hazardous War by Sea or to bring to pass the things that will beat the Dutch without fighting The Reason wherefore the British Rivers draw five Foot Water more than the German Rivers do at the Mouth or Influx is because they run not above one hundred and fifty Miles and through Clay and Gravelly Land which sort of Soyl sends but little quantity of Sand down into the great Freshes And our South and West Winds being great and blowing as I said before two parts in three in the year at those Points force out the Sands and send them into the Ocean And upon some certain Tides force them over to help to augment the Holds on the German Shore Observe but the Mouth of the River Dee that runs by Chester which lyes in the Face of the South and West Winds and there you will find the Winds and Tides have done the like By which at this present a Vessel of twenty Tuns cannot come loaded to that Old Noble Town of Chester But now it is time to begin to shew you how we may beat the Dutch without fighting To beat the Dutch with fighting so as to force them from their beloved Mistriss and delight which is Trade and Riches thereby hath been the design of most of their Neighbours for this forty years last past who thought thereby to bring that Mistress of Trade to leave that People and betake her self to a place of better Ports and healthfuller Air. To which purpose upon the end of War betwixt England and Holland many advantageous Articles have been agreed upon and some good Laws made to encourage Trade and the Merchants But I see although we get this Mistresses Love it is but for a short time she is still endeavouring to be gone and seat her self in that dull and flegmatick Air. And the Reasons wherefore she doth so and will do so I will here discover unto you All Kingdoms and Common-wealths in the World that depend upon Trades common Honesty is as necessary and needful in them as Discipline is in an Army and where is want of common Honesty in a Kingdom or Commonwealth from thence Trade shall depart For as the Honesty of all Governments is so shall be their Riches And as their Honour Honesty and Riches are so will be their Strength And as their Honour Honesty Riches and Strength are so will be their Trade These are five Sisters that go hand in hand and must not be parted All people that know any thing of Holland know that the people there pay great Taxes and eat dear maintain many Souldiers both by Sea and Land and in the three Maritime Provinces have neither good Water nor good Air And that in some of the Provinces they pay Fifty years Purchase for their Lands and are many times subject to be destroyed by the devouring waves of the Sea's overflowing their Banks And notwithstanding all these strange and unheard Inconveniences yet they will not quit their Station and remove to places of more safety and less Taxes though never so civilly treated The Reason whereof is First They have fitted themselves with a Publick Register of all their Lands and Houses whereby it is made Ready Moneys at all times without the charge of Law or the necessity of a Lawyer Secondly By making Cut Rivers Navigable in all places where Art can possibly effect it thereby making Trade more Communicable and Easie than in other places Thirdly By a Publick Bank the great Sinews of Trade the Credit thereof making Paper go in Trade equal with Ready Money yea better in many parts of the World than Money Fourthly A Court of Merchants to end all differences betwixt Merchant and Merchant Fifthly A Lumber-house whereby all poor people may have Moneys lent upon Goods at very easie Interest As I have shewed you their Strength before now in these five Particulars you may see their Policie upon which lies all their Happiness and Welfare By these Policies of the Dutch and the want of our Lands being put under a Register One hundred pounds a year in Holland at this present time will raise a Family sooner and drive a better and more profitable Trade than a man can do of a Thousand pounds a year in England But if we write by their Copies we shall do the great things they now do and I dare say out-do them too Now I will demonstrate to all men unbiassed the truth of what I assert and shew them the Condition the Gentlemen and People of England are in at this day and also the Condition the Dutch are in at this day in all their Provinces Let a Gentleman now in England that hath a Thousand pounds a year Land that owes Four thousand pounds come to a Money Scrivener and desire Four thousand pounds to be lent him on all his Land and produce his Writings and the Estate hath been in the Family Two hundred years I know at this day the Answer will be that by the Law of England as it is now practis'd no man can know a Title by Writings there being so many ways to incumber the Land privately And therefore the Answer commonly is Bring us Security for the Covenants and we