Kingsale referred to with Honour p. 48. An Account of the Invention of Gunns in the Year 1378. iâ— That Invention maligned by Polydore Virgil Cardan and Melancton ib. King Alfred the first Inventor of Lanthorns p. 49. Of our new Invented Glasses and Lamps p. 50. Of the Scarlet or Bow-Dye p. 51. Of the New-River-Water p. 52. An Account of the New Engine for taking away Obstructions and Shelfes in the Thames and other Royal Rivers p. 53 54. How much the River of Thames is shallower before the King's Yard at Deptford since King Charles the second 's Restoration p. 55. Of the City of London's Applications to the former Commissioners of the Admiralty for the Preservation of the River of Thames p. 56. Of the City of London's Reasons in writing presented to that Board against Letters Patents for licensing Encroachments p. 56. If that River were spoil'd the great Trade of England would be transplanted not to other Sea-Port Towns in England but to Forreign Parts p. 57. A Lease made of a great part of the Soil of the River and by which the Conservatorship thereof may accrue by Survivorship to a Colour-man in the Strand ib. Those Commissioners of the Admiralty took much Pains in preserving that River ib. The Report from the Judge of the Admiralty of the Admiral 's being Conservator of all the Royal Rivers and having a Concurrency with the Lord Mayor in the Conservacy of the Thames p. 58. The Wisdom of our Ancestors in making them both Conservators of it p. 59. Of the Conservators of the great Rivers among the Romans ib. p. 60. The River of Thames now labouring under its most Critical State p. 60. The great ill effect that the Fire of London had on the Thames p. 61. The Stream of the Thames more clear and gentle than that of Severn and the Cause thereof ib. p. 62. Why the Tide flows up so high into the heart of this River p. 62. The Cause of the shifting of the Tides there ib. The three Constituent parts of a River p. 64. Of the destruction of several great Rivers by Sullage ib. The Administration of the Banks of great Rivers is a part of the Regalia p. 65. The Conservatorship of such Rivers is a part of the Regalia ib. Of the Conservators of such Rivers and their Banks among the Romans p. 66. This Branch of the Regalia granted to our Admirals in their Patents ib. The Vice-Admirals of Counties are in their Patents from the Admiral appointed Conservators of the Royal Rivers there ib. Of those Vice-Admirals Non-user of the Power to demolish Nusances p. 67. Of the Agreement of the Common-Law and Civil-Law Judges An. 1632. that the Admiral may redress all Obstructions in Rivers between the first Bridges and the Sea p. 68. Licenses granted by the Admiral for enlarging Wharfs c. p. 69. The illegality of granting Forfeitures before Conviction p. 72. Sir George Treby the Attorney General mention'd with Honour ib. The Benefit the People now find by being freed from illegal Grants of Forfeitures before Conviction doth much outweigh all the Taxes they pay to their Majesties p. 77. The Passage concerning the Alderman who ask'd King Iames the first if he would remove the River of Thames ib. p. 78. Of the Survey of that River by Sir Ionas Mâ—or p. 79. Of the Survey of that River by the Navy-Board and Trinity-house with the assistance of Captain Collins ib. p. 80. Captain Collins his Draught of that River commended ib. The only way possible for preventing future Encroachments on that River ib. The Nature of the Office of a Conservator as defined by the Writers of the Regalia p. 81. The same agrees with the Measures of our Law-Books ib. Granting things to the Low-water-mark vexatious p. 83. The Course taken by the Council-Board An. 1613. to preserve the River of Tyne p. 84 85. An Order of Council for demolishing a Nusance to Navigation in the Port of Bristol An. 1630. p. 87. More of the Conservacy of the Royal Rivers ib. p. 88 89. That Care be taken against the Sea-mens being molested ib. p. 90. In a little more than 12 Years after the Year 1588. our Seamen were decay'd about a third part p. 90. In the Act of 35 Eliz. for restraining New Buildings a tender regard was had to the Sea-men ib. p. 91. A necessary Document to be thought of by the Conservators of our Rivers p. 92. The Wardmote Inquest referr'd to for the preservation of the River of Thames p. 93 94. A fifth part of the River of Thames in our Memory taken in by Encroachers p. 95. The Profit accruing from the River of Thames to the Admiral and Lord Mayor ib. p. 90. Of the Charge incident to the Lord Mayors in the Conservacy of that River ib. Of the Charge born by the City in the obtaining Patents to be vacated that prejudiced that Conservacy ib. p. 97. Of the City's applying to King Edward the 4 th for a Scire Facias to vacate a Patent of that Nature and of the Lord Mayor's obtaining and prosecuting that Scire Facias to effect p. 97. The Diligence of several late Lord Mayors in thus shewing their Zeal for the Conservacy of the Thames ib. The present Lord Mayor referr'd to with Honour on the same account p. 98. Courage in Magistrates commended ib. The City of London apply'd to the Government in Henry the eighth's Reign for a Proclamation and obtain'd one for the better enabling the Lord Mayor and his Deputies to promote the Conservacy of the River of Thames p. 99. Of the late King Iames rejecting a Proposition for Building on the Shore above Bridge p. 100. More of the present State of Encroachments on that River below Bridge and the only way to prevent future ones there and in the other Royal Rivers from p. 107 to the end To the Right Honourable Iohn LORD Churchill Baron Churchill of Sandridge Viscount Churchill of Aymouth in the Kingdom of Scotland Earl of Marlborough and one of their Majesties most Honourable Privy Council My most Honoured LORD IT hath been observed by several of our late ingenious Writers that an eminent Venetian Embassador after a long residence in England sayling homeward did cast his Eye back on this Land and said in his own language O Isola felicissima c. The happiest Countrey on the face of the Earth did it not want publick Spirits among them Nor do I think that the pudet haec opprobria nobis c. was in any Age so justly applicable to England on this account as in the present one wherein Men generally depraved by a selfish inhospitable temper do like the Hedge hog wrap themselves up in their own warm Down and shew forth nothing but Bristles to the rest of the World and cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they have found a Stone to throw at an Inventor of any thing beneficial to Mankind instead of giving a tender
