matter as Oile Grease Rosen Pitch Tallow Sulphure c. and in another place you say also that Gold is made of the said fatnesse of the earth which is a substance altogether free from burning and is not diminished in the fire we would be resolved how these seeming contrarieties can be true Answer I said that there is a double fatnesse in every compounded body the one combustible and the other incombustible which may be seene in the burning of the highest twigges of any Tree for first there riseth a sharpe vapour in the burning which is the universall spirit of the world and the vehiculum which by the helpe of the Sunnes heate lifteth up the former fatnesse then the combustible part consumeth into aire by the fire then the ashes remaining being laid upon land fatneth it whereby a fatnesse incombustible is discovered and these two fatnesses are in mineralls as well as vegetables and of the incombustible and fixed fatnesse minerall is Gold made by nature and also by art imitating Nature and if any man doubt it let him hazzard a good wager upon it which shall be equalized and the question shall be determined by the greatest viz. experience which admitteth no imposture yet I could advise my best friends that love to trie experience to spend their money time and studie upon Improvements in Husbandrie being workes more certaine and more profitable Objection III. We must needs confesse that barrennesse increaseth by the usuall practise in Husbandry at this day and by the two wayes alledged by you in your Booke viz. first by the carrying of the sheepe from the Commons with their full bellies into the Folds whereby the one ground is impoverished to inrich the other and this we conceive may be cured by your new Inventions for providing of manure which was neglected before secondly the Land is much impoverished by great Land-flouds which carry a wonderfull quantitie of fatnesse yearely into the Sea but how this should be remedied we know not we must needs confesse that your Inventions for the providing of manure more then before are excellent good and profitable for the generall good and will withstand the barrennesse much so that it will not increase so fast as it did before yet we conceive that barrennesse will still increase though more slowly for all your multiplications of manure will not equalize much lesse overmatch the fatnesse carried yearely by Land-flouds into the Sea Answer It is certaine that the new provision of manure by Lime ashes Marle Mussilage and residence of water and by the rest of the Inventions will equalize and overmatch the great quantitie of fatnesse carried yearely into the Sea if the same shall be industriously put in practise the subterraneall vapours yearely elevate a great quantitie of fatnesse though in some places more abundantly then in others for I have knowne arable land borne good corne time out of minde with every third yeares rest and fallowing without any manure at all but onely by this subterraneall vapour arising from some subterraneall fat substance but though this be but in some speciall places yet there is no question but that it helpeth well in all places though of it selfe it be not sufficient without addition of manure but if all men would be ruled by me we would not onely put these workes in practise very industriously for the generall good thereby to testifie our love to all men both living and yet to come but also we would make use of my first Invention mentioned in my first Chapter viz. to bow the knee of the heart instead of the usual and complementall bowing of the knee of the body to the Donor of all goodnesse then might we have firme confidence having formerly testified our love to God by the generall love of all his creatures especially those of our own kind that he would send the former and the latter raine in due season without scanting us at any time and pouring downe too much at other times whereof we had experience this last yeere wherein both these events have caused losse to this Kingdome above the value of 20. subsidies in one yeere if this new invention were well put in practice then would the heart-maker take away these our stony and hard hearts and give us hearts of flesh and all mourning and lamentation for want of food would be done away for then would our labours be seconded by the chiefe master in Husbandry so that we should no more bee frustrated of our expected Harvest Objection IIII. Wee finde your answers so satisfactory that wee will make no more objections but this one which we will almost answer our selves which is this wee must needs confesse that your discourse concerning the preservation of Corne from blasting is very rationall and argueth much skill in Husbandry yet whether the practise thereof will be answerable though we see no cause to doubt thereof yet being schooled by your selfe wee will suspend our full beleefe thereof till experience testifie and manifest the truth and wee desire to be excused herein because it is your own counsell to us wherein wee see not but that howsoever it proveth you your selfe are out of blame for that every man may try the truth thereof by your owne direction without any materiall prejudice in small quantitie at the first Therefore if it may please you to shew us your new invented Engines and the use of them how the tedious labour of your new workes may be eased then we will declare our opinions to all posterity and so take our leaves Answer Well goe with me and you shall receive as much satisfaction by demonstration as formerly by discourse You see here the experiment of my Persian wheele you see that it is 40. foot high you see that the bottles doe fill in the River and empty themselves into a Trough 36. foot high and the water is conveyed into yonder Ditch which is a mile long you see divers stops in the Ditch whereby the water is caused to flow over yonder barren ground whereby it is become good medow you see it is of no great cost nor subject to be out of order nor doth require any great repaire you see the motion is perpetuall day and night without looking to if you were in Persia you might see two or three hundred of these in one River if the water come from chalky or lime-stone ground or be mixed with land-flouds then it doth fatten the ground wonderfull Now looke upon my Engine for the cleansing of Thorny and rough grounds you see the nether part is like a three grayned dung-forke onely it is 40. times greater and stronger you see the upper part is like a leaver but ten times stronger and very much longer you see here a great bush of Thornes and Briers together which to eradicate the common way would spend a good part of a mans dayes worke Now thus I set my Instrument halfe a foot from the root of it slopewise then
