the realme being conuerted into money as well as he had lost his money before that time M. Bodine doth shew by diuers exāples that there was not so much siluer gold in times past 300 yeares ago as there is now he might wel haue said in 100 yeares and lesse howbeit this generall examination is to smal purpose For euery Cōmonwealth is to make a particular examinatiō whether they do proportionably participate of the general abundance or plentie of gold and siluer found now adaies and not by cōparing the same vnto the quantitie of times past for so should they be deceiued And we neede not to proue that there is now more gold and siluer then in times past for it is cleare in euery mans iudgement And euen of very late yeares we find recorded in our Chronicles of England that during the gouernment of the most victorious king Henry the eight in the 14 yeare of his raigne in a Parliament then holden the whole substance of London was not taken to be worth 20 hundred thousand pounds this citie being the head of the realm where the wealth is heaped vp as the corne of a field into a barne And in the yeare following vpon the demaund of a subsidie of foure shillings of the pound it was proued that the same demaund amounting to 800 thousand pounds was more then all the readie money and plate of the realm came vnto which was out of the kings hands and yet did amount but to about one hundred marke a parish not reckoning so many parishes as Machiauell hath done but only about 12 thousand in the whole realme the spatious countrie of Fraunce containing but 27400 parishes Which readie money and plate of the realme would be now adaies found farre differing and much more and yet not proportionable to the abundance of gold and siluer found in other countries and as we may see that Maister Bodine hath noted of the city of Paris and of the many millions which haue come from the West Indies whereby the realme should be stored with sufficient treasure and wealth For as he called their salt to be a Manna so may we call our cloth lead tinne which be our staple Commodities most necessarie for the behoofe of man And therefore ought this with vs to be the first cause of the increase of the wealth of the realme the rather for that in the second cause which Maister Bodine noteth to be The increase of people we are not proportionably inferiour vnto them as we may iudge by diuerse causes namely First for the mariage of the Cleargie Secondly by the people driuen into the realme for Religion by the wars of other countries Thirdly the seldome plague or mortalitie Fourthly the seldome famine Fiftly the small warres of countries adiacent or forraine warres hauing had no ciuill wars at home And sixtly the vntimely mariages of both men and women now adaies Whereby Colonies might be spared for the inhabiting of other dominions as heretofore was once taken in hand The third cause concerning the trade for Turkie and Barbarie is not onely common with vs for those countries but also with diuers other countries where the French men haue no trade at all And as for their Bankes of money they would rather be preiudicial and impouerish the realme as they are vsed then do any good as is sufficiently declared in our Treatise of Exchanges which other nations will find in time and most especially Princes that haue occasion to vse them and might well auoid them if a due care were had for the accumulating of a standing and yet a running treasure within such bounds as would stil ebbe and flow for the good of Princes and their Commonwealth Concerning Monopolies it is strange that Maister Bodine doth with such breuitie passe ouer thē shewing onely what he meaneth thereby according to the Etimologie true sense and definition of the word when merchants artificers or labourers do assemble themselues to set a price vpon Commodities which one man alone may also count when he buyeth vp all that is to be had of one kind of merchandize to the end he alone may sell the same at his pleasure The engrossing forestalling or incorporating of any Commodities or victuals is intollerable in any Common-wealth vnlesse that the trade of those Cōmodities would decay if a kind of incorporation were not vsed For whē the cōmon-people do buy generally things deare they can generally also sel their Cōmodities dere accordingly but when some particular things are deare they cannot do so Now as the effects of al Monopolies is to make the price of Cōmodities dere so must the price of things in this regard be considered betweene our home Cōmodities the price of forrain which if we will but examine within the cōpasse of 50 years that our monies haue bene without alteration as is before expressed we shall easily procure the great error or malice of those that do accuse the cōpanie of Merchants aduenturers to be a Monopoly which false imputation may be reproued by by this only that all forrain Cōmodities are dearer then our home Commodities which are not risen in price accordingly yet of late years are for the most part amended in the making the other impaired and one sort of