An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers/Section 6

SECT. VI.

Of Laws relating to.

The other great Encouragement to Robbery, beide the certain Means of finding a Market for the Booty, is the Probability of ecaping Punihment.

Firt, then, The Robber hath great Hopes of being undicovered: And this is one principal Reaon, why Robberies are more frequent in this Town, and in its Neighbourhood, than in the remoter Parts of the Kingdom.

Whoever indeed coniders the Cities of London and Wetminter, with the late vat Addition of their Suburbs; the great Irregularity of their Buildings, the immene Number of Lanes, Alleys, Courts and Byeplaces; mut think, that, had they been intended for the very Purpoe of Concealment, they could carce have been better contrived. Upon uch a View, the whole appears as a vat Wood or Foret, in which a Thief may harbour with as great Security, as wild Beats do in the Dearts of Africa or Arabia. For by wandering from one Part to another, and often hifting his Quarters, he may almot avoid the Posibility of being dicovered.

Here, according to the Method I have hitherto purued, I will conider, what Remedy our Laws have applied to this Evil, namely, the wandering of the Poor, and whether, and wherein thee Remedies appear defective.

There is no Part of our ancient Contitution more admirable than that which was calculated to prevent the Concealment of Thieves and Robbers. The Original of this Intitution is given to Alfred, at the End of his Wars with the Danes, when the Englih were very much debauched by the Example of thoe Barbarians, and betook themelves to all Manner of Licentiounes and Rapine. Thee Evils were encouraged, as the Hitorians ay, by the vagabond State of the Offenders, who, having no ettled Place of Abode, upon committing any Offence, hifted their Quarters, and went where it was difficult to dicover them. To remedy this Michief, therefore, Alfred having limited the Shires or Counties in a better Manner than before, divided them into Hundreds, and thee again into Tithings, Decennaries, or ten Families.

Over every one of thee Tithings or Decennaries, there was a Chief, called the Tithingham or Burghholder, who had a Power to call a Court, and to try mall Offences; the greater being referred to that Court, which was in like manner etablihed over every Hundred.

Every one of thee Heads of Families were Pledges to each other for the Behaviour of all their Family; and were likewie reciprocally Pledges for each other to the Hundred.

If any Peron was uspected of a Crime, he was obliged to find Security for his good Behaviour out of the ame Hundred and Tithing. This if he could not find, he had Reaon to apprehend being treated with great Severity; and if any accued Peron, either before or after his finding Bail, had fled from Jutice, the whole Tithing and Hundred hould pay a Fine to the King.

In cae of the Default of Appearance in a Decenner, his nine Pledges had one and thirty Days to bring the Delinquent forth to Jutice. If this failed, then the Chief of thoe Decenners, by the Vote of that and the Neighbour Decennaries, was to purge himelf both of the Guilt of the Fact, and of being parties to the Flight of the Delinquent. And if they could not do this, then they were by their own Oaths to acquit themelves, and to bind themelves to bring the Delinquent to Jutice as oon as they could; and, in the mean time to pay the Damage out of the Etate of the Delinquent; and if that were not ufficient, then out of their own Etate.

Every Subject in the Kingdom was regitred in ome Tithing; only Perons of the firt Rank had the Privilege (says Mr. Rapin ) that their ingle Family hould make a Tithing, for which they were reponible. 'All Archbihops, Bihops, Earls, Barons, and all (says Bracton) who have Sok and Sah, Tol and Team, and thee Kinds of Liberties, ought to have under the FRIDHBURG, all their Knights, Servants, Equires; and if any of them prove delinquent, the Lord hall bring him to Jutice, or pay his Fine .'

The Mater of the Family was anwerable for all who fed at his Board, and were of his Livery, and for all his Servants of every Kind, even for thoe who erved him for their Food only, without Wages. Thee were aid to be of his Manupat; o were his Guets; and if a Man abode at any Houe but two Nights, the Mater of that Houe was anwerable for him.

