to the same kind
of groove as that of the fifteenth and tenth, and became, in practice, a
grant of a sum of money of about the same amount as the yield of the
last preceding subsidy" (Dowell). The consequence was that each subsidy
came, in the middle of the 16th century, to be a sum of L100,000, and at
its close only L80,000. The parallel vote of the clergy in convocation
(which after 1533 had to be confirmed in parliament) amounted to
L20,000. The usual parliamentary proceeding was to vote so many "tenths
and fifteenths" and so many subsidies, e.g. Elizabeth's first parliament
voted her "two fifteenths and tenths and a subsidy," or, taking the
usual values, L160,000. At times of crisis such as the arrival of the
Armada the votes were enlarged by granting more tenths and fifteenths
and subsidies. The history of the subsidy is instructive as to the
tendencies of direct taxation in all countries. The assessment becomes
inelastic and approximates to a fixed sum. As the subsidy follows the
course of the later medieval taxation, so it is the undesigned model of
the later land and property tax.

In the history of the port duties under the Tudors the first point for
notice is the life grant to each of the sovereigns of the subsidies on
wool, hides and leather, together with tunnage at 3s. and poundage at
5%; thus, with the hereditary customs, supplying a considerable revenue
for the crown's use. No better indication of the increased power and
popularity of the monarchy could be found. The contrast with the
suspicious and grudging attitude of the Plantagenet and Lancastrian
parliaments is significant of the change in national sentiment. A duty
on malmsey (1490) had a retaliatory rather than a fiscal aim, being
directed against the Venetians who had imposed restrictions on English
trade. In several later cases wine became liable to extra duties,
chiefly applied to French trade in further pursuance of the policy of
retaliation. Restrictions on import and export as well as the hostile
measures against foreign merchants were matters of economic policy
rather than finance, but they had the indirect effect of increasing the
control exercised at the ports. The loss of Calais (1558) dislocated the
system of the staple and cut off one centre of customs revenue; and it
was also probably the cause of an important change in the mode of
valuing goods for duty. For the declaration on oath of the merchant a
fixed valuation was substituted and