THE FIRST EARL OF SALISBURY 189
Salisbury succeeded the old Earl of Dorset as Lord Treasurer in April, 1608. " I know not anything the King hath done in that kind more universally applauded," wrote Sir Henry Neville. 1 " So great a reformation many imagine will follow that change."
The Exchequer was then in a desperate con- dition. The debt amounted to nearly a million and the ordinary annual expenditure exceeded the ordinary revenue by 73,000. To a great extent this condition of affairs was due to the King's extravagance, which, in spite of real endeavours on his part, he was quite unable to control. A story is told which illustrates his ignorance of the value of money, and at the same time shows how Salisbury tried to keep his prodigality in check. It appears that James had ordered a large sum of money (variously stated as 5,000 and 20,000) to be given to his favourite, Carr, then Viscount Rochester. Salisbury, " thinking it too great a sum to be disposed of lightly, laid it in silver upon tables in the gallery of Salisbury House ; and, having invited the King to dinner, conducted him through that gallery to the dining-room. The King, suddenly struck with the appearance of so large a heap of silver, asked what the money was for ; to which the Treasurer replied that he had received his Majesty's commands to give it to the Viscount Rochester. The King, who had not
1 To Sir R. Winwood, May I2th, 1608 (Winwood's Memorials, II. 929).
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