mortuum in urbe ne sepelito nevè urito That Men should burn or bury the Dead within the City Walls was expresly prohibited by a Law of the XII Tables and truely I am perswaded that the frequency of Church-yards and Charnel-Houses contamminate the Aer in many parts of this Town as well as the Pumps and Waters which are any thing near unto them so that those Pipes and Conveyances which passe through them obnoxious to many dangerous accidents ought either to be directed some other way or very carefully to be looked after We might add to these Chandlers and Butchers because of those horrid stinks niderous and unwholsome smells which proceed from the Tallow and corrupted Blood At least should no Cattel be kill'd within the City to this day observ'd in the Spanish great Towns of America since the Flesh and Candles might so easily be brought to the Shambles and Shops from other places lesse remote then the former by which means also might be avoided the driving of Cattel through the Streets which is a very great inconvenience and some danger The same might be affirm'd of Fishmongers so wittily perstringed by Erasmus per Salsamentarios nempe inqainari Civitatem infici terram slumina aerem ignem si quod aliud est elementum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then for the Butcher That the Lex Carnaria of the Romans forbad them to kill or have their Slaughter-houses within the Walls that they had a certain Station assign'd them without ne si passim vivant totam urbem reddant pestiletem So as were the people to choose malunt says he habere vicinos decem Lenones quam unum Lanionem They would rather dwell neer Ten Bawds then one Butcher But this is insulsus Salsamentarius a quibble of the Fishmongers I could yet wish that our Nasty Prisons and Common Goales might bear them Company since I affirm they might all be remov'd to some distant places neer the River the situation whereof does so invite and rarely contribute to the effecting of it But if the Avarice of the men of this Age be so far deplorable that we may not hope for so absolute a cure of all that is offensive at least let such whose Works are upon the Margent of the Thames and which are indeed the most intollerable be banished further off and not once dare to approach that silver Channel but at the distance prescrib'd which glides by her stately Palaces and irrigates her welcome Banks What a new Spirit would these easie Remedies create among the Inhabitants of London what another Genius infuse in the face of things and there is none but observes and feels in himself the Change which a serene and clear day produces how heavy and lesse dispos'd to motion Yea even to good humour and friendly inclinations we many times find our selves when the Heavens are clowded and discompos'd when the South-winds blow and the humours are fluid for what we are when the Skie is fair and the Aer in good temper And there is reason that we who are compos'd of the Elements should participate of their qualities For as the Humours have their sourse from the Elements so have our Passions from the Humors and the Soul which is united to this Rody of ours cannot but be affected with its Inclinations The very dumb creatures themselves being sensible of the alteration of the Aer though not by ratiocination yet by many notorious Symptomes But I forbear to Philosophise farther upon this Subject capable of very large and noble reflections having with my promis'd brevity endevoured to shew the Inconveniencies and the Remedies of what does so universally offend and obscure the Glory of this our renowned Metropolis and which I hope may produce some effects towards the reforming of so publick a Nuisance At least let the continual sejourn of our Illustrious CHARLES who is the very Breath of our Nostrills in whose health all our happinesse consists be precious in our Eyes and make our Noble Patriots now assembled in Parliament consult for the speedy removal of this universal grievance It is certainly of far greater concernment however light and aery it may appear to some then the drayning of a Fen or beautifying an Aquaduct for which some have received such publick honours Statues and Inseriptions and will if ever any thing did deserve the like acknowledgements both of the present and future Ages You therefore that have Houses in the City you that bring up your Wives and Families from their sweet Habitations in the Country that Educate your Children here that have Offices at Court that study the Laws In fine all that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad eundem fumum degentes bear a part in this request of mine which concerns the universal benefit and the rather for that having neither Habitation Office nor Being in the City I cannot be suspected to oblige any particular The Elegant Ladies and nice Dames All that are in Health and would continue so that are infirm or Convalescent and would be perfect that affect the Glory of our Court and City Health or Beauty are concerned in this Petition and it will become our wise Senators and we earnestly expect it that they would consult as well the State of the Natural as