Mr. Edward Carleton pray let him not be named or ranked among the precedent ones unless it be for a President and a good Example to all those as shall hereafter arrive unto the same pitch of Honour as to be ancient Leasees who rather than he would stay for a Customer to give him 150 l. Fine and 100 l. per annum for one of your great Shops which was your first Market-price hath let it since as I am informed unto honest Mr. Stephen Proctor for less than 40 l. per annum The other Instance is of your most worthy selves in your Noble and generous condescensions in Letting of late although formerly you might have had a far better price but it was then refused a Shop of the same dimensions for or near the same rate So that from hence I may very well argue with you both wayes viz. Either à majore ad minus aut à minore ad majus from these two great Shops to the rest of the small Shops proportionably or else from this small and generous Exordium untill you shall have passed through the whole entire Body of your Royal Exchange and so by degrees happily meet again where you so fairly began by the same Noble and generous Conclusion And that you may the rather be excited hereunto and not any longer suffer your said place to stand upon this tottering and sandy foundation some of you may very well remember what a precaution and early advertisement this Honourable Court had given them by the aforesaid Authour of that Book called Londons Nonsuch the which the Leasees out of the singular favour love and respect which they bore unto his Person or rather unto the Antient and good old cause of wrack rents or some other good causes and considerations them thereunto moving were pleased to stile Londons Nonsence In these words viz. Take heed lest by your Rents and Fines you build not on the Sand. Surely he saw then something beforehand which it seems hath since came to pass in a very great measure And O! the miserable effects and most dangerous consequents in all matters and things either in Ecclesiastical or temporal affairs whatsoever in winding and scrueing them up to the highest pitch and it is ten to one but in such proceedings and transactions they do marr and break all at the last whereas were there a mediocrity and a mean used in all these concerns things then would run in a far clearer and more Crystal Channel and the world it self would be at a far better pass than it is at this day And as I remember one of the Kings of France once commanding his Secretary to write down the best single word that ever he read in his life he immediately in obedience to his Majesties pleasure writes down this word viz. MODERATION And this is no more nor no less than what we are all enjoyned and commanded upon sacred record in these plain and intelligible words viz. Let your Moderation be known unto all Men c. And truly for all men who are intelligent agents et ergo rational Creatures to be modest humble and courteous in all their affairs and transactions whatsoever is a most laudable commendable and a most excellent vertue like Dame nature her self who is moderate in all her desires and when over charged we do but put her out of her course and disturb her and she takes it as a very great affront and injury offered unto her worthy self And how many Persons are there now at this day yet surviving within the limits and territories of his Majesties Realms and Dominions who were formerly in Power and Authority and for want of making use of this thing called Moderation did mar and break all their designs and enterprizes whatsoever and did split themselves upon the Rock of Extremity and Presumption as little dreaming there might come a day of an Accompt and if a man had been inspired from Heaven in those dayes with the Spirit of Prophecy although many times by natural reason one may give a shrewd guess of subsequent consequences by precedent circumstances and had gone to them and told them Gentlemen my humble request unto you is that you would please to let your Moderation be known unto all Men for my Lord the Kings most Excellent Majesty is near at hand I warrant you such a Person would have been esteemed most ridiculous impertinent fanatical and contemptible But if they had taken it into their serious thoughts and considerations and thereupon had embraced Moderation they would not have suffered so much reproach contempt in their honour and reputation as some of them I do pity them with all my heart have done since his Majesties Restauration And for any person whatsoever now adays to make any reflection upon any particular person by reason of his former in advertency and miscarriage herein it is an unworthy and inbecoming action and sure I am no sober mind would do it inasmuch as there is an act of indempnity passed by King Lords and Commons to have all these things buried in the embers of Oblivion and forgetfulness and that they would have no distinction of Persons now used save only what consists with the Longitude and Latitude of a good Christian a good Subject and a good Citizen and in the Country a good Common-Wealths man that is such a one as doth study the common good and benefit of his Neighbours and of all the parts adjacent where he shall or may survive And because many of these Men who otherwise very intelligent may be now heartily sorry for their mistakes and if in case they were in the