earnest Prayer on her dove-like wings presents them before his Mercies seat and unfeigned Penitence softly sheaths up the sword of his Iustice And for your better encouragement if you come cheerfully into this Philosophical work you shall also enter into the school of Christ for I shall provide men excellency qualified in Theology Morality and Humanity whose examples as well as doctrines shall direct you in the waies of eternal life and daily walk hand in hand with you towards Christs paradise the Saints New Jerusalem But me thinks I hear some self-conceited and censorious Critick thus prevaricate upon the whole design Truly I must professe it seems to my understanding very like a Lunacie in any whatsoever to propose or undertake so magnificent a Fabrick as the Atlantick Solomons House without so muâ—h as Straw to burn Bricks for its foundation no Princes Coffers Monopoly Smoke-mony Lottery Impost or Mart upon the discovery but to the incredulous no not so much as a partner save Providence in this new way of search for never discovered Mines and recovering desperately deserted Works To which I answer first If your Ancestors in former Ages had been such Scepticks fire had been for ever concealed in the Flint and all Metals in their native beds Thule with the Western Islands and America had been as yet un-discovered pray tell me Is not Divine Providence the dispensator of Gods Omnipotence which the Eagle-sighted eye of this Philosophical Lords illuminated intellect most perspicuously discovered and therefore resolved thus to prove it without detriment or hazard to any individual person Is it not then a God-like imitation the Lord of the universal World brought all things which never had being out of nothing this Lord of universal Philosophy thereby offers mankind that good which never can be useful to him but by this means which will cost him nothing the dead in Law to search the dead and barren Mountains and recover the dead and buried works for Mineral treasure here is nothing but the dead and the dead are nothing to the living But these dead here to whose lives the Law and Opinion hath set a period by searching the graves of Minerals preserve their lives for the present and in time find their own Resurrection by a temporal Expiation of their fatal Crimes though their other hopes prove frustrate but if the Almighty crowns their labors observe how glorious it will prove the Prince or State that shall then Rule shall receive the first fruits thousands of poor Subjects shall eat the bread of comfort thereby Offenders shall be purged and freed Trade shall be increased and Customs augmented a matchlesse Academy erected and maintained new Arts discovered for the universal good and honor of the Nation the honorable Trustees of the whole work shall merit glory and gain Philosophical recreations the experimenting Philosophers shall have a competent and comfortable subsistence during life and after their change their respective Statues erected in the City of Wells And as the Athenians when they dedicated a lively Image to the memory of the antient Philosopher Pherecides gave it a golden tongue as a proper Emblem of his excellent eloquence so each of theirs shall hold a significant Character of their peculiar Inventions in their well-proportion'd hands Which word hands minds me of a saying of my Lords concerning the Convicted which was That he did stedfastly believe that the hands of such whose stony hearts God had penetrated by true penitence would make a more speedy easie and successeful progresse in any Mineral work they undertook than three times the number of the most skilful Miners that work for wages only For that learned Lord was of opinion That the Subteranâ—an Spirits did much hinder the perfect discoveries of the richest Mines somtimes by their apparitions often by the mischievous Gambols they plaid there as by raising Damps extinguishing the Miners lights firing the sulphurous matter of the Mine and scorching the greedy and faithless Workmen For not only Socrates Plato and Aristotle are of opinion that there are multitudes of evil Spirits in the Aery Region as also in the Waters and the hollow Concaverns of the Earth but divers of our more modern learned Writers and Theologians are of the same perswasion as Tho. Aquinas Gaudentius Merula Pselius Bodinus and St. Agustine who conceive that God hath permitted their temporal habitations therein partly for mens tryal as that of Job and partly for the punishment of the wicked as the Demoniack in the 5. of St. Marks Gospel out of whom Christ cast a whole legion of Devils and by whose permission they destroyed a numerous Herd of the Gadarens Swine These were created in the beginning as Divines conclude out of the 38. of Job when the Morning-stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy as may be conjectured by the Archangel Michaels victory over Lucifer and his rebellious Army of ambitious Spirits And Christ himself tels us in the 10 of Luke He beheld Satan as Lightning fall from Heaven What need I say more That audacious Spirit who had the impudence to tempt our Saviour dares continually circle the Earth still like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour But Faith is the best Armor and fervent Prayer the sharpest sword to vanquish him who being but so resisted flies from us and true Contrition and humble Penance conjures him away And I pray you who ought to be more cordially penitent than such whom the just Laws and their own consciences having cast into the jaws of death Gods mercy hath reprieved to expiate their crimes in so innocent and hopefull a work as this to the good of their afflicted souls their Countries profit and his own glory for Penitence Reformation and vertuous Emulation are the most prevalent Engines to effect this noble Enterprise which I had rather decline and utterly relinquish than use any corrosive or compulsory means to constrain any of my penitential brethren to proceed in or accelerate their labours as the Spaniard doth to his miserable Miners in America and others in other places Now concerning the validity and grandure of this Mysterious Attempt you are to understand that the College of our most honoured Physicians which is the Philosophical Oracle of our Commonwealth have candidly certified the late Lord Protector Oliver Cromwel That as the Design was heroick and magnificent so if it were not prejudiced and obstructed by the obloquy and sinister contrivance of self-interessed persons it was like to produce much profit and honor to this our native Country In a word howsoever you value my Invitation to participate in my Mineral profession neglect not my cordial Counsel in matters of Devotion and sincere Penitence For 't is conceived by some truly religious and very learned that the Penitent only shall recruit the Regiments and glorious Host of the intellectual Angels by supplying the place of them that fell with Lucifer in his great Rebellion To which God
