Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/452

 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE the justices, these letters when read in a public assembly were received with dead silence.^" Nevertheless some money was raised, for on 1 3 July they informed the council that they had increased their contributions to ^^584 1 5J-. d. This they pointed out was a great sum for so small a county, considering that money was scarce and that Hereford and Leominster contributed apart.'^° On i July the mayor of Hereford had forwarded In the autumn of 1626 the expedient of a benevolence was replaced by that of a forced loan. Originally the loan was confined to the five counties nearest London, but it was afterwards extended to other parts of England. On II January, 1626-7, ^^e earl of Northampton, president of the Council in the Marches of Wales, informed the Privy Council that his delay in sending certificates for the loan had been occasioned by the backwardness of the country. In particular the counties of Gloucester and Hereford had made no response.^^^ But before he wrote this letter the deputy lieutenants of Herefordshire had penned a reply in which they claimed exemption on the plea that the king's instructions concerning the loan only applied to the counties in Wales.^ Subsequently, on 17 February, Northampton was able to inform the council that all the commissioners appointed in Herefordshire to enforce the loan had subscribed and paid.'** On 20 March the com- missioners for Hereford city informed the council that they had found none refractory or backward in regard to the loan.'** In August the commissioners for the county were also able to make a fairly satisfactory report.'** Two other forms of financial exaction caused much discontent in the county during the next reign. These were the exaction of coat and conduct money and the levying of ship money. The exaction of coat and conduct money was the earlier in point of time. It had been customary in Tudor reigns. On 14 January, 1589, the lords of the Privy Council directed the lord lieutenant of Herefordshire to furnish coats for soldiers, to be levied within his lieutenancy in December, for the expedition to the Spanish Peninsula under Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake.'*'' There was, however, an understanding that repayment would be made by the crown ; and in some cases at any rate repayment was actually made. Thus on i April, 1599, the Privy Council wrote to the treasurer. Lord Buckhurst, directing him to pay £T, 6s. 8^. for the coat and conduct money of two hundred men levied in Herefordshire.'*^ In 1628 the demand met with resistance, and the persons refusing payment were ' sent for ' to the Privy Council.'*^ The greatest discontent, however, was occasioned by the imposition of ship money. Noy's conception of making this local contribution general throughout England was first carried out in 1635. By a writ dated 4 August Herefordshire was assessed at jr4,ooo. The sheriff of the county, William Scudamore, was responsible for the levy of the whole, except the sum of £210, the amount at which the city of Hereford was assessed, and for which the mayor was responsible, and of ^'50 for the borough of Leominster, which '*" S.P. Dom. Jas. I, cxxx, 34. =^° Ibid, cxxxii, 40. ^" Ibid, cxxxii, 2. ^' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, xviii, 33. '^' Ibid, xviii, 72, I. Both this document and the last have been bound and calendared a year too early ''■■ Ibid, liv, 28. "' Ibid. Ivii, 74 ; but cf. Ixxiii, 30. ''« Ibid. Ixxiii, 17. 5" Jets ofP.C. xvii, 24-5. ''^ Ibid, xxix, 689-90. ''' S.P. Dom. Chas. I, cxxvi, 15. 382