The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy

led people to hoard their gold and silver, so that not onlywas none forthcoming to meet the demands of the government,but- capital, which ought to have been employedproductively, was withdrawn from circulation, thus causingfor the time a general diminution of the resources of thecountry. As soon as the accession of Henry V had show11that the dyilasty was firmly established, abundant suppliesDisturb- were at once at his comnlandl. Another cause was theance ofcommerce. disturbance of commerce, and consequent decline of thecustonls which followed the accession of Henry IV, owingpartly to the unsettled state of the relations betweenEngland and France" But the comn~ons could not be gotto believe in the poverty of the Government, and Henrydid not dare to press for heavier taxation, for fear ofincreasing the already dangerous amount of discontent.Theun- In this way passed what the chronicler Hall has justlyquiet t~nleof~enry called ' the unquiet time of King Henry the Fourth.'1 ~ . Harassed as he was by enemies foreign and domestic,deserted by many of the Lords, worried by the Commons,con~cious that he had lost the love of his people, jealousand doubtful of his heir ; with a divided court and brokenhealth, which his enemies regarded as a judgement uponhim, we can hardly refuse him our sympathy, althoughwre may be of opinion that many of his troubles were selfcaused.The interest which he is said to have taken inthe solving of casuistical questions3, shows the morbidlines on which his burdened conscience was wearily working.There is psychological if not historical truth in thestory that he expired with the sigh that God alone knewby what right he had obtained the crown4. It was ahrious choice that he should wish to be buried so nearthe man whose son he had discrowned, if not done todeath.' S. C. H. iii. 87. S. C. H. iii. 65, note I.On this, and on the general S Capgrave, Ill. Henr. pp. xxxiii,decline of England's maritime 109.power during the reigns of Henry * Monstrelet, ii. f. 164a, citedIV and Henry VI, see notes to by Sharon Turner.chaps. \i. xrii. below, and cf.The accession of Henry V was by no means his first .\ccessionappearance either as a statesman or a warrior.He OfHenr~v.His previhadserved with distinction both in council and in the oushistory.field, and had received in both capacitics the thanks ofparliament. He had had his own policy, and his ownparty, who had urged him to claim the regency on theground that his father was incapacitated by the diseasefrom which he was suffering, which was said to be leprosy1.The words which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Hisadvantages.the dying Henry IV represent no more than the literaltruth as to the advantages with which Henry V came tothe crown :'To thee it shall descend with better quiet,Better opinion, better confirmation;For all the soil of the achievement goesWith me into the earth2.'He reaped the benefit of an usurpation of which he hadnot shared the guilt. In accordance with these advantageshe adopted a policy almost ostentatiously conciliatory.Even the unjustifiable attack on France may havebeen in part due to the same motive3. Only, if this washis idea, it was singularly falsified by the result. Thecauses which suspended for a time the outbreak of discord,did but make it the more intense when it came. And it is' I am inclined to think that Regiinine Principum, 111. ii. 15 :the above is the true account of a ' Guerra enim exterior tollit sediveryobscure transaction. Henry tiones et reddit cires magis unani-Beaufort was said to have ' stired ' riles et concordes. Exemplumthe prince ' to have take ye gouver- enim hujus habemus in Romanis,nance of yis Reume and (of) ye quibus postquain defecerunt excrouneuppon hym ;' (so I would teriora bella intra se ipsos bellareconstrue the passage,) Rot. Parl. coeperunt.' 'For outward werreIv. 298 h ; cf. Sharon Turner, ii. aley)P inward strif, and makeP362. Leprosy was a bar to the citeseyns be more acorded. Herdescentof real property ; Hardy, of we hauen ensample of theClose Rolls, I. xxxi. In Rymer, Romayns, for whanne hem failedexi. 635, is a certificate of the king's outward werre, thei by gunne tophysicians that a certain person 1s haue werre among hemself.' MS.a leper, which is very interest- Digby, 233, fo. 142 c. To this'W yith reference to the nature of moti\e also Basin ascribes themedloval leprosy.warlike policy of Humphrey ofSecond Part of King Henry Gloucester. He too cites the15 Act iv. sc. 4. example of the Romans ; i. 189.Cf. Egidius Romanus, De