In a word, ays Bracton, every Man, as well Freemen as others, ought to belong to ome Frankpledge, (i.e. to ome Decenna) unles he be a Traveller, or belong to the Manupat of ome other; or unles he gives ome countervailing Security to the Public, as Dignity, (viz. Nobility) Order, (Knighthood, or of the Clergy) or Etate, (viz. either Freehold in Land, or peronal Effects (res immobiles) if he be a Citizen.

By the Laws of Edward the Confesor, every Peron, of the Age of 12 Years, ought to be worn in a View of Frankpledge, That he will neither become a Thief himelf, nor be anywie accesary to Theft.

This Court, Briton tells us, was to be holden twice a Year, which was afterwards reduced to once a Year by Magna Charta; and no Man, ays the Mirror, was, by an ancient Ordinance, uffered to remain in the Kingdom, who was not enrolled in Decenna, and had Freemen for his Pledges.

Such was this excellent Contitution, which even in Alfred's Time, when it was in its Infancy, wrought o admirable an Effect, that Ingulphus ays, a Traveller might have openly left a Sum of Money afely in the Fields and Highways, and have found it afe and untouched a Month afterwards. Nay, William of Malmbury tells us, the King ordered Bracelets of Gold to be hung up in the Cros-ways, as a Proof of the Honety of his People, none ever offering to meddle with them.

But this Contitution would have been deficient, if it had only provided for the incorporating the Subjects, unles it had confined them to the Places where they were thus incorporated.

And therefore by the Laws of Alured or Canute, it was rendered unlawful for any of the Decenners to depart from their Dwelling, without the Conent of their Fellow-Pledges; nor were they at Liberty to leave the Country, without the Licence of the Sheriff or Governor of the ame.

And if a Peron, who fled from one Tithing, was received in another, the Tithing receiving him hould anwer for his Deed (i.e. by Amercement) if he was there found.

'Before this Order was etablihed,' ays Rapin, 'the meaner Sort of People might hift their Quarters, by reaon of their Obcurity, which prevented them from being taken Notice of. But it was imposible for them to change their Habitation, after they were obliged to bring a Tetimonial from their Tithing, to enable them to ettle and be regitred in another .'

Whilt this antient Contitution remained entire, 'Such Peace,' ays Lord Coke, 'was preerved within the Realm, as no Injuries, Homicides, Robberies, Thefts, Riots, Tumults or other Offences, were committed; o as a Man, with a white Wand, might afely have ridden, before the Conquet, with much Money about him, without any Weapon, through England .' Nay even in the tumultuous Times of William the Conqueror, the Hitorians tell us, there was carce a Robber to be found in the Kingdom.

This View of Frankpledge remained long after the Conquet: for we find it twice repeated in one Chapter of Magna Charta ; and there particularly it is aid, Fiat autem vius de Frankpleg' ic videlicet QUOD PAX NOSTRA TENEATUR. Nay, Bracton, who wrote after that Time, and Fleta after him, peak of Frankpledge as then ubisting.

The Statute of Marlborough likewie, which was made the 52d of Henry III. mentions the ame Court; as doth Briton, who wrote till later, in many Places. And in the 17th of Edward II. An Act was made, called, The Statute for the View of Frank-pledge.

Nay, in the Reign of Henry IV. we find an Amercement for not coming to a View of Frankpledge; and there the whole Court of King's Bench were of Opinion, that every Man, as well Maters as Servants, were obliged to repair to this Court ; tho' then posibly it was degenerated, and become little more than Form.