here take place that much Silver was lost for want of taking it out of Lead-Oares for whereas those Oars which are rich in Silver are commonly hard â—ffâ—sion our Mineral men neglect those Oars No doubt many are concealed by reason they are Mines Royal. Where had been the Woods and Forrests yet undestroyed on these bald-headed Promontories that migâ—t suffice had you not taught the Earth to afford you all and the Valley to meet the barren Hill by sending in Fewel to give form to the matter So that here is a rich bequest you leave to posterity I mean your eternizing the Works by preventing the excess of Water and defect of Fire I have no more but to sâ—gnifie my confidence that as your desires are set on the material Rocks of Wales and Enstone so will your better affections be firmly grounded upon the Rock Christ Jesus that no Tempest may be able to shake you when the sandy Projects of other will be laved to nothing by the Flouds they are built upon which will give more comfort and satisfaction to you than can be expressed by your True Friend and Servant THOMAS BRODWAY Julii 4. 1641. A Table setting forth the manner of that great Philosopher the Lord Chancellour Bacons searching for Metals by making Addits thorow the lowest Level of Hills or Mountains and conveying Air into the innermost parts of their Centre by Pipe and Bellows as well as by Art to mollifie the hardest Stone without the tedious way and inestimable charge of sinking Aery Shafts and is now intended to be put in practice by his Menial Servant Thomas Bushel on Hingston-Down and other places according to his Lordships command and the approbation of that great Mineralist Sir Francis Godolphin FIrst the true description of Hingston down lieth in Longiâ—ude East and West five Miles with Millions of Shafts that have been visibly Sunk upon several Loads of Metal by the Romans Danes Saxons Jews and Britans And is in breadth 700 Fathom at the Basis lying North and South as well as in depth 200 Fathom from the Beacon Perpendicular to the Centre of that Addit now intended The reasons why I undertake a work of this nature and in these parts is as followeth FIrst a gratefull Ambition to answer his Highness Heroick trust reposed in me to discover this Nations Mineral Treasure Secondly my obliged fidelity to my Lord Chancellour Bacon to practise this his Philosophical invention for the general good and in particular to give new birth to the drooping conditions of my fellow Pupills the poor Miners drowned and deserted works Thirdly my Cordial desire to serve these Western parts with the benefit of so usefull a president I having already practised the same in Wales and found the fruitful effects thereof Secondly the reasons why I begin my Addit or Aqueducts from Small-Coom and Hook Coom to meet underneath the Beacon at the aforesaid Center is FIrst for that by mine own experience I found not any of our Predecessors to search lower than 40 Fathom So that I am confidently assured that cutting North and South thorow the aforesaiâ— 700 Faâ—…om I shall command all the Loads Rakes anâ— Vâ—ins oâ— Metal in that Hill and how probable then it may be to discover another Indies out of the drowned and deserted works of our Nation by this example I shaâ—l leave to the rational Judgments of them who are practitioners in those affairs Especially whether these mine endeavours will not give much hopes to verifie the old Proverb Hingston-Down well wrought is worth London Town dearly bought For if the riches of those Groves in 40 Fathom sinking hath occasioned the afore-said Proverb as well as the inundation of water hath caused them to desert from their Mineral profit it cannot be denyed by common sense or rules of reason this Addit undermining most of the said works 150 Fathom and then ascending up into their several loads of Metal to drain the waters in their old Groves but that it carries the fairest encouragement of probable conjecture to make good the true riches of the old Proverb of Hingston-Down in this age of ours The Reason why I use Pipe and Bellows is FIrst To convey Air into the innermost part of my Addit without the sinking of Airy shafts and preventing the vast expence and tediousness of time which caused our Forefathers being ignorant of this invention to leave such supposed riches of hidden Treasure to us their posterity The Reason why I make my Addit or Aqueducts open 150 Fathom at each end is FIrst To facilitate the dispatch of 300 Fathom of the 700 the first year by the reason of the multitude of hands that may be set on work which will not be admitted if close and likewise it being the shallowest place of the Hill it will require but the same expence Secondly That the close Addit may be but in length 400 Fathom of the 700. and to shorten likewise the drift of the same in point of time I begin my Addits at each end of my open Trench as Counterdrifts to meet each other And so consequently the whole will be dispatched in half the time And therefore you may rest assured that I have so maturely calculated the wayes and means not onely of this great work at Hingston-down but also of that of Goom-Martin in Devon Guinop in Cornwal and Mendyp in Summerset that I doubt not but in four years to set a period to all expectations if God permit and I have the honour of your well wishes The Reason why I do not willingly desire any Partner but Providence in this great enterprise is FIrst Because I have had already the experience of some Partners and found the fruits of Providence to assist me more when they did ever decline the Mineral design than when I had compliance with their several Purses which made me cal to mind his Lordships frequent observation that many Partners in the publick Acts of Mineral adventures where greediness of gain had more rule in their hearts than to illustrate the Creators glory became usually the sad Elogiae of misfortune and disencouragement to others Besides one tenth part must be solely dedicated to prosecute the like works in the other 20 Mountains marked out by the aforesaid Lord that great Mineralist Sir Fran. Godolphin who both subscribed it under their hands to be the most harmless gain and greatest good to a Common-wealth the choicest study and endeavours of the best bred persons in other Nations and the most Honourable Imployment this world was capable of Lastly Because I conceive all Mines were created for Mans use and Gods glory but in what age to be revealed or by whom is onely known to the Searcher of all hearts who can best judge of mine and my designed ends And what person then of an ingenuous spirit that is not impoisoned with envy will bear unfriendly thoughts to those that search after such subterranean Treasure at their own charge for the
