that it would make now with vs 27 hūdred thousand pounds the ounce of siluer being esteemed at fiue shillings which then was but at twentie pence Edward the third made many good lawes to keepe the treasure within the realme and for the aduancement of his home Commodities and had a great care that the forraine Commodities should not ouer-ballaunce his home Commodities knowing that if hee payed more for them then he made of his Commodities the difference must be made vp and ballanced with the treasure or money of the realme For hauing brought the working and making of cloth into the realme he did deuise by all meanes to find vent for the same obseruing a due course for to preuent the transportation of his money and that the true value of his money might be answered by exchaunge with the monies of other countries And forasmuch as the same course of exchange could not be done by a multitude of people so conueniently the most part being ignorant of the true value of the monies of other countries he did appoint and ordaine an Exchanger who did make exchaunges with all men for forraine parts according to value for value and specie for specie proceeding in all things most orderly as may appeare also by that a sacke of wooll containeth 13 Tods according to the Lunar moneths of the yeare euery Tod 4 nayles for the 4 weekes to the moneth and so 52 weekes in the yeare euery nayle 7 pounds to the 7 daies of the weeke and so 28 dayes for the moneth as 28 pounds for a Tod and in all 364 pounds for so many dayes of the yeare Richard the second hauing an especiall regard to the ouer-ballancing of forraine Commodities with his home Commodities caused the Statute of Employment for merchants strangers to be duly executed And if they could not sell their Commodities within a conuenient time they were to transport the same againe and if they made not their returne in Commodities they might deliuer their money by exchange but onely to the Exchaunger by him ordained and none other Henry the fift confirming the former statutes caused the Staplers to bring into the realme in returne of their wools a great part in bullion and the Statute of Employment to be duly executed And the like was done by other kings Henry the seuenth in the 3 yeare of his raigne made an Act of Parliament for explanation of the former Statutes prohibiting all manner of exchaunge or rechaunge within his realme or for any forraine parts and that no person should make any exchange without the kings licence or of his exchanger according to the statute of Richard the second For in his time the Bankers had their beginning who did inuent the merchandizing exchange and made of money a merchandize whereby they found the means to ouer-rule the course of Cōmodities and to aduance the price of their Commodities abating the price of others But this prudent and politicke king hauing his coffers stored with standing treasure did for the furtherance of trafficke and for to aduance the price of his Commodities lend great summes of mony freely to the Merchants And whereas other nations came into the realme to buy his Commodities which he knew to be staple Commodities and of great request as being most necessarie for the vse of man he did inhibite them the buying of any vnlesse they became bound in Recognizance not to carie any to the place where his subiects kept their Marts and did so qualifie the course of Commodities money and exchange as he left an incredible wealth and treasure in those dayes when the West Indies were but newly discouered and an ounce of siluer but valued at 40 pence Henry the 8 in the 18 yeare of his raigne perceiuing the price of money continually to rise beyond the seas after remission made vnto the Archduke of Burgundie and no reformation ensuing caused the angell noble to be valued from 6 shillings 8 pence vnto seuen shillings 6 pence wherby an ounce of siluer was worth fiue and fortie pence afterwards requested the Duchesse to value his angell at a higher rate as is before shewed which was cleane contrarie And then Cardinall Wolsey obtained a patent to alter the valuation of money as he should see cause from time to time In the 22 yeare of his raigne the king being informed that diuerse nations brought abundance of forraine Commodities into his realme and fearing an ouerballancing of Commodities for that those nations receiuing readie monie for their Commodities which mony they euer deliuered by exchange vnto other Merchants neuer employed the same on the Commodities of the realme wherby his Maiestie was hindred in his Customes and the Commodities of the realme lesse vented he caused a Proclamation to be made according to the former statutes That no person should make any exchange contrarie to the true meaning of the said Statutes vpon paine to be taken the kings mortall enemie and to forfeit all that he might forfeit which tooke place but for a short time because the wars brought all things out of order So that at last the base mony was coyned which being done without any order brought diuerse inconueniences to the realme Edward the sixt did crie downe those base monies of his father and caused new money to be coyned according to the auncient standard of the realme and did also prohibite very seuerely the transportation thereof by Proclamations albeit they proued fruitlesse as they haue done in her Maiesties time By this briefe collection is to be seene the great care these noble Princes haue had to the end they should not find themselues and their kingdome without treasure of gold siluer drawne by meanes of their Cōmodities and to auoid Not to fall into that error of the French king Charls the