small backsides large fields pastures meadowes woods and other like plentie to liue vpon 5. The benefit that might that way accrew vnto Merchants and all kinde of Aduenturers by Sea is infinit For Traffique and Merchandize cannot but by meanes thereof wonderfully be bettered and increased And withall which is not the least point in Obseruation most commodious and delightfull must merchandizing and traffique needs bee while it shall be exercised for the most part betweene one and the same people though distant in Region yet vnited in Religion in Nation in Language and Dominion Which surely is a thing likely to proue so materiall and beneficiall as may turne the greater part of our Merchants voyages that way and free them from many of those dangerous passages which now they are faine to make by the Straits and narrow Seas may finde them out their rich and much-desired commodities and greater store and at a better hand then now they haue them other where and vent them many a thing which now doe seldome or not at all passe their hands But of all other I need speake little of the Merchants good as who can and I am perswaded doe so well know it of themselues and thereupon affect the enterprise so much that if other mens desires and endeuours were correspondent it would take both speedy and condigne effect 6. The last benefit to our Land but not the least is the curing of that euill Disease of this Land which if it be not lookt vnto and cured the sooner will bee the Destruction of the Land I meane Idlenesse the Mother of many Mischiefes which is to be cured and may be rooted out of the Land by this meanes yea by this onely and by none other viz. by Plantation Resp. Idlenesse is a naughtie vice indeed but commonly it doth hurt none but them in whom it is and yet except that fault many that be idle be honest men and haue in them diuers good qualities and therefore me thinkes you speake too hardly of it to call it The Mother of Mischiefes There be worse vices a great many in the Land as this Drunkennesse and vnthriftie spending of their goods which are euery where so common Enr. I perceiue by you it is a very bad cause that cannot get a Proctour That which I haue spoken against Idlenesse is but little to that I could speake and which writers both humane and diuine â—…aue spoken of it to whom I will referre you leâ—…t we protract this our Conference ouer-long But for the vices you speake of if they be as you say worse then Idlenesse yet as sometime of a bad mother there may come worse daughters I assure you they and many more as filching and stealing robbery and cousenage adultery and incest fornication and all kinde of wantonnesse and vncleannesse beggery and roguery prophanenesse and idolatry and a number more that vpon the sodaine I cannot call to minde and with which this Land of ours is defiled and filled be none other for the most part then the fruits and of spring the brood and increase of Idlenesse which alone taken away and weeded out these all would fall away and vanish with her For Sublata causa tollitur effectus saith the Philosopher The cause of any thing taken away the effect is also taken away with it and must cease Resp. A happy worke indeed were the doing thereof But doe you thinke or is there any probabilitie that this might be done by so speedie and easie a meanes as Plantation Enr. Questionlesse The best and the onely Cure thereof by the hand of man is this way and none other The diminution of the people of the Land vnto a due and competent Number will doe it This is apparant by Experience For looke we backe to the state of our Land for 40. 50. or 60. yeeres agoe before it did thus exceed in multitude and we shall see that few or none of these vices did then abound nothing in Comparison of that they doe now as which haue since sprung vp out of Idlenesse that since that time together with the multitude and increase of the people is risen and increased Resp. Indeed I remember well when I was a young man there were no such swaggering Youths potting Companions and idle Gamesters as bee now in the Countrie little fornication bastardie quarrelling and stabbing and other like wicked facts in respect of those that be now howsoeuer it be that the world is so much altered But that these euils may be amended by Plantations yet I see not Enr. I will make you see it and confesse it too You haue your selfe a great many of Children if you should keepe them all at home and haue not wherewith to set them to worke nothing to employ them in for all the worke you haue to doe ordinarily is not enough for aboue two or three of them must they not needs fall to Idlenesse what will most of them proue but Idlers and Loyterers Now to preuent and auoyd this what other remedie haue you but either to get worke for them into your own house from other men if you can haue it or else perforce to place them forth of your owne house into other mens one to this trade or occupation another to that where they may be set aworke and kept from Idlenesse Resp. This is true But what is this to our purpose Enr. Very much For the cases are very like Thereby you may plainly perceiue that as the onely way to rid Idlenesse out of your house hauing no worke for them at home is to place abroad your children into other houses as it were into Colonies where they may be set aworke so the onely way to rid Idlenesse out of a whole parish towne countie or countrey the same being not able to set thâ—… that are idle therein aworke And it is a thing so euident that for the idle people of our Land what by the great number of them which is almost infinite and what by the present dampe and decay of all Trades and employments the Land is not any way able to set them aworke that it needs no proofe is to place abroad the Inhabitants thereof which therein be not nor can be set aworke into other parishes townes counties and countries Resp. If this Course should be taken it would touch very neere a great many of the best liuers in the Countrey who both themselues and their children be as idle as any can be and yet would be loth hauing so good meanes here to liue by to be remoued into Plantations abroad Enr. These might be brought from Idlenesse and yet abide at home too For if the superfluous multitude of our Land were remoued those which you speake of would for their owne need fall to worke and leaue Idlenesse because that multitude remoued they should haue none to doe their worke for them as now they haue while they goe to playing potting and other like vaine and idle
to prouide for themselues otherwhere such Houses as by Law ought to stand or else to depart the Land to some or other of the places to be inhabited assured there to be prouided for in a farre better sort 9. To these ought to bee added another sort no lesse combersome to the Land viz. Inmates I meane such as being in no possibilitie of the reuersion of the house wherein they dwell or of any other legall Tenement doe contrary to the Statute likewise thrust into houses with and vnder the right Tenants Of both which sorts together the Land doth so superabound that in many parishes I speake but what I know they are halfe or more then halfe so many as the right Tenants and legall Inhabitants are The riddance of them would be an inestimable clearing of the Country of many an vntoward generation and a notable disburdening of many a parish of intolerable and annuall expenses Resp. These aboue any other I could wish were rid out of the Countrie I and such other poory husbandmen doe liue much the worse for them And our Land I am perswaded can neuer thriue so long as these Drones doe 〈◊〉 it Enr. Indeed they are a superfluous Multitude and fittest of all other to be rid away as who not onely in regard of their personall estates haue for the most part little here to trust vnto but also are for their bodies and breeding best able a thing very necessary in these intendments to indure any hardnesse or labour by Sea or by Land within doores or without Whom therefore it were no reason either foolish pittie of the Gouernours on the one side or couetous fauour of greedie Landlords on the other side should any longer here retaine to their owne and the whole countries great hurt and incombrance The States of our Land in making of that Statute doe shew sufficiently that they both found then and foresaw that much hurt did and would accrew vnto this our Land by this superfluous crue who if they had as prudently taken order for their placing elsewhere from time to time as they grew vp as they did prouidently enact the not placing of them here long or this wee should haue had some or other New England filled with thousands of them made as rich and happy by transplantation as now they are poore and needie subiects to our King by their commoration and we should not as now wee are be pestred with their aboad among vs. To forbid them to build here and not to appoint them place to build and plant in elsewhere vnlesse they could haue forbidden them to bee bred and to breed and increase any where was to as little purpose as for a Phisicion to shew his patient the disease but to prescribe or giue him for his disease no remedie 10. If all these courses sufficed not and yet I am perswaded verily the former yeeld might quickly be of young and old an hundred thousand at the least I see not any sufficient let or iust cause why beyond all these both Souldierlike a good great presse might not be made of some thousands yeerely of persons fit to be remoued which being once transplanted thither as souldiers into Garrison might so be seuered as might seat them for habitation and set them being not loyterers and thriftlesse fellowes but men of imployment handicrafts labourers c. while warres let not to seruice and employment for the common and their owne priuate good and also Seruant like a good number of poore mens children both boyes and maids but maids especially of nine or ten yeeres old and vpward be taken vp which according to the Statute of 43. Eliz. 2. and 1. Iam. 25. might be placed as seruants or apprentices with such as goe ouer to inhabite there Resp. If there should bee so great a number and such kinde of persons as you intimate it cannot bee but that many idlers and vnprofitable persons will goe among them likewise which likely it is will doe more harme then good would you then haue no respect to be had to some rather then other to goe Enr. It is true that as it is here at home so it will be abroad In a multitude there will euer be some that are but vnprofitable yet would I haue none to be left out so as they be seruiceable and not maimed and vtterly vnable that can be had because there is some hope that Necessitie Occasion and Opportunity may make many of them to leaue loytering there that here happely haue nothing else to doe and for that their very presence and number cannot but be some comfort strength of the Plantation But withall and aboue all speciall regard ought to be had to draw thither as I haue before once or twice insinuated men of speciall and present employment that is men of such Trades Faculties Sciences Handicrafts Occupations and Employments as are most necessary for a present and vprising common wealth such as without whom there can be no commodious or good dwelling or liuing at all for men men of our breed manner of Liuing any where For mans life you know is such as cannot stand in any good sort without the helpe and supply of many very many other men besides himselfe Resp. What sort of persons are those whom you take to be so necessary that without them there can be no good Plantation or Cohabitation for men men of our breed any where Enr. They are these and the like Armorers Bakers Barbers Bookesellers Butchers Bowmakers Brewers Bricklaiers Carpenters Chandlers Clothiers Coopers Cutlers Diers Drapers Feltmakers Fishers Fletchers Fowlers Fullers Gardiners Glasmakers Glasiers Glouers Grocers Hatters Horners Husbandmen Inkeepers Ioyners Labourers Lymeburners Linnen-Weauers Masons Mariners Merchants Millers Mill-wrights Nailers Netmakers Parchment makers Pewterers Phisicians Potecaries Pointmakers Printers Ropers Sadlers Sailers Saltmakers Sawyers Siueyars Shearmen Shipwrights Shoomakers Smiths Soapemakers Souldiers Surgeons Tailors Tanners Thatchers Tilers Turners Vintners Vpholsters Wheele-wrights Wherrymen Wollen-Weauers c Of all these sorts of persons there must goe some Some of other sorts as in a common wealth furnished there are many may be expedient likewise but these are all so necessary that it is hard to say which of them all can be spared and need not presently to bee had Resp. But most of these sorts of people are so well set a worke here in England and so necessary for our commonwealth that few or none of them will be induced to goe hence and seeke their fortunes other where Enr. Nay rather they are so ill set a worke here that many of them haue as much need as any other to seeke worke employment and dwelling otherwhere For there bee so many of all Trades Sciences and Occupations that one cannot liue for another They that be workmen doe often loyter for lacke of worke many dayes weeks together and when they can haue worke are faine to doe it better cheape then they can afford and were
