Judicious consider And if I should adventure to give my opinion freely touching the matter in hand I am very much induced to believe that were it not for the Cloathing-trade which imploys so many Ships and Men into several other Countries and for the value of our Cloaths bring their Goods by which means the poor also are set on work that a great part of the Traffick and Commerce of the world would fail and this Trade as formerly intimated is and may be most readily roundly and advantagiously driven in England were we but so pollitique and carefully as to keep our Wooll to our selves and within the King's Dominions of England and Ireland and to set the people closly to their work again And before I do leave the Argument I have ingaged in let there be considered the good quantities of Cloath and Stuffs English Cloath and Stuffs serve all the world that did go over continually to Holland and Flanders and by them there dispersed otherways the large quantities of Stuffs and Bays that are sent over to Portugall and thence Transported to Brazilia c with a very considerable number of Cloaths and Stuffs that go to Spain and by the Spaniards Transported to the West-Indies all over the good quantities of Perpetuanies and such like Stuffs that are carried out for Guinea together of late days with the large stores of Broad-cloaths Kersies Sarges Cottons Pennistons Duffels or Hogs Transported to our own Plantations of New-England and Virginia with what also must supply Barbadoes Jamaica and our other Islands in the West-Indies and forreign Plantations all which are the manufacture of Wooll Clothing more worth to England The Premises considered I hope I may make bold to say that setting aside all the rest of the Rich and Staple commodities of England which nevertheless are as good as any Country can parrallel in the world as Tinn Lead Iron c. this very commodity produced from our Wooll is of than the commodity of any Country whatsoever more worth and value to England that is to say will bring in more profit to the Kingdom of England than all the Silks or rich commodities of any Country whatsoever Yea doubtless more than all the Spices of the South-Seas yea I do believe and I have reason enough to lead me so to do than all the Spaniards Gold and Silver Mines in America for none of these I am throughly perswaded can any way equallize that yearly Revenue that doth or may come into the Kingdom of England by this one commodity diversly made up of our Wooll Neither doth any Nation in the world get so much by any of their Goods as England doth by this to the great enriching and advancement of the Merchant and the Companies Stocks trading and adventuring in these goods to Sea Encrease of Seamen the enriching of His Majesty the encrease of our strength in Shipping and consequently the breeding and training up of Seamen and increase of them wherein as before intimated a great part of the welfare safety of the Kingdom doth consist in these our days and the incouragement of whom is of great concernment to the Kingdom as the case now stands with England and her neighboring Nations or as the case may hereafter fall out to be for our Land is an Island as is known well enough not only to its Inhabitants but to all Europe and we have not nor cannot have Castles and Garrisons round about the whole kingdom by the Sea-side to beat off a forreign Enemy and to keep him from landing and invading our Nation for in fair weather in Summer The King's care for the Security of the Nation time there may be landing in hundreds of places about the Kingdom where there is neither Town nor Castle neer but such is His Majesties great prudence and care for the safety of his Land and People that he doth highly esteem and promote the affairs of Shipping more than ever any of his Royal Predecessors have done well knowing that his Ships and Seamen are the strength and security next to the protection of the Almighty of his whole kingdom I shall now endeavor to give some particular account but very briefly of the Profits arising to England by working up our Wooll into Cloth every two pounds of Wooll which is worth about twenty pence will make a yard of Karsey worth five or six shillings and every four pounds of Wooll worth about three shillings four pence will make a yard of broad-cloth worth eleven or twelve shillings so Profit by working up wooll that two thirds is the least profit that doth arise by putting our Wool into Manufactures which doth amount to above 230 pounds sterling profit in every Tun of Wooll so wrought up accounting twenty hundred English wait to the Tun so that if we should suppose but an hundred Tuns of Wooll transported out of the Kingdome in a year to France unwrought it will amount to 22400ll sterling which is so much clear loss to the Kingdome and trebble so much profit to France by their working up three times so much of their own with ours as hath been formerly intimated besides it is worthy of consideration that so