bestow'd on them that is to say on the poor Seamen whom that excellent Corporation relieves thereby The Chainage of Ships belongs to the Admiral and the right of the Ferriage over all Rivers between the first Bridges and the Sea is a Perquisite of Admiralty and the right thereof is inherent in the Office of the Admiral and 't is notorious that the Right of the Ballastage in all the other Royal Rivers of England belongs to the Admiral as well as in the River of Thames There is the Perquisite of Anchorage in the Thames as well as elsewhere belonging to the Admiral as are likewise many other Perquisites and that are enumerated in the Admiral 's Patent Nor can any Right belonging to the Admiral be pass'd by the Crown under the Great Seal to any one but by the Admiral 's Warrant to the Attorney or Solicitor general To the Lord Mayor as Water-bayly and Conservator of the River of Thames several Fees and Profits belong And to that Office of Conservator belongs the Office of Measuring Coals Grain Fruit in the Port of London with the Fees belonging to it and the Fines imposed in his Court of Conservacy or by the Commissioners of Sewers for Misdemeanors that concern the River and other Perquisites and in the which the Admirals have long ceased to intermeddle and not without cause because of the great Charge incident to the Lord Mayor's Conservacy of the River and particularly in matters relating to the Fishery and the charge that attends the traversing Indictments and removing them to the Kings-Bench as likewise the Charge of suing out Scire Facias ' es to vacate the Grants of particular Persons that entrench on the rights of the Lord Mayor's Conservacy and which Charge they have often supported without being therein assisted by the Lord Admirals I might instance in many passages in the reigns of our Kings long ago concerning the Lord Mayor's applying to the Government when private Courtiers had surreptitiously obtain'd Patents that interloped in the Conservacy of the River as for example Edward the 4 th having made a Grant to the Earl of Pembroke for setting up a Weare in the River of Thames and the Lord Mayor applying to the King about it obtain'd a Scire Facias to vacate that Grant and vigorously prosecuted the vacating thereof to effect And how in the two last Reigns several Lord Mayors with great Industry and Charge prosecuted the vacating of Patents that they judged entrenching on the Conservacy that both by Charter and Prescription belong'd to them is known to every one Nor will the unwearied diligence of those Patriotly Lord Mayors Sir William Pritchard Sir Henry Tulse Sir James Smith Sir Robert Jefferys Sir John Peak in thus shewing their Zeal for the Conservacy of the River be ever forgot while that City keeps Records And they are strangers to the Character of the present Lord Mayor both for integrity and prudence in Political Conduct and his Zeal for maintaining the known Rights of the City who shall think that if he had been at the Helm of them Government of the City when they were he would not have steer'd the same Course as the most active of them did and that with such a Courage as is worthy the high Sphere of Magistracy he moves in A Coward saith one cannot be a good Christian much less a good Magistrate Solomon 's Throne of Ivory was supported by Lyons Innocency and Integrity cannot be preserved in Magistracy without Courage Magistrates are great Blessings Modo audeant quae sentiunt if they dare do their Conscience Me quae te peperi ne Cesses Thorna tueri was the ancient Inscription of the Bridge-house Seal and which may give an occasional hint to any Citizen of London advanced to Authority and Opulency therein to wish well to the defence of that River that hath so long bred and preserv'd the Riches of that City I am here led to observe how that River being pester'd by various Annoyances in the Reign of Henry the 8 th and the Lord Mayor's Offices being made uneasie and hinder'd in the Conservacy of the River the City apply'd to the King for a Proclamation who accordingly issued out one in the 34th Year of his Reign strictly requiring That none should presume to resist or deny or impugne the Lord Mayor or his Deputies in doing or executing any thing that might conduce to the Conservacy of the River c. And methinks the Customary yearly Solemnity of the New Lord Mayor's attended with all the City Companies in their Barges on the Thames and there on that River above Bridge having their first Scene of Triumph as they are going to Westminster-Hall to be sworn should give them occasion to think often of that Rivers preservation in the following part of the Year I am here led to call to mind a fatal danger that that River above Bridge escaped in the Reign of the late King when some were so hardy as to offer him a Proposition and in the way of a Project to enlarge his Revenue by straitning the River and by building another Street between the high and low-water-mark from the Bridge to White-Hall But thô so great a straitning of the River there would not