promote and increase Traffique and Commerce the Examples of so many prudent Princes and States and the Experience of the Kings and Parliaments of England for this 300 years past might serve But I shall demonstrate by good reason and unquestionable authority when opposed that this one expedient shall remove all the considerable impediments of Trade in a short time dam up the current of much of our Expence upon Foreign Growth shall reduce our confused Trade to a method improve the native Growth of the Country to its height as to Value at home and Credit abroad shall rescue our Trade managed by foreign Stocks into our own hands shall increase His Majesties Revenue and enable his Subjects of Ireland to farm it upon terms more to the Kings profit and conveniency and the Kingdoms benefit and content and to advance considerable Sums upon the Security of any Branch of His Majesties Revenue when his Affairs shall require it And I will further undertake to demonstrate that all other Expedients without this shall never attain these Ends let a Parliament pass all the Statutes of England for the incouragement of Trade in Ireland it shall signifie no more than good Laws without Courts of Justice to execute them for though Interest prompts people to Industry yet it neither qualifies nor governs them in right methods to attain their ends A stragling Trade managed by particular persons each striving to advance his private Interest though to the ruine of the Trade in general and obstructing it in other particulars can no more make a Country flourish in Trade than a stragling Army without Discipline and Order can preserve its peace But designing brevity I shall only assert that Ireland is now much more able to erect govern such a Trade than England was about 300 years ago when Ed. 1. incourag'd it and Ed. 3. established by Charter the Company of Staplers or Merchant Adventurers which was the Mother Company of England and all it enjoy'd until Philip and Mary erected the Muscovy Company yet that one Company removed the Staple from foreign parts to our own ports and soon after the Clothing Trade from Flanders whereby the Growth of England especially the Wools were improved to 5 and 7 and in some cases after the Worsted-trade of Stuffs and Stockings was attained to ten times its value I am not unsensible that this Work will meet with opposition from some particular persons whose private Interest may seem to be invaded by it for so did that ancient and beneficial Company of Staplers in England as a Monopoly intrenching upon the Liberty of the Subject to the Parliaments in Hen. 4. Hen. 7. Edw. 6. and Queen Maries time yet all parties being heard those Complaints were quash'd and the Priviledges of the Companies ratified and enlarged Yet again in Queen Elizabeths time the importunity of the Clothiers prevailed against the Company but after a short tryal the Clothing Countries were ruined to that extremity that in the 29th of Elizabeth the Lords of the Council sent for the members of the Company and desired them to reassume their Priviledges and cheerfully proceed in their Trade and they should receive all possible countenance and assistance So in the Reign of King James Alderman Cocken of London c. prevailed to have the Company dissolv'd but after two years confusion Trade so miserably languished that the King published his Proclamation Anno 1617. for the Restitution of the Company to its ancient Priviledges In like manner King Charles the first observing the decay of Trade from the confusion intruding Interlopers brought upon it publisht his Proclamation Dec. 7. 1634. Whereas we have taken into our Princely consideration the manifold Benifits that redound to this Kingdom c. and finding how much Government and Order will conduce to the increase and advancement of the same We have thought fit with the Advice of our Privy Council to declare our Royal Pleasure herein c. and then positively and largely prohibits any to intrude upon the Companies Priviledge upon pain of his high Displeasure and of such Punishments as the Court of Star-Chamber whom We especially charge with the Execution of our Royal Pleasure herein shall think fit to inflict for such Contempts After this the 11th of March 1643. both Houses past an Ordinance intituled For the Upholding of the Government of the Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers of England c. near to the same effect as His Majesties Proclamation before recited And as Corporation Traffique hath procured all the flourishing Trade England now enjoys so the Portugals Dutch c. have thereby altered the whole course of Trade that Venice had with India Arabia and Persia Venice being the ancient Mart for the Commodities of those Countries now buy of us so the English Levant Company hath wrested the India Trade from the Turks and now sell where Venice used to buy And that which gives England and Ireland the advantage in Traffique is the staple Commodities they sell necessary for Life as Flesh Fish c. for the Belly Cloth Stuffs c. for the Back that in most Countries England trades with they wear Englands Woollen Livery eat in English Pewter Seasons and Sauce with Englands Indian Spices shod with English Leather there is no Clothing in Spain esteemed like the English Bayse and Stuffs nor no Food exceeds the English Herring and Pilcher Sweden Denmark and all those cold Northeast Countries within the Sound to the bottom of the Baltick keep themselves warm by English woollen Cloth and all this obtained by vertue of Englands Trade by united Stoks and Policy For in little above 100 years Europe was so far from trading with the East and West Indies the West were unheard of as I shew in my Treatise of Traffique and the East unknown otherwise than by report to our Mariners and Merchants Italian and Spanish Merchants were esteemed great Adventurers until the Turkie and East India Companies were incorporated by Queen Elizabeth who God made instrumental not only to reform Religion but to regulate and advance Trade Englands and Hollands true Religion and potent Trade came together God grant they never go together it is worthy our observation how the mighty flourishing Monarchy of Spain since Charles the 5. and his Son Philip the 2. hath dwindled away and decayed in Fame and Potency since they erected their barbarous Inquisition which banished their Trade and Wealth to England and Holland that Antwerpe and Sevils Ebb tide in Trade hath made it full Sea at London and Amsterdam and as England and Holland hath gained their Trade and Wealth by being Receptacles and Shelters of persecuted Protestants so will the contrary lose it the Italians have a proverb He that would improve Italy must destroy Milan that is disperse the multitude of Artists there setled to the other Cities that want them which nothing so naturally effects as Persecution Let them beware they lose it not by persecuting them and driving them away The
Health increaseth and that this is Irelands present case is manifest for if it be considered that before the last Rebellion the Irish Interest was potent 1. The Irish were far the greater number of Proprietors of Land possessing ten Acres for one whereas now of the Ten millions eight hundred sixty eight thousand nine hundred forty nine Acres returned by the last Survey of Ireland the Irish Papists are possest but of Two millions forty one thousand one hundred and eight Acres which is but a small matter above the fifth part of the whole and as the Proprietors of Lands so is it in their Plantations for where there was one English Planter before the last Rebellion 1641. it is judged there is three now and in several of the principal Counties next adjacent to England as Wicklow and VVexford where there was ten Irish Papists to one English Protestant the odds now lies on the other hand 2. Before 1641. their Interest in the Lands and Popularity of the Inhabitants necessitated the Government to admit them to all County-Offices as High Sheriffs Justices c. wherby they had opportunity to encourage the Irish and discountenance the English but now not one Irish Sheriff or Justice in the Kingdom 3. Before the Rebellion the chief Inhabitants of all principal Cities and strong Towns were Irish Papists who bore all Offices and managed the chief Trade of those places all which places are now planted or at least governed by English Protestants 4. Before the Rebellion those Freeholders and Proprietors of Lands there were in Ireland were not the Kings Tenants but derived their Titles from the Irish Noblemen and Gentlemen which contracted an immediate dependence upon them and kept an awing influence over them for though the Kings of England were owned as Lords of Ireland yet the Lords of Ireland ruled as Kings and were so stiled by the Kings of England as is observed by Sir John Davis out of several Records saith he They governed their people by their Brehon Law they made their Magistrates and Officers they pardoned and punished all Malefactors they made War and Peace one with another without controlment and this to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth pag. 13 14. So Hovendon p. 312. and were not entirely subjected to the English Laws until the 9th of King James but had that learned Observer lived until the 12th of Charles the Second he would have admitted Ireland was never entirely subjected to the Crown of England nor the Lands of Ireland never properly called the Kings Land until the Act of Settlement then past as Sir Audley Mervin then Speaker to the House of Commons in his Speech to the Duke of Ormonde called that Act Irelands Magna Charta it exceeding all former Grants of the Kings of England and former Submissions of the body of the People of Ireland in these particulars 1. As a free Act of Grace when His Majesty was under no politick Obligation but what meer Grace and Bounty mov'd him to which never any Grant before was for though they were still stiled Acts of Grace yet Reason of State interposed for them which will be easily granted if the State of England and Ireland be compared at the time of those former Royal Confessions when the Irish still treated with their Swords in their hands or at least hid where they knew how to find them if they were not answered in their expectation as in the History of Desmonds and Tyrones c. Rebellion is manifest 2. Former Grants did only dispose of some Countrys or Lordships to some few persons who depended upon the Crown and all others upon them but this of the whole Land that was not before disposed of whereby there is more Tenants to the Crown settled by this Act above forty for one than by any former Grants 3. Not only the Lands of Ireland but all the Cities and strong walled Towns are secured in hands true to the Crown of England by this Act that never were before 4. By this Act there is a Revenue secured to the King sufficient to maintain a compleat Army to preserve the Peace which never was before Therefore I argue the state of the Interest not only of the Crown but of the Kingdom of Ireland is altered as to the Freehold Interest above double nay treble to what it ever was before the English being in possession by that Act of four millions five hundred sixty thousand thirty seven Acres and the Irish but in two millions three hundred twenty three thousand eight hundred and nine so that if the majority of Proprietors may give the denominations to a Country which usually it doth Ireland is become West England Besides this the governing party universally professeth and only incourageth the English publick Worship it is governed by English Laws enacted by English Parliaments and administred by English Judges guarded by an English Army and governed by English Ministers of State to that degree it never was before and all this administred by the absolute Commission from the King of England and must it yet be kept