We must also spare a roome in this Suruey, to the poore, of whom
few Shires can shew more, or owne fewer then Cornwall.
Ireland prescribeth to be the nurserie, which sendeth ouer yeerely,
yea and dayly whole Ship-loades of these crooked slips, and the
dishabited townes afford them rooting: so vpon the matter, the whole
County maketh a contribution, to pay those Lords their rent.
Manie good Statutes haue beene enacted for redresse of these abuses,
and vpon the first publishing, heedfully and diligently put in
practise: but [68] after the nine dayes wonder expired, the law
is forgotten, the care abandoned, and those vermine swarme againe
in euerie corner: yet those peeuish charitable cannot be ignorant,
that herethrough, to the high offence of God and good order, they
maintaine idlenes, drunkennesse, theft, lecherie, blasphemie,
Atheisme, and in a word, all impietie: for a worse kind of people
then these vagabonds, the realme is not pestered withal: what they
consume in a day, wil suffice to releeue an honest poore parishioner
for a week, of whose work you may also make some vse: their staruing
is not to be feared, for they may be prouided for at home, if they
list: no almes therefore should be cast away upon them, to the
robberie of the needy impotent; but money least of all: for in giuing
him siluer, you do him wrong, by changing his vocation, while you
metamorphize him from a begger to a buyer.
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