towards him. As for the conjunctions of Ferdinando of Spain and Maximilian, he could make no foundation upon them. For the one had power and not will; and the other had will and not power. Besides that Ferdinando had but newly taken breath from the war with the Moors; and merchanded at this time with France for the restoring of the counties of Russignon and Perpignian, oppignorated to the French. Neither was he out of fear of the discontents and ill blood within the realm; which having used always to repress and appease in person, he was loth they should find him at a distance beyond sea, and engaged in war. Finding therefore the inconveniencies and difficulties in the prosecution of a war, he cast with himself how to compass two things. The one, how by the declaration and inchoation of a war to make his profit. The other, how to come off from the war with saving of his honour. For profit, it was to be made two ways; upon his subjects for the war, and upon his enemies for the peace; like a good merchant that maketh his gain both upon the commodities exported and imported back again. For the point of honour, wherein he might suffer for giving over the war, he considered well, that as he could not trust upon the aids of Ferdinando and Maximilian for supports of war, so the impuissance of the one, and the double proceeding of the other, lay fair for him for occasions to accept of peace. These things he did wisely foresee, and did as artificially conduct, whereby all things fell into his lap as he desired.

For as for the Parliament, it presently took fire, being affectionate (of old) to the war of France, and desirous (afresh) to repair the dishonour they thought the King sustained by the loss of Brittaine. Therefore they advised the King (with great alacrity) to undertake the war of France. And although the Parliament consisted of the first and second nobility (together with principal citizens and townsmen)2, yet worthily and justly respecting more the people (whose deputies they were) than their own private persons; and finding, by the Lord Chancellor's

1 i. e. pretexts. Semper præsto habiturus esset ad pacem excusandam.

2 With reference to the question whether this was a Parliament or a Great Council, it may be worth while to compare with this description of it two independent descriptions of what was certainly a Great Council, in the year 1496. "In this yere (says an old city chronicler, Cott. Vitell. A. xvi. p. 161.) the 24th day of Octobre beganne a great counsaill holden at Westmynster by the Kyng and his lords spiritual and temporal, to the which counsaill come certeyn burgesses and merchants of all cities and good townes of England," &c. And in an original privy seal of Hen. VII. (Cott. Tit. B. v. p. 145.), the same council is described as "o' grete counseill of lords

3

speech', the King's inclination that way; they consented that commissioners should go forth for the gathering and levying of a Benevolence from the more able sort. This tax (called a Benevolence) was devised by Edward the Fourth, for which he sustained much envy. It was abolished by Richard the Third by act of Parliament, to ingratiate himself with the people; and it was now revived by the King; but with consent of Parliament 2; for so it was not in the time of King Edward the Fourth. But by this way he raised exceeding great sums. Insomuch as the city of London (in those days) contributed nine thousand pounds and better; and that chiefly levied upon the wealthier sort. There is a tradition of a dilemma that Bishop Morton (the Chancellor) used, to raise up the Benevolence to higher rates; and some called it his fork, and some his crotch. For he had couched an article in the instructions to the commissioners who were to levy the Benevolence, That if they met with any that were sparing, they should tell them that they must needs have, because they laid up; and if they were spenders, they must needs have, because it was seen in their port and manner of living; so neither kind came amiss.

This Parliament was merely a Parliament of war; for it was in substance but a declaration of war against France and Scotland, with some statutes conducing thereunto; as the severe

sprūell and tempēll, of juges, sīaunts in oa lawe and others som hede-wisemen of evỹ citie and good towne of this or lond." Bacon's description therefore applies to either.

This seems to be a slip of the memory; for though it was usual for the Lord Chancellor to speak after the King, the allusion is apparently to the last part of the King's own speech. The Latin translation has Quin et regis moniti memores, in hoc consenserunt, ut contributiv (quam benevolentiam appellabant) ab opulentioribus tantum exigeretur.