under and esteemed of as an Irish Interest and Country when the very Nature and civil Constitution of Ireland is altered and proportionably ought the Wealth and Prosperity of it to be promoted by England for these Reasons 1. It is the Interest both of the Crown and People of England to enable the English Interest of Ireland not only to support its self in peace but to defend its self in war which nothing but promoting its Trade and Wealth will do especially the Wealth of its Cities and walled Towns for the increasing its Wealth in the Fields doth rather increase its danger by enouraging the needy Natives the rather to rise when they observe how easily they can possess themselves of so great a Booty but the Wealth of the Cities and strong Towns which is the trading Stock of the Nation is secure and ready to be imployed in the defence of their King and Countries Interest when in danger besides they are the only security and refuge to the distressed English when banished from their Country Habitations and these places of strength cannot subsist without Trade and Manufacture but by more chargeable Garisons than the Revenue of Ireland will bear And what Ireland cannot do in order to its safety England must supply to prevent its own danger for if ever an Enemy surprize and possess Ireland especially the French England must maintain a greater standing Force to secure themselves than would have preserved Ireland if imployed in its Defence it is not a groundless proverb He that would England win must with Ireland first begin and if the French who hath already the opposite Coast and Harbours from Dunkirk to Brest ever obtain Ireland they will then surround three parts of four of England and a great part of Scotland so near that in a few hours they may invade what part they please which would necessitate England to be at the charge of
party in expectation matters might go better with them upon the Settlement than they feared the chief Contrivances of the people of each Faction being how to wipe themselves clean with each others foul Clouts by alledging something to extetenuate their own and aggravate others Offences 2. The great Confusion the Duke found that Kingdom in at his landing all Interests being unsettled and Minds unsatisfied both which were necessary to be composed and determined before the Improvement of the Kingdom by Trade could be thought on for till men knew their Interest in the Country as to their real Estates they had little reason to be much concerned in improving their personal Uncertain Titles to Lands are always attended with certain omissions of Improvements for men are not willing to build Houses for others to dwell in nor to improve Lands for others to possess Which was then more notoriously the state of the Inhabitants of Ireland in general than usually befalls a Country which will appear if you do but weigh the many distinct and contrary Interests producing several violent opposite Factions and Parties that Ireland was under at the Dukes access to the Government And for your Information or Satisfaction herein take this brief view of the state from the year 1660. to the year 1662. the Duke arrived 1. The Irish themselves notwithstanding the body of them could not be unsensible of their Guiâ—â— in the bloody massacring of so many hundreds oâ— thousands of English in cold blood yet they alledge their Displeasure was not against the King nor against the Kings good Subjects but for theiâ— own preservation against the fury of the Puritâ—â—â— party then so much favoured by the Parliament of England and therefore they hoped the worst construction would not be put upon their Actions but that the edge of that sharp Law of Decimo Septimo against their Estates passed by the King under some sort of necessity to satisfie the discontented people of England might be blunted A second sort of them that pleaded they were not concerned in the bloody Massacre and first Rising for they tendred their Service to the Crown till they observ'd the Commotion to be so general and themselves so far suspected they were not trusted that they had only choice which party they would be ruined by and therefore fell in with the rest of their Country men hoping by their Interest in their Councils to prevent further Extremities and to keep them in a capacity of accepting reasonable terms of Submission to the Government of England A third sort pleaded they accepted of the Cessation 1643. and closed in with the Peace in the years 1646 1648. and from that time were faithful to the Crown and bore Arms in the defence of its Interest against the Usurpers and many of them after they could do the King no further Service in Ireland served under the Banner of his Friends beyond Sea without the least defect until the time his of Majesties happy Restoration and from thence they concluded they had made amends for all their former faults There were a fourth sort who though least in number yet most deserving that pleaded Innocency as without any defect in the whole Transaction and they expected not only their own Estates but Reparation for past Sufferings And as these several Interests and Factions of the Irish thus divided them into parties so was it with the English Protestants 1. The unspotted Royalists that both in the English and Irish War never served under other but the Kings Banner they expected to be both first and best provided for who had a special provision made for them though not what they expected by the Act of Settlement under the denomination of the Forty nine Men. 2. Such who had served the King faithfully in his Wars in England and Ireland until the Kings Government was removed and then accepted of Imployments under the Usurpers in Ireland and these were generally known by the denomination of the Old Protestant party 3. They which seemed to be the most considerable both for Number and Interest being possest of the chief Imployments both Military and Civil at the Kings Restoration was the new Interest of Adventurers and Souldiers the first claiming Propriety by the Act of Decimo septimo and the other by their Service against the Irish in which they alledged they had done the King good Service though by his Enemies Commissions and they being suspicious the Lands of Ireland would not hold out to satisfie the Expectations of all those Interests it begat Factions both between the Adventurer and Souldier and between each party among themselves Those Adventurers that had payed their Subscriptions in due time pleaded Priviledge before those who failed in that point then the original Subscribers found themselves aggrieved the douâ—â—â—ng Ordinance men should invade their first Security so amongst the Souldiers those then in Arms pleaded in consideration of their good Services in the Kings Restoration they deserved to have the Kings Favours in the the Act of Settlement limited to such as were mustered in the next Muster after the Kings Interest was avowed but the others alledged they never intended to bring in the King until they had run themselves into such confusions in their Counsels and Convulsions in their State they knew not what to do which gave a fair opportunity to those Royallists amongst them in that shuffle of the Cards to turn up the Kings Interest Trumps Now these many different Interests rendred the work of Irelands Settlement both tedious and difficult that required both a skilful and tender Hand to compose for these contrary Interests produced contrary Humours which until the â—â—ke of Ormond landed work'd to that height 〈◊〉 opposition that every Eye was filled with envy and every Brow with indignation one against the other that if they met on the Road or passed by eâ—â—h other in the Street contempt and prejudice to a strange degree might be read in their deportment yet all the Factions unless that termed Fanatick bore up with a competent confidence but the generality of that party seemed to be much dejected every day more and more withering in their hopes in so much that many of them were preparing for voluntary Exile some to Plantations in America others into Holland or such parts of England as they supposed obscurity might give them most quiet and safety and in order thereunto sold considerable Interests in this Kingdom at very low rates some giving one moyety some loss to Favourites at Court to secure the Remain to themselves But soon after understanding that the Act of Settlement was neer perfected and that His Majesty was gratiously inclined to make no considerable distincton of Interests therein nor exception of persons included in his gratious Act of Indemnity â—â—d that the Duke of Ormonde who of all men had been most disobliged by the late Powers they feared would have been their greatest Enemy was the most concerned to secure their Interest
VII Jesuitical Principles the cause of Irelands mischiefs and miseries therefore their interest to explode them above all the Papists in the World p. 258 A brief Narrative of all the Jesuits Treasons against their English Sovereigns from Hen. 8. to this time wherein is observ'd not only the miseries in Ireland but Englands and Scotlands troubles were promoted by them p. 259 to 264 Their Oath of Confederacy in their last Plot p. 265 The pernicious influence of that Plot though disappointed 266 267 His Majesties great tenderness and indulgence towards Dissenters for 20 years past p. 267 268 Dissenters respect to the Protestant Church of Ireland as now established how far p. 269 Dissenters the most dangerous Hereticks in Ireland to Papists p. 270 The great advantage Vnity in Loyalty would be both to Papists and Protestants in Ireland p. 271 An Alphabetical Table of the principle things in the first Part. A. ADventurers and other estated Absentees drain Ireland of Cash p. 84 85. Apparel extravagant ruines a Country pag. 20 21. Apparel of Silks destructive to Ireland Apparel spruce and costly in the meaner sort many ways inconvenient besides its Charge p. 27 28. Apparel spruce and rich contemned by many wise and potent Princes p. 30 31. Ale-topers their Charge to Ireland p. 55. B. Baronets when instituted and how to be qualiffed p. 16 17. Bastards their great Charge to Ireland p. 45 46. C. Court of Wards well regulated useful to Ireland and for what p. 12 13. D. Debaucheries their Charge to Ireland p. 37. Drunkenness the grand Wealth-consuming Debauchery p. 51. It s Trade ruining and Wealth-wasting influence p. 54 to 57. Drinking to excess is as sinful in them able to bear drink as others sooner distempered p. 60. Drunkards c. are the proper Fanaticks p. 61 62. Drunkenness disdained and grievously punished by Turks and Pagans p. 63. Drunkenness the ruine of States and Armies p. 64 to 69. E. England no pattern for Ireland in Expences and why p. 22. Effeminacy attends Debauchery p. 48 49. F. France gains by their fantastick Garbs and why p. 19. G. Gentry their bad Payment to Tradesmen ruines Trade p. 10 11. Gaming its pernicious Effects p. 42 43. H. Holiness-Ceremonial crowded Holiness-real out of the Church p. 70. Honour when disgrac'd p. 14 15 Healthing the great provoker of Drunkenness p. 58 59 Its sinful p. 60 I. Ireland not setled till when p. 2 3 4 Jesuits their under ground work p. 3 L. Laws Sumptuary p 23 24 Needful in Ireland p. 26 Laws Mercanture necessary to govern Trade p. 10 Laws Common too delatory for Trade ibid. Laws against Absentees p. 86 87 M. Merchants Honourable p. 8 9 Merchants few wealthy in Ireland and why p. 7 Merchants low esteem in Ireland lowers c. Trade p. 8 Manufacturies ruined by Silk worn in Ireland p. 20 Merchants Forreigners their damage to Ireland p. 81 82 N. Nobility when ignoble are the shame and ruine of a Country p. 12 13 14. O. Oaths prophane their provoking destructive nature p. 38 39. P. Perjury its sad Effects p. 41 42. Prophane Swearing the mother of false swearing p. 40. Perjury abhorred