Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	best_a	country_n	staple_n	42	3	16.4903	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30883	A discourse of trade by N.B. ...	Barbon, Nicholas, d. 1698.	1690 (1690)	Wing B707; ESTC R12426	26,245	107

the more Temperate Climates produce much the same sorts of Commoditys but by difference of the Quality or Conveniency of place where they abound they become the Staple of each Country where they are either best or easier acquired or exchanged Thus Herrings and other Fish are the Staples of Holland the Dutch living amongst the Water are most naturally inclined to Fishing English Wool being the best in the World is the Staple of England for the same reason Oyles of Italy Fruits of Spain Wine of France with several other sorts of Commoditys are the Staples of their several Countrys Staple Commodities may be divided into Native or Forreign the Native Staple is what Each Country doth Naturally and best produce Forreign Staple is any Forreign Commodity which a Country acquires by the sole Trade to a Forreign Place or sole possession of a particular Art as Spices are the Staple of Holland and the making of Glass and Paper were the Staple of Venice From the Stock or Wares of Trade these Three Things are Observable 1. The Native Staple of each Country is the Riches of the Country and is perpetual and never to be consumed Beasts of the Earth Fowls of the Air and Fishes of the Sea Naturally Increase There is Every Year a New Spring and Autumn which produceth a New Stock of Plants and Fruits And the Minerals of the Earth are Unexhaustable and if the Natural Stock be Infinite the Artificial Stock that is made of the Natural must be Infinite as Woollen and Linnen Cloth Calicoes and wrought Silk which are made of Flax Wool Cotton and Raw Silks This sheweth a Mistake of Mr. Munn in his Discourse of Trade who commends Parsimony Frugality and Sumptuary Laws as the means to make a Nation Rich and uses an Argument from a Simile supposing a Man to have 1000 l per Annum and 2000 l. in a Chest and spends Yearly 1500 l. per Annum he will in four Years time Waste his 2000 l. This is true of a Person but not of a Nation because his Estate is Finite but the Stock of a Nation Infinite and can never be consumed For what is Infinite can neither receive Addition by Parsimony nor suffer Diminution by Prodigality 2. The Native Staple of Each Country is the Foundation of it s Forreign Trade And no Nation have any Forreign Commodities but what are at first brought in by the Exchange of the Native for at the first beginning of Forreign Trade a Nation hath nothing else to Exchange The Silver Gold from Spain the Silks from Turkey Oyls from Italy Wine from France and all other Forreign Goods are brought into England by the Exchange of the English Cloth or some other Staple of England 3. That Forreign Staples are uncertain Wealth Some Countries by the Sole Trade to another Country or by the Sole Possession of some Arts gain a Staple of Forreign Commodities which may be as profitable as the Native so long as they enjoy the Sole possession of that Trade or Art But that is uncertain for other Nations find out the way of Trading to the same place The Artists for Advantage Travel into other Countries and the Arts are discover'd Thus Portugal had the Sole Trade of India afterwards the Venetians got a great Share of the Trade and now the Dutch and English have a greater share than both The Arts of making several sorts of Silks were chiefly confined to Genoa Naples afterward Travelled into France since into England and Holland and are now Practised there in as great perfection as they were in Italy So have other Arts wander'd as the making of Looking-Glasses from Venice into England the making of Paper from Venice into France and Holland Of the Quantity and Quality of Wares THE Quantity of all Wares are known by Weight or Measure The Reason of Gravity is not understood neither is it Material to this Purpose Whether it proceeds from the Elastisity of the Air or Weight of the utmost Spheer or from what other Causes its sufficient that the ways of Trying the Weights of Bodies are perfectly discover'd by the Ballance There are Two Sorts of Weights in Common Use the Troy and Averdupois The First are used to Weigh Goods of most Value as Gold Silver and Silk c. The Latter for Coarser and more Bulky Goods as Lead Iron c. There are Two Sorts of Measures the one for Fluid Bodies as the Bushel Gallon and Quart for Measuring Corn Wine and Oyl the