CHAPTER I.

THE BEGINNING OF THE SECULAR CONTROL OF POOR RELIEF.

§ 1. Anglo-Saxon times. § 2. The Labour statutes. § 3. The control of charitable funds by the state. § 4. The control of charitable funds by the towns. § 5. Summary of the main features of public control of poor-relief before the sixteenth century

pp. 1-10

CHAPTER II.

THE CAUSES OF THE REORGANISATION OF POOR RELIEF.

§ 1. Increase of vagrants. § 2. Reasons for increase of beggars. § 3. Old methods of charity. § 4. Attempts to reorganise charitable funds on the Continent. § 5. Three factors in the making of the English system of poor relief

pp. 11-21

CHAPTER III.

1514—1569.

POOR RELIEF IN THE TOWNS.

§ 1. Importance of municipal government in Tudor towns. § 2. London regulations for a constant supply of corn, 1391-1569. § 3. Regulations for the repression of vagrants and the relief of the poor, 1514-1536. § 4. Refoundation of St Bartholomew's Hospital and imposition of a compulsory poor rate, 1536-1547. § 5. Completion of the Four Royal Hospitals and establishment of a municipal system of poor relief in London, 1547-1557. § 6. Failure of the municipal system of London. § 7. Provision of corn in Bristol and Canterbury. § 8. Lincoln. Survey of poor; and arrangements for finding work for the unemployed. § 9. Ipswich. Survey of poor; imposition of compulsory poor rate and foundation of Christ's Hospital. § 10. Cambridge. Survey of poor and assessment of parishioners. § 11. Summary

pp. 22-46

CHAPTER IV.

1514—1569.

THE PRIVY COUNCIL AND PARLIAMENT.

§ 1. Efforts made by the Government to secure the employment of the clothmakers during the crisis in the cloth trade of 1527-8. § 2. Regulations for the supply of the markets with corn, 1527-8. § 3. Similar action in regard to corn in 1548 and 1563. § 4. Letters of the Privy Council to particular local officials in connection with the relief of the poor. § 5. Legislation concerning the relief of the poor during the reign of Henry VIII. § 6. The two earlier statutes of Edward VI. § 7. Legislation between 1551 and 1569. § 8. Summary

pp. 47-60

CHAPTER V.

REVIEW OF THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC POOR RELIEF, 1514—1569.

§ 1. The action of municipal rulers precedes the action of Parliament. § 2. Advantages of the municipal system of relief. § 3. Connection between the municipal organisation of poor relief and the dissolution of the monasteries. § 4. Relation of beggary to the first schemes of relief. § 5. Parental government. § 6. Bridewell, the key-stone of the system

pp. 61-66

CHAPTER VI.

1569—1597.

PARLIAMENT AND THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

A. Parliamentary History. § 1. Discussions, Bills and Statutes between 1566 and 1576. § 2. Parliamentary history between 1576 and 1597. § 3. The Bills and Statutes of 1597. § 4. General features of the discussion in Parliament. B. The action of the Privy Council. § 5. The chief characteristics of the action of the Privy Council. § 6. The whipping campaign. § 7. The scarcity measures. § 8. The influence of the Privy Council on county and municipal officials

pp. 67-94

CHAPTER VII.

1569—1597.

THE MEASURES OF THE TOWNS AND THE EVENTS OF THE YEARS 1594-1597.

§ 1. The organisation of London with regard to the poor. § 2. The organisation of Norwich. § 3. The action of other towns (1) concerning the settlement of new comers; (2) concerning the unemployed; (3) concerning the raising of funds. § 4. The events of the years of scarcity 1594-1597. § 5. Summary of the period 1569-1597

pp. 95-131

CHAPTER VIII.

1597—1644.

PARLIAMENT AND THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

§ 1. Characteristics of the period. § 2. Legislation from 1597 to 1644. Administrative machinery. § 3. Action of the Privy Council before 1629. § 4. Action of the Privy Council after 1629 with regard to the provision of corn. § 5. Action of the Privy Council after 1629 with regard to the unemployed. § 6. The Book of Orders as a whole and the royal commission of 1630/-1. § 7. Interference with wages as a method of helping the poor. § 8. Summary

pp. 132-164

CHAPTER IX.

1597—1644.

THE LOCAL MACHINERY FOR ADMINISTRATION.

