by his writ, prevailed on the Archbishop to convene the fynod; and he, by his own authority and legatine power from the Pope, was confessed to have authority to fummon the whole clergy.'

Upon this footing they continued till the 13 Car. II. when they gave their laft fubfidy; and it then appeared more advantageous to continue the taxing of them by way of land-tax and poll-tax, as it was in the time of the long parliament; the clergy likewife found this eafier than the tenths they ufed to pay in their former way of taxing and it paffed, that from hence forward they should have a vote for members of Parliament, as they had in the commonwealth-times, and they were taxed as the laity.

The next chapter gives an account of the revenues arifing from the counties; the methods of collecting them; their feveral kinds and titles; with the conftitution of the county-courts. But as the fubject of this, and fome of the enfuing chapters, are for the greatest part rather practical than scientific, we fhall pafs them over as not generally interefting to our Readers; and proceed to that which treats of the revenues of the customs, antient and modern.

The trade of England,' fays the Author, was originally very small, and carried on merely by thofe which they called Eafterlings, which were the men of Normandy, Picardy, Flanders, Holland, and fo all along to the Baltic: they were meer coafters, (and, indeed, all navigation was fo before the invention of the needle) and they used in fummer-time to come over upon our coaft, and fetch away our wool, woolfels, and leather; and the men of Normandy and Picardy used to bring wines from France; and therefore the cinque ports were very antient franchises or markets, to which the commodities of wool, woolfels, and leather were brought, and where the wines. of France were ufually unladen; and the cinque ports all along from Yarmouth to Hull, were used for exportation of our own commodities; but Yarmouth and Hull feem antiently to be not much used for importation, for that feems to have been in the cinque ports only.

There was an antient duty to the crown, which they called Prifage; which was a liberty that the crown had, of taking from every fhip that held twenty tun of wine, two tun, one before the maft, and one behind, at the rate of twenty fhillings each; fo that the King had a pre-emption in a tenth, at his own price: but we find, that all this fort of commerce was anciently tranfacted in pure filver;' fuch we received from them for our wool, woolfells, and leather; and fuch we paid them for their commodities and therefore in feveral of our records the money bargained for is entered fo many libra efterlingorum.

Edward

Edward the First, who was the great Juftinian of England, had travelled into the Levant; and from thence had fetched many new institutions: for there he found; that upon all commodities, both imported and exported, a vectigal or tribute was paid, to the state or prince where fuch importation or exportation was made; and that this acknowlegement was founded upon the protection that fuch princes or ftates gave to their foreign traders, and therefore by them chearfully fubmitted to. It was paid upon goods imported, because the merchant had the liberty to fell them in that prince's dominions, and was protected by him in the recovery of the price from any of his fubjects: it was likewife laid upon the goods exported, and that was by way of afcertaining the quantities and values of what was to be fold to the merchant.

Therefore when Edward the First came home, he altered the nature of the prifage, and inftead of this pre-emption of a tenth, he laid the impofition or tribute of two fhillings in every tun upon all foreign merchants, which therefore was called Butlerage; because it was inftead of the tenth of the wine in which the King had pre-emption, and which was before looked upon as a fort of acknowlegement to the King's butler; and therefore, from the time of the charge of it upon the foreign merchant, it went by the name of Butlerage.

But to go more particularly into this matter, it appears, that anciently the Kings of England had from the merchants the prifage, which was a right of pre-emption of wine, and other commodities likewife, upon the price fet by the officers of the crown; they had alfo fome other petty cuftoms, that were paid in certainty upon wares and other merchandizes, for the liberty of the beam and warehouses that were built for their conveniency at the feveral ports.

And the ftatute of Magna Charta, cap. 30. fays, that "Omnes mercatores fhall have fafe conduct, ire per Angliam, tam per terram quam per aquam, ad emendum vel vendendum, fine omnib' malis tolnetis, per antiquas & rectas confuctudines." This law of Magna Charta was certainly made for the encouragement of the merchant; and the defign was to establish thofe cuftoms of thronage for weighing, and thofe cuftoms that were paid for the liberty of the warehoufe, which were certainly antient, and to abolish all unreasonable oppreflion; but however the prifage was then among antient cuftoms, and that was fubject to be abused to great oppreffion, becaufe the King's officers fettled the pre-emption.'

This prifage was afterwards changed into butlerage, which was the foundation of tonnage and poundage; for the wine is

paid

paid for by the tun, and other commodities are mentioned how they should be paid for, and then comes the general poundage according to the pound value. But though merchants ftrangers were thus exempted from prifage, yet the English merchants refused the benefit, though offered to them by Edward III. fo that the King was at liberty to take prifage of them as before. The Writer then explains the feveral words of taxation, and fhews, that impofitions are a kind of duties which may be comprehended under the name of Customs, though in former times the word was used to exprefs an evil toll, not granted by Parliament. Under this head, fome of the arbitrary proceedings of the Stuarts in particular are enumerated, and the Sovereign's power of difpenfing with acts of Parliament is briefly refuted.

The laft chapter gives an account of the revenue of the excife, its origin, the method of collecting it, and the duty of the feveral officers employed therein.

The excife,' fays the Writer, is a tax laid upon the retailer or confumer of any commodity; it is called Excise from the Dutch word, accife, which fignifies an affeffment upon any commodity; others derive it from the word Excifum, as a part of the profit cut off from the whole.

