1 64 TAXATION AND FINANCE. 



%d. a barrel on small beer, i s. $d. on the hogshead of cider and 

 perry, a halfpenny a gallon on mead, 6d. a gallon on vinegar, 

 and id. the gallon on English spirits. Generally speaking, 

 similar articles of foreign origin were charged with double ex- 

 cises; and coffee manufactured in the coffee-houses, now getting 

 into repute, was charged 4^., chocolate, sherbet, and tea %d. a 

 gallon. Of course these duties were independent of the 

 customs. Charles was willing enough to accept the hereditary 

 excise, as it was fully up to the calculation of that for which it 

 was intended as a compensation, and was certain to grow. 



Practically the hereditary excise was an octroi duty on the 

 towns, especially London. It affected those only who brewed, 

 made cider, perry and mead, and distilled spirits, or retailed 

 foreign alcoholic beverages, or made tea and coffee for sale. 

 Private brewing, private distilling, and private tea and coffee- 

 making, in so far as the latter became a custom, and it grew 

 towards the end of the period before me, were exempt from 

 excises. The excises were not very heavy, at least not heavy 

 enough to suggest the expedient of private brewing to corpora- 

 tions, perhaps not to the wealthier families. Towards the 

 end of the century however Davenant comments on the 

 shrinkage of the excise revenue, and refers in particular to the 

 period after the Restoration, when the excise was increased. 

 This is illustrated by the fact that in 1692, New College, 

 Oxford, which had previously purchased its beer from the 

 common brewer, begins to brew on its own account. The 

 Cambridge Colleges, Winchester, and Eton had never given up 

 the practice of private brewing, and therefore purchased malt 

 and hops largely. Ultimately, as the wants of the Exchequer 

 increased, the excise on manufactured beer and spirits was 

 exchanged for malt, hop and spirit duties, and by the enact- 

 ment of severe laws against private distilling. 



But the Parliament were still far from satisfying the 

 ; i, 200,000 a year which they had voted. A little was got by 

 the resumption of grants out of the demesne lands of the 

 Crown, in which it is probable that innocent purchasers of the 



