was passed,[275] authorizing the citizens of London to pay their tithes at the rate of 2_s._ 9_d._ in the pound. Ten years later another Act was passed,[276] “That the citizens and inhabitants of the City of London and Liberties of the same shall yearly, without fraud or covin, for ever pay their tithes to the parsons, vicars, and curates of the said City, and their successors for the time being, after the following rate: For every 10_s._ rent by the year of all houses, shops, warehouses, cellars, tables, etc., within the City and Liberty, 16½_d._; and for every 20_s._ rent by the year, 2_s._ 9_d._; and so above the rent of 20_s._ by the year, ascending from 10_s._ to 10_s._, according to the rate aforesaid.” (3) The next account of tithes in London was after the great fire in 1666. An Act which I call the first Fire Act was passed in 1670,[277] for the better settlement of the maintenance of the parsons, vicars and curates in the parishes of the city of London burnt by the great fire. The preamble runs thus:— “Whereas the tithes in the city of London were levied and paid with great inequality, and are, since the late dreadful fire there, in the rebuilding of the same, by taking away some houses, altering the foundations of many, and the new erecting of others, so disordered, that in case they should not for the time to come be reduced to a certainty, many contrivances and suits of law might arise, be it enacted that the annual certain tithes of every parish in the City of London and its Liberties, whose churches have been demolished or in part consumed by the late fire, be paid according to the sum opposite each.” Sec. 3. “Which respective sums of money to be paid in lieu of tithes within the said respective parishes, and assessed as hereinafter is directed, shall be and continue to be esteemed, deemed and taken to all intents and purposes, to be the respective annual maintenance (over and above glebes and perquisites, gifts and bequests to the respective parson, vicar and curate of any parish for the time being, or to their successors respectively, or to others for their use) of the said respective parsons, vicars and curates, who shall be legally instituted, inducted and admitted in the respective parishes.” In subsequent sections assessments were ordered to be made before the 24th July, 1671, upon all houses, shops, warehouses, cellars, and other hereditaments, except parsonage and vicarage houses. Three transcripts were to be made by the assessors, containing the respective sums to be payable out of all the premises within each parish; one was for the Lord Mayor, the second for the Bishop of London’s registry, and the third was to remain in the vestry. The payments were to be made in four quarterly payments.