of £160,000). But these failures cleared the way for a more effective form of direct impost, a general tax (1514) on land and goods which was at first modest: 2%. However, it was soon raised to 4s. in the pound on land and 2s. 8d. in the pound on goods, a scale evidently devised with reference to the older fifteenth and tenth, which henceforth became subordinate. The subsidy became the established mode of grant under both Tudors and Stuarts, though by degrees it underwent a change similar to that of its predecessor. Under the taxing statutes, elaborate provisions were made for its assessment and collection in order to secure the greatest possible return. However, old habits proved too strong and the subsidy "slipped into the same groove as that of the fifteenth and tenth, in practice becoming a grant of about the same amount as the yield of the preceding subsidy" (Dowell). As a result, each subsidy was approximately £100,000 in the middle of the 16th century, but had fallen to only £80,000 by its close. The parallel vote of the clergy in convocation (which, after 1533, was confirmed by Parliament) amounted to £20,000. Usually, Parliament voted a number of fifteenths and tenths plus subsidies, e.g. Elizabeth's first Parliament voted her two fifteenths and tenths plus a subsidy, or, taking the usual values, £160,000. At times of war, such as the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada, however, votes were enlarged by granting further fifteenths, tenths and subsidies. The history of the subsidy is instructive as regards its tendency to become inelastic over time, approximating to a fixed sum only. Thus, it followed the path of later medieval taxation forming the—albeit undesigned—model for subsequent land and property taxes. Under the Tudors, port duties—the subsidies on wool, hides and leather, plus tunnage at 3s., and poundage at 5%—were granted to each sovereign for life. These, together with the hereditary customs, supplied considerable revenue for crown's use and no better indication of the increased power and popularity of the monarchy can be found than during this era, the contrast with the suspicious, grudging attitudes of the Plantagenet and Lancastrian parliaments signifying a change in the national sentiment. However, increasing the duty on Malmsey wine (1490) had a retaliatory rather than a fiscal aim, being directed against the Venetians who had previously imposed restrictions on English trade. For the same reason, increases were