Odd Bits: Rain, unlike light, has escaped taxation, although only narrowly; for during the long war, when Pitt was puzzled what next to tax, he wrote, whilst staying at Burton Pinsent, in Somersetshire, to a friend and neighbour in that county, asking him to suggest something that might be taxed, as he “had exhausted his stock, and was at his wits’ end.” The reply was, “Tax umbrellas, and make the bishop’s order the prayer for rain to be read in all the churches till the end of the war.” Pitt, however, had already taxed everything the umbrella was made of and, having a conscience, the contrivance to keep off the rain did not share the same fate as the one to let the light in, although in exactly the same category. … …
[see also Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 31st July 1867]
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
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