Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/330

310 whipping, branding, or even hanging were not considered penalties in themselves too heavy for the sturdy and valiant rascal who refused to be reformed; yet through 'foolish pity of them that should have seen the laws executed,' there had been no hanging and very little whipping, and vagrancy was more troublesome than ever. Granting that it was permissible to treat the vagabond as a criminal in an age when transportation did not exist, and when public works on which he could be employed at the cost of Government were undertaken but rarely, the question what to do with him in such a capacity was a hard one. The compulsory idleness of a life in gaol was at once expensive and useless; and practically the choice lay between no punishment at all, the cart's tail, and the gallows. The Protector, although his scheme proved a failure, may be excused, therefore, for having attempted a novel experiment, for having invented an arrangement, the worst feature of which was an offensive name; and which, in fact, resembled the system which, till lately, was in general use in our own penal colonies.

The object was, if possible, to utilize the rascal part of the population, who were held to have forfeited, if not their lives, yet their liberties. A servant determinately idle, leaving his work, or an able-bodied vagrant, roaming the country without means of honest self-support and without seeking employment, was to be brought before the two nearest magistrates. 'On proof of the idle living of the said person,' he was to be branded on the breast, where the mark would be concealed by his