If a man fell into straightened circumstances in another parish then his own , what provision was made for him? Why, then, did Peter Brownrigg fear losing his independence as much as he feared starvation itself?

From the text:

The Poor Law says that an honest man who cannot find work may get relief from his own parish—but only from his own. Abingdon would not pay me a penny if I fell destitute there, nor would London. They would send me back to my own parish in Cumberland, to be helped by my neighbors—which would have been a fair enough arrangement if it hadn't meant delivering me straight into the arms of my enemy.