many of our poor lye Poor idle idle and lose their imployment being ready to perish for want of necessary food notwithstanding the great plenty in the Land and no Kingdome hath the like advantages for the imployment of the poor in any Trade or occupation within doors whatsoever as we have for the poor in his Majesties dominion of England about the old and new Drapery and yet those poor that had their hands full of work in one kind or another according to what they were most accustomed either by sorting of wooll mixing breaking carding spinning spoling quilling weaving making of cards picking of â—esels and many other imployments concerning the working up wooll into cloth which have kept many thousands of men women and children at work who knew not how to get a penny another way but by this way Poor get Money if Imployed of working could in some comfortable manner live When the trade of clothing was driven roundly one family that doth not get twelve pence a week now have then received twelve fifteen or eighteen shillings a week which money went round to the Farmer for provision or to the Shopkeeper for necessaries for their Families and this again to the Merchant or to the Landlords according to each man's Trade and correspondence So that the profit arising by the working up of our Wooll into cloth or Stuffs here in England by our own people is almost unspeakable and is the great and chief wheel in the Kingdome to set all others at work as hath been already in several Trades mentioned and more do attend upon it when it is made into cloth as the Clothworkers Drawers Dyers Fullers Packers Merchants and Seamen But then to enter into the consideration of the contrary what an
dare to presume to transgress the King's Laws or for the future endeavour a publique destruction to the Kingdome for their private and perticuler advantage Whether it may not be judged to be more convenient upon Quaere 8. the discovery of such Offenders to Prosecute them in the King's Court of Exchequer rather than in any Countrey Court adjacent where such Fact was committed or where the Offender dwells least there should be some special correspondence held thereabouts or interest more readily made in such Courts In case any publique Officer should be surprized by the Quaere 9. subtil contrivance of such Smugglers with their Atturnies and Clerks who frequently use foul practices also and that such Officer shall be put to great Charges possibly beyond his Ability before he can obtain releif according to the rules of the Law whether it would not be convenient that such Rules should be made and practiced in all Courts of Judicature that such publique Officers for the King should not be exposed to so great charges by Actions brought against them meerly out of malice which are done purely out of design to terrify such Officers and to prevent if possible for the future the due and faithful Execution of their said Office in such cases wherein the Kingdomes good is so much concerned and that a place was appointed where they might be speedily-heard without tedious attendance Whether any Officer that formerly did or now doth belong Quaere 10. to the Customes or was any wayes intrusted in his Majesties Service who hath proved unjust and unfaithful in his Office either by conniving at such Smugglers or complying with them or negliectng upon complaint made to him to bring them to condigne punishment according to the Justice of the Law ought ever to be intrusted in any publique Imployment for the future Whether by our Laws any Under Sheriff ought to continue Quaere 11. in his Office more than one year or to act as Under-Sheriff upon any pretence whatsoever considering they have such opportunities to be prejudicial to any person according to their Interests and inclinations and they may delay and vex one party and in the mean time unjustly incourage and heighten the other and this is such a thing as often proves very prejudicial to His Majesties Affairs in the Prosecution of such Informations as may be brought touching the abuses here mentioned Whether these Officers that are in Commission or Imployment Quaere 12. that do joyn with or countenance such as do transgress the King's Laws and make it their business to defraud the King of his Dues or are not ready and forward to do that iustice against the Delinquents that so do ought not to be Displaced and some way severely Punished Whether those Jurors that will give up their Verdict contrary Quaere 13. to Law and Evidence ought not to be forced to give satisfaction to the party so greived and injured or to be made to suffer one way or another as examples in such cases without any tedious trouble to the party greived as may be judged requisite and reasonable for as our Laws stand in that case it is almost impossible to punish a Jury that doth offend and act contrary to Law for it is too much become the custome of many Juries to act to the dammage of one person out of favour and respect to the