dare to presume to transgress the King's Laws or for the future endeavour a publique destruction to the Kingdome for their private and perticuler advantage Whether it may not be judged to be more convenient upon Quaere 8. the discovery of such Offenders to Prosecute them in the King's Court of Exchequer rather than in any Countrey Court adjacent where such Fact was committed or where the Offender dwells least there should be some special correspondence held thereabouts or interest more readily made in such Courts In case any publique Officer should be surprized by the Quaere 9. subtil contrivance of such Smugglers with their Atturnies and Clerks who frequently use foul practices also and that such Officer shall be put to great Charges possibly beyond his Ability before he can obtain releif according to the rules of the Law whether it would not be convenient that such Rules should be made and practiced in all Courts of Judicature that such publique Officers for the King should not be exposed to so great charges by Actions brought against them meerly out of malice which are done purely out of design to terrify such Officers and to prevent if possible for the future the due and faithful Execution of their said Office in such cases wherein the Kingdomes good is so much concerned and that a place was appointed where they might be speedily-heard without tedious attendance Whether any Officer that formerly did or now doth belong Quaere 10. to the Customes or was any wayes intrusted in his Majesties Service who hath proved unjust and unfaithful in his Office either by conniving at such Smugglers or complying with them or negliectng upon complaint made to him to bring them to condigne punishment according to the Justice of the Law ought ever to be intrusted in any publique Imployment for the future Whether by our Laws any Under Sheriff ought to continue Quaere 11. in his Office more than one year or to act as Under-Sheriff upon any pretence whatsoever considering they have such opportunities to be prejudicial to any person according to their Interests and inclinations and they may delay and vex one party and in the mean time unjustly incourage and heighten the other and this is such a thing as often proves very prejudicial to His Majesties Affairs in the Prosecution of such Informations as may be brought touching the abuses here mentioned Whether these Officers that are in Commission or Imployment Quaere 12. that do joyn with or countenance such as do transgress the King's Laws and make it their business to defraud the King of his Dues or are not ready and forward to do that iustice against the Delinquents that so do ought not to be Displaced and some way severely Punished Whether those Jurors that will give up their Verdict contrary Quaere 13. to Law and Evidence ought not to be forced to give satisfaction to the party so greived and injured or to be made to suffer one way or another as examples in such cases without any tedious trouble to the party greived as may be judged requisite and reasonable for as our Laws stand in that case it is almost impossible to punish a Jury that doth offend and act contrary to Law for it is too much become the custome of many Juries to act to the dammage of one person out of favour and respect to the other so that all people are sensible of the great abuses that are put upon one party where the Adversary can carry a great interest either in Cities or Countrey Whether it would not be as great a renown to His Majesty Quaere 14. if the Trade of Clothing was recovered to its height as it was to King Edward the Third of Famous Memory by whose Providence and Industry it was first brought into England which hath been so exceedingly advantagious to this Kingdome for many years and doubtless might be revived to as great a strength as ever if such things were consulted and practiced which might be the proper and effectual means conducible thereunto and the people of the Kingdome brought to a ready observation of the Lawes of the Land which would turn to his Majesties great advantage in his Customes c. and put all his Subjects in general into a capacity of paying their Taxes willingly according as his Majesty should have occasion the Springs of Trade then being open and running would bring in supplies to all people Quaere 15. Whether it would not be necessary that all these Laws not yet Repealed relating to the furtherance of Trade and promiscuously scattered in the Law Books ought not to be revived and re-Printed in one Volume that so all people might readily know those Laws and be by Authority strictly commanded the observance of the same with incouragements Quaere 17. to the obedient and punishments to the disobedient In case any Laws be wanting or are not full enough against the Transportation of our Prohibited goods or the Importation of Forreign Prohibited goods as new sorts of Stuffs that may be made beyond Sea or any thing elce that is not perticularly provided against whether it may not be very necessary to have such a defect supplyed Whether there ought not to be a Statute for the regulation Quaere 16. or well making of such Stuffs c. which were not used in former times that so all deceits in work may be avoided which if done would doubtless very much advance the credit of the English goods and greatly further the sale of them at a Forreign Market Whether it is convenient that our Manufactures of Cloth Quaere 18. and Stuffs should be allowed to be transported out of the Land white or undied because it is a very common practice of the