A02255	----	Greuous grones for the poore Done by a well-willer, who wisheth, that the poore of England might be so prouided for, as none should neede to go a begging within this realme. 1621 Approx. 22 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 15 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-05 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A02255 STC 12391 ESTC S105876 99841602 99841602 6198 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A02255) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 6198) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 888:16) Greuous grones for the poore Done by a well-willer, who wisheth, that the poore of England might be so prouided for, as none should neede to go a begging within this realme. Sparke, Michael, d. 1653, attributed name. Dekker, Thomas, ca. 1572-1632, attributed name. [8], 22, [2] p. Printed [by William Jaggard] for Michaell Sparke, London : 1621. Sometimes misattributed to Michael Sparke and to Thomas Dekker. Printer's name from STC. The first leaf is blank; the final leaf contains verse. Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. 2002-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-01 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2003-02 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2003-02 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion GREEVOVS GRONES FOR THE POORE . Done by a Well-willer , who wisheth , That the poore of ENGLAND might be so prouided for , as none should neede to go a begging within this Realme . The Poore afflicted are , So that they perish fast : If now no order taken be , Then Ruine comes at last . · HEB ·D●●●· ✚ HEB·D●●●●· LONDON Printed for MICHAELL SPARKE . 1621. TO THE RIGHT Honourable , Right Worshipfull , and worthy Company of the Virginian and Sommer-Iland Plantations . RIGHT HONOVRAble , Worshipfull , and Worthy : It is an old , and yet a true Prouerbe , Vis vnita fortior , Vnited force is most vigorous : I could haue commended this poore Fatherlesse Volumne to the simple perfection of some one man in eminence , vnder whose shade it might obtaine a quiet rest . But knowing your conioyned Society , doth extend the branches of Charity , to a farther limit then some one particular person , I am bold to present this Orphane to your tuition : assuring my selfe , that althogh scandals may derogate frō the worth in this our home bred Nation , your affection will finde it shipping to transport it to the Land of security , where no biting Satyre dares assayle it with his enuious teeth , or censuring Critick , carpe to catch it with his AEnigmaticke braine . The reasons why this long obscured Off-spring of Charity claimes your worthy particular Patronage , diuide themselues into a Tricotomie . The first Reason is drawne from the supposed parent , whose industrious seduline to the vast wombe of the Ocean , describes these two Lands , now Cities of refuge for poore impouerished persons . For his sake therefore , whose wisedome liues crowned with the Garland of Fame , though his bodie be buried in the Sepulcher of Obliuion , protect this his poore extant issue . The second Reason , proceedes from the remarkeable note of Christianity , which is Charity : For , by this ( saith our Sauiour ) shal all men know that yee are my Disciples . As therefore you prize the segregation of your selues from woluish Worldlings , in Charity entertaine this submissiue petulent , prostrate at the Altar of your acceptance . The third Reason , yssues from your continued and dayly exercise in the relapse of mean and decayed persons , by transporting of them to a Land , where they haue Corne which they sowed not , Vines which they planted not , and plenty which some of them deserued not . Since therefore , so many haue felt the reuiuing heate of the Sunne-beames of your Charity , whose very intrals blesse you : amongst the multitude of these , let this tonguelesse Orphant be one , that by its birth into the World , though it cannot speake , it may proue your praise . Thus with my seruice , as appointed to speake for this infant , in the hehalfe of it , I rest a Well-willer to your Businesse . M. S. A Diuision of the estate of the Poore . THE poore of this Common-Wealth are of two sorts , viz The impotent persons not able to releeue themselues with their labor , & the idle Rogues , able to mintaine the selues , and do their Countrey good , if they were set on worke , as the Statute Lawes of this Land prescribeth . The impotent is the blinde , lame , wounded souldier , fatherlesse childe , aged person , or diseased by Leprosie , Dropsie , or else visited with other greeuous sicknesse , not able to labour , to releeue themselues sufficiently . The Idle poore is the Theefe , the Rogue , the Rogue , the Strumpet , the sturdy Beggar , the Filcher , the Couzener , Cut-purse , and such like . The Misery of the Poore , with the danger of their soules . GREAT is the misery that the Carkasses of the poore sustaine , as extreame hunger , pinching colde , pittifull nakednesse , great disdaine , strange surfeits , greeuous sores , deadly diseases , and painefull deaths : but greater and much more lamentable , is the daungerous distresse of their silly soules . For , they are the slaues of Sathan , in the Galley of Idlenesse , fastened to the seate of Pouerty , with the Chaine of Slothfulnesse , where extreame Cruelty , with his Whip of Necessity ( whose biting Cords are Hunger and Cold ) forceth them to haste the fearfull Voyage , vnto the dolefull Hauen of Hell , by greedie rowing with the Oares of Iniurious Wrongs , as Theft , Cozenage , Witchcraft , and such like : but I hope to see , that Serpent so encountered with that goodly Ship , called , The good Gouernment of England , and that Loue that good Gunner therein ( with the Powder of Zeale ) will so thunder forth those Bullets of Iudgement out of the battering peeces of the Law , that Sathan shall be enforced to deliuer those silly slaues out of his thraldome , and yeelde his huge Vessell , to remaine a famous monument , vntill the end of the World. Excellently was that on-set giuen in the making of sundry Statutes ▪ for the releese of the Impotent , and setting the ydle on Worke : but if we consider how Negligence hath ouerthrowne that Famous Worke ; wee shall finde , how Selfe-Loue is setled farre into euerie mans heart , and that we so hotly hunt after priuate Gaine , that wee freezing coldly , seeke not any Publike Profite . Wee play the sloathfull hand , loath to come out of a warme pocket , to heale and helpe to couer the whole bodie from pinching cold . But come , come , deere Christians , let euerie man now bee more mooued with pittie . And according vnto their seuerall Callinges , so charitably to further some good prouision , that the poore heereafter may be otherwise releeued , and not bee forced to beg or steale for maintenance . And the ydle so set on Worke , that they be not compelled to runne about the Countrey , haunting of Ale-houses , and vsing all bad and wanton exercises , to driue away the time withall . And let not Parishioners do stil ( as some do now ) beare out theeues in their theeuerie , for that they take their prey with the Foxe , farre from his home , which otherwise should charge the town . Let them not winke at the matter , when they finde the Theefe , and so the thing stolne , nor make the Host of the Alehouse their Constable , that diligent Setter for all misorder , and Maister of mis-rule , their cheefe Officer , to see good Order kepte . Let them not suffer suspected persons , to be playing in Ale-houses , especially in the time of Diuine Seruice , nor play there for more ( at any time ) then they haue honestly gotten . And , whereas many poore Parents be so foolish , to plant their Children on the roote of ydlenesse , which will yeelde no other fruite , but the Berries of Iniquitie ; whereby our Countrey is pittifullie and greeuously pestered , with such as for want of other Trade or meanes to liue by , doe practise Robbing , Filching , Stealing , Cozening , and such like . Now therefore , I would heartily wish , that euerie Christian ( as his Calling serueth for that purpose ) should be some meanes , that those youthfull plants , may be trained vp in some honest course of life ; whereby they may hereafter get their liuings by some good and lawfull meanes : so shall they greatlie glorifie God , by their dutifull diligence in doing of his will , ouerthrow the power of Sathan by the confusion of Idlenesse : rescue those silly soules out of that Tyrantes thraldome : and worke a publike profite to the whole Land , by freeing it from that extreame charge , to maintaine so manie thousands of people without their labor . The Euill of Idlenesse , and what men do for want of Exercise , and Maintenance . IDlenesse maketh mens bodies the Demeanes of the Diuell : for the bodie of an Idle person is the Diuels home , Viz : Empty of Grace , swept of all Goodnesse ; and so garnished with Naturall Euils , that it may well entertaine Sathan , and seuen more as bad as himselfe . The Euill of Idlenesse . Idlenesse , is the head of that Serpent Sathan , which where it entreth , windeth in his whole bodie , with all the poyson of Iniquitie . For first , for want of exercise , wee see idle people hunt and runne after euill Company : seeke out disordered Ale-houses , where they sweare and forsweare , Banne , Cursse , Blaspheme God , disdaine good things , slander and backe-bite their Neighbours , vse all vnlawfull Exercises ; tell Tales , that are taken for Tales , and lies of others that are taken for truth , so setting much variance , yea often among Friends , and driuing away the time with the wretched workes of Wantonnesse , and disfiguring themselues with the loathsome sin of Drunkennesse . Then , for want of maintenance , they practise Pilling , Polling , Promooting , Wrangling , Defrauding , Robbing , Begging , Filching , Stealing , Iuggling , Connicatching , Cosening , False Dicing , and with such like shifting : like Caterpillars , Waspes , and Droanes , they eate and deuoure vppe the Fruites and sweet Commodities of this Common-wealth . But how might I enlarge this Volume ( if I so entended ) with painting foorth the deformitie , which Idlenesse hath bred in these Roguish Trauelling people , which in their Common Whoredome , resemble lawlesse Beastes ; in their Cousening , Filching , Stealing , and Deuouring , imitate vilde Vermine ; in their Drunkennesse ; do shew themselues loathsome Swine ; and in Banning , Cursing , Forswearing , Lying , Out-facing , and egregious Dissembling , both with GOD and the World , painted forth , the verie perfect pictures of Sathan : O that Christian hearts can abide the sights of these most greeuous and monstrous Euilles . Come then therefore , O yee painefull Iudges , and carefull Iustices of this Land : Yee watchfull Magistrates , and diligent Labourers in the Lords Vine-yard : cutting of the branches will not suffice , but strike at the Roote ( which is Idlenes ) with the Axe of Iudgement , and the flourishing Tree of all Iniquitie , will quickely fade away . Reasons to releeue the Impotent , and to reforme the Idle . IF the body haue a lame and withered foote , whereof it can haue small vse , yet if it bee whole and sound , and the blood of the bodie hath the course therein ; wee see euery member is helping the same with necessaries , and assisting the same from hurt : but beeing infected with a running or rotting sore or Thistela , that sharpe Corsies cannot eate out the filthy corruption thereof : then all the members ( not regarding the present paine ) giue their consents , that the same shall bee cut off with the Saw of the Chirurgeon , least it bee the decay of the whole body : Euen so the Impotent with the lame foote , is to bee defended and sustained by euery member of the body of this Commonwelth ; hauing a will ( although it want power ) to requite the same . But the idle persons , infected with that running and rotting sore of Whoredome , Theft , Cozenage , and such like ; must bee cut off with the sword of Iudgement , if the sharpe Corsies of Correction , cannot eate out the filthy Corruption thereof , least it runneth vp so neere the hart , that it ouerthrow and bring vnto ruine the whole body of this Commonwealth . This Rotting sore hath runne farre of late , if wee consider how many of these people the Warres hath swallowed vp : How many of them are shipped to that famous Plantation of Virginia & Sommer Islands : How many the Judgement of the Law hath turnd ouer : How many of them greeuous diseases haue ended their dayes : How many haue perished in the fields : And how the realm is yet pittifully pestered with them : so that it is more then time for the Eye , with stedfastnesse to visit the same ; the Head with carefulnesse to deuise a help , & the Hand with maruailous diligence to minister it thereunto . The Husbandman couereth close his Hiues of Bees from colde stormes , and setteth watchmen to preserue them from the stinging Waspe and the ydle Drone : Euen so our Soueraign Prince , whose Highnesse Hiue is this Land , couereth the same from the stormes of Oppression ; and setteth his Watchmen to take away Waspish Theft , and Dronish Begging : which if it were effected ( according to his Highnesse intention ) then no doubt , the labouring Bees would worke with Comfort , Courage , and Strength , filling their Hiue full of Hony , his Highnesse Countrey full of sweet Commodities . The wise Housholding Husbandman , will suffer no ydle persons in his house , onely for two causes . First , hee knoweth , it is a charge to maintaine them that doenothing : And then , that those ydle people , with their Wanton and vaine Exercises , bring his whole housholde out of Order . Euen so , let the Wise Husbandmen of this Common-wealth , consider ; That it is not onely a charge to the Land , to mainetaine so many thousands of those ydle people without their labour , but also it bringeth the whole Common-wealth so out of Order , that euery man wanteth now , that seruice at his Seruants hands , that heeretofore they haue had . For our yonglings heads , are alwayes occupied with those wanton Exercises , which they see ydle people dayly deuise and practize . THE POORE WITHout Releefe . LOOKE with hearts of Charity , and eyes of pittie , vnto the distressed estate of the poore ( good Christians ) for first , although the Commons with cōmon Commodities in some Towne be woorth an hundred , or two hundred pounds a yeere , or more ; yet the poore of the same Towne , vnto the third part of the Towne in number , shall not bee thereby releeued , to the value of fortie shillings in a yeare : So are the Commons surcharged by the Rich : and the profit of their Towne-lands ▪ employed to beare other common Charges withall . And how may I complaine therewith of the decay of Hospitality in our Land , whereby many poore soules are depriued of that releefe which they haue had heeretofore . The time hath bene , that men haue hunted after Worshippe and Credite by good House-keeping , and therein spent great part of their Reuennewes : but now commonly , the greater part of their Liuings , is too little to maintaine vs and our Children in the pompe of Pride : yea , and yet all is well if wee may maintaine that , though no Hospitallitie be maintained there withall . And thus , though the number of the poore do dailie encrease , all things yet worketh for the worst in their behalfe . For , there hath beene no Collection for them , no not these seuen yeares , in many Parishes of this Land , especiallie in Countrie townes ; but many of those Parishes turneth forth their poore , yea and their lustie Labourers that will not worke , or for any misdemeanor want worke , to begge , filtch , and steale for their maintainance , so that the Countrey is pittifully pestered with them : yea , and the maimed Soldiours , that haue ventured their liues , and lost their limbes in our behalfe , are also thus requited : For when they returne home , to liue by some labour in their naturall Countrey , though they can worke well in some kinde of labour , euerie man sayeth , Wee will not bee troubled with their Seruice , but make other shifte for our businesse So are they turned forth to Trauaile , in Idlenesse ( the highway to Hell ) and seeke their meate vppon Meares ( as the Prouerbe goeth , ) with Begging , Filching , and Stealing for their maintenance , vntill the law bring them vnto the fearefull end of hanging . But our Sauiour Christ hath taught vs Christians to do good vnto our Ene mies , and shall we then do nothing for our Friends ? If wee ought to loue them that hatevs , shall we thus recompence them that haue ventured life and limbe for vs ? No , no , for their good Seruice , let vs see their bodies heereafter better releeued , and some good and godlie meanes vsed , to saue their soules from the Torments of Hell , that GOD may be better pleased , and those poor Soules that fight for vs , much more animated . And I would wish all men to consider , that the Lord of Heauen , hath retained those poore Soules , with the hyring-penie of Life , that they might Labor in this his Vineyard or Common-Wealth , and make it flow with all kinde of Commodities . Then may not wee which are Stewards , turne them foorth of his seruice , to Cozen , Begge , Filch , Steale , & such like ; excusing our selues , that it is a trouble to vs to keepe them in order , and so put vp the Lords allowance in our owne purses : For then , hee hauing tried and found vs vnfaithfull with the dust of the earth , will neuer trust vs with the heritage of heauen . But no doubt some wil say , the fault is in those poore people , that they are not set on worke ; they are either vntrue , froward , vnruly , slothfull , or some such matter , which indeede I cannot deny : but if there bee not the like , or worse in vs , let vs be thankefull to God ; who thorough Grace hath made vs Conquerors , of those naturall euilles . And let not vs , because they of weakenesse , goe ouer the shooes in sin , shew so much vnchristian Crueltie to them , to thrust them ouer head and eares into Hell , by forcing them to liue by vnlawfull meanes . Can wee not content our selues with the Priest and Leuite to see their misery being thus robbed , bound , and wounded by that Theeuish Sathan , but wee must much more cruelly , with our swords of extreamity , smite them vnto death ? O when and where shall they then finde , the Neighbour-hood of the good Samaritanes , to binde vppe their wounds with compassion , carrie them home with troble , moue others to take care of them , and prouide for them sufficiently with charge . What filleth this Land with Poore . THree kindes of Oppressions much pestereth the same with pouertie , Viz. The taking in to the Lords hands of Coppy-hold Lands : whereby many Housholders are vtterly decayed . Secondly , the surcharging of Commons , so that the poore cannot haue any benefit of them . And lastly , the purchasing of Land vnto Land , vntill rich men get whole Townes into their hands : and then dispeopling the same , by letting downe of Houses , and turning forth of Tenants , they recouer the Commons from the poore , and make them their owne seuerals ▪ And therewithall , they take the cheefe Commodities with ten or twelue Husbandmen , omitting the rest : whereas before that time vpon that Ground , were set on worke and maintained , not lesse then a hundreth men , women , and children : yet the Landlords had their rents duly paide them , and the poore amongst those Farmers otherwise prouided for . This is the Incroachment , that will bring the woe of the Prophet vpon the Land. Euen thus as you see , the poore man with that which heretofore he had , and of right should now haue , is swallowed vp into the rich mans possession : but let mee shew those people their folly , by a simple simile . The subtile Fisherman hideth his Angling hookes in the backes of little Roaches , and draweth the same too and fro in the sight of deuouring Pikes ( within the Water ) which after long dalliance , vnaduisedly swalloweth the same vp with greedines into their hungrie bellies , and thinking themselues fully possessed thereof , the Fisherman draweth the hookes , pulleth them from their Fellowes , carrieth them vnto his home , fryeth them vppon the Coales , and with sharpe Vinegar maketh them dishes fit for his owne dyet . Euen so , that subtle Fisherman the Diuell , hath Hookes in the backs of all those Rochlike Little-loues , being heere vppon earth , drawne too and fro in sight of those deuouring people , which swalloweth them vppe with all greedinesse into their vnsatiable possessions . But let them know , that when they thinke themselues fully possessed of this their prey , and say with the Rich man , Now soule take thy rest , the Fisherman-like Diuell by the strength of the strings of Gods vengeance and Iustice , will drawe the Hookes of death , pull them from their fellowes , carrie them to his homely Hell , dresse them after a diuellish fashion , fry them vvith vnquenchable Coales : and so sowsed and soaked in the sharpe sawce of Gods euerlasting wrath , he will make them a dish whereon he will feed , world without end . Yet I hope the LORDE of his mercie , will breath nowe vppon the bodie , the blessed quickening spirit of life , that all the members hauing their senses so restored , may perfourme theyr seuerall duties : to the helpe , succour , and sustentation one of another : which GOD graunt for his owne clorie , the peace of his Church , the Ioy and pleasure of our Soueraigne Prince , the releefe of the needie , and the publike Honour and profite of this Christian Common-wealth . FINIS . THe Figge-tree without fruite , yet flourishing Leaues did beare : Our Sauiour Christ did Curse , which may make vs feare That beare the Leaues of Light , professing much his Name : And yet small Loue do shew to them that neede the same ▪ 
A31054	----	The relief of the poore and advancement of learning proposed by Humphrey Barrow. Barrow, Humphrey. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A31054 of text R29008 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing B924). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 20 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A31054 Wing B924 ESTC R29008 10789572 ocm 10789572 45922 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A31054) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 45922) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1415:10) The relief of the poore and advancement of learning proposed by Humphrey Barrow. Barrow, Humphrey. 12 p. Reprinted and are to be sold by William Larner, London : 1656. Imperfect: all after p. 12 lacking. Reproduction of original in the British Library. eng Poor -- Ireland. A31054 R29008 (Wing B924). civilwar no The relief of the poore: and advancement of learning: proposed. By Humphrey Barrow, (during the war) a member of the armie. Barrow, Humphrey 1656 3433 4 0 0 0 0 0 12 C The rate of 12 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the C category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-04 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-06 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-06 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE RELIEF OF THE POORE : and ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING : Proposed . By HUMPHREY BARROW , ( during the War ) a Member of the Armie . Qui citò dat , bis dat . LONDON , Reprinted , and are to be sold by William Larner , at the Signe of the Blackmore neer Fleet-Bridg , 1656. TO HIS EXCELLENCY The Lord HENRY CROMWELL ▪ Commander in chief of the Forces of IRELAND . And the rest of the honorable Commanders , and inferior Officers now , and late of the Army . THAT Glorious Success with which God hath crown'd your honorable Actions , in the rescue of this pretious Land out of those hands that without cause were imbrued in the blood of our Country ; is yet so fresh and warme in every ingenuous heart , that ( I hope ) a Proposal , tending to a sacrificious gratitude to the Lord of Hoasts , ( by whose mercie and mighty arm , we are what we are ) will not be unreasonably presented to any person concerned in this Address . Wherein I have humbly assumed the confidence to mind You of the pious Customs of the Soldiers and Servants of God in former Ages ; nay of the laudable ( though blind ) Devotions of Pagans and Infidels , as Sacred , and other History do ( amply ) manifest ? Who no sooner could sound Victoria after a war , but up go the Alters , and on go the Sacrifices , in retribution of thanks to that Deity each held in veneration . 'T is true , we have ( in the progress of this War ) afforded God some Days of Thanks-giving ; and he ( at last ) having given us the issue of our hopes ; the Blessing and Harvest of our Blood and Sweat : those would all look like dayes of hellish Hypocrisie , if we should not now present him with some Deeds of Thanksgiving ; and Sacrifices being ceased , we have an Opportunitie to exercise what he loves better , which is , Mercie . Not then to hold You any longer in the Porch of expectation , I here present You in one hand , the Aged , the Infirm , the Orphan , to be provided for by way of Hospital : and in the other hand , that yet-in it's-Morning ( but hopefull ) light of this Land , the University of Dublin , for Addition of Revenue . To carry on both which , I wish God would perswade each heart herein concerned , to allow one Acre of Land out of each hundred , due to him ; which granted , there is little doubt but the Adventurers , to whom God hath given so fair a Returne of their pious Loanes ; and Purchasers of Debentures , who have least reason to oppose , will do the like : And the same deducted from each mans Proportion , to be cast into a single , or what severall Parcels , the wisdom of the Government shall judg convenient . Perhaps some may object , That this Motion comes too late , much of the Land being already disposed of , ( and I grant , had it been thought of sooner , it had been effected with less trouble , but ) Volenti nil difficile , we should not in the least pause at the difficulty , were it to serve our owne particulars ; and indeed , considered in the best sense , it is so , if we expect a blessing upon the rest of our Estates ; or if there be any wisdom in laying up treasure in Heaven : for this shall be surer to your houses , then the braines of all the Lawyers that ever trod Westminster Hallmet in one scull , can make the rest . For who knows how soon , prodigall Heirs ( ordinarily the Issue of penurious Fathers ) shall make havock of those Estates , the hundredth part whereof , might , though not merit , have brought a blessing upon you to all eternitie . A fair warning for the observance of that precious inch of Scripture , Whilest you have time do good ; least while you are rotting , your Heirs be revelling ; and they damned for spending upon their lusts , what you were damned for denying the Lazar . And if there be any ( though I hope better things ) that shall strain at this Gnat , I wonder how they would have behaved themselvs towards that Camel , laid before the Young man in the Gospell , All that thou hast . Remember the Widows mite , and the superlative testimonie our Saviour gave of it . Poor woman ! It was all she had , and this a Fleece out of a flock . And I dare affirme Ananias and Sapphira ( laying aside their lie ) were Saints , compared to such as shall say to this Proposall , I 'll consider of it . If we can pay the fourth part of our Rents to these Common-welaths , we may blush before the Angels to denie the hundredth part to the Common-wealth of Christ : For this is not to denude your walls of their hangings , to cover the flesh of the poor ; nor your Coaches of their leather , to make them shooes ; your super-necessarie pampred Steeds of their Horsecloaths , to make them Shirts ; nor your Manger of their Provender , to fill their Ovens ; though all these might well be abated to reliev the meanest Member of Christ . God hath given to many amongst us vast Estates , large possessions ; he hath given us the Land & labour of our Enemies , Beings that we neither built nor planted ; nay he hath given us our lives for a prey , when thousands as valiant , as pretious , as worthy as we , lie now rotting in contempible ditches . And shall we not help our Brethren to live with us ? That Saying is as good as old , Non nobis solùm nati sumus , we are not born onely for our selves ; & I hope we did not altogether fight for our selves ; but shal'be tryed by this trifle , though what is here urged as an act of Charitie , and as yet carries no other face , may to after-ages be rendred an act of Politie , and that Sustenance and Science being the subject matters here preast , who knows but that casting his bounty and bread upon the waters now , he may after many dayes find them in the bellies and brains of his needy posteritie . Perhaps there may be some who set a low rate upon that Beauty and Glory of Humanitie , Learning , which sanctified , restores us nearest to the Image of God : but if there be , ( as I hope few ) they must give me leave to believe they are such as would have the eys both of Church and Common-wealth put out , that they might have the leading of them . It was highly in question which was the saddest Persecutione , that under Dioclesian , or that under Julian the Apostate ; the first laboring the destruction of all the bodies of the Saints , and the last of all books , that no memory of God or Religion might remain : but the last was concluded infinitly transcendant , as a device that would have thrown the world into a deeper then Egyptian darkness . 'T is true , there are many who ( I have charity to believe ) mean well , and much mind the enlargement of the bounds of the Church , and opening a way for the light of the Gospel in it's puritie to shine upon the freckled face of the erronious World : But alas ! that 's hard to be done by a language that hath no acquaintance abroad ; nor could ever travel farther then the verges of our own shores , save amongst our own Colonies ; and not communicable to other Natures by any universall Rule . I must needs grant , that Christ in the election of his Apostles , made choice of poore ignorant laboring men ; but I hope none will denie , that though he found them such , yet after the sealing of their great Commission to preach the Gospel , by the Holy Ghost , in cloven tongues , they went away the most sublimated Scholars that ever were , or shall be upon the World ; That Great School-Master in a moment dispelling the mist of despicable ignorance , and filling them with all Languages and requisite Knowledge . And 't is observable , that when God had a purpose to stay the Building of Babel , and scatter mankind into fractions ; he confounds their speech , and divides tongues to the Nations : but when he resolves to build up his Church , he recollects them all into the Mouths of his Apostles . With some measure of which Qualification ( immediate gift of tongues being ceased ) the most eminent Servants of Christ , and faithful promoters of the purity of his truth , have from time to time , indefatigably labored by Nurseries of Learning to endow the Ministry . 'T is true , Exhortations , Reproofs , Consolations , and Directions in plain and patent matters , are highly commendable in those of meanest parts ; for they that feared the Lord ▪ spake often one to another : but Preaching , Exposition , and the unfolding of hidden Mysteries , do modestly call for sanctified Learning and Authority . The management of which Assertion , I humbly leave to those Champions of the Truth , whose Shields I am not worthy to bear . And now craving pardon to my prolixity , glance once aagain upon the poore ; and wish the most obdurate wretch to lay his hand upon his heart and consider , how his eares will one day tingle to hear that Soul-crushing charge of unkindnesse from the mouth of the Son of God , I was hungry , and yee fed me not . Adding onely this , If there be any heart so much Adamant , brow so much brass , or minde so void of Mercie , as to set himself in positive Opposition to what is here suggested ; or that his evil Example , or Coldness , cause this great Business to fall to the ground ; he must give me leave to tell him , He runs the desperate hazard of eternally sinking under the weight of all the Curses , that shall in bitternesse of spirit fall from the trembling Aged , Anxieted , Infirm persons , and friendless Orphans , that shall ever languish upon the face of this fruitful Land , from this day to the day of Judgment . In regard the effecting of this great Work may ( to some dull spirits ) seem difficult , the ensuing Suggestions are humbly offered to consideration . I. That Commissioners of active spirits , and unbyassed Principles , be appointed to the management and carrying on of this businesse . II. That the Muster-masters in the respective Provinces of this Dominion , be ordered to offer it to the Subscription of every Officer relating to that part of the Armie , the next Muster-day after he receivs it from hence . III. That whereas some are in parcel possession of their Estates , and out of emploiment : the High Sheriff of every respective Countie be ordered by himself , or his Substitutes , to tender it to the voluntarie Subscription of every such person , as also to all personally possest Adventurers , and purchasors of Debentures ; for the deduction of the proportion out of the part remaining due unto him . IV. That whereas many are in possession of their full proportion of Lands , and consequently no convenient way left for contributing their proportions in kinde ; there are numerous presidents of persons so compleated , that offer their return in money , rateably as they received each Acre . V. That wheras it may be objected , that many so in possession of their full proportions , are not provided with ready money : the High Sheriff of every Countie be ordered by himself , or his Substitutes , to tender it to the voluntarie Subscription of every such person , for the summe and time wherein they cheerfully consent to pay it . VI . That what money shall so be received , be paid into a Treasurie appointed for that purpose in Dublin ; and laid out in purchase of Land for the uses aforesaid . VII . That the Sheriffs of every respective Countie , be ordered yearly to give in their Account to their Successors , before a full Bench of Justices . VIII . That the Sheriffs and Muster-masters aforesaid , be ordered to return hither the names of all the Dissenters , to the end that being here recorded , there may be no mistake in the deductions . IX . That the Sheriffs do within twenty daies , return all the Subscriptions to the Commissioners before-mentioned . X. That his Highness's Council for the affairs of Ireland , bee moved for their countenance to , and assistance in the promotion of it . XI . That his Highness the Lord Protector be moved to recommend it to the Adventurers in England , who are ( ordinarily ) cheerful contributors to works of this nature . XII . That the Chancellor of this Universitie be moved to a speedy Rectification , and rescue of it from Disorder . FINIS . My first Letter to my LORD , wherein I enclosed the PROPOSAL . MY LORD ! I Had once a purpose to present this Address , and make it my own , but considering that all things of this nature derive their value and vigour from the countenance and power of those persons that are Primarily and Potently Motive ; I thought it most expedient to put it into your Excellencies hand , as the onely person able to promote it to perfection . My LORD ! as for Learning you have already own'd its Patronage ; and for what concerns the Poor , you have great cause of confidence , that if you begin in Mercie , you shal end in Peace : And for my self I shall humbly crave you will believe , That if this paper finde the effect it seems to aime at , I have my end ; onely shall beg to be esteemed , MY LORD ! Your Excellencies faithful and humble servant , HUMP . BARROW . Sept. 12. 1655. My second Letter to my LORD upon the delay . MY LORD ! IT is not long since I presented your Excellencie a Paper of Motion to the Relief of the poor , and Ad 〈…〉 ning ; what value it found in your 〈…〉 yet happie to know , but have hope that no Aversion of Will , but the croud of publick affairs have hurried it aside , though I have unhappily heard of almost impossible difficulties charged upon it ; And indeed my LORD , it was not much my wonder , there being nothing wherein the depraved constitution of man is more quick-sighted , then spying Lions in the way to all good Works . My LORD ; What I have proposed , will ( I hope ) be deemed the requisite promotion of Mercie and Truth , and if those two be once shut out of our gates , 't is greatly to be feared it will not be long before their old inseparable companions Righteousnesse and Peace leap over the Walls . My Lord ; I perceive , that if this languishing designe bee not kept alive by your Excellencies power , example , and personal industrie , it will inevitably die , but as certainly rise again at the day of Judgment , to the confusion of faces of all those that have either neglected or opposed it , to save to themselvs a Spade-full of uncertain dung : And My Lord , I humbly crave that to this great office of good to posteritie , and honour to your self , you will add a pardon to the presumption of . MY LORD ! Your Excellencies faithful , and humble servant , Humph. Barrowe . My first Letter to Doctor Harrison , my LORD'S Chaplain . SIR ! FEw daies since I snatch an opportunitie in your presence to present some papers to my Lord , expecting your auxiliary endeavors to perfect a work which posteritie may blesse you for , but whether or no they were imparted to you , I am yet much to seek , and more unwilling to doubt there wants its fire , or the Priest a readinesse to receive in Sacrificers . Sir , if you are not already acquainted with it , this Gentleman who is laudibly zealous for it will inform you : Sir , the Condition of my Proposal is the same with that of Bethesda Cripple , it hath neither enemies , nor friends , but it is sad that so much preaching , and so much praying should not be seconded by that pretious and pertinent ornament of Cristianitie , Pitie . Sir , wee do with a great deal of confidence own ourselves upon God , sit before him as his people , and call to him for all mercies , safeties , and successes , and 't is fit our eies should bee often up towards him , but somtimes down upon the poor ; otherwise ( which I much fear ) wee shall run a course parallel with the Merchant Jew , who craves favour and credit from every man , but will trust no man . Sir , as for the Advancement of Learning , your manifest Education in , and high improvement of it , hath from the Pulpit saved me a labour , from whence one sentence of your Chrysostomiz'd exhortations to this glorious work , would be heard in a continued Eccho from generation to generation , till the last Trumpet received it into the Consort of Eternitie Sir , I crave your pardon to my importunitie , but you know whose businesse it is , and further begs libertie to tell you , it was not for nothing that Hester was set so near her King , Joseph to Pharaoh , Nehemiah to his potent Master . Nor need I tell you , that the improvement of that great talent of advantage God hath given you , in the ear of that hopeful person ( to whom you relate ) will be ( one day ) required . And Sir I further crave , you will believe I write not this to move you , but to minde you ; assuming onely the office of a silly Sexton , to toll the Bell of _____ to duties of pietie , and am , SIR , Your servant Humph. Barrow . Novemb. 1. 1655. My second Letter to Doctor Harrison . LEARNED SIR ! I Have here inclosed sent you a Copie of my late PROPOSALS , and another of my last Letter to his Excellencie , which it seems is mis-laid ; wherein I then inclosed a removal of all obstructions , and answer to all objections which I could upon severest scruteny discern obvious , but shall not trouble you with that till I see in the great ONES a propensitie to , and some progresse in the great businesse , which I am confident had been in a good forwardnesse , had I ( wisely ) made a more timely application to your self , upon whom ( I may not omit to acquaint you ) the eies of 
A32836	----	Sir Josiah Child's proposals for the relief and employment of the poor Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699. 1670 Approx. 29 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-05 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A32836 Wing C3863 ESTC R32609 12730328 ocm 12730328 66441 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A32836) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 66441) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1523:12) Sir Josiah Child's proposals for the relief and employment of the poor Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699. 8 p. s.n., [London : 1670?] Caption title. Place and date of publication suggested by Wing. Reproduction of original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England. Public welfare -- England. Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1660-1688. 2004-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-03 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2004-03 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion S ir Josiah Child's Proposals , For the Relief and Employment of the POOR . THis is a calm Subject , and thwarts no common or private interest amongst us , except that of the common Enemy of Mankind ( the Devil ) so I hope that what shall be offered towards the effecting of so universally acceptable a Work as this , and the removal of the innumerable inconveniences that do now and have in all Ages attended this Kingdom , through defect of such Provision for the Poor , will not be ill taken , although the Plaster at first essay do not exactly fit the Sore . In the Discourse of this subject , I shall first assert some particulars , which I think are agreed by common Consent , and from thence take occasion to proceed to what is more doubtful . 1. That our poor in England have always been in a most sad and wretched condition , some Famished for want of Bread , others starved with Cold and Nakedness , and many whole Families in all the out-Parts of Cities and great Towns , commonly remain in a languishing , nasty and useless Condition , Uncomfortable to themselves , and Unprofitable to the Kingdom , this is confessed and lamented by all Men. 2. That the Children of our Poor bred up in Beggery and Laziness , do by that means become not only of unhealthy Bodies , and more than ordinary subject to many loathsome Diseases , whereof very many die in their tender Age , and if any of them do arrive to years and strength , they are , by their idle habits contracted in their Youth , rendred for ever after indisposed to Labour , and serve only to stock the Kingdom with Thieves and Beggers . 3. That if all our impotent Poor were provided for , and those of both Sexes and all Ages that can do work of any kind , employed , it would redound some Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds per annum to the publick advantage . 4. That it is our Duty to God and Nature , so to Provide for , and Employ the Poor . 5. That by so doing one of the great sins ( for which this Land ought to mourn ) would be removed . 6. That our fore-Fathers had pious Intentions towards this Work , as appears by the many Statutes made by them to this purpose . 7. That there are places in the World , wherein the Poor are so provided for , and employed , as in Holland , Hambrough , New-England and others , and as I am informed now in the City of Paris . Thus far we all agree : The first Question then that naturally occurs is , Question , How comes it to pass that in England we do not , nor ever did comfortably maintain and employ our Poor ? The common Answers to this Question are , two . 1. That our Laws to this purpose are as good as any in the World , but we fail in the execution . 2. That formerly in the days of our pious Ancestors the work was done , but now Charity is decreased , and that is the reason we see the Poor so neglected as now they are . In both which Answers ( I humbly conceive ) the Effect is mistaken for the Cause : For though it cannot be denied , but there hath been , and is a great failure in the Execution of those Statutes which relate to the poor , yet I say , the cause of that failure , hath been occasioned by defect of the Laws themselves . For otherwise , what is the reason that in our late times of Confusion and Alteration , wherein almost every party in the Nation , at one time or other , took their turn at tbe Helm ; and all had that Compass ( those Laws ) to Stear by , and yet none of them could , or ever did , conduct the Poor into a Harbour of security to them , and profit to the Kingdom , i. e. none sufficiently maintained the impotent , and employed the Indigent amongst us : and if this was never done in any Age , nor by any sort of Men whatsoever in this Kingdom , who had the use of those Laws now in force , it seems to me a very strong Argument that it never could , nor ever will be done by those Laws , and that consequently the defect lies in the Laws themselves , not in the Men , i. e. those that should put them in Execution . As to the second Answer to the aforesaid Question , wherein want of Charity is assigned for another cause why the poor are now so much neglected , I think it is a scandalous , ungrounded Accusation of our Contemporaries ( except in relation to building of Churches , which I confess this generation is not so propense to as former have been ) for most that I converse with , are not so much troubled to part with their Money , as how to place it , that it may do good , and not hurt to the Kingdom : For , if they give to the Beggers in the Streets , or at their Doors , they fear they may do hurt by encouraging that lazy unprofitable kind of Life ; and if they give more than their proportions in their respective Parishes , that ( they say ) is but giving to the Rich , for the Poor are not set on Work thereby , nor have the more given them ; but only their rich Neighbours pay the less . And for what was given in Churches to the visited Poor , and to such as were impoverished by the Fire ; we have heard of so many and great Abuses of that kind of Charity , that most men are under sad discouragements in relation thereunto . I Write not this to divert any Man from Works of Charity of any kind : He that gives to any in want does well , but he that gives to Employ and Educate the Poor , so as to render them usefull to the Kingdom , in my judgement does better . And here by the way , not to leave Men at a loss how to dispose of what God shall incline their Hearts to give for the benefit of the Poor , I think it not impertinent to propose the Hospitals of this City , and poor labouring people that have many Children , and make a hard shift to sustain them by their industry , whereof there are multitudes in the out Parts of this City , as the best objects of Charity at present . But to return to my purpose , viz. to prove that the want of Charity likewise that is now , and always hath been , in relation to the poor , proceeds from a defect in our Laws . Ask any Charitable minded Man as he goes along the Streets of London , viewing the Poor , viz. Boys , Girls , Men and Women of all Ages , and many in good Health , &c. why he and others do not take care for the setting those poor Creatures to Work ? Will he not readily answer , that he wisheth heartily it could be done , though it cost him a great part of his Estate , but he is but one Man , and can do nothing towards , it , giving them Money as hath been said , being but to bring them into a liking and continuance in that way . The second Question then is , Question 2. Wherein lies the defect of our present Laws relating to the poor ? I answer , that there may be many , but I shall here take notice of one only , which I think to be Fundamental , and which untill altered , the poor in England can never be well provided for , or Employed ; and that when the said Fundamental Error is well amended , it is almost impossible they should lack either Work or Maintenance . The said radical Error I esteem to be the leaving it to the care of every Parish to maintain their own poor only ; upon which follows the shifting off , sending or whipping back the poor Wanderers to the place of their Birth , or last abode : the practice whereof I have seen many years in London , to signifie as much as ever it will , which is just nothing of good to the Kingdom in general , or the Poor thereof , though it be sometimes by accident to some of them a Punishment without effect ; I say without effect , because it reforms not the Party , nor disposeth the Minds of others to Obedience , which are the true ends of all Punishment . As for instance , a poor idle Person , that will not Work , or that no Body will Employ in the Country , comes up to London to set up the Trade of Begging , such a Person probably may Beg up and down the Streets seven years , it may be seven and twenty , before any body asketh why she doth so , and if at length she hath the ill hap in some Parish to meet with a more vigilant Beadle than one of twenty of them are , all he does is but to lead her the length of five or six Houses into another Parish , and then concludes , as his Masters the Parishioners do , that he hath done the part of a most diligent Officer : but suppose he should yet go further to the end of his Line , which is the end of the Law ; and the perfect Execution of his Office ; that is , suppose he should carry this poor Wretch to a Justice of the Peace , and he should order the Delinquent to be Whipt , and sent from Parish to Parish , to the place of her Birth or first Abode , which not one Iustice of twenty ( through pity or other cause ) will do , even this is a great charge upon the Country , and yet the business of the Nation it self wholly undone : for no sooner doth the Delinquent arrive at the place assigned , but for shame or idleness she presently deserts it , and wanders directly back , or some other way , hoping for better Fortune , whilst the Parish to which she is sent , knowing her a Lazy , and perhaps a worse quality'd Person , is as willing to be rid of her as she is to be gone from thence . If it be here retorted upon me , that by my own Confession , much of this mischief happens by the Non , or ill Execution of the Laws , I say better Execution than you have seen you must not expect ; and there was never a good law made that was not well executed , the fault of the Law causing a failure of execution , it being natural to all Men to use the remedy next at hand , and rest satisfied with shifting the evil from their own Doors ; which in regard they can so easily do , by threatning or thrusting a poor Body out of the verge of their own Parish , it is unreasonable and vain to hope that ever it will be otherwise . For the Laws against Inmates , and empowering the Parishioners to take a Security before they suffer any poor persons to Inhabit amongst them ; it may be they were prudent Constitutions at the times they were made ( and before England was a place of Trade ) and may be so still in some Countries , but I am sure in Cities and great Towns of Trade they are altogether improper , and contrary to the practice of other Cities and Trading Towns abroad . The Riches of a City , as of a Nation , consisting in the multitude of Inhabitants ; and if so , you must allow Inmates , or have a City of Cottages . And if a right course be taken for the sustentation of the Poor , and setting them on Work , you need invent no Stratagems to keep them out , but rather to bring them in . For the resort of Poor to a City or Nation well managed , is in effect the Conflux rf Riches to that City or Nation ; and therefore the subtile Dutch receive and relieve , or employ all that come to them , not enquiring what Nation , much less what Parish they are of . Question 3. The third Question : If the defect be in our Laws , how shall we find a remedy that may be rational and consistent ? This I confess is a hard and difficult Question , it is one of the Ardua Regni , and may very well deserve the most deliberate consideration of our wisest Councellors . And if a whole Session of Parliament were employed on this sigular concern , I think it would be time spent as much to the Glory of God and good of this Nation , as in any thing that noble and worthy Patriots of their Country can be engaged in : But seeing I have adventured thus far , I shall humbly proceed to offer some general Proposals that have a tendency towards the effecting this great Work , which being seriously thought of and debated by wiser men , may be capable of snch melioration as may render them in a great measure effectual to the Kingdom in general , although at present , to prevent that common Objection , that great Mutations are dangerous ; I shall only propose them to be experimented in these parts of the Kingdom , which are the Vitals of our Body Politick , which being once made sound , the cure of the rest will not be difficult . Proposition 1. First then I Propose , That the City of London and Westminster , Burrough of Southwark , and all other places within the usual Lines of Cemmunication , described in the Weekly Bills of Mortality , may by Act of Parliament be associated into one Province , or Line of Communication for relief of the Poor . 2. That there be one Assembly of Men ( and such as they shall from time to time appoint and deputise ) entrusted with the care for , and treasure of all the Poor within the said Pale or Line of Communication . 3. That the said Assembly be incorporated by Act of Parliament , with perpetual Succession , by the Name of Fathers of the Poor , or some other honourable and significant Title . 4. That all Constables , Churchwardens , Overseers , or other Officers in all Parishes , within the said Line , be subordinate and accomptable to the said Fathers of the Poor , and their Deputies , for , and in all things relating to the poor . 5. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have liberty to assess and receive into their common Treasury , for relief of the Poor , so much Money from every Parish as they yearly paid to that purpose any of the three Years preceding this Constitution , and to compel the payment thereof , but not of more . 6. That the said Fathers tf the Poor , and their Deputies , may have very large and sufficient power in all things relating to the poor , and particularly to have and receive the charitable benevolence of all persons , once every Lords Day , in every Parish-Church , and in any other Meeting of Pious Christians , and at any other time or times which they shall think fit . 7. That the said Fathers of the Poor , and such as they shall authorize , may have power to purchase Lands , erect and endow Work-houses , Hospitals , and Houses of Correction , and to exercise all other powers relating to the Poor , that any number of Iustices of the Peace now may do , in their Quarter-Sessions , or otherwise . 8. That the said Fathers of the Poor , may have power to send such Poor beyond the Seas as they shall think fit into his Majesties Plantations , taking Security for their comfortable Maintenance during their service , and for their freedom afterwards . 9. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Power to erect petty Banks , and Lumbards for the benefit of the Poor , if they shall find it convenient , and also to receive the one half of what is paid at all the Doors of Play-houses , and have the Patent for Farthings , and to do whatever else his Majesty and the Parliament shall think fit to recommend to them , or leave to their discretion . 10. That the Treasure that shall be Collected for this purpose , shall be accounted sacred , and that it be Felony to misapply , conceal , lend , or convert it to any other use or purpose whatsoever . 11. That there be no Oaths , or other Tests imposed upon the said Fathers of the Poor , at their admission , to bar our Nonconformists , amongst whom there will be found some excellent Instruments for this good Work , and such as will constantly attend it ( for if they be kept out , the People will be cold in their Charity , and in their hopes of success . ) 12. That the said Fathers of the Poor may constantly wear some honourable Medal , such as the King and Parliament shall devise , besides the Green Staff which is now used in London to such like purpose , ( but upon extraordinary days only ) to denote their Authority and Office at all times , and in all places , after the manner of the Habits in Spain , or rather as have all the Familiars of the Inquisition in most Romish Countries , with admirable effect , tho' to a wicked purpose ; the consequence whereof will be , that the said Fathers of the Poor , being numerous , and dispers'd by their Habitations and Business , into most parts of their Province , will readily see any neglects of Officers , and as easily redress them ; the Medal which they wear about them , being a sufficient Warrant to command Obedience from all Parish-Officers wherever they come , although their Persons be not known there . 13. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have liberty to admit into their Society , and all Powers and Priviledges equal with them , any persons that are willing to serve God , their King and Country , in this pious and publick Work , the persons desiring to be so admitted , paying at their admission 100 l. or more into the Poors Treasury . as a demonstration of the sincerity of their Intentions to labour in and cultivate this most Religious Vineyard . This I only offer , because the number of the said Fathers of the Poor hereafter mentioned , may be thought rather too few than too many . 14. That the said Fathers of the Poor , besides the Authority now exercised by Iustices of the Peace , may have some less limited Powers given them , in relation to the punishment of their own , and Parish Officers , by pecuniary mulcts for the poors benefit in case of neglect , and otherwise as his Majesty and the Parliament shall think fit . 15. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have freedom to set the Poor on work about whatsoever Manufacture they think fit , with a Non-obstante to all Patents that have been or shall be granted to any private person or persons for the sole Manufacture of any Commodity , the want of which priviledge , I have been told , was a prejudice to the Work-house at Clerkenwell , in their late design of setting their Poor Children about making of Hangings . 16. That all Vacancies by reason of Death of any of the said Fathers of the Poor , be perpetually supplied by Election of the Survivors . Quest. 4. The fourth Question is , Who shall be the Persons entrusted with so great a Work , and such excess of power ? This is a Question likewise of some difficulty , and the more in regard of our present Differences in Religion , but I shall answer it as well as I can . In general I say , They must be such as the people must have ample satisfaction in , or else the whole design will be lost : For if the universality of the People be not satisfied with the Persons , they will never part with their Money ; but if they be well satisfied therein , they will be miraculously charitable . Quest. 5. This begets a fifth Question , What sort of men the People will be most satisfied in ? I Answer , I think in none so well as such only as a Common Hall of the Livery-men of London shall make choice of , it being evident by the experience of many Ages , that the several Corporations in London are the best Administrators of what is left to Chaoitable Vses , that have ever been in this Kingdom , which is manifest in the regular , just and prudent management of the Hospitals of London , and was wisely observed by Dr. Collet , Dean of St. Paul ' s , that prudent Ecclesiastick , when he left the Government of that School , and other great Revenues assigned by him for charitable Uses , unto the disposition of the Mercers Company . Object . But here it may be Objected , That Country Gentlemen , who have Power in places of their Residences , and pay out of their large Estates considerable summs towards the Maintenance of their Poor within the afore-limited Precincts , may be justly offended if they likewise have not a share in the distribution of what shall be raised to that purpose . Answ. I answer , the force of this Objection may be much taken off , if the City be obliged to choose but a certain number out of the City , as suppose seventy for London , ten out of Southwark for that Burrough , twenty for Westminster , this would best satisfie the People , and I think do the work : But if it be thought too much for the City to have the choice of any more than their own seventy , the Iustices of Peace in their Quarter-Sessions , may nominate and appoint their own number of Persons to assist for their respective Jurisdictions , and so to supply the vacancy in case of Death , &c. But all must be Conjunctive , but one Body Politick , or the work will never be done . Quest. 6. The sixth Question is , What will be the Advantage to the Kingdom in general , and to the Poor in particular , that will accrue by such a Society of men , more than is enjoyned by the Laws at present ? I answer , Innumerable and unspeakable are the Benefits of this Kingdom that will arise from the Consultations and Debates of such a wise and honest Council , who being men so elected as aforesaid , will certainly conscionably study and labour to discharge their Trust in this service of God , their King , and Countrey . 1st . The Poor , of what quality soever , as soon as they are met with , will be immediately relieved or set on Work where they are found , without hurrying them from place to place , and torturing their Bodies to no purpose . 2. Charitable-minded-men will know certainly where to dispose of their Charity , so as it may be employed to right purposes . 3. House-keepers will be freed from the intollerable incumbrance of Beggars at their Doors . 4. The Plantations will be regularly supplied with Servants , and those that are sent thither well provided for . 5. The said Assembly will doubtless appoint some of their own Members to visit and relieve such as are sick , as often as there shall be occasion , together with Poor labouring Families both in City and Suburbs . 6. Poor Children will be instructed in Learning and Arts , and thereby rendred serviceable to their Countrey , and many other worthy Acts done for Publick good by the joynt Deliberation of so many Prudent and Pious Men , assisted with such a Power and Purse , more than can be foreseen or expressed by a Private . Person . Quest. 7. The seventh Question may be , What shall all the Poor of these Cities and Countries , being very numerous , be employed about ? This Question will be answer'd best by the said Assembly themselves when they have met and consulted together , who cannot be presumed deficient of Invention to set all the Poor on Work , especially since they may easily have admirable Presidents from the practice of Holland in this particular , and have already very good ones of their own , in the Orders of their Hospitals of Christ-Church and Bridewell in London ; the Girls may be employed in mending the cloaths of the Aged , in Spinning , Carding , and other Linnen Manufactures , and many in Sowing Linnen for the Exchange , or any House-keepers that will put out Linnen to the Matrons that have the Government of them . The Boys in picking Okam , making Pins , rasping Wood , making Hangings , or any other Manufactures of any kind , which whether it turns to present Profit or not , is not much material , the great Business of the Nation being first but to keep the Poor from Begging and Starving , and enuring such as are able to Labour and Discipline , that they may be hereafter useful Members to the Kingdom : But to conclude , I say the wisest Man , living solitarily , cannot propose or imagine such excellent ways and methods as will be invented by the united Wisdom of so grave an Assembly . The sitting of the said Assembly I humbly conceive , ought to be , De die in diem ; the Quorum not more than thirteen ; whether they shall Yearly , Monthly or Weekly choose a President , how they shall distribute themselves into the several quarters of the Communication , what Treasurers and other Officers to employ , and where , and how many , will best be determined by themselves , and that without difficulty , because many that will probably be Members of the said Assembly , have already had large experience of the Government of the Hospitals of London ; The manner of Election of the said Fathers of the Poor , I humbly suppose , cannot possibly be better contrived than after the same way which the East-India-Company choose their Committee , which will prevent the Confusion , Irregularity and Incertitude that may attend the Election of Voices , or holding up of Hands ; especially because the Persons to be elected at one time will be very many ; the said manner proposed is , every Elector , viz. every Livery-man to bring to Guild-Hall at the appointed day for Elections , a List of the whole number of Persons , such as he thinks fit that are to be Elected , and deliver the same openly unto such Persons as the Lord Mayor , Aldermen , and Common-Council-Men shall appoint to make the Scrutiny ; which Persons so entrusted with the said Scrutiny , seven , or ten days after , as shall be thought fit , at another Common-Hall may declare who are the Persons Elected by the Majority of Votes . If it be here objected to the whole purpose of this Treatise , that this Work may as well be done in distinct Parishes , if all Parishes were obliged to build Work-houses , and employ their Poor therein ; as Dorchester and some others have done with good success . I Answer , that such attempts have been made in many Places to my Knowledge , with very good intents and strenuous endeavours , but all that ever I heard of , proved vain and ineffectual , as I fear will that of Clerkenwell , except that single instance of the Town of Dorchestor , which yet signifies nothing in Relation to the Kingdom in general , because all other places cannot do the like , nor doth the Town of Dorchester entertain any but their own Poor only , and Whip away all others ; whereas that which I design , is to propose such a Foundation as shall be large , wise , honest , and rich enough to maintain and employ all Poor that come within the Pale of their Communication , without enquiring where they were born , or last inhabited : Which I dare affirm with Humility , that nothing but a National , or at least such a Provincial Purse can so well do , nor any Persons in this Kingdom , but such only as shall be pickt out by popular Election , for the Reason before alledged , viz. That in my Opinion , three fourths at least of the Stock must issue from the Charity of the People ; as I doubt not but it will to a greater proportion , if they be satisfied in the Managers thereof ; but if otherwise not the fortieth , I might say not the hundredth part . I propose the Majority of the said Fathers of the Poor to be Citizens ( though I am none my self ) because I think a great share of the Money to be employed , must and will come from them , if ever the Work be well done , as also , because their Habitations are nearest the Center of their Business , and they best acquainted with all Affairs of this Nature by their experience in the Government of the Hospitals . Earnestly to desire and endeavour , that the Poor of England should be better provided for and employed , is a Work that was much studied by my deceased Father , and therefore though I be as ready to confess as any shall be to charge me with Disability to propose a Model of Laws for this great Affair , yet I hope the more ingenious will pardon me for endeavouring to give aim towards it , since it is so much my Duty , which in this particular I shall be careful to perform ( though I may be too remiss in others ) as shall appear by more visible and apparent Demonstrations , if ever this design , or any other ( that is like to effect what is desired ) succeed . FINIS . 
A35154	----	An account of the proceedings of the Corporation of Bristol in execution of the act of Parliament for the better employing and maintaining the poor of that city Cary, John, d. 1720? 1700 Approx. 24 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A35154 Wing C724 ESTC R18319 12039765 ocm 12039765 52963 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A35154) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 52963) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 862:14) An account of the proceedings of the Corporation of Bristol in execution of the act of Parliament for the better employing and maintaining the poor of that city Cary, John, d. 1720? [2], 21 p. Printed by F. Collins ..., London : 1700. Reproduction of original in Bodleian Library. Signed: John Cary. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng England and Wales. -- Parliament. Poor -- England -- Bristol. Bristol (England) -- History. 2006-06 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-09 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-09 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE Corporation of BRISTOL , In Execution of the Act of Parliament FOR The better Employing and Maintaining the Poor of that City . LONDON : Printed by F. Collins in the Old Baily . 1700. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND HONOURABLE , THE Lords Spiritual and Temporal , AND Commons in Parliament ASSEMBLED . May it please your Honours , I Humbly make bold to lay before your Honour 's an Account of our Proceedings in the City of Bristol on the Act of Parliament for Erecting Hospitals and Work-houses for the better employing and maintaining the Poor of that City , which passed in the first Sessions of the Parliament begun at Westminster the 22nd of November 1695. whereby the Power invested in the Corporation commenced from the 12th of May 1696. The first thing we did was to choose Four Guardians for each of our Twelve Wards , as the Statute does direct , which , with the Mayor and Aldermen , amounted to Sixty Guardians , and made up our Court. The Court being thus constituted , at our first Meeting we chose our Officers appointed by the said Act , viz. a Governour , a Deputy-Governour , Twelve Assistants , a Treasurer , a Clerk , and a Beadle . This being done , we ordered the Guardians who dwelt in each Parish , to bring in an account of all the Poor in their respective Parishes , their Names , Ages , Sexes , and Qualifications . Also an Account of the Charges expended for maintaining them in each of the last three Years , that so we might bring it to a Medium . We also appointed certain standing Rules for the better governing our Debates , and ordered all things done in the Court to be fairly enter'd in a Journal . We likewise considered which would be most for the Advantage of the Corporation , to build Work-houses , or to purchase such Houses , which being already built , might be altered and made fit for our purpose . These things spent much time , and it was about the Month of September before we could settle the Medium of the Poor's Rates , in order to certifie to the Mayor and Alderman what Sum was necessary to be raised on the City for the next Year . But here we met with an unexpected Remora , Mr. Samuel Wallis was succeeded in his Majoralty by Mr. J. H. and this Change made a great Alteration in our Affairs : For whereas the former had given us all the Incouragement we could expect from him , and had done us the honour to be our first Governour , the latter resolved to obstruct us all he could . And because the power of raising Money was vested in him and the Aldermen , he absolutely refused to put that Power in Execution . This , together with his other Endeavours to Brow-beat the Corporation , kept us at a stand till October ( 97. ) only our Court met , and discourst things , and we laboured to keep up the Spirits of our Friends , who began to sink under these Discouragements , and to despair of Success , the Work seeming difficult enough in it self ; our undertaking being nothing less , then to put to work a great Number of People , many of which had been habited to Laziness and Beggary ; to civilize such as had been bred up in all the Vices that want of Education could expose them to ; and to clothe , lodge , and feed them well , with the same Sum of Money which was distributed among them when they begg'd , lay in the Streets , and went almost naked . Yet all this would not have discouraged us , could we have prevailed on Mr. Mayor to have joyned with us . We often sought it , and he as often refused us , till his time being expired , his Successor granted our Request ; and then , having lost much time , we were forced to make large steps . The first we made was , a Vote to take on us the Care of all the Poor of the City ; and as I remember , this Vote passed in October or November 1697. though we had then no Money raised , nor could we expect any till after our Lady-day 1698. So that from the passing that Vote to this time is about Two Years . The next step was to appoint a Committee of Twelve to hear the Complaints of the Poor , to relieve them , and set them at work ; Six whereof were to go out every Month , and to be succeeded by Six more , to be chosen by Ballating . We had formerly obtained from the Mayor and Common-Council , in the Majoralty of Alderman Wallis , the Grant of a Work-house , which then lay unoccupied , and the Court had appointed a Committee to place as many Girls in it as it would conveniently contain , both as to Lodging and Working . This is that we called the New Work-house . But all things having stood still so long , we resolved now to lose no more time ; yet we had no Money , nor could we expect any in less than Six Months from the Poor's Rates ; therefore we re-resolved to make our several Loans for Twelve Months without Interest to the Corporation on the Credit of their Common Seal ; in which Design many of the Citizens lent their Assistance , whereby we became soon Masters of about Six hundred pounds Stock . Likewise our Guardians , who were appointed to pay the Poor in their several Parishes , voluntarily advanced their weekly Payments , till they could be reimburst by the Treasurer . The other Stock we employed to furnish Beds and other Necessaries for our House , Clothes and Provisions for our Children to be taken in , and Materials for their Working . We had now Two Committees ; one for the Poor , the other for the New Work-house . The Committee for the Poor met twice every Week : And in this Committee we proceeded thus ; First , We voted that the Poor of the City should be visited in their respective Parishes , and that new Poor's Rates should be made ; and accordingly we ordered the Guardians of each Parish to bring together the Poor on a certain Day in some convenient Place , where the Committee met , and without Partiality endeavoured to provide for every one according to their Wants . We likewise took notice of all the young Girls that were on our Poor's Books , and of such whose Parents took no due Care of them ; and these we recommended to the Committee of the New Work-house , to be taken in , and employed by them . Our Poor's Rates we made in this manner : Every One that expected Relief came before us with their whole Families , except such as were impotent and could not come : In our Books we put down the Name of the Man , the Woman , and each Child ; together with the Qualifications of all , either as to Age , Health , Civility , &c. what each Person did or could get by the Week , and in what Employment . We likewise set down for what Reason the Charity was bestowed , that when that should cease , or we could find out any other way to provide for it , the Charity should likewise cease . Having thus seen the state of all our Poor , and provided for them , the Committee sat twice a Week in the Publick Court , to hear and provide for all casual Complaints ; which we did in this manner ; We ordered that the Poor in their respective Parishes , should first apply themselves to their Guardian or Guardians , who were to relieve them as they saw fit , till the next Sitting of the Committee , when they were to bring them up with their Complaints , if they were able to come ; and this we did , lest the Committee ( three whereof made a Quorum ) should be deceived ; who could not be supposed to know the state of all the Poor in the City , and by this weans we had the Opinion of the Guardian of each Parish ; nor could he easily deceive us , because he brought the Poor with him , and thereby the Committee became Judges of the Matter laid before them . At these Meetings care was taken of the various Cases and Exegencies which offered , and in all things there was a regard , as much as could be , to put People on living by their own Labours . To such as were sick , we gave Warrants to our Physician to visit them ; such as wanted the Assistance of our Surgeons were directed to them , and all were Relieved till they were able to work ; by which means the Poor having been well attended , were set at work again , who by neglect might with their Families have been chargeable to the Corporation ; for some we provided Clothes , for others Work ; where we found People careful , but wanted a Stock to employ themselves and their Children , we either lent or gave it ; where they wanted Houses , we either paid the Rent , or became Security for it ; where we found them opprest , we stood by them ; where Differences arose , we endeavoured to compose them ; so that in a little time all the Complaints of the Poor came to this Committee , ( which saved our Magistrates a great deal of trouble ) and care was taken that none went away unheard . The Committee at first sat twice a Week , but now only once in a Fortnight ; not that we grew slack in the Care of our Poor , but because their Number being so much abated by those received into our several Work-houses , the Business does not require their meeting oftner . The other Committee , ( viz. ) That for the New Work-house , having furnished it in order to receive in the young Girls , first began with such as were recommended to them by the Committee for the Poor ; and this Method hath been generally observed ever since , both by that Committee , and also by the Committee since chosen for our other Work-house ; not that either of them depends ou the other , but because the first application for Relief is made to the Committee for the Poor . But before we took in the Girls , we first considered of proper Officers to govern them ; and these consisted of a Master , whose Business was to receive in Work , and deliver it out again , and to keep the Accounts of the House , &c. A Mistress , whose Business was to look after the Kitchin and Lodgings , to provide their Meals at set times , and other things which related to the Government of the House . Tutresses to teach them to Spin , under each of which we designed to put Five and twenty Girls . A School-Mistress , to teach them to Read. Servants in the Kitchin , and for washing , &c. but these we soon discharged , and caused our biggest Girls to take their Turns every Week . We also appointed an old Man to keep the Door , and to carry forth and fetch in Work , and such kind of Services . Being thus provided , we received in One hundred Girls , and set them to work at Spinning of Worsted Yarn ; all which we first caused to be stript by the Mistress , washed , and new clothed from Head to Foot ; which , together with wholsome Dyet at set hours , and good Beds to lye on , so incouraged the Children , that they willingly betook themselves to their work . We likewise provided for them Apparel for Sundays ; they went to Church every Lord's Day ; were taught their Catechisms at home , and had Prayers twice every Day ; we appointed them set Hours for working , eating , and playing ; and gave them leave to walk on the Hills with their Tutresses , when their work was over , and the weather fair ; by which means we won them into Civility , and a love to their Labour . But we had a great deal of trouble with their Parents , and those who formerly kept them , who having lost the sweetness of their Pay , did all they could to set both the Children and others against us ; but this was soon over . Hitherto things answered above our Expectations ; our Children grew sober , and worked willingly , but we very much questioned , whether their Labours at the Rates we were paid , would answer the Charge of their Maintenance ; and if not , our great doubt was how we might advance it , without prejudicing the Manufactures . To clear the first , we supposed ourselves in a fair way , having appointed their Diets to be made up of such Provisions as were very wholsome , afforded good nourishment , and were not costly in price , ( viz. ) Beef , Pease , Potatoes , Broath , Pease-porridge , Milk-porridge , Bread and Cheese , good Bear , ( such as we drank at our own Tables ) Cabage , Carrots , Turnips , &c. in which we took the Advice of our Physician , and bought the best of every sort . They had three Meals every day , and as I remember , it stood us ( with Soap to wash ) in about Sixteen pence per Week for each of the One hundred Girls . We soon found the effect of their Change of Living , Nature being well supported , threw out a great deal of foulness , so that we had generally Twenty down at a time , in the Measels , Small-pox , and other Distempers ; but by the Care of our Physician , and the Blessing of God on his Endeavours , we never buried but Two , though we have had seldom less than One hundred in the House at any time . Having thus provided for their Dyets , we next appointed their times of working ; which in the Summer was Ten hours and a half every Day , and an hour less in the Winter ; by which means we answered the two Objections raised against the Poor , ( viz. ) That they will not work , and that they spend what they get in fine feeding . But we soon found , that the great cause of begging did proceed from the low Wages for Labour ; for after about Eight Months time , our Children could not get half so much as we expended in their Provisions . The Manufacturers , who employed us , were always complaining the Yarn was spun course , but would not advance above Eight pence per pound for spinning , and we must either take this , or have no work . On the other side , we were labouring to understand how we might distinguish , and put a value on our Work , according to its fineness . This we did by the Snap Reel , which when we were Masters of , the Committee made an Order , That the Master should buy in a Stock of Wool , and spin it up for our own Accounts , and then proceeded to set the Price of Spinning by the Snap Reel , wherein we endeavoured to discourage course work , and to encourage fine , because we saw the latter was likely to bring most profit , not only to the Poor , but to the Kingdom in general . We likewise ordered some things to be made of the several sorts of Yarn , at the Rates we had set them ; and on the whole , we found the Commodities made of fine Yarn , though they were much better than those made of course , yet stood us in little more ; because what the one exceeded in the charge of Spinning , was very much made good in abatement of the Quantity used . We therefore sent to the Manufacturers , and shewed them what Experiments we had made ; but finding them still unwilling to advance above the old Rate , the Committee voted that they would give Employment to all the Poor of the City , who would make application to them , at the Rates we offered to work , and pay them ready Money for their Labour . We soon found we had taken the right course , for in a few Weeks we had Sale for our fine Yarn as fast as we could make it , and they gave us from Eight pence to Two shillings per pound for spinning the same Goods , for which a little before they paid but Eight pence , and were very well pleased with it , because they were now able to distinguish between the fine and course Yarn , and to apply each sort to the use for which it was most proper : Since which they have given us Two shillings and six pence per pound for a great many pounds , and we spin some worth Three shillings and six pence per pound spinning . By this means we had the pleasure of seeing the Children's Labour advanced , which a little before I came up , amounted to near Six pounds per Week , and would have been much more , but that ●ur biggest Girls we either settle forth , or put in the Ktchin ; and those we receive in being generally small , are able to do ltitle for some time after . The encouragement we had received on this beginning , put us on proceeding further : The Court resolved to purchase a great Sugar-House , out of the Money directed by the Act to be raised for building of Work-houses , and fit it up for receiving in the remainder of the Poor , ( viz. ) ancient People , Boys , and young Children ; which was accordingly done , and a Committee was appointed to mannage it . This we called the Mint Workhouse , because it had been lately hired by the Lords of the Treasury for that Use . The Committee began to take in the Boys in August last ; these we clothed , dyeted , and governed , much after the same manner as we had done the Girls , but put them on a different Employment , ( viz. ) spinning of Cotten Wool , and weaving of Fustians : We have now about One hundred of them together , who settle well to their work , and every day mend their hands ; they get us already Six pounds per Week ; they are likewise taught to Read , and we shall hereafter teach them to Write . We next took in our ancient People ; and here we had principally a regard to such as were impotent , and had no Friends to help them , and to such as we could not keep from the lazy Trade of Begging ; these we clothed as we saw they needed , and put on such Employments as were fit for their Ages and Strengths , having our Eyes chiefly on those to which they were bred ; we found it difficult at first to bend them down to good Orders , but by degrees we have brought them under Government . Then we called in all the Children that were on our Poor's Books , and put them under Nurses ; those who can speak and go are carried down into the School to learn their A , B , C , &c. As they grow up , we shall put them into the working Rooms . The Boys are kept at a distance from the ancient People , who do also lodge in distinct Apartments , the Men in several Chambers on one Floor , and the Women on another ; all do something , though perhaps some of their Labours comes to little , yet it keeps them from Idleness ; Both the Old and Young attend Prayers twice a day , ( except the Bedridden , for whom other Care is taken ) and go to Church twice on Sundays . We have now three standingCommittees , ( viz. ) For the Poor , for the New Work-house , and for the Mint Work-house : The first gives all Directions , and makes all Allowances , for the Poor , without whose Order no Guardian can act any thing considerable , except in Cases of absolute Necessity , which at the next Meeting of the Committee he must give an Account of , and desire their Approbation . The other two Committees have power to act in the Affairs of that Work-house for which they are chosen : They receive in both Old and Young ; they bind forth Apprentices , Correct , order the Dyet as they please , oversee the working , sell the Manufactures when made , order the payment of all Moneys , which cannot be done unless the Note be sign'd by the Chair-man ; and generally direct every thing relating to those Houses . The Accounts are made up thus : The Treasurers Account is audited every Year by a Committee chosen for that purpose ; at which time he is succeeded by another Treasurer , chosen by the Court : The Accounts of the Guardians who pay the Poor in their several Parishes are audited every three Months , by a select Committee chosen likewise by the Court , and are then paid by the Treasurer : The Accounts for each Workhouse are audited by the respective Committee every Month , when the Master adjusts , not only his Account of Cash , but also of each particular Specie of Goods he hath under his Care , the Ballance whereof is still carried forward to the next , which when allowed of is signed by the Chair-man : And the Account for each House is so stated , that it shews at one sight , what the House is indebted ; what Debts are outstanding , and from whom ; what Goods remain in the House , and the Quantity of each Specie . At the making up these Accounts nothing ( unless very trivial ) is allowed , for which an Order is not produced , or found entered in our Books , so that 't is very difficult to wrong the Corporation of any thing , if any Guardians should endeavour it . These Committees keep their Journal Books , wherein all they do is fairly transcribed , and signed by the Chair-man . This is what at present occurs to my Memory touching our Work-houses at Bristol ; I have been as brief as the nature of the thing would admit : The Success hath answered our Expectation ; we are freed from Beggars , our old People are comfortably provided for ; our Boys and Girls are educated to Sobriety , and brought up to delight in Labour ; our young Children are well lookt after , and not spoiled by the neglect of ill Nurses ; and the Face of our City is so changed already , that we have great reason to hope these young Plants will produce a vertuous and laborious Generation , with whom Immorality and Prophaneness may find little Incouragement ; not does our hopes appear to be groundless , for among Three hundred Persons now under our Charge within Doors , there is neither Cursing nor Swearing , nor prophane Language , to be heard , though many of them , were bred up in all manner of Vices , which neither Bridewell nor Whippings could fright them from , because , returning to their bad Company for want of Employment , they were rather made worse then bettered by those Corrections ; wherers the Change we have wrought on them is by fair means . We have a Bridewel , Stocks and Whipping-Post , always in their sights , but never had occasion to make use of either . What is done in that City I humbly hope may be carried on by the same steps throughout the Kingdom , if the Bill for that purpose now depending in Parliament , doth obtain the Sanction to be past into an Act. The Poor may be set at work , their Wages advanced without danger to our Manufactures , and they thereby enabled to live on their own Labours , whereby the Charge of the Poor's Rates may be saved , and a great many worthy Benefactors encouraged to give , when they shall see their Charity so well disposed of . This I have great reason to hope , because we have had near One thousand pounds freely given to us within the compass of one Year , and much thereof by Gentlemen who dwelt at a Distance from us , only were willing to Encourage a Work they saw likely to be carried on , which might be of good Example to the Nation . I am , with all dutiful respect , Right Honourable and Honourable , Your Honours most obedient Servant JOHN CARY . 