will lend you the Moneys The Gentleman gets such Friends as he can procure to be bound for his Covenants whom if they accept then the Procurator and Continuator have their Game to play But if he bring not such Security as they like he goeth without this Four thousand pounds which is a sad and lamentable case he having Lands worth a Thousand pounds a year And now he is put to his shifts his Creditors come upon him the charge of Law-suits comes on all his Affairs are distracted his Sons and Daughters want Money to set them into the World At last it is possible he gets Two thousand pounds a piece of two several Persons of one at York and of the other at London and Mortgages all his Lands to each man This continues private for some years The while the Gentleman strives what he can to be honest and prepare Moneys to pay off one of the Mortgages But it commonly falls out otherwise either through bad Times or decay of Tenants great Taxes or the Eldest Son matching contrary to his Father's will or oftentimes it is worse he is so debaucht no one will match with him Now the Gentleman's miseries come on and what must he then do for the persons that have the Lands Mortgaged will not stay because by this time it is discover'd the Land is twice mortgaged I tell you the Lawyers Harvest is now come in and the Estate torn to pieces and the Gentleman his Wife and Family and it may be Creditors too undone For seeing all is in danger to be gone the Friends of the Wife Trump up a former Title to the two Mortgages and fence to get all the Estate that Sheriff Bayliffs Sollicitors and Lawyers leave to be to the Uses intended or pretended in the Private Settlement
and Holds all along the German Shore from the Mouth of the Texel and other Holland Rivers unto the Mouth or Influx of the Elbe And within these Sands and Holds they lye close and safe as long as they please and we cannot come at them with our Ships the Reason is we draw five Foot Water with our Ships more than the Dutch do with theirs and we must lye beating at Sea and receive all Storms and Accidents that the Seas and our Ships are lyable to while the Dutch are at Anchor within their defensible Sands and Holds and upon their own Coasts and there with ease may take in and be supplyed with all manner of Ammunition Provision and Men with all other things they stand in want of And when the wind blows strong at East we must bear away and cannot keep our Station The same wind that blows our Ships off blows the Dutch out and if they have a mind to follow us they may and when we are within some of our Bays they may come at us with ease And as I said before the reason is we draw five Foot Water more with our Ships than the Dutch do with theirs They build for their Shores and Harbours and we build for ours and we see by experience they make their Sea War only defensive and so will do untill they find themselves strong enough to venture to fight at half Sea And what a comfort is it to the Dutch to see their Fleet lye safe at Anchor near their own Shores and their Enemies blown off by Storms and great Winds and their Coasts in two hours time free clear and safe from any Enemies And when such an Accident falls out they may immediately put to Sea their several trading Fleets Now that they have such Natural defenses by reason of their Holds and Sands was very difficult to make Gentlemen of great parts and knowledge believe But these Natural fortifications and I may say preservations are not only the protection of the Dutch but of like benefit to all the People Inhabiting the German Shore from the Mouth of the Texel and other Holland Rivers unto the Mouth of the Elbe And the Dutch may now and at all times by the help of these Sands and Holds sail with their Smacks and small Vessels of which they have great numbers forth of the Texel clear along the Friezland and Bremen Shore into the Emes Weser and Elbe to fetch in all manner of Provisions for Holland which may be had plentifully down the Emes Weser and Elbe and from Hamburgh all manner of Naval Stores while the English or French must look on and cannot possibly come at them And if their Men of War are so secured by their Sands and Holds and that the Smacks and small Vessels may creep Eastward by help of them and fetch in Provisions and Naval Stores uninterrupted Then it is very clear and evident they are not to be beat War being made upon them they acting their parts only defensive I could say something of their Natural and Artificial fortifications in Holland Zealand and Friezland having Surveyed many of their great Towns For it is of great advantage to the Naval Power of Holland that their three Maritime Provinces are so strengthned by Art and Nature And it is of like great advantage to the three Maritime Provinces that their Naval powers and force are so defensively secured by the Sands and Holds upon theirs and the