[705] In 1638 the Glasgow Town Council reports in favour of relieving the poor in their homes, and orders the inhabitants to be "stented" for their relief. In Jan. 1639 the rate was imposed and amounted to £600, or one-fifth of the ordinary taxation. In April the poor were to be "keipit in thair houssis for ane quarter to cum," and in October the arrangement was said to be successful, and was continued for a year. But in 1647 the town authorities say they are loath to take the course allowed by law, and ask the kirk session to "fallow furthe the way on ane voluntar monethlie contributione"; any deficiency in the sum necessary for the poor was however still to be contributed by the town. In 1649 means were formed of stimulating the voluntary contributors "Anent the inbringing of the poores mentinance it is inacted that the refuissars be quarterit vpon with sojouries." Still the funds raised were insufficient, and in 1653 a tax was again imposed only to be again discontinued a few years later. _Extracts from the Records of Glasgow_, R. Marwick, Vol. I., pp. 395, 396, 400, 406, and Vol. II., pp. 180, 182, 254, 369. [Sidenote: 8. The history of poor relief in France.] The history of poor relief in France is very similar to that in Scotland, except that in the earlier stages French legislation is in advance of that of England. After the middle of the fourteenth century there were vagrant laws in France and Paris as in Scotland and England. The first general measure for the relief of the poor also is almost exactly contemporaneous in all three countries. In 1536, Francis I. issued two edicts. The first ordains "that the impotent poor who have room and lodging and dwelling houses shall be nourished and entertained by their parishes, and for this purpose a register shall be made by the curés, vicars or churchwardens, each for his own parish," in order that these officers may distribute alms to the poor who are disabled. In each parish boxes were to be placed in which offerings were to be collected, and every Sunday, in Paris as in England, the preachers in their sermons were to exhort their hearers to contribute. Abbeys, priories, chapters and colleges were to give their alms to this box[706]. [706] Alexandre Monnier, _Histoire de l'assistance dans les temps anciens et modernes_, p. 307. "Par chacune paroisse, seront establis boëtes et troncs qui par chacun jour de dimanche, seront recommandés par les curez et vicaires en leur prosnes et par les prédicateurs en leur sermons." By a second edict of King Francis, issued in this year, the able-bodied poor were compelled to labour in return for their alms, and it was ordered that the ordinances made in Paris concerning the poor should be binding also in the towns of Brittany[707]. These edicts of King Francis contain almost exactly similar provisions to those of the statutes of Henry VIII., even in matters of detail.