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TestBankBell.com offers a comprehensive range of test banks and academic resources, including the Test Bank for Business Communication, 2nd Edition, designed to enhance students' communication skills for success in the workplace. The platform provides instant digital downloads and covers various topics such as English grammar, writing mechanics, and effective communication strategies. Users can access a wide variety of test banks across multiple disciplines to support their educational needs.

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Description:
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1. Contents
2. Reviewers
3. CHAPTER 1: Communicating in Your Life
4. 1.1: The Communication Process
5. 1.2: Overcoming Communication Barriers
6. 1.3: Reading in the Workplace
7. Chapter Summary
8. Chapter Applications
9. CHAPTER 2: Diversity and Ethics
10.2.1: Diversity at Work
11.2.2: Differences
12.2.3: Strategies for Effective Communication
13.2.4: Ethics in Business Communication
14.Chapter Summary
15.Chapter Applications
16.CHAPTER 3: Nonverbal Communication and Teamwork
17.3.1: Nonverbal Communication
18.3.2: Listening Skills
19.3.3: Teamwork
20.Chapter Summary
21.Chapter Applications
22.CHAPTER 4: Basics of English Grammar
23.4.1: Parts of Speech and Sentences
24.4.2: Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives
25.4.3: Verbs and Adverbs
26.4.4: Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections
27.Chapter Summary
28.Chapter Applications
29.CHAPTER 5: Mechanics of Writing
30.5.1: External Marks and the Comma
31.5.2: Other Internal Marks
32.5.3: Abbreviations, Capitalization, and Number Expression
33.Chapter Summary
34.Chapter Applications
35.CHAPTER 6: The Writing Process
36.6.1: Planning and Organizing Messages
37.6.2: Composing Messages
38.6.3: Editing and Publishing Messages
39.Chapter Summary
40.Chapter Applications
41.CHAPTER 7: Writing Memos, E-mail, and Letters
42.7.1: Business Correspondence
43.7.2: Memos
44.7.3: E-mail and Instant Messaging
45.7.4: Letters
46.Chapter Summary
47.Chapter Applications
48.CHAPTER 8: Writing to Clients and Customers
49.8.1: Neutral or Positive Messages
50.8.2: Negative Messages
51.8.3: Persuasive Messages
52.Chapter Summary
53.Chapter Applications
54.CHAPTER 9: Writing Reports
55.9.1: Planning Reports
56.9.2: Writing Informal Reports
57.9.3: Writing Formal Reports
58.Chapter Summary
59.Chapter Applications
60.CHAPTER 10: Graphics and Visual Aids
61.10.1: Using Graphics and Visual Aids
62.10.2: Developing Graphics
63.Chapter Summary
64.Chapter Applications
65.CHAPTER 11: Technical Communication
66.11.1: Writing to Instruct
67.11.2: Writing to Describe
68.Chapter Summary
69.Chapter Applications
70.CHAPTER 12: Technology in the Workplace
71.12.1: Computer Hardware and Software
72.12.2: Other Technologies
73.12.3: Workplace Safety and Ergonomics
74.Chapter Summary
75.Chapter Applications
76.CHAPTER 13: Presentations and Meetings
77.13.1: Oral Presentations
78.13.2: Visual Aids in Presentations
79.13.3: Effective Meetings
80.Chapter Summary
81.Chapter Applications
82.CHAPTER 14: Communicating with Customers
83.14.1: Customer Service
84.14.2: Face-to-Face Communication
85.14.3: Telephone Communication
86.Chapter Summary
87.Chapter Applications
88.CHAPTER 15: Getting a Job
89.15.1: Job Search
90.15.2: Resume
91.15.3: Application Letter and Form
92.15.4: Interview and Follow-Up Messages
93.Chapter Summary
94.Chapter Applications
95.Appendices
96.Appendix A: Glossary
97.Appendix B: Proofreaders’ Marks and Documentation Styles
98.Appendix C: Checkpoint Answers
Other documents randomly have
different content
was enforced by the English justices and was created by the Book of
Orders of 1631.
In England the justices' reports concerning the administration of the
poor cease after the year 1639. After that date either no more
reports were sent or no care was taken to preserve them. The
cessation of these documents probably marks the time when the
system created by the Book of Orders began to disappear. Other and
more pressing matters engaged the attention of the Privy Council,
and were subjects for the special inquiries of the judges of assize.
The justices devoted their zeal and attention to raising troops or to
meeting the great demands in money made by both King and
Parliament, while constables and overseers were used as collectors,
not only of funds for the relief of the poor, but also of the revenues
needed by the armies[644]. Under these circumstances the system
created by the Book of Orders fell to pieces, and the whole
administration of poor relief became lax. Still the effect of the
execution of the Book of Orders remained. For nine years the
overseers had been drilled by the justices, and the parishioners had
been compelled to pay rates. The inhabitants had become
accustomed to the organisation, and that part of it continued which
was most easily enforced by the overseers, and which seemed to
them most urgently necessary. The impotent were still relieved, and
children were still apprenticed, though less efficiently than before,
but the able-bodied poor were no longer found with work, except in
a few isolated cases.