very great Mat. 7. 27. Resp. I long to heare what that should be for I can conceiue nothing to be so much yet wanting to this worke I pray you hold my thoughts in suspence no longer Enr. This it is That his Maiestie would be pleased to entitle himselfe King and supreme Gouernour of that Countrey wherein the Plantation shall proceed as at this present of New-found-Land that so they that plant and dwell there may know directly and expresly vnder whose dominions they dwell and so rest thereby assured of his Regall protection and defence vpon all occasions as well as if they remained in England This this obtained would encourage and embolden many that now doubt and feare to goe willingly and to aduenture goods and life therein resolutely This would make them ioyfull and iouiall to proceed who now are doubtfull and fearefull as those that cannot tell in whose Land and within whose kingdome it is that they shall dwell there and that would be loth to dwell but within his Maiesties Dominions Resp. That is knowne sufficiently by his Maiesties Letters Patents granted to sundry honourable Personages and other that send thither Enr. It is knowne to them that haue the Patents but it is not knowne to all them that should goe vnder the Patentees It is also well knowne by common fame and rumour but it is not so well knowne as if by Proclamation it were published in euerie Towne and Citie not so well as if in euerie Church he were prayed for by the Name of King of that Countrey as well as of England France and Ireland Resp. This must be a matter of great moment out of doubt It puts me in mind of somewhat that I read a great while agoe in our English Chronicles in the time of King Edward the third viz. How that when he made claime to the Crowne of France to which he was the next lawfull heire and successour yet all his certaine right and iust claime notwithstanding some of his Allies and Confederates beyond Sea being but voluntaries refused to assist him in Armes vnlesse he would first and vntill he did take on him the stile and Title of King of France Enr. By that you may perceiue there is something in this particular more then many doe conceiue And now touching these two maine points before mentioned viz. the procuring of Men and Money to such a businesse as we intreat of let this suffice Resp. And well it may For vnlesse it be as you said before by Act of Parliament which alone is able to settle an absolute course for these excellent designes this is as much I thinke as by most inferiour courses can well be effected but yet for my further satisfaction let me I pray you be bold to moue vnto you a doubt or two more that come to my mind Enr Doe you so I shall doe the best I can to put you out of your doubts Resp. The course you intimate is a matter of great expence Enr. It is indeed But thereof say I First Many a particular will beare and discâ—…arge his owne other-some a great deale of his owne part Secondly A great part of the expences will soone be repaid againe some in the Commodities thence returned some in the easement and disburdening of their wonted charge and incombrance here at home Thirdly People cannot liue any where without expence Fourthly Be it a matter of some good quantitie that must arise out of the Common Purse is not our whole Land able to beare it Suppose there should goe ten or twentie thousands yeerely for a time vnto our Plantations what were that with the helpe of particulars to Englands Purse If in time of war it were able without any grieuance almost any feeling to maintaine sixe or seuen yea ten or twelue thousand Souldiers in the Field the whole yeere from yeere to yeere for a time as easily might it be able or else I am much deceiued to transport and that with verie competent prouision yeerely twice as many thousand persons at the least into those Plantations Resp. The remouing of so many may seeme superfluous Enr. I will not say but I may be deceiued But surely in my conceit It were necessarie that there should goe rather more then fewer then I haue said My reasons are First The multitude that aboundeth in our Land is so exceeding great that without great riddance the benefit thereof at home will be little seene and lesse felt For more will yerely arise then are remoued To draw out a proportion some-what fit in this case there are in England onely at this present eight thousand Parishes at the least as I coniecture and certaine it is as all the Church Registers in England I thinke will iustifie there are more borne euerie yeere then buried Say but two in a Parish one with another and that is with the least I am sure yet that amounts to sixteene thousand in one yeere The increase being such what decrease there had need be made to bring the whole to abide some-what equall may soone be perceiued Farther let men looke backe to the beginning of the late Queenes raigne or there-about and see in what state the Land stood then for people and he shall perceiue that euen then it did begin to exceed so that vnlesse it may againe be reduced to that mediocritie at least and there stand it can be in no tolerable estate This cannot be effected but by such a number at least remoued as I haue intimated Resp. Indeed within my remembrance that is within these fourtie or fiftie yeeres our Parish is increased in such a sort that there be now almost twice as many Houses in it as once there were and these newly encreased but Cottages most of them set vp in waste places of the high-waies the Inhabitants whereof are nothing but a burthen vnto vs and doe verie much trouble and annoy vs that be the ancient Tenants and true Housholders and I perceiue that the remouing of one or two of them were to little purpose The greatest part of them or rather all if it were possible must be rid away or else we shall be little the neere for it And so it had need be in your vnderstanding the whole Land ouer Enr. You conceiue me aright Secondly Farther the Plantations now in hand are diuers these all cannot be setled in any forme nor brought to any good estate without the like numbers transported whereby they may be enabled in euerie of them First To occupate or take in forthwith such a large continent of ground as may be fit for setling the bounds of their Plantation there Secondly That they may be able to beâ—…in their Cities Townes and Parishes in such reasonable spaciâ—…snesse as may become so worthy an attempt which cannot be vnless their number be such that they may haue to begin withall for euerie Citie they build a thousand for euerie Market Towne an hundred and for euerie
A little mony will doe it I doe not thinke but that you spend more a great deale in any one yeere in idle and vnnecessary expences which you may spare to lay out on these good vses The Bookes are delightfull of themselues as all historicall treatises commonly arâ—… and so will be a good recreation when you haue beene wearied other waies Also they will often put you in minde of these things whereas my relation will be but once and when you haue read them ouer and ouer they will serue for your children and others to exercise them to the reading of English as well as any other bookes the sacred Histories and bookes diuine that season the soule as well as the vnderstanding with piety and godlinesse alwaies and only excepted Resp. The Countries being so many is it intended that there shall be Plantations in them all by the English Enr. What is intended I cannot tell But this I can tell somewhat to that purpose is or hath beene attempted in them all Resp. But it is not possible they should all be finished is it Enr. Whether it be possible God knowes but surely in mine opinion it is somewhat vnlikely It is not good to haue many works great workes in hand aâ—… once It were better haply that some of them were quite giuen ouer or at least deserred till some were either finished or brought to some perfection Vis vnita the old saying is fortior Forces vnited must needs bee the stronger and dispersed the weaker A time may come for the filling vp and full storing of them all For if God vouchsafe to continue our health and peace in this land as now of long time he hath done there is no question to be made of it but that were all presently remoued that our Land is able to spare which doubtlesse are many score thousands yet within few yeeres it will looke againe for a new remouing place for those which out of its yeerely increase will be sprunâ—… vp And therefore it were not amisse but a thing to be wished and endeuoured that though the full finishing of some one or two Plantations be chiefly for the present followed and intended yet vpon a prouident or if I may so speake a preuident consideration of our occasions and wants for time to come some both Possession and Plantation might be continued in all those Countries which by Gods speciall fauour to vs ward doe at this present rest and remaine as it were offered to and into our hands Resp. And which of all these seemeth to be most likely to be the best to be set forward before the rest Enr. Diuers men no doubt will thinke diuersly as either their affection carries or their reason perswades them Disliking therefore of and detracting from no mans but leauing euery man to his owne as I desire they will me to mine this is mine opinion that if the Plantation proceed by hundreds Guiana is the best if by thousands New foundland is best Resp. I conceiue not the reason of this difference which yet I perswade my selfe you doe make vpon good reason Enr. Any that vnderstands either the state of those Countries or the true nature of a Plantation would easily vnderstand me Resp. Helpe me to vnderstand it also Enr. It is this If we seeke for riches for good Merchandizes and goodly Commodities to be brought hither the richest Counâ—…ry and the wealthiest for â—…he present that also whence with â—…ewest handâ—… it may be returned is the best Such is Guianâ—… If we seeke for roome for our ouer swarming multitudes of people of many sorts to be placed in the most desolate and emptiest Country voidest of inhabitants and neerest and easiest for transportation is the best Such is New-found land And againe if we plant by Composition Guiana is fittest if by Preoccupation for a fitter English word on the sudden I finde not New-found land is best Resp. I pray you explaine your selfe againe a little better for what you meane by planting by Composition and Preoccupation I vnderstand not Enr. Then are you little acquainted with these courses The meaning is this We plant by Composition when seeking to gaine a Country already somewhat peopled and reasonably inhabited as is Guiana we doe vpon faire conditions as by profering them defence against their enemies supply of their wants namely Apparell Armour Edge-tooles and the like allure and winne them to enter league with vs to agree that we shall dwell among them and haue Lands and other Commodities of them to our content We plant by Preoccupation when finding a Country quite void of people as no doubt in America yet there are many as was the Barmudas now called Summer Ilands for few yeeres past and as is at this present for the most part New-found land we seize vpon it take it possesse it and as by the Lawes of God and Nations lawfully we may hold it as our owne and so fill and replenish it with our people In the first manner a few people may suffice but to the latter many very many are necessary Resp. This is very plaine But why speake you nothing of planting by Inuasion which some men thinke to be as it hath proued to them that haue vsed it the richest the readiest and the speediest course of the three Enr. First because wee need it not There are Countries cnow besides and such are all those now in hand in which we may safely plant either by our selues or with others without any Inuasion or warre at all Secondly if we needed it or any would goe that way to worke yet our people generally will not endure it Wee see they can hardly nay they cannot be gotten to goe and plant themselues where they may doe it with all ease and freedome that can be and therefore there is no probability they will once moue a foot to goe and seeke out a Country by the sword We reade Ex. 13. 17. that God when he brought the children of Israel out of Aegypt would not carry them into the land of Canaan by the way of the Philistines Countries though it were the neerer way a great deale lest the people should repent them when they see warre and turne backe into Aegypt but God made the people to goe about by the way of the Wildernesse of the red Sea Teaching vs therein how fearefull people naturally are of warre as willing rather to forgoe euen an exceeding good Land as Canaan was rather then to goe into it by the sword and that God himselfe dislikes not such a feare Thirdly that were a double charge For so our people must goe first they that are men onely as an Army of Souldiers to subdue the Inhabitants and take the Country and then after to goe men women and children to inhabit and keepe it if they can For many times in such cases the euent of warre proues vncertaine whereas going where needs no Inuasion they may make theirfull remoue
warfare but a robbery and Plantation not a lawfull Possession but a cruell Oppression and without the latter whereof neither can an Army be leuied for Inuasion nor will a multitude of people be gotten to set forth for a Plantation But I passe by these both because of the one I spake but little before vpon another occasion and of the other needs no question seeing it is out of question that all the places and Countries intended for Plantations by vs are such as in all equity we may by the Law of God and Nations enter vpon Resp. Your speech hath satisfied me very well but if you would be pleased for your later point of Policie to adde some particulars how it might well be practised you should giue me much more content For it is a thing that I desire much to heare Enr. That would I doe also were it not that I doubt lest howsoeuer you may accept it yet some other hearing hereof would say vnto me as Apelles to the Shoomaker Ne Sutor vltra Crepidam No man should intermeddle but with that which belongs to his owne profession or which is worse That I haue cut large thongs out of other folkes leather Wherefore for that point let me desire you rather to hearken as I doe to heare the words or voice of him or them that shall say Thus and thus it shall be This and that they shall haue that will aduenture and hauing said it haue power what they haue spoken in words to performe and make good in deeds then to presse me to say what may or might be done that am not able to say or assure any man that euer any such thing shall be done Farther this would require a more large Discourse by farre then the breuity which I promised and intended will admit Resp. Let that matter goe then and now tell me I pray you whether it were better that a Plantation be made in an Iland or in a Country at large that is no Iland Enr. That I cannot certainly tell you For in seuerall respects either of them may be better one then the other As in respect of certainty celerity facility and security it is better to plant in an Iland so it be somewhat large then in a large Continent But in other respects as for Opportunity to enlarge the bounds of the Plantation for variety of Commodities which a large Continent may rather yeeld then a lesser Iland for vicinity vnto other Countries and for league and amity with neighbour Nations and other like it may be better Cateris paribus other things being sutable to plant in a spacious Continent then in an Iland Resp. You said but now of such Countries as are deuoid of Inhabitants you thought New found land the best for a present ' Plantation what moues you to be of that minde for I heare that some doe dislike it very much Enr. I can giue you no reason for it out of my own experience for as you know I was neuer there For that point therefore I had rather referre you to Captaine Ric. Whitbourne I meane to hiâ—… booke of the Discouery of that Country which he hath lately set forth whereby you may for that matter be satisfied at large Resp. But in the meane time till I can gâ—…t that Booke and be at leisure to 〈◊〉 it you shall doe me a pleasure if you will in briefe relate vnto me what you haue obserued out of it to that purpose Enr. That I will doe willingly The summe is this First it is the neerest place that now is to be planted not aboue 14. or 15. daies saile with a good wind whereas Virginia and some of the rest are twise as far at the least and more dangerous for passage Secondly it is the safest place for Plantation as which is out of the Road as I may say both of the Spaniard to his Countries and Plantations and also of Pirats at Sea who are most for the Straights And if