have been so prejudicial to the publick as lesser straitnings of it below bridge where the great Scene of Navigation lyes yet his Majesty with great judgment gave a peremptory denyal to the Proposition for this particular reason namely that such an alteration in the River might perhaps produce an alteration in the Tide of Flood and be the cause of its not flowing so many hours as it doth and which effect too he thought the building of a Bridge at Lambeth a Project that some offer'd to his Consideration might produce it being obvious that the Obstacle the course of the Tide meets with by London bridge doth much occasion the Tide of Flood being the shorter And if great Care had not been taken by the Trinity-house in the government of their Ballast-Lighters and ordering them not to draw up Ballast too near the Banks of the River there would have been great danger of another accident that might have curtail'd the Tide of Flood I mean by their coming nearer to the shoar than the safety of the great Level by Limehouse will admit In the same time that they can draw up one Tun of Ballast in deep Water they may draw up three near the shoar A breach in that Level did within these few Years cost the Proprietors 25000 l. a third part of the value of the Land And if a new greater breach came perhaps it would not be repairable and possibly cause the Thames not to flow up so far as it did and yet doth But any thing of this Nature we may well hope will be prevented by the excellent Management of the Ballast-Office by the industry of that Virtuous and Prudent Lady the Lady Brooks who hath the Lease thereof from the Trinity-house and
At the Court at White-Hall Decemb. 22. 1682. Present The KING 's most Excellent Majesty in Council IT is this day Ordered by his Majesty in Council that the whole Matter contained in the Report of the Officers of the Navy to the Right Honourable the Commissioners of the Admiralty this day read at the Board and the Answer thereto from Sir Philip Howard and Company relating to the Sheathing his Majesty's Ships with Lead together with the other Paper then also delivered and read from the Officers of the Navy and what new Matter was further mentioned by them in Discourse upon the same Subject be Referred to the said Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England who upon the full and distinct Examination of the same and Hearing of all Persons concerned therein are to make their Report upon each Article thereof in Writing to this Board with particular regard had therein to the shewing the differences of Charge that has attended his Majesty whether in Iron-work or otherwise upon the Hulls and Rudders of the several Ships that have been sheathed with Lead and those that within the same time have been either Sheathed with Wood or sent to Sea Vnsheathed And if upon Examination it shall appear that Lead-sheathedâ—ships do sustain greater damage in their Iron-works than those Sheathed with Wood or Not Sheathed at all what the same is truly to be imputed to whether to their Lead Nails or what other Cause In all which the said Commissioners are to report to this Board the Truth of the Fact as the same shall upon Examination appear to them with their Opinion touching the same and what upon the whole Matter may be most for His Majesty's Service to be done therein with relation to the ceasing or continuing the said Method of Sheathing Francis Gwyn Hereupon Sir Philip Howard and Company further applyed themselves to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in their humble Memorial following viz. To the Right Honourable The LORDS His MAJESTY's Commissioners For executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of England The Humble MEMORIAL of Sir Philip Howard and Company Interested in the Manufacture and Invention OF Milled-Lead Shewing THat His Majesty and my Lords of the Council having out of the same Consideration of its Importance to the King which led your Lordships first to the laying it before them been pleased by their Order of 22 Decemb. last to Referr back to your Lordships the Business in Controversie between the Officers of the Navy and this Company touching Lead-sheathing These are humbly to acquaint your Lordships that as we are and shall at all times be ready to answer any Commands which you shall think fit to direct to this Company in relation thereto so do we hold our selves bound in Right no less to his Majesty and your Lordships than our selves to remove a Prejudice which the said Officers did lately offer at the raising before his Majesty in Council against what we had then and may yet have further Occasion of saying in this Debate by a suggestion of our being governed by Considerations of Self-interest while themselves would be thought removed above all suspicion of any other End herein than that of His Majesties Service In Answer whereto we shall only crave leave to say That as to that Uninterestedness so pretended to by them it is too manifest that their obtaining from your Lordships a suddain Condemnation of this Method of Lead-sheathing is the only Expedient they have for preventing the Effects of that Enquiry which the Wisdom of His Majesty and the Lords of the Council have been so pleased to recommend to your Lordships into the particulars of our Answer leading your Lordships to the several Failures in Duty and breach of Orders reflected on them by us in relation to this Affair and the Prejudices sustained therefrom by his Majesty And for what concerns the Self-interest suggested to lye on our side we shall only Note 1. That under all the Discouragements and Oppositions our Invention has for twelve Years together been treated with by them we never have given them nor our selves the trouble of making one Complaint to his Majesty or your Lordships concerning them