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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52447	Observations and advices oeconomical	North, Dudley North, Baron, 1602-1677.	1669 (1669)	Wing N1286; ESTC R616	31,061	156

OBSERVATIONS AND ADVICES OECONOMICAL Infelix nimis cujus domicilio ignavia adhaeret LUKE 8. 16. No man when he hath lighted a Candle covereth it with a Vessel c. LONDON Printed by T. R. for John Martyn Printer to the Royal Society at the sign of the Bell without Temple-Bar 1669. The Preface A Short Work needs little Preface and this Work is both short and slender so as it may be easie to make a Gate large enough for the City it self to run out at A Iourney cannot be too little nor the Way too plain for a person of Body tyred and Spirits spent by past travell and I may well professe my self such having in my dayes galopped so many Post-stages In the prime of my youth I past or rather lost some few years at the Vniversity of Cambridge Then I came to have a tast of the Court but my Father soon called me from thence knowing by dear experience the Air of that place to be such as few elder Brothers can long breath there without falling into a Consumption Afterwards I lived with my Parents at their London habitation and having no employment I surfeited of Idlenesse taking my pastime with some of the most corrupt young men of those dayes By Gods grace I quickly found this unfit for continuance and therefore I prevailed with my Father to send me beyond Sea to travel where in lesse then two years I had a view of the best part of Italy France and Spain being present at Madrid and Paris when the several Marriages for our then Prince of Wales were treated on in those Courts and so I became a partial witnesse of the artifices and uncertainty of such Negotiations From thence I was employed as a Soldier in Holland about three years Commanding a Foot Company in our Sovereigns Pay And there I ran hazard again of being lost in debauchery and especially in the Vice-rampant of that People But by Gods grace I came home scot-free though I served under a Scotch Colonel Then I became a Married man and was speedily called to Publick affairs being elected to four successive Parliaments where the Service and approaches were excessive chargeable and of no profit as to my particular One of these was that fatal Parliament which set the whole Kingdom on fire seeking to enervate or unsinue all Government and that it might the better be effected divers of us their Members were by Club-law forced from our station Yet it pleased God even by that Parliament when we were re-admitted to put all again in such a way as the old Government was perfectly restored in a succeeding Assembly Then I made my full retreat into the Countrey which renewed my experience in businesses relating to that course of life and now at last I am come to reside at the chief Mansion-house of our Family where I have no other ambition then to end my dayes with a peaceable and pious dissolution So much of my self tyred and retired which I may well be since the World can scarcely shew me any thing new Now a word or two about my approaches to this little Inventary Being overtaken with old Age and by divers infirmities rendred unfit for action I entertain my self frequently by turning over old Books whereof I have good store in several Languages without any fixed Study and among them I lately perused one consisting of certain politick and prudential Considerations written by three distinct Italian Authors in an articular way and as I was reading it fell into my thoughts that the same might profitably be done in Oeconomicks which is a path not much travelled in Thence I took occasion to turn my meditations that way and having spent same little time therein I put my materials together and so this small Work received being without any further trouble by way of Method As for the Subject though not of any sublime consideration I conceived it fitter for me to embrace then N●tes in Politick Government as not having coversed sufficiently with Sovereign Princes and taking it to be a high presumption for private persons to give them instructions Yet the government of private Families may be considerable even with Princes because their Principalities are composed of Families and they who are known to have well governed their private fortunes are the rather judged fit for Publick Offices Oeconomy is a subject that entertained the Pen of Learned Aristotle himself but it yieldeth little occasion for pleasant conceits or curious terms wherefore I must advise all persons of nimble fancy to forbear reading least it become a kind of torture to them happy it is for this Discourse that it came into the World so seasonably for never was there more need of good menagery then now at a time when Revenues of the Gentry are fallen beyond what could have been imagined of late years and they are most likely to continue so if not to incur a farther diminution I meddle not with small Families which are concerned in the mysteries of Agriculture and petty Huswifery matter 's no way suitable to my mind or experience and there was no need for divers persons of peculiar knowledge in those matters have written of them But it may be demanded why I having been so great a straggler do undertake to give Rules in Oeconomy To which I answer That at times I have been a House-keeper a great part of my dayes and more especially in these my latter years at which time Men are accustomed to take matters into consideration more maturely then when distracted with pleasures of youth Indeed my nature is not so perverse but I receive great contentment in being beneficial to others for In minimis prodesse juvat better do a little good then none at all Neither am I so ill opinioned of this my Brains production as to think it altogether uselesse and therefore such as it is like a Knight errant it shall travel about to seek adventures Perhaps it may yield assistance somewhere and so I leave it to its fortune I expect to be Censured in all and not to escape in this Introduction as having said too much of my Self and too little of Oeconomy our Subject But my Face being masked the blushes cannot appear and therefore I may content my self to be a patient hearer OBSERVATIONS and ADVICES OECONOMICAL I. OUr first Observation shal be touching the importance of Oeconomy wherefore let us bring it to the Balance for tryal Though a Family which is its general object be very small in comparison of the State whereof it is a member yet is it not like an Epicurean atome unexposed to sense but an aggregation capable of Government and the good government is of such Concernment as a State cannot subsist without it for Agriculture Manufactures are dependant upon families and a Nation can neither be fed nor defended without these since publick contributions receive their life from them There were very evident marks of Domestical thrift among the Roman