But in Proces of Time, this Intitution dwindled to nothing; o that Lord Coke might truly ay, Quod vera intitutio illius curiæ evanuit & velat umbra ejudem adhuc remanet; and a little after, peaking of the Frankpledge, the Decennarii, and the Decenna, he ays, 'They are Names continued only as Shadows of Antiquity .' Nay, this great Man himelf (if, after a mot careful and painful Perual of all he hath writ, as well here as in his 4th Intitute, and other Places on the Subject, I may be allowed to ay o) eems to have no very clear Idea concerning them; and might have fairly owned, of the Original of the Leet and Frankpledge, what one of the Sages doth of an Hundred, in the Book of Henry VII. 'That a Hundred had exited above a hundred Years; and therefore, as to the true Definition of a Hundred, and whether it was compoed of a hundred Towns, or a hundred Lordhips, and whether it had anciently more or les Juridiction, he frankly owned that he knew nothing of the Matter .'

The Statute of Marlborough had perhaps given a fatal Blow to the true and ancient Ue of the View of Frankpledge; of which as Lord Coke ays, the Sheriffs had made an ill Ue: for, in the 3d Year of the ucceeding King , we find the Legilature providing againt notorious Felons, and uch as be openly of evil Fame, that they hall not be admitted to Bail; and, in the 13th, the Statute of Wincheter entirely altered the Law, and gave us a new Contitution on this Head.

1. By this Act the whole Hundred is made anwerable in Cae of Robberies.

2. In order to prevent the Concealment of Robbers in Towns, it is enacted, 1. That the Gates of all walled Towns hall be hut from Sun etting to Sun-riing. 2. A Watch is appointed, who are to arret all Strangers. 3. No Peron is to lodge in the Suburbs, nor in any Place out of the Town, unles his Hot will anwer for him. 4. The Bailiffs of Towns hall make Enquiry once within 15 Days at the farthet, of all Perons lodged in the Suburbs, &c. and of thoe who have received any uspicious Perons.

3. To prevent the Concealment of Robbers without the Towns, it is enacted, That the Highways leading from one Market-Town to another, hall be enlarged, and no Buhes, Woods, or Dykes, in which Felons may be concealed, hall be uffered therein.

4. Felons are to be purued by Hue and Cry.

This Statute, ays Lord Coke, was made againt a Gang of Rogues then called Roberdmen, that took their Denomination of one Robin Hood, who lived in Yorkhire in the Reign of Richard I. and who, with his Companions, harbouring in Woods and Dearts, committed a great Number of Robberies and other Outrages on the Subject. From this Arch-thief a great Number of idle and disolute Fellows, who were called Drawlatches, Ribauds, and Roberdmen, took their Rie, and infeted this Kingdom for above a Century, notwithtanding the many Endeavours of the Legilature from time to time to uppres them.

In all thee Laws, the principal Aim viibly was, to prevent idle Perons wandering from Place to Place, which, as we have before een, was one great Point of the Decennary Contitution.

Thus by a Law made in the 34th Year of Edward III. A Labourer departing from his Service into another Country was to be burned in the Forehead with the Letter F. And by the ame Statute, if a Labourer or Servant do fly into a City or Borough, the Chief Officer, on Requet, was to deliver him up.

Again, in the 7th Year of Richard II. the Jutices of Peace are ordered to examine Vagabonds; and, if they have no Sureties for their good Behaviour, to commit them to Prion.

In the 11th Year of Henry VII. it was enacted, That Vagabonds and idle Perons hould be et on the Stocks three Days and three Nights, and have no other Sutenance but Bread and Water, and then hall be put out of the Town; and whooever gave uch idle Perons Relief, forfeited 12d.

By 22 Henry VIII. Perons calling themelves Egyptians hall not come into the Realm, under Penalty of forfeiting their Goods; and, if they do not depart within 15 Days after they are commanded, hall be imprioned.

By the 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, Egyptians coming into the Kingdom, and remaining here a Month, are made guilty of Felony without Benefit of Clergy.

And thoe who bring them into the Realm, forfeit 40l.

By the 5 Eliz. the Crime of Felony without Clergy is extended to all who are found in the Company of Egyptians, or who hall counterfeit, tranform, or diguie themelves as uch.

By 22 Henry VIII. A Vagabond taken begging hall be whipped, and then worn to return to the Place of his Birth, or lat Abode for three Years, there to put himelf to Labour.