cloth is sold at one time beyond the seas by 2 3 4 or more pounds differing in a packe one from another neither haue the merchants aduenturers the trade of cloth onely in their own hands For diuers other cōpanies of merchants are priuiledged and do transport great quantitie of clothes into forraine parts as well as they and it is free for all straungers that are in league with her Maiestie to buy cloth to transport the same at their pleasure Which reasons do concerne the effects of Monopolie Whereas for the manner of their trafficke whereby euery man tradeth particularly and apart with his owne stocke selleth by his own factor or seruant with diuers other reasons we will referre our selues to that which their Secretarie hath written of late in defence of their good orders and constitutions Concluding that as their trade is the most important and as in all traffickes the vniuersall doth gouerne the particular so the dissolution of that societie would be the vndoing of al the trade and bring a great confusion to the Realme For albeit that some would haue other nations to come and buy the cōmodities of vs within the realm for say they there is according to the Prouerbe twenty in the hundred difference betweene VVill you buy and will you sell these men haue no consideration for the maintenance of nauigatiō which is the greatest strength of the realme whose defence next vnder God consisteth most in ships and well experienced mariners that most carefully are to be prouided for Whereas also the transporting of our cloth to certaine places doth cause other nations to resort thither to buy them which may be more properly called to be VVill you
measures of land is but esteemed to haue 4400 thousand families and fiue persons to euery family which is but 22000 thousand persons The commodities of France are not so rich and of estimation as the commodities of England much lesse the commodities of Denmarke Russia Poland and other great countries Wherefore let vs now examine for the second point concerning Artificiall riches the goodnesse of our commodities Maister Bodine doth call Salt to be their manna and we may call our wools to be the Golden fleece which we shall not need to seeke in Colchos but here in England in regard both of their goodnesse and quantity Great was the losse and hinderance which the Realme receiued by the licence which king Edward the third gaue vnto king Iohn of Aragon for to transport into Spaine certaine number of Cotswold sheep both in respect of wools and wooll fels For we see what great quantity of wools bettered vnder their climate doth continually come from diuerse places of the king of Spaines dominions into Fraunce and the Low-countries especially in Flaunders where diuerse fine stuffes are made and brought vnto vs and other nations causing a decrease of the custome of the Prince as may be knowne by this that the custome of wooll in this king Edward his time came to aboue threescore and fiue thousand pounds yearely the ounce of siluer being valued but at 20 pence which would make now 200 thousand pound For there went out of the realm at the least a hundred thousand sackes of wooll whereof were made 300 thousand clothes at the least whereas there is now computation made of 100000 clothes yearly or somwhat more the custome being 35 thousand poūds Wherby we may see manifestly that there is a great ouer ballancing of forreine commodities with our home commodities as shall be made more apparant It is wel knowne that since the Statute made in the sixt yeare of her Maiesties most happy raigne all sorts of white clothes haue bin amended for length goodnesse likewise kerseys bayes cottons Northerne dozens diuers other kinds of clothes haue bin bettered since that time whereas the commodities of other countries haue bene made worse Howbeit it were to be wished that with vs good order were taken for the continuance thereof as also that clothiers would deuise to make their clothes after the manner of Venice as it were in hot-houses sauing thereby a great part of their oyle for the making of other clothes which is now wasted and spent which practise is of late put in vre by the Flemmings in some places and yet can they not sell their clothes so good cheape but that our cloth is with thē in great request For all that merchants besides other great charges pay vnto them aboue 20 shillings custome and licence for euery cloth to bring them thither ouer and aboue the charges and custome of the dominions of other Princes and States when cloth is not caried directly vnto them Comming to our other Commodities of lead tinne copper iron bel-mettall and other minerals we shall not need to make mention of gold siluer and copper because our mynes do not yeeld such quantitie thereof as in other countries which haue a better temperature of climate to that effect Howbeit greater store would be found if men did endeuour to find the same as for any thing we can as yet learne one man onely hath bestowed extraordinarie charges therein as some haue done for the copper which by their means is found