A30697	----	The poor mans friend, or A narrative of what progresse many worthy citi- [sic] of London have made in that godly work of providing for the poor With an Ordinance of Parliament for the better carrying on of the work. Published for the information and encouragement of those, both in city and countrey, that wish well to so pious a work. Bush, Rice. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A30697 of text R214161 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing B6231A). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 61 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 15 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A30697 Wing B6231A ESTC R214161 99826370 99826370 30772 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A30697) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 30772) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1826:18) The poor mans friend, or A narrative of what progresse many worthy citi- [sic] of London have made in that godly work of providing for the poor With an Ordinance of Parliament for the better carrying on of the work. Published for the information and encouragement of those, both in city and countrey, that wish well to so pious a work. Bush, Rice. England and Wales. Parliament. Proceedings. 1647-12-17. [6], 21, [1] p. printed by A.M. for Tho. Underhill at the Bible in Woodstreet, London : 1649. [i.e. 1650] Dedication on A2v signed: Rice Bush. Year given according to Lady Day dating. The ordinance is dated 17 Dec. 1647, and has caption title: An ordinance for the relief and imployment of the poor, and the punishment of vagrants and other disorderly persons. Reproduction of the original in the Guildhall Library, London. eng Poor laws. Vagrancy -- England -- Early works to 1800. A30697 R214161 (Wing B6231A). civilwar no The poor mans friend, or A narrative of what progresse many worthy citi- [sic] of London have made in that godly work of providing for the p Bush, Rice 1650 10999 10 0 0 0 0 0 9 B The rate of 9 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the B category of texts with fewer than 10 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-12 Jason Colman Sampled and proofread 2006-12 Jason Colman Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE POOR MANS Friend , OR A NARRATIVE of what progresse many worthy Citi of London have made in that Godly Work of providing for the POOR . WITH An Ordinance of PARLIAMENT for the better carrying on of the Work . Published for the information and encouragement of those , both in City and Countrey , that wish well to so Pious a Work . MATTH. 5.7 . Blessed are the mercifull , for they shall obtain mercy . LONDON , Printed by ▪ A.M. for Tho. Vnderhill at the Bible in Woodstreet . 1649. TO THE WORSHIPFVLL Alderman Andrewes , Alderman Witham , Lieut Coll. Lee , Mr Rich. Floyd , Capt. Coish , Dr Odeling , Mr Loaues , Mr Hartlipp , Mr Fisher , Mr Jenner , Mr Edmonds , and the rest of the active Gentlemen , whose endeavours in behalf of the Poor , have been sufficiently manifested for these five years last past . Gentlemen , YOur labour of love to the poor is had in remembrance before God , and ought not to be forgotten with men . I make bold to mention Your Names , minding You of what You have well begun , beseeching You to go on ti'l You have perfected the work ; else this will stand as a blot upon Your Names . Not having time and opportunity to prosecute the businesse as formerly , I held it convenient to publish what is done , that some of those now acting may reap the benefit thereof . Your Friend , R.B. TO MY LOVING BRETHREN Henry Hurle , William Legg , and Rich ▪ Millard , Gent. Sirs , A Short Epistle best sutes a short discourse , you may remember I gave to you a hint formerly , that some Citizens were endeavouring a reformation of and provision for the necessitous poor in our City , which would be an example and inducement to all the Kingdom to doe the like . It is now in some probability of effecting : An Ordinance is past both Houses , creating a Corporation for that purpose , which Ordinance being ( as is conceived ) not full enough , some additions thereto are by the Corporation desired , which is the present obstruction , and will doubtlesse be removed as soon as the emergent businesse of State will admit . In the meantime I thought good to give you this account , it being one of the most probable waies to promote it with You in my own native County , and after through the whole Kingdom : and being effectually and conscionably performed , will , doubtlesse , remove from us many evils , disorders , clamours and tumults , and procure upon us the blessings promised to them that consider the poor , The Lord will deliver them in the day of trouble . Despair not because it hath been long preparing : great bodies move slowly , and good designes take not effect as could be desired . I had thought to have given you the summe of the discourse , but on second thoughts , I conceived it better to refer you to the relation at large , the which , if you shall approve , doe your endeavour to doe your County that service to promote so good a work , which will be a blessing to the poor , and a comfort to the rich . The Lord direct and assist You. So praieth , Your loving Brother RICH BUSH . London , March 16 , 1649. To the READER . Reader , THis Account was intended long since to be published , but for some reasons that then offered themselves to consideration , it was forborn then to be printed , but is now thought convenient and usefull to be communicated to others , not only for the ends herein mentioned , and much lesse for any worth or excellency that is in it self , save only that it may fitly serve to revive and stir up the Corporation already appointed , who might long since have set this work on foot in this County , yea ( I am confident ) have setled it to the relief of the poor in generall , house-keeper or other , had not some few men judged a lion to be in their way , who I hope will be convinced , either by this plain method chalked out to them , or by the multitude of petitioners their way , and propositions pressing the necessity to undertake it , with the facility of the work if once begun , and of what consequence it will be to poor and rich , tending to peace and prosperity in this nation , particularly and especially the Proposals drawn up by that ingenuous lover of his Country Dr Chamberlain , both excellent and methodicall , with sound reason to convince the doubtfull and satisfie the ingenuous lovers of their Country : so also it may fitly serve to unite the severall streams that run this way , bringing them all into one channell , for the more effectuall carrying on this Pious , Just and Honourable design : all which , with such other helps as are hinted in this discourse , with their Authors here mentioned , conjoined and committed to honest , active men , who affect this businesse , it may through Gods blessing make this flourish with outward prosperity , and may be a means to draw down a blessing upon all our affairs , considering that promise , If our waies please God , he will make our enemies to be at peace with us . For which blessing praieth , Yours , R.B. March 16. 1649. THE POOR MANS FRIEND , OR A Narrative of what progresse many worthy Citizens of London have made in that Godly Work of providing for the POOR . THE great God that in his wisdom made all things very good , did so order all things by his all-seeing providence , that every creature hath some quality and property to defend it self from injury , and preserve its well being , and likewise did provide in a most excellent manner all things fit and necessary for the well being of those creatures he hath created : But to man in particular God had more respect then to any other of his creatures , for he made him after his own Image , and next to himself , indued him with reason and understanding , and made him Lord over the rest of his creatures that he might be more servisable to his Creator , and provided all things for the being and well being of man ( before he was made ) viz. a Paradise to dwell in , fruit for food , and all other things that might conduce to mans happinesse ; and put him in possession of that which he had thus prepared for him , and gave him laws to try whether he would obey , serve and honour his Creator . But man being in honour continued not , but was like the beast that perisheth , for man transgressed the command of his Maker , and by his sin cast himself at once out of Gods favour , and of that Paradise wherein he was placed , and brought himself and his posterity under that curse , viz. Gen. 3.17 . Cursed is the earth for thy sake , and cursed art thou , in the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat thy bread : so that man is appointed to labour , and he that will not work , neither shall he eat ( saith the Apostle ) but God in judgement remembring mercy , provided for man a Saviour , with laws and rules by which the well being of man might be preserved and maintained : and injoins us to shew mercy and doe good to all men , and not to hide our selves from our own flesh , and condemns Cain for killing his brother , not accepting of his excuse ( Am I my brothers keeper ? ) To shew to us that God requires us to take care of others as well as of our selves : And to this end the Lord gives us command , that we become eies to the blinde , ears to the deaf , and that we cloath the naked , feed the hungry , and bring the stranger to our house , and threatens judgements to such as doe or shall neglect the same . Upon consideration whereof , and the great neglect of this so weighty a duty , that is both commanded and commended by God ( as a great work of charity ) to whom an account must one day be given whether we have fed the hungry , cloathed the naked , visited the sick and imprisoned , &c. And according to our doings herein shall we be rewarded or condemned at that day , when that sentence of Christ shall be pronounced , Matth. 25.41 . Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire , prepared for the devil and his angels . And also observing those many good laws formerly made in this Kingdom , and of how little use they have been to this day , hath moved me , with others , to search out the cause thereof , and to endeavour to put life into those laws ( which I had almost said were dying . ) An account whereof I shall briefly give unto you . Brother , It is not my purpose here to look so far back as to make mention of what others have long since done , nor to insist at all upon that book set forth by King Charles , wherein are many excellent orders and directions , the which might seem to be sufficient to doe the work in hand , viz. the regulating and relieving the poor , but is found by experience to miss of its desired end , namely , the putting life into Laws formerly made concerning the poor , as aforesaid : But my purpose is here to set forth the late endeavours of divers well affected men within this City and the suburbs , and that in brief thus . About five years since a gentleman having observed the good government of the poor in other Kingdoms , and the ill government of them in this , being grieved in minde to observe the aged , blinde , lame , and sick , neglected , with many poor families almost starved , little children lie in the streets under stals and such like places , uneducated ; being stirred with zeale , addresses himself to many Knights and Burgesses of the house , as also to the L. Major of London and many of his brethren the Aldermen , with divers other well affected Citizens , as also many Justices of the peace , and others of the out parts of the said City , did endeavour to possesse them with the goodnesse , necessity , and consequence of relieving and setting the poor to work , and likewise did procure divers meetings within the City , of men affecting this pious design , where the undertaking was generally liked and commended by all , and many sad reports and complaints were then and there made of the miseries that many poor families did endure ( which the present experience of these times proves to be true ) and of the wickednesse and vile abuses committed by vagrants and counterfiets , and of the great neglect of our Laws in that particular , and also of the great wast and losse of food made within the City , sufficient to maintain one half of the indigent poor therein ( as is probably conceived ) together with the not improvement of our native commodities , abuses in Trade , increase of Ale houses , with many other things not yet sufficiently provided for , by any Law or statute within the Kingdome , or these laws or statutes not now put in execution , and therefore fit to be considered of , and remedied at this time of reformation , for the generall good of the poor : Many moneths were spent in meetings in this way of complaining , and the Gentlemens good resolutions commonly ended with the meeting , till at last it was moved that there might be a time and place appointed for a constant meeting , and that some way might be thought on effectually to prosecute those good thoughts and endeavours , and to procure the removall of all those evils . At our meeting we took into our consideration , that beyond the sea , viz the Lowcountries , by setting their poor on work , most of those evils are removed and remedied , and those places blessed of God and inriched : And likewise that in some Towns in this our Kingdom , is not a begger or idle person to be seen , as Norwich , Ipswich , Dorchester and other places , to their great honour , and that in this City is nothing wanting which those other parts and places doe enjoy , that might conduce to the regulating and effectuall relieving of the poor : yet that we might the better herewith possesse our selves , and be the better able to possesse and perswade others , we did desire every man to deliver in writing , his thoughts , which way it were best , and might be done with most advantage ; the which was performed , and those propositions brought in , were by Mr Steel Counsellour at Law , abbreviated , and the substance of the whole was by him drawn into three heads , viz. First , Of Government . Secondly , Stock . Thirdly , Account . And upon each Head divers particulars , such as were conceived most necessary to carry on the work , when a Committee of Aldermen and Common Counsell should be procured and appointed for that end and purpose . Which to procure , Octob. 7. 1645. we with many others , both Ministers and Citizens , petitioned the then L. Major and Common Counsell , desiring them to take into their consideration , the multitude of poor , in and about the City , their misery , necessity , disorder , and increase , and what remedies were fit to be applied thereto , with such propositions as we should tender to them , tending to the relief of the said poor . The Common Counsell granted what we desired , and withall ordered that Committee to consider of an Act made six or eight years before , with an intent to create a Corporation that should take care to see the Laws and Statutes concerning the poor , put in execution : The said Committee after many meetings and much debate , did agree that it was necessary that there should be a Corporation made consisting of eight Aldermen , and thirty two Commoners , Freemen of the City , chosen out of each ward respectively , and to that end drew a draught , which being agreed upon , after many alterations by councell , is by M. Maynard and M. Hayle , Counsellors at Law , in a short draught perfected and approved as fit to passe the House , and to establish a Corporation , who might afterwards gain an enlargement of power , as occasion should require . But after much attendance and many obstructions , and other new alterations , a long draught for an Ordinance was agreed upon and committed to Coll. Veun a Member of Parliament , to obtain the power of the Parliament to confirm it . But through the multitude of their affairs , and length of the Ordinance , we could not in six moneths procure it to be read and committed , whereupon by advise we drew up a short petition and representation of our complaints and desires to the House of Lords . The Lords readily embrace this pious and charitable work , and to their great honours within fourteen daies caused an Ordinance to be drawn up , and the same soon after concluded , and sent down unto the Commons , which was likewise by them committed and perfected : and sent down to the right Honourable John Warner , then Lord Major of London , and the Corporation appointed for that purpose , to put in execution the afore-mentioned Ordinance , which Ordinance I have here inserted . Die Veneris 17. Decemb. 1647. An Ordinance for the Relief and Imployment of the Poor , and the Punishment of Vagrants and other disorderly Persons . VVHereas the Necessity , Number and Increase of the Poor is very great within the City of London and Liberties thereof , for want of the due execution of such wholesome Laws and Statutes as have been formerly made . For remedy thereof , and for other the purposes herein after specified : Be it , and it is Ordained by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled , That from henceforth there be , and shall be a Corporation within the said City of London and Liberties thereof , consisting of a President , Deputy to the President , a Treasurer , and fourty Assistants , whereof the Lord Major of the said City for the time being to be the President , eight of the said Assistants to be of the Aldermen of the said City for the time being ; and the other thirty and two to be Free-men of , and Inhabitants in the said City , chosen out of the severall Wards of the said City equally , and that John Warner , Sir George Clarke , John Foulke , William Gibbs , Samuel Avery , John Bide , George Witham , Thomas Viner , Aldermen of the said City , shall be the first eight Aldermen of the present Assistants ; and that Francis Waterhouse shall be the present Deputy to the said President : And that Maurice Gething shall be the present Treasurer ; and that John Offeild , Richard Morrall , James Russell , Walter Pell , Ralph Hough , Robert Mainwaring , Anthony Webster , William Adams , Richard Glide , William Jesson , Tempest Milner , Thomas Arnold , William Kendall , Toby Lisle , Nathaniel Hall , Humphrey Hawley , William Antrobus , John Green , Edmund Whitwell , John Cooke , Robert Meade , Robert Dallison , William Bromewich , John Everet , Thomas Clowes , John Jones , John Bellamy , Abraham Chamberlaine , John Babbington , Richard Garsorth , John Perryn , and Stafford Clare shall be the other thirty two Assistants : And that the Deputy and Treasurer from henceforth shall be Eligible by the Common Councell of the said City yearly on the 25th of June , or at the next Common Councell following , or within twenty eight daies next after the said 25th of June ; and that such two of the eight Aldermen , being Assistants , and eight of the other thirty two Assistants as the said Common Councell shall think fit , shall fall off , or be amoved yearly at the said day and time of election ; and that two other Aldermen and eight other Commoners , Citizens of and Inhabitants in the said City , shall be yearly elected by the said Common Councell on the day and time aforesaid to be Assistant in the place of such as shall so fall off , or be amoved . And it is further Ordained , that the said President , Deputy , Treasurer and Assistants for the time being , shall for ever hereafter in name and fact be one Body Politique and Corporate in Law to all intents and purposes , and shall have a perpetuall Succession , and shall be called by the name of , The President and Governours for the Poor of the City of London and Liberties thereof : And by that name shall and may without Licence in Mortmeine purchase , or receive any Lands , Tenements , or Hereditaments , not exceeding the yearly value of two thousand pounds , of the Gift , Alienation or Devise of any Person or Persons , who are hereby without further Licence enabled to give the same , and any Goods , Chattels or Summes of Money whatsoever , to the use , intent and purpose hereafter limited and appointed : And sue or plead , and be sued or impleaded by the name aforesaid in all Courts and places of Judicature within this Realm . And the said Corporation , or any nine of them , whereof the said President , or any of the said Aldermen , or the Deputy to the President , or the said Treasurer to be one , shall have hereby power and authority from time to time , to meet and keep Court for the ends and purposes herein expressed , at such time and place as the said President or his Deputy shall appoint : And shall have hereby authority from time to time to make and appoint a common Seal , for the use of the said Corporation , and to chuse such Officers , and them , or any of them from time to time to remove , as they shall see cause ; and upon the removall or death of them , or any of them , to chuse others in their places for the carrying on of this work ; and to make and give such reasonable allowance to them , or any of them , out of the Stock and Revenue belonging to the said Corporation , as they shall think fit , and shall have hereby full power and authority to doe and execute all such other Acts and things as are hereby ordained and appointed for the effecting the work hereby intended to be done and executed . And be it ordained by the authority aforesaid , for the further relief and employing of the said poor within the said City and liberties thereof , that the said Corporation or any nine of them , whereof the said President , or any of the said Aldermen , or the Deputy to the President , or the said Treasurer to be one , shall have power to Erect one or more Work-houses for receiving , relieving , and setting the poor on work , and one or more houses of Correction for punishing of Rogues , Vagabonds , and Beggers , as they shall think fit . And be it further ordained by the Authority aforesaid , that in regard of the great inequality in the ordering and relieving of the poor through the different abilities of the severall and respective Wards in the City of London and Liberties thereof , the said Corporation , or any Nine of them , shall hereby be authorised with consent of the Common Councell of the said City to divide the severall Wards with the poor and stock to them belonging , into four equall parts or proportions for the more effectuall and indifferent relief of the poor , and the avoiding future differences and dissentions between the rich and the poor Parishes ; provided this division of the said City and Liberties thereof , shall not be any prejudice to the relief of those parts of Parishes which lie without the Liberties of the City , which Parishes lie part within the Liberties , and part without : but that those parts which lie without the Liberties of the City shall and may have such relief from Parishes within the City , as formerly they have had . And be it ordained by the Authority aforesaid , That for the further relief and imploying of the said poor within the said City and Liberties , if the said Corporation shall finde that the Annuall Rates and Levies , or other Stock , come to their hands , shall not be sufficient for the effecting the purposes aforesaid ; that then and from time to time , it shall and may be lawfull for the said President and Governours to certifie such want of Stock , and what Summe or Summes of Money they think fit will supply the same , under their Common Seal , to the Common Councell of the said City , and the same to be Levied by them equally and indifferently upon the severall Wards respectively ; and that the said President and Governours , or any nine of them , whereof the said President , or any of the said Aldermen , or the Deputy to the President , or the said Treasurer to be one , shall have power from time to time to make and constitute Orders and By-Laws for the better relieving , regulating , and setting the poor on work , and the apprehending and punishing of Rogues , Vagabonds and Beggers within the said City and Liberties , that have not wherewith honestly to maintain themselves ; and for other the matters aforesaid , which said Orders and By-Laws shall be presented to the Lords and Commons for confirmation before the end of this Session of Parliament , and shall have hereby power to put forth , and binde such children Apprentices as shall be under their charge . And it is further Ordained by the said Lords and Commons , That the said Treasurer to the said Corporation for the time being , shall once in every year between the 24. of June and the 29. of September , or oftner if need require , give a true and perfect account in writing of all the receits , charges and disbursments in and about the premises , unto the Auditors for the time being , appointed for taking the accounts of the Chamberlain and Bridgmaster of the said City , and the said account to remain in the custody of the Chamberlain of the said City . And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid , for the better effecting the premises : That the President , the eight Aldermen , the Deputy President , and Treasurer for the time being , shall be Justices of the Peace , and the four eldest Aldermen shall be of the Quorum . And it is further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid , That if any Action , Suite or Plaint shall be commenced or prosecuted by any Person or Persons in any Court whatsoever against the said President and Governours or any of them , or against any Person or Persons for doing or executing any thing by their or any of their Order , Command or Direction , or coming into their or any of their aid and assistance , in , about , or concerning the premises ; It shall and may be lawfull to and for the said President and Governours , and Officers , or any of them , and every person against whom any such Action , Suit or Plaint shall be commenced or prosecuted , to plead thereunto the generall issue , that he or they be not guilty , and to give such speciall matter in evidence to the Jury that shall try the same , which matter being pleaded had been sufficient matter in Law to have discharged every such Person so prosecuted as aforesaid . And be it further Ordained by the Authority aforesaid , That it shall and may be lawfull to and for any County , Corporation , or Boroughs in any County of this Kingdom , or Dominion of Wales , to make choise of a fit number of able and sufficient persons for the like effectuall relieving and regulating of the poor in their respective places ; and in like manner to draw up and present Orders and By-Laws best suiting to those Counties and places for confirmation as aforesaid , and for the ends and purposes herein above expressed . ANd now having done our parts , we must leave the same unto those of whom an account will be required , if they shall not effectually prosecute the same ( a high price being in their hands , and they having no heart to use the same ) which tends so much to the glory of God , the honour of the Parliament , and the joy of the City and Kingdom . And truly we now thought our ends were answered , and that we might sit down assured that what we had so long laboured for , was now effected , but still we meet with more obstructions in our way , like to the Israelites in their journey to Canaan , even enough to make us turn back , repent our former pains , and desert all further prosecution : but being yet desirous to see this so pious a work effected and vigorously prosecuted , not only in the City , but also through the Kingdom , I thought good to give this brief account of our endeavours . First , To you as one who may in your and my own native Countrey promote the like work . Secondly , To others who shall desire to doe the like , and that they may hereby save the pains and labour that we have bestowed , and take the benefit of the same , and not to trouble you and them to tred over our steps again , doing what is already done to your hands ; and here I shall impart to you the scope of our desires , and the reasons moving us thus zealously to prosecute this charitable and pious undertaking of regulating and relieving the poor . First , For the things desired by us in generall , they are all summ'd up in a Committee or Corporation , enabled to remedy all the grievances of the poor that are hinted in this discourse , or at least to be appointed to take all such things into their consideration , with such remedies as to their wisdoms shall seem meet , and the same to report to a Common Councell of the aforesaid City , that so further power may be procured from the Honourable Houses of Parliament , and given to them , or some others for that purpose , for the better incouragement , ease and indemnity of the said Corporation ▪ But more particularly we desire that there may be a view had of all the poor of this City , and a Register made of what poor are in each Ward , with this distinction following . First , The aged and all children under six years of age , with all such lame , sick and diseased poor . Secondly , Of all males and females who are of six years age and upwards , fit for work , and this to be done by some who are able to judge of their severall abilities and imployments , to be appointed to that purpose ( and not by the Wards themselves ) that so an equall hand may be carried throughout all the Wards in the said City . Thirdly , That some wast room or house be appointed in each Ward for receiving work and food for the poor , and delivering the same to them as occasion shall require , and to give an account thereof to the Governours of the said Corporation . Fourthly , That all such poor as will not work ( though able ) may be sent to Bridewell , and there remain for one moneth at the least , and such as are deprived or their senses or limbs , to those other Hospitals that are proper for them , untill they have as many as they can conveniently dispose of , and if the said Hospitals shall not suffice , that some other places may be provided for present , untill the poor be all disposed and their number be again decreased : And that the sick and visited be sent to the Pest-house , the great charge thereof being mitigated for that purpose ; as also for the great ease and benefit of the said City , it now not being of that use it might be , especially to the poor , by season whereof few poor are there , and in infectious times many go with sores on them up and down the City , and beg at our dores , and in our Churches to the great danger and unknown detriment of the City and liberties . That some constant course be setled for relief of the poor by way of physick and chirurgery : for its better to cure the sick and same then constantly keep them so , as also to discover counterfeiting of sicknesse , lamenesse , and other pretended griefs , which is a thing too frequently used by those idle kinde of persons . I 'le give you an instance , of which a worthy Divine of this City , was not only a spectator but an actor in the work : the manner thus : A counterfeit pretending that his heels grew to his buttocks , lay begging in Moorfields ; M. Jackson Minister , seeing some milk-maids whipping the supposed cripple with nettles , to try if he would finde his legs ( for that some of the maids affirmed that they had seen him go ) yet would he not for all his smart make away from them : the maids being wearied out , and not obtaining their desires , left him : a Carre-man coming by and hearing what had been affirmed , lashes him with his whip severall times over the shoulders , in so much that some tender-hearted spectators were much displeased with the Carre-man for so abusing the supposed cripple ; whereupon the Carre-man willing to work a cure of him , took him up under the armes , and offered to put him into a ditch near at hand , which he did accordingly , and somewhat wet his breech , but all this nothing prevailed ; untill the aforesaid Divine having observed the former passages , and what was the relation of the maids , tried his experiment upon him , which was thus , caused him to be laid upon his back , and kneeled upon his brest , with one of his knees , causing one of his legs to be drawn forth ( if possible ) which was accordingly done , and so the other ; having both his legs thus suddenly straitned ( without any miracle ) he was lifted up upon his feet , to try if he could or would go , which presently he did in the sight of them all ( though seemingly very feeble ) The Divine having so discovered him , sends hastily for a Constable to send him to the house of correction , and in the mean while the fellow desired the people to stand further off him , and he would try his utmost to mend his pace , which the people having done , he as hastily runs away , leapt over a gate and escaped them all . That some way be setled , that the food of the City of London that would be given in the Wards of the same , may be conveniently gathered , improved and disposed to the most necessitous poor of the City , and not to idle counterfeits or such who are other waies provided for . That consideration be had of grievances in the common Trade of this City and Kingdom , especially such as tends to the destruction of Commerce and Trade , both here and beyond the Seas , the which is , if not the sole ( yet a most considerable cause of poverty in this City ) and being removed by the prudent care of the Corporation , will doubtlesse cure many of our other evils . That the Acts and Statutes for sowing of Hemp and Flax be put in execution , and enlarged if need shall require , which will much conduce to the good of the poor , and the raising of stock for the ease of the Kingdome . That granting of Licenses to Ale-houses thought good to be Licensed , be conferred upon the Corporation to dispose thereof to the aged and decaied for their better livelihood , according to the Statute , and that part of the profit thereof may come to the other poor in the said Ward , according to the discretion of the Corporation . That some definitions or positive signes be set down to discover a drunkard by , that any man may have power to atach him for it , and charge a Constable or the like Officer with him , and the said Officers be required to execute the Law upon him , unlesse he shall lay down his fine in the hands of the said Officers or others to be appointed for that purpose , and some rule likewise set down to evince an equivocating swearer ; for by this means much sin will be prevented , and revenue brought to the poor , as a present raising of stock , till further course be had , and besides much trouble , suits and disputes avoided , that may or shall happen to the Officers or others appointed as aforesaid . That the Constable or other Officer for the said purpose , be enjoined every moneth , to cause to be entred the fines received of such offenders , in a book kept by the Corporation , and in case he fail , that then the said Officer be liable to pay the like summe to the Corporation , which he received for the poor , that so the poor may not be wronged , and also to restore the fine he received and detained unto the party that paid him the same , or to him that shall inform against him . That in such cases the Corporation may have power to give an oath and to impannell a Jury for the tryall of causes belonging to them , that the Corporation may be saved harmlesse thereby . That the Corporation may have power to appoint Officers that may have free accesse without trouble or charge to search for donations , which as yet lie undiscovered , or are misimployed or not improved to the best advantage . That all poor people not esteemed worth 10lb be not suffered to go to Law for words and trifles untill the Elders or such like in authority appointed by Parliament in each Parish or Parishes have heard the same , and if not ended by them , it may be heard by the Corporation , and if not determined by them , to be then left unto the Law . That provision be made for the education of poor children in religion , arts and mysteries , to fit them the better for severall imployments , by which means they may be placed and disposed of severall waies , with far lesse charge then now they are . That same way of relief be setled for poor house-keepers , who suffer great necessi●ies ( not known to all ) some for want of work , others for want of stock , some having no utterance for their work , and others unable to work , all of them complaining they want food in their severall families . The motives , grounds and considerations that moved us hereto are these , First , The glory of God in the suppressing of sin and wickednesse , the which may hereby be in part effected . Secondly , The honour of this City , which for neglect of this so pious and necessary a duty , is evil spoken of , both abroad and at home , many jeering and deriding , some pitying and petitioning , as was long since represented to the Magistrates of this City by a godly Minister , as is found in his book intituled , Great cries turned into great joies : but now these great joies are turned into great cries , and as bad or worse then ever they were , as was delivered by Mr Harris in a Sermon at the Spittle , of late years . The great good and benefit of the City , which by the labours of the poor might be inriched and blest of God for having compassion on the needy , according to the many promises made in that behalf . The miseries of the poor which appear by multitude of daily complaints from divers sorts of indigent people , as First , Children destitute of nourishment and education , being constrained to spend their golden age in idlenesse , misery , shame and beggety , with all the evil effects thereof , to the great dishonour of God , the shame of so honourable a City , they being altogether unfit for any art or imployment whatsoever , or to live in any well governd family , in City or Countrey . Secondly , The complaints of widdows , whose husbands lost their lives in the States service , and have left them destitute of maintenance . The complaints of wounded souldiers , having lost their limbs in the service of the Kingdom , and are disinabled to get their living , not having a competent maintenance , doe beg in the streets and at Church doors ( who ) had they imploiment according to their severall abilites , might comfortably live with the allowance of the State . The cries of the poor creatures for bread in our gates as we passe in or out , with the secret mournings of poor families , to the heart-breaking of the truly pitifull and compassionate Christians . The complaints of wives , of many spend thrifts disolute husbands , who not only neglect all endeavours to maintain their own families , but prodigally pawn and spend what the industrious wife hath earned and provided , and so unnecessarily and inevitably bring misery upon themselves , and a charge unto the Parish in which they inhabit , besides the many sad accidents that fall out by means of distracting cares and extream necessities , as people making away themselves and their children , because they have not to answer their cries , as by a sad experience is two well known of a woman that dwelt in Hounsditch about three years since being in childebed , she ripped her belly while she lay in , and it was credibly reported , poverty occasioned her to doe it : A chirurgion was sent for to put in her guts and sow up her belly , but requiring a summe of money to doe it , which she was not able to procure through her poverty , he would doe nothing for her , yet he would be paid for his coming , which the poor wounded woman was not able to doe , but her neighbours and friends with her were foreced to gather five shillings , to satisfie that mercilesse and uncharitable chirurgion , before he would depart the house , and so left he this miserable woman in her extremity . The unexpressible and irreparable prejudice to this City and Kingdome , in respect of honour and estate : First , In honour , as is already set forth : Secondly , For estate , by maintaining a very great number of able persons in idlenesse , as appears by the calculation of M. Stanley and other judicious men , that there is at the least fourscore thousand poor within this Kingdom , the which at a small rate ( viz three pence per diem to every person ) amounts to a thousand pounds a day , which in the year comes to three hundred sixty five thousand pounds , all which monies , besides the great gain which might be made by working , our own manifactures ( which is utterly lost , viz. by some commodities ; nineteen pound in twenty , in the not making thereof ) which by the hands of our own idle poor might be saved with notable advantage to the whole Kingdom . The great abuse of the good creatures of God through the excesse of all sorts , especially by drinking , partly occasioned by the neglect of the execution of the Statutes in force , as also the great increase of Ale-houses , victualing houses , and Taverns , with many evil effects , vix . poverty , theft , languishing , imprisonment of hundreds of able bodies , whose labours might maintain themselves and others , their triall and sentence , some to be burnt in the hand , and so marked out for theeves , and others executed , and so gradually such drinking brings destruction . For this see more in M. Cooks Poor mans case : Besides the releasing out of prison such as have no place to go to , but the streets and fields , no imployment to take to , but beg , steal , whore , cheat , playing the counterfeits , and abusing good peoples charity . The misery that attends the truly poor , that is , the lame , sick and distressed house-keeper , who is enforced at unconscionable interest , to pawn his cloathes , to pay the Doctor , Chirurgion , Apothecary and Nurse , and when that fails , through want of these , they pine , languish , and almost , if not altogether starve themselves and theirs . Give me leave here to give you a sad instance ( omitting many other that might be mentioned ) Not long since there was a poor woman carried home her work to her work-master , who when he had received it , tould her , he could give her no more , by reason the times were so bad he could not fell off his commodities , the poor woman departed full of grief and distraction , and meeting with her brother , he asked her how she did and her children , she answered never worse , why ? said he , she answered , my Master refuseth to give me more work , and I have no bread at home , nor know I what to do , her brother bid her go to his wife , and take three picks of wheat , and tell her that he was paid ; the which the woman did , but her sister in law would not believe her relation nor answer her expectation . The poor womans misery hereby augmented , and Satan setting strongly upon her , caused her to go home to her children , and there first kild her two babes , and after her self . Her brother returning home , asked his wife if his sister had been for the corn , she said , yea , he demanded if she had any , his wife said , no , her husband in anger hasted to his sister , where he found her and her children dead on the ground , he returned home and kild his wife by a box given her on the ear , and was himself committed to custody , as saith the relator . Another sad instance thus , An aged man used to fetch grains from a Gentlemans house , who being by the Gentleman taken notice of , he sent his man to finde out what he did with them , who found that he used to get bloud at another place , and of the bloud and grains mixt , made he food to eat , the Gentleman hearing his mans relation , allowed the poor man a pension ever after . Oh that this were seriously considered of in this City , where we throw away better food then bloud and grains , whilst the poor swoon in our streets for want thereof , but of this no more , having occasion to hint it elsewhere in this discourse , and hoping its now upon remedying . As to the fifth head propounded , namely the waies and means to effect the removall of the aforesaid grievances . The first is , in generall , To finde out the causes of the poverty of these parts : ( the disease discovered is half cured , as saith the Physitian ) to which answereth most fitly our generall corporation : but more particularly , the causes of our poverty I shall lay down negatively and affirmatively ; First Negatively , What is not the cause ; as First , Not want of Laws : Secondly ▪ Not want of Officer , to put those Laws in execution : Thirdly , Not want of time to take it into consideration : Fourthly , Not want of advice or incitation thereunto : Fiftly , Of materials to work on : Sixtly , Of work and work-houses ( if well considered : ) Seventhly , Nor yet of stock to perform it . But affirmitively ; in generall for want of an improvement and well ordering Laws , officers , time , materials poor , &c. The grievances thus stated , I come to the remedies ; and do conceive ( and it agrees with the sence of those active Gentlemen that did use to meet to prosecute this work ) that as the opposite vertues is the best cure for any sin , so is the opposites of all these evils a proper cure for all such maladies ; and for your more ease and satisfaction herein , I will give an instance or two by which you may judge of the rest . The Law saith , Provide houses and work , apprehend the vagrant , set to work the destitute , and then fine the giver and the Constable that admit any to beg : But instead of execution and practic , we say , the cost of building houses will be great , there will be losse by work , let the poor beg , they will get more by their complaint then we can do by cessing ; and infer , why should the giver be fined when the poor is almost starved ? why the Constable fine for not apprehending , when there is no work to set the poor unto ? thus inverting the right way of our fathers , we are altogether out of order , and the consequence is to all men evident , that Foolish pity spoils a well governed City and Kingdom . A second instance ; The poor of this City are all Tradesmen , and are poor , because trade failes , and trade fails for want of stock , of utterance , change of fashions , &c. provide stock , utterance , &c. and your poor cease . Thirdly , Some are poor , not for want of stock or vent , but by reason of ill husbandry ; cure them of that , prevent their lavish expence , and you prevent their poverty . Fourthly , Some can work but will not ; make them work and their labour will maintain them . Fiftly , Pride is one chief cause of poverty and theft too ; many servants now adaies exceeds their master and mistresses , and to maintain the same , steal it from them they serve ; and especially maid servants usually spend all they get on fine apparel , and then marry , and having nothing whereby to follow any calling , soon after fall into poverty ; whereas were they prevented of such extravagant expence , they might ( as heretofore was usuall ) in their service , save and lay up something to help them afterwards . Sixtly , Many are poor by reason of sicknesse , lamenesse , plague or the like , and having by means thereof lost their stock or credit , are never able to recover themselves ; which might be much abated , if not removed , by some setled course for physick , chirurgery , Pesthouses , &c. as in other parts it is . But against me I know will be alledged , that I have all this time but brought you into a wood , and there left you ; prescribe a ready way to help all this , and then you do something . For satisfaction hereto , consider the remedies hinted already in this discourse with such as you shall finde in Stanley , Robinson , Lee and others , who in their writings have hinted something this way ; and for your better encouragement I will methodize to you their sense . First , Number your poor , by which you shall know two things ; 1. What poor you have : 2. Whether the poor that oppresse you be your poor . Secondly , View your poor , and hereby you shall know how many with work will maintain themselves , and what the charge would be to releeve the rest . Thirdly , Fill your Hospitals that are already furnished with stock and all necessary provisions , and see that the most necessitous be first there provided for . Fourthly , Keep such as you commit to Bridewell in custody , untill it appears they have some place and imployment to go unto , so should not Bridewell want company to grinde brasell , or to turne the mill . Fiftly , Divide your ground so , that the poor be not in one division and their stock in another division , but as equall as may be , that so each division may have encouragement to set their poor on work . Sixtly , For this City , 't is needfull to provide four work houses , and them to be distinguished , the east , west , north , and south workhouses , and to divide the City into four parts accordingly , for one or two Parishes are not sufficient for a work-house , to build it , to furnish it , to maintain manufactures in it . Seventhly , As also to distinguish your poor belonging to each quarter by badges , to prevent straglers . Eighthly , It is necessary likewise to appoint a place in each Ward , to receive stuffe from their Generall store-house , for such as work at home , and to receive in the work so wrought back again , paying for the same according to the worth thereof , for the better ease and accommodation of the said indigent poor and of the Corporation ; as also to receive such food as might be frugally saved , and prudently ordered , multiplied and disposed in such sort , as that it may be sufficient to stop the mouths of such as complain , We are almost starved ; and prevent the mention of that sad disease in the weekly bills of mortality . Ninethly , For the better effecting of the former rules , its necessary that a Register book be kept for the poor in each Ward , and each Parishes poor be distinctly set down with their charge and abilities , and that they be truly represented by some appointed and sworn for that purpose , and those severely punished if they fail , for their neglect and perjury in a matter of that consequence . Tenthly , That certain known rules for relief be set down , the family of four children to be provided for before that of three , so that some receive not all , others none at all , as now it is ; but following the wise counsel of our fore-fathers , discovered by their good Laws , donations and foundations , or the laudable practice of other parts of this Kingdom and elsewhere . Eleventhly , That care be taken , that by releeving one poor we make not another , as is 1. The very forme of government in Bridewell , by multiplying apprentices to the destruction of a trade ; as also through pity to strangers to undoe our own poor , as may and doth appear in the Weavers case stated to the Committee of Parliament . 2. By allowing multiplicity of Ale-houses , to the relief of a few , and the utter undoing of many . 3. By allowing Hucsters , by means whereof our poor house-keepers ( especially ) buy their food at the third or fourth hand ; with Costermongers and such like callings , that tend only to the spoil of young fruit , and enhancing the price of old ; the excesse of Bruers , and abuse of bakers , which produce the like inconveniences . Twelfthly , A consultation with the severall Trades of London , what their grievances are , and how they may be remedied ; our fathers have left us foot-steps of their care herein , as appears in the grant to Weavers , to regulate disorders in their trade for seven miles round about London , and divers Laws and orders tending to uphold the well-being of Joyners , Carpenters , Painters and other trades in and belonging to this City . Thirteenthly , A course be taken for removing that sleight or trick in Law ( called Mistaking the Case ) and the trying causes according to the truth of the matter , all circumstances impartially considered . Fourteenthly , A course for preventing of cheating by morgages , Judgements , &c. by which multitudes of families are undone ; and buying lands in other mens names , and compounding their own debts , making that land not liable to satisfie their creditors ; which things considered and removed , would doubtlesse produce much good to this City and the whole Kingdom . But yet Sir you say nothing for matter of stock : To which I answer , If you lessen your poor any way it is equivolent to stock ; but in our Propositions delivered in to the Committee of Common Counsel , we propounded ten waies to raise a stock , as after followeth . The raising of a Stock is done , First , By the Parish Stocks of Monies and Lands . Secondly , By voluntary Contributions in the severall Parish Churches on the Lords day , Fast daies , Thanksgiving daies , and on extraordinary occasions upon the Ministers motion . Thirdly , By gift of Victuals gathered at every house thrice in the week , by some honest persons appointed for that purpose . Fourthly , By loan of Monies from some well-affected persons , and to be repaid them at the years end , either in money or such commodities as they shall like of . Fiftly , By taking the benefit of some penall Statutes . Sixthly , By concealed Legacies given to charitable uses . Seventhly , The goods and money of Pentioners that die , at least such as have no children , to go to the common stock ( as it is in Holland . ) Eighthly , By gifts of old clothes , shooes , boots , hats and the like , gathered quarterly at every house , by some honest person appointed to that purpose . Ninethly , By Contributions of well-affected persons at the time of their death , being pressed thereto by the Ministers that visit them in their sicknesse . Tenthly , The assistance of such persons as will take off some considerable number of poor , by imploying them in their severall Trades , which will be as effectuall as so much stock . And if all that will not do , it were better sell all the bells in our steeples , then that so good and so great a work should fail ( it were but a little musick lost , and happily many lives saved ) the value of the bells in London , accounting four in a steeple one with another , and those at twenty Pound apeece , would in one hundred twenty two Parishes , amount unto nine thousand six hundred and sixty Pound : or could we but perswade the Citizens of London , but one year to forbear altering their apparell into other fantastick fashions , and lay by as much for the poor as they use to spend that way , it is clearly beleeved the same would amount to four times as much as the rates of the poor come to . But what need these shifts ? how or wherewith are the poor now maintained ? few working , most playing , begging , stealing , whoring , cheating and the like ? can these by their shifts now live ? and could they not much better live by honest labour ? especially if work , if stock and other helps were added to them , easie to be procured , if not already in our power to give and grant . I beseech you let this City no longer plead excuse , and live under this sin and shame : leave off preferring your friends to places and priviledges , to gifts and other helps , and let the destitute of friends perish before your eyes , and go effectually about the work , else when I cease further to pleade the cause of the poor , God take the cause into his own hand , and it prove bitternesse in the end . And now to conclude all , as I never intended to satisfie every man that shall reade or hear what is here set forth , so shall I not regard the censures of such who regard their own private interest more then the Publike good , and are seldom pleased , save in their own invention . But conceiving this work to be in it self good and a work of charity , and that many godly people throughout the Kingdom do daily expect the promotion of it by the power of Parliament , I thought this to be one of the likeliest means to satisfie them , promote and make publike to designe in these hard and miserable times , with such as desire the pece and tranquillity of the Kingdom , and good of their poor brethre● ; and in regard the work is of great consequence , and the delay at the time extreamly prejudiciall , I therefore resolved upon this boldnesse , to put in print this short Account of our endeavours to effect the same , in●ending hereby good to all , hurt to none , nor any just offence to any man , whether concerned or not concerned in any thing exprest or hinted ●erein , but as an incitation and encouragement to all active and able men , to improve their interest for the publike good , that so the example of London may cause the like course to be taken throughout the Kingdom ; and we hope the Corporation now authorized by Parliament , will according to the great trust committed to them , and power put into their hands , without any delay , vigorously and effectually prosecute the premises ; and I doubt not but all such as have been active for promoting the designe , will still to the utmost of their power help forward and promote the same ; and God that enjoynes and commands this as a duty , will doubtlesse reward the faithfull and zealous prosecution hereof , and a blessing shall rest upon their heads , which is the prayer and desire of ▪ Your 〈◊〉 friend and servant in behalf of the Poor , Rice Bush . FINIS . READER , If thou meetest with any omission or mistake , be please 〈◊〉 ●ith thy pen to amend the same . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A30697e-680 1644. A notorious counterfeit cripple . Mr Harris his printed Sermon . A sad relation . Cooks poormans case . The Broker taking 120lb interest per year , for 100lb stock . Mr Hodges his report of two sad miseries that befell by reason of poverty . Fifth particular , how to effect the relief of the poor . 18. Eliz. Regis , an Act for setting the poor on work , & avoiding of idlenesse . Object . Answ . Object . Answ . 
A35223	----	A proposal offered to the committee of the honourable House of Commons appointed to consider of ways for the better providing for the poor and setting them on work, and now under their consideration. Cary, John, d. 1720? 1700 Approx. 11 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A35223 Wing C732 ESTC R37475 16960872 ocm 16960872 105486 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A35223) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 105486) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1611:13) A proposal offered to the committee of the honourable House of Commons appointed to consider of ways for the better providing for the poor and setting them on work, and now under their consideration. Cary, John, d. 1720? 8 p. s.n., [London : 1700?] Caption title. Signed: John Cary. Imprint suggested by Wing. Reproduction of original in the Christ Church Library, Oxford University. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England. Public welfare -- England. 2006-06 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-10 Celeste Ng Sampled and proofread 2006-10 Celeste Ng Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A PROPOSAL Offered to the COMMITTEE OF THE Honourable House of COMMONS , APPOINTED To consider of Ways for the better providing for the POOR , and setting them on Work. And now under their Consideration . THAT the Laws now in force about Vagrants , Rogues , Beggars , Lewd Women , Bastards , &c. and also the Laws about the Settlement of the Poor be comprehended in one Statute , that so they may be more easily understood by those who shall undertake the Care of the Poor . That the Laws about Providing for and Employing the Poor be still in force , where new Corporations for the Poor are not setled . That Encouragement be given for erecting Hospitals , Houses of Correction , and Work-houses for Maintaining and Employing the Poor of this Kingdom , in all the Counties , Cities , and Towns , under the Management of Corporations , settled either under the Great Seal of England , or by Act of Parliament ; or by the Justices of the Peace in their Quarter-Sessions . That where these Corporations are settled in Cities or Towns Corporate , the Poors Rates of all the Parishes be united into One , and equally raised on the Inhabitants , according to their Estates , both Real and Personal ; except in London , or other very large Places , which may be divided into several Corporations , by discretion of the Justices , who may bring the Charge to an Equality , either by joyning rich Parishes with poor , or by making the richer Corporations contribute to the Poorer . That the Corporations in the Country be not extended so large as to comprehend a whole County , the Poor thereof being too many for one Corporation to govern , but rather confined to a Hundred or Hundreds , whose Parishes to be comprehended in One , and each of them to contribute to the Charge thereof , not by bringing them to an equal Pound-rate on their Lands and Personal Estates , which I fear will discourage them from uniting ; but by taxing every Parish according to what it paid before , there not being the same Parity of Reason for this way of Rating in the Hundreds , as there is in Cities and Towns ; because in the Hundreds the Parishes do not receive an equal Benefit from the Labour of the Poor of other Parishes , as they do in Cities and Towns ; yet this may be referred to the Justices of the Peace to proportion , which , I humbly conceive , is all can be done , except you make this Law compulsive . That the Sums of Money to be raised for this Work , shall not exceed what was paid in one of the last Three Years for the Maintenance of the Poor in all the Parishes thus united . That these Corporations shall be obliged to maintain all the Poor impotent People within their Jurisdictions ; to provide Work for those who are willing , and to force those to work who are idle , and to assist those poor People whose Labour will not maintain their Charge . That Hospitals , and Work-houses , and Houses of Correction , shall be erected in convenient Places , under the Government of each Corporation ; wherein the impotent Poor shall be provided for ; Vagrants and Idle People punished , and kept at Hard Labour ; Young People of both Sexes bred up to work till the Age of Sixteen , and also taught to read ; and the said Corporations shall have power to bind them out Apprentices , the Boys to the Age of _____ and the Girls to the Age of _____ or time of Marriage . Which Hospitals , Work-houses , and Houses of Correction , shall be built at a general Charge , to be raised in proportion , according as each Parish pays to the Poor . That the Governours of these Hospitals , Work-houses , and Houses of Correction , in Cities and Towns Corporate , be the Mayor and Aldermen , together with a number of Guardians chosen out of each Parish ; and in the Hundreds , all the Justices of the Peace inhabiting therein ; also a number of Inhabitants chosen out of each Parish , in proportion to the Sum of Money it pays ; which Choice to be made once in every year , when one half of them which were first chosen shall go forth , and the remaining half shall stay in for the next Year : The Electors in the Cities and Towns Corporate to be such as pay One penny per Week to the Poor in their own Rights ; and in the Hundreds , the Freeholders of Forty shillings per Annum ; and in Case of the Death of any Guardian , another to be chosen in his room , by the Parish for which he served ; which Elections shall be made on the _____ in Courts held in each Parish by the Justices , or Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor , or the Constables . That these Guardians shall chuse a Governour , Deputy-Governour , Treasurer , and Assistants , yearly ; and shall hold Courts , and make By-Laws for the better carrying on this Work ; shall appoint how many of their Members shall make a Court ; shall settle the number of their Assistants ; and shall adjorn from time to time ; but shall be obliged once in every Calander Month at least to hold a Court ; which shall be held by the Governour , Deputy-Governour , or one half of the Assistants . That the Court do once in every Year , or once in Six Months , agree how much Money will be necessary for the Maintaining and Employing their Poor for the Year or Six Months ensuing , and that this be certified in each City and Town-Corporate to the Mayor , and Aldermen , of that City and Town-Corporate ; and in every Hundred , to the Justices dwelling within the said Hundred , at a Meeting to be held for that purpose ; who shall proportion the said Sum regularly on each Parish , and grant out their Warrants to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor to assess it thereon , and afterwards , other Warrants to collect and pay it in to the Treasurer of the Corporation ; and if the Mayor , and Aldermen , in the Cities and Towns-Corporate , or the Justices of the Peace in the Hundreds , shall refuse or neglect by the space of _____ Days next after such Certificate made to them , to issue out their Warrants to the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor to make such Assessments ; or after such Assessments made by the space of _____ Days , to issue out Warrants for the gathering of the same , and paying it to the said Treasurer , that then the several Corporations shall by their own Warrants under their Common Seal , require the said Churchwardens and Overseers to do the same ; and if they neglect by the space of _____ Days after the issuing out such Warrant by the Mayor , and Aldermen , in the said Cities and Towns-Corporate , or by the Justices of the Peace in the said Hundreds , or on their neglect or refusal , by the said Corporations , to make Assessments , and gather and pay the same to the said Treasurer , then the said Corporations shall have power to levy the same on the Offenders , for the use of the said Corporations . That all charitable Gifts given for the use of the Poor , after the erecting of these Corporations , shall belong to that Corporation , of which the Parish is a part , to whom it is given . That each of these Corporations be one Body Politick in Law , and may sue and be sued , and may , without Licence in Mortmain , purchase , take , and receive any Lands , Tenements , or Heriditaments , and transfer the same , and any Goods and Charttels whatever , for the benefit of the said Corporation . That the said Courts shall have these powers following , viz. To Summon before them any Inhabitants within their Jurisdictions , to answer to Matters relating to the said Corporations . To appoint a Common Seal or Seals for the benefit of the said Corporations . To buy Necessaries for putting the Poor at work . To compel all People who seek to them for Relief , or ought to be maintained by them , to dwell in their Hospitals and Work-houses . To inflict reasonable Correction on all poor Persons in their Hospitals and Work-houses . To examine what Poor shall come to reside in any of their Parishes , and to send them by their Warrants to the place of their last legal Settlement , or to bring them before the Justices in order thereto . ( Appeals as before . ) To apprehend Rogues , Vagrants , Beggars , loose and disorderly Persons , and to cause them to be set at work for _____ Years in their Work-houses , Hospitals , or Houses of Correction . To chuse and entertain necessary Officers , and to pay them out of their Stock . To certifie , what Money will be necessary for building Hospitals , Work-houses , and Houses of Correction , and to raise it as before , and when raised , to buy or build such Hospitals , Work-houses , and Houses of Correction . To set down and agree on what Terms they will receive Honorary Guardians . These Corporations not to have power over any Alms-houses , Hospitals , or other charitable Gifts already settled ; but that all those Gifts which have been given in general terms for the use of the Poor , shall be in them . No Officer in these Corporations , by reason of such Office , shall be liable to the Penalties mentioned in an Act made 25 Car. 2. for the preventing the Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants ; because this may keep out many People , who may be very instrumental in carrying on this work . The Treasurer of these Corporations to account with such Persons as they shall appoint ; and to make up his Accounts annually . Forfeitures to be levied by Sale of the Offenders Goods , by warrant under the Hand and Seal of the Treasurer . That the Poor employed in the Woollen-Manufactures be paid for their Work in Money , and not in Goods , by all who do employ them . That the Rates of Spinning be set every Year by _____ and that the pound of Wool delivered out to the Poor to be Spun by any Manufacturer , do not exceed 16 oz. A Clause to secure those from unnecessary Suits who shall Act by virtue of this Law. All which is Humbly Submitted to the Wisdom of this Honourable Committee . John Cary. 
A27365	----	Essays about the poor, manufactures, trade, plantations, & immorality and of the excellency and divinity of inward light, demonstrated from the attributes of God and the nature of mans soul, as well as from the testimony of the Holy Scriptures / by John Bellers. Bellers, John, 1654-1725. 1699 Approx. 72 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A27365 Wing B1828 ESTC R19644 12399883 ocm 12399883 61246 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A27365) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 61246) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 270:9) Essays about the poor, manufactures, trade, plantations, & immorality and of the excellency and divinity of inward light, demonstrated from the attributes of God and the nature of mans soul, as well as from the testimony of the Holy Scriptures / by John Bellers. Bellers, John, 1654-1725. [6], 26 p. Printed and sold by T. Sowle ..., London : 1699. Reproduction of original in University of Chicago Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- Employment -- Great Britain. Spirituality. Great Britain -- Economic conditions -- 17th century. 2003-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2005-03 Jonathan Blaney Sampled and proofread 2005-03 Jonathan Blaney Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion ESSAYS About the Poor , Manufactures , Trade , Plantations , & Immorality , And of the EXCELLENCY and DIVINITY OF Inward Light Demonstrated from the Attributes of God , and the Nature of Mans Soul , as well as from the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures . By Iohn Bellers . Psalm 41. 1. Blessed is he that considereth the Poor , the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble . 2. The Lord will preserve him , and keep him alive , and he shall be blessed upon the Earth ; and thou wilt not deliver him into the Will of his Enemies . 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the Bed of Languishing : Thou wilt make all his Bed in his Sickness . London , Printed and Sold by T. Sowle , in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street , and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-street , 1699. The King in his Speech to both Houses of Parliament , The 9th of December , 1698 said , My Lords and Gentlemen , I Think it would be Happy , if some Effectual Expedient could be found for Imploying the Poor , which might tend to the great Increase of our Manufactures , as well as remove a heavy Burden from the People . I hope also You will employ Your Thoughts about some good Bills for the Advancement of Trade , and for the further Discouraging of Uice and Profaueness . The Lord Chief Iustice Hale , in his Discourse for Imploying the Poor , said , The want of a due Provision for Education and Relief of the Poor , in a way of Industry , is that which fills the Goals with Malefactors , and the Kingdom with Idle Persons that consume the Stock of the Kingdom , without Improving it ; and that will daily increase , even to a Desolation in time . Sir Josiah Child saith , in his Discourse about the Poor , And if a whole Session of Parliament were imployed on this singular Concern , I think ( saith he ) it would be time spent as much to the Glory of God , and Good of this Nation , as in any thing that Noble and worthy Patriots of their Country can be engaged in . Here is strong and pathetick Lines , in behalf of the Poor , by as Powerful a King , as Honoured a Iudge , and as Rich a Merchant , as England ever had . TO THE Lords and Commons IN Parliament Assembled . IT was lamentable and frightful to behold the Tumult of Weavers , that in a late Sessions , attended your Doors , and when the Scarcity of Corn hath pinched the Poor , how fearless have they appeared ( to plunder against all Law ) in many Parts of this Kingdom ? Now if the Needy of but one Trade of a City , shall , through Penury , dare to brave You , that are as the Vitals to move , and Heads to govern the Nation , and that have the Strength of it to support you : How much more dismal would it be to have a poor starved Croud attack single Gentlemen at their own Home , and what Avantage may restless Spirits take to disturb the publick Peace with such Opportunities ? Forreign Wars wastes our Treasure , but Tumults at home are a Convulsion upon our Nerves : And though Fines will Awe Men of Estates , and Corporal Pains Men in Health : But ( if Provision should fail ) what can awe the Misery of Starving , added to their increasing Immoralities , which will increase their Insolence ? To collect the Laws about the Poor , into one Act , will make them much the better understood , and it would be of great Service , if all our Laws , upon each Subject they Treat of , were so collected . And to Incorporate Counties , Citys , and Towns , to erect Hospitals and Work-houses , for imploying the able , and providing for the impotent Poor , will be a good Addition to the present Laws already made , if they will undertake it . But considering that the late regulating of our Coin , increased the Difficulties of doing it , and that a suitable Provision for our Poor will not be of less Consequence to the Nation ; and that many of the publick Hospitals hitherto raised , have more regarded the well Governing , and providing for a few Impotent , than the profitable imploying of the able Poor . Therefore , with Submission , I humbly pray , that you will please , by Bill or Clause , in some Bill , to incorporate any Persons ( as well as Cities and Parishes ) that will raise a Stock for the imploying of poor People ; if it invite no Vndertakers , the Act can do no Hurt , and if it succeed , it may produce ( by the following , or some other Expedient ) useful Experiments that more publick Corporations may learn by , at others Costs . John Bellers . To the Intelligent and Thinking Reader . WItty Men , who think but once upon a Subject , are able to make a Jest upon it ; but Wise Men think twice , that will give a right Judgment upon things : And these last are the Readers I address my self unto , who have Temper to receive a good Proposition , and Sense to disprove a bad or weak one , by Proposing a better : For that Physician that can advise nothing in a desparate Disease ( as the Condition of many of the Poor are now to England ) but contradict others , will have no great Cure to boast of . What I have said of Trade , is rather to Anatomize , and look into the Nature of it , than to find out the most Profitables , whilst I think Land is the Foundation , and regular Labour is the great Raiser of Riches to a Nation , and that Trade is the distributer of it , when it is raised : I would also persuade to Mercy and Vertue , as what Crowns the Industry of any Country . There are some too apt to reproach Vertue with ill Names , and under that disguise , represent the most Industrious as the more dangerous ; tho' Immorallity in the Professors of any Religion makes them the greatest Enemies and Ruin of that Religion which they profess : Whilst the Industry of the Subject , as it makes their Riches the greater Support , so is it the best Security to the Government ( tho' they are divided into many different Opinions of Religion ) it being the Proud and Needy that are the most restless , and the Idle that are most at leisure to be Mutinous . Some may think me too short in Expression , I desire such , if they are at leisure , to read this Tract twice , and it will be then more intelligible unto them , and if they have not time for that , I conceive they would not have read a larger Comment half through . And though short Sentences are most liable to be mistaken , yet they are best to be remembred : And if I can strike them Sparks , from whence others may set up bigger Lights , for the good of Mankind , I shall not think my time Ill bestowed . My brevity may make me seem too positive , with some , but I doing of it to prevent being tedious , and desiring no more Credit than as I demonstrate what I writ , I hope my Reader ( for my good Intention ) will excuse me in that seeming fault . I will not answer for the exactness of my Computations , whether there is six , seven or eight Millions of People ( several ingenuous Political Arithmeticians differing in that point ) or whether we spend 50 or 70 Millions a Year ; a Million or two breaking no square in my Propositions , they being more to shew the greatness of the Loss , by our neglect of the Poor , and the greatness of the Profit they are able to raise , rather than the exactness of either ; which , I think , my Reasons in them Computations fully proves . Iohn Bellers . The CONTENTS . 1. SEveral Quotations . 2. To the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled . 3. To the intelligent and thinking Reader . 4. A Scheme , by which the Poors wants will be best supplied . 5. Essay , to shew , that 500 Labourers are capable of earning 3000l . a Year more than will keep them . 6. Essay , to shew how 500 Thousand Poor are capable to add 43 Millions value to the Nation . 7. The Increase of Regular Labouring People is the Kingdom 's greatest Treasure , Strength and Honour . 8. Of Manufactures . 9. The uncertainty of Fashions doth increase necessitious Poor . 10. Of Traders . 11. Of Foreign Trade . 12. Of Money . 13. A word to the Rich. 14. Essay for abating Immorallities . 15. Against Punishing of Theft with Death . 16. The Excellency and Divinity of Inward Light demonstrated . 17. Of Christian Vertue . 18. Of Divine Worship . 19. A Cloud of Witnesses out of the Holy Scriptures to an inward Guide . ESSAYS About the POOR , &c. IT is affecting to consider that the Bodies of many poor , which might and should be Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in , are the Receptacles so much of Vice and Vermine . To love God with all our Strength , and our Neighbour as our selves , is the Substance and Perfection of the Law and Gospel : But as he that neglects Virtue , loves not God ; so he that , when Power and Opportunity is put into his Hands , will not endeavour to relieve his fellow Creatures from their present Miseries , will want a great Article in his Pasport , to recommend him to future Happiness . That the Poor want to be better managed than they are ▪ is plain , to every one that hath Sence or Charity , whilst their Way of living is not much less Loss to the Nation , than our Wars , one being perpetual , and the other but accidental ; also the ill Morals and Miseries of the Poor , are scandalous to our Religion to the last Degree , Charity and Virtue being the greatest Ornaments and Excellencies of Christianity . Now , in Order to cure these great Maladies , I propose three Things to be considered . First , Whether the Poor will be best employed by a publick Stock , or by particular Undertakers , with their own Stocks ? Secondly , Whether imploying them upon one Sort of Manufacture , or all Sorts , with the Addition of Husbandry , is best ? Thirdly , Whether the Poor will be best managed in Societies , or scattered each at their own Homes ? To which offer the following Observations . To the first , That publick Stocks have generally been eat up , and will be so , and the Poor are worse imployed by them , Experience hath hitherto shewed us , and that therefore private Stocks are better than publick ones , for imploying the Poor , as being better husbanded , whilst the Interest of the Undertakers will oblige them to more Care in managing the Stock , and imploying the Poor ; and besides , constant Overseers will be much more capable for the Imployment , than Annual ones . But Sick , Cripples , and other disabled Poor , as they are fittest tobe kept at a publick Charge ; so consequently under the publick Care , which will leave the more Room for publick Charities to such . To the second , The more Variety of Manufactures the Poor are imploy'd in , the more Conveniencies they will raise for themselves , and they will the less Clog the Market , than if imployed in one Manufacture only : But if they are imployed in Husbandry also , that they may raise themselves Food , they will then want nothing ; for two Men are able to raise Food and Clothing for four Men's Subsistence : Whereas to increase our Manufactures , and not our Food , will lessen the Misery of the present Poor , but by spreading of it among all the People of the Kingdom : Which is like an unskilful Physician that removes the Gout from the Foot , only by repelling of it upon the Vitals , which often infects the whole Body . It puts more People to Table , it 's true , but it puts no more Food upon it ; where they all suffer , as they do at Sea ( when Provision falls short ) by setting five Men to four Mens Allowance . To the third , I say , Societies affords the best Government , and also most Conveniencies , with less Charge ; and the Poor have very ill Qualities , and are as ill Tutors , as well as evil Examples to their Children , and therefore it 's of absolute Necessity their Children should have better Instructors , and a more industrious Education than their Parents will give them ; the Happiness of the next Age much depending upon the good Education of the Children of this . And for Infants , sick and superannuated People , if they were put into Nurseries and Hospitals ; the fewer Nurses , Surgeons , and Physicians will serve them , than if kept any where else , and they will be cheaper and better provided for , than in little nasty Hovils at Home , which are too often the Seeds of Infection . And as Communities and Hospitals , will have most Conveniences at least Charge , so they will breed up the best Surgeons and Physicians , where their Experience in one Year , will be more than in seven Years without it ; which , as it will be greatly to the Comfort of the poor : So of no less Advantage and Comfort to the Gentry of the Country , who will then know where to have able Physicians and Surgeons , upon extraordinary Occasions ( which in many Countries , now , is not easie to be found ) the lame Hospitals in London being the best Schools for Surgeons in the Nation . Prov. 29. v. 4. The Righteous considereth the Cause of the Poor , but the Wicked regardeth not to know it . 31. v. 9. Open thy Mouth , judge righteously , and plead the Cause of the Poor and Needy . How the Poors Wants will be best answered , and the Nations Strength and Riches increased . THE Evils and Wants that attends the poor of England are of four Sorts . First , The Parents give their Children an evil Education . Secondly , They want constant Imployment for themselves and their Children . Thirdly , They want constant Vent for what they do raise or make . Fourthly , They want sufficient Food to feed them for their Labour . The Scheme I offer , as Relief for these four great wants , is , by Colleges of Industry ( which I presented the Parliament with two Years ago ) in which are collected all sorts of Tradesmen and Husbandmen ( in a due Proportion to the Occasion there may be for each Trade among them ) upon so much Land , that with their Labour upon it , will raise them Materials needful for their Subsistence , which I reckon is about three Acres to a Head : And that this Plaster will fully cure these four Sores , I demonstrate . First , That in such Collections of People , there may be all Conveniences for Instruction and Oversight , both in Virtue and Industry . Secondly , They cannot there want Work any Time of the Year , they having all the Conveniencies of Life to raise for themselves and their Founders . Thirdly , They cannot there want Vent for what they raise more than they spend , because the Founders will gladly receive it , it being all profit to them . Fourthly , And as a proportionable part of them are imployed upon the Land in Husbandry , they will raise Food sufficient for the whole Society . I do not propose forming all the Mechanicks of England , that live well otherwise , into Colleges , but such poor who are thrown into Want by an idle Education ; or such as being supernumery in the Trade they were bred in , who are now accounted burthensome , for them to be gathered and formed into little Bodies , and several Classes of needful Imployments ▪ as if going to plant a new Country , which would be as gaining several new Provinces to the Kingdom ; and then those little Colonies will live as well as the rest of the Nation doth , without taking the Bread out of other peoples Mouths , because they raise their own Food , and other Subsistence . Such Colledges and Colonies will be an excellent Expedient to people the Northern Countries , and the waste Lands of the Kingdom ; and greatly increase the Value of the Lands of the Nobility and Gentry of England . Interest will incourage the Undertakers to settle People where Land ( which is the Foundation of Living ) may be had cheap , and all Manufactures , as well as Husbandry , being settled there , may make such Places as Populous , and the Land as Valuable , as the Southern Counties are ; and will prevent the loss of Thousands of People , that by going to London drop there , now , as untimely Fruit ; this City being one tenth of the People of England , it is too numerous in Proportion to the rest of the Kingdom ; for what it hath more than its Proportion , they must live either by sharping or begging , or starve ; because the Nation can maintain but a Number of Tradesmen and Gentry , in proportion to the Number of Labourers that are in the Nation , to work for them . Now as standing Forces are in a Field , where Troops broken in Battle , can retire to , and Rally : So would Colledges and Colonies of Industry be unto broken Tradesmen , and ruined Manufacturers to go into , until they can see a better way to live . Essay , to shew , That 500 Labourers , Regularly Imploy'd , are Capable of Earning 3000 l. a Year more than will keep them . IT is a certain Demonstration of the Illness of the Method the People are imploy'd in , if they cannot live by it ; nothing being more plain , than that Men in proper Labour and Imployment are capable of Earning more than a Living ; or else Mankind had been extinguished in the first Age of the World ; and it would be impossible now , for any Shop-keeper or Merchant , to live in the Nation , or Children be bred up , Land improved , Buildings raised , and Shiping and Trade increased ; if some Mechanicks and Husbandmen ( that are in a due Proportion to each other ) did not maintain the one , and increase the other , as well as maintain themselves . By Computation , there is not above two thirds of the People of Families of England , that do raise all necessaries for themselves , and the rest of the People by their Labour ; and if the one third , which are not Labourers , did not spend more than the two thirds which are Labourers , one half of the People or Families Labouring could supply all the Nation . Now considering that all the Poor may be Labourers , and as is before observed , that half of them : are capable of raising Necessaries for all the rest to live equal to themselves , or as well as other Mechanicks and Labourers of the Kingdom do live : And supposing that the Nation in general spends the value of 10 l. a Head Yearly in Victuals , Clothes , and other Necessaries ; by which every one's Years Work , that doth Labour must be worth 20 l. to keep himself , and one more . Then accounting of 500 Labourers , that 250 of them earning 20 l. a Year each ; the whole comes to 5000 l. Out of which deducting for the Rent of 1500 Acres of Land ( which is 3 Acres to a Head ) for them to dwell upon , at 10 s. an Acre a Year , in all is 750 Pound . Interest of 5000 l. Stock for the Land and Manufacturers is 250 l. a Year . Allowing for Officers , Sick , Lame , and Infants Yearly 1000 l. Which , in the whole , comes to be deducted Yearly 2000 l. And there remains Profit for the Founders , besides Rent for their Land , and Interest for their Stock 3000 l. a Year . Object . But some will say by my Computation , A Labourer must earn 16 d. a day , whereas many cannot now earn above 6 d. or 8 d. a day , with the greatest Toil. Answ. It is so , but then the Shop-keeper or Jobber often gets the other 8 d. or 10 d. for it commonly stands the User in double the Prince the Maker had . And with many Commodities the Market is over-stocked , ( and what is the best Dinner worth to a full Stomack ? ) which is the great Unhappiness of many of our Mechanicks , that they make Commodities , when no Body wants them . And then they pine or starve , whilst they are waiting for a Customer that will give Bread for their Manufactures ( or Money to buy Bread ) whereas the same Labour in Husbandry they used in making them Manufactures , would have raised much more Food than the Money they get for their Manufactures will buy them . Tho' I compute that 500 Labourers can Earn 3000 l. a Year , more than will keep them , at the Rate the Poor of England now live ; yet as less Profit may sufficiently incourage the Founders , so they may allow the Labourers either to work the fewer Hours in the Day , or else give them better Wages than they generally have now , and the Founders get enough by them nevertheless . Essay , to shew how 500 Thousand Poor are capable to add 43 Millions value to the Nation . ACcording to the Computation of 500 People earning 3000 l. a Year more than will keep them ; and supposing there is 500 Thousand Poor in the Kingdom , which want Imployment ( which is but 10 Thousand in a Country ) they are able to earn One Million and a half Yearly more than will keep them , and they will manage One Million and a half of Acres of Land ; which , considering how much Land we have in the Kingdom now , not worth 12 d. an Acre , in the North , &c. and that People settling upon it , would make it worth 10 s. an Acre a Year , which would advance that Land to 675 Thousand Pounds a Year , which is now not worth above 75 Thousand Pounds a Year , which added to the one Million and half , the Poor can earn Yearly more than they spend , makes the whole Yearly Profit to the Kingdom 2 Millions 175 Thousand Pounds , with Pleasure , Safety , and Honour to the Undertakers , and unspeakable Comfort to the Poor ; where may also be had reputable Posts , and comfortable Livings for many decay'd Families ( the Miserablest of Poor ) that now pine in distress . Which Annual Profit , computed at 20 Years Purchase , it adds 43 Millions and a half , Sterling , to the Stock and Value of the Kingdom , and but upon one sixth part of the Waste Land of England neither , according to the Computation of the Author of Ways and Means , who reckons there is 10 Millions of Acres of Waste Land in the Kingdom . Upon which Waste Land we might keep , if we had them , two Millions and a half of People more than we have , and by them add 200 Millions Sterling , to the value of the Kingdom : From whence may be seen that under the favour of God ; That , The Increase of Regular Labouring People is the Kingdom 's greatest Treasure , Strength and Honour . 1. LAnd , Cattel , Houses , Goods and Money are but the Carcas of Riches , they are dead without People ; Men being the Life and Soul of them . Double our Labouring People , and we shall be capable of having double the Noblemen and Gentlemen that we have ; or their Estates will be worth double what they are now : But if it were possible to increase our Houses and Treasure ( and not our People ) in such Excess , that the poorest Man in the Kingdom were worth a Million of Money : There must be as many of those rich Men Hewers of Wood , and Drawers of Water , Plowmen and Threshers , as we have of such Labourers now in the Kingdom , or else we should be under Midas's Golden Curse , Starve for want of Bread , tho' had our Hands fill'd with Gold. To say Foreigners would supply us for Money : Yes , but it is their Labouring People must do it ; who also being subjects to Foreign Princes , may take their turn to come and Plunder , as well as Feed us . 2. There are no increasing of rich Men , but as poor Labourers increase with them ; where there is no Servants , there can be no Masters : It 's Labouring People must improve our Land , raise us plenty of Food , Clothing , and other Necessaries , and by what they raise , increase our Trade at home and abroad ; acquire us Riches by raising more than we spend , for the Increase of Posterity , and the Support of the Government . Prov. 14. 28. In the multitude of People is the King's Honour : But in the want of the People is the Destruction of the Prince . Of Manufactures . Imploying the Poor upon any one Manufacture constantly , will run out the Stock they are imploy'd with . SUpposing that we have 100 Thousand Weavers in the Kingdom , and that 50 Thousand of them constantly imploy'd are sufficient to supply our own People and Foreign Markets . The consequence of raising a stock to imploy these 50 Thousand Supernumery Weavers , in Weaving ; will be , that it will raise double the Clothing we have or want , and then half of it must lye Dead and Spoil , or else we must sell it at half the Vallue and Cost , to incourage People to wear double the quantity of Clothes they used to do ; either way brings ruin to the Stock , if there is no vent , the whole Stock is lost , and if sell it at half Price , then half the Stock is lost at the first Sale , and so it will grow less and less every return of the Stock , untill it 's all gone . And what may be said of one Trade , being over Stocked , may be said of all Manufactures ; tho' the more variety the Poor are imploy'd in , they will Subsist the better or longer ; but yet without a due proportion of Land and Husbandry or Fishery , they , our Supernumery Mechanicks , will be but Miserable for want of Food sufficient for their Subsistence . Prov. 13. v. 23. Much food is in the Tillage of the Poor . The uncertainty of Fashions doth increase Necessitous Poor . IT hath two great Mischiefs in it . 1 st . the Journey-men are Miserable in Winter for want of Work , the Mercers and Master Weavers not daring to lay out their Stocks to keep the Journey-men imploy'd , before the Spring comes and they know what the Fashion will then be . 2 dly . In the Spring the Journeymen are not sufficient , but the Master Weavers must draw in many Prentices , that they may supply the Trade of the Kingdom in a quarter or half a Year , which Robs the Plow of Hands , drains the Country of Labouers , and in great part Stocks the City with Beggars , and starves some in Winter that are ashamed to Beg. Of Trade . WIthout we increase our Husbandry ( by improving our Land ) we cannot increase our Manufactures , by which we should increase our Trade . Our Woollen Manufactures we cannot increase except we increase our Sheep , because we have no Wool now to spare , Witness the late Glostershire Clothiers complaint to the Parliament against the Woolcombers . Therefore Foreign Manufactures is the most proffitable Labour , we can imploy our present Idle Poor upon , excepting Husbandry and the Fishery : for whatever home Manufactures we imploy them upon , we do but take that work from some other Labouers in the Nation that will want it . And so we may Transfer the present Trade from one City or County to another , or from Cloth to Searges or Stuffs , by which we shall sometimes ruin the Poor of one Country and sometimes the Poor of another , and for which our Legislators must expect that , the losers will alwayes be complaining , as the Button-makers did against Cloth-Buttons . Foreign Manufactures we can best raise by increasing our Husbandry and Fishery , for the cheapest Workmen will always have the greatest Trade , whilst dear Bread will make dear Manufactures , and ruin Trade , for whatever Strangers can supply us withal Cheaper than we can supply our selves , to be sure they will much easier supplant us with them Manufactures in any Foreign Market . Of Traders . MErchants and Tradesmen are to a Nation as Stewards , Bayliffs and Butlers are to great Families ; they Supply Counties and Countries with what they want , from other places , and distribute them conveniences , which Labouring People raise ; their profit in Trade , being their Wages for their trouble . And as a Nation without Government , immediately falls into confusion , so Labour will not be regular where there is none to direct and manage the Workmen , and Industry will fail where there is no prospect of attaining a better State by it . But as Traders are useful in distributing , it 's only the Labour of the Poor that increaseth the Riches of a Nation , and tho' there cannot be too many Labourers in a Nation , if their Imployments are in a due Proportion ; Yet there may be too many Traders in a Country for the number of Labourers , and then some must fall for want of Trade to support them , from whence they become sharping or distrest not being used to work , and the Nation the Poorer by the loss of their Labour . Traders may grow Rich , whilst a Nation grows Poor through Extravagancy , for when the Dealers may get 20 Thousand Pound by Claret , the Nation pays and spends 100 Thousand Pound for it , and no Body grows Rich by Drinking it , whatever the Seller doth . The difference in Trading ( as the Dutch mostly do ) as Carriers between Foreign Nations , and a home Trade is , that what our Traders get in the first , it 's from Strangers , but what they get in the latter , it 's by our own People , and in both as they are useful Ministers and Officers of Trade , the profit in their Imployments is their Sallary . Of Foreign Trade . As Foreign Trade should be , either for the Publick profit or conveniency , so what Trade we carry on between Foreign Countries , can only be reckon'd profitable to us ; whilst what Trade we drive between our selves and Strangers , is rather to help us to them things our own Country or Plantations cannot , which are either Useful , Ornamental , or Delightful ; but a Voluptuous Age may easily fall into Excess , with dress and pleasure , by the two last , whilst nothing can be strictly said to inrich a Nation , but what increaseth its People , and with them , Supplies it with things that are lasting and necessary , more than they Spend. But how much of the Silks , Oyls , Pickles , Fruits and Wine , we receive from Turky , Italy , Spain , and France , ( and not exported again ) as repasts to our Tables , and Ornaments to our Clothes , and Furniture are an Equivalent and of equal use to us , which the more lasting and needful Clothes and Provision we send out for them would be , may be some question . Supposing we send 400 Thousand Pound a Year of English Manufactures to them 4 Countrys , and by the returns , the Merchants and Retailers may get 30 per Cent. which makes 520 Thousand Pounds value Imported , to be spent in England : Now , Quere , whether this 400 Thousand Pounds first sent out , is not rather the Nations expence , than the 120 Thousand Pounds the Traders get , may be supposed to add to the Nations Stock ? and another Question is , what of it is Prudently spent with comfort , and how much is extravagantly wasted , to the ruin of the Bodies and Estates of the Spenders ? If we send 100 Thousand pound of Manufactures to Holland and Germany , we have commonly some useful Manufactures for them ; however , if we did imploy our own Idle Poor , upon them things , it 's possible they would be able to raise most of them Foreign Goods that we want . But then our Woolen Manufactures that supply them Countrys , would complain of such new Manufactures ; as some Lancashire Men lately Petitioned the Parliament , that Flanders Lace should be allowed to come into England , that thereby they might have better vent for their Cloth in Flanders . And thus , whilst our Manufactures are disproportion'd to our Husbandmen , we are , and shall be like Limbs out of Joint , always complaining , lay us which way you will. For which reason several Laws , made for incouraging of Trade , doth but raise an intestine War among our Mechanicks ; because the advantage of one Trade is often the ruin of another : Whereas , increase our Husbandmen and Fishermen , which will lessen our Manufactures , and make Food plenty , and a quick Market for Goods , and give the greatest Ease to our Mechanicks Complaints . Now , Supposing the 500 Thousand Pounds worth of Manufactures and Provision sent to Turky , Italy , Spain , France and Holland , were to have been used by our own People at home , where we have enough and may have more to vend them , ( whilst the want of them hinders Thousands in England from Marrying ) And if these People were imploy'd in a due Proportion to our wants , in Tilling our Land , Building Houses , Breeding Cattle , catching Fish , and making of needful Manufactures , which are lasting Riches that increaseth the Nations Stock , they would add then a half Million Sterling Yearly to the Value of the Kingdom ; whilst ( as in Page . 6. ) a Man in a Years time , that spends 10 l. is able to raise what 's worth 20 Pound . Quere ; Whether we do not Depopulate our Country , by Pineing many at home for want of them Manufacturers , and especially Food , which we send abroad , to supply the Pride and Luxury of others by the returns ? Amos 8. v. 4. Hear this O ye that Swallow up the needy : even to make the Poor of the Land to fail . Land and Labour are the Foundation of Riches , and the fewer Idle hands we have , the faster we increase in value ; and spending less than we raise , is a much greater certainty of growing Rich , than any computation that can be made from our Exportation and Importation , whilst 120 Thousand Pound Imported to be spent at home for 100 Thousand Pound sent out , leaves the Publick never the Richer at the Years end . Of Mony. LAnd , Stock upon it , Buildings , Manufactures , and Mony , are the Body of our Riches ; and of all these , Mony is of least use , until it 's parted with ; Land and Live Stock increase by keeping , Buildings and Manufactures are useful whilst kept , but Mony neither increaseth , nor is useful , but when it 's parted with , and as Mony is unprofitable to a private Person but as he disposeth of it , for somthing more valuable , so what Mony is more than of absolute necessity for a home Trade , is dead Stock to a Kingdom or Nation , and brings no profit to that Country it 's kept in ; but as it is Transported in Trade , as well as imported , for as Mony increaseth in quantity , it decreaseth in Value in a Country , except the People and Stock increase in proportion to the Mony. Mony hath two Qualities , it is a Pledge for what it is given for , and it 's the Measure and Scales by which we Measure and Value all other things , it being portable and durable , and yet it hath altered far more in Value to all things than other things have among themselves , when there was but the one 20th part of the Mony in England , to what there is now ; As good a Sheep was sold then for one Shilling , as will now cost 20 Shillings ; and when there will be 20 times more Mony in England than there is now , that Sheep which is now worth but one Guinea , will then be worth 20 Guineas , except the People increase in Number and Stock ; for as we are now about 7 Millions of People , and 14 Millions of Mony , which is 40 Shillings for each Head in the Kingdom , so it may be reasonably Reckoned , that if we increase in Mony , to have 4 Pound a Head ; all things will double in price , and so in proportion ; and if we increase in Mony , to have 8 Pound a Head , things will be 4 times the Price they are , yet a Sheep ; and a Cow , and a Man's days Work , were always in Value in the same proportion as they are now , as the same Number of Days work of a Man would pay for a Sheep or a Cow , 300 Years ago as will now , and the same Labour will Plow an Acre of Land now as would then . Query , If we were as Populous , and Mony were as little used , and Provision as plentiful with us as it is in the East-Indies : Whether it would be possible for them Indians , to supplant us in Manufactures as they do now ? Of English Plantations . THE English Plantations being ours , should be us ; and the more , considering the many Advantages they bring us , whilst the dividing of Countries in interest , may be a preface to their future Troubles , English Men under the English Government are ( and should be accounted ) in the interest of England in any part of the World ; the Romans were so sensible of this , that they infranchised whole Cities and Provinces of Strangers , as best to secure their Dominion and Peace . The English Plantations , greatly add to the English Territories , and increase her Subjects , and inlarge her Trade , that their Land adds to our Territories is indisputable , and if we consider that many who would have lived without Servants and have dyed without Posterity , if they had staid in England , have got both in America , and also that all the Negroes and Indians under them are Subjects to the Crown of England , who greatly improve our Trade , by supplying of it with Furs , Fish , Oyl , Tobacco , Sugar , Indigo , Cotten , &c. ( as well as by taking off our Supernumerary Manufactures ) by which Commodities the English in America add double to the revenues of the English Crown , of what they would have done , if they had never gone there . In short , if our Plantations were as Populous and as Large as China , England would be the Richer by their Trade and Stronger by their Interest , whilst English Blood would so Unite us as to make their Strength ours and our Enemies theirs , ( except we make our selves their Enemies ) and the more numerous their Shiping is , they will put England to the less charge to protect them , as well as that they will be the more able to assist us , if we shall want their help . A Word to the Rich. THere is one thing I would observe to allay the uneasiness some are under in their present Circumstances , and to stir them and others , to a consideration of the great Stewardship they are in and must give an account of , whilst they possess manifold more , than there is in Proportion for the Body of the Nation . Supposing there is 7 Millions of People in England , and that there is 14 Millions of Money , which is but 40 s. a Head in Money , for every one that is in the Nation . — 02.00.00 Reckoning there is 10 Millions and a half of Pounds Sterling a Year in England , in Land and Houses , and that is 30 s. a Year for each Head ; which , at 20 Years Purchase , comes to 30 l. — 30.00.00 Accounting that the Stock of Cattle , Manufactures , and other Goods and Materials are worth 5 times the Rent of the Land and Houses , and that comes to 7 l. 10 s. a Head value in Cattle and Goods . — 07.10.00 Which makes in the whole 39 l. 10 s. Estate for every — Head in the Kingdom . 39.10.00 Now whatever any enjoys more than 40 l. for every Head in his Family , whether by descent from his Ancestors , or by his own Industry , as it is more particularly the Bounty of Heaven , so the less reason to complain of want , when it 's so much above a level : And so much as Men by the greatness of their Estates are excused from Labour to earn their Bread , so much are they the greater Stewards by their Leisure , Opportunity and Interest , to direct the Poor in their Labour , and to Influence and Instruct them to Vertue ( and not to give away their Estates to them ) according to which computation , he that is worth Ten Thousand Pound hath the Estate and Tools which doth imploy 250 Persons . Which as there is so many Persons in the Nation some where or other , that have a dependence upon such a Stock , it may concern every Master of such an Estate , to consider how far he shall be answerable for the Stewardship of it , and for the present Comfort and future Happiness of all such Dependents , he in a degree Ruleth over : For as Prov. 22. v. 7. The Rich ruleth over the Poor , and the Borrower is Servant to the Lender . Essay for abating Immoralities . IF we improve our Land , multiply our People , increase our Treasure , and have all the Rules ( of Pollicy ) for Government and of Trade in the greatest Perfection , that we could live with half the Labour we do , and might seem invincible in Strength , and abound with Plenty and Grandeur ; If Virtue be not encouraged , and Vice suppressed , it will make us but the more open Enemies to Heaven , and bring us the Nearer Step to Ruin ; for as the Plains of Sodom were the richest Land of the Country , so it the sooner ripened their Pride , Idleness and Lust that destroyed them . Except the Lord keep the City , the Watchmen watch in vain , and how can we expect God will be our Keeper , if we , through Rebellion , will run from , and not belong to him ? What Principles are most acceptable with God , is disputable among Men , but Profaneness and Debauchery all Mankind agree is disallowed by him : Now , whatever is agreed universally among Men , to be the most certainest Way to Hell , should be first hedged up by our Legislators . Less than Parliament Authority will not do it ( King David of old said , the Sons of Zerviah were too hard for him ) And if it were enacted , that profane Swearing should disable a Man for any Place of Profit or Trust ( tho but for six or twelve Months ) in Church or State , as much as not swearing at all doth a Quaker ; then there will be as little profane swearing among our Officers and Magistrates , as there is now of Quakerism , and when they are reformed , they will , with greater Zeal , take care to reform the common People . And if Immorality shall be made a Bar to Preferment , then many , that now will not forbear one Vice to gain Heaven , will hide a whole Herd of them from publick View , to get or preserve a good Office on Earth . For tho none but God can cleanse the Heart , yet it will be our Government 's Honour to prevent the Influences that evil Examples gives , and to suppress Vice from publick Scandal . It is mournful to think what good Estates , fine Parts , and Time is wasted in Gaming and Plays , which are some of the greatest Incentives to Immoralities in the Nation , where Fraud , Luxury , and Obsenity is introduced and insinuated with the greatest Art that Musick , Poetry , Dress , Wit , and Air can give it : Whilst it hath been the great Labour of the Prophets , Christ and his Ministers in all Ages of the World , to the spending of their Strength and Life it self , to draw Men from Worldly Vanities . If any think themselves in danger , by such a Law as shall inforce a Test of Vertue , I would say , that next to the Love of God , and of Vertue , Interest and Rewards are the best Preventions of Vice ; and when Vice is less fashionable , it will be less affecting than it is ; and the fewer Evil Examples is seen , they will be under the fewer Temptations ; and if they can be cured , the Advantage will be unexpressible , the Souls safety being of Infinite consequence ; and Vertue preserves the Body from many Malignant Invasions , and the Estate whole to many Generations , and the Credit strong , as being fit for any Trust. Whereas he that for Pleasure and Intemperance will forfeit his Interest with God , lies under a suspicion he will betray his Trust with Men for less , when there is a Market for it : And what Secrets is that Man's Breast fit for , which Wine or Lude Women have the Command of ? Or what good Counsel can he give to others , who will not refrain from a vain Oath , to save or gain a Profitable Place to himself . Now for such who will not be Reformed , neither by the Laws of God , nor by the Laws of Men , the Laws of Nature will conquer them ; for Vicious Distempers will shorten the Days of some , and Extravagancies will expel others out of their Ancestors Estates , whilst Vertue and Industry will introduce new Purchasers into them . And I wish such Purchasers , by a Prudent Education , would secure Vertue , as well as an Estate , to their Posterity ; and then Debauchery would soon be extinguished out of the World , by it s not having Riches to support , nor Countenance it : For 't is an old Maxim , Sine Cecere 〈◊〉 Baccho friget Venus . Prov. 14 v. 34. Righteousness exalteth a Nation : But Sin is a Reproach to any People . 28. 2. For the Transgression of a Land , many are the Princes thereof ; but by a Man ( or Men ) of Understanding and Knowledge , the State thereof shall be prolonged . Some Reasons against puting of Fellons to Death . I Having made some Essay to supply the Wants , and abate the Profaneness of the Age ; I would say something of Fellons , ( most of whom rise from them two Miserable Fountains ) and of the stain their untimely Death is to Religion , and of the loss it is unto the Kingdom . There are several sorts of Distractions , which all Men pities , and takes care of preserving from doing themselves or others harm ; but Pellons are some of the worst sort of mad Men , whom Charity therefore would oblige us to take some care to prevent their mischievous way of Living , and deplorable Deaths . The Idle and Profane Education of some , and the Necessities of others , brings Habits almost invincible ; for such to conquer of themselves , without the State , take them into their prudent management : But to put them into Bridewell or Newgate for a Month or two , and then turn them loose at their own Discressions ( who have none ) no more reclaims them , than baiting a Horse well with Provender makes him less able to Travel ; they learn but more Skill in their Trade , under the Tutors they meet with there . The Scriptures saith , Watch ; for the Devil your Adversary goes about like a roaring Lion , seeking which of you be may devour . What Consideration and Compassion then should be had of those unthinking , unwatchful People , whose Pride , Lust , or Necessities , with the Devils incitements of them , is their sole Guide ? If a Man had a Child , or near Relation , that should fall into a capital Crime , he would use all his interest to preserve his Life , how much soever he abhor'd his Fact , in hopes he might live to grow better , especially if he could have such a power of Confinement upon him , as might prevent his acting such Enormities for the future . And this Child , and near Relation , is every one to the Publick , whilst the cutting off by untimely Death of one able Man , may be reckoned 200 Pound loss out of the value of the Kingdom ; for besides their Persons , they are commonly prevented of the Posterity which they might have , ( which is loss to all Generations ) and if but one in a Succession , they may be valued at 10 l. a Year , which , at 20 Years Purchase , is 200 Hundred Pound . How sincerely can we say the Lord's Prayer , Forgive us our Trespasses , as we forgive them which Trespass against us ; when for the loss , possible of less than 20 Shillings , we Prosecute a Man to Death ? Would it not be more natural and agreeable with our Prayers to God , to have Compassion on our deluded Fellow Creatures ? We are but Men whom they offend , but God is Infinitely above us , whom we have offended . And therefore , as we should , by a timely and industrious Education , have the greater care to prevent such Enormities , it would also very well agree with our State before God , when any fall into such Crimes compassionately to keep them from further Mischiefs , and save such to Repentance , rather than to destroy them by sudden Death . Mat. 18. 33. Shouldst not thou also have had Compassion on thy fellow Servant , even as I had pity on thee ? The Life of a Man is of greater value with God than many Pounds , and ought to be so with Men : For , tho he that spills Man's Blood , by Man was his Blood to be spilt ; yet the Thief was to restore but four or five fold , by the Ancient Law of God. To make no difference between the Punishment of Theft and Murder , seem a great deficiency in our present Law , and often times must melt the Heart of a Compassionate Judge , to hear their Shreiks and Cries , when he ( as the Mouth of the Law ) pronounceth the Sentence of Death upon such forlorn Creatures . The Goals wants regulating : For whilst the Keepers are allowed to sell strong Liquors , it provokes their Prisoners to great Expence , and they often live high , to be the more in the Goalers favour ; a Lord sometimes , for cost and variety , may Dine at some of their Tables : Which hath two Evil Consequences . First , It forceth their Companions abroard to rob more frequent to keep the Prisoners so high in Goal , to keep themselves from being discovered . Secondly , It keeps the Prisoners Blood always boiling , and their Brains hot , and without Sense of their Unhappiness in this World , they live so voluptuous , and without sense of the other World , because they are so strongly diverted from thinking of it . Also the Licencing too many Ale-houses gives Thieves the more cover ; which , with ill Women , &c. makes their necessities the more pressing . Now upon the whole , there is reason to believe , that few of them are so incourageable , but that restraint by Confinement with suitable Imployment , and Marriage , or Exportations to our Plantations , in time would alter their evil habits , to a more honest one ; which , as it would save their Bodies and Posterities to the Common-Wealth , it might be a means to save their Souls from Eternal Ruin. To this Discourse of Charity , Industry , Vertue and Mercy ; I will add a few Lines of that Religious Guide and Power , by which good Actions may be performed . The Excellency and Divinity of inward Light , demonstrated from the Attributes of God , and the Nature of Man's Soul : As well as from the Testimony of the holy Scriptures . Of God. 1 st . GOD is from Eternity to Eternity , without Beginning of Time , or End of Life . 2 dly . He is infinite and omnipresent , whose Being is every where and boundless . 3 dly . He is omnipotent in Power , being able to do all things . 4 thly . He is omniscient , and therefore he knows the least and privatest Thoughts , as well as the greatest and most publick Actions . 5 thly . His Being is invisible , immaterial Life and Spirit , Light and Glory , and therefore he is not to be apprehended by any visible Creatures , tho all things were created and are upheld by him , and do declare of his great Power and Wisdom ; to whom we owe all Obedience , Subjection , Reverence , Homage Thanksgiving , Worship , and Praise , World without End : Of Man's Soul. THE Soul of Man is the most invisible , spiritual , and intellectual Part of this Creation . And therefore the Soul , beyond all other Creatures , is most capable of apprehending the invisible and spiritual Manifestations of God. Now as God is infinite and omnipresent , in all Places , he consequently is within the Bodies of Men , as well as without them . And God being the most invisible Light , Spirit , and Life , he penetrates all Beings and Spirits , more throughly than the visible Light at Noon-day doth the Air ; the Sun-Beams being but a Shadow to him , that Light discovering Bodies only , but this inward Light discovers the most hidden Thoughts . And as God only ( who is Light ) can penetrate Men's Souls , and beholds the most inward Thoughts and Desires thereof , so he only is able , and doth shew them to Men , whether they are good or evil : And as Men's Wills and Affections comes to be subdued to the Will of God , he discovers to the Souls of Men. What is to be known of him , the pure in Heart only seeing God. For tho God is in all Places , and fills all things , yet all Beings have not the same Degree of Sence of him , because they are not of the same Capacity of knowing , or not equally prepared to apprehend and see so pure invisible and intellectual a Spirit . And it may be said of visible Bodies , as of Darkness it self , that tho God shines in them , they comprehend or apprehend him not , for indeed they want all Sence of Apprehension , as the greatest Light is unknown to the blind , and the greatest Sounds to the deaf , so also the Souls of Men , which are given up unto the Delights of sensual Objects ( until they are born a new ) they do want their Faculties to be sufficiently spiritualized to behold the immaterial Glory of God , tho his Light doth shew them their evil State , and his Spirit reproves them , they do not see him : That Degree or Manifestation of Light which only discovers a Man's unhappy State to him , appears far less glorious ( tho' it is divine ) than that which gives Peace , and discovers the Glory of God , as Man obeys it : Yet all divine Light which appears to Men , flows from the Father's Glory , through the one Mediator , our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , who is full of Glory in himself , whilst it is the Stupidity of Men only that makes them unable to see the Glory of this Light. Acts 17. v. 23. — I — beheld your Devotions — To the unknown God , whom therefore ye ignorantly worship , him declare I unto you . 24. God that made the World — dwelleth not in Temples made with Hands . 25. Neither is worshipped with Mens Hands , as tho he needed any thing , seeing he giveth to all , Life , and Breath , and all things . 27. That they should seek the Lord , if haply they might feel after him , and find him , tho he be not far from every one of Us. 28. For in him we live , and move , and have our Being , as certain also of your own Poets have said . — Amos. 4. v. 13. For lo , he that formeth the Mountains , and createth the Wind , and declareth unto Man what is his Thought — the Lord , the God of Hosts is his Name . Eph. 5. v. 13. But all things that are reproved , are made manifest by the Light : For whatsoever doth make manifest is Light. 1 Joh. 1. v. 5. This then is the Message which we have heard of him , and declare unto you , That God is Light , and in him is no Darkness at all . Therefore for any to say , that this inward Light is Man's Conscience , is no better Divinity , than it would be good Philosophy and Sence for them to say ; That the Light of the Sun is a Man's Eye , when it is the Eye , that is enlightned by it . Of Christian Virtue . REasons of State , Profit Health , Reputation , or Danger of Punishment was part of the Motives given by the ancient Philosophers , to perswade Men from Vice ; which , as it is the least , it is the first Step towards Wisdom ; Learning to do well , through Love to Virtue , being a Degree higher , than ceasing to do evil for fear of Sufferings . Now , as none but God sees Mens Thoughts , so if they do resist every Appearance of Evil , when he , through Christ , first discovereth it to them in their Minds ( by his Light ) that is to be vertuous for God's Sake , and it is a true Washing the Inside , and a being truly religious at Heart : By which early Opposition to Evil , Men will be enabled the more easily to overcome it , because a first Thought or Representation to a watchful Man , hath not that Power upon his Affections , as it will have , after it hath been entertained : And such a Watchfulness will the more effectually prevent evil Actions , for whilst a Man thinks no ill , to be sure he will do none . This is putting on the Armour of Light , and walking in it , and a Warface ( tho not with carnal Weapons ) mighty through God , to the pulling down of strong Holds , casting down Imaginations , and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowledge of God , and bringing into Captivity , every Thought to the Obedience of Christ. Of Divine Worship . GOOD Morals , and inward Virtue is a constant Attendant to Divine Worship , for he that regards Iniquity in his Heart , God will not regard or accept his Prayers . Good Actions are as the outward Court to a clean Mind , and a vertuous Soul is as the Temple to the inward Tabernacle , where God is truly adored , in which that Worship is the more acceptable , which keeps out , not only , evil Thoughts ( which are always to be avoided ) but also such Thoughts , which at other times , may be useful and needful to entertain . For this divine Worship is the more Spiritual , as Men's Minds are more sequestred and silenced from Creatures and Imaginations ( not dull and sleepily , but ) vigorous , and earnestly seeking after , and praying for , a greater Purity of Soul , and a farther Manifestation of God , through the Inspiration of inward divine Light ; every Increase of Light being one Degree farther towards Glory ; Glory it self being Light uncomprehensible . John 4. v. 21. Iesus saith unto her , Woman , believe me , the Hour cometh , when ye shall neither in this Mountain , nor yet at Jerusalem , worship the Father . 23. But the Hour cometh , and now is , when the true Worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit , and in Truth : For the Father seeketh such to worship him . 24. God is a Spirit , and they that worship him , must worship him in Spirit and in Truth . A Cloud of Witnesses recorded in the Holy Scripture . That the Three which bear Record in Heaven , the Father , the Word , and Holy Spirit , which three are One ( infinite immence Light , Life and Glory ) do manifest divine Light to Men. God being in Christ , reconciling the World unto himself . And Christ is in us , the Hope of Glory . For the Grace of God , that brings Salvation , hath appeared unto all Men. A Manifestation of the Spirit , being given to every Man to profit withal . Of God's Manifestation in Men. Isa. 2. 5. O House of Jacob , come ye , and let us walk in the Light of the Lord. 60. v. 19. The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light , and thy God thy Glory . 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God ; and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you . 17. If any Man defile the Temple of God , him shall God destroy , for the Temple of God is holy , which Temple ye are . 6. v. 19. What , know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost ▪ which is in you , which ye have of God ? — 2 Cor. 6 16. — For ye are the Temple of the living God , as God hath said , I will dwell in them , and walk in them — 4. v. 6. — For God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness , hath shined in our Hearts , to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God , in the Face of Jesus Christ. v. 7. But we have this Treasure in earthen Vessels , that the Excellency of the Power may be of God , and not of us . 1 Pet. 2. v. 9. — Who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light. Eph. 4. 6. One God and Father of all , who is above all , and through all , and in you all . Eph. 5. 8. For ye were sometime Darkness , but now are ye Light in the Lord , walk as Children of Light. 1 John 1. v. 7. If we walk in the Light , as he is in the Light , we have Fellowship one with another , and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son , cleanseth us from all Sin. Rom. 1. 19. Because that which may be known of God , is manifest in them ; for God hath shewed it unto them . Heb. 4. 12. For the Word of God is quick , and powerful ; and sharper than any two-edged Sword , piercing , even to the dividing assunder of Soul and Spirit , — and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart . Isa. 57. 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One , that inhabiteth Eternity , whose Name is holy , I dwell in the high and holy Place , with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit ; to revive the Spirit of the humble , and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones . v. 16. For I will not contend for ever , neither will I be always wrath : For the Spirit should fail before me , and the Souls which I have made . Prov. 20. 27. The Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord : Searching all the inward Parts of the Belly . Job . 3● . 8. But there is a Spirit in Man : and the Inspiration of the Almighty : giveth them Understanding . Of Christ's Manifestation in Men. John 1. V. 4. In him was Life , and the Life was the Light of Men. 8. v. 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them , saying , I am the Light of the World , he that followeth me , shall not walk in Darkness , but shall have the Light of Life . 14. v. 16. And I will pray the Father , and he shall give you another Comforter , that he may abide with you for ever . v. 17. Even the Spirit of Truth , whom the World cannot receive , because it seeth him not , neither knoweth him : But ye know him , for he dwelleth with you , and shall be in you . 23. Jesus — said — If a Man love me , he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him , and we will come unto him , and make our abode with him . Rev. 3. v. 20. Behold , I stand at the door and knock , if any Man hear my Voice , and open the door , I will come into him , and will sup with him , and he with me . Luke 2. v. 30. For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation . v. 31. Which thou hast prepared before the face of all People . v. 32. A Light to lighten the Gentiles , and the Glory of thy People Israel . 1 Pet. 1. v. 11. Searching what , or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ , which was in them did signifie . — Col. 1. v. 12. Giving thanks unto the Father , which hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. v. 13. Who hath delivered us from the Power of Darkness , and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. 26. Even the mystery which hath been hid from Ages , and from Generations , but now is made manifest to his Saints . v. 27. To whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles , which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory . 2 Cor. 13. v. 3. Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me — v. 5. Examine your selves , whether ye be in the Faith — know ye not — that Jesus Christ is in you , except ye be Reprobates . Rom. 8. v. 9. — Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ , he is none of his . Eph. 6. v. 14. Wherefore he saith , Awake thou that sleepest , and arise from the dead , and Christ shall give thee Light. 1 Thess. 5. v. 5. Ye are all the Children of Light. — Eph. 4. v. 7. But unto every one of us is given Grace , according to the measure of the Gift of Christ. v. 8. Wherefore he saith , when he ascended up on high , he led Captivity captive , and gave Gifts unto Men. v. 9. Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the Earth . v. 10. He that descended , is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens , that he might fill all things , 12. For the perfecting of the Saints . — v. 13. Till we all come in the Unity of the Faith , and of the Knowledge of the Son of God , unto a perfect Man , unto the Measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ. 1 Cor. 3. v. 11. For other Foundation can no Man lay , that that is laid , which is Jesus Christ. Gal. 1. v. 12. For I neither received it of Man , neither was I taught it , but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Eph. 3. v. 19. And to know the love of Christ , which passeth knowledge , that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Of the Holy Spirits Manifestation in Men. EPH. 4. v. 30. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God , whereby ye are sealed unto the day of Redemption . 1 Thes. 5. v. 19. Quench not the Spirit . John 14. v. 26. But the Comforter , which is the Holy Ghost , whom the Father will send in my Name , he shall teach you all things . — 1 John 2. v. 20. But ye have an Unction from the Holy One , and ye know all things . v. 27. But the Anointing , which ye have received of him , abideth in you ; and ye need not that any Man teach you , but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things , and is Truth , and is no Lie. — Rom. 8. v. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead , dwell in you ; he that raised up Christ from the dead ; shall also quicken your mortal Bodies , by his Spirit that dwelleth in you . 1 John 4. v. 13. Hereby know we , that we dwell in him , and he in us , because he hath given us of his Spirit . John 7. v. 38. He that believeth on me , as the Scripture hath said , out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of living Water . v. 39. But this spake he of the Spirit , which they that believe on him should receive . — Acts 2. v. 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak — as the Spirit gave them utterance . v. 17. And it shall come to pass in the last days ( saith God ) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh. — Rom. 8. v. 15. — But ye have received the Spirit of Adoption , whereby we cry Abba Father . v. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirits , that we are the Children of God. 2 Cor. 3. v. 7. But if the Ministration of Death , written and ingraven in Stones was glorious .. v. 8. How shall not the Ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious ? v. 17. Now the Lord is that Spirit , and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty . v. 18. But we all with open face , beholding as in a glass , the Glory of the Lord , are changed into the same image , from Glory to Glory , even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 5. v. 5. — God , who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit . Eph. 5. v. 18. — Be filled with the Spirit . 2 Thess. 2. v. 13. — Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation , Through the Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth . Gal. 5. v. 16. — Walk in the Spirit , and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the Flesh v. 25. If we live in the Spirit , let us walk in the Spirit . 6. v. 8. For he that soweth to the Flesh , shall of the Flesh reap Corruption : But he that soweth to the Spirit , shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting . 1 Cor. 2. v. 13. Which things also we speak , not in the words which Man's wisdom teacheth , but which the Holy Ghost teacheth . — 12. v. 3. — No man speaking by the Spirit of God , calleth Jesus accursed ; and no Man can say , that Jesus in the Lord , but by the Holy Ghost . v. 4. Now there are diversities of Gifts , but the same Spirit . v. 5. And there are differrences of Administrations , but the same Lord. v. 6. And there are diversities of Operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all . v. 13. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body , — and have been all made to drink into one Spirit . As the Holy Scriptures are the best Creed , which with Practical Divinity , and Inward Light , will give us the best Sence , what the Father , Son , and Holy Spirit is to us : So the Vnfathomable Highth and Depth of that great Mystery , is not possibly to be comprehended by Men. Some Considerations for them that reproach the Light. JOB 24. 13. They are of those that rebel against the Light , they know not the Ways thereof , nor abide in the Paths thereof . John 3. 19. This is the Condemnation , that Light is come into the World , and Men loved Darkness rather than Light , because their deeds were evil . v. 20. For every one that doth evil , hateth the Light , neither cometh to the Light , left his deeds should be reproved . v. 21. But he that doth Truth , cometh to the Light , that his deeds may be made manifest , that they are wrought in God. 2 Cor. 4. 3. But if our Gospel be hid , it is hid to them that are lost . v. 4. In whom the God of this World hath blinded the Minds of them which believe not , least the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ , who is the Image of God , should shine unto them . John 1. 5. And the Light shineth in Darkness , and the Darkness comprehended it not . 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God , for they are Foolishness unto him : Neither can be know them , because they are spiritually discerned . John 5. v. 38. Ye have not his word abiding in you : for whom he hath sent , him ye believe not . v. 39. Search the Scriptures , for in them ye think ye have Eternal Life , and they are they which testifie of me . v. 40. And ye will not come to me that ye might have Life . v. 41. I receive not Honour from Men. v. 42. But I know you , that ye have not the love of God in you . v. 44. How can ye believe , which receive Honour one of another , and seek not the Honour that cometh from God only ? v. 46. — Had ye believed Moses , ye would have believed me ; for he wrote of me . v. 47. But if ye believe not his writings , how shall ye believe my words ? Jude 1. v. 4. — Ungodly Men , turning the Grace of our God into lasciviousness , and denying the only Lord God , and our Lord Jesus Christ. v. 10. But these speak evil of those things which they know not . — v. 11. Woe unto them , for they have gone in the way of Cain , and ran greedily after the error of Balaam , for reward . — v. 16. These are — complainers — having Mens Persons in admiration , because of advantage . v. 18. — There should be mockers in the last time . — v. 19. These be they who separate themselves , sensual , having not the Spirit . 2 Pet. 3. v. 3. Knowing this first , that there shall come in the last days , Sooffers . — v. 4. And saying , where is the promise of his coming ? For since the Fathers fell asleep ; all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation . Iohn Bellers . FINIS . 
