produced by the Poor Laws. 433 
means of support, to which their state of 
vassalage had given them a right almost 
equal, in their estimation, to that of the 
. Barons themselves. England, also, as would 
appear from the various enactments, made 
at that time to suppress mendicity, must 
have been overrun with beggars and free- 
booters, to such a degree as to render it ab- 
solutely necessary to bring those vagrants 
under controul. This could only be effected 
by either finding them employment, or sub- 
sistence ; and arrangements were accordingly 
made, by which the poor became less depen- 
dent, and civilization received a considerable 
stimulus. The funds for their maintenance, 
Operating in some degree as a capital for 
their use, enabled the poor to keep pace with 
the classes above them, in acquiring an in- 
crease of comforts and enjoyments. In Scot- 
land and in Ireland, no steps seem to have 
been taken to provide for the cast-off vassals, 
with this exception, in regard to Scotland, 
that the means of education were there es- 
tablished by law. In those two countries, 
the consequence of the want of all provision 
for the poor was, that when thus abandoned 
by their lords, they were left ina state of de- 
plorable dejection and misery; and to this 
want of a legalized system of relief, are we 
VOL. III. Tii 
