[178] _Privy Council Register_, Vol. XIV. p. 277. On Jan. 2nd, 1586/7, letters were sent to the "Lordes Archbishopes of Canterbury and Yorke signifyinge her Majesties care for the releefe of the poore in this tyme of derthe and scarsety for redresse wherof certen orders, by her specyall commandement, are devysed by theyr Lordships; for furtherance of which purpose theyr Lordships are prayed to geve order to the Bishopes and Ordynaryes under theyr Dioces to instruct the curates, ministers or preachers of the Word to exhorte the (people is here struck out) of habylytye to extend charitye to the poore and them to beare this visytation of God with patyence &c." Letters to the same effect were written to the Lord Presydent of the Northe and the Lo. Pres. of Wales, also "to all the sheeres of the Realme dyrected to the Shryves and Justyces of the Peace." These directions of 1587 commanded the appointment of juries who were to make an elaborate survey of the amount of corn possessed by everyone, and to state the number of people belonging to the different households. The justices were then to allow each owner to retain as much corn as was necessary for the food of his househood and for seed, but were to order the rest to be brought to market. They were moreover to use "all good meanes and perswasions ... that the pore may be served of corne at convyent and charitable prices." They were also to see to the execution of the laws for the relief of the poor, "that the maymed or hurt soldiers and all other impotent persons be carefullye seene unto to be relieved," and "that the justices doe their best to have convenient stocke to be provided in everye division or other place accordinge to the statut for settinge the pore a worke[179]." [179] Lansdowne MSS., Vol. 48, No. 54. Printed in the Appendix. Many reports from the justices were sent to the Council in answer both to their letters and to the more elaborate set of orders of 1587. The justices divided themselves so that some were responsible for each division of the county[180]. They were present on market-days and saw if there were a sufficient supply of corn, and tried to persuade the owners to sell it at a moderate price[181]. They also took measures to check the dealers in corn or badgers. A difference of opinion seems to have existed as to the usefulness of these dealers. The Privy Council thought them mischievous, but the justices of Gloucester find them "honestlie demeaning themselves to be profytable members of this our Commonwelth[182]." The justices often, as in Norfolk[183], made detailed enquiries as to the amount of corn held by each farmer and the number of his household, and in accordance with the information thus acquired they ordered, as in Wootton, Oxfordshire, every corn holder to bring a proportionate quantity of his grain to market[184]. In Gloucestershire they went farther and also fixed the price at which it was to be sold[185].