We may, therefore, say that from 1631 to 1640 we had more poor relief in England than we ever had before or since. We shall try to estimate later how far this system was successful. But we will now see what happened to the organisation of English poor relief during the Civil War. We will also trace the history of poor relief in France and Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in order that we may see that the history of poor relief in England is unique. CHAPTER XIII. POOR RELIEF IN FRANCE, SCOTLAND, AND ENGLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR AND COMMONWEALTH. § 1. Lax administration of poor relief in England during the years of Civil War. _a._ Decline of charitable institutions. _b._ Neglect in execution of ordinary law. _c._ Instances of corrupt practices. § 2. Attempts to regain a good organisation of poor relief under the Commonwealth. § 3. Reasons why disorganisation especially affected the provision of work for the unemployed. § 4. State of poor relief after the Restoration. § 5. Reasons for failure under the Commonwealth to restore the old state of things. § 6. History of legislation on poor relief in Scotland, _a._ Before 1597. _b._ Between 1597-1680. § 7. Failure of administration of poor relief in Scotland during the seventeenth century. _a._ Responses of the Scotch justices to the orders of Council in 1623 show that they were unable or unwilling to enforce the poor law themselves and left it to the kirk sessions. _b._ Inadequate poor relief granted by the kirk sessions of Banff. _c._ Relief of the poor in Aberdeen shows that the relief considered sufficient by the municipal rulers was double that which could be granted from the funds at the disposal of the kirk sessions. _d._ Infrequency of assessment in Scotland before 1818. _e._ Insufficiency of relief during the years 1692-1699. _f._ Prevalence of begging in Scotland. _g._ Reasons for the failure of Scotch administration. § 8. The history of poor relief in France. § 9. Comparison between the history of poor relief in England and that in France and Scotland. The histories of poor relief in England after the Civil War, and in France and in Scotland throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both compare and contrast with the history of English poor relief in the period from 1529 to 1644. While in each of these cases like circumstances produced similar attempts to afford relief, in none did both an energetic Privy Council and a vigorous system of local officials coexist, and consequently in each case poor laws were in existence but were badly administered. The course of events in all these instances will therefore confirm the view that the survival of the English system of poor relief is owing to the organisation which was enforced by the English justices and was created by the Book of Orders of 1631.