By the 23d of Henry the Eighth, cap. 1. the capital part of the offence is extended to persons, (whether principals or accessaries,) burning dwelling houses; or barns wherein corn is deposited; and by the 43d of Elizabeth, cap. 13, burning barns or stacks of corn in the four northern counties, is also made Felony without Benefit of Clergy. By the 22d and 23d of Car. II. cap. 7, it is made felony to set fire to any stack of corn, hay, or grain; or other outbuildings, or kilns, maliciously in the night time; punished with transportation for seven years. By the 1st George I. cap. 48, it is also made single felony to set fire to any wood, underwood, or coppice. Other burnings are made punishable with death, without Benefit of Clergy; _viz._ Setting fire to any house, barn, or outhouse, or to any hovel, cock, mow, or stack of corn, straw, hay, or wood: or the rescuing any such offender: 9 George I. cap. 22.--Setting fire to a coal-mine: 10 George II. cap. 32.--Burning, or setting fire to any wind-mill, water-mill, or other mill: (as also pulling down the same:) 9 George III. cap. 29; but the offender must be prosecuted within eighteen months.--Burning any ship; to the prejudice of the owners, freighters, or underwriters: 22 and 23 Charles II. cap. 11; 1 Anne, stat. 2. cap. 9; 4 George I. cap. 12.--Burning the King's ships of war afloat, or building: or the Dock-yards, or any of the buildings, arsenals, or stores therein: 12 George III. cap. 24.--And finally, _Threatening_ by anonymous or fictitious letters to burn houses, barns, &c. is by the Act 27 George II. cap. 15, also made felony without Benefit of Clergy. Burglary is a felony at common law; it is described to be _when a person, by night, breaketh into the mansion of another, with an intent to commit a felony; whether the felonious intent be executed or not_. By the 18th of Elizabeth, cap. 7, the Benefit of Clergy is taken away from _The Offence_; and by the 3d and 4th William and Mary, cap. 9, from _Accessaries before the fact_.--By the 12th of Anne, stat. 1, cap. 7, if any person shall enter into a mansion or dwelling house, by day or by night, without breaking into the same, with an intent to commit any felony; or being in such houses, shall commit any felony; and shall, in the night time, _break_ the said house _to get out_ of the same, he is declared guilty of the offence of burglary, and punished accordingly. It is, without doubt, highly expedient that this Offence should be punished more severely than any other species of theft; since, besides the loss of property, there is something very terrific in the mode of perpetration, which is often productive of dreadful effects. The ancient laws made a marked distinction in the punishment, between this Offence, which was called Hamsokne, (and which name it retains at present in the Northern parts of this kingdom) and robbing a house in the day time.