By 27 Henry VIII. A valiant Beggar, or turdy Vagabond, hall be whipped for the firt Offence, and ent to the Place of his Birth, &c. for the econd, the upper Part of the Gritle of his right Ear cut off; and if after that he be taken wandering in Idlenes, &c. he hall be adjudged and executed as a Felon.

I hall mention no more Acts (for everal were made) between this and the 39th Elizabeth, when the former Acts concerning Vagabonds were all repealed, and the everal Proviions againt them were reduced to one Law.

This Act, which contained many wholeome Proviions, remained in Force a long TIme, but at length was totally repealed by the 12th of Queen Anne; as this was again by the 13 George II. which lat mentioned Statute tands now repealed by another made about Six years ago.

I have taken this hort View of thee repealed Laws, in order to enforce two Coniderations. 1st, That the Removal of an Evil, which the Legilature have o often endeavoured to redres, is of great Importance to the Society. 2dly, That an Evil which o many ubequent Laws have failed of removing, is of a very tubborn Nature, and extremely difficult to be cured.

Here I hope to be forgiven, when I ugget, that the Law hath probably failed in this Intance, from Want of ufficient Direction to a ingle Point. As on a former Head, the Dieae eems to be no other than Idlenes, o here Wandering is the Caue of the Michief, and that alone to which the Remedy hould be applied. This, one would imagine, hould be the chief, if not ole Intent of all Laws againt Vagabonds, which might, in a ynonymous Phrae, be called Laws againt Wanderers. But as the Word itelf hath obtained by vulgar Ue a more complex Signification, o have the Laws on this Head had a more general View than to extirpate this Michief; and by that means, perhaps, have failed of producing uch an Effect.

I will therefore confine myelf, as I have hitherto done on this Head, to the ingle Point of preventing the Poor from Wandering, one principal Caue of the Increae of Robbers; as it is the chief Means of preerving them from the Puruit of Jutice. It being imposible for any Thief to carry on his Trade long with Impunity among his Neighbours, and where not only his Peron, but his Way of Life, mut be well known.

Now to obviate this Evil, the Law, as it now tands, hath provided in a twofold manner. 1st By way of Prevention; and, 2dly, By way of Remedy.

As to the firt, the Statute of Elizabeth declares, That no Peron retained in Hubandry, or in any Art or Science in the Act mentioned , after the Time of his Retainer is expired, hall depart out of any City, Parih, &c. nor out of the County, &c. to erve in any other, unles he have a Tetimonial under the Seal of the City or Town Corporate, or of the Contable or other Head-Officer, and two other honet Houholders of the City, Town or Parih, where he lat erved, declaring his lawful Departure, and the Name of the Shire and Place where he erved lat. This Certificate is to be delivered to the Servant, and regitred by the Paron for 2d. and the Form of it is given in the Act.

And no Peron is to be retained in any other Service, without hewing uch Tetimonial to the Chief Officer of the Town Corporate, and in every other Place to the Contable, Curate, &c. on Pain of Imprionment, till he procure a Tetimonial, and if he cannot procure uch Tetimonial within 21 Days, he hall be whipped and treated like a Vagabond; o hall he be if found with a forged Tetimonial. And thoe who receive him without hewing uch Tetimonial as aforeaid, forfeit 5l.

As to the 2d, the Law hath been extremely liberal in its Proviions. Thee are of two Sorts, 1. Simply compulory; and, 2. Compulory with Punihment. Under the former Head may be ranged the everal Acts of Parliament relating to the Settlement, or rather Removal of the Poor.

As thee Statutes, tho' very imperfectly executed, are pretty generally known, (the Nation having paid ome Millions to Wetminter-Hall for their Knowledge of them) I hall mention them very lightly in this Place.