same capacity they would never run again the same extremes and I could wish with all my heart that these books that are now in print and suffered to be sold which do so much reflect upon these mens Credit and Reputation were not tollerated inasmuch as it is in my slender apprehension a direct breach of the said Statute and act of Grace which doth so strictly prohibit and forbid the same But all this is as yet besides the matter in hand and not directly to the point although I hope they may be of some use and benefit in some cases for the strength of the Objection lyes herein viz. That you have laid out so much money already upon the rebuilding of your Royal Exchange and that in reason you ought to have so much interest for the same by way of improvement or else you might as well have thrown away your Money into the Streets or have sent it into the Island of terra incognita for a venture and it would have turned to the same accompt so that now I must proceed in a rational order and method whereby to convince your Reasons and understandings in this case or else all that I have hitherto laboured in will turn to no Accompt as to my present design Wherefore in answer thereunto I will lay down this position for a general
these Sub-tenants I do verily believe that many of them are but in a mean and low Condition And the truth of it is what with the Rent for their Houses what with the Charge for their Families what with the loss in Braded Wares what with the Alteration of Fashions but only this is an Age of Wonders or else one might well stand amazed and be astonished at the most prodigious Humour and strange fickleness of the Age upon this very Account what with desperate Debts and what with bad Trading they need not have wrack Land-lords if possibly to be avoyded for furious Lievtenants to bring up the Rear unless Trading should thereupon flow in upon them like a mighty flood in order to their more speedy and sometimes most certain Ruine And when men are in Durance Bondage and Slavery for them to use all fair and probable Means whereby to Redeem themselves out of the said Captivity I think this is no Sin nor Offence either to God or Man But the ancient Leasees will not admit nor by no means swallow this down for Orthodox Doctrine and will say That those who go about and are Instrumental in destroying of their Tenant-rights and their interest in future Leases the which with the Locks Shackles and Fetters which they have put upon them they do think are as good both to them and their Heirs as Land of Inheritance do deserve to be severely and exemplarily chastised But whether the ancient Leasees or the poor Sub-tenants Doctrine in this particular be true or false Sub Judice lis est And now to proceed to my Third and last Enterprize viz. To the Outward Pawn-tenants And as I have placed the ancient Leasees in the front of the Battel that so they may lead the Van and because I humbly conceive they have been the Duces omnium malorum of all these late Animosities I have thereupon thought good to put them into the Forlorn Hope and peradventure upon that Account if they should chance to meet with a brisk Rencounter before the Grand Committee it is probable they may come off with broken Pates or which is worse with the loss of several of their limbs that is with the loss of some branches of their future and wrack-rented Revenues so I have placed the Sub-tenants in the Center hoping thereby being now shrowded under your safeguard and protection there they may be safe and secure enough from the Annoyance and danger of the Enemy And now as to your Outward Pawn-tenants although they come last in Order yet they stand in the Second place of Honour whereupon I am resolved to make these my Noble Lievtenants and do not question but they may prove valiant Champions to bring up the Rear These are the men therefore Right Honourable and Right Worshipful who came lately out of the Land of Egypt pray pardon the similitude and all others of the like nature as being added only by way of illustration and were redeemed from their Captivity therein by your most valiant and noble hands in hopes that in a short time you would have placed them in a Land flowing with Milk Honey but so it is may it please your good Lordship and Worships that by the inauspicious influence of some superior Planets being predominant or by some other unlucky interposition for they know not where certainly to fix it although I could here give a shrewd guess as to the true cause and reason thereof they do find themselves still in the Wilderness and are at this time in their Journey no farther than the waters of Marah and as for their daily sustenance they cry out for help help and it is you Right Honourable and you Right Worshipfull and you onely that can work a Miracle for them or else in a short time they say they shall famish in this barren Wilderness for want of Bread they mean for want of Trading by reason of the Inconveniences of their present station But yet once again these are the Men Right Honourable and Right Worshipfull which have listed themselves under your Protection these are the Men that have marched under your Conduct and have obeyed your Commands these are the men that have fought your Battles that is vindicated your Honour upon all Occasions in building this most stately and most magnificent Structure of the