saving what has been extorted from us in our necessary Reply to their late Report to your Honourable Board on this Subject nor in the whole four Years last past wherein they have for ought appears both without and contratrary to Order taken upon them the Exercising even that which is the very Matter of the present Controversie namely the Adviseableness of laying aside the use of Lead-sheathing have we ever made one Application to them for removing or so much as enquiring into the Reaâ—on on their so doing 2. That had there been the least sollicitude on our parts after our private benefit it would have easily prompted us to a much greater reservedness of Style than your Lordships find us using on this occasion towards the said Officers upon whose good-will alone the success of ours and all other Contracts with the Navy is well known wholly to depend Nor does this Company need to appeal to any other Evidence than your selves for the Fidelity of their Proceeding in this Matter towards His Majesty in preference to any thoughts of private Advantage after that Declaration under our Hands wherewith we Prefaced our very first Paper to your Lordships on this Occasion not only of our Consent but Desires that No Considerations relating to the Interest or Right of this Company might stand in the way of whatsoever His Majesty and your Lordships should think most for his Service to determine concerning it 3. That besides the many other Advantages arising to His Majesty from this Invention the saving of his Treasure will we doubt not in your Enquiry be found concerned in a no less Degree than that of 60 l. or a much greater summe per Cent. through the whole of his Expence of Lead-sheathing compared with that of Wood or sending Ships to Sea Unsheathed Upon which Consideration and of the good Husbandry the present State of his Majesty's Treasure seems in so particular a measure at this time to call for as also for our fuller Discharge against the Consequences of any Mistake that may attend the issue of a Debate of such Importance to the Royal Navy of England We do on his Majesty's-behalf humbly pray and must take leave to insist upon with your Lordships not only that the Contents of our late Reply in this Cause may receive your due Construction and Examination with respect to what we have therein and do still assert touching the True Causes and Remedy of the Evil in Controversie about Ships Iron-works But that whatsoever your Lordships shall in Order to his Majesty's Service which alone we again desire your having any regard to find Cause of requiring further from the said Officers on this Subject may be mutually transacted between us in Writing and not otherwise In which we shall
Sea-port-Towns in England but to Forreign Parts Those Reasons mentioning Patents of the Soil to the low-water-mark on both sides the River inferr That without speedy care taken the River will be so straiten'd as to become thereby not only useless but even hurtful to Shipping by a violent and rapid course of the Tide that will then necessarily ensue And the City therein Complains of a Lease made of a great part of the Soil of the River and that the right of the disposal of the Shoar of the River or the Conservatorship thereof may by survivorship accrue to a Colour-man in the Strand Mr. Brisband informed me that those Commissioners of the Admiralty as well as the Lord Mayor had taken a great deal of pains in the preserving of the River and that it was incumbent on both their Offices so to do for which purpose he shew'd me a most judicious and learned Report made by the Judge of the Admiralty wherein it was said That the Admiral is by his Office and Patent not only Custos Maritimarum partium but Custos portuum Conservator Fluminum infra fluxum refluuum maris and that he is by his Patent empowered to make Sub-conservators and hath by the Statute of primo Elizabethae a concurrency with the Lord Mayor of London in the Conservatorship of the River of Thames and that the Shoar of the River is a part of the River and ought not to be held by private Persons as of their own right but by those Conservators in trust for the Government And in fine that Secretary acquainted me that there was to be a Survey of the River and the Encroachments on it to be made by Trinity-house and Navy-Board with the assistance of Captain Collins the King's Hydrographer And I have since seen a Copy of that Survey made accordingly and great pains was therein taken The great pleasure I have taken in going down that River in Boats and Barges made me always wish well to the State of it but the sight of the Papers before mention'd inclined me to account it a Patriotly thing to promote its preservation by all the means I could and gave me occasion to reflect on the great Wisdom and Care of the Publick that appear'd in our Ancestors when they made the Admiral and Lord Mayor the Conservators of it after the example of the old Romans as Gryphiander in his learned Book de Insulis p. 430. quotes several places out of the Civil Law to shew that they appointed their Hydrophylacas or Conservators of their great Rivers and deliverers of them from being choaked up with Annoyances and Shelfes and he there p. 441. cites A. Gellius for the ratio retandi flumina id est purgandi à Virgultis arboribusque in alveo Natis ne impedimento sint navibus practised by them And he saith that simili verbo returandi usus est Nonius quod est obturando contrarium Turneb l. 28. advers 12. And then speaking of the Engines they used to that end he saith In quem usum Instrumenta hydrautica deducendis hauriendisque aquis inventa sunt de quibus Vitruvius l. 10. quem explicat Turnebus l. 2. advers 22. Gothof in l. 4. c de Excus Mun. l. 10. Dalacamp ad Plin. l. 7. c. 37. Those Engines are long since gone among lost things Nor do I think