We will first examine part of the evidence bearing upon the lax
administration of the whole system of poor relief and some of the
efforts which were made under the Commonwealth to restore the
old state of things. Sometimes we hear of the disorganisation of
semi-voluntary charities; at other times of the bad administration of
the laws for the poor; occasionally of fraudulent practices in
connection with charitable endowments.
1. Lax The four royal hospitals of London are the most
administration of conspicuous instances of charities which were
system of Poor
Relief in England under public management, but only partly
during the years of
the Civil War. supported by public contributions. We get from
a. Decline of them several complaints of a partial break-down
charitable owing to the Civil War, and the figures furnished
institutions.
by the Governors speak for themselves. In 1641
there were over nine hundred children in Christ's Hospital, in 1647
there were only five hundred and ninety-seven; at Thomas's
Hospital, in 1641, over a thousand patients were relieved, and in
1647 only six hundred and eighty-two; at St Bartholomew's and
Bridewell the numbers had also decreased[645]. The Governors of
Christ's Hospital give us their estimate of the reasons for this. We
are told that "in respect of the troubles of the times, the meanes of
the said Hospital hath very much failed for want of charitable
Benevolences which formerly have beene given, and are now
ceased; and very few legacies are now given to hospitals, the rents
and revenues thereunto belonging being also very ill paid by the
tenants, who are not able to hold their leases by reason of their
quartering and billetting of soldiers and the taking away of their
corne and cattell from them[646]." A few years later the billeting had
apparently ceased, but the tenants then suffered "by reason of the
severall charges and taxes laid upon them[647]." Even in 1653 we
are informed that the revenues of Christ's Hospital "hath divers
wayes fallen very short of means formerly received, viz. heretofore
many have given monies privateley, others very bountifull at their
deaths. And several parishes in London have sent in large
contributions and now but one that sends anything at all[648]." The
Civil War had reduced many of the richer classes to poverty, and
probably most institutions which were maintained by private
contributions would suffer in the same manner as Christ's Hospital in
London.
1 b. Neglect in There are also complaints and instances of the
execution of bad administration of the ordinary law. One of
ordinary law.
these is contained in the ordinance of the Lords of
1646/7. The Lord Mayor in the City and the justices and judges in
the country are to put in execution the laws concerning the poor and
rogues, because "by reason of the unhappy distractions of these
times the putting of the Lawes into execution have been altogether
neglected[649]."
Numerous resolutions tell us that the state of the London streets had
become almost unbearable. The vagrants hung on coaches and
begged clamorously at the doors of churches and private
houses[650]: moreover not only did men gather in tumultuous
assemblies "by playing at football or otherwise," but many "loose
and vagrant persons" also had been found to wander, who, "under
colour of begging in the day time," did pilfer and steal, and in the
night time "did break into houses and shops to the scandall of the
governmente of this City[651]."
In 1652 several resolutions were passed by Parliament on the
matter, and a committee was appointed to consider how the poor
might be employed, to revive the laws concerning the poor and
setting them to work, and "to consider by what means or default the
same are become ineffectual or are not put in execution[652]."
These resolutions and these complaints at once show that the
administration had become lax, and that there had formerly been a
time in which these laws had "not become ineffectual," and were put
in execution.
1 c. Instances of There are other cases in which there seems to
corrupt practices. have been evidence of corruption. The Chester
Hospital, we are told, had been much
neglected[653]; in 1653 we hear also that persons counterfeited the
Letters Patent and orders of the Council of State for licenses to
collect money for charitable purposes, so that people were cheated,
and it was necessary to pass a special resolution of Parliament on
the subject[654]. A curious instance of corruption in the
administration of charitable funds appears at Barnstaple. Many sums
of money had been bequeathed there as elsewhere for the purpose
of enabling a young craftsman or trader to set up business on his
own account. Some time before the war the town rulers found it
difficult to find young men who could furnish good security, and so
lent part of the money to more prosperous manufacturers, who, they
said, set the poor inhabitants to work. But in 1653 the money was
altogether misapplied; the Corporation bought some gold maces,
found they had no funds to pay for them, and so ordered the debt to
be paid with this endowment[655]. Apparently the money was never
paid back, for payments on account of it cease after this time.
Any one of these instances of fraud and neglect might have occurred
at any time, but so many receive official notice when peace was
restored that they must have occurred more frequently during the
war than at other times. A letter of this period seems to indicate the
opinion of contemporaries: "You speak of feasts to relieve the poor,
but it is well if the money left long since for the poor be given to
them and not to feasts[656]."
