Since then, purse-strings have been even too readily untied at the call of Irish distress.
His little con job was to rip off the old man who held a tight hand on the purse strings.
The legend of an imprisoned pope, subject to every whim of his gaolers, had nevet- failed to arouse the pity and loosen the purse-strings of the faithful; dangerous innovators and would-be reformers within the church could be compelled to bow before the symbol of the temporal power, and their spirit of submission tested by their readiness to forgo the realization of their aims until the head of the church should be restored to his rightful domain.
But professional soldiers could not be hired without money, and the difficulty was to persuade the diet to loose its purse-strings.
Not less active was Sir Edgar Vincent, the financial adviser, who kept a firm hold on the purse-strings and ruthlessly cut down expenditure in all departments except that of irrigation (see Finance).