by Pagans first tolerated by Popes p. 41. Perjury will never be esteemed a mortal sin whilst prophane swearing is esteemed venial p. 42. Pagans their cruel Laws against Adultery p. 49 50. Prophaneness of Christendome whence p. 69. Prophanenists their Faith blasphemous and fanatical if any they have p. 74 75 76. R. Rome the Fountain of all Prophaneness and Debauchery of Christendom p. 72 73. Revenue farmed to Foreigners great loss to the Country p. 80. S. Swearing prophane its sad Effects p. 38 39. Superfluities not regulated ruines a Country p. 18 19. Strumpets to be prescribed their Apparel p. 29 30. Shipping foreign a great Charge to the Country p. 83. T. Trade its Impediments p. 1 to 11. Trade Ireland not capable of till when p. 4. V. Victuals their Plenty obstructs Trade and Manufacture p. 5 6. W. Whoring its Charge and Damage to Irelands Trade and Wealth p. 44. Destructive to Kingdoms and States pag. 48 49. Wine-bibbers their Charge to Ireland p. 5. ERRATA BY mistake of the Author and mislaying of some Papers occasioned by Business which took up his time delayed the Publication of this Book there are some Errors escaped the Press which is made good by reprinting such Leaves over again or where any were left out as between p. 95. and p 96. the several pages are denoted in the Contents by p A and p B c. calling the first p. A the second B c. which the Reader is desired to mark with his Pen. And for Miss-spellings or other Literal escapes I shall leave to his courtesie to correct and only note what harms the Sense which the Reader or rather Bookseller may soon correct with his Pen. PART I. Page 20. for families read females p. 17. for Couler r. Coller PART II. Pape 29. for confine read consigne p. 57. for Minister r. Ministry p. 190. line ult for Object r. An Answer p. 234. for 1612. r. 1600. ibid. for 812. r. 800. p. H. for momentary r. momentous p. 115. for Stilling fleet 106. r. Stillingfleet 206. Advertisement to the Binder At the end of ** in the Epistle Dedicatory there wants the Direction viz. Plebeius g g the Quarter sheet in G Part 1. is to be placed after f f in Part 2. E e the first leaf to be cancelled the last leaf of F f to be cancelled the last leaf of M m to be the first of E e N n fol. 195 196 and 199 200. to be cancelled O o fol. 213 214 217 218 221 222. to be cancelled the said leaves of N n and O o being reprinted THE INTEREST OF IRELAND In its TRADE and WEALTH Stated CHAP. I. The Reasons why Ireland being so long under the Government of England whose Policies in Trade are inferior to few Countreys should yet be so little improv'd in Trade and Wealth 1. FRom the Impediments or Obstructions Ireland hath met with and is subject unto not common to other Countreys The first and chief Impediment proceeds from the unsetledness of the Countrey as to its subjection to England's Government for though they have long prosest Allegiance to England's Crown yet they have paid but a grudging partial obedience to its Scepter And upon all occasions less or more general have been attempting to draw their necks out of England's Yoke as it s briefly but fully evidenced by Sir John Davis in his Intelligent Book dedicated to King James Intituled A Discovery of the true cause why Ireland was never intirely subdued to the Crown of England and he determines until the 9th of King James Ireland was never fully setled in subjection and obedience to the English Law and Government And if we take a view of the State of Ireland since then and allow the Reign of King James and part of King Charles the First to be
maintain their 〈◊〉 Arrayes be it therefore Ordained by the Authority of this present Parliament It is true as England increased in Trade and Wealth so the rigour of these Laws slackned not that it was best they should do so but indulged as a more tolerable evil which the Realm was better able to bear yet to this day the middle sort of people in England are much more modest and sparing than those of the same Rank in Ireland Now whether it may not be convenient so far to revive Sumptuary Laws as may give some Restraint to the great Extravagances of this National Consumption that so threatens the Impoverishing of this Kingdom is worth the Governments Consideration And when Ireland arrives to the same state of Trade and Wealth of England then these Enormities will be more tolerable but as the case now stands the same Reason that governed our Ancestors herein ought to bear sway with us But this Extravagancy in Garb is not only thus ruinous and destructive to the Wealth of Ireland but also is accompanied with many other intolerable Inconveniences First The most God-provoking Sin of Pride for which the most dreadful Judgments of God hath laid waste and ruined Nations as Esay 3 c. is manifested by this Immoderateness in Garb. Secondly This Extravagancy of the meaner sort provokes the Nobility and Gentry to that height of Excess herein to the weakning of their Estates that the same Patrimony their Ancestors lived plentifully on kept noble Houses did many good Works and yet increased their Estates without raking their Tennants they cannot live on without running greatly into Debt some of them till Tradesmen will trust them no more and all to keep themselves distinguished from their Inferiours Thirdly It ingenders Emulation or rather Disdain in the minds of those of higher Degree against the meaner sort when they observe they cannot put themselves into any Garbe or Mode but they will be in it nay out do the gravest of them Fuller tells us of Sir John Collthrop a Norfolk Knight in the Reign of Henry the 7. sent to his Taylor at Norwich as much Cloth of the Mode-colour as would make him a Garment which a Shoomaker seeing imployed the Taylor to buy him of the same which so vext the Knight that he caused the Taylor to pink his Garment full of Holes which cured the Shoomaker of his proud Humour he vowed never to be of the Gentlemans Fashion again But let the Knight now change his Fashion once a month the Shoomaker will vie with him if all the Shooes in his Shop will pay for it Fourthly It abates and wears off that due Reverence and Respect Inferiours owe to Superiours for my Gaffer thinks himself as good a man as my Lord when he observes himself as fine and where neither of them are known shall contract as much Observation and Respect Fifthly This unlimited Extravagancy of the meaner sort is the chief cause of our intolerable consumption of Foreign Manufacture for the Nobility and Gentry are not the twentieth part of the number that consume our Foreign Silks and Modes and their Consumption would not be felt by the Nation if the other were restrained and injoyned to wear our own Manufacture it would treble the damage by imploying our own poor and consuming the Growth of the Country which would inrich the Tennant and proportionably raise the Rents and value of Land Sixthly It necessarily raiseth the Wages of all Artists Labourers and Servants for they may better afford to work for two thirds of their wages and live better of it if it were not for the excessive increase of the Charge of their Families by this vanity of living higher and being finer And this increase of Wages is the greatest Tax on the Nation though the receiver is made no richer only sprucer and lazyer Seventhly This spruce Garb of both Sexes especially the Female is the greatest inticement to those filthy Lusts of the Flesh this age wallows in as that Debauching Custom of Healthing is the great provoker to the swinish sin of Drunkenness so this spruceness of Garb and Apparel is the great allurement to those abominable Adulteries so shamelessly practiced amongst us For when the Debauches of a place observe mean mens Wives and Daughters adorned above the Ranks and Estates of their Parents or Husbands they fancy they are designed for Invitations to incourage them to attaque their Chastity and find themselves not always mistaken That it would be seasonable to revive that Law or Custom in use amongst the Hebrews that all persons convict or notoriously fâ—med for Strumpets should wear one sort of Attire which custom made Judah suspect his Daughter in Law Thamor when he saw her in the Attire of an Harlot to be one And in the year 1353. the Parliament of England on the Petition of the Mayor and City of London past an Act that no infamous Woman should wear any Hoods or other Attire upon her Head but stript Cloth of divers colours Stows Survey of London p. 553 We have not only abundant testimony in the Old Testament of these notorious Remarks put upon lend Women in the Jews Common Wealth but the Heathen themselves by Light of Nature provided against the same evil The Romans had their Law Oppia that no Woman of what degree soever might have any Ornaments or Jewels bove half an ounce weight of Gold nor wear any rich or gorgeous Attire c. which Law was made when the Punick Wars were at the height in the Consulship of Fabius about the time Annaball won the Victory at Canne and distressed Rome but about 20 years after in the time of Portius Cato c. the Roman Dames clamour'd against it In the defence thereof Cato made a large and vehement Oration what would they have saith he marry this that they may glister in their Golden Jewels and shine in their purple Robes c. that they may not be stinted in their excessive Expences in dissolute Profusion in costly Varieties and Supefluities c. Many a time saith he ye have heard me complain of the wastful and sumptuous Bravery of Women and as often have you heard me inveigh against the lavish spending of men not only private persons but Magistrates also and how this City of ours is sick of two contrary Diseases to wit pinching Avarice and superfluous Prodigality two Plagues I say that have been the bane and overthrow of all great Monarchs and flourishing Empires c. To conclude saith he my opinion is that at no hand the Law Oppia be repeal'd and so I pray all the Gods to vouchsafe a Blessing on you †Titus Livius p 1686. c. Oh! what miserable Christians are such that are so far from Modesty or Shame that they glory in those enormities moral Heathens were ashamed of that would rather let Common Wealth sink and Posterity be ruin'd than abate their Prodigality and Excess Zalencus the Lawgiver of the Locrians made