need should be whither soonest viz. within a few daies warning they there may haue succour from England and England againe from it Thirdly It is the cheapest and readiest for passage and transportation both of men and meanes of all sorts to plant with both because our ships doe yeerely and vsually two or three hundred saile of them goe thither on fishing voyages and that most of them but halfe loaden and some with no lading at all and by Plantation no doubt more may and will Fourthly it may soonest be finished and so we freed againe for some other Plantation because it is but an Iland of no great content not so big as England but neere about the greatnesse of Ireland Fifthly the Country it selfe is healthy and temperate very agreeable to the Constitution of our English bodies as which is very neere in the same temperature for heat and cold that England is rather warmer then colder as which lieth aboue foure degrees neerer the South then England and is incumbred with no noisome beasts or vermine whatsoeuer Sixthly the soile of the Country is very fat rich and good fit for pasture and tillage equall to most of our grounds in England Seuenthly the whole Country is rich viz. the Sea coast with fish beyond measure as where our Nation and some others haue fished these fourescore yeeres and where there is neuer like to be an end or want of that Commodity The Land stored with beasts birds of the field fish of the riuers water-fowle wood grasse and fruits of the earth c. Eighthly the Country for the most part is vtterly void of all Inhabitants Saluages or other so that there is no feare of Enemies in it nor of Corruption of Language or Bloud from it Little Armour will suffice there for offence or defence Ninthly It lieth very neere vnto some parts of America as neere as doth England to France and therefore may be a good meanes for our possessing of some other and neerer parts thereof then any we doe yet and for conuersion of the people thereof to the Christian faith hereafter and for our present and continuall hauing of such Commodities as those parts may and doe afford Tenthly it is not farre also viz. not a daies saile from an Iland called the Banke an excellent place for fishing all the yeere and not aboue foure or fiue daies saile from the Ilands of Flowers and Azores which are very rich and well stored with Wheat Beeues Sheepe Goats Hogs Hens and many other good commodities for a Plantation which from those parts may be had easier sooner and cheaper then from England 11. It is a Country very strong by Nature as which is stored with many goodly Harbours so well made and fenced by Gods handy-worke with Rocks and Cliffes that a little Fortification will make the whole being but an Iland and that not great inuinâ—…ible by Sea 12. It may be a meanes to increase the shipping of our Land which is as it were the wall
age hath taught you experience and discretion how to behaue your selfe and helpe to manage such a worke better then younger men that haue had no time to gather obseruation in the world Your age will cause that for your gray haires and grauity you shall bee respected reuerenced and obeied farre more then young men who being for the most part vnskilfull will get contempt And lastly your personall example will fiue times more preuaile to perswade others to goe then any verball Arguments that you can make But say once you will goe your selfe and which of your children will not bee ready to runne with you but as long as you abide behinde you shall not easily get any one of them to goe by himselfe The like shall you finde in other your kindred and acquaintance Resp. But it is not an vsuall thing for old men to goe in such imploiments Enr. Therefore they prosper much the worse They send out a few young and single men that haue little or no experience in the world and so are readier indeed and likelier to ouerthrow then to vphold a Plantation But thus it should not be nor hath it beene in former times Looke but into the Bee-hiues when they swarme and you shall finde as one faith well That the swarme is as old as the stocke that is that there are in it as well old Bees as young And if you will haue better proofe call to minde the sacred Histories of blessed father Abrahams life what age hee was of when hee left his Countrie his kindred and his fathers house and went to dwell in the Land of Canaan and you shall finde I warrant you that hee was threescore and ten yeere old at least that is elder a good deale then you are yet And was not Moses fourescore yeere old and his brother Aaron fourescore and three when they lead the children of Israel out of Aegypt and Ioshua 80. yeere old when he conducted them into the land of Canaan And we may be sure that in that great multitude of 600. thousand at the least that remoued there were a number of aged people both men women So that you may see it is no strange thing for those that are well stricken in yeeres to goe and seeke new Countries Resp. Old men be sit to goe but young men me thinkes be fitter because they haue none but themselues to care for Enr. Therefore are they the lesse fit for a Plantation and old men fitter then they not onely because of their better experience in the world their grauitie and authoritie as I said before but also because they haue families and so children vnder them which will helpe to fill the Plantation apace But young men and single men besides the want of experience in them they can doe little good to the Plantation but in their owne single persons at most Being vnmaried if they continue so they will hur and hinder the Plantation thereby which will be no lesse hindred by the vnmaried there then our land is hindred by the poore maried here If they will marrie they shall not easily finde with whom vnlesse it be with the Natiues of those Countries which haply wil be nor handsome nor wholesome for them certainly profitable and conuenient they hauing had no such breeding as our women haue iâ—…cannot be And when they are maried long it will be before my fruit of their marriage can be vp to yeeld any force or enlargement to the Plantation whereas if such as bee already maried goe ouer they hauing children some more some lesse of different ages and growth they also will be able and readie in a little while some one yeare and some another to enlarge and fill vp the Plantation by addition of new families as it were little new Colonies euery where Further whereas young and single men when they come there vpon any little dislike will bee apt and ready to returne and forsake the place and so comming home againe to discredit the Action maried men and house-keepers must and will abide and if haply vpon any occasion the man himselfe come ouer into England now and then yet he leaues behinde him such a pledge and hostage I meane his Wife Children and Family for his returne as may well assure the Countrey that he will not faile because that now is absolutely his home and proper Habitation Lastly 〈◊〉 any enemy shall assault them who is likely to sticke close to him the maried that fights proaris focis as they say for God and his Countrey for his Wife and Children with whom and for whom he must and will liue and die or the single man who fights or rather shifts for himselfe and therefore will soone either yeeld or runne away as he shall perceiue to be most for his ease and safetie In good policie therefore I suppose it were good and fit that such that is maried folkes and such as haue families aboue others should be procured and inuited to goe yea and with some augmentation and reward in Lands or other benefits aboue single persons be induced incouraged and as it were hired thereunto Resp. I doubt because I was neuer at Sea before in all my life that I shall not be able to endure the Seas Enr. 1. The voyage or iourney is not long not aboue foureteen or fifteene daies saile with a good wind or if any crosse wind come not aboue twentie or one and twentie daies commonly 2. What hardnesse or difficultie is there of trauelling by Sea more then at Land It is rather the easier and pleasanter of the two vnlesse God send any great tempest which is not very vsuall all the Summer season it is of the two the more pleasant and easie For there you may sit in your chaire or lie in your bed at will and passe along as delieately as or more delicately then doe our Gentlemen that ride in their Coach and bee at your waies end before you be either aware or wearie 3. Why should you not endure the Seas as well as doe Princes Noble and Gentle-men and women both that be of a more tender and delicate breeding and constitution of body then you by farre who yet as no doubt you haue often heard doe yearely and ordinarily passe the Seas to Countries farre and neere Resp. I haue no need to goe The intendment is for the poorer sort of the Land that haue nâ—…thing to trust to and for my part I thanke God I haue a Liuing tâ—…t is able reasonably well to helpe me and mine Enr. 1. The lesse need you haue to goe the more is our Countrey here beholding vnto you if you will goe and the more shall the Country there be beholding to you if you come thither For the comming in of one or two that haue some good meanes of their owne to bring with them is better foâ—… it then of fiue or six that come with little or nothing 2. The Intendment is
distresse which if you neglect to take and refuse as hitherto you doe to make vse of and embrace will neuer happely can neuer be had againe Beleeue not the idle tales and vaine speeches of such as knowing not and caring not to doe either themselues or other good perswade and tempt you to abide at home that is to dwell as many of you doe in famine and penurie and to die in need and miserie Harken vnto me read heare and consider what I say for your better information and to stirre vp and animate you to accept your good while you may and to stablish your Happinesse while Opportunitie serueth Neuer can or shall you doe it with lesse labour and trauaile with lesse charge and expence with lesse perill and hurt with lesse trouble and incombrance then now you may My words and speeches are plaine and familiar my reasons and arguments are strong and euident and my answers to the vaine Obiections of the contrary minded are sound solid Let truth take place within you let reason moue and let euidence of the cause sway and settle you Bee not too much in loue with that countrie wherein you were borne that countrie which bearing you yet cannot breed you but seemeth and is indeed weary of you Shee accounts you a burthen to her and encombrance of her You keepe her downe you hurt her and make her poore bare and together with your owne you worke and cause by tarrying within her her misery and decay her ruine and vndoing Take and reckon that for your Country where you may best liue and thriue Straine not no more to leaue that Country wherein you cannot proue and prosper then you doe to leaue your fathers houses and the parish wherein you were borne and bred vp for fitter places and habitations And if you will needs liue in England imagine all that to bee England where English men where English people you with them and they with you doe dwell And it be the people that makes the Land English not the Land the people So you may finde England and an happy England too where now is as I may say no Land and the bounds of this Land of England by remouing of your selues and others the people of this Land to bee speedily and wonderfully remoued enlarged and extended into those parts of the world where once the Name of England was not heard of and whereon the foot of an English man till of late had not troden Be not so vaine-minded or weake-hearted as to thinke or beleeue that you shall doe better in this England with little or nothing then in any other with something here with an house and a backeside then otherwhere with fortie or threescore with one or two hundred acres of ground It is the meanes and not the place that keepes and maintaines men well or ill And Englishmen aboue many others are worst able to liue with a little Know and consider that as it is the same Sunne that shineth there as well as here so it is the same God that God in whose name you are baptized in whose Church you haue and doe and shall liue whose seruants you that remoue are shall and may be as well as they that remoue not that God I say that ruleth and guideth all things there as well as here And doubt ye not but that if you feare and serue him there if there you keepe his commandements and walke in his wayes as here you haue beene and there you shall stil be taught and directed For the Arke of God and the sonnes of Aaron and seed of Leui must and will goe ouer with you The hand of his all-guiding Prouidence will be stretched out vnto you and the eye of his all-sauing mercie no lâ—…sse there then here will looke vpon you For God is nigh vnto all those that call vpon him yea all those that call vpon him faithfully Psalm 145. 38. wheresoeuer it be Reade ouer and peruse often good Brethren the 107. Psalm and the 139. They will teach you most plainly plentifully and comfortably that by Sea and Land far off and neere in one part of the world as well as in another the Lord is at hand for he is Lord of all he seeth and beholdeth all the sonnes of men anâ—… defendeth and prouideth for all that be his To whose fatherly tuition and mercifull protection betaking and commending your selues feare not to follow him whither soeuer he calleth and deferre not to accept his bountifull riches and goodly gifts wheresoeuer hee presenteth and offereth them vnto you no more then did Abraham and Sara Isaac and Rebecca Iacob and many other famous godly and holy Patriarkes and persons when God commanded them to forsake their kindred and their fathers house and to goe into that land which he should shew them whose sonnes and daughters you shall be made if you also walke in their steps doing well and not being dismaid with any feare But of these things I haue spoken more at large in my Booke to the reading whereof I will now remit and leaue you Your Companion in one or other Plantation if the Lord will RICHARD EBVRNE The Summe or principall Contents of the whole Booke The first Part. WHere in is declared 1. What profit may come by reading such Bookes as concerne Plantations page 2. See also part 3 page 90. 2 That Plantations are Actions very commendable and necessary p. 3 3 That by them the Church of Christ may notably be enlarged partly by the Addition of other Countries to Christendome p. 4 And partly by the Conuersion of infinite heathens to the Christian faith Ibidem To whom the Gospell must be preached before the end can be p. 7 The Papists haue endeuoured much this way p. 4 4 That by Plantations the Dominions and Maiestie of the Kings of England may much be augmented p. 8 5 That the good of this I and may notably be thereby procured p 9. viz. In the 1 Easier supportation of the regall estate ibid. 2 Ridding out of the Land the ouer great and superfluous multitude thereof ibid. 3 Abating the excessiue high prices of all things to liue by p. ibid 4 Enriching the poorer sort hence remoued p. 10 5 Amending the Trade and Traffique of Merchants p. 11 6 Rooting out Idlenesse out of this Land p. ibid The fruits of Idlenesse p. 16 An Obiection answered of Idlers p. ibid Another of Idlers remoued hence p. 14 6 That the practice of making Plantations is a thing very lawfull p. 1. And very vsuall and ancient p. 176 7 Certaine Obiections commonly made against Plantations are answered as 1 Of the distance of the place p. 18 2 The wildnesse and desolatenesse of the Countries p. 19 There that Tents may serue for housing for a time p. 20 3 The badnesse and barrenesse of the soiles p. 21 There against the spoile of woods in those Coutnries 〈◊〉 4 The countries are full of wild Beasts p. 24 There what meanes
