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 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 POO Rs, 
 
 THEIR RIGHTS, DUTIES, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE LAWS RESPECTING THEM 
 
 IN A SERIES OF LETTERS, 
 
 A NEW EDITION CORRECTED, AND CONTINUED TO THE PRESENT TIME, 
 
 By THO. RUGGLES, Esq. F.A.S. 
 
 One of his Majcfty's Juftices of the Peace for the Counties of Eflex and Suffolk. 
 
 LonDon : 
 
 PRINTED FOR W. RICHARDSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE. 
 
 M.DCC.XCVII,
 
 1
 
 I " t I 
 
 2^b 
 
 mi 
 
 ^ , y.. g Hii i )m. « ijiyiiui n t ju im i nw ' i i M. s'smm jn i iinj i ^ awpuwma—rawiawwyja wwuwiTH-ian i -'unB 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC, 
 
 WHEN I at firft determined to revife tlie follow- 
 ing Letters, and to publifli them in a volume 
 diftinft from that ufeful Agricultural Regifter'"' wherein 
 they firft appeared, it was my intention to addrefs them 
 to Mr. Pitt, under an abfurd perfuafion that a minifter 
 of ftate is expe6led, as it were, ex ojicio, to read thofe 
 treatifes which are, through the medium of the prefs, 
 direfted for his perufal ; and alfo from a belief that, if 
 he did perufe, he might, from the detail of what has 
 been done by the legillature for the poor, has been writ- 
 ten by thofe whofe obfervations on the fubject have been 
 preferved in print, or from the hints and obfervations 
 fcattered throughout the publication itfelf, find fomewhat 
 upon the fubjeft, w4iich,' when improved by his folid 
 judgement, matured by long experience, might, in the 
 form, of an ad of the legillature, meliorate and improve 
 
 * The Annals of Agriculture, by A. Yoiwg, Efq. 
 
 A 2 the 
 
 iriiRr>i:^
 
 IV 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 the fituation of the poor, and diminifli the cxpenfcs of 
 then- maintenance. 
 
 But rcflc6\ion foon cured me of that prefumption : 
 a miniftcr of ftate is the laft perfon in the kingdom 
 who can be expelled to read books ; he has more upon 
 his hands, to read men, than he can eafily get over in 
 the daily roudne of bufinefs. In the mean time, M'ith 
 refpe£t to the ardiia regni^ he cannot poflibly attend to 
 a more irrefiftible monitor than the pubHc voice ; by which 
 exprelTion neither the howhng of a favage and Ucentious 
 mob, or the cries of pretended patriotifm, are intended ; 
 but the voice of that general opinion, which arifes from 
 general knowledge of the fubje6l, that fpeaks always in 
 a tone, and with an authority, w^hich is irrefiflible, and 
 dien truly is not the vox populi alone, it is the vox 
 Dei. 
 
 To the Public, therefore, this hiftory of, and thefe 
 obfervations on, the police refpefting the poor, are pro- 
 perly dedicated. If any part of the detail contained in 
 the following pages, if any of the obfervadons, are worth 
 the attention of the Public ; if any of the hints here 
 thrown out tend, in the leaft degree, to meliorate the 
 condition of the poor themfelves, or to fave the Public 
 any part of the vaft expenfe which lies fo heavy on the 
 fhoulders of the landed interell, confident with the general 
 comfort of the fociety at large, their difcernment will fee 
 It, their good fenfe will apply it, and their voice will 
 
 fpeak,
 
 TOTHEPUBLIC. v 
 
 fpeak, with irrefiilible perfuafion, to our rulers, that it 
 may be done. 
 
 If nothing in thefe pages is worthy their attention, if 
 no ideas can be collected from the variety of matter 
 treated of which tend to throw hght on this fubje6t of fo 
 great confequence to us and to our pofterity, the contrary 
 prefumption will be properly puniihed by the public ne- 
 gle6t, and the infignificance of the publication will doom 
 it to that oblivion in wjiich many other tra61:s on the fame 
 topic are buried. 
 
 In fuch a cafe, the writer would have offended ftill more 
 againfl: the public advantage, had he, by an addrefs to the 
 minifter, taken up any of his valuable time ; but yet he 
 wifhed, through the medium of the prefs, to talk with 
 him on the fubjeft ; to afk him whether that vafl increafe 
 of the poor's rate, which became known to the public by 
 the means of the returns from the overfeers in the year 
 1787, is not worth his notice? Whether the fubjeft itfelf 
 is of fo trifling an import as to be always left to the de- 
 termination of a number of members of the Houfe of 
 Commons, fcarcely greater than would meet as a committee 
 on a private bill ? Or, whether he receives any fatisfac- 
 tion from a condu61: fnnilar to that of the dog in the man- 
 ger ; doing nothing himfelf, and not permitting any other 
 perfon to be a£live on the fubjedl? 
 
 The fate of Mr. Gilbert's bill and Sir William Young's 
 plan lliews fomewhat of this difpofition : the firll probably 
 
 fell,
 
 vi T O T ri E P U B L I C. 
 
 fell, like other milhapen and difproportionate buildings, 
 mold ruit fua ; the lall certainly contained fome good 
 regulations, was calculated to give a fpur to our a£ti- 
 \ity in the adminitlralion of the poor-laws, and to recal 
 into the execution of them fomewhat of their original in- 
 tent ; the promotion of induftry, and the encouragement 
 of labour. 
 
 But public rumour then reported that the minitler in- 
 tended to take the bufniefs under his own infpedlion, and, 
 for that reafon, he difcountenanced the indigelled fchemes 
 of private individuals; we know not, indeed, but at this inftant 
 he may be employed in digefting a code which fliall com- 
 prehend in its fcope every thing that can be exped:ed from 
 the union of great ability with an intimate knowledge of 
 the fubjed: ; or, poiTibly, his mind may be made up, and, 
 after much inveftigation of and attention to the matter, 
 he may have come to this prudent refolution : I will do 
 nothing ; lead: done, hke leaft faid, is fooneft mended. 
 But yet this important bufinefs prelfes ; the poor-rates are 
 Hill rifnig throughout that part of the kingdom which can- 
 not employ its poor in manufadlures, and manufadures 
 are by no means general, but local : befides, while not one 
 quarter of the illand receives any immediate benefit from 
 the Aery flourilning Hate of our trade and manufaftures, 
 the three-fourths which are in ftill water feel themfelves in 
 danger tVom the very caufe which creates the calm, and, 
 oppreffed with an additional . weight by the furges which 
 ' , circle
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 vu 
 
 circle round the pool, find it is with .difficulty they <Jan 
 keep the head above water. 
 
 While the diflant rumour of large wages makes the poor 
 diffatisfied with thofe which agriculture can afford, it 
 creates a dillike to that labour which in their opinion, 
 judging by comparifon from vague report, how manutafture 
 pays its workmen, is fo poorly recompenfed : this gives rife 
 to idlenefs, which creates a call on the fund raifed lor their 
 fupport; hence arife rates to which a four fliilling land-tax 
 is a trifling obje6i ; hence we know of inftances where the 
 poor-rates amount to the annual rent of lands. Is not this 
 a faft ? Is it not a grievance ? If this is not correfted in 
 time of peaccr, where will the financier find the dividends 
 in any future war to pay the intereft of an increafed debt ? 
 Does not the fubjeft, therefore, on this account, demand 
 the attention of a miniiler during the halcyon days of 
 peace ? 
 
 The natural and pohdcal liberty of the mafs of the 
 people is clogged and diminiflied by the law of fettlements ; 
 and, in the opinion of fome of the befl; writers and ftrongeft 
 reafoners on this important topic, it is unneceffarily and 
 unwifely abridged. Do not the poor-laws on this account, 
 alfo, demand the attention of the ftate ? Is it not juft that 
 eveiy individual of the kingdom Ihould enjoy as much free- 
 dom as is confifient with the fafety of the whole ? But it 
 may poffibly be replied in the language of fi:ate-prudencc, 
 This is not the time; fee what the cry of liberty and the call 
 
 for
 
 vni 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 iof freedom have done upon the Continent ! The anfwer is 
 obvious; the cafes are widely diflerent; the one is a tempo- 
 rary anarchy arifing from tlie abolition of all government, 
 the other would be a recovery from a reftraint inimical to 
 the intcrells of labour and induftry, flowing from the power 
 and enlightened mind of the legillature itfelf: the one 
 nvould be legal liberty, the other is exceflive licendoufnefs ; 
 Therefore, let us not, by fuch a fuperabundant caution, 
 fufler (late-prudence to rivet our fetters clofer, in propor- 
 tion as our neighbours acquire a freedom, which they have 
 not yet learned how to ufe with propriety or to exercife 
 "Nvlth dignity. 
 
 This language proceeds on the prefumption, that it is a 
 jjoint pro^'cd in the following flieets, that a partial repeal of 
 the law of fettlcment, or fuch a modification of it as would 
 ])ermit the poor man to go where he could bed find em- 
 ployment, would be beneficial to the intcreft of the flate as 
 well as favourable to the liberty of the fubje61;; and fiirely 
 the point is fully and fatisfaftorily proved, if the united 
 -opinion of men of the moil enlightened minds and mofl in- 
 ftru6led judgement does, in any cafe, amount to proof; or 
 it the wealth and profperity of a kingdom increafes in a 
 ratio with ihc aggregate of the money earned within the 
 kingdom by the labour and employment of its inhabitants. 
 
 But while this claim for a greater degree of freedom is 
 made for the poor, and a melioration of their condition is 
 propofcd in this refped, care has been taken to point out 
 
 the
 
 TOTHEPUBLIC. ix 
 
 the means of preventing fnch a degree of liberty, generating 
 licentioufnefs, by recommending the erection of fchools of 
 induftry, on the bafis of the power given by the ftatute of 
 Elizabeth, to raife by afifefl'ment a fum of money to pur- 
 chafe a ftock of wool, hemp, flax, &c. for their employ- 
 ment; an obje6l which feems fcarcely attended to by thofc 
 who now carry into execution the poor-laws, as appears by 
 the very trifling total returned to the Houfe of Commons 
 by the overfeers, as expended on that account throughout 
 the kingdom. This furely is another object worthy the atten- 
 tion of a great minifter, and it is an obje6l that caimot ge- 
 nerally be enforced without the afliflance of the legiflature ; 
 none of the fubfifting itatutes pointing out the means of 
 doing it, diftin6l from thofe pefts to the morals, health, in- 
 duflry, and a6livity, of the rifmg generation, — work-houfes; 
 which are horrible, although, as the police refpe^ling the 
 poor is at prefent regulated, neceflary evils. 
 
 The claims of the poor on fociety have alfo been glanced 
 at in the following pages. By this expreffion, no abflracSt 
 ideas of a claim to equality, either in legiflation or pro- 
 perty, has been canvafled; but flmply that claim to a fair 
 retribution for their ftrength and ability to labour, which is 
 their only birth-right ; for, it is a principle ariflng from ne- 
 ceflity, that, in all civilized focieties, there mufl be hewers 
 of wood and drawers of water ; but thofe who fill up the 
 lower, though ufeful, rank of our fellow-fubjeds, infinitely 
 exceed in number and in atlual uuHty all the other dalles 
 
 a of
 
 X TOTHEPUBLIC. 
 
 of focietv put together ; their claims are, therefore, as 
 ferious rights, and they demand from the ftate full as 
 ferious a confideration as any other claim upon it, for 
 fecurity of political liberty or private property; the right 
 to receive a compcnfation for their labour, adequate to 
 their necelTary wants, while they have a capability of la- 
 bour, is certainly due to them, and the right of maintenance 
 from the more opulent claffes of fociety, when that capabi- 
 lity to labour is paffcd, is another debt which fociety owes 
 them. 
 
 In the difcharge of this demand, has arifen that burthen 
 which the landed intereft in particular have great caufe to 
 complain of, the poor's rates; which, in many diftrifts, w^hen 
 united with the land-tax and tithes, amount almoft to a dif- 
 inherifon ; for, although the occupier or tenant nominally 
 pays the tithes and poor-rates, the land in faft bears the 
 weight, and the total is taken from the landlord's pocket; 
 therefore, while we are fmking under this treble load, is it 
 not natural, is it not juft, that we fliould inquire into the 
 tranfadions of paft times, and fearch the records of anti- 
 quity, to explore on what principle of legiflation, from what 
 confent, virtual or implied, of our forefathers, from what 
 fyftcm of laws, human or divine, this ruinous faft, though 
 apparent paradox, fliould happen ? That, from the fame 
 circle of land, the ecclefiaftics claim a tenth of the produce, 
 in mort inrtances equal to a half of the rent ; the Hate one- 
 fifth; and the remainder of the refer\''ed rent will not al- 
 ways
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 Xi 
 
 ways fatisfy the demand of the poor's rate. In the follow- 
 ing pages, that inquiry has been made, and the myftery has 
 been, in fome degree, developed. 
 
 Another objed: worth the attention of the minifter of a 
 great nation has been comprehended in this inquiry ; an 
 objedt not confined folely to any particular code of laws, 
 but embracing all legiilative a6ls whatfoever ; the whole 
 force and the energy of which lie entirely in the means 
 provided for infuring their exad: and uniform execution. 
 What are all a6ls of parliament, which profefs to compre- 
 hend every rank and denomination of fubjeds, but a rule 
 of municipal condu6l which all are to guide themfelves by ? 
 and the vindicatory fanftion contained in them is the com- 
 pelling power. Now, if that fandtion is fuch, as when called 
 into ufe, indicates a prefuppofed" depravity in thofe who 
 are to be governed, an injury is done in the very prelude; 
 and the teft of the ordinance is vitiated ab initio^ becaufe 
 the moral delinquency of the fociety is prejudged. Such is 
 the fanftion which is expe6led to enforce the execution, 
 not only of the poor-laws, but of moft of the penal claufes 
 in the Statutes at Large; they are to be enforced by penalties, 
 on the information of fellow-fubje6ts, who the legitlature 
 fuppofes will degrade themfelves to become informers; not 
 for the good of the public, not from patriotic, moral, or 
 religious, motives, but from the vileft of all, from the fordid 
 motive of gain, it is fjppofed that a fubjed of the Hate 
 will place his neighbour under the corre6lion of the law. 
 
 a 2 This
 
 Xll 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 This general Idea difgraccs tlie nation, and the principle is 
 proved by experience to be ineffeftual. 
 
 The manufafturing and commercial interefts of the na- 
 tion feeni to have underftood mankind better than the 
 ftatciman, or at Icall they have formed a better opinion of 
 their neighbours; for, in the ads of parliament to prevent 
 frauds and abufes amongft die manufadurers and artizans, 
 they have modelled the penal fandion on a different prin- 
 ciple; the whole penalty is given to the poor, and they are, 
 in a committee, empowered to appoint an infpedor, whofe 
 duty it is to go his rounds, to fee the regulations enforced, 
 lay his informations, and fee the penalty diliributed accord- 
 ing to the ad. The ftrid execution of thefe ads of the 
 legiflature is a proof of the efficacy of the means ufed; for, 
 the penal fandion of laws is not intended, like cobwebs, to 
 catch flies only, and fuffer the larger infeds to break 
 through the web ; it is a net for all, and equally intended 
 as a compulfive regulation to the poor as to the rich, to 
 the overfeer as to the magi/irate: a hint, therefore, from 
 thefe regulating ftatutes, might give energy to the poor- 
 laws and vigour to the execution of them, or at leaft would 
 mcreafe the revenue for their maintenance from the proper 
 fources, — the pockets of thofe who undertake an office, 
 but neglect the duties annexed to it. 
 
 On the whole, the public will read, in the following 
 pages, a fummary hiftory of the duties of the poor to, 
 and their claims from, fociety, throughout that part of this 
 
 kingdom
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 xiu 
 
 kingdom fubje6l to the poor-laws, traced from the earheft 
 times in which the poor, and their interefts, have been 
 confidcred by the legillature, and continued to the clofe of 
 the laft parhament ; together with a tranfient view of the 
 thoughts and opinions of thofe whofe writings on the fub- 
 jed: have been handed down to us ; interfperfed with ob- 
 fervations as the fubjed: gave rife to them; together with 
 fuch reflexions as have arifen from an attention to the 
 whole of the evidence here fubmitted to the pubhc, com- 
 pared with the opinions of thofe men, eminent for their 
 abihties and the purity of their intentions, who have made 
 this inquiry an obje£l of their contemplation. 
 
 The prefent critical fituation of this kingdom, fo diffe- 
 rent from that peaceful and profpering (late which it occu- 
 pied during the period through which much the greatelt 
 part ot the following treatife was written, calls upon every 
 man, whatever may be his clafs or condition of life, to 
 fupport, by all the means in his power, the conftituted go- 
 vernment of his country, which can no way be fo ef- 
 feftually done as by promoting induftry, economy, and 
 good morals, among the poor. If, in times of peace 
 and profperity, this is the more particular duty of the 
 magirtrate, in the commencement of a war, the prin- 
 ciple of which is as novel as its event is uncertain, it 
 becomes a crime to negle6l that which, in times of peace, 
 w^ould be thought no immaterial obligation ; and, if the 
 duty of a minifter iliould impel him, in thofe times, to 
 
 make
 
 XIV 
 
 TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 make fuch regulations in the internal police of the king- 
 dom as to call forth the greatcft poflible production of 
 its indurtry, with which the profperity and happinefs of 
 all ranks in the ftate mull: be connedled, much ftronger 
 Ihould he feci that impulfe in the beginning of fuch a 
 war as the prcfent, the confequences of which to our 
 religion, our morals, our laws and conftitution, no human 
 eye can forefec ; but the immediate effe6: of which on 
 our trade, our commerce, our eftates, and our property, 
 we mult all foon feel : therefore, there can be no time 
 or lituation more proper than the prefent for an inquiry of 
 the kind here offered to the public ; although there may be 
 many enlightened minds in this kingdom whofe abihties and 
 means of information may qualify them to offer a more fa- 
 tisfa<^ory trcatife. 
 
 Clare, 
 March 12, 1793. 
 
 T. R. 
 
 PREFACE
 
 — MW— i— P«Wi— BI-lll-Wll.ll. IIL-L 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND EDITI 
 
 SOME reafon may be expeded by the public for 
 the aherations contained in this Second Edition of 
 the Hiftory of the Poor, &c. and, probably, fome ac- 
 count of the motive which influenced the author to its 
 continuation. The firft is, undoubtedly, due to his rea- 
 ders as a matter of right : the fecond he rather confiders as 
 an a£t of choice, on his part, with which he can have no 
 objedion to comply. 
 
 The courfe of inquiry which the inveftigation of this 
 fubjedl naturally pointed out brought me to the know- 
 ledge of the ancient mode of diliributing the revenues 
 of the church. This branch of the hiflory of elder 
 times caught my attention by bringing to view an ob- 
 
 foletc
 
 xvi PREFACETOTHE 
 
 foletc claim, on a certain part of the ecclefiaftical reve- 
 nues, towards the maintenance of the poor ; and, al- 
 tliOLigli many generations are paffed away fince fuch a 
 claim was exemplified by the practice of the age, yet It 
 Ib-uck me as fufficicnt to found an equitable expectation 
 of the aflillance of the parochial clergy in the manage- 
 ment and regulation of the domeftic habits of that clafs 
 of our fcllow-fubjeds to whom they were, in remote days, 
 not only fplrltual pallors, but diflributors of relief in times 
 of diftrefs. 
 
 The office which is intended to be trufted to the clergy 
 in the management of the poor, if the Bill now before 
 the HoLife of Commons, or any other on a fmiilar prin- 
 ciple, iliould pafs into a law, renders it unneceifary to 
 dwell on this fubjed, as it will be a proof that the ex- 
 peftatlon of parliament fixes itfelf on the parochial clergy, 
 as gentlemen eminently qualified by fituation, education, 
 and principle, to take fome fliare in that moft neceifary 
 and important point of our internal police, to which we 
 ought all to pay our mofi aftive attention ; — the regula- 
 tion of the ix)or. And, as there exifts no doubt but that 
 the clergy, on their parts, are as willing as they are able 
 to give their afliftance, the preffing for it, on the principle 
 of an equitable right or duty, is become an ungenerous 
 furplufage : bcfides, the attempt to fix this claim, in order 
 to engraft a duty, has been thought by many, to w^hofe 
 opinions I pay much deference, a topic more replete wdth 
 
 harm
 
 SECOND EDITION. xvii 
 
 harm than good, and has occafioned a publication which, 
 probably, would otherwife have been more honourably 
 noticed, to be paffed over alrnofl: in filence, although by 
 no means in contempt ; while the principles of its author, 
 as a friend to the hierarchy, have been fomewhat called 
 in queilion. 
 
 That part of the Inquiry into the Hiftory of the Poor, 
 their Rights and Duties, is, therefore, in this Edition, 
 otnitted. 
 
 With refpeSi to the author's motive for the continua- 
 tion of his Hiftory to the prefent day, he candidly con- 
 fefles two impelling reafons. The firft, he hopes, will 
 be allowed, as founded on public principle ; to give more 
 light on this important fubjeft than was in his power at 
 the time of his writing the Letters contained in the 
 former Edition. This country has now experienced the 
 effe£l of the prefent fyftem, through a time of fcarcity, 
 till lately unfelt ; it has feen, that, as the fkin of the 
 infant expands itfelf to the ftature of the man, fo does 
 the principle of charity, which now has, for near two 
 centuries, become, to the immortal honour of this na- 
 tion, the law of the land, expand itfelf to thofe ftretches 
 of imperious neceflity which admit of the expenditure 
 of additional millions to preferve our poor countrymen 
 from want ; and that at a time while the political neceffities 
 of the ftate prefs upon all ranks of people with a force 
 hitherto incredible, and have, unitedly, occafioned a mag- 
 
 b nitude
 
 xvm 
 
 PREFACE TO THE 
 
 nitude of expenfc, which all the abilities of an able finan- 
 cier can fcarcely provide ways and means to anfwer. 
 But, at the fame time that humanity feels gratified, our 
 prudence Ihould alfo be able to concur in approbation of 
 the vaft expenditure which has been, and may conti- 
 nue in a certain degree to be, incurred in tlie main- 
 tenance of the poor. This will not be the cafe until, 
 by fome acSlively-efficient meafure, the induftry of the 
 lower claffes is called out to do its beft, before the pockets 
 of the next clafs of ufeful fubjefts of the ftate are emptied 
 to the relief of their poorer neighbours. 
 
 The writer muft alfo confefs a tacit pleafure in com- 
 piitting to the prefs the laft flieets of the continuation of 
 his Hiftory, as it will appear from them that the firft 
 edition of this traft has not been written in vain, but 
 •that our countrymen will probably reap fome advantage 
 from this vemployment of his hours of leifure, as it may 
 have been the means of exciting the firft abihties in the 
 nation to an inveftigation of the fubjeft, and occafioned 
 Defire to be united with Power in the fervice of the 
 caufe. And although the prefent Bill, which is now 
 before the Houfe, the firft public refult of that union, 
 may not meet the ideas and expeftations of all parts of 
 the kingdom (ubjeft to the poor-laws, which cannot be 
 a matter of our wonder, the intricacy of the fubjeft, 
 the wide extent of its operations, the number of inter 
 rcfts any rule which regulates the conduct of fo many 
 
 millions
 
 SECOND EDITION. xix 
 
 millions of people, in different fituations, muft clafh with, 
 and the little pains which is taken by people in general to 
 underftand an a(9; of parliament of fomc intricacy, being 
 confidered ; yet we may, with confidence, truft that the 
 meafure is now in good hands ; becaufe this nation, after 
 the lapfe of near two hundred years, has again feen, in 
 The Bill, for the better Support and Maintenance of the 
 Poor, now before the Houfe of Commons, an inflance of 
 a miniller of ftate, in the midfl: of innumerable difficulties 
 attendant on our prefent arduous political fituation, taking 
 upon himfelf the burthen of a meafure of the firft impor- 
 tance to the internal happinefs of the nation, which has 
 been from that remote time till now left to the ftraggling 
 attention of any member of parliament ; and, when this 
 faft recalls to our memory the wifdom which chara6lerized 
 the minifters of the reign of Elizabeth, (and the parliamen- 
 tary journals of thofe times inform us that the famous forty- 
 third llatute of her reign, the prefent corner-flone of our 
 poor-laws, was not the produce of one feffion, but the col- 
 le6led valuable remnants of many bills on the fubjeft, which 
 had been, in the parliamentary language of the day, dafiedj 
 let us not defpair of the beft confequences arifing from the 
 prefent united appHcation of abilities, knowledge, and per- 
 feverance, to the better fupport, maintenance, and educa- 
 tion, of the poor. 
 
 LETTER S
 
 ^1 t3 
 
 THEIR 
 
 RIGHTS, DUTIES, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 LAWS RESPECTING THEM. 
 
 H 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 DEAR S IR, Gare, 1791. 
 
 EREWITH you receive the firft letter of a feries, which fhall 
 comprehend an inveftigation of the caufes that produce fo 
 much mifery and diftrefs among our poor; which will be accom- 
 panied, during the continuation of the fubjedl, with hints tending 
 to a plan, that, it is imagined, may render their lituation more 
 comfortable, and lefTen that heavy burthen of rates, which im- 
 poverifh the landed intereft, and, in fa6t, anticipate the fource of 
 our political expenditure. 
 
 I began the inquiry during the former part of the winter, with 
 the intent offending it to the Editor of the Annals of Agriculture; 
 but doubted with refpedl to the propriety of the fubjeft for that 
 compilation ; until, having the pleafure of your company at Clare, 
 you indicated a wifli that it might be fent you. 
 
 B It
 
 2 LETTER I. 
 
 It very forcibly ftruck me, that, during the folitude of a long 
 winter, fpent in the country, in the lapfe of time which daily 
 paflcs away between the hours allotted to refrefliment and repofe j 
 that mind rauft be torpid and inactive, in which many ideas do not 
 arife that cannot be referred to perfonal views or felfifti confidera- 
 tions, and which are not occafioned by objects of bufmefs or plea- 
 fure, but take their origin from better motives, and impulfes of a 
 higher nature ; from refle6lions on the relative flate our happinefs 
 is placed in, with refped to that of our friends and more imme- 
 diate neighbours, in the firll place; of our countrymen, in the next; 
 and, ultimately, not only of the human race, but of the whole 
 animal creation. 
 
 One ferious caufe muft, therefore, arife from this fource, to taint 
 the happinefs of a life pafled in retirement; as our ideas take their 
 colour from the more immediate objefls of our obfervation, it is 
 impoflible but that fomething of a fombrous and unpleafant hue 
 mufl tinge the mind, while it attends to what paffes in that clafs of 
 fociety which is more immediately fubjedl to our obfervation ; and 
 while we perceive and feel, as it were, the fordid mifery and diftrefs 
 of our near, though humble, neighbours, it is impoflible that a 
 mind, rightly difpofed, whofe beft energy is to be alive to the woes 
 of others, can enjoy uninterrupted eafe, while fo much mifery is fo 
 near the threfhold; charity can do much, but cannot do every 
 thing, nor for every body, although feconded by the beft intentions 
 and moft liberal purfe ; objefts of mifery, like mountain above 
 mountain to the weary traveller, arife to the view ; creating defpair 
 of attaining to the end of their wiflies, even in thofe who polfefs 
 the ftrongeft and moft liberal minds, and recalhng neceflary and 
 honeft Prudence to her feat. But ftill one fource of beneficence 
 may be opened without fear of impoveriftiment, and the powers of 
 the mind may be called to the aid of charity. Is it impolTible to ex- 
 plore the caufes of that mifery which we difcern among our poor 
 neighbours ? And, the caufes being explored, may not a remedy be 
 
 pointed
 
 LETTER I. J 
 
 pointed out ? The attempt is worth the labour, although the event 
 iliould not be fuccefsful ; this one fact being too glaring for huma- 
 nity to be blind to, that, while a tenth part of our countrymen 
 enjoy the comforts or revel in the luxuries of life, the patient and 
 induftrious multitude are finking beneath a load of poverty and 
 wretchcdnefs. 
 
 Reflections, fiich as the preceding, gave rife to this inquiry ; I 
 thought that a few of the leifure hours of a country life could not 
 be better employed than in an attempt to inveftigate the caufes of 
 that mifery which we fee among our working poor, and to point 
 out fome probable and praifticable means of relief and amendment 
 of their condition ; conceiving, alfo, that the ideas and hints> which 
 might arife from fuch an inquiry, could not make their appearance 
 with fo much propriety in any publication as in the Annals of 
 Agriculture i becaufe the objett of it refpe<5ts the happinefs of a 
 clafs of our fellow-creatures, without whofe manual labour the 
 fruits of the earth could neither be fowed or reaped ; and alfo re- 
 colle6ling, that, if a ray of reafon is elicited in the progrefs of the 
 inquiry, it is due to the fhrine of Agriculture, which, if not 
 Wifdom herfelf, bears a flirong refemblance of her divine original : 
 I therefore dedicate the following pages, on this too-much-negle£l:- 
 ed fubje6f, to your fervice, and your reader's patient candour. 
 
 The page of hiftory reveals to us this melancholy and awful 
 truth, that the happinefs of millions has, in all ages, been at the 
 beck and in the power of units, and thofe often the meaneft and 
 worft of mankind ; myriads have fallen by the fword, difeafe, and 
 famine, the victims of war, led on to their deftru6lion by wretches 
 who have difgraced the human race j but our inquiry has nothing 
 to do with the dire eflfeiSls of zeal, defpotifm, or political revo- 
 lution } our employment lies in the vales of peace and plenty j 
 our purpofe is to inveftigate this problem. Why our laborious poor 
 are fo wretched ? Does the complaint arife from phyfical caufes, or 
 from the regulations of focicty ? Can fociety, by laws, regulations, 
 
 B 2 example,
 
 4 LETTER!. 
 
 example, or by any and what means, meliorate their condi- 
 tion ? 
 
 The unceafing laws of nature muft, in every climate, have their 
 energy ; cfFefls muft every where be analogous to, and flowing 
 from, their caufe; gradations of comfort arife in civilized fociety 
 in due proportion to the degree of civilization ; the fqualid inhabi- 
 tant of Magellan's Streights, although fo wretched and negatived 
 in appearance, in all that makes life fupportable, fhares, doubtlefs, 
 a degree of happinefs in proportion to his capacity of enjoyment j 
 that capacity enlarges as civilization prevails, and means of obtain- 
 ing the obje6ls of our wifhes alfo increafe. In this ifland, a dif- 
 pofition to relifh the comforts of life, the meaneft of us equally 
 pofTefles with the greateft; furely, therefore, thofe comforts cor- 
 refpondent with our fituation, fhould not be removed at fuch a 
 diftance from the grafp of any of us, as to be attainable only by a 
 breach of the laws of fociety. — In fome climes, favoured by a 
 more diredl approach of the folar ray, the various articles of drefs 
 are an incumbrance, and the native has no care what raiment he fhall 
 clothe himfelf with : in fuch climate he may, literally, imitate the 
 lilies of the field, which neither toil nor fpin, and are clothed only 
 in the attire Nature prepared for them. How different is the ne- 
 ceffity in this higher latitude; fcarce a natural day pafles away, 
 even during the fummer folfticc, but our comfort and health re- 
 quire that clothing, to obtain which the price of many days' 
 labour muft be paid. How much ftronger does urgent neceflity re- 
 quire warmth of clothing in the dreary leaflefs winter, when every 
 gale wafts rheumatifm and ague; and what is effential to the 
 liealth and prefervation of the parent, is furely not lefs fo for the 
 child. Hence, in this country, arifes one unceafing call for no in- 
 confiderable (hare of the price of labour j a call fanftioned as well 
 by an attention to the prefervation of life as by the dilates of de- 
 cency, the j-efult of ideas conneaed with civilization. 
 
 Another
 
 LETTER I. 5 
 
 Another flrong and urgent demand on the fcanty revenue of the 
 poor man, is the expenfe of fire. In more fouthern latitudes, the whole 
 year may be paffed, and it may not be an article eflential to the life 
 or health of the inhabitant : poflibly, in climates included in ninety 
 of the one hundred and eighty degrees of north and fouth latitude, 
 the lower clafles of fociety fee not the blazing hearth, or have no 
 occafion for it in their domiciles throughout the year : their habits 
 of life are different; their fimple food, confifling principally of 
 the fruits of the earth, requires not much afTiftance from fire to 
 make it fuitable to the palate or proper for digeflion j we read 
 that the inhabitants of the iflands in the South Sea* knew not 
 the ufe of hot water ; but, in this ifland, fire is neceffary, at times, 
 throughout the whole year ; in fummer, for preparing the food, 
 and in fpring, autumn, and winter, for the comfort alfo, if not 
 for the prefervation, of the cottager. 
 
 Our climate alfo occafions another demand to fcreen the poor 
 man from its rigours. Throughout a confiderable part of the habi- 
 table world, the genial warmth of the atmofphere is fuch, that the 
 human race requires fcarce any protection from the common air 
 and fky : in thofe climes, man may wander with man, joint 
 tenants of the fhade ; but here, a domicil is necefTary ; although 
 the hardy aborigines of the ifland might not require fuch a flielter, 
 yet man, tamed and made tender by the arts of civilization, de- 
 mands a threfhold, within whofe facred bounds the domeftic 
 hearth may be fheltered, as well from the afTaults of the weather, 
 as thofe of his boiflerous or impertinent neighbour j hence, there- 
 fore, arifes another call on his flender income, an income earned 
 by the labour of his hands and the fweat of his brow. 
 
 Thefe three necefTary and unavoidable calls on the finances of 
 the poor have been already ftated, in the articles of clothing, 
 fire, and dwelling : but a much larger and more important de- 
 
 * Cook's Voyage. 
 
 mand
 
 $ LETTER I. 
 
 mand remains to be mentioned, — the daily fiipply of food; the 
 fupply of fuch meat and drink, as fliall enable him, day after day 
 and year after year, to pafs through a life of hard labour and 
 conftant fatigue; a degree of labour which the ftrongeft of us, 
 whofe mufcles have not been trained to the purpofe, would flirink 
 from in the experiment of a day, perhaps of an hour ; and the 
 produce of this labour, the reward of thefe toils, to be expended, 
 not on himfelf only, but frequently to be divided with a wife and 
 family of children, who often have no honeft means of increafing 
 their hufband's and parent's irncome. 
 
 But this is not all: the occupation of the labourer, as well as 
 the nature of his being, fubje6ls him to acute illnefs, to chronic 
 diforders, and at length to old age, decrepitude, and impotence ; 
 the inftant any of thefe unavoidable misfortunes of life attack him, 
 the fource of every comfort is flopped, and without the aid of his 
 more opulent neighbours, or, what is infinitely to the credit of 
 this nation, without the interference of the godlike laws of his 
 <:ountry, this ufeful clafs of our countrymen would fink in the 
 aims of famine or defpair. 
 
 Thefe, I apprehend, are the phyfical caufes of that depth of 
 wretchednefs and mifery which we too often fee in the cottages of 
 the poor ; not to mention the wayward nature of the human dif- 
 pofition ; the example and prevalence of vicious habits ; the faci- 
 nating charms of intoxication ; the confequential habits, idlenefs 
 and diffipation ; the indolence which is concomitant with a broken 
 fpirit ; and that careleffnefs and indifference to what may happen 
 in future, which is too apt to arife in the mind that cannot fee 
 its way through prefent difficulties : thefe are frailties infeparable 
 from the nature of human beings, which increafe and aggravate 
 their diftrefs, and which nothing but a proper fenfe of religion can 
 remove ; and neither the power of the legiflature or the wifdom of 
 the philofopher can teach to alleviate. 
 
 But
 
 LETTER I. 7 
 
 But it is not from climate, it is not from the frailties of human 
 nature alone, or the neceflary wants and demands which the pre- 
 fcrvation of life and health inculcates to the mind of man, and the 
 infufficiency of the earnings of bodily labour to attain the gratifi- 
 cation of them, that the appearance of the labourer indicates fuch 
 wretchednefs ; the laws, the cuftoms, and habits of fociety, are 
 all contributory to this effeft; and the excefs of civilization occa- 
 fions diftreffes fuperior, yet fimilar, to what the favage experiences 
 in his ftate of nature ; fuperior, becaufe his diftrefs is not aggra- 
 vated by a near view of the tantalizing contraft, the enjoyments 
 of opulence and luxury ; fimilar in the effefls, which are, cold, 
 hunger, and difeafe; in the one inftance, the favage muft be fatif- 
 fied with the order of nature, which eftabliflies no law of appro- 
 priation, but occupancy ; he, confequently, cannot blame the laws 
 and habits of fociety, which aggravate, if they do not, in fact, 
 give rife to, the misfortunes of the Englifh labourer ; this is an 
 aflertion which demands an inquiry ; and, if the principle is efta- 
 bliflied by fuch an inveftigation, fhould not thofe laws, habits, 
 and cuftoms, be modified, to correfpond with the feelings of hu- 
 manity ? 
 
 In the firft place, it is apparent that bodily ftrength is the only 
 patrimony the labourer enjoys ; this is to fupply him and his family 
 with the neceffaries of life: the fame patrimony, in conjunflion 
 with the opportunity of exerting the faculties of the mind, the in- 
 habitant of an uncivilized country pofleffes ; the firft is reftrained 
 by the laws from trefpafling on appropriated property ; and, in this 
 country, all that can be called property, is appropriated ; the other 
 has ample fcope for the exercife of his faculties, both of body and 
 mind ; the gifts of nature lying open to the firft man who has 
 ftrength or dexterity fufficient to octupy them. Here is a manifeft 
 advantage which the favage poffefTes, and the laws of his country 
 have taken from the Englifti labourer : but have not the laws, the 
 maxims, or the benevolence, of fociety, given to the poor fome 
 
 equivalent.
 
 8 L E T T E R II. 
 
 equivalent, inftead of the opportunity of obtaining property by 
 occupancy ? the objeds of which being, in every inflance, already 
 occupied, he is reduced to the fole means of bartering the fweat 
 of his brow for the neceffaries of life ; they furely have, and an 
 attempt fhall be made to point out the fubftitutes. 
 
 The labourer is worthy of his hire, becaufe he gives for it his 
 fole property, his ftrength and his time, referving to himfelf only 
 fufficient intervals for refrefliment and repofe : what ought there- 
 fore to be his hire ? The anfwer is obvious : the neceffaries and 
 comforts of life, equal to the reafonable wants of that clafs of 
 fociety among which he ranks. Does he receive recompenfe for his 
 labour equivalent to fuch a reafonable expedation ? The examina- 
 tion of the fa£l fhall be the anfwer to the queftion ; and, that the 
 inquiry may be as clofe to the point as pofllble, let us examine, in 
 the firil place, how the retributions for labour were paid in days 
 of yore ; whether they then flood in the fame proportion with 
 the neceffaries of life, in times when luxury was not fo univerfally 
 diffufed, and the cottager, not having the fight of the rich man's 
 enjoyments fo immediately under his eye, might be fuppofed to be 
 better contented with his homely fare, than in thefe days, when 
 the ftrong expreflions of the poet are verified in every village : 
 
 — — Szvior armis 
 Luxuria incubuit, vidumque ulcifcitur orbctn. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 FLEETWOOD'S Chronicon Pretiofum will afllft us in this 
 inquiry; and, that the conclufion of the argument may not 
 be fuppofed to reft on the foundations of fancy, fome extracts 
 from that ufeful compilation fhall be produced. 
 
 The
 
 L E T T E 11 11. ^ 
 
 The intention of the author was not much difllmilar to that of 
 the prefent tra6t, except that he had a point to prove, we have 
 only a fubjedl to examine ; and, to prove his point, he has fcarch- 
 ed not only all the publications then extant on the fubjeft, but 
 alio many manufcript accounts of different monafteries, where the 
 prices of the different articles of Hfe were regularly inferted, and 
 in fome inflances where the prices of labour formed alfo part of the 
 account. But no certain comparative view can be formed on this 
 head until about the middle of the fourteenth century; when, by an 
 act of parliament pafled in the 23d year of Edward the Third, the 
 wages of the labourers were regulated, on account, as the preamble 
 of the flatute recites, of the great increafe of wages occafioned by 
 the plague:* by the firft chapter, every perfon able of body, and 
 under the age of fixty, not having means of maintaining himfelf, 
 is bound to ferve thofe who are willing to employ him, at the 
 wages which were ufually given fix years before the plague, and 
 ftated to be, 
 
 s. d. 
 
 To haymakers and weeders, by the day . - 01 
 
 Mowing meadows, by the acre or day - - _ 05 
 
 Reapers of corn, in the firit week in Augufl, by the day, o 2 
 
 In the fecond week, and to the end of the month - 03 
 
 Threfliing a quarter of wheat or rye - - - 02^ 
 
 Threfhing a quarter of barley, beans, peafe, or oats - o 1 1 
 
 That excellent model for all parochial antiquities, Sir John 
 Cullum's Hillory and Antiquities of Hawilead, will alfo afTiil in 
 forming a more accurate idea of the proportional prices of labour 
 and provifions in Suffolk throughout fome part of this century : 
 
 * This preamble indicates the caufe of the advance in the price of kbour, a decreafe 
 of the numbei- of hands, and proves the policy of the acl to decreafe, not increafe, 
 wages. 
 
 C 1387. Wheat
 
 ,0 L E T T E R II. 
 
 s. d. 
 1387. Wheat threfhed, per quarter - - 04 
 
 Other grain - - - - 02 
 
 A reaper, per day - - - - ^ 4 
 
 Man filUng dung-cart three days - - o io| 
 
 1389. Wheat reaping, per acre - - - 07 
 
 Mowing an acre of grafs - - - 06 
 
 Thefe prices are without meat, drink, or other courtefy de- 
 manded. * 
 
 The prices of provifions, and the neceflaries and comforts of life, 
 were, during the famccentury, as follow : 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 
 £• 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 1309, Apairoffhoes 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 3 14. A flailed, or corn-fed, ox 
 
 - 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 13 14. A grafs-fed ox 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 A fat flailed cow 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 A fat fheep unfliorn 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 T 
 
 8 
 
 A fat fheep fhorn 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 A fat hog, two years old 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 A fat goofe _ _ - 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2| 
 
 Ale regulated by proclamation, in refpeft to ] 
 
 price. 
 
 
 
 
 a gallon _ _ - 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 1338. Wheat, a quarter 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 Earley, a quarter 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Peafe and beans, a quarter 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 Oats, a quarter 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 White wine, a gallon 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 Red wine, a gallon 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 1387. Barley, at Leicefler, a quarter 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 I ^88. Laflage of a cow with its calf, one yea 
 
 r, and 
 
 a hen 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 * Hiftory and Antiquities of Hawftead, p. 188, 190. 
 
 J388. Wheat,
 
 L E T T E R II. II 
 
 £' s. J. 
 
 1388. Wheat, per quarter - - - 040 
 
 Oats, per quarter - - - 020 
 
 An ox - - - - 0136 
 
 A boar - - - - o i 8* 
 
 It is not an eafy matter to determine, from the prices fpecified 
 in Fleetwood, what was the average-rate, at which provifions were 
 fold, the year parliament regulated the price of labour ; for, about 
 the middle of this century, years of dearth and plenty almoft alter- 
 nately follow each other, and the peftilence alfo occafioned a confi- 
 derable difference ; but the articles extracted are in thofe years, 
 when none of thefe caufes affefted the price of provifions, and 
 may therefore be efteemed a tolerable exa6t average for the four- 
 teenth century. 
 
 In the beginning of the next century in the year 1404, the pay 
 of a labourer was fometimes two-pence, fometimes three-pence, 
 as appears from a computus of the Prior and Canons of Burchefter j 
 and in 
 
 1446. Labourers without diet _ - - - 
 From Michaelmas to Eafter, id. lefs. 
 A mower in harveft, without diet 
 A reaper and carter, without diet 
 
 The prices of neceffaries and provifions from the fame computus : 
 
 J. d. 
 1407. A cow - - • - 
 
 Two bufhels of wheat 
 
 Five bufhels and a half of fait 
 1425. Peafe, per quarter 
 
 Gallon of ale, from i^. to 
 
 « Fleetwood's Chron. Pret. 
 C 2 
 
 £' 
 
 s, d. 
 
 
 
 3h 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 3 
 
 4f 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 1425. 
 
 Gallon
 
 12 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 1425. Gallon of red wine - - 
 
 Gallon of fweet wine « - - 
 
 Two yards of ruflet cloth for the fhepherd 
 Thirty pair of winter gloves for the fervants - 
 
 The following from other computus's : 
 
 1444. Wheat, a quarter . - - 
 Malt, a quarter - . - - 
 Oats, a quarter - - - 
 Flitch bacon 
 
 1445. Wheat, a quarter , » _ 
 Oats, a quarter . _ - 
 Gallon of ale 
 
 1447. Wheat, a quarter - - 
 Oats, a quarter _ - - 
 
 1448. Wheat, a quarter 
 Oats, a quarter . _ - _ 
 
 1449. Wheat, a quarter 
 
 1450. Wheat, a quarter - 
 Oats, a quarter * - 
 Gallon of ale 
 
 1463. Wheat, a quarter - - 
 
 In the fixteenth century, only two inftances are to be found of the 
 wages of a labourer, one in 15 14, the other in 1557. 
 
 A. D, s. d. 
 
 1 5 14. Labourers from Eafter to Michaelmas, except in harveft, o 4 
 Ditto from Michaelmas to Eafter - - 03 
 
 A mower in harveft, with diet, 4^. without - 06 
 
 A reaper and carter in harveft, with diet, 3^, without, o 5 
 
 * Fleetwood's Chron. Pret, 
 
 J514. A 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 If 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 0*
 
 L E T T E R II. 13 
 
 s. d. 
 
 1514, A woman-labourer, and other labourers, with diet, 
 
 2\d. without 
 1557. Threfhing a quarter of wheat 
 
 Ditto of rye _ _ - . 
 
 Ditto of barley - _ - . 
 
 Prices of provifions, &c. in the i6th century: 
 
 15 12. Oats, a quarter - ~ - 
 Beans, a quarter - - . 
 
 1 51 3. Oats, a quarter _ . - 
 Beans, a quarter - . - 
 
 1 51 5. Beans, a quarter - _ - 
 1533. Fat oxen _ - - _ 
 
 Fat wethers - 
 
 Fat calves 
 
 Fat lambs _ - _ _ 
 
 Beef in London 2|lb. or 31b. 
 
 Mutton, per quarter, in London 
 
 1557. Wheat, a quarter before harveft 
 Wheat, a quarter after harveft 
 Malt, a quarter before harveft 
 Malt, a quarter after harveft 
 
 1558. A good flieep - - - 
 
 In this inquiry there is no occafion to enter into an explanation 
 of the comparative value of money in the three centuries, through a 
 great part of which thefe notices have been taken ; becaufe the prices 
 of labour and provifions have been valued by the fame fpecies of real 
 or imaginary coin; and therefore the value of fuch, although very 
 different from what bears the fame denominations in this century, is 
 quite competent to illuftrate the ratio the prices of labour bore at 
 thefe periods to the prices of the neceffaries of life. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 
 
 
 4f 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 £' 
 
 J. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 10
 
 [ 14 ] 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 INSTANCES of the prices of labour, and the cotemporary prices 
 of provifions have been continued, by the afliftance of the 
 Cbronicon Pretiofum, to a later sera than that in our ecclefiaftical 
 hiftory; when the 31ft ftatute of Henry VIII. ch. 13. laid the 
 axe to the root of all monaftic poflefllons in this kingdom, and 
 transferred their eftates and rights to the crown. The effea this 
 total change of property had on the fituation of the poor remains 
 to be confidered. 
 
 It will, at firft fight, be thought, and is indeed believed to be the 
 fad, by thofe who have fuperficially invcftigated the hiftory of this 
 period, that this aft, at once, ftruck off many of their comforts, 
 and deprived them of many fources of afliftance, which are fup- 
 pofed to have flowed to the poor in numberlefs ftreams, from the 
 kitchens, refedlories, ftores, and cellars, of the monafteries j and 
 that the different a6ls of parliament for their relief, which refledt 
 honour on the annals of our hiftory, towards the end of the fix- 
 teenth and beginning of theenfuing century, arofe from a necefTity, 
 occafioned by this capital ftroke of the 8th Henry's defpotic au- 
 thority i but the hiftory of the times does not authorize the con- 
 clufion. 
 
 It rather appears that what ftreams did, in facl, flow from thefc 
 ecclefiaftical fraternities, to the poor of the kingdom, were ftiallow 
 and penurious ; at the beft, the coarfe offal of a homely board ; 
 indeed, if the mode of Ufe which was purfued by the nobility and 
 gentry of this age be confidered ; if we recollefl, that the metropolis 
 was not then, and, indeed, has not been till lately, that overgrown 
 monfter, which engluts, within its maw, a property that, fpread 
 on the humble board of the cottager, would feed millions; but, 
 on the contrary, almoft every village then boafted, as its conftant 
 inhabitant, one. or more fubftantial, if not ennobled, landlord, 
 
 whofe
 
 LETTER Iir. 15 
 
 whofe hofpitable feat bore a femblance, according to the riches 
 and rank of the owner, to that economic profufion, which, by 
 the inftance fo happily preferved for the information of pofterity, 
 by Dr. Percy,* appears to have graced the character of the fifth 
 Earl of Northumberland, who lived near the beginning of this 
 century j we fhall not, if fimilar inflances, in proportion to rank 
 and fortune be fuppofed to be prevalent, imagine the poor to 
 have much felt the want of fuch affiftance, as the heads of mo- 
 nafteries permitted to be given away at their gates -, which, from 
 the relations of modern travellers, who have lately vifited thofe 
 countries on the continent, where monaftic inftitutions are ftlll in 
 full force, and efpecially from the obfervatlons of Dr. Ducarei, in 
 his tour through Normandy, where the cuftoms, endowments, and 
 charitable donations, of the monafleries and priories may be fup- 
 pofed, from their former conneclion with, to be fimilar to, what 
 was experienced in this country, appear to be infignlficant and 
 trifling, always excepting thofc inflances where the particular 
 motive of the endowment was to enfure a hofpitable reception 
 to the traveller. Tanner alfo, by a note in the preface to Noii- 
 tia Monapca, appears to be of opinion, that it cannot be attri- 
 buted to what the poor received from the religious houfes, that 
 no parochial afleffments for their relief were found neceflary du- 
 ring the prevalence of the monaflic inftitutions ; although it appears 
 that fome of the larger priories dignified one of their officers with 
 the name of almoner. 
 
 But, be this fadt as it may, it is to be prefumed, that, if the 
 poor did not fuftain any great lofs from the abolition of the mo- 
 nafteries, in the article of any confiderable relief, they might have 
 received from them, in provifion or alms ; they certainly felt one 
 great inconvenience from the number of the necelTitous being con- 
 
 * The Regulations and Eflablifliment of the Houfehold of Henry Algernon Percy, 
 1512. Printed for Dr. Percy, the prefent Biihop of Dromore, but not publifhed. 
 
 fiderably
 
 ,6 LETTER III. 
 
 fiderably increafed ; becaufe, on the diffolution of the fmaller mo- 
 nafteries, in the year 1535, whole revenues did not exceed two 
 hundred pounds a year, it is faid, that not Id's than ten thoufand 
 perfons were Tent to feek their fortunes in the wide world, without 
 any other allowance than forty fliillings and a new gown ; and 
 a revenue of thirty or thirty-two thoufand pounds a year was 
 vcfted in the crown ; and, when the greater monafteries were dif- 
 folved, in the year 1539, and a revenue of one hundred and 
 four thoufand nine hundred and nineteen pounds was diverted 
 from the maintenance of people in idlenefs, and began to flow in 
 different channels,* if the number of the poor, thrown upon the 
 public by the diflblution of the lefTer monafteries, be added to the 
 number which may alfo be fuppofed to have become a burthen 
 to the public by the diflblution of the greater monafteries, com- 
 puting that number by the proportional revenue vefted in the 
 crown by the latter event to the revenue alfo vefted in the crown 
 by the former, amounting to a total of near forty-three thoufand 
 perfons, who in the lapfe of a few years had become additional 
 objects of charity ; for, although many of the members of the 
 greater monafteries were allowed penfions, yet, if it be confidered 
 that they now enjoyed the liberty of becoming fathers of fami- 
 lies, fuch a calculation will not appear to be extravagant; it 
 will then not occafion our furprife, that a few years after this 
 event, the legiflature fhould find occafion to interfere in their 
 behalf, when probably not lefs than a hundred thoufand perfons, 
 who had no vifible means of maintenance, preffed on the diftri- 
 bution of the charitable fund vefted in truft with the ecclefiaf- 
 tics, new in part wrefted from their gripe j and alfo became im- 
 portunate fuitors to the defultory feelings of charitable indivi- 
 duals, who might naturally be moved with compaflion at the 
 fight of their father- confefTors now become needy fathers of a 
 young offspring. 
 
 * Notltia Monaftica, Preface. 
 
 Befides,
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 17 
 
 Befides, the wars, which, from the conqueft, had kept our po- 
 pulation thin ; a number of lives having been thrown away in 
 the different contefts, within the kingdom, tor the fceptre; on 
 the continent of Europe, for foreign pofTefTions ; and in Afia, on 
 romantic principles of religious chivalry ; had now, for a confi- 
 derable period, ceafed ; and near a century had clapfed fince the 
 battle of Bofworth had feated Henry the Seventh on the throne, 
 who, by his marriage with Elizabeth, the heirefs of the York 
 family, had united the claims of the two houfes in his perfon ; 
 and no internal commotion having, fince that event, occafioned 
 any confiderable wafte of blood ; and, except at the battle of 
 Flodden-Field, which feems, for a time, to have quelled the 
 animofity of our northern neighbours, the nation having fuffered 
 no lofs of inhabitants from foreign wars ; peace, of courfe, and 
 its concomitant, population, had increafed the riches of thofe 
 who pofleffcd the opportunity of acquiring, and, at the fame 
 time, the number of thofe, whofe humble fituation precluded 
 them from fuch attempts j the number of inhabitants, therefore, 
 who had no means of fupport, except from their labour, confe- 
 quently was confiderably increafed,* and, moft probably, among 
 the crowd which prefTed on the public from the difTolved mo- 
 nafteries, few were there who could handle the plough, the flail, 
 or the fpade; but many, who, if they could not dig, were not 
 afliamed to beg ; a privilege which different a6ts of parliament 
 had already laid under certain reftridions. 
 
 * In 1377, the number of inhabitants in England and Wales amounted to 2,092,978. 
 'in 1583, 104,688,000. 
 
 Chalmers's Estimate. 
 
 If 
 
 D LETTER
 
 [ i8 ] 
 
 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 THE fituation of the poor, with refpeft to the price of labour 
 and the neceffaries of life, their claims alfo on the charity 
 of thofe in whofe pofTeffion was centred the property of this 
 kingdom, having been confidered ; it will now be a topic worthy 
 our attention to relate, briefly as poflible, the notice the legif- 
 lature of the kingdom has taken of them, from the period when 
 they firft became objeas of legiflation, unto the prefent time when 
 they participate of a revenue amounting to near three millions 
 fterling per annum, raifed for their employment and relief by the 
 authority of the ftate. 
 
 This inquiry may, with great propriety, pafs over that diftant 
 sera, the tranflidions of which hiftory has preferved in very faint 
 and doubtful records j and, indeed, it is not probable that, in 
 times when this ifland enjoyed not any regular form of government, 
 a great attention ftiould be paid by our governors to the welfare of 
 the poor ; nor is it matter of wonder that while the petty reguli 
 of the heptarchy were contefting the boundaries of their infig- 
 nificant dominions; or while a foreign family, attended by a fwarm 
 of martial and needy followers, were contending for the throne of 
 England, or difputing among themfelves for the prize they had ob- 
 tained; that any humane or wife regulations fhuuld take place with 
 refpecl to the poor, who v/ere then only confidered as the means 
 by which the claims of their refpedive lords might either be 
 enforced or defended ; and, viewed in that light, they rank in 
 a different clafs of citizens, and are diftingui(hed by epithets 
 different from, but not more refpeftable in fociety, than that of 
 hulbandmen. 
 
 After the family of William, the Norman, had been eftablifhed 
 on the throne for feveral generations, and Edward the Firft, 
 
 having
 
 L E T T E R IV. jg 
 
 having made the conqueft of North Wales, turned his attention 
 to the defencelefs fituation of the lower clafs of his Welch fub- 
 je6ls, and produced, with the ailiftance of his parliament, that 
 code of laws known in our ftatute-books by the name of Sia- 
 tutiim Wallia ; in which were regulated the modes by which 
 they might obtain redrefs of private and public wrongs ; and in 
 which it is ena(5ted, th^it a poor man, inilead of putting in 
 pledges to profecute a fuit, on fuing out a writ, fliould only pledge 
 his faith : from the date of this ftatute, which was paded in 
 1284, no mention appears of the poor in the acls of parhament 
 until 1349, when tlie ftatute of labourers regulated their wages, 
 as has been already mentioned, and in ftrong language declared 
 that their labour, while they were able to work, Ihould be their 
 only refource, by the following words : " That no one, under 
 pain of imprifonment, by pretence of piety or charity, fliouId 
 prefume to give any thing to thofe who were able to labour, to 
 encourage them in idlenefs and floth, that by thofe means they 
 might be compelled to work for the neceffaries of life." Ano- 
 ther ftatute paffed in the fame reign, which gave the poor the 
 right of an attaint in pleas, real and perfonal, without fine, 
 and the ftatute of labourers, alfo, was confirmed, and the obfer- 
 vance of it enforced by an imprifonment of fifteen days, and alfo 
 by the punilhment of burning them in the forehead, with an iion 
 in the form of the letter F, if they left their work and went away 
 into different towns, or into another country j and alfo obliged the 
 officers of cities or boroughs, in which they might refide, to deliver 
 them up. 
 
 From this period, until the 2d of Richard the Second, theftatute- 
 book is filent with refpe6l to them; the parliament then, 1378, 
 confirmed the ftatute of the 23d of Edward the Third,, and the 
 other ftatutes of labourers, and ten years afterwards repeated the 
 confirmation ; and farther diredled that no fervant or labourer 
 fliould depart from one hundred, rape, or v/apentake, to another,- 
 
 D 2 to
 
 20 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 to ferve, or live elfewhere, or under pretence of going a pilgri- 
 mage, without a letter patent, containing the caufe of his going, 
 and the time of his return, on pain of being put in the ftocks un- 
 til he finds furety for his return. This acl of parliament alfo 
 regulated the wages of yearly fervants, in hufbandry, allowing to 
 the bailiff 13J. Ji^d. and clothing once a year ; to the mafter-hind, 
 los.-y the carter, 10s. -, fhepherd, loi.; oxherd, 6s. 8</. j the deye, 6;. j 
 plough-driver js. : their wages were enforced, and the people were 
 reftrained from giving more by pecuniary penalties : for the firft 
 tranfgrelTion, forfeiture of the overplus ; fecond tranfgreffion, dou- 
 ble the overplus ; third offence, treble the overplus, or imprifon- 
 ment of forty days. By the fame flatute, thofe who had ferved in 
 any agricultural occupation, until they were twelve years of age, 
 were rellrained from being put out to any trade or myftery, on 
 penalty of the indenture, or covenant, being void ; and all fervants 
 in hufbandry, and labourers, were prohibited to wear any fword, 
 buckler, or dagger, except for defence of the realm in the time 
 of war ; but they were permitted to have bows and arrows, and to 
 ufe them on Sundays and feaft-days : all unlawful games were 
 alfo prohibited : the feventh chapter of this flatute alfo direfled, 
 that impotent beggars fliould live in the cities and villages where 
 they were refident at the time of pafTing the a6t, and if the inha- 
 bitants of the faid cities and villages ne voilent ou ne poient fiiffir 
 de ks trover y i. e. were not willing or able to maintain them,* 
 they fhould be taken to other towns in the hundred, rape, or 
 wapentake, or to the towns where they were born, within forty 
 days after proclamation of the aft, where they fhould continue 
 for life. 
 
 Three years aft^f the date of this aft, the legiflature made a 
 laudable provifion for the poor, from the appropriations of bene- 
 
 * This tranflation may poflibly be Inaccurate.— I have fearched the French dictiona- 
 ries and gloflaries in my poffeflion, and confefs I cannot find fuch a meaning affixed to the 
 verb trover., but know of none fo proper. 
 
 ficcs.
 
 L E T T E R IV. 21 
 
 fices, which was confirmed in the beginning of the reign of Henry 
 the IVth ; at which time it was enaded, that no labourer fhould be 
 retained to work by the week ; but for what reafon it is not eafy, at 
 this diftance of time, to conjedlure. 
 
 The legiflature remained filent on the fubjeft from this period 
 until 1414, when, by the fecond flatute of Henry the Vth, juf- 
 tices of the peace are diredled to fend their writs for fugitive la- 
 bourers and fervants to every flieriff in England, and are alfo 
 empowered to examine labourers, fervants, and their mafters, on 
 their oaths, of all things done by them contrary to the ordinances 
 and ftatutes, and to punifh them, on their confeflion, as though 
 they were convifled by inqueft; which power is alfo recognized 
 in the fecond year of Henry the VJth, with refpecl to thofe who 
 take w'dge^ fuperior to what are allowed by ftatute ; and, in the fixth 
 year of the fame reign, it is enabled, that juftices of peace, in their 
 counties, and the mayors and bailiffs, in every city, borough, and 
 town, {hall have power to make proclamation in every county, city, 
 borough, and town, in full feflion, once a year, how much every 
 fervant, in hufbandry, fliould take for his fervice for the year enfu- 
 ing; and that two proclamations fhould be made between the feafts 
 of Eafter and Michaelmas for that purpofe ; which adt is confirmed 
 in the eighth year of the fame reign. 
 
 In the year 1436, wheat and barley, being at a fmall price, (that 
 is to fay, wheat at 6s. Sd. and barley at 3J. per quarter,) are per- 
 mitted, by a ftatute of the fame date, to be exported without 
 licence. Six years afterwards this ftatute is confirmed for ten years j 
 and, in 1444, it is made perpetual j and, in this year, the legiflature 
 alfo enaaed, that the wages of hufbandmen, in harveft-time, 
 fhould not exceed the following rates: a reaper, 4^. a day with 
 board; without board, 6d.: a harveft-man, or driver, 3^. with 
 board; without, 5^.: women-labourers, 2|^. with board; without, 
 4i</. : and that the wages of fervants in huft)andry, by the year, 
 fhould not exceed the following prices ; a bailiff, 23J. 4*/. with 
 
 board.
 
 22 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 board, and ^s. for clothes ; a chief hind, carter, or fhepherd, 
 20S. with board, and 4^. for clothes; a common fervant, 15^, a 
 year, board, and 3 j. 4 J. for clothes ; a woman-fervant, 10s. board, 
 and 45. for clothes ; a child, under 14 years of age, 6^. with board, 
 and 35. for clothes ; and alfo dire(5led that a fervant, in huf- 
 bandry, purporting to depart from his mafter at the end of the 
 year, fhould give him half a year's warning, or elfe fervc him the 
 year following. 
 
 From this time, no notice Is taken of the agricultural poor, 
 and no new regulations which could afFe£l them are to be found 
 in the flatutes at large, until the eleventh of Henry the Vllth, 
 1494, except an adl which pafled three years before, prohibiting 
 pulling down, or fuffering to decay, houfes of hufbandry ; by 
 which means, the preamble to the a6l fays, in fome towns, where 
 upwards of two hundred perfons were occupied, and lived by 
 their lawful labour, jioiv only two' or three herdfmen are employed, 
 and the reft fall into idienefs.* By the fecond chapter of the 
 eleventh of Henry the Vllth, vagabonds, and idle and fufpeiSVed 
 perfons, fhall be fet in the ftocks three days and three nights, and 
 have no other fuftenance but bread and water, and be then put out 
 of the town ; and eveiy beggar, not able to work, Ihall refort to 
 the hundred where he laft dwelt, is beft known, or was born, and 
 there remain, on pain of like punifliment : and no artificer, or la- 
 bourer, fhall play at any unlawful games, except during Chriftmas. 
 Two juftices are alfo, by the fame ad, empowered to reftrain 
 the common feUing of ale. It is curious to fee how early, after the 
 relief of the poor became an obje£l of the legiflature, the regu- 
 
 * The legiflature, two centuries ago, feeins to have been aware of the bad confe- 
 quences, to population and induftry, that arife from the confoliJation of fmall farms, 
 ■which, where general, is a meafure which ftrilces at the root of every ftimulus to agri- 
 cultural induftry among the poor, by excluding all profpeil of ufmg the plough and fickle 
 for themfelves. 
 
 lation
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 23 
 
 lation of alehoufes was alfo a fubjefl of their attention, and with 
 what an equal flep the laws refpefting vagabonds and alehoufes pro- 
 ceed together. 
 
 The parliament alfo, in the fame year, enabled poor perfons to 
 fue out writs of fubpcena againft thofe that may give them caufe of 
 complaint, and counfel fliall be appointed them, taking nothing 
 for the fame, at the difcretion of the chancellor. The prices of la- 
 bour were again regulated by the fame parliament. 
 
 In the 6th year of Henry the Vlllth, the wages of fcrvants, 
 m hufbandry, are again regulated, as are the hours they fliall 
 work, have for their meals, and fleep ; and, by the twenty-fecond 
 of the fame reign, juftices of the peace are empowered to licence, 
 under their feals, fuch poor, aged, and impotent perfons, to beg 
 within a certain precinft, as they fliall think to have mofl need ; 
 and if any beg, without fuch licence, he fliall be whipped, or elfe 
 fet in the flocks j and a vagabond taken begging fliall be whipped, 
 and then fworn to return to the place where he was born, or lafl: 
 dwelt, for the fpace of three years, and there put himfelf to la- 
 bour. 
 
 All the other parliamentary regulations which refpeft the poor 
 labourers, between the interval of this laft-mentioned a6l and 
 thofe of the 2Sth and the 3ifl: years of the fame reign j the firfl: 
 of which veflied the fmaller monaflieries, and the lafl: diflblved the 
 whole flrudure of, monafl:ic infl:itution, and vefl:ed all their eflates 
 in the crown ; may be found in a capitular of fliatute 27th, Henry 
 VIII. cap, 25, which direfled, that all governors of fliires, cities, 
 hamlets, pariflies, &c. fliall find and keep every aged, poor, and 
 impotent perfon, who was born or dwelt three years within the 
 fame limit, by way of voluntary and charitable alms, in every of 
 the fame cities, pariflies, &c. with fuch convenient alms as fliall 
 be thought meet by their difcretion, fo as none of them fliall be 
 compelled to go openly begging: and alfo fliall compel every 
 iiurdy vagabond to be kept in continual labour. Children under
 
 24 L E T T E R IV. 
 
 14 years of age, and above five, that live in idlenefs, and are taken 
 begging, may be put to fervice by the governors of cities, towns, 
 &c. to hufbandry, or other crafts or labours. A vagabond fliall, 
 the firft time, be whipped, and fent to the place where he was born, 
 or lafl dwelled, by the fpace of three years, there to get his living ; 
 and, if he continue his roguifli life, he (hall have the upper part of 
 the griftle of his right ear cut off; and if, after that, he is taken 
 wandering in idlenefs, or doth not apply to his labour, or is not in 
 fervice with any mafter, he fliall be adjudged and executed as a fe- 
 lon. No perfon fliall make any open or common dole, nor fliall give 
 any money in alms, but to the common boxes and common gather- 
 ings, in every parifli, on pain of forfeiting ten times as much. Un- 
 lawful games are alfo prohibited. 
 
 Thefe, as far as they refpecl the fubje(5l of this inquiry, are the 
 leading points, in which the legiflature of other times interfered 
 in the regulations of the rights, claims, and condudl, of that clafs 
 of the community, whofe only property is their perfonal ftrength, 
 and whofe fole employment through life is hard labour : but there 
 alfo exilled a defcription of fellow-fubje6ls, whofe rights were fl:ill 
 more circumfcribed, and the exiftence of which clafs of men in 
 this ifland is, much to the honour of the prefent age, proved at 
 this day only by the page of hifl:ory, and fuch notices as are preferved 
 in the black-lettered law-books of paft times. 
 
 They were called villains. The word has refpecl to the nature of 
 the tenure and the locality of their fervices, rather than to any par- 
 ticular ideas of difgrace which were attached to their perfon ; villani 
 quia villa adfcripti, fays Lord Coke : they were in fome infl:ances 
 the property of the lord, were transferred like other property, 
 and that particular defcription of them, called villains in grofs, 
 were in many refpecls in a fimilar fituation to thofe Africans, who 
 are objefts of our commerce, and tranfported to the Wefl Indies ; 
 but it appears, from Littleton's Tenures, that their perfonal fafety 
 was guarded, and no inftances are to be found where they were ex- 
 empted
 
 L E T T E R V. 25 
 
 empted from the general benefit of the laws of their country, un- 
 lefs where the laws and cuftoms, of a particular tenure, interfered, 
 and reduced them, in thofe inftances, almoft to a ftate of flavery. 
 It may be prefumed, therefore, that in all other refpedls they had 
 an equal claim, with the reft of our fellow-fubjefls, to a compenfa- 
 tion for their labour, while they were able to do any; and, when they 
 were incapacitated, they then claimed from the hand of charity 
 equally with their neighbours. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 AT this period, fo interefting to the feelings of all Englifli 
 Pi'oteftants, when that vaft fuperftruclure of Papal influ- 
 ence and grandeur, reared on the foundation of fear and fu- 
 perftition, which had exifted fo many centuries, fell, as it were, 
 by the magic touch of Henry VIII. to the ground, and an edi- 
 fice more confonant to the principles of fober piety and good fenfc 
 arofe in its Head; let us paufe awhile, and refle6l on the diffe- 
 rent fituations the poor were in, both with refpedl to their wants 
 and demands on fociety thviy and that ftation which they now 
 hold : the contraft will appear ftriking, and fome ufeful reflections 
 may arife from it. 
 
 Their wages had uniformly hitherto borne a proportion to the 
 neceflaries of life; and, that fuch proportion might be preferved, 
 independent of the capricious or felfifh will of an intereftcd 
 matter, and the impofing demands of fl:urdy lazinefs, the price 
 of labour had frequently been regulated by the legiflature, which 
 had alio paid a conftant attention to the prices of provifions ; and 
 all the neceflaries of life had been attainable hitherto, throughout 
 the whole period which has been fubje6t to our review, (except 
 
 E in
 
 26 LET T E R V. 
 
 in times of cafiial dearth,) by a proportion of labour which left a 
 furplus for accidents or xUnefs ; but, at the fame time that the legif- 
 lature had this equitable attention to their interefts, it enforced the 
 necellity of labour and employment, by corporal punilhments of the 
 idle and wanderer, and by reftraining the hand of charity from 
 giving perfons of fuch defcription any afliftance. 
 
 Through the fame asra we alfo find that the infirm, the age.!, 
 and the impotent, had no claims of afliftance from fociety, ex- 
 cept on that portion of the pofleflions of the ecclefiaftics which 
 feems to have been adequate, under the management of the clergy, 
 to the demand on it j and the jealoufy of the legiflature, left the 
 attempt made by the monafteries on that fund, by the appropria- 
 tion of the great tithes to themfelves, might, in the end, divert it 
 from its proper application, is very apparent, by that aft of parlia- 
 ment which pafled in the 15th of Richard II. and was confirmed by 
 the 4th of Henry IV. 
 
 Another circumftance well deferves our notice; — the luxuries of 
 life were hitherto but little, if at all, in ufe among the poorj no 
 deleterious fnufF or tobacco, no debilitating tea, no liquid fire, 
 commonly called gin, or fpirits ; thofe banes of health and morals, 
 thofe fure deftroyers of the conftitutions of the prefent and of the 
 rifing generations ; and it is late in the period that we find any 
 mention made of ale-houfes, recepticles of vice and immorality! 
 from whence the Treafury draws a confiderable revenue, and at the 
 fame time drains the poor of their property, conftitution, and 
 morals. 
 
 Manufadures had alfo made but little progrefs among us, which, 
 however they may enrich individuals, or increafe the fources of our 
 commerce, are, to the labouring poor, when they are the means of 
 congregating them to work in parties, or are introdu6lory of fe- 
 dentary employment, moft ferious evils j in as much as they are 
 by long experience found to afFeft, moft materially, the health and 
 morals of thofe employed in them ; and when, which has hap- 
 pened
 
 L E T T E R V. 27 
 
 pened in many places, they leave the pariflies which have, for a 
 time, been their refidence, (for, manufa£lures are naturally deful- 
 tory,) thole parifties are left in miferable poverty and haplefs 
 wretched nefs. 
 
 The means of intercourfe with popular cities were alfo lefs ob- 
 vious ; of confequence, all thofe crimes, which, being committed 
 in a crovv^d, may efcape cenfure, were lefs pra6lifed ; and that evil 
 example, which is always to be found where many idle people are 
 affembled, was lefs before their eyes j befides, the moral condu6l of 
 the individual was more under the guidance of the ecclefiaftical 
 dire6lor of his confcience, during the exiftence of the Roman 
 Catholic perfuafion; which circumftance muft be allowed to have 
 been a caufe of ftrider moral conduft among the poor than at 
 prefent prevails. 
 
 It has been already hinted, that the population of the kingdom, 
 particularly among the lower clafles of fociety, has confiderably in- 
 creafed fmce the abolition of monafteries ; and that whatever alms 
 the poor then received from thofe focieties of regular clergy, as well 
 as the crumbs which fell from the tables of the opulent, who now 
 expend their incomes in cities and places of public refort, are at 
 prefent withdrawn ; and the very numerous poor of this kingdom 
 are, now, left a very heavy burthen on the landed property alone, 
 while manufactures and commerce enjoy a confiderable portion of 
 the benefit arifing from their labour. 
 
 At the fame time, a principle deftrudive to the rights, and par- 
 ticularly affecting the lower clafles of fociety, feems now to pervade 
 the whole fyftem of the management of the poor; a principle which 
 is inherent to defpotic governments, but clalhes with the rights of 
 a fubjeCl under a limited monarchy, and which has, neverthelefs, 
 increafed in this country in a diredt proportion with the liberality 
 and freedom of our excellent conftitution. The principle alluded to 
 is that which leaves a chafm between the different orders of the 
 iiate, and operates to this effect : that thofe who are born to hard 
 
 E 2 labour
 
 28 L E T T E R V. 
 
 labour for their maintenance (hall never have an opportunity of 
 emerging from their low condition ; the artizan or manufafturer, 
 the farmer or tradefman, may rife to the confequence of a legif- 
 lator: opulence will raife the pofleflbr to diftin6lions in fociety; an 
 individual of every profeffion may look up with the well-grounded 
 hope of becoming, in maturer age, of more importaricc among the 
 higher claffes of the ftate than when he began his career; but 
 between the labourer and any fuperior fituation among his coun- 
 trymen there is now a dreadful gulph, which none, or fcarce any, 
 can pafs. — During the sera which has been examined, fuch a prin- 
 ciple does not appear to have prevailed, <ind yet the rights of the 
 fubject were not then fo well defined as at prefent j the wages re- 
 ceived, under fanftion of flatute-laws, by the labourer, enabled the 
 prudent to fave fomething j that fomething might tke7i be applied to 
 profit, in fmall occupations of land j a fmall bufinefs leads the way 
 to a greater : — by thefe means the door was open to riches and 
 authority ; and honeft ambition was a fpur even to the cottager, of 
 which he is now deprived j for, the induflrious man in thefe days 
 feldom receives any affiftance from the overfeer, in the cafualties to 
 which human nature is fubjedt, until every farthing of his favings is 
 exhaufted, and he becomes, with refpe6l to his poverty, on a level 
 with the idle and the drunkard ; and if he is fortunate enough, by 
 many years induftry and economy, to accumulate a few pounds, 
 no fmall bufinefs, in his line of life, is now open to him; the 
 confolidation of fmall farms has precluded all hopes of employing 
 his money in that bufinefs with which he has had moft experience j 
 all, therefore, he can do is to buy a cottage, which the parifli- 
 officers too often fix their attention on, as a fufficient reafon why 
 he and his family, numerous as they may be, fhall not receive 
 relief, becaufe he has vifible property. This chafm between the 
 labourer and the other claffes in fociety, it is prefumed, may do 
 more mifchief to the ftate, by deftroying every ftimulus to induftry, 
 except dire necefllty, and actually become a more ferious caufe of 
 
 the
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 29 
 
 'the Atrprifing increafe of the poor's rates than even thofe induce- 
 ments to diflipation and enervating luxury, which the poUcy of 
 finance holds out to them in the Ihape of tea, fpirits, and ale- 
 houfes. 
 
 No v^^onder, therefore, that thofe vi^ho lead a life of retirement, 
 far from the haunts of the ambitious or voluptuous, who retreat 
 from bufmefs or pleafure, either to cultivate a more intimate know- 
 ledge of therafelves or to deceive the pafling hours by an attention 
 to the improvement or embellifhment of their eftates, fhould 
 have their fenfibility wounded by being not only hearers, but eye- 
 witneflcs, of the mifery of their fellow-creatures. — No wonder 
 that thofe who have been nurfed in the lap of luxury fhould avoid 
 thofe fcenes which otherwife, it is probable, they would embellifh 
 by their taftej and defert thofe manfions, now untenanted and 
 dreary, which, when occupied by the hofpitable owners, difFufed a 
 gleam of chearfulnefs thrpugh the country. It furely is not be- 
 neath the office of humanity, at times, to hold converfation with 
 the peafant, whofe labour improves or embellifhes our demefnes; 
 but the topic of fuch converfation too often diflrefTes humanity, 
 and fends the hearer home deje6led and diflatisfied. 
 
 Probably fome reflections may then arife in his mind not very 
 favourable to the prefent fyflem of poor-laws : being a witnefs of 
 their wretched fituation, he may reafonably conclude that the fum, 
 immenfe as it is, which the poor's rate, together with the charitable 
 donations of our anceflorsj raifes for them, is not fufficient, or 
 that it is much mifappliedj for the rate itfelf is certainly an 
 enormous burthen, rifing from two or three fhillings in the pound, 
 upon the a6Vual rental, up to fixteen, eighteen, or more, in fome 
 parifhes j and the whole of this revenue has increafed to the prefent 
 bulk, from nothing, in lefs than two centuries, and no part of it is 
 mortgaged, but the whole applied, or prefumed to be applied, to 
 their maintenance and relief. 
 
 Their
 
 30 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Their wages, it is true, are lefs in proportion to the value of 
 money or the neceflaries of hfe, than they were in times antecedent 
 to the prefent fyftem, probably lefs by one-third ; and they alfo, in 
 thofe times, received afllflance from the clergy, who, by their 
 advice, then regulated their religious and moral principles, which 
 are confiderable prefervers of induilry and good economy ; there- 
 fore, raifmg their wages would not alone be of fervice to them at 
 prefent, becaufe the religious fentiment feems extinct throughout 
 the multitude in general, and morality has unawares expired with 
 it } confequently thofe principles, which, if aftive, would kindle a 
 fpark of honeft induftry among them, are totally inert j and ad- 
 ditional wages, it is feared, would only induce additional ex- 
 cefles. 
 
 If education will fix habits unconne£led with the moral fen- 
 timent i if Mr. Pope's maxim is true, that 
 
 Juft as the twig is bent, the tree's inclin'd ; 
 
 an opening is furely left which may be applied to the beft of 
 purpofes, without raifing the wages of the labourer, without call- 
 ing for afliftance from the clerical pofleflions, or expefting the 
 clergy to attempt again the office of ghoftly directors with refpeit 
 to their poor parifhioners. 
 
 Induftry, early induftry, keeps the rifing age fronl prefent mif- 
 chief, and fafhions the future man to a life of honefty j and, 
 depend on it, the religious principle, together with every refpeded 
 moral virtue, may be reared on the bafis of habitual induftry. 
 
 " To teach the young idea how to fhoot" is among the moft 
 pleafing and important offices of life; how excellent muft be a 
 plan formed on that fentiment, which would comprehend, and, in 
 a manner, infure, the future well-being of fo large a portion of 
 this nation ; would deliver them from a childhood and youth, 
 pafled in idlenefs and theft, to a manhood formed from the earlieft 
 years to habits of induftry; would, in the mean time, render 
 
 their
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 3» 
 
 their hours of fome value to their parents, which are now an in- 
 cumbrance to them, and a pefl: to their neighbours. 
 
 Much has been done, it may be faid, for the rifing generation 
 within thefe few years, by Sunday-fchools ; it is very far from my 
 intention to call in queftion either the principle on which the 
 patrons of Sunday-fchools proceed, or to difpute the fa6t that 
 they have done fervice ; but, as the intention of Sunday-fchools is 
 to inculcate a religious principle, to give early habits of religious 
 duties, and to open the mind of the poor to religious in- 
 flruclion, furely thofe feminaries are at prefent incomplete. Shall 
 the fix days be fpent in idlenefs, perhaps in theft and immorality, 
 while the feventh alone is taken care of ? May not the child who 
 is left to itfelf in a ftate of idlenefs, or, pofllbly, for fo we know 
 it too often happens, fent out to fteal firing for its parents, oi 
 encouraged to pilfer for its fuftenance through the other fix days 
 in the week, and who attends at the Sunday-fchools, where, from 
 fuperior readinefs and regularity of attendance there, and at church, 
 it is praifed by the m after or miftrefs for reading and behaving well 
 on the Sunday ; may not fuch a child, from fuch pra6lice, im- 
 bibe habits of hypocrify, at the fame time that it is educated in a 
 regular attendance to religious duties ? Surely there is fome danger 
 that he may, in mature life, make ufe of this church-going habit, 
 as a cloak for his condu6l the reft of the week ; belides, it fhould 
 be confidered that the accomplifhments of reading and writing are 
 not effentially neceffary for all people; there muft always be in all 
 focieties of mankind fome who are hewers of wood and drawers 
 of waters ; to whofe fum of happinefs, or honeft means of getting 
 their bread, thefe accomplifhments will not add an unit j and to 
 all the children of that clafs in fociety, for whofe benefit Sunday- 
 fchools have been with fo much well-meaning humanity encouraged ; 
 fix days induftrious habits are recommended as a better preparation 
 to a feventh of religious duties and inftruftion, than fix days palTed 
 in vice or idlenefs. But this topic (hall be dropped for the prefent, 
 
 and
 
 32 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 and the utility of Sunday-fchools acknowledged on this general 
 principle. 
 
 Eft quodam prodire tenus, ft non detur ultra. 
 
 In the mean time, the inquiry into the adlual ftate and fituation 
 of the poor, as far as they are affected by the prevailing habits of 
 the times, as well as by the laws of their country ; together with 
 the opinion which thofe who have paid any attention to the fub- 
 jeft, and have laid the refult of that attention before the public, 
 have formed of the caufes of their increafing wretchednefs and 
 our increafing expenfes j (hall be purfued, from the period at which 
 this paufe has been made, through the fucceeding years to the 
 prefent time -, in full confidence that fome ufeful knowledge on 
 this important fubjedl may be gained j and in hopes that while we 
 are amufed we may be inftru6led. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 WHEN I fent you the laft letter on this fubjeft, the diffi- 
 culty of meeting with fufficient information in refpedl 
 to the price of labour, and the neceflaries of life, from the period 
 which has hitherto been the obje6l of this inquiry, unto the end 
 of the reign of Elizabeth, did not then occur to me j nor did I 
 forefee that I fliould be left in the dark on that fubje6l, when 
 Fleetwood's Cbronicon ceafed to give me any longer its fleady and 
 faithful light. The record of the prices of wheat at Windfor- 
 market, which has been regularly taken by the Burfer of Eton- 
 College to fix the corn-rents for the year, is the only exa6t ac- 
 count, fo far back as it goes, in this kingdom ; and that extends 
 only to the year 1595; but, not being able to accompany the 
 
 price
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 33 
 
 price of wheat from that period, which was only nine years an- 
 terior to the 43d of EUzabeth, with any certain cotempdrary ac- 
 count of the price of labour j although I have taken every means 
 in my power to obtain fuch information as might be depended on 
 with refpe6l to the concurrent price of labour and provifions to 
 the 43d year of Elizabeth, hitherto without efFe«5l ; and being fear- 
 ful that thofe among your readers, who have paid any attention to 
 what has already been faid on the fubjedl, may conceive it is de- 
 ferted, and my word not intended to be kept with them ; I deter- 
 mined to fend you a few pages on that part of the inquiry, which 
 my Ubrary will enable me to elucidate, and my reafon is adequate 
 to explain. 
 
 On perufmg the Englifh hillorians of the age antecedent to 
 that when the parliament of Elizabeth interwove the prefervation 
 of the poor with the conftitution of the kingdom ; the alTertion, 
 made in a former part of this tra6V, that the monks, if they could 
 not dig, were not afliamed to beg, is found to be well authorized 
 by hiftory j for, it appears that the multitudes of idle people, which 
 the diflblved monafteries had vomited forth on the public, were 
 become a ferious burthen on fociety, and occafioned the palling an 
 aft in the firft parliament of Edward the Sixth, which is as curious 
 in the preamble, as it is inconfiftent, in the ena6ling part, with 
 every principle of humanity and juftice : the preamble ftates, that 
 " forafmuch as idlenefs and vagabondry is the mother and root 
 of all thefts, robberies, evil ads, and other mifchiefs, and yet idle 
 and diforderly perfons, being unprofitable members, or rather 
 enemies, of the commonwealth, have been fuffered to increafe, 
 and yet do fo, whom if they fhould be punifhed with death, whip- 
 ping, imprifonment, and other corporal pain, it were not without 
 their deferts," be it ena6led, &c. 
 
 In fhort, this curious piece of legiflation makes a man who 
 liveth idly three ^ays, the flave for two years of him who informs 
 againft fuch an idler, he being firll branded with a red-hot iron 
 
 F on
 
 34 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 on the bread with the letter V ; durhig which two years he fhall 
 be fed with bread and water, and refi/fe-meat, and caufed to work 
 by beating, chaining, and otherwife, in any work, be it ever lb 
 vile ; and, if he runs away from his mafter for the fpace of four- 
 teen days, he fhall become his J/ave for life ; after being branded 
 on the cheek with the letter S ; and, if he runs away a fecond time, 
 he Ihall be adjudged a felon. 
 
 This a6l of parliament, fo difcreditable even to that age of dif- 
 order and defpotifm, arofe, as Rapin fays, from the neceflity the 
 government experienced of obliging the monks to work, who were 
 little inured to labour, but employed themfelves in going from 
 houfe to houfe, infpiring people with the fpirit of rebellion ; and 
 thus much is certain, let the caufe of fuch feverity have been what 
 it may, that the a<5l itfelf was fo diametrically oppofite to every juft 
 principle of legiflation, that it was repealed in the third year of 
 the fame reign, and during the adminiftration of thofe by whofe 
 authority it had been paffed ; and the poor were then left by the 
 legiflature much in the fame fituation as before the abolition of 
 monafteries ; although certainly deprived of a fource of mainte- 
 nance, and the number of them confiderably increafed by that 
 diffolution. 
 
 Thofe to whom Henry the Eighth had left the care of his infant 
 fon, even when allifted by the council, among whom many names 
 of refpedable memory appear, feem to have been as infufficient 
 to that department of government, which refpefts the interior 
 police of the kingdom, as we may reafonably fuppofe the minor 
 king could have been, had he himfelf wielded the fceptre. What 
 elfe but complete ignorance could have induced them to permit 
 fo unpopular and unjuft an a6l to be palled in the firft year of their 
 young fovereign's reign, as has been alluded to ? which law they 
 were fo foon obliged to repeal ; and, in the year following, the 
 repeal, as an encouragement (as the preamble fays) to, and pro- 
 motion of, induftry, an aft was paffed which obliged fervants in 
 
 hulbandry
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 35 
 
 hufbandry to ferve the whole year, and not by days' wages ; the 
 cccafion of which curious reftraint, it is difficult at this diftance of 
 time to guefs ; the ftatute-book, as well as hiftory, being filent on 
 the fubje6t. 
 
 That the poor were now in a diftreffed fituation throughout 
 the kingdom, is very apparent ; they had loft fuch relief, whatever 
 it might have been, as they had been accuftomed to receive from 
 the monafteries ; they had alfo loft a confiderable fource of employ- 
 ment, by the lands of the monafteries being granted to the nobles 
 and followers of the court j who left the hufbandry of their newly- 
 acquired domains to chance and negle6t, which had been more 
 attended to, and well cultivated, when under the infpe6tion of the 
 monafteries, and their tenants ; and thofe alfo, who were lately 
 their confeflbrs and fpiritual diredtors, who, while it was their 
 intereft, influenced the poor to a life of induftry and content, 
 ftill retained the fame influence over their minds, and made ufe of 
 it now, to incite them to fadlion and fedition ; certain confequences 
 of that diftrefs, which arifes from idlenefs and diffipation ; while 
 the legiflature, to mitigate and allay the turbulent and diflatisfied 
 fpirit then prevalent among the lower orders of the ftate, with an 
 abfurdity fcarcely credible, pafled a law, that the poor of every 
 parifli ftiall be relieved, *' with that which every parifliioner of his 
 charitable devotion will give." 5th and 6th Edward VI. cap, 2. 
 
 As a top to the climax of their abfurdities in legiflating for the 
 poor, during this fliort and unpropitious reign, parliament firft 
 inftituted licenfed ale-houfes, and fandiioned them by an a6t which 
 has the following preamble, as a reafon for the ftatute : " Foraf- 
 much as intolerable hurts and troubles to the commonwealth of 
 this realm doth daily grow and increafe, through fuch abufes and 
 diforders as are had in common ale-houfes, and other houfes, 
 called tippling-houfes." A preamble which ftiould have preceded 
 a prohibition, not a licenfe, or permilTion. 
 
 F 2 Tke
 
 36 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 The (hort reign of Mary was pafled in the regulation of what 
 appeared to her, and her advifers, of much more importance than 
 the feeding of millions j the bending the ftubborn opinions of a 
 few, in matters of religious controverfy. — And, can it be fup- 
 pofed, that either legiflators or ecclcfiaftics, who were employed in 
 bringing heretics to the flake, could elevate their attention to the 
 divine office of invefligating the means to preferve the multitudes 
 of their poor brethren from idlenefs and want ? However, before 
 all the perverted faculties of their minds were totally abforbed in 
 the tafk of regulating matters of religious opinion, with the accu- 
 racy that their cotemporary legiflator, Charles the Fifth,* regu- 
 lated the motion of time-keepers, they had fufficient leifure to 
 leave matters in the fame ftate, with refpedl to the poor, as they 
 were in the two laft reigns j except that they invented the fcheme 
 of expofing thofe who begged ; which, at that time, muft, of ne- 
 ceffity, have been as well the aged and infirm, as the idlej by 
 obliging them to wear a badge on their breaft and back openly, 
 by an a6l of the fecond year of the reign of Philip and Mary ; 
 but, in thefe days, when the rights of human nature are fo well 
 underftood, and, with fuch merited fuccefs, wrefted from the 
 flrongeft gripe of power, it will not ftrike us with furprife, that, 
 in thofe times of ignorance, fuperftition, and defpotilm, the rights 
 of the many fliould be but little underftood, and lefs attended to, 
 by the few who held the iron rod of power. 
 
 The kingdom felt, during the reigns of thefe two children of the 
 Eighth Henry, moft ferious effects from the ignorance of govern- 
 ment in, or its inattention to, the regulation of the interior po- 
 lice; being, at times, convulfed by inteftine commotions, from 
 its centre to its circumference ; as the rebellions of Kett, in Nol- 
 folk ; that of Arundel, in Devonlhire j and infurreftions in many 
 
 * Robinfon's Hiftory of the Emperor Charles V. 410 edit. vol. iii. book ra. 
 
 counties,
 
 L E T T E R VI. , 37 
 
 counties, in the year 1549 ; and thofe of Wyatt, in Kent and Sur- 
 rey, and Carew, in Cornwall, in 1554, plainly evidence. 
 
 It is no wonder, therefore, that in an early part of the reign 
 of Elizabeth, after the affairs of religion were fettled to the ge- 
 neral fatisfaftion of the nation, by the eftablilhment of the Pro- 
 teftant faith, according to the ritual of the church of England ; 
 and foon after the Queen had entrufted the affairs of the kingdom 
 to the management of a Bacon and a Cecil j that we find the at- 
 tention of parliament occupied on the fubjedl of the poor, with 
 a ferioufnefs of application that proved their conception of the 
 importance of the obje*5l to the univerfal welfare of the nation ; 
 and which gave rife to three a6ts, that were pafled in the fifth 
 year of her reign > by the firft of which, thofe regulations made in 
 the feveral parliaments of the fourth of Henry the Seventh, and 
 the feventh and twcnty-feventh of Henry the Eighth, for keeping 
 in repair farm-houfes, and maintaining of tillage, were enforced j 
 and all that was enabled, during the laft two reigns, on this fub- 
 je<5t, was repealed. By the fecond aft, the poor were to be re- 
 lieved by what every perfon gives weekly j and, if any parifhioner 
 ftiall refufe to pay, reafonably, towards the relief of the poor, or 
 ihall difcourage others, then the juflices of the peace, at their 
 quarter-fefTions, may tax him a weekly fumj which, if he refufes 
 to pay, they may commit him to prifon ; and, if any parifh has 
 more poor than they are able to relieve, juflices of the peace may 
 licenfe fo many of them, as they fhall think good, to beg within 
 the county. 
 
 The next ad, which is the 5th of Elizabeth, cap. 4. is in force 
 at this day ; and produces many ufeful regulations, as well in re- 
 fpedt to what perfons are compellable to ferve in any crafts or trades, 
 as in hulbandry : the condu6l of the mafter and fervant, recipro- 
 ^ cally to each other, is regulated j the production of teftimonials of 
 a fervant's conduft enforced by a penalty j the time during which 
 
 labourers
 
 38 L E T T E R VI. 
 
 labourers fliall continue at work ; befides many other heads of re- 
 gulation ; for all which, it is better to refer your readers to that 
 excellent compendium. Burn's Juftice, or to the ftatute itfelf, than 
 take up their time, or my own, in recapitulating its contents. — 
 One fe£lion, however, I muft call forth to their notice : the wages 
 of fervants, labourers, and artificers, as well by the day as year, 
 fhall be limited, rated, and appointed, by the juftices of the peace 
 of the county, they having refpedl to the plenty, or fcarcity, of 
 the times, &c. : and this fe^tion is enforced by a penalty on the 
 juftices, for not attending at the time required by the adt ; and alfo 
 on the mafter for giving, and the fervant for taking, more than 
 fuch rated wages. — Se61:. 15. 
 
 The wifdom and humanity of government, during this long and 
 profperous reign, engrafted, by degrees, fome of the beft moral 
 principles of the Chriftian religion into the ftatute-law of the land. 
 Our Saviour, in his converfations with his d'.fciples, lays very great 
 ftrefs on the duty of giving to the poor, adminiftering to the fick, 
 and relieving the prifoner ; as may be feen in the 25th chapter of 
 Matthew, and many other places in the New Teftament : and the 
 parliament of EUzabeth fanflioned that, which was before only a 
 moral duty, by a law of the ftate j for, by the 14th of Elizabeth, 
 cap. 5. afleffments are directed to be made of the pariftiioners of 
 every parifh, for the relief of the poor of the fame parifh j and a 
 provifion is alfo made for the relief of the prifoners in common 
 gaols. The mode, alfo, of treating 'that clafs, or defcription, of 
 our fellow-creatures, called, by the law, vagabonds, feemed alfo 
 much better underftood than in former reigns ; but ftill was tinged 
 with too much feverity, againft thofe members of fociety, who are 
 guilty of a negative offence only, — that of want of induftry ; 
 which, in fa6l, puniflies itfelf j and is, with juftice, puniflied by 
 the municipal laws ; as it is certainly a crime, and fo confidered by 
 one of the beft writers on that fubje£t this age has produced — 
 
 Beccaria ;
 
 L E T T E R VI. 39 
 
 Beccaria;* who, in his excellent treatife, Dei Delitti e ielle FenCy 
 cxaflly defcribes thofe ufelefs, and culpable, members of fociety, 
 under the title of czioft^ whom we include by the word vaga- 
 bonds; and indicates an opinion, that their offence to fociety is 
 fomewhat fimilar to that of men who are probably guilty of 
 crimes, but againft whom there is no certain pofitive proof. 
 This flatute of Elizabeth orders vagabonds to be grievoufly whipped, 
 and burned through the griftle of the righr ear, for the firft of- 
 fence, if above fourteen years of age, unlefs fome creditable perfon 
 will take them into fervice for a year j and, if of eighteen years of 
 age, and he falls again into a roguifh life, he fhall fuffer death as a 
 felon, unlefs fome creditable perfon will take him into fervice for two 
 years j and, if he falls a third time into a roguifh life, he fhall be 
 adjudged a felon. 
 
 Government, after experiencing the efFe6ls ariling from what 
 had been done in the fourteenth year of this reign, again took 
 up the fubje6l ; and we find, in the eighteenth flatute, the firfl 
 idea of natural children being maintained at the ex'penfe of their 
 mother, or reputed father, who appear before this time to have 
 been maintained at the expenfe of the parifh ; or, at lealV, there was 
 no pofitive law of the flate enforcing the contrary. This flatute 
 alfo provides for the punifhment of the father and mother; and has 
 Hood the tefl of time, being the rule for the condu6l of magiflrates 
 at this day. 
 
 In this parliament, alfo, arofe the firfl idea of providing a flock 
 to fet the poor at work. Indeed, it is fcarcely credible, that legifla- 
 tors fhould, for centuries, have puniflied idlenefs and vagabondry fo 
 feverely, and not have provided a certainty, that thofe members of 
 fociety, who, from their fituation, are flrongly tempted to incur 
 the crime, fhould have the means put in their power, by induflry, 
 of avoiding it. 
 
 * Beccaria dei Delitti e delle Pene, fed. 24. 
 
 Houfes
 
 40 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Houfes of induftry are now mentioned, for the firft time; and 
 lands in focage are permitted, during twenty years, to be given 
 towards their maintenance, and to provide ftock for the poor to 
 work up. But what principle could induce the parliament to 
 prohibit building cottages, unlefs four acres of land were laid to 
 each of them, it is impoflible at this diftance of time to tell; 
 the hiftory of that period taking no notice of the fubjeft ; and the 
 preamble to the acl itfelf flating only general inconvenience ; yet 
 fuch a regulation pafTed into a law, in 1589 ; together with a prohi- 
 bition againfl more families, or houfeholds, than one, inhabiting 
 the fame cottage. 
 
 The parliament of this wife and happy aera were as progreflive 
 in improving the fituation of the poor, and in laws replete with 
 tendernefs and humanity, afFe6ling the lower claffes of the flate, 
 as were the parliaments under the two preceding reigns retrogref- 
 five and deficient in thofe refpe6ls. In the thirty-fifth year of 
 Elizabeth, we find them turning again their attention to huf- 
 bandry, and repealing feveral former ftatutes afFeding it; repeal- 
 ing, alfo, that part of the flatute-law refpedting vagabonds, which 
 retained any unneceflary, and therefore improper, feverity; regu- 
 lating the management of thofe poor and impotent perfons, who 
 are compelled to live by alms ; and enlarging the term, during 
 which it fhould be lawful to give land towards the maintenance 
 of houfes of corre6lion, or of the poor : and, after having tried, 
 for four years, the efFeft of all the laws then in force, relative to 
 this important department of the police, and having called, as it 
 were, pradlical experience, in aid of theoretic legiflation ; we find, 
 towards the end of the fixteenth century, and in the beginning 
 of the thirty- ninth year of this reign, thefe various matters and 
 important regulations taking fomewhat the appearance of a code 
 or fyftem of laws, as they were contained in the firfl fix and the 
 fcventeenth chapters of this feffion. 
 
 ^ A re-
 
 LETTER VI. 41 
 
 A recapitulation of the heads of thefe feveral llatutcs would 
 be tedious, and is unneceflary to the purpole of this tradl ; which 
 is intended to inquire into the relative fituation of the poor, in 
 time part, and at prefent : but one circumilance, on the revifal of 
 the hiilory of thefe ftatutes, ftrikes the mind ftrongly ; that the 
 43d of Elizabeth, which is confidered by many as the fountain and 
 origin of the poor's rate, is in fa£t not fo, but is the refult of the 
 colle6led wifdom, obfervation, and experience, of the fame, or 
 nearly the fame, individual ftatefmen; and thofe, men of acknow- 
 ledged wifdom and prudence, attending to the fame object, the 
 general good of fociety, in this moft important article of police, 
 during the term of almoft half a century. 
 
 Although fome fenfible and enlightened minds have appeared to 
 doubt, whether this ftatute has, in its prefent confequences, 
 brought upon that portion of fociety, vv'hich, by the law of the 
 land, is fubje£t to its influence, more good than evil j reafoning 
 from the great burthen it impofes on the landed intereft in parti- 
 cular; the knowledge alfo that in other countries no fach law 
 fubfifts ; that until a certain sera it was not the law here; till when 
 no colle£lions, but fuch as are voluntary, were gathered for the 
 poor; knowing withal, that mifery and diftrefs, arifmg from po- 
 verty, are the lot of too many; although fuch an immenle revenue is 
 raifed for their relief: yet fo great was the neceffity of raifing 
 a certain revenue for them, and fo gradually and ftrongly did fuch 
 neceflity enforce itfelf through the period which has jull been fub- 
 je£l to our attention, by a kind of divine right, on the confcience 
 of the legiflature, who difputed and yielded, ftep by ftep, to its 
 powerful energy, during a long reign ; which all our hiftorians 
 teach us to remember with reverence, for the wifdom and prudence 
 fo vifibly prevalent throughout that age ; this aiTertion may now 
 bje Ventured, that a tax upon fociety, for the relief of the poor, 
 was, in the age of Elizabeth, expedient and neceffary; and that the 
 regulations of the 43d ftatute of her reign were then the beft mo- 
 
 G dificatioii
 
 42 LETTER VII. 
 
 dificatlon of fuch a tax, and well calculated to enforce habits of 
 induftry, and all thofe exertions to maintain themfelves before 
 they became a burthen upon their fellow-fubje6ls, which fell 
 within the fcope of their power and ability : whether they are fo 
 now, and whether the prefent enormous burthen of the poor's 
 rates arifes from this ftatute being put in force, or from other 
 caufes, fhall be the objed of a fubfequent inveftigation. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 TO form an accurate judgement on any fubjeil, it is neceffary 
 that the mind fliould have been as fully attentive to the 
 defign of each part and proportion in detail as to the fpirit and 
 effe6l of the whole ; the fly on the dome of St. Paul's might, with 
 equal reafon, be fuppofed able to form a fenfible and critical 
 opinion of that magnificent fabric, as the mind of that man be 
 conceived equal to form an adequate conception of the intent 
 of the legiflature in the ftatute alluded to, who has only read 
 detached parts of it, or haftily, from the practice of modern days, 
 formed a conception of the fpirit and intentions which imprefled 
 the parliament when it became the law of the land, in the be- 
 ginning of the laft century. 
 
 It is neceflary, therefore, in fome part of this inquiry, to declare 
 what was the intent of the legiflature when they paffed this a£t j 
 and to point out the means made ufe of by them to enforce the 
 execution of that intent; or, in other words, to explain the fpirit 
 of this humane and wife code. 
 
 In the execution of this tafk, reference fliall be made to the 
 fl:atute itfelf, as divided by its fedlions, that the reader may 
 examine, if he thinks proper, how far the following abridgment 
 
 is
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 43 
 
 is warranted by the words of the a6l itfelf j* which is here printed, 
 as it cannot, I believe, be purchafed lingly, or unconnedled with 
 other matters and Burn's Juftice, which is in every body's hands, 
 
 G 2 contains 
 
 * In confequence of fomc converfation with feveral gentlemen of the Royal and 
 Antiquary Societies, who meet at a cofFee-houfe in the Strand after thofe focieties are 
 brolcen up, and fpend the evening together ; I was induced, principally on the aflcrtion of 
 Mr. Godfchell, (a worthy and very intelligent magiftrate in the county of Surrey, who 
 publilhed, in 1787, a General Plan of Parochial and Provincial Police,) that Sir Edward 
 Coke was the framer of the 43d Eliz. cap. 2, to fearch the Journals of the Hojfe of 
 Lords and of the Commons of that time, but was not able either from them, or any 
 other fource of printed information in my power to fearch, to prove, with certainty, that 
 we owe this a£t of parliament to the abilities of that great lawyer folely ; that he, being 
 at that time the Queen's attorney-general, might have perufed and fettled the z&, is 
 probable. 
 
 The Journals of the Houfe of Commons unfortunately are imperfeft at the period 
 when this meafure was in agitation in parliament, there being a chafm from the year 
 1580 to 1603. 
 
 In Sir Simon D'Evve's Journal the following notices are found, 43d Eliz. i6or, 
 November 5. 
 
 " Upon motion this day, a committee was appointed to confider of the ftatuie for the 
 relief of the poor, viz. Sir Robert Wroth, Mr. Phillips, Sir Edv/ard Hobbie, Sir Francis 
 Haftings, Sir George Moore, and others, who were appointed to meet on Thurfday 
 next in the Exchequer-Chamber, at two o'clock in the afternoon, 
 
 " December 10, P. M. The bill for the relief of the poor was read the fecond 
 time, and committed to Mr. Comptroller, Sir Robert Wroth, Sir Francis D'Arcie, 
 Mr. Francis Bacon, Mr. Lieutenant of the Tower, and others, who were appointed to 
 meet to-morrow, in the afternoon, at two of the clock, in the Court of Words. 
 
 " December II, P.M. Sir Robert Wroth, a committee in the bill for the relief 
 of the poor, brought in the bill with amendments, and a provifo added by the committee. 
 
 " The provifoes and amendments were read, and the brll ordered to be engrofled." 
 
 It appears that there was another bill brought into the Houfe for avoiding idlenefs, 
 and fetting the poor to work. This was read the fecond time December 15, and, on 
 the queftion for committing it for engrofling, was daflied. 
 
 Journals of the House of Lords. 
 1601. December 16. ima Fice leHa ejl Billa-, " An Adl for the Relief of the Poor." 
 December 17. a-^a Vice U5la cji Billa, " An Aft for the Relief of the Poor." 
 Expedit. HodU : 3a Fice Uila eji Billa^ <' An hSs. for die Relief of the Poor." 
 
 « Annt
 
 44 LETTER VII. 
 
 contains only detached parts of it; and it certainly is a ftatute 
 which is intimately connected with the interefts of all owners and 
 
 occupiers 
 
 " Anno quadragejjimo tertto Reg'inis Elizabethse. 
 
 CAP. II. 
 
 " An ASl for the Rd'uf of the Poor. 
 
 " BE it enafted, by the authority of this prefent parliament, That the church-wardens 
 of every parifti, and four, three, or two, fubftantial houfeholders there, as {hall be thought 
 meet, having refpecl to the proportion and greatnefs of the fame parifti and pariflies, to be 
 nominated yearly, in Ecijicr-v/etk, or within one month after Eafler^ under the haiid 
 and feal of two or more juftices of the peace of the fame county, whereof one to be of 
 the quoittm, dwelling in or near the fame parilh or divifion where the fame parifh doth 
 lie, ihall be called ovcrfeers of the poor of the fame parifli : and they, or the greater part 
 of them, fhall take order from time to time, by and with the confent of two or more fuch 
 juftices of the peace as is aforefaid, for fetting to work the children of all fuch whofe 
 parents ihall not, by the faid church-wardens and overfeers, or the greater part of them, 
 be thought able to keep and maintain their children ; and alfo for fetting to work all 
 fuch perfons, married or unmarried, having no means to maintain them, and ufe no 
 ordinary and daily trade of life to get their living by: and alfo to raife, weekly or 
 otherwife, (by taxation of every inhabitant, parfon, vicar, and other, and of every 
 occupier of lands, houfes, ti:.hes impropriate, propriations of tithes, coal-mines, or 
 faleable underwoods, in the faid parifli, in fuch competent fum and fums of money as 
 • they fliall think fit,) a convenient ftock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and other 
 neceffary ware and fluff, to fet the poor on work : and aifo competent fums of money for 
 and towards the neceflary relief of the lame, impotent, old, blind, and fuch other among 
 them, being poor, and not able to work: and alfo for the putting out of fuch children to 
 be apprentices, to be gathered out of the fame pariih, according to the ability of the fame 
 parifh, and to do and execute all other things, as well for the difpofing of the faid ftock 
 as otherwife, concerning the premifes, as to them fhall feem convenient. 
 
 II. " Which faid church-wardens and overfeers, fo to be nominated, or fuch of them 
 as fhall not be let by ficknefs, or other juft excufe, to be allowed by two fuch juftices of 
 peace or more as is aforefaid, fhall meet together, at the leaft once every month in the 
 church of the faid parifh, upon the Sunday, in the afternoon, after divine fervice, there to 
 confider of fome good courfe to be taken, and of fome meet order to be fet down in the 
 premifes; and fhali, within four days after the end of their jear, and after other over- 
 feers nominated as aforefaid, make and yield up to fuch two juftices of peace as is 
 aforefaid, a true and perfeft account of all fums of money by them received, or rated and 
 feffed and not received, and alfo of fuch ftock as fhall be in their hands, or in the hands 
 
 of
 
 LETTER Vir. 45 
 
 occupiers of land and houfes, and, in fa6l, with the beft interefts of 
 the whole kingdom. 
 
 It 
 
 of any of the poor to work, and of all other things concerning their'faid office ; and fuch 
 fum or fums of money as fhall be in their hands, (hall pay and deliver over to the faid 
 church-wardens and overfeers newly nominated and appointed as aforcfaid ; upon pain 
 that every one of them abfenting themfelves without lawful caufe as aforefaid, from fuch 
 monthly meeting for the purpofe aforefaid, or being negligent in their office, or in the 
 execution of the orders aforefaid, being made by and with the afTcnt of the faid jufticcs of 
 peace, or any two of them before-mentioned, to forfeit, for every fuch default of abfence 
 or negligence, tv/enty fiiiliings. 
 
