much Incouragement as a Lottery but to the contrary should be suppressed And I know a great Minister who once disputed on that with warmth against a care for Wooll and that it was a burthen to the Nation It may not be Foreign to this Discourse to give the heads of the Dispute which I the rather do that so it may shew the need there is for the Great Council of the Nation to take it under their Consideration The Discourse rose on a Proposition that was brought to him for stopping a vast Quantity of Wooll that was then going to France it was brought him in Writing and demonstrated That that very Wooll was enough to work up all the Coarse Wooll of France for Seven Years and that the consequence would be the loss of great part of our Manufactories to Spain and Portugal The Minister made little return to that but brought his Discourse to the great Loss it was to Men of Estates that there was not a way for Selling twice the Wooll that now they did That there was three Years Wooll then in England and what should Men do upon this Topick of the want of a Consumption for the Wooll of England the Gentleman laid down these Positions First That the War was one Reason of the Decay of the Woollen Manufactories Secondly That the extraordinary Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts put them upon making more Woollen Manufactories than ever they did before and that abated our Trade abroad Thirdly That our Wooll going to Foreign Parts made it so cheap at home This I remember put the Minister into a â—aughter and laying the two first aside he desir'd him to make out the last Position That the Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts made the Wooll fall in Price That the sending so great Quantities of Wooll out of the Kingdom should fall the Price of that which was left was a Mistery he could not understand but seem'd to him the only way to make it rise But the Gentleman undertook to make out his Assertion that every Pound of English Wooll worked up Three Pound of Foreign Wooll and that as much as they Manufactur'd so much was Abated in our Exports for that they made such Manufactoryes with our Wooll as they could not make without it and consequently by that means one pound of our Wooll with theirs made four times as much Cloaths and Stuffs as we could have made with it if we had kept it at home From which he Inferred That if one fourth of the Wooll of England went to Foreign Parts there would be as much Manufactoryes made Abroad for Foreign Markets as we could make if we had wrought all our own Wooll and so much being made Abroad we could not have use for half our own Wooll that was left This he affirmed was the reason that there lay so much Wooll unwrought in England and he being brought for Proof of what he said That which was Matter of Fact I thought undeniable though it would not be allowed so by the Minister The thing was this The Year after the Restauration there was a Gentleman that got a Grant from the King with a Non obstante to any Statute for Liberty to Export a certain Quantity of Wooll to Foreign Parts from Ireland upon which some Merchants in London buying the Grant sent over to Ireland and bought most of the Wooll and sent it to Foreign Parts this at first rais'd the Price of Wooll both there and in England but in so short a time as Five Moneths it fell Fifty per Cent. And though not one fourth of what formerly came from Ireland into England came then to England yet there was no Vent for the Wooll of England and in Ireland it fell from Seven Shillings to Three Shillings and Six Pence their Stone of Sixteen pounds all the time they shipped it for Foreign Parts This he affirm'd he could prove by the Merchants Books that were concern d to be litterally true and that the Year after the Shipping for Foreign Parts was over that Wooll rise to its former Price both here and in Ireland And he farther added that the great Quantities which by stealth go from England and Ireland makes Wooll in both Kingdoms fall in Price according to the Quantities that are sent out This part of the Dispute being over the next Question was Whither the Wooll of Ireland did not Abate the Price of the Wooll in England and hinder Sheep Masters from Inlarging their Flocks and consequently keep down the Rents of Land This was answered in the Negative to all the three that it did not Abate the Price of English Wooll nor hinder the Increase of Sheep or Abate the Rents of Land That the Irish Wooll coming into England helped the working up of some Wooll that could not be made the most of without it That the Wooll of Ireland was a larger Staple than that of England and most proper for Bayes and Serges That it was not the Wooll of Ireland that came to England that made the Price fall but it was that which went to Foreign Parts that did the Mischief and for the reasons before given he concluded that if there went no Wooll from England or Ireland to Foreign Parts all the Wooll of both Kingdoms would not be half enough to supply the Manufactories that England would have Markets for Abroad for that there is now made twice as much Manufactories with the help of our Wooll Abroad as is made in England so that if there were an effectual stop upon the Wooll of both Kingdoms the Flocks of both might be trebled and yet not be sufficient for the Manufactories England might vent This in few words was the best account I ever heard of the Nature and Improvement of the Wooll of these Kingdoms and is such demonstration of the Mischief the Exports of Wooll doth to the Nation that I cannot but think him a worse Enemy to his Country than a Common Pyrate for that he robs but a small Number but he that sends out Wooll destroys Thousands weakens the Strength of the Nation both at Land and Sea and if we believe the Lord Coke's Assertion That Nine parts of the Trade of England comes from the Sheeps Back there cannot be enough done to secure it but it hath ever been the misfortune of our Nation neither to punish or reward Impunity in the first makes us abound in Criminals and the neglect in the latter makes us barren of great Actions for our Countrey I mean in that which makes a Nation Rich and Wise Our Ancestours shewed more of their good will to it in the Dark of Trade and Navigation than we do at Noon-day I have often thought that it was possible for a Monarch of these Kingdoms to make all Europe Tributaries to him in Trade by a true Management of the Natureal and Artificial Product and Navigation of these Kingdoms without being oblig'd to any help but what ariseth from his own Dominions of which
Expence of Manufactories and Product of England for that they have from England or would if the Laws of that Kingdom in Relation to the Customs were duely executed most of the fine Draperies Silk Iron Manufactory Haberdashers-Wares Hats Sadlers Wares Tapes Pins and other small Manufactories Also from England they have all the hopes white Salt Coals Brass Commodities Tobacco Sugars and Groceryes They also Imploy or should so if due care was taken in the Act of Navigation the Ships of England all which would be considerably advanced if that Kingdom were improved by Foreigners 2. Foreigners would Inlarge the Linnen Manufactory in Ireland to which no part of Europe is most proper And there is already a beginning and aptness in the Irish to that Manufactory and however it is not the Interest of England that Ireland should grow in the Woollen Manufactory yet it is that that they should in the Linnen and Cordage But of this I shall in the Second Part when I come to Discourse at large of the Trade of Ireland say more 3. The bringing Foreign Protestants into Ireland will Inlarge the Fishings there Great part of which will be to the Advantage of England as would the General Improvement of Ireland be if it were dispos'd to such Trade and Navigation as might be subservient and helpful to ours But to make Laws with design to keep them Poor is not unlike him that set his own House on Fire that his Neighbours might be burnt keeping Ireland Poor and discouraging the Protestant Interest there puts that Kingdom in the hands of the Irish and that renders it not only unprofitable to England but dangerous the management of Ireland Since the first Conquest will not be Credited in future Ages and although we must own of a Nation that hath the best Constitution in Government we have alwayes been unhappy in the Administration yet I think in nothing so much as in the Neglect of Trade and in that of Ireland which any Nation but we would make a Treasure of and we Imploy all our skill to make it an Aceldama It hath been so to this poor Kingdom and if relation be true is in a ready way to be so again They in whose Province it is will consider the Politick part my business is Trade and in that I will venture to say Ireland might be made more profitable to England than all the Foreign Plantations have ever yet been I confess New-England and Newfound-Land may be made more than altogether but that which makes Ireland of more Consideration to England than all the rest is because without keeping that we can enjoy none of the rest It is every days Refuge for our Merchant-Men and not to be forgotten how soon after this Reduction it saved our Smirna and Levant Fleet. Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wooll THIS is the great Staple of the Kingdom and in truth of the World which by Divine Providence is so put into our hands as that without a turn in Nature we cannot totally loose it yet all that is possible for an unthinking People as we are call'd abroad we have done to the prejudice of those Commodities by which means we have transferr'd great part of our Woollen Manufactoryes to other Countreys to Germany and Venice our Coarse Draperies to Holland and France our fine and New Draperies and that which is remarkable is that we laid the foundation for loosing them the same way by which we first got them that is by persecuting Men for their Religion Abel's acceptable Sacrifice seems still to follow the Fleece No Society of Men in the Kingdom are so generally affected with the strictest Injunctions of our Religion as our People bred up in the Woollen Manufactories and these Men first fell under the Rod after the Restauration an excellent Reform to drive Men out of the Kingdom for having too much Religion but not question such as had none at all This driving our Clothiers into Germany and Holland put them and their Friends upon Inventions to send our Wooll after them and in that their Friends that stay'd behind were and still are assisting them though to the prejudice of the Trades they are in themselves there being nothing that draws compassion more from one Man to another than seeing Men of honest and unblameable Conversation us'd worse than Thieves and Robbers for serving God according to their Conscience This severity banish'd many thousands out of England soon after the Restauration of Charles the Second One Tilham carried in the Year 1665 Three Thousand into the Prince Palatine of the Rhyne and divers others did the same into other parts insomuch that Account was taken of Twenty Thousand Sacks of Wooll carried into one Port of France in less than Two Years from England and more went from Ireland and besides the Quantities that went for Holland is Incredible All this is evidently fallen upon the Nation by the fury of those that would make a Trade of Religion and banish those that had Religion with their Trades But blessed be God we have now a King of a more comprehensive Perswasion and our Church better supply'd with Men of Learning and Charity which the Infallible Authour tells us is above all the Arts Sciences and Acts of Devotion whatsoever Such Numbers of Men being gone out of the Kingdom for want of that Liberty they may now injoy it is a wonder they do not return and a greater that they are not sent for and Invited back We do not consider what the loss of a Man is in a Kingdom not half Peopled We want nothing so much as Bodies of Men and it is said we have above Thirty Thousand in Foreign Countreys and they are not of the raff but sober Industrious People such as these should not be lost But from the hands to Work Wooll I come to the Wooll it self how useful and in some cases of such absolute use in their Manufactories that they can make none of their best without our Wooll This is no Secret nor the Severe Laws that are made to prevent Escapes of Wooll but none have proved effectual some of them being too easie and others severe to loss of Life to them all I have seen a Proposal of a Gentleman that hath been a great Dealer in that Commodity to Foreign Parts which he affirms would be Infallible to prevent Exports of Wooll to Foreign Parts From England it seems probable enough but he is positive and reserves part of the Secret which he saith when told will make every one that hears it as positive as himself I would have perswaded him to offer it to the House but he expects a great Gratification and that he thinks at this time will not be given though I am of another mind and believe he deserves more than he can either ask or expect if his Project takes It is indeed to be lamented that solid Proposals for the Trade and Manufactory of the Nation should not meet with so
believe an Act of Naturalization would inlarge the Trade of this Nation so would the planting Foreign Protestants in Ireland And it seems but reasonable that this Nation should make some Advantage by that sink of their Blood and Treasure which they never yet have done but every Forty Years at most are put to the Expence of a New War It is astonishing to reflect on the Story of that Kingdom in which it is said there hath been above Fifteen Hundred Thousand English murdered in Fifty Two Rebellions It would be but a reasonable and provident Consideration how to prevent such continual bleeding in that Kingdom for the future But Matters of State is not the design of this Discourse only where Trade must call to it for Aid as in this case it seems to do for the Government to give a hand to the planting that Kingdom by which it may be profitable to this and it can never be by lying waste or being kept poor which is a general Opinion amongst us and I fear one of our most pernitious Mistakes in Trade as it is point of our security we should allow some Thoughts and Value for the Bodies of Men and if we did so there would not be such continued Slaughter in that Kingdom without producing one good Statute to secure that Countrey as in reason it should be intirely to the obedience and disposition of this the greatest part of the Land of that Kingdom is or ought to be in the hands of our Brethren and they sure will not be unwilling to give us the priviledge of governing it especially when by it we preserve them as by sending Foreign Protestants among them we should do In private management we should think him Lunatick that would pursue one Method a thousand times over though he had as constantly miscarried in it that seems the Case of Ireland it is vain to imagine that British so I think they call the English and Scotch of Ireland can ever ballance the Irish it is said the Irish are now above twenty to one at this time notwithstanding much more of the Irish perished in this last War than of the British That then which I conceive would be the best management this Nation ever made of Ireland would be to dispose the Forfeitures of that Kingdom to Strangers of all sorts that are not of the Church of Rome and having made that exception it will be necessary to give my Reasons for it My Principles I must confess are against Force in Religion but in this Case of Ireland there is a necessity to exclude as much as may be those that have any Relation or dependance on the Church because the Irish are a Bigotted People and own a Foreign Jurisdiction which is a Principle against the Government and Laws of the Land and where those of that Opinion are superiour in Number to them that are in the Interest of Government it seems absolutely Incumbent on the Government to provide against such Men as believe themselves under the most Sacred Tyes of Religion and Conscience to Obey and Promote the Edicts and Injunctions of a Foreign Prince for so the Pope is But to return to that of bringing Protestants to Ireland I conceive there must be more than making them Denizons because at this time Ireland differs very little from a new Plantation and to