and Corn I answer thou maist at any time take up Ten or Twelve pounds or more upon a Mortgage of thy Bank-Corn to buy Materials to work into Manufacture Child I charge thee tell this to thy VVife in Bed and it may be she understanding the benefit that will be to her and her Children by this way she may turn Dutch-VVoman and endeavour to provide some Moneys which she will save to buy Corn And by these two ways of having cheap Bread and Drink and Credit out of the Bank to take up Moneys at any time when wanting certainly here thou wilt have sufficient Revenge of thy former Task-Masters Consider thy fingers and hands are thy own and now they are imployed for thy benefit and advantage and not for others with cheap Bread and Drink with Moneys at all times when wanted and if thou dyest leaving a VVidow behind thee assure thy self my Daughter need not stay long for a Husband for thou leaving her Bank-Corn and good store of hands to work there will be old striving for her as there is for VVidows that have many Children in other parts where this just delightful profitable saving and honourable way is practised Secondly Thou wilt unavoidably ruine Pawn-Brokers and it is high time or else they will by their great Interest ruine all the Poor and to me it is no less then a Miracle that the Pawn-Brokers had not long since ruin'd all the poor People in and about London by high Interest Marshals-VVrits Imprisonments and the dreadful effects now practised Now Children if you will pawn your Clothes and take them out on Saturday Nights and carry them in on Monday-Mornings or pay Thirty or Fourty in the Hundred for your Moneys I shall take no pity of you Thirdly Thou wilt have no occasion for a Lawyer but mayest follow thy business quietly if thou wilt and be in a condition to augment the number of thy Hands and so increase thy Estate and be able to set at work the idle Poor which now Beg and Steal then thy Neighbours will love thee for taking their Poor off them and thou wilt increase in Riches and at last it will be Strive as strive can who shall have the Poor even as now they strive at the Sessions-house for Persons to carry to Barbadoes or Virginia But my Child remember it is thy Corn and Malt in Granary and the Credit which that Corn and Malt gives thee which is the cause of all this I will now leave this subject only I must lay a charge upon all my Daughters whose Husbands work in Mechanick Arts That they force their Husbands to eat good Wheaten-Bread made of Corn that is taken out of the Bank-Granary and also that they force them to drink good Ale and Beer that is made of Malt taken out of the Bank-Granaries But I know many will say Here is a new way which was never heard of before to prevent poverty and the increase of beggary No Friend it is not so there is a great City beyond the VVater in the Civil-VVars was much destroyed where this Rule Order and Government is now practised and it was high time for that place to fall on this way for the VVars had wholly beggar'd them Necessity many times brings good things to pass I pray God this may be the time with us Necessities force hard and decay in Trade comes posting on I must now mind all my Children who labour in the Mechanick Art who are resolved to have Corn for Bank-Credit of a Story being a worthy Mans observation in Holland which the Bank at Amsterdam sends to the Parties who lent them Moneys Sir William Temple to come and fetch their Moneys lent with Interest they come with Tears in their Eyes desiring them to continue it longer If this Bank-Credit by Corn Granaries were here well fixt the very like would be with the Mechanicks who have Corn in Bank there being no Security at present to be had comparable to what this would be I must desire my Children or some of them which can well spare Moneys to buy a Book of Trade lately set out by a worthy Gentleman wherein you will perfectly see Mr. Roger Cook That all Trades must and will flourish according as the means is used in promoting them and that Rule Order and Policies in Trade by Sea and Land Ease Cheapness with conveniences for Trade have been the means of setting up the Dutch to this great growth and strength they are now at And in Reading that Book you will perfectly see as in a Glass your own condition as now it is as also what it would be if the thing I treat upon were here well fixt by a good Law Now I will take a step to Worcester and Discourse the poor Clothiers there but I know they are all of one Lip a bad Trade and they do not know when it will mend neither do they know which way it may be mended well because they are Neighbours and Countrey-men I will take in the Clothiers of VVorcester vvith the Cap-makers of Bewdley and Stuff-Weavers of Kidderminster and as they are Neighbours in one County and deal all in the VVool so I will fix them all together in One Granary at New Brunswick