THE PROBLEMS OF POVERTY 563 
the fundamental principles of the system held their ground AD 1a 
for two hundred years till it broke down at last under the 
pressure caused by the Industrial Revolution. The dis- 
cussions which centred round this topic have an abiding 
interest, however, even when they seem to have been barren 
of any direct result. The criticisms to which the Elizabethan which 
scheme was subjected, and the modifications which were fs or 
proposed from time to time, afford evidence, which is none bongs 49 
the less interesting because it is indirect, as to the changes conditions. 
which were occurring in social and economic conditions. 
The amendments were avowedly in regard to the practical 
administration of the system. In attempting to trace them 
we shall do well to remember how large was the sense in 
which the State had interpreted its duty to the poor. There 
wag, in the sixteenth century, a clear opinion that the Govern- 
ment ought to have a care for all those who were dependent, 
and not merely for the impotent, or for children. The sub- 
stantial man, who had the means of employing himself on 
his own land, or in his own calling, might be left to himself; 
but it was felt by Elizabeth and her advisers that supervision 
was needed to secure the welfare of the labourer, both as 
regards the conditions of his work and the periods when 
he was unemployed. It is clear that assiduous efforts were Tkedectine 
. . . coy Inthe 
made to enforce this system until the time of the Civil power of 
War?; but it is probable that after that event the pressure ofits 
was relaxed. The frequent supervision which had been Civil War 
exercised by the Privy Council appears to have fallen into 
abeyance ; and as separate counties and parishes were no longer 
subjected to constant centralised control, they could pursue 
the course of greatest advantage to their own neighbourhood. 
Under these circumstances there need be little surprise that 
the authoritative assessment of wages should have become a 
mere formality? or should have fallen into entire desuetudes. 
Acts chiefly passed in the reigns of Geo. ITI. and Geo. IV. giving power to the 
local authorities for the relief of their poor. 
1 Morant (Essex, 1. 180) gives an excellent history of the provision for the poor 
in Colchester and testifies to the good working of the Elizabethan Act for about 
10 vears. 2 Bee above, p. 44. 
4 In addition to evidence adduced above compare H. Fielding, An Inquiry into 
the causes of the late Increase of Robbers (1751). . 55. 
269