Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/347

 10 s. VIIL OCT. 12, 1907.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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specimen of the way in which these esti- mates were made. Between 1545 and 1621 the wealth of England had increased enor- mously ; rents had gone up exorbitantly ; money had circulated lavishly through the country. One would naturally expect that in even out-of-the-way places like the West Riding of Yorkshire the taxable value would have very much increased. But what do we find ? The largest property owner on the list is Sir Thomas Bland with 2QL, upon which he is assessed 11. 6s. 8d., or Is. 4eZ. in the pound. Sir Richard Hawksworth. and William Arthington, Esq., have the same. A very few of the gentry have estates ranging from 4Z. to 131. 6s. 8d. ; a much larger number, with the bulk of the yeomanry, from 20s. to 31. The personal estates are quite insignificant, ranging, with evidently artificial uniformity, from 31. to 61. Of the latter Leeds can boast only one John Harrison, the munificent benefactor ; and there are but three other men on the whole list with as much as 51. to their credit. On this huge personalty they pay at the rate of Is. in the pound. There is no material difference in the state of things in the succeed- ing subsidy for 1627, though there is a change in the assessment of personalty to 2s. 6d. in the pound, and of realty to 4s. No doubt the latter was considered a very exorbitant impost.

The only conclusion to which one can come is that the assessors departed entirely from any real valuation of either goods or lands, and graduated the taxpayers after a system of their own. They seem to have put the landholding men into classes, beginning with the 40s. freeholder, whom they ranked at one-half, 20s. From him upwards they sorted the larger owners according to an approximate half of the ancient rents of their estates. The personalty was estimated after a still more curious fashion, and bore only a remote relation to the actual pro- perty taxed. Men sometimes seem to have been allowed to choose whether they should appear as freeholders or not ; for there are certainly cases in which the owners of free- hold property appear under the personalty assessment. I rather think that minors escaped altogether ; but I do not like to assert this as a general principle, as those instances I have noted may be simply due to local favouritism. I should like very much to know whether the same conditions prevailed over all England. Perhaps some of the readers of ' N. & Q.' will be induced by this note to inquire into the subject.

A. B.

HODGSON'S, 1807-1907. (See ante, pp. 246, 266.) Among many valuable records possessed by the Hodgsons are the catalogues of the trade sales conducted by them, and as these comprised almost all the chief sales, they form a most interesting chapter in the history of bookselling in England. They were not really public sales ; they were usually held at " the Albion " Tavern (a landmark which has only recently disappeared), and were attended, on invitation, by the trade. The books were offered at reduced or " liberal " prices rather than sold by auction. Many hundreds of these trade sales were held, but they virtually ceased some twenty years ago. I think I am right in stating that the last was that of the Bentleys, whose house in Burlington Street was full of literary relics and reminiscences of the choicest kind. One trade sale conducted by Mr. Edmund Hodgson was of worldwide interest, being that of the entire stock and copyrights of the life and works of Sir Walter Scott. This took place at the London Coffee-House on Wednesday, the 26th of March, 1851. In ' John Francis,' vol. i. pp. 505-7, the following is quoted from The Athenceum of March 29th :

"The stock had been valued at 10.109/. 3s. a, very low figure indeed : but the matter was open to reference afterwards. The two things must be sold as one : the purchaser of the copyright must take the stock. At length 5,000/. was offered, followed up by 5,5/001. : and so on the biddings went by jumps of 5001. at a time till the figure had reached 10,000/. In this stage of the contest fresh ques- tions began to arise : ' Were Mr. Cadell's trustees bidders on this occasion ? ' ' Was there a reserved price ? ' ' Yes,' it M - as answered ; ' they retain and perhaps will exercise the right or bidding.' Then followed another 500/. leap, Mr. Bohn and the Row retiring, and the struggle lying between Mr. Virtue and some imaginary bidder to be seen only by the eyes of the auctioneer. At 13,500/. Mr. Virtue gave way ; and after a further rivalry the hammer sounded, and the copyrights were ' bought in' at 15,000, making the hgure, including the stock, 25,109/. 3*."

On the following 10th of May The Athenceum states, on the authority of The Scotsman, that the whole of the copyrights, stock, &c., of Scott's works have been trans- ferrred to Messrs. A. & C. Black.

Messrs. Hodgson in their commemorative booklet remind us that when their firm was founded many authors who have since taken their place

"in the highest realms of literature had not yet been given to the world ! Sheridan, Blake, Scott> Coleridge, Wordsworth, Landor, Lamb, DeQuincey, and Jane Austen to mention only the more famous authors living in 1807 had but recently produced,