German Shores I have several years in Publick in the hearing of some hundreds of Gentlemen given the same reasons which now I here put in Print And I have often heard many Gentlemen say and swear they might be fetched forth and destroyed and such discourse was only by Persons Dutchify'd Some of which Persons as they since have told me did intend to get me secured for setting but the strength of the Dutch and speaking of a Publick Register as they then thought was speaking against the Laws But since those Gentlemen are my Converts and have pressed me hard several times to know what was the reason applicable unto the German Shores than to the English I promised them that it should come forth in Print for their and all other Gentlemens satisfaction and I am sure it is worth the knowing And it is as necessary to be perfectly known by all Ministers of State in Europe as it is for them to know where the Ballance of Europe is best to be lodged for their Princes good And I affirm that this ought by many Princes who intend a Sea War to be the first thing taken into consideration For whosoever will make a Sea War must not promise himself success against all Reason In discovering to you the true Reasons of these Sands and Holds I must shew you the length of the Rivers of Germany and England with the nature of the Land and Soyl the Rivers run through with the advantage the Winds give in making these Holds and Sands and how the Winds clear our Sands and help to deepen our British Rivers Most People think it very strange That in our three great Rivers in England viz. Thames Humber and Severn we should have five Foot Water more at the Mouth or Influx than is at the Influx of the Texel Rhine Emes Weser or Elbe upon the German Coast none of our Rivers running above one hundred and fifty Miles and some of the German Rivers running one thousand Miles And it stands to Reason the farther the Rivers run and the more Water is in them the deeper they should be at the Influx First you must observe how the Winds blow and how the Rivers lye to be Commanded by them And secondly you must consider from whence the Rivers come and whither they run either through Clay Gravelly or Sandy Lands The Winds blow at South and West two Thirds of the year and these Winds are great and strong and have their Gusts and force upon the Mouths of the German Rivers and when there are great Rains in Germany and upon the Borders of Poland where are great Sands it brings them down into the Elbe and so down to the Mouth or Influx therof where often it meets with a South or West Wind and the Tide and Wind coming in both together force the Sands into Beds which by degrees increase to great Banks and so alter the Channel and in process of time work themselves by new Freshes down the Elbe into the Sea and then the Winds and Tide trouls them and give them a settlement along the Shores And the like it doth at the Mouth or Influx of all the great Rivers on the German and Holland Shores And as long as the Winds blow and the Rivers run as now they do these Natural fortifications and preservations by Sea shall be to the People inhabiting the German and Dutch Coasts The true Reasons now being made plain I desire the Reader to consider if this I have said be true which is more adviseable an
ever will be of any great Riches or are capable thereof But such will as have these things abounding in them good Ports advantageous Laws for Trade good Wooll and good quantities thereof much and well Wooded with plenty of Iron Stone and Pit Coales with Lands fit to bear Flax with Mynes of Tin and Lead Scotland is a thin and lean Kingdom and wanting in these things England is a fat Kingdom and hath all these things in it Yet the Lothean Lands in Scotland are twenty four years purchase At Edinburgh there is a Grand Register and in each County a particular one and no man can be there deceived in a Purchase unless it be his own fault England is at sixteen years Purchase The reason is obvious why Scotland must be so and why England is so But a voluntary Register in England will cure all and put us six years purchase above Scotland For as I formerly said as our Honour and Honesty is so will be our Riches and Riches bring Trade and Trade brings strength to an Island And for want of good Titles let the world judge what a Condition we are coming into I will give you one small Instance what the poor decayed Trade and Clothiers of England would be able to do in easing themselves and making their Trade comfortable if they had but the Authority of the Law to Register all their Houses and Lands Take it from the City of Salisbury there I make the Precedent and as it would be with them so it would be with all the Towns in England who deal in the Wollen and Iron Manufacture Suppose the Clothiers in and near Salisbury have two thousand pounds a year in free Lands and their Lands were