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
and Indulgence yet notwithstanding I shall alwayes heartily pray for the continual peace Prosperity and flourishing Estate of your Metropolitan City and in particular for all your Tenants and present Inhabitants many whereof are my worthy Friends and Acquaintance of your Royal Exchange but I will assure you if you will please to pardon my present presumption in so much tiring your patience in perusal of this Memorial I shall never trouble you nor my self nor any succeding Committee upon this or the like Account So committing you all to the constant and continual Care Conduct and Protection of the most High wishing that all your Debates and Consultations henceforward may be agreeable and consonant unto that which is a Spark and Ray of that Divine Beauty and Lustre who is the Sourse and Fountain of all Rectitude and Perfection viz. Reason and that all your future Proceedings and Transactions here in this lower and Terrestrial Sphear may be according to the orderly constant and regular Motions of the Coelestial Bodies in the Superiour Orb And that all your Edicts henceforward may be like the Laws and Statutes of Heaven it self to all the Sons and Daughters of Men of most sovereign and saving Use and of universal Benefit and Advantage unto all those who shall or may be concerned in them but more especially and in particular at this present conjuncture unto all the present Inhabitants de futuro for all those who shall there actually succeed within the walls of your Royal Exchange for these and these onely are the Men which must repair sustain uphold defend and keep up the future Credit Reputation and Honour of the said place And now to conclude all in a short Parable for Parables many times and in some Cases have taken as deep an Impression if not more than a plainer Demonstration to be perused by you at your leisures I fear I have already too much intrenched upon your Patience in the perusal of this present Memorial And we will call it The Parable of the Leasees Leaguer and a Description of the Sub and Outward Pawn Tenants Camp So that Whereas I do perceive that these Civil and Intestine Divisions Wars Animosities and Contentions among the contesting Parties the Domestick Inhabitants of your Pallace Royal are still like to continue many Summers Campagne for the Drums do yet daily sound in my ears and ad arma ad arma insonuit buccina for new Voluntiers whereby to re-inforce their Armies unless you Right Honourable and you Right Worshipfull who are the proper and onely Mediators in this Case by reason you can turn the scales at any time do interpose by your Power Grandeur and Authority and to declare who have been and are still the Aggressors For it seems they have all referr'd themselves and will acquiesce in your Determinations as appears by their several humble Petitions unto you in that behalf So that London this famous City of London being the most convenient and commodious is the place assigned for the Congress of all the Plenipotentiaries from their several Principals upon that Account And if wishes would avail or turn any thing to Account I could here make it my cordial Option that this were the place also assigned for the Congress of the Deputies Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries of all those contesting Parties which are at present at so great a variance among the Princes of Christendome and that his Majesty of Great Britain Heavens prosper and preserve him were the sole Moderator and Umpire in all their Cases and because I did perceive that by reason of the remote distance that is at present between the Moderators and these Persons before mentioned And here for Illustrations sake we will now draw our Scene Colen and all the Sub-Tenants and Outward Pawn-Tenants encamped and intrenched about the said City Suburbs and parts adjacent thereof and that inasmuch as they had already extremely suffered and might do much more in their so honest and just Design and for want of giving their Ambassadours and by them their Moderators the true State and Information of their Case And although at present they have a very numerous Army and a large Train of Artillery and a most Noble Valiant Courageous and well disciplin'd Army and have their Out-works their deep Trenches their Sconces their Pallizadoes their Pioneers their Counterscarps their Engineers their Scouts abroad their strong Centinels upon their Frontiers their advantageous Posts and are also expert in the terms of Art when they are drawn up into Battalia as their Wheelings their Serings their Facings their Flankings their Doublings and their Front and Rear Division and their Center in such an excellent Order and the like whereby they do render themselves worthy the Appellation of what they truly are viz. The legitimate Sons of Mars But yet notwithstanding for all this they are in Quotidian Jeopardy and in great danger of being besieged and sterved out by their Enemies in their present Intrenchments and should they draw forth and come to a pitch'd Battel by reason of their most potent Assailants which lie also intrenched round about them that they have so many and such powerfull Confederates and having such great store of Ammunition and in a Countrey where they have great store of Forage for their Cavalry and plenty of Provision for their Infantry in the which they are at present but at a very low ebbe they dare not run the hazard of a total Engagement unless they were certain that their Guardian Angels which are the worthy Members of the Grand Committee would appear and fight for them for fear they should be totally routed and should be constrained to quit the Field and to yield upon dishonourable terms Whereupon during this present conjuncture being unwilling to stand Neuter though peradventure I might have made some considerable advantage thereby at length upon serious consultation I betook my self unto the weakest as having the best Cause and so I hope I shall do the same dum spiritus hos reget Artus and the most innocent side And thereupon being oftentimes in their Leaguer and fearing that their Enemies might be too hard for them as to matter of Intelligence I did at last resolve to imbarque my self whereby to give you the best Information I could of their present state and condition in the good Ship called the Happy Adventure and Bon Resolution and having weighed my Anchors and hoised up my Sails I committed my self to the mercy of the Ocean and although I met with many a blustring storm many cross Winds many dark nights and here and there at Sea a Ship upon the wrack yet having a good cause a tight Vessel a Stout Valiant Sober and well experienced Captain a skilful Pilot a rough hewen Boatswain a few stout and couragious Seamen we did though through much difficulty and hard labour and many times were constrained to pump hard for our own preservation work our Vessel through them all And although in our Voyage we did many times Sail by the Ports and stronge Forts of our Enemies and under their Castle-Walls and within the reach of their Mortar pieces and their whole and demi Canons yet still when we did apprehend any real danger clapping immediately up and bearing in our Top-Mast head the antient Leasees colours viz. Leasees for 21 years we passed them all along undiscovered Neither did we make a Noverint universi or put up any Bills before our departure whereby to procure any lading for we tooke in none save only ballast and some good provision for our intended Voyage just as the Masters of Ships do upon the Royal Exchange viz. That such a Ship now riding at Anchor in such a Bay within the River Rhine and within such a time is ready to depart and bound God willing for the Port of London the danger of the Seas only excepted as having business of grand importance with the grand and Sub-Committee for Gresham affairs sitting at Mercers Chappel within the said City now this might have marred all for then they would have sent their privateers and issued out Letters of Mart against us and had they taken us in our expedition they had seized upon our Cargo and all our concerns which would have been as bad as if we had been all blown up into the air by some unexpected accident of fire falling into our Powder room but our Men being all obliged to secrecy We came all clear along 〈…〉 making the Lands end we took in a skilful Pilot from the Trinity-House for the better security of our vessel through the Channel till at length by a brisk and prosperous gale with all our Sails spread our Standard at stern and our Streamers abroad we made our joyful and so long wished for Port of London and thus having brought our good Ship into her desired harbour we will now cast out our Anchors only my Anchora spei I will still keep within my own breast and take some refreshments and will now freely with most humble service present the said good Ship with all her Masts Sails Rigging Guns Mortar-Peices Cables and Anchors her whole Cargo and all things whatsoever thereunto appertaining unless your Noble and Generous minds will please to defray the charge of the ballast within her and of some of the ordinary Seamen that were employed and intertained upon this expedition to your most Worthy Selves and Remain Right Honourable and Right Worshipful Your most Obedient most Obliged and most Faithful Servant to be Commanded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS POSTSCRIPT Ad Candidum Lectorem Authoris scripti si vis Cognoscere Nomen Quaerito in his literis Lector amande scias DEHNKRVY c.