§ 1. Powers of the justices. § 2. Work of the justices in first putting the law in execution (a) in the West Riding during 1598, (b) in the North Riding during the years immediately following 1605. § 3. Reports of the justices in response to the Book of Orders. § 4. The work of the judges: (a) Authoritative decisions on points of law; (b) Administrative work as the link between the Privy Council and the justices. § 5. The work of the overseers (a) in 1599; (b) when stirred to greater activity by scarcity measures; (c) after the issue of the Book of Orders

pp. 165-183

CHAPTER X.

METHODS OF RELIEF, 1597—1644.

A. In times of emergency.

§ 1. The methods by which the scarcity orders of the Privy Council were executed in 1623 and 1630-1: (a) the suppression of alehouses and restriction of malting; (b) the regulations for serving the markets with corn; (c) selling corn to labourers under price; (d) other methods of providing food for the poor. § 2. Evidence as to the success or failure of the corn regulations. § 3. Reasons for adopting them. § 4. Bearing of the scarcity measures on the history of poor relief, (a) because of the growth of organisation; (b) as an indication of the standard of life of the poorer classes. § 5. Provision of fuel for the poor in winter. § 6. Help afforded in times of plague and sickness. § 7. Contributions to sufferers from fire. § 8. Two characteristics of seventeenth century poor relief: (a) little distinction between paupers and non-paupers; (b) little distinction between relief afforded by voluntary contributions and that provided by poor rates

pp. 184-205

B. Ordinary relief.

a. Impotent Poor. § 1. Almshouses and endowed charities. § 2. Relief for the old from county and parochial rates. . Children. § 3. Apprenticeship. § 4. Schools for little children and orphanages. ?. Able-bodied poor. § 5. Relief given to prisoners. § 6. Provision of funds to provide work for the unemployed. § 7. Methods of providing work: (a) Stocks used to employ the poor in their homes; (b) Introduction of new trades; (c) Workhouses and Jersey schools; (d) Bridewells; (e) Emigration; (f) Pressure on employers; (g) Advancement of capital without interest

pp. 206-236

CHAPTER XII.

1597—1644.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE POOR LAW AS A WHOLE.

§ 1. Importance of the period 1597—1644. § 2. Negligent administration of the Poor Law in the North and extreme West. § 3. Administration in the rest of England varied with the action of the Privy Council. § 4. Action of the Privy Council and administration between 1597 and 1605. § 5. Action of the Privy Council and administration between 1605 and 1629. § 6. Action of the Privy Council and administration between 1629 and 1644. § 7. Improvement effected in 1631 especially concerned the unemployed. § 8. Detailed report from Bassetlaw. § 9. Provision for the unemployed (a) in the North and extreme West; (b) in the towns; (c) in the Western counties; (d) in the Eastern counties. § 10. Summary

pp. 237-266

CHAPTER XIII.

POOR RELIEF IN FRANCE, SCOTLAND, AND ENGLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND COMMONWEALTH.

§ 1. Lax administration of poor relief in England during the years of Civil War. (a) Decline of charitable institutions; (b) Neglect in execution of ordinary law; (c) Instances of corrupt practices. § 2. Attempts to regain a good organisation of poor relief under the Commonwealth. § 3. Reasons why disorganisation especially affected the provision of work for the unemployed. § 4. State of poor relief after the Restoration. § 5. Reasons for the failure to restore the old state of things during the Commonwealth. § 6. History of legislation on poor relief in Scotland (a) before 1597; (b) between 1597—1680. § 7. Failure of administration of poor relief in Scotland during the seventeenth century. (a) Responses of the Scotch justices to the orders of Council in 1623 show that they were unable or unwilling to enforce the Poor Law themselves, and left it to the kirk sessions; (b) Inadequate poor relief granted by the kirk sessions of Banff; (c) Relief of the poor in Aberdeen shows that the relief considered sufficient by the municipal rulers was double that which could be granted from the funds at the disposal of the kirk sessions; (d) Infrequency of assessment in Scotland before 1818; (e) Insufficiency of relief during the years 1692—1699; (f) Prevalence of begging in Scotland; (g) Reasons for the failure of Scotch administration. § 8. The history of poor relief in France. § 9. Comparison between the history of poor relief in England and that in France and in Scotland

pp. 267-292

CHAPTER XIV.

CONCLUSIONS.

§ 1. Summary of history of English poor relief before the Civil War. § 2. The political significance of the paternal measures of the Government. (a) Possible attempt to attach to the Government the poorer part of the nation; (b) Habitual use of proclamations and orders in Council for a popular purpose. § 3. Success of the enforcement of the Book of Orders in the reign of Charles I. § 4. Results of the effectual administration of the Poor Law on English social history

pp. 293-304