THE Present State OF ENGLAND PART III. and PART IV. CONTAINING I. An Account of the Riches Strength Magnificence Natural Production Manufactures of this Island with an exact Catalogue of the Nobility and their Seats c. II. The Trade and Commerce within it self and with all Countries traded to by the English as at this day established and all other Matters relating to Inland and Marine Affairs Supplying what is omitted in the two former Parts useful for Natives and Foreiners London Printed for William Whitwood near the George Inn in Little Britain 1683. THE THIRD PART OF THE Present State OF ENGLAND WHEREIN Is set forth the Riches Strength Magnificence Natural Production Manufactures Wonders and Rarities Progress of Learning Arts and Ingenuities c. WITH A more perfect and Methodical Catalogue of the Nobility with their Seats than any hitherto extant LONDON Printed for William Whitwood next the George Inn in Little Britain 1683. THE PREFACE IT is commonly said among Gamesters that the Standers by oft-times see more than the persons themselves that play The like may be said as to the Writing of Books That the Critical Reader soon discovers the Errors and Defects of the Writer Withall it is a common Observation even of the Vulgar and Inferior sort of the People of France that when any Stranger chanceth to trip or falter either in the Pronunciation or Idiom of their Language they instead of laughing at their failings are still ready to help them out and inform them better In our present Affair therefore there is no more to do than to wish the good fortune of falling into the hands of the most courteous and best natured of Readers and indeed there is a kind of necessity for it for in treating of the Productions Manufactures Inventions and other things herein contained there is if not more at least as much need of Converse as of Books of consulting the Living as the Dead Whatever then through haste Inadvertency or want of convenient Assistance either of Mistake or Omission of what is most Curious or Remarkable I say most Curious or Remarkable since a too particular and Minute Account would swell each Head into a distinct Volume may have escaped in this present Work those Gentlemen who shall think it worth their while and will give themselves the trouble are humbly desired against the next Impression if the VVork shall be thought worthy of it to impart their Advice and Informations Small Beginnings oft times grow up to considerable Improvements and a little Cottage may be inlarged to a Commodious if not stately Habitation ERRATA OMISSA PAge 13. line II. after King read Edward the Fourth ibid. after to r. Alphonso p. 19. l. 6. after from r. Bamba l. 7. after from r. Guinea p. 21. l. 25. In the Blank after in r. Herefordshire p. 22. l. 10. r. Vulpanser What other Mistakes or Omissions have escaped the Press by reason some Sheets were wrought off before the Author's Perusal are submitted to the Courteous and Judicious Reader 's Emendation THE Present State OF ENGLAND PART III. THE Island of Great Britain the largest of the European Islands and to very few Islands of the World inferiour in bigness to none in Fertility Power Good Government and the Glory of its great Actions lies between 52 and 58 degrees of Northern Latitude England the noblest and largest part thereof and a distinct Kingdom of it self though at present united under one Monarch hath undergone four several grand Revolutions Not to mention the Samotheans Albionists and Brutus his Trojan Dynastie whose credit depends rather upon fabulous Tradition than real History the ancient Inhabitants of this Island are scarce taken notice of by any Author of account but by the name of Britains and the first certainly known Attaque that ever was made upon them was by the Romans under Julius Caesar and after that several others by the Lieutenants of several succeeding Emperors not without a World of Bloodshed The Natives no less stoutly resisting than the Romans furious assaulting till at length they gain'd a no less quiet than perhaps advantageous Possession among us I mean advantageous to this Island so that the Losers may be said to have been the greatest Gainers the Conquered the greatest Triumphers For if we consider from the several Descriptions that have been written thereof what barbarous and absurd Customs the Ancient Britains had among them we may conclude that Civility and Arts were so much the earlier introduced by the coming in of the Romans who also by their long Habitation here and Familiar Converse with the Old Inhabitants were of Foreigners become as it were Natives of Enemies Protectors insomuch that when they were call'd away for the Defence of their Provinces Abroad their Departure was no less regretted than their Arrival was oppos'd The next Attempters upon this part of the Island were the Saxons who being at first Invited in for their Assistance against the Invading Picts and other Borderers became at length themselves the greatest Invaders and playing upon the Easie and Luxurious Temper of the Prince that first Incourag'd their coming over they got a Footing which by continued fresh Supplies sent over from time to time they made so sure that all the Force the Britains were able to make against them for several Ages was not able to unfix it For notwithstanding this great Opposition in which several of the British Kings Signaliz'd themselves even to the Fame of Heroes especially the Great King Arthur whose Glory nothing hath so much Eclips'd as that his Actions great enough in their Truth are blown up into Storys so Romantick and and Surpassing all Credit maugre I say all the Force could be Mustered against them They still Increased in Number and Strength till in the end the Britains quite tir'd out were glad to retire into the Mountainous and remote parts of the Land by which they kept themselves for many Ages a people intirely distinct and their Language to this very day unmixt the Root of ours being evidently the Saxon so that the other must needs be the Ancient British and leave all the rest to be shar'd among the new Possessors who there being so many Proprietors in the Conquest dealt out the British Monarchy into seven Parcels which sevenfold Partition it may well be wondred how it could keep up so long considering the Confusions and as it were Civil Wars that arose as how could they but arise among so many Petty Monarchs upon one Continent that is as to the bounds of each Kingdom till at length one swallowing up the other the stronger the weaker this Seven-headed Hydra of Government came to a Period and one bright face of Monarchy shot up again and spread its Lustre over all this better part of Britain which hath ever since been called the Kingdom of England and hath so continued with little or no Interruption from the Raign of the Great Egbert He it was who first reduc'd this
Heptarchy into a Perfect Monarchy though it was tending toward it sometime before even to this day and from him the Aera of our English Monarchies by Historians and Chronologers are reputed to commence So that from the said Egbert his present Majesty that now Happily Reigns is reckon'd the fourty sixth sole Monarch of England But scarce was this Government well setled when the expected Tranquility thereof was disturbed by a new Generation of Invaders more Barbarous and Mischievous than ever any either before or since Committers of far greater Outrages and Cruelties Yet so often either driven out or totally extirpated so often bravely Conquered in the Field by the high Valour and Conduct of several of our English Saxon Monarchs whose Fame stands great in History to this day for their Vertue and Gallantry both in Peace and War that it may well be wondred how any one Country could spare such Multitudes of People as continually pour'd in upon us for several Ages together and how such numerous Forces could make such frequent Landings with so little Opposition But then it must be considered that we had no Summer Guards Abroad no Squadrons of First Second and Third Rate Frigats to Cruise about and Guard the English Coasts what kind of Ships there were in those either for War or Trade cannot be collected from any Account or Description we find recorded or publish'd but thus much may well be concluded that the best Man of War of those times was far Inferior to the meanest Merchant-Man now adays For the space of about 174 years viz. from 833 to 1017. was this poor Kingdom harrass'd by the continual Invasions of these Northern Pirates yet could they not in all this space catch hold of the Crown of England till the said year 1017. and then they held it no longer than during the Reign of three Kings after which it reverted again to the Saxon Line The Fourth and last Invasion was that of the Normans if he can properly be call'd an Invader who seems to have come in with the Consent at least if not Invitation of several of the Nobility and Prelacy for else doubtless his claim could not have been so easily decided by the dint of one Battle and he so readily have had the Crown put on his Head by Aldred Archbishop of York who with several other Bishops and Noblemen met him upon the way and pay'd him their Allegiance and from this Norman Conqueror the Monarchy of England hath been kept up in a continued though not Lineal Succession to this day Among the Prae-eminences which this Kingdom hath above all the other Kingdoms of Europe the chiefest and which most redounds to its Glory is that it was first Enlightned with the Knowledge of True Religion so that whatsoever place it may claim in Europe it deserves at least to be esteemed the first Kingdom of Christendom And admit that Joseph of Arimathea were not the first that Preached the Gospel here though there are not wanting Testimonies to make it out not altogether contemptible However it is most certain that the Christian Religion here is of a much elder date than the coming over of Austin the Monk that is even in the very Apostles time by the Testimony of Gildas and as it appears by the mention of a Noble British Lady Claudia Rufina in one of St. Paul's Epistles and it was not much above 100 years after e're it was own'd by publick Authority For the first Christian King mention'd in History is our British King Lucius who was Contemporary with the Emperor Commodus also the first Christian Emperor at least the first that publickly Profess'd Protected and Maintain'd the Christian Faith for before him Philippus Arabs is said to have been a a Christian and Baptiz'd was Constantine Surnamed the Great a Britain Born the Son of Constantius Chlorus who also was a Favourer of the Christians and died at York by the Daughter of King Coilus Helena a Princess most renowned for her Christian Piety and for being the Inventress of the Cross And as this Nation boasts Antiquity equal with Rome it self for the Dawning of the Gospel's Light among us so it claims a Prerogative of Lighting the first Lamp of Reformation to the Christian World and highly glories in this that there is no where to be found so excellent and moderate an Establishment of Church-Government among all the Reformed Churches The Riches of the English Nation And first of the Arable Pasture and Fruitage THe Riches of any Nation I mean the Native and Inland Riches for by Imported Commodities the Barrenest Nation in the World may be Rich consist chiefly in the Arable the Pasturage the Fruits and other Plants of peculiar Use and Advantage The Rich Veins of Earth for Mettals and other sorts of Minerals and the Plenty of Fish and Fowl all which things are both profitable in themselves and for the Manufactures they produce and though common to this Nation with the greatest part of the Earth in general yet it will not be from the purpose to discover how far the English Nation excels in each of them and what parts of the Nation are most peculiarly fam'd and commended for this or that Production As to the Arable it would be in vain to particularize any one part of England more than another since so great Plenty of all sorts of Corn and Grain is produced in all parts of this Nation Nevertheless it is worth the observing how some Counties are more peculiarly celebrated for this or that Grain I have heard it affirm'd that the very best Wheat in England is from a Vale near Hessen in Middlesex lying Southward of Harrow on the Hill however among the four W's of Herefordshire Wheat is one the other three being Wool Wood and Water Moreover for Oates if there be any where one sort better than another the best Oats are said to be in Lancashire and in greater abundance than any other County and for Barly and Malt Bedfordshire hath among some a particular mention Moreover for what is said in general of some places above others It is sufficiently considerable which is reported of the Town of Godmanchester in Huntingtonshire in reference to the great Name that Town hath for Tillage and its Prae-eminence above all the Towns of England besides for number of Stout and Able Husbandmen namely that the Inhabitans of this Place us'd in former times to meet the Kings of England as they pass'd this way in their Progress in a kind of Rural Pomp and Pageantry of show with no fewer than 180 Ploughs and in this manner King James at his first coming to the Crown of England was received in his Journey from Scotland with 70 Team of Horses fitted with all their Furniture to as many New Ploughs the King expressing much Delight and Satisfaction at so Brave and Happy a Sight and highly applauded the Industry and well deserved Prosperity of the people of that Place Remarkable also is
is the least Peopled of all the rest and his Viceroys of Peru and Mexico the possession whereof hath been main occasion of Impoverishing Spain of its people are in effect setting aside the Title as great Kings as himself nor much less are those of Naples Sicily Millain and what remains of Flanders so that he seems in reality King of Spain alone and of the rest of his Dominions but in Title only And to come a little nearer the matter if all the Kings Subjects in new-New-England Virginia Maryland c. were planted in those unpeopled Regions of this Island their Native Soyl which are more than large enough to receive them there is no doubt to be made but that they would be more capable of serving their King than they can possibly be at such a distance thus transplanted to the other end of the World To be short no Rational man will deny but that that Prince who from a Territory no larger than the County of Kent is able to bring 100000 men into the field is no less Potent than he who from a Territory 20 times as large is able to raise a not much greater number and so much the more by how much he levies them with less Trouble and Charge That Soveraign Conquers best who wins the hearts of his people by Moderation Justice good Government and wholsome Laws He best plants Colonies who maintains a flourishing Trade to Forraign parts he best inlarges his Territory who husbands his People to the best advantage and consults best for their Preservation and Increase hereby approving himself all this while a true Christian Prince not in Name only but in reality no less and upon this score let the World judge whether our Defensor Fidei have not a just Title to that of Christianissimus also When as for any Potentate or Grandee of the World Pontifical or otherwise to grasp at Power and Empire by War Bloodshed and Rapine though under never so spacious a pretence even propogating the Faith it self and at the same time to take upon him the Name of Christian must needs be the highest affront to Heaven and shame to Religion imaginable The Stile of Christian Cut-throat for that must necessarily follow implying a cnntradiction not to be reconcil'd by all the art of Sopistry and Jesuitism since he that hath but heard of the Christian Religion cannot be ignorant that Peace and Charity are the very root and foundation of Christianity and that Religion under what Title soever which is otherwise grounded is to be abhorr'd by all sober men The Creator said to the Earth at the beginning Increase and be Replenish'd The Destroyer hath been saying to the same Earth from the beginning from Age to Age be ruin'd laid wast and Dispeopled by humane Slaughter Now how far the parallel will hold between the greater and Man the lesser World as to the necessity of Purging and Bleeding and whether it be so wholsom as some would have us think that the superfluous blood of the World should be let out by the Phlebotomy of War we shall wave the inquiry at this present only I am of opinion that it would be better to leave the Physicking of the World to the great Physitian thereof than that man upon man should so often practice his Fatal Chyrurgery There is sufficient reason to believe that those frequent Inundations of People those numerous swarms of Cimbrians Teutones Longobards Huns Goths and Vandals which Scythia in former times pour'd out into the milder Regions of Europe were not so much the Luxuriance and off-scouring of an over-peopled Nation since not any one denomination of Country besides takes up so large a part of the earth or hath so many vast unhabited Vacancies but a kind of agreement among certain numbers of men to carve themselves out better Commons than their own Country afforded and throw off the Scythian Frost and roughness by the Warm Sun-shine of Gallia Spain and Italy Now to come closer to the design of our Discourse Three things are to be considered First Whether this Nation have not been in former Ages more Populous than at present Next what the occasion of this Dispopulation hath been Lastly The means of restoration to pristine Populacy or at least of Replenishment in some degree The first consideration is answered by the second There is no question to be made but that the complicated Invasions of Romans Saxons and Danes especially the last so dreadfully Barbarous was the Destruction of a World of People and the Demolishment of many Towns and Cities and after the Norman Conquest the Bloody Civil Wars amongst us first of the Barons next of the two Roses As for the Norman Invasion it self it occasion'd indeed no great matter of Devastation since except a few inconsiderable Insurrections that happen'd afterwards the business was decided by the dint of one Battle and happily the Conqueror had not been sorry had more of the English fallen in that quarrel since like a true Stepfather and Foraign Invader more than like a Native Father of the Country he could find in his heart to lay waste 28 Towns and Villages to make a large habitation for wild Beasts The last and main consideration is how to repair this loss of People shall we call the English of America back to their Native Soyl or shall we invite the Industrious or the Distressed of other Nations to come over and live among us or shall we indeavour to People the Nation better with those People if I may so call them we have already that is turn Drones into Bees and two Legg'd Cattle into Men The first I take altogether to be Impracticable and Irrational to go about for it would be an endless thing for such multitudes of People to unfix themselves from their setled Imploys and Habitations and to be put to remove their Effects back to a Country now grown as strange and uncouth to them as any other Foraign Nation The second according to my poor judgment cannot be disadvantageous to this Kingdom could it be well compas'd and well manag'd so as to give no distaste to the present Inhabitants for it hath been a general and frequent Complaint in my hearing among some Tradesmen of London that Foraigners especially these French Dogs as they stile them come over settle themselves among us and eat the Bread out of our Mouths Nevertheless it is certain that in many Towns of England as Canterbury Norwich c. many Families of Foraigners are well setled exercise the Epidemick Trade of those Places peaceably and prosperously enough and without envy or disturbance Hospitality is a certain evidence of a good Nature and Generous Inclination and it hath been formerly and doubtless still is in a great measure the particular Credit of the English Gentry to keep Plentiful Houses on purpose to Entertain Strangers give Shelter to benighted Travellers and Succour all persons in Distress And as among particular persons no man but an Indigent
Laces of that Place have been thought not unworthy to be mention'd by several of England's Topographers so likewise the Gloves Purses and leathern Points of Congleton a Market Town of Cheshire the Pins of Aberford in York-shire The making of Ropes and Cables for Ships was heretofore not onely especially eminent at Birtport in Dorsetshire above all other places but also so highly approv'd for the goodness and curiosity of the Workmanship that a Statute is said to have been made for a time ordaining that no Ropes or Cables for the King's Ships should be made any where else but that Act appears to have been long since out of date for there are great Rope-yards belonging to all the Ship-docks of England particularly at Deptford there are very famous and large ones Smiths-work whatever it is at present hath been heretofore peculiarly attributed to the Artists of Salisbury in Wiltshire Bremicham in Warwickshire Chedder in Somersetshire Sheffield in Yorkshire Malton in the same Shire and Walsal in Staffordshire particularly Salisbury is commended for Razors Bremicham and Sheffield for Blades of Knives Chedder for Teasels or Instruments used in the dressing of Cloth Malton for Instruments used in Husbandry and Walsal for Bits and Snaffles for Horses moreover this last Town is noted as well for Pewterers as Smiths But by the way the mention of Knives hath brought to mind a just occasion of admiration that is since the English have been observ'd and not without just cause to be a good stout eating People there being more substantial Joynts of Beef and Mutton c. consum'd among us than perhaps in any part of the World besides how it should come to pass that we should be so tardy in the Art of Knife-making or what Invention we had in former days to avoid those Indecencies at the Table which the want of Knives must in all likelihood be the cause of For it is credibly reported that one Thomas Matthews living on Fleet-bridge was the first that made Knives in England which was in the 5th year of the Reign of Q. Elizabeth The best Tobacco-pipes for neatness of shape and form and for a curious shining gloss are made at Ambresbury vulgarly call'd Emsbury in Wiltshire about a mile or two from Stonehenge they are commonly call'd Gantlet-Pipes having the mark of a Gantlet impress'd on the flat bottom of the Bowl from Mr. Hugh Gantlet who was the first that brought them to this perfection There are also several edible and potable Works of Art which may in my opinion properly enough come under the Head of English Manufactures The Coagulation of Milk into the Consistence of Cheese is said to have been the first Invention of the Osci an ancient People of Italy but whence or from whomsoever proceeding this sort of artificial Food is the most common and universal in all Parts of the World where the most rational and civil way of Eating is in use Of all the Shires of England Cheshire for this kind of Edible may I judge be allow'd the Bays above all other Parts at least of this Kingdom and for ought I know a true Cheshire Cheese if rightly valu'd may stand in competition with the Parmesan of Italy the Angelot of France and the Full-moon of Holland only with this pre-eminence reserved to the last that but for the bigness it might serve as well for the Bowling-green as the Table Suffolk in this particular challenges the next place but doubtless in respect rather of quantity than quality for this County furnishes with Cheeses not only several other Parts of England but also Spain France and Italy a lean Traveller may possibly be thought able to endure a long Journey better than one that 's plump and fat These are the two principal Cheese-Counties of England but in other Counties this Pretension is fixt to particular Places as in Somersetshire to Chedder before-mention'd the Cheeses whereof are of that repute as to be frequently preferr'd even before those of Cheshire Opinion and Imagination are two great things In Warwickshire Banbury hath a Name both for Cheeses and Cakes the justification of which Name is best left to the experienc'd taster of both For Sugar'd-Cakes Shrewsbury is without controversie allow'd to bear away the Bell from all other Places But to save the Reputation of the Cake-makers of other Parts this Super-excellence is attributed to the nature of the Severn-water in that Place Other Places there are that challenge their Peculiars of this nature but the most proverbially eminent are the Whitepot of Devonshire and Dumpling of Norfolk Nor must the Potables of England be altogether forgotten For Ale Derbyshire and particularly Derby-Town also Hull Northdown and Sandbitch and Weably afore-mention'd are most especially fam'd for Sider all Gloucestershire Worcestershire and Herefordshire for Metheglin Shropshire Herefordshire and some Parts of Wales To the Manufactury of England may not unfitly be added an account of those curious Arts and Inventions which are now flourishing in this Nation whether newly or for some Ages last past And among these the first and principal is the excellent and by some highly applauded and by others most condemned Art of Printting This noble Invention in many respects useful and no way so pernicious as some would have it thought was first exercis'd by William Caxton Mercer who in the Reign of K. Edw. the IV. kept his Printing-house in Westminster-Abbey by the permission of Simon Islip Abbot of Westminster and the first Book set forth some say was Tully's Offices others say a Book treating of the way of playing the Game at Chess The next Invention appearing here among us must be allow'd little less ingenious than the former but wonderfully more capable of doing mischief I mean the truly black Art of Gunpowder the swarthy Invention of a swarthy Monk and possibly by the Inspiration of the Prince of Darkness Yet one thing is worthy to be observ'd viz. that since the discovery of this gloomy Drug whatever destruction hath been committed by whole-sale something of amends hath been made by retail For whereas in former Times when the Bow Lance and Javelin were in use History makes nothing of 40 or 50000 slain in the Field now that the Musket Dragoon and Pistol came in fashion even with the Cannon to boot it is a great matter to hear of the fall of 10 or 20000. besides as a Member sometimes is not ill lost to save a Man so in greater Bodies a House may be better spar'd than a whole Street or Town which deliverance nothing but Gunpowder can effect But then against this benefit may be oppos'd the springing of Mines to blow up Castles Forts and Cittadels meerly for destructions sake It is not to be doubted and it appears from Histories that the Chariot hath been known in England as well as in other Parts of the World time out of mind but the use of those portable Houses call'd Coaches which at this day being increas'd to a vast multitude
What the Antiquity is of Corn Wind-mills is hard to determine whether in this or any other Nation The Paper-Mill is certainly of no modern Invention and it may be wonder'd that in all this time Paper-making hath not been brought to a greater height in this Nation it being judg'd very possible that as good Paper might be made in England as any is brought over from France Holland or any other foreign Part. The Powder-Mill cannot be of very long standing since it is scarce 200 years that Gunpowder it self hath bounc'd and made a smoak in the World Moreover of these grand performing Engines there is a very great number even of late Invention of which I shall endeavour to call to mind at least the most noted For the grubbing up of Stumps of Oak there is an Engine call'd the German Devil which Mr. Evelin in his incomparable Treatise of Forest-trees affirms to have been made use of by a Noble Person of this Nation with that success that by the help thereof one Man was able to do more than could otherwise have been done by 12 Oxen He also in the same Treatise p. 22. gives a description of another Engine for the transplanting of Trees The silk-Stocking Frame is surely one of the most curious Contrivances of this Age. It is said to have been first us'd at Nottingham and was as I have been told the seasonable Fancy of a poor Oxford Scholar who to inch out the slender pittance of a small Living he had thereabouts was glad to make use of his Wives manual Assistance but that not sufficing neither to satisfie the importunate Stomachs of an increasing Family he prompted by Necessity which is the Mother of Art as ancient Authors affirm joyn'd his Head to her Hands his Ingenuity to her Industry and thence brought forth this rare Device to shorten the labour and increase the profit of her Work The Saw-Mill or Engine for sawing of Timber is of Dutch Original and about 25 or 30 years ago first brought in use among us for so long it is since that on the Thames over against Durham-yard was first erected The Wire-Mill of Mr. Mumma a Dutchman was first set up at Sheen within these 20 years All the Money coin'd in the Tower of London almost ever since his Majesty's Restoration hath been by an Engine or Coining-Mill brought in by the Rotiers who thereupon became and so continue to this present his Majesty's chief Moneyers The Weavers Loom-Engine hath not been in use many years in England especially the highest Improvement thereof call'd the Dutch Loom brought in about 5 or 6 years since by Mr. Crouch a Weaver in Bishopsgate-street A very useful Invention was that Engine call'd the Persian Wheel for the watring of Meadows which lye uncapably of being overflow'd The first of these Engines brought to any considerable perfection was erected at the end of Wilton-Garden by the Direction of the above-mention'd Mr. Worlidge Wood-Steward to the Earl of Pembroke in the year 1665. who in his Systema Agriculturae takes notice of another Engine to the same purpose call'd the Horizontal Windmil And in his Treatise of Sider he describes the Ingenio or rare Sider-Engine a Contrivance doubtless very profitable for those that drive a Trade in the making of this Liquor There is also very lately found out the admirable Water-Engine for raising of Ballas and towing of Ships Yet as excellent as these Inventions are and as useful to the Publick by dispatching at one instant the tedious drudgery of many Hands yet there are not wanting high Clamours against them as robbing poor men of their Imployments and consequently of their Livelihoods so hard it is to find any Convenience totally exempted from Cavil and Exception Even the Quench-fire Engine that most excellent and salutiferous Invention of Sir Samuel Moreland 't is possible may be an Eye-sore to such Neronian Tempers as love to see Towns and Cities on fire However the World is oblig'd to this learned Mechanick as well for this as several other useful and ingenuous Contrivances particularly his Arithmetical Instrument and his Stenterophonick or Speaking Trumpet the chief use whereof is to treat or parly with an Enemy at a distance There is to be seen by all Lovers of Art a rare Invention of Mr. Edgebury call'd the Horizontal Corn-mill upon a piece of Land at Deptford belonging to my most Honour'd Friend Mr. Evelin junior It is now about 7 or 8 years since a Printing-Press for the printing of Callcoes was set on foot by Mr. Mellish but he soon desisting the Design was taken up by Mr. William Sherwin living in Little-Britain and ever since carried on with great vigour and success To conclude There remains yet to be spoken of one rare Engine and in some sence above all that have been yet mention'd since it brings back Old Age to Youth and makes threescore and ten appear as fine and gay as five and twenty I do not mean simply the Perruke or Frame of Artificial formerly worn for that may possibly be as ancient as the Emperour Carolus Calvus his Time who wanting Hair of his own is reported to have call'd a Councel of French Barbers to contrive an artificial Supplement of Natures Defect But I mean that lofty towring Structure or Machine of Hair so heighten'd and ornamented as it hath been by Tonsorian Art and Industry within these last 20 years so frounc'd so curl'd in a 1000 amorous Annulets so plump'd up so streaming in the Air like a Ships Top-gallant that certainly never any Cincinnatus or Capillatus whatsoever could boast a natural Head of Hair comparable to this artificial much more may it be judg'd easily to outvye the ancient Median Cidaris the Persian Tiara or the now Ottoman Turbant and doubtless had it been devis'd in Homer's Time it would quickly have put out of countenance the best of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE MAGNIFICENCE OF ENGLAND THE Magnificence of England consists in the principal Towns and Cities Palaces Royal and belonging to several of the Nobility Cathedrals and other Churches Castles Bridges and erected Monuments The 3 principal Cities of England are London York and Bristol Besides which there are many other Cities and Towns of sufficient Note for pleasantness of Situation and neatness of Building As the Cities of Canterbury Rochester Exeter Salisbury Gloucester Worcester Oxford Bath Durham Lincoln Winchester and Coventry The Towns of Ipswich St Edmundbury Maidston Feversham Kingston upon Thames Guilford Lewis Colchester Buckingham Ailsbury Reading Cambridge Southampton Marlborough Warwick Shirburn Northampton Leicester Nottingham Newark Manchester Wakefield Boston Stamford Barstable Tavistoke Taunton Shrewsbury Bridgenorth Tewksbury and Cirencester besides several others which are to be mention'd among those Places signaliz'd by their several Remarks and Transactions London being at large describ'd by Stow Howel and others it will be sufficient to name the Magnificences thereof viz. The Cathedral of St Pauls destroy'd by the late Fire and now upon