 III. " And be it alfo enacled, That if the fliid juftices of jjeace do perceive that the 
 inhabitants of any parifh are not able to levy among themfelves fufficicnt fums of money 
 for the purpofes aforefaid; that then the faid two juflic^s fhall and may tax, rate, and 
 affefs, as aforefaid, any other of other parifhes, or out of any parifh, within the hundred 
 where the faid parifh is, to pay fuch fum and fums of money to the church-wardens and 
 overfeers of the faid poor parifh for the faid pirpofes, as the faid juflices fhall think fit, 
 according to the intent of this law: and, if the ftiid hundred fhall not be thought to the 
 faid juflices able and fit to relieve the faid feveral parifhes not able to provide for them- 
 felves as aforefaid; then the juftices of peace, at their general quarter-feffions, or the 
 greater number of them, fhall rate and affefs, as aforefaid, any other of other parifhes, or 
 out of any parifh, within the faid county, for the purpofes aforefaid, as in their difcretlon 
 fhall feem fit. 
 
 IV. " And that it (hall be lawful, as well for the prefent as fubfequent church- 
 wardens and overfeers, or any of them, by warrant from any two fuch juflices of peace, .is 
 is aforefaid, to levy as well the faid fums of money, and all arrearages, of every one that 
 fhall refufe to contribute according as they fhall be alTeffed, by dillrefs and fale of the 
 offender's goods, as the fums of money or flock which fhall be behind upon any account to 
 be made as afbrefiiid, rendering to the parties the overplus: and, in defedl of fuch dillrefs, 
 it fhall be lawful for any fucli two juftices of the peace to commit him or them to tiii 
 common gaol of the county, there to remain, without bail or mainprize, until payment of 
 the faid fum, arrearages, and flock : and the faid jullices of peace, or any one of them, to 
 fend, to the houfe of corredion or common gaol, fuch as fhall not employ themfelves to 
 work, being appointed thereunto, as aforefaid: and alfo any fuch two juftices of peace to 
 commit to the faid prifon every one of the faid church-wardens and overfeers which fiiall 
 refufe to account ; there to remain, without bail or mainprize, until he have made a true 
 account, and fatasfied and paid fo much as upon the faid account fhall be remaining in his 
 bauds. 
 
 V. «' And
 
 46 LETTER VII. 
 
 It is remarkable that the flat ate opens without any preamble 
 whatever: moft a6ls of our parliament, in the preamble, give a 
 
 fummary 
 
 V. " And be it further enacted, That it (hall be lawful for the faid church-wardens 
 and overfeers, or the greater part of them, by the affent of any two juftices of the peace 
 aforefaid, to bind any fuch children, as aforefaid, to be apprentices, where they fliall fee 
 convenient, till fuch man-child dial! come to the age of four-and-twenty years, and fuch 
 woman-child to the age of one-and-twenty years, or the time of her marriage ; the fame 
 to be as efFedual to all purpofes, as if fuch child were of full age, and, by indenture of 
 covenant, bound him or her felf. And to the intent that necefTary places of habitation 
 may more conveniently be provided for fuch poor impotent people ; be it enacted by the 
 authority aforefaid, That it fhall and may be lawful for the faid church-wardens and 
 overfeers, or the greater part of them, by the leave of the lord or lords of the manor, 
 whereof any wafte or common within their parifh is or fliall be parcel, and upon agree- 
 ment before with him or them made, in writing, under the hands and feals of the faid 
 lord or lords, or otherwife, according to any order to be fet down by the juftices of peace 
 of the faid county, at their general quarter- fsffions, or the greater part of them, by like 
 leave and agreement of the faid lord or lords, in writing, under his or their hands and 
 feals, to eredi, build, and fct up, in fit and convenient places of habitation in fuch wafte or 
 common, at the general charges of the parifh, or otherwife of the hundred or county, as 
 aforefaid, to be taxed, rated, and gathered, in manner before cxpreffed, convenient 
 houfes of dwelling for the faid 'impotent poor; and alfo to place inmates, or more 
 families than one, in one cottage or houfe ; one adl made in the one-and-thirtieth year of 
 her Majefty's reign, intituled, An Aii againjl the ereBing and maintaining of Cottages, or 
 any thing therein contained to the contrary notwithftanding: which cottages and places 
 for inmates ftiall not, at any time after, be ufed or employed to or for any other habita- 
 tion, but only for impotent and poor of the fame parifh, that fliall be there placed from 
 time to time by the church- wardens and overfeers of the poor of the fame parifh, or the 
 moft part of them, upon the pains and forieitures contained in the faid former aft made in 
 the faid one-and-thirtieth year of her Majefty's reign. 
 
 VI. " Provided always. That if any perfon or perfons fhall find themfehes grieved 
 with any fefs or tax, or other act done by the faid church-wardens and other perfons, or 
 by the faid juftices of peace ; that then it (hall be lawful for the juftices of the peace, at 
 their general quarter-felTions, or the greater number of them, to take fuch order therein, 
 as to them fhall be thought convenient; and the fame to conclude ar.d bind all the 
 faid parties. 
 
 VII. " And be it further enacted. That the father and grandfather, and the mother and 
 grandmother, and the children of every poor, old, blind, lame, and impotent, perfon, or 
 ether poor perfon not able to work, being of a fuflicient ability, fhall, at their own 
 
 charges,
 
 LETTER VII. 47 
 
 fummary view of the evils intended by the legiflature to be cor- 
 reiled, or the good which is expefted to enfue from the regulations 
 
 to 
 
 charges, relieve and maintain every fuch poor perfon in that manner, and according to 
 that rate, as by the juftices of peace of that county where fuch fufficient perfons dwell, or 
 the greater number of them, at their general quarter-lbflions, {hall be afTelVcd ; upon pain 
 that every one of them fhail forfeit twenty (hillings for every month which they fliall 
 fell therein. 
 
 VIII. « And be it further hereby enaded. That the mayors, bailiffs, or oiher head- 
 officers, of every town and place, corporate and city, within this realm, being jufticc or 
 juftices of peace, fliall have the fame authority by virtue of this a6l, within the limits and 
 precinfts of their juriiididions, as well out of feflions as at their feffions, if they hold any, 
 as is herein limited, prefcribed, and appointed, to juftices of the peace of the county, or 
 any two or more of them, or to the juftices of peace, in their quarter- feflions, to do and 
 execute for all the ufes and purpofes in this a£t prefcribed, and no other juftice or juftices 
 of peace to enter or meddle there : and that every alderman of the city of Londorty 
 within his ward, fliall and may do and execute, in every refpeiSt, fo much as is appointed 
 and allowed by this a£t to be done and executed by one or two juftices of peace of any 
 county within this realm. 
 
 IX. " And be it alfo enafled, That if it fliall happen any pari/h to extend itfelf 
 into more counties than one, or part to lie within the liberties of any city, town, or 
 place corporate, and part without, that then as well the juftices of peace of every county 
 as alfo the head-officers of fuch city, town, or place corporate, fliall deal and intermeddle 
 only in fo much of the faid parifli as lieth within their liberties, and not any further : and 
 every of them refpectively within their feveral limits, wards, and jurifdiiStions, to execute 
 the ordinances before-mentioned concerning the nomination of overfeers, the confent to 
 binding apprentice?,^ the giving warrant to levy taxations unpaid, the taking account of 
 church-wardens and overfeers, and the committing to prifon fuch as rerufe to account, or 
 deny to pay the arrearages due upon their accounts; and yet, neverthelefs, the faid 
 church-wardens and overfeers, or the moft part of them, oi the faid pariflies that do ex- 
 tend into fuch feveral limits and jurifdidions, fliall, without dividing themfelves, duly 
 execute their office in all places within the faid paiilli, in all things to them belonging, 
 and fliall duly exhibit and make one account before the faid head-officer of the town or 
 place corporate, and one other before the faid juftices of peace, or any fuch two of them, 
 as is aforefaid. 
 
 X. " And further be it enafted, by the authority aforefaid. That if, in any place 
 within this realm, there happen to be hereafter no fuch nomination of overfeers yearly, 
 as is before appointed, that then every juftice of peace of the county, dwelling within the 
 divifion where fuch default of nomination fliall happen, and every mayor, alderman, and 
 
 head-
 
 4S LETTER VII. 
 
 to be enforced ; but here is no preamble, unlefs the title can be 
 called one, which is in fo many words, " An A6t for the Relief of 
 
 the 
 
 head-officer, of city, town, or place-corporate, where fuch default fliall happen, (hall 
 iofe and forfeit, for every fuch default, five pounds, to be employed towards the relief of 
 the poor of the faiJ parifh, or place-corporate, and to be levied, as aforefaid, of their 
 goods, by warrant from the general feffions of the peace of the faid county, or of the fame 
 city, town, or place-corporate, if they keep feffions. 
 
 XI. " And be it alfo ena£led, by the authority aforefaid. That all penalties and forfei- 
 tures before-mentioned in this a£f, to be forfeited by any perfon or perfons, fliall go and 
 be employed to the ufe of the poor of the fame parifh, and towards a flock and habitation 
 for them, and other necelTary ufes and relief, as before in this a£l are mentioned and ex- 
 preffed : and fliall be levied by the faid church-wardens and overfeers, or one of them, by 
 warrant from any two fuch juftices of peace, or mayor, alderman, or head-officer of city, 
 town, or place-corporate, refpeftively, within their feveral limits, by diflrefs and fale 
 thereof, as aforefaid ; or, in defed: thereof, it fliall be lawful for any two fuch juftices of 
 peace, and the faid aldermen and head-officers, within their feveral limits, to commit the 
 .ofFender to the faid prifon, there to remrin, without bail or mainprize, till the faid forfei- 
 tures fhall be fatisfied and paid. 
 
 XII. " And be it further enaifed, by the authority aforefaid, That the juftices of peace 
 of everv county or place-corporate, or the more part of them, in their general feffions to 
 be holden next after the feafl: of Eajier next, and fo, yearly, as often as they fliall think 
 meet, flial! rate every parifli to fuch a weekly fum of money as they fliall think conve- 
 nient; fo as no parifh be rated above the fum of (Ix-pence, nor under the fum of a half- 
 penny, weekly to be paid, and fo as the total fum of fuch taxation of the pariflies, in 
 every county, amount not above the rate of two-pence for every parifli within the faid 
 county ; v/hich fums fo taxed fhall be yearly aftefted by the agreement of the parifhioners 
 within themfelv-es, or, in default thereof, by the church-wardens and petty conftables of 
 the fame parifli, or the more part of them; or, in default of their agreement, by the order 
 of fuch juftice or juftices of peace as fhall dwell in the fame parifl), or (if none be there 
 dwelling) in the parts next adjoining. 
 
 XIII. " And if any perfon fliall refufe or negleft to pay any fuch portion of money fo 
 taxed, it fliall be lawful for the faid church-wardens and conftables, or any of thenv, or, 
 in their default, for any juftice of peace of the faid limit, to levy the fame by diftrefs and 
 fale of the goods of the party fo refufing or neglecting, rendering to the party the over- 
 plus ; and, in default of fuch diftrefs, it fhall be lawful to any juftice of that limit to com- 
 mit fuch perfon to the faid prifon, there to abide, without bail or mainprize, till he hive 
 paid the fame. 
 
 XIV. « And
 
 LETTER VII. 49 
 
 the Poor." The enafting part inftantly commences. Induftry, 
 and principally early induftry, is the firil obje6l under their con- 
 
 H templation : 
 
 XIV. " And be it alfo ena£ted, That the faid juftices of peace at their general quarter- 
 feflions, to be holden at the time of fuch taxation, ihall fet down what competent fums of 
 money (hall be fent quarterly out of every county or place-corporate, for the relief of the 
 poor prifoners of the King's Bench and Marfhalfea, and ,alfo of fuch hofpitals and alms- 
 houfes as fliall be in the faid county, and what fums of money (hall be fent to every one of 
 the faid hofpitals and alms-houfes, fo as there be fent out of every county, yearly, twenty 
 (hillings, at the leaft, to each of the faid prifons of the King's Bench and Marfhallea -, 
 which fums, ratably to be affelTed upon every parifh, the church- wardens of every pari(h, 
 fliall truly colle6V, and pay over to the high-conftables in whofe divifion fuch parifti (hall be 
 fituate, from time to time, quarterly, ten days before die end of every quarter ; and 
 every fuch conftable, at every fuch quarter-feflions in fuch county, (hall pay over the fame 
 to two fuch treafurers, or to one of them, as (hall, by the more part of the juftices of 
 peace of the county, be elefted to be the faid treafurers, to be chofen by the juftices of 
 peace of the faid county, city, or town, or place-corporate, or of others which were (elicd 
 and taxed at five pounds lands, or ten pounds goods, at the leaft, at the tax of fubfidy 
 next before the time of the faid eleftion to be made ; and the faid treafurers fo eledled to 
 continue for the fpace of one whole year in their office, and then to give up their charge, 
 with a due account of their receipts and di(burfements, at the quarter-feffions to be holden 
 next after the feaft of Eafter in every year, to fuch others as (hall, from year to year, in 
 form aforefaid, fucceffively be ele£ted treafurers for the faid county, city, town, or place- 
 corporate ; which faid treafurers, or one of them, (hall pay over the fame to the Lord- 
 Chief- Juftice of Englandy and Knight-Mar(hal for the time being, equally to be divided 
 to the ufe aforefaid, taking their acquittance for the fame, or, in default of the faid chief- 
 juftice, to the next antienteft juftice of the King's Bench, as aforefaid : and, if any 
 church-warden or high-conftable, or his executors or adminiftrators, (hall fail to make 
 payment in form above fpecified, then every church-warden, his executors or adminiftra- 
 tors, fo offending, (hall forfeit, for every time, the fum of ten (hillings; and every high- 
 eonftable, his executors or adminiftrators, (hall forfeit, for every time, the fum of twenty 
 fliillings ; the fame forfeitures, together with the fums behind, to be levied by the faid 
 treafurer and treafurers, by way of diftrefs and fale of the goods, as aforefaid, in form 
 aforefaid, and by them to be employed towards the charitable ufes comprifed in this a£l. 
 
 XV. " And be it further enadled, That all the furplufage of money, which (hall be re- 
 maining in the faid (lock of any county, (hall, by difcretion of the more part of the 
 juftices of peace, in their quarter-feiTions, be ordered, diftributed, and beftowed, for the 
 relief of the poor hofpitals of that county, and of thofe that (hall fuftain lo/Tes by fire, 
 
 water,
 
 50 LETTER VII. 
 
 templation : the fetting to work children, whofe parents fhall not 
 be thought able to maintain them, and alfo the putting poor 
 
 children 
 
 water, the fea, or other cafualties, and to fuch other charitable purpofes, for the relief of 
 the poor, as to the more part of the faiJ juftices of peace (hall feem convenient. 
 
 XVI. " And be it further enaded, That if any treafurer eleded fliall wilfully refufe to 
 take upon him the faid office of treafurerfhip, or refufe to diftribute and give relief, or to 
 account, according to fuch form as fhall be appointed by the more part of the faid juftices 
 of peace ; that then it (hall be lawful for the juftices of peace, in their quarter-feflions, or, 
 in their default, for the juftices of affize, at their aflizes, to be holden in the fame county, 
 to fine the fame treafurer by their difcretion; the fame fine not to be under three pounds, 
 and to be levied by fale of his goods, and to be profecuted by any two of the faid juftices of 
 peace whom they (hall authorize. Provided always, that this adl (hall not take efFe6l until 
 the feaft of Eajier next. 
 
 XVII. " And be it enadted, That the ftatute made in the nine-and-thirtieth year of her 
 Majefty's reign, intituled, An Aa for the Relief of the Poo>\ (hall continue and ftand in 
 force until the feaft of Eajier next ; and that all taxations heretofore impofed, and not paid, 
 nor that (hall be paid before the faid feaft of Eafier next, and that all taxes hereafter, before 
 the faid feaft, to be taxed by virtue of the faid former a<ft, which fhall not be paid before 
 the faid feaft of Eajier, (hall and may, after the faid feaft of Eajier, be levied by the over- 
 feers, and other perfons in this acS, refpedively appointed to levy taxations, by diftrefs, 
 and by fuch warrant, in every refped, as if they had been taxed and impofed by virtue of 
 this acl, and were not paid. 
 
 XVIII. " Provided always, That whereas the iftand of Fowlnefs, in the county of 
 EJfex, being environed with the fea, and having a chapel of eafe for the inhabitants thereof, 
 and yet the faid ifland is no parilh, but the lands in the fame are frtuated within divers pa- 
 ri(hes far diftant from the faid ifland ; be it therefore en;!<!l:cd, by the authority aforefaid, 
 that the faid juftices of peace (hall nominate and appoint inhabitants within the faid ifland, 
 to be overfeers for the poor people dwelling within the faid ifland ; and that both they, the 
 faid juftices, and the faid overfeers, fhall have the fame power and authority to all intents, 
 confiderations, and purpofes, for the execution of the parts and articles of this adt, and 
 (hall be fubjedl to the fame pains and forfeitures, and likewife that the inhabitants and oc- 
 cupiers of lands there fliall be liable and chargeable to the fame payments, charges, expenfes, 
 and orders, in fuch manner and form as if the fame ifland were a parifh ; in confideration 
 whereof, neither the faid inhabitants, or occupiers of land, within the faid ifland, (hall 
 not be compelled to contribute towards the relief of the poor of thofe parifhes, wherein their 
 houfes or lands which they occupy within the faid ifland are fituated, for or by reafon of their 
 faid habitation or occupyings, other than for the relief of the poor people within the faid 
 ifland, neither yet (hall the other inhabitants of the parifhes, wherein fuch houfes or lands 
 
 are
 
 LETTER VII. 5f 
 
 children out apprentice; fetting the idle, whether from choice or 
 neceflity, to work; for which purpofe a fum was to be raifed 
 by affeffment, to purchafe a flock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, 
 iron, and other necefTary ware and fluff: — the next confideration 
 was to raife a competent fum of money, by the fame means, for 
 the necefTary relief of the lame, old, impotent, blind, and fuch 
 others as are poor, and not able to work. Seft. i. 
 
 This intent was to be carried into execution by the church- 
 wardens and overfeers; which lafl were yearly to be appointed by 
 the neighbouring magiftrates, whofe particular duty in this ad is 
 declared to be, to give order, dire61-, and infpedl, the proceedings of 
 the churchwardens and overfeers ; and that this plan may, in all its 
 
 are fituated, be compelled, by reafon of their refiancy or dwelling, to contribute to the 
 relief of the poor inhabitants within the faid ifland. 
 
 XIX. " And be it further enaded. That if any adion, or trefpafs, or other fuit, fliall 
 happen to be attempted and brought againft any perfon or perfons, for taking of any dif- 
 trefs, making of any Lie, or any other thing doing, by authority of this prefent a£t, the de- 
 fendant or defendants, in any fuch aftion or fuit, fhall and may either plead not guilty, or 
 otherwife make avowry, cognifance, or juftification, for the taking of the faid diftreffes, 
 making of fale, or other thing doing, by virtue of this aft, alleging, in fuch avowry, cog- 
 nifance, or juftification, that the faid diftrefs, fale, trefpafs, or other thing, whereof the 
 plaintiff or plaintiffs complained, was done by authority of this a£t, and according to the 
 tenor, purport, and effe£t, of this a£t, without any exprefling or rehearfal of any other 
 matter or circumftance contained in this prefent a£t : to which avowry, cognifance, or 
 juftification, the plaintiff fhall be admitted to reply, that the defendant did take the faid dif- 
 trefs, made the faid fale, or did any other aft or trefpafs fuppofed in his declaration, of his 
 own wrong, without any fuch caufe alleged by the faid defendant ; whereupon the iffue in 
 every fuch aftion fhall be joined, to be tried by verdift of twelve men, and not otherwife, 
 as is accuftomed in other perfonal aftions ; and, upon the trial of that ifl'ue, the whole mat- 
 ter to be given on both parties in evidence, according to the very truth of the fame ; and, 
 after fuch iffue tried for the defendant, or nonfuit of the plaintiff after appearance, the fame 
 defendant to recover treble damages, by reafon of his wrongful vexation in that behalf, with 
 his cofts alfo in that part fuftained, and that to be affefled by the fame j ury, or writ to inquire 
 of the damages, as the fame (hall require. 
 
 XX. " Provided always, That this aft fhall endure no longer than to the end of the next 
 feffion of parliament. 3 Car. I. c. 4. Continued until the end of the firjljeffim of the next 
 parliament, and further continued hy 16 Car. /. c, 4." 
 
 H 2 parts,
 
 52 LETTER VII. 
 
 parts, be carried by the overfeers, under the dire6lion of the juftices, 
 into execution, they are ordered to meet on this bufinefs, at lead 
 once in the month, on a Sunday, after divine fervice in the church; 
 and, within four days after the year is expired, yield up to two 
 juftices an account of all things concerning their office. Provifion 
 is alfo made in thofe inftances where parifhes may not be able 
 among themfelves to levy the neceflary fums of money, by caUing 
 in aid other parifhes. Se6t. i, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7. 
 
 That the expenfe for the relief of thofe who are poor, and not 
 able to work, may be felt as little as poffible by the community at 
 large, parental and filial affedlion is compelled to do its duty before 
 the public is burthened j and for that purpofe grandfathers, fathers, 
 and children, are reciprocally called forth to fupport each other if 
 able. Se£t. 7. 
 
 And, that neceflary habitations may be provided for the poor and 
 impotent, it is made lawful for the overfeers, with leave of the lord 
 of the manor, and under the control of the magiftrates, to build 
 convenient places of habitation on the wafte, and to place inmates, 
 or more families than one, in the fame cottage or houfe; notwith- 
 ftanding an a6l pafled in the 30th year of the fame reign, which 
 has already been alluded to. Se£t. 6. 
 
 Another objedt was, to raife a fum of money from every parifli, 
 by a weekly rate, not exceeding fixpence, or under two- pence, for 
 the relief of the poor prifoners in the King's Bench and Marfhalfeaj 
 and alfo fuch hofpitals and alms-houfes as (hall be in each county ; 
 fo as that there be fent out of every county yearly not lefs than 
 twenty ftiillings to each of the faid prifons j and the furplus-mo- 
 ney ftiall, at the difcretion of the juftices of the peace, in their 
 quarter-feflions, be diftributed for the relief of the poor hofpitals of 
 the county J and of thofe who fhall fuftain lofles by fire, water, 
 the fea, or other cafualties; and to fuch other purpofes for the 
 relief of the poor, as to the moft part of the faid juftices fliall 
 feem convenient. Se(5l. 12, 13, 14, 15, i6. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER VII. 53 
 
 The ifland of Fowlnefs, in the county of EfTex, being extra-pa- 
 rochial, it was thought neceffary to include it by name; and the 
 general regulations of the a6t are alfo extended to that ifland. 
 Sea. 1 8. 
 
 The fanftion by which the legiflature has enforced their regula- 
 tions principally refts in pecuniary penalties, to which all defcrip- 
 tions of perfons, called on to the performance of any part of the 
 a6l, are liable : thefe forfeitures rife from twenty fliillings to five 
 pounds, which is the penalty to which the magiftrates are fubjecl 
 if they negle6t to appoint overfeers ; and are dire6led to be applied 
 in aid of the fund, which is ordered to be raifed for the employ- 
 ment and rehef of the poor. Seel. 2, lo, II, 14, 16. 
 
 The fummary mode of dillrefs, by warrant, from two ma- 
 giftrates, enforces the payment of the afleflinents, and alfo of the 
 penalties, except in the inftances of the penalties incurred by the 
 magiftrates, and the treafurer of the county-ftock, raifed by virtue 
 of Section 12, which are dire6led to be levied, by warrant, from 
 general or quarter feffions. Se£l. 4, 10, 13. 
 
 Imprifonment, in default of fufficient diftrefs, is called in aid of 
 the revenue thus to be raifed for the benefit of the poor; and, alfo, 
 as a punifhment to thofe who fhall not employ themfelves, work 
 being firft found for them ; and as a punifhment to fuch overfeers, 
 as may refufe to give account ; until their contumacy is overcome, 
 and they have paid the arrears due. Se6t. 4, 13. 
 
 An appeal is given to the quarter-feflions, to any perfon who fhall 
 find himfelf aggrieved by any cefs or tax, or by any other a6l, done 
 by the church-wardens, overfeers, juftices of the peace, or any 
 other perfon. Se6l. 6. 
 
 To enforce obedience in corporate towns and cities, the head-offi- 
 cers, within their jurifdiftions, fhall have the fame authority as juf- 
 tices of the peace, within their refpedtive counties ; and, where pa- 
 rifhes extend into two counties or liberties, the head-officers fhall 
 
 have
 
 54 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 have authority only within their refpe(n:ive counties and liberties, 
 and not farther. Se£t. 8, 9. 
 
 It is declared at what time this a6l fliall commence, and 39 Eliz. 
 cap. 3. ceafe to be in force. Seft. 17. 
 
 Then follow direiSlions for the defendant's plea, in any fuit com- 
 menced againft him. on this flatute j the replication of the plain- 
 tiff} the iffue to be joined ; and, on verdia for defendant, or non- 
 fuit of plaintiff, treble damages and cofls are given ; the whole ' 
 calculated to come eafily at the real faft, and to proteiSt thofe, who 
 are employed under the a6t, from being molefted by vexatious fuits; 
 and the a£l itfelf is intended to be experimental only, and declared 
 to endure no longer than to the end of the next feffion of parliament. 
 Se6t. 19, 20. 
 
 Thefe few preceding paragraphs contain a fummary of the con- 
 tents of this flatute, — the bafis of all future regulations with 
 refpeft to the poor, their employment, and reUef j and, to ufe the 
 words of that excellent writer on the laws and conflitution of this 
 kingdom, the late Judge Blackflone, *• the farther any fubfequent 
 plans for maintaining the poor have departed from this inflitution, 
 the more impra<5licable, and even pernicious, their vifionary at- 
 tempts have proved:" nor could any thing fhort of prophecy have 
 foretold, in the beginning of the feventeenth century, that, in 
 confequence of thefe wife and humane regulations, above 3,000,000/. 
 would, towards the clofe of the eighteenth century, be raifed in 
 England and Wales, for the relief of the poor, exclufive of nu- 
 merous holpitals, largely endowed ; charity-fchools ; annual value 
 of landed eftates, given to charitable purpofes ; fums of money 
 at intereft in the funds ; charities, fupported by voluntary con- 
 tribution ; private charities ; the income of the whole, probably, 
 not fhort of 5,000,000/. a year; and, after all, fo much mifery 
 and diftrefs, arifmg from extreme poverty, would then remain 
 among us. 
 
 It
 
 LETTER VII. ss 
 
 It furely mufl: be obvious to the meaneft capacity, after the moft 
 trifling attention to the great purpofe of the legiflature, in this a<5t 
 of parliament, that the burthen of the poor's rates, which is, with 
 fo much reafon, complained of, and the prefent diflrefled fituation 
 of fo many of the poor, cannot arife from this flatute being fully, 
 and in every part of it, carried into JiriSi execution, but from a 
 praSlice totally ths reverfe. — Nor can it be ajferted, with truth or 
 reafon, that any one regulation contained in it is impraSlicahk in thefe 
 times, or that any one is impolitic, or dangerous to be executed, either 
 to the individual executing it, the poor, who are the objeBs of it, or the 
 nation at large, who are inter eft ed in the confequences arifing from it, — 
 Thofe fections which relate to the raifing a fum of money, by 
 afTeflments on the occupiers, are, moft certainly, executed with all 
 ftriftnefs : but the firrt great purpofe of the money fo raifed, — the 
 purchafmg ftock to fet to work thofe children whofe parents are not 
 able to maintain them, and, alfo, the idle, whetlxr from choice or 
 necefpty, is too much neglected : although there is no doubt but 
 the habit of early induftry once obtained, by an application of 
 fome part of the money thus raifed ; and, by thefe means, the 
 poor being inured to an induftrious way of life ; would, of itfelf, 
 amply compenfate the parifhes for the purchafe of a ftock of mate- 
 rials; although the manufa6tures thus fabricated might not meet 
 with a ready fale, at a price which will allow of a computation for 
 much profit. 
 
 It is a well-known fa6l, that confiderable fums are expended in 
 every parifh, in the purchafe of articles for the clothing of the 
 poor, which are bought of the retail (hop-keeper, in the country, 
 at a fair average of thirty per cent, more than the prime coft of 
 the materials and fabric to the manufa<5lurer : in this article, 
 therefore, a very great faving may be made, by employing the 
 hands of children now in idlenefs, or mifchief, in fuch a manufac- 
 tory, as might comfortably and neatly, although coarfely, clothe 
 their relations and themfelves, at a much cheaper rate, with clo- 
 thing
 
 56 LETTER VIII. 
 
 thing which would wear much longer than what is now bought at 
 the fliops : in the mean time, the habit of induftry would be ob- 
 tained, and the firft great objeft of this ftatute put in force, which 
 now is almoft generally negle(5led ; and the clothing of the poor 
 would form no inconfiderable fource of confumption for thofe ma- 
 nufactures which might be produced by the early induftry of their 
 children. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 TO prove, in fome degree, that the idea thrown out in the 
 preceding letter is not founded in theory or vain fpecu- 
 lation only, one experimental inftance fhall be given, too trifling, 
 it is acknowledged, for the notice of the public, but much in 
 point. 
 
 Having feen, in the fummer of 1787, the good efFe^fls arifmg 
 from the fchools of induftry, throughout the fouthern diftrift of 
 Lindfey, in the county of Lincoln, it determined me to try, on a 
 very fmall fcale, the experiment in my own pari(h ; and, accord- 
 ingly, in the winter of the fame year, a perfon was perfuaded to 
 undertake the teaching fix boys, of about the age of feven years, 
 to fpin what is called top-work, although it was defired the yarn 
 might not be twifted fo clofe as in that fabric, it being intended for 
 knitting. A woman was alfo found to teach the fame number of 
 girls, of the fame age, to knit ftockings. Forty-two pounds of 
 wool were bought at Bury for the experiment. The account, when 
 manufactured, ftood as follows : 
 
 Combed
 
 LETTER VIII. S7 
 
 £. s. d. 
 
 Combed wool, 421b. at iid. per lb. - - i 18 6 
 
 Spinning ditto, by boys, at ^\d. per lb. fome deductions 
 
 made for wafte included - - - - o 14 3 
 
 Twifting and reeling 331b. 140Z. of yarn, at 2\d. and 
 
 3^. per lb. --- - - - 080 
 
 Knitting lolb. laozi at is. /\.d. - - - o 14 4 
 
 Ditto 231b. 20Z. at u. 6d. - - - - i 14 yf 
 
 Total expended - - - 5981 
 
 34 pair of children's {lockings, and 43 pair of men's, 
 
 weighing 331b. 140Z. fold to the work-houfe, 5 ^3 ^ 
 
 Ends of wool, 71b. made into mops, at 4^. per lb. 024 
 
 lib. 20Z. wafted and loft. 
 
 Total produce - - - - 5160 
 
 Profit - - - - - 0631- 
 
 By which it appears, that a profit of above fix ftiillings refulted 
 from the experiment, in which only 5/. gs. Sfi. was employed. 
 
 £' s. d. 
 
 Six boys were taught to fpin, nine weeks, and earned 014 3 
 Six girls learned to knit, 27 weeks, and earned - 2 8 iif 
 
 Suppofing a capital of 5/. employed fix months, in this infant 
 manufa6lory, on which the clear profit was 6s. 3^^. (and five 
 pounds is above the fum a6lually employed that length of time,) a 
 profit of 20/. 19;. ^d. will arife on 100/. thus employed for one 
 year ; and one hundred and twenty boys, and an equal number of 
 girls, will be induftrioufly employed in learning an occupation : 
 
 I fome
 
 58 LETTER VIII. 
 
 fome money will be earned for their parents, by honeft induftry ; 
 and clothing, at a much cheaper rate than what is bought at the 
 fliops, will be manufa6Vured for the poor; for, it is prefumed, that 
 under proper management, no inconfiderable quantity of the yarn 
 produced may be wove into a fabric which would make excellent, 
 fVrong, and warm, clothing. 
 
 This experiment would have been continued ; but the man who 
 taught the boys, and the woman who taught the girls, did not 
 think fo fmall a number worth their attention ; confequently, their 
 fcholars were neither regular in their attendance, or induftrious 
 while they did attend. 
 
 The falary paid to the mailer and miftrefs is not brought into 
 the account j becaufe it is conceived, that the price given on fo 
 fmall a fcale is not a rule on a large one ; and there is realon to 
 believe, that the profits of fuch a manufactory will more than pay 
 the falary to the infl;ru6lors. 
 
 This idea of employing the children of the poor would extend 
 itfelf, under good management, to other manufactures, befides 
 thofe of wool ; why not to coarfe linens j and to fhoes, for which 
 the poor pay an extravagant price ? 
 
 If this be the cafe ; if fo much good might probably arife from 
 putting in execution the leading idea in this ftatute ; of employing 
 the children of the poor ; which is an inconfiderable part only, of 
 what was wifely enacted by our forefathers, and foolifhly negle6ted 
 by ourfelves, it furely, to thofe who coir plain of the burthen of 
 the poor's rates, and, at the fame time, negledt to execute the laws 
 for promoting induftry among the poor, may be objeCted in the 
 words of Seneca, " Sanabilibus agrotamiis malii ; ipfaque nos in reSlum 
 genitos natura, fi emendari wlimus, juvat ;" but, alas 1 what is the 
 bufmefs of all is the employment of none j we fuifer an immenfe 
 revenue to be raifed on us, for two good purpofes — for induftry 
 and charity ; and permit the perverfion of half of it ; for, was 
 one half of this revenue honeftly and fairly applied to the purpofes 
 
 of
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 59 
 
 of the a6l, the poor would be more creditably and comfortably 
 maintained ; and the other half might remain in the pockets of 
 that clafs of the community, from whom the whole is, with fuch 
 flri6lnefs, exacted. 
 
 If it fhould be objefled, that no fufRcient demand would be 
 found for fuch a nianufa6lory by children, the anfwer is obvious ; 
 there is a point to which the experiment might be puflied, and it 
 will be time enough to ftop when we can go no farther: — it is not 
 a fufficient excufe for our doing nothing, that we cannot do every 
 thing. An account printed by the fociety, for the promotion of 
 youthful induftry in the county of Lincohi, has, among many 
 other excellent obfervations, pointed out the means of promoting 
 a confumption of this produce of their manufadory, which may 
 be feen in the margin ;* and feme good confequences would cer- 
 tainly refult to the poor themfelves, as well as to thofe who are 
 fo heavily taxed for their maintenance ; for, if the infant poor 
 could, by their induftry, clothe their parents and themfelves, by 
 this leading principle of the ftatute being put in force; the over- 
 feers would have fmaller bills with the fliop-keepers, whofe live- 
 lihood principally arifes from fupplying the poor at exorbitant 
 prices with their daily wants ; the riling generation would be edu- 
 cated in more regular habits of induftry j and the poor themfelves 
 would be better clothed, and at a cheaper rate. 
 
 That the good refulting from the execution of that fedlion of 
 the 43d of Elizabeth, which refpeds the employment of the infant 
 
 * With all thofe who have the good of their country at heart, it fhould be an obje<St 
 of conftant attention to promote the confumption, no lefs thar; the fale, of wool. A 
 pai ifh-officer, who was mindful of this, would never purchafe a cotton or linen gown 
 for the poor inftcad of a woolfey one, ivhich is much ftronger, cheaper, and more com- 
 fortable ; nor would he give them coarfe cloth aprons, when blue woollen aprons would 
 anfwer every purpofe much better, and fave wafhing ; nor, laftly, would he fufFer the 
 the money of the parifh to be laid out in thread ftockings inftead of worded ones : all 
 which things have been but too frequently pradifed. 
 
 I 2 poor.
 
 6o LETTER VIII. 
 
 poor, may appear in a ftronger light, it may be worth while to 
 call to mind what is, in fadt, at this day the employment of the 
 fifing generation of the poor in that part of England where ma- 
 nufadlures do not thrive, and where the operations of hufbandry 
 are the principal fources of induftry and labour : there, in fuch 
 diftri<fts which comprehend above a moiety of the kingdom, the 
 children of the parifh are encouraged by their parents to employ 
 themfelves in every adl of peculation which is in their power, and 
 which, from the infignilicance of the property ftolen, individually, 
 is an objed: fcarcely worthy the attention of the magiftrate j and to 
 which, if he, on complaint made, did attend, he could not corred:; 
 becaufe the little culprits are not objedls of legal punifhment ; chil- 
 dren of five, fix, or feven, years of age being fent out in parties to 
 pilfer. 
 
 But if the individual inftance is too trifling for our notice, the 
 aggregate forms no inconfiderable mifchief done to the public, and 
 property purloined from fociety by thefe little thieves : a child 
 fleals a turnip or two daily for its parent's dinner^ it is nothing ; 
 but the pradlice, continued through a winter by hundreds of them, 
 will confume fome acres 5 it carries, with the affiftance of its play- 
 mates, the flakes from the hedges, and loofe bars or rails from the 
 fences j the value of the property is fmall, though to repair the 
 mifchief done is expenfive ; and, when thefe depredations are 
 carried on in the vicinity of a town or parifh, where the popula- 
 tion of this clafs of people are hundreds or thoufands, the total of 
 mifchief is confiderable ; and, though the crime is an objed: of 
 civil punifhment, the child is not ; and the encouragement or con- 
 nivance of their parents cannot fall under the magiftrates autho- 
 rity } for, the property flolen is inftantly confumed, before any 
 fearch-warrant can operate. 
 
 In the mean time, the material injury is done to the morals ; 
 the rifing generation are, in early youth, accuflomed to habits 
 which turn them, from the path of honeft induflry, to the high 
 
 road
 
 L E T T E R IX. 6i 
 
 road which leads, through every fpecies of depredation on fociety, 
 to the gallows. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 TH E neceflary relief of foldiers and mariners, which is en- 
 forced in a chapter immediately following the ai5t, that has 
 been the fubjefl of our attention ; and a law to redrefs the mif- 
 employment of lands, goods, and flocks of money, heretofore 
 given to certain charitable ufes, which follows chap. 4th ; com- 
 plete the plan of that parliament which fat till near the clofe 
 of the reign of Elizabeth ; the latter ftatiite being at prefent as necef- 
 fary to be called into pr a Si ice, atid, if executed, as well calculated for 
 bringing to light any perverfion of that vaft property which has been 
 left by our forefathers for charitable purpofes, as any plan that the in- 
 genuity of the legiflature could in thefe days invent ; and it ftill re- 
 mains the law of the land; and the authority of the chancellor 
 might at any time call it into ufe, by an appointment of commif- 
 fioners, according to the a6t, within the different diocefes. 
 
 Thefe, with many more ftatutes for the regulation of the inter- 
 nal police of the kingdom, were the produiflion of the laft par- 
 liament which fat in the reign of Elizabeth ; an aera, with no ex- 
 travagance of metaphor, called golden, if applied either to the glory 
 of her reign, with refpe6l to the fuccefs of her fubje6ts arms j the 
 importance of it, with refpe-fl to foreign powers ; or its utility 
 and happinefs as it regarded thofe who lived under her dominion : 
 whatever may have been her private charadter as a woman ; what- 
 ever intrigues, which may have arifen from love, jealoufy, or the 
 other bafer paffions that difgraced her court ; a lapfe of near two 
 hundred years has with propriety removed, as with a veil, from our 
 eyes j and they now only remain in the pages of the novelifl: or 
 
 the
 
 62 L E T T E R IX. 
 
 • 
 
 the retailer of frivolous anecdote ; but her laft words to her laft 
 parliament, while coupled with fuch laws as do honour to human 
 nature, and are a fevere fatire on the load of revenue-a£ts, with 
 which our modern ftatute-books abound, ought to remain with 
 grateful recolledion fixed on the minds of all pofterity ; " I know 
 that the commonwealth is to be governed for the good and advan- 
 tage of thofe who are committed to me ; not of myfelf to whom it 
 is entrufted j and that an account is one day to be given before 
 another judgement-feat." 
 
 During the reign of James the Firft, very little was done by the 
 legiflature in the regulation of the internal police } the jealoufy, 
 which arofe both in the mind of the King and the Commons, oc- 
 cafioned that prince to avoid, as much as his neceffities would per- 
 mit him, meeting his parliament; while the Houfe of Commons, 
 who early in the reign felt the effeds of thofe high notions of pre- 
 rogative which difturbed the repofe, equally of the prince as of 
 his fubjefts, were too intent on the prefervation of their own pri- 
 vileges to attend to the general welfare of the people ; yet one of 
 their firft a6ls of legiflation related to rating the wages of artifts 
 and labourers ; and, by Hat. i. cap. 6. parliament enlarged the 
 powers of juftices of the peace with refpeft to the rating the wages 
 of workmen, as direfled by 5th of Eliz. cap. 4. extending the fame 
 to all manner of workmen whatever, " either working by the day, 
 week, month, or year, or taking any work at any perfon's hand 
 whatfoever, to be done by the great or otherwife," rendering alfo 
 the return of the certificate of fuch rates of wages into Chancery 
 unneceflary; by diretling them to be proclaimed, engrolFed in 
 parchment, and kept, by the Cuftos Rotulorum of the county, 
 among the records. 
 
 This attention to, and enlargement of, the powers of the 5th 
 of Elizabeth, is a proof that good arofe to the public from the 
 rating of wages ; becaufe, if the experience of forty years had 
 proved it to be replete with more mifchief than ufe, it cannot be 
 
 fuppofed
 
 LETTER IX. 63 
 
 fuppofed that the legiflature would have extended the pra6lice, 
 and made the power general, which had been hitherto confined to 
 particular clafles of workmen ; nor would the execution of the a<5l 
 have been rendered more eafy to the magiftrates ; yet there is rea- 
 fon to believe, that the juftices feldom enforced the execution of 
 thefe a6ls j becaufe, on a fearch made in the office of the clerk of 
 the peace for the county of Effex, only one inftance could be 
 found; and that at Eafter-feffions, i66i : and Sir John CuUum, 
 in his Hiftory of Hawftead, in the county of Suffolk, whofe in- 
 tention, in that excellent model of parochial hiftory, was, among 
 other objects, to give the reader information on the fubje6t of 
 wages of the poor, in times now far removed, and the cotempo- 
 rary prices of the necelTaries of life, mentions alfo but one in- 
 ftance, viz. in Eafter-feffions, 1682. 
 
 Other ftatutes, afFe6ling the lower clafTes of our fellow-fubje6ls, 
 although not immediately relative to the topic in queftion, were 
 alfo pafTed in the beginning of this reign : the 39th of Elizabeth, 
 with refpeft to the punifliment of rogues and vagabonds, was ex- 
 plained and continued, by chap. 7th ; haunting and tippling in 
 ale-houfes was alfo reftrained, by chap, the 9th of the fame feffions ; 
 an act, the preamble to which is curious, and ftates, very properly, 
 the only proper ufe of fuch places; " Whereas the antient, true, 
 and principal ufe of inns, ale-houfes, and vi6lualling-houfes, was 
 for the receipt, relief, and lodging, of wayfaring people, travel- 
 ling from place to place, and for fuch fupply of the wants of 
 fuch people as are not able, by greater quantities, to make their 
 provifion of vi6luals ; and not meant for entertainment and 
 harbouring of lewd and idle people, to fpend and confume their 
 money, and their time, in lewd and drunken manner," Be it 
 enafted, &c. 
 
 As this att punifnes the keeper of the ale-houfes permitting un- 
 lawful drinking, fo does chapter the fifth, of the ftatute pafTed in 
 1606, punifh the tippler, or drunkard, himfelf; both which 
 
 ftatutes.
 
 64 L E T T E R IX. 
 
 flatutes, although at prefent the law of the land, and well calcu- 
 lated to prevent drunkennefs, the root of much evil, yet are no 
 more attended to by the magiftrate of thefe days than as vain and 
 nugatory founds, of the regulation of other times, which are long 
 paflTed away, and the memory of which remains not, except in the 
 page of hiftory. 
 
 In the feventh ftatute of this reign, chapter the third, directions 
 are enabled, how the money, given for the binding poor children 
 apprentices, fhall be employed ; by the preamble to which, it ap- 
 pears, that great fums of money had then been given, and more 
 was likely to be given, for the purpofe of binding poor children 
 apprentices unto needful trades and occupations ; a purpofe to 
 which the charity of modern times, although in many inftances 
 profufe, and in fome redundant, has not in the leaft attended j and, 
 therefore, this flatute, except as far as it may refpedl fums of 
 money then given, and itill in flock, or lands, bought therewith, 
 is now not in ufe. 
 
 The fourth chapter of this fellion has fomewhat of a reference 
 to the 43d of Elizabeth ; as that direded a flock to be raifed, to 
 fet the idle, whether from choice or neceffity, to work, fo this 
 llatute dire6ls houfes to be builded, to receive thofe who are idle, 
 by choice, in which they may be compelled to work j and gives 
 birth to houfes of corre6lion, and the regulations refpefling them ; 
 for, although, by the 39th flatute of the late reign, juflices of the 
 peace were empowered to erefl houfes of correction ; yet it ap- 
 pears, by Lord Coke's reading on this flatute, that thofe powers 
 were not carried into execution ; and a penalty of 5/. is now laid 
 on every juflice, within every county of the realm, where fuch 
 houfe (hall not be ercd;ed or provided. 
 
 One moft fevere claufe is inferted in this adl of parliament, 
 affediing the mothers of ballard-children ; a icverity totally incom- 
 patible v/ith any idea of ajufl proportion of punifhments to crimes, 
 and diametrically oppolite to every principle of moral reditude : 
 
 that
 
 L E T T E R X. 65 
 
 that claufe is alluded to, which empowers magiftrates to commit to 
 the houfe of corred;ion, to be puniflied and fet to work, for the 
 term of a whole year, any woman who fhall have a baftard, which 
 may be chargeable to the parifli ; and this, without any authority 
 of mitigation, for the firft offence j and, for the fecond offence of 
 this kind, " eftfoons if fhe (hall offend again," (he is to be com- 
 mitted, until Jbe Jliall find fecurities not to offend again ; fo that, for 
 the firft inftance of immorality, fhe is to fuffer a feverity of punifh- 
 ment infinitely difproportionate to the offence : for the fecond, 
 or any future inftance of fimilar mifcondudt, her punifhment, if 
 fhe be a proftitute to a man of property, may be nothing : a fevere 
 and foolifti law ; one much more honoured in its negled:, than in 
 the obfervance. 
 
 After the diffolution of this parliament, in 1609, none other 
 was called for fourteen years ; and, in the mean time, James had 
 full opportunity of giving his fubjeils a fufficient fpecimen of 
 king-craft, as he was ufed to call it, or art of government j 
 but, in the twenty-third year of his reign, he found himfelf obliged 
 to affemble the parliament, which continued fitting until his 
 death: that happened in 1625. In this parliament, nothing was 
 done, with refpe<5l to the interefts of the lower claffes of the peo- 
 ple, except another a6l to reprefs drunkennefs. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 THE reign of Charles the Firft continues the a6ls already 
 in force, with refpe6t to the poor, but produces nothing 
 new on this fubje61:, except a farther reftraint on tippling in inns 
 and ale-houfes. The former a61:s had reftrained, by penalty, his 
 raajefty's fubjedls only ; this, which paffed in the firft year of his 
 
 K reign,
 
 66 L E T T E R X. 
 
 reign, extended to foreigners alfo. It is curious to obferve, that 
 as foon as ale-houfes had obtained a legal fanftion, under the 
 licenfe of the neighbouring magiftrates j the bad confequenccs 
 i"efuhing from them ; in promoting idlenefs, debauchery, drunken- 
 nefs, and all manner of mifchief, was feverely felt by the nation, 
 and frequent attempts were made by the legiflature to reftrain thofc 
 abufes, but, it is feared, with little effeft j becaufe-it may be per- 
 ceived, that additional reflraints on perfons who haunted thofe pefts 
 of all good order were impofed, year after year, by the parlia- 
 ment; and facility of conviction was confulted, almoft at the ex- 
 penfe of religious obligations. Thefe flatutes remain in full force 
 at this day -,* and it is in the knowledge of us all, how much 
 fociety hourly fufFers in its morals and induftry, from thefe too 
 frequent and too much frequented places of licenfe and ebriety j 
 but the financier will tell us, that, by thefe and fimilar enormities, 
 the revenue is increafed, and the treafury makes up a good account : 
 to vvhich the proper reply of a good fubje6l and a good citizen 
 may be, 
 
 Non tali auxilio nee defenforibus iftis, 
 Tempus eget. 
 
 The fcene of confufion and civil difcord, which followed the 
 parliament that was held in the i6th of Charles the Firft, and the 
 inteftine wars, which defolated this kingdom, during a period of 
 near twenty years, until the retloration of the fecond Charles, for- 
 bid any expedlation of feparating, during their continuation, the 
 concerns of the poor from the miferies of the foldier : inter arma 
 
 * By the 2ifl of James the Firft, chap, the 7th, which is continued by an a£t in the 
 third of Charles the Firft, and again by an aft in the fixteenth of the fame reign ; the 
 oath of a tippler, having firft confefled that he was tippling in an ale-houfe, fhall be fuffi- 
 cient proof againft others of the offence ; which incurs, to thofe tippling, a penalty of 
 five fliillings ; and, to the ale-houfe-keeper permitting it, a difability to keep an ale-houfe 
 for three years enfuing the offence. 
 
 Jiknt
 
 L E T T E R X. V 67 
 
 filent leges, fays Lord Coke ; and the maxim has ever been found 
 true by experience, which has alfo proved to us, that, in all civil 
 commotions, where the folly of the million has been made fub- 
 fervient to the purpofes of the few, the rights of the citizen fall 
 before the felf-intereited purpofes of individuals. 
 
 Until the Reftoration, which was above half a century from the 
 43d year of the reign of Elizabeth, the parliament had made no 
 alteration in the laws with refpedl to the maintenance and employ- 
 ment of the poor ; and that ftatute remained the law in that re- 
 fpeCt ; nor has there been preferved to us any pamphlet or fugitive 
 tra6l, which, during that period, has refle6led on this ftatute, as 
 being deficient either in policy or prudential regulation j on the 
 contrary, it has been continued, from time to time, without any 
 comment whatever, and particularly by ftat. 3. Charles I. chap. 4. 
 and 5. J a filent but a ftrong prefumption, that it had been hither- 
 to found equal to the great purpofe expe6led from it j the exten- 
 fion of charity by the means of induftry. 
 
 Soon after the reftoration of Charles the Second, that is to fay, 
 in the 13th and 14th year of his reign, which takes its date in the 
 ftatute-book from the death of his father, it was perceived that 
 partial inconvenience had rifen, in a manner, from the general 
 good efFe6ls of this aft of Elizabeth, as an extrad from the pre- 
 amble to chap. 1 2th of the ftatute of that date will plainly demon- 
 ftrate ; which ftates, that " whereas poor people are not reftrained 
 from going from one parifh to another, and therefore do endea- 
 vour to fettle themfelves where there is the beft ftock and largeft 
 commons and waftes to build cottages." It appears by this pre- 
 amble, that a good ftock of materials to work up, and a chance 
 of obtaining habitations, occafioned the poor to migrate, from thofe 
 pariflies where the overfeers were negligent in thefe matters, to 
 other pariflies where they had a chance of a domicile and em- 
 ployment ; and furely every principle of freedom and every duty 
 of reciprocal juftice ftiould permit the poor who live by their 
 
 K 2 labour
 
 6S L E T T E R X. 
 
 labour to remove ad libitum to thofe parifhes where they may find 
 labour to live by j notwithftanding the partial inconvenience felt 
 by particular pariflies, when the general good will be fo much 
 better promoted, both in principle and pradtice. This is the firft 
 aft which refpedls the fettlements of the poor, but does not at- 
 tempt in any inftance an alteration of the 43d of Elizabeth, and 
 may rather be called, with no impropriety, a ufeful addition to 
 that venerable edifice ; comprehending in it the origin of fettle- 
 ments, work-houfes, and the laws refpe6ling rogues and vaga- 
 bonds, together with regulations as to the maintenance of natural 
 children. 
 
 The dignity of hiftory very feldom ftoops to record the diftrefles 
 or comforts of the bulk of the people j the bufinefs of the hiflo- 
 rian is with wars and revolutions, treaties and the infringement - 
 of them, the intrigues of party, and the exceffes of the higher 
 orders of the ftate ; but rarely does he condefcend to relate, 
 
 The Jloort and Jimple annals of the poor. 
 
 It is, therefore, from other fources our information mufl be fup- 
 plied ; from the pamphlet, or the newfpaper of the day ; and, 
 hitherto, but few of thefe have come to hand, of fo remote a date 
 as the middle of the laft century ; from the only exifling inftance 
 on record, that could be found, of the juftices rating of wages, in i 
 
 the county of * Effex, compared with the cotemporary prices of -; 
 
 wheat 
 
 * Effex, Eafter-Seflions, 1661. 
 
 Common labourers, fellere, and makers up of wood, ditches, and hedges ; threfhers, and 
 
 all other common labourers, by the day (the time of harveft excepted). 
 
 With Board. Without Board. 
 
 s. d. s. d. 
 
 From the middle of March to the middle of September -08 — 12 
 
 "From the middle of September to the middle of March -06 — 10 
 
 Man hay-maker - - _ _ _ _ -08 — 10 
 
 Woman hay-maker - . _ _ _ . -05 — 010 
 
 Weeders of corn - _ _ _ ,_ -04 — 09 
 
 Movyers
 
 L E T T E R X. 69 
 
 wheat and malt, a reafonable conclufion may be dravyn, that the 
 proportion, between the fcarcity of the neceffaries of Ufe and price 
 of labour, was by that means more exaflly preferved than in thefe 
 times J for, although the price of wheat is very high, yet, in the 
 other articles of the confumption of a poor family, in candles, 
 foap, beer, no fuch excife-duties took place then as now do ; nor 
 was tea and gin fo much their beverage ; nor had paper- credit fo 
 much depreciated the value of money, by raifmg ideal riches, as 
 at prefent ; for, in fuch a proportion it is fuppofed the value of 
 gold and filver to be decreafed, and confequently the money-price 
 
 !• d, s, d. 
 
 Mowers of com and grafs - - - - - -010 — 16 
 
 A fallower _-_ __ _ - -06- 
 
 Man-reaper -- - - - - - -10 — 
 
 Woman-reaper - - - - _ _ ._o8- 
 
 I 3 
 
 I 10 
 
 — 12 
 
 Labourers by Task. , 
 
 s. a. 
 
 Mowing an acre of grafs - ....... iiq 
 
 Well-making, clean raking, and cocking, an acre of grafs, ready to carry, 2 o 
 Reaping, or fliearing, well-binding, cocking, or fliocking, an acre of wheat, rye, 
 
 or meflin - - - - -.- . - - - - 40 
 Reaping, or fliearing, an acre of barley, or bullymony, binding and fliocking 
 
 the fame ...........2.6 
 
 The fame to oats -_-____ --26 
 
 Reaping and well-binding an acre of beans - - - - - 3 6 
 
 Mowing an acre of barley or oats --____-i2 
 
 Making an acre of peafe, vetches, or tares - - - - - i g 
 
 Making and ditching a rod of new ditch, 4 feet wide, out of the whole ground, 
 
 3 feet deep, i| foot at bottom, double-fet with quick, and fetting a hedge 
 
 upon it, after the rate of i6| feet a rod, with gathering fets for the fame, i 2 
 A rod of ditch, of like breadth and depth, without quick - _ _ o 6 
 Threftiing wheat and rye, the quarter - - - - - - iio 
 
 ■ barley and oats - - - - -- -- 010 
 
 — — beans, peafe, bullymony, tares - - - - -010 
 
 £,' ^' ^' 
 
 The prices of wheat, this year, as appears by Fleetwood's Chronicon, 
 
 per quarter .-__..-_. -3100 
 
 -Malt, per quarter ...... - - -113 4 
 
 of
 
 JO L E T T E R X. 
 
 of the neceflaries of life increafed, that a poor family which could, 
 in the middle of the laft century, earn 20/. a year, was in a better 
 fxtuation than the fame family would be now with earnings 
 amounting to 50/. a year ; therefore, the prices of labour were 
 more adequate to fupply their wants,* although the price of 
 wheat was very high, than the prevailing prices in this county at 
 prefent; befides, at this time, a poor family might, without the 
 fear of being fent back by the parifh- officers, go where they chofe, 
 for better wages, or more certain employment ; whereas, lince the 
 year 1662, the law of fettlements, introduced by 13th and 14th 
 Charles II. chap. 12. has much abridged their liberty in that re- 
 fpeft J made them of neceffity ftationary, and obliged them to reft 
 fatisfied with thofe wages they can obtain where their legal fettle- 
 ment happens to be ; a reftraint on them which ought to infure to 
 them wages, in the parifli where they muft remain, more adequate 
 to their neceflities, becaufe it precludes them in a manner from 
 bringing their labour, the only marketable produce they poffefs, to 
 the beft market. It is this reftraint which has, in all manufa6lu- 
 ring-towns, been one caufe of reducing the poor to fuch a ftate of 
 miferable poverty j for, among the manufa£Vurers, they have too 
 frequently found mafters who have taken, and continue to take, 
 every advantage, which ftri6l law will give ; of confequence, the 
 prices of labour have been, in manufadluring-towns, in an in- 
 verfe ratio of the number of poor fettled in the place ; and the 
 fame caufe has increafed that number, by inviting foreigners, in 
 times when large orders required many workmen j the mafters 
 themfelves being the overfeers, whofe duty, as parifti-officers, has 
 been oppofed by their intereft in fupplying the demand. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the queftion. What are the neceffaries 
 of life ? ftiould be taken into confideration ; and this is a point not 
 
 * Wants: this expreflion is underftood to comprehend not neceflaries alone, but the 
 comforts and iudulgences of life. 
 
 eafily
 
 L E T T E R X. 71 
 
 eafily fettled ; the rigid rule of juftice fo conftantly militating with 
 the laudable, but defultory, feelings of humanity. When we affert 
 that nothing is a neceffary to life but what fupports the ftream of 
 life, we confine the number of articles within a narrow limit j and 
 poffibly to thofe articles alfo whofe price is not much rifen, or 
 the ufe of which is trifling in a poor family, as linen, foap, lea- 
 ther ; but when, with a wider fcope of humanity, we take in the 
 comforts of life which were in contemplation in the preceding 
 paragraph, the expenfes of the poor are very confiderably in- 
 creafed. To fettle our ideas on this fubjecl, Adam Smith may be 
 thought no improper moderator} at leafl: his high chara6ler for 
 ftrong fenfe, combined with deep knowledge of the topic, point 
 him out as of the beft authority : he reckons as necelTaries to the 
 poor in England, linen, foap, leather flioes ; he claflTes beer, ale, 
 tobacco, tea, fugar, and fpirituous liquors, among the luxuries of 
 life, but profefTes he means to throw no reproach on a temperate 
 ufe of them. 
 
 Although the reign of Charles II. extended to the year 1680, 
 and the parliament regularly fat every year, except the 21ft, 24th, 
 26th, and 28th, of his reign, yet but little more was enadled re- 
 fpeding the poor : in the 23d feflion, by chap, the i8th, fome far- 
 ther regulations with refpeft to work-houfes were thought ex- 
 pedient, and paffed into a lawj and, in the 19th, the 22d, and 30th, 
 feflion, the fituation of poor prifoners was taken into confideration, 
 and fome good regulations made to give them means of employing 
 themfelves while in confinement; to prevent the fpreading of in- 
 feftious diftempers, and to expedite the difcharge of prifoners, 
 when liberated by courfe of law j yet, as they do not fall under 
 the particular objedl of this inquiry, there is no occafion to make 
 any obfervations on them j but let us pafs on to the enfuing reign, 
 flopping only to inquire whether any treatifes have been printed 
 before the Revolution, and preferved to the prefent time, which 
 may throw light on this important fubjed, 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
 L E T T E R XI. 
 
 TH E information which may be gleaned on the fubje£l of 
 the poor of this kingdom, from the earUeft time, until the 
 clofe of the laft century, by trafts, pamphlets, or fugitive pub- 
 lications, is not much more fatisfaftory and particular, than what 
 the pages of the hiftory of this country afford. It fhould feem, 
 that, excepting here and there, a mind thirfty after that information, 
 which may be ferviceablv applied to the benefit of our fellow- 
 creatures J people, in general, of all denominations, at all times, 
 recede with difgufl from inquiries of this nature, and throw afide 
 that book, whofe periods remind them of the miferies attendant 
 on the great mafs of human lives within this kingdom j or vainly, 
 although with a good intent, attempt to point out fome means to 
 mitigate or avert them : the refult of every inquiry a country-life 
 could afford, together with an unlimited order to one of the firft 
 bookfellers in town, to collefl every thing that has been written 
 on the fubjetl, to the clofe of the lafl century, has produced a 
 very infignificant lift ; more tra£ls muft certainly have been pub- 
 lifhed, but it is fuppofed not many worth notice, becaufe fcarcely 
 any are quoted or mentioned in the pages of thofe which have 
 been colle6led. Among the farrago of pamphlets publifhed during 
 the lafl: century, which the Britilli Muleum pofTefles, many, it is 
 pofTible, whofe titles would not otherwife have exifted to this time, 
 have been preferved ; but neither time or opportunity have offered 
 to fearch that immenfe arfenal of literature ; in the mean time, the 
 fubjedl itfelf prefl'es on the min<l ; and fome apprehenfion left the 
 illnefs of my friend* fhould occafion a temporary difcontinuance 
 of that ufeful publication, on account of which the inquiry was 
 firft begun, before" it is brought to a conclufion, which would, in 
 
 * At this tlmpMr. A. Young was dangeroudy ill. 
 
 fome
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 73 
 
 fome refped:, leave the Annals of Agriculture imperfect; a work 
 which refleds lafting honour on him, who, with fuch fuccefs, has 
 brought, as it were, under a glance of the eye, a niafs of agricultu- 
 ral information, that v\il] long remain a valuable treafure to the 
 ]<ingdom. Thefc reafons have urged me to continue the plan hinted 
 at a few pages back, although at prefent fo indifferently provided 
 with materials on the fubjeft. 
 
 It creates no fmall degree of furprife, that a mind fo capacious as 
 the Vifcount St. Alban's, who lived cotemporary and was art and 
 part with that parliament which paffed the famous ftatute of 
 Elizabeth, among the voluminous pages of his writings and the 
 vaft variety of fubjeds his almoft omnipotent abilities compre- 
 hended and his indefatigable pen treated of, fliould not have left a 
 fingle tra61: on this important fubjecl : one paragraph alone can bs 
 found, a mere drop, amidft the ocean of five quarto volumes of his 
 woik; and this drop is in his advice to the king, touching Mr. 
 Sutton's* eftate; but by this it is apparent, that his ideas were not 
 well digefled on this fubje6t, nor was the topic clofely entered on. 
 The only paflage worth extrading is the following : " But chiefly it 
 were to be wiflied fuch beneficence towards the relief of the poor 
 were fo beftowed, as not only the mere and naked poor fliould be 
 fuftained, but alfo that the honeft perJo7i which has hard means to li-ue, 
 upon whom the poor are now charged, JJjould be, in fome fort, eafed: -f 
 for that were a work generally acceptable to the kingdom, if the 
 public hand of alms might fpare the private hand of tax ; and, 
 therefore, of all other employments of that kind, I commend mod 
 hufes of relief and ccrre^fion, which are mixed hofpitals ; where the 
 impotent perfon is relieved, and the fturdy beggar buckled to work, 
 
 * The founder of the Charter-Houfe. 
 
 t This fentiment is amazingly prophetic of the experienced prefTure of the poor-rates 
 in modern times : the poor pay to the rates for the maintenance of the poorer, and arc 
 themfelves finking from want of maintenance and relief. 
 
 L and
 
 74 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 and the unable perfon alfo not maintained to be idle, which is ever 
 joined with drunkennefs and impurity, but is forted with fuch 
 work as he can manage and perform ; and where the ufes are not 
 diftinguifhed, as in other hofpitals, whereof Ibme are for aged and 
 impotent, and fome for children, and fome for corre6lion of vaga- 
 bonds, but are general and promifcuous, that may take off poor, 
 cf every fort, from the county, as the county breeds them; and 
 thus the poor themfelves (hall find the provifion, and other people 
 the fweetnefs of the abatement of the tax. Now if it be objedled, 
 that houfes of corre6lion in all places have not done the good ex- 
 pelled J as it cannot be denied, but in moft: places they have done 
 much good; it muft be remembered, that there is a great difference 
 between that which is done by the diftraBed government of jufiices 
 of peace i and that which may be done by z fettled ordinance, fubje6t 
 to a regular vifitation, as this may be." 
 
 When Sir Francis Bacon, as attorney-general, drew up this 
 letter of advice for his mafter James the Firft, he muft furely have 
 conceived in his mind fome idea of incorporated boifes of indujiry, 
 and anticipated, as it were, by prophetic forefight, fomewhat of 
 thofe excellent regulations, which, through the aufpices of a re- 
 verend and worthy magiftrate, have brought the poor under fuch 
 good order, and fo reduced the rates in thofe parifhes, whofe houfa 
 of induftry he, with fuch attention, at prefent, prefides over.* 
 
 The words dijlracfed government of juftices of peace are worth bur 
 notice : it is to be feared that the obfervation would equally apply, 
 through the many years that have paffed fince this advice was 
 given, as it did then ; a farther comment on this expreffion would 
 be indecorous ; but it warrants this fingle obfervation, that, as the 
 gratis opinion of a lawyer is not thought fo good as that which a 
 fee commands, fo poflibly the gratis or voluntary attention of the 
 gentlemen in the commifllon of the peace is likely to be more 
 
 » The Rev. Mr. Cooke, of Semer, In SuiFolk.. 
 
 defultory
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 7S 
 
 defultory and difl:ra6led than that which a falary might pur- 
 chase. 
 
 My Lord Hale is the firft great name on the lift of thofc 
 who have turned their attention to the employment and relief of the 
 poor. The year his plan firft appeared in is not apparent in the 
 copy, but it certainly preceded any other in my pofleflion, as it 
 muft have been written before 1676, that being the year in which 
 he died : it would ta.vC up too much time to tranfcribe all in this 
 excellent tra(5t, which is deferving our attention ; therefore thofe 
 parts only fliall be taken notice of whicli are moft to our purpofe ; 
 he fays, " The only ftatute which provides univerfally for the 
 poor is the forty-third of Elizabeth, which generally makes two 
 provifions. 
 
 " Firfi, for the impotent poor that are not able to work; 
 and for thefe it is a good and effectual provifion, if duly executed. 
 
 *• Second^ for thofe that are able. The defedls of this provifion 
 are, firft, in the execution j the fecond defe6t is in the law itfelf ;^ 
 which is, that there is no power in the juftices of peace, or fome 
 fuperintendent power, to compel the raifing of a ftock, where the 
 church-wardens and overfeers negle6l it. — 2. The aft chargeth 
 every parifli apart, where it may be they are able to do little 
 towards it ; neither would it be fo efFedual as if three, four, five, 
 or more contiguous parifhes, did contribute towards the raifing of 
 a ftcck, proportionable to the poor refpeftively. — 3. There is no 
 power for hiring or erefting a common houfe, or place, for their 
 common work-houfej which may be, in fome refpetls and upon 
 fome occafions, ufeful and necclTary, as ftiall be ftiewn. 
 
 *' The remedies are: 
 
 " 1. That the juftices of the peace, at the quarter- fefhons, do 
 fet out and diftribute the parifties, in their feveral counties, into 
 fcveral divifions, in each of which there may be a work-houfe 
 for the common ufe of the refpedlive divifions, wherein they are 
 refpeftively placed; to wit, one, two, three, four, five, or fix, 
 
 L 2 parifties
 
 76 L E T T E R XL 
 
 parifhes to a work-houfe, according to the greatnefs or fmallnefs, 
 and accommodation, of the feveral pariflies. 
 
 '* 2. That, at the feffions, the church- wardens and overfeers of 
 the poor of the refpe^live pariflies, bring in their feveral rates for 
 the relief of their refpeftive poor, upon oath. And that the faid 
 juftices do aflefs three, four, or five, yearly payments, to be levied 
 and colleded at one or two entire fums, within the time prefixed by 
 them, for the raifing a flock, to fet the poor, within thofe pre- 
 cin6ts, on work ; and to build or procure a convenient work- 
 houfe, for employing the poor (if need be) in it, and for lodging 
 materials, and for inftrudling children in trade or work. 
 
 " 3. That there be yearly chofen, by the faid juftices, a mafter 
 for each work-houfe, with a convenient falary, out of the faid 
 flock, or the produce thereof, to continue for three years ; and 
 two overfeers, to fee the ifluing and return of the faid ftock, and to 
 take the accounts quarterly or monthly of the mafter, as they 
 fiiall think fit. 
 
 " 4. That the ftock be delivered to the overfeers, and by them 
 iffued to the mafter, as there fhall be occafion j and that they alfo, 
 from time to time, receive the produce of the faid ftock, and the 
 accounts for the fame. 
 
 " 5. That, at the end of every year, the mafter and overfeers 
 give up their accounts to the two next juftices of the peace, at times 
 by them prefixed, and publicly notified to the inhabitants of each 
 precintl, to the end that they may take any exceptions to fuch 
 accounts, if there be caufe. 
 
 " 6. That the mafter and overfeers of every refpeflive work- 
 houfe ftand, and be incorporate, by the name of the mafter and 
 overfeers of their refpeaive precinds, and capable to take in fuc- 
 cefilon, by will or otherwife, lands, goods, or money, or other 
 legacies or gifts, for the benefit of the poor within their refpeaive 
 precinas. 
 
 " 7. That
 
 L E T T E R XL -jj 
 
 ** 7. That they alfo be accountable, as well to their refpe6live 
 fucceflbrs, as to the juftices of the peace at their quarter-feflions, 
 for the benefit, and produce, and employment, of fuch gifts and 
 bequefts. 
 
 8. •* That they be difabled to grant any lands, to them given 
 or bequeathed, for any longer term than one year, and at an im- 
 proved rent. 
 
 " 9. That if any perfon, that is able to work, and not able to 
 maintain himfelf, fliall refufe to do fo, he may be forced thereto, 
 by warrant of two juftices of peace, by imprifonment, and mode-' 
 rate corre6lion in fuch work-houfe. 
 
 " 10. If any perfon, employed by the mafter, fliall embezzle, 
 or wilfully prejudice, or fpoil, his work, he fliall, upon complaint 
 and proof thereof, by the party grieved, to any juftice of peace, 
 and by warrant from him, receive imprifonment, or moderate cor- 
 reflion, by warrant of fuch juftice. 
 
 " Thefe are the heads of that provifion I could wifti for the fet- 
 ting the poor to work, which is^ but an effay, and may receive alte- 
 rations or additions upon confideration." 
 
 This excellent man then fpeaks of the benefits arifing from his 
 plan, and anfwers fome objedions to it ; and then concludes, that 
 fuch a plan, if it could be accomphflied, would be a work of great 
 humanity, which would become a Chriftian .and a good Englifhr 
 man. In this plan, the idea fuggefted by Sir Francis Bacon is im- 
 proved, matured, and digefted into fome regularity j and, under 
 this form, it prefents to our view a prototype, as it were, of Mr. 
 Gilbert's fchenie, which has lately attra6led the attention of the 
 public. 
 
 The next publication which has been collefted, in point of time, 
 is by Andrew Tarrington, who appears, by his own account, to 
 have been a linen-draper, and afterward employed by fome gentle- 
 men to bring a manufafture into England, from Bohemia and Sax- 
 ony, made (to ufe his own words) of iron and tin : it appears alfo, 
 
 that
 
 7^ LETTER XL 
 
 that he was a furveyor to fome h'on-works in Ireland ; lie certainly 
 })ofrein;d great information on matters of trade, and a clear un- 
 dbrllanding : the imprimatur of his book bears date 1676 j the title 
 is an epitome of its motley contents, " England's Improvement, 
 by Sea and Land, to outdo the Dutch without fighting, to pay 
 Debts without Money, and to fet at work all the Poor in England, 
 with the Growth of our own Lands," cum multis aliis j in this 
 curious and, in fome refpeifl, inftrudive book, may be found the 
 firft idea of a fckool for indujlry\ according to the pradtice in Hol- 
 land and Flanders, which, the author takes great pains to prove, 
 might with profit be carried into effe6l in England. He alfo, in a 
 vifion of future glory, anticipates, in profped:, the extent of our 
 paper-credit, our numerous inland navigations, the full employ- 
 xnent of the infant poor, and our confequential riches. His vifioa 
 is completely verified in the two firft inftances, and their confe- 
 quences ; why it may not, in the other, remains probably for ano- 
 ther century to prove. But, furely, as the complaint, that the 
 poor are not employed, and that idlenefs prevails among them, 
 may be now made, with at leaft equal truth, towards the clofe of 
 the eighteenth century, as it was about the middle of the feven- 
 teenth j why the other part of his prophecy fliould not be brought 
 to pafs remains in nothing but experience itfelf to flievv, and it 
 is to be hoped that the Sunday- fchools will prove harbingers to the 
 attempt. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Firmin, a friend of Archbilhop Tillotfon, is the 
 next writer on this fubjeft. His two letters to that prelate, enti- 
 tled, " Some Propofals for the Employment of the Poor, efpecially 
 in and about the city of London," bear date in the years 1678 and 
 1681 : he appears to have been a man of refpedtable character, and 
 frequently to have been employed in diftributing private charity : 
 in his firft letter, he fpeaks of his fucccfs attending a plan for a 
 kind of work-houfe, in the parifli of Alderfgate, to employ the 
 poor in fpinnin^ flax and hemp at their own houfes. His expe- 
 rience.
 
 L E T T E R XI. 79 
 
 rlence, in this bufinefs, is great ; and (o is his fuccefs. He per- 
 ceives, he fays, by his experiment, " that the only way to provide 
 for the poor, and to bring them to labour, is to provide fuch work 
 for them as they may do at their own homes, which, though never 
 fo mean and homely, is more defned tlian any other place; and the 
 way which feveral perfons have propofed of bringing them to a 
 work-houfe will never effefl the end intended ; for, fuppofe a wo- 
 man hath a fick hulband, or child, or fome infirmity upon herfelf, 
 in all fuch cafes fhe may do fomething at home,^ but cannot leave 
 her own houfe. True, indeed, for vagrants, or flurdy beggars, 
 who have no habitation, and mufl: be held to their labour, as gal- 
 ley-flaves are tied to their oars, fuch public work-houfes are very 
 neceflary ; and I wifli we had more of them, and that thofe we 
 have were employed to this purpofe, to which they were at firft 
 defigned and intended : but for fuch poor people as have habita- 
 tions of their own, and who are known in the parifh where they 
 live, and would take pains at home, it is altogether unreafonable 
 and unprofitable (in my judgement) to force them to a public work- 
 houfe. 
 
 *' If any parifli that abounds with poor people nvould fet up a 
 fchool, in the nature of a work-houfe, to teach poor children to wcrk^ 
 who wander up and down the parifli, and parts adjacent, and be- 
 tween begging and flealing get a forry living, but never bring any 
 thing unto their parents, nor earn one farthing towards their own 
 maintenance, it would, in a fhort time, be -found very advantageous, 
 not only to the poor children, who, by this means, whilft young, 
 fhould be inured to labour, and taught to get their own living, 
 but alfo to their parents, who fliould hereby both be freed from any 
 charge by keeping them, and alfo in time be helped by their labour, 
 as it is in other places. 
 
 *' And, farther, the parifli would, by this means, be freed from 
 much charge, that now they are at, either to keep thefe children, 
 or to allow their parents ibmething toward it, jiu*thing being 
 
 thought
 
 So L E T T E R XL 
 
 thoua;ht a greater argument for a large penfion, than that a man or 
 woman hath fix or feven chikiren ; whereas, unlefs they were all 
 l)orn at one time, or come fafter into the world than ordinarily fo 
 many children do, it is very hard if fome of them be not able to 
 vork for themfelves. I myfelf have, at this time, feme children 
 working to me, not above feven or eight years old, who are able 
 to earn zd. a day ; and fome, that are but a little older, zu a 
 week ; and I doubt not to bring any child, about that age, to do 
 the like : and rtill as they grow up, and become proficients, even 
 in this poor trade of fpinning, they will be able to get more, and 
 to fpin better, than older people. Neither would I have thefc 
 fchools confined only to fpinning, but to take in knitting, and 
 making of lace, or plain-work, or any other work which the chil- 
 dren fliall be thought moft fit for : and this is that, which (as I 
 am informed) is pra<Slifed in other countries with fo great advan- 
 tage, that there are few poor children, who have attained the age 
 of feven or eight years, that are any charge to the parifli or bur- 
 then to their poor parents : and Mr. Chamberlain (in his book, 
 entitled, The prefcnt State of England, p. 137) hath obferved, 
 that, in the city of Norwich, it hath been of late years computed" 
 and found, that (yearly) children, from fix to ten years of age, 
 have gained twelve thoufand pounds more than what they have 
 fpent, and that chiefly by knitting fine Jerfey ftockings." 
 
 To this plan he fuppofes obje£l:ions to be made. He anfv\'ers 
 them all, except the laft queftion, which is: — 
 
 " What will you do with all the yarn thefe poor people fhall 
 fpin ? If you weave it into cloth, the commodity is brought 
 over fo cheap, that you will never be able to fell, v/ithout much 
 lofs ? 
 
 " Jnfwer. I muft confefs this objeflion hath too much of 
 truth in it, to be wholly removed. The beft anfwer I can make 
 to it, at prefent, is this: — That we had much better lofe fome- 
 thing by tlvs labour of the poor, than lofe all by letting them live 
 
 in
 
 L E T T E R XI. 8i 
 
 in floth and idlenefs : for, fuppofe you fliould give 6d. for that work 
 which is really worth but 5^. ; hence will 5^. really be got to the 
 nation, though id. (hould be loft to the parifli. Yet, befides, 
 let it be confidered, that, if this perfon had not been employed, 
 there would not lefs have been fpent, but rather more ; forafmuch 
 as 6d. that is got by labour, doth many times go farther than 1 2d. 
 given for doing nothing. All the time people are idle, they will be 
 fpending, if they have it > and, if they have it not, it is like they 
 will be worfe employed." 
 
 It alfo appears, from this letter, that no great good was con- 
 ceived to arife from work-houfes in the metropolis, of which they 
 now had received fome years experience $ the aft of parliament, 
 authorizing incorporated work-houfes within the bills of mortality, 
 having pafl'ed in 1662. 
 
 In this letter is alfo the idea of a badge on thofe among the poor, 
 who, being incapable of labour, are maintained by the parifli j and, 
 by the badge, it was imagined, they would not be likely to receive 
 much from begging; it being apparent, by the badge, that their 
 parifli maintains them. 
 
 The fecond letter, which appeared in 168 1, feems much to our 
 purpofe, as it contains a plan of a School of Induftryj but it 
 would be of little fervice to give his intentions in detail, not only 
 on account of the length of quotation which would be necefTary, 
 but becaufe it does not appear that his fcheme was ever carried into 
 execution ; and it is apprehended that a more perfect plan aftually 
 is now in praftice through many parts of Lincolnfliire, which, if 
 any wifli to eftablilh fuch a fchool of induftry fortunately prevailed, 
 might be obtained from fome of the worthy truftees ; and fuch a 
 fchool might be applied to fpinning flax, as well as wool, knitting 
 of ftockings, winding of filk, making of lace, or plain-work, and 
 the like. In this letter, alfo, Mr. Firmin fuppofes objedtions to 
 his plan, and anfwers them all, except the lafl:, which is the fame 
 as has been noticed in his firil letter, and which he confeffed him- 
 
 M felf
 
 82 LETTER XII. 
 
 felf unable perfectly to anfwer ; and here he gives the fame reply as 
 he did to the fame queftion before, which has been already men- 
 tioned. 
 
 On the whole, his feveral fchemes are pra*5licable ; and they fall 
 from the pen of an honeft and experienced man. His reafons in 
 favour of them, anfwering the objections which he fuppofes may 
 be made, are, in general, conclufive, except in the inftance which 
 has been recited j and the obje<flion itfelf, as to the difficulty of 
 finding a fale for the goods manufaftured, would not probably be 
 fo ftrong at prefent, as it was a hundred and twelve years ago ; nor 
 would it apply fo much to a county ~{<:^oo\ of induftry, as to one in 
 London : the parents and relations of the poor children, whom their 
 pariflies now clothe at an expenfe much above the prime-coft of the 
 wares manufaftured, would, it is apprehended, give vent to a con- 
 fiderable quantity of the goods ; more efpecially if the fale was 
 encouraged by the parifh-officers and farmers recommending the 
 manufadlure to their labourers. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 SIR J OS I AH CHILD, who has, in his new difcourfe of trade, 
 given one chapter on the relief and employment of the poor, 
 fhall be now attended to. Jt does not appear, by the edition 
 whence this note is taken, which is the fourth, exadly when the 
 firft edition was publifhed j although, as the parliament which fat 
 in 1669 was not diflblved until 1679, it appears moft probable, 
 from the beginning of the preface, that it was publiflied about the 
 laft date ; and, therefore, does not improperly follow Mr. Firmin's 
 Letters. 
 
 In
 
 L E T T E R XII. 83 
 
 In the chapter which relates to the poor, Sir Jofiah begins by 
 intimating to the reader, that this is a calm lubjed:, and thwarts no 
 common or private intereft. among us, except that of the common 
 enemy of mankind, the devil. It muft ftrike every reader, that 
 things are ftrangely altered fince this trad; was written, as the fub- 
 jed: is in thefe days by no means cahiy and thwarts many private 
 ihterefts in every parifh; although, it muft be confefl'ed, that, in 
 fome refpe6t, thefe are the interefts of the devil, as they are oppo* 
 fite to every intereft of integrity and common honefty. 
 
 He argues for a defeat in the poor-laws, from the failure in 
 execution of thofe ftatutes which relate to the poor, and refts the 
 proof of his argument on this fadl, that, in every change of parties 
 this nation may have experienced, all parties had thefe laws to fleer 
 by, and none of them fufficiently maintained the impotent and 
 employed the indigent. Could this worthy merchant be a member 
 of parliament? Did he live in the world, and not know, by conftant 
 experience, that the maintenance of the impotent, or the employ- 
 ment of the indigent, is the very laft object to which leaders of 
 parties will attend ? At leaft the experience of the prefent aera 
 would prove the fact ; however it might have been in the reign of 
 Charles the Second. On the day when the Houfe of Commons 
 debated on the motion of Mr. Gilbert, refpedling his bill, which 
 was to determine whether it fiiould be read a fecond time or be 
 rejected, about forty-four members attended ; not a member who 
 ranked high on the treafury-bench, or in the phalanx of oppofi- 
 tion ; but Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Young, who oppofed the bill, had 
 nearly the debate to therafelves ; and this bill, which involved in 
 its confequences the material interefts of the nation, was thrown 
 out, by a divifion of thirty-four to ten. 
 
 But, laying afide this obje6lion to Sir Jofiah's argument, and 
 fuppofing that the parties in the ftate would attend to thefe regula- 
 tions, and have attended to them, and that they are ftill badly 
 executed, the fame obfervation might be made with refpedl to the 
 
 M 2 laws
 
 ^4. LETTER XII. 
 
 laws of the Deity, the general received rules of morality, the 
 Ten Commandments. All ciafles and conditions of men have 
 long pofleffed all that is contained in the Decalogue, to regulate 
 their condufl by ; and all nations experience daily the faulty 
 execution, or rather the conftant breach, of thefe facred laws j to 
 argue from the faulty execution or breach of a municipal rule, the 
 inefficacy or impropriety of that rule is bad logic; it is not the 
 conclufion naturally following from the premifes. 
 
 He fays, the radical error is the leaving it to the care of every 
 parifli to maintain their own poor only. 
 
 To correct this error, he propofes a plan of a fociety, who are 
 to be incorporated by a6l of parliament, by the name of Fathers of 
 the Poor; to whom all church- wardens, overfeers, and other 
 officers, fliould be fubordinate ; gives them powers fuperior to the 
 magiftrates ; and confumes many pages in forming rules for the 
 condud of this incorporation ; which is apparently intended, in 
 the firll place, for the city of London and its vicinity, although, 
 in the end, the whole kingdom is fuppofed to embrace the plan. 
 
 Here furely may be feen the outline from which Mr. Gilbert's 
 late plan was filled up ; or at leaft from hence frefti hints were 
 taken ; which, had it pafTed into a law, would probably have intro- 
 duced throughout the kingdom general confufion. 
 
 It would fcarcely be worth the trouble for the writer to 
 tranfcribe, or the reader to perufe, the plan of Sir Jofiah Child in 
 the detail J as, it is conceived, it never ought to be carried into 
 execution, by the force of law, in this kingdom j fome parts of it,, 
 which fhall be juft glanced at, will be an apology for this opinion, 
 
 '* I ft. That the faid fathers of the poor may have liberty to 
 aflefs all parilhes within their diftrict, fo much as they yearly paid 
 to that purpofe any three years preceding. 
 
 " 2. That they may receive charitable contributions on the 
 Lord's day, and at any other times they may think fit. 
 
 " 3, That they may have all the power juftices have. 
 
 " 4. That
 
 LETTER XII. 85 
 
 " 4. That they may have power to fend fuch poor, as they fliall 
 think fit, into any of his Mcijeftys plantations. 
 
 *' 5. That they may have petty banks or lumbards, for the 
 benefit of the poor j may have half what is paid at play-houfesy and 
 a patent for farthings." 
 
 In the fame manner as Mr. Firmin, Sir Jofiah afks and anfwers 
 queflions with refpedl to his propofed plan : two of the queftions, 
 together with part of the anfwers, are as follow: 
 
 " What will be the advantage to the kingdom in general, and to 
 the poor in particular, that will accrue by fuch a fociety of men, 
 more than is enjoyed by the laws at prefent?" 
 
 Part of the anfwer. — " Poor children will be inftrudted in 
 learning and arts, and thereby rendered ferviceable to their 
 country. 
 
 *• What fhall all the poor of thefe cities and counties, being 
 very numerous, be employed about?" 
 
 Part of the anfwer. — " The girls may be employed in mending 
 the clothes of the aged, in fpinning, carding, and other linen 
 manufa6lories ; and many in fewing linen for the exchange, or any 
 houfekeepers that will put out linen to the matrons, that have 
 the government of them. 
 
 '* The boys in picking oakum, making pins, rafping wood, 
 making hangings, or any other manufafture of any kind, which, 
 whether it turns to prefent profit or not^ is not much material; the 
 great bufinefs of the nation being, firft, to keep the poor from 
 begging and Jlarving, and enuring fuch as are able to labour and difci^ 
 pline that they may be hereafter ufeful members to the kingdom." 
 ^ This maxim deferves to be written in letters of gold in all 
 work-houfes, houfes of induftry, fchools of induflry, and to be en- 
 graved in capitals in the overfeers books in every parifh in the 
 kingdom j this is the great and leading principle in the forty-third 
 of Elizabeth ; it is for this purpofe the ftock of wool, flax, hemp, 
 thread, iron, is there direded to be purchafed j not for the view of 
 
 immediate
 
 86 LETTER XII. 
 
 immediate gain only, but for the enuring fuch as are able to labour 
 and difcipUne^ that they be hereafter ufeful members to the kingdom. 
 
 Two capital objedlions are obvious to any one who confiders 
 what has been tranfcribed of this plan. 
 
 The firft is, that it propofes to raife a revenue for the main- 
 tenance and employment of the poor, in addition to that enormous 
 one which we now complain of; and that by a new tax, and by a 
 patent for coining farthings : church-cclle6iions are alfo propofed, 
 which were the very ground-work of the prefent poor's rate. 
 
 The fecond obje6lion is founded on the little regard paid to the 
 liberty of the iubje6l ; as it propofes to give the unconftitutional 
 power to this fociety of tranfporting the poor to our colonies, 
 without a crime charged, merely from fuch conceptions of conve- 
 nience that might arife in the breafls of tliefe y^/z^^rj of the poor. 
 
 The tendency of opulence to taint the honeflefl principles, and 
 to operate as a draught of the river Lethe, in producing among 
 the rich a total oblivion of the rights of the poor, is here well ex- 
 emplified. — The merchant, rolling in wealth, forgets that banifli- 
 ment is a very ferious punifliment for a crime of fome enormity ; 
 to fuch a degree is it dreaded, that fome criminals have preferred 
 death, the legal punifhment of their crimes, rather than accept of 
 pardon, on terms of tranfportation : he has alfo forgot, that, to 
 tranfport a fellow- fubje6l, a crime committed, indidment, verdidt 
 of their countrymen, and the fentence of the laws, are necelTary. 
 
 Thefe are all the publications, which have fallen under our ob- 
 fervation, before that memorable aera in our hiftory — the Revolu- 
 tion. An event, taken together with thofe laws and regulations, 
 fo favourable to the Uberties of the fubjedt, which accompanied it, 
 as to demand our moil humble thanks to the Almighty Governor of 
 kings and flates ; and alfo our grateful remembrance of thofe who 
 were his immediate agents, in fixing our liberties on their prefent 
 folid bafis ; placed in a happy medium between defpotifm and licenti- 
 oujnefs ; a medium fo difficult to be hit on, and fo conducive to pub- 
 
 lie
 
 LETTER Xlir. 87 
 
 lie happinefs, when eftabliftied, that philanthropy excites our wifh- 
 es, pofTibly at the expenfe of our poUtical intereft, in favour of fo 
 many miUions of our fellow- creatures as people the extenfive king- 
 dom of France; that they may, at length, .find a haven of fecurity 
 to then- liberties, in a conftitution fimilar to what we now enjoy ; 
 equally removed from the anarchy of democracy, as the flavery of 
 defpotifm. In the mean time, it fliall be the fixed point in view 
 of this trail, to continue the inquiry with refpe6t to the poor- 
 laws, and the relative fituation of the poor themfelves in fociety, 
 from this period to the prefent day ; and then offer fome general 
 principles, as a refult from the whole of this inveftigation, in full 
 confidence that the remedy, as well as the mifchief, may be made 
 apparent; and alfo with fome rays of hope, that the vacant hour 
 of a retired life may be made conducive to a diminution of the train 
 of evil fo large a mafs of our fellow-fubje£ls fuffer under, as well 
 as to a prevention of the increafe, if not to a diminution, of the 
 prefent load of expenfe attending their maintenance and fupport ; 
 which will foon pre-occupy the fources of revenue ; and, in fome 
 future day of misfortune, may fall on us when we are lefs able to 
 fupport it ; and, in falling, crufli us with its weight j entail in its 
 confequences a long and tremendous ruin on all ranks of our fel- 
 low-fubje6ls, together with a demolition of this much-admired con- 
 ftitution, and involve us in a fcene of univerfal confufion. 
 
 LETTER Xin. 
 
 THE law of fettlements, introduced by parliament in the reign 
 of Charles the Second, was a ferious abridgement of the li- 
 berty of our fellow-fubje<5ls ; but was, at the fame time, a confe- 
 
 quencc
 
 2S LETTER XIII. 
 
 qiience refultlng from that humane confideration, which our fore- 
 fathers felt, for their prefervation from adual want. It became a 
 prudential caution, from the time that parifli-ratea were firft col- 
 lefted for the relief of the poor, that the money raifed in a parifh 
 fliould be applied to the relief of thofe only who belonged to that 
 parifli J hence has arifen a reftraint on the poor, in many inftanees 
 cruel; in all, unjuft; a great additional expenfe on thofe on whom 
 the rate is levied, arifing from cofts of law, in determining fettle- 
 ments -, an additional trouble to the magiftrates ; and, to the gen- 
 tlemen of the profefTion, much bufmefs, and many fees. Settle- 
 ments now occupy no fmall portion of the attention of the King's 
 Bench J and reports of the determinations in that court, refpefling 
 them, are become voluminous ; and form a topic, of no fmall con- 
 fequence, in the common-place- book of the gentlemen of the 
 long robe. 
 
 That a great part of the reftraint on the poor, or, at leaft, that 
 which bears hardeft on them, by preventing them living in parifhes 
 where they may beft get their bread, unlefs it happens to be their 
 place of fettlement, or they have a certificate of the confent of 
 their parifti to live there, may, with equal convenience and fafety, 
 be removed ; and that much of the expenfe attending contefts be- 
 tween parifhes, with refpeft to fettlements, may be faved, is cer- 
 tain. The heads of the bill brought into the Houfe of Commons, 
 by Sir Willianv Young, immediately after the difmiflion of Mr. 
 Gilbert's plan, warrant this aflertion. To fpeculate on the reafons 
 why fo much of that bill as relates to certificates did not pafs, is 
 not the bufinefs of this invert igation ; which now proceeds to the 
 firft fan6lion the law of fettlements received from the lesiiflature 
 after the Revolution. 
 
 Hitherto but little had been done to confine the poor within 
 their own parifhes. The ftatute, which paffed in the reign of 
 Charles the Second, empowering two juftices, on complaint of the 
 overfeex's, within forty days after any poor perfon had come to in- 
 habit
 
 LETTER XIII. 89 
 
 habit in their parifli, in any tenement under the annual value of 
 ten pounds, that they were likely to become chargeable, to remove 
 them to their lall legal place of fettlement, was, at the Revolution, 
 the only law extant on that fubjedl ; and being, together with tlie 
 alteration, by the 17th of James the Second, direding that the 
 forty days ftiould be accounted, from the time of delivery of 
 notice in writing, about to expire ; the 3d of William and Mary, 
 chapter 11, again takes up the fubje61: ; and direfts that the no- 
 tice (hould be read in the church, immediately after fervice, on 
 the next Lord's day after it fhall have been delivered ; and, then, 
 that it fhall be regiftered in the poor's book ; and infli(5ls a penalty 
 on the church-warden and overfeer negledling to read and regifter 
 it : and alfo enacts, that ferving a parifti-office, paying parifli-du- 
 ties, and hiring and fervice for a year, of a perfon not having a 
 wife or child, and ferving an apprenticefhip by indenture, flaail 
 alfo gain a fettlement. In thefe feveral cafes, the appeal lies from 
 the two magiftrates, adjudging the fettlement, to the quarter- 
 fefiions. 
 
 A regulation, which is intended to ad as a reftraint on the 
 parifli-officers, in the diftribution of the parifh-money, is alfo 
 enaded in this ftatute; a regifter is direfled to be kept in every 
 parifii of the names of fuch as receive colledions ; and the pa- 
 rifhioners are ordered to meet in the veftry yearly, in Eafter-week, 
 before whom this regifter is to be produced j and perfon s receiving 
 <:olleClions are to be called over, the reafons of their taking relief 
 examined, a new lift made and entered, and no other perfons but 
 fuch as are in the lift lliall be allowed to receive colleftions, ex- 
 cept in cafe of peftilential difeafes, and the fmall-pox, without au- 
 thority, under the hand of one juftice of the peace, refiding with- 
 in fuch parifli, or the parts adjoining. 
 
 Soon did experience prove the mifchief of the a6ls, with refpeiSt 
 to the fettlements of the poor j fo early did the hardfliip on them, 
 and the inconvenience to the parifhes, arifing from thefe reftric- 
 
 N tions
 
 90 LETTER XIII. 
 
 tions on their natural liberty, to get their bread where they could 
 beft find employment, appear ; that it was found neceflary, in the 
 year 1697, to open the door a little wider to them j and to let out 
 of their parishes fuch as the church-wardens, overfeers of the 
 poor, and a neighbouring magiflrate, fliould grant a certificate to ; 
 under the authority of an a6l pafi^ed in this year, for fupplying 
 fome defedts in the poor-law ; by which, fuch perfons as may come 
 to inhabit in any pariih, bringing with them a certificate, properly 
 atterted, owning them to be inhabitants of the parifli granting it, 
 and engaging to provide for them whenever they afk relief of the 
 parifh in which they refide, lliall not be removed until actually 
 chargeable. 
 
 This 3(51 alfo diredl^s badges to be worn on the Ihoulder of the 
 right fleeve, by all thofe who receive alms from the parifh j and 
 inflidls a penalty on the parifh-oflicers relieving a perfon not wear- 
 ing fuch a badge, and a punifhment on the pauper refufing to wear 
 it : — a good regulation, formed on wife principles, but almoft 
 vmiverfally neglecled. 
 
 Perfons, to whom poor children are bound apprentice, purfuant 
 to the 43d of Elizabeth, are alfo, by this adt, obliged to receive 
 and to provide for their apprentices, under a penalty of ten pounds, 
 to be applied to the ufe of the poor. 
 
 The legiflature of this reign gives us no other regulations, with 
 refpe6l to the poor j and the general negle6l of thofe which have 
 hitherto been enacted, either as checks on the difhonefty, felfifh- 
 nefs, and indolence, of the parifli-officers, or on the impofitions, 
 debauchery, and lazinefs, of the poor themfelves, ought to be a 
 matter of ferious aftonilhment to thofe who refled: on the general 
 complaint of the expenfe attending their maintenance and relief. 
 V/hat levity 1 what abfurdity ! in our lazy complaints of the 
 weight of the poor's rate ; let us but clap our fhoulders to the 
 wheel ; the bm then is enormous, but might be fhaken off, or 
 greatly lightened, by thofe who adminiller the laws -, were thofe 
 
 laws,
 
 LETTER XIII. 91 
 
 laws, in fad, adminiftered. Why do we throw the blame from 
 where it ought to fall, and charge the laws themfelves with the 
 confequences flowing from a breach of them ? They form, in gene- 
 ral, a code replete with humanity in their principle, wife in their 
 regulations, which uniformly tend to difcourage idlenefs and un- 
 neceffary expenfe, throughout the whole fcope of their legiflation ; 
 and are now charged with all thofe deftruftive evils they were in- 
 tended, and are calculated, to prevent : the burthen of the poor's 
 rate is heavy, and daily increafing, by a rapid accumulation ; and 
 the caufe does not lie in a defedl of the laws for the maintenance 
 of the poor, but in a defecft of the execution of thofe laws : we are 
 affedted with a (imilar impreffion as thofe weak minds, which, 
 while the body is haftening to the grave, in a deep decline, have 
 not energy enough to redeem returning health, by a courfe of ex- 
 crcife and virtuous temperance ; but lazily fuffer the vital principle 
 to be extinguiflied, by continuing in a habit of indolence and de- 
 bauchery : in (hort, we are infef^ed by the very vices^ which we fo 
 loudly cry out againft, in thofe who are fupported at our ex- 
 penfe. 
 
 The fame wretched principle appears to have pervaded the exe- 
 cution of the poor-laws, towards the end of the laft century ; and 
 fimilar complaints of the increafing burthen of expenfe prevail j 
 as may be feen in a pamphlet, named, Bread for the Poor, printed 
 at Exeter, in 1698, by Samuel Darker, figned by the initials of the 
 author's name, R. D. : he fays, in a kind of introdudlion, that 
 " whoever takes the fmall trouble of infpe6ling the poor-accounts, 
 of a few parifhes, may foon obferve, that the charge of maintain- 
 ing them, in fome places, is, within fixty years paft, advanced 
 from forty fhillings to forty pounds yearly ; in others, twice that 
 fum i and moftwheres double, — within twenty years paft, and like 
 to double again in a fliort time ; and, notwithftanding fuch advance 
 in maintaining the poor, yet the wages they receive is greater than 
 formerly, work more plentiful, and provifions cheaper." 
 
 N 2 Where
 
 92 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Where there Is an efFeiSt, the author very properly fays, there 
 muft be a caufej and that the caufes are, 
 
 Profufenefs of diet; inftanced by the bread they eat, being of 
 the fineft flour j their drink, ale and fpirits ; fpending their money 
 in alehoufes, to the amount of an incredible fum, as appears from 
 the payments to the excife, very little of which is fpent by travel- 
 lers or houfekeepers ; and that they pay a price for what they 
 drink, in thefc places, vaftly fuperior to its real value. 
 
 As a remedy to this caufe, reHef in houfe-rent, meat, drink, 
 clothes, and not money, is propofed. 
 
 The fecond caufe is idlenefs : this arifes from receiving pay from 
 the parifli : people of this defcription, foon conceiving that the 
 parifh is obliged to maintain themj therefore, their work is fo much 
 gained from them by the parifli. 
 
 The remedy is ; due care to employ the poor conftantly, and 
 oblige them to do fuch work as they can perform. 
 
 Giving exceflive pay is another caufe j by which is meant parifli- 
 allowance : under this head the common outgoings of a day-la- 
 bourer is computed ; but the computation proceeds on an idea of 
 expenfes, fo much beneath v/hat is necefl^ary at prefent, and feems 
 to be calculated for the county of Devon only, that it would be 
 futile to infert it. 
 
 The remedy propofed is, frugal allowance in quantity, kind, and 
 value. 
 
 The fourth caufe is j living in feparate houfes ; whereas, did 
 three or four families live together, fire, candle, and attendance, 
 might be faved. 
 
 The author then explains the method of providing diet for the 
 poor ; gives many reafons why fuch a management fhould take 
 place ; and anfwers objeflions which he fuppofes may be made to 
 relieving them in the neceflTaries of life rather than in money, which 
 enables them to purchafe the fuperfluities : — he alfo recommends 
 
 badges.
 
 LETTER XIII. 95 
 
 badges, which, as we have feen, were about this time enforced by 
 parliament. 
 
 It appears, from this pamphlet, that the poor's rates for the 
 county of Devon amounted, in the year 1698, to 38,991/. 135. 5^. 
 a year; which is aflerted to be 30,000/. a year more than they were 
 fifty or fixty years before ; and that the whole amount of the poor's 
 rates in the kingdom was then above twenty-one times as much, or 
 more than 8 1 9,000/. a year j that, as cm age had given ?>. fourfold- 
 advance in Devonfhire, it is worth confideration whether or not 
 the public be in danger : for, if the rates of the whole kingdom 
 increafe proportionably, they will amount in another age to 
 3,276,000/. — Such is the reafoning in this pamphlet j let us now 
 examine the faft. 
 
 c 
 
 About the middle of the 17th century, the affeflment 
 for the poor, in the county of Devon, was annually 
 about ----__-- 8,291 
 In the year 1698, about - . _ _ _ 38,991 
 
 In the year 17B5, by the return of the overfeers - 85,492 
 
 Therefore the gradual rife in this county was, in the firft fifty 
 years, about 30,000/. ; in the next eighty-feven years 46,501/. 
 
 Taking the fame dates for the poor's rates of the whole kingdom, 
 
 the account will Hand : p 
 
 About the year 1 650, at - - - - 188,811 
 
 In the year 1698, about _ _ _ . 819,000 
 
 In the year 1785, by the overfeers returns - - 2,184,904 
 
 In the firft fifty years the rife is 730,189/.; — in the next eighty- 
 feven years 1,265,904/. 
 
 The fact does not turn out quite fo defl:ru6live to the interefts of 
 the public as the writer of this pamphlet prognofticated ; but it 
 prefents a tremendous advancing increafe, as well in an individual 
 county, as throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Let
 
 94 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Let us now examine the prices of wheat at thefe three feparate 
 periods. The table of the price of wheat at Windfor-market, in 
 vol. xiv. p. 227, of the Annals of Agriculture, will enable us to 
 do it accurately. 
 
 Average-prices of wheat, from 1630 to 1654, by the 
 
 quarter ----- _ -29 10 
 
 Ditto, from 1687 to 171 1 - - - - 2 4 2 
 
 Ditto, from 1765 to 1789 - - - - 2 6 11 
 
 The expenfe attending the maintenance of the poor does not, 
 therefore, arife from the increafed price of wheat j becaufe, by this 
 table, wheat is cheaper on the average of the laft twenty-five years, 
 ending in 1789, than in that of the firft, ending in 1654 j and but 
 a little dearer than that ending in 171 1. 
 
 The aftonifhing increafe towards the clofe of the laft century 
 can be accounted for much more reafonably than that which has 
 arifen in this. When the firft eftimate was taken, towards the 
 middle of the century, the civil war, and its confequential depre- 
 dations, found employment and fuftenance for a very confiderable 
 body of the poor. The foldier is not maintained by the poor's 
 rate; and the wages of thofe who remained to till the lands, or 
 were employed in our then-mouldering manufa£tures, were proba- 
 bly raifed on account of the want of hands. No fuch caufe ex- 
 ifted in 1698 or in 1785 ; and the price of wheat in 1698, refer- 
 ring to the fame table, was 3/. os. 9^. a quarter; and, in 1785, i/. 16s. 
 lid. a quarter. It appears, therefore, that the price of wheat has 
 no effe6t on the expenfe attending the maintenance of the poor; 
 and wheaten bread is, and long has been, the principal part of 
 their food: this, although it appears a paradox, is a truth. When 
 wheat was 3/. o^. gd. a quarter, the expenfes of the poor amounted to 
 but little more than one-third as much as in 1785, when the price 
 of wheat was only il. 16s. iid, a quarter. 
 
 As,
 
 LETTER XIII. 95 
 
 As, by this ftatement, it appears that the price of bread has no 
 efFefl on the poor's rate ; and it is believed that, all things confi- 
 dered, the expenfe of neceffary clothing is not more increafed than 
 the laft article (an aflertion, the proof of whicR fliall not now be 
 entered on) j and the article of firing remains alfo nearly at the fame 
 price it was a hundred years ago, theft fupplying (in woodland- 
 countries particularly) an ample fuccedaneum for price; it follows, 
 that we fhould find out the probable caufe of this alarming izSi : 
 alas! a fuperficial obferver may read it as he runs, that indolence 
 and luxury are the too-obvious caufes : indolence forces numbers 
 on our rates, which induftry would maintain; luxury ufes pro- 
 fufely what economic temperance would fave : the one adds a mil- 
 lion paupers to be maintained by us j the other expends, in the 
 maintenance of that million, what ought to maintain double the 
 number : the one, brings the multitude j the other, imaginary 
 wants.* 
 
 Juvenal exclaims, when contemplating the decadency of the 
 Roman empire, ftrongly typified by Britain, in its profufe extrava- 
 gance. 
 
 -Saevior armis 
 
 Luxuria incubuit, viiSlumque ulcifcitur orbem. 
 
 The fa6l comes home to «j, in every clafs and defcription of peo- 
 ple J as well poor as rich, the governors and the governed. The 
 confequence is alfo approaching ; and our duty will be to fubmit, 
 with refignation to that cataflrophe, which we cannot fufficiently 
 roufe our energy to oppofe. 
 
 * The reader fliould be reminded, that this calculation, and the conclufion refulting 
 from it, was written before the extreme high price of wheat, and a proportional dearnefs 
 of every other grain, together with meat, had reduced the poor to extremity of diftrefs, 
 in the years 1795 and 1796. The various confequenccs refulting to the nation, from that 
 moft grievous afflidtion, will be gbferved upon, in its proper place, in the continuation of 
 this hiftory to the prefent day. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 N'EXT, in order of time to this publication, follows an Eflay 
 towards regulating the Trade, and employing the Poor of 
 this Kingdom; written, about the year 1700, by John Gary, Efq.j 
 an abfti'aft fronj which may be feen in Dr. Burn's Hiftory of the 
 Poor-Laws ; a pubhcation which, had it been in my pofTeffion 
 when this inquiry was firft inftituted, would have diverted me 
 from the inveftigation j as I fliould have fcarcely chofen to have 
 gone over that ground, which fo able a writer had beaten be- 
 fore me. 
 
 Mr. Gary attributes the burthen of the poor's rates to idlenefs j 
 and inquires, 
 
 1. What hath been the caufe of this idlenefs ; and how hath it 
 crept in upon us ? 
 
 2. What mufl be done to reftrain its going farther ? 
 
 3. What methods are proper to be ufed to make provilion for thofc 
 who are paft their labour ? 
 
 The caufe of idlenefs, he fays, is the abufe of the poor-laws we 
 have, and want of better; the encouragement of ale-houfes, on 
 account of the revenue ; but, above all, our laws to fet the poor 
 at work are fhort and defective, tending rather to maintain them 
 as poor, than to raife them to a better way of living; rendering 
 the poor more bold, by their knowing that the parifh-officers miifl 
 either find them work or give them tnaintenance. 
 
 Nothing but good laws can reftrain idlenefs ; fuch as may pro- 
 vide work for thofe that are willing, and force thofe to work who 
 are able. For this purpofe work-houfes are recommended, where 
 the poor may be employed in manufadures. 
 
 The poor fliould alfo be employed in navigation, hufoandry, and 
 -handicrafts, 
 
 '■ ' •' '^ •■ The
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 97 
 
 The juftlces of peace fliould have power to afllgn youth to ar- 
 tificers, hufbandry, manufacSturers, and to buid them apprentice. 
 
 As to thofe of elder years, who will rather beg than work, let 
 them be forced to ferve the king in his fleet, or the merchants on 
 board their fhips. 
 
 Young people fhould be prohibited from hawking and finging 
 ballads about the ftreets ; ftage-plays, lotteries^ and gannng-boufes, 
 fliould be ftrid:ly looked after. 
 
 Alms-houfes are recommended for thofe who are not able to 
 "work, or whofe work is not fufficient for their maintenance. 
 Poor's rates fhould be afTefled with greater equality in cities and 
 manufa(5luring-towns, where the poor are ferviceable to the rich 
 manufaflurers, by carrying on their trade ; yet, when age, fick- 
 nefs, or a numerous family, make them defire relief, their chief de- 
 pendence muft be on thofe who are but a ftep above their own 
 condition. 
 
 Mr. Cary fpeaks, with praife, of an a£t of parliament which 
 pafled in the 7th and 8th year of William and Mary, for eftablifh- 
 ing a work-houfe at Briftol; which, he fays, vi^as pretty much on 
 the plan propofed by Sir Jofiah Child for the cities of London and 
 Weftminfterj but, as this adt is calculated for cities and great 
 towns only, and cannot be a model for counties, he fubjoins the 
 following propofal, to carry this defign on throughout the king- 
 dom : 
 
 That power be given, by adl of parliament, for pariflies to incor- 
 porate for building hofpitals, work-houfes, and houfes of correc- 
 tion, for employing the poor, under the management of guardians 
 of the poor : the incorporation to be by hundreds. 
 