amounts to 78732 l. 12 s. per annum and it is judged the Estates of his Royal Highness the Earles of Corke   Anglesey and Strafford with other Noblemen and Gentlemen of England by old and new Titles draw over as much more both which is per annum 157465 40  which they spend and lay out in Purchases in England c. which for 15 years amounts to  2361978 0 0 So that this one drain if no sluce can be contrived to stop its current must necessarily draw Ireland dry of Wealth if all the forementioned impediments were removed which our predecessors have long groaned under and several strict Laws have been made to prevent it as in the third year of Richard 2. Sir John Davies gives an account of an Ordinance made in England against such as were absent from their Lands in Ireland which gave two thirds of their Profits to the King until they returned to Ireland or placed a sufficient number of Englishmen to defend the same Which saith he was grounded upon good reason of State and was put in execution for many years after as appeareth by sundry Seisures made thereupon in the time of Richard the 2. Henry the 4. Hen. 5. and Hen. 6. whereof there remain Records in the Remembrancers Office here amongst the rest the Duke of Norfolk himself was not spared but impleaded upon this Ordinance for two parts of the Profit of his Estate and afterwards himself the Earl of Shrewsbury the Lord Berkley and others who had Lands in Ireland kept their continual residence in England were entirely reassumed by the Act of Absentees made the 28th year of King Hen. 8. thus much Sir Jo. Davies p. 199.   And though it might seem hard these Laws should now be executed yet it is harder a Nation should be ruined and if themselves be necessarily detained in His Majesties Service or by their greater concerns in England yet why they should not consign their Interest in this Kingdom to their younger Sons c. or be engaged some other way to spend a good part of their Rents here is not easily answered unless private mens Interest be to be prefer'd before the publick for this is a burthen this Kingdom will not be long able to bear   I might also insist upon the great expence this Kingdom is at in educating the Sons of most persons of Quality in the Inns of Court and Universities in England and Foreign Countries which is computed to cost this Country at least 10000 pound per ann as also the necessary Attendance of our Nobility and Gentry at Court besides the Expences of their Persons and Retinue their Charge for new Honours Offices and Estates computed to 10000 pound per ann is for both per ann 20000 0 0  which for fifteen years amounts to  300000 0 0 7. The chief Governors for eight years of this Period aliens to Irelands peculiar Interest their Salaries and Perquisites at least per annum 12000 l. their Attendants and Dependents coming and returning with them estimated at 1000 l. per annum both which for the said eight years amounts to  104000 0 0 Add to this the voluntary unnecessary expence of this Kingdom in foreign Manufactures c. as stated Chapter the second is per annum 267500 0 0  which for fifteen years amounts to  4012500 0 0 As also the Expence of Debaucherys treated of in chap. 3. computed at per anum 294000 0 0  which for the like time amounts to  4410000 00 00 There is also to be added as a yearly Charge in case of the Chief Governors being a Foreigner to Irelands Interest 13000 0 0  The yearly Charge of Ireland is per an 913465 4 0  The total for this Period is  13512660 10 A Consumption great enough to begger rich England much more poor Ireland   The End of the First Part. THE INTEREST OF IRELAND IN ITS TRADE and WEALTH STATED PART II. Proposing Expedients for Ireland's Relief against its Trade-obstructing and Wealth-consuming Maladies hinted in the first Part. By Richard Lawrence Esq Dublin Printed by Jos Ray for Jo. North Sam. Helsham J. Howes W. Winter and El. Dobson Booksellers 1682. An Alphabetical Table of the principle things in the second Part. A. THe Act of Parliament of 17 Car. 2. Irelands Magna Charta and why p. 49 50 Army of Ireland to be managed for the planting of the Countrey and how p. 97 Army of Ireland how it ought to be qualified p. 114 115 Aliens why Protestants of England are to be so esteem'd to the peculiar Interest of Ireland p. 115 to 122 Apostates first from Primitive Purity and Truth in Religion who p. 218 to 220 Antichrist who so esteem'd by Popish Authors p. 206 to 221 B. Of Banks p. 1 2 3 4 Bankers their Insolvency hath been a great damage to Ireland p. 4 Bank East-India its Constitution p. 7 Bankers great benefit by their united Stocks p. 8 Banks prosperity depends on the Princes countenance p. 9. Banks universally useful to a Countrey lowers Interest Exchange and nurseth Manufacturies p. 10 11 Banks secure Peace rescue Trade out of Forreigners hands increase Shipping Fishings c p. 12 13 Banks accommodate persons of all Ranks and Trades p. 16 17 Bank methods of managing p. 37 38 Bank Security is most visible solvent and freest from trouble and hazard p. 35 Babylon mystical where p. 220 221 C. Corporation Trade the foundation of the great Trade of London Amsterdam Venice c. p. 17 Corporation Trade raised the Hance-Towns of Germany p. 18 Corporation Trade still enrich'd the place of its residence p. 25 Governs the Trade of the Countrey p. 32 Catalogue of Irelands chief Governors from ann 1271 to 1680. p. 122 to 156 Coins whether advisable to enhance their Value or debase their Alloy in Ireland p. 173 to 181 Council of Trent their Illegality c. p. 215 to 217 Christians in Asia Affrica c. of the Protestant Faith exceed the number of Papists in Europe p. 218 D. Divisions in Religion much obstruct the Trade and Wealth of Ireland p. Q. R. Dissenters ought to avoid being engaged in Factions of State p. M. N. O. Dissenters cannot rationally expect protection from a Prince or State to whom they will not give all security in their power for their Loyalty p. L. M. Dissenting Protestants not dangerous to the State of Ireland though they were as malignant against the Religion establish'd as the Papists p. I. K. L. Doctrine of Devils by whom taught p. 221 E. Englands danger if Ireland were possess'd by an enemy especially by the French Englands just Title to what they possess of Ireland p. 73 to 76 Englands Factions still weakned its Interest in Ireland p. 75 76 Establishment of Ireland p. 156 to 162 Excommunication of Princes by Popes frequent p. 233 234 Errors in Nonconformity more dangerous than errors in Conformity when p. O. P.
propagating Manufactures as I shew at large in that Treatise The second Expedient is to procure Laws against single Life enjoyning all English Protestants to marry the Males before the age of 25. and Females before the age of 22. or from that time to pay a yearly penalty by Statute to be presented by the Grand Juries and limited by the Discretion of the Bench not exceeding the eighth part of their visible Incomes to be imployed towards the maintenance of poor Orphans 1. This would somewhat restrain these abominable Fornications and Adulteries so frequent if we would take St. Pauls counsel Let every Man have his own Wife and every Woman her own Husband c. other mens Wives would not be so often debauched nor our Parishes so charged with Bastards 2. This would much increase an English Breed for the Countries Defence as I elsewhere shew ten of whom are worth twenty bred and brought up in England The neglect hereof gives the Irish a great advantage who are generally more fruitful and besides inure their Children more to hardness in their Nursings from whence they generally live whereas our nice English Women destroy their Children by too tender Nursing c. that if they live many of them are good for little but to make Carpet-Knights on though they do retain Spirit and Courage yet their Bodies are so inured to tenderness and delicacy the hardships of Winter War would kill more than the Sword 3. This would much tend to the planting our Towns for single persons content themselves with a Room in anothers House and Marriage would necessitate them to become House-keepers and Families would require their Industry to maintain but while single they live idlely if not debauchedly And in order to encourage the meaner sort to marry to countenance that ancient English Custom of Bridals wherein every person not receiving Alms in the Parish brings in something according to their ability towards the young Couples Housekeeping to the great incouragement of painful industrious young people and obligeth them whilst single to be the better Labourers and Servants that their honest Reports might increase their Bridals And further that a provision be made where Parents are not able to dispose of their Children to honest Trades to put them out Apprentices on the Country Charge which would much tend to the planting of our walled Towns and promoting the Manufactures as I shew at large in that Treatise But that which would above all other Expedients tend to the strengthening the English Interest would be to endeavour a right understanding and charitable Union betwixt all sober pious Protestants in matters of Religion the want thereof increaseth groundless Jealousies of each other and strengtheneth the Confidence of the common Enemy to the Protestant Interest that they are easily run down as in the Massacre 1641. they at first declared their displeasure was only against the Puritannical party and then only the English not the Scots but I suppose I need not inform you how soon all Protestants became the equall objects of their Fury and barbarous Cruelty Therefore by English Protestants I mean all that are not Papists and agree with the Religion established by Law in all its Fundamentals nay in all its Substantials that believe the same Creed and make the same Translation of the Scriptures their Rule of Faith and Manners and no people can be esteemed of a different Religion that agree in what is Jure Divino though they differ in some things that are Jure Humano Although they may scruple external Communion with some particular Churches yet if they retain internal Communion with the universal Catholick Church in all parts of the world they are no Schismaticks Saith a reverend Prelate Bishop Bâ—â—â—â—â—alls Vindicatioâ— of the Church of England pag. 14 15. The Communion of the Christian Catholick Church is partly internal partly external the internal Communion consists principally in these things to believe the same entire substance of saving necessary Truth revealed by the Apostles and to be ready implicitly in the preparation of the Mind to embrace all other supernatural Verities when they shall be sufficiently proposed to them to judge charitably one of another to exclude none from the Catholick Comunion and hope oâ— Salvation either Eastern or Western or Southern or Northern Christians which profess the antient Faith of the Apostles and primitive Fathers established in the first general Councils and comprehended in the Apostolick Nicene and Athenasian Creed to rejoyce at their well-doing to sorrow for their Sins to condole with them in their sufferings to pray for their constant perseverence in the true Christian Faith for their Reduction from all their respective Errors and their re-union to the Church in case they be divided from it that we may be all one Sheepfold under that one great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls and lastly to hold an actual external Communion with them in votis in our desires and do endeavour it by all those means which are in our power This internal Communion is of absolute necessity among all Catholicks p. 16. But saith he there is not the like degree of obligation to an exact Communion in all externals there is not so great a Conformity to be expected in Ceremonies as in the Essentials of Sacraments c. in the Explication of Articles of Faith as in the Articles themselves nor in the Superstructures as in Fundamentals c. p. 17. nor in Scholastical Opinions as in Catechistical Grounds not to Ecclesiastical Constitutions as to Divine Ordinances not such a strict adherence to a particular Church as to the universal So in his Answer to the Bishop of Chalcedon Essentials must not be pressed too far least we draw out Blood in stead of Milk c. it doth not follow because true Faith is essential therefore every point of true Faith is essential or because Discipline is essential therefore every part of right Discipline is essential or because Sacraments are essential therefore every lawful Rite is essential p. 4. Whatsoever toucheth not the Heart of Religion is not Schism p. 8. Saith my reverend Author 'T is a preposterous Zeal like Hell hot without Light that makes different Opinions different Religions in his Answer to S.W. p. 40. Who please to read this learned Author in point of Schism will find that he differs from those fiery Zealots that dare affirm Schism to be a greater Sin than prophane Swearing Drunkenness or Whoring c. but by the same rule they like the Religion of Bellarmine Suarez Vasquez c. for they say so better than Bishop Hall Sanderson Usher Bramhall or Taylor for not only they but all the pious Divines I have read of the Church of England are of another Opinon most of the sober Dissenters in Ireland will submit their Cause to be weighed in these Protestant Scales and own themselves for Schismaticks if their Character condemn them and it is required by the Divine Law Lev. 19.36