A35709	----	The estate of the poor in Sion College London truly stated by George Dagget ... in a letter to a friend. Dagget, George. 1688 Approx. 10 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A35709 Wing D108 ESTC R7050 13227282 ocm 13227282 98582 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A35709) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 98582) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 451:9) The estate of the poor in Sion College London truly stated by George Dagget ... in a letter to a friend. Dagget, George. 1 sheet ([2] p.) Printed for Ric. Chiswell ..., London : 1688. Signed: George Dagget. Caption title. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sion College. Poor -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. Broadsides -- England -- London -- 17th century 2006-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-09 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-10 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-10 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE ESTATE Of the POOR in SION COLLEGE LONDON , TRULY STATED , BY GEORGE DAGGET Attorney , and Clerk of the said College . In a Letter to a Friend . With License , May 5. 1688. SIR , FOR preventing further Mistakes , and saving my self daily trouble in giving Account to such as come or send to me for satisfaction , how the Poor of Sion-College are maintained , and for Vindication of the Reverend , the Governours of the said College , chosen Annually by the whole London Clergy , according to their Charter , who are unjustly reflected upon in this Weeks Publick Occurrences , I have here sent you a brief , but faithful Account how that matter stands , from the Register in my Custody , having been Clerk of the said College , for these thirteen years last past , and resided for the most part in the Lodgings appointed me by the Founders Will. Now by the Books it appears , that according to the said Will , the Alms-people are recommended to the Governours for the time being , by the City of Bristol , the Merchant-Taylors Company , and the Parishes of St. Dunstan's in the West , and St. Gregory's , London . And when the College , of two presented , have chosen one , the respective Presenters give the College Security by Bonds , not only to maintain and relieve them in Sickness and other Exigencies , but also in case of Death , to see them decently buried . And I am able to attest of my own Knowledg , that the said Presenters , especially the two Parishes , do visit and relieve them upon notice given ; and the Alms-people are ready to acknowledg their kindness , except two or three of the Alms-men , that live idly , and s●end their small Allowance , chiefly in Drink , to the scandal of all the rest . I find that but two Women were buried from hence last year , one of St. Dunstan's in the West , the other a Merchant-Taylor's Widow of St. Giles's Cripplegate Parish , both which were taken care of during their Sickness , and buried by the Church-wardens of the said Parishes , as they , and the Nurses of the Deceased , are ready to attest . As to the Ill Management or Misimployment alledged in the Weekly Occurrences ; It is well known , that the whole College and Alms-houses were burnt down , and quite destroyed by the Dreadful Fire , An. Dom. 1666. and that in three or four years ensuing , the Clergy of London , by their own Subscriptions , and the Charitable Contributions of others , Rebuilt the Library , and the Alms-houses under it for ten Men , and ten Women , in decent and distinct Apartments , which cost together 1300 l. and upwards ; this was the first Care of the Governours , after the Fire , and the Alms-people sleep in the Dwellings built by the London Clergy . And as for their Pensions , being now but 3l . 10s . per Annum , whereas the Founder left 6l . to each Person ; it is fit the World should know , That the Lands appropriated to the Alms-Houses , lye in the Hundreds of Essex , and were in the beginning of King Charles the First 's Reign , Reported and setled by Judg Crook and others , to be such as would hold 120 l. per Annum , and by Order in Chancery were Demised to Mr. Keeling , one of the Executors of Dr. White , for 200 years , at 120 l. per Annum , for the Alms-Houses , without Impeachment of Wast ; That about ten years since , the Right of the Lease came to a young Woman , a Descendant of the said Keeling , and was in the Custody of Mr. Keeling a Merchant now in London ; which W 〈…〉 Losses in her Estate ( as Mr. Keeling proved ) became so poor , as to be maintained by Charity , and so all benefit of the Covenant in the Lease was lost ; and hereupon By reason of Rents falling , Mr. Keeling and his Tenant left the Lands and Houses without notice , and very much out of Repair , so that the Governours of the College then sent to the Aldermen of Brist●l , the Company of Merchant-Taylors , and the Church-Wardens of the aforesaid Parishes ; and some of each appointed by the said Aldermen , Company , and Parishes , met at the College , and at Merchant-Taylors Hall several times , and viewing the Title , with Counsel , sent down Agents to view the Lands , and Assist for getting a Tenant ; who , after a years seeking , could not get a good Tenant , at more than 70 l. per Annum ; and it was thus Leased for 21 years from that time , with Covenants for the Tenant to lay out about 200 l. in Repairs , the Farm not being Tenantable without it ; and this was one reason more why the Rent was sunk so low ; and it is to be feared , when this Lease expires , it will hardly yield 70 l. per Annum , by reason of great Damages through Sluces and Salt-water . Observe , that the Poor of Bristol are not maintained by Lands in the Hundred of Essex ; but Bristol will tell you , that the Lands there given them by Dr. White , were set apart by his Will , for repairing a Cause-way leading to the City , and they also are so sunk in value , that the City is forced to pay out of their Chamber , large Sums per Annum , to make up the defects of that Charity . I know also , that of late years , the London Clergy , by their own repeated Subscriptions , and some Contributions , have built the College-Hall , and several Tenements near it , most of which are now let to Students and others ; for which they have expended near two thousand pounds more , and contracted a great Debt , which they are endeavouring to pay by the same means . Observe , that the Founder left 40 l. per Ann. for four Latin Sermons , and four Dinners every year ; but since the Fire the Preachers Fee is lost , and the Dinners ( which were discontinued for some years for want of a Hall ) are now reduced to two in a year , and those ( saving only three years ) were all paid for by Contributions of the Clergy at the Bason , the overplus only being paid by the College . I do not find much above 20 l. per Annum in Ground-rents about the College ; ( other Rents there are , but newly built , and not yet paid for ) ; out of which , by the King's Quit-rent , Rent-charge to St. Alfage Parish , Parish Taxes and Duties , Library-keepers Salaries , Porters and Messengers Wages , River-water for the Alms-people , repairs in Tiling Glazing Paving , &c. the whole is expended , and as much more . And now my Hand is in , give me leave to add , That whereas the Clerk's Salary was before the Fire 20 l. per Annum , with the use of the Hall , and fair Lodgings : I am now contented with 5 l. per Annum , and three Little Rooms , for the building of which , in part , I my self laid out 50 l. And as to the 30 l. per Annum , mentioned in the Occurrences , Lately left the College by a Counsellor , of which ( says the Writer ) they have had no Benefit . The Case is thus : Mr. Brewer late of the Temple , left by Will , a Farm in Hartfordshire to the Poor of Sion-College , which was Leased by himself for twelve years , expiring last Lady-day , for 27 l. per Annum , and that he dying in March 1684. the College hath been in Suits , both at Common-Law , and Chancery ever since , with the Heir and Executors claiming this Estate by Entails alledged ; and that in February last , the Cause in Chancery came to a Hearing , where one of the Defendants appeared by three or four , and the College as Plaintiff , by three Eminent Counsels , and they obtained a Decretal Order against that Defendant , for the Land ; but the other Defendant , to make more work , did not appear . The Charges of these Suits are near 70l . paid , and to be paid out of the Arrears ; and the College have already made a Dividend to the Poor , amounting to more than the over-plus in their Hands . The said Mr. Brewer left also his Library to Sion College , which is still detained by the Executors , alledging that they have not Assits sufficient to pay the Testators Debts ; by which you may observe , That the College takes care in the first place of the Poor's Right , and I have good Assurance that they intend to do so , tho it be to their own Damage . And this , Sir , I hope , is enough to satisfie you and all others . I only wish , That this Paper may be made as publick as the Occurrences . From my Lodgings in Sion College , May 4. 1688. I rest , Yours , &c. GEORGE DAGGET . LONDON , Printed for Ric. Chiswell , at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard . MDCLXXXVIII . 
A40408	----	Advertisement by the sheriff-deput of Aberdeen shire, undersubscryveing Whereas, by the foresaid proclamation, the Lords of their Majesties most honorable Privy Councill, doe strictly require and command obedience to the former proclamation and this, for setling of maintenance for the indigent and necessitous poor, and suppressing of vagabounds and sturdie beggers, ... Fraser, Andrew, of Kinmundie. 1693 Approx. 3 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A40408 Wing F2098 ESTC R219844 99831291 99831291 35754 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A40408) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 35754) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2049:9) Advertisement by the sheriff-deput of Aberdeen shire, undersubscryveing Whereas, by the foresaid proclamation, the Lords of their Majesties most honorable Privy Councill, doe strictly require and command obedience to the former proclamation and this, for setling of maintenance for the indigent and necessitous poor, and suppressing of vagabounds and sturdie beggers, ... Fraser, Andrew, of Kinmundie. 1 sheet ([1] p.) Forbes]Printed at Edinburgh, and re-printed at Aberdeen by command of authority, [Aberdeen : anno Dom. 1693. At head of title: Printed at Edinburgh, and re-printed at Aberdeen by command of authority, anno Dom. 1693. Printer's name from Wing. Signed and dated at end: Given at Aberdeen the twentyseventh [sic] day of September, one thousand six hundred and nintie three years. By me Andrew Fraser. Reproduction of the original in the Aberdeen City Charter Room. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. Vagrancy -- England -- Early works to 1800. 2006-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-01 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2007-01 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Printed at Edinburgh , and Re-Printed at Aberdeen by Command of Authority , Anno Dom. 1693. Advertisement by the Sheriff-Deput of Aberdeen Shire , undersubscryveing . VVHereas , by the foresaid Proclamation , the Lords of their Majesties most honorable Privy Councill , doe strictly require and Command obedience to the former Proclamation and this , for setling of Maintenance for the indigent and necessitous Poor , and suppressing of Vagabounds and Sturdie-Beggers , in manner therein prescryved : and Requireing the Sheriff of each Shire , to call and Fine any Delinquents who are negligent or refuse to Contribute as is thereby expressed ; And these being Acts so Necessary to be performed , for the good of the Countrey , and I being unwilling that any should be Cited as Delinquents without just evident grounds , ( albeit there hath been sundry Complaints against whole Paroches , alse well as Persons who have hitherto been deficient in the said Matter ) doe therefore hereby Advertise and Require , that the Heretors Inhabiting in the respective Paroches or Chamberlains in their absence , with the Minister and Elders thereof , or Session Clerk ; where there is no Minister , doe forthwith Conveen and set down such Rules as is ordained for setling of the Poor , and supperssing of Vagabounds , as is mentioned by the said Proclamations , and that betwixt the Date hereof , and the first of November next , they send in to me an Authentick double in Writing of the Rules and Methods they have taken thereanent , and a list of recus●nts if any be , Certifying such Paroches as shall not send such Duplicats , the Heretors alse well as Minister and Elders will be esteemed Negligent and Deficient , and persued as Contumacious according to Law. And that none pretend ignorance . Thir presents are Ordaind to be Printed and published with the foresaid Proclamation by the Reader at each Parish Kirk from the L●tron , immediatly after Divine Service , for which this is warrand . Given at Aberdeen the Twentyseventh day of September , One Thousand Six Hundred and Nintie Three Years . By Me ANDREW FRASER . 
A43794	----	A breviat of some proposals prepared to be offered to the great wisdom of the nation, the King's Most Excellent Majesty, and both houses of Parliament for the speedy restoring the woollen manufacture by a method practiced in other nations ... / by R. Haines. Haines, Richard, 1633-1685. 1679 Approx. 16 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A43794 Wing H200 ESTC R3590 12413176 ocm 12413176 61603 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A43794) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 61603) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 278:6) A breviat of some proposals prepared to be offered to the great wisdom of the nation, the King's Most Excellent Majesty, and both houses of Parliament for the speedy restoring the woollen manufacture by a method practiced in other nations ... / by R. Haines. Haines, Richard, 1633-1685. [2], 6 p. Printed for Langley Curtis ..., London : 1679. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Wool industry -- Great Britain. Woolen and worsted manufacture -- Great Britain. Poor -- Employment -- Great Britain. 2008-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-02 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-03 John Pas Sampled and proofread 2008-03 John Pas Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A Breviat OF SOME PROPOSALS Prepared to be Offered to the Great Wisdom of the NATION , The KING' 's most Excellent Majesty , And Both Houses of PARLIAMENT , For the speedy Restoring the WOOLLEN MANVFACTVRE , By a Method practised in other Nations . Already Perused and Approved by those known Promoters of England's Weal and Safety , The most Illustrious PRINCE RUPERT , And the Right Honourable , the EARL of SHAFTSBVRY , And since Heard and Encouraged by divers Members of the HOVSE of COMMONS , who upon Perusal were pleased to Declare , That the same would be of great Advantage to the NATION . Desiring the Author to give his Attendance to the HOUSE when they are at leisure ; and in the mean time to Publish this Brief Account thereof , for General Information . By R. HAINES . London , Printed for Langley Curtis on Ludgate-Hill . 1679. By the Expedients Proposed , t is offered , 1. THAT in short time all the Wool of England may be secured from being Exported unwrought . 2. That all the Wool of England , and what is to spare in Scotland and Ireland , may be Manufactur'd in England , as fast as it grows and arises . 3. That the converting of such great Quantity of Wool will be of very little Charge to the Nation , so that all the Cloth we have to spare shall find quick Markets as fast as 't is made . 4. That forty hundred thousand pounds worth of Cloth may be made in England every year , more than now is , or can be by the present course of Trade . 5. That the Wealth of the Nation Will Increase at least forty hundred thousand pounds per Annum , and his Majesties Revenue by the Increase of Customes , very considerably . 6. That every particular Parish and Parishioner in Dealings in the Country shall thrive thereby , considerably . 7. That although we should make twice as much Cloth as what is before-mentioned , yet there shall be no danger of Glutting the Markets ; But we may obtain and secure the best Markets in the World to our selves notwithstanding any Attempts of other Nations . 1. As to the first . To secure our Wool from going abroad , the best and most certain Expedient is , to have it converted into Cloth at home , as fast as it grows and arises , by setting to work all idle hands ; by means of which , our Wool will soon yield more at home than abroad , and this will more effectually do that business than the severest Laws . 2. To have all the Wool of England , and what as to spare in Ireland and Scotland , to be Manufactur'd in England , depend's on the same Expedient , viz. Imploying all People , who by Contributions or Begging , are maintain'd by other mens Estates and Industry , for doing of nothing , there being ( as 't is , reasonably computed ) 200 thousand in the Nation capable of one Employ or other ; so that by this great number of People , with the help of some Clothiers , 't is not to be doubted but we may Manufacture a hundred thousand Packs of Wool more than are now Converted in a year . 3. That the Converting of such great Quantity of Wool , will be of very little Charge to the Nation , so that all our Cloth shall find quick Markets as fast as made , is Demonstrable : For , By the Expedient proposed , all these People now maintained for doing little or nothing , may instead of doing nothing , convert our Wool into Cloth , for their Living , so that look how much more Cloth is made by these two hundred thousand People so much there 's clear Gain to the Nation . For had they not done this , they had been , as now they are , kept and maintain'd for Begging , &c. So that put case all Beggars , Vagrants , &c. were plac'd in , and maintain'd by the Parishes as Parish-Poor , only for Sleeping , the thing in Effect to maintain them thus , would not be more disadvantagious to the Nation , than it is . Now since by the Expedients proposed , these two hundred thousand People may earn some two pence per Day , some three pence , some four pence , some fix pence , some eight pence , some ten pence , and some one shilling a day more than by their present course of Life they do , and the Parishes by this means continue but half their Contributions which they paid before , then may the Clothiers in short time , having their Work done for half the Wages which before they gave , afford their Cloth cheaper than ever they could ; and since it is so , that other Nations who are our Supplanters cannot make Cloth without a mixture of our Wool ( as our Clothiers affirm ) nor good Cloth neither but on dear Terms , without Fullers Earth , which no Nation hath but our selves . It must needs follow , that we having more hands than they , to improve , more Wooll , and all the Fullers Earth our own , may ( when all idle hands are thus brought to Industry ) under-sell them all , and force a Market in all Places in the World , where Cloth is vended , which is what was to be demonstrated . 4. The fourth Proposition , viz. That forty hundred thousand Pounds worth of Cloth may by the Expedient proposed , with the Assistance of some Clothiers be made in a year , more than now is , or can be made by our present Course of Trade , is not difficult to conceive from what hath been said , for if two hundred thousand Persons be industriously employed more than now are , it may rationally be concluded , that each Person one with another in a whole years time with the help aforesaid , may manufacture at least twenty pounds worth of Cloth , which is all that was to be demonstrated . Besides in little time they will increase more and more both in Number and Ingenuity , for instead of breeding every Year thirty or forty thousand Beggars , we shall by this Expedient breed up the same or a greater number of Ingenious Cloth-makers , as in the Proposals at large is more fully discovered , so that 't is not to be doubted but they may convert one hundred thousand Packs of Wool in a year more than is now converted as aforesaid . 5. That the Wealth of the Nation will hereby increase at least forty hundred thousand Pounds per Annum more than now it doth , and His Majesties Revenue very considerably , more than before ; is thus to be demonstrated . As by the Confirmation of the second & last Propositions , it appeared , that after a little time of Practise , 100 thousand Packs of Wool may be Converted more than now is : so this wool at twelve pence per pound , is twelve pound per Pack ; and when it yielded so , the Wool was counted by the Clothiers to be one fourth part of the charge of the Cloth : By which it follows , that 100 thousand Packs of Wool Converted , will be worth four times twelve hundred thousand pounds , or four Millions eight hundred thousand pounds ; which being Exported , their Returns will be much more , and His Majesties Customes encrease proportionably ; since our Trade of Merchandise will then be almost double to what it was , and the wealth of the City by such Increase of Trade thrive more abundantly than ever it did . 6. That every particular Parish and Parishioner in Dealings in the Country shall thrive thereby , is no less certain : For , Besides raising the price of Wooll , at least six-pence in every Shilling , and saving six-pence in every Shilling , which before they laid out in Contributions and House-rent to the Poor . They will have better Trade for all Commodities ; ready Money for Corn , Fat Cattel , Butter , Cheese , and every thing the Farmer hath to spare ; by reason of this Circulation of Trade and Industry , seeing then there will be so many thousands that pay for all they eat , drink and wear , who before had all for Begging , &c. 7. That though we should make twice as much Cloth , as before mentioned , yet there shall be no danger of glutting the Market ; But that we may obtain and secure the best Markets in the World to our selves , notwithstanding any Attempts of other Nations . This seems reasonble to believe , if we consider , 1. That if all the Wooll , not only of England , Scotland and Ireland , but France and Spain also , could be Manufactur'd in England ; yet there would be no more Cloth in the World , than now there is , for what is not made in England , is made elsewhere , since it is certain Wool is neither Burnt , rotted , nor any wise wilfully destroyed in any Nation wherever it grows ; but is either converted at home or abroad . Therefore the more we convert in England , the less in other Nations , and the more they , Deerease in their Manufactory , the more shall we Increase in Wealth , Trade , Seamen and Navies of Ships , for the Strength and Safety of our Nation . 2. That no other Nation hath the like Expedients and Advantages as we have , and therefore 't is imposible they should out-doe us ; unless we be Wanting to our selves in point of Industry and good Method : And therefore though it cannot be expected , that we should make Cloth for all the World , yet if we can under fell all other Nations , our Work is done : for we may force a ' Trade where we please . There is no Demonstration like Experience , and for this we have a notable Example , given us by the Swedes , who having by Under-selling their Iron , forc'd us not only to quit our forreign Markets , where before we vended very much ; but also to desist from making sufficient for our own use . And then when they saw we had quit our Markets , and let fall our Iron works , they raised their Iron to as high a Rate as before . A President worthy the Consideration of the great Wisdom of the Nation . For as 't is true that Sweden abounds with Woods and Mines , more plentiful than other Nations ; in such manner that they may under-sell and force a Trade where they please for that Commodity . So England having more Wool , more Fullers-Earth , more Poor People and Beggars , to be Employed , than any ( if not all ) the Nations about us . Therefore we may as certainly have Cloth made and fold on easier and more profitable Terms than any Nation in the World ; And consequently may force a Market in any Nation where Cloth is to be vended : As the Swedes have done with their Iron . The Method by which all this may be effected ; is no more Charge , than if in every County , several Parishes should be obliged to joyn together to Build in several places Working Alms-houses for their chargeable Poor to live In : And that the Clothiers observe such Method in their Trade , as to place themselves near such Houses , and employ the said Poor , where they may have their Work done cheaper than before . But in case the Clothiers refuse such Method , whereby all the Wool , aforesaid may be converted , then it seems unreasonable for their sakes to prohibit the Exportation of Wool : Seeing that by their present course of Trade , little more than half is Converted : however , if they shall so refuse , it will be no difficult thing , for the respective Parishes concerned , to manage the Expedients Proposed themselves , to all the Advantages before-mentioned . As for other great Advantages arising both to City and Countrey , together with the happy Reformation thereby to be Accomplish'd , and all material Objections answered ; the same with the said Expedients , are more fully set forth and Contained in the Proposals . As also a Model of Government to be used in this Respect ; for preventing all Abuses and Deceits which have proved most destructive to such Publick Undertakings . POSTSCRIPT . HAving since the drawing up the precedent Breviat met with some Objections from a very worthy and intelligent Gentleman , but ( as I conceive ) not fully inform'd of the true Scope , feazibleness and Utility of these Expedients , I think my self oblig'd to give him and all others that may have the same Scruples , this endeavour towards Satisfaction . I. The first and great Objection is the Charge , to put us in such Method of Industry , to which I answer , 't is surely better once to pay for good Physick than alwayes to Languish , the Charge will not amount to a twentieth part of the Profits , for every thousand pound expended on this Occasion , will purchase two if not three thousand pounds per Annum to the Nation , and yet we shall keep our Purchase Money still as it were in our own Sacks with our Corn , so that there shall not be a Great the less in the Nation , as is demonstrated more at large in the Proposals . 2. Hence I cannot but maintain , that what is Proposed is undoubtedly practicable , for that it is no new Project , but with great Success practised at this day by our Neighbours , being satisfied by what I have seen , that this very thing , viz. the Industry of the Poor accomplish't by these very Expedients , is that whereby the Wealth of the Netherlands is rais'd and maintain'd . And why should we dishonour our Country so far as to imagine that England yield not Men as wise to contrive , or as honest to manage such an affair as any other Nation ? 3. It hath further been objected by the before-mentioned Honoured Person , that 't is uncertain what number of Poor there is to be employed , and what Quantity of Wool to be converted . To which I humbly Answer , that though it be true that in those Particulars I may err , yet in this we cannot err , if we proportion our Houses to the Number of the Persons to be employed , and to our Quantity of Wool , for then be the same more or less , the Profits will be proportionable to what I have calculated . And put case we have not Wool enough to employ them , this Expedient still remains unshaken , for we may employ them in making of Linnen to great Advantage , for as the first will bring Treasure into the Nation , so the other will be a means to keep it from going out . Lastly , Lest the Poor should misapprehend and suspect by these Expedients they shall be enslaved &c. I must declare that I would not for all the World be an Instrument to any such base and cruel Purpose , and therefore in my Proposals at large have demonstrated , that their VVork shall not make them Lives any wise Burthensome or Destructive to themselves , having nothing to do but to mind their Business , Eat , Drink , and take their Rest without any thing to disturb their Peace . Thus much I thought fit to add here , and submit the whole to Consideration . FINIS . 
A43852	----	Provision for the poor, or, Reasons for the erecting of a working-hospital in every county as the most necessary and onely effectual expedient to promote the linnen manufactory, with comfortable maintenance for all poor and distressed people in citie and country by which all beggars, vagrants, &c. throughout the nation, may speedily be restrained, and forever prevented : in pursuance to certain proposals to the King and Parliament. Haines, Richard, 1633-1685. 1678 Approx. 14 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A43852 Wing H206 ESTC R11745 12152277 ocm 12152277 55082 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A43852) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 55082) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 599:7) Provision for the poor, or, Reasons for the erecting of a working-hospital in every county as the most necessary and onely effectual expedient to promote the linnen manufactory, with comfortable maintenance for all poor and distressed people in citie and country by which all beggars, vagrants, &c. throughout the nation, may speedily be restrained, and forever prevented : in pursuance to certain proposals to the King and Parliament. Haines, Richard, 1633-1685. 8 p. Printed for D.M., London : 1678. Attributed to Richard Haines by Wing. Reproduction of original in Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Linen -- England. Poor laws -- England. 2008-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-08 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2009-01 Megan Marion Sampled and proofread 2009-01 Megan Marion Text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Provision for the Poor : OR , REASONS FOR The Erecting of a WORKING-HOSPITAL In every County . As the most necessary and onely effectual Expedient to Promote the LINNEN MANUFACTORY ; With Comfortable Maintainance for all Poor and Distressed people in Citie and Country . By which all Beggars , Vagrants , &c. throughout the Nation , may speedily be Restrained , and for ever Prevented . In Pursuance to certain PROPOSALS to the KING and PARLIAMENT . With Allowance . London : Printed for D. M. 1678. Reasons for the Erecting of a WorkingHospital in every County . HAving lately published certain Proposals tending to Promote the Linnen Manufactory , and disburthen the Nation from the present Charge it lies under in maintaining its Poor ; wherein , as the best Expedient to Promote the one and Remedy the other , I humbly offered to Consideration the building of a Working Alms-house in every County : and also gave notice of an Engine which would very much facilitate the Work. Which mean Treatise , as it hath had the good luck to be very favourably perused , and its Designe approved by several Honourable and Worthy Persons ; so is it next to impossible , that it should wholly avoid the common fate of Censure , and impressions of contrary Opinions . However , with all modest Deference to Dissenters , I do not as yet finde any grounds for changing my former Sentiments touching the Necessity of building such Working-Alms-houses . That promoting the Linnen Manufacture is the great Interest of this Nation , will not be denied ; and that the same , if manag'd in a proper method , will afford a comfortable Employment , and Maintainance for the Poor , as also save many Hundred thousand pounds , is generally agreed . But what Method or Course will best , most certainly , and effectually attain those Ends , is the Question , viz. whether all the Poor of every sort shall be employed in this Manufactory dispersedly at home ; or that a great number of them together ( especially Children , Single persons , Vagrants , &c. ) be planted in publick Work-houses under good Government . The former may possibly be preferr'd by some , but the latter is what I have recommended , and indeed do humbly conceive it so essentially necessary the perfecting of that Reformation design'd , that without it the aforesaid Manufactory will never be promoted to the best advantage , nor the Poor be any thing high so useful to themselves and their Country . That I may not seem conceitedly obstinate in this Apprehension , I shall set down some of those Considerations which have prevailed with me therein . The Ends aimed at , are 1. The more speedy and profitable promoting the Linnen Manufactory . 2. The easing all oppressed Parishes of the Charge of the Poor . 3. The most effectual Expedient to Restrain , Reform , and Employ all Beggars , Vagrants , &c. and render them serviceable to the Publick . 4. The good Education of Poor Children and others in religious and virtuous Principles , planting in them Habits of Industry , Labour , &c. To accomplish these , and these joyntly , is , I say , the Scope of our Endeavours ; for indeed they depend one upon another . Now without Publick Work-houses , the two latter cannot be promoted at all ; and the two first particulars very slenderly , or nothing neer so well as with them : For ; I. As to promoting the Linnen Manufactory , it consists partly in Quantity , making more ; partly in Quality , making siner than heretofore . That with Work-houses we shall make more Cloath , is not to be doubted ; because there the Engine before-mentioned may be used , which cannot be in private Families : By the help of which there may not onely be spun a pound and a half as easily as one pound , of equal goodness , without it , but also many more People Employ'd , as young Children , Persons defective in some of their Limbs , &c. Again , is it not probable that much more Work will be done where people are kept orderly to their Business , than when they are left to their own Liberty ; or at best , have onely an over-fond Parent to keep them to it ? And is it not too true , that the Poor rarely endeavour to lay up any thing for Sickness or Old age , and will work by their good wills onely for Necessity ? Which is the reason that our Manufactures are generally more plenty , and as cheap , when Provisions are dearest . Most of them , if they can but get Victuals , will play away half their time ; which introduces habits of Idleness , Pilfering , &c. 2. As to improving Fineness in Spinning , besides the advantage by the Engine of having both hands at liberty to order their Tyre , 't is certain where many are together , there are not onely better helps for Instruction , but also emulation and striving to excel each other , will much promote it : As we see Universities and publick Academies , for like reason , preferr'd before private Schools or Tutors , in Education : Especially Encouragements being given to those that excel , and Correction to such as deserve it . II. Then for the second Head , Easing the Parish of Charge , since by the help of the Engine in Publick Work-houses a Childe of four years of age may get its living , and do more work than a Childe of six years can do elsewhere , what an ease will this be to oppressed Parishes , that they may so soon send thither the Children of all their Poor , and many decrepit people , who are now the greatest Burthen ? III. The third Intention is to Reform and Employ Beggars , Vagrants , &c. and I cannot see how this can at all be effectually accomplisht without Publick Work-houses ; which will infallibly effect it , and soon remove as well the Dishonour as the Charge of feeding their Laziness , and carrying them up and down with Passes ; wherewith now too often they take their Circuits , first from the North to the South , then to the West , and so round the Land , to the great expence and trouble of Officers . This Consideration alone methinks is enough to perswade the Erection of such Houses , it being computed that there are above One hundred thousand Beggars or others that want a lawful Employment in this Kingdom . Moreover , these Working Hospitals will put an end to all vexatious and chargeable Suits and Controversies , by which much money is spent between Parish and Parish , for settling and placing such as are chargeable ; and all Magistrates eas'd of much trouble which attends them on this account . But without such Publick Working-houses this Grievance will hardly be removed ; which at present , and for some time past , hath been so considerable , that I know not but the money that is spent this way in one Country within seven years time , may build an House by which they may be freed from it for ever . Furthermore , by means of these County-Workhouses , the Inequality of Taxations and Charges whereby one Parish is greatly oppress'd with the multiplicity of Poor , when at the same time other Parishes are not at a quarter-part of such Charge ; which Intollerable Grievance can no way be Reformed so effectually , without such County-Workhouses . IV. Nor is the fourth Head , viz. Bringing up of Poor Children , &c. in religious Nurture and honest Labour , less worthy of our Care ; not to be at all , or at least no way so well and effectually brought to pass , as by these Publick Nurseries of Industry , under regular and prudent Government . And how sad is it to consider how many thuosand poor Children , by the solly , the negligence , the vitiousness , or ill example of their Parents , instead of enjoying the blessing of good Education , spend their most pretious , because most teachable , years , and most susceptible of good or ill to influence the rest of their life , either idly in playing and wandring up and down , or what is worse , Begging or Pilfering , as Hedge-breaking , Wood-stealing , or the like ; without ever being taught the Principles of Religion , their Duties to their Parents or Superiors ; nor instructed in any Trade or Labour to get an honest Livelihood . Which becomes no less mischievous to Society in general , than fatal to themselves : For undoubtedly Idleness in Youth is the Seed-plot of the Hangmans Harvest . Besides all this , until such Work-houses be resolved on , we can never be certain that the hands of all idle people shall be Employed , or the Manufactory effectually prosecuted : And who then will be so ventrous on Uncertainties to plant Hemp and Flax enough to carry it on , seeing all things remain as before , viz. much Talking , and little Doing ; many good Laws and profitable Inventions , but a want of due Method to make them effectual ? But possibly , instead of such inviting and encouraging Incitements for planting Hemp and Flax , some may desire that the Land-occupiers may be imposed upon and forc'd by a penal Act , to sow a ceatain number of Acres thereof , until they become as plenty as Pease-straw . To which I answer , It seems unreasonable to lay such an Imposition , before a certain right Method be establisht for the effectual Manufactoring of the same : For if it should , what will be the sequel ? May not our Hemp and Flax be as burthensom as our Wooll ? Yea , may not England be famous all the world over , as abounding with huge stocks of Wooll , Hemp , Flax , Poor People , and Beggars in abundance , and all for want of Publick County-Working-houses of Confinement , for administring Instruction , Encouragement , and Correction ? Or if the most necessary Method for Administration of Justice , and Improvement of profitable Inventions be rejected , how can we reasonably lay an extraordinary Imposition on Linnen , before we are certain our Method will bring idle people to Industry for our supply ? But infallibly to prevent such doing a good and necessary Work by halves , and to avoid these discouragements and sore Evils , I cannot but still sollicite for such Publick Working-Houses : Then may we readily plant Hemp , Flax , &c. Because we know that all idle hands , either at Home , or in the Work-houses , will certainly be employed industriously in taking off and Manufactoring the same , as it grows . And why any man should be very eager to force the raising of a great Stock , and yet be prejudiced against the certainest Expedients for the most speedy and advantageous promoting and manufacturing the same when raised , my weak Capacity can give no good reason . But must adde , That this Manufactory may be accomplished with more case and comfort to the Poor , when they are incorporated into such great Bodies , where a Granary may be more beneficial , than it can be otherwise to afford Bread cheap and plenty amongst them , when Corn is scarce and dear . As also , That however these Working Almes-Houses may be contemned , and the Proposer and his Expedients for expedition rejected , I doubt not but it might easily be made appear , that by means of such Work houses , the Woollen Manufacture may be greatly promoted . In fine , Why should we contemn the most infallible Expedients , and which we see practised with success ? It 's judged , that to one Pickpocket , Cutpurse , &c. in Amsterdam , there are an Hundred in London , and to one sturdy Beggar in Holland ( in time of Peace ) there are four hundred in England ; And what 's the Reason ? They have Publick-Work-houses in every City , for perpetual confinement in cases requiring the same . Wherefore , to attain the like happy Reformation in England , without such Houses aforesaid , is next to that which is impossible . Wherefore if our designe be rather for the Publick Good , than it is to gratifie out own Fantasies , why should we reject the effectual Means , now in being in Holland , where besides the Rasp-houses in Amsterdam , there is a Spin-house in every City ? If any object against these great Work-Houses , as being too chargeable , &c. I shall refer , them to my Book lately published , entituled , Proposals for Building in every County a Working Almes-houses , for promoting the Linnen Manufactory , sold by R. Harford at the Angel in Cornhil , and Mrs. Walton at the foot of the Parliament-stairs , where I doubt not but my Answer to that and other Objections , may to the Judicious be satisfactory . Only adding here , to such as imagine the Building of these Houses will require too much time , That they may be erected and compleated assoon as the Hemp and Flax can be raised and prepared : And at the farthest , all may be finished in Two Years time . R. Haines . FINIS . 
A47261	----	An abstract of a proposal already laid before the Honourable the House of Commons assembled in Parliament, for employing our poor, and preventing the exportation of our coin Kent, Dircy. 1694 Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A47261 Wing K308 ESTC R17229 13155127 ocm 13155127 98171 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A47261) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 98171) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 423:13) An abstract of a proposal already laid before the Honourable the House of Commons assembled in Parliament, for employing our poor, and preventing the exportation of our coin Kent, Dircy. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London? : 1694] Signed at end: Dircy Kent. Wing lists author as Dixey Kent. Place and date of publication from Wing. Reproduction of original in University of London Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England. Broadsides -- England -- 17th century. 2007-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-02 Pip Willcox Sampled and proofread 2008-08 SPi Global Rekeyed and resubmitted 2008-09 Megan Marion Sampled and proofread 2008-09 Megan Marion Text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion An ABSTRACT of a PROPOSAL Already laid before the Honourable The House of Commons Assembled in Parliament , FOR Employing our Poor , AND PREVENTING The Exportation of our Coin. THat the Monies now collected throughout England and Wales , for the Maintainance of the Poor in Idleness , be settled in the Hands of such Trustees as this Honourable House shall appoint , to be a Fund to employ , them able , in the Linnen or other Foreign Manufactures , or such Manufactures or Employments of our own that are not in a flourishing Condition ; and to maintain all such who are or shall from Time to Time become chargeable to their Parishes . That it ought speedily to be done , whilst Linnens are near double the Value as they us'd to be at in Time of Peace ; and we ( as well as the Germans , Spanish , Portuguees , Dutch , &c. ) make use of such Advantages as God and Nature , and the present Juncture doth afford us ; Whereby we shall be able to work cheaper than any of our Neighbours , all the Poor's Labour being clear Profit ; for the same Mony that maintains them now in Idleness will do it much better when imployed and in a Community . By which means we may be some Millions yearly Gainers , near Fifteen Hundred Thousand Pounds per Annum being paid in Specie to the French alone , in Time of Peace , by this Kingdom , for their Linnen Manufactures , to be here expended , or , by us , sent to other Countries ; which Alteration will , at least , annually save the Exportation of so much of our Coin or Bullion : And that only by setting the Poor to Work , without other Charge than what now maintains them in Idleness . All which at large is ready to be again laid before this Honourable House , when they shall think fit , by Dixcy Kent . 
A49049	----	Severall propositions tendered by the Corporation for the imploying the poor of London and liberties City of London (England). This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A49049 of text R37987 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing L2877A). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 6 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A49049 Wing L2877A ESTC R37987 17158963 ocm 17158963 106013 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A49049) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 106013) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1619:14) Severall propositions tendered by the Corporation for the imploying the poor of London and liberties City of London (England). 1 broadside. Printed by Richard Cotes, London : 1650. Dated: 18 September 1650. Reproduction of original in the Huntington Library. eng Poor -- England -- London. A49049 R37987 (Wing L2877A). civilwar no Severall propositions tendered by the Corporation for the imploying the poor of the city of London, and liberties. Corporation of London 1650 949 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-02 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2008-02 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Severall Propositions tendered by the Corporation for the Imploying the Poor of the City of London , and Liberties . FOrasmuch as it is not simply the present suppression and setting to work of idle Vagrants and Beggers of all sorts , wherewith the Streets , Lanes , and severall parts of this City , have of late so much abounded , to the great scandall and dishonor thereof , that can throughly accomplish that hopefull Reformation in this kind that is desired and intended , except some effectuall course be taken for the prevention thereof for the future . And whereas also , that through the generall neglect of most places , poore children maintained by their respective parishes , and others are bred up like Atheists , after a sordid loose , and undisciplined manner , care being had only for their present bodily provision ; by meanes whereof , so much dissolutenesse , idlenesse , thefts , whoredomes , prophane cursing , swearing , and almost all kinds of wickednesse do generally abound in that sort of people , being indeed the most probable , if not certain consequences of such an education . And furthermore , whereas many Pensioners and others doe eat the bread of Idlenesse ; some through an accustomed ocitansie , who can , but will not work ; and others through an unavoidable necessity , who would , but cannot procure work : For the hopefull prevention of the inconveniencies aforesaid , the Corporation for the imploying of the Poor of the City of London , doe tender to the respective Parishes of the said City as followeth . 1. That the poor Children of this City , and Liberties thereof , from 〈◊〉 yeers old and upward , who now are at home at the Parishes charge , be duly sent to the Worke-houses belonging to the Corporation , with provision for their Dinners with them , where they shall have meanes to learn as well to read and write , as to be instructed in such manufacturies as they shal be capable of ; Provided , they bring with them the Certificate of the Church-wardens or Overseers of the poore of their severall Parishes respectively . 2. That to this end they shal have two hours in every day allowed them to learn to read and write , with one houre at noon for their repast , and the rest of the day , from seven or eight of the clock in the morning , till five or six at night , to be spent in getting knowledge how to work in some manufactury that may be usefull to this Common-wealth . 3. That for the first quarter of the yeer ( except the Children be grown up , or are more expert then ordinary ) it cannot be expected that any thing should be given them but their Learning , in respect of that unavoidable losse which will be sustained in the teaching them any manufacture whatsoever , through the waste that they will make . But after the first quarter , twelve pence per week shall be allowed to each Child for their work , and shal be increased as they shall deserve , which together with what is allowed by the parish for their keeping and clothes , will be a competent maintenance for each respective Child . 4. That the Pensioners in the severall VVards , that are best able , may by turns weekly accompany the children to the Work-houses , one Pensioner to have the oversight of ten children , or their abouts , so as to bring them in the morning , and to return with them home at night ; and the said Pensioners may likewise work upon such manufacturies as they are best skilled in , and bee paid according to their earnings . 5. That the Children who shal be imployed by this Corporation , may each of them have a badg of the Corporation upon their sleeves . 6. That such Pensioners , or other poore as are aged , or that cannot come to the said VVork-houses , may have materialls to work upon home to their own houses , some of the Overseers of the Parish ingaging for the faithfull return of them when they are converted into manufactury , according to the tickets printed by order of the Corporation , and they likewise to be paid according to their earnings . 7. That for the stragling Poore , if they belong to any parish within this City , and the Liberties thereof , then from thence they must have allowance , and there have habitation , and be regulated as is before expressed concerning the Parish Children . 8. That when any of these children so regulated , and educated , shall become fit , through ripeness of age , or otherwise , they may be placed out apprentices in some useful trades for their future livelyhoods . Towards the effectuall accomplishment of which work aforesaid , the said Corporation doubt not of the most ready concurrence and help of all pious and charitable hearts . 18 September , 1650. ORdered at a Court held by the Corporation for the Poor of the City of London and Liberties , That these Propositions with the Preamble now read and voted , shal be forthwith Printed , and dispersed to the Parishes of LONDON . Signed by the appointment of the Corporation . Per Jo. Marsh , Cler. London , Printed by Richard Cotes , 1650. 
A44144	----	A discourse touching provision for the poor written by Sir Matthew Hale ... Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676. 1683 Approx. 55 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 49 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A44144 Wing H241 ESTC R11202 13115847 ocm 13115847 97752 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A44144) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 97752) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 419:11) A discourse touching provision for the poor written by Sir Matthew Hale ... Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676. [17], 80 p. Printed by H. Hills for John Leigh ..., London : 1683. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor laws -- England. Working class -- England. Labor movement -- England. Labor -- England. Public welfare -- England. Poor -- England. 2008-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-04 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-05 John Pas Sampled and proofread 2008-05 John Pas Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A DISCOURSE Touching PROVISION FOR The Poor . Written by Sir Matthew Hale , late Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. LONDON : Printed by H. Hills , for John Leigh at Stationers Hall , and are to be sold by the Booksellers in London . 1683 THE PREFACE . A Due care for the Relief of the Poor is an act , 1. of great Piety towards Almighty God , who requires it of us : He hath left the Poor as his Pupils , and the Rich as his Stewards to provide for them : It is one of those great Tributes that he justly requires from the rest of Mankind ; which , because they cannot pay to him , he hath scattered the Poor among the rest of Mankind as his Substitutes and Receivers . 2. It is an act of greatest Humanity among men . Mercy and Benignity is due to the very Beasts that serve us , much more to those that are partakers of the same common nature with us . 3. It is an act of great Civil Prudence and Political Wisdom : for Poverty in itself is apt to Emasculate the minds of men , or at least it makes men tumultuous and unquiet . Where there are many very Poor , the Rich cannot long or safely continue such ; necessity renders men of Phlegmatique and dull natures stupid and indisciplinable ; And men of more fiery or active constitutions rapacious and desperate . At this day it seems to me that the English Nation is more deficient in their prudent Provision for the Poor than any other cultivated and Christian State ; at least that have so many opportunities and advantages to supply them . In some other Countries a Beggar is a rare sight ; Those that are unable to maintain themselves by Age or Impotency are relieved . And those that are able to supply their wants by their Labour are furnished with Imployments . sutable to their condition . And by this means there is not only a good and orderly Education and a decent face of the publique ; But the more populous the State or Country is , the Richer and the more wealthy it is . But with us in England for want of a due regulation of things the more Populous we are the Poorer we are ; so that , that wherein the Strength and Wealth , of a Kingdom consists , renders us the weaker and the poorer . And which is yet worse , Poor Families which daily multiply in the Kingdom for want of a due order for their Imployment in an honest course of life whereby they may gain subsistance for them and their Children do unavoidably bring up their Children either in a Trade of Begging or Stealing , or such other Idle course , which again they propagate over to their Children , and so there is a successive multiplication of hurtful or at least unprofitable People , neither capable of Discipline nor beneficial Imployment . It is true we have very severe Laws against Begging the very giver being in some cases subject to a penalty by the Statute of 1 Jac. cap. 17. But it takes little Effect . And indeed as the case stands with us it is no reason it should : for what man that is of ability can have the conscience to deny an Alms , or to bring a Wanderer to the punishment directed by that Statute , and the Statute of 39 Eliz. when he cannot choose but know that there is not that due course provided , or at least used , that Persons necessitous , and able to work may have it ; Indeed were there a clear means practised for the Imploying of poor Persons , It were an uncharitable action to relieve them in a course of Idleness . But when I do not know that there is such a Provision , I dare not deny my relief , because I know not whether without it he may be starved with hunger , without his own default . We have also very severe Laws against Theft , possibly more severe than most other Nations , yea , and than the Offence in it self simply considered deserves ; And there is little to be said in the defence of the severity of the Law herein , but the multitude of the Offenders and the design of the Law rather to terrify than to punish ut metus in omnes , poena in paucos : But it is most apparent that the Law i● frustrated of its design therein ; for although more suffer at one Sessions a● Newgate for Stealing and Breaking up Houses , and Picking of Pockets , and such other Larcenies out of the protection of Clergy , than suffer in some other Countries for all Offences in three years , yet the Goals are never the Emptier : Necessity , and Poverty , and want of a due Provision for the Imployment of Indigent Persons , and the custom of a loose and Idle life , daily supply with advantage the number of those who are taken off by the Sentence of the Law : And doubtless as the multitude of Poor , and necessitous , and uneducated Persons , increase , the multitude of Malefactors will increase , notwithstanding the Examples of Severity . So that upon the whole account the prudence of prevention , as it is more Christian , so it will be more Effectual than the Prudence of remedy : The prevention of Poverty , Idleness and a loose and disorderly Education , Even of poor Children , would do more good to this Kingdom than all the Gibbets , and Cauterizations , and Whipping Posts , and Goals in this Kingdom , and would render these kind of Disciplines less necessary and less frequent . But hitherto I am in generals , which rarely prosper into Action or Conviction : I therefore shall confider principally these things : 1. What Provisions there are already setled by the Laws in force for the Relief and Imployment of the Poor . 2 Wherein the Defects are , in relation to those Laws , or Provisions , and the Consequences thereof . 3. What may be thought a convenient Supply of those Defects and the Consequences of such supplies . CHAP. I. Touching the Laws at present in force for the Relief and Imployment of the Poor . THe Laws relating to the Poor are of two kinds , viz. 1. Such as concern the relief of the Aged , and Impotent , that are not able by their labour to maintain themselves . 2. Such as concern the imployment and setting of work , of such as are able . And this latter as shall be shewn , is the more comprehensive & beneficial charity , although both are necessary and become us , both as men and as Christians ; much more Touching the former of these viz. the relief of the impotent Poor , the Laws of England have provided a double remedy . First , by giving great incouragement to voluntary undertakings of good and liberal minds in this kind . 2. by Compulsary means upon all . Again as touching the former of these , the Statute of 39. Eliz. Cap. 5. hath given a great incouragement to such as shall Erect Hospitals , Houses of Correction and Maisons de Dieu . And the Statutes of 39. Eliz. Cap. 6. and 43. Eliz. Cap. 4. have taken special care for the due imployment of gifts to charitable uses . And certainly such voluntary Assignations argue an Excellent and Charitable mind in those that shall so voluntarily give ; And the Statutes have given a fair Incouragement to the Charityes of men in this kind . But this provision doth but little in order to relief : For 1. for the most part such Hospitals , Extend but to a few aged Persons limited to some particular Town , unless it be in the large Hospitals , in London , where there is some provision more Extensive in respect both of number and age , as St. Thomas Hospital , Christ-Church Hospital and some others . 2. But besides this those are but Voluntary and not Compulsary ; although there may be some that may be charitably minded , yet for the most part men are backward in works of Charity ; Self love , Covetousness , distrust of the Truth and Providence of God keeps most from overflowing Charity or Building or Endowing Hospitals . Therefore there was a Compulsary laid upon men for the relief of the Poor within their respective Parishes , viz. the Statute of 43. Eliz. Cap. 2. being the first compulsary Law that I remember of that kind : And indeed it now became necessary to be done by a Compulsary means which before that time was left more arbitrary , because the Kingdom became then much more Populous than in former time and with it the Poor also greatly increased , and besides many of those methods of their voluntary relief was then much abated ; which Statute Enables the Church-Wardens and Overseers , &c. to do these things : 1. To take order for setting to work the Children of those whose Parents are not able to maintain their Children . 2. To take order to set those to work as such , having no means to maintain themselves , use no ordinary trade . But provides not sufficient Compulsaries to make them work . 3. To raise weekly by Taxation a convenient stock of Flax , Hemp , &c. to set the Poor on work : But no means at the first , before the return of the Manufacture to pay them wages in Express words , but is supplyed by the latter general clause . ( And to do and Execute all other things , as well for the disposing of the said Stock , or otherwise concerning the premises as to them shall seem convenient . ) 4. To raise competent sums of Money for the impotent Poor not able to work . 5. Also for the putting of Poor Children Apprentices but no Compulsary for any to receive them : Among all these Provisions the 4th concerns the relief of the Poor by Taxation , and Contributions to such as are impotent , the four other particulars concern their Imployment , and of such as are able to work , which is the far greater number . And although the relief of the Impotent Poor seems to be a Charity of more immediate Exigence yet the Imployment of the Poor is a Charity of greater Extent , and of very great and important Consequence to the publique Wealth , and Peace of the Kingdom as also to the Benefit and Advantage of the Poor . I therefore come to that second Business relating to the Poor , viz. the setting the Poor on Work. The Laws that concern that Business of the Imployment of the Poor are of two kinds ; viz. that which contains a Compulsary means of providing work for the Poor which is the Statute of 43. Eliz. And secondly those Laws which are in some kind Compulsary to force Persons to work ; and these are of two kinds , viz. 1. Those that concern Children and the Binding of them Apprentices , viz. the Clause of the Statute 43. Eliz. Cap. 4. before mentioned and the Statute 7. Jac. Cap. 1. which makes fair Provision for the raising of Money to bind them , and directs the manner of its Imployment . But as before is observed , hath not any sufficient Compulsary for Persons to take them , & perchance there might be fit to have some such qualifications in that Compulsary which might not leave it too arbitrary in the Justices of Peace to compell whom they please , to take whom they please : But this is not the Business , I drive at , perchance the general Provision which I design may make this at least not so frequently necessary . 2. In reference to Rogues , Vagabonds and Idle & disorderly Persons , the Statute 7. Jac. Cap. 4. gives power to the Justices of Peace to send them to the House of Correction , which they are thereby required to cause to be Erected . 2. Power to the Master of such House of Correction to keep them to work . But even in this particular there are defects . 1. It is not general for all Persons , but at most Idle and disorderly Persons . 2. That description is very uncertain in reference to such Persons , and leaves the Justices either too great or too little power . 3. For want of a convenient Stock to be raised for such Houses of Correction , and advantageous ways for such work , it either leaves such as are sent without an Imployment or renders their Imployment ungrateful in respect of the sinalness of the wages , and rather makes People hate Imployment as a hell than to Entertain it as a means of a comfortable support ; which though it may be well enough as a punishment for disorderly persons that refuse to work , yet it is not applicable to those that are only idle , it work : 4. It is a difficult thing to determine who shall be said an idle Person , it is a reasonable answer to that , they are Idle for want of such work as they are able to do , or for want of such wages as might give them a reasonable support ; For there is no power given , nor is it reasonable it should , to compel Persons , to set them on work , or to set them on work at convenient wages . 5. And lastly , it is not universal ; many Persons are not within that Law which would work if they might : or if they might at reasonable rates , whereby they might live . There is need , therefore of some such provision that might be as ample as the occasion , and without which indeed all the Laws already made are either weak and ineffectual to their Ends , and the generality of the Poor left destitute of a convenient support and provision . CHAP. II. Touching the Power by the Law setled for the general Provision for the Poor , and their defect . UPon the consideration of the Statutes for the Poor the only Statute that provides universally is that of 43. Eliz. which generally makes two Provisions . 1. For the Impotent Poor , that are not able to work : And it is true is a good and Effectual Provision for such , if duely Executed . But as I said before , the Plaister is not so large as the sore , there are many Poor that are able to work if they had it , and had it at reasonable wages , whereby they might support themselves and their Families , which oftentimes are many . These are not within the Provision of the Law and if they come for Exhibitions , they are denyed , or at least have but very small , and such as cannot support them and their Families . And indeed if they should have sufficient Exhibition for the support of them and their Families , the Parishes where they live were not able to supply them in a proportion answerable to their necessities , or answerable to that supply which a full Imployment would afford them ; For instance a Poor Man and his Wife though able to work , may have four Children , two of them possibly able to work , two not able : The Father and the Mother are not able to maintain themselves and their Family in Meat , Drink , Cloathing and House-rent under ten Shillings per Week , and so much they might probably get if imployed ; This amounts to 26. l. per Annum , if there were forty such Families in a great Parish , and they lived upon this Exhibition colleited by rates , it would arise to above 800. l. per Annum , which in many Parishes Exceeds the yearly Value of their Lands or Rents , yet when these Persons are kept on work thus much must be gotten by them , and without a supply Equivalent to this they must live by Begging , or Stealing , or Starve : Therefore the second Provision is , 2. For those Poor that are able to work , and in reference to them it gives power to raise Stocks by rateing the Parishioners , and setting the Poor on work . The defects of this Provision are , 1. In the Execution of the Law already made ; for let any man look over most of the Populous Parishes in England , indeed there are rates made for the relief of the Impotent Poor , and it may be the same relief is also given in a narrow measure unto some others , that have great Families , and upon this they live miserably and at best from Hand to Mouth , and if they cannot get work to make out their livelyhood they and their Children set up a trade of Begging at best . But it is rare to see any Provision of a Stock in any Parish for the relief of the Poor . And the reasons are principally these : 1. The Generality of People that are able are yet unwilling to Exceed the present necessary charge , they do choose to live for an hour rather than project for the future ; and although possibly trebling their Exhibition in one grofs sum at the beginning of the year , to raise a Stock might in all probability render their future yearly payments for seven years together less by half or two thirds , than what must be without it , yet they had rather continue on their yearly Payments , year after year , though it Exhaust them in time , and make the Poor nothing the better at the years End. 2. Because those places , where there are most Poor , consist for the most part of Trades-men , whose Estates lye principally in their Stocks , which they will not endure to be searched into to make them contributary to raise any considerable Stock for the Poor , nor indeed so much as to the ordinary Contributions : But they lay all the rates to the Poor upon the Rents of Lands and Houses , which alone without the help of the Stocks are not able to raise a Stock for the Poor , although it is very plain that Stocks are as well by Law rateable as Lands , both to the relief , and raising a Stock for the Poor : 3. Because the Church-Wardens and Overseers , to whom this power is given , are Inhabitants of the same Parish , and are either unwilling to charge themselves , or displease their Neighbours in Charging more than they needs must towards the Poor : And although it were to be wished and hoped that the Justices of Peace would be forwardly to Enforce them if they might , though it may concern them also in point of present profit , yet if they would do any thing herein they are not impowered to and Overseers to do it , who most certainly will never go about it to burden as they think , themselves , and displease their Neighbours unless , some Compulsary power were not only lodged by Law , but also executed in some that may have a power over them to inforce it , or to do it , if they do it not , and to do it effectually , if they do it either partially or too sparingly : 4. Because People do not consider the inconvenience that will in time grow to themselves by this neglect , and the benefit that would in a little time accrue to them by putting it in practise if they would have but a little patience , as shall be shewen hereafter . 2. The second Defect is in the Law itself ; which are these : 1. No power in the Justices of Peace , or some Superintendent power to compel the raising of a Stock where the Church-Wardens and Overseers neglect it . 2. The act chargeth every Parish apart where it may be they are able to do little towards it , neither would it be so effectual as if three , four , five or more contiguous Parishes did contribute towards the raising of a Stock proportionable to their Poor respectively . 3. There is no power for hireing or erecting a common House , or place for their common Work-House , which may be in some respects , and upon some occasions , useful and necessary , as shall be shewen . CHAP. III. The Remedy propounded . 1. THAT the Justices of the Peace at the Quarter Sessions do set out & distribute the Parishes in their several Countiesinto several Divisions , in Each of which there may be a Work-House for the common use of the respective Divisions , wherein they are respectively placed , viz. one , two , three , four , five or six Parishes to a Work-House , according to the greatness or sinalness , and accommodation of the several Parishes . 2. That at that Sessions the Church-Wardens and Overseers of the Poor of the respective P Parishes , bring in their several rates for their relief of their respective Poor upon Oath . And that the said Justices do assess three , four or five yearly Pays to be levyed and collected at one or two entire sums within the time prefixed by them for the raising of a Stock to set the Poor within those Precincts on work , and to build or procure a convenient Work-House for imploying the Poor , if need be , in it , and for lodging Materials , and for instructing Children in the Trade or Work. 3. That there be yearly Chose by the said Justices a Master for Each Work-House , with a convenient Salary out of the said Stock or the proceed thereof to continue for 3 years , and two Overseers to see the Issuing and return of the said Stock , and to take the accounts quarterly or monthly of the Master as they shall think fit . 4. That the Stock be delivered to the Overseers , and by them Issued to the Master , as there shall be occasion , and that they also from time to time receive the proceed of the said Stock and the accompts for the same . 5. That at the End of every year the Master and Overseers give up their accounts to the two next Justices of the Peace at times by them prefixed , and publickly notifyed to the Inhabitants of Each Precinct , to the End that they may take any Exceptions to such accounts , if there be cause . 6. That the Master and Overseers of every respective Work-House stand , and be incorporate by the name of Master and Overseers of their respective Precincts , and capable to take in Succession by will or otherwise , Lands , Goods , or Money , or other Legacies or Gifts for the Benefit of the Poor , within their respective Precincts . 7. That they also be accomptable , as well to their respective Successours , and also to the Justices of the Peace at their Quarter Sessions for the benefit and proceed and Imployment of such Gifts and Bequests . 8. That they be disabled to grant any Lands to them given or bequeathed for any longer term then one Year , and at an improved Rent . 9. That if any Person that is able to work , and not able to maintain himself , shall refuse to do so , he may be forced thereunto by Warrant of two Justices of Peace by Imprisonment , and moderate correction in such Work-House . 10. If any Person imployed by the Master , shall imbezill or wilfully prejudice , or spoil his work , he shall upon complaint and proof thereof by the Party grieved to any Justice of Peace , and by Warrant from him receive Imprisonment or moderate correction by Warrant of such Justice . These be the heads of that Provision , I could wish for the setting the Poor on work , which is but an Essay and may receive Alterations or Additions upon consideration . The Benefits , that would come by this Method would be very many and great : I shall set down some of them that occur to me . 1. By Incorporating of these Work-Houses , which are the best kind of Hospitals , charitable minded Persons would have as it were a Pillar whereunto to fasten their Charity , which would prevent many Difficulties in the faithfull Administrations thereof , and would invite Benefactors . 2. Whereas Hospitals provide for some few Poor Impotent People , this would prevent Poverty and in a little tract of time bring up hundreds to be able to gain their lively hoods . 3. Whereas in that State that things are , our Populousness , which is the greatest blessing a Kingdom can have , becomes the burden of the Kingdom , by breeding up whole Races and Families , and successive Generations in a mere Trade of Idleness , Thieving , Begging , and a barbarous kind of life , which must in time prodigiously increase and overgrow the whole face of the Kingdom , and eat out the heart of it : This course within one seven Years alters the whole State of this Disorder , and brings People and their Children after them into a Regular , Orderly and Industrious course of life , which will be as natural to them as now Idleness , and Begging , and Theeving is . For no Person will have need to Beg or Steal , because he may gain his living better by Working . And no man will be so vain , and indeed hurtfull to the Publique as to give to such as Beg , and thereby to encourage them , when he is sure they may gain their living by Working . And all the Laws against Vagrants , Beggers and Wanderers , will be then Effectually put in Execution , when we may be sure they may be imployed if they will : But till that the interdicting and punishing of the Beggers and Givers seems to me a most unreasonable piece of Imprudence , as well as Uncharitableness . 4 By this means the Wealth of the Nation will be increased , Manufactures advanced and Every Body put into a capacity of Eating his own Bread ; for upon what imaginable account can we think , that we should not be as able to improve our Populousness to our Wealth , as well as Holland , and Flanders , and Berbadoes , if we had but their Industry and Orderly Management ? If it be said , their Disposition is more Industrious than ours : It is true in that condition that matters are ordered ; but if we had the same Industrious Education , we should have the same Industrious Disposition : let a man , one that hath been bred up in the Trade of Begging , he will never , unless complelled , fall to Industry ; and on the other side , it is a wonderful Necessity indeed that shall bring one bred up in Civility , and Industry , to Beg , as is Easily observable in many poor Places and Families . And were there no other Benefit to the Kingdom in general nor to the particular Places , where such Work-Houses shall be settled , but this , although the Stock were wholly lost in four Years , it would be an abundant Recompence by the accustoming the poor sort to a Civil and Industrious course of life , whereby they would soon become , not only not burdensom , but profitable to the Kingdom , and the Places where they live . 5. By this means there would soon be an Improvement of the several Manufactures of the Kingdom , both for the necessary Consumption of the Kingdom , and for Exportation , whereby our Trade Outward would exceed our Trade Inward , which Outward Trade , as it is the Basis and Foundation of all our Trade Inward ; And the Excess and Overballance of our Trade Outward to our Trade Inward is the only means not only to keep our Money at home , but to gain an increase of Money , and so advanceth the true Intrinsique Wealth of the Kingdom ; for as of our Hand if our Trade Outward Exceed our Trade Inward the Excess must of Necessity be returned in Money or Bullion , so if our Trade Inward Exceed our Trade Outward , the Excess must be made good from hence in Money , which must needs insensibly impoverish the Kingdom , and Experience makes us know it to be true : Now the Advance of our Manufactures would be by this means plainly Evident , for Woollen Manufactures or Cloath , the Staple Commodity of this Kingdom , would be more , & these other Woollen Manufactures , as Kersyes , Serges , Baize , which , though now confined to several parts of the Kingdom , as Devonshire , Norfolk , Colchester , would be by this means diffused over the whole Kingdom , and those Places which have little of Woollen Manufacture , as Lincolnshire , Northamptonshire , and other Counties , would soon fall into it ; So likewise knitting of Stockings , Capps , Wast-Coats and the like . 2. Our Linnen Manufactures , as Linnen Cloath , Laces of all forts , Nets , Sails , &c. would become native , and supply the Want of the Kingdom , and prevent the necessity of Importation of Linnen Cloath from Holland and France , of Laces from Flanders : And as this trade is in some degree used in Lancashire , Leicestershire , and some other Places , so it would be communicated to other Places of the Kingdom . And it is very considerable the numbers of Poor that would be by this means imployed in dressing of Hemp and Flax , Spinning , Weaving , Whitening and the like . And if any shall say , we want the Materials terials , and we want those that should instruct the Poor in the Ordering of them , The Answer is at hand ; If once the Manufacture were begun to be put into a Method by this way , all men would quickly sow Hemp and Flax in some Parcels of their Tillage , and possibly some Lands that were not so fit for other Tillage would be imployed in this : two Acres of Hemp and Flax in every Parish would imploy multitudes , which now People neglect to sow because they have no way to vent or imploy it : And for Instructors , when once the alarm is abroad of such a design , it will draw over Workmen from other Forreign Parts ; and by this means we gained , or at least recovered the Skill of making Woollen Cloath from other Parts , as appears by undenyable Evidence . And if it shall be said that this will defraud and straiten us of Labourers in our Woollen Manufactures ; there can be no fear of that ; for we have Poor enough to be imployed in both , and it is most certain , that the Populousness of the Kingdom still increaseth , notwithstanding its great Exhaustings by Wars and Plagues , & Forrein Plantations , and consequently the Poor will be proportionably increased , so that we may reasonably suppose that in one seven Years , by the blessing of God , the very proceeds , that will be able and fit to work , of poor Families , will be more than double to what they are now , which will continually increase in a kind of Geometrical Progression , whereby there will be enough for double the imployment that is now for them . 6. By the means of these Work-Houses , there will be an Opportunity for One or Two Persons , skilled in any Manufacture , to instruct Twenty in the Trades , by common Resort , Meeting and dayly Residence of Children and young People there ; and there may be Opportunity , to teach Children to read without any interruption , in the Imployments of them that are able to teach them , or of them that are able to work . 7. By this means the yearly Contributions for the Necessary relief of Poor , that are able to work , and their Families , and those kind of Contributions which in time will be impossible to support the Poor , will be changed into a supply Every way more easy for them that are to pay , though at first it may require a more liberal assistance for the raising of the Stocks , and Every way more beneficial and advantageous for the Poor ; First , Because they will hereby be educated and inured to a way of Civility and Industry . 2. They will gain a Trade , which will go along with them as the constant support of their lives . 3. The Wages that they will gain will be a greater and better support than they can have by any Contributions that are able to be assessed for them for they may be able to gain , Two , Three , Four , Five and Six Shillings a Week , for Every Person able to work , which is five times more than their weekly or yearly Contributions do or can amount unto , without Exhausting more than the Revenues of the Parishes , wherein these Poor are in many places : And this shall be demonstrated to the Eye of any that will consider this instance , which I have Exactly tryed , and Examined , and found to be true : The ordinary Process and time , and charge of making a common Course medly Cloth of our Gloucester shire Wooll at this day is ; 1. In Every such Cloath of about 32 Yards long there is Ninety Pounds of Wooll , which will cost at this day at 12 d. per Pound Four Pounds 10 s . viz. ordinary in a grey Cloath . 54 l. of Abb. 4 l. 10 s . 34 l. of Warp . 4 l. 10 s . 2 l. of Mixture . 4 l. 10 s . 2. The Charge of making this Cloath :   l. s . d. 1 Parting & Picking 0 3 0 2 Colouring 0 16 0 3 Breaking & Spinning the Abb at two pence farthing per l. 1 7 9 4 Breaking & Spinning the Warp at 5 d. per l. 0 18 6 5 Cards and Oyl 1 0 0 6 Weaving , Spooling and Warping 1 1 3 7 Milling and Burling . 0 12 0 l. s . d. 8 Shearing and Dressing 0 18 0 9 Drawing 0 1 6 10 Carriage and Facturage 0 7 0 So the whole Charge comes to 11 l. 15 s . Out of which deducting the Materials of Wooll , and Cards , and Oyl , viz. 5 l. 10 s . Their remains Entirely for the Expence of work amount to 6 l. 5 s . It is true at this day this Cloath yields not above 12 l. to be sold , which is only 5 s . profit , but when Trade is quicker it may yield 13 l. or more . The People that are imployed in bringing about this Cloath to be ready are 14 , viz. 3 Weavers and Spoolers , 2 Breakers , six Spinners , one Fuller and Burler , one Sheerman , one Parter and Picker : The Weavers supply the Office of Spooler and Warper . These will bring about the first Cloath in about two Moneths space : But being continued in a constant tract the Cloath will be brought about in three weeks time , for all the other Workmen are at work and fit the Cloath for the Weaver in that space that he is Weaving the first Cloath . 5. Consequently this one Loom thus imployed all the Year round allowing two Months to the first Cloath , and three Weeks to every other , will make fourteen returns the first Year of Cloath ready for sale and sixteen returns Every Year after . 6. Consequently that which this yields for bare Wages to these 14 poor Workmen for the first Year is Eighty seven Pounds ten Shillings , and for the following Years is Ninety seven Pounds , and by this Computation it is Easy to see what Every Workman can gain a Week being full imployed . 7. About one hundred Pounds Stock will for ever keep this Looms work going , and maintain these fourteen Workmen , and consequently a Stock of four hundred Pounds will keep on foot four Looms work , and keep on Work fifty six Persons , and be able to abide the ordinary delays of sale incident to the Markets . 8. But if it could be supposed that the Cloath could be sold as soon as made ( which is not I confess reasonably to be Expected ) then a Stock of four and twenty Pounds would by its continual return provide Materials , and pay the Workmen for one Looms work in perpetuity : But because the returns by sale cannot be as speedy as the work is'done , the Stock must be near 100 l. to abide the delay of a Month , two , three , four or more , in point of sale , and likewise to buy Wooll seasonably for Work. And by this it appears that although one hundred pounds Stock by its 16 returns yields but an inconsiderable advantage to the Master at five Shillings per Cloath , viz. but four Pounds in the Year , yet it yields a considerable advantage to the poor Workers , viz. near one hundred Pounds per annum ; and consequently a Stock of four hundred Pounds yields near four hundred Pounds per annum . And conse sequently these fifty six poor People that are kept on work with this Stock of four hundred Pounds could not live better , if the Parish were at the yearly pension of four hundred Pounds per annum , to relieve them , nor indeed so well , considering they are by this means kept in a way of imployment and honest industry ; And yet without some supply either by Wages or Contribution those fifty six poor People being destitute of Wages or Contributions to this value or near it , must live by stealing or begging , or starve . And let it be also considered that this Stock thus raised and set going maintains it self by a perpetual circulation and vicissitude , without any considerable help by any farther supply , and yet perpetually countervails a Contribution of near four hundred Pounds per annum for the relief of these fifty six poor Persons . By all which it will appear that the advantage of a Stock imployed , and once set on foot doth countervail a great Contribution and indeed greater then can be raised and yearly continued by most places , and will at least in time render those yearly constant Contributions lower and less needful . 9. But yet farther , by this means there will be a reasonable gage set to Wages of Workmen : It is not unknown how that some covetous Masters in hard times , if they are well stocked and of abilities , will set on work many Poor , but they must take such Wages as they are not able to live upon , and that also many times paid in Corn , Wooll , Cheese , and other things at rates high enough : And indeed if they will work upon these terms they may , but if not they turn them off , or not imploy them , and thereupon the poor Workmen not being able to live without work , and having no place to resort for any , are under a necessity of working to them at inconsiderable rates . And such Masters make greater advantage by this means when trade is low then when it is open : But by this means there would be a refuge for the Poor to be imployed at reasonable Wages ; and the reason is Evident , because this being but an Expedient , not so much for gain to the Master as for Imployment for the Poor , as long as the Stock makes but good it self , or be managed without considerable loss , it attains its End , and therefore may give competent Wages . But on the other hand the Trading-Master looks for his profit , and if his Stock turns not to him for gain he gives over , or reduceth the Workman to inconsiderable Wages that his own gain may be the greater . And although it may be there be some honest minded and charitable Masters that will be content for some time to imploy their Stock though without gain , yet they are but rare to be found and such as commonly hold not out long unless they find profit though perchance they suffer no loss : These be some of those Considerations that shew the usefulness of this Expedient : I shall now consider some of the Objections that may be made against it : 1. Ob. It is a great business to raise for the purpose four Years Pay at once to make up a Stock , and yearly Contributions are more Easy . I answer , It is true , and yet the advantage even to the objecters themselves is even to their sense apparently great : If a man had a Rent of Inheritance issuing out of his Land , he would not think much of giving sixteen Years purchase to buy it in : And the charge that goes out for the Poor as it is as much and as certain a Charge as a Rent , so it is evident to us that it hath increased yearly , and of necessity the longer things are continued in this careless way it must increase in an Excessive Proportion , and to give four Years Purchase to abate it , or if it were but to keep it at a Stay , were good husbandry . 2. Besides this , let a man consider what other losses do accrue by the want of a due Provision of Work , and an industrious Education for the Poor , in thieving and stealing , and sending such Malefactors to Goals at the charges of the Parish , in Prosecuting them at Assizes and Sessions , in cutting and destroying of Woods , pulling of Hedges , and trespasses to Corn and Grass thereby , in Alms giving at the door ; these would be , if not altogether prevented , yet , in a great measure they would , when that most unchristian and indeed inhumane way of Living among most ordinary indigent People is remedied by convenient Imployment and Wages . 2. Obj. But there are a sort of Idle People , that will rather begg then work though they may be imployed , and so that trade of Begging and Idleness would be still continued . I Answer 1. That we do surmise a Compulsary Law to inforce Idle Persons to work , which would prevent it . 2. By this means the Benefit of Working would Exceed the Benefit of Begging which would cause Persons to leave it . 3. By the Educating of Children in a way of Industry there would be gradually a Disaccustomedness to that way which would in time quite remove it . But 4. When men were once assured by a clear Evidence that the Poor might have Work upon reasonable terms , no man would give , the Laws against Wanderers that were able to work , and against the relievers of such , would be cheerfully put in Execution , which now men even upon the account of common charity cannot bring themselves to . 3. Obj. But what considerable advantage would such a Stock as four hundred Pounds do when perchance in a time of trading four or five thousand Pounds imployed by Masters in a Parish is but enough to set their Poor on Work , where it may be there are two or three hundred Persons that are thus imployed . I answer , It would be a great help to the Poor in a time of scarcity of Work , although it should lye still in a time of plenty of Work. The supply of Work , for a Month , or two , or three , in a Year , when Traders for Advantage give over , keeps Industry on the Wheels , and yields a considerable supply . 2. In good times , when there is no need of it , it is as capable of Increase and Improvement , being imployed as private mens Stocks are , which would inlarge it , or at lest inable it to bear some loss in times of lowness of Trade . 3. If once such a Stock were going it would not only increase by it self , but it would have continual accession by Charitable Gifts , which would do five times the good thus imployed than imployed as they are in Doles and little yearly Pensions , which consume and come to nothing , but are swallowed up in the present necessity of the Poor , and leave but small signs of Advantage behind them : Whereas the following of the Method now propounded will at least leave the Persons , to whom it is applyed the Advantage of an Industrious Education and Profession , which will abide by them . 4. Obj. But men , that are concerned for their own Benefit in the prosecution of their Trade , as for instance of Cloathing , and consequently more careful than Persons imployed for others , yet do lose by their Trading , and many times impair their Stocks ; and therefore this , that cannot be expected to be neither so industriously nor successfully managed , may be in the same condition . I Answer . 1. in general . In this way there must needs be one of these Events : 1. Either there will be Gain , and then it doth improve the Stock , and lays up an Advantage that may compensate a former loss and enable the bearing of a future loss . And I know no reason but that in this management there may be some times at least of Advantage as well as in private Trading . The times are not alwayes at a stand in Trade , but some times , and most ordinarily there is some gains in it , though not so much as at other times ; and then the good times make amends for the bad . 2. Or else , though there be no gain , there will be no loss , but it stands at a stay , and if it doth so this design attains its End , which is the Imployment of the Poor . Though it yields not the Master or Trader any gain , yet it yields the Poor a subsistence in their Wages and Work. It is true a private Tradesman looks to gain so much as may at least maintain himself and his Family . And if he doth not he gives over his Trading , as not answering his end ; and it may be in some cases reasonable to do so : But though here be little or no gain , yet the End is attained , because the Poor are imployed and paid though the Stock increase not . 3. Or else there is Loss . To this I say ; 1. If there be Loss , yet it is but gradual , not altogether . Suppose it be twenty , thirty , or forty Pounds in a Year , in a Stock of four hundred Pounds , and by that account , yet this Stock will not be wholly exhausted in five or six Years ; and if it should be so , yet the Loss to the Parish would not be more than it would be if its old course of contribution at the height that it would have been during the spending of that Stock which is thereby , as before is observed , in a great measure remedied : 2. These decays may possibly be repaired by charitable Gifts and Bequests . 3. But if it were not , yet such gradual decays may be supplyed by the Parishes with the same Ease that their contribution would have been , all things considered , and possibly better times of Trade may happen at least once in two or three Years which may repair the loss , or at least keep the Stock at its full gage with small helps : 4. But suppose the worst and that in the Compass of three or four Years the whole Stock were wholly drawn dry ; I say confidently , that the Advantage the Country would have by a course of industrious Education of the Poor continued but one three or four Years , will more then countervail the loss of a very considerable Stock , in preventing that Trade of Idleness which grows up in Poor Families which will dayly infinitely increase , and will receive a very great check and possibly such as will for ever prevent the return of such a course of life by the interruption of a tract of three or four Years of Imployment , and will put thousands in that tract of time into a course of trade and livelyhood which they will carry with them all their lives after . 5. And besides all this , it is not likely the trade will suffer a perpetual interruption , but Even while this Stock is in this wane and declination , private men will be trading , and then in this decay and declination of the Stock ( if it should be unsupplyed ) there will be Work at private hands , and Persons instructed and fitted and able to do it , which may prevent a total interruption of an industrious Education and may give some intervals of relaxation of the Imployment of the common Stock , at least in that fullness as formerly , till it be recruited by new supplyes . 6. But yet farther , the Method of the proposed Imployment though it be principally bottomed upon the trade of Woollen Cloathing yet it will have other supplyes , as is propounded , as making of Kersyes , Baize , Knitting of Stockings , dressing & ordering of Hemp and Flax , and Spinning and Weaving it . And though there were no other but the Woollen Manufacture yet if it should please our Superiors to interdict the Wearing of forrein Manufactures , our own consumption at home and the necessity that they have in forrein parts of our Woollen Manufactures would double the Trade of Woollen Manufactures . 5. Obj. The Poor have Work already if they will work , and the setting up of such a publique Trade will but make Workmen the more independent , and decline the Imployment of private Traders which will tend to the decay of Trade . I Answer I. It is true when Trading is quick possibly they may have Work enough but upon any check in Trade they are oftentimes turned off unless they will work at Extream low Wages and ill paid . 2. When work is so plenteous at private hands there may be an intermission or relaxation of the Imployment of the common Stock : Especially if they can have better Wages at private hands ; for it will be enough for this to be supplemental of the defects of work at others hands , and it sufficiently attains its End if it may be a refuge at the time of need for those that would work and cannot get it , and an Expedient to enforce those to work that can and willnot . 6. Objection . Poor that do their work well , and are honest , and industrious , cannot want work when any is to be had in the country , and those that are not imployed are either such as will not work , or cannot tell how to work , or will steal and purloyn their Work : These will undo the Work-House . I answer 1. Some times there are when the honestest Workmen cannot get Work , and this will be a reserve for them . 2. But as for others here will be an Expedient to teach them to Work that cannot , and to compell them to Work , that can , and to punish them , that are dishonest in their Work. 3. And if there were no punishment , yet when a Work-House and Stock is once settled , that would be sufficient to make them Work : For when every man were once sure that they that would honestly Work might have it , and reasonable Wages , every Wanderer and Begger would be esteemed such a Person as will not work , or will be dishonest in it , and not fit to be relieved , but the Laws to be severely put in Execution against them . 7. Obj. But where shall we have men that will undertake the imployment and be faithful and trusty in it ? I answer 1. There be many poor and honest men , who for a small Salary and a Room or two to Work and lodge in the Work-House would be fit enough to undertake the Imployment of a Master , and yet he would have no great trust upon him , for the Stock would be lodged in the hands of the Overseers , and they to deliver it out , and take weekly or monethly accounts : Which Overseers may be substantial men and at no great trouble , and eligible either by the Justices of Peace , or Parishioners , yearly or once in three Years , and their trouble would be no greater than the trouble of Overseers of the Poor , or Church-wardens in any Parish . And thus I have hastily and cursorily gone through the Method , Reasons and Objections of this Proposal , which I am sure if it can be brought to a due accomplishment , is , 1. A Work of great Humanity and such as we owe to those of our own Nature as we are men . The wise God did tell his ancient People that the Poor should be always among them ; which was , 1. To Exercise their Liberality and Charity in supplying the wants of some by the abundance of others . And 2. To Exercise their discretion & industry to think of and set on foot such means as might put them in a course of honest Imployment , and Encourage them in it : they that are rich are Stewards of their Wealth , and they that are wise are Stewards of their Wisdom , unto that great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth , to whom they must give an account of both ; and one , I am sure , of the best accounts they can give of both is to imploy them in the Reformation & Relief of those that want both or either . Am I my Brothers keeper was the answer of one of the worst of men . 2. A Work that as well becomes a Christian as any , Christianity recommending Charity as one of the principal Christian Virtues . And indeed the ill Provision for the Poor in England is one of the greatest reproaches to us in relation to our Christian Profession . 3. A Work for a good English man : The want of a due Provision for Education and relief of the Poor in a way of Industry is that which fills the Goals with Malefactors , and fills the Kingdom with idle and unprofitable Persons that consume the Stock of the Kingdom without improving it , and that will daily increase even to a desolation in time . And this Error in the first concoction is never remediable but by Gibbets and whipping . But there must be a sound , prudent and resolved Method for an Industrious Education of the Poor , and that will give better remedy against these corruptions than the after gain of penalties can . FINIS . 