2. Attempts to As soon as the Commonwealth was fairly well
regain a good established many efforts were made to relieve the
organisation of poor
relief under the poor of London. As early as 1647 a new
Commonwealth. organisation was established, named the
Corporation of the Poor, which was empowered to
erect workhouses and Houses of Correction[657]. Something seems
to have been done by the members of this body. The store-house
situated in the Minories and the Wardrobe-house were granted to
them, and here orphans were maintained and many hundred of poor
families were employed and relieved by the Corporation by spinning
and weaving, "and," they tell us, "whosoever doth repair, either to
the Wardrobe near Blackfriars, or to Heiden House in the Minories,
may have Materials of Flax, Hemp or Towe to spin at their own
houses if it be desired, leaving so much money as the said Materials
cost, until it be brought again in Yarn; at which time they shall
receive money for their work and more Materials to imploy them; so
that a stock of 12d. or 14d. will be a sufficient security for any that
will be imployed; and every one is paid according to the fineness or
coursness in the Yarn they spin: there being a certain rule of Length
and Tale to pay every one by, so that none are necessitated to live
idly, that are desirous or willing to work[658]."
But the President and Corporation of the Poor were soon hindered in
their work by want of funds, and were not at all successful in
maintaining order in the London streets[659]. Their greatest difficulty
seems to have been in 1656, and they try an interesting experiment.
Many pamphlets of this century concern the fishing trade and were
written to urge the English to keep it from the Dutch. Some of the
writers consider the fitting out of fishing-boats the best means of
setting the poor of the nation to work[660]. The plan now was
actually attempted; three busses or fishing smacks were taken from
the Dutch and granted to this Corporation for the purpose of
employing the poor[661].
But still the help given was but small; several committees were
appointed by the Council of State, but few decisions were reached;
the measures of relief only concerned London and not the whole of
the country, and even in London comparatively little was
accomplished. In spite of the new orphanage at the Wardrobe few
children were educated there, probably because no money could be
got. The hymn sung by the children implores Parliament to redress
the matter:
"Grave Senators that sit on high
Let not poor English Children die
And droop on Dunghils with lamenting notes;
An Act for Poor's Relief they say
Is coming forth; why's this delay?
O let not Dutch, Danes, Devils stop those
Votes[662]."
The work of the Corporation of the Poor continued, but it never
seems to have been great or to have grappled seriously even with
the London poor. In the rest of the country there was probably the
same disorganisation, and less attempt to remedy matters. At Great
Yarmouth the burgesses apparently thought that the spoils of
Norwich Cathedral might be used for the purpose: they petitioned
Parliament to "be pleased to grant vs such a part of the lead and
other vseful materialls of that vast and altogether vseles Cathedrall
in Norwich towardes building of a works house to employ our almost
sterued poore and repairing our peeres etc.[663]"
3. Reasons why There were many reasons why this disorganisation
disorganisation should especially affect the plans for the
especially affected
the provision of employment of the able-bodied poor.
work for the
unemployed.
Even if efforts for this purpose had been much
needed after the outbreak of the Civil War it is
probable that they would have been less enforced than other parts
of the system of poor relief. We see from the justices' reports that
schemes of this kind were not usually undertaken, except under
pressure from the justices. The privation of the helpless old and
young appealed far more to the sympathy of overseers and
ratepayers than the needs of the able-bodied poor. Besides it was far
easier to grant pensions than to superintend work and supply
materials.
But a far stronger reason existed for the discontinuance of the
parochial stocks for employing the poor. The necessities of the war
made enormous demands upon the able-bodied males of the
population. The Parliamentary army was recruited from the men
above the age of sixteen and below the age of sixty. An attempt has
been made to make a rough estimate of the proportion of
Hertfordshire men drawn away by the war. If in 1642 the population
of Hertfordshire was about one-sixth of that of the present time it
would amount to about 36,000 men, women and children, and this
would mean about 9,000 men of an age fit for active service. But in
the summer of 1644 apparently between four and five thousand
Hertfordshire men were serving in the Parliamentary army and
others with the Royalists, so that a large portion of the work of the
country would necessarily have to be done by women, old men and
boys[664].
This calculation is very rough, but it probably approximates to the
truth. We hear from the complaints of the time that much
inconvenience was felt. In 1644 the Grand Jury of Hertford Quarter
Sessions beg that "in regard their harvest is at hand and their
labourers few to gather it, some part of their soldiers ... may be for
a while recalled to assist herein." The Committee of the Eastern
counties about the same time write that they have promised that
some of the Hertfordshire men shall return "considering the
necessity of their attendance upon their harvest[665]."