and Wat Tiler in East-Smithfield where in an overture of treaty Wat Tiler behaving himself with extraordinary insolence was in presence of the King stabb'd by Sir William Wallworth Lord Mayor of London with a Dagger in memory whereof the City of London hath to this day a Dagger for its Coat of Arms. This City hath had the honour to entertain several great Kings Princes and Nobles but the grandest transaction that London can boast of was that most stately Cavalcade which his present Majesty made through it the 29th of May An. 1660. when he returned from a long Exile to the Government of these Kingdoms But the year 1666. was fatal to it by reason of that most dreadful fire that consum'd all before it from Grace-Church Street to the Inner Temple destroying to the number as is generally computed of 13000 dwelling-houses and this preceded but the year before by the fiercest Pestilence that ever raged within the cognisance of the Weekly Bills In this City King Stephen kept his Court at Crosby-house in Bishopsgate-street King Edward the third in Cornhil where now the Pope-head Tavern stands King Henry the eighth at Black-friers and sometimes at Bridewell once a Regal Palace where also the Emperour Charles the fifth was lodg'd when he came over into England The Palace of St. James's which is in the Pomaeria of London and which was first built for a Spittle for Maiden Lepers hath been the Birth-place of his present Majesty K. Charles the 2d his Highness James Duke of York Henry late Duke of Glocester the Lady Elizabeth the Lady Mary late Princess of Orange and all the Children of his present Highness by his late Dutchess Edgar Duke of Kendal James Duke of Cambridg deceast the Lady Henrietta and the Lady Lady Katherine deceast Mary now Princess of Orange the Lady Anne yet unmarried as also of two Daughters both soon hasten'd to a better World by his present Dutchess Other persons of eminent note and immortal memory were born at London viz. Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of K. Henry the 2d by four of whese Courtiers he was murther'd in Canterbury Church Anno 1170. after a long contest with the King Sir Jeoffry Chaucer the most famous of ancient English Poets who flourisht in the Reigns of K. Henry the 4th Henry the 5th and part of K. Henry the 6th Edmund Spencer styl'd also the Prince of English Poets who flourisht in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth John Leland Sir Thomas More Bishop Andrews The Tower of London is very eminent for the Confinement Murther and Execution of Illustrious persons to mention all especially those who have been meerly Prisoners would be almost endless but the most memorable Imprisonment was that of two Kings at one time in the Reign of King Edward the third viz. of David King of Scots and of John King of France the first a Prisoner 11 years the other four Here the unfortunate King Henry the sixth after Edward the fourth had got the Crown from him by Conquest was basely murther'd by King Edward's Brother Richard Duke of Glocester afterward King of England Here George Duke of Clarence another Brother was by the practice of the said Duke of Glocester drown'd in a Butt of Malmsey but the most fatal Tragedy of all was the murther of King Edward the fourth's two Sons poor harmless children viz. Edward commonly entitled King Edward the fifth and his Brother Richard Duke of York and all by the order and contrivement of their Dear Uncle of Glocester who as most great persons have their peculiar Sports and Recreations was principally taken with that of killing men especially those of nearest kin for such he chiefly markt out for death out of meer kindness to himself that he might the sooner obtain the possession of that Crown he had long since aspir'd to and indeed he got it sooner and kept it longer so easie it is for one witty man to delude a Multitude than a curious descanter upon the worlds affairs would have allow'd a person so getting it however what he got by the death of others he lost by his own only more handsomely not by treachery but fairly in the field In Christ-church in London three great Queens had their Sepulture viz. Margaret the Daughter of King Philip of France sirnamed the Hardy and second Wife of King Edward the second of England Isabel the Daughter of the French King Philip the Fair and Wife to King Edward the second of England Joan the Daughter of the said Edward and Isabel and married to David King of Scots Westminster hath been the most constant residence of the Kings of England since the Conquest till Whitehall was built by Cardinal Wolsey It will be needless to mention all the Kings that have been crown'd and buried here in regard since the Conquest there are not very many who have not been buried and fewer that have not been crown'd in Westminster Abby At Isleworth now Thistleworth a Village pleasantly situate upon the River Thames Richard King of the Romans and Earl of Cornwall had a stately Palace which was burnt to the ground in a tumultuous sally that was made upon it by certain Malecontents of the London Mobile In Surry are places of as eminent note as in most Counties of England In the first place Lambeth is chiefly renowned for being the principal Palace and most usual residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury from the time of Archbishop Baldwin who first founded it and made it his Seat in the year 596 and from whom it hath continued so to this day the most reverend and learned Prelate Dr. Sancroft late Dean of Pauls being worthily advanc'd to this high Dignity and having here his present residence Here Canutus sirnamed the Hardy the third and last of our short-liv'd Dynasty of Danish Kings ended his days of a surfeit as most Writers affirm by eating and drinking over freely at a Wedding Feast Croydon is another Seat belonging to the Archbishops of Canterbury and where the Reverend Dr. Gilbert Sheldon late Archbishop lies buried having a most statety Monument newly elected to his memory the Artful Contrivance and skilful Workmanship of Mr Jasper Latham the present City Mason At Ockly in this County Ethelwolph Son of Egbert won a great Battel over the Danes Oatlands is not more famous for being a Royal Palace than for the Neighbourhood of Coweystakes where Julius Caesar pass'd the Thames into the Borders of Cassibesaunus Putney is chiefly considerable in story as being the Birth-place of one of the most advanced Statesmen and Favourites for he was but the Son of a Black-smith that our Nation hath produced viz. Thomas Cromwell chief Minister of State for the time to King Henry the eighth and by him created Earl of Essex who nevertheless had the ill fate falling under his Princes displeasure to be beheaded on Tower-Hill Wimbleton where the Earl of Bristol hath a pleasant seat still retains the memory of a
he died An. 1572. and lastly Richard White who studying at Doway began to grow famous for Learning An. 1611. At Andover was born Robert Thomson a man of Military fame who made an Expedition to Spain An. 1553. At Warblington Henry Bishop of Salisbury in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth He died An. 1615. At Hide John stil'd the Monk of Hide an Historian who flourish'd An. 1284. Odiam hath its chief repute from the birth of William Lilly the first Master of Pauls School He died of the Plague and was buried in the Porch of St. Pauls Anno 1522. Ilchester seems by its ruins to have been a very eminent City of the Romans and the principal of these parts in antient times At Wickham in this Shire was born the famous William thence sirnamed of Wickam Bishop of Winchester who died An. 5 H. 4. At Okeley William Warham Bishop first of London afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of King Henry the 7th In the Isle of Wight Thomas James the chief if not only Ornament of that Island for eminence of Learning Other famous men this Shire hath brought forth Beavise of Southampton whose acts of Chivalrie had perhaps stood greater in real History had they not been so much falsified by Romantick stories Sir John Wallop whose valour and conduct in Sea-affairs have kept his memory alive Richard Rich Baron of Lees Abby in Essex and Lord Treasurer of England in the Reign of King Edward the sixth and Ancestor to the present Earls of Warwick And for Learning R. Sherburn Bishop first of St. Davids then of Chichester under King Henry the seventh John White Bishop first of Lincoln then of Winchester and accounted in his time not the meanest of Poets who died about 1560. Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester who died about An. 1618. Michael Reneger William Alton a Dominican who flourisht An. 1330. David Whitehead who died An. 1571. Nicholas Fuller who died An. 1626. Charles Butler who died An. 1640. Thomas Sternhold Groom of the Bed-chamber first to King Henry the eighth then to King Edward the sixth who owes his fame in Poetry not so much to the Elegancy of Rhimes as to the fortune of his having been one of the first Translators of Davids Psalms into English Metre which by reason they hapned to be generally sung in Churches have been ever since preferred to several better Translations In Bedfordshire Bedford the County Town hath to its cost been the Scence of much action in the Civil Wars between King Stephen and the Empress Maud it suffer'd much havock and devastation and afterwards fell into the hands of the Barons in their Wars against King John And lastly was ras'd to the ground by King Henry the third but being rebuilt again hath flourished ever since in much tranquility and splendour In a Chappel not far from this Town the Body of the great Mercian King Offa is said to have been interr'd concerning which there goes a pretty odd story which it were pity to forget viz. that the Chappel being overwhelm'd by an Inundation of the River Ouse upon whose banks it stood the Leaden incloser of King Offa's body hath been often seen of those that declin'd the sight but never could be seen of those that sought to see it Dean in this Shire is eminent for the birth of Francis Dillingham a person of good note for Learning as likewise Laiton Buzzard for the birth of William Sclator Sandy was an ancient Roman Station by the name of Selenae and Dunstable another by the name of Magintum however some vainly have deliver'd that it was built by King Henry the first to repress the insults of a notable sturdy Thief call'd Dun and thereupon call'd Dunstable This Town is moreover signalliz'd by the learned Author John sirnamed hence of Dunstable In Suffolk Ipsich qu. Gipswich from Gipsa is said to be the Founder thereof besides its flourishing Estate in shipping-trade goodly buildings populacy of inhabitants though much harrass't in ancient times by the Danes is particularly noted for the birth of that great Pageantry of Fortune Cardinal Woolsy whose father was a Butcher of this Town St. Edmundbury a Town which seems to commence its Fame from the barbarous Murther of that Royal St Edmund King of the East-angles by the Danes For the Expiation whereof Canutus erected here that Stately Monastery which was once accounted the most Rich and Magnificent of Europe This place is also memorable for a Parliament here held in the Reign of King Henry the sixth Exning the Birth-place of St Audri sister to King Ina. Renlisham the place where Redwald the first Christian King of the East-angles kept his Court. Lidgat a place chiefly memorable for the Birth of John thence Sirnamed Lidgate one of the chief of our ancient Enlish Poets In Hertfordshire St Albans rais'd out of the ruins of Old Verulamium an ancient Roman station is extoll'd not only for the memory of that great British Protomartyr Albanus and that most stately Monastery erected by the Mercian King Offa but also for two great battels here fought the first on the 23d of May Anno 1455 between Richard Duke of York and King Henry the 6th in which the King was defeated with the slaughter of the Duke of Somerset the Earl of Northumberland and the Lord Clifford and 5000 common Souldiers the 2 d. on the 17 th of February Anno 1460. where King Henry and his Queen Margaret had the better against the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick Nor is it to be omitted that Sir John Mandevil famous for his Travels had here his birth Barnet is not more fam'd for its rich Market and the great concourse to its Wells than for the memory of that grand Victory gain'd by King Edward the fourth on an Easter-day being the 14 th of April An. 1471. against the Earls of Warwick and Oxford in which Field the great Earl of Warwick was slain But had there been nothing else to give Fame to this Town it must have been mentioned for the Birth of John Barnet Bishop first of Worcester then of Bath and Wells lastly of Ely and Lord Treasurer of England in the Reign of King Edward the 3 d. Langly commonly call'd Kings Langly is of repute in History for the Birth of Prince Edmund thence sirnamed of Langly fifth Son to King Edward the third and the first interment of King Richard the second whose body was afterwards removed to Westminster Nor much less Abbots Langly so is another Langly term'd that lyes Easterly for the birth of Nicholas Break-spear advanc't to the See of Rome by the name of Pope Adrian the fourth a man of true English mettal and that would not bate an Ace of his Pontifical greatness for he made the Emperour Frederick hold his Stirrup the better to help him into the Saddle Oister near St Albans is supposed by Cambden to have been the Camp of the Roman Lieutenant Ostorius Weathamstead qu.
Wheathamstead chiefly noted for the birth of John of Wethamstead a profound Philosopher Other places Hertfordshire noted for famous men Ware for Richard de Ware Treasurer of England under Edward the first and William de Ware who was Scotus his Teacher and flourisht under King Henry the third Baldock for Ralph Baldock created Bishop of London by King Edward the first Rudburn for Thomas Rudburn Bishop of St Davids who flourisht An. 1419. Helmstedbury for Sir Edward Waterhouse Chancellour of the Exchequer in Ireland under Queen Elizabeth Gatesden for John de Gatesden who flourisht An. 1420. Hamstead for Daniel Dike Cottered for Edward Symonds Gorham-berry for Sir Nicholas Bacon Nor may we here omit other eminent men of this Shire viz. Sir Henry Cary a great Souldier in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth by whom he was created Baron of Hunsden and Lord Chamberlain John Boucher Baron Berners And of learned men Alexander Nequam who died An. 1227. Nicholas Gorham who flourisht An. 1400. Roger Hutchinson Thomas Cartwright and Hugh Legat. In Norfolk the chief City and Episcopal See Norwich seems to have sprung out of the ancient Venta of the Romans and is chiefly Famous for its sufferings having been sackt and burnt by the Danes in the year 1004. And in the Conquerours time reduc't to utmost exigence for siding with Earl Radulph against the said King William The Cathedral was Founded by Herbert who translating the Bishoprick ftom Thetford to Norwich was the first Bishop of Norwich Thetford the ancient Sitomagus of the Romans is a place of much remark for antiquity It was the Royal Seat of the Kings of the East-Angles and the unfortunate place where King Edmund the Martyr was overthrown by the Danes The Bishoprick which is now of Norwich was translated from Elmham to Thetford in the Reign of King William the Conquerour Lyn a Sea Port Town was made Liber Burgus and honoured with the gift of a rich Cup by King John and had their Charter inlarg'd by King Henry the third for their good Service against the Outlawed Barons and in King Henry the eighth's time other priviledges were added and the name changed from Lyn Episcopi to Lyn Regis Yarmouth boasts the antiquity of its foundation from the time of the Danes Elmham is considerable for having been a Bishops See for several Ages first divided with Dunwich in Suffolk next sole till it was translated to Thetford thence to Norwich In Sussex the City Chichester boasts the Foundation of Cissa the second King of the South-Saxons and had the Bishoprick translated thither in King William the Conquerours time from Selsey which till then had been the Episcopal See Lewis a Town little if ought inferiour to Chichester is sufficiently of name in History as having been one of the places appointed by King Athelstan for the Coinage of his Mony and for the strong Castle built by Earl William de Warren Here also was a bloody battel fought between King Henry the third and his Barons in which the King receiv'd a cruel Overthrow Pensey a little Sea Town but great in Story as the Landing place of King William the Conquerour when by one Victorious battle he gain'd the Crown of England with the slaughter of King Harold and his two Brothers Leofwin and Goroh and about 67000 men Hastings being the Town near which this successful held was fought hath gotten so much the greater name and the very place of fight retains to this day the name of Battle-field Buckstead a place in some respect of as great note as any hath been nam'd For here in the thirty fifth year of King Henry the eight the first Great Iron Guns that ever were cast in England were cast by Peter Baude and Ralph Hage In Cambridge-Shire the Town of Cambride is of too high a renown for its many Halls and Colledges the habitations of the Muses richly indow'd for the advancement and incouragement of Learning to be here pass't by and too well taken notice of and describ'd by others to be longer insisted on Eli the Bishops Seat and denominating City of the Diocess is said to have been built by one Audry who was first wife of one Tombret Prince of these parts and afterwards of Egbert King of Northumberland from whom departing She here betook her self to a devout life and built a most stately Monastery of which She her self became the first Abbess This place is also recordable for the Birth of several Learned men viz. Andrew Willet who died An. 1621. Sir Thomas Ridly Dr. of the Laws who died An. 1629. Richard Parker who died here An. 1624. Everton in this Shire gave Birth to John Tiptoft Son of John Lord Tiptoft Earl of Worcester and Lord High Constable of England Triplow is memorable by the Birth of Elias Rubens a Writer of grand repute who flourisht An. 1266. Everden gave both Birth and Sirname to John Eversden another learned Writer Of this County were also Matthew Paris and Sir John Cheek Tutor to King Edward the sixth and Richard Wethershet who flourisht in the year 1350. At Caxton was born William thence Sirnamed Caxton the first Printer in England Wisbich brought forth Richard Hocloet a man eminent for Learning An. 1552. Linton is only note-worthy for the Birth of Richard Richardson one of the Translatours of the Bible who deceas't An. 1621. Milton as 't is generally believ'd gave birth to Thomas Goad a Writer of good note Mildred brought forth Andrew Mervail Minister of Hull a Learned Father of a Learned and Witty Son for so was that Andrew who died but a few years since he was a Member in the late long Parliament for the Town of Hull a man of very acute parts had he not fail'd in his affection to the Government as several of his Writings testifie Of this County were Michael Dalton a Learned Writer and also Edward Norgate In Huntington-Shire St Neots so call'd from Neotus a Holy and Learned man is memorable for the defeat given to the Earl of Holland by the Parliament Forces in the late Civil Wars An. 1648. as also for being the Birth-place of two eminent men viz. Francis White Bishop of Ely and Hugh thence Sirnamed of St Neots who deceas't Anno 1340. Godmanchester qu. Gormoncester from Gormon the Dane is concluded to have been the Old Durisiponte of the Romans and some think from the nearness of the name the same with Gunicester where Macutus had his Bishoprick At this Godmanchester was born a man who made too much noise in the world to be forgotten Stephen Marshal one of the chief of those Zealous Trumpetters of the late times who from the Pulpit stirr'd up to War and Bloodshed in the Name of the Lord. At St Ives was born Roger thence Sirnam'd of St Ives who flourisht An. 1420. At Cunnington the Learned Antiquary Sir Robert Cotton Moreover from Huntington the Capital place of this Shire sprung two very famous men Gregory of Huntington who died An. 1610. and Henry
of Huntington renowned for his History who flourish't An. 1248. Other Celebrated men of this Shire were William Whitlesey Archdeacon of Huntington who died An. 1375. Henry Saltry who flourisht 1140. William Ramsey a famous Poet. John Young and John White In Wiltshire Wilton the Denominating and once the Principal Town of the Shire is so much the more notable a place by how much the more despicable it now appears as a strange example of the various turns of fortune and mutations of human affairs having only the name left of a Market Town else but a pitiful Village consisting of one only Parish Church which is said to have been a Town of about seventeen or eighteen Parish Churches and having no Memorial or Monument of antiquity which hath been the Theater of so many grand Transactions Here Egbert the Westsaxon and at last Sole Monarch of the English encountred Bernulf King of Mercia and slew him in Battle but in this very place he afterwards received a terrible overthrow from the Danes At Edindon King Alfred gave the Danes a very notable defeat Bradford is memoris'd for a bloody Battle fought between two great Competitors in the Saxon Heptarchy At Woodensbury An. 590. Cheaulin King of the West-Saxons encountring the Britains who joyn'd with his Nephew Cealrick was put to flight and his Son Cuth slain Here also Ina the West-Saxon fought with Ceolred the Mercian Old Sarum was a place made choice of by the Romans for a strong encamped habitation as by the ruins thereof at this day appears Here the Britains receiv'd a fatal overthrow from Kenrick the Saxon besides what spoil was afterwards done by Canutus Caln is famous for that great Assembly which put an end to the controversy about the Marriage of Priests by reason of a disaster which happened by the fall of the Room to the destruction of several people of all sorts Brokenbridge and Cosham places doubly famous in History First as having been ancient Roman Seats next as the Courts of some of the Saxon Kings Crekelade memorable for the Fame of an University said to have been anciently here erected and from hence removed to Oxford Malmsbury qu. Maidulphsbury from Maidulphus a person of renown both for Sanctity and Learning is no less memorable for the famous Monastery there erected by the said Maidulphus then for the birth of two great men viz. William thence sirnamed of Malmesbury a Celebrated Historian and Thomas Hobbes of this present Age and but a few years since deceast a man of much Earning and more cunning Sophistry for the maintenance of those principles he maintained thereby In Dorsetshire Dorchester the chief Town only boasts of some antiquity as from the Roman name Durnovaria Badbury was anciently the Court of the West-Saxon Kings At Cern Austin broke down the Idol of the Saxon God Hell Shaftsbury is fam'd for the History of the Prophesying Eagle most probably a man whose name was Aquila Here was enterr'd the Body of Edward the Son of Edgar Murthered by his Mother-in-Law at Corfe Castle At Winburn-Minster built by Cuthburga Wife in second Marriage to a King of Northumberland the Body of King Ethelred was buried Shirburn was an Episcopal See for a long time in the Cathedral whereof were buried the bodies of King Ethelbald and King Ethelbert In Somersetshire the principal place is the City of Bath Brit. Akamancester Lat. Aquâ solis Badissa very famous and much frequented for its hot Bathing-Springs which our old British Traditions will have to be the invention of Bladud an ancient British King Bath and Wells joyntly together make one Bishoprick Wells is principally esteem'd for its Cathedral which is said to have been built by Inas King of the West-Saxons Pen now a small Village is memoris'd for a great overthrow given to the Britains by Kenwald King of the West-Saxons and afterwards to the Danes by K. Edmund Ironside Bridgewater is otherwise a Town of very good note and of memory for a notable defeat given here to the Danes by Ealstan Bishop of Shirburn An. 845. Glastonbury Avalonia is principally renowned for its Monastery deliver'd to have been founded by Joseph of Arimathea the first Preacher as some Writers affirm of the Gospel in this Island In the Church-yard of Glastonbury in King Henry the second 's Reign was found a Corps of a large demension which by several circumstances was concluded to be the Body of King Arthur Cadbury is recordable for the defeat given by King Arthur to the English Saxons Banesdown Mons Badonicus is a place renown'd for several other of King Arthurs Victories and where King Alfred overthrew the Danes and brought Gorrum to the Sacred Font. Camalet a steep Hill was doubtless some Fort or Encampment of the Romans as appears by the Coins there found moreover on the top thereof there remains to this day the Vestigia of some noble Castle which is said to have been a Palace of King Arthur This Town some Writers have placed in Cornwal Ilchester appears also by the like demonstration to have been a station of the Romans and is still of that repute that it is the chief place of Gaol-delivery for the County In Oxfordshire Oxford besides the glory of its famous University and the Magnificence of its Stately Colledges Here more frequent Parliaments have been call'd than in any place of England next to Westminster and particularly the last Parliament call'd by his present Majesty and held here in March 1681. Here Maud the Empress was besieg'd by King Stephen and with great difficulty made her escape in a disguise by night and got over the Thames on the Ice This place his late Majesty King Charles the first made his chief Head Quarters during the greatest part of the Civil War between him and the Parliament till the City was taken by Sir Thomas Fairfax General of the Rebels Forces It is moreover famous for being the birth-place of that Martial Prince King Richard the first sirnamed Ceur de Lyon Woodstock besides that it hath been anciently a stately Palace belonging to the Kings of England claims a particular place in the book of Fame upon several accounts In the first place here it was that King Henry the second built a sumptuous Bower for his Paramour Rosamund Clifford who for her singular beauty and in allusion to her name was styl'd Rosa Mundi Next it was the Birth-place of Edward the Black Prince lastly in the Town of Woodstock was brought up and educated that most renowned of English Poets Sir Geoffry Chaucer Islip cannot be forgotten so long as the memory of King Edward the Confessour lasts who was here born In Glocestershire the City of Glocester Glenum Colonia Glenum eminent for its Cathedral of which more elsewhere is also not obscure in History Here Earl Robert Brother to the Empress Maud was kept prisoner for some time but much more famous if we may not say infamous was the keeping of this City by the Parliament-Forces under
the Emperour Constantius but this is more certain that it was made an Archbishoprick in the year of our Lord 625. At Leeds in the West-Riding Oswye King of Northumberland encountred the united Forces of Ethelbald Son of Oswald King of Northumberland Ethelbert King of the East-Angles and Penda King of the Mercians to all whom he gave a mighty defeat slew Penda and Ethelbert and put Ethelbald to flight Selby a Town of good trade and resort but most memorable for the birth of King Henry the first this is by some accounted in Lincolnshire Wakefield is a Town not more considerable for its Cloathing than for the memory of a great battle fought between the Houses of York and Lancaster besides a defeat given in the late Civil Wars to the Earl of Newcastles Forces by Sir Thomas Fairfax Pomfret Castle was built by Hildebert de Lacy a Norman Hallyfax qu. Holy Hair anciently Horton the birth-place of Joannes de Sacrobosco Rotheram chiefly boasts in the birth of Thomas of Rotheram Archbishop of York In the East-Riding Stanford Bridge from the battle there fought commonly called Battle-Bridge Drifield is remembred by the Tomb of Alfred King of Northumberland here buried Beverly though a Town of flourishing trade is yet more fame-worthy as the last retirement and place of decease of the Learned John Archbishop of York in the Reign of Oswick An. 721. who was thence sirnamed John de Beverly Newborough Abby gives fame to it self by giving name to that Old English Historian William of Newborough Kingston upon Hull besides the repute of its Trade and Merchandise is honour'd with the fame of being built by King Edward the first nor are there wanting who will add the reputation of Andrew Mervail a Burgess of this place of whom elsewhere Exeter in Devonshire is both of sufficient antiquity for the Castle call'd Rugemont was once the Palace of the West Saxon Kings and afterwards of the Earls of Cornwal and the Walls and Cathedral were built by King Athelstan and also memorable for several transactions here was born that most renowned Latin Poet of England Josephus hence sirnamed Iscanus or Joseph of Exeter At Plimouth that great Honour of England for Sea affairs Sir Francis Drake took Shipping for the Circum-navigation of the World An. 1577. Teignmouth is noted for the place of the Danes first arrival in England Hubbleston the Burial place of Hubba the Dane Crediton the ancient Episcopal See of this County till it was removed to Exeter Camelford in Cornwal is guess'd by those pieces of Armour that have been digged up thereabout to have been the place of Battel where Mordred was slain and where King Arthur received his mortal wound Tintagel Castle gave birth to this great Miracle of British Valour King Arthur At Castle Denis the Ruins of those Trenches are yet to be seen where the Danes encamped at their first Invasion of this Land At Caradoc was born John Trevisa a learned Writer who died Anno 1400. St. Germains a place chiefly fame-worthy for having been an ancient Episcopal See At Truroe was born John Arundel a renowned Sea-man in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth Bodmin the next place to which the Bishop's Chair was removed from whence it was translated by King Edward the Confessor to Exeter where it hath remained ever since This County hath brought forth several learned men viz. Hucarius sirnamed the Levite who flourished Anno 1040. Simon Thurway who flourished Anno 1201. John Sir-named of Cornwal who flourished Anno 1170. Michael Blawnpain who flourished Anno 1350. Godfrey Sir-named of Cornwall In NORTHVMBERLAND at a place called Otterburn a great Field was fought between the English and Scots Alnwick is of note for the mighty Victory which the English here gained over the Scots and for that the Earls of Northumberland in ancient times here kept their Court. Emildon brought forth that great Contradiction of his own name for Niceties of Wit and Subtilties in School-Philosophy Duns Sir-named Scotus In the Western parts of Northumberland are yet to be seen some parts of the Picts Wall In WESTMORLAND The Aballaba of Antoninus is thought to have been a place of very great note in the time of the Romans by the antique Roman Coins that have been there found in digging and the station of the Aurelian Maures and it is still so considerable that the Castle thereof is the place where the Assizes for the County are kept Burgh or Burgh under Stainmore is undoubtedly the Ruins of an eminent Town which was called Verterae and where a Roman Commander in the declining time of the Empire is said to have kept his station with a Band of Directores Ambleside Amboglana not far from Winander Meer is judged the Ruins of some famous City of Roman foundation or improvement both by the paved ways that lead to it and the Coins of Roman Stamp oft digged up there In CVMBERLAND Carlisle Luguvallum or Leucophibia of Ptolomie if not illustrious in its Original for it is delivered to have been built by that Leil who is great in the Catalogue of British Kings was at least a flourishing City under the Romans and being demolished by the Picts and utterly ruined by the Danes was restored by King William Rufus who also built there a Castle and by King Henry the First made a Bishop's See The Bishoprick of DVRHAM gained that Title and Privilege by the great fame and renown of St. Cuthbert for the interment of whom the Cathedral of Durham was first built by Bishop Aldwin and afterwards pulled down and rebuilt by Bishop Careleph The Tomb of this adored Saint was visited with great devotion by King Egfred Alfred Danish Guthrun Edward and Athelstan This City was by King William the Conqueror raised to a County Palatine There is a place called Gallile in the West end of the Church where is to be seen the Tomb of Venerable Beda Binchester Benovium by the Coins there digged up seems to have been a place of great account among the Romans So likewise Chester in the Street Condercum At Nevil's Cross near Durham the Scots were defeated by Queen Philippa Wife to King Edward the First by the Conduct of the Lords Piercy Moubray and Nevil In LANCASHIRE Lancaster the County-Town gives Title of Family from John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster to four Henries Kings of England viz. Henry the Fourth Fifth Sixth and Seventh Manchester Mancunium an ancient Fort and Station of the Romans Rible-Chester from Rhibel a little Brook near Clithero a Town of Antiquity and Station of the Romans as appears by the pieces of Coin and Statues there found But that which renders it most of memory is that it hath been reported the richest Town of Christendom Near Duglas a small Brook not far from the Town of Wiggin King Arthur is said by Ninius to have put the Saxons to flight At Billangho Anno 789. Duke Wade was put to flight by Ardulph King of Northumberland In CHESHIRE Chester is famous
