not fully proceeded upon There are in the West of Ireland about 20 Gentlemen who have engaged in the Pilchard-fishing and have among them all about 160 Saynes wherewith they sometimes take about 4000 Hogshheads of Pilchards per Ann. worth about 10,000 l. Cork Kingsale and Bantry are the best places for eating of Fresh Fish tho Dublin be not or need not be ill supplied with the same The Clothing-Trade is not arrived to what it was before the late Rebellion And the Art of making the excellent thick spungy warm Coverlets seems to be lost and not yet recovered Near Colrane is a Salmon-Fishing where several Tuns of Salmon have been taken at one Draught and in one Season The English in Ireland before Henry the VII's time lived in Ireland as the Europians do in America or as several Nations do now upon the same Continent so as an Englishman was not punishable for killing an Irish-man and they were governed by differeâ—t Laws the Irish by the Brehan-Law and the English there by the Laws of England Registers of Burials Births and Marriages are not yet kept in Ireland though of late begun in Dublin but imperfectly English in Ireland growing poor and discontented degenerate into Irish vice versa Irish growing into Wealth and Favour reconcile to the English Eleven Iriâ—â— Miles make 14 English according to the proportion of the Irish Perch of 21 Feet to the English of 16â— The admeasurement of Land in Ireland hath hitherto been made with a Circumferencer with a Needle of 3â…” long as the most convenient Proportion but 't will be henceforth better done by the help of some old Geometrical Theoremes joyn'd with this new property of a Circle demonstrated by Dr. R. Wood. The DIAGRAM ALtho the Proâ—estants of Irelâ—nd be to Papists as three to eight yet because the former live in Cities and Towns and the Scots live all in and about five of the 32 Counties of Ireland It seems in other open Counties and without the Corporations that the Irish and Papists are twenty to one A Report from the Council of Trade in Ireland to the Lord Lieutenant and Council which was drawn by Sir William Petty IN Obedience to your Lordship's Act of Council of January the 2â—th 1675. we have spent several days in considering how as well the Wealth of this Kingdom in general as the Money thereof in particular may be increased And in order thereunto we have first set down to the best of our knowledge the state of this Kingdom in reference to Trade Secondly We have noted such Inferences from the same as do shâ—w the several Causes of the smalness of Trade want of Money and the genâ—ral Poverty of this Nation And in the last place we have offered such general Remedies and Expedients in the respective Cases as may be obtained and practised without any new Law to be made in Ireland And we are ready so to inlarge upon the Branches we have offered as to make such of our Proposals practicable as your Lordships shall please to select and approve of for that purpose March the 25th 1676. Considerations relating to the Improvement of IRELAND 1. THE whole Territory of Ireland consists of about 12 Millions of Acres English Measure of Arrable Meadow and good Pasture Land with about two Millions of Rocky Boggy and Scrubby Pasture commonly call'd Unprofitable tho not altogether such The rest being absolute Boggs Loughs Rocks Sands Strands Rivers and High-ways c. Of all which several Lands the yearly Rent comprehending Their Majesties Quit-Rents Tythes and Tenants Improvements is supposed to be about 9â—0,000 l. and worth to be purchased at Nine Millions 2. The value of all the Housing in Ireland which have one or more Chimneys in them excluding all Cabbins which have none is supposed to be Two Millions and a half 3. The Cattel and Live-Stock Three Millions 4. Corn Furniture Merchandise Shipping c. about One Million 5. The Coyned and Currant Money now running in Trade is between 300 and 350 â—00 l. or the 5â—th part of the value of the whole Kingdom which we suppose to be about 16 Millions 6. The number of people in Ireland is about 1100,000 viz. Three Hundred Thousand English Scotch and Welch Protestants and 800,000 Papists whereof â—th are Children unfit for Labour and about 75,000 of the Remainder are by reason of their Quality and Estates above the necessity of Corporal Labour so as there remains 750,000 Labouring Men and Women 5â—0,000 whereof do perform the present Work of the Nation 7. The said 1100,000 people do live in about 200,000 Families or Houses whereof there are but about 16,000 which have more than one Chimney in each and about 24,000 which have but one all the other Houses being 160,000 are wretched nasty Cabbins without Chimney Window or Door shut and worse than those of the Savage Americans and wholly unfit for the making Merchantable Butter Cheese or the Manufactures of Woollen Linnen or Leather 8. The Houses within the City and Liberties of Dublin are under 5,0â—0 viz. in the City 1150. And the Ale-Houses within the same about 1200. And it seems that in other Corporations and Countrey Towns the proportion of Ale-Houses is yet greater than in Dublin viz. about â…“ of the whole 9. The Counties Baronies and Parishes of Ireland are now become marvellously unequal so as some are twe ty times as big as others the County of C rk seeming in respect of people and Parishes to be â—th of the whole Kingdom and other Counties not being above the 2â—th part of the County of Cork It hath been found very difficult to get fit persons for Sheriffs and Juries and the often holding of Assizes and Quarter-Sessions in the said smaller Counties hath been found an unnecessary burthen upon them 10. There are now in Ireland 32 Counties 252 Baronies and 2278 Parishes so as the number of Sheriffs and