The drain on the supply of labourers might not have been so great in
all districts and at all times, but it must have been considerable; the
problem to be solved would therefore be to find workmen and not to
find work. The difficulty of getting men is indicated by the fact that
the Parliamentary army offered two and sixpence a day to a
waggoner instead of the shilling or one and threepence usual before
the war[666]. All who were not altogether incapable could get
employment, and there would therefore be no need for the parochial
stocks of materials.
4. State of poor We should therefore expect that the lax
relief after the administration during the war would affect the
Restoration.
schemes for the employment of the poor more
than any other part of the organisation, and the evidence of many
treatises published between the Restoration and the Revolution
show us that this was the case. Order had been somewhat restored,
and the impotent poor were then relieved, but the practice of finding
work had so much fallen into disuse that its former existence was
almost forgotten. Thus in a pamphlet published in 1673, called "The
grand Concern of England explained[667]," the writer states that the
money paid for the poor at that time amounted to £840,000 a year,
and "is employed only to maintain idle persons." He proposed that
instead of giving the poor weekly allowance, both old and young
should be set to work at spinning, or some similar occupation.
Another treatise, published in 1683, has been attributed to Sir
Matthew Hale[668], and likewise shows that little was then done for
the able-bodied poor. The author says, "Indeed there are rates made
for the impotent poor.... But it is rare to see any provision of a stock
in any Parish for the relief of the poor." The word "stock" is here
used in the sense of capital for the employment of the poor, and this
writer also states that the law provides that sums of this kind should
be so raised. He gives many reasons for the neglect in the matter.
One of these is that there was no authority in the Justices of Peace
or other superintendent officials to compel the raising of a stock
where the churchwardens and overseers neglected it. Both practice
and opinion as to the requirements of the law had considerably
altered since in 1629 the Privy Council told the justices that it was
the opinion of all the judges that they both had the power and the
right to levy stocks to set the poor on work, and since in 1631 the
justices from all parts sent in the reports on the Book of Orders[669].
The author of a pamphlet of 1685[670] also points out that by the
law of Elizabeth the parish was bound to provide "work for those
that will labour, punishment for those that will not, and bread for
those that cannot; and if the first two parts of that law were duly
observed the Poor would not only be reduced to a small number
comparatively to what they now are, but there would be no such
poor as idle and wandering rogues and vagabonds." The writer
further complains that work was not provided for those who will
labour, but only bread both for those who can and those who cannot
labour. These pamphlets thus afford abundant proof that the plan of
raising a stock had fallen into disuse in the reign of Charles II., and
few efforts were made to employ the poor until new workhouses
were founded in different towns, each by separate Acts of
Parliament.
5. Reasons for This disorganisation, we have seen, was owing to
failure under thethe Civil War. It is easy to see that when the war
Commonwealth to
was ended, it would be difficult to restore the old
restore the old state
of things. state of things because the old conditions were
altered. The Privy Council after the Restoration
had a much less paternal method of governing, and moreover the
nation had outgrown the old methods of organisation: the Council of
State of the Commonwealth did however try to restore some of the
old remedies.
But under the Commonwealth the justices could no longer have
been as efficient instruments for carrying out the poor law as before.
Many of those who had formerly had most local influence were in
banishment or disgrace; others had lost heavily by the sacrifices
made for the war. Probably those who remained were chiefly
interested in the more exciting political and religious questions of the
time. But without an energetic Council and vigorous and powerful
justices acting in sympathy with them, the administration of the poor
law had been ineffectual in the reign of Elizabeth and in that of
James I. We should therefore expect the same result under the
Commonwealth and Charles II., except for the difference made by
the ten years in which the relief of the poor had been efficient. The
whole of the improvement was not lost, but enough of it to show
how much the execution of the law had depended on the Book of
Orders, and enough to make the poor relief granted in the years
immediately preceding the war different from that of any future
time.
6. History of We will now briefly glance at the history of poor
Legislation on poor relief in Scotland. Prof. Ashley has shown us that
relief in Scotland.
poor laws were not at first peculiarly English
institutions. In every country of Western Europe like difficulties seem
to have occurred at about the same time. Every one of these
countries was developing in new industrial and commercial
directions, and all were becoming more peaceably and quietly
governed. France, Germany, Holland and Scotland were alike
troubled with unemployed vagrants and unrelieved poor. The
monastic houses and hospitals under the old system certainly failed
to cure the evil, perhaps they only increased it. Municipal regulations
and state laws dealing with beggars and almsgiving therefore appear
alike in France, Germany, Scotland, and England, and at about the
same time[671].
In the sixteenth century the history of poor relief in Scotland and in
France is so like that of England as to suggest similar conditions or
possibly conscious imitation. In all three countries it is a history of
successive enactments in which the legal right of the poor to relief is
created, and in which more and more pressure is employed to obtain
the necessary funds.