by Law fixt under a Register then the Anchorage and Foundation of a Bank will be at least fifty thousand pounds And immediately tumbles into them all the idle Moneys nay Moneys now under Ground and good part of the plate ten Miles round The Usurer will pray and the Men and Maid-servants will beg to take in their Moneys Immediately one hundred thousand pounds will be brought in and at four in the hundred What will this do to the poor Clothiers Nay what will it do to each Gentleman and all men near Salisbury that have or keep Sheep I say the help and present Credit of this great Bank and Cash will raise the price of Wooll and set the Poor at work Thereby enabling the Tenants to pay their Rents keep the poor of the Parish bring the Clothiers and the City into a Comfortable Condition but most of all it will prevent the Trade departing this Kingdom which of necessity it will do if not timely prevented For the Irish Wooll carried away with their Beef to Holland France and Germany their making Cloth of cheap Wooll with cheap Victuals with Moneys at three in the hundred will out do us and undo us too if 〈…〉 prevented Eight years since I discovered 〈…〉 of the Worse Manufacture and the Reasons which he made publique in his first Book The same that may be done at Salisbury by this way may be done by all the Towns in England that depend upon any of our own Manufactures And in this case here 's nothing desired but that Men thus qualified with Lands may employ it by the Authority of the Law to the good of themselves and mankind and to be justly honest to all Now methinks I hear many of Salisbury say But how may this be done which you say I tell you how desire your Parliament Man to draw you up a Bill and carry it into the House the next sitting But you will say he will not do it Then get your Bishop to do it You will say he is no Lawyer Pray tell him it is easier than making the River Navigable But a Register and the River Navigable together will do rarely well Well if the Bishop will do the one I will do the other I will only tumble over a few papers wherein are my Observations when I surveyed the River The Preamble of the Bill to be carried into the House of Commons for putting the City of Salisbury and the Free Lands within ten Miles thereof under a voluntary Register with some Heads of the said Bill WHereas there past an Act of Parliament in the _____ Year of his Majesties Reign that now is for making the River Avon Navigable from the City of Salisbury to the Town of Christ-Church and so into the Sea so as Boats Barges and Lighters may come up the said River to the City of Salisbury and so down again into the Sea for carrying and recarrying of Wood Coles Corn and all other Commodities to and fro And whereas the said River is begun to be made Navigable and some considerable Sums of Money are laid out about the said Work which if once finished will tend much to the benefit and fur therance of Trade to the said City and Country thereabouts And whereas there hath formerly been a great Trade in the said City and Country adjacent in the making and working in the Wollen Manufacture which is now much decayed and if not timely prevented will be worse the occasion whereof is the want of present Money and Credit for the Clothiers to drive their Trades to be by them had when wanted and that at low and easie Interest And finding that in many places beyond the Seas Trade is much advanted by the Lands being under a Register and in Taunton Dean in England the Town and Mannor there being under a Register hath in a strange manner given life ease and benefit to the Trade there and thereabouts whereupon that place is much enviched And to the end that the River of Avon when made Navigable may answer the Charge of making it so and the wollen Trade in Salisbury and thereabouts may be encouraged Wherefore 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 That from and after the twenty fifth day of June one thousand six hundred seventy and seven all manner of person or persons that shall desire it may and shall have their Free-hold Lands and Houses Registred at the Registers Office within the City of Salisbury which shall lye within the said City and within ten Miles thereof accompting two thousand yards to the Mise Provided such Houses and Lands so to be Registred with their Names Metes and Bounds be first set up and affixed three Lords Days upon the Church Door of the Parish where such Lands are And that the Minister with one of the Church-Mardens and one of the Overseers of the Poor first certifie under their Hands and Seals the doing of the same with a true Copy of the Paper so affixed to the Register with forfeiture of twenty pounds and three Months imprisonment to any person or persons that shall take down or deface the said Writing during the time
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