near Stratford upon Avon And for that they shall have equal benefit in all things relating to the said Granary I have here drawn the form of the Bill to be presented to the Parliament for the building and ordering the Bank-Granary and the Corn at New Brunswick which shall be put therein with all persons thereunto related BE it enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Incorporated-companies of Clothiers of the City of VVorcester and Town of Kidderminster with the company of Cappers of the Town of Bewdley in the said County to erect and build one or more Granaries at New Brunswick near the Bridg at Stratford upon Avon in the County of Warwick being the Lands of Sir John Clapton Knight to hold and keep Corn of all sorts for the use and benefit of the said companies of Clothiers and Cappers and that the said companies may have and take Lands sufficient to make a good and sufficient High-way for Carts and other Carriages to come to and from the said Granary or Granaries provided the said companies of Clothiers and Cappers first pay or cause to be paid to Sir John Clapton or his Assigns for so much Land as they shall use or have occasion for not under Thirty years purchase and in case there shall arise any difference about the value of the Land so to be made use of then it shall be in the power of the Mayor of Stratford upon Avon and any two of the Aldermen of the said Town to set down and award how much
have forc'd Trade out of your City some of them are not within the power either of the Law or your Magistrates to prevent but some are and these which may be done with ease I question not but your Magistrates will use their endeavours to bring them to pass The which are putting all the New Buildings in the City of London under a Register and procuring a Law to pass to enable the several Companies of Handicraft Tradesmen in London hereafter mentioned to have power to make the River Sharwell Navigable from Oxford to Banbury to build Granaries to hold Corn with Mills or any other Engines to go by Water to be made use of for the good and benefit of the several Companies whereby Art will be incouraged and Trade convenienced The Names of the Companies are as followeth and the Copy of the Bill to be carried into Parliament for the accomplishing of the same follows after The Company of Weavers the Company of Pin-Makers the Company of Turners the Company of Water-men the Company of Silk-Throwers the Company of Felt-Makers the Company of Pavers the Company of Cloth-Workers the Company of Plasterers the Company of Joyners the Company of Embroiderers the Company of Brick-Layers the Company of Smiths the Company of Armourers and the Company of Carpenters The Form of the Bill to be carried into Parliament for the making of the River Sharwell Navigable from Oxford to Banbury and for building Publick Granaries near the said River with liberty to set up Mills and Engines to go by Water for the use and benefit of the several Companies of the Handicraft Trades in the City of London called by the Names of Weavers Pin-Makers Turners Water-men Silk-Throwers Felt-Makers Pavers Cloth-Workers Plasterers Joyners Embroiderers Brick-Layers Smiths Armourers and Carpenters WHereas it is evidently made appear That all Manufactures in England may by the advantage of having constantly good and cheap Uictuals as also ready Moneys at all times to drive their several Trades live comfortably and thereby provide plentifully for their Wives and Children And whereas it is lately found out and discovered that the said Benefits may with much ease be made applicable unto several of the Companies of Handicrafts within the City of London and the way for the doing thereof is to have liberty to make the River Sharwell Navigable from Oxford to Banbury and to set up publick Granaries and Engines near the said River for the use of the said Companies Therefore be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty by and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Incorporated Companies of Meavers Pin-Makers Turners Mater-men Silk Throwers Felt-Makers Pavers Cloth-Morkers Plasterers Ioyners Embroiderers Bricklayers Smiths Armourers and Carpenters to make the River Sharwell Navigable from the City of Oxford to the Town of Banbury in the County of Oxford and to build Granaries for holding of Corn with liberty for making of Mills for grinding thereof with Licence and leave to set up Engines to go by Mater for the use and benefit of the several Trades mentioned in this Act. And for that it shall not be any ways prejudicial to the Owners of any Land which shall be Cut or made use of for making the said River Navigable or building the said Granaries Hills or Engines Therefore be it Enacted That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lord Keeper or Lord Chancellor of England to grant a Commission under