much less to reward him yet when his Princes State and Affairs were at the lowest ebb his Loyalty was at hihgest at full Sea rejecting the greatest proffers of Liberty and Estate from the Parliament and chose Poverty in Exile with his Prince before it as is elegantly express'd by Orinda fol. 150. You who three potent Kingdoms late have seen Tremble with fury and yet stedfast been Who an afflicted Majesty could wait When it was seemingly forsook by Fate Whose settled Loyalty no storms dismaid Nor the more flatt'ring mischiefs could disswade Yet their Proffer did him so much right as to declare to the world his Services in Ireland were esteemed by Englands Commons in their worst humour to the Royal Interest that he served as useful to the English Protestant Interest there but from these and the like causes the Crown of England hath had its Counsels more perplexed and its attempts for Irelands Reduction and Settlement more obstructed by its own people in Ireland than by the Irish themselves since the time of Edward the Sixth viz. by the viciscitude of its Government being so often under the Regiment of persons that were Aliens to its peculiar Interest and strangers to its Humours and Customs it is not rational to suppose the most judicious States-man in the world can understand the Interest and Humour of a Country he never saw before proportionable to another that hath track'd it from end to side who must see by others eyes where to place Garrisons and Quarters for the most Safety and Quiet of the Country how to understand the humour and capacity of persons fit to be imployed in the Kings Service civil or military who are the most dangerous persons which the most disquiet people to have an eye upon c. I say there are many necessary points for a chief Governour to know not to be learn'd in three or four years time the usual length of our Lord Lieutenants c. Regency and where persons have neither time to understand their Work nor to fit and whet their Instruments they must work by what performance can rationally be expected In Spencer Eudox proposeth to Iren how many Men would be a competent Army to reduce and keep Ireland he demandeth ten thousand Foot and one thousand Horse saith Eudox Where will you garrison and quarter them for the safety of the Country saith Iren Perhaps I am ignorant of the places but I will take the Maps of Ireland and lay them before me and make mine eyes my Schoolmasters to judge of the place and then proceeds to garrison and quarter his Men by the Map Saith Eudoxus This might do if you knew where to find the Enemy but it is well known he is a flying Enemy hiding himself in Woods and Boggs c. from which he will not be drawn forth but into some streight passage or perilous soâ—rd there will he lie in wait till he find an advantage and then will endanger your Army therefore to seek him that still flincheth and to follow him that can hardly be found were vain and bootless Spencer pag. 68. So Geraldus Cambriensis Chap. 38. to the same purpose compares the Difference between the French and Irish Wars shewing how far Souldiers trained up in Campaign Countries fighting pitched Battels with their Enemies always in sight would be to seek in Ireland where the Enemy rarely imbodies but at great advantages but must be driven out of their Fortresses of Woods and Boggs c. where heavy Armour and Weapons were more cumbersome than useful But saith he such Souldiers as are in the Marshes of Wales who by reason of continual War are of great experience and valiant who can endure any pains and travels who can abide watching hunger and thirst c. such kind of Souldiers were they who first conquered Ireland and by such must it be fully subdued and kept Obj. Why do you term English Protestants Aliens to Irelands Interest are we not all the Subjects of one King and Members of the same Commonwealth Answ We may be the first and not the second though the Scots are Subjects to the same King yet Members of a distinct Commonwealth that as England makes Laws to secure their Trade from Scotch Invasions so doth Scotland for the securing theirs from English Retrenchments So the twelve Tribes of Israel were all the Children of one Abraham and the Subjects of one David yet had they their distinct Interest peculiar to each Tribe the members of one Tribe were never admitted to bear rule or enjoy the beneficial Offices of another the Mosaical and judicial Law were expresly against it Numb ch 1. v. 4. And with you there shall be a man of every Tribe every one Head of the House of his Fathers ch 13. v. 2. ch 34. v. 18. Deut. 1.13 which Statutes of Israel were observed in Davids time 1 Chron. 8.1 and by his Son Solomon 2 Chron. 8.2 and so continued to the end of that Kingdom which were no ways ceremonial but moral that every man and every Country that had not forfeited their Birthright might enjoy the priviledge of it And not only Divine but Humane Laws and Policies have still observed the same where the Interest of the Prince or State was not hazarded the most ancient Monarchies as the Assyrian Persian Grecian and Roman practised it in all their tributary Countries still committing the management of the civil and military Governments of their new conquer'd Countries to the Colonies they sent to plant and guard them though they consisted not of their own Countrymen as for instance the new planting of Samaria was by people of divers Nations Ezra names nine ch 4. v. 9. as the Dinaites the Apharsathchites the Tarpelites the Apharsites the Archevites the Babylonians the Susanchites the Dehavites and the Elamites and the rest of the Nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over and set in the Cities of Samaria yet these several Nations being upon the place incorporated into one common Interest against the Jews were all intrusted with the Government and Safety of the Country as appears by their joint Letter sent to the King to inform him of the danger of his Interest in that Country if he suffered the Jews to repair the Walls of Jerusalem he would not only lose his Revenue but his Dominion in Samaria vers 13. compared with the 16th which they esteemed themselves bound to inform him of being maintained from the Kings Palace that is they enjoyed the profitable Offices and Imployments of the Country for which they received their Salaries out of his Exchequer And from hence it was Paul pleaded the priviledge of a Roman Acts 22.25 who was no otherwise a Roman but as he was born of a member of a Roman Colony sent to Tarsus to plant and secure the Country to the Roman State and thereby were endowed with the priviledge of Roman Citizens to oblige them to Fidelity and Serviceableness against the Natives who were never
their Antiquity and so frequently challenge our Protestant Divines to shew them where our Religion was before Luther should imbibe a Religion they cannot shew where it was before Loyola so many years his junior is hard to give the reason of unless it be this one that since the Light of the Gospel hath shined in the world their Deeds of Darkness could no ways be hid nor defended either by Scripture or Reason only by bloody War and cruel Inquisition by destroying the Lives of their Opponents in order to shut their eyes and stop their mouths And having thus far endeavoured to vindicate my self against the censure of Presumption in treating upon Politicks and from uncharitable Severity in my Descants on Religion I shall submit the whole to the Judgment of the charitable judicious and for the rest as much slight their Censure as they despise my Labour THE CONTENTS PART I. CHAP. I. Shewing the reasons why Ireland is so little improved in Trade and Wealth I. FRom the Impediments it is subject unto not common to other Countreys Pag. 1 1 Impediment The unsetledness of the Countrey p. 2 3 4 2 Impediment From the perplexity of the minds of the people p. 5 3 Impediment From its plenty of Provision p. 5 6. 4 Impediment From the height of the Interest of Money p. 7 5 Impediment From the lowness of Farming and purchasing Land p. 7 6 Impediment From the low esteem the generous and worshipful Calling of a Merchant is of in the Countrey p. 8 9 7 Impediment is from the lowness of the Credit of the Tradesmen of the Countrey p. 10 1. Arising from the delatoriness of Law-proceedings ibid. 2. From the smalness of their Stocks ibid. 3. From the bad payment the Gentry c. make to the Tradesmen ib. Expediences proposed for remedy of this grand obstruction p. 11 12 13 Honourable Titles are made contemptible by dishonourable qualities p. 15 Theodosius the Emperor made severe Edicts to reform it p. 16 Our Virgin Queen was careful of the Virginity of Honour ib. The Institution of Baronists by King James with their qualifications p. 16 17 CHAP. II. SHews the second Head of the Causes of Irelands not improving in Trade c is from its excessive consumption of forreign growth and Manufacturies p. 18 Why some Countreys may consume more than others with much less damage p. 19 The vast consumption of our Wealth by forreign Silks c. exceeding twenty to one above our Grand-fathers which ruine our own Manufacturies p. 20 21 France gains by their gay Attire and modes ibid. If poor Ireland imitate rich England in Garb it will be begger'd p. 22 Englands care to prevent their ruine by excess in Apparel by sumptuary Laws p. 23 24 25 The spruce Garb especially of the meaner sort besides the consumption of our Wealth is attended with many other intollerable inconveniences p. 26 27 28 Not only England but the Jews and Heathens had their sumptuary Laws by which Harlots or Women of ill fame were prescribed their Attire p. 29 30 The contempt put upon gay Clothes by the most Puissant and Wise Emperors and Princes p. 30 31 32 We consume more by riot and excess than the Kings Revenue amounts to p. 32 33 The opinion of Mr. Fuller Luther and Bishop Hall of this Childish vanity of gay Clothes p. 33 34 35 CHAP. III. OF Wealth-consuming and Trade-obstructing Debaucheries p. 37 1. Profane Oaths p. 38 39 Bishop Hall's Censure p. 39 40 Profane swearing is the preparatory cause of false swearing p. 40 The viciousness of the Papals in point of Perjury p. 41 Whilst profane Swearing passeth for a venial false swearing will never be esteemed a mortal sin p. 42 2. Wealth-consuming Debauchery is Gaming p. 42 1. High Gaming amongst the Gentry pag. 42 43 2. Chiefly peasantly and mechanick Gamesters that consume their time and money in Bowling-Alleys p. 43 3. Wealth-wasting Debauchery is Whoreing p. 44 1. The wealthier sort in their costly Misses alias Strumpets p. 46 48 It fills the Countrey with Bastards to the great charge of Parishes p. 45 The several motives to Strumpets to prostrate themselves p. 46 47 This Vice effeminates a people and unfits them for warlike Employment p. 48 Several Instances of the ruining nature of this vice p. 48 49 The severity of the Laws and punishment of this Sin by Turks and Pagans p. 49 50 CHAP. IV. Of the most Wealth-consuming Debauchery of Drunkenness THe dismal effects of it p. 51 Bishop Hall's Sentence p. 52 53 Luther's opinion p. 54 The great consumption of Wealth by our Wine-bibbers p. 54 By our Ale-topers ibid. The loss of the labour of many persons able to work employed as Drawers and Tapsters c. p. 55 The damage of our Manufactures by Drunkenness ibid. Youth debauch'd by drunken Masters and Masters undone by drunken servants p. 56 Drunkenness a sin oft inflicted upon a Nation in judgment and a fore-runner of destruction p. 57 Expedients proposed for remedy p. 57 1. Statutes against it to be executed upon Tiplers and Taverns ibid. 2. Observes how the lives and healths 〈◊〉 many persons are destroyed by it 3. The ensnaring practice of healthing t◠be restrain'd and rejected especially a◠the Tables of Magistrates and persons 〈◊〉 Quality p. 58 59 The practice of Healthing sinful both in the Provoker and Accepter p. 60 Heathens abominated and severely punish'd Drunkenness of which several Examples p. 61 Drunkenness hath been the ruine of many great Kingdoms and States instance p. 62 63 64 The opprobius Epithetes given of Drunkards by Heathens p. 64 65 Drunkenness fatal to Armies p. 65 66 67 68 CHAP. V. Observing the spring from whence all the Debauchery of Christendom flows DEbauch'd Christians worse than debauch'd Pagans p. 69 Debauchery in Christendom proceeded from the Fountain of all filthiness Rome p. 70 Holy Places holy Ceremonies c. crowded holy lives out of the Church ibid. Confest by their own Prelats p. 71 Declared by Luther in his Genealogie of the Pope as Anti-Christ p. 72 73 Consciences once seared by a custom of Immoralities can never long struggle for truth in Divinity p. 73 The present generation of Debauches in Christendom exceed all we ever read of in former ages or Pagan Nations p. 74 Some live as if they had abandoned all thoughts of future State all belief of a God Judgment Heaven or Hell They turn all seriousness either in Divinity or Morality into a Ridicule p. 76 CHAP. VI. States the intollerable charge Ireland is at by maintaining Foreigners to its peculiar interest in the most profitable Employments 1. BY the Court of Claims p. 79 2. By Farmers of the Kings Revenue p. 80 3. The Contracters for the Treasury p. 81 4. Pensions and Annuities to Absentees p. 82 5 Foreign Merchants and their Factors p. 82 83 6. Trading in Foreign Ships p. 83 7. By Absentees drawing over the Rents p. 84 85 86 87 8. The Attendants of our Nobility
