tinued to lag and around 1646 no
more than 500 pounds sterling was being collected. The treasurer
appealed to the Assembly which acknowledged that "There is and hath been
great neglect in the payment of the quitt rent." Consequently the
Assembly in 1647 authorized the treasurer to levy a distress upon the
property of delinquent taxpayers. The delinquent was permitted, if
providing security, to retain his goods under replevin and to have a
hearing before either a county court or the Governor and Council for
final disposition of the case. Such a measure, however, was not
effective against land not seated and planted, for the land itself was
not to be seized; and a similar handicap prevailed against absentee
owners as far as action by the treasurer was concerned.

Assistance in collection of quitrents was provided by the sheriff who
was designated as the recipient of payments for each county with the fee
of ten per cent of the collections being allowed him. Using the patent
rolls of his office, both past and current, as a guide, the sheriff
collected the rent and turned it over to the auditor of the colony. The
rent was received either in coin or in tobacco as the law provided from
time to time. In 1661, for example, persons unable to pay in coin were
permitted by law to pay in tobacco at the rate of two pence per pound.
But there was considerable controversy over the nature of the payment,
and King James II ordered the repeal of the earlier act because of the
poor quality of tobacco being submitted. After the overthrow of the King
in 1688/89, the collection of quitrents continued for the most part in
tobacco at the rate of one penny per pound.

In 1671 the privilege of collecting and using the quitrents was granted
to Colonel Henry Norwood, who had supported faithfully the King and the
royal cause during the civil war. Two years later the quitrents were
given to Lords Arlington and Culpeper, including collections that might
be made of rents in arrears. Protests from Virginia of these grants
forced the revocation of the special gifts in 1684, although Culpeper
retained the right to the quitrents in the Northern Neck.

Collection of quitrents at various times was farmed out to members of
the Council and to the Governor, with the Councilor concerned usually
taking the counties near his own residence. In 1665, for example,
Governor William Berkeley assumed the collection in James City and Surry
counties; Colonel Miles Cary,