any Goods be secretly brought into the Ship contrary to the knowledg of the Master and Purser be ejected no contribution shall be made And by the Law Marine the Master may refuse in case of ejection to deliver the remainder of the Goods before the Contribution is setled or if in a storm part of the Goods are dammaged without any neglect of the Master or Sailers such Goods for so much as they are dammaged ought to come into the contribution If two Ships meet and strike each other and if it can be proved that either of them did it willfully or by carelesness then that Ship shall satisfy the damage received by the other but if either Ships crew Swear their innocency then the dammage is to be Levyed proportionable between them if any Ejection of Goods happen by the indiscretion of the stowers in lading the Ship above the Birth mark or the like then the Master or Owners ought to make satisfaction If when a Vessel is entering a Port or otherwise part of the Goods be put into a Lighter or Ship-Boat and the Boat be cast away there Contribution must be made but if the Ship be cast away and the Lighter or Boat saved then no Contribution for note where the Ship at any time Perishes tho a great part of the Goods be saved yet they allow no Contribution If a Ship be taken by Pirates or Enemies and the Master contracts with them for the dismission of the Ship at such a Summ of money and till the same be pay'd yields himself Prisoner in that case Contribution must be levyed upon the Ship and lading for the Ransom of the said Master and so where a Pirate by consent takes part of the Goods to spare the rest Contribution must be made but if he takes them by force or at his own pleasure then no contribution is to be made unless the Merchants yield so to do after the Ship is Robbed but if taken by an Enemy Letter of Marque or Reprisal the contrary If Jewels be on Board in a Box and not discovered and they be cast overboard Contribution shall be for no more then they appeared viz. a Parcel If any thing in a storm be cast into the Sea and afterward recovered then Contribution shall be made for no more then the damage sustained The Master and Purser in case of a storm shall contribute towards Goods Ejected for the preservation of the Ship and Passenger for such Wares as they have and if they have no Wares then for their Cloaths Rings c. according to estimation Contribution is to be pay'd for a Pilots Fee for bringing a Ship safe into any Harbour where she is not bound If the Master of a Ship after he has received his Complements takes in Goods contrary to the knowledge of the Merchant and part of the Merchants Goods in case of a storm are thrown overboard then the Master is lyable to make Satisfaction If Contribution be setled and the Merchant will not consent to pay it the Master may refuse delivering the Goods and if an Action be brought he may Barr the Plaintif by pleading the special matter yet in a storm there are some Ladings which ought not to be ejected As Pieces of Ordnance Ammunition or Provisions for the relief of a City Besieged or in danger so to be for there the Law implyes that the Subject ought to prefer the good of his Prince before his own life CHAP. CXXI A View of the Port of London and of the Customs Priviledges Exemptions and Revenues of that great City according to the Charters Grants c. of several Kings of England SEeing the Port of London is the Principal Port of this Kingdom it will not be amiss to set down the Priviledges and Customs thereof and what Revenues by way of Exportation and Importation accrues to the Honourable City in order to support its Grandure First then the Port of London as by Exchequer setled and declared extends from the Promontory or Point called the North Foreland in the Isle of Thannet Thence Northward to the Nase Point beyond the Sunfleet upon the Coast of Essex and so continues Westward up the River of Thames and the several Channels Streams and Rivers falling into it to London-Bridge The usual known Rights Liberties and Priviledges to the Ports of Sandwich and Ipswich and their Members excepted and in regard that Ships did formerly come up to the Port of London and unlade in several obsure Creeks at Staires to defraud his Majesty of his Customs it was therefore ordained that a Commission should be forthwith Issued out of the Exchequer to affix and nominate all such Wharfes Keys and other places as his Majesty by virtue of such Commission should appoint in pursuance of which his Majesty has been pleased to Nominate and Constitute as Lawful Keys Wharfs c. these following for the Landing of Goods Merchandise c. viz. Brewers-Key Chestors-Key Wool-Dock Porters-Key Bear-Key Wiggons-Key Youngs-Key Ralphs-Key Smarts-Key Lyons-Key Buttolf-Wharf Hammons-Key Cocks-Key Fresh-Wharf Billingings-Gate and the Bridge-House The former of the two latter being appointed a common open place for the Landing or bringing in of Fish Salt Victuals or Fuel of all sorts Fruit of all sorts Grocery excepted all Native Materials for Building and for exporting the like but no other Merchandise and the latter viz. the Bridge-House is appointed for the Landing of Corn for the City store tho under pretence of the same several Persons at this Day Landed their proper Corn moreover there are these Keys viz. the Custom-House Key some Stairs on the West side whereof are declared not to be places for Lading or Shipping of Goods Sabs-Dock has a pair of Stares not held Lawful for the Landing or lading of Merchandise The like has Dice-Key Summers-Key and Gaunts-Key tho otherwise allowable Therefore it is to be supposed those Stairs that are accepted against were built for Conveniency since the declaring them free places of lading and Landing Merchandise These Keys Wharfs and Docks yearly produce a great Income to the City of London by Scavage Portage Packing and Water-Bailage As first Scavage being an Ancient Toll or Custom taken by the Majors Sherifs c. for Wares shewed or offered to Sail within their Precincts consists of two parts viz. that which is payable by the Denizen that which is payable by the Alien or Stranger and that all Persons Subject to such Duties may not be imposed on by such as take them there are Tables mentioning each particular set up and approved of by the Lord Chancellor Treasurer President Steward and two Justices of the Common-Pleas and by them Subscribed or some four of them at least and are to be levyed on Goods inwards and outwards As all Goods mentioned in the Table of Scavage and not included in the Table of Rates shall pay after the rate of one penny in the pound according as they are expressed or valued in his Majesties Book of rates and
work and Rich and Poor young and old must study the Art of Number Weight and Measure must fare hard provide for Impotents and for Orphans out of hope to make profit by their Labours must punish the Lazy by Labours I say all these particulars said to be the subtile Excogitations of the Hollanders seem to me but with what could not almost have been otherwise Liberty of Conscience Registry of Conveyances small Customs Banks Lombards and Law-Merchant rise all from the same Spring and tend to the same Sea As for Loans of Interest 't is also a necessary effect of all the premises and not the fruit of their contrivance Wherefore we shall only shew in particular the Efficacy of each and first of Liberty of Conscience but before I enter upon these I shall mention a practice almost forgotten whether it refers to Trade or Policy is not material which is the Hollanders undermasting and sayling of such of their Shipping as carry cheap and gross Goods and whose Sail doth not depend much upon Season It is to be noted that of 2 equal and like Vessels if one spreads 1600 yards of like Canvas and the other 2500 their Speed is but as 4 to 5 so as one soon brings home the same Timber in 4 days as the other will in 5 now if we consider that although those Ships be but 4 or 5 days under Sayl that they are perhaps 30 upon the Voyage so as the one is but 1 30 parts longer upon the whole Voyage than the other tho â…• longer under Sail now if Masts Yards Rigging Cables and Anchors do depend upon the quantity and extent of the Sails and consequently hands also it follows that the one Vessel goes at 3 1 less charge losing but 1 80 of the time and of what depends thereupon I come to the first Policy of the Dutch viz Liberty of Conscience which I can conceive they grant upon these grounds but keeping up always a force to maintain the Common Peace 1st They themselves broke with Spain to avoid the Imposition of the Clergy 2dly Dissenters of this kind are for the most part thinking sober and patient men and such as believe that Labour Industry is their duty towards God how Erroneous soever their Principles be 3dly These People believing the Justice of God and seeing most licentious persons to enjoy most of the World and it's best things will never venture to be of the same Religion and Profession with voluptuaries and men of extreme Wealth and Power who they think have their Portion in this World 4thly They cannot but know that no man can believe what himself pleases and to force men to say they believe when they do not is vain absurd and without Honor to God 5thly The Hollanders knowing themselves not to be an Infallible Church and that others had the same Scriptures for guide as themselves and withal the same Interest to save their Souls did not think fit to make this matter their business no more but to make Bonds of the Seamen they imploy not to cast away their own Ships and lives 6thly The Hollanders observe that in France and Spain especially the Latter the Church men are about 100 to one to what they use or need the principal care of whom is to preserve Uniformity and this they take to be a superfluous charge 7thly They observe where most endeavours have been used to keep Uniformity their Exterodoxy hath most abounded 8thly They believe that if â…• of the People were Exterodox and that if the whole quarter should by Miracle be removed that within a small time 4 1 of the Remainder would again become Exterodox some way or other it being Natural for men to differ in Opinions in Matters above sense and reason and for those who have less Wealth to think thry have the more Wit and Understanding especially in the things of God which they think chiefly to belong to the Poor 9thly They think the case of the Primitive Christians as it is represented in the Acts of the Apostles looks like that of the present Dissenters I mean externally moreover it is to be observed that Trade does not as some think best flourish under popular Government but rather that Trade is more vigorously carried on in every State and Government by the exterodox party of the same and such as profess Opinions differ from what are publickly established that is to say in India where the Mahumetan Religion is Authorized There the Banians are the most considerable Merchants in the Turkish Empire the Jews and Christians at Venice Naples Legorn Genica and Lisbon Jews and now Papists Merchants Strangers But to be short in the part of Europe where the Roman Catholick Religion now has or lately has had Establishment there 3 qrs of the whole Trade is in the hands of such as have separated from the Church viz. The Inhabitants of England Scotland and Ireland as also these of the United Provinces with Denmark Sweden and Norway together with the Subjects of the Norman Protestant Princes and the Hans-Towns do at this day possess a quarter of the Trade of the World and even France it self the Hugonets are proportionably far the greatest Trades nor is it to be denyed but that in Ireland where the said Roman Religion is not Authorized but the professors thereof have a great part of the Trade from whence it follows that Trade is not fixed to any Species of Religion as such but rather as before hath been the said to the heterodox party of the whole the truth whereof appears also in all the particular Towns of greatest Trade in England nor do I find reason to believe that the Roman Catholick Seamen in the whole World are sufficient to man effectually a Fleet equal to what the King of England now has but the now Papist-Seamen can do above thrice as much Wherefore he whom this latter party does effectionately own to be their Head cannot probably be wronged in his Sea-concernments by the Author from whence it follows that for the Advancement of Trade if that be a Sufficient Reason indulgence must be granted in matters of Opinion those Licentious Actings as even in Holland be restrained by force The 2d Policy or help to Trade used by the Hollanders is Securing the Titles to Lands and Houses for although Lands Houses may be called Terra firma et res immobiles yet the Title unto them is no more certain then it pleaseth the Laws and Authority to make them wherefore the Holanders do by Registries and other ways of assurance make the Title as immoveable as the Lands for there can be no incouragement to Industry where there is no Assurance of what shall be gotten by it and where by Fraud and Corruption one man may take away with ease and by a trick what another has gotten by extream labour and pains There has been much Discourse about introducing of Registories into England the Lawyers for the most part do
might have furnished him with fifteen times as many Now supposing the whole Allegation were true yet the same number amounts but to 21,000 all which if the whole Trade of Shipping in France were quite and clean abandoned would not by above a third man in a Fleet be equivalent to that of the King of England and if the Trade were but barely kept alive there would not be one third part men enough to man the said Fleet. But if the Shipping Trade of France be not above a quarter as great as that of England and that one third part of the same namely the Fishing Trade to the Banks of new-found Land is not peculiar nor Fixed to the French then I say that if the King of England who has Power to press men cannot under two or three Months time man his Fleet then the French King with less then a quarter of the same help can never do it at all for in France as shall be elsewhere shewn there are not a 15000 Tun of Trading Vessels and consequently not above 15,000 Seamen reckoning a man to every tenth Tun and it has been shewed that the French King can't at present man such a Fleet as is above described We come next to shew that he never can bring under natural and perpetual impediments viz. First if there be but 15,000 Seaman in all France to manage it's Trade it is not to be supposed that the said trade should be distinguished nor that it should spare above five of the said 15,000 towards managing of the Fleet which requires 35,000 men now the deficient 30000 must be supplyed out of these four ways ether by taking in Land-men of which sort there must not be above 10,000 since the Seamen will never be contented without being the Major part nor do they Heartily wish well to Land-men at all or rejoyce even at those Successes of which the said Land-men can claim any share thinking it hard that themselves who are bred to Miserable and Painful and dangerous imployments and yet profitable to the Common-Wealth should at a time when Booty and purchase may be gotten be Dog'd or hindred with any Conjunction which Land-men are forced to admit these to any equal share with themselves Secondly the Seamen which are supposed 20,000 must be had that is shired from other Nations which can't be without Tempting 'em with so much wages as exceeds that given by Merchants and withal Counterpoyse the dammage of being hanged by their own Prince and allowed no quarter if taken the trouble of carrying themselves away when restraints are upon 'em and also the infamy of having been Apostates to their Country and Cause I say their wages must be more than double to what their own Prince gives them and their Aurum must be very great that they shall not at long run be abused by those who imploy them as hating the Traytor tho loving the Treason I say moreover that those who will be thus tempted away must be of the basest lewdest sort of Seamen such as have not enough of Honor and Conscience to qualifie them for any Gallant performance 3. Another way to exonerate Seamen is to put great numbers of Land-men upon Ships of War in order to bring always Seamen but this course can't be effectual not only for the abovementioned Antipathy between Land-men and Seamen but also because 't is seen that men at Sea do not apply themselves to Labour and Practice without more necessity then happens in over man'd Shipping For where there are fifty men in a Vessel that Ten can sufficiently Navigate the Supernumerary forty will improve little but where there shall be often but one or two Supernumeraries then necessity will often call upon every one to set his hand to the work which must be well done at the Peril of their lives moreover Seamen shifting Vessels every six or twelve months do sometimes Sail in small Barges sometimes in midlingships and sometimes in greater Vessels of defence sometimes in Lighters sometimes in Hoyes sometimes in Ketches sometimes in three wasted Ships sometimes they go to the northward sometimes to the Southward sometimes they Coast sometimes they Cross the Ocean by all which Varieties of Service they do in time compleat themselves is every part and Circumstance of this faculty Whereas those who go out for a Summer in a man of War have not the Variety of Practice nor a direct necessity of doing any thing at all besides it is three or four Years at a medium that a Seaman must be made neither can there be less then three Seamen to make the fourth of a Landman consequently the fifteen thousand Seamen can increase but five thousand Seamen in three or four Years and unless their Trade should increase with their Seamen in Proportion the King must be forced to be at the charge of this improvement out of the quick Stock which is intolerable so as the question which now remains is whether the Shipping Trade of France is like to increase upon which account it is to be considered that France is stored with all kind of necessaries within it self as Corn Cattle Wine Salt Linnen-Cloth Rape Silk Fruit c. As they need little Shipping to import more Commodities of Weight and Bulk neither is there any thing of Bulk exported out of France but Wines and Salt the Weight whereof is under 1000,000 Tun per Annum yielding not imployment to above twenty five thousand Tun of Shipping and these are for the most part Dutch and English who are not only already in possession of the said Trade but also are better fitted to maintain it then the French are or perhaps ever can be and that for the following Reasons viz. Because the French can't Victual so cheap as the English or Dutch nor Sayl with so few Hands Secondly the French for want of good Coasts and Harbours can't keep their Ships in Port under the charge that the English or Hollanders can Thirdly by Reason of the paucity and distance of their Harbours one from another their Seamen and Tradesmen relating to Shipping can't correspond with or Assist one another so easily cheaply advantageously as in other places wherefore if their Shipping-Trade is not like to increase within themselves and much less to increase by their beating out the English and Hollanders from being the Carriers of the World it follows then their Seamen will not be increased by their increase of their Trade wherefore and for that they are not like to be increased by any of their several ways above specifyed and for that their parts are not fit to retain Ships of Burthen and quality fit for their purpose and that by Reason of less fitness of their Ports then those of their Neighbours I conceive that which was propounded has been competently proved The aforenamed Fournier has Laboured to prove the contrary to all this in the ninety Second and ninety eight Page of his Hydrography unto which I refer the
Reader not thinking his Arguments of any Weight at all in the present case nor indeed does he make his comparison with English or Hollanders but with the Spaniards who nor the Grand Senior the latter of whom has greater advantages to be Powerful at Sea then the French King could never attain to any illustrious greatness in Naval Power having after attempted but never succeeded in the same nor is it easie to believe that the King of England should for so many Years have continued in his Title to the Soveraignty of the narrow Seas against his Neighbours ambitious enough to have gotten it from him had not their impediments been natural and perpetual and such as we say do obstruct the most Christian King CHAP. IV. That the People and Territories of the King of England are naturaly as considerable for Wealth and Strength as those of France THe Author of the State of England among the many useful truths and observations he has sets down the proportion between the Territories of England and France to be as thirty to eighty two the which if it be true then England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands unto them belonging will altogether be near as big as France tho I ought to take all advantages for proving the Paradox in hand I had rather grant that England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands before mentioned together with planted parts of new Found-Land new England new Netherland Virginy Mary-Land Caulin Jamaica Barmuda's Barbado's and all the rest of the Carib Islands do not contain more Territory then France and what planted Land the French King has also in America a. And if any man will be Heterodox in behalf of the French Interest I could be contented against my Judgment to allow the French King's Territories to be a seventh sixth or fifth part greater then those of the King of England believing that both Princes have more Land then they do imploy to its utmost use And here I beg leave among the several matters I intend for serious to interpose a jocular and perhaps a Ridiculous digression and which I indeed desire men to look upon rather as a Dream then a rational Proposition Which is if that all the moveables and People of Ireland and the High-lands of Scotland were transported into the Kingdom of Great Brittain that then the King and his Subjects would thereby become more Rich and Strong both offensively and defensively then now they are It s true I have heard many wise men say when they were bewailing the vast Losses of the English in preventing and suppressing Rebellions in Ireland and considering how little profit has returned either to the King or Subjects of England for these five hundred Years doing and suffering in that Countrey I say I have heard Wise men in such their Melancholies wish that the People of Ireland being saved that that Island were sunk under Water Now it troubles me that the Distempers of my Mind in this point carry me to Dream that the Benefits of these Wishes may Practically be obtained without sinking that vast Mountainous Island under Water which I take to be somewhat difficult for altho Dutch Engineers may drein its Bogs yet I know no Artists that could sink its Mountains If ingenious and Learned men amongst whom I reckon Sr. Thomas Moore and Des Cartes have disputed that we who think our selves awake are or may be really in a Dream And if the greatest absurdity of Dreams is but a Preposterous and Tumultuary Contexture of Reallities I will crave the umbrage of these great Men to say something too of this wild Conception with Submission to the better Judgments of all those that can prove themselves awake If there were but one man Living in England then the benefit of the whole Territories could be but the third Lively-hood of that one Man But if another man were added the Rent or Benefit of the same would be double if three triple and so forewards until so many were Planted in it as the whole Territory could afford Food unto for if a man would know what any piece of Land is worth the true natural question must be how many Men will it feed and how many Men are there to be fed But to speak more Practically Land of the same quantity and quality in England is generally worth three or four times as much as in Ireland And but one quarter and a third of what it is in Holland because England is four times so well Peopled as Ireland and be a quarter so well as Holland And moreover where the Rent of Land is advanced by reason of the multitude of People there the number of years purchase for which the Inheritance may be sold is also advanced tho perhaps not in the very same Proportion for twenty Shillings per Annum in Ireland may be worth but eight pound and in England where Tithes are very sure about twenty pound in Holland about thirty pound I suppose that in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland there may be above 1800,000 People or about ⅕ part of what is in all the three Kingdoms Wherefore the first question will be whether England Wales or the Lowland of Scotland can't afford Food that is to say Corn Flesh Fish and Fowl to a ⅕ more People then are at present planted upon it with the same Labour that the said ⅕ part does now take where they are for if so then what is propounded is naturally possible Secondly it is to be inquired into what the moveables which upon such removable must be left behind are worth for if they are worth less than the advancement of the price of Land in England will amount unto then the Proposal is to be considered 3. If the relict Land and the immovables left behind upon them may be sold for money or if no other Nation shall dare to meddle with them without paying well for them and if the Nation who shall be admitted shall be less able to prejudice and annoy the Transplanters into England then before then I conceive the whole proposal will be a pleasant Dream indeed As to the first part whether England and the Lowlands of Scotland will mantain one fifth more then they now do that is to say nine Millions of Souls in all I say first that the said Territories of England c. contain about thirty six Millions of Acres that is four Acres for every Head Man Woman and Child but the united Provinces do not allow ½ Acre and England it self rescinding Wales has but three Acres to ever Head according to the present State of Tillage and Husbandry Now if so considered that England having but three Acres to a Head do so abound in Victuals as that it makes Laws against the importation of Cattle Flesh and Fish from abroad and that the Dreining of the Fens improving of Forrests inclosing of Commons Sowing of cinque-Foyl and Clover-Grass be grumbled against by Landlords are the way to depress the
Subjects of England are as effective as to the gaining of Wealth and Riches as those of France and if Ten men can defend themselves as well in Islands as twelve men upon the Continent then the said Ten being not concerned to increase their Territory by the invasion of others are as effectual as the twelve in point of Strength also wherefore that there are more Superlucrators in the English then in the French Dominions we say as followeth There be in England Scotland and Ireland about sixty Millions Seamen in France about a quarter so many but one Seaman earns as much as three common Husbandmen wherefore this difference of Seamen added to the account of the King of Englands Subjects the equivalent of 90,500,000 Husbandmen There are in England Scotland and Ireland six thousand Tuns of Shipping worth about 4500,000 4 ½ and the actual charge of maintaining the Shipping aforesaid by new building and reparation is about ⅓ of the said Summ which is the wages of 150. Husbandmen but it is not the wages of above ⅓ so many Artisans as are imployed upon Shipping of all sorts viz. Shipwrights Calkers Joyners Carvers Painters Blockmakers Rope-makers Mastmakers Smiths of several sorts Flagmakers Compassmakers Brewers Bakers and all sorts of Victuallers all sorts of Trades-men relating to Guns and Gunners-Stores wherefore there being four times more of these Artisans in England then in France they further add to the account of the King of Englands Subjects the equivalent 80 m. Husbandmen more The Sea line of England Scotland and Ireland and the adjacent Islands is about 3,800 Miles according to which length and the whole content of Acres the said Land would be an oblong or Parallelogram Figure of 3,800 long and twenty five Miles broad and consequently every part of England Scotland and Ireland is one with another but about twelve Miles from the Sea whereas France containing but about one thousand Miles of Sea line is like the computation above sixty five Miles from the Sea-side and considering the paucity of Ports in comparison to what are in the King of Englands Dominions as good as seventy Miles distance from a Port upon which grounds it is clear that England can be supplyed with all Gross and Bulky Commodities of Forreign growth and manufacture at far cheaper rates then France can be viz. above four Shillings per Annum Rent cheaper the Land carriage for the difference betwen England and France of the distance from a Port being so much or near thereabouts now to what advantage this convenience amounts upon the importation and exportation of Bulky Commodities can't be less the Labour of one thousand of People meaning by Bulky Commodities all sort of Timber Blank and Staves for Cask and all Iron Lead Stones Brick and Tiles for building all Corn Sart and Drink all Flesh and Fish and indeed all other Commodities wherein the gain and loss of four Shillings per cent is considerable Where note the like Wines are sold in the inward parts of France for four or five pounds a Tun which near the Ports yield seven pound Moreover upon this principal the decay of Timber in England is no very formidable thing as the rebuilding of London and of the Ships wasted by the Dutch-War do clearly manifest nor can there be any want of Corn or other necessary provision in England unless the Weather has been universally unseasonable for growth of the same which seldom or never happens for the same cause which makes dearth in one place does after cause plenty in another wet-weather being propitious to Highlands which drowneth the low It is observed that the poor of France have generally less wages then in England and yet their Victuals are generally dearer there which being so there may be more Superlucration in England then in France Lastly I offer it to the consideration of all those who have travelled through England and France whether the Plebeian of England for they constitute the Bulks of any Nation do not spend one sixth more then the Plebeian of France and if so it is necessary they must first get it and consequently that Ten Millions of the King of Englands Subjects are equivalent to twelve of the French Kings and upon the whole matter to the thirteen ½ Millions at which the French Nation was estimated It will be here objected that the Splendor and Magnificences of the French King appearing greater then those of the Kings of England that the Wealth of France must be proportionably greater then that of England but that does not follow forasmuch as the apparent greatness of the King does depend upon the quarter parts of the peoples Wealth which he levieth from them for supposing the People are equally Rich if one of the Sovereigns levy fifth part and the other fifteenth the one seems actually thrice as Rich as the other whereas potentially they are both equal Having now dicoursed of the Territory People Superlucration and defensibleness of both Dominions and in some measure of the Trade so far as we had occasion to mention Ships Shipping and nearness to Ports we come next to enlarge a little further upon the Trade of each some have estimated that there are not above three hundred Millions of people in the whole World whether that be so or no is not very material to be known but I have fairer Ground to conjecture and would be glad to have it more certainly that there are not above eighty thousand with whom the English and Dutch have commerce no Europeans I know of Trading directly or indirectly where they do not so as the whole commercial World or World of Trade consists of eighty thousand of Souls as aforesaid And I further estimate that the value of all the Commodities yearly exchanged among them does not exceed fourty five thousand now the Wealth of every Nation consisting chiefly in the share which they have in forreign Trade with the whole commercial World rather then in the Domestick Trade of ordinary Meat Drink Cloth c. And which brings in little Gold Silver Pearls and other universal Wealth we are to consider the Subjects of the King of England Head for Head have not a greater share hereof then those of France To which purpose it has been considered that the manufactures of Wool yearly exported out of England into sevesal parts of the World viz. all sorts of Cloth Serg Stuff Cotton Bayes Frize or also Stockens Caps Rugs c. exported out of England Scotland and Ireland do amount unto five hundred thousand pound per Annum The value of Lead Tin and Coals to five hundred thousand pound The value of all Cloths Houshold-Stuf◠c. carried into America two hundred thousand pound per Annum Silver and Gold taken from the Spaniards sixty thousand pound The value of Sugar Indico Tobacco Cottham and Catao from the Southward part of America six hundred thousand pound The value of Wool Butter Hides Beef Herrings Pilchers Salmon exported out of Ireland