This was begun on the 11th of September 1643, by the long Parliament; and eight commiffioners of excife were appointed, and they were to choose their own officers, viz. their register, collectors, clerks, and other fubordinate officers.

They were to take an oath before the Speaker of either Houfe; and were to have authority in all parts of the city of London and Weftminfter, and for twelve miles round.

They were to appoint in the feveral diftricts in the country fub commiffioners, for whom they fhould be anfwerable, who were to have like authority in their feveral diftricts; and by that ordinance an auditor was appointed, who was to account for the produce of the revenue to the Houses.

The 6th of September, 1645, there was a comptroller appointed to this office, who was a cheque upon the commiffioners and auditor: and an order was made the 14th of August, 1664 appointing all brewers, diftillers, &c. weekly to make a true entry, as soon as their commodities were fit for fale; and a power was granted to the commiffioners and fub.commiffioners to appoint gagers, to inspect them: and no victualler nor alehoufe keeper was to brew his own drink, unless he gave fecurity to pay the excife: nay they went fo far, by that ordinance, that every houfe-keeper that brewed his own beer, was to pay the excile: and upon the request of the commiffioners, the juf

49

tices of the peace were to appoint affeffors upon fuch houfekeepers in every hundred, who were to affefs what drink was fpent in every family. This was thought fo troublesome upon private houses, that on the 12th of December, 1651, it was ordered, that no beer or ale fhould be excifeable, but fuch as was brewed by brewers, alehouse-keepers, or retailers.

Thus things ftood till the reftoration; and then it was not thought proper to revive the tenures that had been loft in the civil wars, for that was a yoke which could not be easily borne by the gentry of the kingdom: and therefore, by the 12th of Car. II. c. 23, and 24, instead of the tenures which were abolifhed, they grant one fhilling and three-pence on every barrel of beer and ale exceeding the value of fix fhillings per barrel, and in proportion for cyder and perry, with other proportions upon metheglin, ftrong waters, &c.

• The common brewers were to enter weekly, and innkeepers and other retailers monthly; and on default, the common brewer was to forfeit five pounds, the retailer twenty fhillings, and upon nonpayment within a month after entry, to forfeit double the duty.

The commiffioners were to be appointed by the King; and the commiffioners had power to appoint gagers; and the gagers might enter the houses, and make returns to the commiffioners, or fub-commiffioners: and if the brewer refused to permit the gager to enter, the gager might forbid him to fell, and if he afterwards fold, he forfeited five pounds, and double the value of the duty.

The commiffioners had authority ten miles round London; and the fub-commiffioners were to be appointed by the crown, but yet to be subordinate to the commiflioners; two juftices of the peace were to levy the forfeitures, or in default of juftices, the fub-commiffioners to do it, with appeal to quarter-feflions; and there was to be no certiorari: the King had the appointment of commiffioners, and all other perfons that he thought fit for the government of this revenue. This revenue coming inftead of the wards and liveries, it was very proper to put it under the power of the crown; and therefore it has been under a government diftin&t from all the other branches of the revenue.'

This revenue coming, as our Author juftly informs us, in lieu of the wards and liveries, it might probably be very proper to put it under the power of the crown: nevertheless, it has been made a queftion how far this method of excifing is agreeable to the prefent principles of our conflitution. At the time in which the excife was eftablished, the British conftitution flood

on

on a very different establishment from that on which it has refted fince the revolution: and as principles change, practice fhould be accommodated to the alteration. However, as this is a nice and perhaps dangerous difquifition, we fhall forbear all further obfervations; and refer the reader to MONTESQUIEU's l'Esprit des Loix, where he will find, that, according to that learned Frenchman's opinion, all taxes paid by the retailer or confumer favour of the principles of flavery.

R--d

The History of the Arabians, under the Government of the Caliphs, from Mahomet, their founder, to the death of Moftazem, the fifty-fixth and laft Abaffian Caliph; containing the space of fix hundred thirty-fix years. With notes, hiftorical, critical, and explanatory: together with genealogical and chronological tables; and a complete index to each volume. By the Abbè de Marigny. Tranflated from the French, with additional notes. In Four Volumes. 8vo. 11. Payne, Wilson, &c.

T

HE Abbe Marigny's qualifications for writing the hiftory of the Arabians, will beft appear from his own words. < When first I entertained thoughts of engaging in this work, I conceived a much more extenfive plan, and intended to have wrote a general hiftory of the Arabians, on which I had for a long time bent my ftudy, and for which I had collected very ample materials. But when I began to digeft them in order to frame my hiftory, I met with the greatest obftacles. In reviewing the collections I had faithfully made from such Arabian authors as have been tranflated into our tongue, I found that moft of those writers contradicted each other, and my difficulty was increased through want of a competent knowledge of Arabic, which made it impoffible for me either to confult fuch originals as had been tranflated, whereby I might have difcovered whether the fault was in the author or tranflator, or to make a proper enquiry into the many other Arabian hiftories we are now poffeffed of, in which I might have found the means of reconciling the difference.

I depended upon being furnished with great helps from the Bibliotheque Orientale, written by Mr. d'Herbelot, a work which might indeed have fully answered my expectations, if the author, who was a perfect mafter of the Arabian tongue, had had time to revife his performance, if he had given it the finishing stroke, and could have directed the prefs; but that great man died too foon, and the materials he had collected for