the Reasons are inserted how it may be done and the advantage it will be to Trade and the City also The Map is now at Chester in the keeping of the Mayor His Highness the Duke of York was pleased to promise the recommending of it to the Parliament for the making it Navigable And if it were made to Chester Navigable by a new Cut as is in the Map prescribed there would be three thousand Acres of Land gained out of the Sea and made rich land besides the Coles from Aston will be brought to the City of Chester by Water which now are brought by land and all Goods and other things carried and recarried from England to Ireland and from Ireland into England with much less charge than now it is And Dee being made Navigable to Bangor-bridge will be a means to make the River Severne helpful to convey all Goods to London by sending it down the River Severne and up the River Avon and so down the Thames to London whereby much moneys will be saved and Trade advanced The River Dee must be taken up with a very strong Wear over against the Water Gate of the City of Chester and so the River Dee must be carried in a large Cut or Trench through the lands below Alderman Wrights House along the Sands as far as Flint Castle and then dropt by a large Cut into the Deep Water below the Brewhouse There must also be a Cut drawn along the welch shore and so from Aston Pits and dropt into the Main Trench thereby the waste water that comes from the Hills and Mountains will be voided and the Coles that are now carried by Land to Chester will then be carried by water and at least 1000 l. per Ann. saved in Carriage This Trench must be very large that two Ships may Sail one by the other and the Sea Banks must be made very Firm and Strong not upright but very much sloaping There must also be made five very strong Locks or Sluces of Stone which is there very necessary at the end of the Trench This will be done for 15000 l. The River Dee being let down upon a sudden through the great Trench will cause the Sands to fly and deepen the Channel and thereby make the Harbour safe and help to open and deepen the Bar. But it must be done when the Tyde is going out and when the Wind bloweth hard at East with a strong fresh of Water coming off the Mountains The Map discovering the whole Design is hereunto Affixed REader I beg thy pardon if I have kept thee long in reading this Discourse but I hope thou wilt not be angry for when I put Pen to Paper I intended to be brief I know there are many before they have well weighed the Contents of this Book will think that it may much shake their Interests and so will be enquiring after the Compiler and of his Education And how it is possible that one man should know all that is in this Book asserted and will say these are notions of a hot Brain I know others whose Sores are great and Wounds dangerous and desire a cure thereby to live at peace both in their Estates and Persons will be apt to ascribe more to the Compiler than is due For in this Age most of the present humours are to detract and abuse where Interest is pinched or laid open to the World and on the other hand too much to cry up and extol those that expect benefit and relief As to both sorts of Inquisitors I will save them a labour and give them a short Account of my Education and Improvement I was an Apprentice to a Linnen Draper when this King was born and continued at the Trade some years But the Shop being too narrow and short for my large mind I took leave of my Master but said nothing Then I lived a Countrey-life for some years and in the late Wars I was a Soldier and sometimes had the Honour and Misfortune to lodg and dislodg an Army In the year One thousand Six hundred Fifty two I entred upon Iron-works and pli'd them several years and in them times I made it my business to survey the three great Rivers of England and some small ones and made two Navigable and a third almost compleated I next studied the great weakness of the Rye-lands and the Surfeit it was then under by reason of their long Tillage I did by Practick and Theorick find out the reason of its defection as also of its recovery and applyed the remedy in putting out Two Books which were so fitted to the Countrey-mans capacity that he fell on Pell-Mell and I hope and partly know that great part of Worcestershire Glocestershire Herefordshire Shropshire and Staffordshire have doubled the value of the Land by the Husbandry discovered to them See my Two Books Printed by Mr. Sawbridg on Ludgate-hill Entituled Yarranton's Improvement by Clover and there thou maist be further satisfied I also for many years served the Countreys with the Seed and at last gave them the knowledg of getting it with ease and small trouble and what I have been doing since my Book tells you at large And as to any that are my enemies upon the account of this Subject or of such as speak or assert my pains to be to them acceptable both parties are to me a-like I only wish and pray that what is here treated upon may by the Powers above us be seriously considered of and if it be found it tends to the benefit of this present Age and for the good of the Generations to come then let them pursue the ends to bring it to pass If any Gentleman or other please to put Pen to Paper