those goodly Countreys which there God doth offer to giue vnto vs and to our seed Secondly Thereby I am inabled with Ioshua and Calâ—…b Num. 14. to stop the mouthes and confute the malice of them that in my hearing like the ten vnfaithfull spies shall goe about to bring vp an euill report vpon those good lands and stay the murmurings of such foolish ignorant people as vpon euery idle hearesay or any lazie vagrants letter are ready to beleeue the worst withall thirdly I am the better prepared to informe them and others that are willing to know the truth and certaintie thereof Resp. I see there is good vse to be made of such bookes if a man will And therefore I shall from henceforth forbeare to thinke of them as I haue done and I shall desire you to lend me that booke of yours for a day or two that I may reade it ouer also Enr. I shall willingly lend you this and one after another two or three more that I haue of the like argument For I wish with all my heart that both you and all my friends were as well acquainted in them as I am Resp. I thanke you much for this courtesie But seeing you make such vse reckoning of those books it seemes that you make more account of the actions themselues that is of Plantations whereof they doe intreat which yet I euer held and so I know do many else that be men of good wit and vnderstanding to be but idle proiects and vaine attempts Enr. Without any dislike or disparagement to any other mens wits or vnderstandings be it spoken for mine own part I do professe I estimate account the Actions themselues to be very good and godly honourable commendable and necessary such as it were much to be wished might be and much to be lamented they be not in farre better sort then hitherto any of them are followed and furthered as which tend highly first to the honour and glory of Almightie God Secondly to the Dignitie and Renowne of the Kings most excellent Maiestie And thirdly to the infinite good and benefit of this our Commonwealth Three things then which none weightier or worthier can in any Designe or Proiect be leuelled or aimed at Resp. You make me euen amazed to heare of you that so great good may be effected or expected out of those Courses which of many are so much contemned and dispraised Wherefore for my better satisfaction therein I pray you let me heare of you in particular somewhat how these notable effects might be produced and namely first the Glory and Honour of God Enr. The Glory of God cannot but be much furthered thereby were it but onely that the Gospel of Christ should thereby be professed and published in such places and countries by those alone that shall remoue from hence to inhabite there where before since the beginning of the Gospel for ought we know or is likely it was neuer heard at least professed as it is now of late come to passe God be praised and we hope will be shortly in Newfound land Resp. Will be say you Me thinkes you should rather haue reckoned that among the first because that for fiftie or threescore yeeres before euer the Summer Ilands or Uirginia were heard of our people did yeerely goe thither a fishing and so the Name of Christ was there long since honoured among them Enr. But for all that till there be Christians inhabiting there wee cannot say properly that the Gospell of Christ is planted there or that it is any part of Christendome It must therefore in that respect giue place to the other before-named as which indeed were Christian before it Resp. I cannot dislike that you say And indeed any man may see that this must needs bee a great aduancement to the honour of God when as the Scepter of his Sonne is extended so much farther then it was as is from hence to those remote and vnknowne Regions Christendome will then be so much the larger And it seemes to me it will be in a goodly order seeing that as I vnderstand from England to Newfoundland and so to the Summer Ilands and thence to Virginia all is in one tract no Turkish no Heathen Countrie lying betweene But proceed I pray you Enr. This is as you see greatly to the honour of God but it will be much more if when and where our people doe plant themselues in such countries where already are an infinite number of other people all Sauages Heathens Infidels Idolaters c. this in the Plantation may principally and speedily be laboured and intended That by learning their languages and teaching them ours by training vp of their children and by continuall and familiar conuerse and commerce with them they may be drawne and induced perswaded and brought to relinquish and renounce their owne Heathenismes Idolatries Blasphemies and Deuill-worships And if for that I take it cannot be denied the Papists haue done much good that way by spreading the Name of Christ though but after their corrupt and superstitious manner into so many vnknowne Nations that liued before altogether in the seruice and captiuitie of the deuill for Better it is that God bee serued a bad way then no way at all How much more good must it needs be if the Name of the true God in a true and sound manner might there be published and spred abroad To which purpose I would to God there were among vs vs Protestants that professe and haue a better Religion then they the Papists one halfe of that zeale and desire to further and disperse our good and sound Religion as seemes to be among them for furthering and dispersing theirs Which not found for our zeale is coldnesse and our forwardnesse backwardnesse in that behalfe in respect of theirs I need not say we may feare but rather we may assure our selues that they shall rise against vs in the day of Iudgement and condemne vs. As they haue deserued so let them haue the Palme and Praise in this point For what other ends soeuer they proposed in their conquests and courses questionlesse Religion the Christian faith according to their knowledge was not the least nor the last since certaine it is They neuer set foote in any Country nor preuailed in any Coast wherein they did not forth-with endeuour to root out Paganisme and plant Christianisme or leaue behinde them at least some Monuments and signes thereof And who can tell I speake this to prouoke ours the more withall who can tell I say whether God hath euen therefore as to Iehu that rooted out Bâ—…l himselfe continuing to worship Ieroboams Calues 2. Reg. 10. 30 31. bestowed on them a great part of that successe in warres increase in wealth and honour on earth which had we stood foorth in their stead and gone before them as we should and might haue done he would more admirably happily and abundantly haue conferred on vs
a superabundant heape of glory in heauen according to that which is written Dan. 12. 3. They that be wise shall shine as the firmament and they that turne many vnto righteousnesse shall shine as the starres for euer and euer Resp. That these courses tend to the glory of God I plainly see and acknowledge But how may they be to the renowne and benefit of the Kings most excellent Maiestie Enr. These could not but much augment and increase the Maiestie and renowne of our dread Soueraigne if thereby his Dominion be extended as it were into another world into those remote parts of the earth and his kingdomes be increased into many moe in number by the Addition and Accesse of so many so spacious so goodly so rich and some so populous Countries and Prouinces as are by these Beginnings offered vnto his hands We see the Euidence and certaintie of this Assumption as cleare as the Sun-shine at high Noone in the person of the King of Spaine whose Predecessours and Progenitors accepting that which others did refuse and making better vse of such Opportunities then any else haue done he is thereby become Lord not onely of Territories almost innumerable but also of Treasures and riches in them inestimable Whose Right thereto and to the rest of that Continent be it what it may be cannot I suppose in any equitie or reason be any sufficient Barre to any Christian Prince why hee should not yet by any lawfull and good meanes seize into his hands and hold as in his owne right whatsoeuer Countries and Ilands are not before actually inhabited or possessed by him the Spaniard or some other Christian Prince or State Of which sort since yet there are many it were much to be wished That his Maiestie might in time while Opportunities serue take notice and Possession of some of them whereunto these courses of Plantation being rightly prosecuted are a singular if not the onely meanes Resp. All this is most apparant but may the like be said for your third point The good of this land likewise Enr. Yes verily Whosoeuer shall but lightly consider the estate thereof as now it stands shall plainly see and will be enforced to confesse That the prosecuting and that in an ample measure of those worthy Attempts is an enterprise for our Land and common good most expedient and necessarie For First of all whereas toward the Supportation of their Regall estate for many and vrgent Necessities the Kings of this Land are oft occasioned to demand and take of their Subiects great summes of money by Subsidies and other like wayes which to many of the Subiects specially the Clergie who for the most part to such payments as things now stand pay eight or ten times as much proportionably as other Subiects doe is somewhat hard and heauy to endure This Burthen would be more easily borne and could not but become much the lighter if by the accession of more kingdoms to their crowne store of treasures being brought into their Coffers the same were borne by diuers other lands and Subiects as well as of this and the rest yet vnder their subiection Secondly Whereas our Land at this present by meanes of our long continued both Peace and Health freed from any notable either warre or Pestilence the two great deuourers of mankinde to both which in former Ages it was much subiect euen swarmeth with multitude and plentie of people it is time and high time That like Stalls that are ouerfull of Bees or Orchyards ouergrowne with young Sets no small number of them should be transplanted into some other soile and remoued hence into new Hiues and Homes Truly it is a thing almost incredible to relate and intolerable to behold what a number in euery towne and citie yea in euery parish and village doe abound which for want of commodious and ordinary places to dwell in doe build vp Cotages by the high way side and thrust their heads into euery corner to the grieuous ouercharging of the places of their abode for the present and to the very ruine of the whole Land within a while if it be not looke vnto which if they were transported into other regions might both richly increase their owne estates and notably ease and disburden ours Resp. These be motiues of some weight and likelihood but let me heare more to these if you haue them Enr. Next Thirdly Whereas at this present the prices of all things are growne to such an vnreasonable height that the Common that is the meaner sort of people are euen vndone and doe liue in respect of that they did for thirtie or fortie yeeres past in great needinesse and extremitie that there is neither hope nor possibilitie of amending this euill but in the diminution of the number of people in the land Which if men will not by departing hence elsewhere effect we must expect that God they hauing first eaten out one another by warre or pestilence doe it for them I know that much helpe in this case might be had if our Magistrates and great ones did take some good course cum effectu for the encrease of Tillage But neither thereof is there any great hope nor therein a sufficient helpe since it is out of all doubt that vnlesse it be in an extraordinary fruitfull yeere and of them now a dayes God for our sinnes sends but a few our land is not able to yeeld corne and other fruit enough for the feeding of so many as now doe lie and liue vpon it And when it which was wont to helpe feed other countries must as of late we haue to our cost both seene and felt bee faine to haue helpe and food from others how can our state bee for the commons but wofull and ill Likewise if some good course might bee taken for restraint of excessiue Fines and Rents whereby Landlords now a daies grinde the faces of the poore and draw into their own hands all the sweet and â—…at of the land so that their poore Tenants are able neither to keepe house and maintaine themselues nor as anciently such houses did to relieue others then could not the prices of all things but much abate and come downe Yet this were but an imperfect Cure The true and sure remedie is The diminution of the people which reduced to such a competent number as the land it selfe can well maintaine would easily cause not onely the excessiue height of Fines and Rents but also the prices of all things else to fall of themselues and stay at so reasonable a Rate that one might which now they cannot liue by another in very good sort 4. Consider also the great riches wealth and good estate which such who here liue and cannot but liue parcè duriter poore and hardly might by Transplantation within a while rise vnto while as they may haue otherwhere for their bad cottages good houses for their little gardens great grounds and for their
