LXII.

1660.

CHAP. period might at a medium amount to above two millions a-year; a sum which, though moderate, much exceeded the revenue of any former king.P Sequestrations, compositions, sale of crown and church lands, and of the lands of delinquents, yielded also considerable sums, but very difficult to be estimated. Church lands are said to have been sold for a million. None of these were ever valued at above ten or eleven years purchase. The estates of delinquents amounted to above 200,000 pounds a-year. Cromwel died more than two millions in debt; though the parliament had left him in the treasury above 500,000 pounds; and in stores, the value of 700,000 pounds."

THE Committee of danger in April 1648 voted to raise the army to 40,000 men." The same year, the pay of the army was estimated at 80,000 pounds a-month. The establishment of the army in 1652 was, in Scotland, 15,000 foot, 2580 horse, 560 dragoons; in England, 4700 foot, 2520 horse, garrisons 6154. In all, 31,519, besides officers. The army in Scotland was afterwards considerably reduced. The army in Ireland was not much short of 20,000 men; so that, upon the whole, the commonwealth maintained in 1652 a standing army of more than 50,000 men. Its pay amounted to a yearly sum of 1,047,715 pounds. Afterwards the protector reduced the establishment to 30,000 men, as appears by the Instrument of Government and Humble Petition and Advice. His frequent enterprises obliged him from time to time to augment them. Richard had on foot in England an army of 13,258 men, in Scotland 9506, in Ireland about 10,000

P It appears that the late king's revenue, from 1637 to the meeting of the long parliament, was only 900,000 pounds, of which 200,000 may be esteemed illegal.

Dr. Walker, p. 14.

Ibid. vol. ii. p. 414.

"World's Mistake in Oliver Crom

"Whitlocke, p. 298. nal, 2d December, 1652..

LXII.

1660.

10,000 men. The foot soldiers had commonly a CHA P. shilling a-day. The horse had two shillings and six-pence; so that many gentlemen and younger brothers of good family inlisted in the protector's cavalry. No wonder that such men were averse from the re-establisment of civil government, by which, they well knew, they must be deprived of so gainful a profession.

At the time of the battle of Worcester, the parliament had on foot about 80,000 men, partly militia, partly regular forces. The vigour of the commonwealth, and the great capacity of those members who had assumed the government, never at any time appeared so conspicuous.

THE whole revenue of the public, during the protectorship of Richard, was estimated at 1,868,717 pounds: His annual expences at 2,201,540 pounds. An additional revenue was demanded from parlia

ment.

THE Commerce and industry of England increased extremely during the peaceable period of Charles's reign: The trade to the East-Indies and to Guinea became considerable. The English possessed almost the sole trade with Spain. Twenty thousand cloths were annually sent to Turkey. Commerce met with interruption, no doubt, from the civil wars and convulsions which afterwards prevailed; though it soon recovered after the establishment of the commonwealth. The war with the Dutch, by distressing the commerce of so formidable a rival, served to encourage trade in England: The Spanish war was to an equal degree pernicious. All the effects of the English merchants, to an immense value, were confiscated in Spain. The prevalence of democratical principles engaged the country gentle

"Journal, 6th of April 1659. vol. ii. p. 414.

d Whitlocke, p. 477.

men

b Thurloe, vol. i. p. 395. Gumble's Life of Monk.

Journal, 7th April 1659.

'Strafford's Letters, vol. i. p. 421. 423. 430. 467.

LXII.

1660.

CHA P. men to bind their sons apprentices to merchants; and commerce has ever since been more honourable in England than in any other European kingdom. The exclusive companies, which formerly confined trade, were never expressly abolished by any ordinance of parliament during the commonwealth; but as men paid no regard to the prerogative whence the charters of these companies were derived, the monopoly was gradually invaded, and commerce increased by the increase of liberty. Interest in 1650 was reduced to six per cent.

