The grand Ornaments of any City are the publick Buildings thereof and next to the Churches Palaces and Bridges are the Monumental Structures that present themselves most obviously to the view of Passengers in Streets and High-ways as Aqueducts Arches and the Columnal or Imagery-Works erected as Trophies in memory of some great Action or Person as also Places for publick Games and Spectacles For Structures of this kind never any City of the World was so famous as old Rome whose Circus's Amphitheaters Columns Pyramids Tryumphal Arches Equestrian Statues c. next to the massie Pyramids of Egypt were accounted the greatest Pieces of Art and Magnificence the World ever saw Nor are the Pyramids Columns and Aguglia's of the present Rome altogether unmemorable Of Monuments of this nature in England the Crosses erected in Streets and publick Places were the chief And of those the principal were Coventry-Cross and in this City Charing-Cross and that of Cheapside which last was certainly the noblest Piece of Workmanship of this nature as well for the largeness as the curiousness of the Imagery that ever was seen Next The Aqueducts or Conduits have been accounted no small Street-ornaments in many Towns and Cities but the mention of those that were in London may serve for all the rest The chief that were in London before the Fire of 66. were the Standart in Cheapside a Structure that might have pass'd for a noble Piece of Workmanship had it not stood so near so rich a Cross Another at the lower end of Cheapside Another in Cornhil That in Fleetstreet hard by Shoe-lane end and another in Holborn near Holborn-Bridge besides several others of less Note The only Conduit lately erected now standing is a pretty little Structure between Cow-lane and Snow-hill Since the Fire other kind of Monuments have been rais'd which add not a little to the Ornament of the City in general and give peculiar Grace to the Places where they stand The chief whereof is the Monument erected where the Fire began a Pyramid of stately heighth and curious Workmanship Another Monument much of the same nature is design'd and the Edifice rais'd some yards above the ground at the lower end of Cheapside at or very near the Place where the Conduit formerly stood A very rare Design as appears by the Model which I have often seen at the House of the ingenious Designer thereof Mr Jasper Latham the City-Mason At the Stocks-Market is an Equestrian Statue in Stone of his present Majesty And another more excellent than that in Brass of his late Majesty of happy Memory in the Place where Charing-Cross stood In Covent-Garden Square is a Columnal-Dial which only wants somewhat of Magnitude to make it a very graceful Ornament to the Place Our Theaters at present are only two That of his Majesty's Servants between Bridges-street and Drury-lane and that of his Royal Highness's Servants in Salisbury-street with a majestick Front towards the Thames side Artificial publick Bagno's have not been known in England till of late The only one yet built is aside of Newgate-street a pretty well contriv'd Piece of Building had it been more publickly expos'd to view on the Street side The Gates of Towns and Cities are not the least of Ornaments to the said Towns and Cities Of the chief of them except those in London we have toucht in the respective Places to which they belong The principal Gates of London are Ludgate Newgate Aldersgate Algate Bishopsgate and Temple-bar and the two Gates at Westminster between Whitehal and Kings-street most of them not inferior in Magnificence to the chief in Europe But to close all that hath been said of publick Ornaments there remains one thing more not to be neglected by any Admirer of Art which is a Piece of Sculpture in Stone representing the Resurrection over a Gate in Shoo-lane that gives entrance into a Caemetery or Burying-place which belongs to St Andrews-Church This Piece of Carving I have heard commended by the best of Artists in this way for the noblest Piece of Workmanship in its kind that hath been seen in England Towns and Places of England eminent for some remarkeable Accident Person or Transaction THE principal Things that render any Town or Place remarkable are either the Glory and Antiquity of its Original some notable Revolution of Government Accidents hapning there whether prosperous or adverse Battels fought or other grand Action perform'd in or near it and the Birth Residence or Death of Princes and other eminent Men. For most if not all of those Remarks there are many Towns and Cities of England famous and principally of all that which is the principal of all our Towns and Cities London for the most part the Seat of Kings from its Original with which as the City Westminster is so united in Place that it seems in a manner one and the same City so thē mention and discourse of them cannot well be separated Of the Antiquity Splendor of Government Flourishing Trade and Magnificence of Structure in all which London hath the pre-eminence not only of all the Places of England but perhaps of all Europe several have discours'd at large besides what we may haply have occasion to touch at elsewhere It can't be imagin'd but that in a City which hath been a flourishing City for so many Ages many remarkable Accidents must have hapned and great Actions been perform'd in the mention whereof however all possible brevity must be us'd King Lud who reign'd here a little before Caesar's arrival if he were not the first Founder as some think he was at least not only the Enlarger but also the Denominator For among other things he built the West-Gate which to this day retains the Name of Ludgate and what was before of a City by the Name of Trinobantium took the Name of Caer-Lud and the present appellation of London is fancy'd by many to be deriv'd from him as it were Luds-Town About the year 285. here Alectus Lieutenant to the Emperor Diocletian was