It will be our object, in the following pages, to trace the growth of this system. We will examine the causes which led the public authorities of state and town to control the relief of the poor, and the steps which they took to render its administration effective and successful. There can be no doubt, that an organisation of this kind was not suddenly imposed by a single Act of Parliament. Under Henry VIII., the first enactment was passed ordering the regular collection and distribution of alms for the relief of the poor[1], but it was not until forty years later that the amount to be paid by each individual was assessed and its payment compulsorily enforced[2], while even after ninety years had elapsed, the English organisation of poor relief was still irregularly carried out and of little practical effect[3]. Like other and more famous English institutions, the making and administration of the English Poor Law was a growth, not a creation. It was during the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries that the chief experiments were made in methods of relieving the poor by secular public authorities. But, even before that time, the beginnings of the later organisation may be traced both in the provisions of the statutes and in the regulations of the towns. [1] 27 Hen. VIII. c. 25, 1535-6. [2] 14 Eliz. c. 5, 1572. [3] Preamble to Orders and Directions of 1631. [Sidenote: 1. Anglo-Saxon times.] We will now briefly consider the chief ways in which public secular authorities interfered in the relief of the poor before the sixteenth century. In Anglo-Saxon times, the administration of poor relief was almost entirely under the control of the Church. Almsgiving and hospitality were however inculcated as religious duties of considerable importance, and there is much to make us think that they were extensively practised by Anglo-Saxon kings and noblemen. Bede tells the following story of King Oswald. He was about to dine sumptuously from a silver dish of dainties one Easter day, when the servant who distributed relief to the poor came before him, and told him that there were many needy persons outside the gate, who were begging some alms of the king. The king left the dish untasted and ordered the contents to be carried to the beggars[4]. This story incidentally lets us see that a distribution of alms and a special servant for the purpose were part of the regular organisation of the household. King Alfred also, we are told, "bestowed alms and largesses on both natives and foreigners of all countries[5]," and it was the custom of the Anglo-Saxon kings to keep open house for several days and to entertain all comers three times a year, at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide. [4] Bede's _Eccles. Hist._, Bk. III. c. VI. King Athelstan ordered the distribution of much help to the poor. He ordered each of his reeves every year to redeem one "wite theow" (penal slave) and to entirely feed one poor Englishman. Thorpe, p. 84.