[146] Or, as we should now say, Lady Jane Cheiny, or Cheney, the wife of Charles Cheney, Esq., of Chesham-Boys, Bucks.
After giving a number of figures, including the former rent-roll of all his estates, she says: “The Loss of my Lords Estate, in plain Rents, as also upon ordinary Use, and Use upon Use, is as followeth:—
“The Annual Rent of My Lords Land, viz. 22,393£. 10s. 1d. being lost for the space of 18 years, which was the time of his acting in the Wars, and of his Banishment, without any benefit to him, reckoned without any Interest, amounts to 403,083£. But being accounted with the ordinary Use at Six in the Hundred, and Use upon Use for the mentioned space of 18 Years, it amounts to 733,579£.”
Six in the hundred, or six per cent. and use upon use, or cumulative interest, sounds fairly high.
Farther on, she says: “The Lands which My Lord hath lost in present possession are 2,015£. per annum, which at 20 years’ purchase come to 40,300£. and those which he hath lost in Reversion, are 3,214£. per annum, which at 16 years’ purchase amount to the value of 51,424£.
“The Lands which my Lord since his return has sold for the payment of some of his debts, occasioned by the Wars (for I do not reckon those he sold to buy others) come to the value of 56,000£. to which out of his yearly revenue he has added 10,000£. more, which is in all 66,000£.
“Lastly, The Composition of his Brothers Estate was 5,000£. and the loss of it for eight years comes to 16,000£.
“All which, if summ’d up together, amounts to 941,303£.
“These are the accountable losses, which My Dear Lord and Husband has suffered by the late Civil Wars, and his Loyalty to his King and Country.”