6 a. History of In Scotland as in England before 1535 there are a
legislation in series of vagabond acts[672], and in 1535 a statute
Scotland before
1597. was passed bearing a strong resemblance to those
passed in England under Henry VIII. The
punishments of whipping awarded to vagrants under the older Acts
were continued, and no beggar was to be allowed to beg in any
parish except that of his birth. New regulations were introduced with
regard to funds as in the contemporary English statute; the head
men of each parish were to "make takings" and to distribute to the
beggars belonging to the parish and to them only[673]. Thus, as in
the England of 1536, parochial responsibility was recognised, and
the funds were to be raised within the parish, but without
compulsion.
The next important change in Scotch legislation was made in 1574,
and the provisions then made were continued and amplified in 1579.
In this later statute the resemblance to the English Act of 1572
seems more than accidental. Both the Scotch and the English
statutes begin with decreeing sharp punishments for vagrants,
although those of the Scotch law are the more severe. But the later
clauses of both statutes deal with relief, and in the Scottish
enactment these are introduced almost in the words of the English
regulations, "And since charity would, that the poor, aged and
impotent persons should be as necessarilie provided for, as the
vagabonds and strong beggars repressed, and that the aged and
impotent poor people should have lodging and abyding places
throughout the realm to settle themselves into," it is ordained that
the provost and bailies in the towns and the justice in every
landward parish shall inquire into the names and condition of the
poor and impotent people born in the parish, or who have lived
there seven years, and shall make a register book containing their
names and surnames. And in order that every parish may know its
own poor, all poor people are ordered to return to the parish where
they belonged within eleven days. The provost and bailies and
justices are then to provide for the sustenance and lodging of those
that must live by alms; in order to meet the cost they are "to tax
and stent the whole inhabitants within the parish according to the
estimation of their substance, without exception of persons, to such
weekly charge and contribution as shall be thought expedient and
sufficient to sustain the said poor people." Overseers and collectors
were to be chosen in every town and parish, and any person who
refused to contribute or discouraged others from so doing was, if
convicted, to remain in prison until he obeyed the order of the
parish. Badged beggars were allowed in some parishes, prisoners
were to be relieved and children were to be apprenticed[674].
Compulsory taxation, parochial responsibility, the authority of
justices or municipal rulers, the appointment of overseers and the
provision made for the impotent poor and children are like those of
the English Act. But there is no regulation concerning the
employment of the able-bodied poor and the clauses concerning
apprentices are far more severe than those in the contemporary
English statute[675].
There are other vagabond Acts in 1592 and 1593, and the Act of
1592 ordains that the Act of 1579 shall be as well executed in all
parts of the realm as it has been in Edinburgh[676]. This seems to
show that in Scotland as in England the statutes of this time were
badly executed, but were not altogether a dead letter[677].
6 b. History of But in 1597 the next important change occurs. It
legislation in begins by a clause which approximates the poor
Scotland from 1597
to 1680. relief system still more to that in force in England.
"Strong beggars and their bairns" are to "be
employed in common work during their life times." But it concludes
with a clause that separates the likeness hitherto existing between
the regulations of the two countries. The execution of the law in
landward parishes is placed in the hands of the kirk session[678].
Henceforward the history of poor relief in Scotland is different from
that of England. In England the law of 1597, as re-enacted in 1601,
remained the chief enactment for dealing with the poor throughout
the century, but in Scotland, on the contrary, many alterations in the
law were made; sometimes the kirk session was declared
responsible for relieving the poor, at other times the justices,
sometimes the heritors of the parish, were to assist the sessions, at
other times the presbytery; sometimes the impotent were to be
better relieved, at other times the able-bodied were to be employed
in Houses of Correction[679]: statute succeeded statute in the
seventeenth century as in the sixteenth, and for the most part with
as little result.
Still, in spite of these many alterations, the Scotch poor law always
resembled that of England in insisting on the duty of each parish to
support three classes of people, (1) the aged poor, (2) the lame and
blind, &c., and (3) orphans and destitute children. But the able-
bodied poor of Scotland, unlike those of England, were not entitled
to either work or relief. No legal provision was made for them except
in Houses of Correction[680].
7. Failure of But during the seventeenth century even the relief
administration in given to the old and to the young in Scotland was
Scotland.
not thoroughly administered. Not only do the
frequent enactments of the legislature show that the governing class
were not satisfied with the result of the existing laws on the subject,
but the fact that the Scotch poor laws were on the whole ineffectual
is also indicated by the response made by the justices to the Scotch
Privy Council, by the hardships which the poor suffered in the time
of dearth at the close of the century, and by the continued existence
of beggars, licensed or unlicensed, not only in the seventeenth
century but until the beginning of the present reign.