other for the Measuring the Dimensions of Solid Bodies as a Yard Ell c. to Measure Cloth Silk c. The Weights and Measures of all Countries differs but that is no Prejudice to Trade they are all made certain by the Custom or Laws of the Place and the Trader knows the Weight or Measure in Use in the Place he Deals to It is the Care of the Government to prevent and punish the Fraud of False Weights and Measures and in most Trading-Cities there are Publick Weigh-Houses and Measurers The Fraud of the Ballance which is from the unequal Length of the end of the Beam is least perceivable and therefore in Weighing Goods of Value they usually Weigh them in both Scales The Qualities of Wares are known by their Colour Sound Smell Taste Make or Shape The Difference in the Qualities of Wares are very difficultly distinguished those Organs that are the proper Judges of those Differencies do very much disagree some Men have clearer Eyes some more distinguishing Ears and other nicer Noses and Tastes and every Man having a good Opinion of his own Faculties it is hard to find a Judge to determine which is best Besides those Qualities that belong to Artificial Wares such as depend upon the Mixture Make or Shape of them are more difficultly discover'd Those Wares whose Quality are produced by the just Mixture of different Bodies such as Knives and Razors whose sharpness arise from the Good Temperament and Mixture of the Steel Iron are not to be found out but by the Use of them And so doth the Mixture and well making of Hats Cloth and many other things Because the Difference in the Qualities of Wares are so difficultly understood it is that the Trader serves an Apprenticeship to learn them and the Knowledge of them is called the Mystery of Trade and in common Dealing the Buyer is forced to rely on the Skill and Honesty of the Seller to deliver Wares with such Qualities as he affirms them to have It is the Sellers Interest from the Expectation of further Dealing not to deceive because his Shop the Place of Dealing is known Therefore those Persons that buy of Pedlars and Wandering People run Great Hazard of being Cheated Those Wares whose Chief Qualities consist in Shape such as all Wearing Apparel do not so much depend upon the Honesty of the Seller for tho' the Trader or Maker is the Inventor of the Shape yet it is the Fancy and Approbation of the Buyer that

other Argument That Empire may be raised sooner at Sea than at Land than by observing the Growth of the Vnited Provinces within One Hundred Years last past who have Changed their Style from Poor Distressed into that of High and Mighty States of the United Provinces And Amsterdam that was not long since a poor Fisher-Town is now one of the Chief Cities in Europe and within the same Compass of Time that the Spaniard French have been endeavouring to Raise an Universal Empire upon the Land they have risen to that Heighth as to be an equal Match for either of them at Sea and were their Government fitted for a Dominion of large Extent and their Country separated from their Troublesome Neighbour the Continent which would Free them from that Military Charge in defending themselves they might in a short Time Contend for the Soveraignity of the Seats But England seems the Properer Seat for such an Empire It is an Island therefore requires no Military Force to defend it Besides Merchants and Souldiers never thrive in the same Place It hath many large Harbours fitting for a large Dominion The Inhabitants are naturally Couragious as appears from the Effects of the Climate in the Game Cocks and Mastiff Dogs being no where else so stout The Monarchy is both fitted for Trade and Empire And were there an Act for a General Naturalization that all Forreigners purchasing Land in England might Enjoy the Freedom of Englishmen It might within much less Compass of Time than any Government by Arms at Land arrive to such a Dominion For since in some Parts of Europe Mankind is harrassed and disturbed with Wars Since some Governours have incroached upon the Rights of their Subjects and inslaved them Since the People of England enjoy the Largest Freedoms and Best Government in the World and since by Navigation and Letters there is a great Commerce and a General Acquaintance among Mankind by which the Laws and the Liberties of all Nations are known those that are oppressed and inslaved may probably Remove and become the Subjects of England And if the Subjects increase the Ships Excise and Customs which are the Strength and Revenue of the Kingdom