EXCISE, n.s. (_accijs_, Dutch; _excisum_, Latin,) a hateful
tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common
judges of property, but _wretches_ hired by those to whom
"_Excise_" is paid.
The people should pay a rateable tax for their
sheep, and an _Excise_ for every thing which they
should eat.--HAYWARD.
"Ambitious now to take _excise_
Of a more fragrant paradise."--CLEVELAND.
_EXCISE._
"With hundred rows of teeth the shark exceeds,
And on all trades, like Cassawar, she feeds."
MARVEL.
"Can hire large houses and oppress the poor
By farm'd Excise."--DRYDEN'S Juvenal, Sat. 3.
The Author's definition being observed by the Commissioners
of Excise, they desire the favour of your opinion:
_Qu._--Whether it will not be considered as a libel; and if
so, whether it is not proper to proceed against the author,
printers and publishers thereof, or any and which of them,
by information or how otherwise?
_OPINION._
"I am of opinion that it is a libel; but under all the
circumstances, I should think it better to give him an
opportunity of altering his definition; and in case he
don't, threaten him with an information.
"(Signed) W. MURRAY.
"29th Nov, 1755."
* * * * *
Samuel Sewall, whose remarkable "Diary" has within a few years been
printed by the Massachusetts Historical Society, appears to have been
the successor of John Foster, who printed the first book ever issued
from the press in Boston,--namely, "Hubbard's Election Sermon,"--in
1676. All previous printing in the colony had been executed at
Cambridge. Mr. Hubbard was the minister of Ipswich.