 The guardians to be the juftices of the peace within the diftrid, 
 together with a number of the inhabitants, chofen out of each 
 pariili, in proportion to the afleffment the pariflies refpeftiveljr 
 pay. 
 
 The election of guardians to be every year, or two years. 
 
 O The
 
 9$ LETTER XIV. 
 
 The guardians to have power to choofe a governor, deputy- 
 governor, treafurer, and affiftants, yearly ; and be empowered to 
 hold courts, make bye- laws, have a common feal; to order aflefT- 
 ments to be levied; to fummon the inhabitants of the pariflies 
 within the hundred j to compel thofe who feek relief to dwell in 
 their hofpitals and woik-houfcsj to take in young people, and 
 bring them up to work ; to teach them to read and write, and then 
 bind them out apprentices ; to provide for the aged and impotent; 
 to alTift thofe whofe labours will not maintain their families } to 
 apprehend rogues, vagabonds, and beggars, and fet them to work ; 
 to infli(5l reafonable correftion. 
 
 This plan, by Mr. Gary, may probably have given the hint to 
 thofe gentlemen who applied to parliament, in the twenty-ninth 
 year of his late majefty's reign, for the ad for the better relief and 
 employment of the poor in the hundreds of Colneis and Carlford, in 
 the county of Suffolk. Whether incorporations of diftri(Sls for thefe 
 purpofes have produced a greater proportion of good than evil; 
 whether they have tended to introduce, among the lower claffes of 
 this country, more induftry, better health, better morals, more 
 comfort J and whether, on the whole, the fum of their happinefs is 
 increafed j cannot be determined by any other means than an exa- 
 mination of their efFed:s after thofe years of experience which have 
 pafled fince their firft inftitution in the counties of Norfolk and 
 Suffolk, where they were firil introduced : that they have generally 
 tended to deprefs the poor's rate may be granted ; but gold may be 
 bought too dear. 
 
 It has been faid in a publication,* the author of which founded, 
 or might have founded, his obfervations on an aftual examination 
 of the fads, after many years experience, that they have injured tlie 
 principle of induflry, deftroyed the health and the hardinefs of the 
 
 * The true Alarm, er an Eflay fhewing the pernicious Influence of Houfes of In- 
 duftry. J 787. 
 
 adult
 
 L E T T E R XV. 99 
 
 adult living in, and the. youth brought up in tliem ; have in- 
 troduced bad morals, fhocking habits of indecency ; have occa- 
 fioned a decreafe of population j and would, if they became general, 
 fo deflroy the moral fentiments and happinefs of the country, as to 
 afFe6t the political liberties and patriotic fpirit of the nation, by 
 bringing up the riling generation with fentiments and habits fo 
 difpirited and debilitated, as to render them only fit flaves of def- 
 potifm; for, the author fays, and with much feeming juftice of ob- 
 fervation : Of what moment can it polTibly be to a wretch who 
 has not the liberty of walking out beyond a certain boundary, that 
 the kingdom becomes a prey to foreign invaders, or is torn to 
 pieces by an inteftine commotion, unlefs you may fuppofe that he 
 is more likely to rejoice at a fcene of perfect confufion, as he might 
 then entertain a hope, that, in a general wreck, where he had no- 
 thing to lofe, he might feize upon fomething worth having. 
 
 But let us hope and believe that the confequences aQually felt 
 from thefe houfes of induftry are not fo deplorable; let us recol- 
 lect, that, when a man undertakes in the title-page of a pamphlet 
 to prove a point, as this writer does, it is plain he has a point to 
 prove i and in which, if he fails in inftances or arguments, he may 
 expeft to meet with fome degree of public derifion ; the fear of this 
 twills his fa£ls, tui'ns his arguments, and points his periods, and 
 no longer is he fo friendly to truth as to fyftem. 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 IN expe6lation of finding, among the various fubjefts which fell un- 
 der the pen of the celebrated Mr. Locke, fome ideas which might 
 ferve as firft principles on this interefting fnbjeA ; I turned over his 
 
 O 2 works.
 
 100 L E T T E R XV. 
 
 works, and particularly attended to thofc trails which he wrote 
 on lowering the intereft of money, and raifing its value ; a fpecula- 
 tion which occupied the attention of the nation towards the clofe 
 of the laft century i but the a6lual fituation of the poor not 
 coming under his confideration, nothing very applicable to the 
 fubjefl is to be found ; although a confufed recoUedlion ftrikes me, 
 that fome modern pamphlet on the poor-laws, or their regulation, 
 had ftated Mr. Locke's ideas on the fubjedl as erroneous : whether 
 fo or not, it became me, while in purfuit of this inquiry, to know 
 what thofe ideas were, which, had they been found among his 
 works, whether wrong or right, demanded, on account of his great 
 name, that they fliould be noticed ; for fuch a mind as his, on 
 every topic which may have been the objeft of its difquifition, is a 
 polar ftar to the ignorant wanderer: although nothing diredly 
 applicable to the police of the poor is found, yet a comparifon 
 which he makes between a kingdom and a farmer js fo much in 
 point with their prefent profligate fituation, the carelefs condudt of 
 their overfeers, and that fpirit which has unhappily got head 
 among our rulers, of encouraging the commercial world, at the 
 expenfe of agriculture, and every principle of internal economy j 
 while, at the fame time, it fo flrongly authenticates the alarming 
 prognoftics of oirr decadency, alluded to a few pages back; that 
 the whole palTage, falling from the height of that great name, muil 
 make an impreffion, and occafion it to be worth tranfcribing.* 
 
 " A kingdom grows rich juft as a farmer, and no otherwife. Let 
 us fuppofe the whole ifland of Portland one farm j and that the 
 owner, befides what ferves his family, carries to market, to Wey- 
 mouth and Dorchefter, &c. cattle, corn, butter, cheefe, wool, or 
 
 * Again it fliould be recalled to the mind of the reader at what time thefe letters 
 were written. No Board of Agriculture was then inftituted ; the labours of my friend, 
 to whom they are addrefled, laudable and perfevering as thofe labours were in that beft 
 of national caufes, the improvement of agriculture, had then received no national encou- 
 
 cloth.
 
 L E T T E R XV. loi 
 
 cloth, lead, and tin, all commodities produced within his farm of 
 Portland, to the value of icoo/. yearly; and, for this, brings home 
 in fait, wine, oil, fpice, linen, and filks, to the value of 900/. and 
 the remaining 1 00/. in money. It is evident he grows every year 
 100/. richer, and fo at the end of ten years will have clearly got 
 1000/. — If the owner be a better hulband, and, contenting himfelf 
 with his native commodities, buy lefs wine, fpice, and filk at mar- 
 ket, and fo bring home 500/. in money yearly, inftead of 1000/. 
 at the end of ten years, he will have 5000/. by him, and be fo 
 much richer ; he dies, and his fon fucceeds, a fafliionable young 
 gentleman, that cannot dine without Champaigne and Burgundy, 
 nor lleep but in a damalk bed, whofe wife muft fpread a long train 
 of brocade, and his cliildren be always in the neweft French cut 
 and ftuffj he, being come to the eftate, keeps on a very bufy family, 
 the markets are weekly frequented, and the commodities of his 
 farm carried out, and fold as formerly j but the returns are made 
 fomewhat different ; the falhionable way of eating, drinking, fur- 
 niture, and clothing for himfelf and family, requires more fugar 
 and fpice, wine and fruit, fiik and ribbons, than in his father's 
 time ; fo that inftead of 900/. per annum, he now brings home, 
 of confumable commodity, 1 100/. yearly. What comes of this ? 
 — He lives in fplendour it is true ; but this unavoidably carries 
 away the money his father got, and he is every year 100/. poorer. 
 To his expenfes, beyond his income, add debauchery, idlenefs, and 
 quarrels among his fervants j whereby his bufinefs is difturbed, 
 his farm neglecfled, and a general dilbrder and confufion prevail 
 through his whole family : this will tumble him down the hill the 
 farter, and the ftock, which the induftry, frugality, and good 
 order, of his father laid up, will be quickly brought to an end, 
 and he faft in prifon j a farm and a kingdom, in this refped:, differ 
 no more than as greater and lefs. We may trade, and be bufy, 
 and grow poor by it, unlefs we regulate our expenfes ; if to this 
 we are idle, negligent, dilhoneft, malicious, and difturb the fober 
 
 and
 
 102 L E T T E R XV. 
 
 and induftrious in their bufinefs, let it be upon what pretence it 
 it will, we fnall ruin the fafter." 
 
 This comparilbn of Mr. Locke's runs on all-fours, as well with 
 the a6lual flate of the property, applied to the ufe of the poor in 
 tliis kingdom, as with the fituation of the finances belonging to 
 the flate itfelf. The I'eign of Elizabeth made the maintenance of 
 the poor compulfive^ with refpect to the laity, which was in remoter 
 times voluntary ; what might, in thofe days of frugality, be taken 
 from the pockets of her fubjefts by poor-rates, we know not ; 
 but we know, that, about the middle of the laft century, the 
 cattle, corn, butter, cheefe, wool, yarn, confumed by this large 
 family, coft about 118,000/. more than the produce of their in- 
 duftry amounted to ; fifty years afterwards their expenfes out-ran 
 their income annually 819,000/.; in 1785, the furplus of their 
 expenfes, above their income, or the produce of their induflry, 
 gradually had increafed to the enormous fum of 2,184,904/. annu- 
 ally. Here you fee plainly the effedls of the change of manners and 
 living, fo forcibly inftanced in Mr. Locke's comparifon ; in the eat- 
 ing, drinking, furniture, clothing, fugar, fpice, wine, and fruit, 
 otherivife tea and gin ; to which may be added, the debauchery, idle- 
 nefs, and quarrels of the individuals, which compofe the bulk of 
 this numerous, family : to examine the comparifon, with refpe(5l to 
 the kingdom at large, is not the bufinefs of this tradt. 
 
 The reign of Queen Anne is not (o memorable for any laws 
 regulating the internal pohce of the kingdom, as for the many 
 blows which the ambitious fpirit of Louis the Fourteenth received 
 from the arms of the allies : nothing 6f material confequence was 
 done with refpe6l to the poor. By the 33d chapter of the fifth 
 parliament, the vagrant-a£l of the laft reign was continued, with 
 iome farther dire<flions ; as was, by the following chapter, an a«5l 
 made in the 13th and 14th year of Charles II. for the better relief 
 of the poor, and continued by the legiflature at different times fince, 
 ^nd which was ultimately made perpetual by chapter the i8th of 
 
 the
 
 L E t T E R XV. 103 
 
 the 12th year of this reign ; and, by chapter 23d, all the laws re- 
 lating to rogues, vagabonds, fturdy beggars, and vagrants, were 
 alfo reduced into one ad: of parliament. 
 
 Neither does the fubje6l feem, throughout this reign of war and 
 conqueft, to have occupied the attention of individuals ; no pub-» 
 lication of any account having lived to the prefent day, except a 
 letter to the parliament by the author of Robinfon Crufoe, one of 
 thofe very few books which the late Dr. Johnfon faid he had been 
 able to read without Jkipping. Daniel Defoe, in 1704, chofe to 
 publifli a declamatory epiftle, addrefled to the parliament, with the 
 following title, Giving Alms no Charity^ and employing the Poor a 
 Grievance to the Nation. 
 
 In this publication he informs his readers, that Q.ueen Elizabeth, 
 in her progrefs . through the kingdom, obferving the vafl: throngs 
 of poor flocking to fee and blefs her, being ftruck with the multi- 
 tude, frequently exclaimed. Pauper ubique jacet j and this truth, fo 
 terfely exprefled by her, occafioned a continual ftudy in her mind 
 how to recover her people from poverty, and make their labour 
 more profitable to themfelves in particular, and the nation in ge-- 
 neral. 
 
 He lays down the following as fundamental maxims : 
 
 li There is in England more labour than hands to perform it, 
 and confequently a want of people, not of employment. 
 
 2. No man in England, of found limbs and fenfes, can be poor 
 merely from want of work. 
 
 3. All our work-houfes, corporations, and charities, for em- 
 ploying the poor, and fetting them to work, as now they are em-* 
 ployed, or any adts of parliament to empower overfeers of parifhes, 
 or parifhes themfelves, to employ the poor, except, as fhall be 
 hereafter excepted, are and will be public nuifances, mifchiefs to 
 the nation, which ferve to the ruin of families, and the increafe of 
 the poor. 
 
 4. That
 
 104 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 4. That it IS a regulation of the poor that is wanted in England, 
 not a fetting them to work. 
 
 Thefe maxims he profeffes to demonftrate, but does not entire- 
 ly fucceed in the attempt, although he makes fome very fenfible 
 obfervations in the courfe of his argument on each of the heads. • 
 
 Dearnefs of labour he advances as a proof of the firft maxim j 
 and gives due praife to Elizabeth for what ihe did for the poor, 
 particularly by encouraging the French manufadlories, when the 
 perfecution under the Duke d'Alva drove them from the Nether- 
 lands } and alfo by that excellent aft of parliament, in the 43d 
 year of her reign, fo often alluded to. 
 
 The flrefs of his argument Hes againft employing the poor in 
 work-houfes, corporations, houfes of correftion, and the like ; 
 becaufe the method propofed to employ them is by fpinning, wea- 
 ving, and manufaduring our Englifh wool ; manufacftures of which 
 are all exercifed in England to their full extent, and rather beyond 
 their vent than under itj he, therefore, is of opinion, that, for 
 every fkein of woriled fpun in one place, there muft be one lefs 
 fpun elfewhere. He fuppofes a manufactory of baize to be ere£led 
 in Bifliopfgate-ftreet j unlefs a greater confumption can be found 
 for more baize than were made before, for every piece made in 
 London, there muft be one lefs made at Colchefter, and, therefore, 
 this is not increafe, but only tranfpofition of manufacture. 
 
 The only thing to be done is, to introduce fome foreign manu- 
 fadlory ; fomething which was not made here before. 
 
 He confiders the poverty and exigence of the poor in England 
 to be plainly derived from cafualty or crime : by cafualty he means 
 ficknefs, lofs of hmbsj or fight, and any natural or accidental im- 
 potence. 
 
 The crimes of the poor, and whence their poverty is de- 
 rived, as from vifible and diredl fountains, are luxury, pride, 
 floth. The pride of good hufbandry is no Englilh virtue : it 
 
 niay
 
 L E T T E R XV. 105 
 
 may have been imported ; and, in fome places, it thrives well 
 enough. 
 
 . The Engtifli labouring- people eat and drink ; but, efpecially, 
 drink three times as much in value as any foreigners. 
 
 He accufcs us of being the moft Ikzy diligent nation in the world. 
 Among our poor there is a general taint of flothfulnefs, which dif- 
 temper he conceives to be fo epidemic and deep-rooted, that it is a 
 queftion whether an ad: of parliament will reach it. The number 
 of the poor is occafioned by the men •who will not work, not by thofc 
 who can get no work ; all the work-houfes and overfeers in England 
 will not reach this cafe : but if fuch a£ls of parliament can be 
 made, as will effeftually cure the floth and luxury of the poor ; 
 will make drunkards take care of their wives and families ; fpend- 
 thrifts lay up for a wet day; lazy fellows diligent; and thought- 
 lefs, fottifli, men careful and provident ; if this can be done, they 
 will (bon find work enough, and there will be lefs poverty among 
 us : if it cannot be done, fetting the poor to work on woollen ma- 
 nufadures, and thereby encroaching on thofe who now work at 
 them, will ruin our trade, and increafe the number of poor. 
 
 A bill, brought into parliament by Sir Humphry Mackworth, 
 for employing the poor, which had paffed the Commons with great 
 approbation, gave rife to this tra(5l. By this bill it was intended, 
 as Mr. Chalmers, in his Life of Defoe, tells us, to fupport work- 
 houfes, in eveiy pariili, with parochial capitals, for carrying oa 
 parochial manufactures : but it was thrown out by the Peers ; to 
 which, it is probable, this fenfible pamphlet very much conduced ; 
 in which he pretends, that he could propofe a regulation of the poor, 
 which would put a (lop to poverty, beggary, parijh-charges, ajjejjments, 
 and the like ; and promifes to do fo, when he has gone through the 
 proof of his maxims ; but waves the performance, for this very 
 inadequate reafon, — becaufe he will not prefume to lead a body fo 
 auguft, fo wife, and fo capable, as the honourable affembly to 
 whom the tra<5L is dedicated, 
 
 P There
 
 io6 LETTER XV. 
 
 Tlicre are, in this traft, many excellent obfervations, cxprefTed 
 with great dignity. That part, which tends to prove that giving 
 alms is no charity, lays down fome fenfible maxims, on which he 
 refts- the flrength of his argument, which tends to prove that pa- 
 rochial work-houfes fliould not be encouraged for the purpofe of 
 parochial manufad:ures. After having proved that there is more 
 w<*i-k in the kingdom than hands to perform it, he aflerts, that 
 begging is a mere fcandal : in the able,, it is a fcandai on their 
 induftry ; in the impotent, upoji their comitry. The poverty of 
 England does not lie among craving beggars, but among poor fa- 
 milies, where the children are numerous, and where death, or fick- 
 nefs, has deprived them of the labour of their father. An alms, 
 ill-direded, may be charity to a particular perfon, but becomes an 
 injury to the public. 
 
 That Mr. Defoe is right in thefe principles, there furely can be 
 no doubt J and the truth, that we have more work in the kingdotn 
 than hands to perform it, comes home to, and eftablilhes, another 
 principle, — that the poor Jhould be trained to do all the work that the 
 nation can find them. Early habits of induftry are moft likely to 
 cfFed this end ; fchools of induftry muft, therefore, be the means. 
 
 It furely is no defpotic or flavifh maxim, that the children of 
 individuals are, in fome refped, the children of the ftate. Re- 
 publics, renowned for the freedom of their government, a6led on 
 this principle : a fortiori^ the children of thofe who receive their main- 
 tenance^ or any part of it, from the property of their fellow-citizenSy by 
 virtue of the ordinances of the ftate ^ are the children of the ftate ^ which, 
 confequently, has a right to fuperintend their education. 
 
 Apply this principle to every individual who does not maintain 
 his family, but has relief from the overfeer : his children belong 
 to the ftate: it is the duty of the ftate to take care that they turn 
 out induftrious fubjedls ; and I am fure intereft here well coa- 
 lefces with duty : fchools of induftry are the means. The firft 
 fedlion of 43d Elizabeth provides for their fupport. The end 
 
 will
 
 LETTER XVI. 107 
 
 will he an induflrious, moral, poor : a blefled contraft to the la- 
 zinefs and diffolutenefs £0 much and fo univerfally complain- 
 ed of. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 r 
 
 N the fifth year of George the Firft, the parliament empowered 
 the church- wardens and overfeers, by warrant from two juf- 
 tices, to feize fo much of the goods and chattels, and receive fo 
 much of the annual rents and profits of the lands and tenements, 
 of fuch hufband, father, or mother, as fliall run away, leaving 
 their wives and children a burthen upon the parilb, as the faid two 
 juftices (hall dire6t, towards the difburfing the parifh where fuch 
 wife and child (hall be left, and alfo for their future maintenance: 
 this warrant to be confirmed at the quarter-feflions, where a war- 
 rant, alfo, for the fale of the goods, ^c. muft be obtained, before 
 they can be difpofed of j and to which feffions the officers are to be 
 accountable for the money raifed. 
 
 Two years after this, it was the opinion of parliament, as de- 
 clared in the preamble to an afl for encouraging the woollen and 
 filk manufactures, and more effeflually employing the poor, 
 " That it is mod evident, the wearing of printed, painted, ftained, 
 and dyed, callicoes, in apparel, houfehold-ftufF, furniture, and other- 
 wife, does manifeflly tend to the detriment of the woollen and filk 
 manufa6lures of this kingdom, and to the exceffive increafe of the 
 poor; and, if not effe<5tual]y prevented, may be the utter ruin and 
 dell:ru£lion of the faid manufa6lures, and of many thoufands of 
 his Majefty's fubjedls, and their families, whofe livelihoods do en^ 
 tirely depend thereupon." It is therefore ena6ted, in the year 
 1720, that none fhall wear any garment of printed callico, or any 
 ^ ftufF made of cotton, or mixed therewith, which fliall be painted 
 
 P 2 under
 
 io8 LETTER XVL 
 
 vinder the penalty oi: 5/. j or ufe it in any honfchold ftuff or. furni- 
 ture, under the penalty of 20/. ; and that no tradefman fliall make 
 up fuch furniture, under the fame penalty. 
 
 This- a6l is not taken notice of, on account of any efFecl it has at 
 prefent in the management of the poor, hut as introdu6lory of an 
 ohfervation, neceffary to be attended to, by thofe who would wifh our 
 flatute-book to be a coileilion of efficient and pra6lical regulations 
 of police; and not, as it in fadl is, an immenfe colledllon of contra- 
 didiory, heterogeneous, ordinances, militating, in many inftances, 
 with each other j in many, with the principles of found policy; and, 
 in fome, with the adtual habit and pradice of all his majefty's fub- 
 jcifts, of which this ftatute is a remarkable, but no uncommon, 
 inflance. 
 
 No longer ago than the year 1720, this prohibition of calllcoes 
 and fluff, made of cotton, or mixed therewith, pafl'ed into a law ; 
 and, in 1790, and many years before, every woman in the kingdom 
 is clothed in thefe very fabrics ; mofl of our houfeliDld-furnlture is 
 made of them; this prohibition flill remaining the law of the 
 land. 
 
 The woollen manufadures of this kingdom certainly deferve 
 greater encouragement than either linen or cotton ; becaufe wool, 
 the flaple-commodity of England, is the produce of our own agri^- 
 culture ; hemp, flax, and cotton, are, at prefent, generally the pro- 
 du6l of foreign agriculture ; and alfb becaufe the fabric of the 
 woollen manufadure is ftrong and warm, fuited therefore to the ufe 
 of the bulk of the people: that of cotton and hnen, weak and thin, 
 improper for labour and a northern climate. Woollen clothing 
 does not require fo much wafhing as our printed linens and white 
 iiockings, an article of great expenfe in poor families; but the 
 revenue is thought to be a fufficient reafon for thefe paradoxical 
 abfurdities ; and, that the public treafury may abound, drunken- 
 nefs, gaming, luxury, and oflentatious clothing, are encouraged, 
 in open defiance of the lavv^ of the land, Thofe raagiflrates would 
 
 be
 
 LETTER XVr. 109 
 
 be very coolly thanked for a confcicntious difcharge of their duty, 
 who, to promote fobriety, fliould leflen the number of ale-houfes ; 
 to difcourage gaming, fhould authorize the parilli-ofEcers to refufe 
 relief to thofe who fingly, or in clubs, buy lottery- chances ; or, to 
 promote the manufadure of wool, fhould encourage informations 
 upon the adt of parliament juft alluded to; the prevailing and ge- 
 neral maxim of financiers, in all times, is rem facias; the means 
 are but a fecondary object of their attention. 
 
 In the ninth year of this reign, the poor-laws again were an 
 objedV of parliamentary attention, and an a6l for amending the 
 laws relating to their fettlements, employments, and relief, pafled ; 
 which enadled, that no poor fliould be relieved, until an oath be 
 made, htiovQ otie juftice, of a reafonable caufe, and that the perfoii 
 hath applied to a veftry, or to two of the overfeers, and been re- 
 fufed relief i a fummons is alfo direfted to the overfeers, to fhew 
 caufe why fuch relief £hould not be granted, before it is ordered; 
 and, when ordered, the perfon's name is to be entered in a book to 
 be kept for that purpofe, as one who is to receive relief as long as 
 the caufe continues, and no longer ; and no officer of any parifh 
 fhall bring to account (except on fudden and emergent occafions) 
 any money he iliall have given to any poor perfon, who is not re- 
 giflered in fuch book, under the penalty of five pounds. 
 
 It has been fuggefted that one caufe of the bad execution of the 
 poor-laws is the conftant fuperintending authority that the legifla^ 
 ture has delegated to juftices of the peace. Men eminent for their 
 wifdom, and refpeftable for their opinions, have attributed much 
 of the mifchief experienced from this code of laws to the conduft 
 of thofe who are the fupervifors of their execution ; nor is the 
 complaint new: the great Sir Francis Bacon, it may be remember- 
 ed, in the very infaiicy of the code, threw out an idea to this 
 efFed:, when he made the diflindion between what was done by the 
 diftra£led government of juftices of the peace, and what might be 
 done by a fettled ordinance ; yet, whatever of ill may have accrued 
 
 ia
 
 1,0 LETTER XVI. 
 
 in general from the fu per intending authority of magiArates, it has 
 rather arifen from the not ufmg their powers, than from either the 
 abufe or niifuje of them. In this particular inftance, which refpeds 
 the pecuniary afiiftance the poor are entitled to receive from the 
 overfeers, the interference of a magiftrate appears peculiarly proper, 
 when called to adion by the complaint of the poor themfelves ; 
 becaufe the neareft magiftrate has it in his power to inform him- 
 felf of the real circumftances of the cafe, and, from his fituation in 
 life, is a proper check to any partiality, or improper, although na- 
 tural, bias, the overfeer who lives more immediately in the midft of 
 the poor, and being frequently connected with them, by the dif- 
 ferent degrees of relationfhip, and generally as their immediate em- 
 ployer, may be influenced by; which motives operate to a greater 
 degree in the diftribution of affiftance to the poor, than at firft 
 light might be imagined, and which gave rife to objeflions of the 
 moft ferious nature to Mr. Gilbert's Bill, and would have caufed an 
 oppofition of the moft obftinate kind from the yeomanry of this 
 kingdom, had that bill pafled into a law ; which ftruck at the root 
 of this power, to give away the money taken, in a great meafure, 
 immediately from the pockets of this large and valuable clafs of 
 our countrymen. 
 
 Befides, it will be found, on inquiry, that the money diftributed 
 in the weekly lift forms no very material proportion of the expenfes 
 of a parifh j* and in the diftribution of money there is no room 
 for lucrative jobs, no knavifli contracts for furnilhing the various 
 articles of confumptionj and the overfeer keeping a fair account 
 can have no profit ; and poftibly as money is the common repre- 
 fentative of all neceffaries of life, fo it is the greateft, moft conve- 
 nient, and beft appropriated, relief to the individual. It fomewhat, 
 
 * This obfervation, I fear, ceafes, from the preflTure of the times, to be in general true 
 at prefent, although it might be fo in 1791. 
 
 in
 
 LETTER XVI. m 
 
 in Its univerfality of ufe, refcmbles Boniface's ale, — "A poor man 
 and his family may eat it, drink it, and fleep upon it." 
 
 Church-wardens and overfeers, with the confent of the major 
 part of the parifliioners in veftry affembled, are alfo, by this acl, 
 empowered to purchafe or hire houfes to lodge and employ the 
 poor in, and there to keep, maintain, and employ, them : and fuch 
 poor as refufe to be lodged, maintained, and employed, there, (hall 
 not be entitled to relief; pariflies are alfo empowered to join in 
 fuch purchafe, and the officers of one parifli may, for that purpofe, 
 contradt with thofe of another; but x\\q fettlement of the poor Is not 
 to be affefted by their removal to another parifh, in confequence of 
 this acft. 
 
 The acquifition of fettlement by purchafe is regulated by ano- 
 ther fedlion of the a6l, which directs, that the purchafe- money 
 mull not be lefs than thirty pounds bona fide paid for the eflate, by 
 which a perfon fliall gain a fettlement ; and that no perfon, paying 
 to the fcavengers or highway rates, fhall, on that account, be 
 deemed to gain a fettlement : the other fecftlons regulate the notices 
 necelTary on appeals, and the relief the appellant fhall receive on 
 undue removals. 
 
 I have not been able to obtain any trail on the fubjed written 
 during this reign; nor have I feen any referred to, or quoted, by 
 thofe which have been fmce written j the conclufion which follows 
 is, that none of fufficient merit, to efcape oblivion, were publilhed ; 
 and indeed the little that was done by the legiflature Is a proof 
 that the fubjeft did not much attra«5l the attention of the nation ; 
 that venerable fabric, the 43d of Elizabeth, received a little addi- 
 tion and repairs only, but no material alteration was made. 
 
 LETTER"
 
 [ 112 ] 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 IT is with great fatisfa6lion, that the ophiion of Mr. Locke on 
 this fubje6l, alluded to a few pages back, has been perufed ; by 
 which it appears, that about the year 1696, the clamour, with re- 
 gard to the poor, and the burthen of the poor's rate, having at- 
 tracted the notice of the Commons, they referred it to the Board 
 of Trade to confider the fad:, and to report the remedy : on which 
 occafion Mr. Locke, who was one of the commiflioners, delivers 
 the following opinion in the report made "by the board : * — *' The 
 multiplicity of the poor, and the increafe of the tax for their 
 tnaintenance, is fo general an obfervation and complaint, that it 
 cannot be doubted of; nor has it been only fince the lafl: war that 
 this evil has come upon us, it has been a growing burthen on the 
 kingdom thefe many years, and the two lafl: reigns felt the increafe 
 of it as well as the prefent. If the caufes of this evil be looked 
 into, we humbly conceive it will be found to have proceeded, not 
 from the fear city of provifio?ts,-\- nor want of employment for the poor % 
 fince the goodnefs of God has blefled thefe times with plenty no 
 lefs than the former, and a long peace, during three reigns, gave 
 us as plentiful a trade as ever. The growth of the poor muft 
 therefore have fome other caufe ; and it can be nothing elfe but the 
 relaxation of difcipitne and corruption ^ 'virtue and induftry being as 
 conllant companions on the one fide, as vice and idlenefs arc 
 on the other. On this firfl; principle, thus clearly exprefled by 
 Mr. Locke, whofe fl:rong intelleflual faculties were employed in 
 the exad fituation, to obtain ample intelligence, on the fubje(5t he 
 
 * Mr. Chalmers's Eftimate, &c. 
 
 t By the Wind for- table, the price of wheat, in the years 1696, 1697, 1698, was 
 3/, 3;. id. — 2/. 13J. i,d. — 3/. 9^. 
 
 has
 
 LETTER XVII. 1J3 
 
 has thrown fuch a blaze of light over, one muft rcfl: with confi- 
 dence j in fa6l, this truth has often dircovered itfcif to us, in faint 
 glimmerings, during the inveftigation of this fubjed ; and the 
 reader may have perceived how often this fentiment has obtruded 
 itfeif on the pen. That it meets with fuch honourable confirmation 
 from Mr. Locke's authority, near a hundred years ago, ftamps a 
 fignal mark of propriety on the ideas which have been hitherto fug- 
 gefted ; and firmly eftablifhes the following aflfertion, that, unlefs 
 vice and idlenefs among our poor are decreafed fince this opinion 
 was given, the multiplicity of the poor, and the flill increafing 
 burthen of tax for their maintenance, arifes at the end of the 
 eighteenth century, not from fcarcity of provifions, and want of 
 employment for the poor, but from relaxation of difcipline and 
 corruption of morals. 
 
 As it is poflible that the remedy for the difeafe may be dlfcovered 
 by purfuing the inquiry, with equal clearnefs, as the caufe has 
 been pointed out ; we fliall proceed in the fame manner to relate 
 what the legiflature has done, and individuals have written, on the 
 fubje6l to the clofe of the lafl: parliament. 
 
 The law, with refpe6t to natural children, remained on the foot- 
 ing the a6ls of the i8th of Elizabeth and the 7th of James the 
 Firft had left the fubje6l j until the fixth year of the reign of 
 George the Second, when, it having been found by long experience 
 that the fecurity of parifhes was not fufficiently provided for, the 
 legiflature, by a ftatute then paffed, in the 31ft chapter, enadled, 
 that the perfon charged on oath of being the father of a baftard- 
 child, by any fingle woman who fliall be delivered, or fliall de- 
 clare herfelf to be pregnant, and that the child is likely to become 
 chargeable to the parifli*, fliall be immediately apprehended and 
 committed to prifon, unlefs he gives fecurity to indemnify the 
 parifli } but that he fhall be difcharged on the mifcarriage of the 
 woman, or if no order be made in purfuance of the 18th of Eliza- 
 beth within fix weeks after the woman's delivery ; and that no 
 
 Q^ woman
 
 114 LETTER XVII. 
 
 woman (hall involuntarily be obliged to filiate the child of which 
 file is pregnant, before delivery. 
 
 It feems alfo to have been a doubt, whether juftices of the peace 
 could legally act in any cafe relating to parifhes where fuch juftices 
 have property ; from this, fome inconvenience arofe in the adminif- 
 tration of the common bufinefs of a magiftrate : the i8th chapter 
 of the 1 6th ftatute of this reign, therefore, clears up the fubjed, 
 and empowers them to enforce the laws, with refped: to the main- 
 tenance, relief, and fettlement, of poor perfons ; thofe alfo with 
 refpedt to paffing vagrants, repairs of highways, and any other 
 laws concerning parochial taxes or rates j notwithftanding they 
 themfelves may be chargeable to fuch rates. 
 
 The following year produces an inftance of the attention the le- 
 giflature paid to the condu6l of the overfeers of the poor ; who, ac- 
 cording to the preamble of the aft of the 17th Geo. II. cap. 3. 
 " on frivolous pretences, and private ends, frequently make unjuft 
 and illegal rates, in a fecret and clandeftine manner :" and the pre- 
 amble to the 38th chapter of the fame ftatute ftates, " that the 
 money raifed for the relief of the poor is liable to be mifapplied, 
 after it is, with great difficulty and delay, raifed." To obviate 
 thefe inconveniences, the firft a6l diredts, that public notice fhall be 
 given in the church of every rate, for the relief of the poor, the 
 next Sunday after the fame Ihall be allowed by the juftices j and 
 that the overfeers fhall permit fuch rates to be infpedled at all fea- 
 fonable times, on payment of is. for the fame, and copies fhall, on 
 demand, be given, allowing 6d. for every twenty-four names ; the 
 rate to be void if no fuch notice be given, and a penalty of 205. on 
 refufal of fuch infpe6lion, or copy; and the 38th chapter diredls 
 " that the church-wardens and overfeers of the poor fhall yearly, 
 within fourteen days after other overfeers fhall be appointed, deli- 
 ver a juft, true, and perfedt account, in writing, fairly entered in 
 a book to be kept for that purpofe, and figned by the faid church- 
 wardens and overfeers, of all the fums of money received, or rated 
 
 and
 
 LETTER XVII. 115 
 
 and not received ; and alfo of all goods, chattels, flock, and ma- 
 terials, that Ihall be in their hands, or in the hands of the poor, in 
 order to be wrought j and of all moneys paid by fuch church- 
 wardens and overfeers, and of all other things concerning the faid 
 office; and fhall pay and deliver over all fums of money, goods and 
 chattels, and other things, as fhall be in their hands, unto the 
 fucceeding overfeers; and that this account fhall be verified on oath 
 before one or more magiflrates, who fliall alfo fign the faid ac- 
 count, without fee ; and this book fhall be carefully prcferved ; and 
 all perfons Hable to be affefTed fliall be permitted to infpeiEl it, on 
 payment of 6d. and copies fhall be given alfo on demand, on pay- 
 ment of 6d. for every 300 words. In cafe of the death of an over- 
 feer, two juflices are to choofe another; if an overfeer remove from 
 the parifh, his account, teflified as above, fhall be delivered to the 
 remaining overfeer or church-warden ; and the reprefentatives of 
 an overfeer fliall account within forty days after his deceafe. Ap- 
 peals to any rates or afTeffments, reafonable notice being given, lie 
 to the next general or quarter feflions of the peace; where, if the 
 whole rate be appealed to, the juflices may quafh it, and order the 
 church- wardens and oterfeers to make a new one; but, where jufl 
 caufe is feen, to give relief only, by altering the rate, the juflices 
 are empowered to amend the rate, in fuch a manner as fhall be 
 neceflary to fuch relief only. 
 
 As great care is taken by this afl, that the rates fliall be fair and 
 equal, and that the parifh-officers fhall difcharge their refpeftive 
 offices honeflly ; fo does it provide againfl any vexatious a6lions 
 being brought againfl them, by declaring that no want of form, 
 either in the appointment of overfeers, the rate or afTelTment, or 
 in the diftrefs, fhall render them unlawful ; nor fhall the parties 
 diflraining be accounted trefpaffers, ab initio, on account of any 
 irregularity in their proceedings, but the parties aggrieved fhall re- 
 cover for the fpecial damage fuflained by fuch irregularity. 
 
 Q 2 Succeeduig
 
 ii6 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Succeeding overfeers are alfo enabled to levy any arrears due to 
 former overfeers j and, in cafe of perfons removing out of pariflies, 
 and others coming in, they fliall pay their rates in proportion to 
 the time they have refpe(5lively occupied j the proportion to be af- 
 certained by two or more magiftrates, and recovered by diftrefs. 
 
 Copies of the afleflments are alfo dire6fed to be entered in a 
 book, to be kept for public perufalj the entry to be made within 
 fourteen days after the appeal is determined j and all the regula- 
 tions in the ad: are enforced by a penalty not exceeding 5/. j and the 
 power of overfeers, in places where there are no church-wardens, 
 is declared to be the fame, as where they are both church-wardens 
 and overfeers ; and they are fubjedted to the fame penalties. 
 
 The feftion of this a6l, which dired:s the overfeers account to 
 be verified on oath before a magiftrate, feems not fufficlently to 
 have explained, whether the magiftrate is to examine the accounts, 
 article by article ; or whether the overfeer is to fwear to the whole 
 account only, by the lump, and is not obliged to go through an ex- 
 amination, with refpe£l to the articles of his account, on an oath 
 voir dire : if this is the cafe, the magiftrate afts officially only, and 
 the oath is but of little fervice, as an appeal lies to the quarter- 
 feffions. 
 
 The nth chapter of the 31ft ftatute of this reign makes fome 
 regulations in the fetllement of apprentices ; and ena6ls, that a 
 perfon bound apprentice, by any deed, writing, or contract, duly 
 ftamped, fliall be entitled to a fettlement where he is fo bound and 
 has ferved : the other fedion of the aft relates to the power given 
 tojuftices, in fettling difputes between mafter and fervantSj and 
 confequently comes not under the fcope of our prefent difquifition. 
 
 The laft ad: of parliament in this reign, which refpefts the poor, 
 is ftatute 32, chapter 22, which provides for the maintenance of 
 the wives and families of militia-men, when in aftual fervice, by 
 diredling that the overfeers fliall pay from the poor's rate, by order 
 of one juftice of the peace, a weekly allowance to the diftrefled 
 
 families
 
 LETTER XVII. 117 
 
 families of militia-men, embodied, and called out into adlual fer- 
 vice, according to the ufual price of labour in hufbandry within 
 the county or diftridl, by the following rule : for one child, 
 under ten years, one day's labour ; for two, under the fame age, 
 two days labour j for three children, three days labour ; for five, 
 or more, four days labour ; and for the wife, one day's labour : but 
 that the families of thofe, only,, chofen by lot, and not fubftitutes^ 
 fhall be entitled to this allowance ; for which payment the overfeers 
 are to be reimburfed out of the county-ftock. 
 
 To pafs over the ftatute-book of this reign, without mentioning 
 the vagrant-a6l, the 17th Geo. II. cap. 5. would appear an in- 
 ftance of inattention to the general defign of thefe papers ; al- 
 though much the greateft part of it affords no infight to the fub- 
 jedt, becaufe it in general refpe6ls the treatment of thofe who 
 h?LVC forfeited the proteSiion of fociety, and are to be confidered as its 
 cutcafis : but if, through the fault of an improper fyftem of legif- 
 lation, or through the mal-adminiftration of the laws which are 
 in force refpedting the poor, the number of thofe, who come under 
 the defcription of vagrants, is increafed ; the laws themfelves, or 
 the execution of them, have thrown out of the protedlion of foci- 
 ety a number of people who are not vagrants from their own 
 fault; and, fo far, the laws themfelves are accountable for the mif- 
 chief which they have occafioned ; while the punifliment, fevere to 
 excefs, falls on unoffending individuals. In enumerating the par- 
 ticular offences which occafion perfons to be clafl'ed under the de- 
 fcription of idle and diforderly perfons, whom one juftice may com- 
 mit to the houfe of corredion, to hard labour, for a month, are 
 thofe who threaten to run away, and leave their wives and children 
 to the parifh. This is a curious offence, certainly not a heinous one, 
 for it may confifl in words only, unaccompanied with ad:s or inten- 
 tions ; but for this they may be committed ; and, if they refifl the 
 commitment, or efcape, are inflantly to be clalfed among rogues 
 and vagabonds. 
 
 All
 
 ii8 LETTER XVII, 
 
 All perfons who return to the parlfli whence they have been 
 removed, without a certificate, ftand in the fame predicament : the 
 law of fettlements, therefore, tends to increafe the number of rogues 
 and vagabonds. 
 
 All perfons who have not wherewithal to live idle, without 
 employment, and refufe to work at the common ufual wages given 
 to other labourers, in the like work, in the parifh wherein they 
 then live, are alfo liable to the fame punifhments, and to become 
 vagrants. 
 
 An induftrious handicraftfman, who has maintained his wife and 
 family creditably and honeftly, by his induftry, if removed, from 
 the town where his trade is carried on, to his place of fettlement, 
 a village, where there is no employment but in hufbandry, muft, 
 of neceffity, fall under this defcription ; becaufe, not being able, 
 from different habits to thofe of a labourer, to do a fair day's 
 work, he will not eafily find employment. A man does not give 
 up a portion of his natural liberty, and his only property, his abi- 
 lity to earn his bread, for this kind of prote6lion from the fecial 
 compadt. This alfo arifes, in a great meafure, from the law of 
 fettlements. ^ 
 
 All perfons who run away, and leave their wives and families, 
 whereby they become chargeable to any parifli, are, ipfofa^o, to be 
 deemed rogues and vagabonds j whofe punifliment is immediate 
 commitment, until the quarter- fefTions ; then they are liable to 
 be committed to hard labour, for a time not exceeding fix 
 months ; and, duiing their confinement, to be corre6led by 
 whipping. 
 
 In this inflance, alfo, the crime againfl fociety may not be 
 fufficiently ferious to deferve fo fevere a punifliment. Until a poor 
 perfon, his wife, or family, has become chargeable to a parifli, the 
 reftraining him from leaving his home, by the fear of fo rigorous a 
 fentence, does not arife abfolutely from necefllty, and therefore 
 the reflraint is not juftifiable, on principles of common juftice. 
 
 The
 
 I 
 
 LETTER XVII. 119 
 
 T\\QpoJJible event, which may come to pa fs from his leaving them, 
 ftiould not, therefore, in the firft inftance, clafs him among rogues 
 and vagabonds. He fhould not be deemed an outcaft of fociety, 
 by anticipation of evil : he fliould have firft been a penfioner on the 
 pubUc fund of charity, before he fhould, by fo fevere a law, be 
 reftrained of his liberty. This defcription of the crime, therefore, 
 is too comprehenfive, and occafions many innocent fubjedls to be 
 clafled with, and be fubjedled to, the punifhment appropriated to 
 rogues and vagabonds. 
 
 With but a fuperficial knowledge of the fubjedl, were thefe ftric- 
 tures, on the fituation of our poor, at firft undertaken. The pur- 
 pofe was, to inveftigate, and point out, the caufe of that vaft ex- 
 penfe, which every rank of fociety, with reafon, complains of, in 
 maintaining this numerous clafs of our fellow. fubjefts ; and to ex- 
 plain the true foundation of that very wretched fituation in which 
 we fee too many of them ; in fa6l, to account for this ftriking pa- 
 radox, — that, while millions fterling are expended in their relief, 
 millions of the poor ftill ftand in need of more relief than they re- 
 ceive. A diftant gleam of hope occurred, alfo, to the mind, that, 
 by inveftigating the caufe of the evil, poffibly the remedy might 
 alfo be difcovered. The method chofen was that of fixing a foun- 
 dation, in the firft principles of fociety, and proceeding by an his- 
 torical analyfis : this has laid me open to fome apparent contra- 
 didlions and miftakes j thefe letters being fent to the prefs, as frefh 
 information gave frelli matter, and enabled the writer to proceed in 
 developing the hiftory of the poor, the laws refpedling them, and 
 the opinions of thofe who have turned their attention to the fub- 
 jedt ; which miftakes might have been avoided by a different mode 
 of proceeding : but then the communication could not have been 
 prepared for that very ufeful periodical magazine of agricultural 
 intelligence in which it firft appeared : befides, probably, by this 
 means of treating the fubjeiV, dogmatic principles or preconceived 
 opinions are avoided j they, at ieaft, have lefs time to eftablifli 
 
 themfelves.
 
 I20 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 themfelves. The mind, which confefles itfelf to be employed in ob- 
 taining information, is not likely to deal in dogmas ; and, when the 
 profefled purpofe is to digeft annals, as a means of arriving at a 
 truth, it would be an aberration, indeed, to attempt the eftablifh- 
 ment of a fyftem. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 UNTIL the eftabliftiment of literary reviews, the writer of the 
 fugitive piece of the day poffefTed but little chance of poft- 
 humous reputation. His fame refembled the life of the epheme- 
 ron in duration, as did the produflion of his ingenuity that infect 
 by infignificance ; both foon periflied, and were alike forgotten : 
 unlefs extraordinary merit, or chance, preferved the one, in the 
 libraries of the learned ; and fcarcity, or beauty, the other, in the 
 colleflions of the naturalift. 
 
 But few treatifes on this fubjed:, written \n the early part of the 
 late reign, are now to be found in the (hops of the bookfellers. 
 Mr. Hay,* a member of the Houfe of Corrtmons, publiftied, in 
 1735, fome remarks on the laws relating to the poor, with propo- 
 fals for their better relief and employment. Thefe propofals were 
 reduced into the form of an a61:, and brought into the Houfe the 
 fame year the pamphlet appeared, but did not pafs into a law. 
 Among other remarks may be found, in his publication, the fol- 
 lowing judicious obfervations : 
 
 " It is certain, that the obligation on each parifli to maintain its 
 own poor, and the confequence of that, a diftindl intereft, are the 
 roots from which every evil relating to the poor hath fprung, and 
 
 * Of Glynd, in Suflex, author of an agreeable Effay on Deformity, 
 
 which
 
 LETTER XVm. 121 
 
 which ever muft grow up until they are eradicated. Every parifli 
 is in a ftate of expenfive war with all the reft of the nation, re- 
 gards the poor of all other places as aliens, and cares not what be- 
 comes of them, if it can but banifti them from its own fociety. 
 No good, therefore, is ever to be expefted till parochial intereft is 
 deftroyed, till the poor are taken out of the hands of the overfeers, 
 and put under the management of perfons wifer and more dif- 
 interefted, and until they be fet to work on a 7iationah or at leaft a 
 provincial^ fund, to arife from benefadions, and the labour of the 
 poor, as far as they will goj and what more is wanting to be levied 
 by an equal tax." 
 
 On this principle, he propofes, that every perfon be deemed 
 legally fettled in the parifli where he has continued a year, without 
 being chargeable; and, if he has gained no fuch fettlement, then at 
 the place of his birth ; and, if not born in the kingdom, then where 
 he Ihould want relief. 
 
 The heads of the bill, which was rejefled, proceeded principally 
 on this idea, and confifted chiefly of a plan for a county or diftridt 
 work-houfe, if the county fhould be too large j to be maintained by 
 an equal rate throughout the county, to be governed by twelve 
 perfons refiding in each diftridt, poflefTed of a certain eftate in 
 land, to be drawn by lot at the quarter-feflions, and incorporated 
 by the name of the guardians of the poor within the diftriftj fix 
 of them annually to go out, and fix new ones to be chofen in the 
 fame manner; benefaftors to be guardians for the time being, in 
 proportion to the fum given. They fhould be enabled to purchafe 
 lands, in fee, near the middle of the county or diftrid:, thereon to 
 ered: buildings for the ufe of the poor; to furnifli and provide ftock 
 to fet the poor at work. To this plan many regulations are an- 
 nexed, which, as it never pafl'ed into a law, it is unnecefl'ary to 
 tranfcribe them, or any of his reafons for them. 
 
 From this period until 1751, no other publication on this fub- 
 jed has come to hand i and, in that year, Mr. Henry Fielding, ;as 
 
 R well
 
 122 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 well known to us in thefe days for his excellent novels, replete 
 with nature, mirth, and pathos, as he was in thofe for his ex- 
 cellence as a magiftrate, publiflied " An Inquiry into the Caufe of 
 the late Increafe of Robbers, &c. with fome Propofals for remedy- 
 ing the growing Evil." This treatife is full of obfervations, 
 worthy a man of his abilities and intimate knowledge, from ex- 
 tenfive experience, as a Middlefex magiftrate, of this important 
 fubjed: ; a few of his leading principles, as far as they relate to our 
 prefent inquiry, fhall be given. 
 
 After having inveftigated the nature of the conflitutim of his 
 country, as far it relates to the fubjed-matter, and explained what 
 he intends by the word con/iitution^ he divides the fubjeds of the 
 realm into three orders, — the nobility, the gentry, and the com- 
 monalty: the laft divifion he aflerts to be vaftly changed from what 
 they were in the days of vaflalage, and conceives this change to 
 have arifen chiefly from commerce, which has fuperinduced an 
 almoft unbounded liberty or licentioufnefs, and a vaft addition of 
 power, to that clafs of people ; while, in the mean time, the civil 
 power having decreafed in the fame proportion, the laws, as at pre- 
 fent adminijieredi are not able to govern them. 
 
 The fubjed of the firft fedtion is, the too frequent and expenfive 
 diverlions of which the lower clafs of people partake ; this, he fays, 
 is one caufe of thefts and robberies. 
 
 In the fecond fedion, he confiders drunkennefs as a vice which 
 the legiflature has been particularly careful to fupprefs, and that 
 the only blame in this cafe refts in the remiffnefs with which thefe 
 wholefome laws have been executed; and adds, ** Although I will 
 not undertake to defend the magiftrates of former days, who have 
 furely been guilty of fome negledt of their duty, yet, in behalf of 
 the prefent commiffioners of the peace, the cafe is different j they 
 are very different offices, to execute a new or a well-known law, or 
 to revive one which is obfolete. In the cafe of a known law, 
 cuftom brings men to fubmifTion ; and, in all new provifions, the 
 
 ill-will,
 
 LETTER XVIII. 123 
 
 ill-will, if any, is levelled at the legiflature, who are much more 
 able to fupport it than a few magiftrates." He then expatiates on 
 the terrible confequences arifmg from drunkennefs, acquired by 
 drinking the ftrongell intoxicating liquors, and particularly gin; 
 and, in a fine fpirit of prophecy, foretels the fatal confequences 
 flowing to pofterity from this pernicious praftice. ** Doth not this 
 polluted fource, inftead of producing fervants for the hulbandman 
 and artificer, inftead of providing recruits for tlie fea or the field, 
 promife only to fill alms-houfes and hofpitals, and to infeiSl the 
 ftreets with ftench and difeafes ?" 
 
 The third feilion is on gaming, but as this vice has not, at 
 prefent, been fo direflly the caufe of the increafe of the poor's 
 rates, as it has of thefts and robberies, and is not, except in the 
 ihape of an annual lottery, fo likely to tempt the inhabitants of the 
 country as of crowded cities, our author's obfervations on this 
 vice need not be recapitulated. 
 
 The fourth feilion contains a review of the laws relating to the 
 poor; and, having before run over the confequences of luxury 
 among the lower clafles of people, in the inftances of diverfions, 
 drunkennefs, and gaming, as tending to promote their diftrelTes, 
 he confiders the improper regulation of the poor as a fecond caufe 
 of thefts and robberies; this, he thinks, proceeds from three 
 fources, — the abufe of fome laws, the total negledt of others, 
 and fomewhat from a defe6l in the laws themfelves. He adds, 
 that it muft be matter of aftonifliment to any man to refledt, that, 
 in a country where the poor are, beyond all comparifon, more 
 liberally provided for than in any other part of the world, there 
 (hould be found more beggars, . more miferable diftreflTed objefts, 
 than are to be feen throughout all the ftates of Europe. 
 
 The other feftions in this tract relating only to the fubje6l im- 
 mediately under his confideration, and not affedling our prefent 
 inquiry, no farther extradls fliall be given of the publication. 
 
 R 2 We
 
 124 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 We now proceed to a name known to all the civilized world, and 
 the particular boaft of this ifland ; not as a legiflator, not as a 
 magiftrate, but as a poet and a pleafant moralift. 
 
 A pamphlet, entitled, " A compendious or briefe Examination 
 of certaine ordinary Complaints of diverfe of our Countrymen in 
 thefc our Dayes, by William Shakefpeare, Gentleman," imprinted 
 in 1581, was reprinted in 175 1 in London. 
 
 The Monthly Review, a valuable colle6lion of criticifm on and 
 repofitory of moft that is worth notice in the literary produdtions 
 of the laft forty years, preferved the republication of this pamphlet 
 to my notice, which certainly, with refpeft to the remote date of 
 its original publication, fliould have ftood foremoll in the lift of 
 trafls on the poor ; it being written anterior to the great corner- 
 ftone of the poor-laws, the 43d of Elizabeth, and to the principle 
 of which it might have afforded a valuable hint. 
 
 Although in 175 1, when this tra<5t was reprinted, the fame of 
 Shakefpeare had not rifen to that ftupendous height in the opinion 
 of mankind it now poffelTes; nor had the anecdotes of his life, and 
 criticifm on his beauties and defects, fwelled to fuch a bulk as they 
 have fince arrived at, through the ingenious comments of Johnfon, 
 Farmer, Stephens, Malone, and others ; yet one fliould have ima- 
 gined that enough had been known of the poet, from Rowe's life 
 of him, to have precluded a poffibility of miftaking WilUam 
 Shakefpeare, the author of this tradl, for our renowned poet : this 
 pamphlet being printed in 158 1, when, by the parifh-regifter of 
 Stratford, Shakefpeare was not above feventeen years of age, and 
 more probably engaged in the truant pleafures of youth than in 
 writing a ferious dialogue between a doftor of divinity, a merchant, 
 a hufbandman, and a capper ;* in the handling of which, the re- 
 riewers fay, the author difcovers a much greater knowledge of 
 trade and commerce than people would be apt to expert from a 
 
 * Capper, one who makes and fell caps. Johnson. 
 
 poet,
 
 LETTER XVIII. 125 
 
 poet. The depth of obfervation and knowledge of mankhid, as 
 well as of trade and commerce, which was poflefled by the writer 
 of this trad, whoever he may have been, may be conceived from 
 the following quotation from it, which appears to Itrike deeper at 
 the principle of the poor-laws, as far as it refpecls compulfive in- 
 duftry, than any other argument which has fallen under my recol- 
 lection. 
 
 " It is an old faying in Latin, bonos alit artesy that is to fay, 
 profit or advancement nourifheth every faculty ; which faying is fo 
 true, that it is allowed by the common judgement of all men. We 
 muft underftand alfo, that all things that (hould be done in a 
 commonwealth be not to be conftrayned by the flraight penal- 
 ties of the law ; but fome fo, and fome either by allurement, 
 and rewardes rather. For what law can compel men to be induf- 
 trious in travayle, or labour of bodyj or ftudious to learne any 
 fcience or knowledge of the minde : to thefe things they may well 
 be provoked, encouraged, and allured, if they that be induftrious 
 and painful be rewarded well for their paines, and be fufFered to 
 take gaynes and wealth as rewardes of their labours, and fo, like- 
 wife, they, that be learned, be advanced, and honoured, according 
 to their forwardnefs in learning ; every body will then fbudy to be 
 induftrious in bodily labour, or ftudious in things that pertayne to 
 knowledge. Take thefe rewardes away from them, and go about 
 to compel them by laws thereto, what man will plough or dig the 
 ground, or exercife any manual arte, wherein is any paine ?" 
 
 As every a6t of parliament, rcfpedting the poor, proceeds on a 
 principle of compulfion only^ and is not intermixed with rewards 
 or encouragement incitive to induftry, the prefent fyftem of laws 
 miUtates with this humane and fenlible obfervation of Mr. William 
 Shakefpeare ; and it may be the price of our labour, in a future 
 part of this inquiry, to confider whether the principle of the poor- 
 laws would not be meliorated by intermixing allurements to in- 
 duftry with compulsion i but, as the chief fcope in this pamphlet 
 
 was
 
 126 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 was to recommend the manufafluring our own wearing-apparel, 
 inftead of going to a foreign market, for our own materials worked 
 up by foreigners ; a queftion which feems to have excited the at- 
 tention of the fenfible part of the nation, a few years after the 
 Duke d' Alva's feverities had driven manufa(5lures and commerce 
 from the Spanifli Netherlands into this ifland ; the tract itfelf 
 contains little more on our fubjeCt worth tranfcribing. 
 
 Towards the end of 1751, an anonymous publication made its 
 appearance, entitled, " Confiderations on feveral Propofals for the 
 better Maintenance of the Poor :" the author's defign is, to prove 
 that the prefent fyftem is fufficient, if properly executed ; and with 
 great reafon is he averfe to leaving the poor to be maintained by vo- 
 luntary contribution, or accidental chanty only ; becaufe they, ha- 
 ving now, for near two hundred years, been maintained by a regular 
 fyftem of laws, enforcing contribution, thoufands would periOi, trade 
 would greatly fuffer, and much confufion would arife from fuch a 
 total change of fyftem ; he thinks, that the divifion into parifties is 
 fufRciently large j becaufe a multitude can be beft governed by a 
 divifion into fubordinate parts j and conceives, that the internal po- 
 lice was better regulated when the counties were divided into hun- 
 dreds, thefe hundreds into decennaries, and each man of the decen- 
 nary was anfwerablc for the reft i he propofes a more ftrid: infpedion 
 into the condu6t of the poor, and of ale-houfes, by the conftables 
 of the diftri6l, who fliould make regular weekly returns to the 
 high-conftables, and thefe to make monthly returns to thejuftices 
 at their petty fefiions : on the whole, there appears to be much 
 good fenfe, knowledge of, and attention to, the principles of the 
 conftitution in this trad. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ J27 ] 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 EARLY in the year 1752, Thomas Alcock, A. M. gives his 
 opinion on the fubjed, and profefTes himfelf highly diflatif- 
 fied with the manner of providing for the poor : he diflikes compuU 
 five relief, and thinks it hath a tendency to hurt induftry, care, 
 and frugality ; the fluggard, on the prefumption that he hath a 
 right to relief, is tempted to continue in floth j and the glutton as 
 he receives his gains cats them, and the drunkard drinks them ; in 
 fhort, men labour lefs, and fpend more ; and the very law that 
 provides for the poor increafes the number of the poor : compul- 
 fion to relieve, he fays, is contrary to the principle of charity, and 
 deftroys gratitude in the receivers, creates ill blood, murmuring, 
 and indignation, on the fide of the contributor : " it muft be allow- 
 ed, therefore, that the poor-law tends to deltroy charity, efpecially 
 when the legal exa6tion is fo very high, that no lefs a fum than 
 three millions yearly y at a medium, is levied for this purpofe, which 
 is equal to a land-tax at fix fhillings in the pound ; add to this, 
 that the fhamelefs, the impudent, the idle, and leaft deferving, run 
 away with this vafl fum ; while the modeft, the bafhful, and really 
 indigent, are fuffered to languifti in the moft diftrefsful circum- 
 ftances imaginable." 
 
 It is impoffible in this place to avoid obferving upon the fa6l 
 ftated, that three milliotis were raijed by legal exaSlion yearly ^ about the 
 year 175 1, for the poor j or, in other words, that the poor's rate 
 at that time amounted to three millions yearly ; the fadt appears to 
 be queftionable ; but, as the account of the pool's rates, returned 
 by the different pariflies throughout the kingdom, does not go 
 back to this period, and no other proof to the contrary can be at 
 prefent advanced, Mr. Alcock muft be allowed credit for the affer- 
 tion, that three millions were raifed by the poor's rate annually, 
 
 about
 
 128 LETTER XIX. 
 
 about the year 175 1 ; becaufe, the nature of his argument, as well 
 as the pointed expreflion, legal exaction^ preclude the idea of his 
 mixing the numerous charitable funds and contributions through- 
 out the kingdom to fwell the produce to that enormous fum. 
 
 Now, the Windfor-table of the prices of wheat, which has been 
 once before referred to. Hates the price, in 1750, at i/. 8j. lod. a 
 quarter} and, in 1751, at i/. 14^. id,\ in 1785, at i/. i6i. \id.\ 
 but, by the overfeers' returns to the Houfe of Commons, the poor's 
 rate, in 1785, amounted only to 2,184,904/. : the expenfes of the 
 poor were, therefore, lefs in that year, than in 1750, above 
 800,000/. and wheat 8j. a quarter more ; another proof that the 
 price of bread increafing has not been the caufe of an increafe in 
 the poor's rate. * 
 
 It would extend this inquiry to a tedious length, if every fcheme 
 which has been offered in print, on the maintenance and employ- 
 ment of the poor, were to be detailed. Mr. Alcock, whofe lan- 
 guage is rather declamatory than argumentative,, likewife offers his 
 plan i the intent of which is, to relieve the indigent, without op- 
 prefling the public in fuch an intolerable manner. He is not for 
 repealing the poor-laws, but only for amending them ; and, among 
 other matters, propofes a plan of hundred work-houfes, to confift 
 of three parts ; one for the impotent, the able, and the induflrious 
 poor ; the fecond for the fick ; and the third for the vagrant and 
 idle poor ; to be built and furnilhed at the expenfe of the feveral 
 parifhes, in proportion to what they paid, at a medium, for main- 
 taining the poor, the lall four years. The overfeers of the parifhes 
 to be governors thereof, annually, by rotation j and all perfons that 
 
 * In 1680, a regular eftimate was made of the poor's rate, and it amounted to 
 665,362/. ; and, in 1772, it amounted to 3,000,000/.; in 1680, wheat was il. a quar- 
 ter } in 1772, it was 2/. \$s. id,: here the price of wheat is increafed little more than 
 one-third, and the rates more than quadrupled. Annual Register, 1773.
 
 LETTER XIX. 129 
 
 beg, or aflc relief, to be fent to this honfe, and immediately admit- 
 ted, on an order figned by the overfeers of the refpeftive pariflies j 
 and no money, but what paffed through this hoiife, to be charged 
 to the parifla by the overfeers. 
 
 The fubje^V feeras now to have attrad:ed the attention of fomc 
 enlightened minds among the higher orders in the flate. The Earl 
 of Hilfborough and Sir Richard Lloyd drew up two feparate plans 
 into the form of an a6l of parliament, but neither of them paffed 
 into a law. 
 
 The Earl, by his plan, printed in 1753, propofes to repeal all 
 the poor-laws, and to deftroy every idea of fettlements and remo- 
 vals ; and to re-enad, with fome alterations, the claufes appointing 
 overfeers, the mode of levying a rate, the laws refpe6ting baftard- 
 children, binding apprentices, rendering parents and children mu- 
 tually liable to maintain each other j and propofes, that, in every 
 county, there fhall be one corporation, confifting of fuch perfons 
 who fhall fubfcribe, and pay, annually, not lefs than 5/. towards 
 the relief of the poor of the county, who fhall be called governors 
 of the poor, and who may purchafe lands, make bye-laws, appoint 
 officers, &c. with falaries. 
 
 That one or two hofpitals be ere6led In every county : in thefe 
 hofpitals to be three diftindt apartments, for the children, the aged, 
 the difeafed. The charges of the building, furniture, and mate- 
 rials, to be paid out of the contributions, and out of fuch money 
 as may be granted for that purpofe by parliament, and out of an 
 affeffment, for two years, of 3^/. in the pound, annually, and an 
 afleflment of bd. in the pound for maintaining the poor admitted 
 into thefe hofpitals : the profits of any work done in them, alfo, to 
 be added to the revenue of the hofpital. 
 
 Many good rules are alfo given by the Earl for the internal regu- 
 lation of thefe hofpitals, but of too minute a nature to render a 
 tranfcrlption of them necefTary. 
 
 S Sir
 
 130 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Sir Richard Lloyd's plan principally confifts of a houfe of in- 
 duftry for the education of the children of the poor.* It is afto- 
 nifliing that nearly forty years fhould have elapfed fince a name of 
 fome eminence has recommended fuch an inftitution, and, except 
 part of Lincolnfliire, no other confiderable divifion of the ifland 
 has carried the idea into execution, although many individuals have 
 fhewn that the plan is feafible ; and experience has now feconded 
 the ftrongeft convidions of its excellence which human reafon 
 alone was able to give. Sunday-fchools, which fhould be, as it 
 were, the apex of the flrudture, the laft finifh of the plan, will, it 
 is to be hoped, now be made ufe of as the ground-work : and, 
 while charity, uniting with religion, influences us to take care of 
 the religious fentiment of the rifing generation of the poor, by 
 inftrudting them in learning and the duties they owe to God and 
 man on a Sunday^ let the good principles, the patrons of thefe 
 inftitutions are adluated by, influence them to attend to the in- 
 duftrious habits of their young pupils through the other days of 
 the week. 
 
 This fcheme of Sir Richard's recites, that, whereas the educa- 
 tion of the children of the poor cannot be fo well effefted, nor the 
 poor be fo comfortably, nor at fo eafy a price, maintained in I'mall 
 numbers, and in difl:in6t famiUes, as in large and well-ordered 
 houfes fet apart for that purpofe, therefore the juftices, in feffions, 
 fhall divide the county into as many difl:ridls as they fhall think 
 proper ; and that they, and alfo other perfons of confiderable 
 eftate fhall be chofen as jurors, are, and fhall be, guardians of 
 the poor within each diftritl j and perfons contributing a certain 
 
 * The Memoir of the Board of Trade, drawn up by Mr. Locke, had not, at this 
 time, fslleii into my hands ; and, when this was written, it was not generally known that 
 tlie Memoir cxitted entire ; only detached parts of it had been quoted. The laft edition of 
 an Account of the Society for promoting Induftry in the County of Lincoln has, by the 
 permiflion of John Pownal, Efq. been the means of making the whole of this important 
 paper public, 
 
 funi
 
 LETTER XIX. 131 
 
 fum fliall be alfo guardians : they ftiall be a body-corporate, (hall 
 make bye-laws, appoint officers and fervants, and form themfelves 
 into committees ; fhall purchafe land, on which to build a houfe 
 of induftry, and other convenient buildings, for lodging and em- 
 ploying the poor within the diftridt: the expenfe to be defrayed 
 by a lottery, by voluntary contributors, and by an alTefTment : the 
 charges, for the relief and employment of the poor, afterwards, to 
 be raifed by an afleflrnent on the feveral pariflies, in proportion to 
 the number of poor they fend to the houle. 
 
 No other alteration is propofed to be made in the poor-laws, nor 
 does this plan provide any corapulfive means to oblige the poor to 
 fend their children to the houfe of induftry : on the whole, it ap- 
 pears a very crude and indigefted fcheme. 
 
 Mr. Fielding, in a pamphlet, entitled, " A Propofal for making 
 an efFedtual Provifion for the Poor," printed in 1753, again offers 
 his advice on the fubje6V, and propofes a fcheme, which feems, 
 in Dr. Burn's opinion, as fupplementary to the two laft-men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Speaking of the neceffity of fome regulations, he fays, that " the 
 poor are a very great burthen, and even a nuifance, to the king- 
 dom j that the laws for relieving their diftreftes, and reftraining 
 their vices, have not anfwered their purpofes, and, at prefent, that 
 they are very ill provided for, and worfe governed, are truths 
 which every man will acknowledge ; and that every man who 
 hath any property muft feel the weight of that tax, which is le- 
 vied for the ufe of the poor; and every perfon, who hath any un- 
 derftanding, muft fee how abfurdly it is applied. So very ufelefs, 
 indeed, is this heavy tax, and fo wretched its difpofition, that it is 
 a queftion whether the poor or the rich are actually more diflatif- 
 fied, or have indeed greateft reafon to be fo, fince the plunder of 
 the one ferves fo little to the real advantage of the other. The 
 fufferings of the poor are, indeed, lefs known than their mljdeeds^ 
 and therefore we are lefs apt to pity them ! They ftarve, and 
 
 S 2 freeze.
 
 132 LETTER XIX. 
 
 freeze, and rot, among themfelves ; but they beg, and fteal, and 
 rob, among their betters." 
 
 He then propofes a plan for the county of Middlefex, which, if 
 fucccfsful, may be followed in other counties j but gives it, as his 
 opinion, that no divifion, lefs than a whole county, will anfwer 
 the intention. The heads of which are: 
 
 That there be a large building erected, confifling of three courts. 
 The two outer moft of the courts to be called the county -houfcy and 
 the innermoft to be called the county-houfe of correBion^ with a cha- 
 pel, and offices. 
 
 That, in thefe houfes, the men and women be kept entirely 
 feparate from each other. 
 
 That the county-houfe fliall confift of lodgings for the offi- 
 cers ; of lodging-rooms, and of working- rooms, for the labour- 
 ers ; of an infirmary j of a chapel } of feveral large flore-rooms, 
 with cellarage. 
 
 That the county-houfe of corredlion confift of lodging-rooms for 
 the officers ; of lodging- rooms, and working-rooms, for the prifo- 
 nersj of an infirmary; of z fafting'room\ of feveral cells, or dun- 
 geons J of a large room, with iron grates, which ihall be conti- 
 guous to, and look into, the chapel. 
 
 That there ftiall be a houfe for the governor, one for the de- 
 puty-governor, one for the chaplain, one for the treafurer, and one 
 for the receiver-general of the houfe j and that likewife there be 
 built, on each fide of the county-houfe, nine houfes, for providing 
 the labourers and prifoners with the neceflTaries of life. 
 , Thefe, with many other lefs important, regulations are the 
 whole of Mr. Fielding's plan; on which, and alfo on his ideas 
 on the fubjeft of the poor, the following obfervations Ihall be ven- 
 tured : 
 
 That they are collected from an intimate knowledge of the 
 wretchednefs and villany which prevail among the loweft clafs 
 of, our feilow-creatures, in the purlieus of an overgrown metro- 
 .jiSw* polis.
 
 LETTER XIX. 133 
 
 polis. That the pI6lure which he draws of them is too over- 
 charged ; the outhne too hard ; and, it is to be hoped, it is rather 
 a caricature of the fink of wretchednefs in London, than a natural 
 reprefentation of country-manners, even in thofe famiUes wliere 
 lazinefs and debauchery are in league with poverty, to render 
 human mifery complete. His plan is alfo of a piece with his 
 picture ; therefore, we read of dungeons, cells, iron grates, and 
 fafting-rooms ; although he, indeed, apologizes for the laft, on 
 the experience of their good efFe»5t: in bridewells, and other houfes 
 of corredtion ; but, befides all this, the expenfe attending building 
 fuch large offices, together with houfes for about half-a-dozen offi- 
 cers, and confequently falaries, that they may be able to live in their 
 houfes, is fuch an expenfe as would ftartle any county, although 
 Middlefex fliould have fet a fuccefsful example. 
 
 It does not appear that the legiflature, in confequence of the 
 reafoning and plans detailed in thefe ingenious tra6ts, made any 
 alterations in the ftatute-law of the kingdom. The arguments, 
 as well as the plan, fell to the ground, not having made a fuf- 
 ficient impreffion on the mind of parliament to occafion any of 
 them to pafs into a law, although feconded by the weight of no 
 mean ability and by the influence of m.en of confiderable confe- 
 quence, the vagrant-a61:, and that which rcfpeds the regulation of 
 the poor's rate, being the only adls, on this head of internal police, 
 which paffed until towards the clofe of the reign of our late king ; 
 and the date of thefe ads is anterior to the pamphlets which have 
 juft been noticed. 
 - The multitude of inftances, affeding to humanity and decency, 
 which arofe from the depravity and wretchednefs of the numerous 
 proftitutes who haunt the ftreets of the metropolis, occafioned, 
 about the year 1758, fome gentlemen, of equal generofity as huma- 
 nity, to enter into a fubfcription, which laid the foundation of the 
 Magdalen-Houfe. The fubjefl becoming a fafliionable topic of con- 
 verfation, many arguments on the good which might be expeded 
 
 to
 
 134 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 to arlfe from fuch an Inftitutlon were held, and many plans were 
 offered ; among others, a plan for eftabliihhig charity-houfes for 
 expofed and deferted women and girls, and for penitent proftitutes; 
 together with confiderations, relating to the poor and poor-laws of 
 England, were written, in 1758, by J. Maffee, who appears to have 
 been, on other fubjedts as well as this, a well-meaning and en- 
 lightened projeflor. The principal part of this pubUcation was 
 occupied on thefe inftitutions, and confequently not in point with 
 our inquiry j but he alfo threw out fome fenfible hints on the fub- 
 jedl of the poor and the poor-laws : of thefe it will be proper to 
 take fome notice. 
 
 He alferts, that the great increafe of unemployed poor is owing 
 to parochial fettlements, and that the increafe of thieves, beggars, 
 and proftitutes, is immediately caufed by want of employment, 
 and, in fome meafure, by want of proper provifion for diftrefled 
 working-people, when out of the parifhes to which they belong ; 
 and partly to the feverity of our poor-laws, in affixing the fame 
 punlfliment to begging as to ftealing. 
 
 He apprehends, that monopolizing farms and the inclofure of 
 common lands are among the caufes of an increafe of the poor. 
 
 He attempts alfo to prove, by authorities, that fubftantial people 
 have decreafed in number ; and afferts, that our interior weaknefs, 
 the precarious ftate of our trade, and the great increafe of the poor, 
 are primarily, or principally, caufed by removing multitudes, from 
 our natural and fixed bafii-land^ to the artificial and fiuSiuating bafii- 
 trade. 
 
 A new fyftem is alfo propofed by him, for relieving, employing, 
 and ordering, the poor, which he divides into ten proportions j of 
 thefe only the firft three ftiall be noticed, becaufe thefe only are 
 properly fundamental, and the reft in the nature of auxiliary regu- 
 lations. 
 
 Firji^ That the charge of maintaining the poor fiiall be equally 
 borne by the wealthy and fubftantial inhabitants j that the fame 
 
 fhall
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 135 
 
 fliall be affefled by the rents of houfes and lands, and that each 
 perfon's quota be determined by a pound-rate on the full annual 
 value or rent. 
 
 Secondly^ That every poor perfon, wanting relief, fhall be equally 
 entitled thereto, in any city, town, pariili, or extra-parochial place, 
 without regarding where fuch perfon was born or had lived. 
 
 Thirdly, That a competent number of houfes of maintenance and 
 employ be eftabliihed for the reception of all poor perfons, within 
 each county refped;ively. 
 
 With refpedl to thefe three propofitions, the firft leaves the prin- 
 ciple of the poor's rate exactly as it is at prefent ; the fecond is im- 
 prad:icable in the full extent intended ; and the third lays a foun- 
 dation for an immenfe expenfe in buildings. 
 
 In 1759, a ftiort anonymous tra6l appeared, in which the 
 writer gives it as his opinion, that the principles are falfe on which 
 the poor-laws are founded; particularly this, that it is reafonable 
 every place in the kingdom ihould maintain its own poor; and 
 afferts, that they ought to be relieved where they are in want of 
 relief, and be employed where they are moft ufeful ; and, to effect 
 this, that the fund to fupport them be ?taticnal, not parochial. This 
 writer offers his plan alfo, and propofes, that all charities, hofpi- 
 tals, work-houfes, &c. be ingrafted into a general plan for the 
 relief of the poor ; and the feveral members thereof be united into 
 a corporate body, to take the appellation Sir Jofiah Child gave 
 them, and be called fathers of the poor. 
 
 There alfo were publiflied, about this time, fome well- intended 
 trad:s, which recommend decreafing , the number and regulating 
 the condudt of ale- houfes ; a very proper, nay a neceffary, ll:e[) 
 towards a well-ordered internal police: ale- houfes are undoubtedly 
 at prefent a principal origin of the evil complained of; but it 
 furely might be poflible to reftrain their bad tendency, and make 
 them in one refped: a convenience to the laborious poor; inftead 
 of putting it into the power of licenfed ale-houfes to draw every 
 
 fixpence
 
 136 L E T T E R XX. 
 
 fixpence from their pockets and every good principle from their 
 breafts ; if, under the authority of the prefent fubfifting laws, the 
 magifirates would be more ftrifl in reftraining them from permit- 
 ting tippling, and not licenfe any ale-houfe where there was not 
 kept a ftock of beer conftantly on fale to thofe, only, who 
 carry it home, of a ftrength equal to common table-beer, and 
 at a price which would allow of a moderate profit only. The 
 authority of magifirates, over the condu6l of thofe they licenfe 
 to keep ale-houfes, is great indeed; and every exertion of their 
 authority to preferve fobriety and regularity among the lower 
 clafles of the people, who are the principal cuftomers to thefe 
 fhops of drunkennefs, is in the ftridt line of their duty. The 
 leading principle in the Court of King's Bench, which fuperintends 
 the conduft of the magiftracy of the kingdom, is favourable to 
 fuch a ftridl difcharge of office ; and were they, in that difcharge, 
 rather to exceed, than fall fhort, of their legal authority, while 
 the intention was right, that court would hold them blamelefs. It 
 is only when interefted views or felfifli principles influence their 
 condudl, that the Court of King's Bench reprimands and punifties 
 magifirates. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 WE are now arrived at an jera, when the arms of Great 
 Britain were carrying its fame and dominion to the 
 remotefl parts of the globe : an sera, when this ifland, in prof- 
 perity, political confequence, and reputation, was, by many of 
 its moll fanguine patriots, conceived to have arifen to its acme : 
 and when, by many, alfo, whofe opinions carried weight with 
 them, it was believed to have flretched its credit almofl to its 
 deflrudtionj and, while it was rifing in fame, to be finking, in 
 
 faa.
 
 L E T T E R XX. 137 
 
 faclj under the immenfe load of its national debt : experience has 
 now proved to us, that both thefe conceptions of our fituation, 
 formed at the commencement of the prefent reign, were equally- 
 removed from truth j our profperity and political confequence, now 
 that above thirty years of his prefent Majefty's reign has paffed 
 over, continue to increafe ; and above a hundred million has alfo 
 been added to the national debt. 
 
 This is a paradox, which politicians may attempt to explain ; it 
 refpeds our fubject no farther, than as the internal happinefs of the 
 raafs of individuals, who form the population of the kingdom, may 
 be interefled. Has their profperity increafed progreffively with that 
 of the ftate ? is a queftion of fome importance ; if it has, our wars, 
 our treaties, our taxes, the high political fituation this kingdom 
 now fills, have operated to general good ; they have increafed the 
 general flock of profperity and happinefs : but, if the reverfe is fadt j 
 if, among the mafs of our fellow-fubjecls, more idlenefs, more dif- 
 fipation, worfe principles, worfe habits, and their confequences, 
 greater poverty and diftrefs, prevail among them ; Vv'hat is all our 
 boafted greatnefs, our high name for wealth, profperity, and poli- 
 tical confequence, but a fplendid pail, to conceal from view the 
 hideous appearance of mortal wretchednefs ? 
 
 That this is the cafe ; that the aggregate of mifery is greater 
 among the poor than it was ; that the axiom, // has increafed, is in- 
 creqfingy and ought to be diminijhed^ is to the full as true as ever was 
 the fame axiom when applied to the influence of the crown, no 
 one who fees their prefent wretchednefs, and knows the amount of 
 the rates raifed for their relief, will hefitate to allow ; and, while 
 this remarkable fentence is applied to their rniferahk fituationy virith 
 equal force will it apply to the revenue raifed for their relief. — But 
 what has the legiflature done throughout this period to diminifh 
 their diftrefs or our expenfes ? Nothing, or next to nothing : 
 the legiflature has treated the fubjedl as the phyfician, whofe hu- 
 manity exceeds his fkili, treats his patient, whofe cafe he defpairs 
 
 T of :
 
 I 
 
 8 L E T T E R XX. 
 
 of : ht prefcribes narcotic palliatives, and exerts his knowledge to 
 render Ms painful that cataftrophe which he cannot prevent. 
 
 That this apathy or inattention of parliament, to the fituation 
 of the poor, has not been exaggerated, will clearly appear by the 
 following notices of the ftatutes which refpeft them, culled from a 
 farrago of fourteen volumes of public legidative afts, containing 
 above one thoufand chapters, paffed in thirty-one years of the 
 prefent reign ; among which, the firit fourteen years contain not a 
 fyllable upon the fubje^t, except an ad: palled in the fecond year, 
 cap. 22, which refpeds the metropolis onlyj being an aiSt for the 
 keeping regular, uniform, and annual, regifters of all parifli-poor 
 infants under a certain age, within the bills of mortality j as a 
 means of preferving the lives of infants under the age of four years. 
 
 But local inconvenience and diftrefs have neverthelefs, during 
 this period, occafioned many diftrifts, hundreds, and parilhes, to 
 .apply to parliament for afliftance, and to be petitioners for ads for 
 the better relief and employment of the poor within the diftrids 
 refpedively applying : among a number of thefe, we fhall find, in 
 the year 1764, a6ls for the better relief and employment of the 
 poor, within the hundreds of Blything, Bofmere, and Claydon, 
 Samford, Mutford, Lothingland, and Wangford, in the county of 
 Suffolk ; the conveniences and inconveniences, arifing from the 
 carrying into execution the ads of parliament, in the feveral hun- 
 dreds thus incorporated, at their own requefl, by parliament, fhall 
 be attended to in another place, by a digeft of the befl information 
 that can be obtained from the incorporated parillies ; but, at pre- 
 fent, a detail of what the legiflature has done on the general fub- 
 jeft fhall be purfued. 
 
 In 1775, parliament repealed an a6t of Elizabeth, againft ered- 
 ing and maintaining cottages ; which had reftrained the building 
 them, unlefs four acres of land was laid to each cottage ; and had 
 alfo reftrained the owners from placing more families than one in 
 any cottage, or receiving any inmates j becaufe it appeared, as 
 
 ftated
 
 L E T T E R XX. 139 
 
 ftated by the preamble to the a6l repealing, that it laid the induf- 
 trious poor under great difficulties, and tended very much to leffen 
 population. 
 
 The 1 6th of Geo. III. cap. 40. in its preamble, dates, that the 
 great and incrcafing expenfe of maintaining and providiiig for the 
 poor, and their continual diftrefTes notwithftanding, make it highly 
 expedient for the legiflature to take this great fubje6t into their 
 ferious confideration. And that information of the JIafe of the poor 
 and the nature of thofe expenfes are neceiTary to be procured, to 
 enable the two houfes of parliament to judge of proper remedies 
 to redrefs thofe grievances ; and that fuch information cannot be 
 effeflually obtained, without the aid and authority of parliament. 
 
 Therefore it is enacfted, that the overfeers of the poor through- 
 out that part of Great Britain, called England and Wales, (hall 
 make returns upon oath to certain queftions fpecified in the aft, 
 relative to the ftate of the poor; and that the juftices of peace, 
 within their refpeiStive divilions, be authorized and requefted to 
 take fuch returns on oath, and to caufe them to be tranfmitted to 
 the clerk in parliament. Then follow the feveral claufes prefcribing 
 the means to effedl this end, and alfo a fchedule of the queftions 
 to which anfwers are to be returned. 
 
 There now feemed to be a ferious intent in the legiflature to in- 
 veftigate this important queftion ; and a preamble better adapted to 
 the purpofe, and more expreffive of the ferious magnitude of the 
 fubjedt, the neceflity of inveftigating it, and remedying the evils 
 complained of, could not have been prefixed to the enaflingclaufc;; 
 and thefe claufes are in general well calculated to obtain the end 
 required j but furely an omiflion appears in the fchedule of quef- 
 tions annexed. 
 
 I, What was the amount of the afTeffments for the relief of the 
 poor in the year ending at Eafter, 1776 ? 
 
 II. How much of thofe affefTmcnts was appUed for the relief or 
 on account of the poor, and how much for the payment of county- 
 
 T 2 rates,
 
 140 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 rates, or any other purpofes ? diftinguifhing, alfo, the amount of 
 what was paid for the rent -of work-houfes, or paid or allowed 
 for habitations for the poor; and if any poor refide in houfes built 
 at the expenfe of the parifh, townfhip, or place, ftate the total 
 annual value of fuch houfes. 
 
 III. What number of poor have received conftant relief during 
 that year, and what has been the expenfe thereof, as near as the 
 fame can be eftimated ? 
 
 IV. Is there a work-houfe in the pariih ? if fo, what number of 
 poor will it accommodate ? 
 
 V. What was expended in litigations about l^ttlements, remo- 
 vals, appeals, or other difputes, concerning the poor within that 
 year, diftinguifhing how much of fuch expenfes arofe from dif- 
 putes with parifhes, townfliips, or places, not within the county, 
 riding, divifion, precindl, foke, franchife, liberty, city, or county 
 corporate, wherein fuch parifh, townfhip, or place, lay ? 
 
 The return made from the poor-rates to parliament, flated to be 
 from E after, 1775, to Eafter, 1776, in anfwer to the preceding 
 qucftions, amounted, as appears in the Annual Regifter for 1777, 
 to the following total refult : 
 
 Money raifed. County-Rates. 
 
 £■ s. d. £. s. d. 
 
 England - - . 1,679,585 00 — 131,387 18 11 
 Wales - . - - 40,731 14 7 — 6,268 II 9 
 
 1,720,316 14 7 — 137J656 10 8 
 
 Expended on the Poor. Rents. Ligltation. 
 
 £• s. d. £. s. d. £. s. d. 
 
 England, 1,523,163 12 7 — 7^,176 40 — 33,935 18 o 
 
 Wales - 33,640 13 8 — 2,120 10 7 — 1,136 2 8 
 
 1,556,804 63 — 80,296 14 7 — 35,072 o 8 
 
 The
 
 L E T T E R XX. 141 
 
 The continual diftiedes of the poor are mentioned, in the pre- 
 amble to the a6l, as one of the ftrong inducements to the inquiry;, 
 and, alfo, that information of the Jiate of the poor is neceffary to- 
 be procured. Does any one of thefe queftions in the fchedule reach 
 this point ? Does any of the queftions a(k, what are the pre- 
 vaiHng diftrefies among the poor in your parifh? Do they arife- 
 from their own extravagance, or from the price of labour ? Arc 
 the neceffaries of life rifen in price ? Has the earnings of the poor 
 rifen proportionably ? What is the ftate of their morals ? Arc 
 they greater drunkards, more lazy, than heretofore ? Is the num- 
 ber of ale-houfes increafed within the laft fifty years ? Is the pro- 
 duce of excife in your parifli more than formerly, and to what 
 amount ? Thefe or fome fimilar queftions would have expofed 
 the caufe of the dillrefles of the poor, and their real Jiate; whichj 
 if the overfeers could not have anfwered, the refiding clergyman's 
 knowledge of the fubje61: might have been called in aid, and the 
 information, ftated as neceffary in the preamble, would have been 
 obtained. But all this part of the inveftigation is forgotten in the 
 a(5t itfelf ; and the inquiry goes folely to the quantum of the rate, 
 and the mode of expenditure. 
 
 And what great leading regulation followed from this important 
 inquiry ? What was the happy refult from this great body of in- 
 formation obtained by all the force and energy of the conftitu- 
 tional legiflature ? Alas! 
 
 Parturiunt montes!" 
 
 But nothing was brought forth. This mafs of information, thus 
 conftitutionally obtained, has ferved for nothing but wafte-paper :. 
 and a neceffary folemn inquiry, anfwered on oath, which coft the 
 nation thoufands of pounds, and the magiftrates and overfeers of 
 the poor, throughout the kingdom, not a Uttle trouble and atten- 
 tion, tended to no one good end whatever. Surely, when thefe 
 great phyficians of the ftate had felt the pulfe of the patient, and 
 
 weighed,..
 
 142 L E T T E R XX. 
 
 weighed, with due folemnlty, every fymptom of internal decay, 
 they found themfelves unequal to attempt the cure, and gave up 
 the cafe as lofl^. 
 
 Two years after the return of the overfeers had been received 
 by the clcik in parliament, inflead of any code of police, afFe6ling 
 this very important fubje6t, we find a trivial, yet very proper, al- 
 teration in one of the fe<ftions of the 43d of Eliz. changing the 
 period, to which parifh -apprentices fliall be bound by indenture, to 
 the age of twenty-one years, inftead of twenty-four. This is ef- 
 fefted by 17 Geo. III. cap. 48. 
 
 Many applications, from particular parilhes, diflrrids, and hun- 
 dreds, flill continued to be made to parliament, for afls to relieve, 
 regulate, and maintain, the poor, within their refpedive local fitu- 
 ations; and many a6ls accordingly pafTed, much, it is to be hoped, 
 to the general good of the places applying. Amongft others, 
 pafled in the 19th of this reign, are two, incorporating the hun- 
 dreds of Hartfmere, Hoxne, and Thredling, the hundred of Cof- 
 ford, (except the parifli of Hadleigh,) and alfo the parifh of Pol- 
 fled, in Suffolk. The fair conclufion to be drawn from thefe In- 
 ftances is, that, as the legiflature felt the fubjedl at large of too 
 great a magnitude for their attention, thofe diftrids, mofl prelTed 
 by the urgency of neceflity, found themfelves obliged, at their own 
 expenfe, to apply for leave to take care of themfelves. 
 
 By flat. 20. Geo. III. cap. 46. it is direded, that all perfons to 
 whom any children (hall be appointed to be bound, in purfuance of 
 any adt for the relief of the poor in any particular diftrid in 
 England, JJ:iall be obliged to provide for them ; but that no perfon 
 Ihall be compellable to take a poor child apprentice, except he be an 
 inhabitant and occupier of lands, &c. in the parifli to which fuch 
 child fliall belong) and that baftards born in houfes of induftry 
 iliall belong to the mother's parifh. 
 
 In the 22d year of this reign a long ad palTed, entitled, " An 
 Aft for the better Relief and Employment of the Poor ;" which, al- 
 though
 
 LETTER XX. 143- 
 
 though not fo exprefled in the preamble, appears to be an aggre- 
 gate of all the befl regulations which had been brought before par- 
 liament by the multitude of a6ts which had of late years palled for 
 incorporating pariflies, particular diftrifts, and hundreds, and main- 
 taining and employing the poor therein. 
 
 The confiderable length this ad is extended to, comprehending 
 in it all the neceflary diredlions for the proceeding of paiiflies, 
 where two-thirds of the owners and occupiers of land agree to 
 ' unite, the mode of appointing the different necefiary officers 
 and their duties, the qualification of the voters at their meet- 
 ings, the application of the poor's rate raifed in the different 
 pariflies uniting, together with the multifarious diredions re- 
 fpe<Sting the internal police of an united houfe of induftry, would 
 render the mofl: concife abridgement of this adt too long for the at- 
 tention of thofe who may run the eye over thefe curfory obferva- 
 tions. Befides that it would be of no real fervice, as any parilhes 
 wifhing to unite, on the power and principles of the adl, muft have 
 recourfe to the a6l itfelf, which appears to have thus much ufe in it, 
 that it renders the expenfe of obtaining an a6l of parliament unne- 
 cefTary, provided the parties agreeing to unite are fatisfied with this 
 code of regulations, and can make them coincide well with theix- 
 own views and intentions. 
 
 It is not in my power to affert, pofitively, but it is believed, that 
 very few parifhes have taken the advantage this ad: has given, and 
 have united for the purpofe of relieving and employing their 
 poor, by virtue of the powers, and fubjedl to the regulations, of 
 this ftatute. 
 
 What can have been the reafon, that, fmce the legiflature has 
 opened the means to an union of pariflies, without the expenfe of 
 an ad of parliament, for thofe very purpofes, to obtain v/hich many 
 applications had been made to parliament, at an expenfe of fome. 
 hundreds of pounds, in the outfet of the fcheme, fo very few in- 
 
 ftancea
 
 144 LETTER XX. 
 
 ilances fliould have appeared of pariflies uniting by virtue of the 
 -powers in this aCt ? 
 
 If we fiippofe experience to have proved, that general good has 
 ^rifen in thofe pariflies which have been incorporated by different 
 ad:s of parUament, this is a queftion which will not foon be re- 
 folved ; becaufe, it is not eafy to fuggeft a reafon for thofe advan- 
 tages to be refufed, when offered gratis, which have, in a great 
 many inflances, been obtained at a confiderable expenfe: and, in 
 the ufiiied parifhes in the county of Suffolk, the fa6t, that the poor- 
 rates have greatly decreafed, is generally allowed. Why, then, is 
 not the greateft part of the kingdom incorporated into convenient 
 diflri^ls, for the purpofe of relieving and maintaining their poor by 
 means of the powers and regulations of this a£l: ? Why have we 
 ■very few, if af2)\ inftances of this aCt being enforced ? 
 
 We cannot iuppofe that the claufes in the a6t militate, in gene- 
 Tal, with the regulations thofe pariflies which wifh to unite would 
 -choofe to embrace, becaufe they are a fele6fion of the beft general 
 regulations from all the ads applied for by the pariflies incorpo- 
 rated. But, does it not arife from the want of a centre of union, 
 a man of confequence and ability, whofe influence could render the 
 ilu<a:uating confents of a number of interefted people fteady, and 
 fix them to the plan they have in agitation, but cannot abfolutely 
 refolve on ? The attorney who was applied to when a bill in par- 
 liament was to be pafled is this kind of per/on ; he was interefted in 
 bringing the determination of the leading men in the different 
 parifhes to a point, and fixing them in their refolves. But now 
 no one man takes any more interefi: in the matter than as an indi- 
 vidual among equals ; and mofl men underftand, and feel them- 
 selves inclined to fupport, in all its purity, the maxim, — inier 
 pares, equalis eft potejlas. 
 
 In the 26th year of this reign, cap. 56. another ad pafl'ed to 
 oblige the overfeers of the poor to make a return, on oath, to 
 certain queflions relative to the flate of the poor. The preamble 
 
 to
 
 LETTER XXI, ^45 
 
 to this adt is the fame ; and the a£l itfelf proceeded on much the 
 fame plan, and principle, as that which has been mentioned to have 
 paffed in the i6th of the king, except that a penalty of 50/. for 
 making falfe returns, is added j and, alfo, a claufe, fabjeCling per- 
 fons taking falfe oaths to the pains and penalties of thofe con- 
 vided of wilful and corrupt perjury : the queftons afked are alfo 
 fomewhat different. 
 
 And, in the fame yeai% by cap. 58, an adt pafled, for procuring, 
 on oath, returns of all charitable donations, for the benefit of 
 poor perfons, throughout that part of Great Britain called Eng- 
 land and Wales. The returns are to be made in writing, on oath, 
 by the minifter and church-wardens of each parifh. This a61: 
 gives firailar powers, and is armed with (imilar penalties, as the 
 other. 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 THE following queftions were referred, by the a6l of parlia- 
 ment which paffed in the 26th year of the prefent reign, 
 to the overfeers of the poor, to which they were obliged to make 
 returns upon oath, 
 
 ^ejlion L What money was raifed, by affeffments, for the re- 
 lief of the poor, in the refpei^live years, ending at Eafter, 1783, 
 1784, and 1785? 
 
 IL What number of poor received conftant, and what number 
 occafional, relief, during each of the faid years, as near as you can 
 afcertain the fame ? 
 
 in. How much was paid out of the faid money, in each of 
 the faid years, for expenfes of overfeers in journeys, and atten- 
 dance on magiftrates and others ; and how much for entertain- 
 
 y ments
 
 146 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 ments at meetings of the inhabitants on affairs relative to the 
 poor? 
 
 IV. What payments were made out of the faid money for 
 law-bufinefs, and for orders, examinations, certificates, and other 
 proceedings, refpe£ling the poor, in each of the faid three years ? 
 
 V. How much of the money colledted, under thefe afTeflments, 
 was applied for the payment of county-rates, or any other, and 
 what, purpofes that did not concern the poor ? 
 
 VI. How much of the money fo raifed has been expended in 
 providing materials and utenfils for fetting the poor to work ? 
 
 The returns made by the overfeers to thefe queftions, in purfu- 
 ance of the a6l alluded to, were digefted into form, and an ab- 
 flradl printed, containing every parilh in England and Wales, re- 
 duced, alphabetically, under their refpe6live counties and hun- 
 dreds, giving an account, under fourteen diftind columns, of the 
 name of the hundred within which the parifh is fituated -, the 
 money raifed by afTefTment for the years 1783, 1784, and 1785, 
 and the medium of thofe three years j expenfes not applicable to 
 the poor j the medium of net-money annually paid for the poor j 
 net-money paid for the poor in 1776, taken from the returns then 
 made to parliament j and heads of particular expenfes : the general 
 totals of which, for England and Wales, are as follow : 
 
 Money raifed by AJfeJJment, 
 
 For the year 1783. England 
 
 Wales 
 
 £,' S' d. 
 
 2,068,585 7 1 
 
 63,901 5 I 
 
 2,132,486 12 2 
 
 For
 
 J 
 
 For the year 1784,-— 
 
 -England 
 Wales 
 
 -England 
 Wales 
 
 Wales - 
 
 I* 147 
 
 2,117,432 II 
 68,456 16 8 
 
 
 2,185,889 7 8 
 
 For the year 1785. — 
 
 2,115,775 2 5 
 69,129 16 6 
 
 2,184,904 18 n 
 
 Medium of thofe years 
 
 2,100,587 16 II 
 67,161 16 9 
 
 
 2,167,749 13 8 
 
 Expenfes not applicable to the Poor, 
 
 £> s, d. 
 
 Medium of money applied for county-purpofes, 
 vagrants, militia, bridges, gaols, &c. 
 
 England - - 113,714 15 6 
 
 Wales - - - 5,^65 II 4 
 
 119,280 6 10 
 
 Medium of expenfes not concerning the poor, re- 
 pairing churches, roads, falaries to minifters, 
 &c. England - - 43,223 5 7 
 
 Wales - - 1,007 ^5 4 
 
 44,231 on 
 U 2 Medium
 
 t4S LETTER XXL 
 
 £* s. d. 
 
 Medium of net-money annually paid for the poor. 
 
 England - - 1,943,649 15 lo 
 
 Wales - - 60,588 10 I 
 
 2,004,238 5 II 
 Net-expenfes in 177^ '- - 1,529,780 o i 
 
 Increafe - - - - 474,458 5 10 
 
 Net-expenfes for the poor in 1776, taken from 
 the returns then made to parliament. 
 
 England - - 1,496,129 6 3 
 
 Wales - - 33>650 13 10 
 
 1,529,780 o I 
 
 Heads of particular Expenfes. 
 
 £' ^. d. 
 
 Medium-expenfes of overfeers in journeys, atten- 
 dances on magiftrates, &c. England - 23,545 o 10 
 
 Wales - 948 17 8 
 
 24,493 i^ ^ 
 
 Medium-expenfes of entertainments at meetings re- 
 lative to the poor.— —England - - 11,329 15 II 
 
 Wales _ . - 383 4 10 
 
 / 11,713 o 9 
 
 Medium-
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 H9 
 
 Medium-expenfes of law, orders, examinations, 
 and other proceedings, relative to the poor. 
 
 England - - S2,7S7 '' ^ 
 
 Wales - - - 2,03'y. 1 1 6 
 
 55>79i 2 6 
 
 Medium of money expended in fetting the poor to 
 work, England - - 15,680 14 9 
 
 Wales - - - 211 14 1 
 
 15,892 8 10 
 
 The mafs of information thus obtained from that part of the 
 nation, fubjeft to the operation of the poor-laws, digefted, with 
 great labour, by the committee of the Houfe of Commons, which 
 fat for the purpofe, and printed at no inconfiderable expenfe, muft 
 furely have given rife to many ufeful reflections and obfervations 
 in the minds of thofe gentlemen who were on the committee, al- 
 though their country has not, as yet, reaped any benefit from their 
 very important labours. They mufl: furely have been ftruck with 
 the alarming increafe of the annual net-expenfes of the poor 
 fmce 1776, when they were 1,529,780/. to the medium of the 
 years 1783, 1784, and 1785, which is ftated to be 2,167,749/. 
 a yearly increafe of expenfe amounting to near 500,000/. If they, 
 at firft fight, might conceive this- vaft difference to have arifen 
 from any extraordinary fcarcity prevailing through the lail three 
 years, and examined into the faft, they would have found the ave- 
 rage-price of wheat, through this period, to have been 2/. p. jd. 
 and that the average-price, for 1776, was 2/. 2J. %d. being an ex- 
 cefs only of iiJ. per quarter, or not 2/. ioj. per cent, which will, 
 
 by
 
 i|o LETTER XXI, 
 
 by no means, account for a rife in the expenfes of the poor equal 
 to above forty-one per cent. : to other caufes, therefore, muft they 
 attribute this amazing increafed cxpenfe, than thofe which arife 
 from the dearnefs of provifion j affuming it as a faft, that the price 
 of bread-corn may be taken, with fome degree of accuracy, as a 
 fign of the price of moft of the necefTary viands which feed our 
 numerous poor j and thofe, who know how the poor live, know, 
 alfo, that bread, in fa£l, conftitutes near two-thirds of the ex- 
 penfe of a poor family for provifions : the increafed expenfe of the 
 years 1783, 1784, and 1785, does not, therefore, arife from the 
 increment of necefTary expenfes in provifions. 
 
 Neither does it arife, in any great degree, from a deficiency of 
 works or decreafe of the price of labour j — the price of labour 
 remained much the fame as in ijj6 -, and, in this period, the 
 American war had begun to drain the nation of its population and 
 money, but no great eftedts had then been felt from it : in the laft 
 period, the nation was recovering from its lofles j manufaftures 
 were again thriving, and the fenfible part of our countrymen were 
 looking up to agriculture, as a means of recruiting thofe fources 
 which the wafte of war had diminiflied. 
 
 Although, that an increafe of expenfe, rather more than pro- 
 portional, took place in the great manufadturing-towns, is plainly 
 proved from this abftrad, in which Birmingham, Sheffield, Man- 
 chefter, certainly more than keep pace with other towns, where 
 the poor are not employed by manufadlures j yet to be certain how 
 this fadl will apply, and what principle may be collected from it, 
 the returns from the fame manufaduring- towns, of the expenfes 
 of the poor, (hould be feen, for the laft two or three years, during 
 which, our manufactures have flouriftied exceedingly : from many 
 inftances within the county of Suffolk, the poor-rates continue 
 increafing, although the poor are, or might be, in full employ j 
 for inftance, Glemsford, rifing gradually from 404/. 5J. 8</. in 1774, 
 10456/. ys. 4^. in 1776, to 551/. the average of the three years,
 
 LETTER XXI. 151 
 
 1783, 1784, and 1785, to 1062/. 6s. ^d. in 1790, as appears by 
 Mr. Butt's account, in vol. xvii. p. 497, of the Annals of Agri- 
 culture ; and a fimilar rife, but in a lefs proportion, takes place 
 at Melford, Clare, &c. ; if this is the cafe in general, other caufes 
 than want of work muft be fought for. 
 
 Another obfervation mufl alfo have ftruck thefe gentlemen, or, 
 at leafl, thofe among, them who adt as magiftrates in the counties 
 where their refpedlive qualifications, as members of parliament, 
 lie J that the money expended in fetttng the poor to work throughout 
 the kingdom is but little more than what is fpent in entertainments 
 at meetitjgs relative to the management of their affairs ; not two- 
 thirds, of what comes under the article of overfeers journeys, and at- 
 tendance on magiftrates ; and about one-fourth of the fum which is 
 the total under the column oj law-expcnfes : they muft alfo recollefl, 
 that the firft fedtion of the 43d of Elizabeth gives authority to the 
 overfeers to raife weekly, or otherwife, by taxation of every in- 
 habitant, a convenient flock of Jlax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and 
 other neceffary ware and ftiiff to 7^/ the poor to work -, and that this 
 application of the money, raifed by affefTment, is the primary objeSf 
 in view of the legiflature, in that a6l of parliament, under the 
 authority of which, they perceive, by their printed abftraft, above 
 two millions to be annually raifed on his Majefty's fubjefts, through 
 that part of the kingdom fubjecl to the operation of the adt j they 
 muft alfo know that the application of competent fums of money, 
 toward the neceffary relief of the lame, impotent, old, blind, and 
 fuch other of them being poor and not able to work, and alfo for 
 putting out children to be apprentices, was a fecondary confidera- 
 tion of the legiflature, and by no means comes into the fore- 
 ground of the piece ; and that law-expenfes, expenfes of overfeers 
 in attendance on magiftrates, expenfes of entertainments, &c. were 
 not in view, or, at leaft, like all objedls in the back-ground, where 
 the perfpedlive is well preferved, were but dimly and indiftinflly 
 feen ; but that prefent pra6lice has fo reverfed all regularity and 
 
 order
 
 152 .LETTER XXI. 
 
 order in the prefent fyftem of the poor-laws, as exhibited to the 
 committee, that the great objeft of Elizabeth's legiflature is now- 
 thrown into the back-ground, and the whole order of the pidure 
 reverfed : the conclufion, that mufl: be obvious to every one, is, 
 that the 43d of Elizabeth, like Mr. Gamon's A61, refpefting out- 
 fide paflengers in llage- coaches, although the law of the land, is 
 not the pradice of the land. 
 
 The total fum falling under the column of expenfes of enter- 
 tainments, 11,713/. certainly is not much for the number .of 
 parifties in England and Wales; but it leads to the expenfes con- 
 tained under the heads of law-bufinefs, attendances on magiftrates, 
 journeys, &c. Thefe two columns form no inconfiderable total, 
 80,285/. ; when a veftry, which ought to meet and conclude the 
 bufuiefs of their meeting in a part of the church appropriated for 
 that purpofe, adjourns to the neighbouring ale-houfe, the trifle 
 which they expend of the poor's rates is not all ; parifli-bufinefs is 
 the obje6l 5 at a meeting of pariihioners, having a common topic 
 to converfe about, fome foon become interefted in defending their 
 opinions ; more talk requires more liquor, and their determinations 
 are made, not like thofe of their German anceftors, deliberant dum 
 jingere nefciunt : conjiituunt dum errare non pojjunt \ but they reverfe 
 the order, they deliberate, while they are fober, and determine 
 when the^r are drunk ; hence journeys to magiftrates, orders of 
 removal on doubtful fettlements, appeals to feffions ; thence to 
 the King's Bench; hence attorney's bills, and enormous afTeffhients. 
 Was no order of veftry good, or no parifti-officer to be indemnified 
 in expending the parifti-money in law-contefts, unlefs by an order 
 of veftry, figned before noon, in the parifti-church, after regular 
 notice given, and no adjournment allowed, much of the article of 
 expenfe would difappear. 
 
 Another ufe may alfo be made of this abftraft : there are fome 
 very able, although not accurate, obfervers of what refped:s the 
 poor, who have imagined, that the great increafe of our expenfes, 
 
 relating
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 ^5i 
 
 relating to them, has arifen from temporary want of work. It may- 
 be recollected, that this cannot happen where the employment is 
 agriculture, becaufe this occupation always requires nearly the fame 
 number of hands all years, and is independent of any defultory 
 call for work J which may, as all manufa6lures do, the demand of 
 which is uncertain, give full employment to the poor fome years, 
 and leave them to fubfift on the poor's rates when the demand for 
 the manufadlure ceafes ; a comparifon being made of the medium of 
 net-expenfes of the poor, from the returns made to parliament in 
 J776, and the medium of 1783, 1784, and 1785, taking the total 
 of five or fix of thofe pariflies, which may be known, by the per- 
 fon making the comparifon, to depend principally, or entirely, on 
 agricultures the increafe on the laft medium will be found to rife 
 from thirty to above forty per cent, more than the expenfe was in 
 1776, a rife by no means to be accounted for on the principle of 
 the advanced price of the necefTaries of life during this interval j 
 and the idea of want of work in thefe pariflies, which are thus 
 fele6led, as being employed in agriculture, muft be thrown out of 
 the cafe ; the effed then muft have arifen from fome other caufe j 
 a caufe, I fear, neither tending to the comfort of the poor, nor 
 the credit of the overfeer. 
 
 That column which contains the medium of expenfes not con- 
 cerning the poor, viz. repairing churches, roads, &c. falaries to 
 minifters, 6cc. amounting to 44,231/. certainly ought not have 
 made its appearance in this abftraft, becaufe no part of the money 
 colle6led by afTeflments for the relief of the poor ought to have 
 been applied to purpofes fpecifically different from thofe to which 
 the rate is. appropriated by the 43d of Elizabeth, and which pur- 
 pofes have their different funds provided for them by other autho- 
 rities : the church.wardens rate repairs the church j the furveyors 
 rate repairs the roads ; and the ecclefiaftical eftates are amply fufH- 
 cient for providing and paying falaries to minifters : it is, there- 
 fore, fome matter of furprife, why the poor's rate is clogged with 
 
 X fuch
 
 154 LETTER XXI. 
 
 fuch a confulerable fum, which is foreign to its proper application : 
 in well-regulated pariflies fuch charges on the poor's rate are not 
 admitted; and many blanks, confequently, appear againft individual 
 pariflies under this column. 
 
 No abftra6l of the returns made to the fecond queftion appears, 
 which inquires what number of poor received conftant, and what 
 number received occafional, relief? A queftion of, at leaft, equal 
 importance to any of the others, as the aggregate would have been 
 nearly, if not fully, a return of all the poor throughout England 
 and Wales; or, at the leaft, it would have informed us of the 
 number of thofe who have been at any time, within the three 
 years, a burthen on the public. Why the committee did not inform 
 themfelves of this fa6V, it is no eafy matter to guefs ; — pofllbly, 
 the returns were too incomplete to afford any certain information ; 
 but, if that were the cafe, the queftion fhould have been repeated 
 from year to year, until the returns had been accurate and full j 
 becaufe this fadl muft be known before any radical cure can be 
 attempted, as it leads to a certain knowledge of the extent of the 
 difeafe. 
 