eight hundred thousand pound The value of Coals Salt Linnen Yarn Herrings Pilchers Salmon brought out of Scotland and Ireland five hundred thousand pound The value of Salt-Peter Pepper Callicots Diamonds Drugs and Silks brought out of the East-Indies above what was spent in England eight hundred thousand pound The value of Slaves brought out of Africa to serve in the American Plantation twenty thousand which with the freight of the English Shipping Trading into forreign parts being above fifteen hundred thousand makes in all Ten Millions and a hundred and eighty thousand Which computation is sufficiently justified by the Customs of three Kingdoms whose intrinsick value are thought to be near about one Million per Annum viz. Six hundred thousand Payable to the King one hundred thousand for the charge of collecting c. two hundred thousand Smackled by the Merchants and one hundred thousand gained by the Farmers according to the common opinion and men saying and this agrees also with that proportion or part of the Trade of the whole World which I have estimated the Subjects of the King of England to be possessed of viz. for about Ten of forty five Millions but the value of the French commodities brought into England notwithstanding Mr. Fortree's estimates are not above twelve hundred thousand per Annum and the value of all the export into all the World besides not above three or four times as much which computation also agrees well enough with the accompt we have of the Customs of France so as France not exporting above half the value of what England does and for the commodities of France except Wines Brandy Paper and the first Patterns and Fashions for Cloths and furniture of which France is the mint are imitable by the English and having withal more people then England it follows that the people of England c. have Head for Head near thrice as much forreign Trade as the people of France and above two parts of nine of the Trade of the whole commercial World and 2 7 of all the Shipping notwithstanding all which is not to be denied that the King and some great men of France appear more Rich and splendid then those or the like quality in England all which arises rather from the nature of their Government then from the intrinsick and natural cause of Wealth and Power CHAP. V. That the Impediments of England's Greatness are contingent and removable THe first impediment of Englands Greatness is the Territories thereunto belonging are too far asunder and divided by the Sea into so many several Islands and Countries and I may say into so many Kingdoms and different Governments viz. There be three distinct Legislative Powers in England Scotland and Ireland the which of instead of uniting together do often cross one and others Interest putting Bars and Impediments upon one and others Trades not only as they were forraigners to each other but sometimes as Enemies The Islands of Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Man are under jurisdictions different from those either of England Scotland and Ireland The Government of New-England both civil and Ecclesiastical do so differ from that of his Majesties other Dominions that it is hard to say what may be the Consequence of it And the Government of the other Plantations do also differ very much from any of the West altho there be naturally substantial Reasons for the Situation Trade and Condition of the People why there should be such differences from all which it comes to pass the small divided remote Governments being seldom able to defend themselves the Burthen of the Protecting them all must lye upon the chiefest Kingdom of England and all the small Kingdoms and Dominions instead of being additions are really diminutions The Wealth of a King is three-Fold one is the Wealth of Subjects the second is the quota parts of his Subjects Wealth given him for the Publick Defence Honour and Ornaments of the people and to manage such undertakings for the common good as no one or a few private men are sufficient for The third sort are the quota of the last mentioned quota parts which the King may dispose of as his own Personal inclination and discretion shall direct now it is most manifest that the aforementioned distance and differences of Kingdoms and jurisdictions are great impediments to all the said several sorts of Wealth as may be seen in the following particulars 1. In case of War with forraign Nations England commonly beareth the whole Burthen and charge whereby many in England are utterly undone 2. England sometimes prohibiting the Commodities of Ireland and Scotland as of late it did the Cattle Flesh and Fish of Ireland did not only make Food and consequently Labour dearer in England but also has forced the People of Ireland to fetch these commodities from France Holland and other places which before was sold them from England to the great Prejudice of both Nations 3. It occasions an unnecessary trouble and charge in collecting of Customs upon Commodities passing between the several Nations 4. It is a dammage to our Barbadoes and other American Trades that the Goods which might pass thence immediately to several parts of the World and be sold at moderate Rates must first come into England and there pay Duties and afterwards if at all passing to those Countries whither they might have gone immediately 5. The Islands of Jersey and Guernsey are protected at the charge of England nevertheless the Labour and Industry of that People which is very great redound most to the profit of the French 6. In new-New-England there are vast numbers of able Bodied English-men imployed chiefly in Husbandry and in the meanest part of it which is breeding of Cattle whereas Ireland would have contained all those Persons at the worst would have afforded them Lands in better Terms then they have them in America if not some other better Trade withal then now they can have 7. The Inhabitants of the other Plantations altho they do indeed Plant commodities which will not grow so well in England it grasping at more Land then it will suffice to produce the said exotics in a sufficient quantity to serve the whole World they do therein but distract and confound the effects of their own Indeavours 8. There is no doubt that the same people far and wide dispersed must spend more upon their Government and Protection then the same living compactly and when they have no occasion to depend upon the Wind Weather and all the Accidents of the Sea A second impediment to the greatness of England is the different understanding of several material points viz. The Kings Prerogative Priviledges of Parliament the obscure differences between Law and Equity as also between Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction doubts whether the Kingdom of England has Power over the Kingdom of Ireland besides the wonderful Paradox that the English-men lawfully sent to suppress Rebells in Ireland should after having effected the same be
Christmass till Midsummer is of so Brackish a nature that all that time they boil great quantities of Salt out of it in Furnaces which for that end are erected near the Wells whereas all the rest of the year the water is so fresh that no Salt can be extracted out of it As for those Plants and Shrubs which are most peculiarly of the growth of England it would be too particular a Subject for this so general a Work to assign each its several place as there are very many places where this or that Herb Tree or Shrub hath as it were its peculiar nativity and education All the whole County of Buckingham is denominated from the great number of Beech-Trees there growing The Isle of Scalny in Pembrokeshire is almost all over grown with Wild-Time But there are some Plants which being of themselves not ordinary or common or of a more than common Vertue or Efficacy do so much the more signalize the places where they grow especially being the only noted places of their production The Saffron about Walden in Essex is so eminently reputed above the Saffron of any other parts that that Town is never mentioned but by the name of Saffron-Walden Pomfret in Yorkshire so called quasi Pontfract or Broken-Bridge besides its strong and stately Castle is noted for the great quantity of Liquorice that grows thereabout as also a sort of Plant called Skirworts whose Root is much esteem'd and Eaten by the Curious for a great delicacy by reason of its Richness and high Nourishment Nor is Worksop in Nottinghamshire less eminent for Liquorice Hallifax in the West-Riding of Yorkshire is noted for several things which we shall have occasion to make mention of elsewhere But among other things the Nuts growing thereabout are by way of eminency call'd Hallifax Nuts At Barklow in Essex there grows in great abundance an Herb bearing Red-Berries called Danewort from a Tradition that it sprang first from the Blood of the Danes On the Cliffs between Deal and Dover great plenty of Samphire grows Westward from Dengeness in Kent Pease spring up naturally in Clusters like Grapes and differ not much in Taste from common-field Pease Between Sandwich and the Isle of Thanet a kind of Hops is observed to grow naturally among the Beach and Pebbles Garlick is no where better nor more plentiful than at Stratton in Cornwall Several parts of Devonshire and Porbery most peculiarly in Somersetshire produce wild Strawberies in abundance no less noted is Axminster in Devonshire for Hurtleberries At Summervil near Chappel two Mile from Blanford in Dorcetshire on on the hither side of the River at Sturpain there is a most plentiful production of Madder how long this Plant hath been in England is uncertain but it is above 50 years since a considerable quantity of it was produced at Barn-Elms in Surry and Sir Nicholas Crisp sow'd several sorts of it as Crop-Madder Umber Ow and Pipe or flat Madder at Deptford in Kent which County affords plenty of Flax but the best Hemp is said to grow between Bemister and Birdport in Dorcetshire St. Foin or Holy-Hay was first brought out of France from about Paris and first sow'd at Copt-Hall in Kent Tamarisk was first brought over from Switzerland by Bishop Tindal in the days of Queen Mary from whose displeasure he fled and planted in his Garden at Fullham On the top of Pendle-hill in Lancashire there grows a Plant peculiar to that place called Cloudesberry probably for that it seems as it were to come out of the Clouds In the Fens of Cambridgeshire there is commonly gathered an Herb call'd Water-Germander in Latin Scordium which being the chief Ingredient consequently gives name to that great Alexipharmacon so much known and used among us called Diascordium About Glastenbury in Somersetshire there is plenty of Woad and at Cashalton in Surry of excellent Walnuts Of the Wonders and Rarities of England THe Wonders of England consist chiefly in Stones Caves Lakes Fountains Ditches and several prodigious Tumuli or Hillocks cast up by Art and Labour there was never doubtless heard of in any part of the World so miraculous a Monument of Stones for so it is generally supposed to be as that on Salisbury-Plain within six or seven Miles of Salisbury commonly called Stone-henge it appears to have been a treble row of Stones circularly plac'd one within another and rear'd streight up on end notwithstanding they are of a prodigious bigness that is to say 28 Foot long for the most part and 7 Foot broad besides others of a vast bulk though not so big as the upright ones which lye overthwart from one to another and are fastened with Tenent and Mortis but the form of this wonderful Structure is very much defac'd some of the greater Stones being either fallen or reclining towards the ground and many of the overthwart Stones being fallen how such huge Stones could be brought thither by whom and upon what occasion is disputed by Writers the most that hath been said on this Subject is written by Mr. Inigo Jones Surveyor General to King James and his late Majesty King Charles the first and Dr. Charleton both various and oft times contrary in their Opinions and possibly neither of them altogether in the right About half a dozen Mile further on the Plain towards Hungerford I have observed nor do I remember it to have been taken notice of by any one else a Stone of a great bulk but not above a Foot and a half in heighth from the ground which though of the same hardness and solidity with those above mentioned hath the top of it driven all over full of Nails of the largest size There is also a part of the Plain between Marleborough and Caun which being strew'd all over with Stones of a Grey colour is therefore called the Grey Weathers the least of these Stones being of a considerable bigness and some very large those of the ordinary size seeming to be of about half a dozen or half a score Pound weight one with another and here and there in some odd nooks a little out of the Road a large Stone reared up on end like those at Stone-henge and sometimes not much inferior in bulk In Staffordshire there is a Market-Town called Stone from a large heap of Stones cast up there as a Monumental mark of Infamy upon Wulpher the Mercian who in this very place sacrific'd to his Heathenish fury his two Sons Wulfald and Rufinus for no other cause than their imbracing the Christian Faith Near Burrowbridge a little Town in Yorkshire there are four Stones of a very vast bulk and Pyramidally shap'd suppos'd to be erected by the Romans in memory of some great Victory thereabouts obtain'd Upon the Hills near North-Tine in Northumberland though Boggy and full of water there are great heaps of Stones which some take for a Memorial of some great Battle there fought Near Enisham in the South part of Oxfordshire there are Stones called
are many Pits which being somewhat narrow at the top and widening towards the bottom are distinguished into several Rooms or Apartments and supported as it were with Pillars of Chalk At a House of the Marquess of Worcester's at Emsbury I have been told that at the pulling down of an old Wall the Labourers discovered a Cavity which upon search led to a large Cave where there was found a Monument of great Antiquity and Riches which by the Character and some other circumstances appears to have been the Tomb of Queen Guinever Wife to King Arthur Near Kirby-Longdale in Westmorland are many deep places like Caves Fifthly At Aberbarry in Glamorganshire there is a Cave at the bottom of a Hill the mouth whereof is a gaping Clift or Chink into which when the Wind enters there is heard a kind of harmonious noice as it were of Cymbals There hath been also heard from a Clift on the Sea-side near the Island Barry a sound as it were of Smiths at work and this by the Testimony of Lilius Giraldus Lakes and Fountains there are very many among us which have something strange and extraordinary in them Near Brereton in Cheshire which belongs to an Eminent Family of the same Name there is a Pool wherein the bodies of Trees swimming are said to presage the Death of some of the Family There are two Lakes very near to each other hard by St. Agnes-Hill in Cornwall of which it is credibly reported that in the one of them Fish will live and thrive in the other not In Lancashire near Furness-Fells there is a standing water accounted the greatest in England commonly called Miander-Meer being no less than 10 Miles in length and all along paved with stone at the bottom It is said moreover that a Fish call'd a Ohare breeds here only and no where else In Huntingtonshire there are several Lakes and among the rest one called Wittlesmeer-Lake which in fairest weather grow tempestuous and rage with violent surges like the Sea In Staffordshire there are two remarkable Lakes of one Necham delivers That by its Roaring it foretells things to come the other is call'd Mahal of which the Tradition goes That Horses when tir'd drinking of the water thereof becomes fresh as ever Of this Gervase of Tilbury makes particular mention On the high Hills of Carnarvonshire there are two Meers of a strange nature if report be true for one is said to produce a sort of Fish that hath but one Eye the other to have a floatable Island whereon no sooner any one sets foot but it drives farther off from the shoar There is also at Bala in Merionethshire a Pool which never fills by Land-floods though rising never so high but in tempestuous weather swelleth above its Banks At Lynsavathan in Brecknockshire is a Meer which is said to have swallowed up a City that once stood in the room thereof through this Meer runs the River Levenny keeping its own stream intire and unmix'd At Kilken in Flintshire is a little Well which hath a constant ebbing and flowing like the Sea At Gigglesworth in Yorkshire there are three small Springs of two whereof there is nothing of observable but the middlemost hath a constant course of ebbing and flowing four times an hour the difference between its highest rise and lowest fall being about eight Inches Likewise in Derbyshire in the Forrest of the Peak is such another Spring ebbing and flowing 4 times an hour observing a constant and due revolution of its tydes On the River Ogmore in Glamorganshire there is a Well which every full tyde in Summer time is almost destitute of water but at ebb is replenish'd many times very near but never totally to an overflowing Another there is at Carry-Castle in Caermardenshire which ebbs and flows Another in Westmorland near the River Loder which ebbs and flows several times a day At Lemington in Warwickshire a Salt Spring ariseth at a great distance from the Sea Near Kenet in Wiltshire the water breaking but of certain stones is accounted a sign of Dearth The River Can in Westmorland hath Cataracts which by their fall foretell either Rain or fair Weather The rising of a Bourn near Croiden in Surry is said to presage Mortality Near St. Albans in Hertfordshire there is a Brook called which when it breaketh out presageth Dearth or some other Calamity In a private mans Yard at Pitchford in Shropshire is a Well whose waters cast up a Skum of liquid Bitumen In the North-riding of Yorkshire are Wells called Tingtong Wells three Miles within the earth The Petrifying Wells and Springs of England are very many nor is it worth the while to mention all of them the chief are in these particular Places at Newenham or Menham-Reges in Warwickshire Three which are also of a Medicinal quality as being strained through Allum at Lutterworth in Leicestershire Near Knarisborough in York-shire the Well-Drepa whose Waters distil from the Rocks that hang over it At Hodington-Hill near Oxford upon the descent of the Hill At Boxly Abbey near Maidston in Kent at Egerton in the same County Nor are those Wells and Springs to be forgotten among the Memorabilia of Nature whose Waters are of a Medicinal virtue the chief of this nature not only of England but even of all Europe for the virtue of the Waters the Magnificence of the Structures about the Wells and the vast resort to them are those famous Bathing Wells which give denomination to the City Bath and which were first found out by one Bladud who is reckoned in the Catalogue of our Ancient British Kings and renowned in History if it may be called History and not rather Historical Tradition as well for Philosopher as King Others there are whose Waters esteemed for their Purging quality are generally carous'd as Ebsham or Epsone-Wells in Surry those of Tunbridge in Kent of Barnet in Hertfordshire and now of late of North-hall in the same Shire Now I cannot but fancy that there must needs be a very great advantage in this way of Physick since those who Evacuate so merrily with so much divertisement so many as it were together for good Companies sake no doubt find a more effectual Operation than those who coop'd up in a Melancholly Chamber sup up a mixture of Nauseous and uncouth Ingredients out of an Apothecaries Shop Other places there are not altogether of no note for their Medicinal Wells as Luckington in Wiltshire where there is a Well called Handcocks-Well whose greatest Virtue consists in the Cure of sore Eyes having also this property that its Water is cold in Summer and hot in Winter Eckington in Worcestershire where there is lately discovered a Medicinal Well accounted of great Virtue for several Distempers Wallingborough in Northamptonshire where upon the account of the Waters Queen Mary lay for several weeks Lenisham in Kent six Miles from London where in the year 1651. a Medicinal Water was found which hath been since much frequented Dulwich Wells within
Wretch or Ill-natur'd Churl will deny Relief to a person that through real and remediless want makes application to him So likewise among Nations that People that refuseth the Accomodation of their Country to their supplicant Neighbours who unjustly Banished their own Native Land or driven out by Persecution and Tyranny fly to them for Refuge must needs be the Inhabitants of a Beggarly and Unhospitable Soyl or be themselves a sort of Inhumane and Savage-Bores Our Kingdom God be thanked is sufficiently Fertile our Natives not accounted Ill-natured and for Room we have not only to spare but within the whole Circuit of England enough as we have said before to contain a far greater power of People twice if not thrice the number So that an accession of peaceable Strangers can be no injury may be a considerable benefit to us so that in being Charitable to others we shall be no losers our selves and never was there so important and seasonable an occasion offered as now for the receiving of Foraigners among us since never did any persecuted people so want our Entertainmen and Succour as at this time these our Protestant Neighbours who in their own Native Country and among the Professors of Christianity are denyed that Protection which living peaceably they could not doubt of among the severest of Turks or Ethnicks and all this for no other reason then denying to fall down before the obtruded Idol as the Israelites were dealt with in the days of the Tyrant Nebuchadnezzar But by Divine Providence it falls out happily to be at a time that England is govern'd by the most Just and Benevolent of Princes who out of his Concernment for the Protestant Religion and that innate Generosity and Clemency wherewith he delights to oblige all mankind hath by an Order of Councel of the _____ of September this present year 1681. promised all those that shall come over such ample Priviledges and Immunities as will much soften and allay their present Afflictions and in a great measure compensate for their being forc'd to abandon their Native habitations The last cannot be reasonably judg'd unfeasible and is certainly the most absolutely necessary since those many thousands of Unimployed persons burthens of the earth who presume they were only born to Eat and Drink are no better than so many Ciphers being perfectly lost to their Country Nay which is worse they may justly be reckoned as so many Vermine and Noxious Animals for Idleness it self cannot always subsist in its own station but oftentimes is forc'd upon Action but 't is the worst part of Action Mischief As admit a Nation never so thinly Inhabited and yet a Million of those Inhabitants prove utterly useless and unprofitable that Nation may well be said to be too Populous by that Million Insomuch as Cut-purse Pick-pocket House-breaker Highway-man and whatever besides can be imagin'd mischievous are but the several Metamorphoses of an Idle Liver and thus Idleness tends to a more fatal kind of Depopulation The unworking person indeed who in some sence may be said to be no person but dead to the service of his Country yet is capable of being quickned and inspir'd with the life of Action but the worker of Iniquity who is commonly the result of the unworking Person takes courses which tend to an irrevivable Destruction The first is but that Malefactor in Posse which the Thief and Robber is in Esse and doubtless were the Potential Maleficence which is Idleness severely inquired into and regulated by the Discipline of Law and Government so many of the Kings Subjects would not yearly at every Session and Assize as Essential Malefactors be made sad Examples of Justice and cut off from the Land of the Living to which in this World there is no return But what hath been said all this while of the unworking Person whom to compel to work that he may be kept from Starving and restrain from Stealing that he may be restrained from the Gallows is no Injurious but Charitable part of a Magistrate it is to be understood only of those narrow Soul'd Loiterers who being not worth a Groat in the World choose rather to go squandring up and down Beg Filch and be Lowsy than Honestly to get their Bread by cleanly Industry and wholesome Labour Whereas for him that hath enough to Live on who shall hinder him if he please and have the Conscience to be Idle and good for nothing at his own Charges As for those who are great in Money Lands or High Offices great also are their Priviledges for the World hath generally a very great favour and respect for such as flourish and are prosperous in it as well as contempt for the Poor and Unfortunate and except they shall unfortunately happen to become Envy'd-Favourites will be apt to have a favourable excuse for whatsoever is either omitted or committed by them However there is a real merit that cannot be denyed them which is that they have wherewithal to be serviceable to their King and Country A Rich man meerly as a Rich man must needs be acknowledged a useful person in his Generation especially if his Heart be answerable to his Purse or however where something is to be had there is a possibility of obtaining On the other side though it be just and rational to give Law to those who will not give Law to themselves to compel men to their own as well as the publick good to work that they may not Starve to do well that they may not suffer for doing ill It is not yet so consonant to reason that any one should be forc'd to performance though of things never so just above Ability or to make satisfactions out of nothing That the Idle and Industrious alike to satisfie the rigorous Justice of a Self-loving Creditor should for being Idle or Unfortunate be condemned to perpetual Idleness and Misfortune and for no other cause than not working Impossibilities be constrain'd to lie starving and stinking to death in a loathsom Gaol is a piece of Judiciality I do not understand and I verily believe that it is no less unjust for any one to be Cruel and Rigorous in the exacting of his Own from him that Hath not than for him that Hath to forbear the payment of what he Owes who also if not willing of himself may and ought to be made so by force and rigour Which may be inflicted otherwise than by Confinement for a Prison is least a punishment to those that most deserve it To conclude a too rigorous procedure either to Death or Imprisonment seems an over-acting in Justice and as it were tending much alike towards a kind of Depopulation there being no great difference between not to be at all and not to be at Liberty the first totally the second after a manner depriving the World of those whose Lives and Liberties might happily have been usefully enough spar'd for the Commonwealth Of the Manufactures of England MAnufacture is to the Body
Politick what Exercise is to the Body Natural viz. Prosperity to the one Health and Soundness to the other Ildleness being alike pernicious to both and causing to both alike Debauchery of Manners Distemper and Beggary There are few Nations in Europe as well a mother parts of the World wherein some particular Towns are not particularly Eminent for some or other Manufacture as in Andalusia a Province of Spain Corduba for the curious Dressing of Leather which is thence called Cordovan-Leather in Biscaia Bilboa for the making of excellent Temper'd Blades Faenza in Italy for fine Earthen Ware Venice for that rare sort of Drinking Glasses which are thence called Venice-Glasses which Art of Glass-making is by a late Discovery from thence Improv'd to a very great heigth in England though we cannot bring Glasses to that perfection for want of those Materials which are only to be had in those viz. two sorts of Plants called Gazul and Subit out of whose Liquified Ashes the right Venice-Glasses are blown The most general Manufacture of England is that which of all others is certainly the most useful and profitable and which from Ancient time hath in a measure conduc'd to the Wealth and flourishing Estate of the Nation that is to say the Woollen Manufacture or the making of Woollen Cloths or Stuffs which being encourag'd and rightly manag'd is the chief prop of our Trade and Commerce and till the Fishery be set up according to the Proposals of several Worthy Persons the chief Support and Honest Maintenance of the Poor whom could there be work enough found out universally to imploy it would be a happy means to take off that Lewd and Sordid course of Vagabond Begging which introduces all those Thievish and unlawful practices that bring so many daily to shameful and untimely ends The first Broadcloth so called because of the Broad-Looms wherein it was wrought made in England is said to have been wrought by Jack of Newbury in the Reign of King Edward the Third The first famous Clothiers were the Webscloths and Clutterbucks in Glocestershire For this Ingenious and profitable Art or Mystery of Lanifice or Woollen-work there is no place in England more fam'd than the City of Norwich which hath for a long time flourish'd by the making of Worsted-Stuffs which being wrought here more Curiously than elsewhere are thence called Nerwich-Stuffs which Work hath been brought to the greater perfection by the Industry of several Dutch and French Families who have been here planted for several years No Nation ever loseth but gets by the Transplantation of Industrious Foraigners who by Interest and Converse soon become one with the People among whom they Inhabit The Stuffs here vended the chief Trade whereof as also of Stockings is to London are esteemed at 100000 l. per annum which Stuffs are under the Government of two Companies the Worsted Company and the Russel Company The Stockings at 60000 l. per annum But there is another Town in this County which being called Worsted seems to have been the first noted place wherein these Stuffs were substantially made in regard they thence took their denomination Kidderminster in Worcestershire drives a very Trade in the making of certain Stuffs which are thence called Kidderminster-Stuffs and in the same Shire the City of Worcester it self And also Malmsbury for Woollen-Cloth In Warwick-shire Coventry In Lancashire Manchester is much Enrich'd by the Industry of the Inhabitants in making Cloth of Linnen and Woollen Taunton in Somersetshire drives so great a Trade in Mixt and White-Serges that there are said to be sent up Weekly to London and other places no less than 700 pieces a sort of them besides a sort of course Bays in the making whereof there are Weekly imployed no less than 8500 persons No less doth Wakefield in the West-riding of York-shire Leeds also in the same County is accounted a Wealthy Town by reason of its Cloathing Exeter by the quantity of Serges there made returns to London a 10000 l. a Week Stroud in Gloucestershire is a Town not only full of Rich Clothiers but is also particularly Eminent for the Dying of Cloths by reason of the peculiar quality of the Water for that purpose Teuxbury also in the same County is very Rich in Clothing Likewise Sudbury or Southbourg in Suffolk Hadly in the same County Reading in Bark-shire which through the greatness of its Trade is a very Wealthy Town and Newbury in the same County So likewise Shirburn in Dorcetshire upon the same account And also in Essex Colchester Dedham Coxal and other places abound in Bays Says and other new Drapery Appleby in Cumberland is no less Eminent for its strong Castle and for being the place where the Assizes for the County are held than for its great Cloth Manufacture the like is Kendal in the same County Among the woollen Manufacture of England may be reckon'd the weaving and knitting of Stockings the use of which woven and knit Stockings hath not been in this Nation longer than about the beginning of K. James's Reign It being very memorable what Dr Fuller relates of one William Rider an Apprentice at the foot of London-Bridge over against St Magnes-Church who seeing in the House of an Italian Merchant a pair of knit worsted Stockings which he brought from Mantua and taking special observation of them made a pair exactly like them which he presented to William Earl of Pembroke and they are said to be the first of that sort worn in England and thence-forward they became more and more in use so that for many years they have been very much and are now altogether worn and are a great part of the Trade in most Places where there is any thing of woollen Manufacture especially at Norwich yet Jersie Stockings have for a long time had a particular name The Next Place may properly be allow'd to our making of Bone-lace which is the chief of the Ornamentals worn in this Nation though not so totally as before the Needle-works came in fashion which though brought to great perfection yet have obtain'd so much the less esteem by how much those of Flanders and the Points de Venice in Italy and Larron in France came more in fashion as all foreign Artifices usually especially the French have ever the chiefest vogue among our Gallants So general is this Manufacture in many Parts of England that the Poor of whole Towns are almost totally imploy'd and in a great measure maintain'd thereby Particularly Honiton in Devonshire is a noted Town for his sort of Workmanship as likewise Salisbury and Marlborough in Wiltshire Ouldny in Buckinghamshire Amersham and Chesham in the same Shire Blandford in Dorcetshire which last Place hath been famous also for making of Band-strings and now Point-â—aces it is said are much made there It is observ'd that the only Thread made in England till within a few years was at Maidstone in Kent Besides the Cottons of Manchester the Tickin Pins Points and