one of Iron Tinn and Copper another of Linnen and spun Threds of all sorts the third of Sawed Timbers of all sorts He hath convenienced them thus As to his Iron Tinn and Copper he hath fixt these works in the Valley running from Segar-hutton clear a-long by the Cities of Anaburgh Sneburgh and Mareauburgh and down as far as Awe and in the Hills and Mountains are his Minerals In the Valleys are the Rivers whereon are set the Works The Hills and Mountains and at least Ten Miles round are full of Woods to supply his Works not one Acre of common-Land lyes waste At the descent of the Hills are infinite of Saw-Mills that go by Water which Saw all manner of Firr and Oak and in the Summer-time it is dragged to the River Elb and so sent down to Hamborough And things being thus fixt with all advantages that Trade can desire that Place is strangely populous and vastly Rich and yields to the Duke a great Revenue And it lies as Wales and as the Forest of Dean doth to England Next to these Wood-land Countries lies the delightful Plain Countrey wherein is the famous City of Lepsick very Rich in Corn and Flax and so it holds to Dresden upon the Left-hand of Myson with some Vineyards And in these delightful Countries there is no waste Lands but all under improvement In all the great Towns there are great Granaries for Corn and in the Time of Plenty they lay up for a Rainy-day And so there is sufficient for the Poor at easie rates at all times whereby the Manufacture is always cheaply done and thereby hath the advantage of sending it to foreign Markets and under-sell others The next Country joyning to Saxony is the Prince of Hainaults the Prince of Parmburghs with the Bishoprick of Hall wherein stands the Cities of Salts Wadell Shenibank and that brave old City of Magdenburgh destroyed by Fire and Sword by Count Tilly These Countreys for Corn as to Rye and Wheat are so plentiful that no part of Europe can go before them there being much Corn to spare In the Two Cities of Shenibank and Magdenburgh are many Granaries they lying upon the side of the Elbe And in the City of Magdenburgh I was credibly informed being Twice in that City that there were Three hundred Granaries of all sorts wherein Corn is kept sweet and safe from vermin to admiration The manner of the Granaries built with the way of ordering of the Corn and the benefit which is received thereby you shall have when I speak of Granaries setting up in England From hence the Brunswick People fetch their Wheat they make there Mum of and down the Elb to Hamborough is sent infinite of Corn out of the Granaries and from thence to all parts that stand in need thereof In these Countreys there is very little Manufacture only some course Linnen and Linnen-yarn These Granaries preserve the Corn Six Eight or Ten years as good and sweet as when it was first put in There are great Merchants for Corn and the Farmers lay up their Corn at easie Rates and so have the benefit of their Straw yearly and not Rick it up as we do in England to be devoured by Rats and Mice There Men and Maid-servants and all other persons that have Monies buy Corn when it is cheap and lay it up till it be dear And in these publick Granaries the Corn is kept safe sweet and well a whole year for a Half-peny a Bushel and the Granary-Man gets by it The like may be done in England and that which now feeds Rats and Mice and otherways consumed will supply the greatest part of the poor People of England with Bread being preserved in Granaries Now I am for saving the Corn in England and keeping it safe and sweet in Granaries which is consumed at present by Rats and Mice until there shall be want and necessity for it to be delivered to the Poor In the Four Counties I name for the Linnen Manufacture Oxford Warwick Leicester and Northamptonshire there ought to be Granaries to lay up Corn these Counties being great Corn-Counties And at the head of the Navigable Rivers are the places fit for such Granaries and first Wellinborough in Northamptonshire or thereabouts Secondly some Town in Leicestershire within Four Miles of Kings-Mills unto which Place Trent is Navigable Thirdly Banbury if the River Sharwell be made Navigable to Banbury or else about Bleckington the Earl of Angleses Land near Anslo-Bridg And fifthly Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire If Granaries were built in those Places to hold Corn there it would be brought in with ease and when want and scarcity of Corn comes it is then ready to be sent down the Navigable Rivers or to be disperst for the benefit of the Poor in the Countrey Leicestershire is abounding in Corn and when plenty there it is very cheap having no Navigable River near to carry it away the like is Northamptonshire But if Granaries were well setled in these Places near Trent and St. Ives River then it is ready for a Market when it offers it self Lechload at the Head of