in opposition to what is here asserted I shall give him a Civil return bound up with the Second part where these Seven Heads shall be Treated on 1st Demonstrate and make it appear That England and Ireland are the only Northern-Kingdoms unimproved 2dly Discover That it is a great and wonderful providence of God it is so at this time 3dly Shew how England may be improved in all its parts to Thirty years purchase and how things may be fitted for the doing thereof as also how Ireland may be brought to Twenty years purchase and made as useful to England and of as great strength as Norway is to Denmark 4thly Where Manufactures may be fitted and where setled and how they must be ordered for the benefit of the Kingdom and Trade Universal 5thly Shew how and where all manner of Naval-Stores are to be had and provided at Three fifths they now cost the King with the way means and manner of accomplishing them 6thly How to imploy Six thousand young Lawyers and Three thousand Priests for the good of the Publick and mankind vvho novv have neither practice nor cure of Souls 7thly VVith Observations of the Balance of Europe and of the Publick Banks therein vvith their Use Order Rule and Riches FINIS
from whence issue these delightful Golden Streams of Banks Lumber-houses Honour Honesty Riches Strength and Trade You may read in Sir William Temples Book of his Observations of the Nether-lands this Expression When the States send to Persons who have lent them Moneys to come and receive their Moneys and Interest saith he they come with Tears in their Eyes desiring them to continue it longer And the Reason is they know the Security is good And when ever they give Notice they will take up a Sum of Moneys there is great striving who can get in his first But you will say I talk that Gentlemen of England cannot have Moneys for Land It is not so And that I say Lawyers know no Titles I ought to have my pate crackt for money is plentiful and Lawyers are cunning enough to spy out good Titles As to both I would it were true for the sake of the poor Gentlemen and the Lawyers too But as to the greatest part of them that have Thousand pounds a year the World knows they are so far from borrowing Four thousand pounds that they cannot borrow Four hundred pounds and I dare say some Lords also Nay to my knowledge three eminent Lawyers have been put to much charge and trouble in their Estates lately purchased by them in Montgomery Hereford and Worcester Shires by reason of former Incumbrances Now if an Eminent Lawyer cannot purchase an Estate without so much trouble hazard and charge upon a Title settled at least fifty years ago by all the Judges of England and in the Exchequer-Chamber upon what Security can the Bankers be understood to lay out their Money safe And the poor Country-men are yet in a worse condition I will now shoot a Granado into London not to fire them but I hope 't will make them look about them and enquire after the Engineer and demand how such combustible matter can be made and do good and no harm and how it may be fixt so that Lumbard-street and thereabouts may both preserve and encrease their Credit I will now shew you the Condition of London as at present it stands and how it would have been if the Houses new built had been by Law to be Registerd at Guild-Hall Admit the Green Dragon Tavern in Fleet Street were mine and Set at One hundred pounds a year and I owe six hundred pounds and go to the Scriveners and desire them to lend me six hundred pounds upon the Green Dragon Tavern I Shew them the Purchase of the Ground Rent the Patent from the Judges taken in and all other Titles bought I presume I cannot have the Six hundred pounds upon my house but I must give great Security for my Covenants I present such Security as I can get which will not be accepted Now for want of this six hundred pounds on a sudden to pay my Debts I am undone Wife Children and many more whom I owed moneys to my Goods seized my House taken from me and it 's possible a Prison too or a Statute of Bankrupt taken out to the Ruine of all But if it had been foreseen when the Act past for the building the City that there had been put into the Bill these few Lines Be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty c. That all Houses which shall hereafter be new built in and near the City of London destroyed by the late dreadful Fire may if they please he Registred by the Owners at the Guild-Hall within the City of London And all such Houses so Registred shall be a good Title to the Party Registring such Houses and shall Barre all persons whatsoever The King not Excepted Provided there be no Claym entred within six Months next after the Registring of such House and Houses And such Clayms as are entred shall be proceeded upon in the said City and no where else in due form as the Law directs And if this had been done I then go to any Scrivener that deals that way and desire to borrow a Thousand pounds on the Green Dragon Tavern in Fleetstreet being Rented at One hundred pounds a year there will be then no more to be done but their Servant is sent to the Guild-Hall to see whose the Green Dragon Tavern is and he brings word it is mine There is no more ado I say but the Thousand pounds is told out and I give