Plant such there is always given larger Incouragement to New Comers than in Setled and Planted Countreys If therefore such Methods were thought on as might make those that would settle in that Kingdom Freeholders of small Proportions of Lands at very easie Rents that might be a great Inducement to Foreigners to go and fill that Countrey and they would soon by intermixture in Marriages with the English and Scotch become British and so those of the Interest of England would be Superiour to that of the Irish and Interest of Rome and until it be so England can never be sure of Ireland All that this Nation ever yet had by it was a breathing time of thirty or Forty Years and then had a new Conquest to make But such a disposition as this would prevent Future Rebellions and also greatly Improve the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom For it is to be Noted that the Chief Consumption of Ireland is of the Product and Manufactory of this Kingdom And by an Account I have seen Ireland takes off more from us than Virginia and New England and if we take it into our Care would Imploy more of our Ships but of that I intend in the second part of my Essayes to treat at large and in the mean time shall here Insert Verbatim part of a Discourse I find in a Pamphlet Intituled The Linnen and Woollen Manufactories A Discourse Printed in the Year 1691 The whole was Rational but that which I think applicable to what I am now upon was as followeth He begins the Paragraff thus as I said before Ireland is no more than one of our Foreign Plantations only I think it will be allowed the first Place and more than any other in nearness of Blood and that of our Nobles there being many Families in that Kingdom descended from the Antient Families of this and most of the Estates in Ireland held by the decent from our Brethren who purchas'd it with their Blood These Reflections may prevail for our care of them at least to any Collony abroad and we never think it our prejudice to have them thrive nor would the growth of Ireland if rightly disposed or understood And here give me leave to make a Digression if it may be call'd so but you may think it not Foreign to the Discourse I find it generally believed that Ireland is as mischievous to our Trade in time of Peace as it is destructive to our Men and Treasure in time of War and though this Opinion never went far with me yet something I did doubt was in it until I met with something that gave plain Demonstration to the contrary and it was this I fell into an intire acquaintance with a Gentleman of Ireland whose experience and long continuance in all the Foreign Trade of that Kingdom furnished him with Arguments I could not answer to prove that England was a great Gainer by the Trade of Ireland When I could not confute him nor he prevail with me he told me he would shew me that which carried Authority with it and so he did being as he assur'd me the work of some years as he could spare time to compose it The whole Discourse takes up many Sheets upon the Trade of Ireland to all parts and particular Remarks upon every Commodity Exported and Imported into that Kingdom and where and how it affects England Some other things he reserv'd as Secrets from me as he doth the rest from others for it was never seen by any but one beside my self Out of the whole he hath extracted an Account of the Exports and Imports for one year in a medium
out of six and then distinguish'd what related to England by what Ships brought in and out then computed the Value of each Commodity and to what they were Improved being Manufactor'd in England and then what Money in Specie or Bills of Exchange which is the same was returned from Foreign Parts to England out of the Proceed of Goods sent from Ireland all which appear'd being brought up to a Sum that England Gained by Ireland Two Millions Sterling per Annum It seem'd to me an Incredible thing but being as he affirms Matter of Fact for which he hath the account of the Customs it is not to be denyed the breviate is drawn in so plain and intelligible a Method as renders it easie to any Understanding and therefore to mine I would fain have prevailed with him to Print the whole Matter but he thinks it may be made use of a better way and affirms that as great as this looks yet it might be improved to much more if the Trade of Ireland were dispos'd as it might be to the Advantage of England But he said that Kingdom was in no Reign since the first Conquest of Ireland consulted in its Trade but left to its self or treated like an Enemy All the use made of it was for Courtiers Men of Projection and Necessity to Traffick and dispose it into Grants Imployments and Offices and so made it rather a Forest for Game than a Plantation for Trade and Commerce and that which continued it so in the Reign of Charles the Second was the Jealousies and Mistakes of England believing it grew too fast and incroached on their Trade though it is demonstrable Ireland doth us no hurt but where we by our own Laws force it and that Act pardon the expression like Lunaticks that strive to suppress their Shadows for fear they should assault them None will say England would be the worse if it were double the Acres it now is And though the Sea part us from Ireland may not Laws make us one in our Interest and Trade and so that Ireland may be more profitable to England in General than Wales or any County in England is to the whole in its proportion There never was so fair an opportunity for Inriching this Nation by Ireland as now it is by Divine Providence once put a Blank in our hands in which His Majesty may stamp what he pleases And we have reason to believe That He who ventures His Royal Person so freely for the Preservation of these Kingdoms will not deny us any thing that can contribute to our Growth in Trade and Treasure One thing I must not omit which I had from this Gentleman of Ireland that to me seems valid for Confirmation of all he asserts That Ireland neither Interferes with nor gains on England for that in the last Twenty Years of Irelands greatest Prosperity not one Man in England purchased in Ireland but Numbers of Ireland have in that time purchased in England as they of that Kingdom I mean the English always do as they Increase their Fortunes This being so Ireland is to England a Mine of Treasure and affects us though in a much larger Proportion as Hudson's Bay whatever is gained in them terminates in England Here I end with the Pamphlet of which I shall only say If the Matter of Fact be truly Related as by the Authority he gives we have reason to believe it is then there is plain Demonstration that Ireland hath been and may be made much more profitable to this Kingdom then most of our Foreign Plantations Of them we take great care and why not more of this since it lies so near and costs us so dear seems unaccountable The truth is our Ancestours had never such a happy Juncture to do it as we have now to secure it If therefore we lay not hold on the opportunity put into our hands we cannot answer it so well as they might The Numbers of Refugees here and in other Countreys near us are Objects in this case both for our Charity to them and Advantage to our selves There hath been for several Sessions of Parliament much talk of the Forfeitures of Ireland and that it was reasonable they should be Sold and made a Fund to raise Money towards the carrying on the present War which might be thought reasonable for us of England to press because it would ease us of so much in our Taxes But why the Gentlemen of Ireland were so busie to promote it was at first to me a question and set me on the Inquiry and from some of themselves I had this answer That though they could not deny but the benefit of those Forfeitures were justly due to us of England yet the Justice of the thing was not all the motive they had to promote it but their own future security was at least as much consider'd by them for that they hoped the Sale of those Forfeited Lands would put them in Protestant hands and by that strengthen the British Interest in Ireland which could never be secure whilst the Irish held so great a proportion in the Kingdom and that whilst the Land lay