the River Isis Ten Miles above Oxford will be a very fit place for a Granary for in thither will come great quantities of Corn out of Oxford Glocester and Berkshire And there it will be ready upon all occasions when wanted either for the Poor or to be transported down the River to London and other parts Stratford upon Avon in Warwickshire will be a very good place to build Granaries to receive Corn and I will affirm if there were Three or Four large Granaries built in the Lands of Sir John Clapton near the Bridg at Stratford and well managed for the good of the Poor and Linnen Trade That on that side the River there would be in a very short time as great a Town built as Stratford now is and there have as great a Trade as any City in those parts of England Bristol only excepted And these are my Reasons First the River Avon being made Navigable to Stratford the Barges that come up with Coles and Merchants goods by them Corn will be taken back to Bristol and up the River Severn as far as the Welsh-Pool And Secondly the Country near Stratford as far as Banbury Ayno-Dedinton Bister and so to Brakley and round ot Daventry is very full and abounds with good Corn and the Carts that come to Stratford for Coles would never come empty down but bring Corn with them if there were Granaries sufficient to receive it So you see all things would be fitted for sore and back carriage And I will affirm No place in England can expect the benefit or advantage by any such Granaries as Stratford upon Avon may for that great and vast quantities of Corn is raised in those parts and when cheap they cannot tell what to do with it the ways being so dirty and deep But the advantage of the Navigation will send it to serve
Eastern In the Eastern-Seas the Climate is cool until May but in the Western-Seas the Climate is warm in March and as the different heat of the Climate is so the Liquor shall ripen and grow quick and fit to drink And in that particular New Brunswick will infinitely out-do Old Brunswick But if there be not Granaries built at New Brunswick to take in Wheat when cheap and all other things well setled the benefit proposed must not be expected for it must be made of cheap Wheat and such Wheat for a Stock must be taken into the Granaries in a cheap time and when it is cheap at least three years Wheat Malted before-hand fit to make Mum. The older the Wheaten-Malt is for that purpose the better it will be and the more profit will be made of it Now I leave this to the serious consideration of that worthy Person Sir John Clapton in whose Lands New Brunswick will be built As also to Mr. Brishop and my Friend the Town-Clerk of Stratford upon Avon seriously to consider what a great thing it will be to the Publique and to the Countrey near Stratford if the Linnen and Mum-Trade be setled there No part in Europe is comparable as to scituation materials and soil to that place And you may observe me in my whole Discourse now Printed that I shew you that Trade will go to the place where it can be made cheapest and soonest at Market For you may observe my Maxim Honour and Honesty brings Riches And these three bring Strength and Trade So places made by Art convenient as there is by Avon being made Navigable gives the advantage to this great and rich design of setting forward the Mum and Linnen-Trade at New Brunswick I pray observe before you had that River Navigable you were lockt up in the Inlands and could not come to any Navigable River under twenty Miles And in all times when Corn was plenty the ways being very deep in VVinter and in some Summers it was there very cheap whereby the Tenants could not pay Rents to the Landlords and the Lands put to keep Sheep So all improvements were wholly out of their Power But see now how the case is altered by this new River coming to your Town Now all Improvements offer themselves to you as the Mum-Trade the Linnen and Thred-Trade Nay you will be to the West of England Wales Shropshire and Cheshire as Dantzick is to Poland you will serve all those Parts when Corn is wanting you have the advantage of your Navigable River to send down your Corn and so by the help of Severn it will be carried into all Parts that stand in need thereof At New Brunswick Granaries may be built for the holding of Corn and there to be stored up as in Germany and there all things being done by the same way method rule and order as it is at Marenburgh all the Countrey-round for Thirty Miles will have many and great advantages and to the Publick no Tongue can express the several and strange benefits it will administer As first It will preserve the Corn from Rats and Mice and what was formerly destroyed by them now will be kept to feed the Poor Secondly It gives the Husbandman a great advantage for he may Thrash out his Corn and carry it to be kept safe in the Granaries until he hath occasion to sell it and so