other so that all people are sensible of the great abuses that are put upon one party where the Adversary can carry a great interest either in Cities or Countrey Whether it would not be as great a renown to His Majesty Quaere 14. if the Trade of Clothing was recovered to its height as it was to King Edward the Third of Famous Memory by whose Providence and Industry it was first brought into England which hath been so exceedingly advantagious to this Kingdome for many years and doubtless might be revived to as great a strength as ever if such things were consulted and practiced which might be the proper and effectual means conducible thereunto and the people of the Kingdome brought to a ready observation of the Lawes of the Land which would turn to his Majesties great advantage in his Customes c. and put all his Subjects in general into a capacity of paying their Taxes willingly according as his Majesty should have occasion the Springs of Trade then being open and running would bring in supplies to all people Quaere 15. Whether it would not be necessary that all these Laws not yet Repealed relating to the furtherance of Trade and promiscuously scattered in the Law Books ought not to be revived and re-Printed in one Volume that so all people might readily know those Laws and be by Authority strictly commanded the observance of the same with incouragements Quaere 17. to the obedient and punishments to the disobedient In case any Laws be wanting or are not full enough against the Transportation of our Prohibited goods or the Importation of Forreign Prohibited goods as new sorts of Stuffs that may be made beyond Sea or any thing elce that is not perticularly provided against whether it may not be very necessary to have such a defect supplyed Whether there ought not to be a Statute for the regulation Quaere 16. or well making of such Stuffs c. which were not used in former times that so all deceits in work may be avoided which if done would doubtless very much advance the credit of the English goods and greatly further the sale of them at a Forreign Market Whether it is convenient that our Manufactures of Cloth Quaere 18. and Stuffs should be allowed to be transported out of the Land white or undied because it is a very common practice of the Dutch and English too so to do and then they Dye them and Dress them in Holland by the which they set many people on work and all that imployment is lost to England but this is not all for the Dutch do so handle the matter as that they mak our own goods more acceptable and saleable in Forreign Countries than we usually do with the same sort of goods which we Dy in England to the great profiâ— and credit of the Dutch abroad among strangers and to the great loss and dammage of England besides the disreputation by that means to England yea many times the same goods that were carryed over to Holland white are returned to us again when the Dutch have Dyed them and dressed them and then they are esteemed the best Colours and therefore most vendible among us Whether it would not be very conducible to the publique Quaere 19. good that those perticuler Statutes should be put into effectual Execution which do positively appoint that all Merchants Forreigners Tradeing into England with Commodities of their own Countrey growth and vending them here should lay out their money again in our English Manufactures and not be permitted to carry money out
bring The Nation to be exceeding poor And many Clothiers forced to give ore Their Trading and follow it no more But now I hope for better things to come By the removal and displaceing some Of those that were in trust and put in such As are upright and won't comply with Dutch Nor any Forreign Nation to invade The Ancient Priviledges of our Trade The want hereof makes England greatly fade R. B. Goe little Book into the world and see Who thou can'st find therein to welcome thee I 'm sure thou mean'st as well to every man Of all degrees and sorts as any can From King to meanest thou dost wish them well And therefore this thy Book doth truly tell Of wrongs and of Abuses done to all Then let them in whose compass it may fall Soon rectify the same and bring on Trade A fresh this is the end this Book was made Incerti Authoris AN ESSAY To the Restoring of our decayed TRADE THat I may proceed in as good an Order as I can although I cannot pretend to Learning or Ability to Compose a Book in a Methodical way but do wish that such a task as this had been undertaken by some other that might have been able abundantly better to have mannaged it to satisfaction of the Reader Yet by reason of my former imployment in the Trade of a Cloathier and afterwards in the Office of Surveyor of one of the Ports of this Kingdom at the Custom-House I am experimentally enabled to speak to those things which shall follow And if there fall not out such an Harmonious Order in the ensuing Discourse by the necessary connection or orderly introduction of one thing