's Examen, 69.
25 Lord Preston, who was envoy at Paris, wrote thence to
Halifax as follows: "I find that your Lordship lies still under
the same misfortune of being no favourite to this court; and
Monsieur Barillon dare not do you the honor to shine upon you,
since his master frowneth. They know very well your lordship's
qualifications which make them fear and consequently hate you;
and be assured, my lord, if all their strength can send you to
Rufford, it shall be employed for that end. Two things, I hear,
they particularly object against you, your secrecy, and your
being incapable of being corrupted. Against these two things I
know they have declared." The date of the letter is October 5, N.
S. 1683
26 During the interval which has elapsed since this chapter was
written, England has continued to advance rapidly in material
prosperity, I have left my text nearly as it originally stood;
but I have added a few notes which may enable the reader to form
some notion of the progress which has been made during the last
nine years; and, in general, I would desire him to remember that
there is scarcely a district which is not more populous, or a
source of wealth which is not more productive, at present than in
1848. (1857.)
27 Observations on the Bills of Mortality, by Captain John
Graunt (Sir William Petty), chap. xi.
28 "She doth comprehend
Full fifteen hundred thousand which do spend
Their days within.''
Great Britain's Beauty, 1671.
29 Isaac Vossius, De Magnitudine Urbium Sinarum, 1685. Vossius,
as we learn from Saint Evremond, talked on this subject oftener
and longer than fashionable circles cared to listen.
30 King's Natural and Political Observations, 1696 This
valuable treatise, which ought to be read as the author wrote it,
and not as garbled by Davenant, will be found in some editions of
Chalmers's Estimate.
31 Dalrymple's Appendix to Part II. Book I, The practice of
reckoning the population by sects was long fashionable. Gulliver
says of the King of Brobdignag; "He laughed at my odd arithmetic,
as he was pleased to call it, in reckoning the numbers of our
people by a computation drawn from the several sects among us in
religion and politics."
32 Preface to the Population Returns of 1831.
33 Statutes 14 Car. II. c. 22.; 18 & 19 Car. II. c. 3., 29 & 30
Car. II. c. 2.
34 Nicholson and Bourne, Discourse on the Ancient State of the
Border, 1777.
35 Gray's Journal of a Tour in the Lakes, Oct. 3, 1769.
36 North's Life of Guildford; Hutchinson's History of
Cumberland, Parish of Brampton.
37 See Sir Walter Scott's Journal, Oct. 7, 1827, in his Life by
Mr. Lockhart.
38 Dalrymple, Appendix to Part II. Book I. The returns of the
hearth money lead to nearly the same conclusion. The hearths in
the province of York were not a sixth of the hearths of England.
39 I do not, of course, pretend to strict accuracy here; but I
believe that whoever will take the trouble to compare the last
returns of hearth money in the reign of William the Third with
the census of 1841, will come to a conclusion not very different
from mine.
40 There are in the Pepysian Library some ballads of that age
on the chimney money. I will give a specimen or two:
"The good old dames whenever they the chimney man espied,
Unto their nooks they haste away, their pots and pipkins hide.
There is not one old dame in ten, and search the nation through,
But, if you talk of chimney men, will spare a curse or two."
Again:
"Like plundering soldiers they'd enter the door,
And make a distress on the goods of the poor.
While frighted poor children distractedly cried;
This nothing abated their insolent pride."
In the British Museum there are doggrel verses composed on the
same subject and in the same spirit:
"Or, if through poverty it be not paid
For cruelty to tear away the single bed,
On which the poor man rests his weary head,
At once deprives him of his rest and bread."
I take this opportunity the first which occurs, of acknowledging
most grateful the kind and liberal manner in which the Master and
Vicemaster of Magdalei College, Cambridge, gave me access to the
valuable collections of Pepys.
41 My chief authorities for this financial statement will be
found in the Commons' Journal, March 1, and March 20, 1688-9.
42 See, for example, the picture of the mound at Marlborough,
in Stukeley's Dinerarium Curiosum.
43 Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684.
44 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 3; 15 Car. II. c. 4. Chamberlayne's
State of England, 1684.