slain by Asclepiodotus D. of Cornwal and together with him was slain his Companion Gallus at a Brook which from him still retains the name of Gall-brook or Wall brook Here Sigebert third King of the East-Angles who began his Reign in the year of our Lord 596. and Ethelbert King of Kent who began his Reign in the year of our Lord 562. built the Cathedral of St. Pauls in the very place as 't is said where there had been a Temple of Diana In the Reign of Edmund sirnamed Ironside this City was closely besieg'd by the Danes but the Siege was soon rais'd by that valiant Prince King Edmund About the year 1077. the Tower of London was built by K. William the Conqueror whose Successour K. William Rufus built new walls about it Anno 1135. in the Reign of K. Stephen the greatest part of this City was consumed by an accidental Fire In K. Richard the Seconds time was the great Rencounter with Jack Straw
might have furnished him with fifteen times as many Now supposing the whole Allegation were true yet the same number amounts but to 21,000 all which if the whole Trade of Shipping in France were quite and clean abandoned would not by above a third man in a Fleet be equivalent to that of the King of England and if the Trade were but barely kept alive there would not be one third part men enough to man the said Fleet. But if the Shipping Trade of France be not above a quarter as great as that of England and that one third part of the same namely the Fishing Trade to the Banks of new-found Land is not peculiar nor Fixed to the French then I say that if the King of England who has Power to press men cannot under two or three Months time man his Fleet then the French King with less then a quarter of the same help can never do it at all for in France as shall be elsewhere shewn there are not a 15000 Tun of Trading Vessels and consequently not above 15,000 Seamen reckoning a man to every tenth Tun and it has been shewed that the French King can't at present man such a Fleet as is above described We come next to shew that he never can bring under natural and perpetual impediments viz. First if there be but 15,000 Seaman in all France to manage it's Trade it is not to be supposed that the said trade should be distinguished nor that it should spare above five of the said 15,000 towards managing of the Fleet which requires 35,000 men now the deficient 30000 must be supplyed out of these four ways ether by taking in Land-men of which sort there must not be above 10,000 since the Seamen will never be contented without being the Major part nor do they Heartily wish well to Land-men at all or rejoyce even at those Successes of which the said Land-men can claim any share thinking it hard that themselves who are bred to Miserable and Painful and dangerous imployments and yet profitable to the Common-Wealth should at a time when Booty and purchase may be gotten be Dog'd or hindred with any Conjunction which Land-men are forced to admit these to any equal share with themselves Secondly the Seamen which are supposed 20,000 must be had that is shired from other Nations which can't be without Tempting 'em with so much wages as exceeds that given by Merchants and withal Counterpoyse the dammage of being hanged by their own Prince and allowed no quarter if taken the trouble of carrying themselves away when restraints are upon 'em and also the infamy of having been Apostates to their Country and Cause I say their wages must be more than double to what their own Prince gives them and their Aurum must be very great that they shall not at long run be abused by those who imploy them as hating the Traytor tho loving the Treason I say moreover that those who will be thus tempted away must be of the basest lewdest sort of Seamen such as have not enough of Honor and Conscience to qualifie them for any Gallant performance 3. Another way to exonerate Seamen is to put great numbers of Land-men upon Ships of War in order to bring always Seamen but this course can't be effectual not only for the abovementioned Antipathy between Land-men and Seamen but also because 't is seen that men at Sea do not apply themselves to Labour and Practice without more necessity then happens in over man'd Shipping For where there are fifty men in a Vessel that Ten can sufficiently Navigate the Supernumerary forty will improve little but where there shall be often but one or two Supernumeraries then necessity will often call upon every one to set his hand to the work which must be well done at the Peril of their lives moreover Seamen shifting Vessels every six or twelve months do sometimes Sail in small Barges sometimes in midlingships and sometimes in greater Vessels of defence sometimes in Lighters sometimes in Hoyes sometimes in Ketches sometimes in three wasted Ships sometimes they go to the northward sometimes to the Southward sometimes they Coast sometimes they Cross the Ocean by all which Varieties of Service they do in time compleat themselves is every part and Circumstance of this faculty Whereas those who go out for a Summer in a man of War have not the Variety of Practice nor a direct necessity of doing any thing at all besides it is three or four Years at a medium that a Seaman must be made neither can there be less then three Seamen to make the fourth of a Landman consequently the fifteen thousand Seamen can increase but five thousand Seamen in three or four Years and unless their Trade should increase with their Seamen in Proportion the King must be forced to be at the charge of this improvement out of the quick Stock which is intolerable so as the question which now remains is whether the Shipping Trade of France is like to increase upon which account it is to be considered that France is stored with all kind of necessaries within it self as Corn Cattle Wine Salt Linnen-Cloth Rape Silk Fruit c. As they need little Shipping to import more Commodities of Weight and