will in Proportion increase which may be so Great in a short TIME not only to preserve its Antient Soveraignty over the Narrow Seas but to extend its Dominion over all the Great Ocean An Empire not less Glorious of a much larger Extent than either Alexander's or Caesar's Of the Chief Causes that Promote Trade THE Chief Causes that Promote Trade not to mention Good Government Peace and Scituation with other Advantages are Industry in the Poor and Liberality in the Rich Liberality is the free Usage of all those things that are made by the Industry of the Poor for the Use of the Body and Mind It Relates chiefly to Man's self but doth not hinder him from being Liberal to others The Two Extreams to this Vertue are Prodigality and Covetousness Prodigality is a Vice that is prejudicial to the Man but not to Trade It is living a pace and spending that in a Year that should last all his Life Covetousness is a Vice prejudicial both to Man Trade It starves the Man and breaks the Trader and by the same way the Covetous Man thinks he grows rich he grows poor for by not consuming the Goods that are provided for Man's Use there ariseth a dead Stock called Plenty and the Value of those Goods fall and the Covetous Man's Estates whether in Land or Mony becomes less worth And a Conspiracy of the Rich Men to be Covetous and not spend would be as dangerous to a Trading State as a Forreign War for though they themselves get nothing by their Covetousness nor grow the Richer yet they would make the Nation poor and the Government great Losers in the Customs and Excises that ariseth from Expence Liberality ought Chiefly to be Exercised in an equal Division of the Expence amongst those things that relate to Food Cloaths and Lodging according to the Portion or Station that is allotted to every Man with some allowance for the more refined Pleasures of the Mind with such Distributions as may please both sect of Philosophers Platonist and Epicureans The Belly must not be starved to cloath the Back-Part Those Expences that most Promote Trade are in Cloaths and Lodging In Adorning the Body and the House There are a Thousand Traders Imploy'd in Cloathing and Decking the Body and Building and Furnishing of Houses for one that is Imploy'd in providing Food Belonging to Cloaths is Fashion which is the Shape or Form of Apparel In some places it is fixt and certain as all over Asia and in Spain but in France England and other places the Dress alters Fashion or the alteration of Dress is a great Promoter of Trade because it occasions the Expence of Cloaths before the Old ones are worn out It is the Spirit and Life of Trade It makes a Circulation and gives a Value by Turns to all sorts of Commodities keeps the great Body of Trade in Motion it is an Invention to Dress a Man as if he Lived in a perpetual Spring he never sees the Autum of his Cloaths The following of the Fashion Is a Respect paid to the Prince and his Court by approving his Choice in the shape of the Dress It lyes under an ill Name amongst many Grave and Sober People but without any Just Cause for those that Exclaim against the Vanity of the New Fashion and at the same time commend the Decency of the Old one forget that that every Old Fashion was once New and then the same Argument might have been used against it And if an Indian or Stranger that never saw any person Cloathed before were to be Judge of the Controversy and were to Determin upon seeing at the same time a well Drest-Courtier in the New Fashion and another in the Old which is accounted Decent and a third in the Robes of an Officer which by common Esteem had a Reverence It will be Two to One against any One of the Grave Fashions for it 's only Use and Custom by which Habits become Grave and Decent and not any particular Conveniency in the shape for if Conveniency were the Rule of Commendation there would arise a Question not Easily to be Determined Whether the Spanish Garb made strait to the Body or the loose Habit of the Turks were to be Chosen And therefore since all Habits are equally handsome and hard to know which is most Convenient The Promoting of New Fashions ought to be Encouraged because it provides a Livelihood for a great Part of Mankind The next Expence that chiefly promotes Trade is Building which is natural to Mankind being the making of a Nest or Place for his Birth it is the most proper and vible Distinction of Riches and Greatness because the Expences are too Great for Mean Persons to follow It is a Pleasure fit to entertain Princes for a