But were the Mighty Ruins left they 'd show To what Degree that Untaught Age did Know. I believe a very diverting Account might be given of this but I shall not attempt it Some are apt to say with Solomon No new thing happens under the Sun but what is has been yet I make no question but some considerable Discovery has been made in these latter Ages and Inventions of Human Original produc'd which the World was ever without before either in whole or in part and I refer only to two Cardinal Points the use of the Load-stone at Sea and the use of Gunpowder and Guns both which as to the Inventing-part I believe the World owes as absolutely to those particular Ages as it does the Working in Brass and Iron to Tubal Cain or the Inventing of Musick to Iubal his Brother As to Engines and Instruments for Handycraft-Men this Age I dare say can show such as never were so much as thought of much less imitated before for I do not call that a real Invention which has something before done like it I account that more properly an Improvement For Handycraft Instruments I know none owes more to true genuine Contrivance without borrowing from any former use than a Mechanick Engine contriv'd in our time call'd A Knitting Frame which built with admirable Symetry works really with a very happy Success and may be observ'd by the Curious to have a more than ordinary Composition for which I refer to the Engine it self to be seen in every Stocking-Weaver's Garret I shall trace the Original of the Projecting Humour that now reigns no farther back than the Year 1680. dating its Birth as a Monster then tho' by times it had indeed something of life in the time of the late Civil War I allow no Age has been altogether without something of this nature and some very happy Projects are left to us as a taste of their Success as the Water-houses for supplying of the City of London with Water and since that the New-River both very Considerable Undertakings and Perfect Projects adventur'd on the risque of Success In the Reign of King Charles the First infinite Projects were set on foot for Raising Money without a Parliament Oppressing by Monopolies and Privy Seals but these are excluded our Scheme as Irregularities for thus the French are as fruitful in Projects as we and these are rather Stratagems than Projects After the Fire of London the Contrivance of an Engine to Quench Fires was a Project the Author was said to get well by and we have found to be very useful But about the Year 1680. began the Art and Mystery of Projecting to creep into the World Prince Rupert Uncle to King Charles the Second gave great Encouragement to that part of it that respects Engines and Mechanical Motions and Bishop Wilkins added as much of the Theory to it as writing a Book could do The Prince has left us a Metal call'd by his Name and the first Project upon that was as I remember Casting of Guns of that Metal and boring them done both by a peculiar Method of his own and which died with him to the great loss of the Undertaker who to that purpose had with no small Charge erected a Water-Mill at Hackney-Marsh known by the name of the Temple-Mill Which Mill very happily perform'd all parts of the Work and I have seen of those Guns on board the Royal Charles a First-rate Ship being of a Reddish Colour different either from Brass or Copper I have heard some Reasons of State assign'd why that Project was not permitted to go forward but I omit them because I have no good Authority for it After this we saw a Floating Machine to be wrought with Horses for the Towing of Great Ships both against Wind and Tide and another for the raising of Ballast which as unperforming Engines had the honour of being Made Expos'd Tri'd and laid by before the Prince died If thus we introduce it into the World under the Conduct of that Prince when he died 't was left a hopeless Brat and had hardly any Hand to own it till the Wreck-Voyage before-noted perform'd so happily by Captain Phips afterwards Sir William whose strange Performance set a great many Heads on work to contrive something for themselves he was immediately follow'd by my Lord Mordant Sir Iohn Narborough and others from several Parts whose Success made 'em soon weary of the Work The Project of the Penny-Post so well known and still practis'd I cannot omit nor the Contriver Mr. Dockwra who has had the honour to have the Injury done him in that Affair repair'd in some measure by the publick Justice of the Parliament And the Experiment proving it to be a Noble and Useful Design the Author must be remembred where-ever mention is made of that Affair to his very great Reputation 'T was no question a great hardship for a man to be Master of so fine a Thought that had both the Essential Ends of a Project in it Publick Good and Private Advantage and that the Publick shou'd reap the benefit and the Author