The Statute of Elizabeth, together with the wie Execution of it, having made the Poor an intolerable Burden to the Public, Diputes began to arie between Parihes to whoe Lot it fell to provide for certain Individuals: for the Laws for confining the Poor to their own Homes, being totally diregarded, thee ued to ramble wherever Whim or Conveniency invited them. The Overeers of one Parih were perhaps more liberal of the Parochial Fund than in another; or ometimes probably the Overeer of the Parih A was a Friend or Relation of a poor Peron of the Parih of B, who did not chooe to work. From ome uch Reaon, the Poor of one Parih began to bring a Charge on another.

To remedy uch Inconveniencies, immediately after the Retoration, a Statute was made, by which if any poor Man, likely to be chargeable, came to inhabit in a foreign Parih, unles in a Tenement of 10l. a Year, the Overeers might complain to one Jutice within 40 Days, and then two Jutices were to remove the poor Peron to the Place of his legal Settlement.

By a econd Act, the 40 Days are to be reckoned after Notice given in Writing to the Churchwarden or Overeer by the poor Peron, containing the Place of his Abode, Number of his Family, &c.

But by the ame Statute, the executing a public annual Office during a Year, or being charged with, and paying to the public Taxes, &c. or (if unmarried and not having a Child) being lawfully hired into any Parih, and erving for one Year, or being bound Apprentice by Indenture, and inhabiting, &c. are all made good Settlements without Notice.

By a third Statute, Perons bringing a Certificate igned by the Overeers, &c. and allowed by two Jutices, cannot be removed till they become chargeable.

By a fourth, no uch Certificate Peron hall gain a Settlement by any other Act, than by bona fide taking a Leae of a Tenement of 10l. per Annum, or by executing an annual Office.

By a fifth, no Apprentice or hired Servant of Certificate Peron hall, by uch Service or Apprenticehip, gain any Settlement. By a ixth, no Peron by any Purchae, of which the Conideration doth not bona fide amount to 30l. hall gain any Settlement longer than while he dwells on uch Purchae.

So much for thee Laws of Removal, concerning which there are everal other Acts of Parliament and Law Caes innumerable.

And yet the Law itelf is, as I have aid, very imperfectly executed at this Day, and that for everal Reaons.

1. It is attended with great trouble: for as the Act of Ch. 2d very wiely requires two Jutices, and the Court of King's Bench requires them both to be preent together, (tho' they eldom are o) the Order of Removal is ometimes difficult to be obtained, and more difficult to be executed; for the Parih to which the Party is to be removed (perhaps with a Family) is often in a ditant County; nay, ometimes they are to be carried from End of the Kingdom to another.

2. It is often attended with great Expence, as well for the Reaon aforeaid, as becaue the Parih removing is liable to an Appeal from the Parih to which the Poor is removed. This Appeal is ometimes brought by a wealthy and litigious Parih againt a poor one, without any Colour of Right whatever.

3. The Removal is often ineffectual: for as the Appeal is almot certain to be brought, if an Attorney lives in the Neighbourhood; o is it almot as ure to ucceed, if a Jutice lives in the Parih. And as for Relief in the King's Bench, if the Jutices of Peace will allow you to go thither, (for that they will not always do) the Delay as well as the Cot is uch, that the Remedy is often wore than the Dieae.

For thee Reaons, it can be no wonder that Parihes are not very forward to put this Law in Execution. Indeed, in all Caes of Removal, the Good of the Parih, and not of the Public, is conulted; nay, ometimes the Good of an Individual only; and therefore the poor Man, who is capable of getting his Livelihood by his Dexterity at any Handicraft, and likely to do it by his Indutry, is ure to be removed with his Family; epecially if the Overeer, or any of his Relations, hould be of the ame Occupation; but the idle Poor, who threaten to rival no Man in his Buines, are never taken any notice of, till they become actually chargeable; and if by Begging or Robbing they avoid this, as it is no Man's Interet, o no Man thinks it his Duty to apprehend them.

