We now pass to some of the political action of the reign. In 1768, Sir Francis Dashwood, Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed a new tax on cider and perry, amounting to ten shillings on the hogshead. Earl Stanhope states that the outcry was so vehement that a modification of the scheme was all that was granted, and four shillings were to be paid by the grower. In the Upper House the Bill was also strongly opposed, but the Ministry carried the point. Bute incurred much odium. People compared the rash disregard of popular opinion with which this measure was pushed through with the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, who had bowed to the public demonstrations against his system of excise; and when Bute’s resignation was announced many ascribed his retreat to the alarm raised by the popular indignation. A caricature entitled, _The Roasted Exciseman; or, the Jack Boot’s exit_, represents the enraged mob burning the effigy of a Scotchman suspended on a gallows; a great worn boot lies on the bonfire, into which a man is throwing an excised cider barrel as fuel. The City of London presented a petition against the tax at the bar of the House of Commons, but to no effect; and in the cider counties it was found hard indeed to enforce the duties imposed. One of many lachrymations was Benjamin Heath’s _The Case of the County of Devon_, 1763. An address to honest English hearts, being an honest countryman’s reflections on the cider tax, 1763. Some plain reasons for the repeal of the cider tax, dedicated to every man who pays taxes, and particularly to the Honourable G---- J----, M.P. for Norfolk, &c., 1763. An address to the electors, such as are not makers of cider and perry, 1787. The tax on beer, too, early in the reign, had greatly exasperated the mob. The _Royal Magazine_ tells that while their Majesties were at Drury Lane Theatre, to see the _Winter’s Tale_, as Garrick was repeating the lines:-- ‘For you, my hearts of oak, for your regale, Here’s good old English stingo, mild and stale,’ a fellow cried out of the gallery: ‘At threepence a pot, Master Garrick, or confusion to the brewers!’ Imposts on _malt_ were continually brought forward. The brewers as well as their clients were wild. Mr. Whitbread inveighed on one occasion against the Ministers for laying a _war tax_ upon malt. Sheridan, who was present, could not resist a shy at the brewer. He wrote on a paper the following lines, and handed them to Mr. Whitbread across the table:-- They’ve raised the price of table drink; What is the reason, do you think? The tax on _malt_’s the cause I hear-- But what has _malt_ to do with _beer_?