also for the great ease and benefit of the said City it now not being of that use it might be especially to the poor by season whereof few poor are there and in infectious times many go with sores on them up and down the City and beg at our dores and in our Churches to the great danger and unknown detriment of the City and liberties That some constant course be setled for relief of the poor by way of physick and chirurgery for its better to cure the sick and same then constantly keep them so as also to discover counterfeiting of sicknesse lamenesse and other pretended griefs which is a thing too frequently used by those idle kinde of persons I 'le give you an instance of which a worthy Divine of this City was not only a spectator but an actor in the work the manner thus A counterfeit pretending that his heels grew to his buttocks lay begging in Moorfields M. Jackson Minister seeing some milk-maids whipping the supposed cripple with nettles to try if he would finde his legs for that some of the maids affirmed that they had seen him go yet would he not for all his smart make away from them the maids being wearied out and not obtaining their desires left him a Carre-man coming by and hearing what had been affirmed lashes him with his whip severall times over the shoulders in so much that some tender-hearted spectators were much displeased with the Carre-man for so abusing the supposed cripple whereupon the Carre-man willing to work a cure of him took him up under the armes and offered to put him into a ditch near at hand which he did accordingly and somewhat wet his breech but all this nothing prevailed untill the aforesaid Divine having observed the former passages and what was the relation of the maids tried his experiment upon him which was thus caused him to be laid upon his back and kneeled upon his brest with one of his knees causing one of his legs to be drawn forth if possible which was accordingly done and so the other having both his legs thus suddenly straitned without any miracle he was lifted up upon his feet to try if he could or would go which presently he did in the sight of them all though seemingly very feeble The Divine having so discovered him sends hastily for a Constable to send him to the house of correction and in the mean while the fellow desired the people to stand further off him and he would try his utmost to mend his pace which the people having done he as hastily runs away leapt over a gate and escaped them all That some way be setled that the food of the City of London that would be given in the Wards of the same may be conveniently gathered improved and disposed to the most necessitous poor of the City and not to idle counterfeits or such who are other waies provided for That consideration be had of grievances in the common Trade of this City and Kingdom especially such as tends to the destruction of Commerce and Trade both here and beyond the Seas the which is if not the sole yet a most considerable cause of poverty in this City and being removed by the prudent care of the Corporation will doubtlesse cure many of our other evils That the Acts and Statutes for sowing of Hemp and Flax be put in execution and enlarged if need shall require which will much conduce to the good of the poor and the raising of stock for the ease of the Kingdome That granting of Licenses to Ale-houses thought good to be Licensed be conferred upon the Corporation to dispose thereof to the aged and decaied for their better livelihood according to the Statute and that part of the profit thereof may come to the other poor in the said Ward according to the discretion of the Corporation That some definitions or positive signes be set down to discover a drunkard by that any man may have power to atach him for it and charge a Constable or the like Officer with him and the said Officers be required to execute the Law upon him unlesse he shall lay down his fine in the hands of the said Officers or others to be appointed for that purpose and some rule likewise set down to evince an equivocating swearer for by this means much sin will be prevented and revenue brought to the poor as a present raising of stock till further course be had and besides much trouble suits and disputes avoided that may or shall happen to the Officers or others appointed as aforesaid That the Constable or other Officer for the said purpose be enjoined every moneth to cause to be entred the fines received of such offenders in a book kept by the Corporation and in case he fail that then the said Officer be liable to pay the like summe to the Corporation which he received for the poor that so the poor may not be wronged and also to restore the fine he received and detained unto the party that paid him the same or to him that shall inform against him That in such cases the Corporation may have power to give an oath and to impannell a Jury for the tryall of causes belonging to them that the Corporation may be saved harmlesse thereby That the Corporation may have power to appoint Officers that may have free accesse without trouble or charge to search for donations which as yet lie undiscovered or are misimployed or not improved to the best advantage That all poor people not esteemed worth 10lb be not suffered to go to Law for words and trifles untill the Elders or such like in authority appointed by Parliament in