[5] A commission was appointed to consider the debased state of
the currency and, not without considerable opposition, a bill
was passed in 1696, withdrawing all debased coin from
circulation. This incurred an expense of some £1,200,000, which
the Government met by imposing a window tax.
[6] This was at the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford
Street. It was an old London landmark, from which distances were
measured as from the Standard in Cornhill. It was demolished in
1765.
[7] In practice, criminals were strangled before being burned.
The last case in which this penalty was inflicted was in 1789;
it was abolished the following year.