Fees in England. 
79 
size of the town, or population of the county; while in 1870 the 
amount varied: first, according to the annual value of the house; 
second, according to the kind of liquor sold; third, according 
to the quantity sold at the time; and fourth, according to the 
place, whether a theater, steamboat, railroad, and so on. This 
process went on until, in 1888, there were no less than twenty - 
four distinct kinds of liquor licenses, many of them varying ac¬ 
cording to the rental value of the premises. 1 
The change in the period for which licenses were granted is. 
just as marked. At first it was indeterminate, subject only to 
the revocation by the licensing authority. Then they were 
granted for not more than twenty-one years, and finally, in 1757, 
were made annual. The qualification and requirements of the 
licenses tended to become more and more stringent up to 1830, 
when it was provided that no beer license should be granted ex¬ 
cept on certificate of good character, signed by six taxpayers 
of the parish and certified by the overseer. 
B. PEDDLERS. 
Shortly after it had been found necessary to regulate the sale 
of liquor by means of licenses, the same restrictions were ap¬ 
plied to peddlers. The same process of evolution took place in 
the latter as in the former case. The first licenses were granted 
free of charge, and needed only the signature of two justices of 
the peace to make them valid. Soon, however, a fee was col¬ 
lected for the privilege by the state, which was increased until 
in 1697 it amounted to 4£ for each peddler and 4£ extra for a 
beast of burden. These charges with slight modifications con¬ 
tinued in force for nearly a century. When Pitt imposed his 
shop tax in 1785, he also doubled the license charge for peddling. 
This charge was so high as to materially reduce the number 
of licenses; hence in 1789 the fee was lowered to the former 
amount. At this time the hawkers seem to have acquired a bad 
reputation for selling contraband goods and smuggling. Incon¬ 
sequence an act was passed which required from every applicant 
for license a certificate of character, signed by the clergyman of 
1 Dowell, II, 205. 