Royal Exchange and of your building double Pawns therein These are the Men who have kept possession of your Shops although to some of them a most apparent loss and disadvantage witness in particular by name Mr. William Rutland junior when others of a more pusillanimous and faint-hearted spirit upon their first entrance into the Battle did immediately quit the field returning again to their Garlick and Onions and left their fellow-souldiers to shift for themselves and yet notwithstanding maugre all the reproach and contempt that have been cast upon your Outward Pawns such as By-Walks Turn-again-lanes Back-side of Mother Browns Barn and the like but you may guess from whence these Appellations came and to what end designed have still stoutly held out although so strongly begirt with such strong and potent Assailants in hopes that relief would come in its proper season and that must be when you are possessed with a clear understanding of the right of their Case and of the reason of things and then surely you are Obliged in Honour considering all these precedent Circumstances to rally up your Forces to raise the siege and to relieve your Garrison and that with all Expedition lest that they should be so put to their shifts as that they could not hold out much longer but must be forced to surrender up your Fort Royall upon dishonourable terms and so in conclusion be made Prisoners of War And this may now commodiously be done for it lies within your power de facto at present to effect the same by answering their Expectations by satisfying their Desires by granting their Petitions and by hearkning to their Proposals whenever they shall make Application unto you wherein your publick Interest shall be concerned as well as their own Conveniency and Accommodation But inasmuch as these Outward Pawn-tenants have at this day a Petition before you with Reasons annexed thereunto wherein they have stated their own present Case and I cannot imagine who can state their own Case or shew where their shooes pinch them better than themselves unto their said Petition and Reasons therefore I shall at present most humbly refer you And in the mean time inasmuch as in my Introduction I gave you a hint that I would not conceal any thing from you either for fear or favour as material to my present purpose or necessary for your Information give me leave then in pursuance thereof here to represent unto you some of their private Whisperings and present Sentiments when they do usually meet together upon these publick Concerns the which being duly weighed considered and digested among your worthy selves for ought I know it may
opposition so furiously one against another one of them rounded his Companion in the eare but it must be a very great secret and under the Rose also and as we usually say in vino veritas viz. That they might set their hearts at rest and be quiet for the Committee had faithfully promised them that they would make no alterations whereupon they were so dissatisfied and discontented that they say they have great cause to take it unkindly from the Court this their unkind and unexpected dealings with them and that they did then resolve never to trouble the Court more upon that accompt or upon any other accompt whatsoever And these very men have as little reason to complain for want of a trade as any persons in the Exchange whatsoever only they thought that by the turning of the Stairs on the Northside some water might have run by their Mills which made them so eager and furious in opposition thereunto whereas if their Shops stood in one of the quarters of Morefields next Bedlam gate in the way that they deal in they could not miss of Trade and plain dealing is best although the crafty Politician sayes that he that uses it will dye a begger And here farther they do say that when at any time they come into your Court they must observe that distance they must so place their words they must observe that order and method in their deportment for fear of displeasing some Member or other who will immediately repute them either saucy peremptory or too pragmatical that your eyes being so much upon them and many times they say they are catcht up before they are down they have such an awe and dread upon their Spirits for fear of giving offence so that many times they cannot say what they would and have to say upon this very accompt Whereas one would think in reason that Landlords should be as free to permit their Tenants to speak to them in all cases whatsoever paying the due respects which they owe unto the quality of their persons and to the place where they are assembled in Court as they are free to receive their rents from their said Tenants And although sometimes it may fall out that a man may take a bargain of his Landlord as that his House his Land or Shop may be very well worth and better than the Money that he pays for the same yet your present Tenants do say and I am very apt to believe them therein that their Money is far better at present nay double the value as I shall make it appear hereafter by undeniable reasons than any of yours said Shops So that upon the whole matter I dare engage in the behalf of all your outward Pawn Tenants here and there one only excepted which do drive very considerable Trades that in regard of those most unavoidable circumstances and inconveniencies