"of your system, crime is rapidly decreasing," "and that good order, industry, and all that can "make a poor man respectable, will increase and "be firmly established.”*

The system of Mr. Becher operates as that of Mr. Whately does, in inducing the poor to find work for themselves, through regulations introduced by him, particularly with reference to the management of the poor in the workhouse, to

He remarks, -"One part of the effect which we see "is, I must confess, above my comprehension. I was much "afraid that withdrawing parish relief from persons who had "been during their whole lives used to work in their houses, "or at least under cover, and thus forced to adopt other employ "ments, would, at first, be an exceeding great hardship upon "them, and that it would be injurious to the health of many " of them. I thought, also, that at first they would not know "how to find work for themselves; I therefore took much "pains to get work for many of them during the harvest, "and I was fortunate in finding it for them at a distance “from the parish. I had no hope but that when this was "over, and the men had returned home, they would again "have applied for parish pay. I was afraid of pressing the

thing too hard at first; and, having decreased our pay about “127. during the summer, we were all well satisfied with it "as a beginning, and hoped to do more next year; but, to my “astonishment, though the harvest is over, and the men have "long been returned, we have no more applications for relief "than we had when it continued. When we found them "work, we took off their pay; and now that the work is over, "they do not ask us to put it on again. It seems, therefore, "almost as if we had done no good by finding work for "them." He adds, "How they find work for themselves "I cannot conceive!"

which he has mainly applied himself, probably from his parish having been united with fortynine others under Mr. Gilbert's Act. It may be valuable in such cases, but it is of more importance that attention should be paid, as Mr. Whately has done, to the means of lessening the number of inmates in the workhouse, and of ceasing to pay wages out of the rate, which Mr. Whately has accomplished; and of simplifying the question of settlement as he has also done, by rendering a settlement not worth having excepting by the aged and helpless, whom the 43d' Eliz. intended should be the only occupiers of the dwellings which it directed to be provided.*

3

Workhouses, as they exist in England, are a perversion and abuse of the 43 Eliz., which directed, "That it shall be "lawful for the churchwardens and overseers, &c. to erect, "build, and set up in fit and convenient places of habitation, "in such (some) waste or common, &c. convenient houses "of dwelling for the said impotent poor; and also to place," "inmates, or more families than one, in one cottage or house, "one act, made in the one and twentieth year of her Ma"jesty's reign, intituled, 'An Act against the erecting or main-"" "taining of Cottages,' or any thing therein contained to the "contrary notwithstanding; which cottages, or places for "inmates, shall not at any time be used or employed to or "for any other habitation, but only for impotent and poor of "the same parish, that shall be there placed from time to "time by the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of "the same parish, or the most part of them, upon the pains"

See this act noticed in p. 113.

The mode by which Mr. Whately brought about so great an improvement in his parish was

"and forfeitures contained in the said former act of the "one and thirtieth year of her majesty's reign."

66

Workhouses were not erected any where in England until the time of Charles the Second, and then only in the cities of London and Westminster, upon a recital that "the necessity, number, and continual increase of the poor, not only "within the cities of London and Westminster, but also "through the whole kingdom of England and dominion of "Wales, is very great and exceeding burthensome, being "occasioned by reason of some defects in the law concerning "the settling of the poor, and for want of a due provision "of the regulations of relief and employment in such parishes "or places where they are legally settled, which doth enforce

many to turn incorrigible rogues, and others to perish for "want, together with the neglect of the faithful execution "of such laws and statutes as were formerly made for the "apprehending of rogues and vagabonds, and for the good of "the poor."- 13 & 14 Car. 2. c. 12. In the confusion of evils here enumerated, this statute increased them, by giving additional powers to justices to remove paupers, and to restrain the labouring poor from going from one parish to another in search of employment; a regulation than which nothing could be more mischievous for the purpose of its object, or more inconsistent with the principles of industry, but which remained in force for upwards of a century and a half afterwards, until it was repealed by 35 G. 3. c. 101.

The power granted by the 13 & 14 Car. 2. c. 2., to erect workhouses, however, was confined to the cities of London and Westminster, and was not extended to other parishes until 1722, when it was enacted, "that for the greater ease "of parishes in the relief of the poor, it shall and may be "lawful for the churchwardens and overseers of the poor any parish, town, township, or place, with the consent of

in

His is

was as simple as it has been effectual. an entirely agricultural parish, in which no great proprietors reside; and he prevailed upon the farmers to allow him to say to any poor man ap

"the major part of the parishioners or inhabitants of the said "parish, &c., in vestry or other parish or public meeting for "that purpose assembled, or of so many of them as shall "be so assembled, upon usual notice thereof first given, to purchase or hire any house or houses of the same parish, "&c., and to contract with any person or persons for the "lodging, keeping, maintaining, and employing any or all "such poor in their respective parishes, &c., as shall desire "to receive relief or collection from the same parish, and "there to keep, maintain, and employ all such poor persons, "and take the benefit of all work, labour, and service of any "such poor person or persons who shall be kept or maintained "in any such house or houses, for the better maintenance "and relief of such poor person or persons who shall be "there kept or maintained; and in case any poor per"son of any parish, &c. where such house or houses shall "be so purchased or hired shall refuse to be lodged, kept, "or maintained in such house or houses, such person or per"sons shall be put out of the book or books where the names "of the persons who ought to receive collections in the said "parish, &c. are to be registered; and shall not be entitled "to ask or receive collection or relief from the churchwardens, "or overseers of the same parish," &c.

The last is the best part of this enactment, because it enables the parish to withhold relief, unless the applicant will go into the workhouse, where the helpless young and feeble old should be separated from the able-bodied idle, who by poor fare, and low wages, should be taught, as Mr. Whately has taught them, that their industry may enable them to live better any where than in the workhouse.

plying for relief, -We find work for able-bodied men in this parish, but give no relief: if you want work, farmer such-a-one has an acre to delve, for the digging of which you will be paid so much a rod as your work is done. The poor thus finding they got only hard work and little pay by applying to the parish, soon ceased to apply at all, and found better work for themselves. The farmers conceived the poor would dig all the land in the parish; but Mr. Whately tells us they did not dig quite half an acre in all.

This was the short and simple, but effectual, method by which Mr. Whately laid a foundation for the improvement of morals and industry in his parish. It is plain that a similar method may be followed in every agricultural parish. It may not be so obvious, but it is not less certain, that means exist of laying a similar foundation for the improvement of morals and the increase of industry every where. Thus, in the parish in which I write, the mud is allowed to accumulate on the banks of the river, to the injury of health in the neighbourhood, thought it would form excellent manure, particularly for meadow-land, and may be carried by water-carriage wherever it may be wanted. In so far as the parish is concerned, the hiring of a few barges would be all that would be required to set the idle able-bodied poor of the parish to fill them. As in Mr.