thieves, and robbers with their aiders and abettors, and generally to help the authorities provided they were not required to give evidence themselves.[110] [Sidenote: Essex goes to England.] Before Essex had been three years in Ireland there were many schemes for upsetting him and many rumours as to his successor. Orrery, Halifax, Lauderdale, Ormonde, and Conway were all named, but there seems to have been no real intention of recalling him. In the summer of 1675 he went to England for what he meant to be a short visit. The King said he wished to consult him on Irish affairs, and named the Primate and Sir Arthur Forbes as Lords Justices. Essex had asked for such an opportunity of explaining matters as had been twice allowed to Strafford, of clearing up the remaining difficulties under the Act of Settlement, of making arrangements for collecting the revenue, and of discussing measures for an Irish Parliament in contemplation. On reaching London he found that he had enemies at Court, but that they had made no impression on the King. Revenue matters detained him unexpectedly for several months, during which he frequently met Ormonde at the Privy Council, and for a long time after this there was no further misunderstanding between them.[111] [Sidenote: Financial irregularities, Lord Ranelagh.] [Sidenote: Hearth-money.] Richard Jones, Viscount Ranelagh, Orrery's nephew and grandson of the prelate who had married Tyrone to Mabel Bagenal, had been much befriended by Ormonde, who procured his appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1668. The insight thus obtained into Irish finance no doubt caused him to conceive the idea of getting the whole revenue into his hands. The opportunity was afforded by Lord Aungier the Vice-Treasurer, who produced a paper showing the state of the finances for the five years ending with Christmas 1670. Ranelagh offered to collect all the taxes and to pay all the expenses of government. The revenue at this time amounted to about 200,000_l._, consisting of quit-rents and other land taxes, and of imposts settled upon the Crown by the late Parliament independent of anything that subsidies might produce. These were the customs and excise leviable according to rates fixed by law, ale-house duties, and the hearth-money granted as compensation for the abolition of knight-service and of the Court of Wards. Two shillings upon every fireplace or stove does not seem a very heavy charge, but it was leviable by distress and involved domiciliary visits, and it was manifestly unfair as between rich and poor. It was abolished in England by William III., but continued long afterwards in Ireland. 'It still remains,' wrote Howard in 1776, 'a most oppressive burden on the occupiers of the wretched hovels in many parts of this kingdom.' In the hands of farmers it was capable of great abuse. Ranelagh and his partners were given complete control of the finances from Christmas 1670 to Christmas 1675, and the Vice-Treasurer