be left out the Injustice of which no doubt discourag'd many a Good Design But since an Alteration in Publick Circumstances has recover'd the lost Attribute of Justice the like is not to be fear'd And Mr. Dockwra has had the satisfaction to see the former Injury disown'd and an honourable Return made even by them who did not the Injury in bare respect to his Ingenuity A while before this several People under the Patronage of some great Persons had engag'd in Planting of Foreign Collonies as William Pen the Lord Shaftsbury Dr. Cox and others in Pensilvania Carolina East and West Iersey and the like places which I do not call Projects because 't was only prosecuting what had been formerly begun But here began the forming of publick Joint-Stocks which together with the East-India African and Hudson's-Bay Companies before establish'd begot a New Trade which we call by a new Name Stock-Iobbing which was at first only the simple Occasional Transferring of Interest and Shares from one to another as Persons alienated their Estates but by the Industry of the Exchange-Brokers who got the business into their hands it became a Trade and one perhaps manag'd with the greatest Intriegue Artifice and Trick that ever any thing that appear'd with a face of Honesty could be handl'd with for while the Brokers held the Box they made the whole Exchange the Gamesters and rais'd and lower'd the Prices of Stocks as they pleas'd and always had both Buyers and Sellers who stood ready innocently to commit their Money to the mercy of their Mercenary Tongues This Upstart of a Trade having tasted the sweetness of Success which generally attends a Novel Proposal introduces the Illigitimate wandring Object I speak of as a proper Engine to find Work for the Brokers Thus Stock-Jobbing nurs'd Projecting and Projecting in return has very diligently pimp'd for its Foster-parent
AN ESSAY UPON Projects LONDON Printed by R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Corner of Warwick-Lane near Pater-noster-Row MDCXCVII PREFACE TO Dalby Thomas Esq One of the COMMISSIONERS for Managing His Majesty's Duties on Glass c. SIR THIS Preface comes Directed to you not as Commissioner c. under whom I have the Honour to serve his Majesty nor as a Friend though I have great Obligations of that sort also but as the most proper Iudge of the Subjects Treated of and more Capable than the greatest part of Mankind to Distinguish and Understand them Books are useful only to such whose Genius are suitable to the Subject of them And to Dedicate a Book of Projects to a Person who had never concern'd himself to Think that way would be like Musick to one that has no Ear. And yet Your having a Capacity to Iudge of these things no way brings You under the Despicable Title of a Projector any more than knowing the Practices and Subtleties of Wicked Men makes a Man guilty of their Crimes The several Chapters of this Book are the results of particular Thoughts occasion'd by Conversing with the Publick Affairs during the present War with France The Losses and Casualties which attend all Trading Nations in the World when involved in so Cruel a War as this have reach'd us all and I am none of the least Sufferers if this has put me as well as others on Inventions and Projects so much the Subject of this Book 't is no more than a proof of the Reason I give for the general Projecting Humour of the Nation One unhappiness I lie under in the following Book viz. That having kept the greatest Part of it by me for near Five Years several of the Thoughts seem to be hit by other Hands and some by the Publick which turns the tables upon me as if I had Borrow'd from them As particularly that of the Seamen which you know well I had contriv'd long before the Act for Registring Seamen was Propos'd And that of Educating Women which I think my self bound to Declare was form'd long before the Book call'd Advice to the Ladies was made Publick and yet I do not Write this to Magnify my own Invention but to acquit my self from Grafting on other People's Thoughts If I have Trespass'd upon any Person in the World 't is upon Your self from whom I had some of the Notions about County Banks and Factories for Goods in the Chapter of Banks and yet I do not think that my Proposal for the Women or the Seamen clashes at all either with that Book or the Publick method of Registring Seamen I have been told since this was done That my Proposal for a Commission of Enquiries into Bankrupt Estates is Borrow'd from the Dutch if there is any thing like it among the Dutch 't is more than ever I knew or know yet but if so I hope 't is no Objection against our having the same here especially if it be true that 't wou'd be so publickly Beneficial as is express'd What is said of Friendly Societies I think no Man will Dispute with me since one has met with so much Success already