ninth who after the massacre of Paris finding the treasure of his realm exhausted and his subiects wealth to consist more of plate then of readie money was aduised by some that vnder colour of the suppressing of pride it were good to take a course to prescribe euery man what store of plate he should keepe according to his degree and qualitie and the rest to bee conuerted into money Others were of opinion that it would not onely breed a discontentment vnto his subiects but a derogation and dishonor of the kings reputation seeing that the estate of a Prince doth as much consist by reputation as by strength wherefore like good Polititians did aduise the king to embase his money which wold cause the same not to be transported and the plate to be of course conuerted into mony Which was done accordingly and had also that effect sauing that where they thought money would not be transported they foūd thēselues deceiued For the course of exchange was not looked into by them which did cause a gaine to be had vpon the mony and so long as the gaine remained it was still transported whereby at last he lost the plate of
the realme being conuerted into money as well as he had lost his money before that time M. Bodine doth shew by diuers exāples that there was not so much siluer gold in times past 300 yeares ago as there is now he might wel haue said in 100 yeares and lesse howbeit this generall examination is to smal purpose For euery Cōmonwealth is to make a particular examinatiō whether they do proportionably participate of the general abundance or plentie of gold and siluer found now adaies and not by cōparing the same vnto the quantitie of times past for so should they be deceiued And we neede not to proue that there is now more gold and siluer then in times past for it is cleare in euery mans iudgement And euen of very late yeares we find recorded in our Chronicles of England that during the gouernment of the most victorious king Henry the eight in the 14 yeare of his raigne in a Parliament then holden the whole substance of London was not taken to be worth 20 hundred thousand pounds this citie being the head of the realm where the wealth is heaped vp as the corne of a field into a barne And in the yeare following vpon the demaund of a subsidie of foure shillings of the pound it was proued that the same demaund amounting to 800 thousand pounds was more then all the readie money and plate of the realm came vnto which was out of the kings hands and yet did amount but to about one hundred marke a parish not reckoning so many parishes as Machiauell hath done but only about 12 thousand in the whole realme the spatious countrie of Fraunce containing but 27400 parishes Which readie money and plate of the realme would be now adaies found farre differing and much more and yet not proportionable to the abundance of gold and siluer found in other countries and as we may see that Maister Bodine hath noted of the city of Paris and of the many millions which haue come from the West Indies whereby the realme should be stored with sufficient treasure and wealth For as he called their salt to be a Manna so may we call our cloth lead tinne which be our staple Commodities most necessarie for the behoofe of man And therefore ought this with vs to be the first cause of the increase of the wealth of the realme the rather for that in the second cause which Maister Bodine noteth to be The increase of people we are not proportionably inferiour vnto them as we may iudge by diuerse causes namely First for the mariage of the Cleargie Secondly by the people driuen into the realme for Religion by the wars of other countries Thirdly the seldome plague or mortalitie Fourthly the seldome famine Fiftly the small warres of countries adiacent or forraine warres hauing had no ciuill wars at home And sixtly the vntimely mariages of both men and women now adaies Whereby Colonies might be spared for the inhabiting of other dominions as heretofore was once taken in hand The third cause concerning the trade for Turkie and Barbarie is not onely common with vs for those countries but also with diuers other countries where the French men haue no trade at all And as for their Bankes of money they would rather be preiudicial and impouerish the realme as they are vsed then do any good as is sufficiently declared in our Treatise of Exchanges which other nations will find in time and most especially Princes that haue occasion to vse them and might well auoid them if a due care were had for the accumulating of a standing and yet a running treasure within such bounds as would stil ebbe and flow for the good of Princes and their Commonwealth Concerning Monopolies it is strange that Maister Bodine doth with such breuitie passe ouer thē shewing onely what he meaneth thereby according to the Etimologie true sense and definition of the word when merchants artificers or labourers do assemble themselues to set a price vpon Commodities which one man alone may also count when he buyeth vp all that is to be had of one kind of merchandize to the end he alone may sell the same at his pleasure The engrossing forestalling or incorporating of any Commodities or victuals is intollerable in any Common-wealth vnlesse that the trade of those Cōmodities would decay if a kind of incorporation were not vsed For whē the cōmon-people do buy generally things deare they can generally also sel their Cōmodities dere accordingly but when some particular things are deare they cannot do so Now as the effects of al Monopolies is to make the price of Cōmodities dere so must the price of things in this regard be considered betweene our home