Before the Reformation there were no Poor Rates; the charitable dole
given at the Religious Houses, and church-ale in every parish did the
business. In every parish there was a church house, to which belonged
spits, pots, crocks, &c. for dressing provision. Here the housekeepers
met and were merry, and gave their charity. The young people met there
too, and had dancing and bowling, shooting at butts, &c. A. Wood says
there were few or no alms-houses before Henry VIII. In every church
and large inn was a poor man's box.--_From Aubrey's MSS. Collections._
It should be recollected that the present mode of assessment for the
relief of the poor in England, was not adopted till every other mode
had been tried. Before the dissolution of the religious houses, temp.
Henry VIII., paupers were licensed to beg within certain limits (22nd.
Henry VIII., chap. 12.) and magistrates were authorized to receive and
support them, coming to the places of their birth, by voluntary and
charitable alms, and a method was prescribed for collecting those
alms. In the reign of Edward VI., laws were passed for _enforcing_
charitable _voluntary_ contributions (5th and 6th Edw. VI., chap. 2.)
Persons refusing to give according to their means were to be
admonished; first by the minister, and then by the bishop. These
provisions were found insufficient, and it was enacted early in the
reign of Elizabeth, that if the parties were insensible to the
clerical and episcopal admonitions, they should be bound over by the
minister or bishop to the quarter sessions; where they were again to
be admonished; and if they remained refractory, the justices and
churchwardens were to assess them according to their discretion. (5th
Eliz. chap. 3.) In the 14th year of her reign the act was passed and
provision made for regular assessments, and the appointment of
overseers provided for; which the subsequent acts of the 18th, 39th,
and 43rd of the same reign completed, and which has still remained.