The incidence of poverty in England in the later seventeenth century.

The article attempts to clarify the incidence of poverty in the later seventeenth century in England by examining the bases of Gregory King's calculations and of exemption from the hearth tax and by exploring contemporary perceptions of poverty and the numbers who received poor relief. It was argued that there is a need for substantial revision to the orthodoxies if the definition of the word poverty is to be preserved, including the acceptance that it occurred at different levels. It is said that critical comments has already been given to Gregory King's "Scheme of the Income and Expense of the Several Families of England Calculated for the Year 1688." King's calculations states that the population in 1688 is divided into two groups, families who are increasing the wealth of the kingdom and families decreasing it.