If this later system had been administered by a body of officials untrained in the same kind of work, and unused to these methods of administration, it would have had little chance of being well administered. Such degree of success as was attained must have been at least partially due to the fact that the measures for the punishment of vagabonds and for the provision of grain preceded the more detailed orders for the relief of the poor. The new orders were thus executed by county and municipal officials trained to similar duties and used to like methods of administration, and it was in this way that the Elizabethan measures of scarcity have an important influence on the growth of the English administration of the Poor Law. [Sidenote: 8. The influence of the Privy Council upon the Corporation of London.] But sometimes the measures of the Privy Council were not general: pressure was placed only on particular local officials. We will first examine a few cases of this kind concerning the City of London. We have already seen that in 1569 there were two sharp letters of the Privy Council to the Lord Mayor censuring him for his neglect in matters concerning the vagrants and poor[196]. In 1573 the Lord Mayor refers again to the displeasure of the Council and had apparently received a similar letter[197]. In this way therefore the Privy Council censured neglect and commanded local officials to remedy the abuses of their administration. [196] See Chapter IV. [197] _Journals_, Vol. XX. 1 f. 42, March 14, 1572/3. Sometimes we see the authorities of London asking the advice of the Council with regard to the measures that they have themselves prepared. Orders for the poor were drawn up in 1579 and again in 1594, and in both cases the Lords of the Privy Council were consulted[198]. The Lords of the Council also call attention to particular difficulties. In 1583 they recommend special measures to prevent the increase of Irish beggars[199], and they repeatedly write to order increased vigilance in enforcing the regulations against small houses and tenements which have been newly erected[200]. Special matters are sometimes arranged by them; in 1594 the City rulers are told to meet the justices of Middlesex in order that they may take joint action to repress vagrants[201]. Even details come under the notice of the members of the Privy Council, and in 1596 they directed the Lord Mayor to see that the corn in a particular ship was sold to the poor and not bought up by dealers[202].