Sub-Sheriffs Sheriff Bailiffs High and Petty-Constables are about three thousand Persons whereof not above â— are English or Protestants So as the remainder being about 27â—0 are Irish Papists and are the Civil Militia of this Kingdom and have the executing of all Decrees of Courts and of Justices of the Peaces Warrants 11. This Civil Militia and the rest of the Irish Papists being ' about 80â—,000 are influenced and guided by about 3000 Priests and Fryars anâ— they governed by their Bishops and Superiors who are for the most part of the Old Irish Gentry men of Foreign Education and who depend upon Foreign Princes and Prelates for Benefices and Preferments 12. The Irish Papists besideâ— Sundays and the 29 Holidays appointed by the Law do one place with another observe about 24 days more in the year in which they do no Corporal Labour so as they have but about 266 Working-days whereas Protestants not strictly observing all the Legal Holy-days by a total forbearing of Labour have in effect 300 Working-days in the year that is 34 days more than the
as Fat lubricates the motion of the Muscles feeds in want of Victuals fills up uneven Cavities and beautifies the Body so doth Money in the State quicken its Action feeds from abroad in time of Dearth at home evens accounts by reason of it's divisibility and beautifies the whole altho more especially the particular persons that have it in plenty CHAP. VI. The Causes of irregular Taxing 1. THE Causes of Error in this great Affair of Publick Levies have been these First Laying too great a stress on the matter of Money which is to the whole effect of the Kingdom but as 6 to 667. That is not one to 100. Secondly Laying the whole Burthen on the past Effects and neglecting the present Efficiencies exceeding the former as 417 doth 250. Thirdly Reckoning all the personal Estates of the City of London Shipping included at scarce ½ the value of the very Housing whereas they are double Which happens because the Housing of London belongs to the Church Companies or Gentlemen and are taxed by the Citizens their Tenants Fourthly A fallacious tenderness towards the poor who now pay scarce 1 s. per head per ann towards all manner of charges interwoven with the cruelty of not providing them Work and indulging Laziness in them because of our own indisposition to employ them so some are overcharged through evil Custom and others left to sordid Want and bruitish Irregularity Fifthly An Opinion that certainty of Rules is impossible and but an idle Notion and then having made such as are not so and training them to be applied by Affection and Humour so as ¼ of the whole paying needlesly four times too much may be thereby so netled as to do more mischief than the other unconcerned and thankless ¾ can allay CHAP. VII The Collateral Advantages of these Taxes 1. BEsides the equality of Taxes we make this further use of trying it by way of Customs Poles Excises Chimney-money Land-tax and Assesments upon the personal Estates viz. 1. Of the Customs which we reduce from 1 40 to 1 50 to keep an account of Foreign Trade and of its Balance for by Levying a Duty and encreasing the Penalty these Accounts will be less obscured 2. The simple and universal Pole keeps an account of the great Wealth and Strength of the Kingdom the People 3. Rating the Houses per Chimney gives a good account of Improvements and Dilapidations 4. Excize gives an account of Domestick Expences and publisheth Exorbitances 5. Land-taxes keep the Payments to the proportion of entire value not of Annual Rent So as an Estate in Housing pays no more than if it were in Lands nor considerable less than Goods and may bring Mortgages to their just contribution many Lenders not being so formidable for their Money as some have thought them 6. Assessments upon personal Estates if given in as elsewhere upon Oath would bring that Branch which of it self is most dark to a sufficient clearness 2. There is also a Pole upon Titles and Dignities worth consideration tho we now omit it which as it may check mens forwardness to undeserved Pre-eminence so it may be employed in the encouragement of true worth 3. We have hitherto computed the old immutable Revenue at but 130,000 l. per annum nor supposed above 170,000 l. viz. less than ½ what it is at present to be raised by Customs wholly neglecting Wards Butlerage Aulnage and other obsolete Imposts We have also designed the several Proportions towards the raising of a Million more per Ann. to be raised by the Pole Excise Land-Tax Assessments and Chimneys CHAP. VIII Of the Expence of the Navy Army and Garisons WE come next to shew That if 3 Millions per ann or 250,000 l. per mensem to make up the whole 3,300,000 l. per ann were raised what might be performed thereby for the safety establishment and Honour both of the King and Subject Unto which I say considering the present condition of the Navy two Millions will maintain 50,000 men in Ships of War for eight Months of the Year and 30000 for the other four Months Which I take to be near double the best Fleet we ever have seen in Europe computing the Ordnance and Harbor-Charges of the Navy Nor will the Maintenance of 12,000 Foot and 3000 Horse allowing 100,000 l. for Inland Garisons and 60,000 l. for Tangier c. put all together exceed 600,000 l. so as there remains 700,000 l. for other Matters whereof His Majesty's Royal Family by all the Accounts I have seen doth not spend 500,000 l. per ann Nor need the Charge of all those Levies be above 1 of the 33 viz. 