Security for it by a Mortgage put into the Register of my House Then I go and pay my Debts prevent Law-suits preserve my self Wife Children and Reputation and all is well And that which is best of all the Party lending the Moneys is safe well and surely secured It is possible great part of the Thousand pounds lent might be the Moneys of poor Widows and Orphans here are both to the Lender and borrower great Advantages To the one there is undeniable Security and to the other present Relief upon all occasions The wanting whereof hath been the ruine of some thousand Families since the firing of London And this is that which will encrease and enliven Trade and the Houses Registred will be equal with ready Moneys at all times according to the value of the Houses And if this we treat on had been done there needed not one House to stand empty and untenanted as now they do nor the Trade to depart out of the City as it hath done since the Fire I desire and heartily wish that the Governours of the City would prepare a Bill against the next Sitting of Parliament to put the new Buildings under a Register I will not Prophesie that a Bank shall rise in London equal with that of Amsterdam London being put under a voluntary Register but I will make it out when ever the Heads of the City please to desire it That if London with the Free Lands of Middlesex Essex Kent and Surrey were under a voluntary Register two of the Ridings of Yorkshire Lincolneshire Suffolk and Norfolk were under another voluntary Register Glocestershire Somersetshire and Monmouthshire under another voluntary Register and Devonshire under another then there would be as great a Bank at London as at Amsterdam and would be able to do much more in Trade Credit and all great things than they can and as great a Bank at Bristol as at Hamburgh and would be able to drive as great a Trade and set up the neglected and I may say decayed Trade of Fishing upon the Coast of Wales and Ireland and as great Banks at the two Towns of Lynne in Norfolk and at Hull in Yorkshire and drive as good a Trade as at Dantzick and enliven the Clothing Trade now brought very low and set on foot that great and desirable Rich Trade of Fishing on their Coasts which so advantageously offers it self O yes O yes O yes what is become of the Moneys given voluntarily for the setting forward this good work of Fishing about twelve years since If any one will help me to the twenty shillings I gave I will give
one of Iron Tinn and Copper another of Linnen and spun Threds of all sorts the third of Sawed Timbers of all sorts He hath convenienced them thus As to his Iron Tinn and Copper he hath fixt these works in the Valley running from Segar-hutton clear a-long by the Cities of Anaburgh Sneburgh and Mareauburgh and down as far as Awe and in the Hills and Mountains are his Minerals In the Valleys are the Rivers whereon are set the Works The Hills and Mountains and at least Ten Miles round are full of Woods to supply his Works not one Acre of common-Land lyes waste At the descent of the Hills are infinite of Saw-Mills that go by Water which Saw all manner of Firr and Oak and in the Summer-time it is dragged to the River Elb and so sent down to Hamborough And things being thus fixt with all advantages that Trade can desire that Place is strangely populous and vastly Rich and yields to the Duke a great Revenue And it lies as Wales and as the Forest of Dean doth to England Next to these Wood-land Countries lies the delightful Plain Countrey wherein is the famous City of Lepsick very Rich in Corn and Flax and so it holds to Dresden upon the Left-hand of Myson with some Vineyards And in these delightful Countries there is no waste Lands but all under improvement In all the great Towns there are great Granaries for Corn and in the Time of Plenty they lay up for a Rainy-day And so there is sufficient for the Poor at easie rates at all times whereby the Manufacture is always cheaply done and thereby hath the advantage of sending it to foreign Markets and under-sell others The next Country joyning to Saxony is the Prince of Hainaults the Prince of Parmburghs with the Bishoprick of Hall wherein stands the Cities of Salts Wadell Shenibank and that brave old City of Magdenburgh destroyed by Fire and Sword by Count Tilly These Countreys for Corn as to Rye and Wheat are so plentiful that no part of Europe can go before them there being much Corn to spare In the Two Cities of Shenibank and Magdenburgh are many Granaries they lying upon the side of the Elbe And in the City of Magdenburgh I was credibly informed being Twice in that City that there were Three hundred Granaries of all sorts wherein Corn is kept sweet and safe from vermin to admiration The manner of the Granaries built with the way of ordering of the Corn and the benefit which is received thereby you shall have when I speak of Granaries setting up in England From hence the Brunswick People fetch their Wheat they make there Mum of and down the Elb to Hamborough is sent infinite of Corn out of the Granaries and from thence to all parts that stand in need thereof In these Countreys there is very little Manufacture only some course Linnen and Linnen-yarn These Granaries preserve the Corn Six Eight or Ten