undisposed they fear'd the Irish would find wayes to be restor'd they having got enough by their Robberies and Plunder of the English to purchase them though they cost them Ten Years purchase And that they were in fear also of the Irish buying from such as had great Grants of Forfeited Lands but if there was a Publick Sale they would come into so many hands that most of them would stick with the Purchaser and not come to the Irish They further said It was not the Interest of England to let the Forfeitures come again into the Irish hands for that they never Improved nor Traded and so were no wayes profitable to England If this apprehension of the Protestants be valid either to them or us it seems that a disposition of these Forfeitures of Ireland to Protestant Strangers would answer all objections and be a more certain way to keep such Lands of Ireland out of Irish hands then by selling them to the English for by that they would be to greater value in one Mans hand and the English would for advantage sell them to the Irish Proprietors for that few Purchasers would go to settle on their Lands nor could they find Tenants in the Countrey since there is so much Land waste but if Foreigners had it in small Proportions they would be able to manage it themselves and so keep it from returning to the Irish I have been longer on this of the Forfeitures then perhaps will be thought proper since my Subject is Trade But since it hath relation to the Improvement of Ireland in the way of Trade this Digression I hope will be excus'd I return then to shew how the bringing in Refugees to Ireland will advance the Trade of England and that may appear in three particulars The Increase of People in Ireland will occasion the
greater Mischiefs if they be at a distance We hunt a Strange Beggar out of our Parishes and if in time of Scarcity Numbers come into a City from the Country A Common-Council is call'd and their Grave Wisdom set at Work how to get rid of their New Comers and yet at the same time perhaps that very City is breeding up a greater Number of Poor Children than they hunt out to Act the same part in the Common-Wealth that is of Stealing Begging and Idleness as Mankind Naturally would do if Education Improved not Nature The worst of Men would keep if they could that part of Primitive Innocence Eating without Labour and are True Believers of that part in Divine Writ That it is a Curse to eat their Bred by the Sweat of their Brow There needs no other Evidence of this Truth than that of the Oâ—â— Bayly where Numbers are every Sessions of both Sexes made Victims for the Sins of the Parish where they were Born Had they been bred up in Trades they might probably not come to Untimely Ends. There is no Nation I ever read of who by a Compulsary Law raiseth so much Money for the poor as England doth That of Holland is Voluntary and turns to a Revenue to the Common-Wealth as they manage it but our Charity is become a Nusance and may be thought the greatest Mistake of that Blessed Reign in which that Law Passed which is the Idle and Improvident Mans Charter for if Shame or Fear of Punishment makes him Earn his Dayly Bread he will do no more his Children are the Charge of the Parish and his Old Age his Recess from Labour or Care he makes no Provision for it in the time of his Youth and Strength because he hath better Security for his Maintenance than Money of his own Laying up But of this sort of Poor I design a Discourse in the Second Part of Essayes on Trade c. I am now on that of Infant-Poor and besides that of the Parish there is another Provision which for as much as it takes up makes a fine Shew but yet in my Opinion that Charity might be better disposed than to keep Children till they are Thirteen or Fourteen Years of Age without any Labour and then often taken away by Gentlemen that perhaps keep them to wait on them or some other Imployment that is more proper for one that hath been by Misfortune fallen from a Competency and is too far grown to beg in a Manual Education For this reason I think there should not be one taken out of an Hospital but to some Mechanick Art or Navigation I know there are some that tell us It is pity where an Ingenious Boy shall be found but that he should be advanced according to his Genious in Learning If our Nation did want such Men there might be some pretence for this Opinion though perhaps I should be still against it But when we see such Excess of Studients that there is not Preferment for them we have not to the Degree of Clerks for some that perhaps if they had according to their Learning and Parts might deserve Preferment in Church and State but the Stock is too many for the Pasture and that brings many Young Gentlemen to Misfortune who have been well Educated That being all their Fathers could give them and being born Gentlemen not so agreeable to set to Mechanical Labour as it is for the most Ingenious Boy an Hospital can produce his Original must be derived from thence And so a Handicraft Trade cannot be too mean for him and if he be of Extraordinary Understanding let him lay it out in Curious Arts and Manufactoryes such would be of more use to the Nation and of such we cannot have too many And if there were the same Conduct in the Great Community of a Nation as there is in Private Families And I see no reason why there may not there would not be so many Thousands in this Kingdom sent out of their Hives without a Sting and so become Drones Living on the Labour of the Industrious Bee so I think them that are not bred up in some Imployment Now to make a lasting Reformation in this thing I conceive it must be to begin at the Root Manure and Improve the first Sprouts as they come into the World And that brings me to a Proposition that was brought to some of the greatest Ministers in Church and State where it met with so good a Reception that some of them were pleased to say That though they had for several Years been labouring for such a thing and had made some Progress in it yet they could never frame a Scheme but there was some objection to it but in this they saw none and therefore Resolved upon the Kings Return from Flanders to lay it before His Majesty The Late Arch Bishop of Canterbury few Dayes before his Death expressed his Earnest Desires and Intentions to promote so good a Work as he was pleased to call it and said he would loose no time for fear it might be lost if he that was Master of it should die before it was Established there being some things reserved by the Proposer until he had Assurance of His Majesties Approbation As far as I have Liberty to make it Publick I shall shall here set down the Proposition That so if better Heads can Correct or Improve it the Nation may have the Advantage by Inlarging a thing which may be of so Publick a Benefit The Proposition was as followeth That a Charter be Granted to such as shall be willing to Erect Hospitals and Working-Schools through the Kingdom for Poor Children on the Terms following 1. That they shall be obliged to Receive from all the Parishes in England if the Parish think fit such Children as they have at the Charge of the Parish The Parish paying Ten Pound and sending them with Two Suits of Cloaths 2. The Schools and Hospitals taking them in at Seven Years of Age and to teach them to Read and Write and Imploy them chiefly in the Linnen Manufactory and Cordage The Boys to be discharg'd at the Years of Twenty One and the Girls at Eighteen by which time they may be made perfect in the Art of Spinning and Weaving Linnen neither of which are improved to the height in this Nation 3. That forasmuch as it is hoped many Charitable and Well-disposed People will Extend their Bounty to the Poor this way if they might set out a Poor Child so as it may be put in a good way of Subsistance for its whole Life 4. That these Hospitals and Schools be obliged to take in from all Persons Children upon Reasonable Tearms And forasmuch as it may be of a more Universal Benefit to the Kingdom to leave a Latitude to the Governours of these Working Schools to breed up such of the Boys as shall have a Genius to any other Mechanical Art that then they may be so Instructed And also for the