in the Practice of it I mean The Friendly Society for Widows of which you have been pleas'd to be a Governor Friendly Societies are very extensive and as I have hinted might be carri'd on to many Particulars I have omitted one which was mention'd in Discourse with your self where a Hundred Tradesmen all of several Trades Agree together to Buy whatever they want of one another and no where else Prices and Payments to be settled among themselves whereby every Man is sure to have Ninety nine Customers and can never want a Trade And I cou'd have fill'd up the Book with Instances of like nature but I never design'd to tire the Reader with Particulars The Proposal of the Pension-Office you will soon see offer'd to the Publick as an Attempt for the Relief of the Poor which if it meets with Encouragement will every way answer all the great Things I have said of it I had Wrote a great many Sheets about the Coin about bringing in Plate to the Mint and about our Standard but so many great Heads being upon it with some of whom my Opinion does not agree I wou'd not adventure to appear in Print upon that Subject Ways and Means also I have laid by on the same score Only adhering to this one Point That be it by Taxing the Wares they Sell be it by Taxing them in Stock be it by Composition which by the way I believe is the best be it by what way soever the Parliament please the Retailers are the Men who seem to call upon us to be Tax'd if not by their own extraordinary good Circumstances though that might bear it yet by the contrary in all other Degrees of the Kingdom Besides the Retailers are the only men who cou'd pay it with least damage because it is in their power to levy it again upon their Customers in the Prices of their Goods and is no more than paying a higher Rent for their Shops The Retailers of Manufactures especially so far as relates to the Inland Trade have never been tax'd yet and their Wealth or Number is not easily calculated Trade and Land has been handled roughly enough and these are the men who now lye as a Reserve to carry on the Burthen of the War These are the Men who were the Land-Tax collected as it shou'd be ought to pay the King more than that whole Bill ever produc'd and yet these are the men who I think I may venture to say do not pay a Twentieth part in that Bill Shou'd the King appoint a Survey over the Assessors and Indict all those who were found faulty allowing a Reward to any Discoverer of an Assessment made lower than the literal Sense of the Act implies What a Register of Frauds and Connivances wou'd be found out In a General Tax if any shou'd be excus'd it shou'd be the Poor who are not able to pay or at least are pinch'd in the necessary parts of Life by paying And yet here a poor Labourer who works for Twelve-Pence or Eighteen-Pence a Day does not drink a Pot of Beer but pays the King a Tenth part for Excise and really pays more to the King's Taxes in a year than a Countrey Shopkeeper who is Alderman of the Town worth perhaps Two or Three Thousand Pounds brews his own Beer pays no Excise and in the Land-Tax is rated it may be 100 l. and pays 1 l. 4 s. per Annum But ought if the Act were put in due execution to pay 36 l. per Ann. to the King If I were to be ask'd how I wou'd remedy this I wou'd answer It shou'd be by some Method in which every man may be tax'd in the due proportion to his Estate and the Act put in execution according to the true Intent and Meaning of it in order to which a
Commission of Assessment shou'd be granted to Twelve Men such as His Majesty shou'd be well satisfied of who shou'd go through the whole Kingdom Three in a Body and shou'd make a new Assessment of Personal Estates not to meddle with Land To these Assessors shou'd all the Old Rates Parish-Books Poor-Rates and Highway-Rates also be delivered and upon due Enquiry to be made into the Manner of Living and reputed Wealth of the People the Stock or Personal Estate of every man shou'd be assess'd without Connivance and he who is reputed to be worth a Thousand Pound shou'd be tax'd at a Thousand Pound and so on And he who was an over-grown Rich Tradesman of Twenty or Thirty thousand Pounds Estate shou'd be tax'd so and Plain English and Plain Dealing be practis'd indifferently throughout the Kingdom Tradesmen and Landed men shou'd have Neighbours Fare as we call it and a Rich Man shou'd not be pass'd by when a Poor Man pays We read of the Inhabitants of Constantinople that they suffer'd their City to be lost for want of contributing in time for its Defence and pleaded Poverty to their Generous Emperor when he went from House to House to persuade them and yet when the Turks took it the Prodigious Immense Wealth they found in it made 'em wonder at the sordid Temper of the Citizens England with due Exceptions to the Parliament and the Freedom wherewith they have given to