 The report from the committee, appointed to infpedl and con- 
 fider the returns made by the minifters and church-wardens, re- 
 lative to charitable donations, for the benefit of poor perfons, in 
 purfuance of the 58th chapter of the fame year, ftates, that it 
 appears by a former report, made under the faid aft, the 23d day 
 of May, 1787, that, out of near thirteen thoufand pariflies, from 
 which returns of charitable donations have been required, there 
 were only fourteen pariflies that had made no fuch returns. 
 
 That the committee diredled an abftrad to be made of the re- 
 turns ; but finding, on inipedion of the abftradt, that a great 
 number of the pariflies had made defedtive returns ; fome by not 
 naming the perfons who gave the charities j others by not naming 
 the truftees -, others by not defcribing whether the donations were 
 in land or money } others by not defcribing the produce of the 
 
 money,
 
 LETTER XXI. 155 
 
 money, lands, or rent-charges, fo given ; the committee dire£l:d 
 their chairman to write circular letters to the minifters and church- 
 wardens of all the pariflies, &c. where fuch omifllons appeared, 
 requiring them to fend more perfed: returns. 
 
 The committee then reports, that about 4065 letters had been 
 fent, that anfwers had been received to about 3376 of them, many 
 of which had given the explanation required; and many others had 
 ftated that they could give no farther information. 
 
 That the committee have caufed the produce of the faid charities, 
 in land and money, as far as they can be coUedted from the faid 
 returns, to be cart up in each county ; by which the annual 
 amount of the produce of the money and land, through England 
 and Wales, appears to be: 
 
 Money. 
 England, ;^ 46, 173 9 9 
 Wales, 2,070 08 
 
 Land. 
 England, ;^ 206,301 8 8 
 Wales, 4,166 o 2 
 
 48,243 10 
 
 210,467 8 10 
 
 Making together a total of £^ 258,710 19 3 
 
 And that the committee had reafon to believe very confiderable 
 farther fums will appear to have been given for the like charitable 
 purpofes i whenever proper means can be found for inveftigating 
 and completing thofe difcoveries, by extending the inquiries to 
 corporations, companies, and focieties of men, as well as feoffees, 
 truftees, and other perfons. 
 
 The committee alfo obferves, that, upon the face of the faid 
 return, many of the charitable donations appear to have been loft, 
 and many others are in danger of being loft, and that the matter 
 
 X 2 feems
 
 156 LETTER XXI. 
 
 feems to be oi fuch tnagnitude as to call for tht ferious and JpeeJy 
 attention of parliament, to amend and explain the act, by fpecify- 
 ing, with certainty and precifion, the objeds to which they may 
 think fit to direct their inquiries, in order to procure full and 
 fatisfaflory returns, and the e/iaSliJ/jmefif of fuch meafures as may be 
 iffeclual for the relief of the poor perfons who were the objeSis of the 
 faid donations \ and for carrying the charitable purpofes of the 
 donors into execution. 
 
 The committee appears to have been ftrongly imprefled with the 
 idea, that much information on the fubjedt was intentionally with- 
 held, and that a more minute inveftigation was neceffary to acquire 
 a fufficient infight into this important branch of the revenue be- 
 longing to the poor. When it is recoUedled, that the inquiry on 
 this head was made with a view to the beft of purpofes, that of re- 
 gulating the application of thefe eftates, which had, from moft 
 diflant times, been left by charitable donors to the ufe of the poor; 
 and that the information is required from thofe who are the proper 
 guardians of thefe eftates -, and the quellions are accordingly applied 
 to the minifters of parifties and the church- wardens j it is a matter 
 of furprife that fuch faulty or deficient returns were made; but is it 
 not matter of greater furprife, that the committee fhould fland in 
 need of more full and fatisfa6lory returns, in order to eftahlijh fuch 
 meafures as may be effeSiual for the relief of the objects of the faid 
 donation, while the ftatute of charitable ufes, paffed in the 43d of 
 Elizabeth, is the law of the land? and which was pafled with a 
 view of fnatching thefe eftates from the hands of thofe harpies, who 
 would then, as they will now, if they can, divert their produce from 
 the poor into their own pockets. This ftatute paffed in the fame 
 year as the leading flatute which refpetls the poor, and forms part 
 of a plan, at the time in contemplation ; and a very prudent part it 
 is, to make as productive as pofTible that revenue which the poor 
 could claim as their right; at the fame time as they took from the 
 pockets of their richer fellow-citizens, what that revenue might, 
 
 when
 
 LETTER XXII. 157 
 
 when applied according to the intention of the donors, fall Ihort of 
 fupplying their abfolute neceflities. 
 
 This ftatute empowers the chancellor or keeper of the great feal, 
 and the chancellor of the dutchy of Lancafter, for the time being, 
 within the dutchy of Lancafter, to award commiffions to the 
 bifhops of every diocefe, and to other perfons of good and found 
 behaviour, or any four or more of them, authorizing them to in- 
 quire, as well by the oaths of twelve men or more of the county, as 
 by all other good and lawful means, of all and fmgular fuch eftates, 
 and gifts, &c. and of all abufes and breaches of truft refpefling 
 them; an ufeful and neceflary commifhon, which, if ifllied in thofe 
 inftances where the committee fufpeds information to be held 
 back, would be equal to every good effe6l, and preclude all neceflity 
 for more adts of parliament on this head, either to compel a difco- 
 very or to enforce an application of the rents and profits of thofe 
 eftates, to the purpofes for which they were originally granted. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 THE Hiftory of the Poor-Laws, with obfervations, is the firft 
 publication of any confequence on this fubjeft^ which ap- 
 peared in his prefent Majefty's reign; and the fame author's name 
 being in the title-page as in that well-known book, Burn's Juftice, 
 the reader has reafon to expe6l much information on the fubjefl, 
 nor will he be difappointed. Burn lays the foundation of his in- 
 quiry in remote antiquity, informing us how the poor were main- 
 tained in this country as foon as we began to enjoy the firft dawn 
 of civilization, and proves that the ecclefiaftic revenue was fubjedl 
 to the burthen as far as one-fourth of the produce at firft, and one- 
 third afterwards. To this purpofe he quotes Kennet's Impropr.
 
 158 LETTER XXII. 
 
 14, 15, and fays, that the poor alfo received fome portion of their 
 maintenance from the alms of the people and from the monafteries. 
 
 He then recites, rather fully, all the ftatutes relative to the poor, 
 dividing them into three heads; fervants, 6cc. vagrants, and impo- 
 tent poor. 
 
 Obfervations on the ftatutes form the fifth chapter ; and here I 
 mufl exprefs my difappointment, in not receiving any information 
 from this able writer, at what time, and by what means, the poor 
 in particular, and the nation at large, loft their hold on that por- 
 tion of the ecclefiaftic revenue, which he ftates them originally to 
 have enjoyed. The author of Burn's Ecclefiaftical Law was 
 affuredly able to give full information on this important fubjeiSti 
 and it was a necefTary part of his plan, becaufe he is obliged to lay 
 the foundation of the compulfory maintenance, which they now 
 partake of, in the cujlom of begging ; a pra6lice which, in his chapter 
 on farther regulations, he veiy ftrongly deprecates, and is of opinion 
 it fliould be utterly abolifhed: whereas, the cuftom of begging has 
 its moft natural foundation in the want of necefTary relief ; an 
 exigency, urgent in proportion as they were deprived of their 
 ihare of this eleemofynary revenue; which being withdrawn gra- 
 dually by the ecclefiaftics, the poor were encouraged from the pul- 
 pits to beg that maintenance of the people at large, which they had 
 been accuftomed to receive from the eftates of the church in a cer- 
 tain proportion, and which being exhaufted, they then might 
 reafonably have been permitted to aflc alms from the people, and 
 not before. On this topic he is filent, and tells us, " That the 
 minifter was to take all opportunities to exhort the people to be 
 bountiful: — houfes were to be provided for them by the devotion 
 of good people, and materials to fet them on fuch work as they were 
 able to perform : — then the minifter, after the Gofpel, every Sun- 
 day, was fpecially to exhort the pariJJjt oners to a liberal contribu- 
 tion: — next, the colledors for the poor, on a certain Sunday in 
 every year, immediately after divine-fervice, were to take down, in 
 
 writing,
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 '59 
 
 writing, what every perfon was willing to give weekly fbr the enfu- 
 ing year; and, if any fhould be obftinate and refufe to give, the 
 minifter ivits gently to exhort him-, if he ftill refufed, the minifler 
 was to certify fuch refufal to the bifliop of the diocefe, who was to 
 fend for and exhort him in like manner; if he ftill flood out, the 
 bifliop was to certify the fame to the juftices in feffions, and bind 
 him over to appear there; and the juftices, at the feffions, were 
 again gently to move and perfuade him; and, finally, if he would 
 not be perfuaded, then they were to allefs him what they thought 
 reafonable towards the relief of the poor: and this brought on the 
 affeffinent in the fourteenth year of Queen Elizabeth." Such is 
 Dr. Burn's dedudlion of the compulfory maintenance. Now, it is 
 obfervable, that whatever of compuliion there might be in this duty 
 of the minifter, who, it is ftated, was to take all opportunities to ex- 
 horty it did not receive its fan6Vion from the law of the land, until 
 the 27th year of Henry the Eighth ; therefore, many centuries 
 before that period, it was a voluntary acl on the part of the ec- 
 clefiaftics, who gradually withdrew that portion of their tithes, 
 belonging to the poor, from their ufe, as they were able, by their 
 influence, to perfuade the parifliioners to reinftate by their almsj 
 and hence arofe the neceffity of our prefent poor-rates. 
 
 That the poor were, during the times of popery, maintained 
 chiefly by the religious houfes, is ftated as a vulgar error: ** Their 
 hofpitality was to the rich; they were great inns; they entertained 
 thofe bountifully who could be bountiful to them again." With 
 this obfervation the former part of our inquiries perfectly agrees. 
 
 Another fad this treatife ftates as remarkable, is, " That every 
 propofal which hath been made for the reformation of the poor- 
 law hath been tried in former ages, and found inefFe6lual." 
 
 The antiquity of fettlements is deduced from the more antient 
 ftatutes, and proved not to have originated from the ftatute paflTed 
 in the reign of Charles the Second : the dodlrine of removals is alfo 
 traced from the fame fources. But thus much is clear; that, from 
 
 whatever
 
 i6o LETTER XXIJ, 
 
 whatever fource the idea of them originally fprung, they are thetn- 
 felves an abundant fource of expenfive litigations. 
 
 The origin and progrefs of the office of overfeer is ingenioufly 
 traced from the church- wardens, who were the orignal overfeers, 
 and ftill by ftatute-law continue fo; becaufe the management of 
 the poor. Dr. Burn fays, was, at firft, folely an ecckfiajlical matter^ 
 " in aid of the church-wardens, colle(5lors were appointed, and af- 
 terwards the overfeer." 
 
 Begging is traced from the firft ftatute in the 23d of Edward 
 the Third, " when none under the colour of pity and alms were to 
 give any thing to fuch as might labour, under pain of imprifon- 
 ment ;" to the laft adt of parliament in the 17th of George the Se- 
 cond, which makes it the firft ftep towards vagrancy, ** perfons 
 begging within their own parifh, being deemed idle and diforderly 
 perfons, and to be fent to the houfe of corredion." 
 
 Badging of the poor, which is direded by the 8th and 9th of 
 William the Third, is fuppofed to have fprung from the military 
 inftitution, when the nobility diftinguilhed their followers with 
 peculiar enfigns. 
 
 What obfervations there are in Burn's tra6l, refpefting the 
 vagrant-laws, relate chiefly to their extreme feverity j it is a matter 
 of felf-gratulation to the writer of thefe pages, that, in a former 
 part of them, he fhould have fallen into a train of fimilar fenti- 
 ments on this head. Rating the wages of fervants by ftatute has 
 alfo fallen under our confideration j no additional information is to 
 be found in his obfervations on thefe ftatutes, except the aflertion, 
 that, by the experience of four hundred years, it appears, that the 
 regulating the prices of work leaves no room for induftry and inge- 
 nuity ; " for, if all perfons, in the fame kind of work, were to re- 
 ceive equal wages, there would be no emulation." 
 
 The clothing of the poor, in antient times, is difcufi'ed; and, 
 from the argument, it appears, that the ftatutable clothing, in the 
 reign of Edward the Third, for handicrafts and yeomen, was not to 
 
 exceed
 
 LETTER XXII. i6i 
 
 exceed 45. 6d. a yard, or thereabout, eftimating by the money of the 
 prefent times ; for which price a flrong and warm clothing might 
 flill be purchafed. 
 
 This tra6V then gives an account of the different fchemes for 
 reforming the poor-laws, and goes at fome length into Lord 
 Hales's, Sir Jofiah Child's, Mr. Gary's, Mr. Hay's, Mr. Alcock's, 
 Anonymous, Lord Hilfborough's, Sir Richard Lloyd's, Mr, Field- 
 ing's, and Mr. Cooper's, plan ; all which have been already explain- 
 ed in the former pages of our ftriftures on this fubje6l. We then 
 come to the feventh chapter, in which the author propofes farther 
 regulations: 
 
 " Thus," he faith, " hath the wifdom of the nation in parliament, 
 and of individuals, been employed in providing properly for the 
 poor; and yet they are not properly provided for." The fa6l is 
 true; but it ought not to induce an opinion, that it is impoffible to 
 meliorate their (ituation and lighten our burthens. 
 
 Two particulars, he fays, fhould be re6lified, until time and ex- 
 perience fuggeft farther alteration : firfl, to prevent the nuifance of 
 common begging: — the means he propofes are, give them nothing: 
 *' if none were to give, none would beg, and the whole myftcry 
 and craft would end in a fortnight :" and, in order to bring this 
 about, he would have all who relieve a common beggar be fubje6l 
 to a penalty. Surely the principles of liberty, policy, and huma- 
 nity, all equally militate againft fuch a regulation j experience alfo 
 has proved its infufficiency for the purpofe : in times of ignorance 
 the experiment was made, and found ineffectual. By the 23d of 
 Edward the Third, none was permitted, under colour of alms, to 
 give any thing to fuch which may labour, under the pain of im- 
 prifonment. This flatute was repealed by Edward the Sixth. 
 
 The other fundamental defedl is, according to this writer, in 
 leaving the whole management to thofe annual officers, called over- 
 feers of the poor; and the pradical duty of fuch an officer is ironi- 
 cally pointed out with fome humour : " He is to keep an extraor- 
 
 Y dinary
 
 i62 LETTER XXII. 
 
 dinary look out, to prevent perfons coming to inhabit without cer- 
 tificates, and to fly to the juftices to remove them ; and, if a man 
 brings a certificate, then to caution all the inhabitants not to let 
 him a farm of i o/. a year, and to take care to keep him out of all 
 parifli-ofiices ; to warn them, if they will hire fervants, to hire 
 them half-yearly, or by the month, by the week, or by the day, 
 rather than by any way which Ihall give them a fettlement j or, if 
 they do hire them by the year, then to pick a quarrel with them 
 before the year's end, and fo to get rid of them : to maintain the 
 poor as cheap as poflible they can at all events; not to lay out 
 two-pence in profpe<5t of any future good, but only to ferve the 
 prefent.neceffity ; to bargain with fome fturdy perfon to take them 
 hy the lump, who yet is not intended to take them, but to hang 
 over them in terrorem-, if they fhall complain to the juftices for 
 want of maintenance, to fend them into the country a begging ; to 
 bind out poor children apprentices, no matter to whom or to what 
 trade, only take care that the mafter lives in another parifh; to 
 move heaven and earth if any difpute happens about a fettlement, 
 and in that particular to invert the general rule, and ftick at no 
 cxpenfej to pulldown cottages, to drive out as many inhabitants 
 and admit as few as poffibly they can ;" with many other ironical 
 diredlions, reminding the reader of Swift's Advice to Servants j by 
 which it is apparent, that this our great luminary in the duty of 
 magiftrates knew well that the ofiice of an overfeer was fometimes 
 neglected, fometimes perverted, and but feldom properly executed. 
 
 He, therefore, is of opinion, that the office fliould not be entirely 
 abolifhed, but that a general fuperintendant over a certain number 
 of parifhes, as the juftices in feffions fhall find moft convenient, 
 fhould be appointed ; and that the overfeer fliould coUedl the 
 rate, and it Ihould be applied under the dire£tion of the fuper- 
 intendant, whofe bufinefs he more particularly points out. 
 
 To affift this purpofe, he recommends monthly feffions to the 
 juftices, at which the church-wardens, overfeers, and fuperinten- 
 dant,
 
 LETTER XXU. 163 
 
 dant, fhould attend, give In their report, and receive farther orders: 
 and thofe who think themfelves aggrieved at thefe diftridt-fefllons 
 fliould have a right of appeal to the quarter-feffions. 
 
 To infure attendance, he propofes that the juftices fliould be al- 
 lowed half-a-guinea a day out of the county- (lock; and fays, that 
 thefe monthly feffions might alfo be ufeful to carry into execution 
 the afts of parliament, refpe^ling the highways, then in force, 
 together with that variety of bufinefs, which is now the employ- 
 ment of jufl:ices at their common meetings or fpecial feflions. 
 
 A curious inftance is mentioned from a book of '* the Police of 
 France," written about 1753, which proves, that at the fame time 
 the French were anxious that their police, refpeding the poor, 
 fliould be put on the fame footing as our Englifli poor-laws, feveral 
 propofals were publiflied in London, recommending fuch a metliod 
 of maintaining our poor as was then pra^ftifed in France j viz. by 
 general hofpitals in provincial towns ; exemplifying, in a very 
 ftrong light, the truth of Horace's maxim. 
 
 ' Laudet diverfa fequentes. 
 
 The French mode, he very properly obferves, will annihilate all 
 family-conne6lions, and will create a populus virorum and a popului 
 mulierum, which, at the fame time that it lelfens the number of the 
 poor, will tend to depopulate a kingdom. 
 
 A county, infl:ead of a parifli, fettlement, provided the poor could 
 be maintained on a county-plan, he thinks might be advifeable j 
 but that the idea of fettlement fliould not be abolilhed, " only re- 
 fl rained, to the place of birth, or of inhabitancy for one or more 
 years, and that fuch a reftridion would tend to aboHfli certificates, 
 by deftroying the caufe of requiring, granting, or denying, them." 
 How this would be efFed:ed by reftraining fettlements to the place 
 of birth or inhabitancy, for one or more years, I confefs myfelf 
 not able to fee; that the number of law-fuits, to afcertain the 
 
 Y 2 fettlement.
 
 i64 LETTER XXII. 
 
 fettlement, might be diminifhed, is plain, but that certificates, to 
 authorize the pauper to live elfewhere, would be as neceflary as at 
 prefent, is alfo equally obvious. 
 
 A redudlion of all the poor-laws into one is recommended ; as is 
 alfo a redudlion of the highway-laws into one. The laft alteration 
 has been efFedled by the 13th of the prefent king, chap. 58, and 
 has undoubtedly much fimplified their ufe and operation, and ren- 
 dered them, in moft inftances, a practicable and ufeful code : — 
 equally good efFe(5ts would arife from a fimplification of the poor- 
 laws. A code of adls of the legiflature, militating in fome in- 
 ftances with each other, whofe feveral dependencies and connec- 
 tions are not eafy to be difcovered by a fuperficial obferver or tem- 
 porary officer, who muft pick his duty out of the Statutes at Large, 
 forms no bad apology for ignorance j and ignorance, at the fame 
 time that it excufes negleCl, becomes alfo a cloak to interefted mif- 
 takes. 
 
 Thefe are the chief notices which the author of the Hiftory of 
 the Poor-Laws has made on the fubjedtj there are fome other 
 obfervations on the defeats of the law, under the adminiftration of 
 juftices of the peace, which do not immediately relate to the poor, 
 and, therefore, may very properly be pafled over, more efpecially, 
 as it is apparent from the fmall fale of the book, although fanftion- 
 ed by his well-known name, that it is by no means a fubjed: which 
 has excited much attention, or is generally ftudied, although it 
 very intimately concerns all clafl'es of people. 
 
 In 1764, a pamphlet, publifhed by Becket, Obfervations on the 
 Number of the Poor, and on the heavy Rates levied for their Bene- 
 fit, ftarts an idea on the fubjeft, that, whether true or not, proves 
 fome theoretic principles in the fecond part of Paine's Rights of 
 Man to have no claim to originality. 
 
 But this writer fo entirely lofes the avowed purpofe of his pam- 
 phlet in the title-page ; fo negleds the interefts of the real poor, 
 in attending to the political confequences refulting from the num- 
 ber
 
 LETTER XXIII. 165 
 
 ber o? genteel poor, that it is futile to follow him in a fubjedt which 
 opens a field of argument vaftly too extenfive for this publication, 
 foreign to its intention, and mifchievous in its difcuflion. 
 
 LETTER XXIIL 
 
 IN 1767, the Farmer's Letters to the People of England ap- 
 peared, which, among a variety of topics treated with much 
 fpirit and ftrength of argument, afford a few flriftures on the poor, 
 and the laws refpecling them : the prevailing ideas fhall be fhortly 
 mentioned, although the propriety and juflnefs of them cannot be 
 fully admitted. 
 
 The author confiders the poor-laws of England as univerfally 
 encouragers of idlenefs, drunkennefs, and tea-drinking : he wifhes 
 for a total abolition of them, and for a new code, on the principle 
 that thofe only (hould be maintained at the public expenfe who can- 
 not maintain themfelves, and that fuch maintenance fhould be in 
 hundred-houfes of induflry. 
 
 Is it not the principle of the exifling code that thofe only who 
 cannot maintain themfelves fhould be maintained at the public ex- 
 penfe ? And, if the parishes agree in thinking them advifeable, may 
 not hundred-houfes of induflry be now the means ? Why then abo- 
 lifh the old laws to make new ones on the fame principle ? Would 
 a man of fenfe pull down a family-manfion, in good repair, to build 
 a new one on the fame principle? Surely not. 
 
 A prevailing idea in this publication feems to be, that the poor 
 fhould have no certainty of provifion except from their own in- 
 duftry. But is not fuch the theoretic principle of the exifting poor- 
 laws, as far as is confiftent with humanity ? If practice has depart- 
 ed
 
 i66 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 ed from the principle, blame the execution of the laws, and not the 
 principle. 
 
 Dr. Price's Obfervations on Reverfionary Payments, Annuities, 
 &c. were publiflied in 1772. The principle of fomeof thofe ufeful 
 focieties called box-clubs originated from a plan intended for the 
 benefit of the labouring-poor in this very excellent pubhcation. 
 The following is the calculation alluded to : 
 
 " Let the fociety, at its firft inftitution, confift of a hundred per- 
 fons, all between the age of thirty and forty, whofe mean age may, 
 therefore, be reckoned at thirty-fix ; and let it be fuppofed to be al- 
 ways kept up to this number by the admiffion of new members, be- 
 tween the ages of thirty and forty, as old ones die off: let the con- 
 tribution of each member- be 4^/. a week, making, from the whole 
 body, an annual contribution of 85/. lys.: let it be fuppofed that 
 feven of them will fall every year into diforders that fliall incapaci- 
 tate them for feven weeks ; 30/. X2s. of the annual contribution 
 will be juft fufficient to enable the fociety to grant to each of them 
 12s. a week during their illnefs, and the remaining ^^l. per annum 
 laid out, and carefully improved, at the rate of three and a half per 
 cent, will increafe to a capital that fliall be fufficient, according to 
 the chances of life in the tables three, four, five, to enable the fo- 
 ciety to pay to every member, after attaining to fixty-feven years of 
 age, or upon his entering into his fixty-eighth year, an annuity, 
 beginning with 5/. and increafing, at the rate of i/. every year, 
 for {even years, until, at the age of feventy-five, it will be a ftand- 
 ing annuity of 12/. for the remainder of life. Were fuch a fociety 
 to make its contribution 7^. a week, an allowance of 15J. might 
 be made, on the fame fuppofition, to every member during ficknefs,, 
 befides the payment of an annuity, beginning with 5/. when a 
 member entered his fixty-fourth year, and increafing for fifteen 
 years, until, at feventy-nine, it became fixed for the remainder of 
 his life at 20L" 
 
 If
 
 LETTER XXIII. 167 
 
 If fociety has a right to expeft from its conftltiient parts every 
 exertion in their power to maintain themfelves, before any indivi- 
 dual has a claim for any part of their maintenance on fociety in the 
 aggregate, an univerfal plan, obliging thofe members, who have no- 
 thing to fubfift on but their labour, to lay up a fmall part of its 
 produce, while in health, againft the day of ficknefs and want, 
 would be no unjuft obligation, but would, on the contrary, be 
 founded on a ftri6lly equitable principle; and, if the foregoing 
 calculation is right, it would be no inconfiderable alTiflance in fick- 
 nefs, and through the declining years of age : befides, the plan is 
 eafy of execution, and is at prefent, in many places through the 
 kingdom, executed voluntarily by the poor, being encouraged by 
 the fubfcription of men of fubftance ; and very good efFe^fts arife 
 from it, not only in relief of the poor fubfcribers themfelves, and 
 in relief of the poor's rates, but alfo in the prefervation of good 
 order among the lower claffes of fociety, who, having men of 
 principle for their charitable fubfcribers, truftees, and directors, 
 are lefs likely to be incited to infurredlions and difturbances than 
 thofe who, having no communication with any clafTes of men fu- 
 perior to themfelves, are eafily led on to thofe riotous proceedings 
 which are a fcandal to good government. 
 
 Mr. Hanway, in his ftridlures on the caufes of difTolutenefs 
 which prevail among the lower clafTes of people, laments that the 
 number of country-gentlemen is fo much reduced that they can no 
 longer form a body of referve to defend the caufe of virtue, or fur- 
 nifti the means of its defence. He alks, what is the fituation of 3 
 free people, when a gentleman of education, of five hundred or 
 one thoufand a year, who fliould be one of their chief guardians, 
 brings himfelf and family into an expenfe which requires three times 
 his income ? He who might be a fovereign in his own demefne, and 
 look down on what the world calls greatnefs, is now loft in the mafs 
 of fplendid vanity, and bewildered in trifles. 
 
 With
 
 i68 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 With reafoii might this worthy philanthropift make the fore- 
 going remark. From this caufe no inconfiderable degree of the 
 diflblutenefs which prevails in the country arifes. Good examples 
 are of great force, and fuch the country flands in need of. Were 
 the examples which the clergy fet in private life equally moral as 
 their exhortations to their parifliioners from the pulpit, even in that 
 cafe the inflances of moral condu6l among that clafs of fociety, to 
 which the labourer looks up with refpedl, would not be fufficient : 
 they want ftronger incitements, and a greater number of refpeclable 
 examples ; their immediate pay-maftcrs and employers are not fuf- 
 ficiently raifed above them, and too much mix with them in con- 
 cerns of intereft, to be refpefted as patrons j it is the hofpitable 
 country-gentleman, the refpe6led magiftrate, who underftands, and 
 is attentive to, their real interefts, that are wanted, as conftant 
 houfe-keepers, in the country : but the prefence of fuch at their 
 country-refidences cannot be commanded, and will not be volunta- 
 rily accorded, unlefs our huge overgrown metropolis, refembling 
 the poet's greatnefs, void of wifdom, fhould meet with the fame 
 
 fate, and 
 
 Fall by its own weight. 
 
 In the fame year as the two laft publications which have been 
 noticed made their appearance, there came alfo from the prefs an 
 anonymous treatife, called, A View of real Grievances, &c. in 
 which are a few juft and pointed remarks, founded on truth and 
 a(flual obfervation. " Many fmall country-villages can date the 
 commencement of poor-rates from the introdudion of public- 
 houfes, which corrupt the morals, impair the health, impoverifh 
 and reduce the poor to the greateft penury and diftrefs." But the 
 expenfes of government are fo enormous, that the excife is too con- 
 fiderable an object not to be encouraged at all events, and no tax 
 that fwells it will be taken off, to fave the lower clafs of people 
 from deftrudion. This writer is alfo of opinion, that the laws 
 
 relative
 
 LETTER XXIII. 169 
 
 relative to parifh-fettlements are a very confiderable caufe of the in- 
 creafe of the poor-rates. 
 
 Mr. Kent, in his Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property, is of 
 opinion, that the great increafe in the poor-rates arifes from the 
 rife in the value of the produce of land, which, he fays, is full 
 fixty per cent, and that the rife in the price of labour is not above 
 twenty. Another caufe is, the difadvantage the poor labour under 
 in carrying their penny to market : formerly they could buy their 
 butter and cheefe bf the farmer; now they are driven to the fhop- 
 keeper : they could formerly have their wheat ground ; they are 
 now driven to the miller and baker. The remedy he propofes is, 
 that gentlemen of fortune take on themfelves the fuperintendence 
 of country-bufinefs : let them a6l as guardians for the poor, reduce 
 the fize of farms, increafe the price of labour, and the induftrious 
 poor will find a fupport by fuch encouragement : but he profefles 
 he knows no law which can force people to be induftrious. 
 
 This affertion of Mr. Kent's, refpeiling the advanced price of 
 the produce of the land, compared with the advance of wages, de- 
 mands proof before it ought to be reafoned from as a principle j 
 and at prefent it ftands a mere gratis diSium^ as advanced by him. 
 Adam Smith goes more minutely into the queftion, which requires 
 a decided judgement before confequences are deduced from it. 
 The difadvantages the poor lie under in going with their penny 
 to market are great j but it is much to be doubted whether, at any 
 time, they could buy the produce of land immediately of the far- 
 mer, unlefs from their mafter : the quantity wanted by each indivi- 
 dual is too fmall, to fuppofe that the farmer could allow that 
 lofs of time which would be neceflary to deal to each one his 
 trifling dole ; and, if they lay in a ftock, wafte will make a greater 
 confumption in their earnings than the advanced price of the fhop- 
 keeper. 
 
 The firft edition of An Inquiry into the Nature and Caufes 
 of the Wealth of Nations appeared about this time ; a book uni- 
 
 Z verfally
 
 I 
 
 70 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 verfally commended for the folidity of its principle, the ckarnefs 
 and accuracy of reafoning it contains, and the fair inveftigation of 
 the fubjeft which the learned author treats of. Some opinions 
 which refpetSl: the poor, in this treatife, may, therefore, with pro- 
 priety, be taken as fo many aphorifms, and quoted as fuch, leaving 
 the reader to trace the dedudions this great writer has made in 
 his own volumes, if he doubts the principles of his judgement, 
 As the axioms, on the fubjedl of the poor, which can be col- 
 lefted from thefe volumes, are fcattered throughout the whole 
 work, they fhall be inferted, as they occur, in turning over the 
 pages of Adam Smith's moft luminous tracl on the Wealth of 
 Nations. 
 
 " A man muft always live by his work, and his wages muft 
 be, at leall, fufficient to maintain him j they muft even, upon 
 moft occafions, be fomething more, otherwife it would be im- 
 poflible for him to bring up a family, and the race of fuch 
 workmen would not laft beyond the firft generation." B.i. c. 8. 
 
 " In Great Britain the wages of labour feem to be evidently 
 more than what is precifely necelTary to bring up a family." 
 
 B.i. C.8. 
 
 " Lord-Chief- Juftice Hale, who wrote in the time of Charles the 
 Second, computes the neceflary expenfe of a labourer's family, con- 
 fifting of fix perfons, (the father and mother, two children able to 
 do fomething, and two not able,) at ten ftiillings a week, or twen- 
 ty-fix pounds a year." B. i. c. 8. 
 
 *• In 1668, Mr. Gregory King, whofe Ikill in political arith- 
 metic i^ fo much extolled by Dr. Davenant, computed the or- 
 dinary income of labourers and out-fervants to be fifteen pounds 
 a year to a family, which he fuppofed to confift, one with ano- 
 ther, of three and a half perfons : both fuppofe the weekly 
 expenfe of fuch families to be about twenty-pence a head." 
 B.i. c. 8. 
 
 " The
 
 LETTER XXni. ijri 
 
 *• The real recompenfe of labour, the real quantity of the ne- 
 ceflaries and conveniencies of life, which it can procure to the la- 
 bourer, has, during the courfe of the prefent century, increafed, 
 perhaps, in a ftill greater proportion than its money-price." The 
 foregoing maxims, with refpeft to the wages of labour, are ad- 
 mirably elucidated in chapter the 8th, book the ift, of this excel- 
 lent work. 
 
 " Since the time of Henry the Eighth, the wealth and revenue of 
 the country have been continually advancing ; and, in the courfe of 
 their progrefs, their pace feems rather to have been gradually acce- 
 lerated than retarded. The wages of labour have been continually 
 increafing during the fame period j and, in the greater part of the 
 different branches of trade and manufadures, the profits of ftock 
 have been diminifl^ing." B. i. c. 9. 
 
 ** A little grocer will make forty or fifty per cent, upon a ftock 
 of a fingle hundred pounds, while a confiderable merchant, in the 
 fame place, will fcarce make eight or ten per cent, on a ftock of ten 
 thoufand. The greater part of the apparent profit on a little ftock 
 is wages." B.i. c. 10.* 
 
 *' The produce of labour, which arifes from the leifure particular 
 employments allow of, comes frequently cheaper to market than 
 would otherwife be fuitable to its nature." B. i. c. 10. 
 
 " The property which every man has in his own labour, as it is 
 the original foundation of all other property, fo it is the moft facred 
 and inviolable." 6. i.e. 10. 
 
 •' In Great Britain, the wages of country-labour approach nearer 
 to thofe of manufadluring-labour, than they are faid to have done 
 in the laft century, or in the beginning of the prefent." B. i. c. 10. 
 
 " The very unequal price of labour which we frequently find in 
 England, in places at no great diftance from one another, is pro- 
 
 * By this is meant, payment to the little grocer for lols of time in retailing his com^ 
 modities in final! quantities. 
 
 Z 2 bably
 
 172 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 bably owing to the obftruflion which the law of fetlements gives 
 to a poor man, who would carry his induftry from one parifh to 
 another, without a certificate." B. i. c. lo. 
 
 " To remove a man who has committed no mifdemeanor from 
 the parifli where he choofes to refide, is an evident violation of na- 
 tural hberty and juftice. The common people of England, how- 
 ever, fo jealous of their liberty, but, Uke the common people of 
 other countries, never rightly underftand in what it confifts, have 
 now, for more than a century, fuffered themfelves to be expofed to 
 this oppreflion, without a remedy. Though men of refleflion alfo 
 have fometimes complained of the law of fettlements, as a public 
 grievance, yet it has never been the obje6t of any general popular 
 clamour, fuch as that againft general warrants ; an abufive pradlice, 
 undoubtedly, but fuch an one as was not likely to occafion any 
 general oppreflion." B. i. c. lo. 
 
 " The obflrudion, which corporation-laws give to the free cir- 
 culation of labour, is common to every part of Europe. That, 
 which is given to it by the poor-laws, is, fo far as I know, pecu- 
 liar to England ; it confifts in the difficulty in which a poor man 
 finds in obtaining a fettlement, or even in being allowed to ex- 
 crcife his induftry in any parifh but that to which he belongs." 
 B. i. c. lo. 
 
 " The complaint of workmen, that rating of wages by aft of 
 parliament puts the ableft and moft induftrious upon the fame 
 footing with an ordinary workman, feems perfectly well-founded." 
 B. i. c. lo. 
 
 " The money-price of coarfe cloth in the fifteenth century, 
 compared with the money-price at prefent, cloth is cheaper now 
 than formerly, and probably much better." B. i. c. ii. 
 
 *' The fame comparifon is made with refpefl to flockings, and 
 to the fame effeft : — a pair of ftockings for a poor fervant did 
 then coft as much as a buihel and a half of wheat." B. i. c. 1 1. 
 
 «' Neither
 
 LETTER XXIII. jj^ 
 
 " Neither wind nor water mills of any kind were known in 
 England fo early as the beginning of the fixteenth century." 
 B, I. c. 1 1. 
 
 This afTertion. cannot be intended to extend to corn-mills j and 
 yet, by the wording of the fentence, it extends to wind and water 
 mills of all kinds j it fhould, therefore, be qualified in a future 
 edition : water-mills mofl: certainly were in ufe before the conqueft, 
 although the firfl: inftance of the writ fe^a ad molendinum appears, 
 by Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium, to have ifTued in the 29th of 
 Edward the Third. 
 
 " All thofe improvements in the productive powers of labour, 
 which tend diredlly to reduce the real price of manufadlures, tend 
 indireftly to raife the real rent of land." B.i. c. 11. 
 
 " The whole annual produce of the land and labour of a coun- 
 try, or, what comes to the fame thing, the whole price of that an- 
 nual produce, naturally divides itfelf into three parts, the rent of 
 land, the wages of labour, and the profits of ftock, and conftitutes 
 a revenue to three different orders of people ; to thofe who live by 
 rent, to thofe who live by wages, and to thofe who live by profit." 
 B.i. c. II. 
 
 " The interefl of thofe who live by wages is as flriftly con- 
 ne6Ved with the interelt of the fociety as thofe who live by rent.'* 
 B. i.e. II. 
 
 '* The wages of the labourer are never fo high as when the de- 
 mand for labour is continually rifing, or when the quantity em- 
 ployed is every year increafing confiderably j when this real wealth 
 of the fociety becomes fVationary, his wages are foon reduced to 
 what is barely enough to enable him to bring up a family, or to 
 continue the race of labourers ; when the fociety declines, they 
 fall even below this." B.i. conclufion of c. 11. 
 
 " The proportion between the price of provifions in Scotland 
 and England is the fame now as before the great multiplication of 
 banking-companies in Scotland j and corn is, upon moft occafions, 
 
 full
 
 174 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 full as cheap in England as in France, although there is a great 
 deal of paper-money in England, and fcarce any in France," 
 6. ii. c. 2. 
 
 " It is not the number of ale-houfes which occafions a general 
 difpofition to drunkennefs among the common people; but that 
 dilpofition, arifing from other caufes, neceflarily gives employ- 
 ment to a number of ale-houfes." B. ii. c. 5. 
 
 " The money-price of corn regulates that of all other home- 
 made commodities ; it regulates the money-price of labour, which 
 muft always be fuch as to enable the labourer to purchafe a quan- 
 tity of corn fufficient to maintain him and his family, either in the 
 liberal, moderate, or fcanty, manner, in which the advancing, fta- 
 tionary, or dechning, circumftances of the fociety oblige his em- 
 ployers to maintain him." B. iv. c. 5. 
 
 •' The real value of every other commodity is finally meafured 
 and determined by the proportion which its average money-price 
 bears to the average money-price of corn." B. 4. c. 5. 
 
 " A tax on the neceffaries of life operates exadlly as a dired tax 
 on the wages of labour." B. v. c. 2. 
 
 " But it is different with taxes on luxuries, even on thofe of the 
 poor; although thefe might fomewhat increafe the diftrefs of difor- 
 derly families, and thereby diminifli fomewhat of their ability to 
 bring up children, they would not, probably, diminish much the 
 population of the country," B. v. c. 2. 
 
 •• Under neceffaries, the author comprehends not only thofe 
 things which nature, but thofe alfo which the eftablifhed rules of 
 decency, have made necefiary to the poor j as linen, foap, leather 
 flioes, in England: all other things he calls luxuries, without 
 meaning to throw the fmalleft reproach on the temperate ufe of 
 them, fuch as beer, ale, tobacco, te^ fugar, fpirituous liquors.-' 
 B. Va c. 2. 
 
 LETTER
 
 I 
 
 *r 
 
 5 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 FROM the date of thefe laft-mentioned publications, no other 
 tra6l of any notice appeared, until Mr. Gilbert's exertions 
 in the Houfe of Commons again roufed the public attention to 
 this important object. The fchedule of inquiries tranfmitted by 
 the Houfe to all the magiftrates, the clergy, church-wardens, and 
 overfeers of the poor, throughout England and Wales, compelled 
 a fcrutiny into that fubjed ; which, having been the concern of 
 every one, had become the care of no one. The refult of the in- 
 quiry alarmed the public, and their minds were agitated on two 
 very important conliderations : the firft was, the extent of the 
 €vili a fa6t eftablifhed by the returns required by the legiflature 
 to the queftions alked ; it appearing, that a fum exceeding two 
 millions was expended annually for the relief of the poor; and. 
 that this fum had increafed by hafty ftrides, being an excefs of 
 nearly one-third of the total expended on the fame account eight 
 years before. The other point, on which the public attention 
 refted, was the plan propofed by Mr. Gilbert to remedy this 
 alarming evil. Several publications appeared on this topic, which, 
 in general, condemned the means propofed, allowing, at the fame 
 time, every merit of good intention to the propofer. Thofe traiSls 
 which paffed the prefs, for the purpofe only of criticifing Mr. 
 Gilbert's plan, may be paffed over in filence, unlefs they eluci- 
 date fome principle on the fubje6t of the laws or management 
 of the poor. But, before thefe publications are noticed, it may 
 be proper to give a fummary abftrad of the bill which Mr. Gilbert 
 offered to the legiflature of his country, to be paffed into a law, and 
 which he introduced to the attention of the public by a pertinent 
 and fenfible pamphlet, well calculated to explain the evils he 
 
 wifhed
 
 176 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 wiftied principally to regulate, and the means by which he intended 
 to corred them. 
 
 The bill, by its preamble, dated the fad that gives rife to the 
 regulations propofed : •• That the rates and afleffments for the em- 
 ployment and relief of the poor have, for many years, been greatly 
 increafmg ; notwithftanding wliich, many fick and impotent per- 
 fons are left to peri/h, or endure great neceflities, for want of 
 timely and efFedual affiftance j and others, who are healthy and 
 able to work, are not properly employed, but are permitted to 
 contrad habits of idlenefs, and at length to become vagrants and 
 thieves." 
 
 It then proceeds to ftate the remedy, intended to be pafTed into a 
 law by the legiflature, viz. the uniting and incorporating feveral 
 pariflies, for the purpofe of maintaining and employing their poor, 
 upon one common fund, under the diredlion and fuperintendence of 
 gentlemen of charaiSler and fortune, refiding in or near fucli pa- 
 riflies, and employing permanent and able officers and agents for the 
 purpofe. 
 
 This method the preamble dates to have been found, by experi- 
 ence, better to anfwer the purpofe than any other mode.* 
 
 The enadling-claufes contain the means propofed to carry this fyf- 
 tem into execution. The following are the heads of thofe claufes 
 very briefly ftated : 
 
 Juftices at quarter-feffions to appoint a day for choofing commif- 
 fioners, who are to take an oath prefcribed, and choofe a chairman, 
 and appoint a clerk and two agents, and receive information on 
 oath from high-conftables, church-wardens, overfeers, &c. and 
 Ihall unite the parishes into .diftinft diftrids, not exceeding thir- 
 teen pariflies in a diftri(5t, nor lefs than three ; but their powers 
 
 ♦ The experience alluded to, moft probably, was colleiSed from the inflances of the 
 incorporated houfes of induftrjr iu Suffolk, Norfolk, and elfewhere, throughout the 
 kingdom. ' 
 
 ingdc 
 
 fhall
 
 LETTER XXIV. 177 
 
 fliall not extend into any diftridl whofe poor are provided for under 
 any fpecial aft of parliament. 
 
 Thefe commiflioners fliall appoint not more than forty, nor lefs 
 than twenty, committee-men in each diftri6t j .fhall limit their 
 qualification by eflatej and fhall fix the falary to be paid to the 
 diftrid-agent ; and the committee-men fhall be chofen by fuch as 
 are qualified in a manner required by the commiflioners, who fhall 
 alfo make a report of what they have done, in this refpeft, to the 
 jufl:ices of the peace of their refpe6tive 'counties ; and fhall deliver 
 fuch reports to the clerk of the peace, which fliall be printed, 
 and a copy fent to every acting-jufl:ice of the peace, and to every 
 high-conftable ; and the raagifl:rates, at their quarter- feflions, fhall 
 pay, out of the county-money, the commiflioners their reafonable 
 expenfes. 
 
 If two- thirds of the perfons, qualified to be difl:rI£l:-committee- 
 men, are of opinion to adopt the provifions of the ad for in- 
 corporating the diftridl, that diflri6t (hall then be declared in- 
 corporated, and fliall proceed to ballot for a committee, and ele(5t 
 overfeers. 
 
 The overfeers are to return, on oath, the names of fuch as are 
 qualified to be balloted for as committee-men. The mode of bal- 
 loting is defcribed, and fubjefted to certain regulations. The com- 
 mittee-men, when ele£led, are to take an oath to execute the trufl 
 repofed in them impartiaUy. 
 
 When the major part of the diflrifts have adopted the provifions 
 of the act, it fhall be declared efl:abliflied throughout the whole 
 county or riding. 
 
 The diftri(fl-committee-men are, empowered to appoint a diflridl- 
 agent ; they are to forfeit for non-attendance j and each difl:ri(ft is 
 to be a corporation. 
 
 All the clergy are qualified to be chofen committee-men for the 
 diftrift in which they do duty, for the time being, although not 
 poflTeflTed of the qualification by eftate. 
 
 A a New
 
 178 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 New committee-men to be elefted every year. 
 
 Parifhes are to choofe three overfeers, in the manner prefcribed 
 by the bill, from whom the committee are to fix on one, who is to 
 be allowed a falary j and, from the time of the appointment of fuch 
 new overfeers, the duty of the old ones is to ceafe. 
 
 The duty of the new overfeers is to inquire into the condi- 
 tion of the work-houfes, and of the poor, within their refpec- 
 tire parifhes; and to make a report thereof to the diftri6l- agent, 
 and alfo of all alterations that may happen in any particular ; and 
 to obey the orders and commands of the diftridt-agent or the dif- 
 tridl-committee. 
 
 The diftridl-agent is to lay fuch reports before the diftrift-com- 
 mittee ; and to inform himfelf of all particulars with refpe6V to 
 the condition of the poor, as to their maintenance, employment, 
 &c. which he fhall alfo report to the di£tri(5t-committee at every 
 meeting. 
 
 The property of all work-houfes fhall be vefled in the diftridl- 
 committee, with all the furniture, ftock, and inflruments of trade, 
 which have been bought and fupported by the poor's rates and 
 afTefTments: — which work-houfes, &c. they may fell and difpofe 
 of, and the money arifing from the fale to be applied in aid of the 
 poor's rates. 
 
 And the diflricl-committee are empowered to ere6l houfes of in- 
 duftry where they cannot purchafe or hire convenient buildings 
 for that purpole ; and alfo to purchafe or hire land, and to con- 
 trad: for wafte or common grounds, with the confent of the lord of 
 the manor. 
 
 The diflridl-committee to become additional truflees of any fums 
 of money, left in trufl, to be laid out in the purchafe of lands 
 for any infants, lunatics, idiots, &c. in cafe the fame fhall ex- 
 ceed the fum of 20/. until fuch fums of money are laid out in the 
 purchafe of lands ; and the money, in the mean time, fhall be 
 laid out in the public funds, in the names of two or more per- 
 
 fonSj
 
 LETTER XXIV. 179 
 
 Ions, one to be named by the perfons interefted, and the other 
 by the diftiift-committee, or any ten of them ; and the inte- 
 reft, in the mean time, to be appUed to the ufe of the perfons 
 interefted. 
 
 As foon as the houfe of induftry fhall be fitted up, and furnifhed, 
 for the reception of the poor, in the manner dire6led by the ad:, 
 no poor perfon is to receive any pay, penfion, or relief, except in 
 cafes of violent ficknefs or fudden accidents. 
 
 Where, by the laws now in force, magiftrates are empowered to 
 proceed, on the complaint of the overfsers of the poor, with re- 
 fped to any baftard-child, they are then to proceed on the complaint 
 of the diftricl-committee. 
 
 The diftri6t-committee is empowered to apply what fums of mo- 
 ney they may occafionally think proper towards paying the weekly 
 contributions of fuch of the poor as are engaged in clubs and friend- 
 ly focieties, for eftablifhing funds, by weekly contributions, to their 
 relief and fupport when difabled by ficknefs or accidents, and alfo 
 for the purpofe of paying teachers, and providing books, for the 
 inftrudion of children at Sunday-fchools. The diftridt-commit- 
 tee is alfo required to provide a fchool for the education of poor 
 children. 
 
 Every diftricl- agent fnall, with the afTiftance of the clerk of the 
 diflrift, keep, in a book, an exadl account of all expenfes at- 
 tending building, furnifhing, and providing ftores and utenfils for 
 the houfe of induflry, and of the maintenance' of the people re- 
 fiding therein, and of all other expenfes refpe6ling the poor, and 
 fhall lay a flate of fuch expenfes eveiy month before the commit- 
 tee; and ihall, in order to fix a proper meafure of diflribution from 
 the pariflies within the difl:ri<SV, procure an account of the medium- 
 expenfes of the poor of every parifh, within the years 1783, 1784, 
 and 1785, for which returns have been made to parliament, and lay 
 the fame before the committee, who ai-e to infpedl and examine 
 i'uch returns, and make them as perfed; as poflible : and, to that 
 
 A a 2 " purpofe.
 
 ,8o LETTER XXIV. 
 
 purpofe, they fliall be empowered to fummon before them fuch 
 perfons as have been parifh-officers for thofe years, and all other 
 perfons who can give them information on the fubjed, who are to 
 attend, and anfwer all queftions relative to the fubjeft, on oath, 
 under pain of commitment for non-attendance, and of indidlment 
 for perjury if they fpeak falfely. 
 
 After the provifions of the a6l are adopted within any diftri6l, the 
 fums to be annually raifed for the relief and maintenance of the 
 poor fliall not, in any parifli, exceed the annual fum fo raifed 
 therein upon the medium of the faid three years. The diftrid- 
 agent fliall alfo, at the end of every quarter of a year, a week at 
 leafl: before the meeting of the next monthly committee, make an 
 accurate account of the expenditure within the faid quarter, and 
 lay it before the faid committee, that they may be enabled to make 
 an order for the levying the poor's rates j and the diflridt-agent 
 fliall alfo fettle the quota of each parifli, and lay the fame before 
 the committee for their allowance, which fliall be notified to the 
 overfeers of the pariih, who are to aflTefs and coiled: the fame, and 
 pay it to the diftridl- agent. 
 
 And, to raife money for buildings, &c. the committee may bor- 
 row a fum not exceeding four years poor-rates, and aflign over the 
 buildings, &c. and all or any part of the poor-rates, as fecurity for 
 the principal borrowed and interefl:. 
 
 No fees or perquifites fliall be received for any bufinefs done, by- 
 virtue of this ad; by any agent, overfeer, clerk, or others. The 
 appeal to the poor's rates to be to the quarter-fefllons. 
 
 If any diftrid-agent, or overfeer, on requifition from the diftrid- 
 committee to come to account, fliall refufe fo to do, he fliall be 
 committed to the common gaol for a fpace not exceeding fix calen- 
 dar-months, or until he complies. All penalties inflided by the 
 ad fliall be recoverable before one jufl:ice of the peace. 
 
 Thefe are the heads of all the material claufes in Mr. Gilbert's 
 bill i there are fome others which relate to the interior regulation 
 
 of
 
 LETTER XXIV. i8i 
 
 of the houfes of induftry, and alfo two fchedules of the rules, 
 orders, by-laws, and regulations, which are referred to by the a6l j 
 but the whole plan itfelf, a plan of that magnitude, as to involve 
 in it confequences, immediately affeding the liberty and comforts 
 of not lefs than fix millions of our fellow-fubje6ls, and a conlide- 
 rable part of the property of the remainder of our countrymen, 
 was overturned, on a motion for the fecond reading of the bill, by 
 a divifion of the Houfe of Commons, of thirty-four members who 
 were againft the bill, to ten who were for it ; only forty- four 
 members being prefent. 
 
 Mr. Acland's plan, for rendering the poor independent on public 
 contribution, (lands next in order of time, having made its appear- 
 ance in 1786. 
 
 The mode, after Mr. Gilbert's bill failed, he offers to fecure that 
 independence to the poor, which, he profefTes to hold out to them, 
 is the eflablifhment, throughout that part of the kingdom fubjedl 
 to the poor-laws, of a general fociety, on the principle of the 
 box-clubs ; by which the members become entitled to a certain 
 weekly falary, during licknefs or incapacity to work, through ac- 
 cident or old age, on the payment of a certain fum of money 
 weekly. 
 
 Another part of the plan he offers, is to fecure to the poor their 
 natural right of earning their bread where they are beft able to do 
 it, by abrogating the laws refpefting fettlements. 
 
 The only obfervation I fliall at prefent venture on this fubje6l 
 is, that box-clubs have been in many places voluntarily inftituted 
 by the poor themfelves ; and experience has proved fuch inftitutions 
 beneficial j and that what has in many places been done volun- 
 tarily might, without injuflice, become obligatory to all ; more 
 efpecially if fuch obligation was counter-balanced by their recover- 
 ing the liberty they have by nature, and which ought not to be 
 taken from them by the laws of fociety, — of getting their bread 
 where they beft are able. 
 
 An
 
 i82 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 An anonymous pamphlet, introducing a flcetch of a bill for the 
 relief and employment of the poor, appeared the fame year Mr. 
 Gilbert's introdudiory plan was publiftied. 
 
 The writer reduces the complaints to two heads ; firft, the great 
 niifapplication of the parifli- money j fecondly, the general negled of 
 the parifli-officers in employing the poor. He alfo affirmSj 'that an 
 increafe of the impotent poor, beyond a certain proportion, is an 
 impoflibility, except in cafe of a peftilential difeafe: therefore he is 
 of opinion, that the increafe of the poor, which is fo much talked 
 of, is mere found, and fignifies nothing. He alfo fays, that the 
 only proper objedls of charity among the poor are thofe who would 
 work, but are not able. 
 
 The a61: he propofes is revifionary of the forty-third ftatute of 
 Elizabeth j the fpirit of which is to be the main obje<ft of the ad: 
 propofed } and only fuch of the regulations in the other ftatutes 
 are to be adopted as have a manifeft tendency to the fame prin- 
 ciples ; but the adi he propofes is, at the fame time, undoubtedly 
 •vijionary, for it is to execute itfelf; that is, it muft leave nothing to 
 the difcretion of thofe who are empowered to execute it. 
 
 thoughts on the Caufe of the hicreafe of the Poor, 1787. This pam- 
 phlet afferts, that the increafing burthen of the poor's rate arifes 
 from the abforption of fmaller farms in greater, and by depriving 
 the poor labourer of a portion of land round his cottage. Whether 
 fuch an eifeil could arife from fuch caufes, if they univerfally took 
 place, (hall not now be agitated, becaufe it is apprehended the 
 faCbs are by no means general -y but the increment of the poor's rate 
 is univerfal ; and as confiderable in thofe parifhes where the fmaller 
 farms have not been abforbed by the greater, and where the cot- 
 tager has not been deprived of his garden, as where thefe circum- 
 llances ba'ue taken place. 
 
 Mr. Gqdfchall, in his general plan of parochial and provincial 
 police, complains, and with much reafon, of the negligent execu- 
 tion of the poor-laws, and with great truth and propriety inveighs 
 
 againll
 
 LETTER XXIV. 183 
 
 againft the fwarm of ale-houfes that infeft all our towns, and de- 
 prave and impoverini the laboiuing poor. This pamphlet was 
 publiflied in 1787. 
 
 The Rev, Jofeph Townfend, of Pewfey, in Wiltfliire, tells ns 
 that the poor-laws, fo beautiful in theory, promote the evils they 
 mean to remedy, and aggravate the diftrefs they were meant to 
 relieve. 
 
 " They are not only unjuft, oppreflive, and impolitic, but pro- 
 ceed on principles which border on abfurdity ; becaufe they fay, 
 that in England no man, even by his indolence, improvidence, 
 prodigality, and vice, fhall fuffer want." 
 
 He fays alfo, that the diftrefs of the poor does not arife from the 
 high price of corn, foap, leather, candles, fait, fee, as will appear 
 from the high price of labour, which has advanced in the propor- 
 tion of fix to four within a century ; and, for this affertion, refers 
 to Sir Wilham Petty. 
 
 That, under the prefent fyftem, the mafter muft either connive 
 at the negledts of his fervants, or maintain them without work ; 
 that the laws difcourage improvements in agriculture ; wafte-lands 
 would otherwife be tilled, as they are exempted from the claims 
 of the church feven years, but not from the demands of the poor j 
 that a fixed and certain provifion for the poor weakens the fpring 
 of induftry. 
 
 The law of fettlements has reftrained the poor to their own 
 parilhes, where they are regarded with an evil eye, and has pre- 
 vented them going elfewhere, where they would be received with 
 joy i parifli-workhoufes difarm the magiftrate, and intimidate the 
 poor; badging the poor is alfo ftrongly reprobated; county-work- 
 houfes are liable to ftill ftronger objections ; and farming the poor 
 is the top of the climax of oppreffion and abfurdity. 
 
 Such is Mr. Townfend's Philippic on the prefent fyflem of the 
 poor-laws, contained in a publication which made its appearance 
 in 1787, in which are many very feftfible obfervations on the fub- 
 
 jea;
 
 i84 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 je6tj although it is conceived, that very few of thofe, who are in the 
 pradice of experiencing the execution of the fyftem, will join in 
 fuch an unqualified invedlive. 
 
 The reform propofed is, to abolifh the whole fyftem of compul- 
 five charity; to promote voluntary contributions, as in the early 
 days of Chriftianity ; to encourage induftry, economy, and fub- 
 ordination ; and to regulate population, by the demand for labour ; 
 to eftablifli work-fliops in every parifli, to train children to ufeful 
 labour ; to caufe friendly focieties to be eftablifhed and regulated by 
 the legiflature ; and, as long as it fliall be expedient, to retain a 
 given proportion of the poor's rates, the difpofal of which ftiould be 
 wholly at the difcretion of the minifter, church-wardens, and over- 
 feers, fubje<ft only to the orders of a veftry ; to lay a tax on horfes, 
 to drive farmers to ufe oxen, which v/ill increafe the quantity of 
 food for the poor; to inclofe commons, and relieve the poor by 
 voluntary contributions. 
 
 The Rev. T. Haweis, redor of Aldwinkle, All-Saints, in 1788, 
 offered a plan to the public, under the title of " Hints refped:ing 
 the Poor, fubmitted to the Confideration of the Humane and Intel- 
 ligent." He recommends box-clubs, to which the poor fhall all be 
 obliged to contribute, not lefs than one thirty-fixth, nor more than 
 one twenty-fourth, of their earnings; all menial fervants and young 
 unmarried people, to pay one eighteenth of their wages and earn- 
 ings ; and every occupier of lands and tenements, to pay one twen- 
 tieth of his rent; the minifter, church-vi^ardens, and overfeers, to 
 be a body-corporate for the management of the fund, and to have 
 affociated with them a perfon chofen by the poor, who contribute 
 to the fund; the payments to be made by weekly contributions, and 
 mafters to be refponfible for the quota of their fervants and la- 
 bourers ; and each parifti to be diftinft from any other, and no 
 aflbciation of counties, hundreds, or diftricts. From this fund the 
 poor are to be relieved, with a fum not above four (hillings a week, 
 at the difcretion of the body-cforporate, without interference of a 
 
 magiftrate ;
 
 LETTER XXV. 185 
 
 maglftratej but, in particular cafes, where the ertablifl^ed rate of 
 relief is not fufRcient, the minifter, during divine- fervice, is to 
 mention the particular cafe to the congregation, and the church- 
 wardens to collect for that particular cafe a free benevolence. 
 
 Begging to be reftrained by a penalty on the giver to thofe who 
 beg, and fettlements to beabolifliedi but whoever migrates muft 
 give to the parifh-officers an account of what parifh he removed 
 from, and where he paid his laft contribution ; and, if the officers 
 of the parifh do not choofe to admit him as a parifliioner, they 
 muft give to the officers of the parifli, where he laft contributed to 
 the parifti-fund, a memorandum or note, promifing to pay them 
 the portion of his earnings j and, in fuch cafe, he fhall continue a 
 parifliioner of the parifti whence he migrated. 
 
 All baftard-children to be deemed parifhioners where their mo- 
 thers are fettled j but the fathers liable, as at prefent, to maintain 
 them. 
 
 Such are the general heads of this plan, the minute organiza- 
 tions of which are not necefTary to be noticed in the curfory view 
 which is meant to be taken of thefe publications ; the author alfo 
 compares the fum of the proportion of contributions, propofed to be 
 raifed by his plan, with the amount now levied by the poor's rate 
 in his parifti, to fhew the advantage and facility of the fcheme pro- 
 pofed ; and adds fome well-founded remarks and fenfible reafons in 
 fupport of his propofals. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 SOON after the fecond reading of Mr. Gilbert's bill was put ofF, 
 Jne diey in the Houfe of Commons, William Young, Efq. now 
 Sir William Young, Bart, member of parliament for St. Mawe's^ 
 
 B b brought
 
 im LETTER XXV. 
 
 brought In a bill, which he had previoufly Introduced to the notice 
 of the pubHc, by a pamphlet, entitled " Obfervations Preliminary 
 to a propofed Amendment of the Poor-Laws ;" which publication 
 was correfted and enlarged in a fecond edition, whence a fhort 
 fummary of the principal heads of the a6t he propofed fhall be 
 taken. 
 
 The preamble ftates, that many poor perfons become chargeable 
 for want of employment where they are fettled 3 who, if permitted 
 to inhabit elfe where, would not be chargeable. 
 
 Therefore be it enabled, that no perfon be removed to his place 
 of fettlement, until he be aflually chargeable. 
 
 Provided that fuch perfon attends the fummons of two ma- 
 giftrates, and makes oath of his laft legal fettlement j otherwife he 
 fhall be removed to his fettlement, It being afcertained by other 
 means ; and attefted copies of fuch examination fhall be given to 
 the parifh-ofRcers of the parifh into which fuch pauper is come to 
 refide, and to the pauper himfelf, which fhall be admitted as 
 evidence of his laft legal fettlement in all courts, &c. 
 
 Refidence ten years in any parifh, without being chargeable 
 either to the parifh in which they refide or to that where their legal 
 fettlement was, fhall obtain a fettlement in fuch parifh for a pauper 
 and his children. 
 
 No perfon, from the date of the acH:, to gain a fettlement by pay- 
 ing taxes, by fervlce, nor by apprentlcefhip, unlefs with confent of 
 the parifh-officers, fignified in writing; but this adl to have no 
 rctrofpe(5live view. 
 
 Baftards are to be fettled with their mother. 
 
 Overfeers removing a pauper are to be reimburfed by the parifh 
 to which he belongs : reafonable charges of maintenance and re- 
 moval to be fettled by one magiftrate. 
 
 All contrafts for maintaining the poor, allowed by the 9th of 
 George II. to be void, and fo much of that a6l to be repealed; 
 but contracts for the maintenance of poor children above the age 
 
 of
 
 LETTER XXV. 187 
 
 of feven to the age of feventecn, with the confent of the veftry and 
 the parents of the children, fhall be valid. 
 No publican fhall be a parifh-officer. 
 
 The overfeers, &c. fhall give a true account to two juftices every 
 fix months, at flated times, of all ware, implements, tools, &c. 
 for fetting the poor to work; and alfo of all materials and fluff 
 manufactured ; and fuch juflices are empowered to order the over- 
 feers to purchafe other ware, implements, and tools, out of the 
 money colledled by the poor's rates j which order they mufl obey 
 under a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. 
 
 The overfeers are to regifler in a book, the names, fex, age, if 
 married or not, — and children, their names, fex, and age, — of all 
 poor perfons receiving relief; and fhall produce this book twice a 
 year, at flated times, to two juflices, at their petty-fefhoas, under 
 the fame penalty. 
 
 Two juflices, at fuch fpecial feffions, are to be empowered to 
 order the overfeers to bind out any poor children they think proper; 
 but no perfon, unlefs living in the place of his legal fettlement, is 
 compelled to take fuch apprentice. 
 
 A veflry fhall be empowered to fix a rate of wages, from the 
 30th of November to the 28th of February, which a majority of 
 them fhall agree on, to be paid to fuch poor people as cannot find 
 work, and to fend them round in rotation to the parifliioners, pro- 
 portionally as they pay to the rates; to be employed and paid, in 
 the proportion of two-thirds by the perfon employing, and one- 
 third by the parifh-officers, out of the rates ; which proportion, if 
 any parilhioner refufc to pay, a juflice of the peace fhall levy treble 
 the amount. 
 
 A fuperintending-overfeer, with a falary, may be appointed for a 
 parifh, hundred, or divifion, by two juflices, at their petty-feflions; 
 the falary to be paid by the overfeers of the refpedlive parifhes out 
 of the money colledled by the rates; the duty of fuch overfeers is 
 defcribed at large in the bill -, and power is alfo given to the ma- 
 
 B b 2 giflrates
 
 i88 LETTER XXV. 
 
 giftrates to remove him for mifbehaviour, and he fhall alfo be 
 liable to a penahy not exceeding ten pounds for every offence ; and 
 no perfon is to obftru6l him in his office under a limilar penalty. 
 
 The penalties levied, by virtue of this bill, to be paid one half to 
 the informant, and one half to the overfeers of the parifli where the 
 offence fhall be committed. 
 
 An appeal to the feflions given to perfons aggrieved. 
 
 Sir William Young's preliminary obfervations to this bill con- 
 tain much inflruftive matter, and prove, that the mover of the 
 bill well underftood the fubjedl he brought forward to the con- 
 fideration of the Houfe j the attention his pamphlet, at the time 
 of its publication, attracted, was fuch a tefl of its merits, as to oc- 
 cafion a wifh that the limits of this tradl would permit a recital 
 of the greatefl part of its contents j but, as the fincerity of unqua- 
 lified praife is always fufpicious, it will therefore better become the 
 writer of thefe pages to mention an inflance or two in which it is 
 prefumed Sir William Young has drawn a conclufion that the pre- 
 mifes flated by him will not warrant. 
 
 He fays, in page 23, that an avidity to increafe income has intro- 
 duced the inclofare of commons and waftes, which has tended to 
 increafe the poor's rates ; and inftances fix parifhes in Buckingham- 
 fliire, which were not inclofed in 1776, when the aggregate of the 
 poor's rates in thofe parifhes was 756/. i6j. \d. but were inclofed 
 in 1786, when the aggregate amounted to 1485/. 3^.} therefore he 
 concludes, that inclofmg waftes increafes the poor-rates. 
 
 By the abflrad of the returns made by the overfeers, prefented 
 by order of the committee, the expenfes of a great number of 
 parifhes have increafed in a fimilar ratio between the two periods 
 of 1776 and 1785, where there has been no inclofure of wafte, 
 equally as in thefe fix parifhes where inclofures have been made j 
 therefore one fadl oppofes and deltroys the other, coufequently no 
 fuch conclufion can be drawn. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XXV. 189 
 
 The confolidatlon of farms, which this enlightened fenator ftates 
 to have arifen from the neceflity that part of the landed intereft, 
 who fpend their time in our luxurious metropolis, feel to increafe 
 their incomes, is alleged as another caufe of our increafed ex- 
 penfes with refpedl to the poor ; but the inftance brought to elu- 
 cidate the alTertion is not in point ; nor is it the pra6lice, when one 
 farm is increafed to five hundred pounds a year by the confolida- 
 tion of ten fmall ones of fifty, to pull down nine farm-houfes j 
 but, on the contrary, to put labourers into them ; and the flock 
 of the ten farms, which, when in the hands of ten little farmers, 
 probably did not amount to two thoufand pounds, increafes in the 
 hands of a capital farmer, of five hundred a year, to at leaft double 
 the amount ; and, where there is the greateft flock, there will be, 
 ceteris paribus, the greateft employment: but this argument has 
 been fo ably handled by other pens, as to require no afTiftance I can 
 give it j thus much, however, is certain, that where a confolida- 
 tlon of fmall farms proceeds to that excefs, as to preclude the la- 
 bourer's expe6lation of raifing himfelf in the v/orld, — honeft am- 
 bition, the bell fpur to induilry, is nipped in the bud. 
 
 The public had already received, from the pen of the Rev. Mr. 
 Howlett, vicar of Great Dunmow, ElTex, feveral trails on the regula- 
 ■. tion of the internal police of the kingdom ; more particularly on the 
 , fubje6l which has juft been mentioned, as glanced at by Sir William 
 Young, viz. the effefls arifing from inclofures j which this very 
 accurate invefligator, and minute inquirer into faiSls, flates to have 
 been, improved agriculture, plenty and cheapnefs of provifion, 
 population, private and national wealth. In 1788, he turned his 
 attention to the caufes of the increafe of the poor, and produced a 
 pamphlet, entitled, " The Infufnciency of the Caufes to which the 
 Increafe of the Poor, and of the Poor's Rates, have been com- 
 monly afcribed : the true one ftated, with an Inquiry into the 
 .Mortality of Country-Houfes of Induftry, and a flight View of 
 Mr. Acland's Plan, for rendering the Poor independent." 
 
 Fout
 
 J90 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Four principal caufes, Mr. Howlett fays, have been afligned for 
 the increafe of the poor, and of the expenfes for maintaining them: 
 ift. Our injudicious fyftem of poor's laws, and their defe£tive exe- 
 cution } 2d, the great number of ale-houfes j 3d, the growing 
 wickednefs and profligacy of the poor ; 4th, the ingrofling of 
 farms. — The firfl: caufe has been alligned by Mr. Townfend and 
 Mr. Gilbert, whofe arguments and conclufions Mr. Howlett attacks, 
 and then draws an inference ; that, " upon, the whole, though 
 our poor-laws may be imperfedl, and their execution defedlive ; we 
 have yet been prefented with no fatisfa6lory proof that any of thefe 
 deficiences are fo great as to have caufed that rapid increafe of our 
 poor and of our poor-rates, which have taken place ;" and he is of 
 opinion, before we afcribe thefe evils to the fpirit of our laws, or 
 their execution, we fliould inquire how the matter ftands in other 
 kingdoms of Europe, where no fuch laws exift ; — he gives an in- 
 ftance of a parifh in Edinburgh ; another in Glafgow j where the 
 expenfes for the maintenance of the poor have increafed very con- 
 fiderablyj and concludes this head of his inquiry with extracts from 
 fome letters of Monf. Pataud, vicar of the parifh of Paterne, in 
 the city of Orleans, which ftate the population of that city at fifty 
 thoufand perfons, of whom one-third receive charitable affiftance ; 
 and that there is coUedied, by various means, and expended for 
 their maintenance, about fifteen thoufand pounds a year, and many, 
 neverthelefs, perifh for want. From information contained in 
 thefe letters, Mr, Howlett alfo concludes that five millions fterling 
 are raifed for the poor throughout the kingdom of France j and 
 then aiks if England cannot raife two millions better than France 
 can five ? 
 
 In the fecond fe£lion, he exprefles his doubts of Mr. Godfchall's 
 opinion of the faft, that ale-houfes are much increafed in number 
 throughout the kingdom ; and conceives, on the contrary, that the 
 number is confiderably decreafed ; at leaft they are fo in the hun- 
 dred of Hinckford, in the county of EiTex j therefore he concludes, 
 
 as
 
 LETTER XXV. 191 
 
 as far as ale-houfes are concerned, if the reafoning alluded to be 
 juft, our poor's rates ought to have been gradually diminifhed. 
 
 In the third fedion, the wickednefs and profligacy of the poor 
 are confidered : the increment of which the author does not, upon 
 the whole, confider as equal to the increment of their expenfes or 
 aftual diftrefs ; although he acknowledges that there are fome con- 
 fiderations which incline him to think, that there is really a greater 
 degree of moral depravity and a greater frequency of vice among 
 our poor than there were formerly} but this increafe he, with 
 great humanity, argues to have been the confequence of their po- 
 verty, not the caufe of it. In the purfuit of this inveftigation 
 he takes notice of, and treats with no great refpe6t, the opinions 
 of Mr. Firmin, Mr. Locke, Lord-Chief- J uftice Hale, Sir Jofiah 
 Child, Mr. Defoe, Mr. Godfchall, and others, who, refpeftively, 
 at different times, from 1678 to the prefent period, have declared 
 themfelves of opinion, that the relaxation of difcipline and cor« 
 ruption of manners have occaiioned a general averfion to honeft 
 employment. 
 
 The queftion, whether the abforption of fmaller farms in larger 
 has tended to increafe the number of poor and their expenfes } oc- 
 cupies the fourth fe6lion. Mr. Howlett enters fully into the fub- 
 jeft i and proves, by fair dedudion of argument, that, allowing 
 the number of labouring-families to be increafed, by the fmall 
 farmers being reduced to labourers, to the amount of even forty 
 or fifty thoufand, yet, as the call for labour in hulbandry has, 
 by the fame means, been increafed, and the number of poor 
 added to the total being not a hundredth part, it will, at the 
 moft, allow for an increment of expenfe amounting to ten thou- 
 fand pounds a year. To prove this, thefe fadls are fl-ated : — 
 ift, that the number of labourers, forty years ago, was five mil- 
 lions; 2d, that the poor coft the kingdom, at that time, a mil- 
 lion fterling i and that the pra6lice of engroffing farms may have 
 converted farmers' families into labourers to the amount of forty 
 
 or
 
 ,92 LETTER XXV. 
 
 or fifty thoufand. Mr. Howlett gives every commendation to the 
 ingenious manner in which the Editor of the Annals of Agricul- 
 ture has treated this fubjeft, in vol. vii. p. 516. — Having, in 
 the firft part, offered his obje6lion to the caufes afTigned by many 
 eminent men, who have given their opinion on this fubje6l:, as 
 beino- inadequate to the efFe6t attributed to them ; he proceeds, 
 in the fecond feftlon, to flate what appears to him akrr- fufficient 
 to have raifed the expenfes of the poor much higher than they have 
 rifen, to place them in a fituation equally comfortable with what 
 they pofTefTed forty or fifty years ago, '* This is none other than, that 
 the price of labour has not advanced in proportion to the advance in the 
 price cf provifions." 
 
 To detail the train of arguments followed by our well-informed 
 and ingenious inveftigator, would extend this part of the prefent 
 inquiry to too great a length ; and, to mutilate arguments, where 
 one doubts of their folidity, would not be candid : let it fufHce, 
 therefore, to drop the fubjecl at prefent, dating only the refult 
 of the author's opinion, in his own words : — " Upon the whole, 
 there is a long and uniform chain of evidence to eftablifh our 
 main point, that the increafmg miferies and expenfes of the 
 poor have been owing to the greater advance in the price of 
 provifions, either gradual, or fudden and temporary, than in the 
 price of labour." 
 
 In the next fe6lion, Mr. Howlett conceives it neceiTary to obviate 
 a very natural conclufion from the doctrine he has attempted to 
 eftablifh, viz. that, if the price of labour has not increased in an 
 equal proportion with the price of provifions, it is an evidence 
 of the declining profpeiity of the kingdom, and a certain indica- 
 tion of ruin : this he by no means admits to be the cafe, and ac- 
 counts for the exception to the rule by collateral circumftances, as 
 the increafe of people and the fimplification of labour by the ufe 
 of machines, and concludes with this observation : — either raife 
 
 the
 
 ' LETTER XXV. 193 
 
 the wages of the poor, or give them provifions as they had them 
 forty years ago. 
 
 The remaining part of this publication, which relates princi- 
 pally to an examination of the plans that have been offered, par- 
 ticularly Mr. Gilbert's, and the invalidation of thofe reafons 
 which that gentleman has advanced for conceiving a good opi- 
 nion of houfes of induftry, as to the obje6l of a diminution of 
 the expenfe, by pointing out the precarioufnefs of fuch a dimi- 
 nution continuing, and by meeting the good efl'ed: which they 
 have occafioned in leflening expenfe, with inftances of increafed 
 mortality, efpecially among children, cannot be now dwelt on j 
 as it is the purport of this tract to weigh the general fentiments 
 of the kingdom, on the leading points of the police refpe6ling 
 the poor, in a balance compounded of the fenfe of the legiflature, 
 as coUefled at different periods, and the opinions of individuals, 
 who have given us their fentiments in 'print, on this important 
 topic, rather than to cavil at any of thofe opinions that militate 
 with the writer's ideas ; which, until the fubjedl is fully invefti- 
 gated, have not the fan6tion,of folid judgement, nor the light of 
 clear information. 
 
 That many more tradts than thofe which have pafTed, as it were, 
 in review on this fubjedt may have been written, and that more 
 rays of light might have been colle6led on a topic which is fo 
 much the concern of every man, and appears to be the imme- 
 diate care of no man, cannot be denied. Many pamphlets have 
 furvived by name only, but not a finglecopy of them can be 
 found: poflibly, had they contained any matter worthy of no- 
 tice, they would, by fome means or other, have been preferved 
 to us, either, in the volumes of the reviewers, or by fubfequent 
 editions : but it appears abfurd to regret the want of that infor- 
 mation which the age, cotemporary with the writer, did not 
 think worth handing to pofterity; and the only apology to be 
 made is for that inattention,, if fuch be the fault, which has ne- 
 
 C c glecled
 
 194 LETTER XXV. 
 
 glefted to take notice of what would afford folid information; 
 which, it is hoped, will not be found to be very confiderable, 
 more efpecially when the plan of thefe letters is confidered, which 
 is calculated to bring to the mind what the legiflature has done, 
 and fenfible men have written, on the fubjeft, from the time 
 that the police of the poor firfl claimed the attention of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Some flrefs has been laid on the increafmg population of the 
 kingdom as a caufe of the increafing expenfe in maintaining thofe 
 who clafs under the title of labouring poor: the progreffion of 
 that increafe in our number fhall now be (hortly ftated, as it will 
 be at leaft fatisfadory to know the degree : we may afterwards rea- 
 fon on the effeft. 
 
 Lord-Chief-Juftice Hale and Mr. Gregory King agree in aflert- 
 ing, that the population of England, on the arrival of the Nor- 
 mans, in the year 1077, might be about 2,000,000. 
 
 From a computation which appears accurate, or as nearly {0 
 as the nature of the cafe requires, or can be expe<5led to be, the 
 population of England and Wales was, in the year 1327, about 
 2,092,978. 
 
 In 1583, the number of people amounted to about 4,688,000. 
 
 In 1662, Mr. Graunt calculated the population at 6,440,000. 
 
 In 1690, Mr. Gregory King calculated them at 5,500,000; but 
 he eftimated four and a half to a houfe, whereas it is fuppofed that 
 the number of inhabitants were, to the number of houfes, as about 
 five two-fifths to one, which would increafe the number to about 
 feven milhons. — Mr. Chalmers's eftimate. 
 
 Mr. Howlett calculated them, a few years ago, at 8,691,597 : — 
 the Editor of the Annals of Agriculture, 8,500,000 : — Dr. Price, 
 about the fame time, at only 5,000,000 : but the concurrent opi- 
 nions of political arithmeticians agree, that the. higher numbers 
 are neareft the truth ; and that Mr. Howlett's proportion of five 
 and two-fifths to a houfe is as exad a raiio of inhabitants to dwel- 
 lings
 
 LETTER XXV. 195 
 
 lings as can eafily be pointed out. In the parifh of Clare it was, 
 in 1786, very near the truth, the dwellings being 201, — the in- 
 habitants 1077. 
 
 The following deviation from the propofed line of this inquiry 
 fhall clofe this paper : 
 
 Mr. Hewlett having appeared, in the laft number of the An- 
 nals, to doubt the validity of an obfervation, which has fallen from 
 me, with refpe6t to the call for labour being of a more conftant 
 nature, and lefs defultory, in agriculture than in manufactures ; 
 the obfervation fhall be repeated in the expreflion made ufe of 
 on the occafion : and, to prevent the effeft which might arife in 
 the minds of thofe who pay any attention to the fubjefV, from 
 the refpeft due to the opinion of the gentleman who doubts 
 the propriety of the idea alluded to, the affertion fhall be re-ex- 
 amined by the teft propofed by himfelf. — The pafTage alluded to 
 is as follows : 
 
 " Some have imagined that the great increafe of our expenfes, 
 relating to the poor, has arifen from temporary want of work : 
 it may be recolle6led» that this cannot happen where the em- 
 ployment is agriculture, becaufe this occupation always requires 
 nearly the fame number of hands all years, and is independent 
 of any defultory call for work, which may, as all manufadures 
 do, the demand of which is uncertain, give full employment to the 
 poor fome years, and leave them to fubfift on the poor's rates when 
 the demand for the manufaflure ceafes." 
 
 Mr. Hewlett fays, and it mufl: be allowed as a fa6l, that, near 
 the commencement of a leafe, a greater quantity of work is done 
 in a farm than towards the conclufion: but this corroborates the 
 affertion alluded to, which refpe(Sts the kingdom at large ; for innu- 
 merable leafes are conftantly commencing and expiring : the whole 
 quantity of work done in agriculture, one year with another, mufl: 
 therefore be nearly the fame j and, though individual pariflies may 
 find fome difference, the aggregate of work throughout the king- 
 
 C c 2 dora
 
 196 LETTER XXV. 
 
 dom muft be at all times equal j and this is not only pojfible or prD-^ 
 table, but inevitable ; but the univerfality of the caule, both in 
 rclped to time and place, producing an efFe£l direftly oppofite to 
 that which would arife from a caufe afFe6Ving time and place par- 
 tially only. If, throughout England, all leafes were to commence 
 at the fame time, and expire at the fame time, the effect Mr. How- 
 lett contends for would happen, and the difference in the demand 
 for labour might at times be great ; but the fact is diiferent, fo is 
 the efFedl. 
 
 Mr. Howlett fays, feafons occafion a difference in the demand 
 for labour. — So they do. But the quantum of earnings remains the 
 fame at the end of a year: for inflance, in a wet fummer, during 
 the ad:ual falling of the rain, the application of induflry to the 
 works of the field is fufpendedj but the call for labour is propor- 
 tionably greater when the earth is fitted to receive again the labour 
 of the hufbandman ; and probably the demand increafes in a greater 
 ratio than the time loil : we know how difficult it is to keep land 
 clean in a wet feafon j we know that a greater burthen of flraw is 
 grown, which occafions a greater demand of labour to harveft, and 
 alfo to threili J a greater demand for work brings a greater price; 
 hence the advance of price in the harveft and the barn repays the 
 Ibfs of time, and the quantity of labour done throughout the year 
 remains the fame. 
 
 The idea of " the earth being fafl bound in chains of froft for 
 three or four months in the year, which defy the mattock, the 
 fpade, and the plough," cannot be allowed, in all its latitude of 
 aflertion, to take place in England : few farmers difcharge their la- 
 bourers for a frofl ; and in that time of the year, when we have 
 reafon to expe6l fuch chains of froft, the plough fuffers no im- 
 prifonment, for it would not otherwife be at work; the mattock 
 and the team can ftill find work ; a /now only can prevent thejn 
 being employed, and that but for a few days; the fpring of induftry 
 will, when affeded by fuch a mere temporary celTation, immediately 
 
 afterwards
 
 LETTER XXVI. 197 
 
 afterwards re-a6l with greater force, being excited by a bril'k.er 
 demand. 
 
 Difference of produce, except in the cafe of hops, which are too 
 confined and local a culture to Keafon from generally, can very little 
 affedt the quantity of labour throughout the year; a wet feafon 
 generally produces worfe crops throughout the kingdom at large 
 than a dry one, although not in quite fo great a difproportion as 
 Mr. Howlett afferts ; but a wet feafon produces a greater demand 
 for labour to keep the land clean, and alfo in hay-time, in harveft, 
 in threfliing, although the produce of corn is lefs ; therefore, fpeak- 
 ing generally throughout the kingdom, the lefs produd:ive the crop, 
 the more the labour. 
 
 In fhort, Sir, had not the cavil fallen from fo able a critic and fo 
 refpediable a man, I fliould not have thought my obfervation re- 
 quired a defence; it is to vindicate the general re6litude of the 
 fentiments which have efcaped from me on this fubje6l in his and 
 your readers' minds, that I have revifed what I had advanced, and 
 remain of opinion, that reafon is on the fide of my obfervation, and 
 believe that experience will not contradi6l it. 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 FROM the information contained in the preceding pages of 
 thefe letters, and from the evidence which they have opened 
 to our knowledge of what has been done by our legiflators, and 
 written by the enlightened part of our countrymen on this fubjed; 
 although that information cannot claim the merit of minute detail, 
 nor the evidence that fpecification of particulars which would have 
 difgufted the many, although it might have been approved of by a 
 few i it is conceived feveral ufeful principles may be deduced, that 
 
 may
 
 ,98 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 may ferve as a ground for maxims, which, if called into aftion, by 
 the energetic power of the legiflature, may probably produce an 
 improvement in the moral habits of the poor, lead them on to the 
 enjoyment of a greater fhare of the comforts of life, and diminifh, 
 at the fame time, the expenfes of their maintenance. 
 
 That thofe, who are in fuch a ftate, with refped to the riches of 
 this world, as to have no other property than that which their la- 
 bour can produce them, claim as a right, in all civilized nations, 
 however the laws which refpedl property may be modified, protec- 
 tion from perfonal injury, is a pofition which cannot be doubted; 
 no fecial compact can otherwife be fuppofed to exift between man 
 and man. 
 
 This claim leads on to another, flowing from it as a natural and 
 inevitable confequencej a claim to maintenance j when, by the lofs 
 of health, accidental debility, or age, their power to maintain 
 themfelves ceafesj becaufe, in this cafe, they would otherwife fuftain 
 a perfonal injury, from the modification of property by the laws of 
 fociety ; and in a fimilar proportion is their claim, as through any 
 of thefe caufes that power is diminifhed. 
 
 Thefe are principles implanted on our minds j they are anterior 
 to and vaftly above all human lawsj they form an impulfive duty as 
 ftrong in its operations, and as lovely in its effe£ls, as the a-ro^yti in 
 the animal creation : it is upon this bafis, as upon an immoveable 
 rock, that Chrift builds his ftrongeft moral exhortations, and calls 
 this duty charity j tells us that it will cover a multitude of defefls, 
 that it binds us by a ftronger obligation than any other moral or 
 religious duty. 
 
 In all climes, through all ages, wherever civilization has fpread a 
 fmgle ray of light, has this principle been inculcated ; and that not 
 as an optional fervice, to be done or neglefled, at the will of the free 
 agent, but as a bounden duty; one, the omiffion of which, is an 
 affirmative offence j and thus preached the Apoftles, thus the fa- 
 thers of the church, and thus their fucceflbrs. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XXVI. 199 
 
 The fruit of their dodtiines has been great, it has been worthy 
 of the caufe ; it was the caufe of human nature, of religion con- 
 fined to no fedt, fworn to no mafter ; it was alike the caufe of the 
 Chriftian, the Jew, the followers of Mahomet, and Confufius ; it 
 was the caufe of univerfal humanity. 
 
 But we will confine our view to the effedt of the dodlrine of 
 charity in this ifland : and here reference muft be had to our public 
 archives, as well thofe which are ftill in the poffeflion of the chap- 
 ters in the different diocefes throughout the kingdom, thofe which 
 are in the cuftody of the public in their feveral repofitories, as thofe 
 alfo in the poffeflion of private individuals ; recourfe mufl alfo be 
 had to printed books, to writers in paft ages, whofe labours have 
 colleded the gleanings of antiquity, and, by the means of the prefs, 
 have preferved them for the perufal of ages then unborn ; a kind 
 of teftimony, to which our laws, and the pra6tice of our courts 
 of law, give fandlionj it being not unfrequently the beft evidence 
 the nature of the thing is capable of. 
 
 Do not all thefe, taken feparately and together, inform us, that 
 all the tithes in the kingdom, every acre of church-land, every 
 thing moving from the produce of the land, afllfted and cultivated 
 by the labour of man, which is claimed by the church as tithe, 
 whether prasdial, mixed, or perfonal, takes its origin from this 
 fource i were they not all feparately, and in the aggregate, the fruit 
 of thefe doftrines ; obtained from our rude and unlettered fore- 
 fathers as a61:s of religious duty and moral obligation ? If they were 
 not, whence flowed they ? From what law of fociety ? From what 
 human precept ? A divine right cannot be claimed for them in any 
 Chriftian country ; our conftitutional lawyers have uniformly af- 
 ferted, that a divine right to tithes, certainly ceafed with the Jewilh 
 theocracy, and they have, not proved that it in fa6V ever exifted. 
 
 Thefe, therefore, rauft be taken as fads ; that the law of God 
 and of Chrift have eftablifhed the duty of charity in the breaft of 
 j man "J and, that the labourers in the Chriftian vineyard, have in 
 
 tiv^s
 
 200 L E T T E R XXVI. 
 
 this country cultivated this principle to a produ6live purpofe ; and 
 that, in elder times, a diftribution was made to the poor, of part 
 of that eflate thus obtained and inverted in the ecclefiaftics, by the 
 donations of thofe who had landed poffeflions, in difcharge of their 
 religious and moral duties j — but thofe days have long fince pafTed 
 away ; — ^ and, in proportion as the refrefliing ftreams were diverted 
 from their proper current, the principle of charity, ever fruitful 
 in means to accomplifli its godlike purpofes, has ftruck, like Mofes, 
 from the rock, other fruitful ftreams to refrefti thofe who ftand in 
 need of refreihment ; and, on the bafis of fludluating companion, 
 has founded a firm municipal right. 
 
 In remoter times, when the feudal tenures fubfifted in this king- 
 dom, which made no other confideration of man, than as an agent 
 of defence or deftru6lion ; when the maxim, detur fortiori was 
 paramount, every claim which the rights of nature or the con- 
 ftitution of the country held facred ; the voice of the laws or the 
 claims of equity could be heard but feldom, amidft the din of 
 arms ; which the contentions among the defcendants of William, 
 the Norman, for the fovereignty of that kingdom, that he had 
 wrefted from its old pofTeflbrs, occafioned ; no wonder if, in fuch 
 times, the more filent claims of the poor, for that dole which they 
 had been accuftomed to receive the diftribution of, from the in- 
 cumbent clergy, were of no avail ; and that, when the immediate 
 defcendant of the alliance between the houfes of York and Lancaf- 
 ter broke all bounds with the court of Rome, fpurned the fource 
 whence he had perfonally received the title oi jidei defetifor, and 
 divided the fpoils of the monafteries among his unprincipled cour- 
 tiers ; no wonder that thefe claims ftiould have remained dormant; 
 and, having remained through fo long a period in a ftate of reft, it 
 fhould be. held in thefe times ufelefs, if not imprudent, to revive 
 them. 
 
 Hence, therefore, may be dated the origin of the compulfory 
 maintenance j hence, as from a channel whofe fources have in paft 
 
 agej
 
 LETTER XXVI. 201 
 
 ages been diverted from their natural and proper current, may be 
 deduced that fteril appearance, which would have clofed in fcenes 
 of blood or famine, and all its horrid accompaniments ; if the legif- 
 lature, in the age of Elizabeth, awakened from a long apathy to 
 the fufFerings of poverty, by thofe fcenes of woe which the Queen's 
 progrefles through her kingdom offered to her view, and which 
 occafioned that feeling exclamation, Faiiper ubiqiie jacet I had not 
 opened, by the compulfion of legal authority, new fources to feed 
 the wretched. 
 
 But the diftribution of charity was not the total of the lofs fuf- 
 tained by the poor; they were, during the earlier ages of this king- 
 dom, ufed to receive advice, and the direction of their moral con- 
 dudl, from the exhortations of the clergy ; and that not from their 
 pulpits only, but they were the private friends, the patrons, the 
 counfellors, the confeflbrs, of the poor; they held an amazing fway 
 over their minds ; a fway, I fear, ill exchanged, both here and in 
 a neighbouring country, for that unhallowed indifference for every 
 thing facred which now prevails : but here, as there, while the 
 clergy guarded the moral condud, watched over the induftry, the 
 health, the economy, of the parilh-poor, they protected their own 
 eftates from incumbrance ; and, in proportion as their parifhioners 
 poffeffed the moral and economic virtues, in that proportion were 
 the ecclefiatic eftates produ6live to the refpeftive incum^bents ; be- 
 caufe the wants of the poor were lefs ; and a probability of increa- 
 fmg the voluntary contributions of the more opulent parlfliioners 
 was greater, as the refpedl the pariih held the clergy in increafed. 
 
 It was with a view to this influence, and to preferve the decaying 
 authority and pradice of the clergy in this refpe6l, that thofe ad- 
 monitions to charity from the pulpit were enjoined by the Cccle- 
 fiaftic courts, which Dr. Burn mentions ; and which prove, that 
 thofe courts, however now they may have fallen into difrepute, felt 
 then ftrongly the obligation upon their fuitors, to provide a fund 
 for the poor, not merely to relieve the temporary neceflities of 
 
 D d hunger,
 
 202 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 hunger, thlifl, or nakednefs, but to pour the balm of comfort 
 into then* minds, to inftrud them in their duties to God and their 
 neighbour, to fix in their hearts a confidence, that although they 
 be poor, and negatived in every comfort of life, yet they may, by 
 a pious and virtuous conduft, diminifli the fum of their afilid:ions 
 here, and lay up a certain treafure of happinefs for the life which 
 is to come. 
 
 LETTER XXVn. 
 
 ASSUMING therefore, at prefent, the foregoing ftate of the 
 matter as fafl ; would it not tend in every refpe^t to the 
 advantage of the poor, and, confequently, of the kingdom, (for, 
 alas, the neceflitous are the million !) if the refident clergy, be they 
 reftors, vicars, or curates, ihould have an adlive and directing 
 control over the management of the poor in their refpeftive 
 pariihes ; that they may again, as they did formerly, by their pre- 
 cepts, their exhortations, and their examples, introduce fuch moral, 
 economic, and induftrious, habits among the poor, as may tend to 
 make them more comfortable as men, and more refpedable as 
 citizens ? at the fame time, fuch a control would place the clergy 
 in a much more refpedlable fituation than they at prefent poflefs ; 
 and it would be a refpedl flowing from a proper caufe ; as it would 
 engraft authority upon precept, united with example ; and enable 
 them to enforce, in practice, thofe moral duties, which many of 
 them fo eloquently inculcate from the pulpit. 
 
 Advertifements of aiTociations, for the commutation of tithes, 
 appear frequently in our public prints : whether a general commu- 
 tation is practicable, or, if pradicable, would be rehflied by the 
 clergy throughout the kingdom, it is difiicult to determine ; but, if 
 a commutation fhould take place, it certainly is worthy the con- 
 
 fideration
 
 LETTER XXVII. 203 
 
 fideratlon of the landed interefl:, whether they fhould choofe to 
 convey any portion of their efcates in mortmain as a compofition 
 for tithes, free and difcharged of thofe fervices^ for which the tithes 
 themfehes were, by the poflefTors of thofe eftates, originally granted ; 
 which fervices were, amongfl: other conliderations, that advice, that 
 counfel, that authoritative injundlion, coupled with example, which 
 would effe6l more, by means of good morals, to increafe the com- 
 forts of the poor, diminiili their expenfes and the rate collefted for 
 their relief, than the whole of the ecclefiaflic revenue, applied to 
 the fame purpofe, under the prefent execution of the laws.* Thefe 
 fentiments, on the neceflity of a national provifion for the poor, 
 flow from my pen, in direft oppofition to the opinion, fo warmly 
 exprefled on this topic by you, my friend, in your excellent publi- 
 cation on French agriculture, internal economy, and politics j and 
 in oppofition, alfo, to your idea, fo frequently ftarted in conver- 
 fation, that the poor originally had no right to pecuniary affif- 
 tance from the Hate ; that they fliould be left to private charity. 
 The reflexion, Mais cefte cxempk ejl un grand et important lecon 
 pour nous ; car, independamment des vices quelle 7ious prefentCy et d'une 
 depenfe monjlrusufe, et d'lm encouragement nccejjaire a lafaineantife, elk 
 nous decouvre la plate politique de V Angleterre la plus devorante, qii'il 
 eft egalemejit dangereux, pour fa tranquillite et fon bonheur^ de de'truire 
 ou de laijjer fubftfter^ which the Committee of Mendicity, in the 
 Conftitutional Affembly of France, threw out with refped to the 
 mifchiefs of the Englifh fyftem, arofe, from their miftaking the 
 effeft of the faulty execution of that fyftem, for the code of laws 
 itfelf ; which remains in a great meafure a dead letter. And it is 
 
 * I cannot conceal my opiaion, that any general commutation for tithes, either in 
 land, corn, or money, or any other valuable confideration, to be extended by force of 
 law throughout the kingdom, would be prejudicial to the laity-, fhould it meet, which is 
 not very probable, the approbation of the pofleflbrs of tithes ; and that the moral and 
 r-eligious duties of life would be lefs in praftice, after fuch change had taken place, than 
 they are now. 
 
 D d 2 no
 
 204 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 no improbable prerumption, that, feeling, as they did, the facred 
 duty, to provide relief for the poor, they adopted the principle of 
 the Englilh fyftem with their eyes open to the evils of it, becaufe 
 they knew of none better j although mofl: certainly the fame facred 
 duty which requires the expenditure of thirty millions of livres a 
 year, would extend the expenfe to fifty millions, to one hundred, 
 or to any indefinite fum, if neceflity required it : and it was with 
 tbem a facred duty ; for, having pofieffed themfelves of the clerical 
 eftates, they could not, in juftice to the body of their country- 
 men, take them to the ufe of the ftate, otherwife than as the 
 clergy held them, fubjedl, in fome degree, to the maintenance of 
 the poor. 
 
 In the mean time, it is the duty, as well as the intereft, of thofe 
 from whom this revenue is collefled, there as well as here, to watch 
 over the execution of the laws, and the expenditure of the revenue 
 raifed for the poor j which condu6l will prevent fuch a necefllty : 
 but if, by negligence, extravagance, or peculation, the urgency of 
 the cafe fliould require a larger fum to be raifed ; it will arife there, 
 as it does here, from the pockets of thofe, by whofe negligence, or 
 mifcondu(5l, fuch urgency was occafioned. 
 
 As to leaving the poor to private contributions, it would, in our 
 prefent {late of civilization, refinement, and general apathy to reli- 
 gious matters, be a cruel and unjuft: derelicflion. Were they to be 
 fupported by thofe alone who are the befl members of the fociety, 
 the companionate, the religious, and thofe who live in retirement, 
 would then witnefs fuch fcenes of diftrefs as would wring every 
 penny from their pockets, or they muft become immoveable to every 
 feeling of compaflion j while the gay, the joyous, the unfeeling, — 
 thofe who live in crowds, and in the bufble of the world, — would 
 contribute not a farthing to thofe fcenes of diftrefs from which they 
 are fo far removed. 
 
 In anfwer to the fuppcfition, that dire neceffity will compel ex- 
 ertions of induftry, it is much to be doubted whether extremity of 
 
 diftrefs
 
 LETTER XXVIL 205 
 
 diftrefs generally roufes the human mhid, or the faculties of the 
 body, to great a6^ive exertions. From amidll thofe fccnes which 
 have required vaft exertions to preferve human life, very few have 
 been faved, in proportion to thofe who have periflied. Difaftrous 
 voyages, fliipwrecks, retreats of armies before a conquering enemy, 
 all prove how few have magnanimity of foul to bear up againft ex- 
 tremity of diftrefs : and, of all thofe circumftances which drive 
 the human mind to apathy or defpair, poverty, and its lower- 
 ing concomitants, cold, hunger, and thirft;, are the moft for- 
 midable i becaufe, in proportion as thefe debilitate both the 
 body and the mind, does the urgency of the cafe require the 
 greater activity of exertion : it may, therefore, with great rea- 
 fon, be alferted, that an increafe of diftrefs will not occafion an 
 increafe of induftry. 
 
 If the cafe of the poor in Scotland and Ireland be produced as a 
 proof, that leaving them to private charity would have a better 
 effect than the rates of England, the anfwer is obvious ; that, in 
 Scotland, they are not left to private charity, in their principal 
 cities, but are admitted to a provifion out of the funds of the 
 general-feffion of thofe cities : and that they emigrate from the 
 Highlands, and the country where agriculture and manufa6lures 
 do not find them fufficient employment, to thofe countries where 
 there is employment : and the emigration of the ufeful fubjecls 
 of a country has never yet been produced as a proof of the excel- 
 lence of its internal economy. 
 
 Ireland prefents, in your accurate and particular account of its 
 internal police, no very flattering profpe<5l of the fituation of the 
 poor, either with refpedt to their modes of life, their moral habits, 
 or their induftry. In the firft inftance, they are, in general, what 
 the Englifti peafantry were five hundred years ago: the cottage,, 
 which affords neither window or chimney, where cows, calves,, 
 pigs, children, men, and women, all lie on ftraw together, on 
 the fame floor j their raggednefs, which approaches to nakednefs, 
 
 and:
 
 2c6 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 and the general diCufe of fhoes and ilockings, give one no refined 
 ideas either of their cleanlinefs or their comforts : and a country 
 where pilfering is carried to that excefs, that turnips are flolen by 
 the poor in cart-loads, and acres of wheat carried away in a night, 
 is not a country of well-regulated police or good moral principles : 
 neither will the dance in the evening, or the lad polifli which they 
 receive from the dancing- mafter, who is efTential to their fyflem of 
 education, compound for that excefs of lazinefs, and that weak- 
 nefs in their exertions, when encouraged to work, which has occa- 
 fioned you to doubt of the heartinefs of their food, — potatoes, 
 oatmeal, and milk ; although the athletic forms of the men, and 
 the fwarms of children in their miferable cottages, befpeak vigour 
 and health. I muft conclude, therefore, that, were the Irifli to 
 take the forty-third of Elizabeth, together with the confequence 
 flowing from a ftrift execution of it, the poor, as well as the rich, 
 would find their fcale of comfort and profperity rifing from the 
 change : and were we, in this kingdom, to call the parochial clergy 
 to our affiftance, in preferving an execution of the laws refpeding 
 the poor, more confiftent with the original intention and obvious 
 meaning of thofe laws ; which are calculated to encourage a fpirit 
 of induftry, not of idlenefs ; of economy, not of profufion j a fpi- 
 rit of honefty, not of theft j of religion, not of atheifm j of fu- 
 bordination, not of riot; and if the legiflature of this country 
 fhould ordain fuch to be their line of duty, which certainly is their 
 line of confcientious and honourable intereft; the fcale of profperity 
 and comfort among our poor would alfo rife, and that of the ex- 
 pcnfe attending their maintenance and relief would gradually 
 fubfide. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 207 ] 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE laws and ordinances of all countries, towards the firll 
 periods of their civilization, partake of the rough and fe- 
 rocious nature of the times and of the inhabitants ; who, being 
 lately emerged from a wild and favage ftate, although they may be 
 awake to fome of the advantages arifing from fubordination, are 
 not fufficiently refined to be bound by filken chains. But, as fociety 
 advances, and the focial bieflings of civilization by degrees unfold 
 themfelves, thofe laws which regulate the multitude take a milder 
 tone, and obedience to them is fecured by inclination, as well as 
 duty, until luxury and dilfipation, fure prognoftics of a falling 
 ftate, occafion the legiflator again to ftain the pages of the penal 
 code with blood. 
 
 Such has, in part, been the progreffive temper of the ftatute- 
 laws of this country. We find, in paft ages, the lower clafles of 
 people reftrained by a variety of ordinances, which breathe but 
 little of the fpirit of humanity; while they ftrongly prove, that 
 here no portion of thofe abfurd ideas, which have involved France 
 in a fcene of horrid anarchy, at any time prevailed. The earlieft 
 regulations of written law, which affeit the mafs of the people, 
 compelled " thofe who rank in the clafs of labourers and artificers, 
 who were able in body, and within the age of threefcore years, 
 not living in merchandize, exercifing any craft, or having of their 
 own whereon to live, to work, at regulated prices, on pain of im- 
 prifonment, and of being burnt with a hot iron." 
 
 Vagabonds, or valiant beggars, as the old afts of parliament call 
 them, were treated with greater rigour : they were to be inftantly 
 committed to gaol, to be fed with bread and water, to be fet in the 
 ilocks, beaten with whips through the towns where they were taken,, 
 
 and
 
 2o8 LETTER XXVIIL 
 
 and then fent to the place where they laft lived ; and this for the firfl 
 offence. 
 
 For the fecond offence; to be fcourged two days, to be fet in the 
 piliory, and one ear to be cut off. 
 
 in fliort, the category of punifliments infli^led, by authority of 
 law, on this defcription of perfons, is too irkfome to be dwelt on : 
 but it is fuch as plainly proves, that ouf anceftors had no idea of 
 the Gallic principle of equality, of weighing number in the balance 
 againft property ; for, we perceive, the multitude is to be reftrained 
 by thefe laws refpecling labour, and to be puniflied for a breach of 
 them : property is exempted. 
 
 With refpe<a to thofe poor who, from age, ficknefs, or accident, 
 had become impotent, and were compelled, by neceility, to afk 
 alms, they were to fubfift on fuch as they could obtain by begging 
 within certain limits, which feem to have been the hundreds, or 
 towns, where they were born, and, in fucceeding times, where they 
 had lived the lafV three years j and, if thefe real objects of compaf- 
 fion wandered beyond thofe limits, or fuch as the juflices of the 
 peace, within the diftridl, fhould allot to them, they were to be 
 punilhed by imprifonment and the ftocks, and their children, under 
 the age of five years, might be taken from them, by any perfon, to 
 be brought up to any honeft labour. 
 
 Such were the reftraints and difabilities under which the lower 
 claffes of our fellow- creatures lived in the days of our forefathers ; 
 and fuch were the punifliments to which they were fubje<51: for a 
 breach of thofe laws ; which laws lean to oppreffion, not to huma- 
 nity ; to fervitLide, rather than to freedom. 
 
 The lenient fpirit of more polifiied times tacitly relieved them, 
 by degrees, from a great portion of thefe reftraints, by ceafing to 
 inflict the punifliment annexed to a breach of the law ; and, by fo 
 doing, the fpirit of the times outftripped the attention of the le- 
 giflature, to the happinefs and eafe of the people. 
 
 No
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 209 
 
 No law ought to remain unrepealed, which is not intended ge- 
 nerally to be enforced ; a partiality in this refpecl has not in view 
 the welfare of the governed, and may defcend to that mifcra fervitus 
 ubi lex eji aut vaga aut inconctnna. The volumes of the Statutes at 
 Large are, on that account, in fome meafure a grievance j becaufe, 
 in a code of pofitive inftitutions, many of them highly penal, which 
 has fwelled within this century to fo enormous a bulk* thofe ads 
 of parliament that, from their long difufe, as well as from the re- 
 mote antiquity of their original formation, not being adapted to 
 the fpirit of the prefent times, may be called obfolete; and thofe 
 alfo which are not commonly put in pradice, but may, at the fame 
 time, be ufed as concealed arms by the mahcious, to annoy their 
 unwary and incautious fellow-fubje6ls, as well as thofe which dill 
 remain the written law of the land, although not the pra(flical 
 municipal rule of the day, (hould not remain in our law-books; 
 increafmg the number of pages, which are, without them, too nu 
 merous. \-' 
 
 Such are the refleflions which have occurred to me, on the 
 evidence before us, with refpe6l. to the ftate of the poor, as far as it 
 relates to confining them to certain parifhes, which we, in thefe 
 days, call their places of fettlement. But it is time to recolle61-, 
 that, as the judgement fhould not fuffer itfelf to be led captive by 
 the imagination, fo neither fliould the difcurfive refearches of the 
 antiquary lead the pen away from the more immediate purpofe of 
 this letter; which is intended to point out the prefent fituation of 
 the poor, both with refpeft to the law of fettlements and cer- 
 tificates, as far as their fituation may be affected, not only by the 
 
 * Pickering's edition of the Statutes at Large is comprifed in thirty-eight volumes 
 o£tavo; the laft fix volumes of which are remarkably thick, and in bulk near twice the 
 quantity of paper in the firft fix volumes ; and only the firft nine volumes and about half 
 the tenth include the ads of parliament to the end of the laft century; the remaining 
 twenty-eight volumes are filled with the ads of the prefent century, and fifteen of them 
 with the ads of the prefent reign. 
 
 E e law
 
 210 LETTER XXVin. 
 
 law of the land, but alfo by the pra£lice of the maglftrates j toge- 
 ther with fuch alterations as may tend to increafe the general ftock 
 of induftry : permit me, therefore, after a quick retreat from this 
 fliort digreffion upon the temper of former times, to re-enter on my 
 fubjeft, which regards thofe days in which we live, and alfo thofe 
 which are to come, and may pafs away before the view of our 
 poflerity. 
 
 Although the antiquity of reftraints on the liberty of the poor 
 to go from place to place, as they imagine they may beft be able to 
 find provifion and employment, is of a date prior to the days of 
 Elizabeth, yet the idea of a parifh-fettlement certainly arofe from 
 the parifh-rate, enac>ed in the forty-third year of her reign ; nor 
 does it feem a remarkable circumftance, that fome diftintl rules 
 ftiould be drawn by the legiflature how each parifli might know its 
 own poor, and be able to confine the expenditure of the rate to its 
 parifhioners only. 
 
 But this was not all: each parifli being obliged to maintain its 
 own poor, it was prudent to do it by their own ofiicers, and under 
 their own infpeclion : hence arofe a reftridlion, that, however jufl: 
 it might be with refpett to the interefts of pariflies one with 
 another, is injuftice with refpefl to the poor tiiemfelves, and a con- 
 fiderable obftacle to the encouragement of general labour and in- 
 duftry throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Confinement of the poor within their refpeilive parifhes, which 
 is the principal object in the ftatutes 13th and 14th Charles II. 
 cap. 12, is the reftri6lion alluded to; becaufe every perfon, what- 
 ever may be his ingenuity, induftry, or abilities, falls under the fcope 
 of this law, if the parifli- officers choofe to complain to a magiftrate 
 that he is likely to become chargeable j unlefs fuch perfon occupies 
 a tenement of ten pounds yearly value, or lives on property in 
 houfe or land of his own. 
 