better Incouragement of Youth and such as may be the Children of Parents by Misfortune brought to Decay that they may be so at the Liberty of the Governours to dispose of as shall be found capable and desir'd by Merchants Navigators or others to take Apprentice and breed them up in some Trade so that it be for their Preferment and at the Desire of the Youth 5. That who'ere shall be put out to Apprentice shall not withstanding Receive the Sum paid with them when he comes to Age of Twenty One Years provided he faithfully serves his Time 6. That there be a Liberty for the Governours c. to receive the Charity of all such as shall at any time Give or Bequeath Money or Land to this Good Work 7. That they may have Power to Purchase Lands in every County of England and Wales which may be a Fund for Payment of the Sum that was payd in with each Child to such as behave themselves well and go out at the Years before-mentioned 8. That these Schools shall be alwayes Free from any Tax either for their Land or Stock that must be Imployed in the Work 9. That there be in each Hospital a Minister to Instruct the Children and Officiate in Ecclesiastical Affairs 10. That for the better Government of these Hospitals and to the Intent that the Work proposed be duely pursu'd That all Bishops and Peers and Members of the House of Commons in their Respective Countys for the time being and so for ever succeed Visitors of those Hospitals and that they may have Power upon just Complaint to Remove and Displace any Inferiour Officer or Overseers that shall misbehave themselves 11. To Compleat the whole Design and make these Hospitals and Schools the greatest Work of Charity and Universal Good that ever was bestowed on this Nation is to Establish a Fund for Stock and Portions of such as go out of these Hospitals that is to pay as much as is paid in with the Child and that they shall be free to set up the Linnen Manufactory in any Corporation of the Kingdom This will require an Act of Parliament and the Fund for Portions and Stock may be Rais'd out of that which no one will Refuse nor yet shall any be obliged to pay Reasons humbly offered for Establishing by Charter Hospitals and Working-Schools 1. THey will ease the Nation of a Charge and Burthen The Charge is upon the Parish in breeding up the Children and the Burthen is having Streets fill'd with Beggars in their Old Age for such usually are so that are bred to no Trades in their Youth 2. These Schools will add to the Nation in their Trade and Manufactories more than Twenty thousand Persons a Year allowing but Two out of a Parish with such as may be supposed will be put in by particular persons that may think a Child well disposed of for a small Sum to be taught a Trade and have a Stock at going out to set up with They will not only add to the Nation so many as come from the Parishes but they will produce another Generation by Marriages Whereas the Poor bred to no Employment seldom do more than waste away their Life in a single condition 3. These Hospitals and Schools breeding up Numbers in the Linnen-Manufactory will invite over Foreigners to settle in the same Employment for that it is a Maxim in Trade and Manufactory That where there are but few employ'd they will be found too many and where there are great numbers they may be thought too few 4. These Hospitals and Schools for Linnen will by themselves and their Increase settle such a Manufactory of Linnen as will not only prevent the great Sums of Money that go out of the Nation but also bring in Money for several sorts of Linnen they will soon arrive to that Perfection which can never be introduc'd by the Methods now taken 5. There seems not a more certain way for raising the Rents of Lands and Houses than advancing the Poor and increasing of People and Trade both which will certainly arise from these Schools and Hospitals 6. These Hospitals and Working-Schools will exceed not only all the Charitable Works of this Kingdom but may be thought above any in Europe Former Charities seldom exceed present Provision for the Poor and that only to keep them so but by this there will be raised of them which are now the Disease of the Nation a Useful and Industrious People It is reasonable to believe they will be in their spreading forth in the Kingdom Examples of Sobriety and Industry for that they will be strangers to the common Vices of this Age and know nothing but what they are bred up to in their Schools And that this Great Work may not miscarry as Publick Stocks and Manufactories always do It is humbly proposed That a Charter may be given to such as will undertake so good a Work and that they may have such Encouragement as may give them a Prospect of Advantage without which the Undertaking cannot succeed for that it is a mixt Undertaking a Manufactory and an Hospital the first to support the latter and that with such Benefit to the Nation as might be wish'd tho at the Purchase of a National Fund But here is nothing desired for the Maintenance of all the Poor Children of the Nation for that the Ten Pounds to be paid by the Parish will not answer the Charge of Building and Furnishing the Houses and that for a Fund to raise so much apiece when they go out will not come to any Proportion of what must be paid in Fourteen Years So that in truth the entire Success of this Affair rests on the Management and Stock of the Undertakers Thus far went the Propositions and Reasons for it which to me appear'd without exception tho perhaps according to the unhappy humour of this Age some may be against it if there appears any Advantage to the Undertakers which is in my opinion a pernicious Principle that hath been no small prejudice to our Trade and Manufactories discourages Ingenuity and hath driven many profitable Inventions out of the Kingdom into other Countries where they meet with better Entertainment But of this I shall at large discourse in the Second Part and here only say That I conceive one of the greatest Mistakes in our Provision for the Poor is That they are not put under the Charge of some that may be Gainers by their Work I never saw Publick Undertakings in Labour and Manufactory turn to any Advantage nor do I see any reason to expect it whilst it is so difficult for Private Undertakers to defend themselves against the Frauds of Artisans and Labourers in Employments their Masters are bred in and if it be so where men have both Understanding and Self-Interest united for their own Advantage the Success cannot reasonably be so great Suppose Managers ever so honest there are some Difficulties that Publick Ministers lye under which men
Murther A Shaved Head and a Chain would be a greater Terror than a Gallows and be a more lasting Example than the Execution of an Hour It seems also a Punishment to the innocent for the nocent that a man should be lost to the Nation for an Offence done to a private Person and the Sufferer have no Reparation for what he hath lost whereas if the Offender were kept to Work during his Life some Reparation might be made to the Person Injured and a certain Gain made to the Nation by the Work of a man and this way of Punishing Felons would bring more to Punishment than Death doth for that many chuse rather to let Felons escape than Prosecute where their Life is in danger That all such Offenders as are now Transported or have License to go for Foreign Parts from Ireland of the Irish Nation be sent to New-found-land by which means they would be made useful and of profit to this Nation whereas by their going to Foreign Parts they are enabled to do mischief and so it hath been found in all Rebellions of that People they returning back Experienced Commanders and Soldiers which hath not been the least encouragement to them in all their Rebellions This Disposition of the faulty Irish will not only be a Gain to this Nation but also a Security in taking away one handle for future Rebellions and make them in some measure Hostages for their Brethren in Ireland It may be thought a mistake in those who think it a good expedient to send the Irish to serve Foreign Princes rather than venture them at Home great part of the Common People are said to be Peaceable and easily led into Discipline and