statute 5 & 6 W. & M. c. 21. and they have
since in many instances been encreased to five times their original
amount.

VI. A SIXTH branch is the duty upon houses and windows. As early as
the conquest mention is made in domesday book of fumage or fuage,
vulgarly called smoke farthings; which were paid by custom to the king
for every chimney in the house. And we read that Edward the black
prince (soon after his successes in France) in imitation of the
English custom, imposed a tax of a florin upon every hearth in his
French dominions[a]. But the first parliamentary establishment of it
in England was by statute 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 10. whereby an
hereditary revenue of 2_s._ for every hearth, in all houses paying to
church and poor, was granted to the king for ever. And, by subsequent
statutes, for the more regular assessment of this tax, the constable
and two other substantial inhabitants of the parish, to be appointed
yearly, were, once in every year, empowered to view the inside of
every house in the parish. But, upon the revolution, by statute 1 W.
& M. st. 1. c. 10. hearth-money was declared to be "not only a great
oppression to the poorer sort, but a badge of slavery upon the whole
people, exposing every man's house to be entered into, and searched at
pleasure, by persons unknown to him; and therefore, to erect a lasting
monument of their majesties' goodness in every house in the kingdom,
the duty of hearth-money was taken away and abolished." This monument
of goodness remains among us to this day: but the prospect of it was
somewhat darkened when, in six years afterwards, by statute 7 W. III.
c. 18. a tax was laid upon all houses (except cottages) of 2_s._ now
advanced to 3_s._ _per_ house, and a tax also upon all windows, if
they exceed nine, in such house. Which rates have been from time to
time varied, (particularly by statutes 20 Geo. II. c. 3. and 31 Geo.
II. c. 22.) and power is given to surveyors, appointed by the crown,
to inspect the outside of houses, and also to pass through any house
two days in the year, into any court or yard to inspect the windows
there.

[Footnote a: Mod. Un. Hist. xxiii. 463. Spelm. Gloss. _tit. Fuage_.]

VII. THE seventh branch of the extraordinary perpetual revenue is the
duty arising from licences to hackney coaches and chairs in London,
and the parts adjacent. In 1654 two hundred hackney coaches were
allowed within London, Westminster, and six miles round, under the
direction