The statute of labourers, made in the 23d year of Edw. III., recites that there are many sturdy beggars, who prefer a life of indolence to active labour, and commit theft and other crimes; and therefore, with a view to discourage such practices, and compel these persons to work for their living, it enacts that none, on pain of imprisonment, shall, under colour of pity or of alms, give anything to those who are competent to labour, or presume by such means to "favour them towards their desires."
By Stat. xii. Rich. II. c. 6, every beggar who is able to work shall be put in the stocks, and such as are unable to work shall abide in the cities and towns where they be dwelling at the time of proclaiming this statute; and if the inhabitants shall not be able to maintain them, then the said beggars shall withdraw themselves to other places within the hundred, rape, or wapentake, or to the places of their nativity, within forty days as above, and there continually abide during their lives; and all that go in pilgrimage as beggars, but are able to work, shall be punished with the stocks, unless they have letters testimonial from a justice of the peace. The sheriffs and gaolers are also charged with the custody of beggars, though it does not appear for what particular offence. Religious persons and hermits who beg must have licence from their ordinaries, and scholars of the universities from their chancellors, under the like penalties.
The Stat. xix. Hen. VII., adverting to the rigour of the last-mentioned regulations, and to the great expense of confining vagabonds and beggars in prison, enacts, that an immediate discharge from the gaols shall take place, and all beggars be set in the stocks for a day and a night, without other food than bread and water, and then sent to the place of their nativity, or where they may have resided for the space of three years. It also enacts, that such beggars as are not able to work be passed to their own towns, where only they are to be allowed to beg.
By Stat. xxii. Hen. VIII., persons unable to work are to be licensed by certificate from mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, or justices, to beg within certain districts; and if they be found begging without such licence, they are to be set in the stocks for three days and three nights, and fed only on bread and water, or else whipped, at the discretion of the magistrate, who is afterwards to give the party a licence and dismiss him. Persons being "whole and mighty in body, and able to labour," and found begging, are to be whipped at the cart's tail till blood come, and then dismissed to their own district, receiving a licence, stating their punishment, and authorising them to beg by the way. Scholars at the universities begging without licence, to be punished as above. Persons wandering about with unlawful games, and fortune-tellers of all kinds, to be punished for the first offence by two days whipping; for the second, by like whipping, with subsequent pillory and loss of one ear; for the third, the like punishment, with loss of the other ear. The licence was in these words,—"Memorandum, that A. B. of Dale, for reasonable considerations, is licensed to beg within the hundred of P. K. in the county of L.;" and the licence after whipping is as follows,—"I. S., whipped for a vagrant strong beggar, at Dale, in the county of L., according to the law, the 22 July, in the 23 year of King Henry the Eighth, was assigned to pass forthwith and directly from thence to Sale, in the county of M., where he saith he was born, or where he last dwelled by the term of three years, and he is limited to be there within fourteen days next ensuing, at his peril," &c.
By this act, persons delivered from gaol, or acquitted of felonies, who could not pay the usual fees, were to be licensed by the keeper to raise such fees by begging for the space of six weeks, on pain of whipping for default of such licence.
By the 27th Hen. VIII., further provisions were made for the labour and employment of vagabonds and beggars. Churchwardens to gather alms for supporting the poor on Sundays and holidays. Begging children, between the ages of five and fourteen years, to be placed under masters of husbandry; and those between the ages of twelve and sixteen to be whipped for running away. Beggars offending again after the first punishment, to be marked by cutting off the upper gristle of the right ear; and if found still loitering in idleness, to be indicted as felons at the quarter sessions, and on conviction to suffer death. The mendicant friars are specially excepted in this act, which provides many additional supports for the poor besides the vast donations from the still existing monasteries, and the almshouses and hospitals.
