and without such Granaries it is impossible to set on that Trade For Corn must be bought in such times as this year is it being not only now very good but cheap also and in a cheap year they may take in Four or Five years Stock as they do at Magdenburgh and Shenibank Then suppose the Wheat now cost two Shillings Four-pence the Bushel at New Brunswick and that be kept Four years in the Granary at Two-pence the Bushel for Granary Rent then the Corn will lye the Mum-Brewers in Two Shillings Six-pence per Bushel and that is cheaper than it is sold in any time at Old Brunswick and it is seldom but once in Four years there is a plentiful year of Corn in England and in this year the Brewers may supply their Granaries again And as I said before here is cheap Corn good Corn and a multitude of it the place of Trade fixt at the Head of a Navigable River good and cheap Fuel to be made use of with a quick passage to the East and West Indies Ireland Mediteranian Spain France Holland and a large passage at Sea to bring it to London to help and make the Mum good by putting it into a second fermentation And I say here this Trade of making Mum may be fixt with very great advantage and if once well fixt from thence it cannot depart no place in England being of that advantage to answer all the ends as this place is The Second Granary which is to be supplyed by the Country with Corn and there to be kept safe for the benefit of those that work in the County in the Linnen-Manufacture and to supply the Poor when a dearth comes Corn will be kept Four years in the Granaries and the Rate then will be but Two Shillings Six-pence the Bushel and with this cheap Corn the People will be supplyed with Bread whereby they will make and perfect the intended Linnen-Manufacture very cheap and this constancy of Bread and at cheap rates will certainly be a great and certain means of fixing the fine Linnen Trade at New Brunswick and New Harlem And the Reasons are these near the very Place are great quantities of Land excellent good to bear Flax and very good places may with a little art be made by the Town-sides to Whiten and Bleach Linnens and within one Mile of New Brunswick there is the Mannor of Milcot being the Lands of the Earl of Middâ—â—â—â—â— â—â—on which Mannor there will be sufficient Fla◠〈…〉 to imploy Ten thousand People to work it into Manufacture And there are in these Lands by the River Avon side convenient places to make Bleachingâ— and near Milcot-House very plain good Land to build a City for the fine Linnen Trade with good places to set up Engines to Weave Tape to go by Water The Maps of the Two Cities with the Granaries are annexed the one being New Brunswick the other I name New Harlem Now I will demonstrate and shew you the length breadth and height the Granaries ought to be of to hold this Corn as also the charge of building one of them at New Brunswick being the Land of Sir John Clapton as also I will demonstrate the way how it should be built for the best advantage with the way of ordering and managing the Corn that it may keep good sweet and clean Eight or Ten years The Granaries must be Three hundred foot long Eighteen foot wide betwixt inside and inside Seven stories high each Story Seven foot high all to be built of good well-burnt Brick and laid in Lime and Sand very well the ends of the Granaries must be set North and South so the sides will then be East and West and in the sides of the Granaries there must be large Windows to open and shut close that when the Wind blows at West the Windows may be laid open and then the Granary-Man will be turning and winding the Corn and all filth and dross will be blown out at the Window on the East-side and in all times when the Weather is fair and open then throw open the Windows to let in Air to the Corn at 〈◊〉 end of the Granary and in the middle there 〈…〉 â—toves to be kept with fire in them in all moist 〈…〉 or at the going away of great Frosts and Snows to prevent moistness either in the Brick Walls Timber Boards or Corn there must be in each side of tâ—e Granaries Three or Four long Troughs or Spouts fixt in the uppermost Loft which must run about Twenty foot out of the Granary and in fine weather the Granary-men must be throwing the Corn out of the upermost Loft and so it will fall into another Spout made Ten foot wide at the top and through that Spout the Corn descends into the lowermust Loft and then wound up on the inside of the Granary by a Crane fixt for that purpose and so the Corn receiving the benefit of the Air falling down Thirty foot before it comes into the second Spout cleanseth it from all its filth and Chaff These Spouts are to be taken off and on as occasion requires and to be fixt to any other of the Lofts that when Vessels come to load Corn they may through these Spouts convey the Corn into the Barges without any thing of labour by carrying it on the backs of Men. The charge of one Granary Three hundred foot long Eighteen foot wide Seven Stories high Seven foot betwixt each Story being built with Brick at New Brunswick or New Harlem in the Mannor of Milcot Six hundred thousand of Bricks builds a Granary Two Brick and