each Parish or Parishes have heard the same and if not ended by them it may be heard by the Corporation and if not determined by them to be then left unto the Law That provision be made for the education of poor children in religion arts and mysteries to fit them the better for severall imployments by which means they may be placed and disposed of severall waies with far lesse charge then now they are That same way of relief be setled for poor house-keepers who suffer great necessiâ—ies not known to all some for want of work others for want of stock some having no utterance for their work and others unable to work all of them complaining they want food in their severall families The motives grounds and considerations that moved us hereto are these First The glory of God in the suppressing of sin and wickednesse the which may hereby be in part effected Secondly The honour of this City which for neglect of this so pious and necessary a duty is evil spoken of both abroad and at home many jeering and deriding some pitying and petitioning as was long since represented to the Magistrates of this City by a godly Minister as is found in his book intituled Great cries turned into great joies but now these great joies are turned into great cries
to us that God requires us to take care of others as well as of our selves And to this end the Lord gives us command that we become eies to the blinde ears to the deaf and that we cloath the naked feed the hungry and bring the stranger to our house and threatens judgements to such as doe or shall neglect the same Upon consideration whereof and the great neglect of this so weighty a duty that is both commanded and commended by God as a great work of charity to whom an account must one day be given whether we have fed the hungry cloathed the naked visited the sick and imprisoned c. And according to our doings herein shall we be rewarded or condemned at that day when that sentence of Christ shall be pronounced Matth. 25.41 Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels And also observing those many good laws formerly made in this Kingdom and of how little use they have been to this day hath moved me with others to search out the cause thereof and to endeavour to put life into those laws which I had almost said were dying An account whereof I shall briefly give unto you Brother It is not my purpose here to look so far back as to make mention of what others have long since done nor to insist at all upon that book set forth by King Charles wherein are many excellent orders and directions the which might seem to be sufficient to doe the work in hand viz. the regulating and relieving the poor but is found by experience to miss of its desired end namely the putting life into Laws formerly made concerning the poor as aforesaid But my purpose is here to set forth the late endeavours of divers well affected men within this City and the suburbs and that in brief thus About five years since a gentleman having observed the good government of the poor in other Kingdoms and the ill government of them in this being grieved in minde to observe the aged blinde lame and sick neglected with many poor families almost starved little children lie in the streets under stals and such like places uneducated being stirred with zeale addresses himself to many Knights and Burgesses of the house as also to the L. Major of London and many of his brethren the Aldermen with divers other well affected Citizens as also many Justices of the peace and others of the out parts of the said City did endeavour to possesse them with the goodnesse necessity and consequence of relieving and setting the poor to work and likewise did procure divers meetings within the City of men affecting this pious design where the undertaking was generally liked and commended by all and many sad reports and complaints were then and there made of the miseries that many poor families did endure which the present experience of these times proves to be true and of the wickednesse and vile abuses committed by vagrants and counterfiets and of the great neglect of our Laws in that particular and also of the great wast and losse of food made within the City sufficient to maintain one half of the indigent poor therein as is probably conceived together with the not improvement of our native commodities abuses in Trade increase of Ale houses with many other things not yet sufficiently provided for by any Law or statute within the Kingdome or these laws or statutes not now put in execution and therefore fit to be considered of and remedied at this time of reformation for the generall good of the poor Many moneths were spent in meetings in this way of complaining and the Gentlemens good resolutions commonly ended with the meeting till at last it was moved that there might be a time and place appointed for a constant meeting and that some way might be thought on effectually to prosecute those good thoughts and endeavours and to procure the removall of all those evils At our meeting we took into our consideration that beyond the sea viz the Lowcountries by setting their poor on work most of those evils are removed and remedied and those places blessed of God and inriched And likewise that in some Towns in this our Kingdom is not a begger or idle person to be seen as Norwich Ipswich Dorchester and other places to