The preamble of the Act of 1547 (1 Edward VI.) lamented that earlier legislation on the subject of vagrancy "hath not had that successe which hath byn wished, partelie by folishe pitie and mercie of them which shoulde have seen the said godlie lawes executed, partelie by the perverse nature and longe accustumed idlenes of the parsons given to loytringe." Accordingly this Act provided that those who would not work nor "offer themself to labour with anny that will take them according to their facultie, and yf no man otherwise will take them doo not offer themself to worke for meate and drynck," also those who ran away from their employment, should be taken as vagabonds before two justices of the peace, who might order them to be branded on the breast with a V and "adjudge the said parsone living so idelye to such presentour to be his slave" for two years. Should the slave run away during the two years he was liable on recapture to be branded on cheek and forehead with an S, and be adjudged a slave for ever, while to run away a second time was felony punishable with death. If private persons failed to set the law in motion the local justices were to do so. In 1572 (14 Elizabeth) a law was passed enjoining that sturdy beggars found begging should be "grevouslye whipped, and burnte through the gristle of the right eare with a hot iron," unless some one would take them into service for one year; a second offence was to be treated as a felony unless some one would take them into service for two years; and a third offence was made felony without benefit of clergy. An amending Act of 1597 omitted the provisions as to branding and ear-marking, but branding with a R in the left shoulder was reintroduced for incorrigible or dangerous rogues in 1603 (1 James I.). (Branding continued to be legal until 1713.) The Act of 1597 also enjoined banishment for dangerous rogues who refused to reform their lives, and an Order in Council of 1603 particularised the countries to which they should be sent--East and West Indies, France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. The same power to banish was reasserted by a law of 1662, the destination being now "any of the English plantations." One of the most sensible of the earlier repressive laws was that of 1702-3 (2 & 3 Anne) for the increase of seamen and encouragement of navigation, which empowered justices of the peace to send rogues and vagabonds to "Her Majesty's Service at Sea."]