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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	able_a	good_a	great_a	903	5	2.1539	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41337	Some proposals for the imployment of the poor, and for the prevention of idleness and the consequence thereof, begging a practice so dishonourable to the nation, and to the Christian religion : in a letter to a friend / by T.F.	Firmin, Thomas, 1632-1697.	1681 (1681)	Wing F972; ESTC R12645	35,645	48

in Prison or if they did not if ever they came in again it might be for a much longer time which would make them at Leisure to repent their Folly and careful to avoid the like again especially if they were suffered to eat no more than they earned and to do as much work for 2 d. in the Prison as they might have three pence for if they were out which would also help to bear the Charge of such places which as I am informed is the way taken beyond Sea with great Advantage to the persons themselves who are hereby brought to Sobriety and also to such Houses I have heard the worthy President and some of the Governours of Bridewel complain of the want of such a Law having observed that of the vast numbers that have been sent thither of which many have been corrected yet few in comparison have been amended but as they have been soon discharged the House so they have soon been brought thither again without any Alteration except for the worse And how indeed can it otherwise be expected these people having been brought up to nothing of Labour when they were at Liberty nor taught nothing when they were under Confinement by which they might provide for themselves will do it either by the old way they formerly took or some other as bad rather than starve I humbly propose therefore that the Women and young people might be taught to spin well upon the double Wheel or to weave Lace or the like and that the men might be taught to beat Hemp dress Flax or comb Wool or else to weave Linnen-cloth c. and to be taught these so well that they might find Employment in some of these ways when they came out of Prison which 't is like many would rather take unto than run the hazzard of such another Confinement or by taking such a Course as would bring them to the Gallows I my self have found some people very hardly brought to any Employment at first that by fair means have fal'n to it and the lazy Habit being got off have been more pleased with it than to live in Idleness and have so continued for some years When this is effected the person is in a manner out of danger For I dare say there hath been more lost through Idleness than any other Vice whatsoever when people have no Work to do or Employment to follow their first Attempt is to run into Debt of such as will be so mad to trust them which not being able to pay they are run into Prison from whence if they get out by the Charity of others their next Trade is Begging or it may be Stealing for which they come to be hanged I therefore would advise all persons who are so charitable as to release poor persons out of Prison to take especial care of those who have a Trade to follow and a House to go unto when they went out otherwise 't is very like the Person is better where he is and in less danger of doing Mischief either to himself or others For for want of these the person being out of Prison must either fall to begging or that which is still worse stealing or cutting of Purses insomuch that I have sometimes known and heard often of persons that have been taken out of one Prison for Debt and in a short time thrown into another for Felony But that I may return to the Business I was upon to encourage the providing of work for the Poor by means of which they may be better able to provide Necessaries for themselves By so doing all that have any Bowels of Compassion will find themselves greatly eased in their minds and their Enjoyments of the good things of this World more sweet and pleasant to them when they are not imbittered with the sad thoughts of the Wants and Necessities of their poor Neighbours who otherwise will have no way to relieve themselves but wretched Begging or wicked Stealing Besides that they will be more secure in the Enjoyment of their Goods by how much there will be fewer persons that will have the temptation of extreme want to make them steal and be injurious unto others in their Possessions And lastly to leave many things unsaid all good Christians who are serious in the Profession of Religion and hope of Eternal Life must needs rejoyce to have a hand in such a work as this because nothing can more confirm our hope of having our portion among those to whom our Lord Jesus will at the great day of Accounts say Come ye Blessed of my Father c. then this that we have relieved the hungry thirsty naked and imprisoned or have been a means to preserve those that otherwise would have fallen into those Miseries and Calamities POSTSCRIPT THus Sir in compliance with your desire and the desires of several other Friends I have exposed my private thoughts to publick View and Censure not doubting but all well-minded and ingenuous persons will accept of my good will tho they may not be satisfied with my reasons nor yet in the management of the Vndertaking which now for full five years hath been carried on with some difficulty and very great pains as any one must imagine This I am sure is the worst that can be said of it That it hath not yet been brought to bear its own Charges The reason of which I have already given in part however this doth greatly satisfie me that every penny that hath been lost by it either by my self or those friends that have helpt to bear it hath been many times gained to the Poor and to the Publick neither hath the loss been so great as to afright any man that is able and hath a good mind from undertaking the like For in above 4000 l. laid out the last year in the management of the whole Affair reckoning House-rent Servants Wages loss by Learners with the Interest of the Money employed in the Concern there was not above 200 l. lost one chief reason of which I must attribute to the kindness of several persons that took off some of the Commodities I made at the price they cost me and in particular to the East India and Guinnea Company who gave me encouragement to make their Allabas Cloths and course Canvas for their Pepper-Baggs which in former times they use to have from other Countreys 'T is most certain that unless a higher Impost be laid upon foreign Linnen it will not be possible for us at present to make it so cheap as it is brought over for our poor people will neither work so hard nor can live so cheap as generally the poor people of other places do therefore we must be content to lose something in this way or find some other to employ our poor people in for employed they must be as we tender the good of their Souls or Bodies and I am of Opinion notwithstanding all that I have yet heard or read to the contrary that the setting up the Linnen Manufacture would many ways be of great Advantage to this Nation although to provide against the worst I have made a good Progress in the Woollen Manufacture also insomuch that had not the price of Wool so greatly advanced of late I doubt not but by this time to have made one of one but of this I shall give no further account at present All that I have more to say is to request such persons as have any Kindness for my Vndertaking to assist me therein by taking off my hands some of the Cloth the poor people shall make at the Price it stands me in tho it be a little dearer than they might have Cloth