we need wish any other Engine for the purging the River of Thames from Obstructions than this I have referred to And according to the common Observation of Providence taking care to send both new Diseases and Remedies into the World in the same Conjuncture and often from the same place as for example the Lues Venerea and Guacum and Sassafras from the West Indies it was worthy of its care for England that at this time when this our River on which depends the Fate of our Nation is labouring under the most critical state it ever knâ—w and is ready to be destroy'd to offer us such an Engine for its being restored to such a good Condition of being Navigable as its Conservators can wish My Lord There is one thing that hath caused most horrible ill effects to this River and which I have met with no Man who hath observ'd and therefore it is fit it should be known and that is the Fire of London For every five Yards of Pavement a load of Gravel is used and a great part of this Gravel lyes so loose that by the force of the Rain it is frequently driven into the Sewers and the Thames And every Pavement raiseth the Street paved two Inches at least but the burn'd part of London is at a Medium four Foot higher And so I account that by the Fire and Rebuilding of London more Gravel and Soyl hath gone into the Thames than perhaps will again in the next three hundred Years Some who are interested in this Engine have said that by it the Bar of Dublin might be taken away but I have heard that that is a rocky Barr and if so such effect of the Engine is not to be expected But that such Shelfes arising in our River from the Gravel and Sullage that are wash'd into it may with ease be removed by it is not to be doubted This River glides along with a much more clear and gentle stream than the River of Severn and the Cause of the clearness of its Water is its running in a Gravelly Valley and over a clear Ground And the great winding of the River which locks in the Water that it cannot make that haste down to the Sea that it would and the low-lying of the Head-springs of it from whence there is but an easie descent to the Sea are the two chief Causes of the gentleness of its Current It may be here remark'd that this easie descent of the Waters to the Sea-ward is another reason why the Tide flows up so high into the heart of this River for the more steep the River is the less able is the Tide to force its way up into it Swift Rivers have always their Heads lying high or their Course direct or both Since I have been as I may say a Student of this River I have took occasion to pitty those who look on the strange shifting of Tides in this River as a great Prodigy because happening seldom But I think the Cause of the shifting of the Tides is only the over-bearing of their Course when they are at their slackest by a Northwest Wind which is the most powerful adversary they can have on our Coasts For if a slow Ebb be encounter'd full in the teeth with a hard Storm what can follow but a return of the Tide back again And if the Northwest Wind either abate its fierceness or shift into some other quarters as the South-west or North-east for some short time and then either return to its former place or resume its former force and do this once twice and again which we know is not inconsistent
the most effectual means and he being so ofâ—en upon the River knew well that it would bear no more Enâ—roachments it 〈…〉 in the Pool so full of 〈…〉 in of the 〈…〉 that a Bâ—ar can hardly pass He 〈◊〉 that the great straiâ—ness of the 〈…〉 the Conservaâ—oâ—s 〈…〉 more Ships to 〈…〉 been formerly 〈…〉 might produce â—he danger of 〈…〉 His Majesty and aâ—l his People both representative and diffusive had been long sufficiently acquainted with the Doctrine of Nusaâ—ces since the passing of the Act against Irish Cattel and that a Patent for a Nusance was not worth its weight in burnt Silk And he hath been often heard to say that he would damn all Patents that damned the River and that the granting of things to the Low-water-mark must needs be vexatious for that the Neap tides and Spring-tides being so various at different times of the Month and different times of the Year beside all variety of Wind and Weather from abroad the great uncertainty of such Grants must make perpetual disturbances among his Subjects and that if any presumed to take in the River to what may seem the Low-water-mark that then Ships lying by the Walls would encrease the Mudd there and add to the dirt thrown in and that that might be built on too and so the River be annihilated And he being inform'd that the Person who had made that Encroachment so prejudicial to the River and which he purchased for 20 l. was only Fined by my Lord Mayor's Court of Conservacy 5 l. for it was resolved to have it demolish'd bâ—th for the good of the River and to terrifie Encroachers for the future for that he well knew the demolishing of that one Encroachment would spoil the Market of selling Nusances for ever Nor is it to be wonder'd at that his Majesty was so thoughtful and resolv'd about the preservation of his River of the Thames since the Care of some Royal Rivers not so considerable as that hath been known to take up so much of the time of the Council-Board when they were much endanger'd by Obstructions and Annoyances I shall here take occasion to mention what I find in Sir Julius Caesar 's Manuscript Collections of Matters of State that after King James had granted the Conservacy of the River of Tyne to the Mayor and Burgesses of New-Castle Complaints were brought to the Council-Board of the great Decay of that River whereupon on the 29th of January An. 1613. certain Articles were order'd to be put in execution for the remedying the Abuses complained of And it appearing that that River was in such eminent danger of being