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Pool

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Poor,

It is surrounded on all sides by the sea, except on the north, where there is an entrance through a gate. It was formerly nothing but a place where a few fishermen lived; but in the reign of Henry VI. it was greatly enlarged, and the inhabitants had the privilege to wall it round. It was also made a county of itself, and sent two members to parliament. It is governed by a mayor, a senior bailiff, four other justices, and an indeterminate number of burgesses. The number of inhabitants in 1811 was estimated at 4816; and the number of vessels belonging to this port is stated at 230. It is 47 miles west-south-west of Winchester, and 110 west-by-south of London. W. Long. 2. o. N. Lat. 50. 42. POOLE, MATTHEW, a very learned writer in the 17th century, was born at York in 1624. He was educated at Emmanuel-college, Cambridge, and afterwards incorporated in the university of Oxford. He succeeded Dr Anthony Tuckney in the rectory of St Michael de Quern, in London, about 1648. In 1658 he set on foot a project for maintaining youths of great parts at the universities, and had the approbation of the heads of houses in both of them. He solicited the affair with so much vigour, that in a short time 900l. per annum was procured for that purpose; but this design was laid aside at the Restoration. In 1662 he was ejected from his living for nonconformity. He was ten years employed in composing his Synopsis Criticorum, &c. Besides this great work he published several other pieces. When Dr Oates's depositions concerning the popish plot were printed, our author found his name in the list of those who were to be cut off, on the account (as was supposed) of what he had written against the papists in his Nullity of the Romish Faith. So that he was obliged to retire to Holland, where he died in 1679, and left behind him the characte: of a very able critic and casuist.

POOP, the stern of a ship; or the highest, uppermost, and hinder part of a ship's hull. See STERN.

POOR, in law, an appellation given to all those who are in such a low and mean condition, that they either are or may become a burden to the parish.

They who rank pity amongst the original impulses of our nature rightly contend, that when it prompts us to the relief of human misery, it indicates sufficiently the Divine intention, and our duty. Indeed, the same conclusion is deducible from the existence of the passion, whatever account be given of its origin. Whether it be instinct, or a habit founded in association (see PASSION), it is in fact a property of our nature which God appointed and the final cause for which it was appointed is to afford to the miserable, in the compassion of their fellow-creatures, a remedy for those inequalities and distresses to which many are necessarily exposed under every possible rule for the distribution of proper ty. That the poor have a claim upon the rich, founded in the law of nature, can be questioned by no man who admits the benevolence of the Deity, and considers his purpose in creating the world (see THEOLOGY, Part I. Sect. ii.); and upon this claim the Christian Scriptures are more explicit than almost upon any

other.

The rights of the poor, however, to be relieved by the rich, as they originate in nature, and are sanctioned by Christianity, are evidently of that kind which is called imperfect (See MORAL Philosophy, No 151.). It is

surely needless to warn our readers in this place, that imperfect rights are in themselves as sacred, and the duties resulting from them as obligatory in foro conscientiæ, as the most rigid claims of justice. Every one knows, that they are call,d imperfect only because the extent of them in particular instances cannot be ascertained by positive laws, nor the breach of them be punished by the civil magistrate. Hence the apostle, though he enjoins a weekly contribution to be made for the poor in the church of Corinth, yet leaves the sum to be contributed by each individual wholly undetermined. "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him." By which St Paul certainly recommends to every man to contribute, not a fixed sum, but as much as, from a deliberate comparison of his fortune, with the reasonable expences and expectations of his family, he finds he can spare for charitable purposes.

