busses" in which the poor of England were to support themselves and cut out the Dutch, down to Mr Firmin's plans for setting the poor to spin. A pound of flax can be bought for 1s. 6d., and spun so fine that it makes a pound of thread worth 8s. or 10s.; indeed, Mr Firmin had seen a pound of flax spun so fine that it was worth £3 or £4. Another writer goes into causes, thinks that stage-coaches have increased poverty, and seriously advises suppressing hem—at least within fifty miles of London. Then people will be obliged to keep their own horses as formerly, and there will be more employment. Some of the proposals are extraordinary : Sir Josiah Child, the great banker, suggests seventy "Fathers of the Poor." They are to wear "some honourable medal, after the manner of the Familiars of the Inquisition in Spain"(!), and to have all the powers of justices, and much more, for they can send to the plantations such of the poor as they think fit. Child was a humane man : his "Fathers" were to take security for the comfort of these unfortunates, and for their "freedom when their term of service expired. Though by far the most humane, this is very far from the first proposal of the kind. There was surely never a nation so anxious to keep down its numbers as the English! The idea that the poor multiplied "like lice and fleas" seems to have haunted our fathers like a nightmare. Nor did ever a nation inflict such penalties on poverty. It is but literal truth to say that in England poverty is a crime. Yet surely the dishonest rich man was always known to history!
As the numbers of the poor increased, opinions differed more and more as to whether the cause of poverty was too many people or too little work. Mr Locke thought it was not want of employment, but "relaxation of discipline and corruption of manners." Half of those in receipt of relief could earn their living ; others might earn something towards it. Yet we do not hear complaints of the lack of workmen. In a vague way, we find the poor charged with idleness—especially if they ever ask for more wages; but we never hear of great works at a standstill for lack of hands. And there was no lack of severe laws against idleness—no one ever said there was ; all they said was that people could not find it in their hearts to put the laws in execution. It is inconceivable that there should have been