the Publick Charge is much like Constantinople we are involv'd in a Dangerous a Chargeable but withal a most Iust and Necessary War and the Richest and Money'd Men in the Kingdom plead Poverty and the French or King James or the Devil may come for them if they can but conceal their Estates from the Publick Notice and get the Assessors to tax them at an Under-Rate These are the men this Commission wou'd discover and here they shou'd find men tax'd at 500 l. Stock who are worth 20000 l. Here they shou'd find a certain Rich Man near Hackney rated to day in the Tax-Book at 1000 l. Stock and to morrow offering 27000 l. for an Estate Here they shou'd find Sir J C perhaps tax'd to the King at 5000 l. stock perhaps not so much whose Cash no man can guess at And multitudes of Instances I cou'd give by name without wrong to the Gentlemen And not to run on in Particulars I affirm That in the Land-Tax Ten certain Gentlemen in London put together did not pay for half so much Personal Estate call'd Stock as the poorest of them is reputed really to possess I do not enquire at whose door this Fraud must lye 't is none of my business I wish they wou'd search into it whose Power can punish it But this with Submission I presume to say The King is thereby defrauded and horribly abus'd the true Intent and Meaning of Acts of Parliament evaded the Nation involv'd in Debt by fatal Deficiencies and Interests Fellow-Subjects abus'd and new Inventions for Taxes occasion'd The last Chapter in this Book is a Proposal about entring all the Seamen in England into the King's Pay a Subject which deserves to be enlarg'd into a Book it self and I have a little Volume of Calculations and Particulars by me on that Head but I thought them too long to publish In short I am persuaded was that Method propos'd to those Gentlemen to whom such things belong the greatest Sum of Money might be rais'd by it with the least Injury to those who pay it that ever was or will be during the War Projectors they say are generally to be taken with allowance of one half at least they always have their mouths full of Millions and talk big of their own Proposals and therefore I have not expos'd the vast Sums my Calculations amount to but I venture to say I could procure a Farm on such a Proposal as this at Three Millions per Ann. and give very good Security for Payment such an Opinion I have of the Value of such a Method and when that is done the Nation wou'd get Three more by paying it which is very strange but might easily be made out In the Chapter of Academies I have ventur'd to reprove the Vicious Custom of Swearing I shall make no Apology for the Fact for no man ought to be asham'd of exposing what all men ought to be asham'd of practising But methinks I stand corrected by my own Laws a little in forcing the Reader to repeat some of the worst of our Vulgar Imprecations in reading my Thoughts against it To which however I have this to reply First I did not find it easy to express what I mean without putting down the very Words at least not so as to be very Intelligible Secondly Why should Words repeated only to expose the Vice taint the Reader more than a Sermon preach'd against Lewdness should the Assembly for of necessity it leads the Hearer to the Thoughts of the Fact but the Morality of every Action lies in the End and if the Reader by ill use renders himself guilty of the Fact in Reading which I design'd to expose by Writing the Fault is his not mine I have endeavour'd every where in this Book to be as Concise as possible except where Calculations oblig'd me to be particular and having avoided Impertinence in the Book I wou'd avoid it too in the Preface and therefore shall break off with subscribing my self SIR Your most Obliged Humble Servant D. F. Introduction NEcessity which is allow'd to be the Mother of Invention has so violently agitated the Wits of men this time that it seems not at all improper by way of distinction to call it The Projecting Age. For tho' in times of War and Publick Confusions the like Humour of Invention has seem'd to stir yet without being partial to the present it is I think no Injury to say the past Ages have never come up to the degree of Projecting and Inventing as it refers to Matters of Negoce and Methods of Civil Polity which we see this Age arriv'd to Nor is it a hard matter to assign probable Causes of the Perfection in this Modern Art I am not of their melancholy Opinion who ascribe it to the general Poverty of the Nation since I believe 't is easy to prove the Nation it self taking it as one General Stock is not at all diminish'd or impoverish'd by this Long this Chargeable War but on the contrary was never Richer since it was inhabited Nor am I absolutely of the Opinion that we are so happy as to be Wiser in this Age than our Forefathers tho' at the same time I must own some parts of Knowledge in Science as well as Art has received Improvements in this Age altogether conceal'd from the former The Art of War which I take to be the highest Perfection of Human Knowledge is a sufficient Proof of what I say especially in conducting Armies and in offensive Engines witness the new ways of Mines Fougades Entrenchments