their great honour and that in this City is nothing wanting which those other parts and places doe enjoy that might conduce to the regulating and effectuall relieving of the poor yet that we might the better herewith possesse our selves and be the better able to possesse and perswade others we did desire every man to deliver in writing his thoughts which way it were best and might be done with most advantage the which was performed and those propositions brought in were by Mr Steel Counsellour at Law abbreviated and the substance of the whole was by him drawn into three heads viz. First Of Government Secondly Stock Thirdly Account And upon each Head divers particulars such as were conceived most necessary to carry on the work when a Committee of Aldermen and Common Counsell should be procured and appointed for that end and purpose Which to procure Octob. 7. 1645. we with many others both Ministers and Citizens petitioned the then L. Major and Common Counsell desiring them to take into their consideration the multitude of poor in and about the City their misery necessity disorder and increase and what remedies were fit to be applied thereto with such propositions as we should tender to them tending to the relief of the said poor The Common Counsell granted what we desired and withall ordered that Committee to consider of an Act made six or eight years before with an intent to create a Corporation that should take care to see the Laws and Statutes concerning the poor put in execution The said Committee after many meetings and much debate did agree that it was necessary that there should be a Corporation made consisting of eight Aldermen and thirty two Commoners Freemen of the City chosen out of each ward respectively and to that end drew a draught which being agreed upon after many alterations by councell is by M. Maynard and M. Hayle Counsellors at Law in a short draught perfected and approved as fit to passe the House and to establish a Corporation who might afterwards gain an enlargement of power as occasion should require But after much attendance and many obstructions and other new alterations a long draught for an Ordinance was agreed upon and committed to Coll. Veun a Member of Parliament to obtain the power of the Parliament to confirm it But through the multitude of their affairs and length of the Ordinance we could not in six moneths procure it to be read and committed whereupon by advise we drew up a short petition and representation of our complaints and desires to the House of Lords The Lords readily embrace this pious and charitable work and to their great honours within
fourteen daies caused an Ordinance to be drawn up and the same soon after concluded and sent down unto the Commons which was likewise by them committed and perfected and sent down to the right Honourable John Warner then Lord Major of London and the Corporation appointed for that purpose to put in execution the afore-mentioned Ordinance which Ordinance I have here inserted Die Veneris 17. Decemb. 1647. An Ordinance for the Relief and Imployment of the Poor and the Punishment of Vagrants and other disorderly Persons VVHereas the Necessity Number and Increase of the Poor is very great within the City of London and Liberties thereof for want of the due execution of such wholesome Laws and Statutes as have been formerly made For remedy thereof and for other the purposes herein after specified Be it and it is Ordained by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled That from henceforth there be and shall be a Corporation within the said City of London and Liberties thereof consisting of a President Deputy to the President a Treasurer and fourty Assistants whereof the Lord Major of the said City for the time being to be the President eight of the said Assistants to be of the Aldermen of the said City for the time being and the other thirty and two to be Free-men of and Inhabitants in the said City chosen out of the severall Wards of the said City equally and that John Warner Sir George Clarke John Foulke William Gibbs Samuel Avery John Bide George Witham Thomas Viner Aldermen of the said City shall be the first eight Aldermen of the present Assistants and that Francis Waterhouse shall be the present Deputy to the said President And that Maurice Gething shall be the present Treasurer and that John Offeild Richard Morrall James Russell Walter Pell Ralph Hough Robert Mainwaring Anthony Webster William Adams Richard Glide William Jesson Tempest Milner Thomas Arnold William Kendall Toby Lisle Nathaniel Hall Humphrey Hawley William Antrobus John Green Edmund Whitwell John Cooke Robert Meade Robert Dallison William Bromewich John Everet Thomas Clowes John Jones John Bellamy Abraham Chamberlaine John Babbington Richard Garsorth John Perryn and Stafford Clare shall be the other thirty two Assistants And that the Deputy and Treasurer from henceforth shall be Eligible by the Common Councell of the said City yearly on the 25th of June or at the next Common Councell following or within twenty eight daies next after the said 25th of June and that such two of the eight Aldermen being Assistants and eight of the other thirty two Assistants as the said Common Councell shall think fit shall fall off or be amoved yearly at the said day and time of election and that two other Aldermen and eight other Commoners