In Scotland as in England the Privy Council 7 a. Responses of
endeavoured to induce the justices to secure a the Scotch justices
to the Privy Council
better administration of the poor laws. But the in 1623 show that
Scotch justices possessed less legal authority than they were unable or
their English colleagues, while they also were less unwilling to enforce
the poor laws
inclined either to obey the Council or to impose themselves, and left
taxation. Consequently the efforts of the Scotch it to the kirk
Privy Council failed while those of the English Privy sessions.
Council succeeded. The effect of the Council's interference in
Scotland can be seen in the events of the year 1623.
This was a time of great hardship. "Mony famileis and tennentis and
labouraris of the ground who formarlie wer honnest houshalderis ...
ar now turned beggaris thame selffis and of all siort of beggaris thair
estate and conditioun is most miserable, becaus thay for the most
pairt being eshamed to beg underlyis all the extremiteis quhairwith
the pinching of thair belleis may afflict thame[681]." In consequence
of this distress the Council issued an order that the destitute poor of
each parish should be adequately supported, and that constables
should be provided to apprehend and punish vagrants. The expense
of both proceedings was to be met by a tax levied upon all the
inhabitants of the district.
The replies of the Scotch justices to this order bring out the
difference which existed between England and Scotland in law,
opinions and practice and the consequent difficulty in enforcing in
Scotland a thorough organisation of poor relief. Thus the justices of
Haddington and Lothian write that in regard to the tax which was
ordered by the Council for apprehending and keeping of idle beggars
they "doutt if ane simple proclamatioun be ane sufficient warrand
unto us to sett doun stent upoun every man"; with regard to the
relief of the poor they thought the general contribution beneficial,
but "becaus every contributioun is odious and smellis of ane
taxatioun they could not undertak how to proceid thairin, being ane
matter beyond thair capacitie[682]." The justices of Edinburgh reply
that "thair is no jaillis nor warding plaices within the parochins nor
touns of this sherefdome that is able to conteine a tent pairt of the
pure beging in the same," order was therefore given in Edinburgh
that every landed gentleman should sustain his own poor, and that
the ministers should exhort their parishioners to refrain from giving
alms to the able-bodied beggars[683]. Other justices arrange
meetings to discuss the best means of relieving the destitution which
existed; they nearly all report that it is best for the kirk sessions to
"stent" their own parishioners, and for each landlord to support the
poor on his estate[684].
Again in 1631 and 1632 there are signs of greater care for the poor
in Scotland, and this may be due to the action of the Council, but in
Scotland it seems clear that the justices left the administration
almost entirely in the hands of the kirk sessions, and that the kirk
sessions were not induced to enforce an adequate system of poor
relief for a long term of years. Consequently Scottish poor relief
remained in the seventeenth century in much the same condition as
it had been in both England and Scotland in the preceding period.
7 b. Inadequate In Scotland, as in both countries before 1597,
relief given by the assistance was given to the poor by the parochial
kirk sessions of
Banff. officials, and the money was raised by collections
at the church doors.
How small these contributions were may be seen from the records of
the town and parish of Banff. In 1624 the condition of the poor at
Banff was discussed during the visitation of the presbytery, and the
"haill eldership promised to have ane faithfull cair for provisioune of
thair awne poore and to purge ther bounds of vagabond beggares."
No improved method of relief was reported at the next visitation, but
the "minister and eldares" again promise to look after the poor[685].
In 1631, however, some arrangement was actually made. No one
was to give alms to strange beggars, and the town poor were to be
relieved in their homes. But, in order to secure this result, provision
was made only for twenty poor, although the population of the town
probably numbered nearly two thousand[686]. It seems likely that
this was about the amount of assistance granted in Banff throughout
the century, for in 1673 it is noted that twenty-seven poor received
assistance from the kirk sessions, and in 1691 only twenty-five[687].
This relief was so insufficient that beggars abounded; in 1633 £3 6s.
8d. was paid "To Willie Wat, scurger for outhalding the poore[688]";
in 1642 vagrant beggars were to be put in the "theiffis hoill" until the
magistrates had time to see them well scourged, while in 1698 and
again in 1742 the system of badged beggars was adopted[689],
which is itself an admission of the insufficiency of the relief afforded
by the parish.
7 c. The relief of Occasionally also, as in Elizabethan England, the
the poor in burgesses of particular towns saw that the poor
Aberdeen.
could not live on the relief granted by the church
officials, and made great efforts to raise additional funds so that
they might be able to free their town from beggars. But, as the
convention of Scotch boroughs stated in 1579, it was difficult to
grant relief in one town only, because there were so many beggars
from other parts. In Scotland, as in England under Elizabeth, the
town systems of poor relief ceased to be successful after a few
years. The efforts in this direction made in Aberdeen are probably
fairly typical of those attempted by more philanthropic burgesses.
