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"I am full of fun and gig," &c.? And who is not con vinced that Mr. Potter is by no means in his natural element while he attempts to paint the characters of the higher ranks in life? The love-letters of Mifs Julia Lexicon and Mr. Percival, are farther proofs of the author's ignorance of fashionable manners. She too is a Baronet's daughter, and the gentleman is brother to Selima. It is meant that the reader fhould not confider either of them as near fo full of fun and gig as the vivacious Selima, and yet the lady, in anfwer to the gentleman's first love epistle, writes, "Well, it's a frange bufinefs, and I am at a lofs to guess what it is that makes people fo fond of matrimony. I fuppofe you know." -O," and I'll not be kiffed but when I like it." The fentimental lover answers, "If you cannot guess what makes people fo fond of matrimony, I am fure I am not able to tell you; but I apprehend we shall not remain long in ignorance. And in another place, he fays, "We will, therefore, become pupils to the universal tutoress of mankind." This is pretty well for two fober lovers, but the vivacious Selima fpeaks with more fire, (we give it too gentle a name) of the connubial rites. "When Hymen, with his Saffron robe and taper, clear lights the nuptial torch, joins hands, and-and" mercy on us! what a rampant-young lady! She fays, in another place, "We'll intrigue till twelve." But as the poor girl has had no language-mafter butMr.Potter, who does not always employ the proper terins, we dare fay The meant only a little flirtation.

But enough, and indeed too much of "The Favourites of Felicity."

ART. X. The Hiftory of the Public Revenue of the British Empire. By John Sinclair, Efq. London. Cadell. 4to 1os. 6d. in boards. 1785.

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HE hiftory of our public revenue, is connected with that of the general state of the country, at different periods, with refpect to all that is interefting in the viciffitudes of its inhabitants, its laws, cuftoms, manners, literature, religion, and even language. It opens a variety of views which afford an elegant and most agreeable entertainment to the antiquarian, the lawyer, and to every person who takes an intereft in the fortune and in the nature of his fel low-men and fellow citizens, and delights in the acquifition of general knowledge. But to the ftatefman and legislator, and to all who either directly or indirectly poffefs the means and the inclination of influencing the public councils, it affords not only amufement but ufeful inftruction. The various refources that have furnished money to government,

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in the different reigns of different races of Princes are pointed out; the taxes that the people have born with patience andthofe against which they have revolted; various hints for modes of taxation are fuggefted; and modes obfolete or abolithed are revived in the imagination; and, may be approved by the understanding and adopted by a wife minifter. For example. Poll taxes, as Mr. Sinclair obferves, by which a man is compelled to pay for his perfonal exiftence, have always been accounted peculiarly hateful and oppreffive." It is well known, that an attempt to levy fuch a tax in the reign of Richard II. occafioned an infurrection under the command of Tyler, Straw, and others, which had nearly ended in a revolution. On the subject of hearth-money Mr. Sinclair has the following obfervations.

The fpecies of houfe tax, called hearthmoney, is among the moft ancient in the kingdom. It is even mentioned in Doomsday Book, under the name of Fumage, or Fuage, and confequently muft have existed before the conquest. By Stat. 13 and 14 Car. II. ch. 10. an hereditary revenue of two fhillings for every hearth, in all houses paying to church and poor, was granted to the crown for ever. But as the duty could not be regularly collected, unless the revenue officers were empowered to view the infide of every houfe, it was thought contrary to the principles on which the English government is founded; and upon that ground, by W. & M. feff. i ch. 10. it was utterly taken away, in order (it is faid in the preamble of the bill)" to erect a lafting monument of their Majefties goodnefs, in every houfe in the kingdom.”

But however neceffary it might be, in confequence of the politics of the times, to enact fo popular a law, yet the real juffice and propriety of fuch an alteration may now be queftioned. The tax might furely be levied without much hardship to the poor, or any great encroachment upon the nice feelings of the wealthy: and as the tax upon coals, carried by water, is a great difcouragement to the manufactures and agriculture of the country, checks the increase of our naval ftrength, and in every respect abfurd and unequal, it is hoped that the time will come when fo impolitic a duty will be abrogated, and the more equal and falutary tax of hearth-money eftablished in its room.