good and honour of their native Countrey and which in a manner is presented unto them by the hands of God May it please your Lordships VVE in all humbleness make bold to certifie your Honours that Mr. Bushels way of Mineral proceed to undermine the waters of drowned and deserted Works is as we humbly conceive of such high concernment for the honour and profit of this Nation as we confidently believe before our Lady day next he will crown his labours with store of hidden Treasure out of the Works now in Rowpits and be inabled though at present poor in purse to put on all his others Works of the West without any Partnership but Providence to assist his Industry for the service of his Countrey in those particulars Valent. Trime Steward of Chewton Liberty wherein Rowpits is Alexander Jet Christ Wright Ja. Middleham Rob. Hill John Ford. Ralph Conyers Hen. Baron Valent. Powel Tho. Nixton Rich. Frier senior Rich. Frier junior Robert Hole Richard Vigor Wil. Smith Mayor Tho. White Recorder Tho. Salmon Justice William Wâ—lrond George Bampsield Tho. Coward Wil. Morgan Esquires Mr. Bushels Petition to the late King To the KINGS most excellent Majesty The Humble Petition of THOMAS BUSHEL your Majesties Servant Most humbly sheweth THat whereas your Royal Father of ever blessed memory who was truly stiled the King of Peace and mirror of Mercy to the sparing of life blood was graciously pleased for saving the lives of such malefactors as were condemned to death by the Law for Petty Felonies being such as were not any scandal to the Church or State nor had imbrewed their hands in blood to admit their transportation to the East-India and Virginia Companies for furtherance of their Plantations In which action doubtlesse Hâ— did also cast his eyes upon the warrantable proceedings and presidents of other most famous Princes in the like kind as the late Queen Elizabeth who built certain Gallies of purpose for imployment of such kind of offenders of strong and able bodies as might attend her memorable designs at Sea especially upon all sudden and resolute enterprizes it being the usual course of other Christian Princes as the K ng of Spain both for the supply of his Gallies against the Turks and Moors and especially for the enlargement of his Indian Mines of Gold Silver Quicksilver and the like and his conquests of Molocco Goa Ormus and other rich and populous Islands The King of France for hâ—s Gaâ—lies at Marsellis The State of Venice The Duke of Florence who by such kind of saved Offenders built Ligorn one of the most famous Sea-ports within the Straights In all which States and Services divers of these Malefactors by good encouragements have sought not so much by surviving as by their incredible labours eff cting matters otherwise held invincible to obliturate their former ignominies by merit of rewards And whereas in this your Majesties populous Kingdom too many such offendors are most untimely cut off in their best abilities of service so is there within the pale of this your Kingdom and without any occasion of Sea or forein service means of imployment for such persons to redeem their lost reputation by indeavouring to do faithful service for their Countries honour and the Kingdoms good in that happy work begun by Your Sacred Majesty for the better discovery of Your Silver Mines His most humble sute therefore is that You would be pleased out of all these weighty considerations and beneficial consequences tending so much to your Honor Crown and Dignity and good of the Commonwealth to grant Your Majesties Commission if it may be thought fit by the advice of Your High and Honorable Court of Parliament for the choosing of such several persons out of the Prisons of this Your Kingdome as are and shall be condemned for small offences and of able serviceable bodies by the approbation of Your Judges and shall implore Your Majesties mercy to be imployed by Your said Subject in the Works of Your Mines-Royal they giving security for their good behaviour with such limitation of time and allowance for their sustentation as to Your Majesties said High Court of Parliament shall be thought fit that by their dutiful and laborious performance therein they may afterwards come into the happinesse of Your Majesties pardon of Grace for their former offences And Your Petitioner shall ever rest c. The Speech of the late Bishop of Worcester near his death to Mr. Bushel concerning the two rich Mines by him discovered Mr. Bushel YOur own eyes see how near I am to the dwelling of death by my gray hairs which are the true Records of fourscore and fourteen years of age next my limbs which have no more strength than those that are lapp'd in the Sepulchre of their winding sheet only my Intellectual parts are yet preserved to ascribe God the glory and to disclose the secrets of two rich Mines the one holding some quantity of Gold worth the extracting the other in Silver worth the Refining to your trust and fidelity with a confidence that your charity cannot conceive me guilty of betraying your judgement with an imaginary treasure when my Soul and Body are so near the approach of death as I must suddainly give an account in the other World besides I have taken upon me the calling of a spiritual profession and have this day received the Sacrament as a pledge of my redemption which I trust are sufficient motives to believe truth from a dying mans tongue who hath no other end than that the hopefulnesse of such riches may not be buried by my dissolution but that the honour and profit thereof might redownd to his Majesty and his Royal posterity as a living and loyal remembrance of his Princely favours to mee and mine Mr. Bushel's Invitation by Letter to Condemned men for Petty-Felonies to work in the Mines of their own Country rather than be banish'd to Slavery in Forein parts FEllow-sufferers in restraint although upon different accounts for you have sought death by the errours of your lives I an Imprisonment by a licentious Prodigality But I hope your Consciences like faithful Mirrors have presented to the eye of your afflicted souls the deformities of your several Crimes as mine hath to my serious consideration my manifold transgressions We have no City of refuge in these our sad perplexities the impartial doom of our Laws hath banished you from the Land of the living unlesse its mercy exile you from the Land of your nativity by a ten years absence to a sordid slavery in some torrid Island whose Climat Air Diet and manner of labour will prove very irksom unto you But the implacable revenge of some of my Creditors doth endeavour to bury me alive in this house of woe when God knows I was plung'd in my Mineral inundations with care and pains to pay them their just debts by the help of Providence But dear Brethren Friends and Companions in Bonds to assure you that I commiserate your