vast Trade Spain had ingrossed both in the East and West Indies and in Africa they might yet have enjoyed had not cruel de Alva by his inhumane severities forced the Dutch to cast off the Spanish iron Yoke and defend their Liberties whereby as Sir William Temple observes by the great multitudes of people crowded together in a narrow compass of Land they were necessitated to improve their Industry at Sea and after the Spaniards and Fortugals who were then the Subjects of Spain had entirely enjoyed the enriching Trade of the East Indies c. as before for almost one hundred years viz. from Anno 1498. until 1595. the Dutch sent a Fleet from Amsterdam and then in 1600. the English sent four Ships viz. the Assention the Dragon the Hector and Susan under the Command of Captain Lancaster since which by the prudent Government of that Company hath equalized the Portuguies and Dutch having erected Plantations and Factories at Ormus c. in Persia at Agria Cambasan Suraâ— c. in the Moguls Country at Man Salupan Armagon Pecana Siam on the Coast of Chormandel the Isles of Sumatra Bantam c. that now they furnish Italy and Turkie with all those Indian Commodities which about fifty years ago they bought there to the ruine of the Trade of Syria and Egypt c. who have now only an Inland Trade by Caravans from Aleppo Damasco and Mecha c. And out of the Ashes of their Barbary Company ruined by the Civil Wars of Fez arose the Levant or Turkie the most flourishing and beneficial Company now in England incorporated by King James I do but hint these things here to evidence the undoubted advantage of Company Trade insisting largely upon them in my Treatise of Traffique in the Chapter of Discoveries of new Trades And that this way of Corporation-Trade has not only greatly enlarged Trade but enriched the places of its Residence we have manifold instances the ancient Company of Merchant-Adventurers now called the Hamborough Company erected by Edward the first in 1296. was courted by the Duke of Brabant to make their Residence at Antwerpe where they first settled the English Staple and had granted to them great Priviledges and made the City flourish in Trade which being observed by that inspectious Prince Edward the third he to bring the Trade to his own Ports prohibited the Transportation of Wools and granted great encouragement to Dutch Weavers to set up their Craft in England and soon after prohibited all foreign Cloth from being transported into the Realm confirmed by Edward the Fourth who settled their Priviledges by Charter in the year 1406. which hath been confirmed and enlarged by all his Successors Queen Elizabeth for the better vending their Cloths when their Quantity exceeded home Markets gave them power under the Great Seal to treat with foreign Princes and States for places to settle the Residence of their Factors and Stores upon which all the Princes and States in Flanders Holland and Germany strove who should enjoy them and wheresoever they removed they drew a vast Trade after them their present Residence is at Dortrech for the Netherlands and Hamborough for Germany where the chief Court of their Fellowship now resides they transport all sorts of Cloths dressed and dyed Lead Tin Oyl Stockens Hats Spanish Fruits and Wines and make their returns in Linnings Rhenish Wines Mather Hops Sope Wire Copper Brass Iron Steel Quick-silver Gunpowder Flax Hemp Allom Wax c. This Company hath power by their Charter yearly to elect a Governour Deputy Governour and Assistants and to settle their Residents Courts in any parts beyond Sea and several places in England as London York Hull Newcastle c. with power of making Acts and Ordinances so as they are not repugnant to the Law of England for the better Government of their Trade likewise power to hear and decide Causes to implead sine and punish Offendors This grew to be the most flourishing Company for Trade in the world until Philip and Mary erected the Muscovy Company which soon wrested a great part of their Trade from them which were at first called the Corporation for Discovery of new Trades a Design that would well sute with the present state of Ireland whose great Priviledges were confirmed and enlarged as before by Queen Elizabeth much after the method of the other and their Trade much the same and after this studious Princess for the Improvement of the Trade and Wealth of her Country added to these she found the three other Companies beforementioned viz. the Levant or Turkie Company which made the first Discovery of that vast Trade since driven in the Signorie of Venice and the Dominions of the Grand Seignior and thereby oserved the vast Trade betwixt Aleppo and other Levant Ports with the East Indies managed by Land carriage which encouraged them to enquire into a more cheap and gainful way to obtain East India Commodities at first Hand And that produc'd that most famous Country-inriching Company called the East India Company who obtain'd a Charter for great Priviledges from the Queen and hath managed their Trade by a joint Stock reported to be 600000 l. whereby they have built and maintained a gallnt Fleet of stately Ships for War as well as Burthen imployed multitudes of people in their Plantations Ships and Factories to the great Honour and Wealth of their Country And after this in the 21. year of the Reign of that most famous Queen that is in the year 1579. did she incorporate the Eastland Company and endow them with great Priviledges and Immunities to trade in Denmark Sweden Poland Prusia and Pomerland from the River Odera Eastward And it is worth observing how small beginnings in Trade beget great increase Trade like that Grain of Mustard-seed our Saviour speaks of being cast into the ground grows up to a great tree that the Fowls of the air may lodge in the Branches of it and it is also observable if foreign Traffique did live yet it never flourished in this part of the world until it was managed by united Stocks and Policies as in the forementioned instances in our own Country besides what is of the same kind amongst all our Neighbours flourishing in Trade And as in these many examples from past times evidence that they esteemed this way of Traffique the only way to increase Trade so is their Wisdom approv'd and confirm'd by the prudent in this age His Majesty that now is hath set to his Seal that Corporation-trade is the strength of foreign Traffique by his not only confirming what his Royal Predecessors before did but also by his adding the African and Canary Companies the first not only endowed with priviledge that sounds like Princely Prerogatives as power of Peace and War raising Forts building and equipping Ships of War c. to appoint Governors to constitute Laws c. and dignified with the title of the Royal Company and well they may when His Royal Highness hath bore
the naked English were massacred therefore it is the Interest of this Kingdom it should be penal in the Officers of the Army to inlist and muster any of the settled Inhabitants capable of serving in the Militia for thereby the Country is weakned in its Military strength and the King disappointed of a marching Army whereas were all persons thus qualified disbanded and the Officers prohibited listing such without special License from the General you would soon have the Foot Companies filled with young brisk Lads who would throng out of England for Entertainment which would more tend to increase and strengthen the English Interest in Ireland than any other Expedient that can be proposed As it is the Interest of Ireland to give incouragement to English Protestants to come and enjoy Military Imployments and Preferments among them so is it the same for Civil and Ecclesiastical Imployments provided still they settle and abide with us But that which is the Grievance of this Kingdom is that either Military or Civil Imployments should be enjoyed by Nonresidents or otherwise persons who only come over to enjoy the Profit of their Office and so soon as they have received what Benefit it affords to return for England and carry their Gains with them of which sort Ireland has most suffered by English Chief Governours and English Farmers and Commissioners of the Revenue and their Attendants and Dependants coming and returning with them the Damage sustained by this Kingdom in the period of 15 years thereby is computed in the Chapter of Irelands involuntary Charge and Expence And that which I shall further endeavour to demonstrate is that it is not only its damage in respect of the Charge Ireland sustains but many other ways inconvenient and prejudicial 1. For the chief Governour though there might be some reason of State in times past why they should not only be of English Blood but English by Birth and Interest yet the case is altered now and the Act of Parliament in the 10th of Hen. 7th that none but such as were born in the Realm of England should be Constables of the Castles of Dublin Trim Athlone Leistipe Carlingford Wicklow c. had no respect to the civil politick Government but the Execution of penal Laws upon Offenders those Castles being made use of as Prisons to secure dangerous persons in which is declared in the body of the Statute viz. Which Castles have been negligently kept and such as have been committed to the Constables or Keepers of them for Treason Felony c. suffered to escape wilfully to the great prejudice of our Soveraign Lord and of all the said Land therefore be it ordained and enacted c. so that other Act 23d of Hen. 8th to regulate the Election of the chief Governour by the Council on the death of the Lord Lieutenant c. until the Kings pleasure was known did not respect preferring English by Birth before English by Blood but to secure the Sword from unfit Hands who by their powerful Interest might awe their own Election and be mischievous before the King could declare his pleasure as appears by the said Act * Irish Stat. fol. 214 215. as followeth The said Counsellours have full Power and Authority by vertue of this Act to elect and chuse one such person as shall be an Englishman and born within the Realm of England being no spiritual person to be Iustice and Governor of this Realm of Ireland during the Kings Highness Pleasure if there shall be at that time any such person within this Realm c. if not then to elect and chuse two persons of the said Council of English Blood and Sirname being no spiritual person c. which I cite to refute that vulgar Error that the Lord Lieutenant c. must be born in England because otherwise he is not capable of governing in the Castle of Dublin whereas the Office of Constable is a distinct inferior thing from the Governor of the Castle but whatever reason of State former times might have the case is otherwise now for as it is shewn in the Chapter of Englands Interest in Irelands Prosperity the state of the English Interest in Ireland is changed from a weak infirm state that needed Physick to a strong healthful state that only requires Food the Propriety of Lands the Plantation of Cities and strong Towns inhabited and governed by English the Countries so planted with English as all our High Sheriffs Justices of the Peace c. all English and the English Laws are duely and equally in all parts executed by English Judges and Officers c. 