Bulk neither is there any thing of Bulk exported out of France but Wines and Salt the Weight whereof is under 1000,000 Tun per Annum yielding not imployment to above twenty five thousand Tun of Shipping and these are for the most part Dutch and English who are not only already in possession of the said Trade but also are better fitted to maintain it then the French are or perhaps ever can be and that for the following Reasons viz. Because the French can't Victual so cheap as the English or Dutch nor Sayl with so few Hands Secondly the French for want of good Coasts and Harbours can't keep their Ships in Port under the charge that the English or Hollanders can Thirdly by Reason of the paucity and distance of their Harbours one from another their Seamen and Tradesmen relating to Shipping can't correspond with or Assist one another so easily cheaply advantageously as in other places wherefore if their Shipping-Trade is not like to increase within themselves and much less to increase by their beating out the English and Hollanders from being the Carriers of the World it follows then their Seamen will not be increased by their increase of their Trade wherefore and for that they are not like to be increased by any of their several ways above specifyed and for that their parts are not fit to retain Ships of Burthen and quality fit for their purpose and that by Reason of less fitness of their Ports then those of their Neighbours I conceive that which was propounded has been competently proved The aforenamed Fournier has Laboured to prove the contrary to all this in the ninety Second and ninety eight Page of his Hydrography unto which I refer the
THE Present State OF ENGLAND PART III. and PART IV. CONTAINING I. An Account of the Riches Strength Magnificence Natural Production Manufactures of this Island with an exact Catalogue of the Nobility and their Seats c. II. The Trade and Commerce within it self and with all Countries traded to by the English as at this day established and all other Matters relating to Inland and Marine Affairs Supplying what is omitted in the two former Parts useful for Natives and Foreiners London Printed for William Whitwood near the George Inn in Little Britain 1683. THE THIRD PART OF THE Present State OF ENGLAND WHEREIN Is set forth the Riches Strength Magnificence Natural Production Manufactures Wonders and Rarities Progress of Learning Arts and Ingenuities c. WITH A more perfect and Methodical Catalogue of the Nobility with their Seats than any hitherto extant LONDON Printed for William Whitwood next the George Inn in Little Britain 1683. THE PREFACE IT is commonly said among Gamesters that the Standers by oft-times see more than the persons themselves that play The like may be said as to the Writing of Books That the Critical Reader soon discovers the Errors and Defects of the Writer Withall it is a common Observation even of the Vulgar and Inferior sort of the People of France that when any Stranger chanceth to trip or falter either in the Pronunciation or Idiom of their Language they instead of laughing at their failings are still ready to help them out and inform them better In our present Affair therefore there is no more to do than to wish the good fortune of falling into the hands of the most courteous and best natured of Readers and indeed there is a kind of necessity for it for in treating of the Productions Manufactures Inventions and other things herein contained there is if not more at least as much need of Converse as of Books of consulting the Living as the Dead Whatever then through haste Inadvertency or want of convenient Assistance either of Mistake or Omission of what is most Curious or Remarkable I say most Curious or Remarkable since a too particular and Minute Account would swell each Head into a distinct Volume may have escaped in this present Work those Gentlemen who shall think it worth their while and will give themselves the trouble are humbly desired against the next Impression if the VVork shall be thought worthy of it to impart their Advice and Informations Small Beginnings oft times grow up to considerable Improvements and a little Cottage may be inlarged to a Commodious if not stately Habitation ERRATA OMISSA PAge 13. line II. after King read Edward the Fourth ibid. after to r. Alphonso p. 19. l. 6. after from r. Bamba l. 7. after from r. Guinea p. 21. l. 25. In the Blank after in r. Herefordshire p. 22. l. 10. r. Vulpanser What other Mistakes or Omissions have escaped the Press by reason some Sheets were wrought off before the Author's Perusal are submitted to the Courteous and Judicious Reader 's Emendation THE Present State OF ENGLAND PART III. THE Island of Great Britain the largest of the European Islands and to very few Islands of the World inferiour in bigness to none in Fertility Power Good Government and the Glory of its great Actions lies between 52 and 58 degrees of Northern Latitude England the noblest and largest part thereof and a distinct Kingdom of it self though at present united under one Monarch hath undergone four several grand Revolutions Not to mention the Samotheans Albionists and Brutus his Trojan Dynastie whose credit depends rather upon fabulous Tradition than real History the ancient Inhabitants of this Island are scarce taken notice of by any Author of account but by the name of Britains and the first certainly known Attaque that ever was made upon them was by the Romans under Julius Caesar and after that several others by the Lieutenants of several succeeding Emperors not without a World of Bloodshed The Natives no less stoutly resisting than the Romans furious assaulting till at length they gain'd a no less quiet than perhaps advantageous Possession among us I mean advantageous to this Island so that the Losers may be said to have been the greatest Gainers the Conquered the greatest Triumphers For if we consider from the