Northampton is loyal to the memory of Charles II. He was a benefactor to the borough, and helped the inhabitants after the great fire of 1675. In the Baptismal Register of All Saints', Northampton, it is recorded, under September 1675, as follows: "In this month, a very lamentable fire destroyed 3 parts of our Towne and Church." The Marriage Register says: "While the world lasts, remember September the 20th, a dreadfull fire, it consumed to ashes in a few houres, 3 parts of our Towne and Cheef Church." The sum of L25,000 was collected by briefs and private charities towards the heavy loss sustained by the inhabitants. Charles II. gave 1000 tons of timber out of Whittlewood forest, and remitted the duty of chimney-money in the town for seven years. We gather from Hume, that "the king's debts had become so intolerable, that the commons were constrained to vote him an extraordinary supply of L1,200,000, to be levied by eighteen months' assessment, and, finding upon inquiry that the several branches of the revenue fell much short of the sums they expected, they at last, after much delay, voted a new imposition of 2s. on each hearth, and this tax they settled on the king during his life." Macaulay speaks of this tax as being "peculiarly odious, for it could only be levied by means of domiciliary visits.... The poorer householders were frequently unable to pay their hearth-money to the day. When this happened, their furniture was distrained without mercy, for the tax was farmed, and a farmer of taxes, is, of all creditors, proverbially, the most rapacious." He quotes from some doggerel ballads of the period, and the following is one of the verses reproduced: "The good old dames, whenever they the chimney-man espied, Unto their nooks they haste away, their pots and pipkins hide; There is not one old dame in ten, and search the nation through, But, if you talk of chimney-men, will spare a curse or two." A reference to chimney-money occurs in an epitaph in Folkestone churchyard. Here is a copy: "In Memory of REBECCA ROGERS, who died August 22nd, 1688. Aged 44 years. A house she hath; it's made of such good fashion, The tenant ne'er shall pay for reparation, Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent, Or turn her out of doors for non-payment. From chimney-money too this cell is free-- To such a house, who would not tenant be?" The inhabitants of Northampton, to show their gratitude to the king for his consideration, displayed oak branches over their house doors. The members of the corporation, accompanied by the children of the charity schools, attend service at All Saints' Church. A statue of the king, in front of the church, is usually enveloped in oak boughs on May 29th. Marrying in a White Sheet.