INSTRUCTIONS To be observed by His MAJESTIE'S OFFICERS AND Their respective DEPUTIES, employed for Collecting His MAJESTIEs Revenue arising from the Duty imposed upon attorneys, Fire-hearths and Stoves, by virtue of the Acts of PARLIAMENT made in that behalf.  
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1672.   

To be observed by His Majestie's Officers and their respective Deputies, employed for Collecting His Majestie's Revenue arising from the Duty imposed upon attorneys, Hearths and Stoves, by virtue of the Act made in the First Session of Parliament begun at Westminster the eighth day of May, in the thirteenth year of His Majestie's Reign, entitled, An Act for establishing an Additional Revenue upon His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, for the better support of His and their Crown and Dignity; and of another Act made in the Second Session of the same Parliament, entitled, An Additional Act for the better Ordering and Collecting, the Revenue arising by Hearthmony; and of another Act made in the Third Session of the same Parliament, entitled, An Act for Collecting the Duty arising by Hearthmony by Officers to be appointed by His Majesty.  
YOU and every of your Deputies are to peruse and consider all the Clauses of the said several Acts, that you may the better Collect and Levy the Duty of Two shillings for every Fire-hearth and Stove( within your Charge) imposed and established by the said Acts of Parliament, and payable at the Feasts of St. Michael the Archangel, and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, yearly, by equal portions, and of all Arrears and Penalties that are or shall grow due to His Majesty for the same; wherein you are to take notice, that the Arrears now due to His Majesty are onely such as have incurred since the 25. day of March 1669.  

