446.

Bacon says that the benevolence was levied with consent of parliament, which is a mistake.
This violence (for such it really was) fell chiefly on the commercial part of the nation, who were possessed of the ready money.

London alone contributed to the amount of near ten thousand pounds.

Archbishop Morton, the chancellor, instructed the commissioners to employ a dilemma, in which every one might be comprehended: if the persons applied to lived frugally, they were told that their parsimony must necessarily have enriched them; if their method of living were splendid and hospitable, they were concluded to be opulent on account of their expenses.

This device was by some called Chancellor Morton's fork, by others his crutch.
So little apprehensive was the king of a parliament on account of his levying this arbitrary imposition, that he soon after summoned that assembly to meet at Westminster; and he even expected to enrich himself further by working on their passions and prejudices.