courses The Magistrates of our Land haue of late made many good statutes and prouisions for the beating downe of drunkennes for setting the poore and idle people to worke and other like but how little effect hath followed Drunkennesse encreaseth daily and laughes the Lawes to scorne Pouertie more more ariseth and idle people still doe multiply Other sinnes and disorders are sometimes punished but yet they still remaine and as it were in despite of Lawes they spread more and more abroad The reason is if a man may be bold to giue the reason of it They strike at the boughes but not at the Rootes If there were the like good Orders taken for the rooting out and beating downe of Idlenesse it selfe in our Land which can be done no other way but by Plantations both Idlenesse it selfe and all the rest of the Euils beforenamed and other like that arise out of it would vanish away as smoake before the winde and melt as Waxe against the Fire Then these blinde and filthy Ale-houses which are none other than the Deuils Dennes wherein lurke his beastly slaues day and night which all the Iustices in the Countrey cannot now keepe downe would sinke of themselues to thâ—…â—…ound Then these Tobacco-shops that now stinke all the Land ouer would shortly cease to â—…ume out their infernal smoakes and come to a lower rate and reckoning by an hundred fold Then the many idle Trades which of late are risen vp in the Land vnder colour to keepe people from idlenesse and to set the poore on worke such I say as the former Ages knew not and our present Age needes not as which serue to nothing but to the increase of pride and vanitie in the world would quickly grow out of request Then the Prisons and Sheriffes Wards would not be one halfe so full of Malefactors and Bankrupts as now they are And last of all but not the least for who can reckon vp all the benefits that this one Remedy would bring vnto our Land then should not one halfe so many people of our Land bee cut off by shamefull violent and vntimely deaths as now there are Resp. Your speeches are very probable but by this meanes so many idle people of our Land as you intimate being remoued the Plantations will then be pestered with them there as much and as bad as we are here and so those good workes be discredited and haply euerthrowne thereby It is but the remouing of euill from one place to another Enr. Howsoeuer such a Remouall made our Land which is the poynt in question shall be cleared and cured But of that extreme hurt to the Plantations that you fore-cast there is no feare For whereas there are in our Land at this present many idle persons some are such as gladly would worke if they could get it They are idle not for any delight they haue in idlenesse but because they can get no body nor meanes to set them on worke Some are idle indeed as may worke and will not They haue wherewithall to keepe themselues from idlenesse that is worke enough of their owne to doe but delighting in idlenesse and counting it a disgrace to men of their meanes to worke and labour in their vocation they will haue and hyre others to doe their worke to be their seruants and labourers which they needed not and which other men of like quality and ability that are thrifty and good Common-wealths men indeed doe not nor will doe and they themselues the while liue idlely spend their time vainely lye at the Ale-house or Tauerne bibbing and bowzing beastly sit at Cards or Tables loosely haunt idle and lewd company shamefully and giue themselues to no good practice or exercise commendably but runne on from ill to worse to the shame and discredit of themselues and their friends and many times to the vtter vndoing and ouerthrow of them and theirs miserably A third sort there are as it were a mixt kinde of people neither altogether idle nor yet well and sufficiently set aworke Of these some worke at a low and small rate many times glad to serue for any thing rather than to begge steale or starue and some of them set vp idle and pelting Trades as it were shifts to liue by for lacke of better imployment that so they may haue one way or other somewhat to liue vpon Of all these if the first and third sort were remoued into Plantations where they might haue either good Liuings of their owne to liue vpon or good imployment by others to labour vpon it is no doubt but that the most part of them would be glad of the exchange and proue laborious and industrious people to their owne good and the good not the hurt of the Countrey into which they shall be remoued And then for the second or middle sort it is not much to be doubted but that the occasions of their idlenesse taken away as I said but now they also will leaue to be idle fall to doe their owne worke as they should learne to thriue and become profitable to themselues and this our Countrey wherein they remaine and â—…e at length as much ashamed to be idle and vaine henceforth as heretofore they were to worke and labour If any continue their former lewd and disordered courses being but a few so many of their wonted Companions being seuered and gone from them there is hope that a little seuerity of the Laws which easily reclaimeth a few when on a multitude sometimes it can doe little good will and may bring them also to a better course And thus I hope you see That it is not impossible the idlenesse that is in our Land to be notably cured and expelled and that this may be done either onely or at least no way so soundly readily and speedily as by Plantations And therefore the slate of our Land considered if there were no other benefit that might arise of Plantations yet this alone viz. the rooting out and destroying of idlenesse out of the Land which else Uiper-like will in time root out and destroy the Land it selfe wherein it is bred were cause all-sufficient and reason enough why such attempts should be vndertaken and by all possible meanes furthered and hastened Resp. I cannot but like well of all that hitherto you haue said touching the goodnesse and necessity of these Actions But yet mee thinkes there may be a Question Whether they be lawfull or not For mee thinkes it should neither be lawfull for any people to forsake the Countrey wherein God hath placed them and in which they and their Progenitors for many generations haue remained nor to inuade and enter vpon a strange Countrey of which they haue no warrant nor assurance that God is pleased they should aduenture vpon it Enr. If any will make question of the lawfulnesse of such Actions Nature it selfe which hath taught the Bees when their Hiue is ouer-full to part Company and
by swarming to seeke a new habitation elsewhere doth euidently informe vs That it is as lawfull for men to remoue from one Countrey to another as out of the house wherein they are borne or the parish wherein they are bred vnto another If humane reason satisfie not for some will make doubts in cases most cleare there is diuine warrant for it that may For it was Gods expresse commandement to Adam Gen. 1. 28. that hee should fill the earth and subdue it By vertue of which Charter hee and his haue euer since had the Priuiledge to spread themselues from place to place and to haue hold occupie and enioy any Region or Countrey whatsoeuer which they should finde either not pre-occupied by some other or lawfully they could of others get or obtaine Vpon which clause wee Englishmen haue as good ground and warrant to enter vpon New-found-Land or any other Countrey hitherto not inhabited or possessed by any Nation else Heathen or Christian and any other that we can lawfully I say lawfully get of those that doe inhabite them as to hold our owne natiue the English soyle Resp. But this though I see it to be lawfull seemes yet to be a very strange course the like whereof in former Ages hath not beene vsed Enr. That this course hath beene in former times both vsuall and ancient and not as you seeme to imagine new and strange though I might proue by coniecture onely For how else had it beene possible so many so diuers so distant and so great Countries to be peopled but by remouing from one Countrey to another or referre you to humane Histories which are full of such Narrations and of them aboue all to the Romane state which from their very first yeeres ab vâ—…be condita after that Rome it selfe was builded fell apace to that practice and had euer in hand one or other Colonie One of good Antiquity and therefore not partiall and of great Obseruation and therefore regardable doth tell vs expresly That as other things common by nature so Lands so Countries for they also are a part of his omnia haue become priuate from time to time aut veteri Occupatione aut victoria aut lege either by ancient vsurpation men finding them void and vacant or by victory in warre or by legall condition or composition in peace But what need I care what such say or say not when as holy Writ it selfe tels vs very plainely Gen. 10. 5. That whereas after Noahs fioud there were no more aliue on earth of all the posterity of Adam but Noah and his sons and their wiues eight persons in all Of them only were the Iles of the Gentiles diuidea in their Lands euery man after his tongue and after their Families in their Nations And againe verse 32. Out of these were the Nations diuided in the earth that is These as they increased dispersed themselues and inhabited and replenished first one Countrey and then another as wee see at this day And this vpon warrant of that Grant which Adam had being renewed and confirmed vnto Noah and his sonnes Gen. 9. 1. Replete terram Replenish yee the earth or fill it vp againe Lastly let such but looke backe and thinke How at first wee the Inhabitants of this Land came hither Were all Indigenae or rather Terregenae Did they at first spring vp heere out of the earth Are we of the Race and off-spring of Noah or his sonnes and therefore per conseq vndeniable as all our Histories doe accord haue come from other-where Why then should that seeme so insolent to vs and in our time which haue beene so vsuall at all times and in all Ages Resp. You haue mee thinkes well iustified this course in generall Now if you can as well cleare it in some particulars I shall haply at length bee of your minde also for the maine Enr. Obiect your particulars and I doubt not whatsoeuer they be but I shall be able reasonably to satisfie you in them Resp. The places the Countries to be planted and inhabited by vs are very farre off from hence Enr. To that I say first If neerer places cannot bee had better a good place though farre off than none at all Secondly others as the Spaniards haue and doe remoue and plant further off by a great deale Thirdly Abraham Iacob and other good men haue beene content in lesse need â—…aue that GOD so commanded to depart farre from the places of their birth as wee may see Gen. 12. 4. Acts 7. 3. and other-where Fourthly When God calls and as with vs now Necessitie doth so require good men should be indifferent to dwell in one Countrey as well as in another accounting as one said well Ubibenè ibi patria wheresoeuer a man is or may be best at ease that is or should be to him as his Countrey A very Heathen man could say Omne solum forti patria est vt pisâ—…ibus aequor Ut volucri vacâ—…o quicquid in orbe patet that is Vnto a valiant-minded man each Country good is his As is wide world vnto the Birds and broad Sea to the Fish And another being asked Cuius esset Vrbis answered Orbis as who would say The World at large were his Seate or City Fifthly Sister-land or as it is yet commonly called New-found-land which for the present seemeth to be the fittest of all other intended Plantations is not very farre off It is not with a good winde aboue foureteene or fifteene dayes sayle As easie a voyage in manner the Seas and passage considered as into our next Neighbour-Countrey Iland whither of late yeeres many haue out of England to their and our good remoued Sixthly Our Merchants in hope of present but vncertaine gaine doe yeerely and vsually trauaile into farther Countries a great deale and why then should any for his assured certaine and perpetuall good thinke it intolerable or vnreasonable to make one such a iourney in his life Resp. The Countries themselues are wilde and rude No townes no houses no buildings there Enr. Men must not looke still in such a case to come to a Land inhabited and to finde ready to their hands as in Israel in Canaan great and goodly Cities which they builded not houses full of all manner of store which they filled not wells digged which they digged not Uine-yards and Orchards which they planted not as Moses speaketh Deut. 6. 10. It must content them that God prepareth them a place a Land wherein they may build them Cities Townes and Houses to dwell in where they may sow Land and plant them Uine-yards and Orchards too to yeeld them fruits of increase as the Psalmist writeth Ps. 107. 39. 2. Thinke they it is no bodies lot but theirs And doe they imagine that in any Countrey wheresoeuer where now there are Castles and Towres Houses and Habitations of all sorts settled there was not a time when none of these were
it to a speedy and an excellent end But since there is little hope that they which will not see their owne shame and foresee their and theirs vndoing and ouerthrow should haue any minde or care of others of the common good I will not vouchsafe the Obseruation thereof any number in my Account but leaue it as an Extranagam to themselues and others not denying yet but that sometimes Quo minimè credas Gurgite piscis erit where is least hope there may be some helpe 12. But if the richer and better sort of our people men of good place and fashion whom God hath blessed with plenty and abundance of worldly wealth and great store of riches could be pleased and induced out of their gratuitie to God and loue to their countrey and poorer brethren therein to pare off a little of their superâ—…luities and delicacies which from their tables and their apparell c. might well bespared and bestow and imploy it vpon such good vses as these the helping and setting forth of the poorer sort the ridding and clearing of this their owne countrie which they see ouer-laid with mulritude and the planting and inhabiting of other Countries I suppose without any dammage and want to themselues they might doe a worke acceptable to God beneficiall to many and to these workes of Plantations much auaileable and helpefull I haue read of the Laâ—…edemons a people among the heathen of speciall note for their vertuous and good conditions that vnderstanding some of their neighbours in a time of famine to be in great want pittying their distresse and hauing no other wayes where with to releeue them they did by a generall consent saue one meale apeece and sent that to their needy neighbours who found themselues thereby wonderfully refreshed I would not wish that any should pinch his body and eat a bit the lesse or weare a garment the worse for this matter it would abundantly suffise and rise to a great account if those that are able and doe abound would spare I say not one meale in a weeke not two in a moneth but and it were but the valew of one weekes expences in a whole yeere which without any feeling or signe at all as it were might easily be deducted from the whole and their bellies nothing the lesse fed and filled nor their bodies any thing the worse clothed and couered Saint Paul in his time found the Macedonians so ready to well doing that in their pouertie yea their extreme pouertie their rich liberalitie abounded euen to strangers and I hope it is not out of hope that our rich English people in our time may bee induced and moued out of their superfluitie and great abundance to conferre somewhat this way on their neere neighbours and natiue countrimen Some of these or rather all these courses put in practice for Singula si valeant iuncta necesse iuueent it cannot bee there should want in common purse mony and meanes for what can want