Citizens of and Inhabitants in the said City shall be yearly elected by the said Common Councell on the day and time aforesaid to be Assistant in the place of such as shall so fall off or be amoved And it is further Ordained that the said President Deputy Treasurer and Assistants for the time being shall for ever hereafter in name and fact be one Body Politique and Corporate in Law to all intents and purposes and shall have a perpetuall Succession and shall be called by the name of The President and Governours for the Poor of the City of London and Liberties thereof And by that name shall and may without Licence in Mortmeine purchase or receive any Lands Tenements or Hereditaments not exceeding the yearly value of two thousand pounds of the Gift Alienation or Devise of any Person or Persons who are hereby without further Licence enabled to give the same and any Goods Chattels or Summes of Money whatsoever to the use intent and purpose hereafter limited and appointed And sue or plead and be sued or impleaded by the name aforesaid in all Courts and places of Judicature within this Realm And the said Corporation or any nine of them whereof the said President or any of the said Aldermen or the Deputy to the President or the said Treasurer to be one shall have hereby power and authority from time to time to meet and keep Court for the ends and purposes herein expressed at such time and place as the said President or his Deputy shall appoint And shall have hereby authority from time to time to make and appoint a common Seal for the use of the said Corporation and to chuse such Officers and them or any of them from time to time to remove as they shall see cause and upon the removall or death of them or any of them to chuse others in their places for the carrying on of this work and to make and give such reasonable allowance to them or any of them out of the Stock and Revenue belonging to the said Corporation as they shall think fit and shall have hereby full power and authority to doe and execute all such other Acts and things as are hereby ordained and appointed for the effecting the work hereby intended to be done and executed And be it ordained by the authority aforesaid for the further relief and employing of the said poor within the said City and liberties thereof that the said Corporation or any nine of them whereof the said President or any of the said Aldermen or the Deputy to the President or the said Treasurer to be one shall have power to Erect one or more Work-houses for receiving relieving and setting the poor on work and one or more houses of Correction for punishing of Rogues Vagabonds and Beggers as they shall think fit And be it further ordained by the Authority aforesaid that in regard of the great inequality in the ordering and relieving of the poor through the different abilities of the severall and respective Wards in the City of London and Liberties thereof the said Corporation or any Nine of them shall hereby be authorised with consent of the Common Councell of the said City to divide the severall Wards with the poor and stock to them belonging into four equall parts or proportions for the more effectuall and indifferent relief of the poor and the avoiding future differences and dissentions between the rich and the poor Parishes provided this division of the said City and Liberties thereof shall not be any prejudice to the relief of those parts of Parishes which lie without the Liberties of the City which Parishes lie part within the Liberties and part without but that those parts which lie without the Liberties of the City shall and may have such relief from Parishes within the City as formerly they have had And be it ordained by the Authority aforesaid That for the further relief and imploying of the said poor within the said City and Liberties if the said Corporation shall finde that the Annuall Rates and Levies or other Stock come to their hands shall not be sufficient for the effecting the purposes aforesaid that then and from time to time it shall and may
be lawfull for the said President and Governours to certifie such want of Stock and what Summe or Summes of Money they think fit will supply the same under their Common Seal to the Common Councell of the said City and the same to be Levied by them equally and indifferently upon the severall Wards respectively and that the said President and Governours or any nine of them whereof the said President or any of the said Aldermen or the Deputy to the President or the said Treasurer to be one shall have power from time to time to make and constitute Orders and By-Laws for the better relieving regulating and setting the poor on work and the apprehending and punishing of Rogues Vagabonds and Beggers within the said City and Liberties that have not wherewith honestly to maintain themselves and for other the matters aforesaid which said Orders and By-Laws shall be presented to the Lords and Commons for confirmation before the end of this Session of Parliament and shall have hereby power to put forth and binde such children Apprentices as shall be under their charge And it is further Ordained by the said Lords and Commons That the said Treasurer to the said Corporation for the time being shall once in every year between the 24. of June and the 29. of September or oftner if need require give a true and perfect