〈◊〉 part for the 500 Officers without ever going five Miles from the Centre of their abode who might perform this Work nor would more than 200 l. per an for each of them and their under Instruments be necessary for their respective Sallaries For there are 450 Areots of 10 Miles square in England and Wales CHAP. IX Motives to the quiet bearing of extraordinary TAXES HAving shewed how great and glorious things may be done with no less difficulty than what ¼ of the King's Subjects do already endure I offer these further Reasons to quiet mens Minds in case this utmost 250,000 l. per mensem should be ever demanded upon this Holland-War 1. That of all Naval Expence not 1 20 is â—or Forreign Commodities nor need it be â—f if the people would do their part and the Governours direct them the nearest ways 2. That stoppage of Trade is considerable but as one to eight for we exchange not above five Millions worth per ann for our 40. 3. That the Expence of the King c. being about 400,000 l. per ann is but 1 100 part of the Expence of the Nation who all have the Pleasure and Honour of it 4. That the Money of the Nation being but about 5 Millions and ½ and the earning of the same 25 It is not difficult for them to encrease their Money a Million per ann by an easie advance of their Industry applyed to such Manufactures as will fetch Money from abroad 5. The Wealth of England lies in Land and People so as they make five parts of six of the whole But the Wealth of Holland lies more in Money Housing Shipping and Wares Now supposing England three-times as rich as Holland in Land and People as it is and Holland twice as rich as we in other Particulars as it scarce is We are still upon the Balance of the whole near twice as rich as they Of which I wish those that understand Holland would consider and calculate 6. There are in England above four Acres of Arrable Meadow and Pasture-Land for every Soul in it and those so fertile as that the labour of one man in tilling them is sufficient to get a bare Livelihood for above 10 So as 't is for want of Discipline that any Poverty appears in England and that any are hanged or starved upon that account CHAP.
30 in England Wherefore 25,000 l. would afford 150 l. per Ann. of each of 150 Ministers and 2500 l. to the Bishop The value of the Church Lands and appropriate Tythes is per Ann. above the Kings Rent due out of them If 100 Ministers can serve all Ireland they must have Precincts of neer 13 14 Miles square and consequently they must be Itinerants and as Lecturers on week-days and other honest ordained Men must be Priests If 150 nay if 250 Ministers would serve all Ireland then 10 per Ann. will supply their Mortality And consequently a Nursery of 100 will send forth 10 yearly of 10 years standing Perhaps the Nursery need not be above half so large Concerning the Late Rebellion THE number of the People being now Anno 1672 about 1100,000 and Anno 1652. about 850 M. because I conceive that 80 M. of them have in 20 years encreased by Generation 70 M. by return of banished and expelled English as also by the access of new ones 80 M. of New Scots and 20 M. of returned Irish being all 250 M. Now if it could be known what number of people were in Ireland Ann. 1641. then the difference between the said number and 850 adding unto it the encrease by Generation in 11 years will shew the destruction of people made by the Wars viz. by the Sword Plague and Famine occasioned thereby I find by comparing superfluous and spare Oxen Sheep Butter and Beef that there was exported above ⅓ more Ann. 1664. than in 1641. which shews there were ⅓ more of people viz. 1466,000 Out of which Sum take what were left Ann. 1652. there will remain 616,000 destroyed by the Rebellion Whereas the present proportion of the British is as 3 to 11 But before the Wars the proportion was less viz. as 2 to 11. and then it follows that the number of British slain in 11 years was 112 thousand Souls of which I guess ⅔ to have perished by War Plague and Famine So as it follows that 37,000 were massacred in the first year of Tumults So as those who think 154,000 were so destroyed ought to review the grounds of their Opinion It follows also that about 504 M. of the Irish perished and were wasted by the Sword Plague Famine Hardship and Banishment between the 23 of October 1641. and the same day 1652. Wherefore those who say That not ⅙ of them remained at the end of the Wars must also review their opinions there being by this Computation near ⅔ of them which Opinion I also submit There were transported of them into Spain Flanders France 34,000 Soldiers and of Boys Women Priests c. no less than 6000 more where not half are returned 40,000 If Ireland had continued in peace for the said 11 years then the 1466 M. had increased by Generation in that time to 73 M. more making in all 1539 which were by the said Wars brought Anno 1652 to 850 viz. 689 M. for whose Blood some body should answer both to God and the King M. 689 Anno 1650. there were before the great Plague above one Million of People viz. 2½ more than in London Anno 1665. But in that year there died in London by account 97,000 people but really were 110 M. Wherefore if the Plague was no hotter in Ireland than in England there must have died in Ireland 275 M. But 1300 dying in a Week in Dublin the Plague of London was but ⅔ as hot Wherefore there died in Ireland M. 450 So as substracting 412 M. 500 dying of the Plague and 37 Massacred English it follows that 167 M. died in 11 years by the Sword and Famine and other Hardships Which I think not incredible for supposing ½ the Number viz. 87 M. died in 11 years of Famine and Cold Transportation to Spain and Barbadoes c. it is not hard to believe that the other 87 M. perished by the Sword when the British had Armies of near 40 M. Men and the Irish of near double sometimes on Foot Ann. 1653. Debentures were freely and openly sold for 4 s. and 5 s. per l. And 20 s. of Debenture one place