destroy'd if a very speedy course were not taken concerning it the Council order'd that Sir Iulius Caesar and Sir Daniel Denne one of the Judges of the Admiralty with the assistance of the Trinity-Masters of London should draw up additional Articles to be joyn'd with the former for the effectual Conservation of that River And one of them was That some truly trusty substantial Men Burgesses of New-Castle be appointed to View the River every Week and to make Oath of the abuses done to the same two of them to be Masters of the Trinity-House of New-Castle and they to have no Coles nor Mines nor Ballast-shores and who might be thought not concern'd for their own profit in casting Sullage into that River The Government then thought not fit to make any Men Guardians of the Soil of that River who had a pretence by Patents to inherit it In short when the Sun is just come into its Winter Tropic the dayes begin to lengthen and not 'till then and when things were at the worst with the River of Tyne they did then begin to mend And the Wisdom of the Government shew'd its Dominion over all the Starrs whose influences threatned that Royal River Dictum factum and that River is preserv'd to this day and so I hope with Gods help will the River of Thames and all our Royal Rivers be for ever It was the saying of Maximilian the first Deus aeterne nisi vigilares quam male esset mundo quem regimus ego miser Venator ebriosus ille Julius The Viceadmiral of the County and the Mayor of Newcastle were in that Conjuncture drowsie Conservators of that River but Divine Providence was then awake to preserve that great useful River and to awaken the Government to take those Measures for its preservation that were necessary and suitably to which a fac simile might easily be taken on occasion for any other of our Royal Rivers There is another of the Royal Rivers where the great Concern of Navigation did so woâ—thily employ the time of the Council-Board in the Reign of King Charles the first For one Morgan having built a House at Crockyernâ—â—ill in the Port of Bristol and in which place Posts had formerly bâ—â—n erâ—ctâ—d for Ships and Barks being fasten'd to them the Lords of his Majesties Council upon a Complaint of that hindrance to Navigation made an Order that Morgan should demolish and pull down that House that so Posts might remain there as formerly for the fastening of Ships as may appear by two several Orders made at Council-Board the one bearing date the 11 th of June An. 1670. and the other the 29th of October And if any private Person may abate a Nusance even before prejudice receiv'd none need make it a Question whether the King or his Privy Council may or Persons by them Commission'd so to do Because as we say that which is every body's work is no body's for that reason the Law hath entrusted that power of abating Nusances in the Royal Rivers to the Lord High Admiral as their Conservator ex Officio and here for the doing that in the River of Thames the Lord Mayor hath been admitted to that trust and it is vested in both of their Offices both by Grant and Prescription according to that distinction so often used among the Writers of the Regalia cumulativè but not privativè that is to say by the accumulating the power of Conservacy both to the Lord Admiral and the Lord Mayor neither of them is deprived of it Neither would either be deprived of the exercise of their Power of demolishing Nusances if the King should grant a Commission to many other particular Persons so to do Nor yet would the Commissionating of many other such Persons deprive the rest of their fellow Subjects of their right so to do And here it is obvious to be said by the way that thô a Patent that pretends to grant Encroachments or Nusances is void yet a Patent or Commission to throw them down is most certainly very legal But yet if any Man were so publick-spirited as without a Patent to attempt a thing so beneficial to his Countrey he would be able to effect it with as much readiness as that honourable Person who hath on many Accounts deserv'd so well from his Countrey the Earl of Craven without Patent or Commission or
a Parade of Officers and gilded Maces going before him hath been long obey'd in the quenching of Fires My Lord I believe the English Nation is doubled in populousness since the ancient Methods were first used of trusting the Care of Conservacy of the Royal Rivers in the Countrey to our Vice-admirals whose so long Non-user of their power relating to the Encroachments on them hath sufficiently appear'd by the many Patents of those Encroachments in the several Countreys granted in the Reign of King Charles the second and the which hath beside the inconvenience of the straitning those Rivers produced another to our Navigation namely the Creating much trouble by innumerable Law-suits to our Navigators who generally inhabit by the sides of those Rivers and where their Ships use to lye And it is pitty but that some Clauses should have been inserted in those Patents to direct a different way of Prosecution in their Case from that of other Subjects and that unless very enormous prejudice had come by their Encroachments to the Royal Rivers the Seamen might not have been put to it to give Compositson-money for the licensing their Nusances It hath been truly observ'd by a late Writer That Seamen are easily tempted to seek good Entertainment in other Countreys if they find it not in their own and that they are apt to change their own Quarters and embarque in Forreign Service sometimes upon a Capricio of their reputing themselves disobliged at home and at other times on their expectance of being better used abroad And in a Remonstrance from Trinity-house to the Earl of Nottingham Lord high Admiral it was certify'd by them to his Lordship that in a little more than 12 Years after 