Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A41805
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An appeal to all true English-men (if there be any such left), or, A cry for bread
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Grascome, Samuel, 1641-1708?
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1699
(1699)
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Wing G1567; ESTC R43210
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9,069
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7
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AN APPEAL TO ALL True English-men If there be any such left Or A CRY for BREAD THE Philosopher having invited some curious Wits and perhaps no dull Palats to an Entertainment when the Table was spread and plentifully furnished with variety of excellent Dishes and the Guess set instead of falling on and eating as was expected they all sat gazing on one another no Man offering to touch any thing At which the Master of the Feast amazed looks about to see if he could discover what should be the Reason that his Guests did not mind their Meat and instantly he perceived that there was no Bread on the Board A greater Error than perhaps some may think it for the most delicious Viands without Bread are not savory or at least will not be long so Let other Dainties be what they will Bread is the standing Dish With those we may please our Palats but without that we cannot Live So that the Proverb hath only done it Justice in telling us That Bread is the Staff of Life And that Country is most highly esteemed which can best secure its Inhabitants from the want of it Now our own Dear Country of England has been thought to yield to none for Fruitfulness in Corn and consequently for fulness of Bread Of old it and Sicily were accounted the Roman Granaries though now it is quite another thing and every way for the better For considering how much the Art and Industry of the Husband-man at this time o' th' day excels those of former times and how much the Ground is cleared from Roughs Woods Forests Fens and such kind of unprofitable or useless Places as anciently eat up a great part of the Island it may now be modestly judged to be capable of producing Four times the Quantity of Grain which it did in Roman Times though then it was thought that it might vye with any other Place in the World And I have heard some Men who neither wanted Parts nor Experience strenuously argue and with seeming sound Reason conclude That since the Improvement in the Northern and Western Parts it is impossible that there should ever be any thing like a Famine in England supposing Corn were not half a Crop which rarely happens These Things being so plain we might perhaps think our selves the happiest People under the Sun if we could fill our Bellies with Reasons but I never knew an hungry Stomach surfeit with Arguments A piece of Bread and Cheese is more worth to such a one than all the fine Talk in the World and in spite of all that has or can be said we find even in this fruitful Country such a Famine of Bread coming upon us as is likely to pinch the Rich and starve the Poor And what shall we do in this Case Shall we believe those who tell us that we cannot want in such a Country as this I fear our gnawing Stomachs will not suffeâ—… our Vnderstandings to be gull'd in a Matter of this Nature What then Shall we lie down and dye Shall we like a Parcel of Sots and Fools tamely sink under the Malady and pine away the miserable Remainder of our Days without further Care Or shall we try if there be any Remedy Certainly those Men have lost both their Wits and Senses too who would not use their utmost Endeavors to prevent such a general Mischief as this Now if we will seriously and to any purpose seek after a Remedy we must first make Enquiry after the true Cause of our want for if we can take away that our old Plenty will return Well Country-men shall we send Hui and Cry after the Cause of this Mischief and Misery Any Man will say there is little need of that For if it were possible to find out so meer a Cockney as never saw a Field of Corn in his Life yet if you should ask him what might be the Reason of want of Bread he would presently tell you want of Corn and would say That he were a most impudent Fellow who should affirm that there could be any want of Bread in a Country which at the same time afforded plenty of Corn And yet such a Paradox as this I must maintain if I will speak truth and shew you the true Reason of your present want of Bread which is daily like to be greater Indeed if the Earth had play'd the Step-mother and proved unkind to us it would then have concerned us to have sent abroad and furnished our selves from other Countries which have to spaâ—e as hath been the Practice and Prudence of some of our Neighbors especially France of late whose Policy it were better to imitate than starve But that is not the Case if we might enjoy our own we need trouble no Body else For I dare boldly affirm That for Twenty Years last past there hath scarce been a better general Crop of Bread-Corn than was this Year and the last As for the last Year what I say will be easily granted yea I verily believe that it produced enough to furnish us for that Year and this too if an honest Use had been made of it As for this Year I find many possessed with another Opinion which I cannot but admire for I have had Occasion to view the Corn in several Counties And in spite of any Dutch-man alive will pretend to some Understanding of it and I every where found Bread-Corn a good Crap nay Wheat to the Eye seemed to out-do that of the last Year And though I do not think it to be really altogether so good yet is it a Crop not to be complained of and under which we need know no want And though a Thousand New-fashion'd Sham Dutch Transubstantiation Arguments were brought against this yet they shall never perswade me out of my Senses I will therefore lay this down for a certain Conclusion That the Reason of our Scarcity is not from the Products of the Earth or for Want of a Crop You will say then what is the Reason If you please Country-men we will first examine those Reasons that pass for current and then see if we can find out the true one Some think that it may contribute something to our Scarcity That in many Places they are not able to manage their Harvest and want Hands to get in their Corn. This I confess is a very deplorable Thing and if true makes the Matter much worse For if we already want Hands to get our Corn by reason that those who used to assist in that Matter are gone for Soldiers or knockt o' th' Head in a while it will be in danger to come to this pass That we shall want Hands to till and sow the Ground and so we shall have no Corn at all But however this cannot be the Reason of our present Scarcity For want of Hands may be a Reason for a more tedious Harvest or may let Corn receive some Damage but this if by chance it make it something worse yet it