nothing but want forceth them to Disorder such are to be valued as a Stock in a Kingdom where the Country is almost waste for want of Inhabitants and for such as are faulty they being sent where Labourers are wanting and methods taken to keep them at work they will be of good use the Banishing of the Moors out of Spain is a lasting monument of ill Conduct sufficient to warn us of the like mistake if a living Dog be better than a dead Lyon it may be thought the worst of Men are better than none good Laws and Discipline may make Bad men useful in a Commonwealth but no Human Law can Create them There are many other things that attend this Undertaking which in Time and Place may be offered Of Navigation and Seamen I Find more difficulty to say any thing on this Subject than on any thing relating to Trade because it is a common Theme on which men of divers Understandings have Wrote and few conversant in Business but cry it up as the Diana of the England's Guardian Angel and needs no Advocate but yet though all agree in Adoration yet some differ in the form and others believe we are safe enough in the Possession of it when more fear we were never so near losing it among the Crowd I shall bring in my Observations and leave to better Judgments the determination That our Shipping and Navigation hath been declining for many years is evident by the loss of that part of our Navigation which employed most of our Seamen so it appears if we look into the Account that was taken of all the Seamen and Ships in England in the year 1615 the Navigation of Europe was not then one third of what it is now the number of Seamen then taken that were employed in the Ships of Trade were but 11000 and of them 3000 in the Newcastle and Coal Trade 1900 in the Streights Portugal and Southern Trade 800 in the French Trade 4400 in the Greenland Iceland and New-found-land Fishing 400 in the Sound and 500 in the Muscovy Trade this is demonstration how we have declined the most laborious part of our Navigation since near one half of the employment of our Seamen in that Age were in those Trades and Navigation which we have now in a manner lost as that of the New-found-land Greenland Muscovy and the Sound this shews the want of a Council of Trade not only of Merchants but of the greatest Ministers of State Had our Forefathers understood Foreign Trade as well as they did their Native it is probable they would have made as good Laws for the first as they did for the latter They did consider and provide as far as the Experience of the Age allowed for the improvement of Trade and employment of the People we see what care they took against Monopolizers and Forestallers what exactness in Provision for the Poor the Assize of their Bread and at the same time care taken that they should not exact in their Wages what Penalties they laid on such as did vend or make defective Manufactories and had they known the much greater Mischiefs that attend the Foreign Trade of the Nation they would have provided against them For as Merchants are above the Rank of of Artizans so is their Skill and opportunity to do good or harm in their Negotiations There can be no Assize set upon their Commodities nor Essay to the Curiosity of the Indies or Luxury of the Levant but they may be Limited and Prescribed in their Trade and it seems of the greatest consequence that they should be so for they often gain by that which is the Nation 's greatest Loss and not only Merchants but Seamen will chuse as all men naturally do that Employment which brings Profit with least Toil and Labour and that is one cause of the loss of the New-found-land Fishing and Northern Trades they were Laborious and of small Gain and therefore as soon as we found out the Southern and Plantation-Trades we left them and the French who followed us in Trade began where we left off and by that means have made themselves so considerable at Sea and although their Navigation hath not hitherto been so profitable as ours to the Merchant yet is more considerable to their Monarchy than the Effeminate Navigation of the East and Southern Trades for that 1000 l. in the Northern and Fishing Trade employs more men than 20000 l. in the Eastern and Southern Trades This consideration may be thought to affect England more than any part of the World for that we are nothing on Shore longer than we Command the Seas and our neglect and loss of the rougher part of the Navigation in the Fishing and Northern Trades abates near one half of the Seamen that might be Employed in these Kingdoms and nothing but the hand of the Government can retrieve this loss by encouraging the poorest part of Navigation though most considerable as to increase of Seamen which is the Strength of the Nation and this cannot be done but by such Banks as will Interest all the men of Estates in the Kingdom one way or other in the Navigation and Trade of the Nation But of Banks I shall say something apart and therefore now return to that of our Navigation
and Seamen in which I believe we cannot exceed though upon occasion of proposing a way to increase the number of Seamen it was said and for that reason rejected That the methods proposed would make too many Seamen that which then and still prevails with me to believe that we cannot have too many Seamen though that should happen which was objected and to me seems very remote that there would be want of Labouring men for Rural Employments is because that if we had more than our own Navigation could Employ yet they would not want Employment in Foreign Ships and what they get Abroad would be most of it brought Home as now what Foreign Seamen get here they carry Home into their own Country and our Englishmen are not so apt to quit their own Country as Foreigners are who change for the better and ours must for a worse if they did at all But to answer what was said That we must hire Plowmen from Abroad if we take up our Countrymen for the Sea allowing the assertion which perchance few will yet I conceive it were the Interest of the Nation to make the change for that every Seaman Abroad might reasonably be supposed to return 10 l. Sterling of his Wages per Ann. into his own Country for home generally speaking they will come and the Plowmen we fetch from other Countries whatever they get must be spent where they Earn it their Wages being seldom more than Feeds and Cloaths them whereas a Seaman's is more than double for he spends nothing at Sea If what I have said be allowed Answer sufficient to the Objection That we may have too many Seamen I shall proceed to shew that we now want at least as many more as we have The measure I make for our Seamen is in Two particulars The first is the Numbers we Employ in the Navy The other is in those Employed in our Merchantmen For the First It is too evident that there is great part in the Fleet are Land-men and others that have nothing more to nominate them Seamen than the Rowing in a Wherry and however shift is made with them yet I presume it would be more pleasing to any Commander to have Men that could Top and Yard and able to take his Trick at Helm and perchance there may not be above one half in most Ships For Merchantmen there need no greater demonstration of their want than the lying of so many Ships by the Walls and such difficulty to keep men from Press that go to Sea and so many Portugal Genoese and other Free Ships Employed by our Merchants which is not only occasioned by the advantage of their being Free Ships but also by the want of Seamen to Sail our own Ships Now there is a Third inducement for the increase of the Numbers of Seamen we want or at least Navigation and Trade to Employ them and in this we have different reasons from any part of Europe other Countries may encourage Seamen for their advantage in Traffick but we must enlarge and encourage Numbers for our Security and should seek out Places for Trade and Navigation that might give constant Employment for as many Seamen as might at least Balance the Numbers of the French if we cannot arrive to that of the Dutch it will be no offence to walk with as good a Sword by my Side as my Neighbour To clear this matter let us look into a Calculation that was as exactly