It cannot therefore be expected, that any Good of the Kind I am contending for, hould be effected by this Branch of the Law; let us therefore, in the econd Place, take a View of that which is expresly levelled at Vagrants, and calculated, as it appears, for the very Purpoe of uppresing Wanderers.

To urvey this Branch will be eay, as all the Laws concerning Vagrants are now reduced into one Act of Parliament; and it is the eaier till, as this Act is very clearly penned, and (which is not always the Cae) reduced to a regular and intelligible Method.

By this Act then three Degrees of Offences are contituted:

Firt, Perons become idle and diorderly within the Act, by, 1. Threatning to run away and to leave their Wives or Children to the Parih. 2. Unlawfully returning to the Place from whence they have been legally removed by the Order of two Jutices, without bringing a Certificate, &c. 3. Living idle without Employment, and refuing to work for uual and common Wages. 4. By begging in their own Parihes.

Secondly, Perons by, 1. Going about as Patent-Gatherers, or Gatherers of Alms under Pretence of Los by Fire, or other Caualty; or, 2. Going about as Collectors for Prions, Goals, or Hopitals. 3. Being Fencers and Bearwards. 4. Or common Players of Interludes, &c. 5. Or Mintrels, Jugglers. 6. Pretending to be Gypies, or wandering in uch Habit. 7. Pretending to Phyiognomy, or like crafty Science, &c. 8. Uing any ubtle Craft to deceive and impoe on any of his Majety's Subjects. 9. Playing or itting at unlawful Games. 10. Running away, and leaving Wives or Children, whereby they become chargeable to any Parih. 11. Wandering abroad as petty Chapmen or Pedlars, not authorized by Law. 12. Wandering abroad and lodging in Alehoues, Barns, Outhoues, or in the open Air, not giving a good Account of themelves. 13. Wandering abroad and begging, pretending to be Soldiers, Mariners, eafaring Men, or pretending to go to wok at Harvet. 14. Wandering abroad and begging, are to be deemed Rogues and Vagabonds.

Thirdly, 1. End-gatherers offending againt the 13 George I. entitled, An Act for the better Regulation of the Woollen Manufactures, &c. being convicted of uch Offence; 2. Perons apprehended as Rogues and Vagabonds ecaping, or, 3. refuing to go before a Jutice, or, 4. refuing to be examined on Oath, or, 5. refuing to be conveyed by a Pas, or, 6. on Examination giving a fale Account of themelves after Warning of the Punihment. 7. Rogues and Vagabonds ecaping out of the Houe of Correction, &c. or, 8. thoe who having been punihed as Rogues and Vagabonds, hall offend again as uch, are made incorrigible Rogues.

Now as to the firt of thee three Diviions, it were to be wihed, that Perons who are found in Alehoues, Nighthoues, &c. after a certain Hour at Night, had been included; for many uch, tho' of very uspicious Characters, taken up at Privy Searches, fall not under any of the above Decriptions. Some of thee I have known dicharged, againt whom capital Complaints have appeared, when it hath been too late. Why might not the Jutice be entruted with a Power of detaining any uspicious Peron, who could produce no known Houekeeper, or one of Credit, to his Character, for three Days, within which Time he might, by Means of an Advertiement, be viewed by Numbers who have been lately robbed? Some uch have been, I know, confined upon an old Statute as Perons of evil Fame, with great Emolument to the Public.

But I come to the econd Head, namely, of Vagabonds: And here I mut oberve, that Wandering is of itelf made no Offence: o that unles uch Wanderer be either a petty Chapman, or a Beggar or Lodger in Alehoues, &c. he is not within the Act of Parliament.

Now, however ueful this excellent Law may be in the Country, it will by no means erve the Purpoe in this Town: for tho' mot of the Rogues who infet the Public Roads and Streets, indeed almot all the Thieves in general, are Vagabonds within the Words of this Act of Parliament. Thee Vagabonds do indeed get their Livelihood by Thieving, and not as petty Beggars or petty Chapmen; and have their Lodging not in Alehoues, &c. but in private Houes, where many of them reort together, and unite in Gangs, paying each 2d. per Night for their Beds.