somewhat plentifull whereby with the addition of the Calamine stone many manuall things are now made within the realme by milles and otherwise which heretofore were brought vnto vs. And now let vs speake of the particulars as of lead tinne and iron Our lead whereof we haue abundance doth exceed in goodnesse that of Germany and other countries and containeth more siluer then theirs which is blacke harder and vncleane and therefore serueth them to make peeces of Ordinance whereof the Duke of Brunswicke hath good store But iron is farre better for that purpose and that which is found in other places is not comparable vnto ours neither hath any Prince the like Tinne a most royall Commodity is exceeding in goodnesse all other Tinne found elsewhere which is but litle as it is not very abundant with vs. For all our mynes do not yeeld aboue 10 or 12 hundred thousand pound waight yearely at the most which in regard of the vse thereof is and hath bene sold by vs very good cheape especially in such places from whence wee bring very corruptible Cōmodities of wines raisins prunes currans such like giuing them this the like staple Cōmoditie for them We haue noted how of late yeares gold siluer copper iron and lead haue bene found more plentifully then in times past but we cannot say so of Tinne the vse thereof in Turky and other places being considered By reason whereof if heretofore the proportion of mettals obserued by the Germaines and other nations was 150 pound waight of copper to one pound of siluer or 700 pound of iron 600 p. of lead or 25 pounds of quicksiluer and but one hundred p. of tin much more ought we to diminish this proportion◠considering as aforesaid the great quantitie of al other mettals found in diuerse places and but this small parcell of Tinne of that rare goodnesse found onely in England where aboue 80 years past the price thereof was about forty shillings the hundred when anounce of siluer was esteemed forty pence and when the best veluet was sold for ten shillings the yard And omitting to speake of saltpeter coppresse allume and such like minerals whereof wee haue great store let vs conclude with the consideration of the great abundance of sea-coles that are found in England the price whereof might with more reason be farre aduaunced aboue the price of salt The Manna of Fraunce seeing that as Maister Bodine hath noted of all mines the mines hereof can be exhausted and so cannot salt be which with lesse labor doth in a manner raine from heauen vnder their climate the rather for that woods are not onely decreasing with vs but also with other nations that shall in time haue as much neede of our coales as we of their salt wherof the impost in Fraunce amounteth to 450 thousand pound starling yearly as the matter is handled Safforne and cony skins are two commodities exceeding also in goodnesse likewise corne beare fels tallow hops wood hose and many other things are all better then the like had in other countries and so might leather be if the lawes did suffer it to be dressed accordingly For albeit that the difference of water in goodnesse for that purpose maketh an alteration yet they might be qualified and made seruiceable to that effect Our waxe is also better then that of Moscouia and the East countries and this being a commodity had with little labour and without the vse of much ground and of late
sell seeing that those nations doe bring their owne Commodities vnto our merchants to the places by them appointed which is in effect as much as VVill you buy And would not this be VVil you buy if in a dispersed and stragling manner our cloth were caried to al markets be yond the seas in seuerall places which would take away the desire of buying for he that buyeth doth it in hope of sale with a gain to the places where he intendeth to carrie the Commoditie Which Commoditie if hee knoweth to be extant in most places to be vented will quench his desire of buying and he that commeth to barter other Commodities for ours hath also the like cōsideration But let vs admit that our cloth would be aduanced in price when men shold by multitudes runne to the markets or into the countrey in all places to buy it what would be the euent of it It would not onely be sold beyond the seas with a smaller gaine and many times to losse wee being naturally inclined to make speedie returnes but we should also pay dearer for the forraine Commodities which we should obtaine by way of permutation or for the billes obligatorie of the Merchants to whom we should sell our cloth And if our merchants were cut off and that other nations should buy the cloth within the realme and so aduaunce the price therof as it hapneth most commonly in Fraunce and Spaine at the vintage time with their wines and raisins then forraine Commodities would be sold dearer vnto vs by them againe For the small gaine had vpon our home Commodities causeth vs and would cause them to seeke a better gaine vpon the forraine Commodities to the generall hurt of the realme and to the exhausting of our monies which to ballance the matter