to another as might be expected as before in my Epistle so again I do humbly beg the best and most favorable construction and censure of the matter for having in my breast the true heart and Spirit of an English-Man for his King and Country I cannot bear with those dayly abuses and evil practices so frequently and notoriously put upon the King and Kingdom but that I do reckon my self Obliged in all duty and good conscience to my King and Country to make them as publiquely known and manifest as I can and then leave the Remedies to be provided and answerably applied by the Ministers of State which I hope in a short time will be effected And here I shall endeavour First to make it to appear that there is no Nation nor Kingdom in the World that hath those advantages whereby to inrich themselves as this our Kingdom of England by the Manufacture of our Wooll and consequently to maintain our strength and The Advantage by the Manufacture of Wooll Honor omitting to speak of many other staple Commodities of this our Kingdom though many Rich and Profitable because I am intended to Treat principally about the Subject of Wooll and the Manufactures thereof with the dependancies thereupon Now that such advantages as might accrue to the Kingdom are not laid hold on and the Commodities improoved to what it might be is too too evident to all men that have Wooll not improoved any feeling of the case or that do make any inspection into it which may also be sufficiently confirmed to all others by the sad complaints and frequent moanes that are dayly made concerning the miserable decay of Trade to the great loss of many perticuler men and to the King and Nation in General and principally in the Trade of Cloathing But if the Wooll of England and Ireland were improoved to the best advantages and secured from exportation to Forreigners doubtless England would be the General Market for the whole Universe for matter of Cloathing and what would soon be the Riches greatness and Splendor thereof by the Almighties blessing is not a thing very difficult to be imagined by any sober judicious Person Merchant or Traveller And that no Nation hath such good Wooll for the general No Wool so good as English Trade of Cloathing is evident elce what makes so many Forreigners of other Nations so greedy of our English Wooll if they had as good or near as good of their own and how highly was it formerly esteemed by the Dukes of Burgundy and what benefit and advantage did that People under his government make of it when they paid but sixpence the pound for our English Wooll they returned it to us in Cloath at Ten shillings the Yard by which may very easily be computed what profit did redound to that people in the working up the Wooll which thing occasioned many English Families to transport themselves into those parts for their profitable livelihood and subsistence But after the Victorious Conquest made by Edward the Cloathing set up in England third of Famous Memory he caused to be ordered and set up the Manufactures of Wooll in this Kingdom to the great increase of the Riches of his own People the memory of whom for his provident care for the wellfare of his People is worthy to be perpetuated to all succeeding Generations And what now a days makes Holland and France so covetous of our Wooll and what large quantities by sinister Forreigners do covet our Wooll meanes do they procure to serve themselves and their Countries and what Riches do they acquire to themselves thereby may in some measure be guessed at for by having our good English Wooll they can mix their own course Wooll with it and so make good Cloath or Stuffes which otherwise they could not do To instance perticulerly in the French it is taken for granted and sufficiently known that their Wooll is very course and of it self fit for little but to make a sort of Cloath which is worn by Sea-men and Fisher-men c. But by the help of our good Wooll they make very good work and send to other parts of the World their druggets c. And by having our good English Wooll they can spend two or three Packs of their own Wooll mixing it with ours Much French Wooll wrought up by mixing with ours by which meanes they make their Cloath and Stuffes pass very acceptably both among themselves and other Nations Yea we our selves in England not being so wise as we should be for our own advantage do buy the French druggets c. Made of our Wooll mixed with theirs and give great Prices for them too when we do or at least may make better of our own The care then being taken for granted that English Wooll is the best and most fit for Cloathing Stuffes Stockins c. How necessary may it be rationally supposed then for our own People to be imployd in the working up our own Wooll and how many thousands would be imploy'd of the Poorer sort of people about such work who might thereby Poor to be Imploy'd gain to themselves a very comfortable living and free the Kingdom from those great burdens in maintenance of the Poor they being able by their Labour if