Cōmodities the price of forrain which if we will but examine within the cōpasse of 50 years that our monies haue bene without alteration as is before expressed we shall easily procure the great error or malice of those that do accuse the cōpanie of Merchants aduenturers to be a Monopoly which false imputation may be reproued by by this only that all forrain Cōmodities are dearer then our home Commodities which are not risen in price accordingly yet of late years are for the most part amended in the making the other impaired and one sort of cloth is sold at one time beyond the seas by 2 3 4 or more pounds differing in a packe one from another neither haue the merchants aduenturers the trade of cloth onely in their own hands For diuers other cōpanies of merchants are priuiledged and do transport great quantitie of clothes into forraine parts as well as they and it is free for all straungers that are in league with her Maiestie to buy cloth to transport the same at their pleasure Which reasons do concerne the effects of Monopolie Whereas for the manner of their trafficke whereby euery man tradeth particularly and apart with his owne stocke selleth by his own factor or seruant with diuers other reasons we will referre our selues to that which their Secretarie hath written of late in defence of their good orders and constitutions Concluding that as their trade is the most important and as in all traffickes the vniuersall doth gouerne the particular so the dissolution of that societie would be the vndoing of al the trade and bring a great confusion to the Realme For albeit that some would haue other nations to come and buy the cōmodities of vs within the realm for say they there is according to the Prouerbe twenty in the hundred difference betweene VVill you buy and will you sell these men haue no consideration for the maintenance of nauigatiō which is the greatest strength of the realme whose defence next vnder God consisteth most in ships and well experienced mariners that most carefully are to be prouided for Whereas also the transporting of our cloth to certaine places doth cause other nations to resort thither to buy them which may be more properly called to be VVill you
ENGLANDS VIEVV IN THE VNMASKING OF TWO PARADOXES With a replication vnto the answer of Maister Iohn Bodine By Gerrard de Malynes Merchant Opposita iuxta se posita magis apparent ANCHORA SPEI LONDON Printed by Richard Field 1603. To the right honourable Sir Thomas Sackuile Baron of Buckhurst Lord high Treasurer of England Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter and one of the Lords of her Maiesties most honorable priuie Councell G. de M. wisheth all health increase of honour and euerlasting happinesse THESE two Paradoxes right honourable hauing bene presented vnto the French King as a meane to qualifie the generall complaints of the dearth of things in France by prouing that nothing was growne dearer in three hundred yeares were answered by the famous M. Iohn Bodine who dedicated his aunswer vnto the President of the high court of Parliament of Fraunce as a matter of great consequence and considerable in the gouernment of a Common-wealth Hence proceeded that resolution which emboldened me to present vnto your Lordship the substance of both their writings with all their arguments and propounded remedies to the end that in the ballance of your graue wisdome they may be weighed with my Replication thereunto shewing how things are to be considered of for the good of a Common-wealth Your Honors iudgement shall easily perceiue that the Paradoxes are opposite and do contradict one another besides the slender and weake ground of their foundation as also that Maister Bodine hath mistaken the true ground of the matter by comparing the prices of things within themselues in a Common-wealth whereas the comparison must be betweene the home Commodities of one Common-wealth and the forraine Commodities of other nations and that either by way of permutation of Commodities for Commodities or by Commodities for money in specie or by exchange So that a due consideration must be had of the course of Commodities Money and Exchange which are the essentiall parts of all trade and trafficke Wherein must be considered the end of all Merchants which is Gaine and profite at which scope they ayme according to their profession and practise some by Commodities some by Money some by Exchange some by all three or that which yeeldeth them most gaine For as money doth rule the course of Commodities so the exchange for monies doth both rule the course of moneys and Commodities By the disorder wherof it happeneth that the riches of a Common-wealth doth so much decrease as it is not alwayes in the power of the wise that haue the managing of the gouernement thereof to make choice of the best and to banish the worst but must not only obey the tempest and strike sailes but also cast ouer boord some precious things to saue the ship and bring it into a safe port and afterwards by degrees ouercome greater things changing the estate thereof from euill to good and from good to better which otherwise might haue bene preuented in the beginning by remouing the causes thereof To your most honorable iudgement I referre the consideration of all and pray the Almightie to haue your Honor in his diuine protection And so in all humility I take leaue London this 16. of Ianuarie 1603. Your Lordships most humble and in all dutie bounden GERRARD DE MALYNES Englands view A SENTENCE alleaged without application to some purpose is to handle a matter without conclusion and he that will attribute vnto any man the knowledge of the essentiall