Before this part of the fubject is concluded, it may be proper to remark, that for fome years pofterior to the conquest, there exilted in England, a particular kind of hearth-money, called money age, or mintage money, originally levied in Normandy, and thence im ported into this ifland. It was a tax of a fhilling for each hearth, payable every three years, by way of bounty or recompence to the king, not to alter or debase the coin, which he was entitled to do by his prerogative. This branch of the revenue was abolished by the charter of Henry I. and it was fo particularly obnoxious to the English nation, on account of its Normanic original, and its repugnance to the laws of the Confeffor, that none of that monarch's fucceffors attempted to revive it.'

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The defign and plan of this work are held forth to the public by the author himself in his introduction,

The power of a State muft greatly depend on the income it poffeffes. If it enjoys a confiderable and unencumbered revenue, it can employ a greater proportion of its fubjects to carry on war, or may cultivate to greater advantage, the arts of peace, when unembarraffed with hoftilities: Whereas, with a fmall income, it can neither reward the fervices, nor encourage the exertions of its peo ple; and it must principally truft both for its improvement and protection, to the natural activity of mankind, or to the voluntary and difinterefted zeal of public-fpirited individuals.

But however numerous the advantages of a great revenue, they are dearly purchafed if they cannot be procured without oppreffion, A certain fhare of his annual income no individual can refuse to contribute for the general purposes of the State. Sometimes alfo a flight additional burden may prove an incentive to labour, and a fpur to greater diligence and activity. But if the load becomes too heavy, either in confequence of the greatnefs of the amount, or the impolitic mode of laying it on, the induitry of a nation diminifhes, its wealth quickly difappears, the number of its people decreafes, and the greater the occafion it has for refources, the fewer it will actually enjoy.

Unfortunately, the fyftem of finance fo prevalent in Modern Europe, has an unavoidable tendency to public oppreffion: wars are perpetually arifing, and the conteft generally is, who can first drain the Exchequer, and deftroy the credit of the enemy. It is foon difcovered, that war is not a favourable feafon for impofing heavy taxes on the property of the people, and that the best means of commanding the neceffary fupplies is, to borrow from those wha have confidence in the faith of the nation and the fecurity it can afford; and confequently who are willing to leave their capitals unclaimed, provided they are regularly paid a certain annual intereft, To pay that intereft, new taxes must be devifed: and as little care is taken by ignorant, by interested, or by timid minifters, to leffen the incumbrances of war during the fhort intervals of peace, the burden perpetually increafes; and the unhappy fubject finds himfelf obliged, not only to affift in defraying the charges neceffary for fupporting the government under which he lives, but is alfo compelled to contribute to the payment of expences incurred for expeditions which took place a century ago, and for wars, com menced, perhaps, contrary to the intereft of the nation; conducted with profufion and weaknefs, and, of courfe, terminated with dif grace.

In no country has the fyftem I allude to been carried to fuch an excefs as in Great Britain. From the year 1684 to the prefent time, it has been under the neceffity of increafing its revenue from about we, to at least fifteen millions per annum. Fortunately the State can ftill bear that burden, heavy as it is but as any confi derable addition to it would probably be found unfupportable, and, at any rate, as fuch a fyftem muft fooner or later end in total bankruptcy, or the moft grievous oppreffion, it is full time for the na tion at large to confider what plan is the most likely to relieve us and pur pofterity from the danger either of infamy or diftrefs.

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To affift the public in fo important a difcuffion, the following work has been compofed.

In attempting to give an hiftorical account of the finances of this country, the fubject naturally divides itself into two branches : the first will relate to our public revenue prior to the revolution 1688: the fecond, to our system of finance fince that period. During the firft æra, the expences of the State were principally' defrayed by the ordinary revenue of the crown. It feldom happened that any extraordinary tax was laid upon the people; and even then, it was only a temporary grant to the monarch upon the throne. The period fince the revolution is diftinguished by principles of a very different nature. The State has affumed the ap-pearance of a great corporation : it extends its views beyond the immediate events, and preffing exigencies of the moment it forms fyftems of remote, as well as of immediate profit-it borrows money to cultivate, to defend, or to acquire diffant poffeffions, in hopes that it will be amply repaid by the advantages they may be brought to yield. At one time it protects a nation whofe trade it confiders as beneficial at another, it engages in war, left the commerce of a neighbour and a rival fhould be too great in fhort, it proposes, to ittelf a plan of perpetual accumulation and aggrandizement, which, according as it is well or ill conducted, muft either end in the poffeffion of an extenfive and powerful empire, or in total ruin.