deplorable condition more than mine own I would present you with a more solacious Cordial than that of society in your miseries which I have humbly petitioned the Honourable Parliament for and hope I shall obtain to your temporal and eternal advantage You are therefore first to understand that when our English Aristotle Natures best modern Secretary that excellent Philosopher the Lord Chancellour BACON my ever-honoured Master had compleated his now extant Natural History of Philosophical Experiments he then modell'd his Solomons House in his New Atlantis thereto annexed in which Academy they might be practised But not by those common wayes as he was used to say where even Fools might raise a Pyramis Colossus or Mausoleum to their ridiculous memories Viz. from the Exchequers of bounteous and magnificent Princes Piratick depredations or Monopolous exactions from an opulent people but rather by a Philosophical Elixar and Chymical extraction so quaint and admirable that it seems to convince the Maxim Out of nothing is made nothing For he proposed no other means to erect and maintain that stupendious Fabrick and the Magi thereof who were by him designed thereto by his Theory than the recovery of the Lost by the help of the Dead Resolve the Riddle and find your Cordial for though it be truly Magical 't is not Necromantick But not to delay you I as your Oedipus thus open it The Lost are drowned and desperately deserted Mineral Works the Dead convicted and attainted persons who are indeed so in Law and what is lost is not in nature as to the use and propriety of mankind Cheer up my Comrades I have opened my dark lantern to you and light is comfortable to the benighted Now know that that excellent Lord affecting my homebred simplicity and being ambitious to raise a Younger brothers fortunes by such Experiments instituted me as his much-favored Pupil in his mysterious Philosophical way of recovering and searching Mines by mollifying their hardest Rocks undermining their Waters separating their Metals and carrying Air through the lowest levels of Hills or Mountains without the vastnesse of former charge to sink Shafts for Air every twenty Fathom But he suddenly falling from an eminent height as I by that time had deviated from his grave directions in the secure Paths of Vertue imposed on me a new task Which was not to search the Rocky bosoms of the barren Mountains but by a timely retirement to some solitary place where I might seclude my self from the treacherous vanities of the tumultuous world to explore the deceitful Meanders of my stony Heart and when Divine grace should have assisted my better Reason in overcoming the rebellious affections of my Sensual appetite if then the like Providence should call me thence to a more active life in the prosecution of his Mineral documents I should without any regret of my former penance attend the good hand of God in that design with humble patience assuredly believing that since he had supported me in the conquest of my self he would conduct me through all difficulties to the accomplishing so great a work for my Countryes good and his own glory And according to his counsel and prediction after I had lived three years as a Recluse in a desolate Island in the Irish Seas only conversing with God in my repentant tears prayers and contemplations he miraculously called me thence to an unexpected fortune brought me into favor with my Prince who granted me a Patent for all the Mines Royal in order to my Lords Proposals and a Branch of his Royal Mint to coin such Silver as I should extract from all Lead of my own finding which was not a little witnesse the many great services I did for that King therewith notwithstanding my great losses in the late Wars But as the Times so we in them are chang'd Now here to prevent any that may ask Why since by my Articles of War I am to be restored to all my former rights I seek no more from the present State than an assurance of the deserted Mines of our Territories I answer That they will be enough which is better than more that then I was no way obnoxious to that government but in my Soveraigns favor and he in Peace now these States look upon me as a pardoned and reconciled Enemy and their vast expence in the Republick service permits Delinquents no such allowance therefore I modestly ask the crumbs which they scorn to gather up and therewith doubt not to perform my undertakings to the honor of my Country and my Masters memory But me thinks I hear our proud first Enemy that envious spirit of delusion whisper to some of you What will your condition of slavery be better here in your native Mines than in a Forein Plantation where your friends cannot see your sufferings nor you their prosperities to their or your afflictions because they cannot mitigate yours nor you participate of theirs which will be no small abatement to your shames and their sorrows To this I reply That as the innocence of the sufferer not the rigor of the torment makes one a Martyr so the cause of shame is in the act of the Crime not in the nature of the Servitude wheresoever to be suffered your guilt is known and accompanies you every where is it not then better here to expiate it where a safer and easier means is offered if you intend to lead a new life Consider the tediousnesse and dangers of your transportations through Storms Enemies and a sparing salt diet If you Land safely 't is but to be sold like Beasts and most likely to men of barbarous souls through whose cruelty you shall gasp out your dolorous lives with excessive labors and when Hunger shall call for natures recruits be forced to think the worst imployed horses of your own Country happier than your selves in their natural food and after all this if you can outlive your bondage in inriching your taskmasters the Spaniard for revenge or avarice may surprize your completed Plantations and carry you away to consume the sad remnant of your miserable days in his Mines without merit expiation or hope but thus you cannot suffer at home where you may turn your necessities into vertues by a patient and humble submission to Gods will for all evil of punishment is from him I propose not this to you as Mineral Pioneers out of any design of advantage to my self your food clothes and materials will cost me as much as the hired expert Miners my plot upon you is the only salvation of your souls and restitution of your liberties through your contrition and penance by Christs merits and Gods mercy with temporal rewards of benefit and expiation by your industrious discoveries in your allotted portions which that you may obtain sacrifise but your sins on the broken altars of your contrite hearts to the Lord of mercies and you have his own words for your free pardons O how will your conversion and deliverance make your
