The favourites _must_ have money; and as the King has little to give them, they raise as much as they please on the credit of his name.

Thus everything is _sold_; places, posts, titles, all have their price--bribery and corruption reign everywhere.

The lord-keeper pays a pension to the Marquis--so doth the attorney-general--and simony is openly practised; for the Bishop of Salisbury paid him L3,500 for his bishopric.

But this is not the worst of it.

Is it not terrible to think of a proud nobleman, clothed almost with supreme authority, being secretly leagued with sordid wretches, whose practices he openly discountenances and contemns, and receiving share of their spoil?
Is it not yet more terrible to reflect that the royal coffers are in some degree supplied by similar means ?" "'Tis enough to drive an honest man distracted," Jocelyn said, "and you cannot wonder at my indignation, though you may blame my want of caution.