Dutch and English too so to do and then they Dye them and Dress them in Holland by the which they set many people on work and all that imployment is lost to England but this is not all for the Dutch do so handle the matter as that they mak our own goods more acceptable and saleable in Forreign Countries than we usually do with the same sort of goods which we Dy in England to the great profiâ— and credit of the Dutch abroad among strangers and to the great loss and dammage of England besides the disreputation by that means to England yea many times the same goods that were carryed over to Holland white are returned to us again when the Dutch have Dyed them and dressed them and then they are esteemed the best Colours and therefore most vendible among us Whether it would not be very conducible to the publique Quaere 19. good that those perticuler Statutes should be put into effectual Execution which do positively appoint that all Merchants Forreigners Tradeing into England with Commodities of their own Countrey growth and vending them here should lay out their money again in our English Manufactures and not be permitted to carry money out
unspeakable loss is it to the Kingdome to have such Exporting Wooll a Trade fall to decay and so many thousands of poor must of necessity be multiplyed in the Land which must beg steal or starve for want of imployment But what think you if three or four hundred Tuns of Wooll in a year be exported out of the Kingdome for so I have been informed what a stroke doth that give to the beating down of our Trade in England and what a vast loss comes thereby to the Kingdome and Fall of Rents may we not justly be induced to believe that the decay of our Trade in this respect doth occasion the fall of the rents of Lands in the Countrey and houses in the City of London and else where fo that the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdome have a sensible feeling of the decay of this Trade of clothing for all that the poor do get for their labour about The poors labor profit to the Nation this Imployment goes from them again to others as hath been already intimated and so the money goeth round according to its figure and passeth from one to another according as one trade hath dependance upon another It may not be here unseasonable to insert a word or two concerning our Fullers Earth for cloth cannot be perfectly finished without our Fullers Earth to scoure and cleanse the fine Fullers Earth carried out of the Land clothes that are milled with Castle sope and all other midling cloths that are fulled with Sope so that none but course clothes that are milled with Medicine can be well done without the assistance of our Fullers earth except at a greater charge neither is there any other Countrey besides our King's Dominions that have any Fullers Earth like ours in England it is so reported that the Dutch have gotten enough of it into Into Holland Holland to serve them for many years to come which was certainly transported out of the River of Medway alias Chatham for we have none in England but what is about Maidstone on the said River of Medway that ever I could hear of except at Wooburn in Bedfordshire which is an Inland-town and many Miles from the Sea yet I have been a diligent inquirer into this matter so that if the Transportation of this commodity into Forrein Countries was carefully looked after it could not possibly be carried out of the Land without a discovery of it especially from the River of Medway aforesaid so that forreigners must of necessity be at the greater charge in finishing their clothes which could not be done without the help of our Fullers Earth Now that there is a prohibition of Exportation of our Fullers Earth to Forreign parts is well enough known to the Officers of the Custome house but it is not looked after as it should be for either some of them are negligent not regarding their duties and behaving themselves with that vigilance and circumspection as such places of Trust do necessarily call for at their hands or else they wink at such miscarriages and suffer our Fullers Earth to be carried away as the like is commonly done concerning our Wooll And although most part of our Lawes are binding enough with severe Penalties annexed to them if they were but duly observed and well put into Execution yet not one of ten thousand doth know the Lawes of Prohibition throughout the Kingdom and how to put them into Execution and although Wooll carryâ—d to France c. many people do certainly know that Fullers Earth is certainly carried out of the River of Medway alias Chathan and our Wooll commonly shipped off from Dover-Cliffs by night from Rumney-Marsh the Isle of Wight Purbeck and about Waymouth and in several other parts of England and too much from Southhamton under the pretence of an Allowance by the Law for the supply of Jarsey Yet no body doth or dareth to prosecute the Offenders for the breach of our good and wholsome Laws because the very principles of Nature in every man teach himself Preservation and he that minds but that is afraid to meddle with these offenders who are commonly Rich men and strengthened both with Money and Friends in the Counties where they dwell so that every man that is willing to preserve himself his Estate and Family is afraid of appearing against these Transgressors in the behalf of the King though it be never so much conducible to the good and welfare of the whole Kingdom for fear they should be dealt withal as I have been And while I am speaking about the negligence and