2 Hume observed (on a comparison of dates) that this was a mistake. I have already explained at length my own opinion as to the nature of the mistake and how it arose. If that explanation should be rejected, it may be accounted for another way. The commissions for the levying of the benevolence, though the great body of them bear date the 7th July, 1491, did not all bear that date. There is a commission given in Rymer, dated 6th December, 1491, which is in the same words precisely. Any one who had happened to meet with the last and not with any others would have set it down as fixing the date of the levy of the benevolence beyond all question. It may be observed that this benevolence received a kind of sanction from a subsequent Parliament; an act being passed in 1495 to enforce the payment of sums which had been promised. See p. 160.

3 i. e. even in those days; when money was so much scarcer. Etiam illa ætate. The declaration of war against Scotland, of which no mention is made in our modern histories, is contained in the preamble to the act (7 H. 7. c. 6.), by which all Scots, not made denizens, were ordered out of the kingdom within forty days. "The King," it says, 66 our Sovereign Lord, hath had to his great cost and charge many assemblies and communications with the King of Scots for amity truce and peace to be had and observed betwixt his Highness and his subjects on the one part, and the King of Scots and his subjects on the other part; but what accord or agreement soever be taken or concluded, such accord or agreement on the part of the said King

punishing of mort-pays and keeping back soldiers' wages in captains; the like severity for the departure of soldiers without licence; strengthening of the common law in favour of protections for those that were in the King's service 1; and the setting the gate open and wide, for men to sell or mortgage their lands without fines for alienation2, to furnish themselves with money for the war; and lastly the voiding of all Scotchmen out of England.

There was also a statute for the dispersing of the standard of the exchequer throughout England, thereby to size weights and measures 3; and two or three more of less importance.

After the Parliament was broken up (which lasted not long) the King went on with his preparations for the war of France;

of Scots is ever under the surest promise broken and not kept; for the which it is better to be with them at open war than under such a feigned peace: wherefore," &c. I suppose the measure may be regarded as one partly of precaution and partly of menace, the object being to induce the Scotch King to renew the truce, which for some reason or other he seems to have been reluctant to do. The truce between England and Scotland which had been confirmed at Westminster on the 24th of October, 1488 (See Rot. Scot. ii. p. 488.), expired on the 5th of October, 1491. For some time before, the two kings had been on terms of mutual distrust and secret hostility. Henry had been secretly encouraging some of James's disaffected subjects in a design to possess themselves of his person and deliver it into his hands; - a design however which was probably not to be executed till after the expiration of the truce upon failure of the negotiations for renewing it. James had been secretly negotiating with the Duchess of Burgundy and Perkin Warbeck, and is supposed (see Tytler, iv. p. 361.) to have made up his mind to break with England as soon as he durst. Which of the two had the justest ground of complaint it would not be easy to ascertain; but it is clear that neither of them could have felt secure that the other would not take against him the first advantage that offered; and it was necessary for Henry, on entering into a war with France, to make himself safe on the Scotch side. He was now well furnished with money and with troops, and well seconded by his people, and therefore in a good condition to treat. (It was partly with this view probably that he commenced his preparations for the French invasion so long before the time.) Commissioners had been appointed in April and again in June, both to settle complaints concerning breaches of the existing truce and to treat for the prolongation of it; but nothing seems to have been concluded. Immediately upon its expiration followed the declaration of war, which had better success: for new commissioners being presently sent by Henry (22nd of October) on the same errand, they were met by commissioners on the other side, and on the 21st of December following a new truce was agreed upon between them, which was to last for five years. Henry ratified it at once (9th of January, 1491-2); but James, it seems, demurred; and a truce for nine months only was in the end concluded. It was to commence on the 20th of February and last till the 20th November, 1492: and was ratified by James on the 18th of March. See Rymer.

17 H. 7. c. 1,2. Veluti circa severam animadversionem in capitaneos qui aut stipendia militum mortuorum vel absentium in rationes suas referrent, aut etiam stipendia militum detinerent. Severe etium sancitum est contra milites qui post delectum habitum sine licentia se substraherent Etiam protectiones quæ prius lege communi in usu erant pro iis qui militabant, statuto roboratæ sunt.