several Descriptions that have been written thereof what barbarous and absurd Customs the Ancient Britains had among them we may conclude that Civility and Arts were so much the earlier introduced by the coming in of the Romans who also by their long Habitation here and Familiar Converse with the Old Inhabitants were of Foreigners become as it were Natives of Enemies Protectors insomuch that when they were call'd away for the Defence of their Provinces Abroad their Departure was no less regretted than their Arrival was oppos'd The next Attempters upon this part of the Island were the Saxons who being at first Invited in for their Assistance against the Invading Picts and other Borderers became at length themselves the greatest Invaders and playing upon the Easie and Luxurious Temper of the Prince that first Incourag'd their coming over they got a Footing which by continued fresh Supplies sent over from time to time they made so sure that all the Force the Britains were able to make against them for several Ages was not able to unfix it For notwithstanding this great Opposition in which several of the British Kings Signaliz'd themselves even to the Fame of Heroes especially the Great King Arthur whose Glory nothing hath so much Eclips'd as that his Actions great enough in their Truth are blown up into Storys so Romantick and and Surpassing all Credit maugre I say all the Force could be Mustered against them They still Increased in Number and Strength till in the end the Britains quite tir'd out were glad to retire into the Mountainous and remote parts of the Land by which they kept themselves for many Ages a people intirely distinct and their Language to this very day unmixt the Root of ours being evidently the Saxon so that the other must needs be the Ancient British and leave all the rest to be shar'd among the new Possessors who there being so many Proprietors in the Conquest dealt out the British Monarchy into seven Parcels which sevenfold Partition it may well be wondred how it could keep up so long considering the Confusions and as it were Civil Wars that arose as how could they but arise among so many Petty Monarchs upon one Continent that is as to the bounds of each Kingdom till at length one swallowing up the other the stronger the weaker this Seven-headed Hydra of Government came to a Period and one bright face of Monarchy shot up again and spread its Lustre over all this better part of Britain which hath ever since been called the Kingdom of England and hath so continued with little or no Interruption from the Raign of the Great Egbert He it was who first reduc'd this
for it's chief City Champechio this Province yields Wood for dying Rich Colours and likewise store of Deer and Cattle almost like Elks. Florida was discovered by Sebastian Cabot Anno 1467. which at that time it was possessed by the Spaniards with whom the French made War till they consumed each others people to that degree that it was abandoned by either Nation but since repeopled by the Spaniards who have built there several strong Forts The Commodities are Gold Ore some Veins of Silver some Spices and Woods of value And thus much of those Provinces the Spaniards possess Now I shall come to Treat of Virginia and new-New-England possessed by the English CHAP. XIII A View of Virginia and of the Trade Manners Customs and Government thereof and of the Commodities of that Colony VIrginia being discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh Anno 1584. had it's name from our Virgin Queen it lying in height thirty five degrees North Latitude and extends to thirty eight and a half being planted by the English only from 37 to 34 degrees under the Protection and Supream Authority of his Majesty of great Britain having the Bay of Roanoake and Cape Florida to the Southward and Mary-land to the Northward The main entrance out of Virginia into the Sea is about 10 Leagues the Country is full of Navigable Rivers stored with Fish and some of them abounding with Oysters Crabs and Sturgeon many of the Rivers being 7 8 9 or 10 Miles over running 140 and 150 Miles up in the Country so that Ships Anchor with great Security no Trade being permitted but with England So that as soon as any Vessel arrives the Master or Captain resorts to the Governour to give him an account from whence he came his Residence being for the most part at Jame's City lying 40 Miles up Jame's River and round about the English Colony the Indians Inhabit whose Treacheries prove too often fatal to our Country-men as the several Massacrees they have made can testifie Their Courts of Judicature chiefly consist of 4 quarterly Courts the Governour and his Council being Judges to try and determine as well in matters Criminal as Suits between man and man and every year once an Assembly meet in imitation of our Parliament to settle weighty Affairs Their Laws are the same with ours as likewise what Monies they have are of English Coyn. The Soil is every-where Fertile and the Woods abound with Oaks of divers sorts Black Wall-nuts Chess-nuts Ash Pine Day-Wood Cedar Saxafras Mulbury Small-nuts Wild Grapes and the like The Weather is much like ours only in the Summer continues a Month longer hotter and are troubled with Flashes of Light'ning dismal Claps of Thunder and now and then a Hurricane The days are about an Hour and an half shorter in Summer and so much longer in Winter All sorts of English Fruits and Cattle thrive there and their chief Commodities amongst themselves are Horses Oxen Sheep Hogs Turkies Geese Ducks Corn of which they have store and their Woods abound with Hairs Roacoons Possums Squirrils Wild-Cats Foxes Bears Wolves Elks and in remote Parts some Lyons are found Their Corn called Indian Corn or Maiz they buy and sell by the Barrel which Barrel contains 5 Bushels Winchester Measure and the Indians sell their Corn Pease and other Commodities of the like nature amongst