 Adam Smith attributes the very unequal price of labour in 
 England, in places of no great diftance from each other, to this 
 
 caufe ;
 
 LETTER XXVIII. zit 
 
 caufe; and he alfo fays, that, to remove a man from the parifli 
 where he choofes to refide, is an abridgement of natural hberty. 
 
 Mr. Hay, in his plan, pubUfhed in 1735, would have all notion 
 of parochial fettlement abolifhed, as being the root from which 
 every evil relating to the poor fprung ; every parifh being in a Itate 
 of expenfive war with the reft of the nation, regarding the poor of 
 all other places as aUens, and caring not what becomes of them ; 
 Mr. Acland, Mr. Townfliend, Sir William Young, have alfo pro- 
 feffed an unfavourable opinion of the law of fettlements ; and the 
 laft gentleman has offered to the Houfe of Commons the heads of a 
 bill, that would, in a great meafure, have removed the objed:ionable 
 reflraints on fo large a portion of our fellow-fubje6ts, and would 
 have fimphfied the law on this point; the expeni'es arifing from 
 which coft the occupiers of houfes and land, throughout England 
 and Wales, above fifty-five thoufand pounds annually, in the years 
 1783, 1784, 1785; and it is much to be feared that thefe expenfes 
 are an increafing, not a decreafing, evil. 
 
 Neither the law nor the equity of this cafe feems to have been 
 clearly underftood by parliament, when the reftridive ads pafTedj 
 they proceeded on this principle, that the objedt of expcnfe between 
 pariflies was the only point of confequence to be confideredj 
 whereas, in fa^, it ought not to have come into queftion at all : 
 the 43d of Elizabeth, feftion the third, providing for any cafe where 
 the inhabitants of a parifli might not be able to maintain the poor, 
 by calling in aid other pariflies within the hundred j and the pariih 
 in which I am now writing is an inftance in point, that this fe6lion 
 has been frequently carried into execution j other pariflies, within 
 the hundred, having been called in aid to relieve the poor of Clare, 
 the expreflion not able muft be allowed to be of great latitude j the - 
 meaning annexed to the expreflion by the legiflature cannot be ea- 
 fily defined; according to the common acceptation of the word, no 
 fuch a cafe can well exift, every parilh in the kingdom may be able 
 to maintain its own poor; and, if ability is to be explained by choice^ 
 
 B e 2 few
 
 212 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 few will be found willing : the word muft therefore have fome rela- 
 tion to moral convenience, and- then it would depend on the quan- 
 tum, or reafonable proportion, of his means of living, which 
 moral obligations would induce a man to part with towards the 
 maintenance of his poor neighbour j it muft then be meafured by 
 the principle of charity. Poffibly, was this undefined expreffion 
 to be precifely explained by fome rule of proportion to occupations 
 in a parifh, the contefts between parifhes would be at an end, 
 and they would arife only between hundreds. Even this would 
 greatly diminifli the fource of litigations j more efpecially if in- 
 corporations of hundreds, for the maintenance of the poor, fhould 
 become general. 
 
 Therefore, as the law formerly ftood, although not as it is now 
 executed, the conteft, if any, ought to lie between hundreds, and 
 not between parifhes. This alone would be a great relief, not 
 only to the poor, with refped: to general convenience, by increafing 
 the market for work, but by the confequential diminution of the 
 expenfes of maintaining them ; fuppofing it to be true, that, the 
 more a poor family earnsj the lefs parochial afliftance it requires. 
 If the conteft lay between counties it would be better. 
 
 But there ought to be no litigations at all about the fettlements 
 of the poor J " le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle •" there fhould be no 
 attorneys bills in overfeers accounts : it is cheaper to relieve, than 
 to remove, a family by a fuit at the feffions j which, if the over- 
 feers are peculiarly aftute in watching over the interefts of their 
 parifhes, or, in other words, are tenacious of their opinions, will 
 go into the King's Bench, and the fuccefsful parifh may find 
 an honeft family removed, to their utter ruin, at double the 
 expenfe that would have maintained them and their pofterity 
 for ever. 
 
 If a man of property has half a fcore contiguous farms in his 
 occupation, it would be extreme folly to ftation a certain portion 
 of his farming- ftock at each individual farm, and not allow that 
 
 ftock
 
 LETTER XXIX. 213 
 
 ftock to migrate to his other farms, as food, utility, or the general 
 convenience, and attention to profit, might give occafion. To fix, 
 irrevocably, three fcore flieep in this farm, fix fcore in that, fo many 
 bullocks in one, fo many in another, would be a remarkable in- 
 flance of bad management. A good manager certainly would ra- 
 ther form a calculation of what flock the whole number of acres 
 in his occupation might fupport, with the greatefl probability of 
 the greateft profit j and, with that view, would remove them from 
 one part of his eftate to the other, without having any refpeft to 
 the divifion of his farms. — So ftands the intereft of the nation 
 with refped to the poor; it is one large domain, and the flock, 
 or people, ought to be farmed quoad hoc in the fame manner ; and 
 fimilar means would produce correfponding efFe6ls : the proprietor 
 of land would turn his acres to the greateft poffible profit ; the na-, 
 tion would produce the greateft pofiible quantity of induftry j and 
 the poor would be maintained at the leaft poflible expenfe. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 A TOTAL repeal of the law of fettlements might, in the pre- 
 fent ftate of things, promote vagrancy, which is a diforder, 
 both in morals and induftry, tending to the worft confequences that 
 can arife from population : the abolition of fettlements, therefore, 
 cannot be recommended ; a modification of them, on principles more 
 confiftent with the general advantage of fociety, is the whole that 
 fliould be attempted. 
 
 The preamble to the ad of parliament, confining the poor to 
 their refpedive parifhes, ftates, that the people endeavour to fettle 
 themfelves where there is the beft ftock, the largeft commons or 
 waftes to build cottages, and the moft woods for them to burn and 
 
 deftroy ;
 
 214 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 deftroy; and, when they have confumed them, that they go to 
 another paiifti, and at laft become rogues and vagabond?. 
 
 The flatute-law was, in the reign of Charles the Second, fuffi- 
 ciently fevere to protedl the woods from being burnt or deftroyed, 
 if feverity of punifhment operated to that efFeft ; and the laws 
 refpeding vagrancy were, at that time, not lefs penal : if any 
 additional feverity might have been necelTary, the vagrant-a6l, of 
 recent memory, is not deficient in that refped:. If feverity of fla- 
 tute-law will not prote£t our woods from burning and deftrudtion 
 by the poor, will the law of fettlements do it ? Certainly it is not 
 the probable effedt arifing from the confinement of the poor to 
 parifhes where they cannot obtain a fair market-price for their 
 labour, that they Ihould pay refped: to thofe wafles, and woody 
 tracks, which produce no call for agricultural induftry. The rea- 
 fons adduced in the preamble to the a6l of fettlements muft, there- 
 fore, fall to the ground, and the inducement to the enabling claufes 
 will then remain : that the poor will put themfelves into a fitua- 
 tion to live at the leaft pofllble expenfe to their neighbours, by going 
 where they can find employment, and where they are moft likely to 
 maintain themfelves. And ought they not to be permitted fo to do, 
 unlefs other confequences than thofe ftated in the preamble to the ad 
 reftraining them, or, at the leaft, thofe confequences themfelves, 
 a/e to be apprehended ? 
 
 The effed moft to be apprehended is ; that fuch liberty might 
 tend to the encouragement of vagrancy, or fuch a wandering plan, 
 of life, as would not permit parifti-officers, if fortunately they 
 fliould be fo inclined, to introduce any fettled induftrious mode of 
 education among their children j as fuch an education is one of the 
 moft defirable objeds to be obtained in the difcipline of the poor j 
 it may be proper to modify that reftraint which is thought neceffary 
 to be retained over them, fo as to be moft conducive to this end -, 
 for, although the prefent execution of the poor-laws proves, in ge- 
 neral, either that the overfeers are ignorant of their power in this, 
 
 refped.
 
 LETTER XXIX. 215 
 
 refpedl, or, which is more probable, diflike the trouble of attending 
 -to youthful induftry ; yet it requires no extraordinary prophetic fore- 
 fight to affert, that this muft become, and fliortly, a ferious part of 
 their office ; or we fhall find what the French Committee of Mendicity 
 have afferted to be too true ; that the fyftem of our poor-laws, as 
 at prefent executed, " is the moft deftru6tive political gangrene in 
 the Englifh conftitution." 
 
 If the poor were permitted to remove from place to place, as beft 
 fuited the interefts of induftry, it would be reafonable,. that the 
 fame authority which granted them the liberty fhould conned it 
 with fuch regulations as are necefiary to the fafety and advantage 
 of the ftate ; which might probably be efFe6led by preventing that 
 liberty, which was intended for the encouragement of induftry, de- 
 generating into vagrancy; by making it of immediate ufe, in dimi- 
 niftiing the expenfes of their maintenance, and by offering a prof- 
 ped of advantage to pofterity, from the certain good tendency of 
 an induftrious education. 
 
 To effe(5t the firft end, box-clubs fhould be the means ; which 
 fhould be obligatory on all the poor while in health, and without a 
 family of children ; or, poffibly, the lex trium liberorum might with 
 propriety be the point of exemption; but thofe who migrate, as the 
 only good reafon for their migration muft be larger wages, Ihould 
 contribute a larger proportion of their earnings ; if one-thirty- 
 fixth were the general proportion, one-twenty-fourth might be a 
 proper proportion of the earnings of thofe who leave their parifiies. 
 
 Government has an undoubted right, on every principle of na- 
 tural juftice, to dired:, in fome meafure, the education of thofe 
 children whofe parents are chargeable to fociety ; and this arifes 
 from the reciprocity on the part of government, to preferve all the 
 governed from perifhing by want. 
 
 Where there are feminaries inftituted for educating children in 
 habits of induftry, the poor fhould be compelled to fend their chil- 
 dren to them in thofe parifties where they refidej the migrated 
 
 families.
 
 2i6 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 families, by the alternative of the attendance of their children at 
 the fchool of induftry, or an order of removal of themfelves to 
 their place of fettlement. 
 
 Thefe terms being complied with, the poor might, without fear 
 of their becoming vagrants, or negle<51: of induftrious habits in the 
 rifing generation, be permitted to feek their bread, by means of 
 labour and induftry, wherever good wages will enable them beft to 
 find it ; and a foundation of a fund would be laid for their main- 
 tenance when in diftrefs, which would be productive in proportion 
 as the number of the migrants increafed, or in other words, as 
 the total fum earned by the induftry of the nation increafed. 
 
 Taking one of the heads of Sir William Young's bill as the 
 ground-work of our propofed regulation, the general idea would 
 ftand thus. 
 
 No perfon fliall be removed to his place of fettlement until aftu- 
 ally chargeable to the parifh where he refides, provided that he has 
 made oath, before two neighbouring magiftrates, of the place of 
 his legal fettlement ; and that, from the time of his firft refidence 
 in the parifti, he has contributed, according to the rules of the 
 fociety, one-twenty-fourth part of his earnings to the box-club of 
 that parifli ; and hath alfo, from the fame time, fent his children, 
 above the age of fix years, and under the age of eleven, to the 
 fchool of induftry in the faid parifti ; and having fo refided ten 
 years in any parifli, without receiving any parochial relief whatever, 
 he fliall obtain a fettlement where he hath fo refided. 
 
 It would farther tend to prevent vagrancy, if the pauper fhould 
 be obliged to obtain the approbation of two magiftrates, refiding 
 near the parifli whence he removes, teftified by their figning their 
 confent, and fpecifying the place to which they allow the pauper to 
 go, prior to his ad:ual migration ; which confent fliould be imme- 
 diately delivered to the overfeers of the parifli where he intends to 
 refide. But no evidence that thefe conditions were not complied 
 with fliouId be allowed to be given in any conteft: at law as to his 
 
 place
 
 LETTER XXIX. 217 
 
 place of fettlement ; becaufe it would tend to create litigation, and 
 could be of no other fervice, the niagiihates having the power to 
 punifli the omifllon by fending the pauper back to his place of 
 fettlement. 
 
 Thefe regulations would certainly diminiHi the fourccs of legal 
 contefts, on the variety of cafes refpeding fettlements and certifi- 
 cates; and would tend to bring thofe difputes, v^hich are fo very 
 inimical to the pockets of the parifliioners and the peace of the 
 parifh, into a very narrow compafs ; they would alfo open to the 
 poor the means of carrying their induftry to the beft market ; at 
 the fame time that the obligation to contribute to a box-club, in a 
 greater proportion than if they had remained where they were 
 fettled, might tend to keep them from migrating, unlefs the prof- 
 pedl of advantage was confiderable ; the being obliged to fend their 
 children to a fchool of induilry would alfo check that fpirit of va- 
 grancy, which idlenefs, during infancy and youth, is apt to pro- 
 mote. But thefe obligations proceed on the idea that box-clubs and 
 fchools of induilry were eftablilhed by authority of parliament 
 throughout that part of the kingdom fubje6l to the poor-laws ; for, 
 vain would be the regulations, if, for want of thefe inftitutions, 
 they could not be complied with j and it is much to> be feared, that, 
 whatever may be the excellence of them, they will not inftitute 
 themfelves throughout the kingdom in general, without the allift- 
 ance of the legiflature, although the good arifing from ihem is 
 already experienced in many parifhes. 
 
 There feems uniformly one falfe principle, that is inconfirtent 
 with that degree of freedom which is the beft inheritance of all of 
 us, conftantly pervading this head of the laws refpefting the poor, ex- 
 clufive of the reftraint which the law of certificates occafions. The 
 principle alluded to, is the right claimed by the officers of a parifh 
 to remove thofe whom they may deem likely to become chargeable ; 
 the undefined idea, of what may fojfibly happen in future^ fiiould not 
 be permitted to operate in the latitude it does; for, it is not neceflary 
 
 F f to
 
 2i8 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 to the Interert of the parifli, but in a moft infignificant degree j and 
 even that trifling intereft would difappear inftantly, on the prin- 
 ciple being exploded, and a general practice diametrically oppofite 
 prevailing} all men are liable, as the law at prefent ftands, to be 
 taken by a warrant before a magiftrate, if a parifli-officer thinks 
 proper to declare his belief that the individual is likely to become 
 chargeable; and this aflertion may fometimes be founded on pique, 
 intereft, or private refentment ; confequently we are all liable to 
 this impertinent intrufion, and, what is worfe, to an examination 
 into our circumftances and fituation in life; the knowledge of 
 which ftiould be in the power of every man to preferve in his own 
 breaft, unlefs he be fo fufpicious a chara61er that the fafety of fo- 
 ciety or of individuals requires a public inveftigation of his fituation 
 and circumftances ; but, in this cafe, the expofition of the private 
 concerns of an individual is founded folely on this trifling plea of 
 intereft, — that a parifti may not expend a trifle by once relieving 
 him. 
 
 Therefore, the paltry confideration of a few pence, in the expen- 
 diture of an individual parifli, expofes all his Majefty's fubjeds to 
 the poflibility of this difagreeable fcrutiny into their private affairs; 
 and this on the unfounded aflertion of a parifli- officer, that a re- 
 fiant may become chargeable; a very difagreeable confequence, flow- 
 ing from a very infignificant caufe. Adual reUef received from a 
 parifti ought to be the only cafe where fuch an intrufion ftiould 
 take place; and that rule, if univerfal, would produce no general or 
 even partial inconvenience ; and it would, at the fame time, relieve 
 all from the poflibility of being placed in a humiliating, vexati- 
 ous, and difagreeable, fituation, without fufficient reafon. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 219 ] 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 THE natural right of the poor to the afllflance of foclcty, 
 when, by misfortune, ill health, or age, their labour is not 
 equal to their fupport; and alfo the propriety of allowing them the 
 liberty of removal from one place to another, for the purpofe of 
 renekring their labour more equal to their fupport, having been dif- 
 cufied, this paper (hall be dedicated to the purpofe of examining 
 the expediency of raifmg the price of labour ; defiring that the 
 reader will recoiled; agricultural labour is principally adverted to; 
 and that the data, from which the conclufions will be drawn, may 
 be found among the evidence which has been colle6fed in fome of 
 the former papers on this fubje6l. 
 
 It has already been alferted as a truth, in a manner felf-evident, 
 that the price of labour fliould be equal to maintain the labourer m 
 that fituation of life he occupies in fociety, whether as a hufband, 
 a father, or a fon; confequently, that it fliould enable him, while in 
 health, to fupport a wifb, children, or aged parents; and the 
 evidence produced has tended to prove that it was fo in former 
 times ; before the eftablifhment of a compulfive maintenance, and 
 before thofe adfcititious and enervating luxuries of life, fpirits and 
 tea, impaired the flrength of the parent, debilitated his progeny, 
 and wafted the produce of his labour. 
 
 The rating of wages, by authority of parliament, might alfo, in 
 thofe days, have tended to preferve a juft proportion between the 
 price of labour and the necelTaries of life ; for, if the pradice had 
 not that good efFe6l, it operated to the difad vantage of the labourer; 
 becaufe, by Umiting the price, it reftrained the fpirit of competi- 
 tion; all the ftatutes, from the reign of Edward the Third to that 
 of James the Firft, on that head, being reftridive againft giving 
 more, and not compulfive to give the price rated by the juftices; 
 
 F f 2 confe-
 
 220 LETTER XXX. 
 
 confequently, they tended rather to reduce than to raife the price of 
 labour. 
 
 But let us examine how the proportion was preferved in times 
 antecedent to the eftablifhraent of a poor's rate, and how it is 
 preferved now, and let us make a comparifon of the fa6ls : the 
 means are in our hands, and the refult may eftablifli a ferviceable 
 truth. 
 
 In the twenty-third of Edward the Third, the price of agricul- 
 tural labour was regulated, in many inftances, by parliament. — 
 Two of thefe fliall be taken; harveft-wages, reaping corn by the 
 day, three-pence ; threfliing wheat, by the quarter, two-pence half- 
 penny : in that year, 1338, the price of wheat, by the quarter, 
 was three fhillings and four-pence -, therefore, a day's work in har- 
 vefc would not produce quite one-thirteenth of a quarter of wheat, 
 and the price of threfliing a quarter was one-fixteenth of its value. 
 In 1792, the price of a day's harvcll-work, in the cheapeft coun- 
 ties, was, at the leaft, half-a-crown, and the price of threfhing 
 wheat was alfo about half-a-crown a quarter : the average-price of 
 wheat, throughout the year, might be about two guineas a quar- 
 ter : the labour of threfliing, therefore, was, to the price of the 
 wheat, as one to fixteen or feventeen ; and a day's harveft-wages 
 bore the fame proportion to the fame quantity of wheat. In the 
 years 1387, 1389, wheat was threlhed at four-pence a quarter, 
 and reaped at feven-pence an acre. In 1388, the price of wheat 
 was four fhillings a quarter : in this inftance, the price of threfliing 
 fliall be taken, becaufe the price of reaping an acre of wheat muft 
 then, as now, depend on many circumftances, and rife or fall 
 accordingly : threfliing then produced one-twelfth of the value of 
 the wheat. In 1446, a reaper received five-pence a day ; the 
 price of wheat was, in 1445, four fhillings and fix-pence a quar- 
 ter; and, in 1447, eight fliillings ; therefore, a day's harveft-work, 
 at that time, produced one-tenth of a quarter of wheat: in 1445, 
 the year preceding the price of reaping, and the year fucceeding 
 
 it.
 
 LETTER XXX. 221 
 
 it, one-nineteenth yearly; the Cbronicon Freticfim giving no in- 
 fiance of the price of wheat in 1446 : the average of thefe prices 
 of labour is one-fourteenth of a quarter of wheat ; and the price 
 of the fame articles of labour, in the year 1792, having been taken 
 at one-fixteenth of the value of a quarter of wheat, it is manifeft 
 that the price of agricultural labour was then fomewhat higher, in 
 proportion to the price of wheat, than at prefent j that is to fay, as 
 a fourteenth is to a fixteenth ; which would increafe harveft-wages 
 to about three fliillings a day, and threfliing wheat to three fliillings 
 a quarter, fuppofing the average-price of wheat to be two guineas a 
 quarter. 
 
 So few inftances occur when the price of wheat and the price of 
 agricultural labour can be obtained in the fame year, before any 
 regular regifters of the price of wheat were kept, that the exa(5l- 
 nefs of the average cannot be depended on ; nor is the calcula- 
 tion pretended to be corredlly exaft; but it is apprehended that 
 both the average and the calculation are fufficiently fo, to war- 
 rant the conclufion that is inferred from them : and it fliould 
 alfo be recolle6led, that no compulfory maintenance for the poor 
 was eftabhfhed during the period in which thefe averages have 
 been taken. 
 
 In 1 66 1, the juftices of Eflex, in their Eafter-feflions, fixed the 
 rates of agricultural labour for that year: the reaper, one fhilling 
 and ten-pence a day harveft-wages ; the threfher, exadlly the fame 
 price per quarter : the price of wheat was, by the Windfor-table, 
 3/. IS. 2d. ; by which it is manifeft, that a day's harveft-wages, 
 and the threfliing a quarter of wheat, would not either of them 
 purchafe one-thirty-fifth part of the quarter. At this period the 
 compulfory maii\tenance had been eftablilhed near forty years. 
 
 In 1682, among the wages of fervants and labourers in huft>an- 
 dry, rated by the juftices at their quarter- feftions, holden at Bury, 
 in Suffolk, and recorded in Sir John CuUum's Hiftory of Haw- 
 ftead, we find that a man-reaper's wages, in harveft, was one ftiil- 
 
 hng
 
 222 LETTER XXX; 
 
 ling and eight-pence ; a common labourer, in fummer, one fliil- 
 ling; in winter, ten- pence: the average-price of wheat we find, 
 by the Windfor- table, to have been, that year, i/. 19^, id. ; a 
 day's harveil-wages would, therefore, in 1682, purchafe one-twen- 
 ty-third part of a quarter of wheat ; a day's common wages, in 
 fummer, about a thirty-ninth part; a day's common wages, in 
 winter, about a forty-feventh part. It fhould be mentioned that 
 thefe prices are all without meat and drink. 
 
 In 1668, Mr. Gregory King computed the ordinary income of 
 labourers and out-fervants at fifteen pounds a year, to a family 
 which he fuppofed to confift of three and a half perfons j and he 
 computed the weekly expenfe of fuch families to be about twenty- 
 pence a head. About the fame time, Lord-Chief- J uftice Hale 
 computed the neceflary expenfes of a labourer's family, confid- 
 ing of fix perfons, the father, mother, two children able to do 
 fomething, and two not able, at ten fliiUings a week, or twenty- 
 fix pounds a year : the average-price of wheat was, by the 
 Windfor-table, that year, i/. 15^. 6^.; and the average-price for 
 twenty-five years, taken annually, from 1655 to 1680, during 
 which period of time the Chief-Juftice muft have made his calcu- 
 lation, was generally above 2/. p. never under 2/. 2s. a quarter. 
 We have feen the rates of wages at the Efl'ex quarter- feflions in 
 Eafl:er i66is and at the Suffolk quarter-feflions in 1682; the infe- 
 rence, with refped to the ratio which agricultural labour bore, 
 when wages were rated, to the neceffarieS of life, can eafily be 
 drawn ; and, when drawn, will prove that the practice was not 
 favourable to the labourer. 
 
 The difficulty of obtaining inftances of the prices of labour, in 
 years fo long pafled away, prevent me from feledling a fufficient 
 number of fads to form a very exaft average ; but it is prefumed 
 that fufficient has been done to lay a foundation for the following 
 affertions : 
 
 Firft.
 
 LETTER XXX. ^223 
 
 Firft. — That, before the rate operated to the relief of the poor, 
 their wages were larger, in proportion to the price of wheat, than 
 at prefent. 
 
 Secondly. — That fince the operation of the 43d of Elizabeth, by 
 raifing a fum in every parifh for their relief, their wages have been 
 lefs, in proportion to the price of wheat, during the laft century^ 
 than zt prefent t as the fame quantity of work will now purchafe a 
 fixteenth of a quarter of wheat, which, in 1661, would purchafe 
 only a thirty-ninth part, and, in 1682, a twenty-third part of a 
 quarter of wheat only. To judge how fuch a price for labour, fo 
 difproportioned to the price of wheat, afiecled the poor's rate in 
 thofe days, is not at this diftance of time in our power, except in 
 thofe parifhes where accident may have preferved the account of the 
 rate raifed in thofe years ; and, in fuch a cafe, fome idea might 
 be formed by comparing the then rate with the prefent, fuppoflng 
 the Hate of population and of the manufaftures to be alfo known. 
 
 Thirdly. — It appears, not only that the rating of wages tended 
 to deprefs the price of labour j but that, before the poor partook of 
 a revenue raifed from the pockets of their fellow- fubje^ts ; the un- 
 feeling hand of legiflation having precluded mifery from its laft 
 refource, — the compaflion of the wealthy, by reftraining them from 
 begging, and their opulent neighbours from giving them relief, 
 through fear of imprifonment ; the poor muft have been in a moft 
 deplorable fituation, and muft have continued fo until the begin- 
 ning of the reign of Henry the Eighth, when juftices of the peace 
 were empowered to licence aged and impotent perfons, to beg with- 
 in certain diftridls. This alfo will, in fome meafure, account for 
 the deficiency of our population in thofe times^ it being, in the 
 fourteenth century, not one-fourth of what it is at prefent. 
 
 Therefore, although the price of labour might be, through the 
 thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, centuries, higher, in propor- 
 tion to the price of wheat, than at prefent; the rough temper of 
 the times, inftanced by the concurrent a6:s of legiflation, left the 
 
 poor
 
 224 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 poor without any refource in the hour of diftrefs, except from the 
 ecclefiaftlcal eflates j and, with refpe6t to the time paffed fince the 
 43d of Ehzabeth, it has been feen, that the price of labour was 
 much lower, in proportion to the price of wheat, during the laft 
 century, than at prefent. 
 
 The conclufion which follows, from the few fa6ls that apply to 
 the queftion, is, that, in the three centuries preceding the poor's 
 rate, they were in a worfe fituation that at prefent, although their 
 wages were more proportionate to the neceiTaries of lifej becaufe 
 there was no refource left to them from private charity, and a corn- 
 pulfive maintenance was not eftabliflied, to which they might apply 
 in the hour of diftrefs ; and through the feventeenth century, after 
 a compulfive maintenance had been eftabhflied, they appear to have 
 received wages lefs proportionate to the neceiTaries of life than they 
 do at prefent ; confequently, their prefent fituation, with their 
 wages, is preferable to their former. 
 
 LETTER XXXL 
 
 BUT it may be objected, that the inftances produced, having 
 mentioned the concurrent price of only one material article of 
 life, wheat -, the others, as clothing, fire, houfe-rent, butcher's meat, 
 and a long train of ei cceteras, have not been glanced at. 
 
 This difficulty may be folved by a Ihorter, and probably a more 
 fatisfaftory, proof, than a detail of the concurrent prices of a long 
 category of articles, at the feveral periods when the foregoing no- 
 tices were taken, were fuch an accurate detail in our power j the 
 proof alluded to is the opinion of Adam Smith on this fubject, 
 who fays, " The money-price of corn regulates that of all other 
 home-made commodities ; the real value of every other commodity 
 
 being
 
 LETTER XXXI. 225 
 
 being meafured and determined by the proportion which its average 
 money-price bears to the money-price of corn." 
 
 The detail of the fa6ls and arguments, from which this principle 
 is eftablifhed by Dr. Smith, would probably be thought tedious 
 and unneceflary, having his name as authority for the opinion ; a 
 (horter proof may be thought a better proof; and a plain and in- 
 telligihh Jonies may effect as much in a few words as a long argu- 
 ment in many pages. — For inftance : 
 
 The labour of man fhould be equal to his fuftenance, the prin- 
 cipal article of which is corn. — By the labour of our poor are 
 home-made commodities produced and manufaftured ; what pro- 
 duces or manufa6lures commodities is the meafure of their value; 
 what fuftains the poor is the efficient means of their labour. Corn 
 principally is the fuftenance of the poorj therefore, corn is the 
 meafure of the value of home-made commodities ; or, in other 
 words, the money-price of corn regulates the money-price of thofe 
 articles, which are neceflary to the fuftenance of the poor. 
 
 Another point to be fettled before we proceed, is to afcertain 
 the articles which common confent will agree to call the necejfariei 
 of life % becaufe no wages of labour will provide for a confumption, 
 ad libitum, of every article of food and clothing j which a poor 
 family may choofe to make ufe of; and, at the fame time, a deduc- 
 tion of every article, not abfolutely neceflary to the fuftentation of 
 human life, would leave fo little to be purchafed by the labour of 
 man, as to admit of no doubt on the queftion. 
 
 No writer has delivered his fentiments on this topic with that 
 precifion of idea, that appropriate happinefs of expreflion, and, 
 what is beft, with that full knowledge of the fubje6t, as the fame 
 writer we have before referred to : his opinion therefore will, with 
 no fmall degree of propriety, ftand in the place of any fluctuating 
 defultory notions, which humanity, mifled by luxury, might throw 
 out J this one idea being granted, that the comforts of life and the 
 neccflaries are different things; the firft arc properly within the 
 
 G g reach
 
 226 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 reach of thofe whofe property, ingenuity, or induftry, puts thera 
 beyond the probabihty of feeking relief from the rate levied for the 
 poor J the laft comprehend only thofe articles which are neceflary 
 to the prefervation of human life in health, and the perfon in fuch 
 clothing as not to offend the eye of decency and propriety. 
 
 By neccffaries, Adam Smith fays, he underftands not only the 
 commodities which are indifpenfably neceffary for the fupport of 
 life, but whatever the cuftom of the country renders it indecent 
 for creditable people to be without j and explains himfelf, by ad- 
 mitting, that a linen fhirt and leather fhoes are among thofe things 
 which the pooreft creditable perfon of either fex in this country 
 would be afliamed to appear in public without j fait, candles, lea- 
 ther, foap, and fuel, he admits as neceflaries, to a certain degree 
 of confumption. 
 
 Grain, and other vegetables, with the help of milk, cheefe, and 
 butter, or oil where no butter is to be had, he affirms, are known 
 from experience, without any afllftance from butcher's meat, to 
 afford the moft nourifhing and invigorating diet j* and therefore 
 he doubts whether butcher's meat be a neceffary of Ufe any where j 
 but, not determining that point, he calls all other things luxuries, 
 fpeaking of articles of diet, without meaning, by this appellation, 
 to throw the fmalleft degree of reproach on a temperate ufe of them > 
 he fays, ** Beer and ale in Great Britain, and wine even in wine- 
 countries, I call luxuries : a man of any rank may, without any 
 reproach, abftain totally from fuch liquors ; nature does not render 
 them neceffary for the fupport of Ufe, and cuflom no where ren- 
 ders it indecent to live without them." 
 
 Many names, and fome of eminence in the political as well as 
 in the literary world, have given fan<ftion to flri6tures on our po- 
 lice refpe6ling the poor, from the time of Lord Verulam to the 
 
 * See page 287, of the 19th volume of the Annals of Agriculture, where an ex- 
 tra£l: from the Editor's Tour in Ireland is quoted, much in point with Adam Smith's, 
 opinion. ^*- 
 
 prefent
 
 LETTER XXXr. 227 
 
 prefent day ; but this particular topic, the wages of labour, has not 
 been glanced at until lately j hence we may colled, that it was not 
 thought a ftriking objeft ; and may alfo venture to afTert, that no 
 material, no glaring, difproportion fubfifted between wages and the 
 neceflaries of life, during thofe times, when Bacon, Lord Hale, 
 King, Davenant, Firmin, Defoe, Locke, Sir Jofiah Child, Gary, 
 Hay, Alcock, Lord Hilfborough, Sir Richard Lloyd, Fielding, and 
 Burn, turned their attention to this fubjed ; for, had any material 
 difproportion prevailed in the opinions of thefe writers, or any of 
 them, that difproportion would have been fuggefted as a caufe of 
 the mifchief complained of, have been adverted to, and a remedy 
 propofed ; but we can coUedl no arguments from their writings, 
 either for or againft a rife of wages ; and, as great a difproportion 
 fubfifted in their times between the price of corn and the price of 
 labour as at prefent, their filence may therefore be conftrued into 
 an acquiefcence, that no foundation of complaint exifted. 
 
 Indeed, no hints of any weight, no aflertions of ferious autho- 
 rity, can be found in the writings of our forefathers, on which we 
 may reafon, as on a folid foundation j building our argument on 
 the refpe6t due to a great namej which, when fa6l, experience, 
 ftrift demonflration, and analogical inference, fail us, may ferve as 
 a reafonable caufe of belief, though by no means of implicit con- 
 viction. 
 
 But the fame excellent, moral, and political, cafuift, whofe 
 treatife on the Wealth of Nations we have jufl: had recourfe to, 
 gives his decided opinion on this topic, which fell diredlly under 
 his attention. 
 
 He informs us, that, " in Great Britain, the wages of labour 
 feem to be evidently more than what is precifely neceflary to bring 
 up a family. 
 
 ** The real recompenfe of labour, the real quantity of the ne- 
 ceffaries and conveniences of life, which it can procure to the la- 
 
 G g 2 bourer,
 
 228 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 bourer, has, during the courfe of the piefent century, increafed 
 perhaps in a flill greater proportion than its money-price. 
 
 " The wages of labour have been continually increafing fince 
 the time of Henry the Eighth, and in the greater part of the 
 branches of trade, the profit of flock has been diminifhing. 
 
 " In Great Britain, the wages of country-labour approach nearer 
 to thofe of manufaduring-labour, than they are faid to have done 
 in the laft century or in the beginning of the prefent." 
 
 Thefe extra6ls plainly declare the opinion that this author held 
 on this fubje(5t : thofe, who wifli to fee the ground-work of his rea- 
 foning, will find full caufe to be fatisfied with the folidity of his 
 obfervations and the precifion of his arguments, by perufing books 
 the firft, the fecond, the fourth, and fifth, of this valuable work. 
 
 Mr. Townfliend concurs in the fame opinion j he fays, in his 
 Diflertation on the Poor-Laws, " if we take the average of fixty 
 years, which terminated at the commencement of the prefent cen- 
 tury, we fliall find the price of wheat to have been fix fhiilings and 
 four-pence halfpenny per bufliel, whereas for the fubfequent fixty 
 years it was only five fhiUings ; and for the lafl twenty years, end- 
 ing with the year 1782, not more than fix Shillings and fixpence; 
 yet, during that long period, in which provifions were the cheapeft, 
 the poor's rates were continually advancing ; that this diflrefs does 
 not arife from the high price of foap, leather, candles, fait, and 
 other fmall articles, needful in a family, will appear not only from 
 the fuperior advance in the price of labour, in the proportion of fix 
 to four within a century, but from hence, that where the price of 
 labour is the higheft, and provifions cheapefl, there the poor-rates 
 have been mofl exorbitant." 
 
 Mr. Howlett is the only writer of reputation who has advanced 
 an opinion different from that which has been generally received, or 
 filently acquiefced in, by all who have, in paft times, left us their 
 thoughts on the ftate of the poor, and diametrically oppofite to the 
 
 fentiments
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 229 
 
 fentlments of Adam Smith and Mr. Townfhend, who have very 
 lately had the fubje6l under their confideration. 
 
 Mr. Hewlett fays, in his pamphlet, which has been already no- 
 ticed, part the fecond, fecftion the firft, " the great and real caufe of 
 the increased proportion of tlie poor, as well as of the increafed ex- 
 penfe of maintaining them, is, that the price of labour has not ad- 
 vanced fo much as the price of provifions." And he concludes with 
 this obfervation, " either raife the wages of the poor, or give them 
 provifions as they had them forty years ago." 
 
 Laying afide, for a time, all the refpefl that is due to the autho- 
 rity of great names; leaving at prefent out of the queftion the 
 uniform ailertions of many eminent writers on this fubjed, from 
 the age of Queen Elizabeth to the prefent, who have one and all 
 complained of the profligacy of the poor j a profligacy which feems 
 to have gathered ftrength, in proportion as relief at a veftry, or by 
 the order of a magiflirate, fupplied the place of the wages of in- 
 dufl;ry; and who have attributed the increafe of this poverty and 
 expenfe in their maintenance to that caufe principally ; let us meet 
 this aflTertion, and examine it by tefl: of fa<5t, adduced by Mr. How- 
 lett himfelf. 
 
 The average-expenfe of the poor, the three years preceding 1776, 
 is produced} and the average of the expenfe, in the years 1783, 1784, 
 1785, is alfo produced} the firfl: amounts to 1,529,780/. os. id. 
 per annum J the lafl: to 2,004,238/. 5J. iid.i the difference be- 
 tween them is 474,458/. ^s. lod. If the price of the neceflTaries of 
 life increafed in the lafl period in an equal proportion with the ex- 
 penfes of the poor, that is to fay, between a third and a fourth 
 more than their price at the firfl period, the afl^ertion might be war- 
 ranted by the confequence in its fullefl extent j for, the price of la- 
 bour certainly has not rifen a third, or even a fourth : but let us 
 examine the fadl. 
 
 During the years of the firfl period, the average-price of wheat 
 was, in 1773, 2/. igs. id.-y in 1774, 2/. 15^. id.; in 1775, 2/. iis. ^d. ; 
 the average of the three years is 2/. 15^. i id. 
 
 During
 
 230 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 During the years of the fecond period, the average-price of wheat 
 was, in 1783, 2/. ys. id. j in 1784, 2/. ys, 2d. j in 1785, i/. its. iid.i 
 the average of the three years is 2/. 3^. Sid. 
 
 Therefore the price of the neceffaries of life, or, in other words, 
 the money-price of corn, which regulates the price of the neceflaries 
 of life, /. e. home-made commodities, was in the laft period cheaper 
 than in the firft, in the proportion of between a fourth and a fifth; 
 and the expenfes of the poor in the laft period were greater than 
 their expenfes in the firft, between a third and a fourth. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 MR. Howlett fuppofes that each individual confumes at leaft a 
 quarter of wheat a year j a family of fix therefore confumes 
 fix quarters annually ; corn, therefore, cofts fuch a family annually, 
 on the average above-mentioned, the three years preceding 1776 
 inclufively, 16/. 10^. gd. ; and 13/. zs. ^d. the three years preceding 
 1785 inclufively; confequently, the difference between thofe fums, 
 3/. Ss. 6d. remains in the pocket of the family, to expend in other 
 necefl"aries, in the laft period more than in the firft j and, taking the 
 number of labouring poor individuals in England and Wales to be 
 at fix millions and a quarter, as Mr. Howlett ftates them, during 
 both the periods, the whole of their expenditure for wheat would, 
 in the laft period, be lefs than in the former 3,567,708/.; and we 
 have feen that their expenfes in the laft period have exceeded their 
 expenfes in the firft near half a million. 
 
 Having fubftantiated this fad, we will now examine the articles 
 which the taxes, during the American war, had increafed in price in 
 1785 beyond that in 1776. It has been proved, that the price of 
 com regulates the price of the other articles of necelTary confump- 
 
 tion;
 
 LETTER XXXII. ^31 
 
 tlon ; therefore, as corn was cheaper, they could not be materially 
 dearer, but by the operation of fome tax. 
 
 Had the American war, in 1785, occafioned any additional duty 
 on any article which may be called a neceflary of life ? Was any 
 duty laid on milk, cheefe, butter, foap, leather, candles, but- 
 cher's meat, hnen, cloth, firing, to which they were not equally 
 fubjedl in 1776) if fubjeft to any tax at all ? The anfwer is a nega- 
 tive : therefore how the price of all, or any of them, could be in- 
 creafed one-fifth, by the means of taxation, I cannot difcover; 
 neither can it be granted as a fa6t, that leather, foap, candles, 
 butter, cheefe, coft one-fifth more in 1785 than in the years imme- 
 diately preceding the American war : that thefe articles might fome 
 of them be fomewhat dearer, may be fact; but, although the exaiSt 
 proportion cannot eafily be afcertained, the afiTertion may be fafely 
 ventured, that they had not increafed a fifth in price. Beer, fpirits, 
 tea, fugar, fnufF, tobacco, were increafed in price during this war ; 
 but as thefe cannot be numbered among the neceflaries of life ; and 
 the firft, the only article, the ufe of which can be approved of, is 
 generally found the labourer in agriculture by his mafter; it can- 
 not form a general article of unavoidable expenfe. 
 
 We have feen that the average-price of wheat, during the firft 
 period, was fo much more than during the iafl, as to make a 
 difference of 3/. Ss. 6d. annually, in the expenditure of a family 
 of fix people J and the fum it cofts fuch a family for corn, in the 
 laft period, is more than half the probable earnings of a labourer's 
 family j therefore the expenfes of that family, in all other articles 
 of confumption, could not be increafed more than it had faved in 
 the proportional price of wheat, had the price of thofe articles in- 
 creafed one-fifth, as Mr. Howlett has aflerted. 
 
 Where then refts the proof, that the number of poor, and the 
 increafed expenfe of maintaining them, arifes from the price of la- 
 bour not having rifen in proportion to the price of the necefl"aries 
 of life ? And where do we perceive the caufe for an increafe of 
 
 agricultural
 
 232' LETTER XXXII. 
 
 • 
 
 agricultural wages, which are known to have rifen two-pence in the 
 (hilling in daily labour fince the laft century, and in talk-work 
 much more ? The price of corn has not rifen in any fuch a pro- 
 portion, and the price of corn regulates the price of home-made 
 commodities. If greater wages are given, they will be given for 
 expenfes in articles widely different from the neceffaries of life ; 
 they will be given for the encouragement of idlenefs, by the in- 
 creafe of the excife-revenue. Idlenefs is the root of all evil;— 
 articles of excife are the moifture which nourilhes that root. 
 
 But, while our reafon can find no caufe for a rife of wages, both 
 that and our humanity plead ftrongly for fome encouragement to 
 induftry ; becaufe it is apprehended, that a profpe<5t of reward is 
 a more a6live and honourable inducement than a fear of punifli- 
 ment. So thought and fo wrote William Shakefpeare, in 1581. 
 The human mind is fooner roufed to atftion by a hope of rifing, 
 than by a fear of falling : that apprehenfion cannot pervade the 
 mafs of labouring-people j 
 
 So fafely low the poor, they cannot fall. 
 
 But no fituatlon in this country fhould be beneath a probability 
 of advancement. Hope fhould be permitted to travel through life 
 with all of us. When that pleafing companion, that chearful ray 
 of untried felicity, is excluded from our fight, our journey is gloomy 
 indeed : defpondence and apathy then are aflbciated with us ; and 
 mifery, as Trincalo fays, acquaints a man with ftrange bed-fel- 
 lovvs, . i 
 
 The confolidation of fmall farms, where the pradlice prevails to 
 that extent as to leave no fmall occupation for the labourer who 
 might have faved money fufficient, or, by a courfe of honeft and 
 induftrious condu<5l, have obtained credit fufficient, to flock and 
 farm a few acres of land, moft certainly operates to a great difcou- 
 ragement of iiiduitry. 
 
 Jn
 
 LETTER XXXII. 233 
 
 In pariflies where this pra6lice fo generally prevails, there is no 
 other chance for him, whole manual labour tills the land, to reap the 
 produce of it, than by occupying the glebe of the parifli, or thofe 
 lands which have been left in truft for the ufes of particular chari- 
 ties. The proper tenants of fuch lands, and alfo of the glebe, if 
 the incumbent does not occupy it himfelf, are the induftrious poor ; 
 and, in fuch cafes, the parifh^rates fliould become the fecurity for 
 the rent. 
 
 If box-clubs were generally eftabliflied, fuch of the fubfcribers 
 as have continued their payments a given number of years, who 
 might be thought by the parifh-officers worthy to be trufted with a 
 fmall occupation of land, fliould be permitted to draw out of the 
 ftock the amount of their fubfcriptions, deducting fuch fums as 
 they may have received from the club, whenever fuch an opportu- 
 nity of occupying land might offer. In that cafe, thofe who have 
 migrated from their pariflies to obtain greater wages, and have 
 paid a larger proportion of their earnings to the fl:ock, as was pro- 
 pofed, would have a proportional greater chance of rifing in their 
 iituations. 
 
 To appropriate any part of the compulfory maintenance to the 
 encouragement of youthful indufliry, might poflibly be thought an 
 unwarrantable perverfion ; but it certainly would not be an illegal 
 application of part of the poor's ratej for, it fliould be in our 
 recolle£lion, that to fet the poor at work was one great caufe 
 which induced the legiflature to inftitute a poor's rate: and it 
 mufl: be acknowledged, that this rate can be diminiflied by no 
 means fo proper, and beneficial to the public, as by the promotion 
 of general indufl:ry : and we fliould alfo bear in our minds, that^ 
 induftrious habits grow by encouragement more thriftily than by 
 compulfion. 
 
 Every encouragement given by agricultural focietles tends to this 
 end : rewards for good and flcilful operations in hufljandry, — for 
 long and honeft fervices, — for bringing up, without parifli-afllf- 
 
 H h tance.
 
 234 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 tance, a family of children, — fchools of induftry, with prizes to 
 the moll defeiving, — all tend to excite and preferve a fpirit of in- 
 duftrious emulation, produ6live of the befl: effedts ; a fpirit well 
 exchanged for that idle thievilh difpofition, too prevalent, at pre- 
 fent, among the rifing generation of the poor. 
 
 The overfeers of the poor, in their refpe6live parifhes, pofTefs 
 numberlefs opportunities of encouraging induftry. The applica- 
 tion that a poor perfon is obliged, by the ftatute, to make to them 
 for relief, before he is authorized to be relieved by the next magif- 
 trate, gives them ample opportunities to obtain information of the 
 induftry, the economy, the earnings, the expenditure, of the per- 
 fon applying. When the overfeers perceive one family in want of 
 parifli-relief, and the adjoining family, in a iimilar fituation with 
 refpedt to number, age, and capability of maintaining themfelves, 
 not only not in want, but pofteffing a vifible property, they muft 
 feel that the duty of their office requires fome inveftigation of this 
 apparent paradox j and if, on inquiry, they find, that honeft in- 
 duftry and rigid economy place the one family above want, and 
 that idlenefs and wafte reduce the other to diftrefs ; if they dole to 
 the one neceflary relief, which is more than they deferve, they 
 ftiould, by every encouragement, hold the other out as an example 
 to be imitated. The natural claims of the one on fociety are equi- 
 vocal i the merits of the other are certain. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 IT appears illiberal to refufe afTent to the only reafonable excufe 
 that can be alleged, in behalf of the poor, for the miferable 
 degree of poverty in which they are plunged, and for the increafing 
 
 burthen
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 235 
 
 burthen of expenfe to the public in their maintenance : an excufe 
 which, if it exifted, would throw the blame from their flioulders to 
 thofe of their employers. 
 
 It would alfo ill become any man occupying a confiderable por- 
 tion of landed property, and refiding in a country where the ge- 
 neral appearance of his labouring neighbours indicates fuch dif- 
 trefs as, when it meets the eye, muft afFe6l the heart, and which 
 diftrefs arifes either from their wages not being fufficient to pur- 
 chafe the neceffaries of life, or from a deficiency of economy and 
 induftry in the poor themfelves, to deny the fir It caufe, and affert 
 the laft to be a fa£t. Such conduft would be inexcufable in any 
 man, unlefs, from candid inveftigation, he was firmly perfuaded of 
 the fa6l, and was confcious that fuch a reprefentation was the lan- 
 guage of truth J and, in that cafe, it becomes, in an inquiry of 
 this nature, his duty to make his opinion public, and to affert, that 
 the neceffaries of life are not rifen in price more than agricultural 
 wages. 
 
 Such is the opinion that the laft pages of this inquiry have at- 
 tempted to eftablifh as truth ; and, if they have fucceeded, the fol- 
 lowing confequence, which refults from it, is apparent, and can- 
 not be contradided : — That economy and prudence are neceffary to 
 make what the poor earn go as far towards the fupport of life as 
 pofTible ; and induftry alfo is neceffary to make their time as pro- 
 duftive as poffible : for, if it be true that agricultural labour is as 
 well paid, all things being confidered, as it ought to be, there is no 
 way to increafe the earnings of the poor but by increafing the gene- 
 ral quantity of induftry. This is therefore the point to which our 
 attention fhould be directed. " 
 
 Mr. Locke's opinion has been mentioned, with refpe6t to the 
 relaxation of difcipline among the poor. To this he attributed, in 
 1697, their mifery and our expenfes. This opinion was extracted 
 from a collection of pamphlets concerning the poor^ publifhed at 
 
 H h 2 Edinburgh
 
 236 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 Edinburgh in 1787, which referred to Mr. Chalmers's Eftimate of 
 the comparative State of Great Britain. 
 
 The whole of Mr. Locke's memorial, as one of the Commiflio- 
 ners of the Board of Trade, was not then in print ; nor was any 
 other ftrefs laid on it than fuch as the opinion of a man of his 
 abilities and folid judgement demanded : but the lafl edition of the 
 pamphlet, publiflied for the benefit, and giving an account of the 
 inftitution and management, of the fchools of induftry in the 
 county of Lincoln, has thrown a much ftronger light on this 
 memorial ; has placed the whole of it before our view ; and, by fo 
 doing, has conneded the pra6lice and experience of a moft excellent 
 regulation for the encouragement of youthful induftry, with the 
 fentiments of a vigorous and highly-cultivated mind. 
 
 This Report from the Board of Trade, drawn up by Mr. Locke, 
 contains not his opinion only, but that alfo of othe?- comt7iiJJioners, 
 founded on a full and mature examination both of fails and argu- 
 ments, produced from a multiplicity of proofs which they had full 
 power to call for. It originated at the inftigation of William the 
 Third, who had the regular employment of the poor much at heart, 
 and mentioned the fubjed to his parliament, on opening the feflion 
 in 1699, as a meafure he very much interefted himfelf in ; and 
 there was, accordingly, an adl of parliament drawn up, that ftill 
 exifts, although, owing to the altercations between him and his 
 parliament, which took place about this time, it was never pafled 
 into a law. 
 
 One capital feature in this excellent memorial is, the recom- 
 mendation of fchools of induftry j and furely fuch an inftitution, if 
 ever advifable, is now advifable j if it was ever neceffary, by a re- 
 gular education, to increafe the honeft means of maintenance 
 among the labouring poor, it is now neceffary ; if ever there was 
 reafon to fear that the poor's rate may anticipate the fources of our 
 national expenditure, we have ?iow reafon to fear it j and furely if 
 
 we
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 237 
 
 we ever had caufe to dread the confequences of fuch an anticipation 
 to the interefls of the kingdom at large, to the internal peace of its 
 inhabitants, and to the fafety of our much-admired conftitution, 
 we have now every reafon to dread the confequences of a poor's rate, 
 which has rifen upon us in times of peace and profperity, and 
 which will continue to rife in a greater proportion, and with in- 
 creafed celerity, as war, with its concomitant evils and expenfes, 
 reduces our trade, impoverifhes our manufaflures, and increafes 
 the demands upon us for money, the finews of war, in an inverfe 
 proportion with our ability to contribute it. 
 
 Fas eft ab hofle doceri. — Shall we then be inattentive to the opinions 
 of thofe with whom we are now at war ? An opinion delivered in 
 times of peace, and then conceived, by thofe who formed the firft 
 conftitution after the deftrudlion of defpotifm in France, as parti- 
 cularly applicable to the intention of inftituting a poor's rate 
 throughout that kingdom fimilar to that of England. Shall we 
 pay no attention to that remarkable exprelTion made ufe of by 
 the French Committee of Mendicity which points out our poor's 
 rate as the moft deftrudive gangrene of our conftitution ? And 
 if that man, whofe effigy, in many places within the king- 
 dom, has been burnt, a ceremony that has thrown out a blaze to 
 the reputation of his abilities, which his intentions by no means 
 deferve from thofe who are friends to the conftitution of this 
 country ; if that man has ever, either in his writings or his con- 
 verfation, declared his opinion, " that the prefent adminiftration 
 of our code of poor-laws will, if continued, in time efFe6l, whh 
 certainty, that deftru(5tion of our conftitution," which himfelf, and 
 other enemies to this country, have attempted to bring about in a 
 quicker manner; if fuch is the opinion of Thomas Paine, fhall 
 we not be taught to ftrenghten ourfelves in that weak part which 
 an enemy inadvertently has pointed outj to repair that breach in 
 our citadel j to probe and cleanfe that wound which an enemy 
 knows has been too much negledled, and now, through that ne- 
 
 gled.
 
 238 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 glefl:, threatens us with deftrudlion ? * Surely the obje6l is of 
 importance fufficient to demand all our attention ; and the attempt 
 of an individual to excite that attention cannot be called prefump- 
 tuous, although it may be vain ; cannot deferve reproof, although 
 it may not meet with fuccefs. 
 
 Mr. Locke has reported, that, if the caufe of this evil be 
 looked into, the commiffioners humbly conceive it will be found 
 to have proceeded neither from fcarcity of provifions, nor from 
 want of employment for the poor, " fince the goodnefs of God," 
 he fays, " has blefled thefe times with plenty no lefs than the 
 former." 
 
 Has not the goodnefs of God alfo blefled this kingdom with 
 plenty fmce the determination of the American war ? If, in 1697, 
 this was the language of truth, and the voice of gratitude, is it 
 not fo, at leafl in an equal degree, at prefent ? Has not the horn 
 of plenty been poured of late years over this country, replete with 
 all the fruits of the earth, in every produdlion of art and induf- 
 try ? Have not our fhips conveyed the overflowings of Great Bri- 
 tain, whofe confumption borders upon wafte, to all parts of the 
 globe ? And have they not returned home laden with the produce 
 
 * Early in the fpring of 179*, foon after the Rights of Man was publiihed, I was 
 invited by a gentleman, to whom I had (hewn fome civilities in the county, to dine 
 with him in town. Thomas Paine was one of the company : it was my lot to be placed 
 next to him. The company being large, the converfation foon became more divided 
 than general, each perfon talking to his neighbour. Mr. Paine told me be was informed 
 I had paid great attention to the fituation of the poor in this county, and the laws refped- 
 ing them, and afked me what I thought of the poor's rate. I told him I thought it an 
 increafing evil. He then made me this reply:—" I ami juft returned from Thetford, 
 where my grandfather was overfeer about half a century ago. I have juft feen the rates 
 for his half-year ; they were under ^^40.— I think he faid ^^34. — What do you think 
 they are now this prefent half-year ? Sir, they are between ;^300 and ;^400. In a fhort 
 time, if this evil is not flopped, the friends of liberty will, with the greateft eafe, walk 
 over the ruins of the boafted Conftitution : its fall wants no acceleration from the friends 
 of Gallic freedom." — To this a gentleman prefent inftantly replied, « Thomas, thy wifh 
 is father to that thought," 
 
 or
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 239 
 
 of all dimes ? Whatever fruits the earth has produced from the 
 north to the fouth, from the eaft to the weft ; whatever commo- 
 dities the art and induftry of all nations manufadured ; have they 
 not been imported in barter for our producflions ? and has not a 
 vaft balance of trade been ftill in our favour ? Surely, then, our 
 profperity, in 1792, was full as remarkable as in 1697. 
 
 But let us attend to the fhades of the two pi6lures, and confider 
 the obfcure as well as the clear. What does Mr. Locke complain of 
 in 1697 ? The number of the poor, and the increafe of the rate for 
 their maintenance. — In 1697, the Board of Trade reprefented to 
 the king, that the number of infolvent inhabitant houfes was kvcn 
 hundred and fifty thoufand ; which, at five inhabitants to a houfe, 
 a calculation fuperior to what the political arithmeticians of 1690 
 allow, make a total of three millions feven hundred and fifty 
 thoufand poor ; and that the fupport of all the poor muft be four 
 hundred thoufand pounds yearly.* 
 
 In 1787, Mr. Hewlett calculates the poor at fix millions, and the 
 return of the poor's rates amounted, on the average of three years, 
 ending in 1785, to above two millions, and there is reafon to be- 
 lieve that thefe rates are ftill increafing. If the management of the 
 poor in 1697 wanted regulation, does it not in 1793? 
 
 In 1697, Mr. Locke fuggefted that fchools of induftry were the 
 means to increafe the quantity of labour throughout the kingdom, 
 and to decreafe the expenfe in maintaining the poor. Sir Richard 
 Lloyd, between fifty and fixty years afterwards, ftarted the fame 
 idea ; but it remained for a part of the county of Lincoln to reduce 
 theory to pradice, in the year 1783, and to prove that thofe advan- 
 tages, of which others had only conceived the probability, were ca- 
 pable, by experiment, of being proved certain. It appears that thofe 
 gentlemen, who formed the plan of inftituting fchools of induftry, 
 
 * Colki^ion of pamphlets, concerning the poor, London and Edinburgh, 1787, 
 p^ 104. Chalmers's Eilimate, p. 47, 
 
 within
 
 240 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 within the diftii6l of Lindfey, in the county of Lincoln, had, not, at 
 that time, nor indeed until very lately, {^en the heads of Mr. 
 Locke's plan: other counties in the kingdom may therefore now 
 profit by uniting Mr. Locke's theoretic regulations with the prac- 
 tical experience of the inftitution in Lincolnfhire. 
 
 Nor can that experience be ilightly eflimated, or its good efFe6ls 
 lightly valued, which, upon a general average of the earnings of 
 the children, in thofe fchools, prove clearly, that one hundied and 
 thirty-five, between the age of eleven and twelve years, have, in ten 
 months, taking in the depth of the five winters, ending in 1789, 
 earned the fum of 680/. 3J. 3^. or half-a-crown a week each, " ex- 
 clufive of all their work, during the other ten months of each of 
 thofe years ; exclufive of the work of fuch fpinners as do not feel 
 themfelves, or are not thought by their friends, forward enough to 
 become candidates ; and exclufive of thofe who, having their fettle- 
 ment in non-fubfcribing parifhes, and being thereby deprived of 
 any chance for thefe encouragements, have yet availed themfelves fo 
 far of the introduction of the Jerfey fpinning, as to earn fome part 
 of their fubfiflence by their own unaffifted efforts, in fpight of the 
 difficulties arifmg from the fmallnefs of their cottages, &c. 
 
 " Of the two lafl defcriptions, the number is very great, but 
 far greater ftill is the multitude of thofe, who, by the obflinacy of 
 parents, the negleft of overfeers, or the general prejudices arifing 
 from old habits, are ftill trained up in floth, vice, and mifery." 
 
 The worthy and able patron of thefe fchools, and editor of this 
 publication, continues his exhortations to the public, in the fol- 
 lowing words : 
 
 " Would to God that the eyes of the nation could be opened 
 upon this greateft of all evils ; this fatal fource of national profligacy 
 and misfortune I ■ — If the reader joins in this fincere and anxious 
 wifli, let him, after he has perufed the following work of the great 
 Mr. Locke, compare it with the many crude attempts that have 
 been made, fmce the date of that report, to patch, to alter, or to 
 
 abrogate. 
 
 I
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 241 
 
 abrogate, the wife and beneficial ftatute of Queen Elizabeth j and, 
 if he (hall then be of opinion, that parifh-working-fchools deferve 
 a fair and full trial, let him exert his abilities and his intereft, 
 whatever they are, in procuring that trial to be fuftained, by the 
 only authority that can prevail over fuch obftaclcs, as will ever re- 
 fift all private endeavours. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 OF the fame opinion with this worthy maglflrate is the writer 
 of thefe ftridures j an opinion formed from an attention to 
 the habits of the rifing generation ; from a knowledge of the real 
 good thefe fchools of induftry have effecSted, where they have been 
 inftituted; and, from an impreffion, indelibly received by precept 
 and education in early life, that idlenefs is the root of all evily and 
 now confirmed by obfervation and experience : and moft earneftly 
 does he join in this exhortation to thofe who have the power, that 
 they may alfo have the will, to procure a trial of fchools of in- 
 duftry, by the authority of the ftatute of Elizabeth, affifted by the 
 contributions of individuals. 
 
 It is in this report of Mr. Locke's, here alluded to, that he fug- 
 gefts the idea of thefe fchools of induftry, and produces the fol- 
 lowing heads of regulations refpe<5ting them. 
 
 " The children of labouring-people are an ordinary burthen to 
 the parifti, and are ufually maintained in idlenefs ; fo that their 
 labour alfo is generally loft to the public, till they are twelve or 
 fourteen years old. 
 
 " The moft effedlual remedy for this, that we are able to con- 
 ceive, and which we therefore humbly propofe, is, that working- 
 fchools be fet up in each parifh, to which the children of all fuch 
 
 I i as
 
 242 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 as demand relief of the parifli, above three and under fourteen years 
 of age, whilfl: they live at home with their parents, and are not 
 othcrvvife employed for their livelihood, by the allowance of the 
 overfeers of the poor, fliall be obliged to come. 
 
 *' By this means the mother will be eafed of a great part of her 
 trouble in looking after and providing for them at home, and fo 
 be at more liberty to work ; the children will be kept in much bet- 
 ter order; be better provided forj and, from their infancy, be 
 inured to work, which is of no fmall confequence to the making 
 of them fober and induftrious all their lives after ; and the parifti 
 will be either eafed of this burthen, or at leaft of the mifufe in the 
 prefent management of it : for a great number of children giving a 
 poor man a title to an allowance from the parifli, this allowance is 
 given once a week, or once a month, to the father, in money, 
 which he, not feldom, fpends on himfelf at the ale-houfe, whilfl: 
 his children (for whofe fake he had it) are left to fufFer, or perifli 
 under the want of neceffaries, unlefs the charity of neighbours re- 
 lieve them. 
 
 " We humbly conceive, that a man and his wife, in health, may 
 be able, by their ordinary labour, to maintain themfelves ^nd two 
 children : more than two children at one time, under the age of 
 three years, will feldom happen in one family ; if, therefore, all the 
 children, above three years old, be taken off their hands, thofe who 
 have never fo manv, whilfl: they remain themfelves in health, will 
 not need any allowance for them. 
 
 " We do not fuppofe that children at three years old will be able, 
 at that age, to get their livelihoods at the working-fchool ; but we 
 are fure, that what is necefl'ary for their relief will more effe6lually 
 have that ufe, if it be diftributed to them in bread at that fchool, 
 than if it be given to their fathers in money. What they have at 
 home from their parents is feldom more than bread and water, and 
 that, many of them, very fcantily too ; if, therefore, care be taken 
 that they have each of them their belly-full of bread daily at fchool, 
 
 they
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 243 
 
 they will be in no danger of famifliing ; but, on the contrary, they 
 will be healthier and ftronger than thofe who are bred othervvife. 
 Nor will this pradice coft the overfeer any trouble ; for a baker 
 may be agreed with to furnifh and bring into the fchool-houfc, every 
 day, the allowance of bread necefTary for all the fcholars that are 
 there. And to this may be added alfo, without any trouble, in cold 
 weather, if it be thought needful, a little warm water-gruel j for 
 the fame fire that warms the room may be made ufe of to boll a 
 pot of it. 
 
 " From this method the children will not only reap the fore-men- 
 tioned advantages, with far lefs charge to the pariHi than what is 
 now done for them, but they will be alfo thereby the more obliged 
 to come to fchool and apply themfelves to work, becaufe otherwife 
 they will have no victuals : and alfo the benefit thereby, both to 
 themfelves and the parifh, will daily increafe ; for the earnings of 
 their labour at fchool every day increafing, it may reafonably be 
 concluded that, computing all the earnings of a child, from three 
 to fourteen years of age, the nourifliment and teaching of fuch a 
 child, during that whole time, will coft the parifii nothing: where- 
 as there is no child now, which, from its birth, is maintained by 
 the parifh, but, before the age of fourteen, cofts the parifh fifty or 
 fixty pounds. 
 
 Another advantage alfo of bringing poor children thus to a work- 
 ing-fchool is, that by this means they may be obliged to come con- 
 ftantly to church every Sunday along with their fchool-mafters or 
 dames, whereby they may be brought into fome fenfe of religion j 
 whereas ordinarily now, in their loofe and idle way of breeding up, 
 they are as utter ftrangers both to religion' and morality, as they 
 are to induftry. 
 
 *• In order, therefore, to the more efFedtually carrying on of this 
 work to the advantage of this kingdom, we further humbly pro- 
 pofe, that thefe fchools be generally for fpinning or knitting, or 
 fome other part- of the woollen-manufa6ture, unlefs in countries 
 
 112 where
 
 244 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 where the place ftiall furnifli fome other materials fitter for the em- 
 ployment of fuch poor children j in which places the choice of thofe 
 materials, for their employment, may be left to the prudence and 
 diredion of the guardians of the poor of that hundred ; and that 
 the teachers, in thefe fchools, be paid out of the poor-rates, as can 
 be agreed. 
 
 " This, though at firft fetting up it may cofl the parifli a little, 
 yet we humbly conceive, that (the earnings of the children abating 
 the charge of their maintenance, and as much work being required 
 of each of them as they are reafonably to perform) it will quickly 
 pay its own charges with an overplus. 
 
 '* That, where the number of the poor children of any parifli 
 is greater than for them all to be employed in one fchool, they be 
 there divided into two ; and the boys and girls, if thought conve- 
 nient, taught and kept to work feparately. 
 
 " That the handicraftfmen, in each hundred, be bound to take 
 every other of their refpe(5live apprentices from amongft the boys in 
 fome one of the fchools in the faid hundred, without any money : 
 which boys they may fo take, at what age they pleafe, to be bound 
 to them till the age of twenty-three years, that fo the length of 
 time may more than make amends for the ufual fums that are given 
 to handicraftfmen with fuch apprentices. 
 
 " That thofe alfo in the hundred who keep in their hands land 
 of their own to the value of 25/. per annum, or upwards, or who 
 rent 50/. per annum, or upwards, may choofe, out of the fchools 
 of the faid hundred, what boy each of them pleafes, to be his ap- 
 prentice in hufbandry, upon the fame condition. 
 
 " That whatever boys are not, by this means, bound out ap- 
 prentices before they are full fourteen, fhall, at the Eafter-meeting 
 of the guardiajis of each hundred every year, be bound to fuch gen- 
 tlemen, yeomen, or farmers, within the faid hundred, as have the 
 greateft number of acres of land in their hands, who ihall be 
 obliged to take them for their apprentices till the age of twenty- 
 three.
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 245 
 
 three, or bind them out, at their own coft, to fome handicraftf- 
 menj provided always, that no fuch gentleman, yeoman, or far- 
 mer, (hall be bound to have two fuch apprentices at a time. 
 
 " That grown people, alfo, (to take away their pretence of want 
 of work,) may come to the faid working-fchools to learn, where 
 work fliall accordingly be provided for them. 
 
 *' That the materials to be employed in thefe fchools, and among 
 other the poor people of the parifti, be provided by a common 
 Hock in each hundred, to be raifed out of a certain portion of 
 the poor's rate of each parifh as requifite j which flock, we humbly 
 conceive, need be raifed but once ; for, if rightly managed, it will 
 increafe." 
 
 The expreflion, guardians of the hundred^ refers to a part of Mr. 
 Locke's general plan, which is not neceffarily conne6led with fchools 
 of induftry : but it would not be difficult to put in pra6lice this re- 
 gulation, with refpefl to binding the children apprentice at a proper 
 age, without an appointment of guardians of hundreds. The laft 
 claufe proceeds on the idea, that the application of the poor's rate 
 to this purpofe, or as much of it as is necelTary, is a legal applica- 
 tion of the parilh-money j and that it is fo is certain, as appears 
 by the following extradl from the 43d of Elizabeth : 
 
 *' The overfeers, or the greateft part of them, fliall take order, 
 from time to time, by and with the confent of two or more fuch 
 juftices of the peace, as is aforefaid, for fetting to work the children 
 of fuch whofe parents ftiall not, by the faid church- wardens and 
 overfeers, or the greater part of them, be thought able to keep and 
 maintain their children." Se6t. i. 
 
 " And alfo to raife weekly, or otherwife, &c. a convenient ftock 
 of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron, and other neceflary fluff, to fet 
 the poor at work." Se6l. i. 
 
 The firfl flep towards the eflablifhment of fchools of induflry 
 (hould therefore originate from the authority of the magiflrates ; 
 
 and
 
 24-6 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 and the quarter-feflions might, with great propriety, promote the 
 undertaking, by orders to the following purport : 
 
 1. The overfeers of every parifh are, by order of feffions, re- 
 quired, by virtue of the adl of parliament pafled in the 43d year of 
 Queen Elizabeth, chapter the fecond, and in obedience thereto, to 
 purchafe flock and materials, and to provide proper places and pro- 
 per inftru6lions to teach the children to knit and fpin of all fuch 
 whofe parents fhall not be thought able to keep and maintain their 
 children. 
 
 2. They are alfo required not to grant any relief in money to fuch 
 parents who fliall refufe to fend their children, between the age of 
 three years and nine, to the places appointed them for their inftruc- 
 tion, and fuffer them to continue there as many hours each day, as, 
 by the faid overfeers, fliall be thought fit and proper, and not to 
 ceafe their attendance until difcharged from the faid fchools with 
 confent of the overfeers. 
 
 3. That thefe orders be printed, and copies of them difperfed in 
 all parifhes throughout the diftri6l. ^'•- ''- 
 
 Orders of feilions fimilar to thefe were iflued by the quarter-fef- 
 fions at Louth, in Lincolnfhire, in 1783, which were followed by 
 propofals for the encouragement of the working-poor within thofe 
 difirids, throughout which fchools of induftry have been infti- 
 tuted. 
 
 The following are the propofals for an annual fubfcription for 
 the working-poor, within certain diftrifis in the county of Lin- 
 coln, which laid the foundations of the fchools of induifry in that 
 county : 
 
 1. That every parlfh, within the diftrid: above-mentioned, be 
 requefted to fubfcribe a fum amounting to the proportion of i per 
 cent, upon the poor's rates of the laft year. 
 
 2. That individuals, within the faid diflridl, be folicited to 
 fubfcribe the fum of five fhillings each annually. 
 
 3. That
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 247 
 
 3. That a meeting of the fubfcribers be called as fooii as conve- 
 niently may be, to choofe a committee for the management of the 
 bufinefs of the fublcription. 
 
 4. That premiums be given from the faid fubfcription to fuch 
 children, of certain ages and defcriptions, within the faid diftrid:, as 
 in a given time {hall have produced the greateft quantity of work, 
 of different kinds, and of the befl quality. 
 
 5. That th'efe premiums fhall confift in different articles of 
 clothing, and the higheft premium in complete clothing. The faid 
 clothing to be made handfome and uniform. 
 
 6. That, whenever any young perfon fliall go out to apprentice- 
 fliip or fervice, or be married, with the approbation of the com- 
 mittee, luch »young perfon fliall receive from the committee a re- 
 ward not lefs than five pounds, nor exceeding ten pounds, if he or 
 ihe fhall, in the courfe of his or her education, have received three 
 or more of the annual premiums given by the commitee. A re- 
 ward not lefs than two pounds, and not exceeding three pounds, if 
 he or fhe fhall have received two of the faid premiums. And a re- 
 ward not lefs than one pound ten fhillings, nor exceeding two 
 pounds, if he or fhe fhall have received one of the faid annual pre- 
 miums. If the fubfcriptions fhall not be found fufficient for the 
 above rewards, then the value of each to be lefTened in proportion 
 to the flate of the fubfcription. 
 
 7. That premiums be alfo given, at the difcretion of the coni- 
 mittee, to fuch ovcrfeers of the poor as fliall diflinguifh themfelves 
 in the due execution of the orders of laft quarter-felTions, relative 
 to the employment of the poor. 
 
 8. That the fixing the number of annual premiums, and the 
 value of each, fliall be left to the difcretion of the committee. 
 
 It fhould be obferved, that, in thofe parts of Lincolnfliire where 
 thefe fchools have been eftablifhed, the working-poor had not been 
 accuftomed to any manufailory ; and, except the labour that agri- 
 culture demanded, which (in a country where the tradt of land, 
 
 cultivated
 
 248 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 cultivated by the plough, being fmall in proportion to that ufed for 
 grazing) could not be fufficient, at all times of the year, to find 
 employment for their hufbandmen j the poor, confequently, were not 
 trained to regular habits of induftry; the women and children 
 efpecially had no means of increafing the income of their family, 
 had they, in facl, been poflefied of the will, which, unfortunately, 
 they were not ; but, on the contrary, the parents of children who 
 were at thefe fchools made ufe of every means in their power to 
 ftifle, in the cradle, an inftitution which had youthful induftry for 
 its ohjedi i although the fruits of that induftry were an increafe of 
 income to themfelves, clothing to their children, regular manners, 
 moral habits, honorary rewards, good chara6ters, and a profped: of 
 more material advantages in future. To fuch a degree of invete- 
 racy was the oppofition of the poor to this excellent inftitution ar- 
 rived, that many parents have been known to beat and otherwife 
 ill-treat their children, for having deferved and received rewards 
 from thofe appointed to diftribute the prizes. 
 
 The habits of the working-poor, in Suffblk and Effex, are ma- 
 terially different, as it is to be hoped they alfo are in mcift counties 
 in England 5 the manufa6lures which have been eftabliihed among 
 us, in this part of the kingdom, for feveral centuries, have been 
 carried on with fuch reputation and fuccefs, as to give names, from 
 the towns in which they are made, to feveral kinds of highly valua- 
 ble cloths, by which names they are known in the moft diftant 
 countries on the globe : at the fame time they have raifed many 
 worthy families to opulence and refpecft j and, although it muft be 
 allowed, that the poor's rates have not always diminifhed in pro- 
 portion as the manufadures have been fuccefsful, and have gene- 
 rally increafed as the demand for goods decreafed 3 yet, as the poor 
 have been exercifed in habits of induftry, there is no fear that preju- 
 dices, fimilar to thofe in Lincolnftiire, Ihould prevail here: the 
 temptation held forth to the children to be induftrious, by re- 
 wards, public exhibitions, and fhowy proceflions, which fo con- 
 
 fiderably
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 249 
 
 fiderably increafed the expenfes of the inftitutions in Lincohifliire, 
 will not be fo neceffary with us, nor in general throughout the 
 kingdom; confequently a fmaller fubfcription, and lefs encourage- 
 ment from the pockets of individuals, will infure fuccefs in other 
 counties, than was found neceflary in Lincolnfhire; and probably 
 an application of a proportion of the poor's rate may no longer be 
 neceflary, than what is warranted by the letter and fpirit of the 
 claufe in the forty-third of Elizabeth, authorizuig the overfeers to 
 take order for fetting the children of the poor to work, and to raife 
 weekly, or otherwife by taxation, 6cc, a convenient (lock of hemp, 
 wool, flax, &c. for that purpofe. 
 
 But fome fubfcription, fmiilar to that propofed and carried into 
 execution in Lincolnfhire, is certainly neceflTary, to provide a falary 
 for inftrudlors, and alfo prizes for the molt deferving. The working- 
 rooms, the materials to manufaflure, and the utenfils for the pur- 
 pofe, may undoubtedly be purchafed by the poor's rate ; but no a£t 
 of parliament authorizes the overfeers to raife a fum to reward and 
 encourage the poor, to incite them to induftry, and to ftir up a 
 fpirit of emulation among that mod numerous clafs of our fellow- 
 fubjefts, in the moft laudable exertions which can occupy the hours 
 of human life. 
 
 There is no doubt but that the inhabitants in every county in 
 the kingdom, by a laudable patriotic fpirit, which is conflantly ma- 
 nifefting itfelf in fo many fplendid inftances, to the honour of the 
 country and of the age, would be induced to fland forward with a 
 fubfcription to this purpofe, were they imprefl^ed with a conviftioti 
 of the expediency, the utihty, and prailicability, of the meafure : to 
 attempt fuch an impreflion fliall be the -aim of the next Letter on 
 tliis fubje(5t. 
 
 Kk LETTER
 
 [ 2J0 ] 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 NO reliance ftiall be placed on a train of inferences, which 
 might, in this cafe, follow each other with all the authority 
 of felf-evident propofitions j we will not at prefent rely on thofe de- 
 duclions, which plain reafon and common fenfe muft make from fo 
 univerfally acknowledged a principle, as that the riches of a nation 
 are in proportion to its induflry, and its induftry depends on the 
 habits imbibed by its young people j but we will, for a time, fup- 
 pofe, that it is become the bufinefs of the writer to weaken and di- 
 minifh, in the mind of his readers, their refpe6V for and reliance on 
 thofe arguments in favour of fchools of induftry, which he is not 
 able to confute. 
 
 The propriety of the plan (hall firft be fuppofed to be attacked on 
 this ground ; that, allowing it to be no illegal appropriation of part 
 of the poor's rates, to apply a fmall fum towards raifing a ftock for 
 poor children to work out, and to teach them to earn a livelihood; 
 yet it would be improper^ becaufe common experience, as inftanced 
 by the returns of the overfeers in the three years ending in 1785, 
 has proved, that it has been their general praftice to apply a very 
 fmall portion of the poor's rate in the purchafe of ftock for the 
 poor to work upj not above a hundred and thirty-third part of 
 the total raifed, or about fifteen thoufand pounds of the whole fumj 
 and that this has been principally for the ufe of grown people^ who 
 are lefs likely to wafte and fpoii the ftock than children. 
 
 That, where the wants of the poor are fo preffing, as to occa- 
 fion the fum raifed for their relief to be inadequate to the purpofe, 
 the appropriating a larger portion to a precarious advantage would 
 be improper. 
 
 That the attempt, to raife a fum by a general voluntary fubfcrip- 
 tion, would, if it fucceeded, have the effect of an additional rate : 
 
 if
 
 LETTER XXXV. 251 
 
 if it did not fucceed, the money applied from the poor's rate would 
 be thrown away by the failure of the plan ; therefore, in both 
 cafes, the attempt is improper. 
 
 That the fame obje6lions, which apply to the propriety of the 
 plan, would equally apply to its expediency ; and there are feveral 
 other obfervations which may be brought to prove it not expedient. 
 
 The only means of employing the children, and the only kind of 
 handicraft they are intended to learn, is knitting and fpinning; 
 thefe employments, however proper for girls, cannot be thought fo 
 for boys ; a more active habit being neceflary to bring up men to 
 a life of agricultural labour, than the almoft fedentary employment 
 of the wheel ; and it has been experienced, that habits of life, ob- 
 tained by confinement, unnerve the man, and render him lefs fit 
 for thofe occupations for which the poor fhould be educated : for 
 inftance, a tailor or fhoemaker feldom becomes adlive and labo- 
 rious, even though he may be induftrious ; the foldiers and failors, 
 that come from the fpinning-wheel or the loom, are not fo likely 
 to be equal to a difcharge of their military duties, and to the hard- 
 fhips of their profeflion, as thofe from the plough or the faw; 
 nor is a fpinning- fchool fo likely to teach boys to go aloft as the 
 mafon's fcafFold. 
 
 Befides, what will be done with the produce of the fchools of 
 induftry ? where will you find a fale for the yarn and the ftockings ? 
 and, unlefs a market can be found, we fhall lofe both flock and 
 block J and fhall confequently expend no inconfiderable portion of 
 the poor's rate, in teaching our poor children an art, which neither 
 ourfelves can, at prefent, or they, in future, turn to a profitable 
 account. 
 
 The fchools which are alluded to, as having been eflablifhed in 
 Lincolnfhire, have an advantage over fimilar fchools of fpinning 
 and knitting, in mofl other counties: they were eflabliflied for the 
 exprefs purpofe of encouraging a manufacture, for which the long 
 mool of Lincolnjhire is particularly proper j the fale of the flaple- 
 
 Kk 2 commodity
 
 252 . LETTER XXXV. 
 
 commodity of their county was the principal objedl that the pro- 
 moters of thefe fchools had in view : — in other counties, if Jerfey 
 or worfted fpinning is to be the employment, the manufacture of 
 the ftaple-commodity of two or three counties alone will be the 
 obje6t ; and, in proportion as the diftance increafes, where thefe 
 fchools are encouraged, from the counties where the long wool is 
 produced, in the fame proportion will the expenfe of the carriage 
 of the raw commodity be increafed j and, as the diftance increafes 
 from the northern counties, fo will the price upon the fpot, of the 
 yarn manufaclured, decreafe. 
 
 How, and where, can teachers be procured in every village ? The 
 expenfe will be too great, where the number of the fcholars is 
 fmall 5 and, where large, not only teachers will be wanting, but 
 fchool- rooms, which will add very confiderably to the expenfe. 
 
 Thefe, very probably, are the principal reafons that may be 
 alleged againft this inftitution j as thefe appear at firft fight fuffi- 
 cient to raife a doubt in the minds of thofe, whofe encouragement 
 would be neceffary, not only in word but deed ; whofe good report 
 of the meafure is not the only adt required in its favour, but whofe 
 a^ivity and fupervifion are wanted, after their liberality has been 
 experienced by a public fubfcription : it is therefore proper not to 
 rely on the effe6l of panegyric only ; but to obviate thefe objedions, 
 which may appear to fome of confiderable importance. 
 
 With refped; to the firft objedlion, it fliall be anfwered ; that a 
 vicious or bad pradice fliould be aboliflied, and that the univerfality 
 of it ought by no means to be produced as an argument in its 
 favour, but as a proof to the contrary ; if an individual parifli lofes 
 ten pounds a year, becaufe the overfeers do not provide a ftock for 
 the poor to work up, as, by the ftatute of Elizabeth, it is their 
 duty to do, fuch condu6l of the officers is blameable and detrimental 
 to that parifh ; and it will not become lefs fo if a fimiiar conduct 
 prevails in ten thoufand pariflies ; but, on the contrary, the lofs 
 will be co-extenfive with the univerfality of the negled, and the 
 
 bad
 
 LETTER XXXV. 253 
 
 bad effecl of fuch condud will prove itfelf by the fvim-total of 
 the lofs. 
 
 Now, let us reverfe the obje6V, and fuppofe an oppofite caufe 
 producing an efFe£l diametrically oppofite : if ten pounds per an- 
 num would be the gains of a fmgle parifh, from the employment 
 of children, two hundred thoufand pounds would be the profit, if 
 the practice were univerfal. 
 
 But let us fee the good confequence in the light of habit only ; 
 and let us confider youthful induftry as being calculated, by raifing 
 an induftrious generation, to increafe the wealth of the kingdom, 
 which muft bear a proportion with the work done within it. We 
 will take it for granted that this fifteen thoufand pounds, which 
 has been returned to the committee of the Houfe of Commons as 
 the fum expended in providing materials and utenfils for fetting the 
 poor to work throughout England and Wales, could have been 
 only fuflicient to provide work for the impotent and aged poor, 
 and a few children in the work-houfes, what would, by this time, 
 have been the happy efFedl throughout the kingdom, if twenty 
 times that fum had been employed in teaching, and fetting to 
 work, all the children of the poor through the three years when 
 this average was taken, even if no profit had arifen from the work 
 itfelf? 
 
 Thofe happy effeds are beyond our calculation : we can only have 
 a faint notion of them, by forming an idea of the reverfe of their 
 prefent miferable fituation j by placing before our eyes the happy 
 profped an induftrious generation forms, when placed in contraft 
 with an idle race of people : we ihould fee cleanlinefs inilead of filth, 
 clothing inftead of nakednefs, comfort and content inftead of mifery 
 and diflatisfa6lion. 
 
 This advantage is not precarious, but certain, independent of 
 immediate profit from the materials worked up. Suppofing no 
 market for their yarn, no fale for their ftockings ; even fuppo- 
 fing the lofs of materials and of time certain ; the habits of induf- 
 try
 
 254 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 try obtained, alone, would be worth ten times the amount of the 
 whole expenfe. 
 
 But there is no reafon to fuppofe the produce of youthful inge- 
 nuity unfaleable or unprofitable : has it been fo in Lincolnfliire ? If 
 not, why muft it be fo in Suffolk, in EfTex, or in any other coun- 
 ty ? That yarn which is fit for market may have a longer carriage 
 upon it, if no fale can be found at home, it is true : it certainly 
 is farther from Suffolk and Effex to Yorkfhire, than from Lincoln- 
 fliire : but why muft the fchools of induftry in thefe counties be 
 employed only in fpinning of Jerfey ? Why could not thqy be 
 employed about fuch yarn as would find a market with the neigh- 
 bouring manufadurers ? If it be anfwered, that the neighbouring 
 manufadurers do not keep the parents in conftant work, and con- 
 fequently the children's yarn would not find a fale, the difficulty is 
 eafily removed : let it be propofed to increafe the confumption of 
 coarfe woollen cloths, by clothing our numerous poor in warm and 
 comfortable apparel, manufa6tured by their own children. We are 
 conftrained, by a£l of parliament, for the encouragement of the 
 woollen-manufadture, to bury people of all ranks and conditions in 
 a fhroud made of fheep's wool only. Why fhould not our poor 
 (all thofe who are in fuch a fituation of life as to be relieved by the 
 poor's rate) be clothed by the manufa6lory arifing from the ingenu- 
 ity and induftry of their children? This would be a real encou- 
 ragement of youthful induftry. The obligation, when once be- 
 come the law of the land, would, it is believed, by general confent, 
 become the practice: and this, at leaft, is certain, that the poor 
 would experience the comforts of fuch clothing j they would expe- 
 rience, alfo, other great benefits, arifmg from the habit of induftry, 
 imbibed by their young family. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ ^55 ] 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 WITH refpea to the impropriety of employing any part of 
 the poor's rates, in a plan, the fuccefs of which may be 
 doubtful, and of colleding, from the pockets of the benevolent 
 and charitable, a kind of additional poor's rate, the anfwer is ob- 
 vious : — the benevolent and charitable may be difappointed, if the 
 plan fhould not be fucccfsful, but will receive an equivalent for their 
 money fubfcribed in their intention to do good : and, if the plan 
 fucceeds, the good effefl itfelf will infure a chearful continuance of 
 their fubfcription : in the mean time, a portion of the poor's rate 
 will be applied according to the fpirit, as well as the letter, of the 
 law : and, fliould it fail of the fuccefs expedled, one truth will be 
 eftablifhed j a melancholy one indeed, but fuch as we ought not to 
 be ignorant of, if it be a truth : — that youthful induftry cannot be 
 made produflive of advantage to fociety, except in the hai>ii itfelf^ 
 which will not leavethem in maturer life, when it will be of fervice j 
 and, in that cafe, we have gained the habit of induftry in return for 
 the expenfe. 
 
 But the employment, being confined to fpinning and knitting, 
 has been ftated as an obje6lion. Let us fuppofe thefe to be the fole 
 employments j although, if the plan fucceeds, and their work is 
 profitable, other handicrafts might be introduced : the objedion 
 may be anfwered in the words of that gentleman * to whom 
 the county of Lincoln has been fo much obliged for thefe infti- 
 tutions. 
 
 * See an Account of the Society for the Promotion of Induftry in Lincolnfhire, by 
 the Rev, R. G. Bower, one of his Majefty's juftices of the peace for the county of 
 Lincoln. 
 
 " Now
 
 256 LETTER XXXVL 
 
 " Now I would afk, which parlflies will hereafter flock the 
 country with the moil laborious, honefl:, and intelligent, fervants 
 or labourers ? Will they be thofe where children, until they be- 
 come thirteen or fourteen years old, at lea/i, continue to be nur- 
 tured in idlenefs (whether at the public expenfe or that of their pa- 
 rents) 3 where they fee nothing but patterns of dilTolutenefs and 
 immorality ; hear nothing but oaths, blafphemies, and flander j 
 learn nothing but to plunder hen-roofls, orchards, and hedges; 
 and, for thefe and fimilar purpofes, keep the moft irregular hours, 
 and are accuftomed to prowl about at night like fo many hearts of 
 prey ? It is faid, the children^ wider the care recommended above, will, 
 e,t thirteen or fourteen years of age, know nothing but fpinning. Yes, 
 they will know much more ; unlefs regularity of hours, decency of 
 behaviour, a habit of perfevering induftry, and a fenfe of duty to 
 God and man, with the means of perpetuating it, are nothing. 
 But will fuch objedors lay their hands on their hearts, and fay, 
 that one in twenty of the pauper's children, at prefent, when thir- 
 teen or fourteen years old, knows any thing at all, unlefs it be fome 
 of the wicked accomplilhments above alluded to ? If they do not^ 
 it is mere cavilling, and not worth a ferious anfwer, to fay, that 
 we mufl not teach them what we propofe, only becaufe it is not, 
 perhaps, in our power to teach them more j at leaft, not without 
 fuch funds as we can have no reafon to expe6l. Would not, then, 
 any confid^rate man, about to hire a lad or a girl of the age 
 above-mentioned, give a decided preference to thofe who fhall 
 have been educated in a pariili, where, in conformity to the plans 
 of our fociety, children from five or fix years of age are affembled, 
 under the fame roof, at an early and regular hour of the morning ; 
 kept fteadily to the purfuit of bufinefsj taught that, even fo early 
 in life, they aie able to maifitain themfehes ; made to take a pride in 
 nothing but what they obtain by merit j and to difpute about no 
 other objeft, than who, by being forwardeft in the performance of 
 
 duty,
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 257 
 
 duty, fliall be entitled to the highefl: of thofe rewards which the 
 liberality of the foclety of induftry fliall, from time to time; hold 
 up to-their view ? 
 
 " Can it be fuppofed that fuch an education will make no diffe- 
 rence either in the morality of the country or the incumbrance of 
 parifhes ? Will all this care and trouble be thrown away upon 
 them ? Will they remember none of the good leOons tliey have 
 heard and will hear ? Will they at once caft off all the regularity 
 they fliall have been inured to, during thofe fix or (even years of 
 human life, wherein habits, either good or bad, are eaficft planted, 
 and take the deepeft root ? Will they be as much inclined to pick- 
 ing and ftealing as if they had never tafled the fweet produce of ho- 
 neft labour ? Will they, exclufive of principle, be as dexterous in 
 the trade of iniquity as if they had never been exercifed at any 
 other ? Will they, when decorated with the honourable marks of 
 our fociety's approbation, care as little ^hont their cbaradier^ thus 
 ejiabliJJjed, as thofe who never knew how great a treafure a good 
 name is ? Laftly, will they eafily be induced to raife a clamo* 
 lous tongue, or extend an idle hand, for parifh- relief, at thirty 
 or forty years of age, when they were taught to fcorn it at nine 
 or ten ?" 
 
 As to the want of a6livlty in the employment, if the knitting- 
 pin is to be handled, or the fpinning- wheel is to be turned, the ob-. 
 lervation is futile. The chief time of girls and boys, in all fchools, 
 is paffed in a fedentary pofture ; but they have their hours of relaxa^ 
 tion, during which they unbend their minds, and train, by youth- 
 ful fports, the body to exercife and health. Have not all our large 
 fchools produced excellent foldiers and failors ? Where can we, 
 with, reafon, exped our commanders by fea and land to be edu- 
 cated, if not in thofe feminaries, where the improvement of the 
 mind confines them many hours in the day to a fedentary pofturo, 
 pleafureably exchanged, in the hours of relaxation^ for the native 
 vigorous fports of youth ? 
 
 L 1 Say»
 
 258 LETTER XXXVr. 
 
 Say, Father Thames, for thou haft ken 
 
 Full many a fprightly race, 
 Difporting on thy margent green, 
 
 The paths of pleafure trace. 
 
 But, allowing it tq be expedient that the lifing generation of 
 the poor ought to be brought up in more active employments than 
 the knitting-needle or the wheel only, might they not intermix 
 the labours of the field with the employments of manufa61ure ? If 
 ftones affe to be picked for the furveyor, wheat to be drilled, pulfe 
 to be hoed, corn to be weeded, grafs to be made into hay, wheat to 
 be reaped, and all other various employments of hufbandry to be 
 Jearned, could not the fuperintendant of the fchools go with his 
 pupils into the fields, and fee that they do their work properly ? 
 Very little inftruftion would be necefTary ; the only objedt would be 
 to keep up the habit of induftry, which might be efFeded with as 
 rhuch eafe in a field as in a room. 
 
 With refpe<S to the difficulty of finding teachers for every village, 
 and a falary to pay them, it is apprehended that any village, pro- 
 ducing twenty male and female fcholars, will find it the befl eco- 
 nomy to pay a perfon fuch a falary as will be worth the acceptance 
 to keep thefe young people in habits of induftry, and to inftrudt 
 them in the ufe of thofe very common inftruments, the knitting-pin 
 and the wheel : the farmer who employs them will find it worth his 
 while that they fhould. not remain ignorant of the mode of per- 
 forming operations in agriculture, when they can be of fervice in 
 that line. 
 
 Where the number of fcholars is fmall, one fchool-room would 
 be fufficient, which might be eafily found in any village j and, where 
 the number is large^ it is better to have different rooms than to 
 croud many in one, both in regard to health and to convenience : 
 the fame teacher could fuperintend two rooms, half-a-mile from 
 
 each
 
 LETTER XXXVI. ^59 
 
 each other, with equal, if not greater, convenience, than if the 
 whole number of fcholars were in one. 
 
 It would be premature to offer, at this time, any fpecific plan 
 for the eftablifliment of thefe fchools, either throughout the king- 
 dom at large, or in that fmall proportion of it to which thefe let- 
 ters are more particularly addrefled j it may, neverthelefs, be pro- 
 per to obferve, that Mr. Locke's theory, united with the expe- 
 riments already made in the county of Lincoln, would together 
 form a good outline, which might be filled up according to the 
 difpofition and fituation of the inhabitants in any village, *or town, 
 which might choofe to make the experiment, and in which the 
 local convenience of the particular places might be confultsd and 
 attended to. 
 
 In an excurfion which I made into Lincolnfhire, in the fummer 
 of 1787, to view the ftate of agriculture in that county, and alfo to 
 inipe(5t the regulation, and to be able to form fome idea of the ufe,. 
 of 4hefe inftitutions, fome notes of which journey are in the eighth 
 volume of the Annals of Agriculture, I became acquainted with a 
 gentleman who took an adlve part, as a truftee, in the dire6lion of 
 them ; and, wifliing to introduce a fimilar inftltution in Suffolk, I 
 wrote to him requefting fome information as to fome particular 
 points which were flated to him. I cannot conceive this gentleman 
 will be offended with me for making public fo much of his anfwer 
 as refpe(5ted this fubjedt of our correfpondence, it refleding much 
 credit on himfelf for the obliging and inflrudlive manner in which 
 he gives his information. A copy of that part of his letter fhall, 
 therefore, be fubjoined, as it will point out the means the gen- 
 tlemen in the fouthern diflrld: of the parts of Lindfay, where 
 thefe fchools were firft eftabliihed, took to infure fuccefs in their 
 attempt. 
 
 L 1 2 Dear
 
 26o LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 Dec. 8, 1787. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 " It wab' entirely through the recommendation of the 
 
 quarter-feflions, held at Louth, that tlie poor v»'ere fet to fpinning 
 through this part of the county of Lincohij and by the great afli- 
 duity, &c. of our worthy magiflrate, Mr. Bowyer, the plan has been 
 carried fo very far into execution. The materials were at firll: procured 
 by the overfeers of the poor of each parifh, and the wheels and reels, 
 &c. bou^t by them, at the parifti's expenfe ; and, as foon as the 
 children can fpin tolerably well, the wool-comber delivers out the 
 wool to the fpinners, and pays them for the fpinning per pound, 
 and overhanksj and the children earn foon from 18^. to 35. per 
 week, from feven years old. 
 
 " The children in fchools were and are taught by a woman 
 procured for that purpofe, at the expenfe of the parifh at firft, but 
 are afterwards paid out of the earnings of the children fo taught, in 
 proportion to their earnings ; and deductions are alfo made for fire 
 and candle. 
 
 " Before any fchool-rooms were built, the children were taught 
 in fome convenient room in each parifli, or in fome old uninhabited 
 houfe, as beft fuited. The fchool-hours are generally from fix in the 
 morning, in fummer, until fix or feven in the evening; and, in 
 winter, from feven in the morning till feven or eight at night. 
 
 *' No fchool-rooms have been built fo large as to contain a hun- 
 dred children ; nor do we think it would be eligible to have them fo 
 large as to contain fo many; but, on the contrary, we think the 
 beft fize are thofe which will properly hold about twenty wheels, or 
 fewer, according to the children in each parilh ; and, where there 
 is a great number of children, / think different fchools fhould be 
 ereQed in fuch parts of the pari/h as may beft fuit the convenience 
 of the children coming to and going from fchool; which fchools 
 may be built of flight and cheap materials ; but that as pariflies 
 
 choofe;
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 261 
 
 choofe ; for fome have been made for the purpofe alfo of the 
 teacher's refiding in. A fchool for twenty fliould be 36 feet long by 
 15 or 16 feet wide, with windows on both fides, as may be befl for 
 hght; and, for warmth, we ufe ftoves generally, which are not ex- 
 penfive at thefirft^ and fave a great deal in coals, 6cc. 
 
 " The teachers are always fuch as can teach the children to read, 
 one hour at the leajl each day, and take good care of their morals; 
 and alfo inftrudt them how to behave themfelves to all forts of 
 people, as far as in their power. 
 
 " Where Sunday-fchools are already eftablifhed, the chWdren arc 
 attended generally by the teacher, and others appointed." 
 
 Such an inftitution would, wherever it is carried into effecl, tend 
 to every defirable confequence, as well with refpeiSl to the pecuniary 
 interefls of the occupiers in the place, by diminifliing the poor's 
 rates, as to the comfort of the poor themfelves, by introducing 
 among their children regular habits of induftry and orderly behavi- 
 our, and would, confequently, tend to the happinefs of tliofe alfo, 
 who, although elevated above the apprehenfion of poverty, are not 
 above the feelings of humanity, and therefore muft lament thofe 
 diftreffes of their neighbours, which they cannot help feeing, and 
 are not able to remove. Next to the defire of pofTefling a compe- 
 tency ourfelves, it is a natural wifh, that all thofe with whom we 
 are connefled, by any intercourfe of vicinity or employment, fhould 
 alfo betray no figns of mifery or diftrefs, arifing from poverty. The 
 vifions of the philofopher or poet, who fancies happinefs lies in 
 rural independence, can never be realized in fituations where mucli 
 is feen, heard, or felt, of his neighbour's mifery ; nor can a well- 
 difpofed mind tafte the fweet oblivion of the cares of life, while in ths 
 midft of fcenes of diftrefs. 
 
 Some men of tafte have fuppofed, that, in a landfcape, the 
 pleafmg effeft upon the mind, of fmoke arifing from the chimney 
 of a neat cottage, flows from a felfifli comparifon of one's own 
 fituation with that of the cottager : — it is pleafant procul alteriut. 
 
 fpe£lare
 
 262 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 fpeBare lahoran: — but they muft excufe me if I differ with them in 
 opinion j it is a matter of feeling only, the cottage-fmoke awakens 
 an idea of comfort ; the imagination ruflies to the chimney-corner, 
 and fees honcft labour recompenfed by its proper rewards ; and the 
 pleafure which is then tafted is of a purer nature; it is pleafant 
 prope aherius fpecfare folamen: — but if the hideous appearance of 
 mifery and diftrefs, arifing from chilling poverty, mixes with the 
 idea, every pleafing efFedl is inftantly changed to its oppofite ; and 
 we turn with anguifli from thofe objefts which recal to the mind 
 fcenes of mifery we are not able to relieve. 
 
 Thofe, who are advocates for, or patrons of, Sunday-fchools, 
 would be more certain of their good efFe6l, and the caufe of reli- 
 gion and morality would receive a greater advantage from their very 
 laudable endeavours, were the foundation of thofe fchools to be 
 laid in fchools of induftry : a fuperftrufture of religious fentiment 
 would be fubftantially built on the folid foundation of habitual in- 
 duftry. A poor man caimot be religions uho is not induftrious ; be- 
 caufe, having no property himfelf, he cannot honeftly command 
 the comforts, or even the neceffaries, of life, but by induftry : every 
 church-going habit in that clafs of fociety, not accompanied by 
 habitual induftry, is hypocritical j becaufe honefty cannot be the 
 -moral fentiment which influences the habit. 
 
 That the poor fhould be inftru6led in their duties of religion is 
 certainly necefiary ; but we ftiould remember that thofe are divided 
 into two heads, our duty towards God and towards our neighbour; 
 the one cannot be difcharged without the other; that induftry, 
 which is a neceffary duty towards your neighbour, is equally necef- 
 fary to render your religious duties towards God acceptable. 
 
 But the art of writing is not neceffary to a performance of the 
 duties of the poor, either towards God or tov/ards their neighbour, 
 and it may lead towards a breach of their duty towards both : there 
 muft be in fociety hewers of wood and drawers of water ; if all are 
 rood penmen, where are thofe to be found who will contentedly 
 
 perform
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 265 
 
 perform the laborious offices of fociety, and live tlirough a life of 
 toil ? If honefty be not a fixed principle of the mind, the acquifi- 
 tion of writing may offer a temptation that will lead to ruin. 
 
 Reading may be confidered nearly in the fame point of light. 
 If we could confine the poor boy to reading his Prayer-book and his 
 Teftament only, nothing but good would arife from teaching poor 
 children to read ; but, the art being acquired, can we be fure whi- 
 ther the ufe of it may lead ? To prognofticate ; let us only recollecl 
 what books ourfelves, when boys, would read with the greatell 
 avidity ; and, before we have reafon to deplore the confequence of 
 bringing the poor up, in fuch a manner, as may make them lefs 
 fatisfied with their humble and laborious ftation in life, let us, in 
 idea, anticipate the probable mifufe of thefe qualifications, and, by 
 a kind of prophetic forelight, be certain of the effedl, before we, 
 by encouragement, fofler the caufe. 
 
 While thefe doubts are thrown out, with refpe6l to the expe- 
 diency of fo much of the inftitution of Sunday-fchools, as rel"ped:s 
 the teaching all the children of the poor to read and v/rite ; an im- 
 plicit confidence in the good intention of the patrons of them 
 fhould be explicitly declared, coupled with this fuggeflion j that, 
 probably, the only proper foundation of a Sunday-fchool is upon 
 a fchool of daily induftry. 
 
 So thought the patrons of the fchools in Lincolnfhire, and fucli 
 has been their praftice ; the refpeftable magiflrate, to whom that 
 county has been, and it is hoped all England will be, obliged, for 
 his excellent exemplification of tlie experiment, as well as for his 
 perfpicuous and well-written recommendation of the inftitution, 
 and the detail of its fuccefs in that county, has finifhed the plan 
 in a mofl complete manner, by a Sunday-fchool ; and, in fo doing, 
 has fet us a noble example of training youth in the habit of induftry 
 the fix days, and in the duties of religion the feventh. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 264 ] 
 
 LETTER XXXVIT. 
 
 I HAVE, in puifuance of my plan, now fent you a few pages 
 on ale-houfes and their cuftomers ; tracing the rife and pro- 
 grefs of the baneful and feducing habit of drinking ftrong liquors, 
 from the earheft days, in this ifland, to the prefent aera ; when the 
 revenue receives above five millions annually from the inhabitants 
 of the fouthern part of Great Britain, by their indulging them- 
 fclves in this pra<5lice. 
 
 Julius Cffifar, in defcribing the manners and cuftoms of the in- 
 habitants of England, at the time of his invafion, about 'jj years 
 before the Chriftian epoch, fays, that thofe were the moft civilized 
 who inhabited Kent, and that they differed but little from the 
 Gauls ; that thofe, who lived in the interior parts, fowed but littler 
 corn, and lived on milk and flerti. 
 
 In defcribing the inhabitants of Gaul, he fays nearly the fame of 
 them, " ^gricuhnrce nun Jliident ; majorque fan villus eorum in laSle 
 et cafeo et came confijiit." 
 
 Solinus, who wrote about eighty years after the birth of Chrift, 
 fays, that the Britons drank a fermented liquor, made of barley, 
 unknown in former ages, or in any other country in Europe. 
 
 Tacitus, who wrote about thirty years afterwards, fpeaks ftrong- 
 ly of the drunken habits of the Germans, near neighbours to the 
 Gauls ; " Diem 7io5lemque continuare potafjdo^ 7iuUi probrum ;" he alfo 
 fays, that they made ufe of a liquor from barley, or wheat, fer-, 
 mented. 
 
 We muft conceive, that Caefar was either a very fuperficial ob- 
 ferver of the habits of thofe people, into whofe country he carried 
 fire and fword j or that, in a few years, habits, dedruaive of their 
 health and morals, were introduced among them by their con- 
 
 querors,
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 265 
 
 querors, and had ftruck fuch a root, as to have very foon become a 
 national vice. 
 
 The attachment of favages to ftrong liquors is a well-known 
 fa(5t ; the excefs in which they indulge themfelves with ardent 
 fpirits, whenever they can get at them, and the inveteracy of the 
 habit, when once indulged in, almoft tend to prove, analogically, 
 that fermented liquors were not known, in Gaul and Britain, in 
 the days of Casfar, although, about a hundred years afterwards, 
 the drinking them to excefs was become a confirmed habit to the 
 Germans, when Tacitus wrote his terfe and elegant diflertation on 
 their manners. 
 
 In the firft century of the Chriftian aera, the Britons ufed a fer- 
 mented liquor from barley : in the latter end of the i8th century, 
 the public revenue arifmg from the duties on liquors, principally 
 made from barley, and moft in ufe with the common people, ex- 
 ceed five miUions fterling a year. 
 
 The habit is become of too ftrong a growth, is too general, and 
 too inveterate, to be eradicated j and, were it not, the financier of 
 the day would difcourage the attempt j he would tell us, we fhould 
 adl as unlkilful gardeners, plucking up valuable plants with the 
 weeds ; if drunkennefs difappeared from the land, a confiderable 
 part of five millions fterling would difappear from the coffers of 
 the Exchequer ; and, in proportion as we reftrain the habit, we di- 
 minifh the revenue arifing from it. 
 
 But, however impolitic the eradication of drunkennefs may be, 
 when feen in the light of revenue^ were it poflible to effed: it, there 
 can no harm arife, either to our finances or our morals, in tracing 
 as well as the very few lights, which can be found on this fubjedt, 
 v/ill permit us, the habit of Englifii drunkennefs, from its infancy 
 to its maturity : it will be the hiftory of ale-houfes ; will be found 
 to grow with their growth, and to increafe with their number ; and 
 it is poflible that, in the progrefs of the inveftigation, one great 
 and operative caufe of the expenfe in maintaining our poor, and 
 
 M m the
 
 266 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 the miferable poverty they fuftain, may appear too plainly to be 
 miftaken j and, having found out the caufe of a difeafe, he is a 
 timid phyfician who does not prefcribe the remedy. 
 
 A fermented liquor from barley was the firft intoxicating drink 
 we read of in ufe among the Britons ; but probably hydromel, or 
 honey mixed with water and fermented, was nearly a cotemporary 
 indulgence; when the aborigines of the ifland, to avoid the tyranny 
 of the Romans, withdrew to their mountains and morajfes, we find 
 that they carried with them the knowledge and ufe of the one, if 
 not of the other ; the firft they called cwrwy which is the Welch 
 name for ale at prefent. 
 
 The vice of drunkennefs does not feem to have been general until 
 the Danes and Saxons came among us ; and they brought not only 
 the vice, but alfo the names of the liquors which were in moft 
 general ufe among them, mead and ale, and which have preferved 
 the fame appellations to the prefent times. 
 
 Mr. Strutt, in his hiftory of the ancient Britons and Saxons, 
 tells us, that intemperance in drinking was a prevailing vice, both 
 among the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, with people of all ranks, in 
 which they often fpent whole days and nights without intermiflion j 
 all meetings, public and private, terminated in rioting and exceffive 
 drinking, not excepting religious feftivals; at which times it was 
 ufual for them to drink large draughts, in honour of Chrift, the 
 Virgin Mary, the Twelve Apoftles, and other venerated faints. In 
 the reign of Edgar the Peaceable, the vice of immoderate drinking 
 prevailed fo greatly, that laws were thought necelTary to reform it ; 
 and that prince, to prevent quarrels that arofe in public-houfes, 
 from any one's drinking more than his fhare, which it feems was 
 very frequent j caufed certain pegs or knobs to be put, at proper 
 diftances, into each drinking-cup ; and no man was to drink be- 
 yond thofe knobs at one draught, under a fevere penalty ; which 
 was alfo to be infli(5ted upon thofe who would compel others to 
 
 drink
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 267 
 
 drink beyond them : he quotes William of Malmllniry, and Bar- 
 tholinusj as his authorities. 
 
 But it cannot be fuppofed, that, by the expreflion publtc-houfes, 
 fimilar places of entertainment to thofe which now bear that gene- 
 ral appellation can be intended ; becaufe we find, that above a 
 century after the conclufion of the Saxon monarchy, by the death 
 of Edward the ConfefTor, public-houfes were not known, even in 
 the metropoHs : Fitzftephen's Defcription of the City of London, 
 which is fuppofed to be written in 11 74, mentioning the cuftom of 
 felling wines by retail, mjhips and vaults j and that there was only 
 one public eating-houfe, or cook-fliop : — " Praterea eft in Lun- 
 donia fuper ripam Jluminis, inter njina in navibus et cellariis venalia, 
 publica Coquina." 
 
 About ninety-two years afterwards, appears the firft inftance of 
 the attention of the legiflature to our favourite beverage, ale j in a 
 l^atute pafled in the 5ifl year of the reign of Henry the Third, 
 called ylj/ifa Pants et Cerevifa. As much of the ftatute as relates to 
 cerevifa, or ale, follows in thefe words : 
 
 " When a quarter of wheat is fold for three fhillings or three 
 fhillings and four-pence, and a quarter of barley for twenty-pence 
 or two fhillings, and a quarter of oats for fixteen-pence, then 
 brewers in cities ought, and may well afford, to fell two gallons of 
 beer, or ale, for a penny j and, out of cities, to fell three or four 
 gallons for a penny ; and, when in a town, three gallons are fold 
 for a penny ; out of a town, they ought, and may, fell four j and 
 this aflize ought to be holden throughout all England." 
 
