Hearth less than 20 shillings a year and those who paid neither church nor poor rates. Also exempt were charitable institutions such as schools and almshouses, and industrial hearths with the exception of smiths' forges and bakers' ovens. The returns were lodged with the Clerk of the Peace between 1662 and 1688. A revision of the Act in 1664 made the tax payable by all who had more than two chimneys. The tax was abolished by William III in 1689 and the last collection was for Lady Day of that year. It was abolished in Scotland in 1690. Hearth tax records
Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩ standard English without any vowels in the or area by the late 17th century. However, this putative gap was filled by the following special developments: The of the late 17th century has generally backed to in several varieties of contemporary English, for example in Received Pronunciation. The following table shows some developments of Middle English in Received Pronunciation. The word "gate", which derived from Middle English , has also been included for comparison. The table below shows the results of these developments in some contemporary varieties of English: <nowiki>*</nowiki> May undergo -tensing. Old English (OE) had an open back vowel