It is well known that those weekly contributions were laid at the feet of the apostles, who transferred the management of the fund thence arising to deacons elected by the people, and ordained by them to see that the money was properly distributed. Hence, under Christianity, the maintenance of the poor became chiefly an ecclesiastical concern; and when that holy and benevolent religion was established in the Roman empire, a fourth part of the tithes was in some countries of Europe, and particularly in England, set apart for that purpose. Afterwards, when the tithes of many parishes were appropriated to the monasteries, these societies were the principal resource of the poor, who were farther relieved by voluntary contributions. Judge Blackstone observes, that till the statute 26 Hen. VIII. cap. 26. he finds no compulsory method for providing for the poor; but upon the total dissolution of the monasteries, abundance of statutes were made in the reign of King Henry VIII. Edward VI. and Elizabeth, which at last established the

POOR's Rate, or legal assessment for the support of the poor. The sums that had been appropriated for charitable uses before the Reformation were immense, and the wealth that had been accumulated through a succession of ages by mendicant orders of religious persons was inconceivably great ; nor was it in the power of any laws to confine men who were in the possession of such wealth from gratifying those desires which money can so easily find means of supplying. Yet among the various abuses to which this opulence had given rise, these religious orders had never so far lost sight of their original institution as ever to neglect the poor. These were indeed provided for by them with an indiscriminate profusion of largesse, better proportioned to their own opulence than to the wants of the claimants, who were too often, without examination, all equally served, whether deserving or undeserving of that bounty which they claimed.

When the religious houses, as they were called, were entirely suppressed at the Reformation, and the wealth that belonged to them was diverted into other channels,

the

poor, who had been in use to receive their support from thence, were of course left entirely destitute; and this soon became a grievance so intolerable not only to the poor themselves, but to the whole nation, as to

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excite

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Poor.

excite an universal desire to have it remedied. Accordingly, by the 14 Eliz. cap. 5. power was given to the justices to lay a general assessment; and this hath continued ever since. For by 43 Eliz. cap. 2. the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of every parish, or the greater part of them (with the consent of two justices, one of whom is of the quorum, dwelling in or near the parish), are empowered to raise weekly, or otherwise, by taxation of every inhabitant, parson, vicar, and other, and of every occupier of lands, houses, &c. materials for employing the poor, and competent sums for their relief. Notice shall be given in church of every such rate the next Sunday after it is allowed, which may be inspected by every inhabitant, paying Is. and copies of it granted on demand, 6d. being paid for every 24 names; and a church-warden or overseer refusing, shall forfeit 201. to the party aggrieved. The rate is to be levied by distress on those who refuse to pay it; and, by 17 Geo. II. cap. 2. cap. 38. appeals against it are allowed.

If the justices find that the inhabitants of any parish are not able to levy among themselves sufficient sums for the purposes specified in the act, they may assess any other parish within the hundred; and if the hundred be unable to grant necessary relief, they may rate and assess any parish within the county. 43 Eliz. cap. 2.

In order to compel husbands and parents to maintain their own families, the law hath provided, that all persons running away out of their parishes, and leaving their families upon the parish, shall be deemed and suffer as incorrigible rogues (7 Jac. cap. 4.). And if a person merely threatens to run away and leave his wife and children upon the parish, he shall, upon conviction, before one justice by confession, or oath of one witness, be committed to the house of correction for any time not exceeding one month (17 Geo. II. cap. 5.). For the farther maintenance of the poor, there are many fines and forfeitures payable to their use; as for swearing, drunkenness, destroying the game, &c. And also parts of wastes, woods, and pastures, may be inclosed for the growth and preservation of timber and underwood for their relief. See WORK-House.

The famous statute of the 43d of Elizabeth, which is the basis of all the poor-laws in England, was constructed with a cautious forethought that can perhaps be equalled by few laws that ever were enacted; and if prospective reasoning alone were to be relied on in matters of legislation, it seemed impossible to amend it: yet experience has now proved, with a most demonstrative certainty, that it is not so salutary as was undoubtedly expected.