kinde of module thereof by hanging a bullet of iron covered with clay in the middle of a Speare beset about with Loadstones of equall vertue attractive but I conceive time may be better spent in admiring the wonderfull power wisdome and exquisite artifice of the mightie Creator and also in letting this glorious Fabricke of the universe be to us all the universall Preacher of Divinitie to teach us to adore and love the Creator thereof in which divine worship I could desire that there might be a new invention or improvement in two respects First as the common way used is to bow the knee of the body so the new way should be to bow the knee of the heart and as the common way now used is to be every one for himselfe so the new way should be to be for the generall good of every one if the last of these be not performed the first cannot for it is unpossible that he can honour and love God aright which doth not love all his brethren whom God hath created upon the face of the earth and if he love them he will worke for the generall good of them all which if he doe not then his love is fained and his Religion is vanitie And had I eloquence or learning I would presse this point with all my force for that all the inventions and improvements in this booke are not to be compared to this one for excellencie neither is there any great hope that the rest will succeed well if this doe not precede for suppose that men for meere lucre should be industrious in this new husbandry yet if they omit these two first new inventions they may well feare the successe for that they have left the prime Workman out of the field to wit God Almightie without whose blessing all is vanitie and lost labour whereas on the other side if they shall first learne these two new inventions in the service of God and love to men by which and by no other way then by working for the generall good the sinceritie thereof can possibly be discerned then will they all with one consent worke cheerefully in this new husbandry and the chiefest happinesse of all will be that then God Almightie will blesse their labours by sending the former and the latter raine in due season whereby their harvest shall be doubled in quantity for moderate raine fatneth the earth but too much or too little causeth barrennesse as may be seene by this last yeares successe where the want of a little raine presently after the Spring seed time hindred this kingdome above the value of an hundred Subsidies and also one flood comming by immoderate raine did as all floods usually doe viz. carry in the belly of the water into the Sea as much fatnesse as would produce here in England the value of one hundred Subsidies more By which passages we may see how little it is to purpose to strive against the streame viz. to thinke by our owne industry alone without the heavenly benediction to prosper in our labours Therefore let us having the pith and substance of Religion practise the same sincerely and so addresse our selves to our worke leaving the particular differences in Religion to the disputations and determinations of Schooles and in so doing both we and the Schooles shall fare the better for it And for the more powerfull cheering up of all men to these two duties let us consider well of the wonderfull power of God accompanied with his admirable wisdome and exquisite Artifice in the establishing of the Sea in his place which is not by vertue of the Sea banks as it is in fresh rivers as vulgar people doe imagine though the Sea banks doe somewhat restraine the great libertie that the Sea would have yet is the sea heaped up into a sphericall forme round like a Ball by the attractive and expulsive vertues of both the celestiall orbes and the terrestriall orbe wherein the one vertue doth not over-match the other at all save onely that the Moon chief governesse thereof doth a little oversway the rest cooperating with her but withall giving her the predominancy whereby she causeth the tides to ebbe and flow as we see which worke though it seeme great in the narrow Seas yet in the maine Ocean it is scarse perceptible but even as it were the rowling of a Bullet so very little that the spectators perceive it not to be rowled at all Which heaping up of the Sea is manifestly seene by this demonstration let a Ship goe out from the Shore and about ten miles distance the sphericall forme of the Sea will hide from your sight standing on the Shore all the while about fiftie foot of her and also he that in the Ship taketh notice of this thing will finde that as he departeth from the Shore so if he will be still desirous to see the Shore he will be forced to climbe up the Mast higher and higher as the Ship goeth further from the Shore untill at length he cannot see the Land at all by reason of the sphericall Compasse of the water though he climbe up to the top of the Mast Whereby it appeareth plainly that the Sea acquireth his deepnesse as well by this heaping of it selfe together above the earth as by concaving it selfe in the earth For if a streight line should be drawne from the Sea banks at Mexico to the Sea banks in the Easterne coasts and the measure of the depth of the water in the middle of the Ocean to that line should likewise be taken it would be found that if the Guider and Preserver of this Universe should be remisse never so little and suffer the water to sinke flat like the fresh rivers we should be all drowned in an instant Which wonder produceth to me another wonder almost as great which is that rationall men should be so stupid as not to stand in awe of God the mightie Creator who with one frowne is able to destroy them all so easily or should goe about to dissemble so with him who knoweth all things with their complementall service and honour to him for either they must needs goe about to cosen him or else they must according to his will love all creatures which he hath created which love must needs be fained unlesse it be manifested by working for the generall good of them all and not onely of all that are created but of those which shall come afterwards And if any shall be found remisse or refractory in wishing well to these proceedings appearing so evidently to be for the generall good of all the inhabitants upon this terrestriall Globe or shall use any indirect meanes by depopulating townes or dwelling houses or by unjust making warres whereby the people shall be decreased it being so manifestly shewed that there is no such need but that there is sufficient maintenance to be had for them though they shall increase and grow never so numerous These men of which sort