themselves by the Baskets each Basket containing half a Bushel The chief Commodities they Trade with our Merchants for except Tobacco of which I shall speak anon are Hides Otter Beaver Muskats Bear Dear-Skins Saxafras Black-Walnut-Tree-Planks c. with them and Tobacco 40 or 50 Ships are yearly Loaden no Customs being lay'd upon any thing imported or exported but in England they pay five per cent for all they carry over and 2 pence per pound for every pound of Tobacco brought from thence and so proportionably for other Goods The Commodities carryed from England thither are Linnen and Woollen-Cloath Nailes Iron wrought into Tools Sope Starch Gunpowder Shot Wine Strong-Water Brandy Sugar Spice and the like and when any one comes over with Servants to Inhabit as a Planter he has 50 Acres of Land allotted him to manure even where he will choose unless in such Places as are before in Possession and for that Parcel of Land he pays 12 pence per Annum quit Rent The manner of planting and bringing to perfection their Tobacco accounted by them the Staple Commodity of the Colony is thus in January they sow the Seed which is smaller than Mustard-Seed and when it comes up they take up the Plants and place them upon little Hills which is usually done in May 4 or 5000. Hills being contained in one Acre every Hill containing a Plant the which when it is about 2 Foot high they Crop to give more Nourishment to the Leaves which Leaves are a Foot or two Foot long and some a Foot broad and when they are at the bigest they cut them up Stalk and all and hang them up in Sheads to dry which done they strip them from the Stalks and so bind them up in Handfuls for packing in Casks or make them up in Rolls An Acre of good Ground is reckoned to bear 1500 Weight of Tobacco not less then 17000. Hogs-heads being reckoned to be Shipped yearly for England Scotland and Ireland Their Servants for the most part consist of Negroes which they buy of the Merchants that bring them thither CHAP. XIV A View of New-England and the Trade thereof NEw-England has for it's chief Town or City Boston where all their Trade Centres especially that which accrues by Navigation a place which contains about 1500 houses Built of Brick and Timber in it is a State House and Congregational Meeting-Houses the Inhabitants for the most part being Presbyterians and Independants and are supplyed with great Quantities of Fish from Marblehead and other places As for Fowl they Trade with the Indians as likewise for Muscat Beaver Otter c. for which they deliver them Strong-Waters Shagged-Cloath Beads Looking-Glasses and the like and thither likewise are brought Provisions from St. Martins Long Island Road Island Shelter Island and other places they all being little spots standing in the Sea and have their Trade chiefly consisting in Provision The chief Roads for the safe Riding of Shipping are Boston Charlestown Salem and Pascataqua A Mint they have in which they Coyn English money as 12 pence 6 pence 3 pence and smaller piece both Silver and Tinn The Reason of setting it up was upon the spreading of many adulterated Pieces of Eight amongst them brought from Peru but notwithstanding the English Coyn Mexico and Sevil Royals go currant at a Crown apiece Their Accounts are kept after the Italian Fashion by such as understand the way and those that do not keep them as in old England Their Weights are Averdupois and Troy the former consisting of 16 Ounces the pound and the latter of twelve their hundred Averdupois is 112 pounds and by that they
work and Rich and Poor young and old must study the Art of Number Weight and Measure must fare hard provide for Impotents and for Orphans out of hope to make profit by their Labours must punish the Lazy by Labours I say all these particulars said to be the subtile Excogitations of the Hollanders seem to me but with what could not almost have been otherwise Liberty of Conscience Registry of Conveyances small Customs Banks Lombards and Law-Merchant rise all from the same Spring and tend to the same Sea As for Loans of Interest 't is also a necessary effect of all the premises and not the fruit of their contrivance Wherefore we shall only shew in particular the Efficacy of each and first of Liberty of Conscience but before I enter upon these I shall mention a practice almost forgotten whether it refers to Trade or Policy is not material which is the Hollanders undermasting and sayling of such of their Shipping as carry cheap and gross Goods and whose Sail doth not depend much upon Season It is to be noted that of 2 equal and like Vessels if one spreads 1600 yards of like Canvas and the other 2500 their Speed is but as 4 to 5 so as one soon brings home the same Timber in 4 days as the other will in 5 now if we consider that although those Ships be but 4 or 5 days under Sayl that they are perhaps 30 upon the Voyage so as the one is but 1 30 parts longer upon the whole Voyage than the other tho â…• longer under Sail now if Masts Yards Rigging Cables and Anchors do depend upon the quantity and extent of the Sails and consequently hands also it follows that the one Vessel goes at 3 1 less charge losing but 1 80 of the time and of what depends thereupon I come to the first Policy of the Dutch viz Liberty of Conscience which I can conceive they grant upon these grounds but keeping up always a force to maintain the Common Peace 1st They themselves broke with Spain to avoid the Imposition of the Clergy 2dly Dissenters of this kind are for the most part thinking sober and patient men and such as believe that Labour Industry is their duty towards God how Erroneous soever their Principles be 3dly These People believing the Justice of God and seeing most licentious persons to enjoy most of the World and it's best things will never venture to be of the same Religion and Profession with voluptuaries and men of extreme Wealth and Power who they think have