A45753	----	A further discoverie of the office of publick addresse for accommodations Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A45753 of text R19711 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing H987). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 58 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A45753 Wing H987 ESTC R19711 12676170 ocm 12676170 65541 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A45753) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 65541) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 420:5) A further discoverie of the office of publick addresse for accommodations Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662. [3], 30, [2] p. [s.n.], London : 1648. Ascribed to Samuel Hartlib. Cf. BM. Errata: p. 30. Reproduction of original in Bodleian Library. eng Public welfare -- England -- London. Poor -- England -- London. A45753 R19711 (Wing H987). civilwar no A further discoverie of the office of pvblick addresse for accommodations. Hartlib, Samuel 1648 10622 12 0 0 0 0 0 11 C The rate of 11 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the C category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2005-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-08 Taryn Hakala Sampled and proofread 2006-08 Taryn Hakala Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A further Discoverie OF THE OFFICE OF PVBLICK ADDRESSE FOR ACCOMMODATIONS . printer's or publisher's device LONDON , Printed in the Yeer , 1648. L. Montagne's Essayes the fourth Book the XXIV Chapter , of a Defect in our POLICIES . MY whilesome Father who had no help but from experience and his own nature , yet of an unspotted judgment hath heretofore told me , that he much desired to bring in this custome , which is , that in all Cities there should be a certain Appointed Place , to which whosoever should have need of any thing might come , and cause his busines to be Registred by some Officer appointed for that purpose . As for example , if one have Pearls to sel , he should say , I seek to sell some Pearls ; another I seek to buy some Pearls : such a man would fain have Company to travell to Paris : Such a one enquireth for a Servant of this or that quality : Such a one seeketh for a Master , another a workman , some this some that every one as he needed . And it seemeth that this means of enterwarning one another : would bring no small Commodity unto Common Commerce and Society . For there are ever conditions that enter-seek one another , and because they understand not one another , they leave men in great necessity . I understand to the infamous reproach of our Age , that even in out sight two most excellent men in knowledge have miserably perished for want of food and other necessaries , Lilius Gregorius Giraldus in Italy , and Sebastianus Castalio in Germany . And I verily believe there are many thousands , who had they known or understood their wants , would either have sent for them , and with large stipends have entertained them , or would have conveighed them succour where ever they had been . The world is not so generally corrupted , but I know some that would earnestly wish , and with hearty affections desire the goods which their fore-fathers have left them , might so long as it shall please God they may enjoy them , be employed for the relief of rare , and supply of excellent mens necessities , and such as for any kind of worth and vertue are remarkable , many of which are daily seen to be pursued by poverty even to the utmost extremity , and that would take such order for them as had they not their ease and content it might only be imputed to their want of reason , or lack of discretion . A further Discoverie OF THE OFFICE OF PUBLICK ADDRESSE FOR ACCOMMODATIONS . BEfore we fell into these last fears and troubles , a Brief Discourse was presented unto the High and Honourable Houses of Parliament ; concerning the Means to accomplish the Work of our Reformation : tending to shew that by an Office of Publick Addresse in Spirituall and Temporall concernments , the Glory of God , and the Happinesse of this Nation may be highly advanced . This Discourse hath fully approved it self unto the Judgement of all those that have seen it hitherto , and hopefully it would have wrought some effect upon those that mannage the Affairs of this State , if the Danger of this last Commotion , had not employed all their strength and Attention , to save us from sudden Shipwrack . Nor is the Sea yet quieted after so great a storme : but the fears and expectations of what will follow do keep the minds of most men in suspense , till they see a safe Harbour , that is , what the way of our future settlement will be . And truly this Consideration might also suspend our thoughts and solicitations in this matter ; if we would look onely to the outward Appearance of Affairs , and make Our selves as many do by their Conjectures fearfull . For He that observeth the winde shall not sowe ; and he that regardeth the Clouds shall not reap : But we have learned to cast our bread upon the waters , in hope that we may finde it after many dayes : and we are willing to give a portion unto seven , and also to eight , because we know not what evill shall be upon the Earth . So then , even that which maketh others lesse carefull of the Publick , doth increase our care for it . For most men will not intend any Publick Ayme till they can secure their own Interests , and see a way to get advantage by that which they call the Publick : but we shall never ayme at this ; our delight shall be , that all may be advantaged , and the Publick Interest of the Common-wealth setled , although it should be to our cost and disadvantage : For we know the promise , that if we faint not , and become not wearie in well-doing , we shall reap in due time the fruit of righteousnesse . Therefore upon the grounds laid in the former Discourse , we shall endeavour now to proceed to offer some Particulars ; which perhaps will take more with those men , then that which we ayme at principally . For our ayme is mainly to lay the grounds of that Reformation in this change of our Affairs , which may reach the spirits of Men to affect them with a Gospel-frame : But if we therein cannot come neer them immediately ; yet we shall endeavour to come as neer as we may by the things whereof they are capable ; because we are resolved rather to venture the loosing of our Labour , then to sit still ; and not give our selves this satisfaction that we have discharged a good Conscience in performing our Dutie . We shall declare then with that simplicitie , which becometh a good conscience in the presence of God , that our desire is to serve all men freely in the Publick Interest so farre as God doth inable us ; and that by this Designe we Aime at a speciall Advantage to the Gospel of Christ rather then at any thing else ; and if we can but awake those , that are in Places of Power and Authoritie ; to take notice of the Means , whereby all Mens talents may become usefull to each other , in this Common-wealth ; that for their own Temporall Ends , they would countenance , and promote the same ; we shall have our End at this time in this undertaking . Therefore now we make our application as to all indifferently , that love the prosperity of Sion , and the wellfare of this State ; so more particularly to those whom God hath appointed to be our Leaders in every good work , and Encouragers of those that apply themselves thereunto , that whether they lay the matter to heart or no , they may not be without a witnes before God and the world , that this is a duty belonging to their charge ; which without any charge , trouble or difficulty may be most easily brought to passe , by a few words in the way of Order , to Authorize the undertaking of such an Office , for the unspeakable Benefit of all , and without the least imaginable Inconveniencie unto any . And that the thing it self , may manifest the truth of this , We shall come to a more particular Discoverie of the Office in the matters of Temporall Accommodation ; which unto the men of this world are sensible Inducements towards all Enterprises . Let us then consider , What it is that maketh a Common-wealth , and all those that are in it , happy , as to the Life of Nature . The chief End of Common-wealths is Society , the End of Society is Mutuall Help , and the End and Use of Help is to enjoy from one another Comforts , that is , every thing lawfully desirable or wanting to our contentation . Wheresoever then , in a Common-wealth such a Constitution may be had ; whereby the Members thereof may be inabled to enjoy from each other all the Helps which Nature doth afford unto them for their Mutuall Contentation , there the State and all those that are in it may be said to be as happie as this world can make them . For no man can be more happie in Nature , then to have all his lawfull desires supplied so farre as they are attainable : But in this Common-wealth such a Constitution may be had , and that easily , which will do this : Therefore this Common-wealth and all the Members thereof may be as happie as this world can make them ; if their Rulers will either assist them , or at least suffer them to become so . Now this Constitution whereof we speak is nothing else , but the Designation of a certain place , whereunto it shall be free for every one to make his Addresse upon all Occasions , aswell to offer unto others , as to receive from them , the commodities which are desirable , and the Informations of things profitable to be taken notice of in a private or publick way . In this Place an Officer is to be appointed , who should have power to direct and order the work of the Constitution . He should have certain men under him , so many as he should think fit to keep Registers , and make extracts thereof , to give to such as should desire the same for their Information . These Registers should be of all things which either may be any way offred by one man to any or to all , and desired by another from Any or from All ; or which otherwise may be of publick use , though not at all taken notice of by any to that End . And the E●d wherefore these Registers are thus to be kept , is onely , that therein may be settled a Center of Encounters to give Information to All of All usefull matters . For one of the great Causes of our Miserie in this present life is this , that we are not onely in the dark , not knowing what good things are exstant in private , or publickly attainable for Vse : But we are in disorder and confusion , because when we know what things are attainable , yet we have no way contrived how to encounter readily and certainly with them our selves , when we have need of them , or when we have them , to impart them to such as want them . Now to remedie both these evils , this Office may be an Instrument , by being made a Common Intelligencer for All , not onely of things actually offered or desired by some to be communicated , but also of things by himself and others observable , which may be an occasion to raise matter of Communication for the Information to All . The multitude of affaires in populous Places doth naturally run into a confusion , except some orderly way be found out to settle Times and Places wherein those that are to attend them , may meet together for the transaction thereof . If there were no Exchanges , nor set houres thereof , for Merchants to meet and transact matters ; What a disorder and obstruction would there be in all trading ? And if a man that hath to do in the Exchange with five or six men ; doth come to it when it is thronging full , and knoweth not the ordinarie walkes of those severall men ; nor any body that can tell him where their walkes are ; he may run up and down , here and there , and wearie himself out of breath , and not meet with any of them , except by great chance he light upon them at an instant : So it is with all other men in respect of all other conveniencies in great and populous Cities or Kingdomes ; They run up and down at random to seeke for their Accomodations ; and when they have wearied themselves a long time in vain , they sit down oft times unsatisfied : But if there were but a place of common resort appointed , like unto the Exchange , where they should be sure to receive Information of all that which they would desire to know , they might without any losse of time come instantly to the enjoyment of their desires , so far as they are attainable . This Place then is that , which we call the Office of Addresse . Here sufficient Registers should be kept of all desirable Matters of Humane Accommodation , shewing where , with whom , and upon what conditions they may be had . And this would be as it were a National Exchange for all desirable Commodities , to know the readie way of encountring with them and transacting for them . This then is the proper End and Vse of this Office , to set every body in a way by some direction and Addresse , how to come speedily to have his lawfull desires accomplished , of what kind soever they may be . This Constitution will be a Means mightily to increase all Trade and Commerce amongst Merchants and all sort of People , but especially to relieve the necessities of the Poore , for whose sake alone it doth deserve to be entertained , although there were none other conveniencie in it . But to shew that by the advantage of such an Addresse , as is intended by this Office to be set a foot , all Trade will be mainly advanced : Consider how for the want of it , occasions of Trading and Transacting of businesses are hindred between man and man , to their mutuall disadvantage , and the detriment of the Common-wealth . As for example : I am desirous to let out a parcell of ground and an house upon it to be rented ; another is desirous to have some ground with an House upon it to farme , we for want of knowing each others desires do not meet to treat upon the businesse , and cannot find our accommodations perhaps in a yeer or two , to our content : Here then the Commerce which we might have with each other is stopt ; the publick Notarie is not employed between us ; the Counsellour , whose advice is to be used in drawing the Leases , is not employed ; I want Money which I might trade withall another way to my great profit and the publick benefit ; the Farmes is idle , the House not inhabited , and out of repair ; the ground either not at all , or not so well cultivated , as otherwise it would be ; the Inheritance doth go to decay ; lesse fruit is reaped of the ground ; lesse imployment for labouring men ; lesse works and Manufactures of Tradesmen and Shop-keepers used , fewer Customes and duties payed to the publick : and consequently in every respect both to my self and others to whom I am associated a disadvantage doth befall ; because I cannot encounter with the conveniencie whereof I stand in need ; nor the Farmer with his Accommodation : But if we could have met with each other , and transacted our businesse to our mutuall content , all these Inconveniencies would have been prevented both to us and the Publick : It is undeniably true , that the multitude of People doth beget Affairs ; and the readie transaction of Affairs in a State , is the onely Means to make it flourish in the felicitie of the Inhabitants ; and that nothing can advance such a readie transaction so much , as a Common-center of Intelligence for all such Matters ; is quite out of doubt . As for the Benefit of the Poore , and the Relief of their Necessities ( which alone might move us to the prosecuting of this businesse ) there is nothing imaginable , that can be more beneficiall unto them . For consider , amongst all the Causes of Humane Povertie ( which are many ) this maine one ; namely , that most men are poore for want of employment is , either because they cannot find Masters to employ them ; or because their abilities and fitnesse to do service are not known to such as might employ them : or lastly , because there is perhaps little work sti●ring in the Common-wealth for them . All these causes will be clearly remedied by this Constitution ; for here not onely the Master shall be able to encounter with a Servant , or a Servant with a Master , fit for each other , when both have given up their names , and the tenour of their desires , with the places of their abode ; to the Registe●s of the Office : but by the collection and observation of all things profitable to be improved for the Publick use ; much matter of employment , will be produced and found out , which now is not at all thought upon . When poore Work-men or Tradesmen come to a great City , such as London is , in hope of getting employment ; if they fail of their expectation , or meet not with the Friends upon whom they did relye ; they betake themselves to begging ; or sometimes to farre worser courses ; which brings them to a miserable end : but in stead of their particular expectation and Freind , they can betake themselves to one , that can give them addresse to the emploiment which in the Common-wealth can be found for them ; they not onely may be preserved from beggerie and miserie , but become usefull unto their Neighbour . H●herto we have spoken of the Office , and the usefulnes thereof in respect of the End . Now we shall come to the matters whereof Registers should be kept in the Office for Information and addresse , to satisfie all mens desires . The desires of men are infinite in respect of the circumstances ; and therefore it is not to be expected , that a particular enumeration thereof should be made : We must reflect upon the principall heads whereunto all may be referred , that when particulars are offred they may be brought unto their proper places in the Registers , where they may be found in due time for Information and addresses of one towards another . There be two kindes of Registers or Inventaries of addresse ; Some are of things which are perpetually the same , and alwaies existent in the Society of Mankind in generall , and in a distinct Common-wealth , Kingdome , Province and City in particular , and others are not perpetuall but changeable Registers containing all matters of daily Occurrence between man and man to be imparted . The Matters whereof the perpetuall and unchangeable Registers should give Information to such as may enquire after the same , are chiefly these . 1. For such as would know concerning any thing exstant in the world , what hath been said or written of it , the standing Register should containe a Catalogue of all Catalogues of Books ; whereunto the Enquisitor may be referred to seek out whether or no be can find any thing written of the Matter ; whereof he doth make enquirie in any of those Catalogues , and the Office should have one or more Copies of each of those Catalogues to which the Register of Catalogues should referre them to make their search . 2. For such as should make inquirie concerning this Kingdome to know the scituation of any of the Provinces , Shires , Counties , Cities , Towns , Villages , Castles , Ports ; and such like places ; the Office should have Speeds Description of this Kingdome , and Mercator , or others , to referre them thereunto . 3. For such as would desire to know , what publick Officers , and Employments , and what particular Trades are of use in this State ; the Office should shew a Register thereof . 4. For such as would know what Families and Persons of eminent note and qualitie are in the Kingdom for Birth , or for Place and Emploiment , or for Abilities and singular personall Vertues , the Office should shew who they are , and what their property is , and where to be met withall . 5. For such as desire to know the standing Commodities of the Kingdom ; what they are in the whole , and what peculiar to every place ? How they are transported from place to place ? Where and when the Markets thereof are kept ? And how to get intelligence of the particular prices thereof ? The Office should have Registers for Information of all this . 6. For such as desire to know what Commodities are imported from forraine parts constantly into this Kingdom ? Where and at what times to be found ? With Information concerning the prices thereof ; the Office should be able to give notice hereof . As for the Matters of daily Occurrence , which by reason of circumstances are changeably to be taken notice of , and differently to be proposed , as offered from one man to another , or desired by one from another , for mutuall Accommodation ; the Registers thereof must be divided into severall Books , and the Books into chapters , to whose heads all matters of that kind should be referred The Titles of these Books should be at least these foure . 1. One for the Accommodation of the Poore . 2. Another for the Accommodation of Trade , Commerce and Bargains for profit . 3. A third for the Accommodation of all Actions which proceed from all relations of persons to each other in all Estates and conditions of Life . 4. A fourth for Ingenuities and matters of delight unto the mind in all Ve●●ues and rare Objects . These foure Registers may be distinguished and intituled from the properties of their Subjects thus . The first should be called the Register of Necessities , or of Charity : The second of Usefulnes or of Profit : The third of Perfo●mance or of Duties : And the fourth of Delights or of Honour . And to these Heads all humane Occurrences , wherein one man may be helpfull unto another may be referred , if not very directly , yet in some way , which will be without difficulty understood , and fit to avoid confusion in the matters of the Registers . Now we shall come to each of these Books in particular , to shew the matters of Accommodation contained therein , for publick and private Service . I. The Register for the Poore . THe Heads of Chapters unto which all Matters of Accommodation for the Poore may be referred are these . 1. Counsels and Advices to be given concerning the Means , whereby the Poore may be relieved , by being set a work , and employed if they be strong , or in cases of sicknesse and want of employment , how to facilitate the Provision of Lodging , Clothing , Food , and Entertainment for them : Here with the particular Expedients which shall be suggested , a Note of the Names of those that do suggest them shall be Registred , and if they desire it , a Certificate given unto them to attest what they have suggested . 2. The List of Names of the Poore , viz : the Number of those that are entertained , and how they are provided for alreadie in severall places . 2. The Names of such as have no provision made for them , shall be enrolled in the List of the Poore to be entertained , when they come with a Certificate of their Condition to the Commissioners for the Poore , and have made their Case known unto them : where a speciall respect is to be had to the Poore that are shamefast , and want confidence to put forth themselves to be an object of Publick or Private charitie . 3. The List of Names of Benefactors to the Poore , whether in publick or in private , that the Poore who are enrolled may receive addresse , and go unto them for relief ( or Employment , as the way of their charitie shall fall out ) to be bestowed by themselves , or those whom they shall appoint to distribute it ; for the Office of Addresse shall not meddle with the Receits or Distribution of any Money in this kinde ; but onely with the Names of the givers and receivers thereof , to notifie the one to the other . 4. The Names of Physicians , Apothecaries , and Chirurgeons , who shall offer themselves to visit the Poore in their sicknesse , to bring them some Remedies , or give them Advice what to do in point of dyet , or otherwise for their health . 5. A List of Experiments and easie Remedies of diseases , which any shall be willing to impart for the good of the Publick , and speedie relief of the diseased and poore , chiefly by the discoverie of the admirable effects of simples ; shall be enrolled with the Names of those that impart the same unto the Physicians , Chirurgeons , and Apothecaries , who shall offer themselves to give attendance upon the Poore in their sicknesse . 6. Because all persons , though otherwise never so rich in possessions , if they be under any grievous sicknesse or affliction , and can finde no re●ief for it , are to be counted poore , and are objects of Charitie , if they will not be known by name , to be in such a case ; the Factum or circumstantiall Description of their Case may be sent unto the Office ; and a Memoriall adjoyned of some place or bodie , who is to receive the Answer of Advice to be procured upon it ; and the Officer of the Office of Addresse , shall have an Advice to be given by the Physicians , who shall offer themselves for the assistance of the poore , and it shall be written at the bottom of the Factum , or the Description of the Case . 7. In case any would have in matters of difficultie in Law-businesses , the impartiall Advice of eminent Counsellors upon the case which by word of mouth they themselves are unwilling to declare ; they may take the like course : or if they would know the judgement of their Advocates and Counsellours not formerly interessed in the matter , whether it doth agree , with that which hath been given to them , by those whom they have made use of ; they may without expressing of their own , or others names , make use of the Addresse , which the Office shall be able to give them in like manner . 8. And in case either for want of judgement or experience they know not how to set down their Cases and Factums circumstantially ; the Office will be able to give them Addresse to such as shall do it for them , with all secrecie and faithfulnesse . 9. In case there be any who by reason of poverty or other necessities and unavoid●ble hinderance , cannot pursue their Rights and just Interests in Law ; the Office will be able to Addresse them unto some ; that shall undertake the pursuit of the busines for them by right ; or else make an amiable composition and transaction of the matter for their best advantage , with their Adversary on their behalfe . 10. The List of poore Schollars , who have made some beginning in learning , and with a little matter of assistance might be enabled to perfect their course , and become usefull in their way to the Publick , shall be kept by it self ; that when the names of such as shall offer to be helpfull unto such shall be notified , they may be addressed unto them . 11. The List of strangers , who are going to their Countrie and are objects of Charity Here ; as also of our own Country men who being strangers in distresse elswhere , or Captives under the Turks , are objects of Charity , and may by their friends here seek for help upon good Certificates of their condition , and of the means of sending the relief which shall be procured unto them . 12. Because the Publick State and society of a Common-wealth is oft times in a course of Poverty , and want of many things , and is an Object of great Charity in severall respects , a List shall be kept of all the memorialls or Offers , which may be made by any for the ease of inconveniencies befalling thereunto , or for the advantage and benefit , which may be procured thereunto in a publick way ; and the Authors names and places of abode being known , they shal by the means of the offieer of addresse be directed to such as will be most able to promote the Execution therof ; and if they be absent a great way from London , or from the place of Supreame Government , where all proposals of that kinde are to be considered , without putting themselves to the charges of a great journey at adventure , the matter may be prosecuted in their name by some in whose hands the Officer of addresse may put it ; and a deserved recompence may be by him procured unto the Author of the Advice and Proposall , out of the benefit , which thence may accrue unto the Publick . II The Register of Commerce and Bargains . THe Heads of Chapters whereunto matters of Commerce may be referred in the way of Trading , are distinguished into the kinds of Commodities whereof Bargaines are made , and into the Cases and Waies of making Bargains about these Commodities . The Chapters of Commodities . 1. THe Chiefest of all Commodities , because it doth give a Common valuation to all other things , is Money ; the Office then shall give Information and Addresse . 1. What the Species and Sorts of Coyne extant here and elsewhere are in Silver and Gold ? What their weight and valuation is ? 2. What the Course of Exchange is amongst Merchants for all places of Trade , and how it doth change from time to time , towards Holland , France , Spaine , Germanie , &c. 2ly , The most necessary of all Commodities is Food ; to this Head the Office doth referre for Information and addresse all particulars of Meat and Drink . 1. Of Meats the List doth containe all Vegetables serving for that use ; as Wheat , Barley , Rye , Oats , Pease , Beanes , Rice , and all Corne and Graines , and Pulse , and every thing of that kind , and all Fruits and Roots fit for food , to shew what the rates thereof are , and where they are to be had . 2. All living Creatures in the Earth , Aire , and Waters , Beasts , Fowls and Fishes ; the Office shall give the addresse to the place , where they are to be bought , and shew the ordinarie Rates thereof in the severall parts of the Kingdome . 3. Of Drinks , as Wine , Beere , Ale , Cider , Perrie , Mede , strong Waters , and what else is of this kinde , the Office will let you know where to have your choice , and at the best rates . 4. I●em , the List of the Places and Rates , at which men may dyet themselves , either wholly , or by meals , as an Ordinarie . 3ly , Next to Food is Physick , and all Drugs and Wares which are used as Ingredients thereunto , as Spices and Herbes , and all Apothecaries Wares , whether Simples or Compounds , and all Grossers Commodities , serving either for Food or Physick , the Office shall let you know , where , and at what Rates they are to be had . Fourthly , Unto the preservation of Life and Health , doth belong also clothing of all sorts of Cloth and Stuffe ; Silks , and Woollen , Linnen , and Cotton of each kinde , the Lists of ordinarie rates , and the place where they are to be found , is to be shewed . Fifthly , Houses in the Citie or Countrey to be let or sold , and lodging Chambers furnished or unfurnished , with their rates are to be shewed also . Sixthly , The Commodities of Lands and Inheritances , and Leases of Farmes and Mannours , which are to be Bargained for in any kinde , are to be brought to their proper place for information to such as would enquire after them . Seventhly , All manner of moveables and Houshold-stuffe for the ease and convenience of life , are to be Listed with the rates at which they are to be sold , for such as shall desire present Accommodation . Eightly , Whole shops of Goods or such Commodities as are not to be found in sh●ps , as Coaches , Litters , Carts , with all their furniture , Ships , Boats , Woods , and such like , which the owners would not put to sale , should be found in their proper places for the Information of Buyers . Ninthly , Libraries , and Book-sellars Shops , according to their severall kinds : Item Shops of Paper and Parchment , and all Wares of this kinde , with their Rates , are to be found under this Head . The Chapters of the Cases and Wayes of making Bargains . 1 IF any desire to let out Money upon Interest with Security , or desire to receive it upon Interest in giving Security , the Office shall be able to give addresse thereunto . 2 If any will deposite Moneys for Annuities or Estate in Reversion , the Office shall addresse to such as will receive it . 3 If any will Borrow or Lend Money upon any other Conditions whatsoever as upon Lands , Houses , Leases , Rents , &c. the Office shall give Information and Addresse thereunto . 4 If Travellers desire to change Money from one species to another ; or to be furnished in all places where they shall come , the Office shall be able to addresse them to their Accommodation . 5 If any desire to transport himself or his Commodities by Land or Water , from one place to another ; the Office shall shew him where Horses , Coaches , Carts , Wagons , Boats , Ships , and Barks are to be had for all places , and what their hire is , or what the Hundred weight , or the Tun , and Last doth come to for transportation . 6 The Rates of all Customes , Taxes , Impositions , and duties to be paid for all Commodities should be found in the Office for Information of such as desire to know the same . 7 If any desire to know upon what Terms Prentices are to be admitted in all Trades and Manufactures , the Office shall give them Information . 8 If any should be willing to transplant himself or others from these parts into any of the Western or Southern Islands ; or desire any thing from thence to be brought hither , or carried from hence thither , the Office should be able to shew him upon what tearms his desire may be accomplished . 9 The Proportion and disproportion of the severall Weights and Measures throughout the Kingdom , the Office should shew . 10 The Rates of Insurances of all manner of Commodities ; and 11 The Weekly Course of Negotiation to be made as the Custome is at Amsterdam for all Commodities shall be known by the means of the Office . 12 If any desire an Association for Trading , or a Factory , the Office shall addresse him unto it . III. The Register of Persons , and Actions , in all Offices and Relations . IF any should desire to know Men out of Employment , who would gladly be set a Work in their Faculty ; the Office shall be able to make them known ; therefore unto this Head of Persons , the Register shall referre in their proper places all such as shall offer themselves to be listed for any employment whatsoever , that when enquiry is made after them , they may be found out . Here then a place must be . For 1 Ministers that want employment , for Lecturers and Professours of all Sciences , for such as offer themselves to be Tutors to Children : All sorts of Schoolmasters in all Languages , and all Schoolmistresses , All masters of Bodily Exercises , as Fencing , Vaulting , Dancing , &c. 2 Physicians and Chyrurgeons , and such as depend upon them to doe any service in that kind . 3 Secretaries , Advocates , Counsellors at Law , Clerks , Copiers of Writings , Scriveners , Solicitours of businesses , and all such as depend upon the Courts of Justice , as the Chancery , Common-pleas , the Kings Bench , &c. 4 Here also all such as are Officers or Servants in the Families of the King , Queen , Prince or Great Noblemen to know where they are to be found , or such as may be fit to do Noblemen service , as Stewards , Riders of the great Horse , and all such as may doe service in the Stables or the Kitchin , Comptrollers , Clarks of the Kitchin , Cooks , Butlers , Confectioners , &c. Waiting Gentlemen ; Grooms of the Chambers , or of the Stables , Porters , Gardiners , Coachmen , Faulconers , Footmen . 5 Messengers for all places , who serve the Publike as Foot or Horse-posts , to carry Letters or other Packets of small burden . 6 Here also such as are Masters of any Trades or Manufactures , or Journeymen and Apprentises , that seek Masters are to be registred to give them the addresse fit for their Conveniency , when any is to be had . 7 Husbandmen and Seamen , Pilots , and all that belong to the Employments by Water . 8 Souldiers of all degrees ; Drummers , Trumpeters , Pipers , &c. 2 As for the Female Kinde , their Memorials are to be brought into the Office by some Men whom they should employ to that Effect ; and the Office shall have some Grave and Pious Matrons to be employed about the Direction of all Addresses in that Nature ; to whom the Cases of Women ( as well as the Inspection of the Affaires of the Poore , as the Accommodation of others in their lawful desires and offers ) may be referred . 3 Matters of Mariage , and all Memorials for Information in that kinde are to be brought to this Head ; Whether of Children , to be disposed of , or of free Persons who have power to dispose of themselves . 4 If any be towards any journey and want Company to travell withall and seek Society , their Memorials are to be Registred under this Head . And if any want Instruction and Intelligence of the distances of places , or of the wayes and of the Conveniencies to be had in severall places , of Coaches , Horses , Wagons , &c. the Office shall be able to furnish them with their Information of all this ; and how to be accommodated so far as the places do afford every kinde of Conveniency . And by this means Travellers also will be more secured in their ways and better provided for . 5 Suites in Law to commence or end them without trouble , to which Effect such addresse shall be shewed , as may ease those that cannot attend their Suites themselves ( by reason of their distance from the places where the Courts are kept ) by the Means of faithfull Agents and impartiall Transactors . 6 In case Rents are to be received by any in places far distant from their Residence ; the Office shall be able by the Correspondency which it shall keep in all places , to procure the payment thereof neerer at hand unto them ; or in the place of their Residence it self without trouble . 7 Such as shall desire the Common-Intelligence of publike State-affairs , or Occurrences of matters of more speciall concernment at home , or abroad , shall finde addresse how to come by it to their content . 8 Such as expect Rewards for Services done to the King or State , and know not where to pitch and what to desire , answerable to what is due unto them , a discovery of degrees may be found by the Office to accommodate their just desires . 9 In case Sentences or Obligations be to be executed , the Office shall be able to shew in all places of the Kingdome some Body , that may be employed to that Effect . 10 Persons expert to attend the Sick : also the places where Sick persons may be accommodated for all manner of diseases better then at their own homes , with Baths , and places to sweat in , or for good aire and healthfull walks , &c. 11 In case any matter is to be notified to a Friend , whose abode is uncertain ; as the Mariage of any to be contracted , or the Birth and Death of any , or the arrivall of any to the City , or the change of his own abode : or suppose a Paper , or Writt , or Obligation be lost by any which another hath found ; which to him that hath lost it , is of great importance , and is not safe to be published by a Cryer for feare of giving notice thereof to an adverse party , in all such Cases the Office should serve as a Common-Center of Advertisement and Intelligence . 12 The Houres and Times of all Carriers and Messengers departures to all places ; and in Case strangers should desire to addresse any thing by them , chiefly Letters or small Packet , a Trunk or Box should be in the Office kept for every one of them , wherein it should be found at their return , to be carried with them . 13 Such as would quite any Office or Charge of Benefit for some present profit , or other Consideration may here finde addresse how to compasse their desires , by giving the Memoriall thereof to the Office , that it may be notified to all , that may incline to entertain any such motion . 14 Such as would inform the State of any thing to be taken notice of ; whether they will have their names taken notice of or not , they may be sure by the means of this Office to have it made known over all the Kingdome ; by the Correspondency of one Office to another in every Principall City , for the designe is to have a Commissary of Addresse placed in every great and eminent City , who shall correspond with him of London , and with whom the London-Officer shal correspond in all cases to receive and give notice of Matters , and to addresse Persons and Things from one to another , and to commit the procurement of Affairs to their trust and to such as they may employ able to effect the same in their severall Quarters ; so that from any place in all the Kingdom a businesse may be dispatched to any place or person by the procuration of the Correspondent-Officers of Addresse in severall places . 15 Strangers who desire to visit a Countrey , and have no acquaintance in any places may be addressed from one Commissary of Addresse unto another , throughout the whole Kingdome , and in every place provided for at the easiest Rates , and by the way directed unto the safest abodes and Lodgings without hazard of being robbed or killed , when they shall not need to carry any summes of Money about with them , but only certain Bils or Tickets from the Officer of Addresse to his Correspondents , where he shall receive his Accommodation according to his desire . By which means also they shall come to the acquaintance of all Persons of note in all Trades and Employments , with whom they may have converse instantly without losse of time and needless expences . 16 If any hath a House to build , and would know the best Master-builders , and where all the Materialls necessary thereunto are to be had , the Office shall be able to give him Information and Addresse thereunto with the prices , &c. IV. The Register of Ingenuities , and Matters commendable for Wit , Worth , and Rarity . TO the Chapters of this Register are to be referred the Memorials of all things wherein men put some Excellencie , Whether it be setled in the soul , or body , or subordinate to the Manifestation or purchase of that wherein men study to be beneficiall unto or to appear before others in any thing whatsoever . 1 Here then , if any hath a feat in any Science which is extraordinary . Either a new discovery of a Truth , or an Experiment in Physick , Mathematicks , or Mechanicks ; or a Method of delivering Sciences or Languages , not ordinarily known , and very profitable ; or some intricate Question and difficulty which he would have resolved by the most experienced in any or all Arts : In any such case , if the matter be notified to the Office with the tenour of his desire concerning it ; by the meanes of the Office , he shall be able to receive satisfaction therein so far as it is attainable . 2 If any is desirous to know the wayes by which all degrees of Honour are obteined or conferred in all states and conditions of men , with all the Ceremonies and Ritualities belonging thereunto , and the priviledges for which in all States they are sought after , the Office should be able to give information thereof . 3 If any would purchase rare Books out of print or Manuscripts of any kinde , or would impart that which he hath purchased unto others , freely or upon equitable terms , by the means of the Office , it may be speedily notified unto all what his desire is , and what the things are , which he either hath to be imparted to others , or would have imparted by others to himselfe . 4 The rarities of Cabinets , as Medalls , Statues , Pictures , Coynes , Grains , Flowers , Shels , Roots , Plants , and all things that come from far , which Nature or Art hath produced in imitation of Nature : If any that hath desires to be rid of them , or to gather some of them together that hath none ; the Office will be either way serviceable to compasse mens ends in them . 5 Mathematicall and Astronomicall Instruments , and new Inventions to discover the secrets and hidden things of Nature if they are to be notified to others the Office will doe it . 6 The Anatomies of Creatures , or the living or dead strange Creatures , Dogs , Cats , Apes , Fowls of rare qualities , and such like , if they be offered to be seen or sold , by the Office this may be notified . 7 Memorials of all things left by any for publike use , and for Posterity ; with the places where , and the persons to whom they are left . 8 Rare Goldsmiths-works , with all manner of Jewels and precious rare Stones , where to be found , seen , or purchased at equitable rates , or otherwise to be made use of for the satisfaction of curiosity , and observation of Art , by the means of this Office it may be known , &c. Hitherto we have with as much brevity as could be ( for if we would have been large ; a Volnme might have been filled with them ) ranked these Heads of Matters in some Order , to shew , how by the means of an Office ( wherein all things may be registred , which by any are either offered or desired for their accommodation ) the society of mankinde in a well-ordered Common-wealth , may be made flourishing , and as happy in the life of Nature , as the satisfaction of their lawfull desires can make them . For therein , as in one Magazin or Market-place , all things Necessary , Profitable , Rare , and Commendable , which are extant in severall places , and scattered here and there , are brought together ; and exposed to the view of every one that shall be willing to see them , that according to his reach and capacity they may be made serviceable unto him , and he thereby in his degree and station more usefull unto the publike a hundred fold then otherwise he can be without the help of such an addresse . For it is very apparent to any that will take it into consideration ; that besides the private satisfaction of any one in his particular desires , which may be had by this means , so far as it is attainable in an orderly way , the publike aymes also of those that are over the affairs of State , to reforme and direct them towards the good of all may be infinitely improved , if they know but how to make use of such an Engine . He that can look upon the frame of a whole State , and see the constitution of all the parts thereof , and doth know what strength is in every part , or what the weaknesse thereof is , and whence it doth proceed ; and can , as in a perfect modell of a Coelestiall Globe , observe all the Motions of the Spheres thereof ; or as in a Watch , see how all the wheels turn and worke one upon another for such and such an ends , he only can fundamentally know what may and ought to be designed ; or can be effected in that State for the increase of the Glory , and the settlement of the Felicity thereof with Power according to Righteousnesse . And it is very credible that the great States-man of our neighbour Nation , who raised himselfe from the condition of an ordinary Gentleman , to become the Ruler of Princes ; and who by the management of the strength of that State wherein he lived , hath broken the whole designe of the House of Austria , in the affectation of the Monarchy of Europe , and did make himselfe , and the Kingdom which he did rule , the onely considerable power of Christendome , whilst he lived in it . ( We say ) it is very credible that this man was enabled from so mean beginnings , to bring so great designes to passe , chiefly by the dexterity of his prudencie in making use of this Engine , which never before was set a work in any Common-wealth , to reflect upon a whole State , till he did set it a foot to that effect . He that is not blinde may easily perceive this , that it was not possible that his intelligence could be so universall in all things as it was , and his designes so effectually carryed on in all places as they were , without an exact insight of all circumstances , and a speedy and secret correspondencie with all parts , and that to have such an insight in all things and maintain such a correspondencie with all parts , nothing is so fit as such a way of Addresse , erected in all the chiefe Cities of every Province of a Kingdom , is altogether undenyable : therefore it may be lawfully concluded that by this means chiefly he was enabled both to contrive and execute all his undertakings . Hence also must be observed , that to have such an Office in one place , is not enough , but that there should be one in every principall place of resort , where there is the greatest concurrence of men for mutuall Society and Negotiation in every Province , that all the Commodities or Conveniencies which are offered or desired in any place , may be conveighed or made known unto all places unto which they are by any means communicable . Now that such Registers in those places and chiefly in London , may be kept for all these both Private and Publike Advantages ; nothing is wanting , but the Countenance of Authority , that the Matter may be Regularly and Orderly carried on , because it is not enough to intend a good Work , but the way of carrying it on must be good also ; therefore the businesse is to be ordered by those that are in place of Supream Command , that as the Motion doth ayme at the Publike Good of all by the Benefit and Profit of every one in Particular : so all respect may be shewed towards those that are over the whole Body , that nothing may seem to be attempted to their prejudice . As for that which remayneth to be certified further in this businesse , it is not much , only this may be added , that these Registers must be again and again subdivided , and especially that some must be kept secret , and some exposed to the Common View of all . In the secret Registers the Particularities of the Memorials are to be kept ; specifying things Circumstantially , by the Names & Places of abode of them , that doe offer or desire the same , with all the Conditions upon which they are offered or desired . And in the Open or Common-Register the same Memoriall is to be kept under a Generall Intimation of the Matter only ; with a Reference unto the Particular and Secret Register , that such as shall see the generall Intimation , and shall desire the particular information thereof ; may be accommodated , therein by an Extract thereof for their Addresse where to finde their Conveniency : and for this Extract some small and very inconsiderable duty , as a peny or at the most two pence may be paid . As for those that are to bring Memorialls unto the Office some patterns or forms are to be made , and shewed unto them hung up in the Office ; to teach such as are not acquainted with the way . How to draw up their Memorandums , which they would bring in . Those then that will make use of the Office shall be directed to come , with an Exact Memoriall , of that whereof they desire either to give or receive Advice , & upon what Conditions . When therefore they shall come with their Memoriall , if they be poor , it shall be registred , or an Extract shall be given them out of the Register-book for nothing ; but if they are not poor , the duty is to be paid for the Registring , or for the Extract , which may be taken out of a Memorial , and when they have found the Persons to whom the Extract shall give them Addresse , if the Bargain whereof the Memoriall doth give Information be concluded ; or the Effect of the Memoriall be otherwise made void ; the Register is to be discharged of it within foure and twenty houres , and for this discharge of the Register nothing shall be paid : Now the Register should be discharged of the Memorialls which are made void ; lest fruitlesse Addresses be made to any concerning a Matter already dispatched ; and lest those that have received the satisfaction , which they desired by their Memorialls be troubled with new Visitors which the Office may send unto them , if this be not done . Lastly , by all that hath been said , this is very evident , that this Way of Addresse will be the most Usefull and Advantageous Constitution , for the supply of all mens wants , and the dispatch of all Businesses , that can be thought upon in this or any other Common-wealth . And that this way may easily be set afoot , is apparent from this , that to settle it nothing is wanting , but the Designment of a Place , in which the Office should be kept , and an Act of Authority to be given to the Solicitour of Publike Designes , Whereby hee should be ordered to prosecnte this matter . This Act then might run in such terms as these , or the like . Seeing the Provision for the Poore to supply their Necessities , and give them and others addresse unto some Employments , is not only a work of Christian Charity , but of great Usefulnesse to a wel-Ordered Common-wealth : It is therefore Ordered and Ordained by both Houses of Parliament , that N. N. shall be a Superintendent Generall for the Good of the Poore of this Kingdom ; to finde out and propose the Wayes of their Relief , ahd give to them and all others , such Addresses , as shall be most expedient to supply their wants , and to procure to every one their satisfaction in the Accommodation of all their Commendable or Lawfull Desires , to which Effect the said N. N. is Authorized hereby to appoint , first in London , and then in all other places , of this Kingdom , wheresoever he shall think it expedient , an Office of Encounter or Addresse in such Place or Places , as by Authority shall be designed to that Use . In which places he shall have power to put Under-officers , &c. who shall according to his Direction be bound to keep Books and Registers , wherein it shall be free for every one to cause to be Written and Registred , by severall and distinct Chapters , every thing whereof addresse may be given , concerning the said Necessities and Accommodations , and likewise it shall be free for every one to come to the said Offices , to receive Addresses by Extracts out of the Registers ▪ Upon Condition that the Rich shall pay for such an Extract or the Registring of a Memoriall but two pence ; or three pence at the most , and that the Poore shall have this done on their behalf for nothing , nor shall any be bound or obliged to make Use of this Office by giving or taking out Memorials further , then of their own accord they shall be willing . FINIS . Errata . Pag. 2. line 25. those r. most ( p. 5. l. 9. to All r. of All , l. 22. after the words light upon them r. but if he doth know their constant walks and houres , when they come upon the Exchange , he may be able to meet with them . p. 6. l. 22. r. cannot ) p. 7. l. 18. after the words of employment r. and the cause why they want employment , p. 8. l. 1. r. but if l. 3. that , p. 10. l. 18. which shall be contained , p. 12. l. 6. r. shall cause l. 15. r. of other , p. 13. l. 8. r. here l. 15. r. in a case , p. 15. l. 8. r. as at an , l. 19. the List . l. 19. the places , p. 16. l. 6. would put , p. 20. l. 22. as well the , p. 21. l. 21 , 22. r. designes l. 32. r. to be celebrated p. 25. l. 9. r. fully . An Advertisement , To the favourable READER . IN the foregoing Discourse we have discovered the things , which concern the Addresses for Outward Accommodation , which is but a momentary part of humane felicity . The Main and Principall thing whereat in this Office we do aime at , and which we intend , if God enable us to prosecute ; is , the Work of Communication for all Spirituall and Intellectuall advantages , towards the Advancement of Pietie , Vertue , and Learning in all things Divine and Humane , as they are subordinate unto the Glory of God ; for whose sake alone we cast our selves upon these endeavours , and from whom we shal expect our encouragements . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A45753e-190 ecel. . 11. 1●2 , 4. 
A49050	----	The Report of the governours of the corporation for improving and releiving the poor of this city of London, and liberties thereof City of London (England). This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A49050 of text R39650 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing L2877B). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 7 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A49050 Wing L2877B ESTC R39650 18460585 ocm 18460585 107734 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A49050) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 107734) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1638:7 or 21241:124) The Report of the governours of the corporation for improving and releiving the poor of this city of London, and liberties thereof City of London (England). 1 broadside. Printed by James Flesher ..., [London] : 1655. At head of title, in verse: These children orphans singing show ... Reproductions of originals in the Harvard University Library and the British Library. eng Orphans -- England. Poor laws -- England. London (England) -- History -- 17th century. A49050 R39650 (Wing L2877B). civilwar no The report of the governours of the corporation for imploying and releiving the poor of this city of London, and liberties thereof; Corporation of London 1655 1057 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-02 Emma (Leeson) Huber Sampled and proofread 2008-08 SPi Global Rekeyed and resubmitted 2008-10 Megan Marion Sampled and proofread 2008-10 Megan Marion Text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion These Children Orphans singing show , Though God's above , he dwels below , Who Clothes their backs and bellies feed , And gave them fathers in their need . These father'd fatherless , their Fathers bless , And warble forth their worth in thankfull verse . blazon or coat of arms City of London coat of arms THe Epicureans say God takes no care , Nor yet regardeth how poor mortals fare , But being himself above all sense Of trouble , grief , and indigence ; Enjoyes himself , and can , No notice take of man Nor sees , nor hears , Their sighs or tears ; Nor mindes , nor yet condoles , mens joyes or fears . That the light Lamps of Heaven know their way And beaten paths , from whence they cannot stray , The Planets march their wonted pace , Sun , Moon , and Stars , keep on their race From night to day , and then , From day to night agen , Times come and goe , Tides ebbe and flow , Things round redown'd , as days and years do show . Hold Atheist , stop thy mouth , proceed not thus , Gods care o' th poor blaspheme not , look on us , And recollect thy self , for we On Dunghils droop't in miserie , Had not Jehovah car'd , How here poor mortals far'd , We still had lain , Pining in pain , But now in plenty he doth us maintain . Repent of these thy thoughts vain man , behold How God by us , have these thy thoughts controld , For living instances we are , That God for mortals poor takes care , And doth regard the cries , Of Orphans waterie eyes , And sends relief From pain and grief , Who help and succour to the poor doth give . Wandring we were from Heavens and Earths good waies In sin and idleness to spend our daies , But now translated from that state Which led to lewdness , death , hells gate , And in a hopefull way To live another day , When thankfull we , Shall surely be , And Londons mercy keep in memorie . Blest be the great PROTECTOR of the poore Whom fatherless admire , widdows adore ; Blest be his a Vice Protector who Much favour did on us bestow , Our b President blest be , And blest his c Deputy , Lord blesse them all Who hence forth shall Lend hearts , and hands , to ridd the poor from thrall . God is the poor mans God , who doth express Himself the Father of the Fatherless , And men like Gods themselves appear , To whom poor Fatherless are dear , Whose works of Charity , He suffers not to dye , What thus they spend To God they lend , Who will repay with glory in the end . This is the pure Religion , and this By Gods appointment leads to lasting bliss ; When Scarlet robes , and Golden chains Shall come to nothing , this remains , When creature comforts faile , Such works as these prevaile , Most certainly Such seed shall be An Harvest lasting to eternity . You that have thus so well begun , go on , Finish your work , let no man take your crown , Such works as these their workmen bless ; By spending thus , you shall increase , This is Gods way of thriving , Thus give , and get by giving ; What else you save Others may have ; These works your selves shall find beyond the grave . The Report of the Governours of the Corporation for imploying and Releiving the Poor of this City of London , and Liberties thereof ; THe said Corporation ( through the Pious care and Assistance of the Lord Mayor , Commonalty , and Citizens of the City of London , and other well affected persons ) do at the present maintain , and Educate about 100. poor Children in Learning , and Arts , whose Parents are either dead or not able to maintain them , ayming ( according as ability by the good providence of God shall be administred ) at the entertaining of some hundreds more ; Moreover , there are many hundred of poor people and families imployed by the said Corporation , the Manufactures of Spinning Hemp , Flax , and Tow , and Weaving of it into Cloth ; And many hundreds more might be imployed , in case they did not habituate and necessitate themselves to an idle course of life , none being refused or denyed imployment that will come for it , either to the Wardrobe neer Black-fryers , or to Haiden-house in the Minories , belonging to the said Corporation . Towards the more effectuall carrying on and accomplishing of which good work , so abundantly conducing to the glory of God , the honour of the Government of this City , ( being Presidentiall in this kind to the whole Nation ) the prevention of many evils and Enormities , so abounding in that sort of people , and the Eternall good of their Precious Souls : This Corporation earnestly desire the ready Concurrence and Assistance of the Magistrate , and Ministers of Justice of this City in causing the known Laws of this Common-wealth to be put in Execution * for suppressing of Vagrants , and common Beggars , able to work , who come in troops from the out parts of this City , and make it their constant practice , to spend the day time in Begging , and a great part of the nights in Drinking , and Revelling . And then repair to the City again for fresh supplies , to the great dishonor of this City , the scandall of Religion , and hindrance of the Charity of many Pious and well affected People towards this good work . Printed by James Flesher , Printer to the Honourable City of LONDON , 1655. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A49050e-30 a His Highness a special friend . b Lord Mayor President . c John Cutler Esq Deputy President . Mr Thomas Read Treasurer . Notes for div A49050e-1230 * 39 Eliz. 4. and 1 Jac. 7. 
A41337	----	Some proposals for the imployment of the poor, and for the prevention of idleness and the consequence thereof, begging a practice so dishonourable to the nation, and to the Christian religion : in a letter to a friend / by T.F. Firmin, Thomas, 1632-1697. 1681 Approx. 104 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 25 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A41337 Wing F972 ESTC R12645 12846169 ocm 12846169 94424 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A41337) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 94424) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 713:3) Some proposals for the imployment of the poor, and for the prevention of idleness and the consequence thereof, begging a practice so dishonourable to the nation, and to the Christian religion : in a letter to a friend / by T.F. Firmin, Thomas, 1632-1697. [3], 46 p. : ill. Printed by J. Grover, and are to be sold by Francis Smith ..., London : 1681. End of text signed: Tho. Firmin. Author's only known publication--cf. DNB v. 7, p. 49. Listed in BM, v. 73, col. 436 with an earlier edition of 24 pages, 1678. Enlarged edition. Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. 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In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England. Poor laws -- England. Working class -- England. Labor movement -- England. Labor -- England. Charities -- England. Unemployed -- England. 2006-12 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-02 Robyn Anspach Sampled and proofread 2007-02 Robyn Anspach Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Shee layeth her Hand to the Spindle and her hands hold the distaffe : Pro : 31. 19. Depiction of woman at spindle . SOME PROPOSALS For the imployment of the POOR , AND For the prevention of Idleness and the Consequence thereof , Begging . A Practice so dishonourable to the Nation , and to the Christian Religion . In a Letter to a Friend by T. F. For even when we were with you , this we commanded , that if any would not work , neither should they eat , 2 Thes . 3. 10. Let him that stole steal no more , but rather let him labour , working with his hands , the thing that is good , that he may have to give to him that needeth , Eph. 4. 28. LONDON , Printed by J. Grover , and are to be sold by Francis Smith , at the Elephant and Castle , and Brab . Aylmer , at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill . 1681. Some Proposals for the Employment of the Poor , and for the Prevention of Idleness , &c. SIR , IT is now above four years since I erected my Work-House in Little Britain for the Imployment of the Poor in the Linnen Manufacture , which hath proved so great a Help , and afforded such Relief to many Hundreds of poor Families , that I never did , nor I fear ever shall do an Action more to my own satisfaction , nor to the good and benefit of the Poor . In a former Letter that I wrote upon this occasion , I gave you some account of the management of the said Work-house , especially with relation to the Parish of Aldersgate ; which Letter being wholly out of Print , and much desired by some persons , I shall here insert the chief things conteined therein , with what else hath come into my thoughts concerning that matter ; hoping that when the great benefit of such an Undertaking shall be made publick , every good man will some way or other give incouragement to it ; there being nothing so necessary for the prevention of Poverty and the consequence thereof , Begging , as to provide some Imployment for our Poor People , whereby to prevent Idleness , the Mother and Nurse of all Mischief , and one of those sins for which God destroyed Sodom with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven , as the Holy Scripture informs us . To the end therefore that Poverty , together with that wicked Trade of Begging ( which so many thousands of late years have taken up , to the dishonour of Almighty God , and the great scandal of the Government of this Nation ) may be prevented , I shall humbly propose a few things , which being put in practice , may with Gods Blessing , prove effectual to the ends designed . And the first is this , That every Parish that abounds with Poor People , would set up a School in the nature of a Work-house , to teach their poor Children to work in , who for want thereof , now wander up and down the Parish and parts adjacent , and between Begging and Stealing , get a sorry liveing ; but never bring any thing to their poor Parents , nor earn one Farthing towards their own maintenance , or good of the Nation . This , in a short time , would be found very advantagious , not only to the poor Children themselves , who by this means , whilst young should be inured to labour , and taught to get their own Livings , but also to their Parents , who should hereby both be freed from the Charge of keeping them , and in time , be helpt by their Labours , as it is in other places ; and moreover the Parish should be freed from much Charge which many times they are at , to keep such poor Children , or at least which they are necessitated to allow their Parents towards it . Nothing being accounted a better Argument for a large Pension , than that a Man or Woman hath six or seven small Children , whereas unless they were all born at a time , or came faster into the World than ordinarily so many Children do , it is very hard if some of them are not able to work for themselves . I my self have at this time many poor Children , not above five or six years old , that can earn two pence a day , and others but a little older , three pence or four pence , by spinning Flax which will go very far towards the maintenance of any poor Child . Not that I would have these Schools confined only to Spinning , but left at liberty to take in any other work that the Children shall be capable of , as knitting of Stockings , winding of Silk , making of Lace or plain Work , or the like : For it matters not so much what you employ these poor Children in , as that you do employ them in some thing , to prevent an idle , lazy kind of Life , which if once they get the habit of , they will hardly leave ; but on the contrary , if you train up a Child in the way that he should go , when he is old , he will not depart from it . And this is the way ( as I am informed ) that is practiced in Holland and other places , with so great advantage , that there is very few Children who have attained to seven or eight years of age , that are any charge to their Parents , or burthensome to the Parish . And Mr. Chamberlain in his Book , Intituled , The Present State of England , hath observed , that in the City of Norwich , it hath been computed of late years , and found , that yearly , Children from six to ten years old , have gained twelve thousand pounds a year more than they have spent , chiefly by knitting fine Jersey Stockings . This School would be of no great Charge , but many ways advantagious to the Parish . At this time I have a person who for five shillings a week , doth constantly teach between twenty and thirty poor Children to spin ; Some that are little , upon the single Wheel , and others that are bigger , upon the double , or two handed Wheel ( like that which you have at the beginning of these Papers , which I esteem the best way for spinning , and full as proper for Wooll as Flax ) which when they are expert in , I give the Children leave to carry away with them to their several places of abode , that so there may be room for others ; and of these , there are divers that can earn six pence a day , and some more , allowing them two hours in a day to learn to read in , instead of that time which is allotted to the poorest of our Children to play in ; a custom that I verily believe hath been the ruin of many thousand poor Children , and hath nothing in the World to justifie it but an old Proverb , which yet we have not fully observed : For instead of giving them all work and no play , the generality of our poor Children have all play and no work , which is a thousand times more mischievous than the other . Not that I would have all manner of Recreation and Divertisement prohibited to Children , nor will it be hard to find some others besides playing at push-pin , or hide-Farthing , neither of which , nor twenty others now in use , are any ways conducing to the health of their Bodies , or to the improvement of their minds ; but are only fit to teach them lying and wrangling , with twenty cheating Tricks , which many times they retain as long as they live . I believe there are very few persons who have had occasion to take one of these poor Children for a Foot-boy , or otherwise , but can tell you the sad Effects of such an idle Life as they have been brought up in ; the Lad having from his Cradle , if he had any , been permitted to play , has made it so natural to him , that send him in what haste you will , upon any Errand , if he meets with a Play-fellow , will have a touch of his old Sport , and many times for want of such a one , will be exercising his hand alone , rather than forbear his old Trade . Let any man that hath occasion either to walk or ride through the Out-parts of this City , ( where mostly our poor people inhabit ) tell but what he hath seen of the Rudeness of young Children , who for want of better Education and Employment , shall sometimes be found by whole Companies at play , where they shall wrangle and cheat one another , and upon the least Provocation , swear and fight for a Farthing , or else they shall be found whipping of Horses , by reason of which , they sometimes cast their Riders , to the hazard or loss of their Lives or Limbs ; or else they shall be throwing of Dirt or Stones into Coaches , or at the Glasses , insomuch that I have been a hundred times greatly troubled , to see the Rudeness and Misbehaviour of the poorer sort of Children , ( especially of late years ) they having been generally so much neglected , that they have neither been taught their Duties either towards God or Man. To me it seems very strange , that such Children whose Parents receive any Pension from the Parish , or that are brought up at the Charge of the several Parishes or in Hospitals , as soon as they come to six or seven years old , are not taught to do something towards their own Maintenance , which is the way in Holland , as hath been said . There the Children in Hospitals , as soon as they come to any Bigness , are two hours in a day , to wit , from Five to Seven in the Morning , taught to read and write ; but when seven a Clock comes , they are by a Bell called to Breakfast , which when they have eaten , every one hath their several Employment allotted to them for all the day after , excepting only such time as they have to eat in . The Boys are sent to the Ship-yard to pick Okum , to turn the Wheel for the Rope-maker , to wind Quils for the Weaver , or to braid Nets , or the like : the Girls to Spin , to Knit , to weave Lace , or to work with the Needle , or some such like Employment as they are fit for ; so that as I am informed , a thousand Children shall be brought up with less Charge in Holland , than five hundred here ; and I cannot apprehend what Harm such a Dutch Trick would do us , if we had Wisdom enough to practice it . If it be said that their Children are not maintained so well , nor learnt so much as generally our Children in Hospitals are ; I answer , 'T is so much the better , for why should poor Children that must be put out to poor Trades , where they must work hard , and fare hardly , be fed with white Bread , or taught farther than is necessary for such Trades ? Is not this to make them too big for their Business , which is always for the worse ? Why , I pray must a poor Boy that is designed for a Mason , Bricklayer , Shoomaker , or the like honest and necessary Trade , be taught to write as if he were designed for a Master in that Art ; or so far in Arithmetick , as if he were designed for a Merchant ? Is it not enough that such Children are taught to read the Bible , and so much of Arithmetick and Writing , as may fit them for such Trades and Employments , as they are intended to be put unto ? And must Children be kept from seven to fifteen Years old , to learn so much , when two hours in a day would be more than enough to effect it ? And all the rest of their Time might be spent in doing something or other that might help to keep them , and be by degrees , inured to the Work and Business for which they are designed and intended . This in a very short time , however it may seem hard at first , would be much more pleasant to the Children themselves , than sitting eight or ten hours in a day under a severe School-Master , who many times shall whip a poor Child for not remembring or else for mistaking a few words , as severely as a Rogue in Bridewel , for picking a Pocket , or cutting a Purse . I am well aware from some Discourses that I have met with of late , that what I have said in this particular , will give offence to some whom I am very unwilling to displease ; And that they will object the great prejudice which will be done to some Children of good parts , if they should be hindered in their Learning , by the Advantage of which , if their Trades failed , they might be able to teach Arithmetick , or Writing , or to keep Merchants Accounts . To which I answer , First , that there is no danger , that many Handy-craft Trades should fail : As long as People are born naked , there will be need of Shomakers , Taylors , Weavers , and such like ; and as for those that may be able to teach Arithmetick , Writing , &c. there neither is , nor I believe , ever will be any want of such Persons , even among them , which received their Education from their Parents , and not upon Charity : Nay , I dare say , there is so many of these at present , that not one half of them can be provided for in those ways . Not but that if a poor Lad were found of extraordinary Parts , he might be permitted a more liberal Education ; but the number of these is very few , and to give it unto others , is to do them and the Commonwealth a great prejudice . I my self have known some persons kept seven or eight years at School , to learn the Latin Tongue , which have stood them in very little stead afterwards , being gone from School they have soon lost it , and thereby all the time they spent to gain it ; whereas , if they had instead thereof , been taught some useful Art or other , they might have been the better for it as long as they lived . It is very well known , that at this time , there is hardly Employment for one half of the Clergy-men that are in England . Yea , some will tell you , that there are not above ten thousand Livings in England , and that there are above thirty thousand men in Orders to supply them . I am not bound to make good the truth of this Computation , but sure I am , that great Multitudes want Employment , and that if the smallest Living or Lecture shall be void , there will be many Competitors for it . Also , some will tell you , that the number of those that pretend to the Law of late years , are so much increas'd , that many of them ( Thanks be to God ) want Employment , although there are a sort of men in the Country ( as I am informed ) that make it their Business to set men together by the Ears , and ride from Market to Market upon but a very little better account , not but that I think and know there are many worthy men of that Profession , I heartily wish they were all such ; 't is only those that are guilty of incouraging Suits and Quarrels , that I am offended with , and if they are offended with me for saying thus much , I cannot now help it . But not to forget the Objection , pray let it be considered before you ingage persons in a liberal Education , how they shall be maintained in it ? and before you send Lads to Cambridge and Oxford , how they shall be kept there ; if any man will be so kind to do it for a poor Boy , 't is very well , and I for my part have nothing to say against it : otherwise , I am very sure , and know it by sad Experience , that for want of such Supplies , some have been sent to those places , that had better have stayed away , and been put to some honest Trade , by which they might have lived more comfortably themselves , and more profitably for the Nation : but at the Rate that some would order the matter , the Plough , the Sea , and Manufactory , which are the great Concerns of England , should be wholly neglected , as being too mean Employments for the poorest of our Children . He that hath a mind to see more of this , let him read Britania Languens , pag. 100. 102. &c. and pag. 133. But that I may after so long a Digression return to the Bufiness I was upon , to encourage the setting up of Schools for the Instruction of young Children , and bringing them to some Employment , whereby to get their own Living , the Charge hereof , as hath been said , would not be great , but the Advantages very many ; and among others , this is not the least , That the Parents of such poor Children would have more time to follow their Business and Employments , and that with more Content and Satisfaction , when their Children were not only kept out of Harms way , but were learning something that would do them some good at present , and more hereafter ; all the Trouble they should have , being only in the Morning , to dress them with such poor Rags as they had to put upon them , and to give them some small matter for their Dinner , and to fetch them home at Night , if they were too small to go home alone : for at this School , I would have Children taken in from three to ten years old , those of the younger sort might be taught their Letters , and to read till they were able to Spin , or do some other work , and even then I would have two hours in a day at least , allotted to these poor Children , to learn some plain and uncontroverted Catechism , that might teach them the Principles of Religion , and also to perfect their Reading , which through the Blessing of God , might be a means to prevent much of that Ignorance and Wickedness that is found amongst our poor People , and bring them to Sobriety and Virtue , which being once done , they will of their own Accord , naturally fall to some honest Employment , without which , 't is impossible they should continue good , or happily enjoy themselves . That this is a way that would very much conduce to the Happiness of poor people , and their poor Children , I have found by very much Experience , having at this time several poor Children at my Work-house , that over and besides their learning to read , have learnt to spin both upon the single and double Wheel , and can earn from two pence to six pence a day , as hath been said ; which , every Saturday Night , I cause to be paid to the Children , to carry home to their poor Parents , or else , cause to be laid out for themselves in such things as they need . But before you enter the Child upon the double Wheel , or suffer it to spin with both hands , you must teach it to spin well with either hand upon the single Wheel , which is turned with the Foot as the other is , by means whereof , you may teach the Child to draw out the Flax with either hand indifferently , and to be as nimble and quick with one hand as with the other ; otherwise , when it comes to spin upon the double Wheel , which hath a Quill for each hand , the Threads will not be alike , but one will be more twisted , and the other less ; it may be , the one will be too much , and the other too little , and so will not do well together . In this School , are taught Boys as well as Girls , which they take very well unto ; and for want of other Employment , they may be kept at , till they are fit to go to Prentice , or to do other Business ; and the Girls , till they are fit to go to Service , and no longer : For it is a thing greatly complained of in the Country already , that by reason of so great numbers of Single Persons that of late are fallen to the Spinning Trade , and to live at their own Hands , there is so great a want of Servants , that it is very hard for the meaner sort to get a Supply , unless upon much higher terms than formerly ; and the like would soon be here , if Single Persons that were come to any Age , were encouraged to live at their own Hands : For which reason , and some others , I have taken special care , that no person that is fit to go to Service , or to Prentice , shall have any of my Work. From what hath been said in this particular , touching the great Benefit that would arise to every Parish , by setting up such a School for the Ends above specified , I would advise any person that had a mind to settle any thing upon a poor Parish , to appropriate it to some such use as this , rather than to give it at large to the Parish , to be disposed of at their pleasure : For this would be in effect , rather to ease the Rich , than to help the Poor , it being too well known , that several Parishes that have great Incomes for their Poor , have yet their Poor as ill provided for , as those that have less . If therefore I had a 100 l. a Year to settle upon a poor Parish , I would do it after some such way as this : Twenty pounds a Year I would appoint for an able and honest Woman , to teach forty of the poorest Children to read , and to spin Flax or Hemp , first upon the Single , and then upon the Double Wheel , which when they had well learned , they would be in a capacity to get their own Living . Five pounds a year I would allot for the Rent of a Large Room to teach the Children in ; Twenty five pounds a year I would assign for the buying of Hemp and Flax to teach the Children to spin upon . Twenty five pounds a year I would allot for the payment of the poor Children that should spin the same , allowing one penny for every 600 yards of Yarn , which the Children should every week be paid for and carry home to their poor Parents , or else be laid out for them in such things as they needed . Fifteen pounds a year I would allot for the Weaving of such Yarn , and whitening such Cloth as should be made of the Yarn . Eight pounds a year I would allot for the buying such Wheels and Reels , as the poor Children should use ; which , at their going out of the House I would have given unto them . The remaining two pounds , I would appoint to be laid out for a Dinner for the Trustees , which should be upon a day prefixt , upon which day they should audite the Accounts for the Year past , and distribute the Cloth which was made , some of it to the poor Children that spun the Yarn , and the rest to other poor people in the Parish , especially the aged and impotent , it being more easy for them to get a Meals meat , to feed their hungry Bodies , than a Shirt to cover them ; neither is the Charity much less to cloath the Naked , than to feed the Hungry ; nor the Promise greater to the one than to the other . However , by such a deed of Charity , I should do both ; and also by teaching the Children to read , and learn their Catechisms , you should instruct their minds , which is a piece of Charity no whit inferiour to the feeding their Bodies , or clothing their Backs : For without Knowledge , Solomon saith , The Heart cannot be good ; and God by the Prophet complains , That his People perish for lack of Knowledge . This Settlement I would so make , that it should not be in the Power of the Parish , nor yet of the Trustees to alienate to any other use or purpose whatsoever ; but upon so doing , it should come to the Hospital of Christ Church , or some such like Foundation ; the Governours whereof , would always take care that the Trnst were performed , or in case it was not would soon take it out of their hands . Having this proposed ( as I conceive ) a very likely way to prevent Idleness in the younger sort , my next Care must be to prevent it in those that are of Age , which I judge may be done by each Parish , if they would provide such Work for them , as they might carry to their own Homes , which though never so mean and homely , are more desirable than any other place , which also is the way that I have taken in the Parish aforesaid , and which is the way that all the Countries take for the Spinning of those vast Quantities of Yarn , which is every Year made use of , for the making of Bays , Sayes , Serges , and Stuffs of all sorts . And that which some of late have proposed of bringing them to a publick Work-house , will never effect the end desired ; for suppose a Woman hath a sick Child , or Husband , or some Infirmity upon her self , in all which Cases , she may do something at home , but cannot leave her own House : and supposing that none of these should happen , which is yet very frequent , not one person of many , will endure the Thoughts of going to a publick Work-house . Sometimes it happens , nay , very frequently I have known , that Persons of good Education and well related , have fal'n into great Poverty , which for these Reasons , and lest they should fall into Contempt by the Discovery , they are willing to hide as much as they can , and therefore cannot expose themselves to work in a publick place . True indeed , for Vagrants and sturdy Beggars that have no Habitation , and that will not work unless they are held to it as Galley-slaves are tied to their Oars ; such Work-houses are very necessary , and I wish we had more of them , and that those we have were employed to that purpose ; but for such poor People as have Habitations of their own , and are known in the places where they live , and that would take Pains at home , it is altogether unreasonable and unprofitable in my poor Judgment to bring them to a publick Work-house . Obj. But against this , of every Bodies carrying their Work to their own Houses , it will be objected , what Assurance can you have , that these poor People to whom you deliver your Flax and Hemp to spin , will bring it home again ? They may die , and what will become of it then , or they may pawn it , or run away with it ? Answ . To all which I answer , that it is possible that one or all of these may happen as they have done sometimes among those that I have employed ; but to prevent all Loss that may come by these ways , if the Persons be wholly unknown , which can hardly be if they live in the Parish , let them leave six pence in hand , which is about the Price of a pound of Hemp or Flax , which no poor Body who is of any good Behaviour , but will find Credit for , if they have it not of their own ; and let this lie as a Pawn till they bring home their Work , and as long as you shall employ them , or be satisfied of their Honesty . Obj. But some will object , that by this setting poor People to spin , you will take them off from other Employments , as winded of Silk , stitching of Bodice , kniting of Stockings , making of Lace or the like , which are more necessary Employments than spinning of Flax and Hemp to make Linnen Cloth , we having that already very cheap from other Countries , for which also his Majesty receives much Custom , which by this new Trade will wholly be lost . Answ . To which I answer , That there is no fear that any Person who can wind Silk , knit Stockings , make Lace or the like , will leave these Employments , if they can have them , to spin Flax and Hemp , the Price thereof being so very low ; but if any of these should fail , as many times they do ( as for Instance , kniting of silk Stockings was of late years a very great Employment , whereas now they have found out a way to weave both Silk and Worsted : the kniting Trade is greatly abated , and 't is like , in time will come to very little ; had not then the poor People better spin than do nothing ? And were it not much better that his Majesty should lose the Custom of some Linnen Cloth , than that the poor People should lose both their Bodies and Souls too in Sloath and Idleness , the latter whereof , is many times the Consequence of the former . But as to the Custom of Cloth , it is humbly conceived , that if a higher Impost were laid upon Foreign Linnen , it would be a ready way to encourage this Manufacture at Home ; and also bring in as much Money to His Majesty , though there should come in less Cloth than now there doth . But further , let it be considered , that this Employment of Spinning Flax and Hemp , is set up , and intended only for those Persons that have nothing else to do , or that can do little else ; of which number there are very many antient People , who cannot see to wind Silk , to stitch Bodice , or to work with a Needle , which yet can Spin indifferent well : Nay , there are some at this time which spin to me , that can see no more than the Wheels they spin upon , that yet follow this Employment , and can draw a Thread that for some purposes doth well enough ; And for young Children , there is nothing they can more easily learn , than to spin Linnen , their Fingers being never so small , being big enough to pull out the Flax , and to make a fine Thread , in so much , that some Children that I have taken up , that came begging to my Door , which in six months time , have drawn a pound of Flax to so fine a Thread , that the Spinning hath come to twelve pence , which very rarely Antient People will draw to seven pence . Obj. But again it will be objected , where will you find a Stock to employ so many poor People as shall want Work ? Answ . To which I answer , That there are few Parishes , but either have a Stock of Money , or so many good Men , that would willingly lend gratis , if not give considerably towards the carrying on of so good a work as is the Employment of the Poor : But in case either of these should fail , the Parish may as easily raise a Stock to set the Poor at Work , as raise Money by a Rate to keep them in Idleness . 'T is very well known , that some Parishes about London , do raise some thousands of pounds every year for the Relief of their Poor ; and yet as the matter is handled , very few who are not through Age or Sickness confined to their Houses , but do beg up and down the Streets : To prevent which , I know no better way , than to provide Work for all that are able ; and instead of giving them twelve pence or two shillings in a Week , in dry Money , to give them the like value in Flax or Hemp , which , when they had spun , they should be paid for at the same rate , together with what the Spinning of it came unto . This in all probability would lessen the number of our Beggars and Street-walkers , who having not sufficient for the Supply of their Wants , allowed them by the Parish , make up the rest by begging : if any one of these should pretend that they cannot spin , the Answer is very near at hand , they may soon learn ; since I set up this Employment , I have taught several persons of about sixty years of age , to Spin , who do constantly follow this Work , if they have no other ; but if this answer will not do , the next should , which is this , if the Person cannot live of her Pension , and will not , being able , accept of such Employment as the Parish hath to give ; let her get some other , by means of which , she may help to maintain her self , so that she be not found begging in the Streets , upon pain of losing that Relief which she received from the Parish ; to prevent which , 't is like she would fall to work , from which , and her Pension , she might make a good Shift to live : Or , otherwise let her person be secured as an Idle Beggar , in the House of Correction , where she should be made to work , or forbid to eat , as the Apostle St. Paul adviseth , saying , If any will not work , neither let them eat . But further , to encourage the setting up of the Linnen Manufacture for the Employment of the poor , I desire it may be considered , That there is no Commodity that I know of , that is of the like Value , that can be set up with less Stock or less Loss at first , three parts of four even of that Cloth which comes not to above two Shillings an Ell , will be paid for Labour to the Dresser of the Flax , and to the Spinner , and Weaver , and as they spin finer , the price will advance so much , that five parts of six shall go out upon that account . I my self have seen a Pound of Flax not worth above eighteen pence at most , spun to that Fineness , that the Pound of Thred hath been worth eight or ten Shillings ; and from other Countries we daily receive Thredspun of Flax , not above three or four Shillings a Pound , at the price of three or four Pound Sterling . Then as to the Loss by Children and Learners , it will not be near so much as in many other things . A Child may first be set upon spinning of Tow , which cost about two pence a pound , which though it be spun never so badly will serve for some kind of use or other , which in Wool would be good for nothing , which yet is many times the Price . Moreover , I desire it may be considered , that in this Trade all sorts of Persons whether Young or Old , Male or Female , may find Employment ; if of Years and able , they may beat Hemp , dress Flax , and make them ready for the Spinster , and when spun , may be employed in weaving it , and those of both Sexes that are not able , may be put to spinning , as it is usual in many Places . Obj. The next Objection I have met with is this , what will you do with all the Yarn these poor People shall spin , if you turn it into Cloth , the Commodity is brought over so cheap , that you will never be able to sell it without much Loss . Answ . I must confess , this Objection hath too much of Truth in it , wholly to be removed : The best Answer I can make to it at present , is this , That we had better lose something by the Labour of the Poor , than lose all , by letting them live in Sloth and Idleness : For , suppose you should give six pence for that which really is not worth five pence , here will five pence be gained to the Nation , tho' one penny should be lost to the Parish . But besides , let it be considered , that if this Person had not been employed , there would not less have been spent , but rather more ; forasmuch as six pence that is got by Labour , doth many times go further than twelve pence given for doing nothing , all that time People are idle , they will be spending , if they have where withal ; and if they have not , 't is like they will be worse employed , and either beg or steal to supply their Wants . All that I can further say to this Objection , is only this , That it is to be hoped in time , as our People grow more skilful and industrious , we may be able to sell as cheap as our Neighbours ; but if we cannot , 't is much better to lose something in a way that will make the poor People better , and the Nation richer , than to suffer them to live in Sloth and Idleness , to their utter ruine , and to the great Loss and Damage of the Kingdom . Obj. But it may be some will object and say , Where will you find Persons that have Skill to manage this Employment , or whom shall the Parish trust with it ? If it be left to every body's Care , it will come to nothing ; forasmuch as commonly that is no body's , which is every body's Business : And if you leave it to the Care of one or two , the Parish may be cheated . Ans . To this I answer , That it is not to be doubted , but that in every Parish some such honest and faithful Persons may be found , as would not wrong the Parish , nor imbezzle one farthing of their Stock , but account it their Honour to be employed in so noble and generous a Work , which would not only make a better Provision for the Poor , but make them better also . A.B. in C.D. When the Yarn comes in , I lay every sort by it self , that is spun to a Fineness , and when I deliver any of it to the Weaver , I enter to his account the Quantity and Quality ; as for Instance , to A. B. in C. D. so many pound of Yarn , which cost such a price ; and when the Weaver brings home his Cloth , I weigh it again , by means of which , I can certainly tell you , at the making up of the Account , whether all my Flax and Hemp be brought home by the Spinner , and all my Yarn by the Weaver ; as also what my Cloth stands me in : By which I do prevent being deceived by others , and deceiving my self . When I first began to employ the Poor in Spinning , the best direction that I could receive , was to pay for spinning the same price that the Flax and Hemp stood me in , or what those sorts were generally sold for ; but this I soon found to be a very unequal way : Forasmuch as some People would spin a much finer Thread than others , and better deserve 8 d. for spinning a pound of Flax that cost but six pence , than another four pence ; so that after a little time , I brought all the poor people to spin six hundred Yards for a penny , were the Thread finer or courser , which was three Knots or Lays about a half yard Reel , with one hundred Threads in a Lay , which makes just six hundred yards ; and since then , with much ado , finding the Loss to be great , I have brought them to fifty Yards more , which yet is much less than is spun in other places . In the Contract which the City of Bristol made with one Mr. King , and others , for the Employment of five hundred of their poor People in the way of Spinning : For the first Year , he was obliged to pay them two pence half penny for sixteen hundred Yards of Yarn , which is much about the price that I pay the poor People here , because they being either wholly to learn , or much to seek , might not be discouraged ; but after the first Year , by this Contract , he might alter the Price , provided he never brought them to spin above eight hundred Yards for a penny ; and I doubt not , if our poor People could be brought to spin so much here , there would be no Loss by the Liunen we make , but rather Profit ; but the Mischief of it is , our Poor People have not been brought up , either to work hard , or to fare hardly ; and the Trade of Begging , being known to be so easie and gainful , they will much rather range about forty or fifty Parishes in a day , and get a penny in each Parish , than work hard in one to get six pence or eight pence ; which they must do in this Employment : So that till the Magistrate will do his Duty , and see the Laws put in Execution agaiust Beggars , or the People grow so wise , as not to encourage this wicked Course of Life , I have little hope to see this matter much amended . Having given you an account of the price I pay for spinning , I shall now tell you what I pay for Flax and Hemp , ( though this is sometimes more or less , as the Markets rise or fall ) as also what I pay for dressing them , and for weaving the Cloth I make , because I would give the greatest Encouragment I could to the setting up this Manufacture , for the Employment of our poor People , till some other , or better way should be found out . For Riga Hemp at this time , I pay twenty shillings a hundred , which is very low ; for Quinborough about twenty two , which is cheap ; for Muscovia Flax , about forty four a hundred ; for Quinborough about forty shillings a hundred ; for Holladay about thirty six ; for Pater-noster Flax , about thirty : All which Prizes are very high to what they are at some times ; for English Flax , about five pence half penny a pound undrest ; which Prizes I rather insert , to give Buyers a little Aim , than for a standing Rule . For beating of Hemp , I pay four Shillings and eight pence , a hundred Weight . For dressing Hemp long or short , eleven pence a dozen pound , for dressing Flax I give three pence a Stone , accounting eight pound to the Stone . For Weaving Cloth , I pay the several Prices following , for Yarn spun to six pence and seven pence a pound , for every Ell of Cloth half-ell wide , two pence half penny ; for that which is three quarters wide , three pence ; for that which is three quarters and half wide , three pence half penny ; for that which is Yard wide , four pence ; for that which is Ell wide five pence . For Yarn spun to nine pence and ten pence a pound , I pay one half penny more for every half quarter of an Ell , rising as before ; in that of seven pence and eight pence , and the like in that which is still finer ; for course Cloth , Yard half quarter wide , I pay three pence an Ell , and for Sacking , about three pence a Yard . Which prices I have here inserted , as I said before , rather to give some Aim , than to be a standing Rule ; yet this I am sure , no one need to exceed them , but in some places they may be abated , according to the Cheapness of Living , over what it is in this City . It is a thing greatly to be wished , that we could make Linnen Cloth here , as cheap as they send it us from abroad , but if that cannot be done , nor any other way found out to employ our poor People , we had much better lose something by the Labour of our poor , than loose all their Labour , and keep them into the Bargain , which must be done one way or other ; for the Back and Belly have no Ears , Hunger will break through stone Walls , and if some People cannot honestly , they will any way supply their Wants , though they are hanged for their Pains . But Thanks be to God , there are still amongst us , an honest sort of poor people , that are content to take any pains for a Living , rather than beg or steal , and for their Sakes chiefly , I have set up this Employment , and do heartily wish it were better for their sakes , they being indeed the truest Objects of Charity that will do what they can to get a Living , and 't is great Pity , that such poor Souls should not be helped : If by what they are able to do , they cannot procure to themselves Necessaries of this sort . You very seldom see any begging about the Streets , except upon some extraordinary Occasion or Accident , and then 't is done with great Modesty , and as much against their Natures as any thing in the World , but starving . But as for those common Beggers , and especially those profligate Wretches called the running Camp , which every day pester our Streets ; they are a People that one would think came from the Suburbs of Hell it self , a Dishonour to humane Nature , a Shame to the Government , and an intolerable Trouble to all persons they come near , by their Swearing , Scolding , Fighting , &c. You may easily know them , as also by their numbers , for they commonly go in Companies , and will be present at all Solemnity , but more especially at Feasts and Funerals . Of late they are grown so impudent , that they will thrust themselves into Churches , and by their Brawling and Scolding , many times disturb the Minister ; when Sermon is done , the Congregation must not pass out , but one by one , because they will make the most they can of it , by asking every person something , and what they get , they spend as wickedly as they get it : So that to relieve these Miscreants , is a greater Act of Folly ( that I say no worse of it ) than to throw a man's Money down the Thames , for hereby you give Encouragement to this wicked kind of Life : and would once People be perswaded to forbear this foolish Pity , they would be necessitated to work . I lately heard a Gentleman tell this Story , who was persued by a lusty Rogue in Lincols-inn-fields , that refusing to give him any thing , cryed , Ah , Master if all were of your Mind , I know what I would do ; upon the hearing of which , he turned back again , and said , why Sirrah , what would you do ? Truly Master said he , I would fall to work : and I doubt not but the rest of his Brethren would do the like , but that they find Begging so beneficial a Trade . It is not above six Months since , that a Gentleman of good Quality , that lives in the Country , told me , that having occasion to pass some of the Fields about the Town , he met with a young Fellow that askt him for an Alms , whom he no sooner lookt upon , but he well remembred him to have lived in the same Parish where he did , and asking him if he were not such a man , he told him he was , and presently called the Gentleman by his name ; who asking him how long he had folowed that Trade ? told him , ever since his Wife died , which was about three years : in short , the Beggar askt him where he lay , and desired he might have leave to wait upon him at his Chamber , which he readily granted him ; withal , wondring in himself , what he should have to say to him , but when he came , he soon acquainted him with his Business , which was to get him to put out 200. l. that he had gotten by his new Trade , to keep him as he said , when he was old ; by which you see , that begging is a very gainful Trade . So that 't is no wonder that so many fall upon it , and that all places , but especially this City and Suburbs are so filled with them , nor is there any Hopes to see them fewer , till the Laws are put in Execution both against them , and those that do relieve them . If any shall think that I am very uncharitable , because I would have all lusty Beggars made to work , or soundly whipt , and such as relieve them , punished as the Laws require , I am very confident that they do not consider upon what good Grounds such Laws were made , nor the great Evil such Relief doth both to the persons themselves , as well as to the Nation , nor yet the plain Injunction of the Apostle , who saith , If any will not work , neither let them eat . Obj. But some will still object against the setting up the Linnen Manufacture , That the Commodity is more proper for other Countreys , because they have more plenty of Hemp and Flax ; and also , that if we do not take off their Linnen , they will not take off our . Woollen Cloth , which is the Staple Commodity of our Nation , and ought rather to be encouraged than any other . Answ . To which I answer , First , that for Flax , our Country , at least some parts of it , is as proper as any other , and may with good Management , be made so for Hemp also . A Worthy Person in Surry , having a mind to employ his poor Neighbours , and to prevent the great Mischiefs that Idleness had produced among them , as Begging , Stealing and breaking of Hedges , resolved to set up the Trade of Spinning Flax , and making of Cloth , which for some time he did , by supplying himself with Flax from London ; but afterwards , he caused ten Acres of his own Land to be sown with Flax ; and after a just Computation of his Charge , reckoning his neat Flax at one penny in a pound less than he paid for the same sort from London the Year before , made twenty shillings an Acre of his Ground , which would not have been let at four shillings . But Secondly , Let it be considered , that some Countreys have fallen upon the making of Wollen Cloth ; and others in a manner prohibited it , by laying so great a Charge upon it ; so that it is in a manner absolutely necessary for us to fall upon the making of Linnen Cloth , to make up the Damage they have done us . 