with Clerks of his own a Register and 2 Clerks 4 Searchers a Messenger one in daily attendance under Salary a Physician a Surgeon and 4 Visitors In the Hospital more or less according to the Number of People entertain'd a Housekeeper a Steward Nurses a Porter and a Chaplain Note The reason why every Subscriber shall take a Receipt or Ticket for his Quarteridge is because this must be the standing Law of the Office that if any Subscriber fail to pay their Quarteridge they shall never Claim after it until double so much be paid nor not at all that Quarter whatever befalls them The Secretary shou'd be allow'd to have 2 d. for every Ticket of Entry he gives out and 1 d. for every Receipt he gives for Quarteridge to be accounted for as follows One Third to himself in lieu of Salary he being to Pay Three Clerks out of it One Third to the Clerks and other Officers among them And One Third to defray the incident Charge of the Office Thus Calculated Per Ann.    l. s. d. 100000 Subscribers paying 1 d. each every Quarter is 1666 3 4 One Third To the Secretary per Ann. and Three Clerks 555 7 9   l. Per Ann.   One Third To a Register 100 550 0 0 To a Clerk 50 550 To 4 Searchers 100 To a Physician 100 To a Surgeon 100 To Four Visitors 100 One Third To Incident Charges such as To Ten Committee-Men 5 s. each sitting twice per Week is 260 560 15 7 To a Clerk of Committees 50 To a Messenger 40 A House for the Office 40 A House for the Hospital 100 Contingencies 70  15 s. 7 d.       1666 3 4 All the Charge being thus paid out of such a Trifle as 1 d. per Quarter the next Consideration is to examine what the Incomes of this Subscription may be and in time what may be the Demands upon it  l. s. d. If 100 000 persons subscribe they pay down at their entring each 6 d. which is 2500 00 00 And the first year's Payment is in Stock at 1 s. per Quarter 20000 00 00 It must be allow'd that under Three Months the Subscriptions will not be well compleat so the Payment of Quarteridge shall not begin but from the Day after the Books are full or shut up and from thence one year is to pass before any Claim can be made and the Money coming in at separate times I suppose no Improvement upon it for the first year except of the 2500 which lent to the King on some good Fund at 7 l. per Cent. Interest advances the first year 175 00 00 The Quarteridge of the Second year abating for 1000 Claims 19800 00 00 And the Interest of the first year's Money at the end of the second year lent to the King as aforesaid at 7 per Cent. Interest is 1774 10 00 The Quarteridge of the Third year abating for Claims 19400 00 00 The Interest of former Cash to the end of the Third Year 3284 08 00 Income of Three Years 66933 18 00 Note Any person may pay 2 s. up to 5 s. Quarterly if they please and upon a Claim will be allow'd in proportion To assign what shall be the Charge upon this where Contingency has so great a share is not to be done but by way of Political Arithmetick a probable Guess may be made 'T is to be noted That the Pensions I propose to be paid to Persons claiming by the Third Fifth and Sixth Articles are thus Every Person who paid 1 s. Quarterly shall receive 12 d. Weekly and so in proportion every 12 d. paid Quarterly by any one Person to receive so many Shillings Weekly if they come to claim a Pension The first Year no Claim is allow'd so the Bank has in Stock compleatly 22500 l. From thence we are to consider the Number of Claims Sir William Petty in his Political Arithmetick supposes not above one in 40 to dye per Ann. out of the whole number of people and I can by no means allow that the Circumstances of our Claims will be as frequent as Death for these Reasons 1. Our Subscriptions respect all persons grown and in the Prime of their Age past the first and providing against the last part of Danger Sir William's Account including Children and Old People which always makes up One Third of the Bills of Mortality 2. Our Claims will fall thin at first for several Years and let but the Money increase for Ten Years as it does in the Account for Three Years 't would be almost sufficient to maintain the whole Number 3. Allow that Casualty and Poverty are our Debtor-side Health Prosperity and Death are the Creditor-side of the Account and in all probable Accounts those Three Articles will carry off Three Fourth Parts of the Number as follows If 1 in 40 shall dye Annually as no doubt they shall and more that is 2500 a year which in 20 Years is 50000 of the Number I hope I may be allow'd One Third