the Great Seal of England thereby Authorising Fifteen of the knowingest able Gentlemen of the County of Oxford to be Commissioners to set down and settle what and how much shall be paid for the Lands so to be Cut or made use of and the Moneys to be paid before there is any act or thing done in cutting any of the said Lands so to be made use of And it is further Enacted That any Seven of the said Commissioners shall be sufficient to make or do any act according to Iustice and good Conscience and all Rules Orders Decrees being so made done shall bind all Parties concerned their Heirs all other Persons whatsoever And be it further Enacted That all the Benefit of the said River Sharwell and the Barges and Boats employed thereupon with the Granaries Hills and Engines to be built shall be and enure to the several Companies named in this Act and to their Successors for ever And be it further Enacted That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Companies and their Successors to put Corn in the said Granaries and the same to be Registred with the Clark of each Company as to the time it was put in and the nature kind and quantities of the said Corn And from and after such time the said Corn is in Granary no Sale Mortgage or Conveyance shall be good but such as is Entered with the Clark of the particular Companies and at the Guild-Hill with the Register there employed for that purpose And in case any of the said Parties dye having Corn in Bank it shall go and enure one Third part to the Midow of the Party deceased the other two Third parts thereof to be dirided share and share like amongst all the Children of the Party deceased only the youngest Child excepted which shall have one share and a half being in most necessity the better to help to breed him or her up And that the Husband is and shall be for ever disabled to make any Incumbrance upon the said Corn in Bank without the consent of his Wife and she joining with him under her Hand and Entred in the Clark of the Companies Book and with the Register at the Guild-Hall then the property of the said Bank Corn shall be legally altered and not otherwise any Law Statute Usage or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding In reading my Book of England's Improvement by Sea and Land you will see the Causes laid open and plain of the decay of Trade and Manufactures in England and the Reasons of the low Rates the things must of necessity be sold for I have already set and appropriated the Clothiers of Worcester the Weavers of Kidderminster and the Cappers of Bewdley to have the benefit of a Granary near Stratford upon Avon Now I am for fixing the several Companies of London who work in the laborious Arts in Granaries upon the River Sharwel near Anslo Bridge in the County of Oxford about seven Miles from Oxford The Arms of the several Companies are in the Map of Rivers in this Book affixed wherein you may plainly see That if the River Sharwel were once made Navigable from Oxford to Anslo Bridge and the Granaries built in that place for the several Companies then all the Rich Corn Countries toward Banbury and Brackley would be on the Back-side of the Granaries and would at all times
But you will ask me What the poor Gentleman shall do to secure his Person I will tell you what some have done and many more I know must do even turn over either to the Fleet or Bench. O Pity and Sin that it should be so in brave England First Pity that a poor Gentleman cannot have Moneys at such interest upon his Land as the Law directs to pay his just Debts and for the good and comfort of his Family Secondly It is a Sin that a Gentleman of a Thousand pounds a year should be the occasion of ruining so many Families as he does by putting them to such vexatious Suits for their Moneys lent and it may be at last lose all And that you may further see the badness of the Land Security at this day take these two Accompts In the Country where I live I have been a Commissioner in the Third part of the greatest Estates in the County wherein I have seen the Settlements two ways and many of them proved which are lying dormant and so will do The Civil Wars were the occasion of these Settlements And in the next County an Attorney Nicholas Phillpot of Hereford about four years since put out in print two Sheets to shew Reasons wherefore a Register of Lands is needful And amongst the rest this is one For saith he in the County where I live I know men that have deceived and are deceived to the value of Forty thousand pounds besides what all others know And whoever perfectly knows that Country will say none in England out-does it as to benefit the life of man But Honour and Honesty being decayed Riches will not stay I am sorry I must make such a Discovery of the badness and uncertainty of Titles but if the wound be not searched to the bottom there will be no hope of