their Portion in this World 4thly They cannot but know that no man can believe what himself pleases and to force men to say they believe when they do not is vain absurd and without Honor to God 5thly The Hollanders knowing themselves not to be an Infallible Church and that others had the same Scriptures for guide as themselves and withal the same Interest to save their Souls did not think fit to make this matter their business no more but to make Bonds of the Seamen they imploy not to cast away their own Ships and lives 6thly The Hollanders observe that in France and Spain especially the Latter the Church men are about 100 to one to what they use or need the principal care of whom is to preserve Uniformity and this they take to be a superfluous charge 7thly They observe where most endeavours have been used to keep Uniformity their Exterodoxy hath most abounded 8thly They believe that if â…• of the People were Exterodox and that if the whole quarter should by Miracle be removed that within a small time 4 1 of the Remainder would again become Exterodox some way or other it being Natural for men to differ in Opinions in Matters above sense and reason and for those who have less Wealth to think thry have the more Wit and Understanding especially in the things of God which they think chiefly to belong to the Poor 9thly They think the case of the Primitive Christians as it is represented in the Acts of the Apostles looks like that of the present Dissenters I mean externally moreover it is to be observed that Trade does not as some think best flourish under popular Government but rather that Trade is more vigorously carried on in every State and Government by the exterodox party of the same and such as profess Opinions differ from what are publickly established that is to say in India where the Mahumetan Religion is Authorized There the Banians are the most considerable Merchants in the Turkish Empire the Jews and Christians at Venice Naples Legorn Genica and Lisbon Jews and now Papists Merchants Strangers But to be short in the part of Europe where the Roman Catholick Religion now has or lately has had Establishment there 3 qrs of the whole Trade is in the hands of such as have separated from the Church viz. The Inhabitants of England Scotland and Ireland as also these of the United Provinces with Denmark Sweden and Norway together with the Subjects of the Norman Protestant Princes and the Hans-Towns do at this day possess a quarter of the Trade of the World and even France it self the Hugonets are proportionably far the greatest Trades nor is it to be denyed but that in Ireland where the said Roman Religion is not Authorized but the professors thereof have a great part of the Trade from whence it follows that Trade is not fixed to any Species of Religion as such but rather as before hath been the said to the heterodox party of the whole the truth whereof appears also in all the particular Towns of greatest Trade in England nor do I find reason to believe that the Roman Catholick Seamen in the whole World are sufficient to man effectually a Fleet equal to what the King of England now has but the now Papist-Seamen can do above thrice as much Wherefore he whom this latter party does effectionately own to be their Head cannot probably be wronged in his Sea-concernments by the Author from whence it follows that for the Advancement of Trade if that be a Sufficient Reason indulgence must be granted in matters of Opinion those Licentious Actings as even in Holland be restrained by force The 2d Policy or help to Trade used by the Hollanders is Securing the Titles to Lands and Houses for although Lands Houses may be called Terra firma et res immobiles yet the Title unto them is no more certain then it pleaseth the Laws and Authority to make them wherefore the Holanders do by Registries and other ways of assurance make the Title as immoveable as the Lands for there can be no incouragement to Industry where there is no Assurance of what shall be gotten by it and where by Fraud and Corruption one man may take away with ease and by a trick what another has gotten by extream labour and pains There has been much Discourse about introducing of Registories into England the Lawyers for the most part do
Reader not thinking his Arguments of any Weight at all in the present case nor indeed does he make his comparison with English or Hollanders but with the Spaniards who nor the Grand Senior the latter of whom has greater advantages to be Powerful at Sea then the French King could never attain to any illustrious greatness in Naval Power having after attempted but never succeeded in the same nor is it easie to believe that the King of England should for so many Years have continued in his Title to the Soveraignty of the narrow Seas against his Neighbours ambitious enough to have gotten it from him had not their impediments been natural and perpetual and such as we say do obstruct the most Christian King CHAP. IV. That the People and Territories of the King of England are naturaly as considerable for Wealth and Strength as those of France THe Author of the State of England among the many useful truths and observations he has sets down the proportion between the Territories of England and France to be as thirty to eighty two the which if it be true then England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands unto them belonging will altogether be near as big as France tho I ought to take all advantages for proving the Paradox in hand I had rather grant that England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands before mentioned together with planted parts of new Found-Land new England new Netherland Virginy Mary-Land Caulin Jamaica Barmuda's Barbado's and all the rest of the Carib Islands do not contain more Territory then France and what planted Land the French King has also in America a. And if any man will be Heterodox