unspeakable loss is it to the Kingdome to have such Exporting Wooll a Trade fall to decay and so many thousands of poor must of necessity be multiplyed in the Land which must beg steal or starve for want of imployment But what think you if three or four hundred Tuns of Wooll in a year be exported out of the Kingdome for so I have been informed what a stroke doth that give to the beating down of our Trade in England and what a vast loss comes thereby to the Kingdome and Fall of Rents may we not justly be induced to believe that the decay of our Trade in this respect doth occasion the fall of the rents of Lands in the Countrey and houses in the City of London and else where fo that the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdome have a sensible feeling of the decay of this Trade of clothing for all that the poor do get for their labour about The poors labor profit to the Nation this Imployment goes from them again to others as hath been already intimated and so the money goeth round according to its figure and passeth from one to another according as one trade hath dependance upon another It may not be here unseasonable to insert a word or two concerning our Fullers Earth for cloth cannot be perfectly finished without our Fullers Earth to scoure and cleanse the fine Fullers Earth carried out of the Land clothes that are milled with Castle sope and all other midling cloths that are fulled with Sope so that none but course clothes that are milled with Medicine can be well done without the assistance of our Fullers earth except at a greater charge neither is there any other Countrey besides our King's Dominions that have any Fullers Earth like ours in England it is so reported that the Dutch have gotten enough of it into Into Holland Holland to serve them for many years to come which was certainly transported out of the River of Medway alias Chatham for we have none in England but what is about Maidstone on the said River of Medway that ever I could hear of except at Wooburn in Bedfordshire which is an Inland-town and many Miles from the Sea yet I have been a diligent inquirer into this matter so that if the Transportation of this commodity into Forrein Countries was carefully looked after it could not possibly be carried out of the Land without a discovery of it especially from the River of Medway aforesaid so that forreigners must of necessity be at the greater charge in finishing their clothes which could not be done without the help of our Fullers Earth Now that there is a prohibition of Exportation of our Fullers Earth to Forreign parts is well enough known to the Officers of the Custome house but it is not looked after as it should be for either some of them are negligent not regarding their duties and behaving themselves with that vigilance and circumspection as such places of Trust do necessarily call for at their hands or else they wink at such miscarriages and suffer our Fullers Earth to be carried away as the like is commonly done concerning our Wooll And although most part of our Lawes are binding enough with severe Penalties annexed to them if they were but duly observed and well put into Execution yet not one of ten thousand doth know the Lawes of Prohibition throughout the Kingdom and how to put them into Execution and although Wooll carryâ—d to France c. many people do certainly know that Fullers Earth is certainly carried out of the River of Medway alias Chathan and our Wooll commonly shipped off from Dover-Cliffs by night from Rumney-Marsh the Isle of Wight Purbeck and about Waymouth and in several other parts of England and too much from Southhamton under the pretence of an Allowance by the Law for the supply of Jarsey Yet no body doth or dareth to prosecute the Offenders for the breach of our good and wholsome Laws because the very principles of Nature in every man teach himself Preservation and he that minds but that is afraid to meddle with these offenders who are commonly Rich men and strengthened both with Money and Friends in the Counties where they dwell so that every man that is willing to preserve himself his Estate and Family is afraid of appearing against these Transgressors in the behalf of the King though it be never so much conducible to the good and welfare of the whole Kingdom for fear they should be dealt withal as I have been And while I am speaking about the negligence and unfaithfulness of the Officers of the Customs give me leave in two or three words for a Digression concerning the importation of Forrein prohibited Commodities to the utter ruine of many poor Tradesmen with their Families in this our Kingdom as Ribbon Weavers and Silk weavers and other such Tradesmen undone like Artificers in about London and several other parts of the Kingdom that they are so miserably Impoverished that they are ready to perish for want of necessary food to keep life and soul together as our English Proverb is