the Consumption occasioned by Rats and Mice is wholly prevented and that which fed Rats and Mice and other Vermine and which other accidents destroyed will be preserved and kept to feed the Poor which is at least the third part of the Wheat of England if kept Four years in Ricks Stacks Barns Houses and Lofts Also the Husbandman will by having a place always ready to lay up his Corn safe have the benefit of his Straw to feed his Cattel and make Muck Chaff for his Horses and light Corn for his Pigs and Poultry and his Husbandry will be in a regular motion and answer his just and laborious ends whereas if his Corn be Rickt up Three or Four years his Husbandry is out of order sometimes nothing for his servants to do his Pigs half famished his Cattel lean want of Muck that this Straw should produce to bring his Husbandry about as it ought to be done The poor Farmer nay Free-holder looks upon his Ricks with sighs and a heavy heart he seeth there are Vermin in them which are not to be prevented some owe Moneys upon Interest some to their Landlords but Men will not stay long the Tenant prays patience Time is given but still a Plenty is continued and the Ricks not pulled down but at last neither Userer nor Landlord will stay longer Then the Lawyer is set at work Suits are brought and there is no standing but trouble and misery all ruined and into Prison he must if the Moneys be not paid immediately and a large and long Lawyers Bill into the bargain I pray where is now the poor Farmer and many Free-holders also what must they do what shift must they make Shall they fly to the Kings-Bench or run away something must be done I tell thee what immediately pull down their Ricks and Thrash without doors and within as fast as they can send the Corn to Market although never so cheap and the doing thereof at that time never so much to their damage and at Market part of the Moneys made of this Corn paid for charges at Law great part of the Corn before the Ricks were pulled down eaten and consumed by Rats and Mice Now observe the consequences of these things The poor honest Laborious Countrey-man being thus pursued by Suits in Law Rats and Mice devouring his Corn when in Ricks and sold cheap and at unseasonable times Servants seeing his necessity raise price of their Labours This forsthast puts his Teams to carry his Corn to Market and that causeth the neglect of that years Husbandry and truly the end of all this is no more than this The Lawyer is paid his Bill for he will or else no Team nor Master neither must come to Market the Servants wages paid that Thrashed out the Corn the Userer paid what the Farmer owes him but you will say what shall the Landlord have I will tell you what he will be sure of his Farm thrown upon his hands and that present years profit lost nay and when he comes to stock it himself he may possibly lose his Rent and the interest of his stock put upon the Land and when he sets it again lose Twenty in the Hundred and glad to get a Tenant to take it so But that which is worse The Tenant and Landlord are then in the worst condition and their Families and Estates out of order Moneys is most wanting and Trade most dead in times when Corn is very cheap and the Reason is That the Corn lies in Ricks and no Man can or is benefited or secured by it only there is a merry
and without such Granaries it is impossible to set on that Trade For Corn must be bought in such times as this year is it being not only now very good but cheap also and in a cheap year they may take in Four or Five years Stock as they do at Magdenburgh and Shenibank Then suppose the Wheat now cost two Shillings Four-pence the Bushel at New Brunswick and that be kept Four years in the Granary at Two-pence the Bushel for Granary Rent then the Corn will lye the Mum-Brewers in Two Shillings Six-pence per Bushel and that is cheaper than it is sold in any time at Old Brunswick and it is seldom but once in Four years there is a plentiful year of Corn in England and in this year the Brewers may supply their Granaries again And as I said before here is cheap Corn good Corn and a multitude of it the place of Trade fixt at the Head of a Navigable River good and cheap Fuel to be made use of with a quick passage to the East and West Indies Ireland Mediteranian Spain France Holland and a large passage at Sea to bring it to London to help and make the Mum good by putting it into a second fermentation And I say here this Trade of making Mum may be fixt with very great advantage and if once well fixt from thence it cannot depart no place in England being of that advantage to answer all the ends as this place is The Second Granary which is to be supplyed by the Country with Corn and there to be kept safe for the benefit of those that work in the County in the Linnen-Manufacture and to supply the Poor when a dearth comes Corn will be kept Four years