make such a clutter in the Streets of London to the great disturbance of the poor Foot-Passenger is said to have first commenc'd about the year 1556. till when 't is to be presum'd that great Persons seldom stirr'd out but in fair weather whereas now all Seasons for Visits are alike otherwise the Cavalcade of Princes and Nobles on Horseback may doubtless afford the Beholder as comely a Spectacle as a long train of Coaches Together with the Coach or not long after I guess came in the Coaches Epitome the Sedan more elegantly styl'd a Chair a much more easie sort of passage as perform'd not by draught but carriage and that by the more rational sort of Animal But there is another kind of moving Domicil of much later date call'd a Calesh which seems like a Coach cut off in the middle wherein commonly the Driver and the Driven is one and the self-same person Watches and other horary Motions of that nature it is certain came out of Germany and according to the best conjecture somewhat more than a 100 years since The principal Artists of this kind mention'd are Janus Torrianellus and Cornelius van Drebble but since all kind of automatous Motions by Clock-work have been wonderfully improv'd by those of our own Nation particularly Mr Davie Mell besides his excellent judgement and fancy in Musical Compositions and his great performance on the Violin above all others of his Time for within these 20 years the very quintessence of that Instruments Musick hath been extracted as being chiefly in fashion was so prodigious an Artist in all Mechanick Motions by Clock-work that if any one since hath equall'd him in Art he hath at least fallen short in Fame But of all Inventions of this kind the Pendulum of latest date is also of greatest curiosity and use being generally acknowledg'd the Design of Mr Hook Fellow of the Royal Society a Person of much Esteem among the Learned and Vertuous for his Mathematical and Mechanick Improvements however Mr Oldenburg late Secretary to the said Society made some Dispute in this Matter as asserting it of German Original All sorts of Optick Glasses and Tubes as the Telescope the Invention of the noble Galileo the Microscope c. have been of late years wonderfully improv'd especially by the Directions of the fore-mention'd Mr Hook Mr Flamstead and others of this most renowned Fellowship But the first famous Artificer of these Tubes and Glasses was Mr Reeves in Long-acre after whom Mr Cock hath continued the Imployment with prosperous success and approbation The Barometer Thermometer Hydroscope and such like Contrivances for the discovery of the Change of Weather have certainly been the result of those unwearied Endeavours and Enquiries that have been made into the depth of Natural Knowledg since the foundation of this Noble Society And among the sagacious Enquirers into Meteorological Philosophy Dr Goad late Master of Merchant-Taylors-School must be allow'd a principal place But for the Air-Pump the rarest Invention ever found out for the proof of a Vacuum in rerum Natura it particularly owns the Honourable Robert Boil its Inventor who by his many Writings and Inventions hath been a Worthy Contributor to the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy The Art of Torning as it appears to have been not much less ancient in the World than Sculpture it self so doubtless it is not very Modern in this Nation But that curious Improvement of Torning call'd the Rose-work doubtless claims here but an Ages Antiquity The first celebrated Person for Work of this nature was Mr Reeve the Brother of the above-mention'd Artist in Optick Glasses And though this sort of Work hath since been very frequent among us yet I cannot omit the mention of a Person who from his own natural Fancy and Ingenuity hath arriv'd to that perfection as well in this as all manner of Torning else that he is judg'd by knowing Persons not to be exceeded if equall'd by any that have been bred up to the Art Mr John Gearie living in St Anns-Lane in Westminster Our Sculpture in Stone appears plainly not to be of Modern Invention or Discovery in this Nation by the delicate Workmanship in several of our Cathedrals and other Churches and in the Schools at Oxford and at this present time it is not any way diminish'd but rather improv'd by the Art and Industry of several eminent Men Mr Pierce Mr Latham Mr Pennel c. But for Carving in Wood never was any thing in England seen more curious and exquisite than the Workmanship of Mr Gibbons his Majesty's Carver and a great Contributer to the Ornaments of the Royal Palace at Windsor Graving in Copper seems not to have been brought to any perfection in England till this present Age. The first Person very eminent among us in this Art was Mr William Faithorn now living in Black-friers and since there have sprung up several other ingenuous Artists in this kind viz. Mr Loggan Mr White Mr Sherwin and others The best for Etching not only in England but perhaps in any other Parts was Mr Wenceslaus Hollar who died here not many years since But that rough sort of Graving or rather pecking upon Copper call'd Mezzo Tinto hath been us'd but lately being either the Design or Encouragement of his late Highness Prince Rupert There is also a peculiar Art in the graving of written Letters from the Copies of the most exact writing-Masters The first eminent in this way was Mr Cocker who was also himself a writing-Master to whom others that have succeeded have not been inferiour as Mr Sturt who grav'd the Copies of Mr Aires and Mr Elder who grav'd an ingenious Piece entituled Brachyarithmia of Mr Edw. Noon Teacher of Writing and Accounts at the Hand and Pen in Maiden-lane in Covent-Garden For Graving in Steel never was any Man so famous in England as Mr Thomas Rawlins last Graver of the Mint both to his late and to his present Majesty the grand Excellency of whose Art was his graving the Effigies of any one true and exact upon a small Letter-Seal As for Painting our Nation can boast nothing like the Works of the great Sir Anthony Vandike who though born a Foreigner died an Englishman Nor hath he wanted several famous Successors as Dobson Fuller Walker Lillie Greenhill c. The first Person famous among us for Painting in Miniature was Mr Oliver after whom Francis Clein and his Brother John had been the Prodigies of the Age had they lived Mr Cooper's loss comes next to be lamented the Persons living are Mr Gibson Mr. Flattman c. For Crayons or dry Colours Mr. Ashfield lately deceas'd Scene-Paintings and Machines have not been known in England till within these 20 years and the only eminent Men in this kind have been Mr. Streeter and Mr. Stevenson some years since deceased In Musick it would be too tedious to determine whether the Improvement or Alteration hath been greater Certain it is that several old English Instruments are laid
well enough be insisted on for its elegancy of Building and pleasant Situation but that other special Remarks require the mention of it elsewhere The like may be said of Cirencester which hath yet some Ruines left of that Beauty and Magnificence which it receiv'd from the Romans of whom it was anciently one of the principal Residences The Palaces Royal of England are in the first place Whitehal built by Cardinal Woolfie and from K. Henry the 8th to his present Majesty the principal and Imperial Residence of all our Kings This Palace is in general rather to be commended for its large Capacity and Convenience than for State and outward Shew yet that part which is call'd the Banquetting-house for its sumptuous Appearance and Regularity of Architecture is judg'd by most of the Curious fit to stand in competition with the chief Structures of Europe Next St James's a House somewhat more sightly to view and delicately situated in the most pleasant of Parks it hath been usually the Residence of the Princes of Wales but is now of his Royal Highness the same in Effect though not in Title Somerset-house is the usual Residence of the Queens of England as it is now of her present Majesty Hampton-Court in Middlesex hath been of late the Principal of our King's Residences out of London a brave large Noble House in the midst of a most stately Park But at present Windsor-Castle in Barkshire is his Majesty's chosen Place of Pleasure and Retirement being besides its most delightful Situation as being advanc'd upon a high Hill rising with a gradual ascent which affords the sweetest Prospect imaginable a Place of great Magnificence and now improv'd to a wonderful heighth of State and Beauty Other Places of Note for Royal Seats are Richmond or Sheen Nonsuch in Surry Greenwich and Eltham in Kent Enfield and Hanworth in Middlesex Holdenby in Northamptenshire The Noblemens Palaces we shall have occasion to give a full account of in the Catalogue of the English Nobility The Cathedrals of England are perhaps take them one with another as remarkable as those of any Country whatsoever but the most eminent besides St Pauls are those of Westminster Salisbury Canterbury York Worcester Glocester Chichester Norwich Winchester Exeter Wells and Peterborough Most of which have been already touch'd upon in the several Places to which they belong however it will not be improper to speak a little more particularly of them in this Place St Pauls before its last fatal destruction by Fire had nothing to stand in competition but St Peters of Rome what it will be when rebuilt may be in some measure conjectur'd by the Grandure which already appears Westminster-Abbey is a Noble Piece of Work and is said to have been 50 years in building and it receives a great addition of lustre by the addition of K. Henry the 7th's Chappel the Workmanship whereof for curiosity of Carving is hardly to be parallel'd Salisbury-Minster is fam'd in general for one of the stateliest of English Structures and particularly noted for its high spired Steeple its double cross Isles its Windows answering to the Days its Pillars to the Hours and its Gates to the Months of the Year besides a Cloister belonging to it famous for Largeness and fine Workmanship Canterbury-Cathedral hath been famous for its rich Window and the Tomb of Thomas a Becket That of York seems next of Note and Esteem for an ample and stately Fabrick Worcester-Cathedral is by a learned Writer deservedly entitled a passing fair Building adorn'd with many Princely and Noble Monuments Nor is Glocester-Cathedral accounted inferior besides the Fame of its Whispering Place Also that of Litchfield before its demolishment is said for elegant and proportional Building to have yielded very few The Church of Chichester is not so large as neat having a Spire-Steeple which advanceth it self up to a majestick heighth The Cloister of the Cathedral of Norwich is accounted the fairest in England Winchester-Cathedral is a brave old solemn Structure so likewise is that of Lincoln which last is also famous for its great Bell call'd Tom of Lincoln the biggest in England Exeter-Cathedral is remarkable for its brave noble carv'd Work at the West-end thereof so likewise are those of Wells and Peterborough In fine There are few or none of the Cathedrals of this Nation of whose Grandeur there is not enough to be said to make a Volume There are a number of Parish-Churches that deserve particular mention In London there are many especially since the rebuilding of the City remarkable for Beauty and State But the chief are St Sepulchre and St Maries le Bow whose Steeple is such that certainly a nobler is scarce to be seen The Church of Covent-Garden is much admir'd for a Fabrick of such Magnitude and State unsupported with Pillars The like may be said of Lincolns-Inn-Chappel which is also observable for the curious vaulted Walk over which it is built Likewise that round vaulted Roof of the Inner-Temple-Church under which lye upon the ground several Sepulchral Statues of Knights Templars within a four-square Empalement of Iron-work is a Structure of that kind not to be parallel'd by any Nor is the new built Church of St Clements to be wholly pass'd by as exceeding much both for the outward and inward Workmanship and particularly the fine Fret-work on the Cieling The Church of Bath though Litchfield be the Bishop's principal Seat is by some call'd a Cathedral and for largeness and elegance of Building may well enough be so accounted Of the 5 Churches of Derby that nam'd All-Hallows is of chief Reputel for its Tower-Steeple of a stately heighth and excellent Structure and whose Foundation was laid and part of it built by young Men and Maids as appears by Letters graven thereon The Church of Shirburn in Dorsetshire is much noted for its curious Workmanship within The Church of Grantham chiefly eminent for the excessive heighth of its Steeple which possibly gives occasion of that vulgar Report of this Steeple's standing awry and of that fabulous Tradition of its having been built by Hell's great Architect who misliking something or other gave it such a Blow with his Ruler that it hath stood awry ever since St Maries of Ratcliff in Bristow for the stately ascent to it its largeness curious Workmanship embowed Arch of Stone and its lofty Steeple hath been accounted the noblest Parish-Church of England Another Church in the same City call'd the Temple is remarkable for its Tower which whensoever the Bell is rung divides from the rest of the Building with a Cleft from the bottom to the top which gapes the breadth of three Fingers In Lancashire the Collegiate Church of Manchester hath a Quire which though not very large is remarkable for its rich adornment of Wood-work Among the Churches of Coventry two standing near each other viz. Trinity-Church and St Michaels are commended for their rare Workmanship and stately heighth Coln a little old Town in Wiltshire
hath nothing but its fair Church to commend it Also Rippon in the West-riding of Yorkshire whose three Steeples shew their lofty Heads at considerable distance to Travellers approaching the Place Upon the Bridge of Wakefield in the same Riding of Yorkshire is a beautiful Chappel erected by K. Edward the 4th in memory of those of his Party who lost their Lives in the Battel there fought The Church of Boston in Lincolnshire beside its largeness curious Workmanship and its aspiring Tower-Steeple hath this also memorable that from the bottom to the top the Steeple is ascended by as many Steps as there are Days in a Year Yarmouth-Church for it hath but one gives no small addition of commendation to that Town which is reckon'd among the most considerable of Norfolk Oundale in Northamptonshire is render'd no less memorable for its fair Church than for its Free-School and Alms-house At the Castle of Warkworth in Northumberland there is a Chappel wonderfully hewn out of a Rock without Beams Rafters or any thing of Timber-work Wrexam in Denbighshire hath a Church which for neat Building and the loftiness of its Steeple is concluded to surpass all the Churches of North-Wales But of all the Churches of this Island and they are among the 6 chief Remarks thereof the Chappel of Kings-Colledge in Cambridge already mention'd is for rareness of Architecture and Contrivance renown'd above most Structures not only of England but even of Europe also The Castles of England were in ancient Times the chief-Seats of our Nobility but since the dissolution of the Abbeys and the demolishment of very many Castles in the several Wars of England divers of the said Abbeys have become the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen Yet some Noblemen at this day have ancient Castles for their chief Seats As Barkly-Castle in Glocestershire gives Title to the Honourable Family of the Skelton-Castle is the Seat of the Barons Bruse The chief Castles now in the several Counties are in Cheshire Beeston and the Castle of Chester In Barkshire Windsor afore-mention'd In Cumberland the Castle of Carlile In Darbyshire the Castle of the Peak In Devonshire the Castles of Dertmouth and Castle-Rugemont in Exeter In Shirburn-Castle In the Bishoprick of Bernard-Castle In Hantshire Hurst Carisbrook and Saubam Castles In Bradwardin-Castle of which elsewhere In Kent the Castles of Dover and Queenborough that of Canterbury being demolisht In Hornby-Castle and that of Lancaster which is accounted one of the three chief Magnificences of the Town the other two being the Church and the Bridge In Lincolnshire Belvoir and Castor Castles In Monmouthshire Chepstow and Strighal Castles In Northamptonshire Fotheringhay mention'd upon another account Baibroke Rockingham and Maxey Castles In Northumberland Newcastle Thrilwale Tinmouth Morpeth Withrington Warkworth and Alnwick Castles In Richmondshire the stately Castle of Bolton In Bishops-Castle Clun-Castle Shrawarden-Castle Knocking-Castle Whittington-Castle Routon-Castle Tongue-Castle whose Bell is very loud as in noise so in fame in all those Parts The Castles of Shrewsbury Ludlow and Bridgnorth In Dunster-Castle which was built in William the Conquerour's Time by the Family of the Mohuns which flourisht from that time till the Reign of K. Richard the 2d in very great splendor and ever since hath continued in considerable reputation In Staffordshire Stourton and Dudly-Castle with those of Tamworth Chartly and Tutbury to which may be added the memory of an old Castle at Stafford now demolisht In Framlingham-Castle a Place of great State Strength Beauty and Convenience and the Ruines of Burgh-Castle In Surry Holm Beckworth and Sterborough Castles In Amberly-Castle and that of Bodiam belonging to the Family of the Lewknors In Warwickshire Studly Macstock and Ausley Castles and the Castle of Warwick it self In Whellep-Castle and Apelby In Wiltshire Castlecomb Yainsborough and Warder In Worcestershire Hertlebury Holt and Elmesly Castles In the VVest-Riding of Yorkshire Sheafield Conisborough Tickil Sandal Harewood Knasborrow and Cawood Castles In the East-Riding the strong Castle of VVreshil In the North-Riding the Castles of Scarborough Kilton Skelton already mention'd VVilton Kildale Gilling Skerry-hutton and Hinderskell In VVales the most noted Castles in Caermardenshire Carreg In Denbighshire the strong and almost impregnable Castle of Denbigh In Flintshire Flint and Harding Castles In Glamorganshire Cardiff now belonging to the Earls of Pembroke but once the famous Residence of Sr Marmionwith his 12 Knights little less renown'd in Story than K. Arthur and his Knights of the round Table and whose Effigies were lately to be seen in the Hall of this Castle The Bridges of England are not the least of the 7 Remarks of this Nation And first They are remarkable for number as being reckon'd in all 875. In the next place They plead precedence in the generality with all others in Europe The Prime is London-Bridge which is said to have been anciently built of Wood and was then accounted a very stately Bridge but afterwards receiv'd a far greater pitch of lustre by being built of Stone insomuch that without controversie it is judg'd the noblest Structure of that kind in Europe It stands upon 19 Arches of Stone which support a Street of very fair Edifices of a quarter of a Mile in length for so much the breadth of the Thames is accounted in that place The next for Beauty and Magnificence is that of Rochester and after that the Bridg of Stratford upon Avon Among the three Beauties of the Town of Lancaster the Bridge is one the other two being the Church and Castle Over the River Ouse which encircles the Town of Buckingham all but the North-side are three fair Bridges of Stone The same River Ouse runs through the midst of the Town of Bedford and hath over it a handsom Stone-Bridge with two Gates upon it Over the River Dee is a stately Stone-Bridge which leads to the City of Chester It is supported with 8 Arches and hath at each end two strong Gates from whence the Walls commence within which the City lyes in an oblong Square From the River Derwent a small Brook runs through the Town of Darby which lyes on the Western-bank of that River under 9 Bridges But the stateliest of all is that in the North-East part of the Town upon which standeth a fair Chappel of Stone Over the River VVeer with which the City of Durham is almost wholly incompass'd two neat Stone-Bridges one from the South the other from the North-Road lead into the midst of the Town The Bridge leading into VVarwick-Town over the River Avon is both sightly and strong But particularly sumptuous with their Towers and Gates are those two over Severn at the East and West Entrances of Shrewsbury That over the River Ouse at York which stands on each side the River hath one Arch the largest and loftiest of any Bridge in England Several others there are and some perhaps not unworthy of memory but these being the very chiefest it will not be worth the while to mention any more
The grand Ornaments of any City are the publick Buildings thereof and next to the Churches Palaces and Bridges are the Monumental Structures that present themselves most obviously to the view of Passengers in Streets and High-ways as Aqueducts Arches and the Columnal or Imagery-Works erected as Trophies in memory of some great Action or Person as also Places for publick Games and Spectacles For Structures of this kind never any City of the World was so famous as old Rome whose Circus's Amphitheaters Columns Pyramids Tryumphal Arches Equestrian Statues c. next to the massie Pyramids of Egypt were accounted the greatest Pieces of Art and Magnificence the World ever saw Nor are the Pyramids Columns and Aguglia's of the present Rome altogether unmemorable Of Monuments of this nature in England the Crosses erected in Streets and publick Places were the chief And of those the principal were Coventry-Cross and in this City Charing-Cross and that of Cheapside which last was certainly the noblest Piece of Workmanship of this nature as well for the largeness as the curiousness of the Imagery that ever was seen Next The Aqueducts or Conduits have been accounted no small Street-ornaments in many Towns and Cities but the mention of those that were in London may serve for all the rest The chief that were in London before the Fire of 66. were the Standart in Cheapside a Structure that might have pass'd for a noble Piece of Workmanship had it not stood so near so rich a Cross Another at the lower end of Cheapside Another in Cornhil That in Fleetstreet hard by Shoe-lane end and another in Holborn near Holborn-Bridge besides several others of less Note The only Conduit lately erected now standing is a pretty little Structure between Cow-lane and Snow-hill Since the Fire other kind of Monuments have been rais'd which add not a little to the Ornament of the City in general and give peculiar Grace to the Places where they stand The chief whereof is the Monument erected where the Fire began a Pyramid of stately heighth and curious Workmanship Another Monument much of the same nature is design'd and the Edifice rais'd some yards above the ground at the lower end of Cheapside at or very near the Place where the Conduit formerly stood A very rare Design as appears by the Model which I have often seen at the House of the ingenious Designer thereof Mr Jasper Latham the City-Mason At the Stocks-Market is an Equestrian Statue in Stone of his present Majesty And another more excellent than that in Brass of his late Majesty of happy Memory in the Place where Charing-Cross stood In Covent-Garden Square is a Columnal-Dial which only wants somewhat of Magnitude to make it a very graceful Ornament to the Place Our Theaters at present are only two That of his Majesty's Servants between Bridges-street and Drury-lane and that of his Royal Highness's Servants in Salisbury-street with a majestick Front towards the Thames side Artificial publick Bagno's have not been known in England till of late The only one yet built is aside of Newgate-street a pretty well contriv'd Piece of Building had it been more publickly expos'd to view on the Street side The Gates of Towns and Cities are not the least of Ornaments to the said Towns and Cities Of the chief of them except those in London we have toucht in the respective Places to which they belong The principal Gates of London are Ludgate Newgate Aldersgate Algate Bishopsgate and Temple-bar and the two Gates at Westminster between Whitehal and Kings-street most of them not inferior in Magnificence to the chief in Europe But to close all that hath been said of publick Ornaments there remains one thing more not to be neglected by any Admirer of Art which is a Piece of Sculpture in Stone representing the Resurrection over a Gate in Shoo-lane that gives entrance into a Caemetery or Burying-place which belongs to St Andrews-Church This Piece of Carving I have heard commended by the best of Artists in this way for the noblest Piece of Workmanship in its kind that hath been seen in England Towns and Places of England eminent for some remarkeable Accident Person or Transaction THE principal Things that render any Town or Place remarkable are either the Glory and Antiquity of its Original some notable Revolution of Government Accidents hapning there whether prosperous or adverse Battels fought or other grand Action perform'd in or near it and the Birth Residence or Death of Princes and other eminent Men. For most if not all of those Remarks there are many Towns and Cities of England famous and principally of all that which is the principal of all our Towns and Cities London for the most part the Seat of Kings from its Original with which as the City Westminster is so united in Place that it seems in a manner one and the same City so thē mention and discourse of them cannot well be separated Of the Antiquity Splendor of Government Flourishing Trade and Magnificence of Structure in all which London hath the pre-eminence not only of all the Places of England but perhaps of all Europe several have discours'd at large besides what we may haply have occasion to touch at elsewhere It can't be imagin'd but that in a City which hath been a flourishing City for so many Ages many remarkable Accidents must have hapned and great Actions been perform'd in the mention whereof however all possible brevity must be us'd King Lud who reign'd here a little before Caesar's arrival if he were not the first Founder as some think he was at least not only the Enlarger but also the Denominator For among other things he built the West-Gate which to this day retains the Name of Ludgate and what was before of a City by the Name of Trinobantium took the Name of Caer-Lud and the present appellation of London is fancy'd by many to be deriv'd from him as it were Luds-Town About the year 285. here Alectus Lieutenant to the Emperor Diocletian was slain by Asclepiodotus D. of Cornwal and together with him was slain his Companion Gallus at a Brook which from him still retains the name of Gall-brook or Wall brook Here Sigebert third King of the East-Angles who began his Reign in the year of our Lord 596. and Ethelbert King of Kent who began his Reign in the year of our Lord 562. built the Cathedral of St. Pauls in the very place as 't is said where there had been a Temple of Diana In the Reign of Edmund sirnamed Ironside this City was closely besieg'd by the Danes but the Siege was soon rais'd by that valiant Prince King Edmund About the year 1077. the Tower of London was built by K. William the Conqueror whose Successour K. William Rufus built new walls about it Anno 1135. in the Reign of K. Stephen the greatest part of this City was consumed by an accidental Fire In K. Richard the Seconds time was the great Rencounter with Jack Straw
in many respects as for its Minster for its Entertainment of King Athelstan who hence settihg forth in a Barge upon the River Dee was rowed by Kennadie King of the Scots Malcolm King of Cumberland Macon King of Man and several Princes of Wales By being made so great a Principality by the Investiture of Hugh Lupus by King William the Conqueror The Minster of this City was built by Earl Leofric to the Honour of St. Werburga repaired by Hugh Earl of Chester And in this Minster was buried the Body of Henry the Fourth Emperor of Germany At Calvely was born Sir Hugh Calvely a Soldier of great fame in the Reign of King Edward the Third As likewise was Sir Robert Knowles of this Shire Ecleston gave Birth to Thomas thence Sirnamed Ecleston Bunbury is noted by the birth of Robert Braffy who died Anno 1558. Wrenbury boasts of George Patin another learned Writer Moreover the World owes to this Shire several other great men viz. Sir Thomas Aegerton Lord Keeper Anno 1596. Sir Humphrey Starky Sir Henry Bradshaw Sir Randal Crew and Sir Humphrey Davenport all grand Pillars of the Law Ralph Ratcliff a person eminent for Learning and Captain John Smith the first setler of the Plantation of new-New-England in the Reign of King James In FLINTSHIRE The Castle of Flint which was founded by King Henry the Second and finished by King Edward the First gave Reception to King Richard the Second when he came out of Ireland In DENBYSHIRE Denby was walled about and fortified with a Castle by Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln in the Reign of King Edward the First In CAERNARVONSHIRE Caernarvon is memorable as having been raised by King E. 1. from the Ruins of that ancient City which is called by Antonine Segontium and by Ninius Caer-Custenith and where as Matthew Westminster reports was found the Body of Constantius the Father of Constantine the Great Anno 1283. In MERIONETHSHIRE the principal Town Harlech is only worth memory for its stately Castle In CARDIGANSHIRE Cardigan the Shire-Town was walled about and fortified with a Castle by Gilbert de Clare who was Lord of the whole County by the Gift of King Henry the First In BRECKNOCKSHIRE Hay is remembred by its Ruins to have been once a place of Account for it is reported in History to have been ruined and demolished in the Rebellion of Owen Glendour It is judged by the Coins there found to have been an ancient Seat of the Romans Bealt Buelth the Buleum Silurum of Ptolomy is famed as the Seat of Aurelius Ambrose who possessed the whole Country and after gave it to Pascentius Son of Vortiger And likewise for the last Prince of the Britains who was here by Treachery slain But Brecknock being now the fairest Town of the Shire carries the Name and Primacy In CAERMARDENSHIRE Caermarden the Shire-Town the Maridunum of Ptolomy and Muridunum of Antonine is not so note-worthy for its large Castle and strong Wall as for being the Birth-place of that most famous old British to give him the most favourable Title Prophet Merlin In GLAMORGANSHIRE The chief Town and Episcopal See Landaff with its Castle and Cathedral is not so famous as the Town of Caerdiff as having been the Seat and Residence of that renowned Fitz-Hammond and his Norman Knights who after the Conquest of Rhesus Prince of Wales kept here his Court in the Reign of William Rufus and built here a strong Castle in the Hall whereof are yet to be seen the Ensigns of the said Fitz-Hammond and his Knights In this Castle hath been for a long time and is still kept the Audit for the Earl of Pembroke's Estate in Wales In MONMOVTHSHIRE Monmouth the County-Town is yet far more considerable upon several respects first as being delivered by Geraldus to have been the place where great King Arthur kept his Court. Next as an Academy of Philosophy and Arts giving Residence to two hundred Scholars and Birth to Amphibalus whose Disciple our great Protomartyr St. Albanus was and two other noble persons of our first Martyrs And likewise as the Birth-place of that noble Prince King Henry the Fifth In RADNORSHIRE Radnor the ancient Magnos of Antonine and the station of the Pacentian Regiment and fortified with a Castle is yet inferior in beauty of Buildings to Prestain In PEMBROKESHIRE though Pembroke is the County-Town yet St. Davids is the more remarkable as being an Episcopal See and once an Archbishoprick translated from Isca Legionum by that great Archbishop Devi whom we call St. David In MONTGOMERISHIRE Montgomery is remarkable for its pleasant scituation and strong Castle and the Title of an Earldom first given by King James Anno 1605. to Philip second Son to Henry Earl of Pembroke and still continuing in his Grandchild Philip now Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery In the Isle of ANGLESY Beaumorris is not more noted for being the principal Town than for the frequent transportation of Passengers hence to Ireland and the fame of having been built by King Edward the First A true and perfect LIST OF THE NOBILITY OF ENGLAND With their principal HOUSES and the COUNTIES which they are in DUKES * HIS Royal Highness James Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Vlster His Seats St. James's Middlesex Richmond Surrey The Dukedom of Cumberland extinct by the death of Prince Rupert The Lord High Chancellor of England The Lord High Treasurer of England The Lord President of the Privy Council The Lord Privy Seal Henry Howard Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England Earl of Arundel Surrey Norfolk and Norwich Baron Howard Moubray Segrave Brewes of Gower Fitz-Alan Clun Oswaldestre Maltravers Graystock and Castle-Rising His Seats Norfolk House in Arundel Buildings Middlesex Arundel Castle Sussex Albury and Waybridge Surrey Duke's Place in Norwich Norfolk Work-Sop Nottingham Sheffeild-Mannor York Graystock Castle and Drumbugh Castle Cumberland Charles Seymour Duke of Somerset Marquess of Hertford Viscount Beauchamp and Baron Seymour His Seats Marlborough House and Allington House Wilts * George Villers Duke Marquess and Earl of Buckingham Earl of Coventry Viscount Villers and Baron of Whaddon His Seats Wallingford House near Whitehall Middlesex Colledge-Hill London Buckingham House and Whadon Buckingham Bishop's Hill in the City of York and Helmsey Castle York * Christopher Monk Duke of Albemarle Earl of Torrington Baron Monk of Poltheridge Beauchamp and Teyes His Seats Nun Appleton and Burley on the Hlil Rutland Garrenton Leicester Albemarle House Middlesex New Hall Essex Potheridge and Wenbury Devonshire Cletherow Castle Lancaster * James Scot Duke of Monmouth and Bucclugh Earl of Doncaster and Dalkelth Baron of Tindal Winchester and Ashdale His Seat More Park Hertford So-Ho Square Middlesex * Henry Cavendish Duke Marquess and Earl of Newcastle Earl of Ogle Viscount Mansfeild Baron Ogle Beutram and Bolsover His Seats Welbeck Abby and Nottingham Castle Nottingham Bolsover Castle Derby Ogle Castle Bothal Castle Heple Tower Northumberland Slingsby Castle York Blore Hall Stafford