〈◊〉 â—jâ—rity of both Houses of Parliament Engl◠〈…〉 was never the case of Ireland â—â—fore that 〈◊〉 â—ow needs nothing but diligent 〈…〉 câ—â—roborate and improve its advantag◠〈◊〉 which none but such who are acquainted with 〈…〉 and Constitution and thoroughly 〈…〉 prosperity are capable of 〈…〉 1. Being unâ—â—quâ—iâ—â—â—â— with intelligent persons of the several Parties they 〈◊〉 understand the various and different â—â—â—nouâ— and Interests of the people indeed if the Inhabitants were all Irish Papists or all English Protestants or were these two grand parties of entire Interest among themselves their work were more easie but as they have each their grand Interest and bond of Friendship the Papists the Interest of their Church by whose aid and countenance they expect their Succour and the Protestants the Interest of their Prince by whose Authority and Favour they enjoy all they possess yet they have each amongst themselves their different and peculiar Interests both Religigious and Civil as I shall after shew And a Chief Governour unacquainted with persons and things will find it difficult work to carry himself to the equal satisfaction of all parties with Security to the Government and Incouragement of Trade c. 2. The short continuance sometimes two sometimes three years rarely four we had three in less than eight years viz. from the Lord Roberts entring September 18th 1669. to the Earl of Essex's surrender August 24th 1677. so that by that time they understand their Work they are called from it saith Borlacy The vicisitude of Governours hath been observed by some to be exceeding prejudicial to the publick private Respects often introducing notable things in the State according to their Interests who governed not the publicks diversi Imperatoribus mores diversa fuêre studia sometimes to the degenerating of the old English into the Irish customs through their negligence and indulgence other times to the alienating the Irish by their severity from the benefit of a well tempered and orderly Government both equally destructive to the Prince And yet too long a Residence in so eminent a Place may over-heat a great Spirit if not bounded with excellent Principles Whence the Romans those great Masters of Government rarely admitted their Vicegerents to brood on a Province that their Continuance there might not increase Self-interest The longest time any continued in this Government how
honourable soever was never made up with Happiness suitable to the anxiety of their Mind and Body Sir Henry Sidney who left as clear a Fame as any man that enjoyed the Place parted with it with the words of the Psalmist When Israel came out of Egypt and the House of Jacob from a people of a strange Language Judah was his Sanctuary and Israel his Dominion intimating how little satisfaction could be took in so slippery a Place amongst such a people whose Language he knew not and variety of Interests though the most that have miscarried there have fallen through other mens Interest rather than their own failing And I judge the three last Noble persons sent out of England to govern Ireland will set to their Seals that it is not a short and easie work to understand their Humour and Interest none of them could please all and others of them very few although they were persons of eminent Parts and great Integrity both to the Crown and English Interest yet the Interest of our Trade and Manufactures so withered under their Shadow that they languish to this day of fourteen hopeful Manufactures they sound thriving they left but the stumps of one standing which hath put such a Damp upon the hopes of Success none have attempted either to erect new or revive the old since 2. They oft come with a prepossession of the danger of Irelands encroaching upon the Trade and Wealth of England and from thence rather fear than design Irelands prosperity in Trade and what our chief Governor fears we have little ground to hope for 3. As the proverb is New Lords new Laws so new Governors new Councils it is to be observed the Successor very rarely elects the Favourites of his Predecessor to be his Confidents and then that natural Emulation the Heart of man is addicted to diverts them from building on Foundations laid by others whereby some publick undertakings after a hopeful progress have miscarried to the great discouragement of future Attempts as several notable Instances might be given if it were convenient 4. By reason of their immediate Relation to and probable sudden Return for England they are most concerned so to manage the Affairs of Ireland as may consist with the present advantage of their Credit in England Now though we honour a Lover of our Country as being Englishmen our selves and glory in its Honour and Wealth as younger Branches in the Honour and Wealth of the elder House of their Family yet we may expect a younger Brothers Portion and to be trusted with the Conduct of our own Estates in Subjection to our politick Father and not under the Tutelage of our elder Brother When Abraham sent his Sons he had by Keturah from Isaac Eastward and gave them Portions he left them to manage their own Affairs We do not read that ever the Sons of Isaac or Jacob were entrusted with the Affairs of the Children of Ishmael and Esau though they enjoyed the Birthright and Blessing and it is none of the least Discouragements to English Gentlemen that have great Estates in Ireland from coming to live upon them than that by quitting their Dwellings in England they quit their Priviledge as Englishmen both in respect to their Liberty of Traffick to several parts of the World which they before enjoyed and also their Interest in Magna Charta of being being tried for their Lives and Estates by a Jury of known honest men of their Neighbourhood whereas Noblemen or Gentlemen of Ireland may be impeached in England sent for over in custody and there arraigned before Judges put upon their Tryal by Jurors whose Faces they never saw before and unto whom they are altogether unknown further than the Evidence then given in Court describes them which is an Issue few would be pleased with when it comes to be their own case especially considering the moral impossibility for persons of ordinary Estates to bear the Charge and of small Interest to prevail with necessâ—â—y Witnesses c. to go from Ireland to England to give their Testimony in their behâ—â—â— and to imagine that either Judges or Jurors of England can be equally concern'd to suppresâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 and Sedition tending to the disturbance of the Peace and Safety of the English 〈◊〉 in Ireland with English Judges and Juroâ—â— Ireland appears very improbable to such as admit 〈◊〉 safety is a stronger motive to all people than Neâ—â—hbors welfare and though England may be grieved to hear of Irelands Troubles yet the English in Ireland must certainly more sensibly feel the Misery that befalls themselves A Merchant on 〈◊〉 may be grieved to behold a Ship wherein he hath some Adventure sinking by a violent storm at Sea but the Merchants and Mariners aboard that see no way to escape from perishing with her must be under a different consternation which represents the true state of the different case 2. As there is much Reason of State against Irelands being governed by Foreigners to its peculiar Interest so have we many Presidents both ancient and modern of Soveraign Princes governing their Tributary Provinces by their own Countrymen the King of Spain discerning the Genoua's were discontented at his governing them by Spaniards c. and impatient for a King of Naples and Duke of Milan born in Italy to secure his Interest without that hazard he borrowed of them vast Sums of Mony they being great Usurers designing thereby to keep them in awe lest they should lose their Mony so the Kings of England could never satisfie the Welshmen until Edward of Carnarvan being their Countryman born was made Prince of Wales which hath since been the Title of the Kings eldest Son God himself promiseth it as a chief part of Israels Prosperity after their return from their Captivity that their Nobles should be of themselves and their Governours should proceed from the midst of them Jeremiah 30.21 which Promise was performed in Ezra's Nehemiah's and Zerkabal's Government so Moses appointed understanding and wise men who were known amongst their Tribes to be Rulers in their respective Tribes Deut. 1.13 Saith a great Statesman to King James To hold Ireland in better obedience let there be sent over such a Lord Deputy as is well acquainted with their Humours and Customs and well beloved of the people * Sir Hen. Wootens State of Christendom p. 2.18 saith the same Author The Spaniards lost the Low Countries by sending Spaniards or other Strangers to govern them having engaged to govern them by men born in their own Country * Sir Hen. Wootens State of Christendom p. 17. And how much this hath been the practice of the Kings of England to place persons peculiarly interested in the State of Ireland in chief Government our Histories give us ample examples Earl Strongbow the first Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1176. was Prince of Leinster by right of his Wife Reymond le Gross who married the Earls Sister succeeded him as Justice John Courcy Robert Fitz