elsewere I have met with some persons so charitable that not having occasion for any for their own Vse have bought good quantities to give away to the poor who have been as thankful for it as for Money there being many thousands that have not above one Shirt to their Backs and many that have none insomuch that within less than two years I have given away to Men Women and Children above 3000 whose Bodies have been greatly refreshed by them and I doubt not but many of them have blest God for them and pray'd for their Benefactors I have heard many people say they would be ready to help such as are industrious here are Objects to their own Hearts desire that do all they can but cannot do enough to keep themselves from want insomuch that had I not been inabled to give many of them money as well as work when either they or their Children have fal'n sick they might have perished through Want If any one shall desire thus to shew their Charity to the poor either by buying the Cloth they make or otherwise what they shall freely contribute to their Help and Relief shall be faithfully given to them by theirs and the Poor's Servant Tho. Firmin FINIS

I am so far from thinking abundance of poor People an Evil that if they were well employed they would prove a Blessing to us For in all Labour there is Profit saith the Wiseman 't is only Idleness that makes the poor a Burthen both to themselves and the Places where they inhabit But lastly That all Pretences may be taken away from such as object against our Employment of the Poor among us lest we should bring in the Poor of other Places If the several Parishes do not like of this they have Laws to keep them out and they may thank themselves that so many necessitous Persons do daily come in among them because they do not prevent Inmates but suffer any to settle among them that may be chargeable without giving Security to prevent it But it is further said in the Objection that the Making and Consumption of any Commodity should not be in one and the same place To which it is answered that this part of the Objection even by the Confession of all hath no force in it as to many things and why it should as to any I see no reason It was never doubted but that good Beer and Ale which some call our English Manufacture may without any prejudice be made and consumed in one and the same place and why not any Commodity for the Back if there be need of them as well as those for the Belly I do not understand We use to say Every man will Christen his own Child first So much of any Commodity as is necessary will be made use of in the place where it is made and only the rest sent abroad Put the Case for want of other Employment the City of London should set their poor People upon making Linnen Cloth and that in time they should be able to fit the Country with it upon as good terms as they do twenty others that are made in this City Where would be the Prejudice if in the first place they supplied themselves with what they have occasion for But as to the sort of Work you will employ the poor People in I am not concerned so much for that as that you do employ them some way or other and prevent that idle kind of Life which many of them lead which will bring them not only to Beggary but to all manner of Vice as hath been already observed from what hath been said I think it doth plainly appear that the only way to prevent Poverty and Want among those that are well and able to work is to bring them to Labour and prevent Idleness which being done it will be much easier to provide for those that through Age Sickness or the like are utterly uncapable of doing any thing towards their own maintenance And that this might effectually be done care must be taken to put the Laws in Execution which are made on that behalf which I am told hath strictly enjoyned every Parish to take care that such Persons may have such an Allowance as may be suitable and sufficient for their Wants that so they need not be necessitated to beg nor forced to go out of their own Parish to seek Relief insomuch that if the Places where they live be not able to give them a sufficient Supply to their Wants and Necessities they ought to apply themselves to their next Neighbours for Help and Assistance and in case they fail herein 't is their own Fault And indeed what can be more reasonable than such Laws as these Forasmuch as there is nothing can tend more to the Dishonour of any Nation than to see such poor aged sick and impotent People necessitated to beg up and down the Streets when God knows many times they are fitter to be in Bed That we do not force such as are able to work and get their own Livings is a shame only to our Prudence and want of good Government but that we necessitate such Persons as those to beg is a shame to our very Profession of Christianity and shews that we are hard-hearted and have no Bowels of Compassion to our poor Brethren Surely this is not to give Honour to the Aged nor to be Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the lame and Wisdom to them which have no Understanding nor yet to do to others as we would that they should do unto us if we were in such Circumstances It many times falls out that Persons who have lived well in their younger Years and it may be wrought hard when they were able that by reason of Sickness or some sad Accident have come to Poverty in their Old Age. How often hath it fallen out that Widows by trusting their Estates in the Hands of Knaves have lost all they had and been brought to Want having out-lived all their Friends and near Relations and nothing to help them but the Kindness of the Parish and if that fail how miserable must they be Now for the Prevention of which I would propose one or two things more First That in every great Parish there might be some other persons appointed besides the Church-wardens who should be men of the best Reputation both for Honesty and Estates to whom I would have given that honourable Title of being called Fathers for the Poor as it is now in the French and Dutch Churches whose chief work and Business it should be to visit such poor People and to inspect their Wants and to have some part at least of the Parish stock committed to them for the Supply of them whereas now alas the poor people must themselves apply to the Church-wardens if they are able to crawl abroad otherwise if their own Neighbours which many times are poor enough themselves are not the kinder they may perish in their own Houses for want of Food Physick Fire or Cloaths as I have great reason to believe many hundreds have done of late years I pray God lay it not to our Charge that in a Nation so abounding with Riches and Plenty as England doth any person should perish through want It is well well known that the Church-Wardens of most Parishes come not to those places because they are better or richer men than others but because of their long Standing in the Parish and many times God knows they are no more affected with the Wants and Necessities of a poor Creature than a Grave-maker at the sight of a dead Corps Secondly I propose that some such Houses may be crected here as are in Holland for the Reception of aged persons to which they may resort and be admitted as soon as they find themselves in a declining Condition before all is spent or lost paying for their Admittance according to their Age and the Quality of such Houses as they should desire to go into for of these I would have several sorts This in a few years would prevent much of that Poverty and Necessity that oftentimes fall upon old Age as to give an Instance or two suppose that a