 But by ftatute the fixth of the fame year, called the Statute of 
 the Pillorie and Tumbril, it is enadted, — " That, when a quarter 
 of barley is fold for two ftvllings, then four quarts of ale fhall be 
 fold for a penny j when for two (hillings and fix-pence, then feveii 
 quarts for two-pence ; when for three fliillings, then three quarts for 
 one penny ; when for three Ihillings and fix-pence, then five quarts 
 for two-pence ; when it is fold for four fliillings, then two quarts 
 
 Mm 2 at
 
 268 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 at one penny ; and fo, from henceforth, the prices fliall increafe 
 and decreafe after the rate of fix-pence." 
 
 Mr. Barrington, in his notes on thefe ftatutes, feems to be of 
 opinion, that women, at this time, principally carried on this 
 trade -, and corroborates that opinion by the term brachiatrix being 
 ufed : and alfo on the authority of Harrifon, who, in his defcrip- 
 tion of Britain in Queen Elizabeth's reign, fpeaks of ale-ivifes 
 ufing deceits in brewing ; and alfo becaufe it is ftill faid in Wales, 
 that no one hath reafon to expedl good ale unlefs he lies with his 
 brewer. 
 
 Although the ftatute proportions the price of ale, by meafure, 
 to the price of barley, it does not proportion the quantity of barley 
 to the meafure of ale ; we muft therefore fuppofe the quantity of 
 barley ufed to a certain quantity of ale to be fixed, although we do 
 not know, with certainty, what it was. 
 
 The firfl: fl:atute regulates the price of ale by the prices of wheat, 
 barley, and oats : we have therefore reafbn to imagine that they were 
 ufed indifferently, or perhaps altogether, in the compofition of ale : 
 and it appears that, in thofe days, not only wheat and barley, but 
 alfo honey, was made ufe of for this purpofe, the fheriff of Hamp- 
 ihire being allowed, in his accounts at the Exchequer, twenty-fix 
 Ihillings and ten-pence for wheats barley^ and honey y to make ale for 
 the Duke of Saxony, in the 31 ft year of the reign of Henry the 
 Second.* 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 D 
 
 ^URING a period of feveral centuries, before the excefles of 
 the people were made ufe of for the purpofe of raifing a 
 revenue, it is no eafy matter to find any anecdotes of ale-houfes, 
 
 * Madox Hift. Excheq. vol. i. p« 369, 
 
 or
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 269 
 
 or their patrons, the intemperate. If drunkennefs muft ever re- 
 main one of the incorrigible vices of fociety, it is but fair that 
 the purfe of the drunkard fliould be drained its full proportion, 
 for the general prefervation of order and decorum, and that 
 thofe who will not, by good example, add any thing to the ge- 
 neral ftock of morality, fhould pay for the prefervation of order : 
 it is, at the leaft, ftriking fome fparks of good from a great mafs 
 of evil. 
 
 But, while general hiftory ai^d the laws are filent on the fub- 
 jeft, fome few lights are thrown upon it by Fleetwood, in his 
 Chronicon. 
 
 The firft inftance Is in 1302^ when malt, ground, was three Shil- 
 lings and four-pence a quarter : wheat fold, at the fame time, for 
 four fliillings a quarter. 
 
 In 1309, at a feaft given by Ralph de Born, prior of St. Auftin's, 
 in Canterbury, on his inftajlation-day, malt was fix fhillings a 
 quarter : at the fame feaft, wheat coll feven ihUlings and two-pence 
 a quarter. 
 
 In 1315 and 1316, malt was thirteen QiiUings and four-pence a 
 quarter : wheat, at the fame time, was twenty fhillings j and, by 
 the rains in harveft, wheat came to thirty and forty fhillings a quar- 
 ter, and good ale to two-pence a gallon ; the better fort to three- 
 pence ; the beft of all to four-pence. On this a proclamation was 
 iflued, that a gallon of ale fliould be fold for a penny ; and that 
 no wheat (hould be malted (imbrafiatum), which the Londoners 
 had ufually done, to the great confumption of corn, and fold it 
 (i. e> ale made of it) at three-halfpence a gallon j the viler ale at 
 a penny. 
 
 In 1339, wheat and malt bore the fame price, nine fliillings a 
 quarter. 
 
 In 1423, malt was five fliillings a quarter j wheat, eight fliil- 
 lings. 
 
 In 1425, ale was from a penny to three-halfpence a gallon. 
 
 In
 
 270 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 In 1440, malt was thirteen {hillings a quarter; wheat, twenty- 
 four fhillings. 
 
 In 1444, malt, four (hillings ; wheat, four fhillings and four- 
 pence a quarter. 
 
 In 1445, ale was one penny halfpenny a gallon. 
 
 In 145 1, ale was at the fame price. 
 
 In 1453, ^'^> °"^ penny farthing a gallon. 
 
 In 1455, malt, one (hilling and five-pence a quarter; wheat, 
 one fliilling and two-pence ; ale, one penny a gallon. 
 
 In 1457, wheat, feven fliillings and eight-pence a quarter; ale, 
 one penny a gallon. 
 
 In 1459, wheat, five fliillings a quarter; ale, one penny a 
 gallon. 
 
 In 1460, wheat, eight fhillings a quarter; ale, one penny a 
 gallon. 
 
 In 1504, wheat, five fliillings and eight-pence a quarter; ale, 
 about three-pence a gallon. 
 
 In 1551, wheat, eight fliillings a quarter; malt, five (hillings 
 and a penny. 
 
 In 1553, wheat, the fame ; malt, five (hillings a quarter. 
 
 In 1554, 1555, 1556, 1557, wheat and malt remained at the 
 fame price as in 1553; but Mr. Stow fays, that in 1557, before 
 harvefl-, wheat rofe in London to two pounds thirteen fliillings 
 and four-pence a quarter; malt, to two pounds four (hillings: 
 and, after harveft, wheat funk to five fliillings ; mal*, to fix 
 fliillings and eight- pence a quarter : while, in the country, wheat 
 remained at four (hillings a quarter ; malt, at four (hillings and 
 eight- pence. 
 
 In 1561, wheat, the quarter, eight fliillings; malt, five fliil- 
 lings. 
 
 From thefe notices, taken, at unequal intervals, through the 
 period of two centuries and a half, very few, if any, certain 
 conclufions can be drawn, either with refpe<5l to the quantity 
 
 of
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 271 
 
 of the materials, or of the materials themfelves, of which ale 
 was in thofe- days compofed. Malt feems, in general, to bear 
 a price fomewhat proportional to the value of wheat ; from 
 which it alfo appears to liave been fometimes made : but that 
 proportion is fo frequently broken through, efpecially in the 
 year 1504, in the price of ale, that but little reliance can be 
 placed on it. 
 
 The price of wheat and malt in 1557, in London, compared 
 with its price in the country, ftrikes one as a remarkable in- 
 ftance of a deficiency of police in regulating the fupply of the 
 metropolis by its confumption ; for, while the country enjoyed 
 plenty, London experienced the advanced prices of a famine; 
 the caufe of which the hiftory of the times does not fufficiently 
 explain. 
 
 No price of hops is mentioned in Fleetwood, although the 
 ufe of them had become general, and there had paffed already 
 one adl of parliament regulating the importation of them. Mr. 
 Pennant, in his Britifla Zoology, quotes a diftich to prove that 
 carp and hops came into England the fame year, viz. about 1514 : 
 
 Turkies, carps, hops, pickerel, and beer, 
 Came into England all in one year. 
 
 And then produces an extract from " The Boke of St. Alban's," 
 printed in 1496, to prove that carp was known here before. The 
 regulations and eftablifhment of the houfeholds of Henry Alger- 
 non Percy, the fifth Earl of Northumberland, at his caftles of 
 Wrefill and Lekinfield, in Yorkfhire, in 1512, will prove, alfo, 
 that hops were in general ufe before the year allotted for their in- 
 trodudtion into England by the diftich j and will alfo fhew the 
 proportion of hops ufed to the malt. 
 
 ** Hopps for brevvinge. — To make provifion for five hundred 
 and fifty-fix pounds of hopps for brewinge of beere, for the expenfes 
 
 of
 
 272 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 of my houfe for one whole yeere, after the eflimation of thirteen 
 iliilhngs and four- pence the hundred. 
 
 " Maite. — To make provifion for two hundred and nine quar- 
 ters, one bufhel, of make, after four fliilhngs the quarter, by ef- 
 timation." 
 
 This is at the rate of about tv/o pounds eleven ounces of hops 
 to a quarter of malt ; but fome ale was brewed in which the 
 quantity of hops was much lefs than in beer; confequently, the 
 proportion of hops to a quarter of malt in beer might be more 
 confiderable. 
 
 Thefe notices are inferted rather as m.atters of curiofity than as 
 information tending to throw much light on the progrefs of ale- 
 houfes and their concomitant ebriety : however, they at leaft tend 
 to lliew, that neither the vice, nor the confumption of liquor 
 which it occafioned, had as yet been fufficiently attended to by 
 the legillature to occafion them either to regulate the immorality, 
 or to raife a revenue from licenfing its continuation. 
 
 In the mean time, houfes of entertainment increafed in number, 
 and alfo in licentioufnefs. In the fourteenth century, Chaucer, in 
 his Canterbury Tales, makes us acquainted with a confiderable inn, 
 at which the palmers fpent a night, in their pilgrimage to the 
 fhrine of St. Thomas, at Canterbury: 
 
 " In Southwerke at the Tabberd* as I lay, 
 " Redy to wendin on my pilgrimage 
 " To Canterbury with devote corage, 
 
 * • » » * 
 
 " The chambers and the ftables werin wide, 
 •• And well we werin efed at the beft," 
 
 *'Tabberd, — A jacket, or fleevelefs coat, worn formerly by noblemen, in the wars; 
 now only by heralds: it was the fign ef an inn in Southwark; it is now the fign of the 
 Talbot. — Unfs Gkjfary to Chaucer. 
 
 His
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 275 
 
 His hoft was like a hoft of modern days, 
 
 " Bold of his fpeeche, and wife, and well taught, 
 " And of manhode lakkid him right naught: 
 " And eice thereto he was a mcry man." 
 
 Shakfpeare, who drew from nature, has alfo left us ftrong traits 
 of charader in his Hoftefs of Eaftcheap : he, in the beginning of 
 the feventeenth century, gives us feveral inftances of the manners of 
 inn-keepers towards the end of the fourteenth : the Firft and Second 
 Parts of his King Henry the Fourth abound with them. 
 
 But we want not the inftances; we ftand not in need of the 
 hint J we know that no man can be a vender of any commodity, 
 who is not in his heart an encourager of the confumption of it. 
 
 Very early in the fixteenth century, in the nineteenth year of the 
 reign of Henry the Seventh, the bad efFedls of the common fale of 
 ale and beer were fo fenfibly felt, as to occafion parliament to 
 reftrain the pra6lice, and to authorize two juftices of the peace to 
 rejed: fuch ale-houfes, as they fhall think proper. This appears to 
 be the firft inftance of the interference of the legiflature. 
 
 The next is about fifty years afterwards, in the reign of Edward 
 the Sixth, the preamble to which has been already noticed in a for- 
 mer part of this traft. This firft gives to two juftices the power of 
 licenfing ale-houfes or tippling-houfes, and direfts them to take 
 bond and recognizance of fuch as ftiall be admitted to keep them, as 
 well againft the ufing of unlawful games as for the maintenance of 
 good order; it punifties the venders of ale without licence, (except 
 in the time of fairs,) by imprifonment, and recognizance with two 
 fureties, not to offend in the fame manner again. 
 
 After the lapfe of another fifty years, parliament again, in the 
 firft year of the reign of James the Firft, found it neccfiary to in- 
 terfere in the condu6l of ale-houfes. The preamble to the adl recites, 
 with great propriety, their true ufe ; " for the receipt, relief, and 
 
 N n lotlging>
 
 574 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 lodging, of way-faring people, and for the fupply of the wants of 
 fuch people as are not able to make their provifion of viftuals, and 
 not for the entertainment of the idle to confume their money and 
 time in a drunken manner." 
 
 This a6l not only punifhes the alehoufe-keeper, by a penalty of 
 ten ihillings to the poor, who fuffers any perfon to remain tip- 
 pling, " other than fueh as fhall be invited by any traveller, and 
 fliall accompany him during his neceflary abode there; and other 
 than labouring and handicraftfmen in cities and towns corporate, 
 and market-towns, upon the ufual working-days, for one hour at 
 dinner-time, to take their diet in an ale-houfe; and other than 
 labourers and workmen, which, for the following of their work by 
 the day, or by the great, fhall, for the time of continuing their 
 work there, fojourn, lodge, or viftual, in any inn, ale-houfe, or 
 other vi£lualling-houfe ;" but alfo inflifts a penalty of forty /hil- 
 lings, to be paid to the ufe of the poor, on the conftables and 
 thurch-wardens for negle6l of duty, in not levying the penalty on 
 t^ie alehoufe-keeper offending ; and alfo regulates the price at which 
 ale and beer fhall be fold, viz. one full quart of the beft ale or beer 
 for a penny, and two quarts of the fmall ; and, if any alehoufe- 
 keeper fell lefs, he forfeits twenty fhilHngs. The penalties to be le- 
 vied by the conftables or church-wardens. 
 
 In the 4th year of the fame reign, parliament again was com- 
 pelled to attend to ale-houfes j — " whereof," the preamble to the 
 a6l fays, " the multitudes and the abufes are become intolerable, 
 and ftill do and are hkely to increafe." To prevent the evil, no per- 
 fon fhall fell, utter, or deliver, any beer or ale, to any perfon not 
 having a licenfe to fell ale or beer, except for the convenient ufe 
 and expenfe of his houfehold, under the penalty of fix fhillings and 
 eight-pence for every barrel. 
 
 And, by the next chapter, entitled. An Aft for repreffing the 
 odious and loathfome Sin of Drunkennefs, after making ufe of the 
 following flrong language as a preamble: 
 
 " Whereas
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 275 
 
 " Whereas the loathfome and odious fin of drunkennefs is, 
 of late, grown into common ufc within this realm, being the root 
 and foundation of many other enormous fins, as blood-flied, ftab- 
 bing, murder, fwearing, fornication, adultery, and fuch like, to 
 the great difhonour of God and of our nation, tlie overthrow of 
 many good arts and manual trades, the difabling of divers work- 
 men, and the impoverifliing of many good fubjedls, abufively 
 wafting the good creatures of God." 
 
 The a6l inflidls a penalty of five flii) lings on every perfon con- 
 victed of drunkennefs ; three (hillings and four-pence on every per- 
 fon who fhall remain drinking and tippling in any ale-houfe in the 
 city, town, village, or hamlet, where he lives. If any perfon fhall 
 be a fecond time convi^ed of drunkennefs, he fliall be bound, with 
 two fureties, to the king, for his good behaviour, in the penalty of 
 ten pounds. 
 
 And thefe offences fliall be inquired of, and prefented before juf- 
 tices of affize, juftices of the peace in their quarter-fefiions, mayors, 
 bailiffs, and other head-officers of cities, towns, &c. by all confta- 
 bles, church-wardens, headboroughs, tithing-men, ale-conners, and 
 fidefmen : the penalties are to go to the poor of the parifh. The 
 adt was farther enforced, and made perpetual, by the ift of Car. I. 
 cap. 4. 
 
 Three years afterwards, the attention of the legiflature was again 
 called forth, and any alehoufe- keeper, being convidled of any offence 
 committed againft either of thefe two ads, entitled. An A6t to 
 reftrain haunting and tippling in Inns, Ale-houfes, and other Vic- 
 tualling-Houfes ; and the A£l againfl the Sin of Drunkennefs; fhall 
 be difabled from keeping an ale-houfe for three years following 
 fuch convid:ion. 
 
 And, by the 21 ft ftatute of this reign, chapter the feventh, the 
 two laft afls, which were at firft only temporary, are made perpe- 
 tual ; and proof, by one witnefs only, is rendered neceflaryj and 
 that one witnefs may be a perfon who has voluntarily confefTed that 
 
 N n 2 himfelf
 
 276 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 himfelf has been guilty of the offence ; a kind of evidence to which 
 recourfe ought never to be had, except in thofe inftances of 
 enormous crimes, where, for the fafety of fociety, the convidtion of 
 an offender is neceffary. 
 
 In the ift year of Charles the Firfl, foreigners, or perfons not 
 inhabiting in the towns or villages within which they fhall be 
 convifted of tippling in any ale-houfe, were made alfo liable to the 
 penalty, which they were not liable ta by the a6ls pafled in the 
 laft parliament ; and the alehoufe- keepers, who fhall permit them to 
 tipple, are alfo made liable to the fame penalties as they were by 
 former adls, with refped: to the inhabitants j as are alfo vintners, 
 keepers of taverns, and vidluallers j and they are taken to be within 
 the two former ads, and alfo within the Hatute then pafled. 
 Chapter 4. 
 
 By the ftatute, the 3d of Charles the Fn*ft, chapter the fourth, 
 reciting, in the preamble, that the aft, made in the 5th year of Ed- 
 ward the Sixth, had not wrought fuch reformation as was intended, 
 for that the fines were feldom levied, and many of the offenders are 
 neither able to pay them, nor to bear their ovC^n charges of com- 
 mitting to gaol; therefore it is enafted, that he, who keeps an 
 ale-houfe without licenfe, fhall forfeit twenty ihiUings, which the 
 conftables or church-wardens fliall levy for the ufe of the poor ; 
 which, if the party is not able to pay, he fhall be whipped ; and, for 
 the fecond offence, he iliall be committed to the houfe of correction, 
 for the fpace of one month, there to be dealt with as a diforderly 
 perfon ; and, if he fhall again offend, and be again convicted, he 
 fhall be committed to the houfe of corre6lion, there to remain until 
 difcharged by order of the juftices in their general fefTions. 
 
 Throughout the reign of James, and in the beginning of the 
 reign of Charles the Firfl, the legiflature appears to have taken 
 every means that penalties, imprifonment, and difgrace, could ef- 
 fect, to prevent the bad confequences arifmg from ale-houfes and 
 drunkennefs. In fadl, the evil had been feverely felt for feveral 
 
 centuries.
 
 LETTER XXXIX, 277 
 
 centuries, and had been attended to by government from the year 
 1503 to the date of the laft-mentioned a6t, 1627, but without 
 efFecl : ale-houfes increafcd in number, and their frequenters in 
 drunkennefs, indolence, and licentioufnefs ; and, ahhough the laws 
 refpefting them were fevere, they were deficient, no proper means 
 having been provided to compel tlieir execution ; and were then, as 
 the laft adl ftates, what we at prefent find them to be, — feldom or 
 never put in force. 
 
 This feems to have been the laft attempt of the legiflature to 
 regulate the moral conduft of ale-houfes, and to prevent the bad 
 effects of ebriety: and thefe feveral a6ts of parliament ilill re- 
 main the law, although, unfortunately for the caufe of morahty 
 and economy, not the pradice. 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 AS yet the public revenue had not been confiderabiy benefited 
 by popular depravity ; at leaft the money arifing from the 
 licenfing ale-houfes had not enriched the coffers of the ftate, but 
 had filled the pockets of thofe minions of the crown who had fuffi- 
 eient intereft at court to obtain the privilege of granting them, a 
 remarkable inftance of which occurred in the year 1621, when the 
 Houfe of Commons received many petitions againft fome grants 
 which the king had made to certain individuals of the power of 
 licenfing inns and ale-houfes ; and which he declared, in his fpeech 
 in the Houfe of Lords, it was his intention to recal, having, till 
 then, been ignorant of the ill effeds which fuch patents had oc- 
 cafioned. 
 
 Soon after the reftoration of Charles the Second, in the year 
 1660, parliament granted, among other profits arifing from articles 
 
 of
 
 27$ LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 of excife, thofe on beer, ale, mead, cider, perry, and foreign fpi- 
 rits, in augmentation of the royal revenue. 
 
 In the 9th of Queen Anne, a duty of four fliillings v/as laid 
 on any piece of vellum, parchment, or paper, on which Ihall be 
 engroflld a licenfe for retailing of wine; and one fliilling on 
 a Hniilar licenfe for retailing of beer and ale, or other excifable 
 liquors. 
 
 And, by the 6th of George the Firft, all perfons, whofe office 
 it fhall be to take any recognizances on account of ale-licenfes, fhall 
 be obliged to make out fuch ale-licenfes on paper duly ftamped, 
 before they take the recognizances, under the penalty of ten 
 pounds. 
 
 In the beginning of the next reign, parliament took into confide- 
 ration the inconvenience which had arifen from perfons being li- 
 cenfed to keep inns and common ale-houfes by jufticcs of the peace; 
 who, living remote from the places of abode of fuch perfons, might 
 not be truly informed of the want of fuch inns and ale-houfes, or 
 of the characters of perfons applying for licenfes ; and therefore 
 cnaded, by ftatute 2d, chapter 28, and feclion 11, " That no licenfe 
 fhall be granted but at a general meeting of the juftices, a6ling in 
 the divifion where the perfons applying for licenfes dwell, on the 
 2 1 ft of September, or twenty days after, or at any other general 
 meeting of the faid juftices, to be holden for the divifion wherein 
 the faid perfon refides ; and that all licenfes granted otherwife fiiall 
 be void." 
 
 And, by the 26th of George the Second, chapter 31ft, the above- 
 mentioned claufe is repealed; and the manner of licenfmg ale- 
 houfes, in that part of Great Britain called England, is regulated : 
 and it is ordeied, " that no licenfe to keep any aie-houfe, &c. 
 fhall be granted to any perfon not licenfed the year preceding, un- 
 , lefs fuch perfon fhall produce, at' the general meeting of the juf- 
 tices in September, a certificate under the hands of the parfon, 
 
 vicar.
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 279 
 
 vicar, or curate, and the major part of tlie church-wardens and 
 overfcers, or elfe of three or four reputable and fubftantial houfe- 
 holders and inhabitants of the parifh, or place, where fuch ale- 
 houfe is to be, fetting forth that fuch perfon is of good fame, and 
 fober life and converfation ; and it iliall be mentioned, in fuch li- 
 cenfe, that fuch certificate was produced, otherwife the licenfe fhall 
 be void." 
 
 It remains to be obferved, that, to prevent any licenfe from being 
 obtained on motives of intereft in the magiftrates, by their being 
 concerned in habits of trade with the perfon licenfed, no juftice of 
 the peace, being a brewer, inn-keeper, or diftiller, or a feller of, 
 or a dealer in, ale or fpirituous liquors, or interefted in any of the 
 faid trades, or being a maltfler or victualler, fhall be capable of 
 granting licenfes to fell ale or beer, by virtue of an aft of parlia- 
 ment pafled in the fame year. 
 
 By this long category of pains, penalties, and reftrictions, has 
 the legiflature attempted, through the lapfe of near three centuries, 
 to prevent the ill effe6ls of ale-houfes on the morals, the induftry, 
 and the economy, of the people; but they have attempted it in 
 vain J and the government, not having been able to preferve our 
 poor in habits of fobriety, has determined that the revenue Ihould 
 feel the good effects of public vice j and, therefore, by a variety of 
 taxes on thefe commodities, the confumption of which is fo gene- 
 ral, and which taxes having increafed nearly pari pajfu with the 
 ftamp-duties on the ale- licenfes, (viz. from one fliilling, in the 
 reign of Queen Anne, to one-and-thirty (hillings and fix-pence, in 
 the 24th year of the prefent reign, befides the duty on the houfe 
 itfelf, if at a rent above fifteen pounds a year,) have raifed from 
 the public, in the four quarters of the year ending the loth of 
 Oclober, 1792, the vaft fumof five millions tv/o hundred and nine- 
 teen thoufand feven hundred and fifty-one pounds, as may be feen 
 by the following extract from a ftatement prefented to the Houfe 
 
 of
 
 28o LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 of Commons, purfuant to an aft of the 27th year of his Ma- 
 jefty's reign.* 
 
 Net -Produce of the Duties of Excife in 
 
 England. 
 
 
 On beer - - - - - - 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 2,012,373 
 
 Hops - - - - - 
 
 - 
 
 
 82,776 
 
 Malt, perpetual duty - _ - 
 
 - 
 
 
 612,235 
 
 Spirits, Britifh - - - 
 
 - 
 
 
 644,104 
 
 Ditto, foreign . _ - 
 
 - 
 
 
 704,392 
 
 Licenfes to retailers of fpirituous liquors 
 
 - 
 
 
 160,704 
 
 Duties commenced pP"'"','^"''"' ' 
 
 - 
 
 
 111,307 
 
 5.hja„..79.. f °?^".- .- 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 142,737 
 118,033 
 
 Annual malt, &c» - - - - 
 
 
 
 607,200 
 
 - 
 
 5,195,861 
 
 Cuftoms on gin - - - - 
 
 
 
 23,890 
 
 
 5'2X9'7Si 
 
 When it is confidered that none 'of .that immenfe quantity of 
 gin and malt fpiiits, which are fmuggled into this country clear 
 of all duties, and alfo none of the cuftoms on foreign brandy, 
 rum, and foreign wines, are taken into this account, which, alone, 
 amount to upwards of feven hundred and fourteen thoufand pounds j 
 becaufe thefe are liquors that we may fuppofe are drunk exclufively 
 by the people of property, and are not generally the beverage of 
 the common people ; and, alfo, becaufe we cannot, in fuch a 
 general eftimate as is here attempted to be made, ftate accurately 
 how great a proportion of thefe commodities, which are excifed, 
 
 * Annals of Agriculture, vol. .xx. p. lOO, 97. 
 
 is
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 281 
 
 is exported: we may, therefore, for an inftant fuppofc, that the 
 quantity exported, together with the confideration that foreign 
 wines, brandy, and rum, are not the general drink of the mafs 
 of the people, will leave the fum-total of the duties of excife, 
 together with the cuftoms on gin, amounting to ;C 5,21 9,75 r, 
 a fair average annual tax, paid, by the people of England, for 
 the liquor drank by eight millions five hundred thoufand fubje(5ls, 
 men, women, and children. This being allowed to be a probable 
 average, where exadlnefs cannot be pretended to, it will then ap- 
 pear, that each individual pays to the revenue for his beer, ale, 
 fpirits, and ftrong liquors, exclufive of the cuftoms on foreign 
 wines, brandy, and rum, above twelve fhillings and three-pence 
 farthing annually. 
 
 It can fcarcely be fuppofed, that the fum paid by the confumers 
 for thefe liquors can be fliort of five times the tax which govern- 
 ment has laid on them ; although the abfolute proof that it is lb 
 (were fuch a proof poflible) would be too tedious an inveftigation 
 for this curfory inquiry : but, if either the article of ale or of fpi- 
 rits be feparately examined, with refped: to its tax and its retail 
 price, it is imagined the proportion mentioned will be found to be 
 far within the truth. We fliall then perceive, that each individual 
 expends above three pounds one fhilling and four-pence farthing in 
 that indulgence which Adam Smith does not reckon among the nc- 
 ceflaries of life. 
 
 Now let us have recourfe to Mr. Howlett's computation of the 
 number of labouring poor individuals in England, — fix mil- 
 lions and a quarter, — thefe forming that clafs of the people for 
 whom the poor's rates are raifed ; and it will be found that their 
 expenditure in ale, beer, and fpirituous liquors, will confiderably 
 exceed nineteen millions. 
 
 Nor can this be deemed an extravagant computation ; when it is 
 remembered, that the confumption of wines, and alfo that con- 
 Aimption of brandy and rum, which may be calculated as attach-. 
 
 O o ing
 
 282 LETTER XXXfX. 
 
 ing Itfelf to the cuftoms on thofe fpirits, are, in this calculation, 
 fuppofed to belong exclufively to the remainder of that population > 
 which is calculated to amount, in the whole, to eight millions and 
 a half, or to two millions and one quarter only of our fellow-fub- 
 jedls J the fix millions and one quarter of the labouring-poor being 
 deduced. 
 
 To compute the yearly earnings of the poor throughout England, 
 is a matter infinitely above my abiUty; and to guefs at them is 
 taking a leap fo much in the dark, as would be an imputation on 
 the prudence of any man. Mr. King, in 1668, computed the in- 
 come of labourers and out-fervants at fifteen pounds a year, to a 
 family confifting of three and a half perfons; Chief-Juftice Hale, 
 about the fame time, computed the expenfes of a labourer's family, 
 of fix perfons, at twenty-fix pounds a year j fuppofing either of 
 thefe computations nearly right at that time j and fuppofing 
 the price of wages to be now double j and the expenfes of a la- 
 bourer's family, of the fame number of perfons, to be double; 
 and more than that they cannot be j it will be found that the ex- 
 penfes of the ale-houfe will confume no inconfiderable proportion 
 of a labourer's wages, and bear a large proportion to the total of 
 his expenfes. 
 
 Therefore, it muft be apparent, that one great and leading fource 
 of the evil we complain of, in the ftate of the poor of this country, 
 may be traced hence ; from the vaft fums which are fpent in 
 thefe licenfed places of ebriety j which are fo many in number, that 
 it is a matter of furprife how the keepers of them can get a liveli- 
 hood } by honeft and fober condud: they could not j but it muft be 
 by an improper folicitation for drunken cuftomersj by giving them 
 credit for liquor, and encouraging them in bad habits j it appear- 
 ing that the number of ale, fpirit, and wine, licenfes is, to the 
 number of inhabitants, nearly as one to ninety; therefore, the 
 profit on the expenfes of a number, much fhort of ninety people, 
 for ftrong liquors, enables a man, not only to fupport himfelf, 
 
 family,
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 2^3 
 
 family, and fervants, but alfo, in many inftances, to acquire a for- 
 tune ; for, it Ihould be mentioned, to the credit of our countrymen, 
 that of ninety individuals, men, women, and children, probably 
 half of them fcarcely ever tafte ftrong liquors, and are certainly no 
 cuftomers to ale-houfe-keepers. 
 
 The caufe of a difeafe being known, it has been faid, he muft 
 be either an ignorant or timid phyfician who knows not what re- 
 medy to prefcribe, or, knowing it, is fearful of applying it. 
 
 If time loft, and the money fpent, in the indulgence of drinking- 
 habits, be in any degree the caufe of the diftrefles of the poor, and 
 of the increafe of the rate for their relief and maintenance ; it is 
 plain that, in proportion as the opportunity of indulging in thefe 
 habits is diminifhed, the bad effeds of them will difappear ; and it 
 is an experimental truth, that, in proportion as you ceafe to in- 
 dulge a habit, does the habit itfelf difappear. 
 
 It is true, a patient, whofe conftitution has been injured by 
 drinking, may at firft conceive he cannot exift without his ufual 
 indulgence: — but what will his phyfician prefcribe ? Probably not 
 an immediate and total abftinence from ftrong liquors, but a gra- 
 dual reduftion of the quantity, and of the frequency of the indul- 
 gence: the patient, in the mean time, finds health return, his con- 
 ftitution is ftrengthened, and the bad habit is weakened j and, in 
 the end, he perceives that health and fobriety are not incompatible. 
 
 In the fame manner ftiould the phyficians of the ftate proceed 
 with their patients, — the people ; not by encouraging the meam of 
 indulgence, and reftraining the pradliee by pains and penalties ; 
 thefe we know, by the experience of fome centuries, have no ef- 
 feft ; it is like holding a rod and a cherry to a child j the one will 
 be eaten, and the other ought not, on fuch an occafion, to be ufed j 
 neither ought the pains and penalties, in the various ftatutes re- 
 fpeding ebriety, to be inflided, until the temptation is farther re- 
 moved. If a labouring-man has but to ftep over his own threfhold 
 to the next door to indulge himfelf in drinking, it requires fome 
 
 Oo 2 philofophy.
 
 284 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 philofophy, while he has either money or credit, to refrain : oblige 
 him to go a confideiable diftance, and he will not fo often yield to 
 the temptation. 
 
 If parliament fliould order a cenfus of the people to be taken, by 
 an actual numeration of them, by the conftables of each parifl^ 
 who might return the number to the high-conftables, and they to- 
 the quarter- fefllons in each county, and by a fimilar method in 
 cities ; the adlual population of the kingdom might eafily be known. 
 
 The number of ale, fpirit, and wine, licenfes might alfo be 
 known from the excife-office. . , 
 
 Whatever be the proportion that the number of thefe licenfes 
 bears to the amount of the population at prefent j if that propor- 
 tion fliould be decreafed one-third by an experimental a6l of par- 
 liament for three years, the effect of fuch an experiment upon the 
 morals of the people, the diftrefles of the poor, the poor's rates^ 
 and alfo upon the revenue, in refpe(5t to the produce of the duties 
 of excife, would be known ; and, if it was on the whole advanta- 
 geous to the morals, to the poor, and the rate for their mainte^ 
 nance was diminiflied, the experiment (hould be perfifted in by a 
 farther dccreafe of the proportion, between the number of people 
 and the number of licenfes, for the next three years, and fo on, 
 until the point be found, beyond which the decreafe would be pre- 
 judicial. 
 
 In fuch an experiment, undoubtedly the good effed: propofed 
 would be oppofed by a diminution of the revenue which arifes from 
 thefe articles of the excife ; for, it is plain, that the fmaller the 
 confumption of flrong liquors, the lefs the revenue arifing from 
 that confumption ; and, the fmaller the number of licenfes, the lefs 
 the produce of that branch of the revenue ; but, if the end of go- 
 vernment be the good of the governed, can this be an objection ? 
 Surely not, unlefs revenue is of more confequence to a ftate than 
 the morals, the religion, the happinefs, of its fubjedts. 
 
 If
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 285 
 
 If the revenue fliould prove deficient, through the experiment, 
 and it could not, unlefs the experiment fucceeded, would it not 
 gain by other and better means ? If the quantity of national 
 drunkennefs, indolence, and expenfivenefs in the articles of liquors, 
 was diminiflied, would not the quantity of national morality, in- 
 duftry, and economy, be incrcafed ? And, in fuchacafe, would not 
 agriculture and manufadlures reftore that defalcation to the re- 
 venue, oceafioned by a fuppreflion of the habits of indulgence in 
 di'inking ? 
 
 If a diminution of the number of ale-houfes had no effect upon 
 the habits of our fellow-fubje6ls, but that the man, who would fre-f 
 quent one at his door, would do the fame at a mile diftance, — ftill 
 fome good will arife from tlie experiment : being fewer houfes, each 
 houfe will have more cuftom, and will not be tempted to encourage 
 the habit in their cuftomers, by the rilk of trufting them : an ale- 
 houfe-fcore does not increafe in the fimple ratio of the quantity 
 drank, but in the compound proportion of the quantity drank, and 
 the hazard incurred by giving credit. 
 
 Another advantage would accrue : the number being lefs, the 
 condu6l of thofe which remained might be better attended to, and 
 the haunts of eLriety and diffolutenefs might be brought more di- 
 re£lly under the eye of the peace-officers; and, if the experiment 
 was attended with a general revifion of the flatutes refpecting 
 them, the penalties might be put in a way of being levied without 
 expedting neighbours, companions, or friends, to turn informers. 
 
 But the number of ale-houfes being diminiihed, and, by that 
 means, the cuftom at the remaining houfes being increafed, they 
 could afford to pay more for their ale, wine, and fpirit, licenfes j 
 and that not only in proportion to the decreafe of the number, but 
 becaufe the additional cuftom they get will be free of houfe-rent 
 and houfe-keepingj therefore, if this regulation fhould not diminifh 
 the quantity of liquor confumed, it will increafe the revenue ; and, 
 if it fhould diminifh the quantity confumed, it will proportionably 
 
 increafe
 
 286 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 increafe the habits of fobriety, induftiy, and economy, which are 
 better for the governed than revenue. 
 
 On the whole, it appears to be a truth plainly proved, that the 
 wretched fituation of the poor, and the expenfes of their mainte- 
 nance, are, in a great degree, increafed by their habitual fondnefs 
 of drinking, which induces lazinels, want of economy, and that 
 apathy or indifference to what may happen, which is the confe- 
 quence of habits of ebriety, as it alfo is fometimes of excefs of 
 diftrefs : it has alfo been proved, that, from the time when ale- 
 houfes were firfl licenfed, the legiflature has frequently complained 
 of the bad effedls to the morals and habits of the poor, from the 
 encouragement thefe, their favourite haunts, gave to drinking and 
 lazinefs ; and it alfo appears, that thS legiflature has frequently 
 interfered by penal ftatutes to prevent thefe confequences j but 
 without efFe6l. 
 
 It therefore now becomes their wifdom to try Ibme other means : 
 if the evil fo long and fo often complained of not only ftill exifts, 
 but is increafing j and, as the legiflature of this country has, for 
 near three centuries, found, by experience, that, with refped: to 
 penalties, the et&s of the fl:ate are become a dead letter, and the 
 ftatutes of the realm are difregarded ; — that, in the mean time, 
 the number of licenfes, and the quantity of liquor confumed, are 
 amazingly increafed ; and the confequential habits among the lower 
 clafs of people have occafioned their maintenance and relief to be- 
 come a ferious burthen to that clafs of his majefty's fubjefls, which 
 is next in number, as well as importance, to the ftatej — a diminu- 
 tion of the number of houfes licenfed for the fale of liquors is, 
 therefore, the experiment which fhould now be tried, — an experi- 
 ment which, if it fhould be fomewhat injurious to the revenue 
 immediately t will be mediately advantageous ; and, at all events, be- 
 neficial to the community : — and, if the experiment fhould not be 
 beneficial to the community, it cannot injure the revenue. 
 
 J.ETTER
 
 [ 287 1 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 THERE are very few human inftitutions, refpefling the pro- 
 priety of which there do not exift two opinions, the good 
 and the bad : the for and the againft are fo interwoven in all 
 our fchemes and plans, that it is fcarcely poffible to find any 
 exifting eftablifhment, in which, while one man or fet of men 
 fees nothing but good, another will fee nothing but evil. The 
 fair conclufion to be drawn is, that, in all our plans, inftitu- 
 tions, and eftablifhments, there exift both good and evil j but, 
 as we will fuppofe they are generally eftabliflied with a view to 
 good, that evil which docs not naturally, and confequentially, 
 arife from them, but only proceeds from a mifufe, or mifappli- 
 cation, fhould not be eftimated as neceflarily inherent in the 
 plan. The evil, in this refped, refembles gluttony and drun- 
 kennefs : no one but will allow that meat and drink are a ne- 
 ceffary good, although the mifufe of them produces thofe vices. 
 In a former part of this trad: box- clubs, or friendly focieties, 
 have been glanced at, and recommended, as tending to diminifli 
 the poor's rate: that they have that tendency, the very eftence 
 of their rules will prove; bccaufe their fund is created by a 
 voluntary contribution among the ntembers of the club, while 
 in health, to fupport each other, by a weekly allowance, when 
 difeafed or difabled by accidents or age; without which allow- 
 ance the majority of the members of moft of them would re- 
 ceive a weekly fupport from the parifh-rates. But it may be 
 faid they encourage drinking; for, in general, their meetings 
 are held at a public-houfe ; and, probably, inftances may be 
 produced where individuals have returned from their monthly or 
 quarterly meetings intoxicated: and it alfo may be hinted, that 
 their annual meeting, when they dine together, too frequently 
 
 is
 
 288 LET T'E R XL. 
 
 is a feaft of intemperance. For my own part, I believe that 
 all feafts are feafts of intemperance, both of the poor and the 
 rich. But it fliould be added to the account, that, at feafts in 
 general, every perfon is left at liberty to drink or not. At 
 thefe focieties, one of the firll ftanding rules is againft drun- 
 kennefs; therefore that vice is neither the obje<Sl of thefe clubs, 
 nor of the members j and jnftances of it may be claffed under the 
 idea of mifufe. 
 
 Another objedtion maybe, and has been, made to them, viz. that 
 they may be applied to bad, feditious, and turbulent, purpofes. 
 It is allowed to be poffiblej and, more efpecially, in manufadu- 
 ring-towns j and there is no doubt but that inftajices of the kind 
 have happened ; that journeymen to different trades, in populous 
 cities and towns, may have <;ombined againft their mafters j may 
 have refufed to work but at a certain price ; that feditious and 
 treafonable toafts may have been drunk at thefe meetings ; and that 
 riot and diforder may have proceeded from the door of the public- 
 houfe they frequent. It Ihould be recolledied that thefe inftances 
 only prove, where they have exifted, an abufe of thefe focieties ; 
 and are, by no means, a natural <:onfequence flowing from the right 
 ufe of them. 
 
 But be that as it may: the particular purport of thefe fhects 
 refpefts the labouring-poor $ the day-labourer in hufbandry, not 
 the mechanic, the artizan, or the manufa6luring-poor, any farther 
 than as they are involved in the general confideration of thofe who 
 may become a burthen on fociety for their maintenance ; and thefe 
 abufes of friendly focieties have not as yet been found prevalent 
 where this defcription of men conftitutes the majority of the club. 
 The country-village, or market-town, whofe inhabitants do not 
 rife to opulence by manufactures, has not produced any other than 
 good effeds from friendly focieties : among fuch bodies of men, 
 therefore, they certainly tend to good, as far as their rules tend to 
 good order, and the fund they voluntarily raife tends to relieve them 
 
 in
 
 LETTER XL. 2S9 
 
 in cafes of illnefs and diftrefs, when otherwife the relief mull pro- 
 ceed from the poor's rate. 
 
 And the legiflature has a(5led from the fame opinion : nay more ; 
 it has proceeded from an opinion of the gerieral good they do to 
 fociety, throughout the kingdom, in all places, and under all confide- 
 rations j as well in the populous manufacturing-towns as in the de- 
 ferred villages. The parliament has aded upon a general principle ; 
 and applaud and encourage when the good is general, influenced 
 by a fentiment fimilar to that of the candid Critic : 
 
 Verum ubi plura nitent non ego paucis 
 
 OfFendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit 
 Aut humana parum cavit natura. 
 
 The a6l of parliament, which pafled, in the laft fclTion, for the 
 encouragement of friendly focieties, authorizes me to affert that 
 parliament approves of them generally, both by the preamble to the 
 a6l, and by tlie folid and confiderable encouragement given to them 
 in the body of the a€t, only fubjefting their rules to the infpedion 
 and approbation of the juflices at their quarter- feffions. 
 
 The preamble to this wife and humane a6l of parliament flates, 
 that whereas the protedlion and encouragement of friendly focieties, 
 in this kingdom, for raifing, by voluntary fubfcription of the mem- 
 bers thereof, feparate funds for the mutual relief and maintenance 
 of the faid members, in ficknefs, old age, and infirmity, is likely to 
 be attended with very beneficial effefts, by promoting the happinefs 
 of individuals, and, at the fame time, diminifliing the public 
 burthens. May it, therefore, pleafe your Majeily that it may be 
 enafled. 
 
 Sec. I. That any number of perfons may form themfelves into a 
 fociety, and raife among themfelves a fund for their mutual benefit, 
 and make rules, impofe fines, &c. 
 
 Sec. 2 and 3. That fuch rules fliall be exhibited to the juftices, in 
 quarter-feflions, who may annul or confirm them j and, if con- 
 
 P p firmed.
 
 290 LETTER XL. 
 
 firmed, that they fhall be figned by the clerk of the peace, and 
 be depofited with him; and, until their rules are fo confirmed, 
 no fociety fliall be within the meaning of the a6t, and no con- 
 firmed rule fliall be altered but at a general meeting of the fo- 
 ciety, and the alteration fliall be fubjed to the review of the quar- 
 ter- felTions. 
 
 Sec, 5. Such fociety may appoint officers ; and fecurities fliall 
 be given, if required. The treafurers fliall give bond to the clerk 
 of the peace, and other officers to the treafurer ; and the bonds fliall 
 not be chargeable with ftamp-duty. 
 
 Seft. 6. Committees may be appointed, whofe powers, if fland- 
 ing-committees, fliall be declared in the rules of the fociety ; and, 
 if particular ones, fhall be entered in a book, and fhall be control- 
 lable by the fociety. 
 
 Sec. 7, 8, and 9. The treafurers or truftees fhall lay out the 
 furplus of contributions, and bring the proceeds to account for 
 the ufe of the fociety, fliall render accounts, and pay over-ba- 
 lances ; and, in cafe of negle6f, application may be made to the 
 Court of Chancery, 6cc. and no fee iliall be taken for fuch proceed- 
 ings in any court. 
 
 Sec. 10 and 11. Executors fhall pay money due to thefe focieties 
 before any other debts ; and the effe^^s of thefe focieties fliall be 
 vefl:ed in the treafurers, or truflees, for the time being, who may 
 bring and defend adions. 
 
 Sec. 1 2. But the focieties muft declare the purpofe of their ef- 
 tablifliment before the confirmation of their rules by the court 
 of quarter-feflions ; and the ufes to which the money fub- 
 fcribed fhall be applied ; and may inflifl penalties for mifap- 
 plication of money ; and fliall not be diffolved, unlefs by the 
 confent of five-fixths of the then-exifting members, and of all 
 perfons receiving, or entitled to receive, relief from the fociety ; 
 and their flock fliall not be devifable but for the general purpofes 
 of the fociety. 
 
 Sec.
 
 LETTER XL. 291 
 
 Sec. 13 and 14. Tht-ir rules fliall be entered in a book, and re- 
 ceived in evidence, and they may receive donations of any perfons 
 out of the ibciety, which ftiall be applied to the purpoles of the 
 fociety. 
 
 Sec. 15 and 16. Where any members think themfelves aggrieved, 
 they may apply on oath to two or more juftices, near to the place 
 where fuch fociety is eflablirtied, who are empowered to acV, and 
 make fuch order therein, as they fliall think fit; but if, by the rules 
 of any fociety, any matter (hall be left to arbitration, the award of 
 the arbitrators fhall be final. 
 
 Sec. 17, 18, 19, 20. No member of a fociety producing a cer- 
 tificate thereof, (hall be removeable from the parifli where fuch 
 fociety is eftablifhed, until he is actually chargeable to that parifh. 
 Thefe certificates fliall be proved by oath of one of the witnefl'es at- 
 tefting them before a magiftrate ; and, on complaint of parifli- 
 ofiicers, juftices may fummon perfons bringing certificates to be 
 examined, and to make oath of their fettlement; and copies of 
 thefe examinations fliall be given to the parties, which fliall exempt 
 them from future examination ; and juftices may declare, by an 
 order in writing, the place of fettlement of perfons fo examined, 
 without ifliiing a warrant for their removal j and copies of fuch 
 orders and of examinations fliall be returned to the parifli-officers 
 of the place of fettlement. 
 
 Sec. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. Perfons, aggrieved by the adjudication 
 of juftices, may appeal to the quarter-leflions, and no perfon re- 
 fiding in any parifli under this ad fliall thereby gain a fettlement, 
 nor by paying of rates, nor any apprentice or fervant to fuch per- 
 fon; but baftards fhall have the fame fettlement as the mother, who 
 Ihall refide in any parifli, by virtue of this adl. 
 
 Sec. 26. The charges of maintaining or removing refidents, un- 
 der this a6l, to be reimburfed by the parifli to wliich the parties 
 belong. The a6l to be deemed a public a6l. 
 
 Pp 2 This
 
 292 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 This acl of parliament will probably be proda6live of more good 
 to the nation in general, than that enlightened and humane mem- 
 ber of pailiament,* from whom the bill originated, conceived j 
 unlefs, while he intended to raife a revenue from the poor, in aid 
 of the poor's rates, and for the fupport of themfelves, he, with the 
 fpirit of prophecy, foretold, from the effe(5l of this adt, the gradual 
 decline, and, in the end, the downfal, of that fervile and expenfive 
 fyftem, the law of fettlements. No one ad: of the legiflature re- 
 fpefting the poor fince the lirfl corner-ftone of the fyflem, the 43d 
 of Elizabeth, is fo replete with good ; it holds out to them every 
 encouragement, and only reftrains, as focieties or clubs, protected 
 by the legiflature, ought to be reftraincd, from doing mifchief to 
 that very government which protefts, encourages, and rewards, 
 them. The compUance with the requifition of exhibiting their rules 
 to thejuftices at the quarter-fefllons is eafy and free of expenfe ; 
 the preservers of the peace of the county are, at the fame time, the 
 natural judges of what rules may be inimical to that peace j the 
 encouragement is fubftantial j and the members of thefe clubs fee 
 it ; for they crowd to have their rules recorded by the clerk of the 
 peace ; and the poor in general know the advantages j for they are 
 folicitous to become members of friendly focieties. 
 
 * At the time this letter was written, the author was ignoraat that the poor in par- 
 ticular, and the county in general, were obliged to George Rofe, Efq. M. P. one of 
 the joint fecretaries to the Treafury, for this moft excellent ad of parliament ; nor was 
 he then perfonally known to that gentleman, but has now every reafon to congratulate his 
 county, that, by the ftrong and comprehenfive abilities of Mr. Pitt, applied to the fubjedt 
 of thefe letters, aided by the thorough knowledge and indefatigable attention of Mr. Rofe, 
 together with thofe other honourable members of the Houfe of Commons, who attended 
 Mr. Pitt many times through the month of February, 1796, on the fubjeiSl of the poor- 
 laws, it is to be expefled, that at length the nation will receive the benefit of an acS of 
 parliament, which may turn the prefent tide of idlcnefs and diffipation among the pooJr 
 to mduflrious habits and a more moral line of condu(5t. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 293 J 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 N the nineteenth volume of the Annals of Agriculture, are the 
 rules of a friendly fociety, inftitutcd under the patronage of 
 feveral gentlemen, whom the poor of a parifh in Norfolk have the 
 happinefs to call their neighbours and friends ; which rules appear 
 to be very well adapted to the purpofes of fuch friendly focietics in 
 general 5 more efpecially becaufe the control of them is by thefe 
 rules inverted in the gentlemen of opulence in the place, together 
 with the clergyman ; and becaufe the times of their meeting at a 
 public-houfe are reftrained to the four quarters of the year, and 
 two feafts, (pofiibly that might be better altered to one,) inftead 
 of obliging the members to meet monthly. The only article in 
 which thefe rules appear to be materially deficient is, that the club 
 does not in any form of words declare the purpofes of its eftablifh- 
 ment, although they may certainly be coUefted from the general 
 body of the rules. A copy of thefe rules and orders fhall be added ^ 
 as they may tend to afllft any perfon, into whofe hands thefe pages 
 may fall, in eftablifliing a fimilar fociety, on a better principle, and 
 with better regulations, than thofe ufually drawn up for fuch occa- 
 fions ; and the purpofe of the fociety fliall be properly declared ac- 
 cording to the direiSlion of the ad: of parliament, called the Friend- 
 ly-Society A61. 
 
 Rules and orders agreed upon to be obferved by the members of 
 a friendly fociety, inftituted the day of , in tlie 
 
 year , for the purpofe of railing, by voluntary fubfcription of 
 
 the members thereof, and other charitable perfons who may be 
 inclined to give contributions thereto, a fund for the mutual relief 
 and maintenance of the faid members in ficknefs, accidents, in- 
 firmity, and old age. 
 
 Art. I. That no perfon, after the firfl quarter-day after the 
 eftabljfliment of this fociety, exceeding the age of fx)rty-five yearsi 
 
 1105:
 
 294 
 
 .LETTER XLI. 
 
 nor any perfon having any apparent infirmity of mind or diftemper 
 of body, fliall ever be admitted a member. 
 
 2. That on the Saturday before the full moon preceding the 
 four principal quarterly days of the year, fliall be held the ordinary 
 meeting, in the evening, from feven to nine in the fummer, and 
 from fix to eight in the winter. 
 
 3. That no perfon fhall ever be admitted a member but at one of 
 the quarterly meetings, and by the majority of the truftees prefent, 
 as well as by a majority of the other members. 
 
 4. That every member is to be prefent at the faid quarterly 
 meetings, and to pay four-pence towards the reckoning of that 
 evening ; or, having fome reafonable excufe which may be tranf- 
 mitted to the fociety by the clerk, and fhall be admitted as fuch by 
 the majority prefent, the clerk fliall tender, for each, four-pence; or, 
 if the excufe be not deemed valid, then the member fo abfent fliall 
 pay one fliilling. The faid penalties to be put into the common 
 ftock. 
 
 5. That whoever defires to be admitted into this fociety fliall 
 appear at one of the faid quarterly meetings, and if then and there, 
 as above approved of, he fliall pay down one guinea, (befides the 
 four-pei-^ce to be fpent,) towards maintaining the common ftock or 
 fund, and thereby he fliall become a full member: but, if not then 
 capable to pay the whole, he muft pay on each quarterly day, be- 
 fides the four-pence for expenfe, for the months immediately pre- 
 ceding, one fliilling per month to the ftock, and fo to be continued 
 for twenty-one vvgekly months, and not to receive any benefit from 
 the fund till the whole twenty-one fliillings is paid. 
 
 6. That there fliall be two feafts in the year; the one on the 
 quarterly meeting before Chriftmas, and the other on the Saturday 
 before Whit-Sunday; and, in order to abridge the lofs of time as 
 much as poflible, the dinners not to be ready before three o'clock, 
 as by that time, with a little management, the day's work may be 
 finiflied; for which feafts every member fliall, on admittance, pay 
 
 one
 
 LETTER XLI. 295 
 
 one fliilling, and clear his clu"b-arrears, if any be due, hefides the 
 payment of his wonted fubfcription, or be excluded; by which ar- 
 rears is hereby explained to be meant, a regular payment of one 
 fliiHing for every weekly month during the continuance of this fo- 
 ciety, to be put into the common box or fund. 
 
 7. And, for the better regulating the affairs of this fociety, the 
 following truftees are hereby appointed, viz. 
 
 or the heirs of the faid gentlemen, as pro- 
 prietors of their eftates in the faid parifli, and the redlor or vicar of 
 the faid parifh, for the time being, upon condition that each of the 
 faid gentlemen, their heirs or fuccefibrs, fnall pay two guineas 
 towards the common (lock or box, as qualifying themfelves for the 
 truft hereby repofed in them. 
 
 8. That the majority of the faid truftees fhall either perfonally 
 aft, or choofe two flewards out of the members of the club, to 
 receive and pay all the money belonging to this fociety, taking re- 
 ceipts for whatever they pay ; and if the faid ftewards, or either of 
 them, fhall be found guilty of any breach of truft in their office, or 
 of fraudulently converting to any other ufe than that of the fociety 
 any fum or fums of money, or fhall make any falfe or unjuft ac- 
 count thereof, they the faid ftewards fhall, upon difcovery, be forth- 
 with difcharged of their office, and expelled the fociety ; and the 
 aforefaid truftees fhall be accountable for, and fliall make good, every 
 embezzlement or injury the fociety may, through the negledt or 
 fault of themfelves, or their ftewards, have fuftained ; and the faid 
 truftees, or their ftewards, ihall attend the fociety before the firft: 
 half-hour of each quarterly meeting is expired, or the ftewards fhall 
 each forfeit one fhilling to the box or common ftock. 
 
 9. For the fecurity of the cafh or other public ftock of the fo- 
 ciety, there iliall be prepared a convenient box, with three locks and 
 three keys, each of different conftrudions from the other, and each 
 of the ftewards to have a key, and the mafter of the houfe where 
 the box is kept fliall be in poiTeffion of the third; and there fhall 
 
 always.
 
 296 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 always be kept by the clerk a regular caHi-book, and the copy of 
 each day's receipt or expenfe, to be locked up in the box, v^hich is 
 not to be opened, nor any money to be taken out, but at the faid 
 quarterly meetings ; the money in the mean time wanted by the 
 fick members, t9 be fupplied by the truftees, or their ftewards. 
 
 ID. Every perfon, become a full member of this fociety, if he 
 falls fick, lame, or blind, fo as to become incapable of following 
 his trade or employ, after kven days notice given to the ftewards 
 and apothecary, or one of them, fliall receive out of the box or 
 common flock, if confined to his bed, a weekly allowance of five 
 fliillings and fixpence ; but, if able to go about, not more than four 
 fliillings, till he Ihall be fo far recovered as to follow his trade or 
 employ, provided that his ficknefs or lamenefs does not continue 
 longer than one whole year; but, if it does, then he (hall receive 
 two fliillings and fixpence a week, for as long a time as he fliall be 
 affli6led ; but, if any fucli member fliall recover before the ieven 
 days notice is expired, he will not be entitled to any weekly allow- 
 ance. 
 
 II. In cafe the flewards fliall have ficknefs, urgent bufinefs, or 
 be otherwife difabled, with reafonable caufe, the truflees may ap- 
 point fome other member (for whom likewife they are to be refpon- 
 fible) to officiate or ad: in their ftead. 
 
 3 2. Whereas an apothecary will be conftantly employed for the 
 fervice of this fociety, and is to be paid out of the common flock, 
 and every other proper cafe recommended to the county-hofpital,* 
 it is hereby farther agreed, that every member (the clerk excepted) 
 fhall pay fixpence, at the firfl quarterly meeting after the accident 
 happened, into the fund, towards paying the extraordinary expenfe 
 that may occur upon any one of the members which may break a 
 bone, leg, arm, &c. (except by drunkennefs, wreftling, football- 
 playing, 6cc.) or for want of fuch payment be excluded} and during 
 
 * If there is one in the county. 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 297 
 
 ihe time any member receives money from the box, he fliall be ex- 
 cluded all payments to the box or houfe, except upon deaths, feafts, 
 and broken bones. 
 
 13. Whenever any member dies, all the members are to attend 
 his funeral, and all (the clerk excepted, v^rho is to give notice of the 
 burial) Ihall contribute, at the firft quarterly meeting after the fu- 
 neral, lixpence each, towards defraying the expenfes of his funeral, 
 &c. and every member, who does not {o attend, fhall pay on the 
 iubfequent quarterly night one fliilling into the box, or, in defeft of 
 either of thofe payments, to be for the future excluded ; except the 
 cafe of the fmall-pox, when no attendance will be required. 
 
 14. Whenever any member dies, there fliall be allowed out of the 
 box for his burial one guinea and a half; and, if he has a widow or 
 children, to them two guineas. 
 
 15. And, on the death of every full member's lawful wife, the 
 hufband, giving notice to the ftewards, fliall receive one guinea and 
 a half from the box, (if demanded,) the faid quarterly meeting- 
 night after her deceafe, towards paying the funeral -charges; upon 
 which occafion every member fhall, on the fame night, or whenever 
 they appear, pay three-pence towards it, or be excluded. 
 
 16. The rtewards fliall each go once in feven days to vifit each 
 lick member, and fliall be allowed for each vifit, at the next meet- 
 ing, fixpence, if no complaint fliall be by the fick preferred againfl: 
 him or them, at the next general meeting, for want of proper atten- 
 tion and care; and the faid ftewards fliall forfeit to the box one 
 fliilling, to be paid at the next meeting, for every time that he re- 
 fufes to go ; but, if it be found that any member has brought upon 
 himfelf ficknefs, diftemper, infirmity, or inability to follow his 
 trade or employment by debauchery, intercourfe with lewd women, 
 venereal taint, drunkennefs, fighting, wreftling, or football-playing, 
 in fuch fort of cafes, he fliall not have any weekly allowance from 
 the fociety ; or if any member counterfeits himfelf fick or infirm, as 
 thereby not able to follow his bufinefs or trade, and fliall for a time.
 
 2gS LETTER XLI. 
 
 by means of fuch impofition, obtain and receive any weekly allow- 
 ance or fupport, fuch member fhall, for the future, be excluded 
 from every benefit which might otherwife have accrued to him from 
 the fociety. And, when any member is fo far recovered from his 
 ficknefs or indifpofition as to be able to follow his bufinefs, he fhall, 
 within three days, give notice to one of the flewards, or be for ever 
 excluded, unlefs he pays to the box, at the next general meeting, one 
 whole week's allowance. And, if any member is known by any other 
 member to work during the continuance of his allowance, he fhall 
 be expelled, as fhall alfo that other member who does not inform 
 the fociety of it; and the lick or infirm are to be regularly paid by 
 the truftees or their ftewards. 
 
 17. And, that every thing may at all times be tranfacled with 
 regularity, decency, and decorum, in this fociety, no member or 
 members Ihall have any drink of any kind to themfelves feparately 
 from the reft of the fociety, nor fhall any liquors be admitted into 
 the room where the fociety meets during the time of their fitting, 
 but what is ordered in by the ftewards j and, when the appointed 
 and limited hours for the fitting of this fociety are expired, one of 
 the ftewards fliall give notice thereof, and every one of the members 
 fhall depart the room in a civil and peaceable manner, and itvihall 
 accordingly be cleared by one of the ftewards before he departs the 
 room. And if any member, during the time of the fociety's fitting, 
 JJ:a/I /peak irreverently of the Almighty^ difrepeBfuUy of his Majefty or 
 his gover}2ment, or Jljall lay ivagers, or curfe, f-wear, blafpheme, talk 
 cbfcenely, ufe taunting^ reviling^ or abii/ive., language, or apparently feeks 
 to quarrel with any of the memberSy he fliall fubmit to a fine, to be put 
 into the common ftock, fuch as the majority of this fociety fhall 
 think fit to impofe, according to the nature and circumftances of 
 the offence, fo that it does not exceed two fliiiiings, nor be lefs than 
 fixpence. 
 
 18, And if any member, after any meeting of this fociety, ftiall 
 fpeak ill of, or caft any refieftions on, any member or members of 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XLI. 299 
 
 the fociety, on or for what has been faid or agreed to by the fo- 
 ciety, he fliall forfeit five fliillings to the common ftock, or be ex- 
 cluded. 
 
 19. No part of the common ftock of this fociety to be lent out, 
 but upon lawful intercft, government fecurity, and with the con- 
 fent of the majority aflembled, at one of their quarterly meetings. 
 
 20. If the wife of any of the members come into tlie fociety- 
 room, or be therein while he is prefent, he llaall forfeit fixpence to 
 the fund, befides immediately leading her out, under pain of for- 
 feiting his right to any part of the fubfcription or common flock of 
 this fociety. 
 
 21. If any member be caft into prifon for debt, he fhall not be 
 allowed to pay any fubfcription or forfeitures, nor receive any part 
 of the fociety's property while in prifon. When he comes out, he 
 fliall be received again as a member, without cod or charge. 
 
 22. The clerk fliall be allowed the fame benefit from the box as 
 any other member of this fociety, without being fubje^l to pay any 
 money towards it, except for forfeits. 
 
 23. The cafli and minute books to be bought out of the common 
 ftock, and alfo to be renewed as often as ihall be necefl'ary, and the 
 minutes of each meeting to be regularly figned by the truftees or 
 ftewards prefent, and may at any time be infpedied by any of the 
 members, on payment of fixpence to the clerk, and fixpence to the 
 common fund. 
 
 24. Hereby power is alfo invefted in the majority of this fociety, 
 at the time of each Whitfuntide meeting, to make an annual agree- 
 ment with a furgeon and apothecary, whofe ftipend may and fhould 
 be abated, upon apparent negled. 
 
 Q^qa LETTER
 
 [ 300 ] 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 NOW, that this fubjeSt of the poor, their rights, duties, and 
 the laws refpefting them, draws near to its conclufion, it 
 cannot be judged foreign to the defign of thefe Letters, although 
 not immediately within the profefTed purpofe of it, to throw out 
 fome obfervations, and offer a few ftri(5lures, on the duties 
 and condu(Sl of the domeftic menial fervants of this kingdom, 
 they being, in general, derived from, and are conftantly adding 
 to, the number of thofe who fall under the fupervifion of our 
 poor-laws. 
 
 And here it fhould firft be underftood, that fervants in hufban- 
 dry, journeymen, or fervants to any trade or manufactory, al- 
 though they may properly, in fome inftances, be ftyled menial 
 fervants, are not confidered in the following pages ; becaufe their 
 condu<5l is regulated by a£ls of parliament, and they are under 
 the cognizance of the magiftrate; but fuch only as are neceflary 
 in the arrangement of domeflic economy, or are retained for the 
 purpofes of luxury, vanity, or oftentation ; and thofe domeftics 
 are fo intermixed in the various departments of fervice, that it 
 is not eafy to feparate tlicm, as it would be very difficult, in 
 the arrangement of any perfon's houfehold, for a ftranger to de- 
 termine what fervants are of domeftic ufe and neceffity folely, and 
 what are fupernumerary, or retained for the gratification of vanity 
 or luxury. 
 
 But, in whatever department they may be engaged, they, in thefe 
 times, are principally derived from that clafs of our fellow- fubje6ts 
 which have been the immediate obje^ of our attention; and not 
 from a more refpedlable clafs of citizens, whofe children formerly 
 thought it no difparagement to be retained in families of fuperior 
 confideration or opulence. 
 
 In
 
 LETTER XLir. 301 
 
 In thofe days, the tenantiy of the kingdom thought that a fon 
 or daughter, who was retained, as a menial fervant, in a houfe of 
 wealth and confequence, was placed in a refpedtable fituation j and 
 the beft principles of honefty, fobriety, and civility, were inculcated, 
 that their children might preferve themfelves in thofe fituations, 
 which the good condu6t and reputation of their parents had ob- 
 tained for them. 
 
 In thofe days the kinder duties of mafter and fervant were reci- 
 procally performed. The fervants, on their part, ftrove for the 
 good-will of thofe they ferved, by diligence, honefty, fobriety, re- 
 gular behaviour, and attention to the interefts of their immediate 
 retainer, by an economic ufe of fuch property as they were entrufted 
 with; and they were rather humble friends than eye-fervants ; 
 and they received, exclufive of their wages, their diet, their lodg- 
 ing, and fuch pert of their clothing as they agreed for, the advice, 
 the encouiaf-^-^ment. the protection, the friendfhip, of their em- 
 ployer, and ieldom changed their place, but when they changed a- 
 life of fervitude for a life of independence. This reciprocity of 
 duties and affedions is beautifully exemplified by Shakefpear iri- 
 his Orlando and Adam t 
 
 Jdam. Mafter, goon, and I will follow thee 
 To the laft gafp with truth and loyalty. 
 
 ************ 
 
 Orlando. There is an old poor man, 
 
 Who after me hath many a weary ftep 
 Limp'd in pure love ; till he be firft fufEc'd, 
 Opprefs'd with two weak, evils, age and hunger,, 
 I will not touch a bit. 
 
 Thus thefe kinder duties were formerly reciprocally perfoi"med> 
 or our Shakefpear has not followed truth and nature in portraying 
 the chara£\er of a faithful fervant and grateful mafter. 
 
 But
 
 
 
 02 LETTER XLII. 
 
 But does the drama of the prcfent ftage hold out fuch example? 
 -to our view ? Alas, no! Yet the ftage ftiil profefle?, and, with 
 €qual truth, to hold the mirror up to nature j to fhew virtue its own 
 image, vice her own likenefs. Let us fee what ferfaia the modern 
 il-gge gives us for modern fervants. The entertainment called High 
 Life below Stairs is in point: no one has ever difputed the exadnefs 
 of the repreientation to the reality of a modern fervants hall : and 
 where tlie public, by • their unanimous approbation of a theatric 
 reprefentation, have ftamped it with the reputation of being an 
 €xa6l pifture of real life, be it allowed to argue from it as from a 
 fadl : it is, at the leaft, a lefs degrading and more cleanly manner 
 of identifying fuch a fa£l, than itepping into a kitchen, to be able to 
 aflert it as fuch. 
 
 And -can matters and miftreffes, be they in whatever ftation 
 of rank and opulence it may have pleafed the Almighty to place 
 them, knowing that fuch things are, fufFer them to be ? They 
 can, and they do, becaufe they are poffelfed with fears and ap- 
 prehenfions, more alarming than thofe arifing from the diffi- 
 pation of their property, and which force them tamely to fub- 
 mit to the taunts and infolence of their liveried and pampered 
 domeftics. 
 
 The evil complained of originates from profufion, and is foftered 
 by vanity; v»'hich hourly fubmits to the grofleft indignities in pri- 
 vate, to fupport an appearance of magnificence in public, after the 
 fundamental bafis of all real greatnefs, independence of mind, is 
 departed. 
 
 And, did the evil flop among people of this defcription, were only 
 the proud, the vain, the oftentatious, and thofe whofe character 
 'correfponds with Salluft's terfe expreffions, the alieni appetentes, fu- 
 orum profufi, fubjeil to thefe degrading and vexatious circumflances, 
 the evil ought to be left to correct itfelf ; or, in other words, the 
 punifhment flowing from the crime, the fufferers fhould receive no 
 aflaftance from the interference of the leglflature : they are pilfered 
 
 by,
 
 LETTER XLII. 30J 
 
 by, and fland in awe of, their fervants j true ; but it is no more 
 than they deferve. 
 
 But, unfortunately for all ranks and denominations of people in 
 this kingdom, who are fo far elevated, by circumftances, above the 
 want of the neceflaries of life as to keep a domeftic, they are all in- 
 volved in the contagion, and fuffer in their private economy and 
 domeftic comfort, from the prevalence of a vice encouraged by the 
 great. Becaufe my lord the nabob, or the commiffary pampers a 
 fwarm of unprincipled wretches in his houfehold, who pilfer him of 
 his property, the moft humble mafter in the vale of private life mufl: 
 fubmit to fimilar depredations, or clean his own fhoes : this is lurely 
 an evil, as it involves the innocent in thofe confequences which only 
 the guilty ought to feel. 
 
 But, although we fuffer and labour under the difeafe, it is not 
 an eafy matter to point out the cure ; the legiflature feems either 
 not to have thought it a blot in the police of the country, or it is 
 a blot they have been cautious of hitting ; the only attempts made 
 were in the years 1529 and 1792, in which laft year an a£t of par- 
 liament fubjecled thofe who gave a forged charafler, or ftated in a 
 charadler of a fervant what was not true, to a penalty of 20/. 
 
 This can be but of little fervice as the a(ft is framed j for, the firft 
 claufe refpects only thofe who perfonate a mafter or miftrefs, &c. 
 and give any falfe, forged, or counterfeited, chara6ler to any perfon 
 offering as a fervant. 
 
 The fecond claufe goes only to thofe who (hall aflert that a fer- 
 vant has been hired for a period or ftation other than fuch period 
 or ftation as he or fhe has been hired in. 
 
 The third, to thofe who ftiall affcrt that a fervant was difcharged 
 at any other time, or had not been hired in any previous fervice, 
 contrary to the fadt : and there are no otlier claufes refpeding gi- 
 ving characters of fervants. 
 
 The fourth and fifth claufes refped: only the perfons who offer 
 themfelves as fervants, pretending to have ferved where they have: 
 
 not,.
 
 •1 
 
 04 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 not, or ofFerIng themfclves with a falfe certificate, or who fhall 
 alter a certificate, or, having been in fervice before, fliall pretend the 
 contrary : the remaining claufes affix the penaky, point out the 
 mode of convidion, and the diftribution of the penalty when re- 
 -covered. 
 
 Had the legiflature probed the foul wound to the bottom, they 
 would have difcovered that no lenient application can be equal to a 
 cure; nothing fnort of making a breach of truflr, in the inftance of 
 menial domeftic fervants, a felony, will flop the contagion ; this 
 was done in 1529 ; but thofe inflances where the value of the goods 
 embezzled did not exceed forty fhillings, which are at leafl equal to 
 ten pounds of the prefent money, are not fubjefl to the acl ; and, 
 it is well known, the depredations of fervants are generally com- 
 pofed of a mafs of minutiae, fuch as victuals, wine, beer in fmall 
 quantities ; each item being individually of fmall value, and the 
 a6l of embezzling difficult of proof, but eafy to commit, and that 
 facility of commiffion, arifing from a necefTary confidence repofed 
 in the fervant, to enable him to do the duties of his place, for the 
 performance of which, he is hired at the price of his food, clothing, 
 and confiderable wages ; therefore, an a6t of parliament confli- 
 tuting a fingle inflance of embezzlement of the property of his 
 employer felony, be the value what it may, would have the fame 
 effedl as thofe flatiites, which make it felony, to fteal a trifling 
 value in property, which, necefTarily from the nature of it, lies 
 «xpofed to depredations j or, probably, the putting the property 
 ©f people, with refpetSt to their fervants, on the fame footing as 
 wood, turnips, cabbages, &c. are placed with refpecl to people 
 dealing them ; for the firft offence, on fummary proof before a 
 magiftrate, commitment to the houfe of correction for a limited 
 time, and the fecond offence felony ; if followed up, by treating 
 the concealment, by the mafler or miflrefs, of fuch breach of trufl, 
 as a mifdemeanor, inditable at the quarter- fefTions, of which con- 
 cealment, a character given for honefty, and proof of the mafter or 
 
 miflrefs
 
 LETTER XLir. 
 
 305 
 
 miflrefs knowing at the time that the fervant had been guilty of a 
 breach of truft, fhall be held fufiicient to convlsfl fuch mafter or 
 miflrefs. Such a regulation would probably have fome effecl. 
 
 But there ought to be eflabliHied, by univerfal opinion among 
 all thofe who retain any menial fervants, a fenfe of rectitude and 
 point of honour, with refped; to the chara<5lers which are given of 
 fervants : the line of truth to be purfued fhould be that plain and 
 comprehenfive one defcribed in the voir dire of a witnefs at the 
 bar of a court of juftice; if the charafter of a fervant is requeited, 
 and is granted, that charadler, with refped: to his honefty and 
 fobriety, the material points of his moral condu6i:, fliould contain 
 the truthy the whole truths and nothing bat the truth ; the giver of the 
 character (liould fpeak of the fervant as he is, nothing extenuate, 
 nor fet down aught in malice. 
 
 During the halcyon days of peace and profperity, the mlnifter 
 fhewed his attention to thofe in the middling ranks of fociety, by 
 relieving them from the duty on female fervants : it was well done, 
 both becaufe the tax was not productive, and becaufe it was un- 
 popular : fliould the prefent neceflary war we are engaged in rage 
 throughout another campaign, of which there is but little doubt, 
 furely fomewhat might be raifed for the revenue, from the number 
 of our countrymen and women in fervice, who certainly may be 
 faid to be better fed than taught ; by a per centage upon their 
 wages, to be retained by their mafter or miflrefs, accountable to the 
 collectors of the fervants tax, on any fervants leaving their places 
 within a year : a lefs per centage if within two years ; unlefs the 
 perfons who retained them, either break up houfe- keeping, or 
 aflually and bona fide reduce the number of their fervants, or are 
 convi6led, fummarily before a magiflrate, of perfonal ill-ufage or 
 refufal to pay wages ; and this idea, with refped: to the juftice of 
 it, may be fupported on the following generally-allowed fad: j that 
 no mafler or miflrefs willingly changes fervants j with refpecl to 
 livery-fervants, a change is a real and confiderable expenfe, befides 
 
 R r the
 
 3o6 LETTER XLII. 
 
 the difagreeable circumftance of introducing ftrangers into a private 
 family ; therefore, it in general is the fault of the fervant. 
 
 Difputes between mafters and their fervants, in a variety of trades 
 and manufactures, are, by various acts of parliament, referred to 
 a juftice of the peace ; and, as thefe afts have increafed in number 
 and in extent of operation from an early part of the reign of Charles 
 the Second to the prefent time, we are at lead juflified in faying, 
 that they have had the advantage of experience, and have proved 
 ferviceable. 
 
 What is the reafon, that an a<ft of parliament, framed on prin- 
 ciples fimilar to that for regulating difputes between mafters 
 and fervants in hufbandry, and adapted to the fituation of menial 
 fervants, hired for the purpofe of domeftic arrangement, in private 
 families, fliould not be tried ? I confefs myfelf unable to fee the 
 objedlion. 
 
 Were the fervants, who are retained in the families of indivi- 
 duals, of the fame clafs and defcription of people they formerly 
 confifted of; did they proceed from the cadets of the beft families 
 in the kingdom ; were they now, as formerly, in the families of 
 our nobility, the younger children of refpedtable houfes j or did 
 they in general proceed from the tenantry of the kingdom ; and 
 afiifted now, as they did then, by being domefticated in the houfe 
 of their immediate fuperior, to preferve the chain of connedlion, 
 which, in the time of the feudal tenures, fubfifted from the cot- 
 tage to the throne; there would then be no occafion to reftrain 
 their condu£t by fevere laws of the ftate ; their adlions would then 
 be under the infpeftion of their immediate fuperior j to whom, in 
 thole times, they were accuflomed to look up, as to a patron and 
 protetlor : but fuch connections and fuch habits have paffed away 
 with the fyftem which familiarized them to our anceftors ; and our 
 prefent army of domeftics arifes from a different quarter, is endued 
 with different principles and ideas, and, for the fafety of our pro- 
 perty and the peace of our families, requires coertion and correc- 
 tion
 
 LETTER XLIII. 307 
 
 tion with a different handj it is not principle, but fear, which 
 muft now keep them honeft; it is not affedtion, but intereft, 
 which can infure their civihty j and gratitude will no longer pre- 
 ferve their fidelity. 
 
 At the fame time, as thefe ftri6lures are thrown out, with refped 
 to a neceflary interference of the legiflature in the regulation of the 
 conduct of menial fervants ; which, in thefe days of liberality and 
 licenfe, may feem to fome as founded on a harfh or illiberal prin- 
 ciple; but which, in fa6l, flow from the neceffity of the cafe, 
 which calls aloud for the licentioufnefs of bad fervants to be re- 
 ftrained, and their peculations to be reprefled ; it is but right to 
 obferve, that good fervants fhould undoubtedly be brought for- 
 ward, as proper objedls of reward and encouragement; the beft 
 proof of their defert is the continuance a length of time in a place, 
 and leaving that place handfomely, and with a good charafler ; a 
 per centage upon all the wages they have received, after the wages 
 of the three firfl: years are dedufted ; to be paid them by their 
 mafter or miftrefs, on quitting the fervice, in addition to their 
 wages, might be the general reward, by the fanftion of an a6l of 
 parliament to that purpofe ; unlefs fuch a foclety, for the en- 
 couragement of good fervants, as is eilabliihed in the metropolis, 
 fliould be generally fubfcribed to ; or fimilar focieties, being efta- 
 blifhed throughout the kingdom; fhould render fuch an interference 
 of the legiflature unneceflary. 
 
 LETTER XLIIL 
 
 IT has been afferted, in a former part of this invefligation, that 
 local inconvenience and diflirefs, arifing from the number of the 
 poor, and the expenfes of maintaining them, had occafioned many 
 
 Rr 2 diftrids
 
 3o8 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 diftridts within the county of Suffolk to apply to parliament for tlie 
 power of incorporating themfelves, and of regulating the employ- 
 ment and maintenance of the poor, within thofe refpe6live difl:ri6ts, 
 by certain rules agreed upon among themfelves ; that, in confe- 
 quence thereof, feveral adls of parliament had pafled incorporating 
 the diftrifts applying for them ; that the poor have been fince 
 governed and regulated within thofe diftrid;s, according to the 
 powers given by fuch adls ; and that the convenience and incon- 
 venience, experienced from the execution of them, fhould be eluci- 
 dated by the beft information that can be obtained from the dif- 
 trifls thus incorporated. 
 
 In confequence of this engagement I determined to vifit the houfes 
 of induftry which have been erected within the county of Suffolk ; 
 that, from adlual infpeftion, perfonal inquiry, and ocular demon- 
 ftration, the fadts refpediing thefe inftitutions, the condudl of 
 them, and the confequences which have arifen to the public 
 from them, might, with fome certainty, be ftatedj and that 
 fome pertinent obfervations might be made on thofe fa^ts and 
 confequences. 
 
 Such notices as were taken on the fpot, and the informations 
 received fmce, by letter, from the gentlemen who attend to the 
 management of them, with fuch alfo as have, by their direftion, 
 been communicated by letters from the governors, fhall be ftated, 
 according to the priority, in point of time, of the incorporating- 
 a6ls, and the eredtion of the different houfes of induflry. 
 
 The middle of the fummer was the time chofen for the excur- 
 fion ; and the houfes were infpedled, as fuited convenience, from 
 eight in the morning until eight at night. 
 
 The following queftions were put to the governors of the houfes 
 of induftry, and their anfwers to them minuted, when fati^fadory 
 anfwers could be obtained, and are incorporated with the other in- 
 formation colieded. In ibme inftances, the governor or attendant 
 
 could
 
 XB J TE R XLIII. 
 
 509 
 
 could not immediately give an anfwer by word of mouth, but en- 
 gaged to do it in writing. 
 
 1. How many poor men, women, and children, have been ad- 
 mitted, fince the ere6lion of the houfe, annually ? 
 
 2. How many have died, fince the fame time, annually ? 
 
 3. Has any, and what, part of the debt contrafted by authority 
 of parliament been paid ? 
 
 4. Have the poor-rates in the diftridl incorporated been increafed 
 or diminiilied ? 
 
 5. What are the manufa6lures in which the poor are employed ? 
 
 6. Is the fale of any of the manufaif^ures, and which of them, 
 diminiflied by the war ? 
 
 7. Are the poor, ov any of them, and how many, employed in 
 agriculture? 
 
 8. Is any particular difeafe epidemic, or more prevalent than 
 another, among the poor, and what is the nature of fuch dif- 
 eafe ? 
 
 Thefe queftions were calculated for the purpofe, to form fome 
 judgement whether thefe inftitutions tend to increafe the chance 
 of human life, to diminifli the poor's rate, both in times of peace 
 and war, and alfo to form fome idea of the comparative profit 
 arifing in thefe houfes from the manufactures of wool and hemp. 
 
 The hundreds of Colneis and Carlford were incorporated, by acSt 
 of parliament, in the 29th year of his late majefty's reign j and their 
 houfe of induftry in the parifli of Nadon was built in 1757, and' 
 firfl inhabited in 1758. 
 
 The information which could be obtained on the fpot was 
 not much to be depended on, the governor and his wife being 
 from home when the vifit was made, which was about fix o'clock 
 on the evening of the committee-day, and no perfon in the way 
 was able to give any material information. My minutes were as 
 follow : 
 
 Manufaftures
 
 310 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 Manufadtures are cordage, facks, plough-lines, and fpinnlng for 
 Norwich. 
 
 Boys, employed in fpinnlng hemp, earn 6d. a day, one with 
 another. 
 
 Girls employed in fpinning wool : the great girls ftinted at 6cl. a 
 day, but receive for their work only half. 
 
 The dormitory is too much crowded : three or four boys in a bed, 
 two men : there ought to be no more than two children in a bed, 
 and one man. This number in one bed occafioned the air to be 
 difagreeable to the fmell. The fame was not obferved in any of the 
 other houfes. 
 
 The dining-hall is very neat and commodious. 
 
 Land, in occupation by the houfe, five acres. Two cows are 
 kept. Only one man at work in agriculture, no boys. 
 
 The poor are now allowed more liberty, without the walls of the 
 area on which the houfe and offices Hand, than formerly, and are 
 more healthy than they were. 
 
 The following anfwer to the foregoing queftions was tranfmit- 
 ted to me by Mr. John Enefer^ clerk to the guardians of the houfe, 
 by the order of Philip B. Brooke, Efq. one of the directors of that 
 houfe. 
 
 NACTON HOUSE OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 The poor are employed in wool- fpinning, twine-fpinning, ma- 
 king facks, &c. ; the neat profits of which, from an average of the 
 laft feven years, amount to 277/. 13^. 6^. a year. 
 ..The poor's rates were at firft J487/. 13^. 5^. a year, but ad- 
 jvanced, at Michaelmas, 1790, to 2603/. ys. od. a year. 
 , The expenditure. upon an average for the laft feven years, 2367/. 
 Bi. 8//. annually. 
 
 The original debt was 4800/. Is now 4400/. and will be reduced 
 to 500/. more at Michaelmas next, 1793. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XLUI. 311 
 
 The men and women, able to work, earn from twopence to fix- 
 pence a day. 
 
 The children are ftinted (according to their abilities, and not ac- 
 cording to their ages) from one halfpenny to fixpence a day. 
 
 Very few hands are employed in agriculture. 
 
 The number of poor admitted into the houfe, and the number of 
 deaths in the houfe, for the lafl 14 years : 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 
 Admitted. 
 
 
 
 Deaths. 
 
 1779 
 
 - 
 
 m 
 
 166 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 46 
 
 1780 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 177 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 33 
 
 I781 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 193 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 68 
 
 1782 
 
 ^ 
 
 - 
 
 174 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 33 
 
 1783 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 168 
 
 - 
 
 '- 
 
 23 
 
 1784 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 ^55 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 24 
 
 1785 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 112 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 23 
 
 1786 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 112 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 27 
 
 1787 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 108 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 13 
 
 1788 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 136 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 II 
 
 1789 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 133 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 ri 
 
 1790 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 142 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 35 
 
 J79I 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 125 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 21 
 
 1792 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 116 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 21 
 
 2017 389 
 
 The moft prevalent dlfeafes in the houfe have been the fmall-pox, 
 meazles, and hooping-cough. 
 
 The hundred of Bly thing was incorporated in 1764, and the houfe 
 of induftry built on a riling ground in the parifh of Bulcamp, about 
 a mile from Bliburgh. 
 
 They have two manufadlures for the ufe of the houfe, viz. linen 
 and woollen, for ftockings and wearing-apparel. Linen is made in 
 
 the
 
 312 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 the lioufe to the value of three fhillings and fxx:pence a yard, but they 
 fell nothing. 
 
 They fpin for the Norwich woollen-manufactures, and have 
 earned four hundred pounds a year. 
 
 Forty-fix pariihes were incorporated. 
 
 The average- number of poor admitted the firft five years amounted 
 to about 203. 
 
 There are now in fummer about 250, in winter about 300, in 
 the houfe. 
 
 Many children are admitted without their parents. 
 
 About eight hundred pounds are annually paid to out-pen- 
 iioners. 
 
 The fum borrowed was 12,000/.} half was paid in 1780, the 
 whole in 1791. 
 
 The average of the poor's rates annually in the incorporated 
 paiiflies, when the hundred was firft incorporated, was not above 
 one fhiUing in the pound, which rate was diminiftied one-eighth in 
 1780, when half the debt was paid. 
 
 None of the poor are, at prefent, employed in agriculture. 
 
 In 178 1, a putrid fever raged in the neighbourhood: the town 
 of Bliburgh loft one-third of its inhabitants; this houfe loft 130 
 of its poor. 
 
 Twenty-five acres of land belong to the houfe ; thirty acres 
 are hired, fome for the plough, fome lies in pafture, fome in 
 garden. 
 
 Sir John Rous, Bart, was fo obliging as to fend me a Uft of ad- 
 miflions and deaths in this houfe fince the inftitution, by which it 
 appears, that, from 06lober 13th, 1766, to Auguft 8th, 1793, 
 five thoufand two hundred and feven paupers have been admitted, 
 and one thoufand three hundred and eighty-one have died. 
 
 ^he hundreds of Mutford and hothlngland were incorporated In 
 1764: their houfe of induftry is in the parilh of Oulton, near 
 Loweftoft, and has been built twenty- Icven years. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 313 
 
 The number of pariflies incorporated is twenty-four ; their in- 
 come about twelve hundred a year; of this nearly two hundred 
 arifes from earnings. 
 
 The fum borrowed was 6200/. Expenfes in building were about 
 3000/. The houfe is erefted on a frugal plan, and will contain 
 200 poor. For the firft kven years, not above one hundred 
 were admitted annually ; but the annual number now amounts 
 to 150, or thereabouts. 1700/. of the original debt has been paid, 
 befides 300/. a debt contraded when the houfe was under bad ma- 
 nagement. 
 
 The poor's rates were advanced, in 178 1, ten per cent, more 
 than the alTeflment of the pariflies, when incorporated, and have 
 not been diminifliedi but 300/. of the debt continues to be paid 
 annually. 
 
 The regifter of deaths has not been regularly kept during the firft 
 years of the inftitution ; but the average- n-umber, duriag the laft 
 fix years, has been eleven in a year. 
 
 The prevailing manufafture is, making nets for the herring- 
 fifhery. The merchants furniih the twine, and it is braided by 
 the yard. 
 
 Hemp : what they grow is manufa£lured in the houfe ; but, 
 lately, the weaving has been put out. 
 
 Woollen yarn is alfo fpun j but the trade is at prefent bad ; 
 therefore, only fuch are employed in fpinning wool who can do 
 nothing elfe. 
 
 A child's flint, either for braiding nets, fpinning yarn or hemp, 
 is fourpence a day. Several children, not above {e\exi years of age, 
 were braiding. 
 
 Sometimes fome of the poor are let out to work in hufbandry at 
 fixpence a day : their employment is chiefly weeding. 
 
 Weekly earnings of the houfe, on an average, four pounds. 
 
 Out-allowances were, laft year, 55/. and are rather increafmg, 
 but fuppofcd to be bad management, and that they ought to be 
 diminifhed. 
 
 . S £ Land,
 
 3H 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 Land, in occupation, twelve acres, all arable ; two, yearly, fown 
 with hemp. No cows kept. 
 
 The hundred of Wangford incorporated 1764. 
 
 The houfe of induftry at Shipmeadow, between Harleftown and 
 Beccles, has been built twenty-fix years. Twenty-feven parifhes 
 are incorporated. The annual income from their rates is 1750/. 
 The general number of poor in the houfe about two hundred; 
 of deaths about twenty in a year : amount of labour, about three 
 pounds a week : their employment fpinning for the Norwich ma- 
 nufadlurers : there is no manufad:ory in the houfe. 
 
 Out-allowances, about eighty pounds a year. 
 
 Children are taken from large families. 
 
 Original debt, 8500/. of which 4000/. is paid. 
 
 Land, forty-five acres ; twenty-feven of them arable. Five cows 
 are kept. 
 
 There is no chapel ; they attend the parifh-church.* 
 
 The hundreds of Loes and Wiford were incorporated in 1765. 
 
 The houfe of induftry, which is in the parifh of Melton, was 
 ere6led the fame year, and is on a more extended and expen- 
 five fcale than any yet examined. Their dining-hall is very fpa- 
 cious and neat, as are the dormitories. There are apartments 
 appropriated to the furgeon j and thofe belonging to the gover- 
 nor are large and convenient. The cellars and offices are excellent. 
 The boys fchool and the girls fchool are both of them good rooms. 
 There are alfo rooms which are made ufe of as a penitentiary lodg- 
 ing for refradrory people, and thofe guilty of offences which require 
 fohtary reftraint, by virtue of the adt of parliament, enabhng thefe 
 hundreds to borrow an additional fum of money, which ad pafTed 
 in 1790. 
 
 * Oulton and Shipmeadow houfes of induftry were vifited, and the notices of them' 
 taken, by Samuel Brife, Efq. of Clare, a near relation and worthy friend, who accom- 
 panied me to all the other houfes of induftry in the county. 
 
 Their
 
 LETTER XLin. 
 
 315 
 
 Their manufa6lures are linen and woollen: the firft for their 
 own ufe ; the profits on the laft are confiderably diminifhed by 
 the war. 
 
 The number of poor in the houfe is between 230 and 240. 
 
 Their out-allowances are large; by the laft rules and orders, 
 drawn up for regulating the proceedings of the directors and a£l- 
 ing guardians, printed in 1792, although they feem to have hmited 
 the fums to be allowed with prudence : they do not feem to have 
 taken care that the number of poor, who (hall receive out-allow- 
 ances, fhall be fufficiently reduced, by obliging them to come into 
 the houfe. 
 
 Thefe out-allowances are the caufe of the increafe of expenfe, 
 as far as they tend to the old fyftem, to avoid which was the occa- 
 fion of eredling thefe houfes. 
 
 By a letter which I was favoured with from a gentleman of this 
 diftrid,* it appears that the original debt of thefe hundreds was 
 
 S f 2 ^ 9200/, 
 
 * Having received from this gentleman an anfwer to a letter I lately fent him, requeft- 
 ing him to (late the average-rate of affeflments, in the pound, in the hundreds of Loes 
 and Wilford, and to inform me whether the population of the hundreds was incieafed or 
 decreafed ; in which, after faying he is forry it is not in his power to anfwer either of my 
 queftions, his letter proceeds thus : 
 
 " The account you have given, in your Hiftory of the Poor, as received from me, is 
 notorioufly contrary to fadl, and equally impoflible that I could have given any fuch in- 
 formation. I have no copy of my letter, and therefore cannot attempt to correct the error, 
 but truft you will do me the juflice to leave my name out entirely in your intended new 
 edition." 
 
 I have, accordingly, done this gentleman the juftice to leave his name out entirely in 
 this edition ; and now I muft do myfelf the juftice to print that part of his letter, dated 
 Dec, 8, 1793, which refers to the information in queftion, that the public may judge 
 whether or not the information contained therein juftifies the abftradl given in the firft 
 edition of this work, which abftrad is here re-printed without any alteration. 
 
 (COP Y.) 
 
 1. Our original debt was ;^9200, 
 
 2. Our prefent debt is ;rioo50. 
 
 3 and
 
 3i6 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 9200/. the prefent debt is 10,050/. ; that the maximum of the poor's 
 rates, in thefe hundreds, was not more, including the Marfhal- 
 fea-money, &cc, than 15 J. in the pound annually, eftimating at 
 rack-rent when the hundreds were incorporated ; and that they re- 
 main the fame. 
 
 The average-number of deaths, the laft three years, was about 
 fixteen annually : the governor could give me no information in 
 this refped farther back, he not having been in that office longer 
 than that period. 
 
 A furgeon, fchool-mafter, and fchool-miflrefs, refidein thehoufe. 
 
 There were between thirty and forty infirm and difeafed poor in 
 the fick-wards ; but the greateft number of them complaining of 
 the infirmities of age only, and fore legs, which appears to be a 
 prevailing difeafe. 
 
 The poor children are taught different trades in the houfe befides 
 manufadures, fuch as tailors, flioe-makers ; and are employed in 
 thofe trades for the ufe of the houfe. 
 
 Three poor men are employed in agriculture. 
 
 The quantity of land, about thirty acres. They raife about 
 three acres of hemp, and manufafture it. There is about an 
 acre and a half of garden ; the reft pafture. Six cows are kept. 
 
 The late governor, as I was informed, had confiderably in- 
 jured , the revenue of the houfe by the conduft of the manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 3 and 4. I cannot anfwer with any degree of certainty. The feveral pariflies w'tthih the 
 two hundreds were ordered to deliver up their books to committees appointed tor the pur- 
 pofe, who took the feven years next preceding the laft feven years, and, adding the amount 
 together, divided it by feven, and thus formed an average for each refpeilive pariih, with- 
 out paying any attention to pound-rates : hence the averai^e in the pound for the hundreds 
 is unknovMi. 
 
 In this parifa our poor-rates, including Marfhalfea-money, which, of late, has been 
 very high, do not exceed j sd. in the pound, rack-rent; and, were other parilhes as fully 
 rated, I am of opinion that 15^, would be the uhimmn. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 3^7 ] 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 BEING now, as it were, in imagination, brought back to that 
 part of the county which produced the objedts of my inqui- 
 ries, by the recapitulation of the information I received, no place, 
 can be more proper than the prefent to return my thanks to thofe 
 gentlemen who feconded my views, by their influence in the feveral 
 houfes of induftry, at the time and fince, by communication, by 
 letter, of their knowledge as to the particular points refpe<fting 
 which their information was requefted ; and alfo to teftify, that the 
 excellent order, neatnefs, and regularity, preferved in all the houfes 
 then vifited, prove that their officers and fervants, who produced 
 every where, and at all hours, fuch inftances of attention to tlieir 
 duty, merit great praife. 
 
 The hundred of Samford was incorporated in 1765 : the houfe of 
 indufl:ry v/as ereded, in 1766, in the parifh of Tattingftone,. 
 and opened for the reception of the poor, at Michaelmas, the 
 fame year. 
 
 The original fum borrowed was 8250/. of which 2450/. has 
 been paid. 
 
 The number of parlfhes incorporated is 25 ; yearly afTeiTments, 
 2262/. 1 8 J. bd. 
 
 The rates v/ere fettled, in 1766, at 2 s, 8//. in the pound, by the 
 year, and" remain th€ fame. 
 
 Average-number of poor, in the houfe, during four years, begin- 
 ning in 1786, and ending in 1789, is 1055; and of deaths, for the 
 fame time, is 117; 
 
 The average-number of poor admitted, from 1766, annually, 
 could not be exadlly afcertained, but is about 260 : the average of 
 deaths, from the fame year, is. 37 Q-i3ths annually : but the fmall- 
 pox, followed by a putrid fever, has been in the hpufs three timcs^ 
 
 viz.
 
 3i8 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 viz. in the years 1780, 1781, 1791, when the number of deaths 
 was 76, 81, 56. 
 
 The poor are principally employed in fpinnirig for Norwich ; the pro- 
 fit of which was, for the four years ending with 1789, ;C 1^33 5 ^ 
 The out-allowances for the fame years amounted to . . 1042 8 8 
 
 The income for the fame years amounted to 11 154 3 3 
 
 The expenditure for the fame years amounted to . . . 11144. 8 5 
 
 There are at prefent eleven packs of top- work, valued at above 
 300/. left unfold, by reafon of the ftagnation of the Norwich 
 trade. 
 
 Only two men and three boys are at prefent employed in huf- 
 bandry. 
 
 The officers of the houfe are a furgeon, chaplain, governor, ma- 
 tron. 
 
 Land belonging to the houfe, 36 acres. 
 
 No fick in the infirmary. 
 
 In the dormitories, which were large, there were two or three 
 windows oppofite to the general range, which have great efFe<5l in 
 keeping the rooms airy and fweet. 
 
 Mofl of the particulars of this houfe of induftry, and alfo of the 
 following houfe at Barham, were communicated to me by the 
 Rev. Mr. Grant, the clergyman of Tattingftone, who very laudably 
 interefted himfelf in putting the Tattingftone-houfe into a fimilar 
 train of management as Barham, about the year 1790, when the 
 management of the former appeared to be unprofitable. 
 
 The hundreds of Bofmere and Claydon were incorporated in, 
 1765, the houfe of induftry was erefled in 1766, in the parifh of 
 Barham, and opened for the reception of the poor in Odtober the 
 fame year. 
 
 The original fum borrowed was 9994/. of which 7294/. has been 
 paid. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XLIV. 319 
 
 The number of parifhes incorporated is thirty-five j the yearly 
 afTefTments 2561/. 4s. lod.-, the rates remain the fame. 
 
 The number of poor in the houfe for fix years, ending in 1792, 
 was 1332 i the number of deaths, during the fame period, amounted 
 to 253. 
 
 The number of deaths was increafed confiderably in the years 
 1790 and 1 79 1 by the fmall-pox, one hundred and twenty-feven 
 having died in thofe two years. The information received on this head 
 was, that the poor were averfe to inoculation ; therefore, when the 
 peft-houfe, one of which each houfe of induftry has, was full, there 
 were no means left to prevent the natural fmall-pox going through 
 the houfe of indufliry itfelf: the confequence has been a confiderable 
 mortality, but probably not greater than when the fame difeafe has 
 attacked the village-poor, and its fatal effe6Vs have not been pre- 
 vented by inoculation. Barham-houfe has now two peft-houfes 
 at a little diftance from it. 
 
 The poor are principally employed in fpinning for Norwich : 
 their profit has been on an average about 200/. annually 5 but, for 
 the half-year ending at Midfummer, 1793, only 72/. is. SJ, 
 
 Their income has amounted for {even, years, ending 1792, 
 
 to ;^ 203 1 8 16 II 
 
 Their expenditure for the fame time 17680 12 9 
 
 Profit to the houfe for that period 2637 4 2 
 
 Their average out-allowances for four years, ending 1789, have 
 been annually 341/. gs. 4^. 
 
 Seventeen aged and infirm people are in the fick-wards. 
 
 Land belonging to the houfe, 20 acres j of v/hich two are garden. 
 Six cows are kept. 
 
 There were in this houfe more women between 20 and 30 years 
 of age than in any other of the houfes of induftry. 
 
 The
 
 320 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 The hundred of Cosford, and the pariJJ} of Poljled, was incorporated, 
 1779, and the houfe of induftry erecled m 1780, in the parifti of 
 
 Sfraer. 
 
 The original debt was 8000/. is now reduced to 180/. and an 
 annuity of 20/. a year granted to a perfon upward of fixty years 
 of age. 
 
 The poor's rates have been reduced three-eighths, and a confide- 
 rable fund remains in hand. 
 
 The poor in the houfe are employed in fpinning wool, which is 
 wafhed and combed in the houfe, and the yarn fold at Norwich by 
 commiflion ; the fale of which is confiderably afFe<fted by the war, 
 a confiderable quantity now remaining in hand. 
 
 The poor, when able, are employed in agriculture, as oppor- 
 tunity offers. 
 
 The average-number of paupers in the houfe is generally about 
 one hundred and eighty. 
 
 The average-number of burials, fince the inftitution, has been 
 annually about twenty- fix ; the much greater proportion died the 
 firft two years after the houfe was inhabited ; which was attributed 
 to the paupers, on their firft coming in, having too much meat- 
 diet, after having fuffered extreme poverty. This caufe has been 
 fince guarded againft, and the burials have been much fewer. 
 
 The houfe has been free from any epidemic difeafe fince it has 
 been inhabited : when the fmall-pox has prevailed in the country, 
 there has been two general inoculations with great fuccefs each 
 time. 
 
 When I vifited this houfe of induftry, the governor was from 
 home ; as was the Rev. Mr. Cooke, the fon of that worthy magif- • 
 trate, who, from the firft inftitution of the houfe, to the time of 
 his death, regulated the management of it with fo much care, at- 
 tention, and economy, as to make it productive, in the fhorteft 
 fpace of time, of more beneficial effe6ls than any other in the 
 county ©f Suffolk. It was from an anfwer to a letter I took the 
 
 liberty
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 3«i 
 
 liberty of writing to his fon, that the foregoing account has been 
 extracfled ; the obfervations made, and information obtained on the 
 fpot, are as follow, from my own notes. 
 
 The chief man ufa(!^ory is fpinning yarn for Norwich; but fome 
 of the top-work is wove into ferge for the women's jackets at Mel- 
 ford ; coarfe thickfet is bought at Norwich for clothes; linen cloth, 
 for fliirts and lliifts, at Hadleigh. 
 
 Paupers in the houfe 25th of July, 1793 ; men 27, women 42 ; 
 children, between the ages of twelve and twenty, 22 ; under the 
 age of twelve, 74; in all, 165. 
 
 No men are out at day-labour; four boys, twelve or thirteen 
 years of age, fearing birds at the wages they can earn by fpinning, 
 which is five-pence a day, none more. 
 
 The girls, at the age of thirteen, are put to fervice ; boys, at 
 the age of fourteen. 
 
 Twenty-two packs of yarn remain in ftore, value about 600/.; 
 land belonging to the houfe, about twelve acres j of which two are 
 garden, ten meadow and pafture. 
 
 Two cows are kept in fummer-time : they make all their butter 
 in fummer, and buy fait butter in the winter. 
 
 Only four fick in the infirmary : every thing appeared neat, the 
 poor healthy and comfortable. 
 
 The hundred of Stow, incorporated in 1780. 
 
 The houfe of induftry, in the parifh of One-houfe, opened for 
 the reception of paupers, Oct. 11, 178 1. 
 
 The fum firft borrowed was only 8000/. but the expenfe of build- 
 ing the houfe fo much exceeded the fum intended to be laid out for 
 that purpofe, that an additional fum of 4150/. was afterwards 
 borrowed ; and the rates were increafed one quarter by common 
 confent for three years : they remain now the fame as at firft. 
 
 Fifteen hundred pounds have been paid off in the whole, at the 
 proportion of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds 
 per annum. 
 
 Tt The
 
 322 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 The poor in the houfe are employed in fpinning top-work for 
 Norwich ; the wool is bought into the houfe ; the clothing for the 
 ufe of the houfe is made from the thrums, ends, and nibbings, and 
 fuch fpinning as is unfit for the Norwich market ; their bed rugs 
 are alfo made from thefe materials ; no part of their clothing is put 
 out to be made, except {lockings. 
 
 The fale of the top-work is confiderably affefled by the war: 
 twelve packs are left in the houfe unfold j value about twenty-four 
 pounds each pack. 
 
 None are employed in agriculture at prefent j only two men are 
 in the houfe who can do harveft-work j fome children are fome- 
 times employed in weeding ; all who are able are employed in hop- 
 picking ; but, it is conceived, that nothing is faved by fuch em- 
 ployment. 
 
 The average-number of paupers in the houfe is about two hun~ 
 dred. 
 
 The number of burials fmce 0(51. ii, 1780, to Auguft 1, 1793,^ 
 as follows : 
 
 oa. 11, 
 
 1780, to 
 
 Jan. 
 
 I, I781 
 
 - 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 1781 
 
 - 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 1782 
 
 - 
 
 51a putrid fever. 
 
 
 
 
 I78J 
 
 - 
 
 61 a putrid fever. 
 
 
 
 
 •1784 
 
 - 
 
 5 1 a putrid fever. 
 
 
 
 
 1785 
 
 - 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 1786 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 1787 
 
 - 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 1788 
 
 - 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 1789 
 
 - 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 
 
 1790 
 
 - 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 I79I 
 
 - 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 1792 
 
 - 
 
 18 
 
 To Auguft I ft 
 
 M 
 
 J793 
 
 - 
 
 17 
 
 Thefe
 
 L E T T E il XLIV. 323 
 
 Thefe thirteen years form an average of 24 2-i3ths yearly; or, 
 omitting the three ygars, when the putrid fever prevailed, the ave- 
 rage of the remaining ten years is only 15 i-ioth. 
 
 Annual income from rates, 1987/.; from labour, manufactory, 
 &c. not lefs than 350/. annually, for the lad ten or eleven years ; 
 but has amounted to 104/. 'only the laft half-year, o\\ing to the 
 ftagnation of the Norwich manufactory. 
 
 Out-allowances from 250/. to 300/. annually; but thefe arc 
 increafing, and expected to continue fo, from the ftagnation of trade. 
 
 There has been no fever or epidemic diforder in the houfe fmce 
 1784, although there has been much ficknefs in the hundred; nor 
 were there in the houfe, at the time thefe notices were taken, any 
 of the paupers fo fick as to be confined to their beds. 
 
 Number of acres 24; of thefe 3* are arable, one acre garden, 
 the reft pafture. Four cows are kept, and two horfes. 
 
 In this houfe, the fpinning-rooms and working-rooms are divided 
 by partitions, in fuch a manner, as that but few fpin or work 
 together ; as are alfo the dormitories. There are not more than 
 Seventeen beds in any : this is an improvement not obfervable in 
 any other of the houfes of induftry, and tends much to the pre- 
 fervation of health and order, 
 
 A tailor and fhoemakcr are kept in the houfe. 
 
 A fchoolmafter to teach the children to read, and a miftrefs to 
 teach the little children. Relief is given to large families by taking 
 thofe children into the houfe which are a burthen to their parents. 
 The fame method is in fa61: praCtifed by all ; confequcntly, the chil- 
 dren are taken in very young. 
 
 Tt2 LETTER
 
 [ 324 ] 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 ANeceflary attention to the duties of a magiftrate, together 
 with companion for the diftreffes of my poor neighbours^ 
 particularly for thofe who were employed in daily labour on my 
 eftate, had occafioned me to vifit, at times, the fick cottager, and the 
 miferable pauper in a pariih work-houfe. The fituation of the firft, 
 whofe narrow tenement forbad the pofTibility of feparating the fick 
 from the well, the parent from the children, or the children them- 
 felves from each other; that miferable economy in fitting up the 
 cottage, which too generally has denied the only bed-room either a 
 fire-place or a cafement-window to ventilate the air; the noife of 
 querulous children, the ftench of confined air, rendered epidemic by 
 morbid effluvia ; the vermin, too, frequently fwarming on the bo- 
 dies and rags of the wretched inhabitants ; all thefe caufes, a6ting 
 together, procraftinate affliction, prevent a return of health, and in- 
 dicate a depth of mifery, which hard labour and induftry ought not 
 in ficknefs to be liable to endure. Neither did the parifli,- work- 
 houfe, the laft fad refuge of miferable indigence, otFer a lefs dif- 
 agreeable fpe6facle; the want of room, and the bad management of 
 that which they pofi'efs, occafion fimilar inconveniences: the clothes, 
 or rather the covering, of the inhabitants; the too frequent inftances 
 of infamous debauchery, arifing from the two fexes of all ages and 
 difpofitions kept together; the ignorance and filth the children are 
 brought up in ; and the general fpirit of rigid economy which the 
 contradting mafter of the work-houfe pradifes, as well in diet as in 
 clothing, lodging, and cleanlinefs, to fcrape from mifery, as foon as 
 poffible, a property which may enable him to retire from his dif- 
 agreeable avocation ; give propriety to the opinion and exprellion ; 
 that a parifli-work-houfe is too often a parifh-bavvdry-houfe, always 
 a bug-bear to frighten raodeft diftrefs from applying for relief. 
 
 In
 
 LETTER XLV. 325 
 
 In the incorporated hundreds, the houfes of Induftry ftrike one in 
 a different light; they are all of them built in as dry, healthy, and 
 pleafant, fituations, as the vicinity affords ; the offices, fuch as the 
 kitchen, brew-houfe, bake-houfe, buttery, laundry, larder, cellars, are 
 all large, convenient, and kept exceeding neat: the v^ork-rooms are 
 large, well-aired, and the fexes are kept apart, both in hours of 
 work and recreation. 
 
 The dormitories are alfo large, airy, and conveniently difpofed ; 
 feparate rooms for children of each fex, adults, and aged; the mar- 
 ried have each a feparate apartment to themfelvesj mothers with 
 nurfe-children are alfo by themfelves. 
 
 The infirmaries are large, convenient, airy, and comfortable; 
 none without fire-places. 
 
 All the houfes have a proper room for the neceffary difpenfary j 
 and moft of them a fnrgeon's room befides. 
 
 The halls, in all, are large, convenient, well ventilated, with two 
 or more fire-places in them, and calculated, with refpett to room, 
 for the refeftion of full as many as the other conveniences of the 
 houfe can contain. 
 
 The chapels are all fufficiently large, neat, and plain ; feveral of 
 them rather tending to grandeur and elegance. There were two 
 houfes, which had no chapel : one of them made ufe of a room 
 ample enough for the congregation, properly fitted up, and kept 
 very neat: the other houfe attended the parifh-church. 
 