account in writing of all the receits charges and disbursments in and about the premises unto the Auditors for the time being appointed for taking the accounts of the Chamberlain and Bridgmaster of the said City and the said account to remain in the custody of the Chamberlain of the said City And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid for the better effecting the premises That the President the eight Aldermen the Deputy President and Treasurer for the time being shall be Justices of the Peace and the four eldest Aldermen shall be of the Quorum And it is further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid That if any Action Suite or Plaint shall be commenced or prosecuted by any Person or Persons in any Court whatsoever against the said President and Governours or any of them or against any Person or Persons for doing or executing any thing by their or any of their Order Command or Direction or coming into their or any of their aid and assistance in about or concerning the premises It shall and may be lawfull to and for the said President and Governours and Officers or any of them and every person against whom any such Action Suit or Plaint shall be commenced or prosecuted to plead thereunto the generall issue that he or they be not guilty and to give such speciall matter in evidence to the Jury that shall try the same which matter being pleaded had been sufficient matter in Law to have discharged every such Person so prosecuted as aforesaid And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid That it shall and may be lawfull to and for any County Corporation or Boroughs in any County of this Kingdom or Dominion of Wales to make choise of a fit number of able and sufficient persons for the like effectuall relieving and regulating of the poor in their respective places and in like manner to draw up and present Orders and By-Laws best suiting to those Counties and places for confirmation as aforesaid and for the ends and purposes herein above expressed ANd now having done our parts we must leave the same unto those of whom an account will be required if they shall not effectually prosecute the same a high price being in their hands and they having no heart to use the same which tends so much to the glory of God the honour of the Parliament and the joy of the City and Kingdom And truly we now thought our ends were answered and that we might sit down assured that what we had so long laboured for was now effected but still we meet with more obstructions in our way like to the Israelites in their journey to Canaan even enough to make us turn back repent our former pains and desert all further prosecution but being yet desirous to see this so pious a work effected and vigorously prosecuted not only in the City but also through the Kingdom I thought good to give this brief account of our endeavours First To you as one who may in your and my own native Countrey promote the like work Secondly To others who shall desire to doe the like and that they may hereby save the pains and labour that we have bestowed and take the benefit of the same and not to trouble you and them to tred over our steps again doing what is already done to your hands and here I shall impart to you the scope of our desires and the reasons moving us thus zealously to prosecute this charitable and pious undertaking of regulating and relieving the poor First For the things desired by us in generall they are all summ'd up in a Committee or Corporation enabled to remedy all the grievances of the poor that are hinted in this discourse or at least to be appointed to take all such things into their consideration with such remedies as to their wisdoms shall seem meet and the same to report to a Common Councell of the aforesaid City that so further power may be procured from the Honourable Houses of Parliament and given to them or some others for that purpose for the better incouragement ease and indemnity of the said Corporation But more particularly we desire that there may be a view had of all the poor of this City and a Register made of what poor are in each Ward with this distinction following First The aged and all children under six years of age with all such lame sick and diseased poor Secondly Of all males and females who are of six years age and upwards fit for work and this to be done by some who are able to judge of their severall abilities and imployments to be appointed to that purpose and not by the Wards themselves that so an equall hand may be carried throughout all the Wards in the said City Thirdly That some wast room or house be appointed in each Ward for receiving work and food for the poor and delivering the same to them as occasion shall require and to give an account thereof to the Governours of the said Corporation Fourthly That all such poor as will not work though able may be sent to Bridewell and there remain for one moneth at the least and such as are deprived or their senses or limbs to those other Hospitals that are proper for them untill they have as many as they can conveniently dispose of and if the said Hospitals shall not suffice that some other places may be provided for present untill the poor be all disposed and their number be again decreased And that the sick and visited be sent to the Pest-house the great charge thereof being mitigated for that purpose as