exceed all former Ages in Mineral Discoveries and their Separations WALTER BASBEE Sworn the 7. of December 1658. before me one of the Masters of Chancery in ordinary W. GLASCOCK Christopher Wrights Affidavit CHristopher Wright aged fifty six years maketh Oath That he was sent by Mr. Joseph Hexeter of Cumberland to be in the same place of Steward for direction of Mr. Bushels Minerals under ground as the said Mr. Hexeter was under him in Wales at 100 l. per an salary And finding the said Mr. Bushell to give such probable reasons for recovering the inundation of water out of the vast and drowned Works of Rowpits by persuing a Drift as a Common-shore from the Concaves of a natural Swallow twenty fathom deep after his industry had sunk twenty shafts to discover the same on purpose to come to the rich Loads of metal known to be buried in the adjacent Groves of water This Deponent and others upon confidence of making good his great undertakings therein although his judgement was then much questioned by the Inhabitants for the attempt did and do desire but half wages ever since the Miners of Mendip had invited the said Mr. Bushell under their hands and Decree of their Court to have half the profit bearing half the charge after the water was drained which this Deponent doth verily believe will be in a short time perfected and appear for precedent sake as well as for present profit the greatest work that hath been done by any Mineralists these hundred years if the malitious attempts of some ill-natured persons do not now hinder the growth of his proceedings therein For this Deponent doth depose That by some wicked persons there was a great Lake of muddy water turned about the hour of midnight and upon a great flood into the Swallow on purpose as is conceived to choak it and so consequently to drown his men that came from forein parts and were then working twenty fathom deep which this Deponent doth aver were forced to save their lives by running up their Groves at the same time the Swallow being not able to receive the torrent of its water And this Deponent doth likewise depose That about the 10. of October last there was some other such envious persons who pulled down so much of the under-timber of his Shaft that the whole Grove of earth fell into Mr. Bushels Drift when his men were at work underneath and it was supposed by divers never to be recovered But thanks be to God the danger is past and Mr. Bushels Drift goeth on towards the rich Works known to lie 150 fathom before him for this Deponent was one of the workmen that landed 100 l. per week out of one Shaft this last summer and saw 200 l. per week out of another but the charge of drawing water though in the drought of the summer stood as they reported in 80 l. per week a piece which Mr. Bushels Drift will prevent and likewise to 1000 more of the like nature as are supposed to be within the verge of Rowpits CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT Sworn the 3. of December 1658. before me one of the Masters of Chancery in ordinary W. GLASCOCK The Testimony of some Miners of Mendyp to the Council VVE whose names are hereunder written being Miners and well vers'd in the Mineral Rakes of Rowpits upon the Forrest of Mendyp are ready to testifie upon Oath That the great wrongs done to the Works of Thomas Bushel Esq in Rowpits as is deposed by Christopher Wright before a Master of Chancery are of a certain truth And we are likewise ready to testifie our Opinions upon Oath That if the way of Mr. Bushels now proceeding to recover these drowned and deserted works may go on without molestation according to the Orders of the Grand Jury of Chewton made for his encouragement we do believe in our Consciences that there hath not been these hundred years such a service done to this Commonwealth in advancing the knowledge of the Miners Trade for profit and precedent And we also humbly conceive That if a binding Order be made by your Lordships to confirm in all points the said Grand Jury of Chewton's Orders for deterring unruly Miners from such exorbitancies as also that no persons should lose any more their Summers work to follow the Mines of Rowpits which are now to no more purpose in matter of profit than to wash the Black-moor until Mr. Bushels Drift can come up to drain their inundation of waters which as we find exprest in his Remonstrance he doth undertake to perfect in four years and we do verily believe that not onely all the Oar may be then landed for two shillings per Tun but that we shall then also know the inestimable riches of that place without further charge or ruining more families in working upon Rowpits And we do also confidently believe in our Consciences that when Mr. Bushels now Drift from his Swallow doth come up to the old works drowned and that he doth pursue likewise his Cross-Rake from his Swallow to the forebreast of Sir Bevis Bulmars deserted work as he saith he intends to do so soon as he hath secured the place according to agreement and the Grand Jury's Order of Chewton dated the 28 of May the said Mr. Bushel will make good his Marqus of a Thousand pound per week For there are men yet alive that will justifie that the forebreast of Sir Bevis Bulmar's work was nine foot wide in Oar and we our selves know that a hundred pounds per week out of one Grove in the old work is ordinary when the suffocation of water doth not hinder them Jo. Bakehouse Tho. Bakehouse Jo. Doxie The late Kings Letter of Invitation to Mr. Bushel confirming his procedure in Mineral Discoveries CHARLES R. TRusty and welbeloved We having taken into consideration your late Relation concerning your proceedings and intentions for the perfecting of that great Work happily by you begun in Our County of Cardigan in Our Principality of Wales concerning those hopeful Mines by you discovered approving well of your beginnings proceedings intentions We have thought good out of Our Royal disposition to the encouraging of you and all such as are studious or industrious to do to Us or Our Commonwealth profitable service to assure you by these Our Letters that you shall not onely by Our Protection peaceably enjoy the Contract and Bargain by you made with the Lady Elizabeth Middleton concerning the said Mines with all things thereunto belonging but also be well assured that both you your Agents Assistants or Coadjutors shall from time to time have all the furtherance and favour We can vouchsafe to you or them And for the better encouraging of you to go cheerfully and confidently on with the Works when your learned Council at the Law shall advise you to pray any further Act or Acts from Us whereby the Design may be advanc'd and you and your assistants secured you shall find Us ready to grant unto you
