286 Histojy of the English Landed Interest. 



assessment on his warehouse, than the many pounds for which 

 he would be liable if his goods were assessed instead. Thus 

 administrative difficulties, combined with a vague wording of 

 the law, brought about results antagonistic to the landed in- 

 terest. The substitution of a layman for a monk, either as 

 landowner or as political representative, caused it no material 

 hurt, but it indirectly suffered loss by the sequestration of its 

 tithe, even though the bulk of this charge reverted into the 

 hands of certain landed proprietors. Indeed, such a circum- 

 stance increased the mischief, for in all such cases it upset the 

 ordinary standard of rental value between different districts. 

 Thus the income of one parish, swelled by the tithe charges 

 payable from som'e other parish, enabled the landlord of the 

 former to reduce his rents and improve his lands at the ex- 

 pense of the landlord of the latter to a degree that must have 

 eventually crippled his powers and capabilities in the same 

 direction. 



