Soon after the accession of Elizabeth new methods began to be adopted, and a special scale of payments was fixed where the poor were concerned. In 1570 at Norwich the citizens neglected to give according to their ability and so compulsion had to follow. The basis of the first assessment was the old voluntary collection. If a new-comer arrived after 1576 he was taken to the mayor or his deputy and assessed by him at a suitable sum[271]. In London also we have seen that the first assessment under the statute of 1572 was based on the payments formerly made, but the amounts were to be increased when there was any cause. In Ipswich also by 1579 there was apparently a special assessment for the poor, for it was then ordered that "all the persons in this Towne rated to pay to the poore, shall presently pay soe much mony as by computation his rate shall amount unto for one monthe and neverthelesse continue the paym^{ts} of their rates as they are rated[272]." It seems that in Ipswich the practice of levying poor rates according to the value of the house was already adopted. [271] Orders given to the "Overseers of everie parish" in 1576, 1577, 1578, entered in the "Maiores Booke for the Poore." [272] Bacon's _Annals of Ipswich_, 4 Dec., 1579. Sometimes a large sum of money was raised at one time to form what was called a "stock." This fund was let out at interest to various people or invested in land and the sums arising from this interest or rent were used though the capital remained untouched. During the reign of Elizabeth the various public bodies lent out a good deal of the money in their hands in this manner. In 1584 there was an inquiry into the management of funds so raised at Winchester and the bishop sent a declaration on the subject to the Council. Some of the money had been used for the poor in the parishes and some for the House of Correction. A hundred and twenty pounds had been given for the use of the poor in the parish of Twiford; this had been lent at the rate of ten per cent. and the £12 so obtained had been or was about to be distributed to the poor[273]. The large sum of £1009 had been spent on the House of Correction and no proper account was made. In future, however, the justices were to levy a rate on the parish so that no parish paid more than fourpence a week and so that the average amounted to twopence. [273] The gentlemen responsible for the sums belonging to the other parishes were not present, but it was resolved that these funds also should be lent on good security and the interest only used for distribution "so that the stocke may still remayne to the like reliefe of the poore hereafter." _Dom. S. P. Qu. Eliz._ Vol. 173, No. 62.