The persons who composed that law had before their eyes such a recent proof of the abuse that had been made of the charitable beneficence of individuals, that they seem to have been chiefly solicitous to obviate similar abuses in future; and to guard against that partial kind of seduction, they rather chose to establish a despotic power which should be authorised to wrest from every individual in the nation whatever sums it might think proper to call for, trusting to a few feeble devices which they contrived, for curbing that power which was virtually armed with force sufficient to set all these aside whenever it pleased. The consequence has been, that the sums levied for the relief of the poor, which were at first but small, are now enormous, and

Nor

that the demands are increasing in such a rapid manner Poor. as to give rise to the most serious and well-grounded apprehensions. In the year 1774, parliament instituted an inquiry into the amount of the poor's-rates in England and Wales, and again in 1783. On comparing these together, the rise during that short period was found to be in England upwards of 850,000l. per annum, being nearly in the proportion of one-third of the rate at the first period. In Wales, during the same period of time, the rates were more than doubled. was this a temporary start, but a part only of a gradual progression. Mr Wendeborn, in his View of England, observes, that " in the year 1680 the poor's-rates produced no more than 665,390l. in 1764 they stood at 1,200,000l. and in 1773 they were estimated at 3,000,000l." It is a known fact (says Mr Beaufoy, in the debate on Mr Gilbert's poor bill, April 17th 1788), that within the last nine years, the poor's-rates have increased one-third, and should they continue increasing in the same proportion for 50 or 53 years, they would amount to the enormous sum of 11,230,000l. a burden which the country could not possibly bear. It was therefore, he added, highly necessary that something should be attempted to prevent this alarming addition, if not to annihilate the present glaring misconduct in the management of the poor.

Such has been the fate of England with regard to poor laws.

In Scotland, the reformation having been carried forward with a still more violent precipitancy than in England, and the funds of the regular clergy being more entirely alienated, the case of the poor there became still more seemingly desperate, and the clamours were also there considerable at that time. Then also it was that the Scottish court, imitating as usual at that time the practice of England, made several feeble attempts to introduce a system of compulsory poor's-rates into that country, but never digested the system so thoroughly as to form a law that could in any case be carried into effect. Many crude laws on this head were indeed enacted; but all of them so evidently inadequate for the purpose, that they never were, even in one instance that we have heard of, attempted at the time to be carried into effect. Indeed it seems to have been impossible to carry them into effect; for they are all so absurd and contradictory to each other, that hardly a single clause of any one of them can be obeyed without transgressing others of equal importance.

The last statute which in Scotland was enacted on this subject bears date September 1st 1691, William and Mary, parl. 1. sess. 7. chap. 21. and it "ratifies and approves all former acts of parliament and proclamations of council for repressing of beggars, and maintaining and employing the poor." If this law therefore were now in force, and it never was repealed, no person could with impunity countervail any one of those statutes which it ratiles; but to be convinced how impossible it is to observe them all, the attentive reader needs only to consider those laws and proclamations with respect to the following particulars, viz.

1. The persons appointed to make up the poor's roll. By the act 1579 this duty is entrusted to the provost and bailies within burgh, and the judge constitute be the king's commission in paroches to landwart. By act 1663, it is the heritors of each parish. By act 1672,

it

Poor.

it is the ministers and elders of each parish who are to make up this list. By the proclamation of 1692, it is the heritors, ministers, and elders of every parish. By that of 1693, it is the magistrates of royal burghs, and the heritors of vacant [country] parishes; in both cases without either minister or elders. Among this chaos of contradictions how is it possible to act without transgressing some law.

2. Not less contradictory are the enactments in regard to the persons who are to pay, and the mode of apportioning the sums among them. By act 1579, the haill inhabitants of the parochin shall be taxed and stented according to the estimation of their substance, without exception of persons. By that of 1663, the one-half is to be paid by the heritors, and the other half by the tenants and possessors, according to their means and substance. By the proclamation of 1692, the one half is to be paid by the heritors, the other by the householders of the parish. By that of 1693, in burghs royal, the magistrates are to stent themselves, conform to such order and custom used and wont in laying on stents, annuities, or other public burdens, in the respective burgh, as may be most effectual to reach all the inhabitants; and the heritors of several vacant [landwart] parishes to stent themselves for the maintenance of the respective poor.

