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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A50824 The new state of England under Their Majesties K. William and Q. Mary in three parts ... / by G.M. Miege, Guy, 1644-1718? 1691 (1691) Wing M2019A; ESTC R31230 424,335 944

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Opinion of the Yeomanry that occupy Lands than of Tradesmen or Artificers And accordingly Yeomen are capable of bearing some Offices as of Constable and Church-Warden to serve upon Juries to be Train-Souldiers to vote in the Election of Knights of the Shire to serve in Parliament c. And by the Statutes of England certain Immunities are given to Freeholders and Land-men tho they are not Gentlemen Next to Freeholders are the Copy-holders who are much of the same nature I mean those Copy-holders that hold Copy-holds certain Which is a kind of Inheritance in many Places called Customary because the Tenant dying and the Hold being void the next of Bloud paying the Customary Fine as two Shillings for an Acre or such like may not be denied his Admission They are called Copy-holders from the Copy of Court-Roll of the Mannor within which they hold their Land by which Copy only they hold it For this is all a Copy-holder has to shew for his Title which he takes from the Steward of the Lord of the Mannor's Court. But as England is one of the most trading Countries in Europe so the greatest Body of its Commonalty is that of Traders or Men that live by Buying and Selling. The most eminent whereof are those we call Merchants who trade only by Whole-sale These are the Men who by their Stock and Industry have found the Way not only to Inrich themselves but to make the whole Nation thrive and flourish by a perpetual Circulation of Trade by exporting home-bred and importing forein Commodities by incouraging thereby Navigation and by procuring comfortable Imployment to a vast Number of Artificers Tradesmen and ●●etailers In short such is the benign Influence of Trade and Commerce by their means all over the Nation that there is scarce any part of it but feels the Benefit thereof And for this great Advantage to the Publick as well as their private Wealth they have got a proportionable esteem and respect from the rest of the Nation Insomuch that whereas Trading formerly rendred a Gentleman ignoble now an ignoble Person makes himself by Merchandizing as good as a Gentleman and many Gentlemen Born some of them Younger Sons of Noblemen take upon them this Profession without any prejudice or blemish to their Birth Nay the Law of England that ever had but a slight Opinion of Traders is so far Obliterated in this Point by Custom and Interest that whereas by Law a Ward come to Age may bring his Action of Disparagement against his Gardian for offering any such in Marriage now 't is common for Gentlemens and Merchants Sons and Daughters to Intermarry The truth is Gentility with competent Means is an excellent Compound but without it 't is but a wretched Condition as the World goes now And who would not rather be a substantial honest Trader so as to stand upon his own Legs and make some figure in the World than for want of Imployment to starve with a point of Honour or live a borrowed Life in this Age especially where Poverty is so little pitied and grown so contemptible Poverty says an Author the general Scare-crow of Mankind the fear of which keeps Men in perpetual Morion and makes them run headlong into the greatest Dangers Per Mare Pauperiem fugiunt per Saxa per Ignes Poverty a lingering kind of Death that having once seized upon ones Spirits dejects and stupifies him takes away the edge of his Senses weakens his Memory discomposes his Mind and makes him almost uncapable of any Thing Poverty in a Word that turns Men into ridicule as Juvenal has it in these Words Nil habet Paupertas durius in se Quam quod Ridiculos homines facit In France indeed where if a Gentleman born betakes himself to Trade forfeits his Gentility the Gentry stand so much upon their Honour that it is very rare to see a French Gentleman turn to Merchandizing But there they have greater Opportunities for preferring themselves according to their quality especially by the Way of Arms. And so jealous is the whole Body of them of this their Gentility that rather than have it exposed in any of their Members by naked and hungry Poverty their Way is to help one another to the utmost of their Power and which is very commendable they seldom fail to give a Gentleman though never so needy the Respect due