Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	acre_n	charge_n	shilling_n	1,302	5	11.1459	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A19689	A tract against vsurie. Presented to the High Court of Parliament.	Culpeper, Thomas, Sir, 1578-1662.	1621 (1621)	STC 6108; ESTC S109127	8,973	22

are few places of it to which he hath not giuen meanes by reasonable cost and industry greatly to amend it in many to double the value so as in time if for their owne good mens industry were compelled that way the riches and commodities of this Land would neere be doubled Then would all the wet lands in this Kingdome soone be drained the barren Lands mended by Marle Sleech Lime Chalke Sea-sand and other meanes which for their profit mens industry would finde out We see with how great industry and charge our neighbours the Dutch doe draine and maintaine their Lands against the sea which floweth higher aboue them then it doth aboue the lowest parts of our drownd lands I will admit a great deale to their industry but I should very vnwillingly grant that they are so much more ingenuous and industrious then wee as that all the oddes were therein Certainely the maine cause of it is that with vs money is deere and land cheape with them lands deere and money cheape and consequently the improuement of their Lands at so great a charge with them is gainefull to the owners which with vs would be loss-full for Vsury going at ten in the hundred if a man borrow fiue pounds and bestow it on an Acre of ground the amendment stands him in ten shillings the yeere and being amended the land is not worth aboue fifteene yeeres purchase But if the vse of money went at no more with vs then in other places then fiue pound bestowed vpon an Acre of ground would stand a man but in fiue or sixe shillings a yeere and the Acre of Land so amended would be worth as hath beene shewed sixe and twenty or thirty yeeres purchase Whereby it appeareth that as the rate of Vse now goeth no man but where the Land lieth extraordinarily happily for it can amend his Land but to his own losse whereas if money were let as it is in other Countries he might bestow more then double so much as now hee may and yet be a great gainer thereby and consequently as was before remembred should to his owne benefit purchase Land to the common-wealth Neither would such purchase of land to the common-wealth be the benefit to the landed men onely the benefit would be as much to the poore labourers of the land For now when Come and other fruits of the land which grow by labour are cheape the plowe and mattocke are cast into the hedge there is little worke for poore men and that at a low rate whereas if the mendment of their owne Lands were the cheapest purchase to the owner if there were many more people then there are they should readily set a worke at better rates then they now are and none that had their health and lims could be poore but by their extreamest lazinesse And as the high rate of Vsury doth imbase Land so it is as great a hindrance to discoueries plantations and all good vnder-takings making it neere double as chargeable to the Aduenturers mony being at ten in the hundred as it is in other Countries where the Vse of money is so much lower Now let vs see by the contrary and conceiue if Vsury were tolerated at fifteene or twenty in the hundred and I feare many borrowers all things considered pay aboue ten what the condition of things would then be and if it appeare how desperate the hurt would be which that would bring it may at least vpon good reason perswade vs how great the good would be of calling it downe Certainely it must of necessity come to passe that all Trades would in a short time decay For few or none and reckon the hazard at nothing yeelde so great againe as twenty in the hundred all other Nations might with so great gaine out-trade and vnder-sel vs that more then the earth would of her selfe bring forth we should scarce raise any thing from it euen for our owne vse within the Land and Land would be so much imbased as men might affoord without losse to themselues to carry the composte out of their closes vpon their next adioyning lands to mend them so far should we be from marling liming draining planting any other workes of cost or industry by which Lands are purchased to the Common-wealth So farre from Building making of Hauens Discoueries new Plantations or any other actions of vertue and glory to the State for priuate gaine is the compasse men generally saile by And since we cannot without extraordinary diligence Plant Build Draine or any other way amend our Lands but it will be deerer to vs then the purchase of others money being at ten in the hundred if mony then should goe at twenty in the 100. the charge of mending our Land would be doubled and the Land abased to seuen or eight yeres purchase and consequently all workes of industry and charge for improuing of Lands would be quite neglected and giuen ouer wee should onely care vpon one another with Vsury haue our commodities from other Nations let the Land grow barren and vnmanured and the whole State in short time come to beggery Against this perhaps may be obiected that before the 37. of H 8. there was no limitation of Vsury and how did we then To this may bee answered that in those times there was a stricter band in that point vpon mens consciences So far forth as Vsurers were in the same case as excommunicate persons they could make no wills nor were allowed Christian buriall Th●refore let vs for our forefathers sake hope that the rye vpon their consciences then was a greater restraint of Vsury then the Statute of ten in the hundred is now I fear fornication is too frequent among vs yet thanks bee to God not so much vsed as where there is allowance of Curtizans and Stewes The obiections likely to bee made against the calling downe of money are first that generall obiection of ignorance against all changes bee they neuer so necessary and apparantly good that it hath beene so a long time and beene well enough what will become of the alteration wee cannot tell why then should wee make any change Secondly that as in bodies naturall so in politicke great and suddaine changes are most commonly dangerous Thirdly that money wil be suddenly called in and so all borrowers greatly preiudiced Fourthly that money will bee harder to come by and thereby commerce greatly hindred Lastly that much money of forreiners by reason of the high rate of Vsury is brought ouer here to bee managed at interest which would be carried away againe if the rate of Vsury should bee called downe To the first that money hath long gone at ten and things bin well enough It is answered that it is not long that the practise of Vsury hath beene so generally vsed without any sence or scruple of the vnlawfulnesse of it for mens consciences were hardned to it with example and custome by degrees and not vpon the suddaine And as the

