CH. VI.] VAGRANCY AND MENDICITY. 



The laws, however, which Parliament has en- 

 acted against vagrancy are very severe, and strictly 

 enforced in England. In Ireland they are power- 

 less, for the simple reason that there is not in every 

 place a prison for the reception of the vagrants ; 

 moreover, imprisonment may he a punishment in 

 England, but it would not be so in Ireland. For 

 what is it that this new class of wanderers require ? 

 simply food, lodging, warmth and light, and all 

 these a prison offers them. 