which do alwaies attend the said place many whereof are hinted in the Sub-Tenants case if any of them could get else where but 100 pounds per Annum a peice towards the present ma intenance of themselves and Families they would then straightway bid adieu to all their concerns within your Royal Exchange And this if seriously weighed and considered is a miserable case that a man must be constrained to give his constant attendance in the said place and yet in regard of the said inconveniencies shall not be able to get 100 pounds per annum for his present maintenance and yet when it is got although out of the fire too because the place at present is more like Birchin lane than a Royal Exchange the one moity thereof must go towards the payment of his Landlords for his house and Shop And if this be their present case and if this were the late proceedings of the Court against them alas poor men what shall I say Where will they center at last in hopes of releif and when will the time come wherein they may truly say that their halcion daies are approaching and that they may lift up their Heads for their redemption draweth nigh And now a little to plead their cause upon the precedent circumstances As to matter of Alterations all men in the world will allow this to be reason viz. That you should endeavour to make both your Pawns as Equal as possibly you can for the general Accommodation of the whole inasmuch as all are equally and alike concerned as to matter of Rents or else that you should make such a proportionable Abatement and Allowance according to the real and apparent difference of the said place But for some men to perswade you That in making any convenient Alterations such as Turning the Stairs and taking down the Posts on the North-side and making the East and West-side into Large Shops and the like would destroy and impair your Inward Pawn-Rents which it seems was their grand Objection and the Committee did swallow it without chewing is such a Wind-mill and a Chimaera as I could easily make it appear onely self-interest men will put on a good face upon any thing whatsoever though never so incongruous and inconsistent with Humane Reason and as we proverbially say Audaces Fortuna juvat cùm in terga removetur Modestia That I must here most earnestly beseech your good Lordship and Worships that you would not henceforward suffer your selves by any prevailing Party or pretence whatsoever to be born down with the Clamours and Railings but with the Reasons of Men For if you should make at this day what Alterations you please without the consent and approbation of the Ancient and Modern Leasees for they were both Modern which came then before you or being frighted with their Bug-bears or allured with their Charms as to the danger that may ensue thereby yet it is Ten thousand pounds to a Nut-shell but the present Inhabitants and Sub-tenants of the said inward Pawns wherein there is at present above Three-score of your said Shops let upon the Wrack may be brought over and perswaded by very good words to accept of your Leases when they are expired at your present Rents if in case hereafter it doth appear that you cannot possibly afford them at a cheaper Rate And moreover some of them do likewise say That the Walks of your Royal Exchange are so extream and pitifull Narrow so that both the Exchanges at the other end of the Town and many times their Customers by way of Emulation for their respects and value they have for those Exchanges take notice thereof do far surpass and outvie them upon that very Account And again some do say which although it be a jocular and a pleasant Reason yet there may be much of truth therein viz. That by reason the Stairs of your Royal Exchange are built so high they have of late lost most of their Tissical Consumptive and short-winded Customers within the City of London and Suburbs thereof the which being of so vast an extent and a place so Populous may
admirable Effects unto all Creatures both Animal and Inanimal whatsoever upon the face of the whole Earth and the nearer and nearer it doth approach unto us within our Horizon the more vigour strength and power it doth still retain in order to the accomplishment of all those Noble Ends and Purposes for the which it was first created and by reason of his powerfull Influence over the whole Earth he doth never rest Day nor Night untill such time as he hath enriched the same with a plentifull Crop and all things therein contained with a Green thriving and flourishing Condition so that from hence by the wise Disposer of all things under the Sun we have the Spring and the Fall we have Summer and Winter Seed-time and Harvest and all things that may conduce unto our present and future Happiness whatsoever And this is a true Representation and Similitude of Life and Death as to things Temporal Mortality Resurrection and Immortality as to things Spiritual and Eternal And so in like manner in respect of the other most glorious and Nocturnal Light this vast Elementary moist and liquid Body of the Moon which as Astrologers do say is above three hundred times bigger than the whole Terrestrial Universe and hath so powerfull an Influence upon the vast Ocean so that as we see by daily Experience as she increases in Grandeur Neptune himself is also constrained to move forward and to give way and to increase also