made as private Correspondency with Merchants could do it in the year 1687. of the Numbers of Seamen then in England France and Holland and it was thus That in England there were not more than Forty thousand Able Foremast men in France more than Sixty thousand in the United Provinces more than One hundred and twenty thousand If this compute be true as we may suppose it near the matter it may be thought there hath been no Consideration of late years of the most important Affair of the Nation and therefore the more reason to mind it now and if the French were then Superiour to us in their Numbers of Seamen they are much more now for that Naval War increaseth their Numbers by Privateers and abates ours who depend only on Trade and that fails in time of War Privateers we have not many and those few we had it is said have met with great discouragements of which there are many Instances given which I dare not persume to mention since that matter hath been under the Consideration of the Parliament but the blame hath been laid on the Commissioners of the Prises who if we believe those concerned in Privateers and others conversant in Maritime Affairs are no great Masters in that of Trade and Navigation If then what is here said be tanto may it not deserve a thought how to enlarge or at least retrieve that part of the Navigation we have lost in the Trades beforementioned which if regained will Employ Twenty thousand Seamen and beside the Profit they may bring to the Nation would be a Sea-Militia for the security of these Kingdoms beyond any we can have on Land And one man Employed at Sea adds more to the Treasure and Employments of the Poor than five on Shore besides replenishing the Kingdom Seamen being like Decoy-Ducks going abroad in better circumstances than most People in other Parts of the World do invite others to return with them to a Place where they are better Fed and Cloathed than they are in their own Countries and it is reasonable to believe were our Laws for Naturalization and Freedom for Strangers but correspondent to the other advantages this Kingdom allows to any that are Industrious we should soon increase our Numbers It now remains I should say something of ways and methods how to make Seamen for I think it presumption to propose encouragement for them we have since His Majesty hath been gracionsly pleased to recommend that to the Parliament But how to encrease our Numbers may not be Offensive or Officious if Reflections on the Pains some have taken to publish their Prescriptions in that matter renders not this impertinent but it s not being so Voluminous may 't is hoped prevail for its excuse What I shall then offer is First Agreeable to what I have said before that our lost Fishings and Northern Trade be resumed and that being National will have such encouragement as shall in some measure force men to come into it I mean by the advantage of Gain and Profit to Seamen for that no human Policy and Law can bring men into Arts with Success and the increase of them but by Gain and security of enjoying it and therefore I cannot understand how pulling men out of their dwellings to bring them into the Fleet can make Seamen I would gladly hear a reason why we may not with as much ease Man our Fleet without Force as the Dutch or whether ever they used such methods as these Gentlemen propose for getting Seamen
by Compact allowed to have This provident care of theirs might put us in mind of our Neighbours and that we have no reason to declaim against the Act of Navigation that doth only encourage our own Seamen and that we have reason to do since we have no Compact with those about us to restrain their Growth at Sea but every Government enlarge as much as they can And whatever reason they have for it we have more both as to our Trade and Safety One reason that is given why there are no Beggars in the United Provinces is because of the Multitude of Seamen none gives more Employment to the Poor than Seamen their own Consumption of the ordinary Manufactory besides the small Adventures of them they carry abroad but I think it needless to enter upon the Benefits we receive by the Act of Navigation we are in possession of it and therefore have only to answer the Charge laid against it and I take them all to be comprehended under Four Heads 1. That by the Act of Navigation we have lost several Trades as the Muscovy Greenland Norway and in great measure the Trade into the Sound 2. That the Act of Navigation hath raised the Wages of Seamen to the great Discouragement of all Merchants 3. That by the Act of Navigation we have very much lessened the Building of Ships 4. That by the Act of Navigation we have totally lost some Trades because they of that Countrey have no Shipping and Strangers of other Countries cannot bring their Commodities These are the several Topicks upon which all is said that I can find against the Act of Navigation I shall begin with the first That by it we have lost the Muscovy Trade This is said but no Reason or Instance given to evince how as there is for some of the following and since they can give no reason I can find none our of the Act of Navigation but other Reasons there are how we come to lose that Trade One is the heavy Customs plac'd on Commodities brought from Foreign Parts which is in consequence a Prohibition to their Exports from us to any other Countrey The Dutch who court Trade as their Mistress lay their Customs so that they can export them again with little Charge and the Muscovite Trade requires variety of Commodities in a Cargo which we have not proper for that Countrey of our own Product and our Customs hinder shipping out any This put that Trade with Advantage into the hands of the Dutch in the Reign of Charles the First and they taking the Advantage of the Civil Wars in England represented us under such Characters to that Court that no English for some time durst appear there These are the true Causes of our Lofs of the Mascovy Trade not the Act of Navigation which was made some years after It is further said By it we have lost the Greenland Trade but appears not by any thing that is offered but that the Dutch-built Ships are cheaper and sail'd with fewer men It is true Dutch-built Ships are cheaper but as true that an English-built ship will last twice as long So then I cannot find the odds but that the sailing with fewer Men is an Argument for the Greenland Trade shews their being Strangers to that Trade who bring it for a reason because the Greenland Fishing obligeth the Ships to carry Five times the number that would sail her to be employed in their Shalops when they come to the Fishing So then there is no advantage by the Number of Seamen to sail a Ship to Greenland when they are forc'd to carry so many for their Fishing But for discourse sake to see if any thing could be made of this Argument allowing it was as they mistake that a Dutch Ship and Men can fish cheaper than we yet where is the Argument That therefore Englishmen go not at all It is equally alike to the English whether they manage it dearer or no for they set their Rates accordingly since by the Act of Navigation the Dutch nor any other Nation can bring into England the Product of that Fishing but upon paying double Aliens Duty So that I can see nothing in this matter but believe we have lost that with other Northern Navigations by our Southern and Levant Trade being more pleasant and profitable Voyages for Seamen and so wanted Men for our less profitable Trade and we should for some other Trades we yet hold as that of Virginia and the little we have left of the New-found-land Fishing if the Act of Navigation did not secure them There seem'd for these Reasons no doubt grounds for the Act of Navigation to confine this Trade to our Ships and Seamen as much as they could otherwise it would certainly have fallen into Foreign hands And according to my sense of Trade it were better for the Nation to have neither Whale nor Oyl nor Whalefin than to have them by Purchase from Foreigners I make this distinction That there is no Gain to the Nation by what is consumed in it and neither of these Commodities are exported The next Objection is The Loss of the Norway