a Cure In this posture as you see are many poor men in England which cannot borrow Four thousand pounds of a Thousand pounds a year Land I pray let us see what a posture a Dutchman stands in that hath One hundred pounds a year and wants Four thousand pounds Now I am a Dutchman and have One hundred pounds a year in the Province of West-Friezland near Groningen and I come to the Bank at Amsterdam and there tender a Particular of my Lands and how tenanted being One hundred pounds a year in West-Friezland and desire them to lend me Four thousand pounds and I will Mortgage my Land for it The Answer will be I will send by the Post to the Register of Groningen your Particular and at the return of the Post you shall have your Answer The Register of Groningen sends Answer It is my Land and tenanted according to the Particular There is no more words but tell out your Moneys OBSERVE all you that read this and tell to your Children this strange thing That Paper in Holland is equal with Moneys in England I refuse the Moneys I tell him I do not want Moneys I want credit and having one Son at Venice one at Newemberge one at Hamburgh and one at Dantzick where Banks are I desire four Tickets of Credit each of them for a Thousand pounds with Letters of Advice directed to each of my Sons which is immediately done and I Mortgage my Lands at Three in the Hundred Reader I pray Observe that every Acre of Land in the Seven Provinces trades all the world over and it is as good as ready Money but in England a poor Gentleman cannot take up Four thousand pounds upon his Land at six in the hundred Interest although he would Mortgage a Thousand pounds a year for it No and many Gentlemen at this day of Five hundred pounds a year in Land cannot have credit to live at a Twelve-penny Ordinary If this be so it is very clear and evident that a man with One hundred pounds a year in Holland so convenienced as their Titles are and at the paying but three in the Hundred Interest for the Moneys lent may sooner raise Three Families than a Gentleman in England can either raise One or preserve the Family in being for the Reasons already given But were the Free Lands of England under a voluntary Register all these Miseries would vanish and the Lands would come to Thirty years Purchase which I shall shew you in its proper place But I know you would understand the Reason why a West-Friezland man may have Four thousand pounds upon a Hundred pounds a year I Answer Because there the Land is worth Fifty years Purchase And after the Four thousand pounds is lent the Party that owns the Land may if he please at the smaller Bank at Groningen take up Six hundred pounds more in Bank Dollers upon the same Hundred pounds a year For Credit is given to the value of the Land within Two years Purchase of what the Land goeth at I can both in England and Wales Register my Wedding my Burial and my Christening and a poor Parish Clerk is intrusted with the keeping of the Book and that which is Register'd there is good by our Law But I cannot Register my Lands to be honest to pay every man his own to prevent those sad things that attend Families for want thereof and to have the great benefit and advantage that would come thereby A Register will quicken Trade and the Land Registred will be equal as Cash in a mans hands and the Credit thereof will go and do in Trade what Ready Moneys now doth Observe how it advanceth Trade in Holland and of how little Advantage it is to the Trade of England I having One hundred pounds a year in Holland meet with a Merchant upon the Exchange at Amsterdam and agree with him for Goods to the value of Four thousand pounds for six Months If he demands Security I go to the Bank and give him Security by a Ticket of my Land and by the Credit of that Ticket the Merchant is immediately in Trade again as high as the Commodity was he sold But if I make a Bargain at London for Four thousand pounds worth of Goods for six Months the next discourse is What Security Then the Buyer and the Seller agree to meet at the Tavern at Four of the Clock in the Afternoon There the Buyer produceth his Security many times not approved of so the Merchant cannot put off his Commodities nor the Chapman have the Goods he stands in need of But if the Buyer or any Friend of his that would Credit him had Land under a Register then a Ticket upon such Lands given to the Merchant would be equal to him as Ready Moneys and I say better too It is the common mistake of the world who cry up the Dutch for a great Cash in Bank it is not so it is a great mistake For it is a Bank of Credit and Paper is in that Bank equal with Moneys the Anchorage Fund and Foundation being laid Safe And that is the Lands being under a Register
