THE XVTH AND XVlTH CENTURIES 93 



and the decay of the gilds left the poor in a pitiable 

 condition. 



There was, of course, always a large number of 

 poor people, and in the XVth century the pauper class 

 probably increased when the growth of competition, 

 which brought some men to the front, crushed others 

 down. There were many broken men tramping the 

 country-side after the retinues of the great nobles and 

 ecclesiastics were disbanded in the early years of the 

 Tudor period, and the enclosures and appropriations 

 threw many men upon the roads. It is therefore not 

 surprising to find that in the XVIth century the country 

 was full of paupers and sturdy beggars. Thereupon 

 the government took action, and legislation was con- 

 stantly introduced to punish the sturdy and help the 

 impotent. This legislation, 1 too complicated to analyse 

 in detail, culminated in an important statute passed in 

 1 60 1, the 'old poor law' of Elizabeth's reign, which 

 laid down rules for dealing with the poor which lasted, 

 with modifications, until the reconstruction that took 

 place in 1834. Under the provisions of this legislation, 

 each parish became responsible for its poor. Parish 

 overseers were appointed by the justices annually to 

 deal with the problem of poverty, and were empowered 

 to levy a poor rate. Pauper children were to be 

 apprenticed to trades, whilst able-bodied paupers were 

 to be set to work upon the stocks of wool, hemp, etc., 

 purchased for the purpose. Upon parents and children 

 was thrown a responsibility to contribute towards the 

 expenses of their poverty-stricken relations. Houses 

 of correction were to be set up for those who refused to 

 work, and tramps were to be whipped and sent back 

 to their parish or their last place of ' settlement.' And 

 1 See Appendix, p. 170. 



