The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Ver. 15. Which were made rich by her] By their fat benefices, commendams, a golden prebendaries, b some one yielding ten or twenty thousand by the year. The archbishopric of Toledo is worth a hundred thousand pounds a year; which is a greater revenue than some kings have had. (Spec. Europ.) What a vast estate had Wolsey gotten. So that rich and wretched Cardinal Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, and Chancellor of England in the reign of Henry VI, who asked, Why should I die being so rich? (Acts and Mon.)
a The custody of an ecclesiastical benefice in the absence of a regular incumbent; the tenure or enjoyment of the revenues of a benefice held as above. ŒD
b The holder of a prebend; a canon of a cathedral or collegiate church who holds a prebend. Originally, each canon had a praebenda or share in the funds of the church to which the clergy house was attached; in later times when the custom grew up of assigning a particular estate for the support of a particular canon, the latter received also the designation of prebendary from the estate so assigned, e.g. ‘Canon of St. Paul's and Prebendary of Finsbury'. ŒD