any your lawful desires And in the mean time these Our Letters shall be a good and sufficient Testimony of Our Royal intentions towards you and our good wishes to the prosperity of your undertakings Given at Our Court at Whitehall under Our Signet the three and twentieth day of February in the twelfth year of Our Reign To Our trusty and welbeloved Subject and Servant Thomas Bushell Esq This is entred in the Signet-Book the 23 of Febr. 1636 Ja. Store The Merchants Letter of Barnstaple to Mr. Bushell concerning their accommodation of transporting his Lead and Oar gratis c. SIR SInce you have been pleased at your own great charge to discover those deserted Works at Combmartin for the publick good of our Countrey and whereas you are interessed in the Mines of Wales which furnish you both with Lead and Lead-Oar These are to request you to be pleased to make this our Harbour partaker of the Benefits may proceed therein and what we buy not from you for ready moneys we shall be ready to transport for you Frait-free instead of Ballast you rendring it aboard to all such Ports as our Vessels shall commerce withall In so doing we suppose the result thereof will more properly conduce to your hopeful proceedings in the said Works of Combmartin which we wish all happy success and remain Your Loving Friends Richard Harris William Leigh George Shurt Robert Dennis Iohn Tucker Thomas Hoâ—wood Anthony Benny William Palmer Lyonel Becher Rich. Harris William Nottel Iohn Down Walter Tucker R. Flemming Richard Medford William Wood Francis Newton Edward Flemming Tho. Cox Nathaniel Fisherleigh Robert Frayn Barnstable the 6 of Octob. 1648. The Attestation of the Physicians College in the City of London VVE whose names are hereunder written have seen a Printed Paper of Mr. Bushels concerning Minerals and opening of Mines and do conceive it fit that he be encouraged in the prosecution of that design which we conceive may be Benefit and Honour to our Commonwealth Fran. Pruiean Collegii Medicor Londines Praeses Thomas Winston H. Clerk Tho. Turner Walter Charleton S. Argall Guliel Rant Robert Loyd Iosh Hinton Tho. Nurse Geo. Bate Edw. Smith Edw. Alstone Novemb. 29. 1652. A Certificate from the Miners presented to the Right Honourable the Lordr and other of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Councel May it please your Lordships ACcording to your commands Wee whose names are under written being Miners Smelters Refiners Carryers Washers and Monyers belonging to his Majesties Mines Royal in the County of Cardigan in all humility do certifie of our certain knowledge and experience concerning the new works lately discovered by Gods providence to Thomas Bushell Esquire Farmer of his Majesties Mines Royal in these parts that the said Master Bushell at his inestimable charge having cut six hundred Fathome through the Rock at the lowest levels North and South for discovering the lost vein of Cum-sum lock lying East and West two hundred Fathome through the Mountain of Tallibont at sixty Fathome perpendicular three several Addits at Koginenn one above another twenty and thirty Fathome center another at the Darren to come under the Romans work at an hundred Fathom center another at Bryn Lloyd fifty Fathom in length and thirty Fathom center working day and night for the Drayning of the water which formerly in the time of Customer Smith and Sir Hugh Middleton in their working of the Mines Royal was never used they only working upon the Superficies of the earth the works being drowned with water before they could sink to the best of the vein both for quantity and quality and so the charge made to exceed the benefit which danger is prevented by the aforesaid Addits and the Royal Mines become more hopeful especialy by the assistance of his Majesties Mint for the speedy payment of all those that are employed in the said works And Mr. Bushels own invention to save Wood by reducing the Ore into Lead and Silver with Turff and Sea-cole Charked which happy invention had it not been found out the works must needs have been left unwrought the Country not being able to have supplyed necessary fewel And further by the prohibition of transporting Ore unwrought that holdeth silver worth the refining which His Majesty in his Princely wisdom saw to be very prejudicial even to the utter overthrow of his Mines Royal. We have therefore great reason to be confident that his way of Working with the restraint of transporting Ore will in short time greatly encrease the Bullion of this Kingdom for the honour of the King and good of the Common-wealth together with the employment of many hundred poor people which would be otherwise an unsupportable burthen to this barren Country who by their present labour in these Mines are able to subsist with their Families and thousands more might be daily set on work if Mr. Bushels undertakings in the Mines Royal may be confirmed for a certain time by this present high Court of Parliament MINERS David Fowles William Rashly Henry Cockler David Bebb. Joseph Jefferies George Turner Hugh Reece William Davids George Scotsmer Thomas Bâ—ickhead Will. Griffith Peter Baltiser Francis Pierce Maurice Lewis Peter Edriser Edward Blewys Rob Emblin Rob. Tailor Robert Lowning Thomas Fletcher David Evans George Dixon Hugh Mason David op Richard Tho. Blewys Michael Sanders Morgan Williams Tho. Clocker Tho. Green Bartho Clocker Francis Fisher Hugh Benn Iohn Mason George Tickle Iohn Mason Iohn Fisher David Loyd David Williams Henry Emblin Maurice Taylor John Emblin Edward Reece John Mason Sen. Will. Picharets Evan Thomas John Harris Will. Tyson Watkin Reece Iohn Smith Morgan Pritchet Griffith Iohn Will. Reece Iohn Tuddar Iohn Huson David Iinkins Ioseph Acherson Edmund Poole Edward Bebb. Philip Benn Thomas Iames With two Hundred more whom for brevity we omit to name Moniers Henry Such Iohn Corbet Richard Arnold Refiners Iohn Estopp David Estopp Samuel Iohnson Edw. Gibbon Tho. Parker Arthur Elissa Smelters Thomas Botham Hugh Iames. Griffith Evans Iohn Watkin Iinkin Owen Iohn Epslie Iohn Evans Iohn Lewes Ia. Meredith Washers Iohn Wringe Morgan Iohn Lewis Davy Iohn Iohn Ienkins Morgan Griff. Iohn Edmund Symons Reece Morgan Charls Williâ—mâ— Thomas Adams To the Right Honourable the Lords and others of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council ACcording to Yours Honours command we have enquired and considered how the Mines-Royal were lâ—ft to Mr. Bushel by the Lady Middleton and do in all humility declare that the Silver Mines were not worth the working untill Mr. Bushel at his great charge discovered Rich Ore in the adjacent mountains which in all likelyhood will both increase the Bullion and by his way of working in short time give his Majesty a true tryal what the invaluable riches of these his Welsh mountains are for whereas the Mines in these parts were formerly wrought by Pumps and so growing deep were left drowned with water Mr. Bushel cuts through the main Rocks at the lowest levell to an hundred fathom perpendicular according to