1588. the Shipping and Number of our Seamen were decay'd about a third part It seems by the wise Conduct of the Government then our Sea-men and their numbers were carefully enroll'd But so indulgent was Queen Elizabeth to the Seamen in her Reign that we find in the Act of Parliament 35 Eliz. c. 6. An Act for restraining of New Buildings a particular tender regard is had to the Seamen for there it is said Provided also notwithstanding any thing in this Act it shall and may be lawful for every such Mariner Sailor c. as shall be allow'd by the Lord Admiral aâ—d the Masters and Company of the Trinity-House for the time being in writing under their Hands and Seals to continue in his habitation in any House that hath been built sithence the said Proclamation near to the Thames-side serving only for the habitation of such Mariner and not to be used for any Victualling-house nor for any House for any Merchandize c. and likewise that any Mariner may hereafter build any House for such purpose and for no other on or near the Thames-side so as it may be distant from the very Wharf or Bank thirty Foot so as People may pass between the said Houses and the said Bank and the Thames c. I speak not this as if I would have any Mariners make any new Encroachments on any of our Royal Rivers especially on the Thames which is already so much straiten'd But I urge it to shew how the Wisdom of the Government then did make it as I may say a fundamental Rule for the Preservation of the River of Thames that even while encouragement was providing for the Sea-men the Walls of the Kingdom yet Houses by the Thames should not be permitted but by the Allowance of the Admiral the great Conservator of all the Royal Rivers and the Trinity-house first had under their Hands and Seals Several of the Members of the Trinity-House dwelling by the Thames-side below Bridge cannot but as they go up and down by Water take notice of the Encroachments as they are making and which of them will eminently prejudice the River and which not and so are the more proper to be consulted in the Case And from hence we may Collect this great Document and so necessary to be thought of again and again by the Conservators of our publick Rivers namely That whatever alteration is made in them by building on them thô never so little ought to be with great Care and with the use of the Consilium peritorum and not by the arbitrage of private Patentees and their Executors but by the Publick Conservators to whose personal Circumspection and Skill that great trust was always committed by the Government the Office of the Admiral having never been granted by Inheritance as some great Offices viz. the Earl Marshal and Lord Great Chamberlain have been And there is another instance of the ancient Care of the Government over the River of Thames that is very memorable namely the excellent Institution of the Wardmote Inquest the which thing hath worthily made the Government of the City of London so famous all over the World I have read the Articles of the Charge of the Wardmote Inquest that were in print in Queen Elizabeth 's time whereof the 4th Article is Ye shall swear that ye shall enquire and truly present all the Offences and Defaults done by any Person or Persons in the River of Thames according to the intent and purport of an Act made by our late Sovereign Lord King Edward the 6 th in his High Court of Parliament and also of divers other things ordain'd by Act of Common Council of this City for the redress and amendment of the said River which as now is in great decay and ruine and will be in short time past all remedy if high and substantial Provision and Help be not had with all speed and diligence possible as more plainly appeareth in the said Act of Parliament and the said Act of Common-Council of this City Here the most grave and substantial Citizens are put to it by a promissory Oath to stake their Eternities and in effect to invocate God both as Witness and Revenger about their doing right to that River in their Presentments and I am sure the present State of it being conformable to the Words in that Article relating to its great decay and ruine c. is what they may safely swear in an Oath assertory Howel in his Londinopolis p. 392. speaks of this Article still continuing in Presentments in the Wardmote Inquest When the Government did anciently order the Lord High Admiral and the Lord Mayor to espouse the Interest of this River our Monarchs did not present to them as one did who told a Roman Emperor he offer'd him a Lady who was Vidua indotata As much as it hath been as I may say widdowed and bereaved of that Care it should have found while many now living remember at least a fifth part of it to have been taken in by Encroachers it brings in still a very fair and plentiful Dower to the Lord Admiral and Lord Mayor The Lord Admiral hath been by it enabled to support the Trinity-House by the Ballast-Office and I in my Conscience think it well
