Note 288 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Cal. of State Papers, May 31st, 1597. The Ipswich officials were careful to provide for their needy neighbours. Every year from 1594 to 1597 loans were raised to buy corn, and it is always stated that this corn was bought for the poor. In 1594 a loan of £200 was so raised, and the town consented to bear any loss: the next year £600 was thought necessary and three hundred quarters of rye were purchased. On the 15th Oct. 1596, it was ordered that "100 quarters of rye and 150 quarters of barley shall be bought for provision for the poor and so much money as the same shall be valued at shall be lent by the inhabitants of the town." Again, in 1597 three hundred combs were provided at 4s. 6d. a bushel, and the charges for keeping it and lading it were borne by the town. Nathaniel Bacon's Annals of Ipswich, 25 Oct. 1594, 13 Oct. 1595, and 21 Feb. 1597.