And you and your respective Deputies are to know and understand the Particulars following: I. That all and every Fire-hearth and Stove, which upon the 25. day of March 1662. was, or should after that time be, in any dwelling or other house and edisice, &c. whether in a chimney, or in any part of such house, edisice, &c.( other then such as in the Acts are excepted) is chargeable and charged with the Duty. II. That all persons( living in houses having less then three attorneys, Fire-hearths and Stoves in them) who do receive weekly or monthly Contribution for their support from the Parish wherein they live respectively, are absolutely freed and discharged from the Duty. III. That no Person ought to be charged with the Duty who shall produce or be comprehended in a Certificate made( in all points) as is directed by the Act: Provided, that the house wherein the party liveth be not a divided house, nor hath any Land, Garden, Orchard, or Out-housing( belonging thereunto) let apart from the same;( in which case the Landlord onely ought to be charged:( and also Provided such house have not above two attorneys, Fire-hearths, and Stoves therein. IV. That such a Certificate must comprehend all the joint qualifications of a Pauper, as the same are expressly described in the first Act, and cannot be warranted if any one or more of them be omitted therein. That is to say, If either the house wherein the party certified for doth inhabit be of greater value then twenty shillings per annum upon the full improved rent, or that the person so inhabiting, or any other using the same, hath, useth or occupieth any Lands or Tenements of their own or others of the yearly value of twenty shillings per annum, or hath any Lands, Tenements, Goods or Chattels, of the value of ten pound in their own possession, or in the possession of any other in trust for them; the said Certificate is illegal and voided. V. That the said Certificate must be signed by the Minister of the Parish, and by one or more of the Church-wardens or Collectors for the Poor, and allowed under the hands of two Justices of the Peace; otherwise it is not sufficient. VI. That such a Certificate discharges no person farther then for the year wherein the same is made;( that is to say) a Certificate made in 1669. cannot discharge the Duty due in the year 1670. VII. That no Certificate made contrary unto, or not fully agreeing in all the before-mentioned requisites of a Legal Certificate, can bind up or hinder you or your Deputies from levying His Majestie's Duty. VIII. That forasmuch as all Legal Certificates are necessary Vouchers for the discharge of so much upon your accounts, you and your Deputies( upon allowance of such) are to take them in, and withall to be careful that the persons concerned may be put to no farther trouble for that year. IX. That in case a Certificate be made for more then one person, and you or any of your Deputies( upon enquiry) shall have good information, that any person or persons comprehended therein are unduly certified for, and the same shall be made to appear to any of the Justices who allowed the said Certificate, and he shall thereupon order the name or names of such persons to be struck out of the same; then it will be requisite, that the said Justices do certify in the said Certificate, or on the backside thereof, the name or names so struck out, that such may have no pretence to be exempted thereby, but stand as liable to the Duty, as if they had never been inserted therein. X. That all Blowing-houses and Stamp-furnaces, or Kilns, or private Ovens, and all Hearths or Stoves within the Site of any Hospital or Alms-house for the relief of poor people, whose Endowment and Revenue exceeds not in true value one hundred pounds per annum, are clearly exempt from being charged with the Duty: But the Hearth of a chimney within any kitchen, Back-house or Out-house, remains charged with the Duty, though the Hearths of the private Ovens, Furnaces or Oast-holes within or belonging to such chimney be exempted. XI. That by Blowing-houses and Stamp-furnaces you are to understand Smelting-houses, or houses wherein the Mineral or Oar is melted down into Metal; and by private Ovens, such Ovens wherein provisions for the family onely( and not for gain) are baked or dressed. XII. That the Duty for all empty or voided houses is to be charged and levied upon the Landlord or Owner of such house or houses, as Occupier thereof, till some other person inhabiteth therein: But no Landlord or Owner of any house, edisice, &c. ought to be charged with the Duty while there is a Tenant or any other Occupier dwelling therein, unless in the cases following. Where the Landlord or Owner hath let any part of the Land, Gardens, Orchards, or Out-housing, formerly belonging to any house, apart from the same, or hath divided a house into lesser Tenements, and hath let the same to a person that is or may be exempted by Law. Nevertheless, you are directed to forbear to charge the Fire-hearths or attorneys in houses or parts of houses new erected with the Duty, until the next half-year-day after such house or houses are or shall be inhabited. XIII. That the Duty may at any time after the half-yearly-feasts whereon the same groweth due to His Majesty be demanded & received by you or your Deputies; But it cannot be levied by distress without the assistance of a Constable, Tything-man, or other public or proper Officer of the place,( if any such be, otherwise without) and that in the day-time onely, nor till at least one hour after the first demand thereof. XIV. That the Distress is to be taken in the house for which the Duty is answerable, if it can conveniently be made therein; otherwise in any part of the out-housing, yards or land belonging and adjoining thereunto. XV. That though after one hour of the first demand of the Duty; you or your Deputy( accompanied with a Constable, &c.) may proceed to distress; yet if the person who ought to pay the Duty, or any other in behalf of him or her, shall tender the same before distress be made, or( being made) before it shall be carried out of the house or ground upon which it shall be taken, the Duty so tendered is to be accepted of, and the goods so distrained are to be redelivered and restored without any farther Charge. XVI. That goods legally distrained may be left( as His Majestie's goods) in the hands of the Constable or other person at discretion, and may( for the Owners conveniency) be kept some reasonable time if undisposed of: But if the said Owner do neglect or refuse to redeem them, they are to be sold at the best price can be gotten, and the overplus( if any) above the Duty and Charge is to be returned to the said Owner: And if the goods yield not so much as the Duty and lawful Charge amounteth unto, a farther distress may be made for the remainder. XVII. That though the Charge of distreining( not exceeding the moiety of the Duty) be allowed; yet there ought to be no more taken in such case then ( bona fide) the real Charge amounteth unto. XVIII. That you and your respective Deputies are to give plain and distinct Acquittances for what you shall receive, and that freely, without Fee or Reward, ascertaining therein the time when the Duty so received became due; and to advice persons to keep them safe, to prevent inconveniences that may happen by non-producing of them when necessity may require it. XIX. That no person can be distrained or molested for any Duty or Arrears thereof that hath been due above two years. XX. That if you or any of your Deputies shall be injured or opposed in the performance of your duties, you are to repair to the next Justice of the Peace, and make Oath before him thereof, and require such Relief of him as the Law directs. XXI. That no person can be chargeable with more then one half years Duty before he or she taketh or entereth into a relinquished house, though there should be an Arrear of full two years Duty, or less, for or upon the said house. XXII. That the stoping up, defacing, covering or concealing of any chargeable chimney, Hearth, or Stove, doth not discharge the Duty payable for such Hearth; but whosoever shall do the same fraudulently, shall, for such Offence,( being proved as the Act directs) pay double the value of the said Duty: Nevertheless, if the whole chimney wherein such chargeable Hearth was shall be destroyed, demolished, or quiter taken down, in such Case the Duty for such Hearth or Hearths ought not to be exacted, the same being a Decrease, for which the Owner or Occupier may lawfully claim an allowance. XXIII. That no Fire-hearth within a chimney standing in whole or in part, is to be discharged from the Duty, under pretence that the same was stopped up, defaced, or covered, before the Act, unless Affidavit be made, that the same was so done before the 26. day of March 1662. which Affidavits you are to preserve, and return with your account. XXIV. That a Person inhabiting any house, &c. wherein is above two attorneys, Fire-hearths or Stoves,( except an Alms-house or Hospital excepted) cannot be exempted from the Duty upon any pretext whatsoever. XXV. That no Person or Persons are to be returned into the Exchequer in order to the issuing of any Process thence against them in default of payment of the Duty, where a portable and valuable Distress may be had and taken within or about the house( or grounds belonging thereunto) for which the Duty is answerable. But in the Cases following, you or your Deputies may have recourse unto his Majesties Court of Exchequer for recovery of His Majesties Duty, by such legal and proper Remedies as you shall from time to time be directed to pursue. 

