clothes, with, the letter V, and adjudged to some honest neighbour, as 'a slave,' 'to have and to hold the said slave for the space of two years then next following;' 'and to order the said slave as follows:' that is to say, 'to take such person adjudged as slave with him, and only giving the said slave bread and water, or small drink, and such refuse of meat as he should think meet, to cause the said slave to work.' If mild measures failed, if the slave was still idle or ran away, he was to be marked on the cheek or forehead with an S, and be adjudged a slave for life. If finally refractory, then and then only he might be tried and sentenced as a felon. Twenty years before, when vagrancy was less excusable, and the honest man could honestly maintain himself in abundance, such a measure might have worked successfully—supposing only that the word slave had been exchanged for some other expression which grated less harshly in English ears. In the condition of things which was now commencing, as will presently be shown, neither this nor any other penal Act against idleness could be practically enforced. Penal laws were rather required at the other extremity of the social scale. The measure failed, and in two years was withdrawn.[1]
Another measure however did not fail, unless indeed
- ↑ The details of Somerset's bill are curious. The children of beggars were to be taken from them and brought up in some honest calling. If no householder could be found to accept the charge of a slave, he was to be adjudged to his town or parish to work in chains on the highways or bridges. Collections were to be made in the parish churches every Sunday for the relief of the deserving poor. The slaves of private persons were to wear rings of iron on their necks, arms, or legs. As their