Even in 1595 the inhabitants of Aberdeen had distributed the
destitute "babis" and had levied voluntary contributions for the other
poor[690]. Early in the seventeenth century, however, beggars
existed who were licensed by the town[691], and in 1619 the "haill
towne" was again convened, and it was agreed that all the beggars
should be sustained in their homes and prevented from begging. It
was estimated that the cost would amount to 2,600 marks, and
£1,000 of this was to be raised "by way of taxatioun," while eleven
hundred marks was to be obtained from the contributions at
communion or collections at the church doors[692]. Two years later,
in April 1621, we are told that "the wark hes hed a gude and happie
succes so that the haill poor peopill within this burght that were then
beggaris have beine now almost these thrie yeiris past interteained
and keiped from begging." It was therefore then agreed that the
same methods should "stand and continew" always, and that the
town should continue to contribute its thousand pounds a year, that
the poor might be relieved at home[693]. Why the plan failed does
not appear, but it did fail, since in 1650 tickets were given to the
town beggars of Aberdeen to distinguish them from those of other
districts[694].
In Aberdeen, therefore, we can see that the money raised by the
kirk sessions was only about half the amount which the town rulers
considered necessary for the adequate support of the poor, and that
when the town was kept free from beggars resort had to be made to
a compulsory tax.
7 d. Infrequency ofBut compulsory taxes were very unpopular both in
assessment in Scotland and England, but while in England they
Scotland before
1818. were forced on the people by the justices of the
peace, acting under instructions from the Privy
Council, in Scotland they never were generally adopted until the
present century. In the report of 1818 the temporary arrangements
of Aberdeen and other towns[695] were forgotten, and it was then
said that before 1700 only three parishes had resorted to
compulsion[696]. This means that only three parishes continued to
use assessments for a long period, and therefore the poor relief
granted in Scotland was almost always the voluntary assistance
given by the kirk sessions.
How insufficient this assistance was is indicated by 7 e. Insufficiency of
the proclamations issued during the years of relief granted
during the years
scarcity at the close of the century. The period 1692-1699.
from 1692 to 1699 has been called the "seven ill
years." The poor suffered great distress, and a series of
proclamations was issued by the Privy Council with the object of
remedying matters.
In 1692 the first proclamation was published; this stated that the Act
for Houses of Correction had been neglected, and ordered the
heritors and inhabitants of each parish to meet and put in execution
the other good laws made for the poor[697]. In the same year a
second proclamation was issued which stated that the previous
order had had little effect because it was uncertain where the
beggars were born and because suitable provision was not made for
them in their parishes[698]. The next year therefore another
proclamation was promulgated, and, it is said, "due obedience" was
not yet given to the laws, "so that the poor are not duly provided for
in many places nor the vagabonds restrained." In 1698 the fourth
and last proclamation was published, and again it is stated that the
poor laws have not taken effect, partly because there were no
houses provided for the poor and partly because the people
responsible for the execution of the laws had been negligent of their
duty[699].
The statements of these proclamations show that little poor relief
was then administered in Scotland, but a stronger proof that this
was so is furnished by the existence of the misery endured by the
poor during these years: this was so great that it is said whole
parishes in some districts were nearly depopulated[700].
But the fact which throws the strongest light upon
7 f. Insufficiency of
relief indicated bythe administration of poor relief in Scotland is the
prevalence of
beggary. continued existence of beggary. This was the real
method by which most of the poor were relieved.
Even the Town Council of Aberdeen tolerated licensed beggars, and
in 1664 a resolution was passed by the synod, which shows that the
licensing of beggars was then a general practice in the diocese; it is
ordained that a minister should license "those creaving for support"
only within his own parish[701].
In 1699 the beggars of Stirling also were licensed[702], but the
existence of licensed beggars was not the worst of the evil. This
method of dealing with the matter, it is true, is very strong evidence
that insufficient poor relief was given because it is furnished by the
administrators themselves; the beggar must be destitute, or they
ought not to have given him a license, and he could hardly have
been among those who were too proud to receive relief. But the
districts where unlicensed beggary prevailed were in a far worse
condition. How great the evil was may be seen from the evidence of
Fletcher of Saltoun, who wrote in 1698. His complaints and even his
language closely resemble that of Harman when he describes the
English beggars under Henry VIII., and that of Hext, concerning
those who lived under Elizabeth; they are in strong contrast to the
self-satisfied reports of the English justices of the reign of Charles I.