1. When the person owing the Duty is dead, and the Executors or Administrators live not in the house for which the Duty is payable.  
2. When a party removes out of a house owing more then one half years Duty, or when( but half a year) the house lies voided for above one half after his or her removal.  
3. In the case of Empty houses, or of houses from which Land, &c is let, or of divided houses( formerly chargeable) let unto Paupers.  
4. When the persons who owe the Duty are privileged, or do claim privilege of Exemption from Distress.  
5. When the Duty demanded is payable, but denied to be chargeable by the Act, and the party will not set out a Distress in order to a Trial at Law.  
6. Where a portable and valuable Distress cannot be made or taken upon the premises, and yet the Persons able to answer the Duty.  
7. When persons shall wilfully shut their doors against you or your Deputies, thereby to prevent the Levying of the Duty.     
A. YOU are forthwith to provide so many sufficient Deputies as may necessary be employed by you in the Affair committed to your management, and to assign and set out to them respectively such proportion of your whole Charge as they may be able to perfect and complete within the time prescribed by the Acts to that purpose. And you are to take care to accommodate them with all things requisite for the Work intended; and to satisfy yourself( as your Concerns do and will require) that your said Deputies do understand the nature of their employment and procedure therein. B. And for your indemnity, who are to secure the whole Receipt,( you being answerable for your Under-officers) you are to take such Security from all your Deputies, that you may be able certainly to receive and pay in to the Exchequer all the Revenue arising by the said Duty within your whole County, or Counties, and Places given you in charge, according to the times appointed in the Acts, that so His Majestie's public Occasions, whereunto it is designed, may not be disappointed by the failer thereof. C. And having deputed any persons to collect and levy the said Duty, and given them Oath accordingly, you are( for the better satisfaction of the Country, and to prevent Deceit) to certify to the Justices of the Peace for the County, or Counties, and Places within your Charge respectively, at their next Quarter Sessions, the Names and Additions of the persons so deputed by you, therein signifying, that they, and every of them, have taken an Oath for the due performance of their Trust, according to the Laws enacted to that purpose: And in case of removal of any of your Deputies after such Certificate made, or of employing any new Deputy or Deputies, you are from time to time to certify such Alteration to the said Justices as aforesaid. D. Before you, or any of your Deputies, do demand the Duty in any Towns, Parishes, or Places,( except Cities or Market-towns) you or they are to sand or deliver a printed or written Summons, to be red in the Church the Sunday following the delivery thereof, or to be forthwith communicated by the Constable, or other such like Officer, to the Inhabitants within his Division, signifying therein some convenient time after such intended publication, wherein you or some of your Deputies will be at the Town, Parish, or Place therein mentioned, in order to the receiving of His Majestie's Duty; that so persons may not be surprised by your sudden coming, but may have some reasonable time to provide the Duty, and in their absence to leave out the same. E. You are to take care that your Deputies do immediately proceed( with the assistance of the Constables, &c.) to the viewing and numbering of the several Fire-hearths and Stoves within any dwelling or other house, edisice, &c. which shall be within the respective Divisions allotted by you unto them respectively: wherein they are to make use of such helps, methods, Lists or former Views, as yourself( having first received them by our Order) shall distribute to them, as useful, and in a good measure leading to the better understanding of the Work in their respective Districts: Yet so as the said Lists or Views neither, are nor can be binding Rules to them,( who are and must act upon Oath) nor be relied upon or credited, farther than they shall be found( by the view of yourself or your Deputies) to have been justly and truly taken as the Law requires. And if it shall appear that any Parishes, Towns, Villages, Hamletts, places or houses, in any of their allotted Divisions, are omitted in the said Lists or Views, or any new attorneys chargeable by Law have been since erected, care is to be taken to insert them in their proper places; and all other neglects, faileurs, or mistakes which shall be found in the said old Lists or Views, are to be rectified in your respective Views accordingly, upon and according to which new Views you and your Deputies are then to demand and receive two half yeares Duties due unto His Majesty, ending upon the 25 day of March 1670. F. You and your respective Deputies are in the taking of the names of the Inhabitants in each Parish, Town or Place,( with the number of Hearths in each house) to enter them as they lye most contiguous, whereby the said Duty may be more easily collected, inscribing all empty houses and their number of Hearths in their due places, with the names of the persons who by the Law are chargeable with the Duty for them. G. Having perfected the View of any Parish, Town, Constablery, tithing or borough, the same