in the Granaries and the Rate then will be but Two Shillings Six-pence the Bushel and with this cheap Corn the People will be supplyed with Bread whereby they will make and perfect the intended Linnen-Manufacture very cheap and this constancy of Bread and at cheap rates will certainly be a great and certain means of fixing the fine Linnen Trade at New Brunswick and New Harlem And the Reasons are these near the very Place are great quantities of Land excellent good to bear Flax and very good places may with a little art be made by the Town-sides to Whiten and Bleach Linnens and within one Mile of New Brunswick there is the Mannor of Milcot being the Lands of the Earl of Middâ—â—â—â—â— â—â—on which Mannor there will be sufficient Fla◠〈…〉 to imploy Ten thousand People to work it into Manufacture And there are in these Lands by the River Avon side convenient places to make Bleachingâ— and near Milcot-House very plain good Land to build a City for the fine Linnen Trade with good places to set up Engines to Weave Tape to go by Water The Maps of the Two Cities with the Granaries are annexed the one being New Brunswick the other I name New Harlem Now I will demonstrate and shew you the length breadth and height the Granaries ought to be of to hold this Corn as also the charge of building one of them at New Brunswick being the Land of Sir John Clapton as also I will demonstrate the way how it should be built for the best advantage with the way of ordering and managing the Corn that it may keep good sweet and clean Eight or Ten years The Granaries must be Three hundred foot long Eighteen foot wide betwixt inside and inside Seven stories high each Story Seven foot high all to be built of good well-burnt Brick and laid in Lime and Sand very well the ends of the Granaries must be set North and South so the sides will then be East and West and in the sides of the Granaries there must be large Windows to open and shut close that when the Wind blows at West the Windows may be laid open and then the Granary-Man will be turning and winding the Corn and all filth and dross will be blown out at the Window on the East-side and in all times when the Weather is fair and open then throw open the Windows to let in Air to the Corn at 〈◊〉 end of the Granary and in the middle there 〈…〉 â—toves to be kept with fire in them in all moist 〈…〉 or at the going away of great Frosts and Snows to prevent moistness either in the Brick Walls Timber Boards or Corn there must be in each side of tâ—e Granaries Three or Four long Troughs or Spouts fixt in the uppermost Loft which must run about Twenty foot out of the Granary and in fine weather the Granary-men must be throwing the Corn out of the upermost Loft and so it will fall into another Spout made Ten foot wide at the top and through that Spout the Corn descends into the lowermust Loft and then wound up on the inside of the Granary by a Crane fixt for that purpose and so the Corn receiving the benefit of the Air falling down Thirty foot before it comes into the second Spout cleanseth it from all its filth and Chaff These Spouts are to be taken off and on as occasion requires and to be fixt to any other of the Lofts that when Vessels come to load Corn they may through these Spouts convey the Corn into the Barges without any thing of labour by carrying it on the backs of Men. The charge of one Granary Three hundred foot long Eighteen foot wide Seven Stories high Seven foot betwixt each Story being built with Brick at New Brunswick or New Harlem in the Mannor of Milcot Six hundred thousand of Bricks builds a Granary Two Brick and half thick the Two first Stories Two Brick thick the Three next Stories Brick and half thick the Two uppermost Stories and the Brick will be made and delivered on the place for Eight Shillings the Thousand the laying of Brick Three Shillings the Thousand Lime and Sand Two Shillings the Thousand so Brick-laying Lime and Sand will be Thirteen Shillings the Thousand One hundred and fifty Tuns of Oak and Elm for Somers Joists and Roof 100 and 70 l. Boards for the Six Stories Sixty thousand foot at 13 s. 4 d. the One hundred foot and Ten thousand foot for Window Doors and Spouts at the same rate 48 l. Laths and Tiles 100 l. Carpenters work 70 l. Iron Nails and odd things 60 l. So the charge of a Granary will be 820 l. built either at New Brunswick or at New Harlem There will be kept in this Granary Fourteen thousand Quarters of Corn which is Two thousand Quarters in every Loft which will be a Thousand Bushels to every Bay Six labouring Men with One Clerk will be sufficient to manage this Granary to turn and wind the Corn and keep the Books of accounts Fifteen pounds a piece allowed to the Six men and Thirty pound a year to the Clerk or Register will be wages sufficient so the Servants wages will be 120 l. per An. Allow Ten in the Hundred for Moneys laid out