n the present day, until it becomes necessary to hunt up their
settlement, and with no machinery for getting at them when once they
get away. It may seem strange that a Royston man or woman could not
cross over the road, say in Melbourn or Baldock Street, and change
houses without a parish licence, and yet this was the legal effect of
this old restraint.

Here is a specimen of such a removal over the road:--

"These are therefore in His Majesty's name, to require you, the said
Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of the said parish of Royston,
in the county of Hertford, to remove and convey the said E---- H----
from out of your said parish of Royston, in the county of Hertford, to
the said parish of Royston, in the county of Cambridge, and her deliver
to the Churchwardens and Overseers there, &c."

We have seen that the poor of Royston, Herts. and Cambs., were treated
as of one parish at the end of last century, but in the beginning of
the present century there was a hitch in the arrangement, and the
machinery for conveying the paupers "over the road" came into force
again, with this difference, that instead of the removal of an
individual pauper there was a whole exodus to be provided for, which is
thus recorded:--

"Ordered that the paupers in the Workhouse belonging to Royston,
Cambridgeshire, should be taken to-morrow (Nov. 4) to their own parish
and presented to the Overseers of the Poor, and if they refuse to
receive them to take the sense of the parish upon it on Monday at
Church."

{44}

One cannot help lingering in imagination over that comical exodus, with
the head man of the parish of Royston, in Hertfordshire, leading in
procession the whole band of paupers belonging to Royston,
Cambridgeshire, back out of Egypt, or the old Workhouse on the Warren,
down the High Street, over the Cross, to be handed over to the head man
of Royston, Cambs., to whom they belonged! There was old Widow B----
in pattens and a part of a red cloak; "Old Nib" in his greasy
smock-frock, little Gamaliel in mended leather breeches, and he of the
one arm who gave no end of trouble by stealing down to the "Red Lion"
to beg of the passengers on the coaches--a limping, shambling,
half-serious, half-comic, procession, worthy of a Frith! But what were
the Cambs. officials to do? They had no promised land, no house in
which to accommodate the immigrants! I think it is doubtful whether
they accepted them, and whether that moment