unfaithfulness of the Officers of the Customs give me leave in two or three words for a Digression concerning the importation of Forrein prohibited Commodities to the utter ruine of many poor Tradesmen with their Families in this our Kingdom as Ribbon Weavers and Silk weavers and other such Tradesmen undone like Artificers in about London and several other parts of the Kingdom that they are so miserably Impoverished that they are ready to perish for want of necessary food to keep life and soul together as our English Proverb is notwithstanding the great plenty of all sorts of Provision in the Nation through the goodness and bounty of God to us But all these errours and miscarriages might and may easily be prevented by the care and vigilancy of the Custome Officers especially in the out-Ports But some Officers finding a perticular and present profit by being invested with a Golden Livery do rather choose that than to do their King and Countrey faithful service although it be also running the hazard of losing their present Imployment and future Preferment for things of this Nature are now grown to that height of perfidiousness and confidence I might say Smugglers prosecute honest men Impudence that two or three golden Decoys are sufficient to intrap an inclining Surveyor and if there should chance to be a discovery or a surprisal there shall be all present help at hand if need require for the carrying off the matter smoothly and Witnesses in any case shall not be wanting to That discover them counterfeit Truth and Justice when it is directly contrary by which malicious and unnatural courses those that would be just and honest in their places and Offices are disheartned through the leud and deceitful practices of these Catterpillars who by such indirect Courses are disobedient to the Lawes and the Smugglers that imploy them do multiply great troubles upon such as at any time discover these Offenders yea and do violently prosecute them at the Law to make them Examples and terrors to others that so they might drive on their cheating trade without controul and yet such honest well-minded men do nothing but their duty but for that they have this odium cast upon them they are called Informing Knaves c. notwithstanding the welfare of the whole Kingdome doth in a great measure depend upon the discovery of such
endeavour his utmost to discharge a good conscience first to God and then to mind the pulique good calling to mind the happy condition of Trade in the Reign of King Charles the first of blessed memory when all men dreaded his Lawes and lived in love one with another which made the Kingdome flourish in our trading with great success and increase of Riches and indeed we enjoyed so much happiness as made us proud and forgetful of God's mercies and so murdered the best King in the world by which we stript our selves of all but Gods just judgements upon the Nation and left our selves certain of nothing but of uncertainties I find by our good Lawes that great care was taken about Wooll and all other prohibited commodities as first in the Reign of King Edward the Third Cap. 1. then wooll was wholly prohibited to be exported which was the first beginning of the promotion of making Cloth in England but it seems the Nation at first could not work up all the Wooll that was of our own growth till the Trade was dispersed throughout the whole Kingdome and people instructed in the Art So that an Act of Parliament was made for the transportation of Wooll into other Countries to a Staple appointed at first at Callis paying their due Custome first in England so that those which had our Wooll in those daies Staples appointed paid well for it another Statute was made to this purpose that if any Forreigner would have any of our Wooll out of England and found none at the Staple he was to bring to the King's Mint an Ounce of Gold as a dâ—ty for every sack of Wooll and many other good Laws I find forthe prevention of Abuses concerning Wooll and Cloath and for the prevention of the Transportation of Wooll but what did first pay the King's duty in England and was to the intent that our People might afford their Cloaths so as to undersel Strangers And several Staples were appointed in England where Wooll was to be sold and bought and not elsewhere and none to be carried or lodged neer to the Water-side nor bought nor bargained but by Cloatheirs and such as wrought it up or by Merchants and their Factors under several Penalties Many good Lawes made Many other good Laws have been made since the time of King Edward for the keeping our Wooll and Fullers-earth in England to imploy our own poor People and advance the Manufacture of the old and new Drapery so happily set on foot by the prudence and diligence of that King then there was Obedience from all persons rendred to the good Laws of the Land which good Laws have been Successively ever since continued by almost every Parliament with such Additions or Exemplifications as were found to be necessary for the prohibition of the Exportation of Wooll and Fullers-earth by which means we both got and kept the whole Manufacture of our own Wooll and a good part of other Countries among our selves in this Kingdom till the time of our late unhappy Confusions And if the Book called the Golden Fleece with some of Sir Walter Rawleigh's Works which do fully demonstrate the great blessings of God on this Kingdom of England above any other for the imployment of the poor people were well inspected and answerably improved it would be a means to make the Kingdom