country. The people, not universally, but generally, were animated by a true spirit of sacrifice; by a true conviction that they were bound to think first of England, and only next of themselves; and unless we can bring ourselves to understand this, we shall never understand what England was under the reigns of the Plantagenets and Tudors. The expenses of the Court under Henry VII. were a little over 14,000l. a year, out of which were defrayed the whole cost of the King's establishment, the expenses of entertaining foreign ambassadors, the wages and maintenance of the yeomen of the guard, the retinues of servants, and all necessary outlay not incurred for public business. Under Henry VIII., of whose extravagance we have heard so much, and whose Court was the most magnificent in the world, these expenses were 19,894l. 16s. 3d.,[1] a small sum when compared with the present cost of the royal establishment, even if we adopt the relative estimate of twelve to one, and suppose it equal to 240,000l. a year of our money. But indeed it was not equal to 240,000l.; for, although the proportion held in articles of common consumption, articles of luxury were very dear indeed.[2]
- ↑ 22 Hen. VIII. cap. 18.
- ↑ Under Hen. VI. the household expenses were 23,000l. a year. Cf. Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, vol. vi. p. 35. The particulars of the expenses of the household of Hen. VIII. are in a MS. in the Rolls House. They cover the entire outlay except the personal expenditure of the King, and the sum total amounts to 14,365l. 10s. 7d. This would leave above 5000l. a year for the privy purse, not, perhaps, sufficient to cover Henry's gambling extravagances in his early life. Curious particulars of his excesses in this matter will be found in a publication wrongly called The Privy Purse Expenses of Henry the Eighth. It is a diary of general