parts grounds or pillars of any science must make apparant proof therof otherwise his assertion is like cloudes and winds without raine or like an arrow shot at randon Quòd oportet patrem-familias vendacem esse non emacem is a worthie sentence to be duly executed of al good housholders or fathers of families especially of Princes that are the fathers of the great families of Common-weales who as Iustinian saith are to prouide carefully for the two seasons namely the time of warre when armes are necessarie and the time of peace more fitting wholesome lawes in both which it cannot properly be said that the office of a Prince is wholy employed about the gouernment of the persons of men and of things conuenient and fit for the maintenance of humane societie according to the definition of the heathens but rather in the obseruation of Religion towards God and administration of Iustice towards man the one teaching vs especially of the life to come the other how we should liue in this life Religion doth knit and vnite the spirits of men wherby they liue obediently in vnitie peace and concord and Iustice is as a measure ordained by God amongst men to defend the feeble from the mightie Hence proceedeth that the causes of seditions and ciuill warres is the deniall of iustice oppression of the common-people inequall distribution of rewards and punishments the exceeding riches of a small number the extreame pouertie of many the ouer-great idlenesse of the subiect and the not punishing of offenders which bringeth destructiō of Common-weales Religion doth teach the feare of God which maketh a good man and is indeed the beginning of a Prince For sith Princes raigne by wisedome and that the feare of God is the beginning thereof we must conclude that it is the beginning also of a vertuous and wise Prince Now as Princes raigne by God so must they be directed by him yea they raigne best and longest that serue him best and most Serue him they cannot but according to his will and his will is not known but by his word and lawe which made the Prophet Dauid to meditate therein day and night preferring the cause of faith or religion before temporall commoditie And this is properly the first and chiefest point that the Prince is to regard whereunto the other is annexed and doth depend vpon For as iustice is administred and prescribed by lawes and customs so reason requireth that this gradation should be obserued concerning all lawes that euen as the wils contracts or testaments of particular men cannot derogate the ordinances of the Magistrates and the order of the Magistrates cannot abolish customs nor the customes can abridge the generall lawes of an absolute Prince no more can the lawes of Princes alter or chaunge the lawe of God and Nature By iustice properly called Distributiue is the harmonie of the members of a Common-weale maintained in good concord howbeit much hindred where vsurie is tollerated which giueth cause of discord some few waxing thereby too rich and many extreame poore the operations of effects whereof are declared by me vnder certaine Similies or Metaphors in the Treatise of Saint George for England By iustice properly called Commutatiue is the cōmerce and trafficke with other nations maintained obseruing a kind of equalitie which is requisite in euery well gouerned Cōmon-wealth where prouidence and pollicie cause the Prince the Father of the great familie to sell more then he buyeth or else the wealth and treasure of his realme
come to perfection yet other nations do not regard at what price soeuer they buy thē And it commeth to passe many times that salt is better cheape in England Scotland and Flaunders then in Fraunce neither can other nations take offence if impositions bee layed vpon these Commodities for they haue done the like vpon diuers Commodities of their owne And so he concludeth that by these meanes there would be the lesse transported and so the dearth of things qualified by greater store remaining within the land Another remedie against the dearth of things especially of victuals is to restore the vse of fish to his auncient credite by meanes whereof beefe mutton foule all such kind of flesh would become better cheape shewing to this purpose the commodious situation of France and the great nūber of riuers within their dominion And so with Galen he doth preferre fish before flesh for that fish is more wholesome and is neuer vnsound as the porke and hare nor scuruie as the sheepe nor lousie as the bucke neither subiect to diuers diseases as beasts are neither hath God created foure hundred seuerall sorts of fishes which doe not cost any thing to feede in vaine being almost all fit for meate whereas there is not 40 sorts of beasts and fowle fit for the nourishment of man but to eate flesh and fish together is very vnwholesome And hereupon he sheweth in what great estimation fish was in times past and that the principall banquets were made of fish as that of Caligula which did continue sixe moneths who made all the Mediterrane sea to be fished and but for varietie fowle and other meates were vsed with it The coast of Picardie where the sea is of a sandy ground saith he there the fish is flat the coast of Normandie Guienne which is stonie bringeth foorth the rockefish and the coast of Brittaine which is slimie yeeldeth the round fish as Lamprays Congers such like and yet man knoweth not from whence at one season doth come the infinite millions of Herrings about the coasts of Fraunce and England Pilcheards about Galisiea and Whales and other fishes in new-found land and other seas Commending hereupon our custome of England where men are constrained