their Charge was for maintaining that the Rebellion of a Clergyman against the Civil Power was no Treason because he is no Subject of theirs That to be subordinate to the Bishop of Rome is of necessity to Salvation that the Pope can dispence with Subjects from their Allegiance to their Prince though lawful and natural fol. 160. They were all for Treachery and Sedition seised and imprisoned in Irons for one month at Constantinople and were then banished with their whole Order out of all the Grand Seigniors Dominions vide Turks History fol. 1489. to 1492. the Cause vide Sect. 5. For the same Tenents were they banished Bohemiah after they had been Instruments of the barbarous Massacre there and the miserable Desolations of that flourishing Kingdom vide Bohemiahs Persecution ch 42. 53. France did not only banish them by an Arrest or Statute of Parliament dated Decemb. 29. 1594. but appointed a Pyramid to be erected for a Memorial of perpetual Excretion of the Jesuits and their Doctrines and by another Arrest of Parliament August 21. 1597. against admitting them in disguise or counterfeiting the abjuring of their Order again August 18. 1598. prohibiting Noblemen c. from sending their Children to their Schools or any ways to be educated by them L. Luc. Hist p. 377. to 385. Anti-Cotten p. 48 52. so the Austrians Helvetians Valesians and Polonians c. banished them Saith a Polonian Nobleman So many Jesuits so many Plagues in a Country Luc. H. p. 528. So Muscovia id 552. so the Swedes id 333. so Lithuania Livonia Mazovia id 324. So the States General published their Mandate March 1612. to banish them out of all the United Provinces imposing great Mulcts on those that entertained them or sent their Sons to their Schools vide Chron. of Belgia p. 93 and p. 719. But I need not trouble you with an account of Protestant Princes and States where they come not but in disguise but if the Popish Princes and States have banished them as Incendiaries well may the Protestants do it as Traytors and above all England and Ireland against whom their Treasons have been incessent above an hundred and twenty years as I shew in Sect. 7. SECT IV. Of the natural Consequences of these immoral inhumane Principles and Practices 1. THey reduce Humanity into a condition worse than brutish more unsociable more unsafe the Beasts of prey have their societies and places of rest Isaiah 34.14 so Jeremiah 50.39 but amongst these humane Bruits there can be no safe society no secure habitation the Protestant Interest of Ireland may well lament with the Prophet Psal 120.5 Wo is me that I dwell in Mesech c. my Soul hath long dwelt with them that hate peace 2. These Principles lay the Ax to the root of the tree of all Morality not only the common Law of Nature but of Nations is abrogated that which distinguisheth betwixt barbarous and civilized Nations is rejected which is civil Law that maintained Justice Truth and Mercy amongst a people 3. These Principles abrogate the Law of God the Standard of all human Laws like those Pharisees Christ condemned Mark 7.9 Ye reject the Commandments of God that you may keep your own Tradition v. 12. making the Word of God void and of none effect by your Traditions v. 13. it is not how it is written in the Scriptures but how it is writ in the Canons or Casuists c. Now those Principles who thus make void all Laws and indemnifie their Votaries under all transgressions against them consequently are lawless Principles of which Daniel prophesies chap. 7.25 of the man of sin He shall speak great words against the most High and shall wear out the Saints of the most High and think to change Times and Laws c. And do we read that ever Mortals since Adam spake such great words against God as this Beast St. John saw rise up out of the Sea having seven Heads and ten Horns and upon his Heads the names of Blasphemy Apoc. ch 13. v. 1. to whom there was given a Mouth speaking great things and Blasphemies v. 5 c. vide Ursinus of the Popes Blasphemies pag. 211 212 and 240. And that this is the consequence of these Jesuitical Principles to decline all Laws maintaining Justice Truth and Mercy is manifest Sect. 1. in their Principles and Sect. 5. in their Practices Which are aggravated to the height of impiety by their frequent laying their Cockatrice Eggs at others doors all their treacherous and barbarous Massacres Assassinations and Rebellions have they contrived to father upon innocent persons The bloody Massacre of Paris on our pious Queen Elizabeth and the Calvinists for which saith my Author all the world laugh'd at them Luc. Hist 107. For as no History makes mention of so ignoble and barbarous a Tragedy acted on the stage of the world by Princes and Nobles except the Irish Massacre 1641. so never was the contrivance of any affair more notorious than that we never read that ever Pagan much less Christian Prince that laid so many snares broke so many solemn oaths and promises as Charles the ninth of France under the conduct of his Italian Mother did in that affair to turn the joyful solemnity of a Wedding of his own Sisters into so doleful a Tragedy as barbarously to massacre so many brave Princes and as some say above an hundred thousand of his Subjects in a few days vide Thuan. Hist lib. 52. The Gunpowder Treason if it had hit had been charged upon the Puritans under which Character all the serious Protestants of England c. had been immediately massacred in revenge of that Tragedy acted by the Avengers themselves a warning to all Protestants to look before they leap in confederacy with Papists Their last bloody Plot though after full Examination by two Parliaments declared both by King and Parliament to be evidently a Popish Plot yet how many Shams have they been hatching to father it upon Protestants how industriously have they laboured either to corrupt or ruine the Credit of the Kings Witnesses and to awe all persons from appearing against them by murdering Sir Edmondbury Godfrey and attempting several others who narrowly escap'd them By which means the Pope hath the advantage of all Tyrants that ever were in the world for amongst the rest of his divine attributes he is omnipresant to avenge his Quarrels by his spiritual Janisaries in all parts of the world of whom he may say as the Centurian of his Servants I say to this man go and he goeth and to that man do this and he doth it of which many direful instances might be given out of Grimstones History of the Netherlands and Mr. Prynnes Pref. Vindic. of fund Liberties c. as William and Maurice of Nassau in Belgia 1584. Henr. the third and fourth of France by Stabs the Queen of Navarr by a pair of poysoned Gloves Gregory the seventh poysoned eight Cardinals vide Ursinus pag. 221. Paul
more intolerable then this of Garments is that universal practice of wearing Silk-hoods and Scarfs which every mean mans Wife and Servants c. yea Carmens and Porters Wives put on which increaseth the number of the former double But compute these sorts of Silken Heads and Shoulders worn by these Gammers to sixty thousand persons and compute that expence but at twenty Shillings each person a year it consumes of the Wealth of this Kingdom sixty thousand Pounds per ann Besides it turnes â—elt-making one of the expensivest Manufactures of Wooll in the Countrey and consequently one of the profitablest For it did not only manufacture a great proportion of our Woolls but employed therein a great number of industrious people And suppose the same number of Servants and mean mens Wives and Daughters c. that now wear Silk-hoods and Scarfs wore Hats or Searge-hoods at five Shillings each the Wooll being nor valued above half the price the profit of the Countrey by the labour of the people that is now lost would amount unto seven thousand five hundred Pounds per. ann So that by this one consumption of foreign Silk-Manufacture with its prevention of consuming of our own damnifies this Kingdom sixty seven thousand five hundred Pounds per ann Obj. If this be so how comes it England and France that much exceed Ireland's expence in Garbs and yet both flourishing Kingdoms in Trade and Wealth Answ First it is not granted they exceed Ireland the quantity and quality of the people considered for these Countreys are not only much more populous but far more wealthy and although the Nobility and Gentry of France are expensive yet the Peasant or ordinary People are restrained both by Law and Custom to wear the most ordinary product of their own Countrey And as I observed before the State of France gains rather than loses by the Garbs of particular persons For they sell more to others than pays for the foreign matter they manufacture for themselves But let us compare our selves with England the State and Garb whereof being more generally known to us than that of France and we shall find we much exceed England in the profuseness of our expences this way if the quality and quantity of persons be considered First England must be considered as a Family after many years gathering by great pains and good husbandry in possession of a great well-setled Estate but Ireland as a young Beginner if it have yet begun in the way to get Wealth And if a Gentleman of a thousand Pounds per ann will keep the Port and spend at the rate of another of ten thousand Pounds per ann the mischief of the Parity will soon appear and England does not only possess ten times the Wealth of Ireland but drives ten times his Trade and twenty to one is great odds in expences Secondly if England must be Irelands pattern in Garbs and Expences then review Englands Garb and Expences when its state was more sutable to Ireland and you will find it very mean and homely to what Ireland is now and as it increased in Wealth so in the expensiveness of its Garb and Port and so soon as the people began to break bounds on that hand the wisdom of those times saw reason to restrain them by sumptuary Laws as in the 17th of Edward the Third the Parliament ordained Rules for the Apparel of all Ranks and Degrees of persons as followeth First The Apparel of the Servants of Lords c. was not to exceed the value of twenty six shillings and eight pence their Wives and Children suitable and to wear no Deils above the value of twelve pence Secondly Handicrafts and Yeomen their whole Garment not to exceed the value of 40 shillings no Silk nor Silver c. their Wives Daughters suitable in their Vesture and Apparel to wear no Veil of Silk but of Yarn made within the Realm no Furs but Lamb Coney Cat and Fox Thirdly All Gentlemen under the state of a Knight having not above a Hundred pounds Rent per annum their Apparel not to exceed three pounds six shillings and eight pence if Rents of two Hundred Marks per annum and above they might wear Cloth to the value of Five Marks with Cloth of Silk and Silver their Wives and Children any Furs but no Ermines c. Fourthly Citizens worth Five Hundred Pounds to the value of Knights of One Hundred Pounds per annum if worth 1000 l. they might wear in the manner of Knights and Gentlemen of Two Hundred Pounds Rent per annum none of their Servants to exceed the value allowed to the Servants of Lords before mentioned Fifthly All Knights and Ladies that possess Lands or Rents above the value of Four Hundred Marks per annum to a thousand may wear their pleasure except Ermines and Iewels only on their Heads Sixthly all Ecclesiastical persons according to the custom of their Dignity or proportionably to their yearly Revenue by the former Rules of Knights and Gentlemen Lastly all Labourers and other people not worth forty Shillings are to wear Cloth not above 12 pence per yard These Rules were strengthned with the penalty of forfeiting all things worn contrary to them and by the same Statute Clothiers are injoyned to make their Clothes sutable to the Rates These Laws with some addition and increase of Penalties were again confirmed by Parliament the â—â—ard year of Edward the Fourth being near one hundred years after with power given to the Justices of the Peace to see the Statutes observed annexed to this Preamble Prayeth the Commons Assembled in Parliament to our Soveâ—â—â—â— Lord the King to call to his gracious Remembrance that in the times of his Noble Progenitors divers Ordiâ—â—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Statutes were made in this Realm of England for the Apparel and 〈…〉 Commons of the said Realm no â—â—ll Men 〈◊〉 Women so that none of them ought to use or wear ony inordinate and exâ—ensive Apparel but according to their Degrees which Statutes are not observed to the great displeasure of God and impoverishing this Realm c. And again in the twenty second year of the said King in Parliament Regulated and Confirmed with severe Penalties annexed to this Preamble Because that our Sovereign Lord the King hath conceived by a Petition made unto him by the Commons that divers Statutes and Ordinances touching restraint of excessive Apparel c. by their not due executions his said Realm is fallen into great misery and poverty and like to fall into more unless there be better Remedy provided c. Again in the seventh year of Henry the 8th these Laws were corrected and inlarged with more severe Penalties and all the former Acts repealed annexed to this Preamble Forasmuch as the great and costly Array used within this Realm contrary to the good Statutes thereof made hath been the occasion of great impoverishing of the Kings Subjects and provok'd divers of them to Rob and do Extortion and other unlawful deeds to