The following Account I have had from Mr. Welch, the High Contable of Holbourn; and none who know that Gentleman, will want any Confirmation of the Truth of it.

'That in the Parih of St. Giles there are great Numbers of Houes et apart for the Reception of idle Perons and Vagabonds, who have their Lodgings there for Twopence a Night: That in the above Parih, and in St. George, Bloombury, one Woman alone occupies even of thee Houes, all properly accommodated with mierable Beds from the Cellar to the Garret, for uch Twopenny Lodgers: That in thee Beds, everal of which are in the ame Room, Men and WOmen, often Strangers to each other, lie promicuouly, the Price of a double Bed being no more than Threepence, as an Encouragement to them to lie together: That as thee Places are thus adapted to Whoredom, o are they no les provided for Drunkennes, Gin being old in them all at a Penny a Quartern; o that the mallet Sum of Money erves for Intoxication: That in the Execution of Search-Warrants, Mr. Welch rarely finds les than Twenty of thee Houes open for the Receipt of all Comers at the latet Hours: That in one of thee Houes, and that not a large one, he hath numbered 58 Perons of both Sexes, the Stench of whom was o intolerable, that it compelled him in a very hort time to quit the Place.' Nay, I can add, what I myelf once aw in the Parih of Shoreditch, where two little Houes were emptied of near eventy Men and Women; amongt whom was one of the prettiet Girls I had ever een, who had been carried off by an Irihman, to conummate her Marriage on her Wedding-night, in a Room where everal others were in Bed at the ame time.

If one coniders the Detruction of all Morality, Decency and Modety; the Swearing, Whoredom, and Drunkennes, which is eternally carrying on in thee Houes, on the one hand, and the excesive Poverty and Miery of mot of the Inhabitants on the other, it eems doubtful whether they are more the Objects of Detetation, or Compasion: for uch is the Poverty of thee Wretches, that, upon earching all the above Number, the Money found upon all of them (except the Bride, who, as I afterwards heard, had robbed her Mitres) did not amount to One Shilling; and I have been credibly informed, that a ingle Loaf hath upplied a whole Family with their Proviions for a Week. Latly, if any of thee mierable Creatures fall ick (and it is almot a Miracle, that Stench, Vermin, and Want hould ever uffer them to be well) they are turned out in the Streets by their merciles Hot or Hotes, where, unles ome Parih Officer of extraordinary Charity relieves them, they are ure mierably to perih, with the Addition of Hunger and Cold to their Dieae.

This Picture, which is taken from the Life, will appear trange to many; for the Evil here decribed is, I am confident, very little known, epecially to thoe of the better Sort. Indeed this is the only Excue, and I believe the only Reaon, that it hath been o long tolerated: for when we conider the Number of thee Wretches, which, in the Out-skirts of the Town, amounts to a great many Thouands, it is a Nuiance which will appear to be big with every moral and political Michief. Of thee the excesive Miery of the Wretches themelves, oppresed with Want, and unk in every Species of Debauchery, and the Los of o many Lives to the Public, are obvious and immediate Conequences. There are ome more remote, which, however, need not be mentioned to the Dicerning.

Among other Michiefs attending this wretched Nuiance, the great Increae of Thieves mut necesarily be one. The Wonder in fact is, that we have not a thouand more Robbers than we have; indeed, that all thee Wretches are not Thieves, mut give us either a very high Idea of their Honety, or a very mean one of their Capacity and Courage.

Where then is the Redres? Is it not to hinder the Poor from wandering, and this by compelling the Parih and Peace Officers to apprehend uch Wanderers or Vagabonds, and by empowering the Magitrate effectually to punih and end them to their Habitations? Thus if we cannot dicover, or will not encourage any Cure for Idlenes, we hall at leat compel the Poor to tarve or beg at home: for there it will be imposible for them to teal or rob, without being preently hanged or tranported out of the way.