At the commencement of the reign of Edw. VI., a most severe and extraordinary statute was made for the punishment of vagabonds and relief of poor persons. It does not appear who were the contrivers of this instrument, the preamble and general spirit of which were more in accordance with the tyrannical and arbitrary measures of the preceding reign, than with the mild and merciful character of the infant sovereign, who is well known to have taken a very active part in the affairs of government. It repeals all the former statutes on this subject, and enacts, that if any beggar or other person, not being lame or impotent, and after loitering or idly wandering for the space of three days or more, shall not offer himself to labour, or being engaged in any person's service shall run away or leave his work, it shall be lawful for the master to carry him before a justice of peace, who, on proof of the offence, shall cause the party to be marked with a hot iron with the letter V on the breast, and adjudge him to be his master's slave for the space of two years, who shall feed him "on bread and water, or, at his discretion, on refuse of meat, and cause the said slave to work, by beating, chaining, or otherwise, in such work or labour (how vile soever it be) as he shall put him unto." If the slave should run away, or absent himself for a fortnight without leave, the master may pursue and punish him by chaining or beating, and have his action of damage against any one who shall harbour or detain him. On proof before the justice of the slave's escape, he is to be sentenced to be marked on the forehead or ball of the cheek with a hot iron with the letter S, and adjudged to be his master's slave for ever; and for the second offence of running away, he is to be regarded as a felon and suffer death. The children of beggars to be taken from them, and, with other vagrant children, to be apprenticed by the magistrate to whoever will take them; and if such children so apprenticed run away, they are to be retaken, and become slaves till the age of twenty in females, and twenty-four in males, and punishment by chains, &c., and power to the master to let, sell, or bequeath them, as goods and chattels, for the term aforesaid. If any slave should maim or wound the master in resisting correction, or conspire to wound or murder him, or burn his house or other property, he is to suffer death as a felon, unless the master will consent to retain him as a slave for ever; and if any parent, nurse, or bearer about of children, so become slaves, shall steal or entice them away from the master, such person shall be liable to become a slave to the said master for ever, and the party so stolen or enticed away restored. If any vagrant be brought to a place where he shall state himself to have been born, and it shall be manifest that he was not so born there, for such lie he shall be marked in the face with an S, and become a slave to the inhabitants or corporation of the city for ever. Any master of a slave may put a ring of iron about his neck, arm, or leg, for safe custody; and any person taking or helping to take off such ring, without consent of the master, shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds.
This diabolical statute, after remaining for two years, was repealed, on the ground that, from its extreme severity, it had not been enforced, and instead of it the xxii. Hen. VIII. was revived. The taking apprentices the children of beggars was, however, continued; but instead of slavery for the offence of running away, the punishment of the stocks was substituted. In the last year of King Edward's reign, further provisions for supporting the poor were made, by gathering alms at church by the parish officers, who were "gently to ask and demand of every man and woman what they of their charity will be contented to give weekly toward the relief of the poor, and the same to be written in a register or book." The collectors are empowered to make such of the poor labour as they shall think fit; but none are permitted "to go, or sit openly, a begging."
The last statute that it will be necessary to refer to, is that of the xxxix. Eliz. c. 4, for the punishment and suppression of rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, by which houses of correction are for the first time established; and all persons calling themselves scholars, and going about begging, fellows pretending losses by sea, persons using unlawful games, fortune-tellers, procurers, collectors for gaols and hospitals, fencers, bearwards, common players of interludes, minstrels (except such players as are licensed by any baron of the realm), jugglers, tinkers, pedlars, common labourers able in body but begging and refusing labour for reasonable wages, persons delivered from gaol and begging for fees, all persons whatever that beg in any manner as wanderers, and all gypsies or pretending to be so, shall be adjudged rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and be liable to the punishment of whipping till the blood come, and passed to their respective parishes, and committed to the house of correction until further provision by work, or placing in almshouses. If any of the above persons shall appear to be dangerous to the inferior sort of people, or will not otherwise be reformed, they shall be committed to the house of correction or county gaol, and at the quarter-sessions, if necessary, banished from the kingdom to such places as shall be assigned by the privy council, or otherwise be sent to the galleys of the kingdom for life, with pain of death on returning from banishment. No vagabonds or beggars to be imported from Ireland, Scotland, or the Isle of Man, or, if already here, to be sent back to their respective countries. No diseased poor persons to be suffered to repair to the baths of Bath or Buxton for cure, unless they forbear to beg, and are licensed by two justices; and that the above cities be not charged with finding relief for such persons. This statute not to extend to children under seven years old, nor to glassmen of good behaviour, travelling with licence, and forbearing to beg.
It is impossible to look upon a more finished picture of the general manners of the begging classes, a little before the Reformation, than in the following extract from the once deservedly celebrated satire entitled the Ship of Fools. Although of foreign construction, it is not the less calculated for the meridian of England; and indeed the translator has in some degree adapted it to his own country. The author thus addresses the parties in question:—