There is yet another reſtriction with regard to college leaſes, by ſtatute 18 Eliz. c. 6. which directs, that one third of the old rent, then paid, ſhould for the future be reſerved in wheat or malt, reſerving a quarter of wheat for each 6s 8d, or a quarter of malt for every 5s; or that the leſſees ſhould pay for the ſame according to the price that wheat and malt ſhould be ſold for, in the market next adjoining to the reſpective colleges, on the market-day before the rent becomes due. This is ſaid[1] to have been an invention of lord treaſurer Burleigh, and ſir Thomas Smith, then principal ſecretary of ſtate; who, obſerving how greatly the value of money had ſunk, and the price of all proviſions riſen, by the quantity of bullion imported from the newfound Indies, (which effects were likely to increaſe to a greater degree) deviſed this method for upholding the revenues of colleges. Their forefight and penetration has in this reſpect been very apparent: for, though the rent ſo reſerved in corn was at firſt but one third of the old rent, or half of what was ſtill reſerved in money, yet now the proportion is nearly inverted; and the money ariſing from corn rents is, communibus annis, almoſt double to the rents reſerved in money.
The leaſes of beneficed clergymen are farther reſtrained, in caſe of their non-reſidence, by ſtatutes 13 Eliz. c. 20. 14 Eliz. c. 11. and 18 Eliz. c. 11. which direct, that, if any beneficed clergyman be abſent from his cure above fourſcore days in any one year, he ſhall not only forfeit one year's profit of his benefice, to be diſtributed among the poor of the pariſh; but that all leaſes made by him, of the profits of ſuch benefice, and all covenants and agreements of like nature, ſhall ceaſe and be void: except in the caſe of licenſed pluraliſts, who are allowed to demiſe the living, on which they are non-reſident, to their curates only; provided ſuch curates do not abſent themſelves above forty days in any one year. And thus much for leaſes, with their ſeveral enlargements and reſtrictions[2].