the Politick Body of this Great Nation so considerable a part whereof are Inhabitants of this August City since without their mutual harmony and well-being there can nothing prosper or arrive to its defired perfection PART III. An offer at the Improvement and Melioration of the Aer of LONDON by way of Plantations c. THere goes a pleasant Tale of a certain Sr Politick that in the last great Plague projected how by a Vessel fraight with peel'd Onions which should passe along the Thames by the City when the Wind fate in a favourable quarter to attract the pollution of the Aer and sail away with the Infection to the Sea Transplantation of Diseases we sometimes read of amongst the Magneticall or rather Magical Cures but never before of this way of Transfretation but however this excellent conceit has often afforded good mirth on the Stage and I now mention to prevent the application to what I hope propound There is yet another expedient which I have here to offer were This of the poisonous and filthy smoak remov'd by which the City and environs about it might be rendred one of the most pleasant and agreeable places in the world In order to this I propose That all low-grounds circumjacent to the City especially East and South-west be cast and contriv'd into square plots or Fields of twenty thirty and forty Akers or more separated from each others by Fences of double Palisads or Contr'spaliers which should enclose a Plantation of an hundred and fifty or more feet deep about each Field not much unlike to what His Majesty has already begun by the wall from Old Spring-garden to St. Iames's in that Park and is somewhat
above as it is hardly at all discernible but from some few particular Tunnells and Issues belonging only to Brewers Diers Lime-burners Salt and Sope-boylers and some other private Trades One of whose Spiracles alone does manifestly infect the Aer more then all the Chimnies of London put together besides And that this is not the least Hyperbolie let the best of Judges decide it which I take to be our senses Whilst these are belching it forth their sooty jaws the City of London resembles the face rather of Mount Aetna the Court of Vulcan Stromboli or the Suburbs of Hell then an Assembly of Rational Creatures and the Imperial feat of our incomparable Monarch For when in all other places the Aer is most Serene and Pure it is here Ecclipsed with such a Cloud of Sulphure as the Sun it self which gives day to all the World besides is hardly able to penetrate and impart it here and the weary Traveller at many Miles distance sooner smells then sees the City to which he repairs This is that pernicious Smoake which fullyes all her Glory superinducing a sooty Crust or furr upon all that it lights spoyling the moveables tarnishing the Plate Gildings and Furniture and corroding the very Iron-bars and hardest stones with those piercing and acrimonious Spirits which accompany its Sulphure and executing more in one year then expos'd to the pure Aer of the Country it could effect in some hundreds piceaque gravatum Foedat nube diem Claud. de rap Pros. l. 1. It is this horrid Smoake which obscures our Churches and makes our Palaces look old which fouls our Clothes and corrupts the Waters so as the very Rain and refreshing Dews which fall in the several Seasons precipitate this impure vapour which with its black and tenacious quality spots and contaminates whatsoever is expos'd to it Calidoque involvitur undique fumo Ovid. It is this which scatters and strews about those black and smutty Atomes upon all things where it comes insinuating it self into our very secret Cabinets and most precions Repositories Finally it is this which diffuses and spreads a Yellownesse upon our choycest Pictures and Hangings which does this mischief at home is Avernus to Fowl and kills our Bees and Flowers abroad suffering nothing in our Cardens to bud display themselves or ripon so as our Anemonies and many other choycest Flowers will by no Industry be made to blow in London or the Precincts of it unlesse they be raised on a Hot-bed and govern'd with extraordinary Artifice to accellerate their springing imparting a bitter and ungrateful Tast to those few wretched Fruits which never arriving to their desired maturity seem like the Apples of Sodome to fall even to dust when they are but touched Not therefore to be forgotten is that which was by many observ'd that in the year when New-castle was besieg'd and blocked up in our late Wars so as through the great Dearth and Scarcity of Coales those fumous Works many of them were either left off or spent but few Coales in comparison to what they now use Divers Gardens and Orchards planted even in the very heart of London as in particular my Lord Marquesse of Hertfords in the Strand my Lord Bridgewaters and some others about Barbican were observed to bear such plentiful and infinite quantities of Fruits as they never produced the like either before or since to their great astonishment but it was by the Owners rightly imputed to the penury of Coales and the little Smoake which they took notice to infest them that year For there is a virtue in the Aer to penetrate alter nourish yea and to multiply Plants and Fruits without-which no vegetable could possibly thrive but as the Poet. Aret ager vitio moriens sitit aëris herba Georg. 