happy and flourishing I shall here give a brief Recital of several Statutes more concerning Wooll and Cloath FIrst that no Cloath made beyond Seas shall be brought Stat. 15. of Ed. 3. ca. 8. into the King's Dominions on pain to forfeit the same Stat. 15. of Ed. 3. ca. 5. and to be further punished at the King's will That all Cloath-workers and Artificers in the trade of Cloathing that came out of other Countries into the Kingdom had the King's Protection to dwell where they pleased and convenient Franchizes and great privilidges were at first allowed them for their incouragement maintained at a publique charge out of the King's Exchequer I find there that Strangers as well as Natives might have Stat. 18. of Ed. 3. cap. 3. bought Wooll as they could agree and that great care was taken to avoid Deceits to abate and lessen the prices of wooll and to avoid false Packing false Winding and false Ballances and to have one just Weight throughout England proved and tried by the respective Sheriffs of every County according to the Standard of the Exchequer and that no buyer of Wooll Stat. 13. of Edw. 3. cap. 2. should make any refuse or wast but an equal hand should be carried between buyer and seller and this upon grievous Forfeitures Stat. 8. Hen. 6. ca. 22. as Stat. 12. Rich. 2. cap. 9. Also that all Wooll-felles and Leather bought in the Countries should be brought to the Staples which were appointed on purpose where Wooll and such commodities were to besold and should remain there Stat. 23. H. 8. cap. 17. fifteen days at least for the supply of our own people who were to have the first choice or as much as they would work up and then the remainer which could not be wrought up in England were to be sent to publique places in the day time Stat. 31. Ed. 3. ca. 8. and from thence to the Ports appointed on purpose for the staples to be Transported after the Buyers had paid their due Customs and Subsidies Viz. for every sack of Wooll which contained 94 Pounds 2 pounds 10 shillings and for every 300 of Wooll-felles two pounds ten shillings and for every last of Leather five pounds and that no wooll vendible Stat. 13. E 3. cap. 9. should be lodged shewed or sold within three miles of the Staple by any Merchant Buyer or Transporter or any others but such as had of their own growth and no other And the Chancellour Treasurer with the advice of others of the Kings Councel had power to defer the Transportation of Wooll when and as often as they saw it convenient It was then ordered that no Merchant of the Staple should Stat. 2. of Hâ—n 5. Transport Wooll Woollfells Lead or Tin without the King's Licence until they were brought to the Staple on pain to for feit the same It was then made Fellony to Transport Wooll by the Statute 27. Ed. Ed 3. ca 3. of the Staples as you may find it concerning the Transportation of Wooll by English Merchants but this Stature 28. Ed. 3. for Fellony was repealed the 38 of Edw. 3. Stat. 1. and 6. and the forfeiture for Lands and Goods was still continued 8 Hen. 5. cap. 2. and in March the 37. of Edw. 3. the Staple for thesale of Wooll was fixed at Callis Then the Staple aforesaid was removed from Callis and clearly put down 43. Edw. 3. Cap. 1. and the Staples appointed and fixed in England at the places following Viz. Stat. 47. E. 3. cap. 1. at Neweastle Kingston upon Hull St. Buttolphs Boston
lowest there is a necessary dependance of one imployment upon another and the falling off from one general Trade occasions the ruin of many inferior Tradesmen who had subsistence for themselves and Families thereby and this in our Kingdom of England is seated principally and cheifly in the Trade of Cloathing and the Manufacture of Wooll So that upon the failing of this Trade of which there is too great a cessation and decay in many parts of this Kingdom there comes in inevitably such a general loss to the whole Nation for first and most principally the King loseth hereby and that extreamly not only because his The King Looseth Subjects are not set at work and so are unabled to live comfortably and to pay such Taxes and impositions as are requisite for his Majesties support and defence against his powerful Enemies Nor in that the Honor and splendor of the Kingdom is hereby so much advanced and promoted as it might be but also because his Majesty looseth so great a revenue which would accrue to him in his Customes if the Cloathing Trade was carried on with Vigor so that the effectual carrying on or desisting from the Cloathing Trade is of very high Concernment and Importance to the King in profit or loss and so it runs through the meaner sort of People also as hath allready in part been spoken to For what Customes come in Yearly to his Majesty concerning The Kings Customâ—s the Manufactures of Wooll in its several and perticular sorts of the Old and New Drapery in all the Varieties of Stuffes made now a days and Stockins by being Transported to Forreign parts and what store of Money and other goods equivalent to Money being necessary commodities for the Kingdom do they bring in again for our Cloath Stuffs c. so sold or bartered and what Customs again do all those imported goods bring into His Majesties Coffers may not be difficult to be computed besides the imployment of so many Ships and Seamen and training up young Seamen than which nothing in this age of ours is more necessary to be taken care about for there is I believe the greatest want of this sort of men in the Kingdom for although there may be enough found in the Kingdom to Man His Majesties Royal Navy