to his Birth But it is something surprizing they should so much decline Merchandizing their King Lewis le Grand not to mention his other Commodities being the greatest Salt-Merchant in the Known World But to return to our Commonalty it may be said to comprehend three Parts in four of the Nation the Generality of them Imployed in Husbandry Trade and Navigation some in a higher others in a lesser Degree And such is the Happiness of this People in general that none injoy greater Priviledges or are more secure by Law from Oppression They are subject to no Taxes or Laws but what they contrive themselves by their Representatives in Parliament And in point of Trials none of them can be Tried but by a Jury of his Peers that is by Twelve Men Commoners like himself Nor can he be Condemned but by the Laws of the Land In short the Government is so very favourable to the Common People of England that unless the Laws be invaded which are the Bulwark of the Government they need not fear to be any Way oppressed CHAP. XXII Of the Clergy of England and first of the Bishops THE Clergy of England is like the Laity divided into several Ranks or Degrees For as the Laity consists of Nobility Gentry and Commonalty so the Clergy is divided into Bishops Dignitaries and Inferious Clergy The Bishops are those who take upon them the Government of the Church of England according to Law every one in his Diocese And as England consists of 26 Dioceses or Bishopricks so there are accordingly 26 Bishops or Diocesans Besides the Bishoprick of the Isle of Man which is a distinct Bishoprick Their Office being Pastoral their Business is to feed their Flocks with the wholsom Doctrine of the Church and so to oversee the Inferiour Clergy that by their Lives and Doctrine the People may Keep the Truth and live according to the Rules of Christianity And as each of them has a Canonical Authority over all the Priests of his Diocese so they have all in chief the Power of Ordination Which however is never performed but by the Bishop joyntly with some other Priests They are also Impowred to grant Institutions to Benefices upon Presentations of other Patrons to command Induction to be given to order the collecting and preserving of the Profits of vacant Benefices for the Successors Use They are bound to defend the Church-Liberties and once in three Years to Visit each his Diocese In this triennial Visitation they Inquire of the Manners Carriages and Offences of Ministers Church-Wardens and the rest of the Parishioners principally of Offenders against Justice
Charta the same all over England that is according to the King's Standard kept in the Exchequer by the Clerk or Comptroller of the Market The Weights now used throughout all England are of two sorts the one called Troy-Weight and the other Avoir du pois the first containing 12 Ounces and the other 16 in the Pound But then the Ounce Avoir du pois is lighter than the Ounce Troy by almost a 12th part For whereas in Troy-Weight the Ounce consists of 480 Grains the Ounce Avoir du pois containeth but 438 Grains By the Troy-Weight are weighed Pearls precious-Stones Gold Silver Bread all manner of Corn and Grain and this Weight the Apothecaries do or ought to use By Avoir du pois are weighed all Grocery Ware Flesh Butter Cheese Iron Hemp Flax Tallow Wax Lead Steel and all things whereof comes Waste In consideration whereof 112 Pound Avoir du pois goes to a Hundred-Weight and proportionably 56 pound to half a Hundred and 28 to a Quarter or Tod A Stone amongst London Butchers makes 8 pounds of this Weight but in the Country 't is for the most part 14. In Troy-Weight 20 Grains make a Scruple thus marked ℈ 3 Scruples a Drachm ʒ 8 Drachms an Ounce ℥ and 12 Ounces a Pound lb. In Avoir du pois Weight 16 Drachms make an Ounce 16 Ounces a Pound 28 Pound a Quarter 4 Quarters a Hundred and 20 Hundred a Tun. In Troy Weight 24 Grains of Wheat make a Peny-Weight Sterling 20 Peny-Weights an Ounce and 12 Ounces a Pound And when Wheat is at 5 Shillings the Bushel the Peny Wheaten Loaf is then by Statute to weigh 11 Ounces Troy and three half Peny White Loaves to weigh as much But the Houshold Peny-Loaf is to weigh 14 Troy Ounces and two thirds As for the Weight called Venice-Ounce used here as in other Countries by Silk-men there is no Standard of it nor is it allowed by Law This Ounce being but 13 Peny Weight and 12 Grains it falls out that 12 Ounces Venice is but 8 Ounces 4 peny Troy and 9 Ounces Avoir du pois Measares are either Applicative or Receptive that is such as Things are measured