half thick the Two first Stories Two Brick thick the Three next Stories Brick and half thick the Two uppermost Stories and the Brick will be made and delivered on the place for Eight Shillings the Thousand the laying of Brick Three Shillings the Thousand Lime and Sand Two Shillings the Thousand so Brick-laying Lime and Sand will be Thirteen Shillings the Thousand One hundred and fifty Tuns of Oak and Elm for Somers Joists and Roof 100 and 70 l. Boards for the Six Stories Sixty thousand foot at 13 s. 4 d. the One hundred foot and Ten thousand foot for Window Doors and Spouts at the same rate 48 l. Laths and Tiles 100 l. Carpenters work 70 l. Iron Nails and odd things 60 l. So the charge of a Granary will be 820 l. built either at New Brunswick or at New Harlem There will be kept in this Granary Fourteen thousand Quarters of Corn which is Two thousand Quarters in every Loft which will be a Thousand Bushels to every Bay Six labouring Men with One Clerk will be sufficient to manage this Granary to turn and wind the Corn and keep the Books of accounts Fifteen pounds a piece allowed to the Six men and Thirty pound a year to the Clerk or Register will be wages sufficient so the Servants wages will be 120 l. per An. Allow Ten in the Hundred for Moneys laid out
work besides And for ten years there will be more Law than ever to clear up Titles to make them fit to come into this voluntary Register The benefit of all these things certainly will be much more to the Lawyers Advantage than what they get by their present practice As to the Second The Gentlemen in debt will be against it I say no they will not for it will pay their debts without Moneys and that is their Interest the undeniable truth of that you have at large in this discourse As to the Third you say The Lawyers and Gentlemen in the house of Commons in debt will be against it My answer to that is That two worthy Members of the house of Commons whose estates are encumbred say they are wholly convinced of the absolute necessity and the advantage of a Register and will carry the Bill into the House when a fit opportunity offers it self And I question not but before that time all the People of England especially those poor Cities and Towns that depend upon Trade and want Credit and Stock will discourse their Parliament Men in these things hinted at who thereby will see the necessity of a Register As to the Fourth Objection and indeed it was a string that the Lawyers held hard at That it would undo thousands of Families because that by producing their Writings holes would be pickt in their Titles and Gentlemen would not Let their Estates be discovered I say here is a Salve to cover all this Sore that is the Register is voluntary not compellable so he that will Register may and he that will not may chuse and there will be Lands Registred sufficient to encourage Trade upon a sudden And those that will make use of the Lawyers and the Charge attending the Law may pursue their old way and I will promise them the persons that have Registred will not be angry with them But I will plainly shew you how the person Registring who possibly owes Ten thousand pounds and hath made three or four Mortgages of a Thousand pounds a year will pay his Debts without Moneys and will then see the Lawyers Objections are only made for their own good that they may pick some more Feathers off him Now suppose the Mayor of Warwick having a Thousand pounds a year owes Ten thousand pounds he comes and Registers his Lands and when the Law saith it shall be a good Title no man having entred a Claim then the Mayor of Warwick's Land is a good Title By this Credit the Mayor shall have his Land rise price within six Months to six and twenty years Purchase The Mayor sells off so much Land as pays the Ten thousand pounds and hath as much in value left as he had before and his Debts paid and hath then freed himself from all the Charge that attends the Law and is also able to provide for his Family and be an Instrument for the good of the publick and place where he lives Whereas before having but a Thousand pounds a year and owing Ten thousand pounds he was valued worth nothing his Family neglected and not provided for and all his business was to fence with the assistance of Lawyers to keep off and prolong the Consumption which his Estate was then liable to Then suppose the Mayor of Coventry hath One thousand pounds a year and oweth Ten thousand pounds and hath mortgaged his Lands to four several persons one knowing not of the Mortgage to the other He observing what the Mayor of Warwick hath done that he hath paid his Ten thousand pounds and freed himself from all Incumbrances and hath as good an Estate as before what do you think he will do I tell you what he will do he will go to all persons he hath mortgaged his Land to and confess the truth and desire them to come with him and all Register their Titles when the Law saith that these Titles shall be good Then the Mayor of Coventry by virtue of these Registred Lands doth the same thing that the Mayor of Warwick did before And I wish that the Members of Parliament for Warwick Worcester and Hereford Shires would