7. So as it was not ill said by Paracelsus that of all things Aer only could be truly affirm'd to have Life seeing to all things it gave Life Argument sufficient to demonstrate how prejudicial it is to the Bodies of men for that can never be Aer sit for them to breath in where nor Fruits nor Flowers do ripen or come to a seasonable perfection I have strangely wondred and not without some just indignation when the South-wind has been gently breathing to have sometimes beheld that stately House and Garden belonging to my Lord of Northumberland even as far as White-hall and Westminster wrapped in a horrid Cloud of this Smoake issuing from a Brew-house or two contiguous to that noble Palace so as coming up the River that part of the City has appear'd a Sea where no Land was within ken the same frequently happens from a Lime-kelne * I doe assent that both Lime Sulphur are in some affections specifies for the Lungs but then they are to be so prepared as nothing save the purest parts be received into the body for so Physicians prescribe Flores sulph c. and not accompanied with such gross and plainly virulent vapours as these fires send forth Nor are they as accurately prepar'd as Art can render them to be perperually used but at certain periods in Forme and with due Regiment on the Banke-side neer the Falcon which when the Wind blowes Southern dilates it self all over that Poynt of the Thames and the opposite part of London especially about S. Paul's poysoning the Aer with so dark and thick a Fog as I have been hardly able to pass through it for the extraordinary stench and halitus it sends forth and the like is neer Fox-hall at the farther end of Lambeth Now to what funest and deadly Accidents the assiduous invasion of this Smoak exposes the numerous Inhabitants I have already touch'd whatsoever some have fondly pretended not considering that the constant use of the same Aer be it never so impure may be consistent with Life and a Valetudinary state especially if the Place be native to us and that we have never lived for any long time out of it Custome in this as in all things else obtaining another Nature and all Putrefaction proceeding from certain Changes it becomes as it were the Form and Perfection of that which is contain'd in it For so to say nothing of such as by assuefaction have made the rankest poysons their most familiar Diet we read that Epimenides continu'd fifty years in a damp Cave the Eremites dwelt in Dens and divers live now in the Fens some are condemn'd to the Mines and others that are perpetually conversant about the Forges Fornaces of Iron and other Smoaky Works are little concern'd with these troublesome accidents But as it is not I perswade my self out of choyce that these Men affect them so nor will any man I think commend and celebrate their manner of Living A Tabid Body might possibly trail out a miserable Life of seven or eight years by a Sea-cole Fire as 't is reported the Wife of a certain famous Physician did of late by the Prescription of her Husband
is daily cast out of their Houses much lesse what is brought in by the Feet of Men and Horses or the want of more frequent and better conveyances which renders the Streets of London dirty even to a Proverb but chiefly this continual Smoake which ascending in the day-time is by the descending Dew and Cold precipitated again at night And this is manifest if a peice of clean Linnen be spread all Night in any Court or Garden the least infested as to appearance but especially if it happen to rain which carries it down in greater proportion not only upon the Earth but upon the Water also where it leaves a thin Web or pellicule of dust dancing upon the Surface of it as those who go to bathe in the Thames though at some Miles distance from the City do easily discern and bring home upon their Bodies How it sticks on the Hands Faces and Linnen of our fair Ladies and nicer Dames who reside constantly in London especially during Winter the prodigious wast of Almond-power for the One Soap and wearing out of the Other do sufficiently manifest Let it be considered what a Fuliginous crust is yearly contracted and adheres to the Sides of our ordinary Chymnies where this grosse Fuell is used and then imagine if there were a solid Tentâ—riuâ— or Canopy over London what a masse of Soote would then stick to it which now as was said comes down every Night in the Streets on our Houses the Waters and is taken into our Bodies And may this much suffice concerning the Causes and Effects of this Evill and to discover to all the World how pernicious this Smoake is to our Inhabitants of London to decrie it and to introduce some happy Expedient whereby they may for the Future hope to be freed from so intollerable an inconvenience if what I shall be able to produce and offer next may in some measure contribute to it PART II. VVE know as the Proverb commonly speaks that as there is no Smoake without Fire so neither is there hardly any