tion is necessary by reason of the uncertainty of the sale of fish, and the contempt which in eating of fish is concerned." Queen Elizabeth once instituted a grand raid upon tramps and loafers. Apprehend ing that a rebellion would break out, she .quietly sent letters to her sheriffs and magis trates, ordering that on a certain night they should seize all vagabonds and idle persons who had no master nor any means of living, and either put them in jail or send them to their homes. Upwards of thirteen thousand persons were thus seized and were dealt with according to her Majesty's will, although her orders were without proper legal support. It appears to have been the custom in cer tain parts of England, early in the seventeenth century to first whip the vagrant and then salve his wounded back with a small sum of money to help him along. Thus we find in the ac counts of the constables of Melton-Mowbray, Leicestershire, the following1: 1602—Geven pore folks to Robert . Moodee . . for. whippin . itwo jd And gave them when they were whipped i jd
It was sometimes the good fortune of the boys of those days to have sweet revenge on their elders. 1602—Geven And andgave atowoman Tomlyn's them when . boy they .forwent whippin . . a man i jd
In 1618, King James wrote to Sir Thomas Smyth who was Governor of the Virginia company, that " Whereas our court hath of late been troubled with divers idle young people who although they have been twice punished, still continue the same. . . . We, having no other course to clear our court from them, have thought fit to send them unto you, desiring you at the next opportun ity to send them away to Virginia, and to take such order that they may be set to work there, wherein you shall not only do us good service, but also do a deed of charity by em ploying them who otherwise will never be reclaimed from the idle life of vagabonds." One of the old English vagrancy statutes
contained a singular clause giving immunity to two classes of vagrants, viz : — " diseased poor travelling to Bath or Buxton, and John Button's fiddlers in the County of Chester." The privilege of the fiddlers dated from 1210, when the Welsh in great force besieged the Earl of Chester in Rhuddlan Castle. The earl sent word to his steward to collect troops and raise the siege, and the steward entering Chester at Midsummer fair, and finding there a great mob of fiddlers and players, marched with them and frightened off the Welsh, who took them for an army. And so the earl ever afterward favored the fiddlers over other vagrants, and caused them to be made exempt from law. In Wales in the twelfth century, the vaga bond seems to have had rather a good time of it. Cambrensis says, " No one of this nation ever begs, for the houses of all are common to all; and they consider liberality and hospitality amongst the first virtues. So much does hospitality here rejoice in communication, that it is neither offered nor requested by travellers, who, on entering any house, only deliver up their arms. When water is offered to them, if they suffer their feet to be washed, they are received as guests, for the offer of water to wash the feet is with this nation a hospitable invitation. But if they refuse the preferred service, they only wish for morning refreshment, not lodging." These guests sometimes stole out in the night and com mitted theft. One charged with this crime could be cleared if his host would only swear that he had put his hand three times over him in the night. In the fifteenth century it was a law of the Isle of Man " that no one bring beggars or vagabonds into the country, upon pain of for feiture of his boat." In 1662 was passed in England the settle ment act, a supplement to the ineffectual Poor Law of 1 60 1. It was a kind of serfdom over again, the laborer being strictly bound to his own parish, and it was meant to stop the wandering to which public opinion attributed
