[106] Thus one of the Wiltshire reports gives details of this kind parish by parish for the hundred of Amysbury. Parish of Boscum, three persons have grain; population of parish, 80. In Alyngton two persons have grain; population 70.... In the parish of Fiddelldene seven households, consisting of 114 persons, have grain, while sixty persons were without. _Letters and Papers of Hen. VIII._, No. 3665. 15 Dec. 1527. See vol. IV., App. 273. [107] _Letters and Papers of Hen. VIII._, vol. IV., No. 3625. Norfolk to Wolsey. At the same time measures were undertaken to lessen the disorder from which the country was suffering. In December 1527 a great search was made for vagrants, and the commissioners report the punishment of valiant beggars[108]. Notwithstanding all this there was a serious disturbance in Kent. The people asked for the return of the loan raised two years before, because they were so sore impoverished by the great dearth of corn[109]. The harvest of 1528 however was fortunately fairly plentiful, and the country again became peaceful. These difficulties again illustrate the connection between poverty and disorder, and show that the Privy Council first came to interfere in these matters in order to maintain the peace. [108] _Letters and Papers of Hen. VIII._, vol. IV., Nos. 3822, 3664. [109] Do. Nos. 4173 and 4192. [Sidenote: 3. Similar action with regard to corn in 1548 and 1563.] In 1549 and 1550 the price of provisions was again high, and the people were mutinous. A proclamation was therefore issued fixing the price of corn, butter, poultry, and other provisions. Letters were written to the justices and to the Lords-Lieutenant, and a commission was appointed to enforce its execution[110]. But the whole series of orders was disobeyed and the misery caused by this year of scarcity partially accounts for the rebellions, which ended in the fall of Somerset, and nearly upset the Government altogether. Other instructions were sent out in 1561[111]: the difficulty was a frequently recurring one. The years of high-priced corn were years of riot, and resulted in constantly increasing efforts of the Privy Council on behalf of the poor. We shall see that in future years of scarcity the same difficulties arise, and similar measures are taken. But, as more experience was gained, there was less attempt to regulate prices, and more to directly organise the relief of the poor, so that the efforts to improve the administration of the poor law were closely connected with the measures to provide corn for the poor in years of scarcity. [110] _Dom. State Papers_, Edw. VI., vol. X. 42, 43, vol. XI. 5 and 6. [111] Stowe MSS. 152, f. 16. [Sidenote: 4. Letters of the Privy Council to particular local officials in connection with the relief of the poor.]