with another did purchase two Acres of Land at which rate all the Land of Ireland if it were 8 Millions of profitable Acres might have been had for a Million of Money which Ann. 1641. was worth above 8 Millions M. 1. The Cattel and Stock which Ann. 1641. was worth above 4 Millions reckoning one Beef of 20 s. value or the Equivalent in other Stock to two Acres but Ann. 1652. the people of Dublin fetch'd Meat from Wales there being none here and the whole Cattel of Ireland not worth l. 500,000 Corn was then at 50 s. per Barrel which is now and 1641. under 12. The Houses of Ireland Ann. 1641. was worth 2½ Millions but Ann. 1652. not worth ⅓ of the same l. 500,000 The value of people Men Women and Children in England some have computed to be 70 l. per Head one with another But if you value the people who have been destroyed in Ireland as Slaves and Negroes are usually rated viz. at about 15 l. one with another Men being sold for 25 l. and Children 5 l. each the value of the people lost will be about 10,355,000 The Forces kept on Foot by all Parties for the said 11 years were at least 80,000 Horse and Foot for even Ann. 1652. the English were 35,000 and 34,000 Irish transported the Charge whereof Train of Artillery and General Officers included cannot be less than 15 l. per Head per Ann. which for 11 years comes to 13 Millions and 200 M. l. 13,200,000 The superlucration above expressed of all which adult Men among which were no Women nor Children cannot be reckoned at less than 5 l. per Head or ⅓ of the last mentioned Sum viz. M. 4,400,000 Wherefore the effects of the Rebellion were these in pecuniary value viz. By loss of people 10,335,000 By loss of their superlucration of Soldiers 4,400,000 By the superlucration of the people lost at 10 l. per Head for the whole 11 years deducting 80 M. Soldiers 6,000,000 By impairing of the worth of Lands 11,000,000 Of the Stock 3,500,000 Of the Housing 2,000,000  37,255,000 And the 20 years Rent of all the Lands forfeited by reason of the said Rebellion viz. since the year 1652 to 1673. hath not fully defray'd the Charge of the English Army in Ireland for the said time nor doth the said Rents at this day do the same with ½ as much more or above 100 M. l. per An. more And the Adventurers after 10 years being out of their Principal Money which now ought to be double by its Interest they sold their Adventures for under 10 s. per l. Ann. 1652. in open and free Market The Number of Landed Irish-Papists or Freeholders before the Wars was about 3000 whereof as appears by 800 Judgments of the Court of Claims which fate Ann. 1663. upon the Innocence and Effects of the Irish
and temperate inclin'd to moisture c. And since the true and clear knowledge thereof depends upon several long tedious and râ—terated Observations simple and comparative made in the several parts of Ireland in the several Seasons of the Year and compar'd with the like Observations made with the same or like Instruments in the several parts of the Earth we must for the present only say that there are in being the several Instruments following viz. 1. An Instrument to measure the motion of the Wind and consequently its strength 2. How many Hours in the day in the whole year it blows from any point of the Compass 3. To measure what quantity of Rain falls in the year upon any quantity or space of ground 4. What Air is most desiccative of moistness 5. What Alterations are made in the gravity and levity of the Air from Hour to Hour 6. The Thermometer or Weather-Glass of the better sort 7. The Instrument to measure and foretel Frost and Snow Which Instruments many men must make use of in the several parts of Ireland and the rest of the World and corresponding with each other communicate and correct their Observation by Reason In the mean time let it suffice to say that at Dublin the Wind blows 2 parts of 5 from the South-West to the West one part from South-West to the South one other from the West to North-East and the rest from the North-East to the South 3 parts of 10 between West and South-West 2 10 between S. W. and S. S. â— 2 10 between S. S. E. and N. E. by N. 2 10 N. E. by N. to N. W. or very near thereabouts 2. That from the 10th of Septemb. to the 10th of March it blows a kind of Storm for some time or other almost every day 3. That the Snow lies not long in the lower ground of Ireland Nor doth it freeze more than what it doth in France Holland or England 4. The Rain falling at Dublin and London for the Month October 1663. was but 20 to 19. That the windiness of the same Month was at Dublin 20. and at London but 17. 5. As for the healthfulness of the Climate City or other space of Land It must be first known how many people are in a certain day living in it and then the quota pars which die per Ann. for many years together and for the fruitfulness how many Births 6. As to Longaevity enquiry must be made into some good old Register of suppose 20 persons who all were born and buried in the same Parish and having cast up the time which they all lived as one man the Total divided by 20 is the life of each one with another which compared with the like Observation in several other places will shew the difference of Longaevity due allowance being made for extraordinary contingences and Epidemical Diseases happening respectively within the period of each Observation Wherefore Matters being not as yet prepared for these Experiments I can say nothing clearly of them Only That it seems by the best Estimates and Approaches that I have been able to make that London is more healthful than Dublin by 3 in 32. Having said thus much of the Coelum or Air or rather of the Ingenium and way of distinguishing Airs in a better manner than usual We come next