THE Customs in England, before the civil wars, are said to have amounted to 500,000 pounds ayear:" A sum ten times greater than during the best period in queen Elizabeth's reign: But there is probably some exaggeration in this matter.

THE post-house in 1653 was farmed at 10,000 pounds a-year, which was deemed a considerable sum for the three kingdoms. Letters paid only about half their present postage.

FROM 1619 to 1638, there had been coined 6,900,042 pounds. From 1638 to 1657, the coinage amounted to 7,733,521 pounds. Dr. Davenant has told us from the registers of the mint, that between 1558 and 1659, there had been coined 19,332,476 pounds in gold and silver.

THE first mention of tea, coffee, and chocolate, is about 1660. Asparagus, artichoaks, cauliflower, and a variety of sallads, were about the same time introduced into England.'

THE Colony of New England increased by means of the puritans, who fled thither, in order to free themselves from the constraint which Laud and the church party had imposed upon them; and, before the commencement of the civil wars, it is supposed

LXII.

to have contained 25,000 souls. For a like rea- CHA P. son, the catholics, afterwards, who found themselves exposed to many hardships, and dreaded still worse treatment, went over to America in great numbers, and settled the colony of Maryland.

BEFORE the civil wars, learning and the fine arts were favoured at court, and a good taste began to prevail in the nation. The king loved pictures, sometimes handled the pencil himself, and was a good judge of the art. The pieces of foreign masters were bought up at a vast price; and the value of pictures doubled in Europe by the emulation between Charles and Philip IV. of Spain, who were touched with the same elegant passion. Vandyke was caressed and enriched at court. Inigo Jones was master of the king's buildings; though afterwards persecuted by the parliament, on account of the part which he had in rebuilding St. Paul's, and for obeying some orders of council, by which he was directed to pull down houses, in order to make room for that edifice. Laws, who had not been surpassed by any musician before him, was much beloved by the king, who called him the father of music. Charles was a good judge of writing, and was thought by some more anxious with regard to purity of style than became a monarch." Notwithstanding his narrow revenue, and his freedom from all vanity, he lived in such magnificence, that he possessed four and twenty palaces, all of them elegantly and completely furnished: insomuch that, when he removed from one to another, he was not obliged to transport any thing along with him.

CROMWEL, though himself a barbarian, was not insensible to literary merit. Usher, notwithstanding his being a bishop, received a pension from him. Marvel and Milton were in his service. Waller, who

1660.

British empire in America, vol. i. p. 372.

↑ Burnet.

CHAP. who was his relation, was caressed by him. That LXII. poet always said, that the protector himself was not 1660. so wholly illiterate as was commonly imagined. He gave a hundred pounds a-year to the divinity professor at Oxford; and an historian mentions this bounty as an instance of his love of literature." He intended to have erected a college at Durham for the benefit of the northern counties.

CIVIL wars, especially when founded on principles of liberty, are not commonly unfavourable to the arts of eloquence and composition; or rather, by presenting nobler and more interesting objects, they amply compensate that tranquillity of which they bereave the Muses. The speeches of the parliamentary orators during this period are of a strain much superior to what any former age had produced in England; and the force and compass of our tongue were then first put to trial. It must, however, he confessed, that the wretched fanaticism which so much infected the parliamentary party, was no less destructive of taste and science, than of all law and order. Gaiety and wit were proscribed: Human learning despised: Freedom of inquiry detested: Cant and hypocrisy alone encouraged. It was an article positively insisted on in the preliminaries to the treaty of Uxbridge, that all play-houses should for ever be abolished. Sir John Davenant, says Whitlocke," speaking of the year 1658, published an opera, notwithstanding the nicety of the times. All the king's furniture was put to sale: His pictures, disposed of at very low prices, enriched all the collections in Europe: The cartoons, when complete, were only appraised at 300 pounds, though the whole collection of the king's curiosities was sold at above 50,000.¶ Even the royal palaces were pulled in pieces,

and