Clerkenwell House Middlesex Barbara Villers Dutchess of Cleveland and Baroness of Nonsuch Her Seat Cleveland House near St. James's Middlesex Louise Querouale Dutchess of Portsmouth Countess of Farnham and Baroness of Petersfield * Charles Lenox Duke of Richmond and Lenox Earl of March and Baron of Settrington His Seat In Scotland Charles Fitz-Roy Duke of Southampton Earl of Chichester Baron of Newbury and Heir in Succession to the Dutchy of Cleveland His Seat Nonsuch Surrey * Henry Fitz-Roy Duke of Grafton Earl of Ewston Viscount Ipswich and Baron of Sudbury the Remainder for want of Issue Male to George Fitz-Roy his younger Brother His Seat Grafton Regis Northampton * Henry Somerset Duke of Beaufort Marquess and Earl of Worcester Lord Herbert of Chepstoll Ragland and Gower Lord President of Wales and the Marshes thereof His Seats Worcester House in the Strand Middlesex Badminton and Wallaston's Grange Gloucestershire Troy House Monmouth Castle Ragland Castle Chepstole Castle Tintorne Abby and Chepstow Grange Monmouth Swanzy Castle Glamorgan Crickhowell Castle and Tretonor Castle Brecknock George Fitz-Roy Duke and Earl of Northumberland Viscount Falmouth and Baron of Pontefract His Seats Holme Pierpoint Nottingham Highgate Middlesex James Butler Duke of Ormond within the Kingdom of England Earl of Brecknock and Baron of Lantony in South Wales Lord Steward of the King's House Duke Marquess and Earl of Ormond in Ireland Viscount Thurles Baron of Arklow and Lord of the Royalties and Liberties of the County of Tiperary in Ireland MARQUESSES CHarles Pawlet Marquess of Winchester Earl of Wiltshire and Lord St John of Basing His Seats Winchester House in Lincolns-Inn-Fields Middlesex Bolton Castle and Bolton Hall York Basing House Abbtston and Hackwood Southampton Edington Wilts Hooke Castle Dorset The Marquisate of Dorchester lately extinct by the death of Henry Lord Pierpoint George Savill Marquess Earl and Viscount Hallifax and Baron of England His Seats Rufford Nottingham Hallifax House in St James's Square Middlesex The Lord High Chamberlain of England The Lord High Constable of England The Earl Marshal of England The Lord High Admiral of England The Lord Steward of the King's Household The Lord Chamberlain of the King's Houshold EARLS * AVbery de Vere Earl of Oxford Viscount Bulbeck Lord Sanford and Badlesmere His Seat Bentlie Essex Charles Talbut Earl of Shrewsbury Waterford and Wenford in Ireland Lord Talbot Strauge of Blackere Gifford of Brimsfield Furnival Verdon and Lovetoft His Seats Grafton Worcester Pepperhill Salop. Alton Castle Stafford Anthony Grey Earl of Kent Lord Grey of Ruthin Hastings and Valence His Seats Wrest House and Harrold Bedford Burbage Leicester Goodrich Castle Penyard Castle and Ecleswald Castle Hereford Kent House in St. James's Square Middlesex William Richard George Stanly Earl of Darby Lord Stanly Strange of Knockingmohun and Lord of the Isle of Man His Seats Knowesley Latham Hall Greenhalgh Burlco Abby Cross Hall Pilkington Stand and Arnshead Tower Lancaster Betham Hall Westmerland John Manners Earl of Rutland Lord Ross of Hamlake Trusbut Belvoir and Lord Manners of Haddon His Seats Belvoire Castle Lincoln and Leicester Haddon Darby Theophilus Hastings Earl of Huntingdon Lord Hastings Hungerford Botreaux moe'ls Newmarch and Molins His Seats Ashby de la Zouch Leicestershire Donington Park * Willam Russel Earl of Bedford and Baron of Thornhaugh His Seats Bedford House in the Strand Middlesex Bedford House in Exon Devonshire Woburn Abby Bedford Cheynes Bucks Thorney Abby Cambridge Philip Herbert Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery Lord Herbert of Cardiff Ross of Kendal Par Marmion of St. Quintin and Shurland His Seats Wilton and Falston alias Fallersdown Wilts Cardiff Castle and Caerphilly Castle Glamorgan Edward Clinton Earl of Lincoln and Lord Clinton His Seats Sempringham and Tattershall Castle Lincoln James Howard Earl of Suffolk and Baron of Walden His Seats Chesterford Essex New-Market Cambridge Charles Sackvill Earl of Dorset and Middlesex and Baron of Buckhurst His Seats Knoll Kent Copthall Essex Buckhurst and Stoneland Sussex Milcot House Warwick James Cecil Earl of Salisbury Viscount Cranburn and Baron Essendyne Under Age. His Seats Salisbury House in the Strand Middlesex Hatfield Hertford Castle Bygrave Chesthunt and Quickswood Hertford Cranborne House Dorset John Cecil Earl of Exeter and Lord Burghley His Seats Burghley Worthrop and Wakerley Northhampton Snap York John Egerton Earl of Bridgwater Viscount Brackley and Baron of Ellesmere His Seats Ashdrid Bucks and Hertford Bridgwater House in Barbican Middlesex Ellesmere Salop. Markingfield York Newborough Stafford Philip Sidney Earl of Leicester Viscount Lisle and Baron of Penshurst His Seats Leicester House in Leicester Fields Middlesex Penshurst Kent Coyty Castle Glamorgan James Compton Earl of Northampton and Baron of Compton His Seats Castle Ashley Northampton Compton Warwick Cambray Middlesex Edward Rich E. of Warwick and Holland Baron of Leez and Kensington under age His Seats Warwick House in Holborn and Holland House in Kensington Middlesex William Cavendish Earl of Devon and Baron of Hardwick His Seats Hardwick and Chatsworth Derby Rowhampton Surrey Latimers Buckingham William Fielding aliter de Hapsburgh Earl of Denby and Desmond in Ireland Viscount Fielding Baron of Newnham Padox and St. Lis. His Seats Newnham-Padox Warwick Martinsthorp Rutland John Digby Earl of Bristol and Baron of Sherborn His Seats Sherborn Castle Dorset Clevedon Court Somerset Gilbert Holles Earl of Clare and Baron of Haughton His Seats Haughton in the County of Nottingham Clare-House in the Town of Nottingham Clare House in Drury Lane Middlesex Oliver St. John Earl of Bullingbrook and Lord St. John of Bletsho His Seats Bletsho and Melchborn Bedford Charles Fane Earl of Westmerland Baron Le Despencer and Bergherst His Seats Apethorp and Sewlhay Lodge Northampton Robert Mountague Earl of Manchester Viscount Mandevile and Baron of Kimbolton His Seats Kimbolton Castle Huntington Leez Priory Essex Thomas Howard Earl of Berkshire Viscount Andover and Baron of Charlton His Seat Charlton Wilts * John Sheffeild Earl of Mulgrave and Baron of Butterwick His Seats Mulgrave Castle York Mulgrave House near White-Hall Middlesex Normanby Lincoln Thomas Savage Earl Rivers Viscount Colchester and Baron Darcy of Chich in Essex His Seats Clifton alias Rock Savage and Frodsham Castle Chester St. Osith Essex Rivers House in Queen-street Middlesex Robert Bertie Lord Great Chamberlain of England Earl of Lindsey and Baron Willoughby of Eresby His Seats Grimsthorp and Earesby Lincoln Chelsey Middlesex Havering Essex Henry Mordant Earl of Peterborough and Baron of Turvey His Seats Turvey Bedford Drayton Luswick alias Lowick Thrapston and Sudborow Northampton Thomas Grey Earl of Stamford and Lord Grey of Grooby His Seats Broadgate and Grooby Leicester Heneage Finch Earl of Winchelsy and Viscount Maidston His Seats Estwell Wy Court and Moat Kent Robert Pierrepont Earl of Kingston upon Hull Viscount Newmarket and Baron Pierrepont of Holm Pierrepont His Seat Holm Pierrepont Nottingham Charles Dormer Earl of Carnarvan Viscount Ascot and Baron of Wing His Seats Wing and Ethrop Buckingham Philip Stanhop Earl of Chesterfield and Baron of
Original of the Companies of London and how and when Incorporated Chap. 2. Of the English Merchants trading into most parts the time of their Incorporating and the Improvement of Navigation Chap. 3. Of Englands Trade in general a Survey of the Weights Measures Coyns Comerse of most of the Counties Chap. 4. Of the Traffick of London Chap. 5. Of the Coyns of England settled by the Tower Standard Chap. 6. Of the Weights and Measures used in England established by a Standard Chap. 7. Of the Trade of Scotland as to its dependencies with England Chap. 8. A View of Ireland and its present State and Trade Chap. 9. A View of the Ocean and the Islands belonging to the Isle of great Britain Chap. 10. Of the Measures Breadth and Length of English Cloath Chap. 11. A View of America and its Trade with England Chap. 12. A View of Virginia of the Trade Names Customs and Government of it Chap. 13. A View of New-England and the Trade thereof Chap. 14. A View of Maryland the Customs and Trade thereof Chap. 15. A View of the Peruanan Provinces their Trade and Customs Chap. 16. A View of Affrica and of the Manners Customs Trade Coyns and Commodities Chap. 17. Of Tunis the Trade Manners and Customs thereof Chap. 18. A View of Argiers of their Trade Manners and Customs and Methods for selling of Slaves Chap. 19. Of the Kingdom of Fez and its Trade with England Chap. 20. Of the Kingdom of Morocco the Customs and Trade thereof with England Chap. 21. Of Nurâ—idia and Lydia and their Trade Chap. 22. A View of Ethiopia and the Trade thereof Chap. 24. A View of Mosambique and its Trade Chap. 25. Of Egypt and the Trade thereof Chap. 26. Of Grand Cairo and its Trade Chap. 27. Of the Isles appertaining to Affrica the Commodities Trade Weights and Measures Chap. 28. Of Asia the Trade Manners and Customs thereof of the Money currant and Commodities Weights and Measures Chap. 29. A View of Syria and its Trade Chap. 30. Of Aleppo and the Trade thereof and the Customs of that famous City Chap. 31. Of Damascus and its Trade Chap. 32. Of Tripoly and the Trade thereof Chap. 33. Of Palestine Chap. 34. Of America and its Trade Chap. 35. Of Assyria Mesopotamia and Caldea Chap. 36. Of Media and its Trade Chap. 37. Of Persia its Trade and Commodities Chap. 38. Of Hispaan and its Trade Chap. 39. Of Tartaria its Trade Coyn and Customs Chap. 40. Of India Intra and Extra Gangem Chap. 41. A View of Cambaia and its Trade Chap. 42. A View of Goa its Trade Commodities and Customs c. Chap. 43. Of Musulipatan Chap. 44. Of the City of Satagan the Metropolis of Bengala Chap. 45. Of Peru the Trade Coyns and Customs Chap. 46. Of Syan and Malacca Chap. 47. Of China and their Trade with England Chap. 48. Of the Islands in the Asian Seas Chap. 49. Of the Isles of Molucco's c. Chap. 50. Of Javas and the Trade thereof Chap. 51. Of other Islands in the Indian Seas Chap. 52. Of Cyprus its Trade Growth and Coyns Chap. 53. A Discourse of Gold and Silver its true intrinsick value their Fineness and Allayes c. Chap. 54. Of Diamonds and precious Stones and their value and goodness Chap. 55. Of the Trade of Europe and their dependencies on England Chap. 56. Of Sevil in Spain and its Trade Chap. 57. Of Malaga the Customs Weights and Measures Chap. 58. Of Alicant and its Trade Chap. 59. Of Madrid its Trade and Customs Chap. 60. Of Lisbon its Trade Weights Measures and Coyns Chap. 61. A View of France its Trade Custom Weights and Measures c. Chap. 62. Of Rouen and the Trade thereof Chap. 63. A View of Paris its Trade Custom and Commodities c. Chap. 64. Of Lyons and its Trade Chap. 65. Of Marselia and its Trade Chap. 66. Of Naples and its Trade Chap. 67. Of Italy and its Trade Chap. 68. Of Florence and its Trade Chap. 69. Of Millain and its Trade Chap. 70. Of the Dukedoms of Mantua and Urbin and their Trade Chap. 71. Of Venice and its Trade Chap. 72. Of Parma Chap. 73. Of Leghorn its Trade Customs Weights and Measures Chap. 74. Of Genoa its Trade and Commerce Chap. 75. Of Luca and its Trade Chap. 76. Of Rome and its Trade and Customs Chap. 77. Of Flanders and Holland their Weights Measures Coyns Customs Traffick Chap. 78. Of Amsterdam and its Trade Chap. 79. Of Germany its Provinces and Trade Chap. 80. Of Stratsburg and its Trade Chap. 81. Of Vicura its Trade Weights and Customs and Coyn. Chap. 82. Of Hamburg its Trade Commodities Coyns c. Chap. 83. Of Denmark its Trade c. Chap. 84. Of Elsinore and the Trade thereof Chap. 85. Of Norway its Customs and Tade Chap. 86. Of Sweedland its provinces and Trade Chap. 87. Of Moscovia and its chief City Mosco its Trade and Customs c. Chap. 88. A View of the Kingdom of Poland its Trade c. Chap. 89. Of Hungary and the adjacent Provinces their Trade and Manufacture c. Chap. 90. A View of Greece and its Trade the Manufacture and Trade of Constantinople with England Chap. 91. A View of the Islands in the Egean and Mediterranean Sea c. Chap. 92. Of Candia and other Islands Chap. 93. Of Zant Zeffalonia and their Trade Commodities Coyn c. Chap. 94. Of Sicilia Malta and Sardinia their Trade Chap. 95. Of Greenland other Northern Islands Ch. 96. Of the Practice and Custom of Exchanges and the Benefit thereof Chap. 97. Of four Bills of Exchange of presenting paying and protesting the Laws and Customs of Merchants therein asserted Chap. 98. Of the Pair in Exchange and form of English Dutch and French Bills Chap. 99. Vseful observat on Bills of Exchange page 300. Of Letters of Credit and why drawn p. 312. A Survey of Customs of Tonnage and Poundage of Wines of the Growth of France Germany Spain Portugal p. 314 Of Policies of Assurance their Original Legality Nature and Quality p. 325. Of Bottomery the Signification of it the Commodity or Discommodity of it p. 332. Of the Rights and Priviledges of Owners of Ships and Rules to be observed by them according to Laws Marine p. 335. Instructions to be observ'd by Masters of Ships p. 337. Of Fraight and Charter part according to Laws Marine p. 340. Of Wrecks and Instructions for Masters and Owners in case of Wrecks p. 344. Of Averidge and Contribution and what Goods maybe cast over-board in case of a Storm p. 347. A View of London with the Customs Priviledges and Exemptions thereof according to the Charters of several Kings of England p. 351. A Survey of the remaining Ports of England with their Members Creeks c. together with the Goods Imported and Exported p. 358. A Table of the Contents of the second Treatise Intituled A Discourse of Trade CHAP I. THat a small Country and few people by Situation Trade and Policy may be
hundred and eight pounds Averdupois and one hundred pound London Suttle Weight makes ninety two of theirs or one hundred and twelve English one hundred and three and a half of Scotch their Measures for Linnen Stuffs Cloath or Silk is the Ell which is wanting of ours insomuch that it differs from our Yard four per cent that is four Yards in a hundred Ells so that seventy five Yards or sixty Ells English make seventy two Scotch but in Tale to every hundred they Reckon six-score In Measure for Corn Coals Salt Wine Beer Ale Oyl and the like they come near at one with ours Their Navigation is but small for the most part Trading with England and Ireland yet are they a People frugal and much bent to improve the growth of their Country And thus having taken a view of Scotland and the Trade thereof I must pass over into Ireland the third Diamond in the British Diadem CHAP. IX A view of Ireland and of the Trade Manners and Present State of that Kingdom IReland is divided into four Provinces viz. Lempster Munster Connought Vlster and Meath and is four hundred Miles in Length and two hundred in Breadth the chief Cities and Towns are Dublin Kinnsail London Derry Limrick Cork Waterford Armah Dungannon Marleburg Phillips-Town Kildare and Tradah This Kingdom abounds in Navigable Rivers store of Fish Cattle and Hides which are Transported into Spain France and Italy Salmon are caught in such abundance in July and August that many Servants in the places of that Fishery Covenant with their Master upon their being hired that they will not feed upon Salmon but only so many days in a Week These they Salt and Barrel up sending them into all the Neighbouring Countries where they are received as good Merchandise the Herring Fishery is likewise used and improved by them as likewise Pilchards which are taken in August September and October and Transported into Spain France and the Streights of Gibraltar they have store likewise of Butter Cheese Calves-Skins and other necessary Commodities Their Corn for the most part is the same with ours yet in value not the same for a pound Sterling Irish is worth according to the Intrinsick value no more then fifteen Shillings English and the Shilling consequently but nine pence Sterling six pence Irish but four pence half penny Sterling The Exchange is practised in the City of Dublin but of little use as to any Transmarine Places unless England and there Principally London and Bristol commonly running at eight pence upon the pound or at most but one Shilling which is but five pound per cent The Weights and Measures are or for the most part consistent to those of England and in fine it is a Country exceeding fertil abounding in all things necessary for the use of man which would turn to great advantage were the Inhabitants but Industrious especially in fitting out Ships for Navigation but they for the most part roave abroad improving other Countries and neglecting their own Their chief Merchandise are in Fish which they send into France Spain England Scotland and other parts of Europe And thus I shall leave this Kingdom and return or rather Sail round Brittain to take a View of the Islands of the Sea or Ocean Islands CHAP. X. A view of the Ocean Islands and of their Trade viz. such as are Subject to his Majesty of great Britain THe Ocean Islands are scattered in the British Sea like so many Pearls to adorn the Imperial Diadem and are first the Orcades or Isles of Orkney thirty two in number The chief of which is Pomonia which abounds in Mines of Tinn and Lead The next Hethy and the other there being only three of them of note Shethland bearing Fruit-Trees of strange kinds Especially those whose Blossoms dropping into the Warter become Flying Birds The next are the Islands of the Hebrides in number forty four the chief whereof is Illa abounding with store of Venison And Jona famous for the Sepulchers of the Scottish Kings as likewise Mulla where the Redshanks inhabit once so fearful to England the rest are of little note The Islands called the Sorlings are one hundred forty five The Principal are Armath Agnes Samson and Scilly after which name all the rest are called The Inhabitants thereof Trade in Fishery sow Corn and addict themselves to Manufacture The Isle of Man is a square Island being ten Miles in Length and as many in Breadth the growth of it is Flax Hemp Oats Barly and Wheat having store of Cattle and other Merchandise brought in thither by Shipping the chief Towns are Ballacury Russin or Chasteltown The Isle of Anglesey is accounted a Shire of Wales and by some called the Mother of Wales being twenty four Miles in Length and seventeen Miles over Fruitful it is even beyond report in Corn Fruits Cattle Fowl and Fish improved by several Profitable Manufactures The Inhabitants making great store of Butter and Cheese and send out of it yearly three thousand Head of Cattle It 's chief Town is Beaumaris very Commodious for Shipping Jersey is a fair Island in Compass twenty Miles peopled with Industrious Inhabitants yearly improving their Commodidities and vending them to good advantage Trading with England and France especially famous for the many fine Orchards and Gardens the chief Towns and places of Traffick being St. Mallo and St. Hillary the former being nightly Guarded without the Walls From this Island twenty Miles distant is Guernsey Surrounded with spacious Harbours and in every part Fertile stored with Cattle and lying Commodious for Shipping Facing the Coast of France and hath for it's chief Town St. Peters The last of the Isles Surrounding Britain is the famous Isle of Wight which is twenty Miles long and twelve over and abounds with all things wherewith England is stored divided from Portsmouth but by an Arm of the Sea lying most Commodious for the Reception of Shipping and for it 's chief Towns has Yarmouth New-Port and Bradring And thus much for the Islands of the Sea surrounding Britain And now I shall only take a short Survey of some things further appertaining to the Trade of Britain and so Lanch into the Ocean and take a view of the remotest Parts of the World especially such as are Traded to by the English What more remains is an account of such Commodities of English-growth and Manufacture as are Exported being Staple Commodities and the common Cargo of outward bound Vessels CHAP. XI A further Account of the Measures of England with a true Proportion of the Weight of English Cloths FIrst for the Breadth Measure and Weight of English-Cloath that chief of Staple-Commodities Kent York and Redding Cloaths are six quarters and a half broad and ought to weigh eighty six pounds the Cloath in the Peice are in length thirty and thirty four Yards Suffolk Norfolk and Essex Cloaths of seven quarters wide are eighty pounds Weight twenty nine and thirty two Yards in Length Worcester Coventry
for it's chief City Champechio this Province yields Wood for dying Rich Colours and likewise store of Deer and Cattle almost like Elks. Florida was discovered by Sebastian Cabot Anno 1467. which at that time it was possessed by the Spaniards with whom the French made War till they consumed each others people to that degree that it was abandoned by either Nation but since repeopled by the Spaniards who have built there several strong Forts The Commodities are Gold Ore some Veins of Silver some Spices and Woods of value And thus much of those Provinces the Spaniards possess Now I shall come to Treat of Virginia and New-England possessed by the English CHAP. XIII A View of Virginia and of the Trade Manners Customs and Government thereof and of the Commodities of that Colony VIrginia being discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh Anno 1584. had it's name from our Virgin Queen it lying in height thirty five degrees North Latitude and extends to thirty eight and a half being planted by the English only from 37 to 34 degrees under the Protection and Supream Authority of his Majesty of great Britain having the Bay of Roanoake and Cape Florida to the Southward and Mary-land to the Northward The main entrance out of Virginia into the Sea is about 10 Leagues the Country is full of Navigable Rivers stored with Fish and some of them abounding with Oysters Crabs and Sturgeon many of the Rivers being 7 8 9 or 10 Miles over running 140 and 150 Miles up in the Country so that Ships Anchor with great Security no Trade being permitted but with England So that as soon as any Vessel arrives the Master or Captain resorts to the Governour to give him an account from whence he came his Residence being for the most part at Jame's City lying 40 Miles up Jame's River and round about the English Colony the Indians Inhabit whose Treacheries prove too often fatal to our Country-men as the several Massacrees they have made can testifie Their Courts of Judicature chiefly consist of 4 quarterly Courts the Governour and his Council being Judges to try and determine as well in matters Criminal as Suits between man and man and every year once an Assembly meet in imitation of our Parliament to settle weighty Affairs Their Laws are the same with ours as likewise what Monies they have are of English Coyn. The Soil is every-where Fertile and the Woods abound with Oaks of divers sorts Black Wall-nuts Chess-nuts Ash Pine Day-Wood Cedar Saxafras Mulbury Small-nuts Wild Grapes and the like The Weather is much like ours only in the Summer continues a Month longer hotter and are troubled with Flashes of Light'ning dismal Claps of Thunder and now and then a Hurricane The days are about an Hour and an half shorter in Summer and so much longer in Winter All sorts of English Fruits and Cattle thrive there and their chief Commodities amongst themselves are Horses Oxen Sheep Hogs Turkies Geese Ducks Corn of which they have store and their Woods abound with Hairs Roacoons Possums Squirrils Wild-Cats Foxes Bears Wolves Elks and in remote Parts some Lyons are found Their Corn called Indian Corn or Maiz they buy and sell by the Barrel which Barrel contains 5 Bushels Winchester Measure and the Indians sell their Corn Pease and other Commodities of the like nature amongst themselves by the Baskets each Basket containing half a Bushel The chief Commodities they Trade with our Merchants for except Tobacco of which I shall speak anon are Hides Otter Beaver Muskats Bear Dear-Skins Saxafras Black-Walnut-Tree-Planks c. with them and Tobacco 40 or 50 Ships are yearly Loaden no Customs being lay'd upon any thing imported or exported but in England they pay five per cent for all they carry over and 2 pence per pound for every pound of Tobacco brought from thence and so proportionably for other Goods The Commodities carryed from England thither are Linnen and Woollen-Cloath Nailes Iron wrought into Tools Sope Starch Gunpowder Shot Wine Strong-Water Brandy Sugar Spice and the like and when any one comes over with Servants to Inhabit as a Planter he has 50 Acres of Land allotted him to manure even where he will choose unless in such Places as are before in Possession and for that Parcel of Land he pays 12 pence per Annum quit Rent The manner of planting and bringing to perfection their Tobacco accounted by them the Staple Commodity of the Colony is thus in January they sow the Seed which is smaller than Mustard-Seed and when it comes up they take up the Plants and place them upon little Hills which is usually done in May 4 or 5000. Hills being contained in one Acre every Hill containing a Plant the which when it is about 2 Foot high they Crop to give more Nourishment to the Leaves which Leaves are a Foot or two Foot long and some a Foot broad and when they are at the bigest they cut them up Stalk and all and hang them up in Sheads to dry which done they strip them from the Stalks and so bind them up in Handfuls for packing in Casks or make them up in Rolls An Acre of good Ground is reckoned to bear 1500 Weight of Tobacco not less then 17000. Hogs-heads being reckoned to be Shipped yearly for England Scotland and Ireland Their Servants for the most part consist of Negroes which they buy of the Merchants that bring them thither CHAP. XIV A View of New-England and the Trade thereof NEw-England has for it's chief Town or City Boston where all their Trade Centres especially that which accrues by Navigation a place which contains about 1500 houses Built of Brick and Timber in it is a State House and Congregational Meeting-Houses the Inhabitants for the most part being Presbyterians and Independants and are supplyed with great Quantities of Fish from Marblehead and other places As for Fowl they Trade with the Indians as likewise for Muscat Beaver Otter c. for which they deliver them Strong-Waters Shagged-Cloath Beads Looking-Glasses and the like and thither likewise are brought Provisions from St. Martins Long Island Road Island Shelter Island and other places they all being little spots standing in the Sea and have their Trade chiefly consisting in Provision The chief Roads for the safe Riding of Shipping are Boston Charlestown Salem and Pascataqua A Mint they have in which they Coyn English money as 12 pence 6 pence 3 pence and smaller piece both Silver and Tinn The Reason of setting it up was upon the spreading of many adulterated Pieces of Eight amongst them brought from Peru but notwithstanding the English Coyn Mexico and Sevil Royals go currant at a Crown apiece Their Accounts are kept after the Italian Fashion by such as understand the way and those that do not keep them as in old England Their Weights are Averdupois and Troy the former consisting of 16 Ounces the pound and the latter of twelve their hundred Averdupois is 112 pounds and by that they
weigh all their gross Commodities using Troy only for Silk Gold and Silver Their Measures are likewise consistent with ours Their chief Merchandise consists in Hogs Oxen Fish Flower Pease Kell or Rice Biskets Beaver Muskat Skins Otter Pipe-Staves Masts and the like and some Tobacco for which they receive in exchange English Linnen and Woollen-Cloath Iron-Tools Stockins Shoes Thred Buttons Ribons Lead Puter Tinn small Ordnance Gunpowder Shot Strong Waters Wines Oyls Fruit Salt and the like not taking any Customs for ought imported except Wines and Strong Waters and for that not above 30 or 40 Shillings per Tun Consolage they take none their Factorage is from 5 to 10 per cent for Sails and returns only and that not fixed but as the Trader and the Factor can agree Sugars they have likewise which they sell in Casks and have not many Ships belonging to the Plantation Their chief Fishing consists in dry Cod and poor Jack which every Spring and Fall they take by Hooks and sell by the Quintal or hundred Weight each for 28. or 30 Royals sometimes more tho sometimes they Barrel them up their Fraight per Tun from thence to London is 3 pound 3 pound 10 Shillings and sometimes 4 pound They have likewise an Office of Assurance now much in request both by the Inhabitants and such as Trade thither And thus much for New-England CHAP. XV. A View of Mary-Land and of the Customs and Trade thereof MAryland is upon the main Continent of America being an English Colony lying between 38 and 40 Degrees North Latitude bounded on the North by Virginia and on the South by New-England the great Ocean on the East and on the West the River Pattowmeck and was first a Colony of English Anno 1633. and for the better Increase of Trade tolerate the Christian Religion of what Profession soever and is held by a Governour or Proprietor in Fee of the Crown of England It abounds with fair Rivers stored with Fish and Commodious for the receipt of Shipping The usual way of Trading is Goods for Goods and the chief of their Commodities is Tobacco their Weights and Measures are consonant with those of England without any Tret or over allowance some Beaver Otter and other Furs they have which the English that Trade thither purchase and the Inhabitants receive them for Tobacco and Strong-Water of the Indians Mulberry Trees are there in Abundance and some Silk Their Customs or Taxes are but seldom taken as to the Subjects of England The greatest abuse that Merchants receive is the Packing of Tobacco which loose Packed or either too dry or wet put up often deceives their Expectations therefore the only way to discover such Frauds is by weighing it A full Hogs-Head well Packed will hold 400 Weight and never less than 300. For their Commodities they receive Cloath-Hangings Stuffs all manner of Iron-Ware Strong-Water Wine and the like and what they Trade with the Native Indians for they deliver them Coats commonly called Match-Coats made of coarse Shagged-Cloath Dutch-Duffields or English Hogbays either Red or Blew The new Netherlands a place Situate in 41 Degrees North Latitude upon Hudson's River is Inhabited by a Colony of the Dutch who have Incroached upon the English Trade with the Natives for Beavor Otter Elk-Skins Bears-Skins Dear-Skins and the like for which they deliver them Iron Instruments and Shaged Cloath and sometimes Guns Powder and Rapier-Blades the fatal Execution of which they have twice felt by two Massacrees Committed upon them by the Indians to the loss of half their Colony Their chief Town is New-Amsterdam indowed with many Priviledges as the old the better to draw People thither Corterialis Nurembega and Nova Francia are accounted Mexican Provinces and for the most part possessed by the French and some few Portugals Their Trade is small consisting only of Skins and Furs Estotiland or New-foundland discovered 1527 by the English in Winter is so Extream cold that it is not inhabited but by some few Natives and all the advantage which indeed is considerable that the English Reap thereby is their Fishing Trade the Fish in England being known by the Name of Newland Fish and is taken in such abundance that with them are furnished most parts of Europe The manner of the Fishing thus The Ships sometimes 40 Sail depart from our Coast about the end of February and about the middle of April arriving there they unrigg their Ships and going on Shoar Build Huts and in Shallops with Hooks and other Tackling take sometimes 30 or 40 great Fish in an Hour that is one Shallop which they slit and dry upon Rocks and Sandy-Banks after which they Salt them and in such manner continue till September when loaden with their Fish they return and dispose of them in Spain France and other Places to good advantage selling them either by the hundred Weight or by Tail and many times they sell them before they have caught 'em that is Bargain for the delivery of them when taken and of late there is an Art found of making Oyl commonly called New-Land Oyl CHAP. XVI A View of the Peruanan Provinces and of their Trade and Customs THis South part of America is divided from the North part by the Streights of Darien a Neck of Land of 10 Miles over and consists of these Pro-Provinces viz. Castella-Aurea Guinnia Peru Brasilia and Chile Castella Aurea takes its Name from the abundance of Gold that is found therein and was first discovered by the Spaniards The chief Cities are Portabel and Panama at which two Places the Viceroy makes his Residence as he sees fit and at the Latter of which the Spanish Plate-fleet for the most part is Loaded It abounds with standing Pools and deep Waters and the chief Commodities are Spices Drugs Gold Ore and Silver About it are several small Islands of which the chiefest are St. Antonio and St. Vincent situate against Cape Verd. Guinnia is situated under the Equinoctial Line being fruitful in all parts abounding with rate Fruits and so Incompassed and branched with great Rivers that in Winter time many of the Inhabitants dwell in Trees for fear of Inundations often caused by the overflowing of the Rivers Of this Countrey our famous Sir Walter Reighley made the first effectual Survey and gave Name to the great River Arinoque calling it Ralinia a River navigable for 1000 miles and for Shallops and Wherries 2000. The chief City of this Province is Manoa otherwise called the Golden City of the abundance of Gold that is found therein most of the Trade consisting of Gold-Ore Peru is for Gold the richest Province of America The Mines being more plentiful then Mines of Lead and Iron in England and the Riches thereof may be Conjectured by this When Piscario the Spanish Captain subdued it and took the King Prisoner he proposed his Ransom and delivered to the treacherous Spaniard upon solemn Promise for his Life and Liberty as much refined Gold and Silver as amounted to
