All the taxes were at first on estate. Henry the Second introduced taxation on movables. Sometimes it was a fifteenth. The nature of this tax may be imagined by supposing it to be imposed upon a trader’s stock at the present day. His stock is worth, suppose, £9000; he would pay £600 upon it. But he has a house with furniture, plate, pictures, and books which have accumulated for two or three generations. The contents of the house are worth, say, £3000. He would have to pay £200 on this account. He has £12,000 invested; he must pay £800 on the investments. He would have, then, to pay at one call £1600 in taxes. These taxes were not imposed all at the same time, nor on the same class; one year the clergy were called upon, another the knights, on another occasion the City of London would be taxed. It seems to us an arbitrary method; but then we have lost the sense of kingly authority. To our ancestors, whom we must not consider as prophets, it was a right and proper thing that a man should be called upon by the King at any moment to surrender a great slice of his property. It was the first proof of a bad King that he demanded these aids too frequently. It was another proof that in spite of his aids he allowed the country to fall into disorder. At such times the hapless trader found it impossible to carry on his business in a country infested by robbers and over seas infested by pirates. Yet, even then, the King was still demanding more and more. The best, the only hope of the citizens was, not to be free from the King, but that the King should make his authority felt over them as well as over the country. They wanted a King like Henry the First, Henry the Second, or Edward the First. It was the greatest blessing to London that their Kings were, with one or two exceptions, strong and clear-headed men. The King also exercised authority over the Moneyers and the Mint. Formerly there were mints in many places; we have seen how Henry the First treated those who debased the coin. Henry the Second kept the Mint in London, where he could control it more effectually. He also set up an office in the Mint for the exchange of foreign money: a great convenience to foreign merchants. In the year 1312, letters were sent by the King, Edward the Second, to the City of London concerning the safe keeping of the City. The method of reception of a Royal Communication by the Mayor and Aldermen may be learned from Riley’s _Memorials_ (p. 93). The following is the letter:—