to try the nature of the Soil by the like Expedients To which purpose first know that the Perch of Ireland is 21 Foot that of England but 16½ Wherefore the Acre of 160 Perches is as 121 to 196 that is 121 Irish Acres do make 196 English Statute Acres Now in Ireland a Milch-Cow if English breed upon two Acres of Pasture and with as much Hay as will grow upon ½ Acre of Meadow will yield praeâ—er propter 3 Gallons of Milk for 90 days one with another and one Gallon at a Medium for 90 more and for 90 more scarce ¼ of a Gallon one day with another and for 90 more dry Wherefore it follows that such a Cow upon such feeding gives above one Tun and half nay 384 Gallons of Milk per Ann. And that if the Rent of the said two Acres of Pasture be 5 s. per Ann and of the half Acre of Meadow 3. in all 8 s. That the Gallon of Milk comes but to a Farthing expecting what the value and hazard of the Cow and the labour of milking and looking to her shall add unto that price which I suppose not above as much more The said quantity of Milk will make 2â— C. of Raw-Milk-Cheese and 1 C. of Whey-Butter besides Whey for the Swine Or else 2 C. of Butter and 1 C. of Skim-Milk-Cheese besides Whey as abovesaid for Drink to the People and Food for Swine Mem. That one Bull suffices for about 20 Cows That a Cow continues Milch and bearing from 3 or 4 years old to 12 sometimes 20 tho seldom suffer'd to live so long And that three Dairy-women will manage 20 Cows and do much work of other kind between while and that one Man will look to them and their Food An Ox of 6 or 7 years old will not require so much feeding as a Milch-Cow but will be maintained with two Acres of good Pasture only or with 1½ Acres of Pasture and ½ Acres of Hay in hard Winters An Horse requires 2½ Acres as a Garran and a small Horse or Irish Garran â…” or thereabouts Eight or ten Sheep are equivalent for feeding to an Ox. It is further to be noted that a Calf at a Month old weighs 1. C. ½ That an Ox is come to its full growth at 6 years old and then may weigh alive 7 C. The 4 quarters of such an Ox weighs 5 C. The Hide ¾ The Tallow 80 l. And consequently the said Ox gaineth every year of weight in Flesh to eat l. In Hide In Tallow The Offal Worth besides half of the whole  The difference between lean-Beef and fat Beef in value is as 5 to 9. In Sheep the increase of their Flesh Skin and Tallow is about the same proportion And yet Sheeps Flesh is sold dearer than Beef because of the great trouble and hazard about Sheep A Fleece of Wool in Ireland is about 2 l. weight An Hog eats such things as Sheep and Oxen do not viz. Roots Acorns and consequently the same Land will maintain a proportion of Hogs above Sheep and Oxen. One-Cowherd will serve an hundred Oxen one Shepherd 1000 Sheep From all that hath been said we collect that the natural and genuine Rent of Lands in Ireland not that of Money or Gold and Silver is Of Milk deducting Charges Gall. Of Beef and Mutton Of Hides and Skin Of Offall Of Wooll So as where Lands produce more or less per Ann. communibus annis of these Commodities the same is to be accompted more or less fertil than that of Ireland Moreover from hence we shall endeavour to gather the number of Cattel in Ireland as followeth viz. There
the one in order to reprize such who had restored Lands to the Innocent Irish in equal value and another was a Determination what each Land was worth Ann. 1659. whatever it yielded Both which especially the latter are upon Record most authentically Moreover Ann. 1653 and 1654. there were Inquisitions taken of the Values which all and every parcel of Land in Ireland yielded Ann. 1641. There have been also several Acts of the chief Powers pro tempore for apportioning what proportion of a certain Sum to be levied in general should in particular be charg'd on each County viz. Ann. 1657. there was an Act of the Usurper's Parliament to that purpose Ann. 1662. There was an Act for raising 30 M. l. as a Present to his Grace the Duke of Ormond and another for raising of 〈◊〉 for several publick Uses And Ann. 1672. for the equal raising of 30000 l. per Ann. upon all the Lands and Houses of the whole Nation There be also Accompts of what was raised out of each County by way of Subsidy and Pole-money paid Ann. 1661. All which may be of much light to those who have such designs as the same will answer But I being assur'd by whom and for what ends and by what means every such Valuations and Inquisitions were respectively made had rather attempt some Rule in nature whereby to value and proportionate the Lands of Ireland The first whereof I propose to be That how many Men Women and Children live in any Countrey Parish that the Rent of that Land is near about so many times 15 s. be the quantity and quality of the Land what it will 2. That in the meanest of the 160 M. Cabbins one with another are five Souls in the 24000 six Souls In all the other Houses Ten a piece one with another The TABLE BUT to make nearer approaches to the perfection of this Work 't would be expedient to know the Content of Acres of every Parish and withal what quantity of Butter Cheese Corn and Wooll was raised out of it for three years consequent for thence the natural Value of the Land may be known and by the number of People living within a Market-days Journey and the Value of their housing which shews the Quality and Expence of the said People I would hope to come to the knowledg of the Value of the said Commodities and consequently the Value of the Land by deducting the hire of Working-People in it And this brings me to the most important Consideration in Political Oeconomies viz. how to make a Par and Equation between Lands and Labour so as to express the Value of any thing by either alone