2io iHISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

chap. four hundred forty-three thousand four hundredlxxi. and seven pounds; which, divided by twenty-

i6s$. four, the number of years which that king reign-

ed , make four hundred seventy-bx thousandeight hundred and eight pounds a-year. Duringthat time, he had two violent wars to sustainwith the Dutch ; and in 1678, he made expensivepreparations for a war with France. In the firstDutch war , both France and Denmark wereallies to the United Provinces, and the navalarmaments in England were very great; so thatit is impossible he could have secreted any part,at least any considerable part, of the sums, whichwere then voted him by parliament.

To these sums we must add about one milliontwo hundred thousand pounds , which had beendetained from the bankers on shutting up theExchequer in 1672. The king paid six percent for this money during the rest of his reign ",It is remarkable , that , notwithstanding thisviolent breach of faith, the king, two yearsafter, borrowed money at eight per cent; thefame rate of interest which he had paid beforethat event A proof, that public credit, insteadof being of so delicate a nature, as we are aptto imagine, is, in reality, so hardy and robust,that it is very difficult to destroy it.

The revenue of James was raised by the parlia-ment to about one million eight hundred and fiftythousand pounds " ; and his income as duke of

’* Danby’s Memoirs, p. 7. ,s Id. p. 6;.

" Journ. if: of March, 1 68y.