Fire without Smoake and that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 materials which burn clear are very few and but comparatively so tearmed Thar to talk of serving this vast City though Paris as great be so supplied with Wood were madnesse and yet doubtlesse it were possible that much larger proportions of Wood might be brought to London and sold at easier rates if that were diligently observed which both our Laws enjoyn is faisible and practised in other places more remote by Planting and preserving of Woods and Copses and by what might by Sea be brought out of the Northern Countries where is so greatly abounds and seems inexhaustible But the Remedy which I would propose has nothing in it of this difficulty requiring only the Removal of such Trades as are manifest Nuisances to the City which I would have placed at farther distances especially such as in their Works and Fournaces use great quantities of Sea-Cole the sole and only cause of those prodigious Clouds of Smoake which so universally and so fatally infest the Aer and would in no City of Europe be permitted where Men had either respect to Health or Ornament Such we named to be Brewers Diers Sope and Salt-boylers Lime-burners and the like These I affirm together with some few others of the same Classe removed at competent distance would produce so considerable though but partial a Cure as Men would even be found to breath a new life as it were as well as London appear a new City delivered from that which alone renders it one of the most pernicious and insupportable abodes in the World as subjecting her Inhabitants to so infamous an Aer otherwise sweet and very healthful For as we said the Culinary fires and which charking would greatly reform contribute little or nothing in comparison to these foul mouth'd Issues and Curles of Smoake Virgil. which as the Poet has it do Caelum subtexere fumo and draw a sable Curtain over Heaven Let any man observe it upon a Sunday or such time as these Spiracles cease that the Fires are generally extinguished and he shall sensibly conclude by the clearnesse of the Skie and universal serenity of the Aer about it that all the Chimnies in London do not darken and poyson it so much as one or two of those Tunnels of Smoake and that because the most imperceptible transpirations which they send forth are ventilated and dispersed with the least breath which is stirring Whereas the Columns and Clowds of Smoake which are belched forth from the sooty Throates of those Works are so thick and plentiful that rushing out with great impetuosity they are capable even to resist the fiercest winds and being extremely surcharg'd with a fuliginous Body fall down upon the City before they can be dissipated as the more thin and weak is Pliny so as two or three of these fumid vortices are able to whirle it about the whole City rendring it in a few Moments like the Picture of Troy sacked by the Greeks or the approches of Mount-Hecla I propose therefore that by an Act of this present Parliament this infernal Nuisance be reformed enjoyning that all those Works be removed five or six miles distant from London below the River of Thames I say five or six Miles or at the least so far as to stand behind that Promontory jetting out and and securing Greenwich from the pestilent Aer of Plumstead-Marshes because being placed at any lesser Interval beneath the City it would not only prodigiously infect that his Majesties Royal Seat and as Barclay calls it pervetusta Regum Britannicorum domus but during our nine Months Etesians for so we may justly name our tedious Western-winds utterly darken and confound one of the most princely and magnificent * Memorabilis amoenitas pene citius animum quam oculos diffudit aspectu non Britannia tantum sed fortasse tota Europa pulcherrimo c. Sed pulcherrimum spectaculum praebit ipsa urbs inter eximias Europae celebrata c. Io. Barcl Euphor Sat. part 4. c. 2. Prospects that the World has to shew Whereas being seated behind that Mountain and which seems to have been thus industriously elevated No winds or other accident whatever can force it through that solid obstacle and I am perswaded that the heat of these Works mixing with the too cold and uliginous vapours which perpetually ascend from these Fenny Grounds might be a means of rendring that Aer far more healthy then now it is because it seems to stand in need of some powerful drier but which London by reason of its excellent â—â—ituation does not at all require And if it shall be objected that the Brakishnesse of the Spring-tides happening here about at some periods may render the Waters lesse useful for some purposes It is an extraordinary Accident which appearing rarely is cured again at the reversion of the next Tide Or if it only concern the Brewer I
