E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Benèvolence.
A “forced” gratuity, under the excuse of a loan, exacted by some of the Plantagenet kings. First enforced in 1473, it was declared illegal by the Bill of Rights in 1689.
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“Royal benevolences were encroaching more and more on the right of parliamentary taxation.”—Green: History of the English People, vol. ii. book vi. chap. i. p. 197.