in behalf of the French Interest I could be contented against my Judgment to allow the French King's Territories to be a seventh sixth or fifth part greater then those of the King of England believing that both Princes have more Land then they do imploy to its utmost use And here I beg leave among the several matters I intend for serious to interpose a jocular and perhaps a Ridiculous digression and which I indeed desire men to look upon rather as a Dream then a rational Proposition Which is if that all the moveables and People of Ireland and the High-lands of Scotland were transported into the Kingdom of Great Brittain that then the King and his Subjects would thereby become more Rich and Strong both offensively and defensively then now they are It s true I have heard many wise men say when they were bewailing the vast Losses of the English in preventing and suppressing Rebellions in Ireland and considering how little profit has returned either to the King or Subjects of England for these five hundred Years doing and suffering in that Countrey I say I have heard Wise men in such their Melancholies wish that the People of Ireland being saved that that Island were sunk under Water Now it troubles me that the Distempers of my Mind in this point carry me to Dream that the Benefits of these Wishes may Practically be obtained without sinking that vast Mountainous Island under Water which I take to be somewhat difficult for altho Dutch Engineers may drein its Bogs yet I know no Artists that could sink its Mountains If ingenious and Learned men amongst whom I reckon Sr. Thomas Moore and Des Cartes have disputed that we who think our selves awake are or may be really in a Dream And if the greatest absurdity of Dreams is but a Preposterous and Tumultuary Contexture of Reallities I will crave the umbrage of these great Men to say something too of this wild Conception with Submission to the better Judgments of all those that can prove themselves awake If there were but one man Living in England then the benefit of the whole Territories could be but the third Lively-hood of that one Man But if another man were added the Rent or Benefit of the same would be double if three triple and so forewards until so many were Planted in it as the whole Territory could afford Food unto for if a man would know what any piece of Land is worth the true natural question must be how many Men will it feed and how many Men are there to be fed But to speak more Practically Land of the same quantity and quality in England is generally worth three or four times as much as in Ireland And but one quarter and a third of what it is in Holland because England is four times so well Peopled as Ireland and be a quarter so well as Holland And moreover where the Rent of Land is advanced by reason of the multitude of People there the number of years purchase for which the Inheritance may be sold is also advanced tho perhaps not in the very same Proportion for twenty Shillings per Annum in Ireland may be worth but eight pound and in England where Tithes are very sure about twenty pound in Holland about thirty pound I suppose that in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland there may be above 1800,000 People or about ⅕ part of what is in all the three Kingdoms Wherefore the first question will be whether England Wales or the Lowland of Scotland can't afford Food that is to say Corn Flesh Fish and Fowl to a ⅕ more People then are at present planted upon it with the same Labour that the said ⅕ part does now take where they are for if so then what is propounded is naturally possible Secondly it is to be inquired into what the moveables which upon such removable must be left behind are worth for if they are worth less than the advancement of the price of Land in England will amount unto then the Proposal is to be considered 3. If the relict Land and the immovables left behind upon them may be sold for money or if no other Nation shall dare to meddle with them without paying well for them and if the Nation who shall be admitted shall be less able to prejudice and annoy the Transplanters into England then before then I conceive the whole proposal will be a pleasant Dream indeed As to the first part whether England and the Lowlands of Scotland will mantain one fifth more then they now do that is to say nine Millions of Souls in all I say first that the said Territories of England c. contain about thirty six Millions of Acres that is four Acres for every Head Man Woman and Child but the united Provinces do not allow ½ Acre and England it self rescinding Wales has but three Acres to ever Head according to the present State of Tillage and Husbandry Now if so considered that England having but three Acres to a Head do so abound in Victuals as that it makes Laws against the importation of Cattle Flesh and Fish from abroad and that the Dreining of the Fens improving of Forrests inclosing of Commons Sowing of cinque-Foyl and Clover-Grass be grumbled against by Landlords are the way to depress the