know no inconveniency if even some of them were proscrib'd as far as any fresh-waters are found dissemboguing into the Thames since the commodiousnesse of the passage may bring up their Wares with so great ease He that considers what quantities are transported from Dantzick Lubeck Hamborough and other remote places into Holland cannot think this an unreasonable proposition But if their fondnesse to be nearer London procure indulgence for some of them The Town of Bowe in regard of its sâ—ituation from our continual Winds may serve for the expedient and a partial Cure But the rest of those banish'd to the utmost extreme propounded on the River At least by this means Thousands of able Watermen may be employed in bringing Commodities vnto the City to certain Magazines Wharfs commodiously situated to dispense them by Carrs or rather Sleds into the several parts of the Town all which may be effected with much facility and small expense but with such Conveniency and Benefit to the Inhabitants otherwise as were altogether inestimable and therefore to be vaâ—lu'd beyond all other trifling objections of sordid and avaricious persons whatsoever Nor indeed could there at all the lest detriment ensue upon this Reformation since the Places and Houses deserted which commonly take up a great space of Ground might be converted into Tenements and some of them into Noble Houses for use and pleasure respecting the Thames to their no small advantage Add to this that it would be a means to prevent the danger of Fireing those sad Calamities for the most part proceeding from some Accident or other which takes beginning from places where such great and exorbitant Fires are perpetually kept going Not were this a thing yet so extravagant and without all Presidous of former times since even the Smoake and burning of lesse foetid and noxious Fuell produc'd an inconvenience so universal in some Countries of this Nation Not to mention the complaint which I have heard some parts even of France it self lying South-west of England did formerly make of being infested with Smoakes driven from out Maritime Coasts which injur'd their Vines in Flower that it was thought expedient an Act of Parliament should be made purposely to reform it in the seventh year of the Reign of His Majesties Grandfather that now is which to take off all prejudice I shall here recite as it remains upon Record Anno vij Iacobi Regis An Act against burning of Ling and Heath and other Moor-burning in the Countries of Yorke Durham Northumberland Cumberland Westmerland Lancaster Darbie Nottingham Leicester at unseasonable times of the year WHereas many Inconveniencies are observed to happen in divers Counties of this Realm by Moore-burnings and by raising of Fires in Moorish grounds and Mountanious Countries for burning of Ling Heath Hather Furres Gorsse Turffe Fearn Whinnes Broom and the like in the Spring time and Summer-Times For as much as thereby happeneth yearly a great destruction of the Brood of Wild-fowle and Moore-game and by the multitude of grosse vapours and Clouds arising from those great fires the Aer is so distemper'd and such unseasonable and unnatural storms are ingendred as that the Corn and the Fruites of the Earth are thereby in divers places blasted and greatly hindered in their due course of ripening and reaping As also for that sometimes it hath happened that by the violence of those Fires driven with the Wind great Fields of Corn growing have been consumed and Meadows spoyl'd to the great hurt and dammage of His Majesties Subjects which Moor-burnings neverthelesse may be used and practised at some other convenient times without such eminent danger or prejudice Be it therefore Enacted by our Soveraign Lord the Kings most excellent Majesty with the assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Commons in this Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That from and after the last day of July next ensuing the end of this present Session of Parliament it shall not be lawful for any Person of Persons whatsoever in the Months of April May June July August and September nor in any of them to raise kindle or begin or to cause or practise to be raised kindled or begun any Fires or Moor-burnings in the said Counties of York Durham Northumberland Cumberland Westmorland Lancaster Darby Nottingham and Leicester or in any of them for burning of Ling Heath Hather Furs Gorsse Turffes Fearne VVhinnes Broome or the like neither to assist further nourish or continue the same And that all and every Person and Persons which from and after the said last day of July shall offend contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Statute the same offence being proved by contession of the Party or by the Testimonies of two sufficient Witnesses upon Oath before one or more Iustices of the Peace of the same County City or Tow Corporate where the offence shall be committed or the Person or Persons offending apprehended shall be by the said Iustice or Iustices of the peace for every such offence committed to the Common Goale of the County City or Tow Corporate where the Offence shall be committed or the person or persons apprehended there to remain for the space of one Month without Bail or Main-prise And further be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all and every person and persons which shall be so convicted and imprisoned as aforesaid shall not be enlarged from their said Imprisonment but shall there remain after the