years as good and sweet as when it was first put in There are great Merchants for Corn and the Farmers lay up their Corn at easie Rates and so have the benefit of their Straw yearly and not Rick it up as we do in England to be devoured by Rats and Mice There Men and Maid-servants and all other persons that have Monies buy Corn when it is cheap and lay it up till it be dear And in these publick Granaries the Corn is kept safe sweet and well a whole year for a Half-peny a Bushel and the Granary-Man gets by it The like may be done in England and that which now feeds Rats and Mice and otherways consumed will supply the greatest part of the poor People of England with Bread being preserved in Granaries Now I am for saving the Corn in England and keeping it safe and sweet in Granaries which is consumed at present by Rats and Mice until there shall be want and necessity for it to be delivered to the Poor In the Four Counties I name for the Linnen Manufacture Oxford Warwick Leicester and Northamptonshire there ought to be Granaries to lay up Corn these Counties being great Corn-Counties And at the head of the Navigable Rivers are the places fit for such Granaries and first Wellinborough in Northamptonshire or thereabouts Secondly some Town in Leicestershire within Four Miles of Kings-Mills unto which Place Trent is Navigable Thirdly Banbury if the River Sharwell be made Navigable to Banbury or else about Bleckington the Earl of Angleses Land near Anslo-Bridg And fifthly Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire If Granaries were built in those Places to hold Corn there it would be brought in with ease and when want and scarcity of Corn comes it is then ready to be sent down the Navigable Rivers or to be disperst for the benefit of the Poor in the Countrey Leicestershire is abounding in Corn and when plenty there it is very cheap having no Navigable River near to carry it away the like is Northamptonshire But if Granaries were well setled in these Places near Trent and St. Ives River then it is ready for a Market when it offers it self Lechload at the Head of the River Isis Ten Miles above Oxford will be a very fit place for a Granary for in thither will come great quantities of Corn out of Oxford Glocester and Berkshire And there it will be ready upon all occasions when wanted either for the Poor or to be transported down the River to London and other parts Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire will be a very good place to build Granaries to receive Corn and I will affirm if there were Three or Four large Granaries built in the Lands of Sir John Clapton near the Bridg at Stratford and well managed for the good of the Poor and Linnen Trade That on that side the River there would be in a very short time as great a Town built as Stratford now is and there have as great a Trade as any City in those parts of England Bristol only excepted And these are my Reasons First the River Avon being made Navigable to Stratford the Barges that come up with Coles and Merchants goods by them Corn will be taken back to Bristol and up the River Severn as far as the Welsh-Pool And Secondly the Country near Stratford as far as Banbury Ayno-Dedinton Bister and so to Brakley and round ot Daventry is very full and abounds with good Corn and the Carts that come to Stratford for Coles would never come empty down but bring Corn with them if there were Granaries sufficient to receive it So you see all things would be fitted for sore and back carriage And I will affirm No place in England can expect the benefit or advantage by any such Granaries as Stratford upon Avon may for that great and vast quantities of Corn is raised in those parts and when cheap they cannot tell what to do with it the ways being so dirty and deep But the advantage of the Navigation will send it to serve
Trade of London and many other parts also The Damage whereof to the City of London Bargemen Country-men and Trade is at least fifty thousand pounds yearly The particulars how I will make out if desired or commanded And it is a misery that the Barges should lye on ground a Month or six Weeks as they did this year and the poor Barge-Masters should be forc't all that time to maintain so many men as of necessity they must besides the Tradesman in London wants the Commodity to sell To the Kings most Excellent Majesty the humble Petition of the Barge-Masters Westward upon the River of Thames and their Servants humbly sheweth THat in the one and twentieth Year of the Reign of King James of blessed Memory there was an Act of Parliament pass'd upon the humble Petition and desire of the City and University of Oxford for making the River of Thames Navigable from the said City to Burcott and for maintaining the same at the charge of the said City and University and by the said Act liberty is given for Bargemen and Water-men to bring Barges and Boats up the said River to carry and recarry all manner of Goods and Merchandises for the good of the City of Oxford and the Publick And of late years the Right Honourable Thomas Lord Windsor and others have made Navigable the River of Avon in the Counties of Worcester Gloucester and Warwick and are about making some other Rivers Navigable which when finished