HOUSE, in astrology, denotes the twelfth part of the heavens.
The division of the heavens into houses, is founded upon the pretended influence of the stars, when meeting in them, on all sublunary bodies. These influences are supposed to be good or bad; and to each of these houses particular virtues are assigned, on which astrologers prepare and form a judgment of their horoscopes. The horizon and meridian are two circles of the celestial houses, which divide the heavens into four equal parts, each containing three houses; six of which are above the horizon and six below it; and six of these are called eastern and six western houses.
A scheme or figure of the heavens is composed of 12 triangles, all called houses, in which are marked the stars, signs, and planets, so included in each of these circles. Every planet has likewise two particular houses, in which it is pretended that they exert their influence in the strongest manner; but the sun and moon have only one, the house of the former being Leo, and that of the latter Cancer.
The houses in astrology have also names given them according to their qualities. The first is the house of life:
House. life: this is the ascendant, which extends five degrees above the horizon, and the rest below it. The second is the house of riches; the third, the house of brothers; the fourth, in the lowest part of the heavens, is the house of relations; the angle of the earth; the fifth, the house of children; the sixth, the house of health; the seventh, the house of marriage, and the angle of the west; the eighth, the house of death; the ninth, the house of piety; the tenth, the house of offices; the eleventh, the house of friends; and the twelfth, the house of enemies.
* See Villa. Country House, is the villa * of the ancient Romans, the quinta of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the closerie and cassine of the French, and the vigna of the Italians.
It ought always to have wood and water near it, these being the principal beauties of a rural seat. The trees make a far better defence than hills, as they yield a cooling and healthy air, shade during the heat of summer, and very much break the severities of the winter season.
It should not be situated too low, on account of the moisture of the air; and, on the other hand, those built on places exposed to the winds are expensive to keep in repair. In houses not above two stories high, and upon a good foundation, the length of two bricks, or 18 inches, for the heading course, will be sufficient for the ground-work of any common structure; and six or seven courses above the earth, to a water-table, where the thickness of the walls is abated or taken in, on either side the thickness of a brick, viz. two inches and a quarter. But for large and high houses of three, four, or five stories, with garrets, their walls ought to be three heading courses of bricks, or 28 inches at least, from the foundation to the first water-table; and at every story a water-table, or taking in, on the inside, for the summits, girders, and joists to rest upon, laid into the middle, or one quarter of the wall at least, for the better bond. But as for the partition-wall, a brick and half will be sufficiently thick; and for the upper stories a brick length or nine inch brick will suffice.
Hot-House. See STOVE and HYPOCAUSTUM.
House-Breaking, or Robbing, is the breaking into and robbing a house in the day-time; the same crime being termed BURGLARY when done by night: both are felony without benefit of clergy.
House and Window Duty, a branch of the king's extraordinary revenue †.—As early as the conquest, mention is made in domesday book of fumage or fudge, vulgarly called smoke-farthings; which were paid by custom to the king for every chimney in the house. And we read that Edward the Black Prince (soon after his successes in France), in imitation of the English custom, imposed a tax of a florin upon every hearth in his French dominions. But the first parliamentary establishment of it in England was by statute 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 10. whereby an hereditary revenue of 2s. for every hearth, in all houses paying to church and poor, was granted to the king for ever. And, by subsequent statutes, for the more regular assessment of this tax, the constable and two other substantial inhabitants of the parish, to be appointed yearly (or the surveyor appointed by the crown, together with such constable or other public officer), were, once in every year, en-
powered to view the inside of every house in the parish. But, upon the Revolution, by stat. 1. W. and M. c. 10. hearth-money was declared to be "not only a great oppression to the poorer sort, but a badge of slavery upon the whole people, exposing every man's house to be entered into and searched at pleasure, by persons unknown to him; and therefore, to erect a lasting monument of their majesties goodness, in every house in the kingdom the duty of hearth-money was taken away and abolished." This monument of goodness remains among us to this day: but the prospect of it was somewhat darkened, when in six years afterwards, by statute 7 W. III. c. 18. a tax was laid upon all houses (except cottages) of 2s. now advanced to 3s. per house, and a tax also upon all windows, if they exceeded nine, in such house. These rates have been from time to time varied, being now extended to all windows exceeding six; and power is given to surveyors, appointed by the crown, to inspect the outside of houses, and also to pass through any houses, two days in the year, into any court or yard, to inspect the windows there.
Schemes of the different rates of duty upon houses and windows may be seen in the Almanacks, or in Kearsey's Tax-Tables published yearly.
House-Leek. See SEVUM and SEMPERVIVUM, BOTANY INDEX.