 The apartments for the governor were in all the houfes large, 
 and conveniently difpofed : in one or two of the houfes of induftry, 
 thefe apartments were rather more fpacious and elegant than ne- 
 cefiary : there are alfo convenient florehoufes and warehoufes, for 
 keeping tlie raanufadiure of the houfe, the raw materials, and the 
 clothing, &c. for the ufe of the inhabitants. 
 
 The land about the houfes belonging to them, particularly the 
 gardens, are all calculated for producing a fufficient quantity of 
 
 vegetable
 
 326 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 vegetable diet, fo necefiary to tlie health as well as agreeable to the 
 palate of the inhabitants. 
 
 In general, the appearance of all the houfes of indufliy, in the 
 approach to them, fomewhat refembles what we may fuppofe of 
 the hofpitable large manfions of our anceftors, in thofe times when 
 the gentry of the country ipent their rents among their neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 The interior of theie houfes mult occafion a moft agreeable fur- 
 prife to all thofe who have not before feen poverty, but in its mi- 
 lerable cottage or more miferable work-houfe. 
 
 In looking over ray notes, I find that the aftifmative neatnefs 
 which prevailed from the cellar to the garret, in all the houfes, 
 with very few exceptions in particular departments, occafioned not 
 only a memorandum of the fa£l, but gave rife to a conception 
 which poffibly lies more in imagination than reality, that, where a 
 deficiency in this refpeft is obfervable in any domicile, a concomi- 
 tant deficiency is alfo obfervable in the healthy looks of the inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 This neatnefs, which had fo pleafing an eflFeft on the eye, was the 
 caufe alfo that the other fenfes were not difgufted by that conftant 
 attendant on collected filth and foul air, a noifome flench, as dele* 
 terious to human life as it is in general naufeating to thofe who ac- 
 cidentally breathe fuch an atmofphere. 
 
 The practice of frequently white-wafhing does much in pre- 
 ferving the air of thefe houfes wholefome and fweet, but the con- 
 ftant attention of thofe who perform the offices of the houfe is 
 abfolutely necefiary, and even that is infufficient, unlefs the halls, 
 working-rooms, and dormitories, have the external air admitted 
 through the windows, whenever it can be done with fafety to the 
 inhabitants, with refpefl to catching cold : this praflice of keeping 
 the windows open cannot be trufted to the paupers themfelvesj for, 
 ftrange to tell, the general complaint againft them was, that they 
 
 would
 
 LETTER XLV. 327 
 
 would not only not attend to keeping them open, but, if the adults 
 and aged had their choice, fuch depravity arifes from habit, they 
 would live in that atmofphere of putrid air, which would undoubt- 
 edly produce contagion. 
 
 The neatnefs and proprete which prevailed in their halls at the 
 hour of refe6lion were alfo laudably obfcrvable, mod of thefc 
 houfes of induftry being vifited at the hours of breakfaft, dinner, 
 cr fupper. At times I have felt difguft when requefted to take 
 fome refrefhment which has been offered me in a cottage ; a dif- 
 guft arifing from the abfence of that neatnefs which attends the 
 tables of thofe among whom it has been my lot to live : but no 
 want of neatnefs in thefe houfes created difguft ; a breakfaft, 
 dinner, or fupper, might have been eaten at their tables with a keen 
 appetite. 
 
 Their bread was, in all the houfes, particularly plcafant j it 
 was good brown bread, made from the flour deprived of the coarfeft: 
 of its bran : white bread was alfo baked for the infirm, the conva- 
 lefcent, and young children. 
 
 Their cheefe was in general good, although frequently the cheefe 
 of the country: in one houfe they bought Dutch cheefe, which 
 was ftronger in its tafte, and confequently to fome palates not fo 
 pleafant. 
 
 The fmall-beer was alfo pleafant : — no wonder ; they bought the 
 beft malt and hops, brewed a large quantity at a time, and kept if 
 in excellent cellars : ale was alfo brewed, in inferior quantities, and 
 given to the convalefcent, and to thofe whom the governor thought 
 proper, either as a neceflary refrefliment, or as a reward j and it 
 was alfo diftributed, at ftated times, to the whole houfe. 
 
 It did not occur to me to take minutes of the bill of diet in any 
 ©f the houfes, becaufe no doubt has been fuggefted that it is not- 
 wholefome and fufficient : that, in fome inftances, it has been too- 
 abundant, may be fufpe^led, as well from the relics which were- 
 
 fcen^
 
 :28 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 fetn after their meals, as from the idea thrown out by one of the 
 direttors in a letter which has been alluded to.* 
 
 The application of thefe fails, which have been ftated, as well 
 upon the credit of perfonal infpe6lion, and information from 
 thole whofe duty it certainly was, and whofe inclination it ap- 
 peared to be, to give true and full information upon the fubje6V, 
 as from thofe gentlemen, alfo, who obligingly communicated any 
 information by letter, now remains to be made to three important 
 queries. 
 
 1. Have thcfe inftitutions amended the morals of the poor ? 
 
 2. Have they tended to diminifh the burthen of expenfe to foci- 
 ety attending their relief and maintenance ? 
 
 3. Have they increafed, or do they tend to decreafe, the chance 
 of human life ? 
 
 With refpe^l to the firft queftion, it may be anfwercd in the af- 
 firmative without a pofTibility of contradidlion. 
 
 They have amended the morals of the lower orders of people, if 
 the proportional few inftances of indittments, at the quarter-fef- 
 fions, for aftions of inferior criminality, which lead to greater 
 crimes, v^-ill prove the fadl ; and it does, in this inftance, in a re- 
 markable manner : four inquifitions of murder have been, within 
 this twelve-month, found by the coroner for the county of Suffolk, 
 not one of them in either of the incorporated hundreds. There are 
 twenty-three hundreds in the county; twelve of them are incorpo- 
 rated, and maintain their poor in houfes of induftry. 
 
 If the general good order and regulation the labouring-poor are 
 kept in throughout the incorporated diftrifls, which good order is 
 evidenced by their general condu6l and converfation, and by their 
 obfervation of thofe laws, the breach of w^hich may tend to en- 
 danger the lives, and diminifli the fafety and comfort, of his ma- 
 
 * See the extrad from Mr. Cook's letter refpeding the Semer houfe of induftry. 
 
 jefty's
 
 LETTER XLV. 329 
 
 jefty's fubjecls in general; fuch as drivers riding on their waggons ; 
 tippling in ale-houfes, and the fmaller immoralities and impropri- 
 eties/* of condu(5l; if fuch attention to the orders of fociety proves 
 the hd: : 
 
 If the refpe6lful and civil behaviour of the poor to their Cii- 
 periors, the very rare inftances of children being feduced to (leal 
 wood, turnips, &c. and to the commiiTion of other fmall thefts ; 
 if thefe and fimilar proofs cf good morals, unfortunately not 
 prevalent in thofe ditlricts within the county where thefe lioufes 
 are not inftituted ; if fuch inliances prove the fafV, experience 
 tells us thefe inftitutions have tended to reform the morals of 
 the poor. 
 
 And the prophetic fpirit of theory had, beforehand, informed 
 thofe, who wiflied to form a judgement on the fubjedt, that the ef- 
 fect could not be otherwife. 
 
 A large building, calculated for the reception of the poor of the 
 diftridl, fituated in the moft healthy fituation, with convenient 
 offices of all kinds, the inhabitants of which are under the re- 
 gulation of well-chofen officers, fubjedt to excellent rules, all of 
 them calculated to promote regularity, induflry» morality, and a 
 relisiious fentiment. 
 
 The hours of work, refrefhment, and fleep, uniform and re-r 
 gular. 
 
 The children, from the earliefl age, on leaving their mother's 
 arms, are under the care of proper dames, who teach them obe- 
 dience, and give them the habit of attention. 
 
 When more advanced in years, fchool- mailers teach them to 
 read} and the fuperintendants of the working- rooms, fome induf- 
 trious employment, and take care that their hours of work fhall 
 not be pafTed in idlenefs : here they are generally flinted, lb that 
 greater induHry is rewarded with greater leifure. 
 
 The duties of religion are expedled to be regularly attended by 
 all the poor of all ages, no excufe being admitted but illnefs. 
 
 U u le
 
 330 LETTER XLV. 
 
 It required no prophetic fpirit to foretel, that, thefe duties and 
 this fyftem of regularity being perfevered in, the beft efFe61:s mud, 
 of confequence, enfue to the morals of the poor of all ages, ''and 
 to thofe of the rlfing generation in particular. 
 
 In thele houfes of induftry, therefore, may be found that plan 
 of education of poor children carried into effeft, which has been, 
 in former pages of this tradl:, fo warmly recommended to be 
 purfued, by the means of fchools of induftry, united with Sun- 
 day-fchools. 
 
 But it fiiould be remembered, that thefe fchools, in the houfes 
 of induftry, are not general for the children of all the poor within 
 the incorporated pariflies; only thofe whofe poverty induces their 
 parents to alk parifh-relief are fent here, and, of thofe, only fuch 
 children as are the greateft burthen to their parents : the children 
 of thofe poor who are not petitioners for relief, and thofe children 
 of the poor who are, and whom their parents do not choofe fhould 
 be fent to the houfe of induftry, are kept at home, and have not 
 the benefit of this plan of education ; and it is a circumftance 
 worthy of remark, that parents, in general, from whom to take, 
 for a time, the idle, mifchievous, leaft iifeful, and moft burthen- 
 fome, part of their family, to bring them up, without any care or 
 expenle to themfelves, in habits of induftry and decency, is a very 
 great relief, are very much averfe to fending their children to the 
 houfes of induftry ; from what caufe it is difficult to tell j but it is 
 plain that no good caufe can give rife to this averfion : fuppofe it 
 to be parental affe6tion and fondnefs, which makes them, with 
 regret, part with their children, the anfvver is obvious ; they are 
 fent but a little way from them, are in the neighbourhood, where 
 they may be feen at all proper times, and, when feen, will be feen 
 in a ftate of cleanlinefs inftead of filth, of employment inftead of 
 idlenefs, with neat clothing and wholefome diet inftead of filthy 
 rags and an empty belly : whereas parents, in higher fituations of 
 life, who feel that fondnefs of afFe(S:ion in, at leaft, an equal de- 
 gree.
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 331 
 
 gree, voluntarily, and at a confiderable expenfe, fend their children 
 to feminaries of learning and Ichools, for education, at a much 
 greater diftance, and do not fee them for many months toge- 
 ther : much credit cannot, therefore, be given to the fentiment 
 of affedlion : the only one which can be mentioned as an apo- 
 logy for this averfion, and every other reafon, mull be founded 
 on a bad principle, and confequently ought not to have any 
 weight. 
 
 Were thefe inftitutions eredled upon a plan which would admit 
 of taking all the children of the poor, fromi the time they are ca- 
 pable of being taught fome employment, and keeping them in the 
 houfe, as in a fchool, until fuch employment is learned, and regu- 
 lar habits of induftry acquired, together with an abhorrence of that 
 life of idlenefs and theft to which the children of the poor are 
 prone, either naturally, or by the encouragement of their parents, 
 every good which can be exped^ed to arife, from fuch an inftitution- 
 as has been recommended, might thus be attained to, in a houfe- 
 of induftry, at a very trifling increafe of expenfe, if at any, and 
 which expenfe would be amply repaid by the general good effec!^ : 
 but fuch a plan, could the houfes of induftry receive them, muft 
 be feconded by the court of quarter- feffions iffuing an order, pro- 
 hibiting relief to be given to fuch parents who fhali refufe to let 
 their children go to thefe fchools, when appointed to tliem by the. 
 overfeers of the refpedlive parifhes. 
 
 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 TO determine the fecond queftion, with certainty, rccoitrfc 
 muft be had to the notices taken, refpe6ling the fad, in the 
 different incorporations j and it will be found,, that,- in fome, the 
 
 U u. 2 poor's
 
 332 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 poor's rates have been diminiflied ; in others, they remain the fame 
 as at the time of the inftitution j and, in a few, the rates have been 
 increafed : the different inftances fliall be pointed out, and fome 
 obfervations made on the fa(51s, as they have been flated. 
 
 Blything-hundred ; Bulcamp houfe of induftry ; the whole debt, 
 12000/. has been paid off; the rates were diminiflied one-eighth in 
 J780} and, as they were not on an average above one fhilling in 
 the pound annually when firft incorporated, they are now incon- 
 fiderable. 
 
 The hundred of Cosford, and the parifli of Folded ; the houfc 
 ;of induftry at Semer ; the whole debt, 8000/. has been paid off, 
 except an annuity of 20/. a year, and 180/.; but they have flock 
 more than fufficient to difcharge thefe remaining demands ; the 
 poor's rates have been diminiflied three-eighths ; and the rates were 
 very moderate when the hundred was incorporated. 
 
 Wangford-hundred hOufe of induftry, at Shipmeadow ; original 
 debt 8500/. of which 4000/. is paid; rates remain the fame. 
 
 The hundred of Samford; the houfe of induflry at Tattingflone ; 
 the original fum borrowed 8250/. of which 2450/. have been paid; 
 the rates were fettled at zs. Sd. in the pound annually, and remain 
 the fame. 
 
 Hundreds of Bofmere and Claydon ; the houfe of induflry at 
 Barham ; the original fum borrowed 9994/. of which 7294/. have 
 been paid ; the rates remain the fame. 
 
 Stow-hundred ; the houfe of induflry at Onehoufe, near Stow- 
 market ; the original fum borrowed 12150/. of which 1500/. have 
 been paid ; the rates remain the fame. 
 
 Hundreds of Colneis and Carlford ; the houfe of induflry at 
 Nadlon ; the original debt was 4800/. is now 3900/. the rates were 
 increafed at Midfummer, 1790, from 1487/. 135. 4^. annually, 
 to 2367/. Ss. Sd. ; but from information it appears, that the rates 
 were not more than fixteen or eighteen pence annually, when the 
 average was fixed ; and the revenue of the houfe has exceeded its 
 
 expenditure
 
 , LETTER XLVI. 333 
 
 expenditure on an average of the laft (even years 513/. 11 J. 10 a', 
 annually. 
 
 Hundreds of Mutford and Lothingland ; the houfe of induftry 
 at Oulton ; the original debt 6500/. of which 2000/. has been paid 
 off J the poor's rates are advanced ten per cent, but 300/. of the 
 debt is annually paid off. 
 
 Hundreds of Loes and Wilford ; the houfe of induftry at Mel- 
 ton ; their original debt was 9200/. their prefent debt is 10050/. 
 their poor-rates, together with their county-rates, do not now ex- 
 ceed 15^. in the pound at rack-rent. 
 
 By this recapitulation it appears, that, at two of the houfes of 
 induftry, the rates have been confiderably diminiflied, and the ori- 
 ginal debt annihilated. 
 
 At four, the rates remain ; but a confiderable part of the origi- 
 nal debt has been paid. 
 
 At two, the rates have been increafed, aftd the debt diminillied : 
 at the laft houfe of induftry the debt has been increafed, and the 
 rates remain the fame. 
 
 The queftion, whether houfes of induftry tend to diminifli the 
 expenfe of the relief and maintenance of the poor, is therefore an- 
 fwered in the affirmative, fmce in two the rates are diminiftied, the 
 debt is paid ; in four, the debt has been confiderably diminidied, 
 confequently the annual balance in their favour might have been 
 applied to the purpofe of dimiaifliing the rates, pari pqfa, with the 
 debt ; in two of the others the balances have been applied hitherto 
 to diminifh the debt only, and the rates have increafed ; in one, the 
 debt is fomewhat increafed, and the rates remain the fame, at the 
 low average of 15^. in the pound annually. 
 
 When the average, at which thefe parifties fettled their rates, at 
 the time they were incorporated, and the number of years which 
 have elapfed fince that average was fettled, are confidered; in fome, 
 being between thirty and forty years ; and in none lefs than twelve 
 or fourteen j and compared with the proportion the rates then bore 
 
 to
 
 334 LETTER XLVI. 
 
 to a pound, and the proportion they would now bear, had there 
 been no houfe of indaftry ; taking the advance of the poor's rate 
 in the other parilhes throughout the khigdom in general, and in 
 Suftblk in particular, as they are proved to be, by the returns of 
 the overfeers to the inquiries made by parliament, in the year 1776, 
 and 1783, 4, and 5, as the rule of computation, and no better 
 can be obtained ; in which returns it appears, that, in the two 
 contiguous hundreds in Suffolk, not incorporate, Rifbridge and 
 Babergh, the net expenfcs of the poor alone had advanced from 
 11,023/. ys. lid. to 13,840/. 3 J. gd. being a difference of 
 2817/. or thereabouts, in the courfe of eight years, or above 
 25/. 9 J. per cent, an advance that brings forward the moft unthrifty 
 management of any of the houfes of induftry into a flate of 
 pofitive profperity and redudion of expenfe ; it will therefore be 
 found, that not only where the rates have been ftationary, but 
 where they have advanced, and in the inllance where the debt has 
 increafed, the poor's rates have been very much decreafed, from 
 what they would have been, had the poor been managed according 
 to the old and the common fyftem j we may therefore with cer- 
 tainty apply the old adage, non progredi ejl regredi, with refpedt to 
 the expenfes of the poor in all the incorporated houfes of induftry. 
 On the whole, although in an inftance or two, originating from 
 an improvident mode of building the houfes of induftry at firft, 
 more fubfequent expenfes have been incurred than were at that 
 time forefeen, and confequently a larger revenue became necefTary to 
 pay the intereft of the additional fum they were obliged to borrow, 
 and to fupport the expenfes of the houfe than was at firft thought 
 fufficient; and, in another inftance, the difhonefty or profufion of 
 the then governor has fo difarranged the affairs of the houfe, as to 
 render a new loan, and confequently an increafed rate, convenient; 
 yet, on the whole, it is conceived, that not the leaft fhadow of 
 doubt can be raifed, but that even, in thefe inftances, the revenues 
 of the houfes are increafmg beyond the difburfements, the debt is 
 
 diminifhing,
 
 LETTER XLVII. 335 
 
 diminifliing, and the rates will fall even beneath that Jow medium 
 they have hitherto preferved ; and which rates, had there been no 
 houfe of induflry, would probably have rifen twenty-five, or even 
 fifty, per cent, above their prefent amount. 
 
 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 THE other queftion, whether the houfes of induftry have in- 
 creafed the chance of human life, involves in it fuch com- 
 plicated confiderations, is a queftion of fuch uncertainty of proof, a 
 comparifon with the ftate of population in country-villages, and 
 with the chance of human life of people of particular ages and par- 
 ticular fituations only, and not with human life in general, being 
 to be taken into confideration, and there being no data with which 
 the comparifon of the fa6ls can be made, the tables of the chance 
 of human life being of too general a nature, and the fad:s them- 
 felves as to deaths, in houfes of induftry, not being fufficiently par- 
 ticularifed as to age and ftate of patients health when admitted to 
 give an exact refult, that fome general obfervations on the deaths 
 which have happened in thefe houfes, compared with the numbers 
 admitted, is all that iliall be attempted, leaving the reader to make 
 up his own mind, as well as he is able, from the imperfed: flcetch 
 of the queftion it is in my power to offer, to which I fliall vei y 
 humbly add my opinion, without prefuming to dictate any pofitive 
 conclufion to his judgement. 
 
 And, firft, it will be proper to pay fome attention to the fitua- 
 tion of the poor, and their families, before they take refuge from 
 the mifery of extreme poverty in a houfe of induftry. What are, 
 afthat time, their expectations of health and life ? 
 
 Tliey
 
 336 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 They are fo reduced by poverty as not to be able to maintain 
 themfelves and their families, and therefore they become inmates of 
 a houfe of induftry; confequently, the conftitution, both of pa- 
 rents and children, muft have been debilitated by want of necelTary 
 food, raiment, and flicker, that none can be faid to be admitted in 
 found health : no ellimate can, therefore, be made of their chance 
 of life, in comparifon with the inhabitants of villages, towns, or 
 cities, in general. 
 
 They are afflided with difeafe, either parents or children, and 
 therefore they are fent, by the pa rifb- officers, to a houfe of in- 
 duftry : the chance of life with fuch Is ftill decreafing. 
 
 Children are born, and, at the earlieft age at which they can 
 leave their mothers, are received in thefe houfes, and are kept in 
 them through that period when the chance of human life is leaft ; 
 and much the greateft number in all the houfes is compofed of 
 children. 
 
 The other confiderable clafs is compofed of the aged, and the 
 infirm, either from age or accident. The chance of life, in this 
 clafs, is fmall indeed. 
 
 Such are the different fituations of the inmates in a houfe 
 of induftry : very few poor, between the age of fifteen and 
 fifty, are feen there, except difeafes, accidents, infirmities, or 
 particular irregularities of life, have occafioned them to be 
 fent there. 
 
 The chance of life, to people in thefe fituations, and of thefe 
 
 ages, under the prefiure of penury, although not abfolutely chilled 
 
 by the cold hand of extreme poverty, would, in their miferable 
 
 cottages, be fmall indeed. -^ Is that chance diminiflied or increafed 
 
 by going into a houfe of induftry? 
 
 Is the chance of human life increafed or diminiflied by being 
 brought from an unwholefome ftarving diet to wholefome moderate 
 plenty; from nakednefs to clothing; from filth to cleanlinefs; 
 /rom cold to warmth ; from the noifome contagion of a filthy cot- 
 tage,
 
 LETTER XLVII. 337 
 
 tage, or parlfli-woik-houfe, to a healthy air, free from noxious ef- 
 fluvia? Surely, the anfwer to thefe queftions would, at once, de- 
 termine the point, did it depend on theory alone. 
 
 But it may be faid, the queftion has been tried by the touchftone 
 of experience ; one fmgle page of which, honeftly recorded, goes 
 farther towards proof pofitive, than volumes of theoretic reafoning ; 
 we muft therefore have recourfe to this beil of demonftrations. 
 
 The validity of this obfervation muft be allowed, were the fads 
 produced, of mortality in houfes of induftry, capable of being com- 
 pared with the deaths of people under fimilar circumftances, and 
 of fimilar ages, at large. 
 
 In Nafton houfe of induftry the number of poor admitted the 
 laft fourteen years are 2017; the number of deaths, 384; the an- 
 nual average of inhabitants is therefore 144; of deaths, 27. 
 
 In Bulchamp houfe of induftry, the number admitted fmce the 
 inftitution, in 1766 to 1793, twenty-feven years, 5207; the num- 
 ber of deaths, in that time, 1381 : but, in the years 1781 and 
 1782, a putrid fever carried off one-third of the inhabitants of 
 Blithburgh, and 217 of the inhabitants of this houfe j therefore, 
 thofe two years fhould be omitted in the comparative ftate- 
 ment : the numbers will then ftand, of inhabitants, admitted in 
 25 years, 4725; of deaths, 1064: or, annually, inhabitants, 189, 
 deaths, 42. 
 
 Oulton houfe of induftry. Number of inhabitants, on an ave- 
 rage, annually, about 150 the laft fix years j of deaths, for the 
 fame period, annually, 1 1 . 
 
 Shipmeadow houfe of induftry. Number of poor, about 200 
 annually ; number of deaths, about 20 in a year. 
 
 Melton houfe of induftry. Number of poor in the houfe, from 
 230 to 240 J the number of deaths, for the laft three years, about 
 16 annually. 
 
 Tattingftone houfe of induftry. Average-number of poor in the 
 houfe, annually, for 23 years, 260 j average-number of deaths, 
 
 X X annually,
 
 338 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 annually, for the fame time, 33. In this computation, the three 
 years are omitted when the fmall-pox and putrid fever prevailed : 
 the deaths, in the three years when thefe contagious diftempers were 
 fo fatal, bring the average-number of deaths up to 37 9-i3ths, as 
 has been ftated in the notices refpedting the houfe. 
 
 Barham houfe of induftry. Average-number of poor inhabi- 
 tants, annually, for five years, as appears by the notices, 222 x 
 average-number of deaths, 42. In this houfe, alfo, the fmall- 
 pox prevailed for two years, and deflroyed 127 of the inhabi- 
 tants ; the average of deaths, otherwife, would not have been 
 fo high. 
 
 Semer houfe of induftry. Average-number of poor inhabitants 
 in the houfe, annually, from its inftitution, 180 j annual number 
 of deaths, 26. 
 
 Stow houfe of induftry. Annual average-number of poor in- 
 habitants, in the houfe, about 200 ; of deaths, annually, 24: but, 
 in this houfe, a putrid fever prevailed three years, and was fatal to 
 163 people: the average, omitting thefe three years, and taking it 
 for ten years only, is 1 5 in a year. 
 
 In the nine houfes of induftry which have been the obje£ls of our 
 attention, there are, conftantly, one year with another, 1780 poor 
 inhabitants, men, v>'omen, and children. 
 
 In the fame houfes there happen, annually, two hundred and 
 forty -five deaths, as the number appears by the averages taken. 
 
 The number of deaths to the number of inhabitants, annu- 
 ally, in all the houfes of induftry in Suffolk is, therefore, as 
 1 to 7 one- third, or nearly one-fevcnth of the number dies 
 every year. 
 
 It fliould be recalled to the reader's mind, that the inhabitants are 
 compofed of children, from birth, to the ages of 12, 13, or 14, when 
 they are bound apprentices or get fervices : the chance of life in this 
 early age is fuch as, in the heahhieft towns, not half the number is 
 aliv€ at the age of 13, as appears from the tables in Dr. Price's 
 
 Supplement
 
 LETTER XLVir. 339 
 
 Supplement, to his Obfervations on Reveifionary Payments; of 
 old people, vvhofe work is done j and of poor, of all ages, who, 
 from ficknefs and infirmity, are unable to maintain themfelves. 
 Such being the defcription of paupers admitted into thefe houfes 
 ©f induftry, it muft again be obferved that no comparifon can be 
 made between the chance of life, of fuch. inhabitants, and of thofe 
 inhabiting in cities, towns, or villages, in general ; bscaufe, in the 
 firft inftance, are comprized only the very young, the very old, and 
 the infirm and difeafed ; and thefe are alfo poor, and of impo- 
 veriflied blood, and conftitutions weakened by the effedfs of po- 
 verty; whereas the tables in Dr. Price's Supplement to his Re- 
 verfionary Payments, and in the publications of other political 
 arithmeticians, comprehend people of all ranks, orders, and fitu- 
 ations, in life, as well the healthy and the lobufl: as the infirm 
 and the difeafed ; as well people of all clafles, at thofe periods 
 when the chance of human life is greateft, as at thofe when it is 
 the leaft. 
 
 The queflion of the comparative chance of human life, in thefe 
 houfes, muft, therefore, be left undetermined by any comparifon 
 with fuch chance in general ; and, probably, the queftion would 
 be more fairly tried, could a comparifon be made between the mor- 
 tality in the parifhes incorporated, before fuch incorporation took 
 place, and fuch mortaUty fince, taking into the account the 
 number of the poor of each parifli who have died in the houfes of 
 induftry. 
 
 The efFed thefe inftitutions have had, with refpefl to popula- 
 tion, might alio, by means of fuch comparative refearches, be more 
 accurately afcertained, were it likely that fuch inquiries would be at- 
 tended by certain information, which probably might he the cafe, 
 with refpe6l to the comparative number of deaths, by means of the 
 parifh-regifters, and the books of the refpedtive houfes; but that 
 part of the queftion, which refpedts comparative population, could 
 
 X X 2 not,
 
 340 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 not, by any dired: inquiry, be afcertained, and can only be com- 
 puted from the births and burials in the parifhes, which would af- 
 ford, by no means, an exadl refult. 
 
 On the whole, this queftion muft be left in doubt, for the pre- 
 fent. To judge from every appearance attending the interior of 
 the houfes of induftry, no one could hefitate to declare that they 
 muft tend to increafe the chance of human life, and to increafe 
 the population of the diftri£ls : the fame judgement muft be de- 
 duced from all theoretic proofs, reafoning from probable, nay, al- 
 moft neceflary, confequences. But when the comparative num- 
 ber of the living to the dead, taken annually, appears to be only as 
 feven one-tiiird to a unit ; or, in other words, that the chance of 
 life, in a houfe of induftry, is not equal to eight years j the fa<S 
 ftrikes ftrongly, and occafions the judgement upon the queftion to 
 remain fufpended. 
 
 But ftill two great points are determined in their favour : they 
 certainly tend to meliorate the morals of the poor, and they alfo 
 tend to diminifli the burthen of the expenfe attending their mainte- 
 nance : that the other point is not, on experience, determined in 
 their favour alfo, arifes from the difficulty of acquiring every infor- 
 mation neceflary to its inveftigation, and from the inability of the 
 writer to apply, with precilion and certainty of proof, fuch fads as 
 he had obtained : he ftill believes that this point will, whenever it 
 falls under the pen of a more accurate inquirer, and an able politi- 
 cal arithmetician, conduce alfo to the recommendation of diftrid: 
 incorporated houfes of induftry, as tending to increafe the chance 
 of life and population. 
 
 I cannot take leave of this fubjefl, without animadverting upon 
 fome information received refpeaing the diflTatisfafbion of the poor 
 at the firft erection of houfes of induftry, which broke out in riot- 
 ous proceedings, and, in fome inftances, occafioned a great addi- 
 tional expenfe to the incorporated hundreds; the fpirit of riot 
 having proceeded fo far as to pull down the buildings eredled, and 
 
 to
 
 LETTER XLVII. 341 
 
 to commit other flagrant adls of outrage. It is a well-known fa6l, 
 proved by long experience, that the clafs of people, conftituting 
 what is called a mob, is never colle6led and excited to mifchief, but 
 at the inftigation of an individual, or fome few individuals, who 
 poifon the minds of their uninformed but well-meaning neighbours : 
 thefe are men generally of a clafs a little fuperior to the mob itfelf j 
 they are men who mix in converfation with them at the ale-houfes, 
 at the fliop- keepers, and at barbers fliops ; are in general interefted 
 cunning people, who, under the maflc of vaft humanity, tender 
 affedtion, and kind regard, for their poor neighbours, inftigate them 
 to thefe and fimilar ad:3 of outrage. Examine the fituations in life, 
 the habits, the connexions, of thefe people, when their fecret machi- 
 nations are difcovered by the effeds of open riot and mifchief, and 
 they ftand the confelTed encouragers of the mob: it muft ftrike 
 every inhabitant upon the fpot, that a trifling degree of attention to 
 the condu(5l of this defcription of people would have demonftrated 
 before the fadij that thofe very individuals would be guilty of that 
 clandeftine incitement of the mob of the neighbourhood to the very 
 deed of riot which has been committed, and confequently it would 
 be proper in a diftridl, where fuch an incorporation is intended, to 
 be watchful of the conduit and converfation of that defcription of 
 men, whofe interefts will be moft injured by a plan of this nature, 
 and to oppofe the efFedl of their converfations on the minds of the 
 poor, by every means which prudence can devife and the laws will 
 fandlion. 
 
 Was any additional inducement wanting to recommend diftriifl 
 houfes of induftry, the particular fituation and temper of the times 
 would be that inducement j the lower orders of the kingdom are 
 now preffing on the next, and the toe of the peafant truly galls the 
 kibe of the courtier; that relief which formerly was, and ftill ought 
 to be, petitioned for as a favour, is now frequently demanded as a 
 right; that idlenefs and intemperance, which formerly feared to be; 
 obferved, now obtrufively preffes forward to fight 3 the pauper is no 
 
 longeE
 
 342 
 
 LETTER XLVII. 
 
 longer fatisfied with his allowance, nor the labourer with his hire ; 
 the faint rumour of diftant atrocities, which dlfgrace human na- 
 ture, reaches the ear of the multitude cleanfed from the blood and 
 carnage, and allumes to them the pleafmg fhape of liberty and pro- 
 perty : the only clafs of men v/ho have the power to calm the rifing 
 Itorm are thofe in the middling ranks of life, and they are as much 
 interefted to preferve things as they are as any other rank in the 
 ftate: property is the only folid bulwark of the nation; for, thofe 
 who poflefs it have a natural defne to preferve it» and our laws and 
 our conftitution muft ftand or fall with itj befides, the danger lies 
 immediately beneath this defcription of people: difl:ri(5l houfes of 
 induftry confolidate all the men of property, refident in the county, 
 in the fame laudable plan j the prefervation of induftry, good order, 
 and a religious fentiment, among the million; the few gentlemen of 
 fortune, who refide in the county meritorioufly, take an a^live part 
 in all the incorporated houfes ; the beneficed clergy refident there 
 alfo do the fame, and it does them honour, for it is equally their 
 duty as their intereft : fo alfo do the more opulent yeomanry of the 
 county, a body of men of the firft confequence to the prefervation 
 of peace and order : permit, therefore, an individual, who thus 
 freely declares his fentiments on a fubje6l not generally underftood, 
 to aflert, without the imputation of prefumption or arrogance, that 
 equally the duty as the interefts of government call on them to 
 encourage thefe inflitutions by every mode in their power ; let 
 every influence be made ufe of by them, and every perfuafion, by 
 men of rank and fortune, to eftablifli houfes of induftry throughout 
 the kingdom ; they will prefent, by anticipation of the caufe, a more 
 fure barrier to the infolent attempts of fedition and the prefs of de- 
 mocratic violence, than all the barracks in Europe, and they will 
 prove a more fecure defence of liberty and property, rightly un- 
 derftood, than the beft-difciplined ftanding army. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 343 ] 
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 BEFORE this fubjed, of Co much importance to us and our 
 pofterity, is finally clofed; before any recapitulation is at- 
 tempted of thofe points to which the minifter of this kingdom 
 mull feel himfelf on every principle of duty to his fovereign, and 
 to all ranks of his countrymen, and by every obligation of regard 
 to his own unfullied reputation, bound to attend j it may be pro- 
 per to fuggeft that the code of poor-laws, which regulates the con- 
 duct of upwards of feven millions of his majefty's fubjeds, is a 
 vague, unconnedied, inconfiftent, piece of patch-work, in which 
 there is no nicety of workmanfhip, no dove-tail exadtnefs of joinery : 
 but the original ftatute of the 43d of Eliz. flands, like fome other 
 elegant pieces of gothic architefture in this kingdom, expofed to 
 the eyes of tafte and criticifm, with a prop in one place, an addi- 
 tion in another ; each prop and addition, neceffary, moft probably, 
 to fupport and render ufeful the original building, fomewhat 
 weakened by the flux of time and the alteration of circumftances ; 
 but certainly not conducive, in the manner they have been added, 
 to elegant appearance of the whole of that ftru61:ure, whofe foun- 
 dation, being in times paft bottomed in humanity, juftice, and policy, 
 will reflect to ages yet unborn a credit on that country which laid 
 the foundation, and reared the humane and neceflary, although at 
 prefent expenfive, incompetent, and unflghtly, fuperftrudlure. 
 
 Our highways were a few years ago managed and the conduct 
 of them regulated by adls of parliament, collecled from different 
 parts of the code of flatutes, in a manner fomev/hat fimilar to our 
 poor-laws -, but not £0 difFuled over a legiflation of centuries ; nor 
 a tenth part fo intricate in their inveftigation and application ; nor 
 a thoufandth part fo important in their effetts on the happinefs of 
 the multitude : but a fteady light has been thrown on thofe laws, 
 
 by
 
 344- LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 by reducing them under one plain intelligible ad: ; and the roads 
 throughout the greateft part of the kingdom are become good, with- 
 out the inhabitants feeling any confiderable expenfe ; that lucidus 
 crdo, which has done fo much on our highways, would alfo do 
 good in the cottages of the poor, in the veftries of our churches, 
 and on the benches of our magiftratesj and it is a felf-evident 
 truth, that a fyftem of legiflation, by which all the fubjefts of 
 England and Wales are to be guided, and on which no inconfide- 
 rable part of their property, happinefs, and comfort, nay, poffibly, 
 the exiftenceof many thoui'ands of them, depend, fliould be plain and 
 explicit ; that thofe who run may read, and that all who read may 
 underftand : this is to be efFeded in a plain and intelligible manner, 
 in one comprehenfive ad:, preferving the 43d of EHzabeth as the 
 citadel, and the necefiary additions to, or explanations of, it as 
 outworks. 
 
 Another preliminary obfervation is alfo neceffary :— whatever may 
 be the rule laid down by the legiflature for the condud of the na- 
 tion with refpeft to the poor, it fhould partake of the nature of 
 municipal law ; it (hould enforce what is right, and prohibit what 
 is wrong ; and, if right mujft be enforced, and wrong prohibited by 
 penalties, thofe penalties fhould not appear in the flatute-book 
 only, but in the revenue raifed for the maintenance of the poor ; 
 they arife from nonfeafance or misfeafance j both of them di mi- 
 nilhing the revenue of the poar, or wafting it when raifed : as foon 
 as the fore is felt fhould the falve alfo ; this may be done j not by 
 fubjeding the adminiftration of the poor-laws to a new category of 
 penalties, but by making the old the immediate and unavoidable 
 confequence of the oiFence ; by thefe means would the poor-laws 
 be well executed, or the revenue raifed for the poor be increafed by 
 the negledt of its managers : without fome ipecific plan of this 
 kind, every new regulation will only be a new flumbling-block, 
 and will bring an increafe of expenfe, not of revenue. 
 
 A minifter
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 345 
 
 A minifter who widies to make ufe of the height of his power and 
 authority, to alleviate the miferies of the poor, and fave his country 
 from a long ruin, impending from that very alarming quarter, muft 
 for a time divefl: himfelf of the thirft of popular fame ; or at leavt 
 he muft emulate a famous chara6ter of antiquity; mufl; be [mitten 
 with the love of that popularity which follows, not that which is 
 followed. The prefent critical fituation of the kingdom, with refpedl 
 to foreign politics, may be fuggefted as a fearful, or at leaft an im- 
 prudent, time, to attempt much regulation at home; but the regula- 
 tion which is wanted is in favour of the million j in favour of their 
 liberty ; in favour of the revenue raifed for their maintenance ; in 
 favour of the general induftry of the mafs of his majefty's fubjedls : 
 it is to their eafe; to their comfort; to the more comfortable main- 
 tenance of themfelves, their fire-fides, and families, this regulation 
 tends. Whom will it affed: in a contrary light ? not people of rank ; 
 not people of property ; not the honell: ; not the induftrious ; not 
 the adtive : — but, if it did, thofe of this defcription feel they had 
 rather take the lefier ill, than run a rifk of undergoing the greater; 
 they had rather part with a trifle than lofe all. But whom would 
 this ftridlnefs of difcipline in thefe inftances affedt ? the idle, the 
 lazy, or the diflioneft, only. And can a minifler of fl-ate either fear 
 the opprobrium of thefe ; or care whether he preferves his popu- 
 larity among them ? No, he will anfwer, with the fame great cha- 
 racter of antiquity juft alluded \.o'. fiqua eft invidia in confervanda 
 rcpublica fiifcepta, Icedat invidos, mihi 'valeat ad gloriam. 
 
 Permit me to dwell a little longer on this topic; permit a few 
 egotifms to efcape my pen without tainting the writer with the re- 
 putation of arrogance or prefumption. 1 have a6led fome years as 
 a magiftrate, and am confcious, that, from neglett and inattention, 
 I poflibly may have been the caufe, either that the revenue belong- 
 ing to the poor in my neighbourhood has, in lome inftances, been 
 neglefted in raifing, or diminifhed by improper application : thefe 
 are faults, venial undoubtedly ; but they are fuch, as liad a penalty 
 
 Y y attached
 
 346 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 attached itfelf inevitably to each omifTion of, or inattention to, 
 duty, fomewhat more would have been gained by the poor in in- 
 creafe of revenue, or decreafe of expenditure j becaufe, either my 
 ^ridc or my parfimony, difliking the record of the inattention, or 
 the payment of the penalty, my duty would have been done with 
 fuperior attention. In a fimilar manner I fhould conceive other 
 magiflrates and overfeers of the poor would feel in fimilar inftances ; 
 if fo, undoubtedly would the execution of the poor-laws be en- 
 forced by thefe means with greater ftri6lnefs of difcipline ; and 
 many thoufands of pounds be faved to fuch of his majefty's fub- 
 jeds as contribute to the maintenance of the poor ; and, poffibly, 
 fome thoufands of lives of the poor themfelves might be fnatched 
 from an untimely end. 
 
 If flight penal confequences, following inftances of negleft, with 
 the fame unnerring certainty as the night follows the day, would 
 have a good effedl on the execution of this code, what fliould pre- 
 vent fuch regulation taking place ? a fear left magiftrates fliould be 
 deterred from taking the dedlvms potejlatem upon themfelves is the 
 anfwer : but no fuch fear ought to be admitted ; there is no occa- 
 fion for it ; the infertion of a name in the commillion of the peace 
 is now frequently folicited as an honour, and the lord-lieutenants 
 of counties are looked up to as great patrons of provincial confe- 
 quence and power : but duties are to be performed, and fervices to 
 be executed, by all perfons placed in offices of power and confe- 
 quence ; and it may be depended on, that fuch is the thirft for 
 authority, that the office would be folicited, although the duties 
 of it were to be more rigoroufly exa6:ed. 
 
 This idea has, already, been more fully explained, and the heads 
 of an aft of parliament, touching the fubjedl, roughly flcetched, in 
 a pamphlet which was fubmitted to the attention of the public 
 when Mr. Gilbert's Bill was before the Houfe of Commons.* To 
 
 * Defence of the Statute, pafled in the 43d Year of Elizabeth, concerning the Employ- 
 ment and Relief of the Poor, with Propofals for enforcing it. Sold by Debrett, and B. 
 White and Son, 
 
 retail
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 347 
 
 retail now, in this trad, a plan fo little noticed when the topic 
 agitated the country, would be impertinent -, becaufe, had the 
 propofition then deferved attention, it may be fuppofed it would 
 have obtained it ; as it did not, the repetition of it here would be 
 ferving up a kind of crambe reco5la, ^very little palatable to raofl; 
 readers. 
 
 But, however, the fadt certainly is now as it was then. No 
 adl of the legiflature can be efficient for the purpofe if not exe- 
 cuted. We may make laws for ever and for ever ; they may 
 fwell the pages of the ftatute-book, and lerve to fill up the 
 fhelves of our library, but are a mere wafte of paper, words, 
 and time, if not enforced : fome means fliould, therefore, be 
 invented, not to multiply our penal fanftions, but to fimplify 
 and render unavoidable the execution of our lav/s. Suppofing 
 that to be done, we fhould proceed, in the poor-laws, juft as a 
 prudent man, in his poflefTions and economy, who is mafter of 
 a large family : he would, in the firft place, make his eftates de- 
 rived from his anceftors as produftive as pofiible; confequently, 
 if he thought that the prodigality, carelefTnefs, or knavery, of 
 thofe who had been in pofleflion of them in paft times, had 
 wafted, negle(5led, or difpofed of, any, without having right fo 
 to do, he would attempt all legal means to recover what had been 
 fb alienated or difpofed of j he would himfelf occuj)y, or let to 
 good tenants, at improved rents, what he pofleffed ; he would bring 
 his children up in habits of economy, induftry, and fobriety ; 
 his fervants he would train to regularity, honefty, diligence, and 
 civility ; he would excufe a fingle a6t of omiffion of duty, but not 
 a regular inattention to it 5 he would punifh the vicious, and re- 
 ward the deferving : and furely he would not, if he had the power 
 to prevent it, permit an ale-houfe to be dofe at his doors : he would 
 alfo expert, that the numerous members of his houfehold, or, at 
 ieaft, all of them that could be fpared from the neceflary domeftic 
 duties of the day, (which duties he would reduce into as narrow a 
 
 Y y 2 compafs
 
 348 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 compafs as pofllble,) fhould attend divine fervice once a week at 
 leaft, to return thanks to the Ahnighty for that ftate of regularity 
 and comfortable order they have lived in during the lafl: w^eek, and 
 to pray him to prolong it to another. 
 
 If thofe, who have it in their power, have it alfo in their heart, to 
 do fomewhat efficient in the code of poor-laws, they have only to 
 extend the idea of fuch a family, fo regulated, to the great family 
 of the nation : the plan is plain and pradlicable ; nay, poffibly the 
 exifting code has done, as far as direction alone can go, nearly the 
 whole bufinefs: little directory is wanting, -— but, alas! too much 
 executory. 
 
 If the different members of this prudent man's family here al- 
 luded to refufe to obey, or are negligent of executing, his or- 
 ders, and his wifdom is fo lulled afleep, by the eafe of his temper, 
 or the indolence of his habits, that he is averfe to compulfion, 
 the appearance of his houfehold inftantly changes ; the exam- 
 ple runs, like wild-fire, through the whole family j the peace- 
 ful fcene of harmony, order, and decorum, vanifhes, and he finds 
 himfelf foon placed in the midft of riot, profufion, intemperance, 
 and ruin. 
 
 To proceed to the illuftration of this allufion : — our fellow-fub- 
 jects, in that part of the kingdom afFefted by the poor-laws, are 
 the large family, of which the legiflature is the head or mafler. 
 A large eftate has, by the bounty of our ancellors, been given us 
 for the maintaining our poorer brethren : whether it may be pru- 
 dent to reclaim that portion of it which has, for many centuries, 
 been diverted from its proper purpofes, or whether, in faft, it is 
 juft fo to do now, is a doubtful point, confidering that the prefent 
 pofTefTors, and their immediate predeceflbrs, for fuch a lapfe of 
 time, have enjoyed the ufufru6tuary pofTeiTion of the whole, not 
 divided with thofe who, undoubtedly, at one time, had a right to 
 a confiderable portion of it ; and they have fo enjoyed it, neither by 
 
 the
 
 LETTER XLVIir. 349 
 
 the fraud, covin, or bad faith, of themfelves, or their immediate 
 predecefTors. 
 
 But, whatever may be the opinion of the nation at large, or the 
 feelings of that refpedlable clafs of our fellow-citizens, as to thefe 
 points, yet, it is taken for granted that they are Jlill individually, 
 in fome meafure, refponfible for the religious fentiment and moral 
 duties of that portion of his majefty's fubje6ls, the tenth part of 
 whofe fruits and perfonal induftry they claim as their right ; and it 
 is conceived that themfelves would, were the queftion put to them, 
 in general, anfwer, that fuch is their idea of the matter ; therefore, 
 would it not be proper that, where a duty arifes, a power fliould 
 be there given adequate to enable the performance of the duty ? 
 This might be done by an a6V, conferring, within their refpei5live 
 parifhes, on the beneficed clergy, an authority, in the regulation 
 and fupervifion of the poor, concurrent with, and equal to, the 
 authority the flatutes have given to magiftrates within the pre- 
 ciniSls of their refpedlive counties : fuch authority, in all inftances 
 of parifh- relief, and in many other points, where authority confers 
 confequence, would enable the clergyman of the parifh to perfuade, 
 by ftrong arguments, the poor to attend fome place of worfhip con- 
 ftantly, either the church, or the meeting-houfe of fome fe6l dif- 
 fentient from the church, if fuch fliould be in the parifh, and fuch 
 fhould be their religious tendency ; and, by inducements of inte- 
 refl, they would be able alfo to regulate their moral condu6l, and 
 allure them to an induflrious life : the confequence would be, bet- 
 ter morals and more induflry, which would meliorate the condi- 
 tion of the poor, and diminifh the expenfe of their maintenance j 
 while the clergy of the eflablifhed church might, by thefe means, 
 honourably to themfelves, in the line of their clerical fun6lion, 
 and beneficially to the prefent and future life of their parifhioners, 
 alTifl to reduce thofe burthenfome expenfes, which now lie fo heavy 
 on the fhoulders of the laity principally. This being the fact, and 
 fuch their duty, if the legiQature fhould think proper to conned 
 
 authority
 
 3^0 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 authority with that duty, would not the nation have a jufl: right to 
 expefl a beneficial confequence ? 
 
 Another eftate has alfo been left by our anceftors for the fame 
 purpofe, in times long fince the former, much of which it is to be 
 apprehended is now perverted to different ufes, by the knavery of 
 fome and the careleffnefs of others, for the recovery of which an 
 Aft of Parliament* is ftill in force, but not in ufej this eftate, 
 therefore, ought not to be loft to the purpofes for which it was 
 left, nor ought the ad: of parliament to become a dead letter, but 
 rather an adlive inftrument to wreft thefe eftates from the grafp of 
 the prefent unlawful poffefTors. 
 
 The third part of their revenue has been raifed for their fupport 
 and maintenance nearly two hundred years, and has, like the young 
 difeafe of the poet, 
 
 " Grown with our growth, and ftrengthen'd with our ftrength." 
 
 This is certainly raifed with flriftnefs, and expended with care- 
 leffaefs. In the increment of this part of their revenue, nothing 
 more ought to be done, too much having been done already ; but, in 
 the application of it, much reform may be made. Here then is 
 another point to which the attention fliould be applied. 
 
 The laft, but not the leaft, proportion of their revenue arifes 
 from their individual induftry and labour : here again ought the at- 
 tention to be fixed as to an objeft of the utmoft importance, in- 
 volving in itfelf a multitude of confiderations ; but they may be re- 
 duced under a few general ideas. 
 
 A man of fober and regular mode of life, of good moral and reli- 
 gious principles, is more likely to acquire property by hard labour 
 than one of a contrary defcription ; and the confequence, which re- 
 fults to an individual, refults alfo to a million, keeping the quantity 
 
 * Statute of Charitable Ufes, 43d Eliz. 
 
 of
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 351 
 
 of work done, in a progreffive ftate, pari pajfu, with the number: 
 therefore, if a man, of regular habits of induftry, will earn 20/. per 
 annum, twenty millions will be earned by a million: if, on the 
 other hand, the individual lofes five pounds a year by idlenefs, and 
 fpends five pounds in drink, the million will produce towards their 
 maintenance ten millions lefs ; the conclufion which follows from 
 the premifes is fo plain, that a recapitulation would be furplufage. 
 
 Thus are the moral and religious duties of the mafs of mankind 
 effential objedts of attention to the interefts of finance as well as to 
 the public good ; and it is not, in many inflances, that fo remark- 
 able a coalition can be pointed out. Suppofing, therefore, this im- 
 portant objedt to be attended to, we will proceed to the next. 
 
 The price at which labour is done follows of courfe j and here 
 the golden maxim fhould be again repeated, — " the labourer is wor- 
 thy of his hire." When thefe pages were firil entered upon, the 
 prevailing idea of the writer, excited poflibly by a near view of hu- 
 man mifery, was, that the labourer had not his hire; or, in other 
 words, that his hire would not produce him the neceflaries of life, 
 which it ought to do, and fome of the comforts alfo : the fame 
 doubt flill prevails in fome inflances, but they are exceptions only, 
 not being fufficient in number to form a general rule, and princi- 
 pally are apparent in manufa6lures, when the demand for the com- 
 modity is likely to be, or is a<5lually, diminiftied by war or other un- 
 avoidable caufes ; although it is certain, that, on a different princi- 
 ple and from a different caufe, have manufafturers diminiflied the 
 prices of labour, viz. to increafe the quantum of labour to be per- 
 formed: this they have done with equal precifion of logical in- 
 ference, as dereliction of moral principle; reafoning in this manner: 
 — A man muft earn a certain fum to fupport his family a certain 
 time: diminifh his wages in piece-work a given time, and the quan- 
 tity done in the time will be increafed, or his family will be in 
 want, which he will not fuffer while his induftry can prevent it. 
 By thefe means we kill two birds with a ftone, we gain by fup- 
 
 plying
 
 352 
 
 LETTER XLVIIL 
 
 plying the demand, and we gain by decreafing the price of labour: 
 fo have reafoned the manufaflarers; but the principle on which 
 they, when reafoning thus, fuppofed the poor man to a6t, is now 
 almoft worn out ; he will apply to the parifh rather than work 
 harder to make up his ufual earnings ; therefore, in fuch inftances, 
 when they happen, manufaflure literally preys upon agriculture. 
 
 On the other hand, in agriculture thefe circumftances cannot 
 occur; the demand for labour is conftant, and nearly the fame 
 throughout the year; nothing, therefore, but individual inftances of 
 avarice in the employer are necefTary to be here guarded againft in 
 defence of the poor and their rights, as far as the principle " The 
 labourer is worthy of his hire" extends; for, it has been proved in 
 thefe pages, that he in general is paid in thefe days by agriculture, 
 in full conformity to the maxim, " The labourer is worthy of his 
 hire." 
 
 The obfolete laws with refpefl to juftices rating the wages of la- 
 bourers in agriculture, at their quarter-feflions, therefore need not 
 be revived, at lead the interefts of the poor do not require their 
 execution ; nor indeed were they ever intended to raife fo much as 
 to deprefs the price of labour; labether it may not be necejfary for the 
 interejl of agriculture, to regulate the mzxixnxxm-price of labour, fo as to 
 preferve fome proportion betweeri work and price in its extreme, is worth 
 the confideration of thofe who calculate at what rate corn may be afforded 
 to be fold, leaving the farmer a fair profit. 
 
 The law of fettlements, and the confequenccs flowing from it, 
 occafion an enormous draft on the poor's rate, and diminifh that 
 part of their revenue which arifes from their labour, by refbralning 
 them from going where they could make the moft of it. It is pro- 
 bable, if thefe laws were repealed, preferving at the fame time, or 
 enacting anew, fuch reflraints as tend to prevent vagrancy, the la- 
 bour of the poor might be confiderably more produdive; and they 
 would enjoy a degree of freedom they have a right to expedl from 
 fociety, if not inimical to peace and good order : but this muft be 
 
 touched
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 353 
 
 touched with a tender hand. The aft of parliament refpe6ling 
 friendly focieties, which pafTed the laft feflion, may poflibly be found, 
 by the experience of time, to do all that need be done on the prin- 
 ciple of increafing labour, by increafmg the facility of choofing a 
 refidence ; yet it is a doubt, whether we ought to wait for this pro- 
 bable, but diflant, confequence. 
 
 Nothing will do fo much in this point as early induftry. Can it 
 be fuppofed, that a generation of induftrious adults will arife from 
 a race of idle children ? Is the adage of the poet fo falfified by expe- 
 rience, as to prove that the tree will be inclined reverfely to the 
 bending of the twig ? Unlefs we conceive perfevering induftry and 
 a life of hard labour will be taken up, and the habit continued with 
 equal readinefs and facility as our neceffary repafls and hours of re- 
 pofe, we adl againft our conviction, by expe6ling the man to be in- 
 duftrious, who, when a boy, was permitted to live in idlenefs. 
 Schools of induftry would effect much good in this rerpe6l, and an 
 application of fome part of the poor's rate to this purpofe is in 
 imion as well with the letter as with the fpirit of our poor- 
 laws. 
 
 Houfes of induftry appear from the review which has been had 
 of the general theory refpeding them, and alfo from the infpe6lion 
 of fuch as are fituated within that county which firft made the ex- 
 periment, to tend to every good end: they, by the means of found 
 morality, religious duties, good order, economy, and fobriety, make 
 the revenue arifnig from the induftry of the poor more produdlive, 
 and expend lefs in their maintenance ; at the fame time, that main- 
 tenance is the refult of an union of cleanlinefs, decency, and whole- 
 fome plenty -, the reverfe of what \vc fee in the cottage ; the reverfe 
 of what we fee in the parifti work-houfe. But it is much to be fear- 
 ed thefe houfes of induftry muft be allowed, from the vifibly good 
 effefts of them apparent to the fenfible part of the nation, to take 
 their ftations Ilowly in the land, and cannot, with fafety, be ob- 
 truded 0:1 our countrymen by the fiat of the legiftaturc. 
 
 Z z When
 
 354 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 • When youth has been trained to labour by habit, and that ha- 
 bit has been encouraged by rewards, the honorary and lucrative fpur 
 fliouid not ceafe; nor fliould young people, fo educated, be per- 
 mitted to remain ftationary, poflibly to become retrogreflive, from 
 the incitement being removed in maturer Ufe, of which they have 
 experienced the effeft in earlier days. Much more can be done by 
 rewards than punifliment, and the code of poor-laws at prefent 
 holds out nothing but punifliment; departing far from the princi- 
 ples of divine retribution, which, while it threatens with tre- 
 mendous punilhment the bad, offers eternal rewards to the de- 
 ferving. 
 
 The mode and the means of following fo excellent an example 
 have been hinted at, and poflibly the effedl may be greater than the 
 imagination can conceive. To corroborate this idea, fomething may 
 be collected from amidft the mafs of human miferies which now 
 lays wafte a neighbouring country : the French troops are un- 
 doubtedly brave, perfevering, and determined; ignominy, together 
 with the up-lifted axe, ftrike their attention on the one hand; re- 
 wards, fuiting their enthufiaftic ideas, or relieving their extreme po- 
 verty, on the other. God forbid that our fellow-fubjeits (hould 
 ever feel the impulfe to a difcharge of duty from the uplifted axel 
 It is equally to be wilhed that they may experience the incitement 
 from the foftering hand of reward. 
 
 But neither punifhments will intimidate from wrong, nor will 
 rewards allure to right, while fedudion, in the femblance of arti- 
 cles of excife, ftrides, with an unbounded ftep, through this de- 
 voted country ; while the financier and the moralift, the pulpit and 
 the treafury, are at variance ; and the defalcation of revenue, by a 
 decrement of drunkennefs, is more dreaded by the government than 
 bad morals and a diffolute people. If ale-houfes mufl preferve 
 their ubiquity, if the village mufl, by means of thefe hot-beds of fe- 
 dudtion, partake of the vices of a populous town j the populous town 
 of an overgrown metropolis; becaufe the treafury- coffers require 
 
 replenifli-
 
 LETTER XLIX. 355 
 
 lepleni filing, in vain are all our endeavours to preferve morality; 
 (he vs^ill difappear from among us, and debauchery, with his com- 
 panions, will take her place: it has been the cafe; it is fo now; 
 and the effedls are vifible throughout the land ; although the re- 
 mote, but certain, confequences are not attended to. Here fhould 
 the determined patriot ftrike ; at this he fhould aim the fliafts of his 
 eloquence, not at a change of political party, making an invedtive 
 on pohtical meafures the means ; all nonfenfe to the million ; 
 who, whatever adminiftration rules, mull live, and ought to 
 live comfortably. Let the true patriot give them the chance 
 of living foberly, by exciting the legiflature to remove, from their 
 too eafy grafp, the temptation to vice : that being done, they 
 will Hve induftrioufly, and become a benefit, not a burthen, to the 
 community. 
 
 Such are the principal obje6ls which ought to ftrike the attention 
 of the patriotic ftatefman as he furveys the vaft horizon vi'hich the 
 view of our poor, their rights, duties, and the laws refpedling them, 
 offers to his contemplation. If what has been advanced in thefe 
 pages has the good fortune to point out any leading feature in the 
 landfcape to his notice, and fociety itfelf, or the pooreft individual 
 in it, receives any benefit from fuch an incitement of his attention, 
 the purpofe of the writer has been anfwered, — he has not employed 
 himfelf in vain. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 THE legiflature gave its fandion to no general ad refpe^ling 
 the poor, from the time that Mr. Gilbert's plan met its 
 fate, as has been mentioned, until the fefiion of parliament which 
 was held in the year 1793 ; except that, by the laft claufe to an ad 
 
 Z z 2 pafled.
 
 3^6 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 paflcd in 1792, to explain and amend the Vagrant- Adl, it was 
 enafted, that, if it fliall be made appear to two juftices of the 
 peace that any poor perfon fliall not ufe proper means to get em- 
 ployment, or, if he is able to work, by his negleft of work, or 
 by fpending his money in ale-houfes, or places of bad repute, dec. 
 he fhali not apply a proper portion of his earnings to the mainte- 
 nance of his wife and family, and they fhall become chargeable to 
 their parifli, he fliall be deemed an idle and diforderly perfon, and 
 punifhed as fuch. 
 
 By 33 Geo. III. c. 3^. feme alterations were made in the act 
 palTed, in the twenty-fecond year of his prefent Majeily, for the 
 better relief and employment of the poor $ but, in the mean time, 
 many diftrids and parifhes had, individually, applied for, and ob- 
 tained, adls of parliament for incorporating themfelves, and ma- 
 naging their own poor, in a manner different from that eftablifhed 
 by the ftatute-laws of the realm. 
 
 It has been remarked, in a preceding letter, that but few, if any, 
 parities had taken the benefit of, and carried into execution, the 
 plan formed by Mr. Gilbert in the ftatute alluded to ; and a reafon 
 for that peculiarity has been fuggefled : but, by the bill palled this 
 feffion, it appears, that all the claufes in that a6t were not fo per- 
 fed: as to leave nothing in uncertainty ; and that the w^ording 
 of one or two of them, for want of neceflary technical precifion, 
 might involve the parlQies incorporating themfelves in difputes and 
 lawfuits. It was enacted, " That two-thirds, in number and va- 
 lue, of perfons qualified, according to the recited ad:, who fliall at- 
 tend at any public meetings, and fignify their approbation of the 
 provifions of the a6l, fliall be a fufficient compliance with the re- 
 cited provifion." This amendment was intended to prevent thofe 
 who did not choofe to attend the meetings afterward coming for- 
 ward, and oppofing the meafure when the parities had incurred an 
 txpenfe. 
 
 The
 
 LETTER XLIX. 557 
 
 The fecond claufe is, to enable the two-thuds of tlis owners 
 and occupiers of land to recommend two guardians of the poor, 
 if they fhall be of opinion that one will not be equal to the 
 duty. 
 
 The third claufe is, to enable all the pariflies uniting to re- 
 lieve their cafual poor, conjointly, and in the fame proportion 
 as they are direded to contribute for the general purpofcs of the 
 faid a6t. 
 
 Thefe were certainly neceflary amendments to the twenty-fccond 
 of Geo. III. c. 83. But the objeftions pointed out by Sir F. M. 
 Eden, in the firft volume of his Hiftory of the Poor, page 366, 
 are not fo obvious. 
 
 He fays, — That few incorporations of parifhes have taken place 
 under the ad is not to be wondered at, when it is confidered that, 
 " although it empowers the pariflies uniting to borrow money, on the 
 fecurity of the poor-rates, it dire6ls, that the perfons fent to the poor- 
 houfe fliall be maintained at the general expenfe of the pariflies uniting. 
 
 Sedlion 24, of this a6t, undoubtedly fo diretls. And it lays, 
 " according to the terms and in the proportions diredtcd and pre- 
 fcribed by this aft." 
 
 I mull confefs myfelf unable to fee any objeclion to this claufe. 
 The poor fent to the houfe are maintained by the confolidated fund 
 formed of the poor's rates of the incorporated pariflies, or for which 
 thofe rates are mortgaged, and, of courfe, the |)oor in the houfc 
 muft be maintained at the general expenfe of the pariflies uniting, 
 as they muft be maintained out of that fund : and I am more in- 
 duced to think that no folid objection has appeared to this claufc, 
 becaufe it efcaped the notice of thofe applying for the amendment 
 in 1793 : neither can much doubt remain on the minds of magif- 
 trates with refpecl to the fending children of the poor to the houfe 
 under the 30th feftion of this aft. 
 
 It fayj, that all infant-children of tender years, and who, from' 
 accident or misfortune, fliall become chargeable, may be fent, Sec. 
 
 " But,
 
 358 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 " But, if the parents or relations of any poor child fent to fuch 
 houfe fhall defire to receive and provide for fuch poor child, and 
 fignify the fame to the guardians, at their monthly meeting, the 
 guardians fhall, and they are hereby required to, difmifs fuch 
 cliild from the faid poor-houfe." — " Nothing herein-contained 
 Ihall give any powder to feparate any child, or children, under 
 the age of fevcn years, from their parents, without the confent of 
 fuch parents." 
 
 I Ihould conceive the meaning of this claufe to be, that all in- 
 fant-children who fhall become chargeable may be fent to the poor- 
 houfe; but, if the parents or relations of a child fo fent fliall 
 apply to the guardians, at a monthly meeting, they may take their 
 child out again to provide for it j and that children under the age 
 of feven years lliall not even be fent to the poor-houfe without 
 the leave of the parents. The argument, at the feflions at King- 
 fton, the learned baronet rightly obferves, turned on a different 
 point. 
 
 Rather later in this feffion, by chapter 54, were the friendly 
 focieties within the kingdom put on a new, fecure, and refpedlable, 
 footing ; and an inftitution which originated voluntarily among the 
 beft-conditioned of the mafs of his majefty's fubje6ts, earning their 
 fubfiftence by their daily labour, and which was calculated, as it 
 refpedls themfelves, on every principle which can do credit to a 
 human being, whofe fole patrimony is his ability to labour ; and, as 
 it refpeds their countrymen, from whom the poor-rate is taken, 
 with a laudable intention to relieve them from the burthen which 
 might be laid on them by the infirmities and accidents of hfe the 
 fubfcribing- members are fubjeft to, and to fet a good example of 
 economy and prudence to their fellow-labourers j received, by the 
 means of the zealous and unceafing attention of Mr. Rofe to every 
 matter which refpeds the interefts of this kingdom, a ftability from 
 the Jegiflature, which gave, to what was before the paffing of this 
 adt, an airy nothing, a local habitation, and a name : but, as the 
 
 a(ft
 
 LETTER XLIX. 359 
 
 ad itfelf has been commented upon at large, in a former letter, the 
 heads of it fhall not be again repeated. 
 
 In converfation very lately with a gentleman high in office in tlie 
 Court of Chancery, on the fubjc6l of the poor, he exprelTed his 
 general approbation in ftrong terms of this adl j but obferved, that 
 his fituation gave him proofs of the inconvenience attending one of 
 the claufes, which enafts that treafurers, Sec. fhall render accounts 
 and pay over balances : " And, in cafe of negle6l or refufal to deli- 
 ver fuch account, or to pay over fuch moneys, or to aflign, transfer, 
 or deliver, fuch fecurities or funds in manner aforefaid, it fhall and 
 may be lawful for every fuch fociety, in the name of the treafurer 
 or truftees thereof, to exhibit a petition in the High Court of 
 Chancery, or the Court of Exchequer, or the Court of Seffion itl 
 Scotland, or the Courts of Great Seffions in Wales, which fhall 
 and may proceed thereon in a fummary way, and make fuch or- 
 ders thereupon, on hearing all parties concerned, as to fuch court 
 in difcretion fhall feem juft. And, by fee, 9. no fee, reward, emo- 
 lument, or gratuity, whatfoever, fhall be demanded, taken, or re- 
 ceived, by any officer or minifter of that court for any matter or 
 thing done in purfuance of this ad." He alfo remarked, that, if 
 this had been left with the quarter-feflions, it would have faved the 
 parties much time and expenfe, which unavoidably were incurred 
 from, the application to the higher courts, although no cofts could 
 be given ; and, as that was the cafe, the treafurers, &cc. might 
 continue, and had continued, their refufal until attached by the 
 procefs of the court for contempt.* 
 
 It appears, from the very able treatife on the police of the 
 metropolis by a magiftrate, that upv/ards of feventy thoufand 
 
 * This obfervation has certainly much truth in it ; and it is to be lamented, that the 
 matter had not been confidered in time, to have introduced a claufe to that purpofe in 
 the ad which pafled 35 Geo. III. c. ill. which extends the powers of the Friendly- 
 Society Aft. 
 
 families
 
 J 
 
 60 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 families are benefited, by the heads of them being members of 
 friendly focieties, within the bills of mortality. Page 166. 
 
 The fame very intelligent magiftrate informs us, in a note to 
 page 164, that it is eftimated, in the prefent extended and improved 
 ftate of the metropolis, there are 162,000 inhabited houfes, fup- 
 pofed to contain about 240,000 families, including lodgers of every 
 defcription, refiding in nearly 8000 ftreets, lanes, alleys, courts, 
 and fquares. 
 
 It is fuppofed, that this number of families is not confined to 
 the bills of mortality ; therefore, no exa6l comparifon can be made 
 between the number of families benefited by the friendly focieties, 
 and the number of families inhabiting within the bills of mortality, 
 by the information derived from this author ; but we alfo find in 
 the fame publication, under the article Inftitutions for Charitable 
 Purpofes, 600 friendly focieties in the metropolis and its vicinity 
 now incorporated by a6l of parliament, compofed of mechanics 
 and labouring-people, who diftribute to fuch as are members, and 
 for funerals, 36,000/. a year, raifed by monthly payments. 
 
 Although no precife comparifon can be drawn from this infor- 
 mation between the number of poor inhabitants in the metropolis 
 and its vicinity, and the number benefited by friendly focieties, ftill 
 enough appears, if the information be corred:, to convince us that 
 a large proportion of that clafs of inhabitants, who are likely to be 
 at fbme time in their lives a burthen on the poor-rates, does already 
 partake of the benefit of thefe focieties in London and its vicinity : 
 probably, nearly as great a proportion is benefited by them in the 
 country. If fuch be the fadl, or in proportion with the extent of 
 fuch a fadt, any encouragement, compatible with prudence, that 
 may tend to fpread the good arifing from them ftill wider among 
 the mafs of our population, muft be produftive of general benefit; 
 as it will tend to fuperfede, or lender needlefs, any meafure to in- 
 troduce afimilar cffed, under the form of a parochial fund; which, 
 however excellent in its theoretic principle, will, it is feared, if it 
 
 arifes
 
 L E T T E R XLIX. ^6i 
 
 arifes not from a voluntary principle, be attended with too large 
 an expenfe, and too lax an attention of thofe concerned in its exe-' 
 cution, to be ultimately effetSlive. 
 
 There is undoubtedly a felfidi, but yet a prudent, principle at- 
 tending thefe friendly focieties, which excludes all thofe who are 
 not likely to become profitable members; the aged, the infirm, the 
 maimed, cannot hope to be admitted by ballot ; it is not to be expedl- 
 ed, that thofe, carrying about with them certain indications of the 
 prefent want of afliftance, fliould willingly be received into a fociety 
 on payment of a fmall periodical fum, which will entitle them to 
 that afliftance of which they apparently, at prefent, ftand in need ; 
 while the general appearance and real fituation of the members of 
 thefe focieties indicate found health and ability to labour. The 
 legiflature cannot think of opening the door of thefe focieties wider 
 than the individual rules of them admit, for the purpofe of taking 
 in a defcription of men different from fuch as thofe rules point out ; 
 confequently, a certain defcription of poor will never be benefited by 
 them, unlefs fome means could be invented to proportion the price 
 of admiflion, and the quantum of periodical payment, to the ap- 
 parent ftate of health, and ability to work, of the perfon propofed, 
 flill leaving the matter optional on the part of the fociety : in that 
 cafe, it might be a good fpeculation for the parifh to pay the 
 expenfe. 
 
 Whether, for the purpofe of giving thefe unhappy men a reft 
 from their labour, and a profpe6l in the decline of life of fome- 
 thing better than the workhoufe, any other inftitution on fimilar 
 principles ihould be eftablifhed by authority of the legiflature, is a 
 matter of no fmall difficulty to determine : to take from thofe, who, 
 from their difability to do much work, can earn but little, any perio- 
 dic, although fmall, portion of their earnings, with a view to an advan- 
 tageous return of it in the fhape of weekly allowance, when their 
 difeafes increafe and old age prefles on them, and to give them 
 a certain weekly parochial afllftance, whether in proportion to the 
 
 A a a number
 
 36^ L E T T E R L. 
 
 number of their children, or to the adual prelTure of their pre- 
 vailing infirmity, that they may be able to pay a certain fum perio- 
 dically for this purpofe, is fomewhat like taking from Peter to pay 
 Paul, and that, alfo, at the expenfe of confiderable trouble, ari- 
 fing from the necefiity of keeping accounts of fome degree of in- 
 tricacy. 
 
 There is, alfo, another clafs of the poor, whofe comforts are- 
 chiefly negative, but whofe mifery is ftrikingly affirmative, where- 
 the eye of humanity mufl fee much ought to be done, but where, 
 probably, prudence will allow of but little alteration j I mean the 
 women, whether wives or widows, of the labouring-poor, and 
 thofe, alfo, who pafs their lives in celibacy. Their oppreflTed (itu- 
 ation, particularly of the married women, fliall be the topic of the 
 next Letter, 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 "^HE farther we recede from civilized fociety, and the nearer 
 we approach to favage life, the more wretched do we find 
 the condition of the females : it fhould feem from this, that, in 
 proportion as men make ufe of that os fublime which induces them 
 to look up to, and attempt, at a humble and infinite diftance, to 
 imitate the virtues, and render themfelves worthy of the protedlion, 
 of the Creator, do they fenfibly feel the blefling he has granted 
 them, in giving them, as a companion, not as a flave or an infe- 
 rior, a fex, whofe beft energy confifts in modeft domeftic virtues, 
 in difcharging her painful duties with fubmillive patience, in footh- 
 ing the cares, and averting, as much as poffible, the anxieties, at- 
 tendant on her more active companion in his journey through 
 human life. But it is civilization, and its concomitant, education, 
 which elicits . thefe beft propenfities, both in man and woman : in 
 
 proportion
 
 I 
 
 LETTER L. ■363 
 
 proportion as thefe advance, we more clearly perceive the philofophic 
 maxim of the hiftorian to be founded in nature and truth: — 
 " Omnis noftra vis in am mo et corpore fit a eji^ ariimi imperio corporis 
 Jervitio magis utimur j alterum nobis cum dis^ altdrum cum bellids com^ 
 mune efl" 
 
 Thefe ideas prefs themfclves on my mind by the recolle(5lion of that 
 train of difagreeable fenfations which has too often been occafioned 
 by the difcharge of the duties of a magiflrate fituated in this part of 
 the kingdom, and fubjed to applications by the poor for an order 
 of relief : frequently have thofe applications been made by females, 
 •and happy muft he have felt himfelf when the laws have permitted 
 him to relieve their diftrefling complaints of want of food or clo- 
 thing. This could not be the cafe when mothers of large families of 
 infant-childrenj the wives of lazy, depraved, and brutifh, huf- 
 bands, have, with all the pathos of truth and diffidence, related 
 the ftarving miferable condition of their children and themfelves, 
 attempting, at the fame time, to conceal, or explain away, the 
 cruel condud of their lazy or improvident hulband. I will ven- 
 ture to fay, many magiftrates have heard of, and known that there 
 exifted, fuch inftances of diftrefs arifing from the bad condud of 
 husbands and fathers of families, as would appear, if in print, to 
 thofe of the rich, who know but little of the miferies of the poor, 
 fcarcely to be within the pale of probability in this kingdom, and 
 have been obliged to difmifs the fuppliants, hopelefs of relief from 
 the poor's rate, by informing them their hitjband mud apply to the 
 overfeers for relief: if -they refufe /6/ot relief, be may then apply to 
 the magiftrate. Alas ! their hulbands, confcious of their impru- 
 dence, their drunkcnnefs, or lazinefs ; confcious, cither that they 
 earned fufficient to fupport their families, but fpent it in an ale- 
 houfe, or that they were lazy and had refufed work, would not 
 apply to the. overfeers, and all order for relief from the magiftrate 
 was flopped. In fome inftances, interference has done mifchief, 
 and the overfeer has been def.red, not ordered, to relieve : it has been 
 
 Aaa 2 complied
 
 364 L E T T E R L. 
 
 complied with : he has then applied for a warrant againft the huf- 
 band, as an idle and diforderly perfon, by virtue of 32 Geo. III. 
 fee. 45. he has been fent to the houfe of correftion, as fuch, for a 
 fhorttime; has returned pufiijhed, but not reformed; and has added, 
 to the former negleft of his wife and family, cruelty and ill-ufage, 
 looking on her complaint as the caufe of his punifliment. 
 
 Another bad cuftom has, of late, been in practice among the 
 clafs of labourers : the appropriating a fmall proportion of his 
 week's earnings for the maintenance of his wife and family, and 
 expeding her and his children, who are at home, and probably un- 
 employed, to find the reft. The confequence arifmg from this has 
 been, that every child, from the youngeft that can creep about to 
 thofe of maturer age, girls efpecially, are lurking about the fields 
 and farm-yards all day, ftealing whatever they can come at : the 
 girls foon lofe all fenfe of modefty and propriety of condu6l, and 
 become, at a very early period of life, initiated in all debauchery : 
 for it is experience that informs us, thofe who, from their bad con- 
 duct and chara6ler, have not been able to get away from their fa- 
 milies into fervice, or fome feparate eftablifhment, but ftill conti- 
 nue to earn a livelihood at home by doubtful means, are aftute and 
 zealous in feducing their younger neighbours, by information how 
 themfelves have found means to obtain better fare or more finery. 
 
 The laws refpecfting property militate greatly with the common 
 intereft among the loweft orders of fociety : — that principle which 
 gives the femme ccverte no right to perfonal property, but vefts the 
 whole in the hujba?:d, not only occafions innumerable inftances of 
 aggravated diftrefs, but appears to be repugnant to the general 
 good. How many families might, and would, be faved from de- 
 ftrudion, had the wife but a right to what fhe could acquire ! In- 
 duftry and economy ftand in need of this natural incitement : — 
 that the induftrious and economic fhould poffefs a property in what 
 their induftry and economy have obtained or laved. 
 
 Another
 
 L E T T E R L. 365 
 
 Another circumftance would originate, from this propofition, 
 favourable to individual comfort and to the general good : we might 
 then fee friendly focieties of females which would aflift them in 
 the time of labour and ficknefs, and, while they are fufFering under 
 the painful lot the fex is heir to, fome drops of comfort might then 
 be mixed in their cup of afilidtion. While this aflertion is ven- 
 tured, let it not be imagined that any material alteration in the 
 general lav/ of property, as it may affedt married women, is recom- 
 mended, or that, indeed, any change is hinted at, any farther than 
 what tends to fecure, in the loweft ranks of fociety, to the woman 
 and her infant-children, a right to fome proportion of the earnings 
 of her partner and her own, which may enfure them from ftarving 
 while the hufband is at the ale-houfe. In a former part of this 
 work, the infinite mifchief done to morality, to economy, to in- 
 duftry, to the health, and, of courfe, to the political profperity, 
 of the kingdom, by thefe licenfed promoters and receptacles of 
 every vice difgraceful to human nature, has been fufficiently dwelt 
 on : if they muft ftill remain the glaring opprobrium of our reli- 
 gious and moral government, we muft be fatisfied to pay back, in 
 the fhape of relief, to the mothers and children of ftarving families, 
 out of our pockets, fome portion of that revenue which is colleded 
 by means of this miftaken policy of the ftate. 
 
 Sir F. M. Eden, among the mafs of information colleded in the fe- 
 condand third volume of his Hiftory of the Poor, has given, under 
 the title " Parochial Reports, Carlifle," an inftance of a female 
 friendly fociety, and fpecified fome of their rules ; and, at Lancafter, 
 has briefly given an account of five focieties of a fimilar kind, but has 
 not made fuch dedudlions, from the information he has coliedled, as 
 might have proved the quantum of good, fociety in general, or the 
 members themfclves individually, may be likely to receive from 
 thefe female inftitutions, while man remains the lord and mafter of 
 whatever property his wife may polTefs. 
 
 Was
 
 .66 LETTER LI. 
 
 Was the legiflature to encourage thefe inftitutions, by giving the 
 wife a right to iuch property as may accrue to her as a member of 
 one of thefe focietles, ftill the hufband, by withdrawing his affif- 
 tance, and expe6ling that the allowance received from thefe focieties 
 iliould fave a proportion of his earnings, which mufl, otherwife, 
 be applied towards her maintenance in child-bed, would ftill leave 
 his wife in as bad a fituation as ever, and no great good would 
 arife : it is difficult to fay what (hould be done ; and, while the 
 mind is in that flate of uncertainty, good fenfe will fay — do 
 nothing. 
 
 LETTER LL 
 
 E 
 
 ARLY in the year 1794, I firfl had the honour of a conver- 
 -/ fation with Mr. Rofe on the poor-laws : he then preffed m.e 
 to give my attention immediately to the fubjecft ; and, as foon as 
 poflible, to fend him my fentlments in writing, accompanied with 
 a fketch of what, on the whole, would be moft advifable, in my 
 opinion, to proceed firll upon. In confequence of this requeft, 
 within a few days, I fent him the following two memoirs, accom- 
 panied with a letter; and alfo, by his recommendation, fent a copy 
 of the Hiftory of the Poor to Mr. Pitt, with an offer of my beft 
 fervices. 
 
 Memoir I. By 43d Eliz. c. 2. fee. 2. the church-wardens and 
 overfeers fhall, within four days after the end of their year, and 
 other overfeers are nominated, make and yield up, to two juftices, 
 a true ^nd perfect account of all fums by them received, or rated 
 and aflefled, and not received j and alfo of fuch flock as lliall be in 
 their hands, or in the hands of any of the poor, to work ; and of 
 all other things concerning their office. 
 
 And alfo, by fee. 4. any fuch twojuflices may commit to prifon 
 any one of the fald church-wardens and overfeers which fhall re- 
 
 fufe
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 367 
 
 fufe to account ; there to remain, without bail or malnprife, until 
 he has made a true account. 
 
 And, by 13 Geo. II. c. 38. the fame officers fhall yearly, within 
 fourteen days after other overfeers fhall be appointed, deliver up to 
 the fucceeding overfeers a juft account in writing, fairly entered in 
 a book to be kept by them for that purpofe, and figned by them, 
 of all fums of money by them received, or rated and not received, 
 and alfo of all materials that fhall be in their hands, or in the 
 hands of any of the poor, to be wrought, and of all money paid by 
 fuch church-wardens and overfeers fo accounting, and of all other 
 things concerning their office ; which account fliall be verified on 
 oath before one juftice, who fliall fign and atteft the fame, at the 
 foot of the account, without fee. 
 
 By virtue of thefe authorities, two juflices ilTue their precepts to^ 
 the high-conftables of their diflridts, to dire6t their warrants to- 
 the petty conftables, to make out a lift of houfeholders to be over- 
 feers, and to return fuch lift on a certain day; that the juftices may 
 appoint other overfeers, and alfo to give notices to the overfeers to 
 appear on that day to fwear to their accounts.* At this meeting 
 the high conflables, as well as the petty conftables, are prefent. 
 
 It 
 
 * A Specification of the Mode recommended for the annual Account of Totals to be laid, 
 before Parliament. — The Sums and Figures are ideal. 
 1796. RECEIPTS. 
 
 2. 
 
 Suftblk, 
 
 Rilbrldge- Hundred, 
 
 Clare. 
 
 From the late 
 Overfeers. 
 
 '£h 
 
 Charities : 
 Specifying them. 
 
 Banfon^Farm, 
 
 one year, 
 R4ichaelmas, 
 ^28 16 o 
 Goofecroft, 
 one year, 
 Lady-Day, 
 £i4r 6 8 
 
 Poor's Rates. 
 
 Labour of the Poor. 
 
 Total. 
 
 £h^ h 2 
 
 £14. 2 10 
 
 /530 I 9 
 
 EXPENSES
 
 368 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 It is propofed, that, for the purpofe of the intended information, 
 their accounts, which are now kept in a very confufed manner, 
 ihould be reduced under the following heads. 
 
 Receipts. — i. From the hands of the late overfeers, — 2. From 
 eftates in land left for the purpofe of general charity. From ditto, 
 for the purpofe of particular charities, inferting, by name or de- 
 fcription, any charities, if fuch there be, which are unprodudive, 
 and the reafon. From dividends of funded property, or intereft of 
 money out at ufe, for the benefit of the poor of the parifli, if any. 
 — 3. From afleffments to the poor's rate. — 4. From the work of the 
 poor. 
 
 Disbursements.— i. Application of money to county-purpofes, 
 vagrants, militia, bridges, gaols, &cc. Expenfes not concerning 
 the poor, as repairing churches, roads, falaries to minifters, &c. 
 if any. — 2. Ditto, of overfeers in journeys, attendances on magif- 
 trates, &cc. Ditto, of entertainments at meetings relative to the 
 poor. Ditto, of law-orders, examinations, removals, appeals. — 
 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 
 EXPENSES, 
 3- 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 
 County-Rates, 
 
 and Expenfes not 
 
 concerning the Poor. 
 
 Mlfcellaneous 
 Expenfes. 
 
 Work-houle, and 
 
 Number of Poor 
 
 therein. 
 
 r'oor relieved out o* 
 
 the Workhoufo, and 
 
 Number relieved. 
 
 Schools ot Induftry, 
 
 and letting the Poor 
 
 to work. 
 
 Total. 
 
 County-rates, 
 
 £iS 5 4 
 
 Kaifing one 
 
 man for navy, 
 
 ^31 10 
 
 7C69 15 4 
 
 Overfeer's ex- 
 penfes attend- 
 ing magif- 
 trates, 
 
 ,A 5 
 Pariih-meet- 
 
 'ugs, 
 ^220 
 Orders of re- 
 moval, and 
 law-expenfes, 
 ;£" 19 
 
 £^7 6 
 
 Men . . 12 
 Women . 14 
 Children, 26 
 under 14 years 
 of age, 
 
 ;^l60 12 6 
 
 Men . . 22 
 Women, 13 
 Children, 6« 
 under 14 years 
 
 of age. 
 Note. Thefe are 
 all the children 
 at home under 
 14, belonging 
 to the families 
 relieved. 
 ^271 II 10 
 
 No fchool of 
 
 induftry. 
 
 £(> 7 2 
 
 £S2S 12 10 
 
 Receipts - 
 Expenfes 
 
 Due to the pariflx 
 
 ;C530 I 
 525 12 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 ;C 4 8 II 
 
 3. Ditto
 
 L E T T E R Lf. 369 
 
 3. Ditto, of workhoufe, fpecifying the number of men, women, 
 and children, therein, under 14, taken on an average throughout 
 the year. — 4. Ditto, of thofe relieved out of the workhoufe by 
 clothes, food, or money ; fpecifying the number of men, women, 
 and children, under the age of 14, fo relieved. — 5. Ditto, in fet- 
 ting the poor to work. 
 
 The overfeer's accounts being thus kept under feparate heads, 
 and the truth of their accounts verified on oath, of voir dire^ to all 
 fnch queftions as fhall be put to them, touching their accounts, and 
 being figned by two magiftrates. 
 
 The high conftables ftiall be dire£led to return, to the clerk of the 
 peace of the enfuing quarter- feflions, a true copy of the feveral totals 
 of the receipts and difburfements in the pariflies within their diftridt, 
 which (hall be verified by oath at the quarter-fefllons, by the high 
 conftable, to be a true copy; and he fhall receive from the county- 
 ftock, for the account of each parifti fo returned, the fum of . 
 
 That the clerk of the peace be dire6led to return, within ■ ■■ 
 days after the quarter-fefllons, in a book, a fair copy of fuch totals 
 to the committee of the houfe, appointed for the purpofe of in- 
 fpe(a:ing the fituation of the poor, their rights, duties, and the 
 laws refpefting them. 
 
 And that a committee of the Houfe of Commons be appointed 
 for that purpofe. 
 
 If an a<5t of parliament could be paffed previous to the next 
 nomination of overfeers, which will this year fall very late, and the 
 attention of the people could be excited to the fubje6l, by the 
 judges mentioning it on the circuit to the grand juries, or by other 
 means, the firft returns might be made to the Houfe of Commons 
 foon after Eafter ; and, by the fame time on the following year, 
 the information of two years may be obtained ; which, it is appre- 
 hended, may be fuiRciently ample and conclufive to form a fpecific 
 plan ; which, without touching the corner-ftone of the poor-laws, 
 the 43d of Eliz. may, with great probability of fuccefs, tend to 
 
 B b b dirainilh
 
 37° 
 
 LETTER U. 
 
 diminlfli the expenfes of the maintenance of the poor between one 
 and two millions annually; and, at the fame time, introduce a 
 fyftem of morality, induftry, and comfort, more congruous with 
 their rights as men, and their duties as fubje6ts of the Britifh 
 empire. 
 
 Memoir II. Since the Houfe of Commons received the laft in- 
 formation on the fubjed: of the poor, which contained anfwers 
 from all the parifhes in the kingdom to interrogatories applied 
 to the overfeers refpedting the revenue raifed for the relief of tbe 
 poor, and its expenditure, during the years 1783, 1784, 1785, eight 
 complete years are paflcd, during which there is every reafon to 
 believe that the poor-rates have been rifing, throughout that part 
 of the kingdom fubjedl to the poor-laws,- by rapid ftrides ; in 
 fome inftances doubling, in others trebling, and, in all, very con- 
 fiderably increafmg, the then amount : the expenfes attending 
 the relief of the poor have, confequently, increafed in a fimilar 
 ratio. 
 
 There is alfo reafon to fear, that the mafs of human mifery 
 among our countrymen, which one might conceive would diminifli 
 ia proportion as larger fums have been applied to the relief of the 
 miferable, has not diminished, but has increafed. 
 
 The information alluded to wa& incomplete, inafmuch asj al- 
 though it told the Houfe of Commons the fum expended, and fome 
 of the different heads of expenfe, it did not inform them of the 
 number of poor relieved ; an information neceffary, to judge of 
 the competence of the fum raifed to the objeft to v/hich it has 
 been applied. 
 
 Nor did it inform the houfe of that part of the revenue, ap- 
 plied to the ufe of the poor, which arifes from eflates, real and 
 perfonal, which have been left by will, or given for charitable pur- 
 pofes, throughout the kingdom, which is received and diftributed 
 by the church-wardens and overfeers of the poor. This account was 
 
 attempted
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 371 
 
 attempted to be obtained by a fubfequent a«5l of parliament, but the 
 returns were very incomplete. 
 
 No particular attention, in the information which was obtained 
 in 1786 upon this fubje(5l, was paid to the incorporated houfes of 
 induftry ; inflitutions which then had profited by the experience, in 
 thofe diftrifts where they are fituated, of fome years, and now have 
 the experience of an additional number of years. An inquiry into 
 their receipts and difburfements will throw fome farther light on 
 the fubjeft. 
 
 When the propofed information fhall be returned to the Houfe, 
 and rendered as perfe6l as the nature of a return to an inquiry of 
 fuch magnitude and extent is capable of, it will conftitute a founda- 
 tion on which fome propofitions may be offered which will tend to 
 meliorate the condition of the poor, and decreafe the expenfes of 
 their maintenance} fome of which may now be curforily hinted at, 
 but not fpecifically dwelt upon. 
 
 By a repeal or alteration of that part of the law of fettlements 
 which reftrains the poor from getting their bread where they beft 
 can earn it, at the fame time taking care that fuch liberty fhall not 
 degenerate into vagrancy. The names of Adam Smith, Mr. Hay, 
 Mr. Townfend, and Sir William Young, all fandtion this idea. 
 
 By inftituting fchools of induftry, on the powers already given 
 by the 43d of Elizabeth, to fet poor children to work, and by ad- 
 ding what other powers are neceflary. 
 
 By compelling the overfeers of the poor to find work for the 
 adult. 
 
 By encouragement of box-clubs ; and by obliging the pauper 
 who removes from his place of fettlement to another parifh to con- 
 tribute to the box-club where he refides ; or, if there is none, or 
 the club there inftituted will not admit him, by obliging him to 
 make a fmall periodical payment, while in health, towards his main- 
 tenance in time of diftrefs, to the overfeers of the poor of that pa- 
 ri(h, and to fend his children to fuch fchools of induftry. 
 
 Bbb 2 By
 
 ;7a 
 
 LETTER LII. 
 
 By coniiltuting fome farther control over the condu(ft and ac- 
 counts of the overfeers of the poor. 
 
 And by a redu6lion of the various a^s relative to the regulation 
 and relief of the poor, which now are difperfed, through a legifla- 
 tion of near two centuries, into one or two plain and intelligible 
 afts, fomewhat on the plan of the Highway-A6ls, fo that the 
 overfeer may know each article of his duty with as much eafe as 
 the furveyor. 
 
 Before the end of the prefent feilions of parliament, it is con- 
 ceived that fome plan may be digefted, printed, and laid before the 
 Houfe of Commons, containing the outline of fome fuch alterations 
 in the poor-laws as have been here fuggefted j and it may take fome- 
 what the form of an a6t, that the alterations may be confidered of by 
 gentlemen during the vacation, and that fuch other lights and fug- 
 geftions may be offered on the fubje^t, during the next feffion, as 
 may tend to render the fyftem of poor-laws more conducive to the 
 happinefs and comfort of the poor themfelves, and lefs expenfive 
 to the nation at large. 
 
 LETTER LIL 
 
 WITHIN a few days after my return into the country, I fent 
 another Memoir, farther explanatory of my defign, to Mr, 
 Rofe, of which the following is a copy. 
 
 Memoir III. The information, expefted from the Bill recom- 
 mended, prefTes principally on three points : 
 
 1. The revenue of the poor. * 
 
 2. The expenditure of that revenue. 
 
 3. The number of the poor relieved. " 
 
 Therefore,
 
 LETTER Lir. 
 
 373 
 
 Therefore, this information, when obtained, will be a tcrminm 
 a quo. The future good which may be reaped from a new modifica- 
 tion of the poor-laws may be dated and eftimated. 
 
 Confequently, as much exadnefs as can be expe6led from the 
 extenfivenefs of the inquiry, and the ability of thofe who are to 
 make a return to it, fhould appear in the returns of the overfeers j 
 and that exadlnefs or deficiency may, in fome degree, be made ap- 
 parent, as to the articles of receipt and expenditure, by comparing 
 the returns made to this bill with thofe made in the years 1783, 
 1784, 1785; any glaring variation, either of receipt or expendi- 
 ture, being marked as an objed: of revifion. 
 
 And, probably, an oflice-letter, directed, during the vacation, to 
 the neareft magiflrate to that parifh where fuch manifeft difference 
 appears, requefting him to order the overfeers to attend him with 
 their book of accounts, to revife the totals tranfmitted to the clerk 
 of the peace, and to fend the account fo revifed to the officer 
 appointed to receive the fame, will be the (hortefl and moft ef- 
 feiSlual means to render the returns perfect before the next felTion of 
 parliament. 
 
 An annual check, or control, to be held over the overfeers' ac- 
 counts, by their return of thofe accounts to, and the infpedion of, 
 parliament, is one of the heads of regulation moft likely to operate 
 in the redudlion of the poor's rate and expenditure, and the ameli- 
 oration of the flate and condition of the poor. 
 
 Their condu6l and accounts are not fubje6l, as the laws now 
 Hand, to the revifion of any perfon, fave individuals of the parifh, 
 who are often too much interefted to wifli for any revifion. The 
 magiftrates, if they have the authority to fwear the overfeers to an- 
 fwer to the truth of fuch queftions as they fhall afk them touch- 
 ing their accounts, are not generally in the habit of the pra6lice j 
 confequently, their accounts may be kept in a fallacious, defultory, 
 and equivocal, manner. 
 
 The
 
 374 
 
 LETTER LII. 
 
 The redu6lion of the overfeers' accounts under proper heads, 
 fimilar to fuch as are, by the intended bill, made the means of ob- 
 taining the information, was mentioned, in the firft Memoir, as a 
 fubje6l of permanent regulation ; but, poflibly, it will better form 
 a part of the general fyftematic reform of the poor-laws, than be- 
 come, at prefent, a permanent acV. 
 
 The Iketch and plan contained in the firft two memoirs having 
 been approved of, I was defired to attend Mr. Lowndes, at his 
 chambers in the Temple, that the ad of parliament I recommended 
 might be drawn under my infpedion as foon as poffible, as it was 
 intended to be immediately propofed to the Houfe of Commons; 
 that, if approved of by parliament, and pafled into a law, the over- 
 feers might have time to make up their accounts, and return an- 
 fwers to the queftions in the manner fpecified in the fchedule, at the 
 ufual time of palling their accounts, before the magiftrates, at the 
 following Eafter. 
 
 Accordingly the adt was drawn, and I left town in the full belief 
 that, in as iliort a time as might be, it would pafs the two Houfes ; 
 and, receiving the royal ailent, it would, at the enfuing Eafter, be 
 the rule for paffing the accounts of the overfeers throughout that 
 part of the kingdom fubjed: to the poor-laws. 
 
 But other matters more prefling occalioncd the meafure to be 
 poftponed, and it has fmce been abandoned, as far as I underftand, 
 on account of the expenfe attending fuch an inquiry. 
 
 tt would be prefumption to alfert, that fufficient information 
 rcfpedling this important fubjed is not already colleded, and in the 
 pofleffion of thofe from whom the nation expeds an amelioration of 
 the prefent fyftem of our poor-laws. A great body of information 
 may be got together by the inquiries of individuals : each one fixing 
 his attention on a particular point may certainly colkd fufhcient 
 intelligence on that point to be able to form a general rule : it may 
 be fo done; and, if it is fo done, it is well done; but, unlefs fome- 
 thing of the kind has been done, it can fcarcely be fuppofed but 
 that general prmciples would be with greater certainty afcertained, 
 
 if
 
 LETTER LII. 
 
 375 
 
 if the information of facts refpedVing the management of the poor 
 was more complete, and that information colletled and applied to 
 eftablilli certain principles. 
 
 For inftance, was it neceflary to know whether houfes of induf- 
 try fl^ould be encouraged or permitted by the legiflature to extend 
 themfelves over a greater proportion of the kingdom than they now 
 occupy ? Let the inquiries into the flate and condition of the poor 
 in thofe diftricls where they have been eflablifhed a length of time 
 be applied, to know whether they have decreafed or increafed popu- 
 lation. If they occafion population to decreafe, they fliould not be 
 encouraged, becaufe it is a proof that they do not tend to the hap- 
 pinefs of the governed : if population is progreflive, the anfwer is 
 in their favour in that refpedl. Are the manners of the poor better 
 or worfe in thefe diftrids than where no houfe of induftry has been 
 erefted ? Are fewer crimes committed, lefs drunkennefs and de- 
 bauchery in pra6lice ? Have houfes of induftry tended to increafe or 
 diminilh the poor's rate ? If it appears to be the general tendency 
 of the inforuiation applied to this queftion, that the morals of the 
 poor are more corredt, that the poor's rate, where thefe houfes have 
 been inftituted, has not advanced ^^r/ /i^?^/ with thofe difi:ri(5ls, in 
 fuTiilar circumftances as to the kind of work the poor are employed 
 in where there are no houfes of induftry, be it in general agriculture 
 or manufa61ures, the anfwer in this refpeft is alfo in their favour ; 
 and all the declamations againft them, as being diftbnant to the feel- 
 ings of the poor, fall to the ground ; for, in diftridls where fuch 
 meafures are purfued with the poor, that population rather in- 
 cjeafes than decreafes, where the moral duties are more generally 
 attended to, fewer crimes committed, and the poor maintained at 
 lefs expenfe. What can a legiftator require more to convince him 
 that houfes of induftry, in diftri6ls fo regulated, are not detrimen- 
 tal, but an advantage, to fociety ? 
 
 Information thus obtained throughout the kingdom, and inqui- 
 ries thus applied to other leading principles refpeding the poor, 
 
 B b b* would
 
 376 L E T T E U LII. 
 
 would form a foHd unerring bafis founded on experience, on which 
 principles of legiflation might be built, which, in all probability, 
 would be attended with the beft efFe6ls. 
 
 If fufficient information is already obtained, and in the poflef- 
 fion of thofc who have as well the power as the inclination to be of 
 fervice to their country, on this very important point of legiflation, 
 nothing remains but to apply that information properly; and there 
 can be no doubt but thofe, in whofe pofleflion that information re- 
 mains, will fo apply it, if they poffefs it ; and it is not too bold an 
 expreffion to affert, that thtfahation of this country depends on its 
 being fo applied. 
 
 There is no doubt but the information received by the Houfe of 
 Commons refpe6ting the years 1776, 1783, 1784, 1785, is very 
 valuable ; but it certainly is vague and diffufive, and cannot eafily 
 be- concentrated fo as to apply to a particular point; and, if it 
 could, it refpe6ls the fituation of the poor in thofe years, not 
 in ijgy. How far the queftions in the memoir alluded to would 
 tend to give annually fufficient information, that a perfon at a 
 coup d'ceil might fee the precife fituation of the poor in every 
 parifli of the kingdom, is not attempted to be ftated ; but, fup- 
 pofing it would not completely anfwer that purpofe, there is no 
 doubt but, with proper attention, a fchedule, according to which 
 the overfeers might be directed to keep their accounts, could be 
 formed, which would anfv^er that purpofe ; and it is the meafure at 
 large thefe pages attempt to fupport, not this particular fpecifica- 
 tion of it. 
 
 Before this Letter is concluded, it remains to take notice of two 
 adls of parhament which pafled in 1795 j by the firft of which the 
 law of removals is confiderably altered ; by the other, friendly fo- 
 cieties are farther encouraged, and their powers extended. 
 
 The 35 Geo. III. c. loi. after reciting in the preamble the 13 
 and 14 C. II. cap. 12, repeals fo much of that a6l as enables juf- 
 tices to remove paupers likely to become chargeable, and enafts that no 
 
 perfon
 
 LETTER LII. 377* 
 
 perfon fliall be removed to the place of their laft legal fettlement 
 until they fliall have become aSiualiy chargeable to the parifli in which 
 they fhall inhabit. 
 
 The fecond feiSlion alio empowers any juftice of the peace to 
 fufpend the order of removal, if it ftiall appear to him that the 
 pauper is unable to travel, by reafoii of ficknefs or any infirmity; 
 and that the charges incurred by fuch fufpenfion fliall be paid by 
 the officers of the parifli to which they are- ordered to be. removed, 
 with cofts ; but, if fuch charges and cofts exceed twenty pounds, 
 an appeal lieth to the quarter-feffions. And that this adl fliall 
 not alter the power of juftices to punidi vagabonds^ except as to 
 fufpending the vagrant-pafs on account of illnefs. 
 
 The third feclion ena6ls, " That no perfon, coming into any parifli, 
 townfliip, or place, fliall, from and after the pafling of this acl, 
 be enabled to gain any fettlement therein by delivery of notice in 
 writing." 
 
 The fourth. That no perfon fhall gain a fettlement by paying 
 public taxes or levies for any tenement of lefs than ten pounds 
 yearly value: and, by the remaining feftion of this act, rogues and 
 vagabonds are to be confidered as chargeable, and may be removed ; 
 as are unmarried women with child J and, in cafe their removal is 
 fufpended until after birth, the child is to be deemed and taken as 
 fettled in its mother's parifli. 
 
 No one but mufl: generally approve of the principles of this 
 zdi ; but a queflion occurs on the confequences refulting from 
 the third fedlion, which enat5ls, that no perfon fliall gain a fet- 
 tlement by delivery of notice, which in fad they could not, bei 
 fore the adt, without a refidence afterwards of forty days. Is no- 
 tice, therefore, now neceflary to gain a fettlement ? Does not 
 this claufe virtually repeal the necefiity of notice, and leave an op-" 
 portunity for a pauper to gain a fettlement by a refidence of forty 
 days, by virtue of 13 and 14 C.II. cap. 12. without notice? — If 
 it is the meaning of the fl:atute that, by notice and refidence of 
 
 B b b* 2 fortv
 
 37S* LETTER Lll. 
 
 forty days taken together, the pauper fliall not gain a fettlement, the 
 claufe ought to have expreffed as much, and no doubt could have 
 arifen : at piefentthere appears to remahi fome difficulty as to the 
 leoal mcanin2; of the third claufe. 
 
 The charges of maintenance during the fufpeniion of the or- 
 der of removal, and the cofts attending the order and the re- 
 moval, being faddled upon the parifli to v^'hich the pauper is fent 
 as his place of fettlement, is undoubtedly right, according to 
 the prefent principles of the law of fettlements. But are thofe 
 principles founded on the broad bafis of equity? — They cer- 
 tainly are pregnant with inconvenience and expenfe. 
 
 Reimburfement, by. the parifli vi'here a pauper is fettled to 
 the parilh in which he has, before his removal, refided, of any 
 furns of money that may have been expended in his maintenance 
 or relief, is a fubjecl which requires fome difcufiion, as it is 
 attended with expenfe and trouble, and is, in fome degree, open 
 to an expenfive, if not a fraudulent, demand upon the parifli, 
 which has reaped no benefit from the labour of the pauper, by 
 the parifli which has had the advantage of his exertions, while 
 he was capable of any. If it is an equitable claim, although it 
 may increafe the aggregate of expenfe, it may be right to fanc- 
 tion it ; if it is not 'equitable, and it can be proved to be in- 
 convenient and expenfive, it ought not to be encouraged by the 
 fandlion of law. 
 
 It is an acknowledged principle, by the wifeft politicians, that 
 the riches of a country are in proportion to the induflirious exer- 
 tions of the individuals of a country, and confequently an incre- 
 ment of induftrious population is an increment of riches. The 
 cbfervation applies as well to a city, a town, a village, as to a 
 kingdom. 
 
 An individual, removing from the place where he was born, has 
 lived in fervice, ferved an apprenticefliip, or, by any means, ob- 
 tained, under our prefent fyflem of poor-laws, a fettlement, re- 
 moves,
 
 LETTER LII. 379* 
 
 moves, from the placi; where he has incurred a debt of grati- 
 tudcj if not 9. civi! obligation, for the proteclion received, while 
 incapable of bcneliting in any confulerable degree the place in 
 which he received it, to another place, for the purpofe of ma- 
 king the moft of his time and labour : the pariOi to which he 
 removes, and where he refides, receives all the benefit arifing from 
 that time and labour, and, in proportion to the number of fuch 
 refidents in a parifh, has that parifli increafed in population, and 
 individuals in it in riches. In the mean time, the parifli wheie 
 the labouring-man was fettled, but has not refided, has reaped 
 none, or very trifling, benefit from its paridiioner : which pariih 
 then ought, in juftice, to bear the expenfe of the maintenance 
 cf this man, when his ability to labour is diminiflied, and his 
 cxpenfes exceed his power to provide for them ? There furely 
 can be no doubt upon the queftion. The conclufion which na- 
 turally follows is; that it is a fufficient aft of injuftice to the 
 parifli in which a man is fettled to fend him home to be main- 
 tained, when he can no longer earn his own maintenance, with- 
 out charging his place of fettlement with thofe expenfes which 
 have arifen, to the parifli which he has benefited by his labour, 
 in coufequence of this humane a6t of parliament which fufpends 
 his removal, vi'hile, from iilnefs or iniirmity, it is thought impro- 
 per by the magiflrate he fliould be removed. 
 
 That expenfes are daily arifing throughout the kingdom, by 
 this principle of reimburfement being carried into pradlice, is a 
 facl ; as it is well known, from experience, that the maintenance 
 of the pauper, after his order of removal is fufpended on account 
 of iilnefs, is not managed, by the overfeers of the parifli where he 
 remains refident, on that clofe fcale of economy with the mainte- 
 nance of their own paupers, becaufe they know the order from the 
 magifl:rate will entitle them to reimburfement; neither is the pau- 
 per conveyed to his place of fettlement with that cheapnefs which 
 his own overfeers would be interefl;ed in attending to ; and, as this 
 
 does
 
 
 
 8o* LETTER LIII. 
 
 does not arife between zfeto pariflaes only, but may take place be- 
 tween ahnoji fifteen thoujand parijkes, as to fuch paupers as may not 
 be refident in their own pariflies, among a number of our country- 
 men liable to become chargeable, amounting, I fear, to fix mil- 
 lions; and, it is prefumed, the number of non-re(idcnts in their 
 own pariflies will increafe, as the laws are more liberal in allowing 
 of a refidence in pariflies not their place of fettkment ; the aggre- 
 gate of expenfe fiived by annihilating the reimburfement will be 
 very confiderable ; and will be flill a greater objed:, fhould the bill 
 now before the parliament pafs into a law. 
 
 By 35 Geo. III. cm. focieties eftabliflied before paffing the 
 adl of 33 Geo, III. c. 54. for the encouragement of friendly fo- 
 cieties, may exhibit the rules, orders, and regulations, for their 
 government at any general quarter-feflions, before or immediately 
 after the Michaelmas feffion, 1796, and fuch rules, fo being con- 
 firmed in the manner recited in that adl, fliall be valid and effedlual. 
 
 By the fecond daufe, governors, directors, managers, or mem- 
 bers, of any inftitutions for the purpofe of relieving widows, or- 
 phans, and families, of the clergy, and others in diftrefled circum- 
 ftances, may frame rules and prefent them for confirmation, in the 
 fame manner as focieties efVabliQied by virtue of the Friendly-So- 
 ciety A61. 
 
 And, by the third claufe, inftitutions, whofe rules (hall be con- 
 firmed and regiftered, may appoint treafurers, aiid be in every 
 refpe6l entitled to the benefit of the Friendly-Society Ad, and 
 alfo of this ad. 
 
 LETTER LIIL 
 
 THE fummer of 1795 alfo introduced this kingdom to the ex- 
 perience of fuch a fcarcity and extravagant price for corn, as 
 the oldefl man cannot before remember j nor has the hiftory of the 
 
 laft
 
 LETTER Llir. 
 
 377 
 
 laft centuries informed us of. The caufes of and the confequences 
 arifing from this moft alarming period of time, which we have now, 
 as far as it refpe6ls the price of all kinds of grain, weathered, ihall 
 not be canvafled in the following pages, any farther than as they 
 have afFe<5led or do flill affed the poor, and the management of 
 them. 
 
 Some lights of information may pofTibly be coUefled from the 
 fcene of diflrefs we have lately pafled ; fome obfervations may 
 poflibly be made, fome h6\s may be fiated, as a foundation for 
 principles of legfflation, on a fubjedl refpefling which, one may ven- 
 ture to fay, there is not in the kingdom a heart fo cold to the 
 caufe of humanity and of his countrymen, as not to feel an intereft, 
 and not to be willing to offer his mite of information to refcue the 
 poor, as far as may be, from their miferable ftate, and the nation 
 from its ruinous and increafmg expenfes on their account. 
 
 Without recurring to the numerous fadts with which the public 
 prints of the time were filled, which, if individually related or re- 
 ferred to, would occafion this rude fketch of the Hiftory of the Poor 
 to emulate in bulk the hiftory of a great nation in detail ; it is pre- 
 fumed that fome valuable truths may be colle6led from the whole, 
 which, being made ufe of, may prevent thofe whofe high office it ia 
 to give us laws, or to propofe them, from any material deviation 
 from what is right, in the attempt to improve the fituation of the 
 poor, by amending the fyftem which prefcribes the management oi 
 them. 
 