will tend much to the benefit of Trade between Cheshire Shropshire Herefordshire Worcestershire Gloucestershire Staffordshire Warwickshire Oxfordshire Bristol and most part of Wales to London by carrying Commodities down the River Severne and so up the River Avon and from thence to Oxford by Land and so to London by Water whereby the High-ways and Bridges will be preserved and the Goods carried and recarried at two thirds of what they now pay by Land which will be of great advantage to Trade But may it please your Majesty so it is that the River Thames is not as yet made perfectly Navigable as it ought to be and as it was intended by the Act of Parliament whereby the City of Oxford and the rest of your Majesties Subjects and Barge-men are deprived of the benefit intended them by the said Navigation and many times the Barges lye on ground three Weeks or a Month together for want of water which might be prevented by making three Holds for water in the River Sharwell near Oxford to be let down as flushes in dry times as also one Lock to be made at Swift Ditch one pair of Gates at Sutton one Turn-pike a Mile below Sutton with two Flushes to be taken out of the River Kennet with two places to be made for Flushes one near Windsor the other near Chersey all which being done will so plentifully supply the River with water that not only the Barges coming from Oxford and Abington but many other places will have the benefit thereof and bring them clear to London without stay The Premisses considered your Petitioners most humbly pray that your Majeshy will be graciously pleased to appoint Mr. Robert Yarranton a person able in that Affair to survey the defects of the said Navigation and to make Report thereof from time to time to the Commissioners appointed for the same And that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to signify unto the said Commissioners your pleasure that so good a Work may be forthwith perfected according as is directed in the said Act and that your Majesties Subjects and Barge-men may have the benefit of passing and repassing with their Goods and Barges up and down the said River from Oxford to Burcott without paying any Tax or Imposition for the same unless by Law due and that Orders and Rules may be made by the Commissioners for the good and well Governing both of the Navigation Millers and Bargemen as is by the Act directed And your Petitioners as in duty bound shall daily Pray c. When the River Thames is perfectly made Navigable to Oxford as it ought to be then to make the River Sharwell Navigable unto Anslo Bridge will cost about 2500 l. the building of four Granaries each Granary to hold fourteen thousand Quarters of Corn six thousand pounds all Materials being very dear in that place for building of Mills and some Wheels to draw Wire and for other use 500 l. for building of twenty Houses for habitation for persons employed about the Trade and in the Granaries 2000 l. all which is ten thousand pounds which is but one Shilling a piece from each man of the several Companies the Number thereof being two hundred thousand persons as they themselves say If these Granaries were fixt some other Companies may go up the little River to Whitney and build Granaries there and some may go up the Thames as far as Ratcot-bridge and build Granaries there and so the good Corn growing in the heart of England would be applyed to London which will so convenience the people working in the several Manufactures that the Trade will wholly return to the City again for hands being maintained at work with cheap Victuals will make cheap Commodities and cheap Commodities will enlarge Trade I intend to write one Sheet more particularly setting forth the way of bringing the Trade to London again and feeding the Poor with cheap bread and drink which you shall have printed on the one side of a Sheet of Royal Paper and on the other side a Map of the Rivers which will be serviceable to the Design with the places convenient and fit to build Granaries with the Arms of the several Companies in the said Map One of each Map being set in a Frame is intended to be sent to each Hall in London there to receive the opinions of such as the benefit of Granaries is intended for In the multitude of Councellors there is safety Now I must make a step to Westchester and endeavour to find out how the River Dee may be made so Navigable to Bangor-bridge that thereby it may be made communicable with the River Severne In the Month of July 1674. I was prevailed with by a Person of Honour to survey the River Dee running by the City of Chester into the Irish Sea and finding the River choked with the Sands that a Vessel of twenty Tuns could not come to that Noble City and the Ships forc'd to lye at Neason in a very bad Harbour whereby the Ships receive much damage and Trade made so uncertain and chargeable that the Trade of Chester is much decayed and gone to Leverpool and that old great City in danger of being ruin'd if the River Dee be not made Navigable by Act of Parliament and Ships brought to the City I have formerly drawn a Map of the New River to be made to bring up the Ships to the City side which Map was presented to the Duke of York by the Lord Windsor and Colonel Warden and therein