where mony wants not for thespeedy and ready expedition and accomplishment of these worthy exploits Resp. Your conceits for raising of mony seeme to me to be exceeding good and sufficient but I thinke you cannot as easily conceiue like meanes for getting of people to goe to these Plantations Enr. For getting of people to be transplanted the intended Proiect I see is That none be constrained thereunto but onely such admitted as of themselues be willing and doe offer themselues vnto it Which holding it seemeth to me it were good That either by some Proclamation or Escript in print notice of the intended Plantation together with some declaration of the benefits commodities and priuiledges which they of euery qualitie that will goe ouer to inhabit there specially the three first yeeres shall receiue enioy were giuen throughout the Land as well in euery parish Church as in euery market towne to trie who will be willing For now many heare not of it at all many because it is but a Rumour beleeue not the report thereof and in a manner all because they haue no certaine intelligence either of the present state of the Countrey to be planted or of the benefit there to be had and of the manner of proceeding therein regard it not This way present triall would be made who would giue in their names to that end and if the Inland doe not yet the Seacost townes like enough would somewhat hearken vnto it 2. Thereto it would also further much I suppose if therewithall some good order might bee setled in euery Citie and Hauen towne within the Land whether they that dwell neere thereto might repaire for Conditions and Agreements about theirhabitation otherwhere Transportation thither When men must seek for very notice only of these matters 100 miles or more it makes them weary to thinke of it All the helps that can be had for easie safe certaine and commodious notice and remouing will be all little enough and exceeding requisite and behoouefull 3. Likewise if order could be taken that the remouing of those that depart hence might bee principally made in some parts of the Land one yeere and in some another that so all that vpon good notice thereof had and taken be fet therehence to be remoued might be remoued all together at once or at twice at the most This probable it is would cause many to be more willing then otherwise they will be to depart hence while they shall see some good store and companie of their kinsfolkes friends neighbours and acquaintance to goe away together with them For going into a strange place men cannot but as it were naturally desire both to goe and to be there with such as they know before and are formerly acquainted with rather then with meere strangers and be fearefull to commit both themselues and all that they haue wholy to those that they neuer saw before Fourthly This could not but be a good motiue and incouragement to many but a farre greater this if speciall order shal also be taken that those that shall depart hence be supplyed most carefully and sufficiently with all kind of prouisions fit and necessarie for the life of man which those parts and Countreys yeeld not as Food and Apparrell Corne to sowe and plant Cattell great and small for breed and other vses Iron edge-Tooles Armour c. that so hauing all such necessaries duly and ordinarily brought vnto them they may haue euerie thing in their Markets to be bought and sold some-what like as they were vsed to haue them here in England And this must be continued not for once or twice only nor at an Harbour or two but in euerie part of the Plantations and from time to time till the Plantations shall be able of themselues to stand vp and continue without them If people may perceiue such order to be setled and like to be carefully obserued as it will well comfort the friends of the departed
wont to doe So it is with Shopkeepers they har◅ly can finde any place where to set vp Shop all places being already full and ouerfull Little vtterance of their ware can they make and are oft informed to take mony so much vnderhand that they can hardly get or saue thereby 2. If their owne distresse and present euill state will not preuaile sufficiently with men of these qualities to moue them to goe considering that such must be had and of some sorts of them great store for without thē no Plantation at all can any where be made such courses may and must be taken partly by the bettring of their estates there with promise and assurance of some good portions of lands houses and benefits if they will goe and partly by impairing of their estates here with lesse worke and worse vtterance if they will not goe as may make them either willing or at least content to goe Resp. You haue spoken much concerning people to be had for a Plantation that for this matter I thinke you haue no more to say Enr. Yes very much For all these hitherto mentioned though they be a multitude indeed and enough to make a very large Plantation out of hand yet without others conioyned with them will they bee for the most part but a rude and silly multitude You haue forgottē it seemeth so had I too almost no maruell for I finde them of others but little remembred one sort of people most needfull of all others to be had I meane Ministers of the word of God For whom if care be not taken that they may be had and being had that they may forthwith and condignly be prouided for which is after the example of God himselfe who in diuiding the land of Canaan laid out the Lot of Leui with the first and that a faire and goodly one too as you reade Num 18. and 35. in vaine may we looke for any notable blessing from God vpon the Attempts If they be altogether omitted and neglected or shifted off for the present with faire words or led on a little with beggerly stipends a profane kind of pay and not made partakers and that in ample sort with their people of such meanes as they doe liue vpon viz. Trade Turfe and Tithes farewell good Ministrie there for euer Their portions once seized and setled in the hands of lay men as too much experience shewes here at home will neuer in good and due manner and measure bee gotten out againe Wherefore as it is necessary and fit that the countries be presently distinted into parishes so withall and more then so necessary and fit it is that the Ministers part be allotted and laid out with it A thing at first before proper and priuate rights be setled as easie I hope to be had as to be asked for which how much the better it is effected so much the better and the more be we well assured shall the worke the maine worke prosper and please God Resp. But doe you thinke it not lawfull to prouide for the Ministers of the word otherwise then by tithes which many will hardly yeeld now in the time of the Gospel to be due to them by Gods law Enr. Whether Tithes be due De iure diuino I leaue to Diuines But taking that onely which all be agreed vpon that is that the Minister must haue a very competent liberall and certaine Maintenance which cannot be lesse then the Tenth For allotting thereof whether they shall like better to follow the example of our owne Progenitors the ancient Inhabitants of this Land who imitating God himselfe in his practice before touched as we may see with our eyes euery where though a great part thereof be now taken from the Church by impropriations and abridged to the Church by Customes Prescriptions and other like did not account the Church to be sufficiently prouided for vnlesse besides Tithes and Oblations it were endowed with some faire portion of good and conuenient ground called the Glebe or in stead of both both Tithes and Glebero allot and allow the Church a full Tenth of Ground onely I meane the tenth part of euery mans Tenure as he that hath a thousand Acres of ground to allow an hundred of them to the Church and so to pay no tithe at all as which would be more troublesome to the Minister to gather and more grudging and laboursome to the parishioner to lay out as we finde by daily experience here in England I see no great cause why any should refuse or dislike it For either way the Minister may haue a very sufficient stable and certaine maintenance Resp. This latter way Ministers of Churches shall be too much encombred with husbandry and distracted from their studies Enr. They may easily auoyd that if of the whole they reserue out for their owne Table a reasonable quantitie onely as their Glebe here in England and diuide the rest into Tenements which they may let to other men that may yeeld them rents and fines as doe Tenants here in England to their Landlords after which sort also there be in England some lands belonging to Benefices with Cures Resp. I haue made you digresse a little too much happely by my so many questions I pray you therefore now returne to that you were saying Enr. Besides these Ministers of Churches whether it shall not be requisite that as great a number almost of other Schollers for the teaching of children and training vp of youth as well in the Languages as in all other good Literature be likewise procured and sent forth for as it is not fit so indeed it is not alwayes possible the Ministers alone should vndergo this charge also I leaue it at large to euery mans consideration Resp. That such men viz. Ministers and Schoolemasters should be had it must needs bee granted to bee most requisite and necessary but I beleeue it will not be very easie to procure them For Schollers now a daies are most of them of a tender breed and such as will hardly brooke the Seas and England is prouided of many good meanes of Maintenance for them and therefore they will be loth to seeke after lesse and worse otherwhere Enr. To furnish the Ministerie and Schooles the Vniuersities of our Land solicited therevnto cannot doe l◅sse then send forth either of them yeerely some few and it be but two or three apeece And there are few Diocesses in the land besides which hauing in them diuers sufficient and able men in those functions not yet in any measure competently prouided for may not also doe the like And fit and necessary it is that for the incouragement of men at the first to these imployments there should somewhat more then ordinary shares as I may say that is some what more then what will hold but while their breath holds be proposed and offered to men of that ranke For in them also the old saying happely will bee
Countrey Parish twentie or thirtie Housholds at the least Which begun with such conuenient distance and sufficient amplenesse of ground annexed may admit in time a double or treble increase And thirdly To haue and set vp among themselues all manner of Sciences Trades Handicrafts and Employments necessarie and conuenient for the cohabitation and life of Man Resp. This would require a greater number then yet you haue spoken of I thinke so great out of all question as in all England is not to be had Enr. I am not of your mind Few men doe well consider what a number for such a purpose in all England is to be had if there were once good courses taken for the hauing of them For my owne part truly I am fully perswaded That there are few Townes and Parishes in England but haue in them of all sorts one and other that might to such a purpose be spared enough to make and plant in such a sort as I haue said before as great a Towne and Parish in some new Plantation as that within England in which at this present they doe dwell and abide A number I suppose sufficient presently to furnish at large more then all any one Plantation that is now in hand Thirdly The attempts at the beginning specially cannot but be liable to some dangers of the Enemie If then their number be but small and they goe forth as hitherto by scores or hundreds Alas what strength can they be of either to subdue the Borderers or resist the Inuaders The Aduersarie may wait a time at his best leasure when they are growne a litle worth the rifling to displant them of their seates and as to the French in Terra Florida the Spaniard did to dispatch them of their liues Whereas if they goe out by thousands or ten thousands as all good Plantations should and euer haue done First They shall be able to withstand and if need be to subdue the Naturalls adiacent and then within a few yeeres partly of themselues and partly by the assistance of their Confederates which the stronger they see ours to be the firmer no doubt will they be vnto them they will by Gods blessing and aid be so well fortified by Land and prouided by Sea that they shall as little need to feare any forraine forces there as we God be praysed doe here and happely grow no lesse famous for martiall and ciuill policie both in that Continent then our Nation is in this Fourthly Now it is a fit time and we are well at leisure for such a purpose to attend such an employment whereas if any trouble if any warres by Sea or by Land should arise vs here And doe we thinke or are we sure these Halcion dayes will euer hold we should haue neither time nor meanes to spare to prosecute any such businesse abroad As therefore a man that will build a great House must follow it closely while the Summer lasteth and the weather is faire lest the Winter come on which will both hurt and hinder his worke so it is good for vs in this faire time of Peace and Summer like weather of leisure and libertie to follow these businesses with speed lest in time we say Had we thought this We know Pòst est occasio calua This is a point of that worth and weight that it alone me thinkes should be enough to stir vp all England to take heed that she doe not sit still Iudg. 18. 9. and let it slip out of her hands For as saith the Poet Nec quae praeterijt cursu reuocabitur vnda Nec quae praeterijt hora redire potest That is Nor can the tide that 's eb'd and gone int's proper course reuoked be Nor can the time when once it 's past returne againe we plainely see Fifthly If this worke should be intercepted by any vnexpected accident before it be brought to some perfection that is That the present Plantation may if need be for a time subsist of it selfe in what a miserie should they be poore wretches that haue aduentured the first attempt And which God forbid who can tell if we dally and delay and make not greater speed thither and thereabout then yet we doe whether some other Nation of better spirit and worthier resolution may not to our great shame and confusion step in before vs and stop the gate against vs Sixthly Besides the setting forth by great numbers is no small incouragement vnto them that doe goe forth for the present and a notable inducement to others as vnto a hopefull businesse to second them from time to time hereafter whereas on the contrarie as experience plainely proues this going forth by handfuls discomforts them that be sent away emboldens the Aduersarie disâ—…redites the Action and But who can reckon vp all the euils thereof discourageth euerie one that heareth thereof to aduenture either his person or his purse in it as doubting lest the attempt come at length as other-like heretofore haue done to iust nothing and that they which are thither gone are as banished or condemned persons but cast away These causes and reasons considered I rest confident that it is necessarie there should into these Plantations be remoued yeerely for a time ten or twelue thousands at the least Whom these satisfie not I might send to the Bee-hiues where they may obserue that the smallest swarmes doe seldome prosper but the greatest neuer lightly faile or to the Locusts of the Earth in whom Salomon Prou. 30. 37. noteth this for a point of their excellent wisdome that they goe forth by heapâ—…s or great troupes But not resting thereon though these naturall experiments are not to be despised I will remit them to one of the greatest Politicians that euer was among men I meane Moses a man full of the Spirit of God and all wisedome who conducting the Children of Israel to the Landward of promise a Land formerly inhabited a Land alreadie builded and planted a Land reasonably well cleared of Woods and wild-Beasts yet tels them whose number was not small as this one instance may declare viz. that when they came out of Aegypt there were of them men besides Children and Strangers Sixe hundred thousand and this withall that when they passed into the Land fourtie yeeres after vnder the hand of Ioshua out of two Tribes and an halfe that dwelt on this side Iordan there went fourtie thousand men of warre to assist the rest that therefore the Lord would not destroy their Enemies all at once but by little and little lest the wild-Beasts of the Field should increase vpon them Deuter. 7. 22. Whence they may gather That if so great a multitude were in Moses opinion with the least to inhabite an emptie Land of no greater Continent and spaciousnesse then that was and it were but for feare of the increase of the wild-Beasts against them and therefore vpon good pollicie and for a time it were better some of the men of that