notwithstanding the great plenty of all sorts of Provision in the Nation through the goodness and bounty of God to us But all these errours and miscarriages might and may easily be prevented by the care and vigilancy of the Custome Officers especially in the out-Ports But some Officers finding a perticular and present profit by being invested with a Golden Livery do rather choose that than to do their King and Countrey faithful service although it be also running the hazard of losing their present Imployment and future Preferment for things of this Nature are now grown to that height of perfidiousness and confidence I might say Smugglers prosecute honest men Impudence that two or three golden Decoys are sufficient to intrap an inclining Surveyor and if there should chance to be a discovery or a surprisal there shall be all present help at hand if need require for the carrying off the matter smoothly and Witnesses in any case shall not be wanting to That discover them counterfeit Truth and Justice when it is directly contrary by which malicious and unnatural courses those that would be just and honest in their places and Offices are disheartned through the leud and deceitful practices of these Catterpillars who by such indirect Courses are disobedient to the Lawes and the Smugglers that imploy them do multiply great troubles upon such as at any time discover these Offenders yea and do violently prosecute them at the Law to make them Examples and terrors to others that so they might drive on their cheating trade without controul and yet such honest well-minded men do nothing but their duty but for that they have this odium cast upon them they are called Informing Knaves c. notwithstanding the welfare of the whole Kingdome doth in a great measure depend upon the discovery of such
endeavour his utmost to discharge a good conscience first to God and then to mind the pulique good calling to mind the happy condition of Trade in the Reign of King Charles the first of blessed memory when all men dreaded his Lawes and lived in love one with another which made the Kingdome flourish in our trading with great success and increase of Riches and indeed we enjoyed so much happiness as made us proud and forgetful of God's mercies and so murdered the best King in the world by which we stript our selves of all but Gods just judgements upon the Nation and left our selves certain of nothing but of uncertainties I find by our good Lawes that great care was taken about Wooll and all other prohibited commodities as first in the Reign of King Edward the Third Cap. 1. then wooll was wholly prohibited to be exported which was the first beginning of the promotion of making Cloth in England but it seems the Nation at first could not work up all the Wooll that was of our own growth till the Trade was dispersed throughout the whole Kingdome and people instructed in the Art So that an Act of Parliament was made for the transportation of Wooll into other Countries to a Staple appointed at first at Callis paying their due Custome first in England so that those which had our Wooll in those daies Staples appointed paid well for it another Statute was made to this purpose that if any Forreigner would have any of our Wooll out of England and found none at the Staple he was to bring to the King's Mint an Ounce of Gold as a dâ—ty for every sack of Wooll and many other good Laws I find forthe prevention of Abuses concerning Wooll and Cloath and for the prevention of the Transportation of Wooll but what did first pay the King's duty in England and was to the intent that our People might afford their Cloaths so as to undersel Strangers And several Staples were appointed in England where Wooll was to be sold and bought and not elsewhere and none to be carried or lodged neer to the Water-side nor bought nor bargained but by Cloatheirs and such as wrought it up or by Merchants and their Factors under several Penalties Many good Lawes made Many other good Laws have been made since the time of King Edward for the keeping our Wooll and Fullers-earth in England to imploy our own poor People and advance the Manufacture of the old and new Drapery so happily set on foot by the prudence and diligence of that King then there was Obedience from all persons rendred to the good Laws of the Land which good Laws have been Successively ever since continued by almost every Parliament with such Additions or Exemplifications as were found to be necessary for the prohibition of the Exportation of Wooll and Fullers-earth by which means we both got and kept the whole Manufacture of our own Wooll and a good part of other Countries among our selves in this Kingdom till the time of our late unhappy Confusions And if the Book called the Golden Fleece with some of Sir Walter Rawleigh's Works which do fully demonstrate the great blessings of God on this Kingdom of England above any other for the imployment of the poor people were well inspected and answerably improved