Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/119

1545.] be carried through the Houses in less than a month; and, by general usage, five months were always allowed to elapse between the vote of a supply and the levy of the first payment. It was thought unjust, also, to press so soon for a second war tax on the body of the people; and at a moment when every nobleman and gentleman was exerting himself to the utmost in preparing his tenants for service in the ensuing summer, to bring many of them to London in the winter and the spring would distract them from their duties, and expose them to a needless expense. For these reasons the privy council decided that the meeting of Parliament should be postponed till the following autumn; and that, for immediate necessities, a benevolence should be levied exclusively from the opulent classes. Should the war continue, a subsidy might be asked for when it could be paid with less inconvenience. 'The