CHAP. XX.

INCREASED PRICES.

103

last } r ear of his reign. In the reign of Mary herdemands were in some measure supplied from thetreasuresof her husband, Philip of Spain . Elizabeth,who placed confidence in enlightened ministers,w r as led to avoid the evil of debasing the coin,and in the latter years of her reign placed it ona proper footing, which has been continued eversince with slight variations. The rigid frugalityshe practised, her abstinence from wars, and thehigh tone of authority which she exhibited to herparliaments, preserved her from pressing on hersubjects, who from a feeling of loyal attachmentwere ever ready to satisfy her demands. Duringthese reigns the income derived by the crownfrom the lands had been very little increased,whilst all the expenses of living, whether laid outfor foreign or domestic commodities, had beenraised to at least four or five times as much as ahundred years earlier. It is then evident thatthe wealth as well as the power of the crown musthave diminished very considerably in the periodWe are reviewing.

It does not indeed seem improbable that thecontinued increase of expenditure, whilst a greatpart of the royal income was stationary, was oneof the causes which produced the civil wars in thereign of Charles I. , and at length cost the loss°f his life to that unfortunate monarch.

The condition of the proprietors of the soilnaturally attracts attention next to that of thesovereigns. Where the rent was paid in produce,