'T is true , the Exchange of Commodities one Nation with another , is a very profitable way of Commerce , provided the Ballance of Trade be any thing equal ; which it is well known hath not been with France for some Years of late : So that there is very great reason we should fall upon making such Cloth as we receive from thence , and that as great an Imposition should be laid upon their Linnen Cloth , as they have laid upon our Woollen : The Linnens imported from France of late years , as saith Britania Languens , hath been estimated at five hundred thousand pounds : and so much as our Importations from France , exceed our Exportations thither : So much the Nation loseth , and is impoverished ; and in the same Proportion France gains , which may be accounted a double Loss to England , not only in making us so much poorer , but also in making our most formidable Neighbour so much the richer , and consequently , so much the more able to do us harm : Therefore , so much Cloth as we make here , and would otherwise be brought us from France , to the same proportion our Nation saves , and France loseth ; which is a double advantage to us . I confess , it is very necessary ; that the Woollen Manufacture should be kept up to the height , and a thousand pities that any of our Wooll should be carried out of England unwrought , especially at such a time as this , when the Commodity is so much advanced , and grown so scarce , that 't is much to be feared , we shall not long have enough for those Hands that are already employed in it ; so that instead of prohibiting the wearing of Silk , and Hair Stuffs for five months in a Year , when so many thousand Persons are employed in those Commodities : It is thought may prove very prejudicial ; and that we had more need to encourage these Manufactures , or any other , to employ our Poor , than forbid them ; neither indeed , will this be a way to lessen our Woollen Manufacture , but much more to encrease it : Forasmuch as any Person that wears Silk , or Hair that is brought from beyond Sea , in Exchange for our Woollen Cloth , may be truly said to wear twice as much , as he that has nothing but Woollen upon his Back . I desire also , that it may be considered , that although it matters not how great a price is paid for what is worn of the Wollen Manufacture among our selves ; yet if we shall not be able to send it abroad at a reasonable price , we shall put other Countreys upon seeking out other Commodities that will be cheaper , which may prove very mischievous . There is no great danger , that ever our making of Linnen Cloth should do the Woollen much harm , unless we could make it cheaper than we have it from other places ; and then if we furnished them with Linnen to as good advantage as Woollen , the matter would be much the same . But lastly , I am not fond of one Employment for our Poor , more than for another , let but our idle People be employed , and the Trade of Begging supprest , and I shall have attained my End : for this I am sure , is a far greater Evil to the Nation , and every way more mischievous than the setting them to make Linnen-Cloth , or any other thing would be . Nay , I am very confident , I conceive upon good grounds , that it were much better for the Nation to employ the poor to pick Straws , if there were no better Employment for them , than to let them live in Sloth and Idleness , because what they got by their Labours , would go much farther than so much given them for doing nothing : all the idle person hath to do , is to spend what you give him , which he will quickly do , when that is all his Business , but he that is employed hath something else to mind ; neither will his Wants be so many , as the others , nor himself in half so much danger as the idle Person , whose Head is the Devils Anvil , where he forges all his Instruments of Death , and by being altogether at Leisure , may even be said to tempt the Devil himself to fall upon him , being ready for want of other or better Business , to do any thing , which either the Devil or his own wicked heart can suggest to him , or set him upon . But there is one Objection more , which I have lately met with , which I cannot well pass over , and that is this ? Obj. Though it cannot be denied but that in the general , the Employment of the Poor is a very good Work , yet it may not be convenient to set up any Manufacture in this City for the doing of it , least by this means you drain the Countreys of all their poor People , and in time so fill the City and Suburbs with them , that all the Manufactures in England shall not be enough to employ them ; and also , because by Experience it is found , that all those Places where there is any Manufacture set up , are much fuller of poor people than any other . And lastly , because it is not convenient , that the making and Consumption of any Commodity should be in one and the same place . To which I answer , first , that if the Employment of the Poor be good in any place , it is so here , both because they are more in number in this City and Suburbs , than in any other Places , and because if they are here suffered to be idle , they will have more Temptations and Opportunities to do mischief , than they will have any where else . As to what is objected , that by the setting up of any Manufacture here for the Employment of the Poor , you will drein the Countreys of all their poor People , and at last so fill the City and Suburbs with them , that all the Manufactures of England shall not be enough to supply them . I answer , first , that there will need no more work to employ them in the City , than in the Country ; so that if all the Manufactures in England will not employ them here , neither will they do it in the Country . But , Secondly , I desire it may be considered , that where there is one person comes to this City to find Work , there is two comes to beg or to do worse : so that if due care were taken to employ all persons that were idle , and the Laws put in Execution against Beggars , a great many persons would soon leave the City , and return to their own Countries , where they might have near as much Money for their work , or at least more meat for their Money ; and till this easie and gainful , though wicked Trade of Begging shall be supprest , I do not expect to see fewer , but more Beggars every day . It is well known , that of late years , many persons have come from the farthest parts of this Nation to set up this Trade here , and if speedy Care be not taken to prevent it , this City and Suburbs will drain all the poor people of England unto them , Begging being here a better Trade than any where else , and greater Encouragement given to it . As to that part of the Objection , which saith , that those Towns , where there is any Manufacture set up , are fuller of poor People than any other places , the Answer is easie . First , Because those places have abundantly more People in them than any other , all Manufactures being carried on chiefly by the Poor , and not only by the Rich ; so necessary are the Poor to the carrying on of any Manufacture , that the one would cease without the other . But let it also be considered , that as in these Places , there are the poorest , so also here are the richest ; and as there are in these places more poor People than in others , so also there are more rich People than in those places where there is no Manufacture , the Trade of such places being very little ; Let any one compare the Trade of Colchester with the Trade of Ipswich , and he shall find , that where the Town of Ipswich gets one penny , the Town of Colchester gets twelve pence ; and for every twelve pence returned in Ipswich , there is near twenty shillings returned in Colchester . Let the Poor of any place be never so many , provided they work and do not eat the Bread of Idleness , the place will be the richer for them , and the Trade far the better : For these People must eat , and drink , and wear Clothes , as well , tho' not so good , as those that are richer ; and by these the Trade will be much increased , and the Inhabitants made much richer than otherwise they would be : A multitude of poor People well employed , would be like a multitude of Bees in a Hive , which would much sooner fill it with Honey than if they were fewer . I would gladly know how our poor People shall be provided for , if Begging must not be allowed , nor Working encouraged , for fear of bringing more poor People among us . Put the case this were an Evil which yet I cannot allow , must we not do good to our own Poor , for fear it should bring the Poor of other places among us . For my part , I am so far from thinking abundance of poor People an Evil , that if they were well employed , they would prove a Blessing to us : For in all Labour there is Profit , saith the Wiseman : 't is only Idleness that makes the poor a Burthen both to themselves , and the Places where they inhabit . But lastly , That all Pretences may be taken away from such as object against our Employment of the Poor among us , lest we should bring in the Poor of other Places : If the several Parishes do not like of this , they have Laws to keep them out ; and they may thank themselves , that so many necessitous Persons do daily come in among them , because they do not prevent Inmates , but suffer any to settle among them , that may be chargeable , without giving Security to prevent it . But it is further said in the Objection , that the Making and Consumption of any Commodity , should not be in one and the same place . To which it is answered , that this part of the Objection , even by the Confession of all , hath no force in it as to many things ; and why it should as to any , I see no reason : It was never doubted , but that good Beer and Ale , which some call our English Manufacture , may without any prejudice , be made and consumed in one and the same place ; and why not any Commodity for the Back , if there be need of them , as well as those for the Belly ? I do not understand : We use to say , Every man will Christen his own Child first : So much of any Commodity as is necessary , will be made use of in the place where it is made , and only the rest sent abroad . Put the Case , for want of other Employment , the City of London should set their poor People upon making Linnen Cloth , and that in time they should be able to fit the Country with it , upon as good terms as they do twenty others that are made in this City . Where would be the Prejudice , if in the first place they supplied themselves with what they have occasion for . But as to the sort of Work , you will employ the poor People in , I am not concerned so much for that , as that you do employ them some way or other , and prevent that idle kind of Life , which many of them lead , which will bring them , not only to Beggary , but to all manner of Vice , as hath been already observed from what hath been said , I think it doth plainly appear , that the only way to prevent Poverty and Want among those that are well and able to work , is to bring them to Labour , and prevent Idleness , which being done , it will be much easier to provide for those that through Age , Sickness , or the like , are utterly uncapable of doing any thing towards their own maintenance : And that this might effectually be done , care must be taken to put the Laws in Execution , which are made on that behalf , which I am told , hath strictly enjoyned every Parish , to take care , that such Persons , may have such an Allowance , as may be suitable and sufficient for their Wants , that so they need not be necessitated to beg , nor forced to go out of their own Parish to seek Relief : insomuch , that if the Places where they live , be not able to give them a sufficient Supply to their Wants and Necessities , they ought to apply themselves to their next Neighbours for Help and Assistance ; and in case they fail herein , 't is their own Fault . And indeed , what can be more reasonable than such Laws as these ? Forasmuch as there is nothing can tend more to the Dishonour of any Nation , than to see such poor , aged , sick and impotent People , necessitated to beg up and down the Streets , when God knows , many times they are fitter to be in Bed. That we do not force such as are able to work and get their own Livings , is a shame only to our Prudence , and want of good Government ; but that we necessitate such Persons as those to beg , is a shame to our very Profession of Christianity , and shews that we are hard-hearted , and have no Bowels of Compassion to our poor Brethren . Surely this is not to give Honour to the Aged , nor to be Eyes to the Blind , and Feet to the lame , and Wisdom to them which have no Understanding , nor yet to do to others as we would that they should do unto us , if we were in such Circumstances . It many times falls out , that Persons who have lived well in their younger Years , and it may be wrought hard when they were able , that by reason of Sickness , or some sad Accident , have come to Poverty in their Old Age. How often hath it fallen out , that Widows , by trusting their Estates in the Hands of Knaves , have lost all they had , and been brought to Want ? having out-lived all their Friends and near Relations , and nothing to help them , but the Kindness of the Parish , and if that fail , how miserable must they be ? Now for the Prevention of which , I would propose one or two things more . First , That in every great Parish , there might be some other persons appointed besides the Church-wardens , who should be men of the best Reputation , both for Honesty and Estates , to whom I would have given that honourable Title of being called Fathers for the Poor , as it is now in the French and Dutch Churches , whose chief work and Business it should be , to visit such poor People , and to inspect their Wants , and to have some part at least of the Parish stock , committed to them for the Supply of them whereas now alas , the poor people must themselves apply to the Church-wardens if they are able to crawl abroad , otherwise , if their own Neighbours , which many times are poor enough themselves , are not the kinder , they may perish in their own Houses for want of Food , Physick , Fire or Cloaths , as I have great reason to believe many hundreds have done of late years , I pray God lay it not to our Charge , that in a Nation so abounding with Riches and Plenty as England doth , any person should perish through want . It is well well known , that the Church-Wardens of most Parishes , come not to those places , because they are better or richer men than others , but because of their long Standing in the Parish ; and many times , God knows , they are no more affected with the Wants and Necessities of a poor Creature , than a Grave-maker at the sight of a dead Corps . Secondly , I propose that some such Houses may be crected here as are in Holland , for the Reception of aged persons , to which they may resort , and be admitted as soon as they find themselves in a declining Condition , before all is spent or lost , paying for their Admittance according to their Age , and the Quality of such Houses as they should desire to go into ; for of these , I would have several sorts . This in a few years would prevent much of that Poverty and Necessity , that oftentimes fall upon old Age ; as to give an Instance or two , suppose that a Woman buries her Husband , who leaves her in Goods and Money to the value of one or two hundred pounds , but altogether unable to manage the Trade her Husband followed or any other , what can this poor Woman do , to live upon the Interest of this Money , though she knew never so well , how to secure it , she cannot ; and if she lives upon the Principal , it will soon be gone . In such a case , what more advisable , than that this Person forthwith go and purchase for her self a Being in one of these Houses , where she shall be well provided for , as long as she live , and be delivered from the fear of Want in her old Age , which many times is more grievous than the fear of Death it self ? How often have it faln out , that Widows who were left well by their Husbands , for Want of Understanding to manage their Estates , or by trusting it in insolvent hands , have lost all , and brought themselves to Poverty ; or suppose as many times it hapneth , that while a Man and his Wife live , their Trade should either grow out of Fashion , or so bad , that it was not possible for them either to get a Living by it , or to fall into any other . In this case , would it not be much for the Advantage of both these Persons , while something was left , to go and make Provision for themselves in one of these Houses where they should be comfortably provided for as long as they lived , and the longer Liver of them . I doubt not , but there are many persons that have known the Cases now put often to happen , and many others of the like nature ; this would be a sort of Charity , if I may call it Charity , very advantagious to the Persons that should partake of it , and as it may fall out , very profitable to the Setter of it up , but however , without Loss , and would really be a far greater piece of Service done to the Nation , than are for the most part our Alms Houses , which though never so well intended , are in some Respects prejudicial , drawing poor People to settle in such places where they are erected , and a means to make some People careless in laying up any thing against old Age , in hopes of being there provided for ; not that I would wholly discourage this way of Charity : In some Respects it may be good , but yet I will say , that this is no way inferiour to it , in as much , as many times it would effectually prevent that Poverty which often falls upon Old Age , which is doubtless as great an Act of Charity , as to relieve Persons in Necessity . I am verily perswaded , if one such Building as this I am now speaking of , was erected , for the Reception of Aged Men , or Women , or both , and well endowed for the performance of such Conditions as should be made , there would be no want of Persons to go into it ; and that in a short time , so many would be erected , that the next Generation should not see one quarter so many of poor aged People , exposed to Beggary as in this . There are some persons that I know , who have poor Relations , that would willingly be at one or 200 l. Charge , to see them thus provided for . I wish that all that were able , were so well minded ; but on the contrary , to their shame be it spoken , I know some that have so little Charity for their poor Relation , that though they are able , yet suffer them to want ; nay , to beg . I hope the number of such uunatural Wretches are not many , yet some such there are , who provide not for their own Kindred , of whom the Apostle saith , That they have denied the Faith , and are worse than Infidels . But now Sir , that I may give you an account of the Work-house in Aldersgate Parish , and the management of Affairs there ( which was the thing you desired , and what first I chiefly intended ) by which I hope there will appear a very likely way to prevent much Poverty for the Future , and Beggary for the Present . The House being finished , I acquainted the Parish , that if they had any poor People that wanted Employment , if they went thither , I would supply them , upon these Conditions , viz. that they should not take away their Pensions from any that I employed , nor give Pensions to any but such as would , being able , follow that Work I had to give them , or some other , by means of which , and the Pension received from the Parish , they might provide for themselves without Begging : For I have long observed , that a great many of those Persons we find begging up and down the Streets , are such as do receive some Pension from the Parishes where they live ? but that being too small to maintain them , they make up the rest by Begging , which might easily be prevented in every Parish , as it was in this we are now speaking of , there being here no Person that had a Pension , and was able to work , but was supplied therewith , and with these together , were inabled to make good Provision for themselves , and to live much more happily than before : And if at any time any of these Persons should be found begging in the Streets , the Parish promised to take away their Pensions , and I promised to take away their Work , and leave them to provide for themselves as well as they could , which must be by begging or stealing ; but wherever they begged , it should not be in this Parish , at least , not with any good Success : For the Parish having called over all their poor People , and appointed work for those that were able , thought it convenient to give a Badge , with the three first Letters of the Parishes name upon it , to such , and only such as they found uncapable of any Labour ; by means of which , they were permitted to go into the Parish , if they were able , or else to send some in their names at such an hour of the day , to receive such broken Bread and Meat as their Neighbours had to give , who also promised to give it unto these , and no others : for by this Badge , which was made of blew and yellow Bays , pinned upon their sleeve or breast , they were known to the Inhabitants to be those very persons , whom the Deputy , Common-counsel-men , and Church-wardens had judged fit to receive such Charity . And I know not why any body should be offended that the Parishoners should invite their poor Neighbours once a day to come to their houses to receive such Bread and Meat as they were willing to give them , neither would I have these poor people go under so dishonourable a name as Beggars , but to be lookt upon as invited Guests . And would their rich Neighbours now and then invite them to their Tables , it would take away this Reproach , and be an Obligation upon their Servants , to take care that what they gave them at other times , were decently set by for them , and not scambled up and down as in some places I have seen it done as if it were to be given to Dogs , rather than Christians ; this were indeed to follow the Advice of our blessed Lord and Saviour , who saith , Luke 14. 13. When thou makest a Feast , call the Poor , the Maimed , the Lame , and the Blind , for they cannot recompence thee , but thou shalt be recompenced at the Resurrection of the Just . And this course of giving a Badg to your own Poor Neighbours , by which they might be known , and resolving to relieve no others , unless there were not enough of these ; in which case , some from other Parishes might be allowed to come in like manner , tho at first sight it may seem to have little in it , yet if duely practiced would be found of very great moment , and productive of many goods effects ; insomuch , that it is impossible it should fail , unless the Parish fail in their promise . For first of all , by this means , you will in a short time clear your Parish of all those idle Beggars that daily infest it , to the great trouble of all House-keepers , whose doors are seldom quiet from one or other of them , to the great Disturbance of the whole Family , it being in some places almost one bodies work to give them answers . Then this will tend to the quiet of all Passengers that shall have occasion to go through your Parish , who are wont to be haunted with those evil Spirits , from one end of the street to the other ; and if by accident they meet with any one by the way , with whom they have occasion to speak , and shall make the least halt , they must in their own defence , give them something to be gone , or else they will hear all they say , or by their begging , hinder them from saying any thing ; this is a thing so well known to all that live in or frequent the City , that I need not say more concerning it . Now by means of a Badge , the Parish will know whom they relieve , and when it shall come to be known that they have resolved to relieve at their doers , no other but their own poor Neighbours as it will in a short time ; the common Beggars will know better how to employ their time , than in visiting such places , where nothing is to be got . And while this Parish of Aldersgate took the course prescribed them , I my self have taken a Friend , and gone through the chief places of this Parish , and have not found one Beggar in it ; I must confess , of late they have been something remiss in the Prosecution of the Methods agreed upon , but I doubt not they will fall upon it again . ( For I hear , instead of Badges made of Bays , they have made some of Brass , and resolve to give the poor aged and impotent People , new-coats , all made of gray Cloth , to put them upon , that so the Parish may the better know their own poor People , that are appointed to take such Relief as they have to give at their doors ; ) and then I am sure , what I now tell you was done , will be done again . Obj. But here it will be objected , That some Parishes are so full of poor People , who are not able to work , that they are not able to relieve one quarter of them in this kind . Answ . To which I answer , That there are several Parishes and some Wards within the City of London , which have very few or no poor People in them , wherefore I humbly propose , that by the Allowance of the Lord Mayor , &c. it may be permitted to those poor Parishes , to send daily some of their poorest People for Relief . As for Example , Suppose the Parish of Algate which is very full of poor people , should be permitted to send such a number of them into the Ward of Langbourn , with a Badge of the Parish , by which they might be known , at such an hour of the day , to receive what Bread and Meat they had to give , and this Ward desired by the Alderman , Deputy , or Common-counsel-man of every Precinct to give their broken Victuals only to these persons : this in a short time would have the like Effect in this Ward as it had in the parish aforesaid ; yet least it should be found troublesome to the Ward , that these poor people should be ranging about it from one end to another , it might with ease be ordered , that every Precinct should have such a number allotted , according to it's Bigness or Smallness , to receive their Fragments ; by which means , the Ward should be more quiet , and the Streets rid of those multitude of Beggars which are every day found in them , to the great trouble of the People , and the Dishonour of the Government , as hath been said . And till some such Course as this was taken , I would advise every Family that have broken Bread and Meat to bestow , that they would not throw it away upon those common Beggars that come to their doors every day , who many times are too fine mouthed to eat any of it themselves , unless a choice Bit now and then , and either throw away the rest , or sell it unto others ; but rather to invite two or three poor Families to come for ir at such times as you should apppint , which would be a great Comfort to them . This is the way which I have taken for many years last past , so that now my door is seldom troubled by common Beggars on this account . From what hath been said , I suppose it will appear very practicable to bring all the Parishes in England into such a Method , that no poor Body should want Work , or be permitted to beg otherwise than by the allowance of the Parish , which yet I would not have called by this Term : For what hath been done in one Parish , may be done in every one , if the Circumstances are the same . But 't is like some will still object and say , that this of Aldersgate Parish , is a rich Parish , and the Poor very few in it to what there are in others ; so that what is related , may with greater ease be effected here , than where the Poor are more numerous . Ans . To this , I say , it is very true , there are several Rich Men in this Parish , and the Poor of this Parish , tho' many , are not yet so many as in some others ; yet even here there are many poor People and their Children that do spin Flax and Hemp , tho' they are not all Pensioners to the Parish , nor I hope ever will be , it being my design to prevent that as much as I can . But over and besides those of this Parish , there are above 1500 more out of other Parishes in and about the City of London , some of which do constantly follow this Employment , and others only when they have no better . As suppose a poor Woman that goeth three days in a week to wash or Scour abroad , or one that is imploy'd in Nurse-keeping three or four months in a year , or a poor Market-woman , that attends three or four Mornings in a Week , with her Basket , and all the rest of the time these folks have little or nothing else to do ; but by means of this Spinning , are not only kept within doors ( some of which would otherwise be begging in the Streets ) but made much more happy and chearful , being by their own Labours able to make Provision for themselves . And were the Rich of this Parish fewer than they be , and the Poor many more than they are , the same course might be taken , and would prove effectual to the Ends before exprest : And by how much greater the number of the poor People are , by so much the more need to find them Employment , it being much more easie to provide them Work , than to keep them in Idleness ; and much more for their advantage , to be put into a way to get their own Bread , than to give it them for nothing : If with their Pension , you find them Employment , 't is like that 6 d. will go further , and do them more good than 3 s. nothing being more mischievous to the Poor , than to live in Sloth and Idleness , as hath been said . But further , to encourage the setting up of Schools in every greeat Parish , for the Instruction of young Children , and bringing them to labour ; and also for providing Work for such as are of Age , which they may carry to their own Habitations : I have a few things more to say . First , By means hereof , you will prevent much of that mischief that happens to young Children , by suffering them to wander up and down without any Care or Government , by reason of which , they do not only get a lazy , idle Habit , which yet is no small Evil , but learn all manner of Wickedness that they are capable of , as Lying , Swearing , Thieving , and such like , which by sad experience , we find many times they retain as long as they live , being bred in the Bone , will hardly be got out of the Flesh , it being almost as possible to wash the Blackamore white , as it is to teach them to do well , that have been long accustomed to do evil : Whereas , if due Care were taken to instruct young Children , and to put them into a good Course of Life , before Evil had taken hold of them , both Labour and Vertue would be much more pleasing to them , than Idleness , Sloth and Vice. Then by providing Work for such of your poor People as are able , and may want it . By this means , you shall in the first place , most certainly , make Provision for all the honest and industrious Poor in your Parish , who will , with great Joy and Thankfulness , be employed in any honest way to get a penny , Idleness being to them the greatest Burthen in the World , insomuch , that several persons have told me , they have taken as much pleasure in earning a penny , as they have in useing it , their minds being all that time quiet in which they have been employed , and the day seem'd shorter , and passed away much more pleasantly than otherwise it would have done , no part of it being a Burthen to them ; and had you seen as I have done many a time , with what Joy and Satisfaction many poor people have brought home their Work , and received their Money for it , you would think no Charity in the World , like to this of finding them Employment . Do not think that all the poor people in England are like those idle Vagrants you find up and down the streets , no , there are many thousands whose Necessities are very great , and yet they do what they can by their honest Labour to help themselves , and many times they would do more than they do ; but for want of Employment , several that I have now working to me , do spin some fourteen , and some sixteen hours in four and twenty , and had much rather do it , than be idle . Here , if it were to the purpose , I could tell you many sad stories of the great wants and necessities of several poor people , that I have been an Eye-witness of , that would melt the most rocky heart into Compassion ; the poorest people are many times those that come least in sight , who fare hard , and work hard to get bread . Some Trades are grown so bad , and several Commodities fal'n so low in their price , that some who could with ease have earned 2 s. or 2. s. 6. d. in a day , can now hardly earn 12 d. by reason of which you have men run away from their Wives and Children , leaving them to the Parish ; and sometimes , run distracted , or make away with themselves , Instances of all which cases , I have known too many . To whom should Charity be extended rather than to such poor people , who are willing to take any pains for their Living , and yet are wholly idle many times , for want of work ; but by this means of providing work for all persons that want Employment , it will be much more easie for the honest and laborious poor to find Relief . Secondly , By this means you will leave all idle persons so much without Excuse , that they will not deserve your pity , whatsoever their Wants and Necessities are , they must thank themselves , who will not make use of such a means , as is put into their own Power ; for if this Course was taken in all Parishes to imploy all that were able , and did want work , then when you saw a lusty person begging in the streets , you might say , go to your Parish , and work for your Living : but unless this be done , and you are sure that this person may have Employment , to bid him go work for his Living , is no better than to say to a Brother or Sister that is naked , and destitute of daily Food , go be warmed and filled , but give them not those things that are needful for the Body . I pray God lay it not to the Charge of this City and Suburbs , that so little Care hath been taken in this respect , for this is one of those things to which it is chiefly owing , that our prisons are so full of Fellons and Debtors , of which it is thought , no Age hath produced the like ; for tho I know one man that within a few years last past , with the Charity of some worthy persons hath delivered many hundred poor people out of Prison , that lay there either for their Fees or very small Debts ; and I have reason to believe that many more hath been delivered by others , yet let any one but go to the Marshalsey , or the prison of White Chappel , or to the two Compters of London , and he shall find them very full of Prisoners at this time . It was hoped that the City of London would have provided a Stock , and appointed a place to which poor persons might have brought their Pawns , and have been supplyed with Money upon any Extremity , which would have been no loss to the City , and much to the Advantage of the poor , who now are fain to go to such Brokers as will not lend twenty Shillings a Week under six pence , which comes to 26 s. a year , by which Trade they make above two of one in a years time , to the Ruine of many poor people ; neither is this the worst of it , but for every 20 Shillings they borrow , they must leave many times , above 40. s. worth of Goods , which they must fetch away in such a time , which being never so little elapsed , the Goods are no more to be heard of . Neither are many of our Tally-men much better , who trust poor Persons with twenty shillings worth of Goods , or rather with twelve or fourteen shillings worth , instead of twenty , to pay them by 6 d. or 12 d. a week , wherein , if they fail to pay , they hurry them into a Prison , with great Charge for Arrests and Proceedings at Law , which many times exceed the first Debt ( which we hope will be in a great measure prevented , by setting up a Court of Conscience in the City of Westminster , and Borough of Southwark , as it is at present in the City of London ) at which Prison , they are sure to lie , till Charity comes thither for the Release of poor Prisoners , which they very well know will come at ceatain times of the Year ; and then , if you meet with a kind Jaylor , or a Creditor of any Compassion , 't is like you may get out your Prisoner with some small Abatement , otherwise not ; so that in effect , most of those Moneys that are carried to Prisons , run either into the Bailiffs , or the Jaylors , or into the Pawn-brokers , or Tally-mens Pockets . This I instance , not to hinder people from delivering persons out of Prison ( I wish there were many more so well minded ) but to provoke them to do all they can to keep them from coming thither : It being twice as great an Act of Charity , and much more for the benefit of any person , to keep him from falling and breaking his Head , than to take him up and give him a Plaister : So to keep a poor man from going to Prison , is much greater Charity than to help him out ; and I heartily wish , that this sort of Charity were more in practice , both here and in other Countreys , where they tell you of prodigious Numbers that are every Year brought to their Hospitals and Charitable Houses , when it is much to be feared , little Care is taken to prevent that Poverty , Misery and Necessity that falls upon them ; but is rather occasioned from the badness of some Laws , or from the want of good ones . Methinks it were greatly to be wished , that care were taken to provide work for all our poor Debtors and Felons , that being cast into Prison , could not there keep themselves without the Charity of such places . Nay , for our Felons , I see no reason but they should be made to labour , though they could otherwise provide for themselves : This would be a good means to prevent much of that Wickedness which is practiced in those places . It seems to me very unreasonable , that Prisons should be places of pleasure , delight and choice ; yet some such there are , into which , several persons of good Estates , but very bad Consciences , remove themselves on purpose to cheat their Creditors , and to spend their own , and other mens Moneys in Sloth and Luxury , whilst their poor Creditors are fain to fare hardly , and many times to live in Sorrow and Want. As these therefore should be wholly supprest on the one hand , so also those little Prisons about the Town , which in some respects I may call little , because the Houses are not big , by reason of which , 20 or 30 shall be cast into one room , and that none of the bigest , and also because the Actions are not great for which persons are sent thither , tho' it may be , some of them have more Commitments and Discharges in a Year , than Newgate it self . Into some of these Prisons I have known several persons cast for a debt often Groats , and sometimes for less , where , if the person continue but a Night , his Fees shall be 13 s. 6 d. to the Keeper and his company , besides 1 s. 6 d. Garnish-money , 3 s. for the Writ , and 5 s. for the Arrest , with some other Charges . It it is not very long since I had one of these Jaylors before the Judges , for taking unlawful Fees , and other Exorbitant Practices ; but before any thing was determined in the Matter , the person made a Rope , and hanged himself . It is a most lamentable thing , that these little Prisons are not supprest , or at least regulated , and a Table of Fees set up , both in them , and all the Prisons of England , that so all the poor people may know what they have to pay , and not be left to the mercy of a cruel Jaylor , who rather than he will abate any thing of his Demands , will keep a poor Wretch in Prison till he is almost starved there , and his Wife and Children quite starved at home . I do not lay this Charge against them all , some I have known to be more compassionate , yet such I have known also , that upon the least Displeasure taken against a poor Prisoner , have threatned to make Dice of his Bones , before he would abate him a penny , and no doubt he would have been as good as his word . 'T is in these places that they eat up the poor of the Land , as a man would eat Bread ; neither are the Jaylers themselves sometimes more cruel , than the poor people are one unto another , insomuch , that I have greatly wondred to see how violently they will prosecute one another , it being most certainly true , which Solomon hath observed , That when the Poor oppresseth the Poor , it is like a sweeping Rain , that leaveth nothing behind it ; much of which Cruelty also would be prevented by setting up a Court of Conscience in the out-parts of this City , as it is already in London , to which all persons should apply themselves for any Debt under 40 s. with very little Charge to themselves ; by reason of which , the Creditor would be much more like to get his Debt , and the Debtor better able to pay him , than when five times the value of the Debt shall be run out in Charges of a Suit , as many times I have known it , to the utter ruine of the Debtor , and loss of the Creditor's Money . And as for those Night-walkers , and other idle and vitious persons , that are sent to Bridewel , and other Houses of Correction , it would be of great use , that there were some Law to confine them to such places for a certain time , according to the nature of their Offences , where they might be taught to work , and made able to get their own Livings , both while they were there , and when they came out , as it is in Holland and other places ; whereas , for want of such a Law , these kind of people are no sooner put into prison , but they are bailed out again , and if they do receive the Correction of the house before they are discharged , it signifies very little , neither can it reasonably be thought , but that they will follow their old Trade again , for want of a better ; whereas 't is very probable , if they were taught a more honest way to get a Living , they might leave off that wicked course of Life , which they had followed , and betake themselves to that Employment they had learnt in Prison , or if they did not , if ever they came in again , it might be for a much longer time , which would make them at Leisure to repent their Folly , and careful to avoid the like again , especially , if they were suffered to eat no more than they earned , and to do as much work for 2 d. in the Prison , as they might have three pence for if they were out , which would also help to bear the Charge of such places , which as I am informed , is the way taken beyond Sea , with great Advantage to the persons themselves , who are hereby brought to Sobriety , and also to such Houses . I have heard the worthy President and some of the Governours of Bridewel , complain of the want of such a Law , having observed , that of the vast numbers that have been sent thither , of which many have been corrected , yet few in comparison , have been amended , but as they have been soon discharged the House , so they have soon been brought thither again , without any Alteration , except for the worse . And how indeed can it otherwise be expected , these people having been brought up to nothing of Labour when they were at Liberty , nor taught nothing when they were under Confinement , by which they might provide for themselves , will do it either by the old way they formerly took , or some other as bad , rather than starve . I humbly propose therefore , that the Women and young people might be taught to spin well upon the double Wheel , or to weave Lace , or the like , and that the men might be taught to beat Hemp , dress Flax , or comb Wool , or else to weave Linnen-cloth , &c. and to be taught these so well , that they might find Employment in some of these ways , when they came out of Prison , which 't is like , many would rather take unto , than run the hazzard of such another Confinement , or by taking such a Course as would bring them to the Gallows . I my self have found some people very hardly , brought to any Employment at first , that by fair means have fal'n to it , and the lazy Habit being got off , have been more pleased with it than to live in Idleness , and have so continued for some years . When this is effected , the person is in a manner out of danger : For I dare say , there hath been more lost through Idleness , than any other Vice whatsoever ; when people have no Work to do , or Employment to follow , their first Attempt is to run into Debt of such as will be so mad to trust them , which not being able to pay , they are run into Prison , from whence , if they get out by the Charity of others , their next Trade is Begging , or it may be Stealing , for which they come to be hanged . I therefore would advise all persons who are so charitable as to release poor persons out of Prison , to take especial care of those who have a Trade to follow , and a House to go unto when they went out ; otherwise 't is very like the Person is better where he is , and in less danger of doing Mischief , either to himself or others : For , for want of these , the person being out , of Prison , must either fall to begging , or that which is still worse , stealing , or cutting of Purses ; insomuch , that I have sometimes known , and heard often of persons that have been taken out of one Prison for Debt , and in a short time thrown into another for Felony . But that I may return to the Business I was upon , to encourage the providing of work for the Poor , by means of which they may be better able to provide Necessaries for themselves . By so doing , all that have any Bowels of Compassion , will find themselves greatly eased in their minds , and their Enjoyments of the good things of this World , more sweet and pleasant to them , when they are not imbittered with the sad thoughts of the Wants and Necessities of their poor Neighbours , who otherwise will have no way to relieve themselves , but wretched Begging , or wicked Stealing . Besides that , they will be more secure in the Enjoyment of their Goods , by how much there will be fewer persons that will have the temptation of extreme want to make them steal , and be injurious unto others in their Possessions . And lastly , to leave many things unsaid , all good Christians , who are serious in the Profession of Religion , and hope of Eternal Life , must needs rejoyce to have a hand in such a work as this ; because nothing can more confirm our hope of having our portion among those to whom our Lord Jesus will at the great day of Accounts say , Come ye Blessed of my Father , &c. then this , that we have relieved the hungry , thirsty , naked and imprisoned , or have been a means to preserve those that otherwise would have fallen into those Miseries and Calamities . POSTSCRIPT . THus Sir , in compliance with your desire , and the desires of several other Friends , I have exposed my private thoughts to publick View and Censure , not doubting , but all well-minded and ingenuous persons will accept of my good will , tho they may not be satisfied with my reasons , nor yet in the management of the Vndertaking , which now for full five years hath been carried on with some difficulty , and very great pains , as any one must imagine . This I am sure is the worst that can be said of it , That it hath not yet been brought to bear its own Charges . The reason of which , I have already given in part : however this doth greatly satisfie me , that every penny that hath been lost by it , either by my self , or those friends that have helpt to bear it , hath been many times gained to the Poor , and to the Publick ; neither hath the loss been so great , as to afright any man that is able and hath a good mind , from undertaking the like : For in above 4000 l. laid out the last year , in the management of the whole Affair , reckoning House-rent , Servants Wages , loss by Learners , with the Interest of the Money employed in the Concern , there was not above 200 l. lost , one chief reason of which I must attribute to the kindness of several persons that took off some of the Commodities I made at the price they cost me ; and in particular , to the East India and Guinnea Company , who gave me encouragement to make their Allabas Cloths and course Canvas for their Pepper-Baggs , which in former times they use to have from other Countreys . 'T is most certain , that unless a higher Impost be laid upon foreign Linnen , it will not be possible for us at present , to make it so cheap as it is brought over , for our poor people will neither work so hard , nor can live so cheap as generally the poor people of other places do ; therefore we must be content to lose something in this way , or find some other to employ our poor people in , for employed they must be , as we tender the good of their Souls or Bodies ; and I am of Opinion , notwithstanding all that I have yet heard or read to the contrary , that the setting up the Linnen Manufacture would many ways be of great Advantage to this Nation , although to provide against the worst , I have made a good Progress in the Woollen Manufacture also , insomuch , that had not the price of Wool so greatly advanced of late , I doubt not but by this time to have made one of one ; but of this I shall give no further account at present . All that I have more to say , is to request such persons as have any Kindness for my Vndertaking , to assist me therein , by taking off my hands some of the Cloth the poor people shall make , at the Price it stands me in , tho it be a little dearer than they might have Cloth elsewere ; I have met with some persons so charitable , that not having occasion for any for their own Vse , have bought good quantities to give away to the poor , who have been as thankful for it as for Money , there being many thousands that have not above one Shirt to their Backs , and many that have none , insomuch , that within less than two years , I have given away to Men , Women , and Children , above 3000 , whose Bodies have been greatly refreshed by them ; and I doubt not but many of them have blest God for them , and pray'd for their Benefactors . I have heard many people say , they would be ready to help such as are industrious : here are Objects to their own Hearts desire , that do all they can , but cannot do enough to keep themselves from want , insomuch , that had I not been inabled to give many of them money as well as work , when either they or their Children have fal'n sick , they might have perished through Want. If any one shall desire thus to shew their Charity to the poor , either by buying the Cloth they make , or otherwise , what they shall freely contribute to their Help and Relief , shall be faithfully given to them by theirs , and the Poor's Servant , Tho. Firmin . FINIS . 
A50763	----	A method concerning the relief and employment of the poor humbly offer'd to the consideration of the king and both Houses of Parliament / taken out of Sir Josiah Child's writings ; with somewhat added which the late renowned judge Sir Mathew Hale, writ in his book intituled, A discourse touching provision for the poor. Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699. 1699 Approx. 34 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A50763 Wing M1941 ESTC R385 12321388 ocm 12321388 59482 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A50763) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 59482) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1017:2) A method concerning the relief and employment of the poor humbly offer'd to the consideration of the king and both Houses of Parliament / taken out of Sir Josiah Child's writings ; with somewhat added which the late renowned judge Sir Mathew Hale, writ in his book intituled, A discourse touching provision for the poor. Child, Josiah, Sir, 1630-1699. Hale, Matthew, Sir, 1609-1676. Discourse touching provision for the poor. 22 p. Printed by the advice of some in authority, London : 1699. Also found as Wing C3858 on reel 733:22. Imperfect: pages stained with print show-through and some loss of print. Reproduction of original in the Huntington Library. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor laws -- Great Britain. 2004-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-02 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-07 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2004-07 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A METHOD Concerning the Relief and Employment OF THE POOR : Humbly offer'd to the Consideration of the KING and both Houses of PARLIAMENT . Taken out of Sir Josiah Child's Writings . With somewhat added ; Which the Late Renowned Judge , Sir Mathew Hale , Writ in his Book Intituled , A Discourse touching Provision for the Poor . May true Wisdom be given , for the carrying on so Great and so Good a Work. LONDON , Printed by the Advice of some in Authority , 1699. A METHOD Concerning the Relief and Employment OF THE POOR . IN the Discourse of this Subject , I shall first assert some Particulars , which I think are agreed by common Consent , and from thence take occasion to proceed to what is more doubtful . 1. That our Poor in England have always been in a most sad and wretched condition , some Famished for want of Bread , others starved with Cold and Nakedness , and many whole Families in all the out Parts of Cities and great Towns , commonly remain in a languishing , nasty and useless Condition , Uncomfortable to themselves , and unprofitable to the Kingdom , this is confessed and lamented by all Men. 2. That the Children of our Poor bred up in Beggary and Laziness , do by that means become not only of unhealthy Bodies , and more then ordinary subject to many loathsome Diseases , whereof very many die in their tender Age , and if any of them do arrive to years and strength , they are , by their idle habits contracted in their Youth , rendred for ever after indispos'd to Labour , and serve only to stock the Kingdom with Thieves and Beggars . 3. That if all our impotent Poor were provided for , and those of both Sexes , and all Ages that can do Work of any kind , employed , it would redound some Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds per Annum to the Publick Advantage . 4. That it is our Duty to GOD and Nature so to Provide for , and Employ the Poor . 5. That by so doing one of the great Sins ( for which this Land ought to Mourn ) would be removed . 6. That our fore-Fathers had pious Intentions towards this good Work , as appears by the many Statutes made by them to this purpose . 7. That there are Places in the World , wherein the Poor are so provided for , and employed ; as in Holland , Hamborough , New-England and others , and as I am informed , now in the City of Paris . Thus far we all agree : The first Question then that naturally occurs is , How comes it to pass that in England we do not , nor ever did comfortably Maintain and Employ our Poor ? The common Answers to this Question are two . 1. That our Laws to this purpose are as good as any in the World , but we fail in the execution . 2. That formerly in the days of our Pious Ancestors the work was done , but now Charity is deceased , and that is the reason we see the Poor so neglected as now they are . In both which Answers ( I humbly conceive ) the Effect is mistaken for the Cause : For tho' it cannot he denied , but there hath been , and is a great failure in the Execution of those Statutes which relate to the Poor ; yet I say , the Cause of that failure , hath been occasioned by defe●t of the Laws themselves . For otherwise , what is the reason that in our late times of the Confusion and Alteration , wherein almost every Party in the Nation , at one time or other , took their turn at the Helm , and all had that Compass ( those Laws ) to Steer by , and yet none of them could , or ever did , conduct the Poor into a Harbour of security to them , and profit to the Kidgdom , i. e. none sufficiently maintained the Impotent , and employed the Indigent amongst us : And if this was never done in any Age , nor by any sort of Men whatsoever in this Kingdom , who had the use of those Laws now in force , it seemes to me a very strong Argument that it never could , nor ever will be done by those Laws , and that consequently the defect lies in the Laws themselves , not in the Men , i. e. those that should put them in Execution . As to the second Answer to the aforesaid Question , wherein want of Charity is assigned for another cause why the Poor are now so much neglected , I think it is a scandalous ungrounded accusation of our Contemporaries ; for most that I converse with , are not so much troubled to part with their Money , as how to place it , that it may do good , and not hurt to the Kingdom : For , If they give to the Beggars in the Streets , or at their Doors , they fear they may do hurt by encouraging that Lazy unprofitable kind of Life ; and if they give more than their Proportions in their respective Parishes , that ( they say ) is but giving to the Rich , for the Poor are not set on Work thereby , nor have the more given them ; but only their Rich Neighbours pay the less . And for what was given in Churches to the Visited Poor , and to such as were impoverished by the Fire ; we have heard of so many and great Abuses of that kind of Charity , that most men are under sad Discouragements in Relation thereunto . I write not this to divert any Man from Works of Chaity of any kind : He that gives to any in Want does well , but be that gives to Employ and Educate the Poor , so as to render them useful to the Kingdom , in my judgement does better . And here by the way , not to leave men at a loss how to dispose of what GOD shall incline their Hearts to give for the Benefit of the Poor , I think it not impertinent to propose the Hospitals of the City , and Poor Labouring People that have many Children , and make a hard shift to sustain them by their industry , whereof there are multitudes in the out Parts of this City , as the best Objects of Charity at present . But to return to my purpose , viz. to prove that the want of Charity likewise that is now , and always hath been in relation to the Poor , proceeds from a defect in our Laws . Ask any Charitable-minded Man , as he goes along the Streets of London , viewing the Poor , viz , Boyes , Girles , Men and Women of all Ages , and Many in good Health , &c. why he and others do not take care for the setting those poor Creatures to Work ? Will he not readily answer , that he wisheth heartily it could be done , though it cost him some part of his Estate , but he is but one Man , and can do nothing towards it ; giving them Money , as hath been said , being but to bring them into a liking and continuance in that way . % Question 2. Wherein lyes the defect of our , present Laws relating to the Poor ? I answer , that there may be many , but I shall here take notice of one only , which I think to be Fundamental , and which until altered , the Poor in England can never be well provided for , or Employed ; and that when the said Fundamental Error is well amended , it is almost impossible they should lack ei●●er Work or Maintainance . The said radical Error I esteem to be the leaving it to the Care of every Parish to maintain their own Poor only ; upon which follows the shifting off , sending or whiping back the poor Wanderers to the place of their Birth , or last Abode ; the Practice whereof I have seen many Years in London , to signify as much as ever it will , which is just nothing of Good to the Kingdom in general , or the Poor thereof , though it be sometimes by accident to so●● of them a Punishment without effect ; I say without effect , because it reforms not the Party , nor disposeth the minds of others to Obedience , which are the true ends of all Punishment . As for instance , a poor idle Person , that will not Work , or that no Body will employ in the Country , comes up to London , to set up the Trade of Begging , such a person probably may Begg up and down the Streets seven Years , it may be seven and twenty , before any body asketh why she doth so , and if at length she hath the ill hap in some Parish , to meet with a more Vigilant Beadle then one of twenty of them are , all he does is but to lead her the length of five or six Houses into another Parish , and then concludes , as his Masters the Parishoners do , that he hath done the part of a most diligent Officer : But suppose he should yet go further to the end of his Line , which is the end of the Law ; and the perfect Execution of his Office ; that is , suppose he should carry this poor wretch to a Justice of the Peace , and he should order the Delinquent to be Whipt and sent from Parish to Parish , to the place of her Birth or last Abode , which not one Justice of twenty ( through Pity or other cause ) will do ; even this is a great charge upon the Country , and yet the business of the Nation it self wholly undone : For no sooner doth the Delinquent arrive at the place assign'd , but for Shame or Idleness she presently deserts it , and wanders directly back , or some other way , hoping for better Fortune , whilst the Parish to which she is sent , knowing her a Lazy , and perhaps a worse qualified person , is as willing to be rid of her , as she is to be gone from thence . If it be here retorted upon me , that by my own confession , much of this mischief happens by the ●on , or ill Execution of the Laws , I say , Better Execution then you have seen , you must not expect ; and there was never a good Law made , that was not well executed ; the fault of the Law causing a failure of execution ; it being natural to all men to use the remedy next at hand , and rest satisfied with shifting the Evil from their own Doors ; which in regard they can so easily do , by threatning or thrusting a poor Body out of the verge of their own Parish , it is unreasonable and vain to hope that ever it will be otherwise . For the Laws against Inmates , and empowering the Parishioners to take Security before they suffer any poor Person to inhabit amongst them ; it may be they were prudent constitutions at the times they were made ( and before England was a place of Trade ) and may be so still in some Countries ; but I am sure in Cities & great Towns of Trade , they are altogether improper , and contrary to the practice of other Cities and Trading Towns abroad . The Riches of a City , as of a Nation , consisting in the multitude of inhabitants ; and if so , you must allow Inmates , or have a City of Cottages . And if a right course be taken for the Sustentation of the Poor , and setting them on Work , you need invent no Stratagems to keep them out , but rather to bring them in . For , There sort of Poor to a City or Nation well managed , is in effect , the conflux of Riches to that City or Nation ; and therefore the subtil Dutch receive , and relieve , or employ all that come to them , not enquiring what Nation , much less what Parish they are of . Question 3. If the defect be in our Laws , how shall we find a remedy that may be rational and consistent ? This I confess is a hard and difficult question , it is one of the Ardua Regni , & may very well deserve the most deliberat consideration of our wisest Counsellors . And if A WHOLE SESSION OF PARLIAMENT WERE EMPLOYED ON THIS SINGULAR CONCERN , I think it would be time spent as much to the Glory of GOD and good of this Nation , as in any thing that noble and worthy Patriots of their Country can be engaged in : But seeing I have adventured thus far , I shall humbly proceed to offer some General Proposals that have a tendency towards the effecting this great Work , which being seriously thought of and debated by a COMMITTEE , may be capable of such melioration as may render them in a great measure effectual to the Kingdom in general , although at present , to prevent that Common Objection , that great Mutations are dangerous ; I shall only propose them to be experimented in these parts of the Kingdom , which are the Vitals of our body politick , which being once made sound , the care of the rest will not be difficult . Proposition , 1. That the City of London and Westminster , Burrough of Southwark , and all other places within the usual Lines of Communication , described within the weekly Bills of Mortality , may by Act of Parliament be associated into one Province or line of Communication for relief of the Poor . 2. That there be one Assembly of men ( and such as they shall from time to time appoint and deputise ) entrusted with the care for , and treasure of all the Poor within the said Pale or Line of Communication . 3. That the said Assembly be incorporated by Act of Parliament , with perpetual Succession by the name of Fathers of the Poor , or some other honourable and significant Title . 4. That all Constables , Church-wardens , Overseers , or other Officers in all Parishes , within the said Line , be subordinate & accomptable to the said Fathers of the Poor , and their Deputies , for , & in all things relating to the Poor . 5. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have liberty to Assess and receive into their common Treasury , for relief of their Poor , so much Money from every Parish as they yearly paid to that purpose any of the three Years preceding this Constitution , and to compel the Payment thereof , but not of more . 6. That the said Fathers of the Poor , and their Deputies , may have very large and sufficient Power in all things relating to the Poor , and particularly to have and receive the charitable benevolence of all Persons once every Sunday in every Parish-Church , and in any other place , and at any other time or times which they shall think fit . 7. That the said Fathers of the Poor , and such as they shall authorize , may have Power to purchase Lands , erect and endow Work-houses , Hospitals and Houses of Correction , and to exercise all other Powers relating to the Poor , that any number of Justices of the Peace now may do , in their Quarter Sessions or otherwise . 8. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Power to send such Poor beyond the Seas as they shall think fit into his Majesties Plantations , taking Security for their comfortable Maintainance during their Service , and for their freedom afterwards . 9. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Power to erect petty Banks and Lumbards for the benefit of the Poor , if they shall find it convenient , and also to receive the one half of what is paid at all the Doors of Play-Houses [ if they be continued ] and have the Patent for Farthings , and to do whatever else his Majesty and the Parliament shall think fit to recommend to them , or leave to their Discretion . 10. That the Treasure that shall be collected for this purpose , be accounted sacred ; and that it be Fellony to misapply , conceal , lend or convert it to any other use or purpose whatsoever . 11. That there be no Oaths , or other Tests imposed upon the Fathers of the Poor , at their Admission , to bar out Nonconformists , amongst whom there will be found some excellent Instruments for this good Work , and such as will constantly attend it , for if they be kept out , the People will be cold in their Charity , and in their hopes of the success . 12. That the said Fathers of the Poor may constantly wear some honourable Medal , such as the King and Parliament shall devise , besides the Green Staff which is now used in London to such like purpose ( but upon extraordinary days only ) to denote their Authority and Office , at all times , and in all places , after the manner of the Habits in Spain , or rather , as have all the Familars of the Inquisition in most Romish Countries , with admirable effect , tho to a wicked purpose ; the consequence whereof will be , that the said Fathers of the Poor , being Numerous , and disperst by their Habitations and Business into most parts of their Province , will readily see any neglects of Officers , and as easily redress them ; the Medal which they wear about them , being a sufficient Warrant to command Obedience from all Parish Officers wherever they come , although their Persons be not known there . 13. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have Liberty to admit into their Society , and all Powers and Priviledges equal with them , any Persons that are willing to serve GOD , their King and Country in this Pious and publick Work , the Persons desiring to be so admitted , paying at their admission 100l . or more , into the Poors Treasury , as a demonstration of the Sincerity of their Intentions to labour in and cultivate this most Religious Vineyard . This I only offer because the number of the said Fathers of the Poor hereafter mentioned , may be thought rather too few than too many . 14. That the said Fathers of the Poor , besides the Authority now exercised by Justices of the Peace , may have some less limited Powers given them , in relation to the Punishment of their own , and Parish Officers by pecuniary mulcts for the Poors benefit , in case of neglect , and otherwise , as his Majesty and the Parliament shall think fit . 15. That the said Fathers of the Poor may have freedom to set the Poor on Work about whatsoever Manufacture they think fit , with a Non obstante to all Patents that have been or shall be granted to any Private Person or Persons for the sole Manufacture of any Commodity ; the want of which priviledge , I have been told , was a prejudice to the Work-house at Clerkenwell , in the late design of setting their Poor Children about making of Hangings . 16. That all Vacancies by reason of Death of any of the said Fathers of the Poor , be perpetually supplyed by Election of the Survivors . Quest. 4. Who shall be the Persons entrusted with so great a Work , and such excess of Power ? This is a Question likewise of some difficulty ; and the more , in regard of our present Differences in Religion ; but I shall answer it as well as I can . In general I say , They must be such as the People must have ample satisfaction in , or else the whole Design will be lost : For if the universality of the People be not satisfied with the Persons , they will never part with their Money ; but if they be well satisfied therein , they will be miraculously charitable . Qest. 5. What sort of men the People will be most satisfied in ? I answer , I think in none so well as such only as a common Hall of the Livery-men of London shall make choice of , it being evident by the experience of many Ages , that the several Corporations in London are the best Administrators of what is left to ebaritable Uses , that have ever been in this Kingdom , which is manifest in the regular , just and prudent management of the Hospitals of London , and was wisely observed by Doctor-Collet Dean of St. Pauls , that prudent Ecclesiastick , when he left the Government of that School , and other great Revenues assigned by him for charitable Uses , unto the disposition of the Mercers Company . Object . That Country-Gentlemen , who have Power in places of their Residences , and pay out of their large Estates considerable sums towards the Maintenance of their Poor within the aforelimited Precincts , may be justly Offended if they likewise have not a share in the distribution of what shall be raised to that purpose . Answ. The force of this Objection may be much taken off , if the City be obliged to choose but a certain number out of the City , as suppose seventy for London , ten out of Southwark for that Burrough , twenty for Westminster , this would best satisfie the People , and I think do the Work : But if it be thought too much for the City to have the choice of any more than their own seventy , the Justices of the Peace in their Quarter-Sessions may nominate and appoint their own number of persons to assist for their respective Jurisdictions , and so to supply the vacancy in case of Death , &c. But all must be conjunctive , but one Body Politick , or the work will never be done . Quest. 6. What will be the advantage to the Kingdom in general , and to the Poor in particular , that will accrue by such a Society of men , more than is enjoyed by the Laws at present ? I answer , innumerable and unspeakable are the Benefits to this Kingdom that will arise from the Consultatons and Debates of such a wife and honest Council , who being men so elected as aforesaid , will certainly conscionably study and labour to discharge their trust in this Service of GOD , their King and Country . 1. The Poor , of what quality soever , as soon as they are met with , will be immediatly relieved or set on Work where they are found , without hurrying them from place to place , and torturing their Bodies to no purpose . 2. Charitable minded men , will know certainly where to dispose of their Charity , so as it may be employed to right purposes . 3. House-keepers will be freed from the intolerable Incumbrance of Beggars at their Door . 4. The Plantations will be regularly supplyed with Servants , and those that are sent thither well provided for . 5. The said Assembly will doubtless appoint some of their own Members to visit and relieve such as are Sick , as often as there shall be occasion , together with poor Labouring Families both in City and Suburbs . 6. Poor Children will be instructed in Learning and Arts , and thereby rendred serviceable to their Country , and many other worthy Acts done for publick good by the joint deliberation of so many prudent and pious Men , assisted with such a Power and Purse , more then can be fore-seen or expressed by a private Person . Quest. 7. What shall all the Poor of these Cities and Countries , being very numerous , be employed about ! % This question will be answer'd best by the said Assembly themselves when they have met & consulted together , who cannot be presumed deficient of Invention to set all the Poor on Work , especially since they may easily have Admirable Presidents from the Practice of Holland in this particular , & have already very good ones of their own , in theOrders of their Hospitals of Christ-Church and Bridewell in London ; the Girles may be employed in mending the Cloathes of the Aged , in Spinning , Carding , and other Linnen Manufactures , and many in Sowing Linnen for the Exchange , or any House-keeper that will put out Linnen to the Matrons that have the Govenment of them . The Boys in picking Okam , making Pins , rasping Wood , making Hangings , or any other Manufacture of any kind , which whether it turns to present profit or not , is not much material , the great business of the Nation being first but to keep the Poor , from Begging and Starving , and en●ring such as are able to Labour and Discipline , that they may be hereafter useful Members to the Kingdom : But to conclude , I say the wisest Man living solitary cannot propose or imagine such excellent ways & methods as will be invented be the united Wisdom of so garve an Assembly . The sitting of the said Assembly , I humbly conceive , ought to be de Die in Dlem ; the Quoram not more then thirteen ; whether they shall Yearly , Monthlyor Weekly choose a President , how they shall distribute themselves into the several quarters of the Communication , what Treasurers and other Officers to Employ , and where , and how many , will be best determined by themselves , and that without diffculty ; because many that will probably be Members of the said Assembly , have already had large experience of the Government of the Hospitals of London : The manner of Election of the said Fathers of the Poor , I humbly suppose , cannot possibly be better contrived then after the same way which the East-India Company choose their Committee , which will prevent the Confusion , Irregularity and Incertitude that may attend the Election of Voices , or holding up of Hands ; especially because the Persons to be Elected at one time will be very many ; the said manner Proposed is , Every Elector , viz. every Livery-Man , to bring to Guild-Hall at the appointed day for Elections , a List of the whole number of Persons , such as he think : fit that are to be Elected , and deliver the same openly unto such Persons as the Lord Mayor , Aldermen , and Common-Council-Men shall appoint to make the Scrutiny ; which Persons so entrusted , with the said Scrutiny , seven , or ten days after , as shall be thought fit , at another Common Hall may declare who are the Persons Elected by the Majority of Votes . If it be here Objected to the whole purpose of this Treatise , that this work may as well be done in distinct Parishes , if all Parishes where oblidged to Build Work-Houses , and Employ their Poor therein ; as Dorchester , and some others have done , with good success . I answer , That such attempts have been made in many places to my knowledge , with very good intents and strenuous Endeavours , but all that ever I heard of , proved vain & ineffectual ( as I fear will that of Clarken-well ) except that single Instance of the Town of Dorchester , which yet signifies nothing in relation to the Kingdom in general , besides all other places cannot do the like , nor doth the Town of Dorchester entertain any but their own Poor only , and Whip away all others ; whereas that which I design is to propose such a Foundation , as shall be large , wise , honest and rich enough to maintain & employ all Poor that come within the Pale of their Communication , without enquiring where they were Born , or last Inhabited : Which I dare affirm with Humility , that nothing but a National , or at least such a Provincial Purse can so well do , nor any persons in this Kingdom , but such only as shall be prickt out by Popular Election for the reason before alledged , viz. That in my Opinion three fourths at least of the Stock must issue from the Charity of the People ; as I doubt not but it will to a greater proportion , if they be satisfied in the Managers thereof ; but if otherwise , not the fortieth ; I might say not the hundreth part . I propose the Majority of the said Fathers of the Poor to be Citizens ( though I am none my self ) because I think a great share of the Money to be employed , must and will come from them , if ever the Work be well done , as also , because their Habitations are nearest the Center of their Business , and they best acquainted with all affairs of this Nature , by their Experience in the Government of the Hospitals . Earnestly to desire and endeavour that the Poor of England should be better provided for and employed , is a Work that was much studied by my deceased Father , and therefore though I be as ready to confess , as any shall be to charge me , with Disability to propose a Model of Laws for this great Affair , yet I hope the more Ingenuous will pardon me for endeavouring to give aim towards it , since it is so much my duty , which in this particular I shall be careful to Perform ( though I may be too remiss in others ) as shall appear by MORE VISIBLE AND APPARENT DEMONSTRATIONS , if ever this design , or any other ( that is like to effect what is desired ) succeed . I. C. This following , Judge HALE writ ( with much more to the same purpose ) in his Book , Intituled , A Discourse touching Provision for the Poor . WE have very severe Laws against Theft , possibly more severe than most other Nations , yea , and than the Offence simply considered deserves ; and there is so little to be said in defence of the severity of the Law herein , but the multitude of the Offenders , and the design of the Law rather to terrifie them punish : ut metus in omnes paena in paucos : But it is most apparent that the Law is frustrated of its Design therein ; for altho more suffer at one Sessions at Newgate for Stealing , and Breaking up Houses , and Picking of Pockets , and such other Larcenaries , than suffer in some other Countries for all Offences in three Years , yet the Goals are never the emptier : Necessity and Poverty and want of a due Provision for the Employment of Indigent persons , and the custom of a loose and Idle Life , daily supply with advantage , the number of those who are taken off by the Sentence of the Law : And doubtless , as the multitude of Poor and necessitous , and uneducated Persons increase , the multitude of Malefactors will increase , notwithstanding the Examples of Severity . So that upon the whole account , the Prudence of Prevention , as it is more Christian , so it will be more effectual that the Prudence of Remedy . The prevention of Poverty , Idleness , and a loose and disorderly Education , even of Poor Children , would do more good in this Kingdom , than all the Gibbets Cauterisations , and Whipping-Posts and Goals in this Kingdom , and would render these kind of Disciplines less necessary and less frequent Pref. In that State that things are , our Populousness , which should be a blessing to the Kingdom , becomes the Burden of it ; by breading up whole Families , and Succesful Generations , in a meer . Trade of Idleness , Thieving , Begging , and a Barbarous kind of Life , which must in time prodigiously increase and overgrow the whole face of the Kingdom , and eat out the heart of it , unless care be taken to prevent it . p. 32. He Concludes his Book thus , viz. That it would be a Work of great Humanity ( to relieve and imploy the Poor ) and such as we owe to those of our own Nature as we are men . The wise GOD did tell his ancient People that the Poor should be always among them ; 1. to exercise their Liberality and Charity in supporting the wants of some by the abundance of others And 2. to Exercise their Discretion and Industry to think of and set on foot such means as might put them in a Course of honest Imployment , and encourage them in it . They that are Rich are Stewards of their Wealth , and they that are wise are Stewards of their Wisdom unto the Great MASTER of the Family of Haven and Earth , to whom they must give an account of both , and one ( I am sure ) of the best accounts they can give of both is , to imploy them in the ●●formation and Relief of those that want both or either . 2. A work that as well becomes a Christian as any : Christianity commending Charity as one of the Principial Vertues , and indeed the ill Provision for the Poor in England , is one of the greatest Reproches to us in relation to our Christian Profession . The want of a due Provision for Education and Relief of the Poor in the way of Industry , is that which fills the Goals with Malefactors , and fills the Kingdom with Idle and unprofitable persons , that consumes the Stock of the Kingdom without improving it , and that will daily encrease even to a Desolation in time . And this Error in the first Concoction is never remediable but by Gibbits and Whipping . But there must be a Sound Prudent and Resolved Method for an Industrious Education of the Poor , and that will give better remedy against these Corruptions than any Penalties can . FINIS . 
A62738	----	To the honorable the knights, citizens and burgesses, in Parliament assembled. The humble petition of Robert Tayloe, Joseph Emerson, John Sawbridge and Edward Pearce on the behalf of themselves and other poor marriners, to the number of five hundred and upwards, who served the East-India Company in their late wars against the great mogul, and other heathen princes: and on the behalf of the widows and orphans of other marriners to the like number, that perished in the said wars. 1685 Approx. 6 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2007-10 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A62738 Wing T1457A ESTC R220126 99831554 99831554 36017 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A62738) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 36017) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2046:20) To the honorable the knights, citizens and burgesses, in Parliament assembled. The humble petition of Robert Tayloe, Joseph Emerson, John Sawbridge and Edward Pearce on the behalf of themselves and other poor marriners, to the number of five hundred and upwards, who served the East-India Company in their late wars against the great mogul, and other heathen princes: and on the behalf of the widows and orphans of other marriners to the like number, that perished in the said wars. Tayloe, Robert. aut Emerson, Joseph, fl. 1685. aut Sawbridge, John, fl. 1685. aut Pearce, Edward, fl. 1685. aut 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London? : 1685?] Imprint from Wing. Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng England and Wales. -- Parliament -- Early works to 1800. East India Company -- Early works to 1800. Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. Orphans -- England -- Early works to 1800. 2006-10 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-11 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2006-11 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion To the HONORABLE The Knights , Citizens and Burgesses , IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED . The Humble Petition of Robert Tayloe , Joseph Emerson , John Sawbridge and Edward Pearce , on the behalf of themselves and other Poor Marriners , to the Number of Five hundred and upwards , who served the East-India Company in their late Wars against the Great Mogul , and other Heathen Princes : And on the behalf of the Widows and Orphans of other Marriners to the like Number , that Perished in the said Wars . SHEWETH , THAT the said Company , in the Years 1683 , 1684 , 1685 and 1686. entered your Petitioners and others , on Board several of their Ships , viz. in the Ships called The Charles the Second , the Beauford , the Cesar , the Rochester , and other their Ships , to make direct Voyages to and from the East-Indies , at very low Wages and Sallaries , in a Merchant-like way ( there being then no Wars betwixt this Crown and any other Princes or State in the World , nor did your Petitioners apprehend any War was like to be between this Crown and any the said Princes . That in some short time after your Petitioners Arrival in the Indies , the said Companies Agents and Governors there , ingaged their said Ships in an Actual War against the said Great Mogul , and other Heathen Princes ; and by excessive Tortures , as Nailing their Hands to the Main-mast , Whipping , and washing their Wounds in Brine , and other great Torments , the Commanders of the said Ships compelled your Petitioners , against their Wills , and contrary to the Statute made 5 Eliz. chap. 5. to serve in the said Companies Wars , against the said Heathen Princes , upon their Land , in Parts very remote from any Sea , and to make Depredations without any Just Cause ( as your Petitioners could understand ) and Robbing the Subjects of the said Heathen Princes to a very great Value . That the said Commanders , Agents and Governors , finding the said Ill Usage of your Petitioners not to take its full Effect according to their Expectation , the said Governors caused an Order to be made in their Court of Admiralty held in the said Indies , that your Petitioners should have ( over and besides their low Wages ) a Sixth part of all Prizes , to be divided amongst them , and the same Order to be published on some of the said Ships , and to be affixed to the Main-masts of the same Ships , to make the same more publick , and to encourage your Petitioners to Fight for them ; which your Petitioners accordingly did . That during the said War , there was taken , by your Petitioners , in Prizes , to the value of 1500000 l. and upwards , which is proved in the Court of Exchequer , in a Suit there brought , and now depending , for their Majesties Tenths of the said Prizes , of which 260000 l. belongs to your Petitioners for their Sixth part , due to them not only by Contract , as aforesaid , but Laws of Nations ; and so by the said Company confess'd , in their Answer in the said Court in the said Suit , and accordingly have paid some Marriners their Proportions . That whilst your Petitioners were in the Indies , your Petitioners were necessitated to accept from the said Commanders and Agents , Dollers at 9 s. a piece , the prime Cost in England was not above 4 s. 6 d. and Rack at 12 s. per Gallon , the prime Cost not above 9 d. per Gallon , and Brandy at 18 s. per Gallon , by which means all your Petitioners Wages , and more , was expended , and many Marriners , more than by the said Wars , perished for want of such Commodities . That your Petitioners have applied themselves from time to time to the said Company for the said Share , or what should appear due to them , upon a Just Dividend thereof to be made , and for their Non-performance thereof , your Petitioners , the last Sessions of Parliament , were about to Address themselves to this Honorable House for Relief therein ; whereupon a worthy Member of his Honorable House , then Governor of the said Company , having notice , promised your Petitioners Satisfaction if your Petitioners would forbear their said Address ; which Promise your Petitioners relying upon , did accordingly forbear , but hitherto cannot get any manner of Satisfaction , and in want thereof , are grown so Necessitous , that many are forced to be relieved by their respective Parishes wherein they respectively live . And forasmuch as this Honorable House hath ordered the said Company to bring in their Books , and a State of their Debts and Credits ; your said Poor Petitioners do humbly Hope and Pray , that this Honorable House will take notice , that your Petitioners may have Credit upon the said Companies Books for the said Summ so due and owing to your Petitioners , in order that they may have Satisfaction for the same , for that the said Prizes have been converted to the Use and Benefit of the said Company ; And to afford such further Relief to your Petitioners , as to this Honorable House shall seem fit . And your Petitioners ( as in Duty bound ) shall ever Pray , &c. 
A62756	----	To the Kings Most Excellent Majestie the humble address of poor distressed prisoners for debt. 1687 Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A62756 Wing T1502 ESTC R26320 09427772 ocm 09427772 43056 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A62756) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 43056) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1318:5) To the Kings Most Excellent Majestie the humble address of poor distressed prisoners for debt. James II, King of England, 1633-1701. 1 broadside. Printed by D. Mallet for G.P., London : 1687. In verse. Reproduction of original in the Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Debt, Imprisonment for -- England. Poor -- Great Britain. 2008-01 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-02 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2008-02 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion To the Kings Most Excellent Majestie , The Humble Address of Poor Distressed Prisoners for Debt . MOST Royal Sir , your Glorious Brother , He , Delighted much in Acts of Charity ; His Basest Enemies now say of him , He was a Pious and a Glorious KING : Follow his Steps GREAT SIR , and set us Free : Persume the Noisome-Goals with Purity . Like Larks we 'll soar up to the Heavens High , And with your Glories Penetrate the Skye : Thence with our Acclamations we 'll rebound Thundering the Air ; and make the Earth to sound : There need no Bells , we 'll Ring so loud a Peal , Shall waken all the Drouzy-Factious-Weal . Instead of Faggots we our Coats will Burn , And Me'morize their Ashes in an Urn. That Sacred Day shall ever after be Stamp'd , as a Coin for Future Memory . The World shall Echo , and each Subject say , This shall for ever be Great JAMES's Day . Each dissaffected Pesant when he sees , Such Noble , Charitable , Acts as these : Will Tongue-tyed be , and ever be asham'd . When e're he hears Great JAMES our CAESAR Nam'd SWEET SIR , to our Petition lend an Ear , By Loyalty our Compass we will Steer : Casting our Anchor at your Royal Feet , The only Port such Sailors can , with meet : Pity , Oh Pity Poor Distreffed-Men , And Dying , you will Dye to Live again . May all the Blessings Heaven can pour down , Be Sprinkled on your Sacred Earthly Crown . Futamen Regis Solamen Gregis . This may be Printed , R. P. April the 6th . 1687. LONDON ; Printed by D. Mallet , for G. P. 1687. 
A74149	----	At a court held by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor President, and the rest of the Governors of the Corporation for the Poor of London the 6th of February, 1655. Governors for the Poor (London, England) This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A74149 of text R211774 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason 669.f.20[24]). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 4 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A74149 Thomason 669.f.20[24] ESTC R211774 99870474 99870474 163441 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A74149) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 163441) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 247:669f20[24]) At a court held by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor President, and the rest of the Governors of the Corporation for the Poor of London the 6th of February, 1655. Governors for the Poor (London, England) 1 sheet ([1] p.) Printed by James Flesher, Printer to the honourable city of London, [London] : 1655. At end: Signed by the Appointment of the said Corporation; by William Haslope Clerk to the said Corporation. Annotation on Thomason copy: "feb. 7th". Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Poor laws -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. Poor -- Services for -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. London (England) -- History -- 17th century -- Early works to 1800. A74149 R211774 (Thomason 669.f.20[24]). civilwar no At a court held by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor President, and the rest of the Governors of the Corporation for the Poor of London, t Governors for the Poor 1655 726 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-10 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2007-10 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion blazon or coat of arms blazon or coat of arms At a Court held by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor President , and the rest of the Governors of the Corporation for the Poor of London , the 6th of February , 1655. WHereas the Governors of the Corporation for the Poor of London , have from year to year given publique notice of their having a Stock of Flax , Hemp , and Tow , at either of their Workhouses , to imploy the Poor within this City and Liberties thereof ; And for some years together did imploy about one thousand Poor at Work , besides the Poor Children that are Educated by the said Corporation in Learning and Arts ; Yet neverthelesse there are many Vagrants and Common Beggers which continually frequent the Streets of this City , and refuse to receive or undertake any lawfull work , or imployment , to the Scandall of the Government of this City , and the profession of Religion . For Prevention whereof , It hath pleased the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of this City President of this Corporation , lately to issue his Lordships Precepts to all the Constables of this City , requiring them diligently to prosecute the Laws of this Nation against Vagrants and Common Beggers , and hath also given them a Breviate of the Statutes in force , the better to informe them of their respective duties , and of the penalties which they and others concerned must sustaine , if they shall not pursue the said directions ; In the further persuance whereof his Lordship and the rest of the Governors of the said Corporation , ( by and with the advice of the Treasurers and others , Governors of the severall Hospitalls of this City ) have resolved to give each other their best Assistance for the Vigorous and Constant carrying on of the same . And to this end have appointed a Competent number of able men under a Sallary , to spend their whole time in their respective appointed divisions , to be Assisting to the Constables of this City , in the apprehending of all sorts of Beggers , to the end that such of the Poor belonging to this City , as will Work , may be sent to the Workhouses ( at the Mynories and the Wardrobe ) belonging to the said Corporation , there being a Stock of Hemp , Flax , and Tow , in readinesse to imploy them : And that the rest may be sent to the house of Correction , or be passed away according to the directions inserted in his Lordships Precepts . And to the end the broken Bread and Meat within this City ( which hath usually been distributed to the aforesaid Common Beggers ) may not be lost : It is thought meet ( respect being had to the severall Prisons within this City ) that such Basketmen as shall be judged convenient , being recommended by the Churchwardens or Overseers of the out-Parishes , shall be allowed to Gather and Receive the said broken Bread and Meat in such places as shall be assigned to them , to be distributed to such of the poorest sort of people , as the said Churchwardens and Overseers shall appoint to receive the same , they giving a Badge of distinguishment to such as they shall judge meet for that service . Towards the more Effectuall carrying on of which good work , his Lordship with the rest of the Governors of the said Corporation , do earnestly desire the Ministers of the Gospell within this City and Liberties thereof , to publish the same , together with the heads of the Statutes inserted in his Lordships Precept hereunto Annexed , the next Lords day in their respective Congregations : And to stirre up all good people to be cheerfully active ( in their severall duties ) for the encouragement of the great work under the management of the said Corporation , And more especially to implore the blessing of God and his gracious Assistance in and upon their endeavors . Signed by the Appointment of the said Corporation ; By William Haslope Clerk to the said Corporation . Printed by James Flesher , Printer to the Honourable City of London , 1655. 
A83596	----	Tuesday the seven and twentieth of April, 1652. Votes of Parliament for setting the poor on vvork, and for preventing of common-begging. England and Wales. Parliament. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A83596 of text R211482 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason 669.f.16[49]). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A83596 Wing E2452 Thomason 669.f.16[49] ESTC R211482 99870207 99870207 163204 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A83596) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 163204) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 246:669f16[49]) Tuesday the seven and twentieth of April, 1652. Votes of Parliament for setting the poor on vvork, and for preventing of common-begging. England and Wales. Parliament. 1 sheet ([1] p.) Printed by John Field, Printer to the Parliament of England, London : 1652. Order to print dated: Friday the Thirtieth of April, 1652. Signed: Hen: Scobell, Cleric. Parliamenti. With Parliamentary seal at head of text. Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Begging -- England -- Early works to 1800. Poor laws -- England -- Early works to 1800. A83596 R211482 (Thomason 669.f.16[49]). civilwar no Tuesday the seven and twentieth of April, 1652. Votes of Parliament for setting the poor on vvork, and for preventing of common-begging. England and Wales. Parliament. 1652 270 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-12 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2007-12 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Tuesday the Seven and twentieth of April , 1652. VOTES OF PARLIAMENT For setting the Poor on Work , And for preventing of Common-Begging . Resolved by the Parliament , THat it be referred to a Committee to consider how and by what means the Poor may be set on work throughout the Nation , and such poor as are not able to work may be relieved , to prevent common Begging , and to Report their Opinion therein to the House . Resolved by the Parliament , That it be referred to the same Committee to revise all the Laws touching the Relief of the poor and setting them on work , and to consider by what means or default the same are become ineffectual , or are not put in Execution , and Report the same , with their Opinion what means are fit for the redress thereof to the House . Resolved by the Parliament , That the same Committee be Impowred to receive such Proposals as shall be tendred to them by any persons for the better effecting the premises , and to consider of them , and Report their Opinions therein to the House . Friday the Thirtieth of April , 1652. ORdered by the Parliament , That the several Votes of Parliament of the 27th of April , 1652. touching the Relief of the Poor , and setting them on work , be forthwith Printed and Published . Hen : Scobell , Cleric . Parliamenti . London , Printed by John Field , Printer to the Parliament of England . 1652. 
A83830	----	Die Martis, 3 Octobr. 1649. Resolved by the Commons assembled in Parliament, that all and every such poor person and persons as did voluntarily in the year 1642. contribute any moneys, plate, or horse ... England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A83830 of text R211275 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason 669.f.14[78]). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A83830 Wing E2714 Thomason 669.f.14[78] ESTC R211275 99870003 99870003 163065 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A83830) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 163065) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 246:669f14[78]) Die Martis, 3 Octobr. 1649. Resolved by the Commons assembled in Parliament, that all and every such poor person and persons as did voluntarily in the year 1642. contribute any moneys, plate, or horse ... England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons. 1 sheet ([1] p.) Printed by John Field for Edward Husband, Printer to the Parliament of England, London : 1649. Title from caption and opening lines of text. Order to print signed: Hen; Scobell, Cleric. Parliamenti. Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- Appropriations and expenditures -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- History -- Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660 -- Early works to 1800. A83830 R211275 (Thomason 669.f.14[78]). civilwar no Die Martis, 3 Octobr. 1649. Resolved by the Commons assembled in Parliament, that all and every such poor person and persons as did voluntar England and Wales. Parliament. 1649 323 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-09 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-10 Pip Willcox Sampled and proofread 2007-10 Pip Willcox Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion blazon or coat of arms incorporating the Commonwealth Flag (1649-1651) Die Martis , 3 Octobr. 1649. Resolved by the Commons assembled in Parliament , THat all and every such poor person and persons as did voluntarily in the year 1642. contribute any Moneys , Plate , or Horse with their Furniture and Arms , upon the Propositions in the year 1642. not exceeding the sum of Ten pounds , and are not able to double , shall have both Principal and Interest paid . Resolved , &c. That the sum of Fifteen thousand pounds , parcel of the sum of Thirty thousand pounds at Weavers-Hall , appointed by former Ordinances to go towards payment of Publique Faith , be set aside for the satisfaction of the persons in the former Vote intended . Resolved , &c. That such persons as are now in Prison , which did voluntarily in the year 1642. contribute any Moneys , Plate , or Horse with their Furniture and Arms , upon the Propositions in the year 1642. and are not able to double , shall be satisfied both Principal and Interest out of the remainder of the said sum of Thirty thousand pounds . Resolved , &c. That the several Committees in the respective Counties in England and Wales , be authorized and required to examine and certifie the several sums contributed as aforesaid , by the respective persons intended within the several Votes aforesaid , together with Interest for the same , and to certifie the several particulars before the First day of January next , unto the Committee of Indempnity , who are not to receive any such Certificates after the said First of January next . ORdered by the Commons assembled in Parliament , That these Votes be forthwith printed and published . Hen : Scobell , Cleric . Parliamenti . London , Printed by John Field for Edward Husband , Printer to the Parliament of England . 1649. 
A83864	----	Whereas by an order of the House of Commons, bearing the date 3d. of October, 1649. Silvanus Taylor, William Hickcockes, Maurice Gethin, and George Cooper, are appointed and authorized to state the principall and interest due to such poore persons within the cities of London and Westminster. ... England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A83864 of text R211286 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason 669.f.14[82]). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A83864 Wing E2770 Thomason 669.f.14[82] ESTC R211286 99870014 99870014 163069 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A83864) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 163069) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 246:669f14[82]) Whereas by an order of the House of Commons, bearing the date 3d. of October, 1649. Silvanus Taylor, William Hickcockes, Maurice Gethin, and George Cooper, are appointed and authorized to state the principall and interest due to such poore persons within the cities of London and Westminster. ... England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London : 1649] Title from caption and first lines of text. Imprint from Wing. Annotation on Thomason copy: "Octob: 18 1649". Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1649-1660 -- Early works to 1800. A83864 R211286 (Thomason 669.f.14[82]). civilwar no Whereas by an order of the House of Commons, bearing the date 3d. of October, 1649. Silvanus Taylor, William Hickcockes, Maurice Gethin, and England and Wales. Parliament. 1649 357 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-12 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2007-12 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion WHereas by an Order of the House of Commons , bearing date the 3 d. day of October , 1649. Silvanus Taylor , William Hickcockes , Maurice Gethin , and George Cooper , are appointed and authorized to state the principall and interest due to such poore persons within the Cities of London and Westminster , and the late lines of Communication , who did in the yeare 1642. contribute any Money , Plate , and Horse with their Furniture and Armes upon the prepositions in the foresaid year , not exceeding the summe of Ten pounds , and are not able to double , and also of such as are now in prison , and have contributed upon the foresaid propositions . These are therefore to give notice to all such poor , and prisoners , to bring in their Publique-faith Bills to the said Committee sitting in Grocers-hall , to be considered of according to the Order of Parliament , at the times hereunder mentioned , viz. For the City of London , and the Liberties thereof , upon Friday , Saturday , and Munday , being the 19th . 20 th . and 22th . of this instant October , by eight of the clock in the forenoone . For the City of Westminster , within the late Lines of Communication , and the parts within the power of the Militia thereof , upon Tuesday and Wednesday the 23 d. and 24th . of October , by 8 of the clocke in the forenoone . For the Hamblets of the Tower , within the late Lines of Communication , and the parts within the power of the Militia thereof , upon Thursday and Friday , the 25th . and 26th . of this instant October , by 8 of the clocke in the forenoone . For the Burrough of Southwarke within the late Lines of Communication , and the parts within the power of the Militia thereof , upon Munday and Tuesday the 29th . and 30th . of this instant October , by 8 of the clock in the forenoone . 
A83903	----	Die Veneris. 5 March. 1646. The Lords in Parliament assembled taking into their consideration the multitude of beggars, poore, and vagabonds in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, ... England and Wales. Parliament. House of Lords. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A83903 of text R212319 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason 669.f.9[81]). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A83903 Wing E2816 Thomason 669.f.9[81] ESTC R212319 99870953 99870953 161179 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A83903) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 161179) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 245:669f9[81]) Die Veneris. 5 March. 1646. The Lords in Parliament assembled taking into their consideration the multitude of beggars, poore, and vagabonds in and about the Cities of London and Westminster, ... England and Wales. Parliament. House of Lords. 1 sheet ([1] p.) for John Wright at the Kings Head in the Old Baily, Printed at London : 1646. [i.e. 1647] Title from heading and first lines of text. With engraving of royal seal at head of document. An order of the Lords that "all judges and justices of assize shall put in execution the Acts of Parliament for the punishment of beggars, rogues and vagabonds, and for releife of the poore." Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Beggars -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. Poor -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. Charity laws and legislation -- England -- Early works to 1800. Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Early works to 1800. A83903 R212319 (Thomason 669.f.9[81]). civilwar no Die Veneris. 5 March. 1646. The Lords in Parliament assembled taking into their consideration the multitude of beggars, poore, and vagabonds England and Wales. Parliament. 1646 294 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-11 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-12 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2007-12 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE DIEV ET MON DROIT Die Veneris . 5 March . 1646. THe Lords in Parliament Assembled taking into their consideration the multitude of Beggars , poore , and Vagabonds in and about the Cities of London Westminster , and in the other parts of this Kingdome ; for prevention whereof , divers Acts of Parliament have been made , as well to punish such Beggars and Vagabonds , as also to provide for the reliefe of poore people , but by reason of the unhappy distractions of these times , the putting of the Lawes into Execution have been altogether neglected : It is therefore Ordered by the Lords in Parliament assembled , That the Lord Mayor of the City of London for the time being , and all Judges and Justices of Assize , and Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer , and generall Goale delivery , in their severall Circuits , and Justices of Peace in their Quarter Sessions , and all other person or persons ( who are by any Act of Parliament entrusted to see the said Acts put in Execution , and the poore to be provided for ) doe strictly and carefully put in Execution all and severall the Acts of Parliament , for the punishment of Beggers , Rogues , and Vagabonds , and for releife of the poore : And the said Judges and Justices of Assize in their severall Circuits , are required to give the said Acts of Parliament in charge at the Assizes in all the Countries where they shall come and keep Assize . Joh. Brown Cler. Parliament : Printed at London for John Wright at the Kings Head in the Old Baily . 1646. 
A90113	----	Honoured Sir, that the works of mercy and charity are the fruits of piety, is the undoubted tenent of all Christians, ... Odling, Edward. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A90113 of text R212130 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason 669.f.19[48]). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 2 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A90113 Wing O139 Thomason 669.f.19[48] ESTC R212130 99870777 99870777 163385 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A90113) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 163385) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 246:669f19[48]) Honoured Sir, that the works of mercy and charity are the fruits of piety, is the undoubted tenent of all Christians, ... Odling, Edward. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London : 1654] Signed at end: Edward Odling, iatrʹos, Solicitor for the said Corporation. Title from opening lines of text. Imprint from Wing. Annotation on Thomason copy: "December 1654". Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Governors for the Poor (London, England) -- Early works to 1800. Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. Charity -- Early works to 1800. A90113 R212130 (Thomason 669.f.19[48]). civilwar no Honoured Sir, that the works of mercy and charity are the fruits of piety, is the undoubted tenent of all Christians, ... Odling, Edward 1654 264 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-08 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2007-08 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Honoured Sir , THat the works of Mercy and Charity are the fruits of Piety , is the undoubted Tenent of all Christians , grounded upon the clear proofs of Scripture : 58 Is . the whole chap. And that the fruits of Piety should be always fresh and flourishing , is as clearly evidenced in holy writ : 92 Ps. 12 , 13 , 14. And then most especially , when the Lord God hath been seen in the Mount , in the time of Eminent and Imminent danger and distresse ; and hath given signall deliverances , by imparalleld Victories both by Sea and Land : 68 Ps. per tot . Therefore you are most humbly , and earnestly intreated , that you would be pleased , to call upon the Grand Act for imploying , and releiving the Poor of the whole Nation : which ( after ten moneths conception ) for some weeks hath been dormant ( in the Birth ) upon the ingrossement ; And without your assistance may prove abortive : Together with the After-birth thereof ; An additionall Act for the Corporation for the Poor of the City of London , without which the newly laid foundation in their work , ( in which ( by the blessing of God ) they have made some good progresse ) will be in danger to be demolished . These things are humbly proposed unto you in the Name of the Corporation aforementioned , By your most humble Servant EDWARD ODLING ἱατρόσ Solicitor for the said Corporation . 