to be out of condition to claim appparently living without the help of Charity and One Third in Health of Body and able to work which put together makes 83332 so it leaves 16668 to make Claims of Charity and Pensions in the first 20 years and One half of them must according to Sir William Petty Die on our hands in 20 years so there remains but 8334. But to put it out of doubt beyond the proportion to be guess'd at I 'le allow they shall fall thus The First Year we are to note none can claim and the Second Year the Number must be very few but increasing wherefore I suppose One in every 500 shall claim the second year which is 200 The Charge whereof is l. 500 One in every 100 the third year is 1000 the Charge 2500 Together with the former 200 500 3000 To carry on the Calculation  l. s. d. We find the Stock at the end of the 3 d year 66933 18 0 The Quarteridge of the 4 th year abating as before 19000 00 0 Interest of the Stock 4882 17 6 The Quarteridge of the 5 th year 18600 00 0 Interest of the Stock 6473 00 0  115879 15 6  l. s. d. The Charge 3000 00 0 2000 to fall the 4 th Year 5000 00 0 And the Old continued 3000 00 0 2000 the 5 th Year 5000 00 0 The Old continued 11000 00 0  27000 00 0 By this computation the Stock is increased above the Charge in Five years 89379 l. 15 s. 6 d. and yet here are sundry Articles to be considered on both sides of the Account that will necessarily increase the Stock and diminish the Charge  l. s. d. First In the Five years time 6200 having claim'd Charity the Number being abated for in the reckoning above for Stock it may be allow'd New Subscriptions will be taken in to keep the Number full which in Five
not less Gaged on one side and other upon the second Siege of Limerick than Two hundred thousand Pound How 't is manag'd and by what trick and artifice it became a Trade and how insensibly Men were drawn into it an easy Account may be given I believe Novelty was the first wheel that set it on work and I need make no reflection upon the power of that Charm It was wholly a new thing at least upon the Exchange of London and the first occasion that gave it a room among publick Discourse was some Persons forming Wagers on the Return and Success of King Iames for which the Government took occasion to use them as they deserv'd I have heard a Bookseller in King Iames's time say That if he wou'd have a Book sell he wou'd have it Burnt by the hand of the Common Hangman the Man no doubt valu'd his Profit above his Reputation but People are so addicted to prosecute a thing that seems forbid that this very practice seem'd to be encourag'd by its being Contraband The Trade encreas'd and first on the Exchange and then in Coffee-houses it got life till the Brokers those Vermin of Trade got hold of it and then particular Offices were set apart for it and an incredible resort thither was to be seen every day These Offices had not been long in being but they were throng'd with Sharpers and Setters as much as the Groom-Porter's or any Gaming-Ordinary in Town where a Man had nothing to do but to make a good Figure and prepare the Keeper of the Office to give him a Credit as a good Man and though he had not a Groat to pay he shou'd take Guineas and sign Polities till he had receiv'd perhaps 3 or 400 l. in Money on condition to pay great Odds and then Success tries the Man if he Wins his Fortune is made if not he 's a better Man than he was before by just so much Money for as to the Debt he is your Humble Servant in the Temple or Whitehall But besides those who are but the Thieves of the Trade there is a Method as effectual to get Money as possible manag'd with more appearing Honesty but no less Art by which the Wagerer in Confederacy with the Office-keeper shall lay vast Sums great Odds and yet be always sure to Win. For Example A Town in Flanders or elsewhere during the War is besieg'd perhaps at the beginning of the Siege the Defence is vigorous and Relief probable and it is the opinion of most people the Town will hold out so long or perhaps not be taken at all The Wagerer has two or three more of his sort in conjunction of which always the Office-keeper is one and they run down all discourse of the taking the Town and offer great Odds it shall not be taken by such a day Perhaps this goes on a Week and then the Scale turns and tho' they seem to hold the same opinion still yet underhand the Office-keeper has Orders to Take all the Odds which by their Example was before given against the taking the Town and so all their first-given Odds are easily secur'd and yet the people brought into a vein of Betting against the Siege of the Town too Then they order all the Odds to be Taken as long as they will run while they themselves openly give Odds and sign Polities and oftentimes take their own Money till they have receiv'd perhaps double what they at first laid