said Month is expired without Bail or Main-prise untill such time as every such Offendor respectively shall pay or cause to be paid to the Church-Wardens or unto the Overseers of the poor of the Parish or place where the same Offence shall be committed or the Offender or Offenders apprehended or unto some of them to the use of the poor of the said parish or place where the same Offence shall be committed the Summe of Twenty Shillings for every such Offence committed or done contrary no this Act. This Act to continue until the end of the first Session of the next Parliament So far the Act. And here you see was care taken for the Fowl and the Game as well as for the Fruits Corn and Grasse which were universally incommoded by these unwholsome vapours that distempered the Ae See Hipp. de Flatibus Gal. l. Ctb. boni mali succi instancing in Corn and Water poyson'd by ill Aer to the very raising of Storms and sempests upon which a Philosopher might amply discourse And if such care was taken for the Country where the more Acreall parts predominate and are in comparison free how much greater ought there to be for the City where are such Multitudes of Inhabitants concern'd And surely it was so of old when to object all that can be replied against it even for the very Service of God the Sacrifices were to be burnt without the Camp amongst the Iews as of old amongst the Romans Hominem
resembled in the new Spring-garden at Lambeth That these Palisad's be elegantly planted diligently kept and supply'd with such Shrubs as yield the most fragrant and odoriferous Flowers and are aptest to tinge the Aer upon every gentle emission at a great distance Such as are for instance amongst many others the Sweet-brier all the Periclymena's and Woodbinds the Common white and yellow Iessamine both the Syringa's or Pipe trees the Guelder-Rose the Musk and all other Roses Genista Hispanica To these may be added the Rubus odoratus Bayes Iuniper Lignum-vitae Laevander but above all Rosemary the Flowers whereof are credibly reported to give their sent above thirty Leagues off at Sea upon the coasts of Spain and at some distance towards the Meadow side Vines yea Hops Et Arbuta passim Virgil. Et Glaucas Salices Casiamque Crocumque rebentem Et pinguem Tiliam ferrugineos Hyacinthos c. For there is a very sweet smelling Sally and the blossoms of the Tilia or Lime-tree are incomparably fragrant in brief whatsoever is odoriferous and refreshing That the Spaces or Aera between these Palisads and Fences be employ'd in Beds and Bordures of Pinks Carnations Clove Stock-gilly-flower Primroses Aurieulds Violets not forgetting the White which are in flower twice a year April and August Cowslips Lillies Nareissus Strawberries whose very leaves as well as fruit emit a Cardiaque and most refreshing Halitus also Parietaria Lutea Musk Lemmon and Mastick Thyme Spike Cammomile Balm Mint Marjoram Pempernel and Serpillum c. which upon the least pressure and cutting breathe out and betray their ravishing odors That the Fields and Crofts within these Closures or Invironing Gardens be some of them planted with wild Thyme and others reserved for Plots of Beans Pease not Cabbages whose rotten and perishing stalks have a very noisom and unhealthy smell and therefore by Hyppocrates utterly condemned near great Cities but such blossom-bearing Grain as send forth their virtue at farthest distance and are all of them marketable at London by which means the Aer and Winds perpetually fann'd from so many circling and encompassing Hedges fragrant Shrubs Trees and Flowers the amputation and prunings of whose superfluities may in Winter on some occasions of weather and winds be burnt to visit the City with a more benign smoak not onely all that did approach the Region which is properly design'd to be Flowery but even the whole City would be sensible of the sweet and ravishing varieties of the perfumes as well as of the most delightful and pleasant objects and places of Recreation for the Inhabitants yielding also a Prospect of a noble and masculine Majesty by reason of the frequent plantations of Trees and Nurseries for Ornament Profit and Security The remainder of the Fields included yielding the same and better Shelter and Pasture for Sheep and Cattel then now that they lie bleak expos'd and abandon'd to the winds which perpetually invade them That to this end the Gardiners which now cultivate the upper more drie and ungrateful soil be encouraged to begin Plantations in such places onely and the farther exorbitant encrease of Tenements poor and nasty Cottages near the City be prohibited which disgrace and take off from the sweetness and amoenity of the Environs of London and are already become a great Eye-sore in the grounds opposite to His Majesty's Palace of White hall which being converted to this use might yield a diversion inferior to none that could be imagin'd for Health Profit and Beauty which are the three Transcendencies that render a place without all exception And this is what in short I had to offer for the Improvement and Melioration of the Aer about London and with which I shall conclude this discourse FINIS