ABSTRACT
The court of King James I of England was once described in the following terms:
This is a tale of extravagance, waste, corruption and vice.. .Unprecedented sums of money were squandered.. .Titles and government offices were bought and sold. Through monopolies, tax-farming and the appropriation of public land for private purposes the entire national economy was fleeced by parasitic rulers and their cronies...(Lever 1971, p. 15; cf. Denning 1981, p. 22).