Then they turn the Scale at once and cry down the Town and lay that it shall be taken till the length of the first Odds is fully run and by this Manage if the Town be taken they win perhaps Two or Three Thousand Pounds and if it be not taken they are no Losers neither 'T is visible by experience not one Town in ten is besieg'd but 't is taken The Art of War is so improv'd and our Generals are so wary that an Army seldom attempts a Siege but when they are almost sure to go on with it and no Town can hold out if a Relief cannot be had from abroad Now if I can by first laying 500 l. to 200 l. with A that the Town shall not be taken wheedle in B to lay me 5000 l. to 2000 l. of the same and after that by bringing down the Vogue of the Siege reduce the Wagers to Even-hand and lay 2000 l. with C that the Town shall not be taken by this Method 't is plain If the Town be not Taken I win 2200 l. and lose 2000 l. If the Town be Taken I win 5000 l. and lose 2500 l. This is Gaming by Rule and in such a Knot 't is impossible to lose for if it is in any Man's or Company of Men's power by any Artifice to alter the Odds 't is in their power to command the Money out of every man's Pocket who has no more Wit than to venture Of FOOLS OF all Persons who are Objects of our Charity none move my Compassion like those whom it has pleas'd God to leave in a full state of Health and Strength but depriv'd of Reason to act for themselves And it is in my opinion one of the greatest Scandals upon the Understanding of others to mock at those who want it Upon this account I think the Hospital we call Bedlam to be a Noble Foundation a visible Instance of the sense our Ancestors had of the greatest Unhappiness which can befal Human Kind Since as the Soul in Man distinguishes him from a Brute so where the Soul is dead for so it is as to acting no Brute so much a Beast as a Man But since never to have it and to have lost it are synonimous in the Effect I wonder how it came to pass that in the Settlement of that Hospital they made no Provision for Persons born without the use of their Reason such as we call Fools or more properly Naturals We use such in England with the last Contempt which I think is a strange Error since tho' they are useless to the Commonwealth they are only so by God's direct Providence and no previous Fault I think 't would very well become this Wise Age to take care of such And perhaps they are a particular Rent-Charge on the Great Family of Mankind left by the Maker of us all like a Younger Brother who tho' the Estate be given from him yet his Father expected the Heir should take some care of him If I were to be ask'd Who ought in particular to be charg'd with this Work I would answer in general Those who have a Portion of Understanding extraordinary Not that I would lay a Tax upon any man's Brains or discourage Wit by appointing Wise Men to maintain Fools But some Tribute is due to God's Goodness for bestowing extraordinary Gifts and who can it be better paid to than such as suffer for want of the same Bounty For the providing therefore some Subsistence for such that Natural Defects
may not be expos'd It is Propos'd That a Fool-House be Erected either by Publick Authority or by the City or by an Act of Parliament into which all that are Naturals or born Fools without Respect or Distinction should be admitted and maintain'd For the Maintenance of this a small stated Contribution settl'd by the Authority of an Act of Parliament without any Damage to the Persons paying the same might be very easily rais'd by a Tax upon Learning to be paid by the Authors of Books Every Book that shall be Printed in Folio from 40 sheets and upwards to pay at the Licensing for the whole Impression 5 l. Under 40 sheets 40 s. Every Quarto 20 s. Every Octavo of 10 sheets and upward 20 s. Every Octavo under 10 sheets and every Bound Book in 12s. 10 s. Every stitch'd Pamphlet Reprinted Copies the same Rates 2 s. This Tax to be paid into the Chamber of London for the space of Twenty Years would without question raise a Fund sufficient to Build and Purchase a Settlement for this House I suppose this little Tax being to be rais'd at so few places as the Printing-Presses or the Licensers of Books and consequently the Charge but very small in gathering might bring in about 1500 l. per Annum for the term of Twenty Years which would perform the Work to the degree following The House should be Plain and Decent for I don't think the Ostentation of Buildings necessary or suitable to Works of Charity and be built somewhere out of Town for the sake of the Air. The Building to cost about 1000 l. or if the Revenue exceed to cost 2000 l. at most and the Salaries mean in proportion In the House A Steward 30. l. per Ann. A Purveyor 20 A Cook 20 A Butler 20 Six Women to assist the Cook and clean the House 4 l. each 24 Six Nurses