The case of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, and elsewhere within the county of York, and others of the cutlers and smiths in Warwickshire and Darbyshire

Illustrates one of the abuses of the hearth tax. Collectors of this tax demanded two shillings tax for every forge, though all such were exempted by the act if the rent paid was less than twenty shillings a year. The tax was repealed in 1687, mainly because of the resulting hardships and heartless conduct of the collectors.