Trade and in this there is something but I cannot see so great a mischief in it as is represented but that which may be remedied by a dispensation for employing Dutch Ships in that Trade so they be sail'd by English men for that I conceive is the great design and of more value than all the rest in the Act of Navigation for that in most of our Trades English-built Ships are used and Dutch not proper so there needs no force when it is done of choice But that which may put an end to this Exception in the Act of Navigation and most of the Northern Trade is propos'd in the foregoing Essay of Building Ships That which is objected of hindring our Trade in the Sound hath nothing in it when at the same time it appears that of Seven Ships a year sent there Five goes in there Ballast That we have lost our Trade into the Sound is plain from the variety of Commodities the Dutch carry in one Ship and we commonly carry the Product of England which is one of our Mistakes in Trade that for fear of a small loss in the Customs we lose so considerable a Trade as we do in the Sound and Northern Kindoms But of this something shall be said apart And so I have done with the first Head in relation to the Act of Navigation which better Judgments may determine but in mine there is nothing appears to the prejudice of the Act. The second Objection against the Act is That it hath raised Sea-mens Wages so that Merchants are now at the Mercy of Seamen who raise their Wages at pleasure and so impose upon Trade to the discouragement of Merchants All this I know to be literally true and allowing the Matter of Fact we will see what Inferences are made from it They that are against the Act of
may answer Ten Millions in the Currant Payment of the Nation for that few will take Money out but transfer from one account to another And it is reasonable to suppose that most men will lodge their Money in Bank for the greatness of Security and saving the trouble and hazard of telling Money For these Reasons it may be thought a Bank will pay no Interest and that may be injurious to the Nation in two respects First It may necessitate many people to carry their Money out of the Kingdom where they may make some Benefit by it when they are debarr'd from any Advantage at home The other mischief it may do reaches Widows and Orphans whose Support often depends upon the Interest of their Money and if Banks pay none they will be able to set out at very low Interest more than the wants of the Kingdom will require But that which I conceive may be an expedient in this case may be a Proviso in the Act of Parliament That these Banks shall set out no Money at Interest upon Real Estates by which means there will be room for private persons to set out Money upon Mortgages These Banks being National may be so constituted as to retrieve that most considerable part of the Navigation of the Greenland and New-found-land Fishing But because that may be discouraging to some persons that understand not Trade and only depend on their Money at Interest it will be necessary to shew That notwithstanding the Trade propos'd there shall be a certain Fund or Dividend of at least Five per cent per Ann. besides the Profit of Trade and that may be done thus Supposing the Fund of Land to be valued at 20 years Purchase the Rent will be Five per Cent. for Two Millions then for the other Two Millions in Cash allowing but Five per Cent. more for the Gain of Exchange that compleats the Five per Cent. upon the whole Fund This is a Certainty without reckoning any Advantage to be made by the Credit of the Bank and putting out Money to Interest There will not be here room to mention the Modus or Advantages that will attend that most important Undertaking of the New-found-land Fishing I shall only say it would employ all the loose and unprofitable hands in the Nation it would add Ten thousand Seamen to the Strength of it it would bring a Treasure into the Nation taken out of the Sea it would occasion the Consumption of great Quantities of Manufactories it would advance the Price and consume great Quantities of Provisions of this Kingdom for that New-found-land is no place for either Tillage or Cattel and we shall employ many Foreign Hands in that Trade The Advantages that will arise to the Nation by these Banks need no explanation for that they are easy to every Understanding among the rest that of supplying the King with Money upon any Publick Funds as shall be appointed by Parliament is not the least Lumbers for poor Artizans and others is an Appendix to Banks and may by Funds out of them in each County be supplied so as that the Poor may have Money to carry on their Trades and Employments on Pawns that may be so easy and with the advantage of selling in Publick Sales what they leave in Pledge and that what they borrow shall be of more advantage and ease to them than if the Money were lent them gratis and may be of great use in the improvement and enlarging the Manufactories of the Nation which are much discouraged by the necessities and hardships that are put on the poor for want of Sales which these Lumbers will supply and the best and readiest means for the poor to sell their Goods every Month whereas now they are often forced to sell their Labour to Shop-keepers at such rates as gives them little more than what their Materials cost them which hath the worse effect in that it encourages a set of Idle men in the Kingdom with folded Arms in a Shop to live upon the Ruins of Handicrafts-men their Numbers are increased even to a Nusance by their easy way of living on the Oppression of the Poor If we took Presidents from abroad this evil would not have grown thus amongst us It is observed That there is not so many Retailers in Amsterdam as there is in some Market-Towns in England and this evil is the more to be condemn'd since we want not a Statute to prevent it for in the 5 th year of Queen Elizabeth a Statute pass'd That Artizans Sons should not be Apprentices to Shopkeepers There was then none turn'd from Mechanical Arts to be Retailers as now there are Numbers that do and greatest part Quakers a People that for many reasons may be thought as unprofitable to the Nation as Jews and so I take the greatest part of Retailers and Hawkers to be they ought as much to be restrained and kept to a Quantum as Hackney-Coachmen and Coffee-Houses for tho both if confin'd to Numbers are useful yet in their excess are Nurseries of Idleness and such as I am of opinion would have been provided against by our Ancestors had they sprung up in their days But on this Subject among other Enormities I have writ at large in another Discourse which when the disposition of the Times will admit may come forth Of Agriculture and Rural Imployments BEfore I enter upon the Subject I must Apologize for my self that I am to the last degree ignorant of the Practick part of Husbandry the whole Course of my Life having been spent in Maritine-Towns or on the Sea I beg pardon contrary to Custom before I commit the Error giving an instance of my ignorance in Country Matters which I should not trouble the Reader with if I did not think it divertive It was in the 32 year of my Age that I first had a thought of Acres and being importun'd by Friends to fix something on the Land and not have all on the Sea I made a Purchase before I saw it for that I might do with as much Judgment as if had some time after I went to see the Purchase I had made and on the Road gave as much Diversion to my Friends in declaring my want of Understanding the Distinction and Names of every thing the Field produced as I did trouble to them to inform me tho it was near Harvest I knew not Barly from Wheat in the Ear and when I came to the Estate and riding thorow the Woods of which there were great Quantities on the Land I was yet more troublesome in asking the Names of Trees not being able to distinguish an Oak from an Ash or that from Wich-Hazel which made a merry Fellow a Ranger in the Woods say He had a Master he was sure would not question his Care or Honesty since he knew not a Tree from a Weed After this Account of my self I hope to be excused if I mistake in any Point of Country and Land-Improvement nor shall