it would be a means to make the Kingdom happy and flourishing I shall here give a brief Recital of several Statutes more concerning Wooll and Cloath FIrst that no Cloath made beyond Seas shall be brought Stat. 15. of Ed. 3. ca. 8. into the King's Dominions on pain to forfeit the same Stat. 15. of Ed. 3. ca. 5. and to be further punished at the King's will That all Cloath-workers and Artificers in the trade of Cloathing that came out of other Countries into the Kingdom had the King's Protection to dwell where they pleased and convenient Franchizes and great privilidges were at first allowed them for their incouragement maintained at a publique charge out of the King's Exchequer I find there that Strangers as well as Natives might have Stat. 18. of Ed. 3. cap. 3. bought Wooll as they could agree and that great care was taken to avoid Deceits to abate and lessen the prices of wooll and to avoid false Packing false Winding and false Ballances and to have one just Weight throughout England proved and tried by the respective Sheriffs of every County according to the Standard of the Exchequer and that no buyer of Wooll Stat. 13. of Edw. 3. cap. 2. should make any refuse or wast but an equal hand should be carried between buyer and seller and this upon grievous Forfeitures Stat. 8. Hen. 6. ca. 22. as Stat. 12. Rich. 2. cap. 9. Also that all Wooll-felles and Leather bought in the Countries should be brought to the Staples which were appointed on purpose where Wooll and such commodities were to besold and should remain there Stat. 23. H. 8. cap. 17. fifteen days at least for the supply of our own people who were to have the first choice or as much as they would work up and then the remainer which could not be wrought up in England were to be sent to publique places in the day time Stat. 31. Ed. 3. ca. 8. and from thence to the Ports appointed on purpose for the staples to be Transported after the Buyers had paid their due Customs and Subsidies Viz. for every sack of Wooll which contained 94 Pounds 2 pounds 10 shillings and for every 300 of Wooll-felles two pounds ten shillings and for every last of Leather five pounds and that no wooll vendible Stat. 13. E 3. cap. 9. should be lodged shewed or sold within three miles of the Staple by any Merchant Buyer or Transporter or any others but such as had of their own growth and no other And the Chancellour Treasurer with the advice of others of the Kings Councel had power to defer the Transportation of Wooll when and as often as they saw it convenient It was then ordered that no Merchant of the Staple should Stat. 2. of Hâ—n 5. Transport Wooll Woollfells Lead or Tin without the King's Licence until they were brought to the Staple on pain to for feit the same It was then made Fellony to Transport Wooll by the Statute 27. Ed. Ed 3. ca 3. of the Staples as you may find it concerning the Transportation of Wooll by English Merchants but this Stature 28. Ed. 3. for Fellony was repealed the 38 of Edw. 3. Stat. 1. and 6. and the forfeiture for Lands and Goods was still continued 8 Hen. 5. cap. 2. and in March the 37. of Edw. 3. the Staple for thesale of Wooll was fixed at Callis Then the Staple aforesaid was removed from Callis and clearly put down 43. Edw. 3. Cap. 1. and the Staples appointed and fixed in England at the places following Viz. Stat. 47. E. 3. cap. 1. at Neweastle Kingston upon Hull St. Buttolphs Boston
of the Land directly nor indirectly but lay it out in the goods and wares of England their necessary expences excepted according to the true intent and meaning of the said Statute Whether it be not worthy to be taken into consideration concerning the fineness and weight of our English Coin above Quere 20. and beyond the Coin of our neighbouring Nations and whether that be not the cause of its Exportation out of the Land a broad twenty shillings peice of Gold being worth in France Flanders and Holland twenty seven shillings and a Crown piece of silver worth six shillings so that I suppose we may cease wondring what is become of the money of the Kingdome considering it is such profit to the Merchant to transport it beyond Sea Whether it would not very much increase Trading and be highly advantageous to the King's Majesty to have money Quaere 21. plentiful in the Land and greatly benefit the Common-Weale if money in England was in some measure made sutable or equal to the weight and fineness of money in other Lands and whether this would not be a great means of bringing in money from other Lands and then keep it in the Kingdome being brought in by such means the King would be sure to have a speedy supply on all demands for his occasions and it is granted on all hands that good Treasures of Money are the principal Sinews of War Whether we in England ought not in reason to take the Quere 22. same care for the preservation and advancement of our Native Commodities as every other Kingdome and Countrey doth for theirs as in Spain the labour of the people