seriously consider of what is here asserted and if they are convinc't of the truth hereof let them pursue the ends for the obtaining of it and they will quickly find the benefit thereof All Scotland is under a Register and worth twenty four years Purchase and on the other side in the North of Ireland although but three Hours Sail is worth but eight years Purchase and in England on this side Twede it is worth but sixteen years Purchase the Register is the Cause The Mannor of Taunton Dean in Somersetshire is under a Register and there the Land is worth three and twenty years Purchase although but a Copy-hold Mannor and at any time he that hath One hundred pounds a year in the Mannor of Taunton may go to the Castle and take up Two thousand pounds upon his Lands and buy Stuffs with the money and go to London and sell his Stuff and Return down his moneys and pay but five in the hundred for his moneys and discharge his Lands This is the Cause of the great Trade and Riches in and about Taunton Dean O happy Taunton Dean What Gentleman can do thus with Free-lands No it is not worth sixteen years Purchase all England over one place with another and if not timely put under a Register it will come to twelve years Purchase before long Now you see a Register is practicable in Scotland and also in England And if it were so by Act of Parliament in these particular places I have formerly mentioned in this Treatise there would be no Complaint for want of People or Trade in England Methinks I hear some object and say Although Scotland be under a Register yet that is a very poor Country There are many reasons to be given wherefore Scotland might be very poor And if it were not under a Register the Land would not be worth eight years purchase But being under a Register you see how much it exceeds the Lands in England in purchase Scotland is ruled by a Commissioner and there you cannot expect that which you may where the Monarch keeps his Court. For here the Merchants have access with speed and ease to have their grievances heard and redressed But in tributary Kingdoms there ever were and ever will be self-interest Parties to keep as much as in them lyes the Peoples grievances from the Princes knowledge provided they can thereby feather their own Nests Witness Flanders and the Vice-roys that have been sent by the Spaniard to govern there But Scotland is not under half the Improvement or ever will be as England is For in England there are large Rivers and well scituated for Trade great Woods Mynes good Wooll and large Beasts In Scotland very little Woods few Iron Mynes course Wooll and often great part of the Sheep are starved And no Northern Kingdom is or
ever will be of any great Riches or are capable thereof But such will as have these things abounding in them good Ports advantageous Laws for Trade good Wooll and good quantities thereof much and well Wooded with plenty of Iron Stone and Pit Coales with Lands fit to bear Flax with Mynes of Tin and Lead Scotland is a thin and lean Kingdom and wanting in these things England is a fat Kingdom and hath all these things in it Yet the Lothean Lands in Scotland are twenty four years purchase At Edinburgh there is a Grand Register and in each County a particular one and no man can be there deceived in a Purchase unless it be his own fault England is at sixteen years Purchase The reason is obvious why Scotland must be so and why England is so But a voluntary Register in England will cure all and put us six years purchase above Scotland For as I formerly said as our Honour and Honesty is so will be our Riches and Riches bring Trade and Trade brings strength to an Island And for want of good Titles let the world judge what a Condition we are coming into I will give you one small Instance what the poor decayed Trade and Clothiers of England would be able to do in easing themselves and making their Trade comfortable if they had but the Authority of the Law to Register all their Houses and Lands Take it from the City of Salisbury there I make the Precedent and as it would be with them so it would be with all the Towns in England who deal in the Wollen and Iron Manufacture Suppose the Clothiers in and near Salisbury have two thousand pounds a year in free Lands and their Lands were by Law fixt under a Register then the Anchorage and Foundation of a Bank will be at least fifty thousand pounds And immediately tumbles into them all the idle Moneys nay Moneys now under Ground and good part of the plate ten Miles round The Usurer will pray and the Men and Maid-servants will beg to take in their Moneys Immediately one hundred thousand pounds will be brought in and at four in the hundred What will this do to the poor Clothiers Nay what will it do to each Gentleman and all men near Salisbury that have or keep Sheep I say the help and present Credit of this great Bank and Cash will raise the price of Wooll and set the Poor at work Thereby enabling the Tenants to pay their Rents keep the poor of the Parish bring the Clothiers and the City into a Comfortable Condition but most of all it will prevent the Trade departing this Kingdom which of necessity it will do if not