I have heard of now hitherto doe demonstrate to God and the world their ignoble nature and their beastiall swinish and viperous dispositions CHAP. II. Wherein is plainely shewed how workemen may be provided for the accomplishing of the enterprise AS for workmen for this businesse I make no question but that all working poore will be ready upon the first summons to come to worke if so be they may receive maintenance for the same which now they want extreamely which I would advise all Landlords to disburse in regard that they shall receive an improvement in their rents of farre more value then the money disbursed would yeeld by purchase of new lands yet in regard that these are not sufficient I could wish that many others might be imployed which might best be spared in the common-wealth of which sort are liars shifters and deceivers of others and which doe now eat the bread of other mens labours by their subtilties but in regard we are to make use of their bodies for labour therefore their conquest is fit to be accomplished by stratagem which is a difficult worke to deceive the deceiver I have studied much to finde out an Invention how to effect this enterprise and finde that as receivers make theeves so temerarious beleevers make liars and to redresse this mischiefe I have sometimes thought it the best way to beleeve no man whereupon this inavoidable inconvenience followed that many times we should reject the truth as well as lies and deceit for I finde that truth spoken plainly doth echo in the minde of the hearers saying the same things over againe but this is the mischiefe that so few hearers have understanding to judge which is true and which is false for where the hearers want abilitie to judge there lies and deceit make the same echo which truth doth in the former so while these persons can finde any shallow brain'd beleevers there is small hope that we shall winne them to be labourers in our new husbandrie therefore amongst all stratagems to winne the field of them I finde none like unto my first invention contained in the first Chapter viz. to bow the knee of the heart in the roome of the usuall bowing of the knee of the body and withall to be humble petitioners to the donor of wisedome and understanding to send the light of truth and the knowledge of truth into the world plentifully then doe these persons become suitors to be admitted to be workmen in our new husbandrie being defeated in their former trades so shall we have workmen enough to accomplish our enterprise for the present time and as for the future there will be such an exquisite proceeding that it will be as difficult a thing to discerne whether the people increasing cause the fertilitie to increase or whether the fertilitie increasing cause the people to increase as it is for a Philosopher to finde out by argumentation whether the egge or the bird was first For the numerous increase of people diminisheth not their maintenance so long as they are all industrious no more then twenty hives of Bees are impoverished more then if there were but one in the same garden so long as they are all industrious and suffer no drones to live among them But because that in the meane time some shall reap benefit by avoiding these deceivers I wil shew a politicall invention how to finde out their knaverie which is thus made manifest even as he that hath good gold to sell will goe to the most expert Goldsmithsr efiners or say Masters and will by that meanes get the best price but contrariwise he that hath counterfeit mettall will go to those which are more ignorant fearing the greatest and there make their markets even so he that hath a good project and truth on his side will goe with it to the most able men of judgement wherers the deceivers will goe to those of the weakest judgement there by winning facilitie to deceive therefore the safest way is for every man to doubt his owne judgement and not to be too rash in giving credence till the greattest experience hath determined the doubt CHAP. III. Wherein is manifestly shewed how tooles and instruments may be provided the most commodious way for the worke AS for Tooles and Instruments though they be made of two materials chiefely to wit wood and iron yet is wood the chiefe thing to be provided for in regard that without it no iron can be provided for I finde by experience that all attempts to make iron with Seacoale or other coales are vanitie for though it may be melted that way yet the good metallicall qualitie of the iron is destroyed or at least the greatest part of it for I finde by experience an Arsenicall or Antimoniall qualitie in all subterraneall substances combustible both which are poisons to iron Now the multitude of Timber brought yearely from Norway and other parts doe plainly demonstrate the scarcitie thereof here also it may be conjectured what a miserable case the Kingdome will be plunged into about an Age or two hence for want of Timber There is a Law in Spaine that he that cutteth downe a tree shall plant three young ones for it and by this meanes there are builded in two Provinces both not so great as Yorkeshire twentie Ships yearely and yet the wood increaseth If this Law were observed here how happie would it be for the posteritie the charge is little there is nothing wanting but one of my first inventions to wit love manifested by working for the generall good not onely of all that are now alive but also of those that shall come after And I see no reason why Landlords should not contract with their tenants to put this worke in practise diligently for then their rents will be more and more improved every yeare and if this be omitted their rents will be diminished in future time Now for the improvement of this worke I would have all Timber trees planted in hedge-rowes and by this means no ground will be lost but all woods and thornie grounds may be turned into fruitfull fields and pastures and are apt to be made fertile by my new inventions besides the planting of the Timber trees in hedgerowes bringeth a double commoditie for they are not onely an helpe to divide the land of industrious persons from the land of the idle that every one may enjoy the fruit of his owne labours but also they will be notable shelter for the Cattle in Winter to preserve them from cold stormes and no lesse commodious to keepe them from the heate of Summer And if any one shall object against the multitude of ground lost by hedgerowes let him remember himselfe that every hedge gaineth ten times his proportion of land for that the Cattle in hot weather are thereby shrouded which else would destroy more with their feet then they eat with their mouthes by their gadding and running up and downe whereby that every Beast eateth