by outwardly or inwardly Of the first Sort there is first an Inch or fingers Breadth 4 whereof make a Hand-full and 12 a Foot Now 3 Foot makes a Yard and one Yard and a quarter an Ell. Five Foot makes a Geometrical Pace 6 a Fadom 16 and a half a Perch Pole or Rod. Forty Perches make a Furlong 8 Furlongs or 320 Perches an English Mile and 3 English Miles a French League whereof 3 go to a Degree But this observe by the way that by a Statute under the Reign of Henry VII an English Mile ought to be 1760 Yards or 5280 Foot that is 280 Foot more than the Italian Mile Now an Acre of Land in England consists of 40 Perches in length and 4 in breadth a Yard-Land commonly of 30 Acres and an Hide of Land of 100 Acres The Receptive Measure is two-fold that is either for liquid or dry Things For Liquid as a Pint which is subdivided into lesser Parts as half a Pint a Quartern or quarter of a Pint. Now 2 Pints make a Quart 2 Quarts a Pottle 2 Pottles a Gallon 8 Gallons a Firkin of Ale and 9 a Firkin of Beer Two Firkins of either sort make a Kilderkin and 2 Kilderkins a Barrel But still the Difference in the Number of Gallons as to Beer and Ale ought to be minded and allowed For as a Kilderkin of Beer contains 18 Gallons and one of Ale but 16 so a Barrel of Beer being double a Kilderkin contains 36 Gallons and one of Ale but 32. Now a Barrel and a half of Beer being 54 Gallons make a Hogshead 2 Hogshheads a Pipe or Butt and 2 Pipes a Tun. Note that a Barrel of Butter or Soap is the same with a Barrel of Ale As for Wine-Measures they fall so much short of those of Ale and Beer that Four Gallons of these make Five Gallous of Wine measure Thus they hold proportion as four to five Of these Gallons a Rundlet of Wine holds 18 half a Hogshead 31 and a half a Tierce 42 a Hogshead 63 a Punchion 84 a Pipe or Butt 126 a Tun 252. For dry Things such as Corn or Grain there is first the Gallon of a fize between the Wine and the Beer Gallon Two of these Gallons make a Peck 4 Pecks a Bushel 4 Bushels a Comb or Curnock 2 Curnocks a Quarter 10 Quarters a Last or Wey To conclude now with the Great Trade of England to Foreign Parts besides the several Companies I have took notice of in my Description of London there are other Companies or Societies of Merchants established for the promoting or incouraging of foreign Trade Which have Power and Immunities granted them to make Acts and Orders for the benefit of Commerce in general and of their Companies in particular Such are amongst others the Company of Merchant Adventurers the Russia Turky and East-India Companies and the Royal African Company Besides the Spanish French East-Land and Greenland Companies and the Company trading to Hudson's Bay the Priviledges and Trade of which last were lately confirmed by Act of Parliament The first being the Company of Merchant Adventurers is the most ancient of all having had their Original in the Reign of Edward I and their Continuance ever since Grounded at first upon the Exportation of Wool only being the prime and staple Commodity of England since converted into Cloathing and now including all manner of Drapery This Company is managed in England by a Governour Deputy and certain Assistants beyond Sea by a Deputy and certain Assistants The Russia Company had their Beginning in the Reign of Edward VI upon the Discovery made by the English of the North-East Passage to Archangel whereby they opened a great Trade in the Dominions of the ●zars of Moscovy removed hither from Narva upon the Baltick Their Charter was afterwards confirmed and inlarged by Queen Elizabeth The Turky-Merchants otherwise called the Levant Company from their Trade in the Levant was Incorporated by Queen Elizabeth and had their Charter Confirmed and Inlarged by King James I. But the greatest and most eminent Company is that which manages the East-India Trade which begun likewise in Queen Elizabeths Time Anno 1600. For the Managing whereof they imploy a joint Stock and have a great House in Leaden-Hall-Street called the East-India House By which Trade and Stock they have built a great Number of War-like Ships and brought hither those Indian Commodities which before were brought to us by the Portugueze being the first Discoverers of the East-India Passage So that by the East-India and the Levant Companies England and many other Countries by their second Transportation have ever since been supplied with those Rich Merchandizes which Italy Turky Arabia Persia India and China yield where they have their respective Agents On the Coast of Coromandel