timely prevented For the Irish Wooll carried away with their Beef to Holland France and Germany their making Cloth of cheap Wooll with cheap Victuals with Moneys at three in the hundred will out do us and undo us too if 〈…〉 prevented Eight years since I discovered 〈…〉 of the Worse Manufacture and the Reasons which he made publique in his first Book The same that may be done at Salisbury by this way may be done by all the Towns in England that depend upon any of our own Manufactures And in this case here 's nothing desired but that Men thus qualified with Lands may employ it by the Authority of the Law to the good of themselves and mankind and to be justly honest to all Now methinks I hear many of Salisbury say But how may this be done which you say I tell you how desire your Parliament Man to draw you up a Bill and carry it into the House the next sitting But you will say he will not do it Then get your Bishop to do it You will say he is no Lawyer Pray tell him it is easier than making the River Navigable But a Register and the River Navigable together will do rarely well Well if the Bishop will do the one I will do the other I will only tumble over a few papers wherein are my Observations when I surveyed the River The Preamble of the Bill to be carried into the House of Commons for putting the City of Salisbury and the Free Lands within ten Miles thereof under a voluntary Register with some Heads of the said Bill WHereas there past an Act of Parliament in the _____ Year of his Majesties Reign that now is for making the River Avon Navigable from the City of Salisbury to the Town of Christ-Church and so into the Sea so as Boats Barges and Lighters may come up the said River to the City of Salisbury and so down again into the Sea for carrying and recarrying of Wood Coles Corn and all other Commodities to and fro And whereas the said River is begun to be made Navigable and some considerable Sums of Money are laid out about the said Work which if once finished will tend much to the benefit and fur therance of Trade to the said City and Country thereabouts And whereas there hath formerly been a great Trade in the said City and Country adjacent in the making and working in the Wollen Manufacture which is now much decayed and if not timely prevented will be worse the occasion whereof is the want of present Money and Credit for the Clothiers to drive their Trades to be by them had when wanted and that at low and easie Interest And finding that in many places beyond the Seas Trade is much advanted by the Lands being under a Register and in Taunton Dean in England the Town and Mannor there being under a Register hath in a strange manner given life ease and benefit to the Trade there and thereabouts whereupon that place is much enviched And to the end that the River of Avon when made Navigable may answer the Charge of making it so and the wollen Trade in Salisbury and thereabouts may be encouraged Wherefore be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled That from and after the twenty fifth day of June one thousand six hundred seventy and seven all manner of person or persons that shall desire it may and shall have their Free-hold Lands and Houses Registred at the Registers Office within the City of Salisbury which shall lye within the said City and within ten Miles thereof accompting two thousand yards to the Mise Provided such Houses and Lands so to be Registred with their Names Metes and Bounds be first set up and affixed three Lords Days upon the Church Door of the Parish where such Lands are And that the Minister with one of the Church-Mardens and one of the Overseers of the Poor first certifie under their Hands and Seals the doing of the same with a true Copy of the Paper so affixed to the Register with forfeiture of twenty pounds and three Months imprisonment to any person or persons that shall take down or deface the said Writing during the time
the Room where the Flax is with Fire in it in all moist times which keeps the Flax dry and prevents Moistness which is another great cause which makes it so fine I have seen Flax in Saxony twenty years old thus hous-wife't which was as fine as the hairs of ones head It is true there what the old saying is here That Wooll may be kept to Dirt and Flax to Silk And as to the Second It is true that their Hollands and Clothes are whitened at Haerlem and by the very sides of the Lake and Cuts are conveniently made and the Lake is much of a height at all times and so it feeds the Cuts with water that with ease they may Sprinkle the Clothes as there is Occasion also it is well fitted with Houses by the sides of the Cuts to boyl the Yarn and prepare it the sooner to be white These are good things and by the situation of the Place and conveniency of the Mere it doth much advance the business Rich Merchants are there seated that drive great Trades and there they have a Bank and their Moneys at three in the Hundred But as to Haerlem Lake it is subject to be mixed with Salt-water which is brought in the Ships daily from Amsterdam and there pumpt out into the Lake And all that can be said for that Water being better than any other