the German manner of working which though chargable yet certain having four several Addits which he continueth driving night and day into four several mountains his industry also hath outstript former times for by melting the poor fusible Ore with the Rich he produceth a third part more of Silver with the same charge and for accommodating the works with all materials fit for Mines-Royal he hath spared no cost about repairing the mils hath also built in his Majesties Castle of Aberystwith a fair Mint hath contracted with Merchants of our own and other Nations to supply the peoples necessity with Corn and other Provision and payeth the Miners and Carriers at the Scales and doubteth not to make them able Pyoners and fit Souldiers to do his Majesty and their Country service upon any assault of an enemy All which we commend to your Honourable consideration praying c. Your Lordships humbly to be commanded Joseph Hexsteter chief Steward of the Mines Samuel Reynish Water Barkesby Assay Masters of the Mint Humphrey Owen Clark of the Mines The Case of the Mine Royal judged to be by the most learned Lawyers under their hands ALthough the Gold or Silver contained in the base Metals of a Mine in the Land of a Subject be of less value than the baser Metall yet if the Gold or Silver do countervail the charge of the refining it or be of more worth then the base Metal spent in refining it this is a Mine Royal and as well the base Metal as the Gold and Silver in it belongs by Prerogative to the Crown Sir Ralph Whitefield his Majesties Serjeant at Law Sir Edward Herbert Attorney General Oliver St. John Solicitor General Orlando Bridegman the Princes Solicitor John Glanvil Serjeant Rich. Creswel Serjeant John Wilde Serjeant Rob. Holborn John Hern. Edward Bagshaw Thomas Lane Richard King Edmund Prideaux Esqs Jo. Maynard Edward Hide Iohn Glynne Charles Fulwood Harbottle Grimstone Iohn White George Peard Iohn Franklin Richard Weston Iohn Glover William Ellis Thomas Culpepper Iohn Goodwine William Sanford Iohn George Ia. Haward Esqs Chewton 28 of July 1658. WHereas we of the Mineral Grand Jury finding by a decretal Order of our Predecessors May 28. and their Letter May 2. in answer of Tho Bushell's Esq to incourage him to go on in his adventures for recovering the drowned works of Rowpits which were formerly the deserted works of Sir Bevis Bulmar in the time of Queen Elizabeths Reign And whereas many of the chief Adventurers in the said Rowpits do and have consented to surrender not only the one half of their works and Mines there but likewise the pre-emption of the other half paying as much as any other Merchant will give unto the said Tho Bushell and his Assigns when the said Tho Bushell doth make it appear unto the Mineral Court for the time being that by his and their workmanship they be freed from the inundation of their waters We of the Grand Jury do Order and confirm the said Decree And whereas we find the said Tho. Bushell hath in relation to his undertakings of recovering their waters brought it so near a probability of perfection that in time all persons of known Judgement cannot but conclude the same will be done for the general good of those that had formerly suffered by those Grooves and likewise a president for others to follow the like example as also the certainty of knowing the vast riches that lie in Rowpits and Green Oar And whereas we are informed by the said Tho. Bushell and others of several misdemeanors committed against him by turning floods into his swallow to choak and extirpate all his proceedings stealing of his tooles from his works depraving of his Person with scandalous language and making new pitches in Rowpits before him so soon as they saw the fore-field of Mr. Bushell's Drift from his Swallow had but a vein of ground Oare four foot wide and three fathom high to cherish his chargeable undertakings which uncivil actions of theirs were as we conceive contrary to all equity and good conscience and in a manner an Act of Tyranny in us that Mr. Bushel should drain our waters and we should suffer strangers to take the benefit of new pitches from his adventures to recover such drowned and forsaken works as the greatest Engineer hath deserted when all persons have the whole Hill of Mendyp to make their fortunes by such pitches as he allegeth and not to â—iscourage his desperate undertakings therein by such â—alicious practices and especially to such a person as Mr. Bushell that is sent by his Highness the Lord Protector to recover such drowned and deserted works for the publick good of the Nation with power to dig delve and search in the several grounds of all his Territories by Letters Patents paying double trespasse as well as in all vast Commons upon hopes from such experiments to ease in time the Taxes of the Subject and to give new birth to the drooping condition of a Miners posession We of the grand Jury of Chewton and other Workmasters and Miners for the reasons aforesaid and for preventing any just complaints to the Lord Paramount against out Lord Royal's Court of Chewton for such incivilities to the person which his Highness hath trusted in that affair do Order and make this Decree for the said Tho. Bushell's better incouragement That from the day of the date of the Order May 28 all such new pitches shall be void in Rowpits and Green Oar but such as the said Tho. Bushell shall approve and allow of and that all former works that have been wrought upon within these five years and sunk five fathom deep to stand good by consent provided that they keep them lawfull and sink them to the water when the said Thomas Bushell is come near them with his Drift of sixteen fathom deep by the approbation of this grand Jury that so the wilfulness of any malicious person might not hinder such a proceed to know the Meanders of those Mineral Rakes in their deeper search and the way to go to their recoveries for their own good as well as Mr. Bushell's reputation in the attempt of that great design And whereas the said Tho. Bushell doth aver that he never did intend to make it a Mine Royal by his Art and Skill to the prejudice of us our Laws and Liberties as it was reported unless it â—ere against the interest of some cross-grain'd scurrilous fellow that will not be governed by our own grand Jury but rather contest with his Highness right to Rowpits and bids defiance to Prerogative Power or are backt by a malicious faction that would hinder the growth of the Lord Chancellour Bacons Philosophy in recovering the same for the glory of the Nation these considerations and at our request to him upon the aforesaid agreement that he would shew his quondam Masters Philosophy for recovering Rowpits and Green Oar from their inundations of water which is well known to us to be rich