 The firft obfervation which occurs is, that the impulfe, occafion- 
 ed by the preflure of fcarcity and the high price of corn, on the 
 minds of the people, excited in them the idea of riot and mifchief, 
 and, in many places, inftigated them to the adtual attempt, by 
 taking away the corn brought to market, by threatening the per- 
 fonal fafety of the farmers and millers, and deftrudion to their 
 property; and, in fome inftances, by carrying thofe laft threats 
 into a(^ual execution. 
 
 C c c The
 
 378 LETTER LIIL 
 
 The fa(5ls which are ftated in the prints of the time gave rife to 
 another obfervation ; that, in proportion as the magiftracy of the 
 country were prompt and determined in the execution of their duty, 
 by putting the laws in force, and convincing thofe alTembled, that 
 their return to peaceable condu6l was the only means to infure re- 
 lief to them and their families, did the fymptoms of riot and dif- 
 order difappear, and our indigent countrymen, by experiencing af- 
 fiftance from the gratuitous contributions of their more opulent 
 neighbours, together with an allowance from the rate railed for 
 their relief, vaftly greater than any they had before experienced, or 
 imagined that in any event they fhould have received, pafled through 
 this period of threatened famine and adlual fcarcity without any 
 obfervable increafe of human mortality. 
 
 A third matter, it is believed, may alfo be ftated as a fa6l, that, 
 in no inftance, through any breadth of country, did the additional 
 increafe the poor received to their income, from wages, gratuitous 
 donations, and parochial relief, approach the increafed price of 
 
 bread. 
 
 Another faft alfo fliall be taken as granted, that, in proportion as 
 rife of wages formed the principal mode in which relief was given 
 during the times of fcarcity, does diflfatisfaftion and difappoint- 
 ment now prevail either with the employer or the employed. As 
 there are many inftances in the hiftory of this country of the mif- 
 chief done by the populace from the firft impreflions on their 
 minds, whether excited by the adual preffure of diftrefs, as in thofe 
 cafes where deamefs of provifions has alarmed their attention, as 
 has lately happened ; or from the incitements of demagogues to riot 
 and mifrule, from political or party motives j it furely is a ftriking 
 truth, that, whatever can produce a more conftant aflive infpec- 
 tion as to the management of the poor, and continually impi-efs 
 upon their minds, that the watchful eye of fuperior authority is 
 ever over their interefts and conduft, as well to guard thofe interefts 
 from being affedled, any farther than direct neceffity impels, from 
 
 that
 
 LETTER LIII. 379 
 
 that influence of the feafons and times, which no human wifdom 01 
 forefight can avert} and to take care that their conduct, while fuf- 
 fering under that uncontrollable neceflity, fliall not be fuch as to di- 
 minifli, inftead of increafe, the poflible means of affiilance. Such an 
 infpettion and control muft tend to the beft efFedls, as it would, ia 
 the late inftance of Icarcity, have prevented a great wafte of time, 
 when that time was more particularly valuable, and many fcenes of 
 riot and mifchief ; all of which, like all other natural and political 
 inflammatory diforders, it is a much wifer meafure to prevent than 
 to flop or allay, after the fermentation is excited : the politician as 
 well as the phyfician will allow this as a maxim, that it is eafier to 
 prevent than to cure a morbid affedlion. 
 
 The fame principle is alfo flrongly inculcated from the fecond 
 obfervation that has been made, that a prompt attention to the 
 rifing diflurbance, and a determination to execute the duties of ma- 
 giftracy, were attended with the beft effedts : but, when the populace 
 were collected, more coercive means on the one hand, and more ex- 
 planation and perfuafion on the other, were necefTary to difTipatc 
 the rifen tumult, than magifVrates, unprote6led by any means of 
 defence, were, in every cafe, willing or able to make ufe of; becaufe, 
 in general, a delicacy of fentiment prevails as to calling irf the aid 
 of the military, except in thofc cafes where the difpofition of t^e 
 mob is notorioufly riotous, their behaviour threatening and audaci- 
 ous, and they arc in the fad of committing adls of mifchief; bc-» 
 •fides, on this occafion, the urgent caufe for their alarm and diflatif- 
 fa6lion was obvious to every man's feeling ; the price of bread-corn 
 continued rifing, before the harveft of 1796, to a height hitherto 
 unprecedented, and bearing no proportion whatever with the means 
 which labour, by its largeft wages, could procure to purchafe ne- 
 ceflary bread for a family : in many parts of the kingdom, the price 
 of wheat amounted to above twelve or fourteen fhillings the bufhel, ,. 
 which would exhauft the whole gains of an induflrious family of 
 fiv^ or fix perfons, where agricultural labour is largely paid, leaving 
 
 C c c 2 thfem
 
 38c LETTER LIII. 
 
 them not a farthing for the other necefTaries of life. Here then was 
 an emergency which required the heft difcretion of the magiftrates, 
 who knew and commiferated the diftrefs and alarming (ituation of 
 the poor, and at the fame time felt it their duty, if the voice of per- 
 fuafion could not be heard, or would not be attended to, that ftill 
 the peace rauft be preferved. From the inftances of riot which oc- 
 curred in that diftrid: in Suffolk, I was obliged, in the difcharge of 
 my duty as a magiftrate, to attend to : I am convinced the collefled 
 populace had no conception that the exifting laws, by which they 
 were accuftomed to receive relief from the overfeer in their diftrefles, 
 either on immediate application to him, or, being refufed, by appli- 
 cation to the magiftrate, could be fo expanded as to admit of an or- 
 der from the magiftrates for their relief, in the cafe then immedi- 
 ately prefting on their feelings and apprehenfions $ becaufe, as foon 
 as their attention could be fufficiently gained for the voice of reafon 
 to be heard, and they had been made to underftand the danger 
 they incurred by riotoufly aflembling, with the view to over-awe 
 and alarm thofe who were difpofed to do every thing the laws 
 would admit of for their relief, that if they continued aflembled, 
 afiiftance from the miUtary would be applied for, but that, if they 
 difperfed and returned peaceably to their refpeftive homes, on the 
 following day the magiftrates of the diftridt would attend, and then 
 every individual head of a family, applying peaceably and by himfelf, 
 would undoubtedly receive from the magiftrates an order for relief, 
 proportionate to what in their opinion the urgency of the cafe and 
 the individual wants of the poor perfon applying required j the col- 
 ledted mob retired from the fpot to a neighbouring field, where they 
 talked the matter over among themfelves, and in a few hours all 
 difperfed. 
 
 The next day, four or five of thofe moft preffed by the dearnefs 
 of corn, from each of the neighbouring parifhes, appeared at the 
 juftice- meeting which was then held, when the overfeers were re- 
 commended to provide flour fufficient for the confumption of their 
 
 parifhes
 
 LETTER LIII. 381 
 
 parities till harveft, and fell it to the poor of their pariflaes at a 
 price which would enable them to procure bread for their familie* 
 by the earnings they made. And, an equal or fuperior price for corn 
 taking place in the following winter, the poor then applying in a 
 peaceable and orderly manner for relief, the overfeers were thert 
 recommended to allow each poor family fixpence a head for each 
 individual compofing the family, weekly, over and above the cafual 
 relief they had before received, and were to continue to receive j 
 which plan was carried into execution throughout the hundred, and 
 every lymptom of riot ceafed, and, except in a very few inftances, 
 this was the only relief the poor in the hundred of Rifbridge, in 
 the county of Suffolk, received through the time of fcarcity, after a 
 fufficiency of wheat for the fupply of the demands of the poor until 
 the harveft in 1796 was procured, by each occupier, engaging to 
 furnifh a proportional part of the wheat he had remaining in hand 
 at a price fixed by confent, which price was to be made good to 
 him out of the poor's rate. 
 
 The common day's wages in this county may be ftated at eight 
 {hillings a week in fummer, and feven fhillings in winter, before the 
 fcarcity of 1795; and, except in cafes of illnefs or accidental in- 
 firmity, a family, confifting of a man, his wife, and three children, 
 had, in general, no allowance from the parifh: he, therefore, lived 
 upon, and his family was fupported from, his earnings, together 
 with what his wife and children could add to them ; which little, 
 whatever it might be, I fear was not increafed in the time of fcar- 
 city; but, fuppofe it amounted to about eighteen-pence or two 
 fliillings a week, during the time of dearnefs, his income was in- 
 creafed, by the fixpence ordered to each individual of his family, to 
 ten fhillings and fixpence a week, and by the rife of wages one fhil- 
 ling more, and the earning of his family makes the fum thirteen 
 fliillings or thirteen (hillings and fixpence: but the quartern-loaf 
 was rifen from fixpence, its price when wheat is izl. a load of five 
 quarters, to a ihilling, at 24/. a load> and, for fome weeks, to fif- 
 teen
 
 383 LETTER LIII. 
 
 teen pence; for wheat was fold as high as 30/. a load m this county 
 in the fpring of 1 796. How then could this addition to his income 
 enable him to fupport his family, when the common allowance of 
 bread, half a peck-loaf to each individual in the family, for a week, 
 eofts him from ten (hillings to twelve fhillings and fixpence? It 
 fliould be recolledled, that this computation, being made by day's 
 wages, may be rather low, where the labour is, in general, done by 
 the piece. 
 
 In this neighbourhood, barley-cakes and potatoes were the 
 common fubftitute for wheaten bread, a loaf of which was, at 
 times during the fcarcity, bought as a treat ; and wheat-flour, from 
 which feven pounds of bran had been taken in grinding each 
 bufliel, was in common ufe v/ith all, both rich and poor: fome 
 ufed the flour without drefling, as it ca<nc from the fl:ones of the 
 mill. In the northern counties of England, it appears,* that bar- 
 ley-bread and potatoes are the food of the poor, almoft to the 
 exclufion of wheat 5 or that, where wheat-flour is introduced, it 
 forms but a fmall proportion of the flour that makes the loaf, rye 
 and barley being mixed with it ; therefore, the poor, in this part 
 of the ifland, were, by the fcarcity, reduced to Hve on food fimi- 
 lar to what their countrymen in the North have been, in the cheap- 
 eft times, in the confl:ant habit of ufing. 
 
 The adoption of thefe articles of food in this part of the king- 
 dom, at this prefling time, will, in fome meafure, account for the 
 poor being able to fubfift themfelves and families at the time the 
 price of wheaten bread was more than doubled, while their addi- 
 tional income was not increafed a third, as appears by the inflance 
 taken of a family of five, which is fomewhat of an average-number 
 in a poor man's family. 
 
 This faft corroborates an aflertion made, in a former part of this 
 tra6l, that the increafe of the expenfes of the poor does not arife 
 
 * Sir F. M. Eden's Hiftory of the Poor. 
 
 fo
 
 LETTER LIII. 383 
 
 fo much from the increafe of the price of the prime neceflaries of 
 life as from other caufes which have been mentioned j and, pofli- 
 bly, that man will, in the event, be acknowledged the real friend 
 of the poor, and alfo deferve the good word of his countrymen, 
 who points out in what thofe other expenfes confift, and inftigates 
 the Parliament to an inquiry into the faft, and to an attempt to 
 prevent the continuation of its excefs. 
 
 Had bread preferved that proportion in the expenfes of the poor 
 which has been imagined, is it not reafonable to fuppofe that fome 
 of thofe fubftitutes for fine flour, which the fcarcity of the times 
 jufl pafl by had drawn all conditions of people to, the poor would 
 have continued in the ufe of, with the view either to ^nd money for 
 the other purpofes which they might wifh to indulge themfelves in, 
 or to lay up fomething againfl the day of diftrefs, or to prefervc 
 themfelves from the neceffity of application to the officers of the 
 poor, or, in fome inflances, to fecure themfelves from the prefTure 
 of abfolute diftrefs, where large families receive large allowances 
 from the poor's rate, but yet not fufficient, together with their earn- 
 ings, to find them the neceflaries of life ? 
 
 But, it is believed, no fuch prudential favings, in this material 
 article of life, have, in general, been continued in the domeftic eco- 
 nomy of the poor. The prefent moderate price of wheat has, al- 
 though other articles of their confumption have remained as expen- 
 five as ever, brought them back to their former expenditure of 
 bread, from fine flour unmixed with barley, which has alfo been 
 proportionably cheap; and potatoes have neariy, if not entirely, 
 difappeared from their bill of fare. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 384 ] 
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 
 IT would indicate a blameable degree of apathy to thofe inftltu- 
 tions, which have equally done honour to our rulers as good to 
 that country at the helm of which they prefide, were the ufeful at- 
 tentions of the Board of Agriculture, during the time of fear- 
 city, by recommendations of, and inftrudlions refpef^ing, the cul- 
 tivation of potatoes, paffed over without being acknowledged. This 
 Board has been the caufe of introducing, throughout the whole 
 kingdom, the knowledge and pradice of the beft methods of culti- 
 vating this moft ufeful vegetable, and bringing it into general agri- 
 cultural ufe : fuch an excellent fubftitute for bread, in a time of 
 fcarcity, and fo nutritious a root at all times, and of fuch impor- 
 tant fcrvice in the nourifhment and fattening all kinds of farming- 
 flock, but particularly fwine and cattle, that there is no doubt but 
 the cultivation of potatoes will, although the prejudices of the poor 
 againft the ufe of them for their general food fhould remain, infure 
 this country againft apprehenfion of any degree of famine in future, 
 as there can fcarcely be found a farmer who will not raife fome 
 quantity of them for the ufe of his cattle, which, in cafes of emer- 
 gency, may become the food of man, and his cattle be fubfifted 
 as heretofore. But, at prefent, and through this laft winter, al- 
 though potatoes have been fold at the low price of one fhilling, 
 and even fo low as nine-pence, a bulhel ; but few have been bought 
 by the poor in this neighbourhood j while the comparative cheap- 
 nefs of them, at this price, to a quartern-loaf at fixpence, mufl: be 
 evident to every one. 
 
 The charitable munificence of our countrymen, that virtue which 
 has more particularly diftinguifhed Great Britain from all countries 
 of the globe, and has gained us a charadler for our humanity al- 
 moft at the expenfe of our reputation for political wifdom, was 
 
 never
 
 LETTER LIV. 38; 
 
 never more remarkably exerted than on the late prefling occafion : 
 but was not that portion of it which expended itfelf in parochial 
 fubfcriptions in fome meafure mifapplied ? As to that which pri- 
 vately employed itfelf in alleviating inftances of particular diftrefs, 
 no obfervation, derogatory either to the excellent heart or found head 
 that dictated any of thofe private good ads, is hinted at. But the public 
 fubfcriptions were, in general, an application of this beft trait of 
 our national chara6ler in aid of the poor's rate ; an effcO: which 
 was generally perceived after the harveft of 1795 had occafioned the 
 apprehenfions of people to fubfide : and the high price of corn 
 which followed, during a great part of the fubfequent year, was, 
 in general, met by an increafe of the rate for the maintenance of 
 the poor -, private charity ftill affifting them by every method that 
 Charity, fkilful, although fecret, in her ways and means, could 
 invent. 
 
 The rife of wages, which, voluntarily on the part of the occu- 
 piers of land, was in general a concomitant of the late fcarcity, is 
 worth our attention, as to its confequence both to the labourer and 
 his employer ; it attended or followed the relief the poor received 
 from public fubfcriptions, private charity, and the poor's rate j 
 and, as far as the high price of corn was the effecS; of any other 
 caufe than the fmall produce of the crops, high wages rightly ac- 
 company high prices ; or, if the price increafed in a greater ratio 
 than the produce was deficient, an increafe of wages juftly accom- 
 panied an increafe of profit : but, if the price arofe folely, or prin- 
 cipally, from the deficiency of produce, and was not increafed by 
 extraneous means ; augmented wages, if not voluntary, would be 
 an injuftice to thofe employing the poor ; becaufe, in that cafe, 
 deficiency of produce occafioning the increafe of price, no extra- 
 profit would remain for the occupier j but he, having an increafed 
 poor's rate to pay, and his family to maintain from the decreafed 
 produce of his lands, would find himfelf in a worfe fituation than 
 
 D d d any
 
 386 LETTER LIV. 
 
 any of the various clafTes of commercial men in this country, whofe 
 capital and time are not employed in raifing food for man. 
 
 This is mentioned to point out one of the confequences atten- 
 dant on any plan, conftituting a ratio between the price of corn 
 and the price of work j to demonftrate that in the proportion 
 wages of agriculture rife, as there is a deficiency of crop ; while 
 the poor-rate remains as a revenue for the poor in times of diftrefs, 
 ifTuing, in a great meafure, immediately from the pockets of the 
 occupiers of land ; it is an unneceflary aft of injuftice to them, 
 that the means of producing the diminifhed produce fhould, at the 
 fame time, be accompanied with an increafe of cxpenfe ; becaufe 
 an increafe of wages is not called for on the principle of neceflity, 
 the poor's rate obviating the neceflity. 
 
 But an increafe of wages is always attended with a decreafe of 
 labour. Manufacturers have long underftood this faft, and adled 
 accordingly : every perfon employing workmen, where labour alone, 
 and not the Ikill of the artift, is required, finds the truth of this 
 afiertion from experience : the labouring-clafs, in general, thinks 
 no farther than of immediate maintenance : their own labour fup- 
 plies a part of this ; the pariih-rate is too often looked at for the 
 remainder, and no man prefers labour to idlenefs, or the interefls 
 of his more opulent parifhioners to his own eafe ; he will not work 
 to diminifli the poor's rate ; it is therefore found, that increafed 
 wages do not increafe either the quantity or the quality of the work 
 done. 
 
 And when wages are raifed, as they have been of late voluntarily, 
 on account of the emergency of the times, to keep up a certain ratio 
 between the price paid for the exertions of labour, and the main- 
 tenance of the labourer, which was humanely, but not wifely, fub- 
 mitted to j are they eafily reduced, the emergency ceafing, and a 
 time of cheapnefs, as to that produce of the earth, on account of 
 the dearnefs of which the wages of the labourer were raifed, ha- 
 ving cnfued ? which cheapnefs then falls with double weight on 
 
 their
 
 LETTER LIV. 387 
 
 their employers ; poor's rates and wages being rifen, and the price 
 of the produce of the earth being reduced. — Inquire into the fad : — 
 the anfwer will be, it has not in general been attempted : in thofe 
 inftances, where the attempt has been made, it has created diflatif- 
 fadlion, and, where perfifted in, has occafioned lefs work to be 
 done ; and this, although it may be apparently a paradox, when 
 coupled with what has been before advanced, is not to be won- 
 dered at, as an effedt perceived immediately on the reduction of the 
 wages of labour, which afterwards may gradually difappear. 
 
 While the mind is revolving thofe circumflances refpefllng the 
 condudl of the poor during this time of fcarclty which we have 
 juft paft by ; while we are calling in aid the powers of memory 
 and reflection, to fix on fome leading principles which may be of 
 fervice in the amendment or alteration of that fyftem of poor-laws, 
 under the adminiftration of which the public have expended an 
 annual revenue, fo confiderable, as would occafion theory to declare, 
 that extreme poverty could not remain where fo much was diftri- 
 buted j did not Jiubborn faSl^ at the fame time, prove, that poverty 
 and mifery not only remain, but feem to advance, nearly in the 
 proportion that our expenditure increafes ; while idlenefs and dif- 
 folutenefs of manners go hand in hand, and the next generation 
 promifes to be worfe than the prefent. While thefe and fimilar cir- 
 cumflances flrike the mind, it is difficult to avoid the appearance 
 of fome degree of prejudice againft the poor, for whofe benefit this 
 inquiry was firft undertaken, and with a view to whofe real and 
 bejl interefts it is continued. Being obliged to ftate matters as they 
 flrike the obfervation, and to reafon from facts as they exift ; one 
 is led to doubt the political propriety of increafing the price of 
 labour by law, as the neceffaries of life increafe in price ; although 
 it may be at the expenfe of that reputation all our countrymen are 
 defirous to be renowned for, — the reputation of humanity. 
 
 And it is a matter of much doubt, whether the charader of a 
 humane man will be preferved in the opinion of many of our ten- 
 
 D d d 2 der-
 
 388 LETTER LIV. 
 
 der-hearted patriots, or of our village-politicians, by a recommen- 
 dation of fchools of induftry and parochial funds, the encourage- 
 ment of friendly focieties, and a conftant adive infpe6lion of thofa 
 who have the management of the parochial revenue an J the con- 
 duft of the poor ; together with a regular annual parliamentary 
 inveftigation of this important fubjeft ; inftead of higher wages, 
 and the prefent unreftrained Hate of idlenefs and diffipation in 
 which the rifing generation is, I will not fay educated, but, fufFer- 
 ed to remain. 
 
 On the other hand, it is too manifeft a truth, for our prefent 
 comfort and future profpefts, that if a wife and well-guided hand 
 of authority does not, as foon as poffible, ftretch its benign influ- 
 ence over the land, and by fome legiflative line of condud:, which 
 may couple our interefts with our inclinations ; and to which the 
 poor and the rich, the emplayer and the employed, will not only 
 willingly fubmit, but each of them, in their feveral llations, will 
 adlively coincide to carry into full execution and conftant efFedtj 
 were there no external caufe of immenfe expenditure exifting ; no 
 demands for fupplies beyond a peace- eftablifhment necelTary; the 
 nation could not long bear the increafmg expenfes of the poor ; 
 becaufe they fall chiefly on thofe who raife the neceffaries of life j 
 which neceflaries mufl: of courfe advance in price, in proportion as 
 larger burthens fall on the growers of them : this price mufl be 
 paid by the labouring- poor, as well as by the other clalTes of the ~ 1 
 
 nation, which will occafion the rates and the price of labour flill to 
 rife. Thefe caufes and confequences, reacting on each other, may 
 ■ultimately produce a crifis that we muft all dread to think of. 
 
 LETTER
 
 [ 3S9' ] 
 
 LETTER LV. 
 
 WHILE all ranks of his majefty's fubjed:s, by anceftorial pof- 
 feflions, or their own induftry, raifed above the apprehen- 
 fion of want from the prevailing fcarcity, were with a difinterefted 
 benevolence, publicly and in private, by donations and a volun- 
 tary increafe of the wages of the labouring-poor, preferving their 
 more indigent countrymen from the prefTure of real want and ap- 
 prehended famine ; the legiflature of the kingdom, with a benevo- 
 lence and wifdom worthy of the beft ages, under the happiefl: 
 governments, by its celerity in enabling thofe laws which were bell 
 calculated for an expeditious relief of the times, nobly difcharged 
 their important duties ; and his majefty's minifters, although in the 
 midft of the moft neceflary, important, and expenfive, conteft with 
 its enemies this nation was ever engaged in, with a promptitude of 
 wife and liberal humanity, applied vaft fums of money, which 
 were raifed for our defence from foreign foes, to our prefervation 
 from domeftic famine, by encouraging the importation of foreign 
 grain, by large and, before this time, undheard-of bounties j the 
 payment of which bounties has been one of the means which has 
 exhaufted the Treafury of its riches j while, at the fame time, the 
 payment for the corn imported has alTifted to drain the kingdom of 
 its fpecie j a meafure which, although it greatly tended to remove 
 the apprehenfions of the nation, and to reduce the price of corn 
 to a level with the means the poor had, by their own exertions 
 and the affiftance of their neighbours, to purchafe it ; yet has not 
 been without certain inconveniences, the prefTure of which we now 
 feel. The topic itfelf is new and important, both to the public in- 
 terefts of the ftate, and to thofe of the private individual ; but of 
 too extenfive and complicated a nature to be here commented 
 upon, were the knowledge and abilities of the writer equal to the 
 difquifition j who conceives, that it is more within the line of his 
 
 purpofe.
 
 390 L E T T E R LV. 
 
 purpofe, and his capacity, to make fome few obfervations on the a6ls 
 which were pafTed in parliament this year, which folely refpedl the 
 management of the poor. 
 
 The firft is 36 Geo. III. cap. 10. and bears date, in the Statutes 
 at Large, Dec. 18, 1795. This adl, after a well-adapted preamble, 
 enafts, that diredlors and guardians of the poor, incorporated by 
 ads of parliament, may, whenever the average-price of wheat at 
 the corn-market, Mark-lane, London, for the quarter, immediate- 
 ly preceding fuch annual, quarterly, or other general, meeting, (hall 
 have exceeded the average-price of wheat at the fame market, 
 during thofe years, from which the average-amount of the poor's 
 rate was taken, upon the palling of the feveral incorporating-a6ls 
 refpeflively, aflefs the feveral parifhes, hamlets, and places, within 
 their refped:ive hundreds, towns, or diftriifts, which now are, or 
 have been, ufually charged to the poor's rates, with fuch fums of 
 money as fuch dired:ors and guardians, &c. fhall think neceflary 
 for the fupport and maintenance of the poor for the current quarr 
 ter, and for paying the interelt of the money borrowed under the 
 incorporating-a6ls, and of any debts which may be incurred fince 
 the ifl of January, 1795, in the maintenance of the poor, not- 
 withftanding fuch fums of money fhould exceed the affeflrnents 
 limited by the refpedive ads ; provided, that fuch affeffrnents, by 
 virtue of this ad, are made, colleded, and paid, in the fame man- 
 ner, and fubjed to the fame reftridions, regulations, and powers 
 of appeal, Sec. as the aflelTments made under the incorporating- 
 ads. And provided alfo, that after January i, 1798, the fums to 
 be affelTed, by virtue of this ad, fhall never exceed double the fum 
 at prefent raifed by virtue of any incorporating-ad now exifting. 
 
 This ad of parliament gave a very neceflary latitude, to the di- 
 redors and guardians of the incorporated diflrids, to raife the af- 
 feflrnents of the poor's rates, according to the urgency of tlie 
 'cccafion j which authority they had abridged themfelves of by 
 the ad of parliament incorporating them, and it has been at- 
 tempted
 
 LETTER LV. 
 
 391 
 
 . tempted to obtain certain information to what degree each of the 
 lioufes of induftry, within the county of Suffolk, has made ufe of 
 this authority ; and for that purpofe letters have been fent to the 
 fame gentlemen in the diftrids, who, with much obliging readinefs, 
 communicated that information which is contained in the former 
 letters in this tradt. Anfwers have not been returned to all the 
 letters ; but, as to thofe houfes from which information has been 
 obtained, it clearly appears, that the poor in them were main- 
 tained, through the years 1795 and 1796, with much lefs in- 
 creafe of rates than in any of the adjoining hundreds, where no 
 houfes of induftry have been inftituted ; and, when the low rates 
 at which the average of the parifhes was ftruck in the incorporated 
 hundreds are confidered, there is reafon to believe it is a matter of 
 pofitive proof, that the maintenance of the poor through the two 
 laft years has not raifed the poor-rates in the incorporated hun- 
 dreds to half that afl'eflVnent in the pound that their maintenance 
 has occafioned the rates to be raifed to in the hundreds not in- 
 corporated. 
 
 And although Sir F. M. Eden's Parochial Reports do not ftate 
 the accounts of thofe two large incorporated houfes of induftry, 
 that in the Ifle of Wight and that at Shrewibury, for either of the 
 years of fcarcity ; yet as he fays generally of the incorporated pa- 
 rifties in the Ifle of Wight, that one parifh pays two fhillings in the 
 .pound rack-rent; another fifteen pence ; another three fhillings and 
 three pence, on two-thirds of the rent j and of Graflinghall houfe 
 of induftry, Norfolk, that the average of the rates paid by the in- 
 corporated pariflies may be ftated at twenty pence in the pound; 
 and, by referring to the average of the afteflrnent of the incorporated 
 pariflies in the different houfes of induftry, as ftated in a former 
 Letter of this tradt, it will clearly appear, when it is confidered that 
 the ad: of parliament only enabled them to double their affeflTments, 
 that it cannot have coft thofe pariflies, alfo, half the expenfe to 
 maintain their poor during the laft two years, eftimating that ex- 
 penfe
 
 :■ 
 
 392 LETTER LV. 
 
 penfe by the poor's rate, as it coft the pariflies in the country near 
 the incorporated diftridls j moft of the other parifhes in Suffolk, if 
 not all, and many in Effex, having expended an afleflment rifing in 
 different pariflies from 125. to above 20s. and one or two pariihes 
 to 30i. in the pound. 
 
 The cheap maintenance of the poor, in the houfes of in- 
 duflrry, is a fafl I fhould conceive inconteflably proved. The 
 wholefomenefs of that maintenance has never been doubted by thofe 
 who have vifited them ; and if they, by any means, tend to dimi- 
 nifh the chance of human life, of which fome doubt has been made 
 in a former Letter, furely it would have appeared, and might be 
 proved, by a diminifhed population ; as, in molt diflri6ls where they 
 have been inflituted, years fufficient have pafTed for a diminution of 
 population to be perceived, had that diminution happened. That 
 queftion was afked in the letters fent : the anfwers returned have 
 been to this effedt : — 
 
 _p;There is every reafon to believe the population has increafed 
 much. — It is generally thought that the population, fince the in- 
 corporation took place, has confiderably increafed. — The popula- 
 tion has certainly increafed, but in what proportion I cannot fay. 
 .rjjj^ Population increafes among the poor. — We relieve many more 
 
 women in child-bed than we did. It is to be regretted that 
 
 no proof can be coUeded on this point in thofe incorporated 
 parifhes mentioned in Sir F.M.Eden's parochial reports; becaufe, 
 an increafed population being proved with equal probability in thofe 
 diflrids, as it is in Suffolk, there could be no doubt of the fa6l 
 throughout the incorporated diftrids in the kingdom, and one great 
 objed:ion to thefe inditutions would be done away : not that it is, 
 by any means, the intention of thefe pages to recommend any 
 means of compelling parifhes to inflitute houfes of induftry j the 
 wifli of the writer is, to preferve the rights of thofe already infli- 
 tuted inviolate in every refpe6t, (except that of compelling them to 
 become fchools of induflry, as far as it is compatible witii-^the ad- 
 vantage
 
 LETTER LV. 393 
 
 vantage and convenience of the pariflies incorpomtcd, and fubje6l- 
 ing them to a fimilar infpedion and return of their Itate and con- 
 dition to parliament, as is expelled from the reft of the kingdom,) 
 and alfo to preferve unrepealed the ftatute of 22 Geo. III. c. 83. 
 and its amendment 33 Geo. III. c. 35. as thofe adls of parliament 
 encourage them, but do not compel the inftitution of them. 
 
 The other adl of parliament pafTed 24th December, 1795, and is 
 cap. 23 of the fame feflions. Its preamble recites the inconvenience 
 that has arifcn from an a6l of the 9th of Geoige I. empowering pa- 
 rities to purchafe or hire houfes, and to contract with any perfon 
 for lodging, keeping, and maintaining, the poor; and that the 
 poor, who fhall refufe to be fo lodged, kept, and maintained, fliall 
 not be entitled to receive colledion or relief from the overfeers of 
 the parifh. The inconvenience recited is, that this provifion in the 
 ad: prevents an induftrious poor perfon from receiving fuch occa- 
 lional relief as is beft fuited to his peculiar cafe, as it holds out con- 
 ditions of relief injurious to the comfort and domeftic fituation of 
 fuch poor perfon ; it therefore enadls, 
 
 " That the overfeers, with the confent of the parifliioners at a 
 veftry, or the approbation in writing of any of his Majefty's juf- 
 tices of the peace acting in the diftrid:, may relieve poor perfons at 
 their own houfes under certain circumftances of temporary illnefs or 
 diftrefs ; and that any of his Majefty's juftices of the peace ufually 
 afting within the diftridl may, at his difcretion, order fuch poor 
 perfons to be relieved at their own houfes j provided that the fpecial 
 caufe of ordering fuch relief be written in fuch order given for re- 
 lief, and that fuch order remain in force for a time not exceeding a 
 month from the date of the order ; and that it iliall be lawful for 
 any /if^o juftices to make any farther order for a time not exceeding 
 one month, and fo on, from time to time, as the occafion may re- 
 quire, fuch juftice or juftices firft adminiftering an oath as to the 
 need and caufe of fuch relief, in each of the above cafes, and there- 
 upon fummoning the overfeer of the poor of fuch parifti to fliew 
 
 E e e caufe
 
 394 LETTER LVI. 
 
 caufe why fuch poor perfon fhould not receive fuch relief as afore- 
 faid : but that this ad (hall not extend to places where houfes of in- 
 duftry are provided under 22 Geo. III. c. 83. or under the authority 
 of any fpecial ad of parliament now in force." To this a6t of par- 
 liament humanity muft give aflent, and prudence cannot objed:. 
 
 LETTER LVL 
 
 F"^R.OM the time that the firft edition of this publication had 
 been the occafion of introducing me to the acquaintance of 
 Mr. Rofe, a correfpondence while in the country, and an inter- 
 change of fentiments on this important fubjed when I was in town, 
 attended, on his part, with every polite attention and friendly ci- 
 vility, had been continued between us j and, towards the end of 
 January, 1796, I had the pleafure to receive from him a letter re- 
 quefting me to meet Mr. Pitt, and feVeral gentlemen who had paid 
 attention to, and had at heart, the amelioration of the fyftem of 
 the poor-laws, at dinner at Mr. Rofe's on the following Monday. 
 Accordingly I went to town, and had the honour of meeting Mr. 
 Pitt, and feveral moft rerpe6lable members of the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, together with two other gentlemen, one of whom has paid 
 great attention to the fubjedt of the meeting, and a profeflional 
 gentleman, whofe abilities and technical experience are well known. 
 Soon after the fervants were withdrawn, after dinner, Mr. Pitt 
 produced a Iketch of the heads of a bill which, he faid, he had in 
 contemplation, and on which he requefled the opinion of the 
 company prefent j obferving, that, for the purpofe of confidering 
 each topic individually, we Ihould conceive ourfelves a Committee 
 on the Poor-Lawsj and have Ibme converfation on each head as it 
 occurred. 
 
 Although
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 395 
 
 Although the confideration of the fubjecl was contuiued, with- 
 out any interruption, till between one and two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, the fketch had not all pafled under review ; when one of the 
 company, while the converfation was employed about orders of re- 
 moval, remarking the time of the night, Mr. Pitt then pbferved, 
 that it was high time for us to remove ourfelves, and our committee 
 broke up. 
 
 A day or two afterwards I received a copy of the heads which 
 had been the fubjedt of our confideration, and a note from Mr. 
 Rofe, fignifying it was Mr. Pitt's defue that I (liould attend, the 
 following day, at eleven o'clock, at his houfe in Downing-ftreet, 
 where I again met ' the fame gentlemen, and afterwards moft of 
 them, at different times through the month of February, as it 
 fuited Mr. Pitt's convenience. 
 
 When all the heads had again been reconfidered, Mr. Rofe fent 
 me a copy of them, as then amended on reconfideration ; and in- 
 formed me it was defired that I {hould, in a pamphlet, fhortly ex- 
 plain to the public the good efFe<5ls which might be expefted from an 
 a6l of parliament on the plan and principle contained in the heads 
 alluded to j and that it fliould be prepared for, and pafied through, 
 the prefs as foon as poffible. I then returned into the country to 
 prepare the pamphlet ; but, being prevented fome days by illnefs, I 
 was not able to fend it to town quite fo expeditioufly as was ex 
 peeled } and, about a week after it was fent to Mr. Rofe, I was in- 
 formed, by letter from him, that my pamphlet had been received 
 and approved of j but that, in the mean time, Mr. Pitt had been 
 indefatigable in his application to the fubjefl j that the heads had 
 been reduced to the form of a bill, which was then printing ; that 
 fome alterations had been made, to which the pamphlet could not 
 apply ; that, as foon as printed, a copy Ihould be fent me ; and, a 
 few days afterwards, I had the honour to receive, from Mr. Pitt, 
 Heads of a Bill for Amending and Enforcing the Laws for the Relief, 
 Inftruftion, and Employment, of the Poor. I then employed my 
 jv' ; E e e 2 time
 
 396 LETTER LVI. 
 
 time in naklng my obfervations on the bill in the form it then was, 
 and tranfmitted them to Mr. Rofe, and foon afterwards went to 
 town ; when he informed me that the meafure v/as then poftponed 
 for the prefent. 
 
 As foon as the bill, as amended by the committee, now before 
 the Houfe, for the better fupport and maintenance of the poor, was 
 printed, I received two copies of it from that gentleman, defiring 
 me to make my obfervations upon the different claufes contained in 
 it, and write them in the margin of one of the copies, which was ta 
 be fent back to him, which was accordingly done pretty much at 
 large; and I attempted to fliew wherein, by its aberrations from 
 the heads fettled by Mr. Pitt and thofe gentlemen, whofe attention 
 to this fubje£l has been mentioned, the bill had deviated from that 
 plan which was better calculated to do the mofl: probable good, at 
 the lead probable expenfe, to the public. 
 
 The Heads of the Bill for Amending and Enforcing the Laws for 
 the Relief, Inftruclion, and Employment, of the Poor, propofcd 
 according to the plan opened by Mr. Pitt to the Houfe of Commons, 
 in the feflion of parliament 1796, having been printed for the be- 
 nefit of the members, and again by Sir F. M. Eden, in the third 
 volume of his Hiftory of the Poor ; and the bill, as amended by the 
 committee, being printed and difperfed by different editions through 
 the kingdom ; it would be abfurd to reprint them in this publica- 
 tion, as it would increafe to no purpofe the expenfe of a book al- 
 ready too expenfive: but fome good may arife from printing the 
 heads, which I had the honour to afTifl in fettling, as probably it 
 will be allowed by thofe gentlemen who bear in their recollection 
 the fpeech, in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a iketch 
 of his ideas on the fubje6f, on the fecond reading of Mr. Whit- 
 bread's bill ; that thefe heads more nearly correfpond with the maf- 
 terly fketch then given in a fpeech, which it is to be lamented was 
 not heard in a full Houfe, and never has had juftice done it by any 
 minute or report yet printed; and which, in the opinion of fome 
 
 good
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 397 
 
 good judges of elocution, never has been exceeded in this kingdom 
 as an oratorical effort, in point of perfpicuous compreffion of a 
 fomprehenfive fubje6l, terfenefs, elegance of expreflion, and effeft j 
 and to the ideas contained in which fpeech, the more clofely any le- 
 giflative plan for ameliorating the fyfteni of the poor-laws adheres, 
 the more probable will be its good efFed. The plan alluded to is, 
 therefore, here introduced; firft obfcrving, that, in feveral places 
 where the words are in Italic, the matter was not wholly determined 
 on J and alfo where the word or is ufed, to point out different 
 modes of acting, the precife mode was left unfettled j and as the 
 payment of the county-guardians foF their trouble and time was 
 not thtn pojithely determined, either as to the manner or the quan- 
 tum,. that part of the plan is not inferted. 
 
 A S K E T C H 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HEADS OF AN ACT 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EMPLOYMENT, INSTRUCTION, AND RELIEF, OF THE POOR, 
 
 AS AMENDED, ON- RECONSIDERATION, AFTER SEVERAL MEETINGS IN 
 DOWNING-STREET, FEBRUARY, I796. 
 
 Part I. — Employment and InJlruSlion of the Poor. 
 
 WHEREAS the laws now in force have not been fuffi- 
 ciently carried into praftice, for employing the poor who 
 are able to work, and for inftrutSling the infant-poor. 
 
 Juftices to be authorized within a given time to aflbciate 
 parilhes to the number or extent of 
 
 for the purpofe of the a£t, in the fame manner as under the 
 22d Geo, III, cb. 83, 
 
 The
 
 398 LETTER LVI. 
 
 The juftices to be authorized and required, within 
 from the pafling of this adl, to make order for the efta- 
 blifhment of fchools of induftry in every parifli, or fet of 
 aflbciated parishes; and, for that purpofe, to order a rate to 
 be made in the firft inftance, and to be paid by inftalments, 
 for a given period, as they fhall deem convenient, or to au- 
 thorize a certain fum to be borrowed on the credit of the 
 rates in the parifli or parijljes for purchafing materials 
 to fet the poor at work, as well grown perfons as children, 
 and for ereding, hiring, or purchafing, fchools of in- 
 duflry, for the inftruclion of the poor, and for employing 
 thofe who cannot, when inftrutled, conveniently work at 
 home, either from the circumllances of the families, or 
 from the nature of the work to be done. 
 I Juftices to be likewife authorized to compel the pur- 
 
 chafing, at ftated periods, frefli materials by the officers in 
 each parifli, or (by fome mode to be provided) within each 
 hundred, to be diftributed to the officers in each refpedlive 
 parifh, for manufacturing articles of clothing, and every 
 other article of neccflary ufe, for the poor within it, or 
 fuch other articles for which they can find convenient 
 fale. 
 
 An option muft be given to juftices, to decide on a view 
 of the circumftances of different parifhes, or with refpeft to 
 different clalTes of the poor in the fame parifli. 
 
 Whether, i. Parifhes to maintain, lodge, and board, 
 the poor employed in the fchools of induftry, taking the 
 benefit of their earnings. 
 
 Or, 2. Parifhes to feed and take care of them during 
 the hours of their work, taking the benefit of their 
 earnings. 
 
 In both thefe cafes, the poor to be encouraged by re- 
 wards. 
 
 Or,
 
 LETTER LVI. 399 
 
 Or, 3. Parlflies to furnifli materials, implements, &c. 
 and to repurchafe the manufaftures at flated prices, un- 
 der certain regulations, with an option of the work being 
 done at home or at fchool. 
 
 Or, 4. Pariflies to furnifh materials, &c. as before, 
 leaving the families to fell the manufactures. 
 
 Provifion, that if more parifhes than one have, w^ith 
 the approbation of the juftices, aflociated for the exprefs 
 purpofe of adopting any one of thefe modes preferably, 
 fuch agreement fhal), in that refped;, be binding. 
 
 Provifion to prevent apprenticing in hulbandry for a 
 ihorter period than now allowed. 
 
 Employment on the roads of feparate or afTociated 
 parifhes, or other parifh-work. 
 
 Labour to be found, according to fome one or other of 
 thefe modes, for all thofe who are fettled in the parifh, 
 who cannot find work for themfelves. 
 
 Provifion for cafes where fubftantial houfeholders fhall 
 offer to give a weekly rate for employing children in agricul- 
 ture; and fuch children to be on the fame footing as thofe 
 who attend the fchools of induftry. 
 
 No contradts to be allowed in future for the lodging, 
 keeping, and employing, the poor. 
 
 Places of reception, if neceffary, in each county for 
 lunatics, ideots, Wind, &c. See. Vide 9 Geo. II. c. 7. 
 
 Power to convert the fubfifting workhoufes into fchools 
 of induftry. 
 
 Part II. — Removals, Settlement , a7id Relief. 
 
 No perfon to be removed as chargeable, if he fhall be- 
 come fo only from temporary difability, or ficknefs ; nor 
 fhall relief be withheld from him to which he fhall be 
 entitled, under this adt^ from the number of his children ; 
 
 provided
 
 400 LETTER LVI. 
 
 provided that his fettlement fliall be afcertained, as under 
 the Friendly-Society Adt; and that, during his refidence, 
 he fliall have fubfcribed to a friendly fociety, from 
 
 after the commencement of this aft, 
 if any is eftabliflied in the parifh or neighbourhood, and 
 has fent his children, if required, to the parifh-fchool of 
 induftry, or received work from thence, or employed 
 them as above-provided. 
 
 Provided, that if no friendly fociety (hall be eftablifhed 
 in the parifli or neighbourhood, or there being one efta- 
 bliflied, and the perfon applying Ihall not be able on his 
 application to procure admiffion to it, then, and in every 
 fuch cafe, his contributing a certain fum to a box, to be kept 
 by the officers of the parifli, fhall be deemed fufficient. And 
 in all pariflies or towns, where there are no friendly focieties, 
 or within miles thereof, or where application fliall 
 
 be made by perfons refufed admittance to friendly focieties, 
 the parifli-officers fliall be compelled to receive contribu- 
 tions, and to pay weekly allowances proportioned thereto, 
 during ficknefs, to the contributors, who fliall be placed 
 in the fame fituation, for the purpofes before-mentioned, 
 as if they were members of friendly focieties, — Pariflies, 
 relieving, in the cafes fpecified, perfons not having ac- 
 quired a fettlement, to recover part of the 
 fum given in relief, after deducing what the parifh or 
 the friendly fociety has received. 
 
 No relief to be given to perfons not having acquired 
 Settlements in cafes above-fpecified, except by fetting them 
 to work. 
 
 Every perfon to gain a fettlement who has refidedTf'i;^' 
 years in a parifli, and has complied with the above con- 
 ditions. 
 
 All
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 401 
 
 All ferfom having more than two children^ ages to be 
 fixed, to be entitled to a certain pecuniary allowance 
 weekly, unlefs the overfeers, &c. furnifh them with the 
 means of earning to the fame amount by work, or make 
 competent provifions for their relief, by advancing a fum 
 of money, in the manner to be pointed out by the a£l. 
 
 Power to jullices to order overfeers, 6cc. to advance a 
 fum of money to any perfon entitled to relief, to enable 
 fuch perfon to purchafe a cow, or other animal, fo as 
 thereby to give them an opportunity of increafing their 
 mcome to the amount to which they would be entitled to 
 relief. 
 
 Perfons not to be excluded from relief in certain cafes, 
 on account of cottages in their own right which they 
 occupy, or other vifible property, not exceeding a certain 
 amount, and of a certain defcription. 
 
 No perfon to be entitled to relief, for themfelves or 
 their families, who fhall decline labour offered to them 
 by the overfeers, &,c. if able to execute it. 
 
 Perfons having fubfcribed to friendly focieties, or con- 
 tributed to parifli-boxes, as above, for years, 
 and becoming old or enfirm, to be entitled to a certain 
 extra-relief from the fund raifed for the poor, in propor- 
 tion as their health and ftrength fliall fail them. 
 
 Part III. — InJpeBion of PariJJjes, and Execution of the Laws. 
 
 Overfeers to be made more permanent in office, and to 
 be bound to anfwer, on oath, certain queries to be put to 
 them by juftices, and fuch other queftions as fliall be put 
 to them, relative to the management and employment of 
 the poor. 
 
 Power to continue overfeer in office for a fecond year, 
 and for fubfequent ones, if three-fifths of the parifh, in 
 number and value, fhall concur in the meafure; but fuch 
 
 Fff perfon
 
 402 LETTER LVI. 
 
 perfon not to be compellable to ferve : the three-fifths, as 
 before, may, however, agree to give him a falary not ex- 
 ceeding payable out of the rate. 
 
 Additional provifions to compel overfeers to make up 
 their accounts. 
 
 Power to be given to the refident clergyman, if redlor, 
 vicar, or perpetual curate, or to the officiating minifter, 
 if authorized by the biftiop in a manner to be required, 
 to infpeft, from time to time, the booh and accounts of 
 the parifh, and likewife any houfes or fchools of induftry 
 within the fame j and if, in any cafe, he ihall be of opi- 
 nion that the laws are not properly enforced, he (hall 
 have like power with that herein -after given to the guar- 
 dians of the poor to apply to the juftices, at their petty 
 feffions, who fhall proceed in like manner thereon. 
 
 One or more guardians of the poor to be appointed 
 for each county, according to its extent, to be chofen 
 by a majority of perfons having freehoid-eftates within 
 the county above the amount oi ^\oo a year, and to 
 have an allowance payable out of the county-rates. 
 
 No perfon to be eligible who is not qualified, by pro- 
 perty, to eledl as above-defcribed. 
 
 To continue in office for four years, unlefs removed by 
 juftices, at the quarter-feffions, for caufe affigned, at the 
 end of which he may be chofen again. 
 
 The guardians of the poor to be required, within 
 calendar-months of his appointment, to vifit and infpedt 
 every parifli or place, providing for its own poor, within 
 the county or diftri61: for which he is appointed ; and af- 
 terwards, during his continuance in office, to vifit every 
 parifh again at leaft once in the courfe of each of the 
 three remaining years for which he is eleded. To be au- 
 thorized and required, at every fuch vifitation, to inquire 
 
 particularly
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 403 
 
 particularly into the number and condition of perfons 
 Supporting themfelves by labour, and of thofe receiving 
 relief ; diftinguifhing their feveral ages and defcriptions. 
 
 The amount and variation of the poor's rate, and the 
 application of the fame, under its feveral heads ; (hewing 
 particularly the fums expended in fetting the poor to work, 
 with the particulars thereof. 
 
 The number employed ; diftinguifliing their ages and 
 defcriptions, and the nature and value of the work done, 
 and the manner of difpofmg of the fame, and whether 
 they were employed in their own houfes or in the fchools 
 of induftry. 
 
 The number of poor receiving pecuniary allowances, 
 or to whom money has been advanced, under the provi- 
 fions of this ad, for their better fupport. 
 
 The ftate of the fchools of induftry, and the houfes of 
 indufiry, (if any,) with the number of perfons lodged, 
 maintained, or inftrucfled, therein. The number of 
 deaths within the year j the rules for the management of 
 the faid fchools ; and, generally, all fuch matters as they 
 fhall be required by the juflices, at their quarter or petty 
 feflions, to examine, and report thereupon. 
 
 The guardians of the poor to have power, for thefe 
 purpofes, to tranfmit, from time to time, any queftions 
 which they may think neceffary, to church-wardens and 
 overfeers, and dire(5t them to prepare anfwcrs, in writing, 
 to be verified on oath, and to be authorized, alfo, to call 
 church- wardens, overfeers, and other perfons, before 
 them, at the time of their vifitation, to examine them 
 on oath, and to infpedl all books and accounts j to report 
 the fame to the juftices at a fpecial petty-feflions, to be 
 held as fliall be direfted by the ad, and then to deliver a 
 fchedule of the foregoing particulars in each parifh, ac- 
 F f f 2 cording
 
 404 LETTER LVI. 
 
 cording to a form to be annexed, together with fuch ob- 
 fervations as to the guardians of the poor fhall feem re- 
 
 quifite. 
 
 And the guardian of the poor fliall be fpecially re- 
 quired, in every cafe where he fiiail be of opinion that 
 all pra6licable meafures have not been taken for carrying 
 into execution the purpofes of this a<5t, in fetting the 
 poor to work, or furnilhing them with additional means 
 of m^ntaining themfelves without periodical relief, to 
 certify the fame to the juftices, and likewife to reprefent 
 to the juftices what modes of employment and afilftance 
 are, in his opinion, applicable to the circumflances of 
 fuch parifh ; and what advances of money, and increafe 
 of rate, are neceflary for the fame. And, in every fuch 
 cafe, the guardian of the poor fliall leave, with the ofR- 
 cers of the parifh complained of, a copy of fuch certifi- 
 cate weeks before he iiiall deliver the fame to 
 the juftices of the petty- feffions. 
 
 And, in cafe the officers of the parifli fliall not, at the 
 faid feffions, attend, to fhew caufe why the regulations 
 propofed fliould not be carried into effe6l, the juftices fliall 
 make order for their being carried into effect; and if the 
 juftices, on hearing the parilli-officers, fliall be fatisfied 
 that fuch meafures ought not to be adopted, they fhall 
 make fuch order as they fhall think fit, recording the rea- 
 fons why the meafures recommended by the guardians of 
 the poor cannot be carried fully into efFc6l. 
 
 Copies of all the orders made at the petty-feffions, and 
 copies of all the reports of the guardians of the poor, 
 together with an abftra6l, to be tranfmitted to the quar- 
 ter-feffions. 
 
 If either the overfeers or the guardians of the poor 
 fliall be diflatisfied with the determination of the petty- 
 feffions.
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 405 
 
 feflions, power to appeal to the quarter-feflions, having 
 given days notice thereof, whofe order fhall be 
 
 final. 
 
 Guardians of the poor to tranfmit copies of their re- 
 ports, and of all orders made thereupon, to the Privy- 
 Council, with a general abflradt, according to a form an- 
 nexed. 
 
 The Privy-Council to employ a perfon to prepare ab- 
 ftradts of the general returns of the whole kingdom, and 
 to lay the fame, together with the returns on which they 
 are founded, before parliament, within one month after 
 the firft of January, in each year, if it fhall be then fit- 
 ting ; and, if not then, within twenty days after the firft 
 day of the feffion. 
 
 In order to enforce, ftill further, an attention to the 
 due execution of the law, it might be propofed to make 
 a ftanding-order of the Houfe for referring thofe accounts 
 to a Seledt Committee, to confider and report upon the 
 fame, and that fuch report fhould afterwards be referred 
 to the confideration of a Committee of the whole Houfe, 
 where the refult fhould be ftated in diftinft refolutions, 
 as is now praftifed in the India-budget. 
 
 Saving claufes, refpeding provifions againft vagran- 
 cy, &c. 
 
 It would be with a very ill grace indeed, that any perfon, having 
 had the honour of being confulted on a meafure, which the very 
 fuperior judgement and experience of thofe who afterwards reconfi- 
 dered it have, with the approbation of Mr. Pitt, thought proper to 
 alter, fhould inveigh againft thofe alterations, which more mature con- 
 fideration has made ; on which account a refpeftful filence fhall be 
 preferved on every alteration except one, which fo militates with 
 the outline laid down by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the 
 
 fpeech
 
 4o6 LETTER LVI. 
 
 fpeech which has been alluded to, as would convl£t me of a pufilla- 
 nimous indifference to the good efFe6l of this great meafure, were it 
 to be pafTed by unnoticed. 
 
 To prove the aflertion, recourfe muft be had to that part of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer's fpeech, which is publiflied by Mr. 
 Longman, in Paternofler-row, as it is faid, that publication is^from 
 the bell authority of any which has appeared in print. 
 
 " He fliould wifli, therefore, that an opportunity were given of 
 reftoring the original purity of the poor-laws, and of removing 
 thofe corruptions by which they had been obfcured. He was con- 
 vinced that the evils which they had cccafioned did not arife out of 
 their original conftitution, but coincided with the opinion of Black- 
 ftone, that, in proportion as the wife regulations, that were eftablifh- 
 ed in the long and glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth, have been 
 fuperfeded by fubfequent ena6lments, the utility of the inftitution 
 has been impaired, and the benevolence of the plan rendered fruit- 
 lefs. 
 
 " While he thus had exprefled thofe ientiments which the dif- 
 cuflion naturally prompted, it might not, perhaps, be improper, on 
 jfuch an occaiion, to lay before the Houfe the ideas floating in his 
 mind, though not digefled with fufficient accuracy, nor arranged 
 with fufiicient clearnefs. Neither what the honourable gentleman 
 propofed, nor what he himfelf had fuggefted, were remedies ade- 
 quate to the evil it was intended to remove. Suppofing, however, 
 the two modes of remedying the evil were on a par in efFecf, the 
 preference in principle was clearly due to that which was leafl: arbi- 
 trary in its nature, but it was not difficult to perceive that the re- 
 medy propofed by the honourable gentlemen would either be com- 
 pletely inefFed:ual, or fuch as far to over-reach its mark. There 
 was of courfe a difference in the numbers which compofe the fami- 
 lies of the labouring-poor, and it mufl neceffarily require more to 
 fupport an infant-family. Befides, by the regulations propofed, 
 either the man with a fmall family would have too much wages, or 
 
 the
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 407 
 
 the man with a large family, who had done moft fervice to his coun- 
 try, would have too little. So that were the minimum fixed upon 
 the ftandard of a large family, it might operate as an encourage- 
 ment to idlenefs on one part of the community ; and, if it were fixed 
 on the ftandard of a fmall family, thofe would not enjoy the benefit 
 of it, for whofe relief it was intended. What meafure, then, could be 
 found to fupply the defect? Let us, faid he, make relief, in cafes 
 where there is a number of children, a matter of right, an honour, 
 inftead of a ground for opprobrium and contempt. This will make 
 a large family a blefling, and not a curfcj and this will draw a 
 proper line of diftiniftion between thofe who are able to provide for 
 themfelves by their labour, and thofe who, after having enriched 
 their country with a number of children, have a claim upon its 
 affiftance for their fupport. All this, however, he would confefs, 
 was not enough, if they did not engraft upon it refolutions to dif- 
 courage the granting relief where it was not wanted. If the ne- 
 ceffities of thofe who required affiftance could be fupplied, by giving 
 it in labour, or affording employment, which is the principle of the 
 aft of Queen Elizabeth, the moft important advantages would be 
 gained. They would thus benefit thofe to whom they afforded re- 
 lief, not only by the afliftance beftowed, but by giving habits of in- 
 duftry and frugality, and, in furniflilng a temporary bounty, enable 
 them to make permanent provifion for themfelves'. By giving effeil 
 to the operation of friendly focieties, as had been already hinted at, 
 individuals would be fecured from becoming a burthen upon the 
 public, and, if neceflary, be enabled to fubfift upon a fund which 
 their own induftry had contributed to raife. Thefe great points of 
 granting relief, according to the number and age of children, pre- 
 venting removals at the caprice of the parifh-officer, encouraging 
 fubfcriptions to friendly focieties, and extending as far as pofiible 
 the means of employing the poor, would tend, in a very great de- 
 gree, to remove every complaint to which the prefent partial remedy 
 could be applied. Experience had already fhewn how much could 
 
 be
 
 4o8 L E T T E H LVI. 
 
 be done by the induftry of children, and the advantages of early 
 employing them in fuch branches of manufadures as they are ca- 
 pable of executing. The extenfion of fchools of induflry was alfo 
 an objett of material importance. If any one would take the trouble 
 to compute the amount of all the earnings of the children who are 
 already educated in this manner, he would be furprifed, when he 
 came to confider the weight which their fupport by their own la- 
 bours took oif the country, and the addition which, by the fruits of 
 their toil, and the habits to which they were formed, was made to 
 its internal opulence. The fuggeftion of thefe fchools was originally 
 taken from Lord Hale and Mr. Locke, and upon fuch authority he 
 had no difficulty in recommending the adoption of them to the en- 
 couragement of the legiilature. Much might be effected by a plan 
 of this nature, fufceptible of conftant improvement. Such a plan 
 would convert the relief granted to the poor into an encouragement 
 to induftry, inftead of being, as it is by the prefent poor-laws, a 
 premium to idlenefs, and a fchool for floth. There was alfo a 
 number of regulations to which, on the fame principle, it would be 
 neceflary to attend. The law, which prohibits giving relief where 
 any vifibie property remains, fliould be abolilhed. It is neither con- 
 fiftent with policy or humanity to force an induftrious man, on any 
 temporary occafion, to part with the laft fhilling of his little capi- 
 tal, and compel him to defcend to a ftate of wretchednefs from 
 which he could never recover, merely that he might be entitled to a 
 cafual fupply. Inftead of enforcing fo rigorous a principle, cafes 
 might, on the contrary, occur, in which, with ftri6l and proper pre- 
 cautions, fmall funis might be advanced by the parifti to put the 
 perfons who received them in the way of acquiring what might 
 place them in a fituation to make permanent provifion for them- 
 felves." 
 
 The very appofite quotation from the 14th fatire of Juvenal, 
 which the Chancellor of the Exchequer in fo elegant a manner in- 
 troduced, is not mentioned in this Iketch of his fpeechj but that 
 
 quotation
 
 LETTER LVI. 409 
 
 quotation was fo aptly applied as to explain, to the greateft pre- 
 cifion, the prevailing idea which may be fuppofed then floating in 
 his mind, that its introdudlion requires no apology : 
 
 Gratum eft quod patriae civem populoque dedifti. 
 Si facis, ut patrire fit idoneus, utilis agris, 
 Utilis et bellorum et pads rebus agendis. 
 
 The queftion that naturally flows from thefe pages in Mr. Long- 
 man's publication, combined with this quotation, is ; whether a flcetch 
 of an a£t of parliament which enforces fchools of induftry, and an 
 annual parhamentary infpedion of, and control over, the manage- 
 ment of the poor, by obligatory claufes, which, if not carried into 
 execution, befpeak an inattention to, and difobedience of, a pofi- 
 tive written law of the land, and not any fault in the declaratory 
 part of the law itfelf ; which principle is alfo enforced by another 
 obligatory claufe, with refpeft to finding employment for the poor, 
 viz. that where fuch employment is mt fomid by fome of the means 
 pointed out, an allowance Jlmild be made from the parochial rates to 
 the poor in a certain proportion^ for fuch of them and their children as are 
 permitted to live in idleiiefs^ by fuch an inattention ^ on the part of the 
 officers of the parifiy to the law of the land ? 
 
 Or, heads of an a£l of parliament which, in the firft inftance, 
 oblige a payment to the poor in refpe<ft of their number of children, 
 and leave it a matter of option in the difliricT:, whether fchools of 
 indufl:ry fliould be inftituted or not j and alfo, whether an annual 
 parliamentary infpedlion and control fliould or fhould not be en- 
 a6led j ai'e mofl: in conformity with that part of the fpeech of the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the fecond reading of Mr. Whit- 
 bread's bill, which has been alluded to, as explained by this quota- 
 tion from Juvenal ? without which infpe6lion into, or fome control 
 over, the management of the poor, of a higher nature, and more 
 effeSlive powers, than the prefent, over which we have long flept, 
 we fliall be foon awakened to certain ruin, as to the morals of the 
 poor, and the property of thofe who maintain them. 
 
 Ggg Any
 
 X 
 
 410 L E T.T E R LVI. 
 
 Any other deviation from the plan, which that fpeech gave a 
 glimpfe of to the Houfe of Commons, it is by no means my inten- 
 tion to obferve upon j nor am I bold enough to affert, that the 
 plan referred to is now the bell policy, and replete with the wifeft 
 humanity ; but, on the contrary, believe, more knowledge of local 
 fads and circumftances may be neceflary, before a bill of this ex- 
 treme importance is paffed into a law; and it may be no improbable 
 conjediure, that the inveftigation of the management and condudt 
 of the poor, their morals, habits, economy, and feelings, being left 
 open, the ftream of practical information and theoretic knowledge 
 being kept running, will refine itfelf ; and the real ftate and fitua- 
 tion of the poor in fociety, and the rule of condudt with refpeft to 
 them, that is moft likely to benefit them, and the nation itfelf, 
 will more clearly appear; confequently, that a law made in the 
 maturity of fuch an inveftigation will be more likely to approach 
 perfe6lion than one enadted in its infancy. 
 
 While this is going through the prefs, Mr. Whitbread has again 
 urged the Chancellor of the Exchequer to bring forward the debate 
 on the bill now before parliament; declaring, at the lame time, 
 that, unlefs the fenfe of the Houfe is taken on that now before 
 them, he will himfelf introduce fome propofition on the fubje,5l. 
 
 Without doubting, in the leaft, the abilities of Mr. Whitbread 
 to offer a propofition in favour of the labouring clafTes of men, or 
 his wifh to ftand forth in the eyes of -the nation as their proteflor 
 and friend j it may with truth be alferted, that, if his propofed plan 
 be of the nature of his lafl effort^ it ought not to be the law of 
 the land: becaufe, as has been proved, it has not necefTity, juflice, 
 or convenience, for its bafis ; and, if it is, in this refpe61:, like 
 mofl of the late acfls on the fubje6t of the poor, that it applies 
 itfelf only to fome fmall part of this capacious field of legiflation, 
 it ought not to fuperfede a^^w^r^/invefiigation of the fubjedt, now 
 it has the light of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's abilities 
 thrown fteadily upon the whole fyPtem ; but flill Mr. Whitbread's 
 
 intention
 
 LETTER LVI. 411 
 
 intention is no bad fymptom in the cafe, which wants information, 
 and ftands in need of the cleareft lights of prafVical experience and 
 theoretic ability; and every other light which may prevent tumbling 
 at the threlhoid of an intricate fubjedt of this importance is of 
 confequence. A good a6l of parliament, a few months later, is 
 better than a doubtful one a few months fooner ; and, when all 
 fufficient information is obtained, we feel ourfelves fafe in Mr. 
 Pitt's application of it to every wife and humane purpofe. The 
 prefent fyftem already too much refembles a thing of fhreds and 
 patches, to bear more bolftering ftatutes ; and, probably, a total 
 repeal of every a£l of parliament fince the 43d of Elizabeth. A 
 flrift and adlive execution of that a6t alone might be attended with 
 better effedl than the prefent fyftem, as at prefent executed, al- 
 though affifted with every additional bill, which each member in 
 the Houfe of Commons might think it expedient to propofe, and 
 the parliament to pafs. 
 
 In the mean time, it is probable, that fuch a return of the 
 annual accounts of the overfeers to parliament, as has been 
 recommended, being tried fomewhat more than one year, every 
 neceflary information would be obtained. By fuch an aft, for 
 the overfeers keeping their accounts under certain heads, and 
 thofe accounts to be returned to parliament in the manner as 
 was firft propofed, the information of two years would be col- 
 lefted by Eafter, 1799, if the ad was to pafs by Chriftmas ; the 
 number of claimants for the weekly allowances to the children of 
 the poor, together with the total expenfes attending that hu- 
 mane meafure propofed by the bill, before the Houfe of Commons, 
 would be known ; as alfo the effeft occafioned by fchools of in- 
 duftry, in thofe parifhes where they have been inftituted, as far as 
 the morals and the earnings of the children have been meliorated 
 and increafed, would be feen j whence the propriety of a general 
 inftitution of them throughout the kingdom might be eftimated ; 
 and, during this time, the effefl of a parliamentary inveftigation 
 
 Ggg 2 into.
 
 412 LETTER LVII. 
 
 Into, and control over, the management of the poor might be 
 judged of, by the proof of a greater circumfpe6lion m the condu6l of 
 the overfeers, and of the poor themfelves, when confcious that the 
 eye of the greateft authority in the kingdom is conftantly over their 
 condu<5l. Thefe and many other important articles of information 
 might in this fhort time be obtained on the fubjeft, as well as a 
 probable amendment of condu£l in the parifti-officers, and of 
 morals and manners in the people, without any very confiderable 
 addition of expenfe. 
 
 LETTER LVII. 
 
 THE exertions of the Rev. Mr. Bouyer, in the caufe of in- 
 duftry and the poor, by the inftitution, continued patro- 
 nage, and fupervilion, of the fchools of induftry in Lincolnfhire, 
 which have been mentioned in an early part of this tra6t, occa- 
 fioned me to wifli much for the correfpondence of that gentleman 
 on the fubjeft ; which honour I have very lately obtained by the 
 kind interference of my valuable friend Mr. Spranger, a mailer in 
 Chancery; who, at my requeft, informed Mr. Bouyer of my wifh 
 to have an anfwer to a few queftions refpefting the fchools under 
 his dire6tion, which he was fo obliging to comply with, by favour- 
 ing me wifh a very polite letter on the fubjed, full of important 
 information. 
 
 I ft. In anfwer to my queftions, Mr. Bouyer fays, That fchools 
 of induftry are, when properly adminiftered, certainly very pro- 
 fitable to parifties : the average abfolute numerical profit, clear 
 of all expenfes, except the firft building and furnilhing, may be 
 eftimated, by the loweft computation, at a Ihilling a week each for 
 all the children admitted into them : — at a much larger, though 
 
 lefs 
 
 f
 
 LETTER LVII. 413 
 
 lefs certainly eftlmable, fum, in the importunate applications for 
 relief which they prevent; — but if they were generally enforced, 
 regulated, and fuftained, by legiflative authority, at a rate of profit 
 (arifing neceflarily out of the melioration of principles and habits) 
 perfeftly incalculable. 
 
 2d. That the honorary and intrinfically valuable rewards to 
 meritorious children are fully kept up, and indeed rather increafed, 
 in proportion to the prefent ftate of the fociety's funds j and the 
 friends and promoters of the inftitution have never ken any reafon 
 to depart, in any material particular, from the manner of their 
 application and didribution. 
 
 3d. In fome places, the poor are become fully fenfible of the 
 benefits of the inftitution j and, in a neighbouring market-town, 
 abfolutely importuned the perfons who had formed the poor- 
 houfe to open in it a day-fchool of induftry, for the employment 
 of the children of the town ; a benefit of which they this year 
 lament the privation, occafioned by the felfifhnefs and indolence of 
 the perfons into whofe hands the management of that houfe has 
 now fallen ; but that much impreflion has not been made on the 
 minds of the poor in general. 
 
 4th. That knitting and fpinning jerfey are the only objeils to 
 which the fchools can now attend ; and that thefe were the princi- 
 pal, but by no means the only, objects he had in contemplation, 
 had he been favoured with more univerfal and more perfevering 
 fupport. 
 
 Mr. Bouyer's letter contains alfo many very conclufive reafons 
 why thefe fchools, in Lincolnfhire, have not in general hitherto 
 met with that full fuccefs, that every friend to humanity expeded, 
 and had reafon to hope, that part of the kingdom would have 
 received from the experiment ; but, at the fame time, the follow- 
 ing pleafmg account of the good effects arifing from them has 
 been extrafted from his very friendly and valuable communication. 
 
 That
 
 4H LETTER LVII. 
 
 That he has the heart-felt pleafure of feeing a general tenor of 
 regularity and good conduct mark the lives of thofe young people 
 who have received the favours of the fociety j and of particularly 
 remarking, that thofe, who have been honoured with the bigheji 
 rewards, are equally diftinguiflied by the commendation of the 
 maflers whom they ferve, and that fome of them are advantageoufly 
 fettled in life, through the affiftance of this inftitution j and be- 
 coming, as hufbands and wives, fathers and mothers, happy, ufe- 
 ful, and virtuous, members of fociety. 
 
 That the plan is ftill purfued of rewarding meritorious youth, 
 in proportion to the fcale to v/hich the funds of the fchools are 
 narrowed j and every day's experience, whether of fuccefs or incon- 
 venience, ftill confirms the expediency of fchools ; which, in the 
 few places where they are kept up, materially contribute to the 
 good order of the parifli, and the diminution of its burthens j 
 whilft the only difficulties of their prefent adminiftration arife 
 from the comparative uncertainty of the work of thofe candidates 
 who are not colletSled under one regular government, and whom, 
 for want of fchools, they are forced to admit to a participation of 
 the premiums. 
 
 The knitting trials, reftrained to children under eight years of 
 age, caufe as early exertions as human nature is capable of. They 
 had one of them on April 27th : there were twenty-feven candi- 
 dates, under eight years old, for fifteen premiums. The trial con- 
 iifted in their knitting up each feventeen yards in length of 
 worfted, as part of a ftocking, upon middle-fized needles j and 
 the child who finifhed it, the fecond of the whole number, was 
 only five years old, and perf6rmed that tafk without one fingle flip, 
 or miftake, in twenty-nine minutes : that work was well worth a 
 halfpenny ; and, according to the proportion which praftice teaches 
 to fettle with fome certainty between a fingle hour's exertions and 
 a common day's work of eight hours only, that little child could, 
 without any fort of fatigue or hindrance from proper play and ex- 
 
 ercife.
 
 LETTER LVir. 
 
 415 
 
 ercife, earn a fliilling a week at this moft unprofitable employ- 
 ment ; and when it is coufidered that, without fuch encourage- 
 ments as are held out by the fociety, the eldeft child there would 
 never have learnt any work at all, we may, from fuch inftances, 
 eftimate, in fome degree, the value of all fuch public rewards. 
 
 The fociety, which feemed to be at its loweft ebb laft year, 
 is now apparently gaining frefh vigour, and the fpirit of it plainly 
 reviving. This appeared at the adjudication-meeting, on April 
 27th, by a confiderable increafe in the number of candidates, in 
 the proportion of one-fourth more than laft year. Befides this, 
 four neighbouring pariflies have intimated their intention to build 
 a central fchool on a large plan. This revival may be attributed 
 partly to Mr. Pitt's having declared his intention of introducing 
 fchools of induftry into general pradlice. 
 
 In fome other counties, and parts of counties, the plan of 
 fchools of induftry has been more fuccefsfully tried than in Lin- 
 colnfhire : no where more fo, in Mr. Bouyer's opinion, than 
 in the county of Rutland, which began very foon after thofe 
 in Lincolnfliire, and literally adopted all their proceedings and 
 forms. From thefe they have fince only departed in very few 
 inftances j fome of which variations are happy confequences of 
 the fpirit with which they are fupported, and apply to obje<fts 
 highly proper and beneficial. That fociety flourifhes exceed- 
 ingly, and is honoured, not only by the countenance and patro- 
 nage, but alfo by the cordial co-operation, of the firft noblemen 
 and gentlemen of the county. 
 
 Mr. Bouyer wifhed to return the moft explicit anfwers to the 
 queftions which were fent him, but, in fo doing, a very confi- 
 derable difficulty arofe from the fear of mifconception. He fays. 
 
 The Society of Induftry may be confidered in two different 
 afpe6ts. Firft, as a trial of the general plan of aflembling, under 
 proper government, the poor children of the parifti, from the 
 carlieft part of their infancy at which they are capable of any 
 
 exertion.
 
 4i6 LETTER LVII. 
 
 exertion, till they fhall be old and ftrong enough for fervicc, or 
 labour in hufbandry j and giving them, in that important in- 
 terval, a public education, by means profitable to themfelves and 
 parents, and capable of kindling honeft ambition and emulation 
 in their minds. SecMdly, as a local eftablifliment in that part 
 of the county where the plan originated. — The fuccefs of the un- 
 dertaking, in thefe two views of it, has been extremely diffe- 
 rent : flattering and encouraging, beyond defcription, in the for- 
 mer; but, in the latter, obftru6led by various difficulties, which 
 have tried the patience and perfeverance of its friends and well- 
 wiihers very feverely. 
 
 Mr. Bouyer alfo wiflies to have it obferved, that this is no new 
 reprefentation of the matter j in proof of which he begs leave to 
 refer to his Statement, p. 96, 97, and 98, of the laft Edition af the 
 Society's Pamphlet, publifhed eight years ago, part of which may 
 be feen by the reader in the 34th Letter of this Series : and, as a 
 farther proof of this obfervation, the pamphlet alluded to then goes 
 on to flate, 
 
 " That, in the mean while, the Society of Induftry feems to 
 have made fome little progrefs in its humble walk, as a pre- 
 paratory ftep to a more general and comprehenfive eflablifli- 
 ment; but the Editor cannot refrain from obferving, that many 
 non-refident proprietors of large eflates in thefe parts, whole 
 goodnefs of heart and charitable difpofition cannot be quef- 
 tioned, appear to have been negligently, or perhaps induf- 
 trioufly, kept from the knowledge of the efforts for refor- 
 mation made by the foeiety, of the fuccefs of thofe efforts in 
 part, and of the much greater efficacy which would have ac- 
 crued to thofe falutary meafures from their benefaSiiom and fub- 
 fcriptiotis, and ftill more from their influence and authority properly 
 exerted. 
 
 " Among the many ill confequences which attend the annual 
 change of overfeers, the foeiety has fuftained a very confide- 
 
 rable
 
 LETTER LVII. 417 
 
 rable diminution of its income by the ignorance, negledl, pre- 
 judices, or perfonal refentments, of new-comers into office, who 
 have often withdrawn the periodical fubfcriptions after having re- 
 ceived the greateft benefits from the fociety; and, in many in- 
 ftances, to the bitter difappointment of many deferving chil- 
 dren, whom, by thefe means, they difqualified from becoming 
 candidates for the fociety's premiums." His Letter then conti- 
 nues to ftate. 
 
 That, after the experience which has fmce been had, and al- 
 though the fund for rewarding merit, and the circle of its influ- 
 ence, have now been reduced to one-third of their original ex- 
 tent j although the operation of the laws above-recited, and of 
 many other local difadvantages, which it would be tedious, and, 
 in fome degree, invidious, to enumerate j yet none of thefe dif- 
 appointmenis have had the fmalleft tendency to invalidate the evi- 
 dence which the trial has procured of the general utility of the 
 meafure, if not of its abfolute neceffity, as affording the only pro- 
 bable means of national reform. 
 
 But it feems to be the opinion of my correfpondent, that its fuc- 
 cefs in that view muft depend on legiflative fupport j and, to make 
 that fupport effaftual, there muft be, 
 
 1. A general uniformity in the outline, to give not only ftability 
 to the regulation, but a proper direftion to the efforts of the inferior 
 agents in it. 
 
 2. A permanent adminiflration, by fkilful and refponfible per- 
 fons, fubflituted to the rotation of overfeersj which is the mofl 
 confpicuous blemifh of our poor-laws ; for, they feem to be enadled 
 on the abfurd fuppofition that fkill, honefty, and perfeverance, 
 were transferrable, from one farmer to another, with the parifli- 
 books. 
 
 3. A proper inducement to perfons, who are able and refpon- 
 fible, to give up their whole time, or a much greater portion 
 of it that can be expected gratuitoufly ; efpecially, if the prin- 
 
 Hhh ciple
 
 4i8 LETTER LVII. 
 
 ciple of rotation is, as he apprehendsr it muft be, totally relin- 
 quiflied. 
 
 4. A very particular care fo to place fuch appointments that 
 they fhall not degenerate into patronage, jobs, penfions, and fine- 
 cures. Offices, and, to a certain degree, lucrative ones, muft be 
 created ; but they fhould be much fewer, more effedive, and more 
 refponfible, than in any plan that has yet appeared. Perhaps the 
 greateft objection to that which is now under public contemplation 
 is, the multiplicity of offices, by rotation, flower indeed than that 
 of the prefent overfeers, and depending upon a general acftivity 
 in public bufinefs, which has never yet exifted but in fpeculation ; 
 inilead of putting the execution into the hands of fewer perfons, 
 who fhould continue in office, quamdiu fe bene gejferint, and be 
 held to their duty by the only tye which can fecure the perform- 
 ance of it, a refponfibility proportioned to the value of the em- 
 ployment. The utmoft expedtation that can be formed, by per- 
 fons acquainted with human nature and the prefent ftate of fo- 
 ciety, is this, — that as many patriotic and public-fpirited men 
 may be found, in each -county or diftriiSl-, as fhall be ftricflly 
 neceffary to enforce that refponfibility, and to examine into the 
 difcharge of thofe purchafed duties, looking for no other reward 
 than the confcioufnefs of their own integrity and zeal, and pre- 
 pared, at the fame time, to hear their good qualities, and the 
 exertions by which they difplay them, oftener queftioned, or 
 mifreprefented, than thankfully, or even candidly, acknow- 
 ledged. 
 
 Such is the opinion of a gentleman whofe exertions, and con- 
 fequently experience, in the regulation of thefe fchools of in- 
 duftry, are well known ; and whofe well-founded judgement, and 
 prediction of the probable advantages arifing from an inftitution 
 of them by legiflative authority, merit great attention. It would 
 be prefumptuous were the writer of thefe Letters, whofe expe- 
 rience, in this iDoft ufeful line of regulation, is fo trifling as to 
 
 confine
 
 LETTER LVIII. 419 
 
 confine his judgement to that of a mere theorift, to add any 
 obfervations to thofe contained in this Letter, or to prolong it 
 by any animadverfions on what his correfpondent has written : 
 he will only venture to fuggeft, that, probably, as to the gene- 
 ral management of the poor, in the parifh, the inftitution of 
 overfeers, by the 43d of Elizabeth, was not quite fo replete with 
 abfurdity as his correfpondent reprefents j and conceives that they 
 are, even in thefe times, the propereft perfons to be entrufted 
 with the management of the poor, a perfon of longer durability 
 in office, and more particularly quaHfied for the purpofe, having 
 the fupervifion of the fchools of induftry : befides, it appears 
 as fomewhat tending to injuftice, that the overfeers of the poor, 
 who are in rotation, thofe from whofe pockets the rates for the 
 maintenance of the poor are taken, fhould not be entrufted with 
 the difburfement of the money they colled, were that difljurfe- 
 ment but fubjedt to the fupervifion and control of Parliament. 
 
 LETTER LVIII. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 AS moft of thefe Letters originally were fent to you for 
 your very ufeful publication, the Annals of Agriculture} 
 as they took their rife from fome of thofe friendly converfations 
 in which we have fo frequently agitated the interefts of Agriculture, 
 and the humbler votaries to her fhrine, the labouring-poor j with 
 great propriety may the laft of the Series be addrefled to you j more 
 efpecially as it affords the writer an opportunity of acknowledging 
 publicly the fatisfadlion he has received from the long habits of 
 correfpondence and friendly intercourfe which have fubfifted be- 
 
 Hhh 2 tween
 
 420 LETTER LVIII. 
 
 tween us, and the real pleafure he takes in feeing you placed in 
 that lituation where your abilities, and indefatigable application to 
 the interefts of agriculture, have proved, and have the greatefl: 
 chance of continuing to prove, an honour to yourfelf, and an ad- 
 vantage io your country. 
 
 We have often lamented together, 
 
 Non ullus aratro 
 Dignus honos. 
 
 That caufe of complaint has now been fometime removed by 
 
 the inftitution of a Board which has been of the greateft fervice, 
 
 as well as honour, to the caufe of agriculture; for, during a war 
 
 which has increafed our expenditure of money and men beyond all 
 
 former experience or calculations, we have feen nothing of that 
 
 impoverifhed condition of our fields, fo elegantly lamented by our 
 
 favourite Georgical poet, in the continuation of the quotation ; 
 
 Squalent abduflis asva colonis, 
 Et curvae rigidum falces coiiHantur in Enfem. 
 
 But, on the contrary, agriculture has flouriflied with a vigour which 
 even peace itfelf can fcarcely increafe. 
 
 In the courfe of thefe Letters which have been addrefled to you, 
 it has been the view of tlije writer to preferve the fubjedt of the poor 
 as near as poffible what Sir Jofiah Child calls it, a calmfuhjeSi : it 
 certainly ought to be fo ; but it is not at all times that militating 
 interefts, contending opinions, and information of dubious cer- 
 tainty, will admit it to remain fo : thus far, at leaft, I have re- 
 folved, — that not an atom of the controverfy of general politics, 
 or the ill temper of party prejudice, fhould be fufFered to fall from 
 my pen. The Letters profefs an Inquiry into the Hiflory of the 
 Poor, their Rights and Duties, and the Laws refpefting them. Na 
 collateral lubjed; has. been agitated which may tend to interrupt that 
 philofophic coolnefs with which even our deareji interefts are beft 
 canvafled ; and your friend ftops his expreflions of approbation, 
 at this point, folely with the view, of preferving thefe pages, which 
 
 are
 
 LETTER LVIII. 431 
 
 are dedicated to the fervice of the poor, free from any afTertion that 
 may lead to a difcuffion of general politics. 
 
 After having been obliged, in the corre6lion, and, in fome in- 
 flances, alteration, of his former publication, to perufe again what 
 he had before written, and to connei5l with it the new matter which 
 has fmce arifen, it is probable that, while the whole is frefh in his 
 recoUedtion, the mind may be able to judge more accurately than 
 after the impreffion of facfls and reafons have, by time, become in 
 fome meafure effaced, of what would be the real and fubftantial 
 pra6lical improvements which may be introduced in the manage- 
 ment of the poor ; and he confeffes that, of the various amelio- 
 rations of the fyftem contained in the Bill now before the Houfe, 
 two feem to your correfpondent particularly prominent ; — fchools of 
 induftry, and parliamentary infpedlion and control. The other 
 parts of the propofed fyftem, although very probably produftive of 
 good, have not that good fo unmixed with fome contiguous evil, 
 which may adulterate the mafs, as have thefe two great objedls ; and 
 Mr. Bouyer's information, as contained in the laft Letter, corrobo- 
 rates the opinion ftrongly as to the effe6l of fchools of induftry 
 when under the control of the legiflature; which control alfo 
 muft be an aftive principle in all the departments of this bufmefs, 
 and will be more efficacious than a thoufand ftatutes whofe en- 
 forcing fan6lions are penalties never fued for. The laws of certifi- 
 cates and removals, and thofe which enabled the overfeer to hold out 
 the parifh work-houfe to the diftreffed pauper as a bugbear to deter 
 him from aiking for relief, require no additional freedom from re- 
 ftraint, fince the paffing thofe a61:s of parliament which have been 
 mentioned in the Letters continuing this publication ; and the law 
 of fettlements (that omiffion being corrected which has been pointed 
 out as the confequence of the a6t of parliament which, rumour 
 fays, the public ftands indebted for to the attention and humanity 
 of Mr- Eaft) will probably remain a ha^rmlefs, but, were the 
 principles rightly underft^ood, I thtnb an' mineceffary, mode of 
 
 identifying
 
 422 
 
 LETTER LVIII. 
 
 identifying the parifh which mufl: uhimately Tupport the needy 
 pauper; although that mode may ftill continue to be attend- 
 ed with expenfes of law. Some hints received from my friends 
 have occafioned me to confider the probable confequences of a total 
 repeal oi all afts of parhament fince the 43d of Elizabeth, and the 
 addition of two afts of parliament as aides, or wings, to that 
 excellent edifice ; an a6t for the education of the children of the 
 poor in induftrious habits j and another, inftituting a comprehen- 
 five and cheap fyftem of parliamentary infpe6lion and control. 
 To judge of the propriety of fuch an idea, it would be neceffary 
 to examine into what would be the real ftate and condition of the 
 poor, in every bearing and dependency, fuppofing the magiftrates 
 and overfeers had no rule of law by which to regulate their con- 
 duiSt, except that ftatute ; an inveftigation which would require 
 much attention and refled:ion ; and, it is to be feared, if any ex- 
 planation or additional regulation might be thought neceflary, 
 each individual, who might turn his attention to the fubje6l, 
 conceiving the rule, which ftrikes his mind, as eflential, and that 
 the fyftem would be imperfeft without it, more auxihary claufes 
 would be propofed than are contained in all the ads which have 
 been paffed fince the reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 But it is time to conclude the fubjedl, which, thank God, is now 
 before the Houfe of Commons ; and is brought before them in 
 the beft manner, by the only individual in the nation, who, from 
 every concurrent circumftance favourable to the full inveftigation 
 of this important regulation, except the political anxiety of the 
 times, could with the greateft and moft favourable propriety in- 
 troduce a law which will afFed: the internal regulation and comfort 
 of the ivbole kingdom, fubjefl to the poor-laws. This is a regula- 
 tion which afFe6ls tjo particular clafs or defcription of men in par- 
 liament, confined neither to the interefts of thofe on the right or 
 on the left of the Speaker's chair, but equally concerns every indi- 
 vidual in the Houfe j and, when the fubjed comes before the 
 
 Houfe
 
 LETTER LVIII. 
 
 423 
 
 Houfe of Lords, every peer will feel that the deareft hatereils of 
 his country are in queftion ; and I cannot help anticipating, in 
 idea, the fatisfaflion his Majefty will experience, when the royal 
 prerogative flamps the fan6tion of law on an a6l which is calcu- 
 lated to educate millions of his fubje6ls, the rifing and the future 
 generations of the labouring-poor of this kingdom, in habits of 
 induflry and moral economy, fure preludes to a greater chance of 
 comfort in this life and happinefs in the next. 
 
 If thefe pages have in any degree been the means of introducing 
 or accelerating this meafure, your friend will have no reafon to 
 regret that he has, although in a rough and unpoliHied ftyle, ven- 
 tured to publifh the Hiftory of the Poor, their Rights and Duties, 
 and the Laws refpeding them j which, by laying open to the 
 public the diftreffes of that valuable and numerous branch of our 
 countrymen, and the great expenfes of the other clafles of the ftate 
 in their maintenance, have induced thofe in power and authority 
 to make ufe of the advantages of their fituation in the behalf of 
 their diftrelTed fcllow-fubjedts. 
 
 T.R. 
 
 May %ith, lygj. , 
 
 THE END.
 
 *1 
 
 i 
 
 i
 
 ^9S>«»«^»^'S'SS®<9'»'»'S»'9 ! 
 
 »^^»^<9<S>«><3»»3><»<S>^»«>«»«>a»S «»•»»'» »<»<»4»*^ 
 
 E X. 
 
 A. 
 
 Page. 
 
 ACLAND, Mr. his Plan ; . i8i 
 Appropriations of Benefices , 21 
 Alehoufes, 35, 63, 66, 135, 174, 190, 355 
 •— — — Hiftory of them . , . 264 
 — — — ^ A6ls refpedling them . . 273 
 
 Ale-Licenfes 277 
 
 . .. , Proportion of to Inhabi- 
 tants 282 
 
 Annals of Agriculture . . . 73, 151 
 Alcock, Thomas, his Opinion . . 127 
 
 Annual Regifter 128 
 
 Agricultural Societies Encouragers of 
 
 Induftry 234 
 
 Affifa Panis et Cerevifse .... 267 
 
 Agriculture, Board of, . . 420, 384 
 
 A6ts of Parliament relating to the Poor. 
 
 Statutum Walliae .... 19 
 
 Statute of Labourers, 23 Ed. III. 19 
 
 2 Rich. II 20 
 
 1 1 Henry VII. ..... 22 
 
 6 Henry VIII 23 
 
 5 and 6 Ed. VI. cap. 2. . . 35 
 2 Philip and Mary .... 37 
 5 Eliz. cap. 4 37> 62 
 
 lii 
 
 Pige. 
 43 Eliz. cap. 2. ~. i I '. 4.1, 44 
 
 43 Eliz. cap. 4. .... 6r 
 
 I James, cap, 6. .... . 62 
 
 39 Eliz 63 
 
 I James, cap. 7 63 
 
 7 James, cap. 3 64 
 
 cap- 4 
 
 3 Car. I. cap. 4 and 5. . . , 67 
 
 13 and 14 Car. II. cap. 12. . 67 
 
 17 James II 
 
 3 William and Mary, cap. ir. 
 5 Anne, cap. 33 and 34. . . 
 12 Anne, cap. 18. . 
 
 5 Geo. I. 107 
 
 9 Geo. 1 108 
 
 17 Geo. II. cap. 3. . . .115 
 
 31 Geo. II. cap. n. . . . 116 
 
 17 Geo. II. cap. 5. . . . 117 
 
 16 Geo, III. cap. 40. . . . 139 
 
 17 Geo. III. cap. 48. . . . 142 
 20 Geo. III. cap. 46. . . . X42 
 22 Geo. III. cap. — . , . 143 
 26 Geo. III. cap. 56. . . . 144 
 26 Geo. III. cap. 58. . . . 145 
 
 33 Geo.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 33 Geo. III. cap. 35. 
 • cap, 54. 
 
 35 Geo. in. cap. loi. 
 >— — — — cap. III. 
 
 36 Geo. III. cap. 10. 
 
 Page. 
 
 356 
 
 358 
 
 376 
 380 
 
 390 
 
 B. 
 
 Baccaria dei Delitti e delle Pene . ; 39 
 Blackftone's Commentaries . . . 54 
 Eaftard-Children . . . '• • 64, 113 
 Bacon, Sir Francis, .... 77, 109 
 Bread for the Poor, a Pamphlet . . 91 
 Box-Clubs .... 181, 184, 215 
 
 Begging-Poor 2o8 
 
 Bouyer, Mr. his Exhortation to Schools 
 
 oflnduftry 255 
 
 ■ ', his Account of thofe 
 
 Schools 412 
 
 Barley Cakes ; 382 
 
 Barley firft fermented .... 266 
 Barrington, Hon. Daines, Ancient 
 
 Statutes 268 
 
 Burn's, Dr. Hiftory of Poor-Laws . 157 
 Board of Trade, 1697- .... 239 
 
 C. 
 
 Caufes of this Inquiry into the Situa- 
 tion of the Poor .... i to 8 
 Cullum's, Sir John, Antiquities of 
 
 Hawftead 9 
 
 Chalmers's Eftimale 17 
 
 Coke, Sir Edward, reading on 39 EUz. 64 
 
 Charter-Houfe 73 
 
 Child's, Sir J. Difcourfe on Trade, 82, 97 
 Cary, John, Efq. his Pamphlet . . 96 
 Chalmers's Life of Defoe . . . . 115 
 Charities, Account of the Produce, 154 
 
 Page. 
 
 Clothing of the Poor 160 
 
 Clare, Suffolk 151 
 
 Charity, the Source of Tithes . . 198 
 Compulfive Maintenance . . . 200 
 Clergy, their Influence over the Poor, 201 
 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . . 272 
 Conftables to return the Number of 
 
 Inhabitants 284 
 
 Cooke, Rev. Mr. his Regulations at 
 
 Semer Houfe of Indullry . . 320 
 Certificates .... 210, 213, 252 
 Children of the Poor, their bad Habits, 364 
 Charitable Munificenceof this Country, 384 
 Chancellor of the Ejrchequer, his 
 
 Speech on the Poor-Bill . . 409 
 
 D. 
 
 Demands on the Income of the Poor, 5 
 
 Ducarel's Tour of Normandy . . 15 
 
 Darker, Samuel, his Pamphlet . . 91 
 Devonflaire Poor-Rates, 1698 and 
 
 1785 93 
 
 Defoe, Daniel, his Pamphlet . . 103 
 
 D'Alva, Duke of, ..... 12& 
 
 Davenant, Dr 170 
 
 Danes introduced Drunkennefs . . 266 
 
 Drunkennefs, Afls to reprefs, . . 274 
 
 Divine Service, regular Attendance on, 348 
 
 E. 
 
 Elizabeth, Reign of, .... . 61 
 . — , her Exclamation^ . . . 103 
 
 . — , her Humanity . . . 201 
 
 EfTex Juftices regulating Wages, 63, 68 
 England's Improvement by Sea and 
 
 Land . . . . . 7^ 
 
 EfTay on the pernicious Influence of 
 
 Houfes of Induflry .... 98 
 
 Eflex,
 
 I N D 
 
 Page. 
 
 Eflex, Habits of the Poor there . 248 
 Excife on Beer, Ale, Cider, Mead, 
 
 Perry 277 
 
 Expenfes of the Poor for Beer and 
 
 Spirits 281 
 
 Earnings of the Poor ..... 282 
 Eden, Sir F. M. his Hiftory of the 
 
 Poor , . . . 357» 365 
 
 Fleetwood's Chronlcon Pretiofum, 8, 269 
 Fielding, Henry, Inquiry into the 
 
 Increafe of Robbers . . .122 
 I I ■ — Propofal refpeiling 
 
 the Poor 131 
 
 Farmer's Letters to the People of 
 
 England . . . , 164 
 Farms, comparative Size of, . . . 191 
 Firmin, Mr. Thomas, .... 79 
 Farms, Confolidation of . . . . 232 
 Friendly- Societies . . 288, 353, 359 
 , Acl of Parliament rcfpecling 
 
 them 289 
 
 "— — — , Inftance of Rules for a Society, 296 
 , Female Friendly Societies . 365 
 
 G. 
 
 Gilbert, Mr. his Bill . . . no, 175 
 Glemsford, Suffolk, Poor-Ratcs . 151 
 Godfchal, Mr. his Plan of Parochial 
 
 Police 182 
 
 Graunt, Mr. his Account of Popula- 
 tion 194 
 
 GraHinghallHoufe of Induftry, Norfolk, 391 
 
 E X. 
 
 Page. 
 Houfes of Induftry, 40, 98, 138, 142, 309, 
 
 353 
 ■-' ■ •, Obfcrvations on, in 
 Suffolk 324 
 
 — ^—— tend to reform Mo- 
 rals of the Poor 3^9* 
 
 " ' ' ■ ■ diminifn Expenfe 
 
 of Maintenance of the Poor . 333 
 
 ■ , whether detrimental 
 
 to Population 336 
 
 Hale, Chief- Juftice, his Plan, 75, 170, 194, 
 
 222, 282 
 Hay, Mr. his Remark, on the Poor- 
 
 Laws 120, 211 
 
 Hilfborough, Earl of, his Plan . . 129 
 
 Hanway's Stridtures 167 
 
 Haweis, Rev. T. Hints refpedling the 
 
 Poor 184 
 
 Howlett, Rev. Mr. his Pamphlet, 190, 228 
 , Calculation of Num- 
 ber of Inhabitants . . . . 194 
 Houfes, Infolvent, Number of, . . 239 
 
 Hydromel 266 , 
 
 Hops, when introduced ... .271 
 Heads of an A<St for the Employment, 
 Inftrudlion, and Relief, of the Poor, 397 
 
 I. 
 
 Induftry, early, ....... jO 
 
 Inteftine Commotions ... . 36 
 Johnfon, Dodlor, his Opinion of Ro- 
 
 binfon Crufoe 103 
 
 Irifh Pdor 205 
 
 Induftrious Poor proper Occupiers of 
 
 Charity-Lands 253 
 
 Inns, tippling in. Acts to reftrain, . 275 
 
 lii 2 K.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 33 Geo. III. cap. 35. 
 
 ■ cap- 54- 
 
 35 Geo. III. cap. loi. 
 — — — — cap. III. 
 
 36 Geo. III. cap. 10. 
 
 Page. 
 
 376 
 380 
 
 B. 
 
 Baccaria del Delitti e delle Pene . : 39 
 Blackftone's Commentaries ... 54 
 Baftard-Children . . . "• . 64, 113 
 Bacon, Sir Francis, .... 77, 109 
 Bread for the Poor, a Pamphlet . . 91 
 Box-Clubs . . . . 181, 184, 215 
 
 Begging-Poor 208 
 
 Bouyer, Mr. his Exhortation to Schools 
 
 oflnduftry 255 
 
 ', his Account of thofe 
 
 Schools 412 
 
 Barley Cakes ; 382 
 
 Barley firft fermented .... 266 
 Barrington, Hon. Daincs, Ancient 
 
 Statutes 268 
 
 Burn's, Dr. Hiftory of Poor-Laws . 157 
 Board of Trade, 1697 .... 239 
 
 C. 
 
 Caufes of this Inquiry into the Situa- 
 tion of the Poor . . . . i to 8 
 Cullum's, Sir John, Antiquities of 
 
 Havvftead 9 
 
 Chalmers's Eflimate 17 
 
 Coke, Sir Edward, reading on 39 Eliz. 64 
 
 Charter-Houfe 73 
 
 Child's, Sir J. Difcourfe on Trade, 82, 97 
 Cary, John, Efq. his Pamphlet . . 96 
 Chalmers's Life of Defoe .... 115 
 Charities, Account of the Produce, 154 
 
 Page. 
 
 Clothing of the Poor 160 
 
 Clare, Suffolk 151 
 
 Charity, the Source of Tithes . . 198 
 Compulfive Maintenance . . . 200 
 Clergy, their Influence over the Poor, 201 
 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales . . 272 
 Conftables to return the Number of 
 
 Inhabitants 284 
 
 Cooke, Rev. Mr, his Regulations at 
 
 Semer Houfe of Induilry . . 320 
 Certificates .... 210, 213, 252 
 Children of the Poor, their bad Habits, 364 
 Charitable Munificenceof this Country, 384 
 Chancellor of the Exthequer, his 
 
 Speech on the Poor-Bill . . 409 
 
 D. 
 
 Demands on the Income of the Poor, 5 
 
 Ducarel's Tour of Normandy . . 15 
 
 Darker, Samuel, his Pamphlet . . gi 
 Dcvonfliire Poor-Rates, i6q8 and 
 
 1785 93 
 
 Defoe, Daniel, his Pamphlet . .103 
 D'Alva, Duke of, . . . . , 126 
 Davenant, Dr 170 
 
 Danes introduced Drunkennefs . . 266 
 Drunkennefs, Afts to reprefs, . . 274 
 Divine Service, regular Attendance on, 348 
 
 E. 
 
 Elizabeth, Reign of, .... . 61 
 . — , her Exclamation^ . . . 103 
 
 n — , her Humanity . . . 201 
 
 Effex Juftices regulating Wages, 63, 68 
 England's Improvement by Sea and 
 
 Land' . . . • .7^ 
 Elliiy on the pernicious Influence of 
 
 Houfes of Induftry .... 98 
 
 Effex,
 
 I N D 
 
 Page. 
 
 EiTex, Habits of the Poor there . 248 
 Excife on Beer, Ale, Cider, Mead, 
 
 Perry 277 
 
 Expenfes of the Poor for Beer and 
 
 Spirits 28 1 
 
 Earnings of the Poor 282 
 
 Eden, Sir F. M. his Hiftory of the 
 
 Poor .... 357, 365 
 
 Fleetwood's Chronicon Pretiofum, 8, 269 
 Fielding, Henry, Inquiry into the 
 
 Increafe of Robbers . . ,122 
 I I — Propofal refpe£ting 
 
 the Poor 131 
 
 Farmer's Letters to the People of 
 
 England . . . . 164 
 
 Farms, comparative Size of, . . . 191 
 Firmin, Mr. Thomas, .... 79 
 Farms, Confolidation of . . . . 232 
 Friendly-Societies . . 288, 353, 359 
 . , Act of Parliament refpeding 
 
 them 289 
 
 — — — , Inftance of Rules for a Society, 296 
 , Female Friendly Societies . 365 
 
 G. 
 
 Gilbert, Mr. his Bill . . . no, 175 
 Glemsford, Suffolk, Poor-Ratcs . 151 
 Godlchal, Mr. his Plan of Parochial 
 
 Police 182 
 
 Graunt, Mr. his Account of Popula- 
 tion 194 
 
 GrafTinghall Houfe of Induftry, Noifolk, 391 
 
 E X. 
 
 Pagt. 
 
 Houfts of Induftry, 40, 58, 138, 142, 309, 
 
 353 
 -■ ■ •, Obfervations on, in 
 
 Suffolk 324 
 
 ' — — tend to reform Mo- 
 rals of the Poor 3^9* 
 
 " ■ ' - diminifft Expenfe 
 
 of Maintenance of the Poor . 333 
 
 ■ , whether c'etrimental 
 
 to Population 336 
 
 Hale, Chief- Juftice, his Plan, 75, 170, J94, 
 
 222, 282 
 Hay, Mr. his Remark on the Poor- 
 Laws 120, 21 r 
 
 Hilfborough, Earl of, his Plan . . 129 
 
 Hanway's Striftures 167 
 
 Haweis, Rev. T. Hints refpeding the 
 
 Poor 184 
 
 Hovvflett, Rev. Mr. his Pamphlet, 190, 228 
 , Calculation of Num- 
 ber of Inhabitants .... 194 
 Houfes, Infolvent, Number of, . . 239 
 
 Hydromel 266 , 
 
 Hops, when introduced . . . . 271 
 Heads of an Adi for the Employment, 
 Inftruftion, and Relief, of the Poor, 397 
 
 I. 
 
 Induftry, early, jo 
 
 Inteftitie Commotions ... . 36 
 Johnfon, Dodtor, his Opinion of Ro* 
 
 binfon Crufoe 103 
 
 Irlfh Pdor 205 
 
 Induftrious Poor proper Occupiers of 
 
 Charity-Lands 253 
 
 Inns, tippling in, Acts to reftrain, . 275 
 
 lii 2 K.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 K. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Kent, Mr. his Advice to Country-Gen- 
 tlemen 169 
 
 King, Mr. Gregory, 170, 194, 222, 282 
 
 L. 
 
 Locke, Mr. his Comparifon of a Farm 
 
 to a Kingdom lOO 
 
 ., his Opinion, delivered to 
 the Board of Trade . . . . II2 
 , ■, his Heads of Regulation 
 
 of Schools of Induftry . . . 241 
 
 Literary Review^s 120 
 
 Lloyd, Sir Richard, his Plan . . . 130 
 Labour,. Price of, . . . . . . 219 
 
 Luxuries, what 226 
 
 Lindfay-Divifion, in Lincoln/hire . 
 ———, Schools of Indiiftry there . 260 
 Letter, from a Treatife refpeding them, 261 
 
 M. 
 
 105 
 133 
 134 
 
 iq8 
 
 Mackworth, Sir H. his Bill . . 
 
 Magdalen-Charity 
 
 MalTee, John, his Pamphlet . . 
 Melford, Suffolk, Poor-Rates . . 
 Maintenance, Claim for, . . . 
 Mendicity, Committee of, . . . 
 Money- Price of Corn, its Effedlon 
 
 NecelTaries of Life . . . 
 Magiftrates, their Conduct rcfpedting 
 
 the Poor . 346 
 
 Memoirs on the Poor . . . 367, 372 
 
 20: 
 
 the 
 
 224 
 
 N. 
 
 Notitia Monaftica 
 Neceflaries of Life 
 
 • 15 
 
 70, 226 
 
 Pjge. 
 . 80 
 
 Norwich School of Induftry . 
 O, 
 
 Obfervations on the Number of the 
 
 Poor, a Pamphlet . . . .164 
 
 Overfeers 186 
 
 fliould encourage InJuflry . 234 
 
 , the Propriety of the Inftitu- 
 
 tion of, 419 
 
 P., 
 
 Patrimony of the Poor ..... 7 
 Price of Labour and Provifions, 9, 13, 21 
 Percy's Houfehold . , . . 15, 271 
 
 Pownal, John, Efq 130 
 
 Pamphlets, anonymous, re(pe(f^ing the 
 Poor, 98, 135, 163, 164, 165, 168, 182, 
 
 346 
 Poor-Rates and Expenfes, 140, 145, 146, 
 
 147, 148, 149 
 Police of France, 1753, a Pamphlet, 163 
 Price, Doilor, Reverfionary Payments, 166 
 
 ——, Eltimate of Population, 194 
 
 Population increafing 19,4 
 
 . in Diftridts under Houfes of 
 
 Induftry 392 
 
 Poor, Begging, 208 
 
 Paine, Thomas, his Opinion of the 
 
 Poor's Rate 237 
 
 Parents of Poor Children inimical to 
 
 Schools of Induftry .... 246 
 Public- Houfes, Origin of them . . 267 
 Pillorie and Tumbril, Statute of, , 267 
 Pennant's Britilh Zoology . . . 271 
 Produce of Duties on Excife, 1792, 280 
 
 Parents
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Parents averfe to fending their Children 
 to Houfes of Induftry . . . 380 
 
 Penal Sandlion of Statute-Law . . 344 
 of the fame for the Re- 
 gulation of the Poor . . . 346 
 
 Police of the Metropolis, by a Magif- 
 trate 359 
 
 Parochial Fund 361 
 
 Potatoes, not much ufed by the Poor, 384 
 
 Q: 
 Queen Elizabeth, her Exclamation . 103 
 
 R. 
 
 Reign of Elizabeth 61 
 
 Review, Monthly, ..... .124 
 
 Removals of the Poor 218 
 
 Reflexions on Suffolk Houfes of Induf- 
 
 fy 324 
 
 Rewards, a new Stimulus to the Poor, 354 
 Reimburfement confidered , . . 378* 
 
 S. 
 
 Statutrim Walliae 19 
 
 Statute of Labourers 19 
 
 Schools of Induftry, 56, 78, 80, 106, 216, 
 
 236, 353 
 
 ■— — in Lincolnfhire, 236 
 
 Sunday-Schools 31, 262 
 
 Suffollc Juftices regulated Wages . 63 
 . , Habits of the Poor in that Coun- 
 ty 248 
 
 St. Alban's, Vifcount of, ... . 73 
 
 Settlements of the Poor, 89, in, 159, 
 
 172, 185, 213, 352 
 
 Suffolk Houfes of Liduftrj, cj8, 138, 142 
 
 Page. 
 
 S. W. Shakcfpeare, William, his Pam- 
 phlet 124 
 
 .Statutes at Large require Rcvifion . 209 
 Schools of Induftry, Arguments in their 
 
 Favour 250 
 
 Statute of Pillorie and Tumbril . . 267 
 Strutt, his Hiftory of Antient Britons, 266 
 Saxony, Duke of, his Ale . . . 268 - 
 Stowe's Hiftory of London . . . 270 
 Shakefpeare's Charadterof a Hoftefs, 273 
 Servants, Domeftic, Confiderations re- 
 
 fpedling them 297 
 
 , Domeftic, Statutes refpedling 
 
 them 303 
 
 '-, Difputes between Mafters and, 306 
 Suffolk Houfes of Induftry . . . 310 
 
 , Reflexions on them . . . 324 
 
 Schools in Houfes of Induftry . . 330 
 Statute of Charitable Ufes . . . 350 
 Smith, Adam, his Wealth of Nations, 169 
 
 Scarcity, Time of, 377 
 
 . ', Confequences of, . . . 37^ 
 
 Taxes affeft the Price of the Neceffa- 
 
 ries of Life 231 
 
 Tabbard, in Southwark .... 272 
 Tithes, Commutation of, ... . 202 
 Townl'end, Rev. Jofeph, his Pamphlet, 183, 
 
 228 
 Treafury, one Drain of its Wealth . 389 
 
 V. 
 
 View of Real Grievances, a Pamphlet, 168 
 
 Vagrant- A£t 117, 160 
 
 ViXualling-Houfes 275 
 
 Vagabonds
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vagabonds 
 Villains . 
 
 22, 24, 33, 
 
 rage. 
 
 207 
 
 24 
 
 W. 
 
 Wages of Servants 23, 26 
 
 —— of the Poor, rating them . . 219 
 WinJfor-Prices of Corn .... 32 
 
 Wheat, Prices of, 94 
 
 — in 1795 and 1796, 382 
 WooUen-Manufaftures . ... 108 
 Wages, Proportion between, and Ne- 
 ceffaries of Life 387 
 
 V.it. 
 
 Wives of Paupers, real Diflrefs of, . 303 
 
 Wight, Ifle of, Hojfe of Induftry . ^91 
 
 Whitbread, Mr. his Propofition in the 
 
 Houfe of Commons . . . . 410 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yarrington, Andrew, 77 
 
 Young, Sir William, 88 
 
 — — — , his Preliminary Obfervations, 186 
 
 Young, Arthur, Travels in France, 203 
 
 . in Ireland, 205 
 
 ,^ . ?>-V /r ;'V5^%' , 
 
 ' < fS 
 
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 ERRATA. 
 
 Psge 31, line 27, water^ not waters. 
 
 65, laft line, reftdents^ not /?/;• majeJiysfuhjcEii. 
 
 66, line 5, tf^rf, not %vas. 
 
 82, line II, country, not county, 
 141, line 8, /;at'^, not ^aj. 
 210, line 21, it omitted. 
 
 221, line 29, y7Af/)i, not forty. 
 
 222, line 29, prevents, not prevent. 
 224, line 8, <A«n, not /Z>af. 
 
 238, line 2, in the note, country, not county, 
 292, line 2, in the note, the fame miftake. 
 310, laft line, to (hould be omitted. 
 
 342, line 15, country, not. county. 
 
 343, line 18, /^^ omitted, viz. to f^^ elegant, &c. 
 413, line I ^, farmed, not formed, 
 
 417, line 3, their, not the.
 
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