Water in Holland is this that it continually stands in a Pool or Lake and by the influence and heat of the Sun is made soft and so very fit for scouring and the like is not in any part of Holland else But in England we have many places very fit and by Nature convenient and with a little Art as good as Haerlem if not better And for Instance take two places one at Stratford upon Avon the other at Coventry At Stratford upon Avon near the Bridge in the Lands of Sir John Clapton by virtue of the Mills pounding high or at a rise of Water he may lead the Water along his own Land until it come so high that no Flood will reach There Cuts may be made in his Land and Houses built with spare pieces to bleech the Cloth on the Water being taken into the Cuts about the end of March and so continued therein whereby the heat of the Sun will more and more soften and fit it for bleeching The second place is Coventry Almost round the City the Lands and Waters lye so convenient that it exceeds Haerlem for Haerlem Lake lyeth but upon one Quarter of the Town and the Waters lye at Coventry about three parts of that Town And I am sure Coventry ought to be the chiefest place of this intended Linen Manufacture and in few years would exceed Haerlem God and Nature having fixed them right for it both as to Land fit to bear Flax good whitening a large City in the very Centre of England and their Woollen Manufacture being now wholly decayed And in this City a Bank by virtue of a voluntary Register is absolutely necessary and then the Gentlemen in the four Counties named may make their Sons Linen Merchants and thereby be a means to help to beat the Dutch without fighting I have been something long upon this Theme because I hope and believe I may see something of the Improvement by the Linen Trade come to pass But some other Questions will here be asked As who incouraged you to make this Discourse of the Linen Improvement and who paid you for your pains in travelling to find the things here writ I answer I was an Apprentice to a Linen Draper and so I knew something of Linen and finding the Poor unimployed I with my Wife did promote the making of much fine Linen with good success And being employed and my Charges born by twelve Gentlemen of England to bring into England a Manufacture out of Saxony and Bohemia made of Iron and Tin there I did see what I here set down and in Holland and Flanders I tryed and observed their way and manner of Trade in the Linen Manufacture All which take you for nothing The second Manufacture to be incouraged to set the poor people at work being the growth and product of our own Kingdom is that of Iron But now I am sure I shall draw a whole Swarm of Wasps about my Ears For say some and many too who think themselves very wise it were well if there were no Iron-works in England and it was better when no Iron was made in England and the Iron-works destroy all the Woods and foreign Iron from Spain will do better and last longer And I have heard many men both Rich and Sober often declare these things and it hath been and is the opinion of nine parts of ten of the people of England that it is so and by no arguments whatever will they be beat from the belief of it although there is not one word true As to the First The Iron works at present in England are of the same value and I believe much more to the publick than the Woollen Manufacture is and is the cause of imploying near as many people and much more Lands for Horses and Oxen to carry and recarry those heavy commodities of which the Iron is made and the Iron and the things made of the Iron Therefore I will take the Kingdom half round and shew you what the Iron works do contribute to the Publick and to the whole Countries And First I will begin in Monmouth-shire and go through the Forest of Dean and there take notice what infinite quantities of Raw Iron is there made with Bar Iron and Wire and consider the infinite number of Men Horses and Carriages which are to supply these Works and also digging of Iron Stone providing of Cinders carrying to the Works making it into Sows and Bars cutting of Wood and converting it into Charcoal Consider also in all these parts the Woods are not worth the cutting and bringing home by the Owner to burn in their Houses And it is because in all these places there are Pit Coals very cheap Consider also the multitude of Cattel and People thereabouts employed that make the Lands dear And what with the benefit made of the Woods and the People making the Land dear it is not inferior for Riches to any place in England And if these Advantages were not there it would be little less than a howling Wilderness I believe if this comes to the hands of Sir Baynom Frogmorton and Sir Duncomb Colchester they will be on my side Moreover there is yet a most great benefit to the Kingdom in general by the Sow Iron made of the Iron Stone and Roman Cinders in the Forest of Dean for that Metal is of a most gentle pliable soft nature easily and quickly to be wrought into Manufacture over what any other Iron is and it is the best in the known World and the greatest part of this Sow Iron is sent up Severne to the Forges into