conveniences, and for the charitable relief of aged and impotent poor people, it is ordained

1st. That all strong and idle beggars above the age of fourteen, and under the age of seventy, found wandering and misordering themselves, shall be apprehended and brought before the provost and bailies within burghs, and justices in landward parishes, and by the same be committed to prison the stocks or irons, there to be kept until adjudged, which shall be done within six days thereafter; and if they be convicted, they are to be scourged and burnt through the ear with a hot iron, unless some honest and responsible man will of his charity take and keep the offender in his service for one whole year next following; and if the offender leave such service within the year, on being again apprehended he is to be scourged and burnt through the ear as is before directed; after which he is not to be again punished in like manner for the space of sixty days. But if at the end of sixty days he be found again in his idle and vagabond trade of life, then being apprehended anew," he shall be adjudged to suffer death as a thief." And that it may be known what persons are meant to be idle beggars and vagabonds, and worthy of the punishment here specified, it is declared that-all idle persons going about, using subtle crafts and unlawful plays, as juglerie, fast and loose, and such others; the idle people calling themselves Egyptians, or any feigning themselves to have knowledge of prophecy, charming, or other abused sciences, by which they persuade people that they can tell their fortunes, and such other fantastical imaginations; all persons being whole and stark in body, and able to work, alleging themselves to have been herryit or burnt in some far part of the realm, or alleging themselves to be banished on account of other's wicked deeds; and others having neither land nor master, nor using any lawful merchandise craft or occupation

C

whereby they may win their livings, and can give no account how they live; and all minstrels, songsters, and tale-tellers, not in the special service of some lord of parliament or great baron; all common labourers, being persons able in body, living idly, and fleeing labour; all counterfeiters of licences to beg, or using the same knowing them to be counterfeit; all vagabond scholars of the universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, not licensed by the rector and dean of faculty to ask alms; all shipmen and mariners alleging themselves to be shipbroken, without they have sufficient testimonials-shall be taken adjudged and punished as strong beggars and vagabonds.

2nd. It is further enacted, that any person who shall after the 1st day of January next coming, give money, harbour, or lodging, or any other relief to any vagabond or strong beggar, "marked or unmarked, wanting a licence of the provost and bailies within burgh, or judge within that parish," the same being duly proved, shall pay for the use of the poor of the parish such sum (not exceeding 57. Scotch) as the judge shall decide. And if any person or persons shall disturb or prevent the execution of this Act, or make impediment against the judge or ordinary officers, or other persons travelling for the due execution thereof, " they shall incur the same penalty which the vagabond would have incurred. in case he had been convicted"-provided that shipmen and soldiers landing in this realm, having licence of the provost or bailie of the town, or judge in the parish where they were shipbroken or first entered the realm, shall pass according to the tenure of their licences to that place where they intend to remain, so that, if the person have further journey, he procure the like licence of the judge of the next parish or town through which he must pass, and so from parish to parish until he be at his resting-place.

3rd. It is also ordered that certain persons, one or

more, be nominated in every parish and burgh to be officers and judge thereof, for searching after receiving and conveying the vagabonds to the common prison, irons, or stocks, at the common charge of the parish; which persons so elected, shall be bound to do their duty diligently, as they will answer thereupon.

4th." And since charity would, that the poor aged and impotent persons should be as necessarilie provided for, as the vagabonds and strong beggars repressed, and that the aged and impotent poor people should have lodging and abyding places throughout the realm to settle themselves into"-it is therefore ordained that the lord chancellor, according to the direction of sundry good Acts of Parliament heretofore made, shall call for the "erections" of all hospitals to be produced before him, and inquire into and consider the present state thereof, restoring them as far as possible to their first institution, as may best serve for the help and relief of the said aged impotent and poor people. And also that the provost and bailies in each burgh and town, and the justice constituted by the king's commission in every landward parish, shall take inquisition of all aged poor impotent and decayed persons born within the parish, or dwelling or having their most common resort therein the last seven years, and who of necessity must live by alms; and upon the said inquisition shall make a register-book containing their names and surnames, to remain with the provost and bailies in burghs, and with the justice in every landward parish.

5th. And in order that the number of the poor people in every parish may be known, it is further ordered that within eleven days after the proclamation of this Act at the Market Cross of Edinburgh, all poor people do repair to the parish where they were born, or had their most common resort or residence the last seven years, and there settle themselves, under pain of being punished as vagabonds and contraveners of

this Act. And the said space of eleven days being passed, that then the provost and bailies within burghs, and the judges constituted by the king's commission (i. e. justices) in each landward parish, make a catalogue of the names of the said poor people, inquire of the men and the women where they were born, whether married or unmarried, when and by whom they were married, what children they have, and whether their children were baptised, and to what trade or form of life they and their children address themselves, and if they be diseased or whole and able in body, and what they get commonly on the day by begging; and such as must necessarily be sustained by alms, to see what they may be made content of their own consent to accept daily to live on without begging, and to provide for their being lodged in a house by themselves, or with others of the parishioners, so that the said poor people may best abyde; and thereupon, according to their number, to consider what their needful sustentation will amount to, and then, according to the good discretion of the said provosts bailies and judges, and such as they shall call to assist them in that respect, "to tax and stent the whole inhabitants

Power to tax and stent

the whole inhabitants.

within the parish according to the estimation of their substance, without exception of persons, to such weekly charge and contribution as shall be thought expedient and sufficient to sustain the said poor people," the names of the inhabitants so stented, together with their taxation, to be duly registered.

Overseers and collectors to be appointed.

6th. The said provosts bailies and judges, are moreover directed to appoint overseers and collectors in every burgh, town, and parish, for collecting the said weekly portions, who are to receive the same, and deliver so much thereof to the said poor people, and in such manner, as the said provost, bailies, and judges respectively shall ordain and command. And the overseers of the said poor people,

being so appointed, are to continue for a year, and at the end of the year the taxation and stent-roll is to be always made anew, on account of the alterations which may have taken place through death, or by the increase or diminution of men's goods and substance.

7th. The provost and bailies in towns, and the judges in landward parishes, are required to give a testimonial to such poor folk as they find not born in their own parish, or residing therein the last seven years, directing them to the next parish, and so from parish to parish until they be at the place where they were born, or had their most common resort and residence for the seven years preceding, there to be put in certain abyding places, and sustained upon common alms and weekly contributions, as is before ordainedexcept leprous people and bedridden people, who may not be removed. But it is provided that the poor people so sent to their own abyding places with testimonials, may ask alms in their passage, so as they pass the direct way, not resting two nights in any one place, without occasion of sickness or storm impeding them. And if any of the poor people refuse to pass and abyde in the places appointed, or after the appointment be found begging, they are then to be punished by scourging, imprisonment, or burning through the ear, as vagabonds and strong beggars; and for the second offence they are to be punished as thieves, "as is before appointed."

8th. If the persons chosen as collectors refuse the office, or having accepted the same be found negligent therein, or refuse to make their account every halfyear at the least to the provost and bailies in burghs, and the judges in landward parishes, and to deliver the surplus of that which remains in their hands at the end of the year, or half-year, to such as shall be chosen collectors anew-then each one of the collectors so offending shall be imprisoned during the king's plea