Selected quad for the lemma: ground_n
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A54104
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A brief account of the province of Pennsylvania, lately granted by the King, under the great seal of England to William Penn and his heirs and assigns
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1681
(1681)
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Wing P1255; ESTC R18857
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7,574
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11
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that is Rated at eight pounds the like with the rest The Country also abounds with several sorts of Wild Creatures as Elkes Deer Beavers Racoons Mincks Martins Wild Catts Otters c. some of which are good Food and Cheap as a Fat Buck at two Shillings English Goods others of them considerable for their Furs The way of Traffique is to send to the Southren Plantations Corn Beef Pork Fish Sider and Pipe-staves the Skins and Furs for England The Conveniency that belongs to the Province in point of Navigation is two fold the one through Chesapeak Bay and the other Delaware Bay by which Ships of great Burthen may come and Trade to the said Province V. Of the present Inhabitants That part of the Country which is at all Inhabited is at the head of Chesapeak Bay and on the West side of Delaware River they are by Nation Sweeds Dutch English who are capable of giving Entertainment to New Commers till they can provide for themselves VI. What the Country is believed capable of It is thought by several knowing Persons that have Travelled those parts of America and have been well acquainted with places in Europe of the same degree that there may be Silke and Wine if not Oyle and for Flax Hemp Woad Madder Liquorish Pot-ashes and Iron there needs to be no question VII Of the Government 1st The Governour and Free-holders have the power of making Laws so that no Law can be made nor Money raised But by the Peoples consent 2ly That the Rights of the People of England are in force there 3ly That making no Law against Allegiance they may make all Laws requisite for the Prosperity and Security of the said Province VIII Of the Conditions The Province is cast at a penny an Acre But he sets apart several parcels which he calls Shares these he sells saving a Quit-rent necessary for to secure the Title and Tenure That is whereas 5000. Acres which makes a Share comes at a penny an Acre to 20. l. 16. s. 8. d. yearly for 100 l. down he sells off the yearly Rent of 18. l. 6. s. 8. d. and reserves but 50. s. which may be reduc'd as the purchaser pleases but something must be reserved for the Security of the Title To which the Royalties proper to Mannors in England as Hunting Fowling Fishing with all common Mines Minerals and a Proportion of Royal Mines also if sound within any ones propriety is affixed by the general Concessions And that such as are not able to purchase yet willing to go and capable to pay their Passage and their Servants may not be excluded It is hereby Declared that every such Person for himself and Wife and every Child Male or Female if sixteen Years of Age shall have right to take up at 1. d. per Acre Fifty Acres by the Head to him and his Heirs for ever in lieu of Purchasing which shall be by the Surveyor of the Country set out so soon as the said person comes to take it up And to encourage such Children and Servants to serve their Parents Masters or Mistresses the full time for which they are Engaged Diligently and Faithfully Every such Child or Servant shall have Right to take up 50. Acres at but two Shillings Quit-Rent for ever which makes him a Free-holder of the Country IX Persons fittest for Plantations Those persons that Providence seems to have fitted for Plantations are Industrious Husbandmen Laborious Handicrafts As Carpenters Ship-wrights Rope-makers Smiths Brick-makers Weavers Taylors Tanners Coopers Mill-wrights Joyners Shooe-makers Turners Potters such as dress Flax Hemp and Wool With many others It seems also a fit place for Younger Brothers and Men of small Estates who with the Industry of a few Servants may in two or three years time be plentifully accommodated Also all Ingenious Men that are lovers of Planting Gardening and the like quiet and useful Imployments A Plantation seems a fit place for those Ingenious Spirits that being Low in the World are much clog'd and oppressed about a Lively-hood for the means of Subsisting being easy there they may have time and opportunity to Gratify their Inclinations and thereby improve Science and help Nurseries of People There are an other sort of Persons not only fit for but necessary in Plantations and that is Men of Universal Spirits that have an Eye to the good of Posterity and that both understand and delight to promote good Discipline and Just Government among a Plain and Well intending People Such Persons may find room in Colonies for their good Counsil and Contrivance who are shut out from being of much use or service to great Nations under settled Customs But they that go must wisely count the Cost For they must either work themselves or be able to imploy others A Winter goes before a Summer and the first work will be Countrey Labour to clear Ground and raise Provision other things by degrees X. What is fit for the Journey and first to be done there 1st The Passage for Men and Women is Five Pounds a head for Children under Ten Years Fifty Shillings Sucking Children Nothing for Freight of Goods Forty Shilling per Tun but one Chest to every Passenger Free 2ly The Goods fit to take with them for use or sale are all Utensils for Husbandary and Building and House-hold-stuff Also all sorts of things for Apparrel as Cloath Stuffes Linnen c. Wherein all that desire may be more particularly Informed by Philip Ford at the Hood and Scarf in Bow-lane in London Lastly Being by the Mercy of God safely Arrived be it in October Two Men may clear as much Ground for Corn as usually brings by the following Harvest about Twenty-Quarters In the mean time they must buy Corn which they may have as aforesaid and if they buy them two Cows and two Breeding Sows with what the Indians for a small matter will bring in of Fowl Fish and Venison which is incredibly Cheap as a Eat Buck for Two Shillings that and their industry will supply them It is Apprehended that Fifteen Pounds stock for each Man who is first well in Cloaths and provided with fit working Tools for himself will by the Blessing of God carry him thither and keep him till his own Plantation will Accommodate him But all are most seriously cautioned how they proceed in the disposal of themselves 'T is true The Earth is the Lords and the Fullness thereof and it seems to many to be the time wherein those desolate Western parts of the World are to be Planted and have their Day as Asia Africa and Europe have had of which theâ— are divers Prophesies extant yet let all have a Reverend regard â—o God's Providence in their Removal and be serious in it rather seeking the Comforts of retirement and a sufficiency for Life like the Blessed Patriarke of Old thâ— Ease Fulness and Wealth And it is further Advised that all such as go would at least get the Permission if not the good Likeing of their near Relations for that is both Natural and a Duty incumbent upon all And by this means will natural Affection be Preserved and a Friendly and Profitable Correspondence maintained between them In all which God Almighty who is the Salvation of the Ends of the Earth Direct us that His Blessings may attend our Honest Indeavours and then the Consequence of all our Undertakings will be to the Glory of His Great Name and the true Happiness of Us and our Posterity Amen William Penn. POSTSCRIPT WHoever are desirous to be concern'd in this Province they may be treated with and further Satisfied at Philip Fords in Bow-lane in Cheap-side and at Thomas Rudyards or Benjamin Clarks in George-yard in Lombard-street London There is likewise Printed a Map of Pennsylvania together with a Description at the End of it and some Proposals THE END LONDON Printed for Benjamin Clark in George-yard in Lom-bard-street 1681. ☞