its perfection while the Crown there was in War against the most powerful States of Europe united together I shall wonder much if we have not a stock of Brains and Industry enough going to keep our River of Thames What great Pains and Charge the work of meliorating that River cost our Ancestors the Chronicles tell us and how useful for the preservations of it the pains taken in a late Conjuncture when the Cities Charter was in its low estate by the former Commissioners of the Admiralty proved is obvious and therefore the Wisdom of our Ancestors in Complicating the Office of the Lord Admiral with the Lord Mayors in its Conservacy was very profound for the Admiral 's Office being during pleasure we are sure that whoever have that Office are the actual Favourites of the Government and by being so they have with the better success signalized their diligence in the preserving that River It must here in Iustice be acknowledged that the late King James while the Admiralty was in his Hands was not by all the Cares and Business incumbent on the Crown diverted from the Conservacy of the River And if all the particulars of the vast pains taken by Mr. Pepys therein while he was Secretary of the Admiralty were enumerated they would fill a much larger Volume than what I here send your Lordship His concerning himself so much and so often in the behalf of Petitioning Seamen who conceiv'd themselves injured by the Agents of Patentees requiring Money of them for their Ships lying on the Shoar and his Frank interceding with the King as Admiral for them and effecting their being speedily righted and that without any Fee of Office expected or paid are things fresh in the Memories of those who live by the Thames-side below Bridge And the truth is to a Person so knowing in the Office of the Admiral it must needs be known that Seamen being more than other Subjects compell'd to serve the Crown in times of Peace and War and at the Crowns own Rates both at home and abroad are entituled to a more tender Protection from the Crown than other Subjects are And that the Seamen being call'd to such Service by the Admiral 's Warrant will in the Case of any general pressure happening to them wherein the King's Name is used expect that the Admiral shall apply to the Crown in their behalf as knowing that no Admiral ever refused or delay'd in such Case to take the trouble of patronizing them My Lord I have now almost done troubling you for the present and yet according to a Jewish Proverb that Molestus ubi se molestum agnoscit no◠est molestus shall hope I have not done it at all But I shall chiefly fortifie my hopes of my not having so done by the Consideration of its being no trouble to you but an Obligation for any One to furnish your great thoughts with any useful Materials for the promoting the service of your Prince and Countrey in such a critical season as this that calls so loud for that Old heathenish Virtue of the Pietas in Patriam to awaken it self among English Christians We may well believe our Chronicles that tell us of a Porter who slept fourteen dayes and nights together when we have seen so great a part of a whole Nation asleep four or five Years and much longer The last Reign save one was a time wherein men made pleasure their business and when the Nation suffer'd more by Lethargy than the Plague But as Nature doth now call upon us to make Business our Pleasure and to build Work-houses as well as Play-houses so it may be supposed that our World is as weary of sleeping as ever it was of waking and that Reasons for Mens being publick spirited and nobly active in all the publick Spheres in Magistracy to which they are call'd may be patiently heard and that it may seem a reasonable Request since we see in things natural some inanimate things to serve the Nature of the Universe do sometimes forgo and quit their particular Nature and as for example water to prevent a Vacuum which Nature abhorrs doth ascend that Magistrates would go on in their own natural Course to what lyes in the plain way of their Duty and what is incumbent on them by moral Obligations Faxit And that he may neither be a shame to nor ashamed of his Countrey who hath the Honour of being My LORD Your Lordships most Humble and most Devoted Servant T. H. ERRATA In the foregoing Letter to the Earl of Marlbourgh PAge 2. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 14. for Britannij r. Britanni ib. for Robora r. Robore p. 18. l. 3. after the word Corporation close the Parenthesis p. 26. for Moral r. Morals p. 46. for raris r. Ranis p. 54. for Mr. Ioseph Coting r. Mr. Ioseph Colinge p. 59. for Hydrautica r. hydraulica p. 77. l. penult instead of a Point of Interrogation make a Comma p. 87. for the Year 1670. r. 1630. p. 97. for patriotly r. particular p. 98. for Thorna r. Thoma p. 105. l. 18. for Sub-conservators r. Subconservator p. 110. l. 3. for making r. speaking p. 110. l. ult for are r. is p. 114. l. 13. dele perhaps THE New Invention OF MILL'D-LEAD FOR Sheathing of Ships against the Worm better for Sailing and Cheaper above Cent. per Cent. than the old way with Boards As also For Bread-rooms Scuppers Furnaces c. The Objections Answers Proofs and Proceedings between the Officers of the Navy and the Mill'd-Lead Company before the late Lords of the Admiralty and Council-Board submitted to Consideration ALSO The said Mill'd-Lead from many Years Experience as well as the reason of the thing it self proved to be much better and cheaper for Covering of Houses Gutters Pipes Furnaces for Dyers Copperas-works Lining of Cisterns and other Vessels for Brewers Dairies and all purposes whatsoever where Sheet-Lead is used than Cast-Lead can be and the Plumbers suggestions decrying the same proved to be idle scandalous and false LONDON Printed in the Year 1691. A TABLE OF The Principal Matters in the following Discourse of the New Invention of MILL'D-LEAD THe substance of the Navy-Officers Report to the Lords of the Admiralty October 28. 1682. giving their Opinion against any further use of Lead-sheathing p. 1. The Companies Reply thereto together with their whole Interest and Right in this Affair entirely submitted by them to his Majesty and their Lordships p. 2. An Accompt of the Company 's first becoming Masters of this Invention and their submitting it to the Censure of his Majesty in Parliament Anno 1670. p. 3. The Parliaments strict Inquisition into and most ample Approval of the said Invention in an Act passed in favour of the same p. 4. The first Essay made thereof by the Company upon the Phoenix in March 1670 1. and successively on other of his Majesties Ships p. 6. The studyed Obstructions nevertheless raised and long