and it may be some to spare yet it is believed there are not neer enough for His Majesties Service and for Merchants service too which may many times be carried on both together as occasion may require And if we do but look back a little to a few Generations past we may soon find what high Advantages have accrued to His Majesty in His Customs and to the Kingdom in general by the Cloathing trade being lively managed by the The Companies of Merchants Merchants and what worthy and noble Companies of Merchants have been Associated and Incorporated whos 's Trading hath for the most part consisted in Woollen cloaths as in the Merchant Adventurers Trading to the East-lands and in what esteem their Agents and Factors were in Forreign parts and how Rich and great their Stock and Treasure hath been in so much that they have been able to lend a very considerable supply and assistance to the King or Queen upon any Occasion and Particularly and Eminently may it be spoken to their Honor their Assistance of Queen Elizabeth of most happy Memory in the year Eighty Eight and since upon any Occasion of the like nature Neither is here to be omitted that company which is called the East-land Company whose principal Trading also consists East land Company in the same commodity of Woollen-Cloaths by which they do furnish all those Eastern Countries about the Baltick-Sea and to Russia by which means also our discoveries of those Northern parts of the World have bin made very Evident and well known to Us to the great Advancement of our Navigation to the Northward as far as Green Land and of late years hath given occasion of that Discovery about Hudson's Bay commonly now called the Northwest Passage made by that stout and adventurous Seaman Captain Zachariah Gillam But the main and chief Trades of all are the Turkey and Turkey Company East-India Trades and the Riches by those Companies procured chiefly by Woollen-cloaths So highly Advantagious to the King in His Customs to the Companies in particular and to the whole Kingdom in the general as is not a thing easily to be known or computed How the Turkey Company in particular by their discreet management of the Trade in those parts with that commodity of Woollen-cloaths chiefly do bring into England all the rich Goods from all parts of the Streights and how the East-India Company by their Trade in the same commodity East-India Company in a great measure do purchase the Rich commodities of India Persia China and the South-seas with the Odoriferous Drugs of Arabia and all such Goods as those countries afford for necessary Use and Delight although of late years the Dutch have wrought us out of a great part of the South-Sea Trade of which more might be largely The Dutch have spoiled our trade in the South seas spoken concerning their usage of our English-men in those parts but that it hath bin already sufficiently laid out in Print to the view of the English Nation And to add a little to what was before intimated what excellent Good ships built yearly Ships are annually built and prepared for the services of these two Honorable Companies whose imployment as aforesaid is principally for the Exportation of our Woollen-cloaths and if we do look back but to thirty years past four or five Ships of the Turk's men of War durst not adventure upon one of our Smirna Ships and also how worthy is it of Consideration to take notice how many of our best Seamen Seamen bred up and Artists are bred up in those imployments by the two last worthy Companies Imployment So that besides what Revenue is brought to the King in his Customs by these great Sea-Trades of these worthy Companies mentioned both for the Exportation of their cloaths c. and the Importation of all manner of Goods by this Stock so purchased abroad in Forreign parts our Merchants are grown marvellous Merchants grow rich Rich in so much that they are able upon any necessary Occasion that His Majesty hath for Money to furnish him at Can lend the King money a weeks warning and that which is worthy the noting also our Seamen are grown of late years to be the most famous in the world to the great glory honor and safety of His Majesty and the Kingdom and all this is evident by what hath bin said to arise chiefly next to the blessing of Heaven from the Manufacture of our Wool in England by our own people which how much it ought to be incouraged and of what high concernment it is to the Honor Wealth and Security of the Kingdom let the Sober and
the King to the value of twenty shillings deserves to be punished as well as he that steals so much from any other man For as I heard a Scholler once a reasoning either it is this or that c. so I say here either Custome is the Kings due or it is not but no man dares be so impudent as in words to deny it but they must needs acknowledge it a truth that it is his due and if so why then do they not give to Caesar the things that are his according to the Commandement of our Saviour and the Commandement of the King and Parliament it being established by Law and constituted for the publique good and the general advancement of the Trade of the Nation and such Officers as will not comply with these sort of people to cheat the King are called Fooles men that do not know their business but if another had that Office he would make something of it c. but such men minding the faithful and conscionable discharge of their duty to God to the King and Kingdome with the blessing of God live better and do a thousand times more good than others and may be principal Instruments