him nineteen for his pains And as great a Bank at Exeter as at Noremberge and give life and strength to the great Wollen Manufacture in all the West of England For no great things can be done without a Bank and no Bank can be of any benefit to Trade and the Publick but where there is a Register And I would have the mistaken world know that a Bank is as safe and practicable in a Kingdom as in a Common-wealth and particularly in an Island that is convenient for Trade And the Reason why it is so is because it is a Bank of Credit not of Cash as is the Chamber of London and the East-India Company whose Treasures are abroad in Trade and increasing and only the Books in the Offices I say it is impossible to keep a Bank from rising in this Kingdom nay many Banks if we were under a voluntary Register But now the Land Credit and the City Bank Credit are both disparaged therefore it is impossible that Trade can any way be secured or bettered And for persons behind-hand and in debt they must expect misery Of late years the monied Men in England sent their Moneys into Lombard-street and there received a Note from a Goldsmiths Boy which was all they had to shew for their Moneys And certainly there was a Reason wherefore the great monied men did take such slender Security for their Moneys The Reason was because the Land Security was so uncertain and bad and it was so troublesome and chargeable getting their Moneys again when they had occasion to use it that forc't them to Lombard-street For two parts in three that put their Moneys into these uncertain Banks know better how to lay their Moneys out in Land Security than any of the banking Goldsmiths or Merchants either But the Land Security being not good the Moneys tumbled into the wrong Channel And all persons that have designs to get considerable Sums of Moneys into their hands for intended designs or hazardous adventures apply themselves to the Money-Bankers and there make their approaches by noble Treats great Offers with large Interest with Country Baronets Knights Esquires and it 's possible some Citizens also for Security and at last creep into the credit of borrowing great Sums of Money upon Land Mortgaged twice or thrice before for in the Country none could be borrowed At length the Banker calls for his Moneys but none can be paid The Banker dares not adventure to sue but all that he dare do is to employ a Lawyer only to whisper not to make a noise or give him some private Duns for if he sues or falls on that would cause the person that credited the Banker to call in his Moneys and so the Banker's Credit would be spoiled therefore all is to be silent and hush The Banker by this time seeth and knoweth his condition now he casts about how to preserve himself from the Storm approaching and it is possible some considerable Creditor by this time spies some bad Bargains made by the Banker and calls in his Moneys His earnestness puts on others to do the like and then all his Creditors crowd to him as Pigs do through a hole to a Bean and Pease Rick Now the Banker stands upon his guard speaks fair to some prevails with others to have patience a while and in the mean time he advises not his Creditors but his own interest Now by the importunity of his Wife and Friends he secures perhaps Two or Three Thousand pounds free from all Peoples approaches Then you shall have him make Offers and prays Time proffers his Books to be surveyed and saith that he will be just and hath husbanded the Moneys with justice and honesty The Books are presented the major part of the Creditors proclaim that there is Estate sufficient to pay all So the minor Creditors must be concluded And then Time is given to pay by degrees and Bond is given for the Payment But by whom Even by the Bankers themselves A brave Security but if their Books were surveyed by Persons that know Men and the Securities that are given it is not to be questioned but Sir Foplin Flutter and Esquire Nipp have good part of the Moneys upon the Mortgages of Lands Mannors and Tenements and great part as easie to be recovered as it is to bring Penmenmoor and Gore Agoluath together being the two great Mountains in North Wales And it is possible that great part of those Moneys are ventured to Sea by Merchants and rather than their Friend the Goldsmith shall suffer he shall shut up Shop and go to Sea with his Merchant and bring home the supposed lost Estate and at his return pay God knows what It is probable that any man that sends his Moneys into any of these Banks will conclude it impossible to employ so great Cash as they are intrusted with any other way than by lending upon Land Security or to Merchants to venture to Sea or to Citizens and others upon Personal Security And if the Cash can be employed no other way then the Lender must conclude the Banker is not able to secure the Moneys but must run the hazard of bad Security by Land and such hazards at Sea as attend Merchants with the badness and uncertainty of Personal Security And it is not to