2 Thereby releasing them from the charges which were due to the crown in that ne aliquid inde pro eorum alienationibus regi solverent.

case:

3 7 H. 7. c. 3. Ut exemplar ponderum et mensurarum quod in scacchario regis ut authenticum repositum est, in universum regnum dispergeretur; et pondera atque mensura ubique ad eam normam examinarentur et reducerentur.

yet neglected not in the mean time the affairs of Maximilian, for the quieting of Flanders and restoring him to his authority amongst his subjects. For at that time the Lord of Ravenstein, being not only a subject rebelled but a servant revolted (and so much the more malicious and violent), by the aid of Bruges and Gaunt had taken the town and both the castles of Sluice (as we said before); and having by the commodity of the haven gotten together certain ships and barks, fell to a kind of piratical trade; robbing and spoiling and taking prisoners the ships and vessels of all nations that passed alongst that coast towards the mart of Antwerp, or into any part of Brabant, Zealand, or Friezeland; being ever well victualled from Picardy, besides the commodity of victuals from Sluice and the country adjacent, and the avails of his own prizes. The French assisted him still under-hand; and he likewise (as all men do that have been on both sides) thought himself not safe, except he depended upon a third person. There was a small town some two miles from Bruges towards the sea, called Dam; which was a fort and approach to Bruges, and had a relation also to Sluice. This town the King of the Romans had attempted often (not for any worth of the town in itself, but because it might choke Bruges, and cut it off from the sea); and ever failed. But therewith the Duke of Saxony came down into Flanders, taking upon him the person of an umpire, to compose things between Maximilian and his subjects; but being (indeed) fast and assured to Maximilian. Upon this pretext of neutrality and treaty, he repaired to Bruges, desiring of the states of Bruges to enter peaceably into their town, with a retinue of some number of men of arms fit for his estate, being somewhat the more (as he said) the better to guard him in a country that was up in arms; and bearing them in hand that he was to communicate with them of divers matters of great importance for their good; which having obtained of them, he sent his carriages and harbingers before him to provide his lodging; so that his men of war entered the city in good array, but in peaceable manner ', and he followed. They that went before inquired still for inns and lodgings, as if they would have rested there all night; and so went on till they came to the gate that leadeth directly towards Dam; and they

This clause is omitted in the translation.

1

:

of Bruges only gazed upon them, and gave them passage. The captains and inhabitants of Dam also suspected no harm from any that passed through Bruges; and discovering forces afar off, supposed they had been some succours that were come from their friends, knowing some dangers towards them and so perceiving nothing but well till it was too late, suffered them to enter their town. By which kind of slight, rather than stratagem, the town of Dam was taken, and the town of Bruges shrewdly blocked up, whereby they took great discouragement. The Duke of Saxony, having won the town of Dam, sent immediately to the King to let him know that it was Sluice chiefly and the Lord Ravenstein that kept the rebellion of Flanders in life; and that if it pleased the King to besiege it by sea, he also would besiege it by land, and so cut out the core of those wars. The King, willing to uphold the authority of Maximilian (the better to hold France in awe) 2, and being likewise sued unto by his merchants, for that the seas were much infested by the barks of the Lord Ravenstein, sent straightways Sir Edward Poynings 3, a valiant man and of good service, with twelve ships, well furnished with soldiers and artillery, to clear the seas, and to besiege Sluice on that part. The Englishmen did not only coop up the Lord Ravenstein, that he stirred not, and likewise hold in strait siege the maritime part of the town, but also assailed one of the castles, and renewed the assault so for twenty days' space (issuing still out of their ships at the ebb), as they made great slaughter of them of the castle, who continually fought with them to repulse them; though of the English part also were slain a brother of the Earl of Oxford's, and some fifty more. But the siege still continuing more and more strait; and both the castles (which were the principal strength of the town) being distressed, the one by the Duke of Saxony, and the other by the English; and a bridge of boats, which the Lord Ravenstein had made between both castles, whereby succours and relief might pass from the one to the other, being on a night set on fire by the English; he

ie to King Henry. The Latin has Henricum Regem.

Ut frano Galliæ esset. Maximilian's territory, lying along the north-eastern border of France, not only checked her encroachments on that side, but could be used to effect a diversion and so prevent her from concentrating her forces elsewhere: as we have seen in the case of Brittany in 1489.

3 This according to Rapin (whose dates however are not to be too much trusted) was in the middle of 1492.