To which purpose suppose two Acres of Pasture-land inclosed and put thereinto a wean'd Calf which I suppose in twelve Months will become 1 C. heavier in eatable Flesh then 1 C. weight of such Flesh which I suppose fifty days Food and the Interest of the Value of the Calf is the value or years Rent of the Land But if a Mans labour for a year can make the said Land to yield more than sixty days Food of the same or of any other kind then that overplus of days food is the Wages of the Man both being expressed by the number of days food That some Men will eat more than others is not material since by a days food we understand 〈◊〉 part of what 100 of all Sorts and Sizes will eat so as to Live Labour and Generate And that a days food of one sort may require more labour to produce than another sort is also not material since we understand the easiest-gotten food of the respective Countries of the World As for example I suppose a pint of Oatmeal equal to half a pint of Rice or a quart of Milk or a pound of Bread or a pound and quarter of Flesh c. each in the respective place where each is the easiest gotten food But if Rice be brought out of India into Ireland or Oatmeal carried from Ireland thither then in India the pint of Oatmeal must be dearer than half a pint of Rice by the freight and hazard of Carriage vice-versa sic de caeteris For as for pleasant tast I question whether there be any certainty or regularity of the same in Nature the same depending upon Novelty opinion of Virtue the recommendation of others c. Wherefore the days food of an adult Man at a Medium and not the days labour is the common measure of Value and seems to be as regular and constant as the value of fine Silver For an ounce suppose of Silver in Peru is equivalent to a days food but the same in Russia is equivalent to four days food by reason of the Freight and hazard in carrying the same from Peru to Russia and in Russia the price of Silver shall grow to be worth more days labour if a Workman can by the esteem and request of Silver Utensils earn more than he can on other materials Wherefore I valued an Irish Cabbin at the number of days food which the Maker spent in building of it By the same way we must make a Par and Equation between Art and Simple Labour for if by such Simple Labour I could dig and prepare for Seed a hundred Acres in a thousand days suppose then I spend a hundred days in studying a more compendious way and in contriving Tools for the same purpose but in all that hundred days dig nothing but in the remaining nine hundred days I dig two hundred Acres of Ground then I say that the said Art which cost but one hundred days Invention is worth one Mans labour for ever because the now Art and one Man perform'd as much as two Men could have done without it By the same way we make an Equation between Art and Opinion For if a Picture-maker suppose make Pictures at 5 l. each but then find that more Persons would employ him at that rate than his time would extend to serve them in it will certainly come to pass that this Artist will consider whether as many of those who apply to him at 5 l. each Picture will give 6 l. as will take up his whole time to accommodate and upon this Computation he pitcheth the Rate of his Work By the same way also an Equation may be made between drudging Labour and Favour Acquaintance Interest Friends Eloquence Reputation Power Authority c. All which I thought not amiss to intimate as of the same kind with finding an Equation between Land and Labour all these not very pertinent to the Proportionation of the several Counties of Ireland Wherefore to return to the matter in hand I say that the Quantity of Commodity produced and the Quantity of the shews the effects of the Land and the number of People living thereupon with the Quality of their housing shews the Value of the Commodity for one days delicate and exquisit Food may be worth ten of ordinary Now the Nature of
as hath been often said the Housing thereof consists of 160 M. nasty Cabbins in which neither Butter nor Cheese nor Linnen Yarn nor Worsted and I think no other can be made to the best advantage chiefly by reason of the Soot and Smoaks annoying the same as also for the Narrowness and Nastiness of the Place which cannot be kept Clean nor Safe from Beasts and Vermin nor from Damps and Musty Stenches of which all the Eggs laid or kept in those Cabbins do partake Wherefore to the advancement of Trade the reformation of these Cabbins is necessary It may also be consider'd whether the Institution of these following Corporations would not be expedient viz. 1. of Cattel 2. of Corn 3. of Fish 4. of Leather 5. of Wool 6. of Linnen 7. of Butter and Cheese 8. of Metals and Minerals For unto these almost all the Commodities exportable out of Ireland may be referred It may also be consider'd whether the Taxing of those Cabbins with Hearth-money be proper but rather with Days Labour the former being scarce possible for them to have but the latter most easy Insomuch as 't is more easy for them to give 40 Days Labour per Ann. at seasonable times than to pay 2 s. in Silver at a pinch and just when the Collectors call for it The Dyet Housing and Cloathing of the 16,000 Families abovementioned is much the same as in England Nor is the French Elegance unknown in many of them nor the French and Latin Tongues The latter whereof is very frequent among the poorest Irish and chiefly in Kerry most remote from Dublin The Housing of 160 M. Families is as hath been often said very wretched But their Cloathing far better than that of the French Peasants or the poor of most other Countreys which advantage they have from their Wooll whereof 12 Sheep furnisheth a competency to one of these Families