CHAPTER XIV. 



THE LABOUR QUESTION. 



Although a revulsion of public feeling with regard to the 

 condition and uses of the poorer classes had not, at the time of 

 which we have been writing, been brought about by the more 

 philosophical views soon to be entertained on public wealth, 

 still the welfare of the rural population was beginning to 

 attract the attention of much literary talent. " If we cast our 

 eyes over the several nations of Europe," says Arthur Young 

 about the middle of the century, " and compare them with our 

 own, we shall find that nowhere has there for many ages been 

 such constant attention to this object (population) as in 

 England." ^ 



When we relinquished the subject of poor relief in the first 

 part of this work,^ we had carried its history down to Eliza- 

 bethan times. Thence, up to the period now reached, the 

 legislature had done little more than consolidate and amplify 

 the Acts passed by Tudor statesmen. 



Further powers from time to time were allowed for the 

 building of houses of correction,^ and for the lodging, feeding, 

 and employment of paupers. Frequently during this period 

 defects in the Elizabethan statutes had been brought to light 

 and remedied. The spirit of these laws was to render each 

 centre of poor relief self-supporting, but the letter had from 

 faulty wording defeated this purpose. The unemplo3^ed, 

 naturally anxious for some means of subsistence, wandered 

 about in search of work, finally settling down, or attempting 

 to settle down, in parishes where there happened to be the 



' Farmer^s Letters, Lettei- viii. A. Young. 



2 Landed Literest, Part I. p. 244. « 7 Jac. I. c. 4. 



300 