and so gradually till she comes to her full strength then the Surges and Billowes of the Sea do arise to that height as many times it overflowes the banks of the main Ocean and this is that which we call our Spring-tides So that we see this vast and liquid Body like as Fire doth produce Fire and Water by the help of an Engine doth draw up Water by its secret and attractive virtue infused thereinto by an Almighty power commands the very Ocean it self and likewise sets bounds and limits to the proud waves and surges thereof which many times are much higher than the Land by its most powerfull strength influence and operation And this is a more than probable Argument to be given for the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea which hath startled and stumbled so many Persons who have been upon the Quest to find out the true Cause and Reason thereof And these two Instances alone together with the Rainbow being taken in which will make up a Trinity of Celestial Attestators are enough to confute those purblind and blear-ey'd Masters of Reason who can see no further than their dim-sighted corporeal Eyes will permit them the proudest and stoutest Atheist in the world And they may as well say that they made themselves and were the primary Cause of their own Beings as to say all these things and many more which would bee too tedious here to insert were first produced by the power strength and vigour onely of Natures Operation For how can these men tell that if Nature alone did produce them Nature might not some time or other reduce them again unto their first Principles or else into some other Form and Fashion for Nature sometimes hath its prodigious and monstrous Births And how could they tell that the Rainbow Gods established Covenant with Mankind should continue and appear in the Heavens for so many Generations But all these things are so fixed and determined by the most High that they cannot do otherwise than they are appointed and if the Sun stand still or go backwards at any time it is in Obedience to the Command of the Supreme Creator I pray pardon this small digression of mine in regard as I was entring thereupon some of the Atheistical notions did so boldly accost me that I could do no less then give them a broad side on purpose to send them back again into the Land of forgetfulness that so they might no more rise up in pride vain-glory and presumption in denying the good Providence and Wisdom of Almighty God in these and the like cases but to proceed as by way of similitude in these two instances as to those ends and purposes now mentioned so I say in like manner as to this most Famous and most renowned City of London so long as you have peace within your Walls Prosperity within your Borders Plenty within your Streets Health within your Pallaces no Forreign nor Domestique jarrs to obstruct your Trade at home nor your Negotiations abroad especially among your Merchants which are the great wheeles or springs in a Watch that sets all the little wheels in their orderly motions Mercy and Truth meeting together Righteousness and Peace embracing each other I say by the powerful influence of all these precedent circumstances being met and joyned together it is almost impossible but that your City of London unless our heaven provoking sins from time to time interveneing shall forbid the banes should continue in a thriving and flourishing condition and thereupon how many thousand pounds come flowing yearly like the overflowing of the River Nilus into the Chamber of London and at this insensible vast and most Noble revenue the Citizens of London and the Inhabitants thereof are not in the least measure offended but do rather rejoyce and wish you much joy thereof and much good may you do with it and they would be glad with all their hearts every Mothers child of them to arrive at the same pitch of honour as to come to be Lord Major Mr. Alderman Mr. Sheriff Mr. Common-Councel-Man and the like And now and then to open a vein in the body Politick for the preservation of the whole is as requisite and necessary as somtimes to open a vein in the body natural whereby to remove some impediment and obstruction in the circulation of the blood that so afterwards in its perambulation it may run with more strength and vigor and return again unto its former and regular proceedings And I may truly say of this antient and Renowned City of London and it reaches all cases persons and places whatsoever according to the Poet. Donec eris foelix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris Ovid And thus have I done with my main and principal design which were my primary intentions and resolutions in the publication hereof And although this small piece is not adorned with all those goodly and excellent properties as might be expected from a person of more than ordinary and Scholastick improvement upon any matter or Subject whatsoever as he should undertake which are these viz. 1. To speak modestly and in the words of truth and Sobriety 2. To speak pertinent to the matter in hand without too many circumlocutions and florid expressions before he comes to the point and therein also to be very succinct 3. To back all his positions and assertions with the prevailing and powerfull arguments of solid and substantial reason that so all persons may be constrained to acquiesce in her