must supply the same So that the enhauncing of the price of cloth in this manner would be but an imaginarie gaine and bring in the end an exceeding losse to the generall Commonwealth whose welfare is to be preferred before any particular Cōmodity of any member therof And it were to be wished that labourers and workmens wages were augmented although our cloth should cost so much the dearer as we haue noted elsewhere and that with great regard the poore people were set on worke and by way of corporation their handiworke were vented which without incurring the compasse of Monopolie is very commendable in all Commonwealths and vsed in many countries Lastly that the Statutes concerning the maintenance of nauigation were duly executed The third cause saith Maister Bodine is the want of things proceeding of the excessiue trade of things or by the wast thereof Touching the trade of any particular Commodities of the realme we may well passe ouer as he doth and make onely our stay with the trade for corne Which if it were guided with that due consideration both for preseruation and transportation as is requisite would make plain the Prouerbe Fraunce cannot be famished to be more incident and proper to the realme of England then to the realme of Fraunce because that proportionably we haue more fertile ground for corne and that in all places of the kingdome then Fraunce hath but in some places For those countries where the vines do grow are vnapt for corne and must haue their prouision from the countries adiacent and many times out of England when our corne is thither transported being with vs too good cheap in regard of their wines and other Commodities The cōparison wherof being made and the goodnesse of our corne regarded will make manifest that to sell our wheate for thirtie shillings the quarter and other grains after the rate is good cheape and that the Prince notwithstanding may impose a great custome or licence for the transportation therof which transportation might be done moderately and according to the quantitie extant and for so much therof as might conueniently be spared if the Magistrate and those that are in authoritie had the rule of the market in such sort as the Venetians haue who by the means of the Iustices of euery prouince do know little more or lesse the quantity of corne in all places whereupon certaine substantiall men are appointed from time to time to haue a consideration of the quantitie or scarcitie therof which quantitie being known and in what places may be a direction to those that are in authoritie to consider what the realme may spare hauing a regard to the season of the yeare and making the price accordingly And when the price of corne is limited and made knowne in writing in certaine publike places on euery Monday of the weeke all ingrossers forestallers or others that buy corne to sell againe are preuented because that the price thereof is not in their owne power but by the direction of those honest men rated at all times according to the quantitie and as the haruest is distant or at hand which is so notified vnto all men as aforesaid Whereby the execution of the law for the making of the loues of bread is duly obserued without any trouble vnto the magistrate For the baker knoweth how to make his loues and of what waight deliuering the same according to the true waight by those men appointed vnto any man that doth call for it which the poore doth so well obserue for that his indigence giueth him cause that without troubling any officer he is sure to haue his penni-worth and if he shold find it wanting of his waight presently with the assistance of an Officer as it were the Constable he doth seaze vpon all the bakers bread then extant and taketh the one moitie for him and the other for the poore of the Hospitals And who would buy corne to sell againe being debarred not to sell at his pleasure or with gain and vncertaine what the price will be made by others And what baker is he that would make his loaues of a lesser waight when he must sell them by waight as aforesaid By these meanes is corne brought to the market and none may be sold but in the market and the Clerke of the market taketh notice therof and what is by licence transported is done vpon due knowledge and without defrauding the Prince of his custome To haue many store-houses in seuerall places of the realme in the principall townes is most conuenient for the preseruation of corn which when need requireth may be prouided from forrain countries when the vnseasonable times cause vs to haue scarcitie or want therof notwithstanding all the industrie and care of man Concerning the immoderate vse of forraine Commodities in wearing and wasting by cutting and putting into seuerall strange new fangled fashions we doe referre the examination thereof vnto those that haue authority to reprehend men of their actions wishing reformation where things are amisse And albeit that gay and sumptuous apparell is a demonstration of pride yet a country clowne may be as proude in a frize coat as a gentleman in a veluet