to Tend the People 3 l. each 18 A Chaplain 20 152 A Hundred Alms-People at 8 l. per Ann. Dyet c. 800 952 l. per Ann. The Table for the Officers and Contingences and Cloaths for the Alms-People and Firing put together 500 l. per Ann. An Auditor of the Accounts a Committee of the Governors and Two Clerks Here I suppose 1500 Pounds per Ann. Revenue to be settl'd upon the House which 't is very probable might be rais'd from the Tax aforesaid But since an Act of Parliament is necessary to be had for the Collecting this Duty and that Taxes for keeping of Fools would be difficultly obtain'd while they are so much wanted for Wise Men I would propose to raise the Money by voluntary Charity which wou'd be a Work would leave more Honour to the Undertakers than Feasts and great Shows which our Publick Bodies too much diminish their Stocks with But to pass all suppositious ways which are easily thought of but hardly procur'd I propose to maintain Fools out of our own Folly And whereas a great deal of Money has been thrown about in Lotteries the following Proposal would very easily perfect our Work A Charity-Lottery That a Lottery be set up by the Authority of the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen for a Hundred thousand Tickets at Twenty Shillings each to be drawn by the known Way and Method of drawing Lotteries as the Million-Lottery was drawn in which no Allowance to be made to any body but the Fortunate to receive the full Sum of One hundred thousand Pounds put in without Discount and yet this double Advantage to follow 1. That an immediate Sum of One hundred thousand Pounds shall be rais'd and paid into the Exchequer for the Publick Use. 2. A Sum of above Twenty thousand Pounds be gain'd to be put into the hands of known Trustees to be laid out in a Charity for the Maintenance of the Poor That as soon as the Money shall be come in it shall be paid into the Exchequer either on some good Fund if any suitable or on the Credit of Exchequer and that when the Lottery is drawn the Fortunate to receive Tallies or Bills from the Exchequer for their Money payable at Four Years The Exchequer receives this Money and gives out Tallies according to the Prizes when 't is drawn all payable at Four Years and the Interest of this Money for Four Years is struck in Tallies proportion'd to the time and given to the Trustees which is the Profit I propose for the Work Thus the Fortunate have an immediate Title to their Prizes at Four Years without Interest and the Hospital will have also an immediate Title to 6000 l. per Ann. for Four Years which is the Interest at 6 per Cent. per Ann. If any should object against the Time of staying for their Prizes it should be answer'd thus That whoever did not like to stay the Time for the Money upon discounting Four Years Interest at 8 per Cent. should have their Money down I think this Specimen will inform any body what might be done by Lotteries were they not hackney'd about in Private Hands who by Fraud and Ill Management put them out of Repute and so neither gain themselves nor suffer any useful handsome Design to succeed 'T would be needless I suppose to mention That such a Proposal as this ought to be set on foot by Publick Approbation and by Men of known Integrity and Estates that there may be no room left for a suspicion of private advantage If this or any equivalent Proposal succeeded to raise the Money I would have the House establish'd as aforesaid with larger or smaller Revenues as necessity oblig'd then the Persons to be receiv'd should be without distinction or respect but principally such as were really Poor and Friendless and any that were kept already by any Parish-Collection the said Parish should allow Forty Shillings Yearly towards their Maintenance which no Parish would refuse that subsisted them wholly before I make no question but that if such an Hospital was erected within a Mile or two of the City one great Circumstance would happen viz. That the common sort of people who are very much addicted to rambling in the Fields would make this House the customary Walk to divert themselves with the Objects to be seen there and to make what they call Sport with the Calamity of others as is now shamefully allow'd in Bedlam To prevent this and that the condition of such which deserves Pity not Contempt might not be the more expos'd by this Charity it should be order'd That the Steward of the House be in Commission of the Peace within the Precincts of the House only and authoriz'd to punish by limited Fines or otherwise any person that shall offer any Abuse to the poor Alms-people or shall offer to make Sport at their Condition If any person at Reading of this shou'd be so impertinent as to ask To what purpose I wou'd appoint a Chaplain in an Hospital of Fools I could answer him very well by saying For the use of the other Persons