Land the former Inhabitants were suffered to remaine among them till themselues were more increased then may not so small a number as we commonly send into our Plantations suffice thereto and that some greater number then any yet I haue intimated rather then a lesse all things considered were rather more requisite and necessarie Resp. This the remouing of so great a number will be a great weakning and impouerishing to our Land Enr. No none at all For first The strength of a I and consisteth not so much in the number of people as in the aptnesse and ablenesse of them vnto seruice Now whoso will not be blind cannot but see that this multitude whose remouall should chiefly be intended is neither apt for want of education being of the ruder sort nor able for want of meanes being for the most part of the poorer sort to strengthen vs. There may be more doubt of them rather lest in time of Peace they raise tumults and fall to vproares for their bellies sake and in time of Warre lest they ioyne with the Enemie and take parts against vs for our pillage and liuings sake then hope that in Peace they will inrich and benefit or in trouble assist and strengthen our Common-wealth and Countrey 2. If Number onely bee respected it will no whit be empaired but rather bettered not diminished but augmented in that so great a Multitude of vs being planted otherwhere shall become as it were mother England ready and able vpon all occasions to ioyne with this Indeed if such a number and multitude as is needfull to be remoued should either die in our Land or be translated out of our Land into some other Princes dominion the want of them might happely be some losse and lacke vnto our Land yet when for forty or fifty yeeres agoe it was not so ouercloied and pestered with multitude as now it is it was not found God be thanked to want strength but abiding still subiects to the same king and members of the same dominion being made by the benefit of Plantation more auaileable to the one and seruiceable to the other then before so farre is it off that the absence and want of them shall weaken that out of all doubt it shal notably strengthen our Land 3. As for the impouerishing of the Land this way there is thereof nor probabilitie nor possibilitie seeing the greatest number of them whose Transplantation is most necessary are they that aboue all other doe for the present by their abiding here impouerish and begger it For on them is bestowed yeerely the greatest part of all that money the summe where of is almost inestimable which is by Ouerseers and Churchwardens in euery seuerall parish of the Land collected and distributed And whereas of this sort of people this superfuous number there are increased among vs out of all doubt here in England alone within these fiftie yeeres not so few as an hundred thousand I say not persons but families I presume if view thereof were made it would appeare that among them all there would hardly be found one thousand of subsidie men as you may perceiue by the state of our owne parish and others neere-adioyning wherein if there bee now any more subsidie men then were in the Queenes time they are such onely as are of the ancient inhabitants and tenants and not one or scarce one of the late and new increase 4. If there doe remoue hence any of the better and richer sort that shall and may carry some store of wealth with them as there must if euer there be any good Plantation indeed any where yet the number of them both will and need be but few in respect of the rest and whatsoeuer the Land is damnified by that they carry with them it will soone be recompensed partly by their absence partly in the estates of those which shall be by hauing their liuings and some other of their meanes inriched bettered by their remouall and lastly by the commodities and benefits which from and by such cannot to this Land but redound againe out of the Plantations Resp. But the reuenues of the Crowne must needs be by this meanes extremely spent and diminished Enr. That the reuenues of the Crowne of England should thereby be exhausted or empaired seemeth in mine eye so improbable that altogether contrariwise it seemeth and must needs be the readiest way and surest course that can be exceedingly to augment the same both at home and abroad At home in that they which remaine behind shall the Land being thus disburdened and cleared the better reape to themselues the benefit of the Land and so grow and increase in wealth that they may be inabled to pay to his Maiestie with the more â—…ase and alacritie in more quantities his dues and impositions whereas now what by the great charge they be at for releeuing many of these that now encomber their parish on the one side a charge not so small in many parishes yeerely as their part of one whole Subsidie to the king and what by the extreme fines and rents whereto their liuings and the high prices whereto all things to liue by through the excessiue multitude of people in our land are rackt and raised on the other side euen they that haue reasonable good liuings and meanes are so kept downe and as it were eaten out from time to time that they are worse able now then either they or their predecessors for thirtie or fortie yeeres past either to keepe house or pay impositions and dueties required Abroad while as probable it is that by the good of Plantation they which goe away from hence very poore may within a little while become very rich they that here were but needy of meane estate may there arise to be as we terme men of substance and good abilitie Subsidie men themselues and so yeeld profit and pay to the Kings Coffers in such store and plentie that by Gods blessing attending on mens indeuours the income thereto from such onely that I speake nothing now of what may in great probabilitie arise by those great hopes of pearle metall-mines c. may within a little time equall if not surmount the present reuenues which now all England yeeld whereby by the helpe of God for of the euent if the fault be not in our selues there is no doubt his Maiestie shall haue lesse cause then hitherto to be either chargeable or beholding to his subiects at home and yet be as rich in treasure and as well stored in money and meanes for wealth as any Monarch in Christendome Resp. I haue heard some men better learned then my selfe say That the truth is neuer better cleared and manifested then when by aduersaries of the truth seeking to darken it it is oppugned contradicted which I see verified in our Conference For the longer wee talke the more I finde mine errour and ignorance and the more I obiect against you the better appeares
at this present are so ouergrowne as I may say with that pestiserous wâ—…d Idleâ—…esse and so giuen to immoderate ease and quietnesse that it is not possible almost to moue them to heare of any Plantation which they conceiue cannot be effected as indeed it cannot without much labour and paines taking without industrious endeuours and much diligence It is reported by Authors of good credit of Hannibal that Hammer as I may wel terme him of the Romans That his army and souldiers were more hurt and disabled to martiall affaires by his suffering of them to lie and liue in Capua a City of Italy but one halfe yeere in idlenesse and luxury then the whole Host of the Romans had done in some whole yeeres before We must not greatly maruell if our so long continued rest and peace from warres and warlike imployments our vnspeakable idlenesse and dissolute life haue so corrupted and in manner esseminated our people generally and for the most part that they cannot endure the hearing much lesse the doing of any laborious attempts of any thing that shall be troublous or any whit dangerous vnto them Resp. What remody may there be for this perillous disease Enr. None or at leâ—…st none better I thinke then a Plantation as I shewed you the first day at large Resp. Hâ—…ue you any other cause to alleage for our backwardnesse this way Enr. Yes The immoderate loue of our owne Ceuntry Euery man almost is so as I may say 〈◊〉 therewith that it is almost impossible vpon any aduantage to get them out of it Resp. And blame them nâ—…t You know I am sure the old saying Fâ—…mus 〈◊〉 alieno lucâ—…lentior The smoake of a mans owne Country is cleerer in his eies then the fire of another And you haue read bow the children of Israel hauing dwâ—…lt in the land of Aegypt some two or three hundred yeeres whereby it was to them their natiue Country that albeit they were therein most cruelly oppressed by the Aegyptians yet when Moses came to deliuer them they were not easily drawne to goe out of it and that to a good Land a Land that flowed with milke and hony and how once or twice being well on the way they were ready to make head to haue returned And therefore no great maruell if our English people bee so loth to goe out of a good land so good a land as England is a land to which scarce any in Christendome is comparable and to goe into they know not what wilde and desolâ—…te Countries Enr. That you say were somewhat to the purpose if it were purposed that they should remoue which doe enioy and eat the good and fat of the land But seeing they are either chiefly or onely intended to be remoued hence that haue nothing here but need and misery they that haue not a foot of ground to rest vpon nor a house to put their head in they which by the extreme dearth and want of necessaries for mans life are ready to pine and perish they haue little reason to be so in loue with that Country that is so much out of loue with them that shee seemes rather a stepdame then a mother vnto them and to refuse and forsake that Country which will bee to them a kinde and louing Mother indeed that Country that is ready to receiue them with both her armes that Country where they may if they will haue abundance of that which here they want that Country which will vouchsafe them such liuings and meanes to liue by as they are sure in England they shall neuer attaine vnto as if they had neuer heard that vbiâ—…nque benè ibi patria wheresoeuer a man is or may be best at ease it is best to account that for his Country and that it is but meere vanity for men to preferre the soile of any Region before themselues In a word all that you say or can say for this point is as farre out of the way as if you would say because children haue beene borne and bred vp in their fathers house therefore what need soeuer they haue and how bad maintenance and keeping soeuer they haue there yet they ought not nor haue they any reason to goe out of that their fathers house and to passe into other elsewhere tanquam in Colonias as into new Colonies or Habitations there to be prouided for and to liue in farre better sort Resp. I see mine ouersight and that all this hath formerly beene touched but that either ignorant corruption or partiall affection so blinded and ouer-ruled me that I could not so well perceiue it as now by this your Repetition and Recollection thereof I doe Enr. Of this matter then let this suffice And if you haue any thing else to enquire of proceed vnto it if you please Resp. I haue heard both you and others say there be diuers Plantations now either already in hand or to be taken in hand if we will and I pray you tell me by Name what and how many they be Enr. They are these as neere as I can remember New-found land Summer Ilands Virginia Guiana New England and as I heare of late New Scotland too Resp. What so many Then there cannot want opportunity of plantation for our people if we be not wanting to it And God forbid that so great an opportunity or rather so many and all so faire opportunities for that also you haue already shewed should bee ouerslipt and neglected It may bee feared if they should God would not be pleased therewith For what can be doe more for vs then to make vs so many and so faire offers for our good from time to time as one that loueth our Nation if we will see it and is willing by spreading of it into sundry parts of the world to make it famous and great vpon earth Enr. You say very well Happy therefore shall we be if wee make vse of it Resp. But now I pray you tell me what manner of countries those are Enr. I haue already done that also if you remember well our first daies labour by shewing what good is in them to be hâ—…d and by answering your Obiections pretended against them as if they were not worth the accepting Resp. I remember thâ—…t well But my desire is that you would relate vnto me the state of those Countâ—…ies particularly one by one Enr. That were an endlesse and a needlesse labour Endlesse for that it would require more then one or two daies time thereto and needlesse for that it is already done better then I can doe it againe in seuerall bookes or descriptions of those Countries set forth by other men such as haue either found out the Countries themselues or desire to farther our Plantations therein vnto the which let it suffice that I remit you as by which you may be satisfied for this point at full and that at your best leisure Resp. That is a matter of cost to buy such bookes Enr.