precious for as the French men say Pays gasté vault mieux que pays perdu It is better to be Master of a wasted Countrey then of none at all LXXV Another danger there is which though not to the generality yet is very destructive to some and it is a being engaged to Law Suits An itch of being observed to prevail in matters of difference between Neighbour and Neighbour is too frequent even with such as are not observed to be much bent to the having of their will but with wilful people it surpasseth any other pleasure This is a very chargeable entertainment and bringeth bitternesse in the end for such businesses are for the most part concluded with little advantage to any but the Lawyers it is therefore much more convenient or rather Christian to make an end speedily by Reference or mediation of Friends which is the course whereunto I would advise our House-keeper LXXVI The point of non-residence at the prime Mansion house is of so great importance as the chief or at least the most probable cause of it may deserve consideration I take it to be the abhorrence of Solitude unto which the Countrey life is alwayes subject and in a very high measure but especially in the conceit of those of the best condition who have been constantly used to much converse and who cannot with the least contentment apply themselves to Rural businesses I confesse that Melancholly must be prevented for nothing can be more mischievous and therefore they must entertain themselves with such delights as may best quadrate with this course of life so new and unaccustomed LXXVII It was an Observation of my Fathers and perhaps printed in his Forest whereof I may borrow the substance and this it is That the English Gentleman can hardly be prosperous in government of his Estate for whereas the Genius of some other Nations prompteth them to particular excesses as the Italian to curiosity of House and Furniture the French man to bravery in Habit of Clothes and other matters of Parade as abundance of Pages and Laquays c. And the German to variety and excess in Drinking but they are all frugal otherwise Our English man affects all these together as also that of our own which is a number of Menial Servants and great plenty in Diet. Of this I shall make no application but say concerning the Observation Valeat quantum valere potest LXXVIII I have conversed much heretofore in the Family of a Nobleman of great fortunes who having many Children would never send any of them to travel beyond Sea giving for a reason that the seeing of so great variety and splendour made young men dislike their own native Countrey and place of Habitation The truth is it proveth to be so too often but as I conceive the inconvenience ariseth from the persons disposition and not from travel for it is not so with all Travellers neither is there reason for it England being supplyed with all necessaries of its own growth nor is it destitute of matters of Ornament and Splendor In many things we fall short for curiosity and beauty but in other things we exceed our Neighbours as particularly in our Universities which have no parallel and London falleth not much short of the greatest forrain Cities Besides this our situation is such in respect of the Sea as we are not in want of curious Wines and such delightful commodities But to shew fully how prevalent the persons disposition may be the said Nobleman gave breeding to his eldest Son with charge extraordinary at our Court and chief City where vanity so far prevailed with him as afterwards he bcame the wonder of those dayes contracting a Debt greater then ever was known by a person having little or no Estate of his own for a foundation of security LXXIX Of Countrey delights Study may deserve the first place whereby our Gentry may in some sort converse with persons of the greatest rank and wisdom It were needlesse here to discourse upon the excellency of that Entertainment which is so much treated of every where In all wayes whereby delight is sought there must be variety and therefore those Families enjoy a great advantage in the way of satisfaction which are furnished and inriched with plenty of good Books There can be no direction given for choyce of Authours to those who seek pleasure in Reading for different persons have different inclinations but if reason might be our guid I should advise our Gentleman to the study of History and in first place to that concerning our own Nation and his time will be the better spent if by Reading he acquaint himself with the Laws of this Kingdom as far as may be obtained without much labour for pains taking and delight can hardly consist together But some men are altogether averse to Study and for such there must be found some divertisement of more activity LXXX Of active Rural recreations Hunting offers it self in the first place which Horace calls Romanis solenne viris opus utile famae Vitaeque membris Or thus A serious work to all of Roman name Useful to life and limbs and of good fame This is a Pastime Royal fit for Princes inuring their bodies to motion and exercise and as Machiavel observes acquainting them with variety of places and situations as Hills Dales Woods Plain grounds and uneven Moorish and Dry Enclosed and Champain a knowledge very useful for Commanders Military which Profession is fit to be understood not only by Princes but by the Gentry universally it being their proper vocation as appears in some measure by the ensigns of Nobility their Coats of Arms impressed upon a Shield This affords entertainment not onely abroad but at home in the discoursing of it and to this may be added Hawking Bouling Fishing c. LXXXI Of Pastimes within dores Musick may challenge the next place to Study and is more sociable for it entertains many at the same time This is more innocent then that of Hunting for no living Creature receives vexation or damage by it and no man can complain that his fences are destroyed Horace his advice concerning verses is Quocunque volunt aninum auditoris agunto Or thus Let Verses gently charm the mind And as they will th' affections wind Which qualitie I have found more constant in Musick from which I my self have received a great subsistence in this my retirement When I found my self subject to be pensive then by Musical Ayres Corantoes and Sarabands I was rendred more chearful and when I desired to become Serious the work was done for me by hearing Almayns Fancies and Pavans variety is most pleasing and much of this is afforded even in the diversity of Musical Instruments as the Lute Harp c. but certainly no Musick can bear up with the Vocal to which some suppose a continuance in Heaven it self but howsoever that be Musick is found useful in the Service of God here below even with the most