A87194	----	The Parliaments reformation or A worke for presbyters, elders, and deacons to engage themselves, for the education of all poore children, and imployment of all sorts of poore, that no poore body young or old may be enforced to beg within their classes in city nor country. Published for the generall good of the kingdome. / By S.H. a friend of the common-wealth. Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A87194 of text R201030 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason E349_13). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 15 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A87194 Wing H995A Thomason E349_13 ESTC R201030 99861612 99861612 113751 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A87194) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 113751) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 56:E349[13]) The Parliaments reformation or A worke for presbyters, elders, and deacons to engage themselves, for the education of all poore children, and imployment of all sorts of poore, that no poore body young or old may be enforced to beg within their classes in city nor country. Published for the generall good of the kingdome. / By S.H. a friend of the common-wealth. Hartlib, Samuel, d. 1662. [2], 6 p. Printed for Thomas Bates, at the Maidenhead on Snow-hill, neere Holborne Conduit., London, : 1646. S.H. = Samuel Hartlib. Annotation on Thomason copy: "Aug: 6th". Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. Begging -- England -- Early works to 1800. Poor children -- England -- Early works to 1800. Church schools -- England -- Early works to 1800. Charity laws and legislation -- England -- Early works to 1800. A87194 R201030 (Thomason E349_13). civilwar no The Parliaments reformation or A worke for presbyters, elders, and deacons to engage themselves, for the education of all poore children, an Hartlib, Samuel 1646 2818 3 0 0 0 0 0 11 C The rate of 11 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the C category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2008-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-08 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-09 Megan Marion Sampled and proofread 2008-09 Megan Marion Text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE Parliaments Reformation Or a Worke for Presbyters , Elders , and Deacons , TO Engage themselves , for the Education of all poore Children , and imployment of all sorts of poore , that no poore body young nor old may be enforced to beg within their Classes in City nor Country . Published for the generall good of the Kingdome . By S. H. A friend of the Common-Wealth . This we commanded you , he that will not worke , let him not eate , 2 Thes. 3.10 . London , Printed for Thomas Bates , at the Maidenhead on Snow-hill , neere Holborne Conduit . 1646. The Parliaments Reformation . MAny men , both of Quality , and others , doe approve , that the imployment of the poore , the suppressing of idle Counterfeits ; and the education of all poore Children , ( whereby that none may goe about begging or live idle in the streets , ) is a very good work ; but saith some shew us which way we may begin it , and what we shall do to bring it to passe . To which I answer , it must be a Parliaments power and command , to carry on the worke ? My reason is ; because the major part of people doe never move to any good work willingly before they are commanded ; and the command must be upon a penalty too , else they will doe little ; now consider , who can impose a command on the Subject for the carrying on of a good worke , and to lay a punishment upon the neglectors of the command ; but a Parliaments power . When once Authority and Power is gotten from the Parliament , and put into the hands of honest Gentlemen in this City of London , and so throughout the whole Kingdome for the carrying on of the good work generally ; or else if the Honorable Parliament please to commit it to the Presbyters of every Classe throughout the Kingdome , and they to assist the Deacons , it will be carryed on with more care , and more ease , to the joy of all godly people . Authority being granted ; there are 4. things for the Commissioners to consider on , for the easie carrying on of the weighty and godly businesse , of relieving , and Reforming the poore of our Kingdome . 1. The buying or building of houses for that purpose . 2. The raising of stocke . 3. Finding out imployment to imploy young and old . 4. Ordering such a godly and politick government ; that the godly and laborious poore may be countenanced and cherished , and the idle , and wicked poore supprest . 1. For houses , it is needfull that two sorts of houses be appointed in every Classe : that is , a workhouse , and a house of Correction , those two houses will be usefull in every Classe , for the relieving , and reforming all sorts of poore . 1. A common workhouse for all sorts of poore to resort unto , I mean old and young , the old some of them , will be usefull to teach the young , the young shall have that benefit to be taught to write and read a part every day , besides doe some work to helpe relieve them ; here will be the benefit , the Children that lye all day in the streets in playing , cursing , and swearing , are now kept under a godly government , which is an excellent step to Reformation . 2. In case any should be stubborne , and will not take paines nor live orderly and peaceably , that then they be separated and sent to the house of correction , there to remaine in hard work , and hard lodging , till he or she promise amendment , and when he is discharged , he shall not goe whether his lust , as the manner is now , being discharged , but shall return to the workhouse from whence he came , by this meanes wickednesse will be kept in subjection ; and this project will either reforme them that are stubborne , or make them run the Country . Also if we consider the great necessity of houses or Churches in great Parishes , where there are little lesse then 30. or 40000. people , how shall one Church or house receive them all , in such a case many workhouses about London will be very needfull to keepe people together vnder government on the Sabboth day , as on the weeke dayes ; this deserves a consideration from the Parliament for the good of the peoples soules , and the preventing of Childrens playing in the streets and beggers begging on the Sabboth dayes ; So much for houses : Secondly for stocke . 2. For the raising of stock ; To raise a stock to imploy the poor , I conceive the Country may easier doe it then the Cities , in regard the Law provides them materials with little charge of mony ; I mean Hempe and Flax which the Law enjoynes them to sow ; but many parishes either for want of skill , or will , makes them sow none , which is a great wrong to the Common-wealth , and makes our poor to go almost naked . And whereas many if they sowe it , know not what to do with it , either for want of skill or will , therefore I conceive if every Classes did keep a magazin or stock of mony or materials ; then whatsoever hempe or flax were sowne within the Classe , if any did want skill or time to manage it , they might then bring it to the Magazin and there they should be payd for it , either in mony or cloth , and whatsoever cloth was made , the Mercers and Drapers in the County to buy it , to the end that they might not be wrong'd , by taking away their Markets . This will raise stock , to imploy our poor and save our mony in our Kingdome 〈◊〉 reported above a Million of mony goes out of the Land yearly for Linnen Cloth . 2. The Clothiers in the Country that make broad cloth and 〈◊〉 , do imploy abundance of women and Children , which is a great helpe to the stock in every Classe . 3. By way of Collection , and by way of charitable gifts , by dying men and women there is some stock more or lesse in every Country parish , to helpe imploy and succour the poor . Having shew'd how the Country may have helpes to raise a stock to imploy their poor , I will shew how the City of London may raise a stock with ease . 1. If the Parliament will be pleased to grant an Ordinance for a collection within the City of London and 1● . mile about ; and this mony to be imployed for the education and imployment of all Souldiers Children , because many of them , as well Widdowes as maim'd , have a great charge of children , and are very poor , not able to set their Children to Schoole . 2. One halfe yeares excise hereafter , when things are overpast . That which is given to the poor , is lent unto the Lord , &c. 3. The 10. or 20th part of Bishops Lands , and such like to maintaine English School-masters , for the well governing of all sorts of poore Children . 4. That all charitable gifts in every Classis , may be enquired after , and brought to a bank , and the Elders to see to the managing of it in every parish within their Class ; for some parishes in a Classe , may have many gifts , and so raise a great stock , there it lyes dead , because they have but few poor to imploy it , other parishes within the Class have many poor , and out little stock , and therefore many of them go a begging , but when the parishes joyn together within the Class , they will remedy wandring begging . 5. A weekly meale for one moneth . 6. A voluntary collection twice a quarter at the Church dores , the Minister perswading all Journy-men and Maid-servants that care not to spend a shilling or two vainly , ( many times ) may give something out of their vain expences ; let them remember that God gives them health and strength to get riches , therefore spare something to helpe breed up poor Children , and remember , that if they mary , and have children , their children may have the benefit of Teaching in the work-houses , therefore let them be the more liberall to so good a worke . 7. That all penall monies arising from Drunkards , Sabboth-breakers , Swearers , and Adulterers , which amounts yearly to a great sum in this City and Suburbs , may be brought into this charitable Classicall stock . 8. A fourth part arising of the forfeitures and stresses from the Tenant to the Landlord ; Also the 4th . part of the forfeitures of the Recognizance of Ale-houses , and of all other Recognizance , which part will amount to a great sum by the yeare . 9. A penalty of mony , upon excessive pride , and excessive health-drinkings , which threatens the judgments of God upon King , Parliament and Kingdome , that the Honourable Parliament will consider of it , and suppresse it , for the honour of God who hath done great things for them . 10. If this work be religiously and carefully carryed on ; many at their departing this life will be very liberall to advance and hold up so good a work of this nature , which is the only means to reforme wandring beging , so much for raising of stocks in City and Country ; the next is imployment . 3. The imployment that is most needfull to imploy the poore of a Kingdome . I conceive the only imployment principally is to make choice of Maries part , which is an earnest endeavoring by faith and obedience to gain a portion in Christ , for the eternall happinesse of our Souls ; The next kind of labour that I account next best is that , that brings food , and Raiment and such like comforts , as plowing and feeding of Cattle , f●shing , fowling , gardening , planting and graffing for fewell , Timber , and fruit , all which ( by Gods blessing ) brings a plenty to Cities as well as Country , and if God blesse the labours of all these , we are never like to see a famine . Also if men would be but moderate , and not surfeit , and be drunke and abuse the Creature , it would be better for their healths , and better for their families , and save as much , which they drinke wastfully , or spue up , which would helpe reliev hundreds of poor Children in work-houses . As the labours of the Country is in the fields and gardens ; so the labour of the City is in their houses , as spinning linnen and woollen , knitting , weaving , sowing , with Shoomakers , Taylors , and such like ; Shoomakers and Taylors if they are good husbands , they are needfull professions in a Common-Wealth , and can get their living by Sea , or Land which many other professions cannot doe , as Silke-Weavers and such , a Trade that brings neither food nor Rayment in City nor Country , and so I have done with the professions and imployment for soule and body in City and Country , I will speake of the last which is like a wall to a City , that keepes all in peace ; and that is called GOVERNMENT . 4. For the order of Government for young and old to walk by , must be by a Law and a Rule printed in a faire Table , to the end that every work-house may know the mind of the PARLIAMENT , how they would have every one to walk by , to the glory of God , the honour of King and Parliament , and the joy of the Nation . 1. That every one walk , holily towards God and Christ . 2. That every one walk , curteous , and loving , towards one another . 3. Carefull and Laborious for the good of the Common-wealth . And if any one refuse , to walke after this rule ; but will walke profanely , contenciously , and idly , then , in such cases the Ministers and Elders to have power to send such persons to the house of correction , and there to abide till he doth promise amendment ; then to be discharged at the Sessions by the Justices , upon promise that he will live orderly and painfully in the work-houses . But in case , some will not be reformed , neither in work-houses nor houses of correction , that then the Magistrate may have power to send such persons to Sea that are fit , to the fishing trade , or otherwise , or to the Plantations to rid the Land of such Brambles , and this is better , then to suffer them to live in mischeif , and hang them at last ; peradventure God may be gracious to them , and we using all wayes and means to reclaime them may prevaile with God . And whereas I have set down wayes in some part , for the raising of stock , imployment of the poor in City and Country , and for the government of young and old in a godly , peaceable , and laborious way , or else to be sent out of the Kingdome , all this good can never be brought to passe without the power and assistance of the Parliament by Ordinance : So I conclude with my prayers to God for the prosperity of this worke ; and that God will unite King and Parliament , to carry on his holy , godly and charitable work , that the poore children unborn may praise God , for the Parliaments preservation , and the Kingdomes Reformation , for which we owe to God praise , and prayers , and all Spirituall service . Postcript . The way to reform wandring begging , and other wickednesse in our Kingdom is , that a care may be taken to breed up 3. sorts of Children . 1. Children that have no Parents to look to them . 2. Children of carelesse Parents that suffer their Children to live in much wickednesse , and they take no care to breed them up in the feare of God . 3. Children of honest poore parents , that will be glad to have their Children kept to wor● , if the Parliament will ordain by a new Statute Law , that all Classes throughout the Kingdome shall be injoyned upon penalty , to provide a certain number of work-houses and Bride-wels to reforme rude ungodly Children and idle people , Commissioners to see it done according to the mind of the Parliament . It is conceived that these 3. sorts of Children are the greatest part of Children in the Kingdome , and most of them are like to be come wicked members to the Common-wealth without this Government . Last of all concerning Government , that there may be certain observations , as Lawes for every work-house to observe , for the keeping of them by Gods assistance in holynesse and peace one to another . 1. A Law against Swearing . 2. Against all filthy talking . 3. Against cursed speeches and ill behaviours against any . 4. Against dispising their fare in the work-house . 5. Against any that filch and steale . 6. Against any that goe filthily and slovenly in their face and hands , and Clothes . FJNJS . 
A91680	----	By vertue of an order of the honourable House of Commons, made on Monday the seventh of this present moneth of February, 1641. We (the committee appointed, to receive the moneys given, by the members of the House of Commons, for the reliefe of the poore distressed people that are come out of Ireland) ... This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A91680 of text R232130 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing R1122). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 1 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A91680 Wing R1122 ESTC R232130 99897667 99897667 133367 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A91680) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 133367) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 2517:18) By vertue of an order of the honourable House of Commons, made on Monday the seventh of this present moneth of February, 1641. We (the committee appointed, to receive the moneys given, by the members of the House of Commons, for the reliefe of the poore distressed people that are come out of Ireland) ... Ayscough, Edward, Sir. England and Wales. Parliament. House of Commons. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London : 1642] Title from opening lines of text. Imprint from Wing CD-ROM, 1996. Dated at end: Dated at Westminster, the fifteenth day of February, 1641. Signed at end by committee members: Sir Edward Aiscough Knight. Francis Rowse Henry Martin William VVheler esquires. Reproduction of original in the Society of Antiquaries, London, England. Wing CD-ROM, 1996 paraphrases the title. eng Poor laws -- England -- Early works to 1800. Ireland -- Economic conditions -- Early works to 1800. Broadsides A91680 R232130 (Wing R1122). civilwar no By vertue of an order of the honourable House of Commons, made on Monday the seventh of this present moneth of February, 1641. We (the commi [no entry] 1642 178 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-08 Pip Willcox Sampled and proofread 2007-08 Pip Willcox Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion BY vertue of an Order of the Honourable House of Commons , made on Monday the seventh of this present Moneth of February , 1641. We ( the Committee appointed , to receive the moneys given , by the Members of the House of Commons , for the Reliefe of the poore distressed people that are come out of Ireland ) are to require you to send unto us , or any one of us , a Certificate , what summes of money are collected within your Parish for the reliefe of the poore distressed people of Ireland , and to require you to bring in such summes of money , as you have received , to that Committee , who are authorised by the House to receive the same . Dated at Westminster , the fifteenth day of February , 1641. The Committee appointed by the House for the said Collection are Sir Edward Aiscough Knight . Francis Rowse Henry Martin William VVheler Esquires . To the Minister , and Churchwardens of the Parish of 
B01894	----	The case of the city of London, in reference to debt to the orphans, and others. 1692 Approx. 8 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). B01894 Wing C1030A ESTC R215917 52211939 ocm 52211939 175507 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. B01894) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 175507) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English Books, 1641-1700 ; 2739:17) The case of the city of London, in reference to debt to the orphans, and others. City of London (England). Court of Aldermen. 1 sheet ([1] p.) Printed by Samuel Roycroft, Printer to the honourable city of London, [London] : 1692. Caption title. Imprint from colophon. Place of publication suggested by Wing. Reproduction of the original in the Lincoln's Inn Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Orphans -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. Poor laws -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800. Broadsides -- England -- 17th century. 2008-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-04 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-05 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2008-05 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion official blazon The CASE of the City of London , In Reference to DEBT to The ORPHANS , and Others . BY the Custom of LONDON , confirmed by divers Acts of Parliament , the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen are Guardians of the ORPHANS of all Freemen of the said City , and have the Care and Government of Them , their Estates , and Marriages ; and have a Customary Jurisdiction by the Name of The Court of Orphans . By that Custom the Executors of every the said Citizens are bound , either to find sufficient Sureties to the Chamberlain for the Orphans Portions , who is a sole Body Corporate for that purpose : Or otherwise , to pay the same into the Chamber of London as a Deposit , to be kept for them until Security be found , or their respective Portions become due ; and such Maintenance to be allowed to the Orphans , as the Custom directed , by the Name of Finding-Mony . In regard the Estates of the Citizens were mostly Personal , and liable to be wasted by Widows and Executors , That Court hath been found by the Experience of many Ages , to be a most necessary and effectual means to preserve the Estates and Children of the Citizens ; and the Protection and Preservation of the Persons , Estates and Marriages of many Thousands of Orphans , are owing to the Care of that Ancient Court. The CHAMBER of London ( being the Receipt of all the Cities Revenue , and the Treasury wherein all the Portions of Orphans were to have been deposited , as in a Sacred Treasury ) had for many Ages a most unquestionable Credit , very Great Sums of Mony being continually Receiving in , and Paying out : And the Chamber had Sufficient to Answer to every Orphan , and all other Debts , until about the beginning of the late Troubles between England and Scotland . But about the Beginning of those Troubles , divers Debts owing to the City , amounting to near Thirty Thousand Pounds , became desperate : And about the same time , the City in compliance with His late Majesty King Charles the First , having Advanced to him , and Expended for him , about Forty Thousand Pounds more , the City became Indebted in the Year 1638 , in Seventy Thousand Pounds . Ever since the said Year , the Chamber paid Interest for the said Debt , and the then Government of the City very Improvidently allowed the Executors of the Citizens , to bring into the Chamber Orphans Portions upon Interest , which ought to have been only deposited by such Executors as could not , or would not give the Chamber Security for them : And by that means a great Cash was kept in the Chamber , of which no profit was made ; and out of the same , Interest was constantly paid for the said Debt , as also for the said Portions : So that by a true Account , Mony being taken in at Interest to pay Interest , the said Debt of Seventy Thousand Pounds , in FIFTY AND FOVR YEARS , hath increased to above Five times that Sum : And the Interest paid also to Orphans , contrary to the Custom of the City , hath made up the rest of the present Debt . The Cities Ancient great Revenues , given by Benefactors for the support of its Government , might in some measure have prevented the vast Encrease of its Debt ; If the Troubles of the Kingdom had not happen'd , and the Rebellion of Ireland first broke out , and afterwards a Civil War here ensued , whereby the City was constrained ( by the Powers unto which they were Subject ) to lay out several Sums of Mony upon divers Occasions , as the prevailing Powers Commanded . All which , together wth their great Losses and Diminution of their Revenue by the Irish Rebellion , Augmented their Debt , and whilst the City laboured under the intollerable Burthen of Interest for Orphans Portions , Unduly and Improvidently ( as is before mentioned ) brought upon th●m , the dreadful Fire of London happen'd , and consumed most part of the Cities Revenue , which consisted in Houses . Nevertheless the Credit of the Chamber continued , and Payments both of Principal and Interest were ansvered until the Quo Warranto brought against the City , to destroy their Being : Which not only put them to great Charge , but so ruined their Credit , that all Payments into the Chamber ceased , and the Body Corporate and all its legal Powers ( until this present happy Revolution ) was taken to be utterly destroyed : Whereby the Duties of Waterbailage and Tronage , or Kings Beam , and many other ancient Duties and Profits belonging to the Corporation , were in a great measure lost , and the Interest of a vast Debt in the mean time continually growing , the City became disabled to answer the same . Notwithstanding for the Reasons aforesaid , the City hath not received any Orphans Mony into the Chamber since Christmas 1683 ; yet since that time , there has been such Care to get in Debts owing to the City , and to improve their Revenue , That they have paid to all Poor Orphans ( whose Portionsin the Chamber of London exceeded not Fifty and Five Pounds ) Their Whole Debt , amounting to Ten Thousand Six Hundred Seventy Three Pounds , Two Shillings and Eight Pence ; And have further Paid to the Orphans , and Others , for Interest , One Hundred Thousand , Five Hundred and Fifty Pounds . But the Present Court of Aldermen ( finding it impossible for the Government of this City to be supported under the burthen of so great a Debt ) have thought it their Duty , from time to time , to apply themselves to the Wisdom of the Parliament , for proper Remedies to such a Grievance : In regard it is the Case of the Capital City of the Kingdom , in whose Support and Welfare the whole Nation is much concerned ; And this Court of Aldermen humbly hope , that it will be rightly urderstood , that the Debt has not been incurred , nor augmented by their Default , Negligence , or Expence ; They serving the City freely at their own Cost , without Eating or Drinking at the Cities Charge , as has been untruly suggested . And they have been and are uncessant in their Cares and Endeavours , to make the utmost Improvement of all that belongs to the City , only for the Benefit of the Orphans : And are now humble Solicitors to the Parliament , not for any Interest or Benefit of their own ; but for the Relief of the Distressed , and the Quiet and Support of the Government . And they shall humbly crave leave to shew unto the Parliament ( if they may be admited thereunto ) wherein they conceive this City to be wronged and deprived of divers Ancient Rights and Customs belonging to it : Which being Restored and Established by Act of Parliament , will greatly help towards the Payment of the said Debt , or of a reasonable perpetual Interest for the same , as the Wisdom of the Parliament shall think most convenient . Printed by SAMVEL ROYCROFT , Printer to the Honourable City of LONDON , 1692. 
A93417	----	The Humble petition of the prisoners in the fleet: as it was presented to his Highness the Lord Protector, and his Honourable councell. The 18th. day of May, 1655. Remonstrating the illegality of outlaries, arrests, and imprisonments, in civill, and personall actions. With an expedient for the satisfaction of all debts for ever, without arrests or imprisonment. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A93417 of text in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason E843_3). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 21 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A93417 Wing S4263 Thomason E843_3 99866321 99866321 168197 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A93417) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 168197) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 128:E843[3]) The Humble petition of the prisoners in the fleet: as it was presented to his Highness the Lord Protector, and his Honourable councell. The 18th. day of May, 1655. Remonstrating the illegality of outlaries, arrests, and imprisonments, in civill, and personall actions. With an expedient for the satisfaction of all debts for ever, without arrests or imprisonment. Smith, William, fl. 1655. 8 p. Printed by T. Forcet., [London] : 1655. Signed at end by 36 prisoners, the first being: William Smith. Place of publication from Wing. Annotation on Thomason copy: "June. 18". Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Prisoners -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Early works to 1800. Poor -- Law and legislation -- England -- Early works to 1800. A93417 (Thomason E843_3). civilwar no The Humble petition of the prisoners in the fleet:: as it was presented to his Highness the Lord Protector, and his Honourable councell. Th Smith, William 1655 3377 7 0 0 0 0 0 21 C The rate of 21 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the C category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2009-01 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2009-01 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2009-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion The humble Petition of the Prisoners in the FLEET : As it was presented to his Highness the Lord PROTECTOR , and his Honourable COUNCELL . The 18th day of MAY , 1655. Remonstrating the Illegality of Outlaries , Arrests , and Imprisonments , in Civill and Personall Actions . With an Expedient for the satisfaction of all Debts for ever , without Arrests or Imprisonment . June . 18 royal emblem of Scottish thistle, French fleur-de-lis, and Tudor rose Printed by T. FORCET . 1655. TO His Highness , OLIVER Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England , Scotland , and Ireland , and the Dominions thereunto belonging , and to his Highness most Honourable COUNCELL . The humble Petition of the Prisoners in the Fleet , in behalfe of themselves and all Honest men , that are willing to pay their Debts . Remonstrating the Illegalitie of Outlaries , Arrests , and Imprisonments , in Civill and personall Actions . With an Expedient for the satisfaction of all Debts for ever , without Arrests or Imprisonment . SHEWETH : That at the Common Law ( unlesse in speciall Cases ) neither Lands nor Bodie , were subject to Arrest or Execution in Debt , or damages recovered , but the several proceedings was by Summons and distress Infinite , and after Judgment , a Fieri facias & Levari facies , upon the Goods and Chattels , and the profits growing upon the Lands were the remedies , and writs of Executions the Law being so tender & savouring of Liberty , that all had freedome not only to follow their own affaires but also to serve their Country when need required , neither did it permit the taking away the Possession of any Lands , least the following of Husbandry and Tillage ; which is so beneficiall to the Common-wealth should bee thereby hindred . That the first Innovation upon this Law , was upon the Statute of Marlebridge , which gave a Monstravit de Compote , against fugitive Accomptants , only to attach their Bodies , to bring them to accompt , and afterwards by the Statute of Westm. the 2. Chap. 11. Process of Outlary was given in accompt , and if the Accomptant was found in Arreares by the Auditors assigned , then hee was to be committed to the next Gaole , and their to live of his owne . That afterwards , by the Statute of Westm. 2 cap. 18. an Elegit was given for the recovery of Debt or dammage to extend halfe of such Lands , as the Debtors had at the time of the Iudgement obtained , if the Chattels were not sufficient to pay the Debt , ( and of all the Chattels ) except the Oxen , and the Horses belonging to the Plough , which was the first Statute that subjected Lands to Execution . That by the Statute of 25. Edw. 3. chap. 17. such Process was given in Debt and detinue as in Accompt , but by the Statute of 42.th of the same King , Cap. 1. all Lawes made contrary to the great Charter were repealed , as appeares by the Lord Cooke in his Proeme to the 2d . part of his Institutes , and by his Comment ▪ upon the 29.th Chap. of Magna Carta . So as in good construction that Statute of 25. Edw. 3. which first gave the Capias in debt and detinue was repealed , as being contrary to the Great Charter , though the contrary Practice hath beene since used , to the destruction of Millions of Prisoners and their families . That afterward by the Statute of Hen. 7. like Process was given in Actions upon the Case , as in Action of trespasse and Debt , and by the Statute of Hen. 8. like Process was given in a Writ of Anuity , as in an action of Debt ; all which Statutes are as Voyd , as that of the 25. of Edw. 3. to which they have relation , in right construction of Law ; for they are not positive Lawes , but relative to those former Statutes repealed by that Generall law of 42. of Ed. 3. as being contrary to the Great Charter , and how can that Law stand whose Foundation faileth . Now concerning the Arrests and Imprisonment of the Body , and Extent of all the debtors Lands and goods for Satisfaction of debt ; acknowledged according to the Statute of Acton Burnell , and the other Statute de Mercatoribus made only between Marchant and Marchant ; as also the Statute of Hen. 8.th of the penalty of such as shall acknowledge a Recognizance , in the nature of the Statute Staple for Marchandize ; It is true , that they who doe Enter into such Recognizance , doe grant that the penalty in that Case provided , shall runne upon them ; and give away their Liberty , by their owne consent , and are willing to be Enslaved and ruined by the Creditor , in which case the Maxime of Volenti non fit Injuria , is a proper answer . But for such as at this day are Out-lawed , Arrested , and Imprisoned for Debt by Capias Vtlegatum ; the Capias in corporate Cities , and Boroughs , or by Bill of Midalesex , or Latitat , before any Debt or Damage is recovered , there being no positive Law now Extant , to warrant the same ; seemes to be utterly against the Common Law , and an incroachment upon the Liberty of the Free-born people of England by ill Custome and use , which ought to be abolished . And although it be regulary true ; that where a Capias lyes in Process , there a Capias ad Satisfaciendum lyes in Execution ; yet that is intended in Actions , Vi et armis only ; for there a Capias did lye at the Common Law , before and after Judgment , but not in Debt and detinue , before the Statute of Edw. 3. So as it is manifest , that the Capias ad Satisfaciendum in Debt , was never given by any Statute-Law to take the Body in Execution , upon a recovery in any meer Personall action , contrary to the Common-Law . That the Statute of Bankrupts were made against Marchants , and such as got their living by Buying and Selling only , as may appeare by all Cases adjudged upon those Statutes ; yet of late times , there was a particular Temporary-law intituled an Act for reliefe of Creditors and poore Prisoners ; that subjected all Debtors that were in Prison , at or before the 20th of October , 1653. and should not pay their Debts before the first of Aprill following , to be Bankrupts , and their Lands and Estates were to be sold by the Judges , in the said Act nominated for the satisfaction of their Creditors ; which Act for weighty Reasons moving your Highness , was seasonably suspended by your Highness and your Councell , and since by the late Parliament , to the great comfort of all Prisoners ; For the proceedings of the late Judges therein , were so arbitrary and destructive to the Prisoners & their Estates ; that if the said Act should have continued , or if any Ordinance of the like nature should hereafter be Established ( as some projecting Creditors are now busie and active to obtaine ) it would bee of such sad consequence , that all Prisoners now being , and all Debtors which hereafter may be Prisoners , would be utterly ruined with their Posterity also ? For the particular Aime and Ends , of some cruell and implacable Creditors only ( who have gone as farre as the Common practice will permit , and that against their owne Election ; for after the Body is charged in Execution , the Creditor cannot resort to the Goods or Lands of the Debtor ( while he liveth ) but the Prisoner is to enjoy what Estate hee hath without farther molestation of the Creditor , at whose sute he is Imprisoned , and as it is of sad consequence to the Prisoner , so it may in time prove to all the Free people of the Nation ; for that which befalls one may happen to all , and the course of Out-lawing , and Arresting , being continued for Debt and detinue , and other personall Actions against the Common Law , and personall Liberty of the people ; there is scarce any that lives but may be brought to the same condition and Catigorie , who yet ( though free ) upon a bare pretence of Debt , may be Out-lawed , Arrested , and undone ( as too many of us now are ) upon meer vexatious and feyned Actions ; for which abuse hee can have no reparation , although hee remaines three Termes in prison , unlesse he can find sufficient Baile beyond Exception of the adverse party . Now if that long Expected yeare of Jubile to the oppress●d Captives be come , that they may be at last Delivered out of their more then Aegyptian slavery and bondage , and restored to their ancient Lawes , and precious Liberty ; wee humbly hope your Highness will manifest your Selfe the Vindicator of the ancient Lawes and Liberties of the people in generall , and Conservator of the Great Charter ; and will be pleased to Answer all and whatsoever Innovators , with that memorable Negative , of A nolumus mutáre Leges Angliae ; and restore the ancient Law and proceedings for Recovery of Debts , and take away the Capias in all Civill causes , which will be a most Honourable and just Ordinance , and prejudiciall to none ; for the Ancient and laudable proceedings were more remediall to Creditors then that barbarous Imprisonment of the Debtor is or can bee ; for if the Debtor be worth nothing , it is against the Law of GOD , Nature , and Nations , that he should live all his dayes in the grave of a Prison ; whereby he is deprived of Friends , and disabled for ever by any Industry in his Calling to attaine to any Estate , wherewith to make satisfaction to his Creditors or prosecute for his owne , but is forced to spend his time most unprofitably in Prison , and waste what ever he hath or can come by for his necessary subsistance ( in a very Wofull condition ) which is well hoped , will not only be pittied but remedied by the Mercy and Justice of your Highness . And for a further Expedient , to take away this publique Grievance occasioned by the moderne practice of Outlawries , Arrests , and Imprisonment of the Body , in Civill causes , and to prevent the vast Expence of Debtors under the custody of Sheriffs , Bayliffs , Serjeants at Mace , and Prison-Keepers , by excessive Fees , usually extorted from poor prisoners in Gaoles and places ( anciently provided for Malefactors and criminous persons , and not for Debtors ) many times amounting to more then would pay the Debt , for which the prisoner is Arrested ; as also for a more speedy , safe and legall way , for the recovery of all just debts and damages for the future , without Outlary , Arrest , Baile , or Imprisonment of the Body ; as also , to ease the Creditors of those vast Charges and Expences they are forced unto , before they can have their Debtors person Arrested , their Lands extended , or their Goods levied in Execution , and their Monies raised by the same out of the Sheriffs hands . May it please your Highness , and Honorable Councell , to reflect upon these Proposals humbly offered to your Honorable and prudent Considerations , in order to the restoration of the Ancient Law , and proceedings for recovery of Debt and damages , only aimed at by Your Petitioners . 1. IN the first place to take away Outlawries , and the Capias , both before and after Judgment in civill causes , and to discharge all such Prisoners from their present Imprisonment ; except such as shall be justly indebted to the Common-wealth , and have wherewith to pay . 2. And to indemnifie all Sheriffs , the Warden of the Fleet , the Martiall of the Vpper-Bench , and other Officers and Keepers of Prisons from any Escapes in that behalfe . 3. That all Benevolenees , Pensions , and Annuities , formerly given towards the reliefe of any Prisoners for debt , may be disposed of towards the reliefe of maimed Souldiers . 4. That in case the great circumspection of your Highness and Councell shall thinke fit , to alter the course in the point of Meum & Tuum ; then to Impower the learned and reverend Iudges of the foure Courts of Westminster , both in Terme-time , and Vacation ; and also all Iustices of Assise , and Nisi prius in their severall Circuits ; and all Iudges of Courts of Record within their severall Corporations . And that for the ease of the said Judges , and more speedy execution of their said Commissions , That in every County , City , and Corporation , there may be some persons of Fidelity , Honour , and Quality nominated , to bee ayding and assisting unto them , to heare and determine all differences between all Creditors , and Debtors in a Summary way , within their severall Jurisdictions . 5. That the said Iudges upon all Petitions to them presented , either for Debt or other personall Actions whatsoever , may have power to call all parties before them by Summons , and upon due proofe made of any Debt or damage , and of the debtors Estate , to order payment and satisfaction , within some reasonable time after ; and in default therof to sell either all or so much of the personall Estate of the Debtor , as shall pay the same ; and if that prove short , then to lease two Thirds of the Reall estate of the Debtor at the uttermost value ( except the Mansion house ) as will satisfie the debt , for any tearme at such a rate as is ordinary for the time being , between Buyer and Seller ; so it exceed not XXI . yeares , which may be granted upon the estate of all Debtors , who have any estates for life in Fee , Fee-taile , or by Coppy-hold ; as also of all Estates past in trust , or to uses , wherein the debtor hath any equitable Right , or otherwise ; which Lease may be good against him and his heyres ; unless he pay his debt , or agree with his Creditor within Six moneths after the making of any such Lease , and that this course be universall in all causes , without Circuit of action or respect of Infants ; and the like power for such Damages , as by a Iury of twelve men shall be given before the said Iudge , in all other personall actions whatsoever . 6. That these Judges may be also impowred to Examine and review the obtaining of all Decrees , Judgments , Recognizances , Statutes , and Morgages , and the originall debt or contracts upon the same , and to Vacat and reverse the same , upon payment of what shall appeare to be justly due thereupon in Law or Equity , unto the parties Interessed therein . And also to try any fradulent settlement of any Lands or Goods made to defeat the Creditor , by a Iury of Twelve men , and may be directed ( if your Highness and Councell think fit ) to satisfie Creditors their principall debt , with inte rest according to the priority of their debts , and of their securities ; which by Law are to be first satisfied , and also to have power to qualifie or take off Interest ( with respect had to the late Warre ) as occasion shall require , and to give Damages to such who have been wrongfully Imprisoned , or unlawfully vexed , either for Debts formerly satisfied , or where men have layne in Prison three Termes , and no Declaration filed against them . 7. That it may be ordained , that every Petitioner ( except Paupers ) doe pay in every Cause 6. s. 8. d. to the chiefe Clerk of every Court where any suite is exhibited against the Debtor , before he have the Summons of the Court against the Defendant , in full of all Fees and salaries to the end of the Causes , to be devided amongst the Judges and Officers of the said Court , in recompence of the Fees usually taken by them upon Tryals of personall Actions . By this course the Creditor will be sure of his just Debt in a short time , with little Expence ; also the Debtors Wife , and Children , of a House , and some subsistance out of the Third part , the Debtors themselves of their Liberty , to follow their businesse and to serve the Common-wealth in their severall stations , as occasion shall require ; so shall Peace and much quiet redound to the Publique , when the power of Oppression , and the sting of the Law , which is the Capias shall be taken away ; so may the Sheriffes serve the Common-wealth with much safety , being not subject to pay for Escapes of Prisoners , Blood-shed , and Murther avoyded ; which often happens by Arresting of Debtors , who many times rather hazard their Lives upon a rescue , then they will loose their precious Liberty , and indure the miseries of a Prison . Also much Money will be saved , which is commonly wasted in unnecessary and vexatious Outlawries , Arrests , and Imprisonments , by malicious and male volent Creditors ; and every man will have their due from each other . Also by this course , Iustice can be no looser , when there is a generall and equitable Law , for the mutuall good of Creditor and Debtor , now and hereafter . And the memoriall of this Ordinance , under your Highness Government in a Case of such Publique concerment , will be Honourable to future Ages . And the Petitioners shall pray , &c. The Names of such Prisoners in the Fleet as subscribed the Petition . William Smith . Walter Roberts ▪ William Roberts . William Rudyerd . Edward Rumsey , Robert Rowe , William Gregory , Robert Whitwell , Morris Tuke , Thomas Stevenson , Walter Salmon , Ambrose Fulsham , Thomas Nash , Henry Carverth , William Carverth Robert Becket , Thomas Buck , Thomas Tracy , Edmund Hastings , Francis Eure , Thomas Hyghton , William Bowyer , Iohn Littlebury , William Pitts , William Peacock , Richard Niclets , William Coles , Thomas Iohnson , Roger Raven , Thomas Walton , William Browne , Lyst●r Blu●e . M. Mary Rogers . Dorothy Arundell . Cum multis aliis . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A93417e-210 Sir William Norberts case . Cooks Instit. 2. par● . fol. 394. 53. Hen. 3 , c●p . 23. Westm 2. cap. 18. 25. Edw. 3. cap. 17. 42. Edw 3. cap. 1. Cooks Instit. 2. part . 19 Hen 7. cap. 9. 23. Hen 8. cap 14. Magna Carta , Cap 24. 11. Edw. 1. 13. Edw. 1. 27 Ed. 3 cap 9. 23 Hen. 8 cap. 6. 
B06749	----	All things be dear but poor mens labour; or, the sad complaint of poor people. Being a true relation of the dearness of all kinds of food, to the great grief and sorrow of many thousands in this nation. Likewise, the uncharitableness of rich men to the poor. This song was begun at Worcester, the middle at Shrewsbury, the end at Coventry. / By L. W. To the tune of, Hold buckle and thong together. L. W. 1680 Approx. 5 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). B06749 Wing W77A ESTC R186106 52529357 ocm 52529357 179218 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. B06749) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 179218) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English Books, 1641-1700 ; 2780:19) All things be dear but poor mens labour; or, the sad complaint of poor people. Being a true relation of the dearness of all kinds of food, to the great grief and sorrow of many thousands in this nation. Likewise, the uncharitableness of rich men to the poor. This song was begun at Worcester, the middle at Shrewsbury, the end at Coventry. / By L. W. To the tune of, Hold buckle and thong together. L. W. 1 sheet ([2] p.) : ill. Printed for J. Clark at the Bible and Harp in West-Southfield, [London] : [1680] In verse. Caption title. Place and date of publication from Wing. In two columns. Imperfect: cropped and stained with slight loss of text. Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England -- 17th century -- Poetry. Ballads, English -- 17th century. Broadsides -- England -- 17th century. 2008-02 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2008-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-06 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2008-06 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion All things be dear but poor Mens Labour ; Or , The sad Complaint of Poor People . Being a true Relation of the dearness of all kind of Food , to the great Grief and Sorrow of many Thousands in this Nation . Likewise , the uncharitableness of Rich Men to the Poor . This Song was begun at Worcester , the midle at Shrewsbury , the end at Coventry . By L. W. To the Tune of , Hold Buckle and Thong together . KInd Country-men lissen I pray unto this my harmless Ditty , Observe these words which I shall say for it is true the more 's the pitty ; But chief to those that stand me by , whether stranger , or my neighbour I think here 's none that can deny . all things are dear but poor man's labour , We find that Bread-Corn now is dear , in every Town throughout this Nation , The Rich now poor men will not bear because Charity 's out of fashion , Poor men do work all day and night for that which in it hath small sauour A Loss of six pence is but 〈◊〉 . Béef and Mutton is so dear a mans weeks wages cannot buy it , There 's great complaints in every place , all things are dear who can deny it , But poor mens labour is too cheap , and Trading's dead which makes times harder That all their pains wont find them meat all things , &c. Chéese and Butter is so dear you know it better than I can tell ye T would grieve a stony heart to hear the poor complain thus for their belly . And 〈…〉 dead , 〈…〉 t find them bread I 'll makes my very heart to ake , to hear poor people thus complaining , For all their care and pains they take , rich men the poor are still disdaining , But let Rich Misers consider well the poor , and show to them some favour Or else their Souls will hang in Hell , all things , &c. In it not sad for Parents now , to hear their Children for bread crying , And has it not for them to give although for food they lye a dying , Poor little Babies they must fast , although it grieves Mother and Father , A bit of bread they cannot tast , all things , &c. To hear the many sad Complaints , as I have heard in Town and City , I think youd cry as well as I , the Rich has for the Poor no pitty For if they work now for Rich men , there 's some will kéep their Wages from them And make them run to and agen , Which makes the Poor cry fye upon them . Farmers so covetous now they be , their Corn they 'l hoard for better profit Although the Poor do fast we sée , their grain they 'l keep what ere comes of it Whole Ricks of Corn stands in their yards and scorns to shew the Poor some favour For some do swear they do not care , if things be dear , but poor mans labour . A Rich man there was in Stafford-shire , which is a Knave , i 'me sure no better He hop'd to sell his Corn so dear e're long as Grocers do their Pepper . When Wheat was sold for shillings ten he would not Thrash , Fan , nor yet rake it Let poor despair , he oft did swear . heed keep it for a better market . Too many their is of such base men , all England round in Town and City , They 'l see the poor starve at their door before they 'l shew them any pity ; For some will make poor men to work , all day and night for little favour , For Rich men be , cruel we see , all things be dear but poor mens labour . But thanks to God ' Corn falls apace , and all things else that 's for the belly , Yet still it doth go bad with some although they work full hard I tell you , Six-pence a day , is now the pay for a days work , and held a favour , This must maintain Wife and Babes , all thing be dear , &c. So to conclude , le ts be content with what the Lord doth please to send us , Let us our evil lives repent , then in our woes God will defend us : And let rich men be merciful unto the poor stranger or neighbour , For all do know , unto their woe all things be dear but poor mens labour . Printed for J Clark at the Bible and Harp in West-smithfield . 
A35207	----	An essay on the state of England in relation to its trade, its poor, and its taxes, for carrying on the present war against France by John Cary, merchant in Bristoll. Cary, John, d. 1720? 1695 Approx. 250 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 100 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A35207 Wing C730 ESTC R1249 11781578 ocm 11781578 49087 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A35207) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 49087) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 19:7) An essay on the state of England in relation to its trade, its poor, and its taxes, for carrying on the present war against France by John Cary, merchant in Bristoll. Cary, John, d. 1720? [20] 178 p. Printed by W. Bonny for the author, and are to be sold ... by Sam. Crouch ... and Tim Goodwin ... also by Tho. Wall, and Rich. Gravett ..., Bristoll : 1695. Reproduction of original in Yale University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Poor -- England. Great Britain -- Commercial policy. 2006-06 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-06 Robyn Anspach Sampled and proofread 2007-06 Robyn Anspach Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ESSAY ON TRADE , &c. AN ESSAY ON THE STATE OF ENGLAND , In Relation to its TRADE , It s Poor , and its Taxes , For carrying on the present War against FRANCE . By JOHN CARY , Merchant in Bristoll . BRISTOLL : Printed by W. Bonny , for the Author , and are to be sold in London by Sam. Crouch , at the Corner of Popes Head-Alley in Cornhill , and Tim. Goodwin , at the Queen's Head , near the Temple ; also by Tho. Wall , and Rich. Gravett , near the Tolzey , in Bristoll , Novem. 1695. TO THE KING's Most Excellent MAJESTY . May it please Your Majesty , IT is not a Desire to appear in Print hath made me to write , or a fond Opinion of what I have written , to affix Your Great Name to these Papers , but a true Affection to my Native Country , and the Cause Your Majesty is now ng ag'd in ; A War , on whose good Success depends the Security of Religion , Liberty , and Property , both to Your own Subjects , and likewise to all the Protestant Interest in Europe ; A War , as it is absolutely necessary , and must be carried on with Vigour , so it is like to be long and chargeable , and so much longer , as we abate in Our Vigorous Prosecution ; A War , which may strain the Nerves and Sinews of our Treasure before it be ended , and therefore as in Martial Discipline great Wisdom must be used to secure those Posts where the Enemy bends most of his Forces , so here 't is Prudence to strengthen our Treasure , by advancing and securing our Trade which must bring it in ; If this was done , Taxes would be easily paid , and little felt , and without it this Nation will at last become Bankrupt , when its Expences exceed its Profits . The Foundations of the Wealth of this Kingdom are , Land , Manufactures , and Foreign Trade , these are its Pillars , which ought not to be overshaken , they have hitherto borne the Burthen , and felt the Smart of the War , and 't is time now they should slide their Necks out of the Collar , other ways may be found out to raise a greater Summ annually than Your Majesty's Occasions will require , without Four Shillings per Pound on the first , Excises on the second , or a Tunnage Bill on Ships on the last , an Act which lighted heavy on the Merchant , and left no room to consider whither he gained or lost by the Voyage , or whither the Ship returned home full or empty . The Methods for Raising Money must be easie , when the annual necessary Summs are to be so great , therefore it would be Policy in our Law-makers to make use of those which may least hurt any part of our Vitals , such as Land and Trade are ; I mean that part of Trade which is useful to the Publick God , not that which is managed only for private Men's Advantage ; it may be possible to rate the Trader , and yet to spare the Trade . There are two things which seem to be of great Importance to this Nation , and very necessary to be look'd into . First , The better securing our Plantation Trade , so as it may more absolutely depend on this Kingdom than it hath hitherto done ; this will not only encourage our Navigation , when all their Product shall be imported hither , but also much advance Your Majesty's Revenues , when such quantities of Tobacco shall not be carried thence directly to foreign Markets ; to prevent which , and secure Your Majesty's Duties when Imported , plain and practicable Methods may be proposed ; and the Consequence thereof would be , that this Kingdom being the Mistress of that Commodity , Your Majesty's Coffers would be filled , not only from its Home Expence , but also by a Tribute raised from Foreign Nations , where it would very much lie in Your Majesty's Power to set its Price ; I do not think new Imposts upon the Importer will so much advance Your Majesty's Revenue as they will discourage the Merchant , 't would be better to take away those already laid , and instead thereof to raise a far greater Summ on the Consumer , which may be done without the Clog or Oppression of Officers , in such a manner , that it shall scarce be felt , either by the Retailer or Spender . The next thing is the securing our Wool at Home , and making this a Market for all the Wool of Christendom , whereby England would soon become the Queen of Europe , and flourishing in its Manufactures grow Rich by the Labour of its People , and consequently might better afford to import Commodities to be spent on Luxury ; I take it to be one great Reason why the Kingdom of Spain still continues poor notwithstanding its Indies , because all that the Inhabitants buy is purchased for its full Value in Treasure or Product , their Labour adding nothing to its Wealth , for want of Manufactures ; I am apt to think greater Steps may be made in this than have hitherto been done , and our Wool may be kept at home , not by punishing the Exporter with Death , but by apt Methods to prevent his doing it ; and when a Lock is put on Ireland and Rumny-Marsh , Foreign Countrys will more easily be prevailed on to send us theirs . These things seem worth the Consideration of the ensuing Parliament , a great many Members of the last to my certain Knowledge began to be much in Love with Trade , and have often lamented the dark Notions That House had of it , for want of being put into a better Light by those who ought to have represented it truly to them . Which hath been a great Inducement to me in the writing this Tract , that I might set forth the Interest of England in Relation to its Domestick and Foreign Traffick , and how both may be better improved to the Advantage of the Nation . King Solomon , who was pleased to encourage Trade in his Dominions by his Royal Example , soon found it to be the weightiest Jewel in his Dyadem , bringing him in more Treasure from abroad , than all the Tribute he received from Judea ; The Trade of this Kingdom hath always been a profitable Ornament to the Crowns of Your Royal Predecessors , Kings and Queens of this Realm , and it may be still so to Your Majesty's , if the Causes of its languishing were inquired into , and apt Methods applyed for its Recovery . That it may please God to make this Nation happy , by giving Your Majesty a long Life , crown'd with Victories over the Enemies of its Peace and Tranquility , is the Prayer of Your Majesty's most Faithful , And most Obedient Subject , John Cary. TO THE HONOURABLE THE Commons of England IN Parliament Assembled . May it please Your Honours , IT is the greatest Happiness of the People of England that the Laws by which they are govern'd cannot be made without the Consent of their Representatives , who as they obtain good Ones from the Favour of their Prince , so 't is their own fault if they pass such as are bad . Amongst all our Laws none tend more to the promoting the Wealth of this Nation than those which advance its Trade and Manufactures , by the latter we not only imploy our Poor , and so take off that Burthen which must otherwise lie heavy on our Lands , but also grow Rich in our Commerce with Foreign Nations , to whom we thereby sell our Product at greater Prices than it would otherwise yield , and return them their own Materials when wrought up here , and encreased in their Value by the Labour of our People . This little Tract I humbly offer to this Honourable House , not to direct , but with all Humility to lay before Your Honours an Anatomy of the Trade of England , dissected and laid open so as to discover its Vitals , which have seemed to be struck through by some late Acts. Whatever doth Prejudice to our Manufactures , or burthens our Foreign Trade above what it is well able to bear , stabs them to the Heart , and where Taxes are thus laid , they disable the Subject , and consequently are so much more burthensome as they make him less able to pay them ; But when our Manufactures are encouraged , and our Foreign Trade made easie , and well secured , the Lands of England will be advanced , and Taxes paid without Discontent , because they will scarce be felt , especially when equally laid ; and in such a Manner , that every Man shall pay his Proportion in a Regular way . If what I have written may be serviceable to this Honourable House , I shall think my Time and Labour well imployed . That God will direct your Councels , to the Advancement of his Glory , and the Welfare of this Nation , shall ever be the Prayer of Your Honours most truly Devoted Servant , John Cary. THE PREFACE TO THE READER . THE following Treatise was the Imployment of some leisure Hours which I thought could not be better spent , than in digesting so copious a Subject as Trade is , I am sure could be no way more advantageously imployed to the Nation 's Interest , than by proposing Methods for its Improvement ; I have herein considered the State of England in respect to its Trade , its Poor , and its Taxes for carrying on the present War : The first I have divided into the Inland and Outland Trade ; the Inland into three parts , viz. Buying and Selling , Husbandry , and Manufactures ; Under the former Head I have comprehended all those Imployments whereby Men get by one another , without making any Addition to the Wealth of the Nation in general : Husbandry I have divided into Pasture and Tillage , and have been the longer thereon to shew from how small Foundations the Primums or Principles of all our Trade are derived ; which indeed is wonderful , when we consider that the Lands of England according to the Act of Four Shillings in the Pound cannot come to above Eight Millions Five Hundred Thousand Pounds sterling per annum , that whole Tax with Personal Estates amounting to Nineteen Hundred and Seventy Thousand Pounds , whereof I compute about Two Hundred and Seventy Thousand Pounds to be raised on Personal Estates , so the Remainer is Seventeen Hundred thousand Pounds , which being the fifth part of the whole ( if that Tax were equally and justly laid ) the Computation is rightly made ; but suppose they are worth Thirteen Millions per annum , 't is a very small Summ if compared with the vast Expences of this Nation , which , with the Charges of carrying on the War , maintaining the Civil List , and the Profits laid up by particular Men , cannot be less than One Hundred Millions per annum , the rest is raised by Manufactures , Trade , and Labour ; the first of which ( though the third in my Division ) is the most profitable part of our Inland Trade , being That whereby our Product is advanced in its value , and made fit both for our own use , and also for Foreign Markets ; from whence are again Imported hither sundry other Materials , the Foundations of Manufactures different in their Natures from our own ; these I have handled under several Heads , and likewise shew'd by what Methods they may be improved , and so have closed the Inland Trade : Before I enter'd on the Outland , I have consider'd Navigation as the Medium between both , and given my Thoughts how some Evils that attend and discourage it may be removed ; I have then proceeded to our Foreign Traffick , or the Trade we drive with other Nations , which I have spoken to under several Heads , viz. East-Indies , West-Indies and Africa , Maderas , Ireland , Scotland , Canaries , Spain , Portugal , Turky , Italy , Holland , Hamburgh , Poland , Russia , Sweden , Denmark , Norway , and France , and have endeavour'd to shew how we get or lose by each , and by what Methods they may be improved , and made more advantageous to this Kingdom . As to the second part of this Discourse , the Poor , I have shewed how this Habit of Laziness and Begging first crept in amongst us , how it may be prevented from spreading farther , how Imployments may be provided for those who are willing to work , and a force put on those that are able , and how the Impotent Poor may be maintained , and those whose Labour will not support their Charge assisted . In the last place , I have proposed general Rules for raising of Taxes to carry on the present War , and better Husbanding the Money when raised , wherein I have rather aimed to shew that these things may be done , than published Methods for doing them , which ( because they would swell this Discourse above it designed Brevity ) are omitted here , as being more proper to be laid before a Committee of Parliament . AN ESSAY ON TRADE , &c. THE general Notions of a National Trade whereby it may be Discovered whither a Kingdom Gets or Looses by its Managment are things well worth our Consideration . It being possible for a Nation to grow Poor in the Main whilst private Persons encrease their Fortunes : For as in the Body Natural , if you draw out Blood faster then the Sangufying parts can suply , it must necessarily wast and decay . So where the Exports of a Nation in Product and Manufactures are outballanced by Imports fit only to be consumed at home , though one Man may get by the Luxury of another ; the Wealth of that Nation must decay , all one as a private Person whose Expences exceeds his Incomes , though he may for some time live on the Main , yet in the end he must fall to ruin . The Profits of England arise Originally from its Product and Manufactures at home , and from the grouths of those several Plantations it hath setled Abroad , and from the Fish taken on the Coasts , all which being Raised by the Industry of its Inhabitants are both its true Riches , and likewise the Tools whereon it Trades to other Nations , the Products coming from the Earth , and the Manufacturing them being an Addition to their value by the Labour of the People . Now where we Barter these Abroad only for things to be Eat and Drank , or wasted among our selves , this doth not Increase our Wealth , but it is otherwise where we change them for Bulloin , or Commodities fit to be Mannufactured again . The first Original of Trade both Domestick and Forreign was Barter ; when one private Person having an Overplus of what his Neighbour wanted , furnished him for its Value in such Commodities the other had , and he stood in need of . The same when one Nation abounding in those Products another wanted supply'd it therewith , and received thence things equally necessary in their Roomes , and by how much those Products exceeded the Expence , so much both the one and the other grew Richer , the remainder being sold for Bulloin , or some Staple Commodities allowed by all to have the same Intrinsick Value . And as People increased so did Commerce , this caused many to go off from Husbandry to Manufactures and other ways of living , for Convenience whereof they began Communities , this was the Original of Towns , which being found necessary for Trade , their Inhabitants were increased by expectation of Profit ; this introduced Forreign Trade , or Traffick with Neighbouring Nations ; this Navigation , and this a desire to settle rather on some Navigable Rivers , then in remote Inland Places , whereby they might be more easily supply'd with Commodities from the Country , and disperse those they Imported from abroad . I shall now take the Trade of England as 't is divided into Domestick and Forreign , and consider each , and how they are Advantagious to the Nation , and may be made more so . The Inland Trade of England consists either in Husbandry , Manufactures , or Buying and Selling , the last of which is of least Advantage to the Nation , and rather to be allowed for Conveniency then encouraged , whereby one Man lives on the Profits he makes by another without any Improvement to the Publick , Peoples Occasions requiring Commodities to be Retailed to them by such small parcels as would fit their Necessities , they were willing to give a profit to him who bought them in greater . And as this way of Trade came more in use , so the first Buyer not only sold his Commodities to the Consumer at home , but also dispersed them amongst those who were seated in the Country at a distance in order to supply the Inhabitants there , who allowed them a profit on what they bought ; this begat the Ingrosing of Commodities , and thence came in skill and cunning to foresee their Rise and Falls according to their Consumption and prospect of supply ; hence came the vitiating our Manufactures , every one endeavouring to under buy that he might under sell his Neighbour ; which way of living being found in time to have less of Labour and more of Profit than Husbandry and Manufactures , was the occasion so many fell into it . From these Bargains Differences arising encreased another sort of People which were thought useful , whose business was either by their Wisdoms to persuade , or by their Knowledge in the Laws to force the unjust Person to do right to his fellow Trader , an Honourable imployment at first , and is still so in those who keep to the strict Rules of its Institution , which Differencies being to be Decided in the Courts of Justice ( at first setled in Westminster-Hall , and afterwards for the Subjects ease carried into the Country by Itinerent Judges ) these Orators were desired by the Complainants to present their Suites to the King in those Courts , to be heard and determined by his Judges , and to set forth the Case of the Plantiff , and Produce Evidence to prove the Truth thereof against the Defendant , who also appeared by another to make his Defence . But as Suites increased , it was thought necessary to confine all to one Method of Proceeding , which was called The Prastice of the Court , therefore another sort of People called Attorneys were appointed to observe that Mechanical part of the Law , and see that all was Regularly and Formally managed ; hence arose Sollicitors , who were to attend both , as well to represent the Matter rightly to the Orator or Council , as to see the Attorney fit things for a hearing , and also to Reward them for their pains , so that this Produced another way of living seperate from Husbandry and Manufactures : And as Trade increased so Courts of Justice were Appointed in several great Towns and Cities , which being of different Natures , Multitudes of People gave Attendance , expecting to get livelihoods by them . Trade brought Riches , and Riches Luxury , Luxury Sickness , Sickness wanted Physick , and Physick required some to seperate themselves to Study the Natures of Plants and Simples , as also those several Diseases which bring Men to their ends , who in requital for their Advise and Medicines received Gratuities from their Patients : These brought in Apothecaries and Chirurgeons as necessary Attendants to their Imployments , all which were maintained by preserving People in their Healths ; many also of ripe Parts were fitted for the Service of the Church , others of the State ; great numbers were Imployed in providing Necessaries of Meat Drink and Apparel both for themselves and other People , such as Butchers , Bakers , Brewers , Taylors , &c. Others to fit things for their Pleasures and Delights , and by this means leaving Husbandry and Manufactures flockt off daily to Livelihoods which may seem to come under the third Head , who though useful and convenient in their respective Stations , yet these Men cannot be said to Augment the Riches of the Nation , only live by getting from one another , those two being the profitable Imployments out of whose Product and Improvement it gathers its Wealth . The next part of the Inland Trade of this Kingdom is Husbandry , which Anteceded Buying and Selling in point of time , though the other hath the Precedence in this Discourse , and this consists either in Feeding or Tillage , by both which we raise great Store of Cattle , Corn , and Fruits , fit for the Food , Service , and Trade of the Inhabitants . To begin with Feeding ; and here it would be endless to enumerate the various sorts of Cattle raised and bred by the care of the Husbandman , but those of most Note as they have relation to our Trade , are I. The Beef ; which as it Transcends the whole World in the goodness of its Flesh , so it affords many Necessaries for our use and Trade , besides its Service in Tillage ▪ with this we both nourish our Inhabitants at home , Victual our Ships for Forreign Voyages , and load them with the several Manufactures wherewith it doth supply us , from the Milk we make Butter and Cheese , from the Flesh Beef , from the Skin Leather , from the Fat Tallow , and of the Horns several usefull Necessaries , of all which the overplus above our home Consumption we Transport and sell in Forreign Markets . II. The Sheep ; whose Golden Fleece being the Primum of our Wollen Manufactures does thereby Imploy Multitudes of our People , which being of different lengths and finenesses , makes them of different sorts , whereof they afford us a yearly Crop whilst living , and at their Deaths Bequeath us their Flesh and Skins , the first serves for our Food , and the latter we make fit to be used at home , and Traded with Abroad . III. Horses ; whose Labour is so necessary that we could neither carry on our Husbandry or Trade without them , besides their fitness for War , being the boldest in the World , and for all these uses are Transported abroad , for the former to our Plantations in the West Indies , for the latter to some of our Neighbouring Nations ; but their Flesh is of no use , their Skins of little , the Leather made thereof is very ordinary , only the longest of their Hair is used in Weaving . There are many other sorts of Beasts , some whereof require no care in raising , others little , others are more tender , such are the Stag , the Dear , the Rabbit , the Hare , the Fox , the Badger , the Goat , whose Skins are necessary for our Trade , and assist in our Manufactures . Agriculture is that whereby we raise our Corn by turning up the Earth , the several sorts whereof are Wheat , Rye , Barly , Pease , Beans , Fetches , Oats , which not only afford nourishment to our selves and the Beasts we use in labour , but serve for Trade , as they give Imployment to our People at home , and are Transported abroad more or less according to the overplus of onr expence , and the want of our Neighbours , besides the great Quantities used in our Navigation . These Products of both sorts are clear profit to the Nation as they are raised from Earth and Labour , whose Advantages arise chiefly from their being Exported either in their own kind or when Manufactered , the Remainder spent at Home tending only to supplying the use , not advancing the Wealth of the Nation ; now these Exports being according to the Rates and Prizes they bear in other Countries , and those Rates arising from the Proportion their Lands hold with ours in their Yearly Rents , are not so great in specie as when workt up , Butter is the greatest , wherewith we supply many Forreign Markets , and did formerly more , till by making it bad and using Tricks to increase its weight , we have much lost that Trade , and are now almost beat out of it by Ireland , which every day makes better as we make worse , besides they undersell us in the Price , as they do also in Beef , occasioned by the low Rents of their Lands , and more especially by the Act of Prohibition , which put that Nation on finding out a Trade in Forreign Markets for what they were denyed to bring hither , which being Exported thence direct yeilds them greater profit , the sweetness whereof hath encouraged them to take more care , and this hath raised them from a Sloathful to be an Industrious People . As for Corn , Forreign Markets are supplyed therewith both from thence and other places in the Sound , also from the Western Islands , cheaper then the price of our Lands will admit . But our Plantations have still some Dependance on us for our Product , and would more if that Act was removed , and Ireland made a Colony on the same Terms with them . The other Fruits of the Earth , as Apples , Pears , Cherries , Plumbs , together with the Herbs and Plants , also the Fowls and Fish taken in this Land , serve rather for our Delight and Food than Trade . Some Cider we do Export , also Spirits raised by the Distiller both from some of these , and also from many other things . On the Sea Coasts we catch great Quantities of Herrings and Pilchards , which we save , and sell in Forreign Markets . Nor is this all the Product of our Earth , whose Womb being big with Treasure longs to be Delivered , and after many Throws brings forth Lead , Tin , Copper , Calamy , Coal , Culm , Iron , Allom , Copperas , and sundry other Minerals , which return us great Treasure from Forreign Markets whither they are Exported ; besides the several Shrubs and Trees that adorn our Fields , among which the Oak , the Ash , and the Elm , are the chiefest , these not only serve in Building our Sips , but do also furnish us with Materials wherewith our Arificers make many things fit for Forregn Commerce , and it were much to be wisht better care were taken for preserving Timber , lest out Posterities want what we so Prodigally squander away . The next thing is our Manufactures , whereby we Improve the value of our Products by the Labour of our Inhabitants , and make them useful in sundry manners both for our selves and others , fitting them for such Services as of their own Natures without the help of Art they would not have been proper , and those to suit the Necessities and Humours both of our own and Foreign Countries to which we Export them , where they yield a price not only according to the true value of the Materials and Labour , but an overplus likewise suitable to the Necessity and Fancy of the Buyer , and this adds to the profit of the Nation , and increases its Wealth . These Manufactures as they Imploy Multitudes of People in their making , so also in Transporting them , and fetching several Forreign Materials used with our own , such as Oyl , Dye-stuffe , Silk , Wool , Cotten , Barrilia , and many others , which are either Manufactured here of themselves , or wrought up with our Product . And first to begin with Sheeps Wool , whereof either by it self or mixt with Silk or Linnen we make various sorts of pretty things fit for all Climates , and proper for the wearing of both Sexes , wherein the Invention and Imitation of our Workmen is so great that they have no Idea represented or Pattern set before them that is not soon out done ▪ from a strong heavy Cloath fit to keep out cold in Winter they turn their Hands to a fine thin sort which will scarse keep warm in Summer , Ladies may now wear Gowns thereof so light that they can hardly know they have them on ; from hence they fell on Perpets , Serges , Crapes , Stuffs , Says , Rattoons , Gauzes , Anthrines , and many other sorts fit both for outward Garments and inward Linings , of various Colors Stripes and Flowers , some of them so fine and pleasant scarse to be known from Silk ; besides those multitudes of courser Clothes for the Poor , also Rugs , Blankets , and all Furniture for Houses , and such a Progress have they made in this sort of Manufactures , that a Man may have his Picture wrought in Tapestry with the same exactness both for Life and Colors as if drawn with a curious Pencil ; for this I refer the Reader to those Hangings at the Custom-House in London , where he may see the several Officers so lively represented in their Stations , that want of Motion seems to be the only thing which differs them from their Originals ; One Workman endeavouring to exceed another they make things to answer all the ends of Silks , Calicoes , and Linnen , of bare Sheeps Wool , which if they were by Fashion brought into wearing would then be thought as handsom ; fine Flannel for Shirts ; white Crape for Neckclothes , Cuffs , and Head-Dresses ; besides the pretty Laces , whereof we see various sorts used about the Dead ; and Caduce of several Colours in imitation of Ribbons ; also Hats , Stockings , and many such things are made of Wool and other Mixtures , both worn at home and Exported abroad The next Material for our Manufactures is Cotton-Wool , which is now become a great Imployment for the Poor , and so adds to the Wealth of the Nation ; this being curiously pickt and spun makes Dimities , Tapes , Stockings , Gloves , besides several things wove fit for use , as Petticoats , wastcoats , and Drawers , of different Fancies and Stripes , and I doubt not our Workmen would exceed the East Indies for Calicoes had they Incouragment ; with all which we supply Forreign Markets besides the Consumption at home . Hemp and Flax are the Grounds for another Manufacture , for though Weaving of Linnen is not so much used here as of Woollen , yet several Counties are maintained thereby , who not only supply themselves , but furnish those Bordering on them with such Cloth as answers the ends of French Linnens , besides which great Quantities of Ticking of all finenesses , Incle , Tapes , Sacking , Girtwhip , are daily made thereof , also Cordage , Twine , Nets , with multitudes of other Manufactures which Imploy the Poor , and bring by their Exports Profit to the Nation . Glass is a Manufacture , lately fallen on here , and in a short time brought to a great Perfection , which keeps many at work , the Materials whereof its made being generally our own and in themselves of small value costs the Nation little in Comparison of what it formerly did when fetcht from Venice ▪ those noble Plate Glases of all sizes both for Coaches and Houses are things of great Ornament , and much used , which also shew forth the Genius of the English People ; and for common uses what various sorts of Utensils are made of Flint fit for all the occasions of a Family , which look as well as Silver , and 't would be better for the Nation they were more used in its stead ; besides the ordinary Glass for Windows , and also Glass Bottles ; all which find a greater expence both at home and abroad by their cheapness . And as for Earthen Ware , though the Progress we have made therein is not suitable to the other , yet it hath been such as may give us cause to hope that time and Industry will bring it to a perfection equal if not to exceed the Dutch. Silk is another Material for a great Manufacture , which being brought from abroad Raw we here twist , dye , and weave into different goodness , both plain , stript , and flowered , either by it self , or mix'd with Gold and Silver , so richly brocadoed that we exceed those from whom at first we had the Art ; besides great Quantities of Ribbons , Silk Stockings , and other things daily made not only to serve our selves but also to Export . Distilling is an Art so exceedingly Improved in a few Years that had it not met with Discouraging Laws 't would by this time have attained to a great height ; this brings great profit to the Nation , for next to that of making something out of nothing is the making somthing of what is worth nothing , therefore this Art ought to have been Handled very chearily , to have been trained up with a great deal of gentleness , and not loaden with Taxes in its Infancy , like the Hen in the Fable , we had not Patience to expect its Treasure as Time and Nature could produce it , but by our Avarice were like to discourage it in the beginning , however it hath still bore up under all the weight laid upon it . 'T was a great mistake to appoint Measures by Act of Parliament to the Distillers in their workings , Mens knowledge increases by Observation , and this is the reason why one Age exceeds another in any sort of Mistery , because they improve the Notions of their Predecessors , therefore confining Distilling only to Corn was an Error , 't is true other things were allowed to be used , but on such Terms and Restrictions as were next to a Prohibition , had the makers of that Law then Prohibited Coffee and Tea to be drank in Publick Houses it might more probably have answered their ends in advancing the price of Barly by a greater consumption of Ale , and by degrees the Distillers would have fallen on that Commodity themselves , using it with other mixtures , and thereby drawing from it a cleaner Spirit then it doth afford of it self , which they might in time have Rectified to such a fineness as to have increased very much its use . No Nation can give more incouragement to the Mistery of Distilling then England , whose Plantations being many and well Peopled where those Spirits are so necessary and useful for the Inhabitants , and these depending wholly on us for all things , might have been supplied with them hence only , besides the great Quantities used in our Navigation , therefore a total Prohibition of their Importation from other Nations ( who make them generally of such things which are else of little value ) would be very convenient : We have many Materials of our own Product to work on , such as are Melasses , Cyder , Perry , Barly , &c. all which in time they would have used , for as the Distillers found their sales increased they would have made new Essays : It was a great discouragement both to them , and also to the Sugar Bakers and Brewers , to hinder Distilling on Mellasses , Scum , Tilts , and Wash , a fault the Dutch nor no Trading Nation besides our selves would have been guilty of , and proceeded from ill Advice given that Parliament by those who under pretence of advancing Corn designed to discourage Distilling , only took it by that handle they thought would be best received in the House , which being generally made up of Gentlemen unskilful in Trade lookt no deeper into it than as it answered that plausible pretence ; whereas were Trading Cities and Towns more careful in chusing Men well Verst in Trade 〈◊〉 't would be much better for the Nation : I cannot omit what a worthy Member of the House once told me in private Discourse , says he , I have always observed that when we have meddled with Trade we have left it worse than we found it , which proceeds from want of more Traders in the House , the places we depend on for them sending such Members as are able to give us but little Information , 〈◊〉 so partial that we can take no true measures of them ; The truth is great Cities are to blame in this , who ought to think none so fit to represent them in Parliament as those who have their Heads fill'd with good Notions of Trade , such who can speak well to it , and be heard when they speak ; Trade and Land go Hand in Hand as to their Interest , if one flourish , so will the other , encourage Distilling , and it will spend Hundreds of things now thrown away . Refining of Sugars hath given Employment to our People , and added to their value in Foreign Parts , where we found great Sales , till the Dutch and French beat us out , and this was much to be attributed to the Duty of Two Shillings and Four Pence per Cent lately laid on Muscovado Sugars , whereby they were wrought up abroad above Twelve per Cent cheaper than at home , and though that Law is now expired , yet 't is harder to regain a Trade when lost , than keep it when we have it . Tobacco also hath employed our Poor by Cutting and Rowling it , both for a home Consumption , and also for Exportation , the latter we decay in every Year , but Methods may be offered in Parliament to render those two Manufactures of Sugar and Tobacco more advantageous to the Nation than ever hitherto they have been . Tanning of Leather is an Employment which ought to be encouraged , as it furnishes us with a Commodity fit to be manufactured at home , and also to be transported into Foreign Countrys ; I know the Exportation of Leather hath been much opposed by the Shooe-makers and others who cut it at home , and represented as attended with ill Consequences , one whereof is the making it dear here , but would it not be of much worse to confine and limit that Employment to an Inland Expence , on the other side would it not naturally follow that when Leather rises to a great Price the Exportation must cease because Ireland would under-sell us , and would it not seem an unreasonable Discouragement to Trade if Tobacco , Sugar , and Woollen Manufactures were debarred from Exportation only because they should be sold cheaper here ; for suppose the occasions of the Nation could not consume all the Leather that is made , to what a low price must Hides be reduced , for no other reason but that the Shooemakers may get more by their Shooes ? 'T is true , if they could make out that those Countrys must then have their Shooes from us who now have their Leather , I should be of their Minds , but it must needs have a quite contrary effect , especially whilst Ireland is able to supply them : This proceeds from a very narrow Spirit , and such as ought not to be encouraged in a Trading Nation ; Ireland hath already made great Progress in this Mistery , occasioned by our Imprudence , and should we give Encouragement to other Countrys we might too late repent it . A good Export for Leather would cause a great Import of Raw Hides , which would be more Advantage to the Nation than if they were tann'd in Ireland , and sent abroad thence . Nor can I omit Iron , which is the great foundation of sundry Manufactures , not only used at home , but wherewith we supply our Plantations and other Places abroad , as Howes , Bills , Axes , Cases , Locks , Nailes , and a thousand such Necessaries , the Workmanship whereof adds much to their Value . There are many other things which may be and are daily improved amongst us ; as Clockwork , wherein we sell nothing but Art and Labour , the Materials thereof being of small value ; I have seen Watches and Clocks of great Prizes made for the Courts of Foreign Princes . Paper-Mills are a Benefit to the Nation , as they make that Commodity from things of themselves worth little ; so are are Powder-Mills ; also Artificers , who bring advantage to the Nation by supplying it with things which must otherwise be had from abroad for its own use , as also with others proper to be sent thither for Sales , and when Exported are more or less profitable as the labour of the Subject adds to their value ; In like manner things are cheaper to us when we pay only for the first Materials whereof they are made , the rest being work done at home is divided amongst our selves , so that on the whole it appears to be the great Interest of England to advance its Manufactures , and this I humbly conceive may be do●e these several ways . 1. By providing Work-houses for the Poor , and making good Laws both to force and encourage them to work ; but designing to speak larger to this before I close this Tract shall referr the Reader to it . 2. By discharging all Customs payable on them at their Exportation , and also on the Materials used in making them at their Importation ; for as the one would encourage the Merchant to send more abroad , so the other would enable the Manufacturers to afford them cheaper at home , and 't is strange that a Nation whose Wealth depends on Manufactures , and whose Interest it is to outdo all others ( especially in the Woollen ) by underselling them in Foreign Markets , should load either with Taxes . Here I cannot but mention that of Logwood , a Commodity much used in Dying , which pays Five Pounds per Tun Custom in , and draws back Three Pounds Fifteen Shillings when shipt out , by which means the Dyers in Holland use it so much cheaper than ours ; now if it was Imported Custom Free , and paid Twenty five Shillings per Tun at its Export , the Dyers there would use it so much dearer than ours here , and I think it would be well worth Inquiry , whither a Prohibition either total or in part of Shipping out our Manufactures thither and to the Northern Kingdoms undyed or undrest might not be made , I am sure it would be of great Advantage to this Kingdom if it might be done without running into greater Inconveniencies , which for my part I do not foresee , the Dutch discourage their being brought in dyed or drest , that they may thereby give Employments to their own People , and increase their Navigation by the consumption of great quantities of Dye-stuff , and the same reasons should prevail with us to dye and dress them here , But this deserves the consideration of a Committee of Parliament to hear what may be said both for and against it . 3. By discouraging the Importation of Commodities already manufactured either from our own Plantations or other Places , such as clay'd and refined Sugars , wrought Silks , Calicoes , Brandy , Glass , Earthen Ware , Irish Frizes , Tann'd Leather , Gloves , Lace , &c. and instead thereof we should encourage bringing in the Materials whereof they are made , to be wrought up here ; this may be done by Laws , and also by being in love with our Home Manufactures , and bringing their Wearing into Fashion . 4. By freeing the Manufactures from burthensome Excises , which do much discourage small Stocks , who are not able to carry on their Trades and make Provision for such great Payments ; the Distillers have long groaned under them , and I fear the Glass-makers now will , especially those in and about London , who have another load by the Duty of Coals , besides the Swarms of Officers to which we lay open the Houses of those Men who deserve all the Encouragement we can give them , and ought to have things made as easie to them as may be ; had the like Methods been used to our Wollen and Leather ( as was intended ) we might have repented it at Leisure ; Taxes when laid on our Manufactures ought to be raised by such easie Methods as shall give least trouble to the Makers : Trade ought to be handled gently , and he that considers the Expences of this Nation at Five Pounds per Head comes to Forty Millions , and the Lands of England but to Twelve , will imagine easie Methods may be found out to raise a greater Tax annually then we pay , without loading either Land or Trade as now we do , a Scheme whereof may be easily drawn up . 5. By prohibiting as much as may be the Exportation of things to the Plantations fit to be manufactured there till they are first done here , thus ' t vvas better Shooes vvere Transported to the Plantations than Leather , so things made of Iron , than Iron it self , this vvould employ our People , and add to the value of vvhat vve ship out . 6. By defending the Merchants in their Trades who export the Manufactures , and making it as easie to them as may be ; To this end good Conveys should be allowed , and good Cruisers maintain'd to preserve their Ships , it being certain that what-ever is diminish●d out of the Merchants Stock doth so far disable him in Trade , and then consequently lessen his Exports and Imports ; Courts of Merchants should be also erected for the speedy deciding all differences relating to Sea Affairs , which are better ended by those who understand them , than they are in Westminster-Hall , where all things are tried by the Nice Rules of Law , to whom after much Attendance and Expence they are often referred by the Judges , by this means they would see short ends to their differences , and not be detained at home to attend long Issues ; but there can be no general Rules given for these Courts , which must be settled according as they best suit the convenience of every Trading City . I am of opinion that the Trade of this Kingdom might be secured with no greater Expence to the Government than now 't is at , but then better Methods must be taken , and Men employed whose Interests it is to see them put in Execution : When we first began this War the Nation had many Difficulties to cope with , the French seemed to vye with us at Sea , whilst their Armies out-number'd ours at Land , but now blessed be God the Scale is turned , we force their Garrisons and storm their Castles whilst they look on unable to relieve , and at the same time our Navy-Royal blocks up theirs , whilst our smaller Fleets Bombard their Sea-Port Towns , we not only ride Admirals in the British Seas but also in the Mediterranean , and yet do now suffer more Loss in our Navigation than formerly we did ; The French are come to a new way of fighting , they set out no Fleet , but their Privateers swarm and cover the Sea like Locusts , they hang on our Trade like Horse-Leeches , and draw from it more Blood than it is well able to spare , whilst we still go on as we did , without new Methods to countermine them ; The French King breeds up a Nursery of Seamen at our Charge , whilst his Subjects are made Rich by our Losses ; the Act for Cruisers was well design'd had it been as well put in Execution , the Parliament thereby shewed what might secure our Trade , but left things so discretionary to the Managers , that the Merchant knows not when he receives the Benefit thereof , or how to complain if he doth not , and by this means is in a worse Condition than he was before the making that Law , adventuring larger because he thinks he Trades securer ; I confess for my own part I value nothing that cannot be reduced to a certainty in its practice , things seem difficult to those who do not understand them , if we are to Besiege a Town we make use of Soldiers , if to storm a Castle , Engineers , if to build a Ship , Carpenters , and so in lesser things , and yet Gentlemen are thought fit to sit at Helm , and steer the Ship wherein is Embarqu'd the Treasure of our Trade , who are altogether unskill'd therein , on whose good Conduct the Nation 's Weale or Woe depends ; Thus things do fall into Confusion , whilst Men undertake what they do not understand and set the Nation in a flame , whilst they injudiciously guide the Chariot of the Sun ; This makes Foreign Commodities dear , and advances the Prizes of Materials used in our Manufactures , so that as Trade grows worse Expences grow greater , and at the same time no Body is a Gainer , The Merchant pays such high Fraights and Insurances , that he gets little by Trade tho' he sells his Imports for great Prizes ; and yet the Insurers complain they lose by underwriting , and therefore advance their Premios , which is a new advance on Trade ; and the Owners of Ships get nothing by their Fraights , because they pay great Wages to the Saylors , and meet with such Delays both at home and abroad that the length of time eats up all their Profi●s , so that Fraights must rather rise than fall ; nor do the Saylors get , who generally brought home more Money to their Families in the time of Peace at three Years end when they served for Twenty-four Shillings per Month than they now do at Fifty , one lost Voyage bringing them more behind-hand than two good ones put them forward ; Now if Heads well verst in Trade were set at work , Methods might be thought on to secure all with little Charge to the Government , and hereby the Kingdom might flourish , and be supplyed by the Merchant with Commodities cheaper , whilst the Insurers underwrote for less Premio , Fraights let on lower terms , the Wages of Mariners fallen , and All got more than now they do ; our Numbers of Seamen might then be increased , and every Ship that goes abroad be a Nursery for the Fleet at home ; Privateering , which is now become a Trade amongst the French , must then necessarily sink all concerned therein , it s own Weight and Charge would crush it did we prevent their taking Prizes ; and no doubt the Merchants of England would not oppose such Regulations in their Trades as they saw were to their Advantage , or refuse to be at some Charge when they saw those Payments saved Money in their Pockets , and that the management of things was put into the Hands of Persons engaged in the common Interest of Trade with themselves : This seems to me of great Importance in our Manufactures , when the foreign Materials shall be furnished cheaper to the Maker ; besides if Trade were well secured the War would scarce be felt , Losses by Sea discourage the City , and the ill Consequences thereof reach the Country , whereby both suffer more than by all the Taxes they pay towards carrying it on . 7. By falling the Interest of Money ; this would very much quicken Trade , and indeed is the true Measure of it , the Merchant would be better able to cope with Competitors abroad in the Manufactures when his Interest did not eat so deep as now it doth , and the Maker would be enabled to sell them cheaper at Home ; if Interest were fallen 't would make all Trades flourish , for whilst we stand not on the same Terms with our Neighbours herein we must expect to be undersold every where by them ; the Dutch pay but Three per Cent , and are thereby enabled to Trade so much lower than we can ; the truth is 't is a shame Money should yield more by being put to Interest than 't would do if laid out either in Land or Trade ; the first doth not clear Four per Cent , the latter will not bring the Borrower Five for all his Pains and Industry when the Userer is paid , whilst the other runs little Risque , and is a Drone in the Common-Wealth ; as for Orphans and Widdows , ( which is the main Objection against it ) let their Expences be lessened suitable to its Fall , and for all other People , let them employ their Money in Trade if they think 't will yield more ; And here I judge it not amiss to mention Banks and Lumbards , which I take to be so many Shops to let out Money , for which they receive such Security , and for such time , as stands most for the conveniency of Trade , and therefore the more the better , because every one will endeavour to underdo another . 8. By rectifying the Currant Coin of this Kingdom , which is now so debased that Men rather truck than sell for Money , not knowing whither the next Man they deal with will take what they just before received for their Goods ; this makes Payments precarious , and Trade uneasie , mony rising and falling on Men's Hands daily , so that now nothing is more uncertain than that which should be the Rule of certainty in the value of all other things . I do not think it convenient to advance our Coyn , but let Bullion be of the same value when coined as it was before , else we have not the true worth of the Commodity we sell for it , but are deceived by the Stamp , which may be counterfeited by the Dutch and other Nations for the profit of the Overplus , besides it will seem ridiculous for a Man to give Twenty Shillings worth of Silver for Eighteen Shillings of the same specie , only because it is medall'd ; this will necessarily be followed by the advance of Silver suitable , the consequence whereof will be the selling our Manufactures abroad cheaper , as we receive less Bullion for them , and the whole Profit redound to the King of Spain , whose Indies by the advance of his Bullion will be worth more than they were before ; nor will this hinder its being carry'd abroad , perhaps it may keep our Coin at home ▪ but not our Silver , which will be still carried out in Specie ; not that I am of their Opinions who think the advance of Money would raise the price of Foreign Commodities among us , our own Experience shews it will not , we buy and sell as much for Twenty Shillings in Farthings as for so much Silver Coin ; nor will their comparison with the Portugal Trade hold here , for when that King advanced the value both of Peeces of Eights , and also of his own Coin , the Importer was obliged to advance the Price of his Goods , because Silver was the Specie wherein he was to make Returns , which he received not as it was worth in Coin but in value by the Ounce , whereas had he laid it out in Commodities the Case had been otherwise , I make a great difference between Money as it is the Medium of Trade , and as it is the Commodity we make returns in ; there are better Reasons than this why Coin should be kept up to its true value . And for the more easie calling it in when the Parliament shall see fit , I think 't were best to cry down all clipt Money at once , only to be received for six Months by the King in his Taxes , who may send it into the Mint , and if the Computation be allowed that we have about six Millions of Coined Silver Money in the Kingdom , suppose four of it to be clipt , the Taxes of Customs , Excise , Aids , &c. which we pay in six Months will require near that Summ ; and if there remain Two Millions unclipt , it will serve the ordinary Expence till so much new Money can come abroad , at the end of which time let all the rest be called in by the same Method ; This will bring forth the Broad Money , which is now hoarded up , and during this Scarcity both the King's occasions and those of Trade will be very much answer'd by Gold and Bank Notes ; and for better preserving our new-coined Money , let none for the future exceed Shillings , or at most Half Crowns , and those be made broad and thin , with the Ring on the Extent of the Circumference , which will prevent both Clipping and Drilling , and if the Stamp be not deep 't will prevent casting . As for the Iron and Counterfeit-Money , ( which is supposed to be about a Million ) it must be lost to those who have it ; and I suppose a Tax of about Fifteen Hundred Thousand Pounds will make good the other . 9. By discouraging Stockjobbing ; This hath been the Bane of many good Manufacturies , which began well , and might have been carry'd on to Advantage if the Promoters had not fallen off to selling Parts , and slighted the first Design , winding themselves out at Advantage , and leaving the Management to those they decoyed in , who understood nothing of the thing , whereby all fell to the Ground ; This may be prevented ( I mean so far as concerns Corporations ) by Laws framed for that end , or by Clauses in their Charters . 10. By taking away all Priviledged Places , and making it easier for Creditors to recover of their Debtors ; Men now betake themselves to Sanctuary , and spend what they have at defiance with those to whom they owe it ; on the other side if Laws were made for the more equal Distribution of the Estates of those who fall to decay , with a Reserve of some part thereof to themselves on a fair Discovery , and a force on the minor part of the Credits to agree with what Composition should be made by the major , so many People would not then be necessitated to such Methods , or be ruined by lying in Goals , as now there are , but be enabled to put themselves again into ways for a future Maintenance ; Misfortunes may and often do befal industrious Men , whose Trades have been very beneficial to the Nation , and to such a due Regard ought to be had ; but for those who design under the shelter of a Protection or Priviledge to spend all they have , and thereby cheat their Creditors , no Law can be too severe . 