94 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



so it came about that the poor villager, who in the past 

 had relied on the casual yet kindly charity of the 

 Church, or of individuals or gilds, was thenceforth to be 

 treated, in common with tramps and sturdy beggars, 

 under a severe system. From that time onward the 

 poor, a definite and large class of rural society, were 

 made the victims of innumerable experiments, legisla- 

 tive and administrative. 