to make the Kingdome happy and flourishing I have had discourse with some persons who have had the thoughts of getting a Pattent to put the Laws into Execution that are against the Transportation of Wooll and other Pattent against Transporting Wooll prohibited commodities but I can hardly think they would be careful and diligent in that imployment except they should reap a considerable profit for their labour how should they expect to ballance their expence I refer to the censure of the judicious except it be by conniving at or do more harm than good compounding with the Offenders so that by such a design as this the transgressors may be encouraged to sin more and more for if such Patentees should too much discourage that sort of people that carry off the Wooll c. to other Nations who are the only men that must bring grifts to their Mill it would be as ridiculous a thing as for Lawyers to perswade people to peace and by that means lose their Practice and it is generally beleived that there would be more Prohibited goods transported then than what have been before if the care for the putting the Lawes into Execution were once committed to Pattentees for as in other cases of the same nature the love of Money is so natural and money so much hunted after that it may be acquired that the minding of putting the Lawes into Execution and men doing faithfully and uprightly their duty is not a thing now a dayes at all regarded or taken into consideration as it ought to be But I hope that his Majesty with all the Peers of the Realm and all others are made in some good measure sensible of the great concernement of Trade and the sad effects and consequents of exporting our Wooll Fullers earth c. as also of the idleness of our poor people occasioned by the loss of forreign Markets for our woollen Manufactures that I think it is high time for all Loyal Subjects to give their utmost assistance to discover all Offenders and make them manifest in their kind and for all Superiors to give their just assistance that the Lawes may be put into a speedy and severe execution against all Delinquents as soon as made visible In the dayes of King Edward the third formerly spoken of and since to the times of our late unhappy confesions the Trade of Clothing made the Kingdome flourish for many years together and doubtless would do so again if our Lawes were but put into Execution and every one were obliged to discover and make manifest the Transgressors for this is not a business for two or three men to do let them imploy themselves with all endeavours imaginable but the eyes of all men must be about this matter tending to such a Reformation and the Courts of Judicature must be expeditious and severe in the administration of Justice against such Offenders when once convicted and let not one of them be spared who deserve to be punished without mercy because for a little private advantage they do their utmost to bring ruine on the whole kingdome I could also declare other things that might be very assistant to the increase of Trade and the prosperity of the Kingdome which is not so convenient to be made publique before it be debated among the Clothiers and Tradesmen It hath pleased his Majesty to plant such Commissioners now for the management of his Customes that it is hoped they will do much good especially in the regulation of the Out-Ports concerning those notorious evil practises which have been continually done among them and for the encouraging of those Officers that are honest and faithful if they should be troubled at any time or be any wayes damnified about lawful seizures by reason of Actions brought against them that they shall be releived by the Commissioners and the charges that may arise in such cases at the Law to be born by the common stock I could say something for the Staplers though not much Concerning Staplers Quaere 1. because I cannot find by our Lawes that any such people were in those dayes when the Trade and Manufacture of Wooll was first brought into England and yet Wooll was sent to the Staples and all the Manufacturers thereof had those sorts that suited best for their trade and we got and kept the whole trade of our English wooll and of other Countries to our selves in this Kingdome and had the command of the forreign Markets which was the occasion of the first setling all those Companies as hath been formerly and briefly set forth and I doubt not but that those Staplers will set a gloss upon their business and without question their money doth speak much for them lying for the most part in and about London so near to the Fountain of the Lawes yet I do verily beleive those people have much to answer for as to the ruine of many poor people occasioned by their Exportation of Wooll beyond Sea by which evil practice the Trade of the kingdome is in a great measure lost as hath been set forth already something largely by reason whereof many of our poor people in the kingdome are ready to perish for want of Bread notwithstanding the great plenty in the Land and this is because they want work I should lose time further to complain seeing all people are experimentally sensible of the loss and decay of Trade to the great disadvantage of the Nobility and Gentry in the Land as also to the great detriment of the Farmer and Merchant although indeed the Poor are most pinchingly sensible hereof throughout the King's Dominions and hence ariseth the want of Money the thing by all men complained of and the fall of Rents occasioned thereby I shall now proceed by way of Quaery to