In the profecution of the first part of his work, which relates to our public revenue prior to the Revolution, our author inquires into the modes made ufe of for raifing a public revenue by the ancient Britons. These were no other than the domain or perfonal estate of the monarch, fome advantages arifing from the exercife of certain prerogatives, prefents, and fubfidies from foreign nations, and voluntary contributions from his fubjects.

'Such, joined to perfonal fervices in war, were the flender fources on which alone the ancient inhabitants of this country depended, in order to protect themselves and their poffeffions from the ambition, the military force, and the opulence of Rome. Yet poor as the Britons were, and feldom united with each other, they were not fubdued without making a gallant and obftinate resistance. If the conqueft was fo difficult in their state of poverty and difunion, it is fcarcely to be doubted that they would have been able to have repelled their invaders, had they been the fubjects of one monarch poffeffed of valour and ability in war, and enjoying an income fufficient to have enabled him to reward the zeal and exertions of his fubjects. But, in the words of Tacitus, "they rarely united their forces againft the common enemy and by this means, while each community fought feparately, they were all fucceffively subdued.”

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The taxes paid by Great Britain, as well as by the other provinces of the empire under the Roman government, were partly levied in kind, and partly in money: that thofe who paid taxes in

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kind, were obliged to furnish about a tenth part of the produce of their lands, and to carry the quantity they were rated at, to any diftance however great, according to the fuppofed neceffities of the State, or to the caprice of thote who were in power: that fo heavy a duty was laid upon cattle (in which Britain particularly abounded), that, joined to other grievances, it was the occafion of a very dangerous revolt, which was not extinguished but with the greateft difficulty that heavy customs were paid upon goods both imported and exported: that the proprietors of mines were obliged to pay a certain fhare of their profits, for the benefit of the State: that a duty was laid upon commodities fold by auction, or in the public market, above a certain value: that capitation taxes were rigorously executed; to which might be added a variety of other impofts on legacies, flaves, houfes, pillars, hearths, air, artists, animals, and other articles too tedious to mention: “ Nay, fuch, it was faid, is the exquifite tyranny, and infatiable avarice of the Romans, "that they extort taxes even from the dead;" alluding to a duty upon the body of the deceafed, before it was fuffered to be buried.?

The government of the Saxons which fucceeded that of the Romans, and was terminated by the invafion of William of Normandy, comprised a period of about fix hundred and twenty years. Little or no advantage, our author obferves, could arife from a review of the reigns, or an account of the revenues of the innumerable multitude of monarchs, who, in a greater or leffer degree, wielded the fceptre of England during the æra aboyementioned. He therefore gives a general fketch of the refources from which their income arofe, without entering into minute details. The Anglo Saxon monarchs poffeffed great demefnes. They fhared in the fines impofed on thofe perfons who difturbed the quiet and good order of their government. The duties of beregeld, burg-bote, and brig-bote, or, taxes for the purpose of repelling the enemy, of conftructing fortreffes for the public defence, and repairing of bridges were occafionally levied by the Saxon monarchs. There was another tax heavier by far, and more productive than thefe, which was Dane-geld, and was.. impofed for the purpofe of bribing the Danes to defift from their depredations. It is computed that this tax, raised 12,130 Saxon pounds; a fum equal in point of real value to 360,cool. of our modern money. And confequently, fays Mr. Sinclair, the tax laid on by Canute, anno. 1018, amounting to 83,000 Saxon pounds, was equal to a modern land-tax of two millions and an half. Mr. Sinclair, it is remarkable, enters not into fpeculation concerning the trade, manufactures, exports, or other means that could be fuppofed by Canute to enable the people to raise fuch a revenue, or a revenue bearing any proportion to it.

Our author proceeds to take a general view of the ancient revenue of the Crown of England. The principal fources

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