Which Wool and the Cloth made of it doth cost these poor people no less than 50 M. l. per Ann. for the dying it a trade exercised by the Women of the Countrey Madder Allum and Indico are importâ—d but the other dying Stuffs they find nearer home a certain Mud taken out of the Bogs serving them for Copperas the Rind of several Trees and Saw-dust for Galls as for wild and green Weeds they find enough as also of Rhamnus-Berries The Diet of these people is Milk sweet and sower thick and thin which also is their Drink in Summer-time in Winter Small-Beer or Water But Tobacco taken in short Pipes seldom burnt seems the pleasure of their Lives together with Sneezing Insomuch that 2 7 of their Expence in Food is Tobacco Their Food is Bread in Cakes whereof a Penny serves a Week for each Potatoes from August till May Muscles Cockles and Oysters near the Sea Eggs and Butter made very raâ—cid by keeping in Bogs As for Flesh they seldom eat it notwithstanding the great plenty thereof unless it be of the smaller Animals because it is inconvenient for one of these Families to kill a Beef which they have no convenience to save So as 't is easier for them to have a Hen or Rabbet than a piece of Beef of equal substance Their Fewel is Turf in most places and of late even where Wood is most plentiful and to be had for nothing the cutting and carriage of the Turf being more easy than that of Wood. But to return from whence I disgressed I may say That the Trade of Ireland among 12 22 parts of the whole people is little or nothing excepting for the Tobacco abovementioned estimated worth about 50,000 l. for as much as they do not need any Forreign Commodities nor scarce any thing made out of their own Village Nor is above â…“ part of their Expence other than what their own Family produceth which Condition and state of living cannot beget Trade And now I shall digress again to consider whether it were better for the Common-wealth to restrain the expence of 150 M. Optimates below 10 l. per Ann. each or to beget a luxury in the 950 M. Plebeians so as to make them spend and consequently earn double to what they at present do To which I answer in brief That the one shall encrease the sordidness and squallor of living already too visible in 950 M. Plebeians with little benefit to the Common Wealth the other shall increase the splendor Art and Industry of the 950 M. to the great enrichment of the Common-Wealth Again Why should we be forbid the use of any Foreign Commodity which our own Hands and Countrey cannot produce when we can employ our spare Hands and Lands upon such exportable Commodities as will purchase the same and more 3. The keeping or lessening of money is not of that consequence that many guess it to be of For in most places especially Ireland nay England it self the Money of the whole Nation is but about 1 16 of the Expence of one Year viz. Ireland is thought to have about 400 M.l. in Cash and to spend about 4 Millions per Ann. Wherefore it is very ill-husbandry to double the Cash of the Nation by destroying half its Wealth Or to increase the Cash otherwise than by increasing the Wealth simul semel That is when the Nation hath 1 10 more Cash I require it should have 1 10 more Wealth if it be possible For there may be as well too much money in a Country as too little I mean as to the best advantage of its Trade onely the Remedy is very easy it may be soon turn'd into the magnificence of Gold and Silver Vessels Lastly Many think that Ireland is much impoverished or at least the money thereof much exhausted by reason of Absentees who are such as having Lands in Ireland do live out of the Kingdom and do therefore think it just that such according to former Statutes should lose their said Estates Which Opinion I oppose as both unjust inconvenient and frivolous For 1st If a man carry Money or other Effects out of England to purchase Lands in Ireland why should not the Rents Issues and Profits of the same Land return into England with the same Reason that the Money of England was diminished to buy it 2. I suppose ¼ of the Land of Ireland did belong to the Inhabitants of England and that the same lay all in one place together why may not the said quarter of the whole Land be cut off from the other three sent into England were it possible so to do and if so why may not the Rents of the same be actually sent without prejudice to the other three parts of the Interessors thereof 3. If all men were bound to spend the Proceed of their Lands upon the Land it self then as all the Proceed of Ireland ought to be spent in Ireland so all the Proceed of one County of Ireland ought to be spent in the same of one Barony in the same Barony and so Parish and Mannor and at length
to speak more clearly and Authentically upon this Subject I shall insert the following Tables of exported and imported Commodities and from them make the subnexed Observations viz. The TABLES 1. THAT the Customs managed by the States-Officers yielded Anno 1657. under 12,000 l. but was farm'd Ann. 1658. for above thrice that Sum. 2. That the Stock which drives the Foreign Trade of Ireland doth near half of it belong to those who live out of Ireland 3. That Ann. 1664. before the Cattel-Statute ¾ of the Ireland Foreign Trade was with England but now not ¼ part of the same 4. That the Manufacture bestowed upon a years Exportation out of Ireland is not worth above 8000 l. 5. That because more eatables were exported Anno 1664. than 1641. And more Manufactures 1641. than Ann. 1664. It follows there were more people in Ireland Ann. 1641. than 1664. and in that proportion as was formerly mention'd 6. That the Exportations appear more worth than the Importations excepting that the Accompts of the former are