A TRACT AGAINST VSVRIE Presented to the High Court of Parliament HEB DDIEV HEB DDIM LONDON Printed by W. I. for Walter Burre and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crane 1621. TO leaue the proofes of the vnlawfulnesse of Vsurie to Diuines wherein a number as well Protestants as Papists haue learnedly written heere is onely set downe some arguments to shew how great the hurt is it doth to this kingdome which hath no gold nor siluer mines but plenty of commodities and many and great aduantages of trade to which the high rate of Vsury is a great preiudice and decay For proofe how much the high rate of Vsury decayes trade we see that generally all Merchants when they haue gotten any great wealth leaue trading and fall to Vsury the gaine thereof being so easie certain and great whereas in other Countries where Vsury is at a lower rate and thereby lands deerer to purchase they continue Merchants from generation to generation to enrich themselues and the State Neyther are they rich trades-men onely that giue ouer trading but a number of beginners are vndone or discouraged by the high rate of Vsury their industry seruing but to inrich others and begger themselues Wee also see many trades themselues much decayed because they will not afford so great a gaine as ten in the hundred whereas if the rate of Vsurie were not higher here then in other Countries they had still subsisted and flourished and perhaps with as much aduantage to the publique as those that doe bring more to the priuate aduenturers Yet are not those the greatest hinderances the high rate of money brings to trade our greatest disaduantage is that other Nations especially our industrious neighbours the Dutch are therein wiser then we for with them and so in most Countries with whom we hold commerce there is not any vse for money tolerated aboue the rate of sixe in the hundred Whereby it must of necessitie come to passe though they haue no other aduantages of industry and frugality that they must out-trade vs for if they make returne of tenne per centum they almost double the Vse allowed and so make a very gainefull trade But with vs where ten in the hundred is so currant it is otherwise for if we make not aboue ten we are losers and consequently the same trade beeing with them and vs equally good for the publique is to the priuate aduenturers losse-full with vs with them very gainefull And where the good of the publique and priuate mens goe not together the publique is seldome greatly aduanced And as they out-trade so they may afford to vnder-sell vs in the fruits of the earth which are equally naturall to our and their Lands as to our great shame wee see our neighbours the Dutch doe euen in our owne Countrey for in most commodities the earth brings forth the stocke imployed in planting and managing of them makes a great in many the greatest part of their price and consequently their stocke with them being rated at sixe in the hundred they may with great gaine vnder-sell vs our stocke with vs being rated at ten And as they may out-trade vs and vnder-sell vs so are all contributions to the Warre workes of Pietie and glory of the State cheaper to them then to vs for the Vse for money going with vs neere double the rate it doth in other Countries the giuing the same sum must needs be double the charge to vs it is to them Amongst other things which the King with so much wisdome deliuered to the House of Parliament he committed to their consideration the ballancing of Trade and Commerce wherein there is nothing of greater consequence then the rate of Vsury which holds no proportion with vs and other Nations to our disaduantage as by experience we see and feele Neyther is the high rate of vsurie lesse hurtfull to Commerce within the land the gaine by Vsurie being so easie certaine and extreame great as they are not onely Marchants and Trades-men but Landed-men Farmers and men of profession that grow lazie in their professions and become Vsurers for the rate of Vsury is the measure by which all men trade purchase build plant or any other waies bargaine It hath beene the wisedome and care of former Parliaments to prouide for the preseruation of Wood and Timber for which there is nothing more auaileable then the calling downe of the high rate of Vsury for as the rate of mony now goeth no man can let his timber stand nor his wood grow to such yeeres growth as is best for the Common-wealth but it will be very lost-full to him The stocke of the woods after they are worth forty or fifty shillings the Acre growing faster at ten in the hundred then the woods themselues doe And for shipping which is the strength and safety of this land I haue heard diuers Marchants of good credit say that if they would build a shippe and let it to any other to imploy they cannot make of their money that way counting all charges teare and weare aboue tenne or twelue in the hundred which can be no gainefull trade money it selfe going at ten in the hundred But in the Low-Countries where money goeth at sixe the building of ships and hiring them to others in a gainefull Trade and so the stocke of rich men and the industry of beginners are well ioyned for the publike And yet that which is aboue all the rest the greatest sinne against the Land is that it makes the Land it selfe of small value neerer the rate of new-found Lands than of any other Countrie where Lawes gouernement and peace haue so long flourished For the high rate of Vsury makes Land sell so cheape and the cheape sale of Land is the cause men seeke no more by industry and cost to improue them and this is plaine both by example and demonstration for we see in other Countries where the vse of money is of a low rate Lands are generally sold for 30. 40. in some for 50. yeeres purchase And wee know by the rule of bargaining that if the rate of Vse were not greater here then in other Countries Lands were then as good a penniworth at twenty yeeres purchase as they are now at sixeteene For Lands being the best assurance and securest inheritance will still beare a rate aboue money Now if Lands were at thirty yeeres purchase or neere it there were no so cheape purchase as the amendment of our owne Lands for it would be much cheaper to make one acre of Land now worth fiue shillings by the yeere to be worth ten shillings or being worth ten to be worth twenty shillings and so in proportion then to purchase an other acre worth fiue or ten shillings And in euery acre thus purchased to the owner by the amendment of his owne there were another purchased to the common-wealth And it is the blessing of God to this Land that there