saith he to obserue fish-dayes in the weeke notwithstanding the great plentie of beasts and fowles The only meane to bring this to passe is the example of the Prince and great men whom the people will imitate Adrian a Hollander was of a poore scholer made Pope by meanes of the Emperour Charles the fift his disciple and because he did loue to feed vpon hake-fish presently all the Courtiers and his followers to please him did the like and the people also so that nothing was dearer at Rome then hake fish The example therfore is of great efficacie which inferiour men do follow of their superiours Then he cometh to the last point which may hold the price of Commodities in a certain equalitie namely certaintie and equalitie of money which for the time must not be mutable or incertaine for if it were no man could make an estate certain the contracts wil be vncertaine the rents charges taxes wages pensions penalties customs and impositions and all things else in the Commonwealth wil be vncertaine wheras the Prince saith he must be the warrant of the monies vnto his subiectes and is to haue a singular care to auoide embasing and counterfeiting And then he discourseth of some auncient monies and waights vsed by other nations and of the propertie and diuersitie of mettals and of the alteration of mony in Fraunce together with their finenesse proportion valuation which for to auoide prolixitie I do passe ouer albeit I meane to touch in part hereafter This is the substance and answer of Maister Bodine vnto these Paradoxes which he hath dedicated vnto the President of the French kings Parliament for to encourage all them saith he that wish well to the Common-wealth to continue in the studie of so good a subiect to the end that Princes which haue the power to commaund together with those that do giue them counsell may be more resolued in those things for the honour of God welfare of the Common-wealth when they shall vnderstand the iust complaints and griefes of the poore people which doe feele the smart but cannot for the most part iudge of the causes thereof and those that haue some iudgement cannot haue audience or meanes to make it knowne but by writings vnto those that can easily remedie the same But if Maister Bodine had according to his wisedome and deepe iudgment in other matters considered of these two Paradoxes he would haue made a direct aunswer thereunto before he would haue proceeded in his discourse before alleaged The first Paradoxe being considered of with the second will shewe a manifest contradiction or contrarietie For the first doth consist in giuing of more gold and siluer for Commodities now then in times past which he denyeth And the second in receiuing lesse Commodities for the gold and siluer now then in times past which he affirmeth which both waies is to be taken in nature of Permutation Now if we do not giue more quantitie of gold and siluer for Commodities then in times past how can we receiue lesse Commodities for the gold and siluer and thereby receiue a losse as in the second Paradoxe is alleaged Again if we do receiue lesse quantitie of Commodities for gold and siluer then in times past according to the second Paradoxe whereby we sustaine a losse how can the first Paradoxe be true That nothing is growne deare for that we giue no more quantitie of gold and siluer for Commodities then in times past The explanation of his intention touching these 2 Paradoxes is more absurd considering the premisses For whereas he saith that the king and his subiects do now buy al things as dere as in times past by giuing as great a quantitie of gold or siluer for it it followeth that the king and other his subiects do receiue the like quantitie of gold and siluer proportionably for their reuenues and not a payment of copper in lieu of gold and siluer as he saith considering the course of mony is all alike betweene the king and the subiect But if we will take his meaning to be that he hath excepted the Crowne landes and incomes of the king and the reuenues of Noblemen others wherof the price as it shold seeme is not altered with them like as the Crowne lands with vs which are at the auncient rent when siluer was at twenty pence an ounce which ounce is now esteemed fiue shillings how can this construction be admitted considering that he doth conclude againe in generall wordes that the losse which we thinke to haue by the dearth of things commeth not by giuing more but by receiuing lesse quantitie of gold and siluer then we were wont to haue which is by enhauncing the price of money saith he which is the
did send vnto the Duchesse whiles her husband was in Germany desiring her to value the angell at 10 shillings Flemish but he could not obtaine the same Which seemeth very strange considering that the aduancing of the price of money doth cause the money to be transported to the places where it is aduaunced whereby all the angels might haue bin caried into her dominion But she like a wise and politicke Duchesse caused the matter to be examined and considered of sending men skilfull in mint causes into England And finding that the golden fleece aliâs Toison d'or was the money then most currant with her and that the same was worth both in regard of waight finenesse asmuch as the angel was also valued at 9 shillings 7 pence she could not graunt the kings requests without altering also her money vnlesse shee would haue suffered the English merchants to bring angels vnto her for 10 shillings and to carie away the golden fleeces for 9 shillings 7 pence to be conuerted into angels to the great losse of her dominions both in the money and to leaue the Commodities of