Question for the history buffs

Smiling Dave posted on Wed, Oct 19 2011 7:25 PM

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Macaulay is describing the wild parties Charles II is having in 1660. He then writes:

At the same time a sudden fall of rents took place. The income of every landed proprietor was diminished by five shillings in the pound. The cry of agricultural distress rose from every shire in the kingdom; and for that distress the government was, as usual, held accountable. The gentry, compelled to retrench their expenses for a period, saw with indignation the increasing splendour and profusion of Whitehall, and were immovably fixed in the belief that the money which ought to have supported their households had, by some inexplicable process, gone to the favourites of the King.

Anyone know why that sudden fall of rents took place? Any info, links, educated guesses, appreciated.