be imagin'd there being such great Cash put into the Bankers hands that they should stand to the loss of all moneys misventur'd by trusting and bad Securities And it must be madness for the Bankers to keep the moneys in their Chests by them unless they intend to keep part for themselves and pay part and then lay the Key under the Door I beg this one question of such Country Gentlemen as have put their moneys into the Bankers hands Whether they do not know better how to lay out their moneys on Land Security than the Bankers do Yes I know they do ten to one better for they partly know Titles that may be indifferent certain and know the Reputations of the Persons better than the Bankers as I have set down before And if there can be no Security given to the Bankers more than I have set down then in the name of God let them that have a mind to proceed further with them go on and prosper if they can But it will be Objected That I am no Friend to the way of Banking as now it is I do profess it and have been of the same mind this ten years last past and have declared before some of the Bankers and many Persons of Quality besides that this way of banking would endanger the Kingdom And when I saw it convenient which was in January last I gave Reasons in Publick Coffee-houses for my Opinion some of the Bankers being present Their way of Dealing I knew and what Security they took which was impossible should run long And as the Land and Personal Security is at this day no living man although never so knowing in the Laws
the ringing of the Bell and pointing the Rod at the Maid that hath spun off her Flax she hath another Distaff given her and her Spool of Thread taken from her and put into a Box unto others of the same size to make Cloth And observe what Advantages they make of suiting their Threads to make Cloth all being of equal Threads First They raise their Children as they spin finer to the higher Benches Secondly They sort and size all the Threads so that they can apply them to make equal Cloaths Whereas here in England one Woman or good Housewife hath it may be six or eight Spinners belonging to her and at some odd times she spins and also her Children and Servants and all this Thread shall go together some for Woof some for Warp to make a piece of Cloth And as the Linen is Manufactured in England at this day it cannot be otherwise And is it not a pity and shame that the young Children and Maids here in England should be idle within 〈◊〉 begging abâ—oâ—d tearing Hedges or robbing Orchards and worse when these and these alone are the people that may and must if ever set up this Trade of making fine Linen here And after a young Maid hath been three years in the spinning School that is taken in at six and then continues until nine years she will get eight pence the day And in these parts I speak of a man that has most Children lives best whereas here he that has most is poorest There the Children enrich the Father but here begger him Joining to this Spinning-School are three more Schools ordered as this spoken of is One is for Maids weaving Bone-lace another for Boys making Toys some cutting the Heads some the Bodies some the Legs the third is for Boys painting the Toys and slit Pictures I know these Questions will be put or asked First Where would you have this Trade settled in England Secondly How shall there be Flax provided for to manage this Trade And Thirdly Where shall be Stock at first and where can we have places to whiten I Answer Warwick Leicester Northampton and Oxford Shires are the places fit to set up this Manufacture because in these Countries there is at present no Staple Trade and the Land there for Flax is very good being rich and dry wherein Flax doth abundantly delight And I affirm that the Flax that grows in these parts shall do any thing that the German or any other Flax can do provided it be ordered accordingly As to the second and third as to Flax and Stock let each County begin with two thousand Pounds Stock apiece immediately to provide Houses as before set down and employ it as is directed And for places to Whiten near all the great Towns there are Brooks or Rivers where bleeching places may be made in the Lands adjoining as is in Southwark by help of the flowing of the Thames And for Men and Women to Govern the Trade I know in every Country there are Men sufficient to direct and order it I know it will be much inquired into by many why Warwick Leicester Northampton and Oxford-shires should be the places fixed on for the Linnen Manufacture before all other Counties in England I answer there are no Counties in England so capable of making the Commodity so good and so cheap as these First their Land is excellent good to produce Flax. Secondly they are inland Counties and have no staple Manufacture at present fixt with them whereby their poor are idle and want imployment