more true but of the latter very conjectural and probably less than the Truth Of the Religion Diet Cloaths Language Manners and Interest of the several present Inhabitants of IRELAND WE said that of the 1100 M. Inhabitants of Ireland about 800 M. of them were Irish and that above 600 M. of them lived very simply in the Cabbins aforemention'd Wherefore I shall in the first place describe the Religion Diet c. of these being the major part of the whole not wholly omitting some of the other species also The Religion of these poorer Irish is called Roman Catholick whose Head is the Pope of Rome from whence they are properly enough called Papists This Religion is well known in the World both by the Books of their Divines and the Worship in their Churches wherefore I confine my self to what I think peculiar to these Irish. And first I observe that the Priests among them are of small Learning but are thought by their Flocks to have much because they can speak Latin more or less and can often out-talk in Latin those who Dispute with them So as they are thereby thought both more Orthodox and Able than their Antagonists Their Reading in Latin is the Lives of the Saints and Fabulous Stories of their Country But the Superior Learning among them is the Philosophy of the Schools and the Genealogies of their Ancestors Both which look like what St. Paul hath Condemned The Priests are chosen for the most part out of old Irish Gentry and thereby influence the People as well by their Interest as their Office Their Preaching seems rather Bugbearing of their flocks with dreadful Stories than persuading them by Reason or the Scriptures They have an incredible Opinion of the Pope and his Sanctity of the happiness of those who can obtain his Blessing at the third or fourth hand Only some few who have lately been abroad have gotten so far as to talk of a difference between the Interest of the Court of Rome and the Doctrine of the Church The Common Priests have few of them been out of Ireland and those who have were bred in Covents or made Friars for the most part and have humble Opinions of the English and Protestants and of the mischiefs of setting up Manufactures and introducing of Trade They also comfort their Flocks partly by Prophecies of their Restoration to their Ancient Estates and Liberties which the abler sort of them fetch from what the Prophets of the Old-Testament have delivered by way of God's Promise to restore the Iews and the Kingdom to Israel They make little esteem of an Oath upon a Protestant Bible but will more devoutly take up a Stone and swear upon it calling it a Book than by the said Book of Books the Bible But of all Oaths they think themselves at much liberty to take a Land-Oath as they call it Which is an Oath to prove a forg'd Deed a Possession Livery or Seisin payment of Rents c. in order to recover for their Countrey-men the Lands which they had forfeited They have a great Opinion of Holy-Wells Rocks and Caves which have been the reputed Cells and Receptacles of men reputed Saints They do not much fear Death if it be upon a Tree unto which or the Gallows they will go upon their Knees toward it from the place they can first see it They confess nothing at their Executions though never so guilty In brief there is much Superstition among them but formerly much more than is now for as much as by the Conversation of Protestants they become asham'd of their ridiculous Practices which are not de side As for the Richer and bettereducated sort of them they are such Catholicks as are in other places The Poor in adhering to their Religion which is rather a Custom than a Dogma amongst them They seem rather to obey their Grandees old Landlords and the Heads of their Septes and Clans than God For when these were under Clouds transported into Spain and transplanted into Connaught and disabled to serve them as formerly about the year 1656. when the Adventurers and Soldiers appeared to be their Landlords and Patrons they were observ'd to have been forward enough to relax the stiffness of their pertinacity to the Pope and his Impositions Lastly Among the better sort of them many think less of the Pope's Power in Temporals as they call it than formerly and begin to say that the Supremacy even in Spirituals lies rather in the Church diffusive and in qualified General-Councils than in the Pope alâ—ne or than in the Pope and his Cardinals or other Iuncto The Religion of the Protestants in Ireland is the same with the Church of England in Doctrine only they differ in Discipline thus viz. The Legal Protestants hold the Power of the Church to be in the King and that Bishops and Arch-Bishops with their Clerks are the best way of adjusting that Power under him The Presbyterians would have the same thing done and perhaps more by Classes of Presbyters National and Provincial The Independents would have all Christian Congregations independent from each other The Anabaptists are Independent in Discipline and differ from all those aforemention'd in the Baptism of Infants and in the inward and spiritual Signification of that Ordinance The Quakers salute not by uncovering the Head speak to one another in the second Person and singular Number as for Magistracy and Arms they seem to hold with the Anabaptists of Germany and Holland they pretend to a possibility of perfection like the Papists as for other Tenents 't is hard to fix them or to understand what things they mean by their Words The Diet of the poorer Irish is what was before discoursed in the Chapter The Cloathing is a narrow sort of Frieze of about twenty Inches broad whereof two foot call'd a Bandle is worth from 3â— to 18 d. Of this Seventeen Bandles make a Man's Suit and twelve make a Cloak According to