price of Victuals then it plainly follows that till then three Acres improved as it may be will serve the turn and consequently that four will Suffice abundantly I could here set down the very number of Acres that would bear Bread and Drink Corn together with Flesh Butter and Cheese sufficient to Victual nine Millions of Persons as they are Victualled in Ships and regular Families but I shall only say in general that 12,000,00 will do it with supposing that Roots Fruits Fish and Fowl and the ordinary profit of Lead Tin Iron-Mines and Woods would piece up any defect that may be found As to the second I say that the Land and Housing of Ireland and Highlands of Scotland at the present Merchant-Rates are not worth ten Millions of money nor would the actual charge of making the Transplantation amount to two Millions more so then the question will be whether the benefit expected from this Transplantation will exceed two Millions To which I say that the advantage will probably be six times the last mentioned Summ or about seventy two Millions For if the rent of England and Wales and the low Land of Scotland be above nine Millions per Annum and if this fifth part of the people be Superadded unto the present inhabitants of these Countries then the rent will amount to 10,800,000 and the number of Years purchase will rise from seventeen ½ to ⅕ more which is twenty one so that the Land which is worth but nine Millions at seventeen ½ Years purchase making an hundred fifty seven Millions and a half will then be worth 10,800,000 at one and twenty Years purchase viz. 226,800,000 that is 69,300,000 more then was before and if any Prince willing to enlarge his Territories will give three Millions for the said relinquished Land and Housing which were estimated to be worth ten Millions then the whole profit will be above 72,000,000 or six times the value as the same was above computed but if any man should object that will be dangerous unto England to be put into the Lands of any other Nations I answer in short that that Nation who ever shall purchase it being divided by means of the said purchase shall not be more able to enjoy England then now in it's united condition Now if any man shall desire a more clear explanation how and by what means the Rents of Lands shall rise by this closer cohabitation of people above described I answer that the advantage will arise in Transplanting about eighteen thousand people from the Poor and Miserable Trade of Husbandry to more Beneficial Handicraft for which the Superaddition is to be made a very little addition of Husbandry to the same Lands will produce a fifth part more Food consequently the additional Hands earning but forty Shillings per Annum more as they may very well to eight pound per Annum at some other Trade the superlucration will be above 3,600,000 pound which at twenty Years purchase is seventy two Millions Moreover as the Inhabitants of Cities and Towns spend more Commodities and make greater consumption then those who live in wild thin Peopled Countries so when England shall be thicker Peopled in manner before described the very same people shall then spend more then when they lived more sordidly inurbantly and further asunder and more out of the sight observation and Emulation of each other every man desiring to put on better Apparel when he appears in company then when he has no occasion to be seen I further add to the charge of the government Civil Military and Ecclesiastical would be more cheap safe and effectual in this condition of close habitation then otherwise as not only Reason but the example of the united Provinces do demonstrate But let this whole digression pass from a meer Dream I suppose will serve to prove that in case the King of Englands Territories should be a little less then those of the French King that forasmuch as neither of them are over Peopled that the difference is not material to the question in Hand wherefore supposing the French Kings advantages to be little or nothing in point of Territory we come next to examine and compare the number of Subjects which each of those Monarchs do govern The Book called the State of France makes the Kingdom consist of twenty seven Parishes and another Book written by a Substantial Author who profoundly enquires into the State of the Church and Church-men of France sets down as an extraordinary case that a Parish in France should have six hundred Souls where I suppose the said Author who has so well examined the matter is not of opinion that every Parish one with another has above five hundred by which reckoning the whole people of France are about thirteen Millions 500,000 Now the people of England Scotland and Ireland with the Islands adjoyning by computation from the number of Parishes which commonly have more people in Protestant Churches then in Popish Countries as also from the Hearth-money Post-money and Excise do amount to above nine Millions there are in new England about fifty thousand men mustered in Arms about eighty thousand able to bear Arms and consequently about five hundred thousand in all but this last I leave to every man's conjecture and I see no Reason why in all the rest of the Plantations there should not be five hundred thousand more and consequently I suppose the King of England hath above ten Millions of Subjests ubivis terrarum orbis Altho it be very material to know the number of Subjects belonging to each Prince yet when the question is concerning their Wealth and Strength it is also material to examine how many of 'em do get more then they spend and how many less in order whereunto it is to be considered that in the King of Englands dominions there are twenty thousand Church-men but in France as the aforementioned Author of theirs does aver who sets down the particular number of each Religious order there are about 270000. viz. 250000. more then we think are necessary that is to say two hundred and fifty thousand with-drawn out of the World now the said number of adult and able-Bodyed Persons are equivalent to about double the same number of the Promiscuous Mass of Mankind and the same Author affirms that the said Religious Persons do spend one with another above eighteen pence per diem which is Triple to what a Labouring man requires Wherefore the said two hundred fifty thousand Church-men living as they do make the French King 13,500 thousand to be really no better then twelve Millions or thereabouts In the next place it is to be considered that the inhabitants of the inner parts of France remote from the Sea can't be probably Superlucrators Now if there be two Millions in the King of England's Dominions more then in the French Kings who earn more then they spend or if ten men in England earn more then twelve in France then the