is to be fairly transcribed, according to the Method now delivered unto you, and( being signed by your Deputy who made such View, and by the Constable, Headburrough, Tything-man, or such like Officer who assisted therein) the same is to be safely kept, till the whole Hundred, Wapentake, or other Division, be so viewed, signed and completed; and then you are to take them into your own custody, till the whole County and places committed to your care be finished: at which time you are forthwith to deliver, or cause to be delivered, the entire Views so taken and signed;( keeping Duplicates of them to be ready for His Majesties service upon all occasions,) together with a Certificate under your hand annexed, purporting that those are the Views taken in pursuance of the Act of Parliament in that behalf, unto the respective Clerks of the Peace for the Counties, or for the Cities and Towns, and Counties of the Cities and Towns respectively; that so the said Clerks of the Peace may proceed upon such Lists or Views, as they are by Law enjoined and required. H. And you are to pay unto the said Clerks of the Peace one penny in the pound, for all such moneys as you or any of your Deputies shall receive for one whole years Duty due and ending upon the 25. day of March 1670. within the Counties and places to which such Clerks of the Peace do respectively belong, and thence forward, according to the direction of the Acts: and also to such Constables, Tything-men, and other such like Officers, who shall readily assist you and your Deputies in viewing, numbering, levying and collecting the said Duty, two pence in the pound, for so much money as shall be collected by them or any of them, or by and with their respective personal assistance: Taking from the said Clerks of the Peace, and other such Officers respectively, distinct Acquittances under their hands, for so much as shall be so paid unto them, in order to the allowance thereof upon your account. I. And you and your Deputies are to use your utmost diligence and discretion in the discharge of this trust, and to take special care, that the growing Revenue be duly collected and paid into His Majesties Receipt or Exchequer, as by the said Acts is directed, without your detaining or otherwise disposing of any part thereof, which will be esteemed criminal, and severely punished. As, on the contrary, we shall take into consideration any extraordinary care & industry which shall be used in the improving of His Majesties said Revenue, and speedy paying in of the moneys collected thereupon. K. And forasmuch as His Majesties profit is highly concerned in the collection of the said Duty; all Justices of Peace and chief Magistrates, Constables and other His Majesties Officers, within their several Limits and Jurisdictions, are authorised and required to give you and your respective Deputies assistance from time to-time in the due execution of your trusts. And all such Justices and Clerks of the Peace, chief Magistrates, Town-Clerks, Sheriffs, Constables, and other His Majesties Officers, who shall readily give their assistance for the better settlement of this Revenue, and the regular and orderly Levying thereof, shall from time to time be by us represented to His Majesty, that so they may receive His Countenance and approbation of their good service therein L. And you and your Deputies are so to demean yourselves, that you may avoid all just occasion of Offence, that so by your discreet behaviour this Affair( wherein His Majesties Advantage is so greatly concerned) may be the better advanced and carried on, and yourselves also thereby freed from Complaint. M. And you are to take notice, that in case His Majesty shall be hereafter induced & advised again to Farm out this Duty, by reason of the neglect of His Officers in the due Collecting and answering thereof, His Majesty is resolved that no such Officer shall ever be admitted to Farm any part thereof, nor to receive any benefit thereby. N. And Lastly, you and your Deputies are to execute and perform all other the Powers and things comprised in the said several Acts, for the Collecting and Levying of the said Revenue, according to the tenor and direction of the said Acts, and of these Instructions, and from time to time to give a true account of your doings and proceedings therein( and of such moneys as you shall at any time pay or return to be paid into His Majesties Exchequer) to Us, or to such persons as shall be from time to time appointed to correspond with, and to communicate our Orders and Directions to you, for the more easy and ready signification of our pleasures therein, with whom you are hereby ordered and required to keep such constant correspondency as may give them certainty where to direct, and how to convey Letters to you upon all occasions.   

We have perused these INSTRUCTIONS, and do conceive them to be according to Law, and that it is expedient for His MAJESTIE's a Service they should be pursued  


Heneage Finch  
Fra: North.     

〈…〉 Assis 〈…〉 you 〈…〉 lick office 〈…〉 and Habitations in 〈…〉  
3. In Surveying a 〈…〉 it necessary) you sha 〈…〉 other public Office 〈…〉  
4. In all Places i 〈…〉 contiguous and in o 〈…〉 Duty.  
5. In taking you 〈…〉 Cellar, and Garre 〈…〉 each Fire-Hearth 〈…〉 Hearths 〈…〉 each 〈…〉 co 〈…〉 〈…〉   

These INSTRUCTIONS being allowed and approved by His MAJESTIE's council learned in the Law, we direct that they be pursued.  


Ashley.  
T. Clifford.  
Jo. Duncombe.   Treasury Chamber, 19 of April 1670,