is in their Vineyards for the Production of Wine and Fruit concerning which they take great care that they make the ulmost and spend little of these things themselves that they may make money of them to furnish their needs with what is sutable and many times they will not part with these their goods for Barter or Exchange for other goods but will have ready money and at dear rates too as I have heard by those that have traded into those parts some have given to the Spaniards at the Canaries 100 peices of Eight for an ordinary Pipe of Wine in ready money which 100 Peices of Eight are well worth twenty two pounds Sterling with us and likewise in France concerning their Wines Salt Brandy c. what care is by them taken to make the best of them that may be and what vast quantities of French-Wines Brandy Vinegar c. do come over into England in a year to pay for which I doubt there goes a great deal of ready money and if so in other Countries why should not the same care be taken in England for the advancement of our Manufactures endeavouring thereby to imploy our Poor and so to inrich the Kingdome especially considering the far greater advantages of so doing that we have in England than any other Nation hath as hath been already at large set forth Why should the humour of our people in England so far Quere 23. engage them to an old custome of burying the dead in Linnen as to contradict and disobey so good a Law as was lately made by Act of Parliament for the burial of our dead in Woollen doubtless there was reason enoug then produced in Parliament to sway with the King and those two Honourable Houses for the Enacting the same and whether it be not as decent to cover the dead Corps in Flannel as it is with Linnen beside the burial of the dead in Flannel will greatly advance the Manufacture of the Nation and in reason advance the prizes of all other Woollen wares and this Woollen Cloth is of our own production and when we bury our people in Linne that causeth so much expence for the generality of the goods of other Countries and whether it ought not to be considered that the Law provided in this case ought to be re-inforced Now to draw towards an end I have met with an Objection to this Treatise that it may be judged Superflous because several Books are errant concerning this Subject to which I Answer Though I have reason to beleive them that told me so yet I do beleive that the Reader will find a great difference between this and any other if they be compared together and that in many respects And again I Answer that the more Complaints are made of the Abuses and great Losses to the Kingdome so much the more ought all good men to enquire into the truth of those Complaints and endeavour for sutable Remedies in Tendency whereto I have presented something here by way of Quaere c. And now methinks I hear some wise men say that it is Reason that such abuses should be punished and that severely if any should presume to act such things as are here complained of or any waies vindicate those that do them to the which I answer that I wish that I were called to prove my knowledge of those things without too much charge or Attendance before any that should be appointed to enquire into and to regulate the same for I do not make it my business to set forth in this discourse the perticuler abuses of those Countrey Atturneys Under-Clerks Under-Sheriffs in their returns and the abuses of their Officers and the Assistance that some great Smugglers have from some Magistrates and Justices of the Peace in the Countrey together with the affronts that have been offered to our good Lawes of which I have had a large and sad experience And although our Lawes are good and our Judges are just yet the corruption in the practice of the Law by under-Officers is so exceeding bad and destructive to the Trade and publique good of the Kingdome that in case I should perticularly recite those abuses that I my self have met with among the Practicers of the Law I should fill a Book many times bigger than this And now I shall conclude with the true and hearty wishes of an Englishman that all our Ministers of State may so agree especially in this juncture of time that they may unanimously joyn together as one intire body against all Intruders upon our Trade and Priveledges both at Sea and Land that the Walls of this Kingdome may be built up and preserved and our Tradeing may encrease and flourish so that no cunning Usurpers may rob us of our old Prerogatives of the Seas or the Manufacture of our native Trade upon the Land FINIS In Laudem Authoris Subjecti HAd I but lived in Ben. Johnsons dayes I would have learn't of him to speak the Praise Of Native English Wooll and to set forth It 's real Excellency and it's worth The Poets tell us of the Golden Fleece That Jason undertook to fetch to Greece But that 's a Fiction ours a real thing Which to the Kingdome doth great Riches bring So that no Nation to us might compare If diligent in working