11. By strengthening the Laws against Exportation of Wool by such practicable Methods as may prevent its being done ; and such may be thought on ; for when a Nation 's Interest doth so much depend thereon , no Care can be too great , or Methods laid too deep ; Laws concerning Trade whose sole Strength are Penalties ( and especially such as end in Death ) rarely reach the thing aimed at ; but practicable Methods , whereby one thing answers another , and all conspire to carry on the same Design , hanging like so many Links in a Chain , that you cannot reach the one without stepping over the other , these are more likely to prevent Mischiefs ; It s one thing to punish People when a Fact is done , and another to prevent the doing it by putting them as it were under an impossibility ; now where the Welfare of the Kingdom lies so much at Stake , certainly it cannot be thought grievous to compel a submission to good Methods , though they may seem troublesom at first . Thus there have been severe Laws made against carrying the Plantation Commodities directly thence to Foreign Markets , and stealing the Customs when brought home , and what effect these have had we all know , thousands of Hogsheads of Tobacco being yearly Ship'd to Spain , Scotland , and Ireland , both from New-England , and other Places ; whereas Sound and Practicable Methods may and are ready to be laid down to prevent both , with few Officers , and fewer Penalties . And that we may better see the Mischiefs which attend the carrying abroad our Wool unwrought to other Nations , let us consider the Consequences thereof in what is Shipp'd to France , whose Wool being very course of its self , and fit only for Ruggs and ordinary Cloth , is by mixture with ours and Irish used in the making of many sorts of pretty Stuffs and Druggats , whereby the Sales of our Woollen Manufactures are lessened both there and in other places whither we export them , and by this means every Pack of Wool sent thither works up two besides it self , being chiefly combed and combing Wool , which makes Woofe for the French Wool , and the Pinions thereof serve with their Linnen to make course Druggats like our Linsey-Woolsey , but the Linnen being spun fine and coloured is not easily discerned , also the finest short English Wool being mix'd with the lowest Spanish makes a middling sort of Broad Cloth , and being woven on Worsted Chains makes their best Druggats , neither of which could be done with the French Wool only , unless in Conjunction with ours or Irish , Spanish Wool is too fine and too short for Worsted Stuffs , and unfit for Combing , so that without one of those two sorts there cannot be a piece of fine Worsted Stuff or middle Broad Cloth made , no other Wool but English or Irish will mix well with Spanish for Cloth , being originally of the same kind , raised from a Stock of English Sheep , the difference in fineness coming from the nature of the Land whereon they feed ; of this we have Examples in our own Nation , where we find that Lemster Wool is the finest , next , part of Shropshire and Staffordshire , part of Glocester-shire , Wilts , Dorset , and Hampshire , part of Sussex , and part of Kent , Somerset , Devon , and Cornwall , these are most proper for Cloth , some small part for Worsted ; Sussex , Surry , Middlesex , Hartfordshire , and some other Counties produce Wool much courser and cheaper ; But then Barkshire , Buckingham , Warwick , Oxon , Leicester , Notiingham , Northampton , Lincoln , and part of Kent called Rumny-Marsh , the Wool in most of these Connties is so proper for Worsled , that all the World except Ireland cannot compare with it , therefore requires our greater Care to prevent its Exportation , and more especially from Ireland , whence it is often Exported to our Neighbouring Nations , and sold as cheap as in England . 12. By making Bonds and Bills assignable , and being Assigned and Transferred from one to another , the Assignee to be capable in his own Name to Prosecute the Debtor whose Bond or Bill it is , without using the Name of the Assignor , or any Letter of Attorney from him to require or recover the same ; by this means young Men of small Stocks and Credits may on sale of their Goods and taking Bills for Payment return to Market again , and purchase with those Bills such Commodities as they want to carry on their Trades ; this also will produce a great Punctuality amongst Traders , for all Men to keep up the Reputation of their Bills will endeavour to be exact in their Payments , that so they may be currant , and freely accepted in Commerce , every One's Credit will then be esteemed according as he is punctual in the payment of his Bills ; Besides , this Punctuality will produce another good effect , those Bills will be bought up by mony'd Men for the Advantage of their discount , and it will by degrees lessen the Extortion of Usurers . 13. By prohibiting Persons from following several Trades at once , viz. The Merchant from being a Shopkeeper or Retailer , and the Shopkeeper from being a Merchant or Adventurer at the same time ; hereby each Trade would be better managed , and with more Advantage to both , for whilst the Merchant employs his Stock abroad in Exporting the Commodities of the Kingdom , and supplying it with others , the Retailer would keep his at home , ready to buy up those Imports , and disperse them into the Country , and both would go on unanimously in their Trades , because neither would interfere in the others Business . 14. By taking Care that in all Treaties of Peace and other Negotiations with Foreign Princes a due Regard be had to our Trade and Manufactures ; that our Merchants be respected , and not affronted by the Governments among whom they reside ; that all things be made easie to them , and both their Liberties and Properties secured ; that our Manufactures be not prohibited , or burthened with unreasonable Taxes , which is the same in effect ; that speedy Justice be done in recovering Debts contracted amongst the Natives , and punishing Abuses put on our Factories by them ; These are pressures our Trade hath long groaned under , whereby the Merchants abroad and Manufacturers at home have been much discouraged , and the English Nation hath been forced to truckle under the French in Foreign Parts ( especially in Portugal , and the Islands belonging to it only because that King sooner resented Injuries done to his Traders , and took more Care to demand Reparation , than our last Reigns have done ; but blessed be God we have now both Power and Opportunity to do the same , and there is no cause to doubt His Majesty's Royal Inclinations to make use of both for the Good of his Merchants when things are duely represented to him . I should in the last place have added Liberty of Conscience , but that being already settled by Law I need not mention it , only this , that it were to be wisht some way might be found out to make Methods of Trade more easie to the Quakers than now they are ; I am apt to think that he who appears in the Face of a Court to give Evidence on his word if he be a Man of Couscience looks on himself equally obliged to speak the Truth as if he was sworn , and nothing will deter a dishonest Man like she fear of punishment . Nor will the prohibiting things already manufactured be any way a hindrance to Foreign Trade , but rather an Incouragement ; more Ships will be fraighted , and more Saylors imployed by the Importation of Materials , besides the great Advantage to the Nation in the ballance of its Trade , which must then be returned in Bullion by so much more as they cost less abroad than the others ; and this will enable us to afford a greater Consumption of Foreign Commodities spent on our Palates , such as Wines , Fruit , and the like , all which fill our Ships , and are fit Subjects for Trade when the Profits of a Nation enable it to bear their Expence . And thus I have run through the several Parts of our Inland Trade , the Profit whereof depends on our Product and Manufactures ; Before I proceed to our Outland or Foreign Trade I shall speak something of Navigation , which is the Medium between both ; This is carried on by Ships and Saylors , the former are the Sea Waggons , whereby we transport and carry Commodities from one Market to another , and the latter are the Waggoners which drive or manage them ; these are a sort of merry unthinking People , who make all Men rich save themselves , have often more Money than is their own , but seldom so much as they know how to spend , generally brave in their Undertakings , they go through any kind of Labour in their own way with a great deal of chearfulness , are undaunted by Storms and Tempests , the Sea being as it were their Element , and are allowed by all to be the best Navigators in the World ; they are our Wealth in Peace , and our Defence in War , and ought to be more encouraged than they are in both , but especially in the latter , which might be done if better Methods were used to engage them in that Service , and better Treatment when there ; Now I should think if a List were taken of all the Saylers in England , and a Law made for every Person who enters himself on that Imploy at the Age of Years to have his Name registred , with the place of his Abode , and be obliged to appear on Summons left at his House , and no Man to be forced into the King's Service till he had been at Sea three Years , nor to stay therein above three Years without his free consent , and then to be permitted to take a Merchant's Imploy for so much longer , and during his being in the King's Service good Provision to be made for his Family at home , and a Maintenance for them in case of his death or being disabled , This would encourage them to come willingly into the Service , which they look on now to be a Slavery whereto they are bound for their Lives , whilst their Families starve at home ; This and the manner of pressing them discourages many , and hinders very much the making of Saylors , People not caring to put their Hands to an Oar lest the next day they should be halled away to the Fleet , though they understand nothing of the Sea ; I do not think too much Care can be taken for the well manning our Men of War , but I would have it also done with able Seamen , and not with such who will only stand in the way , and are useless when most wanted , and this must not be done by pressing , but by practicable Methods which shall draw every Man to take his turn at Helm ; I take Embargoes to be no helps towards it , for many Saylors do then lie hid , who would appear to serve in Merchant's Ships , and might be easily met with at return of their Voyages ; by this means in a short time there would be a double set of Mariners , enough both for the Service of the Fleet and Trade , the latter would every year breed more ; let the Commanders of Merchants Ships on Arrival give in Lists of the Saylors they have brought home , for whose appearance their Wages should be Bail , and then those whose turn it is to serve in the Fleet should after due time allowed for finishing their Voyages be sent thither , and a penalty on every Master of a Ship who carry'd a Saylor to Sea after his three Years Prodict was expired ; such Laws and Time would bring things into regular Methods . This would also prevent great Mischiefs and Inconveniencies which arise from pressing Saylors our of Merchants Ships whilst on their Voyages , many of them being thereby lost at Sea , and others detained in the West-Indies , to the great Discouragement of Trade ; whereas better ways might be found out of supply the Men of War abroad , all Merchants Ships bound to the places where they are might have a proportionable Number of Sailors deliver'd them by the Admiralty to be carried out Gratis for their Use and Service ; and this would prevent another Mischief too often practised abroad , where Captains of Men of War press Saylors from one Merchants Ship only that they may make profit by selling them to another . It 's supposed that no Trade raises more Seamen than that of Coals from Newcastle , which imploys many Hundreds of Ships to supply the City of London and other Ports of England , and being a home Trade doth thereby breed and encourage Saylors more than long Voyages would do . To come now to the Trade which England drives with Foreign Countrys ; here 't is necessary to enquire how each doth encourage our Product and Manufactures , how our Navigation , what Commodities we receive in Returns , and how the Ballance of Trade stands in either ; among which I esteem none to be so profitable to to us as that we manage to Africa and our own Plantations in America , and none so detrimental as that to the East-Indies . To begin therefore with the East-India Trade , which for many Reasons I take to be mischievous to the Kingdom . To clear this we are to consider how a Trade may be advantageous or detrimental to a Nation , and then to draw Inferences thence applicable to the above Proposition ; I shall therefore lay down such general Notions as may without dispute be allowed by all unbyassed Persons , which are these : 1. That that Trade is advantageous to the Kingdom of England which Exports our Product and Manufactures . 2. Which Imports to us such Commodities as may be manufactured here , or be used in making our Manufactures . 3. Which supplies us with such things , without which we cannot carry on our Foreign Trade . 4. Which encourages our Navigation , and increases our Seamen . And consequently that Trade which exports little or none of our Product or Manufactures , nor supplies us with things necessary to promote Manufactures at home , or carry on our Trade abroad , nor encourages Navigation , cannot be supposed to be advantageous to this Kingdom ; especially when it s Imports hinder the consumption of our own Manufactures , and more especially when those Imports are chiefly the purchase of our Bullion or Treasure . And because I would be rightly understood in my third Proposition , I mean those Commodities without which we are not able to fit out our Ships for a Foreign Trade , such as are Pitch , Tar , Hemp , Sail-Cloth , Masts , Timber , and such like ; These are so absolutely necessary , that we must have them though purchased for Bullion , as being the chief Hinges whereon Trade turns , and the Tools by which we Mechannically navigate our Ships , those Bulky Mediums of Foreign Trade ; but for those things which are Imported only in order to be Exported again as Commodities to trade on , these cannot be so advantageous to this Kingdom as they may be to the Dutch , who having little Land are maintained rather by Buying and Selling than Manufacturing , whereas England being a large spot of Ground , and having a great Product of its own , ( besides what comes from our Plantations ) capable to be wrought up or manufactured here , gets by the Imployment of its People , therefore it would be the great Wisdom of our Government to regulate all Foreign Trades by such Methods as may best make then useful in the promoting our Manufactures . Here it will not be amiss to consider again how and in what manner a Nation may be said to be enrich'd by Trade ; for there must be a difference made between a Nations growing rich and particular Mens doing so by it , and I humbly propose that it may be possible for private Men to be vastly improved in their Estates , and yet at the Years end the Wealth of the Nation not to be a whit greater than at the beginning , and this both in an Inland and an Outland Trade ; for whilst the thrifty Shopkeeper buys at one Price , and sells at another to the prodigal Beaux , and the industrious Artificer vents his Labour to the idle Drone , and the politick Contriver outwits the unthinking Bully , one raises his Fortunes on the other's decay ; the same for our Outland Trade , if we Export the true Riches of the Nation for that which we consume on our Luxury , tho' private Men may get by each other , yet the Wealth of the Nation is not any way encreased : For suppose by one Hundred Butts of Wines the Importer gets Five Hundred Pounds , yet when drank among our selves , the Nation is not thereby Richer but Poorer , and so much poorer as those Wines cost at first ; for if Imported by English Men in English Ships we loose but the first Purchase , the rest being Freights , Customs , and Profits , are divided amongst our selves , but if they are brought in by Foreigners , the Nation loses all but the Customs ; I take the true Profits of this Kingdom to consist in that which is produced from Earth , Sea , and Labour , and such are all our Growth and Manufactures . To apply this now to the East-India Trade , we will first consider what are its Exports and Imports , and then inquire Cui Bono ? whither the Contest for this Trade doth proceed from a design to serve the Nation , or from Principles of Self-Interest ? or whither the Members of that Company who strive so much about it , would if in other Circumstances still be of the same Mind ? for Principles that are in themselves true are always so , we may change our Opinions , but they do not change their Certainty ; I confess as the state of a Nation alters so must our measures in Trade , but then it must appear that the State of the Nation and not our private Interests makes us to alter them ; Now when I find that it is not the true Interest of this Nation to advance the Product and Manufactures thereof I shall change my Opinion . First then to begin with their Exports ; and here I need not say much , it 's generally allowed by the Traders themselves that our Product and Manufactures are the least part thereof , consisting chiefly in Gold and Silver . But it 's alledged that in Returns they Import such Goods which being again Exported do bring from Foreign parts much more Treasure in specie ; which leads me secondly to consider what those Imports are , and what becomes of them ; They chiefly are , Saltpeter , Pepper , Callicoes , Druggs , Indigo , and Silks both wrought and raw , many of which Commodities are very necessary as well for our Home Expence as to export again , others vastly prejudicial to us , as they hinder the consumption of our own Manufactures both Abroad and at Home , and this latter outweighs the former ; Calicoes and wrought Silks are the things I chiefly aim at , and hope to make it plainly appear that those two Commodities do us more prejudice in our Manufactures than all the Advantage they bring either to private Purses or to the Nation in general , and it were to be wisht the Wisdom of our Parliament would prohibit their being worn in England , else like the ill-favoured lean Kine they will destroy the use of our Manufactures , which might be fitted to answer all the ends they serve for ; Nor is the lessening the wearing our own Manufactures at home all the Mischief Callicoes have done us , their Importation having thrown out the wearing of Silesia , and other German Linnens hath been attended with as bad a Consequence from thence , where those Looms which were formerly imployed on weaving them were thereon turned to the Woollen Manufactures , wherewith they not only furnish themselves but Poland , which hath made those Countrys very careful to increase and improve their breed of Sheep , whose Wool was generally brought hither before , and used in making Hatts , but is now much of it wrought up there ; for when we slighted their Manufactures they fell on ours , whereas if we had encouraged the Wearing their Linnen they would have still depended on us for Woollen ; This hath been a means to abate the Exportation of many thousand Peeces of Cloth , which would have brought more Advantage to the Nation than all the Trade we have driven to the East-Indies , and will never be retrieved till we return again to the use of their Linnens . He that considers how wonderfully Fashions prevail on this Nation may soon satisfie himself how things of little value come to be prized , and to justle out those of greater worth ; Fashion is Fancy , which as it hath of late Years brought in a disuse of our native Commodities by Imitation , so if our Nobility and Gentry would turn their Fancies to them again I doubt not it would have the same effect , and if our Workmen could receive Encouragement , no question the Genius of this Kingdom would soon reach to such a pitch as to answer all the Uses of both those Commodities , even with a Thread spun out of Sheeps Wool ; It was scarce thought about twenty Years since that we should ever see Calicoes the Ornaments of our greatest Gallants ( for such they are , whither we call them Muslins , Shades , or any thing else ) when they were then rarely used save in Shrouds for the Dead , and that chiefly among the Poor , who could not go to the Price of finer Linnen , and yet were willing to imitate the Rich , but now few think themselves well drest till they are made up in Callicoes , both Men and Women , Callicoe Shirts , Neckcloths , Cuffs , Pocket-Hankerchiefs , for the former , Head-Dresses , Night-royls , Hoods , Sleeves , Aprons , Gowns , Petticoats , and what not , for the latter , besides India-Stockings for both Sexes ; and indeed it will be a hard matter to put them out of this Fancy , nothing but an Act of Parliament or humour of the Court can do it , the latter is the most natural means , and would easier make way to introduce the former , for besides that 't would bring with it the Prayers of the Poor for those who have cut them out new Imployments , it would likewise wonderfully tend to advance the Gentlemen's Estates , first by expending their Wool , and next by keeping the Poor at work , who would consume more Wheat and Barly , Beef and Mutton in their Houses , and yet they need not fear having Labourers enough in their Harvests , though perhaps at a little higher Rates , which would be abundantly made up by an Advance on the Product of their Lands , besides what would be saved in the Poor's Rates , and it hath been a constant Observation grounded on reason that this Nation never thrives more than when the Labour of the Poor is at such Prises as they may live comfortably by it . We will next consider : 1. How far the Manufactures of this Kingdom have been already made to answer the uses of Indian Silks and Callicoes , and what did encourage it . 2. What farther Improvement may be made thereon , and the means to bring it about . 3. Why the People of England are so much against their Native Manufactures as to be more in love with Calicoes and Indian Silks . 1. As to the first , I will go no farther than the Act for Burrying in Woollen ; how averse were the People of England to it at first ? as if the Dead could not rest easie in their Graves if wrapt in our Native Commodities , or that it would trouble them inter Hades that they had occasionally given Imployment to their poor surviving Country-men ; no , the fault was not there , Experience hath taught us that it 's all one to them , and Time hath more reconciled us to that Statute when we saw the good effects it produced by putting our People on making so many pretty sorts of Woollen Vestments , as Ornamental to the Dead as the others formerly were thought to be , and of such different Finenesses and Prizes , that Qualities are as easily distinguished by them ; and since our dead Friends were to be drest in our native Wool , we thought it most seemly to imitate them by wearing the same at their Funerals , hence it came to pass that our Mourning Attire was made of White Crape , a Garb not only Decent and Profitable , but Honourable to the Nation , as it both shew'd our Esteem for our Woollen Manufactres , and also how soon those imployed therein could turn their Hands to any sort of Work. 2. Let us consider what farther Improvements may be made on the Manufactures of this Kingdom to answer the ends of Indian Silks and Calicoes , and the means to bring them about ; Here let us see what Progresses have already been made step after step by our Manufactures to imitate , and in many things to exceed all they have seen from abroad ; witness those noble rich Silks , wherein they have attained to so great a height ; Our brave noble Arras or Tapestry of all Prises , not to be out-done by those very Nations from whom we at first learned the Art ; And this is allow'd by all , that the English Workmen in great things outdo their Patterns , and no doubt they may soon turn their Hands to a slight Manufacture , which People do now chiefly desire , and I take to be as profitable to the Nation ; How are we come from a strong and stubborn to a slight thin Broad Cloth , from thence to Stuffs , Perpets , Sayes , Rashes , Shalloones , Gauzes , and lately to Antherines , which last look as handsome as Indian Silks , and serve as well in Linings for our Cloaths , also Crapes of such different sorts both of Silk and Wool , that not only Cloaths for Men and Women are made thereof , but also Hatbands , Cuffs , Neckcloths , Hoods , Head Dresses , &c. Now was there a Law to encourage , or would the Nobility and Gentry of this Kingdom by their Examples promote the wearing our own Manufactures , no doubt they might be soon brought to answer all the ends of Indian Silks and Calicoes , and I cannot see what reason may be given against a total Prohibition of their being worn in England , which will be the quickest way to have them disused . 3. The third is to enquire why the People of England are so much against their Native Manufactures as to be more in love with Calicoes and Indian Silks ? The chief reason is Fashion and Imitation of One another , though many others are alledged , as the Ruffness and Ill Colour of Woollen , which keeps it from answering the ends of Calicoes , Its weight and thickness , which renders it improper for the ends of slight Silks in Linings ; These are not substantial but pretended Reasons , and would as well serve against Calicoes and Indian Silks were we more used to our Native Manufactures , and they now to be introduced ; for as to the Ruffness of Woollen , may not that be helpt by its fineness ? and are not course Calicoes altogether as Ruff ? A fine Flannen-Shirt feels soft and pleasant to him that hath been used to wear it , so strange Impressions do Custom and Fashion make on us ; and as for Colour , it is only Fancy , when Yellow is in Fashion it looks as decent as White , and as much Art is needful to strike it well as there is Curiosity about the other , witness when Women wore Yellow Hoods , both Men and Women Yellow Vestments , besides , no doubt ways might be found out to add to the Native Whiteness of our Woollen Manufactures , which do not therein fall shorter of Calicoes than they do of Hollands and Cambricks and as to the ends of Silks , Thinness and Lightness , I think our Workmen have given very great Instances in their Crapes Gauzes and Antherines what they could do had they Encouragement . But if a Manufacture of Wool will not please , why may not one of Cotton , the Primum of which Calicoes are made , whereof we have great quantities imported every Year from our own Plantations in America , and no doubt we might in a short time attain to an excellency therein , not only to supply our selves , but also Foreign Markets ; He that considers how far we have gone in this already will have no cause to doubt a Progress , and if Encouragements were proposed to that Person who should spin the finest Thread either in Cotton or Wool , to be adjudged and paid in each County , 't would excite Industry and Ingenuity , and no doubt we might in time make Calicoes equal in their sorts with those Imported from India , and afford them as cheap as that Company now sells them , enough not only for our home Expenee , but also for Exportation . We will next see what Employment this Trade gives to Ships as it 's now managed in a Company , and how far it promotes Navigation by making Saylors ; The Number of the first is but small , and I think far from making Seamen , long Voyages being usually their Bane , those Ships seldom bringing home so many Saylors as they carry'd forth , whereas shorter Voyages do more , made out of Land-Men , both the Imployers and the Imployed being desirous to make their first Tryals on such Voyages ; besides , longer require better Saylors to provide for the Casualties which attend them , and may be said rather to use Seamen than to make them ; and this is one great Reason why the Dutch raise them so easily , most of their Imployments being a home Trade . If then it appears this Trade is no more profitable to the Nation in general we will next see how it is to that Company in parricular ; I do not say to the particular Members thereof , who by ill Practices have raised their private Fortunes , many of which have been lately laid open , but to the Company as such ; and here we find that a former failed ; the last is thought to have gotten little , considering the long time they have been a Monopoly ; and what Advantage the new Fund will make Time must shew , the Tricks used to engage Men therein causes me to doubt whither 't will answer the Expectations of the Subscribers . On the whole let us consider what Arguments can be offered to the Wisdom of the Nation to limit this Trade to an exclusive Company as was desired , or ( as in truth it is ) to turn it into a Monopoly by Law , a thing very contrary to the Genius of the People of England , and seems to barr the Freedom and Liberty of the Subject . Were Monopolies to be allowed it must certainly be in One of these three Respects . 1. That we might put off our own Commodities to other Nations in Barter for those we received from them . 2. That we might keep down the Prices of their Commodities , whilst we advanced our own . 3. That as the Consequence of these two we might encourage our Manufacturers at home , and furnish Foreign Commodities cheap . But when a Monopoly shall cause quite different Effects it 's not to be allow'd on any Terms . As for the first ; the East-India Company takes off little of our Manufactures , nor do I think the Trade will admit it , for I cannot see how that Nation can be supplied with Manufactures hence fit for their Wearing answerable in Price to their own , except they were a Luxurious People who cared not what they gave to please their Fancies , which I do not take them to be , but generally very Provident ; for if we consider that when the East-India Company hath brought their Calicoes and Silks hither with great Charges , and sold them at an extraordinary advance , they find vent by their cheapness , how can we believe that any of our Manufactures can afford them a profit in India , where they must be sold suitable in price to the others first cost ; and therefore 't would not be amiss if the Government were put on making a narrow Inquiry whither the Company do boná fide export so much of the Product and Manufactures of rhis Kingdom and land them in India as they are obliged to do by their Charter , elfe many ways may be found out to evade it , and the Nation be deprived of the only Advantage expected from that Monopoly . The Dutch and we deal not thither on the same Terms , their Manufactures are small , and so no Matter what they Trade on , besides their Settlements in the East-Indies are so great , that what they bring thence may almost be called their own Product , whereof by monopolizing that Trade they make greater Prices in Europe , which being chiefly spent either in Foreign Markets or by Temporary Residents brings them more Profit ; They have also great Advantages above us in their East-India Trade , being possest of the whole Traffick to Japan , whither they carry Cloth , Lead , and other Commodities from Holland , Calicoes , Spices , &c. from India , which they sell for Gold and Silver , increasing thereby their Bullion as we diminish ours ; Besides their East-India Company is not settled on such a narrow Foundation as ours , which being limited to one City exclusive of all others sells their Commodities for greater Advance than any other Traders , whither we consider their Risque , or the time they are out of their Money , which should be the standing Rules in Trade ; Nor can it be otherwise whilst they remain a Company , the Charges both abroad and at home being much more than when manag'd by private Stocks , besides the affected Grandeur in all which must be paid by the Nation , whereon I take that Monopoly to be a Tax so far as it might be supply'd with them on cheaper Terms if the Trade were laid more open by a Regulation ; I know there is much talk'd by the Company about Forts Castles and Soldiers to defend their Interests in India , but I cannot see the use of them , for either they are thereby defended against the Natives , or the Dutch their Competitors ; the former have no reason to quarrel with them , for bringing them a Trade so highly their Advantage as the purchasing their Product and Manufactures with Money , especially if they pay for what they buy ; And as for their Competitors the Dutch , if they were not better defended against them by our Fleets at home , and the Protection of the Princes they trade with , than by all the Force they have there , the Trade had been but ill-secured , and must have sunk long ago ; Only those great Words serve to hold us amused , whilst their Guineas in the two last Reigns were the Support of their Charter . One thing which I aim at in this Discourse is to perswade the Gentry of England to be more in Love with our own Manufactures , and to encourage the wearing them by their Examples , and not of Choice to give Imployment to the Poor of another Nation whilst ours starve at home . We will next proceed to the West-India and African Trades ; which I esteem the most profitable of any we drive , and do joyn them together because of their dependance on each other . But before we enter farther I will consider of one Objection , it having been a great question among many thoughtful Men whither our Foreign Plantations have been an advantage to this Nation ; the reasons they give against them are , that they have drained us of Multitudes of our People who might have been serviceable at home , and advanced Improvements in Husbandry and Manufactures ; That the Kingdom of England is worse Peopled by so much as they are increased ; and that Inhabitants being the Wealth of a Nation , by how much they are lessened , by so much we are poorer than when we first began to settle our Foreign Colonies ; Though I allow the last Proposition to be true , that People are or may be made the Wealth of a Nation , yet it must be where you find Imployment for them , else they are a Burthen to it , as the Idle Drone is maintained by the Industry of the labourious Bee , so are all those who live by their Dependance on others , as Players , Ale-Houses-keepers , Common-Fidlers , and such like , but more particularly Beggars , who never set themselves to work ; It s my Opinion that our Plantations are an Advantage to this Kingdom , and I doubt not but 't will appear to be so by the consequence of this Discourse , though not all alike , but every one more or less , as they take off our Product and Manufactures , supply us with Commodities which may be either wrought up here , or Exported again , or prevent fetching things of the same Nature from other Princes for our home Consumption , imploy our Poor , and encourage our Navigation ; for I take England and all its Plantations to be one great Body , those being so many Limbs or Counties belonging to it , therefore when we consume their Growth we do as it were spend the Fruits of our own Land , and what thereof we sell to our Neighbours for Bullion , or such Commodities as we must pay for therein , brings a second Profit to the Nation . These Plantations are either the great Continent from Hudson's Bay Northward to Florida Southward , containing New-found-land , New-Eugland , Virginia , Mary-land , New-York , Pensilvania , Carolina , &c. and also our several Islands , the chief whereof are Barbadoes , Antigua , Nevis , St. Christophers , Montserat , and Jamaica ; the Commodities they afford us are more especially Sugars , Indigo , Ginger , Cotten , Tobacco , Piamento , and Fustick , of their own growth , also Logwood , which we bring from Jamaica , ( though first brought thither from the Bay of Campeacha on the Continent of Mexico belonging to the Spaniard , but cut by a loose sort of People , Subjects to this Kingdom , Men of desperate Fortunes , but of wonderful Courage , who by force have made small Settlements there and defend themselves by the same Means ) besides great quantities of Fish taken the Coasts of Newfound-land and New-England ; These being the Product of Earth Sea and Labour are clear Profit to the Kingdom , and give a double Imployment to the People of England , first to those who raise them there , next to those who prepare Manufactures here wherewith they are supplied , besides the Advantage to Navigation , for the Commodities Exported and Imported being generally bulky do thereby imploy more Ships , and consequently more Saylors , which leaves more room for other labouring People to be kept at work in Husbandry and Manufactures , whilst they consume the Product of the one and the Effects of the other in an Imployment of a distinct Nature from either . This was the first Design of settling Plantations abroad , that the People of England might better maintain a Commerce and Trade among themselves , the chief Profit whereof was to redound to the Center ; and therefore Laws were made to prevent the carrying their Product to other places , or their being supply'd with Necessaries save from hence , and both to be done in our own Ships , navigated by English Saylors , except in some cases permitted by the Acts of Navigation , and so much as the Reins of those Laws are let lose , so much less profitable are the Plantations to us ; The Interest therefore of this Kingdom being to prevent any practices contrary to the first Design , it would be the great Wisdom of the Parliament to frame such Laws as may more effectually do it than any yet made ; I do not mean Laws whose chief Strength shall be their Penalties , but such whose plain Methods being capable to be reduced to Practice may do it without Oppression of Officers , for I esteem them so far weak as they need the Support of either the one or the other ; and it were to be wisht that both our Customs and all other Taxes might be raised with less Charge and Burthen than now they are , for which ways might be sound out if it were well considered of , and then Multitudes of useless People might be sent into the Vineyards of Husbandry and Manufactures . Among these Plantations I look on that of New-England to bring least Advantage to this Kingdom , for being setled by an industrious People , and affording few Commodities proper to be transported hither , the Inhabitants imploy themselves by trading to the rest of the Plantations , whom they supply with Provisions and other their Products , and from thence fetch their respective Growths , which they after send to Foreign Markets , and thereby iniure the Trade of England ; Now as to the first part , it 's neither convenient for them nor the Plantations that they should be debarr'd it , what they carry thither being for the most part Fish , Deal-Boards , Pipe-staves , Horfes , and such like , which the others cannot be well supplyed with hence , also Bread , Flower , and Pease ; but then they should be obliged to make their Imports hither , I mean to bring all the Good ; they load at those Plantations to this Market , and from hence let them be supply'd again with what thereof shall be necessary for their Home Expence , as they are with all European Commodites ; by which means England would become the Centre of Trade , and standing like the Sun in the midst of its Plantations would not only refresh them , but also draw Profits from them ; and indeed it 's a matter of exact Justice it should be so , for from hence it is Fleets of Ships and Regiments of Soldiers are frequently sent for their Defence , at the Charge of the Inhabitants of this Kingdom , besides the equal Benefit the Inhabitants there receive with us from the Advantages expected by the Issue of this War , the Security of Religion , Liberty , and Property , towards the Charge whereof they contribute little , though a way may and ought to be found out to make them pay more , by such insensible Methods as are both rational and practicable . Now the means to render these Plantations more profitable to this Kingdom are by making Laws . 1. To prevent ( as much as conveniently may be ) the Product of either to be transported from the place of its Growth to any other place save England . 2. To prevent its being Imported hither after manufactured there . 3. To prevent ( as much as may be with Conveniency ) the Exporting hence any simple thing in order to be manufactured there , such as Iron , Leather , &c. which 'twere better for this Kingdom were first wrought up here . 4. In Lieu of all to lay open the African Trade , that the Inhabitants may be supply'd with Negroes on easie Terms . These are general Rules , but not without some Exceptions ; for when I say the Commodities of one Plantation should not be carried to another , I mean those only which are fit for Trade , and may be brought hither , and be hence disperst again , as Sugars , Cotton , Indigoe , Tobacco , Ginger , and such like ; but for Provisions , Timber , Horses , and things of like natures , they may and ought to be permitted , because this Nation cannot so conveniently supply them hence ; and therefore the Act of Trade gave leave to transport the former from Ireland , which hath laid open a Gapp to that Peoyle , who carry the first Beef to those Markets , wherein they anticipate us , and get the best Prises , besides the Charges we are at in sending our Ships thither to load , which they save ; Nor is this all , for going to the Plantations without giving Bonds to discharge in England what they take in there as the Law doth require , they frequently unload either all or part of their Loadings elsewhere , in opposition to the the Act of Navigation , therefore if a new Law was made that all Ships Trading to the Plantations from Europe should first give Bonds in England , and for default thereof be seized on their Arrival there , it would be a great Step towards preventing this abuse , and then plain and easie ways may be offered to hinder Landing any part of their Cargoes elsewhere ; And when things are brought to this State , that the Product of our Plantations shall necessarily be center'd here , we may put almost what Rates we will on them to our Neighbours ; it 's true 't is the Interest of England that what is consumed among our selves should be sold at reasonable Prises , but the higher they yield abroad the more Treasure they bring to the Nation , provided we strain not the Staple so as to be undersold from other Markets ; But there must be a Regard had to our Fisheries , that the Liberty of carrying that Commodity direct to Foreign Parts be not restrained . Next by their being brought home unmanufactured they would give great Imployments here ; Cotten Wool by being spun up and made into several sorts of pretty things ; Tobacco by Cutting and Rowling ; and Sugar by refining ; for I would have no Tobacco brought home save in Leaf , nor Sugar above Muscovado ; the last would imploy abundance of Sugar-Houses in England to clay and refine it , not only for a home Expence , but to be transported to Foreign Markets ; a Trade we have been lately beat out of by the Industry of the Dutch helpt on by our own Imprudence , for no wise Nation would have given such an advantage to a Rival Trader as by Law to put their Refiners on terms of working Sugars Three Shillings per Cent cheaper than our own , therefore when the thing comes to be well weighed , I believe 't will be found the Interest of this Nation to suffer all those Commodities to be Imported Custom Free , and to lay a Duty on what is Exported again unwrought , ( I mean all West-India Commodities ) and to raise an Excise on what is spent at Home , for which easie and practicable Methods may be proposed ; and this would salve all those Disputes about running Tobacco , or drawing back Debentures after relanded ; which Duty might be collected with few Officers , and little Charge , and the King might have an Account of every particular Parcel how it was transferred from Man to Man till 't was paid . But if the Planter should complain at his being denied to Import wrought Sugars , it would be abundantly made up to him by opening the African Trade , that so he might be supplied with Negroes both in greater Numbers and at cheaper Rates than now he is ; a Trade of the most Advantage to this Kingdom of any we drive , and as it were all Profit , the first Cost being little more than small Matters of our own Manufactures , for which we have in Return , Gold , Teeth , Wax , and Negroes , the last whereof is much better than the first , being indeed the best Trassick the Kingdom hath , as it doth occasionally give so vast an Imployment to our People both by Sea and Land ; These are the Hands whereby our Plantations are improved , and 't is by their Labours such great Quantities of Sugar , Tobacco , Cotten , Ginger , and Indigo , are raised , which being bulky Commodities imploy great Numbers of our Ships for their transporting hither , and the greater number of Ships imploys the greater number of Handecraft Trades at home , spends more of our Product and Manufactures , and makes more Saylors , who are maintained by a separate Imploy ; for if every One raised the Provisions he eat , or made the Manufactures he wore , Trade would cease , Traffique being a variety of Imployments Men have set themselves on adapted to their particular Genius's , whereby one is serviceable to another without invading each others Province ; thus the Husbandman raises Corn , the Millard grinds it , the Baker makes it into Bread , and the Citizen eats it ; Thus the Grazier fats Cattle , and the Butcher kills them for the Market ; Thus the Shepherd shears his Wool , the Spinster makes it into Yarn , the Weavet into Cloth , and the Merchant exports it , and every one lives by each other : Thus the Country supplies the City with Provisions , and that the Country with Manufactures ; Now to advise a Government to monopolize , and consequently to lessen this Trade , by confining it to a limited Stock , is the same as to advise the People of Egypt to raise high Banks to confine the River Nilus from overflowing , lest it should thereby fertilize their Lands , or the King of Span to shut up his Mines , lest he should fill his Kingdom too full of Silver ; This Trade indeed is our Silver Mines , for by the Overplus of Negroes above what will serve our Plantations we draw great Quantities thereof from the Spaniard ; a Trade we are lately fallen into by a Compact of the two Natious , for which a Factory or Assiento is settled by them at Jamaica , where what their Agent buys is paid for in Pieces of Eight , besides oftentimes Thirty per Cent Cambio for running the risque to the Continent , all discharged in the same specie with great Punctuality . Nor is this all the advantage the Nation reaps thereby , it hath introduced another sort of Commerce , and given us Opportunities of selling our Manufactures to that People , with whom we now grow into some sort of Familiarity , and may be a means in time to make way for a larger Acquaintance , whereby we may reap the best part of the Treafure of those Mines , Jamaica being now become a Magazine of Trade to New-Spain and the Terra Firma , from whence we have yearly vast Quantities of Bullion imported to this Kingdom both for the Negroes and Manufactures we send them , which as it was opened for the sake of their having the former , so when that supply ceases , it will be removed to some other place , and our industrious Neighbours are ready to receive it , who would perhaps take more care to encourage it than we have done ; for by the slow steps of the African Company , and the Hardships they have ●ut on the Interlopers or private Traders , the number of Negroes imported thither hath been so small , and so much below our promises and the Spaniards Expectations , that this profitable Assiento or Factory hath for some time stood on Tiptoe , ready to waft it self to another Island , as it certainly had done long since if the Interlopers had not given a better Supply than the Company . We will now inquire what Reasons should perswade any Government to monopolize or limit this Trade , and what have been the Consequences thereof ? As for the first ; the necessity of having Forts Castles and Soldiers to defend the Trade , which could not be carried on without great Charge and a joynt Stock , these and such like Arguments attended with a Cloud of Guineas had force enough to prevail on an easie Prince , who though of a temper not inclined to Mischief , and had natural parts capable to understand both his own and the Nation 's Interest , yet being perswaded by those Hargyes , who like so many Horse Leach●… constantly hung upon him , and required more Treasure than his Income could afford , he was many times allured to d● things which his own Judgment would not allow , so mischievous are evil Cou●cellors ( especially of the fair Sex ) to ● good-natur'd Prince . But let us consider what these Fo●● Castles and Soldiers now settled by th● Company are , their Use , and whither 〈◊〉 good Securities for the Trade may not 〈◊〉 made by a regulated Company , out o● Stock to be raised on its Members , 〈◊〉 those to be admitted for small Fines , and 〈◊〉 pay a Duty on the Goods they Export , such as the Court of Assistants shall think fit to settle ; which Stock to be imployed for Buying or Building Forts where thought necessary , and defraying all publick Charges for carrying on the Trade . I do not remember that the greatest number of Soldiers proved at the Committee appointed by the Honourable House of Commons , to enquire into that Affair did exceed one Hundred and Twenty on the whole Coast ; nor did their Forts and Castles appear to be any thing else save Settlements for their Factors , which ( to secure their Goods from the Natives , and the sudden Insults of other Nations ) they guarded both with Men and Guns , all which was proposed to be done by a regulated Company ; Besides , when more Factories are settled , consequently there will be more People , which will soon exceed their number of Soldiers , and be more formidable , whilst every Man fights for his own Interest , whereas those Soldiers ( as it was there proved ) were ill provided for , worse paid , and kept only by Constraint . It was never made out ( or indeed pretended ) before that Honourable Committee that those Forts and Castles were to wage a National War , or to secure against a National Invasion , the defence of their Guns could not exceed their reach , which was not above a Mile at most ; nor were there any Magazines of Provisions laid up to expect a Siege from the Natives ; neither could they hinder Interlopers who traded on the Coasts of what Nation soever ; but for that end the Company had obtained Frigats from the Government , who by illegal Commissions destroyed our own Merchants Ships ( unless permitted on the payment of Forty or Fifty per Cent at home on the Goods they carried out ) whilst they let others alone ; This being seconded by their Factors in the several Plantations , who seized them and their Cargoes there if they escaped the former , discouraged our private Traders , who else found no Difficulties , the Natives receiving them as Friends , and choosing rather to deal with them than the Company ; whose Factories also being at remote distances from each other , great part of that Coast was unguarded , and untraded too by them . Nor do I see what need there was to fight our way into a Trade altogether as advantageous to the Natives as to us , for whilst we supply'd them with things they wanted , and were of value amongst them , we took in exchange Slaves , which were else of little worth to the Proprietors ; and it cannot be thought that the People of England who have setled such large Colonies on the Continent of America ( besides its several Islands ) where there was no reasonable Prospect of Encouragement , and have increased their Numbers so as to be able to defend their first Footings without the help of a Company , not only against the Natives where they found any , but likewise against all other Nations , should fall short in carrying on this Trade , which doth at the first view offer the Prospect of so great a Profit . Let us now consider the Inconveniences that have attended this Monopoly , and consequently the Conveniencies which would come to the Nation by digesting it into an open and free , tho' a regulated Company ; sure if confining the working in a Golden Mine to one day in a week which would afford the like Treasure every day to the Nation cannot be its advantage , no more can the limiting this Trade ; for if we send more Ships we fetch more Negroes , and vend more Commodities for their Purchase ; besides every Negro in the Plantations gives a second Imploy to the Manufacturers of this Kingdom , and had we many more to spare the Spaniard would buy them , so there can be no Ground for putting this Trade into few Men's Hands , except 't is designed those few shall grow Rich , whilst for their sakes the Nation suffers in its Trade and Navigation ; The Company have made this detrimental advantage of their Charter , that they have thereby been enabled to buy up our Manufactures cheaper at home , and to make the Planters pay dearer Rates for Negroes abroad , than could have been done if there had been more Buyers for the former , and Sellers of the latter ; besides the ill Supply they gave the Plantations , and the partiality in their Lots and Dividends there , the effect whereof was that one Planter who was befriended grew Rich by having good Negroes , whilst another was ruined by having none but bad ; and this drew with it another ill Consequence , their Factors as it were Monopolized Trade to themselves , by obliging the Planters to deal with them for other things if they expected favour when the Negro Ships arrived , so that the rest of the Merchants were forced to look on whilst the others had any thing to sell , and all because they were restrained by a Monopoly from supplying the Planter with the same Commodity , for which likewise the Company expected ready Pay , whilst the others gave long time . This was fully proved before the Honourable Committee at one of their Meetings , to whom I heard an eminent Merchant of London of an undoubted Reputation and well acquainted with the Trade to Africa affirm , That on a former little relaxation of the severity of their Charter , which was then called in question by the Honourable House of Commons , some of our Woolen Manufactures fit for that Trade rose instantly Fifty per Cent to his certain knowledge , occasioned by the Multitudes of Buyers , whereof he was one ; and indeed it is not to be wondered at , for whilst that Company was in power many of the English Interlopers were forced to fit in Holland , where they also furnished their Cargoes , it being thought cause sufficient to stop a Ship here if any part of the Goods entered out gave Suspicion she was bound for the Coast of Gui●●● , which would have made a Stander by to have thought that the Dutch had given Pensions in that Court as well as the French. It is not to be doubted but that the Vendding our Product and Manufactures and promoting our Navigation on advantageous terms is the true Interest of this Nation , and all Foreign Commerce as it advances either is more or less profitable , now the Confinement of the African Trade to a limited Stock promotes the ends of neither , and I believe 't is one reason why we know so little of that large Continent , because the Company finding ways enough to employ their Fund among those few Factories they had setled on the Sea Coast never endeavoured a farther Inland Discovery , whereas if it was laid open , the busie Merchant that Industrious Bee of the Nation would not leave one River or Creek untraded to , from whence he might hope to make Advantage . It 's to Trade and Commerce we are beholding for what Knowledge we have of Foreign Parts , and it is observable that the more remote People dwell from the Sea the less they are acquainted with Affairs abroad ; Africa is a large Country , and doubtless the Trade to it might be much enlarged to our Advantage , and better Settlements made and secured if good Methods were taken ; Use and Experience make us at last Masters of every thing ; and tho' the first Undertakers of a Design fall short of answering their private Ends , yet they may not the Ends of the Nation , by laying open a beaten Path for Posterity to tread in with Success where they miscarry'd ; when all places in England may freely send Ships , and be permitted to the management of their own Affairs , this encourages Industry , and sets Peoples Heads at work how they may outdo each other by getting first into a new Place of Trade ; besides , the more Traders the more Buyers at Home and Sellers Abroad , and by this means our Plantations on that large Continent of America would be better furnished with Negroes , for want of which the Inhabitants there could never arrive to those Improvements they have done in the Islands , the Company having given them little or no Supply , who rather chose to send them to the latter , because they were able to make better Pay ; But the Interlopers have done it , tho' under great discouragements from the Company and their Factors , who like the Dog in the Fable , would neither supply those Plantations themselves , nor suffer others to do it . As for the other Commodities brought in Returns from Africa , Wax and Teeth , one serves for a Foreign Trade without lessening the Expence of our own Product , the other imploys our Manufacturers at home , and is afterwards Exported to other Markets ; and as for the Gold brought thence , I need not mention how much it doth advance our Wealth , all agree it to be a good Barter . On the whole I take the African Trade both for its Exports and Imports , and also as it supplies our Plantations , and advances Navigation , to be very beneficial to this Kingdom , and would be made much more so , and better secured , were it laid open by being formed into a Regulated Company . The next thing we will enter on is the Trade driven to Maderas ; and here tho' I must confess I am in my own Judgment no Friend to Monopolies , and have not yet seen any reason to alter my Opinion , yet as that destructive Element of Fire may and often is used to Advantage in its proper place , and Poyson with Correction makes good Physick , so the ends of a Monopoly being truly answered , it may sometimes be very serviceable , such as are the vending our own Manufactures at good Rates in Foreign Markets , whilst for them we receive in Barter the Product of another Nation at reasonable Prices ; And this effect cannot be produced by incorporating any Trade into a joynt stock so naturally as that of Maderas , where by the late ill management of our Factors things are come to such a Pass , that nothing less than this can recover it into a good Method , the Inhabitants of that Island by the others Imprudence have gotten so much Advantage of us that they take off little of our Wolen Manufactures , whilst on the other side we buy their Wines for Money , which heretofore we purchased in Truck ; a Commodity loaden off thence chiefly by the English Nation , for the Dutch ship little , the French less , the remainer ( except what is spent on the Island , or sent to Brazile ) is drank in our Plantations ; and yet we are treated by them , not as though they depended on us , but rather as if they thought we could not live without their Wines , prohibiting sometimes one part sometimes another of our Manufactures , instead whereof they supply themselves from Lisbon , with things tho' not so good , yet such as they content themselves with to promote Manufactures of their own , so wise are other Nations to choose rather to wear what is made amongst themselves than what is brought by Strangers , tho' better in its kind ; whilst we preferr any thing that comes from abroad , only because it does so . But then great care must be taken that the Profit of this Monopoly doth redound to the Nation , and not only to the enriching private Persons , and that it be continued no longer than it appears to be for the public Good , and a fair Account must be given that the quantity of Manufactures carried hence do in some measure equalize the Wines loaden thence , also that the Plantations abroad be supply'd at reasonable Rates ; By this means the English being the only Buyers , and they having put the Trade into one Hand , may sell their Manufactures for better Prices , and set the Rates of the others Wines , and consequently afford them cheaper in our Islands ; Thus whereas those two Monopolies of the East-India and African Companies prey only on their fellow-Subjects , this would make its Profits on a Foreign People ; besides it would as it were create a new Market in a place where our Manufactures are almost disused . I confess could it be done any other way I should not advise this , but I know none , unless those Wines were for some time prohibited to be carry'd to the Plantations , which would be very inconvenient for the Inhabitants , who cannot well subsist without them ; the heat of the Climate spends Nature apace , which must be supported , and nothing hath been found so agreeable to their Constitutions as the Wines brought from that Island . We come now to speak of Ireland ; which of all the Plantations setled by the English hath proved most injurious to the Trade of this Kingdom , and so far from answering the ends of a Colony , that it doth wholly violate them ; for if People be the Wealth of a Nation , then 't is certain that a bare parting with any of them cannot be its Advantage , unless accompanied with Circumstances whereby they may be rendred more useful both to themselves , and also to those they left behind them , else so far as you deprive it of such who should consume its Product and improve its Manufactures you leffen its true Interest , especially when that Colony sets up a Separate , and not only provides sufficient of both for its self , but by the Overplus supplys other Markets , and thereby lessens its Sales abroad ; This to a Kingdom so much made up of Manufactures as England is must needs be attended with great Disadvantages , and yet to maintain a good Correspondence with Ireland is very convenient , I shall therefore consider what Topicks may be laid down as general Rules for the Advantage of the former , and best agreeable with the true Interest of the latter . It was a Question once put by Pilate , what is Truth ? And when he had said this he went out again unto the Jews , &c. which Question seems to me rather to arise from a Perturbation in his own Mind occasioned by the fluctuating of several Interests , than from any Desire he had to receive an answer , for we do not find he staid to expect it ; and the Consequence shew'd 't was so , for his being willing to do the Jews a pleasure , and fearing lest he should not be accounted a Friend to Caesar , made him pass Sentence against his Judgment on an innocent Person , of whom he confest , he found no fault in him ; Interest doth generally biass our Judgments in such a manner that the very supposing a thing to be so makes us uneasie under any Discourse that perswades only to enquire into it ; but Truth is the same still , and the easiest way to discover it is by walking in the Paths of Plainness ; Falshood wants Sophistry to lacker and set it off , therefore Men usually represent their private Interests under the name of a public Good , and thereby endeavour to guild the Pill they would have go down . The Heads I shall proceed on are these Two. 1. To shew that Ireland as things now stand is very destructive to the Interest of England . 2. That the Methods which may be used to render it more serviceable to the Interest of this Nation will also render it more serviceable to its own . These are plain Propositions , understood by every Man , and I hope to make them out with the same plainness . 1. As to the first , that Ireland is now destructive to the Interest of England , I think it will admit of little Dispute ; for as long as that People enjoy so free and open a Trade to Foreign Parts , and thereby are encouraged to advance in their Wollen Manufactures , they must consequently lessen ours , than which they cannot do us a greater Mischief , being the Tools whereon we Trade , when they sink our Navigation sinks with them . Now the Advantage Ireland hath above England in making the Wollen Manufactures will soon give them opportunities of outdoing us therein , first as it produces as good or rather better Wool , and next as it furnishes all Provisions cheaper to the Workmen , which renders them able to live on easier terms than ours can here , and this will in short time give Invitation for many more to remove thither . 2. But 't is the second Proposition which will not be so easily allowed ; how the true Interest of Ireland will be advanced by such means as shall be used to promote that of England . Here we must consider , what is the true Interest of Ireland , and wherein it doth consist ? Whither in Trade and Manufactures , or in Improvement of its Lands by a good Settlement ? And I doubt not but on a strict Scrutiny it will appear to be the latter ; for indeed till that is made , no Trade can be serviceable to any People farther than it doth help towards it ; Nor is it the Advantage of an ill-peopled Colony whose Riches are to be the Fruits of the Earth to divert any number of the Inhabitants from its Cultivation , whilst they can find Vent for their Product , and be supply'd with conveniencies another way ; had our American Plantations done so , they had never been well setled , but much more of their Lands at this time unimproved ; and this I take to be one great Reason why the English in Ireland have always lain open to the Insults of the Natives there , the Country being slenderly peopled in the more Inland Parts ; if so , then certainly whatever hinders the Peopling , and consequently the cultivating and improving the Lands of Ireland , doth so far hinder the advancing its true Interest . Now nothing doth this more than Trade Abroad , and Manufactures at Home . 1. As they divert great Numbers of People which cannot be spared from Husbandry . 2. As they so far lessen the Strength and Security of that Island . The true Interest then of Ireland being Husbandry , Trade and Manufactures stand diametrically opposite thereto ; for Trade being of it self less laborious , and the Poor maintained thereby living more easie than such as are employed in the Field , doth invite them rather to settle in that way than the other ; this is the reason why such Multitudes of People daily flock into Cities from the Country , if they have either Encouragement themselves , or can foresee any for their Children , whereas few withdraw from Trade to the Labour of a Country Life ; of this we have an eminent Example in New England , which tho' it was the first peopled , and by its Trade hath drawn thither great Numbers of Inhabitants , yet that large Colony hath not cultivated so much Ground as far less Numbers have in other Plantations much later setled ; for whereas in them the Product was thought to be their Wealth , and therefore the Setlers disperst themselves , and with all the Assistance they could get endeavoured to clear and fit the Ground for breaking up , these took another Course , and by keeping together chose rather to live on Buying and Selling , by which means their Improvements are very small , and their Product of no value suitable to their Numbers , so that it seems at present rather a Magazine of Trade , their chief Imployment being to supply the other American Plantations with Fish catch'd on the Coasts , and some other things raised near the Sea-side , and in Returns bring thence the Commodities of their Growth , which they again barter with us , or Ship to Markets themselves , and here it is to be noted that the great Ballance of their Ttade is Ships , which ( having plenty of Timber ) they build on reasonable Rates , either for Sale , or to be imployed for transporting their own Commodities , which being generally bulky , such as Timber , Mackrill , Bread , Horses , for the Plantations , and Codfish for Europe , great part of their value arises from their Freights ; This was indeed their oversight at first , and now scarce to be retrieved ; for had they then began with Planting , and followed that closely for some time , they might in all probability long since have made themselves Masters of a greater Product , which would have laid the foundations of a much larger Trade both to Europe and other places in America ; they are indeed a thrifty sort of People , but want Commodities of their own Product , and the Profits of a Nations Trade being very much limited according to that , if the Parliament should think fit by new Laws to hinder the Freedom they now enjoy in our American Plantations ( which I judge absolutely necessary , because so much abused by their carrying those Commodities to Foreign Markets without touching first in England , to the lessening our Customs , and discouraging our Merchants here ) their Trade must sink , and they see their error too late . 2. And as Foreign Trade and Manufactures lessen the Number of Husbandmen in Ireland , so secondly it lessens the Strength and Security of that Island , which lies in a good Number of hardy People , enured to Labour , who with it defend their own Interests , and cannot depart thence without leaving their All ; whereas Merchants and Traders being but Temporary Residents may and often do leave a place when it most requires their Stay for its Defence ; an Instance of this we had lately , when the trading Part of the Inhabitants thereof who could remove their Effects left it soonest , whilst the Men of Land came more uneasily away , because they left their Estates behind them , and had no Methods of maintaining themselves in England but by living on what they brought with them , whereas the others soon fell into Trade here , and tho' they changed the place were still in their Employments ; now the Security of the Freeholders of Ireland is to engage as many as they can in the same Interest with themselves , which may be done by dividing the Lands into particular Farmes , in bigness suitable to the Stocks of such as undertake them ; by this means they fix their Roots in the Ground , and bind them with a Band of Iron ; nor would many of their People ( if Trade were discouraged ) return to England again , but imploy themselves and their Stocks in improving such Farms as they should purchase either for Lives or Years at easie Rents , or making themselves Freeholders . And as the security of Ireland is lessen'd at Land by Trade , so likewise at Sea , for which they depend on the Kingdom of England ; now can it be thought this Nation will be at continual charges only to raise a People which shall vye with them in their Trade ? Or that we can be able to do it when our Navigation decays ? which it must do as the others increases , who afford us few Saylers towards Manning our Fleet , whilst our own are harrast by continual Presses ; for let them be sure if the French King could have marched an Army thither as easie as he could to Flanders , the Lands of Ireland might long since have had other Landlords , maugre all the defence they could have made . Nor does the Profit of this Trade and Manufacture redound to the Free-holders , but only to the Traders , who as I hinted before are a separate Interest , and remove at their Pleasures . But if the People of Ireland think England is bound to defend them against a Foreign Invasion an Account of its own Interest and Security , they must be allow'd to be in the right , yer let them consider also that we have power to limit their Trade so as it may be least prejudicial to our own , which in my Judgment cannot better be done than by reducing that Kingdom to the State of our other Plantations , confining the Exportation of their Product only hither , and that also unmanufactured , and preventing their being supplied with Necessaries from other Nations ; this will make Ireland profitable to England , and in some measure recompence the vast Charges we have been at for its Reduction and Delivery out of the Hands of Foreign Powers and Popish Cut-throats , and that not less than twice in forty Years , all paid by the People of England , a Gvess whereat may be made by this , that the last cost above Three Hundred and Forty Thousand Pounds only in Transport Ships , for which we now pay Interest ; and if the Charge of Transporting our Army thither with their Provisions and Ammunition cost so much , what did the pay of the first and Purchase of the latter amount unto ? Now 't is very reasonable the Nation should some way or other receive Satisfaction for its Expences , and none seems more just and equal than this , which would only limit the Profits of a few Merchants , who carry on a Trade to the Prejudice of England ; As for the Freeholders , they would be supply'd with Necessaries on as cheap terms as now , and find Chapmen for their Product , which would be bought up by Factories setled from England , or they might send them hither themselves if they thought fit , and by this means all would be manufactured here , and Foreign Markets must be supply'd hence as they are now thence . This is the way to prevent transporting their Wool for other Places to the Prejudice of our Manufactures , and Importing Tobacco with other of our Plantation Commodities directly thence to the prejudice of our Customs and Merchants ; this also would imploy our Navigation , and by its short Voyages make Multitudes of Seamen ; In short , we cannot imagine the Advantages it would bring to this Kingdom till Experience hath shew'd us . But then the Act of Prohibition must be repealed , there must be free Liberty to bring in Cattle both alive and dead , and all things else which that Land produces ; and here I must again renew the Question , What is Truth ? 'T will be as difficult to perswade the Gentlemen of England that this is their true Interest , as it is those of Ireland that theirs does not consist in Trade and Manufactures , one being byassed by the breeding part of this Nation , as the others are by their Merchants , who represent their private Profits as the Nations ; and it is not to be wondred they have Success therein when it carries so much the face of a present advantage ; but that the Gentlemen of England should be still fond of that Act after so many Years smarting under it seems to me very strange , than which I know no Law in my time hath been more pernicious to the Traffique of this Kingdom ; 't was this first put those of Ireland on that Trade which hath since almost eat out ours ; 't was this set them on Manufactures , which were so far advanced before the late troubles , that the sales of one Market as I have been informed came to a Thousand Pounds per Week ; for so long as they had Liberty of Importing their Product hither , and found a constant Sale when Imported , they were contented therewith , but being put on a necessity of finding out Foreign Markets for their Provisions , this made their Merchants ( who were before generally Factors to those of England , and are to give them their due an ingenious prying People ) dive deeper , and since we refused to take the Flesh , they chose to keep the Fleece , and either to Ship it to Foreign Countrys where 't would yield a greater Price , or by a Manufacture to render it fit for those Markets wherein they vended the other ; 'T was this that hath produced such great Quantities of Wool in Ireland as have at least equalled if not exceeded England , for the greatest part of the Lands of that Kingdom by reason of the thinness of its Inhabitants being turned rather to pasture than Tillage , and this Prohibition discouraging the raising black Cattle , put the People on stocking them with Sheep ; which Overplus would again decrease if Ireland becoming better peopled in its Inland Parts by laying aside Trade fell more on Tillage , or by repealing this Act the Inhabitants received Encouragement to betake themselves again to breeding black Cattle ; now if it be true that not the quantity of a Commodity at Market but the Demand when there makes it bear a Price , it will appear that the Makers of that Law were out in their Politiques , by not considering that the Product of Ireland must be consumed somewhere , and if sent to Foreign parts formerly supplied hence 't would abate the Exportation of ours , the Consequence whereof would be the lessening their Expence abroad more than it was increased at home ; nor did they at the same time take care to put us on any footing equal with the others by abatement in the Customs on Exportation , and thereby enabling the Merchants of England to sell suitably with those of Ireland , but still continued Three Shillings per Barrel on Beef , and Four on Pork , whilst the others paid much less there , the same on Butter , Bread , Flower , and other Provisions , so that a Stander by would have thought this Law had been contrived for the Advantage of Ireland ; all which proceeded from the mistaken Interest of one part of the Kingdom , which ( were it true ) ought not to prevail to the Detriment of a National Trade , and the true Interest of the Remainer . Nor will it be reasonable unless this Liberty be given to bind up Ireland from a Foreign Trade , and consequently to confine the consumption of its Product to a Home Expence , except what we shall occasionally fetch from them to carry Abroad ; This as it will discourage the Free-holders there , so will it Industry here , and the Trade must be managed by great Funds , small Stocks not being able to engage in transporting the Commodities they receive in Barter to Foreign Markets , which they might in bringing them to England , being a shorter Voyage ; and so consequently the Product of Ireland would have more Buyers , and the Inhabitants be supplyed with Necessaries on cheaper Terms by this free Trade , than when their whole Dependance should be on those Monopolizers . The next Question will be what effect the taking off this Prohibition will have on our native Product ? Whither it will lessen its Consumption ? I am of opinion it will not , because our Exports must be increased as theirs from Ireland are lessened , unless we do imagine Foreign Markets will not consume the same quantities they did before , or will find out new ways to be supplied with them from other places ; besides , by how much more charges are added to the Products of Ireland ( as those of Freight and other petty Expences on such bulky Commodities will be if brought hither ) so much will ours be put on the same Footing with them , and bear a better price . It 's well known that the Exporting our Wool to Foreign Markets hath by the ill Consequences thereof abated its Price at Home ; This hath been observed by Calculations made by considering Men , and the reason was , because those Countrys were thereby enabled to work up much larger Quantities of their own into various sorts of Manufactures , which both fitted their occasions at Home , and supplied Markets abroad where we generally vended ours ; by this means our Sales growing slack , and finding new Competitors in our Trade , we were forced to sell our Manufactures cheap , and this was done by making them slighter , and by lessening the Prices both of Wool and Labour ; whereas had we kept our Wool at Home these Mischiefs had been prevented , and the French and other Nations could not have made such a Progress in Manufactures as they have done ; their Wool being unfit to be wrought up by its self ( unless mixt with English or Irish ) must have sought a Market here , and been returned again to them in Manufactures , which is the true way to enrich this Kingdom ; This would have drawn over great Numbers of People to be employed in the Cloathing Trade , who would likewise have consumed our Product ; and as these had increased so also had their Imployment , which would have kept up the Price of Wool , things being of value in Markets according as they are supply'd by Nation 's standing in competition for Trade , and it must be allowed that it was not the Interest of England to fall its Manufactures abroad had we been the only Sellers , for according as they yielded there , so much is the Wealth of this Nation advanced ; This our Fore-fathers knew when they made Laws not only to prohibit the Exportation of Wool hence , but also from Ireland , which Laws cannot be too strong , on whose due observation depends our Wealth or Ruin ; now if the Trade of Ireland was reduced to that of our other Colonies , and the same Care taken about the Commodities of its growth , our danger from that Kingdom in Relation to this would be at an end , when Methods may also be used to prevent its being Exported hence . Nor is there any reason to be offered why Ireland should have greater Liberty than our other Plantations , the Inhabitants whereof have an equal Desire to a free Trade , forgetting that the first design of their Settlement was to advance the Interest of England , against whom no Arguments can be used which will not equally hold good against Ireland . 1. As it was settled by Colonies spared from England . 2. As it hath been still supported and defended at the Charge of England . 3. As it hath received equal Advantages with the other Plantations from the Expence England hath been at in carrying on Wars Abroad and Revolutions at Home ; And on this last there is greater Reason against Ireland than any of the rest , we having lately paid more Money for the Purchase of that Trade than the Profits thereof may bring to us and our Posterities for many Generations ; so that 't would be a piece of great Ingratitude for the Free-holders of Ireland unwillingly to submit to any thing whereby the Interest of England may be advanced , to the Inhabitants whereof they are indebted for their Lands , who have laid down their Lives and spent their Treasures to reinstate them in their Possessions . As for Corn , Fish , and Horses , whither a Liberty may not be allowed to transport them thence direct for other Markets on Ships first entring here in England is a point worth serious Consideration . But the main objection as to England is yet behind , a great part of the Gentlemen of this Kingdom thinking it will sink the Rents of their Lands if Irish Cattle are admitted to be brought over alive , others that the Importation of Provisions thence will fall the Price of our own ; and though in the former they do not so generally agree , differing according as their Lands are Scituated , and proper for Breeding or Feeding , yet in the latter they more unanimously consent , and cry out , This is the great Diana of the Ephesians , the less Provisions are brought in , the more our own will be expended , whereas if they did impartially consider , they would find it an empty Idol ; Nothing will advance their Lands like Trade and Manufactures , therefore what-ever turns the Stream of these elswhere lessens the Number of Inhabitants who should consume their Provisions , and when those increase so do the others , which ( besides a home consumption by People engaged in Imployments distinct from Husbandry ) doth always invite many Foreigners hither , who being Temporary Residents spend our Product , it being a sure Maxim that where the Carcass is there will the Eagles be gathered together . Besides , when the Irish Provisions are broughr hither , those Markets which were supply'd with them thence before will then have them hence , tho' perhaps at dearer Rates , and with them great Quantities of our own ; No Man can imagine what Expence there would be of English Cattle were we once fallen into the Trade of making Provisions here , England as well in its Beef as Manufactures exceeding all other Countrys , with this farther Advantage , that the former for Goodness and Price cannot be supplied from any other place save Ireland ; nor do I suppose it so much the Interest of this Kingdom when Provisions are advanced only by a Home Expence , as when 't is done by a Foreign Export , the first makes particular Men grow Rich by preying on their Neighbours , but the Nation grows Rich by the latter , when we vend them abroad at good Prices ; nor would our Plantations which now take off the greatest part of the Cattle slaughter'd in Ireland spend one Barrel less if kill'd here . All Trade had a beginning , occasioned by some lucky Accident which put People on new Projects , and why England which hath so many Plantations depending on it should suspect a consumption for its Cattle I cannot imagine ; we might then set the Rates of Provisions there , and the Merchants afford to give better Prices for them here , when they shall load them at Home , and save the Charges of going to Ireland , without fear of having their early Markets forestall'd thence ; and the Planters being now grown rich are likewise able to give greater Rates for them than they could at their first Settlement ; England had never a fairer Opportunity of making an Entry on this Trade than now it hath , which would soon consume great Numbers of Cattle , and consequently give Encouragement to our Breeding Countrys as well as the Feeding . But if a Manufactury is thought fit for Ireland , and its Circumstances will admit thereof , let that of Linnen be encouraged ▪ this may draw over Multitudes of French Resuges , and put them upon an Imployment wherewith they were formerly acquainted , which we must assist by the benefit of Importation Custom free , and the Advantage of Fashion ; and then these two Kingdoms encouraging different Manufactures will be serviceable to each other , for which Stocks would not be wanting even from the People of England , who would delight to see Ireland thrive when their Manufactures crost not ours ; This would in time alter the Ballance of our Trade with France , when we shall send thither more Woollen , and receive thence less Linnen . If the wisdom of the Parliament shall think fit by these or any other Methods to make Ireland more serviceable to the Trade of England it will advance both the Lands and Traffick of this Kingdom , and so make us all better able to pay the Charge of this long and expensive War. I shall next say something to the Trade of Scotland , which hath formerly consumed more of our Woollen Manufactures than now it doth , since that Nation is fallen on making them there , which they do out of their own Wool , with the help of what they get from us , also of Spanish , both from hence and from Holland . But their chief Manufactures are Linnen , Butter , and Herrings ; 't were to be wish'd the former was more encouraged by this Government , with Liberty to bring it hither Custom free , provided they would send us also their Wool , and then our Manufactures would not justle with each other ; King James the II. limited their Trade to his Pleasure by Act of Parliament , which I take to be a great reason why that People were so much at his Devotion , but the Liberty of a free Trade was made one of the Terms whereon his present Majesty received the Crown , who hath since given them Encouragement to settle Plantations abroad , such as they shall either plant , or buy from Foreign Princes , which he hath promised to enfranchise with the same Rights and Priviledges he doth grant in like Cases to the Subjects of his other Dominions . They have also fallen lately on the thoughts of Codd-Fishing , whereof they have great shoals about their Coasts , which formerly they used to pickle and send away in Casks , but now intend to cure after the manner 't is done in Newfoundland . And doubtless these three things would much encourage Trade had they Stocks to manage them , but those they want ; I have heard it discours'd that the Cash of that Kingdom amounted to One Million of Pounds Sterling , but I scarce believe it does to One Half , perhaps not one Third which properly belongs to its Inhabitants ; therefore they propose to carry on the Woollen Manufactures Plantations and Fishery by English Stocks , the two last by Companies , which will consist chiefly of Londoners , who first promoted the Designs , and will furnish Monies for managing them ; Now I cannot think any Nation can settle Plantations abroad to advantage which wants Stock and Manufactures of its own to supply them , the great Profit of Plantations being to encourage Manufactures at Home , and the means to settle them is by giving long Credits to the Planters abroad , and when this is done by Money taken up at Interest from another Nation the whole Profit will redound to the Lenders , so that the Scotch may make Settlements abroad , but if neither the Stock nor Manufactures are their own , they will have only the name of being Proprietors whilst others carry away the Profits , like a Gentleman who pays as much for Interest yearly as the Rents of his Lands bring in , he may have the Possession , but the Userer has the Income of his Estate ; so for their Fishing , which being managed on English Stocks will bring them only so much as shall pay for the labour of those imployed about it ; The same for their Woollen Manufactures . On the other side if the Trade to these Plantations is driven by an English Corporation , the Scotch indeed will get Imployments for their Saylors , but all the Product will be other Men's , who will take care for their own advantage to keep the Planters poor abroad , and the Inhabitants from inspecting into it at home . Besides , that Kingdom being now supplied from England with West-India Commodities at cheaper Rates than they can expect to raise them , will want vent for their new Product when brought Home , unless absolutely prohibited to be imported thither from hence , which will be a new Tax on the Spender , paid only to a Foreign Monopoly ; neither can they Export them to sell on equal Terms with the English ; so that on the whole I cannot see what advantage the Scotch can make at this time of day by setling Plantations , which if they do attempt , we must besure to take care of Ireland , and by reducing it to the terms of a Colony prevent their selling the Product there , which I am apt to think is the main thing they aim at . The Canary Trade brings us nothing but what we consume , and takes from us little of our Product or Manufactures , we chiefly purchase those Wines for Money therefore if it was reduced to the same Terms I have proposed for Maderas it would do very well : By this means we should at least buy Wines cheaper there , and then their Prices must be limited at Home , both on the Importer and Retailer ; 't will be convenient to regulate this Trade , but not to discourage it , for since we must drink Wines , 't were better we had them from the Spaniard than the French , the first takes off much of our Manufactures , the other little , and tho' perhaps the Canary Islands may not , yet I am apt to think those Wines are paid for out of what we send to the Continent of Spain . This brings me to the Spanish Trade , which I take to be very profitable to this Kingdom , as it vents much of our Product and Manufactures , and supplies us with many things necessary to be used in making the latter ; I shall divide it into three parts , Spain , Biscay , and Flanders . To begin with Spain ; by which I mean that part from the Bay of Cadiz Eastward into the Streights of Gibralter ; whither we send all sorts of Woollen Manufactures , Lead , Fish , Tin , Silk and Worsted Stockings , Butter , Tobacco , Ginger , Leather , Bees-Wax ; and in Returns we have some things fit only for Consumption , such as are Fruit and Wines ; others for our Manufactures , such as are Oyl , Cochineal , Indigo , Anato , Barilia ; with some Salt ; but the greatest part is made in Bullion , both Gold and Silver , with which this part of the Kingdom abounds , being supplied therewith from their large Empires on the Main of America , whither they again Export much of the Goods we carry thither . The Spaniards are a Stately People , not much given to Trade or Manufactures themselves , therefore the first they drive on such Chargeable and Dilatory terms both for their Ships and Ways of Navigation , that other trading Nations , such as the English , French , Dutch , and Genoese , take advantage thereby , only that to the West-Indies is on strict Penalties reserved to themselves , but having no Manufactures of their own , the Profit thereof Returns very much to those who furnish them ; indeed of late they have made a small beginning on Bayes , but will not be able to hold it when the War is ended ; Nor have they so well secured the West-Indies but that it is very plentifully supply'd by us with Manufactures , and many other things from Jamaica , which is accompanied with greater Advantage than when sent first to Cadiz ; for whereas we generally sold them there at Twenty per Cent advance , we do by this Means make at least Cent per Cent , all paid for in Bullion , which adds to the Wealth of the Nation ; this I take to be the true Reason why our Vent for them at Cadiz is lessened , because we supply New-Spain direct with those things they used to have thence before . By Biscay I mean all that part under the Spanish Government which lies in the Bay of that Name ; the Commodities we send thither are generally the same ; likewise formerly great Quantities of Refined Sugars , till we gave the French and Dutch leave to undermine us , partly by the Advantages they had by the late Imposition on Muscovadoes , and partly by the Imprudence and ill Management of our Sugar-Bakers , who would not take Pains to comply with the humours of that People as the others did ; but I hope if due care be taken , that profitable Trade may be recovered again . The Commodities we have thence are very advantageous , such as Sheeps Wool , Iron , and Bullion , whereof the first is the best , as being the subject Matter of a great Manufacture , which could we secure wholly to our selves ( tho' it cost all Bullion ) 't would be of great Advantage to the Nation , but both the Dutch and French come in for their Shares . The third part of our Spanish Trade is that to Flanders , whereby I mean all that part of the low Countrys now under its Government ; whither we send Commodities much of the same nature with those we send to the other Parts , tho' not in so great Quantities ; and among our Woollen Manufactures more course Medlys ; also Coals from Newcastle ; but not so much Leather , being supplied freely with raw Hides from Ireland , which are tann'd there ; This might be prevented were that Kingdom reduced to the State of a Colony , and the Profit thereof would then return hither ; We have thence Linnens , Thread , and other things , which are used at home , and shipp'd off to the Plantations . The next is the Trade we drive to the Kingdom of Portugal ; where we vend much of our Product and Manufactures , little different in their Kinds from what is sent to Spain ; and from thence we have in Returns Bullion , Salt , Oyl , Woad and Wines ; of the latter we have lately imported great Quantities , which as they take well with the People of England , so it s more our Interest than to have them from France , whence our Imports are more than our Exports , and to this Kingdom our Exports are greater than the Product thereof can make us Returns , especially since we have desisted from bringing home their Sugars , a Commodity wherewith we are more advantageously supplyed from our own Plantations , and did before the War furnish Foreign Markets cheaper than they could . This People were formerly the great Navigators of the World , to whom we are indebted for their many Discoveries both in the East and West-Indies , besides the several Islands of the Azores , Cape de Verde , and also Maderas ; to these Islands they admit us a free Trade ▪ but their remoter Settlements on the Continent of America they reserve more strictly to themselves , whither they Export many of the Commodities we send them , and in Returns have , Sugars , Tobacco , with some other things , which are again Transported to the European Markets , tho' little of them hither ; Their Islands we supply direct from England with our Manufactures , and from the Azores load Corn , Woad , some Sugars , Wines and Bullion , all received in Barter for them , but chiefly the first , which we carry to Maderas , where 't is again Barter'd for Wines , shipp'd thence to our Plantations in America ; in all these the Inhabitants live well , and are very rich , but those residing on the Cape de Verd Islands are generally a poor despicable People , made up of Negroes , Molattoes , and such like , who having but little Product to give in Returns are therefore but meanly supplyed with Commodities , and those very ordinary , so that they have scarce wherewith to cover themselves , much less for Luxury ; Asses Bieves and Salt being all we have from them , which we generally carry to our Plantations in America ; Beife might be made very cheap there could it be saved , being purchased for little , and Salt for less , but the Climate will not admit it ; the chief of which Islands is St. Jago , very rich , well governed , and a Bishops Sea , where they are well supplied , because they have Money to pay for what they buy . The Portugueze as they are now become bad Navigators , so they are not great Manufacturers ; some sorts of course Cloth they do make , and did once attempt Bayes , for which they drew over some of our Workmen , but it soon came to an end , and they returned home again by Encouragements given them hence , so prudent a thing it is to stop an Evil in the beginning . Since this War they have had great Advantages in their Navigation , for being engaged on neither side they have by that means drawn Imployments from all ; Lisbon hath also been as it were a free Port for several Commodities to be thence Transported to France , whence among other things it hath been supply'd with Lead , which occasioned once an Order of Council here for stopping all Ships bound thither with that Commodity , esteem'd so useful to them in carrying on the War , but on second Thoughts it was recall'd , for which Order there seem'd to be no good Ground at first , as if the French King , who doubtless would not refrain taking the Plate out of his Churches to support the Charge of his War , should out of Reverence spare the Lead that covered them if he wanted it , and could not elsewhere be supplyed with it , which was not probable , since 't was so plenty in every part of his Kingdom , one Tun whereof according to a moderate Computation making above Thirty Thousand Bullets ; I wish he were better furnish'd with our Product and Manufactures , and we had his Money for them , which would much more weaken him , than the other would enable him to carry on the War ; Ireland supplies Portugal with tann'd Leather and Woollen Manufactures , which would be sent hence if the Trade of that Kingdom was well regulated . The Trade driven to Turkey is very profitable , which affords us Markets for great Quantit●●s of our Woollen Manufactures and Lead , shipt hence to Constantinople , Scandaroon and Smyrna , and from thence disperst over all the Turkish Dominions , also to Persia : The Commodities we have thence in Returns are Raw Silk , Cotten Wool and Yarn , Goats-Wool , Grogram-Yarn , Cordivants , Gaules , Potashes , and some other things , which are the foundations of several Manufactures different from our own , by the variety whereof we better suit Cargoes to Export again ; and though it must be allowed that the Turky Merchants carry thither Bullion , and 't was to be wish'd the Trade could be driven without it , being better for this Nation if we bought all things in Barter for our Product and Manufactures , ( which above the Foreign Materials they are made off are all Profit ) yet if we rightly consider , we shall find great difference between Buying for Mony Commodities already manufactured , which hinder the use of our own , such as those brought from the East-Indies , or things to be spent on our Luxury , such as Wines and Fruit , and buying therewith Commodities to keep our Poor at work , these must be had though purchased with all Bullion , and therefore we ought highly to esteem that Trade wherein we receive so great a part of them in Barter for the other . To the several Ports of Italy we ship great Quantities of Lead and other our Product , and many sorts of Woollen Manufactures , but chiefly those made of Worsted , also Fish , and Sugars both White and Brown , the last principally to Venice , but more thereof in times of Peace than we do in this time of War , Freights being high , and the Commoditie dear at home ; we bring thence Raw and Thrown Silk , and Red Wool , which are wrought up here ; also Oyl and Soap , used in working our Wool ; some Paper and Currants . Both Venice and Genoua have made some Progress in a Woollen Manufacture , being furnished with Wool from Alicant and those Eastern parts of Spain ; wrought Silks and Glass are not so much Imported thence as they were , since we have fallen on making them at home . The Dutch do likewise buy many of our Manufactures , and some of our Product , as Coals , Butter , Lead , Tin , besides things of smaller value , such as Clay , Redding , &c. which are all Exported to Holland , not only for their own use , but being a Mart of Trade for Germany they disperse them for the Expence of those Countrys , among whom also they vent our West-India Commodities , as Sugars , Tobacco , Indigo , Logwood , Fustick , Ginger , Cotten Wool , besides what they use themselves ; These are an industrious People , but having little Land do want Product of their own to trade on , except what they raise by their Fisheries , and bring from the East-Indies , whereof Spices and Salt-Peter are many times admitted to be brought hither , though contrary to the Act of Navigation ; Indeed the Trade of the Dutch consists rather in Buying and Selling than Manufactures , most of their Profits arising from that and the Freights they make of their Ships , which ( being built for Burthen ) are imployed generally in a Home Trade for Bulky Commodities , such as Salt from St. Ubes to the Sound , Timber , Hemp , Corn , Pitch , and such things thence to their own Country , which Ships are Sailed with few Hands , and this together with the lowness of Interest enables them to afford those Commodities at such Rates that many times they are fetch'd thence by other Nations cheaper than they could do it from the Places of their Growth , all Charges considered ; 't is strange to observe how those People buz up and down among themselves , the vastness of whose Numbers causes a vast Expence , and that Expence must be supply'd from abroad , so one Man gets by another , and they find by Experience that as a Multitude of People brings Profit to the Government , so it creates Imployment to each other ; besides , they invent new ways of Trade , by selling not only things they have , but those they have not , great quantities of Brandy being disposed of every Year , which are never intended to be delivered , only the Buyer and Seller get or lose according to the Rates it bears at the time agreed on to make good the Bargains ; such a Commerce to England would be of little Advantage , no more than jobbing for Guineas , this Nation would no way advance its Wealth thereby , whose Profits depend on our Product and Manufactures ; But that Government raising its Incomes by the Inhabitants , ( who pay on all they eat , drink , or wear ) cares not so much by what means each Person gets , as that they have People to pay , which are never wanting from all Nations , for as one goes away another comes , and every Temporary Resident advances their Revenue ; therefore to increase their Numbers they make the Terms of Trade easie ; contrary to the Customs of Cities and private Corporations with us , the narrowness of whose Charters discourages Industry and Improvements both in Handecrafts and Manufactures , because they exclude better Artists from their Societies , unless they purchase their Freedoms at unreasonable Rates . Another great Market for our Manufactures in Hamburgh : This City vents great Quantities of our Cloth , Sugar , Tobacco , and other Plantation Commodities , which are thence sent into Germany ; from whence we have Linnens , Linnen Yarn , and other Commodities , very necessary both for the use of our selves and our Plantations , and no way thwarting with our own Manufactures . Poland also takes off many of our Manufactures , wherewith it is supply'd chiefly from Dantzick within the Sound , whither they are first carry'd , and thence disperst into all parts of that Kingdom , which hath but little Wool of its own , and that chiefly in Ukrania ; but the Expence of our Cloth hath been lessened there , since Silesia and the adjoyning parts of Germany have turned their Looms to that Commodity , occasioned by our disusing their Linnens , and wearing Calicoes in their room ; We have thence some Linnens , also Potashes . Russia is likewise supplyed both from Dantzick , and also by way of St. Angelo with our Woollen Manufactures , and in Returns we have Linnen , Potashes , Hemp ▪ Leather , and many other Commodities , both useful at Home , and fit to be carry'd Abroad . Sweden and its Territories take off great quantities of our Manufactures both fine and course , besides Tobacco and Sugars ; but the Sale of our Broad Cloth hath been much lessened there of late , occasioned by their loading it with great Duties , on purpose to encourage a Manufacture of their own , their Wool is course , but Scotland sends them finer to mix with it , so consequently the Cloth made thereof must be ordinary , however the King encourages its wearing by his own Example , and thinks it his Interest so to do , as it advances his Revenue by better enabling his People to pay it , yet this Manufacture must fall , especially if Scotland sets up any themselves , however all sorts of Serges , Stuffs , and Perpets , are carry'd thither as freely as before ; whither we formerly sent also great Quantities of Calamy , till by a late Act its Exportation was loaden with a Duty above its value , occasioned by a wrong Information given the House of Commons , that it could not be supplyed from any other place , the smart whereof those concerned in the raising and calcining that Commodity have felt , none being Shipt off ever since , Sweden being furnished therewith from other Countrys , who formerly sent it thither , tho' they could not do it on such reasonable Terms as we did , whereby we beat them out of the Trade , but by this means having the Market wholly to themselves will thereby receive such Encouragement as to put an end to ours , unless that Act be soon repealed . Denmark hath no Supply of Woollen Manufactures but from us , yet takes no great Quantities , and Norway less , the People of the latter being generally very poor are content with any thing they can get to cover themselves ; some Tobacco and Sugar is also Shipt hence , and spent amongst them . From these Northern Kingdoms we are supply'd with Pitch , Tar , Hemp , Masts , Timber , Iron , all very useful in our Navigation , and without which we cannot carry it on , Commodities which we must have though purchased with Money ; I look on any thing which saves our Timber at Home to be advantageous to this Nation , which the great quantities of Baulks and Boards imported thence do . The French Trade hath every age grown less and less profitable to our Woollen Manufactures , not only as the Inhabitants make wherewith to supply themselves , but also other Nations , which they could not do were they not furnished with Wool from hence and Ireland , their own being unfit to work by it self ; if the latter were reduced to the Terms of a Colony it would put a stop to it there , and then ways might be found out to prevent it here ; nor doth France spend much of our other Manufactures , or of the growth of this Kingdom , or Product of our Plantations , some Tobacco it doth , also Coals , Butter , Calve-Skins , Bottles , and a few other things ; it also furnishes us with nothing to be manufactured here ; so that the Trade we drive thither turns rather to their Advantage than ours , which being generally for things consumed amongst us , and our Imports exceeding our Exports , must needs be loss to this Kingdom ; But if Linnen Manufactures can be setled in Scotland and Ireland , Distilling , Paper , and Silk Manufactures , encouraged here , the Ballance