"There are," he says, "at this day in Scotland (besides a great
number of families very meanly provided for by the church boxes,
with others, who, living upon bad food, fall into various diseases)
200,000 people begging from door to door. These are not only no
ways advantageous, but a very grievous burden to so poor a
country, and though the number of them be perhaps double to what
it was formerly, by reason of the present great distress, yet in all
times there have been about 100,000 of these vagabonds who have
lived without any regard or submission either to the laws of the land
or even of those of God and nature.... No magistrate could ever
discover or be informed which way any of these wretches died, or
that ever they were baptized. Many murders have been discovered
among them; and they are not only a most unspeakable oppression
to poor tenants (who, if they give not bread or some sort of
provision to perhaps forty such villains in one day, are sure to be
insulted by them), but they rob many poor people, who live in
houses distant from any neighbourhood. In years of plenty many
thousands of them meet together in the mountains, where they
feast and riot for many days; and at country weddings, markets,
burials and other like public occasions, they are to be seen, both
men and women, perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming and
fighting together[703]."
This terrible state of things indicates clearly that no efficient system
of poor relief was then in force in Scotland, and shows the evil
resulting from trusting the relief of the poor to charity, when charity
was altogether insufficient. It is, however, well known that in more
charitable days the Scotch system of poor relief found many
supporters who urged that the poor obtained sufficient help, and
that the organisation which relied on charity called forth a much
more noble spirit in both rich and poor than that which depended
upon compulsion. This opinion prevailed especially in 1818, although
even then beggary was nearly universal[704] in Scotland, but it must
be remembered that in 1818 Scottish poor relief gained by
comparison with the English because England was then suffering
from the increase in pauperism produced by the lax rules of
administration which had been introduced into her system of poor
relief during the preceding twenty-five years.
7 g. Reasons for theBut in the seventeenth century the danger was
failure of the rather that there should be too little relief than too
administration in
Scotland. much. The citizens of Glasgow, like those of
Aberdeen, introduced compulsory assessments,
and said the "commendable cair" for the poor now shown was "to
the glorie of God and good report of this citie"; but, in spite of this
good result, altered their methods, apparently because of the
unpopularity of the poor rate[705]. It is easy to see why this
happened. Town governors and kirk officials were much more
affected by unpopularity with the ratepayers than justices of the
peace, and were much less influenced by the central government.
Consequently it seems that because in Scotland the system of poor
relief was not in the hands of the justices of the peace, there was no
period in the history of Scotch poor relief corresponding to the years
in which the Book of Orders was enforced in England under Charles
I. The result was that in Scotland the poor laws though made were
not thoroughly administered until the present reign.
8. The history of The history of poor relief in France is very similar
poor relief in to that in Scotland, except that in the earlier
France.
stages French legislation is in advance of that of
England.
After the middle of the fourteenth century there were vagrant laws
in France and Paris as in Scotland and England. The first general
measure for the relief of the poor also is almost exactly
contemporaneous in all three countries. In 1536, Francis I. issued
two edicts. The first ordains "that the impotent poor who have room
and lodging and dwelling houses shall be nourished and entertained
by their parishes, and for this purpose a register shall be made by
the curés, vicars or churchwardens, each for his own parish," in
order that these officers may distribute alms to the poor who are
disabled. In each parish boxes were to be placed in which offerings
were to be collected, and every Sunday, in Paris as in England, the
preachers in their sermons were to exhort their hearers to
contribute. Abbeys, priories, chapters and colleges were to give their
alms to this box[706].
By a second edict of King Francis, issued in this year, the able-bodied
poor were compelled to labour in return for their alms, and it was
ordered that the ordinances made in Paris concerning the poor
should be binding also in the towns of Brittany[707]. These edicts of
King Francis contain almost exactly similar provisions to those of the
statutes of Henry VIII., even in matters of detail.
Several other edicts between this and 1551 concern the poor, chiefly
the Parisian poor. Public works were established to employ them,
and efforts were made to succour the impotent poor in hospitals. In
1544 a governing body for the poor was established by Letters
Patent, and the right of levying a tax or poor rate was given to this
new authority[708]. But the new taxation met with much opposition,
and in 1551 an ordinance was issued which bears a very close
resemblance to the English statute of 1563. All the inhabitants of
Paris and the suburbs were to state how much they were willing to
contribute to the support of the poor. Their answers were to be laid
before the Parliament, which was then to assess everyone according
to his wealth. The object of the edict was to make the taxation
voluntary if possible without surrendering the right of imposing
compulsory payment. Even at the Revolution this contribution had
not altogether disappeared, although it was too small an amount to
have much[709] practical effect.
In 1566 it was again ordered that throughout France every town and
every village was to care for its own poor[710]. In particular towns a
good deal was done: not only were public workshops opened in
Paris[711], but in 1612 new hospitals were established, and in Lyons
and in certain other towns the same kind of relief was given.
But, as in England in the sixteenth century, relief was only
administered in particular districts and for a short time. In France as
in Scotland the history of the seventeenth century was like that of
the sixteenth. Edict succeeded edict; they had some result but not
much; no general system was ever established, nor were the poor
ever effectually relieved. Perhaps it was impossible that laws of this
kind should be executed in France because the French did not

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