aduanced to places of preferment and gouernment there and haply approue not altogether vnworthy thereof Further what shall the poorer sort doe there by themselues without some and that some store of others better stored in money and meanes then they that may employ the poorer sort and set them on worke whereby they may be able to get money to sustaine them and theirs 3. And euen in our times it is not so vnusuall a thing as you seeme to vnderstand it to be for you may soone learne if you will but a little inquire That in our time also diuers men that had reasonable good meanes and Liuings here haue remoued into Ireland and planted themselues there to their great good and preferment And thus you see that the cloake you haue made you of vsage and custome will doe you as little seruice to couer your backwardnesse as Adams and his wiues aprons made of Fig-leaues to hide their nakednesse Resp. If that be but bad I haue a better My wife will not beare to goe any whither beyond Sea and therefore for her sake though I were willing my selfe I must be content to abidâ—… as home and end my 〈◊〉 in England Enr. This indeed is somewhat I hearkned for it long since I know it is a point that pincheth many and makes them more vnwilling then else they would be Women be vnwilling and their wiues will not endure to heare of it Yet this knot is noâ—… so haâ—…d twisted but that it may be vnâ—…wined I hope Or if it be â—… 〈◊〉 knot yet the sword of Alexander can hâ—…w it in peeces To this therefore I say thus 1. Women also haue vnderstanding and many of them doe vnfainedly feare God And therefore being well put in minde of their dutie which is To forsake father and friends and to cleaâ—…e vnto their husbandâ—… and that so inseparably That nothing part them but Death it is not vnlikely but that at length they will yeeld and not vtterly refuse that which they cannot lawfully refuse how haâ—…d soeuer at first it seeme to them to be and how loâ—…h soeuer they are to doe it if they might lawfully leaue it vndone 2. They also doe naturally and â—…enderly loue their children and posteritie and wish and desire their good Probable it is therefore that when they shall thorowly vnderstand that such a trauaile may nay will certainly be a meanes to prouide good estates for them and theirs for euer such as by no possibilitie nor probabilitie are here to be had they will be perswaded at length to aduenture as the hen to saue her chickens and the Pellican to feed her young if need should be their life and bloud 3. When the examples of worthy Matrones women of faâ—…e greater esteeme and estate then they that haue done the like as of the Ladie Sara in accompanying Abraham from place to place till her dying day and that sometime with the perill of her life and her chastiâ—…ie of Mistresse Rebecca in foâ—…saking her fathers house and all her friendâ—… to goâ—… out of Mâ—…sopatamia into the Land of Canaan to be wiâ—…e to a man that she had not seene to Isaac the sonne and heire of Abraham before named and of Rahel and Leah the daughters of Laban that were ready to goe from their fathers with Iacob their husband they knew not whither and others â—…ny that in sâ—…red Histories are mentioned iâ—… is likely they will not think themselues too good to doe the like nor be afraid to imitate them in this fashion To these worthy Precedents I could adde out of humane Histories not a â—…ew worthy imitation and commendation in this case as namely Queene Elianor wife to King Edward the first King of England who her Husband going a long and very dangerous voyage of warfare viz. into the Holy Land would by no meanâ—…s be perswaded to tarie at home but would needs accompany him sâ—…ying Nothing must part them asundâ—…r whom God hath ioyned together And The way to heauen is as neere in the Holy Land as in England And that worthy Spartan Dame the wife of Panteus a Noble man in Greece who being retained by her parents and other friends by force that she should not goe with her husband into Aegypt within a while after secretly stole away by night and got shipping to carrie her to her husband with whom she continued there cheerefully and contentedly till his dying day And it cannot be but that when they shall see some and heare of more of their owne Neighbours and Country folkes English Women as they are that doe and will goe the same voyages their example and present practise will be such a speciall Motiue euen to those that be very vnwilling either to accompany or follow them assured they shall doe no worse then they doe as there will not need many more arguments thereto 4. There be also diuers and sundry causes in consideration whereof as S. Paul 1 Cor. 7 6. in one case allowes by consent of both parties some of them may be borne with for a time and permitted to remaine behinde that at the second or third râ—…turne of their Husbands all impediments that at first hundred being remoued they may goâ—… ouer with them also without any farther delay Fifthly if any bee vtterly so obstinate and froward or selfe-willed that no reason no perswasion no example seene or heard of no respect of duty will preuaile with them there is farther remedy to bee had that is that on them bee inflicted ' Paena Desertricis such punishment as is fit for those that vtterly and wilfully forsake their husbands Resp. What penalty or punishment is that Enr. That I leaue to those that haue authority as to inflict it so to appoint it as they shall see instant and necessary occasion to require A new kinde of sinne may haue a new kinde of punishment as oft Ex malis â—…oribus bonâ—… leges Of euill manners haue risen vp good lawes Resp. You haue pressed me so farre and by your speeches preuailed with me so much that I haue nothing more to say for my selfe why I should not goe vnlesse I should say that to you which somâ—… haue said to me of late but I am loth to doe it lest you should be offended Enr. What is that let me haue it I pray you in any wise For it shall not offend me I warrant you Resp. Seeing you so earnestly and effectually moue me to goe Why doe not you your selfe goe also you that so fame would haue others to goe should also goe your selfe Enr. You shall haue my answer thereunto very willingly that so you may the better bee able to answer those that goe about that way to stop your mouth and make stay or delay for themselues Resp. That is the end for which I purposely and principally moue the question Enr. My answer is this First though it be not of necessity that euery one must goe
thereof wonderfully and withall our Seamen and Souldiers for seruices by Sea and so to gaine vs in time the freedome soueraignty and safety of the Seas beyond all other nations whatsoeuer 13. It is likely to yeeld vs many rich and necessary Commodities for our Land which now our Merchants doe fetch as farre or farther off at a dearer rate or with more danger a great deale then there or thence they shall 14. Beeing first and forthwith planted by vs it may bee a meanes of the furtherance of the rest of our Plantations intended which from thence may haue many supplies and which may serue for a resting place for the refreshing of those that goe to or from them this being as it were in the mid-way and high way to them all 15. It is very necessary for our Land because if it should through our negligence and backwardnesse bee intercepted by any other Nation it would bee as ill a Neighbour to England as being accepted by vs it may be a good And namely it would hazard the destruction and ouerthrow of all the rest of our Plantations which can hardly stand without this and the losse for euer of our fishing voyages there which these fourescore yeeres we haue frequented and enioyed which losse alone would be euen the vndoing of many of our Sea-cost Townes in England that doe now liue much by them 16. Last of all diuers honourable and worshipfull persons haue already begun seuerall Plantations in that Country and so laid the foundation of so famous and notable an attempt as all after ages shall haue cause I doubt it not to commend their valour and honour their memory With whom â—…f others or which were much to be wished if our whole Land would ioine the worke could not by the blessing of God vpon so blessed araction but luckily and speedily prosper Resp. Who I pray you are those worthy persons that haue made the first aduenture of planting there Enr. They are these First the right Honourable Henry Lord Cary Viscount Falkland and now Lord Deputy of Ireland hath begunne a great and faire Plantation there some few yeeres since and is well pleased to entertaine any such as will aduenture with him either in purse or in person vpon very fit and reasonable conditions Secondly the right Honourable Sir George Caluert Knight and principall Secretary to the Kings most excellent Maiesty hath also a very large and goodly Plantation there which though it be as yet but in the Infancy viz. of not aboue 5. or 6. yeeres vndertaking yet doth it already well flourish in a place well fortified and secured wherein are some hundred people or thereabout in habiting and emploied in building of houses ridding or clearing of grounds for pasture arable and other like vses and in making of salt for the preseruing of fish and diuers other seruices And his Honour is likewise well pleased to entertaine any that will either aduenâ—…ure with him or serue vnder him vpon very fit and faire conditions Thirdly Master Iohn Slaâ—…y of London Merchant and some others with him haue maintained a Colony of his Maiesties subiects there for diuers yeeres past Fourthly diuers worshipfull Citizens of the City of Bristoll haue vndertaken to plant a large Circuit of that Country and haue had people there inhabiting these 5. or 6. yeeres with good and hopefull successe Fifthly Master William Vaughan of Tarracod in the Countie of Carmarthen Doctor of the Ciuill Law hath also done the like and hath within these two or three yeeres last sent thither diuers men and women that doe inhabite there and prosper well Sixtly some other worthy persons there are that be aduenturers in the said Plantation whose names yet I know not By all which you may vnderstand that there is already a faire beginning of this worthy worke and that they which henceforth shall goe thither shall not be the first that shall aduenture to dwell there Which considered may bee a good Motiue to others to follow them and to ioyne themselues vnto them assured by the manifold experiments of those many and worthy persons as haue already aduentured their fortunes and meanes there and that in seuerall and farre distant parts of that Land that the Country is very habitable and good for a present and speedy Plantation Resp. These be good Motiues indeed for the aduancement and hasting of this Plantation And I like them so well that if I were but twenty yeeres younger then I am I thinke I should be like enough to see it my selfe and that now I cannot yet I shall be willing if I once see the same well set forward what I may to animate and perswade others my Children Kinsfolke Friends Allies and Neighbours thereunto as vnto a place and action that is likely to proue greatly to the good of all them and theirs for euer that will ingage themselues therein Enr. So doing and but so doing you shall doe well For assure your selfe you shall thereby much further the honour and glory of God benefit your natiue Country and people doe good seruice to our renowned King and Soueraigne and highly gratifie all those that haue vndertaken so honourable and excellent so necessary and difficult an enterprise But now answer mee one question as I haue done many to you Resp. I will if I can what is it Enr. What lets you notwithstanding your age but that you may goe also your selfe and see it and inhabit it too if you please as well as if you were 20. yeeres younger then you are Resp. Being so farre stricken in yeeres as I am I am not very willing to trauell into other Countries but am content and desirous too to end my life at home and let them that be young strong and â—…y goe for they are fit for it Enr. You are not so old and broken with age that you may say as father Barzillai did to Dauid 2. Sam. 19. 35. when he offered him more then an ordinary fauour I am said he this day fourescore yeere old I cannot discerne betweene good and euill nor hath thy seruant any taste in that he doth eat and drinkâ—… I cannot heare any more the voice of singing men and women and I shall bee but aburthen to him that would pleasure me If you bee come to this state you shall by my consent haue A placard of â—…ase to abide at home or Bill of Dotage to trouble you no farther Resp. Truly I cannot so say I am reasonable strong and healthy yet I could rather say almost as old Caleb did to Captaine Ioshua Iosh. 14. 6. As strong as I was for 20. yeeres agoe so strong well neere am I yet I thanke God and am as apt and able for trauell and employment My senses are good and my â—…ic sight serues me almost as well as euer it did Enr. Then are you as fit to goe in such a businesse as euer you were and fitter too in some respect by your age Your