will soon be altered , especially if the Portuguese make Improvements in their Wines , for which they now receive great Encouragement , the People of England being not so fond of the French as they were . And thus I have run thro' most of the Trades driven from this Kingdom , and shew'd how they advance its Interest by taking off our Product and Manufactures , and supplying us wiih Materials to be manufactured again , wherein `t is a certain Rule that so far as any Nation furnishes us with things already manufactured , or only to be spent among our selves , so much less is our Advantage by the Trade we drive thither , especially if those Manufactures interfere with our own ; therefore I think the East-India Trade to be unprofitable to us , hindring by its Silks and Calicoes the Consumption of more of our Manufactures in Europe than it doth take from us ; the Spanish , Turky , and Portugal Trades are very advantageous , as they vend great Quantities of our Product and Manufactures , and furnish us with Materials to be wrought up here , and disperse our Commodities to other places where we could not so conveniently send them our selves ; This Spain doth to all parts of its Settlements in America , Turkey to the Black Sea , Perfia , and all its Territories both in Europe and Asia ; Portugal doth the same to Brazile ; the Dutch , Hamburgh , and Dantzick Trades are very useful , as they supply Germany , Poland and Russia , with our Manufactures , and little interfere with us therein ; Sweden and Denmark are profitable , both in what they take from us , and what they supply us with again ; Irelrnd as now managed is destructive to us ; Scotland , for want of Stock is not capable of making any Advance either in Manufactures or Plantations to our Prejudice ; Italy takes off great Quantities of our Worsted Manufactures , and sends us little of its own save wrought Silks , whereof we shall every Year Import less as we encrease that Manufacture here ; but above all I esteem the African and West India Trades most profitable to the Nation , as they imploy more People at home , and encourage Navigation abroad , all their Product is our Wealth , and hath been a means to ballance our Losses this War , and yet they might be better improved to our Advantage ; but the French Trade is certainly our Loss , France being like a Tavern , with whom we spend what we get by other Nations ; 't is strange we should be so bewitch'd to that People , as to take off their Growth which consists chiefly of things for Luxury , and receive a value only from the Esteem we put on them , whilst at the same time they prohibit our Manufactures , in order to set up the like amongst themselves , which we encourage by supplying them with Materials ; and not only so , but they lay a Tax on our Ships for fetching away their Product , which must else perish on their Hands . The Ballance of that Trade is always against us , from whom we have in Goods more than we Ship them ; The Ballance of Spain and Portugal is always in our Favour ; as for the Dutch , Germany , and Hamburgh , their Ballances in Trade are not yet agreed on , some think we ship them most , others that we receive most from them , I encline to the former , the Exchange at all times seems to confirm me therein , and tho' a Pound in Holland is now worth above a Pound sterling , yet I judge it to proceed from the great Remittances we are forced to make for our Armies , which the Exchangers know how to improve to their own Advantage ; the Northern Crowns supply us with more than they take from us , but the Commodities we have from them are better than Money ; Turky takes Money from us , yet is very beneficial ; Italy will grow more and more in its Ballance on our side every year , as the Importation of Wrought Silks is lessened and turned into Raw and Thrown ; Now considering that almost the whole World is supplyed by our labour , and that our Plantations do daily bring us such Incomes , 't is strange if this Nation should not grow Rich , which doubtless it would do above all its Neighbours were things well managed . Those who cope with us in our Manufactures are chiefly , the French , Dutch , and Ireland ; as to the latter , it lies in our Power to give Rules to them ; and for the French , let due care be taken to prevent their being supply'd with Wool from hence and Ireland , and we shall soon see an alteration therein ; 't is true they are of more danger than the Dutch , because they have more Wool of their own , but this they cannot work without ours or Irish ▪ The Commodities they make are generally pretty slight Stuffs , wherein they use a great deal of Combing Wool , and these they not only wear themselves , but send to Portugal and other Places with good Success , to countermine which we have fallen on the same by Assistance of the French Refugees ; I wonder at the fancy of those who are always finding fault that we do not make our Manufactures as good and as strong as formerly we did , wherein I think they are to blame , for we must fit them to the humours of the Buyers , and slight Cloth brings an equal Profit to the Nation with strong , and gives the same Imployment to our People ; yet where Seals and other Marks are set I would have them be certain Evidences to the truth of what they certifie , either to the length of the Peece , or that the inside is suitable to the outside , or that 't is truly wove , and without Flaws ; the same in respect to the Colour , that 't is woaded , or madder'd , or the like ; and I take it to be a great deal of difference between this and obliging the Manufacturer to make his Cloth or Stuff to a certain weight and thickness , without any respect to the humour of the Buyer , or the Climate of the Country to which it is sent ; As for the Dutch , as I take them to be no good Planters , so no good Manufacturers , their Heads are not turned that way , but rather to Navigation and Traffick , they were once famous in the Art of Cloth-making , which was maintained by the Wool they fetch'd hence , but King Edward the III. considering the Advantage they made by imploying their People with our Growth whilst our own stood still , prohibited the Exportation of Wool , and the Importation of Foreign Cloth , and cunningly perswaded the Dutch Manufacturers by Priviledges granted them to settle here ; if then the prohibiting Wool to be carried out had so good an effect at a time when cloathing was the great Support of that People , why should not our greater Care to prevent it now have a far better , when the whole Trade of that Nation seems to be in the Vnited Provinces , and they chiefly set on Buying and Selling ? We cannot hinder them from Spanish Wool , but we may from our own and Irish : As for Scotland and Sweeden , their Manufactures will come to nothing , and it would be the great Wisdom of this Nation to encourage them to bring all their Wool hither , though at some charge to the Publick ; as for Germany , the Woollen Manufacture is not so natural to them as the Linnen , which they would soon turn to , if we gave them Encouragement by wearing it here and in our Plantations ; this would be more advantageous to England than by the use of Calicoes to force a Neighbouring Nation to fence with us at our own Weapons , which they very unwillingly undertake ; the Woollen Manufactures in Italy are but small , and those chiefly among the Venetians , something among the Genouese , these we cannot hinder , being supply'd with Wool from those parts of Spain which are near to them , except we could promote a Contract with the Spaniard for all he hath , to which we never had a fairer Opportunity , and I do not believe the Dutch would much oppose it if we gave them liberty to bring it in as Merchandize , I should be glad to see such a Barter made , tho' by relinquishing to them our part of the East-India Trade ; Had we once the Command of all the Wool of Europe , we might then set what Prices we would on our Manufactures in Foreign Markets , which now we cannot do , but must sell them cheap , lest we be undersold by other Nations who vye with us therein , and our Manufactures selling well abroad , Wool would yield a good Price at home ; But if it be doubted that too much Wool will be Imported , 't would be better to burn the Overplus at the charge of the Publick ( as the Dutch do their Spices ) than to have it wrought up abroad , which there is no reason to fear , seeing all the Wool of Christendom is manufactured some where or other ; and if the Act for Burying in Woollen did extend to our Plantations , 't would be of great use towards the Consumption of our Wool : Thus when the Nation comes to see that the Labour of its People is its Wealth , 't will put us on finding out Methods to make every one work that is able , which must be done either by hindring such swarms from going off to Idle or Useless Imployments , or by preventing such Multitudes of lazy People from being maintained by Begging . And this is farther to be noted , that where a Nation doth fetch from us our Manufactures themselves , and Imports to us Materials , we get less by that Trade than if we did it in our own Bottoms , because that doth also encourage our Navigation ; thus we get more by the Spanish Trade , because we both supply them with the former , and fetch their Wool , Oyl , &c. in our own Ships ; and we lose more by the French when they bring us their Wines and Brandy than when we fetch them our selves , and accordingly we must take our Measures in judging of all other Trades . It hath been a great Debate how the Ballance of our Foreign Trade shall be computed , and what Methods must be taken to know whither we get or lose thereby ; some have thought that if we Export more than we Import we lose by Trade , others that if we Export of substantial Commodities more in value than we Import in such we then lose by it , and this seems to be the most rational Computation , but I do not think there is any certainty in the Account we can have of either ; our Exports indeed are better known than our Imports by the Custom-House Books , the Bullion and such things being not entered there , and seldom presented , besides many Commodities both outward and inward are run , and never come under the Cognizance of those Officers ; but suppose a more exact Account could be kept , since so great a part of the Trade of England is driven by Exchange , and such vast quantities of Commodities are imported from the West-Indies and others exported thither for Account of the Inhabitants of those Plantations , the Ballances whereof they design to lie here as foundations of a secure Settlement for themselves at home ▪ which Commodities are Exported 〈◊〉 to Foreign Nations on the Accounts of its Inhabitants , who pay for them here by Bills of Exchange , I cannot see how any moderate Computation can be made thereby of our general Trade , much less of that we drive with any particular Nation , the Commodities which we receive at one place being often carried to another ; Thus we transport to Italy the Sugars we receive for our Manufactures in Portugal , and bring thence Silks and other things to be manufactured here ; thus we carry to Turky the Money we receive at Cadiz , which helps us there in the selling our Manufactures , and purchasing Materials more protable to this Nation than the Money would be if Imported in Specie ; and yet we must not conclude we lose by the Portugal or Spanish Trades because the Returns fall short by the Custom-House Books , or that we get more by the Italian Trade because it doth not appear by them how we exported Commodities to pay for those we Import , so the thing must still remain doubtful . I think it would be a consideration becoming the wisdom of the Nation if a standing Committee of Trade were appointed at the charge thereof , made up of Men both honest and discreet , and I doubt not such may be found , whose only business should be to consider the State thereof as to its Trade ; to find out ways how it may be improved both in its Husbandry , Manufactures , and Navigation ; to see how the Trade with Foreign Kingdoms grows more or less profitable to us ; how and by what Methods we are outdone by others in the Trades we drive , or hindred from enlarging them ; what is necessary to be prohibited both in Imports and Exports , and for how long time ; to hear Complaints from our Factories setled in Foreign Kingdoms ; to correspond with our Ministers abroad about Trade , and to represent all things rightly to the Government , with their advice what Courses are proper to be taken for its Encouragement ; and generally to study by what Means and Methods the Trade of this Nation may be improved both abroad and at home ; if this was well setled , the good Effects thereof would soon be seen ; but then great care must be taken that these Places be not fill'd up with Courtiers , who know nothing of the Business , and so this excellent Constitution become only a Matter of Form and Expence ; and herein I would propose for Pattern the Members of the Bank of England , who wisely foresaw if that project should fall into such Hands , 't would soon come to decay ; therefore the first thing they did was by fundamental Rules to shut out all from having a share in the management , who had not a good Interest in its Profits or Losses , and next to choose out of that number such for their Officers , who being bred up in Business knew how to improve it to the best advantage : The French King found this Method very useful in the Management of his War , and his Opponents soon saw that Monsieur Colberts Head did them more Mischief than an Army in the Field , because the latter only put in Execution abroad what he advised at home ; and I think there is not more need of Policy in War than in Trade , the curious Fibres by which it moves are so fine and thin that if strained by injudicious Hands they are soon broken , and yet our Parliaments generally handle it very coursely , and usually do more Hurt than Good when they meddle with it , not foreseeing the ill consequences of what they do will overballance the Good they intend , and that the Methods they use will not answer their ends , the reason whereof is because the Conceptions they have of it are too gross for a thing so full of Spirit as Trade is ; He that will but consider the Irish Prohibition Act , the Clogg put on Distilling by the Barly Act , and on Navigation by the Tunnage Act , will soon see they are in Truth Hindrances to what that Honourable Assembly intended by them , the Advancement of Land. I cannot close this Discourse without saying something of Insurance , the first design whereof was to encourage the Merchant to export more of our Product and Manufactures , when he knew how to ease himself in his Adventure , and to bear only such a proportion thereof as he was willing , but by the irregular Practices of some Men ( especially since this War ) the first Intention is wholly obviated , who without any Interest have put in early Policies , and gotten large Subscriptions on Ships , only to make advantage by selling them to others , and therefore have industriously promoted false Reports , and spread Rumours on the Exchange to the Prejudice of the Ship or Master , filling all Mens Minds with Doubts , whereby the fair Trading Merchant when he comes to insure his Interest either can get no one to underwrite , or at such high Rates that he finds it better to buy the others Policies at great advance ; by this means these Stockjobbers of Insurance have as it were turned it into a Wager , to the great Prejudice of Trade ; likewise many ill designing Men their Policies being over-valued have it 's to be feared to the Disparagement of honest Traders contrived the loss of their Ships ; on the other side the Underwriters when a Loss is ever so fairly proved boggle in their Payments , and force the Insured to be content with less than their Agreements , only for fear of engaging themselves in long and chargeable Sutes . Now if the Parliament would please to take these things into consideration , they might reduce Insurance to its first Intention , by obliging the Insured to run a proportionable part of his Adventure the Premio included , and the Insurers to pay their full Subscriptions without abatement , and if any differences arise , to direct easie ways for adjusting them , without attending long Issues at Law , or being bound up to such nice Rules in their Proofs as the Affairs of Foreign Trade will not admit ; and for the better security of the Insured it will be worth consideration whither the Subscriptions of the Insurers should not be of equal force in Law with their Bonds . Here I intended to have made an end ; but being lately present where among other Discourses the question was put by an Ingenious and Worthy Gentleman , ( a true Lover of his Country ) whither the labour of our Poor in England being so high does not hinder the Improvement of our Product and Manufactures ? Which having some Relation to the Subject Matter of this Discourse , I humbly make bold to offer my Thoughts thereon , viz. That both our Product and Manufactures may be carried on to advantage without running down the labour of the Poor . As for the first , our Product , I am of opinion that the running down the Labour of the Poor is no advantage to it , nor is it the Interest of England to do it , nor can the People of England live on such low Wages as they do in other Countrys ; for we must consider that Wages must bear a Rate in all Nations according to the prices of Provisions , where Wheat is sold for One Shilling per Bushel , and all things suitably , a labouring Man may work for Three Pence per diem , as well as he can for Twelve Pence where it is sold for Four Shillings ; and this price of Wheat must arise from the Rates of Land ; it cannot be imagined that the Farmer whose annual Rent is Twenty Shillings per Acre can afford it as low as he who pays but Half a Crown , and hath the same Cropp , nor can he then expect labour so cheap as the other ; This is the case of England , whose Lands yielding great Rents require good Prices for their Product ; and this is the Freeholders advantage , for suppose Necessaries were the currant Payment for Labour , in such case whither we call a Bushel of Wheat One Shilling or Four Shillings it is all one to him for so much as he pays , but not for the Overplus of his Cropp , which makes a great difference into his Pocket ; you cannot fall Wages unless you fall Product , and if you fall Product you must necessarily fall Land. And as for the second , our Manufactures , I am opinion that they may be carried on to advantage without running down the labour of the Poor ; for which I offer , 1. Observation , or Experience of what hath been done , we have and daily do see that it is so ; the Refiners of Sugars lately sold for Six Pence per Pound what yieled twenty Years since Twelve Pence ; The Distillers sell their Spirits for one third part of what they formerly did ; Glass-Bottles , Silk-Stockings , and other Manufactures , ( too many to be enumerated ) are sold for half the Prices they were a few Years since , without falling the labour of the Poor , or so little as not to stand in Competion with the other . But then the question will be , how this is done ? I answer , It proceeds from the Ingenuity of the Manufacturer , and the Improvements he makes in his ways of working thus the Refiner of Sugars goes thro' that operation in a Month , which our Forefathers required four Months to effect ; thus the Distillers draw more Spirits , and in less time , from the Simples they work on , than those formerly did who taught them the Art ; the Glass-maker hath fonnd a quicker way of making it out of things which cost him littie or nothing ; Silk-Stockings are wove instead of knit ; Tobacco is cut by Engines instead of Knives ; Books are printed instead of written ; Deal-Boards are sawn with a Mill instead of Men's Labour ; Lead is smelted by Wind-Furnaces , instead of blowing with Bellows ; all which save the labour of many Hands , so the Wages of those imployed need not be lessened . Besides this , there is a Cunning crept into Trades ; the Clockmaker hath improved his Art so high , that Labour and Materials are the least part the Buyer pays for ; The variety of our Woollen Manufactures is so pretty , that Fashion makes a thing worth both at Home and Abroad twice the Price it is sold for after , the humour of the Buyer carrying a great sway in the value of a Commodity ; Artificers by Tools and Laves fitted for different Uses make such things as would puzzle a Stander by to set a price on according to the worth of Mens Labour ; The Plummer by new Inventions casts a Tun of Shott for Ten Shillings , which an indifferent Person could not guess worth less than Fifty . The same Art is crept into Navigation ; A Tun of Sugars which cost a few Years since from Six to Eight Pounds Freight from the Plantations , was commonly brought home before the War for Four Pounds Ten Shillings , and whereas it then weighed but Twenty-five Hundred , ' taws increased to Forty-five , and yet Saylors Wages were still the same ; Ships are built more for Stowage , and made strong enough to carry between Decks ; Wool is steeved into them by Skrews , so that three or four Baggs are put where formerly one would scarce lie ; Cranes and Blocks draw up more for One Shilling than Men's Labour could do for Five . New Projections are every day set on foot to render the making our Manufactures easie , which are made cheap by the Heads of the Manufacturers , not by falling the Price of poor Peoples Labour ; cheapness creates Expence , and Expence gives fresh Imployments , so the Poor need not stand idle if they could be perswaded to work . The same for our Product ; Pits are drained and Land made Healthy by Engines and Aquaeducts instead of Hands ; the Husband-man turns up his Soil with the Sullow , not digs it with his Spade ; fowes his Grain , not plants it ; covers it with the Harrow , not with the Rake ; brings home his Harvest with Carts , not on Horse-backs ; and many other easie Methods are used both for improving of Land , and raising its Product , which are obvious to the Eyes of Men verst therein , though do not come within the Compass of my present Thoughts ; all which lessen the number of Labourers , and make room for better Wages to be given those who are imploy'd . Nor am I of opinion with those People who think the running down the Prises of our Growth and Product ( that so they may buy Provisions cheap ) is an advantage to the Inland Trade of this Kingdom , but on the contrary I think 't would be beter for it if they were sold higher than they are , which may seem a Paradox at first , till the thing be rightly stated ; suppose then the common and usual price of Beef to be Two Pence half-penny per Pound , and Wheat Three Shillings and Six Pence per Bushel , and all Flesh and Grain suitable , 't would be better for our Inland Trade if the former yielded Four Pence , and the latter Five Shillings , and other things in Proportion . To prove this , let us begin with the Shop-keeper or Buyer and Seller , who is the Wheel whereon the Inland Trade turns , as he buys of the Importer and Manufacturer , and sells again to the Country ; suppose such a Man spends Two Hundred Pounds per Annum in all things necessary for his Family , both Provisions , Cloaths , House-Rent , and other Expences , the Question will be what proportion of this is laid out in Flesh , Corn , Butter , Cheese , &c. barely considered according to their first cost in the Market ? I presume we shall find Fifty or Sixty Pounds per Annum to be the most , and suitably the advance thereon will be about Twenty-five to Thirty Pounds per annum , but the Consequence thereof in the Profits of his Trade will be much more ; for by this Means the Farmer may give a better Rent to his Landlord , who will be enabled to keep a more Plentiful Table , spend more Wines , Fruit , Sugars , Spices , and other things wherewith he is furnished from the City , wear better Cloaths , suit himself and his Family oftner , and carry on a greater Splendor in every thing : The Farmer according to his condition may do the same , and give higher Wages to the Labourers imployed in Husbandry , who might then live more plentifully , and buy new Cloaths oftner , instead of patching up old ; by this means the Manufacturer would be encouraged to give a better price for Wool , when he should find a Vent as fast as he could make ; and a Flux of Wealth causing variety of Fashions would add Wings to Mens Inventions , when they shall see their Manufactures advanced in their Values by the Buyer's Fancy ; this likewise would encourage the Merchant to increase his Exports , when he shall have a quick Vent for his Imports ; by which regular Circulation Payments would be short , and all would grow rich ; but when Trade stops in the Fountain , when the Gentleman and Farmer are kept poor , every one in his order partakes of the same fate ; and this hath been a certain Rule grounded on the Observation of all Men who have spent time to look into it , that in those Countrys where Provisions are low the People are generally poor , both proceeding from the want of Trade : So that he who would give a right judgment must not always consider things primâ facie , as they offer themselves to us at first sight , but as they appear to be in their Consequences . Having thus gone through the State of this Nation in respect to its Trade , we will next consider it with respect to the Poor . And here it cannot but seem strange that England which so much abounds in Product and Manufactures , besides the Imployment given in Navigation , shouldwa●● work for any of its People ; the Dutch ( who have little of the two former if compar'd with us , and do not exceed us in the latter ) suffer no Beggars ; whereas we whose Wealth consists in the labour of our Inhabitants seem to encourage them in an idle way of living , contrary both to their own and the Nation 's Interest : Idleness though it cannot be called the Image of the Devil , who is a busie active Spirit , yet fits for any Impression , for whilst People neglect by some honest Labour to serve the publick Good , they too often fall on such Courses as render them publick Evils : Livy ( that famous Historiographer ) observed it was the greatest Sedition that ever was in Rome , when the Citizens went about with their Hands in their Pockets , and would do nothing : Hence it is that so many die Spectacles at Tyburn , and offer themselves up Victims to Vice , no councels could perswade nor Examples fright them from those evil Habits they had contracted by Idleness : The Curse under which Man first fell was Labour , That by the Sweat of his Brows he should eat his Bread ; this is a State of Happiness if compared to that which attends Idleness ; he that walks the Streets of London , and observes the Fatigues used by the Beggars to make themselves seem Objects of Charity , must conclude that they take more pains than an honest Man doth at his Trade , and yet seem to me not to get Bread to eat ; and I wish that was all the Encouragement they met with , I fear it is not , such swarms of idle Drones would not then fill the Streets , who are a Nursery of Vice : Beggary is now become an Art or Mystery , to which Children are educated from their Cradles ; any thing which may move Compassion seems a livelihood , a sore Leg or Arm , or ( for want thereof ) a pretended one ; the Tricks and Devices I have observed therein have often made me think that those parts if better imployed might be more useful to the Common-Wealth . In handling this subject let us consider , 1. What hath been the cause of this Mischief of Idleness , and how it hath crept in on the Nation . 2. What must be done to restrain it from growing farther . 3. What Methods may be used to provide for those who are past their Labours . As to the first ; we shall find that Sloath and a Desire of Ease is the principal Cause ; which appears by People's setting themselves on such ways of Living as our Fore-fathers would have been ashamed of ; nothing but this could induce young Men in their full Strengths slavishly to attend on selling a Cup of Ale , or depreciate themselves to be Pimps to Vice , they think by these ways to be maintained in Sloth ; Hereby Religion is despised , and Vice promoted , Men thinking if they should profess the first or discountenance the last they could not live on such lazy Terms ; and whence doth this proceed ? Truly partly from the abuse of those Laws we have , and partly from want of better : Licenses for Ale-houses were heretofore granted for good Ends , not to draw Men aside from their Labour by Games and Sports , but to support and refresh them under it ; And as they were then a Maintenance to the aged , so poor Families had opportunities of being supplyed with a Cup of Ale from Abroad , who could not keep it at Home ; great observation was also made to prevent idle Tipling , our Forefathers considered that time so spent was a loss to the Nation , whose Interest was improved by the work of its Inhabitants ; whereas now Ale-houses are encouraged principally to promote the Income of Excise , on whom there must be no Restraint , lest the King's Revenue be lessened ; thus we live by Sence , and look only to things we see , without revolving what the Issue will be , not considering that the Labour of each Man if well imployed whilst he sits in an Ale-house would be worth more both to the King and Nation than all the Excise he pays ; Industry usually brings Wealth as its Concomitant , and though Success may not always accompany private Men's Labours , yet the Publick gets thereby . Nor did we fall into this Habit of Sloath at once , but by degrees ; when Luxury first crept in this was in the Embrio , but hath been cocker'd up under it to the Pitch 't is now arrived ; much proceeds from Imitation , our Gentry who have Estates betaking themselves to an useless way of Living , those who had them not soon fell in love therewith , and to this much of the Misery of the Nation is owing , Men affect to be thought what they are not , and leaving honest Labour spend their Patrimonies in fine Cloaths , and keeping Company , till being put to their shifts they are forced to betake themselves to play or begging . Another thing which hath increased our useless People is the Nobility and Gentrys leaving the Country , and choosing to reside in London , whither they bring up with them Multitudes of lusty young Fellows , who might have done good Service at the Plough had they continued there , but having now no other Imployments than to hang on their Masters Coaches forget to work , and rarely or never return again to Labour . Add to this the great Numbers who are employed in Offices about the Revenue , Men who might have been serviceable either in Husbandry or Manufactures , but now they and their Families are wholly taken off from both , the Fathers chief Aim being to get the Son into the same way of Living . What Multitudes of Coffee-houses are there in London and other places , who keep lusty Servants , and breed them up to nothing whereby they may be profitable to the Kingdom ? What swarms of Youth go off to the Law , who being the Sons of Yeomen and Handecrafts Trades had been more useful to the Nation if bred up in their Father's Imployments ? Besides those who live only by Buying and Selling , wherein wanting Success they have no way to maintain themselves or their Families . But above all , our Laws to put the Poor at work are short and defective , tending rather to maintain them so , then to raise them to a better way of Living ; 't is true those Laws design well , but consisting only in generals , and not reducing things to practicable Methods , they fall short of answering their Ends , and thereby render the Poor more bold , when they know the Parish Officers are bound either to provide them Work , or give them Maintenance . Now if England delighted more in improving its Manufactures , ways might be found out to imploy all its Poor , and then 't would be a shame for any Person capable of Labour to live idle ; which leads me to the second consideration , what must be done to restrain this habit of Idleness from growing farther ; Here I find that nothing but good Laws can do it , such as will provide work for those who are willing , and force them to work that are able . To begin with Manufactures ; Here I should think Work-houses very expedient , but then they must be founded on such Principles as may employ the Poor , which can never be done on any thing I have hitherto seen ; nor will such Work-houses take effect till the Poor can every Week make Returns of their Stock , which might be contrived did the Genius of the Nation set in earnest about it ; they must be fitted for the Poor and the Poor for them ; Imployments must be provided in them for all sorts of People , who must also be compelled to go thither when sent , and the Work-houses to receive them ; the Stocks whereby they are maintained must likewise turn often , for to put the Poor on ways of Traffick is too dilatory for the Ends intended , they must be rather Assistants to the Manufacturers than such themselves . Now the Materials which seem most proper for these Work-houses are Simples , such as Wool , Hemp , Cotten , and many others , which might either be sent in by the Manufacturers on such equal Shares as the Justices should think fit , or be bought up on a stock raised for that end , in both cases to be taken off and paid for when brought to such a perfection as the Rules of the House should direct , and that every week , or so often as the Stock should require to let the Poor have their Wages to serve their Occasions ; these things would employ great Numbers of People , of both Sexes , and all Ages , either by beating and fitting the Hemp for the Ropemaker , or dressing the Flax for the Shops , or more especially by Carding and Spinning the Wool and Cotten , of different finenesses , which would be used in the various sorts of Manufactures we make ; and if a reward were given to that Person who should spin the finest Thread of either , to be adjudged yearly , and paid by the County , 't would very much promote Industry and Ingenuity , whilst every one being prickt on by Ambition and Hopes of Profit , would endeavour to exceed the rest , by which means we should grow more excellent in our Manufactures . Nor should these Houses hinder any who desire to work at home , or the Manufacturers from imploying them in their own , the design is to provide places for those who care not to work any where , and to make the Officers of Parishes industrious to find out such Vermin , when they shall know where to send them , by which means they would be better able to maintain the Impotent . It seems also convenient that these Work-Houses when setled in Cities and great Towns should not be Parochial only , but one or more in each place as will best suit it , which would prevent the Poor's being sent from Parish to Parish as now they are , and provided for no where . Oakham also is a fit Material for them , which might be beat there , and for that end Old Junk be bought up , and those who caulk Ships be obliged to take it off at a certain Price . Tobacco also would imploy multitudes of People , in picking , stripping , cutting , and rowling it , which might be wrought up either in Publick or Private Work-houses , where Boys might be imploy'd till they came to Years fit for the Sea ; and when once the Poor shall come by use to be in Love with Labour , 't will be strange to see an idle Person ; then they will be so far from being a Burthen to the Nation , that they will be its Wealth , and their Lives also will become more comfortable to themselves . There are other things which will employ the Poor besides our Manufactures , and more proper for Men , which are also equally beneficial to the Nation , such as are Navigation , Husbandry , and Handecrafts , Here if these or such like Rules were observed , they might be made more Advantageous to all . As first let every Gentleman who takes a Footboy be obliged to put him into some way for his future Livelihood , to whom he should be bound for a certain number of Years , and no Person should be permitted to continue so after such an Age. Let every Merchant or Trader who keeps a Foot-boy be also obliged to breed him up in Business , and at a certain Age to set him to some Trade , or imploy him in Navigation , wherein he should cause him to be instructed ; by this Means that which now makes lazy Beggars would then be the Nation 's Advantage ; I think it a comely sight when I see Commanders of Ships attended on by such Boys , because 't is rarely seen but that they breed them up to be useful Men , and when the Pride of Living tends to the Common Good 't is very well directed . Another way to provide for our Youth would be by giving a Power to Justices of the Peace to assign them to Artificers , Husbandmen , Manufacturers , and Marriners , at such Ages as they shall think them fit to go on those Imployments , who should also be obliged to receive them ; and tho' at first this may seem hard , as hindring their Masters from taking Servants who might bring them Money , yet after some time it would not , when those who were so bound out shall only do for others what was done for them before ; and this also may now be made good to them by such an Overplus of Years in their Apprentiships as may countervail the Money . I allow that these Methods are more proper for younger People than for those of elder Years ; As for such ( who will rather choose to beg than work ) let them be forced to serve the King in his Fleet , or Merchants on board their Ships ; the Sea is very good to cure sore Legs and Arms , especially such as are counterfeit through Sloath , against which the Capster accompanied with the Taunts of the Saylors is a certain Remedy . Next for Ale-Houses , Coffee-Houses , and such like Imployments , let them be kept only by aged People , or such who have numerous Families , and tended by Youth , before they are fit to be put abroad . And as for Maid-Servants , let them be restrained from Excess in Apparrel , and not permitted to leave their Services without Consent , nor be entertained by others without Testimonials ; this will make them more orderly and governable than now they are . No Servant should be permitted to wear a Sword , except when Travelling ; and if all People of mean Qualities were prohibited the same 't would be of good consequence , for when once they come to this , they think themselves above Labour . 'T would likewise be of great use to the Nation if Masters of Ships were obliged to carry with them some Land-men every Voyage , which would much increase our Seamen , therefore the Justices should have power to force them to enter such as were willing , and to settle the Rates of their Wages ; I mean by Land-men those who have not been above three Voyages at Sea. Young People should be prohibited from Hawking about the Streets , and from selling Ballads ; if these things must be allowed they are fitter for the Aged . Stage-Plays , Lotteries , and Gaming , should be more strictly look'd after , Youth in this Age of Idleness and Luxury being not only drawn aside by them , but more willing to put themselves on such easie ways of living than Labour . These and such like Methods being improved by the Wisdom of a Parliament may tend not only to the introducing a habit of Vertue amongst us , but also to the making Multitudes of People serviceable who are now useless to the Nation , there being scarce any one who is not capable of doing something towards his Maintenance , and what his Labour doth fall short must be made up by Charity , but as things now are , no Man knows where 't is rightly placed , by which means those who are truly Objects do not partake thereof ; And let it be also considered , that if every Person did by his Labour get one Half Penny per diem to the Publick , 't would bring in Six Millions Eighty Three Thousand Three Hundred Thirty Three Pounds Six Shillings and Eight Pence per Annum , ( accounting Eight Millions of People to be in the Kingdom ) which would pay the Charge of the War , so vast a Summ may be raised from the Labours of a Multitude , if every one paid a little . Nor is the sending lazy People to our Plantations abroad ( who can neither by good Laws be forced , or by Rewards encouraged to work at Home ) so Prejudicial to the Nation as some do dream , they still serve it in one of its Limbs , where they must expect another sort of Treatment if they will not labour ; 't is true they give no help to the Manufactures here , but that is made up in the Product they raise there , which is also Profit to the Nation ; besides , the Humours and other Circumstances of People are to be inquired into , some have been very useful there , who would never have been so here , and if the People of England are imployed to the advantage of the Community , no matter in what part of the King's Dominions it is ; many Hundreds by going to those Plantations have become profitable Members to the Common-Wealth , who had they continued here had still remained idle Drones ; now they raise Sugar , Cotten , Tobacco , and other things , which imploy Saylors abroad , and Manufacturers at Home , all which being the Product of Earth and Labour I take to be the Wealth of the Nation . The Imployment of Watermen on the River Thames breeds many Saylors , and it were good to keep them still fill'd with Apprentices ; also the Imployment of Bargemen , Lighter-men , and Trow-men , both on that and other Rivers does the same , who should be encouraged to breed up Land-men , and fit them for the Sea. Confining the Importation of Sugars from the Plantations to Muscovadoes would give Life to our Refining Houses at Home , so would prohibiting ( as much as may be ) the Shipping thither things unwrought give Encouragement to our Manufactures , both which would imploy the Poor . Idleness is the Foundation of all those Vices which prevail amongst us , People aiming to be maintained any way rather than by Labour betake themselves to all sorts of Villanies , the ill Consequences whereof cannot be prevented but by encouraging Youth in an early Delight of Living by Industry , which would keep up a true English Spirit in them , and create a Desire to secure a Property in what they have ; whereas a sloathful Dependance on another's Bounty makes Men slavishly give up all at the Will of their Benefactors , and having no Properties of their own to secure , are easily perswaded to part with their Liberties ; this a former Reign knew well , when the Ministers of that Court found an Inclination in the People to sell their Priviledges for Luxury and ease . And certainly nothing hath so much supported the Rights and Priviledges of the Commons of England as making so many of them Free-holders , whereby they are encouraged to make Improvements where they have Properties , and to defend them when made , Estates raised by their own Industry and Labours ; which likewise stirrs up Tenants to endeavour by the same means to attain the same ends ; a Spirit great where-ever it is , tho in the meanest Peasants , when they rather desire to live of their own than by Dependance on others ; this puts them on honest Endeavours , these get them Credit and Reputation , which gives Opportunities of advancing their Fortunes , and if this Emulation went through the Kingdom we should not have so many lazy Beggars or Licentious Livers as now there are ; nor is God more honoured among any than He is among these industrious People , who abhor Vice on equal Principles of Religion and good Husbandry , Labour being usually a Barrier against Sin , which doth generally come in at the Doors of Idleness . The third Consideration is what Methods may be used to provide for those who either are not able to work , or whose Labours cannot support their Charge ▪ Here I take Alms-Houses to be good Gifts , where they are designed to relieve Impotent old Age , or educate Youth ; not to maintain idle Beggars , or ease rich Parishes , but to provide for those who have been bred up in careful Imployments , though notable to stem the Current of a cross Fortune ; Such a one is magnificently built , and suitably endowed by a certain Gentleman near a great City , for which he deserves to be truly honoured , though perhaps he may scarce be imitated . Another way to provide for those who are true Objects of Charity is by taking care that the Poor's Rates be made with more equality in Cities and Trading Towns than now they are , especially in the former , where the greatest number of Poor usually residing together in the Suburbs or Out-Parishes are very serviceable by their Labours to the Rich in carrying on their Trades , yet when Age Sickness or a numerous Family makes them desire Relief , their chief Dependance must be on People but one step above their own Conditions , by which means those Out-Parishes are more burthened in their Payments than the In-Parishes are , tho' much Richer , and is one reason why they are so ill inhabited , no one careing to come to a certain Charge ; And this is attended with another ill Consequence , the want of better Inhabitants makes way for those Disorders which easily grow among the Poor ; whereas if Cities and Towns were made but one Poor's Rate , or equally divided into more , these Inconveniencies might be removed , and the Poor maintained by a more impartial Contribution . And that a better Provision may be made for the Relief of Saylors , ( who having spent their Labours in the Service of the Nation , and through Age or Disasters no longer fit for the fatique of the Sea , ought to be taken care for at home , ) let a small Deduction be made from Seamen's Wages , and Freights of Ships , to be collected by a Society of honest Men in every Sea Port ; This , with what addition might be made by the Gifts of worthy Benefactors , would be sufficient to raise a Fund capable to maintain them in their old Age , who in their Youth were our Walls and Bulwarks ; but it must be setled by Law , and no Man left at his Liberty whither he will pay or no ; These are generally the most Laborious People we have , I do not mean those Scoundrel Rascals who often creep in amongst them , but the true old Saylor , who can turn his Hand to any thing rather than Begging , and I am troubled to see the miserable Conditions they and their Families are many times reduced to when their Labours are done ; Alms-Houses raised for them are as great Acts of Piety as building of Churches ; Age requires Relief , especially where Youth hath been spent in Labour so profitable to the Publique as that of a Saylor , and not only themselves , but their Widows and young Children ought to be provided for ; In this the Worshipful Society of the Merchants Adventurers within the City of Bristoll are a Worthy Pattern . And as for those who lose their Lives or Limbsfighting against the Enemy , themselves or Families ought to be rewarded with a bountiful Stipend , which if raised by a Tax would be chearfully paid ; 't is attended with sad Thoughts when a Woman sees her Husband prest into the Service , and knows if he miscarrys her Family is undone , and she and they must come on the Parish ; whereas if this Provition were made , the Fleet would be more easily mann'd , our Merchant-Ships better defended , Saylors more ready to serve in both , and their Wives to let them go ; but great care must be taken that this Charity of the Nation be not abused , nor put into the Pockets of those appointed to dispose of it , Confiscation of their Estates should be made a Penalty to detert them from such ill Practices . We will next consider the State of the Nation with regard to its Taxes . When I consider the necessity of the War we are now engaged in , and the Consequences of its Event , ( the Liberties of Christendom , and the Security of the Protestant Religion depending on the Success thereof ) I think it the Duty of every good Subject to offer his advice in a matter of this Importance . Money we know to be the Sinews of War , it is that which doth strengthen the carrying it on , and I believe there are few Men who do not by this time see , that not the longest Sword but the strongest . Purse is most likely to come off Victor ; we are too far engaged to look back , and if we do not go on with Vigour it will encourage our Enemy , and make him think better of his own Strength ; we cannot preserve at too high a Rate those inestimable Jewels of Liberty and Property , which ( if we miscarry in this War ) we are very likely to lose ; therefore how unpleasant soever Taxes may seem , Money must be raised , till the French King can be brought to such Terms whereon a safe and lasting Peace may be concluded ; but great Prudence ought to be used in the Methods of raising it , lest the People be thereby disgusted against that happy part of our Constitution , Parliaments , when they see their only work is to find out new Methods for raising Taxes ; to whom every such Act seems a new Arrow levied at them , by these it is they are discontented , and think themselves shot thro' and thro' , because that under different names they hit the same Persons again and again ; besides the great charge● the Crown is at in those small Collections , as any Man will see who considers particularly that of the Hackny-Coaches , whereof near one quarter part goes away for its management ; and indeed few of the Projects I have yet seen seem to be the effects of a considering Head , or to be so weighed as to support themselves against common Objections , their greatest Foundation was Necessity ; besides , many of them cannot be renewed , their Income being anticipated for many Years ; so that for the future new Projects must be thought on , and what this will at last tend to no Man can foresee . I am apt to think most Men would agree with me in this , that if a Method could be found out whereby Four or Five Millions might be raised Yearly with little Charge and great Ease and Equality it must be much better than now it is , and this to be a Fund out of which the Parliament to appropriate what Summs they see necessary for every use , so that then they would have Leisure to spend much of their time on other Affairs , which is now wholly taken up about Ways and Means ; besides , when the People knew there was no new Tax to be raised , they would more chearfully look upon the opening of a Sessions ; and the French King must be exceedingly discouraged , when he shall see that after so great Expences we come on with new Vigour , and have provided a Fund for carrying on the War till he can be brought to such Terms as will establish a safe and lasting Peace , which by the Means hitherto used we cannot expect , every Tax we have given being like the Gasps of a Man labouring for Life , whereby he concluded we could not subsist a Year longer , and doubtless his Emissaries in England have not failed to represent things to him in their worst Colours ; but I hope both He and They will find that the People of England , to defend their Religion , Liberties , and Properties , neither want Money , nor a Will to give it . The Taxes of this Kingdom are chiefly to be raised on Land or Trade , the first must be eased , and what is laid on the latter must be done with great Caution and Consideration , things must be well weighed , and the Principles whereon we proceed must be sure and solid , and then a thinking Man may improve them by well-digested Notions ; Trade like the Camel will stoop to take up its Burthen , but the weight thereof must not be greater than it can chearfully rise under , otherwise we destroy it , and shall by our inconsiderate Covetousness lose those Golden Eggs it every day would bring us . Another thing to be consider'd in the laying a Tax is , that the Poor bear little or none of the Burthen , their Province being more properly to labour and fight than pay ; He that gets his Money by the Sweat of his Bt ows parts not from it without much Remorse and Discontent , and when all is done , 't is but a little they pay , therefore Taxes that light heavy on them ( such as Chimney-Money , and oftentimes a Poll ) tend rather to unhinge than assist the Government , by disgusting such a number of robust and hardy Men as carry a great personal Ballance in the Kingdom , and may be apt when they think themselves opprest to joyn with any for a present Relief , not being well able to foresee the Consequences of things at a distance . Great Care should also be taken of our Manufactures and Manufacturers , that they be not opprest . A general Excise cannot do well , for besides the great Charge and Oppression of Officers , it shews no Respect to the Poor , but they pay more than the Wealthiest of their Neighbours suitable to what they have ; for though a rich Man spends more in excisable things than a poor Man doth , yet it is not his All , whereas the other's Poverty gives him leave to lay up nothing , but 't is as much as he can do to provide Necessaries for his Family , out of all which he pays his Proportion . Much like this is a general Poll , where 't is very difficult to tax People equally . But out of all these something may be taken which may be both easie and practicable , and a Project may be fram'd which may raise annually enough to carry on the Charge of the War , on equal and easie Terms , with little or no Anticipation . In the well laying whereof these following Rules seem fit to be considered . 1. That what is laid on Trade be so weighed , that where the Trader pays he may see an apparent Advantage . 2. That the charge of Collecting be on such easie Terms as not to eat up a great part of what is raised . 3. That the Poor bear little or none of the Burthen . 4. That the Manufacturers be not discouraged . 5. That that Summ be not raised by many Acts which may be raised by One. 6. That the Consequence of a Tax be , either to remove a Publique Grieviance , or to make it pay towards the Charge of the War. 7. That it be chiefly laid on those who have hitherto least felt former Taxes , have least suffer'd by the War , and whose Imployments tend more to their own Private Advantages than the Support of the Government . 8. That ways be found out to make all People pay their Shares for carrying on the Expence of the War who are protected by it , whither they live in England or elsewhere . 9. That the Lands of England be eased . 10. That the Revenue suffer not by Anticipations . But after all is done , when Money is raised with Ease and Equality to the Subject , yet if great Care be not taken to see it well laid out , 't will fall short of answering the end designed ; good Methods are as necessary in this as the former , and the Nation will be more willing to give chearfully , when it shall see the Publick Treasure managed to Advantage ; 't will be no difficult Task to make its Credit equal with private Merchants , and its Penny pass as far , this will be done when its Payments are as punctual ; but then things must not be begun in the middle , but at the right end ; we quarrel in vain with a Collonel for not paying an Hundred Pounds to his Regiment , when perhaps he receives but Seventy to do it with ; nor can the Captains pay their Soldiers to the full , when the Money grows less in every Hand through which it passes ; Labour is spent to no purpose about the Conduit Pipes , when the Water stops in the Spring ; Errors in the Foundation are most fatal ; when things are set right at the Fountain Head , then 't will be time to enquire into the defects of the several Currents ; Payments punctually made according to agreement would encourage all Men to sell their Commodities cheap , and put an end to the Abuses of Agents , Cloathiers of the Army , and Ticket-Buyers , who do now prey on the Publick ; the King would then have his Money well laid out , and those who serve him be paid without dilatory and chargeable Attendances ; and when the Nation comes to be satisfied that what Money is raised for carrying on the War is justly applyed to its use , and managed with good Husbandry , the Parliament will give more readily , and the People pay more chearfully ; this will render his Majesty the Terror of his Enemies , and the delight of his Friends , who will then strive to outdo each other in their forwardness to serve him with their Lives and Fortunes ; especially when they shall see that due Care is also taken to secure their Trade , which must enable them to pay their Taxes . And thus I have given my thoughts of these three Subjects ; I shall only add , that what I have done hath not proceeded from an Itch of Writing , but purely from the Love I bear to my Native Country , whose Good and Welfare I delight in , and should be glad to see it flourish and though perhaps I may be thought mistaken in some particulars of this Discourse , yet I believe few will disagree with me in the Foundation , that the Interest of England doth consist in Improving its Trade , Product , and Manufactures ; What I have imperfectly treated on I should be well pleased to see a better Pen undertake , great things have often risen from small Beginnings , perhaps this may stir up some abler Head ( without Reflections ) to handle the Subject ●uller , which , as it may be useful to the 〈◊〉 , so I should read it with great De●●●●● for if the Trade of England thrives , it answers my end , and I care not who proposes the Methods . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A35207-e1560 Trade in general . It s Original . The Trade of England . Inland Trade . Buying & Selling. Husbandry . Feeding ▪ Tillage . Fish . Minerals . Manufactures . Sheeps Wool. Cotton Wool. Hemp and Flax. Glass . Earthen Wares . Silk . Distilling . Sugar-baking . Tobacco . Tanning . Iron . Clock-work . Paper-Mills . Powder-Mills . Artificers . Methods to improve our Manufactures . By imploying the Poor . By freeing the Manufactures from Customs . Logwood . dying and dressing 〈◊〉 Woollen Manufactures at home . By not importing things manufactur'd . By freeing the Manufactures from Excises . By not exporting Materials till Manufactured . By securing 〈◊〉 Foreign Trade . Courts of Merchants By lowering the Interest of Money . Banks & Lombards By Rectifying the Currant Coin. By discouraging Stockjobbing . By taking away Priviledged Places . By preventing Exportation of Wool. 〈…〉 . By making Bonds and Bills assignable . By confining to a method in Trade . By managing Treaties of Peace to the Advantage of Trade . Liberty of Conscience . The Quakers in respect to Oaths . The Importation of Materials to be manufactured will encourage Trade . Navigation . Manning our Ships of War. Pressing Saylors . Embargoes . Inconvenience of pressing Saylors from Ships on their Voyages . Short Voyages breed Saylors . Outland Trade . East-Indies . How England may be said to be enricht by Trade . West-Indies . Methods to render the Plantations more profitable to England Africa . Made as , Ireland . Act of Prohibition . Scotland . Canarys . Spain . Portug●● . Turky , Italy . Holland . Hamburgh ▪ Poland . Russia . Sweden : Denmark and Norway . France : What Foreign Trades are profitable , and what are not to our Manufactures . The Ballances of Foreign Trades . What Nations do chiefly cope with us in our Manufactures . Difference between imploying our own Ships , and those of other Nations . Whither the Ballance of Foreign Trade may be truly judged . A Committee of Trade would be of great advantage to the Kingdom . Insurance ▪ Whither the Price of Labour discourages our Manufactures , or hinders Improvements in our Product . Cheapness of our Product no Advantage to our Inland Trade . The Poor ▪ Mr Edw. Col●on , near Bristoll . Taxes to carry on the War. Conclusion ▪ 
A91789	----	The cause of the poor pleaded. By Samuel Richardson. Richardson, Samuel, fl. 1643-1658. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A91789 of text R207141 in the English Short Title Catalog (Thomason E703_9). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 51 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 8 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A91789 Wing R1404 Thomason E703_9 ESTC R207141 99866212 99866212 166597 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A91789) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 166597) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 108:E703[9]) The cause of the poor pleaded. By Samuel Richardson. Richardson, Samuel, fl. 1643-1658. [16] p. Printed by M. Simmons, for Livewell Chapman, at the Crowne in Popes-head Alley, London, : 1653. Signatures: A-B⁴. Reproduction of the original in the British Library. eng Poor -- England -- Early works to 1800. A91789 R207141 (Thomason E703_9). civilwar no The cause of the poor pleaded.: By Samuel Richardson. Richardson, Samuel 1653 10361 20 0 0 0 0 0 19 C The rate of 19 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the C category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-09 Elspeth Healey Sampled and proofread 2007-09 Elspeth Healey Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE CAUSE OF THE POOR PLEADED . Pro. 19. 7. All the brethren of the poore hate him , how much more do his friends go far from him ; he pursueth them with words , yet they are wanting to him . Prov. 31. 11. Open thy mouth , plead the cause of the poore and needy . Col. 3. 14. Above all things put on charity . Gal. 2. 9 , 10. James , Cephas , and John would that wee should remember the poor , the same also I was forward to doe . Dan. 4. 27. Let my counsell be acceptable unto thee , and breake off thy sins by righteousness , and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor , if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility . Luk. 16. 31. And he said , if they will not heare Moses , and the Prophets , neither will they be perswaded if one rise from the dead . Job 30. 15. Was not my soule grieved for the poor ? Job 12. 9. The hand of the Lord hath wrought this . By Samuel Richardson . LONDON , Printed by M. Simmons , for Livewell Chapman , at the Crowne in Popes-head Alley , 1653. The Cause of the Poore pleaded . AND the people asked him saying , what shall we doe ? and hee answered and said unto them , he that hath two coates , let him impart to him that hath none , and he that hath meat , let him doe likewise , Luk. 3. 10 , 11. If two coates , impart one ; I need one , and he needeth one that hath none : and he that hath meat , let him do so likewise . Obs. 1. We learn the cause why God hath given unto some more then unto others , is not because they need more then others , nor that they should keep it for themselves , but that they should supply the want of others , distributing to the necessities of the Saints , given to hospitality , Job 31. 15. Rom. 12. 13. Do good to all , Gal. 6. 10. If two coates , let him impart , and he that hath meate let him do so likewise . Obser. 2. Wee may not give both , nor keep both ; it is the will of God , that what we can spare , or have more then our necessities require , is to be given to supply the wants and necessities of others . If two coates , impart to him that hath none , and he that hath meate , let him do so likewise . Obs. 3. The wants of others should be considered , & laid to heart , cared for , and supplyed by us , as if they were our owne , Job 30. 25. 2 Cor. 11. 29. Reasons why we should impart and give to supply the wants of others , are , because 1. It is Gods command that we do so : Thus saith the Lord , deale thy bread to the hungry , Isa. 58. 7. Leave for the poor , that the poor may eate , Lev. 19. 10. & 23. 22. If thine enemie hunger , feed him , give him bread to eate ; if he thirst , give him water to drink , Pro. 25. 21. Rom. 12. 20. When thou seest the naked , that thou cover him , Deu. 15. 10. Give to him that asketh thee , Mat. 5. 42. Lu. 6. 34. If thy brother be waxen poor , and fallen to decay with thee , thou shalt relieve him , and also a stranger , Lev. 27. 35. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self , Rom. 13. 9. 2. Christ did so : Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ , though hee was rich , yet for your sakes he became poor , that ye through his poverty might be made rich , 2 Cor. 8. 9. see Isa. 25. 4. He saith , learn of me , Mat. 11. 29. He that followeth not after me , is not worthy of me , Mat. 10. 38. Christ had compassion on the multitude , Mat. 15. 32. Mar. 8. 2. shouldst not thou also have had compassion , Luk. 18. 33 , 34. 3. Believers did so . Cornelius gave much almes to the people , Act. 10. 1 , 2 ▪ I brought alms to my nation , Act. 24. 17. Dorcas was full of good works , & almes deeds which she did , Act. 19. 36. 39. She stretcheth out her hand to the poore and needy , Pro. 31. 20. I was a father to the poor , Job 29. 16. The righteous sheweth mercy , and giveth , Ps. 37. 21. Hath given his bread to the hungry , & hath covered the naked with a garment , Ezek. 18. 16. Zacheus was a miserable , wretched , covetous extortioner ; but when he was converted , immediatly he became liberall ; Half my goods I give to the poor , &c. Luk. 19. 7 , 8 , 9. So they sold their possessions and goods , and parted them to all men , as every man had need , Acts 2. 44. 45. & 4. 32 , 33 , 34 , 35. 37. Exo. 16. 18. 15. 2 Cor. 18. 14 , 15. The righteous giveth , and spareth not , Pro. 21. 26. Beyond their power they were willing , 2 Cor. 8. 2 , 3 , 4. Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus , Phil. 2. 15. God grant you to be like minded one towards another , according to Christ Jesus , Rom. 15. 5. Beliveers have the minde of Christ , 2 Cor. 2. 16. Phil. 2. 19 , 20. They are merciful , Mat. 5. 7. Col. 3. 12. So much as we are like Christ , we love , are pittiful , and have bowels of mercy ; so much as we believe , we love ; love is full of labour , bountiful , and spareth for no cost , 2 Sam. 24. 24. How are we like Christ & his people , if we have not the same spirit , mind , & heart they have ? If we walk not in their steps , and do as they did , if necessity so require ? 4. What we have is Gods , Ezek. 16. 17. what we have to spare , if others need the same , God hath bidden us to give it them , Pro. 25. 21. If he hath ordered it for them , it is their due , it is injustice and theft to detain it . With-hold not the goods from them to whom it is due , though there be power in thine hand to do it , Pro. 3. 27. 5. The liberall soule shall be made fat , Pro. 11. 25. 6. They in want are our own flesh : Hide not thy selfe from thy owne flesh , 2 Tim. 2. 3. Prov. 17. 11. Not to supply their wants to our power , to be without naturall affection , 2 Tim. 3. 3. 7. Give and ye shall sin less . Break off thy iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor , Dan. 4. 27. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged , Pro. 16. 6. 8. To give is a proof of the sincerity of your love to God and man , 2 Cor. 8. 9. 24. Philem. 5. 9. Not to give , or to give sparingly is a cause of poverty . He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand , Pro. 10. 4. So to with-hold more then is meet tendeth to poverty , Pro. 11. 24. 10. To give is the way to have more . There is that scattereth , and yet encreaseth , Pro. 11. 24. Give , and it shall be given you , Lu. 6. 38. 11. What you give is not lost , but lent , God hath promised to pay it again . He that hath pity on the poor , lendeth to the Lord , and that which he hath given , will he pay him again , Pro. 19. 17. Cast thy bread upon the waters , and after many dayes thou shalt find it , Ezek. 1. 3. 6. A good man sheweth favour , and lendeth , Ps. 11● . 5. Many men will trust men with thousands , but not God , because they do not know him . 12. To shew mercy to the poor may be a lengthening of thy tranquility , Dan. 4. 27. The mercifull man doth good to his owne soule , Pro. 11. 17. 13. We should give , because we may come to want our selves . Give a portion to 7. and also to 8. for thou knowest not what evill shall come upon the earth . Fire may come , theeves , oppressors , sword , famine , overflowing waters , &c. may come , therfore give ; for such measure as you meet to others shall be meeasured to you again . Make frends by giving to the poor , Lu. 16. 9 , 10. 14. If the clouds be full they empty themselves upon the earth , Eccl. 11. 3. the very Indians , Heathen , wild Irish , give freely such food as they have to all comers ; the very Lions , Wolves , &c. will not devour the prey alone , they call their fellows to what they get . Will a Lion roare in the forrest when he hath no prey ? will a Lion cry out in his den , if he have taken nothing at all ? Am. 3. 4. It appears when he hath taken something , he cals by roaring and crying to his fellows , to come and share in what he hath taken . 15. If you omit this duty , it will be a sin unto you , Deut. 15. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. Rom. 15. 26. 16. How do we love our neighbor as our selves , if we take not care for them as we do for our selves . 17. To give is a joy to the Saints . We have had great joy and consolation in thy love , because the bowels of the Saints are refreshed by thee , Phile . 7. 18. To give is a means to cause others to do so also . Your ministring to the Saints the forwardness of your mind hath provoked very many , 2 Cor. 9. 1 , 2. 19. To give is pleasing to God and man . God loveth a cheerfull giver , 2 Cor. 9. 7. To do good , & to communicate , forget not , for with such sacrifices God is well pleased , Heb. 13. 16. An odour of sweet smel , a sacrifice acceptable , well pleasing to God , Phil. 4. 18. It pleased them to give , Rom. 16. 26. It pleaseth them that receive , it pleaseth all good people that heare of it . 20. To give is an honor & glory to God . He that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor , Pro. 14. 31. They glorifie God for their liberall distribution unto them , and unto all men , 2 Cor. 9. 13. They seeing your good workes , glorifie your Father which is in heaven , Mat. 5. 16. Mat. 15. 8. Consider the evils and miseries they bring upon themselves , who have this worlds good , and doe not supply the wants of others . 1. They are guilty of all the sorrows & sufferings which their not giving hath occasioned ; consider what account wilt thou be able to give of that estate God hath betrusted thee withal to supply the wants to others whom thou hast neglected , and hast and dost consume it upon thy lusts and pleasures , ere long it shall be said unto thee , Give an account of thy stewardship , for thou maist be no longer steward , Lu. 16. 22. dost thou think that if some other had the estate thou hast , that they could not , and would not do more good with it then thou dost ? many in these our days have had great estates , now they have them not ; one cause is , they did not supply the want of others , therefore they are taken from them , and are in great want themselves . 2. So long as we omit our duty herein , we cannot enjoy the sweet peace of a good conscience . 3. All your religion is vain , impure , and false . Pure religion , & undefiled before God , is to visite the fatherless & widow in their affliction , Jam. 1. 27. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry , and to bring the poor that are cast out to thy house , Isa. 58. 7 , 8 , 9. To love mercy , Mica 6. 8. 4. It was the sin of Sodome , that she did not strengthen the hands of the poor and needy , Ezek. 16. 49. And if we commit the same sins , may wee not expect to meet with the same punishment , fire and brimstone ? or that which is worse , hardness of heart , and everlasting punishment ? Mat. 24. 46. I fear this nation lieth under a curse for this sin , though many see it not , or consider it not . 5. We hurt our selves by keeping that we should give . A sore evill I have seen under the sun , namely riches kept by the owners thereof to their hurt , Eccles. 5. 13. 6. The cry of the poor is against you ; God heareth their cry , and will take their part , Ps. 104. 1. Ps. 72. 12. Ps. 69. 13. If the oppressed be silent , their oppression doth cry , Ps. 12. 5. 7. Ye have not the love of God in you , 1 Cor. 3. 17. Pro. 29. 7. Whoso hath this worlds goods , & seeth his brother in need , and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him , how dwelleth the love of God in him ? Whatsoever you or any think or say , it is not in you at all , 1 Joh. 3. 17. If you did love , you would supply the wants of your brethren . He that loveth not his brother abideth in death , vers. 14. 15. 8. What you have is unclean to you , Luk. 11. 41. 9. The Lord will not hear your prayer . Whoso steppeth his ears at the cry of the poor , he shall cry himself , but shall not be heard , Pro. 12 13. He hath forsaken the poor , Lev. 20. 19. 10. Ye are not subject to the Gospel of Jesus Christ , but ye oppose and deny the same , 2 Cor. 9. 13 , 14. Taking vengeance on them that know not God , & that obey not the Gospel , who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord , 2 Thes. 1. 8 , 9. This is your portion ; for he that is not merciful , hath not the spirit of Christ , & he that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his , Rom. 8 9. 11. You bring the judgment of God upon your selves , and upon your posterity . Let his days be few , his children fatherlesse , and his wife a widow ; let their children be vagabonds , and beg their bread ; let the extortioner catch all that he hath , let the stranger spoile his labour , let there he none to extend mercy to him , neither let there be any to father his fatherlesse children ; let his posterity be cut off , let their name be blotted out , Because he remembred not to shew mercy , but persecuted the poor , Ps. 109 8. to 16. For the oppression of the poor , & sighing of the needy , now will I arise saith the Lord , Ps. 12. 5. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor , sarely they shall not feele quietness in the fulness of his sufficiency , he shall be in straits , Job 20. 19. to 25. If I have with-held the poor from his desire , or have caused the eyes of the widow to faile , or have eaten my morsel my self alone , and the fatherless have not , eaten thereof : If I have seen any perish for want of cloathing , if his loyns have not blessed me , if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep , let my arme fall from my shoulder blade , and mine arm be broken from the bone , Job . 31. 16. 23. Go too now ye rich , weep & howl for the misery that is coming upon you , your riches are corrupt , your garments motheaten , your gold & your silver , and the rust of them shall be a witness against you , and shall eate your flesh as it were fire , Jsa. 5. 1 , 2 , 3. Wee to them that are at ease , and drink wine in bowles , and are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph , therefore they shal go into captivity , Am. 6. 1. 7 , 8. They are waxen fat , they judg not the cause , the cause of the fatherles , yet they prosper , and the right of the needy do they not judge ; shall not I visite for these things saith the Lord ? shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this ? Jer. 5. 28 , 29. I am sore displeased with the Gentiles that are at ease , for I was a little displeased , and they helped forward the affliction , Zech. 1. 15. He shal have judgment without mercy that shewed not mercie , Iam. 2. 13. 12. You are they against whom shall be pronounced that most terrible and dreadful sentence of Go ye cursed . He shall say to them , depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels ; for I was a hungry , and ye gave me no meat , thirsty , and yee gave me no drinke , a stranger , and ye took me not in , naked and ye cloathed me not , sicke & in prison , and ye visited me not , these shall go into everlasting punishment , Mat. 25. 41 46. Oh that men would hear , and be perswaded to their duty herein , Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord , we perswade men , 2 Cor. 5. 11. To whom shall I speak & give warning , that they may hear . Behold their ear is uncircumcised , they cannot hearken , behold the word of the Lord is to them a reproach , they have no delight in it , Jer. 6. 10. But whoso is wise will consider these things . They that regard the word of the Lord wil be perswaded , if they have but two coats , to impart , and he that hath meat to do likewise to those that have none ; as you desire not to have the omission thereof brought against you at the last day , let it be your care to feed the hungry , cloath the naked , take them into your houses , or provide dwelling for them . Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self , Lev. 19. 18. Mat. 19. 19. ( a hard lesson for those in these last days , wherein the love of many waxeth cold to God and man ) if he need , and cannot help himself , I am to care for him , and provide for him , as I would doe for my self , else how do I love him as my selfe ; love is liberall in giving , for he that loveth , is wholy drawn to the service of him whom he loveth : we are willing to share in all that Jesus Christ hath , though we deserve it not ; it is but equal that he in his and others should share in all we have , if they deserve it not ; we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren , 1 Joh. 3. 16 , 17. Aquila & Precilla , who for my life laid down their own necks , Rom. 16. 3. 4. If so then we are to lay down our estates for them , for that is less , Pro. 21. 26. Praying us with much intreaty to receive the gift , 2 Cor. 8. 2 , 3 , 4. It is not so now , many need to be prayed with much intreaty [ to give ] to supply the wants of others , it cannot but be a great grief to all good men , that the poor should want bread , yea & some of our brethren and sisters , if we belong to Christ , should be so neglected ( that many a dog is better provided for then they are ) and that contrary to the word of the Lord . I wonder at that seeming comfort & peace of conscience some have that so abound in great plenty , who fare like Dives , deliciously every day , and have all things in excesse , while others are in great extreamity and want , the destruction of the poor their poverty , Pro. 10. 15. Two or 3 l. lent to an industrious man , might preserve a family from sinking ; I have heard sad stories of the great extreamities of some who beg not . We ought to part with our superfluities , to supply others conveniences , and with our conveniences , to supply others necessities , yea and to part with some part of that which is necessary for us , to supply others in their extreamities ; those that wil not do so , wil not sel their possessions ( much less dye for their brethren ) to feed the hungry belly , and cloath the naked body of Jesus Christ , who is hungry & naked , Mat. 24. 42 , 43. Christ and his people are one , Heb. 2. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 12. If ye neglect them , ye neglect him , if ye grieve them , ye grieve him ; if ye refuse to help them , ye refuse to help him ; if ye afflict them , ye afflict him . In all their afflictions he was afflicted , Isa. 63. 9. In as much as ye did it to one of these , ye did it to me , Mat. 24. 44. He that receiveth you , receiveth me , Mat. 10. 40. How canst thou say thou lovest Jesus Christ whilst thou hast cloaths , and food enough and to spare , and givest Christ none , or the worst ; the Jews give to the poor the best of what they have , because God is to have the best ; what is given to the poor for Gods sake , is given to God . Surely many would give much , and enough to supply the wants of others ; but until things be put into some good way & order ; if some who have great estates should sell them , and give all away , it would soon come to nothing . If the poor were set to work , &c. and the rich joyntly help , the poore might be comfortably provided for without burdening any ; it were better to wear less costly apparel , to fare harder , cut off needless expences , then not to supply the wants of others . Defend the poor and fatherless , Ps. 82. 3. Deliver them , & oppress not the poor , for he that is higher then the highest regardeth it , Eccl. 5. 8. The Lord maketh poor , Iam. 2. 17. The poor are despised , Lam. 2. 6. Eccl. 9. 19. ha●ed , Pro. 14. 20. & 19. 7. taxed , Ezek. 22. 29. Oppressed , Am. 4. 1. They buy the poor , Am. 8. 6. tread upon them , Am. 5. 11. grind their faces , Jer. 3. 15. & 10. 2. vex them , Ezek. 22. 29. devour them , Hab. 2. 14. As it was then , so it is now , but know for all these things God shall bring thee to judgment , Eccl. 11. 2. The wants , necessities , and miseries of others have not been enough considered , & laid to heart , and helped ; the poor able to work , are suffered to beg , the impotent , aged , and sick , are not sufficiently provided for , but almost starv'd with the allowance of 3 d. and 4 d. a piece a week ; why cannot this Nation set their poor on work , and provide necessaries for those poor not able to work as well as Holland ? that there may be no begging in England , nor just complaint by reason of want ; this were a good work , a blessed work , very comfortable , of great necessity , attainable & honorable to this Nation , very acceptable to God , and to those in want , and to all good men . The Lord preserve those precious and blessed men who have power and hearts to do so , great good for those who cannot help themselves , God shall give them a full reward , 2 John 8. Surely God wil greatly bless them that further so blessed a work ; God delights in mercy more then in sacrifice . A merciful man is strucken to the heart with the miseries of others , and is compelled to help them if he can . Let no man seek his own things , but every man anothers wealth , 1 Cor. 10. 24. Mordecai seeking the wealth of his people , Est . 10. 3. When this Nation shall seek the wealth thereof , that each may enjoy the same mercies and comforts which they desire for themselves , England shall be indeed a Common-wealth . Many say they have little enough for themselves , wives and children , all seek their own thing● , Phil. 1. 2. They are lovers of themselves , 2 Tim. 3. 2. The wicked rich man was all for himself ; Soul take [ thou ] thine ease [ thou ] bast goods laid up for many years , Luk. 12. 19. he laid up all for self ; they leave their substance to their babes , Ps. 17. 14. They put wife and children into their Wils , but leave out Christ and his children , because they love wife and babes more then Christ ; but know , He that loveth father or mother more then me , is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more then me , is not worthy of me , Lu. 10. 37 , 38. If any man come to me , & hate not his father , and mother , and wife , and children , yea and his own life also , he cannot be my disciple , Lu. 14. 26. Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee , Mat. 19. 27. 29. Knowing in our selves that we have in heaven a better , and an induring substance , Heb. 10. 34. 2 Cor. 4. 18. He that provideth not for his family is worse then an infidell . If thou art a believer , Christs family is thy family , Eph. 3. 15. Heb. 2. 6. They are thy brethren and sisters ; brethren and sisters are ever counted of one stock , kindred , and family , and brethren are to provide for their brethren , Lev. 25. 25. Num. 27. 11. Lev. 27. 35. If we be all members of one body , we should think the discomodities of our brethren pertain to our selves : men do wel to provide for wife and babes , but not then when the present necessities of others cannot be supplyed without the same ; how did they in the 2. and 4th of the Acts provide for their families , wives , and babes , when they sold their houses and lands , and gave away all the money : Were they worse then Infidels because they were more carefull to supply the present wants of the Saints , then to provide for themselves , wives and children ? 2 Cor. 8. 14. The leaving great estates to children , makes them so much the greater sinners , to spend their dayes in pride , pleasure , idleness , uncleanness , tyranny and oppression , and in all excesse of wickednesse , but this the rich father will not believe . If men be not able to give , it is excepted according to that a man hath , 2 Cor. 8. 12. We should labour , working with our hands to have to give to him that needeth , Eph. 4. 28. Many spend so much on their lusts , that they are not able to supply the wants of others ; The lusts of the flesh , the lust of the ey● , and the pride of life are chargeable , they devour all , and make poor , they are able to spend thousands a year . One said I have 12000. a year , yet I want money as much as another man ; One sinner destroyeth much good , Eccl. 11. 18. Rom. 18. 18. They have sought out many inventions , Eccl. 7. 29. to consume their estates . Obj. None doe their duty herein . Answ. That will not excuse any ; we are to follow the word of the Lord , and not men that walk contrary to it ; if none obey God , the greater is thy sin not to do it . Obj. I would give , but I feare I shall want my selfe . Ans. If you keep what you have , you may want the comfort of it , and the blessing of it , and the peace of conscience . You had better give and want it , then keep it and sin , but the Lord saith , He that giveth to the poor shall not lacke , Pro. 28 27. In the dayes of famine they shall have enough , Job 5. 20. If you cannot trust him for your bodie , how do you , or how can you trust God with your soul , which is the greater trust ; It 's only the unbelieving heart wch saith , Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ? Can he give bread also ? Ps. 78. 19 , 20. Take no thought , saying , what shall we eate , or what shall we drinke , or wherewith shall we be cloathed . Your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of these things , all these things shall be added unto you . Take therefore no thought for the morrow , for to morrow shall take thought for it selfe , sufficient to the day is the evill thereof , Mat. 6 31. Some say they know none in want , but it will not be sufficient to say so ; so they will say , Lord , when saw we thee hungry and naked , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 25. They knew no such thing , nor did they enquire , nor come wh●re they might have seen it . Luk. 9. 23. They were willingly ignorant . The righteous considereth the cause of the poor , but the wicked regardeth not to knowe it , Pro. 29. 7. Many say professors of Religion are as covetous and miserable as others ; some have two or three great places of profit besides their owne estates , but little good they do : Alas , what answer shall we give to this , save only that there are many professors of Religion that are not possessors of it ; they have not heard Christ , and so not learned of him as the truth is in Jesus , therefore they have not known God , nor the power or Religion : If indeed they were converted , and had the spirit of Christ , they could not but be mercifull and liberall , witness Zacheus , and they in the 2d and 4th of Acts. These are the last times indeed men generally are all for themselves , and some would set up such : Having a forme of Religion without the power of it , deceiving themselves and others , whose end is destruction , who minde earthly things , Phil. 3. 19. They pant after the dust of the earth , Amos 2. 7. After these things seeke the Gentiles , Mat. 6. 23. Those who are risen with Christ , set their afections on things above , and not on things on the earth , Col. 1 , 2. The power of religion and godliness lieth in the practise of it , Jam. 1. 22. By this shall all men know yee are my Disciples if ye love one another , Joh. 13. 25. Every one that loveth is borne of God , 1 Joh. 4. 7. Where love is , there is no lack . If we have it , we will not suffer , nor can we endure they should want whom we love . We desire again the Ordinance of God & of the Gospel , of relieving the poor , and that we might be much and often touched with a compassion and fellow feeling of the sufferings of others . Do you not think that it is the will of God that the poor , distressed , and miserable should be relieved ; if you believe it , why then do you not do it . It seems some think they provide well enough for the poor , when they allow some that are destitute 3 d. a week to keep them ; some have 4 d. a week ; I knew one of 80. years old wholy destitute , had 8 d. a week for a sufficient allowance ; * but it is not sufficient to give something , unless they have sufficient for their need . Thou shalt not harden thy heart , nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother , but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him , and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth , Deut. 15. 7 , 8. So they parted their goods to all men as every man had need , Acts 2. 44 , 45. Neither was there any among them that lacked , distribution was made according as he had need , Act. 4. 34 , 35. 37. If ye give not those things that are needfull to the body , what doth it profit , Jam. 2. 16. 1 Joh. 3. 17. That their abundance might be a supply of their want , that there might be an equality , 2 Cor. 8. 13 , 14. I say not such an equality for every one to 〈◊〉 , and wear , and fare alike , but that the necessities of every one may 〈◊〉 supplyed ; yet it may be observed , that when God sed his people in ●●e wilderness , there were among them Princes and Rulers ; God ●…ould , but would not provide more , nor better for them then others , ●●…e meat for all , one Manna ; also God prescribed a like measure , a homer for each man ; the poorest in the wilderness could , and did eat as good Manna , and as much as others ; what else doth it signifie to us besides his bounty , but this , that it is the will of God that there should not be any inequality of living among his people , Ex. 16. 16 , 17 , 18. Also that we should not think any thing too much nor too good for the meanest of the Saints ; for Manna is called Angels food , and meat from heaven . It is not enough to do some good , or much good , unles we do all the good we can ; we should render according to what we have received , 2 Chr. 32. 35. To whom much is given , much is required , Luk. 12. 48. We need to provoke one another to love & good works , especially in these days , wherein the love of many waxeth cold to God and man ; that although there be many places where there is a famine of the word , yet how few are there that wil break unto them the bread of the Gospel ; it is great mercy to do it , yea the greatest mercy that men can shew . For where no vision the people perish , Pro. 29. 28. Many give so little , because they think the having abundance of riches will make their lives more sweet and comfortabl . This is a great mistake , because riches pierce them through with many sorrows , 1 Tim. 5. 9 , 10. They are vexation of spirit , Eccl. 14. 16 , 17. & 2. 11. The more sorrows and vexation of spirit , the lesse comfortable life also . The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep , Eccl. 5. 12. His life cannot be comfortable that wants sleep , his heart taketh not rest in the night , Eccles. 2. 23. When riches encrease , they are encreased that eate them ; what good to the owner , save only the beholding with their eyes , Eccles. 5 11. What is one the better for that others eat , so men vex themselves with a sore travell to get riches that they shall not spend , Eccl. 1. 13. & 2. 17. But a stranger eateth it , Eccl. 6. 2. and who that stranger is he knoweth not . They heape up riches , but know not who shall gather them , Ps. 39. 6. Eccl. 1. 3 , 4. Surely they are disquieted in vain . I shall leave it to the man that shall come after me , and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool , Eccl. 2. 18 , 19. What hath man of all his labour wherein he hath laboured under the sun , vers. 22. Neither saith he , for whom do I labour , and bereave my soule of good , Eccl. 4. 8. To the sinner he giveth travell to gather and to heap up , that he may give to him that is good before God , this also is vanity and vexation of spirit , Eccl. 2. 26. A man may have riches , and not have power to eate thereof , Eccl. 6. 2. Riches cause envy . Isaac waxed great , & the Philistims envied him , Gen. 26. 12 , 13 , 14. Riches cannot satisfie ; he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver , nor he that loveth abundance with encrease , Eccl. 5. 10. & 4. 8. These riches are called filthy lucre , T 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 11. They are the portion of the wicked , Psal. 37. 16 Eccl. 5. 11. Psa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 12. A man may have them , and yet be miserable , poor , blind and ●●…ked , if not rich towards God , Luk. 12. 21. If not rich in faith , Jam●●●… 6. and good works . Worldly riches are vanity , Eccl. 5. 10. They 〈◊〉 not durable , Pro. 8. 18. They are not for ever , Pro. 28. 24. They have wings , and they often flye away , Pro. 25. 5. Vncertaine riches , 1 Tim. 6. 17. They profit not in the day of wrath , Pro. 11. 4. Zeph. 1. 8. They perish , Eccl. 5. 14. A good name is rather to be chosen then riches , Prov. 22. 1. The reproaches of Christ are greater riches , Heb. 11. 26. Take heed and beware of covetausness , for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of riches which he possesseth , Lu. 12. 15. Also if men did see the evill and sin that riches cause and doe us , wee should not be so unwilling to part with them as we are . Riches are called the mammon of unrighteousnesse , Lu. 6. 9. because they cause much sin and unrighteousness ; they cause pride . Thy heart was lifted up because of thy riches , Eccl. 28. 5. Pride and high-minded , Pro. 18. 23. They boast themselves in the multitude of their riches , Psal. 49. 6. They cause covetousnesse ; for the more men have , the more they desire , Heb. 13. 5. Hee hath swallowed downe riches , Job 20. 15. 18. Riches fill men with cares to get , to keep , to improve them , & with fears of losing them , Lu. 8. 14. 33. & 21. 34. It is harder for them that have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God then others . It is easier for a camell to goe through the eye of a needle , then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of heaven , Mat. 19. 21. to 26. Mar. 10. 24 , 25. They cause to oppress ; Do not the rich men oppresse you ? Jam. 2. 6. They cause the h 〈◊〉 art to be set on them , Psal. 62. 10. and to trust in their wealth , Ps. 49. 6. 1 Tim. 6. 17. Ps. 52. 7. The rich mans wealth is his strong City , Pro. 10. 15. Riches cause to despise Christ and his poor Saints : A man of sorrows , acquainted with griefs , he is despised and rejected of men : We hid as it were our faces from him , he was despised , we esteemed him not , Isa. 53. 3. Yee have despised the poore , Jam. 2. 6. The rich oft choose for their companions such as are rich , though worldly wicked and covetous , whom God abhorreth , Psal. 10. 3. See the companions of the Saints , Heb. 10. 33. Psal. 119. 36. Rom. 1. 9. The rich will no more be admonished , Eccl. 4. 19. Riches cause to erre from the faith , 1 Tim. 6. 10. And to deny the faith rather then to suffer and loose all , Luk. 18. 28. Riches choake the word , and cause it to become unfruitful , Mat. 13. 22. Mar. 4. 19. Riches hinder men from receiving and obeying the Gospel , Lu. 18. 22 , 23 , 24. and hinder many from preaching the Gospel . Riches hurt them that keep them , Eccl. 5. 13. They hinder believing ; they have too much sense to have much faith . Riches cause men to desire , and seek , and to receive honour one of another . How can ye believe , seeing ye receive honour one of another , Joh. 5. 44. Riches cause persons to flatter themselves . I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved , Ps 30. 6. Who shall bring me downe ? O●●…e . 3. Riches cause others to flatter the rich , and to put them upon 〈◊〉 ways of pride and pleasure to please them , Ps. 5. 9. Riches cause to deny God : Lest I be full and deny thee , Pro. 30. 8 , 9. Riches cause those that have them not to be reproved , and so suffer sin upon them , Lev. 19. 19. A sore evill ; they cause men to be wise in their own conceits , Pro. 28. 11. and not to visit the poor Saints , Mat. 25. 43. Riches cause persons to be idle , and to take their ease , Am. 6. 1. and to settle upon their lees , Jer. 48. 11. Riches cause them less to seek God , & lesse to serve him , and less to mind , love and delight in God , and in things above . Riches cause spiritual deadnesse and coldness in Religion , and unwillingness to die . Riches and prosperity cause men to be hard-hearted , careless , and insensible of the wants of others , so as not to weep with them that weep . Riches cause gluttony , intemperance , excesse , sin , diseases , sicknesse , pain , death . Riches are a snare into divers temptations , into many foolish and hurtfull lusts , which drown men into destruction and perdition , 1 Tim. 6. 9. Riches greaten mens sin and condemnation . Many shall curse the day that ever they had so many thousands and hundreds a year ; for had they not been so rich , they had never commited half so much sin ; we cannot hold God and riches , if ye hold to the one , ye despise the other ; ye cannot serve God and Mammon . This rich men will not beileve , Lu. 16. 13. They think they may easily well agree , and that they may seek and serve both . If we were of Agurs mind , we would part with riches as freely & willingly as ever we received them . Solomon did not so much as ask riches , God did not like that he should , 2 Chron. 8. 11. Good Agur would not have riches , therefore he prayeth against them , saying , give me not riches , Pro. 30. 9. It is not a sin to be rich , but it is a sin to keep riches when others and the Saints suffer and perish for want of them ; there is a woe pronounced against the rich , though they mind it not , regard or consider it not . Woe to you that are rich , for ye have received your consolation , Lu. 6. 24. Dives thou hast received thy good things in this life , Luk. 16. 25. Woe to him that ladeth himself with thicke clay , Hab. 2. 8. The Lord saith , Labour not to be rich , Pro. 23. 4. Riches is not , ver. 5. Love not the world , nor the things of the world : If any man love the world , the love of the Father is not in him , 1 Joh. 2. 15. The love of money is the root of all evill , 1 Tim. 6. 10. Riches are externall , and appertain ( nothing to the mind ) to violence in getting , in keeping : Strong men retain riches . If riches make themselves wings , and flye away , men intend to fly after them . The measure we meet to supply the wants of others , is not the same that we measure to our selves , they are divers , and divers measures are abomination to the Lord , Pro. 20. 10. Comfort to all who in obedience to God , and for his sake give freely , & c to supply the wants of others . 1. You are like Jesus Christ , and his people in so doing . 2. You have the prayers of the Saints for you . The Lord give mercie to the house of Onisiphorus , for he oft refreshed me , 2 Tim. 1. 16. 2 Cor. 9. 13 , 14. Eph. 1. 14 , 15. Ps. 69. 33. & 71. 12. 3. Your bountifulnesse causeth thanksgiving to God , many thanksgivings to God , 2 Cor. 9. 12 , 13. 4. All things are clean to you . Give almes of such things as yee have , and behold all things are clean to you , Luk. 11. 41. 5. You are happy : He that hath mercy on the poor , happy is he , Pro , 14. 21. and blessed , for he giveth his bread to the poor , Pro. 22. 9. 6. Your righteousnesse remaineth for ever : He hath dispersed abroad , he hath given to the poor , your righteousness remaineth for ever , Psal. 112. 9. 2 Cor. 9. 9. Also the merciful man doth good to his own soul , Pro. 11. 7. 7. You shall not want , Pro. 28. 27. Job 5. 20. 8. The blessed promises of this life , and that to come are for you : He that hath a bountifull eye shall be blessed , for he hath given of his bread to the poor , Pro. 29. 9. Blessed is he that considereth the poor , the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble . The Lord will preserve & keep him alive , he shall be blessed upon the earth , and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies . The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing ; thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse , Ps. 41. 1 , 2 , 3. Blessed are the merciful , for they shall obtain mercy , Mat. 5. 7. Deale thy bread to the hungry , cover the naked : Then shall thy light breake forth as the morning , and thy health shall bring forth speedily , and thy righteousnesse shall goe before thee . The glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward ; then shalt thou call , and the Lord shall answer thee , thou shalt cry , and he shall say here I am , Isa. 58. 7 , 8 , 9. Give him for this thing ; the Lord thy God shall blesse thee in all thy workes , in all thou puttest thy hand unto , Deut. 15. 10. 9. You shall have a great reward . If thine enemie hunger give him bread to eate , if he be thirsty , give him water to drinke , and the Lord shall reward thee , Pro. 25. 21 , 22. Love your enemie , do good , lend , hoping for nothing again , and your reward shall be great , and ye shall be the children of the most highest , Luk. 6. 34 , 35. This promise is not to any Usurer ; for if hee lends , he looks for something again , and not only for the principall , but for more then he lent , he hopes for use . Whosoever shall give a cup of water to drinke in the name of a Disciple , because he belongs to Christ , verily I say unto you he shall in no wise loose his reward , Mar. 9. 41. see Mat. 19. 20. Mar. 10. 10. Thine almes are come up for a memoriall , they are had in remembrance in the sight of God , Act. 10. 4. 31. 10. You shal have treasure in heaven , Mat. 19. 21. Lu. 18 22. Come ye blessed of my father , receive the kingdome prepared for you ; for I was an hungry , and ye gave me meat , naked and ye cloathed me , sicke and in prison , and yee came unto me , Mat. 25. 34 , 35 , 36. There are Statutes as good as can be desired for the poor if executed , the Statue 43. Eliz. 2. Provide to raise weekely , or otherwise of every inhabitant such summs of money as they shall thinke fit for a stocke to set the poor on worke ( and to compell them to worke ) and towards the necessary reliefe of poor not able to worke to distresse and sale of goods , or imprison without baile or mainprize till he have paid the same . Yet for these many years the poor are neglected , and suffered to beg contrary to the statutes : Yea , they suffer great misery , and run to ruine , and yet both Magistrate , Minister , and people are silent , and content to have it so , this is a sore evill . Thear the Town of Maidstone and the City of Dorchester , and a few other places , the poore are set to worke ▪ and provided for without begging . Oh that London , &c. would doe so also , That there be no complaining in our streets , Psal. 144. 14. But in stead of helping the poor , there be that rob the poor . One Justice of Peace gave in his account of the poors money 500. pound short , this can be p●oved . If men fearing God and hating covetousnesse , were appointed to receive that which would be voluntary given to effect this good worke ; there would be stock enough to set the poor on work , and to supply all wants The people of this Nation have been so bountifull , that a Law was made to restrain them , fearing that all the whole L●●d would be given to the poor , the Papist may rise up against many of this generation . It is a sad thing that they should be more forward upon a bad principle , then a Christian upon a good one . I hope it will not be long till those in Authority will consider the cause of the poor and help it . It is possible we may see some as willing to help o●hers as to help themselves , and to provoke others to do so : the poor daily increase and multiply ; in time , if you prevent it not , they will be able and willing to order you and your estates as they think fit . Take care , and provide work and things necessary for the poor . Surely there is no worke in the world that men will give more freely unto then this . Worthy Oliver Cormwel deserves great honour and imitation , he gives more mony to the poor then any I have heard of in our days , thousands a year . I would the Rich would follow his steps ; it is expected the Lord will use him with some others who have the same spirit , and mercifull heart to do great things for the good of this Nation , especially to ease the oppressed , and to help them that cannot help themselves , and that all honest and wel-minded people shall blesse God for them , and for what they have done ; the benefit and good thereof will more & more appear to the glory of God , and the welfare of this Nation . He hath put down the mighty from their seate , and exalted them of low degree , Lu. 1. 52. Let every soule be subject to the higher Powers , there is no power but of God , Rom. 13. 1. Those against whom none are able to prevail , are the greatest and highest power . Those who have the greatest power , are the fittest , and most able to protect and govern : honour & obedience is due to them that protect . God hath by this Army protected , saved our estates and lives . Such Rulers are to be desired , who feare God , and have power and good principles . In reason we may expect a continued safety from them who have been a meanes to procure the liberty we enjoy , rather then from others , who under the title of Authority would undo us . Did not the late Parliament order treble damages for not paying of tithes , and erect a tribunall to punish all that did preach without ordination of the said Hierarchy and their Priests , which themselves have declared to be Antichristian . There doth not appear more love to God , to his people , and to this Nation , then in the Officers of the Army . They deserve the greatest honour and trust among men that have suffered , been wounded , and shed their blood for this Nation , have freely offered for Gods sake , and for our sakes their lives and estates to save ours . I pray you give us leave to owne and speak well of them who have saved our estates and live● . God doth not put the power into the hands of any , so much for their sakes as for others ; the honour , safety , welfare , peace , comfort , happinesse , and glory of this poore Nation they ought to seek and prefer before their own . I trust the Lord hath put it into the hearts of those who have the power over us , to say , we will doe this , and see this done ; we will not seeke our own things , but every one anothers welfare , as 1 Cor. 10. 24. and each one to say as Gideon , I will not rule over you , the Lord shall rule over you , Judg 8. 23. Behold I come quickly , and my reward is with me , to give every one according as his worke shall be , Rev. 22. 21. FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A91789e-280 * That is 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elling ( but ●…ere shal it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had so in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) ndon ) a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my a week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apparel , a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any a week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , washing , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 penny a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ek firing , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enny a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eke for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ate and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inke . ●f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 re confi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d to thi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 owance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 w soone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ould we be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e poor not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to work , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ed & sicke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a week● .