Thirdly they are Counties the best furnished at all times with Corn and Flesh of any Counties in England and at cheapest Rates Fourthly they are in the heart of England and the Trade being once well setled in these Counties will influence their Neighbouring Counties in the same Manufacture in sending their Flax and threads with ease and cheapness down the Rivers Thames Avon Trent and St Eades all which Navigable Rivers come into these Counties And I affirm it is not possible to set up this Trade in any other part of England with success but in these places because in most part of England there are fixt Manufactures already that do in great measure set the poor at work In the West of England clothing of all sorts as in Glocester Worcester Shropshire Staffordshire and a small part of Warwickshire In Derby Nottingham and Yorkshire the Iron and Wollen Manufacture In Suffolk Norfolk and Essex the Wollen Manufacture In Kent Sussex and Surry some Cloth Iron and Materials for Shipping Then to Counties to raise provisions and to vend them at London to feed that great Mouth are Cambridge Huntington Buckingham Hartford Middlesex and Berks. And if you rightly weigh and consider how England is fixed in all parts as to the Growth Trade Manufacture and vending thereof there are no Counties in England that this desirable gainful improvement of the Linen Manufacture possibly can be managed in with the like success as in the forementioned Counties For as Common Honesty is necessary for Trade and without it Trade will decay so any Manufacture fixed in any place where it may be better accommodated thither it will go and so remove from the place where it was first set up and the discouragments it received there many times keep it from fixing any where else About seven or eight years since there was a Proposal of setting up the Linen Manufacture in and near Ipswich a Town of two hundred void houses to be had for little and near the Sea but I coming to that Town was prest hard to give my Opinion whether the Linen Trade might be there set up with success After I had rid about the Town as far as Cattaway Bridge and observed the Influence that the Colchester Trade had there as also the Stuff and Say Trade whereby the Poor were comfortably supplyed I then found it was impossible to go on with success and gave my reasons upon which all was laid aside and my reasons approved of I did also acquaint one of the Grandees of the Linen Trade at Clarken-well that that Trade would eat out its own Bowels Stock and Block would come to nothing And so it shall do in the Countries I name and in all other places in the World being a new Manufacture unless the Publick Authority take care and cherish it for at least seven years The way how I will set down when I have finished my Discourse of this and the Iron Manufacture for it is as fit to be done for the incouragement of the Iron Manufacture as for the Linen Manufacture And observe I pray you these Counties I now name for the Linen Manufacture employ more hands at work by their growth than any eight Counties of England do by the growth of theirs and all employed abroad in other Counties not in their own And the great cause of Strength and Riches to England are those great quantities of Wool which grow in their
great Pastures and are sent abroad into the West and other parts and there Manufactured where they keep at work infinite quantities of poor people as Spinners Carders Weavers Dressers Dyers Yet I have seen two pieces in Print each making great complaint that by the late Inclosures in these Counties a Dog and a Boy do manage as much Lands as formerly employed ten Teams and kept forty persons at work all the year Never considering that the Land inclosed is treble the benefit to the Owner after the Ministers and Poors part was thrown out over what it was before it was inclosed and that the product of the Wool proceeding from the same Land does set at work five times the number of people in other places of the Kingdom And so it will be with the Linen Manufactures if once well settled in these four Counties and incouraged by a Publick Law Then these Counties will be as Germany is to Holland and Flanders There the Flax will grow and be Manufactured easily and cheap part whitened there and the Thread and part of the Flax sent down the Navigable Rivers to the several Towns to be woven and spun And so there will be employ for the greatest part of the Poor of England And in such Towns where it meets with a settled voluntary Register thence never will it depart But I must now name you some Lands in these Counties very fit for Flax thereby to make you know the fitness of the rest with its quantities as also show you the quantities of Flax that may grow upon one Mannor in Warwickshire and the number of poor people it will employ by which Demonstrations you may judge what may