3 chief Scales of Europe CHAP. LXI A View of Lisbon the Metropolis of Portugal of the Trade Growth Weights Measues Coyns and Customs thereof LIsbon is the Metropolis of the Kingdom of Portugal commodiously Seated upon the Banks of the River Tagus the City and Suburbs being 10 Miles in compass and not imagined to contain less then 38000. Families Beautifyed with 67 Towers placed upon the Walls and 22 Gates all the Houses being Built Magnificent and indeed the People given to great Industry but especially to Navigation as appears by the many Discoveries they have made they being the first that Discovered the Eastern Tract even to the Indias and there by Trade and force got Footing and shewed the way to England and Holland who have now brought it to perfection even to the great Inriching either Nation and of all the Commodities brought from India and other parts of the World by the Portugals this City is the Scale for hither come yearly the Spices of Arabia the Silks of Persia the rich Commodities of China and the Gold Silver precious Stones and Spices of India and especially Pearls the Fishery thereof remaining for the most part in the right of the King of Portugal which being brought to Lisbon and afterwards dispersed throughout Europe To this City Flows the Trade of the whole Kingdom and also that of Spain from which Kingdom it is now separated as formerly The Weights of this City and consequently of the whole Kingdom are Principally the small and the great Cantars the Latter of which is divided into 4 Roves and each Rove contains 32 Reals which is 128 pounds at 14 Ounces per pound and of Florence Weight is computed 149 pound their small Quintar for Pepper and Ginger is between 110 and 112 pound English the Rove or Quartern being 27 ½ and sometimes 27 ◠4 pound but the great Quintal is 15 or 16 per cent more than our 112 pound The Quintar commonly called the King 's Quintar used in his Contractation House for weighing the Spices and Drugs of India is 114 pound English and the great Cantar of Lisbon is mostly computed 130 pound English c. The Measures of length used in this City are the Coueda which is the third part of an English Yard and the Ware which wants but a Nale of an English Ell by the former they Measure Woollen Cloaths c. and by the latter Linnen c. The Concave Measures of Lisbon is the Alquire 3 of which are found to make an English Bushel and 5 a Spanish Hannep They have an other Measure by which they meet their Salt called Muy which is 60 Alquires and 2 Muys and 15 Alquires are a Tunn Bristol Water Measure The Custom inward is 23 per cent that is to the Dechima 10 to the Sisa 10 and to the Consolado 3 and outward Merchants pay only 3. The Coyns are the Croisado of Gold computed to be worth 400 Reas. The Ducat of Portugal which is ten Reals and accounted 5 Shillings Sterling or the Croisado The Ryal which is 40 Reas and accounted 6 pence Sterling The Golden Mirle which is worth 1000. Reas and accounted 2 5 2 Ducats the Ducat is 2 ½ Ryals or 15 pence Sterling The Vintin which is 20 Reas or 3 pence Sterling the single Ryal of Spain which is 2 Vintines there are likewise the Coyns of Spain passable in this City but seeing they are not the proper Coyns of Portugal I shall pass them over as having already mentioned them in the Description of the Trade of that Kingdom And now leaving Portugal I shall pass into the Kingdom of France and in viewing the Trade of some Cities thereof give a Summary account of the whole Kingdoms Commerce both Inland and by Navigation CHAP. LXII A View of France the Provinces Trade Customs Weights Measures and Currant Coyns reduced into the view of the Principal Trading Cities of that Kingdom FRance is a large and Fertile part of Europe bounded on the North with the Brittish Ocean on the West with the Aquitanian Sea on the South with the Mediterranian and on the East with the Pirenaean Hills and River Rhine and is divided into several Provinces the Trade of which I shall instance in these following Cities viz. Burdeaux Rouen Paris Lyons and Marselia of these in order Burdeaux is Situate on the Banks of Geronde being the Principal City of the Province of Aquitain and is placed in a very Fruitful Soil especially for Wines The Principal Vineyards of France being accounted in its Neighbourhood of the Grapes therein growing are made Whitewines and Claret in abundance and of late all Palled Wines and such as otherwise are foul not Merchantable they Lmibeck off into Brandies which for the most part is vended in England and Holland They have likewise several Vineyards yielding Grapes that make Sweet-Wines commonly called high Country Wines the which lest it should hinder the Sail of the other they prohibit to be sold in their City till Christmass day when the high Country Merchants bring it in and sell it to Strangers there resident and such is the Custom of the place that that Vessel or Lighter that first sets her Head on Shoar is accounted free from Impost or Custom yet must in lieu thereof for that day give Wine on Free-cost to such as come on Board to Drink it To this City it is that our English Merchants Trade and from whence they yearly bring 20000 Tuns of Whitewine Claret Sweet and Brandy Wines in times when no prohibition is layed this City formerly for many Years having been English there are found great quantities of Prunes of the Neighbouring growth and some other Commodities tho these are the chief and to this place monies are remitted for which mostly the Inhabitants Trade not as in other places ef Traffick freely bartering Goods for Goods Their Accounts are kept for the most part in Livers Sold's and Denies as indeed throughout the Kingdom Their Weight is the pound 100 of which are reckoned a Quintar or 110 English 90 ¾ pound being 100 pound English Their Measure of length is an Auln accounted 42 English Inches their Wines are computed by Hogs-Heads and Tearces viz. Claret and White-wines and their Brandy by Punchings of no certain Gauge CHAP. LXIII A View of Rouen and the Trade thereof ROuen is the Principal City of Normandy being the Parliamentary Seat of that Province and is Seated on the Banks of the River Sein all its Territories being Fertile and it abounding with rich Merchandise as well of other Nations as the Growth of the Kingdom of France and is visited by most of the Merchants of all the Northern Kingdoms Trading in the Growth of France the place affording of natural Growth and Native Manufactury fine and coarse Linnens Buckrams Paper Cards Wine Stuffs Combs c. for which the Inhabitants or such French Merchants as send their Commodities thither to be vended receive of the English Kersies of Devonshire and
Weight is 30 pound 3 Ounces and by Measure 25 pound Corn is sold by the Staio each Staio being Gross 132 pound of Venetian Weight The Accounts are kept several ways according to the Pleasure of the Merchant as sometimes in Ducats and Grosses accounting 6 Livers and 4 Solds to a Ducat or 24 Grosses others again in Solds and Grosses As for their Exchanges to their great advantage in way of Trade they make a difference between their money payed for Merchandise and that returnable upon Bills the disproportion being between 20 and 21 per cent their Customs are Extraordinary especially upon the English Trading to Zant for Currans which is in Subjection to that Seignory both upon Goods imported and exported the which has caused the decay of Trade and was the main Reason of removing the Scale of Trade to Leghorn a place no ways so Commodious nor abounding in Commodities of the Native growth CHAP. LXXIII A View of the Principality of Parma and of the Trade Weights Measures Customs c. PArma the chief City of this Principality gives it a Name and is a pleasant City abounding with all the Commodities of Italy as Silks Stuffs Oyl Wine Copper Rice Corn c. and as for the Weight used in the City it is the pound of 12 Ounces 100 of which make about 60 Suttle English The Measure of length is the Brace concording with the Brace of Florence The Coyns are Deniers Livers and Solds in which their Accounts are kept But having thus far proceeded I shall here take a View of the famous Port of Leghorn and of the Trade thereof CHAP. LXXIV A View of Leghorn the Trade Custom Weights Measures and Coyns c. LEghorn the Principal Port and Scale of Trade in the Mediterranean Sea is Situated on a large Plain and accomodated with a good Harbour for the reception of Shipping so that almost the whole Scale of Trade is removed from the City of Venice thither it is now a part of the Florentine Dominion having some time past been purchased by the Duke of Tuscany for 120000 Ducats of the Genoese and from him received large Priviledges and Immunities being inlarged by a new City Builded to the old and by Reason of the small Customs taken there it is of a Nest of Pirates Murtherers c. who formerly Inhabited it become famous throughout the World in this Port the great Duke keeps his Gallies and here are found all the sorts of Commodities Italy yields the Trade of it being as aforesaid regulated by Florence and Pisa and to this Port are brought the Commodities of England Spain France Holland India Arabia Persia Egypt and other Countries The Accounts of Merchants in Leghorn are kept in Livers Solds Deniers 12 Deniers being a Sold and 20 Solds a Liver and their other monies are the same with Florence except Quadrins and Craches 8 Craches being accounted worth 6 pence Sterling and of Quadrins 60 to a Liver tho sometimes a different value is fixed upon the Mony of either place but it continues not long The Weights are the same with Florence viz. the pound of 12 Ounce 100 of which make a Quintal which is computed to make 75 pound English and by this they weigh their Gross Commodities An other Quintal they have of 150 pound which makes of London Weight 113 pound as also an other of 160 pound making with us 121 pound by which they weigh Fish woolls c. The Kintar of Allum is at Leghorn 150 pound but in England found to make but 143 ⅞ pound the Kintar of Sugar 15◠the Kintar of Fish 160 pound and make English Weight proportionably The Measures are the Brace and Cane 4 of the former making one of the latter each Brace being 23 Inches English 100 Braces making 60 Yards or 48 Ells. The Concave Measures for Corn and Salt are the Stare the Sack and the Salmo 3 of the first making one of the second and 3 ⅔ of the second making one of the third which is a London Quarter they have a Measure likewise called a Maggio which contains 8 Sacks The Custom of this Port is that any Merchant may Land his Goods without paying any Custom so be they are sold within a Year but if not he must pay Custom but if for the better disposal of Commodities they are sent into any other part of Tuscany they must pay Custom at Pisa CHAP. LXXV A View of Genoa the Weights Measures Coyns and Trade thereof THe Metropolis of the Republique of Genoa is the City of Genoa from whence the Territories have Name and is 8 Miles in compass being Commodiously Situate for Commerce and has been formerly a City of great Trade but of late the Citizens are turned Userers which has put a stop to their Navigation and the Excessive Customs upon Goods imported deters Merchants from Trading thither to any purpose The Merchantable Wares that are found in this City are Silks Stuffs Damasks Drugs Wine Oyl and some Fruits for which they receive the growth of the Countries whose Merchants Trade thither Their Accounts especially as to Merchandise are kept in Deniers Solds and Livers 12 Deniers being a Sold and 20 Solds a Liver which is 16 pence Sterling Their other Coyns for the most part Concord with those of Florence The Weights are the pound of 12 Ounces and Quintal 100 of the former making the latter which is accounted the Quintal Suttle the Gross Quintal being 150 pound and makes Suttle Weight of London 105 pound and by the Gross Quintal are sold Anniseeds Honey Rice Brass Lead Tinn Sope Wools and other Weighty Commodities The Measure of Length is the Cane found to make 9 Palms or 4 Braces of Florence which is used in the Measuring Stuffs and Silkes and for Measuring of Linnen the Cane is 10 Palms 100 of which Palms have rendered 27 English Yards and consequently one Cane of Genoa is 2 ⅞ Yards English Corn is sold by the Mine each Mine paying Custom 6 ½ Solds and Weighs 270 pound 2 ½ of which are found to be a Harwich Quarter Oyl is sold by the Barril 7 ½ of which make a Neapolitan Butt Wine is sold by the Mesorole 5 of which make a Botta Dimena of Naples All Goods entering the River or Port pay Consolato of the River 6 Denier per Liver which is payed by the Buyer if a contract be not before made with the seller for the discharge thereof And thus much for the Republique of Naples CHAP. LXXVI A View of Luca and the Trade thereof LVca is the principal City of the Republique and is Situate on the River Serchio being 3 Miles in compass and so adorned with Trees that such as pass a far off think it to stand in a Wood. The most Merchantable Commodities here found are Silks as Damasks Sattins Taffatas c. which are here made and sent to other Cities of Italy and for them have returned the growth of most Countries Their Accounts are kept in Solds
and so the return may be proportionable but if Bills are drawn to pay a Merchant residing in any place where the Coyn is currant and he disposes of it for Commodities of the Growth or Manufacture of the Country then it matters not how the Coyn has been inhaunced above its true value by Reason it is currant tho perhaps should the Coyn be carryed into an other Kingdom it might redound to the loss of the receiver a third part and this equallizing Coyns of divers Nations by Ballance I called a Par by which all Coyns of Silver or Gold especially are reduced to an equal value as for example Placentia exchanges with London one Crown of currant money there for 1 Shilling 6 pence ½ ob Sterling Lyons the Crown currant for 2 Shillings 8 pence Sterling Rome exchanges her Ducat 87 ½ pence Sterling Genoa her Crown of Gold at 83 pence Sterling Millain her Crown of Gold 84 pence ½ ob Sterling Venice her Ducat at 60 pence Sterling Florence her Crown at 80 pence Luca her Ducat at 67 pence Sterling Naples her Ducat at 66 ½ pence Sterling Lechy her Ducat at 6 pence Sterling Bary her Ducat at 62 pence Sterling Palermo her Ducat at 78 pence Sterling Messina her Ducat at 72 pence Sterling Valentia her Ducat at 72 ½ pence Sterling Saragosa her Ducat at 73 pence Sterling Barsalonia her Ducat at 72 pence Sterling Sevil her Ducat at 72 pence Sterling Lisbon her Ducat at 69 pence Sterling Bolonia her Ducat at 67 pence Sterling Bergamo her Ducaton at 67 pence Sterling Frankfort Noremburg Augusta and Viena in all which Cities one and the same Coyn is currant Exchange their Florin at 50 pence Sterling all these Cities and Towns London exchanges within broken numbers that is by pence at the rates aforesaid and so Multiplies into greater Summs as occasion requires but with Antwerp and Collen Amsterdam c in whole number as one pound Sterling for 34 ½ Flemish Shillings and proportionable for greater Summs Again in London and throughout all England Exchangers and Merchants keep their Accounts in Pounds Shillings Pence and cast them up as is done in other places by Solds Livers and Denire viz. 12 pence to the Shilling and 20 Shillings to the pound and are found to exchange with Transmarine Cities thus viz. to allow 64 pence Sterling for the Crown of Placentia 64 pence Sterling for the Crown of Lyons 66 pence Sterling for the Ducat of Rome 65 pence for the Crown of Gold of Genoa 64 2 4 pence for the Crown of Gold of Millain 50 pence for the Ducat in Banco of Venice 61 pence for the Crown of Florence 53 ½ pence for the Ducaton of Luca 50 pence for the Ducat of Naples 50 ½ pence for the Ducat of Lechy 51 pence for the Ducat of Bary 57 ½ for the Ducat of Palermo 56 ½ for which Ducat of Messina one pound Sterling for 34 ½ Shillings Flemish with Antwerp and Collon 57 ½ pence for the Ducat of Valentia 59 pence for the Ducat of Saragosa 64 pence for the Ducat of Barselona 59 ½ pence for the Florin of Frankford 52 pence for the Ducaton of Bergamo 53 â…“ for the Ducaton of Bolonia 53 ½ pence and for the Ducat of Lisbon 53 ½ And thus the currant Exchange is setled and continues unless in times of War when Princes to Inrich their Coffers make an Inhaunsment upon the currant Coyns in their respective Dominions and at other times when the Banker or Exchanger takes the advantage of the Parties necessity upon whose Accounts the exchange is to be made The Terms of paying Bills of exchange in London with other Cities are commonly these To Venice at 3 Months after date and so upon return to Antwerp at one Month after date and so back to Genoa at 3 Months and so back to Lyons for the Fair and so from Fair to Fair as the Custom of that City is to Pisa at 3 Months after date and so back to Placentia from Fair to Fair according to the Custom of the place to Florence at 3 Months after date so upon return to Rouen and Paris at one Month after date and so back and these Bills are currant money insomuch that many Millions are pay'd by Bills without telling any money Merchants passing the Bills to one another by assignment as currant Coyns of which Bills their Presentations Intimations Acceptations Protests and Returns I shall in the following Chapter expose to the View of the Reader CHAP. XCVIII A Discourse of the Forms of Bills of Exchange how they ought to be drawn presented payed or protested in default with a caution against delays and the danger thereof according to the Law and Custom of Merchants A Bill of Exchange in it self is held so excellent a speciallity and carries with it not only as it were a commanding Power to pay but is for the most part observed and satisfyed with all due regard tho drawn by a Servant upon his Master such a high esteem being ever had for the quality thereof that nothing in the way of Trade can be more for upon it depends the reputation of the Drawer Accepter So that those who fail in the payment of accepted Bills wound their credit by suffering Protest to be made which soon gets Wind and spreads wide upon the Exchange and not only so but obliges the Acceptor to pay the charâ—â—â— of the Protestant return and calâ—s into question the credit of the drawer Of bills of exchange there are two sorts as 〈◊〉 and Inland viz. the former drawn upon â— Merchant Banker c. Living beyond the Seas the second upon a Merchant Banker or other Person living in the same Country tho distant from the place where the Bill is drawn as to make a Bill payable at London for money taken up at Bristol each having equal force ought to have due observance alike As to an Exchange four three or two Persons may make it thus 2 at the place where the money is taken up and 2 at the place were it is payable first the deliverer secondly the taket thirdly the Person that is to take the money and fourthly the party upon whom the Bill is drawn 3 Persons thus first the taker secondly the deliverer and thirdly the Person on whom the Bill is drawn 2 Persons first the Drawer and secondly the Party on whom it is drawn the former making his Bill payable to himself or order which may of Exchange is very advantageous as well to Merchants as other Traders There is another sort of Exchange called a dry exchange which is practised thus if a Person have occasion for 100 pound he goes to a Banker who takes a Bill of Exchange of him to be payed at Lyons or Paris at double or treble Usance tho the Drawer has no Correspondence in either of the Cities then the Bill growing due the Banker receives a Protest for non-payment upon which the Drawer in London must pay the
was needful in answer unto yours of the 4th of the same Month this serves chiefly to desire you to furnish and pay unto Mr. W. B. English Gentleman to the value of 3000 Crowns at one or more times according as he shall have occasion or desire the same of you taking his Receipt or Bills of Exchange for the monies which you shall so furnish him with and put it to my Account and this my Letter of Credit shall be your sufficient Warrant for so doing Vale. To Mr. Charles G. Merchant at Lyons yours Timothy L. And thus I shall conclude my discourse of Exchanges only by the way note there is in use the old Style and new Style the former being only practised or held in England and other his Majesties of Great Brittains Dominions in Hamburg Strasbourg and some other parts of Germany and the latter in all other parts of Christendom CHAP. CXII A Survey of the Customs commonly called Tonnage upon Wines of the Growth of France Germany Spain Portugal c. also upon Beer Perry Cider Vinegar Rape c. together with the nature of such Customs or Tonnage declaring where they are due and where not THe Wisdom of the Nation assembled in Parliament Anno 1660 having taken into their consideration the condition of Merchants Trading into Forrain parts that they were frequently Robbed and spoiled by Pirates and Picaroons and Ships of War of divers Nations under pretence of Letters of Reprizal They the better to prevent such outrages thought it convenient to Grant his Majesty a Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage payable upon all Merchandise imported or exported unless Herrings and some other Fish therein excepted The better to inable his Majesty to maintain at Sea several Ships of War for the securing and convoying Merchants Ships to and from the divers Ports and Places whither they are bound or have any Commerce and to over-awe and keep under such Pirates and others as would otherwise grow numerous and obstruct all Naval Commerce the Principal Commodities paying Tonnage and Poundage commonly called Customs I shall here recite and for the rest refer the Reader to the Book of Rates rated by the advice and approbation of most of the eminent Merchants of England and since published and confirmed by Parliament As for Tonnage every Tun of Wine of the Growth of the French King or Crowâ— of France that shall come into the Port of London or the Members thereof by way of Merchandise being the proper Goods of a natural Born Subject pays eight pounds 10 Shillings the Tun or being the proper Goods of an Alien or Stranger it pays 10 pound and so lesser or greater quantities proportionably but into any other Port of England the Native pays 20 Shillings less and the Stranger the like per Tun. Muscadels Malmasies Cutes Tents Alicans Bastards Sacks Canaries Mallagoes Maderoes and other Wines of the Growth of Levant Spain or Portugal or any of the Islands or Dominions belonging to them or any of them which shall be brought into the Port of London as Merchandise c. by a Native shall pay the Summ of 7 pound 10 Shillings the Tun a Stranger nine pound and into any other of his Majesties Ports 20 Shillings less the Pipe or Butt by either Native or Alien for Rhenish Wine of the Growth of Germany also note that always the Stranger pays 30 Shillings in the Tun more then the Native is to pay the Ancient duty of Butlerage which is 2 Shillings in the Tun and in these Duties or Customs is included the Duty formerly of 20 Shillings per Tun upon all Wines of the Growth of the Levant by Strangers known by the name of Southampton Duties for which sort of Wines the Stranger is to pay to the use of the Town of Southampton 10 Shillings for every Butt or Pipe as for prize Wines they pay no Customs Note that if any Wines be imported and within a twelve month exported they are not lyable to pay the Additional Duty or if it be pay'd it is to be returned viz. 4 pound every Tun of French Wine and every Tun of Wine of the Growth of Germany or Madera 3 pound brought into the Port of London as in Statute 12 of Car. 2 it more at large appears And all such Wines as are Landed at any of the out-Ports and afterwards brought into the Port of London by a certificate shall pay so much more Custom as was pay'd short of the Duty in the Port of London For every Tun of Beer to be exported in Ships English built must be pay'd 2 Shillings and for every Tun exported in any other Ship 6 Shillings If at any time there shall chance Goods to be exported or imported not mentioned in the Book of Rates agreed on by the commons Intitled the rates of Merchandise and that by such omission there is no set value on them then it shall be Lawful for the Customer in being to levy twelve pence in the pound upon such Goods according to the true value which value is to be given by the Merchant or owner upon Oath before the Customer Collector Comptroller Surveyer or any two of them If Vineger Perry Rape Cider or Cider-Eager be imported by a Native from Forrain Parts he pays 6 pound 10 Shillings the Tun but by an Alien only 6 pound but if they shall again export any such Liquids then 3 pound 10 Shillings the Tun shall be repayed to the Native and 4 pound 15 Shillings to the Alien There is likewise imposed on Wines Vineager Cider and Beer 10 Shillings per Tun and on Brandy and Strong-Water 20 Shillings per Tun. For Coynage-Duty and the money that arises by this Duty is to be payed at the Custom-House to the Collectors and other Officers to be by them kept apart from other monies and payed quarterly into the Exchequer without Salary or Fee and if neglect be made in the payment of this Duty the Goods are Forfeitable but note if that within a twelve-month they are Transported then the money so pay'd is to be returned according to Statute the 18 of Car. 2. There is likewise an Excise or Impost upon Forrain Liquors imported viz. upon Beer or Ale six Shillings the Barrel Cyder or Perry the Tun 10 Shillings Brandy or Strong-Waters perfectly made 8 pence the Gallon and by the 15 of Car. 2 if any of these Goods be Landed before these Duties are payed Warrant Signed and in the absence of the Officer they are forfeitable And thus much for Tonnage the next thing then that I come to Treat of is Poundage CHAP. CXIII A Survey of the Custom commonly called Poundage according to the Book of Rates and such other Customs and Priviledges as are for the profit of the Merchant POundage is a Custom Established by Act of Parliament made in the 12 of his now Majesty whereby the Book of Rate called the Rates of Merchandise is approved and confirmed that is a Subsidy granted to his Majesty of
the 20 part of all Goods imported or exported viz. 1 Shilling in the pound according as they are Rated in the said Book and for Goods not found Rated in the aforesaid Book according to the value Sworn to by the Merchant as it is mentioned in the foregoing Chapter As likewise a Subsidy of Woollen Cloaths or old Drapery agreed on by the Commons-House in Parliament assembled and Signed by the Hand of their Speaker an account of which take as followeth Every Native shall pay for each short Cloath containing in Length not above 28 Yards and in Weight not exceeding 64 pound White or Coloured by him to be Shipped or carryed out of the Kingdom 3 Shillings 4 pence being after the Rate of 2 Farthings ½ Farthing the pound Weight and after the same Rate for all other sorts of Cloath of greater Length and Weight not allowing above 28 Yards and 60 pound to a short Cloath viz. for every pound Weight over and above 64. pound 2 Farthings and ½ Farthings and for all other lesser Cloaths to be allowed to the short Cloath but note if a Stranger do export any short Cloath containing 28 Yards and in Weight not exceeding 64 pound either White or Coloured he shall pay 6 Shillings 8 pence besides the old Duty of one Shilling 2 pence and after the same Rate for all short Cloaths and Cloaths of greater Length and Weight for a description of the several sorts of which I refer you to my Observations upon Woolen Manufactory in the 11 and 12 Chapters of this Treatise Salt out of Scotland into England pays a ½ penny the Gallon all Logwood imported pays 5 pound the Tun. The Parliament taking care that Ships of force should be imployed by Merchants have imposed on all Merchandise imported or exported from and to the Mediterranean Sea beyond Malaga in any Ship not having 2 Decks and 16 Guns allowing two men to each Gun for such default one per cent on all Merchandise that contrary to the express words of the Act shall be imported or exported Ships laden or half laden with Fish only excepted There are likewise divers Duties payable Aliens for Goods imported in Aliens Ships commonly called Navigation Duties by the Act of Navigation made in the 12 of Car. 2. And note that in all cases where Petty Custom inwards is payable it is understood of the fourth part of a Subsidy according to the Book of Rates of 5 pound per cent and is called Parva Customa granted to King Edward the first the Merchants Strangers agreeing to pay to him and his Heirs 3 pence in the pound for every pounds worth of Goods imported or exported There is another Custom called the Aliens Custom for all Fish Oyl Blubber Whale-Bone or Whale-Fins not being caught in Vessels of which the English are Proprietors they are to pay double Custom There is likewise an Impost to be payed for several sorts of Salt-Fish or dryed Fish not imported in English Vessels belonging to English Proprietors or not having been taken in such as appears at large in the Statute of the 15 of Car. 2 intitled an Act of Trade Likewise all sorts of Forrain Coyn or Bullion of Gold or Silver may be exported without paying any Duty or Fee for the same entry being first made at the Custom-House as also Precious Stones and Pearls of all sorts Any Person may import from any part beyond the Sea in English Ships Cinnamon Cloves Nutmegs Mace c. into England Wales Guernsey Jersey c. paying the Customs always provided they before the lading thereof give notice to the Commissioners or Farmers of the Customs how much they intend to lade and the name of the Vessel in which they design to import it and procure a Licence under their Hands or any 3 of them if Goods are Wrecked and the Lord Seises them yet they ought not to pay Custom unless in some Extraordinary cases Upon the exporting and importing of most Commodities Fees are claimed over and above Custom In the Port of London the Members and Creeks thereunto belonging viz. to the Officers of the Petty Custom outwards of the Subsidy outwards Petty Customs inwards Subsidies inward great Customs Clarks Fees inwards and outwards the Kings Waiters being 18 in number The Register of the Kings Warrants The Usher of the Custom-House The Saugers of French Vessels chief Searcher and the Kings 5 under-Searchers in the Port of London and his 2 Searchers in the Port of Graves-End were likewise entered in a Table which was setled and allowed of by the Commons Assembled in Parliament and signed by their Speaker at which time the Question being put that for all such Goods as payed not one pound Custom inwards or outwards there should be but half Fees taken for Cocquets Debentures Warrants Fransieres Certificates c. and it was resolved Affirmatively Societies or Companies that Trade in one Joynt-Stock and make but one Single-Entery tho the Adventurers are many yet the Fees do not hinder but the Officers and Weighers may receive such Gratuities as the Master or Merchants will allow them out of their free Will All Goods valued in the Book of Rates at 5 pounds and paying Subsidy but 5 Shillings or under shall pay no Fees If any English Merchant shall Land Goods out of one Ship into another altho the Receipt of the Subsidies be distributed into several Offices yet he shall pay but for a Single-Entry The Goods appertaining to Partners are to pass as if they appertained to one single Person Fish taken by the English men in English Bottoms whether inward or outward pay no Fees Post-Entries under 5 Shillings inward pass without Fees but if above 5 Shillings and 40 Shillings then pay 6 pence but exceeding 40 Shillings then full Fees The Merchant for all Goods that are opened and not entered above 10 Shillings Custom shall pay Fees he shall likewise pay for weighing all Goods short entered above 20 Shillings Custom but if duly entered then he is to be at no charge Note that the Merchant is to be allowed for Tare viz. abated in the Customs which Tare upon all Commodities to which it is allowable is setled by the Customers and fixed in a Table not to be any ways altered without the consent and appointment of the Commissioners-Farmers such under-Officers as they shall impower as the General Surveyers of the Ware-House c. And thus much shall Suffice as to Customs and order of Fees upon the Subsidy of Poundage untill I come to speak somewhat more of the Priviledges and Customs of the City of London and now I shall proceed to give the Reader an insight into the nature of Policies of Assurance now greatly in Request amongst Merchants CHAP. CXIV Of Policies of assurance their Original their Legality Nature Quality and of the great Incouragement they give to Navigation c. MOst are of opinion that this way of insuring was first invented by the Romans and Suetonius will have it that Claudius
