These were all the severities which followed such furious civil wars and convulsions.
The next business was the settlement of the king's revenue.

In this work, the parliament had regard to public freedom, as well as to the support of the crown.

The tenures of wards and liveries had long been regarded as a grievous burden by the nobility and gentry: several attempts had been made during the reign of James to purchase this prerogative, together with that of purveyance: and two hundred thousand pounds a year had been offered that prince in lieu of them; wardships and purveyance had been utterly abolished by the republican parliament; and even in the present parliament before the king arrived in England, a bill had been introduced offering him a compensation for the emolument of these prerogatives.

A hundred thousand pounds a year was the sum agreed to; and half of the excise was settled in perpetuity upon the crown as the fund whence this revenue should be levied.

Though that impost yielded more profit, the bargain might be esteemed hard; and it was chiefly the necessity of the king's situation which induced him to consent to it.