be done in the four Counties named in this Design offered at For this twelve years last past I having my London Road through Warwickshire made my Observations of the Land there and the fitness of it to bear Flax but more particularly of the Mannor of Milcott being the Earl of Middlesex's near Stratford upon Avon Which Mannor is about three thousand Acres and to the value of three thousand pounds a year as I am informed The Land in this Mannor is sound rich dry and good and that is the true Land to bear Flax. And in this Mannor some years there are sown some hundred Acres of Flax But if the whole Mannor were sown with Flax it would employ nine thousand people in the Manufacturing thereof as to sowing weeding pulling watering dressing spinning winding weaving and whitening One part of which labour would be done upon and near the place the other would be done in remote parts the Flax and Thread being carried down the River Avon into Severne and so conveyed with ease to Bristol Wales and other parts to set the Poor at work which want employment and so the small Towns will set their Poor at work by the same Rule as they do in Germany and then there will need no Relief from the Parish for the Poor nor will there be any complaining in the Streets One Acre of Land will bear three hundred weight of Flax. This three hundred weight of Flax well drest and made fine will make four hundred Ells of Cloth worth three shillings the Ell which will be in value when it is manufactured threescore Pounds You must observe the finer the Thread is the less Flax goeth to make it and the more Cloth it will make And so there being the labour of three persons to manufacture the Flax that comes of this one Acre of Land this Mannor will employ nine thousand persons Now there are at least Ten thousand Acres of Land besides this very good for Flax in Warwickshire and no less quantity in any of the three other Counties every way as good Now Reader I pray Answer me whether here be not work sufficient upon the growth and product of our own Land nay in four Counties where no Manufacture is to set the greatest part of the Poor of England at work besides the great advantage it will bring to the Owners of the Lands and the great enriching of the Country by fixing so great a staple Trade there and bringing a multitude of People also which is and ever will be a great enrichment to the place where they are Witness the West of England by the Woollen Manufactures and Buringham Sturbridge Dudly Wassal and thereabout for the Iron Manufactures And I dare affirm take Dudly to be the Center of ten Miles round considering the badness of the Land it is there twice as dear as it is in the four Counties here named And within ten Miles round Dudly there are more people inhabiting and more Money returned in a year than is in these four rich fat Counties I mention And by this Manufacture we should prevent at least two Millions of Money a year from being sent out of the Land for Linen Cloth and keep our people at home who now go beyond the Seas for want of imployment here For where ever the Country is full of people they are rich and where thin there the place is poor and all Commodities cheap I could put something further into the Heads of the Gentlemen of these Counties wherein they may have much more added to this prescribed Linen Trade but then I fear their Neighbouring Gentlemen will fall at Difference why one should have so much benefit and the other so little as they did when I surveyed Trent for them in the year one thousand six hundred sixty five and a Tax shall be laid upon the Stock settled as they did upon mine and Partners as soon as I had made the River Avon Navigable and brought Barges to Stratford I know many will say This is a very good way to imploy the poor but what shall they do for Looms Slayes and Wheels for to spin and weave this Flax and how shall we make our Flax fine so that we may make fine Cloth and what shall we do for places to whiten it at for it is said that no place will do it well but at Haerlem in Holland and that is because of the water in the Mere joining unto the Town As to the first thou mayest have the Looms Wheels and Slayes at first out of Germany and from Haerlem Two Looms Two Wheels and ten Slayes will be sufficient to make others by and all these thou mayest have for twenty pounds As to the Second there is much in preparing and fitting of the Flax so as to make it run to a fine Thread This is the way they do it in Germany and thou mayest write by their Copy Thou must twice a year beat thy Flax well and dress it well and take out of it all the filth and so for as long as thou hast it in thy possession if it be ten years and the longer thou keepest it the finer it will be for beating and often dressing will cause the Harle to open and at last it will be strangely fine There must also be a Stove in