given their Attendance by way of Prevention not out of Duty or Right and are not accounted lawful places to Land or Lade any Goods without Licence or sufference from the Port or Members under which any such Creek or Creeks is placed all which as they be at present accounted at the Custom-House are as aforesaid being respectively in the Body of the Counties and consequently out of the Jurisdiction of the Admiralty in case any thing more then ordinary is done or sustained in any of them And now I shall only inform the Reader that Commodities of English Growth and Manufacture may be exported when sold in England at certain rates according to the Statute made in the 12 of Car. 2. and so put an end to this Work Gunpowder when it exceedeth not the price of five pound per Barrel may be exported Wheat Rye Pease Beans Barly Malt Oats Pork Beef Bacon Butter Cheese and Candles when they do not exceed the Prizes following at the Ports where they are Laded at the time of their Lading viz. Wheat the quarter forty Shillings Rye Beans and Pease the quarter twenty four Shillings Barly and Malt the quarter twenty Shillings Oats the quarter sixteen Shillings Bief the Barrel fifty pound Pork the Barrel six pound ten Shillings Bacon the pound six Pence Butter the Barrel four pound ten Shillings Cheese the pound thirty Shillings Candles the dozen pounds five Shillings paying the respective rates according as they are set down in the Book of rates always provided that his Majesty may when he sees occasion prohibit the Exportation of Gunpowder and other Ammunition And thus Reader have I with much Labour Sailing through many Tempestuous Seas once again cast Anchor in safe Harbour hoping this Work may be advantageous unto many and useful unto all who are any ways concerned in Trade or Commerce whether by Navigation or otherwise the which if it does I have obtained the end of my Design FINIS ENGLAND'S GUIDE TO INDUSTRY OR Improvement of Trade for the good of all People in general LONDON Printed by R. Holt for T. Passinger at the three Bibles on London-Bridge and B. Took at the Ship in St. Pauls-Church-Yard 1683. THE PREFACE FOrasmuch as men who are in a decaying condition or who have but an ill opinion of their own concernments instead of being as some think the more industrious to resist the evil they apprehended do contrarywise become the more Languid and ineffectual to all in all their endeavoures neither caring to attempt or prosecute even the probable means of their relief I as a member of the Common-Wealth next to the knowing the precise truth in what Condition the common interest stands would all in doubtful cases thinkthe best and consequently not dispair without strong and manifest Reasons carefully examining what ever tends to lessen my hopes of the Publick Wellfair I have therefore thought fit to examine the following perswasions which I find too currant in the World and too much to have affected the minds of some to the prejudice of all viz. That the Rents of Lands are Generally fallen that therefore and for many other Reasons the whole Kingdom growes poorer and poorer that formerly it abounded with Gold but now there is a great Scarcity both of Gold and Silver That there is no Trade nor imployment for the people and yet that the Land is underpeopled that Taxes have been many and great That Ireland and the Plantations in America and other additions to the Crown are a Burthen to England that Scotland is of no advantage that Trade in General doth lamentably decay that the Hollanders are at our Heels in the Race of Naval power the French grow too fatt upon both and appear so Rich and Potent that it is but their Clemency that they do not devour their Neighbours and finally that the Church and State of England are in the same danger with the Trade of England with many other dismal Suggestions which I do rather Stifle then repeat 'T is true the Expence of Forraign Commodities have of late been too great Much of our Plate had it remained money would have better served Trade too many matters have been regulated by Laws with natures long Custom and general consent ought only to have Govern'd the Slaughter and Destruction of men by the late Civil Wars and Plague have been great the Fire of London and disaster at Chattham have begotten opinions in the Vulgar of the World to our prejudice the Nonconformists increase the people of Ireland think long of their settlement The English there apprehend themselves to be Aliens and are forced to seek a Trade with Forraigners which they might maintain with their own Relations in England but notwithstanding all this the like whereof was always in all places the Buildings in London grow great and Glorious the American Plantations employ 400 Sail of Ships Auctions in the East-India Company are above double the principal money Those who can give good Security may have money under the Statute interest materials for Building oven Oaken Timber are little the dearer some cheaper for the rebuilding of London the Exchange seems as full of Merchants as formerly no more Beggers in the Streets nor executed for thieves as heretofore the number of Coaches and Splendor of Equipage exceeding former times the publick Theatres very magnificent the King has a greater Navy and stronger Guards then before our Calamities the Clergy rich the Cathedrâ—ls in repair much Land have been improved and the price of Food Reasonable and in Brief no man needs to want that will take moderate pains that some are poorer then others ever was and will be and that many are Querulous and Envious is an Evil as old as the World These general Observations and that men Eat and Drink and Laugh as they use to do have incouraged me to try if I could comfort others being satisfied my self that the Interest and Affairs in England are in no deplorable condition the Method I take to do this is not yet very usual for instead of using only Comparative and Superlative words and Intellectual Arguments I have taken the course as a Specimen of the Political Arithmetick I have long aimed at to express my self in Number Weight and Measure A Discourse of Trade Being a Comparison between England and other parts of Europe wherein the Incouragement of Industry is promoted in these Islands of Great Britain and Ireland CHAP. I. That a small Country and few People by Situation Trade and Policy may be equivalent in Wealth and Strength to a far greater People and Territories and particularly that conveniencies for Shipping and Water-Carriage do most eminently and fundamentally conduce thereto THe first principal Conclusion by reason of it's Length I consider in three parts whereof the first that a small Country and few People may be equivalent in Wealth and Strength to a far greater People and Territories This part of the first principal Conclusion needs little proof forasmuch
object against it alledging the Titles of Lands in England are sufficiently secure already wherefore omitting the considerations of small and oblique Reasons pro et contra it were good that enquiry were made from the Officers of several Courts to what Sum or Value purchasers damnified for these last 10 Yeahs by such fraudulent conveyance as Registries would have prevented the 10th part whereof at a Medium is the annual loss which the People sustain for want of them and then Computation is to be made of the annual charge of Registring such extraordinary conveyances would secure the Titles of Lands more by comparing these two Summs the Question so much agitated may be determined Their third Policy is their Bank the use whereof is to encrease money or rather to make a small Sum equivalent to Trade in a greater for the effecting whereof these things are to be considered First how much Money will drive the Trade of the Nation 2dly how much current Money there is actually in the Nation 3dly how much will serve to make all payments of under 5 Pound or any other convenient Sum throughout the year 4thly for what Sum the Keepers of the Bank are unquestionable security If all these 4 particulars be well known then it may be also known how much of ready Money above mentioned may safely and properly be lodged in the Bank and to how much ready current Money the said deposited Mony is equivalent as for example suppose 100 thousand pounds will drive the Trade of the Nation and suppose there be but 60 thousand pounds of ready Mony in the same suppose also the 20 thousand pound will drive one and answer all payments made of under 150 pound in this case 40 of the 60 being put into the Brank will be equivalent unto 80 which 80 and 20 kept out of the Bank do make up 100 viz. enough to drive the Trade as was purposed Where note that the Bank-keepers must be responsible for double the Sum intrusted with them and must have power to levy upon the General weight they happen to lose unto particular Men upon which grounds the Bankers may freely make use of the received 40 pound whereby the said Sum and with the like Sum in credit makes 80 pound and with the 20 reserved 100. I might here add many more particulars but being the same has already been noted by others I conclude only with adding one observation which I think to be of consequence That the Hollanders do ridd their hands of 2 Trades which are of great turmoil and danger and yet of least profit The 1st whereof is that of a common and private Soldier for such they can hire from England Scotland and Germany to venture their Lives for 6 pence a day whilst themselves safely and quietly follow such Trades whereby the meanest of them gain 6 times as much and withal by this entertaining of Strangers for Souldiers their Country becomes more and more peopled forasmuch as the Children of such Strangers are Hollanders and take to Trades whilst new Strangers are admitted in finitum besides these Souldiers at convenient intervals do at least as much work as is equivalent to what they spend and consequently by this way of imploying of Strangers for Souldiers they people the Country and save their own Persons from Danger and Misery without any real Expence effecting by this Method what others have in vain attemped by Laws for naturalizing of Strangers as if men could be charmed to transport themselves from their own native into a forreign Country meerly by words and for the bare leave of being called by a new Name In Ireland Laws for Naturalization have had little Effect to bring in Aliens and 't is no wonder if Englishmen will not go thither without they may have the pay of Souldiers or some other Advantage amounting to Maintainance Having intimated the way by which the Hollanders do increase their People I shall here digress to set down the way of computing the value of every Head one with another and that the instance of People in England viz. Suppose the People of England be six Millions in number that their Expence at 7 pound per head be forty two Millions suppose also that the Rents of Lands be eight Millions and the profit of all the personal Estate be six Millions more it must needs follow that the Labour of the People have supplied the remaining thirty six Millions the which multiplyed by twenty the mass of Mankind being worth twenty years Purchase as well as Land makes five hundred and twenty Millions as the value of the whole People which number divided by six Millions makes above eight Pound Sterling to be the value of each Head Man Woman and Child and of a dull Persons twice as much From whence we may learn to compute the Loss we have sustained by the Plague by the slaughter of Men in War and by sending them abroad unto the Service of forreign Princes The other Trade the Hollanders have ridd their Hand of is the old patriarchal Trade of being Cowkeepers and in a great measure of which concerns plowing and sowing of Corn have put that Imployment upon the Danes and Polanders from whence they have their young Cattle and Corn. Here we may take notice that as Trades and curious Arts increase so the Trade of Husbandry will decrease unless the Wages of Husbandmen must rise and consequently the Rents of Lands must fall For proof whereof I dare affirm that if 〈…〉 â—andmen of England who now 〈…〉 Pence a day or thereabouts could become Tradesmen and earn sixteen Pence a day which is no great Wages two Shillings and two Shillings and six Pence being usually given that then it would be the Advantage of England to throw up their Husbandry and make no use of their Lands but for Grass Horses Milch-Cows Gardens and Orchards c. Which if it be so and that Trade and Manufacture have increased in England viz. If a quarter part of the People apply themselves to these Faculties more then they did heretofore and if the price of Corn be no greater now then when Husbandmen were more numerous and Tradesmen fewer It follows from the single Reason tho others may be added that if the Rents of Lands must fall as for Example suppose the price of Wheat be fifty or sixty Pence the Bushel now if the Rent of the Land whereon it grew be the third Sheaf then of the sixty Pence twenty Pence is for the Land and fourty Pence for the Husbandman but if the Husbandman's Wages should rise â…› part or from eight to nine Pence per diem then the Husbandman's Share in the Bushel of Wheat raised from fourty to fourty five Pence and consequently the Rent of the Land must fall from twenty to fifteen Pence for we suppose the price of the Wheat still remains especially since we can't raise it for if we did attempt it Corn would be brought unto us as unto Holland
Monarch may be double as Rich as the other viz. If one take the Tenth part of the Peoples Substance to his own dispose and the other Twentyeth nay the Monarch of a poor people may appear more splendid and glorious then that of a Richer which perhaps may be somewhat the case of France as hereafter shall be examined As an Instance and Application of what has been said I conceive that in Ireland wherein is above one hundred thousand people near three hundred thousand Smoaks or Hearths it were more tolerable for the people and more profitable for the King that each head paid two Shillngs-worth of Flax then that each Smoke should pay two Shillings in Silver and yet for these following Reasons 1. Ireland being under-Peopled and Cattle and Land very cheap store of Fish and Fowl the Ground yielding every where excellent Roots and particularly that bread like Root-Potatoes and withal they being able to perform their Husbandry with such Harness and Tackling as each man can make living in such Houses as almost every man can Build and every Houswife being a Spinner and Dyer of Wool and Yarn they can live and Subject after their present Fashions without the use of Gold and Silver money and can supply themselves with necessaries above named without Labouring two Hours per diem Now it has been found by reason of insolvencies arising rather from the uselesness then want of Money amongst these poor People that from 300000 Hearths which should have yielded 30 thousand pounds not much above 15000 thousand pounds of money could be levied whereas it is easily imagined that 4 or 5 People dwelling in that Cottage which has but one Smoke could easily have Planted a ground-Plat of 40 Foot Square with Flax or the 50th part of an Acre for so much ground will bear eighth or Ten Shillings-worth of that Commodity and the rent of so much ground in few places amounts to a Penny nor is there any skill requisite to this Practice wherewith the Country is not already Familiar Now as for a Merchant for the said Flax there is imported into Holland it self over and above what the Country produces as much Flax as is there sold for between eighth Score and 200000 pound And into England and Ireland is imported as much Linnen Cloth made of Flax and there Spent as is worth above half a Million of money as hereafter shall be shewn Wherefore having shewn that Silver money is useless to the poor People of Ireland that half the Hearth-money could scarce be raised by Reason thereof that the People are ⅕ part imployed that the People and Land of Ireland are competently qualifyed for Flax that one Penny-worth of Land will produce Ten Shillings-worth of the same and that there is Market enow and enow for above 100000 pounds-worth I conceive my Proposition sufficiently proved at least to set forward and promote a practice especially since if all the Flax so produced should yield nothing yet there is nothing lost the same time having been worse spent before upon the same Ground the like Tax of two Shillings per head may be raised with the like advantage from the People of England which would amount to Six hundred thousand pounds per Annum to be paid in Flax manufactured into all sorts of Linens Threds Tapes and Laces which we now receive from France Flanders Holland and Germany the value whereof does far exceed the sum last mentioned as has appeared by the examination of Particulars It is observed by Clothiers and others who imploy great numbers of poor people that when Corn is extreamly plentiful the Labour of the Poor is Proportionably dear and Scarce to be had at all So licentious are they who Labour only to Eat or rather to Drink wherefore when so many Acres of Corn as do usually produce sufficient store for the Nation shall produce perhaps double to what is exported or necessary it seems not unreasonable that this common Blessing of God should be imployed to the common good of the People represented by their Sovereign much less that the same should be abused by the vile and brutish part of Mankind to the prejudice of the Common-Wealth and consequently that such Surplusage of Corn should be sent to Publick Store-Houses from thence to be disposed of to the best advantage of the Publick Now if the Corn spent in England at five Shilings per Bushel Wheat and two Shillings six Pence Barley be worth 10,000,000 It follows that in Years in great Plenty when the said Grains are ⅓ part cheaper that a vast advantage might accrue to the Common-Wealth which now is spent in once feeding the People in quantity or quality and so in disposing them to their usual Labour The like may be said of Sugar Tobacco and Pepper which Customs has now made necessary to all sorts of People and with overplanting them has made unreasonably cheap I say it is not absurd that the Publick should be advantaged by this Extraordinary Plenty That an Excise should be laid upon Corn also is not unreasonable not only for this but for other Reasons The way of the present Militia or train-Bands in a Gentle Tax upon the Country because it is only a few Days Labour in the Year of a few in respect of the whole using their own Goods that is their own Armes Now if there be 300,0000 of Males in England there be above 200,000 of them who are between the Age of sixteen and thirty unmarryed Persons and who live by their Labour and Service for of so many the present Militia consists and if 150,000 of these were Armed and trained as Foot and 50000 as Horse the said Force at Land together with 30,000 men at Sea would by Gods ordinary Blessing defend the Nation being an Island against any force in view but the charge of Arming disciplining and rendevouzing all their men twice or thrice a Year would be a very Gentle Tax levied by the People themselves and paid to themselves Moreover if out of the said number ⅓ part were selected of such as are more then ordinary fit for War and exercised and rendevouzed fourteen or fifteen times per Annum the charge thereof being but a fortnights pay in the Year would be also a very Gentle Tax Lastly if out of this last mentioned number ¼ again should be selected making 16,000 Foot and 6000 Horse to be Exercised and rendevouzed forty Days in the Year I say that the charge of all these three Militia's allowing the latter six Weaks pay per Annum would not cost per Annum above 120,000 pounds which I take to be so easie a burthen for so great a Benefit Forasmuch as the present Navy of England requires 36,000 men to man it and for that the English Trade of Shipping requires about 48,000 men to manage it it follows that there ought to be about 48,000 competently qualifyed for these Services for want whereof we see it is a long while before a
price of Victuals then it plainly follows that till then three Acres improved as it may be will serve the turn and consequently that four will Suffice abundantly I could here set down the very number of Acres that would bear Bread and Drink Corn together with Flesh Butter and Cheese sufficient to Victual nine Millions of Persons as they are Victualled in Ships and regular Families but I shall only say in general that 12,000,00 will do it with supposing that Roots Fruits Fish and Fowl and the ordinary profit of Lead Tin Iron-Mines and Woods would piece up any defect that may be found As to the second I say that the Land and Housing of Ireland and Highlands of Scotland at the present Merchant-Rates are not worth ten Millions of money nor would the actual charge of making the Transplantation amount to two Millions more so then the question will be whether the benefit expected from this Transplantation will exceed two Millions To which I say that the advantage will probably be six times the last mentioned Summ or about seventy two Millions For if the rent of England and Wales and the low Land of Scotland be above nine Millions per Annum and if this fifth part of the people be Superadded unto the present inhabitants of these Countries then the rent will amount to 10,800,000 and the number of Years purchase will rise from seventeen ½ to ⅕ more which is twenty one so that the Land which is worth but nine Millions at seventeen ½ Years purchase making an hundred fifty seven Millions and a half will then be worth 10,800,000 at one and twenty Years purchase viz. 226,800,000 that is 69,300,000 more then was before and if any Prince willing to enlarge his Territories will give three Millions for the said relinquished Land and Housing which were estimated to be worth ten Millions then the whole profit will be above 72,000,000 or six times the value as the same was above computed but if any man should object that will be dangerous unto England to be put into the Lands of any other Nations I answer in short that that Nation who ever shall purchase it being divided by means of the said purchase shall not be more able to enjoy England then now in it's united condition Now if any man shall desire a more clear explanation how and by what means the Rents of Lands shall rise by this closer cohabitation of people above described I answer that the advantage will arise in Transplanting about eighteen thousand people from the Poor and Miserable Trade of Husbandry to more Beneficial Handicraft for which the Superaddition is to be made a very little addition of Husbandry to the same Lands will produce a fifth part more Food consequently the additional Hands earning but forty Shillings per Annum more as they may very well to eight pound per Annum at some other Trade the superlucration will be above 3,600,000 pound which at twenty Years purchase is seventy two Millions Moreover as the Inhabitants of Cities and Towns spend more Commodities and make greater consumption then those who live in wild thin Peopled Countries so when England shall be thicker Peopled in manner before described the very same people shall then spend more then when they lived more sordidly inurbantly and further asunder and more out of the sight observation and Emulation of each other every man desiring to put on better Apparel when he appears in company then when he has no occasion to be seen I further add to the charge of the government Civil Military and Ecclesiastical would be more cheap safe and effectual in this condition of close habitation then otherwise as not only Reason but the example of the united Provinces do demonstrate But let this whole digression pass from a meer Dream I suppose will serve to prove that in case the King of Englands Territories should be a little less then those of the French King that forasmuch as neither of them are over Peopled that the difference is not material to the question in Hand wherefore supposing the French Kings advantages to be little or nothing in point of Territory we come next to examine and compare the number of Subjects which each of those Monarchs do govern The Book called the State of France makes the Kingdom consist of twenty seven Parishes and another Book written by a Substantial Author who profoundly enquires into the State of the Church and Church-men of France sets down as an extraordinary case that a Parish in France should have six hundred Souls where I suppose the said Author who has so well examined the matter is not of opinion that every Parish one with another has above five hundred by which reckoning the whole people of France are about thirteen Millions 500,000 Now the people of England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands adjoyning by computation from the number of Parishes which commonly have more people in Protestant Churches then in Popish Countries as also from the Hearth-money Post-money and Excise do amount to above nine Millions there are in new England about fifty thousand men mustered in Arms about eighty thousand able to bear Arms and consequently about five hundred thousand in all but this last I leave to every man's conjecture and I see no Reason why in all the rest of the Plantations there should not be five hundred thousand more and consequently I suppose the King of England hath above ten Millions of Subjests ubivis terrarum orbis Altho it be very material to know the number of Subjects belonging to each Prince yet when the question is concerning their Wealth and Strength it is also material to examine how many of 'em do get more then they spend and how many less in order whereunto it is to be considered that in the King of Englands dominions there are twenty thousand Church-men but in France as the aforementioned Author of theirs does aver who sets down the particular number of each Religious order there are about 270000. viz. 250000. more then we think are necessary that is to say two hundred and fifty thousand with-drawn out of the World now the said number of adult and able-Bodyed Persons are equivalent to about double the same number of the Promiscuous Mass of Mankind and the same Author affirms that the said Religious Persons do spend one with another above eighteen pence per diem which is Triple to what a Labouring man requires Wherefore the said two hundred fifty thousand Church-men living as they do make the French King 13,500 thousand to be really no better then twelve Millions or thereabouts In the next place it is to be considered that the inhabitants of the inner parts of France remote from the Sea can't be probably Superlucrators Now if there be two Millions in the King of England's Dominions more then in the French Kings who earn more then they spend or if ten men in England earn more then twelve in France then the
as it were disfranchised and loose that interest in the Legislative Power which they had in England and pay Customes as forraingers for all they spend in Ireland whither they were sent for the Honour and Benefit of England The third impediment is that Ireland being a conquered Country and containing not the Tenth part of as many Irish Mastives as there are English in both Kingdoms that natural and firm Union is not made between the two Peoples by Transplantation and proportionable Mixture so as there may be a Tenth part of Irish in Ireland and the same Proportion in England whereby the necessity of maintaining an Army in England at the expence of the quarter of all the Rents of that Kingdom may be taken away The fourth impediment is that the Taxes in England are not levied upon the expences but the whole Estate not upon Lands Stock and Labour but chiefly upon Land alone and that not by any equal and indifferent Standard but the casual Predominacy of Parties and Factions and moreover that these Taxes are not levied with the least trouble and charge but let out to Farmers who also let them from one to another without explicit knowledge of what they do but so are to conclude the poor people pay twice as much as the King receives Now the fifth impediment is the inequality of Shires Diocesses Parishes Church-livings and other Precincts as also of the Representations of the people in Parliament all which do hinder the operations of Authority in the same manner as a Wheel irregularly made and excentrically hung neither moves so easily nor performs it's work so timely as if the same were duly framed and poised 6. Whether it be an impediment that the Power of making War and raising money be not in the same hand much may be said but that I leave to those who may more properly meddle with Fundamental Laws None of these impediments are natural but did arise as the irregularities of Buildings do by being built part at one time and part at another and by the changing of the State of things from what they were at the respective times when the Practice we complained of were first admitted and perhaps are but the warpings from the rectitude of the first institution As these Impediments are contingent so they are also removable for may not the Land of Superfluous Territories be sold and the people with their moveables be brought away may not the English in the American Plantations who Plant Tobacco Sugar c. compute what Land will serve their turns and then contract their Habitations to that proportion for quantity and quality As for the people of New England I can but wish they were Transplanted into old England or Ireland according to Proposals of their own made within this twenty Years altho they were allowed more liberty of Conscience then they allow one another May not the three Kingdoms be united into one and equally represented in Parliament might not the several Species of the Kings Subjects be equally mixt in their habitations might not Parishes and other Precincts be better equaliz'd might not jurisdictions and Pretences of Powers be determined and ascertained might not Taxes be equally aplotted and directly applyed to their ultimate use might not dissenters in Religion be indulged they paying a competent force to keep the Publick-Peace I humbly venture to say all these things may be done if it be thought fit by the Soveraign Power because the like has often and Succesfully been done already at Several Places and Times CHAP. VI. That the Power and Wealth of England has increased these last forty Years IT is not much to be doubted but that the Territories under the Kings Dominions have increased for as much as New-England Virginy Barbados and Jamaica Tangier and Bombay have since that time been either added to his Majesties Territories or improved from a desert condition to abound with the People Building Shipping and the Production of many useful commodities And as for the Land of England Scotland and Ireland as it is not less in quantity then it was forty Years since so it is manifest that by Reason of dreining of Fens Watering of dry Grounds improving of Forrests and Commons making of Heaths and barren Grounds to bear Cinquefole and Clovergrass meliorating and multiplying several sorts of Fruits and Garden-stuff making some Rivers Navigable c. I say it is manifest that the Land in it's present condition is able to bear more provision and commodities then it was forty Years ago 2. Altho the People of England Scotland and Ireland which have Extraordinarily Perished by the Plague and Sword within this last forty Years do amount to about three hundred thousand above what have dyed in the ordinary way yet the ordinary increase by Generation of Ten Millions which doubles in two hundred Years as has been shewn by the observations upon the Bills of Mortality may in forty Years which is a fifth part of the said Time have increased near a fifth part of the whole number or two Millions Where note by the way that the accession of Negroes to the American Plantations being all men of great Labour and little Expence is not considerable Besides it is hoped that new-New-England where few or no Women are Barren and must have many Children and where people live long and Healthfully has produced an increase of as many people as were destroyed in the late tumults in Ireland As for Housing these Streets of London it self speaks it I conceive it double in value in that City to what it was forty Years since and for Housing in the Country they have increased at Bristol New-Castle Yarmouth Norwich Exeter Portsmouth Cowes Dublin Kingsale Londondary Coolervin in Ireland far beyond the Proportion of what I can learn has been dilapidated in other places for in Ireland where the ruine was greatest the Housing taken altogether is now more valuable then forty Years ago nor is this to be doubted since Housing is now more splendid then in those days and the number of Dwellers is increased by near a fifth part as in the last Paragraph is set forth As for Shipping his Majesties Navy is now triple or quadruple to what it was forty Years since and before the Soveraign was Built the Shipping-Trading to New-Castle which are now about eighty thousand Tuns could not then be above a quarter of that quantity first because the City of London is doubled secondly because the use of Coal is also at least doubled because they were heretofore seldom used in Chambers as now they are nor were there so many Bricks Burned with them as of late nor did the Country on both sides the Thames make use of them as now besides there are imployed in the Guinny and American Trades above forty thousand Tun of Shipping which Trade in those days was inconsiderable the quantity of Wines imported was not near so much as now and to be short the Customs upon imported and exported