this passage between my self and the Beggar he called to mind a Treatment I had given him and divers of his Nobility at my Grotto in Oxfordshire 33. years ago where one by my appointment in the habit of one of those Philosophical Hermits before mentioned in the 28 page of my Lords Atlantis addressed himself to his Majesty by this ensuing speech ascending out of the ground as a prophetick preludium to the practical discovery of Mineral Treasures and all mysterious Arts for I must tell you the third year following I gave him a collation of his own coined Silver newly discover'd out of his barren mountains wherby the utmost grandure of humane Empire might be compleated by such true Hermits if persued in the like nature commanded me to ask my Lord Say whether it might not be possible to have his restraint limited to that place and not to return to the said Castle any more giving such of the Nobility as were his friends engaged as Security that he should not go out of the Precincts of that Grotto nor intermeddle with any State-affairs until themselves found it expedient for the general good But this being denied made me decline the recesses of that solitude And now gentle Reader since that Lord in his wisdom conceived it necessary to limit the aforesaid Practice according to the Dictates of his own Theory I refer my self to your judicious censure although I confess my simplicity is so great that I cannot arrogate any thing of â—nowledge to my self which may seem to lessen the merits of that unparallel'd Lord but am like the Mule that bears his Masters Treasure or a Porter that carries a Letter yet knows not the worth of its contents The Moral whereof is this That the Poor mans Tale may be heard as well as the Rich and that self-will'd persons of self-intereâ—… may not sway the judgement of a whole state from trying the Divine Mysteries of that Lords Philosophy lest his Overtrres penned by his Pupils observation in this foregoing Treatise for setting the Poor on work easing the Subjects Tax and giving the Tenth of what Treasure-trove shall be discovered by such Art or of Drowned Lands recovered from the Sea without prejudice to any should prove witnesses against us in the next age to the perpetual shame and dishonour of this I write not this Gentle Reader to ingratiate my self into your good opinion for releasing me from imprisonment or to be restored to the possession of my Estate according to Articles lest a Critick oâ— self-ended person should carp at the same and report I had trapan'd the Judgement of a State under the notion of this Treasure although I am assured that the Parliament and the then Lord General will find their Honours as much imprisoned as my person when they shall read their own Articles signed by their General and confirmed by themselves which makes me not remove my body by a Habeas Corpus to the upper Bench or Fleet as others in my condition do for I find the major part of my just Creditors are satisfied at the s ght of my sufferings as well as the others are pleased that I do suffer from their severe cruelties and I pray God the rest of their Estates and reputation do not consume and come to nothing since they have brought me to this sad condition for I assure you some of them that were actors in ruining my credit by detraction and had wrested my Estate from me by getting the possession in those times of War and pleading Outlawries to my Bills of Equity came to my Bed-side when they were sick to death told me before my servants that they could not dye with a quiet Conscience until they had asked me forgiveness and so revealed the Plots of others that had a hand in my ruine whâ—…h hath reduced me to a contended mind in the middest of discontent But that which grieves my Soul is I fear my Ghost will walk when I am dead in those shades of Mineral obscurities to see so matchless a design of my Lord Bacons Atlantis that is Translated into all Languages for its exquisite contrivancy his Mineral Philosophy that was consigned to support its Fabrick should suffer shipwrack through self-interest when meer Providence in these revolutions and junctures of time hath brought it so far to light as I dare ingage my life that out of those drowned works I have now in hand and many others prescribed by that Lord I may in the effecting this great Work for my Countries good vie with the wisdom of a State the valour of an Army and the City purses if Justice permit me to enjoy what Providence shall produce out of those works provided no other follow the way of my Lords Mineral experiments and become my corrival in the deserted works So that Gentle Reader I have no more to write but to end as I begun with the Lord Gondomar's to King James who said they had a Spanish Proverb That that man which sought by the ruine of his native Countrey to erect a Trophy of honour to his own name more than to Gods glory was in his conception cursed his Mother bewitcht and himself nurst with a Tyger Inferring that the hands of publick persons imployed to Noble actions are his vicegerents upon Earth in making the world their Heir without ends of their own and so become the truest Stewards of those Talents which his gracious Providence hath committed to their trust Your faithful friend and humble Servant T. B. The Hermits Speech when he ascended out of the ground as the King and some of his Nobility entred Mr. Bushels Rock VVITH bended knees thus Humbly do I pray You blessed powers that glorifie this day And to my frozen lips have utterance given Speak O speak the Commands you bring from Heaven For by times Embleme that since Noahs flood I thus have grasp'd my Soul hath understood The world no farther journey hath to sail Than is betwixt the Serpents head and tail If then before the Earths great funeral Most glorious SIR you hit her come to call The Inmates of this solitary place To strict accompt for Heaven sake daign the grace To lend your patience and a Gentle ear To what I ought to speak and you may hear A Prodigal profuse in vast expence That nothing studied but to please his sense Trimming a glorious outside whil'st within He cherisht nought but propagating sin That multipli'd so fast there was no place Allow'd for vertue or for saving grace God of his mercy pleased was at last A glorious Eye upon his Soul to cast Which being so near a final rack as now His onely care his study is but how He may redeem the years he lost in sin And live as he to live now did begin What followed next must be conceiv'd of course Confession contrition and remorse These guides to Heaven he happily persu'd View'd his past life and that again review'd And to that end he