3. A still greater diversity takes place in regard to the application of the sums so stented. By the act 1579, it would seem that the whole of the money assessed was to be applied to the use of the helpless poor alone, and no part of it for the relief of those who were capable of working. By the act 1663, on the contrary, the whole of this assessment is to be applied for the support of those only who are able to work. This is still more especially provided for by the act 1672; where the poor who are unable to work are to be supported by the weekly collections at the kirk doors; and the stented assessments to be applied to the support of those in the correction houses.

It would be tiresome to enumerate all the contradictions that these laws authorise. In regard to the persons who are required to carry these acts into execution. It is at different times the chancellor; magistrates; commissioners of excise; sheriffs; justices of the peace; ministers and elders; the presbyteries; heritors, ministers, and elders; heritors alone; commissioners nominated by presbyteries and appointed by the king; the lords of the privy council in short no two laws can be found that do not vary from each other in this respect one way or other.

The same variations take place with regard to the building of correction-houses, confinement and punishment of vagrants, application of their work, awarding their services and those of children. In short, there is not one particular in which these laws do not vary from and contradict each other; so that, let any person try to act in virtue of any one of them, it is impossible for him to avoid going in direct opposition to the enactments of some other law which is of equal force with that he has chosen for his guide. In these circumstances, it is so far from being surprising that these acts have been suffered to remain in perpetual desuetude, that it would have been truly wonderful if this had not been the case. They have, however, been permitted to remain on the statute-book as a disgrace to the times

when they were formed, and as a stumbling-block to those that were to follow. That not one of them is now in force, was lately proved by a learned and publicspirited gentleman, to whom his country is on that and many other accounts deeply indebted. Refusing to pay the poor's tax, with which he was assessed by the overseers of the parish in which he happened to reside, he stood an action in the court of session, and prevailed, upon the broad ground, that there is no law IN FORCE in Scotland, by which an INVOLUNTARY poor's rate can be established in any parish.

But how, it will be asked by our English readers, are the poor in Scotland really maintained? We answer, by the private alms of individuals, and by certain funds under the management of the kirk-sessions (see PRESBYTERIANS). It is the universal practice, each Lord's day, in every parish, for such of the audience as are in easy circumstances, to give to the poor such an offering of alms as they shall deem proper. This offering is generally dropped into a bason placed at the church-door, and under the immediate care of an elder. When the service is begun, the elder removes with the bason, which he keeps under his charge till the congregation be dismissed. The session then meets, and the money is told over, its amount marked down in the session account book, and deposited in a box kept for that purpose. This box has usually a small slit in the top, through which the pieces of money can be dropped without opening it; and it is closed with two locks, the key of one of which is usually kept by the minister, and the other by the kirk-treasurer, so that it can never be opened but in the presence of these two at least.

A kirk-session, when regularly constituted, must always consist of the minister, elders, session-clerk, and kirk-treasurer. None of these ever receive any salary except the session-clerk, who is usually the schoolmaster of the parish, and has a small salary allowed for minuting the transactions. The kirk-treasurer is for the most part one of the elders; and he is an important member of this court. Without his intervention no distribution of the poor's funds is deemed legal; nor can any payments be made, receipts granted, or money transferred, but by him; the minister and session being personally liable to make good all money that may otherwise be given away, should it ever afterwards be challenged by any heritor in the parish.

The precautions taken for the distribution of the poor's funds are likewise simple and excellent, and are as follow:

No money can be legally issued from the poor's funds even by the treasurer and session, unless legal proof can be brought that public intimation has been given from the pulpit immediately after divine service, and before the congregation has dispersed, that a distribution of poor's money is to be made by the session, at such a time and place, specifying the same, and inviting all who have interest in the case to attend if they shall incline. This intimation must be made a full fortnight before the time of distribution; and as every heritor (owner of landed property) in the parish has a right to vote in the distribution of the poor's funds, they may all, if they so incline, then attend and exercise that right; but if none of them should attend, which is often the case, the session has then a right to proceed; and whatever they shall thus do, is deemed strictly le

gal,

Poor.

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