n, or such wherein they had dwelt for three years (which seem
to be the first rudiments of parish settlements) yet till the statute
27 Hen. VIII. c. 26. I find no compulsory method chalked out for this
purpose: but the poor seem to have been left to such relief as the
humanity of their neighbours would afford them. The monasteries were,
in particular, their principal resource; and, among other bad effects
which attended the monastic institutions, it was not perhaps one of
the least (though frequently esteemed quite otherwise) that they
supported and fed a very numerous and very idle poor, whose sustenance
depended upon what was daily distributed in alms at the gates of the
religious houses. But, upon the total dissolution of these, the
inconvenience of thus encouraging the poor in habits of indolence and
beggary was quickly felt throughout the kingdom: and abundance of
statutes were made in the reign of king Henry the eighth, for
providing for the poor and impotent; which, the preambles to some of
them recite, had of late years _strangely_ increased. These poor were
principally of two sorts: sick and impotent, and therefore unable to
work; idle and sturdy, and therefore able, but not willing, to
exercise any honest employment. To provide in some measure for both of
these, in and about the metropolis, his son Edward the sixth founded
three royal hospitals; Christ's, and St. Thomas's, for the relief of
the impotent through infancy or sickness; and Bridewell for the
punishment and employment of the vigorous and idle. But these were far
from being sufficient for the care of the poor throughout the kingdom
at large; and therefore, after many other fruitless experiments, by
statute 43 Eliz. c. 2. overseers of the poor were appointed in every
parish.

[Footnote k: c. 1. Sec. 3.]

BY virtue of the statute last mentioned, these overseers are to be
nominated yearly in Easter-week, or within one month after, by two
justices dwelling near the parish. They must be substantial
householders, and so expressed to be in the appointment of the
justices[l].

[Footnote l: 2 Lord Raym. 1394.]

THEIR office and duty, according to the same statute, are principally
these: first, to raise competent sums for the necessary relief of the
poor, impotent, old, blind, and such other, being poor and not able to
work: and, secondly, to provide work for such as are able, and cannot
otherwise get employment: but this latter part of their duty, which,