makes it nothing less It may abate of the Pleasantness but brings no want to our Door And the very same thing may be said as to unseasonable Weather in many Places and therefore I shall give that Objection no further answer But to be short The great Cry and generally received Opinion is That there hath been such a general Blast as hath destroyed or spoiled the Corn That it is full of Choler or black Ears and that other Ears are light yea often quite Empty And thus we are striving to make that the Hand of God which is the Fruits of our own Folly It were just with him to deal thus with so wicked a Nation but he hath not done so you And it were the height of Ingratitude to charge him as plaguing us with Famine when he blesseth us with Plenty I do not say there is no Blast some little Foundation there hath been for this Complaint which hath been strangely spread and improv'd by those who are the real Cause of our Evils and then being entertain'd by silly frightful People who if they hear of a Blast verily believe all the Corn to be spoiled it got greater Credit And no doubt â—â—uâ— it hath been encouraged by the Farmer with a Design to advance his Market But this I say and I make no doubt plainly to prove it That the Blast is not the Cause of the present Scarcity and Dearness of Corn. To this end I shall consider the utmost that in all likelihood it can affect us I grant that the Blast hath been very busy especially in some Places as near the Sea-Coast and in those Countries which rarely change their Seed where there is always some Blast more or less Yea considering the backwardness of the Year I am apt to think there may be a great deal of small Grain especially in chalky Land where the Clevel is always less than in Clay mixt or chiselly Earth Yea further suppose that the Corn were no where altogether so bold as it was the last Year yet for all this we might have had Corn enough and good cheap For though the Yeomen of Kent whose Country is very subject to Blast for which particular Reasons might be given make great Complaint and their Out-cry by reason of their Neighborhood doth much affect the Citizens yet in many Places the Blast is very inconsiderable And I have seen this very Year many and large Fields of Corn free from black Ears though not from some light Ears and I never knew any crop of Corn altogether free This ought also to be observed That Wheat was thicker on the Ground this Year than the last which all allow to be a great Crop and if more Straws consequently there must be more Ears of Corn So that if we should suppose the Blast to have destroyed every Third Ear of Corn which I believe it hath not done the Tenth there would have been a sufficient Crop to have supplied the Lanâ— without making Corn dear And then if we reckon upon the old Stock which remained or ought to have remained from the last Years Plenty we might as reasonably have expected to have seen Wheat sold now at 3 s. or 3 s. 6 d. a Bushel or as some call it a Strike as in former Years By this time I expect some should grow Testy and say If this be not the Reason what is For nothing can be more plain â—â—an that Corn is Dear and continues Rising to the endangering of many Thousands of Poor perishing for want Now I could give as plain a Reason for it if an honest English-man might speak with safety for we are now under Dutch Comptrollers and as nothing must be done so nothing must be said that may be offensive to the Hogen Mogens However I will out with it and if my Country-men will not See they may be Blind til they are Starved For I can do no more for them than to tell them the plain Truth â—…nd to speak all in a Word it is a DVTCH BLAST that makes this Scarcity and will make it greater Those dear Friends of ours for whom we have spent our Bloud and our Estates I am unwilling to say damn'd our Souls too that we might raise and keep them at this Height now carry away our Corn at that rate That if Joseph's Granaries were among us they would make a Dearth if they are suffered to go on Ten Twenty or Thirty Ships going out together from one Port of ours laden with Corn are not worth our taking Notice of but as they have drove this Trade very briskly of late and continue so to do so it is not one Port alone which they Ply But that if possible you may be sensible that these Horse-leeches would suck you very last drop of Bloud I will lay a kind of Scheme before you together with the Arts by which our Corn is drawn from us Our Northern Seas from whence we only cross to Holland and they to us are now the safest of all others by reason that no Enemy can come thither but either about Scotland or by the Downs and so will be in continual Danger of falling into the Mouths of the English or Dutch Men of War which makes the Privateers and Pirates have little Kindness for that Road So that our Corn-carriers have a safe and quick Passage to and from all our Ports on that Coast even from the South-foreland to Tinmouth-haven and further if there be any thing to be had for them And this Range takes in upon our Sea-Coast these Counties Kent Essex Suffolk Norfolk Lincoln York and Durham And in in these Counties these Ports Dover Sandwich Margate Colchester Harwich Yarmouth Boston Hull Newcastle and above a Hundred other Places where they may either put in or with their Boats fetch off Corn to their Ships And to all these Ports they have already well plyed and tolerably well drained them But lest you should imagine that this only affects these maritine Counties I will demonstrate to you how by this means they draw the Corn from all Parts even out of the very Heart of the Country For where there are navigable Rivers Corn will most certainly run after the Price and travel to Sea if more be bid for it there than on Land And the Farmer let who will starve by Hook or by Crook by Night or by Day will convey it away if the Market please him And so our Corn shall go as far as the River reaches or they will carry it to it For Instance Suppose the Corn Vessels come into Boston-deep with a Design to take in Lading at Boston or Lynn and other Places thereabout here fall into the Sea amongst others Three Rivers navigable a very considerable way up into the Country The Welland navigable up as far as Stamford a Town bordering upon Three Counties Lincoln Northampton and Rutland 2. The Nine running through Lincolnshire continues navigable beyond Peterborough in Northamplonshire And 3dly The â—use