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according to the rates of their substance, as they were
assessed at the last subsidy, calling on no one whose lands
were of less value than 40s., or whose chatties were less
than £15. It was intimated that the least His Majesty could
reasonably expect would be twenty pence in the pound on
the yearly value of land, and half that sum on moveable
goods. The Commissioners were to use ''good words and
amiable behaviour" to induce men to contribute, and to
dismiss the obedient with thanks. But if any person should
withstand their gentle solicitations, alleging either poverty or
some other defence which the Commissioners should deem
unfit to be allowed, then, after failure of persuasions and
reproaches for ingratitude, they were to command his
attendance before the Privy Council, to whom they were
to certify his behaviour, enjoining him in silence meanwhile,
that his evil example might not corrupt the better disposed.*
The power which governed under the name of Edward
VI. acted upon no settled policy, and was guided by no
fixed principles. The public mind had not regained the
serenity essential to its energetic application to municipal
necessities. Still less were such necessities likely to be
studied during the retrogressive reign of Mary. It was not
until the accession of Elizabeth (1548) that excitement made
way for tranquility. Then it was that attention to local
affairs received a new impulse.
The Vestry, as a governing body, was not yet, however,
in the enjoyment of that recognised status which it soon
* Hallam, Constitutional History, 2nd Edition, Vol, I. p. 34. quotes from
Lodge p. 80, a curious illustration of the consequences that awaited the
refusal of this benevolence:—''One Richard Reed, an alderman of London,
had stood alone among his fellow citizens in refusing to contribute. It was
deemed expedient not to overlook this disobedience; and the course adopted
in pursuing it is somewhat remarkable. The English army was then in the
field on the Scotch border. Reed was sent down to serve as a soldier at his
own charge, and the General received intimations to employ him on the
hardest and most perilous duty, and to subject him, when in garrison to the
greatest privations, that he might feel the smart of his folly and sturdy disobedience.
The letter to the general concludes, 'finally you must use him in
all things according to the sharpe disciplyne militar of the northern wars.' It
is natural to presume that few would expose themselves to the treatment of
this unfortunate citizen, and that the Commissioners, if they did not always
find perfect readiness, had not to complain of many peremptory denials."