1920 8TATE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 515 occasion to be an annuity for his support.^ This nominal salary- was now, however, of the slightest importance. The next mention we have of it after 1668 is in September 1674, when, on the 29th, it is noted that Secretary Coventry's ' ancient fee of lOOZ. per annum is to be paid '.^ The ancient fee was now far less important than the larger grant which had been paid to the secretaries with increasing regularity since 1660. This grant was no less than the sum of £462 10s. a quarter to each secretary of state, making a total of £1,850 each annually. It was paid first from November 1660 to December 1668 out of the farm of the post office, was then placed on the farm of the customs on unwrought wood, and was finally transferred in December 1674 to the customs in general.^ On 15 December 1668, when the first orders were registered on the farm of un- wrought wood, the payments were distinctly stated to be for ' pension and allowance as secretary of state, formerly paid out of the post office ','" and the phrase ' in lieu of pension ' was constantly used in privy seals and money warrants, issued afresh on the appointment of each fresh secretary. These payments therefore were quite distinct from the payments for secret service and intelligence, which must now be considered.^ Under Elizabeth a zealous secretary like Walsingham sacri- ficed his private fortune to the needs of the state*. With the new djniasty a process of regulation began in this as in so many departments, and Salisbury received at first twelve hundred pounds and eventually fourteen hundred pounds per annum, during pleasure, for use in o))taining intelligence and for private services.^ When the appointment of two secretaries of state ^ Cal. oj Treaa. Books, vi. 545.
- Ibid. iv. 337. On 4 December 1676 the auditor of receipt was instructed to
pay Coventry £100 on his pension for one year, and £200 to Williamson on his pension.
- The first reference to this payment is among the State Papers {Cal. of State
Papers, Dom., 1660-1, p. 369), when Nicholas and Morrice in November 1660 were granted £462 10s. (£462 10s. M. in the Calendar) quarterly ' in consideration of services ', There are frequent references in the Treasury Books, but in some of the earlier ones the payment is referred to as £462 10s. per annum. Later entries prove clearly that this is a mistake (see for example Cal. o/ Treas. Books, ii. 622). For the changes in the sources of supply see Cal. oj State Papers, Dom., 1668-9, p. 124 ; Cal. of Treas. Books, ii. 642 ; iv. 638 ; v. ii. 1244. * Cal. of Treas. Books, ii. 642. ' Cal. of Treas. Books, ii. 622, refers to the ' 3,700 per an. formerly paid to the Secretaries of State [for secret service] out of the Post Office '. In view of the inde- pendent grants for secret service and the insistence in later privy seals on the payment being ' in lieu of pensions ' {ibid. v. i. 677), it would appear that the words within brackets should be omitted,
- Cal. of State Papers, Dom., 1603-10, p. 469. When Win wood became secretary
in April 1614, John Chamberlain wrote: ' The Secretary has gone to court, he has his £1,400 for intelligence ' {Cal. of State Papers, Dom., 1611-18 p, 231). After Winwood's death before Naunton's appointment, a letter- writer of the day states : ' Secretary Lake holds the stafif at both ends, having the double allowances and will keep it as long aa he can ' {ibid. p. 494). Ll2