her country vnuented so long as there were a gaine vpon the mony which abated the price of cōmodities These two Paradoxes being thus vnmasked are easily conceiued of any man of iudgement to be far from the truth and therefore will the vnderstanding thereof be accounted a matter of small moment as all things else are when they be known like vnto the egge of Columbus who hauing discouered the West Indies and hearing some say at a dinner that if he had not done it another might and wold called for an egge and willed all the guests one after another to set it vp on end which when they could not do he gently bruising the one end of it did make it flat or rather by swinging did breake the yolke within and so set it vp shewing how easie it was to do that which a man had seene done before him Now let vs examine the answer of Maister Bodine Maister Malestroit was of opinion That nothing was growne dearer in three hundred yeares as is before shewed But Maister Bodine was of a contrarie opinion and sheweth fiue causes of the dearth of things as we haue also declared Whereunto for a generall and direct answer by way of Replication we say that to shew the alteration of the price of things and the causes therof is of small moment the true ground of the matter being by him mistaken Which true ground must be by making a comparison of the enhauncing of the price of the Commodities of one countrie with the price of the Commodities of other countries and thereby to find out whether things are grown deare with vs in effect and whether we pay more proportionably for the forraine Commodities within the aforesaid time of three hundred yeares then we doe receiue for the price of our home Commodities For if we do now pay more for corne wine and all other victuals and sell our Commodities for more then we were wont to do proportionably here is no alteration in effect but in name onely so long as the substance of the money is not altered in propertie But if we sell our Commodities dearer and buy our victuals dearer then heretofore and that ouer and aboue the price thereof we must pay farre dearer for the forraine Commodities then proportionably the price of our Commodities is risen this causeth vs to be aloser in particular and bringeth by an ouer-ballancing of forraine Commodities with our home Commodities a generall losse to the Common-wealth which to supply causeth vs to make vp the inequalitie with mony which is the treasure of the realm The consideration then must be not to compare things within themselues in the Commonwealth where we do liue but betweene vs and other nations with whom we deale either by way of permutation of Commodities for Commodities or Commodities for money in specie or by exchange So that we must examine the course of Commodities Money and Exchange which are the three simples vnder the which all the trade and trafficke is performed whereof we shall intreate when we shall haue examined the matters by him alleaged in particular The fiue causes of the dearth of things by him alleaged are to be distinguished according to our forme obseruation For the first last cause concerning plentie of gold and siluer and the alteration of the valuation of money may be causes that generally things are deare But the other three touching Monopolies the want and wast of things and the pleasure of Princes can but make things particularly deare according to the vse thereof wherein the time maketh also now and then an alteration vpon occasion as when armes are dearer in time of warre then in time of peace victuals in time of famine wood in winter and water in desert places and such like Seeing then that plentie of money maketh not onely the Commodities of a countrie deare but that they are also Nerui bellorum the sinewes of warre euery Prince is to haue a singular care for the preseruation and augmentation therof especially those Princes that haue no mines of gold or siluer within their dominions or such as haue had them and are now without them The gold was wont to come much out of the mountaines of Boheme and riuers of Pannonia and Swaden Out of Spaine there was wont to come both out of the riuers and monntaines aboue 20 thousand pound weight yearely which is all exhausted then it came from the West Indies first from Santo Domingo and other places where it doth also cease now it commeth from Peru by certaine millions which will also take an end The siluer is brought also frō the West Indies and was much found in Germanie but is now in many places drawne out The most noble Kings of this realm haue alwaies had a singular care to accumulate treasure deeming therfore that it was neither expedient nor conuenient for them to suffer the transportation of their monies or bullion out of the same as by diuers acts of Parliament may be seene whereby it was made fellonie for the space of many yeares continuing William the Conqueror caused a description to be made of the realme and the land to be measured reseruing so much thereof as he thought conuenient for the Crowne and the rest he deuided amongst his Barons and knights who did pay him therefore a certaine summe of money whereby he did gather a treasure Henry the second succeeding him within one hundred yeares hauing had many great warres and ioyned Ireland to the Crowne of England conquering also Scotland and reducing Normandie and other places in Fraunce to the Crowne and hauing raigned 35 yeares had neuer cause to impose any tribute subsidie or taxe vpon his subiects and left notwithstanding behind him in treasure 900 thousand pounds which in those daies was not only a great matter the West Indies not being discouered but also for