45 Dryden, in his Cymon and Iphigenia, expressed, with his
usual keenness and energy, the sentiments which had been
fashionable among the sycophants of James the Second:-
"The country rings around with loud alarms,
And raw in fields the rude militia swarms;
Mouths without hands, maintained at vast expense,
Stout once a month they march, a blustering band,
And ever, but in time of need at hand.
This was the morn when, issuing on the guard,
Drawn up in rank and file, they stood prepared
Of seeming arms to make a short essay.
Then hasten to be drunk, the business of the day."
46 Most of the materials which I have used for this account of
the regular army will be found in the Historical Records of
Regiments, published by command of King William the Fourth, and
under the direction of the Adjutant General. See also
Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684; Abridgment of the English
Military Discipline, printed by especial command, 1688; Exercise
of Foot, by their Majesties' command, 1690.
47 I refer to a despatch of Bonrepaux to Seignelay, dated Feb.
8/18.1686. It was transcribed for Mr. Fox from the French
archives, during the peace of Amiens, and, with the other
materials brought together by that great man, was entrusted to me
by the kindness of the late Lady Holland, and of the present Lord
Holland. I ought to add that, even in the midst of the troubles
which have lately agitated Paris, I found no difficulty in
obtaining, from the liberality of the functionaries there,
extracts supplying some chasms in Mr. Fox's collection. (1848.)
48 My information respecting the condition of the navy, at this
time, is chiefly derived from Pepys. His report, presented to
Charles the Second in May, 1684, has never, I believe, been
printed. The manuscript is at Magdalene College Cambridge. At
Magdalene College is also a valuable manuscript containing a
detailed account of the maritime establishments of the country in
December 1684. Pepys's "Memoirs relating to the State of the
Royal Navy for Ten Years determined December, 1688," and his
diary and correspondence during his mission to Tangier, are in
print. I have made large use of them. See also Sheffield's
Memoirs, Teonge's Diary, Aubrey's Life of Monk, the Life of Sir
Cloudesley Shovel, 1708, Commons' Journals, March 1 and March 20.
1688-9.
49 Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684; Commons' Journals,
March 1, and March 20, 1688-9. In 1833, it was determined, after
full enquiry, that a hundred and seventy thousand barrels of
gunpowder should constantly be kept in store.
50 It appears from the records of the Admiralty, that Flag
officers were allowed half pay in 1668, Captains of first and
second rates not till 1674.
51 Warrant in the War Office Records; dated March 26, 1678.
52 Evelyn's Diary. Jan. 27, 1682. I have seen a privy seal,
dated May 17. 1683, which confirms Evelyn's testimony.
53 James the Second sent Envoys to Spain, Sweden, and Denmark;
yet in his reign the diplomatic expenditure was little more than
30,000Β£. a year. See the Commons' Journals, March 20, 1688-9.
Chamberlayne's State of England, 1684.
54 Carte's Life of Ormond.
55 Pepys's Diary, Feb. 14, 1668-9.
56 See the Report of the Bath and Montague case, which was
decided by Lord Keeper Somers, in December, 1693.
57 During three quarters of a year, beginning from Christmas,
1689, the revenues of the see of Canterbury were received by an
officer appointed by the crown. That officer's accounts are now
in the British Museum. (Lansdowne MSS. 885.) The gross revenue
for the three quarters was not quite four thousand pounds; and
the difference between the gross and the net revenue was
evidently something considerable.
58 King's Natural and Political Conclusions. Davenant on the
Balance of Trade. Sir W. Temple says, "The revenues of a House of
Commons have seldom exceeded four hundred thousand pounds."
Memoirs, Third Part.
59 Langton's Conversations with Chief Justice Hale, 1672.
60 Commons' Journals, April 27,1689; Chamberlayne's State of
England, 1684.
61 See the Travels of the Grand Duke Cosmo.
62 King's Natural and Political Conclusions. Davenant on the
Balance of Trade.
63 See the Itinerarium Angliae, 1675, by John Ogilby,
Cosmographer Royal. He describes great part of the land as wood,
fen, heath on both sides, marsh on both sides. In some of his
maps the roads through enclosed country are marked by lines, and
the roads through unenclosed country by dots. The proportion of
unenclosed country, which, if cultivated, must have been
wretchedly cultivated, seems to
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